Tell Me, Pretty Maiden (Molly Murphy Mysteries, #7)

At least I wasn’t going to be bored in the next days.

I must have drifted off to sleep in the early hours because I was woken by the sound of church bells. It took me a moment to realize that it must be Sunday. I got up and peeked into my girl’s bedroom. She was lying there looking so still and peaceful that for a moment I feared she might be dead. But then I saw her bodice rise and fall in a gentle breath. My heart went out to her. Somehow she had become trapped in a nightmare world and I had to find a way to help her escape.

I dressed, made a pot of tea, and then took her up a breakfast tray with a boiled egg and the thin strips of bread and butter we used to call soldiers when I was a child. She woke, sat up, and ate like an obedient child. I talked to her all the time she was eating. “Today Dr. Birnbaum will be coming to help you. He is a nice doctor and he will try to get to the bottom of what is distressing you.”

If she understood, she gave no indication of it but dipped the bread into the egg yolk and took the strips mechanically to her mouth. After I had my own breakfast I wrote a note to Dr. Birnbaum, explaining the circumstances, and found an urchin by the Jefferson Market building to deliver it for a nickel. Fortunately, I didn’t have long to wait for my reply. Dr. Birnbaum arrived in person, looking even more dapper than usual with a gold stick pin in his neckerchief.

“My dear Miss Murphy.” He clicked his heels and jerked a little bow. “I came immediately when I received your message. You say you have brought the girl to this very house?”

“I had to,” I said. “They were about to send her to the insane asylum on Ward’s Island and I couldn’t let that happen.”

“But this is most irregular,” he said. “This could be construed as kidnapping, you know.”

“I had no choice, Doctor. You don’t believe she is insane, do you?”

“I believe she is out of her senses at this present moment, which may be the same thing. But I strongly hope that she may have a chance of recovering those senses, given the right treatment.”

“Which she wouldn’t get at an insane asylum. They’d lock her up with mad people and she would be lost forever.”

He nodded gravely. “I fear that may be true. But what do you plan to do with her? You can’t keep her forever.”

“Did you place the advertisement in the newspapers as you said you would?”

“I did. Immediately after we parted company.”

“Then we may get a response as soon as tomorrow. Surely she has someone who is worried about her disappearance and will want her home again.”

“Let us hope so.”

“And in the meantime, I was hoping that you would be able to work with her until progress is made. You said that you are an expert in such conditions.”

“Hardly an expert. Nobody, not even Dr. Freud, counts as an expert when dealing with the complexity of the mind. We are constantly making new discoveries, each more perplexing than the one before. I may well be going against the ethics of my profession by treating this girl in a place where she has no right to be.” He paused, stroking his beard; then before I could say anything he continued, “But I must admit that our little friend challenges me. I shall write to Dr. Freud for his opinion, and until her family is located I shall do what I can.”

“Can you see her today?” I asked. “She is awake and has just had a good breakfast.”

“I was on my way to church,” he said. “But I’m sure I can find a later mass, if I put my mind to it.”

“You’re a Catholic? You go to mass?” I was amazed.

“What is so strange about that, Miss Murphy? Are you not one yourself?”

“I was raised in that religion. I no longer practice it. But I should have thought that a man of science, like yourself, would have little use for any kind of religion.”

“On the contrary. In my profession I am constantly reminded of the frailty of life and the power of prayer. And the existence of miracles.”

“So tell me, Doctor,” I said hesitantly, “is it possible that she is possessed by the devil? Last night she moaned piteously in her sleep and thrashed about as if in the clutches of something truly terrible.”

He looked at me kindly. “I should say that the likelihood is that she has been in the clutches of something truly terrible. Some kind of assault.”

“But we were told that she was not badly hurt physically and hadn’t been assaulted.”

“Let us still put the devil as a less likely cause of her condition. If she will allow me to hypnotize her, then I may be able to persuade her to reveal her secret.” He placed his cane and his hat on the chair, then removed his overcoat. “Very well, lead me to her.”

The girl reacted with fear as I ushered Dr. Birnbaum into the room.

“It’s all right, Mary,” I said. “This man is a doctor. He’s come to help you.”

“You’ve discovered her name?”