He put his arm about my shoulders in a fatherly way. You know, I found
out later the Bishop never had had a daughter. I guess he thought he
had one now. Such a simple, dear old soul! Just the same, Tom Dorgan,
if he had been my father, I'd never be doing stunts with tipsy men's
watches for you; nor if I'd had any father. Now, don't get mad. Think
of the Bishop with his gentle, thin old arm about my shoulders, holding
me for just a second as though I was his daughter! My, think of it!
And me, Nance Olden, with that fat man's watch in my waist and some
girl's beautiful long coat and hat on, all covered with chinchilla!
"There's some mistake, my little girl," he said, shaking me gently to
wake me up, for I was going to sleep again, he feared.
"Oh, I knew you were kept at the office," I interrupted quickly. I
preferred to be farther from the station with that girl's red coat
before I got out. "We've missed our train, anyway, haven't we? After
this, daddy dear, let's not take this route. If we'd go straight
through on the one road, we wouldn't have this drive across town every
time. I was wondering, before I fell asleep, what in the world I'd do
in this big city if you didn't come."
He forgot to withdraw his arm, so occupied was he by my predicament.
"What would you do, my child, if you had--had missed your--your father?"
Wasn't it clumsy of him? He wanted to break it to me gently, and this
was the best he could do.
"What would I do?" I gasped indignantly. "Why, daddy, imagine me
alone, and--and without money! Why--why, how can you--"
"There! there!" he said, patting me soothingly on the shoulder.
That baby of a Bishop! The very thought of Nancy Olden out alone in
the streets was too much for him.
He had put his free hand into his pocket and had just taken out a bill
and was trying to plan a way to offer it to me and reveal the fact to
poor, modest little Nance Olden that he was not her own daddy, when an
awful thing happened.
We had got up street as far as the opera-house, when we were caught in
the jam of carriages in front; the last afternoon opera of the season
was just over. I was so busy thinking what would be my next move that
I didn't notice much outside--and I didn't want to move, Tom, not a
bit. Playing the Bishop's daughter in a trailing coat of red, trimmed
with chinchilla, is just your Nancy's graft. But the dear little
Bishop gave a jump that almost knocked the roof off the carriage,
pulled his arm from behind me and dropped the ten-dollar bill he held
as though it burned him. It fell in my lap. I jammed it into my coat
pocket. Where is it now? Just you wait, Tom Dorgan, and you'll find
out.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account