This kid's going to be caught by somebody before long, and the
man that does it gets five hundred. It might as well be me. Business
is business, and just now business is bad. You people all know what
this infernal weather has done for us. We haven't had a paying day
since we opened, and here it is the middle of May--nearly six weeks,
that's what it is. There's a lousy three hundred dollars in the big
top to-night and half as much this afternoon. I tell you if these
rains keep up I'll have to close. It takes more than five hundred
dollars a day to run this show. I owe back salaries--all of you have
got something coming to you. Five hundred dollars velvet, that's what
this boy means to me--not for myself, mind you, but for the treasury.
That's why I'm going to turn him over, if you want to know."
"But he ain't guilty," said Grinaldi sharply.
"How do you know?" snarled Braddock. "Go and do what I told you," to
the wavering attendant. Mrs. Braddock and Christine were standing
beside the dejected boy, the former looking steadily at the face of
her husband, whose bloodshot eyes would not meet her gaze.
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