VI
IT was the day after Marion’s accident that the baby was lost, or, rather, “shtolen,” as the nurse-maid put it.
Norah had taken it in its carriage a short distance from the house. In Chicago it had been her daily duty to push the baby up and down the street on which they lived. The Kurukawas’ garden was of a fair size, but its dimensions were limited for Norah’s purpose. Moreover, the girl was intensely homesick “for the soight of the face of a foine cop!”
When she had gone to America, one of the first things she noticed was that all, or nearly all, the policemen were Irish. The idea occurred to her that it might be the same in Japan. And so, unmindful of the instructions of her mistress not to leave the vicinity of the house, Norah sallied forth, and wandered on until she came to the main street of the little town. The news of the presence in the street of a most extraordinary looking foreign devil, a giant in size, pushing an outlandish jinrikisha with a pale-faced, yellow-hair baby in it, spread like wildfire through the surrounding streets. Soon a small mob of children and a number of curious men and women were following and surrounding Norah. Some of them ran ahead of her, impeding the progress of the baby-carriage. At first Norah regarded them with inherent good-humor, but after a time she became embarrassed and annoyed. A little girl of about seven years had actually climbed over the front of the carriage, and there she perched, regarding the baby with great curiosity.
Norah stopped. One hand sought her plump hip, and the other doubled to a fist, which she shook.
“Now, you young spalpeen,” said she, “you climb down, or I’ll put you down none too gently. Off with you, you haythen imp!”
The little girl regarded her unblinkingly, but the surrounding crowd began to jabber excitedly. Norah turned upon them.
“Shure, it’s a fine lot of haythens you be! wid nothing better to consarn yersilves wid than the business of others. Off wid you all, or Oi’ll make short worruk of the boonch of yez.”
A threatening movement cleared a space about her. Her fighting blood was up. She began to lay about her in every direction, spanking a little boy on her right, pushing along by the ear another, and cuffing a giggling maiden of fifteen summers, whose tittering had for some time irritated her. But in attacking the children following her, Norah made a mistake. The “haythens,” merely curious at first, now became aggressive. In a few minutes there was a concerted rush in the direction of the Irish girl. She took fright at this, and at the top of her voice shrieked: