For whose sake? / A sequel to "Why did he wed her?"

by Emma Dorothy Eliza Nevitte Southworth

Nor was there any money found. Her very last dollar had been paid away for her last week’s board, and there was nothing left to satisfy the claims of the doctor or the nurse, to pay the funeral expenses or to provide for the orphan twins.

There was no end of gossip in the house. Dress, fashion, operas, even mining stocks were temporarily forgotten in the discussion of this sad and strange event. It was then decided among the worldly wise that the name Mannikin was only an assumed one, that the husband had deserted the wife, or more probably, the destroyer had abandoned his prey.

Human nature, sinful as it is called, is nowhere quite heartless.

A purse was made up among the people of the house to defray the expenses of the young stranger’s funeral. And on the fifth day after her death her remains were laid in the Lone Mountain Cemetery.

The motherless babes were taken in charge by the monthly nurse, a Mrs. Mally, who, in a fit of benevolence that did not last long, adopted them and carried them to her own home.

The personal effects of the poor dead young mother, which were not of much value indeed, but which might have been detained by the proprietors of the hotel for the last few days of unpaid board, were given by them into the keeping of Nurse Mally, either for the benefit of the babes or of any claimant who might prove to have the best right to them.

As for the ministering physician, like most of the men of his humane profession, he waived all claim to remuneration for his services.

Mrs. Mally soon found the pursuit of her own regular calling and the care of the orphaned infants too much for her “nerves.”

Sin is the outcome of so many causes—hereditary, taint, faulty training, temptation and opportunity.

Mrs. Mally was affected by all these. She slowly made up her mind to keep the dead mother’s wardrobe, trinkets and books and to dispose of the babies. She would not hurt them; not for the world! But she would put them in a haven where, in truth, they would be much better taken care of than by any poor, hard-working woman like herself.