"You ain"t sick, are you, Drusilla?"
"Oh, money gives you lots of diseases that you didn"t know you had till you could afford "em."
The doctor laughed.
"Miss Doane"ll never be sick in her life, Mr. Brierly. She"s good for twenty-five years of hard work yet."
"Don"t speak that word to me, Dr. Eaton. I don"t like the word _work_. It"s stuck closer to me than a brother for too many years."
"Oh, but there"s work and work. But am I interrupting your visit with Mr. Brierly?"
"No; I just been tellin" him about a visitor I had who comes from Adams, where we used to live when we was young. I wanted John to come and see him, but the man couldn"t wait. He had to catch a train."
"Was it an old friend? It"s nice to see old friends."
"No, he wasn"t exactly an old friend, but he knowed a lot of people I knowed once. Poor man, he was in a lot of trouble. He had his pocket picked and couldn"t get home and his wife was sick--"
The doctor looked up quickly.
"Did you lend him money, Miss Doane?"
"Yes; I felt so sorry for him. He was so worried I let him have fifteen dollars. He"ll send it back to me to-morrow. He was so grateful. It must be awful to be in a big city and know no one and have no money."
"Yes; it must," the doctor remarked dryly.
Drusilla looked at him quickly.
"What you speakin" in that tone of voice for?"
The doctor laughed rather hesitatingly.
"I"m afraid, Miss Doane, that you"re what the small boys call "stung.""
"Stung? What do you mean?"
"I rather imagine that was a little confidence game."
"What is a confidence game?"
"Oh, a man gets money from people on false pretenses. They work a lot of games. One of them is to go to people whom they have looked up, and claim to be a relation or from their home town."
"But he knowed lots of names I knowed."
"Yes; he might have found them in a local paper from the place."
Drusilla sat back in her chair.
"Well, do tell!" Then, after a moment"s pause, "But I don"t believe he"s dishonest. He looked honest. He looked like a man from the country."
"That"s where they"re clever. But don"t worry; you can stand the touch--it wasn"t much. You got off easy."
"But I don"t like to think I bin cheated. It makes me mad clean through. It always did. I remember once I bought a cow when mother was bad; paid forty dollars for her to Silas Graham. He said she was young and would give fifteen quarts of milk a day, and I figgered out I could give mother all the milk she"d need and sell the rest and in that way pay for her, because forty dollars was a lot of money for me in them days. Why, when I got that cow she never give enough milk to wet down a salt risin", and she was as old as Methuselah. All she could do was to eat, and she et her head off. I couldn"t see her starve and I couldn"t sell her. I kept her for two years, and finally a butcher come along and offered me eight dollars for her and I let her go. Wasn"t I mad! I never could abide any one by the name of Silas after that."
"Never mind; you"re able to stand this loss. But you"d better write up to Adams and see if what he says is true. You can find it out easy enough."
"No; I"ll wait and see. I believe he"ll send it back to me. But it makes me excited."
"But, Miss Doane," said Dr. Eaton earnestly, "I want you to promise me one thing. You must not be annoyed. If the word gets around that you are "easy" you"ll be bothered to death. Now the next time that any one comes claiming to be from your home town, and asks you for money, for anything at all, just send for the police and have them arrested."
"Oh, I"d hate to do that."
"But you must, Miss Doane. You must protect yourself. Promise me that no matter who it is, or what kind of a con talk they give you, you"ll send at once for the police."
"Well--"
"Please promise this, Miss Doane. You must make an example, or you"ll have every confidence man in town working you. Will you do it, no matter what or who it is? If you are asked for money, and you don"t know the man, have him locked up, and the story"ll get around, and you won"t be bothered any more."
"Well, if you think it necessary--"
"It is most necessary. You will promise?"
"Yes, I"ll promise. I"ll do it, though I hate to."
"All right; I have your word for it. Now be sure to do it. Don"t believe a word they say, if you haven"t known the person before. He"s sure to be playing the old game, and I don"t want them to think they can work you."
"Well, all right. I"ll send for the police if any one ever comes again and says he"s from Adams. I guess you are right. Now let"s change the subject. What did you come for particular, beside wanting to see me, of course."
"Well, I wanted to see you, first of all, just for the pleasure of seeing you, and then I want to tell you about the mothers we"ve got by our advertis.e.m.e.nt."
Drusilla was interested at once.
"Did you git some? I told you we would. Did you advertise in all the papers?"
"Yes; every paper in New York City--Jewish, German, Bohemian, Russian, everything; and I"ve found three mothers out of the bunch."
"Well--well, I"m glad. Where are they, and who are they?"
"One of them is little John"s mother. You remember you thought she"d come and she did. The other two, we"ve had their stories investigated and found them all right. One is an American girl about twenty years of age whose husband deserted her when he couldn"t get work, and she was practically starving, and the other is a little Jewish girl, who works in a flower factory."
"The poor things! Did you bring them right up?"
"No; I wanted to talk with you first, and with Mr. Thornton--"
"Never mind talkin" with Mr. Thornton. This is my affair and not connected with the estate, as he calls it. It ain"t none of his business, and you know what he"d say. I don"t tell him more"n I have to till it"s done, then he can"t do nothin" and he"s learnt he"s wastin" his breath talkin". You see he talks slow and I talk fast, and he don"t git much chance."
The doctor laughed.
"I"m glad I don"t have to talk this over with him, as he isn"t what you might call sympathetic."