Timothy Crump's Ward: A Story of American Life

“Well,” said William, “I don’t know of any. I suppose Ida has got home.”

“No,” said Jack, “we expected her to-night, but she hasn’t come yet.”

“She told me that she expected to come back to-day,” said William.

“What! have you seen her?” exclaimed all in chorus.

“Yes, I saw her yesterday noon.”

“Where?”

“Why, in the cars,” said William, a little surprised at the question.

“What cars?” asked the cooper.

“Why, the Philadelphia cars. Of course, you knew that was where she was going?”

“Philadelphia!” all exclaimed, in surprise.

“Yes, the cars were almost there when I saw her. Who was that with her?”

“Mrs. Hardwick, who was her old nurse.”

“Anyway, I didn’t like her looks,” said the boy.

“That’s where I agree with you,” said Jack, decidedly.

“She didn’t seem to want me to speak to Ida,” continued William, “but hurried her off, just as quick as possible.”

“There were reasons for that,” said Mrs. Crump, “she wanted to keep secret her destination.”

“I don’t know what it was,” said William; “but any how, I don’t like her looks.”

The family felt a little relieved by this information; and, since Ida had gone so far, it did not seem strange that she should have outstayed her time.

CHAPTER XII. HOW IDA FARED

WE left Ida confined in a dark closet, with Peg standing guard over her.

After an hour she was released.

“Well,” said Peg, grimly, “how do you feel now?”

“I want to go home,” sobbed the child.

“You are at home,” said the woman. “This is going to be your home now.”

“Shall I never see father and mother and Jack, again?”

“Why,” answered Peg, “that depends on how you behave yourself.”

“Oh, if you will only let me go,” said Ida, gathering hope from this remark, “I’ll do anything you say.”

“Do you mean this, or do you only say it for the sake of getting away?”

“Oh, I mean just what I say. Dear, good Mrs. Hardwick, just tell me what I am to do, and I will obey you cheerfully.”

“Very well,” said Peg, “only you needn’t try to get anything out of me by calling me dear, good Mrs. Hardwick. In the first place, you don’t care a cent about me. In the second place, I am not good; and finally, my name isn’t Mrs. Hardwick, except in New York.”

“What is it, then?” asked Ida.

“It’s just Peg, no more and no less. You may call me Aunt Peg.”

“I would rather call you Mrs. Hardwick.”

“Then you’ll have a good many years to call me so. You’d better do as I tell you if you want any favors. Now what do you say?”

“Yes, Aunt Peg,” said Ida, with a strong effort to conceal her repugnance.

“That’s well. Now the first thing to do, is to stay here for the present.”

“Yes—aunt.”

“The second is, you’re not to tell anybody that you came from New York. That is very important. You understand that, do you?”

The child replied in the affirmative.

“The next is, that you’re to pay for your board, by doing whatever I tell you.”

“If it isn’t wicked.”

“Do you suppose I would ask you to do anything wicked?”

“You said you wasn’t good,” mildly suggested Ida.

“I’m good enough to take care of you. Well, what do you say to that? Answer me.”

“Yes.”

“There’s another thing. You ain’t to try to run away.”

Ida hung down her head.

“Ha!” said Peg. “So you’ve been thinking of it, have you?”

“Yes,” said Ida, boldly, after a moment’s hesitation; “I did think I should if I got a good chance.”

“Humph!” said the woman; “I see we must understand one another. Unless you promise this, back you go into the dark closet, and I shall keep you there all the time.”

Ida shuddered at this fearful threat, terrible to a child of nine.

“Do you promise?”

“Yes,” said the child, faintly.

“For fear you might be tempted to break your promise, I have something to show you.”

She went to the cupboard, and took down a large pistol.

“There,” she said, “do you see that?”

“Yes, Aunt Peg.”

“What is it?”

“It is a pistol, I believe.”

“Do you know what it is for?”

“To shoot people with,” said Ida, fixing her eyes on the weapon, as if impelled by a species of fascination.

“Yes,” said the woman; “I see you understand. Well, now, do you know what I would do if you should tell anybody where you came from, or attempt to run away? Can you guess now?”

“Would you shoot me?” asked the child, struck with terror.

“Yes, I would,” said Peg, with fierce emphasis. “That’s just what I’d do. And what’s more,” she added, “even if you got away, and got back to your family in New York. I would follow you and shoot you dead in the street.”

“You wouldn’t be so wicked!” exclaimed Ida, appalled.

“Wouldn’t I, though?” repeated Peg, significantly. “If you don’t believe I would, just try it. Do you think you would like to try it?”

“No,” said the child, with a shudder.

“Well, that’s the most sensible thing you’ve said yet. Now, that you have got to be a little more reasonable, I’ll tell you what I am going to do with you.”

Ida looked up eagerly into her face.

“I am going to keep you with me a year. I want the services of a little girl for that time. If you serve me faithfully, I will then send you back to your friends in New York.”

“Will you?” said Ida, hopefully.

“Yes. But you must mind and do what I tell you.”

“O yes,” said the child, joyfully.

This was so much better than she had been led to fear, that the prospect of returning home, even after a year, gave her fresh courage.

“What shall I do?” she asked, anxious to conciliate Peg.

“You may take the broom,—you will find it just behind the door,—and sweep the room.”

“Yes, Aunt Peg.”

“And after that you may wash the dishes. Or, rather, you may wash the dishes first.”

“Yes, Aunt Peg.”

“And after that I will find something for you to do.”

The next morning Ida was asked if she would like to go out into the street.

This was a welcome proposition, as the sun was shining brightly, and there was little to please a child’s fancy in Peg’s shabby apartment.

“I am going to let you do a little shopping,” said Peg. “There are various things that we want. Go and get your bonnet.”

“It’s in the closet,” said Ida.

“O yes, where I put it. That was before I could trust you.”

She went to the closet, and came back bringing the bonnet and shawl. As soon as they were ready, they emerged into the street. Ida was glad to be in the open air once more.

“This is a little better than being shut up in the closet, isn’t it?” said Peg.

Ida owned that it was.

“You see you’ll have a very good time of it, if you do as I bid you. I don’t want to do you any harm. I want you to be happy.”

So they walked along together, until Peg, suddenly pausing, laid her hand on Ida’s arm, and pointing to a shop near by, said to her, “Do you see that shop?”

“Yes,” said Ida.

“Well, that is a baker’s shop. And now I’ll tell you what to do. I want you to go in, and ask for a couple of rolls. They come at three cents apiece. Here’s some money to pay for them. It is a silver dollar, as you see. You will give this to them, and they will give you back ninety-four cents in change. Do you understand’?”

“Yes,” said Ida; “I think I do.”

“And if they ask if you haven’t anything smaller, you will say no.”

“Yes, Aunt Peg.”

“I will stay just outside. I want you to go in alone, so that you will get used to doing without me.”

Ida entered the shop. The baker, a pleasant-looking man, stood behind the counter.

“Well, my dear, what is it?” he asked.

“I should like a couple of rolls.”

“For your mother, I suppose,” said the baker, sociably.

“No,” said Ida; “for the woman I board with.”

“Ha! a silver dollar, and a new one, too,” said the baker, receiving the coin tendered in payment. “I shall have to save that for my little girl.”

Ida left the shop with the two rolls and the silver change.

“Did he say anything about the money?” asked Peg, a little anxiously.

“He said he should save it for his little girl.”

“Good,” said the woman, approvingly; “you’ve done well.”

Ida could not help wondering what the baker’s disposal of the dollar had to do with her doing well, but she was soon thinking of other things.

CHAPTER XIII. BAD COIN

THE baker introduced to the reader’s notice in the last chapter was named Crump. Singularly enough Abel Crump, for this was his name, was a brother of Timothy Crump, the cooper. In many respects he resembled his brother. He was an excellent man, exemplary in all the relations of life, and had a good heart. He was in very comfortable circumstances, having accumulated a little property by diligent attention to his business. Like his brother, Abel Crump had married, and had one child, now about the size of Ida, that is, nine years old. She had received the name of Ellen.

When the baker closed his shop for the night he did not forget the silver dollar which he had received, or the disposal which he told Ida he should make of it.

He selected it carefully from the other coins, and slipped it into his vest pocket.

Ellen ran to meet him as he entered the house.

“What do you think I have brought you, Ellen?” said her father, smiling.

“Do tell me quick,” said the child, eagerly.

“What if I should tell you it was a silver dollar?”

“Oh, father, thank you,” and Ellen ran to show it to her mother.

“You got it at the shop?” asked his wife.

“Yes,” said the baker; “I received it from a little girl about the size of Ellen, and I suppose it was that gave me the idea of bringing it home to her.”

“Was she a pretty little girl?” asked Ellen, interested.

“Yes, she was very attractive. I could not help feeling interested in her. I hope she will come again.”

This was all that passed concerning Ida at that time. The thought of her would have passed from the baker’s mind, if it had not been recalled by circumstances.

Ellen, like most girls of her age, when in possession of money, could not be easy until she had spent it. Her mother advised her to lay it away, or perhaps deposit it in some Savings Bank; but Ellen preferred present gratification.

Accordingly one afternoon, when walking out with her mother, she persuaded her to go into a toy shop, and price a doll which she saw in the window. The price was sixty-two cents. Ellen concluded to take it, and tendered the silver dollar in payment.

The shopman took it into his hand, glancing at it carelessly at first, then scrutinizing it with considerable attention.

“What is the matter?” inquired Mrs. Crump. “It is good, isn’t it?”

“That is what I am doubtful of,” was the reply.

“It is new.”

“And that is against it. If it were old, it would be more likely to be genuine.”

“But you wouldn’t (sic) comdemn a piece because it was new?”

“Certainly not; but the fact is, there have been lately many cases where spurious dollars have been circulated, and I suspect this is one of them. However, I can soon test it.”

“I wish you, would,” said Mrs. Crump. “My husband took it at his shop, and will be likely to take more unless he is placed on his guard.”

The shopman retired a moment, and then reappeared.

“It is as I thought,” he said. “The coin is not good.”

“And can’t I pass it, then?” said Ellen, disappointed.

“I am afraid not.”

“Then I don’t see, Ellen,” said her mother, “but you will have to give up your purchase for to-day. We must tell your father of this.”

Mr. Crump was exceedingly surprised at his wife’s account.

“Really,” he said, “I had no suspicion of this. Can it be possible that such a beautiful child could be guilty of such a crime?”

“Perhaps not,” said his wife. “She may be as innocent in the matter as Ellen or myself.”

“I hope so,” said the baker; “it would be a pity that such a child should be given to wickedness. However, I shall find out before long.”

“How?”

“She will undoubtedly come again some time, and if she offers me one of the same coins I shall know what to think.”

Mr. Crump watched daily for the coming of Ida. He waited some days in vain. It was not the policy of Peg to send the child too often to the same place, as that would increase the chances of detection.

One day, however, Ida entered the shop as before.

“Good morning,” said the baker. “What will you have to-day?”

“You may give me a sheet of gingerbread, sir.”

The baker placed it in her hands.

“How much will it be?”

“Twelve cents.”

Ida offered him another silver dollar.

As if to make change, he stepped from behind the counter, and managed to place himself between Ida and the door.

“What is your name, my child?” he asked.

“Ida, sir.”

“Ida? A very pretty name; but what is your other name?”

Ida hesitated a moment, because Peg had forbidden her to use the name of Crump, and told her if the inquiry was ever made, she must answer Hardwick.

She answered, reluctantly, “My name is Ida Hardwick.”

The baker observed the hesitation, and this increased his suspicions.

“Hardwick!” he repeated, musingly, endeavoring to draw from the child as much information as he could before allowing her to perceive that he suspected her. “And where do you live?”

Ida was a child of spirit, and did not understand why she should be questioned so closely. She said, with some impatience, “I am in a hurry, sir, and would like to have you hand me the change as soon as you can.”

“I have no doubt of it,” said the baker, his manner changing; “but you cannot go just yet.”

“And why not?” asked Ida, her eyes flashing.

“Because you have been trying to deceive me.”

“I trying to deceive you!” exclaimed the child, in astonishment.

“Really,” thought Mr. Crump, “she does it well, but no doubt they train her to it. It is perfectly shocking, such depravity in a child.”

“Don’t you remember buying something here a week ago?” he said, in as stern a tone as his good nature would allow him to employ.

“Yes,” said Ida, promptly; “I bought two rolls at three cents a piece.”

“And what did you offer me in payment?”

“I handed you a silver dollar.”

“Like this?” asked Mr. Crump, holding up the coin.

“Yes, sir.”

“And do you mean to say,” said the baker, sternly, “that you didn’t know it was bad when you handed it to me?”

“Bad!” exclaimed Ida, in great surprise.

“Yes, spurious. It wasn’t worth one tenth of a dollar.”

“And is this like it?”

“Precisely.”

“Indeed, sir, I didn’t know anything about it,” said Ida, earnestly, “I hope you will believe me when I say that I thought it was good.”

“I don’t know what to think,” said the baker, perplexed.

“I don’t know whether to believe you or not,” said he. “Have you any other money?”

“That is all I have got.”

“Of course, I can’t let you have the gingerbread. Some would deliver you up into the hands of the police. However, I will let you go if you will make me one promise.”

“Oh, anything, sir.”

“You have given me a bad dollar. Will you promise to bring me a good one to-morrow?”

Ida made the required promise, and was allowed to go.

CHAPTER XIV. DOUBTS AND FEARS

“WELL, what kept you so long?” asked Peg, impatiently, as Ida rejoined her at the corner of the street, where she had been waiting for her. “And where’s your gingerbread?”

“He wouldn’t let me have it,” said Ida.

“And why not?”

“Because he said the money wasn’t good.”

“Stuff! it’s good enough,” said Peg, hastily. “Then we must go somewhere else.”

“But he said the dollar I gave him last week wasn’t good, and I promised to bring him another to-morrow, or he wouldn’t have let me go.”

“Well, where are you going to get your dollar to carry him?”

“Why, won’t you give it to me?” said Ida, hesitatingly.

“Catch me at such nonsense! But here we are at another shop. Go in and see whether you can do any better there. Here’s the money.”

“Why, it’s the same piece.”

“What if it is?”

“I don’t want to pass bad money.”

“Tut, what hurt will it do?”

“It is the same as stealing.”

“The man won’t lose anything. He’ll pass it off again.”

“Somebody’ll have to lose it by and by,” said Ida, whose truthful perceptions saw through the woman’s sophistry.

“So you’ve taken up preaching, have you?” said Peg, sneeringly. “Maybe you know better than I what is proper to do. It won’t do to be so mighty particular, and so you’ll find out if you live with me long.”

“Where did you take the dollar?” asked Ida, with a sudden thought; “and how is it that you have so many of them?”

“None of your business,” said her companion, roughly. “You shouldn’t pry into the affairs of other people.”

“Are you going to do as I told you?” she demanded, after a moment’s pause.

“I can’t,” said Ida, pale but resolute.

“You can’t,” repeated Peg, furiously. “Didn’t you promise to do whatever I told you?”

“Except what was wicked,” interrupted Ida.

“And what business have you to decide what is wicked? Come home with me.”

Peg, walked in sullen silence, occasionally turning round to scowl upon the unfortunate child, who had been strong enough, in her determination to do right, to resist successfully the will of the woman whom she had every reason to dread.

Arrived at home, Peg walked Ida into the room by the shoulder.

Dick was lounging in a chair, with the inevitable pipe in his mouth.

“Hilloa!” said he, lazily, observing his wife’s movements, “what’s the gal been doing, hey?”

“What’s she been doing?” repeated Peg; “I should like to know what she hasn’t been doing. She’s refused to go in and buy some gingerbread of the baker, as I told her.”

“Look here, little gal,” said Dick, in a moralizing vein, “isn’t this rayther undootiful conduct on your part? Ain’t it a piece of ingratitude, when we go to the trouble of earning the money to pay for gingerbread for you to eat, that you ain’t willing to go in and buy it?”

“I would just as lieves go in,” said Ida, “if Peg would give me good money to pay for it.”

“That don’t make any difference,” said the admirable moralist; “jest do as she tells you, and you’ll do right. She’ll take the risk.”

“I can’t!” said the child.

“You hear her?” said Peg.

“Very improper conduct!” said Dick, shaking his head. “Put her in the closet.”

So Ida was incarcerated once more in the dark closet. Yet, in the midst of her desolation, there was a feeling of pleasure in thinking that she was suffering for doing right.

When Ida failed to return on the expected day, the Crumps, though disappointed, did not think it strange.

“If I were her mother,” said Mrs. Crump, “and had been parted from her so long, I should want to keep her as long as I could. Dear heart! how pretty she is, and how proud her mother must be of her!”

“It’s all a delusion,” said Aunt Rachel, shaking her head. “It’s all a delusion. I don’t believe she’s got a mother at all. That Mrs. Hardwick is an imposter. I knew it, and told you so at the time, but you wouldn’t believe me. I never expect to set eyes on Ida again in this world.”

“I do,” said Jack, confidently.

“There’s many a hope that’s doomed to disappointment,” said Aunt Rachel.

“So there is,” said Jack. “I was hoping mother would have apple-pudding for dinner to-day, but she didn’t.”

The next day passed, and still no tidings of Ida. There was a cloud of anxiety, even upon Mr. Crump’s usually placid face, and he was more silent than usual at the evening meal.

At night, after Rachel and Jack had both retired, he said, anxiously, “What do you think is the cause of Ida’s prolonged absence, Mary?”

“I don’t know,” said Mrs. Crump, seriously. “It seems to me, if her mother wanted to keep her longer than the time she at first proposed, it would be no more than right that she should write us a line. She must know that we would feel anxious.”

“Perhaps she is so taken up with Ida that she can think of nothing else.”

“It may be so; but if we neither see Ida to-morrow, nor hear from her, I shall be seriously troubled.”

“Suppose she should never come back,” said the cooper, sadly.

“Oh, husband, don’t think of such a thing,” said his wife, distressed.

“We must contemplate it as a possibility,” returned Timothy, gravely, “though not, I hope, as a probability. Ida’s mother has an undoubted right to her; a better right than any we can urge.”

“Then it would be better,” said his wife, tearfully, “if she had never been placed in our charge. Then we should not have had the pain of parting with her.”

“Not so, Mary,” said the cooper, seriously. “We ought to be grateful for God’s blessings, even if he suffers us to possess them but a short time. And Ida has been a blessing to us, I am sure. How many hours have been made happy by her childish prattle! how our hearts have been filled with cheerful happiness and affection when we have gazed upon her! That can’t be taken from us, even if she is, Mary. There’s some lines I met with in the paper, to-night, that express just what I feel. Let me find them.”

The cooper put on his spectacles, and hunted slowly down the columns of the paper, till he came to these beautiful lines of Tennyson, which he read aloud,—

“I hold it true, whate’er befall;I feel it when I sorrow most;‘Tis better to have loved and lost,Than never to have loved at all.”

“There, wife,” said he, as he laid down the paper; “I don’t know who writ them lines, but I’m sure it’s some one that’s met with a great sorrow, and conquered it.”

“They are beautiful,” said his wife, after a pause; “and I dare say you’re right, Timothy; but I hope we mayn’t have reason to learn the truth of them by experience. After all, it isn’t certain but that Ida will come back. We are troubling ourselves too soon.”

“At any rate,” said the cooper, “there is no doubt that it is our duty to take every means to secure Ida if we can. Of course, if her mother insists upon keeping her, we can’t say anything; but we ought to be sure, before we yield her up, that such is the case.”

“What do you mean, Timothy?” asked Mrs. Crump, with anxious interest.

“I don’t know as I ought to mention it,” said her husband. “Very likely there isn’t anything in it, and it would only make you feel more anxious.”

“You have already aroused my anxiety,” said his wife. “I should feel better if you would tell me.”

“Then I will,” said the cooper. “I have sometimes doubted,” he continued, lowering his voice, “whether Ida’s mother really sent for her.”

“And the letter?” queried Mrs. Crump, looking less surprised than he supposed she would.

“I thought—mind it is only a guess on my part—that Mrs. Hardwick might have got somebody to write it for her.”

“It is very singular,” murmured Mrs. Crump, in a tone of abstraction.

“What is singular?”

“Why, the very same thought occurred to me. Somehow, I couldn’t help feeling a little suspicious of Mrs. Hardwick, though perhaps unjustly. But what object could she have in obtaining possession of Ida?”

“That I cannot conjecture; but I have come to one determination.”

“And what is that?”

“Unless we learn something of Ida within a week from the time she left here, I shall go on to Philadelphia, or send Jack, and endeavor to get track of her.”

CHAPTER XV. AUNT RACHEL’S MISHAPS

THE week which had been assigned by Mr. Crump slipped away, and still no tidings of Ida. The house seemed lonely without her. Not until then, did they understand how largely she had entered into their life and thoughts. But worse even, than the sense of loss, was the uncertainty as to her fate.

When seven days had passed the cooper said, “It is time that we took some steps about finding Ida. I had intended to go to Philadelphia myself, to make inquiries about her, but I am just now engaged upon a job which I cannot very well leave, and so I have concluded to send Jack.”

“When shall I start?” exclaimed Jack, eagerly.

“To-morrow morning,” answered his father, “and you must take clothes enough with you to last several days, in case it should be necessary.”

“What good do you suppose it will do, Timothy,” broke in Rachel, “to send such a mere boy as Jack?”