I'm not going to be discharged. I was engaged
only for the voyage, to take the place of a prettier girl with still
longer legs who fell through at the last moment--literally. She
stepped into one of those gas-hole places in the street. And I stepped
into her shoes--lucky shoes!--sort of seven-league ones, bringing me
across the sea, all the way to New York free, for nothing. No! I hope
not for nothing. I hope it is to make my fortune."
"I hope so, too," said Peter gravely. "Got any friends there besides
me?"
"Thanks for putting it so, Mr. Balm of Gilead. Why, I've heard that
everybody in America is ready to be a friend to lonely strangers!"
"I guess your informant was almost too much of an optimist. Couldn't
you be serious for just a minute? You know, I feel quite well
acquainted with you--and the others, of course. But they _are_
different. And they _are_ 'permanences' with Nadine. That's the kind
of thing they're fit for. I don't worry about them, and I shan't worry
about you, either, if you tell me you have friends or know what you
are going to do when you land."
"I can't tell you that," Win answered in a changed tone, as if
suddenly she were weary of trying to "frivol.
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