Спрут: Калифорнийская история
Chapter VIII
TohimMinnaapplied.
“Ishouldlike,”shefaltered,“tohavearoom—abedforthenight.Oneofthoseforfifteencentswillbegoodenough,Ithink.”
“Well,thisplaceisonlyformen,”saidtheman,lookingupfromthelamp.
“Oh,”saidMinna,“oh—I—Ididn’tknow.”
Shelookedathimstupidly,andhe,withequalstupidity,returnedthegaze.Thus,foralongmoment,theyheldeachother’seyes.
“I—Ididn’tknow,”repeatedMinna.
“Yes,it’sformen,”repeatedtheother.Sheslowlydescendedthestairs,andoncemorecameoutuponthestreets.
Anduponthosestreetsthat,asthehoursadvanced,grewmoreandmoredeserted,moreandmoresilent,moreandmoreoppressivewiththesenseofthebitterhardnessoflifetowardsthosewhohavenomeansofliving,MinnaHoovenspentthefirstnightofherstruggletokeepherheadabovetheebb-tideofthecity’ssea,intowhichshehadbeenplunged.
Morningcame,andwithitrenewedhunger.Atthistime,shehadfoundherwayuptownagain,andtowardsteno’clockwassittinguponabenchinalittleparkfullofnurse-maidsandchildren.Agroupofthemaidsdrewtheirbaby-buggiestoMinna’sbench,andsatdown,continuingaconversationtheyhadalreadybegun.Minnalistened.Afriendofoneofthemaidshadsuddenlythrownupherposition,leavingher“madame”inwhatwouldappeartohavebeendeservedembarrassment.
“Oh,”saidMinna,breakingin,andlyingwithsuddenunwontedfluency,“Iamanurse-girl.Iamoutofaplace.
