s always for the sporty, all-night
bunch."

"Poor kid!"

"Don't get her to talking about it again, Eddie; it gets her all
excited."

"He could have turned me against my own mother, I was that crazy over
him."

"That," said Addie, softly, "was _love_! And only women can love like
that; and women who do love like that are cursed--and blessed."

"I'm out of it now, Addie. You won't never send me back to him--you
won't ever?"

"There now, dearie, you're gettin' worked up again. Ain't you right
here, safe with us?"

"That night at Hinkey's was the worst, Goldie," said Eddie. "It makes my
blood boil! Why didn't you quit then; why?"

"I ain't told you all, neither, Eddie. One night he came home about two
o'clock, and I had been--"

"Just quit thinking and talking about him, Goldie. You're right here,
safe with me and Eddie; and he's going to get you a job when you're
feeling stronger. And then, when you're free--when you're free--"

Addie regarded her brother with the tender aura of a smile on her lips
and a tender implication in her eyes that scurried like a frightened
mouse back into its hole. Eddie flamed red; and his ears, by a curious
physiological process, seemed to take fire and contemplate instant
flight from his head.

"Oh, look, Ad. We got to get a new back for your chair. The stuffin's
all poking through the velvet."

"So it is, Eddie. It's a good thing you got your raise, with all these
new-fangled dangles we need."

"To-night's his lodge night. He never came home till three--till three
o'clock, lodge nights."

"There you go, Goldie--back on the subject, makin' yourself sick."

"Gee!"

"What's the matter, Goldie?"

"To-night's his lodge. I could go now and get my things while he ain't
there--couldn't I?"

"Swell! I'll take you, Goldie, and wait outside for you."

"Eddie, can't you see she ain't in any condition to go running round
nights? There's plenty time yet, Goldie. You can wear my shirt-waists
and things. Wait till--"

"I got to get it over with, Addie; and daytimes Eddie's working, and I'd
have to go alone. I--I don't want to go alone."

"Sure; she can't go alone, Addie; and she's got to have her things."

Eddie was on his feet and beside Goldie's palpitating figure, as though
he would lay his heart, a living stepping-stone, at her feet.

"We better go now, Addie; honest we had! Eddie'll wait outside for me."

"You poor kid! You want to get it over with, don't you? Get her co