He jerked his head in the direction of the South Chicago steel works. But
the heavens seemed to repel his boast, for the usual cloud of smoke and
flame that hung night and day above the blast furnaces was replaced by a
brilliant, hard blue sky. The works were shut down. They had reached the
end of Blue Grass Avenue at the south line of the park. It was a spot of
semi-sylvan wildness that they were fond of. The carefully platted avenues
and streets were mere lines in the rough turf. A little runnel of water,
half ditch, half sewer, flowed beside the old plank walk.
They sat down to plan, to contrive in some way to get a shelter over their
heads. From the plank walk where they sat nothing was visible for blocks
around except a little stucco Grecian temple, one of those decorative
contrivances that served as ticket booths or soda-water booths at the
World's Fair. This one, larger and more pretentious than its fellows, had
been bought by some speculator, wheeled outside the park, and dumped on a
sandy knoll in this empty lot. It had an ambitious little portico with a
cluster of columns. One of them was torn open, revealing the simple anatomy
of its construction. The temple looked as if it might contain two rooms of
generous size. Strange little product of some western architect's
remembering pencil, it brought an air of distant shores and times, standing
here in the waste of the prairie, above the bright blue waters of the lake!
"That's the place for us!" Sommers exclaimed, gazing intently at the
time-stained temple. Alves looked at the building sceptically, for
woman-wise she conceived of only conventional abiding-places. But she
followed him submissively into the little stucco portico, and when he spoke
buoyantly of the possibilities of the place, of the superb view of park and
lake, her worn face gained color once more. The imitation bronze doors were
ajar, and they made a thorough examination of the interior. With a few
laths, some canvas, and a good cleaning, the place could be made
possible--for the summer.
"That's four months," Sommers remarked. "And that is a long time for poor
people to look ahead."
The same evening they hunted up the owner and made their terms, and the
next day prepared to move from the Keystone. They had some regrets over
leaving the Keystone Hotel. The last month Sommers had had one or two
cases. The episode with Dr. Jelly had finally redounded to his credit, for
the woman had died at Jelly's private hospital, and the nurse who had
overheard the dispute between the two doctors had gossiped. The first
swallow of success, however, was not enough to warrant any expenditure for
office rent. He must make some arrangement with a drug store near the
temple, where he could receive calls.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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