Second, on his return at the end of the afternoon, he saw standing
before the house a taxicab with a trunk beside the chauffeur. In the
musty museum of a room behind the pawnshop he found Hunt and the
Duchess and Old Jimmie and Barney; and also Maggie, coming down the
stairway, hat and coat on and carrying a suitcase. A sharp pain
throbbed through him as he recognized the significance of Maggie's hat
and coat and baggage.
"Maggie--you're going away?" he exclaimed.
"Yes."
She had paused at the foot of the stairway, and at sight of him had
gone a little pale and wide-eyed. But in an instant she had recovered
her accustomed flair; there came a proud lift to her head, a flash of
scorn into her dark eyes.
"At last I'm leaving this street for good," she said. "I told you that
some day I was going out into the world and do big things. The time's
come--I'm graduated--I'm going to begin real work. And I'm going to
succeed--you see!"
"Maggie!" he breathed. Then impulsively he started toward her
authoritatively. "Maggie, I'm not going to let you do anything of the
sort!"
But swiftly Barney had stepped in between them, Old Jimmie just behind
him.
"Keep out of this!" Barney snapped at Larry, a reddish blaze in his
eyes. "Maggie's going away and you can't stop her.
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