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Page 73

"I ought to tell you something, Miss Wells," she said. "You
remember my other visit?"

"Perfectly." Harmony bent still lower.

"I did you an injustice at that time. I've been sorry ever since.
I thought that there was no Dr. Gates. I'm sorry, but I'm not
going to deny it. People do things in this wicked city that they
wouldn't do at home. I confess I misjudged Peter Byrne. You can
give him my apologies, since he won't see me."

"But he isn't here or of course he'd see you."

"Then," demanded Mrs. Boyer grimly, "if Peter Byrne is not here,
who has been smoking cigarettes in this room? There is one still
burning in that stove!"

Harmony's hand was forced. She was white as she cut the
brown-silk thread and rose to her feet.

"I think," she said, "that I'd better go back a few weeks, Mrs.
Boyer, and tell you a story, if you have time to listen."

"If it is disagreeable--"

"Not at all. It is about Peter Byrne and myself, and--some
others. It is really about Peter. Mrs. Boyer, will you come very
quietly across the hall?"

Mrs. Boyer, expecting Heaven knows what, rose with celerity.
Harmony led the way to Jimmy's door and opened it. He was still
asleep, a wasted small figure on the narrow bed. Beside him the
mice frolicked in their cage, the sentry kept guard over Peter's
shameless letters from the Tyrol, the strawberry babies wriggled
in their cotton.

"We are not going to have him very long," said Harmony softly.
"Peter is making him happy for a little while."

Back in the salon of Maria Theresa she told the whole story. Mrs.
Boyer found it very affecting. Harmony sat beside her on a stool
and she kept her hand on the girl's shoulder. When the narrative
reached Anna's going away, however, she took it away. From that
point on she sat uncompromisingly rigid and listened.

"Then you mean to say," she exploded when Harmony had finished,
"that you intend to stay on here, just the two of you?"

"And Jimmy."

"Bah! What has the child to do with it?"

"We will find some one to take Anna's place."

"I doubt it. And until you do?"

"There is nothing wicked in what we are doing. Don't you see,
Mrs. Boyer, I can't leave the boy."

"Since Peter is so altruistic, let him hire a nurse."

Bad as things were, Harmony smiled.

"A nurse!" she said. "Why, do you realize that he is keeping
three people now on what is starvation for one?"

"Then he's a fool!" Mrs. Boyer rose in majesty. "I'm not going to
leave you here."

"I'm sorry. You must see--"

"I see nothing but a girl deliberately putting herself in a
compromising portion and worse."

"Mrs. Boyer!"

"Get your things on. I guess Dr. Boyer and I can look after you
until we can send you home."

"I am not going home--yet," said poor Harmony, biting her lip to
steady it.

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Books | Photos | Paul Mutton | Thu 25th Dec 2025, 19:06

The Street of Seven Stars by Mary Roberts Rinehart