His Dark Dangerous Ways by Edith Layton

Author:Edith Layton
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: Avon Books
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

"Aha!" Jane's landlady said as Jane entered her house. She stood waiting for Jane in the narrow front hall, her hands on her hips, blocking Jane's way to the stair. "I thought so! A dancer, you said you was. Bold-faced and bare faced about it you was. Butter wouldn't have melted in your mouth. This is a respectable establishment, said I. It was children you instructed, says you. Ha!" she announced with bitter triumph. "I gave you a room, and here you are, dragging in at all hours of the morning like any common street drab after a night on the tiles, where any of the neighbors can see you and I don't doubt they all did. And what shall they think of me for allowing it? I have a reputation to protect. So out you go, Missy. Collect your things, and leave on the instant! A dancer!" she muttered, "I should of knowed better, I should have!"

"I did nothing wrong," Jane protested, her lips quivering. "I've a friend who became sick in the night and I stayed until was sure she'd see another day." But she didn't say it with conviction. Because it was a lie, and she was sure the landlady knew it. Her conscience was heavy too, because her landlady had never seen the caricatures that had made her employer's salon such a success. If her landlady had seen them, she'd have been evicted days before.

"Go back to your friend, Missy," the landlady said, folding her arms on her ample chest. "Because I won't have you here another day—or night. I run a decent rooming house, I do. And what would happen if I didn't? It would make me a scandal and lower the tone of the neighborhood. We are decent people in indecent times and well we know it. Pack and leave, Miss Chatham."

There was no argument Jane could make that wouldn't make the situation worse. So, head held high, she moved past her landlady and marched up the stair. She didn't let her shoulders droop until she got into her room. There, she sank to the bed. The only lucky thing, she thought, was that she had no work today, so she had an entire day to find new lodgings. One thing she did know. They wouldn't be near here. She'd probably leave under the eyes of every landlady on the street. Gossip, it seemed, followed her to high places and low ones. This district tottered on the fringes of respectability. She didn't blame the local landladies; the neighborhood simply couldn't afford to house her now.

At least she still had her pride, and her reputation, although shredding, wasn't widely known. She could find new lodgings, take on more pupils, and one day, if she were careful, she'd have achieved her dream. Her own establishment, a better existence, freedom of choice, and a life of her own.

She had to be more circumspect in future. She vowed that as she packed. She'd no business consorting with Lord

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