"May I be left speechless, may my arms and legs be paralyzed, if I ever say a word!" Gitl recited vehemently, thrilling with anxiety and impatience. "So it is! they have eloped!" she added in her heart, seating herself close to her caller. "A darkness upon my years! What will become of me and Yosselé now?" "Remember, now, not a word, either to Jake or to anybody else in the world. I had a mountain of _trouble_ before I found out where you lived, and I _stopped_ work on purpose to come and speak to you. As true as you see me alive. I wanted to call when I was sure to find you alone, you understand. Is there really nobody about?" And after a preliminary glance at the door and exacting another oath of discretion from Mrs. Podkovnik, Fanny began in an undertone: "There is a girl; well, her name is Mamie; well, she and your husband used to go to the same dancing school--that is a place where _fellers_ and _ladies_ learn to dance," she explained. "I go there, too; but I know your husband from the shop." "But that _lada_ has also worked in the same shop with him, hasn't she?" Gitl broke in, with a desolate look in her eye. "Why, did Jake tell you she had?" Fanny asked in surprise. "No, not at all, not at all! I am just asking. May I be sick if I know anything." "The idea! How could they work together, seeing that she is a shirtmaker and he a cloakmaker. Ah, if you knew what a witch she is! She has set her mind on your husband, and is bound to take him away from you. She hitched on to him long ago. But since you came I thought she would have God in her heart, and be ashamed of people. Not she! She be ashamed! You may sling a cat into her face and she won't mind it. The black year knows where she grew up. I tell you there is not a girl in the whole dancing school but can not bear the sight of that Polish lizard!" "Why, do they meet and kiss?" Gitl moaned out. "Tell me, do tell me all, my little crown, keep nothing from me, tell me my whole dark lot." "_Ull right_, but be sure not to speak to anybody. I'll tell you the truth: My name is not Rosy Blank at all. It is Fanny Scutelsky. You see, I am telling you the whole truth. The other evening they stood near the house where she _boards_, on Chrystie Street; so they were looking into each other's eyes and talking like a pair of little doves. A _lady_ who is a _particla_ friend of mine saw them; so she says a child could have guessed that she was making love to him and _trying_ to get him away from you. _'F cou'se_ it is none of my _business_. Is it my _business_, then? What do _I care_? It is only _becuss_ I pity you. It is like the nature I have; I can not bear to see anybody in trouble. Other people would not _care_, but I do. Such is my nature. So I thought to myself I must go and tell Mrs. Podkovnik all about it, in order that she might know what to do."