I want work! Don't you understand?"
Then, after a pause, "Won't you give it to me?"
"Well, I should say not," said John Culver. "Look here! What's the use?
Suppose you are what you say ..."
"You know I am," interrupted Rose.
"Well, I say, suppose it's true. What's the use? Do you think any decent
store-keeper on Main Street would risk his reputation by giving a job to
a stranded actress that had come here with a rotten show like the one
you was with; or that I could have you in my dining-room? This is a
respectable hotel, I tell you."
He broke off to wave his hand genially to a man who was walking slowly
by the door on his way down to the dining-room.
"There!" he went on to Rose. "That's what I mean! That's Judge Granger
of the Supreme Court of this state. He's come here regularly for meals,
when he ain't in Springfield, for the last fifteen years. He's the
biggest man in this county. Do you suppose he'd stand for it, if I asked
him to give his order to a busted actress?"
"Would you stand for it if he did?" demanded Rose.
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