The man closed the box as if he had given her time enough to weep, and the wailing woman went out.
"What becomes of the bodies of these poor unfortunates?" asked Penelope, with a catch in her voice.
"Most of 'em we give to the medical colleges as subjects. Yes, men and women, black and white alike. That nigger woman, who wouldn't tell on the man who gave her a death stab, lying to the other side of the Park mystery girl, will be taken to a college to-night. The bodies not sold are all sent up to Hart's Island, where they're buried in a big trench."
Penelope's sympathic nature quivered with pity by reason of what she had seen and heard. She secretly resolved to give the poor unknown girl a respectable burial, and to order some flowers to be strewed in the rough-boxes with the other unfortunates who would be taken to the Potter's Field to-morrow.
