Detective and mystery stories; New York (N.Y.) -- Fiction
Yes, it was in its old place under the table; and on the wash-stand and
bureau were the simple toilet articles I had been told she had brought
there. In what haste she must have fled to leave these necessities
behind her!
But the greatest shock I received was the sight of the knitting-work,
with which I had so inconsiderately meddled the evening before, lying in
ravelled heaps on the table, as if torn to bits in a frenzy. This was a
proof that the fever was yet on her; and as I contemplated this fact I
took courage, thinking that one in her condition would not be allowed to
run the streets long, but would be picked up and put in some hospital.
In this hope I began my search. Miss Althorpe, who came in just as I was
about to leave the house, consented to telephone to Police Headquarters
a description of the girl, with a request to be notified if such a
person should be found in the streets or on the docks or at any of the
station-houses that night. "Not," I assured her, as we left the
telephone and I prepared to say good-bye for the day, "that you need
expect her to be brought back to this house, for I do not mean that she
shall ever darken your doors again. So let me know if they find her, and
I will relieve you of all further responsibility in the matter."
Then I started out.
To name the streets I traversed or the places I visited that day, would
take more space than I would like to devote to the subject. Dusk came,
and I had failed in obtaining the least clue to her whereabouts; evening
followed, and still no trace of the fugitive. What was I to do? Take Mr.
Gryce into my confidence after all? That would be galling to my pride,
but I began to fear I should have to submit to this humiliation when I
happened to think of the Chinaman. To think of him once was to think of
him twice, and to think of him twice was to be conscious of an
irresistible desire to visit his place and find out if any one but
myself had been there to inquire after the lost one's clothes.
Accompanied by Lena, I hurried away to Third Avenue. The laundry was
near Twenty-seventh Street. As we approached I grew troubled and
unaccountably expectant. When we reached it I understood my excitement
and instantly became calm. For there stood Miss Oliver, gazing like one
under a spell through the lighted window-panes into the narrow shop
where the owner bent over his ironing. She had evidently stood there
some time, for a small group of half-grown lads were watching her with
every symptom of being about to break into a mischievous display of
curiosity. Her hands, which were without gloves, were pressed against
the glass, and her whole attitude showed an intensity of fatigue which
would have laid her on the ground had she not been sustained by an equal
intensity of purpose.
Sending Lena for a carriage, I approached the poor creature and drew her
forcibly from the window.
"Do you want anything here?" I asked. "I will go in with you if you do."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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