“Yes,” Bertha said. “Fifteen cents an hour.”
“I turned it on and was listening to music and news broadcasts. Then I heard about it in a news broadcast.”
“And what did you do?”
“Called you.”
“And you’d been waiting here all that time — before you called me?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Bollman told me to.”
Bertha said, “All right, let’s talk. Tell me everything that happened.”
“There isn’t anything to tell you,” he said. “You’ve got to tell me.”
“Tell me all you know.”
“Well, I have a chauffeur. I don’t have him all by myself. There are several others who—”
“Yes, I know all about that,” Bertha Cool said. “Begin from when you met Bollman.”
“The first time I met him I didn’t know who he was. He dropped five silver dollars into my-cup, one right after another, and—”
“Skip that,” Bertha Cool said. “I know about that.”
“I naturally remembered him. I remembered the sound of his step, and there’s a peculiar odour about him, a rather distinctive type of tobacco. It has a certain pungent aroma.”
“All right, you remembered him. When was the next time you saw him again?”
”Yesterday.”
“When?”
“About noon.”
“What happened?”
“He came to my house just around twelve and said, ‘You don’t know who I am, but I want to ask you a few questions. Answering them correctly may mean a good deal to you.’ He thought I didn’t know him, thought I didn’t realize he was the same man who had put the five silver dollars into my cup. I never let on. When they don’t want me to know, I pretend I don’t know. So I just smiled and said, ‘Very well, what is it?’
“Then he asked me all about you; asked me if I’d hired you and what you’d found out for me. Naturally, I didn’t want to tell him too much. I was a little vague in my replies. Being a perfect stranger except for that one time when he’d dropped the money, I didn’t feel like telling him all of my private affairs. I told him that he could get in touch with you, and you could tell him all about it.”
“Then what?”
“Then he said that the young woman who had sent me a present wanted to see me. Unfortunately, she couldn’t come to me, but if I could come to her, she’d appreciate it very much. He said that we could have dinner together and then he could drive me home after I’d seen her.”
“Go ahead.”
“Perhaps you don’t realize how humdrum and routine our lives become. It’s a peculiar type of loneliness. We’re in the middle of a big city. People stream past us. We get so we know them. We hear their steps, recognize them almost as definitely as though we could see them; but they never speak to us. When they do, it’s just a patronizing little expression of sympathy. You’d prefer they didn’t say anything.”
Bertha nodded; then realizing that he couldn’t see the nod, said, “I understand. That is, I can understand enough to see what you’re getting at. Go ahead. Give me the facts just as fast as you can.”
“Well, naturally, I jumped at the chance to break away from my old routine and enjoy some normal companionship.”
Bertha Cool, thinking that statement over, said abruptly, “You had a lot of dough on you when you came to my office. Is begging that profitable?”
He smiled. “As it happens, there is perhaps a bare existence in begging. I don’t keep any books on it. My income is quite independent of that.”
“Then why do you drag yourself down to sit on the sidewalk and—”
“Purely for the companionship, to feel that I’m a part of things. I got started at it when there was no other alternative. I haven’t any particular education. I couldn’t make friends with the class of people I wanted.”
“Where did these investments of yours come from?”
“That’s rather a long story.”
“Make it short and give it to me.”
“A man used to be rather generous with me. He said I brought him luck. He gave me a few shares in a Texas oil development — just dropped the certificate into the cup. I couldn’t read it. I took his word for what it was and put it away.
“To tell you the truth, I entirely forgot about them. Then a man came to see me one day; said he’d been looking for me and that I hadn’t answered his letters. Well, anyway, it seems they’d struck oil, lots of it. He made an offer for my stock. I didn’t sell out. I preferred to hold it. It’s paid me a steady income. Being blind, I can’t write checks and have a bank account — not conveniently. I keep my money on me. I like to feel it there. When you aren’t normal physically, it gives you a feeling of greater assurance to have a lot of money actually on you. A big roll of bills builds morale.”
“I see. Let’s get back to Bollman.”
“Well, we went to an early dinner. We talked a little. He said that the girl I wanted to see was out of town. He had an appointment to take me to her and that it would be about an hour-and-a-half or two-hour drive. I didn’t think anything of it. I had confidence in him, and settled back in the car and talked with him.”
“What did you talk about?”
“Oh, a variety of things: philosophy, politics — everything.”
“About that automobile accident?”
“Oh, it was mentioned.”
“About the work I’d done for you?”
“In a general way. He’d won my confidence by that time.”
“About the presents you’d received from Josephine Dell?”
“Yes. I mentioned those.”
“Then what?”
“We came here. I didn’t even know what city it was. He said he’d have to do some telephoning and for me to wait in the car. I waited in the car. He came back and seemed be much disappointed, said that it was going to be quite late tonight or early tomorrow before we could see her. Something had developed. She regretted it very much and wanted him to tell me how sorry she was. We had a bite to eat. Then Bollman got me this room, said he had some work to do, and that he’d see me in the morning.
“I have a watch by which I can tell time. I unscrew the crystal and feel the position of the hands. It’s my only way of telling when it’s daytime — to know the time. If I ever lose track of the hour, I get all mixed up — can’t tell whether it’s eleven in the morning or eleven at night. I slept until about nine o’clock; then I got up, dressed, and waited. It took me a while to get a bath and get dressed. This is a strange room, and I had to feel my way around until I finally got everything all listed and memorized. One thing bothered me; I couldn’t tell whether the lights were on or off. I couldn’t remember whether Bollman had switched them off when he went out. A man hates to make a spectacle of himself, and I didn’t know but what there might be some room right across the narrow court from me, so I kept the curtains pulled down. Well, after a while, when I thought surely it was time, I picked up the telephone and asked them if they’d ring Mr. Bollman’s room. They told me there was no Bollman registered. That bothered me. I don’t eat very much as a rule, and I’d had a hearty dinner the day before and a bite after we got here, so I didn’t eat any breakfast. I found the radio, turned it on, listened to music for a while, dozed off, woke up, and finally began to worry. Then, when I was playing the radio, a news programme came on, and I heard about Bollman. Well, I didn’t know what to do.”
“You telephoned me?”
“Not until a couple of hours had elapsed. I didn’t know just what to do. I was completely at a loss.”