"Hang the woman!" he growled. "Did yez—"
A voice called from the lower hall: "Hey, Billy! she ain't in there. She give us the slip, sure."
The keeper withdrew his head, growling. In the street the hue and cry was raised; a prisoner had escaped.
When all was quiet, Mrs. Kane opened the bedroom door. She had a dark wrapper and an old gray shawl on her arm.
"Go," she said, not unkindly, and laid them on the bed; "Go to your child."
The woman caught at her hand with a sob, but she withdrew it hastily and went back to her baby's crib.
The moon shone upon the hushed streets, when a woman, hooded in a gray shawl, walked rapidly down Fifth Street, eying the tenements with a searching look as she passed. On the stoop of one, a knot of mothers were discussing their household affairs, idling a bit after the day's work. The woman halted in front of the group, and was about to ask a question, when one of the women arose with the exclamation:—
"Mother of God! it's Mame."
"Well," said the woman, testily, "and what if it is? Am I a spook that ye need stare at me so? Ye knowed me well enough before. Where is Will?"
There was no answer. The women looked at one another irresolutely. None of them seemed to know what to say. It was the newcomer who broke the silence again.