Every Soul Hath Its Song Part 27

He raised his ravaged face at the sharp-edged incisiveness in her voice. "I'm in trouble, Renie--such trouble. Oh, my G.o.d, such horrible trouble!"

"Tell me quick--do you hear? Quick, or mamma and papa--"

"Renie--'sh-h-h! They mustn't know--the old man mustn't; she mustn't, if--if I got to kill myself first. His heart--he--he mustn't, Renie--he mustn't know."

"Know what?"

"It's all up, Renie. I've done something--the worst thing I ever done in my life; but I didn't know while I was doing it, Renie, how--what it was. I swear I didn't! It was like borrowing, I thought. I was sure I could pay it back. I thought the system was a great one and--and I couldn't lose."

"Izzy--roulette again! You--you been losing at--at roulette again?"

"No, no; but they found out at--at the bank, Renie. I--oh, my G.o.d!

Nothing won't save me!"

"The bank, Izzy?"

"They found out, Renie. Yesterday, when the bank was closed, he--Uncle Isadore--put 'em on the books. Nothing won't save me now, Renie. He won't; you--you know him--hard as nails! Nothing won't save me. It's going to be stripes for me, Renie. Ma--the old man--stripes! I--I can't let 'em do it. I--I'll kill myself first. I can't let 'em--I--can't--I can't let 'em!"

He burrowed his head in her lap to stifle his voice, which slipped up and away from his control; and her icy hands and knees could feel his entire body trembling.

"'Sh-h-h, dearie! Try to tell me slow, dearie, for pa's and ma's sake, so--so we can fix it up somehow."

"We can't fix it up. The old man 'ain't got the money and--and he can't stand it."

"For G.o.d's sake, Izzy, tell me or I'll go mad! Slow, dearie, so Renie can think and listen and help you. She's with you, darling, and nothing can hurt you. Now begin, Izzy, and go slow. What did you start to tell me about Uncle Isadore and the books? Slow, darling."

Her voice was smooth and flowing, and the hand that stroked his hair was slow and soothing; the great stream of his pa.s.sion abated and he huddled quietly at her feet.

"Now begin, dearie. Uncle Isadore--what?"

"This morning, when I got down to--to the office, two men had--my books."

"Yes."

"O G.o.d! When I seen 'em, right away my heart just stopped."

'"Sh-h-h! Yes--two men had the books."

"And Uncle Isadore--Uncle Isadore--he was--he--"

"Go on!"

"He--he was in the cage, too; and--and you know how he looks when his eyes get little."

"Yes, yes, Izzy."

"They were--expert accountants with him. All day yesterday, Sunday, they were on my books; and--and they had me, Renie--they had me like a rat in a trap."

"Had you, Izzy?"

He drew himself upward, clutching at her arms; and the sobs began to tear him afresh. "They had me, Renie."

"Oh, Izzy, why--"

"I could have paid it back. I could have put it back if the old skinflint hadn't got to sniffing round and sicked 'em on my books. I could have won it all back in time, Renie. With my own uncle, my own mother's brother, it--it wasn't like I was stealing it, was it, Renie?

Was it?"

"Oh, my G.o.d, Izzy!"

"It wasn't, Renie--my own uncle! I could have won it back if--if--"

"Won back what, Izzy--won back what?"

"I--I started with a hundred, Renie. I had to have it; I had to, I tell you. You remember that night I--I wanted you to go over and ask Aunt Beck for it? I had to have it. Pa--. I--I couldn't excite him any more about it; and--and I had to have it, I tell you, Renie."

"Yes; then what?"

"And I--I borrowed it without asking. I--I fixed it on my books so--so Uncle Isadore wouldn't--couldn't--. I--I fixed it on my books."

"Oh-oh, Izzy! Oh--oh--oh!"

"I was trying out a system--a new one--and it worked, Renie. I tried it out on the new wheel down at Sharkey's and the seventeen system worked like a trick. I won big the first and second nights, Renie--you remember the night I brought you and ma the bracelets? I paid back the hundred the first week, Renie; and no one knew--no one knew."

"Oh-h-h-h!"

"The next Friday my luck turned on me--I never ought to have played on Friday--turned like a toad one unlucky Friday night. I got in deep before I knew it, and deeper and deeper; and then--and then it just seemed there wasn't no holding me, Renie. I got wild--got wild, I tell you; and I--I wrote 'em checks I didn't have no right to write. I--I went crazy, I tell you. Next day--you remember that morning I left the house so early?--I had to fix it with the books and borrow what--what I needed before the banks opened. I--I had to make good on them checks, Renie. I fixed it with the books, and from that time on it worked."

"Oh, Izzy--Izzy--Izzy!"

"I kept losing, Renie; but I knew, if my luck just changed from that unlucky Friday night, I could pay it back like the first time. All I needed was a little time and a little luck and I could pay it back like the first hundred; so I kept fixing my books, Renie, and--and borrowing more--and more."

"How much?"

"O G.o.d, Renie! I could have paid it back with time; I--"

"'Sh-h-h! How much, Izzy--how much?"

"Somebody must have snitched on me, how I was losing every night. The old skinflint, he--Oh, my G.o.d! They got me, Renie--they got me; and it'll kill the old man!"

"How much, Izzy--how much?"

"Oh, my G.o.d! I could have paid it back if--if--"

"How much? Tell me, I say!"

"Four--thousand!"

"Oh-h-h, Izzy--Izzy--Izzy!" She sprang back from him, blind with scalding tears. "Izzy! Four thousand! Oh, my G.o.d! Four thousand!"