"Lady to see you!" announced Droom. The shrewd, fearless genius ofthe inner room glanced up quickly and met the prolonged, uncannygaze of his clerk; unwillingly, his eyes fell.
"Confound it, Lias! will you ever quit looking at me like that!There's something positively creepy in that stare of yours!"
"Lady to see you!" repeated the clerk, shifting about uneasily,and then gliding away to take his customary look at the long rowof books in the wall cases. He had performed this act a dozen timesa day for more than five years; the habit had become so strong thatchains could not have restrained him. It was what he considereda graceful way of dropping out of notice, at the same time givingthe impression that he was constantly busy.
"Are you Mr. Bansemer?" asked the woman with the babe in her arms,as he crossed into the outer office.
For a moment Bansemer purposely remained absorbed in the contemplationof his finger nails; then he shot a sudden comprehensive glancewhich took in the young woman, her burden and all the supposedconditions. There was no doubt in his mind that here was another"paternity case," as he catalogued them in his big, black book.
"I am," he replied shortly, for he usually made short, quick workof such cases. There was not much money in them at best. They springfrom the lower and poorer classes. The rich ones who are at faultin such matters never permit them to go to the point where a lawyeris consulted. "Would you mind coming in to-morrow? I'm just leavingfor the day."
"It will take but a few minutes, sir, and it would be very hard forme to get away again to-morrow," said the young woman nervously."I'm a governess in a family 'way uptown and my days are not veryfree."
"Is this your baby?" asked Bansemer, more interested. The wordgoverness appealed to him; it meant that she had to do with wealthypeople, at least.
"No--that is--well, not exactly," she replied confusedly. Thelawyer looked at her so sharply that she flinched under his gaze.A kidnapper, thought he, with the quick cunning of one who deals instratagems. Instinctively he looked about as if to make sure thatthere were no unnecessary witnesses to share the secret.
"Come into this room," said he suddenly. "Both of you. See that weare not disturbed," he added, to Droom. "I think I can give you afew minutes, madam, and perhaps some very good advice. Be seated,"he went on, closing the door after them. His eyes rested on Broom'sface for an instant as the door closed, and he saw a particularlyirritating grin struggling on his thin lips. "Now, what is it? Beas brief as possible, please. I'm in quite a hurry."
It occurred to him at this juncture that the young woman was notparticularly distressed. Instead, her rather pretty face was fullof eagerness and there was a certain lightness in her manner thatpuzzled him for the moment. Her companion was the older of thetwo and quite as prepossessing. Both were neatly dressed and bothlooked as though they were or had been bread-winners. If they hada secret, it was now quite evident to this shrewd, quick thinkerthat it was not a dark one. In truth, he was beginning to feel thatsomething mischievous lurked in the attitude of the two visitors.
"I want to ask how a person has to proceed to adopt a baby," wasthe blunt and surprising remark that came from the one who heldthe infant. Bansemer felt himself getting angry.
"Who wants to adopt it?" he asked shortly.
"I do, of course," she answered, so readily that the lawyer stared.He scanned her from head to foot, critically; her face reddenedperceptibly. It surprised him to find that she was more than merelygood-looking; she was positively attractive!
"Are you a married woman?" he demanded.
"Yes," she answered, with a furtive glance at her companion. "Thisis my sister," she added.
"I see. Where is your husband?"
"He is at home--or rather, at his mother's home. We are livingthere now."
"I thought you said you were a governess?"
"That doesn't prevent me from having a home, does it?" she explainedeasily. "I'm not a nurse, you know."
"This isn't your child, then?" he asked impatiently.
"I don't know whose child it is." There was a new softness in hervoice that made him look hard at her while she passed a hand tenderlyover the sleeping babe. "She comes from a foundling's home, sir."
"You cannot adopt a child unless supported by some authority," hesaid. "How does she happen to be in your possession; and what papershave you from the foundling's home to show that the authoritiesare willing that you should have her? There is a lot of red tapeabout such matters, madam."
"I thought perhaps you could manage it for me, Mr. Bansemer,"she said, plaintively. "They say you never fail at anything youundertake." He was not sure there was a compliment in her remark,so he treated it with indifference.
"I'm afraid I can't help you." The tone was final.
"Can't you tell me how I'll have to proceed? I must adopt thechild, sir, one way or another." Her manner was more subdued andthere was a touch of supplication in her voice.
"Oh, you go into the proper court and make application, that's all,"he volunteered carelessly. "The judge will do the rest. Does yourhusband approve of the plans?"
"He doesn't know anything about it?"
"What's that?"
"I can't tell him; it would spoil everything."
"My dear madam, I don't believe I understand you quite clearly. Youwant to adopt the child and keep the matter dark so far as yourhusband is concerned? May I inquire the reason?" Bansemer, naturally,was interested by this time.
"If you have time to listen, I'd like to tell you how it all comesabout. It won't take long. I want someone to tell me just whatto do and I'll pay for the advice, if it isn't too expensive. I'mvery poor, Mr. Bansemer; perhaps you won't care to help me afteryou know that I can't afford to pay very much."
"We'll see about that later," he said brusquely; "go ahead withthe story."
The young woman hesitated, glanced nervously at her sister as iffor support, and finally faced the expectant lawyer with a flash ofdetermination in her dark eyes. As she proceeded, Bansemer silentlyand somewhat disdainfully made a study of the speaker. He concludedthat she was scarcely of common origin and was the possessor ofa superficial education that had been enlarged by conceitedness;furthermore, she was a person of selfish instincts, but withoutthe usual cruel impulses. There was little if any sign of truerefinement in the features, and yet, there was a strange strengthof purpose that puzzled him. As her story progressed, he solvedthe puzzle. She had the strength to carry out a purpose that mightfurther her own personal interests; but not the will to enduresacrifice for the sake of another. Her sister was larger and possesseda reserve that might have been mistaken for deepness. He felt thatshe was hardly in sympathy with the motives of the younger, morevolatile woman.
"My husband is a railroad engineer and is ten years older than I,"the narrator said in the beginning. "I wasn't quite nineteen whenwe were married--two years ago. For some time, we got along allright; then we began to quarrel. He commenced to---"
"Mr. Bansemer is in a hurry, Fan," broke in the older sister,sharply; and then, repeating the lawyer's words: "Be as brief aspossible."
There was a world of reproach in the look which greeted the speaker.Evidently, it was a grievous disappointment not to be allowed tolinger over the details.
"Well," she continued half pettishly; "it all ended by his leavinghome, job and everything. I had told him that I was going to applyfor a divorce. For three months I never heard from him."
"Did you apply for a divorce?" asked the lawyer, stifling a yawn.
"No, sir, I did not, although he did nothing towards my support."The woman could not resist a slightly coquettish attempt to enlistBansemer's sympathy. "I obtained work at St. Luke's Hospital forFoundlings, and after that, as a governess. But, once a week I wentback to the asylum to see the little ones. One day, they broughtin a beautifully dressed baby--a girl. She was found on a doorstep,and in the basket was a note asking that she be well cared for; withit, was a hundred dollar bill. The moment I saw the little thing,I fell in love with
her. I made application and they gave methe child with the understanding that I was to adopt it. You see,I was lonely--I had been living alone for nine or ten months. Theauthorities knew nothing of my trouble with Mr. Cable--that's myhusband, David Cable. The child was about a month old when I tookher to his mother, whom I hadn't seen in months. I told Mrs. Cablethat she was mine. The dear old lady believed me; half the battlewas won." She paused out of breath, her face full of excitement.
"And then?" he asked, once more interested.
"We both wrote to David asking him to come home to his wife andbaby." She looked away guiltily. For a full minute, Bansemer didnot speak.
"The result?" he demanded.
"He came back last month."
"Does he know the truth?"
"No, and with God's help, he never shall! It's my only salvation!"she exclaimed emotionally. "He thinks she is his baby and--and---"The tears were on her cheeks, now. "I worship him, Mr. Bansemer!Oh, how good and sweet he has been to me since he came back! Now,don't you see why I must adopt this child, and why he must neverknow? If he learned that I had deceived him in this way, he wouldhate me to my dying day."
The infant was awake and staring at him with wide, blue eyes.
"And you want me to handle this matter so that your husband willbe none the wiser?"
"Oh, Mr. Bansemer," she cried; "it means everything to me! Alldepends on this baby. I must adopt her, or the asylum people won'tlet me keep her. Can't it be done so quickly that he'll never findit out?"
"How many people know that the child is not yours?"
"My sister and the authorities at the asylum; not another soul."
"It is possible to arrange the adoption, Mrs. Cable, but I can'tguarantee that Mr. Cable will not find it out. The records willshow the fact, you know. There is but one way to avoid discovery."
"And that, please?"
"Leave New York and make your home in some distant city. That'sthe safe way. If you remain here, there is always a chance that hemay find out. I see the position you're in and I'll help you. Itcan be done quite regularly and there is only one thing you'll haveto fear--you own tongue," he concluded, pointedly.
"I hate New York, Mr. Bansemer. David likes the West and I'll goanywhere on earth, if it will keep him from finding out. Oh, ifyou knew how he adores her!" she cried, regret and ecstasy minglingin her voice. "I'd give my soul if she were only mine!" Bansemer'sheart was too roughly calloused to be touched by the wistful longingin these words.
Before the end of the week the adoption of the foundling babe wasa matter of record; and the unsuspecting David Cable was awaitinga reply from the train-master of a big Western railroad, to whom,at the earnest, even eager, solicitation of his wife, he had appliedfor work. Elias Droom made a note of the fee in the daybook at theoffice, but asked no questions. Bansemer had told him nothing ofthe transaction, but he was confident that the unspeakable Droomknew all about it, even though he had not been nearer than theouter office during any of the consultations.
CHAPTER V
THE BANSEMER CRASH