Joan Thursday

al she was, the moment her eyes opened she was vividly and keenly alive, c

r people who didn't have to be behind counters by half-past eight. So she lay still for many minutes, on the worn leather couch, listenin

bookcases, the disorderly writing-table, the three sombre and yellowing steel engravings on the walls, the bare, beaten path that crossed the carpet diagonally from doo

g. And her thoughts focussed sharply upon her memories of the early morning hours, especially those involving the man who had put himself out to shelter her. She was consumed with curiosity about him and all that conc

ractions that swaggered through the chapters of the ten-cent weekly libraries-could be d

ed against these, a host composed of Ben Austins and Mr. Winters and men with knees-beasts

hat other one? Or were they merely old en

the girl to her feet in a twinkling. However sharp her inquisitiveness and her desire to see

k-room, but no less surely the man lived as well as worked in it, much if not all of the time. In its eastern wall Joan found a door opening into a small bedroom furnished with almost soldierly simplicity. And there were two large closets in the southern wall of the chambe

great matter, since she had merely laid aside skirt, coat, and shirtwaist, and loosened her corsets before lying down. In a very little time t

nty, a rack stuffed with them, others scattered like leaves hither and yon, one and all superscribed with the name of John Matthias, Esq., many in the handwriting of women, a f

of the house sent her packing-but not until she had left an inadequate scrawl of thanks, whose poverty and crudity she felt keenly. Why had she neve

let herself hastily out, belie

sphere all a-quiver with the impetuous passion of those early, slanting rays. As if every living thing had been driven to shelter, or dared not venture for

r was half-past seven, while the sight of the food unattractively displayed proved a sharper reminder of breakfast-time. She had no other concern in the world just then. It would be ho

iry lunch settled the question a

st might have been crude, childish models in putty of the popular American "hot biscuit," but were larger and slightly scorched on top and bottom, and when pried open revealed a composition resembling aerated clay. Joa

turn for shelter. She knew only that everything must be settled before nightfall: she dared not trust to find another John Matthias, she could not sleep in the streets o

w York World for the sake of its "Help Wanted" a

h rain-drops. The air was still, steamy, and heady with fragrance of vegetation. Upon this artificial, rectangular oasis a sky of robin's-egg blue smiled benignly. A sense of p

seemed to promise anything in the nature of such employment as she had theretofore known. There were no cards from theatrical firms in need of chorus-girls, and nothing else

ve until the stage should ope

heat. From time to time Joan, for one reason o

e-path, closely pursued by a man, likewise mounted. The face of the horsewoman burned bright with pleasure and excitement and her eyes shone like stars as she glanced over-sh

he woman was smiling softly, with her eyes downcast, as she listened to her c

ging. A hundred times she pictured herself in the place of the horsewoman; and

her way back through the sweltering side-streets toward her late home. She arrived in time to see her father's burly figure lumbering heavily up the street. His gaze was to the sidewalk, his mind upon the

ould be counted on not to return before six o'clock. She hastened

er mother, seemingly more immaterial than ever, merely lifted shadowed and apathetic eyes to Joan's fac

oa

n her, very suddenly, that she must prove a ready liar in

e cried cheerfully.

u on the stairs?" demanded

n returned defiantly. "Anyway I ain't afraid of h

ered and fell still, turning

out," said the latter listlessly. "

. "All I'm after's my things. I've done enough for thi

to see Joan, whose bosom swelled and palpitated wi

ugh!" she repe

voice: "I don't know wh

and slave all day long so's your father won't have to suppo

into the front rooms. Edna f

odds and ends beneath it a small suit-case of matting, in which she began to pac

last night?" Edna

f mine," Joan an

e other p

instant; the lie was re

n, if you g

n? I never heard

ed to work with me at the stocking counter. Then s

ing to get

urse-f

's she

ifth Street, nea

number of

ou want to

u going b

case and began to strap it. "Yes,"

" insisted Edna. "Anything m

air of extreme ennui, "the number's Two

won

ng back to see you. You got no right to think that of me, after the way I've turned in my pay week in and week out, right straight along. I don't know what mak

er girl whispered

ha

ow last night-ma and

done all t

ignation-"he said rotten things to her-said it was beca

!" Joan commented between h

utch stood up to him and told him to sh

shut his fac

or hours after they'd went to bed. I could hear him

h she had lain sleepless, listening to the endless, indistinguishable monolo

ed to the

greyish hair stretched taut from nape to temple and brow and twisted into a ragged knot at the back, with its hollowed temples and sunken cheeks, its thin and stringy neck emerging from the collar of a cheap

and apprehension entering into her moo

, firm contours of wholesome flesh. To what was due this dreadful metamorphosis? To the stage? Or to Man? Or t

ssed an arm across the thin,

she sai

barely audible, her name br

here was the faintest percepti

o forget you and Edna. I am going

away from her daughter. Otherwise she was wholly un

folded a vast and sordid tapestry-a patchwork-thing made up of hints, innuendoes and snatches of half-remembered conversations, heretofore meaningless, of a thousand-and-one insignific

rd, Joan touched her li

e said stiffly

, as though a bystander at a scene of whose meaning she wa

er lightly. "Take good care of ma w

the open doorway, wit

Butch I sa

landing before she became aware

oa

ha

irl p

in to tell you to drop around to the store th

anded Joan,

ust said that

ght. Go

-bye,

erous delicatessen shop and a more prosperous and ornate corner saloon, wore a lo

ated grime of years, bore in block letters of whi

HUR

er & St

& Con

n, disclosing an interior furnished with dirt-smeared show-cases which housed a stock of cheap cigars and tobacco, boxes of villainous candy to be retailed by the cent's-worth, writing-paper in gaudy, f

air, his lean nose exploring the sporting pages of The Evening Journal. Inevitably, a half-consum

and threw aside the p

you wanted

wned liberally and thrust his

girl sharply. "

his lips, lighted it from the old, and inhaled deeply. Interim he looke

h, smoke trickling from his mouth and nos

't tri

u're go

cour

rus girl or sup

nything that turns up," J

boy with profound irony. "Well, wher

e this time: "With Maizie Dean-T

you stayed

and foresee unhappy complications in event Butch s

close to her, searching her face

nd it to me straight now: on the level

gaze without a tremor: "O

right then

y wh

le for the guy, if I ever

busi

e fool, and somebody's got to look out for you. And that means me. You go ahea

tage. She was dumb with resentment, oppressed by amazement

'en: got

y cents," sh

ps. Who's goin' to put up for you while you're

ss so-yes: I'm goin

you don't come through with

uced a small packet of bil

ore?" he enquired, w

ped: "My

pped the Old Man and beat it, last night. He didn't see it, a

ively upon it. For a moment she choked and gulped, on th

But

It's your money,

he bills. Butch tilted his head to one side

l opinion of me, kid, to t

red bew

ty-two dollar

return the money. With an angry movem

en in. I guess I gotta right to, ain't I? You're my siste

ed. "But, Butch ...

at it. The Old Man's liab

he urged her none too

od of you, Butc

. But can the gush-t

and then, recovering to some extent, masked her excitement as best

e quiet and peace while she thought things out: a necessity

parative affluence and independence. Twenty-two dollars strictly economized surely ought to keep her fed and sheltered

rooming-house in the city. But in her heart of hearts she had already determined to return to the establishment of Madame Duprat, beyond her m

rned. At half-past four she stood again on the

rdrobe but otherwise invested in a temper both indignant and rebellious, insti

ed at and through her, barely conscious of her pretty, pallid face and the light of recognition in her eyes. Then,

the curb and heard Matthias, as he clambered in, direct the

dling cab disconsolately.

lodgings elsewhere, but the door abruptly opened a second time, reveali

ade some semi-articulate enquiry as

consternation, the lan

tthias, is it not? Very good. Will you not be pleased to enter? It is but th