Norton, Andre - Novel 39 (25 page)

 
          
 
Sallie shook her head. "You don't know,
miss." Her bruised face twisted. "You don't know as to what they
did!"

 
          
 
"You will tell me, Sallie. But do not try
to talk now, child. It will all come right, I promise you it will!"

 
          
 
Sallie's head still shook but she settled back
against the seat, and when Hester again put her arm about her, she sighed and
relaxed.

           
 
Hester again commandeered the aid of the
cabman to get Sallie up to the door of the Jekyll house. The door opened before
Hester knocked and Bertha swept forward to help the half-fainting girl. It took
a while before Sallie was settled in the morning room, sipping at a cup of tea
loaded with honey, which Hester held for her since the girl's hands shook so
she could not control them.

 
          
 
A loud knock on the outer door resounded
through the hallway outside the half-open door and Sallie screamed, striking
out so that the hot tea spattered across Hester's gown.

 
          
 
"
They's
come!
They'll take me! Oh, miss." She clutched at Hester in a grip that carried
the pressure of her fingers through the material of Hester's sleeve to cut into
the flesh beneath.

 
          
 
For a moment or so Sallie's fear was so
contagious that Hester wondered if the girl was speaking the truth. Could
whoever had so mishandled the child followed her across the city to threaten
her here? She bitterly regretted the loss of Bradshaw.

 
          
 
Bertha had disappeared and now she came back.
"I looked through the window, miss. It's Mr. Prothore," she reported.

 
          
 
"Let him in at once."

 
          
 
"Miss?"
Sallie's hold grew even more desperate. Gently Hester pried the girl's fingers
loose.

 
          
 
"It is all right, Sallie. This gentleman
is a friend. I will stay with you until Bertha comes back, and then I shall
have to leave you for just a little while. But you must not worry. You are
truly safe here."

 
          
 
When she first saw Albert Prothore she knew
for a single instant a silly desire to throw herself at him much as Sallie had
done to her on Mrs. Kirby's doorstep. There was something about this rather
stiff-appearing young man in his very correct morning coat that suggested the
safety of normal life. She had confidence in what he might offer for Sallie's
case.

 
          
 
However, it would seem that he had come full
of news himself.

 
          
 
"I have heard from the inspector,"
he said so swiftly after he had spoken a formal greeting that she had no time
for her own story. Instead she knew a sudden thrust of fear. What new trouble
was going to descend upon her as thick as a fog?

 
          
 
"He believes now that the body was taken
from Hyde's coffin by Resurrection men—"

 
          
 
"Resurrection men?" she repeated
without understanding.

 
          
 
"A nasty business," Prothore said
quickly. "One that should not be mentioned to a lady, but I knew that it
might in some manner relieve your mind to know. Bodies have many times in the
past been taken secretly from newly interred coffins and sold to unethical
medical persons for the purpose of dissection. It was once a very prevalent
practice. So much so that families were obliged to provide guards for graves to
prevent it. Now it only happens occasionally, but two bodies have been taken
during the past three years from graves not too far from Hyde's. So that could
logically explain
his own
vacant coffin."

 
          
 
"I see—" Hester began, when, without
a knock, Bertha came into the hall from the morning room.

 
          
 
"Please, miss," she said
breathlessly. "It's
Sallie,
she's gone all to
pieces."

 
          
 
"Sallie! Oh—" Without realizing that
she was doing so, Hester reached out and laid her hand on Prothore's arm.
"Please, you will think that I bring nothing but difficulties to you but
this is something ... I think something horrible! Can you find time to listen
to—
"

 
          
 
He did not allow her to complete the sentence.
Instead his other hand closed warmly over hers where it lay upon his arm and he
came at once with them.

 
          
 
Within the morning room Sallie was sunk far
down in the chair to which Hester had earlier guided her. She no longer cried,
made no sound at all. Hester swiftly disengaged herself from Prothore and
crossed to the girl's side. She slipped her hand under Sallie's chin and
brought her bruised face up into the light.

 
          
 
Sallie stared straight before her, giving no
indication that she was even aware of Hester's touch.

 
          
 
Hester went down on her knees and drew the
girl close.

 
          
 
"Sallie,
dear—Sallie!"

 
          
 
The girl's head turned slowly and this time
her eyes did focus on Hester. She tried to twist out of Hester's hold.

 
          
 
"You don't want to hold me, miss."
Her voice was steady but she spoke in an emotionless monotone. "I did
fight, miss, I did. But they
was
too much—so they made
me bad, real bad."

 
          
 
"Sallie, dear."
Hester spoke with all the warmth she could summon. "You are not
bad—remember that! You are not bad. Can—can you tell me what happened to
you?"

 
          
 
Sallie's eyes were still on Hester's face and
she spoke as might a young child reciting a lesson.

 
          
 
"I—I felt poorly, miss, 'cause I fell in
the kitchen, slipped on some spilled grease. Mrs. Kirby, she was upset— told me
to go and lie down. Mrs. Kirby, she is always kind to us, always!" There
was some emotion in that assertion, as if Sallie held to the thought
desperately.

 
          
 
"So I
laid
down
for a little; that Murch, she came up with a cup of something she said would
help the pain. I didn't drink it all—it tasted nasty—though I
knows
as 'ow things that are good for you usually do. But after
I drank that I got sleepy. Then—" She swallowed as if she were having
difficulty saying the words.

 
          
 
"And then . . .".Hester prompted.

 
          
 
"It was queer, like—like a dream, only it
was real. There was two of 'em—men. They talked a little in whispers but it
weren't any such words as I ever heard before. They had a big baglike thing an'
they put me in it. I couldn't move then, miss, I couldn't. It was like all my
bones 'ad melted like. An' I could make no noise, either. They carried me out
of the room but
I couldn't see nothin'
. There was
someone else there—a woman. She talked kind of muffled an' she used those other
words, too.

 
          
 
"I think they took me up to the roof,
miss.
Though that part is all muzzy.
An' when we come
down to the street again they must have 'ad a cab waitin'. We rode in that for
a while an' they didn't take any more notice of me then, as if I were a bundle
of wash or the like.

 
          
 
"The cab stopped an' when they lifted me
out the edge of the bag thing they had over my face fell off. I saw a street
lamp an' there was a sign, too. It said
Cadogan Square
. They carried me around the back of a big
house. There was a place there for carriages, I think.

 
          
 
"Somebody 'ad a door open an' they took
me in an' dropped me on the floor, 'ard. T'was then that I found I could move a
little, but when I tried to get out of the bag, somebody gave me a clout 'cross
my ear as made my 'ead ring an' I can't remember right after that.

 
          
 
"When I knew things ag'in I was on a bed.
An' he was there lookin' at me!"

 
          
 
The glassy stare came back into her eyes.

 
          
 
"'E was a
gentlemen
so 'e was. But 'e—'e was worse than m'dad, 'cause when I tried to fight 'im 'e
'it me. 'E—went to a table an' got a little whip, miss. An' then 'e used it. 'E
used it till I couldn't fight 'im anymore an' 'e did it, 'e used me, miss. An'
all the time 'e was talkin' 'bout what 'he was goin' to do to me—awful things,
miss. I knowed badness all my life but not such badness as that! Please, miss,
it's true— I fought 'im as long as I could. An' 'e kept sayin' as 'ow 'e liked
'em as 'ad spirit. An' 'e laughed, an' laughed! It is all true,
miss
, I swear it is so!"

 
          
 
"I believe you, Sallie." Hester felt
sick. She had heard of such things, even though no lady was supposed to know
that this filth existed. But to have it happen to someone like Sal-lie—

 
          
 
"
Cadogan Square
!" For the first time Prothore spoke.

 
          
 
"You do not know which house,
Sallie?" His tone when he addressed the shivering girl was gentle.

 
          
 
"No, sir.
But
'e—'e was dressed like a gentlman, 'e was.
'E 'ad a red silk
wrap 'bout 'im an' a fine shirt an' 'e talked grand like a real nob.
'E
'ad gray hair an' long wide whiskers alongside his jaws. An' there was a scar
under 'is one eye. I do remember true, sir.
Seems like I'll
never forget 'im—'e was a devil, so 'e was."

 
          
 
Suddenly Sallie's taut form relaxed in
Hester's hold. It was as if the telling of her slavery had released her from
some bondage.

 
          
 
"How did you get free,
Sallie?"
Hester asked quietly.

 
          
 
"Oh—that.
I was
so 'urted I could only think as 'ow I must get away before that one came back
again with 'is whip an' all. I was sure 'e locked the door, but all of a sudden
it opened an' a woman came in— Miss, this be truth—she was a lady an' she 'ad
been crying, 'er 'air was loose, it was gray an' atangle, but 'er robe was all
ruffles an' lace.

 
          
 
"She said I must come
quick
an' she was near as afraid as I were, miss. But she 'elped me get on my clothes
an' then she took me down the stairs an' through a place near a kitchen, I
think. Then she opened a back door as was bolted an' gave me a push out.

 
          
 
"Told me, she did, to go as quick as I
could 'cause she could not 'elp me anymore. I—walked an' I walked an' sometimes
I just fell down an' 'ad to wait till I was a bit rested. I knew if I could get
back to Mrs. Kirby she would 'elp. I don't know 'ow long I was walking so . .
."

 
          
 
"How can it be
possible!
"
Prothore was standing, staring at the wall as if he saw pictured there all
Sallie had told them.

 
          
 
Hester was quick to answer. "I propose to
believe Sallie, sir."

 
          
 
"Faulkner!" Prothore exclaimed.
"I had heard rumors, yes. But to believe any gentleman could sink that
low! Listen," he said now, directly to Hester. "Can you keep Sallie
here overnight? I am going to Newcomen. This certainly is of greater importance
than a plundered coffin. And I have been led to believe that if anyone can do
something, it will be the inspector. You know"—he looked at Hester now as
if he were seeking to offer apology—"I had heard that such things happen,
but I also believed that nine tenths of such stories were merely infamous
gossip. Gossip in certain circles can be extremely lurid and have little or no
foundation in fact. But this is one time when perhaps we can make sure that
such a crime will be answered for. As soon as I can I shall see you again,
Hester."