"No, Rose, I have got over my love for candy."
"Didn't you use to like it when you were a little girl?"
"Yes, Rose; but now make haste, for I have only a needleful of cotton left, and I want to finish this work to-night, if I can."
Rose put on her bonnet, and went downstairs, proud of the commission with which she was intrusted. She was actually going shopping, just as grown women do, and this gave her a feeling of dignity which made her carry her little form with unusual erectness. She little suspected that the danger which her brother and herself most dreaded lay in wait for her in the street beneath; that she was about to be torn from the pleasant home which she had begun to enjoy so much. Nor did Miss Manning suspect to what peril she was exposing her young charge, and what grief she was unconsciously laying up for Rufus and herself.
James Martin was lurking near the house, and had been lounging about there for three or four hours He had notified his employer in the morning that he had business in New York, and should be unable to work that day. He had also given notice to his landlady that he expected to bring his daughter home that night, and he wanted her to prepare accommodations for her.
With the design of procuring her he had come over and repaired to Franklin Street; but Rose and Miss Manning seldom stirred out in the morning, and he had watched and waited in vain until now. He had made several visits to a neighboring groggery and indulged in potations which helped to while away the time, but he was getting very impatient, when, to his great joy, he saw Rose come out upon the sidewalk, and alone, which was better still. He had made up his mind to claim her, even if she were accompanied by Miss Manning; but this might excite a disturbance, and he knew there would be danger of interference from the police, which he did not court. So he considered it a remarkable stroke of good luck when he saw Rose coming out alone.
"There she is," he said to himself. "I'll soon nab her. But I wonder where she is going."
He might have seized her at once, but he thought it best not to do so. Very likely there might be somebody who might witness the seizure, who would know that she was living with Miss Manning, and might be inclined to interfere. He thought it would be better to follow her a little distance, and effect the capture in another locality.
Rose pursued her way, unconscious of the danger that menaced her. She entered the store, made her purchase, and it wasn't till she had gone a little away from the store that she felt a heavy hand upon her shoulder, and, looking round, to her indescribable dismay and terror, recognized her stepfather.