the woman's
fault, it always begins when she lets her man do all the work. Look up
and down 'The Avenue' here! Every wife is helpin' her husband in his
business, and every wife knows as much about it as the man does. That
ain't the way up around Central Park. Half of 'em ain't out of bed till
purty nigh lunch-time. I've heard 'em all talk; and worse yet, they
glory in it. What can ye expect when there ain't five of 'em to a block
who knows whether her husband has made a million in the past year or
whether he's flat broke, except what he tells her? No wonder, when
trouble comes, they shift husbands as they do their petticoats, and try
it over again with a new one!"

"And if she takes this last plunge, when will she wake up to her
mistake?" asked Felix, in a low voice.

"Oh, ye can't always tell. It'll generally run on for a while until
she starts up and stares about her like she's been in a trance or a
nightmare, and then the dear God help her after that, for nobody else
can--nor will! That's the worst of it--NOR WILL! John was readin' out
to me the other night about the Red Cross Society for pickin' up wounded
off the battle-field, and carryin' them in where they can be patched up
again and join their companies when they get well. Why don't they have a
Red Cross for some of the poor girls and wives who are hurted--hundreds
of 'em lyin' all over the lot--and patch 'em up and bring 'em back to
their homes? Now I'm done."

"No! Not yet. One more question. After the last nightmare, what?"

"The gutter--or worse--that's what! And when it's all over, most people
say: 'Served her right--she had a happy home once, why didn't she stay
in it?' And somebody else says: 'She was always wild and foolish--I knew
her as a girl.' And some don't say a blessed word because they couldn't
dirty their clean lips with her name-the hypocrites!--and so they cart
off her poor body and dump it in a lot back of Calvary cemetery. Oh, I
know 'em, and that's what makes me get hot under the collar every time
I get talkin' as I've been to-night!--And now let's quit it. If yer
dead-beat wants a job, and we can keep him from stealin' the tires
off the wagon and the shoes off my big Jim, he can come to work in the
mornin', and John will pay him a dollar a day and he can sleep over the
stables. And if he's decent, he can come in here once in a while and
I'll warm him up with a cup of coffee. I'm glad to take him on just
because ye want it--and ye knew