s the
old track and the easy money. But she knew what the pittance that came
from Henry Fenn meant to him, so in pride and in shame one night she
turned back home when she had slipped clear to the corner of the street
with her paint on. When she got home she threw herself upon the bed and
wept like a child in anguish. But the next night she did not even touch
the rouge pot, and avoided it as though it were a poison. Her idea was
the sewing room. She wrote it all out, in her stylish, angular hand to
Mr. Brotherton, told him what it would cost, and how she believed she
could make expenses for herself and help a number of other women who,
like her, were tempted to go the wrong road. She even sent him five
spoons--the last relic of the old Mauling decency, five silver spoons
dented with the tooth marks of the Mauling children, five spoons done up
in pink tissue that she had always told little Ouida Hogan should come
to her some day--she sent those spoons to Mr. Brotherton to sell to make
the start toward the sewing room.

But Mr. Brotherton took the spoons to Mr. Ira Dooley's home of the fine
arts and crafts, and then and there, mounting a lookout stand, addressed
the crowd through the smoke in simple but effective language, showing
the spoons, telling the boys at the gaming tables that they all knew
Denny Hogan's wife and how about her; that she wanted to get in right;
that the spoons were sent to him to sell to the highest and best bidder
for cash in hand. He also said that chips would count at the market
price, and lo! he got a hat full of rattly red and white and blue chips
and jingly silver dollars and a wad of whispering five-dollar bills big
enough to cork a cannon. He went back to Harvey, spoons and all,
considering deeply certain statements that Grant Adams had made about
the presence of the holy ghost in every human heart.

As for the bright particular Heaven of Mr. Fenn, as hereinbefore
possibly hinted at by the Peach Blow Philosopher, these are its
specifications:

_Item One._ Job as storekeeper at the railroad roundhouse, from
which by specific order of the master mechanic two hours a day are
granted to Mr. Fenn, to take his hat in his hand and go marching over
the town, knocking at doors and soliciting sewing for women, and
wood-sawing or yard or furnace work for men; but

_Item Two._ Being a generous man, Mr. Fenn is up before eight for
an hour of his work, and stays at it until seven, and thereby gets in