Old Caravan Days
Page 21
CHAPTER XXI. HER MOTHER ARRIVES.
Both children regarded the strange lady with breathless interestwhen the lawyer seated her in the room. They silently classed heramong the rich, handsome and powerful people of the earth. She hadwhat in later years they learned to call refinement, but at that datethey could give it no name except niceness. When Grandma Padgett andthe landlord's wife were summoned to the room, she grew even youngerand more elegant in appearance, though her face was anxious and hereyes were darkened by crying.
"This is Mrs. Tracy from Baltimore," said the lawyer. "She was inChicago yesterday, and I telegraphed for her a half-hour or so beforethe child was taken out of the house. She came as far asIndianapolis, and found no Pan Handle train, this morning, so she wasobliged to get a carriage and drive over. Mrs. Sebastian, will you bekind enough to set out something for her to eat as soon as you can?She has not thought of eating since she started. And Mrs.--what did Iunderstand your name to be?"
"THIS IS LORD'S DAY," SAID WILLIAM SEBASTIAN.]
"Padgett," replied the children's guardian.
"Yes; Mrs. Padgett. Mrs. Padgett, my client is hunting a lost child,and hearing this little girl was with you some days, she would liketo make some inquiries."
"But the child's taken clear away!" exclaimed Grandma Padgett.
"If you drove out from Injunop'lis," said the Quaker's wife, "youmust have met the show-wagon on the 'pike."
"The show-wagon took to a by-road," observed the lawyer. "We havemen tracking it now."
"I knew it wasn't right for them to carry off that child," said theQuaker's wife, "and if I'd tended the door they wouldn't carried heroff."
"It was best not to arouse their suspicions before she could beidentified," said the lawyer. "It's easy enough to take her when weknow she is the child we want."
"Maybe so," said the Quaker's wife.
"Easy enough. The vagabonds can't put themselves beyond arrestbefore we can reach them, and on the other hand, they could make acase against us if we meddle with them unnecessarily. Since Mrs.Tracy came West a couple of weeks ago, and since she engaged me inher cause, we have had a dozen wrong parties drawn up forexamination; children of all ages and sizes."
"Did she," inquired Mrs. Tracy, bringing her chair close to GrandmaPadgett and resting appealing eyes on the blue glasses, "have hairthat curled? Rather long hair for a child of her years."
"Yes'm," replied Grandma Padgett with dignified tenderness. "Longfor a child about five or six, as I took her to be. But she wasbabyish for all that."
"Yes--oh, yes!" said Mrs. Tracy.
"And curly. How long since you lost her?"
The lady from Baltimore sobbed on her handkerchief, but recoveredwith a resolute effort, and replied:
"It was nearly three months ago. She was on the street with hernurse, and was taken away almost miraculously. We could not find atrace. Her papa is dead, but I have always kept his memory alive toher. My friends have helped me search, but it has seemed day afterday as if I could not bear the strain any longer."
Grandma Padgett took off her glasses and polished them.
"I know how you feel," she observed, glancing at Robert Day andCorinne. "I had a scare at Richmond, in this State."
"Are these your children?"
"My youngest and my grandson. It was their notion of running awaywith the little girl, and their gettin' lost, that put me to such aworry:"
Mrs. Tracy extended her hands to Bobaday and aunt Corinne, drawingone to each side of her, and made the most minute inquiries aboutFairy Carrie. She knew that the child had called herself Rose, andthat she had been in a partially stupified state during her stay withthe little caravan. But when Robert mentioned the dark circles in thechild's face, and her crying behind the tent, the lady turned whiteand leaned back, closing her eyes and groping for a small yellowbottle in her pocket. Having smelled of this, she recovered herself.
But aunt Corinne, in spite of her passionate sympathy, could barelykeep from tittering at the latter action. Though the smelling bottlewas yellow, instead of a dull blue, like the one Ma Padgett kept inthe top bureau drawer at home, aunt Corinne recognized her enemy andremembered the time she hunted out that treasure and took a long,strong, tremendous snuff at it, expecting to revel in odors ofdelight. Her head tingled again while she thought about it; she felta thousand needles running through her nose, and saw herself sittingon the floor shedding tears. How anybody could sniff at a hartshornbottle and find it a consolation or restorative under anycircumstances, she could not understand.
Mrs. Sebastian, in her First Day clothes, and unwilling to lose aword of what was going on in the sitting-room, had left the earlydinner to her assistant. But she brought in a cup of strong tea, andsome cream toast, begging the bereaved mother to stay her stomachwith that until the meal's victuals was ready. Mrs. Tracy appeared tohave forgotten that her stomach needed staying, but she thanked thelandlady and drank the tea as if thirsty, between her furtherinquiries about the child.
"Are you not sure," she asked the lawyer, "that we are on the righttrack this time?"
He said he was not sure, but indications were better than they hadbeen before.
"I don't wish to reproach you," said Mrs. Tracy, "but it is afearful thought to me, that they may be poisoning my child withopiates again and injuring her perhaps for life. You might havedetained her."
"That's what I've said right along," exclaimed Mrs. Sebastian.
"But there was that woman who pretended to be her rightful mother,"observed Grandma Padget, who, though not obliged to set up anydefence, wanted the case seen in all its bearings. "There _she_set, easy and deliberate, telling _her_ story, how the littlething's father died comin' over the water, and how hard, it was forher to do the right thing by the child. She maintained she only dosedthe child to keep her from sufferin'. I didn't believe her, but wehad nothing to set up against her."
Mrs. Tracy became as erect and fierce in aspect as such a delicatecreature could become. The long veil of crape which hung from herbonnet and swept the floor, emphasizing the blackness of all herother garments, trembled as she rose.
"Why am I sitting here and waiting for anything, when that woman isclaiming my child for her own? The idea of anybody's daring to own mychild! It is more cruel than abuse. I never thought of their beingable to teach her to forget me--that they could confuse her mammawith another person in her mind!"
"You're tired out," said the lawyer, "and matters are moving just asrapidly as if you were chasing over all the roads in Hancock County.You must quiet yourself, ma'am, or you'll break down."
Mrs. Tracy made apparent effort to quiet herself. She took hold ofGrandma Padgett's arm when they were called out to dinner. Robertwalked on the other side of her, having her hand on his shoulder andaunt Corinne went behind, carrying the end of the crape veil as ifFairy Carrie's real mother could thus receive support and consolationthrough the back of the head.
Nobody was more concerned about her trouble than William Sebastian.And he remembered more tempting pickles and jellies than had everbeen on the table before at once. Yet the dinner was soon over.
Grandma Padgett said she had intended to go a piece on the road thatafternoon anyhow, but she could not feel easy in her mind to go veryfar until the child was found. Virginia folks and Marylanders werethe same as neighbors. If Mrs. Tracy would take a seat in thecarriage, they would make it their business to dally along the roadand meet the word the men out searching were to bring in. Mrs. Tracyclung to Grandma Padgett's arm as if she knew what a stay the Ohioneighbors had always found this vigorous old lady. The conveyancewhich brought her from Indianapolis had been sent back. She was gladto be with, the Padgetts. No railroad trains would pass through untilnext day. William Sebastian helped her up the carriage steps, andaunt Corinne set down reverently on the back seat beside her. Zenewas already rumbling ahead with the wagon. Mrs. Sebastian came downthe steps of log and put a hearty lunch in. It was particularly forthe child they hoped to find.
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br /> MRS. TRACY MAKES INQUIRIES.]
"Make her eat something," she counselled the mother. "She hardlytasted a bite of supper last night, and according to all accounts,she ain't in hands that understands feedin' children now."
"The Lord prosper all thy undertakings," said William Sebastian,"and don't thee forget to let us know what hour we may begin torejoice with thee."
The lawyer touched his hat as Hickory and Henry stepped away on theplank 'pike. He remained in Greenfield, and was to ride after them ifany news came in about Fairy Carrie.