ver when he
used to complain would I believe him. Always a great one for a poor
mouth he was, Mr. Teitlebaum, even when he had it. So plain he always
was, and now I--I've broke him--I--I--"

"'Sh-h-h-h, mamma! Do you want papa should hear you in the next room?
'Sh-h-h-h! Please, you must excuse her, Max."

"Pearlie"--he placed his hand lightly on her shoulder--"Pearlie--Mrs.
Binswanger, you must excuse me, too, but I got to say it--while--while I
got the courage. Can't you guess it, little Pearlie? I'm in love with
you. I'm in love with you, Pearlie, since the first month you came to
this hotel to live."

"Max!"

"_Ach, Gott!_"

"I only got this to say to you: I love you, little Pearlie. To-day, when
I heard the news, I was sorry, Pearlie, and--and glad, too. It made
things look easier for me. Right away I invited Izzy to lunch so like a
school-boy I could hint. I--two years I been wanting to get out of the
store, Pearlie, where there ain't a chance for me to build up nothing.
Like I told Izzy to-day, I want to find a run-down business that needs
building up where I can accomplish things."

"Max!"

"I wanted him to know what I meant, but like--like a school-boy so mixed
up I got. Eight thousand dollars I got laying for a opening. This
failure--this failure don't need to happen, Pearlie. With new capital
and new blood we don't need to be afraid of tractions and
competitions--with me and Izzy, and my eight thousand dollars put in out
there, we--we--but this ain't no time to talk business. I--you must
excuse me, Mrs. Binswanger, but--but--"

"Poil, my baby! Max!"

"I love you, Pearlie girlie. Ever since we been in the same hotel
together, when I seen you every day fresh like a flower and so fine,
I--I been heels over head in love with you, Pearlie. You should know how
my father and my married brothers tease me. I--I love you, Pearlie--"

She relaxed to his approaching arms, and let her head fall back to his
shoulder so that her face, upturned to his, was like a dark flower, and
he kissed her where the tears lay wet on her petal-smooth cheeks and on
her lips that trembled.

"Max!"

"My little girlie!"

Mrs. Binswanger groped through tear-blinded eyes.

"This--this--ain't no place for a--old woman,
children--this--this--_ach_, what I'm sayin' I don't know! Like in a
dream I feel."

"Me, too, mamma; me, too. Like a dream. Ah, Max!"

"I tiptoe in and surprise papa, children. I surprise papa. _Ach_, my
c