Nine
At midnight he entered the Black Venus. This resort was usually crowded at any hour between twelve and six in the morning. On this particular night there were so many people present that nearly all the space ordinarily reserved for dancing was occupied by tables. Byron, indeed, was forced to take a chair at a table at which four persons were already sitting. He ordered a quart of gin.
A girl with peppercorn hair, with a band of freckles across the bridge of her yellow nose, moved from table to table, singing through the din:
Ah wouldn't be where Ah am,
Feelin' lak Ah am,
Doin' what Ah am,
Ef you hadn't gone away,
Ah wouldn't sit here and laugh
At yo' photograph
That Ah tore in half,
Ef you hadn't gone away.
Wherever Ah go,
Whatever Ah do,
Ah wants you to know
Ah blame it on you,
An' ef et's all over town
That Ah run aroun'
Feelin' lak Ah am,
Doin' what Ah am,
Ef you hadn't gone away,
Ah wouldn't sit here and laugh
At yo' photograph
That Ah tore in half,
Ef you hadn't gone away.
Wherever Ah go,
Whatever Ah do,
Ah wants you to know
Ah blame it on you,
An' ef et's all over town
That Ah run aroun'
