第35章

"No,yer'd 'ave ter pull me up by the roots like that old tree if yer took me out of this street.I remember w'en 'arf this street was open paddicks,an'now yer can't stick a pin between the 'ouses.I was a young gell then,an'a lot better lookin'than yer'd think.Ada's father thought a lot o'me,I tell yer.That was afore 'e took ter drink.I was 'is first love,as the sayin'is,but beer was 'is second.'E was a good 'usbind ter me wot time 'e could spare from the drink,an'I buried 'im out of this very 'ouse,w'en Ada could just walk.I often think life's a bloomin'fraud,Joe,w'ichever way yer look at it.W'en ye're young,it promises yer everythin'yer want,if yer only wait.An'w'en ye're done waitin',yer've lost yer teeth an'yer appetite,or forgot wot yer were waitin'for.Yes,Joe,the street an'me's old pals.We've seen one another in sickness an'sorrer an'joy an'jollification,an'it 'ud be a poor job ter part us now.Funny,ain't it?This street is more like a 'uman bein'ter me than plenty I know.Yer see,I can't read the paper,an'see 'oo's bin married and murdered through the week,bein'no scholar,but I can read Cardigan Street like a book.An'I've found that wot 'appens in this street 'appens everywhere else,if yer change the names an'addresses."About a week after the triumphant opening of the Silver Shoe,Jonah was running his eye down some price-lists,when he was disturbed by a loud noise.He looked round,and was surprised to see Miss Giltinan,head of the ladies'department,her lips tight with anger,replacing a heap of cardboard boxes with jerks of suppressed fury.

She was his best saleswoman,gathered in from the pavement a week after she had been ejected from Packard's factory for cheeking the boss.She had spent a few weeks dusting shoes and tying up parcels,and then,brushing the old hands aside,had taken her place as a born saleswoman.

Sharp as a needle,the customers were like clay in her hands.She recognized two classes of buyers--those who didn't know what they wanted,and always,under her guidance,spent more than they intended,and those who knew quite well what they wanted,the best quality at an impossible price.Both went away satisfied,for she took them into her confidence,and,with covert glances for fear she should be overheard,gave them her private opinion of the articles in a whisper.And they went away satisfied that they had saved money,and made a friend who would always look after their interests.But this morning she was blazing.

"Save the pieces,Mary,"said Jonah,"wot's the matter?""A woman in there's got me beat,"replied the girl savagely--"says she must 'ave Kling &Wessel's,an'we 'aven't got a pair in the place.Not likely either,when the firm's gone bung;but I wasn't goin'to tell 'er that.Better come an'try 'er yourself,or she'll get away with 'er money."As Jonah entered,the troublesome customer looked up with an air of great composure.She was a young woman of five-and-twenty,tall,dark,and slight,with features more uncommon than beautiful.Her face seemed quite familiar to Jonah.

"Good mornin',Miss.Can I 'elp you in any way?"he said,trying to remember where he had seen her before.

"So sorry to trouble you,but my feet are rather a nuisance,"she said,in a voice that broke like the sound of harps and flutes on Jonah's ear.

Jonah noted mechanically that her eyes were brown,peculiar,and luminous as if they glowed from within.They were marked by dark eyebrows that formed two curves of remarkable beauty.She showed her teeth in a smile;they were small and white and even,so perfect that they passed for false with strangers.She explained that she had an abnormally high instep,and could only be fitted by one brand of shoe.She showed her foot,cased in a black stocking,and the sight of it carried Jonah back to Cardigan Street and the push,for the high instep was a distinguished mark of beauty among the larrikins,adored by them with a Chinese reverence.

"I can only wear Kling &Wessel's,and your assistant tells me you are out of them at present,"she continued,"so I am afraid I must give it up as a bad job."She picked up her shoe,and Jonah was seized with an imperious desire to keep her in the shop at any cost.

"I'm afraid yer've worn yer last pair of that make,"said Jonah."The Americans 'ave driven them off the market,and the agency's closed.""How annoying!I must wear shoes.Whatever shall I do?"she replied,staring at the shelves as if lost in thought.

Jonah marked with an extraordinary pleasure every detail of her face and dress.The stuff was a cheap material,but it was cut and worn with a daintiness that marked her off from the shopgirls and others that Jonah was most familiar with.And as he looked,a soft glow swept through him like the first stage of intoxication.Sometimes at the barber's a similar hypnotic feeling had come over him,some electric current stirred by the brushing of his hair,when common sounds and movements struck on his nerves like music.Again his nerves vibrated tunefully,and he became aware that she was speaking.

"So sorry to have troubled you,"she said,and prepared to go.

He felt he must keep her at any cost."A foot like yours needs a special last shaped to the foot.I don't make to order now,as a rule,but I'll try wot I can do fer yer,if yer care to leave an order,"he said.

He spoke like one in a dream.

She looked at him with a peculiar,intense gaze."I should prefer that,but I'm afraid they would be too expensive,"she said.

"No,I can do them at the same price as Kling &Wessel's,"said Jonah.

Miss Giltinan started and looked sharply from Jonah to his customer.She knew that was impossible.And she looked with a frown at this woman who could make Jonah forget his business instincts for a minute.For she worshipped him in secret,grateful to him for lifting her out of the gutter,and regarded him as the arbiter of her destiny.

He went to the desk and found the sliding rule and tape.As he passed the tape round the stranger's foot,he found that his hands were trembling.