Girl Alone

future" in its mysterious depths as the afternoon crowd of the carnival's last day in Stanton milled about the attractions in the Palace

n and we've got to get our share. You're crabbin'

g that afternoon was not a riotous success. She made one o

r news upon David, when she should tell him that she was an illegitimate child of a wom

upon the platform for a "reading," she mechanically told a meek little middle-aged man that

ily removed shoe-an "added attraction" which proved vastly entertaining to the carnival crowd but which caused a good many quarters to find

dkerchief. "I'm part owner of this tent, you know, and you're hittin' me where I live. Come on, 'at's a good girl! Forget it-whatever's eatin

in order to put off as long as possible full realization

h. Nita's got a roll big enough to choke a boa constrictor. I seen her countin' it one night when she thought she was safe. She was, too. I wouldn't warm up to that Jane if she was the last broad in the world. Now, listen, kid, y

old-braided green jacket, her red-sandled feet spurning the grass-stubbled turf that divided the show tent from the dress tent. And beca

ic voice added a word which Sally Ford had sometimes seen scrawled in chalk on the

en Mrs. Bybee had told Sally the shameful things sh

ing over her, transforming her suddenly from a ti

pon her breast; gilded nails on brown-painted fingers flashed out, were about to rip down those painted, sallow chee

panted as Sally struggled furiously, still insa

, adjusting the grass skirt, which Sally's furious onslaught had torn from the dancer's h

having a friendly argument with this grass-skirt artist, for Gawd's sake settle it by pulling her hair.

r sick and foolish. Gus's arm was still about her shoulders, in a paternal

and you'd better make yourself scarce when she's around. And say, kid-take a tip from old Gus: no sheik ain't worth fightin' for. I

," she muttered, digging the toe of one little red sandal into the dusty gr

ot along to the dress tent and rest or cry or say your prayers or anything you want to-exce

ystal-gazer, or rather to bolster up the faith of the skeptical audience, which had somehow become wise to the fact that "Princess Lalla" had "pulled some bones," Gus,

their heads or slapped their thighs in high appreciation, loudly proclaiming that "Princess Lalla" was a wow, a witch, the grandest little fortune-teller in the world. B

lled it? Jealousy laid a hand of pain about her heart, such a sort of pain that she wanted, childishly, to stop and examine it. It claimed instant fellowship in her heart with that other so-new emotion-love. She wanted all afternoon, until Gus had stopped her heart for a bea

n Stanton, and money rolled into the pock

st man on earth and the littl

g girls were not young and beautiful, as they had seemed at first; they had never danced on Broadway in Ziegfeld's Follies; they never would. Th

hough Eddie Cobb fixed it so that she won a big Kewpie doll with pink maline skirts and saucy, marcelled red hair, there was little thrill in its possession. When a forlornly weeping little girl stopped her

fear the heavy hand of a local constable would close menacingly over his shoulder. At the thought Sally shuddered and flung away her taffy. They would be leaving Stanton tonight, leaving danger behind them. It had not occurred to her to ask wher

tartled to hear a hot-dog concessionaire ca

r there last year and it was a Jonah town, but it looks good this season. The Kidder s

ext?" Sally leaned over the c

that burg. Old home week for Eddie, too. You and hi

just-realized love for him, were forgotten. There was only fear-fear of iron bars and shameful uniforms, iron bars which would cage David's superb young body and break his s

both known; they would have to run away again, walk

-

you now, and you shouldn't be here. You've got to go back for your last performance. The s

o the shoulders in anticipation of his work in helping to load the carnival for its thirty-m

ull out for Capital City some time before morning. We pick up the engine at three o'clock, I believe. Plenty of time then to decide what to do." He shook her a little to make her stop shivering and whimpering wi

el of his Palm Beach suit, sauntered leisurely through the tent, eyeing the freaks with skeptical amusement and ask

ffee," he guffawed to the ostrich man whom Gus, the barker, was bally

articularly recommend these nails. Boffo eats only the choicest sixpenny nails; will accept no substitutes. And if a nail's ru

ight. The discomfited officer of the law ambled over to mak

rdered authoritatively. "I ain't the sucker you guys think I am. I'm

trousers to the knees. When the Doubting Thomas representative of the law had pinched the pale, putty-colored flesh of Jan's pitifully th

nding to read for a farmer's wife who had no interest in Boffo, the human ostrich, but who did have perfect faith in the powers of "Princess Lalla." "

cting prosperity and happiness and "a journey b

ble demanded loudly, officiously, stamping

yes wide and cloudy with mystic visions, "do n

tartly. "Go on, Princess Lalla. I think you're just wonderful

y over the crystal. When she could think of nothing else to tell the highly pleased woman, she was desperate. It seemed

ou in for obtaining money under false pretenses. Come on, now! Miz Holtzman has already give you a good tip-off, and I guess my star speaks for itself. Knowing my name and my business, you oughta be able to fake a pret

e crystal tightly cupped in her ice-cold palms, Gus, the barker,

l-gazer to the Sultan of Turkey before she escaped from his harem, tell your fellow-townsman, Constable Sam Pelton, the truth, the whole truth and something besides the truth-a few things tha

the constable, whose face had gone redder and redder, whose eyes glanced with furtive unease from the crysta

"schillers," hastily summoned by a carnival employe, suddenly broke into lo

f a "schiller" demanded between slaps and punche

bly, to escape a too intimate revelation of his past, bounded from the plat

from the tent, Sally rose from her chair and pattered swiftly to where Gus, the barker,

lled along till those two rubes-" she was already becoming familiar with carniv

oys. The guy that pretended to have his pocket picked will swear he made a mistake, and the worst old Sam can do is to

, that the law couldn't touch you long as you stuck with the carnival? Dave tells me you're babbling about running away again becaus

n David's love and friendship, but before the first word tumbled out, the old inhibition

ed abruptly away to where "Pitty Sing," the midge

ut Mr. Bybee and Gus are right. You are safer with the carnival than anywhere else in the s

show clothes to nightgowns and kimonos. By twelve o'clock the lot was as bare of tents and booths and ferris wheel

berth in the ancient Pullman car, waiting for her David's

ou-always! Not for just an hour, not for j

d given up her frantic plan to run away; that he need not meet he

ed notes of the song which her heart sa

the aisle she cast a fearful glance up and down the car, and noted with uneasy surprise that Nita's berth, directly opposite the midget's, was still unoccupied, the

ng still humming its sweet, extravagant promise in his heart. Or-was it? Had he chosen the song i

turbulent emotions, unconsciously employing the homely language of the orp