Sunday night her high spirits had vanished, and she was glum, sad-eyed, clingy. Some men would have been bored, but he studied her more narrowly than ever, and patted her with tender sympathy. In the shack she broke down completely. They didn't dare burn electricity here, but they had become sufficiently bold as to light a candle, and stick it to the floor, in front of the sofa in the, living room. By this murky light her eyes glittered as she sobbed, and when he gathered her in his arms, and whispered in her ear, she quieted down, pulled herself together, and began to talk. "It's the same thing, Ben."
"Family?"
"Not my whole family. Just my-sister."
"She the one that causes that frown you got?"
"Ever since I can remember I've had to think about her, worry about her, get her out of messes. She's all right, Ben. She's the sweetest kid you ever saw, but-she's always in trouble. And it's always me that has to get her out."
"She younger than you?"
"Three years. She's twenty-two."
"What's she done this time?"
"Well, you see, she's in college, and-"
"You pay for her there?"
"Pretty near all."
"That's why you can't keep all you make?"
"Yes, of course."
"Go on."
"So, she has a room-mate-a girl I never did like-and this girl took some things. From other girls, in the dormitories. And Dorothy had no more sense than to let her store them in the room. In a trunk. And-then day before yesterday the room was searched. And the things were found. And-"
"The cops got her, hey?"
"No, it's not that bad, yet. Nobody wants to prosecute. But yesterday a lot of the things were traced, and this girl, Dorothy's room-mate, has to pay for them, or else."
"How much does it tote?"
"Over two hundred dollars."
"Quite a lot of dough."
"And I don't know what I'm going to do."
Ben got up, lit a cigarette, flicked the match into the fireplace, and stood facing her. For a time he smoked, eyeing her steadily. Then: "I don't see why you're taking it so hard. Two hundred bucks, sure that's a lot of money. But you can get it easy enough."
"Where?"
"Jansen."
"No, I couldn't do that."
"Why not?"
"Oh-I couldn't go to him, that's all. He-he's going to make me Chief of Social Service, and I can't ask for more than that. I could pay it out of my salary, if I only had time. But my first pay check will be in August, and if I don't make this thing good she'll be put in jail, and-"
"You sure that's why you can't go to Jansen?"
"Of course it is."
"You're not stuck on him, by any chance?"
"…You! Can ask that!"
"Sure. Why not?"
"I don't even know what you mean."
"No? That first night we were out together, you had to leave here because the guards were at your place, and they'd tell Jansen what time you came in. But Jansen's car was outside, and Jansen was downstairs waiting for you. He was there Thursday night, and Friday night, and last night. Each night he stayed over an hour. What are you trying to do, kid me? I say you're stuck on him."
He was cold, but not particularly indignant. From his manner, one might think he was playing a carefully rehearsed scene. She shook her head emphatically. "No, you're wrong, though I can see why you think what you do. I'm not stuck on him. And-he has no personal interest in me. It was business, things we had to talk over. He's married, and-"
"His wife's in a sanitorium."
"I wouldn't know. I-"
"No? I'd imagine he'd have quite a lot to say about that wife, how long she's been in the sanitorium, how sick she is all the time, how much he loves her, how much it means to him that he has somebody he can tell about her, and that understands how he feels. If you're not stuck on him, it certainly looks like he's stuck on you. It looks-"
"All right, then, but if somebody got stuck on me, I'd certainly not go and tell anybody. You, or anybody."
"Then O.K."
"And I'd never go and ask them for-"
"Then O.K…There's other places to get dough."
"Where?"
She was eager, but he took his time about answering, lit another cigarette, flicked another match into the fireplace. "Well, me for instance."
"You? Would you let me have two hundred dollars?"
"I got two hundred. I got two thousand."
"Why couldn't you have made this offer without all these ugly insinuations about me and Mr. Jansen?"
"I got to know where I stand."
"Yes, of course he likes me. He-likes me a lot. He ought to, after all I've done for him. But-honestly, Ben, I just hate it that you stood out there and-"
"Can't a guy be jealous?"
He didn't look jealous. He looked like a man who had thought up something he was sure would score. It did. She drew breath to say something, then got up, put her arms around him, looked him in the eye, and kissed him exaltedly on the mouth. "I think that's one of the sweetest things I ever had said to me. I-just love you for that."
"What she do it for?"
"Who? That girl?"
"Yeah, Dorothy."
"It was the room-mate, Ben. She-"
"Hey, hey."
"All right, there isn't any room-mate. Are you really going to let me have the money?"
"Sure. How much is it?"
"Two twenty. And the wire charges."
"You'll have it. Tomorrow morning. By the way-"
"Yes?"
"Is Jansen going to be there tonight?"
"Not if you object."
"Oh, I don't object."
"That's right. There's nothing to be jealous of."
"You could ask him a favor, though."
"Anything you say."
"Ask him to appoint Cantrell Chief of Police."
"Appoint-whom did you say?"
"You heard me."
They had been standing in front of the fireplace, she snuggling against him, he patting her on the shoulders. Now he walked over and sat down near the candle, so its light shone upwards on his face as he looked at her. It gave him a curiously wolflike look. She stared, then came over and sat beside him. "Ben, what on earth are you talking about?"
"Cantrell."
"But he's a dirty crook. Why, he-was hand in glove with Caspar. Why, Ben, how could Jansen appoint him? It would make a laughing stock of the whole campaign."
"If Jansen really wants to appoint the best available man, and goes into the qualifications of them all, he'll find that Cantrell is the best officer on the force. It's not his fault if crooks get elected and he has to play along. Give Cantrell a break, and he's one of the best officers in the country. And a good officer Jansen will have to have, if he's going to put across what he's been promising the voters. He can't deliver with jerks and thugs."
"He can't appoint Cantrell."
"O.K."
He yawned, coldly and indifferently. "You mind if we blow along now? I been thinking about it, and I think I better be making an early start over to Castleton, start looking for a job."
"How early?"
"Ah, seven, eight o'clock probably."
"Before the bank opens?"
"Oh yeah, long before that."
She sat a long time looking at him, her face wearing a look of pain. "I guess I see it now, Ben. What this is all about. Why you've been acting just a little peculiarly these last few days."
"Yeah? Why is that?"
"Once you found out that Jansen was insanely in love with me, you knew, or thought, you had him, didn't you? That through me you could make him do whatever you wanted him to do, even to appointing that filthy swine, Cantrell. And tonight, when you heard about Dorothy, you saw something that played right into your hand, didn't you?"
"I haven't asked for a thing in this campaign."