City and town life -- Fiction; Didactic fiction; Indiana -- Fiction; Orphans -- Fiction
"She said, 'That was the dreadfullest sight I ever saw. That child's
mother is going to know right now what kind of a nurse she is paying to
take care of her children. You come show me,' she said, so we went.
"'Will you come in with me?' she asked and I said, 'Yes!'
"Well, we rang and she asked pleasant to see the lady of the house on a
little matter of important business, so pretty soon here comes one of
the dimun-studded, fashion-paper ladies, all smiling sweet as honey,
and asked what the business was. My nice lady she said her name was
Mrs. John Wilson and her husband was a banker in Plymouth, Illinois,
and she was in the city shopping and went to the park to rest and was
talking to me, when an automobile let out a nurse, and two boys and a
lovely little pink girl, and she give the number and asked, 'was the
car and the children hers?' The dimun-lady slowly sort of began to
freeze over, and when the nice lady got that far, she said: 'I have an
engagement. Kindly state in a _few_ words what you want.'
"My lady sort of stiffened up and then she said: 'I saw, this boy here
saw, and the park policeman nearest the entrance fountain saw your
nurse take your little girl by the hair, and strike her head against
the fountain curb three times, because her brother pushed her in. She
lay insensible until the car came, and she has just been carried into
your house in that condition.'
"I could see the footman peeking and at that he cut up the stairs. The
dimun-lady stiffened up and she said: 'So you are one of those
meddling, interfering country jays that come here and try to make us
lose our good servants, so you can hire them later. I've seen that done
before. Lucette is invaluable,' said she, 'and perfectly reliable.
Takes all the care of those dreadful little imps from me. Now you get
out of here.' And she reached for the button. My lady just sat still
and smiled.
"'Do you really think I'd take the trouble to come here in this way if
I couldn't _prove_ I had seen the thing happen?' she asked.
"'God only knows what you country women would do!' the woman answered.
"'We would stand between our children and beastly cruelty,' my lady
said. 'Your child's _condition_ is all the proof my words need. You go
examine her head, and feel the welt on it; see hew ill she is and you
will thank me. Your nurse is _not_ reliable! Keep her and your children
will be ruined, if not killed.'
"'Raving!' sneered the dimun-lady. 'But I know your kind so I'll go, as
it's the only way to get rid of you.'
"Now what do you think happened next? Well sir, 'bout three minutes in
walked the footman and salutes, sneering like a cat, and he said:
'Madam's compliments. She finds her little daughter in perfect
condition, sweetly sleeping, and her sons having dinner. She asks you
to see how quickly you can leave her residence.'
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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