We laughed at ourselves.
Douglas and I went to a clothing store where I insisted upon fitting him
out with a suit and a hat. We bought a new harness for the horse. Then
we set forth for meals and drinks.
Somehow I felt that Zoe might be in some concert hall singing for the
means of life. A darker idea crossed my mind, but I put it away. I told
Douglas that I meant to find Zoe, if I could. After our meal we went
from place to place in this quest. Douglas did not try to dissuade me,
but he looked at me keenly as if he wondered why I wished to find Zoe.
Why, after all? As years elapsed I would be rid of all associated memory
of her in Jacksonville. Might not Dorothy come back to me if she knew
that Zoe had wholly vanished from my life? Yet something of a sense of
responsibility, and something of an affection for Zoe kept my mind fast
to the idea of finding her. Up and down the streets of Chicago Douglas
and I walked, looking for Zoe.
Once I heard a woman's voice singing "Annie Laurie." I rushed into the
place whence the voice came, followed deliberately and patiently by
Douglas. There stood a woman on a sort of platform. She was garishly
dressed. There were idlers and drinkers at the table. When we came out
Douglas said that the search was useless; that if Zoe was in Chicago
she might be in a place so secret that I would never find her, except by
chance.
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