Part 28 (1/2)
”If I only had a cup o' tea,” the old lady said, ”I could go on better, but my money is well nigh gone, and I can't afford it.”
”Oh,” said the young lady to herself, whom we shall call Miss Elsworth. ”Oh, I wish I could turn them away when they come, but I can't. I might just as well try to stop my own hunger as to try to turn one away that is hungry, and I'll just slip in and get her a cup of tea to help her on her way. It will rest her, I am sure.”
Miss Elsworth touched the woman lightly on the shoulder, saying: ”Come into the kitchen and I will give you a lunch; I know a cup of tea will do you good.”
The old lady arose, and wiping the tears away, said:
”G.o.d bless you, miss; I am sure you will get your reward some day for doing so great a favor.”
”It is no favor,” Miss Elsworth said, as she led the way to the kitchen. ”Only I shall be obliged to ask you to be as quick as possible, for I am about to go out to look for a housekeeper, and I wish to find her before she is otherwise engaged. It is so hard to find a trusty one.”
”Is it?”
”Yes; one has to be cautious.”
Miss Elsworth hurried about and soon had a steaming cup of fragrant tea and a tempting lunch prepared for the old lady.
”Sit down, now, and perhaps you will be better able to walk after you have eaten your lunch,” said Miss Elsworth.
Mrs. Morris took her seat by the table, and as she sipped her tea and broke a fresh bun she said:
”What a terrible place New York is. I hadn't no idee it was so big.”
”Have you just arrived here?” Miss Elsworth asked.
”Yes; I jest come from the country. I've got to get a place to work.”
”What can you do.”
”I was cooking in a hotel in the village before I came here.”
”Why did you come to such a place as New York?”
”Well, I'll tell you. I was working in Ghent in a hotel, and the other night I had an awful dream. I dreamed about a span o' black horses. It worried me considerable, but I thought p'r'aps 'twas foolish to think about it, but the next night I dreamed about a lot o' mud fallin' down on my head, and then I knew somethin' had happened to my poor boy. You see, I've got a boy here in New York somewhere, and you never can begin to guess how I do love that boy. He is the purtiest boy in the whole world.”
Miss Elsworth looked at the old lady, thinking that her son might be pretty, as she said, for she herself must have been a very handsome woman in her youthful days. Her features were finely chiseled, and the dark hair streaked with gray was as smooth and as soft as a piece of satin. But there were lines of care around the delicate mouth and across the broad forehead, and though she might have been pure at heart, there was a lack of education and a manner that caused Miss Elsworth to pity rather than ridicule her.
”Is your son very young?” Miss Elsworth asked.
”Oh, no; he's nigh on to thirty, but you see he's sorter wild, and I'm jest afraid in a big place like this he'll git into something awful. They say they's so much mischief goin' on here.”
”How did you expect to find him? Have you his address?”
”Oh, dear, no; all I've got to go by is his picture.”
Miss Elsworth smiled.
”That is rather a slim guide. How did you expect to find his place of residence by that?”
”Why, I jest thought I might show it to folks now and then, and perhaps they'd know him.”