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Page 58
For the first time Mollie lifted her head. She left the boat and came
slowly toward the little party.
Judge Hilliard stared, and for a moment he forgot to speak to her.
Madge and Phil had assured him that their prot�g� was beautiful, but he
had expected to behold the simple beauty of a country girl; this young
woman was exquisitely lovely.
Madge and Phil trembled with excitement. Suppose Mollie should not
understand the Judge's question and make the wrong answer? Suppose the
poor girl had been bullied into submission? Suppose she should not
even recall the struggle of yesterday? She forgot so much--would she
forget this?
"Do you desire to marry this 'Bill'?" Judge Hilliard queried, looking
with puzzled wonder into Mollie's lovely, expressionless face.
Mollie shook her head gently. Madge and Phil held their breath.
"I will not marry him," Mollie answered simply. "Nothing could make me
do so."
"Then you will come home to the houseboat with us, Mollie," Madge and
Phil pleaded together, taking hold of the girl's hands to lead her away.
"I am sorry," interposed Judge Hilliard, speaking to the girls, "but we
can't take her away at once. We must observe the law. Muldoon,"
continued the Judge as he took a document out of his pocket and handed
it to the sailor, "of course you know that you can not force this girl
to marry against her will whether she is of age or not, but, aside from
that, here is an order of court directing you to show cause why the
girl should not be taken from you upon the ground of cruelty and
neglect. The case will be heard in the court at the county seat of
Anne Arundel County five days hence, the 30th of the month. You will,
of course, be expected to prove that the girl is your daughter. This
order also contains an injunction forbidding you to take the girl out
of this jurisdiction within that time. These officers will remain here
to see that the order of the court is carried out. If you make any
attempt to remove the girl from this vicinity, you will be arrested at
once."
"And now, ladies," said Judge Hilliard, turning to the girls, "we will
go aboard the 'Greyhound'."
"I say, Judge," broke in Muldoon, starting hurriedly after Judge
Hilliard, "I don't want to get mixed up in the law. I'll tell you
something if you won't be too hard on me. Moll isn't my daughter! I
picked her up almost drowned on a beach on the coast of Florida. My
first old woman took a liking for the kid, so we just kept her. We
didn't intend her any harm. That was ten or twelve years ago."
Judge Hilliard did not appear to be surprised; in fact, he had expected
some such statement.
"Your confession," said he, speaking to Muldoon, "is all we need to
enable us to take this girl away. Under the circumstances, it will not
be necessary to serve this paper," he continued, taking the order of
court away from Muldoon. "We shall take the girl with us now.
Muldoon, see to it that you don't get into any other trouble. You are
getting off easily. Your carrying off these two young ladies under
false pretence and depositing them against their will in an unknown
place, as you did last night, is very much like abduction, and
abduction is a penitentiary offence."
There being nothing left to do, Judge Hilliard and his party, now
including the rescued Mollie, went aboard the "Greyhound" and steamed
away toward the houseboat.
CHAPTER XX
MADGE'S OPPORTUNITY
Mollie slipped into her place as a member of the little houseboat
family as quietly as though she had always been a part of it. She was
shy and gentle, and rarely talked. She was more like a timid child
than a woman. She liked to cook, to wash the dishes, to do the things
to which she was accustomed, and to be left alone. At first the
houseboat girls tried to interest her in their amusements, but Miss
Jenny Ann persuaded them that it was wiser to let Mollie become
accustomed to the change in her life in any way she could. Mollie
never spoke of the past, and she seemed worried if any one of the girls
questioned her about it. They did not even know whether she feared the
return of Captain Mike or Bill. The girls hoped that Mollie's lack of
memory had made her quickly forget her unhappy life.
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