“Why, yes,” said Betty apologetically. “I have to, just a little while. I’m sorry to go when you have so few nights left, but I really couldn’t get out of it very well. But I’ll be home early. However, don’t you sit up for me if you are tired. Good-bye. I’m enjoying my pretty clothes a lot.”
Marjorie looked at her in dismay, her heart sinking. Was she really going out with that young man Aiken? Going to the nightclubs after all? But—who had come for her? The doorbell hadn’t rung.
Marjorie slipped into the dark parlor and looked out the window. A shabby little jalopy was just pulling away from the door. Betty must have been watching for him out the window and gone down at once. They must have had an agreement that he would not ring the bell. She turned from the window and went sadly back to the children, whom she was about to take up to bed when Betty came down. She must pray a lot this evening. She wished Ted were at home to help. Or, should she tell Ted? What could he do anyway if he were here? Betty was gone! Poor, foolish Betty!
Meantime Betty was discovering that Ellery Aiken was cross at her for not bringing her sister. He wanted to see her. Ellery was great for new girls. Also, he sometimes got commissions from men he knew for bringing new, attractive girls for the evening, and his treasury was low just now.
Betty was disappointed, too, in the car he had brought. He had told her he had the use of a new car, but this one sounded like an old tin pan as it rattled along. She began to suspect that the evening was going to be as cheap as the car. But she roused herself to throw off her conscience and forget her discomfort at the way she had stolen out and what Marjorie would think about her, and tried to be happy.
It had never seemed to her before that Ellery was coarse. She had always thought him extremely amusing, but tonight he seemed to select the most questionable stories on his list to tell her, and when she did not respond warmly to his mirth, he looked at her sharply.
“What’s the matter, baby? Putting on airs with your glad rags? You better get warmed up or you won’t go down at all, where I’m taking you. I’ve got a fella wants ta meet ya, some swell! Got millions! Always ready ta spend it on the right kind of a girl. But you gotta be a little interested when he talks. You can’t just sit around like a marvelous icicle all the evening. You’ve gotta get busy and be conversational if you wantta be popular.”
Betty was suddenly a little frightened.
“I thought I was going with you, Ellery. I didn’t know there were other men along. Perhaps I wouldn’t care to meet them.”
“Wouldn’t care to meet ’em! What’s gettin’ ya? Watcha goin’ for, then? You didn’t suppose we were just goin’ ta sit around and hold hands all the evening together, did ya? I’ve got other girls ta dance with. I can’t just stay with you, ya know.”
Ellery didn’t state that he was paid by the club to dance with other girls, but that was really the case.
Betty was still a long time. The little tin car was rattling along at a lively pace, screeching its horn at every crossing. Ellery was late. Betty had been slow in coming down in answer to his signal. She had waited to be sure that her mother’s door was shut before she slipped down the stairs. Now she began to be greatly troubled. At last she said, a trifle haughtily, “I think perhaps you’d better take me home again, Ellery. I don’t think I care to go, after all.”
“Aw, you gettin’ cold feet, are you? But you don’t get out of it now, baby. I haven’t time to run you back and forth while you change your mind a dozen times. Besides, I promised to bring this guy a pretty girl, prettiest girl he’s ever seen, and I’ve got to deliver the goods.”
“But I don’t care to go with a stranger, Ellery!” she cried, aghast. “I had no idea—”
Ellery saw that he was going to have trouble and he had no time for that, so he set himself to soothe her.
“Now, baby, don’t you worry! It’s going to be marvelous! You said you wanted ta see the nightclubs, and I’ve arranged to give you an eyeful. You just trust me, and I’ll see you through the evening. B’lieve me, you’ll be glad you did! It isn’t every gal that will get all the attention I’m aiming to have for you. You’re some sweetie! I’m proud to be escorting ya! Of course, I appreciate your wanting to be with me exclusive, but it can’t be done. You’re expected to be social and affable and all that, you know. And we have ta be like the rest. But you’ll like it, baby, b’lieve me! You take my word for it, you’ll like it!” Betty felt a strange, cold draught about her heart. She was growing more and more frightened. Ellery strung his long arm around her shoulders and drew her up close to him, but she drew away again and sat up very straight.
“ ’S the matter, Babe? Ain’t sore, are ya?” he said as he brought the car up in front of a sordid-looking place. Betty had expected to see glitter in a nightclub, but this place looked fairly grubby, the more so as they entered. It was blue with smoke. This was a different world, right enough. She shrank back at the door, but he pushed her forward.
“Right over here, baby! Got a table reserved for four. Nice party! Other girl’s real refined. You’ll like her. Sit down. We’ll have a little cocktail to start things going and get us warmed up.”
Betty sat down fearfully and looked about her. She didn’t care for the look of the men in the place. Surely this could not be one of the nicer places. She met bold, intimate glances appraising her, and shrank in her soul. The women wore more makeup than she liked. It gave them a hard look. Perhaps the haze of smoke that hung over everything emphasized it.
Ellery ordered cocktails, and when they came, Betty tried to keep her hand from trembling as she raised the glass to her lips. She must not let Ellery see that this was her first taste of liquor.
But the fumes of it were anything but pleasant to her unspoiled senses, and she didn’t care particularly for the taste. She kept thinking of what Marjorie had said about drinking. Still, she kept taking little sips, scarcely more than touching her lips to the glass sometimes. She didn’t like the strange stinging sensation. It frightened her. It sent a tingling down her arms and quickened her heartbeats.
Ellery tossed his off, and ordered another before he chided her for being so hesitant.
“Plenty more where this came from, Babe!” he said jovially, so loud that people at the other tables heard him and laughed. They called out remarks over her head. He knew everybody.
They began to come over to be introduced, and Betty didn’t feel at home among them. They were of another world. She felt herself growing haughty. Ellery kidded her about it.
“You’re too high-hat, Betts!” he shouted genially. “Just because you’ve got a new fur coat doesn’t crown you queen!”
Ellery finished his drink and reached over and took her glass.
“Here, I’ll finish yours and you can get a fresh glass. Waiter, here, double it for us both!”
Ellery was not himself. He must have been drinking before he came for her. His loud, excited voice seemed to rasp through her sensitive nerves.
Then the other two of the party arrived. A small dark girl with no back to her dress. She had vivid coloring, and her black hair was plastered wickedly to her head with points to her cheeks. She looked Betty over and raised what eyebrows she had left, pursing her lips amusedly. Betty felt herself weighed and found wanting. It made her angry. Who was this girl?
The man with her was overweight, with a bulging stomach and heavy bags under his small eyes. But the eyes twinkled when they saw Betty. He kept them on her for a full minute, and she felt as if he had seen into her soul. She barely kept herself from shuddering. She loathed him. He wore an enormous diamond on his little finger. Another in his tie. His lips were thick and full.
More drinks were brought, and some food. But Betty had no wish for food, and she lifted her glass only now and then to keep up a semblance of drinking so they would not call attention to her. The floor show that was presently put on was almost a relief to Betty, though in spite of its glitter, she was soon disgusted with the girls. In her guarded lif
e she had never seen such girls close by before. But the show did not take the eyes of the men from herself, and she was fairly sickened by the gloating in their faces as they watched.
After the show Ellery asked the other girl if she would like to dance, and she rose and floated off with her head on his breast, her cheek to his, till they disappeared in the maze of tables.
Left alone with the other man, Betty was terribly frightened. But she mustn’t let him see it, of course. She must try to think of something to talk about until Ellery came back, and then she would demand that he take her home at once. But she couldn’t think of a thing to say, and the man was looking at her. She hated that. Of course, looks, just looks, couldn’t really hurt you, but she felt so ashamed to be sitting there! How terrible if her father, or Ted, could see her!
But she must shake this feeling off. Perhaps it only came from hearing Marjorie talk. She had wanted a try at this and now that she was getting it, she must accredit herself well. Somehow she must get out of here, and never, never let her family know what she had gone through.
The man asked her to dance, but she shook her head.
“Thank you, no, I don’t feel like dancing,” she said languidly.
He offered her cigarettes but she shook her head.
He looked puzzled.
“What are you, anyway? Don’t wannta dance, don’t wannta smoke, don’t wannta drink. Guess you’re a kind of a frost, aren’t you?”
“Yes,” said Betty, trying to keep her lips from trembling, “that’s what I am, a frost! That’s what I’m trying to be—a frost!”
He gave her another puzzled look.
“You’re deep! That’s what you are, you’re deep!” he decided.
“Yes,” said Betty quickly, “I’m deep. I’m deep water frozen over!”
“Well,” said the man, lifting his weight and moving his chair nearer to her, “I’ve got to look into this. I’ve got to get to the bottom of this and melt the ice. Let’s have a friendly little drink. Here, try my glass. Make it all the better kick for me to drink after you.” To her horror, his massive arm went around her shoulders and he lifted his own glass to her lips.
She was on the point of screaming, but she cast a quick, wild look about her and realized that she was on her own. This was the sort of thing that was common in this joint. It certainly wasn’t the kind of nightclub she had dreamed about. But whatever it was, she must work her own way out, for it was evident nobody else, not even Ellery, was going to help her out. She must use her wits, and she wouldn’t get herself anywhere by screaming.
She suddenly slid her chair away from the encircling arm and the offered glass, and looked at the man with what she frantically hoped was a bright smile.
“I’ll tell you what you can do,” she said with a shaky little voice that was trying to be cheerful. “You go and find Ellery Aiken for me and tell him I’ve been taken sick. Tell him I want him right away!”
He stared at her a minute and laughed.
“Is thish some joke?” he asked. He wasn’t exceedingly keen or he would have seen that she was frightened. But then, he had been drinking freely, and he was somewhat foggy in his perceptions.
“No!” she said sharply. “It’s true! I’m sick! Get Ellery for me quick!”
He studied her stupidly another minute, and then he said, “All rightie, darling, if you shay its sho it musht be sho! I’ll do my besht!” He got up and tottered off, but then to her horror he turned back again and, leaning over her chair, said, “You wouldn’t razyer I’d take you home, m’shelf?”
“No, thank you!” she said, drawing in a deep breath and feeling suddenly faint. The world seemed to be whirling under her.
But he went off and was lost among the dancers.
He was gone a long time, but she wasn’t alone. The informality of the place amazed her. Other men came and sat at her table, tried to get her to dance, to smoke, to drink, and it seemed hours before she finally saw Ellery steering toward her.
She had done her best with the ring of admirers that had come, laughed and talked with them in a dizzy whirl of nothings, told them all she was too tired to dance and didn’t want to drink or smoke. The truth was she was afraid. Terribly afraid. This wasn’t the kind of thing she had envisioned when she had longed to go about to the nightclubs. This must be a very lowdown resort indeed. Her estimate of Ellery had gone down a good deal, yet she was glad to see his familiar form wending its way toward her, even though unsteadily.
“Wha’s the matter, baby? Didn’ya like the millionaire I got for ya, darling? Poor fish been taking too many drinks. I’ll get ya ’nuther fella!”
“No, no! Ellery, I want to go home! I’m sick!” She shuddered and certainly did look sick.
“Aw, baby! It isn’t time ta go home. Not quite half past one yet! Never go home that soon! Take ’nuther drink, baby, an’ see if ya won’t feel better. Get ya a nice drink!”
“No!” said Betty sharply. “Ellery, if you don’t take me home at once I’ll go by myself, and I’ll tell the people at the office what kind of a place you brought me to!”
“Aw, baby! Don’t get harsh with me! I’m your own dear Ellery! You wouldn’t do that to me! Come on, baby! Have it your own way then. We’ll go home!”
She was glad she had insisted on keeping her coat with her when they came in. Ellery had a terrible time trying to find his overcoat and hat at the checking room, and finally went off with one that didn’t belong to him, but she didn’t realize until she was down in the car and they were starting off, that Ellery was really drunk. She wasn’t used to drunken men. She didn’t know what strange things they could do. But when the she saw the car start off with a leap, she was more frightened than she had ever been in her life. She wished that she had stolen away without Ellery, after the fat man had left her. Shi might have had a terrible time in finding her way out of this strange part of the city, but somewhere she could have found a policeman to direct her. She would have had to walk home, for she had not thought to bring any money with her when she came, but anything would have been better than this!
Oh, if she could only get out and run away from this maniac. He was driving like mad, whirling around corners, into alleys and backing out again. The car lurched and rode over a curbstone, jolting down again and on around another corner. She dared not ask him if he knew where he was going. She had no knowledge herself of the part of town where they were now.
At last he came up with a jerk under a street sign.
“You read that shine fer me, baby!” he cajoled. “Hurts my eyes to read in this light. Is that Ahster Street? We wanta go ta Ahster Street, don’t we?”
At last, in her terror, she begged him to let her out.
“I can easily walk from here,” she said, trying to speak pleasantly, though her heart was beating wildly.
“Na, na, can’t let ya out. Never let a lady down that way!” said the drunken knight. “We’ll jusht drive a little farther. P’raps we’ll find Ahster Street! Never let a lady out on streetsh at this time o’ night. I’m a gentleman, if I am drunk!”
He put his foot on the starter, and they whirled away like a streak again, Betty trying to still the wild beating of her heart and wishing she knew how to pray!
They were going at such a wild pace now that Betty felt that every moment might be her last. Past red lights they dashed on, and the tears rolled down Betty’s cheeks as she gripped the seat and tried to keep her balance.
There were not many cars on the road so late, else they must have come to disaster almost at once. But perhaps some guardian angel was at work protecting Betty.
They had gone a long way. Betty could not tell in the darkness now just where they were, but she steadied her voice and cried out.
“Here! Here! Isn’t this Aster Street? Yes, let’s stop here! This will do nicely.”
“This it? Okay by me! Let’s park awhile an’ get a little sleep, baby!” said the gallant knight, bringing his car up to the curb with such a flou
rish that he mounted the curb and headed right into the pole that held the street sign.
“Whoa there, Lizzie!” he called out as he swayed in his seat and put on the brakes. “Pardon me, shir! Shorry ta run ya down, but couldn’t be helped. Gotta get a l’il shleep!”
Betty thought the end was coming, and she had a wild thought of her mother, wondering who would tell her. The next second came the impact, and she was thrown to her knees with her head against the dashboard of the car, stunned for the minute. Then her senses returned and she could hear Ellery talking, apologizing over and over to the signpost.
“Didn’t mean ta disturb ya, shir, just hadta get a little rest. Sure, I’m okay. Not hurt. Fresh as a rose an’ twichesh as happy!” And Ellery slumped down in his corner and settled himself for a nap.
But Betty, frightened and bruised and trembling, managed to get the car door open and stumble out to the street.
She looked wildly back at Ellery, but he was unconscious of her presence. Already he was drawing long loud breaths in a drunken sleep. Then she fled up the dark street. She did not know where she was, and her legs under her were very shaky, but she must get away before Ellery came to himself and realized that she had gone. She was more afraid of him now than of any death that could come to her.
Keith Sheridan, coming home that evening from a hard drive that had taken him into the country on a road that had a long, rough detour, turned into the city at last with a sigh of relief. He was tired out and needed a good night’s rest. He had done two operations that day and had a patient who was going to die, and his nerves were on edge.
As he turned a corner, he noticed a car ahead of him being crazily driven, turning a corner on two wheels and tearing madly away. A block farther on, the same car came around another corner straight at him, and he barely avoided a collision. He swerved away from the catastrophe and looked ahead to where the car was dashing up the sidewalk. He heard the crash of the pole and the splintered glass of a windshield, heard a girl’s voice cry out in fear, and then silence!