Married Life; Its Shadows and Sunshine Page 5

  But the landlady refused to take the proffered money, and replied, indignantly,

  “A purty how d’you do, indeed, to come into a genteel body’s house, and then expect to get off without paying your bill. But ye don’t know Biddy McGinnis—ye don’t! If yees wants to go paceable, pay the dollar and a half. But until this is done, ye shall not cross my door-stone.”

  “I can’t stay here! What good will it do?” said Mrs. Lane, wringing her hand. “It’s all the money I’ve got; and remaining won’t increase the sum, while it adds to the debt. Better let me go now.”

  “Indade, and ye’ll not go, thin, my lady! I’ll tache yees to come into a respectable body’s house without as much money in yer pocket as ‘ll pay for the night’s lodging. I wonder who ye are, any how! No better than ye should be, I’ll warrint!”

  While speaking, the Irishwoman had drawn nearer and nearer, and now stood with her face only a few inches from that of her distressed guest, who, bursting into tears, clasped her hands together, and sobbed—

  “Let me go! let me go! If you have the heart of a woman, let me go!”

  “Heart of a woman, indade!” returned Mrs. McGinnis, indignantly. “Yer a purty one to talk to me about the heart of a woman. Stalein into a body’s house at twelve o’clock at night, and thin tryin’ to go off without paying for the lodgings and breakfast. Purty doings!”

  “What’s the matter here?” said a well dressed man, stepping in from the bar-room and closing the door behind him. “What do you mean by talking to the lady in this way, Mrs. McGinnis? I’ve been listening to you.”

  There was an instant change in the Irishwoman. Her countenance fell, and she retreated a few steps from the object of her vituperation.

  “What’s all this about? I should like to know,” added the man in a decided way. “Will you explain, madam?” addressing Mrs. Lane, in a kind voice. “But you are agitated. Sit down and compose yourself.”

  “Let her pay me my money, that’s all I want,” muttered the landlady.

  In a moment the man’s purse was drawn from his pocket. “What does she owe you?”

  “A dollar and a half, bad luck till her!”

  “There’s your money, you old termagant!” And the man handed her the amount. “And now, as you are paid, and have nothing more to say to this lady, please to retire and let her be freed from your presence.”

  “Yees needint call me ill names, Misther Bond,” said the woman, in a subdued voice, as she retired. “It doesn’t become a jentilman like you. I didn’t mane any harm. I only wanted my own, and sure I’ve a right to that.”

  “Well, you’ve got your own, though not in a way that does either you or your house much credit,” returned the man. “The next time you are so fortunate as to get a lady in your hotel, I hope you’ll know better how to treat her.”

  Mrs. McGinnis retired without further remark, and the man turned to Mrs. Lane, and said, in a kind, respectful manner,

  “I am sorry to find you so unhappily situated, and will do any thing in my power to relieve you from your present embarrassment. Your landlady here is a perfect virago. How did you happen to fall into her hands?”

  Encouraged by the kindness of the man’s address, as well as from the fact that he had rescued her from a violent woman, Mrs. Lane, after composing herself, said—

  “I came in from New York last night, and, being a stranger, asked the cabman to take me to a good hotel. He brought me here. I happened to have but two dollars in my purse, he charged one for carriage hire.”

  “The extortioner!”

  “Finding into what a wretched place he had brought me, I wished to leave this morning, but have been prevented because I could not pay a dollar and a half when I had only a dollar. I told her to let me go, and I would send her the balance claimed; but she only met the proposition by insult.”

  “The wretch!” exclaimed the man, indignantly. “I happened to be passing, and, hearing her loud voice, glanced in at the window. In an instant I comprehended, to some extent, the difficulty; and, knowing her of old, came in to see if something were not wrong. She is a bad woman, and her house is a snare for the innocent. It is fortunate for you that I came at the right moment!”

  Mrs. Lane shuddered.

  “And now, madam,” said the man, “what can I do for you? Have you friends in the city?”

  “I am an entire stranger here,” replied Mrs. Lane.

  “Were you going farther?

  “Yes,” was answered after some hesitation.

  “Where do your friends reside?”

  “In New York.”

  “Ah!”

  “This is your child?” was said, after a pause.

  “Yes.”

  There was something in the man’s manner, and in the way he looked at her, that now made Mrs. Lane shrink from, as instinctively as she had at first leaned towards him. Beneath his steady eye her own drooped and rested for some moments on the floor.

  “Is your husband in New York?” pursued the man.

  This question caused the heart of Mrs. Lane to bound with a sudden throb. Her husband! She had deserted him, her natural and lawful protector, and already she was encompassed with difficulties and surrounded by dangers. What would she not at that moment have given to be safely back in the home she had left? To the last question she gave a simple affirmative.

  “Where do you wish to go when you leave here?” inquired the man, who had perceived a change in her and understood its nature.

  “I wish to be taken to a good hotel, where I can remain a day or two, until I have time to communicate with my friends. My being out of money is owing to an inadvertence. I will receive a supply immediately on writing home.”

  The man drew his purse from his pocket, and, presenting it, said—

  “This is at your service. Take whatever you need.”

  Mrs. Lane thanked him, but drew back.

  “Only get me into some safe place, until I can write to my friends,” said she, “and you would lay both them and me under the deepest obligations.”

  The man arose at this, and stepping into the bar room, desired the bar-keeper to send for a carriage. From a stand near by one was called. When it came to the door, he informed Mrs. Lane of the fact, and asked if she were ready to go.

  “Where will you take me?” she asked.

  “To the United States Hotel,” replied the man. “You could not be in a safer or better place.”

  On hearing this, Mrs. Lane arose without hesitation, and, going from the house, entered the carriage with the man, and was driven away. Drawing her veil over her face, she shrank into a corner of the vehicle, and remained in sad communion with her own thoughts for many minutes. From this state of abstraction, the stopping of the carriage aroused her. The driver left his seat and opened the door, when her companion stepped forth, saying as he did so—

  “This is the place,” and offering at the same time his hand.

  As Mrs. Lane descended to the street, she glanced with a look of anxious inquiry around her. Already a suspicion that all might not be right was disturbing her mind. Two years before she had been in Philadelphia, and had stayed several days at the United States Hotel. She remembered the appearance of the building and the street, but now she did not recognise a single object. All was strange.

  “Is this the United States Hotel?” she asked eagerly.

  “Oh, yes, ma’am,” was the smiling reply. “We are at the private entrance.”

  Her bewildered mind was momentarily deceived by this answer, and she permitted herself to be led into a house, which she soon discovered not to be an hotel. The most dreadful suspicions instantly seized her. So soon as she was shown into a parlour, the man retired. A woman came in shortly afterwards, who, from her appearance, seemed to be the mistress of the house. She spoke kindly to Mrs. Lane, and asked if she would walk up into her room.

  “There has been some mistake,” said the poor wanderer, her lips quivering in spite of her efforts to assume a fi
rm exterior.

  “Oh, no, none at all,” quickly replied the woman, smiling.

  “Yes, yes there is. I am not in the hotel where I wished to go. Why have I been brought here? Where is the man with whom I came?”

  “He has gone away; but will return again. In the mean time do not causelessly distress yourself. You are safe from all harm.”

  “But I am not where I wished to go,” replied Mrs. Lane. “Will you be kind enough to give me the direction of the United States Hotel, and I will walk there with my child.”

  The woman shook her head.

  “I could not permit you to go until Mr. Bond returned,” said she. “He brought you here, and will expect to find you when he comes back.”

  “I will not remain.” And as she said this in a firm voice, Mrs. Lane arose, and, taking her little girl in her arms, made an attempt to move through the door into the passage. But the woman stepped before her quickly, and in a mild, yet decided way, told her that she could not leave the house.

  “Why not?” asked the trembling creature.

  “Mr. Bond has placed you in my care, and will expect to find you on his return,” answered the woman.

  “Who is Mr. Bond? What right has he to control my movements?”

  “Did you not place yourself in his care?” inquired the woman. “I understood him to say that such was the case.”

  “He offered to protect me from wrong and insult.”

  “And, having undertaken to do so, he feels himself responsible to your friends for your safe return to their hands. I am responsible to him.”

  “Deceived! deceived! deceived!” murmured Mrs. Lane, bursting into tears and sinking into a chair, while she hugged her child tightly in her arms, and laid its face against her own.

  The woman seemed slightly moved at this exhibition of distress, and stood looking at the quivering frame of the unhappy fugitive, with a slight expression of regret on her face. After Mrs. Lane had grown calm, the woman said to her:

  “Is your husband living?”

  “He is,” was answered, in a steady voice.

  “Where does he reside?” continued the woman.

  “In New York,” replied Mrs. Lane.

  “What is his name?”

  Mrs. Lane reflected, hurriedly, for some moments, and then gave a correct answer, adding, at the same time, that for any attempted wrong, there would come a speedy and severe retribution. The next inquiry of the woman was as to her husband’s occupation, which was also answered correctly.

  “And now,” added Mrs. Lane, with assumed firmness, “you had better let me retire from this place immediately, and thus avoid trouble, which, otherwise, you would be certain to have. My husband is a merchant of influence, and a man who will not stop at half measures in seeking to redress a wrong. This man, whoever he may be, who has so basely deceived me, will find, ere long, that he has done an act which will hot go unpunished, and that severely. As for yourself, be warned in time, and let me go from this place.”

  Again Mrs. Lane sought to pass from the room, but was prevented. The woman was neither harsh, rude, nor insulting in her manner, but firmly refused to let her leave the house, saying—”I am responsible for your safe keeping, and cannot, therefore, let you go.”

  She then urged her to go up-stairs and lay off her things, but Mrs. Lane refused, in the most positive manner, to leave the parlour.

  “You will be more comfortable in the chamber we have prepared for you,” said the woman, coldly; “but you must do as you like. If you want any thing, you can ring for it.”

  And saying this, she turned from the room, and locked the door through which she retired. The instant she was gone, Mrs. Lane sprang towards one of the front windows, threw it up and attempted to draw the bolt which fastened the shutter; but her effort was not successful: the bolt remained immovable. On a closer inspection, she found that it was locked. The back window was open, but a glance into the yard satisfied her that it would be useless to attempt escape in that way. Hopeless in mind and paralyzed in body, she again sank down inactive.

  Little Mary, who had been left standing on the floor during this effort to escape, now came up to where she had thrown herself upon a sofa, and, laying her little face upon her breast, looked tearfully at her, and said, in a low, sorrowful voice—”Won’t papa come? I want my papa—my dear papa.”

  Not a word could the mother reply to her unhappy child, who, in her folly, she had so wronged. Oh, what would she not have given at that moment to see the face of her husband!

  Five or six hours had passed. In a small sitting room, near the parlour in which Mrs. Lane was still a prisoner, stood the man named Bond, and the woman who had received her.

  “Mrs. Lane did you say she called herself?” said the man, with a sudden change of manner—”and from New York?”

  “Yes.”

  “Did you inquire her husband’s business?”

  “She said he was a merchant of standing, and threatened both you and me with the severest consequences, if she were not instantly released.”

  “Can it be possible!” remarked the man, and he stood in a musing attitude for some time. “I’m a little afraid this affair is not going to turn out quite so pleasantly as I at first supposed. I think I know her husband.”

  “You do!”

  “Yes. We have had several business transactions together, if he is the individual I suppose him to be.”

  “Then you had better get her off of your hands as quickly as possible; and this will be no hard matter. Only open the cage-door, and the bird will fly.”

  “Confound that Irish huzzy! She and her John Murphy have scared up a nice bit of adventure for me.”

  “Both you and they ought to have known better than to expect any thing but trouble from a woman with a baby. As it is, the best thing for you is to get her off of your hands forthwith.”

  “I don’t like to give up after progressing so far. It isn’t my disposition.”

  “A wise man foresees evil, and gets out of its way.”

  “True; and my better course is to step aside, I suppose. But what shall we do with her?”

  “Open the cage-door, as I said, and let her escape.”

  “Where will she go?”

  “Have you any concern on that head?”

  “Some. Moreover, I don’t just comprehend the meaning of her visit here alone at night, and without money. I wonder if, after all, there isn’t a lover in the case, who has failed to meet her.”

  “Most likely,” returned the woman.

  “In that event, why may not I take his place?”

  “It will require her consent. Better have nothing more to do with her, and thus keep out of the way of trouble.

  “Her husband, if she be the wife of the man I think she is,” said Bond, “will hardly stop at half-way measures in an affair like this.”

  “So much the more reason for keeping out of his way.”

  “Perhaps so; and yet I like adventure, especially when spiced with a little danger. Upon second thought, I’ll let her remain here until to-morrow.”

  “Just as you like. But I’ve been unable to get her up-stairs; and she can’t stay in the parlour all night.”

  “No. She must go to the chamber you have prepared for her.”

  “How will we get her there?”

  “Use every effort you can to induce her to comply with our wishes in this respect. I will come in after nightfall, and, if you have not been successful, will remove her by force.”

  With this understanding, the partners in evil separated.

  Soon after parting with Mr. Edmondson, who had informed Mr. Lane that his wife was no longer at his house, and when the latter had begun to feel exceedingly anxious, he met a gentleman who said to him, “When do you expect Mrs. Lane back?”

  It was with difficulty that the deserted husband could refrain from the exhibition of undue surprise at such an unexpected question.

  “I was over the river yesterday afternoon with a fri
end who was on his way to Philadelphia,” added the man, “and saw your lady in the cars.”

  “Good morning,” said Mr. Lane, as he looked at his watch, and then turned away with a hurried manner.

  It was half-past eleven o’clock. At twelve a line started for the South. Lane was on board the steamboat when it left the dock. Six hours and a half of most intense anxiety were passed ere the unhappy man reached Philadelphia. On arriving, he took a carriage and visited all the principal hotels, but not a word could he hear of his wife. He then bethought him to make some inquiries of the hackman whom he had employed.

  “Were you at the wharf last night when the New York line came in?” he asked, as he stood with his hand on the carriage-door, after leaving one of the hotels, again disappointed in his search.

  “I was,” replied the hackman.

  “Did you get any passengers?”

  “No, sir.”

  “Did you see any thing of a lady with a child?”

  The hackman thought for a little while, and then replied—

  “Yes, I did. There was a lady and a child, nearly the last on the boat. John Murphy drove them away.”

  “Where can I find John Murphy?” eagerly enquired Mr. Lane.

  “He’s probably on the stand.”

  “Drive me there if you please.” And he sprang into the carriage.

  In a few minutes they were at a carriage stand; and Mr. Lane heard the driver call out, as he reined up his horses—”Hallo! there, John Murphy! here’s a gentleman who wants to see you.”

  The person addressed came up as Mr. Lane descended from the carriage.

  “I understand,” said Lane, “that you received a lady and child in your carriage, last night, from the New York line. Where did you take them?”

  “Who said that I did?” boldly inquired the man addressed.

  “I said so!” as firmly replied the driver who had given the information to Mr. Lane. “What interest have you in denying it?”

  Murphy evinced some surprise at this, and looked a little dashed, but repeated his denial.

  A new fear instantly seized Mr. Lane. His wife might have been entrapped into some den of infamy, through means of the driver she had employed to convey her to an hotel. The thought affected him like an electric shock.