"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.