Drusilla hesitated again.
"Another "home." I hate to--"
"It"s the only thing to do, Miss Doane. You can"t mix the colors."
"Well, perhaps you"d better."
Dr. Eaton left the room, and returned after a few moments with a shake of his head.
"No good! They say they"re full. They can"t take in another child.
I telephoned another one downtown that they told me of, and they say the same thing. It seems there is a superfluity of colored babies just now. I guess it"ll have to be the police station."
"What"ll they do with him? If we can"t find a place to-night, they can"t."
"No; perhaps not. But they"ll keep him until they do find a place."
"Well, if they can keep him, so can I. I"ll keep him until we find a place for him. Ring for James and f.a.n.n.y and we"ll put him to bed."
James came and the little girl mother, and the baby was placed in James"s outraged arms.
"Now, James, don"t drop him--he won"t bite you. Take him to the children"s room; and you, f.a.n.n.y, see that he has something to eat and a bath. Now you be jest as nice to him as to the other babies. Give him your baby"s bed and take your baby in with you to-night."
As James left the room with the baby in his arms, which were stretched out as far from his body as he could carry them, and with his head held disdainfully in the air, Drusilla sat back in her chair and chuckled.
"Ain"t James havin" new experiences? His back says, "This didn"t never happen to me when I was in the Duke"s house"!"
Dr. Eaton rose to go.
"I"ll find some place to put him to-morrow, Miss Doane. It"s good of you to take him tonight."
Drusilla went with him to the door.
"Good night, Doctor. Things do seem to be kind of comin" my way.
I"ve got Swedes and Dutch and Irish and Jews, and now a n.i.g.g.e.r baby.
It"s a mighty good thing for me that the heathen Chinee is barred.
Good night."
CHAPTER IX
Drusilla waited several days for the return of the money that she had loaned her visitor from Adams, and when it did not come she was prevailed upon to write to the son of her old friend, Dr. Friedman, asking him regarding the man. The doctor answered that there was no man by the name of John Gleason in Adams; that the Spring Valley Stock Farm was owned by a man named Gleason who had no brother; and that this particular man had never lived in the small village, where every one was known. Drusilla was thoroughly aroused. It was her first experience with a confidence man. It hurt her pride, as she had said; but it hurt her worse to know that people did such things.
"It jest destroys my belief in human natur", and I"ll never trust no one again," she said to John.
It was only about a week after the receipt of the letter from the doctor, when she was still smarting from her wounded feelings, that she was told a clergyman wanted to see her personally. She found a quiet little man, dressed in black.
"Miss Doane," he said with a smile, "I am the Presbyterian clergyman from Adams, your old home, and as I was in town I thought I would come to see you."
Suspicion jumped into Drusilla"s old eyes.
"Won"t you set down?" she said, rather coldly for her.
The stranger sat down.
"Did you take the place of old Dr. Smith?" Drusilla asked.
"Yes; he"s had another call, to a higher land"--motioning upward-- "and I have his charge."
The man chatted very intelligently regarding the people in Adams, and Drusilla began to thaw. She forgot her other visitor in her enjoyment of hearing the names of the people in her old church.
"Miss Doane," the clergyman said finally, "we are in a little trouble in our church, and I thought that you might help us."
Drusilla stiffened at once.
"What can I do?" she asked.
"We are trying to start a little fund to take care of some poor children of our parish, and as it is very hard to raise money in our little village, I thought you might be willing to head our subscription. I thought it better to come and see you personally instead of writing you."
Drusilla looked at him a moment and then rose.
"Will you excuse me a minute?" she said politely, and left the room.
She went directly to the butler.
"James, telephone for the police. There"s another man in there from Adams and I want him arrested."
She left the astonished James to carry out her orders, and returned to the room.
"You say you have some children in Adams without homes?"
"Not exactly without homes, but they are dependent upon the town for support. An Irish family moved in and the father died and the mother is ill, and we want part of the fund to help the family until the mother is able to support her little family of six. We want to keep them together--instead of putting them in asylums and separating them. And there are two children who have lost both parents--at least the mother is dead and the father cannot be found--and we must take care of them. They are too small to work and we thought we could get some one to take them by paying a small sum per week and--"
He quite likely would have enumerated the rest of the charges of his parish if there had not been a discreet knock at the door, immediately followed by James, announcing:
"The men you asked for, ma"am."
Drusilla rose as the two police officers entered the room. She said, pointing to the astonished clergyman, "I want you to arrest this man.
He is a confidence man."
"What--what--" sputtered the clergyman.
"I want you to take him to the police station," said Drusilla firmly.
"Do you make a charge, ma"am?" asked one of the officers.
"Yes. I don"t know what it is, but I make it. Take him to jail."