“Come, old woman, that’s played out!” said Tom. “You’d better stop that.”
“You’re my gal, and I’ve a right to lick you,” said Mrs. Walsh.
“Come along!” said granny, attempting to drag Tom with her.
But Tom made a vigorous resistance, and granny began to fear that she had undertaken rather a hard task. The distance from Eighteenth Street to the tenement house which she called home was two miles, probably, and it would not be very easy to drag Tom that distance against her will. A ride in the horse-cars was impracticable, since she had no money with her.
The struggle was still going on, when Tom all at once espied a policeman coming around the corner. She did not hesitate to take advantage of his opportune appearance.
“Help! Police!” exclaimed Tom, in a loud voice.
This sudden appeal startled granny, whose associations with the police were not of the most agreeable nature, and she nearly released her hold. She glared at Tom in speechless rage, foreseeing that trouble was coming.
“What’s the matter?” asked the officer, coming up, and regarding the two attentively.
“I think this woman must be crazy,” said Tom. “She came up and asked me for a few pennies, and then grabbed me by the arm, saying she was my granny. She is trying to drag me home with her.”
“What have you to say to this?” demanded the policeman.
“You hear her,” said Tom. “Do I look as if I belonged to her? She’s a common beggar.”
“O you ungrateful trollop!” shrieked granny, tightening her grip.
“She hurts me,” said Tom. “Won’t you make her let go?”
“Let her go!” said the policeman, authoritatively.
“Let go, I tell you!” and granny was forced to obey. “Now where do you live?”
“You said it was 417 just now,” said Tom, “and that you had five small children. Was I one of them?”
Granny was cornered. She was afraid that Bleecker Street might be visited, and her imposture discovered. It was hard to give up Tom, and so have the girl, whom she now hated intensely, triumph over her. She would make one more attempt.
“She’s my gal. She run away from me two months ago.”
“If you’ve got five small children at home, and have to beg for a living,” said the officer, who did not believe a word of her story, “you have all you can take care of. She’s better off where she is.”