"No," she said, "I"m not tired. It isn"t that. I just don"t feel good."
"What"s the trouble?"
"Oh, I have to tell you something, mamma. It"s so hard." She paused, looking inquiringly at her mother, and then away.
"Why, what is it?" asked her mother nervously. So many things had happened in the past that she was always on the alert for some new calamity. "You haven"t lost your place, have you?"
"No," replied Jennie, with an effort to maintain her mental poise, "but I"m going to leave it."
"No!" exclaimed her mother. "Why?"
"I"m going to New York."
Her mother"s eyes opened widely. "Why, when did you decide to do that?" she inquired.
"To-day."
"You don"t mean it!"
"Yes, I do, mamma. Listen. I"ve got something I want to tell you.
You know how poor we are. There isn"t any way we can make things come out right. I have found some one who wants to help us. He says he loves me, and he wants me to go to New York with him Monday. I"ve decided to go."
"Oh, Jennie!" exclaimed her mother. "Surely not! You wouldn"t do anything like that after all that"s happened. Think of your father."
"I"ve thought it all out," went on Jennie, firmly. "It"s really for the best. He"s a good man. I know he is. He has lots of money. He wants me to go with him, and I"d better go. He will take a new house for us when we come back and help us to get along. No one will ever have me as a wife--you know that. It might as well be this way.
He loves me. And I love him. Why shouldn"t I go?"
"Does he know about Vesta?" asked her mother cautiously.
"No," said Jennie guiltily. "I thought I"d better not tell him about her. She oughtn"t to be brought into it if I can help it."
"I"m afraid you"re storing up trouble for yourself, Jennie," said her mother. "Don"t you think he is sure to find it out some time?"
"I thought maybe that she could be kept here," suggested Jennie, "until she"s old enough to go to school. Then maybe I could send her somewhere."
"She might," a.s.sented her mother; "but don"t you think it would be better to tell him now? He won"t think any the worse of you."
"It isn"t that. It"s her," said Jennie pa.s.sionately. "I don"t want her to be brought into it."
Her mother shook her head. "Where did you meet him?" she inquired.
"At Mrs. Bracebridge"s."
"How long ago?"
"Oh, it"s been almost two months now."
"And you never said anything about him," protested Mrs. Gerhardt reproachfully.
"I didn"t know that he cared for me this way," said Jennie defensively.
"Why didn"t you wait and let him come out here first?" asked her mother. "It will make things so much easier. You can"t go and not have your father find out."
"I thought I"d say I was going with Mrs. Bracebridge. Papa can"t object to my going with her."
"No," agreed her mother thoughtfully.
The two looked at each other in silence. Mrs. Gerhardt, with her imaginative nature, endeavored to formulate some picture of this new and wonderful personality that had come into Jennie"s life. He was wealthy; he wanted to take Jennie; he wanted to give them a good home.
What a story!
"And he gave me this," put in Jennie, who, with some instinctive psychic faculty, had been following her mother"s mood. She opened her dress at the neck, and took out the two hundred and fifty dollars; she placed the money in her mother"s hands.
The latter stared at it wide-eyed. Here was the relief for all her woes--food, clothes, rent, coal--all done up in one small package of green and yellow bills. If there were plenty of money in the house Gerhardt need not worry about his burned hands; George and Martha and Veronica could be clothed in comfort and made happy.
Jennie could dress better; there would be a future education for Vesta.
"Do you think he might ever want to marry you?" asked her mother finally.
"I don"t know," replied Jennie "he might. I know he loves me."
"Well," said her mother after a long pause, "if you"re going to tell your father you"d better do it right away. He"ll think it"s strange as it is."
Jennie realized that she had won. Her mother had acquiesced from sheer force of circ.u.mstances. She was sorry, but somehow it seemed to be for the best. "I"ll help you out with it," her mother had concluded, with a little sigh.
The difficulty of telling this lie was very great for Mrs.
Gerhardt, but she went through the falsehood with a seeming nonchalance which allayed Gerhardt"s suspicions. The children were also told, and when, after the general discussion, Jennie repeated the falsehood to her father it seemed natural enough.
"How long do you think you"ll be gone?" he inquired.
"About two or three weeks," she replied.
"That"s a nice trip," he said. "I came through New York in 1844. It was a small place then compared to what it is now."
Secretly he was pleased that Jennie should have this fine chance.
Her employer must like her.
When Monday came Jennie bade her parents good-by and left early, going straight to the Dornton, where Lester awaited her.
"So you came," he said gaily, greeting her as she entered the ladies" parlor.
"Yes," she said simply.
"You are my niece," he went on. "I have engaged H room for you near mine. I"ll call for the key, and you go dress. When you"re ready I"ll have the trunk sent to the depot. The train leaves at one o"clock."
She went to her room and dressed, while he fidgeted about, read, smoked, and finally knocked at her door.
She replied by opening to him, fully clad.