It was not, though, until he was almost in front of the house
that he looked up at the girl and she recognized him.
Then Maggie Shane gasped and clutched the handrail at
her side. An instant later the man was past and continuing his
way along the sidewalk.
Maggie Shane glared after him for a minute, then she ran
quickly down the stairs and into a grocery store a few doors
west, where she asked if she might use the telephone.
"Gimme West 2063," she demanded of the operator, and a
moment later: "Is this Lake Street?"
"Well say, Billy Byrne's back. I just see him."
"Yes an' never mind who I am; but if youse guys want him
he's walkin' west on Grand Avenoo right now. I just this
minute seen him near Lincoln," and she smashed the receiver
back into its hook.
Billy Byrne thought that he would look in on his mother,
not that he expected to be welcomed even though she might
happen to be sober, or not that he cared to see her; but
Billy's whole manner of thought had altered within the year,
and something now seemed to tell him that it was his duty to
do the thing he contemplated. Maybe he might even be of
help to her.
But when he reached the gloomy neighborhood in which
his childhood had been spent it was to learn that his mother
was dead and that another family occupied the tumble-down
cottage that had been his home.
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