George Albert Balmer

George Balmer earns half a dollar a year and clings to the hope that his writing will one day make a home for Alice Halliday, the grey-eyed girl whose photograph sits on his mantelpiece. Into that waiting life comes Peggy, a round-eyed chorus girl who calls herself his mascot and whose jealousy of the photograph erupts into a confession and a slammed door. His helplessness before both women, and his inability to work once Peggy stops visiting, make him the story's study in divided loyalty and the quiet damage of being loved by someone you cannot love back.