Evening star., 1940-01-14

year out, but he don't live IN 1t only
when he comes here from Europe
maybe three times a year. What his
business is. is the mysteries which l
don't know, but is something with
money, because see his name in the
paper with foreign monies. But me, l
only know l 60 up to Twenty-three for
ten years. when the telephone rings"
Mrs. Whitaker opened her mouth
to ask a question, but for once Ma
dame Rubin did not wait for it. She
went swiftly on. mo. ma am. is true
we don't wait on mems, but goes to
Twenty-three always for a lady. 1t
amt his wife, neither. How do l know?
know it. A woman is wife and you
can see it. She amt, and you can
feel it.
"You must know. ma am, how is it
in a hotel The management amt doc
tors and preachers. nor yet poliss,
to look and see what is it when man
comes in anyhow and signs the register
So-and-so and wife, and he don't 50
much have to sign when like this big
fellow he comes year after year and a
gold watch chain, like ship cables, on
his stomach and diamonds in the cuff
links.
mo, ma am, the management amt
paid for such questions. nor yet can
they ask for marriage lines. l know
how it is for myself. The telephone
rings and l 60 up and | don't say l
only do ladies' faces as have put mar
riage papers in their sultcases. A hotel
is business, ma am. and so am l."
II suppose SC" said Mrs. Whitaker.
Certainly if Mr. Whitaker had said
one thing more than another in the
twenty-five years of their marriage. it
was that business was business and
that she did not understand it.
Fix me so nobody don't know me.
the pretty child says to me. and l did"
Madame Rubin was saying dramatic
ally. AT nine O'Clock she was a
blonde At ten she was as black as |
am - dark powder her skin. eye
brows. eyelashes dyed like natchel,
hair like Lupy Velez's in the movie.
And then make her sweet little pink
mouth like big red flower" i
She had no sooner finished this task
of creation - young Antony standing,
by and watching her every touch i
than one of the attendants knocked
at the door of the booth which she had
locked when she went into it.
Madame Rubin opened the door
and the attendant lifted her eyebrows
and held up two fingers, then three. 1t
was a sign Madame Rubin knew well.
for it meant the women whom she and
her girls knew only as "Twenty-three."
She would have said she was prepared
for any wickedness from this woman.
with her hard blond face. but she was
not prepared for the look on the young
face she had been changing, or to see
her lips shape the words:
Hide me It's my stepmother"
And that little child. ma am" Ma
dame Rubin told Mrs. Whitaker.
who had just made into a brunette,
against God. she puts her arms around
my waist and begins to cry silent into
my busslm. She won't know you,' |
says to her. Sit up and act like
stranger Then | put the young man
into the store closet and lock the door,
and out go, ma am, to the old
woman. There she is, blonde used to be
natchel and now amt anything
natchel. and she tries to be like lady
and says, i believe my dawtah comes
in here Madame Rubin became for
the instant, before Mrs. Whittaker's
eye, a naughty, somewhat-aged blonde,
demanding her daughter.
"And l says TO her. There amt
nobody here. ma am, like your daugh-
ter. We amt got no children here
To please her | says such a big lie,