Detective and mystery stories; Love stories; Social secretaries -- Fiction; Young women -- Fiction
Bébita, the way children do, saw plain and could tell what she saw as
accurate as a phonograph. It made tears come to hear the dear little
thing, so sweet and innocent, making us see that even the crooks she was
with couldn’t help but love her.
When Miss Maitland got out of the taxi at the bookbindery the driver
told the child that he knew her Daddy and could take her round to see
him while Miss Maitland was in the store. He said it wouldn’t take long,
that Mr. Price was close by, and they would come back in a few minutes
and pick up Miss Maitland. Bébita was crazy to go, and he started,
giving her a box of chocolates to eat on the way. Of course she never
could tell where he went but it could not have been a long distance, or
Larkin—we all were agreed that he drove the cab—couldn’t have reached
the Fifth Avenue house as soon as he did. The place was evidently a flat
over a garage. He told her her father was waiting there, went upstairs
with her, and gave her in charge of a woman called Marion who opened the
door for them.
During the whole time she was gone she stayed here with Marion, who
every morning assured her her Daddy would come that day. She said Marion
was very good to her, gave her toys and candies, cooked her meals and
played games with her. She cried often and was homesick, and Marion
never scolded her but used to take her in her arms and kiss her and tell
her stories. She never saw the man again until he came to take her away,
but sometimes the bell rang and Marion went out on the stairs and talked
to some one.
One evening Marion said she was going home; it would be a long drive and
she must be a good girl. Marion dressed her and then gave her a glass of
milk, and kissed her a great many times and cried. Bébita cried too, for
she was sorry to leave Marion, but she wanted to go home. After that the
man came and took her downstairs to the taxi and told her to be very
quiet and she’d soon be back at Grasslands. It was dark and they went
through the city and then she got very sleepy and laid down on the seat.
No trace of Marion, Larkin’s confederate, could be found, and in fact no
especial effort was made to do so. The man was dead, the woman, who had
evidently treated the child with affectionate care, had fled into the
darkness where she belonged. The family, even Mrs. Janney, was contented
to let things drop and make an end.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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