Part 22 (1/2)
”Yes.”
Impulsively her hand went out, and he clasped it ... her hand seemed almost frozen. Tears of humility sprang to her eyes.
”I was high and mighty that night,... but I couldn't help it.... But you ... do you realize what a wonderful thing you've done?”
He laughed awkwardly.
”Yes, here's what I've done”--he handed her a copy of _The Nine-Tenths_--”and it's very wonderful.”
She gave a strange, short laugh again--excitement, exultation--and held the paper as if it were a living thing.
”This ... _The Nine-Tenths_ ... oh!... for the working people.... Let me see!”
She went to the light, spread the paper and eagerly read. Then she glanced back a moment and saw his worn face and the weary droop of his back.
”Say--you're dead tired. Sit down. You don't mind the bed, do you?”
He smiled softly.
”I don't! I am pretty much done up.” And he sank down, and let his hands droop between his knees.
Sally read, and then suddenly turned to him.
”This editorial is--it's just a ripper.”
The author felt the thrill of a creator. She went on:
”I wish every working-girl in New York could read this.”
”So do I.”
She turned and looked at him, more and more excited.
”So _this_ is what you're doing. I must pinch myself--it's all a dream!
Too good to be true.”
Suddenly there seemed to be a reversal in their relations.h.i.+ps. Before, his end of the beam was down, hers up. But subtly in her voice he felt the swing to the other extreme. She had set him in a realm above herself.
”Tell me,” she said, ”just how you came to go into this.”
He told her a little, and as he spoke he became thoroughly at his ease with her, as if she were a man, and in the pleasure of their swift comrades.h.i.+p they could laugh at each other.
”Mr. Blaine,” she said, suddenly, ”if I got you into this, it's up to me to help you win. I'm going to turn into an agent for you--I'll make 'em subscribe right and left.”
Joe laughed at her.
”Lordy, if you knew how good it is to hear this--after tramping up three miles of stairs and more and nabbing a tawdry twenty subscriptions.”
”Is that all you got?”