He would fain have kept his friend all night but Lorimer had engaged his room at a hotel. They were to meet as soon as possible in the morning.
Bethany Home was quite in the suburbs, reached by a walk after one had left the trolley. The house was a big rambling place to which there had been made several additions. It had been a gift from a benevolently disposed woman, with a small endowment that was occasionally added to. There was quite a spacious garden and an abundance of rose vines.
Yes, Mrs. Johnson was in and they were ushered into a large old fashioned apartment, scrupulously neat and formal. Mrs. Johnson was a somewhat portly woman turned of sixty, whose face had settled into severe lines, and she eyed her visitors rather suspiciously. 222
“I am Dr. Richards,” he began with a softening of the countenance, “and my friend Mr. Lorimer is a lawyer from New York who comes on a matter of business concerning a little girl who was an inmate of the Home until a little over a year ago—Marilla Bond.”
“Yes”—in a rather questioning manner.
Lorimer told his story and the surprise in the woman’s face was evident.
“What is of most importance is to learn whether there are any papers to substantiate the claim. One has to be careful in the legal matters.”
She seemed to consider. “Yes,” rather reluctantly. “The person who brought her here gave quite a box of papers and some trinkets to my safe keeping. We take charge of them until the girls are eighteen—then they have served out their time and are legally their own mistresses. Ours is quite a private institution and has no connection with the city, although it has a board of officers, of which I am president. Of course I keep watch over the girls who are bound-out. This Marilla has a very nice place. She was away all summer with the family. One of our managers 223 visited this Mrs. Borden on her return and found everything satisfactory and the child content.”
“Could we look over the papers?”
She seemed rather loth to produce them but she could find no excuse. She recalled the fact that she had seen Dr. Richards’ name in connection with the Children’s Hospital.