Page:Harvey O'Higgins--Silent Sam and other stories.djvu/305

Rh "Not a cent saved," she said. "Not a cent.… Where is he? The Professor? What 's he goin' to do?"

"Yuh can search me," Redney assured her. "I don' know." He studied the cards. "Say," he said, "yuh been married before."

"What?"

He put his cigarette-stained forefinger on the Queen of Hearts. "Yuh 've been married before. Had a kid, too."

She blinked at him between grief and amazement. He laid out more cards. "He was a circus man, was n't he? What become o' the boy?"

She opened her mouth to speak and remained with it open, leaning forward to see the cards—which he was studying sagely. "Yer name was Carr, eh?" he said. "Lottie Carr. That 's why it 's Madame Carlotta, ain't it?"

She clutched his arm. "What 're you talkin' about?"

"I 'm tellin' yer fortune." He spread more cards. "Huh! He ran off with the kid. A tumbler. Yuh don't say. Got his neck broke in Denver. What become o' the kid?"

She answered, as if in spite of herself, faintly: "I don't know."

"Well, let 's see." He spread more cards. "The kid, eh? Let's see.… How about that? That looks like it. He went on with the troupe. An' then when he would n't tumble he got to sellin' peanuts an' lem'nade. He was darned glad he was quit o' th' ol'