"Pearlie--"

"She'll be all right in a minute, Mr. Teitlebaum--like her papa she is, always so afraid of a little sickness."

"Pearlie, ain't you going to look at me?"

She sprang from his light hand on her shoulder, and the tears grew to little globules, trembled, fell. Then a sudden rod of resolution straightened her back.

"We--I been lying to you, Max; I ain't--sick!"

"Poil!"

"I--I think I know, little Pearlie!"

"Poil!"

"No, no; it's best we tell the truth, mamma."

"Ya, ya. Oh, my--"

"We--we're in big trouble, Max. Business trouble. The store, ever--ever since the traction--it ain't been the same."

"I know, little Pearlie. I--"

"Wait a minute, Max. We--we ain't what you maybe think we are. To-morrow two weeks we got to meet creditors and extension notes. We can't pay with even twenty cents on the dollar. We're gone under, Max!"

"I--"

"We ain't got it to meet them with. Papa--if a man like papa couldn't make it go n.o.body could--"

"Such a man, Mr. Teitlebaum, so honest, so--"

"Shh-h-h, mamma."

"It's our--my fault, Max. He was afraid even last year, but I--even then I was the one that wanted the expense of the city. Mamma didn't want it--he didn't--it--was me--I--I--"

"My fault, too, Poil--_ach, Gott_, my fault! How I drove him! How I drove him!"

"We--we got to go back home, Max. We're going back and help him to begin over again. We--we been driving him like a pack of wolves. He never could refuse n.o.body nothing. If he thought mamma wanted the moon up he was ready to go for it; even when we was kids he--"

"_Ach_, my husband, such a good provider he's always been! Such a husband!"

"Always we got our way out of him. But to- night--to-night, Max, right here in this chair all _little_ he looked all of a sudden. So little!

His back all crooked and all tired and--and I done it, Max--I ain't what you think I am--oh, G.o.d, I done it!"

"_Ach_, my--"

"Don't cry, mamma. 'Sh-h-h-h! Ain't you ashamed, with Mr. Teitlebaum standing right here? You must excuse her, Max, so terrible upset she is.

'Sh-h-h-h, mamma--'sh-h-h-h! We're going back home and begin over again.

'Sh-h-h-h! You won't have to dress for supper no more like you hate.

We'll be home in time for your strawberry-preserves season, mamma, and rhubarb stew out of the garden, like papa loves. 'Sh-h-h-h! You must excuse her, Max--you must excuse me, too, to-night--you--come some other time--please."

"Pearlie!" He came closer to the circle of light, and his large features came out boldly. "Pearlie, don't you cry neither, little girl--"

"I--I ain't."

"All what you tell me I know already."

"Max!"

"Mr. Teitlebaum!"

"You must excuse me, Mrs. Binsw.a.n.ger, but in nearly the same line of business news like that travels faster than you think. Only to-day I heard for sure--how--shaky things stand. You got my sympathies, Mrs.

Binsw.a.n.ger, but--but such a failure don't need to happen."

Mrs. Binsw.a.n.ger clutched two hands around a throat too dry to swallow.

"He can't stand it. He isn't strong enough. It will kill him. Always so honest to the last penny he's been, Mr. Teitlebaum, but never when he used to complain would I believe him. Always a great one for a poor mouth he was, Mr. Teitlebaum, even when he had it. So plain he always was, and now I--I've broke him--I--I--"

"'Sh-h-h-h, mamma! Do you want papa should hear you in the next room?

'Sh-h-h-h! Please, you must excuse her, Max."

"Pearlie"--he placed his hand lightly on her shoulder--"Pearlie--Mrs.

Binsw.a.n.ger, you must excuse me, too, but I got to say it--while--while I got the courage. Can't you guess it, little Pearlie? I'm in love with you. I'm in love with you, Pearlie, since the first month you came to this hotel to live."

"Max!"

"_Ach, Gott!_"

"I only got this to say to you: I love you, little Pearlie. To-day, when I heard the news, I was sorry, Pearlie, and--and glad, too. It made things look easier for me. Right away I invited Izzy to lunch so like a school-boy I could hint. I--two years I been wanting to get out of the store, Pearlie, where there ain't a chance for me to build up nothing.

Like I told Izzy to-day, I want to find a run-down business that needs building up where I can accomplish things."

"Max!"

"I wanted him to know what I meant, but like--like a school-boy so mixed up I got. Eight thousand dollars I got laying for a opening. This failure--this failure don't need to happen, Pearlie. With new capital and new blood we don't need to be afraid of tractions and compet.i.tions--with me and Izzy, and my eight thousand dollars put in out there, we--we--but this ain't no time to talk business. I--you must excuse me, Mrs. Binsw.a.n.ger, but--but--"

"Poil, my baby! Max!"

"I love you, Pearlie girlie. Ever since we been in the same hotel together, when I seen you every day fresh like a flower and so fine, I--I been heels over head in love with you, Pearlie. You should know how my father and my married brothers tease me. I--I love you, Pearlie--"

She relaxed to his approaching arms, and let her head fall back to his shoulder so that her face, upturned to his, was like a dark flower, and he kissed her where the tears lay wet on her petal-smooth cheeks and on her lips that trembled.

"Max!"

"My little girlie!"

Mrs. Binsw.a.n.ger groped through tear-blinded eyes.

"This--this--ain't no place for a--old woman, children--this--this--_ach_, what I'm sayin' I don't know! Like in a dream I feel."