Afterwards I learned that Eileen had called Thelma on the telephone and made a big scene about Thelma trying to take her husband away. That finished me with Thelma. Trust Eileen to squeeze all the drama out of a situation.

And there I was shacked up with Eileen in that filthy fourth floor attic on Hudson Street. I use the phrase advisedly because there was something positively indecent about our relationship. I felt it and it ate on me all the time, but I didn't know how right I was till later.

What I did know was that Precious was always around. He slept in the hall bedroom at the head of the stairs. ``Who do you think pays the rent? You wouldn't have me throw the poor boy out on the street,'' Eileen said when I needled her about it. I said sure that was what I wanted her to do but she paid no attention. Eileen had a wonderful way of not listening to things she didn't want to hear. Still I didn't think she was twotiming me with Precious right then. To be on the safe side I never let Eileen get out of my sight day or night.

Precious had me worried. I couldn't make out what his racket was. I'd thought him a pimp or procurer but he didn't seem to be. He was smooth and civil spoken but it seemed to me there was something tough under his self-effacing manner. Still he let Eileen treat him like a valet. Whenever the place was cleaned or a meal served it was Precious who did the work.