Charlie Codmans Cruise 14
She looked up earnestly in the old man's face.
Peter was somewhat amused at the idea that he might be afraid to
distress her, but decided, on reflection, to tell her that all he chose
she should be made acquainted with.
"Sometimes," he explained, "a captain is short of hands, and fills out
his number the best way he can. Now perhaps one of the ships at the
wharves might have wanted a boy, and the captain might have invited
your son on board, and, ha, ha! it almost makes me laugh to think of
it, might carry him off before he thought where he was."
"Do you laugh at the thought of such a cruel misfortune?" asked Mrs.
Codman, startled from her grief by the old man's chuckle.
"I--excuse me, I didn't intend to; but I thought he would be so much
surprised when he found out where he was."
"And does that seem to you a fitting subject for merriment?" demanded
the outraged mother.
The miser cowed beneath her indignant glance, and muttering something
unintelligible, slunk away.
"Curse her!" he muttered, in his quavering tones, "why can't I face her
like a man? I never could. That was the way when--when she rejected me.
But I shall have my revenge yet."
Strange to say, Peter's last suggestion produced an effect quite
different from that which he anticipated and intended. Days passed, and
Charlie did not come; but his mother feeling certain, she hardly knew
why, that he had been inveigled on board some vessel, felt sure he
would some day return.
"He will write to me as soon as he gets a chance," thought the mother,
"and I shall soon see him again."
XIII.
CLOUDS AND SUNSHINE.
Small as was the remuneration which Mrs. Codman received for sewing,
she hoped, by great economy, to get along with the money which she
already had on hand. But troubles never come singly, and of this she
was destined to feel the full significance.
One morning she made up a bundle of completed work, and proceeded with
it to the ready-made clothing store of Messrs. Sharp & Keene, her
employers. It was a trial to one reared as Mrs. Codman had been, to
come into contact with men who did not think it necessary to hide their
native coarseness from one who made shirts for them at twenty cents
apiece.
On the present occasion she was kept waiting for some time, before her
presence appeared to be noticed. At length, Sharp nodded to her from
the desk.
"Ahem! Mrs. Wiggins," commenced Sharp.
"Codman, sir," corrected the one addressed.
"Well, the name don't signify, I suppose. How many shirts have you got
there?"
"Half a dozen, sir."
"Half a dozen at twenty cents apiece make a dollar and twenty cents.
Present this card at the other desk, and you will be paid."
He scratched on a card "6 shirts--$1.20," and handed to her, at the
same time calling, in a loud voice, "Here, Thomas, pay Mrs. Wigman a
dollar and twenty cents."
"Codman, sir."
"It seems to me you are mighty particular about your name."
"Shall I have more work?" asked Mrs. Codman, with some anxiety.
"Well, not at present. Business is dull just now. Nothing doing, and
won't be for some time to come."
"How long before you can probably give me something to do?" inquired
Mrs. Codman, apprehensively.
"Can't say," was the careless reply. "It may be a month, or six weeks.
You can call round in four or five weeks."
"What am I to do between now and then?" thought the poor woman, her
heart sinking.
She must get something to do. She could not live otherwise, more
especially since the rise in the rent, and her resources had been so
largely diminished by the withdrawal of Charlie's services.
She applied at several other shops which she passed on the way
home, but found, in every case, that they were already overrun with
applications, and in the slack of business would be compelled to
discharge some of those at present employed.
But the hour is the darkest that's just before day, and when fortune
has done its worst, oftentimes the tide turns, and affairs improve.
So it proved with Mrs. Codman.
On reaching home, not a little depressed at the idea of remaining
inactive, when she stood so much in need of the proceeds of her labor,
Mrs. Codman had scarcely removed her bonnet and shawl, when she heard a
knock at her door.
In answer to her "Come in," the door opened, and the washer-woman, who
roomed just above, entered.
"How do you do, Mrs. O'Grady?" said Mrs. Codman.
"I am very well, _Miss_ Codman, and I hope it's the same wid yerself.
Have you heard anything of the swate boy that was lost?"
"Nothing," was the sad reply.
"Cheer up, then, _Miss_ Codman. He'll be coming back bimeby, wid his
pockets full of gold, so that you won't have to work any more."
"I am afraid that I shall not be able to work any more at present,"
returned Mrs. Codman.
"And what for not? Is it sick that ye are?"
Mrs. Codman related the want of success which she had met with in
procuring work. She also mentioned Peter's visit and the increased
rent.
"Just like him, the old spalpeen!" broke out Mrs. O'Grady, indignantly.
"He wants to squeeze the last cint out of us poor folks, and it don't
do him any good neither. I'd be ashamed if Mr. O'Grady wint about
dressed as he does. But may be, Miss Codman, I'll get you a chance
that'll take you out of his reach, the mane ould rascal!"
"You get me a chance! What do you mean?" asked Mrs. Codman, turning
with surprise to her Hibernian friend and defender.
"I'll tell ye, only jist sit down, for it may take me some time."
This was Mrs. O'Grady's explanation, which it may be better to abridge,
for the good lady was wont to be somewhat prolix and discursive in her
narratives.
It seems she had been employed, at sundry times, in the house of a Mr.
Bowman, a wealthy merchant living on Mt. Vernon Street. This gentleman
had lost his wife some months before. The only child arising from
this union was a daughter, about ten years of age. Her father did not
like schools, either public or private, for a child of her years, and
preferred that his daughter, for the present, should be educated at
home. Hitherto she had been left pretty much to herself, and had never
been willing to apply herself to study.
Mr. Bowman was now looking out for a suitable governess for his
daughter, and it had struck Mrs. O'Grady--who, though ignorant and
uncultivated herself, was sharp-sighted enough to detect the marks of
education and refinement in another--that Mrs. Codman would suit him.
So Mrs. O'Grady, in her zeal, made bold to intimate to the servants,
through whom it reached Mr. Bowman, that she knew a sweet lady who
would be just the one for a governess for the young lady.
Now the recommendation of an Irish washer-woman may not be considered
the most valuable in an affair of this kind; but it so happened
that the suggestion reached Mr. Bowman at a time when he was so
oppressed with business cares that he did not know how to spare
the time necessary to seek out a governess. He accordingly summoned
Mrs. O'Grady to a conference, and asked some hasty questions of her,
which she answered by such a eulogistic account of Mrs. Codman, whose
condescending kindness had quite won her heart, that Mr. Bowman desired
her to request Mrs. Codman to call upon him the next day at a stated
hour.
"So you see, Miss Codman," concluded the warmhearted Irish woman, "that
you're in luck, and all you've got to do is to call upon Mr. Bowman
to-morrow, and you'll get a nice home, and won't have to work any more
at your sewing."
Mrs. Codman did not at once reply.
"And won't you go?" asked Mrs. O'Grady, wondering at her silence.
"I think I will," said Mrs. Codman; "and I feel much obliged to you, my
good friend, for saying a kind word for me, though I do not feel at all
confident that I shall obtain this place."
"Niver fear for that," said the sanguine washer-woman; "he'll see at
once that you're a rale lady, and it's in luck he'll be to get you."
Undoubtedly the position of a governess would be more remunerative,
and less laborious, than that of a seamstress, and, under present
circumstances, Mrs. Codman felt that she could not afford to throw the
chance away. She retired that night a little more cheerful and hopeful
than would have been the case had not this door of escape from the evil of want been shown her.
댓글 없음:
댓글 쓰기