"Poor as you are, you would share what you have with the deserted babe; you would nourish it, you would cherish it. You would say to Rachel, 'I heard a cry outside the house on this bitter night, and upon the doorstep I discovered this poor babe; I brought it in, and gave it shelter.' What would Rachel answer?"
"She is a tender-hearted woman; she would answer that I did what was right."
"Look upon it in that light, and I will continue the case. In the child's clothes you find a fifty-pound note, and a letter unsigned, to the effect that the little one has no protector, is alone in the world, and beseeching you to take charge of it and save it from destitution and degradation. No scruples as to the child being a Christian would disturb you then; you would act as humanity dictated. In the case I have imagined you would not be at war with your conscience; why should you be at war with it now?"
"Still I must reflect; and I have a question or two to ask. The name of the mother?"
"The same answer. Indeed, I do not know it myself."
"At the Salutation Hotel, in the charge of a woman I brought with me."
"Supposing it to be in the affirmative, what position do you occupy in the matter in the future?"
"None whatever. The task I undertook executed, I retire, and have nothing further to do with it. Anything you chose to communicate to me would be entirely at your discretion. Voluntarily I should never make reference to it."
"What has passed between us, you informed me, is not to be disclosed to any other person?"
"Am I to understand that it has been disclosed to no other?"
"You are. Only Dr. Spenlove and the gentleman who entrusted me with the commission have any knowledge of it."
"How about the woman who is now taking care of the child at the Salutation Hotel?"
"She is in entire ignorance of the whole proceeding."
"Is she not aware that you have come to my house?"
"She is not. In the event of your deciding to undertake the charge I myself will bring the child here."
"Is the mother to be made acquainted with my name?"
"It is an express stipulation that she is to be kept in ignorance of it."
"Willingly, for her child's good and her own."
"Is Dr. Spenlove to be made acquainted with it?"
"And the gentleman whose commission you are executing?"