Part 22 (1/2)

”Ye're real good, and I'll just mak' s.h.i.+ft to stay in,” replied Mary Jones. But then the manager came round, and the girls could say no more for the present.

At twelve o'clock, be the weather what it might, all had to turn out for half an hour. This, which seemed a hards.h.i.+p, was absolutely necessary for the proper ventilation of the room; but the delicate girls felt the hards.h.i.+p terribly, and as many of them could not afford to go to a restaurant, there was nothing for them but to wander about the streets.

At the hour of release to-day it still snowed fast, but Sue with considerable cleverness, had managed to hide Mary Jones in the warm room, and now ran fast through the blinding and bitter cold to see where she could get something hot and nouris.h.i.+ng to bring back to her. Her own dinner, consisting of a hunch of dry bread and dripping, could be eaten in the pauses of her work. Her object now was to provide for the sick girl.

She ran fast, for she knew a shop where delicious penny pies were to be had, and it was quite possible to demolish penny pies unnoticed in the large workroom. The shop, however, in question was some way off, and Sue had no time to spare. She had nearly reached it, and had already in imagination clasped the warm pies in her cold hands, when, suddenly turning a corner, she came face to face with Harris. Harris was walking along moodily, apparently lost in thought. When he saw Sue, however, he started, and took hold of her arm roughly.

”Sue,” he said, ”does you know as Connie came back last night?”

”Connie?” cried Sue. Her face turned pale and then red again in eagerness. ”Then G.o.d 'ave heard our prayers!” she exclaimed with great fervor. ”Oh! won't my little Giles be glad?”

”You listen to the end,” said the man. He still kept his hand on her shoulder, not caring whether it hurt her or not.

”She come back, my purty, purty little gel, but I 'ad tuk too much, and I were rough on her and I bid her be gone, and she went. She went to Father John; _'e_ were kind to her, and 'e were taking her to you, w'en some willain--I don't know 'oo--caught her by the arm and pulled her down a dark alley, and she ain't been seen since. Wottever is to be done? I'm near mad about her--my pore little gel. And to think that I--_I_ should ha' turned her aw'y!”

Sue listened with great consternation to this terrible tale. She forgot all about poor Mary Jones and the penny pie which she hoped to smuggle into the workroom for her dinner. She forgot everything in all the world but the fact that Connie had come and gone again, and that Peter Harris was full of the most awful despair and agony about her.

”I'm fit to die o' grief,” said the man. ”I dunno wot to do. The perlice is lookin' for her 'igh an' low, and---- Oh Sue, I am near off my 'ead!”

Sue thought for a minute.

”Is Father John looking for her too?” she said.

”W'y, yus--of course he be. I'm to meet the perlice again this afternoon, an' we'll--we'll make a rare fuss.”

”Yer'll find her, in course,” said Sue. ”W'y, there ain't a doubt,” she continued.

”Wot do yer mean by that?”

”There couldn't be a doubt,” continued the girl; ”for G.o.d, who brought her back to us all, 'ull help yer if yer ax 'Im.”

”Do yer believe that, Sue?”

”Sartin sure I do--I couldn't live if I didn't.”

”You're a queer un,” said Harris, he felt a strange sort of comfort in the rough little girl's presence. It seemed to him in a sort of fas.h.i.+on that there was truth in her words. She was very wise--wiser than most.

He had always respected her.

”You're a queer, sensible gel,” he said then--”not like most. I am inclined to believe yer. I'm glad I met yer; you were always Connie's friend.”

”Oh yus,” said Sue; ”I love her jest as though she were my real sister.”

”An' yer do think as she'll come back again?”

”I'm sartin sure of it.”

”Turn and walk with me a bit, Sue. I were near mad w'en I met yer, but somehow you ha' given me a sc.r.a.p o' hope.”

”Mr. Harris,” said Sue, all of a sudden, ”you were cruel to Connie last night; but w'en she comes back again you'll be different, won't yer?”

”I tuk the pledge this morning,” said Harris in a gloomy voice.