“All right, I’ll leave that with you.”
There was after that a long conversation over the ’phone between Benson and Nathans.
The Jew agreed to come in the morning and meet the trio, and he would swear away the freedom of Tom Cooper.
Nellie turned uneasily upon her bed. It had been her custom for many years to sleep late in the morning, Biddy refusing to break the slumber of “the sweet young thing,” and telling Tom when he argued that it was for the girl’s good that she should be made to work, that it was the place of an Irish Biddy to do hard work, and that Nellie should sleep.
But this morning she could not rest. She heard the whispering and talking between her two friends outside, so she got up and dressed just as Tom was taking a lot of papers from an old trunk.
“What are you doing, Tom?” asked she curiously.
Tom raised his head and the girl hardly recognized her lover.
“Something has happened to you,” she ejaculated. “I know, Tom; don’t shake your head at me.”
“We are going away from here, Nellie,” said he hoarsely, “you, Biddy and I.”