Athalie

"Did the man kill her?"

"Yes, dearie. And the papers had it. That's what put me in Dutch. I

gotta be honest with you. You'd hear it, anyway."

"But how could he give her chloral--"

The anxious, excited little woman's volubility could suffer restraint

no longer: "Oh, he could dope her easy in the dark!" she burst out. "Not that the

house ain't thur'ly respectable as far as I can help it, and all my

lodgers is refined. No, Miss Greensleeve, I won't stand for nothing

that ain't refined and genteel. Only what can a honest woman do when

she's abed and asleep, what with all the latch keys and entertainin',

and things like that? No, Miss Greensleeve, I ain't got myself to

blame, being decent and law-abiding and all like that, what with the

police keeping tabs and the neighbourhood not being Fifth Avenoo

either!--and this jinx wished on me--"

"Please--"

"Oh, I suppose you ain't a-goin' to stay here now that you've learned

all about these goin's on and all like that--"

"Please wait!"--for the voluble landlady was already beginning to

sniffle;--"I am perfectly willing to stay, Mrs. Meehan,--if you will

promise to be a little patient about my rent until I secure a

position--"

"Oh, I will, Miss Greensleeve! I ain't plannin' to press you none! I

know how it is with money and with young ladies. Easy come, easy go!

Just give me what you can. I ain't fixed any too good myself, what

with butchers and bakers and rent owed me and all like that. I guess I

can trust you to act fair and square--"

"Yes; I am square--so far."

Mrs. Meehan began to sob, partly with relief, partly with a general

tendency to sentimental hysteria: "I can see that, dearie. And say--if

you're quiet, I ain't peekin' around corners and through key-holes.

No, Miss Greensleeve; that ain't my style! Quiet behaved young ladies

can have their company without me saying nothing to nobody. All I ask

is that no lady will cut up flossy in any shape, form, or manner, but

behave genteel and refined to one and all. I don't want no policeman

in the area. That ain't much to ask, is it?" she gasped, fairly out of

breath between eloquence and tears.

"No," said Athalie with a faint smile, "it isn't much to ask."

And so the agreement was concluded; Mrs. Meehan brought in fresh linen

for bed and bathroom, pulled out the new bureau drawers and dusted

them, carried away a few anaemic geraniums in pots, and swept the new

hardwood floor with a dry mop, explaining that the entire apartment

had been renovated and redecorated since the tragic episode of last

August, and that all the furniture was brand new.