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She wanted to cry, but instead she murmured, "Happy in Spite," as Lafe had bidden her, and the melting mood vanished. The cobbler and his club were always wonderfully helpful to Jinnie. "My mother told me onct," Bobbie went on, "she didn't have nothin' to live for. I was blind, you see, and wasn't any good was I?" The question, pathetically put, prompted Virginia to fling back a ready answer.
Bobbie straightened up so quickly that Happy Pete fell to the floor. "Yes, yes, Jinnie dear," he breathed. "Go on!" Jinnie hesitated. She didn't want to fabricate further. "It's just so awful I hate to tell you," she objected. "I'd be happier if you would," whispered Bobbie. "Then I will!
She turned back as she heard Peg's voice calling her. "You might toddle in an' bring home a bit of sausage," said the woman, indifferently, "an' five cents' worth of chopped steak." Mrs. Grandoken watched Jinnie until she turned the corner. She felt a strangling sensation in her throat.
She had scarcely slept the night before, fitfully dreaming of him. Throwing a shy smile at Peg, she went into her bedroom and shut the door. With a long, ecstatic breath, she set herself to the delightful task of slowly perusing the beloved epistle. "My darling," Jinnie read, and she kissed those two words, each one separately.
Then Jinnie and Bobbie, carrying their precious dead comrade, started for the hill. "I don't see why you must have her out of the way entirely," hesitated Molly Merriweather, looking up into Jordan Morse's face. "Couldn't you send her to some girls' place?" "Now you don't know anything about it, Molly," answered the man impatiently.
I shall give you twenty-five dollars for playing three pieces." Then Jinnie thought she was going to faint. Twenty-five dollars! It was a fortune a huge fortune! But she couldn't take money for playing tunes that came from her heart tunes that were a part of herself the same as her hands or feet. But before she could offer another argument, the man finished hurriedly: "It's settled now.
Without answering him, Jinnie said: "Then take Happy Pete and don't move until I get back. Just pray and pray and pray! That's all." Happy Pete snuggled his head under Bobbie's arm and they both sat very still. The boy scarcely dared to breathe, he was so anxious to please his Jinnie. The farthest window in the inner room door seemed to be the best one to attack.
The girl took one impetuous step forward and noted Lafe's white, agonized face. Then she caught a glimpse of the stricken men on the floor. Her tongue refused its office, and dropping the blind child's fingers, she came quickly forward. "Call help! Hurry! Get a doctor!" gasped Lafe, and Jinnie, without saying a word, rushed out.
This done, the girl returned to Molly, who stood at the window staring out upon the tracks. She turned quickly, and Jinnie noticed her eyes were full of tears. "I suppose you won't refuse to tell me something of my my little boy?" she pleaded. Tears welled over Jinnie's lids too. Bobbie's presence and adoration were still fresh in her mind. "He's dead," she mourned. "My little Bobbie!
"I thought you wouldn't let me " "You didn't ask me, did you, Jinnie?" "No, because because " "Because why?" Lafe intended to get at the root of the matter. "Too long from the shop! Bobbie needs me," replied Jinnie. "I don't think so, child.... The kid'd be all right with me and Peg." "Lafe?" cried Jinnie, standing up and throwing her arms around him.
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