Honey-Sweet Part 4

Anne's laughter shook the teardrops from her lashes. "Why, Miss Drayton," she replied, "I thought you knew. Aunt Charity is black. She was my nurse. She and Uncle Richard--he's her husband--lived with us from the time I can remember."

"Oh!" said Miss Drayton. "But cousins? Those people you talk about and call cousin--Marjorie and Patsy and Dorcas and d.i.c.k and Cornelius and the others--they are real cousins, aren't they? Do you know how near?

First? or second? or third?"

Anne looked perplexed. "There are a lot of cousins. Yes, Miss Drayton, they're real. I don't know what kin any of them are. I call them 'cousin' because mother did. They lived near home--five or six or ten miles away. And they'd spend a day or week with us. And we'd go to see them."

"Oh! Virginia cousins!" Mrs. Patterson laughed. "Some time you and I'll go to see them and take Honey-Sweet, won't we?--Sarah, Sarah! Let's not make any more investigations. Wait, like our old friend, Mr. Micawber, for 'something to turn up.'"

The mails were watched with interest for the promised letter from the New York police, but day after day pa.s.sed without bringing it. The American party lingered at the Liverpool hotel. Mrs. Patterson pleaded each day that she needed to rest a little longer before making the journey to Nantes. The doctor, called in to prescribe for her, looked grave and suggested that she consult a certain famous physician in Paris.

Miss Drayton was so disturbed about her sister's illness that she paid little attention to Pat and Anne. The children, left to their own devices, wandered about the streets in a way that would have been thought shocking had any one thought about the matter.

Once when Anne was walking with Pat and again when she was driving with Mrs. Patterson and Miss Drayton, she caught a glimpse of the steerage pa.s.senger who had spoken to her on the dock, and felt that he was watching her. And then he spoke to her. It was one morning when she had gone out alone to buy some picture postcards. She stopped to look in a shop window, and when she turned, there at her elbow stood the man in blue overalls.

"Wait a minute," he said, in a strained, m.u.f.fled voice, as she started to walk on. "Do you want news of your uncle?"

"Of course I do," she answered in surprise.

"I can give you news. Walk this afternoon to the bridge beyond the shop where you buy lollipops. Tell no one what I say. No one. If you do, some great harm will come to your uncle. Will you come?--alone?"

"If I can."

"If you do not, you may never hear of your uncle again. Never."

"Who are you? Do you know Uncle Carey? Tell me--"

"Not now. Not here," he said hurriedly, glancing at the people coming and going on the street. "This afternoon. Will you come?"

"Yes."

"Tell no one. Promise."

"I promise."

He hurried away, and Anne stood quite still, with a strange, bewildering fear at her heart. Then she turned--picture postcards had lost all their charm--and went back to the hotel.

CHAPTER VII

That afternoon Pat went sight-seeing with a new-made friend, Darrell Connor, and his father. While Anne was hesitating to ask permission to go out, fearing to be refused or questioned, the matter was settled in the simplest possible way. Miss Drayton coaxed her sister to lie down on the couch in the pleasant sitting-room.

"I will draw the curtains," she said; "perhaps if it be dark and quiet, you will fall asleep. Anne, you may sit in your bedroom or take your doll for a walk."

"Honey-Sweet and her little mother look as if they needed fresh air,"

said Mrs. Patterson, smiling faintly.

Excited and vaguely troubled, but walking straight with head erect, Anne went to the bridge. Against the railing leaned a familiar figure in blue overalls and slouch hat. No one else was near. The man turned.

"Nancy pet--" it was her uncle's name for her and it was her uncle's voice that spoke. "Those people are good to you? They will take care of you till--while you are alone?"

"Uncle Carey, Uncle Carey! It _is_ you!"

"Yes, it is I. Don't come nearer, dear. Stand by the railing with your doll. Don't speak till those people pa.s.s. Now listen, little Anne. I am hiding from men who want to put me in prison. I can't tell you about it. Some day you will know. Oh, Lord! some day you must know all. Think of Uncle Carey sometimes, dear, and keep on loving him.

Remember how we used to sit in the sleepy-hollow chair and tell fairy tales. My Nancy pet! Poor little orphan baby! It is hard to leave you alone--dependent--among strangers. Here! This little package is for you.

Lucky I forgot and left it in my pocket after I took it out of the safety deposit box. Everything else is gone. What will you do with it?

No, no! you can't carry it in your hand. Here!" He tore a strip from his handkerchief, knotted it around the little package, and tied it under her doll's skirts. "Be careful of it, dear. They're not of great value, but they were your mother's."

While he was speaking, Anne stood dazed. The world seemed upside down.

Could that rough-bearded man in shabby clothes be handsome, fastidious Uncle Carey? Ah! there was the dear loving voice, there were the dear loving eyes. She threw her arms around her uncle and he pressed her close while she kissed him again and again.

"Uncle Carey," she cried, "I've wanted you so bad. But why do you look so--so different? What makes all that hair on your face? It--it isn't pretty and it scratches my cheek." She rubbed the reddened skin with her forefinger.

"You must not tell any one that you have seen me. Not any one. Do you understand?" her uncle spoke hurriedly. "If people find out that I am here, they will hunt me up and put me in prison."

"Not Mrs. Patterson, uncle, nor Pat, nor Miss Drayton. They are too good. Mayn't I tell them?"

"No, no!"

"Uncle! they wouldn't hurt you. And it's such hard work to keep a secret."

"Ah, poor child! And it may be a long, long time," considered Mr. Mayo.

Then he asked suddenly, "Where are you going from here? Do you know these ladies' plans?"

"To spend the winter in France. The name of the place is like mine.

Nan--Nan--No! not Nancy."

"Nantes?"

"Yes, uncle. Nantes. That's it."

"When you get to Nantes, then, you may tell your friends about seeing me."

Through the fog a policeman loomed in view, coming leisurely down the quiet street.

"I must go," Mr. Mayo said hurriedly. "Good-by, Nancy pet."

Anne caught his hand in both of hers. "Oh, uncle!" she cried. "Don't go.

I want you. I want to go with you."

"Dear little one! What a fool I was! oh, what a fool! Good-by!"

He kissed her and was gone. Anne stood motionless, silent, looking after him as he hurried down a by-street.

"Did 'ee beg off you, my little leddy?" asked the friendly policeman, as he came up. "'As that dirty fellow frighted you?"