Rory's Promise by Michaela MacColl, Rosemary Nichols Read Free Book Online

might be better than thieving or begging on the streets.” Brigid looked her over. “You must do pretty well to keep so clean.”
    “I'm not a beggar,” Rory explained. “I live at the Foundling.”
    “What's that?”
    “An orphanage on the East Side. The nuns there have been good to me. I get room and board and school.”
    “Do they make you work for it?” Brigid asked.
    “No, of course not,” Rory said with indignation. “I help with the babies, but that's because I want to stay with my little sister. They want me to learn a trade and get apprenticed out. But I make myself useful so they keep me with Violet.”
    “It sounds too good to be true,” Brigid said flatly. Rory sighed. “From here, it looks like heaven.”
    “Why'd you leave if it's so good?” Brigid shot back.
    “I ran away even though I should've known better.” Rory rested her chin on her hand and sighed again. “Sister Anna is going to kill me.”
    “You think you're ever going to see her again?” Brigid laughed, then she started to cough. Rory smacked her on the back until she recovered her breath.
    “Of course I'll see Sister Anna again,” Rory said, willing it to be true. “She'd never abandon me here.” But there was doubt in her voice where there had never been any before. After the cruel things Rory had said, what if Sister Anna didn't ever want to see her again?
    “If that's true, I'd like to meet this nun of yours.” She closed her eyes and shortly began snoring, leaving Rory alone with her fears.
    What if Sister Anna left Rory to rot here? Sister Anna had hundreds of children to look out for; what if she decidedshe could do with one less? Violet would be sent off to the Wild West and Rory might never see her sister again. Loaded on a train like cattle, Rory would be claimed by a family more interested in her strength of body than her strength of mind. She would never finish her education. Worse yet, she might be taken in by a cruel family who would beat her and never give her anything more than scraps to eat. They would chain her to a post and make her turn a spit like a dog. Or maybe she would have to sleep with the cows. She might get scalped like the settlers in the Wild West Weekly magazine. Rory pinched herself hard before she worked herself up to hysterics. Of course, Sister Anna would come.
    But what if Sister Anna couldn't find her? It was a big city and Rory had gone all the way to Hell's Kitchen, miles away from the Foundling. A tear rolled down her face, followed by another one. Rory rarely cried unless she was hurt, but she had really ruined things for herself this time. She had thrown away everything in a fit of temper. Her eyes felt heavy and she closed them just for a moment.
    When she opened her eyes again, the harsh electric light hurt her eyes. Brigid was still sleeping. As Rory wondered what had awoken her, she heard voices in the hall, muffled and indistinct. She rushed to the door and put her ear to the crack in the jamb.
    “Officer, if Rory told you she was with the Foundling I am confused why you did not send for me at once. We have been searching for her for hours. This is the third precinct Ihave visited.” It was Sister Anna! She was speaking in what Rory thought of as her most nunnish voice.
    O'Rourke sounded like a whipped dog, all his bravado and bullying gone. “Sister Anna, we thought she was lying and didn't want to disturb you.”
    “Nonsense, O'Rourke. Rory is honest to a fault.” There was a brief silence; Rory pressed her ear against the door. She didn't want to miss a word.
    “This is not the first time you've mistreated one of my children,” Sister Anna went on, implacable. “I think I shall ask His Excellency the Archbishop to write a letter to the chief of police. Again.”
    Rory almost giggled when she heard O'Rourke whee-dling, “Ah, ma'am, I mean Sister, there's no call to do anything like that, is there? I'll just unlock this door and you can take your lass with you. No