SHORT STORY.

Otago Witness, Issue 2295, 24 February 1898, Page 42

SHORT STORY.

ELSA'S TEIP.

" You'd better not go any farther than the cars, Else," said Mrs Priscilla Deacon, with that querulous contraction of the brows that always vexed her niece. Elsa cast a ewift glance at the other young girl who had just passad through the doorway. " I would like to go to the boat, Aunt Priscilla," she said. " I may not see Lottie again for years. I will not be gone long." Mrs Deacon looked annoyed. "If you go, hurry right back," she said ungraciously. "You can't expect; to make long trios when there's so much to be done, and I don't see why you can't say good-bye here as well as there." E'.sa hurried down the path without replying. Her cheeks were crimson, and tears of indignation stood in her blue eyes. " Never mind, Elsa," said her companion soothingly. " But I do mind," Broke forth the young girl passionately. "Ifc's always the way. Just think, Lottie, I have not seen you aince onr old school days, and see how Aunt Priscilla behaves. She has tried to make your visit pleasant ? Does she ever try to add to my pleasure ? No ; lam wretched all the time. If I had another relative in the world I would leave this place for ever." "I can understand nov? hard it is for you," said Charlotte Birdsley. "But some day, Elsa, you will have a home of your own." "Never— with Aunt Priscilla as the dragon," replied E'.sa. " Why, she allows me no privileges whatever, and now, Lottie, she wants aae to go to woyk in the factory. Think of it 1 As if I did not fully earn my board I " Her friend looked at ber sympathetically. The trim little figure in tbe taded pink cotton gown with the white rnfflss at throat and wrists ; the sweet pink-tinted face under the shabby sailor hat. " I wish 1 could help her," she thought. "Elsa is so proud. It Walter only knew her!" It was not the first time she had thought of her cousin Walter Bainbridge in association with pretty E<sa. A great many considered the young man a hopeless bachelor, but Charlotte knew what his ideal was, and sha knew that no shallow society belle would ever charm him. Elsa Deacon embodied all the grace that young Bainbridge extolled. If fate would only throw them together 1 " If you would consent to go home with me, Elsa 1 " said Lottie impulsively. Bat Elsa shook her head. " I have no place in your life," she said sadly. " I should be more miserable there than here, for I must earn my own Hying wherever I am. Bat some day I will come to see you, Lottie." They boarded the cars and soon alighted at the pier, where the magnificent Fall River steamer, Puritan, was waiting for her passengers. A good-sized crowd had already gathered, and many eyes rested admiringly on the two girls as they walked up the gang plank together : the stylish, dark-eyed girl in her immaculate travelling suit, and her pretty, petite companion, whose shabby attire could not conceal ber beauty. They passed up the wide stairway, and Charlotte procured the key of her stateroom. It was on the upper deck, and the two girls i sat down in the little room for a last chat before parting. Time flies very quickly at such periods. It seemed as if they had neglected so many subjects during their brief time together. " All ashore 1 " called out a lusty voice below ; but neither heard. The stateroom was in a rsmote corner, and the young girls were deeply eDgrossed. Suddenly a shudder ran through tbe staunch steamer, and Elsa leaped to her feet. " Lottie, the boat is moving I " The throbbing of the great engines could be plainly felt, and Charlotte looked grave. " Can it be possible 1 " she said. Elsa kissed her hastily and ran out. The moving passengers impeded her progress, and when she reached the lower deck the pier was already far behind, and numerous fiuttsiing handkerchiefs seemed to be wavirig a farewell to her. Turning, she saw her friend, who had followed her, and she clutched her arm frantically. " I can't get off ! — oh, Lottie, what shall I do 1 What will Aunt Priscilla say 1 " " She won't say anything to you for a while," said Charlotte, with a gleam of malicious mischief in her eyea. " You'll have to go home with me after all." " But I can't ; I must go back," cried poor Elsa. "You can't swim," retorted her friend. " Don't worry, Elsa ; I'll send you right home. It's only a night's trip." Elaa stood looking over the rapidlyincreasing stretch of water with a wistful gaze. •■ Isn't there any way 1 " she asked. "Only to accept th« situation," replied Charlotte, who would not admit any other means of extrication from the dilemma, if she thought of it. " Come, dear, don't be downcast ; it isn't so very bad after all. You are only taking a little trip on your own account." Elea glanced ruefully over her cheap, faded gown.

" Not so bad ? " she repeated. " It's awful. And imagine Aunt Priscilla." " Serves her right," thought Charlotte, resentfully remembering numerous snubs and slights during her short visit at that lady's house. "If Elsa would only consent to stay with me. If Walter would appear on the scene and go and carry her away from that she-dragon. Elsa is bo unhappy there, I wish she need never go back." In the early morning the two girls left the steamer and emerged into busy lower New York. The noise and bustle of the streets confnsed fSlsa. She tried to follow closely the moving figure of her friend, but someone came between, and a heavy dray bore down upon her. She took a step backward, only to find the avenue of retreat closed by moving waggons ; and, while she stood there bewildered, the dray swerved suddenly towards her, and Elsa darted directly under the feet of the horses. Another instant and they would have crushed her to the earth, but a black figure swung towards her, a strong arm drew her forward, and the next moment she was standing out of harm's way on the walk looking up into a dark, manly face, which still wore a startled look. " Tfaat was a narrow escape," said a low, pleasant voice. " You look ill. Shall I call a cab for you 1 " " No," said Elsa faintly. " Thank you so much. I have a friend " She looked around nervously. Charlotte was returning. " I thought you were right behind me, Elsa. What's the matter 1 You look like Why. Walter Bainbridge — you ? " " Even I," replied the young man. " I was down to one of the piers, and reached this corner in time to be of some service to your friend. I shall have to look after both of you." He hailed a carriage, and took a seat opposite them. Charlotte gave a lively account of Elsa's enforced trip to New York, and Elaa recovered her self-possession and good f pirits. Bainbridge sent a telegram to Mrs Priaoilla Deacon, and later in the day called to see if ber niece had recovered from the shock of th& morning. Elsa s-.iid she v/a? Quito well, but Charlotte prepared to regard her as a semi-invalid, and declared that sha needed a good rest. In the evening Bainbridge called again, and hie cousin received him. " Elsa ie coining down," she said. " I tried to gei- her to wear one of my pretty gowns — I wanted you to see her at her best, Walter — but she sticks to that wretched piuk affair. I want to tell you all about her before she comes." Bainbridge listened with interest to her story, embellished, no doubt, for the occasion. When his cousin spoke of the prospective life m the factory he became quite indignant. Elsa's peach-bloom fairness and dainty graces had already stirred his slumbering heart. "I am to sail for England Saturday, Lottie," he said. " I am eroing for another year's trip. I wish you could persuade your friaad to stay with you. I would like to know that she was comfortably settled." "So would I, Walter," replied Charlotte, with a sly little twinkle in her eyes. Elsa, however, was not to be persuaded. No one could rob her of her independence. Charlotte coaxed and pouted, and finally ref used to accompany her" to the boat. Walter Bainbridge was her escort, and on the way to the pier he found himself charmingly depressed. He had known the young lady only two days, and yet he could not bear the thought of parting. And in two days more the ocean would be rolling between them. Where would she be when he returned 1 Would they ever meet again 1 He looked earnestly at the pretty, drooping face opposite him as the carriage rolled along, and she, looking up, saw the gaze and blushed. Then, to his surprise, she broke into tears. " Miss Deacon, you are unhappy," be Baid impulsively. "Lottie has told me. Won't you let me befriend you ? " "I —I can't," sobbed Elsa. " Don't mind me. lam very, very foolish." His arm stole around Elsa's waist, and he drew her head to his shoulder. J "It is not as though we w«re strangers," he said. " Lottie has drawn us nearer than a year's acquaintance could have done. I I love you, Elsa, as truly as though I had always known you. Can you have learned tbe lesson in so short a time ? " It was very strange, bus somehow it all seemed right to Eisa. " I love you, Elsd," Walter contintted. "It is a hasty wooing, but what need of delay ? You shall never leave me — never go back to I the place where you have been so unhappy. You were sent to me, dear, and I shall keep you — take you away with me." Eisa scarcely comprehended his words. She j was nestled down in his embrace in a whirl j of such supreme happiness that she felt like j one in a blissful dream who fears only to be j awakened. Her lover's will carried the day. Elsa did not rafcurn to her old home iv the distant town. There was a long letter written to Mrs Priscilla Deacon, a day or two of shopping with Charlotte, in which the latter was | obliged to attend to all the practical Imsi- ! ness, a quieS little wedding, and the depar- j tnre ot a happy couple for the Old World. , Many were the presents that found their j way to the home of E'sa's aunt, but that j lady was uncompromising. " I shan't send them back — I deserve them, goodress knows," she usad to say tartly. " But to think of that girl a-leaving me in that way. After doing for her as one of my own, and entertaining her friends, she walks out of this hou'ie in her beat pink calico gown and straw hat that my money paid for, and I ain't laid eyes on her since. Went off on her wedding trip — yes, juafc like that — over in Europe now. But when they come back I'll tell them both what I think of such doings, just as sure as my name's Priscilla Deacon." — Wooden sleepers on railways laab about lb years.