CHAPTER VII.
FRESH GLIMPSES OF EVIL.
"I promise," said Faith, after another moment's hesitation. "I will hearwhat you have to say on the subject, Mary, but I am sure I shall stillthink it right to report that theft to-morrow."
Miss Jennings turned away with a relieved expression. The woman she hadcalled "Kate" was just coming back behind the counter.
"I've lost my job through my stupidity," she said sullenly. "Gibson saysI am discharged for being impudent to him."
"I'm sorry, but you might have known," replied Miss Jennings shortly."Still, you haven't lost much; perhaps you'll get something better."
"Well, I hope so, but there's not much chance at this season," said thewoman. "Six dollars a week was better than nothing. It's more than I canmake by taking in washing."
"Oh, you surely won't have to do that!" cried Faith involuntarily. Shehad been listening to their conversation without realizing it.
The woman glanced up at her and gave a sharp laugh.
"That, or worse," she said coarsely. "I can't starve to death, can I?"
There was no mistaking what she meant. Her words sent a thrill of horrorthrough every fibre of Faith's body.
"She surely did not mean that," she whispered to Miss Jennings as soonas the saleswoman had gone.
"Why not?" asked Miss Jennings in her bitterest manner.
For the second time that day Faith drew back with swift motion, but thistime her companion did not appear to notice it.
"She's got a sick husband and three children," she said sharply; "andit's no fault of hers that she can't earn an honest living. I tell you,Faith, that you have lots to learn. I'm sorry you must learn it all in alump, of course, but the sooner it is learned the sooner you'll get usedto it."
She breathed a deep sigh as she turned away. For a moment her realfeeling showed above her indifference.
"Get used to it--never!" cried Faith, almost hysterically. "And you arenot used to it, either, Mary; it is killing you this minute!"
"Perhaps you are right," said Miss Jennings, slowly, then as thecustomers were gradually drifting back into the store she went forwardto wait upon them with her usual indifference.
For the next half hour Faith was very busy. The excitement had passed,leaving no trace behind it.
At exactly six o'clock a big gong was sounded. Faith was so tired andnervous that she almost cried for joy when she heard it.
"It has been the hardest day of my life," she said to Miss Jennings asthey reached the cloak-room.
"Well, you'll have many such if you stay here long," was the reply."There are nothing but hard days for the slaves of Denton, Day & Co."
There was a crowd of women and girls waiting at the lavatory basins, andas Faith caught sight of the towels she turned away with a shudder.
"You'll have to go home with dirty hands, Faith, but you musn't mindthat; we wouldn't get out of here until midnight if we waited our turnat those basins."
Miss Jennings was putting on her hat as she spoke, and as Faith startedto look for hers the clerk whom young Denton had called "Mag" cameslowly up to them.
"Heard the news, eighty-nine?"
She asked Miss Jennings the question, but she was looking straight atFaith. There was a gleam in her eye that was very unpleasant.
"What news, Maggie?" asked Miss Jennings, noticing the look at once. Sheknew the girl's disposition, and almost dreaded what was coming.
"Old Forbes was robbed of five hundred dollars! Some one stole it fromhis desk early yesterday morning. There's pretty good proof already asto who was the thief. I wouldn't stand in her shoes for double themoney!"
She was still watching Faith with her eyes half closed. Miss Jenningswas too shrewd to be deceived a minute as to her actual meaning.
"Well, you'll save yourself trouble by keeping your mouth shut," shesaid, crossly, "it dont pay to meddle with such matters as that, Maggie,especially if you happen to be living under a cloud yourself. Somebodymight take a notion to turn the tables on you, you know. I'd as as soonbe a thief as some other things I might mention."
There was a sneer in her tones that was unmistakable. Faith turned justin time to catch its full meaning.
"Oh, you needn't preach!" cried the other angrily. "Any one can seeyou're fairly green with envy, eighty-nine! You'd give a whole lot to beable to flirt with the boys, but, as Jim Denton says, you are too paleand skinny!"
"For shame!"
It was Faith who spoke the words. She was facing the brazen-faced girlwith her eyes blazing angrily.
"How dare you speak like that to a poor, sick girl? Have you no heart inyour bosom, no decency or conscience! It does not seem possible to methat girls can be so hateful toward each other. Are we not all sisters,who have been commanded to love one another?"
There was silence for just a second as Faith finished speaking, then aloud, coarse laugh broke from Maggie Brady's lips.
"Oh, Lord! Hear her, girls! Hear the little preacher in petticoats!Isn't she eloquent, the pretty thing! Why, she ought to be a corporal inthe Salvation Army!"
There was a roar of laughter at the rude girl's words, during which MissJennings caught Faith by the arm and half dragged her from thecloak-room.
"Come, Faith, let us go! This is no place for you. That girl is the mostbrazen hussy in the whole establishment, and that's saying a good deal,as you'll find out later!"
They hurried out into the street as quickly as possible. Faith wasalmost crying with indignation when they reached the sidewalk.
"Now, brace up, dear; it's all over for to-day," said Miss Jennings."You'll soon get used to it; that's exactly what every one of us havehad to go through with, but the girls are not all like Mag; there arelots of nice ones. She wasn't so bad, either, until Jim Denton noticedher."
"Is he her sweetheart?" asked Faith as soon as she could control hervoice. "I heard them talking together and I am sure she loves him."
Miss Jennings gave vent to one of her harshest laughs.
"Jim Denton is a wicked young man," she said very slowly. "He cares nomore for Maggie than he does for lots of the others, but she's such afool she can't see it, and that shows, of course, that she's prettybadly gone on him."
"You mean that she loves him?" questioned Faith, who was not veryfamiliar with shop-girl slang.
"Well, you can't call it love, exactly," explained Miss Jennings, "butit's the best she's got. She thinks she loves him."
The girls had walked a couple of blocks and were waiting for a car. Theywere glad to find that they lived near each other. The same street carwould land them a short distance from their homes, which were modestflats in the cheapest portion of Harlem.
As they hailed the car, Faith's quick eye caught a glimpse of a man whoseemed to be following them.
As he sprang on the rear platform of the car she called her companion'sattention to him.
"It's Bob Hardy, one of our detectives," said Miss Jennings,wonderingly. "Why, he lives in Jersey. He must be following somebody."
Faith looked at her a moment before she spoke again.
"I wonder if there is any truth in what that girl said about the robberyin the office. I've been thinking of it ever since. She looked at me sofunny! And see, Mary, that detective is watching me, too, he has hardlytaken his eyes off me since we entered the car. It can't be possiblethat they think I took the money, can it? You know I was in the officeearly yesterday morning."
She spoke so timidly that Miss Jennings gave her a sharp glance. Thenshe turned involuntarily and looked at the detective.
"God help you if Hardy is after you," she whispered with a shudder."That fellow is a fiend about making arrests. He'd accuse his own motherof stealing, I believe, if he thought he could win the regard of oldForbes by doing it!"
For Gold or Soul? Page 7
