“Patrician and Plebian”

“Though Skylar found Royal intriguing and romantic, he never spent much time with him: like a white-tied gentleman, Fortunatus stood as if leaning on the uppermost deck railings of a mighty, oceanic cruise liner (from the heyday of transatlantic steamships in the 1920s), his beauteous fiancé on his arm, waving his top hat and lifting his ivory-handled cane in the direction of Skylar, a poor fisherman unsteady in his floundering rowboat, as the other great ship pulled suavely out of its berth. Royal passed him like this on his way to the club with Vina, bestowing his famous smile on the younger man as he might have handed a dollar to a street beggar, addressing a few words to his lover regarding their lateness, so that he did not have to speak with Skylar before the couple got out the fire door and onto the steps. Skylar and Royal often passed one another but never made any personal contact.”