“Sol Bloomberg!” she cried. “Proprietor of The Big Chance! Oh, this is too much! I can’t believe it!”
CHAPTER XIX
THE DWARF
For the second time within an hour the Chase girls looked alarmed at Ruth’s vehemence. Seeing their bewilderment, Ruth strove to collect herself and to dissemble her dismay at this new and startling bit of information.
Slowly she picked up the overturned chair and reseated herself. Her hands shook as she clasped them tight in her lap and her face was white.
“Sol Bloomberg running The Big Chance! I might have guessed it before. I should have inquired——”
“But why do you care that Sol Bloomberg is running The Big Chance?” Mary Chase inquired, puzzled. “I wish Ellen had not told you!”
“Oh, no, no! It’s all right,” said Ruth hastily, forcing her stiff lips to smile. “I happen to be acquainted with Bloomberg, that’s all; and if this is the same man, I certainly know little good of him.”
“He is a bad man!” Ellen burst out with almost childish fury. “I have heard that he cheats at cards, but he does it so cleverly that nobody can catch him in the act. He is a bad man, and I think he wants our claim as much as Lieberstein—and maybe more!”
“Hush, Ellen! You should not say such things unless you know,” cautioned Mary, but the younger sister persisted stubbornly.
“I can’t see any harm in saying what one believes,” she protested. “Bloomberg is a bad man and I hate him as much as I do Lieberstein.”