The Downstairs Girl

Jo rides Sweet Potato toward the cemetery, where Caroline is crying in the place where she usually meets Quackenbach. Jo tries to comfort her. Caroline says that Quackenbach has been spreading a rumor that she is an illegitimate child.

That evening, Jo confronts Old Gin. She mentions Leo Porter and asks if Old Gin intends to sell Sweet Potato to pay off debts. Old Gin denies this, but it doesn’t reassure Jo. They get to the streetcar where a sign says “Whites Only, Rows 1–5.” Old Gin surprises Jo and the other streetcar residents by declaring that the rules don’t say anything about Chinese people. He takes a seat in Row 3. A white traveling salesman starts harassing Old Gin, so at last, he declares he will no longer take the streetcar and gets out with Jo.