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Updated: June 26, 2025
Her inability to be of any service to him only added to the child's sorrow; tears came into her eyes as she stood looking at the closed door, for she felt completely shut out of his life. At supper that night, when her aunt asked her "what ailed her," and invited Mrs. Mangenborn to look at "Jenny's long face," the child tried to laugh, failed completely, and burst into a flood of tears.
"Oh, yes, you will," confidently replied Miss Husted. "Mrs. Mangenborn says it is in the cards that great fortune is coming to you." "In the next world, perhaps," said Von Barwig, laughing in spite of himself. "Besides," went on Miss Husted, "it doesn't matter one way or the other. I could never bear the idea.
Only yesterday morning I had to beg him almost on my bended knees to join us at dinner and then he only came in to oblige me. He ate scarcely anything, poor dear!" "Does he pay regularly?" inquired Mrs. Mangenborn, with a lack of sympathy noted by her friend. "As regularly as clockwork," snapped Miss Husted. "Half price, but how long will he be able to pay even that?
"This is your house, and it is your duty to see that it is conducted respectably!" "Respectably? Am I to understand, Mrs. Mangenborn, that you intend to convey a hint that my house is not conducted respectably?" demanded Miss Husted. Her back at this moment could not have been straighter had she been leaning against the wall. "Why, no!" assented Mrs.
Mangenborn's room and breathlessly gasped that her fortune had come true, for the front parlor and bedroom were let at their full prices. "Just think of it, Mrs. Mangborn," as Miss Husted insisted on calling her "guest," "just think of it, full price in summer!" Mrs. Mangenborn rose to the occasion. "Why not?" demanded she, as if offended by Miss Husted's enthusiasm, "why not? The cards never lie!
No," went on Miss Husted, now thoroughly aroused, "but you tell a great many things that you don't know! Not one of your fortunes has come true, lately, not one!" The cards had toppled over, there were no more fortunes in them, and Mrs. Mangenborn saw that her reign had come to an end.
Of course she sympathised with his misfortune, but thought he should have taken care of his money and not have handed it to the first person who asked for it, so that now he was a pauper. She discussed this delicate point with Mrs. Mangenborn in the strict privacy of her room, but Jenny's ears were very sharp and her sympathy went out to young Poons.
The fat lady sniffed contemptuously and sat down. "I think it's the sign 'Furnished Rooms' that can claim the honour," she said simply. "Sit down, Jenny, and stop fidgeting," Miss Husted snapped out, ignoring the fat lady's attempt at smartness. "I want a room if you have one vacant. My name is Mangenborn." "Top floor?" inquired Miss Husted.
"I suppose you think a lady of my avoirdupois ought to live on the top floor so as to have plenty of exercise, eh?" inquired Mrs. Mangenborn with an attempt at humour. Then, without waiting for a reply, she went on: "Well, you've just guessed right! What kind of people do you have in this house?" "My guests are artists and gentlemen."
"We don't know him yet; he " Miss Husted hesitated. "Ah, I see!" said Von Barwig, a flood of light breaking in on him. "But I know he will come!" Von Barwig shook his head. "You have been consulting Mrs. Mangenborn, the lady who promises you a fortune for fifty cents. Ah, my dear Miss Husted, when will you understand life as it is? You take the false for the real and the real for the false!"
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