“There was, however, great excitement among the guests. Drake seemed to be all right after a little, and it was then that I had an impulse to do what I did next, and I don’t ask you to explain it, for I don’t explain it myself, only tell it just as it happened, and you’ll have to believe it, no matter how strange it may seem to be.

“I excused myself to Mrs. Drake and went out of the suite. I started to take the elevator down to the office when something impelled me to walk down the stairs. When I left Drake’s apartments, I had a definite determination to follow Jesus and spy upon him. But as I left the rooms, I had a spasm of self-reproach—think of that, Barnes, when you sum it all up—at the thought of spying on him, and I simply started to walk down the hotel stairs without any definite purpose, except perhaps to gain time with myself before I got out on the street.

“The Drakes have rooms on the ninth story. I had gone down four flights when I heard a murmur of voices down below me, and I detected Jesus’s tone. It is so distinct from other voices that it is unmistakable. I went down one more flight and stopped on the turn of the landing. Near the hand rail at the corner, there was a screen and a short sofa and a chair.

“I stepped behind this screen and waited a moment. I could hear plainly what was being said between Jesus and the person with whom he was talking.

“I took out my watch and noted the time, a quarter to two. The voices came to me very distinctly where I stood concealed by the screen, and in another moment I understood that Jesus had stopped on the stairs to speak to one of the women employed as a night worker to scrub the floors. I inquired afterward about these women and learned that they work between two and five in the morning, and receive twenty-five cents an hour for the work.

“I will not venture to repeat exactly the dialogue I overheard, but only the substance of it. I missed a sentence here and there, but caught most of what was said.

“Jesus was saying, ‘The work is hard?’

“‘Well, sir, it is not so very hard, but I have not been very well lately. I don’t mind it when I’m well. I’m thankful to get it.’

“‘You are not well enough to work tonight?’

“‘I have to, whether I’m well or not.’

“‘You spoke of your children. Are they able to help?’

“There was a pause in the conversation and I looked out around the screen. From where I stood, I could see the woman on her knees scrubbing the stairs while she talked. Jesus stood at one side, two steps above her.