“I want to go out a little while,” said Tom. “I’d like to tell Mrs. Murphy what’s happened to me. You see, I paid her for a week’s board, and she’ll wonder where I am.”
“I can’t trust you out of my sight,” said Mrs. Lindsay; “but I’ll go with you if you wish it.”
“Yes, I should like that.”
Great was the astonishment of worthy Mrs. Murphy, when Tom came up to her stand with a handsomely dressed and stylish lady, whom she introduced as her mother. I will not attempt to repeat the ejaculations in which she indulged, nor her delight when Mrs. Lindsay bought one of her apples for Tom, and paid for it with a ten-dollar bill, refusing change.
“Shure, your mother’s a rale leddy, Tom dear,” she said; “and it’s I that’s glad of it, for your sake.”
Mrs. Lindsay ordered dinner for herself and Tom in her own room, not wishing to introduce her to her fellow-boarders until she had supplied her with a more suitable wardrobe, for Tom’s dress was by this time soiled and dirty. When the lawyer came up in the evening, his surprise was great to find the child, whom he had exhausted his legal skill to discover, already restored to her mother. He offered his sincere congratulations, and, it may here be remarked, was handsomely paid for the trouble he had taken in the matter.
By the next post, at Tom’s request, a letter was sent by Mrs. Lindsay to the farmer’s wife who had sheltered Tom, enclosing the amount of money paid for the railroad ticket, and thanking her earnestly for the kindness shown to her child. Much to Tom’s delight, an extra ten dollars was enclosed as a present to James Hooper from her.
CHAPTER XXVI
CONCLUSION.
When Tom was suitably dressed, it was easy to perceive a strong resemblance between her mother and herself. This resemblance was affected, to be sure, by a careless, independent expression produced by the strange life she had led as a street Arab. No doubt her new life would soften and refine her manners, and make her more like girls of her own age.
Having no further occasion to remain in New York, Mrs. Lindsay took the train for Philadelphia the next day, where Tom, whom we must now call Jane Lindsay, found herself in an elegant home, surrounded by all that wealth could supply. Her mother lost no time in supplying her with teachers, that the defects of her education might be remedied. These were great, as we know, but Jane—I had nearly said Tom—was quick, and her ambition was excited, so that the progress which she made was indeed remarkable. At the end of the year she was as far advanced as most girls of her age.