“You think, then,” said Mr. Dinneford, “that the true remedy for all these dreadful social evils lies in restrictive legislation?”
“Restrictive only on the principles of eternal right,” answered the missionary. “Man’s freedom over himself must not be touched. Only his freedom to hurt his neighbor must be abridged. Here society has a right to put bonds on its members—to say to each individual, You are free to do anything by which your neighbor is served, but nothing to harm him. Here is where the discrimination must be made; and when the mass of the people come to see this, we shall have the beginning of a new day. There will then be hope for such poor wretches as crowd this region; or if most of them are so far lost as to be without hope, their places, when they die, will not be filled with new recruits for the army of perdition.”
“If the laws we now have were only executed,” said Mr. Dinneford, “there might be hope in our legislative restrictions. But the people are defrauded of justice through defects in its machinery. There are combinations to defeat good laws. There are men holding high office notoriously in league with scoundrels who prey upon the people. Through these, justice perpetually fails.”
“The people are alone to blame,” replied the missionary. “Each is busy with his farm and his merchandise with his own affairs, regardless of his neighbor. The common good is nothing, so that his own good is served. Each weakly folds his hands and is sorry when these troublesome questions are brought to his notice, but doesn’t see that he can do anything. Nor can the people, unless some strong and influential leaders rally them, and, like great generals, lead them to the battle. As I said a little while ago, there are ten or twenty men in this city who, if they could be made to feel their high responsibility—who, if they could be induced to look away for a brief period from their great enterprises and concentrate thought and effort upon these questions of social evil, abuse of justice and violations of law—would in a single month inaugurate reforms and set agencies to work that would soon produce marvelous changes. They need not touch the rottenness of this half-dead carcass with knife or poultice. Only let them cut off the sources of pollution and disease, and the purified air will do the work of restoration where moral vitality remains, or hasten the end in those who are debased beyond hope.”
“What could these men do? Where would their work begin?” asked Mr. Dinneford.
“Their own intelligence would soon discover the way to do this work if their hearts were in it. Men who can organize and successfully conduct great financial and industrial enterprises, who know how to control the wealth and power of the country and lead the people almost at will, would hardly be at fault in the adjustment of a matter like this. What would be the money influence of ‘whisky rings’ and gambling associations, set against the social and money influence of these men? Nothing, sir, nothing! Do you think we should long have over six thousand bars and nearly four hundred lottery-policy shops in our city if the men to whom I refer were to take the matter in hand?”
“Are there so many policy-shops?” asked Mr. Dinneford, in surprise.
“There may be more. You will find them by scores in every locality where poor and ignorant people are crowded together, sucking out their substance, and in the neighborhood of all the market-houses and manufactories, gathering in spoil. The harm they are doing is beyond computation. The men who control this unlawful business are rich and closely organized. They gather in their dishonest gains at the rate of hundreds of thousands of dollars every year, and know how and where to use this money for the protection of their agents in the work of defrauding the people, and the people are helpless because our men of wealth and influence have no time to give to public justice or the suppression of great social wrongs. With them, as things now are, rests the chief responsibility. They have the intelligence, the wealth and the public confidence, and are fully equal to the task if they will put their hands to the work. Let them but lift the standard and sound the trumpet of reform, and the people will rally instantly at the call. It must not be a mere spasmodic effort—a public meeting with wordy resolutions and strong speeches only—but organized work based on true principles of social order and the just rights of the people.”
“You are very much in earnest about this matter,” said Mr. Dinneford, seeing how excited the missionary had grown.
“And so would you and every other good citizen become if, standing face to face, as I do daily, with this awful debasement and crime and suffering, you were able to comprehend something of its real character. If I could get the influential citizens to whom I have referred to come here and see for themselves, to look upon this pandemonium in their midst and take in an adequate idea of its character, significance and aggressive force, there would be some hope of making them see their duty, of arousing them to action. But they stand aloof, busy with personal and material interest, while thousands of men, women and children are yearly destroyed, soul and body, through their indifference to duty and ignorance of their fellows’ suffering.”
“It is easy to say such things,” answered Mr. Dinneford, who felt the remarks of Mr. Paulding as almost personal.
“Yes, it is easy to say them,” returned the missionary, his voice dropping to a lower key, “and it may be of little use to say them. I am sometimes almost in despair, standing so nearly alone as I do with my feet on the very brink of this devastating flood of evil, and getting back only faint echoes to my calls for help. But when year after year I see some sheaves coming in as the reward of my efforts and of the few noble hearts that work with me, I thank God and take courage, and I lift my voice and call more loudly for help, trusting that I may be heard by some who, if they would only come up to the help of the Lord against the mighty, would scatter his foes like chaff on the threshing-floor. But I am holding you back from your purpose to visit the mayor; I think you had better act promptly if you would get possession of the child. I shall be interested in the result, and will take it as a favor if you will call at the mission again.”
CHAPTER XV
WHEN Mr. Dinneford and the policeman sent by the mayor at his solicitation visited Grubb’s court, the baby was not to be found. The room in which it had been seen by Mr. Paulding was vacant. Such a room as it was!—low and narrow, with bare, blackened walls, the single window having scarcely two whole panes of glass, the air loaded with the foulness that exhaled from the filth-covered floor, the only furniture a rough box and a dirty old straw bed lying in a corner.
As Mr. Dinneford stood at the door of this room and inhaled its fetid air, he grew sick, almost faint. Stepping back, with a shocked and disgusted look on his face, he said to the policeman,
“There must be a mistake. This cannot be the room.”
Two or three children and a coarse, half-clothed woman, seeing a gentleman going into the house accompanied by a policeman, had followed them closely up stairs.
“Who lives in this room?” asked the policeman, addressing the woman.
“Don’t know as anybody lives there now,” she replied, with evident evasion.
“Who did live here?” demanded the policeman.
“Oh, lots!” returned the woman, curtly.
“I want to know who lived here last,” said the policeman, a little sternly.
“Can’t say—never keep the run of ‘em,” answered the woman, with more indifference than she felt. “Goin’ and comin’ all the while. Maybe it was Poll Davis.”
“Had she a baby?”
The woman gave a vulgar laugh as she replied: “I rather think not.”
“It was Moll Fling,” said one of the children, “and she had a baby.”
“When was she here last?” inquired the policeman.
The woman, unseen by the latter, raised her fist and threatened the child, who did not seem to be in the least afraid of her, for she answered promptly:
“She went away about an hour ago.”
“And took the baby?”
“Yes. You see Mr. Paulding was here asking about the baby, and she got scared.”
“Why should that scare her?”
“I don’t know, only it isn’t her baby.”
“How do you know that?”
“‘Cause it isn’t—I know it isn’t. She’s paid to take care of it.”
“Who by?”
“Pinky Swett.”
“Who’s Pinky Swett?”
“Don’t you know Pinky Swett?” and the child seemed half surprised.
“Where does Pinky Swett live?” asked the policeman.
“She did live next door for a while, but I don’t know where she’s gone.”
Nothing beyond this could be ascertained. But having learned the names of the women who had possession of the child, the policeman said there would be no difficulty about discovering them. It might take a little time, but they could not escape the vigilance of the police.
With this assurance, Mr. Dinneford hastened from the polluted air of Grubb’s court, and made his way to the mission in Briar street, in order to have some further conference with Mr. Paulding.
“As I feared,” said the missionary, on learning that the baby could not be found. “These creatures are as keen of scent as Indians, and know the smallest sign of danger. It is very plain that there is something wrong—that these women have no natural right to the child, and that they are not using it to beg with.”
“Do you know a woman called Pinky Swett?” asked the policeman.
“I’ve heard of her, but do not know her by sight. She bears a hard reputation even here, and adds to her many evil accomplishments the special one of adroit robbery. A victim lured to her den rarely escapes without loss of watch or pocket-book. And not one in a hundred dares to give information, for this would expose him to the public, and so her crimes are covered. Pinky Swett is not the one to bother herself about a baby unless its parentage be known, and not then unless the knowledge can be turned to advantage.”
“The first thing to be done, then, is to find this woman,” said the policeman.
“That will not be very hard work. But finding the baby, if she thinks you are after it, would not be so easy,” returned Mr. Paulding. “She’s as cunning as a fox.”
“We shall see. If the chief of police undertakes to find the baby, it won’t be out of sight long. You’d better confer with the mayor again,” added the policeman, addressing Mr. Dinneford.
“I will do so without delay,” returned that gentleman.
“I hope to see you here again soon,” said the missionary as Mr. Dinneford was about going. “If I can help you in any way, I shall do so gladly.”
“I have no doubt but that you can render good service.” Then, in half apology, and to conceal the real concern at his heart, Mr. Dinneford added, “Somehow, and strangely enough when I come to think of it, I have allowed myself to get drawn into this thing, and once in, the natural persistence of my character leads me to go on to the end. I am one of those who cannot bear to give up or acknowledge a defeat; and so, having set my hand to this work, I am going to see it through.”
When the little girl who had taken Edith to the mission-house in Briar street got home and told her story, there was a ripple of excitement in that part of Grubb’s court where she lived, and a new interest was felt in the poor neglected baby. Mr. Paulding’s visit and inquiries added to this interest. It had been several days since Pinky Swett’s last visit to the child to see that it was safe. On the morning after Edith’s call at the mission she came in about ten o’clock, and heard the news. In less than twenty minutes the child and the woman who had charge of it both disappeared from Grubb’s court. Pinky sent them to her own room, not many squares distant, and then drew from the little girl who was in Edith’s sewing-class all she knew about that young lady. It was not much that the child could tell. She was very sweet and good and handsome, and wore such beautiful clothes, was so kind and patient with the girls, but she did not remember her name, thought it was Edith.
“Now, see here,” said Pinky, and she put some money into the child’s hand; “I want you to find out for me what her name is and where she lives. Mind, you must be very careful to remember.”
“What do you want to know for?” asked the little girl.
“That’s none of your business. Do what I tell you,” returned Pinky, with impatience; “and if you do it right, I’ll give you a quarter more. When do you go again?”
“Next week, on Thursday.”
“Not till next Thursday!” exclaimed Pinky, in a tone of disappointment.
“The school’s only once a week.”
Pinky chafed a good deal, but it was of no use; she must wait.
“You’ll be sure and go next Thursday?” she said.
“If Mother lets me,” replied the child.
“Oh, I’ll see to that; I’ll make her let you. What time does the school go in?”
“At three o’clock.”
“Very well. You wait for me. I’ll come round here at half-past two, and go with you. I want to see the young lady. They’ll let me come into the school and learn to sew, won’t they?”
“I don’t know; you’re too big, and you don’t want to learn.”
“How do you know I don’t?”
“Because I do.”
Pinky laughed, and then said,
“You’ll wait for me?”
“Yes, if mother says so.”
“All right;” and Pinky hurried away to take measures for hiding the baby from a search that she felt almost sure was about being made. The first thing she did was to soundly abuse the woman in whose care she had placed the hapless child for her neglect and ill treatment, both of which were too manifest, and then to send her away under the new aspect of affairs she did not mean to trust this woman, nor indeed to trust anybody who knew anything of the inquiries which had been made about the child. A new nurse must be found, and she must live as far away from the old locality as possible. Pinky was not one inclined to put things off. Thought and act were always close together. Scarcely had the woman been gone ten minutes, before, bundling the baby in a shawl, she started off to find a safer hiding-place. This time she was more careful about the character and habits of the person selected for a nurse, and the baby’s condition was greatly improved. The woman in whose charge she placed it was poor, but neither drunken nor depraved. Pinky arranged with her to take the care of it for two dollars a week, and supplied it with clean and comfortable clothing. Even she, wicked and vile as she was, could not help being touched by the change that appeared in the baby’s shrunken face, and in its sad but beautiful eyes, after its wasted little body had been cleansed and clothed in clean, warm garments and it had taken its fill of nourishing food.
“It’s a shame, the way it has been abused,” said Pinky, speaking from an impulse of kindness, such as rarely swelled in her evil heart.
“A crying shame,” answered the woman as she drew the baby close against her bosom and gazed down upon its pitiful face, and into the large brown eyes that were lifted to hers in mute appeal.
The real motherly tenderness that was in this woman’s heart was quickly perceived by the child, who did not move its eyes from hers, but lay perfectly still, gazing up at her in a kind of easeful rest such as it had never before known. She spoke to it in loving tones, touched its thin cheeks with her finger in playful caresses, kissed it on its lips and forehead, hugged it to her bosom; and still the eyes were fixed on hers in a strange baby-wonder, though not the faintest glinting of a smile played on its lips or over its serious face. Had it never learned to smile?
At last the poor thin lips curved a little, crushing out the lines of suffering, and into the eyes there came a loving glance in place of the fixed, wondering look that was almost a stare. A slight lifting of the hands, a motion of the head, a thrill through the whole body came next, and then a tender cooing sound.
“Did you ever see such beautiful eyes?” said the woman. “It will be a splendid baby when it has picked up a little.”
“Let it pick up as fast as it can,” returned Pinky; “but mind what I say: you are to be mum. Here’s your pay for the first week, and you shall have it fair and square always. Call it your own baby, if you will, or your grandson. Yes, that’s better. He’s the child of your dead daughter, just sent to you from somewhere out of town. So take good care of him, and keep your mouth shut. I’ll be round again in a little while.”
And with this injunction Pinky went away. On the next Thursday she visited the St. John’s mission sewing-school in company with the little girl from Grubb’s court, but greatly to her disappointment, Edith did not make her appearance. There were four or five ladies in attendance on the school, which, under the superintendence of one of them, a woman past middle life, with a pale, serious face and a voice clear and sweet, was conducted with an order and decorum not often maintained among a class of children such as were there gathered together.
It was a long time since Pinky had found herself so repressed and ill at ease. There was a spiritual atmosphere in the place that did not vitalize her blood. She felt a sense of constriction and suffocation. She had taken her seat in the class taught usually by Edith, with the intention of studying that young lady and finding out all she could about her, not doubting her ability to act the part in hand with perfect self-possession. But she had not been in the room a minute before confidence began to die, and very soon she found herself ill at ease and conscious of being out of her place. The bold, bad woman felt weak and abashed. An unseen sphere of purity and Christian love surrounded and touched her soul with as palpable an impression as outward things give to the body. She had something of the inward distress and pain a devil would feel if lifted into the pure air of heaven, and the same desire to escape and plunge back into the dense and impure atmosphere in which evil finds its life and enjoyment. If she had come with any good purpose, it would have been different, but evil, and only evil, was in her heart; and when this felt the sphere of love and purity, her breast was constricted and life seemed going out of her.
It was little less than torture to Pinky for the short time she remained. As soon as she was satisfied that Edith would not be there, she threw down the garment on which she had been pretending to sew, and almost ran from the room.
“Who is that girl?” asked the lady who was teaching the class, looking in some surprise after the hurrying figure.
“It’s Pinky Swett,” answered the child from Grubb’s court. “She wanted to see our teacher.”
“Who is your regular teacher?” was inquired.
“Don’t remember her name.”
“It’s Edith,” spoke up one of the girls. “Mrs. Martin called her that.”
“What did this Pinky Swett want to see her about?”
“Don’t know,” answered the child as she remembered the money Pinky had given her and the promise of more.
The teacher questioned no further, but went on with her work in the class.
CHAPTER XVI
IT was past midday when Mr. Dinneford returned home after his fruitless search. Edith, who had been waiting for hours in restless suspense, heard his step in the hall, and ran down to meet him.
“Did you see the baby?”’ she asked, trying to keep her agitation down.
Mr. Dinneford only shook his head,
“Why, not, father?” Her voice choked.
“It could not be found.”
“You saw Mr. Paulding?”
“Yes.”
“Didn’t he find the baby?”
“Oh yes. But when I went to Grubb’s court this morning, it was not there, and no one could or would give any information about it. As the missionary feared, those having possession of the baby had taken alarm and removed it to another place. But I have seen the mayor and some of the police, and got them interested. It will not be possible to hide the child for any length of time.”
“You said that Mr. Paulding saw it?”
“Yes.”
“What did he say?” Edith’s voice trembled as she asked the question.
“He thinks there is something wrong.”
“Did he tell you how the baby looked?”
“He said that it had large, beautiful brown eyes.”
Edith clasped her hands, and drew them tightly against her bosom.
“Oh, father! if it should be my baby!”
“My dear, dear child,” said Mr. Dinneford, putting his arms about Edith and holding her tightly, “you torture yourself with a wild dream. The thing is impossible.”
“It is somebody’s baby,” sobbed Edith, her face on her father’s breast, “and it may be mine. Who knows?”
“We will do our best to find it,” returned Mr. Dinneford, “and then do what Christian charity demands. I am in earnest so far, and will leave nothing undone, you may rest assured. The police have the mayor’s instructions to find the baby and give it into my care, and I do not think we shall have long to wait.”
An ear they thought not of, heard all this. Mrs. Dinneford’s suspicions had been aroused by many things in Edith’s manner and conduct of late, and she had watched her every look and word and movement with a keenness of observation that let nothing escape. Careful as her husband and daughter were in their interviews, it was impossible to conceal anything from eyes that never failed in watchfulness. An unguarded word here, a look of mutual intelligence there, a sudden silence when she appeared, an unusual soberness of demeanor and evident absorbed interest in something they were careful to conceal, had the effect to quicken all Mrs. Dinneford’s alarms and suspicions.
She had seen from the top of the stairs a brief but excited interview pass between Edith and her father as the latter stood in the vestibule that morning, and she had noticed the almost wild look on her daughter’s face as she hastened back along the hall and ran up to her room. Here she stayed alone for over an hour, and then came down to the parlor, where she remained restless, moving about or standing by the window for a greater part of the morning.
There was something more than usual on hand. Guilt in its guesses came near the truth. What could all this mean, if it had not something to do with the cast-off baby? Certainty at last came. She was in the dining-room when Edith ran down to meet her father in the hall, and slipped noiselessly and unobserved into one of the parlors, where, concealed by a curtain, she heard everything that passed between her husband and daughter.
Still as death she stood, holding down the strong pulses of her heart. From the hall Edith and her father turned into one of the parlors—the same in which Mrs. Dinneford was concealed behind the curtain—and sat down.
“It had large brown eyes?” said Edith, a yearning tenderness in her voice.
“Yes, and a finely-formed bead, showing good parentage,” returned the father.
“Didn’t you find out who the women were—the two bad women the little girl told me about? If we had their names, the police could find them. The little girl’s mother must know who they are.”
“We have the name of one of them,” said Mr. Dinneford. “She is called Pinky Swett, and it can’t be long before the police are on her track. She is said to be a desperate character. Nothing more can be done now; we must wait until the police work up the affair. I will call at the mayor’s office in the morning and find out what has been done.”
Mrs. Dinneford heard no more. The bell rang, and her husband and daughter left the parlor and went up stairs. The moment they were beyond observation she glided noiselessly through the hall, and reached her chamber without being noticed. Soon afterward she came down dressed for visiting, and went out hastily, her veil closely drawn. Her manner was hurried. Descending the steps, she stood for a single moment, as if hesitating which way to go, and then moved off rapidly. Soon she had passed out of the fashionable neighborhood in which she lived. After this she walked more slowly, and with the air of one whose mind was in doubt or hesitation. Once she stopped, and turning about, slowly retraced her steps for the distance of a square. Then she wheeled around, as if from some new and strong resolve, and went on again. At last she paused before a respectable-looking house of moderate size in a neighborhood remote from the busier and more thronged parts of the city. The shutters were all bowed down to the parlor, and the house had a quiet, unobtrusive look. Mrs. Dinneford gave a quick, anxious glance up and down the street, and then hurriedly ascended the steps and rang the bell.
“Is Mrs. Hoyt in?” she asked of a stupid-looking girl who came to the door.
“Yes, ma’am,” was answered.
“Tell her a lady wants to see her;” and she passed into the plainly-furnished parlor. There were no pictures on the walls nor ornaments on the mantel-piece, nor any evidence of taste—nothing home-like—in the shadowed room, the atmosphere of which was close and heavy. She waited here for a few moments, when there was a rustle of garments and the sound of light, quick feet on the stairs. A small, dark-eyed, sallow-faced woman entered the parlor.
“Mrs. Bray—no, Mrs. Hoyt.”
“Mrs. Dinneford;” and the two women stood face to face for a few moments, each regarding the other keenly.
“Mrs. Hoyt—don’t forget,” said the former, with a warning emphasis in her voice. “Mrs. Bray is dead.”
In her heart Mrs. Dinneford wished that it were indeed so.
“Anything wrong?” asked the black-eyed little woman.
“Do you know a Pinky Swett?” asked Mrs. Dinneford, abruptly.
Mrs. Hoyt—so we must now call her—betrayed surprise at this question, and was about answering “No,” but checked herself and gave a half-hesitating “Yes,” adding the question, “What about her?”
Before Mrs. Dinneford could reply, however, Mrs. Hoyt took hold of her arm and said, “Come up to my room. Walls have ears sometimes, and I will not answer for these.”
Mrs. Dinneford went with her up stairs to a chamber in the rear part of the building.
“We shall be out of earshot here,” said Mrs. Hoyt as she closed the door, locking it at the same time. “And now tell me what’s up, and what about Pinky Swett.”
“You know her?”
“Yes, slightly.”
“More than slightly, I guess.”
Mrs. Hoyt’s eyes flashed impatiently. Mrs. Dinneford saw it, and took warning.
“She’s got that cursed baby.”
“How do you know?”
“No matter how I know. It’s enough that I know. Who is she?”
“That question may be hard to answer. About all I know of her is that she came from the country a few years ago, and has been drifting about here ever since.”
“What is she doing with that baby? and how did she get hold of it?”
“Questions more easily asked than answered.”
“Pshaw! I don’t want any beating about the bush, Mrs. Bray.”
“Mrs. Hoyt,” said the person addressed.
“Oh, well, Mrs. Hoyt, then. We ought to understand each other by this time.”
“I guess we do;” and the little woman arched her brows.
“I don’t want any beating about the bush,” resumed Mrs. Dinneford. “I am here on business.”
“Very well; let’s to business, then;” and Mrs. Hoyt leaned back in her chair.
“Edith knows that this woman has the baby,” said Mrs. Dinneford.
“What!” and Mrs. Hoyt started to her feet.
“The mayor has been seen, and the police are after her.”
“How do you know?”
“Enough that I know. And now, Mrs. Hoyt, this thing must come to an end, and there is not an instant to be lost. Has Pinky Swett, as she is called, been told where the baby came from?”
“Not by me.”
“By anybody?”
“That is more than I can say.”
“What has become of the woman I gave it to?”
“She’s about somewhere.”
“When did you see her?”
Mrs. Hoyt pretended to think for some moments, and then replied:
“Not for a month or two.”
“Had she the baby then?”
“No; she was rid of it long before that.”
“Did she know this Pinky Swett?”
“Yes.”
“Curse the brat! If I’d thought all this trouble was to come, I’d have smothered it before it was half an hour old.”
“Risky business,” remarked Mrs. Hoyt.
“Safer than to have let it live,” said Mrs. Dinneford, a hard, evil expression settling around her mouth. “And now I want the thing done. You understand. Find this Pinky Swett. The police are after her, and may be ahead of you. I am desperate, you see. Anything but the discovery and possession of this child by Edith. It must be got out of the way. If it will not starve, it must drown.”
Mrs. Dinneford’s face was distorted by the strength of her evil passions. Her eyes were full of fire, flashing now, and now glaring like those of a wild animal.
“It might fall out of a window,” said Mrs. Hoyt, in a low, even voice, and with a faint smile on her lips. “Children fall out of windows sometimes.”
“But don’t always get killed,” answered Mrs. Dinneford, coldly.
“Or, it might drop from somebody’s arms into the river—off the deck of a ferryboat, I mean,” added Mrs. Hoyt.
“That’s better. But I don’t care how it’s done, so it’s done.”
“Accidents are safer,” said Mrs. Hoyt.
“I guess you’re right about that. Let it be an accident, then.”
It was half an hour from the time Mrs. Dinneford entered this house before she came away. As she passed from the door, closely veiled, a gentleman whom she knew very well was going by on the opposite side of the street. From something in his manner she felt sure that he had recognized her, and that the recognition had caused him no little surprise. Looking back two or three times as she hurried homeward, she saw, to her consternation, that he was following her, evidently with the purpose of making sure of her identity.
To throw this man off of her track was Mrs. Dinneford’s next concern. This she did by taking a street-car that was going in a direction opposite to the part of the town in which she lived, and riding for a distance of over a mile. An hour afterward she came back to her own neighborhood, but not without a feeling of uneasiness. Just as she was passing up to the door of her residence a gentleman came hurriedly around the nearest corner. She recognized him at a glance. It seemed as if the servant would never answer her ring. On he came, until the sound of his steps was in her ears. He was scarcely ten paces distant when the door opened and she passed in. When she gained her room, she sat down faint and trembling. Here was a new element in the danger and disgrace that were digging her steps so closely.