F. Colburn (Francis Colburn) Adams
Chapter 88
misfortunes nor forgives her errors. Once seal the death-warrant of
a woman's errors, and you have none to come forward and cancel it;
the tomb only removes the seal. Anna took a liking to me, and was
kind to me, and looked to me to protect her. And I loved her, and
our love grew up, and strengthened; and being alike neglected in the
world, our condition served as the strongest means of cementing our
attachment.
"Hag Zogbaum then sent Anna away to the house up the alley, in
Elizabeth street, where she sent most of her girls when they had
reached the age of eleven and twelve. Hag Zogbaum had many places
for her female pupils. The very best looking always went a while to
the house in the alley; the next best looking were sure to find
their way into the hands of Miss Brown, in Little Water street, and
Miss Brown, they said, sold them to the fairies of the South, who
dressed them in velvet and gold; and the 'scrubs,' as the old woman
used to call the rest, got, by some mysterious process, into the
hands of Paddy Pie and Tim Branahan, who kept shantees in Orange
street.
"Anna had been away some time, and Mr. Tom Toddleworth had several
times been seen to look in and inquire for her. Mr. Toddleworth said
he had a ripping bid for her. At that time I was ignorant of its
meaning. Harry Rooney and me were sent to the house in Elizabeth
street, one morning, to bring Anna and another girl home. The house
was large, and had an air of neatness about it that contrasted
strangely with the den in 'Scorpion Cove.' We rang the bell and
inquired for the girls, who, after waiting nearly an hour, were sent
down to us, clean and neatly dressed. In Anna the change was so
great, that though I had loved her, and thought of her day and night
during her absence, I scarce recognized her. So glad did she seem to
see me that she burst into tears, flung her arms about my neck, and
kissed me with the fondness of a sister. Then she recounted with
childlike enthusiasm the kind treatment she had received at the
house of Madame Harding (for such it was called), between whom and