Athalie flushed and shook her head. Mrs. Bellmore lighted another

cigarette from the smouldering remnant of the previous one, and flung

the gilt-tipped remains through the window.

"Ten to one it hits a crook if it hits anybody," she remarked. "This

is a fierce neighbourhood,--all sorts of joints, and then some. But I

like my rooms. I don't guess you'll be bothered. A girl is more likely

to get spoken to in the swell part of town. Well,--" she struggled to

her fat feet--"I'll be going. If you're lonely, drop in during the

evening. I'm at the office all day except Sundays and holidays."

They stood, confronted, looking at each other for a moment. Then,

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impulsively the fat woman offered her hand: "Don't be afraid of me," she said. "I may look crooked, but I'm not.

Your mother wouldn't mind my knowing you."

She held Athalie's narrow hand for a moment, and the girl looked into

the faded eyes.

"Thank you for coming," she said. "I was lonely."

"Good girls usually are. It's a hell of an alternative, isn't it? I

don't mean to be profane; hell is the word. It's hell either way for a

girl alone."

Athalie nodded silently. Mrs. Bellmore looked at her, then glanced

around the room, curiously.

"Hello," she said abruptly, "what's that?"

Athalie's eyes followed hers: "Do you mean the crystal?"

"Yes.... Say--" she turned to Athalie, nodding profound emphasis on

every word she uttered:--"Say, I thought there was something else

to you--something I couldn't quite get next to. Now I know what's been

bothering me about you. You're clairvoyant!"

Athalie's cheeks grew warm: "I am not a medium," she said. "That

crystal is not my own."

"That may be. Maybe you don't think you are a medium. But you are,

Miss Greensleeve. I know. I'm a little that way, too,--just a very

little. Oh, I could go into the business and fake it of course,--like

all the others--or most of them. But you are the real thing. Why," she

exclaimed in vexation, "didn't I know it as soon as I laid eyes on

you? I certainly was subconscious of something. Why you could do

anything you pleased with the power you have if you'd care to learn

the business. There's money in it--take it from me!"

Athalie said, after a few moments of silence: "I don't think I

understand. Is there a way of--of developing clear vision?"




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