第52章

"You know,Bishop,"I said,shutting my eyes and speaking fast to get it over--as I imagine you must,Mag,when you confess to Father Phelan--"that was all a--a little farce-comedy--the whole business--all of it--every last word of it!""A comedy!"

I opened my eyes to laugh at him;he was so bewildered.

"I mean a--a fib;in fact,many of them.I--I was just--it was long ago--and I had to make you believe--"His soft old eyes looked at me unbelieving."You don't mean to say you deliberately lied!"Now,that was what I did mean--just what I did mean--but not in that tone of voice.

But what could I do?I just looked at him and nodded.

Oh,Maggie,I felt so little and so nasty!I haven't felt like that since I left the Cruelty.And I'm not nasty,Maggie,and I'm Fred Obermuller's wife,and--And that put a backbone in me again.Fred Obermuller's wife just won't let anybody think worse of her than she can help--from sheer love and pride in that big,clever husband of hers.

"Now,look here,Bishop Van Wagenen,"I broke out,"if I were the abandoned little wretch your eyes accuse me of being Iwouldn't be in your carriage confessing to you this blessed minute when it'd be so much easier not to.Surely--surely,in your experience you must have met girls that go wrong--and then go right for ever and ever,Amen.And I'm very right now.

But--but it has been hard for me at times.And at those times--ah,you must know how sincerely I mean it--at those times I used to try to recall the sound of your voice,when you said you'd like to take me home with you and keep me.If I had been your daughter you'd have had a heart full of loving care for me.

And yet,if I had been,and had known that benevolent fatherhood,I should need it less--so much less than I did the day I begged a prayer from you.But--it's all right now.You don't know--do you?--I'm Nance Olden."That made him sit up and stare,I tell you.Even the Bishop had heard of Nancy Olden.But suddenly,unaccountably,there came a queer,sad look over his face,and his eyes wouldn't meet mine.

I looked at him puzzled.

"Tell me what it is,"I said.

"You evidently forget that you have already told me you are the wife of Mr.--Mr.Ober--""Obermuller.Oh,that's all right."I laughed aloud.I was so relieved."Of course I am,and he's my manager,and my playwright,and my secretary,and--my--my dear,dear boy.

There!"I wasn't laughing at the end of it.I never can laugh when I try to tell what Fred is to me.

But--funny?--that won him.

"There!there!"he said,patting me on the shoulder."Forgive me,my dear.I am indeed glad to know that you are living happily.I have often thought of you--""Oh,have you?"

"Yes--I have even told Mrs.Van Wagenen about you and how I was attracted to you and believed--ahem!""Oh--oh,have you!"I gave a wriggle as I remembered that Maltese lace Maria wanted and that I--ugh!

But,luckily,he didn't notice.He had taken my hand and was looking at me over his spectacles in his dear,fatherly old way.

"Tell me now,my dear,is there anything that an old clergyman can do for you?I have an engagement near here and we may not meet again.I can't hope to find you in my carriage many more times.You are happy--you are living worthily,child?Pardon me,but the stage--"Oh,the gentle courtesy of his manner!I loved his solicitude.

Father-hungry girls like us,Maggie,know how to value a thing like that.

"You know,"I said slowly,"the thing that keeps a woman straight and a man faithful is not a matter of bricks and mortar nor ways of thinking nor habits of living.It's something finer and stronger than these.It's the magic taboo of her love for him and his for her that makes them--sacred.With that to guard them--why--""Yes,yes,"he patted my hand softly."Still,the old see the dangers of an environment that a young and impulsive woman like you,my dear,might be blind to.Your associates--""My associates?Oh,you've heard about Beryl Blackburn.

Well--she's--she's just Beryl,you know.She wasn't made to live any different.Some people steal and some drink and some gamble and some .Well,Beryl belongs to the last class.She doesn't pretend to be better than she is.And,just between you and me,Bishop,I've more respect for a girl of that kind than for Grace Weston,whose husband is my leading man,you know.Why,she pulls the wool over his eyes and makes him the laughing-stock of the company.I can't stand her any more than I can Marie Avon,who's never without two strings--"All at once I stopped.But wasn't it like me to spoil it all by bubbling over?I tell you,Maggie,too much truth isn't good for the Bishop's set;--they don't know how to digest it.

I was afraid that I'd lost him,for he spoke with a stately little primness as the carriage just then came to a stop;I had been so interested talking that I hadn't noticed where we were driving.

"Ah,here we are!"he said."I must ask you to excuse me,Miss--ah,Mrs.--that is--there's a public meeting of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children this afternoon that Imust attend.Good-by,then--"

"Oh,are you bound for the Cruelty,too?"I asked."Why,so am I.And--yes--yes--that's the Cruelty!"The Cruelty stands just where it did,Mag,when you and I first saw it;most things do in Philadelphia,you know.There's the same prim,official straight up-and-downness about the brick front.The steps don't look so steep now and the building's not so high,perhaps because of a skyscraper or two that've gone up since.But it chills your blood,Maggie darlin',just as it always did,to think what it stands for.Not man's inhumanity to man,but women's cruelty to children!Maggie,think of it,if you can,as though this were the first time you'd heard of such a thing!Would you believe it?

I waked from that to find myself marching up the stairs behind the Bishop's rigid little back.Oh,it was stiff and uncompromising!Beryl Blackburn did that for me.Poor,pretty,pagan Beryl!