He licked his lips nervously and bared his artificial teeth before he answered:
“Wanted to see you, Amy, for ever so long…What?...Intended to stop in…Matter of fact, did stop by some time ago, but you’d just sailed…What?...You’ve been away, haven’t you?...What?”
As he spoke in his clipped staccato he kept licking his thin lips lecherously, and at the same time he scratched himself, rooting obscenely into the inner thigh of his right leg in a way that suggested he was wearing woollen underwear. In doing so he inadvertently pulled up his trouser leg and it stayed there, revealing the tops of his socks and a portion of white meat.
Meanwhile Hen Walters was smiling brightly and burbling on to Mrs. Jack:
“So nice of you to let us all come in”—although she, poor lady, had had nothing at all to do with it. “Piggy told us it would be all right. I hope you don’t mind.”
“But no-o—not at all!” she protested, still with a puzzled look. “Any friends of Mr. Logan’s…But won’t you all have a drink, or something to eat? There’s loads----”
“Oh, heavens, no!” burbled Mr. Walters. “We’ve all been to Tony’s and we simply gorged ourselves! If we took another mouthful, I’m absolutely positive we should explode!”
He uttered these words with such ecstatic jubilation that it seemed he might explode at any moment in a large, moist bubble. “Well, then, if you’re sure,” she began.
“Oh, absolutely!” cried Mr. Walters rapturously. “But we’re holding up the show!” he exclaimed. “And, after all, that’s what we’re here to see. It would simply be a tragedy to miss it…0 Piggy!” he shouted to his friend, who had been cheerfully grinning all the while and crawling about on his knee-pads. “Do begin! Everyone’s simply dying to see it!...I’ve seen it a dozen times myself,” he announced gleefully to the general public, “and it becomes more fascinating every time…So if you’re ready, please begin!”
Mr. Logan was ready.
The new arrivals held their position along one wall, and the other people now withdrew a little, leaving them to themselves. The audience was thus divided into two distinct halves—the people of wealth and talent on one side, and those of wealth and fashion or “Society” on the other.
On a signal from Mr. Logan, Mr. Walters detached himself from his group, came over, arranged the tails of his coat, and knelt down gracefully beside his friend. Then, acting on instructions, he read aloud from a typewritten paper which Mr. Logan had handed to him. It was a whimsical document designed to put everybody in the right mood, for it stated that in order to enjoy and understand the circus one must make an effort to recover his lost youth and have the spirit of a child again. Mr. Walters read it with great gusto in a cultivated tone of voice which almost ran over with happy laughter. When he had finished, he got up and resumed his place among his friends, and Mr. Logan then began his performance.
It started, as all circuses should, with a grand procession of the performers and the animals in the menagerie. Mr. Logan accomplished this by taking each wire figure in his thick hand and walking it round the ring and then solemnly out again. Since there was a great many animals and a great many performers, this took some time, but it was greeted at its conclusion with loud applause.