Love for Sale

youngest girls, pretty little things with blond curls, were sisters.
    “I’ll take them myself,“ Mrs. ‘White said, deciding on the spot. “I think two of the bigger boys could go with farmers who don’t have sons to help with their crops. I’ll get back to you about this and have my attorney draw up the papers.“ After packing up their few pitiful belongings, she took the two little girls home and gave them good baths. Then she carted them off to Poughkeepsie to buy several sets of matching frocks.

    Walker himself also went back to the Institute to talk to Miss Taylor again after calling ahead to see if she was working there on a Saturday. She said she’d be there until two o’clock. He’d been so distressed the last time he was there and saw the orphans in their pitiful state that he’d forgotten to ask her about Pottinger’s address book.
    This time he brought the book along. He asked her about the women’s names that had been crossed out. Not all had home addresses, but some did.
    Mrs. Taylor went over the list carefully. “I suppose most of the local women are still nearby.“ She pointed out Tabitha Riley, Susanna Cooper, and Joan Wilton. “You can probably find them home with their families. But some don’t even have home addresses listed. Here is Mildred Waywright, for example. She’s the teacher Miss Perkins mentioned who taught the orphans. She was a good teacher, but objected to the children making baskets without getting time for being educated. I remember her because she took her complaint directly to Pottinger and was gone the next day. Nobody was allowed to tell him off.”
    She ran her finger back up the list. “Here’s another who complained to Pottinger and told everyone he’d made an indecent proposal to one of her friends. She read the riot act to him in a scalding letter. Kathryn Staley. He’s crossed out her home address too thoroughly to read it. I think she was from somewhere up north. Boston, I think. I’m sorry I can’t help with most of them.
    “It’s a shame they were dismissed,“ she went on. “They were all nice, decent young women who believed in Brother Goodheart and wanted to further his cause. Until they learned who and what he really was.”
    She glanced at her watch, then at the piles of paperwork on her desk, and added, “Good luck with your search. And thanks so much for putting me in touch with Mrs. White. She really is a force of nature, isn’t she?”
    Chapter 18
    Howard’s next stop was to pick up Lily at Grace and Favor while Robert, with the help of the Harbinger boys, put the guest suite back to the way it had been before Pottinger and his gang had come.
    “Howard, who are you looking for?“ Robert asked.
    “I have a question for Lily.“
    “She walked to town to take some library books back. I’m supposed to pick her up in a half an hour.“
    “I’ll fetch her myself and bring her back later,“ Howard said.
    She was just coming out of the library with a heavy parcel of books when he found her. “Want a lift? Robert told me where you were.”
    “You bet!“ she said, fearing she sounded too much like Robert. “Is your car warm?”
    At his nod, she piled in and said, “You aren’t hauling me off to the asylum, are you?“
    “Next best thing. I need your help. I want to in- terview several of the women whose names are marked off in this address book,“ he said, handing it to her to glance through. “The questions will be rather ‘personal,’ if you know what I mean.“
    “Oh?“ Lily said warily.
    “About Pottinger/Goodheart. His relationships, or would-be relationships, with them. Young women aren’t likely to talk frankly to a cop. I thought I might take you to see them, then I’ll fade into the background. They would feel more secure talking to another woman.“
    “What good will this do you to find out?“
    “I’m not quite sure. But they’re all suspects of a sort. ‘A woman scorned’ and all that can be dangerous, if not downright unhinged.”
    Lily looked startled. “You think one of these women is such an idiot that she’s going to break down and confess to a perfect stranger, man or woman?“
    “Odder things have happened,“ Howard said weakly. He was sorry he’d started this conversation. “You could just say you had recent contact with Brother Goodheart and are still deeply upset. You don’t have to be specific. Someone told you they knew him, too, and see if they take the bait.”
    Lily sighed.