the evening after a general mix up of legs, bare arms, slippers and
tights, in the main dressing-room, the call boy would summon us to
appear in the first act. The music, the lights and the favors which
men heaped upon me did much to keep the excitement at a fever heat.
How well I remember the first pay day, I paid my little bills with the
importance of a king of Wall street. Flowers filled my room each day,
and if I became a favorite it was simply because I worked with a desire
to please. One day the musical director stopped me as I was going out of
the theater; we had quite a talk, all in an undertone and all in regard
to my work. He was simply advising me; as I started away, Dollie Squires
stepped from behind a wing.
“‘It’s a wonder you wouldn’t talk to that country girl all day,’ she said
to the Prof.
“I was too intensely exercised at the remark to reply; I went to my room
and related the incident to Bertha Walls, my room-mate. She laughed loud
and long.
“‘That is good,’ she finally said, as she struggled for breath.
“‘Why?’ said I.
“‘Because, you see, she is jealous and I am glad of it. Go in, little
country girl, and show her a thing or two.’
“‘Nothing to be gained by that,’ said I.
“‘Yes there is, she is as mean as the old scratch, not a girl likes her,
and if she doesn’t make you trouble, I’ll lose my guess.’
“‘How can she make me trouble?’
“‘Easy enough. If she wants you put out of the company, out you go. You
see, she is a pet of the Prof’s, and if he kicks on your work, Althy,
your time is up.’
“‘But she won’t do that, will she?’
“‘Sure she will; she has put lots of girls out of business in this house.’
“Next night as I left the stage door a hand was laid on my arm, and,
looking up, I saw Leon. I was glad, yet sorry to see him.
“‘Althea,’ said he, ‘I bring you bad news.’
“‘What can it be?’ I asked.
“‘Your mother is very ill.’
“I questioned him closely and learned that my mother had been sick abed
for ten days. He had set out to find me, and if possible, persuade me
to return home, but I could not do that, much as I wished to, for I was
now a bread-winner and the support of an afflicted mother. My argument
won, and he finally left me; it was not long until I needed him, for
the second day after that I received notice that my contract would be
canceled at the end of the week.
“What was I to do? I told some of the girls, and one of them, a little
brunette, said to me, ‘Well, I am leaving the company this week, anyway,
and I don’t mind telling you where your trouble started.’
“‘Tell me please,’ said I.
“‘Dollie Squires, of course.’
“‘But I have never harmed Dollie; tell me some way that I can become
reinstated.’
“‘Go to the musical director, he is the power behind the throne.’
“I went. That night I went to lunch with him after the performance. Next
day, Dollie, on small pretext, assailed me in an unmerciful manner; she
heaped abuse upon my head. I said nothing when she had finished, but had
the regulation cry; when I came out I came with teeth set hard, what was
the use? My condition was not to be considered. My poor mother was a
deceived and ruined woman, my father whom I had worshiped as a divinity,
was a bigamist and a seducer. The blight was on me. My mother was ill; it
was due to my father’s misstep that I was placed where I now was. I must
now feed, clothe, and house the woman whose life he had ruined.
“Professor Riggles was ugly, red-faced and slouchy in his habits, but he
told me his wife objected to his dressing better, and besides, he was
so wrapped up in his music that he cared little, in fact, there was not
much in this world to make him happy. I was touched by his pitiful story.
I asked him how Dollie happened to have such an influence over him; he
laughed and said she was a willful, headstrong girl.
“The fact that I could hurt her never entered my head until I was
dressing for the first call after she had abused me so, when I overheard
a conversation between two of the girls.
“‘I wish she would,’ said one, ‘it would be just good enough for her, and
if Althy would try she could make herself so solid with old Rig. that he
would throw that smarty Squires out.’
“That was enough, I had nothing to lose.
“Just before the overture, Prof. Riggles came on the stage and left a
note with the call boy for me. It said, ‘Meet me at the ⸺ Hotel, twelve
tonight.’
“I was curious to know why it should take him so long to go the short
distance (for we always got out at 10:45). I watched and when he left,
Dollie was with him. I saw them get into a carriage and drive rapidly
south; I began to dream and wonder what it all meant, then like ‘a good
little girl’ I went to the appointed place and waited; he came at twelve;
we had a dinner, some wine, and then⸺” the girl snapped the stub of a
cigarette across the small room, during the pause.
“After Prof, had gone from the room next morning I found a door key on
the floor, which, as I afterwards learned, had fallen from his pocket.
That night I was placed in a more prominent part in the piece. I was
kindly received; my old admirers were joined by numerous new ones; after
the show Prof. Riggles came to me and said, ‘my girl, you did fine.’
“Dollie Squires never spoke to me after that; she told some of the girls
that she ‘would put me to sleep.’ When the time came for me to leave, I
simply asked the Prof. if he could assist me to a place; he told me that
the leading lady was suffering from a cold and that I was to rehearse for
the understudy’s part in the piece as I might be called at any time.
“When the director made the announcement on the stage that I would be
called to play the leading role and the entire company should stay for
two rehearsals, Dollie ‘went up in the air.’ She flew into a rage, then
into hysterics, for she was supposed to be the next girl up.
“She left the theater in a rage; the next day at noon, I received a
note from Prof. Riggles, telling me to come to a certain number on the
south side. I went and was let into a handsomely furnished flat, by a
colored maid. I found the Prof. in bed with a bullet hole in his arm.
He explained to me how he had been held up the night before. It was a
week before he could attend to his duties, meantime, I continued to take
the leading role each day, not because I loved him, but from a point
of appreciation I took many of the flowers which I received the night
previous and arranged them in his room. One day I asked him where his
wife was.
“‘Oh, over on the west side,’ he said.
“‘But had you not better go home?’
“‘No, not until the measly arm gets good. You see, Althy, I am in New
York now, working on a new piece.’
“Presents of every form and description poured in upon me; I was wined
and dined; poor little simpering fool, I thought it was life. Men
insisted on paying my bills; I received money as tokens of kindness.
“So great was the line of my gifts, that on each pay-day I was able to
send my mother all my salary. Silk from the skin out, my head adorned
with the most exquisite Parisian creations, and some blithering idiot
always at my heels. Is it any wonder my head was turned?
“When the Prof. recovered he told me that the apartment in which I had
visited him was to be my home; my breath almost failed me, but the
arrangements were quickly made, then there was a long series of late
dinners in my flat; no home had more luxuries; I received many callers.
It was not until this had been going on for three months that I was
awakened, then I got a letter from Dollie. She was living in a house in
a disreputable part of the city; she told me it was she who had shot
the Prof., ‘and if you knew,’ she said, ‘that old Rig. gets from five to
fifty dollars from every one he introduces to you, you would make him
divide. You need not think he gets all he spends on you from his salary.’
“Of course I did not believe it. She closed by saying that the home I now
occupied had once been her own, and of course, I, in time, must give up
to some one else, ‘for you will grow tired of being his dog, and you had
as well come where I am.’
“I asked Prof. about it all and he persuaded me to believe that she was
only indulging in sour grapes. A few days later I managed to win favor
in the eyes of the colored girl by giving her a bright red skirt that
an admirer from Milwaukee had insisted on buying for me; the next day I
clinched the compact by presenting her with a heavy gold chain, which had
also been placed at my disposal by some country bumpkin. Then as I handed
her a glass of wine, I said, ‘Alice, what was the girl’s name who was
here just before I was, I mean the one who shot Prof?’
“‘Oh, honey, doan you know?’
“I have forgotten the last name. Dollie somebody, wasn’t it?’
“‘Yes, honey, dat jes it, Dollie Squires,’ she said as she smacked her
wine laden lips. Then she told me the whole story. I heard her through,
went to my room, took a key from my dresser drawer and tried it in
the front door. That night I gave the Professor the key and told him
everything I knew. He grew pale and quivered like an aspen leaf. I would
have killed him if I had been armed.
“The season closed; I visited my mother, took her up into the mountains
and resolved to tell her all, but while there she improved so rapidly
and seemed so happy at my success as a singer, that my heart failed me.
I could not take away the little sweetness that remained in her life;
it only spurred me on to greater deeds, when day by day I saw her eyes
grow brighter, her cheeks take on a healthy glow, her voice become more
cheery, I actually could not end it all.
“When the season opened I left her and came back, back to the theater
with its rows of light and entrancing music, back to the dinners and
flowers and back to the flat and Riggles, for my mother I could do all.
I was soon relieved of that responsibility, for mother died suddenly one
day. I went home and for fear that her spirit might learn what I knew in
regard to my father, I took all that remained and the casket containing
the same, and buried it beside the only man she had loved. It was a
cold, dreary day; snow, which was half rain when it struck the streets,
was sifting heavily through the air. I arrived from the scene of death
over the Burlington route; when I reached the Union Station it was eight
o’clock, the atmosphere seemed tuned to my oppressed frame of mind; I
thought to walk part way up town. I had gone but a short distance when I
met a little girl about seven years old; she stopped me to beg. I looked
her over, and there, under the flickering light, I saw a pinched face,
so poor and thin that the drawn mouth only added pity to the expression
of the big, blue eyes; the little calico frock which the wind whipped
tightly around her skinny form looked as though it would fall to pieces
with each gust. The pale forehead was made more ghostly by the large
blue veins that were plainly seen, while the one poor little plait of
hair seemed to add loneliness to the big, white ears, that I could see
through.
“‘Where do you live?’ was my first remark.
“‘Oh, ma’m, I—I—don’t want to tell you, it isn’t a bit nice place, but
you see, we can’t help it; mamma, she is sick and papa don’t have work
all the time, and grandma, she is sick and papa he has to go stay at her
house three nights a week, and that leaves mamma and me awful lonesome
sometimes, but mamma told me to-day that she guessed she’d die before
long, then I would go and live with grandma, then I could see papa every
day. But, please, ma’m, I don’t want mamma to die; I don’t want to live
with grandma, and I des know if mamma had somethin’ to eat she wouldn’t
die, either.’
“I went with the child. I thanked God for having found her. Such a
wretched place to live; four dingy rooms on an alley, a poor, miserable
cook stove, made all the heat the apartment had. A grimy, smoking
kerosene lamp in the hands of the child, led me to a coop of a bedroom
and there, amid a pile of soiled and torn rubbish that had at some time
been entitled to the name bed clothing, lay a half starved, pain-racked
wretch, called woman, in filth too great for a beast, in pain too intense
for a strong man to bear, burning with fever and shivering with chills,
and at the same time moaning, tossing and suffering only as a neglected
soul and body can suffer.
“I spoke to her; she tried to sit up in bed, but fell back with a wild
stare which told that it would require but little excitement to bring
an end to all her suffering. I went out and bought everything I could
think of; I can even now feel a tinge of happiness, as I think of how
I ordered the best imported delicacies; I bought coal, a new lamp, and
sent a doctor. That night, when I arrived at my elaborately furnished
apartments, I sat in my satin house robe and slippers and as my maid
brushed my hair I compared my surroundings with those I had visited
earlier in the evening, and became happy.
“At midnight the Prof. came; I had concluded I would not tell him of my
experience of the evening; it was none of his business and now that mamma
was gone, I had no one to care for and I could spend some of my salary in
helping some poor soul.
“Next day I called on my patient, as I called her, again; this time I
superintended and assisted in placing a new mattress and clean linen and
blankets on the bed, then, after calling the janitor’s wife, and having
her put a new gown on the woman, I left. I could not return that evening
as I had notified the manager that I would be on for my part and the
Prof. was going home with me after the theater, so I planned to go the
next night after the performance, for he told me that he had been away
from home two consecutive nights, and he ‘must show up’ at home that
night. He bade me good-night, when I got into the carriage. My driver
started out in the usual way for home, but owing to pre-arranged plans,
turned west as soon as we were out of sight of the theater. I was soon
in the sickroom and was delighted to see a great improvement; I carried
my arms full of flowers and when the bedside was reached, the poor woman
said, ‘Oh, these dear roses; that reminds me of when my husband used to
have steady work at the theater, he nearly always brought home flowers
that some of the ladies would give him, for he could not well afford to
buy them, and me sick. Oh, you don’t know, Miss, what a burden I have
been to him.’
“‘Did you say your husband was at some time employed at a theater,’ I
asked, with bright visions of what a star might be able to do to get him
a place.
“‘Yes, more than two years ago.’
“‘Tell him to come to me at the ⸺ theater tomorrow, and I will see if I
cannot get him a place.’
“‘Oh, then⸺’
“The words were stopped by the sound of a key in the lock and the little
girl running toward the door, shouting, ‘Oh, it’s papa, I know, for he
said he’d come home to-night.’
“How my heart bounded to think I could say some encouraging word to that
husband and father; my lips were shaped ready to speak my thoughts when
the child came into the room aglow and excited, trying to tell what a
good lady had done. I suppose I should have fainted when I looked up and
saw the Prof., but I didn’t. I arose and extended my hand, saying to
the little girl as I drew her to me with my left arm, ‘and this is your
papa,’ well, I am glad, so glad that I waited until you came, Mr. Rig;
‘Riggles,’ he stammered, as it slowly dawned upon him that I did not mean
to disclose the truth.
“I arranged to meet him the next day and assist him in procuring a
position. We met; I told him a few things; the fourth day after, I went
to his home in my own carriage, took his wife and child to my erstwhile
flat, explained to them that he had secured the position and could afford
them a better home.
“That was the last ride I ever took in my own private carriage. I sold my
horses, carriage, all my jewelry and many fine gowns, placed the proceeds
where Mrs. Riggles could draw a fixed sum weekly, then I sailed for
Europe. But a star in America is not always a star in a foreign country.
I stuck it out three years and then returned.
“Riggles? Oh, well, his wife died, he took up with Dollie Squires again,
and a double suicide in a Clark street resort put an end to his career
along with Dollie’s.
“The little girl? She grew up sweet like her mother; she is in a convent
now, be out soon, then my work is done.”
TALE SEVENTEEN.
A TRIP ACROSS THE LAKE.
“When Happiness comes knocking at my door,
I may not lift the latch to let her in,
Because, ah me! one forced his way before—
The ugly phantom of an ancient Sin.”
“It is a strange thing for me to want to tell you my story, but something
about you inspires me with a desire to confide in you, even though I have
not known you long.”
The speaker was tall with the angularity of an undeveloped school girl,
although self-confessed twenty-one years of age. She had bright, laughing
eyes, a large mouth, whose thick lips left an impression of coarseness.
Her hair was very heavy and dark, and she wore it dressed low over her
left eye, in the style of the day, which gave her an unnecessarily rakish
appearance. Yet, notwithstanding her unprepossessing appearance, there
was an indescribable something about her which drew one to her.
I assured her that I appreciated her confidence and thanked her for it.
“My parents were Methodists, and while I was carefully trained, they did
not keep me under such strict surveillance that I was not able to have
many liberties. At fifteen I was as large as I am now, and was in for
every bit of fun there was going. I always had a crowd with me, and
we rode our wheels everywhere (it was when the wheel craze was at its
height). I played the piano then even more than I do now, and lots of
times we would ride out to the parks and go to one of the club houses in
the vicinity to rest and I would play the piano and they would dance. So
the spring was passed, and mamma never reprimanded me if I was in the
house by ten or ten thirty. She must have thought no harm could befall me
as long as there was a crowd with me.
“One day mamma gave me permission to go to St. Joe with one of my girl
friends. We left on the nine o’clock boat, and were to return on the one
which arrives at midnight. We crossed without incident worthy of note.
On the return I noticed a tall, fine looking fellow watching us. He
was sitting on the upper deck. Girl like, my friend and I started up a
flirtation. He came over and talked to us and finally my friend asked me
to play. I did, and I have thought since that perhaps that was my chief
attraction for him then, as he was very fond of music. In the meantime
my friend had found some one to take up her time and Jack and I went up
on deck by ourselves. We sat side by side and the gentle motion of the
boat, the moon shining on the waters, the soft, warm breeze floating past
us, were enchanting and very conducive to love-making. He was much older
than I, but that made no difference to me. I thought only of the romantic
situation, and wondered if fate had brought this prince of men to me. He
kissed me and loved me as I had not imagined in my fondest dreams, and I
drank it all in, and returned it with interest.
“Before the boat reached Chicago he gave me his name and address, and I
had given him mine, and it was arranged that we should correspond. For
several weeks I heard from him regularly and then came a long silence. At
first I was hopeful, but at last my hope gave way to doubt, and I became
morose. I refused to eat and became as miserable as a sentimental girl of
fifteen could possibly be. I left school, finally, having prevailed upon
my mother to allow me to learn stenography. She consented, thinking, I
presume, that it was the best thing that could be done as long as I was
in my present frame of mind, although the cause of it was all a mystery
at the time.
“One night when I came home from school, I found a letter from the
Alexian Brothers’ hospital, telling me of the severe illness of Jack,
and that if I would see him alive, I must come at once. My heart was
almost bursting with its strain of conflicting emotions. At one moment I
was on the mountain top, filled with joy at the thought that he had not
forgotten me; the next, down in the valley of despair, fearing his death.
“I told mamma the whole occurrence, and while she did not approve of
an acquaintance made in such a way, she concluded to go with me to the
hospital. When we arrived we talked to the nurse a few moments, and
she told us that he had constantly called for Carrie in his delirium.
He never mentioned my last name, and as a last resort they thought of
looking through all his effects to see if there was anything among them
which would throw light on the subject.
“In his coat pocket they found his last letter to me, which he had
evidently not sent for some reason, and in this way they learned my
address. They thought it best for mamma to remain outside at first, until
they saw what effect, if any, my presence had upon him.
“I went up to the cot and kneeled beside it, putting my cool hand on his
burning forehead, and whispered ‘Jack’ very softly.
“He ceased his ravings and seemed to be listening. I repeated his name
and he murmured ‘Carrie.’
“That was the turning point in his disease. The fever abated and I
continued to visit him almost daily, sometimes in company with mamma,
sometimes alone. Mamma liked him very much indeed, and soon lost sight of
the way I met him.
“When he had recovered sufficiently to go out, he came over to our
house. He won papa over directly, a feat I had feared far more than that
of winning mamma, for he was so set in his ways. He improved the first
opportunity to ask papa for my hand, and he consented on condition that
we wait one year at least, for he thought I was too young to assume the
responsibilities of married life. So it was arranged. I continued with
my shorthand, and after I finished found a nice position in a lawyer’s
office.
“Jack would give me no peace until I would consent to marry him secretly.
He said he was afraid he would lose me. So one day we stole away and were
married. He was very tender with me, and taught me the beauty of married
relations, so slowly and gently, that I was not shocked, as I might
have been had he been different. To outward appearances he was only the
devoted lover and I, being his fiancee, he was allowed to call as often
as he chose and stay as late as he liked, for my parents had implicit
confidence in him.
“One day, six months after we were married, a strange man called at the
office to see me. I met him with a great deal of trepidation, fearing, I
don’t know what.
“‘Is your name Carrie Barnes?’ said he.
“I said, ‘Yes, what do you want?’
“‘Do you know one Jack Bates?’
“‘I do,’ said I, now thoroughly aroused to anger. ‘Is it any of your
business if I do?’
“He looked at me kindly, yet gravely, and replied in even tones, ‘I am
sorry to say it is some of my business, and a very unpleasant business at
that.’
“Then he asked me if there was not a private office where he could talk
his business over with me. So I took him into Mr. Walton’s private office.
“He said, ‘Will you tell me what you know of Mr. Bates?’
“I told him I didn’t know anything against him, if that was what he was
waiting to hear me say.
“‘Will you tell me what your relations are with him?’
“I could feel the blood leaving my face, and I must have repeated his
question, for he said, ‘Yes, tell me whether you have ever had any
relations with him which you should not hold.’
“‘I will not tell you a thing,’ said I. ‘Who are you and what do you mean
by asking me such questions?’
“He was exasperated, I suppose, by my impudence, for he said, ‘I’ll tell
you my business. I am an attorney representing my client, and in his
behalf I am tracing the career of Jack Bates. It is known that he has
been to your home frequently, and that you have been out together a great
deal. It will be to your advantage to tell all you know.’
“At this critical juncture, I heard Mr. Walton coming. I ran out in the
hall to meet him and managed to gasp out, ‘I want to see you a minute.’
“I told him what the man had said, and he said, ‘Carrie, tell me all
about it. What do you know about him?’
“Then I told him we were married, and had been for six months. He scowled
and said, ‘Bad, very bad. I advise you to tell the gentleman the whole
affair, just as it is. Do not try to protect the man; let him stand on
his own merits.’
“So I went back to the attorney.
“‘Well,’ he said, ‘are you ready to tell me all you know?’
“‘Yes,’ I said, ‘but I have not much to tell. It is only this. Mr. Bates
and I were married six months ago, so I guess even you will admit that we
had a right to be seen together often, if we chose to.’
“He said, ‘My child, I am sorry to be obliged to tell you, but the
fact of the matter is, you are not his legal wife. I am representing
the father of a girl fifteen years old, whom he has seduced, and in my
investigations I have learned that he has a legal wife and one child
living.’