Maggie, a Girl of the Streets and Other New York Writings Page 8

  The morning after Maggie had departed from home, Pete stood behind the bar. He was immaculate in white jacket and apron and his hair was plastered over his brow with infinite correctness. No customers were in the place. Pete was twisting his napkined fist slowly in a beer glass, softly whistling to himself and occasionally holding the object of his attention between his eyes and a few weak beams of sunlight that had found their way over the thick screens and into the shaded room.

  With lingering thoughts of the woman of brilliance and audacity, the bartender raised his head and stared through the varying cracks between the swaying bamboo doors. Suddenly the whistling pucker faded from his lips. He saw Maggie walking slowly past. He gave a great start, fearing for the previously-mentioned eminent respectability of the place.

  He threw a swift, nervous glance about him, all at once feeling guilty. No one was in the room.

  He went hastily over to the side door. Opening it and looking out, he perceived Maggie standing, as if undecided, on the corner. She was searching the place with her eyes.

  As she turned her face toward him Pete beckoned to her hurriedly, intent upon returning with speed to a position behind the bar and to the atmosphere of respectability upon which the proprietor insisted.

  Maggie came to him, the anxious look disappearing from her face and a smile wreathing her lips.

  “Oh, Pete—,” she began brightly.

  The bartender made a violent gesture of impatience.

  “Oh, my Gawd,” cried he, vehemently. “What deh hell do yeh wanna hang aroun’ here fer? Do yeh wanna git me inteh trouble?” he demanded with an air of injury.

  Astonishment swept over the girl’s features. “Why, Pete! yehs tol’ me—”

  Pete glanced profound irritation. His countenance reddened with the anger of a man whose respectability is being threatened.

  “Say, yehs makes me tired. See? What deh hell deh yeh wanna tag aroun’ atter me fer? Yeh’ll git me inteh trouble wid deh ol’ man an’ dey’ll be hell teh pay! If he sees a woman roun’ here he’ll go crazy an’ I’ll lose me job! See? Ain’ yehs got no sense? Don’ be allus bodderin’ me. See? Yer brudder come in here an’ raised hell an’ deh ol’ man hada put up fer it! An’ now I’m done! See? I’m done.”

  The girl’s eyes stared into his face. “Pete, don’ yeh remem—”

  “Oh, hell,” interrupted Pete, anticipating.

  The girl seemed to have a struggle with herself. She was apparently bewildered and could not find speech. Finally she asked in a low voice: “But where kin I go?”

  The question exasperated Pete beyond the powers of endurance. It was a direct attempt to give him some responsibility in a matter that did not concern him. In his indignation he volunteered information.

  “Oh, go teh hell,” cried he. He slammed the door furiously and returned, with an air of relief, to his respectability.

  Maggie went away.

  She wandered aimlessly for several blocks. She stopped once and asked aloud a question of herself: “Who?”

  A man who was passing near her shoulder, humorously took the questioning word as intended for him.

  “Eh? What? Who? Nobody! I didn’t say anything,” he laughingly said, and continued his way.

  Soon the girl discovered that if she walked with such apparent aimlessness, some men looked at her with calculating eyes. She quickened her step, frightened. As a protection, she adopted a demeanor of intentness as if going somewhere.

  After a time she left rattling avenues and passed between rows of houses with sternness and stolidity stamped upon their features. She hung her head for she felt their eyes grimly upon her.

  Suddenly she came upon a stout gentleman in a silk hat and a chaste black coat, whose decorous row of buttons reached from his chin to his knees. The girl had heard of the Grace of God and she decided to approach this man.

  His beaming, chubby face was a picture of benevolence and kind-heartedness. His eyes shone good-will.

  But as the girl timidly accosted him, he gave a convulsive movement and saved his respectability by a vigorous sidestep. He did not risk it to save a soul. For how was he to know that there was a soul before him that needed saving?

  XVII

  Upon a wet evening, several months after the last chapter, two interminable rows of cars, pulled by slipping horses, jangled along a prominent side-street. A dozen cabs, with coat-enshrouded drivers, clattered to and fro. Electric lights, whirring softly, shed a blurred radiance. A flower dealer, his feet tapping impatiently, his nose and his wares glistening with rain-drops, stood behind an array of roses and chrysanthemums. Two or three theatres emptied a crowd upon the storm-swept pavements. Men pulled their hats over their eyebrows and raised their collars to their ears. Women shrugged impatient shoulders in their warm cloaks and stopped to arrange their skirts for a walk through the storm. People having been comparatively silent for two hours burst into a roar of conversation, their hearts still kindling from the glowings of the stage.

  The pavements became tossing seas of umbrellas. Men stepped forth to hail cabs or cars, raising their fingers in varied forms of polite request or imperative demand. An endless procession wended toward elevated stations. An atmosphere of pleasure and prosperity seemed to hang over the throng, born, perhaps, of good clothes and of having just emerged from a place of forgetfulness.

  In the mingled light and gloom of an adjacent park, a handful of wet wanderers, in attitudes of chronic dejection, was scattered among the benches.

  A girl of the painted cohorts of the city went along the street. She threw changing glances at men who passed her, giving smiling invitations to men of rural or untaught pattern and usually seeming sedately unconscious of the men with a metropolitan seal upon their faces.

  Crossing glittering avenues, she went into the throng emerging from the places of forgetfulness. She hurried forward through the crowd as if intent upon reaching a distant home, bending forward in her handsome cloak, daintily lifting her skirts and picking for her well-shod feet the dryer spots upon the pavements.

  The restless doors of saloons, clashing to and fro, disclosed animated rows of men before bars and hurrying barkeepers.

  A concert hall gave to the street faint sounds of swift, machinelike music, as if a group of phantom musicians were hastening.

  A tall young man, smoking a cigarette with a sublime air, strolled near the girl. He had on evening dress, a moustache, a chrysanthemum, and a look of ennui, all of which he kept carefully under his eye. Seeing the girl walk on as if such a young man as he was not in existence, he looked back transfixed with interest. He stared glassily for a moment, but gave a slight convulsive start when he discerned that she was neither new, Parisian, nor theatrical. He wheeled about hastily and turned his stare into the air, like a sailor with a searchlight.

  A stout gentleman, with pompous and philanthropic whiskers, went stolidly by, the broad of his back sneering at the girl.

  A belated man in business clothes, and in haste to catch a car, bounced against her shoulder. “Hi, there, Mary, I beg your pardon! Brace up, old girl.” He grasped her arm to steady her, and then was away running down the middle of the street.

  The girl walked on out of the realm of restaurants and saloons. She passed more glittering avenues and went into darker blocks than those where the crowd travelled.

  A young man in light overcoat and derby hat received a glance shot keenly from the eyes of the girl. He stopped and looked at her, thrusting his hands in his pockets and making a mocking smile curl his lips. “Come, now, old lady,” he said, “you don’t mean to tell me that you sized me up for a farmer?”

  A laboring man marched along with bundles under his arms. To her remarks, he replied: “It’s a fine evenin’, ain’t it?”

  She smiled squarely into the face of a boy who was hurrying by with his hands buried in his overcoat, his blonde locks bobbing on his youthful temples, and a cheery smile of unconcern upon his lips. He turned his head and smiled back at her, w
aving his hands.

  “Not this eve—some other eve!”

  A drunken man, reeling in her pathway, began to roar at her. “I ain’ ga no money, dammit,” he shouted, in a dismal voice. He lurched on up the street, wailing to himself, “Dammit, I ain’ ga no money. Damn ba’ luck. Ain’ ga no more money.”

  The girl went into gloomy districts near the river, where the tall black factories shut in the street and only occasional broad beams of light fell across the pavements from saloons. In front of one of these places, from whence came the sound of a violin vigorously scraped, the patter of feet on boards and the ring of loud laughter, there stood a man with blotched features.

  “Ah, there,” said the girl.

  “I’ve got a date,” said the man.

  Further on in the darkness she met a ragged being with shifting, blood-shot eyes and grimey hands. “Ah, what deh hell? Tink I’m a millionaire?”

  She went into the blackness of the final block. The shutters of the tall buildings were closed like grim lips. The structures seemed to have eyes that looked over her, beyond her, at other things. Afar off the lights of the avenues glittered as if from an impossible distance. Street car bells jingled with a sound of merriment.

  When almost to the river the girl saw a great figure. On going forward she perceived it to be a huge fat man in torn and greasy garments. His grey hair straggled down over his forehead. His small, bleared eyes, sparkling from amidst great rolls of red fat, swept eagerly over the girl’s upturned face. He laughed, his brown, disordered teeth gleaming under a grey, grizzled moustache from which beer-drops dripped. His whole body gently quivered and shook like that of a dead jelly fish. Chuckling and leering, he followed the girl of the crimson legions.

  At their feet the river appeared a deathly black hue. Some hidden factory sent up a yellow glare, that lit for a moment the waters lapping oilily against timbers. The varied sounds of life, made joyous by distance and seeming unapproachableness, came faintly and died away to a silence.

  XVIII

  In a partitioned-off section of a saloon sat a man with a half dozen women, gleefully laughing, hovering about him. The man had arrived at that stage of drunkenness where affection is felt for the universe.

  “I’m good f’ler, girls,” he said, convincingly. “I’m damn good f’ler. An’body treats me right, I allus trea’s zem right! See?”

  The women nodded their heads approvingly. “To be sure,” they cried in hearty chorus. “You’re the kind of a man we like, Pete. You’re outa sight! What yeh goin’ to buy this time, dear?”

  “An’thin’ yehs wants, damn it,” said the man in an abandonment of good will. His countenance shone with the true spirit of benevolence. He was in the proper mode of missionaries. He would have fraternized with obscure Hottentots. And above all, he was overwhelmed in tenderness for his friends, who were all illustrious.

  “An’thing yehs wants, damn it,” repeated he, waving his hands with beneficent recklessness. “I’m good f’ler, girls, an’ if an’body treats me right I—here,” called he through an open door to a waiter, “bring girls drinks, damn it. What ‘ill yehs have, girls? An’thing yehs want, damn it!”

  The waiter glanced in with the disgusted look of the man who serves intoxicants for the man who takes too much of them. He nodded his head shortly at the order from each individual, and went.

  “Damn it,” said the man, “we’re havin’ heluva time. I like you girls! Damn’d if I don’t! Yer right sort! See?”

  He spoke at length and with feeling, concerning the excellencies of his assembled friends.

  “Don’ try pull man’s leg, but have a heluva time! Das right! Das way teh do! Now, if I sawght yehs tryin’ work me fer drinks, wouldn’ buy damn t’ing! But yer right sort, damn it! Yehs know how ter treat a f’ler, an’ I stays by yehs ’til spen’ las’ cent! Das right! I’m good f’ler an’ I knows when an’body treats me right!”

  Between the times of the arrival and departure of the waiter, the man discoursed to the women on the tender regard he felt for all living things. He laid stress upon the purity of his motives in all dealings with men in the world and spoke of the fervor of his friendship for those who were amiable. Tears welled slowly from his eyes. His voice quavered when he spoke to them.

  Once when the waiter was about to depart with an empty tray, the man drew a coin from his pocket and held it forth.

  “Here,” said he, quite magnificently, “here’s quar’.”

  The waiter kept his hands on his tray.

  “I don’ want yer money,” he said.

  The other put forth the coin with tearful insistence.

  “Here, damn it,” cried he, “tak’t! Yer damn goo’ f’ler an’ I wan’ yehs tak’t!”

  “Come, come, now,” said the waiter, with the sullen air of a man who is forced into giving advice. “Put yer mon in yer pocket! Yer loaded an’ yehs on’y makes a damn fool of yerself.”

  As the latter passed out of the door the man turned pathetically to the women.

  “He don’ know I’m damn goo’ f’ler,” cried he, dismally.

  “Never you mind, Pete, dear,” said a woman of brilliance and audacity, laying her hand with great affection upon his arm. “Never you mind, old boy! We’ll stay by you, dear!”

  “Das ri’,” cried the man, his face lighting up at the soothing tones of the woman’s voice. “Das ri’, I’m damn goo’ f’ler an’ w’en anyone trea’s me ri’, I treats zem ri’! Shee!”

  “Sure!” cried the women. “And we’re not goin’ back on you, old man.”

  The man turned appealing eyes to the woman of brilliance and audacity. He felt that if he could be convicted of a contemptible action he would die.

  “Shay, Nell, damn it, I allus trea’s yehs shquare, didn’ I? I allus been goo’ f’ler wi’ yehs, ain’t I, Nell?”

  “Sure you have, Pete,” assented the woman. She delivered an oration to her companions. “Yessir, that’s a fact. Pete’s a square fellah, he is. He never goes back on a friend. He’s the right kind an’ we stay by him, don’t we, girls?”

  “Sure,” they exclaimed. Looking lovingly at him they raised their glasses and drank his health.

  “Girlsh,” said the man, beseechingly, “I allus trea’s yehs ri’, didn’ I? I’m goo’ f’ler, ain’ I, girlsh?”

  “Sure,” again they chorused.

  “Well,” said he finally, “le’s have nozzer drink, zen.”

  “That’s right,” hailed a woman, “that’s right. Yer no bloomin’ jay! Yer spends yer money like a man. Dat’s right.”

  The man pounded the table with his quivering fists.

  “Yessir,” he cried, with deep earnestness, as if someone disputed him. “I’m damn goo’ f’ler, an’ w’en anyone trea’s me ri’, I allus trea’s—le’s have nozzer drink.”

  He began to beat the wood with his glass.

  “Shay,” howled he, growing suddenly impatient. As the waiter did not then come, the man swelled with wrath.

  “Shay,” howled he again.

  The waiter appeared at the door.

  “Bringsh drinksh,” said the man.

  The waiter disappeared with the orders.

  “Zat f’ler dam fool,” cried the man. “He insul’ me! I’m ge’man! Can’ stan’ be insul’! I’m goin’ lickim when comes!”

  “No, no,” cried the women, crowding about and trying to subdue him. “He’s all right! He didn’t mean anything! Let it go! He’s a good fellah!”

  “Din’ he insul’ me?” asked the man earnestly.

  “No,” said they. “Of course he didn’t! He’s all right!”

  “Sure he didn’ insul’ me?” demanded the man, with deep anxiety in his voice.

  “No, no! We know him! He’s a good fellah. He didn’t mean anything.”

  “Well, zen,” said the man, resolutely, “I’m go’ ’pol’gize!”

  When the waiter came, the man struggled to the middle of the floor.

  “Girlsh shed you
insul’ me! I shay damn lie! I ‘pol’gize!”

  “All right,” said the waiter.

  The man sat down. He felt a sleepy but strong desire to straighten things out and have a perfect understanding with everybody.

  “Nell, I allus trea’s yeh shquare, din I? Yeh likes me, don’ yehs, Nell? I’m goo’ f’ler?”

  “Sure,” said the woman of brilliance and audacity.

  “Yeh knows I’m stuck on yehs, don’ yehs, Nell?”

  “Sure,” she repeated, carelessly.

  Overwhelmed by a spasm of drunken adoration, he drew two or three bills from his pocket, and, with the trembling fingers of an offering priest, laid them on the table before the woman.

  “Yehs knows, damn it, yehs kin have all got, ’cause I’m stuck on yehs, Nell, damn’t, I—I’m stuck on yehs, Nell—buy drinksh—damn’t—we’re havin’ heleva time—w’en anyone trea’s me ri’—I—damn’t, Nell—we’re havin’ heluva—time.”

  Shortly he went to sleep with his swollen face fallen forward on his chest.

  The women drank and laughed, not heeding the slumbering man in the corner. Finally he lurched forward and fell groaning to the floor.

  The women screamed in disgust and drew back their skirts.

  “Come ahn,” cried one, starting up angrily, “let’s get out of here.”

  The woman of brilliance and audacity stayed behind, taking up the bills and stuffing them into a deep, irregularly-shaped pocket. A guttural snore from the recumbent man caused her to turn and look down at him.

  She laughed. “What a damn fool,” she said, and went.

  The smoke from the lamps settled heavily down in the little compartment, obscuring the way out. The smell of oil, stifling in its intensity, pervaded the air. The wine from an overturned glass dripped softly down upon the blotches on the man’s neck.

  XIX

  In a room a woman sat at a table eating like a fat monk in a picture. A soiled, unshaven man pushed open the door and entered.

  “Well,” said he, “Mag’s dead.”

  “What?” said the woman, her mouth filled with bread.