The Street of Seven Stars

lmost no Americans, the Americans flocking to good food at reckless prices in more fashionable pensions; to the Frau Gallitzenstein's, for instance, in the Kochgass

reen paper leaves, and over the side-table, with its luxury of compote in tall glass dishes and its wealth of small hard cakes, there hung a fr

. He had cut a button from another coat, by the easy method of amputating it with a surgical bistoury, and had sewed it in its new position with a curved surgical needle and a few inches of sterilized catgut. The operation was slow and painful, and accomplished only with the aid of two cig

nd the needle proved refractory in his cold fingers, he was swearing to himself. For there was no fire in the room. The materials for a fire were there, and a white tile stove, as cozy as an obelisk in a cemetery, stood in the c

icizing. His conclusion, reached as he brushed back his hair and put away his sewing implements, was somewhat to the effect that he could have done a better piece of work with his eyes shut and his hands tied behind his back;

ruggling in a sea of language, into which she struck out now and then tentatively, only to be again submerged. Byrne had bowed to her conventionally, even coldly, aware of the sharp eyes and tongues round the table, but Harmony did not understand. She had e

s that sear; foolish bits of talk that mean nothing except to one, and to that one everything! Harmony, freezing at Peter's formal bow and gazing obstinately ahead during the rest of the meal, or no nearer Peter than the red-paper roses, and Peter, showering the little Bulgarian next to her with detesta

er color high again; playing the "Humoresque," of all things, in the hope, of course, that he would hear it and guess from her choice the wild merriment of her mood. Peter rapped once

y or thereabout, with keen eyes behind glasses and a masculine disregard

door. "Very gay, isn't she, to have just finished a sup

for six months. There is bett

felt hat from the table put it on w

said. "Come and walk to the co

urried back to his room. There, on a page f

Or have I do

.

nd dusted his knees. The little Bulgarian spoke no English and little German. Between them was the wall of language. But higher than this barrier was the unde

ore concerned, now that he feared he had offended her, than he would have been without this fillip to his interest. But even his concern did not prevent his taking copiou

e man, but from a lack of fineness in the man himself-an intangible thing that seems to be a matter of that unfas

drive away Byrne's irritation; that, and the recollection that it was Saturday night and that to-morrow there would be no clinics, no lectures, no operat

had come over with him, stopped unde

mind, Byrne; but I told Jennie I was go

ght. She knows you

t's the other. You can't make a good

God for

rne took up his whistling ag

hed the bell. The lights were still on, however, in the hallways, revealing not overclean stairs and, for a wonder,

Out of order since last spring,

ike the rod of a locomotive, had been obliged to forswear the more expensive game for tennis, with a resulting muscular development that his slight stoop

y a worn smoking-jacket. The little apartment was thick with smoke, and from a

both men bowed ceremoniously over her hand, clicking thei

rie?" he demanded. "

, to be greeted as one greets an

of a trut

y not with

englisch

on ahead. Marie laid a de

angry with

th

ventional menage, Byrne had adopted Stewart's custom of addr

rer the American Fraulein's

on't know.

d g

of c

er face, it was not even hard. Rather, there was a sort of weariness, as of age and experience. She had put on

said plaintively. "I wishe

ut the girl was smili

e you feel

was dirt to her. I-" She stop

ng up her skirts ran toward the kitche

t at home, but because of the wealth of clinical material. The great European hospitals, filled to overflowing, offered unlimited choice of cases. The contempt for human l

man promised something in his work, a sort of ruthlessness, a singleness of purpose, good or

ble. With the narrow means at his control he had the choice of two alternatives: To live, as Byrne was living, in

e, but a bath for all that, where with premeditation and forethought one might bathe. The room had once been a fuel and store room, but now boasted a tin tub and a stove w

one side of the wall a clothespress, which the combined wardrobes of two did not fill. And beyond that

man named Wallace Hunter, doing research work at the general hospital, and a young piano student from Tenne

regular Saturday night affair, as much a custom as the beer that sat in

s. MacLean, who was hardly more than a boy, was winning, drawi

glance, did he. The other three drew cards and fell to betting. Stewart leaned ba

t," he began in an undertone. "I'm sor

his pipe and bent forward to watch the g

nt to explain. Marie has been kind t

harply. "Marie is a little fool, that's al

f the last hand, and with a cigarette wandered about the room. He glance

ned and

h the supper for me while

her tone. "Watch the supper for

ly. "Tell the Herr Doktor I lov

re put away, and young MacLean and Wallace Hunter were replacing the cover and t

a bath. Worthington had rented it furnished for a song. Used to sit in a corner and envy Worthington his bathtub, and that l

d all, w

came back last fall on his wedding trip-he married a wealthy girl and c

The men had gathered

eh?" fro

kiss her and she hit him-s

t did it seem amusing. This little girl of the streets, driven by God knows what neces

gayly from her brick stove, and

cold ham and rolls, and above all sausages and mustard. Peter drank a great deal of beer, as did the oth

ce for the same sum properly laid out. He dropped into the hollow center of his bed, where his big figure fitted as comfortably as thou

Peter Byrne. Almost immediately, with the bed coverings, augmented by his overcoat, drawn snug to his chin, and the better neckt