Part 51 (1/2)
”Pearlie--”
”She'll be all right in a minute, Mr. Teitlebaum--like her papa she is, always so afraid of a little sickness.”
”Pearlie, ain't you going to look at me?”
She sprang from his light hand on her shoulder, and the tears grew to little globules, trembled, fell. Then a sudden rod of resolution straightened her back.
”We--I been lying to you, Max; I ain't--sick!”
”Poil!”
”I--I think I know, little Pearlie!”
”Poil!”
”No, no; it's best we tell the truth, mamma.”
”Ya, ya. Oh, my--”
”We--we're in big trouble, Max. Business trouble. The store, ever--ever since the traction--it ain't been the same.”
”I know, little Pearlie. I--”
”Wait a minute, Max. We--we ain't what you maybe think we are. To-morrow two weeks we got to meet creditors and extension notes. We can't pay with even twenty cents on the dollar. We're gone under, Max!”
”I--”
”We ain't got it to meet them with. Papa--if a man like papa couldn't make it go n.o.body could--”
”Such a man, Mr. Teitlebaum, so honest, so--”
”Shh-h-h, mamma.”
”It's our--my fault, Max. He was afraid even last year, but I--even then I was the one that wanted the expense of the city. Mamma didn't want it--he didn't--it--was me--I--I--”
”My fault, too, Poil--_ach, Gott_, my fault! How I drove him! How I drove him!”
”We--we got to go back home, Max. We're going back and help him to begin over again. We--we been driving him like a pack of wolves. He never could refuse n.o.body nothing. If he thought mamma wanted the moon up he was ready to go for it; even when we was kids he--”
”_Ach_, my husband, such a good provider he's always been! Such a husband!”
”Always we got our way out of him. But to- night--to-night, Max, right here in this chair all _little_ he looked all of a sudden. So little!
His back all crooked and all tired and--and I done it, Max--I ain't what you think I am--oh, G.o.d, I done it!”
”_Ach_, my--”
”Don't cry, mamma. 'Sh-h-h-h! Ain't you ashamed, with Mr. Teitlebaum standing right here? You must excuse her, Max, so terrible upset she is.
'Sh-h-h-h, mamma--'sh-h-h-h! We're going back home and begin over again.
'Sh-h-h-h! You won't have to dress for supper no more like you hate.
We'll be home in time for your strawberry-preserves season, mamma, and rhubarb stew out of the garden, like papa loves. 'Sh-h-h-h! You must excuse her, Max--you must excuse me, too, to-night--you--come some other time--please.”