"Well," Milton asked, "what do you think of it?"
"A-Number-One!" Elkan answered hoarsely. "It would suit me just so well if it would last the whole evening and we wouldn't have no singing and dancing at all."
"What do you mean--no singing and dancing!" Milton exclaimed.
"Sure!" Elkan continued. "I wish them fellers would play the whole evening."
The conductor tapped his desk with his baton.
"Don't worry," Milton commented as he settled himself for the next movement. "You'll get your wish all right."
Elkan looked inquiringly at his mentor, but Milton only placed his forefinger to his lips; and thereafter, until the conclusion of the symphony, the pauses between the movements of the symphony were so brief that Elkan had no opportunity to make further inquiries.
"Well, neighbour," asked the gentleman on his right, as the musicians filed off the stage for the ten-minutes' intermission, "what do you think of your first symphony?"
Elkan smiled and concealed his shyness by clearing his throat.
"The symphony is all right," he said; "but, with all them operators there, what is the use they are trying to save money hiring only one foreman?"
"Sure--the feller with the stick," Elkan went on blandly. "Naturally he couldn't keep his eye on all them people at oncet--ain't it? I am watching them fellers, which they are working them big brass machines, for the last half hour, and except for five or ten minutes they sit there doing absolutely nothing--just fooling away their time."
"Them fellers ain't fooling away their time," Milton said gravely. "They ain't got nothing to do only at intervals."
"Then I guess they must pay 'em by piecework--ain't it?" Elkan asked.
"They pay 'em so much a night," Milton explained.
"Well, in that case, Mr. Jassy," Elkan continued, "all I could say is if I would got working in my place half a dozen fellers which I am paying by the day, understand me, and the foreman couldn't keep 'em busy only half the time, _verstehst du_, he would quick look for another job."
Elkan's neighbour on the right had been growing steadily more crimson, and at last he hurriedly seized his hat and passed out into the aisle.
"That's a pretty friendly feller," Elkan said as he gazed after him. "Do you happen to know his name?"