“Grace has turned out to be just the right kind of a wife for Harry. He was very patient with her at the start, always sure she would improve. And she certainly has. It means a lot to a man to have a wife like Grace. Most women don’t realize their responsibility.
“I sometimes wonder what would have become of Ben if I had been less understanding. With Tod and Harry to take care of, and doing my own housework, I was pretty busy, but I always found time—”
And so on. Clara interrupted the monologue twice. She went to see how Tod’s medicine was affecting him. He was on the bed, taking a nap. Later on, the doorbell rang. It was the twelve-year-old Butler kid. He had a message for Tod from his brother. He wouldn’t give it to Clara.
Tod woke up and came to the door and the boy gave him the message. Not in Clara’s hearing. The boy’s brother was Frank Butler, who supplied Tod with medicine and trusted him for the money.
Also in the Butler family was Mamie Butler, a girl about twenty-five, quite pretty and with a reputation for looseness. Clara had seen her talking with Tod on the corner one day. And hadn’t she heard Frank say he was going to the football game this afternoon?
Father Stewart was awake again. Tod sat down in the living room.
“Ben,” said Mother Stewart, “you might as well tell them our news now.”
“I suppose I might. Well, it’s just that it looks like we’re liable to lose our home.”
“How’s that?” said Tod.
“Well, Mrs. Davis told us a month ago that we better be looking for new quarters. It seems her boy and his wife are planning on giving up housekeeping and moving in with the old lady. Of course they’d have to have our rooms and—Well, that’s the story.”
“When do you have to get out?”
“In a couple of weeks; sooner, if we can find a place.”
“It’ll be pretty hard,” said Mother Stewart, “to find just what we want. It’s got to be a place where we can board, too. I can’t cook anymore and I certainly can’t do all the housework, though I could help a little.”
“I’d ask you to come here, but there’s no room,” said Tod.
“We wouldn’t want to impose on you and Clara.”
“It wouldn’t be imposing, but we’ve only got the two bedrooms. We couldn’t take Myrtle in with us. The light would wake her up when we went to bed.”
“As far as that’s concerned,” said Mother Stewart, “we wouldn’t mind sharing a room with Myrtle. I’d know she was safe if I was there with her. And Ben and I usually undress in the dark. If we could come here till we find something else, we’d pay our share—”
“Don’t worry about it. We’ll fix it up some way. Clara and I’ll talk it over. Right now I got to run over to Frank Butler’s for a few minutes. There’s some job he’s got lined up for me.”
“It’s lucky we never sold our old bed,” said Mother Stewart.
“Well, Myrtle,” said Father Stewart, “you had quite a nap. Maybe your mother would let me give you a piece of candy now.”
“She mustn’t have anything more now,” said Clara. “She has a stomach ache.”
“It’s gone,” said Myrtle.
“But it won’t stay gone if you eat any more.”
“One piece of candy wouldn’t hurt her.”
“Honestly, Father Stewart, she has lots of trouble with her stomach.”
“I’m sure it’s all the result of nervousness,” said Mother Stewart. “A child with her imagination ought never to be left alone, especially at night.”
After the guests left Myrtle had cramps and Clara summoned Doctor Fred.
“You’ve just got to regulate her diet,” he said. “She’ll never be a healthy child till you make her eat right. I know it’s hard for a mother to say, ‘You can’t have this or that,’ but you owe it to her and yourself to be strict.”
Clara put Myrtle to bed. Tod came back from the Butlers’ very late and she had to help him undress. She lay awake a long time.
She knew Father Stewart owed Mrs. Davis for several months’ board. He owed her because he spent so much of his small income on tobacco and candy.
The dinner had cost nearly ten dollars and no one had taken the trouble to say it was good. She had had to pay cash for the turkey because Berger’s was a cash market and she couldn’t get any more credit at Sloan’s.
She and Myrtle and Tod were all desperately in need of new clothes, but there was no prospect of having any. Every day brought threats from the gas company, the telephone company and assorted merchants. Doctor Fred hadn’t been paid anything for two years.
Clara was thirty-five. At twenty-three she had accepted Tod in preference to Dave Bonham. Tod had gone through college and had interesting ambitions, to go to Chicago or New York and be a journalist or write plays. Dave had graduated from high school and gone to work in his father’s garage. When his father had died, he had run the garage for several years and then sold it for a lot of money.
Dave had gone to Detroit and into the real estate business. He had invested in building lots on the edge of the city and now he was said to be worth over eight hundred thousand dollars, and was really worth nearly half that sum.
He had been quite broken up when Clara took Tod, and had remained single. He had no one to support but himself. He didn’t drink and it was impossible for him to spend more than a small part of his income. He had heard of Tod’s “tough breaks” and offered to lend Clara
