U.S.A_ - John Dos Passos [488]
tips on the stockmarket."
"Silence," yel ed Madame Esther in a shril woman's voice that almost scared Margo out of her wits. "Frank is waiting. No, he has been cal ed away. He left a message that al would be wel . He left a message that tomorrow
-418-he would impart the information the parties desired and that his little girl must on no account take any step with-out consulting her darling Agnes." Agnes burst into hysterical sobs and a hand tapped
Margo on the shoulder. The same greyhaired woman led them to the back door again. She had some smel ingsalts that she made Agnes sniff. Before she opened the groundglass door she said, "That'l be fifty dol ars, please. Twentyfive dol ars each. . . . And Madame says that the beautiful girl must not come any more, it might be dan-gerous for her, we are surrounded by hostile influences. But Mrs. Mandevil e must come and get the messages. Nothing can harm her, Madame says, because she has the heart of a child." As they stepped out into the dark al ey to find that it was already night and the lights were on everywhere Margo pul ed her fur up round her face so that nobody could recognize her.
"You see, Margie," Agnes said as they settled back into the deep seat of the old Rol s,
"everything is going to be al right, with dear Frank watching over us. He means that you must go ahead and marry Mr. Margolies right away.""Wel , I suppose it's no worse than signing a three-year contract," said Margo. She told the chauffeur to drive as fast as he could because Sam was taking her to an open-ing at Grauman's that night. When they drove up round the drive to the door, the first thing they saw was Tony and Max Hirsch sitting on the marble bench in the garden. "I'l talk to them," said Agnes. Margo rushed upstairs and started to dress. She was sitting looking at herself in the glass in her stepins when Tony rushed into the room. When he got into the light over the dressingtable she noticed that he had a black eye. "Taking up the gentle art, eh, Tony?" she said without turning around. Tony talked breathlessly. "Max blacked my eye be--419-cause I did not want to come. Margo, he wil kil me if you don't give me one thousand dol ars. We wil not leave the house til you give us a check and we got to have some cash too, because Max is giving a party tonight and the bootlegger wil not deliver the liquor until he's paid cash. Max says you are getting a divorce. How can you? There is no divorce under the church. It's a sin that I wil not have on my soul. You cannot get a divorce." Margo got up and turned around to face him. "Hand me my negligee on the bed there . . . no use catching my death of cold. . . . Say, Tony, do you think I'm get-ting too fat? I gained two pounds last week. . . . Look here, Tony, that squarehead's going to be the ruination of you. You better cut him out and go away for another cure somewhere. I'd hate to have the federal dicks get hold of you on a narcotic charge. They made a big raid in San Pedro only yesterday."
Tony burst into tears. "You've got to give it to me. He'l break every bone in my body." Margo looked at her wristwatch that lay on the dress-ingtable beside the big powderbox. Eight o'clock. Sam would be coming by any minute now. "Al right," she said, "but next time this house is going to be guarded by detectives. . . . Get that," she said. "And any monkey-business and you birds land in jail. If you think Sam Margolies can't keep it out of the papers you've got an-other think coming. Go downstairs and tel Agnes to make you out a check and give you any cash she has in the house." Margo went back to her dressing.
A few minutes later Agnes came up crying. "What shal we do? I gave them the check and two hundred dol ars.
. . . Oh, it's awful. Why didn't Frank warn us? I know he's watching over us but he might have told us what to do about that dreadful man." Margo went into her dress-closet and slipped into a brand new eveninggown. "What we'l do is stop that check first thing in the morning. You
-420-cal up the homeprotection office and get two detectives out here on day and night duty right away. I'm through, that's al ."