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<D CAPTAIN MOLLY 
 
 It was easy to see that the young fellow had great 
 faith in himself. He was a man of leisure, with 
 a large bank account ; of good family, priding him- 
 self somewhat on his descent, and knowing little 
 or nothing of the world outside of the circle in 
 which he had been born. 
 
 Reared in an atmosphere of luxury, a member 
 of the Episcopal Church, having passed through 
 all the gradations from chorister to lay-reader, 
 for his ambition led him to consider it a pos- 
 sibility that he could preach as good a sermon 
 as many a graybeard, there was not in all the 
 world, perhaps, a richer, better-principled, or more 
 self-satisfied young prig. But there was some- 
 thing more in him than the qualities that made 
 him a man of the world and a moralist, only he 
 had not found it out yet. Missing his profession, 
 which he gave up at the last moment, saying that 
 he had not the conscience to go into the pulpit as 
 a fraud, for his heart was not in it, he changed 
 from the church to medicine ; but lived the life of 
 a man of leisure, attended his club with the same 
 regularity that he went to service, and found life 
 very agreeable, till he met Molly Stanley. Then 
 it became more than rose-colored it took on the 
 hues of Paradise. 
 
 All his life long, at the regular service, he had 
 sat in the same square pew on the side aisle, fa- 
 cing the body of the church. One Sunday a slen- 
 der maiden, exquisitely gowned, and moving with
 
 A SALVATION BAND 3! 
 
 an air and manner that proclaimed her to the 
 manor born, entered a pew within the ken of his 
 vision, and at once entranced his senses. It was 
 not long before he learned who she was. Every- 
 body was talking of the recent addition. His 
 cousin knew her intimately. " Didn't he think 
 she was lovely, and all that ? " the cousin coquet- 
 tishly asked. Why, she was old Stanley's daugh- 
 ter Stanley the banker, rich as Croesus but 
 a very unworldly girl in spite of her irreligious 
 training ; for everybody knew that banker Stanley 
 was one of the millionaires of the city. 
 
 Not long afterwards Russell Stacey was intro- 
 duced, and his handsome face and attractive man- 
 ners did make some impression on the young girl. 
 But she, carried away with the hope of the world's 
 reformation, in which she was to take no insignifi- 
 cant part, cared for him only as a friend,- and 
 discouraged his suit. 
 
 Not so the banker. Finding that the young 
 man was the son of an old friend, that his char- 
 acter was unblemished and his standing secure, 
 he was almost eager in his desire to encourage 
 him as Molly's suitor.
 
 32 CAPTAIN MOLLY 
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 A CONFIDENTIAL TALK 
 The meaning of song goes deep. 
 
 ENSIGN HARRY looked in vain for some sign of 
 recognition from Molly Stanley, as the small body 
 of Salvationists labored at the wavering strains 
 of "The Sweet By and By." They were all tired 
 and longing for their beds, but they were trained 
 to obey orders. 
 
 " Perhaps we'd better go on," said Harry the 
 ensign, lifting her poke bonnet to get a breath 
 of fresh air, and disclosing a sweet face and tired 
 blue eyes. Thereupon the captain gave orders, 
 and the company went marching along, the cornets 
 getting fainter and fainter. 
 
 Meantime Molly had gone to her room with a 
 cousin who was visiting her, one of the prettiest 
 and most fashionable girls in the city. The two 
 had left young Stacey after their nine o'clock tea, 
 to talk over matters pertaining to some fancy 
 charitable fair in which they were interested. 
 
 " I don't know but I'd as lief have stayed down- 
 stairs longer," Lucy Garland said, throwing her- 
 self into a big be-ruffled, be-pillowed chair in white
 
 A CONFIDENTIAL TALK 33 
 
 and gold ; " Russel Stacey is singularly handsome. 
 Oh, how handsome! What in the world makes 
 you so indifferent to him ? I'd fly with such a 
 lover to the end of the world." 
 
 " I wish you would take him off my hands, 
 then," Molly responded, taking possession of 
 another big chair, in the downy depths of which 
 her pretty figure was almost concealed. 
 
 "Oh ! he wouldn't think of me when you were 
 by. Why, the man idolizes you, Molly. The way 
 he looks at you ! Why, it makes me positively 
 wild. No one ever worshipped me as he does you 
 and I'm not bad looking, either," she added 
 complacently, turning her head towards a cheval 
 mirror. " Why don't you like him, Molly ?" 
 
 " Well, because I don't, I suppose," Molly an- 
 swered indolently. 
 
 " I'm sure there isn't a pair of eyes like his, I 
 mean exactly like, in the world." 
 
 " I really don't know what color they are," said 
 Molly. 
 
 " One can hardly forgive him for not going on 
 with his profession," Lucy rattled on. " Fancy 
 him in a gown with fifty dollars worth of embroi- 
 dery worked on it, and a stole, made by the young 
 ladies of the church. Oh, dear ! what a handsome 
 clergyman he would have made ; and I'll bet " 
 beauty in private is not always choice of its lan- 
 guage " then you would have married him. Now 
 he's a horrid doctor ! "
 
 34 CAPTAIN MOLLY 
 
 " No ; not if he had been a clergyman twice 
 over," was the decided reply. " I don't intend to 
 marry. You know that." 
 
 "Fiddlesticks! I'm two years older than you 
 are. When I was eighteen I determined never, 
 never, NEVER to marry. I wouldn't turn my back 
 on a good chance now, I promise you." 
 
 " You have plenty of lovers," said Molly laconi- 
 cally. 
 
 "No; not good ones good looks, good manners, 
 and a good fortune ! I could have Maurice Meeks, 
 I suppose, a widower, a fortune, and with three 
 children for whom he wants a mother ; or young 
 Briggs, with plenty of money and no brains ; or 
 Colonel Dewey, with a chin that stands out like 
 a fort, and only wants a flag with the motto : ' No 
 surrender' upon it. Oh, yes, there are plenty of 
 that kind, but not one like your adorer. His very 
 name is musical." 
 
 Molly laughed, and then relapsed into thought. 
 
 " I say, Molly, why didn't you go into a sister- 
 hood ? I never saw a girl with your advantages 
 so utterly indifferent to all that the world can give. 
 If my father was a banker, which he never will 
 be only a cashier in Uncle Stanley's bank, and 
 I had the money that passes through your hands, 
 I should be perfectly happy. I'd ask no more of 
 this world not even a husband ; " and Lucy Gar- 
 land sank back with closed eyes and folded hands, 
 her blond curls melting into the golden shade of
 
 A CONFIDENTIAL TALK 35 
 
 the cretonne that formed a sort of halo about her 
 head. 
 
 " You're awfully pretty, Lu," said Molly, rousing 
 herself a little ; "a great deal nicer looking than I 
 am. You ought to be in my position ; and I 
 well, if I was poor, I should know just what to do." 
 
 "Join the Salvation Army, perhaps," Lu, said, 
 laughing. 
 
 " Indeed I would," Molly said, with so much 
 gravity and such decided emphasis that Lu's 
 cheeks lost their rich color, and she started up- 
 right in her chair. 
 
 " You don't mean it, Cousin Molly ! you can't 
 mean it ! " she cried explosively. 
 
 " I do mean it, Lu. No other life seems to me 
 to be worth the living," was the response. 
 
 " Not to march round with that ragamuffin 
 crowd that set of of jail-birds ; " and the words 
 were spoken with irritating emphasis. 
 
 " 'Tisn't the marching, but the good they do. 
 They go right where Christ sent his disciples, in 
 the by-ways and the alleys. I might march, and 
 I might not ; but I covet the crown they are earn- 
 ing by their noble efforts. You don't know them 
 as I do." 
 
 " Know them, no, I hope not. I most devoutly 
 hope not," said Lu with a shudder. " Dirt is re- 
 pulsive to me, common humanity turns me sick, 
 for I hate the gutters. The Salvation Army ! 
 Ugh ! Captain Molly Stanley, the daughter of the
 
 36 CAPTAIN MOLLY 
 
 eminent banker, cheek by jowl with the most dis- 
 reputable body of slummers that the world has 
 ever seen. Do you know what it means ? Social 
 ostracism ! Even / wouldn't speak to you. But 
 come," her mood changed, " get you into some re- 
 spectable nunnery, but will me your jewels and 
 your nice wardrobe first, if you must do something 
 startling. Heavens and earth !" She covered her 
 face with her hands, and fell back exhausted. 
 
 " I wish you had everything belonging to me, 
 Lu, position, lover, and all. You see, I feel that 
 I am leading a false life, and consequently I am 
 not happy. I cannot be ! I cannot be ! " she cried, 
 wringing her hands, a sob in her voice. "Some- 
 thing is telling me all the time to be true to my- 
 self, to throw aside the pomps and vanities " 
 
 " To put on a coal-scuttle poke, and take on the 
 sweat and grime of the worst purlieus of the 
 city," Lu broke in. 
 
 " To try to save souls ! " said Molly with a grave 
 face and solemn voice. " I am rich ; I am a Church- 
 woman ; I sit under an eloquent clergyman who 
 talks most pathetically about the sorrows of the 
 poor. We sing, comfortably seated and fashion- 
 ably dressed, the ' Sweet By and By,' looking for- 
 ward to another form of existence ; but what of 
 the present life ? What of the crushed spirits that 
 can't get out to any church ? can't get clothes ! 
 can't get food ! What of the horrible present, 
 while men, women and children are starving,
 
 A CONFIDENTIAL TALK 37 
 
 and can find no way to the Sweet By and By ? 
 Last Sunday we took up a collection for the poor 
 just a few within our own ken. Mamie Riv- 
 ers sang a solo, ' Rescue the Perishing ' who 
 is going to do it ? Beyond giving a pittance, 
 not a fashionable woman in that fashionable 
 church ! How sweetly sad everybody looked ! 
 Old Colonel Turner, with his pale, handsome, 
 sanctified face, every hair of glistening silver, who 
 owns tenement houses and gin palaces by the 
 dozen, looked up to the ceiling in the most pa- 
 thetic, saint-like way. I suppose he gave a dollar 
 in exchange for the hundreds he steals from the 
 horribly wretched slums in this metropolis. I 
 wonder how many bless his gray hairs? I heard 
 an old man with hair as white as his cursing him 
 last week. There he stood, with his poor old 
 wife, one of the sweetest, saddest faces! and oh, 
 dear, the day was bitterly cold ! There stood 
 those two dear souls, who have seen better days, 
 on the snowy sidewalk, their wretched belong- 
 ings, a broken stove, a few quilts and pillows, a 
 chair or two, all the poor pitiful little household 
 goods dumped in the snow and water. I don't 
 wonder he cursed him. Before Heaven, I could 
 have cursed him too ! " 
 
 Molly was rash, she was an enthusiast, she was 
 very young. Later, when years brought wisdom, 
 and her judgment had grown clearer, she saw how 
 God even in his church allows the tares to grow 
 side by side with the wheat.
 
 38 CAPTAIN MOLLY 
 
 She had risen, her eyes blazing, her slight figure 
 raised to its utmost indignant height. Just at 
 that moment came the strains of "The Sweet By 
 and By " on the silent night air. From the win- 
 dows where costly velvet curtains were partly 
 drawn aside stole upon the sight a new moon, a 
 few vividly bright stars set in the deeps of the 
 heavens. 
 
 Molly's hands fell. Tear-drops sparkled on her 
 lashes. Lu, with both hands on the arms of the 
 great chair, gazed at her cousin, awed into silence. 
 On came the little band, nearer and nearer, then 
 stopped. There were not many instruments, a 
 flute, a violin, a cornet, a horn or two, a drum, 
 but just now they were all in tune. 
 
 " They are stopping here," whispered Lu, look- 
 ing out carefully. 
 
 "Yes; don't let yourself be seen," Molly said 
 in an exhausted voice ; " I don't want to make 
 papa any angrier than he is. I suppose they are 
 paying me a compliment. They know how I feel, 
 at least Ensign Harry knows." 
 
 "Ensign Harry!" Lu repeated, curiously look- 
 ing round with knitted brows. "A man ? " 
 
 "A girl, older than I am, and much prettier; an 
 English girl, who left all the comforts of home, 
 and a lover she loved dearly, at the call of the 
 Master. Oh, if you could hear her ! The stories 
 of wretchedness she tells would sink into your 
 heart."
 
 A CONFIDENTIAL TALK 39 
 
 " I don't want to. I haven't a bit of talent that 
 way. It would kill me, and I don't want to die. 
 A woman ! an ensign ! What a terrible thing it 
 is ! She'd better have married her lover, and 
 made one home and one heart happier. Instead 
 of that marching with men and boys working 
 in disgusting dens. No, Molly, I don't want any 
 of it ; neither do you. Be content with the state 
 in which it has pleased Providence to place you." 
 
 " You think all this sin, suffering, and misery 
 please God, then ? " 
 
 "I don't know anything about it. I don't want 
 to know anything about it. I suppose there's 
 some reason for the slums, but it's all awfully 
 disgusting to me. Take me to a picture-gallery, 
 but spare me the tenement houses. They're vul- 
 gar. Everything outside of cleanliness and de- 
 cency is vulgar. And the idea of you connecting 
 yourself with such a miserable organization is 
 worse than all. Molly, are you crazy?" 
 
 "Would you think me crazy if I turned over all 
 my fine things to you, and took my place with 
 those humble people ? " Molly asked. 
 
 "I certainly should," her cousin said. "I al- 
 most fear you are." 
 
 The little band outside at last moved on, and 
 softer and sadder grew the strains, while the two 
 girls listened, the one all fervor, the other all fear.
 
 4O CAPTAIN MOLLY 
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 NAN 
 
 Pray Heaven for a human heart, 
 And let your selfish sorrow go. 
 
 " BUT you see, Reine, I was so overjoyed ! It 
 must have been that for the thought that I had 
 a son, a boy ! quite overcame me, and I had to 
 drink his health. But that is the last time I 
 swear it is the last time ! I have some splendid 
 designs in my brain, mad though it was last night ; 
 and I promise you I will bring home money for 
 you and the boy for my wife and my son ! " 
 
 Sebastian stood up proudly, his face all aglow 
 with the satisfaction which his own words created. 
 
 Reine had no difficulty in believing him. How 
 could a man with such a face and figure, albeit 
 the lines of both were sadly distrait, falsify his 
 word ? And although he had done so a thousand 
 times, she was willing to believe and receive him 
 again and again. 
 
 There was a knock at the crazy door. Blue 
 eyes, a bewitching little aigrette on the folds of 
 an exquisite hat, a faultlessly gloved, gowned, 
 and booted figure presented itself, as the painter
 
 NAN 41 
 
 opened the door. Mutually they stood and stared ; 
 Molly at the unwonted apparition of a man whose 
 presence, though battered and ill-dressed, marked 
 him for a gentleman ; Sebastian at the lovely vis- 
 ion standing in flesh and blood before him. 
 
 Reine, bolstered up by pillows, looked so ethe- 
 real, the faint scarlet of surprise flushing her 
 cheeks, and the delight of seeing her visitor 
 bringing a rush of tears to her soft bright eyes, 
 that Miss Stanley could hardly keep back an ejac- 
 ulation of admiration. Who were these dwellers 
 in the lower world whose natural affinity for the 
 pure and the beautiful had evidently been tam- 
 pered with by shrewish fate ? 
 
 " It's by the help of the good people in Paradise 
 Flats that we look so nice, baby and me," said 
 Reine honestly, as a heavy basket was deposited 
 by a supercilious boy in livery at the side of the 
 bed, during which operation Sebastian, too shame- 
 faced to stay, had flitted. " I haven't got many 
 good things of my own, but they all take so much 
 interest in the baby, you know," with a seraphic 
 smile. " See, he has a nice little cambric long 
 gown, the only one I ever bought for him and 
 then was taken sick before I could finish it. Miss 
 Martin did it took it up-stairs and made the 
 whole, little cap and all. They're awful poor 
 here, and you wouldn't look at some, maybe 
 small blame too ; but you don't know how kind 
 they are. Somebody's sending me down some-
 
 42 CAPTAIN MOLLY 
 
 thing every day. The closet is quite full of good 
 things to eat. I know they drink, some of them, 
 and quarrel and fight ; but dear me, unless they're 
 starving they always think of them that's worse 
 off. And they all love the baby ! " 
 
 "I don't wonder," was the rejoinder; " but they 
 won't need to trouble themselves any longer in 
 the matter of clothes. In that hamper there is 
 everything your baby will need till it is quite 
 grown. Some were given me, and some I bought." 
 
 The door at the back staircase opened. 
 
 Enveloped in an old red-and-black shawl which 
 dragged behind her, and with a brown, battered, 
 old-world-looking violin-case in her hand, Nan en- 
 tered, her poor little face swelled and disfigured 
 by tears. She was evidently quite surprised to 
 see a visitor, and began to back out. 
 
 " Don't go, Nan. This lady will excuse you," 
 said Reine. " She has just lost her father, miss ; 
 and she is bringing his old violin down here for 
 safe keeping," she went on, as Nan stood irreso- 
 lute, her great eyes glowing and palpitating the 
 eyes of Italia. 
 
 " Come here, child ! and is the violin for 
 sale ? " asked Molly, regarding the girl with new 
 interest. 
 
 " No ! oh, no, indeed ! no ! Even father wouldn't 
 sell it to buy wine with when he needed it so 
 much. He left it for me ; it's mine ! " she sobbed 
 " mine ! " clutching it to her bosom.
 
 NAN 43 
 
 " She plays a little herself, the child," said 
 Reine "on the street. Once her father led the 
 orchestra, but he took sick. Her mother died 
 five years ago, her father yesterday. Oh, no ; she 
 only fears that somebody will take the violin, for 
 rent or something; and I told her to bring it here. 
 He lays dead up-stairs. A good old man he was, 
 with white hair so good ! " 
 
 " And is money due on the rent, my poor 
 child ? " asked Molly, all palpitating with tender 
 sorrow. 
 
 " Yes, miss ; and it will take me a great while 
 to pay it. As soon as as he is buried," she 
 added chokingly, " I will go out on the street to 
 play. Sometimes I make as high as a quarter a 
 day ; but when he was so ill, he needed me, I 
 could not go. Mrs. Sebastian gave me a dollar 
 yesterday, and that will help. Then by and by I 
 will pay her back." 
 
 " And how much more rent is due ? " Molly 
 asked. 
 
 " Three dollars. The landlord couldn't put him 
 out, you know, sick as he was, though he is a 
 hard man ; and of course," she added, as an after- 
 thought, "the rent was due, and the money is his ; 
 but if he will only give me time, and not take the 
 bed, I will certainly pay him !" 
 
 "You certainly shall; and here is the amount 
 and a little over," said Molly, pressing a five-dol- 
 lar bill into the child's hand.
 
 44 CAPTAIN MOLLY 
 
 " O miss ! I'll pay you back, every cent ! " the 
 ready tears starting again. " How good you are ! 
 and you don't know me, either." 
 
 " You shall pay me by playing sometime," was 
 the answer, as the girl thrust the violin out of 
 sight under the bed. 
 
 " Is that the best shawl you have ? " Molly 
 asked. 
 
 "That's the best ; and I'm going to let her have 
 my hat for the funeral," Reine made haste to 
 say. "And only think, poor as they are here, the 
 people made a collection, and got enough for a 
 coffin. Of course he must be buried at the city's 
 expense, in the Potter's Field." 
 
 "That's what hurts," the child began sobbing 
 afresh. " If he could only be buried by mamma. 
 She's got a good grave-lot, because papa was do- 
 ing well, and now they must be separated." 
 
 How she reached the room at the top of the 
 house, holding by broken rails, stumbling over 
 children, and half-choked by the peculiar aroma 
 of soap-suds, Molly never knew ; but when Nan 
 applied the key, and the door opened upon a room 
 with one chair, something that did duty for a 
 table, and a bedstead, her heart sank at the sight. 
 
 The finely lined features of the dead pauper 
 presented an almost Byronic delicacy of contour. 
 The white hair curled back from a noble brow, 
 the thin, aristocratic, and well-marked nose, the
 
 NAN 45 
 
 pathetic curve of the lips, made up in refinement 
 for the lack of better surroundings and the pov- 
 erty of his general garb. It was as if in death the 
 lofty spirit lifted itself tentatively in this miser- 
 able place, and asserted its kinship with the best. 
 
 Poor little Nan knelt down by the bed, and 
 buried her face in the thin woollen quilt. Then 
 she looked up again. 
 
 " They're going to put clean white sheets on," 
 she said. " Everybody liked father." 
 
 " And do you remember when he led the or- 
 chestra ? " asked Molly. 
 
 " Oh, yes ; I was very little. He took me with 
 him sometimes, and I ran round by the outside 
 rails, I was so little. He had a silver stick in his 
 hand, all silver ; it was given him for a present, 
 and we had to pawn it, only think ! But what 
 could he do when he got so sick ? He never was 
 quite well, but he would go in any storm to play 
 in halls or at concerts. Afterwards he went on 
 the streets, and he played the violin and I sang. 
 Then we made money enough to be comfortable. 
 But he grew worse, and I had to go out alone. O 
 poor father, poor father ! And only little Nan to 
 care for you ! " 
 
 Miss Stanley soothed the child's grief as best 
 she could ; and the little plan she had formed in 
 her mind was carefully and thoroughly carried 
 out. 
 
 People who saw the simple funeral on the next
 
 46 CAPTAIN MOLLY 
 
 day, followed by the Salvationists playing softly 
 and sadly some of the old familiar hymns, stopped 
 and wondered. There was one carriage, in which 
 a few of the best neighbors and little Nan herself 
 sat wondering. At the funerals that took place in 
 Paradise Flats there were seldom any carriages.
 
 ENSIGN HARRY 47 
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 ENSIGN HARRY 
 And all hearts bless her as she passes by. 
 
 IT could not be said of the dwellers in Paradise 
 Flats that they were lonely. I grant you that the 
 newly rich, living in their palace homes, strangers 
 to the haut ton, and moving drearily through their 
 expensively decorated homes, may have everything 
 that money can give, everything but the one they 
 crave, the social element. That was not want- 
 ing, such as it was, among our dwellers in the 
 great tenement house. No. 4 drifted into No. 5, 
 and imparted all the stores of her knowledge. 
 No. 6 told alarming stories of No. 5 ; and the con- 
 sequence was, that there was no end of rows, but 
 also no end of sociability. A few who had lived 
 their lives in better surroundings knew how to 
 keep their places. Mrs. Ryder, the tailoress, 
 never went to any of the receptions she called 
 them "sprees" held by her neighbors, above or 
 below. An invitation would have insulted her. 
 
 Nan and her father had liv-ed at the top of the 
 house there were seven stories in Paradise 
 Flats. The higher they went, some people said,
 
 48 CAPTAIN MOLLY 
 
 the more exclusive they were. Certainly the 
 rents were cheaper. 
 
 When Nan came home from the funeral, Miss 
 Stanley was waiting for her. The child wore a 
 neat dark dress given her by her new friend. 
 Her hat was trimmed with white ribbons. 
 
 "I don't like to see children in black," Miss 
 Stanley said emphatically to her new acquaint- 
 ance, Reine. 
 
 And now, what was to be done with the girl ? 
 The child herself pleaded to go back to the old 
 place. She was quite competent, she said, to take 
 care of herself. Had she not earned money for 
 her father for two years ? Miss Stanley objected 
 to this, and made arrangements with a Mrs. Mc- 
 Kisseth, a comely, red-cheeked little Irish woman 
 who lived just under the roof, to give her a cor- 
 ner, and a sup and bite until she should be able to 
 help herself. There she left her, clutching the 
 old baize violin-case that contained King Solo- 
 mon, and crying her eyes out. As Molly was go- 
 ing down the dark stairs, a door suddenly opened, 
 and a waft of sunshine and perfumed air came out 
 into the leaden atmosphere. A plain bonnet, a 
 sweet, sad face, a cry of delight, and hands were 
 clasped. 
 
 " Why, Ensign Harry ! " 
 
 " Dear, dear Miss Stanley ! " 
 
 " I didn't know you were at home," said Molly. 
 
 " I have just come in. Won't you look at my
 
 ENSIGN HARRY 49 
 
 room ? " was the response. " I was not going out 
 for anything special." 
 
 The key was applied, and the door opened. 
 
 " What a cosey little den ! " cried Molly. 
 
 " Yes ; it is rather so. I prize the sunlight 
 beyond everything, and here I get it almost all 
 day." 
 
 Even Miss Stanley's fastidious eyes could see 
 no fault in the arrangement of the few pieces of 
 furniture. A small rug laid on a painted floor, 
 a couch, four chairs, three choice little pictures, 
 some delicate pieces of china, a few home-made 
 decorations. 
 
 "I like to make it as cosey as possible; for 
 where I live, there is my work," said Ensign 
 Harry, bringing out the best chair for her friend. 
 
 " And you live here alone ? " 
 
 " That is the hardest part of it," said the little 
 woman. 
 
 " Are you not afraid ? " 
 
 " Not in the least. My dress protects me. I 
 could go in and out at all hours of the night. 
 Everybody respects the uniform," she added, smil- 
 ing. "All the people in this place are friendly. 
 Sometimes they can be influenced in a general 
 way. It is a great work. To see the results in a 
 well-ordered life, cruel, beastly natures changed, 
 drunkards reclaimed, families living in peace and 
 anxious for culture, repays one for all the self- 
 denial the work entails. My home people are
 
 SO CAPTAIN MOLLY 
 
 very angry with me, though ; that is the one sad 
 thing about it." 
 
 " Did they need your help ? Did you leave 
 them in a way your conscience could not quite 
 justify?" asked Molly. 
 
 " Oh, no ; my father is a large mill-owner ; my 
 sisters are all at home except one, who is married. 
 I was not specially needed there. They simply 
 did not want me to ally myself with what they 
 call the lower orders. You know how English 
 people feel about such things ; they don't like the 
 uniform, the strolling life. It was no easy thing 
 for me to decide to break away from all the dear- 
 est ties of family and friends " her voice broke 
 a little. " There was one well, I must not talk 
 about him. He loved me, and I loved him ; but 
 I gave him up " a ring of suppressed triumph 
 sounded through her voice. " I think I did it 
 cheerfully, though for a time my heart rebelled. 
 But could I live in idleness and luxury, and all 
 those miserable breaking hearts calling for help?" 
 A sweet, sad smile overspread her face. " It is 
 a glorious privilege, this of saving men and 
 women, of saving them for this life, even if they 
 will not think of the other. Good temperate fire- 
 sides and honest affection, I think, sometimes help 
 in fitting souls for the kingdom ; and if you get no 
 farther than that, it is a grand work to do." 
 
 " Oh, nobly grand ! " was Molly's response ; " a 
 work above all work that I should like to do. I
 
 ENSIGN HARRY 51 
 
 have no mother, no brothers, no sisters. I was 
 born rich ; I have never known anything outside 
 of a luxurious life, but it is not a happy one." 
 
 Ensign Harry (her Christian name was Harriet) 
 regarded her visitor with speculative eyes. She 
 saw in her the ready wit, the easy, graceful man- 
 ner, of the woman of the world. In her own little 
 North-country home, there had never been any 
 very exciting social duties. Now and then a visit 
 to the city, here a concert, there a lecture ; but to 
 Miss Stanley, the etiquette and elegance of society 
 must be as native to her nature as the breath she 
 drew. 
 
 It was that which made her launch out into most 
 graphic descriptions of the life she led, the mis- 
 eries, degradation, filth, unsavoriness of living, 
 which they encountered not daily, but hourly ; and 
 she drew a quick breath when, after the pictured 
 unwholesomeness of it all, her listener said, 
 
 "That is living! that is just what I should like 
 to do ! " 
 
 "But your father! " said Ensign Harry, clasping 
 and unclasping her thin, shapely fingers, noting 
 every detail in the soft percale dress of palest 
 blue, the dainty gloves, the lace that in snowy 
 flutings encircled her throat, the pretty straw hat 
 with its small white wing, emphasizing above the 
 blue trimmings the snowy tints of her skin ; 
 " what would he say ? " 
 
 "I don't know;" and Molly gazed abstractedly
 
 52 CAPTAIN MOLLY 
 
 at the slender foot just peeping from under the 
 folds of her dress ; " I suppose he would be very 
 angry. He might disown me. I'm sure all my 
 fashionable friends would. But then, you know," 
 her face brightened, " he that would do the King's 
 commands may be called upon to leave father and 
 mother. If I am called " she hesitated. 
 
 " Yes, if you are called ! " said Ensign Harry ; 
 "you must first be sure of that." 
 
 " You left father and mother, and even more," 
 said Molly. 
 
 " I did ; and I have never been sorry," was the 
 reply. The blue eyes were hidden now, the whole 
 face was in shadow, the hands lay passive in her 
 lap. 
 
 " Then, why not I ? " questioned Molly. 
 
 " Oh, the work is grand yes but I some- 
 times ask how can even God be satisfied with such 
 small results. The drunkards are past computing, 
 the wickedness of the wicked is terrible. The 
 whole sea of fallen humanity is seething, and we 
 can only throw one small candlelight upon here 
 and there a wave. It is very discouraging some- 
 times." 
 
 " But to save one ! " said Molly. 
 
 " Yes, to save one ! " Ensign Harry looked up, 
 a flash of rapture in her eyes ; " it is like catching 
 glimpses of heaven here and there." 
 
 Molly went home after a brief visit to Reine and 
 Baby Bassett. On her way she passed Sebastian
 
 ENSIGN HARRY 53 
 
 outlining a wonderful group on the pavement with 
 chalk. The man pulled his ragged felt hat over 
 his eyes, and bent lower to his task. Miss Stan- 
 ley was ashamed of him, for him, and passed rap- 
 idly by. This caricature of genius, grubbing for a 
 penny while full purses and palace homes waited 
 his pleasure if only his manhood could conquer, 
 angered her. 
 
 " I will try ! I will try ! " she said to herself. 
 " If only to save him ! This life I shall like, 
 have never more than tolerated the other."
 
 54 CAPTAIN MOLLY 
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 RUSSELL STAGEY 
 A home in -which the heart can live, 
 
 MOLLY sped homeward. A lackey, obsequious 
 and well-uniformed, let her into the trim splendor 
 of the hall. It was four o'clock, and she knew 
 her father was at home. A faint odor of cigar- 
 smoke impregnated the air. As she went farther 
 on, she heard voices, and knew that Russell 
 Stacey was with her father. 
 
 She ran lightly up-stairs, only half pleased at 
 the reflection that perhaps he would stay to din- 
 ner. 
 
 Stacey and the banker were talking about the 
 merits of the last race ; at least, Stacey, who had 
 witnessed the performance, was relating the de- 
 tails of the sport in his own way. 
 
 " Of the eighteen nominations," said the fair- 
 haired young fellow, leaning back, one leg thrown 
 over the rich velvet arm of a big chair, " but two 
 horses faced the starter, and Madge was the warm- 
 est kind of a favorite. Maid Marian at once took 
 the lead with Madge, and kept it all the way round 
 to the last furlong pole, when Janning, who had
 
 RUSSELL STAGEY 55 
 
 Jenny Wales well in hand, and close by, began to 
 force the pace. They came down by the stretch 
 almost neck and neck ; but by clever riding, Madge 
 was shot ahead just at the judges' stand, and won 
 by a neck. I tell you that's the horse for my 
 money. I won a clear two thousand by her." 
 
 " Stacey, you ought to be a Bohemian," said the 
 banker, after a pause. 
 
 " I am a born one," was the laughing re- 
 joinder, " as far as taste is concerned." 
 
 "Yet you're always lucky." 
 
 " Always, in most things," was the reply, 
 "things that are not vital to my happiness. How- 
 ever, perhaps I belong to the vagabond class, after 
 all. I'm never so happy as when, in some of those 
 down-town studios, I can watch and work with the 
 devil-may-care fellows one meets there." 
 
 "What kind of work do they do?" asked the 
 banker. 
 
 " Oh, simply pot-boilers, most of them. They're 
 a fraternity, club together for their models, their 
 meals, and enjoy rollicking good times. Most of 
 them like their potations better than their paint- 
 ing. Those are the daubers that put lots of blue 
 in the sky, and painful dabs of green in the foli- 
 age. Occasionally you'll meet a genius, a real 
 genius, there. One fellow comes in sometimes in 
 a slouch hat, and, well, you might as well say 
 rags, who, it is said, is the son of an English 
 nobleman. Remarkably fine-looking. Briton to
 
 56 CAPTAIN MOLLY 
 
 the back-bone, and the possessor of more than the 
 average of manly beauty. Yet he makes a mis- 
 erable living by chalking pictures on the pave- 
 ment. Think of that for a full-grown man, and 
 a scion of nobility perhaps!" 
 
 " Of course he is worthless," said the banker. 
 
 "Yes ; I'm afraid so. Even the Salvation Army 
 hasn't caught him yet. By-the-by, is Miss Stan- 
 ley still anxious to throw in her lot with that pe- 
 culiar people ? " 
 
 " I have heard nothing to the contrary," said 
 the banker. " It's a fad, you know ; and she is 
 not going to content herself till she joins them." 
 
 "Great Scott ! you wouldn't allow it," the young 
 fellow exclaimed, taking his cigar between finger 
 and thumb. 
 
 " What's the good of fighting ? I have come to 
 a decision about it." 
 
 " And pray, what is that ? " 
 
 " To let her go. That means punishment. If I 
 refused that would mean tyranny. It won't last 
 long." 
 
 " But great Heaven ! a young and beautiful girl 
 without protection ! subject to all sorts of in- 
 sults." 
 
 " Sit down, my boy," said the banker ; for young 
 Stacey, impelled by a violent emotion, had risen 
 and was walking back and forth ; " let me give 
 you a few of my reasons. In the first place, I 
 promised my wife when she was dying not to
 
 RUSSELL STAGEY 57 
 
 interfere with Molly's religious convictions. In 
 the second, I am sure this romantic sentiment 
 will wear itself out. In the third, if I don't give 
 my consent, she will go without it, which will be 
 equivalent to her running away, and will make 
 no end of scandal. She anticipates a refusal ; 
 instead, I will made her way as smooth as pos- 
 sible ; that will quash the romance, the idea of 
 self-immolation, and all that nonsense. Besides, 
 I'm not unwilling that she should punish herself 
 by coming face to face with poverty yes, and 
 even crime. She is of a sensitive nature, with all 
 her philanthropical notions ; and the thing will 
 naturally disgust her. Thus, in making the way 
 easy for her, I am the more effectually barring it. 
 There's no use in talking. Like a well-trained 
 father, I must submit." 
 
 " But what in the devil am /to do ? " and young 
 Stacey turned his handsome, almost haggard face 
 toward the banker. 
 
 " Young man," was the retort, " Molly is more 
 than I can manage ; you must look out for your- 
 self." 
 
 " And I will, by heavens! " muttered the young 
 fellow ; " I'll speak to her to-night. I love that 
 girl better than my own life. I vow to God I will 
 conquer her ! " 
 
 Miss Stanley looked provokingly pretty at din- 
 ner-time in her simple but artistic white dress. 
 If possible, the white became her better than the
 
 58 CAPTAIN MOLLY 
 
 blue. Its filmy folds fell about her lithe, slender 
 figure like a silvery mist ; and the sweetness and 
 delicacy of her manner sent a thrill through the 
 veins of Russell Stacey, as he pictured her in a 
 cotton gown and nondescript bonnet. 
 
 After dinner she played and sang, with the fin- 
 ish of a well-trained amateur, and then young 
 Stacey drew her away by himself into an arched 
 recess lined with silver gray drapery. 
 
 " I am determined to protest," thought he, "and 
 to propose." 
 
 " I might as well give him his quietus," said 
 Molly to herself. 
 
 " Do you think your father is as well as usual ? " 
 he began. 
 
 " Papa ! " It was with a real start and a shiver 
 of terror that she turned upon him. 
 
 " Yes ; isn't there a little j ust a little languor ? " 
 he went on "you see him more than I do. 
 But then you know my profession enables me to 
 be more observing than ordinary. I watch him 
 critically. Is there any tendency to heart-trou- 
 ble ? " 
 
 " You alarm me, Mr. Stacey. My father looks 
 no less vigorous to me now than he did ten years 
 ago," said Molly. 
 
 " Then perhaps I am too professional in my 
 observations. He certainly has the appearance of 
 a man -who suffers not continually, you under- 
 stand, but at times from heart-trouble."
 
 RUSSELL STAGEY 59 
 
 Miss Stanley felt her own heart quake a little. 
 Was it possible that his quick eyes had noticed 
 what might pass unnoticed by her? And if her 
 father had heart-trouble, then it behooved her to 
 watch him carefully, and allow nothing to happen 
 which might tend to quicken his pulses or trouble 
 his mind. Unfortunately for him, she caught a 
 glimpse of his eye that put her on her guard. 
 
 " Mr. Stacey, you are a full-fledged doctor, 
 aren't you ? " she asked. 
 
 "Certainly I am," he replied. 
 
 " Then why don't you practise ? You might 
 begin on papa," she added slyly. 
 
 It was a pertinent question, yet altogether a 
 piece of sly impertinence. He felt the blood sur- 
 ging over his forehead. 
 
 " Why really I haven't the least need, you 
 know," he made answer. 
 
 " Oh, of course I am aware that you are rich 
 enough to live without a profession," and her 
 voice rang with sarcasm ; " but why not practise 
 among the poor, and give your services ? " 
 
 " I might answer because I don't choose to," 
 he said ; " but really, you are so so downright 
 practical that you confuse me," he said. 
 
 " I only asked you a simple question," was the 
 girl's rejoinder, the blue eyes looking innocently 
 into his own. "Why just think! Who can 
 measure the good you might do ? " 
 
 " Why, so I might," he replied, amused at her
 
 6O CAPTAIN MOLLY 
 
 earnestness. "Well, I'll practise on one condi- 
 tion." 
 
 " And that ? " she asked, smiling. 
 
 " That you will be willing to share the chances 
 of a doctor's life with me. Good heavens, it is 
 slavery, you know ! No night, no day, no hour 
 even, that he can call his own, running the 
 risk of contagion, small-pox, yellow-fever, cholera, 
 blood-poison charming list, isn't it ? But all 
 this I will do and dare for your sake, Miss Stan- 
 ley ; may I speak to your father ? He does not, 
 I hope, object to having me for a son-in-law. 
 Come, now, acknowledge I have been frank." 
 
 " Yes, you have," she made answer ; and though 
 the two cheeks were flushed with brighter than 
 their usual soft carmine, she did not flinch. " I 
 will be equally frank," she continued. " I do not 
 love you enough to marry you. I shall never love 
 any man. My life will be devoted to other pur- 
 poses." 
 
 " I do not love my profession sufficiently to 
 practise it ; but for your sake, I would willingly 
 sacrifice my dearest inclinations," he said ; and 
 said it sincerely. Instinctively she looked up, and 
 knew in that moment that she was nearer to lov- 
 ing him than she had ever been in her life. The 
 glances he gave her revealed depths of feeling. 
 His lovely Saxon beauty, the curls of his bronze- 
 colored hair, the rare perfection of his features, 
 the reality of his love, all held her spellbound
 
 RUSSELL STAGEY 6 1 
 
 for the moment. She must break this thrall, 
 however. The current of her chosen life must 
 not, should not, be turned. After all, naturally, 
 the man before her was an indolent, smoking, 
 wine-drinking, racing, self-worshipping man. So 
 she had chosen to regard him, and so he was. 
 To marry him was, in her unworldly estimation, 
 almost to throw her soul away. For a moment 
 his beauty captivated her ; and she even said to 
 herself, " If he were a professional man, and/00r, 
 and Jiad side whiskers, what a splendid creature 
 he would be ! " I give her thought, which was 
 girlish, if irrelevant. 
 
 " Mr. Stacey, I have a mission in life," she said 
 simply, putting all the speculation aside. 
 
 " Yes, every woman has, or ought to have," he 
 made ready answer ; and something in his face 
 angered her, she could not have told what. "I 
 also have a mission ; but I need some one to aid 
 me in carrying it out." 
 
 " Your mission is very different from mine, Mr. 
 Russell Stacey ; and there is no doubt but that 
 you can find some one ready and willing to help 
 you. My place is among the poor and miserable. 
 To comfort one forlorn heart I would almost give 
 my life ! " she went on, her fair face lighting up, 
 her voice growing passionate. 
 
 " Behold the one forlorn heart ! " he said, with 
 such a mingling of pathos and tender satire that 
 she laughed a young girl's hearty, natural laugh.
 
 62 CAPTAIN MOLLY 
 
 Then with a pleading and pathos that were almost 
 irresistible, he hummed in an exquisite tenor, 
 softly, sweetly, - 
 
 "My Molly, O!" 
 
 and again the girl felt that she was dangerously 
 near loving him. 
 
 " This is strange love-making," he said after a 
 moment ; " but lightly won, lightly held. I am 
 going to persecute you into becoming my wife." 
 
 " Then our friendship must end here," she said 
 with dignity. " Persecution I expect, and am pre- 
 pared for, but not from you." 
 
 He rose, and went towards a vase of flowers. 
 Extracting therefrom a beautiful tea-rose, he said 
 with more daring than prudence, 
 
 " I select this as a decoration for the poke bon- 
 net, and a reminder of your clean, dainty life. 
 Great God ! You leave a father who needs you, 
 your friends who worship you, the tender asso- 
 ciations of your childhood, the love that would 
 shield you from even one of these thorns, for 
 what ? For things for which I have no name ! 
 You, the sweetest exponent of fair, chaste wo- 
 manhood it has ever been my good fortune to 
 know ! And what will be your reward ? The 
 vilest ingratitude, the immeasurable disgust of 
 your friends, a life without consolation of any 
 kind. Remember, I have warned you." 
 
 They stood apart, both angry, only his anger
 
 RUSSELL STAGEY 63 
 
 was born of an all-conquering love, rejected and 
 despised. 
 
 " Mr. Stacey," she said icily, " I don't wish to 
 quarrel with you good-night," and held out her 
 hand. 
 
 " I won't take your hand," was his bitter re- 
 joinder, "until you can give me your heart with 
 it," and he folded his hands behind him, 
 " but mark my words, you will yet freely give 
 what you now refuse ; for I swear by the heaven 
 above me, you shall some day be my wife ! " 
 
 She remembered afterwards how like a beau- 
 tiful statue she had seen at Rome he stood there, 
 how almost like a god. And yet she was glad 
 she had rejected him. 
 
 "He certainly does love me!" she said that 
 night to her mirror, and after that in fragmentary 
 ejaculations, 
 
 "I'm sure I'm not as beautiful as Cousin Lu. 
 Why couldn't he fall in love, as they call it, with 
 her ? She adores beauty ! And he is gloriously 
 or would have been with side- whiskers. A man 
 should never be clean shaven. I don't care if he 
 is an Adonis. Ensign Harry loved the man she 
 rejected loved him dearly! That was a sacri- 
 fice ! I don't love Russell Stacey ! Pretty near 
 it, though. And, ah ! I see his motive for giving 
 me a fright. Papa heart disease ! Very adroit, 
 Mr . Russell Stacey. You thought I could be 
 frightened into submission, did you ? So you are
 
 64 CAPTAIN MOLLY 
 
 going to persecute me into becoming your wife, 
 are you ? I'm very glad I didn't give him my 
 hand no, I mean that he didn't give me his 
 hand ! Keep it, sir. No doubt it's a very clean, 
 white hand. I wonder if your heart is in harmony 
 with it ? Rich and lazy lazy and rich ! " She 
 had combed her hair back, and stood looking like 
 a snow-white statue in her dainty tiring-gown, so 
 faultlessly fitting, so richly bedight, a marvel of 
 loveliness to be tucked away in as snow-white 
 a bed. Doubtless she was not quite as ready with 
 her prayers, as she knelt down. In the flawless 
 tissue of her imagination she now found rents and 
 jagged holes. She wished she had never known 
 Russell Stacey. Why had he come into her life 
 with his beauty and his indolence ? 
 
 " If it was in him if he was the man he ought 
 to be," she said, as she laid her pretty, girlish 
 head on the pillow, "he would do his duty for 
 God's sake, for humanity's sake, not for the sake 
 of a mere woman." 
 
 "But he loves you!"- said a still, small voice 
 from the interior of the temple. 
 
 " I don't care," was the fierce rejoinder. " Let 
 him go elsewhere with his love. I know what 
 I shall do to-morrow. It will be terrible ! It 
 will be awful ! but I am not to be turned from my 
 life's work. I shall speak to papa ! "
 
 WHAT THE BANKER THOUGHT 6$ 
 
 CHAPTER X 
 
 WHAT THE BANKER THOUGHT 
 
 The stout heart wins the victory 
 
 " CAN I see you a few moments alone, papa ? " 
 his daughter asked timidly, when her father came 
 home from the bank one day, some time after her 
 rejection of Russell Stacey. 
 
 Her heart almost failed her ; but she had prayed, 
 oh, such piteous, fervent prayers, to bear all that 
 might come, scorn, contempt, even blasphemy ; 
 for her father was not choice in his selection of 
 words when in anger. 
 
 " He will threaten me ! he will disown me ! 
 perhaps he will even shake me ! " she said to her- 
 self before she spoke to him. " Even a gentleman 
 sometimes forgets himself when he is very angry. 
 Well, I must be strong, brave, daring, heroic ! I 
 love what I have chosen, and I would make no 
 brave soldier if I could not bear persecution." 
 
 So she asked for an interview. 
 
 " Certainly ; you may have the whole evening," 
 he said. "I don't think any one will come in." 
 
 It was raining ; and the fierce wind rattled the 
 well-braced windows, and moaned and sobbed as it
 
 66 CAPTAIN MOLLY 
 
 went, a wailing, groaning, maddened spirit down 
 the street. 
 
 Miss Stanley had made several visits to Para- 
 dise Flats. She had fallen in love anew with the 
 beautiful little Sebastian, and had been shocked 
 by the mingled evil and good in Sebastian the 
 elder. She had added great bundles of petti- 
 coats, gowns, and aprons to Reine's wardrobe, so 
 pathetically meagre, till the little woman, who had 
 borne in her heart a long pent up but very inno- 
 cent vanity, really began to take pride in her 
 pretty face, and to hope, now that Sebastian saw 
 her at an advantage, he might, for her sake and 
 for the baby's sake, reform. 
 
 As for him, he went on in the old fashion, 
 sometimes violently tender, at times obdurate as 
 iron. He still in his drunken moods painted im- 
 aginary pictures, and held countless and imposing 
 receptions at which his wife was forced to assist. 
 These were grewsome occasions to her. Yet in 
 the midst of all this lavishness of sentiment and 
 supposition of generosity, he still made pictures 
 on the pavements, full of a rude beauty and vital- 
 ity, but in reality plagiarisms of the real thing, 
 the underlying but abused talent, that might have 
 made him fit to stand before kings. 
 
 Reine still washed and ironed and sang over 
 the wash-tub; but Miss Stanley had found her 
 better work, and she bent over the finest laces, 
 the daintiest linen, for which she received boun-
 
 WHAT THE BANKER THOUGHT 6/ 
 
 teous payment. She was a loving little soul, and 
 worshipped goodness and beauty in the person of 
 her benefactress ; while Sebastian the younger, 
 in his pretty frilled dresses, slept in the monster 
 clothes basket, a model of infantile beauty beauty 
 such as it would be no sin to worship. The large 
 eyes of the child seemed to look out of a heaven 
 within into a heaven beyond ; for though born in 
 a cellar, as One of old was 'born in a manger, his 
 heritage might have been that of princes, his line- 
 age also, if commensurate with his dower of per- 
 sonal loveliness. Angelic in beauty, he was also 
 blessed with heavenly sweetness of disposition ; 
 and to see him smile, and slowly turn away the 
 lustrous eyes towards something which no one 
 saw but himself, was simply beatific, or, as Miss 
 Stanley said, ravishing. That Bassett baby had 
 stolen away her heart ; and her dream of with- 
 drawal from the hurly-burly of the world was very 
 much quickened and brightened by the coveted as- 
 sociation with the wonderful child, Sebastian Junior. 
 
 But to return to the banker's reply. 
 
 As he had anticipated, nobody had come in 
 when Miss Stanley made her appearance. The 
 storm still muttered and raved and shrieked ; but 
 the soft lights and shadows of the banker's study, 
 the draperies so warm in tone, the red of the coal 
 fire, the gleam of costly marble, intensified the 
 comfort of its occupants, and made the tempest of 
 winds and waters outside a rose-colored myth.
 
 68 CAPTAIN MOLLY 
 
 " Papa," said Miss Stanley softly ; and inwardly 
 she trembled so that her voice was unsteady, and 
 for a moment she could go no further. 
 
 " I am all attention," her father graciously said, 
 carefully filling the bowl of his amber pipe, which 
 in the softened radiance of the room looked like 
 old ivory fancifully carved. 
 
 The banker was a tall man, and inclined to cor- 
 pulency. Handsome too ; but he had long ago 
 buried the joys of the past with his dead loves, 
 and business was stamped upon his comfortable 
 figure and regular features. Of the earth earthy, 
 he lived but for the accumulation of money. All 
 sorrow over lost opportunities, all pleasure over 
 vanished joys, were gone. The far-off time when 
 he loved the common pleasures of life seemed to 
 him another age. He was essentially the succes- 
 ful man of to-day. 
 
 " Papa, perhaps you know why I came to-night 
 you" - and here she faltered again. 
 
 " State it in a business way, my dear ; I don't 
 think it's money, because I paid you your allow- 
 ance yesterday." 
 
 " Oh, no, papa ! you have always been most gen- 
 erous. But you know what my dearest wish has 
 long been, and that I love " 
 
 " Oh, that's all right ! " was the quick, cheerful 
 response. " I told Russell Stacey to go ahead. 
 He's a fine fellow ! a very fine fellow for one 
 so wealthy as he is," he added, carefully lighting
 
 WHAT THE BANKER THOUGHT 69 
 
 the costly pipe. " It is in every way most grati- 
 fying to me, and I am indeed glad " 
 
 " O papa ! " came the response, in a voice so 
 shrill that the banker actually started. " How 
 could you think ! how can you say such words 
 to me ? Why, I have refused Russell Stacey 
 refused him in such a way that he knows what I 
 mean." 
 
 " What ! refused him ! refused Russell Stacey, 
 a man I love as if he were my own son ! Why 
 under heaven did you refuse him ? What does 
 he lack ? He's the handsomest man living, ac- 
 complished in every way, as wealthy as a prince, 
 and as good as a priest. Why, he's the pick of 
 creation and you refused him ! " 
 
 " I don't love him, papa," the girl said drearily. 
 "I don't love any one but you." And then, rap- 
 idly, without any circumlocution, but in a way 
 that befitted the daughter of a business man, she 
 stated her views, her desires, and decision. 
 
 " Great God ! " was all the banker said for some 
 moments ; and then there was silence, she waiting 
 for the vials of wrath to be uncorked, and poured 
 upon her defenceless head. But he had laid the 
 plan of his campaign ; and though the man's nat- 
 ural wrath was stirred even to vindictive speech, 
 he controlled himself, and after a while spoke in 
 his usual tones, 
 
 " This is your coveted vocation, and your set- 
 tled determination, is it ? " he asked ; and just then
 
 7O CAPTAIN MOLLY 
 
 a gust of wind struck the windows and shook the 
 casement. 
 
 " Yes, papa," she answered. 
 
 " And what are you going to do about me ? " he 
 asked. " Of course I'm an old fellow, and not 
 worth much in the way of society, but" 
 
 She hung on his neck, and kissed his lips and 
 his forehead. 
 
 " That is the worst of it the very worst," she 
 sobbed, the tears falling thick and fast ; " but 
 dear, dear papa, I truly can't be happy unless I 
 follow the leadings of conscience. I must ! I 
 must ! " 
 
 "Then, if you must, I suppose you must," he 
 answered coolly ; " I believe your religion sanc- 
 tions the forsaking of father and mother, and all 
 the dearest ties of life. Damn religion ! say I," 
 he went on, forgetting his role for a moment. 
 " However, we will talk this matter over coolly, 
 and forget family ties. Take that seat opposite, 
 if you please. Now you are going among cut- 
 throats, thieves, drunkards, and abandoned women, 
 you cannot expect me to remember the relation- 
 ship of father and daughter. If I understand you, 
 you wish to throw in your lot with this ill-condi- 
 tioned rabble called the ' Salvation Army.' Very 
 well ; you could not, of course, expect to go in 
 and out of my house in that prison garb, so you 
 must choose a home among them." 
 
 "That I see I must do," she said, almost in-
 
 WHAT THE BANKER THOUGHT Jl 
 
 audibly. " I must live among those I wish to 
 reclaim." 
 
 " Precisely. I hope you have thought of that ; 
 but you have had no experience. Luxury, ele- 
 gance, every comfort for the body and every in- 
 centive towards the growth of the intellect, soul, 
 have been yours all your life. You do not know 
 the bitterness of guarding against poverty and 
 temptation and sin. However, we will let that 
 all go you have chosen your lot ; you will find a 
 home elsewhere." 
 
 " A little room, father," she said tremblingly, 
 "like the one Ensign Harry has, in the same 
 house with her." 
 
 " Ensign Harry ! " he reiterated, a touch of 
 scorn in his voice. " Who is Ensign Harry ? 
 You said her. 11 
 
 " A true and good woman, father, who left a 
 comfortable home in England and a faithful lover, 
 and has never regretted it." 
 
 " Very possibly. I never heard that King Lear's 
 daughters repented well, go to Ensign Harry. 
 Perhaps she can fill my place better." 
 
 " Father ! " she entreated. 
 
 " You were talking of where you would live," 
 he went on. " You have chosen a hard taskmas- 
 ter, who will not be so liberal as your old father. 
 Let me see, what is your monthly allowance 
 now?" 
 
 " One hundred and fifty dollars," she told him.
 
 72 CAPTAIN MOLLY 
 
 " I will increase it. You shall not go roaming 
 the miserable streets down by the docks penni- 
 less. You shall have two hundred dollars a month 
 for your expenses." 
 
 " Indeed, indeed, papa, I should be quite con- 
 tent with less. My personal expenses will be 
 very small," she said, tears in her voice. 
 
 " You don't know anything about it remem- 
 ber that, however far, however willingly, you leave 
 your home, you will still be my daughter. Some 
 men would cast you off, or or put you in irons," 
 he supplemented between his teeth. " I am go- 
 ing to let you see for yourself; but you sha'n't 
 go empty-handed." 
 
 " O father ! I expected nothing," she sobbed. 
 
 " Then you didn't know me, that's all," he said 
 bluntly. " I suppose, as I have had to be father 
 and mother both, the feminine element comes 
 uppermost," he added. " I wish to Heaven your 
 mother had lived ! " he went on almost testily ; 
 "then there would have been none of this devilish 
 nonsense." 
 
 " I think it would have been her wish, father ; 
 she was so good and generous and religious ! " 
 
 The banker cleared his throat, for another an- 
 athema was very near his lips. " We are not talk- 
 ing of sentiment now," he said gravely ; " there 
 must be sense and reflection in what we say and 
 do. You wish to leave me, Molly," he went on, 
 lifting his finger, for Molly was about to speak
 
 WHAT THE BANKER THOUGHT 73 
 
 again ; " in any case, you would probably have 
 left me sooner or later. If you had married 
 Russell Stacey, you would have gone away with 
 him. I should at once have installed your Cousin 
 Lucy in your place (as I shall do now), and given 
 her a chance. She is pretty, vivacious, and am- 
 bitious ; and I am very fond of her. I think she 
 likes me. At all events, I shall secure some one 
 to keep me company, to pour out the tea, and or- 
 der the toast. As to your private belongings in 
 the matter of dress and jewels, dispose of them 
 as you will. I shall dress your cousin well, and 
 make her very welcome. Of course you will be 
 lost to society. People will talk out of my 
 hearing, for I should break their heads otherwise. 
 So you see I am resigned. You can don your 
 poke-bonnet and your linsey-woolsey at the earli- 
 est opportunity. I shall never witness the trans- 
 formation. Whenever you see fit to renounce 
 your mad scheme, the doors of my house will be 
 open to you." 
 
 "But, father may I not come to see you 
 sometimes ? " she pleaded tearfully, timidly. 
 
 " Not until you can come to me clothed and in 
 your right mind," he said, putting aside his pipe, 
 a hint that the conference was over ; and Miss 
 Stanley crept from the study, and sought her own 
 room, disappointed, and sad and sore of heart, a 
 very crestfallen heroine, although her wish was 
 granted.
 
 74 CAPTAIN MOLLY 
 
 She had expected threats, vituperation, persecu- 
 tion, any of which would have roused in her the 
 spirit of a fighting ancestry and the longing for 
 self-sacrifice. Now she did not feel in the least 
 heroic ; neither did she understand her father. 
 She had not thought he would be so willing to 
 part with her coolly to pension her off, and ad- 
 vise her in a business-like way. And then the 
 natural "No," she said chokingly, "natural" 
 way in which he talked of Lucy, so very much 
 more beautiful than she, the worldly cousin who 
 was to inherit all she was to lose how could she 
 bear it ? The homely, everyday duties at the 
 table, in the reception-room and she whose 
 right it was, ignored. Never had she looked for 
 such an ending, so tame, so unutterably strange. 
 Not that she wavered for a moment in the pur- 
 suance of her design ; but it would have been 
 grand to go to the Army as a soldier enlisted 
 under the most trying and difficult circumstances. 
 Instead of this, her father had coolly renounced 
 her as if it was no matter of interest to him, she 
 who had lived in his sight for eighteen long years, 
 had been as the apple of his eye, worshipped, con- 
 sulted, deferred to. Her life had been all pleas- 
 ure ; she was simply tired of adulation and the 
 bonds of social life in a fashionable circle. That 
 was not hard to leave, but she had not dreamed 
 that her father would acquiesce in her plans. 
 Could she have seen him after she had left him,
 
 WHAT THE BANKER THOUGHT /$ 
 
 inert, with a colorless face, upon which were 
 drawn the lines of mental anguish, her heart would 
 have gone out to him, even, perhaps, to the extent 
 of saying, " My duty lies at home, though my in- 
 clination wanders." But now the final step was 
 taken. She was too proud to acknowledge even 
 to herself how hurt and disappointed she was.
 
 76 CAPTAIN MOLLY 
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 PREPARATIONS 
 
 And the voice of a sweet-toned violin 
 Stole on the air. 
 
 "THEN you carried out your plan?" 
 
 "To the bitter end." 
 
 " And she has gone?" 
 
 "No; not yet." 
 
 The speakers were Russell Stacey and Banker 
 Stanley ; the time a week after Miss Stanley had 
 been closeted with her father in the study. 
 
 " How could you do it ? " 
 
 Stacey had perhaps been studying the forma- 
 tion of his hat. He held it in his hand, and looked 
 it over with languid interest. His beauty had in 
 some way suffered a change. There was a rest- 
 lessness in his manner, a heaviness about the 
 eyes, that were not the result of late hours or 
 venal orgies. 
 
 "Because I could not help myself. If we were 
 good Catholics, and my daughter would go to a 
 nunnery, what could I do but consent ? Marriage 
 would be better, but in either case I lose her. 
 But I confess I never lost so much sleep in my
 
 PREPARATIONS 77 
 
 life as in the past few weeks. What will it be 
 when she is gone ? " 
 
 "Gone?" and young Stacey lifted his heavy, 
 pathetic eyes. " You don't mean to say that she 
 is going away !" 
 
 "Do you imagine for a moment that I am going 
 to make my house headquarters for the Salvation 
 Army?" asked the banker. 
 
 " I imagine anything, everything, but that she 
 should go away. In Heaven's name, where will 
 she go ? " 
 
 "Oh, somewhere down in the slums ; she seems 
 to gravitate in that direction. She is making ar- 
 rangements to obtain a room in Paradise Flats. 
 Did you ever hear of such a place ? " 
 
 "Never in all my life," was the reply. "For 
 God's sake, will nothing deter her ? " 
 
 "Neither your love, it seems, nor mine," was 
 the quiet answer. " She comes of a race that 
 never turned back when once the resolve was 
 made. Bless your soul ! my people were all born 
 in Massachusetts, where the stones are not harder 
 nor the rocks more adamantine than the will of 
 those who plough the small triangles and cultivate 
 the sterile earth till its very granite blooms to 
 roses. Oh, no ! let her ' gang her ain gait.' I 
 believe she will come to her senses the sooner." 
 
 " What will the world say ? " 
 
 " The world cannot say that I am a hard and 
 cruel parent, as it would be sure to do if, in her
 
 78 CAPTAIN MOLLY 
 
 disappointment at my refusal to allow her to do 
 what she considers her life-work, she should pine 
 away and die. I shall treat the matter simply as 
 a freak on her part and a liberal indulgence on 
 my own." 
 
 " Are you not afraid to trust her among those 
 loathsome dens? The very idea is monstrous!" 
 said the young fellow, rising and pacing the floor, 
 his whole soul in a tumult. 
 
 "Yes, the idea is monstrous; there's no ques- 
 tion there. But she is infatuated with the work ; 
 and you might reason with her from now to Christ- 
 mas she would still stand to her decision. It 
 has grown with her growth. Her mother was 
 very religious, almost fanatical in her views, before 
 Molly was born ; and she seemed to have an in- 
 sight into the soul of things in the future, to 
 dread conflict or persecution, or she would hardly 
 have extracted a promise from me that I would 
 not interfere with Molly's convictions. Well," he 
 added, after a long-drawn sigh, " we will see who 
 is the wisest. I prophesy that inside of a year 
 Molly will come quietly home, and give up the 
 whole business. Meantime, nothing is going to 
 harm her that I can see. The badge and dress 
 will of themselves be a bar against evil designs, 
 and I shall have some one on the watch to see 
 that she is protected. Besides, Molly is well able 
 to take care of herself. I have given up the idea 
 that women are exotics, and must be tended and
 
 PREPARATIONS 79 
 
 dandled. Women do the work of men nowadays, 
 and perhaps " 
 
 He held up his hand. Away off, perhaps the 
 distance of two or three blocks, came the faint 
 notes of cornet, fife, and drum. Away off, wind- 
 ing among the many vehicles passing to and fro, 
 they were on their way, that devoted little band 
 of Christ's Army, marching to the lanes and by- 
 ways, in obedience to their great Leader's com- 
 mand. Many a little child paused in his work or 
 play at the gutter, many a blear-eyed drunkard 
 stopped', moved to derisive and maudlin laughter, 
 many a dainty young girl smiled at the quaint 
 garments of girls 'as young as themselves ; but 
 on they went, the soldiers of the Lord, looking 
 neither to the right nor to the left and the 
 banker and the young rich disciple of wealth and 
 self listened in silence. Then they faced each 
 other. 
 
 " I swear I'll do something to rescue her at 
 least to save her from the derision of the idle 
 crowd ! " exclaimed young Stacey, stopping his 
 restless walk ; and his voice was as though tears 
 vibrated through it. The young fellow was in 
 love, deeply in love, and for all time. Not with 
 the violet eyes, the quick dimples, and the skin 
 like mingled roses and snow, but with the real, 
 vital self of the girl, the soul that he saw was so 
 noble, generous, and world-denying. 
 
 "By Jove! there isn't another girl in the whole
 
 8O CAPTAIN MOLLY 
 
 city, no, nor in the whole world, like her!" he said 
 to himself. " I dare not intrude even in thought 
 at the altar where she kneels. She seems to me 
 so far above ordinary mortals, and did from the 
 first moment I looked into her lovely eyes, that 
 the very thought of her lifts me above myself. 
 But strange, strange ! such an infatuation ! I 
 cannot bear the thought that her name will be 
 bandied from mouth to mouth by these fashion- 
 able fools ! " he bit his lips. 
 
 At that moment came a sweet, clear voice and 
 the sound of a violin just under the window. The 
 singular purity of the instrumental tones aston- 
 ished him. The voice was simply a thin soprano, 
 capable of better work if thoroughly trained ; but 
 the strings of the exquisite instrument vibrated 
 as if the impassioned language of a human soul 
 were striving for articulation. 
 
 Being himself a fair performer on the violin, 
 the music naturally attracted him. He bade 
 good-morning to the banker, who sat cross-legged, 
 plunged in thought, and smoking like a furnace, 
 and in another moment stood on the doorsteps 
 facing the square opposite. 
 
 The blossoms visible from the grounds be- 
 yond were all in a quiver in the soft, warm wind. 
 Touches of local color made the place resemble 
 a well-kept garden; and Russell Stacey, to whom 
 every sight of beauty was a revelation, turned his 
 eyes admiringly to the girl's face.
 
 PREPARATIONS 8 1 
 
 " Spanish eyes ! " he muttered, " or Italian. 
 Great heavens ! when have I heard a violin like 
 that before ? and in the hands of a child. She 
 don't play badly, either ; there's the trick of ge- 
 nius in the way she handles that bow. Some poor 
 little waif ! " 
 
 His hand was in his pocket, and closed on a 
 stray dollar. Never before had he spoken to the 
 canaille, but now the influence of Molly's self- 
 sacrificing spirit prompted him. 
 
 " How long have you played, my little girl ? " 
 he asked. He loved children. 
 
 " Almost ever since mother died," was the re- 
 sponse ; and the bow rested idly in her hand as she 
 turned her glorious eyes to him. 
 
 He looked up and down the street. Nobody 
 was coming. 
 
 " That's a very sweet-toned violin," he said. 
 
 " Yes, sir, it was my father's, and my grand- 
 father's before him ; it is very old," and she sur- 
 veyed it with tender interest. 
 
 " Why don't you sell it, child ? Maybe I could 
 get you a good round sum for it ; " and Russell 
 Stacey held out hands of appropriation. He only 
 wanted to look at it. 
 
 " Oh, no, no ! " and the girl held the instrument 
 closer, fairly hugging it. " I wouldn't sell it for 
 a thousand dollars. It was all my poor father 
 left me." 
 
 " Wouldn't sell it for a thousand, eh ? Well,
 
 82 CAPTAIN MOLLY 
 
 you are a miser ! Starving, I'll be bound," he 
 muttered, " and a fortune in your hands." 
 
 " Where do you live ? " was the next question. 
 
 " In Paradise Flats, sir, down in Mulberry 
 Street." 
 
 A start betrayed his newly awakened interest. 
 So here was one of the tenants of Paradise Flats ! 
 He felt a new, intense interest in the strolling 
 waif, and was on the point of questioning her 
 further, when a well-known voice fell on his ear, 
 
 " Why, little Nan ! how long have you been 
 here ? " 
 
 It was like a " stand aside " to Stacey. It did 
 not need a sight of the exquisite oval of her cheek, 
 faintly suffused with pink, the soft light of her 
 violet eyes, the pretty feather in the pretty hat, to 
 tell him who stood there. 
 
 " Good-morning, Miss Stanley," he said icily, 
 his voice choked and deadened. 
 
 "I I wish you good-morning," she said ; and 
 he walked away, his head high in the air, as a 
 rejected lover should. But what an ache there 
 was in his heart ! 
 
 Nan fingered the dollar; for he had slid the 
 silver into her hand in passing. 
 
 " Look what the generous gentleman gave me," 
 she said. Her lustrous, iridescent eyes, full of 
 changing lights, smiled into Molly's. 
 
 " Yes, it was very kind of him," said Molly, 
 a little absently, "very."
 
 PREPARATIONS 83 
 
 " He wanted me to sell this ;" and the girl lifted 
 the instrument that shone in spots with the bright- 
 ness of mother-of-pearl when the sun struck it. 
 " I couldn't, you know," and her voice choked ; 
 " Oh, no, no, I couldn't ! " 
 
 " You needn't, Nanny. Did you bring anything 
 for me ? " asked Miss Stanley. 
 
 " Oh, yes ; please excuse me, Miss, it's a note 
 from Ensign Harry." 
 
 " All right. And now come in, and let's see if 
 the cook has something for you. I saw her baking 
 turnovers last night, and you needn't sing any 
 more to-day unless you like. A dollar will keep 
 you a long time." 
 
 " Yes, Miss," said Nan, all the child in her 
 alive at the mention of the turnovers. 
 
 Nanny was settled in the kitchen with the cook, 
 a bright, cheerful woman, weighing something 
 near three hundred pounds ; and Miss Stanley ran 
 up-stairs to read her note. Her father had gone 
 to the bank, the maids were loitering a little over 
 their work ; but Sally, Miss Stanley's own maid, 
 was crying. 
 
 " Tears again ! " said Miss Stanley. " I'm 
 ashamed of you, Sally." 
 
 " I only wish you would take me with you, 
 Miss," sobbed the girl. 
 
 "What shall I want with a maid?" Miss 
 Stanley was briskly moving from place to place. 
 " No, no, Sally ; you'll be much better off to stay
 
 84 CAPTAIN MOLLY 
 
 where you are. You will like the cousin who is 
 coming to take my place. She's a little quick- 
 tempered, but very kind-hearted." 
 
 " But mayn't I come to see you sometimes ? " 
 pleaded Sally. 
 
 "That's for after consideration," said Miss 
 Stanley ; " perhaps you may." Then she read the 
 quaintly folded little note that Nanny Gartia had 
 given her. 
 
 DEAR Miss STANLEY [it said], everything is arranged. I 
 found some difficulty in getting the room next to mine ; but 
 as you said no matter about the price, I engaged it. So, as 
 soon as it is furnished, I shall expect you. The bonnet and 
 gray dress finished. Will be here this afternoon. Yours 
 for the Army, ENSIGN HARRY.
 
 STACEY'S DECISION 85 
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 STACEY'S DECISION 
 
 All desperate hazards courage do create. 
 
 RUSSELL STAGEY wended his way to the hotel, 
 where one of the pleasantest and most spacious 
 suites of rooms in the building had been his bach- 
 elor home for the last five years. He was a sin- 
 gularly solitary man socially, and had been since 
 the death of his father, from whom he inherited 
 his millions. In mental texture he was superior 
 to most of his companions ; his native ability had 
 been aided and colored by a good university edu- 
 cation. He had taken the degree of doctor of 
 medicine, and had shown considerable interest in 
 the profession. In fact, he was born for a doctor ; 
 though he would not practise, chiefly for the rea- 
 son that he liked his own comfort too well. Per- 
 haps the real Saxon word for " comfort " was 
 " laziness." He coveted luxury and ease, cared 
 for society only in a perfunctory way, but pre- 
 ferred his own delightful fireside, where almost all 
 the year round a wood fire shook its red flags, and 
 sent out its rays of color to glorify the room. 
 And the room was a glory of itself, a spacious
 
 86 CAPTAIN MOLLY 
 
 art-treasury, upholstered in the most expensive 
 fashion, with satin-lined draperies the color of 
 gold. Most of his furniture had been purchased 
 abroad, and nearly all his pictures. There were 
 quaint spider-legged tables, and chairs so fragile 
 in appearance that it seemed as if a child might 
 crush them, yet which were built of copper, iron, 
 and brass. Easy-chairs of almost every color and 
 description stood in alcoves and ' various other 
 places designed for them. Silver and gold can- 
 delabra of curious shapes adorned niches full of 
 fragrance, for one of his weaknesses was the love 
 of flowers ; though, perhaps, I should not call it a 
 weakness, but rather a pleasant dissipation which 
 he cultivated for the love of it. 
 
 " She'll miss the flowers I used to send her, 
 but great Jove ! " and he stood like one dazed, 
 in the middle of the floor. 
 
 I must not forget to mention Jacko. If ever 
 there was a creature of the cat species that was 
 born for luxury, Jacko was that cat. Of immense 
 size and great beauty, no lounging-place was too 
 sacred, no dish too luxurious, for his indulgence. 
 At that moment the cat rose with great dignity, 
 and turned his yellow-brown, velvety eyes toward 
 him. He always expected and waited for a caress. 
 
 " Well, Jacko," his master said, patting the 
 sleek sides, " we two old cronies must make much 
 of each other. I've often talked to you about 
 your new mistress, Jacko ; and I beg your pardon
 
 STACEY'S DECISION 87 
 
 for having misled you. What would you do about 
 it, Jacko? Suppose your lady-love rejected you?" 
 
 Jacko's prolonged purr sounded so much like 
 " Don't give her up," that Stacey started. 
 
 Again he listened. 
 
 " Don't give her up," came in distinct, if na- 
 sal music, through Jacko's whiskers ; and the cat 
 winked, as much as to say, " I understand you 
 perfectly, old fellow ; " and then followed, in un- 
 mistakable cat-English, " Don't give her up ! " 
 
 " Well, by Jove, that's curious ! " said Stacey, 
 "exactly my sentiments." He sat down, his eyes 
 on the cat. " Why should I give her up ? What 
 would you do, Jack ? Go to Europe ? " 
 
 " Go to Europe," purred Jacko sonorously. 
 
 " Then come back and fight it out ? " 
 
 " Fight it out ! " came in sounding purrs ; and if 
 ever there was a cat-smile, it curled Jacko's lips 
 at that moment, although the intelligent creature 
 meant it for a yawn. 
 
 " Yes, and on her own ground ! Heavens, why 
 didn't I think of that before ? That I should be 
 taught wisdom by a cat ! It's as clear as bees- 
 wax, the longer I reflect. Jacko, you shall lap 
 milk out of a golden saucer if I succeed. Milk ? 
 no, by Jove, cream, the best ! The map gradually 
 unrolls, the lines become clearer. I needn't give 
 up the rooms. Bartlett wants them ; and he shall 
 have them at his own price, if he will take care of 
 my cat. I owe my life to you, Jacko, perhaps my
 
 CAPTAIN MOLLY 
 
 reason. No wonder you wink, old fellow. You'd 
 laugh if you could, a genuine haw ! haw ! as I do. 
 Bartlett will smoke everything ivory-yellow or 
 Spanish brown, but that doesn't trouble me ; I've 
 thought out the whole plot." 
 
 He went to the mirror and surveyed himself. 
 
 " A wig, by Jove, and blue glasses, with a pair 
 of side-whiskers, will do it. I'll put myself on the 
 list with her penitents, only I'll outrank them all. 
 Gad, what a bright idea ! Jacko, my beauty, when 
 you die, you shall have a monument ! 
 
 " Slouch hat, loose trousers, a working-man's 
 outfit complete. Or a poor lost devil who doesn't 
 know where to look for his next crust, a way- 
 down tramp without buttons no, I couldn't go 
 that. A good sort of a fellow, with doubts as 
 to the being of a God, or or a pessimist 
 or leaning to dynamite. Not that either. A re- 
 duced gentleman, for I'll be hanged if I can culti- 
 vate the vernacular of the slums ; it will be as 
 much as I can do to live in them. 
 
 " A room scantily furnished, a few books, a pre- 
 tence of wretchedness, yet trying to be jolly like 
 the late lamented Mark Tapley, with my fiddle 
 and flute for company. Well, here's richness ! 
 Do you approve, Jack ? " 
 
 Jacko perched himself complacently on his mas- 
 ter's knee, and sent forth a volumn of rich exple- 
 tives, patting his breast approvingly with two 
 supple, well-padded paws.
 
 STACEY'S DECISION 89 
 
 " I must work up an interest in the Salvation 
 Army. Bah ! I hear their drums and bassons 
 and catgut this moment begging your pardon, 
 Jacko, for the allusion. I know it must offend 
 your gentlemanly soul to think of what base uses, 
 etc. 
 
 " No doubt I shall get sick of the life, Jacko ; I 
 shall miss this nook of the Muses, fit reminder of 
 the tropical lands I love. I must absolutely stir 
 myself to work. But if I can stir a feeble interest 
 in the heart of that little saint, my Molly, oh 
 By heaven, the thought is delirium ! I shall be 
 near her, Jacko." 
 
 He grew suddenly grave. 
 
 "I wonder how she will IOOK in a poke bonnet? 1 
 a poke bonnet ! No matter. Nothing can 
 change that sweet, serious angel's face. I've 
 fancied myself in love a hundred times ; but this 
 draws me out of myself, enables me to face dis- 
 comfort and difficulty yes, please God, I think 
 I could die for Molly ! 
 
 " Now, how shall I begin ? " 
 
 " Go to Europe," came in a distinct, emphatic 
 series of purrs. 
 
 "Yes, exactly ; that was in my mind. You're 
 a mind-reader, Jacko. Go to Europe, to mislead 
 her grow a pair of siders there it takes only 
 a few weeks ; those and the blue spectacles 
 why, Jacko, you are sublime ! 
 
 1 The Army has changed its uniform. No more poke bonnets.
 
 9O CAPTAIN MOLLY 
 
 " I believe at the end of six months Molly and 
 I will be reading Emerson together. I can man- 
 age the whole matter with very little trouble. 
 Stacey the millionaire gone to Europe. Jack if 
 Jack's the name, is to hold the fort in Paradise 
 Flats, night and day. I must be a self-made man 
 and no shirker or else an unfortunate man 
 who has been in society, lost his money, and seen 
 the folly of it all. Ah, what rare fun ! " he rubbed 
 his hands together, laughing at himself "which- 
 ever role I take, a comedy not a comedy of 
 errors, I trust. Molly will think I'm driven out 
 of the country by her cruelty. So much the bet- 
 ter. I don't care what she thinks. All's fair in 
 love and war. I sha'n't lose touch with my real 
 identity, and I may gain the Lord knows what 
 knowledge. The charms of this sort of life are 
 illusive ; "who knows what the experiences of an 
 underworld of character, of wonderful human 
 endurance, await me ? Gad ! it's the brightest 
 thought I ever had ! I've something yet to live 
 for ! "
 
 HOW THE BANKER FELT 
 
 CHAPTER XIII 
 
 HOW THE BANKER FELT 
 / tell you it is hard ! 
 
 THAT evening young Stacey called upon Molly's 
 father, and announced to him his determination 
 to go abroad, and his hope that among foreign 
 scenes he might recover some degree of his lost 
 spirits. 
 
 "I don't blame you," said the banker; "but 
 I shall miss you, young man," settling with a huge 
 sigh in his easy-chair, and lighting his pipe. " Per- 
 haps among all your friends and acquaintances no 
 one will miss you as I shall. Your father was my 
 best friend, and I had looked for great things from 
 you in the future. Upon my soul, I hope Molly 
 will never marry I decline to receive the son-in- 
 law she chooses for me, in advance ; and candidly, 
 I don't think she is one of the marrying kind. 
 She goes to her new home in Paradise Flats to- 
 morrow. Joy go with her, say I. The thing grows 
 more and more ludicrous. I feel like laying a hand 
 of iron upon her, and swearing that she shall not. 
 Why, Russell, by Heaven ! the house will seem like 
 a tomb without her. It begins to seem so already.
 
 92 CAPTAIN MOLLY 
 
 Her cousin is here now, a good enough girl, as 
 wild for the world as Molly is dead against it. 
 She will have a good time, but it's not Molly. 
 I feel as if I were going to her funeral, I do in- 
 deed. I could almost wish it were so." 
 
 " Let us take courage," said young Stacey, with 
 a high-bred nonchalance that rather astonished 
 the banker. " I have not yet given up all hope. 
 If Molly does penance for a month it will sur- 
 prise me. Meantime, I must go away. I don't 
 mind telling you that I'm hit hard. No woman 
 can sharpen her wit upon me henceforth. I for- 
 swear womankind forever." 
 
 "Why should I tell him," he said to himself, 
 with an inward smile, "that I'm going away to 
 grow my whiskers ? " 
 
 " When will you return ? " asked the banker. 
 
 " That depends," was the answer. " I can only 
 tell you that when I do come back, you will be the 
 first man I call upon." 
 
 " Right, my dear fellow," was the reply, as the 
 banker rose, and gave his hand a parting farewell 
 pressure. " And if that little fool don't come to 
 her senses by that time, I'll disown her, I will, by 
 God frey!"
 
 WHAT CRUMP THOUGHT 93 
 
 CHAPTER XIV 
 
 WHAT CRUMP THOUGHT 
 
 No change of fortune's smiles 
 Can cast my comfort down. 
 
 BABY BASSETT, now five months old, sat up in 
 his basket, and crowed and jumped and talked in 
 the unknown language of babyland the whole day 
 long. No wonder Reine thought there was never, 
 no, never, in this or any other land, so wonderful 
 a child. The whole house paid worshipful rever- 
 ence to him. She herself, as she stood at her 
 work, her white, shapely arms bared almost to 
 the shoulder, her clean cotton dress draped over 
 a brown petticoat, the dim light revealing a Ma- 
 donna-like face free from all traces of worldly 
 deceit or inherent vice, looked like a picture 
 beside him. 
 
 There was one who thought of the Holy Family 
 when she saw them together, and that was Molly. 
 
 Sebastian still clung to the bottle, but there 
 was a change in him for the better. The worship 
 of beauty moves the world, it is said ; and the 
 baby's beauty was phenomenal. When he took 
 him out to the upper air, more cleanly and better
 
 94 CAPTAIN MOLLY 
 
 clothed himself since Molly had come, the sin- 
 gular sweetness of the child's face attracted the 
 notice of every passer-by. 
 
 " Oh, the angel ! " said one. 
 
 " Where did ever such a beauty come from ? " 
 was the next query. Sebastian's heart beat high, 
 throbbed with fatherly joy, swelled with fatherly 
 pride. He would sometimes make vows to him- 
 self and to Reine, who would say, 
 
 " Now, you know, there is nothing between you 
 and greatness but that miserable drink. Think 
 of you living in a cellar! It don't so much mat- 
 ter about me ; but oh ! you and the little prince, 
 for I'm sure he is the fairest baby that God ever 
 gave to mortal parents." And then Sebastian 
 would protest, and kiss the baby, and kiss his 
 wife, and make believe that they were in a palace, 
 and swear that he would never drink again. 
 
 And poor Reine she also was a little hypo- 
 crite, for she would always pretend to believe 
 him. 
 
 So munificent was Molly Stanley that Reine 
 could afford to stop work when the clock struck 
 one ; set out her husband's dinner if she had any 
 dinner to give him ; clear up the cellar room, 
 and lay out the few pretty knick-knacks she had 
 brought as her dowry, little tidies for the backs 
 of her few chairs, and otherwise give the poor 
 place a holiday appearance ; dress herself in neat, 
 clean clothes ; adorn Sebastian with the robes
 
 WHAT CRUMP THOUGHT 95 
 
 made for some more fortunate darling, some 
 blessed child who wore heavenly garments per- 
 haps ; and then, if Sebastian was out pursuing 
 his humble, almost degraded calling, considering 
 what riches of genius the man had squandered, 
 she would trot up into Ensign Harry's room, 
 where the sun lay in such broad swathes when 
 there was any sun at all, or into Captain Molly's 
 " den," the most splendid place, in Reine's unso- 
 phisticated eyes, that had ever served to house 
 one of the Lord's choicest saints. 
 
 For Captain Molly she was not a captain yet, 
 only a private ; but all the people in Paradise Flats, 
 and some of the soldiers in the Army, had be- 
 stowed the title upon her was a very important 
 little personage just now. She had furnished her 
 room plainly, but with choice furniture that be- 
 longed to her own boudoir at home, even to the 
 little cottage piano, where she practised Salvation 
 songs, particularly when beautiful Baby Bassett 
 was near, his glorious eyes glowing like stars, and 
 following every movement of the white, well- 
 shaped fingers. 
 
 It was an education to Reine to visit that sanc- 
 tuary of holiness ; for to her it was like going into 
 a church, and listening to the lessons that point 
 to a happy eternity. Sometimes Nan came in 
 with her violin. Molly was teaching her to read 
 music, and the child made rapid progress. And 
 Molly believed herself very happy, and at times
 
 96 CAPTAIN MOLLY 
 
 was so. Her sweet young face, so refined, so 
 full of that subtle magnetism that attracts, not 
 the grosser senses, but the inward purity, if there 
 be an atom in the soul of man, never had been 
 more strikingly developed than now, in her rare 
 renunciation not for the hope of place or power, 
 but for the opportunity of lifting grosser minds 
 to the level of her own. Her father need not 
 have been ashamed of her, even in her poke bon- 
 net ; and as she sat there, serene and gracious, 
 even Ensign Harry looked and worshipped. 
 
 So far she was contented with the lot she had 
 chosen. At first the tramp through those grace- 
 less streets, the taunts of the gamins, the scof- 
 fers, the lackeys, and even of nicer people, who 
 were born for better things, oppressed and morti- 
 fied her ; but she grew out of that. In the little 
 halls whither they drifted, led always by the awk- 
 ward instruments that, musically, trod on each 
 other's toes, there was work to do ; and she forgot 
 everything in the joy of seeing poor wretches 
 brought out of the slough of despair, out of a life- 
 long devil worship, to the worship of the true 
 God. There it was ! she saw it for herself. Cast- 
 aways made penitent, lunatics clothed and in their 
 right mind, worshippers of the bottle made wor- 
 shippers of the Christ. She examined the texture 
 of their new garments, and found them fine and 
 white ; all the red stains washed out of them ; all 
 the black warp of sin and a guilty conscience
 
 WHAT CRUMP THOUGHT 9/ 
 
 made clear and clean, so that she dared to stand 
 side by side with them. She went with Ensign 
 Harry to homes that were plague-spots, saw faces 
 that haunted her with their evil gleams for days 
 and days ; but when, after a heavy raid on the 
 citadel of the castaways, she returned home, she 
 felt that, at least, she was living for a definite 
 object. No rich ball-dress to disrobe herself of; 
 no memories of a pressure of the hand here, a 
 dance with this military snob or that moneyed 
 idiot ; no recalling of vapid compliments with the 
 reflection that she must go through this again to- 
 morrow, and after to-morrow and for a thousand 
 to-morrows to come, and all through the seasons ; 
 the same scents of flowers, the same well-bred 
 people, the same insolence of power, the same 
 incense burned before vanity, the same lisp, the 
 same intolerable sameness. Not for one moment 
 did she regret the loss of her old associates. 
 
 It was a clinging hand she thought of, a pair of 
 wistful eyes, a sorrow-laden cry. " O miss, if I'd 
 only a knowed ye before, knowed that ye'd speak 
 to the likes of one of us, God knows I'd been a 
 better girl. But I'm going to try, miss. I never 
 can be so good as you ; but as God lives, I'll 
 try!" 
 
 Ah, that was sweeter music than all the rhap- 
 sodies and mockeries and fal-fals of the four hun- 
 dred of her set who were agonizing over the 
 thought of her downfall. There was work for
 
 98 CAPTAIN MOLLY 
 
 every moment, organizing, helping, and redeem- 
 ing. She had absolutely no time to wonder at 
 herself ; to wonder what the world said ; to won- 
 der even over what might be going on at home 
 her father's palace home. 
 
 One thing she had stipulated for, that her 
 father would allow her to write to him every 
 week. Through the medium of these letters, 
 which constituted a sort of diary, she hoped to 
 soften his heart ; to lead him to think less of dol- 
 lars and cents, and more of human souls. 
 
 Little Nan could play very sweetly now. Some- 
 times Molly contrived cheerful entertainments 
 of course they were on a small scale, although the 
 rooms were rather spacious ; and little Nan's violin 
 followed the cottage piano, and whoever had the 
 gift of song or of poetry helped the young hostess 
 whenever the nights came. The invitation went 
 from room to room, but there were scorners even 
 in Paradise Flats and terrible scorners. 
 
 " If you goes nigh them Damnationists, I'll 
 knock the head of you clean off your shoulders," 
 said Crump the tailor to his yellow-haired daugh- 
 ter, a blue-eyed, weak-looking girl, but who had 
 a leaning towards higher culture, and had taken a 
 great fancy to Ensign Harry and Captain Molly. 
 
 And the Haggertys and McNattys, O'Rourkes 
 and Hardys, all the Micks and Scotch Dougals, 
 and fighting Englishmen, and moon-faced Ger- 
 mans, and lank, lean Yankees, and yellow-faced
 
 WHAT CRUMP THOUGHT 99 
 
 Southerners, who had strayed from their Virginia 
 fastnesses, where every father's ancestry had once 
 held castle and fortress against the siege of the 
 enemy, all of them, right under the shadow of 
 the temple of safety, cursed and turned away.
 
 IOO CAPTAIN MOLLY 
 
 CHAPTER XV 
 
 HOW THE FIDDLE CROONED 
 I feel no care of coin. 
 
 NANNY GARTIA had found her sojourn with 
 Mrs. McKisseth a very pleasant one. Mrs. Mc- 
 Kisseth was one of those round little women, a 
 very roly-poly of a woman, quick and witty, pretty 
 and pleasant, her warm Irish heart all sympathy 
 with any body or creature that suffered. She did 
 tailoring, and cooked delicious dishes out of scraps, 
 and never a bite or sup she had that somebody 
 was not welcome to half of it. A comfortable 
 gray cat, a chirping canary, and Nan with the 
 "fiddle," as she called the instrument, constituted 
 the family. Here Nanny practised when she 
 could for the noise the children made on every 
 side ; and the dear old violin responded with a 
 loving voice, that sometimes, under the manipula- 
 tion of Nan's little fingers, gave out tones that 
 melted one's heart. 
 
 "I think I can make it laugh, and I believe I 
 could make it cry," Nan said one day. 
 
 "It cries and laughs of itself, colleen," said 
 Mrs. McKisseth. " I've even heard it whisper o'
 
 HOW THE FIDDLE CROONED IOI 
 
 nights," she continued, making the sign of the 
 cross, for she was a good Catholic. " Indade, 
 when the moon's been shining in its face, an' ye 
 left it hangin' on the wall, an' the wind sighing a 
 bit outside, I've heard it croonin' so soft and fine 
 you might 'a' thought it was its own shadow in the 
 moonlight that did it." 
 
 "Oh!" laughed the child, "it must be a nice 
 fiddle, then. Everybody who hears it speaks of 
 its sweet tones. I expect that fiddle is worth a 
 great deal of money." 
 
 " Indade, I wouldn't part wid it for the treasury 
 of the United States," with a vague idea of a 
 house full of greenbacks, said Mrs. McKisseth, 
 as she went from chair to table brushing and 
 brightening the old and scanty furniture. She 
 was a mirror of neatness, was Mrs. McKisseth. 
 The frill of her little round cap was scarcely 
 whiter than the floor under her busy feet. 
 
 " But then, if it would bring me an education," 
 said Nan, gravely considering the matter. 
 
 " An education ! " and the little Irishwoman 
 stood and looked at the child ; " what kind of an 
 education is it ye'd be havin' ? " 
 
 " One that poor papa would like. ' Ah,' he 
 used to say, ' if I only had the strength to teach 
 you, perhaps you could make your fortune with 
 old King Solomon ; ' and then he would take it, and 
 look at it so lovingly that it made the tears come 
 to my eyes. Many a time he's hugged it, looking
 
 IO2 CAPTAIN MOLLY 
 
 down as you would at a baby, saying that he 
 couldn't remember the time when he hadn't heard 
 it or seen it, for his father led an orchestra too. 
 It always seems to me as if some of my father's 
 soul went into that old fiddle ; is that a wicked 
 thought ? " 
 
 " Ah, cushla ! " said the little red-cheeked old 
 woman thoughtfully, "the soul goes where the 
 good God sends it. I sometimes thinks meself, 
 when them low notes go wailing through the air, 
 that maybe there's a soul prisoned there. Don't 
 the Holy Scriptures speak of the souls in prison ; 
 and if it's not your father, bless him, it may be 
 some other musical soul. But Lord help us, how 
 we are talking, and there's them potaties a-shiver- 
 ing widthout their skins ! I'll pop 'em into the 
 bilin' water at oncet." 
 
 Captain Molly held her opinion with regard to 
 the violin. She knew that Russell Stacey "poor 
 fellow," she murmured to herself would have 
 been only too glad to buy it. He played himself 
 with very fair success, and she rightly judged 
 that the instrument was valuable. She was also 
 confident that the girl Nan had genius of a high 
 order ; and it semed pitiful to her that this bright 
 genius, with her Italian eyes and passion for all 
 things beautiful, should lack any good thing. So 
 she cast about how she could help her. 
 
 The thought occurred to her that if her own 
 music-teacher, Professor Andromo, also an Italian
 
 HOW THE FIDDLE CROONED IO3 
 
 by birth, could be prevailed upon to aid the child 
 by instructing her for half rates, Molly to pay 
 the tuition fees, the experience would be bene- 
 ficial to both master and pupil. But how to beard 
 the aristocratic lion in his den ? All the haut ton 
 went to him. Could he find time to devote an 
 hour or two a week to this child ? Would he soil 
 his delicate fingers with the bow of one of the 
 canaille, though she was of his own country ? As 
 for the girl, it would be fields of asphodel to her. 
 Now she felt the need of a warm, loving friend- 
 ship such as she had hoped might exist between 
 Russell Stacey and herself. 
 
 " He would have entered into it with so much 
 interest," she said, blushing a little, "for my sake. 
 Yes ; and it would have been all for my sake ; and 
 now he is out of the country. I couldn't call upon 
 him if I would. After all, he was a high-minded 
 fellow, considering he belonged to the world, and 
 was rich enough to be as wicked as he pleased." 
 
 This was after one of Nan's daily visits, in 
 which the child had shown evidences of great prog- 
 ress, and a keen appreciation of certain lessons 
 beyond her age. 
 
 Captain Molly sat down to her desk to straighten 
 out the confusion incident to her many interrup- 
 tions, when there was a tap at the door. 
 
 "Come in," was the cheery call. She knew 
 that no one would come at that hour but Ensign 
 Harry.
 
 IO4 CAPTAIN MOLLY 
 
 " I don't want to disturb you," said the ensign 
 as she stood on the threshold, and Molly saw at 
 once that something was amiss. 
 
 " You look pale," she said, rising from her papers, 
 and going towards her friend. 
 
 " I feel a little ill," was the half-gasping reply. 
 
 Molly placed a chair for the white-faced woman, 
 and stood before her with folded hands, all solici- 
 tude. She noticed now how drawn were the deli- 
 cate lips, and even in the curves of her temples 
 were evidences of some great trouble. 
 
 " Shall I send for a doctor ? " Molly asked, think- 
 ing how soft and beautiful were the outlines of the 
 pretty English face. 
 
 " Oh, no ; I shall feel better soon. I have 
 had a shock," she articulated. Presently a little 
 color came to her cheeks, her breathing was more 
 natural, and she could talk. 
 
 Placing a piece of newspaper in her friend's 
 hand, she said, "Read that." 
 
 Molly read, 
 
 "The Rev. Henry Flagler, assistant rector of 
 St. Blank's in Hertfordshire, England, will deliver 
 an address on English and American S. S. Work, 
 on Sunday evening, at St. Luke's Chapel. 
 
 "The Rev. Mr. Flagler is a young English 
 clergyman of great promise, and of unusual powers 
 of eloquence, etc." 
 
 Captain Molly read it through, and then looked 
 up inquiringly.
 
 HOW THE FIDDLE CROONED 10$ 
 
 Ensign Harry smiled a faint, quivering smile 
 that hardly curled the sensitive lips. 
 
 " You know I gave him up," she said. 
 
 " But I never dreamed he was a clergyman," 
 was Molly's answer. 
 
 " Ah ! that was three years ago. He was in 
 deacon's orders then, did not take full orders till 
 two years afterward. I I gave him up," she 
 went on faintly, the same drawn look coming over 
 her face. 
 
 " How could you ? and he destined to be a 
 leader of men ! " escaped Molly's lips. 
 
 " I did of course I did. But but that is the 
 state church in England. It means, in my eyes, 
 oppression of the people ; and my own family and 
 all my ancestry were Dissenters. He stood to his 
 colors, I can't say but what I honored him for 
 that, but I could not go with him. He was am- 
 bitious, and liked the good things of this world, 
 wealth, honors, and in a certain sense, courted 
 them. I felt differently ; I did not like the Church, 
 was not in harmony with it ; my education, pur- 
 suits, and aims led to different results. We could 
 not agree, loving him though I did almost idola- 
 trously, God forgive me if it was a sin ; so I cast in 
 my lot with the poor, the unfortunate, the vicious, 
 the fallen. He tried to dissuade me from the en- 
 terprise; we both grew angry, stubborn, perhaps 
 vindictive. So I became an outcast for opinion's 
 sake. That is what he and my people said. Oh,
 
 IO6 CAPTAIN MOLLY 
 
 yes ! " to Molly's look of inquiry ; " they would have 
 had me marry him sooner than join the Salva- 
 tionists. There they drew the line despising 
 them, their banners, their drums, their military 
 rules ; but I took the matter into my own hands. 
 Do you know," and she smiled through glistening 
 tears, " my great-grandfather on my father's side 
 was a reformer, and died the death of a martyr. I 
 wonder if his spirit could have been influencing 
 me that I took this step ? " 
 
 " Do you regret it ? " asked Molly. 
 
 " Regret it ! " she replied in a brisker voice ; " no, 
 I do not regret it ; but you must understand, in or- 
 der to appreciate my present foolishness weak- 
 ness indeed" and she stamped her small foot 
 "how much I loved him. He was everything 
 to me. Whatever typifies the best and most beau- 
 tiful things in the power of earth or heaven to be- 
 stow, that he was to me, air, sunshine, life itself. 
 You see," she added, faltering, " we knew and 
 loved each other for ten long years. But to win 
 heaven is better than to enjoy mere earthly love " 
 she looked up with pleading and wistfulness in 
 her blue eyes. " I thought so then ; I think so still. 
 You and I have both left good homes ; yours more 
 splendid perhaps, because ours was a country 
 house, with steps leading everywhere, into great 
 sunny rooms, into little cosey nooks covered out- 
 side with vines, into old-fashioned corners, out 
 into a bright old garden, the pride of all the gene-
 
 HOW THE FIDDLE CROONED IO/ 
 
 rations gone before. I shall never stop if I think 
 of that, the peach- and plum-trees trained against 
 the wall, billows of bloom in the sunlight, clouds 
 of faint gold in the twilight where the marigolds 
 grew oh, my old, happy home ! " and she bent 
 over, her hands at her eyes, rocking a little to 
 and fro. 
 
 " My dear, you are homesick," said Molly 
 gently. 
 
 "Homesick oh, no! He that putteth his 
 hand to the plough, you know, I forget oh, yes, 
 I was going to ask you if you regret the step you 
 have taken." 
 
 "I find great happiness in the work," said 
 Molly truthfully. 
 
 " Yes, I do I did ; but, you see, there are nine 
 of them at home, away across the wild sea and 
 you are near your father. Nothing very terrible 
 could happen to you. And now to have this fear- 
 ful cross to bear for do you know I think," 
 she clasped both hands over her heart, "I 
 think he has come in the hope of finding me ! Is 
 it vanity? or is it his heart whispering to mine? 
 I can't tell. I only know I feel so. I I'm a 
 little wild about it," and she laughed softly, " a lit- 
 tle off, I suppose, as some people put it but I 
 don't want him to see me in my uniform." She 
 laughed again, but it was more like a sob. 
 
 " Don't think I'm ashamed of it under ordinary 
 circumstances. I'm proud of it," she went on ;
 
 IO8 CAPTAIN MOLLY 
 
 " but is it a momentary weakness I ought to be 
 ashamed of?" and then she folded her hands, and 
 sank back helpless. 
 
 "Oh, no! it is very natural," said Molly sooth- 
 ingly. " You are sure of course you are sure 
 that he is still true to you ? " In a moment 
 she felt she had committed a rudeness, and said 
 so. 
 
 " Not in the least. I have not heard from home 
 for the last six months. Oh, my dear ! if he should 
 be married, should have brought his wife 
 here then God would have taken it all out of 
 my hands. But what am I saying? If I could 
 not be tempted five years ago how could I dare 
 to dally with temptation now ? Well, the chapel 
 is not far." 
 
 " Shall you go ? " Molly asked, seeing, as in a 
 lightning flash, how this woman loved and suf- 
 fered. 
 
 " What ! in my Salvation clothes ?" She smiled 
 faintly. 
 
 " Why not ? " Molly asked. 
 
 " Would you ? " 
 
 At this direct question Molly swerved a little 
 mentally, and her glance went towards the win- 
 dow. A miserable woman lower down the street 
 was hanging out clothes on the small square of 
 shed that served for a yard, a yard in the air. 
 She remembered that that very woman, too low, 
 indeed, to bear the sacred name, had laughed at
 
 HOW THE FIDDLE CROONED IO9 
 
 her. Church ! where all was rigid propriety, full 
 dress, after the fashion of church-goers, velvet and 
 feathers, brocade and lace, even in a back seat, 
 with the poke bonnet, a cambric gown twelve 
 cents a yard, "would you?" echoed in her 
 ears. 
 
 " My dear, we are not bound to carry sackcloth 
 everywhere. There are no cast-iron rules forbid- 
 ding any style but this," she said. "Even I 
 brought some of my vanities here, a box with 
 three worldly bonnets in it, and gloves that have 
 been to several balls. Have we any right to make 
 the congregation stare ? I think not. Neither 
 are we nuns, because we have forsworn the world. 
 We are two earnest, and, I hope, honest Christian 
 women. We can dress as plainly as we please ; but 
 we will be conventional for once, and go to the 
 chapel together." 
 
 " Oh, you dear soul ! how good you are ! you 
 don't scold me as I am sure Lieutenant Rider 
 would. But," and she spoke almost wildly, " why 
 should I go at all ? What good will it do me ? If 
 he seeks our haunts, let him see me I don't 
 care ! I shall be proud of it. Would you go ? " 
 
 "I think, perhaps not," said Captain Molly. 
 
 The girl's head drooped ; she drew a long sigh. 
 
 " My heart is absolutely hungry to see him," 
 she half sobbed. " Maybe it is just possible that 
 I might not care so much after you know 
 he may be changed;" she stood up and took up
 
 IIO CAPTAIN MOLLY 
 
 Molly's hands in hers. " I may be disenchanted 
 or or he may be married ! " 
 
 The pressure on Molly's fingers was absolutely 
 painful. Her heart ached for her friend, but the 
 divine instinct of womanhood came to her assist- 
 ance. 
 
 " You would not have had the opportunity 
 otherwise," she said softly ; " now, perhaps, he is 
 sent here for your spiritual good. Go and hear 
 him."
 
 THREE WORLDLY HATS III 
 
 CHAPTER XVI 
 
 THREE WORLDLY HATS 
 
 Nothing is troublesome that we do willingly. 
 
 CAPTAIN MOLLY went to the closet, and took 
 down a milliner's box, a slight pasteboard affair, 
 with the name of the most fashionable milliner 
 in the city printed upon the cover. Opening it, 
 she displayed two modest but elegant black hats, 
 trimmed very plainly with narrow satin ribbon, 
 and the most costly flowers daintily arranged in 
 the prevailing style. Besides these there were a 
 bonnet, two fans, and a package of gloves. 
 
 " I thought perhaps some situation might arise 
 in which I should need them," Molly said. "The 
 gloves are tan, and will go nicely with our black 
 dresses. You shall have either hat you choose," 
 she went on, turning smilingly to her friend. 
 
 " But if we are seen going out in these," Ensign 
 Harry said hesitatingly. 
 
 " We shall rise in the estimation of every soul in 
 Paradise lost" retorted Molly. " How fortunate 
 that you saw this notice in time ! The lecture 
 takes place to-night, our off night ; and I confess I 
 want to see this zealous young preacher myself."
 
 112 CAPTAIN MOLLY 
 
 "But he must not see us," said Ensign Harry 
 with some agitation, holding the hat in her hand. 
 
 " Do you suppose there is the slightest ghost of 
 a chance though love is quick-sighted," Molly 
 laughed ; "we will take back seats." 
 
 "There will be ushers, though," Ensign Harry 
 made reply. 
 
 " Put on your hat," said Molly, and then stood 
 back, her head on one side, her glance critical. 
 
 "Try the bonnet," she went on, lifting deftly 
 the pretty trifle of lace and silk. " You will look 
 better in it. Ah, yes, that tiny aigrette was just 
 what was needed. My dear, I hope he will see 
 you. You don't know how pretty you are ! " 
 
 The cheeks took on again that faint English 
 tinge of rose-color, and an almost divine light 
 sparkled for one moment in the sweet blue eyes ; 
 eyes made only for love glances, soft, translucent 
 deeps, with a rich sombre semicircle underneath 
 which only added to their brilliancy. 
 
 "You must not stir the sleeping vanity in my 
 heart," she said, smiling. "When I was a girl, I 
 was vain. I have been doing penance for it all 
 my life oh, so vain ! because people called me 
 pretty. Oh, I am wretched indeed ! I ought not 
 to go, and yet I must go. It will be only disaster 
 to me, I fear." 
 
 " Nonsense, dear ; you are brave enough to fight 
 his Satanic Majesty at all times can you not 
 accept the result as God's will ? " said Molly.
 
 THREE WORLDLY HATS 1 13 
 
 "I ought to I must," said the young ensign. 
 " I have not looked at it in that light before, nor 
 thought of my motto, 
 
 ' Let all fail, if Heaven fail not.' " 
 
 As they left Paradise Flats they met Sebastian 
 Bassett walking home with his little boy. The 
 beautiful face lighted up with a babe's quick, 
 heavenly smile, and he held out his arms to them. 
 
 Reine followed behind, very petite, bright, and 
 delicate-looking in her new muslin dress, which 
 Molly had finished for her only the day before. 
 
 " We've been out walking," whispered the happy 
 little wife and mother. "He has not had a bad 
 time for a week and God bless you ! " she added 
 from a full heart. 
 
 "That baby don't belong here," said Ensign 
 Harry softly, as they walked on. 
 
 " Oh ! I don't know," Molly began to protest. 
 
 " There's nothing earthly about him," she went 
 on ; "I always think of him as belonging to another 
 sphere in fine, he is more of heaven than earth. 
 How came he to be born of earthly parents ?" 
 
 "To save them perhaps," said Molly, "or at 
 least one of them. You might say of Sebastian, 
 there seldom comes across one's path a man so 
 handsome, and more talented and yet " 
 
 After that the silence was unbroken.
 
 114 CAPTAIN MOLLY 
 
 CHAPTER XVII 
 
 In fine aristocratic state. 
 
 THE church was full, and brilliantly lighted. 
 Molly and her friend were given seats in the side 
 forming one wing of the chapel, which was built 
 in the shape of a Maltese cross ; and Harry shrank 
 into the corner as far from the glare of the light 
 as possible. 
 
 There were flowers in the chancel ; and on the 
 edge of the broad, velvet-lined lectern stood a 
 vase of calla-lilies, every one a perfect blossom, 
 white, massive, and fragrant. The main part of 
 the chancel was out of sight from where the two 
 young women sat ; but the rolling tones of the 
 great organ penetrated into every nook and corner, 
 like waves flowing and ebbing, soothing the turbu- 
 lence of thought and feeling among the worship- 
 pers, and giving poor Ensign Harry, whose hearing 
 and sight grew every moment more and more 
 acute, the sensation of being borne aloft on its 
 harmonious swell, till sight and sense were soothed 
 by the entrance of the choir-boys, headed by the 
 precentor and followed by the rector, behind
 
 IN THE RECTORS PEW 115 
 
 whom, with slow step and downcast eyes, came a 
 young, tall fellow clad in the gown and stole. 
 
 Molly felt her gown grasped hard, and knew 
 that this was the Reverend Mr. Flagler. She had 
 no time to form any conclusions as to his appear- 
 ance ; for she felt her friend Harry leaning 
 against her, and feared that she had fainted. She 
 turned. The English girl was very pale, her face 
 indeed resembled chiselled marble, but only their 
 eyes met. She made no sign ; but Molly drew a 
 little closer, obtained possession of her hand, and 
 thus they sat, the one nervous and constrained, 
 the other striving to impart her own strength for 
 the benefit of her friend. 
 
 In the rector's pew sat two women ; one the wife 
 of the resident clergyman, the other not so young, 
 but dressed with fine accuracy in a tan-colored 
 silk-and-wool travelling dress, her bonnet nodding 
 with tiny plumes, her small hands exquisitely 
 gloved, in one of them a prayer-book bound in 
 old ivory. In her face there was lack of spirit- 
 ual beauty ; but the correct classical outlines, the 
 heavy lidded blue eyes, and the faultless com- 
 plexion betrayed a Saxon origin, and an air aristo- 
 cratic breathed from all her movements. 
 
 Molly's heart sank. She alone, who had some- 
 times resorted to the chapel on Sunday evenings, 
 Russell Stacey being her escort, knew which was 
 the rector's pew; and she said to herself, 
 
 " That woman is rich, refined, well-born, and
 
 Il6 CAPTAIN MOLLY 
 
 worldly and, saddest of all, she is the wife of 
 the Reverend Mr. Flagler." 
 
 After the service, the speaker of the evening 
 came forward. 
 
 Molly's grasp enclosed a hand as cold as ice, 
 which trembled violently as the young clergyman 
 commenced. 
 
 Smooth, flowing, versatile, sometimes severely 
 classical, the words flowed on. Molly was critical. 
 It seemed to her that the speaker looked round 
 more than was consistent with delicacy, a bold 
 self-assertion in his glance. 
 
 " He is also effeminate," she said to herself. 
 " That face, with the over-large eyes and the small 
 mouth, the white skin, and the smooth expression- 
 less forehead, is not the face of a man willing, if 
 need be, to fight for the truth. Prosperity is his 
 only hope ; poverty would make him pusillani- 
 mous, and a slave to the rich. I don't like him." 
 
 But now something happened. 
 
 The man, with his sweeping glances, at last 
 took in the beautiful, serious face of Ensign 
 Harry. For one second he turned white, swayed, 
 and clutched at the pulpit ; everybody saw his 
 agitation, everybody wondered. 
 
 Then he took from some place beneath, a glass 
 of water, and wet his parched lips, braced himself 
 anew, and went on with his well-ordered address ; 
 but never again did his eyes wander from the 
 written page.
 
 IN THE RECTORS PEW I I/ 
 
 " After all, he must have loved her," Molly said 
 to herself with a sad, foreboding heart. 
 
 Amid that low, decorous, murmuring swell of 
 voices that goes up the aisle with the people as 
 they leave the temple, one could hear now and 
 then the comments of the congregation. 
 
 "Very nice," said a woman near Molly, "quite 
 eloquent ! Did you see the lady in the rector's 
 pew ? That is his bride ; this is their wedding- 
 trip. She is very rich, indeed, enormously wealthy, 
 so I hear, and a lady by title. Yes, he made a 
 very fine match ; clergymen are sometimes quite 
 fortunate, don't you know ? Oh, yes ! some older 
 than he, I should think; but that bonnet, heavens ! 
 Wasn't it a dream ! Well, she can afford it; she 
 has millions." 
 
 The ensign clutched Molly's dress just then, 
 and as they went out Molly passed an arm about 
 her. It was quite late, and very dark. 
 
 "Don't speak to me don't please say a word," 
 the English girl whispered almost convulsively. 
 "It is all over and I am punished." 
 
 And then, in less than a minute afterwards, in a 
 voice full of anguish, 
 
 " Why don't you talk ? O Molly, Molly ! say 
 something to comfort me or I shall go mad." 
 
 " Let all fail, if Heaven fail not," Molly replied 
 in a soft, sweet voice. 
 
 " Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you ! " the 
 girl spoke rapidly; "all has failed. How do I
 
 Il8 CAPTAIN MOLLY 
 
 know but Heaven will ? O Molly, he saw me ! " 
 she gasped. 
 
 " Yes, he saw you ; that was evident to me, and 
 puzzling to many, no doubt," Molly answered. 
 
 " A mist came over my eyes. Didn't he stop ? " 
 she further asked. 
 
 " He not only stopped, but he almost lost his 
 wits. Somebody said, coming out, that very 
 likely he had spasms of the heart. People always 
 acted that way who did." 
 
 "The voyage of memory," murmured Ensign 
 Harry. "Oh, no! he can't have forgotten. And 
 his face what did you think of it? Ah, me, 
 why do I ask ? " 
 
 "It was not to me the face of a high-toned gen- 
 tleman. High-toned I mean in the highest and 
 best sense. The man likes good dinners and flat- 
 tery moderate doses ; and he couldn't preach 
 for his life if he didn't write his sermons." 
 
 " O Molly ! is that your estimate of the man I 
 love ? " 
 
 "Of the man you did love," said Molly, the 
 slightest tinge of severity in her voice. " It is a 
 sin to love him now that he is married." Harry 
 was silent after that. 
 
 "Let me go into your room, dear," she said, as 
 they went up the stairs together. 
 
 She took off the pretty trifle of silk and 
 feathers. 
 
 Just then, as she held it in her hand, came a
 
 IN THE RECTORS PEW 
 
 stirring blast from a cornet, and the click of cas- 
 tanets, accompanied by the roll of the drum. The 
 Salvation Army was in the street below. Both 
 girls listened as the small body of Salvationists 
 marched along on their way from evening meet- 
 ing. The tears stood in Ensign Harry's eyes. 
 
 " Blessed little company ! " she said, her voice 
 trembling "humble, faithful, happy! Here, 
 Molly. Thanks for your kindness," as she handed 
 her the bonnet. " I'll never take off the badge 
 of my liberty again. No matter where I go, 
 High Church or Low, I will never be ashamed of 
 my order or the regimentals, never ! Don't cry, 
 Molly ; the conflict is over. God shall have all 
 my heart from this time henceforth. Forever- 
 more ! "
 
 I2O CAPTAIN MOLLY 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII 
 
 COUSIN LUCY'S REIGN 
 The road to home happiness lies over small stepping-stones. 
 
 I saw you last night in St. Luke's Chapel, clothed, and 
 seemingly in your right mind. What did it mean ? Why 
 were you at the lecture delivered by the celebrated English 
 philanthropist? Come back to us. Last night you were at 
 home. It cannot be that you prefer the slums. Your cousin 
 wishes you to come. She is lonely (I don't remember that 
 you ever considered it lonely here). I had a letter from 
 Russell Stacey. He was in Paris, but said nothing definite 
 as to his return. Let me hear that you have come to your 
 senses. Isn't there a commandment in some old book : 
 " Honor thy father and thy mother"? To be sure it don't 
 say obey, but I am old-fashioned enough to think that to a 
 father obedience is due. However, I don't force you, re- 
 member. If you won't leave, stay till you tire of them or 
 they tire of you. YOUR FATHER. 
 
 Molly wrote often to her father, but the banker 
 had never answered her letters. This was the 
 first word she had received from him. The sight 
 of Molly dressed in the old style, as far as her 
 conscience approved, so touched his exacting 
 heart that this short note was the result. Lucy, 
 his niece, had been very happy for a time in the 
 midst of all her finery. It was so different from
 
 COUSIN LUCYS REIGN 121 
 
 her own home, a small, stuffy house, where one 
 always knew what was going to be served for 
 dinner by the smell as soon as the front door 
 was opened ! 
 
 Her father was only the cashier of his rich 
 banker brother-in-law. There were several boys 
 in the family, and they ruled the house. Lucy 
 when at her own home always felt herself at the 
 mercy of "the boys." They were rude and mis- 
 chievous, boisterous and unruly. They stole her 
 confections when she had any to steal ; hid her 
 books, her workbasket, even her hats, for fun ; 
 and played the most preposterous practical jokes 
 upon her. They were all handsome, hearty, 
 healthy fellows ; but neither father nor mother 
 knew the secret of governing their children, and 
 consequently chaos reigned. 
 
 When invited to become an Jiabitu^e of her un- 
 cle's house her delight knew no bounds. The large, 
 cool mansion, with her own parlor and boudoir, 
 seemed literally like paradise to her. To have 
 her own maid, plenty of spending money, and a 
 fine wardrobe, was as near being in a state of 
 beatitude as she could imagine. Molly's maid 
 stayed on, for she was sure that Miss Stanley 
 would come back some time. She could not en- 
 dure that any one should take the place of her 
 well-beloved young lady, with whom she had lived 
 ever since Molly went into long frocks. 
 
 " She never give herself no airs, she didn't,"
 
 122 CAPTAIN MOLLY 
 
 muttered the indignant girl ; "any one could see 
 which was the lady ! " 
 
 As for Lucy, she revelled in rich dresses, bought 
 them, wore them, gave them away, like one to the 
 manner born. She still suffered from " the boys," 
 who made occasional raids upon the house, and 
 coaxed her for money, and left the prints of their 
 soiled boots upon the delicate carpets. And it 
 irked her to rise at stated hours to take break- 
 fast with her uncle. She managed to comply with 
 the rules, and did the honors with sleepy eyes and 
 tousled hair. 
 
 Molly had declined more than half of her in- 
 vitations to society gatherings ; Lucy accepted 
 every one with eagerness. Consequently she was 
 somewhat jaded that first winter, and her uncle 
 often waited for her till the toast was cold. 
 
 " My dear, Molly never kept me waiting," he 
 said now and then ; and his very soul rebelled 
 against the edict he had given forbidding his 
 daughter the house. 
 
 " The little fool ! the little blank fool ! " he 
 would mutter between his teeth only his pro- 
 fanity was very much more pronounced. " But 
 she is true grit ! " and he ended with a fit of mus- 
 ing admiration for her spirit, pluck, and courage. 
 He seldom went into society, so he heard but few 
 of the remarks of the busybodies who pitied him 
 and condemned Molly in the same breath. 
 
 Home was not so pleasant now. He was proud
 
 COUSIN LUCYS REIGN 123 
 
 and very fond of Molly. Her stately beauty, at 
 least, she seemed stately to him, though she was 
 by no means tall ; her sweet good-morning kiss, 
 Lucy seldom kissed him, and he did not care 
 for her to do so ; her real love for him, for him- 
 self alone, Lucy's face beamed only when he 
 gave her the allowance she dearly loved to spend ; 
 her whole gracious loveliness in all home minis- 
 trations, were constantly in his memory. 
 
 Lucy sometimes helped him on with his coat, 
 she kept his dressing-gown and slippers in the 
 right places, she tried to remember what made for 
 his comfort, but she was not always successful. 
 Molly never forgot things. Her habits were fixed. 
 
 Mr. Stanley went down to his office one day 
 thoroughly vexed. It was the night after the lec- 
 ture, where he had seen Molly "clothed, and in 
 her right mind," as he phrased it. Lucy had come 
 down when breakfast was half over ; and if there 
 was one thing that he hated more than another, it 
 was to sit down to the table alone. He had only 
 glanced at the girl ; for there were traces of negli- 
 gence in her toilet, and she was not as pleasant to 
 the sight as when in full dress and beaming on an 
 escort the only hours when she really lived. 
 So, before she had even drunk her coffee, he left 
 the table, pushed back his chair, and without word 
 or glance left the room and the house. 
 
 It was a little surly perhaps, but trifles worried 
 him now. All the way to the bank, however, he
 
 124 CAPTAIN MOLLY 
 
 took some satisfaction in the consciousness that 
 she had been perhaps as uncomfortable as himself, 
 for he had never left her that way before. 
 
 He was in his office when one of the clerks 
 brought him a business paper. 
 
 "I see," he said, "that is Stacey's signature. 
 Who is the man ? " 
 
 " I don't know ; he was vouched for by Captain 
 Carey, who happened to be in the bank." 
 
 " Oh, well ! that's all right ; let him have the five 
 thousand. But stop, I'll take a look at him." 
 
 He came out of the office, still talking with the 
 cashier. 
 
 A man with a travelled air, dainty mutton-chop 
 whiskers, bronze-colored hair, and blue spectacles, 
 stood at the counter. 
 
 " Acquainted with Stacey ? " the banker asked, 
 as the man was about to move away. 
 
 " Oh, yes ! very intimately," was the quiet an- 
 swer; "he was with me on the Continent." 
 
 " And you left him well, I hope ? " 
 
 "Yes, I left him very well ; good-morning," and 
 the stranger went out. 
 
 " Singular! I can't for the life of me make out 
 who that gentleman reminds me of," muttered the 
 banker. 
 
 " Even Stanley don't know me, and he's the 
 keenest reader of faces I ever met," reflected 
 Stacey, as he walked down the steps of the bank. 
 " There would be no bar to my social advance-
 
 COUSIN LUCY'S REIGN 125 
 
 ment on the score of appearance. It's odd to feel 
 one's self descending in the social scale, even to 
 go into society a stranger," he smiled to himself 
 as he walked down the street, meeting no one 
 to do him homage, though he frequently passed a 
 familiar face.
 
 126 CAPTAIN MOLLY 
 
 CHAPTER XIX 
 THE PROFESSOR'S VERDICT 
 
 The meaning of harmony goes deep. 
 
 THE windows at Professor Andromo's were 
 open to the soft breezes of the sea. He lived in 
 an unfashionable quarter of the city ; but in spite 
 of his social surroundings, he was the musical 
 lion of the day. As a pianist, his reputation was 
 supreme in that paradise of professors. The vio- 
 lin in his hands told wild stories of love and 
 romance, and he was petitioned by courtly dames 
 to give lessons to their sons and daughters at the 
 most fabulous prices. 
 
 Opposite the house was an old-fashioned square, 
 daintily laid out with flowering shrubs, trees, and 
 Southern plants. Iron seats wrought with artistic 
 finish stood at various distances. 
 
 On one of them sat Nanny Gartia. The quiver 
 of blossoms in the soft air stirred her soul to mel- 
 ody ; and her deep, lustrous, spiritual eyes moved 
 as if entranced from one floral beauty to another. 
 She was quite neatly dressed, yet bore the im- 
 print of poverty in some curiously defined way. 
 Perhaps it was the stamp that penury, suffering,
 
 THE PROFESSORS VERDICT 
 
 and self-denial had left upon her face, and that 
 clung to her personality. Her hair, abundant and 
 carefully dressed, flowed in loose, short curls from 
 under a prim little hat ; and lying across her lap 
 the old green baize bag, held in place by a shapely 
 hand, appealed pathetically to the passers-by, pro- 
 claiming her vocation as that of a street mu- 
 sician. 
 
 Once or twice the child looked opposite, up 
 to the window banked and hanging in exquisite 
 wreaths of color, and contrasting delicately with 
 the pearly gray tones of the great house, built 
 over a century ago. 
 
 There was no monotony in the scene. Up 
 the stony pathways carriages were rolling, and big 
 drags, drawn by fat, portly horses, wended their 
 way to the lower part of the city. The trees were 
 all of a tremble, catching the sunlight in diamond 
 dots, and making rich tracery on the dun-colored 
 paths underneath. 
 
 Presently the door opened opposite, and a young 
 girl came out. 
 
 " She is dressed like all the rest," murmured 
 Nan with a little impatient sigh, " silks and fine 
 laces ! And many of them come in carriages," 
 she went on, as a splendid equipage, with glints 
 of yellow light on the panels, drove up, and the 
 coachman opened the door for his dainty mistress. 
 " They're all rich, I guess ; none of them poor, 
 fatherless girls like me. How many scholars he
 
 128 CAPTAIN MOLLY 
 
 must have ! Oh, if I hadn't promised Miss Stan- 
 ley, I wouldn't dare go ; and I don't know as I 
 will. What will he care for me? Yet Miss Stan- 
 ley is quite sure he will be good to me. Ah ! 
 nobody seems to be coming out any more ; now 
 it is your turn, little beggar." 
 
 She drew from the pocket of her flannel dress 
 Molly's letter in a square white envelope. 
 
 Meantime the professor was through with work 
 for the day. He left the piano after originating a 
 short, sweet prelude, and stood looking into the 
 square, his face framed in vines and pink blos- 
 soms. 
 
 " After all, what stupid work," he said to him- 
 self. " Pupils with no ear for the nicety of ex- 
 pression that all music demands ; pupils with 
 blunt fingers, who scare away the elements of pre- 
 cision and delicacy ; pupils who wander in their 
 minds, and turn to me with blank faces, then 
 hammer and sigh and cry, and go at hammering 
 again. Perdition take them all, I say ! " 
 
 There was a knock at the door. 
 
 " Come in ! " he said. Then in a more impa- 
 tient voice, " Come in ; don't you hear ? " 
 
 The door opened. The great professor stared 
 and wondered. Never had a creature so hope- 
 lessly plebeian crossed that threshold before. Gen- 
 erally his usher, a gorgeous creature in gold and 
 blue, heralded the visitor with a card on a silver 
 salver. How came this one unheralded ?
 
 THE PROFESSORS VERDICT 
 
 " The door was open, sir ; I didn't ring, but 
 came up-stairs," said the child in a frightened 
 voice. 
 
 "Ah! I'll give Paine the devil for this," growled 
 the professor ; then seeing the frightened look in 
 the child's eyes, he changed his tones. " Well, 
 well, quick, what do you want ? I haven't a dime 
 no, nor a penny ; but, good Lord, there's a 
 quarter. Take it, and go. I can't waste my time, 
 youngster." 
 
 " Oh, sir, I ain't a beggar ! Did you think I'd 
 come a-begging to you? I don't want the quarter, 
 sir; I earn quarters myself sometimes. But see, 
 my father was a musician, and I oh, I'd like to 
 forgot here's a letter for you, sir." 
 
 The child had hardly recovered from her fright; 
 but she was a brave little thing, and pressed the 
 lump down that kept rising in her throat. This 
 man looked so grand, so utterly out of reach in 
 his black silk-velvet dressing-gown, and the plush 
 smoking-cap, under which his gray hair curled 
 in crisp rings. His eyes were piercing too, and 
 seemed to look her through and through. Yes, 
 she was very brave in keeping her courage up 
 and the tears down. 
 
 Taking the letter, the professor went towards 
 the window, where Nan's startled, anxious glances 
 took in all the glory of the summer Southern ver- 
 dure. Then he put on his gold-rimmed glasses, 
 and read as follows :
 
 I3O CAPTAIN MOLLY 
 
 DEAR PROFESSOR ANDROMO, You know I have been 
 your pupil ever since I was six years old that's for twelve 
 years. Now I have a favor to ask you, a very great favor. 
 I don't know that you will care to grant it, but I hope you 
 will. 
 
 Little Nanny Gartia, who will hand you this letter, is a 
 protigte of mine. I think, although a poor little orphan of 
 Italian parentage, that she is a diamond in the rough. If 
 not, then surely I am no judge of precious things in human 
 nature. She has also a violin that, it appears to me, must 
 be of great value ; for it has been in her family for nearly two 
 hundred years. As far as I can learn, her great-great-grand- 
 father played upon it ; and it has the appearance of extreme 
 age, as well as the silvery, resonant tones of a masterpiece. 
 Please, dear Professor, don't frighten her with your patri- 
 cian manner, and tell me by her, the very least you will give 
 her one lesson a week for ; that is, if in your estimation she 
 is worth the trouble. I have found her a good, willing little 
 girl. All her family were musical, and she seems gifted with 
 remarkable genius. 
 
 She will show you " King Solomon." 
 
 Very truly your friend and pupil, 
 
 MOLLY STANLEY. 
 
 " Ah ! " and the face took on a gleam of good 
 nature as he pulled his long, drooping mustache, 
 " I can't refuse what my child asks me, can I ? " 
 he looked up reflectively. His child she had 
 always been, from the time he first looked 
 over her golden head at the grand piano, and 
 laughed because the little feet could not reach 
 the pedals. 
 
 Then he cast a furtive glance at the child. 
 
 "Good eyes," he said under his breath. Pres-
 
 THE PROFESSORS VERDICT 13! 
 
 ently he saw a solitary tear rolling over the pale 
 cheek, and the sight touched him. 
 
 " But who in the deuce is King Solomon ? " he 
 asked. 
 
 Her eyes lighted at the old familiar name. 
 
 " It's the fiddle, sir," she said. 
 
 " Ah, I thought so ! You have an old violin," 
 he added briskly. "Want to sell?" 
 
 " Oh, no, sir ! it belonged to my father, and 
 my father is dead," was the answer. 
 
 " Ah, so ! dead is he ? Did he play ? " 
 
 " He played in the orchestra he was a leader; " 
 but after his long sickness he lost the place, and 
 at last he had to play in the streets for mother 
 and me. Mother is dead too," she added in a low 
 voice. 
 
 " So ! alone, are you ? " 
 
 The child looked up to speak, drew a deep, sob- 
 bing breath, and as her eyes filled, nodded. 
 
 " Let me see the fiddle." 
 
 She gladly released the instrument from the old 
 baize bag, and checked her sobs. 
 
 He took it in his practised hands, noticed the 
 depth and richness of the varnish where varnish 
 was still left, and all the minute and varied mat- 
 ters of age, whistling softly to himself. The girl 
 recalled her courage. Something in his face heart- 
 ened her. 
 
 " Where did your father get this instrument ? " 
 he asked.
 
 132 CAPTAIN MOLLY 
 
 " He always had it ; grandfather and his father 
 all played ; it's very old, sir," she made answer. 
 
 He nodded several times. He played a chord 
 on the grand piano, and listened to the ghost of 
 a sigh that echoed on the strings of the instru- 
 ment as he held it to his ear. She remembered 
 having seen her father do that. A great light 
 illumined his strong face. 
 
 " Do you play ? " he asked, smiling down at her. 
 
 " Just a little, sir." 
 
 " You hold it in this way, I suppose," he said, 
 reversing it. 
 
 " Oh, no ! " with a shocked look ; " papa wouldn't 
 let me, though I wanted to at first. He said no 
 true artist would play in that fashion." She had 
 forgotten all fear her eyes sparkled. 
 
 " Your father was right. What is the tone, 
 I wonder ? " he asked banteringly. " If I am to 
 give you a hundred dollars for it, I wish to know 
 how it sounds." 
 
 " I don't want to sell it. It gives me my living. 
 A hundred dollars wouldn't last long. But some 
 day, perhaps, I can play with excellence and 
 my father wouldn't like me to sell it." 
 
 " He's gone, you know," was the response. 
 
 She shook her head. 
 
 " He loved it so, I think he stays near me to 
 protect it." 
 
 The answer seemed to amuse the professor, who 
 turned away to conceal a smile.
 
 THE PROFESSORS VERDICT 133 
 
 "Then, if he is so near, he will like to hear you 
 play." She still held the bow. 
 
 " Imagine yourself out-of-doors," he continued. 
 "Look towards the park. Now let me hear its 
 tone." 
 
 She placed the violin in position. The man's 
 eyes sparkled. No fault to be found there. She 
 lifted the bow, her poise and carriage were both 
 correct. Then she drew the bow lightly but 
 firmly over the strings. One moment she fal- 
 tered. Then she looked at the square beyond, 
 the flowers in the window, the blue sky overhead, 
 and took courage. It was almost like being on 
 the street. 
 
 The professor stood near, and a little behind 
 her, his piercing eyes noting every movement. 
 He stood with folded arms. There was a glow in 
 his face at the first movement. She played a 
 short Italian air, and well. Had he found at last 
 what he had been searching for so long, the 
 priceless pearl of genius ? 
 
 " Your father taught you to hold the bow," he 
 said. 
 
 " Yes, sir. He was sick all the time for the 
 last year, and I had to sing, so I was too tired to 
 study much ; but whenever I tried to play " 
 she hesitated " it came to me." 
 
 "What came to you ? " he asked with an amused, 
 almost comical smile. 
 
 She seemed, searching for words. " I don't
 
 134 CAPTAIN MOLLY 
 
 know, sir," the child faltered. "The feeling as if 
 it knew what I wanted, and could answer me like 
 another voice. So I learned to love it and 
 -and that's all I know." 
 
 " It's all you need to know. That will carry 
 you through. So, my child, you would like to 
 study, I suppose," he said. 
 
 "Oh, if I could ! But I haven't any money, only 
 to buy food ; but I would starve myself almost, if 
 I might only learn." 
 
 "No need of that, no need of that," the pro- 
 fessor said smilingly, to veil the tremor in his 
 voice. " The money is all right ; somebody has 
 pledged to pay for you." 
 
 " It's Captain Molly, then ! " cried the child, 
 with a wild cry of delight. " Oh, she's an angel !" 
 she went on in irrepressible gratitude. " God 
 bless her ! God bless her ! " 
 
 " Captain ! " blurted the professor, puzzled. 
 
 " Yes, sir ; she's in the Salvation Army," was 
 the response. 
 
 It was too much for the professor, who broke 
 into a fit of laughter so boisterous, so prolonged, 
 that the girl, with lustrous eyes grown deep and 
 large with very astonishment, stood like one spell- 
 bound. 
 
 " I'll be " (the reader can imagine what he 
 
 said). The child heard worse profanity every day 
 of her life. It did not shock her, she was so used 
 to it.
 
 THE PROFESSOR'S VERDICT 135 
 
 "I I heard something about this," the man 
 muttered, the tears born of excess of mirth still 
 standing on his cheeks. " O Lord ! that miser- 
 able rabble the music ! Great Scott ! and she 
 with her sensitive ears and high-breeding the 
 palace and the gutter shaking hands ! Well, by 
 all that's great and good, tell me what the women 
 will be doing next ! The daughter of a banker 
 too O Lord, Lord ! " 
 
 " She's very nice, sir. She's beautiful she's 
 splendid ! " said the girl, loyal and unafraid, her 
 eyes glowing like flames of fire. " She helps the 
 poor ; she gives money to the suffering ! We 
 didn't know anything till she came to Paradise 
 Flats, just to see how we lived. Now everybody 
 goes to her; and she tells them just what to do, 
 and teaches them to be good. Yes, she is an 
 angel!" she reiterated, with burning cheeks and 
 flaming eyes. At that moment the soul shone 
 out, and Nan was beautiful. 
 
 The professor looked at her gravely. 
 
 "I knew Miss Molly before you were born, 
 child," he said, all traces of mirth gone, and in 
 his eyes there was a soft glow ; " and with you I 
 say " he bowed reverently " God bless her ! " 
 
 " How hard I will try to pay everything back," 
 said the child with a glad voice. " My father 
 never would get in debt but," and she drew a 
 long breath, " such a debt as that ! " 
 
 "Well, you shall try, my child. It's going to
 
 136 CAPTAIN MOLLY 
 
 be hard work, the technique, the positions ; 
 but you have that which money cannot buy that 
 which you say comes to you. It comes to all 
 God's gifted children. You must give a little 
 time twice a week. I will teach you." 
 
 " You, sir ! will you ? " and she placed both 
 hands on her heart. " Oh, how hard I will work ! " 
 
 " Then come just about this time," said the pro- 
 fessor, " if it's not too late." 
 
 " Late ! Oh, sir ! " said this worldly child, " I'm 
 often out till ten, playing till I earn enough to get 
 my supper." 
 
 " We'll see about the supper," he said gravely. 
 "Ten is too late for a child like you. When you 
 are ever out at that time again, it shall be, God 
 willing, before a grand orchestra. Take care of 
 your violin.; it is worth a good many hundred 
 dollars, so cherish it as the apple of your eye. 
 I cannot quite determine its age, that and the 
 name of the maker are so covered with the marks 
 of time ; but I will find out some day. Who knows 
 but it will make your fortune ? 
 
 " Give me your name. Gartia a name to be 
 found in the annals of Italian music. Paradise 
 Flat umph ! umph ! Miss Stanley is in Para- 
 dise ! Yes ; wherever she is, it is Paradise," he 
 said gravely. " And when next I see the Salva- 
 tion Army, with its hideous harmonies, I will " 
 he lifted his cap impressively "take off my 
 hat to it, upon my soul, I will !
 
 THE PROFESSORS VERDICT 137 
 
 " As for those Flats I know ; it's one of those 
 great manholes where people are caught like mice 
 in a trap, and crushed to death or burnt to cinders, 
 
 if anything happens. Colonel T built them, 
 
 and may God have mercy on his soul ; I wouldn't. 
 His daughter is one of my best pupils, with a 
 five-hundred dollar violin, and a one-dollar talent," 
 he added grimly in an undertone. " Pillars of the 
 church too. Rot ! " he went on, with a satanic 
 expression. 
 
 " Now hasten, little one ; if I give lessons you 
 must practise day and night, night and day. I'm 
 a very fiend in my requirements." 
 
 " I will try very hard, sir," she said, thinking 
 dubiously of the crowded tenement house, her 
 means of earning a precarious living, the coarse 
 jibes born of envy of those with whom she dared 
 not associate. 
 
 " And if you are in difficulty about understand- 
 ing musical matters, you are to come to me. Do 
 you hear ? " 
 
 Did she not hear ? 
 
 " And don't you let go of that instrument. 
 Some connoisseurs may fancy it, and offer you a 
 big sum. Don't you let it go for a thousand dol- 
 lars, remember. One of these days I'll get it done 
 up, when I can find any one with brains enough 
 to do it, and you have learned sufficiently well to 
 handle it." 
 
 " And some time, maybe, I can pay you back," 
 she said, smiling, all Italia in her eyes.
 
 138 CAPTAIN MOLLY 
 
 " Tut, tut I didn't want pay from you. I 
 make the rich pay me, but genius / pay;" and 
 he laughed mellowly. " Tell Miss Stanley it's all 
 right. I'll see her. I won't take a penny, not a 
 penny. Only once in a hundred years, maybe, 
 we come across a case like that," he said after 
 she had gone, as he walked the floor, and rubbed 
 his hands with much inward satisfaction. " Only 
 once in a hundred years ! Not a penny not 
 one ! "
 
 A STURDY UNBELIEVER 139 
 
 CHAPTER XX 
 
 A STURDY UNBELIEVER 
 
 With honor while they heard him tell 
 His strange, strange story. 
 
 NAN went straight home, and up-stairs to Miss 
 Stanley's room. She found her best friend look- 
 ing languid, suffering with a slight headache. 
 
 " O Miss Molly, don't get sick, don't get sick 
 and die ! " the girl exclaimed in a very agony of 
 apprehension. 
 
 Molly laughed. " My dear, it's nothing danger- 
 ous," she said. " At home I suffered much more 
 than I do now. I had nothing to do, you see." 
 
 Then Nan went into the merits of the case. 
 She described the professor as if he had been 
 under a flashlight, and gave Molly all the details 
 of the interview. 
 
 " And now I must practise, you see ; so what am 
 I going to do? There's the daily bread." 
 
 " I've been thinking that out," said Molly ; " and 
 this is what I propose. My meals are sent in ; but 
 I have my own dishes, and as much as I love work, 
 I hate washing dishes. Now, as there is plenty of 
 food for two, I propose that you help me eat my 
 meals, and wash the dishes to pay for it."
 
 140 CAPTAIN MOLLY 
 
 " O Miss Molly, how good you are ! " faltered 
 the child. 
 
 " Yes ; good to myself," laughed Molly. " I 
 don't like you to go on the streets in all weathers ; 
 and if the professor has taken you in hand, he will 
 be very exacting. I can leave the key of my room 
 with you when I go out ; and you may practise 
 here, out of hearing. At other times, why you 
 must catch your opportunities." 
 
 How she caught the opportunities afterward 
 was due to the quick wit of the little Irishwoman. 
 
 " Go to the top of the house, deary ; it lets out 
 by a ladder, and that's the place in the blessed 
 summer-time. Take airly in the morning, ma- 
 vourneen. Sure, it's no one could stop you there 
 savin' the wind or the storm." 
 
 When Nan had gone, Molly lay down on the 
 lounge to rest. Did she miss her cool, dark 
 room ? the loving care of her maid ? the hearty 
 condolence of her father ? the scents of sweet 
 flowers and odorous perfumes ? 
 
 Yes, often, particularly when she was sick ; but 
 she missed them in her own sweet way, and took 
 up the daily details of her present condition as 
 crosses that must come into the life of every 
 worker in His cause, as making her a sharer in the 
 sorrows of the world, a more earnest co-worker in 
 His vineyard. Spurn her ideas as chimerical if you 
 will. Her pure woman's soul was in earnest, ter- 
 ribly in earnest. She worked with those who,
 
 A STURDY UNBELIEVER 14! 
 
 bowed under the iron bonds of daily routine, were 
 hindered hand and foot. She knew what it meant 
 when the voices of her comrades joined in the 
 words, 
 
 " Help for the perishing." 
 
 They were all round her, held fast, often chained 
 down, by the trammels of guilt, as well as poverty. 
 
 " And yet," she said sometimes, " if God is all 
 love, he is in every soul that suffers, good and 
 bad, high and low ; but in my world they try to 
 turn him out, while these poor hearts of toil and 
 ignorance give him boisterous but well-meant wel- 
 come as soon as they understand. Let the Church 
 wear its robes of velvet ; it is well, perhaps, even 
 though they shut out the poor. We will take pos- 
 session of his suffering people, in the name and 
 by the Army of the Lord. But " she always 
 ended "I would so like to see papa ! " 
 
 Ensign Harry came in very much flushed. 
 
 " O Molly, dearest ! " she said with a sigh and a 
 sob, "he saw me saw me just as I am, poke 
 bonnet and all. It was this morning in the street. 
 He was alone, and he followed. A higher strength 
 upheld me. It seemed to me that I triumphed in 
 the fact that he had to tramp down these wretched 
 streets, and listen to the music of the Salvation 
 Army. And, dear, he followed us to the hall 
 where we held an experience meeting, and came 
 in and sat down. How could I but look at him ? 
 And it was my turn to give out the hymns, and
 
 142 CAPTAIN MOLLY 
 
 it was all I could do to keep my voice steady ; but 
 I did ! I did ! When I sat down his profile was 
 towards me ; and oh, my dear, I studied it, and felt 
 a little comforted. You are right I fear he is 
 weak that I should have looked for bread and 
 received a stone instead. But oh, my poor, weak 
 heart ! It did beat so ! 
 
 " Well, Molly, listen ; I have still something 
 more to tell. Most of our people felt proud to 
 see a real minister in our midst. I suppose they 
 looked for something from him, some words of 
 appreciation or comfort ; but he sat there, stock 
 still. I know he was only waiting for the meeting 
 to close. 
 
 " Then somebody rose at the back of the house, 
 a workingman by his clothes, but ah, such a 
 noble, beautiful, strong face ! and he began to 
 talk what do you think ? " 
 
 " I'm sure I can't tell," said Molly, changing 
 the position of her pillow. "Go on no, you 
 don't tire, you amuse and rest me," she said at 
 Ensign Harry's deprecating gesture. 
 
 " Atheism ! " exclaimed Ensign Harry, with a 
 look of horror. " Oh, dear, yes ! but he declared 
 himself a seeker after truth in a fearfully honest 
 and sincere fashion. He said he had been an ob- 
 server of all religions, and told his experiences with, 
 and disgust at, them all ; but said he was perfectly 
 willing to be set right in fact, that was why he 
 had come into the meeting. He wanted light.
 
 A STURDY UNBELIEVER 143 
 
 " Now I expected great things. I felt instinc- 
 tively that George Flagler, with his experience 
 and knowledge of the Bible, would rise at once, and 
 attempt to enlighten this good-looking stranger ; 
 but what occurred? He sat quite still, with an 
 amused look in his face that made me almost de- 
 test him. Why, everybody thought he would 
 answer ; and so there was silence for a time. " Then 
 one of our lieutenants spoke of the distinguished 
 stranger present, bless you, not one of them 
 connected his visit with me, for no word or look 
 of recognition had passed between us, and hoped 
 he would say a few words in defence of the belief 
 so dear to us all ; but the man only shook his 
 head, and in the politest, most ceremonious man- 
 ner, declined. 
 
 "Then, Molly, I felt a glowing shame and in- 
 dignation ; and presently Hugh King, you know 
 him, our best speaker, rose, and I suppose did the 
 best he could, but I tell you candidly his argu- 
 ments sounded tame. The fact is, they were all 
 handicapped by the presence of this ' distinguished ' 
 stranger. For my part, I could not stay; so I 
 slipped out, and came home. Judge of my sur- 
 prise when I saw this same atheist going up-stairs 
 here at Paradise Flats. I could not resist the im- 
 pulse to speak to him, and he was so polite and 
 gentlemanly that my heart warmed towards him. 
 He said he had heard of us both, you and me, that 
 he was just from over the water, and that made
 
 144 CAPTAIN MOLLY 
 
 me feel acquainted at once. As for George Flag- 
 ler," she paused a moment, various emotions 
 visible in her countenance, "the idol has fallen, 
 and become a very common man of clay. But, 
 indeed, Molly, we must try to help this stranger; 
 we must, indeed ! He is a seeker after truth ; and 
 then I think his face will please you. It is a 
 fine English face. I venture to predict that he 
 will be a great acquisition to our little receptions." 
 
 " I hope so," said Molly. She was thinking 
 just then of her father and of Lucy. 
 
 " So Mr. Flagler did not get a chance to speak 
 to you ? " she said. 
 
 " No ; and I didn't mean he should. What 
 does he want to follow me for ? to explain his 
 reasons for marrying another woman? He had 
 no business in the meeting ; perhaps it furnished 
 him a little amusement. Even if it did, he must 
 have seen how earnest we were, how anxious to 
 make every word tell. No, let him stay with his 
 rich wife, he the weaver's son. She is welcome 
 to him. My eyes are opened now. She is wel- 
 come ; " and her lip curled a little. At the same 
 time there were tears in her eyes. 
 
 Duty was now her master, her ideal of every- 
 thing connected with the Army, 
 
 Never before had she been so zealous. Only 
 yesterday she had discovered a case of typhoid 
 fever. Mrs. Ryder, the tailoress, had been sick for 
 a week, and no one knew it. Ensign Harry went
 
 A STURDY UNBELIEVER 145 
 
 to work, brought a doctor from the Army, and a 
 benevolent nursing sister, took up a contribution, 
 and established a night-watch. Sanitary rules 
 were put in force, good cooking and attendance 
 followed. 
 
 She had found two children in a deserted tene- 
 ment house. Mother dead ; father worse drunk. 
 The children were dying of starvation, pale, sick, 
 and emaciated. There was no rest for her till, 
 after consultation with the League, an associa- 
 tion formed within the Army, the children were 
 placed in clean beds in a children's hospital. The 
 father's condition was inquired into, and his con- 
 version from the love of strong drink attempted. 
 
 And so, day after day, such cases were hunted 
 out ; and no effort was too great, no case too 
 revolting, to enlist her sympathy and personal 
 supervision.
 
 146 CAPTAIN MOLLY 
 
 CHAPTER XXI 
 
 THE FACE ON CANVAS 
 
 Once more the old familiar scenes 
 Give pleasure to the eye. 
 
 MOLLY had bought some pretty toys for little 
 Sebastian. First she shook a rattle, and then 
 made the tin trumpet squeak. Then she bounced 
 a ball, and then caught the baby up and almost 
 smothered him with kisses. 
 
 "He's the beauty of all the world!" she said, 
 laughing and hugging him. "I give you credit, 
 Reine, for keeping him as sweet as a peach. You 
 make a splendid little mother ! Now, who is this 
 child's grandmother?" and she looked at Reine 
 with searching eyes. 
 
 " My mother is in heaven," said Reine. 
 
 " Do you know anything about your husband's 
 family?" Molly asked. "This child ought to have 
 a large circle of relations, and a rich godfather or 
 godmother. What delicate coloring ! what spir- 
 ited features ! Who are his grandparents on his 
 father's side ? " 
 
 "They are all in England, if he has any," Reine 
 replied. " Sebastian never will talk; oh, no, never
 
 THE FACE ON CANVAS 147 
 
 with me, nor with any one, about his family ; but 
 sometimes, when he is not quite himself, he talks 
 of lords and ladies and great people as if they were 
 his daily companions. I wish you could see him 
 then but no I don't. It would make you so 
 sorry." 
 
 " Then you don't know whether he has a mother 
 or father living ? " 
 
 The little woman shook her head. "No; if I 
 ask him, he turns the talk to something else. I 
 think he has been used to fine surroundings and 
 great ladies and elegant homes, for sometimes he 
 almost persuades me that we are living in some 
 old castle. But he has begun to paint." 
 
 She went to the closet, and lifted a small canvas 
 already glorified by the touch of genius. 
 
 " Sometimes I'm half sorry when he gets work- 
 ing," she said ; " for it seems to make him gloomy. 
 His good spirits are gone, and he don't stick to it. 
 You see, everything is against him, the light, 
 the materials ; and he grinds his paints on bits of 
 stone and old papers. Poor Sebastian ! " and she 
 sighed from her heart. "I wonder whom he left 
 behind him in Old England ? Oh, but I forgot 
 to show you the picture he finished ! It is Baby ! " 
 and she held up the panel upon which the lovely 
 face of the younger Sebastian shone out from a 
 cloud, as the face of an angel glorified. 
 
 " Oh, I must have that picture ! " cried Molly ; 
 " what will he sell it for ? "
 
 148 CAPTAIN MOLLY 
 
 " You will think it too much," said Reine, turn- 
 ing her still charming little head now this way, 
 now that, tenderly, like a mother bird, and viewing 
 the picture at all points. 
 
 " What ! has he set a price on it ? " asked Molly. 
 
 "Would you think fifteen dollars too much?" 
 asked Reine, " for you f " 
 
 " Too much ! Why, I have given twice that for 
 a pretty frame ! " said Molly eagerly. "Too much ! 
 why, I will give twice that at once," and she 
 counted out the money. 
 
 On the following day the banker received the 
 picture accompanied by a note : 
 
 DEAR FATHER [it read], Enclosed please find a like- 
 ness of Sebastian, a little child born in a cellar. If it can be 
 matched in any aristocratic home, I should like you to find 
 me the picture. I ask as a special favor that you will frame 
 it, and hang it up in what used to be my room. The man 
 who painted it is the child's father, and you can see for your- 
 self that he knows how to handle the brush. But he is de- 
 graded from hismanhood through his vicious habit of drinking. 
 He keeps sober for a week at a time, then comes the tempta- 
 tion and the fall. But even when quite under the influence 
 of liquor he is kind and good to his wife, and imagines him- 
 self amidst the most splendid surroundings. I never read 
 or heard of a like case ; but we are helping that, and, as the 
 habit is not quite as masterful as it was, we may possibly, 
 through his charming child, bring him to his senses. Dear 
 father, I am very happy in my work. It is much better than 
 to sit in our beautiful parlors and sing, " Rescue the perish- 
 ing." Somebody has got to do the rescuing; why not I, 
 when my heart is in it ? But I do confess to you that I long
 
 THE FACE ON CANVAS 149 
 
 to see you. Dear father, let me come to you sometimes. It 
 need not be till after dark, and I will be as conventional as I 
 can. At all events, you shall not be troubled with the poke 
 bonnet. Can I come? Say yes, like the good father you are, 
 and then I will tell you all about it. I promise you I will 
 never trouble you in the daytime. 
 
 Your letter was a delightful surprise, short as is was. Oh, 
 the romance of the annals of the poor ! I have something to 
 tell you concerning the lecture of your English celebrity, Rev. 
 Mr. Flagler. You wouldn't think to see the little hidy I was 
 with that night that she had anything in common with him ; 
 and yet she was engaged to be married to him not so many 
 years ago. But somebody is coming, I must close my brief 
 note. Good-day, dear, dear father. 
 
 From your MOLLY. 
 
 This letter found the banker in his usual loun- 
 ging-place. 
 
 " Bless her heart ! " he muttered, with moist 
 eyes. " I was a brute to send her away ; but con- 
 ditions are conditions, and I must hold her to her 
 word. But to allow her to come here some even- 
 ing when I am alone why, it would be a treat 
 to look into her sweet eyes for five minutes. And 
 if she married and went to Africa why, then I 
 might never see her again. I suppose if she does 
 marry she will gravitate to India, or Africa, or 
 China, or Japan. Talk of the heathen Chinee ! " 
 he muttered, as he applied his pearl-handled pen- 
 knife her gift the very last Christmas to cut- 
 ting the strings in which the picture was bound ; 
 " they're ages ahead of us in some things," he 
 laughed softly, "particularly in China, where I've
 
 150 CAPTAIN MOLLY 
 
 heard they drown most of their girl-babies, thereby 
 saving themselves a good deal of trouble in the 
 future." 
 
 Another moment and Lucy tripped in, very 
 fair in her white draperies, her eyes shining, her 
 cheeks glowing, truly a beautiful creature. 
 
 " Oh, what a lovely, lovely face ! " she cried, as 
 the picture came out of its wraps. " Oh, what a 
 heavenly face ! Whose child is it ? I never saw 
 so beautiful a creature ! " 
 
 "Molly writes me that it is one of her poor 
 brats born in a cellar. Its father is an artist in 
 his better moments, and in one of them painted 
 that." 
 
 " Oh ! " and she surveyed it with languid in- 
 terest, the information imparted serving to cool 
 her raptures; "but then, isn't it really beauti- 
 ful ? It must be flattered ; of course it is. Molly 
 wouldn't say that. It might answer for a fancy 
 picture. What are you going to do with it ? " 
 
 " Have it framed, and put in the room that used 
 to be hers," he replied with sarcastic emphasis. 
 
 " Oh, well, it may be hers again before very 
 long. I have had an offer, Uncle George." 
 
 "An offer!" he stared incredulously. His 
 thoughts flew to a young officer who had often 
 been her escort, a man who had nothing but his 
 pay, with whom Lucy had seemed very much in- 
 fatuated. She might have to rough it if she mar- 
 ried him, and she was not the girl to do that.
 
 THE FACE ON CANVAS 15! 
 
 "Yes, uncle dear; an offer from Mr. Philip 
 Maybury." 
 
 " Oh ! " he drew a long breath. " A man old 
 enough to be your grandfather ! Well, I wish 
 you joy. Of course you accepted him. He's 
 enormously rich." 
 
 " Oh, yes ; I accepted him," she made reply in 
 a matter-of-fact way. "We are going abroad for 
 our wedding trip a consummation that I have 
 longed for, but never dreamed I should have the 
 money to afford." 
 
 " I'll be hanged if I don't believe you're sell- 
 ing yourself," her uncle said with almost brutal 
 abruptness. " What does your father say ? " 
 
 " Father doesn't know it ; but I imagine he will 
 be glad, and I know the boys will. Of course I 
 shall bring them all handsome presents, and I 
 hope the dear old man will be generous." 
 
 " Clings to a dime closer than I would to a 
 thousand dollars. You had better bargain for 
 your pocket-money beforehand," said her uncle 
 coolly. " He has a grandchild as old as you are, 
 who hopes, I dare say, to inherit all his money. 
 Poor devil ! I rather pity him when he knows 
 how it stands." 
 
 " He must take things as they come," said 
 Lucy ; and wheeling about, her thoughts full of 
 the fancied grandeur of her future position, she 
 left the room. 
 
 "A sacrifice on both sides," muttered the
 
 152 CAPTAIN MOLLY 
 
 banker. " Lucy to her vanity and love of ease 
 - Molly to her queer ideas of duty ; but on the 
 whole, I don't know but I would rather take 
 Molly's chances. She'll come to her senses 
 sooner." 
 
 The picture was hung. It seemed to shed a 
 halo over the delicately tinted wall ; and the 
 banker, who had never before taken any special 
 interest in any painting, stole in sometimes, when 
 the room was open, to look at it. 
 
 Was it possible that children as fair as that 
 grew into street arabs, dirty venders of newspa- 
 pers, and even hapless, hopeless thieves? The 
 question troubled him a little for the first time 
 in his life. It troubled him once again when the 
 eloquent rector of St. Paul's gave out for his text 
 on the following Sunday : 
 
 " Am I my brother's keeper ? " and proved that 
 he was. 
 
 He had not answered Molly's letter yet. That 
 night he wrote her specifying the time, even the 
 hour, on a certain night when Lucy was engaged 
 for some fashionable party, and he wanted his 
 child to himself. 
 
 When she left him it was August ; now it was 
 April, and in all that time he had only seen her 
 once. How his heart hungered to hear her voice ; 
 his ear was alive to the slightest sound. When 
 he heard her step he could not keep his emotion 
 down, and in another moment she was in his arms.
 
 THE FACE ON CANVAS 153 
 
 " Dearest, dearest ! " was all she could say, and 
 he could say nothing. 
 
 " How bright everything looks ! My cousin 
 must be a good housekeeper," was her first com- 
 ment, as she moved from one familiar place to 
 another. 
 
 " Your cousin is a blanked humbug," was his re- 
 ply. " I've had a housekeeper for three months." 
 
 "Why, papa ! and I never knew it." 
 
 " How should you, when you chose to desert me 
 and set up your own housekeeping ? Sit down, 
 young lady, where I can see you." 
 
 She obeyed him, and he looked her critically 
 over. 
 
 " I don't notice that you've lost any flesh," he 
 said. 
 
 " Oh, no ! I weigh more than I did when I left 
 here," she answered in a quiet manner, no re- 
 straint in her voice. " My work agrees with me, 
 though at times it is very trying. We are doing 
 a great deal of good, papa." 
 
 "I suppose you are sure of what- you assert?" 
 her father replied. "I am not a religious man; 
 some would call me non-religious. I don't remem- 
 ber that I ever felt very acutely for the woes of 
 others. Whenever I have let my heart run away 
 with me, I have simply made enemies. I lent 
 John McGruder ten thousand dollars to help him 
 along once I don't believe I have a more bitter 
 enemy in the world than that same John. I tell
 
 154 CAPTAIN MOLLY 
 
 you, if you warm the frozen viper, he'll turn and 
 strike you." 
 
 "But all men are not vipers," said Molly. "I 
 grant that in your world, and in your business, 
 which are both as distinct from the world of the 
 laboring poor as two classes can be, you may find 
 people who are all the time fighting for the top- 
 most round, who envy and hate all who are above 
 them ; but among the miserable denizens of the 
 other under-world I have found gratitude, probity, 
 honor, and charity. You have no idea how willing 
 they are to help each other how they give half 
 of their little all, and sometimes the whole, to 
 those who are worse off than themselves. I have 
 seen even little children do this, and it makes me 
 honor the poor. The rich are so often idle and 
 luxurious yes, and envious. The finer qualities 
 are not half so inherent in your world, papa, as in 
 mine." 
 
 "They are, doubtless, confined to the slums," 
 was the sarcastic rejoinder. 
 
 " I never was so happy in my life," said Molly 
 with enthusiasm, as she leaned back in the easy- 
 chair. 
 
 "Thank you, my dear," her father said, with 
 a profound bow. 
 
 " Because, you see," she said intensely, " I have 
 all my time occupied. At home well, every- 
 thing is delightful here, but then I had hours and 
 hours of idleness. Suppose I made calls, the talk
 
 THE FACE ON CANVAS 155 
 
 was vapid, the thing was a quid pro qtw. You 
 knew that the call would be returned with just so 
 much ceremony. Suppose I went shopping, there 
 were the same counters, the same faces, the same 
 goods ; and it was so with parties, receptions, 
 balls, over and over, round and round, no new 
 faces, houses just like ours, men we knew, women 
 we knew, children we knew ; and even in church 
 there was always that deplorable sameness. I 
 don't mean in the service ; I love that. 
 
 " But now scarcely a day that we do not find 
 some new need, want, penitent somebody hun- 
 gering for a word of sympathy ; somebody dying 
 for a little appreciation ; somebody hiding a tal- 
 ent because he has neither money nor kindly 
 words of help. The wretched are relieved, the 
 miserable are encouraged. Oh, it would do you 
 good to see the faces of the wretched light into 
 smiles ! And they try so hard oh, how they do 
 struggle ! The only sorrow I have in the world 
 is being parted from you. But then I can think 
 of you and bless you. I can place you here in 
 this dear old room, know just where you sit, what 
 you are doing, almost always after business 
 hours. When did you hear last from Russell 
 Stacey ? " she asked, the enthusiasm falling out 
 of her voice. 
 
 " Haven't heard a word from him for a month. 
 Shouldn't wonder if he found it worth his while 
 to stay abroad," was the answer. " Maybe he has
 
 156 CAPTAIN MOLLY 
 
 gone into slum-work in London. There's plenty 
 of it." 
 
 " No ; it isn't in him," said Molly with some 
 heat; "and yet, what opportunities he will miss ! 
 Fancy him a hanger-on of wealth and fashion, 
 when he might make a brilliant record for him- 
 self." 
 
 " He ought to have been a Salvation Army cap- 
 tain," said the banker, stretching his feet a little. 
 " That would have been glory." 
 
 "Indeed it would true glory! He might at 
 all events practise his profession, even if he has 
 plenty of money, and do some good in the world. 
 You are not lazy, papa; but he is, lazy, hand- 
 some, and good-for-nothing. Oh, how I hate such 
 people, and what a record they are making for 
 eternity!" 
 
 The banker moved uneasily. 
 
 "That seems to be a cardinal feature of your 
 theory." 
 
 " Eternity ? Why not, since we must live on, 
 whether we would or not ? " 
 
 " What do you know about it ? " 
 
 " O papa ! don't let's go over the old contro- 
 versy," said Molly, trembling a little. " Remem- 
 ber, I am here as your visitor for a short time 
 only. You must be very polite to me. Where's 
 Lu ? " 
 
 " Gone to some party. Now, there's a girl to 
 whom such things are beginning, ending, and all.
 
 THE FACE ON CANVAS 157 
 
 She's only happy when enjoying the calls and 
 routs of fashion. By the way, she is going to be 
 married." 
 
 " Married ! Lu ! " There was consternation 
 in her voice. 
 
 "Yes ; and guess to whom ? " 
 
 " O dear me, I can't ! Why, I had intended her 
 for Russell Stacey. Please tell me who it is." 
 
 He told her. 
 
 She knew him, bald, decrepit, miserly, and 
 held up her hands. 
 
 " Poor girl ! how I pity her ! " she said in tones 
 of commiseration. " She couldn't do worse. He's 
 a cruel old man." 
 
 The talk drifted on. Molly found herself de- 
 scribing one of her particularly eccentric compan- 
 ions, Sebastian ; and the banker found himself 
 listening with more interest than he had supposed 
 possible. 
 
 " Who is he ? " the banker asked. 
 
 " Nobody knows. Some six weeks ago a car- 
 riage a handsome carriage stopped before Par- 
 adise Flats. It don't often happen, and of course 
 the inmates were all agog. Presently word came 
 up to me that a lady wished to speak to me, and 
 I invited her up to my room. She came, a slight 
 figure, dressed in deep mourning of the finest tex- 
 ture. I knew at once by her language that she 
 was English, and a lady in language and manner. 
 
 " ' I have heard of you,' she said in a very sweet
 
 158 CAPTAIN MOLLY 
 
 voice, 'and am here to inquire after a friend of 
 mine at least we used to be friends. His name 
 is Bassett, Sebastian Bassett ; and I learn that he 
 lives in this house.' 
 
 "'Yes,' I said, 'he does with his wife and 
 child.' 
 
 " ' His wife ! and child ! ' she repeated ; and 
 I could see under the black veil how white she 
 grew. 'Then he is married!' 
 
 " ' He has a very sweet little wife,' was my 
 answer, ' and one of the most beautiful children 
 I ever saw.' 
 
 " For a little time she was silent, but in that 
 silence I knew there was anguish. I pitied her, 
 yet not knowing why. 
 
 " ' And his habits ' she still questioned, 
 in a faint voice. 
 
 " I told her as carefully as I could, or rather 
 was beginning to tell her, when she broke in upon 
 me, 
 
 " ' Don't say one word about it, unless there is 
 improvement,' she went on. ' From his boyhood 
 he had a passion for drink, which was fostered and 
 encouraged by the habits of his family. Three 
 times he has reformed three times he has raised 
 the hopes of those who love him three times 
 has given us his promise of a thorough reforma- 
 tion, and of a great and prosperous future.- At 
 last he left England, that was four years ago, 
 saying that he should lose himself in the wilds of
 
 THE FACE ON CANVAS 159 
 
 America. But we have hoped against hope, and 
 are still determined to save him if we can. Finally 
 we have traced him to this place. Married ! And 
 what kind of a woman is his wife, that she could 
 marry him f ' her voice faltered. 
 
 " ' A very sweet and pretty little woman/ was 
 my answer; 'kind to all his moods not a lady, 
 perhaps, in your sense of the word, or in mine, 
 but still well as a woman, far, far above him 
 as a man.' 
 
 " ' And still he grovels ! ' she said. 
 
 " ' There is a change,' I made reply ; ' it is only 
 occasionally that he indulges now, where it used 
 to occur every night.' 
 
 "'Thank God for that!' she said unsteadily. 
 ' And you say the child is very lovely ? How 
 old ? ' 
 
 " I told her. 
 
 " ' Poor little soul ! if he should inherit his 
 father's failing,' she half sobbed ; and I pitied her 
 the more. 
 
 " ' Can't you save him ? ' she asked, making a 
 movement as if to rise. 
 
 " ' Save him I ! ' was my astonished exclama- 
 tion. 
 
 " 'I mean, of course, the Army. I have done all 
 I could, God knows ! His mother has given him 
 up in despair and he promised to be such an 
 honor to her. If you could have seen his home ! 
 his happy, beautiful boyhood ! the genius that
 
 l6o CAPTAIN MOLLY 
 
 even then made him a wonder and delight ! Can't 
 the Army get hold of him ? I used to despise the 
 movement, to laugh at its military discipline ; 
 but now I can only hope that he may be brought 
 under its influence. Is there any hope that they 
 may help poor Sebastian ? ' 
 
 " I knew she was crying under her veil. 
 
 " ' His mother is alive, then? ' I ventured to say. 
 
 " ' Yes, poor lady ; and he is all the child God 
 ever gave her. What terrible spirit possesses him ? 
 It must be something evil it must be that he 
 is under a spell ! It must be ; it must ! ' 
 
 " Poor soul ! I pitied her ; for beneath her veil 
 I saw her wringing her delicately gloved hands. 
 
 "'And he is married, married ! ' 
 
 " It sounded like a wail. 
 
 " ' Is his father alive ? ' I asked. 
 
 " ' No, thank God ! he died years ago, and the 
 fortune he left his son has all been spent in drink 
 but I can say nothing more only if money 
 is needed take this;' and she almost forced a 
 purse into my hand, as she said, ' For many 
 reasons it is better for me not to see him.' Of 
 course I took it ; and she seemed to rely on my 
 discretion, so I have it by me now. But, do you 
 think, papa ! I believe she was a lady of rank." 
 
 " And this Sebastian ? " said the banker, quite 
 interested in the story. 
 
 " Is the father of that beautiful child whose 
 picture I sent you. But it is ten o'clock. In five
 
 THE FACE ON CANVAS l6l 
 
 minutes the cab I engaged to take me back will 
 come. Dear father, when shall I see you again ? " 
 
 "Come when you will," was the response; 
 and this time he folded her again in his arms and 
 kissed her. 
 
 Was it a tear she felt on her cheek ?
 
 l62 CAPTAIN MOLLY 
 
 CHAPTER XXII 
 
 JOHN HARDY, PRINTER 
 
 He who wants little 
 Always has enough. 
 
 WHEN John Hardy, alias Stacey, first saw his 
 living-room, a feeling of dismay crept over him. 
 
 There were three windows. The floor was 
 black and uneven. Dust was everywhere, but 
 water was plenty. The paint was in an undesi- 
 rable state, and gave evidence that small and dirty 
 fingers had come into close contact with the wood- 
 work. There was no stove. An ill-smelling fire- 
 place gave show of ashes and charred wood, as if 
 a fire had recently been made therein. 
 
 The man took the dimensions of the room. That 
 same day furniture came ; not much, two easy- 
 chairs, a table, a small bookcase, an art-square of 
 carpet, and window shades. The windows were 
 cleaned, and a student's lamp placed on a bracket. 
 
 The man himself worked diligently. He was, 
 above all things else, methodical. A book out of 
 place was torture. His hands did not look like 
 those of a workingman, though he had stained and 
 roughened them. They were delicately shaped
 
 JOHN HARDY, PRINTER 163 
 
 and carefully kept ; except for their darker color, 
 there was no disguising the fact that they were 
 the hands of a gentleman. But there are work- 
 ingmen who are gentlemen through and through, 
 as well as gentlemen, so-called, who are ruffians 
 at heart. When the room was in shape, a few 
 good books in the bookcase, a guitar, violin, and 
 one or two other instruments placed round, the 
 man surveyed his work with satisfaction. 
 
 " Rather a contrast to the rooms in B 
 
 Hotel," he said musingly, "but all the more en- 
 joyable. Well, I have made the plunge ; we will 
 see what comes of it. It is a thorough change. 
 I shall miss Jacko. He wouldn't live here too 
 high-toned. I rather like it, on the whole. Now 
 I must buy a few nice engravings not too 
 many for the wall." 
 
 He went into a smaller room leading from that, 
 and surveyed it with a smile that curved the cor- 
 ners of his lips dubiously. It contained a bed- 
 stead, two chairs, a bath-tub shaped like an 
 immense basin, a large stand for pitcher and 
 water, and a rack well stocked with towels. 
 
 " A poor man, self-made, pursuing his studies 
 in the intervals of labor," he said to himself. 
 " It's a fine idea. I really need to brush up my 
 knowledge of surgery. Who knows how many 
 broken heads I may have to bandage, or broken 
 bones to set ? Here is the chance for work in 
 good earnest. No idling now, young man !
 
 164 CAPTAIN MOLLY 
 
 "I fancy I did the atheistical role pretty well. 
 Now they must do the rest. There's no doubt 
 in my own mind," he went on, taking out some 
 medical works to the bookcase mentioned before, 
 "that I am a graceless dog in matters of theology. 
 A doubter by nature, the parsons have helped to 
 make me a doubter by training. But already I 
 have enlisted the sympathy of those sweet femi- 
 nine souls who flutter about the unregenerate 
 like birds around the dove-cote. A half-way sin- 
 ner seldom inspires the interest given to one who 
 advances thoughts and theories entirely beyond 
 the pale of their experience. However, I'm will- 
 ing to let them try all their little arts upon me. It 
 may be I shall be convinced in the end. 
 
 " I liked that lieutenant who spoke. He hit 
 right from the shoulder. And there was some- 
 thing angelically real in his religious ardor. I re- 
 spect him more than I do that effigy of the church 
 who was present. He wasn't a true clergyman, 
 by Jove ! or he would never have sat there like a 
 statue, after what I said. 
 
 "There is something in the almost fanatic ear- 
 nestness of these Salvationists that carries one 
 away, absorbs and holds the imagination, makes 
 one wish, in the first place, for truth, and then to 
 be true. 
 
 " Their women are not bad-looking, either, if it 
 wasn't for that hideous uniform. 
 
 " I wonder who the little lady was I met com-
 
 JOHN HARDY, PRINTER 1 65 
 
 ing up-stairs ? She really talked to me as ^ I were 
 one of them said I must attend their sociables, 
 receptions, musicales ! Good Lord ! musicales ! 
 Well, they may command me ; but won't it be 
 fun! I declare, I never was so interested in my 
 life ! She spoke of Molly too, Molly, with her 
 dainty ways and exquisite abilities, here ! " 
 
 He looked out of the window on to a great well 
 of a yard, so gloomy, so forbidding, that his man's 
 heart sank within him. Half a dozen rough little 
 gamins were playing toss-penny, and swearing 
 round-robins out of sight. Two of them had 
 stacks of newspapers under their arms. Three 
 or four small scraps of humanity in rags cuddled 
 in their arms babies as big as themselves. Three 
 women bent over three tubs, rinsing and rubbing ; 
 and at that moment the shrill tones at his left 
 gave evidence of childish quarrels. 
 
 " Lucky I am absolutely cosmopolitan in spite 
 of all ; that will carry me through. 
 
 " There ! " he looked around with a sigh of 
 satisfaction. 
 
 " I'll be porter for a great commercial house, or 
 a joiner, or a painter I don't know as it's any- 
 body's business what I am, though ; only for 
 form's sake I suppose I must now and then allude 
 to my business. Ah, I have it ! I'm a printer! A 
 'jour ' ! Benjamin Franklin was a printer; print- 
 ers have chances for greatness that other callings 
 do not foster. By the way, haven't I a printing-
 
 166 CAPTAIN MOLLY 
 
 press somewhere ? I might turn it to good ac- 
 count, getting up bills and placards and posters, 
 and enjoy the pleasure of earning money. Good ! 
 I had one, but, egad! I think I gave it away. 
 Well, I'll buy me another." 
 
 He placed abundance of paper on his desk, on 
 one side envelopes, on the other pens and pencils, 
 three volumes of Charles Lamb's Essays, which 
 were very household gods to him. He was a man 
 who studied, classified, and registered all he read. 
 
 Intellectually he was rich, physically of the no- 
 blest type of manhood, morally pure, but without 
 aim in life in spite of his profession. This new 
 move stimulated him in all directions, and the 
 concealment of his identity added zest to the op- 
 portunities now placed before him. 
 
 His chief motive was the desire, the over- 
 whelming desire, to win the heart of the only 
 woman he had ever loved to win it honestly, 
 thoroughly, and entirely. 
 
 And now, having arranged matters somewhat to 
 his satisfaction, neither slouchingly as if he had 
 little interest in them, nor too carefully, betoken- 
 ing primness and over-nicety, he went through 
 the instruments, banjo, violin, and guitar, saw 
 that the strings were perfect, and put them aside, 
 trimmed his lamp, and sat down in his second- 
 hand leather-covered easy-chair, monarch of all he 
 surveyed. 
 
 " It is a satisfaction only to be near her," he
 
 JOHN HARDY, PRINTER l6/ 
 
 muttered, lighting a costly cigar ; fortunately the 
 Paradise people had not been educated to know 
 the difference between good and bad in that 
 staple. 
 
 He sat and thought and smoked, occasionally 
 uttering his thoughts aloud, as had always been 
 his custom. In the next room Crump the tailor 
 was lecturing his pale-haired lass, while she basted 
 and handed him flaps, linings, and pocket-pieces, 
 and his wife put heavy irons on the stove. 
 
 A curious looking man was Crump. His face 
 was pale, his forehead running up like a funnel 
 point, with three tufts of straw-colored hair adorn- 
 ing top and sides. His eyes were blue, eyebrows 
 he had none, his features were broad rather than 
 long. Somehow his name and appearance suited 
 each other. An industrious man, terribly self- 
 willed, never quiet, the wife and child had learned 
 to obey his slightest wish, and listen reverently to 
 all he had to say. 
 
 " 'N' I tell you, whichever way you turns, you 
 goes wrong gi'nly, you women-folks," he was 
 saying. " Fambly," he called his wife " Family," 
 " you ain't put them irons on the right heater ; 
 this is for that, 'n' that is for this. Here, Mandy, 
 you line this pocket welt, 'n' hand me that there 
 cord. These pants are for a very pertickler gent 
 an' so," returning to the beginning of his sen- 
 tence, " you ain't a-goin' to git my consent to go 
 to any of them Damnation Army goin's on."
 
 1 68 CAPTAIN MOLLY 
 
 " Malvy Britton goes ; an' they don't say nothin* 
 'bout Salvation doin's, on'y sing an' recite 'n' have 
 cakes and lemonade 'n' chocolate," sniffed the girl. 
 
 " I tell you, you ain't goin' to have anything to 
 do with them Damnation Army doin's," shouted 
 the irate Crump ; "so you shet up, 'n' hand me 
 that band linin' over there ; 'n' Fambly, git my 
 press-board, 'n' git it quick." 
 
 Poor little Mandy had received an invitation to 
 the next sociable from the hands of Nan, as the 
 girl passed Crump's door, violin-bag in hand, hav- 
 ing just returned from taking her lesson. 
 
 " I do hope you'll go, Mandy," said the child, 
 her great glowing eyes scintillating in the dark 
 passage-way; "for I'm to play to-night, and there's 
 goin' to be singin', and lots of recitations, and 
 Miss Cap'n Molly oh, she's so sweet! You'll 
 love her jest to look at her ! " 
 
 Mandy hoped so too, and tremblingly asked 
 her father ; she never thought of speaking to her 
 mother about such matters the result we know. 
 
 Then Nan went on round the passage-way, and 
 timidly knocked at the stranger's door. 
 
 At his " Come in," she entered, gave a swift, 
 surprised glance at the room, " so neat for a 
 man," she afterwards said, and delivered her mes- 
 sage. 
 
 " Miss Molly Stanley's compliments to Mr. 
 Hardy, and wouldn't he come to the musicale to 
 be held at her rooms to-night ? "
 
 JOHN HARDY, PRINTER 169 
 
 John Hardy took his cigar from between his 
 lips, and sat upright looking at the child, saying 
 to himself, " They lose no time." 
 
 " Why, I've seen you before ! " he unthinkingly 
 exclaimed. 
 
 " Maybe you have ; for I played a long time on 
 the street to earn money for my sick father," she 
 said, shifting her light burden to the other hand. 
 
 " Oh, yes ! I remember," he made answer, catch- 
 ing himself up. " You have a very nice violin 
 left you by your father." 
 
 Her face lighted. 
 
 " Did you know him ? " she asked. " He called 
 it King Solomon." 
 
 " Oh, no ! but I have a faint recollection that 
 you told me about it somewhere sometime," he 
 said guardedly. " I have rather a nice old fiddle 
 myself," he went on, stretching out his hand to 
 where the instrument hung, "but not half as 
 good as yours." 
 
 He drew his bow across the strings with the 
 swiftness and precision of a first-class amateur. 
 
 " Ah ! you play also," the girl said, laughing 
 out joyously. 
 
 " Why, some little. I have studied a bit with 
 Andromo here, and one or two professors abroad." 
 
 " Professor Andromo ! oh, he is teaching me ! " 
 said the waif, and her dark eyes glowed again. 
 
 At which information the blue spectacles stared 
 in undisguised astonishment.
 
 I/O CAPTAIN MOLLY 
 
 " Andromo ! your teacher ! " he said, taken by 
 surprise. " Andromo and Paradise Flats ! By 
 Jove ! " 
 
 The sarcasm was unmistakable. 
 
 " Paradise Flats seems good enough for you to 
 live in ! " Nan retorted, her quick Italian temper 
 flashing out of the glorious eyes. She had to 
 learn day by day that there were two worlds 
 grinding against each other, and that she in- 
 habited the under one. 
 
 " I sincerely beg your pardon." he said in his 
 softest tones. " Yes, I live in Paradise Flats my- 
 self ; being only a poor printer, it's the best I can 
 do at present," he said. " But knowing the pro- 
 fessor pretty well, and that he is very eminent as 
 a musician, and knowing by experience the prices 
 he asks great Heaven ! his charges are enor- 
 mous ! whew ! " 
 
 " Yes, I know," said Nanny, readily pacified ; 
 " but Miss Molly attended to all that of course 
 I couldn't pay. But I will ! You better believe 
 I will when I get famous ! Oh, yes ! I'm goin' to 
 be. The professor says so. But Miss Molly, 
 she's an angel, she is. All the tenement folks 
 say so ! She gives bea-u-ti-ful receptions, and 
 finds out what everybody can do best. She's an 
 angel ! " 
 
 The man's face, as the child, with all the elo- 
 quence of deep feeling, sounded the praises of the 
 woman he loved, was a study. He watched the
 
 JOHN HARDY, PRINTER I /I 
 
 glowing face, the shining eyes, the trembling lips, 
 with a kind of ecstasy. 
 
 All regrets over lost opportunities, all desires 
 of appreciation, were merged in one delightful, 
 overwhelming sensation, that even if he loved 
 in vain, it was more than any mortal honor, more 
 and greater, to love such a woman. 
 
 So simple, so gracious, so beautiful a life 
 could he question her choice, or seek to lead her 
 away from the work of her life ? 
 
 " No, by Heaven ! I'll work with her to the 
 death, nor think of marriage, if she only will love 
 me," he said to himself ; then aloud, 
 
 " I will come to the reception to-night. If you 
 see Miss Stanley, tell her I shall be very happy to 
 come."
 
 CAPTAIN MOLLY 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII 
 
 MOLLY AND MANDY 
 And light and /lowers and beauty all assist. 
 
 "THERE, Miss Stanley, I think we are ready 
 now," said Ensign Harry. 
 
 " How sweet the room looks ! Who would ever 
 have thought of flowers indeed, who could get 
 such expensive things but you?" 
 
 Feathery lengths of wistaria, lush red roses, 
 clusters of violets, great bunches of pink and 
 scarlet and white geraniums, rare hothouse flow- 
 ers placed here and there on brackets, in vases, 
 sent their subtle perfume in all directions, and 
 added to the simple accessories of the room a 
 radiance, a delicacy of color and arrangement, 
 that seemed to emanate from gracious occupants 
 of Fairyland. Everything that Molly's fingers 
 touched turned to beauty. 
 
 It was true that she was the moving spirit and 
 good genius of the house. The soul-beauty of her 
 face, her graceful carriage, her quickness of per- 
 ception, were beyond words to praise ; and since 
 her life had been devoted to duty and filled with 
 work, and her spirits wakened to the needs of the
 
 MOLLY AND MANDY 1/3 
 
 perishing, all those charms had increased tenfold. 
 There was nothing quixotic about her. She never 
 talked of reforming the world, only of her own 
 way of lifting humanity higher, of making here 
 and there a struggling soul happier ; of teaching 
 the unthinking to think ; of bringing to the day- 
 light now and then some talent hidden under a 
 bushel. She did not expect, neither did she un- 
 dertake, great things, a sewing-school for poor 
 children, books to lend, simple amusements ; she 
 taught that work was ennobling, that vanity brought 
 ruin, that in the humblest heart there was room 
 for noble deeds. 
 
 " I think I'll put this one long spray of wistaria 
 around the sea-picture," said Ensign Harry. " It 
 needs nothing to make it more beautiful ; but, as 
 the most beautiful picture in the room, I'll crown 
 it," and she placed the flowers there. 
 
 Ensign Harry looked very dainty in her blue 
 print dress, blue of so delicate a tint that the 
 little white collar about the throat only seemed a 
 shading off to the softer tints of the round throat. 
 It was plainly made, and fitted her to perfection. 
 This little English woman was an adept in col- 
 ors, shapes, and styles, could make dresses, bon- 
 nets, even gloves. Molly also appeared in a print 
 dress ; but it was the softest, sweetest shade of 
 salmon pink that could be found in the market. 
 She also wore white in neck and sleeves as a re- 
 lief ; but it was rare old lace, the only luxury she
 
 1/4 CAPTAIN MOLLY 
 
 allowed herself on these gala evenings. The lace 
 was so fine and white that its proximity to the 
 print was in no wise inharmonious. It only en- 
 hanced its wearer's beauty, beauty like that of 
 the wild-rose, ethereal, but manifest. 
 
 " The rooms do look well, for Paradise Flats," 
 said Molly ; " but when I reflect with what scanty 
 graces Reine makes her cellar-room habitable, I 
 am almost ashamed of these." 
 
 " Her husband earns money enough to live up- 
 stairs," said Ensign Harry, " or ought to." 
 
 "He could earn money enough to live in a good 
 house of his own," was Molly's response, "but 
 he has lost his manhood." 
 
 " Have you given him up ? " was the ensign's 
 anxious question. 
 
 " Yes," Molly answered with reluctance ; " un- 
 less something unforeseen should happen some 
 terrible accident or death. Pray God he may die 
 sober at least ! " 
 
 " Poor little Mandy Crump ! " Ensign Harry 
 said after a brief silence. " I met her in the hall. 
 She said her father wouldn't let her come, then 
 burst out crying as if her heart would break." 
 
 " I'm going to order a suit of clothes," said 
 Molly, going to her writing-desk. 
 
 " A suit of clothes ! you ! for yourself ? " 
 and Ensign Harry looked bewildered. 
 
 " No ; but I am determined to soften that heart 
 of adamant. I am determined that Mandy shall
 
 MOLLY AND MANDY 1/5 
 
 come to-night. Poor child, she has so little pleas- 
 ure ! " and she wrote : 
 
 DEAR MR. CRUMP, I have a friend who needs a new 
 suit of clothes. He is ill and poor, and I shall have the 
 pleasure of paying for it. If I give you his measure, will you 
 undertake to make it? As soon as it is done, you shall be 
 liberally paid. 
 
 Please let Mandy come to-night. M. STANLEY. 
 
 Molly read the missive aloud. Her cheeks were 
 as red as La France roses, and the battle-light of 
 determination brightened her eyes. 
 
 " It's for Jennings, the carpenter," she said. 
 
 Ensign Harry looked preternaturally demure, 
 then smiled, then laughed. Then, at Molly's look 
 of surprise, she laughed louder. Finally she sank, 
 shaking, into a chair. 
 
 " What in the world " ejaculated Molly. 
 
 ' The whole thing is so ridiculous ! so ex- 
 quisitely funny ! " was the half-smothered answer. 
 " The poor carpenter is sick typhoid fever 
 may not live to wear a suit of clothes and you 
 ordering them and of Crump ! Oh ! oh ! oh ! " 
 
 " If he don't live to wear them, somebody will," 
 said Molly, quite alive to the absurdity of the sit- 
 uation, but more alive to her generous impulses. 
 
 " And he'll charge you a monstrous price, if you 
 don't limit him." 
 
 " Why, I shall limit him, of course. Besides, 
 I'm bound to emancipate Mandy."
 
 176 CAPTAIN MOLLY 
 
 "Molly, you are a saint. If I were a man, 
 I should simply adore you," exclaimed Ensign 
 Harry. " Where are your lovers ? You should 
 have had them by the score. I'm glad I ever 
 knew you ! " and she wiped the impulsive tears, 
 born of her mirth, from her eyes. " You stoop to 
 us, you love us, you master us ! I write home 
 about you in all my letters. I only wish you were 
 at the head of the Army. I am not always sure 
 when I am obeying orders without asking ques- 
 tions, whether I ought or not, though I must ; 
 but in you I have such perfect faith that I should 
 never question. How shall we get the note up- 
 stairs ? I'll carry it." And she did. 
 
 Crump read the letter. First he smiled, and 
 then he frowned. Then he fidgeted, and told 
 Family. 
 
 She, fearing she should betray too much joy, 
 pulled her face to its usual sanctimonious length. 
 A red dress, a green sash, and her own old white 
 slippers were all dancing a jig in her bewildered 
 brain. That was all the finery poor Mandy pos- 
 sessed. 
 
 Family held the candle over her lord's head in 
 frightful proximity to the bunch of yellow furze 
 that served as a topknot, and read the note ; then 
 she smiled as he cogitated over the pros and cons. 
 
 " You're a-goin* to let 'er go, ain't ye, Crump ? " 
 she asked, sidling away with the candle. 
 
 " No, I ain't," Crump said shortly.
 
 MOLLY AND MANDY 
 
 The woman set the candle down with a faint cry. 
 
 " Lord o' mercy, Crump, you're a-treading on 
 your own toes." 
 
 " Call Mandy here," growled Crump, on second 
 thoughts. "They sha'n't drag me into their net." 
 
 The girl made her appearance from the closet 
 beyond, where she had heard every word. She 
 came forward trembling with fear, yet inwardly 
 hoping. To her the promised entertainment was 
 like a glimpse of heaven to the world-weary pil- 
 grim. She seldom went beyond the snarl in 
 Crump's voice. 
 
 " Mandy, there's seven flaps to make, stitching 
 back-handed." 
 
 " Yes, sir," said Mandy meekly. 
 
 " Five pockets to set in, and four breasts to 
 line." 
 
 " Yes, sir," was the subdued and stereotyped 
 answer. 
 
 "Ten buttonholes to make." 
 
 " Yes, sir." 
 
 " And all to be done to-morrow. If I let you 
 go to this Damnation party " with tremendous 
 emphasis. 
 
 " I'll do it if I die," said Mandy, trembling; "I'll 
 git up at half-past four." 
 
 " Well, I dunno as I've got any say about it," 
 he muttered ferociously ; " ask Fambly." 
 
 Family said, " Lor', yes ; what's to hinder ? 
 There's my white shoes ! "
 
 1/8 CAPTAIN MOLLY 
 
 And so Mancly presented herself to Molly in a 
 white frock, clean and neat, the red one with the 
 green sash having been dispensed with after due 
 consideration. " And really," Molly thought, as 
 she welcomed the hopeful, happy face, " she's not 
 so very bad-looking." 
 
 One after another the knocks at the door were 
 answered, and the rooms slowly filled. There were 
 coarse people, homely people, nervous people, all 
 dressed in their best. There was a sprinkling of 
 young girls, a few members of the Army with 
 their instruments ; but among them all no sweeter 
 face met the eye than that of little old Mrs. 
 McKisseth, who came down to " hear her darlin' 
 play," and brightened the little circle by her 
 shrewdness and native Irish wit. 
 
 Last of all came Stacey, introduced as John 
 Hardy. Ensign Harry made a mute sign to Molly 
 that here was the man ! The man moved quietly 
 and meekly forward, knowing no one, and mak- 
 ing for the ensign, who introduced him to Miss 
 Stanley, whose quick eye almost noted his effort 
 not to be graceful. 
 
 " A handsome man," she said at the first glance. 
 " A very handsome man," at the second " not 
 exactly a laborer." 
 
 " Oh ! you are a printer," she said some little 
 time afterward, as he informed her of the fact ; 
 " that settles it," she added naTvely. 
 
 " May I ask what is settled ? " he questioned.
 
 MOLLY AND MANDY 1/9 
 
 " Excuse me, I have been trying to think 
 whether I have seen you before," she made frank 
 reply ; " but among all the new friends I have 
 made the last year, I do not know of one who 
 follows the craft you mention. I have always 
 thought that printing was one of the noblest of 
 callings. It must tend to keep the finer faculties 
 of the mind wide awake, to nourish the root of 
 knowledge. On what paper are you specially en- 
 gaged ? " 
 
 He blushed like a boy. 
 
 " On no particular paper, Miss Miss " 
 
 " Stanley," put in Molly promptly. 
 
 "Yes, thank you. My work is desultory by 
 the job books, bills, cards for samples see 
 catalogue," and he laughed. Under the dark-blue 
 glasses there was a queer little twinkle ; but, faith- 
 ful to their trust, the spectacles hid it. 
 
 "Strange how he interests me," thought Molly; 
 "and yet the man is an atheist, a confessed un- 
 believer. A godless man, who stands alone, able, 
 professionally, to live in himself, by himself, for 
 himself only. I ought to shudder to be talking 
 with him, and still he fascinates me with that 
 bold self-assertion. He holds my glance. What 
 beautiful eyes he has under those horrid glasses ! 
 I suppose he has to wear them. No doubt he is a 
 man who reads and thinks much, a self-made man. 
 His" hands are nice too. A printer ought to have 
 nice hands."
 
 ISO CAPTAIN MOLLY 
 
 At that moment little Mrs. McKisseth came in, 
 followed by her pet cat. 
 
 Stacey started. 
 
 " What a beautiful creature ! " Stacey exclaimed, 
 as the cat brushed by him. " She reminds me of 
 my J , of a cat," he added tamely, his face aflame. 
 
 "Then, you like cats," Molly said. 
 
 " Oh, immensely ! " was his answer; and he bit 
 his lip viciously, " er particularly when they 
 talk," he added. 
 
 "When they talk!" 
 
 " Well er seem to, you know with such 
 an expressive purr. I assure you, I can interpret 
 mine I mean cats generally. Of course you like 
 them," he blundered on. 
 
 " Yes," she laughed. " You remind me of a 
 friend I once had. He owned a cat he called 
 Jacko, and upon my word the wonderful stories 
 he told of that cat were quite beyond belief. But 
 he believed them, or rather he believed in the cat. 
 I have always wanted to see that cat," she went 
 on, sotto voce. " If not a wonder, it must have been 
 a beauty." 
 
 " Yes, it it must have been," faltered Stacey, 
 feeling unsafe even under his disguise if she 
 talked much longer. 
 
 Fortunately some one called for music. 
 
 "Excuse me," said Molly, with a vivacious little 
 nod, "we devote some time to singing and play- 
 ing. Do you sing ? "
 
 MOLLY AND MANDY l8l 
 
 " Not guilty," he replied with a shrug. " I play 
 the fiddle sometimes." 
 
 "We are just going to give a little concerto 
 movement for violin and piano, and you must tell 
 me your opinion of our young violinist. Professor 
 Andromo is going to be very proud of her ; " and 
 Molly went toward the piano, secure in the con- 
 viction that she had stunned him by the assertion 
 that an inmate of Paradise Flats commanded the 
 services of so great a musician as the professor. 
 
 Everybody listened. That was one of the rules ; 
 and the playing was effective, so much so that 
 a prolonged applause brought the two out again. 
 
 Then some one, a stout young fellow, an officer 
 in the Army by his uniform, played a cornet solo 
 in creditable style. This was followed by two or 
 three clever recitations ; and then Mandy, who 
 was in the seventh heaven of ecstasy, wondered 
 whether ten o'clock would come before she could 
 taste of the refreshments laid out on a corner table. 
 
 There were sandwiches and pretty little sugar 
 cakes, cheese and crackers, and tea and chocolate. 
 Somebody said " lemonade," near her ; and sure 
 enough, there stood a pitcher it must have held 
 a gallon full to the brim ! Everything she had 
 seen and heard had filled her with supreme con- 
 tent. She had never been to a theatre or concert 
 in her life a children's party, perhaps, once a 
 year, but that was the extent of her social merry- 
 making ; and the child had a soul that could feel
 
 I 82 CAPTAIN MOLLY 
 
 and appreciate such gatherings to a certain extent. 
 Her eyes followed Molly ; and presently she heard 
 a voice near her say, 
 
 " What two handsome ones them two are ! " 
 
 Molly and John Hardy had gravitated together 
 again. 
 
 She had asked some questions which he had 
 answered or parried, and he was telling her of his 
 wishes and expectations. 
 
 " At present," he said, and if it had not been 
 for the spectacles Molly might well have ques- 
 tioned the expression of his eyes, " I am at work 
 all my spare time studying medicine. My ambi- 
 tion is to become a surgeon." 
 
 " The noblest profession a man could choose," 
 she said, her eyes sparkling. " I had a friend 
 nay, I have a friend," and the words sent a thrill to 
 his heart, " Why in the deuce," he said to him- 
 self, " if she doesn't care for Stacey that way, does 
 she mention him so often ? " - " who," continued 
 Molly, " with the grandest privileges a man can 
 possess, a good knowledge of surgery, rich, young, 
 yet lives the life of a sybarite, caring for noth- 
 ing, for no one, but himself. Oh, I despise such 
 living, such a character ! But then, how can you 
 be a surgeon, and absolutely certain that there is 
 no God ? " 
 
 He was taken all aback. The sad, sweet pathos 
 of her voice nearly unmanned him. He stood 
 before her self-convicted and despising himself,
 
 MOLLY AND MANDY 1 83 
 
 " I did say that rash thing and you heard ? " 
 he asked. 
 
 " Oh, yes ! I didn't go out that day, but Ensign 
 Harry brings me minutes of all the meetings. 
 How came you to be there ? " she asked naively. 
 " Did you not know theology is never discussed 
 among us ? We work and we talk we work for 
 bodies, and talk for souls." 
 
 " I had tried everything else," he said. " My 
 people were very strict. I was brought up to 
 believe in many things that I could not help ques- 
 tioning. But we will leave that for future argu- 
 ment," he added, smiling. 
 
 "And you will you not contribute something 
 towards the entertainment ? " she asked, instantly 
 relapsing into her accustomed dignity. 
 
 " If the child will lend me that violin," he said. 
 " I should like to try the instrument. 'Tis a good 
 one." 
 
 Molly sought out Nan, who, with a group of 
 girls about her, was propounding conundrums. 
 The girl rose with alacrity, and taking King Solo- 
 mon out of its case, gave it to the stranger, who 
 looked it over carefully, caressingly, then, after a 
 little, held it in position. He asked for no accom- 
 paniment, but, with steady movements and a deli- 
 cate grace, played an old, old melody that brought 
 Mrs. McKisseth forward, the tears in her eyes. 
 
 "Ay, an' that's the r'al old Irish tune," she 
 said, " that draws the warmest blood from the far-
 
 184 CAPTAIN MOLLY 
 
 derest corner of the heart. You've been to ould 
 Ireland maybe, and heard the lasses crooning it to 
 the sick childer. It's a godsend when the pulse 
 is failin' an' the heart is sobbin'. Sure, the Chiefs 
 of Carnegie played it with drums and the ould fife 
 of the O'Maurice." 
 
 He had heard it in Ireland, caught it from a 
 piper, and paid him to play it again and again ; but 
 he did not say so. Everybody was listening and 
 wishing for more ; so, signalling for his hostess, he 
 played a more ambitious solo to her accompani- 
 ment, while the people solaced themselves with 
 refreshments. Ensign Harry read the fear in 
 Mandy's eyes ; and soon the girl was bountifully 
 supplied with sandwiches, chocolate, and cakes. 
 
 " Oh, it was a beautiful, beautiful evening ! " 
 everybody declared, as the party broke up. Every 
 face was lighted, every good-night given with 
 thanks. Molly had issued the laws of etiquette 
 in minor matters long before, and they were scru- 
 pulously observed. 
 
 Then the two women sat down to compare 
 notes. 
 
 " The Bassetts were not here," said Ensign 
 Harry. 
 
 "No; Sebastian is off again," Molly answered 
 with a little sigh. " I fear there is no hope for 
 him." 
 
 " Did you ever see such a happy face as that of 
 poor Mandy Crump ? "
 
 MOLLY AND MANDY 185 
 
 "I watched her often;" and Molly smiled. 
 " Poor little girl, it is worth all the cost and the 
 trouble to see such a face now and then." 
 
 " And the new man ? I noticed that you talked 
 with him," said Ensign Harry; "did you like 
 him ? " 
 
 " Oh, yes, the new man ! After all, he is not 
 one of us. His nature and his thoughts are ruled 
 by a supreme love of self. I am sorry, for I like 
 him very much." 
 
 "He shall be one of us. We must work for 
 him. To-night was one chance for baiting our 
 hook. We have got hold of him. He will come 
 again, and he will be sure to go to the meetings." 
 
 " How do you know ? " asked Molly. 
 
 " I know by the way he looked at you," was on 
 the girl's lips to say ; but she refrained, not sure 
 but her friend would resent it as an impertinence. 
 
 " I think he's interested in the Salvation 
 Army," she made reply. 
 
 " Perhaps I hope so. He certainly is a man 
 of energy a printer. Printers are not always 
 extraordinary men, but this is an extraordinary 
 man. I could hardly believe that I never saw 
 him before. It was like the shadow of a famil- 
 iar presence haunting me. I don't like to feel 
 that way. Do you know he is studying medi- 
 cine?" ' 
 
 " I thought there was something grand about 
 him that Sunday," said Ensign Harry. " If we
 
 1 86 CAPTAIN MOLLY 
 
 do catch him, it will be like hooking a leviathan. 
 He will be hands and feet and head to our cause. 
 I hope you made him understand that we took 
 no stock in his infidel ideas." 
 
 "Of course he knows that. He is perhaps a 
 little ashamed. But how he handled that violin ! 
 Did you ever hear pathos, real, unmixed pathos, 
 such as that little Irish air, before ? Curious that 
 he should come to Paradise Flats." 
 
 " Not at all," Ensign Harry made brisk answer. 
 " Haven't we nearly all the professions here ? in 
 a state of decay more or less pronounced to be 
 sure but still, here they are. I presume our 
 gentleman-printer is poor, or he wouldn't come 
 here. I'm sure I honor him for having the cour- 
 age of his convictions. He is a man who wants 
 to be helped, won't get in debt, has fixed his eye 
 on fame in the future, and he will have it." 
 
 "But doing it all in his own strength," put in 
 Molly. 
 
 " Wait and see," said Ensign Harry hopefully. 
 
 " Suppose we stop talking about him, and look 
 over our list of work for to-morrow," said Molly. 
 
 She opened her tablets and read, running a pen- 
 cil between the lines. 
 
 "On the march by ten that's to go down to 
 the shipping, and hold a prayer-meeting. Did you 
 ever notice what thorough gentlemen most sailors 
 are in the presence of ladies ? 
 
 "Through D Street from house to house. I
 
 MOLLY AND MANDY l8/ 
 
 don't incline towards that, we get so much abuse ; 
 but it pays sometimes. A visit to the almshouse 
 to talk to the poor old people there's always 
 something interesting about that. Then march 
 again to the hall for a meeting of praise. Six 
 visits besides to six very bad people poor things ! 
 to try and teach them how to be clean. I think 
 we ought to set up a cooking-school. But then, 
 what time have we for that ? What with the sew- 
 ing-class, the singing-class, and our little recep- 
 tions, it is about all we can do to get on." 
 
 " To say nothing of baiting hooks to catch levia- 
 thans," laughed Ensign Harry ; and then looked 
 troubled, for a faint flush mounted to Molly's 
 cheeks as she rose and shut the piano, put the 
 chairs in place, gathered the flowers together, and 
 laid them all in a big basin of water to keep them 
 fresh, answering not a word. 
 
 " And oh, mother ! I'd be willin' to work my 
 fingers to the bone just to go sometimes. And 
 oh, mother ! she's the sweetest, the most beauti- 
 fullest, the kindest lady I ever see ! It was just 
 like heaven there ! " 
 
 That was Mandy's verdict, when at ten o'clock 
 her father went after his pot of beer, vowing all 
 manner of evil things if them Damnationists didn't 
 send Mandy home to her wool-singed, hot, musty- 
 smelling rooms by the time he returned.
 
 I 88 CAPTAIN MOLLY 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV 
 
 AN INTERVIEW WITH THE BANKER 
 
 All 's fair in love and war. 
 
 JOHN HARDY sat alone in his new quarters. It 
 was very cheerful at night. The student's lamp 
 was alight, and the big armchair drawn close up 
 to the bookcase, part of which turned down for a 
 writing-desk. 
 
 " I haven't had such an evening for well, I 
 never had such an evening in my life ! " he solilo- 
 quized. " She was simply angelical. I don't won- 
 der they are all gone on her. Now, if she scores 
 me for a convert, I shall have that hold upon her. 
 In her thoughts, in her very soul, I shall be to her 
 unlike other men. That allusion of mine to sur- 
 gery was an inspiration." 
 
 He sat for a few moments lost in blissful revery. 
 
 What visions he saw ! No need of a disguise 
 now. He had taken off his spectacles ; and if just 
 then Molly could have seen him without them, de- 
 spite the whiskers and the darker hair, she would 
 have recognized him. Few men have such eyes, 
 so deeply blue, so rich in depth, so magnificently 
 shadowed by long, dark lashes.
 
 AN INTERVIEW WITH THE BANKER 189 
 
 No need to say he was already thoroughly 
 ashamed of his assumption of atheistical procliv- 
 ities. 
 
 Drunk with love's red wine, he would have given 
 up every theory he had ever held, every one of 
 the millions that made him the envy of his set. 
 With this new incentive, he would have had more 
 honor in her eyes as a man willing to spend his 
 life in doing good, than if he were a hundred 
 times a millionaire and wanting the principles 
 that make manhood a success. Yes, now to win 
 her, he would be the humblest private in that very 
 Salvation Army he had so often ridiculed. His 
 love was unselfish now. It dominated every fibre 
 of his soul. 
 
 He was silent for a while. 
 
 He had caught at a chance at the musicale to 
 speak to Ensign Harry ; and she, in the innocence 
 of her heart, had told him the whole story. How 
 Molly was the daughter of a rich man, but had 
 preferred this life to the grandeur of her own 
 home ; how sweet and gracious she was ; how she 
 won the hearts of all who saw her ; and finally 
 how, though her father at first had almost dis- 
 owned her, that now he was willing she should 
 come to the house whenever she would. 
 
 So he sat there dreaming. Suppose ! and sup- 
 pose ! and suppose ! " And if she once gets in- 
 terested in me, as a stranger, sufficiently so to 
 allow me sometimes to accompany her, I will wait
 
 CAPTAIN MOLLY 
 
 for love yes, for years if need be. But sup- 
 pose she should ask me to accompany her to her 
 own house what then ? Only that the banker 
 will question my standing, ridicule my assumed 
 poverty, grow furious over my audacious preten- 
 sions. What am I to do ? " 
 
 Clearly there was but one thing. 
 
 " Reveal my identity to him. I'll do it, and 
 soon." 
 
 The next evening found him on the way to 
 Banker Stanley's residence. He was ushered into 
 the hall, a square apartment of princely dimen- 
 sions, where stood chairs for lounging, screens of 
 Oriental richness, and tall hassocks on each side 
 of the wide fireplace. 
 
 "That's Stacey's voice!" said the banker to 
 himself, hearing it through the open door ; and he 
 rushed forward to meet him, but recoiled as the 
 stranger came forward step by step. 
 
 Who was this man with Stacey's voice, a man 
 in a working garb, his face tanned, blue specta- 
 cles, long mutton-chop whiskers, a cross, in his 
 manner and dress, between the professional man 
 and the laborer ? 
 
 " Mr. Stanley ! You don't recognize me," said 
 the stranger, coming forward all smiles. 
 
 " I'll be hanged if I do. Excuse me, but I 
 thought I knew the voice. You haven't got a 
 package of dynamite about you, have you ? Be- 
 cause if you have, I'll pull this cord, and there'll
 
 AN INTERVIEW WITH THE BANKER IQI 
 
 be fireworks of the liveliest description. Great 
 heavens ! Stacey ! Stacey after all ! What the 
 devil does this mean ? " for the young man had 
 taken off his blue spectacles, and with a touch 
 pushed back his wig, disclosing the eyes and fea- 
 tures of Stacey. 
 
 "It means no dynamite," laughed Stacey. 
 
 " Why, you dear fellow ! God bless you ! " and 
 of a sudden Stacey felt himself enclosed in a pair 
 of stalwart arms. 
 
 " You make almost a child of me. I think you 
 made a fool of me once before, in my own bank- 
 ing-house, by Heaven ! But I forgive you I see 
 it all I give you welcome, a hearty welcome ! 
 And as to the dynamite, my dear fellow read 
 this note, and then sit down and let me look at 
 you. Where have you been all this time ? What ! 
 you persist in wearing your disguise ? I don't 
 like it. What does it mean ? " 
 
 "I will tell you but first let me read this 
 note. Ah ! I see " 
 
 Send me three thousand dollars or I will blow you up. 
 
 ONE WHO MEANS IT. 
 
 "That's cheerful," said young Stacey. "Well, 
 what are you going to do about it ? " 
 
 " Run the risk," laughed the banker. " Of 
 course it's some fool. You see, he don't even say 
 where I'm to send it. Oh ! that is nothing compared 
 to some of my correspondence. I confess, though,
 
 IQ2 CAPTAIN MOLLY 
 
 that when I saw you, an apparent stranger, coming 
 in with a familiarity that looked as if you knew 
 the house, I was a little startled. I've been deal- 
 ing heavily in bonds for the last month, and nego- 
 tiating largely in all parts of the country, and it 
 has gotten noised about. Ah, there are rogues in 
 plenty and dynamite is cheap. Let me ring for 
 some refreshments." 
 
 "No; not a thing," said Stacey, "till after I 
 have told you my story. My present name is 
 John Hardy." 
 
 " Your present name ! You startle me. What 
 blunder have you committed that calls for an 
 alias? By Heaven, the mystery grows ! " 
 
 " It is nothing very alarming," said Stacey ; 
 " and I should have preferred keeping my incog- 
 nito, only circumstances might combine in such 
 a way as to make it embarrassing, if not difficult. 
 I need not express to you again how much I love 
 Molly." 
 
 " No and you have my sanction always 
 have had." 
 
 " She repulsed me." 
 
 "Yes; and lessened my respect for her good 
 judgment." 
 
 "She prefers Paradise Flats and a section of 
 the Salvation Army and God bless her for 
 it!" 
 
 " What ! " the banker had risen, and was taking 
 short strides about the room. "You bless that
 
 AN INTERVIEW WITH THE BANKER 193 
 
 confounded little idiot for going counter to my 
 will, and making a blanked fool of herself ? " 
 
 " I bless her for her endeavors to benefit hu- 
 manity. There isn't much hope in it ; but there 
 is something sublime in the girl's efforts which 
 neither you nor I have the large gift of grace to 
 understand. I can do so in a measure. It may 
 be fanaticism ; but if so, it is of the highest order 
 and the purest kind. One evening, as I was sit- 
 ting in my room at the hotel, an idea struck me. 
 Molly had talked to me plainly, accusing me of 
 selfishness, dilettantism, and good-for-nothingness 
 in general. She was right. I did not see it then, 
 but I do now." 
 
 " The queerest chicken that ever grew up with- 
 out a mother's protecting wing," muttered the 
 banker. " She makes me wonder how she came 
 to belong to me." 
 
 " As I was saying, an idea entered my brain, 
 upon which I acted at once. It was that I would 
 win Molly on her own ground ; that is, by taking 
 the character of a workingman with modestly 
 I state it superior abilities to the average. By 
 living near her, and working in her direction, I 
 could at once protect and reach her." 
 
 The banker had ceased walking, and now 
 stood in front of Stacey, his hands in his pock- 
 ets, chuckling. Suddenly he shook him by the 
 shoulders. 
 
 " By Jove, Stacey ! you are a trump ! " he ex-
 
 CAPTAIN MOLLY 
 
 claimed. " What a pity to hide such a headpiece 
 as yours under a wig ! But I see, I see ;" and he 
 laughed on in a pleased way. 
 
 " So I adopted this disguise, took a room in 
 Paradise Flats, there are always rooms to rent 
 in those places, established myself there, and 
 pass under the guise of a journeyman printer." 
 
 " Upon my word ! " exclaimed the banker, more 
 and more delighted. 
 
 " I am a self-made man, you understand ; that 
 is, to all appearance I don't say anything about 
 it with aspirations beyond my calling. I have 
 an ambition to study surgery, and a leaning toward 
 philanthropy and misanthropy, in a religious way 
 see ? I attend the Salvation meetings, and 
 get no harm from that. Upon my word, I'm be- 
 ginning to respect those Salvation people." 
 
 " Well, I confess to a little leaning that way 
 myself," the banker agreed, pulling at one side of 
 his abundant gray mustache. " I wish they would 
 convert those dynamite fiends, and put on decent 
 bonnets the women, I mean. They go by here 
 every Thursday night ; and, by Jove, they're going 
 by now ! " 
 
 The two men went toward the window. It was 
 a splendid moonlight evening. Now and then a 
 carriage rolled by ; the streets showed long lines 
 of silver, and straight into the light came the 
 little band on their way to some service. Sud- 
 denly they struck into song, with which the click
 
 AN INTERVIEW WITH THE BANKER 195 
 
 of the castanets mingled, and the clear, prolonged 
 sound of the bugle aiding the voices of the 
 women. 
 
 Every word came full, sonorous, distinct ; every 
 form seemed outlined in moonlight, as they broke 
 out, opposite the banker's house, 
 
 " On, soldiers, to the front ! 
 
 Rescue or death ! 
 Go, save the perishing, 
 
 So my Lord saith. 
 Up with your banners, 
 
 Swords lifted bright, 
 Save fallen souls for heaven, 
 
 God, and the right! " 
 
 The two men moved back, looking into each 
 other's eyes. Neither of them spoke for a time. 
 Then Stacey said, his voice trembling a little, 
 
 " Is Molly with them ? " 
 
 " No," the banker made reply. " She promised 
 me she would never march with them at night. 
 That's the only concession I could get." 
 
 " They don't do that for money ;" it was Stacey 
 who spoke again. 
 
 " Well, hardly," said the banker, his voice a 
 little husky. He was thinking of Molly ; and in 
 spite of himself a sort of pride in her self-abnega- 
 tion rose in his heart a feeling that astonished 
 as well as annoyed him." 
 
 " Isn't it horrid ? " 
 
 The voice, high-pitched and petulant, sounded
 
 196 CAPTAIN MOLLY 
 
 near. In a rich dress of crepc-de-Chine, the strong 
 light bringing out the sheen of the lustrous pearls 
 that shimmered all over its voluminous folds, stood 
 Lucy. The long, undulating train, the richness 
 of the costly material, the soft white arms bare 
 to the shoulders, the edging of rich lace curling 
 about a faultless bust, formed altogether a picture 
 that to the careless observer was worthy of all ad- 
 miration. 
 
 " They make me wild with their horrid music," 
 was her next remark. " I only came, uncle, to 
 show my new dress," she added in a lower tone, 
 as Stacey moved away to the corner of the room 
 intent upon a picture; "do you like it ? " 
 
 " It's very pretty," said the banker, " very ! " 
 but he was thinking of any- and everything but 
 her. 
 
 " I only wanted you to see me before I went to 
 Mrs. Shaw's musicale. I'm so delighted that I'm 
 going! There will be the best professional music, 
 and then Mrs. Shaw's spreads are something di- 
 vine ! I didn't know you had company. Au re- 
 voir ; " and she was gone. 
 
 " Takes to it as naturally as ducks to water, 
 doesn't she ? " the banker asked, as the two men 
 met again near the table in the middle of the 
 room. "I thought there was no need of an in- 
 troduction ; she considered you some workingman 
 calling on business." 
 
 Stacey was thinking of the musicale he had at-
 
 AN INTERVIEW WITH THE BANKER IQ/ 
 
 tended so lately in Paradise Flats. This gorgeous 
 creature of fashion in comparison with Molly in 
 her chintz dress was as that of a princess to a 
 peasant girl ; yet how incomparably more beautiful 
 was the real heir of all this grandeur ! The 
 world, the flesh, and the devil were written in 
 marked characters all over Lucy's sparkling per- 
 sonality; for had she not sold herself, body and 
 soul, for the sake of those advantages which 
 wealth confers ? 
 
 " To return to what I was saying," Stacey went 
 on, " I thought that in some way I could make 
 myself of use to Molly. It unnerved me to think 
 of her in that house alone, so I laid my plans as 
 you have heard." 
 
 " And so you are an inmate of Paradise Flats ? " 
 the banker exclaimed, as the two men sat down 
 again, facing each other. 
 
 " Certainly I am ; and intend to constitute my- 
 self her special guardian, whether she will or not. 
 I am going to try under this guise to make myself 
 so worthy of her love that she will accept the poor 
 printer for a husband where she rejected the mil- 
 lionaire. This explanation seemed necessary, so, 
 if she should condescend to take me for her escort, 
 as she may some time, you will be on your guard." 
 
 " I see, I see ! " said the banker, a touch of glee 
 in his rather gruff voice. " Well, it's the most ro- 
 mantic thing I've ever heard of. No one but a 
 man who has plenty of money, can write when he
 
 198 CAPTAIN MOLLY 
 
 wishes, poetize when he pleases, and play the fiddle, 
 would ever have thought of it, by Jove ! And I 
 wish you all the luck in life. If I were a young 
 man I wouldn't mind going through the same ex- 
 perience. It gives a zest to existence, which grop- 
 ing around for values, and hunting up securities, 
 and even handling millions, doesn't touch." 
 
 And then happened what neither of them had 
 expected. 
 
 The door opened, and Molly entered. If Stacey 
 didn't bless his stars that he had declined to throw 
 off at least a part of his disguise, he never blessed 
 them for anything. 
 
 " O dear papa ! " said Molly, while Stacey 
 glowed and bowed ; then hurriedly took his leave.
 
 MY PRINTER 199 
 
 CHAPTER XXV 
 
 MY PRINTER 
 
 And knew that it was love, 
 
 " Do you know him, papa ? " Molly asked, con- 
 scious and provoked that she was blushing. 
 
 " Eh ? Slightly, my dear, slightly," was the 
 guarded reply. " He comes to me now and then 
 for advice." 
 
 "Ah !" said Molly, on her guard also. 
 
 " Yes very good sort of man for ahem 
 his station a printer so he tells me. Very 
 good ! I shall put some work in his way." 
 
 Puff, puff, went the pipe, while the banker 
 poked his papers about with an air of indifference. 
 
 What would happen next ? 
 
 Molly was bewildered. Mr. Stanley was not, 
 to her knowledge, in the habit of speaking of 
 working-people in other than patronizing tones. 
 Indeed, he was patronizing now, but there was a 
 difference. 
 
 " I came a little late, papa, because I have some 
 business to transact. I must say good-by, and go 
 back as soon as possible." 
 
 "Well," her father responded, "let me know
 
 2OO CAPTAIN MOLLY 
 
 how much you want. I'm in the mood to give 
 you a large check." 
 
 " No, papa, I don't want any money ; but I have 
 come to you to talk about money, and Sebastian 
 Bassett." 
 
 "A drunken brute, if I recollect rightly," her 
 father said. 
 
 " Drunken, but never brutal," Molly said, unty- 
 ing her hat-strings. " I also spoke of an English 
 lady who came to see me about him." 
 
 "Yes ; his sister, wasn't she?" 
 
 " Oh, no ! " Molly's face grew sympathetic. 
 " From all I can gather, she is his cousin by the 
 second remove, and devoted to him. She told me 
 a part of her sad story. It appears they were 
 once engaged to be married. The man gave 
 great promise of reaching a high eminence in his 
 profession. He fell again and again, but every 
 time promised reformation." 
 
 "Those scamps always do," muttered the 
 banker. 
 
 " Yes. He was exceedingly fond of society, 
 and belonged to several clubs. On the last time 
 appointed for the ceremony, he came home so 
 drunk that the wedding had to be postponed." 
 
 " Indefinitely, I should hope," supplemented 
 the banker. 
 
 "Yes ; and her heart was nearly broken." 
 
 " What ! she could still love that graceless 
 scamp ? " the banker asked.
 
 MY PRINTER 2OI 
 
 ' Yes ; and does yet. She has spent almost a 
 fortune in trying to reclaim him." 
 
 " Then more's the pity for her," he rejoined. 
 
 " Yes, the more's the pity ; for two lives are 
 ruined," said Molly. " But to come to the point 
 of this story. Sebastian's mother is dead, and 
 has left in this lady's trust a fortune for her son ; 
 that is, to one situated as he is at present it 
 would seem like a fortune, ten thousand pounds ! 
 Now, the question is, how to manage matters ? If 
 he should come into possession at once, he would 
 squander it drink to excess, probably drink 
 himself to death. The cousin says she thinks it 
 the wiser course to deal it out sparingly, letting 
 him believe that some friend is helping him. She 
 wishes me to be her almoner and banker, and to 
 put the money at interest. What would you sug- 
 gest ? " 
 
 "It is a somewhat delicate question," her father 
 said, tapping the table with his gold-bowed glasses ; 
 "and I should rather submit it to a lawyer. Colby 
 Brothers, who you know transact all my business 
 of that sort, could decide. I'm willing to do what 
 I can ; but you see, money is money, especially a 
 legacy, and I wouldn't touch it without legal ad- 
 vice." 
 
 " Then, shall I go to them ? " asked Molly. 
 
 " As the matter has been committed to your 
 judgment, I rather think you would better," her 
 father said. He was not averse to giving his
 
 2O2 CAPTAIN MOLLY 
 
 daughter a practical illustration of the necessity 
 for extreme caution in the disposal of money. He 
 knew that she had a clear, logical mind ; and if 
 she could get a grasp on legal principles, it would 
 enable her to use her own fortune, when he had 
 gone, to better advantage. As to her fearless- 
 ness, he had had sufficient proof of that ; so he de- 
 cided to put her on her mettle, advise her, and let 
 her carry on the business herself. It was curious 
 to see this old hard-headed man talking with the 
 sweet-faced woman before him exactly as if she 
 had been a man, and in his secret soul hugging 
 the thought that in all the wide world there were 
 not many such daughters as she. 
 
 For, banker, financier, capitalist though he was, 
 every energy strung to the highest tension of 
 business, there was in him the capacity to be 
 what he good-naturedly called those whose zeal 
 bore them into the ranks of enthusiasts, "a first- 
 class crank." 
 
 Molly rose to go. 
 
 " How will you get home ? " he asked. 
 
 The girl pointed to her badge. "Everybody 
 respects this," she said. " By the way, where is 
 Lucy ? " 
 
 " Gone to a musicale" was the answer. 
 
 " Don't you ever go with her ? " 
 
 " Not to those crushes, if you please. Besides, 
 she has her escort." 
 
 " And when is she to be married ? "
 
 MY PRINTER 2O3 
 
 "This day six months," he answered. 
 
 " Then what will you do ? " 
 
 " I expect by that time my daughter will return 
 to her duties in her father's house," he replied 
 gravely. 
 
 " O papa ! I have devoted my life to the work," 
 was her quick answer. 
 
 "Charity begins at home. Come and try your 
 magic on me for a little while. Or perhaps the 
 poor old man is not worth the trouble of saving." 
 
 " O papa ! " and she folded her two arms about 
 his neck, and kissed him fervently. " If you con- 
 sider yourself such a heathen that you need my 
 help, why, I'm willing to begin now. Only you 
 must come with me," she added playfully. 
 
 " What ! to Paradise Flats ? " he exclaimed, 
 laughing. " Do you think your handsome printer 
 would take me in ? " 
 
 "My printer!" she exclaimed with a fair show 
 of indignation. " Papa ! " 
 
 " Well, well ! I meant nothing, of course," he 
 made reply. " But, Molly come as often as you 
 can. And don't hesitate to ask me for a check 
 now and then." 
 
 Then she gave him another kiss, with tears in 
 her eyes, surely he was doing his utmost to draw 
 her toward him, and bade him good-night.
 
 2O4 CAPTAIN MOLLY 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI 
 
 AN UNWELCOME FOLLOWER 
 Thick, guttural, maudlin tones. 
 
 As Molly moved down the street, a shadow 
 emerged from the corner, followed by John Hardy. 
 
 " Do you object to my walking with you, Miss 
 Stanley ? " he asked, so gently, so deferentially, 
 in that low, musical voice of his, which, in spite of 
 herself, she compared to Stacey's, that she could 
 not find it in her heart to say no. 
 
 " You did not go to the meeting to-night," he 
 said, as they walked together. 
 
 " No ; I had some business to transact." Then 
 they went on in silence for a few minutes. 
 
 " I also made a business call," he said. " But 
 the meetings are growing very interesting to me ; 
 and since the people are willing to listen, I am 
 willing to be led by them. I can say that I was 
 never in the midst of such a downright set of 
 people before." 
 
 " Because they are in earnest," said Molly. 
 
 " Exactly I feel that ; but what they do inte- 
 rests me more than what they say. If ever I am 
 converted, it will be because with them faith and 
 works go together."
 
 AN UNWELCOME FOLLOWER 2O5 
 
 They were passing a low grog-shop. Standing 
 in the doorway, in the full glare of the blood-red 
 light, was Sebastian, a wolfish look in his eyes, a 
 saturnine expression in the face usually so good- 
 humored. 
 
 He tipsily removed his hat, lifting the broken 
 brim, for he recognized Captain Molly ; then, stag- 
 gering, followed her. A wild idea had taken pos- 
 session of his besotted brain ; it was that the man 
 beside her meant mischief. 
 
 " You jes' le' go of her," he muttered, coming 
 up to the two, and touching Stacey on the arm. 
 
 "See here, my man, you don't know what you're 
 talking about," said Stacey kindly ; " move on 
 let us pass." 
 
 " Sha'n't do any such thing," said the drunken 
 man. "I'm a gen'leman ; you're a -a. Lord 
 knows what I'm an English gen'leman, coat of 
 arms and all that good family born to influ- 
 ence unfortunate able to sell pictures for 
 thousands she's a lady banker's daughter 
 came to us in mishfortune beautiful girl likes 
 me, likes my wife an' Sebastian Junior jest you 
 let go of her." 
 
 " O Mr. Bassett ! " said Molly, in a pleading 
 voice, " let us alone. I have placed myself under 
 this gentleman's protection. If you had not been 
 drinking you would know better." 
 
 " Angel of my life," said Sebastian, his hand 
 over his heart, " adorable Miss Stanley, I shall be
 
 2O6 CAPTAIN MOLLY 
 
 obliged to give this common person a lesson 
 I"- 
 
 Before he could go farther, Stacey sent him 
 reeling, with one blow, headlong into the gutter. 
 
 " I couldn't help it," he said passionately ; " the 
 drunken, insolent hound, to talk to a lady in that 
 way ! Now, if you please, we'll hurry a little, and 
 I'll come back and see what I can do for the man. 
 What if you had been alone ? I'm not fearful that 
 he is very badly done for, you know a drunken 
 man seldom gets hurt ; but if any bones are 
 broken, I know how to set them." 
 
 Molly quickened her steps. To tell the truth, 
 she was a little frightened, having never seen the 
 man in this mood before. 
 
 What if he should go home in the same condi- 
 tion ? Poor little Reine and the baby Sebastian 
 were wholly unprotected and oh, the misery of 
 it ! they were housed in a cellar, while there was 
 the magic of money just let into their lives, and 
 they unconscious of the fact. 
 
 Stacey's action, though for the moment it star- 
 tled her, yet excited her admiration. How quickly 
 it was done, and for her protection ! She scarcely 
 knew him, yet in the brief time of their acquain- 
 tance he had exhibited all the qualities that in 
 her eyes made a man admirable. He was brave, 
 studious, outspoken, and musical. No doubt he 
 could write logically, express himself in verse, and 
 most assuredly he played the violin to perfection.
 
 AN UNWELCOME FOLLOWER 2O/ 
 
 She had never, she thought, heard a better ama- 
 teur performer. Even Stacey, who, she knew, had 
 possessed excellent talent for music, did not play 
 as well as this humble mechanic. 
 
 By this time they were at the house. Molly 
 ran up-stairs, and Stacey hurried back to the scene 
 of the disaster. No one was there. Whether the 
 man had picked himself up, and gone home, so- 
 bered a little by the encounter, or whether the 
 police ambulance had conveyed him to the hos- 
 pital, he had no means of knowing.
 
 2O8 CAPTAIN MOLLY 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII 
 
 A SWEET OLD SONG 
 Clear as a bell, the sweet tones rose. 
 
 NAN GARTIA was making rapid improvement 
 in her studies. The professor was in ecstasy. 
 " Great heavens ! She causes in me a rapture I 
 cannot control. It's in the blood," he said. " The 
 men were all musicians, and the mantle has fallen 
 on her. My millionaire pupils are not worth a rap 
 in comparison with this little pauper. She out- 
 weighs them all. I shall make her queen of the 
 violin." 
 
 The lessons went on swimmingly. Little Nan, 
 with more intelligent feeding, grew strong, rosy, 
 and, in more than one sense, beautiful. The prac- 
 tice on the roof she called her out-door concerts, 
 and enjoyed them with the aid of an old music- 
 stand the professor had given her, and one patched 
 and broken chair from their room underneath. 
 
 The foot passengers below often heard the 
 sweet strains that, caught by the upper air, were 
 wafted down into the crowded streets like melo- 
 dies from heaven, and wondered where the unseen 
 musician could be. No eye saw the child perched
 
 A SWEET OLD SONG 
 
 up in her wind-palace, the blue dome of the sky 
 above, the southern hilltops in the distance, play- 
 ing away for dear life in front of the great square 
 chimney, against which she had posted herself and 
 her music. 
 
 "Captain Molly will like this," or "Captain 
 Molly wants me to do that " all was done for love 
 of Captain Molly. The child played her small 
 duets with Mr. John, as she called him. They 
 were getting on famously, the three, Molly, 
 Stacey, and the child. Sometimes they all met in 
 Captain Molly's room. She was really a captain 
 now, having earned her brevet by good work ; and 
 though she did not crave the title, she felt that it 
 gave her an additional influence among the people 
 she sought to help. 
 
 It was getting near winter, and the evenings 
 were long. After the day's duties, it was the usual 
 habit to meet in Captain Molly's room for prac- 
 tice. 
 
 What charming rehearsals they were ! Molly at 
 the piano, Nan on one side, Stacey on the other. 
 
 With sweet, flushed face Captain Molly would 
 demonstrate some particular movement, or call 
 Stacey's attention to something forgotten, pur- 
 posely forgotten, alas ! and Nan would watch to 
 catch the slightest inspiration from face and fin- 
 gers. Now and then Mrs. McKisseth sat in an 
 armchair by the fire, knitting and listening. And 
 yet, though Harry hinted, and Stacey hoped, Molly
 
 2IO CAPTAIN MOLLY 
 
 did not realize that she was slowly and surely drift- 
 ing into that passion which idealizes all life. It 
 was a rapturous repose after the hard duties of the 
 day, once or twice in a week to meet thus to- 
 gether, to compare notes, keep up practice, and 
 look into the luminous eyes whose brightness the 
 blue spectacles did not altogether hide. 
 
 Stacey, after long and decent opposition, had 
 grounded arms, and laid down the weapons of his 
 warfare. There was a fascination in the method 
 used to convince him that he could not resist 
 there was a more subtle fascination in the gentle 
 witcheries of Captain Molly. Besides that, his 
 deeper nature was roused to the needs of the 
 human beings around him. He had never been 
 brought face to face with poverty before. Crump 
 the tailor was an enigma to him ; and his out- 
 spoken dislike to the "Damnation Army," as the 
 little tailor persisted in calling it, amused more 
 than it revolted him. He saw how, for love of the 
 child, the crooked mind of the tailor relaxed its 
 rigidity, and let the girl Mandy go her way in 
 peace. He saw what he had never even suspected, 
 that the poor were kinder to each other, their 
 love ran in broader, deeper channels, their sympa- 
 thies were quicker, than in the more advanced 
 class of which he was an exponent. 
 
 It was a constant wonder to him that the mem- 
 bers of the Army were so indefatigable in their 
 efforts to raise the fallen and rescue the perish-
 
 A SWEET OLD SONG 211 
 
 ing. What but a pure and exalted emotion carried 
 those delicate women into dens foul with disease, 
 sent them on their knees to clean the kennels of 
 vice, and gave them patience to teach where sel- 
 dom gratitude repaid ? There must be some great 
 underlying, upholding motive. 
 
 And so he surrendered ; not as he had expected 
 to do, for the sake of gaining the heart of the fair 
 captain only, but because he was convinced of 
 their purity, self-denial, and power. 
 
 To confess himself vanquished, and to ask for 
 help in his search after light, was to make large 
 inroads into Captain Molly's heart. She called 
 him a dear friend, almost a brother a very help- 
 ful brother, to whom she felt it not unseemly to 
 go for advice. She never thought of the future, 
 so had she accustomed herself to believe that her 
 life had been given her to consecrate to the work 
 of reform. That he should give his also for the 
 same object was natural to suppose ; and so why 
 might they not go on, working side by side for 
 the regeneration of the world ? 
 
 Ensign Harry had her own little notions on the 
 subject. She watched and smiled, and then 
 watched, often with a saddened and perplexed 
 face, as she whispered to her own heart, " They 
 love each other. What will be the outcome ? 
 Probably entire alienation from her family and 
 he a poor man ! " 
 
 As for Stacey, he could sing :
 
 212 CAPTAIN MOLLY 
 
 " Ceremony was devised at first, 
 To set a gloss on faint deed hollow welcomes, 
 Recanting goodness, sorry ere 'tis shown ; 
 But where there is true friendship, there needs none." 
 
 The flavor of Bohemia attracts most men, the 
 Bohemia of heartily human, happy-go-lucky beings, 
 with as distinctive an air of exclusiveness as be- 
 longs to those who call themselves better than 
 their fellows ; and this was partly what attracted 
 Stacey, whose one only and definite aim had been 
 to steal the love of the woman who had so ruth- 
 lessly cast him aside. 
 
 " Wouldn't you like to hear me recite or sing 
 one of these times ? " asked Mrs. McKisseth one 
 night, when the elements were at war, and Molly 
 and Stacey were making out the programme for 
 the next musicale. 
 
 " You ! " and Captain Molly glowed as she 
 smiled in the apple-like face of the shrewd old 
 woman. " Why, Mrs. McKisseth, I cannot tell 
 you what a treat it would be." 
 
 " If ye'll hear an ould Irish song, an* ye'll none 
 o' ye make faces at an ould woman's singing, ye 
 may put me down," said Mrs. McKisseth, her 
 eyes twinkling. " 'Twas wrote for meself by a 
 rare Irishman, who knew jest how to touch the 
 heart-beats of sorrow, an' turn 'em into po'try," 
 was her rejoinder. 
 
 " Sing it, granny," pleaded Nan. " Sing it for 
 them now as you sing it to me."
 
 A SWEET OLD SONG 213 
 
 " Git away wid ye, mavourneen," the little Irish- 
 woman said, with a shake of the head. 
 
 "Yes, sing it, granny, then we can tell how 
 it will sound when the company is here," said 
 Captain Molly. 
 
 " Give me a drink of wather then, to clear the 
 ould pipes," was the laughing answer. And then 
 she sang in a sweet, firm voice, that as Ensign 
 Harry afterwards said fairly made her hair rise, it 
 was so young and musical, what she called : 
 
 AN IRISH LAMENT. 
 
 But oh, the dear, dead face, 
 
 Wi' its olden laughin' light, 
 There's nothing sure like drames 
 
 To cheat us in the seemin'. 
 And it's what ! shall I be sorry 
 
 For the vision of the night? 
 Or glad we two did meet 
 
 In the misty land o' dreamin'? 
 
 And och ! his dear, sweet face ! 
 
 Wid the glad smile upon it, 
 Which once could light the hearth 
 
 When the coals was dead and dhry. 
 If there's anywheres a home 
 
 Wid the saints, my Jamie's won it; 
 But I am left a stranded weed, 
 
 Atwixt the earth and sky. 
 
 The day, I long to have it gone, 
 
 The night, I wist it past, 
 I'm all in ruins since the hour 
 
 I dressed his death-cold clay.
 
 214 CAPTAIN MOLLY 
 
 Would I let another touch the boy, 
 
 Whose curls my hand cut last? 
 I loved to black the very shoon 
 
 He wore from day to day. 
 
 No, there was nothin' menial 
 
 In what I did for Jamie, 
 I'd give my eyes to plase him 
 
 To make him smart and fine. 
 I loved to tie his kerchief on, 
 
 The merry whistling laddie, 
 And get a chuck aneath the chin, 
 
 An' his two lips on mine. 
 
 I'm aye the sorrowfulest wife, 
 
 I won't say widdy no; 
 Though rains have wept and suns have smiled, 
 
 And lads have spoke me sweet. 
 It's by mesilf I'll toil in tears, 
 
 Mesilf, I'll sow and gather, 
 I'll just drift through the lonesome years, 
 
 'Til my dear lad I meet. 
 
 "Why, it's just a musical wonder," said Captain 
 Molly, catching at the withered hand. "What a 
 singer you must have been once ! " 
 
 " Ay they said my voice could be heard 
 from Glenairn to East Wynd on a clear day," she 
 said joyously. "Jamie and me sang in the mass 
 in the great cathedral, and many a stranger's 
 come across the river to hear us. Yes, I was glai 
 at singing in my younger days ; but when Jamie 
 died, I lost the care for it, though not the love. 
 If I'd had a chick of my own, she should have 
 played like Nan here ; but I never did." She went
 
 A SWEET OLD SONG 215 
 
 on knitting, shaking her pretty gray, white-capped 
 head. 
 
 "But who wrote the poem ? " asked Stacey. 
 
 " Oh, 'twas a tall lad got crossed in love, and 
 he wore black hair down to his shoulthers. They 
 say he never slept in a house after that, but went 
 wandering round, writin' verses for folk, and sing- 
 ing beautiful himself. He was a North of Ireland 
 man, a nephew of the priest, and his eyes wor 
 that keen that they'd make you shiver to look at. 
 The girl that jilted him married a lord, but she 
 only lived a year. Folks said it was a sorrow on 
 her because she'd turned away from the man she 
 loved for the r'ason that he was poor. Lord bless 
 you, I'd lived wid my Jamie in a mud-cabin widout 
 a floor ; that was me ! " 
 
 Through some unknown occult influence the 
 .eyes of Captain Molly met those of Stacey. 
 What was it that sent the quick blood flushing 
 along her cheek who could tell ? 
 
 " It's very curious," thought she, with a little 
 shudder, " curious and foolish too ! I like him 
 well enough, but love nonsense ! "
 
 2l6 CAPTAIN MOLLY 
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII 
 
 THE LOST CHILD 
 O ! such a cry wrung from a mother's heart. 
 
 THERE was a clatter of footsteps on the stairs, 
 a cry, a succession of cries, sharp, distinct, appall- 
 ing. Ensign Harry sprang to her feet ; Stacey 
 took a step or two forward ; Molly turned pale, for 
 she knew the voice. 
 
 Ensign Harry opened the door with fear and 
 trembling. There stood Reine, her face distorted, 
 her eyes swollen with weeping, her garments 
 saturated with water. 
 
 " What is it ? What has happened, Reine ? " 
 asked Molly, rushing towards her. 
 
 " Oh, my God ! the baby ! " cried the woman. 
 "I ran out after him. The rain is pouring, the 
 wind is blowing and my darling has only his 
 nightgown on. Sebastian was never this way be- 
 fore. Always he is quiet and pleasant, you know, 
 Miss Stanley but to-night, furious. What could 
 I do ? I was afraid for my life. He said the dev- 
 ils were after him. Then he saw baby asleep in 
 his little new wicker cradle. He snatched him up
 
 THE LOST CHILD 2 \"J 
 
 and ran out into the storm. Oh, it does storm 
 so ! My baby ! My baby ! " 
 
 " This is terrible ! " said Captain Molly. " What 
 fiend could have possessed him ? What will he 
 do with that dear child ? " 
 
 " Which way did he go ? " asked Stacey. 
 
 "Down the street, across the square. I fol- 
 lowed him till all at once I lost sight of him. I 
 went hither and thither. Nobody had seen him. 
 You see how dripping wet I am. Oh, but what 
 will he do with my boy, my beautiful boy ? " and 
 she stood there wringing her hands. " I dare not 
 go out ; I dare not go down-stairs. I am almost 
 crazy." 
 
 Stacey, who had left the room, now came down, 
 lantern in hand, accoutred for the storm. He 
 made Reine give him, in as concise form as pos- 
 sible, the direction taken by the maniac ; for that 
 he undoubtedly was, an utterly irresponsible 
 man for the time being. He went out, while the 
 women found dry garments, and noted how like a 
 child poor little Reine looked as she stood in her 
 distress by the fire, robing herself. 
 
 " I couldn't go any farther," she sobbed ; " my 
 strength gave out. I'm all of a tremble now; I 
 feel as if I should die. O my precious baby ! 
 And there's no knowing if I shall ever see him 
 again, or Sebastian either." 
 
 Now it was that Granny McKisseth came to 
 the rescue with words of comfort, and took the
 
 2l8 CAPTAIN MOLLY 
 
 weeping creature in her arms as if she had been 
 her own child, crooning her soft Irish lullaby with 
 the poor little head on her bosom. 
 
 An hour passed and then another. The 
 women waited, while Reine, having fallen asleep 
 from exhaustion, breathed heavily. 
 
 At last Stacey returned. 
 
 Reine still slept. 
 
 Sebastian, the father, had been found, but no 
 trace yet of the child ! 
 
 Molly clasped her hands in mute agony. What 
 news for the poor mother ! 
 
 " We traced him down to the river," said 
 Stacey in low tones, while the fire-flames brought 
 into strong relief every emotion pictured on the 
 white faces turned towards him. 
 
 " And do you think " Molly began with 
 trembling lips, but could get no farther. 
 
 " I have men out on the search. I don't know 
 what to think. It is so stormy nothing further 
 can be done till to-morrow. Then I will advertise 
 set the whole police-force at work employ 
 private detectives." 
 
 " You know there is money in plenty," said 
 Molly. 
 
 "Yes, I know." 
 
 They had not yet broken the news of Sebas- 
 tian's good fortune to him or to his wife. The 
 man had been in no condition to understand it for 
 weeks ; Reine had all the money she needed, and
 
 THE LOST CHILD 
 
 as usual Sebastian had taken his meagre earnings 
 for drink, or coaxed his wife to supply him. Mat- 
 ters were in progress to provide them with a 
 better home, as Reine would not leave him ; and 
 the two rooms had been furnished on the second 
 floor, where they might live in comfort till the 
 madman either reformed or died. For his habits 
 were telling on Sebastian's magnificent frame and 
 originally strong constitution. Instead of yield- 
 ing to his inclination once a week, he came home 
 daily in a besotted condition. 
 
 " Where is Sebastian ? " asked Molly. 
 
 " In his room. I put him immediately under the 
 action of sedatives, and that, added to his great 
 fatigue, sent him to sleep. How long that may 
 continue I cannot tell. He is evidently on the 
 eve of a bad delirium. If his wife can be kept 
 here, I will undertake to care for him." 
 
 Every preparation was made for the night. 
 Reine was wakened ; but it was evident that her 
 grief and exposure had induced fever, for she 
 talked incoherently, and appeared oblivious to all 
 her surroundings. 
 
 Stacey made the man his charge, and shared 
 with Molly the care of poor little Reine, who for 
 days lay unconscious, and wakened at last to a 
 feeble sense of her misery. 
 
 Meantime, the child was not heard of, though 
 every means had been employed to find him. 
 
 "We shall never see him again," said Molly.
 
 22O CAPTAIN MOLLY 
 
 " He was probably thrown into the river." And so 
 the disappearance of the child remained shrouded 
 in mystery. 
 
 Day and night, night and day, Stacey fought 
 the fiend in Sebastian, till reason conquered, and 
 the man slept and talked naturally once more. It 
 had been a case of great interest to Stacey from 
 a professional point of view, for then he first real- 
 ized what were the duties, cares, pleasures, anxie- 
 ties, of the profession ; and he became so absorbed 
 that he scarcely gave himself time for rest or 
 refreshment. Many times he despaired. Often 
 it required all his great personal strength to keep 
 the patient within bounds ; and his joy was extreme 
 when at last he saw the devils he had been fight- 
 ing take their departure, leaving the man a help- 
 less white hulk lying before him, conscious at last, 
 though weaker than a child. It was better worth 
 living for, more exciting, than any season he had 
 ever spent among the votaries of wealth and fash- 
 ion ; and he blessed Molly in his heart of hearts, 
 feeling that it was to her he owed the luxury of 
 knowing that he could be of some use to his fel- 
 low men. 
 
 While Reine was not yet out of danger, Sebas- 
 tian opened his eyes one morning, looked around, 
 saw a strange face regarding him, and closed his 
 eyes again with a movement of annoyance. 
 
 "You're all right now," said Stacey, going 
 towards the bed. " It was a hard pull, though."
 
 THE LOST CHILD 221 
 
 "What's been the matter?" the man asked sul- 
 lenly, shrugging his shoulders. 
 
 "Drunkenness," was the answer. 
 
 " What ! " and Sebastian looked up wildly. 
 
 "The usual results of whiskey drinking," was 
 Stacey's reply ; " the brain congested, the liver 
 inflamed, the stomach ulcerated, and all the devils 
 in hell after you in full force." 
 
 " In other words ? " muttered the man intelli- 
 gently. 
 
 " In other words, a drunken madness, delirium 
 tremens, mania potn, call it by either name." 
 
 " Damnation ! " was the response. 
 
 " That's it exactly ; as you would have found to 
 your sorrow if you had gone drunk into another 
 existence." 
 
 " Why didn't you let me ? I'm not worth sav- 
 ing." 
 
 "Hardly," was the cool reply; "but your wife 
 seemed concerned about you. My motto for 
 drunkards is, the sooner they die off, the better." 
 
 " Ain't you a cool kind of devil ? I think I've 
 seen you before," said Sebastian. 
 
 " One has to be cool when dealing with such 
 fellows as you," was the answer. " Yes, you have 
 seen me before, on several occasions. I am what 
 you might call a humanitarian." 
 
 " Where's my wife ? " was the next question. 
 
 " Sick of typhoid fever, up-stairs in Captain 
 Molly's room."
 
 222 CAPTAIN MOLLY 
 
 " Good God ! typhoid fever ! Is she going to 
 die ? " 
 
 " I hope so," was the cool response. 
 
 " What kind of a devil are you ? " 
 
 " A devil with a better conscience than you 
 have." 
 
 " Why do you hope that ? " 
 
 "I don't really see what she has to live for," 
 was the reply. " You can't have the vanity to sup- 
 pose that she cares to live on your account." 
 
 The man's countenance fell. "No;" and he 
 shook his head with a sigh. "Poor Reine ! but 
 the baby ! She might want to live for little Se- 
 bastian. Where is he ? " 
 
 " I don't know." 
 
 " Some of the women have got him, of course." 
 
 " I don't know," Stacey repeated gravely. He 
 was considering what course he should pursue. 
 
 " The boy isn't dead, is he ? " and now ensued 
 the first symptoms of real feeling that the man had 
 yet exhibited. 
 
 " I don't know." 
 
 " To hell with your ' don't knows.' Where is 
 my boy ? " 
 
 " I tell you again I don't know," said Stacey. 
 " If anybody does, you ought to." 
 
 The man looked at him with wild, widening 
 eyes. 
 
 "I I left him with his mother," was the re- 
 ply.
 
 THE LOST CHILD 223 
 
 " Look here, my friend, you are sober now. As 
 a humanitarian, I brought you through one of the 
 worst cases of alcoholic frenzy that I ever heard 
 or read of. As a humanitarian, perhaps I should 
 have let you die for the good of the survivors. 
 You came home drunk, raving, exactly ten days 
 ago. It was a wild, stormy night. The fiends 
 had full possession of you. You snatched your 
 boy, little Sebastian, sleeping soundly in his cradle, 
 and rushed out into the storm the act of a mad- 
 man. Your wife followed you for some time, but 
 finally lost sight of you. From that hour to this 
 little Sebastian has not been seen, nor can we 
 hear any news of him. What you did with him 
 God only knows, and may He have mercy on your 
 soul." 
 
 The effect of the speech was startling. Grasp- 
 ing the bedclothes in both hands, the man lifted 
 himself, haggardly handsome yet, then joined his 
 hands above his head with a frightful imprecation. 
 
 " God of heaven ! did I do that, or are you tor- 
 menting me ? " he shrieked. 
 
 "Heaven forbid that I should torment you. I 
 leave your whiskey-drowned conscience to do that. 
 You love whiskey better than your wife, your child, 
 your God." 
 
 " No, no ! don't say that ! There is nothing in 
 heaven or on earth that I love as I love little Se- 
 bastian ; " and the bed shook with his heavy sobs. 
 
 " If you had been a sober man, you might to-
 
 224 CAPTAIN MOLLY 
 
 day have rejoiced in your child. But as a drunken 
 father, no one knows what you have done with 
 him thrown him into the river perhaps." 
 
 " No, no, no ! " and the man put out his hands, 
 agony in every supplicating movement. "O my 
 boy, my boy ! My beautiful, cherubic, angelic 
 child! Give him back to me, O great God, and 
 I swear to you I will never touch a drop again as 
 long as I live ! " His powerful frame shook in 
 anguish. 
 
 "Oh, you have promised that a thousand times," 
 said Stacey. " Think for a minute search your 
 memory. Where did you go with him ? " 
 
 " With him ! Sebastian ! my baby ! out in the 
 cold and rain and storm ! as God lives, I don't re- 
 member that I touched him. I did not ! You are 
 lying to me trying to frighten me into sobriety. 
 Oh, thank you for it thank you for it ! Only say 
 you are trying to frighten me ! " 
 
 " I wish I could," said Stacey, with an air of 
 such sincerity that Sebastian trembled from head 
 to foot. His strength was gone, and he fell back 
 more dead than alive. 
 
 " Are you still trying " he whispered, 
 "to find him?" 
 
 "Yes ; we are still trying trying to hope. It 
 is so long since." 
 
 " I took my baby out into the storm ! Ten 
 thousand devils ! If ever I touch another drop of 
 the infernal stuff may God consign my soul to
 
 THE LOST CHILD 225 
 
 eternal damnation. Give me a Bible. There's 
 a Bible somewhere, a poor torn old Bible. Reine 
 used to read it, poor little soul ! Yes, that's it ; 
 thank you. Open it where the name of God is. I 
 believe in God. Do you ? Put my finger on the 
 very word. I'm too weak. Yes, now I swear, 
 with my finger on the name of God Almighty, that 
 I hope to be consigned to the very devils that 
 have been tormenting me, if ever I touch a drop 
 of fermented spirits again, so help me God ! " 
 
 There was silence but in the distance came 
 the mingled sound of flutes and castanets. On 
 they came, the music growing louder on to Se- 
 bastian's door, when they broke into song : 
 
 " Help for the perishing, 
 
 Rescue or death ! 
 Help for the perishing, 
 
 So my Lord saith. 
 Up with your banners, 
 
 Swords lifted bright, 
 Save fallen souls for heaven, 
 
 God, and the right! " 
 
 From the eyes of both men the hot tears were 
 welling in one tears of sympathy, in the other 
 tears of repentance. Stacey almost broke down, 
 when Sebastian said, struggling for composure, 
 
 "The boy loved it so ! My God ! he would stop 
 breathing to listen and his eyes " a great 
 convulsive sob closed the sentence.
 
 226 CAPTAIN MOLLY 
 
 CHAPTER XXIX 
 CAPTAIN MOLLY'S ANSWER 
 
 You witching thing with eyes like stars! 
 
 IN Stacey's mind there was hope for Sebastian. 
 The loss of his child, his anguish at having been 
 the probable murderer of the thing he loved best 
 in life, changed the whole aspect of the man, body 
 and soul. He said very little, but sat brooding 
 over the past, and it was difficult to attract his 
 attention. He seemed to shrink from the thought 
 of seeing Reine, and would walk the floor of the 
 rooms to which his furniture had been transferred, 
 his moody eyes on the floor, and muttering often 
 the words, " Too late ! too late ! " 
 
 Stacey had undertaken to convey to him the 
 news of his altered fortune ; but the man listened 
 with an apathetic stare, and only muttered, " Too 
 late ! too late ! " 
 
 He seemed, indeed, to take no further interest 
 in life ; and it was pitiful to see him sitting plunged 
 in thought, scarcely moving for hours. 
 
 Captain Molly had caused him to be provided 
 with all the implements of his profession, but in 
 vain she coaxed and labored. He took the brush,
 
 CAPTAIN MOLLY S ANSWER 227 
 
 but no inspiration followed. His heart seemed 
 dead within him. 
 
 After a time Reine left her sick-room, and her 
 forgiving and pitying nature yearned toward him. 
 As soon as she could be moved, she also was domi- 
 ciled in her new quarters, and set her poor wits to 
 work to try and comfort him. 
 
 The cradle had been taken away. Molly put 
 aside the pretty clothes that had belonged to the 
 little child, and silenced gossip as best she could. 
 
 One heavenly day Stacey asked Molly to go 
 with him on a mission of mercy. 
 
 " You have been so long housed up that it will 
 do you good to take the fresh air," he said. " A 
 friend of mine has given me the use of his horses 
 and carriage. The drive is rather a long one ; but 
 we shall be home early in the evening, and there 
 will be a full moon." 
 
 It did not take much to persuade her, and Molly 
 hastened to prepare for the drive. 
 
 Stacey had hoped a great deal from this occa- 
 sion. He was relatively sure that he and Molly 
 understood each other now, and quite sure that he 
 was not deceiving her. In many things vital to 
 his spiritual life he knew himself to be a changed 
 man. The novelty of the situation had worn off, 
 but not its interest. As to taking her from her 
 work, he was not eager to do that, at least, so he 
 tried to persuade himself ; but he wanted her he 
 wanted her to be his for time and for eternity.
 
 CAPTAIN MOLLY 
 
 The drive was a long one, twenty miles at the 
 least, but the horses were strong and handsome ; 
 in fact, Molly, sitting languidly back on the deli- 
 cately upholstered cushions, wondered what friend 
 would trust such a team out of his own hands. 
 On they bowled, till they reached a lonely farm- 
 house that stood far back from the road, the long- 
 neglected driveway showing a brown and yellow 
 tangle of last year's weeds, the windows, doors, 
 and steps of the mansion indicating little usage 
 and no care. A white sun simmered along the 
 much-rutted country road. The fields in the dis- 
 tance looked yellow and parched, as if thirsting 
 for rain. 
 
 The house itself was an imposing structure, but 
 had long since lost the glory of its original sur- 
 roundings. It had been the product of riches ; it 
 was now the abode of penury. 
 
 Here had lived a man whom the Salvation 
 Army had taken up and reformed, but who, lapsed 
 from the grace that had helped and cared for him, 
 had fallen into temptation, and was at the present 
 time serving out his term in State Prison. The 
 wife had appealed to her husband's old comrades 
 for help in some matter pertaining to her hus- 
 band's situation ; and Stacey had volunteered to go 
 and inquire into the matter, hoping thus to secure 
 a long and uninterrupted tlte-d-tete with Captain 
 Molly. 
 
 Molly, however, had been on her guard during
 
 CAPTAIN MOLLY S ANSWER 22Q 
 
 the drive. She did not attempt to deny to nerself 
 that it was a delight unparalleled to be at his side; 
 to smile at his attempts to aid her as she en- 
 tered the carriage he elected to appear clumsy ; 
 to look into his eyes, all the time conscious of 
 a desire to pull those horrible glasses off ; to watch 
 the quick, nervous expression of his lips and his 
 fingers ; but she would never allow him to take 
 the lead in conversation, for fear of what ? 
 
 Ah ! that she would not even whisper to her- 
 self. After the core of the story, if story it was, 
 had been reached, she held him to it with ques- 
 tions and exclamations and snatches of delightful 
 sentiment regarding the scenery, or perhaps some 
 reminiscence of yesterday's experience among her 
 poor people. 
 
 If she had known the depth of her self-deceiv- 
 ing this soft -eyed, pure-minded maiden ; if she 
 had dreamed that Stacey led her fancy at his will, 
 not yet being willing to risk a declaration ; if she 
 could have seen that he saw through the transpar- 
 ency of her guile, how her indignation would have 
 flamed forth ! 
 
 There was but one question that troubled him. 
 If he should win her in this guise, how was he to 
 explain ? how change his manners and his life ? 
 This thing puzzled him till they drew up at the 
 gate of the queer old mansion. 
 
 "It's an old-timey place," she said; "looks 
 quaint and ghostlike ! "
 
 230 CAPTAIN MOLLY 
 
 " Will you sit here, or go in?" he asked. "The 
 horses are perfectly safe." 
 
 He knew them well ; they were his own, a re- 
 cent purchase. 
 
 " Oh ! I'll get out. I'm very fond of old houses. 
 I am sure this one has a history," she said. "I 
 like to find the heart of things if there is any 
 heart to find. I'm afraid, though, it is as dismal 
 within as without." 
 
 It was dismal. 
 
 A yellow dog, with a dirty, crumpled blue ribbon 
 tied round his neck, ran snarling and snivelling 
 to the door. He was followed by a white-capped, 
 frowsy-headed woman, slovenly from her head to 
 her heels. Captain Molly went in slowly, linger- 
 ingly. There were at least fresh air and sunshine 
 outside ; while the mingled odors of cabbage and 
 kerosene oil saluted her delicate nostrils as she 
 entered strong reminder of the slums. 
 
 A wide door led into the desolate room called 
 by courtesy the parlor. But before she went in, 
 Molly's eyes travelled in the opposite direction, 
 where she saw a wide-eyed baby seated on the 
 floor, a dirty white kitten in his grasp. 
 
 A wild cry of delight, and with one bound she 
 had reached the child. 
 
 " O my dear friend ! " she gasped, " we have 
 found Sebastian ! little Sebastian ! No other child 
 could look like him ! Oh, the goodness of the dear 
 Lord ! Come here, you beauty of beauties ! How
 
 CAPTAIN MOLLYS ANSWER 23! 
 
 did he get in this far-off place ? Tell me, madam, 
 what fairy brought him ? O madam, he cannot 
 be your child or any one belonging to you ! 
 See, he knows me ! he remembers me ! " 
 
 The little fellow was clinging to her now, his 
 beautiful eyes laughing as of old, full-throated, 
 chin-dimpled, with the white and the rose-leaf 
 blending on his cheek the heavenly face had suf- 
 fered no diminution of loveliness. No trouble 
 seemed to have dimmed the lustre of his smile, as 
 she lifted him in her arms. 
 
 " Why, no, miss, that's none o' mine, miss ; but 
 I've been caring for him, though really I hadn't 
 enough to care for myself," was the quick but 
 somewhat subdued reply. 
 
 " But how came he here? Quick, I am longing 
 to know. His father and his mother, poor souls, 
 are dying by inches. Nobody dreamed he was 
 still alive." 
 
 " La, ma'm, it's quite a story ; " and the woman 
 fumbled at her cap-strings. " Well, you see, Jacob, 
 that's my son, went into the city one day with a 
 load of potatoes. I says, says I, 'Jacob, take the 
 covered wagon, and go down to Cousin Lizabeth's, 
 an' git my feather bed my mother left me.' You 
 see, I'd lended it to her, an' she'd writ that she 
 didn't want it no longer. 
 
 " So Jacob, he'd sold all the potatoes, we keep 
 'em in sand, and they're right good for late ones, 
 'n' got the feather bed. By that time, ther'd a
 
 232 CAPTAIN MOLLY 
 
 storm come up. Jacob sayd it rained awful, V he 
 got wet through. So he stopped in a barroom to 
 git some bitters, jest as his father used to, an' 
 stayed later than he thought. Anyway, he didn't 
 git home till twelve o'clock at night, an' me a- 
 waitin' an' a-waitin'. 
 
 "When he drives into the yard, bless you, a 
 child begins to cry. It wasn't rainin' then, 'n' I 
 stood on the porch with a candle. He said he 
 guessed the wagon was bewitched an' come to 
 look, there were this baby ! Well, you might 'a' 
 knocked me down with a straw. Nobody can't 
 tell how it came there Jacob couldn't. Some 
 one must 'a' throwed it in when he was drinkin'. 
 
 " Of course it had to be taken in and cared for ; 
 and then it got sick, and I nussed it well, and 
 there's the hull story. I'm glad you've found it ; 
 'cause Jacob can't abide children, and they do 
 cost. I shouldn't wonder if this un'd cost me 
 three dollars a week, or nigh onto it. I ought to 
 have pay for his keep." 
 
 "You shall all you ask; but didn't you know 
 the child had been advertised in the papers ? " 
 
 " Papers ! " the woman exclaimed with a blank 
 look. " No papers never gits here. And we 
 don't have no neighbors likewise to tell us news. 
 It's livin' like heathen we be." 
 
 "But how did you manage to dress him ? " asked 
 Captain Molly, giving the little one another hug. 
 
 " Oh ! I had a lot of Jacob's old clothes he wore
 
 CAPTAIN MOLLY S ANSWER 233 
 
 when he was a baby. They was a little old- 
 fashioned; but they served, and so" 
 
 " Of all things ! " and Captain Molly laughed 
 heartily, raining kisses on the cherub face. " Oh, 
 I'm so glad ! so happy ! Mr. John Hardy, when 
 shall we go home ? And what shall I put round 
 this blessed baby ? To think that his father had 
 sense enough to throw him into a feather bed, 
 instead of into the river ! I shall always respect 
 Sebastian's judgment after this. Yes, I know I 
 am talking the veriest nonsense," she ran on, 
 catching Stacey's smile ; " but if you knew how 
 much I love this blessed baby ! " every 
 word emphasized by a hug that almost sent poor 
 Stacey wild with envy. 
 
 The business, what there was, was speedily ar- 
 ranged. The good-hearted matron insisted on 
 setting before them a pitcher of milk, with bread 
 and honey, of which the two gladly partook. A 
 sort of bonnet was found for baby Sebastian, that 
 had been lying in the dark for twenty years at 
 least ; and a shawl was fished out of an old bureau 
 drawer, in which to wrap him. 
 
 It was not long before the three were on their 
 way home. 
 
 The baby was rather a bond between Molly and 
 Stacey ; for whenever Molly talked to it and cod- 
 dled it, Stacey put his face as close to hers as he 
 dared, to fondle it after his fashion, and do his 
 part of the baby-talk.
 
 234 CAPTAIN MOLLY 
 
 Presently there came out a round, white, glori- 
 ous moon ; but before that the baby was lying, 
 fast asleep, against Molly's bosom, and to Stacey 
 the two looked like some heavenly vision. How 
 should he quiet the human cry in his breast ? 
 Surely the time had come now, if ever. 
 
 Now and then they passed a pretty farmhouse, 
 here and there a cot nestling close to the bosom 
 of mother earth. Far away the green hills stood 
 in silent beauty, like guardians of the hamlet. 
 Across the fields the snake-like fences ran hither 
 and yon, broidered with gold and red from fuzzy 
 bushes and wandering vines. It was all so tran- 
 quil ! and so was this vision at his side. 
 
 His heart grew hungry. He could stand it no 
 longer, this devouring passion, this longing for an 
 answering love. 
 
 " It's no use, Miss Stanley," he said in a deep, 
 manly voice, after a long silence. " I have tried 
 to be discreet, prosaic, fraternal ; but every phase 
 has given me the lie direct. By Heaven, I love 
 you deeply, passionately, for life and death, for 
 earth and for eternity." 
 
 And she, with blended hope and fear, had she 
 looked for this declaration ? 
 
 " Mr. John Hardy you forget " she be- 
 gan formally. 
 
 " Of course I forget I forget every dictate 
 of prudence I forget everything but that I am 
 crazy for love of you you, the first woman I
 
 CAPTAIN MOLLY'S ANSWER 235 
 
 have ever thought of with a prayer," and his voice 
 sounded almost like a sob. " You must give me 
 a little hope," he went on tenderly. 
 
 " But what have I to do with such hope ? You 
 know I am devoted to my work. I cannot leave 
 it. No, no, I cannot ! " 
 
 " I don't ask you to. No, indeed ! I love you 
 so much. Believe me, my love is unselfish. I 
 had hoped that sometimes you gave me a thought 
 not as you think of others." 
 
 She was looking at the baby's face, that seemed 
 unearthly beautiful in the moonlight. It smiled 
 as she looked. She was glad she was sorry 
 she was happy she was frightened at her own 
 thoughts and emotion. 
 
 " You have no word for me ? " he went on, draw- 
 ing his breath hard. 
 
 " Not now," was the almost inarticulate an- 
 swer. 
 
 " But some time some time, my own, you will 
 give me an answer ? You do not dislike me ? " 
 
 She looked up. Her smile was rare and radiant. 
 What more could he ask ? But she spoke, 
 
 " Some time, perhaps if you will be patient." 
 
 " Patient ! Your love is worth waiting for a 
 thousand years ! " he made passionate reply. 
 
 " Oh, not quite so long as that !" she said, laugh- 
 ing softly. 
 
 " Yes ; if only at last in that Golden City you 
 have taught me to believe in, it is given to me,"
 
 236 CAPTAIN MOLLY 
 
 he said. " I will wait with all the patience you 
 can desire, if you will answer me one or two ques- 
 tions : I am not wholly indifferent to you ? " 
 
 " Oh, no, no ! " she said, the red blood deepen- 
 ing the roses of her cheek. 
 
 YOU have never loved another there is 
 no one " - he hesitated. 
 
 "Spare me your questions," she faltered, her 
 pulses leaping with a sudden ecstasy " and be 
 patient."
 
 THE BAPTISM OF FIRE 237 
 
 CHAPTER XXX 
 
 THE BAPTISM OF FIRE 
 
 One living hell of flame. 
 
 JUST here my pen falters and fails. Human 
 love, sorrow, grief, joy, defy description. One 
 might as well attempt to describe how the lily 
 bursts into bloom, or a soul is born into God's 
 eternity. 
 
 I can only say, the awful gloom that encom- 
 passed two souls broke into the sunburst of dawn, 
 and then into the full blue and golden glory of 
 the perfect day. 
 
 When Reine first heard that the child was 
 found, like a scared dove she flew to her hus- 
 band's bosom ; and there he held her until soft, 
 white arms went round his neck, and the sweet 
 voice of his baby wakened his dead heart to the 
 resurrection of a new manhood. 
 
 " O my boy ! " he sobbed from an overflowing 
 heart ; "may God take thee from me forever, if I 
 ever taste the accursed thing again ! " 
 
 Captain Molly then knew what it was to take 
 deep draughts of happiness from the cup of bliss. 
 To see this man, so long bound in chains that
 
 238 CAPTAIN MOLLY 
 
 seemed adamantine, surrender, to feel that some- 
 thing of her influence had been at work in his 
 heart, was full and complete happiness. Every- 
 body in Paradise Flats was hilarious over the 
 coming home of Baby Bassett. There had been 
 much of head-shaking, of whispering in dark 
 places, much of pity, much of gossip ; but now the 
 whole house was jubilant. Through love a man 
 had been saved ; through the sweetest, the holi- 
 est, the divinest human love, that of wife and 
 child. 
 
 Throngs came in to see the wonder that had 
 been wrought ; and the beautiful child, like a prince 
 on his throne, smiled graciously on them all. 
 
 He looked round at the frankincense and myrrh 
 they brought him in the shape of candy cats, nuts, 
 sugar dogs, tin trumpets, and what not, quite un- 
 certain which one to appropriate first. 
 
 The suit of new mourning that the pale-faced 
 little dressmaker up-stairs had nearly finished was 
 bought outright by Molly, and transferred to an- 
 other party. Nan played her last lesson, which mas- 
 ter Sebastian seemed to appreciate more than all 
 the rest. 
 
 But when the Salvation Army came down the 
 street, and stopped to a man to sing 
 
 "Rescue the perishing," 
 
 and after that cheered lustily, three times three, 
 the men swinging their hats and the women their
 
 THE BAPTISM OF FIRE 239 
 
 bonnets, Sebastian the elder, who was holding 
 his boy in his arms to hear the music, gave the 
 child to his mother, and, falling on his knees, 
 with bowed head, wept as only the strong man 
 weeps, terribly, convulsively. 
 
 Now indeed the man began to recognize his 
 own value in the sight of God and man. He had 
 waked up all over ! No more dreams, no more 
 idling. The devils had departed he had found 
 his soul ! 
 
 Banker Stanley listened to the whole history 
 with unabated interest. 
 
 " It will be joyful news to that cousin of his," 
 he said. " By the way, I'll keep an eye on young 
 Sebastian." 
 
 " Yes ; it will be good news indeed, poor soul ! 
 I expect a visit from her soon," Molly said. "I 
 have written her all about it." 
 
 " What will she do, I wonder ? " the banker 
 mused. " I should like to see that woman." 
 
 " She will go straight back to England." 
 
 " And can't we dispose of this little French 
 Reine, in some way ? " he asked, laughing. " Really, 
 there ought to be some kind of poetic justice 
 meted out to this other woman whose life has 
 been spoiled." 
 
 " If you could see little Reine, father, you 
 would not say that, even in jest. Her love and 
 her simple faith in him have been the salvation 
 of her husband. So patient and pretty and in-
 
 24O CAPTAIN MOLLY 
 
 telligent, she deserves the happiness she en- 
 joys." 
 
 "But now he has come to his senses, this man 
 who was well-born and of consequence in his own 
 country, won't he regret that he has married be- 
 neath him ?" 
 
 " Beneath him ! " ejaculated Molly, with a 
 stormy gesture; "she, in her woman's kingdom 
 of love and trust, was immeasurably above him 
 when he married her, and she has never fallen 
 from that height of grace. I believe that now 
 Sebastian loves her, even adores her, for the care, 
 patience, and sweetness with which she has borne 
 his luckless habits. As for his cousin, she dis- 
 claims all intention to marry, and will join a sis- 
 terhood, which, she says, will alone reconcile her 
 to life. I am quite sure that even were poor little 
 Reine to die she would never marry him." 
 
 "Then, it's all right, little woman," said the 
 banker ; " but how about yourself ? " 
 
 " About myself ! why, papa ! what can you 
 mean ? " 
 
 " I mean that the idea of having an old maid on 
 the scutcheon of the Stanleys is utterly odious to 
 me." He shook his head, thrust out his feet, and 
 lay back in his chair, glaring at her. 
 
 " Father ! " and a rich bloom dyed all her face. 
 
 " I repeat it ; it is odious ! Possibly Russell 
 Stacey will soon return. I wish you could make 
 up your mind to encourage the poor fellow."
 
 THE BAPTISM OF FIRE 24! 
 
 " Russell ! " she grew pale again " no, no, 
 don't speak of him to me. You know how I feel, 
 papa. I could never marry him ! " 
 
 " You are emphatic on the pronoun," he said 
 slyly. 
 
 " Not at all at least, I didn't mean to be," 
 said Molly confusedly. 
 
 " Find a handsomer, more gifted, or richer fel- 
 low, if you can." 
 
 " Yes, I know," Molly said hurriedly, rising to 
 go ; " but I'm not thinking of marriage. Mr. 
 Stacey would have to change the whole course of 
 his life but that wouldn't matter I I have 
 no wish to marry." 
 
 "Well, how about your your printer?" 
 
 " My printer ! Papa, you are too bad ! " and 
 now her face was suffused, and she could not hide 
 it. His quick eye detected the truth. 
 
 " Well, whosever printer he is mine, then, 
 we'll say," continued the impassive old man. 
 " Right out of the Salvation Army smart, clever, 
 almost as handsome as Stacey I don't mind say- 
 ing that I'd like to help that fellow. I've taken a 
 tremendous fancy to him. Come now, puss, what 
 do you say ? " 
 
 " I say that you're a horrid tease, and that I 
 hate the very sound of marriage. My mission is 
 marked out for me, and I am determined to live 
 my life in my own fashion." 
 
 " So there now ! " said the banker, still laugh-
 
 242 CAPTAIN MOLLY 
 
 ing, as if he enjoyed her confusion. "All right ; 
 but if you should happen to change your mind 
 why it wouldn't be needful to change your 
 mission, would it ? " 
 
 The winter passed, and the tenants of Paradise 
 Flats still held their own. Sebastian had never 
 touched a drop of liquor since the day his baby 
 was lost. The child grew more and more angeli- 
 cal, and more and more beautiful, if that could be 
 possible. Sebastian was getting up plans for a 
 modest little cottage with a studio, to be built just 
 outside the city. He had been very successful, 
 and had taken part of a studio with a young and 
 aspiring artist down town. His work, at once 
 strong and graceful, was beginning to be popular. 
 Reine, under changed circumstances and plenty of 
 sun and air, had improved in every way. There 
 was no shadow to dim the light of her pretty face 
 now. She seemed fully alive to the exigencies 
 of the hour, and consulted Molly on matters of 
 the toilet and of culture. Molly gave her lessons, 
 pointing out every inelegance of language and 
 of posture, and Reine was an apt pupil. Her 
 pretty gowns, made now of more expensive mate- 
 rial than of yore, set off a figure that no artiste 
 could improve ; and every hour spent with her out- 
 side of her many out-door duties was a pleasure to 
 Molly. Nan shared her leisure and labors as usual. 
 
 The professor had written to Molly in extrava- 
 gant terms of his pupil.
 
 THE BAPTISM OF FIRE 243 
 
 " She needs the Conservatoire, then Berlin," he 
 wrote. " I am going to give the world a prodigy. 
 I am going to stand her up in the Academy to 
 play before thousands and she will do it I 
 have no fear, but only do not let her lack the best 
 of nourishment." 
 
 One night, while the professor mused, and saw 
 in imagination his favorite pupil standing crowned 
 by universal acclamation the idol of the hour, he 
 heard the clang of the fire-bells. 
 
 The evening was still and hot. 
 
 Wondering where the fire could be, he looked out. 
 
 In the eastern part of the city, near the river, 
 a red, angry glow lighted the sky. Now and then 
 showers of live sparks shot up into the lurid at- 
 mosphere. 
 
 " Where is it ? " he cried to a passing watchman. 
 
 "Paradise Flats," was the indifferent reply. 
 
 With a wild ejaculation, the man turned away, 
 deadly pale. The name of his favorite pupil es- 
 caped his lips. Dressing rapidly, he went down- 
 stairs, and out upon the street. The blaze had 
 spread and deepened. In its lurid dyes the city 
 grew red. The great tenement house belched fire 
 from the lower doors and windows. 
 
 It was a grand spectacle ; but the knowledge 
 that human life might be sacrificed lent a lurid 
 horror to the scene. 
 
 Half distracted, shivering with a nervous chill, 
 the professor hardly knew what he did as he
 
 244 CAPTAIN MOLLY 
 
 shouldered his way through the crowd, calling for 
 little Nan. 
 
 " Is it the little girl that plays the fiddle, you 
 mane ? " asked a respectable-looking woman with a 
 baby on her arm. " Well, she came down wid me. 
 I wor in the seventh story, and a death-trap 
 it is, but when we'd got most half-way, on a sud- 
 dent she screamed that she'd forgot the fiddle. 
 ' My fathers ! ' I cried, 'ye won't go back for that 
 dumb thing ! ' But she did, and Cap'n Molly 'n I 
 both entreatin' her. Then Cap'n Molly flew up 
 afther her, an' that was the last I seen of either 
 of 'em. They'll never come out alive, never, an' 
 all for a fiddle ! " 
 
 " I charged her never to part with it," groaned 
 the professor. " And not only I, but the world, is 
 the loser." 
 
 The scene was wild beyond description, and 
 grew every moment more appalling. Engines and 
 men were put to their utmost skill. As fast as 
 the flames were smothered in one place they burst 
 out with furious intensity at some other point. 
 
 Only they had not yet reached the roof. 
 
 Distracted mothers below were seeking their 
 children ; children were crying for their parents ; 
 and the roar of the demon-like flames sounded 
 over all. 
 
 The professor threw up his hands. His face 
 was stony, his glance despairing. Never in all 
 his life had he been so moved.
 
 THE BAPTISM OF FIRE 245 
 
 " There's a child in there yet ! " he cried at last. 
 His voice was like a clarion. 
 
 Then all suddenly, as a vivid lightning-flash 
 startles one with mingled fear and admiration, a 
 sound came that made men shiver and women sob. 
 
 The clear, long-drawn tones of a violin, as ten- 
 der and sweet and vibrant as if played in the calm- 
 ness of a summer morning, or under the spell of 
 a listening, delighted audience. 
 
 As if shocked into new strength, the professor 
 sprang into the surging crowd. 
 
 " It's little Nan ! my pupil ! " he cried. " Some- 
 one try to save her ! " 
 
 Then swelled up a cry from far and near, 
 
 "Look! there they stand, and the child playing 
 for dear life ! " Yes, as the smoke swayed aside, 
 there the two stood. Long and slowly the bow 
 was drawn. But Nan and Captain Molly were 
 looking upward. 
 
 Just then a carriage dashed on the scene. A 
 man sprang out. 
 
 " My fortune to whoever dares to rescue them ! " 
 
 " Mine too !" shouted the professor. 
 
 Clash and click above the roaring flames, the 
 cry of half-frantic firemen, came the sound of the 
 cornet, bugle, and fife. A section of the Salvation 
 Army came on at double-quick. 
 
 " Help for the perishing ! " cried a stentorian 
 voice ; and at the head of the column, lo ! Russell 
 Stacey !
 
 246 CAPTAIN MOLLY 
 
 " Every man here is a hero ! " he cried as he 
 rushed forward, and into the heart of the swaying 
 multitude. "If I fail, I can count upon ten more 
 to follow me. Every man is a hero ! " 
 
 Ladders were fixed in new places under his di- 
 rection, but it seemed certain death to attempt 
 to reach the roof. But Stacey was an athlete of 
 the highest order, had been nearly all his life, 
 had courted danger merely for danger's sake. 
 Now that the girl he loved was the prize, her 
 life the guerdon, what would he not do ? The 
 man absolutely knew no fear, and that was his 
 salvation. He knew nothing save that Molly was 
 on the top of that hell of fire, and he had been 
 sent to her deliverance. 
 
 Still sounded the divine tones of King Solomon, 
 now soft, now loud ; and the child, whenever she 
 could be seen, still held the bow with the vigor 
 of a veteran, still looked up. 
 
 But help was coming. The flames had not yet 
 burst upon the roof, not where they were stand- 
 ing. 
 
 Up, clinging to the pipes, to the sills, to half- 
 burnt scaffolding, where the house had lately been 
 repaired, to anything that gave half a footing, now 
 covered with the smoke as with a shroud, now 
 cheered by the panic-stricken, expectant crowd for 
 some step more secure than the last, anon watched 
 in utter silence at last the top was gained. 
 
 The two, the woman and the girl, did not know
 
 THE BAPTISM OF FIRE 247 
 
 the blackened, smoke-grimed man who had, at the 
 peril of his life, come up such a dangerous height 
 to save them. They had not expected help. They 
 were fully prepared to die. Meantime, the fire- 
 men had not been idle. With the courage and 
 intrepidity which marks them as heroes, they had 
 by another passage come to the assistance of the 
 man who, single-handed and alone, had gained a 
 secure footing. It was like a plunge into death 
 to go or be carried to the roof of the house below 
 but it was safely accomplished. 
 
 " Hide your face on my shoulder," said a hoarse 
 voice, " and trust yourself to me." 
 
 Molly obeyed. 
 
 "Tie the fiddle to you in some way," he said to 
 Nan, "and follow." 
 
 Nan was not afraid. She tied the fiddle to her 
 neck, then, with some assistance, swung herself 
 from the roof, and, in the midst of belching fire 
 and strangling smoke, she reached the roof below, 
 where they were in comparative safety. 
 
 " Now you will get help enough," said Stacey 
 with laboring breath, and sank down unconscious. 
 
 A salvo of shouts went up. Women embraced 
 each other, strong men were moved to tears and 
 sobs. 
 
 Molly and Nan were brought to the ground, 
 burned somewhat, and frightened now at the peril 
 they had encountered with almost superhuman 
 bravery.
 
 248 CAPTAIN MOLLY 
 
 CHAPTER XXXI 
 
 FINIS AND HAPPINESS 
 The Army leads. 
 
 IT seemed almost a miracle that there had not 
 been a holocaust of human beings. Had the fire 
 occurred later, there is no telling how many pre- 
 cious lives might have been sacrificed. 
 
 Little Crump had given the alarm in time, and 
 the man never forgot the experience. He dared 
 not launch his anathemas against the Salvation 
 Army, or call it, as he had been in the habit of 
 doing, the " Damnation " Army. He furled the 
 black flag, and surrendered manfully. Mandy 
 might go to all their meetings, and " Fambly " too. 
 Indeed, he intended to go himself. Mandy might 
 be a captain or a lieutenant, or even an ensign. 
 He had seen those brave fellows stand under the 
 burning walls ready to sacrifice their lives if need 
 be. Their faces, lighted up by a sublime resolve, 
 were as the faces of gods. 
 
 The banker's carriage still stood some little way 
 from the scene of the fire. 
 
 Little Nan was sobbing in Mrs. McKisseth's
 
 FINIS AND HAPPINESS 249 
 
 arms ; and the banker lifted Molly as if she had 
 been a child, and bore her to the carriage. 
 
 " Little Nan too, father," she gasped. 
 
 Little Nan still clung to the old Irish woman ; so 
 he bundled them both in, and took the remaining 
 seat himself. 
 
 He had given orders that Stacey should be 
 carried direct to his own house. 
 
 " You will have to nurse that man," he said 
 brusquely to his daughter. 
 
 " Yes, father," was her meek reply. 
 
 " Do you know who it was ? " 
 
 " No, father." 
 
 " Well, it was your prot^g/, the printer, hang 
 him no, I mean, bless him God bless him ! " 
 and there was a sob in his voice. 
 
 Molly was silent ; but oh, the wild, wild love that 
 leaped up then and there, and that, unlike the 
 flames, was never to be put out again. 
 
 When she saw him his whiskers were burned 
 off. When she saw him his spectacles were laid 
 aside, and his wig gone forever. When she looked 
 into his eyes, she knew whom she had loved, and 
 knelt down and kissed the hand that he held 
 weakly out. 
 
 She saw it all saw that the exquisite had 
 towered into a manhood that no one could ques- 
 tion ; the millionaire had dared to face the prob- 
 lem of poverty ; the egotist had become a helper 
 of his kind,
 
 25O CAPTAIN MOLLY 
 
 " I did it all to gain your love," he whispered; 
 "but in doing it I found a higher life." 
 
 " And I love you for it, dearly, dearly ! " she an- 
 swered back, her voice choked with tears. " How 
 did you dare to try to save me ? " 
 
 "Love," he answered; "just love. I meant to 
 save you, or die with you. Are you glad I am 
 Stacey ? " he asked. 
 
 She hid her face. 
 
 " I think I shall always love two men," she 
 made reply " Russell Stacey and John Hardy." 
 
 There were two weddings not long after. 
 
 At one of them the wealth, beauty, and fashion 
 of the city assisted. 
 
 At the other the members of the Salvation 
 Army had the seats of honor, while Professor 
 Andromo thundered at the organ, as happy in 
 the recovery of his best pupil as if he had been 
 left a fortune of millions. 
 
 Ensign Harry and little Nan were Captain 
 Molly's bridesmaids ; and present, in their best, 
 were the denizens of Paradise Flats. Every one 
 of the inmates received an invitation, bevelled 
 cards, satin paper, and silk-tied envelopes. They 
 never forgot that wedding. The invitations were 
 sacredly kept under Bible-covers, in quaint old 
 pieces of furniture, inside of old books that were 
 seldom opened. 
 
 They were kept for their children and children's 
 children, to show in the years to come what kind
 
 FINIS AND HAPPINESS 
 
 and loving interest had been taken in them by 
 those in the so-called higher walks of life. 
 
 Sebastian built his home, and became a popular 
 artist. He was always a grave, silent man, de- 
 voted to his wife and child, and with a fixed pur- 
 pose some time to cross the ocean and meet his 
 kindred as man to man. 
 
 Russell Stacey and Molly were happy in each 
 other, and in their reminiscences of the past. In 
 private, it was said that her husband called her 
 " Captain ; " but I do not know if that was so. It 
 was certain that Jacko, the cat with the velvety 
 eyes, had always the post of honor in a well- 
 cushioned armchair. 
 
 Both Molly and her husband hold, as the bright- 
 est souvenir of their homes, their certificate of 
 membership in the Salvation Army. At all times 
 and in all ways they help on the grand cause with 
 their money and influence, always ready and will- 
 ing to speak or labor in what they consider the 
 most glorious work of the century, the redemp- 
 tion and upbuilding of mankind. 
 
 THE END.
 
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