“Don’t worry!� interposed Madeline acidly. “You wont have to run away from town and leave me to face it all. This girl has gotten us out of it. She is the operator downstairs. Phil called up and asked her all sorts of questions. And she told him the apartment hadn’t had a call all morning. Isn’t she a brick?�
A sound like the exhaust of an empty soda-siphon broke from between Karl’s puffy lips—a sound of pure if porcine reaction from dread.
“Good girl!� he croaked, still hoarse with recent fright. “Dandy girl!�
He sought to pat Daisy approvingly on the shoulder with one pudgy hand. She recoiled.
“How much?� he asked jovially, not observing the stark repulsion in her face and gesture as she shrank away. “How much, little girl? You’ve done a mighty big stroke of business this day. What do you say I owe you? Or will you leave it to me to do the right thing by you?�
He juggled a bloated wad of bills from his trousers pocket as he spoke. And at his motion something in Daisy’s taut brain seemed to snap.
The girl did not “see red.â€� She saw only two fat and greasy creatures who thought she was as vile as they—who took it for granted that she had done this thing to extort a rich tip from them, for covering up their sin. And wrath gave her back her momentarily lost power of speech.
“Oh!â€� she cried in utter loathing, “you’d dare pay me for trying to help you? If I’d known what you both are, all the money in New York wouldn’t have gotten me to lift a finger for you. You horrible—â€�
“There, there, my dear!â€� oilily soothed Karl. “You’re a little bit excited. Calm down and tell us how much—â€�
“If you don’t want pay,� shrilled Madeline, “what did you come here for?�