"My back--_ach_--my back!" "Yes, yes, mama; we'll fix it. Up! So--la!" They raised her by the crook of each arm, gently. "So! Please, Mr. Haas, the pillows. Shawl. There!" Around a rear hallway, they were almost immediately into a blank, staring hotel bedroom, fresh towels on the furniture-tops only enhancing its staleness. "Here we are. Sit her here, Mr. Haas, in this rocker." They lowered her, almost inch by inch, sliding down pillows, against the chair-back. "Now, Shila's little mama want to sleep?" "I got--no rest--no rest." "You're too excited, honey; that's all." "No rest." "Here--here's a brand-new hotel Bible on the table, dearie. Shall Shila read it to you?" "Aylorff--" "Now, now, mama. Now, now; you mustn't! Didn't you promise Shila? Look! See, here's a wreath wrapped in your shawl for Shila's little mama to work on. Plenty of wreaths for us to take back. Work awhile, dearie, and then we'll get Selene and Lester, and, after all the nice company goes away, we'll go home in the auto." "I begged he should keep in his hate--his feet in the--" "I know! The papers! That's what little mama wants. Mr. Haas, that's what she likes better than anything--the evening papers." "I'll go down and send 'em right up with a boy, and telephone for the car. The crowd's beginning to pour out now. Just hold your horses there, Mrs. C., and I'll have those papers up here in a jiffy." He was already closing the door after him, letting in and shutting out a flare of music. "See, mama, nice Mr. Haas is getting us the papers. Nice evening papers for Shila's mama." She leaned down into the recesses of the black grenadine, withdrawing from one of the pockets a pair of silver-rimmed spectacles, adjusting them with some difficulty to the nodding head. "Shila's--little mama! Shila's mama!" "Aylorff, the littlest wreath for--Aylorff--_Meine Kräntze_--" "Yes, yes." "_Mem Mann. Mein Sühn_." "'Shh-h-h, dearie!" "Aylorff--_der klenste Kranz far ihm_!" "'Shh-h-h, dearie! Talk English, like Selene wants. Wait till we get on the ship--the beautiful ship to take us back. Mama, see out the window! Look! That's the beautiful Forest Park, and this is the fine Hotel Walsingham just across. See out! Selene is going to have a flat on--" "_Sey hoben gestorben far Freiheit. Sey hoben_--" "There! That's the papers!" To a succession of quick knocks, she flew to the door, returning with the folded evening editions under her arm. "Now," she cried, unfolding and inserting the first of them into the quivering hands--"now, a shawl over my little mama's knees and we're fixed!" With a series of rapid movements she flung open one of the black-cashmere shawls across the bed, folding it back into a triangle. Beside the table, bare except for the formal, unthumbed Bible, Mrs. Horowitz rattled out a paper, her near-sighted eyes traveling back and forth across the page.