The Wilmington morning star., 1940-01-29
P EIGHTEEN

you playing policewoman to a klc
from the slumsi"
Fabienne turned to him with hel
eyes flashing. whats SO funny
about that?" she demanded.
Nothing, honey, nothing. But
you don't think you're responsible
for that kind of a kid, do you??"
Somebody has to be-" she said,
her face growing serious and
thoughtful.
This place gives me the willies,"
Dru told her husband. Il never did
like Summing. 1t sounds amusing
but I'll take Ell Morocco"
They left at once without so much
as a backward glance at the little
Italian girl sitting with the two
brown boys.
At Ell Morocco, Tommy picked
Up the check for the six of them
and Fabienne found herself looking
at it and thinking, for the first time
in her life, of what the money spent
in a smart cafe would mean if it
were applied to a fund to prevent
such things as she had seen a/feW
hours before.
Going back to her luxurious
apartment in the Plaza, Fabienne
said to Drusilla, You know Dru,
she's a nice little kid. I feel -. .
somehow that it's all my fault"
D,,,-;lJo eoiI HI7a he ont on oJoc
on. You'll feel better in the morn
ing, darling
But in the morning, Fabienne
awoke thinking of Rose and the
memory of her little painted face
came before her and the morning
paper she was trying to read
Roses face, as it had defied her.
And Roses face as it had looked
On Christmas night when she said,
"Real prize fighters and artists got
their start in classes at the house.
Il We had a dramatic class, We
might - some OF us - become IA
NOUS. And all the kids would love
III
Fabienne consigned Mrs. Cheese
bo-ouga 70 the proper place for Ia
oes WHO did such things.
Then SIG shrugged her shoulders
as Il 10 dismiss the whole Incl.
DEM.
But there we No forgetting il
when Pose, vhite-faced and blush
ing By turng in an agony Of en-
-barrasgment and apology, came to
Ter Office The next afternoon.
Hello, Pose" she greeted the
child with q friendly smile.
Rose kept her eyes on the floor.
Her tongue stumbled and she
spoke brokenly, ooh, Miss sey-
mour. I didn't mean it. Honest!
didn't know what I was saying. ]
DIDN'T mean"
sit down, Rose. I know you
didn't mean it. Just tell me why
you went there. Why you like it"'
The little italian girl raised hel
black velvet eyes and kept then
fixed 1t a point above Fabienne's
head. Gee, Miss Seymour, you
don't know what some peoples
homes is like"
perhaps I can guess" Fab'eune
answered gently.
1--WE got seven in u family. We
live in two rooms. Kitchen and bed
room. Me and my two sisters SLEEP
in the kitchen. The old man and
my brother sleeps in the other
room"
Fabienne depressed a shudde1
"And you have no place to enter.
tain?'
Rose shook her black curls. mo
body has in this neighborhood. L
amt like where you live. Blu
I amt Sc different from you.
gotta have fun" That was wha
she had said the night before.
Fabienne nodded Understandings
"Of course you do. But . Their,
must be other places besides tina
-. that dance hall. The movies
friends houses, the settlement
house"
'The movies cost money. M,
friends amt got no more place t.
have other kids in than l have,
Rose explained pathetically. 9Th
settlement house? Sure, I com
here when there's something doing
but, you know, Miss Seymour,
girl likes boys. Boys amt going t
sit around here and talk. That
why I thought if we had the the
ater-"
Eyes," Fabienne Interrupted. "Te]
me n thing more, Rose. VIII,
did you go with those Fil-thos
boys?"
Because they got money!" Ros
said in a small voice.
Fabienne felt her heart tur.
sick. Yes, those boys had money t
spend on a girl; first for dance hal
tickets and drinks, and later fo
perfume and trinkets and 'sleaz
little personal presents, and then-
Suddenly she felt an immens
sorrow, a great helpless pity, an
swift anger against society in gen
eral, and Mrs. Cheeseborough ii
particular.
Strangely, it didn't occur to he
that there was something that sh
could do. Although the idea mus
have been there, buried beneath tn
sudden appreciation she felt for he
own comfortable existence.
Gertrude, with an income of fiji
teen thousand dollars a year. ha,