glory was truthful and loving, and her grandfather had taught her to be clean, honest, and industrious, but, beyond this, she had had little training. she knew that meg-laundress and posy jane both firmly believed in “guardian angels” who hovered about human beings to protect and prosper them. she had inferred that these “angels” were very beautiful but had never asked if they were ever visible or, if so, what form they took.
glory felt now that she would never need to ask about the “angels” for the small creature before her answered all these unspoken inquiries; a mite of a thing, in silken white, with glistening golden curls and the roundest, loveliest of big blue eyes, who sat on the floor smiling and gurgling in an unknown language, yet gravely regarding bo’sn who, firm upon his haunches, as gravely regarded this astonishing intruder. the tiny visitor was so unlike any crony captain or ragged newsboy that the dog was perplexed, yet as evidently pleased, for his eyes were shining, his mouth “laughing” and his stump of a tail doing its utmost to wag. as glory appeared in the doorway, he cast one welcoming glance over his shoulder, then with the same intensity, returned to his contemplation of the child.
after all, it was not an “angel” from a spiritual world, but a wonderfully fair and winning little human being. from whence she had come and why, she was too young to explain and glory was too delighted to care. here she was, gay, shining, and wholly undisturbed, and, as the little goober girl appeared, the baby lifted her face, laughing, and lisping: “bonny come!”
“angels” could use human speech then; and now her awe of the visitant vanished and down went take-a-stitch beside bo’sn and clasped the little one close and kissed and caressed it to her heart’s content, which meant much to glory, because even grandpa had objected to overmuch caressing, though this newcomer appeared to take kissing as a matter of course and to like it.
“oh! you darlin’, darlin’, sweetest ‘angel’! have you truly come to live with me?”
“bonny come!” answered the other, thrusting her tiny hands into glory’s own curls and pressing her dewy lips to glory’s cheek.
“oh, you precious, precious, sweetest, darlin’est one. oh, won’t grandpa be pleased! an’ you’ll help–that’s what you come for, ain’t it?–you’ll help to find him. why, if you’re a truly ‘angel,’ you know this minute ’t ever is just where to search, an’ so ’twon’t be more’n a bit of a while ’fore me an’ you an’ him is all back here together in this splendid littlest house, a ’livin’ in peace an’ dyin’ in grease an’ bein’ buried under a pot o’ taller,’ like nick’s stories end; only i guess we’ll do without the grease an’ taller, ’cause i hate dirt an’ ‘angels’ do, ’course. oh, let’s start right away! why–why–we might be home again, lickety-cut, if we did. shall we go to find grandpa, ‘angel’?”
the stranger toddled to her feet, bo’sn watching the operation with keenest interest, but once upon them, there ensued delay, for, whoever this unknown might be, glory herself was a very human little girl. she could not keep her fingers from feeling and examining the exquisite garments which clothed her visitor’s form, and at each fresh discovery of daintiness, from the silken coat to the snowy shoes, her exclamations of wonder and admiration grew more intense. before she had finished, she felt a reflex grandeur from her richly attired guest and unconsciously gave her own scanty skirt an airy flirt, as if it had suddenly become of proper length and color.
giving the “angel” a fresh embrace, she clasped its pink fingers and started to follow wherever it might lead, with bo’sn close behind.
so intent was she upon her small “guardian,” that she did not observe a man entering the lane from the further end, else she would have recognized him for the owner of the littlest house, come in person to inspect his property and to learn if his rent would be forthcoming when due; also, to prepare the captain for possible removal, in case a certain deal, then in progress, should transfer the three-cornered building to other hands and purposes.
but the gentleman saw glory and wondered how she had come to have in charge, in such a neighborhood, a little child so unsuited to it. by just the one minute’s time which would have brought him to the littlest house ere glory left it, she missed some further enlightenment on the subject of “guardian angels,” and the sad news that she had not only lost grandparent but home as well; for, seeing the place open, at the mercy of any elbow tramp who might enter and despoil it, the landlord at once decided that, sale or no sale, he would get rid of so careless a tenant. crossing to the basement of meg-laundress, he made some inquiries concerning the becks and was told all which that talkative woman knew or suspected.
“an’ none of us in the lane ever looks to see him back, sir, an’ that’s the fact. but whatever’s to become o’ his little girl, when she finds out, land knows,” she concluded.
“oh, plenty of institutions to take in just such as she and she’d be a deal better off than living from hand to mouth as she has always done. the captain must have been a fine man once and so far–so far–has had his rent money ready when it was due; but i made it too small, a great deal too small. i was a fool for sympathy and let my heart run away with my head.
“know anybody would take in the old man’s few traps and take care of them till something develops?” continued the landlord. “he is dead, of course. must have been him was run over that time; but they might sell for a trifle for the child’s benefit. i wouldn’t mind having that time-keeping arrangement of bells myself. was really quite ingenious. i might as well take it, i reckon, on account of loss of occupancy. yes, i will take it. and if he should return–but he won’t–you tell him, my good woman, how it was and he can look to me to settle. know anybody has room for his things?”
“no, i don’t. an’ if i did, i wouldn’t tell ye,” answered meg, testily, and as a relief to her indignation cuffed her youngest born in lieu of him upon whom she wished she dared bestow the correction.
but the corner grocery-man was more obliging and better supplied with accommodations for captain beck’s belongings. in truth, seeing that the landlord was determined, whether or no, to remove them from the littlest house, he felt that he must take them in and preserve them from harm against their owner’s claiming them. he thought, with meg, that harm had certainly befallen the blind seaman and that they would see him no more, but he also felt that glory’s rights should be protected to the utmost. with this idea in mind, he stoutly objected to parting with the bell-timepiece, and even offered to make up any arrears of rent which the other could rightly claim.
“oh! that’s all right,” said the landlord, huffishly. “that can rest, but i wish you’d call a cart and get the traps out now, while i’m here to superintend.”
“i’m with you!” cried the grocer, with equal spirit; and so fully fell in with the other’s wishes that, before glory had been an hour absent from the only home she could remember, it had been emptied of its few, but well loved, furnishings and the key had been turned upon its solitude. thus ended, too, nick’s brief brilliant dream of household proprietorship.
however, all this fresh trouble was unknown. whither her “angel” led, she was to follow; and this proved to be in wholly a different direction from that dark end of the lane toward the bridge.
for a time the small, unconscious guide toddled along, making slow progress toward the sound of a hand-organ which her ear had caught yet which was still out of sight. arrived, they joined the group of children gathered about the grinder and his monkey, and created a profound sensation among the gutter audience.
“where’d you get her? whose she belongs?” demanded one big girl who knew glory and found this white-clad stranger more interesting than even a monkey.
“belongs to me. she’s mine; she was sent,” returned take-a-stitch, with an inimitable gesture of pride.
“huh! talk’s cheap. nobody sent silk-dressed young ones to the lane to be took care of, glory beck. i don’t care, though. keep her, if ye want to,” returned the offended questioner.
“sure i shall,” laughed glory, gaily. “but needn’t get mad, nancy smith. maybe you can get one, too. she’s my ‘guardian angel’ an’ her name’s ‘bonny’; she said so. she don’t talk much, only that ‘bonny come.’ did you know ‘angels’ was so perfeckly lovely, nancy?”
clasping her hands, this proud proprietor of an “angel” smiled beatifically on all around. even the organ-grinder came in for a portion of that smile, though hitherto, glory had rather disliked him because she fancied him unkind to jocko.
this organ-grinder was luigi salvatore, brother to tonio, and as well known in that locality. his amazement at seeing the child in the goober seller’s care caused him to stop grinding; whereupon the music also stopped and the monkey left off holding his cap to the children, begging their pennies, to hop upon his master’s shoulder. from thence he grinned so maliciously that the “angel” was frightened and hid her face in glory’s skirt, whereupon that proud girl realized that “angels,” if young, were exactly like human young things and needed comforting. many an elbow baby had learned to flee for help to glory’s arms, and now this stranger was lifted in them and clasped closer than any other had ever been.
“oh, you sweetest, dearest bonny angel! don’t you be afraid. glory’ll take care of ye. don’t they have monkeys where you lived, honey? s’pose not, less you’d ha’ knowed they wouldn’t hurt. well, now, on we go. which way is to grandpa, bonny angel?”
the tiny face burrowing under glory’s chin was partially turned and the babyish hand pointed outward in a very imperative way. glory construed that she must travel in the direction indicated and, also, that even “angels” liked their commands to be immediately obeyed. for when she lingered a moment to exchange compliments with nancy, on the subject of “stuck-up-ness” and general “top-loftiness,” miss bonny brought these amenities to a sudden close by a smart slap on glory’s lips and a lusty kick in the direction she wished to be carried.
fortunately, take-a-stitch had never thought how “angels” should behave, else she might have been disappointed. as it was, the child at once became dearer and more her girlish proprietor’s “very own” because in just this manner might meg’s youngest have kicked and slapped.
“huh! call that a ‘angel’ do ye, glory beck? ’tis no such thing. it’s only somebody’s baby what’s got lost. angels are folks what live in heaven, an’ they never kick ner scratch ner ask to be carried. they don’t need. all they have to do is to set still an’ sing an’ flap their wings. huh! i know.”
nancy spoke with the conviction of an eyewitness, and for a time her playmate was silenced. then, as bonny had now grown quiet and gave her an opportunity, glory demanded:
“how can you know? you hain’t never been there. nobody hasn’t. an’ you go ask meg-laundress. good-bye. don’t be mad. i’ll be home bime-by, an’ bonny angel with me. she’s come to stay. she belongs, same’s all of us. she’s a reg’lar elbower, ’now an’ forevermore,’ like we say in the ring-game; an’ some time, maybe, if she wants, i’ll let her ‘guardian’ you somewhere. now we’re off to grandpa, but we’ll be back after a while. good-bye. maybe toni’ll let you peddle goobers in my place the rest the day. good-bye.”
bonny angel, as she was from that time to be called by her new friend, was again gurgling and smiling and gaily radiant; and for some distance glory sped along, equally radiant and wholly engrossed in watching the little face so near her own. it was, indeed, perfect in its infantile beauty and more than one passer-by paused to take a second glance at this odd pair, so unlike, and yet so well content.
after a short while, the aching of her arms made glory realize that even infant “angels” may become intolerably heavy, when clothed in healthy human form and carried indefinitely, so she set the little one down on its own small feet, though they seemed too dainty to rest upon the smirched stones of the pavement which just there was even more begrimed than that of the lane itself.
then she saw that they had halted beside a coal-yard in an unfamiliar part of the city, but there were throngs of people hurrying past them toward some point beyond, and though many observed, none paused to address the children. bonny was now rested and active and merrily started in the same direction, across the gangplank to the floor of a crowded ferry-boat. the ferry-men supposed them to belong to some older passengers and let them pass unchallenged; nor did bonny angel cease her resolute urging forward till they had come to the very edge of the further deck and stood looking down into the river.
almost at once, the boat began to move and glory was as delighted as bonny by the rush of the wind on her face and by the novel sights of the water. after all, this search for grandpa was proving the pleasantest of outings, for, though the goober-seller had often peddled her nuts at the landings of other ferries, she had never before crossed any. she gave the baby a fresh deluge of kisses, exclaiming, “oh, you dear knowin’ darlin’! he has gone this way an’ you’re leadin’ me!”
“bonny come!” cried the “angel,” with a seraphic smile.
glory smiled back, all anxiety at rest. she was going to grandpa, with this tiny “guardian” an unerring guide. why should one fear aught while the sun shone so brightly, and over on the further shore she could see trees waving and green terraces rising one above the other? surely, grandpa had done well to leave the dingy lane for such a beautiful place, and she was glad, yes, certainly she was glad that she had come.
but the boat trip came to an end all too soon, and, because they were so near the landing side, they were crowded off the broad deck before glory was quite ready and, in the onrush of hurrying passengers, bonny angel’s hand was wrested from her grasp.
“oh, take care there, my angel! i mustn’t lose her!” cried take-a-stitch, distraught at seeing her treasure swept off her tiny feet in the crush.
“in course you mustn’t, sissy!” cried a hearty, kindly voice, as a timely deck-hand caught up the child and restored her to glory’s arms. “’course not; though there’s many a one would snap at such a beauty, if you give ’em a chance. tight-hold her, sissy, for such posies as her don’t grow on every bush!”
with that, the man in blue shirt and overalls not only gave bonny a besmirching pat on her snowy shoulder, but safely handed glory herself across the swaying plank to the quay beyond.
there bonny angel composedly seated herself upon a pile of dirty ropes and, rather than cross her desires, glory also sat down. both were much interested in the scene about them, though “angel” soon forgot all else save bo’sn who had followed, and who lay at her feet to rest his nose on his tired paws while he steadfastly gazed at this new charge. already he seemed to have decided in his canine mind that she was to be guided and guarded as he had guided and guarded his lost master, and with an equal faithfulness.
soon the rush and bustle of the boat’s return trip gave way to a corresponding quiet, and goober glory dreamily watched the wide deck, where she had stood, slip back and back between the water-worn piles out upon the murky river. the space between them widened and widened, continually, till the boat lessened in size to a mere point and, finally, became lost in the crowding craft of the hudson’s mouth. as she saw it disappear, a sudden homesickness seized her and, springing to her feet, she stretched her arms longingly toward that further side which held all that she had ever known and loved, and cried aloud:
“oh, i want to go back! it’s there i belong, and he isn’t here–i know he isn’t here!”
then she felt a small hand clutch her skirt and turned about to see bonny angel’s face clouding with grief and her dainty under lip beginning to quiver piteously. a world of reproach seemed to dwell in her pleading, “bonny come!” and glory’s own cheerfulness instantly returned. lifting the child again, she poised her on her own shoulder and started valiantly forward across the ferry-slip and past the various stands of the small merchants which lined the waiting-room walls. thus elevated, bonny angel was just upon a level with one tempting display of cakes and candies, and the sight of them reminded her that it was time to eat. she took her arm from glory’s neck, to which she had clung, made an unexpected dash for a heap of red confections, lost her balance, and fell head long in the midst.
