Rosas Quest | Page 6

her! Oh, my poor child! how can I bear to leave
her, and what will her future be?"
The moans of the poor, tortured mother, whose life was fast ebbing
away, were most piteous.
"Now, Mis' Browning, don't take on so; chirk up a bit! She's plenty old
enough to work and make her own livin'. Of course you couldn't expect
me to say I'd keep her. Land sakes! Grandpa's all I can manage now,
and he's gittin' worse and more tryin' every day. Why, jest this mornin'

when I wuz that busy I didn't know what to do a-finishin' up that sewin',
what should he do but stumble ag'in the coal pail and upset the whole
thing right on the floor, and jest after I'd scrubbed, too! Then I thought
I'd git rid of him a few minutes by sendin' him to the grocery. Of course
I never trust him with a cent of money. They know him at the corner
grocery, so it's all right; but it all comes of my credit a-bein' so good,
that's the reason. Well, I told him it wuz not necessary fer him to be
gone but fifteen minutes, but when he wuz gone twenty, I had to put
my work down and go after him. I'd better have gone in the first place.
That's always the way when I trust him fer anything, it jest makes it
that much harder fer me in the end. I had to go clean down the stairs,
and in some way twisted my ankle, so I ain't got over it yet; then I saw
him a-comin', but that slow, it made me real provoked. If he'd jest
a-hurried up a little, it would have saved me all that trouble. He said he
wuz tired, but I think I wuz the one to be tired, a-hurryin' down them
steps so, and a-gittin' hurt, too.
"Land sakes, Mis' Browning, I'd think you could see I have my hands
more'n full now, though I don't wonder you would like to have Rosa
brought up by me. I could train her mighty well, so as she'd know how
to do somethin'. She's old enough to work, and I'll keep an eye on her
and correct her whenever she needs it, and that'll be often. I'd think
you'd ought to be satisfied with that. There ain't many that'd take sech
an interest in a homeless little waif, I can tell you.
"You eat your supper now, and I'll tell Rosa to come home. That's one
thing she'll have to quit, a-wastin' so much time. What she sees in
grandpa is more'n I can tell, fer he ain't got a bit of sense. Often in the
night he wakes me up a-hollerin' and a-carryin' on a-thinkin' he's a boy
ag'in. There's not many as patient as I am, or they wouldn't put up with
it."
Every word was a knife thrust through the sensitive, bleeding heart of
the distracted mother.
"Oh," she thought, "that some one in this great, crowded city might
love my darling, and that she need not fall into the hands of this
woman!

"Mrs. Gray," she asked excitedly, and with an effort controlling the
great dry sobs which were choking her, "won't you promise me one
thing? Won't you keep Rosa at least till spring? What can my baby do
without a home and without a mother, especially when the weather is
so bitterly cold? The mere thought of such a possibility drives me
insane with fear and grief. She can run errands for you, and grandpa
loves her so. Do not deny me, for I am almost dead!"
Mrs. Gray half staggered backward, for never before had she heard Mrs.
Browning speak with such intensity. The dark eyes riveted upon her
conquered even this unfeeling heart, and before realizing the import of
her words, granted the request. "But," she added in the same breath,
"there ain't many that'd do it, I can tell you that."
"And be gentle with her, Mrs. Gray. She is so affectionate, she will
miss her mother and the love I have always bestowed upon her."
Thinking that other promises still more difficult to fulfill might be
exacted, Mrs. Gray hastily left the room.
"Thank God," the mother murmured falling back upon her pillow, "my
baby will have food and shelter at least till spring, but how she will
miss the love!"
The hot tears began coursing down the flushed cheeks, causing Rosa to
give a cry of alarm as she stepped up to the bedside.
"Mother dear, do you feel worse? Why do you cry?"
"My darling, mother is tired now and cannot talk. Pull the little table up
by the bed, then if I can eat some supper, we shall talk afterward. There