“Sure,” Merry laughed back.
“All right, we’ll lay off, won’t we?” He turned to the man at his side.
“Certainly.” The one who spoke seemed as much out of place there as did Petite Jeanne. He was young and, in a way, handsome. His features were regular, his forehead high. But about his eyes was a look of dissatisfaction.
“His life is a story, an interesting story,” Jeanne told herself. “I’d love to read it.” To this little French girl the world was a stage indeed, and all men actors. She was to learn more of the ways of those who haunt auction sales ere the day was done.
Had some great artist come upon that scene, he would surely have hidden himself away behind boxes and bundles, to peer through some narrow crack and prepare a hasty sketch which must in time be developed into an immortal work of art. There they were, Jeanne and Merry, like two beings from another world; two glowing spots of color, one orange, one bright purple, against a dull tide of brown, gray and black. The scene about them was grim and sordid. It spoke of the cluttered stalls of Maxwell Street where the poor of the city quarrel over the rags that must serve them in lieu of garments, and of grim, stark tenements where men struggle in vain for warmth and bread.
There were deep lines in the faces of those who ranged themselves, tier on tier, behind the girls, waiting patiently for the show, which was a weekly auction, to begin. And yet there was to be seen in many a pair of eyes a glint of pleasurable anticipation.
“Look at them,” Merry whispered, allowing her glance to sweep the growing throng. “They are gamblers; gamblers all.”
“Gamblers!” Jeanne voiced her astonishment.
“They are. You shall see. And this is a gambling institution. The auctioneer will tell them they are gambling. Perhaps you will hear him say it. ‘It’s not what you can make, but what you stand to lose.’ He says that. And yet they bid.
“You will hear them very soon, bidding six dollars, seven, eight for three packages. What’s in the packages? They are wrapped tight. Not one of them can know. They bet their money that the packages will increase their meager pile of money.”