I"m not used to anything, but you may bet your life I"m going to get used to Harlem, if you people"ll let me. I"ve just got this job, and I"m dead stuck on it. I want to make it go."
"He"s mighty different from Biker," said Mrs. Munsberg in an undertone.
"Vhere"s dod oder feller?" inquired Munsberg. "He vas a dam fool, dot oder feller, half corned most de time, an" puttin" on Clarence airs.
No one was goin" to give him nothin". He made folks mad at de start."
"I"ve got his job," said Tembarom, "and if I can"t make it go, the page will be given up. It"ll be my fault if that happens, not Harlem"s. There"s society enough up-town to make a first-cla.s.s page, and I shall be sick if I can"t get on to it."
He had begun to know his people. Munsberg was a good- natured, swaggering little Hebrew.
That the young fellow should make a clean breast of it and claim no down-town superiority, and that he should also have the business insight to realize that he might obtain valuable society items from such a representative confectioner as M. Munsberg, was a situation to incite amiable sentiments.
"Vell, you didn"t come to de wrong place," he said. "All de biggest things comes to me, an" I don"t mind tellin" you about "em. "T ain"t goin" to do no harm. Weddings an" things dey ought to be wrote up, anyhow, if dey"re done right. It"s good for business. Vy don"t dey have no pictures of de supper- tables? Dot"d be good."
"There"s lots of receptions and weddings this month," said Mrs.
Munsberg, becoming agreeably excited. "And there"s plenty handsome young girls that"d like their pictures published.
"None of them have been in Sunday papers before, and they"d like it.
The four Schwartz girls would make grand pictures. They dress splendid, and their bridesmaids dresses came from the biggest place in Fift" Avenoo."
"Say," exclaimed Tembarom, rising from his chair, "I"m in luck. Luck struck me the minute I turned in here. If you"ll tell me where Schwartz lives, and where the hall is, and the church, and just anything else I can use, I"ll go out and whoop up a page to beat the band." He was glowing with exultation. "I know I can do it. You"ve started me off."
Munsberg and his wife began to warm. It was almost as though they had charge of the society page themselves. There was something stimulating in the idea. There was a suggestion of social importance in it. They knew a number of people who would be pleased with the prospect of being in the Sunday Earth. They were of a race which holds together, and they gave not only the names and addresses of prospective entertainers, but those of florists and owners of halls where parties were given.
Mrs. Munsberg gave the name of a dressmaker of whom she shrewdly guessed that she would be amiably ready to talk to a society-page reporter.
"That Biker feller," she said, "got things down all wrong. He called fine white satin "white nun"s-veiling," and he left out things. Never said nothing about Miss Lewishon"s diamond ring what her grandpa gave her for a wedding-present. An" it cost two hundred and fifty."
"Well, I"m a pretty big fool myself," said Tembarom, "but I should have known better than that."
When he opened the door to go, Mrs. Munsberg called after him:
"When you get through, you come back here and tell us what you done.
I"ll give you a cup of hot coffee."
He returned to Mrs. Bowse"s boarding-house so late that night that even Steinberger and Bowles had ended their day. The gas in the hall was turned down to a glimmering point, and the house was silent for the night. Even a cat who stole to him and rubbed herself against his leg miauwed in a sort of abortive whisper, opening her mouth wide, but emitting no sound. When he went cautiously up the staircase he carried his damp overcoat with him, and hung it in company with the tartan m.u.f.fler close to the heater in the upper hall. Then he laid on his bedside table a package of papers and photographs.
After he had undressed, he dropped heavily into bed, exhausted, but elate.
"I"m dog-tired," he said, "but I guess I"ve got it going." And almost before the last word had uttered itself he fell into the deep sleep of worn-out youth.
CHAPTER IV
Mrs. Bowse"s boarding-house began to be even better pleased with him than before. He had stories to tell, festivities to describe, and cheerful incidents to recount. The boarders a.s.sisted vicariously at weddings and wedding receptions, afternoon teas and dances, given in halls. "Up-town" seemed to them largely given to entertainment and hilarity of an enviably prodigal sort. Mrs. Bowse"s guests were not of the cla.s.s which entertains or is entertained, and the details of banquets and ball-dresses and money-spending were not uncheering material for conversation. Such topics suggested the presence and dispensing of a good deal of desirable specie, which in floating about might somehow reach those who needed it most. The impression was that T. Tembarom was having "a good time." It was not his way to relate any incidents which were not of a cheering or laughter- inspiring nature. He said nothing of the times when his luck was bad, when he made blunders, and, approaching the wrong people, was met roughly or grudgingly, and found no resource left but to beat a retreat. He made no mention of his experiences in the blizzard, which continued, and at times nearly beat breath and life out of him as he fought his way through it. Especially he told no story of the morning when, after having labored furiously over the writing of his "stuff"
until long after midnight, he had taken it to Galton, and seen his face fall as he looked over it. To battle all day with a blizzard and occasional brutal discouragements, and to sit up half the night tensely absorbed in concentrating one"s whole mental equipment upon the doing of unaccustomed work has its effect. As he waited, Tembarom unconsciously shifted from one foot to another, and had actually to swallow a sort of lump in his throat.
"I guess it won"t do," he said rather uncertainly as Galton laid a sheet down.
Galton was worn out himself and harried by his nerves.
"No, it won"t," he said; and then as he saw Tembarom move to the other foot he added, "Not as it is."
Tembarom braced himself and cleared his throat.
"If," he ventured--" well, you"ve been mighty easy on me, Mr Galton-- and this is a big chance for a fellow like me. If it"s too big a chance--why--that"s all. But if it"s anything I could change and it wouldn"t be too much trouble to tell me--"
"There"s no time to rewrite it," answered Galton. "It must be handed in to-morrow. It"s too flowery. Too many adjectives. I"ve no time to give you--" He s.n.a.t.c.hed up a blue pencil and began to slash at the paper with it. "Look here-- and here--cut out that balderdash--cut this--and this-- oh,--" throwing the pencil down,--"you"d have to cut it all out. There"s no time." He fell back in his chair with a hopeless movement, and rubbed his forehead nervously with the back of his hand. Ten people more or less were waiting to speak to him; he was worn out with the rush of work. He believed in the page, and did not want to give up his idea; but he didn"t know a man to hand it to other than this untrained, eager ignoramus whom he had a queer personal liking for. He was no business of his, a mere stenographer in his office with whom he could be expected to have no relations, and yet a curious sort of friendliness verging on intimacy had developed between them.
"There"d be time if you thought it wouldn"t do any harm to give me another chance," said Tembarom. "I can sit up all night. I guess I"ve caught on to what you DON"T want. I"ve put in too many fool words. I got them out of other papers, but I don"t know how to use them. I guess I"ve caught on. Would it do any harm if you gave me till to- morrow?"
"No, it wouldn"t," said Galton, desperately. "If you can"t do it, there"s no time to find another man, and the page must be cut out.
It"s been no good so far. It won"t be missed. Take it along."
As he pushed back the papers, he saw the photographs, and picked one up.
"That bride"s a good-looking girl. Who are these others? Bridesmaids?
You"ve got a lot of stuff here. Biker couldn"t get anything." He glanced up at the young fellow"s rather pale face. "I thought you"d make friends. How did you get all this?"
"I beat the streets till I found it," said Tembarom. "I had luck right away. I went into a confectionery store where they make wedding- cakes. A good-natured little Dutchman and his wife kept it, and I talked to them--"
"Got next?" said Galton, grinning a little.
"They gave me addresses, and told me a whole lot of things. I got into the Schwartz wedding reception, and they treated me mighty well.
A good many of them were willing to talk. I told them what a big thing the page was going to be, and I--well, I said the more they helped me the finer it would turn out. I said it seemed a shame there shouldn"t be an up-town page when such swell entertainments were given. I"ve got a lot of stuff there."
Galton laughed.
"You"d get it," he said. "If you knew how to handle it, you"d make it a hit. Well, take it along. If it isn"t right tomorrow, it"s done for."
Tembarom didn"t tell stories or laugh at dinner that evening. He said he had a headache. After dinner he bolted upstairs after Little Ann, and caught her before she mounted to her upper floor.
"Will you come and save my life again?" he said. "I"m in the tightest place I ever was in in my life."
"I"ll do anything I can, Mr. Tembarom," she answered, and as his face had grown flushed by this time she looked anxious. "You look downright feverish."
"I"ve got chills as well as fever," he said. "It"s the page. It seems like I was going to fall down on it."
She turned back at once.
"No you won"t, Mr. Tembarom," she said "I"m just right-down sure you won"t."
They went down to the parlor again, and though there were people in it, they found a corner apart, and in less than ten minutes he had told her what had happened.
She took the ma.n.u.script he handed to her.