Page:Firecrackers a realistic novel.pdf/209

 Has he said so?

No-o.

You poor, simple heel, you, how do you get that way? Somebody oughta crown you. Maybe that'd help.

Wintergreen began whimpering again. Why, what do you mean? she demanded.

I mean you gotta get wise. This ain't a boilermaker. These Wall Street johns can be trimmed.

Why, what do you mean? Wintergreen repeated.

Make him say something or do something.

I'm as pure as you are, Lottie Coulter! How dare you!

Snap it off, kid, snap it off. If you're as pure as I am you've got to go some. Don't you read the papers?

The papers? What papers? Wintergreen looked bewildered.

No papers, doll-baby, but the world knows the worst. My life's an open sewer.

Lottie!

I've reformed in a way, Lottie went on, rubbing the burning end of the stump of her cigarette against a plate which had held crackers, as she reflected that the hour for frankness had arrived. I've quit the hop for the junk.

The. . . ?

I've cut out lying on my hip and taken to inhaling the snow. . . . Waving away the demand for further explanation she foresaw would be forth-