“With one woman along,” she insisted.
“You have got to stay here in the city,” he declared.
“If you leave me here alone, deserting me for men who are leading you into dangers and trouble, you’ll find me dancing in one of the worst holes on this street when you come back. I swear it!” she said.
She did not raise her voice. There was no elocution, and hysterics were absent. But there are women who can say a thing and make you believe it. Captain Holstrom cracked his knuckles and gasped, and said nothing. Keedy ran his thin tongue along the line of his sooty mustache.
“As a partner, I’m in favor of keeping a good girl near her father,” said he.
“You are not a partner in my family affairs, Mr. Keedy!” cried the girl, hotly.
Keedy, much embarrassed, and willing to hide his feelings, turned to me.
“We seem to be drifting off the main subject, Brother Sidney.” I wanted to yank him up for calling me by that title—resentment surged in me as hotly as it did in the girl. There are some men who seem to make your soul feel sticky when they try to be intimate.
I told him I’d like a night to think the matter over.
“All right,” said Keedy, dryly; “I’ll take you with me to a place where you can do some steady thinking and won’t be bothered. Stuff your things back into your bag.”