Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1907-03-30

own child See! We arrive at my door
now"
The rush of words, the increasing eff
fusiveness, the wilderness of streets,
alive even at that early hour with
deafening, bewildering roar of traffic. the
fat hand holding hers in close pressure,
and the embarrassing rudeness of from
petite who-usually so friendly to
strangers-tried to snap at the hand
whenever it approached him and kept up
a low, vicious growing all the way-all
so confused the girls tired brain that she
scarcely knew what was going on, or
what she was doing. Only when the
horse slackened pace in mean-lookmg
little street, and stopped in front of
dlngy house, the windows of which We're
draped with ragged lace curtains pinned
tightly together in front, did faint
qualm cross Bebe's mind as to whether
even now she was acting wisely i'll ac-
eepting kindness and hospitality from
total stranger.
And yet-a good motherly French
woman, with daughters and nieces of her
own-what more natural than that she
should take pity ON a forlorn little
ready fallen among British thieves?
But, indeed, madame gave her no time
for thought. She was out of the cab in
a moment, waving her latchkey in one
hand, while the other still kept tight
grasp on Bebes slender wrists.
My domestique veeI bring YOU out re
money" she said, with dignity, to the
cabman, as he hurried up the front steps.
in hn
jingling of bells and hanson pulled up
suddenly in the rear of their own cab;
man quickly STEPPED out upon the pave
ment, a hand was laid on Bebe's arm,
and Il Voicea voice she had thought
never to hear again-spoke sharply and
imperatively.
Miss Richard, forgive me, but you are
making great mistake. You don't
know this person and her house is not
one which your guardian would permit
you to enter. Excuse me, madame, this
young lady and her friends are acquaint-
ed with me, and | am acting for them
and her guardian in this. Go child" he
went on, his. voice changing suddenly to
one of startling severity-"go away at
once, as far as the end of the street, and
wait for me there. Do you hear me2
Don't delay an Instant
Bebe simply turned and fied-fled, with
her hands to her ears and her heart beat
ing wildly, driven not so much by the
unwonted harshness of his tone, nor the
terrifying apparition of a helmeted po-
liceman, who seemed to have arisen from
nowhere and was standing at her side
as by the torrent of foul inVective which
poured forth from madame's lips as she
found herself robbed of her prize. Mere
Margot in her wrath had been terrible
enough, but Mere margot. though violent
and covetous, was at least respectable;
this was as though a foul stream from
Tophet had been suddenly launched full
i'll her face, searching and soaring her by
its mere breath. That the presence of
the policeman had brought it to a lull
sooner than would otherwise have been
the case, and even expedited madame's
retreat into her own house, Bebe did not
know. She sped on in blind, mechanical
obedience until she came to where the
street opened out into a square.
There she stopped. She could not have
gone farther if she had tried: her head
was too dizzy, and the hard, dusty road
seemed heaving and swaying under her.
Yet she tried hard to compose herself at
the sound of Carriers voice, and to an
swer him reassuringly.
Il am not going to faint. 1t is only
that don't underestimate she whis-
pered. with brave attempt at standing
upright; but she was obliged to clutch at
the rail again. The piteous, hunted look
in her eyes almost unnamed him. and
he drew her hand into his supporting
arm with a quick gesture of compassion.
"Of course you don't! It's better you
shouldn't" he said soothingly. "0nly--
you must know this for warning that
woman is one of the wckedest in Lon
don, and if she had once got you inside
her house, heaven only knows whether
you would ever have come out again.
Her sole business at the railway stations
is to get hold of and entrap innocent
young subsequently, of lower class
than you-coming to London from the
country, or from abroad, in search of
employment That was why she was
there to meet the mail train. Fortunate
ly, however she is well known to the
porters there, and to the police; and
though they didn't interfere, something
which your porter said TO one of his fell
lows caught my ear, and enabled me to
follow you and catch you up. Thank
goodness l was therel If l hadn't been,
or tiff in the end you should have mis-
trusted me and refused to do as | babe
YOU"
TO BE CONTINUED.
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