WHAT WAS HARRIS TO HER?
Pickles went up to the very small room where he slept, threw himself on
his bed, and fell a-wondering. For the first time in his life he was
completely at sea. What _did_ Cinderella mean? For a whole month now she
had been his special charge. He had rescued her; he had kept her in the
safe shelter of his mother's house; he had been, he considered, very
kind indeed to Cinderella. What a fate she would have had but for him!
Sent to prison for a crime of which she was absolutely innocent, her
whole future disgraced, blighted, ruined! All the time while he had been
hunting up Harris, and bringing his ingenious little mind to bear down
the full weight of his crime upon the guilty man, he had thought that no
amount of gratitude on Cinderella's part--nay, even a whole lifetime of
devotion--could scarcely repay all she owed him.
But now he kicked his legs impatiently and said to himself that it was
enough to provoke the best-natured boy in the universe. After all his
trouble, all his hard thoughts and anxious reflections, here was this
tiresome Cinderella refusing to be set free. He had, as he expressed it,
nailed his man; he had put the noose round him, and all he had to do was
to tighten it, and Sue would be free and Harris sent to prison. But
without Sue's aid he could not do this, and Sue most emphatically
to-night had refused his aid. She would go to prison herself, but she
would not betray Harris. What did the girl mean? What was this cowardly
Harris to her that she should risk so much and suffer so sorely for his
sake? How she had dreaded prison! How very, very grateful she had been
to him for saving her! But now she was willing to go there, willing to
bear the unmerited punishment, the lifelong disgrace. Why? Pickles,
think hard as he would, could get no answer to solve this difficulty.
True, she had said she had something in her mind which would lighten the
prison fare and the prison life. What was it? Pickles could stand it no
longer; he must go and consult his mother. He ran downstairs. Mrs. Price
had not yet gone to bed. Pickles sat down beside her by the fire, and
laid his curly red head in her lap.
"Mother," he said, "this 'ere detective's foiled at last."
"What's up now, Jamie, boy?" asked the mother.
Pickles told her. He described how he had all but brought the crime home
to Harris; how he had proved to Sue that Harris was the guilty party;
but that now Sue, after all his tremendous trouble, had refused to
identify him. She would go to prison, she said; she would not tell on
Harris. "I don't understand it one bit, mother," he said in conclusion.
"But I do, Jamie, my boy," answered Mrs. Price, tears filling her kind
eyes. "I understand it very well. It means just this--that Sue, dear
child, is very noble."
Pickles opened his eyes very wide.
"Then, mother," he began, "Cinderella is----" and then he stopped.
"Your Cinderella, whom you rescued, is a real little heroine, Jamie; but
she must not go to prison. We must do something for her. She has been
with me for a whole month now, and I never came across a more upright
little soul. You surely have not been frightening her with the base idea
that we would give her up, my boy?"
Pickles colored and hung his head.
"I own, mother," he said, "that I did put a little bit of the torture
screw to bear on Sue. I didn't mean really as she should go to prison;
but I thought as a small dose of fright might make her tell on that
Harris. I do think that Peter Harris is about the meanest character I
ever come across, and I'd like _him_ to go to prison wery well indeed,
mother dear."
"If he's guilty, believe me he's not a very happy man, my lad. My own
feeling is that 'tis best to leave all punishment to the God against
whom we sin. But about Sue? She must not sleep with the notion that
she's to go to prison. I have a great mind to go to her now."
"Oh! but, mother, mayn't I tell her my own self? 'Twas I as rescued her.
She's my own Cinderella, after all, mother dear; and I'd real enjoy
telling her. She's asleep hours ago now, mother."
"Well, lad, see and have it out with the child before you go to work in
the morning, and then I'll have a talk with her afterwards."