Cast Adrift

_A COLD_ wet drizzling rain was beginning to fall when Pinky Swett emerged from the house. Twilight was gathering drearily. She drew her thin shawl closely, and shivered as the...

_FOR_ an hour Mrs. Bray waited the reappearance of Pinky Swett, but the girl did not come back. At the end of this time a package which had been left at the door was brought to...

_MR. DINNEFORD_ had become deeply interested in the work that was going on in Briar street, and made frequent visits to the mission house. Sometimes he took heart in the work, b...

_THE_ reception of young Granger was as cordial as Mrs. Dinneford chose to make it. She wanted to get near enough to study his character thoroughly, to discover its weaknesses a...

_SO_ the morning found them fast asleep. The man awoke first and felt the child against his bosom, soft and warm. It was some moments ere he understood what it meant. It seemed...

It was not without a feeling of almost unconquerable repugnance that Mr. Dinneford took his way to the mission-house, in Briar street. His tastes, his habits and his naturally k...

_MRS. HOYT_, _alias_ Bray, found Pinky Swett, but she did not find the poor cast-off baby. Pinky had resolved to make it her own capital in trade. She parleyed and trifled with...

_EDITH'S_ life, as we have seen, became lost, so to speak, in charities. Her work lay chiefly with children, She was active in mission-schools and in two or three homes for frie...

_THE_ two girls, on leaving the “Hawk's Nest” with their plunder, did not pass from the narrow private alley into the small street at its termination, but hurried along the way...

“Oh, want something to warm you up.” Norah brought out a bottle of spirits. Pinky poured a glass nearly half full, added some water, and then drank off the fiery mixture.

“_I TAKE_ reproof to myself,” said Mr. Dinneford. “As one of your board of managers, I ought to have regarded my position as more than a nominal one. I understand better now wha...

_FOR_ weeks the search for Andy was kept up with unremitting vigilance, but no word of him came to the anxious searchers. A few days after the meeting with Mrs. Bray, the police...

“Oh, she's a policy-drunkard,” answered Pinky, loud enough to be heard by the woman, who, as if surprised or alarmed, stopped and turned her head, her veil falling partly away,...

_MEANTIME_, obeying the unwelcome summons, Mrs. Dinneford had gone to see Mrs. Bray. She found her in a small third-story room in the lower part of the city, over a mile away fr...

The young mother lay with her white face to the wall, still as death. A woman opened the chamber door noiselessly and came in, the faint rustle of her garments disturbing the qu...

_AS_ for Edith, all doubts and questionings as to her baby's fate were merged into a settled conviction that it was alive, and that her mother knew where it was to be found. Fro...

_OUT_ of this furnace Edith came with a new and purer spirit. She had been thrust in a shrinking and frightened girl; she came out a woman in mental stature, in feeling and self...

_NOTHING_ of all this was communicated to Edith. After a few weeks of prostration strength came slowly back to mind and body, and with returning strength her interest in her old...

_FOR_ more than a week after Edith's call on Dr. Radcliffe she seemed to take but little interest in anything, and remained alone in her room for a greater part of the time, exc...

_ONE_ morning, about two weeks later, Mr. Freeling did not make his appearance at his place of business as usual. At ten o'clock a clerk went to the hotel where he boarded to le...

_WHEN_ Mr. Dinneford and the policeman sent by the mayor at his solicitation visited Grubb's court, the baby was not to be found. The room in which it had been seen by Mr. Pauld...

“_IT_ is a splendid boy,” said the nurse as she came in with the new-born baby in her arms, “and perfect as a bit of sculpture. Just look at that hand.”

_NO_ other result than the one that followed could have been hoped for. The strain upon Edith was too great. After the funeral of her mother mind and body gave way, and she pass...

_IT_ was past midday when Mr. Dinneford returned home after his fruitless search. Edith, who had been waiting for hours in restless suspense, heard his step in the hall, and ran...

_EVERY_ home for friendless children, every sin or poverty-blighted ward and almost every hovel, garret and cellar where evil and squalor shrunk from observation were searched f...

_THE_ police were at fault. They found Pinky Swett, but were not able to find the baby. Careful as they were in their surveillance, she managed to keep them on the wrong track a...

_AS_ Edith glanced up, on arriving before their residence, she saw for a moment her mother's face at the window. It vanished like the face of a ghost, but not quick enough to pr...

_DAY_ after day Mr. Dinneford waited for the woman who was to restore the child of Edith, but she did not come. Over a week elapsed, but she neither called nor sent him a sign o...

_ABOUT_ the same hour that Edith entered the boys' ward of the children's hospital, Mr. Dinneford met Granger face to face in the street. The latter tried to pass him, but Mr. D...

charities--A dreadful sight--A sick babe in the arms of a half-drunken woman--“Is there no law to meet such cases?”---“The poor baby has no vote!”--Edith seeks for the grave of...

to the nearest station-house--Mrs. Dinneford visits Mrs. Bray again--Fresh alarms--“She's got you in her power”---“Money is of no account”--The knock at the door--Mrs. Dinneford...

gave that baby was here yesterday”--The woman must be put out of the way--Exit Mrs. Dinneford, enter Pinky Swett--“You know your fate--New Orleans and the yellow fever”--“All I...

dollars--“Poor baby! I must see better to its comfort”--Pinky meets a young girl from the country--The “Ladies' Restaurant”--Fried oysters and sangaree--The “bindery” girl--“My...

desire to teach the children of the poor--“My baby may become like one of these”--She hears of a baby which has been stolen--Resolves to go and see it, and to apply to Mr. Pauld...

blunder--The end of a “policy-drunkard”--Pinky and her friend in consultation over “a cast-off baby in Dirty alley”--“If you can't get hush-money out of its mother, you can blee...

family doctor--Cast adrift--Into the world in a basket, unnamed and disowned--Edith's second struggle back to life--Her mind a blank--Granger convicted of forgery--Seeks to gain...

between life and death--“Your baby is in heaven”--A brief retrospect--A marriage for social position--An ambitious wife and a disappointed husband--The young daughter--The matri...

attempted rescue of a child from cruel beating--The fight--Pinky's arrest--Appearance of the “queen”--Pinky's release at her command--The queen's home--The screams of children b...

is somebody's baby, and it may be mine”--An unsuspected listener--Mrs. Dinneford acts promptly--Conference between Mrs. Dinneford and Mrs. Hoyt, _alias_ Bray--The child must be...

business--Examination of his bank accounts--It is discovered that he has borrowed largely of his friends--Mrs. Dinneford has supplied him $20,000 from her private purse--Mrs. Di...

Jake--The harvest of the thieves and beggars--Inconsiderate charity--Beggary a vice--“The deserving poor are never common beggars”--“To help the evil is to hurt the good” The ma...

trial of sharpness, in which neither gains the advantage--Mr. Dinneford receives a call from a lady--The lady, who is Mrs. Bray, offers information--Mr. Dinneford surprises her...

disapproves of Edith's charitable visits--Mrs. Dinneford meets Freeling by appointment at a hotel--“There's trouble brewing”--“A letter from George Granger”--Accused of conspira...

the present with the past--The first mission-school--Reminiscences of the school in its early days--The zealous scholar--Good effects of the mission--“Get the burning brands apa...

baby--The baby is gone--Inquiries--Mr. Dinneford resolves to persevere--Cause of the baby's disappearance--Pinky Swett's curiosity--Change of baby's nurse--Baby's improved condi...

on the way--Encounters Mr. Paulding--Mr. Paulding makes his report--“The vicious mark their offspring with unmistakable signs of moral depravity; this baby has signs of a better...

Swett sentenced to prison for robbery--Baby's improved condition--Mrs. Burke's efforts to retain the baby after Pinky Swett's imprisonment--Baby Andy's rough life in the street-...

promised--Peril to Andrew Hall through loss of the child--Help--Edith longs to see or write to Granger, but does not--Edith encounters Mrs. Bray in the street--“Where is my baby...

and warm”--Led by a little child--“God being my helper, I will be a man again”--A new life--Meeting of an old friend--A friend in need--Food, clothes, work--A new home--God's st...

letter--It is missed--A scene of wild excitement--Mrs. Dinneford's sudden death--Edith reads the letter--A revelation--“Innocent!”--Edith is called to her mother--“Dead, and bet...

destruction of Granger--Starting in business--Plots of Mrs. Dinneford and Freeling--The discounted notes--The trap--Granger's suspicions aroused--Forgery--Mrs. Dinneford relentl...