A FORTUNATE MEETING.
"Where are we going, Rufus?" asked Rose, as they left the subterranean
shop.
"That's what I'm trying to think, Rose," said her brother, not a little
perplexed.
To tell the truth, Rough and Ready had acted from impulse, and without
any well-defined plan in his mind. He had resolved to take Rose from her
old home, if it deserved the name, and for reasons which the reader will
no doubt pronounce sufficient; but he had not yet had time to consider
where they should live in future.
This was a puzzling question.
If the newsboy had been a capitalist, or in receipt of a handsome
income, the question would have been a very simple one. He would only
need to have bought a "Morning Herald," and, from the long list of
boarding and lodging houses, have selected one which he judged suitable.
But his income was small, and he had himself and his sister to provide
for. He knew that it must be lonely for Rose to pass the greater part of
the day without him; yet it seemed to be necessary. If only there was
some suitable person for her to be with. The loss of her mother was a
great one to Rose, for it left her almost without a companion.
So Rough and Ready knit his brows in perplexing thought.
"I can't tell where we'd better go, Rose, yet," he said at last. "We'll
have to look round a little, and perhaps we'll come across some good
place."
"I hope it'll be some place where father won't find us," said Rose.
"Don't call him father," said the newsboy, hastily. "He isn't our
father."
"No," said Rose, "I know that,—that is not our own father."
"Do you remember our own father, Rose? But of course you don't, for you
were only a year old when he died."
"How old were you, Rufus?"
"I was nine."
"Tell me about father. Mother used to tell me about him sometimes."
"He was always kind and good. I remember his pleasant smile whenever he
came home. Once he was pretty well off; but he failed in business, and
had to give up his store, and, soon after, he died, so that mother was
left destitute. Then she married Mr. Martin."
"What made her?"
"It was for our sake, Rose. She thought he would give us a good home.
But you know how it turned out. Sometimes I think mother might have been
alive now, if she hadn't married him."
"Oh, I wish she was," said Rose, sighing.
"Well, Rose, we won't talk any more of Mr. Martin. He hasn't got any
more to do with us. He can take care of himself, and we will take care
of ourselves."
"I don't know, Rufie," said the little girl; "I'm afraid he'll do us
some harm."
"Don't be afraid, Rose; I aint afraid of him, and I'll take care he
don't touch you."
The little girl's apprehensions were not without good reason. They had
not done with this man Martin. He was yet to cause them considerable
trouble. What that trouble was will be developed in the course of the
story. Our business now is to follow the course of the two orphans.
They had reached and crossed the City Hall Park, and now stood on the
Broadway pavement, opposite Murray Street.
"Are we going to cross Broadway, Rufus?" asked his little sister.
"Yes, Rose. I've been thinking you would feel more comfortable to be as
far away from our old room as possible. If we can get a lodging on the
west side of Broadway somewhere, we shan't be so apt to meet Mr. Martin.
You'd like that better, wouldn't you?"
"Oh, yes, I should like that better."
"Now we'll cross. Keep firm hold of my hand Rose, or you'll get run
over."
During the hours of daylight, except on Sunday, there is hardly a pause
in the long line of vehicles of every description that make their way up
and down the great central thoroughfare of the city. A quick eye and a
quick step are needed to cross in safety. But the practised newsboy
found no difficulty. Dodging this way and that, he led his sister safely
across.
"Let us go up Broadway, Rufus," said the little girl, who, living always
in the eastern part of the city, was more used to Chatham Street and the
Bowery than the more fashionable Broadway.
"All right, Rose. We can turn off higher up."
So the newsboy walked up Broadway, on the west side, his little sister
clinging to his arm. Occasionally, though they didn't know it, glances
of interest were directed towards them. The attractive face of little
Rose, set off by her neat attire, and the frank, open countenance of our
young hero, who looked more manly in his character of guardian to his
little sister, made a pleasant impression upon the passers-by, or at
least such as could spare a thought from the business cares which are
apt to engross the mind to the exclusion of everything.
"If I only had two such children!" thought a childless millionaire, as
he passed with a hurried step. His coffers were full of gold, but his
home was empty of comfort and happiness. He might easily have secured it
by diverting a trifling rill, from his full stream of riches, to the
channel of charity; but this never entered his mind.
So the children walked up the street, jostled by hurrying multitudes,
little Rose gazing with childish interest at the shop windows, and the
objects they presented. As for Rough and Ready, Broadway was no novelty
to him. His busy feet had traversed every portion of the city, or at
least the lower part, and he felt at home everywhere. While his sister
was gazing at the shop windows, he was engaged in trying to solve the
difficult question which was still puzzling him,—"Where should he find a
home for his sister?"
The solution of the question was nearer than he anticipated.
As they passed a large clothing-house, the little girl's attention was
suddenly attracted to a young woman, who came out of the front entrance
with a large bundle under her arm.
"O Miss Manning," she cried, joyfully, "how do you do?"
"What, little Rose!" exclaimed the seamstress, a cordial smile lighting
up her face, pale from confinement and want of exercise.
"How are you, Miss Manning?" said the newsboy, in an off-hand manner.
"I am glad to see you, Rufus," said the young woman, shaking hands with
him. "How you have grown!"
"Have I?" said Rough and Ready, pleased with what he regarded as a
compliment. "I'm glad I'm getting up in the world that way, if I can't
in any other."
"Do you sell papers now, Rufus?"
"Yes. I expect all the newspaper editors would fail if I didn't help 'em
off with their papers."
"You are both looking fresh and rosy."
"Particularly Rose," said the newsboy, laughing. "But you are not
looking very well, Miss Manning."
"Oh, I'm pretty well," said the seamstress; "but I don't get much chance
to get out into the air."
"You work too hard."
"I have to work hard," she replied, smiling faintly. "Sewing is not very
well paid, and it costs a great deal to live. Where are you living now?"
"We are not living anywhere," said Rose.
"We are living on Broadway just at present," said Rough and Ready.
The seamstress looked from one to the other in surprise, not
understanding what they meant.
"Where is your father now?" she asked.
"I have no father," said the newsboy.
"Is Mr. Martin dead, then?"
"No, he's alive, but he isn't my father, and I won't own him as such. If
you want to know where he is, I will tell you. He is lying drunk on the
floor of a room on Leonard Street, or at least he was half an hour ago."
The newsboy spoke with some bitterness, for he never could think with
any patience of the man who had embittered the last years of his
mother's life, and had that very morning nearly deprived his little
sister of the clothing which he had purchased for her.
"Have you left him, then?" asked the seamstress.
"Yes, we have left him, and we do not mean to go near him again."
"Then you mean to take the whole care of your little sister, Rufus?"
"Yes."
"It is a great responsibility for a boy like you."
"It is what I have been doing all along. Mr. Martin hasn't earned his
share of the expenses. I've had to take care of us both, and him too,
and then he didn't treat us decently. I'll tell you what he did this
morning."
Here he told the story of the manner in which his little sister had been
robbed of her dress.
"You don't think I'd stand that, Miss Manning, do you?" he said, lifting
his eyes to hers.
"No, Rufus; it seemed hard treatment. So you're going to find a home
somewhere else?"
"Yes."
"Where do you expect to go?"
"Well, that is what puzzles me," said the newsboy. "I want some place in
the west part of the city, so as to be out of Martin's way. Where do you
live?"
"In Franklin Street, not far from the river."
"Is it a good place?"
"As good as I can expect. You know that I am poor as well as you."
"Is there any chance for us in the house?" asked Rufus, with a sudden
idea touching the solution of the problem that had troubled him.
"No, there is no room vacant, I believe," said the seamstress,
thoughtfully. "If there were only Rose, now," she added, "I could take
her into the room with me."
"That's just the thing," said Rufus, joyfully. "Rose, wouldn't you like
to be with Miss Manning? Then you would have company every day."
"Yes," said Rose, "I should like it ever so much; but where would you
be?" she asked, doubtfully.
"I'll go to the Newsboys' Lodging House to sleep, but I'll come every
afternoon and evening to see you. I'll give Miss Manning so much a week
for your share of the expenses, and then I'll feel easy about you. But
wouldn't she be a trouble to you, Miss Manning?"
"A trouble," repeated the seamstress. "You don't know how much I shall
enjoy her company. I get so lonely sometimes. If you'll come with me
now, I'll show you my room, and Rose shall find a home at once."
Much relieved in mind, Rough and Ready, with his sister still clinging
to his arm, followed the seamstress down Franklin Street towards her
home near the river.