"Ye"re real good, and I"ll just mak" shift to stay in," replied Mary Jones. But then the manager came round, and the girls could say no more for the present.
At twelve o"clock, be the weather what it might, all had to turn out for half an hour. This, which seemed a hardship, was absolutely necessary for the proper ventilation of the room; but the delicate girls felt the hardship terribly, and as many of them could not afford to go to a restaurant, there was nothing for them but to wander about the streets.
At the hour of release to-day it still snowed fast, but Sue with considerable cleverness, had managed to hide Mary Jones in the warm room, and now ran fast through the blinding and bitter cold to see where she could get something hot and nourishing to bring back to her. Her own dinner, consisting of a hunch of dry bread and dripping, could be eaten in the pauses of her work. Her object now was to provide for the sick girl.
She ran fast, for she knew a shop where delicious penny pies were to be had, and it was quite possible to demolish penny pies unnoticed in the large workroom. The shop, however, in question was some way off, and Sue had no time to spare. She had nearly reached it, and had already in imagination clasped the warm pies in her cold hands, when, suddenly turning a corner, she came face to face with Harris. Harris was walking along moodily, apparently lost in thought. When he saw Sue, however, he started, and took hold of her arm roughly.
"Sue," he said, "does you know as Connie came back last night?"
"Connie?" cried Sue. Her face turned pale and then red again in eagerness. "Then G.o.d "ave heard our prayers!" she exclaimed with great fervor. "Oh! won"t my little Giles be glad?"
"You listen to the end," said the man. He still kept his hand on her shoulder, not caring whether it hurt her or not.
"She come back, my purty, purty little gel, but I "ad tuk too much, and I were rough on her and I bid her be gone, and she went. She went to Father John; _"e_ were kind to her, and "e were taking her to you, w"en some willain--I don"t know "oo--caught her by the arm and pulled her down a dark alley, and she ain"t been seen since. Wottever is to be done? I"m near mad about her--my pore little gel. And to think that I--_I_ should ha" turned her aw"y!"
Sue listened with great consternation to this terrible tale. She forgot all about poor Mary Jones and the penny pie which she hoped to smuggle into the workroom for her dinner. She forgot everything in all the world but the fact that Connie had come and gone again, and that Peter Harris was full of the most awful despair and agony about her.
"I"m fit to die o" grief," said the man. "I dunno wot to do. The perlice is lookin" for her "igh an" low, and---- Oh Sue, I am near off my "ead!"
Sue thought for a minute.
"Is Father John looking for her too?" she said.
"W"y, yus--of course he be. I"m to meet the perlice again this afternoon, an" we"ll--we"ll make a rare fuss."
"Yer"ll find her, in course," said Sue. "W"y, there ain"t a doubt," she continued.
"Wot do yer mean by that?"
"There couldn"t be a doubt," continued the girl; "for G.o.d, who brought her back to us all, "ull help yer if yer ax "Im."
"Do yer believe that, Sue?"
"Sartin sure I do--I couldn"t live if I didn"t."
"You"re a queer un," said Harris, he felt a strange sort of comfort in the rough little girl"s presence. It seemed to him in a sort of fashion that there was truth in her words. She was very wise--wiser than most.
He had always respected her.
"You"re a queer, sensible gel," he said then--"not like most. I am inclined to believe yer. I"m glad I met yer; you were always Connie"s friend."
"Oh yus," said Sue; "I love her jest as though she were my real sister."
"An" yer do think as she"ll come back again?"
"I"m sartin sure of it."
"Turn and walk with me a bit, Sue. I were near mad w"en I met yer, but somehow you ha" given me a sc.r.a.p o" hope."
"Mr. Harris," said Sue, all of a sudden, "you were cruel to Connie last night; but w"en she comes back again you"ll be different, won"t yer?"
"I tuk the pledge this morning," said Harris in a gloomy voice.
"Then in course you"ll be different. It were w"en yer tuk too much that you were queer. W"en you"re like you are now you"re a wery kind man."
"Be I, Sue?" said Harris. He looked down at the small girl. "No one else, unless it be pore Connie, iver called me a kind man."
"And I tell yer wot," continued Sue--"ef ye"re sure she"ll come back--as sure as I am--she----"
"Then I am sure," said Harris. "I"m as sure as there"s a sky above us.
There now!"
"And a G.o.d above us," said Sue.
The man was silent.
"In that case," continued Sue, "let"s do our wery best. Let"s "ave iverything nice w"en she comes "ome. Let"s "ave a feast for her, an" let me "elp yer."
"Yer mean that yer"ll come along to my room an" put things in order?"
said Harris.
"Yes; and oh, Mr. Harris! couldn"t yer take her a little bit of a present?"
"Right you are, wench," he said. Harris"s whole face lit up. "That _be_ a good thought!" He clapped Sue with violence on the shoulder. "Right you be! An" I know wot she"ve set "er silly little "eart on--w"y, a ring--a purty ring with a stone in it; and "ere"s a shop--the wery kind for our purpose. Let"s come in--you an" me--and get her one this wery instant minute."
The two entered the shop. A drawer of rings was brought for Harris to select from. He presently chose a little ring, very fine, and with a tiny turquoise as decoration. He felt sure that this would fit Connie"s finger, and laying down his only sovereign on the counter, waited for the change. Sue had gone a little away from him, to gaze in open-eyed wonder at the many trinkets exhibited for sale. Notwithstanding her excitement about Connie, she was too completely a woman not to be attracted by finery of all sorts; and here were scarves and laces and brooches and earrings--in short, that miscellaneous array of female decorations so fascinating to the taste of girls like Sue. In this absorbing moment she forgot even Connie.
In the meantime, in this brief instant while Sue was so occupied, the man who served turned his back to get his change from another drawer. He did this leaving the box with the rings on the counter. In the corner of this same box, hidden partly away under some cotton-wool, lay two lockets, one of great value, being gold, set with brilliants. In this instant, quick as thought, Harris put in his hand, and taking the diamond locket, slipped it into his pocket. He then received his change, and he and Sue left the shop together.
He noticed, however, as he walked out that the shopman was missing the locket. His theft could not remain undiscovered. Another instant and he would be arrested and the locket found on his person. He had scarcely time for the most rapid thought--certainly no time for any sense of justice to visit his not too fine conscience. The only instinct alive in him in that brief and trying moment was that of self-preservation. He must preserve himself, and the means lay close at hand. He gave Sue a little push as though he had stumbled against her, and then, while the girl"s attention was otherwise occupied, he transferred the locket from his own pocket to hers, and with a hasty nod, dashed down a side-street which lay close by.
Rather wondering at his sudden exit, Sue went on. Until now she had forgotten Mary Jones. She remembered her with compunction. She also knew that she had scarcely time to get the penny pies and go back to Cheapside within the half-hour. If she ran, however, she might accomplish this feat. Sue was very strong, and could run as fast as any girl; she put wings to her feet, and went panting down the street. In the midst of this headlong career, however, she was violently arrested.
She heard the cry of "Stop thief!" behind her, and glancing back, saw two men, accompanied by some boys, in full pursuit. Too astonished and frightened to consider the improbability of their pursuing her, she ran harder than ever. She felt horrified, and dreaded their rudeness should they reach her. Down side-streets and across byways she dashed, the crowd in pursuit increasing each moment. At last she found that she had run full-tilt into the arms of a policeman, who spread them out to detain her.
"What"s the matter, girl? Who are you running away from?"
"Oh, hide me--hide me!" said poor Sue. "They are calling out "Stop thief!" and running after me so hard."
Before the policeman could even reply, the owner of the p.a.w.nshop had come up.
"You may arrest that girl, policeman," he said roughly. "She and a man were in my shop just now, and one or other of "em stole a valuable diamond locket from me."
"What a shame! I didn"t touch it!" said Sue. "I never touched a thing as worn"t my own in hall my life!"
"No doubt, my dear," said the policeman; "but of course you won"t object to be searched?"
"No, of course," said Sue; "you may search me as much as you like--you won"t get no stolen goods "bout me;" and she raised her head fearlessly and proudly. The crowd who had now thickly collected, and who, as all crowds do, admired pluck, were beginning to applaud, and no doubt the tide was turning in Sue"s favor, when the policeman, putting his hand into her pocket, drew out the diamond locket. An instant"s breathless silence followed this discovery, followed quickly by some groans and hisses from the bystanders.
"Oh, but ain"t she a hardened one!" two or three remarked; and all pressed close to watch the result.
Sue had turned very white--so white that the policeman put his hand on her shoulder, thinking she was going to faint.