Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1911-09-22
CHAPTER VIII.
Polly Speaks On.


ed the gin from her hand.
Who are they?" 1 painted; the
folks that took her? What's their
names, and where do they live? You'd
better tell mel
"T don't know who they are" she
answered, doggedly, nor their names,
nor anything about em! I've a right
to dispose of my own property, and
Nan was that, my grandchild. and I'm
too old to maintain her, and it's a
mercy that somebody has taken her off
my hands" l laughed out wildly.
II don't believe you are Mans grand
mother; you may be mine; that's
likely enough; but not hers-I know
you are not hers!"
How do you know" she said, with
an evil grin.
81 feel it; I've always felt it here"
l cried, striking my thin breast. Nan
was never like me; I'm blackamoor
Poll, and she's white and beautiful,
like pictures in the shop windows"
For some unaccountable reason
Granny Scrag laughed long and loud
What an old head We have" she
cried, and how keen our eyes are!"
l stamped on the uneven floor.
Tell me the whole truth, Granny
Scrag. Don't you dare to keep any
thing back. When did those women
come, and what did they say?"
Perhaps she saw no better way to
pacify me, so she answered:
There was but one, a dark person.
with a veil on. She came up the stair
an hour or so ago and said she was
looking for a little girl that she saw
on the street; said she knew some one
as wanted to adopt her. and no names
to be called and no questions asked
and nobody here to ever see her again.
l took her money, and she took Nan
and went off with her in a carriage,
and that's all there is to be said about
the matter"
knew she was telling the truth. In
spite of my vigilance the brown wo-
man had stolen a march on me, and
got possession of Nan, the one only
thing that l cared for in the world!
She had held out her money, and
Granny Scrag had taken it without
question. And now Nan was gone. l
should never see her again.
do not know what followed. l was
like one mad. Granny Scrag's stick
fell on me unheeded. l fought her
like a tiger-cat.
Bring Nan back!" screamed, you
horrible old woman, bring Nan back!"
Fool" she cried, shaking me Justify.
'T know no more where she's gone
than YOU do! rye washed my hands
of her for good. She's lost, dead,
swallowed up! Now go about your
business, and If you want to keep
whole bones in your body don't you
venture to speak her name in this
place again"
Young as 1 was, had already learn
ed that in the world there was ter
rible thing called the inevitable,
against which might dash and agon-
ize and wrestle, but to which l must
submit at last. After the first temp
est of grief was over, silence and eX-
haustion followed, and out Of these
was born a determination, slow, sui
len, strong as fate itself. l first gave
IL voice as l lay alone on the bare
floor under the cracked skylight, far
into that hideous night, looking up at
the stars which Nan and had often
watched together.
"I will find her"-this is what | said
to myself-"if it's not for years and
years and years to come! Yes, II
have to wait till my head is as gray
and my body as shaky as Granny
Scrag's. She will grow; she will
change; she will forget me, for she is
only a baby; but l shall know her
anywhere, and at any age. Sooner or
later l shall find, too, the brown wo-
man and the lame lady, and when that
comes, if they have a secret to hide,
let them look to it, for I'll tear II
from them as sure as my name Is
Polly!"
That was the determination which
I formed there in the attic that night.
1t comforted me in a vague way.
She was lost, but l would yet discoV-
er her. The faces of her two pur-
chasers were stamped on my memory
in lines of fire, and nothing earthly
could erase them.
The next day l stationed myself
near the great store where the shabby
hack had stopped that fatal morning,
and l began my miserable watch.
Hundreds and hundreds of ladies
passed in and out of the big doors, but
no brown, pock-marked woman, with
her lame, beautiful mistress hanging
to her arm-nobody who bore the
smallest resemblance to the pair
handed to the attic in Harmony AL
ley. Surely gran had no need of
money now; the price of Nan was in
the garret cupboard What she ever
did with that roll of bills know not.
would not have touched a penny Of
it to save myself from starving.
"Oh, you're moping after Nan, are
you?" she said to me; "and you've
come back as empty-handed as you
went, Ell? You'd better stop this, you
limb! 1t won't do any good You'll
never set eyes on the young one
again: she's gone to be a lady. and
you've got to stay on in the gutter, the
place where you belong"
I'll find herr" l cried through my
choking tears. I'm going to hunt the
world over till l find her, gram"
She gave me a thump that toppled
me into corner.
''Ho! no! hear the little beggar!
Hunt the world over! You'll do moth
ing of the sort, black Polly! You'll
bring me home money for your keep,
or I'll crack every bone in you. Don't
YOU go for to let this thing happen
again tomorrow"
But | did. Hungry, fOotsOre, wretch
ad 7 Snent the second daV wandering