ftu MEN'S MERCANTIL r LIBRARY OF CINCINNATI. ' in;: or injuring hunk- BY-!>A\^ sn . M. . BOOKS BY MARY A. DENISON Price Captain Molly A Love Story Cloth $1.00 If She Will She Will " 1.00 His Triumph " 1.00 Like a Gentleman " 1.00 Rothmell " LOO Mr. Peter Crewitt " 1.00 That Husband of Mine . . Paper 50 cents " 1.00 That Wife of Mine . . . Paper 50 cents " 1.00 Tell Your Wife Paper 50 cents " 1.00 LEE and SHEPARD Publishers BOSTON I CAPTAIN MOLLY )1 STORY BY MARY A. DENISON AUTHOR OF "THAT HUSBAND OF MINE," "THAT WIFE OF MINK," " PETER CREWITT," ETC. /tf a silver thread in the common warp of life. What would I do to win your love, dear heart ? Give up all hope of fame, the -world's cheap grace, Fortune's emoluments, fair ambition 's rule, All greatness that would sever me from you, And how long wait ? If sure you'd love me still, Till death then till eternity is ours. BOSTON LEE AND SHEPARD PUBLISHERS 10 MILK STREET l8 97 COPYRIGHT, iSgj, BY LEE AND SHEPARD All rights reserved CAPTAIN MOLLY C J. PETERS ft SON, TYPOGRAPHERS, BOSTON. BERWICK ft SMITH, PRINTERS. I AM reminded here that no less a personage than Dr. Briggs, of higher criticism distinction, has pointed out that the Salvation Army has recognized the working equality of men and women in a quiet practical, way, even conferring its military distinctions with a supreme indifference to sex. I was very much interested in the farewell given to General Booth by these people at Carnegie Hall on Tuesday night. It was a most imposing spectacle of several thousand hard-faced enthusiasts of both sexes who have given their lives to the doing of all the good they can in an humble way. On the stage was a band of women almost lost in the great assemblage, save for their white scarfs. But when the slum workers were called upon, they all stood up, gaunt, scarred women some of them, but brave, restored, full of ardor and not ashamed of their burden. I spoke with one of these girls. She was not educated. Her fingers were red and hard, for she had got down on her knees and scrubbed out a miserable abode to sweeten it for a sick wretch but her poor heart sang, and somehow I took my hat off to her. 2062168 CONTENTS CHAPTER PACK I. REINE i II. THE BABY 7 III. MOLLY 9 IV. AN ENTERTAINMENT 18 V. A SALVATION BAND 26 VI. A CONFIDENTIAL TALK 32 VII. NAN 40 VIII. ENSIGN HARRY 47 IX. RUSSELL STAGEY 54 X. WHAT THE BANKER THOUGHT 65. XI. PREPARATIONS 76 XII. STACEY'S DECISION 85 XIII. How THE BANKER FELT 91 XIV. WHAT CRUMP THOUGHT 93 XV. How THE FIDDLE CROONED 100 XVI. THREE WORLDLY HATS in XVII. IN THE RECTOR'S PEW 114 XVIII. COUSIN LUCY'S REIGN 120 XIX. THE PROFESSOR'S VERDICT 126 XX. A STURDY UNBELIEVER 139 VI CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE XXI. THE FACE ON CANVAS 146 XXII. JOHN HARDY, PRINTER 162 XXIII. MOLLY AND MANDY 172 XXIV. AN INTERVIEW WITH THE BANKER .... 188 XXV. MY PRINTER 199 XXVI. AN UNWELCOME FOLLOWER 204 XXVII. A SWEET OLD SONG 208 XXVIII. THE LOST CHILD 216 XXIX. CAPTAIN MOLLY'S ANSWER 226 XXX. THE BAPTISM OF FIRE 237 XXXI. FINIS AND HAPPINESS 248 CAPTAIN MOLLY CHAPTER I RE INK My drain, methinks, is like an hour-glass, wherein imagination runs like sands. BABY BASSETT was a marvel. Even in that child-ridden community, Flagler Tenement, to which some wag had given the sounding title of PARADISE FLATS, where the minor key in child- ish sobs, and the major key in childish laughter, prevailed from morning till night, that Bassett baby was a wonder and delight. Baby Bassett first saw the light in a cellar, which, however, made no difference to him. It really was a respectable cellar, as cellars go. The floor was hard, and two windows let in daylight from the sidewalk. At night it was brilliantly illuminated with a tallow dip. Inside it might have been gloomy; but Reine Bassett, the young and pretty mother of Baby Bassett, cared little for that. 2 CAPTAIN MOLLY In hot weather, before that adorable baby came, the Bassetts sat upon the steps, and greeted their neighbors, who might be expressed as legion. After that important event happened, the neigh- bors saluted the baby's mother with something like reverence. The baby was like a pure white lily, lying in his improvised bed made in a big clothes-basket. The father of this child, Sebastian Bassett, was in the first stages of alcoholic decrepitude, and yet he was scarcely thirty years old. The man had a history, but nobody knew what it was. He had no business to be either a husband or a father; yet there he was, an accepted fact, and with a superb presence that declared for good ancestry. His life was largely migratory. The only reason that he lived in the cellar of Paradise Flats was because he could get no lower. And yet the soul of an artist dwelt in that marred body. At one time he had painted marvellously well. His pic- tures had sold for good prices, but every cent that came to him was spent for drink. Now, with an unsteady hand, and a certain scorn in his brilliant eyes, he drew wonderful outlines, when he was sober, on the sidewalks, and rarely failed to earn a few pennies, which he spent in the ale-house. His wife, poor little thing, was the bread-win- ner. She would willingly have worked her hands off to provide something for her vagabond to eat. Sebastian often went on a tramp. Then the REINE 3 poor woman ate her crusts with tears, picturing the good-for-naught in all sorts of danger; and wild was her cry of delight when he came safely back. Even now, when dissipation had made such in- roads upon his face and figure, he was a handsome fellow. Six feet two, with broad shoulders and curly brown hair and beard, regular features, and a rare smile, he was good to look at. When sober, he was wont to take despondent views of life ; to long, with all a coward's longing and none of a man's daring, to end his life and his trials together. When drunk, he was the happiest mortal alive, singing, dancing, dashing off the wonderful pic- tures of his brain upon whatever material came to hand. The whitewashed room of his cellar home bore witness to his skill, even to his genius. Here was the vivid portrayal of a ship under full sail, there some tender symphony in white and black descriptive of the life of the Christ. A cherub face smiled down from one corner ; in an- other the pleading eyes of a spaniel so wondrously beautiful they would have challenged the admira- tion of artists high in position, could they have been privileged to see them. These were only occasional efforts. His hand fell listless, the eyes grew haggard then came stupor, a heavy sleep, and he was ready for another debauch. The life of this poor wretch was a cross be- 4 CAPTAIN MOLLY tween diabolism and delirium. In his wildest revels he imagined himself a man of wealth. All his surroundings were princely. His wife, simple soul, endeavored to follow his drunken fancies. To the fine people who came to his fancied re- ceptions, she was uniformly deferential. She praised their splendor, their rich clothes, their beauty, and plied them with fabulous refresh- ment. Indeed, to the inner eyes of this adoring woman, full of the glamour of love, her wretched husband always looked like a prince ; and this life of the imagination, rather than of the senses, had become a second nature to her. So long as he did not scold or beat her, she said to herself and the neighbors, she would en- courage his illusions. Better by far for him to come home under the influence of false surround- ings, than to stay all night in a bar-room or on the street. It certainly was a stroke of genius that could transform the cellar into rooms of goodly proportions, flaming with color, and hung with the masterpieces of great minds, the tallow dip into chandeliers, the two pine chairs into satin t$te-&-tltes and lounges of brocade, and make her " my lady," even in a calico gown worn out at the elbows and frayed at the skirt. After a hard day's work, it was rather refresh- ing than otherwise to sit down and, through her husband's eyes, witness the transformation of the REINE 5 homely wheaten bread into goodly loaf cake. Sometimes she could almost have declared that the two shrivelled little chops and the meagre show of potatoes were really the finest of game, the most appetizing of pastry, or that the water rivalled the sweetest muscatelle, and the tea in the old broken black teapot was actually cham- pagne. So much will habit do that she some- times found herself speculating over the wash-tub as to the role her Sebastian would play if he came home the worse for liquor. She had been an innocent little girl when he married her, minus education, but gentle, pretty, good to the heart's core, hating poverty, yet in the midst of poverty and its environments keep- ing herself pure. Her name was Reine D'Urban. Out of the shop-window, where she presided over sundry sales of tea and coffee and a few wilted vegetables, she had looked one day to see the won- derful pave-artist busy outlining a ship. Then her curiosity drew her to the door. The expres- sion of wonder, surprise, and admiration in a face that it would have been no dishonor in an artistic sense to use as a model for the Holy Mother her- self, caught his attention. In that moment the man, then master of him- self, fell in love with her. She, blushing, palpi- tating, and overcome, drew back ; but she carried with her that one admiring glance from eyes that had in better days been pronounced irresistible. 6 CAPTAIN MOLLY Henceforth her days and nights were one dream of adoration. The woman she worked for for she was an orphan had from that first hour no control over the girl whatever. Wildly, madly in love, she yielded to her lover's sophistries, and only conscious of her passion, allowed herself to be wooed and won. After their marriage they lived in two small rooms, and for a season he was too much in love to give way to his craving for drink. He even painted several small pictures of merit which served as pot-boilers for a month. But alas, by degrees the monotony of their exist- ence palled upon him, and he began gradually to seek more congenial society, and to neglect his wife. Poor Reine ! THE BABY CHAPTER II THE BABY So noble a master fallen .' ONE day, in the third year of their marriage, Sebastian came home sober. A girl, whose splen- did but sombre eyes looked . out of a dark Italian face, sat by Reine's bed. Something like fear crossed her face at sight of him, and in another moment the girl had vanished through the door and up the back stairs. Sebastian stood in a dazed way, looking at his wife. She, with an angelic smile, lifted the cover, and lo ! a cherub. " That ! " he exclaimed with a gesture almost of fear ; " is that ours yours mine ?" " Our boy, Sebastian ; " and if the child slum- bering there had been a prince of the blood royal, no queen could have displayed more pride than poor, overworked little Reine. Now that she was paler than usual, how plainly the dimples showed when she smiled ! It really was marvellous that the young mother retained so much of her beauty. Sebastian was not insensible to the lovely picture of mother and babe. 8 CAPTAIN MOLLY " I will paint you both ! " he cried, holding up his hands as he moved a few steps forward. " O Reine, my poor little girl ! What a gift ! I swear I will keep sober now. I swear I will be a good father to the boy. You shall not live much longer in this devilish hole. Alas ! what a monster I am ! What a monster ! " " Come nearer, Sebastian," said the woman with a smile ; " kiss me. You are no monster. You are my handsome husband, and you love me and the baby. The dear little baby ! Everybody says what a beauty it is, even now." " Yes, a beauty ! how could he help it, when his .mother is so beautiful ? " and the man bent over and kissed her with tears in his eyes. It was a strange sight. The comely frame, grotesquely ar- rayed, rents showing here and there, boots wrinkled and broken, the face as the figure, yet noble in its outlines ; the shabby cellar-room, the beautiful mother and the lovely child, in such a setting ! " I'll make pictures, such pictures, of you. I feel the artist's instinct rising within me. Where are my pencils?" He searched his pockets. The mother smiled serenely. "Perhaps," she said to herself, "the baby will save him ! " and prayed a little, and again had in- finite faith in the man she loved. MOLLY CHAPTER III MOLLY What 's female beauty but an air divine ? " HARK ! " and she held up her thin white hand. "Music ! Doesn't it seem like heaven to hear mu- sic ? Open the door, dear. It is coming this way. I can hear it better then." The girl-mother seemed like one entranced. Over her sweet face a glory spread that gave her an expression almost celestial. On came the little company with bugles and drums, with captains and lieutenants, with flags and banners, past heavy drays and lumbering wagons, and horses too tired to be frightened at the din. Something stopped their progress ; and the women broke out into a bright, cheerful song, " We are coming, we are coming, Don't you hear the Captain call, The great Captain of salvation, And the Father of us all?" Pausing before the cellar door, a young girl, with a radiant face, looked in. She was richly dressed. Her beautiful hazel eyes sparkled with pleasure. IO CAPTAIN MOLLY Sebastian had thrown the door farther open, displaying a part of the bed, and the sweet face with its tender eyes and exquisite smile lighted with the new mother-love. " Is she sick ? What a pretty woman ! May I come in ? " was the girl's greeting ; and the broken man, dumfounded, stood back a little as the girl brushed past him. "Can I do anything for you?" was the first question, as this radiant vision reached the bed- side, never caring for her dainty garments. " Oh, thank you, no. Sebastian is going to work, now that the baby has come ; " and as if she had known her visitor all her life, she turned down the bedclothes, and the baby woke at that moment, opening large blue eyes. " Why, what a lovely baby ! How old is it ? " and the girl took the chair which Sebastian brought her, his eyes yet full of wonder. " It is just three weeks old," was the reply. " The little darling ! But he is not half dressed." " It was all I had. The neighbors up-stairs are at work on some little gowns for him. And when I am round again he shall have plenty of clothes. Sebastian is going to work. And the neighbors are all so good ! You cannot think how good they are, for you know they are all poor like myself. But Sebastian is going to work. He is an artist." The man of the house, or rather the cellar, had gone out. MOLLY 1 1 "An artist!" the girl exclaimed, and looked about her. She had not noticed the etchings on the walls ; she now observed them with an inter- ested glance. " They really are they really are good ! " she exclaimed, intense surprise in her voice. " I'm astonished ! " " Indeed, he can paint better than that," the lit- tle woman said. " You should see his best. Now baby has come, he is going to make a picture of us two if he can only get the paints. They cost so much, you know." " Why, with such a talent, does he live here ? " the girl asked in new astonishment. Reine's eyes fell. Her face was all shadow for a moment. She seemed casting about in her mind what to say, how not to condemn him. " You see I think he will try hard, now baby has come. He is never unkind to me, never! If only they wouldn't tempt him to drink! " " Ah, I see ! You poor little thing ! So brave ! Open your hand. There, that is all yours. Keep it, every cent of it. If you do spend it, spend it on yourself and the baby. I have been looking for you for some time. Ensign Harry told about you. She lives in this house. Perhaps you know her." " I did see her once," said Reine, smiling. " Does she belong to the Army ? " " Yes ; she is a very lovely character. I am 12 CAPTAIN MOLLY going to get you an outfit for your baby. Listen, they are playing again. You like music, I see." " Oh, so much, so much ! " said Reine, grasping the money tightly ; " no band ever came this way before." " The Salvationists, they are called," said the girl. "They are doing a noble work," and her eyes sparkled. " I should like to be one with them, to march round with them, to go among the sick, the poor, and the suffering ! I should be utterly, entirely happy then ! " " Why don't you ? " asked Reine. " My father is a rich man. All my family would disown me. You understand, don't you ? I spend enough money for one ball-dress to support you for a year. But even in this poor place you seem happy." " I have my husband and my child," said Reine in a low voice full of content. " And I follow the Salvation Army sometimes, even against my will. They brought me here, and I am glad I came. Tell your husband to be a good man for the sake of his wife and child. Tell him to paint me a picture anything. I will buy it. I will give him a good price, if he will keep sober, and do his best work. Here, open your other hand." She pressed some bills between the fingers of the wondering, half-dazed woman. " That is for him for paints and oils and MOLLY 13 canvas, don't you see ? Don't give it to him, but send out and buy what he needs. I will give you a list. I know something of colors. Sometimes I do a little work of that kind myself." She wrote a list on one of her dainty cards. " Can you send for them ? " she asked. "Oh, yes; Nanny will go Nan Gartia. She is a good girl. She lives alone with her father, almost at the top of the house. He is an old musician, dying of consumption. When he is gone Nan will be quite alone. They have seen better days. Poor Nan! " " Somebody I can help, perhaps," said the beautiful girl. " Indeed, they are very poor and very good," said Reine ; then looking at her visitor with ten- der eyes softened by tears, she murmured, "It seems to me you are an angel ! " " Not quite," was the answer, with a quick little laugh ; " but I am one of those unfortunates who long for a mission. I don't quite believe that my life ought to be wasted on vanities and worldly pomps, to say nothing of the flesh and the devil. People laugh at me and my longings call them whims and fancies. But I must go. Tell your husband about my order for a picture after you have bought the paints, remember, not before." The flash of rich garments, the aroma of a dainty perfume, the remembrance of wonderful words and gifts, and Reine was alone. 14 CAPTAIN MOLLY " I wonder if she will come again ! " she mur- mured. Then she looked at the money closely locked in her hands, counted it. There were fif- teen dollars in all; ten in her left hand that was for her, and five in her right hand that was for Sebastian. "The blessed, blessed woman!" she cried, catching her breath with a quick sob. " Oh ! Se- bastian must do better now ! How often have I prayed for it ! How often, dear God ! " " What ! has she gone ? " Sebastian was in the room. " I can't think what made her come here." A momentary gleam lighted his face. He passed his hand through his shining hair that clustered in thick curls over a comely forehead. The motion was an indication of newly stirred vanity. The moment of self-exaltation passed, however. " What have we in the house to eat, my little one ? " he asked, smiling down at the pretty face. "The Smiths sent down some tripe, white as milk, and the poor Campdowns brought me in a chicken. Think of that, and they so poor ! Open the little closet there, you will see that they have not forgotten us." He opened it. A row of shining vegetables greeted his vision, above them a shelf full of meats, some of them cooked. Sebastian looked with greedy eyes. "I'm very hungry," he said; "suppose I eat a little." MOLLY 1 5 "Why, of course; they thought of you! Mrs. Ryder is coming down with my dinner. She is poor, you know, and lame too. Eat what you want, only I'm afraid you can't cook the potatoes could you ? " "You've only to put them in water," he said. " It ought to be hot. There's a little oil left. Fill up the stove, and heat the water. I'll tell you what to do ; and then you can sit right here, where baby and I can see you, and eat. Afterwards well, wait." She smiled to herself. The miserably battered little oil-stove was soon lighted, and the potatoes under way. Presently Mrs. Ryder, the little lame tailoress, came down, limping at every step. She was almost as thin as a shadow, and her face was white with an un- healthy pallor. In her hand she carried a steam- ing bowl, and a good-sized silver spoon, a relic of better days. " You look tired," said Reine. Sebastian went on with his cooking. " So would you, if you had been kept awake till morning. The Flynns had a party last night ; and what with the dancing and the tipsy freaks they cut, I'm nearly dead. Sometimes I think the cellar is the best place in a house like this the cellar or the garret, where Nan and her father live. Now drink this, honey, it will do you good. I made it after the receipt of an old grand-aunt of mine. I never thought I'd come down to this 1 6 CAPTAIN MOLLY when she was alive. Let me see that blessed baby again. Well, if I ever did ! " she cried in rapturous accents as the wee face was uncovered. " I never did see a young thing like that so pretty ! Mr. Sebastian, you ought to behave, indeed you ought, now you've got such a beautiful child ! " she added in a shriller voice ; for poor Mrs. Ryder had no mercy on sinners, and tact was a quality that had never graced her cold, stern nature. In vain poor Reine pulled at her gown till she almost broke the scant gathers. " Go to Hades ! " muttered the artist in a voice like an organ tone with the mellowness left out ; but he never turned round. The woman likely did not hear ; for she was busy now bolstering up Reine with the one pillow, behind which she put a bundle of old clothes. Then she limped out, tell- ing Reine not to worry, she would be back by and by. "Thundering busybodies!" muttered Sebas- tian when she had gone. "They're very good to me," sighed Reine, to whom the white decoction was delicious. " Sure enough, to you. I'm only a vagabond," he said dejectedly. " Sebastian, remember the baby ! " said Reine in awful tones. "You're no longer a vagabond, since little Sebastian has come," and her voice grew musical. " God forgive me ! " said Sebastian, as if smitten MOLLY I/ with a painful blow. " It will take me some time to get used to Sebastian the Second," he added musingly ; " so don't you mind anything I say. That rich girl for I know she is rich ought to have left you some money." " She did," said Reine in a faint voice, after struggling for some time to keep her secret; "a a dollar!" " Bless her stingy soul ! " was the response. "I was just thinking how handily a dollar would come in." " You shall have it," Reine said cheerfully "every cent of it. But I forgot to tell you the good news. She wants you to paint her a picture. She will buy it at a good price." " Ah ! that sounds more like it. I will paint you and the little fellow as soon as he gets God's light in his eyes. At present the face is a blank, pretty as it is. Ah ! the dollar will bring me a few colors, not many, but enough to begin on." He was eating a chop now, warmed by the stove : the potatoes were mealy. He ate from a large plate on his knees, and seemed to know no want of a table, so blunted were his sensibilities by drink. And yet once he had been fastidious. " There, I am through. Now, give me my dol- lar." He stooped and kissed her. That night he came home, as the saying is, drunk as a lord. 1 8 CAPTAIN MOLLY CHAPTER IV AN ENTERTAINMENT The mind doth shape itself to its own "wants. REINE had gone off into a quiet sleep. One of the neighbors was sitting by her, and just on the point of leaving for the night, when the door opened, and Sebastian came stumbling down the few steps that intervened between the floor and the door. "Countess de Lorn," he announced gravely he never hiccoughed ; " bring a seat for the coun- tess. My dear lady, I beg you will be seated. It happens that my wife, the princess, is ill. Madam, you are dismissed," he went on, turning to the as- tonished, self-constituted nurse. " You see, my lady, my wife has presented me with an heir. The young prince is sleeping. Allow me." He turned down the coarse but clean coverlet, while the occupant of No. 27 up-stairs glided from the room. Reine always wakened at the slightest noise, and now his movement set her eyes wide open. She met his flushed face, saw thereon the unmis- takable seal of drunkenness. AN ENTERTAINMENT IQ " O Sebastian, how could you ! " she said. " My darling of darlings, I have brought Coun- tess de Lorn to see you," he said with drunken gravity; "you must make her welcome." " The Countess de Lorn is welcome," said sub- missive Reine, trying to keep a sob out of her voice. "And she wishes to see the young prince." " The young prince is asleep, my dear ; but the countess can look at him," said Reine. " Is he not a lovely child, Countess ? And now, let me show you some new pictures ; " and he po- litely ushered his unseen guest to the opposite side of the kitchen, where Sebastian seated his visionary company on a chair of his erratic ima- gination, a chair of state, and proceeded to point out the beauties of his latest production in oils. "Those high tints, you observe, red almost as guinea gold, contrast well with the milky tones of the horizon. And the two persons seated under the magnolia are full of spiritual vivacity. Do you like the pose of the female figure ? It accen- tuates the story for you see the canvas does tell a story. Then in this wreck, I hope you appre- ciate the work of the poor artist. The storm is over, and the moon shines dimly through the clouds. Yonder poor fellow, on some floating wood, strains his eyes over the dusky distance. Will he be saved ? I think that would be a good title for the picture. Thanks ! I am delighted 2O CAPTAIN MOLLY that you like it ; " and so he went on about mist- wreathes and melodious wave-sounds, and much more of the jargon that painters affect. Meantime poor Reine underwent torture. The coming of the baby with its wealth of love meant nothing then for Sebastian's salvation. She had hoped so much from it, and now the last link was broken. She must rise to joyless labor, and stand over the wash-tub and the ironing-board early and late, yes, earlier and later, for there was one more mouth to feed. Carefully she felt for her money under the pillow, and hid it between the two pitifully hard straw beds, while her husband was searching for something to eat, of which, thanks to the neighbors, there was enough. The banquet was nearly ready ; and in deference to the illness of the princess, the table was drawn up to the side of the bed. Languid and tearful, Reine lay there listening to the conversation which grew more and more maudlin, till the man, overcome with fatigue, threw himself along the bed, and was soon fast asleep. Just then came the sound of music, the same she had heard in the afternoon, accompanied now by the singing of men, women, and children. She was very thirsty ; but of course she could not help herself to water, and as there was a little weak tea in the cup left by her husband, she drank it off, but it only intensified her wakeful mood. The baby stirred, and all Reine's warm heart v^fO AN ENTERTAINMENT 21 responded. How strange that she had something living to talk to ! That of itself was a pleasure which she had never anticipated. Up to her lips came tender words, and for a few fleeting moments no happier woman could be found than poor little Reine. Deep indeed was her faith, true and inno- cent her heart, that she could look at the sorrowful burden of leaden years before her and still smile, as she felt the stir of that small bundle on her arm. The garden of her heart was all abloom, notwithstanding the heavy breathing of the well- nigh lost man at her side. Suddenly there came a strange, fumbling noise at the back door, a sound as of some one sobbing or groaning in deep trouble. The door opened, Sebastian had forgotten to fasten it, and in rushed Nanny Gartia, the tears raining down her white cheeks. " I came down here I ran all alone in the dark," sobbed the girl, standing beside the bed. Reine wondered why her eyes had not lighted her, they were so large and bright, despite the terror in them. " What's the matter, child ? " asked Reine, put- ting her babe down carefully beside her. " O Mrs. Sebastian," they all called Reine Mrs. Sebastian, " my my father ! " and the cry was almost a shriek. " Is he worse, dear ? " " He is dead !" wailed the child, and began sob- 22 CAPTAIN MOLLY bing again. " Mrs. Clarke asked me to come in there, but I couldn't. There's been a quarrel there. I couldn't stay in our room either, and so I felt my way to you. Let me stay with you and the baby." " To be sure, you poor child. I'm so sorry ! You are all alone now. Poor Nan ! " "I I thought he was better," the girl went on, kneeling down by the bed, and hiding her stream- ing eyes in the pillow. " The music came by did you hear it? the Salvation band. I went to the window to look out and listen. Father called me. He acted so strange ! His eyes were staring; and he was sitting right up in bed as strong as could be, and I've had to lift him just like a child for days. ' Give me King Solomon,' says he King Solomon is the fiddle. It was locked away in its case, and it took some time to get at it. I ran with it to the bed, and gave it to father. I'm sure he didn't know where he was ; for he called out in a loud voice, 'Attention, Orchestra ! ' and began to beat time. Then he drew the bow, and, oh my soul ! the fiddle gave such a wail that it frightened me, and the room seemed like a great yawning cave. Then he cried out again, ' Attention, Trombone ! ' and fell back on the bed, the fiddle and bow still in his hands. I knew he was dead, and all I could do was to scream. They were quarrelling in the next room ; but it all stopped, and the Clarkes came AN ENTERTAINMENT 23 running in. I couldn't stay there I couldn't. I wish I was dead too. I wish I bitterly wish I could 'a' gone with father. There's nobody left to love me or to care for." " We'll all be good to you, Nanny," Reine said, patting the dark head. " Yes, I know ; but you're all as poor as can be. What can poor folks do but surfer ? Don't I know ? He wanted a little wine, just a little swallow ; and I hadn't no money to buy it with. We were paupers, you know ; and paupers don't deserve to live, do they ? Poor people ought to die, and to go to anywhere, if they don't hunger and thirst there. Every bit of my money is gone, and for two days I haven't been able to go on the streets with King Solomon. Perhaps," and there came a heavy, rasping sob, "perhaps he died of starvation, because he couldn't get the right things to eat." " Don't, dear, don't worry. Think now that he is out of his poverty, and up in heaven. He was a good old man, and worked while he could, and didn't give way to drink. Perhaps you'd ought to be thankful." " I ain't thankful to anybody," said the girl, crying heavily ; " I don't know as I wanted him to live and suffer, but now I've got to live and suffer all alone. Think of it ! " and she raised her tear-drenched eyes, " only a young girl, and poor and all alone ! " 24 CAPTAIN MOLLY " You have me, and some good friends in the house, Nan," Reine ventured helplessly, feeling that she ought to keep silence in this dark hour. " You ! " said the girl with vehemence, " you ! Haven't you got your own troubles to bear? and that brute ugh ! " " Now, Nan, don't you go to call my husband names ! " said Reine, her soft musical voice grow- ing harsh. "I'm satisfied with baby," she faltered. " Yes, you're satisfied satisfied to work your hands off for him well, I won't say another word. But oh, you sweet, kind soul ! if only you was rich, and I could tend the baby ! There isn't a cent in the house, not a red cent. I can make a quarter some days, but I can't go out now not now. I'd have to starve first." " See here, Nan, I've got some money. Sh " as the drunken man stirred. " Here's a dollar bill, and here's another " she drew them slowly from her little hoard, and placed them in the girl's hand; "and, Nan, every blessed soul in Paradise Flats '11 be good to you, till such time as you get out to business again. Don't let your fiddle go, whatever you do, be sure ! Bring it down here to-morrow, and put it under the bed. They'll be wanting to take that for the rent or something. Stay say I bought it. I have ! there's the money ! But I don't want it. I'll give it right back to you as soon as you ask for it. You've AN ENTERTAINMENT 2$ your living to git by music ; and some day you may play with a big orchestry in front, such as your father used to lead. He's where he can help you now, mebby. Don't cry any more, dear." " You're so good ! " sobbed Nan, placing the money in the ragged waist of her calico dress. " I wish I could live with you and the baby for- ever. If it wasn't for him," and a look of supreme disgust crossed her face, " I would. I'd bring that baby up" then a wave of troubled recol- lection surging deep from the heart, she began to cry again for her father. " There's been a nice visitor here to-day," said Reine ; "she promised to come again to-morrow. She's rich and good. The goodness is written on her face she'll help you." 26 CAPTAIN MOLLY CHAPTER V A SALVATION BAND / cannot fashion soul or speech. TRAMP, tramp, tramp ! The music sounded now, undisturbed by loaded vans and carts and carriages. The Army had, what it seldom could command, the right of way, for it was ten o'clock at night. The men were stalwart fellows, and marched like soldiers. The women kept up with them un- falteringly. Among the latter were some pretty, some pathetic, faces. There were man-captains and woman-captains. " Harry " Vale, as she was dubbed, an English girl, was both young and handsome. It was worth looking for to catch the flash of her blue eyes under her poke bonnet. Even when egg-shells and rotten potatoes were thrown right and left among the members, Ensign Harry never flinched ; and her bravery subdued the roughs, and often cleared the way for action. They had held a successful meeting that night, and added several recruits, who, a little shame- faced, but upheld by a dogged resolution, marched at the end of the procession. A SALVATION BAND 2/ The streets were pretty well emptied, but a few men and women stopped as they went by to laugh at and criticise the Army and its banners. They themselves stood still for two or three moments by Ensign Harry's request, before one of the handsomest houses in the city, the residence of a rich banker. Did the bright-eyed little ensign expect the banker or his daughter to give them a welcome or a hearing ? The banker sat in his armchair of solid mahog- any. He was a solid man. Opposite him sat a handsome young fellow, whose beauty was the theme of all the marriageable belles of the great city. The splendid library was a poem in books, works of art, and bric-a-brac. It was the dream of a rich man moulded into shape, and its decora- tions were as perfect as money could make them. The music sounded even through the plate- glass and the heavy plush porttires. " Damn them ! " and the banker spoke with unusual bitterness. " Who ? " asked the young man. " Those Salvationists. They're leading away my Molly." " I wish I might enjoy the same privilege," was the response. " I wish you may. I like you, Stacey. Your father was an old chum of mine, and I never knew him to do a dishonorable act. He was the soul of honor. Upon my word, Stacey, I wish I knew 28 CAPTAIN MOLLY how to help you, but, O Lord ! that girl of mine ! I think her mother had a pious paroxysm before Molly came. She was afraid she was going to die as she did, poor soul ! and took up with all the new religious fads and isms. And she made me promise well made I'd have promised anything, you know, at such a time as that that I'd never interfere in the least with the girl's religious notions, if she lived to grow up. Well, she did live, Heaven help her ! and such a time as I have had ! such a race as she has led me ! First it was Methodism, then Congregationalism, then she slid easily into the Episcopal Church, and now, the devil take the luck, she's crazy over the Sal- vation Army ! wants to wear a badge, and all that. Don't you see, my hands are tied? Why, she knows more about the slums than any blank dis- trict visitor in our parish. I allow her a liberal sum, and I'll be dog-goned if she don't come for more before the month is half over ! " Young Stacey listened, a half-smile on his handsome, sensitive face. It was hardly a wonder that Molly Stanley pronounced him a boy, her upper lip curling, and her beautiful face full of a haughty disdain ; for he was unusually youthful looking for a man of twenty-six. " Your daughter is a very lovely young woman," he said, " whatever her notions of outside things may be ; and fads are inevitable and excusable in so beautiful a girl." A SALVATION BAND 2Q " If she could only settle down in a home of her own ! " said banker Stanley with something like a sigh, as he rose and took down from its case a priceless meerschaum, " there might be some hope for her. Damn those Salvationists ! Why don't they leave ? parading themselves like a pack of fools through the best streets of the city." " Oh, they'll go out. Such things don't last long, you know," said Stacey, helping himself to a cigar from a charming filagree silver tray. " Some people take them up, but they're by no means the best, you know. The church don't countenance them much, anyway." " No ; but they can do a good deal of mischief while they stay, that's the trouble. I wonder if they are in any communication with my Molly ? " and he walked uneasily towards the heavily cur- tained window, then back irresolutely, then sat down, muttering between his teeth, "Thank God, they're gone." " Miss Stanley would hardly countenance that," said the young man. " Oh, you don't know Molly. She's the very devil that sounds harsh, but she is the very devil for obstinacy ! Let me tell you, the man who marries her will have his hands full," he added, conscious of the roughness of speech for which he was noted. " I wish I might have the chance to try the experiment," said Stacey, smiling complacently. 3