Transcriber’s Note.
In this text version of “Signing the Contract”:
words in italics are marked with _underscores_
words in small capitals are shown in UPPERCASE.
Variant spelling has been retained, as has inconsistent hyphenation.
Simple typographical errors have been corrected.
The Table of Contents was added by the Transcriber.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER PAGE
I. A WANDERER 7
II. RESCUED 19
III. ONE FOR LIFE 28
IV. A STRANGE REVELATION 35
V. BETROTHED 45
VI. THE SEARCH 52
VII. A WICKED SUGGESTION 58
VIII. MRS. ALDEN AN ABETTOR 66
IX. WHAT ESPY SAID ABOUT IT 74
X. FLOY’S RESOLVE 77
XI. LOVE AND PRIDE 82
XII. “LOST! LOST! LOST!” 87
XIII. FLOY’S QUEST 92
XIV. A RIFT IN THE CLOUD 95
XV. ALONE 103
XVI. INITIATED 112
XVII. HETTY TO THE RESCUE 120
XVIII. A CRUEL BLOW 128
XIX. A GREAT SURPRISE 138
XX. A SUDDEN SUMMONS 146
XXI. GHOSTS OF THE PAST 157
XXII. REMORSE 169
XXIII. OLD FRIENDS AND NEW 181
XXIV. GILDED MISERY 192
XXV. STITCH, STITCH, STITCH 197
XXVI. THE MADAME AT HER SOLICITOR’S 207
XXVII. THE LONG-LOST DEED 214
XXVIII. MESSRS. TREDICK & SERVER 222
XXIX. A THORNY ROSE 230
XXX. PANSY 234
XXXI. A WONDROUS CHANGE 241
XXXII. ETHEL AT HOME 248
XXXIII. A LETTER, A STORY, AND A PROMISE 255
XXXIV. THE MADAME’S CONFESSION 259
XXXV. A FLITTING 272
XXXVI. REUNITED 283
XXXVII. LOVE’S POSY 296
XXXVIII. “FOUND! FOUND! FOUND!” 307
XXXIX. THE MADAME’S QUEST IS ENDED 319
XL. THE CUP OVERFLOWS 326
XLI. AFTER THE RAIN, SUNLIGHT; AFTER
THE STORM, A CALM. 331
SIGNING THE CONTRACT.
AND
WHAT IT COST.
BY
MARTHA FINLEY,
AUTHOR OF THE “ELSIE BOOKS,” “WANTED--A PEDIGREE,”
“MILDRED KEITH,” ETC., ETC.
“The web of our life is of a manifold yarn, good and ill together.”
SHAKESPEARE.
NEW YORK:
DODD, MEAD & COMPANY,
PUBLISHERS.
COPYRIGHT, 1879,
BY
DODD, MEAD & COMPANY.
SIGNING THE CONTRACT.
CHAPTER I.
A WANDERER.
“Lost! lost! lost!”
The sun had set amid angry clouds; deep shadows already filled the
recesses of the forest through which the iron horse went thundering on
its way, while an icy wind, bringing with it frequent dashes of rain
and sleet, swept through the leafless branches of the trees, tossing
them wildly against a dull leaden sky.
A lady, gazing out into the gathering gloom, started with a sudden
exclamation of surprise and dismay. Her husband leaned hastily past her
to see what had called it forth; then, with a smile at his own folly
in forgetting that at the rate of speed with which they were moving
the object, whatever it might be, was already out of sight, settled
himself back again, bending a look of mild inquiry upon her agitated
countenance.
She shivered, and drawing her shawl more closely about her, put her
lips to his ear, that she might be heard above the noise of the train.
“It was a face, John--a woman’s face upturned to the sky, wan,
distressed, wretched, with great sorrowful eyes. It just gleamed out
upon me for an instant as we swept by, and was gone. Poor thing! poor
thing! she must be in sore trouble.”
He shook his head with a smile of conscious superiority of wisdom.
“Don’t let your imagination run away with you, my dear, or waste your
sympathy upon a wandering gypsy, who would not exchange places with you
if she could.”
The train was slackening its speed, and they could now converse with
ease.
“She is no ordinary tramp,” was the quick, earnest reply. “And if ever
bitter, hopeless grief and despair were written on a human face, they
were on hers. I wish we could go back and find her.”
“Quite impossible, Dolly; so let us talk of something more agreeable.”
“We change cars soon, don’t we?” she asked.
“Worse than that; we get out at the next station and wait there two
mortal hours for another train.”
“Clearfield Station!” shouted the conductor, throwing open the car door.
An acre or two of ground had been cleared of trees, though many of the
stumps were still standing; there was no appearance of a town; only a
depot and a few shanties scattered here and there, the whole hemmed in
by the forest, except on the two sides where the road had cut its way
through.
The train stopped, and John and Dolly--otherwise Mr. and Mrs.
Kemper--alighted, and the gentleman hurried his wife out of the rain
and sleet into the depot.
A very forlorn place it looked with its rusty stove, filthy floor and
windows, and hard, straight-backed wooden chairs and settee, which gave
small promise of rest or ease to the delayed and weary traveller.
“What a wretched hole!” said Mrs. Kemper, sending a rueful glance from
side to side. “How long did you say we’d have to stay here, John?”
“Two hours, Dolly. Here, take this chair by the fire, and I’ll go and
see what can be done.”
He came back presently, and pointing through the window, “You see that
light yonder, Dolly?” he said. “It comes from a shanty some hundred
yards away, where they tell me we can at least find cleanliness and a
cup of hot tea. There seems a lull in the storm at this moment, too;
shall we go and try it?”
“By all means,” she answered, rising with alacrity and taking his
offered arm. “I presume the walking is bad enough, but my boots are
thick.”
Picking their way carefully between stumps and pools of water, just
visible in the deepening gloom, they reached the place.
It was a long, low building of rudest structure, its walls rough boards
nailed on horizontally, leaving large cracks between, with merely a
covering of painted canvas upon the outside to keep wind and rain at
bay. The gable-end with its one door and window, in which burned the
lamp that had guided them, faced the road.
Entering, our travellers found themselves in a small waiting-room, very
simply furnished, but invitingly warm, clean, and tidy.
A neatly-dressed young woman greeted them with a pleasant
“Good-evening,” and throwing open an inner door, asked if they would
walk out to supper.
“I should prefer just taking something here,” said Mrs. Kemper,
shrinking back at the sight of a long table with only a number of
rough-looking men about it. “Couldn’t you bring me a cup of hot tea and
whatever you have to eat?”
“Yes, ma’am, of course;” and the girl vanished to return presently with
the tea, a piece of steak, bread, butter, and hot corn-cakes.
Out in the forest a woman was battling with the storm--a woman with a
child in her arms. A slight, willowy form was hers, once the perfection
of grace in outline and movement, now bent and staggering with
weakness; a face whose bright, soft eyes, glowing cheeks, and ruby lips
were not long ago the admiration or envy of many, though now wan and
pinched with famine and wasting sickness.
It was the same face that Mrs. Kemper had seen from the car window,
upturned despairingly to the stormy sky as for a moment the weary
wanderer paused and leaned against a tree by the roadside to gather
strength and breath for renewed exertion.
Both were well-nigh spent, and hope so nearly dead within her that, but
for the babe in her arms, she had lain her down to die there in the
lonely wood, with no human creature near to pity or console.
But mother-love was stronger than the love of life: she had taken the
thin faded shawl from her own shoulders to wrap it about the little
one, and so had kept it comparatively warm and dry, while she herself
was drenched to the skin. Her limbs were almost benumbed with cold, and
the cutting wind, as it dashed the rain and sleet full in her face,
seemed piercing to her very vitals.
Twilight was fast deepening into night; the way grew dark and slippery;
now her feet sank in the mud, and she struggled out only to slip into a
pool of water, or to stumble and fall over a stump or log, or to catch
and tear her clothing on some thorny bush.
The pauses for breath grew more frequent, the steps, as she moved
forward again, weaker and more tottering, the weary arms could scarce
sustain the weight of the child, and she knew not how far distant
was the nearest human habitation. She was about to give up in utter
despair, when the gleam of a not very distant light seen through the
trees inspired her with new hope and energy.
She pressed forward, and presently emerged from the wood and found
herself at Clearfield Station, with the light in the window of the
shanty inn shining out ruddily not a hundred yards away.
She crept to the door and knocked faintly.
Mr. Kemper, who had just finished his supper, rose and opened it.
“Come in,” he said. “This is a public house, and I presume no one will
object,” he added, catching sight of the ragged, dripping figure.
She stepped in, staggered to the fire and dropped down on the floor
beside it.
“Drunk!” he muttered, with a gesture of disgust.
“No, no, John! she is ill--starving perhaps!--poor thing! poor thing!”
cried his keener-sighted wife, springing forward, barely in time to
catch the sleeping babe as the weary arms relaxed their hold and the
wanderer sank back against the wall in a state of semi-insensibility,
her eyes closed and not a trace of color on cheek or lip.
“She’s dying!” exclaimed Mr. Kemper in a frightened whisper; and
rushing to the inner door, “Somebody run for a doctor, quick! here is a
woman who seems to be very ill!” he cried hurriedly.
“None to be had within three or four mile,” returned a gruff voice from
the table. “What ails the woman? and who is she?”
“I don’t know; but something must be done.”
“Give her a cup of your tea, Irene,” said the voice.
“A few drops of brandy from the flask in our luncheon-basket, John,”
said his wife. “I always take it along in case of sickness, you know.”
But the child, a girl of eighteen months, woke with a cry, “Mamma!
mamma!” and at the sound the mother’s eyes unclosed.
“Give her to me--my little Ethel!” she said faintly.
“You are ill, my good woman, not able to hold her,” Mrs. Kemper said,
as she reluctantly complied with the request.
“Yes, and I--have eaten nothing to-day--and have walked many miles.”
“Poor soul!” exclaimed Irene, the kind-hearted mistress of the shanty,
coming in with the tea. “Here, drink this, and I’ll bring you some
supper. You look more dead than alive, and the rain has soaked you
through and through. Dear, dear! you’ll catch your death o’ cold!”
She raised the wanderer’s head as she spoke, and held the cup to her
lips.
It was eagerly drained to the last drop, and seemed to revive the poor
creature greatly.
Food was brought, and the babe devoured it as if half famished, but the
mother ate sparingly. She was evidently very ill, almost dying, thought
those about her, and hastened to do all in their power for her relief
and comfort.
Plainly she was, as Mrs. Kemper had said, no common tramp: there was
lady-like refinement in face, voice, and manner; her accent was pure,
her speech correct and even elegant, as, in answer to kindly inquiries,
she gave a brief account of the causes of her present sad condition.
At an early age she had been left an orphan and without any natural
protector; had married some three years ago, and two years later her
husband had died, leaving her penniless, in feeble health, and with a
babe to support. She had managed for a time to earn a scanty living by
needlework, but there was little demand for it where she lived, and
wages were very low; so, taking her child in her arms, she had set out
in search of other employment or a better location.
It had proved a long, weary quest, and here she was, in utter
destitution and about, she greatly feared, to die, and leave her
helpless babe with none to love or care for it.
With the last words a great sob burst from her bosom; and clasping the
little creature close,
“Ah my darling, my little Ethel, if I might but take you with me!” she
moaned in anguish.
“Ah now don’t take on so,” Irene said kindly. “You’ll be better
to-morrow. Walking all day in the cold, and gettin’ wet too, it’s no
wonder you’re down-hearted like; but cheer up, you’ll get over it and
find work, and maybe see as good days as ever you did.”
The wanderer thanked her with a grateful look, as she continued
silently to caress Ethel; the child, no longer cold and hungry, hanging
about her mother’s neck, stroking her face lovingly, and prattling in
innocent glee.
Mrs. Kemper watched her with delighted, longing eyes, the tears
starting to them once and again.
“What a lovely, darling little creature she is!” she whispered to her
husband; “just the age our Nellie was.” And then she added a few words
in a still lower tone.
He nodded acquiescence; and turning to the mother, said that he and his
wife would like to adopt the child and bring it up as their own; that
they would do so if she would at once give it up entirely to them.
A look of mingled grief and terror came over her face at the bare
suggestion. She clutched her treasure in a death-like grasp.
“No, no! how could I? how could I?” she cried, “my baby! my precious
baby! my all! no, no, never, never!”
“Take time to consider,” he said soothingly. “I am sorry to distress
you, but, as you have yourself said, your child will soon need another
protector, and it is very unlikely that another will be readily found
to do as well by her as we would.”
“But wait--wait till I am gone!” she moaned. “She is my all, my all!
Oh, ’tis hard to die and leave her! My baby, my baby, your mother’s
heart will break!” and the tears fell like rain on the wondering little
face upturned to hers.
“Don’t ky, Ethel’s mamma! Ethel love ’oo!” cooed the babe, lifting her
dress to wipe away the tears, while with the other arm she clung about
her neck, then kissing her wet cheek again and again.
Mrs. Kemper, with great tears of sympathy rolling down her own cheeks,
knelt at the wanderer’s side, and, taking one thin hand in hers, said:
“I feel for you, my poor, poor friend! I do indeed. I know a mother’s
heart, for I once had a little one like this, and when death snatched
her from me I would gladly have gone down into the grave with her, for
she was my only one. That was ten years ago. I have never had another,
and it is not likely I ever shall; and now when you feel that you must
leave this darling, will you not let me have her to fill the vacant
place in my heart--in _our_ hearts and home, for my husband will love
her dearly too, and be a good father to her?”
“Oh, gladly, when--when I am gone!”
“But we cannot wait; we must go on our journey in another hour. And
it will be to you only parting a little sooner; for her good too. You
cannot be selfish where your dear child is concerned.”
“No, no, God knows I would suffer anything for her. I love her better
than my own soul. But I cannot give her up till--I must. Have pity,
have pity! she is all I have left--parents, sister, husband, home,
all--everything gone but her--my precious, precious baby! Oh, don’t,
don’t ask me to let her go from my arms while I live!” she pleaded in
heart-broken accents, and with bitter sobs and tears.
“We would not if it could be helped,” sobbed Mrs. Kemper, “but it
cannot; and for her sake you will give her to us now?”
Mr. Kemper joined his arguments and entreaties to those of his wife.
They engaged to do all in their power for the well-being and happiness
of the little one, treating her in every respect as if she were their
own offspring, on the one condition that she should be given up
entirely to them, never to be claimed by any one--even a near relative,
or the mother herself, should she by any possibility survive.
Mr. Kemper had torn a leaf from his note-book, and, with pen and ink
furnished by Irene, had drawn up a deed of gift to that effect, which
he was urging the mother to sign.
“No, no! I can never, _never_ agree to _that_!” she cried in reference
to the last stipulation. “Live without my own precious child! never,
never!”
“A mere form,” he said. “You cannot live many days, my good woman; do
you not feel that it is so?”
She but clasped her child closer, while her whole frame shook with the
violence of her emotion. She seemed almost ready to expire with the
mental anguish superadded to her great physical prostration.
At length the distant rumble of an approaching train was heard.
“There, you have but a moment left for decision,” said the gentleman;
“that is the train we must take. Will you sacrifice your child’s
welfare or your own feelings?”
She was now seated beside the table, her child asleep in her arms.
He laid the deed of gift he had made out before her as he spoke, and
put a pen between her fingers.
She lifted her eyes to his with a look of wild anguish fit to move a
heart of stone.
He simply pointed to the unconscious babe.
She looked at it, seized the pen, hurriedly scrawled a name at the foot
of the deed, and fell back fainting.
But the shrill whistle of the locomotive and the thunder of the train
close at hand aroused her.
“We must go now; let me take her,” Mrs. Kemper was saying in tones
tremulous with great compassion. “I will love her dearly, dearly; I
will cherish her as the apple of my eye. Let me wrap this warm shawl
around her.”
“No, Dolly, I’ll carry her,” Mr. Kemper said, in a tone of
half-suppressed delight, as he finished buttoning up his overcoat after
safely depositing the note-book, with the deed of gift, in an inner
pocket.
But silently the mother put them both aside. There was agony in her
wan, emaciated face. She could not speak for the choking in her throat;
but she strained the child to her heart, laid her cold white cheek to
its warm and rosy face and kissed it passionately again and again.
“We must go,” repeated Mrs. Kemper. “Oh, my heart aches for you, but we
_must_ go!”
“We must indeed, poor thing! there’s not a moment to be lost,” added
Mr. Kemper, taking the child from her with gentle force. “Here, this
will supply your needs while you live, I think,” putting a roll of
notes into her hand.
She dropped them as if a serpent had stung her, and with a wild cry
rushed after him, as, hastily wrapping a shawl about the infant, he ran
with it toward the train, his wife close behind him.
They had already tarried almost too long; had scarcely time to gain the
platform of the nearest car ere the train swept swiftly on its way.
“My child, my child! give me back my child!” shrieked the distracted
mother, pursuing with outstretched arms, the storm beating pitilessly
on her uncovered head, her long, dark hair streaming in the wind.
For a moment she seemed to fly over the ground, love and despair
lending her unnatural strength and speed; the next--as the train was
lost to sight in the depths of the forest--she tottered and would have
fallen but for the strong arm of a kindly switchman, who, hastily
setting down his lantern, sprang forward just in time to save her.
“She’s in a dead faint, poor thing!” he muttered to himself. “Here,
Bill,” to a comrade, “take a holt and help me to carry her into the
depot.”
“Who is she, Jack? an’ what ails her?” asked Bill, hurrying up and
holding his lantern high, while he peered curiously into the white,
unconscious face.
“No time to talk till we git her in out o’ the wet,” returned Jack
gruffly.
They laid her down on the settee.
“She’s a human critter and in sore trouble, that’s all I know,”
remarked Jack quietly, drawing his coat-sleeve across his eyes as the
two stood gazing upon the pitiful sight.