!"

"T'ree to one on deh red!"

"Ah, stop yer damn scrappin'!"

The door of the Johnson home opened and Maggie looked out. Jimmie made
a supreme cursing effort and hurled his mother into the room. He
quickly followed and closed the door. The Rum Alley tenement swore
disappointedly and retired.

The mother slowly gathered herself up from the floor. Her eyes
glittered menacingly upon her children.

"Here, now," said Jimmie, "we've had enough of dis. Sit down, an' don'
make no trouble."

He grasped her arm, and twisting it, forced her into a creaking chair.

"Keep yer hands off me," roared his mother again.

"Damn yer ol' hide," yelled Jimmie, madly. Maggie shrieked and ran
into the other room. To her there came the sound of a storm of crashes
and curses. There was a great final thump and Jimmie's voice cried:
"Dere, damn yeh, stay still." Maggie opened the door now, and went
warily out. "Oh, Jimmie."

He was leaning against the wall and swearing. Blood stood upon bruises
on his knotty fore-arms where they had scraped against the floor or the
walls in the scuffle. The mother lay screeching on the floor, the
tears running down her furrowed face.

Maggie, standing in the middle of the room, gazed about her. The usual
upheaval of the tables and chairs had taken place. Crockery was strewn
broadcast in fragments. The stove had been disturbed on its legs, and
now leaned idiotically to one side. A pail had been upset and water
spread in all directions.

The door opened and Pete appeared. He shrugged his shoulders. "Oh,
Gawd," he observed.

He walked over to Maggie and whispered in her ear. "Ah, what deh hell,
Mag? Come ahn and we'll have a hell of a time."

The mother in the corner upreared her head and shook her tangled locks.

"Teh hell wid him and you," she said, glowering at her daughter in the
gloom. Her eyes seemed to burn balefully. "Yeh've gone teh deh devil,
Mag Johnson, yehs knows yehs have gone teh deh devil. Yer a disgrace
teh yer people, damn yeh. An' now, git out an' go ahn wid dat
doe-faced jude of yours. Go teh hell wid him, damn yeh, an' a good
riddance. Go teh hell an' see how yeh likes it."

Maggie gazed long at her mother.

"Go teh hell now, an' see how yeh likes it. Git out. I won't have
sech as yehs in me house! Get out, d'yeh hear! Damn yeh, git out!"

The girl began to tremble.

At this instant Pete came forward. "Oh, what deh hell, Mag, see,"
whispere