Chapter 11

XI

Mr. Loomis, true to his word, wrote a few days later that he
had enquired in vain in the work-shop for any news of Ramy; and as
she folded this letter and laid it between the leaves of her Bible,
Ann Eliza felt that her last hope was gone. Miss Mellins, of
course, had long since suggested the mediation of the police, and
cited from her favourite literature convincing instances of the
supernatural ability of the Pinkerton detective; but Mr. Hawkins,
when called in council, dashed this project by remarking that
detectives cost something like twenty dollars a day; and a vague
fear of the law, some half-formed vision of Evelina in the clutch
of a blue-coated "officer," kept Ann Eliza from invoking the aid of
the police.

After the arrival of Mr. Loomis's note the weeks followed each
other uneventfully. Ann Eliza's cough clung to her till late in
the spring, the reflection in her looking-glass grew more bent and
meagre, and her forehead sloped back farther toward the twist of
hair that was fastened above her parting by a comb of black India-
rubber.

Toward spring a lady who was expecting a baby took up her
abode at the Mendoza Family Hotel, and through the friendly
intervention of Miss Mellins the making of some of the baby-clothes
was entrusted to Ann Eliza. This eased her of anxiety for the
immediate future; but she had to rouse herself to feel any sense of
relief. Her personal welfare was what least concerned her.
Sometimes she thought of giving up the shop altogether; and
only the fear that, if she changed her address, Evelina might not
be able to find her, kept her from carrying out this plan.

Since she had lost her last hope of tracing her sister, all
the activities of her lonely imagination had been concentrated on
the possibility of Evelina's coming back to her. The discovery of
Ramy's secret filled her with dreadful fears. In the solitude of
the shop and the back room she was tortured by vague pictures of
Evelina's sufferings. What horrors might not be hidden beneath her
silence? Ann Eliza's great dread was that Miss Mellins should worm
out of her what she had learned from Mr. Loomis. She was sure Miss
Mellins must have abominable things to tell about drug-fiends--
things she did not have the strength to hear. "Drug-fiend"--the
very word was Satanic; she could hear Miss Mellins roll it on her
tongue. But Ann Eliza's own imagination, left to itself, had begun
to people the long hours with evil visions. Sometimes, in the
night, she thought she heard herself called: the voice was her
sister's, but faint with a nameless terror. Her most peaceful
moments were those in which she managed to convince herself that
Evelina was dead. She thought of her then, mournfully