Cast Adrift. Arthur Timothy Shay

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      All the flush and excitement died out of Edith’s face. When she arose to go, she was pale and haggard, like one exhausted by pain, and her steps uneven, like the steps of an invalid walking for the first time. Dr. Radcliffe went with her in silence to the door.

      “Oh, doctor,” said Edith, in a choking voice, as she lingered a moment on the steps, “can’t you bring out of this frightful mystery something for my heart to rest upon? I want the truth. Oh, doctor, in pity help me to find the truth!”

      “I am powerless to help you,” the doctor replied. “Your only hope lies in your mother. She knows all about it; I do not.”

      And he turned and left her standing at the door. Slowly she descended the steps, drawing her veil as she did so about her face, and walked away more like one in a dream than conscious of the tide of life setting so strongly all about her.

      CHAPTER V

      MEANTIME, obeying the unwelcome summons, Mrs. Dinneford had gone to see Mrs. Bray. She found her in a small third-story room in the lower part of the city, over a mile away from her own residence. The meeting between the two women was not over-gracious, but in keeping with their relations to each other. Mrs. Dinneford was half angry and impatient; Mrs. Bray cool and self-possessed.

      “And now what is it you have to say?” asked the former, almost as soon as she had entered.

      “The woman to whom you gave that baby was here yesterday.”

      A frightened expression came into Mrs. Dinneford’s face. Mrs. Bray watched her keenly as, with lips slightly apart, she waited for what more was to come.

      “Unfortunately, she met me just as I was at my own door, and so found out my residence,” continued Mrs. Bray. “I was in hopes I should never see her again. We shall have trouble, I’m afraid.”

      “In what way?”

      “A bad woman who has you in her power can trouble you in many ways,” answered Mrs. Bray.

      “She did not know my name—you assured me of that. It was one of the stipulations.”

      “She does know, and your daughter’s name also. And she knows where the baby is. She’s deeper than I supposed. It’s never safe to trust such people; they have no honor.”

      Fear sent all the color out of Mrs. Dinneford’s face.

      “What does she want?”

      “Money.”

      “She was paid liberally.”

      “That has nothing to do with it. These people have no honor, as I said; they will get all they can.”

      “How much does she want?”

      “A hundred dollars; and it won’t end there, I’m thinking. If she is refused, she will go to your house; she gave me that alternative—would have gone yesterday, if good luck had not thrown her in my way. I promised to call on you and see what could be done.”

      Mrs. Dinneford actually groaned in her fear and distress.

      “Would you like to see her yourself?” coolly asked Mrs. Bray.

      “Oh dear! no, no!” and the lady put up her hands in dismay.

      “It might be best,” said her wily companion.

      “No, no, no! I will have nothing to do with her! You must keep her away from me,” replied Mrs. Dinneford, with increasing agitation.

      “I cannot keep her away without satisfying her demands. If you were to see her yourself, you would know just what her demands were. If you do not see her, you will only have my word for it, and I am left open to misapprehension, if not worse. I don’t like to be placed in such a position.”

      And Mrs. Bray put on a dignified, half-injured manner.

      “It’s a wretched business in every way,” she added, “and I’m sorry that I ever had anything to do with it. It’s something dreadful, as I told you at the time, to cast a helpless baby adrift in such a way. Poor little soul! I shall never feel right about it.”

      “That’s neither here nor there;” and Mrs. Dinneford waved her hand impatiently. “The thing now in hand is to deal with this woman.”

      “Yes, that’s it—and as I said just now, I would rather have you deal with her yourself; you may be able to do it better than I can.”

      “It’s no use to talk, Mrs. Bray. I will not see the woman.”

      “Very well; you must be your own judge in the case.”

      “Can’t you bind her up to something, or get her out of the city? I’d pay almost anything to have her a thousand miles away. See if you can’t induce her to go to New Orleans. I’ll pay her passage, and give her a hundred dollars besides, if she’ll go.”

      Mrs. Bray smiled a faint, sinister smile:

      “If you could get her off there, it would be the end of her. She’d never stand the fever.”

      “Then get her off, cost what it may,” said Mrs. Dinneford.

      “She will be here in less than half an hour.” Mrs. Bray looked at the face of a small cheap clock that stood on the mantel.

      “She will?” Mrs. Dinneford became uneasy, and arose from her chair.

      “Yes; what shall I say to her?”

      “Manage her the best you can. Here are thirty dollars—all the money I have with me. Give her that, and promise more if necessary. I will see you again.”

      “When?” asked Mrs. Bray.

      “At any time you desire.”

      “Then you had better come to-morrow morning. I shall not go out.”

      “I will be here at eleven o’clock. Induce her if possible to leave the city—to go South, so that she may never come back.”

      “The best I can shall be done,” replied Mrs. Bray as she folded the bank-bills she had received from Mrs. Dinneford in a fond, tender sort of way and put them into her pocket.

      Mrs. Dinneford retired, saying as she did so,

      “I will be here in the morning.”

      An instant change came over the shallow face of the wiry little woman as the form of Mrs. Dinneford vanished through the door. A veil seemed to fall away from it. All its virtuous sobriety was gone, and a smile of evil satisfaction curved about her lips and danced in her keen black eyes. She stood still, listening to the retiring steps of her visitor, until she heard the street door shut. Then, with a quick, cat-like step, she crossed to the opposite side of the room, and pushed open a door that led to an adjoining chamber. A woman came forward to meet her. This woman was taller and stouter than Mrs. Bray, and had a soft, sensual face, but a resolute mouth, the under jaw slightly protruding. Her eyes were small and close together, and had that peculiar wily and alert expression you sometimes see, making you think of a serpent’s eyes. She was dressed СКАЧАТЬ