Joe went home by way of Allen street where the houses were. After midnight when the East side generally was beginning to quiet down, Allen street was in full swing. Joe never tired of watching the game that was played there. The men looked so sheepish when they sneaked into the houses, and more so when they came out later, cleaned out. Each man looking as if he was the first who had been trimmed. These were the poor fools who hadn’t spunk enough to get a woman for themselves. The painted-up girls too, at the windows, grinning at the men like cats, and making goo-goo eyes, and calling pet names to get them to come in. And the poor suckers fell for it! It was enough to make a feller laugh. Besides, there was often a good trick to be worked in Allen street. If you could get hold of a souse before he fell into the hands of the girls.
On this night Joe had the fun of seeing Chicago Liz’s house raided by the police. He had heard rumors that Liz was having trouble with the Captain along of her payments. The police didn’t bother the other houses of course, and all the girls were at the windows and doors watching. It was good sport to see Chicago Liz’s girls carried out into the street in their short dresses; yelling and carrying on, and joshing the crowd until they were shoved in the wagon. The Madame herself, who looked sour, was taken away with a policeman to herself in a two horse cab.
After it was over, Joe was beckoned by a girl standing in a doorway across the street. This was Jewel La Count who was in Clara Moore’s house. Joe had a sort of footing in that house as occasional errand boy. Jewel was half Italian like himself; but nobody knew what the other half of her was. They were about the same age, but Jewel tried to put it over him because she had been going with men for more than a year. Joe sneered at her, but these girls were often useful to him, and he went across the street. A certain uneasiness attacked him at the thought of speaking to her alone. Kid though she was, he wasn’t sure how to handle her; he hadn’t discovered any way of getting her going.
“What yeh want?” he asked gruffly.
Jewel’s great brown eyes took him in unsmilingly, and turned away. “Nottin’,” she said. “There’s nottin’ doin’ to-night. I just wanted somebody to talk to.”
Joe felt at a loss. “Aah!” he said, kicking the step with his spreading shoe.
“Tell me somepin, Kid,” said Jewel. “I never get out.”
“Aah!” said Joe. He sized her up calculatingly out of the corners of his eyes. She was a damn pretty girl. But that meant nothing to him. Her skin was as soft and smooth as a baby’s. The prettiest girl in the street. He had heard said that Clara Moore knew what a good thing she had in Jewel, and took good care of her. “Where’s the Madam?” he asked.
“Out,” said Jewel indifferently.
“You’d catch hell if she saw you down in the street.”