I stood in Gramercy Park with John Jacob Halsted’s photograph in my hands, along with fifty dollars that Miss Van Woekem had pressed upon me to cover my expenses, taking deep breaths and trying to calm my racing thoughts. Why had I promised her that we would help her when I already had too much on my plate? I couldn’t possibly jaunt up to Connecticut and back and neither could Daniel if he was supposed to be shadowing Mr. Roth. I supposed I could conclude my investigation of the latter and report to the Mendelbaums that their future son-in-law was all that he claimed to be. But what if I had overlooked or failed to uncover some flaw? I didn’t like to do shoddy work and I certainly didn’t want to saddle the Mendelbaums’ daughter with a less than perfect husband.
Maybe Daniel would have looked into his business and financial dealings today and I could report on those with confidence, I decided. Maybe he would even be home by now and I could brief him on Miss Van Woekem’s problem. Since I was already in the area and Daniel’s apartment was only just across town on Twenty-third, I caught the cross-town stage in his direction. It was still horse-drawn and painfully slow, but at least it saved my feet, on which I’d be standing later for much of a dress rehearsal.
To my annoyance Daniel wasn’t home. I left him a long note, detailing everything Miss Van Woekem had told me and suggesting that he call on her in the morning to offer his services. So now it looked as if I’d just have time to squeeze in a visit to my silent girl in the hospital before I reported for duty at the theater.
My feet were beginning to drag as I walked along the side of Central Park to the hospital. The snow in this area had not been completely cleared away and it was hard going slithering over the icy surface. My feet dragged even more as I made my way up the steps to the hospital ward where she lay. I was hoping against hope for some kind of improvement, and also hoping to find Dr. Birnbaum with her. I came into the ward and found a young fresh-faced nurse in the process of stripping the girl’s bed.
“What happened to the young woman who was in this bed?” I asked, my heart beating faster. “The one who couldn’t talk.”
“I couldn’t say, miss,” the nurse said, not looking up from her task. “I was just told to strip this bed and that’s what I’m doing.”
“Gone,” said a voice from across the ward, and I looked up to see an old woman staring at me. “They came and took her.”
“Who did? Her family?”
“Men,” the old woman said darkly. “Men in uniforms. Carted her off, they did. That’s what they do when you can’t pay. Cart you off.”
“I’m sure she was just being transferred to another hospital,” the nurse said quickly. “We don’t just abandon people in the snow, you know. This is the twentieth century. I could find out for you—”
“How long ago was this?” I asked the old woman, hearing my voice echo down the length of the ward, louder than I expected.
“Not long.”
I didn’t wait to hear any more. I ran, my feet clattering down those tiled hallways. Down the steps at breakneck pace. I heard nurses yelling at me, but I didn’t stop. Out at the front entrance I paused and looked around. Nothing. Life on the street proceeding in its usual tranquil manner. I rushed inside again and grabbed a surprised nurse. “Is there another entrance—where the ambulances come?”
“Next to the casualty room, at the back.”
I broke into a mad run again. The hospital was a maze of hallways and I began to feel as if I were in one of those nightmares when you try to escape and can’t. Then I saw it. A stretcher being carried down the hall in front of me.
“Stop!” I shouted. “Wait.”
I put in a final sprint to catch up with it and found that I was staring down at a man with one eye closed, bleeding profusely from a head wound. He was moaning piteously and staff were already rushing to his aid.
“I’m sorry,” I muttered. “I’m looking for someone else. A girl. Have you seen a girl being brought this way?”
They ignored me. I squeezed past them, out through the double doors and into the street. It was a narrow back alley, not at all fancy like the streets in this neighborhood. A windowless wagon, rather like those the police used, was drawn up outside. An empty wheelchair was standing beside it. A man was just about to climb into the driver’s seat.
“Wait!” I shouted. “Did you just pick up a young woman?”
“That’s right.”
“And where are you taking her?”
“Ward’s Island, miss.”
“Ward’s Island?”
“To the hospital there where they can take care of her properly.”
“Holy Mother of God. That’s—that’s a lunatic asylum, isn’t it?”
“That’s right, miss.”
“Thank God I got here in time,” I said, the words spilling out between my gasps for breath. “I’m her sister. We’ve just discovered where she was and I’ve come to take her home.”
The man looked worried. “I don’t know about that, miss. I’ve got my orders here.”
“They were only sending her to Ward’s Island because they couldn’t locate her family,” I said. “And now I’m here. I’ve come to take her home.”
“I’m not sure, miss.” The man scratched his head and glanced up at his pal, already sitting at the front of the wagon, holding the horse’s reins.
“You have to let me take her,” I said. “She belongs at home, with us. She’s not insane, you know. She’s just lost the power of speech. With our loving care, I know it will come back.”
He was staring at me, his head cocked to one side. “I’ve got my orders here,” he repeated.
“Let me see her,” I said. “I know she’ll recognize me.”
“Very well, I suppose.” He went around to the back of the wagon and opened the door. The girl was strapped to a gurney, trussed up like a chicken, staring out with terrified eyes. I climbed up and stood over her.
“It’s her,” I said with what I hoped was conviction. “It’s our dear Mary, who we thought was dead.” I put my hand on her arm. “It’s all right, my love. I’ve come to take you home.” Without asking I started to untie the bonds that held her. As soon as she could sit up she clung to me, making little animal noises—the first sounds I had heard her make.
“Hey, stop that,” the man called, clambering up beside me. “You’ve no right . . .” He yanked at my arm.
“You see. She knows me,” I said. “Now please, let me take her home. If it was your sister, you wouldn’t want her taken away to a place like Ward’s Island, would you? Not when she could be safely home with her family.”
He finally agreed. “I suppose not, miss.”
I opened my purse and took out my notebook, tearing out a page. “Look, I’ll write you a note, saying that her family arrived in the nick of time to collect her. That’s all they cared about in there, you know. The hospital didn’t want to be stuck with a destitute girl.”
I started to scribble. It wasn’t easy with the girl clinging to my arm. When I had finished writing I reached into my purse. I just happened to have a dollar bill in it. I handed it to him with the note. “And this is to thank you for your trouble,” I said.
He glanced at the dollar then up at me. I could see the wheels turning inside his head. Would he get into trouble if it got out that he was accepting a bribe?
While he was thinking, I undid the last of the straps that held her legs. She tried to stand but she was too weak. Besides, she was only wearing a flannel nightgown and she was barefoot. I took the blanket from the gurney and wrapped it around her shoulders.
“Can you lift her down for me? I’ll borrow the wheelchair until I can find a cab.”
He did so and I pushed her off at a great rate, before he could change his mind. Then I flagged down a passing cab and had the cabbie lift her inside. She clutched at my hand as the cab took off. It was the second time in one day that someone had squeezed my hand almost hard enough to break it.
“What have I done now?” I said out loud.
The cabbie was a good sort and helped me carry the girl to my house. I opened the front door and got her inside, placing her in my one armchair. Then, of course, I had no idea what to do next. I was due at the theater any minute and I couldn’t risk leaving her alone. She was staring at me with frightened eyes.
“You’ll be just fine now,” I said, stroking her hair. “You’re safe with me. I’ll make us a nice cup of tea.”
As soon as I put the kettle on the stove, I ran across the street and hammered on Sid and Gus’s door, praying that they would be home. They were.
“Molly, my sweet. We’re just in the middle of our Japanese lesson,” Gus said. “I can now say ‘Do you like chrysanthemums’ in Japanese. Most useful when we go there, don’t you think?”
“I’m sorry to interrupt, but I desperately need your help,” I said. I tried to explain what I had done but the words just spilled out in a jumble.
“Hold on a moment.” Sid raised her hand. “Calm down, Molly. We can’t make head or tail of what you are saying. Are you trying to tell us that you kidnapped someone?”
“A girl,” I said. “The girl I found in the snow. She still can’t speak and they were going to send her to the lunatic asylum. So what else could I do? I pretended to be her sister and whisked her here. But now I’m due at the theater in a few minutes and I simply can’t leave her alone, so I wondered if you’d keep an eye on her until I get back.”
Sid looked at Gus and gave a dramatic sigh. “Life is never dull when you are around, is it Molly, my sweet?”
“I’m so sorry. I know I acted rashly, but I couldn’t let that poor girl go to Ward’s Island, could I? I’ve heard what those places are like.”
“No, I suppose you did the only thing you could,” Sid said. “But what now, Molly? What if she never recovers? What if she turns out to be a violent lunatic? What if you never trace her family?”
“Dr. Birnbaum will work with her. He’s promised to do so. I know he’ll restore her speech and her sanity. I just know it,” I said, trying not to let my own doubts show. “And with loving care and good food, she’ll be as right as rain.”
“I hope so,” Sid said. “Well, you know you can count on us. It will be a challenge to help to break through her silence, won’t it, Gus? And you know how we love challenges.”
She gave me an encouraging smile. Somewhere in the distance I heard a clock striking the hour of four.
“The only thing is that right now I’m in a terrible rush,” I said. “I’m due onstage at the theater soon.”
“Onstage? At the theater?” Now they really looked interested.
“It’s too complicated to explain now. Another assignment. Come over and let me introduce you to the girl, if you don’t mind. I don’t know her name but I’m calling her Mary, because it’s hard not calling her anything.”
I brought Sid and Gus into my living room. The girl started with fear when she saw them, but she didn’t attempt to move, staring at them wide-eyed as they came toward her. They crouched beside her, stroking her hands and talking gently until I saw the fear leave her face. I made a pot of tea and handed her a cup. She looked puzzled, but then took a tentative sip. Soon she was drinking with gusto.
“I’ll be back soon,” I said, in the hope that she could understand me. “Until then you’re in good hands with these ladies.”
Then I rushed out, already late for my costume fitting at the theater.
As I alighted from the trolley on Broadway the newsboys were hawking the evening edition of the newspaper. “Read all about it,” a scrawny little chap was shrieking in his high-pitched voice. “Phantom haunts theater. Blanche Lovejoy’s life threatened by theater ghost.”
“Jesus, Mary, and Joseph,” I muttered. It seemed as if Lily had been wined and dined sufficiently to spill the beans last night. I didn’t fancy facing Miss Lovejoy.