Mam'selle JoComstock, Harriet T. (Harriet Theresa)
General
Mam'selle Jo
Comstock, Harriet T. (Harriet Theresa)
Saint Lawrence River Valley -- Fiction; Self-sacrifice -- Fiction; Single women -- Fiction
"At first," the girl went on musingly, "I thought there were no folks;
it was so empty outdoors. Then I saw people once in a while crawling
along. Why do they crawl, Mamsey? You and I don’t. And then I ran
around a bit, when no one was looking, and there are some horrid places,
one place where only men go. It is nasty, dirty, and bad. It sort of
makes all the houses seem smudgy. There was a big man at the door, and
he saw me and he said, ’So you’re Mam’selle Jo Morey’s girl!’" just like
that. And with this Donelle impersonated Dan Kelly so that his merest
acquaintance would have recognized him. "And I made a very nice bow,"
to Jo’s blank horror, Donelle showed how she had done it, "and I said ’I
am, sir; and who are you?’ And he put his hand in his pockets, so! and
he said, ’I’m Dan, Dan Kelly, and any time you want a little chat, come
to the side door. Mrs. Kelly and I will make you welcome.’ And—what is
the matter, Mamsey?"
For Jo’s knitting had fallen to the floor, and her face was haggard.
"You—you must never go near that place again," she gasped.
"I never will, Mamsey, for the smell kept coming back to me for days and
days. And the man’s eyes—I saw them in my sleep, they were dirty eyes!"
"My God!" moaned Jo, but Donelle was off on another trail.
"But Mamsey, why don’t we have folks in our lives. Is it because it is
winter, and the roads bad?"
"Yes——" this was said doubtfully; but something had to be said.
"Well, I’m glad of that, for I love people. I even liked some of the
Sisters. There was one who made me guess whenever I saw her, it was
Sister Mary, she was little and pretty and had a sorry face as if she
was lost and couldn’t find the way out. Almost I wanted to ask her to
run away with me every time I tried to do it myself. And the babies
were so jolly, Mamsey. I used to play that I could make nice, happy
little lives for them. There was one," Donelle’s eyes dimmed, "Patsy I
called her, her name was Patricia—such a big, hard name for such a
cunning little tot. I fixed up a perfectly dear life for Patsy, but
poor Patsy didn’t seem to want any kind of a life. She’d rather lie in
my arms and rock. I used to sing to her. Then she died!"
The tragedy touched Jo strangely. She had heard little of the details
of Donelle’s institution life; but those details, few as they were, had
been vital and impressive.
"Yes, Patsy died. I missed her terribly. Oh! Mamsey, I couldn’t do
without folks. Why, I want to tell you something; you like to have me
tell you everything, don’t you, Mamsey?"
"Yes; yes." Jo took up her knitting, dropped two stitches, made an
impatient remark under her breath, and caught them up. "If you didn’t
tell me everything I’d feel pretty bad," she went on lamely.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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