of her. So he said shortly:  

“Very well, I will see him at noon and let you know by the morning delivery if he has a place for you.” She turned to go but he detained her. “Here--wait! I will tell him that you are a cousin of mine. Do you understand?”  

She made no reply to this, but simply went out as swiftly and silently as possible. She was evidently as glad as he to be through with it. And Mr. Bigelow, after glancing at the Pine Lands correspondence and after a look at his watch, put on his hat and coat and left the office. It was not yet his lunch time, but when bent upon a benevolent errand Mr. Bigelow would hear of no delay; and recalling that Mr. Murray was usually on the point of leaving the club when he entered, he was willing even to hasten his lunch in order to make sure of a chat with him.  

And chat they did, those two powerful, public-spirited ones, over their cigars, of the questions of the day, handled as only masters of commerce could handle them; until at length--this from Mr. Bigelow, lighting a fresh cigar and speaking casually over his hollowed hands:  

“By the way, Murray, I have a cousin who is in a bad way--husband dead, and some children, and that sort of thing. I want to do a little something for her if I can. Could you give her any work?”  

“I'm afraid the best place I could offer would be behind the counter in my North Side store at three dollars a week or so.”  

“She'd be grateful for anything. It's a matter of keeping alive.”  

Mr. Murray was always glad of an opportunity to oblige Mr. Bigelow.  

“Send her around, with a letter, and I will do the best I can for her.”  

And thus did Mr. Bigelow free himself from an entangling alliance. He had now given the woman an opportunity to prove her worth; if after this she should stumble into dark ways, there would be only herself to blame. It had cost him considerable effort, to say nothing of his time; but had it not been worth while?  

CHAPTER II--Low Life  

Dear Mr. Halloran: Won't you come down to the Settlement Friday evening? The young men's class and the girls' class are going to entertain themselves, and Mr. Appleton Le Duc has promised to help them. I want to have another talk with you about George. We have 

 Prev. P 13/171 next