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The poor woman burst into tears, and protested that she had told the truth, and nothing but the truth; declaring that Katy was a good girl, that she had eaten nothing that day, and would not tell a lie. Dr. Flynch was a man of method, and when a tenant did not pay the rent, it was his purpose to get rid of that tenant in the quietest way possible.
Flynch, when he had heard the exclamation of Katy, "you have told me a falsehood. You said you had no money, not a cent. Where did you get that roll, child?" "At the store at the corner of the court," replied Katy, abashed by the cold dignity of the agent. "Precisely so, Mrs. Redburn; but you do not buy bread without money. You have attempted to deceive me.
"I was thinking of you the other day, and wishing I might see you," added Grace, "for the Mayor told us a very pretty story about you." "He was very good to me; and I never shall forget him or you," answered Katy, warmly. "I suppose you have come to get another receipt; but I told Dr. Flynch not to disturb you," said Mrs. Gordon. "O, no ma'am I didn't come for that.
"What a wretch the broker must have been!" "We will endeavor to get the watch back for her," replied Mrs. Gordon, as she seated herself at a table and wrote a few lines on a piece of paper. "Here, my child, is a receipt for your month's rent. When Dr. Flynch comes for the money, you show him this, and he will be satisfied;" and she handed her the receipt.
"It is too bad, mother!" exclaimed Grace. "Hush, Grace; probably Dr. Flynch knows best, for he certainly would not turn a poor sick woman out of doors because she did not pay the rent. There may be, as he says, some deception about it, which he can penetrate and we cannot." "There is no deception about it, ma'am," pleaded Katy, much disturbed by this sudden damper upon her hopes.
I have pitied you up to the present time, and indulged you in the non-payment of your rent for over a week I can do so no longer, for you have told me a falsehood." "No, sir, I have not," pleaded the sick woman. "Your child buys bread." "I did not give her the money." "Where did you get the money to buy that roll with?" demanded Dr. Flynch, turning sharply to Katy. "Tommy Howard gave it to me."
"Yes, ma'am; that's just what he said," added Katy, satisfied with the impression she had produced. "Is your mother ill now?" asked Mrs. Gordon. "Yes ma'am; she has not been off her bed for twelve weeks." "What does Dr. Flynch say, my child?" "He says my mother deceived him; that she told him a falsehood; and that she had money, when she didn't have a cent."
"Then you have money," said a cold voice in the chamber; and Katy perceived, standing near the bed on which her mother lay, a man who was no stranger to her. It was Dr. Flynch; but let not my young reader make a mistake.
Katy began to cry, as the last hope of redemption from the fangs of Dr. Flynch fled. Even Master Simon Sneed was alarmed at the idea of being handed over to the police; but his sense of dignity compelled him to enter his earnest protest, against the proceeding of the broker, and even to threaten him with the terrors of the law.
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