Friends I Have Made

“‘Did it never occur to you, madam, that other people have darlings whom they love?’ I exclaimed, unable to control my anger. ‘But there, tell me, what steps have you taken to find out where she went?’

“‘Steps! I take steps? Absurd! My good man, you must be mad.’

“‘I shall be soon,’ I muttered, then aloud —

“‘But you have done something, madam, surely?’

“‘I desired Mr Saint Ray to write to you, and of course you are the proper person to take steps, as you term it,’ said the lady contemptuously.

“‘Tell me when she left and how. Give me some information, I beg of you,’ I exclaimed.

“‘My good man, I cannot touch the subject at all. It is too painful – too dreadful. See Mr Saint Ray. When I think of having harboured so dreadfully shameless a creature, I feel faint – it turns me sick.’

“I dared not speak – I dared not give utterance to the rage still struggling in my breast, for this was only a woman, and such a woman, that I dashed out of the room, and the door banged heavily behind me.

“As I left the room I nearly fell over the footman, who had evidently been listening, and I caught a glimpse of two female heads disappearing at a doorway as I hurried down the stairs.

“‘Here, my man,’ I said, ‘tell me all you know,’ and I thrust my hand once more into my meagrely filled pocket.

“‘Oh, it’s all right, sir, I don’t want paying,’ said the footman hastily. ‘It’s my belief she drove poor Miss Hendrick away with her temper. She’s a wunner,’ he continued in a whisper, ‘reg’lar tiger-cat, and the young ones is reg’lar tiger-kittens – beasts,’ he added, half savagely.

“‘Tell me when she went.’

“‘Well, sir, it was the night afore the night afore last as she went out, and didn’t come back. I’m going, too, and so’s two of the maids.’

“‘Did she take her box?’

“‘Lor’, no, sir, nothing at all; and when she didn’t come back, we down in the servants’ ’all said as she had been driven away, and gone home.’

“‘But,’ I said, and I felt the blood come into my face as I asked the question about my own child, ‘but did she go alone?’

“‘Oh, yes, I think so, sir.’

“‘And,’ – I was choking as I asked the question – ‘what gentlemen came to see her?’

“‘Gentlemen – to see her?’

“‘Yes; your master said so in his letter.’

“‘Why, what a whopper!’ exclaimed the man indignantly. ‘Nobody never came to see her once. Stop! yes, they did.’

“My heart seemed to stand still at his words.

“‘Yes, there was an old gentleman called one afternoon – grey-headed old gentleman – a parson, of course – so there was. It was while I was out with the carriage. Hann let him in, and fetched Miss Hendrick down, and she saw him in the dining-room. I remember Hann told me all about it. To be sure; and that little cat, Miss Celia, kicked up a row because Hann wouldn’t let her go into the dining-room while the gentleman was here, and she said she’d tell her mar. Miss Hendrick ain’t been home, then, sir?’

“‘No, my man, no.’

“‘Then I should go bang to the pleece station, sir. They’d find out.’

“I took the man’s advice, and went to the nearest station, where I saw a sergeant, and stated my case, while he made notes in a book.

“‘Lady young?’ he said.

“‘Twenty.’

“I saw the man tighten his lips.

“‘Pretty?’

“‘Very pretty,’ I said, emphatically.

“The man’s lips tightened still more, and I saw a faint smile as he spoke again.

“‘We’ll do our best, sir, but this is a detective case. I should go to Scotland Yard if I was you. Young ladies will do these sort of things. Gets led away, you know.’

“‘What is it, Thomson?’ said an officer whom I saw to be an inspector; and his coming stopped an indignant exclamation on my lips.

“‘Young lady missing,’ said the sergeant.

“‘What description?’ said the inspector, going to the desk.

“I repeated it hastily, and the inspector turned sharply round to his subordinate and spoke to him in a low tone. He then turned to me.

“‘I’m very sorry, sir,’ he said kindly. ‘Just take a seat. Any relative?’

“‘Daughter,’ I panted; and then I read that in the man’s eyes which made the whitewashed office seem to swim round; a deathly sickness overcame me, and all was blank.

“The next thing I remember is feeling cold water splashing my face, and a kindly voice saying —

“‘Come, come! hold up, sir. It’s not so bad as that. There, drink some of this.’

“I drank some of the water the inspector held to my lips, and two constables who had been supporting me drew back.

“‘I’ve been very ill,’ I stammered, ‘and I am weak; but tell me, pray tell me the worst.’

“‘Well, sir, the worst is that the young lady’s getting better, I hope. That was the last report, if it’s the same. She was knocked down by a van on the fifteenth; concussion of the brain; small bone of arm broken; no means of identification; taken to Saint George’s Hospital; last news, still insensible, but doctors hopeful.’

“This principally read to me from a book which the inspector consulted.

“‘A cab, please, quick!’ I faltered.

“‘Cab directly, Thomson,’ said the inspector. – ‘There, I’ll go with you.’

“That inspector holds a place in my heart amongst those to whom I owe gratitude, for he was very kind. He took me, trembling and agitated, to the hospital, and there, after a short delay, we were taken to a bedside in a small, beautifully clean, and airy ward, where a doctor was sitting by my darling, who lay there very feeble, but with the light of reason beginning to shine once more from her gentle eyes.

“She recognised me, but her voice was quite a whisper, and I could see that she was confused and puzzled as to her presence there.

“I need not tell you of her rapid strides back to convalescence, nor more of her accident than that all she recollected was a warning cry as she crossed the road, and then seeming to wake in the hospital with me standing at her side.