, there sprang up bitter hatred.
He hated them all--the woman who was his dupe and his slave, but
who balked him of his revenge; the boy who brought him the cents
for which he froze during the winter evenings at the corner of
Portage and Main, but who with the cents gave him fierce and
fearless looks; and this girl suddenly transformed from a timid,
stupid, ill-dressed Galician child, into a being of grace and
loveliness and conscious power. No wonder that as he followed her
with his eye, noting all this new grace and beauty, he felt uneasy.
Already she seemed to have soared far beyond his sordid world and
far beyond his grasp. Deep in his heart he swore that he would find
means to bring her down to the dirt again. The higher her flight,
the farther her fall and the sweeter would be his revenge.

"What's the matter wit you, boss? Gone back on your grub, eh?"

It was his clerk, Samuel Sprink, whose sharp little eyes had not
failed to note the gloomy glances of his employer.

"Pretty gay girl, our Irma has come to be," continued the cheerful
Samuel, who prided himself on his fine selection of colloquial
English. "She's a beaut now, ain't she? A regular bird!"

Rosenblatt started. At his words, but more at the admiration in
Samuel's eyes, a new idea came to him. He knew his clerk well, knew
his restless ambition, his insatiable greed, his intense selfishness,
his indomitable will. And he had good reason to know. Three times
during the past year his clerk had forced from him an increase of
salary. Indeed, Samuel Sprink, young though he was and unlearned in
the ways of the world, was the only man in the city that Rosenblatt
feared. If by any means Samuel could obtain a hold over this young
lady, he would soon bring her to the dust. Once in Samuel's power,
she would soon sink to the level of the ordinary Galician wife.
True, she was but a girl of fifteen, but in a year or so she would
be ready for the altar in the Galician estimation.

As these thoughts swiftly flashed through his mind, Rosenblatt
turned to Samuel Sprink and said, "Yes, she is a fine girl.
I never noticed before. It is her new dress."

"Not a bit," said Samuel. "The dress helps out, but it is the girl
herself. I have seen it for a long time. Look at her. Isn't she a
bird, a bird of Paradise, eh?"

"She will look well in a cage some day, eh, Samuel?"

"You bet your sweet life!" said Samuel.

"Better get the cage ready then, Samuel," suggested Rosenb