The Angel and The Demon CHAPTER 16.
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The danger which threatened Madeline, had suddenly taken on a new and more alarming aspect. With the removal of Mrs. Jeckyl from the house of Mr. Dainty, it was believed that all direct influence had ceased, and that whatever of evil she had wrought upon the child, would gradually lose its power over her, as time progressed. But the enemy had not left the field; there was only a change of position.
The detail by Agnes, in an excited manner, of what had occurred in the City Square, sent through all hearts a chill of fear. In the family council, Mr. Dainty talked indignantly of the police and arrest, while Mr. Fleetwood, for the most part silent, walked the floor with uneasy footsteps.
"I shall not dare to let Madeline pass our own threshold," said Mrs. Dainty, in a troubled voice, "though she is dying for change of air and change of scene. Oh, isn't it dreadful!"
"The woman must be arrested!" Mr. Dainty announced, for the tenth time — the only remedy he had to suggest.
"What good?" inquired Uncle John.
"We will have her bound over, to keep the peace," said Mr. Dainty.
Uncle John shook his head as he answered, "You cannot bind the influence of her evil eye. It may fall upon our precious one at any moment least expected, and in spite of all law or police. The danger comes from a new direction, and is too subtle in its nature to be restrained by common bonds."
"What then are we to do?" asked Mrs. Dainty, wringing her hands in a distressed manner.
But no one ventured a reply to her question.
After a long and troubled session, the family council broke up, without having arrived at any satisfactory result beyond the common conclusion that it would not be safe to let Madeline, in her present state, go out, and thus be in danger of meeting the strange woman who had thrown so fearful a spell over her young spirit.
Singularly enough, the child, from this time, showed a restless desire to get away from the house. Instead of creeping into lonely rooms by herself, she would seek the front windows and door, and stand gazing into the street, her eyes wandering up and down among the passengers, as if in search of someone. When taken from the door or windows, she would resist, and sometimes fall into passionate fits, that left her in a strange stupor. Three times within a week, she attempted to steal away; and once she succeeded in getting off, but was met by her father, who happened to be returning home, when only a few blocks distant. To his inquiries as to where she was going, she replied, "To the Square." After a slight opposition, she concluded to go back with him, but was moody and ill-natured for the rest of the day.
So it continued for weeks, with but little change for the better. Mrs. Dainty's fears were all the while excited, and she never felt comfortable a moment when Madeline was away from her.
One day, in taking her usual after-dinner sleep, Mrs. Dainty was visited by a frightful dream about Madeline, so vivid in its character as to awaken her. Her first impulse, the moment bewildered thoughts ran clear, was to seek for her child. "Madeline!" she called, going to her chamber-door. For a moment or two, she stood listening, then called, in a louder voice, "Madeline! Madeline!"
"Madeline!" It was the voice of the oldest daughter, calling from the library.
"Agnes, where is Madeline?"
"I do not know," replied Agnes, coming toward her mother. "I heard her and George up in the nursery not long ago. Perhaps she is there. George!"
A pair of rapid feet responded noisily to the call.
"George, where is your sister?"
"I don't know," answered the boy.
"Isn't she in the nursery?"
"No, ma'am."
"I heard you and her talking there not long ago," said Agnes.
"She went downstairs for a piece of cake, a good while ago."
Agnes almost flew down to the kitchen, and inquired of the chambermaid, whom she found there — if she had seen Madeline.
"I heard her come downstairs a little while ago, and I think she went into the parlor," replied the chambermaid.
One of the parlor-shutters was found pushed open, the curtain drawn aside, and a chair out of position.
"She has been here!" said Mrs. Dainty, in a choking whisper.
Perhaps she has fallen asleep somewhere," suggested a servant.
"Search through the house, everywhere!" replied Mrs. Dainty. "Look into all the rooms and closets! How could you lose sight of her?"
But they searched in vain. The child was not in the house!
"Where is Uncle John?" asked Mrs. Dainty, in her terror and bewilderment.
Mr. Fleetwood entered from the street at the moment his name was mentioned, and in no way lessened the anxious fears of his niece by his troubled exclamations on learning that Madeline was nowhere to be found in the house.
"I have trembled every day in fear of this!" said the old man, pacing the floor in great agitation. "How could you leave her unguarded?"
Not long, however, did Mr. Fleetwood remain inactive. After sending word to Mr. Dainty, and dispatching servants in various directions to search through all the neighborhood, he went out himself, and commenced a series of close inquiries at all the stores and offices within several squares.
"Had she curly hair?" inquired a boy who was buying something at one of the stores visited by Mr. Fleetwood.
"Yes," answered the old gentleman, with a sudden eagerness of manner.
"And wore a blue frock?"
"Yes."
"Was bare-headed?"
"Yes."
"I saw her going down the street a good while ago. An old woman, dressed in black, had her."
"Going down the street! Where?" asked Mr. Fleetwood, with increasing excitement.
"By our house," replied the boy.
"Where is your house?" demanded the old gentleman, in a voice that startled not only the lad, but all the other inhabitants of the store.
"In Eager Street."
"Which way did you say they were going?"
"Toward Fifth Street."
"I'll give you ten dollars if you'll find them!" said Mr. Fleetwood.
"Will you?" And the lad dropped his package on the counter and started for the door.
"Ten dollars?" He paused for reassurance.
"Yes — ten gold dollars. Now move on their track like lightning! But wait! You are to report yourself at my house, the number of which is on this card. Let us hear from you speedily. Now, away with you!"
The boy disappeared from the door and went flying down the street.
Still pursuing his inquiries, Mr. Fleetwood met with others who confirmed the boy's statement that a child, resembling Madeline, had been seen in company with an old woman dressed in black. This caused him to visit the Chief of Police and secure his efficient aid in the matter, thus putting in operation the most vigilant means of discovery.
It was nearly an hour after Mr. Fleetwood left the house, when, disappointed in any good result, he returned to the anxious, frightened family — to meet pale, tearful faces, and trembling inquiry. Mr. Dainty and the servants had also been in search of the lost one, but their search had proved quite as fruitless. The boy who had hoped to gain the reward of ten dollars had likewise reported himself. He had spent an hour in vain.
Night came down upon the fearfully-disturbed inhabitants of Mr. Dainty's family, and yet Madeline was absent. Nothing whatever could be learned in regard to her, except the single fact mentioned by the boy, and confirmed by others, that a little girl resembling her had been seen in company with an old woman dressed in black!
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