DRUCE PROVES A TRUE PROPHET
Saturday night begins at the Cafe Sinister at nine o'clock. At that hour
the twin columns of glass at its portal are lighted and the Levee pours
the first of its revelers into the spacious ground floor drinking room.
The orchestra strikes up the first of its syncopated melodies; the
barkeepers arrange their polished glasses in glittering rows; the
waiters, soft-footed and watchful, take their places at their appointed
stations.
The revelers come in an order regulated by inexorable circumstance. In
the van are the women with the professional escorts, haggard creatures
who have served their time in the district and who are on the brink of
that oblivion which means starvation and slow death. Youth and health
have flown and now no paint nor cosmetic can cloak their real character.
They must come early because their need of money is bitter and a watchful
eye for opportunity must take the place of the physical allurement that
once made life in the tenderloin so easy. They sink into their seats and
wait, contemptuous of their escorts, and yet pitifully dependent upon
them. For without the escorts they cannot enter the Cafe Sinister. That
is a tribute which the rulers of the tenderloin, through them, pays
tribute to the majesty of the law.
A group of hardened rounders follows. These are men to whom the Cafe
Sinister and the district have become a habit. They bring with them women
of their own kind--women who, through years of dissipation, have still,
like misers, managed to hoard some trace of bloom. They drink deeply, for
the men are spenders. The wine flows free and the talk grows loud.
Occasionally a man quarrels profanely with his companion and a
soft-footed waiter with a thug's face whispers him to sullen silence.
An hour flies by. Now the Levee, roused from its sodden, day-long
slumber, is wide awake. The way between the twin pillars at the Cafe
Sinister's entrance is choked with the flood of merry-makers. These
newcomers are not so easy to classify as their predecessors. They are the
crowd from the street,--the thief with his girl pal, eager to spend the
plunder of their last successful exploit; the big corporation's
entertainer, out to show a party of country customers the sights of a
great city; the visitor from afar, lonely and seeking excitement; the man
about town, the respectable woman who with a trusted male confidant seeks
shady and clandestine amusement; college students with unspoiled
appetites off for a lark; women of the district still new enough to the
life of vice to find pleasure in its excitements; periodical drinkers out
for a night of it; clerks, cashiers, bookkeepers, schoolboys and roues.
And here and there, weaving in and out through this heterogeneous mob
lurks the pander seeking for his prey--the ignorant young girl, trembling
on the verge of her first step into the depths, the little lost sister of
tomorrow.
By ten o'clock the merry making in the Cafe Sinister had attained the
vociferousness of a riot. As the swift-footed waiters passed more and
more liquor about, the voices of the speakers rose higher and higher. At
last the orchestra itself could scarcely be heard. The singers, half
maudlin themselves, and knowing they could not be heard above the
universal din, abandoned harmony and resorted to shouts and suggestive
gyrations. A woman fell helplessly into the arms of her escort who,
gloating, winked knowingly at a male companion. Another drunkenly
attempted to dance and was restrained by the waiters. An elderly
reprobate, convoying two unsteady young girls, importuned Druce for one
of his private dining rooms.
Druce and Anson watched over the revelers and directed the entertainers.
"The Mastiff," comfortably full of his favorite liquor, whisky, glowered
on the crowd with as near an aspect of good nature as he was able to
muster. Druce, who knew his own success in business was due to alertness
of mind and who was almost an ascetic in the matter of drink, was no less
at peace with the world.
"Money in that crowd," rumbled the huge Anson.
"Yes," replied Druce, "business is mighty good."
"How about our lease?"
"The blow-off comes tonight."
"You're sure of your plans?"
"I am, if young Boland shows up."
"Well, he'll be here?"
"Yes, I wrote him an anonymous letter telling him if he wanted to see his
girl, he could find her singing at the Cafe Sinister."
"That ought to fetch him. How about the old man?"
"He sent me word today that he'd be here and that he'd dropped hints to
the son he'd heard some bad stuff about the girl."
"You haven't talked to him?"
"No; I got my orders. I stayed away."
"How about the Welcome kid you married?"
"She's down and out. I sent one of our cappers early in the week to look
her up. Somebody'd slipped her a lone five dollar bill. She woke up
yesterday morning broke. I don't know where she's eating, but I've sent
word through the district to keep her hungry. She'll be in tonight."
Druce spoke with indifference, but the truth was that he was not at all
sure that Elsie Welcome would return. He had begun to respect the girl's
strength of character. He had scarcely finished his sentence when he gave
a gasp of relief.
"Ah-h!" he muttered.
"What's that?" demanded Anson.
"Here she comes now."
As they looked down through the drinking room they saw the slender figure
of a girl approaching. She came slowly, supporting her wavering steps
with the backs of the revelers' chairs. Her face was pale and desperately
haggard. Several of the men as she passed clutched at her skirts and
shouted invitations at her. She tore herself away from them and made
straight for the place where Druce and Anson were standing. For a moment,
Druce almost felt sorry for her.
"You're back, kid?" he said softly.
"Yes," replied the girl, fiercely.
"You're going to be good?"
Elsie burst out sobbing. It was her last struggle.
"Come now, Elsie," Druce spoke almost tenderly. "Don't snivel."
"Martin," the girl gasped appealingly. "O, my God! Be kind to me."
"Don't worry about me, girlie. You forget that Sunday school stuff and
you'll get along with me fine. You're hungry, aren't you, kid?"
"I'm starving," replied the girl.
"Come with me. I'll have the chef get you a big feed. After that I want
you to come back and do what I tell you. I won't be hard on you, kid.
You'll not have to work tonight. All I'll want you to do is sit up on the
stand with my other entertainers."
Elsie was too broken in spirit to reply. She followed her master dumbly.
He led her to one of his small private dining rooms, arranged a seat for
her and turned on the lights. Then he went back to the kitchen to order
the girl's meal.
After Druce had left, Elsie folded her arms on the table and cushioning
her head on them, began to weep softly. Druce returned with the food,
kissed her to take the sting from the feed, which both he and she knew
was the price of her shame, and left her. The girl ate ravenously.
Afterward she fell into an uneasy slumber against the cushions of the
booth.
She was awakened by someone entering the room. Looking up, she saw the
bowed figure and gray hair of an elderly woman. The intruder carried a
bucket of hot water in one hand and a mop in the other. She had come into
the booth thinking it unoccupied, and did not see Elsie until she was
very close to her.
"I beg your pardon," she said, dropping her mop and bucket and starting
back.
Elsie stared at her. Then she stood up, her face pale as death, her eyes
starting like the eyes of one who has seen a vision.
"Mother!" she screamed. "Oh, God! Mother!" and flung herself into her
mother's arms.