Child abuse -- Fiction; New York (N.Y.) -- Juvenile fiction; Orphans -- Juvenile fiction
But Johnnie had saved till the last the crowning news of all. And he
felt certain that if the cowboy had shown not more than a lively
interest in Father Pat, and had been only politely heedful regarding boy
scouts, things would be altogether different when he heard about the
engagement.
"One-Eye," began Johnnie, impressively, "I got somethin' _else_ t' tell
y'. Oh, it's somethin' that'll su'prise y' _awful_! What d' y' think it
is?"
One-Eye was in the morris chair at the time, his hat on, his single
organ of vision roving the kitchen. In particular, it roved in the
direction of the tiny room, where, through the open door, could be seen
dimly the gay paper flounces bedecking Cis's dressing-table. "Aw, I
dunno," he answered dully.
"But, _guess_, One-Eye!" persisted Johnnie, eager to fire the cowboy's
curiosity. "Guess! And I'll help y' out by tellin' y' this much: it's
'bout Cis."
Ah! That caught the interest! Johnnie could tell by the way that single
eye came shooting round to hold his own. "Yeh?" exclaimed the Westerner.
"Wal--? Wal--?" He leaned forward almost impatiently.
"Cis and Mister Perkins 're goin' t' be married."
One-Eye continued to stare; and Johnnie saw the strangest expression
come into the green eye. Anger seemed a part of that expression, and
instantly Johnnie regretted having shared the news (but why _should_ the
cowboy be angry?) Also there was pain in the look. Then did One-Eye
disapprove?
At this last thought, Johnnie hastened to explain how things stood in
the flat. "Big Tom, he don't know they're goin' t' be married," he said,
"and we'd be 'fraid t' tell him."
"I--I savvy." Now One-Eye studied the floor. Presently, as if he were
busy with his thoughts, he reached up and dragged his hat far down over
his blind eye. The hat settled, he settled himself--lower and lower in
the big chair, his shoulders doubling, his knees falling apart, his
clasped hands hanging between his knees and all but touching his boots.
Thus he stayed for a little, bowed.
All this was so different from what Johnnie had expected that again he
suspected displeasure--toward Cis, toward himself; and as with a
sinking, miserable heart he watched his visitor, he wished from his soul
that he had kept the engagement to himself. "Y' ain't g-g-glad," he
stammered finally.
However, as Johnnie afterward remarked to Cis, when it came to judging
what the cowboy felt about this or that, a person never could tell. For,
"Glad?" repeated One-Eye, raising the bent head; "w'y, sonny, I'm
tickled t' death t' hear it!--jes' plumb tickled t' death!" (And how was
Johnnie to know that this was not strictly the truth?)
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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