Page:Arthur Stringer - The Door of Dread.djvu/201

 for that old rumble," maintained the girl. But Wallaby Sam, alias Adolph Breitman, chose to ignore her complaint. It was several minutes, in fact, before he spoke again.

"What, I mean who, are you doing these days?" he grimly inquired.

"I ain't feedin' no goldfish!" quite as grimly retorted Sadie, and that reference to the old days tended to make the man opposite her wince a trifle. "But for a couple o' months, Baron, I was eatin' wheat-cakes wit' the down-and-outers. And yuh was the party that put me there!"

Wallaby Sam glanced appreciatively over her resplendent attire.

"You seem to have emerged from the experience without material loss," he reminded her.

Sadie was able to muster up the semblance of a contented little laugh.

"Oh, I'm workin' a new line nowadays!"

"What line?" casually inquired the diner.

"Cuttin' keys!" was the laconic reply.

Wallaby Sam finished up his creamed chicken before speaking again.

"And what do you make out of cutting keys?" he finally inquired.