"I have one poor back room on the third floor," she explained; "but I should be glad if I were sure to stay there."
"Is there any danger of your being ejected?"
"I am owing for two weeks" rent, and this is the middle of the third week. Unless I can pay up at the end of this week I shall be forced to go out into the streets with my poor child."
"How much rent do you pay?"
"A dollar a week."
"Then three dollars will relieve you for the present?"
"Yes; but it might as well be three hundred," said the woman, bitterly.
"Not quite; I can supply you with three dollars, but three hundred would be rather beyond my means."
"You are too kind, too generous! I ought not to accept such a liberal gift."
"Mamma, I am tired. Take me up in your arms," said the child.
"Poor child! He has been on his feet all day," sighed the mother.
She tried to lift the child, but her own strength had been undermined by privation, and she was clearly unable to do so.
"Let me take him!" said Dodger. "Here, little one, jump up!"
He raised the child easily, and despite the mother"s protest, carried him in his arms.
"I will see you home, madam," he said.
"I fear the child will be too heavy for you."
"I hope not. Why, I could carry a child twice as heavy."
They reached the room at last--a poor one, but a welcome repose from the streets.
"Don"t you ever expect to see your husband again?" asked Dodger.
"Can"t you compel him to support you?"
"I don"t know where he is," answered the woman, despondently.
"If you will tell me his name, I may come across him some day."
"His name," said the woman, "is Curtis Waring."
Dodger stared at her, overwhelmed with surprise.
Chapter x.x.xIII.
An Important Discovery.
"Curtis Waring!" e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed Dodger, his face showing intense surprise.
"Is that the name of your husband?"
"Yes. Is it possible that you know him?" asked the woman, struck by Dodger"s tone.
"I know a man by that name. I will describe him, and you can tell me whether it is he. He is rather tall, dark hair, sallow complexion, black eyes, and a long, thin nose."
"It is like him in every particular. Oh, tell me where he is to be found?"
"He lives in New York. He is the nephew of a rich man, and is expecting to inherit his wealth. Through his influence a cousin of his, a young lady, has been driven from home."
"Was he afraid she would deprive him of the estate?"
"That was partly the reason. But it was partly to revenge himself on her because she would not agree to marry him."
"But how could he marry her," exclaimed the unfortunate woman, "when he is already married to me?"
"Neither she nor any one of his family or friends knew that he was already married. I don"t think it would trouble him much."
"But it must be stopped!" she exclaimed, wildly. "He is my husband. I shall not give him up to any one else."
"So far as Florence is concerned--she is the cousin--she has no wish to deprive you of him. But is it possible that you are attached to a man who has treated you so meanly?" asked Dodger, in surprise.
"There was a time when he treated me well, when he appeared to love me," was the murmured reply. "I cannot forget that he is the father of my child."
Dodger did not understand the nature of women or the mysteries of the female heart, and he evidently thought this poor woman very foolish to cling with such pertinacity to a man like Curtis Waring.
"Do you mind telling me how you came to marry him?" he asked.
"It was over four years ago that I met him in this city," was the reply. "I am a San Francisco girl. I had never been out of California.
I was considered pretty then," she added, with a remnant of pride, "faded as I am to-day."
Looking closely in her face, Dodger was ready to believe this.
Grief and privation had changed her appearance, but it had not altogether effaced the bloom and beauty of youth.
"At any rate, he seemed to think so. He was living at the Palace Hotel, and I made his acquaintance at a small social gathering at the house of my uncle. I am an orphan, and was perhaps the more ready to marry on that account."
"Did Mr. Waring represent himself as wealthy?"
"He said he had expectations from a wealthy relative, but did not mention where he lived."
"He told the truth, then."
"We married, securing apartments on Kearney Street. We lived together till my child was born, and for three months afterward. Then Mr.
Waring claimed to be called away from San Francisco on business. He said he might be absent six weeks. He left me a hundred dollars, and urged me to be careful of it, as he was short of money, and needed considerable for the expenses of the journey. He left me, and I have never seen or heard from him since."