Page:Bad Girl (1929).pdf/52

 Eddie made an exclamation of disgust. He walked back and forth in the grimy foyer, giving Dot a look of complete bafflement now and again. He wanted to climb the stairs. He wanted to see Dot's brother, and he wanted Dot's brother to say that Dot was no good.

Instead he followed her out into the street and walked in disapproving silence to the house of Edna Driggs. It was a squat gray stone building that tenanted eight families. Edna lived on the first floor and answered the bell at once. She was fully clothed and did not register the nth degree of alarm which Eddie expected of her. She simply said, "Hello, Kids, where's the trouble?"

Dot had ceased crying. Eddie knew it was the confidence that she had in Edna that had quieted her. Dot was able to state the situation briefly; so he contributed not one word to the story.

"Sure," said Edna in answer to Dot's request. She got her cape and walked back to Dot's with them.

"You've been with me since nine-thirty, Dot," Edna schemed as they walked. "I was taken with pains like ptomaine and you didn't dare leave me, but I feel fine now. Thank God, we have no phones," she added.

No one spoke again till they reached their destination.

"You better run along, Eddie," Edna advised. "Jim will take me back home again. Everything is going to be all right now with Dot."

"Oh, yes, Eddie," Dot assured him. "I'll be all right now."

Eddie grunted his good night. Dot and her champion passed through the big glass doors and he remained on the sidewalk watching as they climbed the first flight of steps. Dot was game now to face her angry brother. She hadn't trusted him to go with her. She had to have Edna Driggs. He spat the name mentally. Edna would buy Dot's safety with lies and smiles. Eddie would have