Argosy, Vol. 123, No. 1 — page 153: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

A RINGING TALE. stein. Anyhow, in the mean time, what do you think had happened. Jennie’s rheu- matism had got worse! It just seemed as if God was against me and Bessie that day! Well, Jennie couldn’t manage those five squalling kids, and back she comes to turn them over to Bessie—and couldn’t find Bes- sie, naturally! : Well, of course, she thinks of looking for her at my house—and mother, who was out when we went out to pawn the ring, doesn’t know anything about us—and Jen- nie starts her oldest kid searching for us, and of course, that boy-detective finds out in five minutes that we were locked up in Ornstein’s little back room! And Jennie says, the minute she heard it, that we’d gone there to pawn her wedding-ring! Now what do you call that?” “T call that being d—er—psychic,” plied the boss, with awe. “ Well, I call it being too ready to think evil,” replied Maggie, indignantly. ‘ But the first thing we knew about Jennie’s psychicness was the most awful row in Orn- stein’s shop. For a minute we thought the house was on fire—and then I felt some- thing as big as an airship jump up into my throat—afterward I found out it was only my heart. For we recognized those voices! “They were shouting and yelling all at once—Jennie was demanding that Ornstein re- have us sent to jail for life—mother was — telling Ornstein the most awful things about Jennie—I don’t believe any of them were true, but you see, she figured if she could make Jennie out bad enough, I’d seem an angel by comparison. I don’t know whether you’ve noticed, but mothers always have a wonderful opinion of you—before other people.” “T’ve noticed it,’ responded the boss reminiscently. “Well, anyhow, after they’d kept at it— kids and all—till there wasn’t a yell left in anybody, we could hear old Ornstein talking in that nice, soft, sneaky way he had to us, and then we could hear the police come in—we knew both their voices, having always gone on the policemen’s picnic—and then, horror upon horror, Ornstein opened our prison door and brought us out. I wish 143 you could realize the awfulness.of that mo- ment!” Maggie paused, shuddering. “I’m trying to,” said the boss, shivering sympathetically. ‘Well, that was the most dramatic mo- ment of my whole life,”” Maggie went on, Shaking her head. “ In between the police- men stood Jimmie Blaine, in his shirt- sleeves! Wasn’t that awful?” ‘T can’t imagine anything more terrible,” the boss replied. ‘There he stood ”—Maggie pursued her story—“ a big cigar in one side of his mouth that had gone out, and no hat on. And I'll tell you he looked white and funny* And when I saw that he wasn’t going to laugh at my misfortune, I began to feel bet- ter—I saw a chance then and there to teach him a lesson—not for my sake, because I never expected to be free again—but for the sake of the girl he would keep company with in my place. ‘* And so I held my head up high, and be- gan to compose a few last remarks that I would hurl at him over my left shoulder— or the right, if he was on that side, just before I was incarcerated forever, when Jennie began yelling out that I was a thief —and ma took a fit, and Jimmie caught her and eased her into a chair, and walked over to Jennie and put his hand over her mouth, and said: ‘Stop, for Heaven’s sake!’ ‘‘ And then he turned to the two police- men and says: ‘ There’s some mistake—if we can keep this woman still we can find out what it is.’ With which everybody agreed—Jennie having made no hit what- ever with her vocabulary nor the way she put it over. ‘“ But just at that moment the policeman that had hold of Bessie sings out: ‘ Give me a chair for this kid,’ and heavens, she did look awful! ‘“‘ And right then and there it come over me that Bessie was going to get the worst of this deal. I remembered, just like a flash, those things you told me about being an accessory to a crime—and I saw that that was all I was—but that Bessie was the real thing! And at the same instant, it came over me how to get out of all this trouble!” cComicloook C©