“Are you enjoying yourself?” he leaned over and whispered to her. His voice was very confidential and his lips near her ear, but she did not notice.
“Oh, yes,” she answered, “this is grand. How I’d like to be an actress and be up there!”
“Maybe you will someday.”
“Oh, no, I’m not smart enough.”
“We’ll see,” he said wisely; “I know a thing or two.”
Between the first and second acts a number of Thomas’s friends strolled up to where he sat and began talking, and again Kitty’s embarrassment took possession of her as they were introduced one by one. They treated her with a half-courteous familiarity that made her blush. Her mother was not pleased with the many acquaintances that her daughter was making, and would have interfered had not Mrs. Jones assured her that the men clustered about their host’s seat were some of the “best people in town.” Joe looked at them hungrily, but the man in front with his sister did not think it necessary to include the brother or the rest of the party in his miscellaneous introductions.
One brief bit of conversation which the mother overheard especially troubled her.
“Not going out for a minute or two?” asked one of the men, as he was turning away from Thomas.
“No, I don’t think I’ll go out tonight. You can have my share.”
The fellow gave a horse laugh and replied, “Well, you’re doing a great piece of work, Miss Hamilton, whenever you can keep old Bill from goin’ out an’ lushin’ between acts. Say, you got a good thing; push it along.”
The girl’s mother half rose, but she resumed her seat, for the man was going away. Her mind was not quiet again, however, until the people were all in their seats and the curtain had gone up on the second act. At first she was surprised at the enthusiasm over just such dancing as she could see any day from the loafers on the street corners down home, and then, like a good, sensible, humble woman, she came around to the idea that it was she who had always been wrong in putting too low a value on really worthy things. So she laughed and applauded with the rest, all the while trying to quiet something that was tugging at her away down in her heart.
When the performance was over she forced her way to Kitty’s side, where she remained in spite of all Thomas’s palpable efforts to get her away. Finally he proposed that they all go to supper at one of the coloured cafés.
“You’ll see a lot o’ the show people,” he said.
“No, I reckon we’d bettah go home,” said Mrs. Hamilton decidedly. “De chillen ain’t ust to stayin’ up all hours o’ nights, an’ I ain’t anxious fu’ ’em to git ust to it.”
She was conscious of a growing dislike for this man who treated her daughter with such a proprietary air. Joe winced again at “de chillen.”
Thomas bit his lip, and mentally said things that are unfit for publication. Aloud he said, “Mebbe Miss Kitty ’ud like to go an’ have a little lunch.”
“Oh, no, thank you,” said the girl; “I’ve had a nice time and I don’t care for a thing to eat.”
Joe told himself that Kitty was the biggest fool that it had ever been his lot to meet, and the disappointed suitor satisfied himself with the reflection that the girl was green yet, but would get bravely over that.
He attempted to hold her hand as they parted at the parlour door, but she drew her fingers out of his clasp and said, “Good night; thank you,” as if he had been one of her mother’s old friends.
Joe lingered a little longer.
“Say, that was out o’ sight,” he said.
“Think so?” asked the other carelessly.
“I’d like to get out with you some time to see the town,” the boy went on eagerly.
“All right, we’ll go sometime. So long.”
“So long.”
Sometime. Was it true? Would he really take him out and let him meet stage people? Joe went to bed with his head in a whirl. He slept little that night for thinking of his heart’s desire.
IX
His Heart’s Desire
Whatever else his visit to the theatre may have done for Joe, it inspired him with a desire to go to work and earn money of his own, to be independent both of parental help and control, and so be able to spend as he pleased. With this end in view he set out to hunt for work. It was a pleasant contrast to his last similar quest, and he felt it with joy. He was treated everywhere he went with courtesy, even when no situation was forthcoming. Finally he came upon a man who was willing to try him for an afternoon. From the moment the boy rightly considered himself engaged, for he was master of his trade. He began his work with heart elate. Now he had within his grasp the possibility of being all that he wanted to be. Now Thomas might take him out at any time and not be ashamed of him.
With Thomas, the fact that Joe was working put the boy in an entirely new light. He decided that now he might be worth cultivating. For a week or two he had ignored him, and, proceeding upon the principle that if you give corn to the old hen she will cluck to her chicks, had treated Mrs. Hamilton with marked deference and kindness. This had been without success, as both the girl and her mother held themselves politely aloof from him. He began to see that his hope of winning Kitty’s affections lay, not in courting the older woman but in making a friend of
