The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1919-05-17

step of on his own. He always hated
to take money from me. and loved
him for II. 1 never went on that !
didn't think of him. I never came on
with a half dozen encores that didn't
wish he could hear It. Why, when I
played a college town It used to be
riot. because loved every fresh-faced
boy in the house. and they knew It.
And now-and now-whats there in
it? What's there in it? I can't even
hold 'em any more. I'm through. tell
you. I'm through"
And waited to be disputed. Martha
Foote did not disappoint her.
There's just this in it. It's up to
you to make those three women in the
third row forget what they're knitting
for. even If they don't forget their knit
ting. Let 'em go on knitting with their
hands. but keep their heads off it.
That's your job. You're lucky to have
it."
Lucky"
p Yes, ma'am! You can do all the
dumka stuff in private. the way Anna
Czarnik does. but it's up to you to make
them laugh twice a day for twenty
minutes"
It's all very well for you to talk
that cheer-o stuff. 1t hasn't como
home to you. can see that"
Martha Foote smiled. IF you don't
mind my saying it. Miss Mccoy. you're
too worn out from lack of sleep to see
anything clearly. You don't know me.
but do know you, you see. / knNw
that a year ago Anna Czarnik would
have been the most interesting thing
in this town, for you. You'd have
copied her clothes, and got a transla-
ton of her sob song. and made her as
real to a thousand audiences as she
was to us this morning: tragic history,
patient animal face. comic shoes and
all. And that's the trouble with you.
my dear. When we begin to brood
about our own troubles we lose what
they call the human touch. And thars
your business asset"
Geisha Mccoy was looking up at her
with a whimsical half-smile. Look
here. You know too much. You're not
really the hotel housekeeper, are your"
"I am"
We'll, then, you weren't always
Yes 1 was. So far as know I'm
the only hotel housekeeper in history
who can't look back to the time when
she had three servants of her own, and
her private carriage. I'm no decayed
black-silk gentlewoman. No. me. My
father drove hack in Sorgham. Min
nesota. and my mother took in board
ers and 1 helped wait on table. 1 mar
ried when I was twenty. my man died
two years later, and I've been earning
my living eve since"
Happy ?"
Il must be because I don't stop to
think about 1t. It's part of my job to
know everything that concerns the
comfort of the guests in this hotel"
Including mysteries in six-eighteen?"
Including. And that reminds me.
Up on the twelfth floor of this hotel
there's a big. old-fashioned bedroom.
In half an hour I can have that room
made up With the softest linen sheets.
| and the curtains pulled down. and not
a sound. That rooms so restful it
would put old Insomnia himself to
| sleep. Will you let me tuck you away
| in it?"
! Geisha Mccoy slid down among her
rumpled covers and restled her head
in the lumpy. tortured pillows. Me!
I'm going to stay right here
But this room's-why it's as stale
as Pullman sleeper. Let me have the
chambermaid in to freshen it up while
you're gone"
I'm used to it. I've got to have a
room mussed up, to feel at home in it.
ThapkS Just the same.
Martha Foote rose. I'm sorry.
just thought If 1 could help"
Geisha Mccoy leaned forward with
one of her quick movements and caught
Martha Foote's hand in both her own.
You have! And don't mean to be
rude when I tell you 1 haven't felt so
much like sleeping in weeks. Just turn
out those lights. will you? And sort of
finfna n,tt 70 ofx-a he
Martha Foote reached the door. And
oh, sayI Dyou think she'd sell me
those shoes?"
Martha Foote didn't get her dinner
that night until almost eight what with
one thing and another. Still as days
go, it wasn't so bad as Monday; she
and Irish Nellie. who had come in to
turn down her bed, agreed on that The
Senate Hotel housekeeper was having
her dinner in her room. Tony. the
, waiter. had just brought 1t on and had
set it out for her, a cleaning island OF
white linen and DOME shaped metal
tops. Irish Nellie, a privileged person
always waxed conversational as she
folded back the bed covers in a neat
triangular wedge.
Six eighteen kinda Gained down.
didn't she? High tonne, the divil. She
had US jumpin' yist'iddy. loike { went
Off me head wild her. and tn day girl
tn same. Some folks amt got no
feelin'. dunno"
Martha Foote unfolded her napkin
with little tired gesture. You can't
always judge, Nellie. That woman's
got son who has gone to war. and she
couldn't see her way clear to living
without him. She's better now. talk.
ed TO her this evening at six. She said
she had a fine afternoon"
"Shure. she amt the only wan. An
what do you be hearin' from your boy,
Mis- Phut. that's in France2"
Hes well, and happy. His arms
all healed. and he says he'll be in IL
again by the time I get his letter"
"Humph," sale. Irish Nellie Ana