A COMPROMISE
"If I had any money of my own," Alora said to Janet Orme on the morning
of the twelfth day of imprisonment, "I would gladly pay it to free."
Janet flashed a quick glance at her. "Do you mean that?" she asked with
ill-suppressed eagerness.
"I do, indeed," declared the girl, moaning dismally; "but I never have
a cent to call my own."
Janet sat still, for some time, thinking.
"I, too, wish you were free," she admitted, resuming the conversation,
"for my position as jailer obliges me to share your confinement, and
it's wearing on me, as it is on you. But you have unconsciously given
me a thought--an idea that seems likely to lead to a compromise between
us. I'm going to consider it seriously, and if it still looks good to
me I'll make you a proposition."
Saying this, she retired to her bedroom and closed the door after her,
leaving Alora in a fit of nervous trembling through half-formed hopes
that she might gain her release.
It was nearly an hour before Janet returned. When she came from her
room she stood before the girl for a time and seemed to study her face.
Alora was anxious and did not endeavor to conceal the fact. In her hand
the woman held a paper, which she presently laid upon the center-table.
"I have decided to make you a proposition," she said, turning to seat
herself near the table. "If it interests you, all right; if it doesn't,
you may of course reject it. My offer is this: If you will tell me
where to find your father and will promise not to mention me to him or
to warn him of my intentions, and if you will sign this paper which I
have prepared, I will allow you to return to your friends to-day. You
are not especially fond of Jason Jones, I believe?"
"Not especially, although he is my father," returned Alora, eyeing the
woman expectantly.
"Then you can have no objection to my forcing him to disgorge my share
of his income, which you would not get in any event. I don't know how
much of an allowance he makes you, but----"
"I don't get any allowance," said Alora, "In fact, he gives me
nothing."
"Then my demands on your father will not affect your interests. Are you
willing to give me his address, and promise not to warn him?"
"Under the circumstances, yes."
"Very well. I accept your plighted word--your word of honor. Now sign
this paper and you may go."
She took the paper from the table and handed it to Alora, who read as
follows:
"For value received, in services faithfully rendered and which I hereby
freely and without coercion acknowledge, I hereby promise and agree to
pay to Janet Orme Jones on the day that I attain my majority the sum of
Fifty Thousand Dollars, which sum is to be paid from my estate without
recourse, equivocation or attempt to repudiate the said obligation,
inasmuch as I willingly admit the said sum to be justly due the said
Janet Orme Jones.
"(Signed:)................."
Alora read the paper twice, with, growing indignation. Then she glanced
up at her jailer and muttered questioningly: "Jones? Janet Orme
_Jones?"_
"A family name, my dear. The Joneses are so thick and so unimportant
that generally I do not use the name, but this is a legal document. I
hope you won't try to claim relationship," she added with a light
laugh.
"I'm not going to promise you so enormous a sum as fifty thousand
dollars, even to secure my liberty," said Alora. "It's out of all
reason--it's--it's--outrageous!"
"Very well," returned Janet, coolly; "that's your own affair. This is
merely a compromise proposition, suggested by yourself, as I told you.
Let us say no more about it."
Alora was greatly disheartened. After allowing her hopes to run so high
the disappointment was now doubly keen. Her defiance melted away with
the thought of all the weary days of imprisonment she must endure until
Janet was ready to act.
"I--I might agree to give you _five_ thousand dollars," she ventured.
"Nonsense. I'm not gunning for small game, Alora. Did you but realize
it, I am quite considerate in exacting only fifty thousand. Your estate
is worth two millions. Your income is something like eighty thousand a
year, and this payment would leave you thirty thousand to use the first
year after you come into your fortune. I don't believe you could spend
thirty thousand in a year, when you are eighteen years of age."
Alora turned away and going to the front window, looked through its
stained and unwashed panes into the gloomy street below. The sight
emphasized her isolation from the world. Her imprisonment was becoming
unbearable. After all, she reflected, in reckless mood, what did so
small a share of her prospective fortune weigh against her present
comfort--and health--and happiness?
Janet was stealthily watching her.
"Should you decide to sign the paper," said the nurse, "you must make
up your mind not to raise a row when pay-day comes. The money will come
out of your income, and instead of investing it in more bonds, you will
have invested it in your liberty. You won't be inconvenienced in the
slightest degree. On the other hand, this money will mean everything to
_me_--a modest competence for my old age and relief from the drudgery
of working. I've had a hard life, my girl, for nursing is mere slavery
to the whims of sick people. Consider, also, that for six years Jason
Jones squandered all my savings in trying to paint pictures that were
not worth the canvas he ruined. If I had that money now I wouldn't need
to descend to this disgraceful mode of recouping my bank account; but,
under the circumstances, don't you think I am justly entitled to some
of the Jones money?"
"You're going to get a lot from my father."
"True; but that is for his indebtedness, while this amount is for your
freedom. A scrape of the pen and you secure liberty, fresh air and the
privilege of rejoining your friends, who are probably getting anxious
about you. If you are the sensible girl I take you to be, you won't
hesitate."
Alora knew the woman was pleading her own case, but the arguments
appealed to her. She was weak and nervous and her longing for liberty
outweighed her natural judgment.
"I suppose I'm a fool, but----"
Slowly she approached the table where the written promissory note still
lay. Janet had placed a pen and inkstand beside it.