Jane Cable | Page 9

and I'll pay
for the advice, if it isn't too expensive. I'm very poor, Mr. Bansemer;
perhaps you won't care to heip me after you know that I can't afford to
pay very much."
"We'll see about that later," he said brusquely; "go ahead with the
story."
The young woman hesitated, glanced nervously at her sister as if for
support, and finally faced the expectant lawyer with a flash of
determination in her dark eyes. As she proceeded, Bansemer silently
and somewhat disdainfully made a study of the speaker. He concluded
that she was scarcely of common origin and was the possessor of a
superficial education that had been enlarged by conceitedness;
furthermore, she was a person of selfish instincts, but without the usual
cruel impulses. There was little if any sign of true refinement in the
features, and yet, there was a strange strength of purpose that puzzled
him. As her story progressed, he solved the puzzle. She had the
strength to carry out a purpose that might further her own personal
interests; but not the will to endure sacrifice for the sake of another.
Her sister was larger and possessed a reserve that might have been
mistaken for deepness. He felt that she was hardly in sympathy with the
motives of the younger, more volatile woman.
"My husband is a railroad engineer and is ten years older than I," the
narrator said in the beginning. "I wasn't quite nineteen when we were
married--two years ago. For some time, we got along all right; then we
began to quarrel. He commenced to---"
"Mr. Bansemer is in a hurry, Fan," broke in the older sister, sharply;
and then, repeating the lawyer's words: "Be as brief as possible."
There was a world of reproach in the look which greeted the speaker.
Evidently, it was a grievous disappointment not to be allowed to linger
over the details.

"Well," she continued half pettishly; "it all ended by his leaving home,
job and everything. I had told him that I was going to apply for a
divorce. For three months I never heard from him."
"Did you apply for a divorce?" asked the lawyer, stifling a yawn.
"No, sir, I did not, although he did nothing towards my support." The
woman could not resist a slightly coquettish attempt to enlist
Bansemer's sympathy. "I obtained work at St. Luke's Hospital for
Foundlings, and after that, as a governess. But, once a week I went
back to the asylum to see the little ones. One day, they brought in a
beautifully dressed baby--a girl. She was found on a doorstep, and in
the basket was a note asking that she be well cared for; with it, was a
hundred dollar bill. The moment I saw the little thing, I fell in love with
her. I made application and they gave me the child with the
understanding that I was to adopt it. You see, I was lonely--I had been
living alone for nine or ten months. The authorities knew nothing of my
trouble with Mr. Cable--that's my husband, David Cable. The child was
about a month old when I took her to his mother, whom I hadn't seen in
months. I told Mrs. Cable that she was mine. The dear old lady
believed me; half the battle was won." She paused out of breath, her
face full of excitement.
"And then?" he asked, once more interested.
"We both wrote to David asking him to come home to his wife and
baby." She looked away guiltily. For a full minute, Bansemer did not
speak.
"The result?" he demanded.
"He came back last month."
"Does he know the truth?"
"No, and with God's help, he never shall! It's my only salvation!" she
exclaimed emotionally. "He thinks she is his baby and--and---" The
tears were on her cheeks, now. "I worship him, Mr. Bansemer! Oh,
how good and sweet he has been to me since he came back! Now, don't
you see why I must adopt this child, and why he must never know? If
he learned that I had deceived him in this way, he would hate me to my
dying day."
The infant was awake and staring at him with wide, blue eyes.
"And you want me to handle this matter so that your husband will be
none the wiser?"

"Oh, Mr. Bansemer," she cried; "it means everything to me! All
depends on this baby. I must adopt her, or the asylum people won't let
me keep her. Can't it be done so quickly that he'll never find it out?"
"How many people know that the child is not yours?"
"My sister and the authorities at the asylum; not another soul."
"It is possible to arrange the adoption, Mrs. Cable, but I can't guarantee
that Mr. Cable will not