In the Land of the Long White Cloud

are good girls,” Lucas agreed. He suddenly wanted to know more about them. “Where are you from? Daphne isn’t your sister, is she?”
    Laurie was about to answer, but the door opened just then and Daphne entered. She looked visibly relieved when she saw that the girls were covered and having a relaxed conversation with their strange customer.
    “Were you happy with it?” she asked, likewise with the apparently unavoidable look at Lucas’s fly.
    Lucas nodded. “Your wards have done a fine job of entertaining me,” he said. “And they were just about to tell me where they were from. You all ran away from somewhere, isn’t that right? Or do your parents know what you’re doing here?”
    Daphne shrugged. “Depends on what you believe. If my mom and theirs are sitting on a cloud in heaven playing the harp, I suppose they should be able to see us. But if they ended up where our kind usually ends up, then they’re only looking at the radishes from below.”
    “Your parents are all dead,” Lucas said, ignoring her cynicism. “I’m sorry about that. But how exactly did you end up here?”
    Daphne straightened herself up confidently before him. “Now listen, Luke, or whatever your name is. If there’s one thing we don’t like, it’s prying questions. Understood?”
    Lucas wanted to reply that he meant no harm. On the contrary, he had been considering how he might be able to help them out of themiserable situation they had landed themselves in. Laurie and Mary were not whores yet, and for a capable and obviously smart girl like Daphne, there had to be alternatives. But at the moment, he was as penniless as the three girls—perhaps more so since Daphne and the twins had earned three dollars—and he imagined that the greedy Jolanda would probably leave them no more than one.
    So Lucas merely said, “Sorry. I did not mean to offend you. Listen, I…I need a place to sleep tonight. I can’t stay here. As inviting as the rooms are.” With a broad sweep of his hand, he indicated Madame Jolanda’s hourly hotel, at which Daphne laughed her bell-like laugh and the twins giggled cautiously. “But that would be out of my price range. Is there a place in the stables or something else along those lines?”
    “You don’t want to return to the seal banks?” Daphne asked, surprised.
    Lucas shook his head. “I’m looking for a less bloody job. Someone told me the carpenters are hiring.”
    Daphne cast a glance at Lucas’s slender hands, which, it’s true, were less manicured than the month before, but were still less callused and rough than Norman’s or Copper’s.
    “Then just be careful you don’t hit yourself too often on the finger,” she said. “Hammers draw more blood from fingers than clubs from seals—your pelt just happens to be less valuable, my friend.”
    Lucas had to laugh. “I’ll look after myself, thank you. As long as the fleas don’t suck out what’s left of my blood. Am I mistaken or is this place crawling with them too?” He scratched himself unabashedly on the shoulder—which, naturally, a gentleman would never do, but gentlemen also did not spend so much time grappling with insects.
    Daphne shrugged. “Must be from the salon. Room one is clean since we clean it. After all, it would be distracting if the twins left their show covered in pustules. That’s why we don’t let any of the filthy fellows sleep here, regardless of what they pay. Your best bet would be to try the rental stables. That’s where a lot of the boys who are passing through sleep. And David keeps it neat. I think you’ll like him. But don’t pervert him!”
    With those words, Daphne left her guest and shooed the twins from the room. Lucas stayed a little longer. After all, the men outside were expecting him to have been busy with girls and he would need some time to get dressed now. When he finally reentered the salon, a few cheers issued from several drunken throats. Norman raised his glass and drank to him.
    “There you have it. Our Luke! Does it with the three best girls and comes out looking like he just hatched from the egg. Did I hear some something going on in there? Pardon yourselves right quick, boys, before he steals your girls too.”

10
    L ucas let them cheer a little longer before leaving the pub for the rental stables. Daphne had not oversold the place. The business made a tidy impression. Naturally, it smelled of horses, but the path between the stalls had been swept clean, the horses