Emmeline's Last Dream

Southland Times, Issue 19465, 19 November 1904, Page 3 (Supplement)

Emmeline's Last Dream

" There's love for me som.cvhere/ „ murmured Emm-line, looking out into a wbrld\ of dispassionate bare tre._ anc emptr" roadways.;, VI want it, ao thai means it exists— somewhere." She leas eighteen when she first made this remark,^, .giri with blue, Urearaj eyes; ; and -tresse^ that she triod vainly 1 to coax ibitb the " rebellious curls " fafhion--,able. in. novelette-land. 'Certainly there • would have been no one to mlr-iire them : hail " she succeeded. . Nevertheless, ii was right that they should be tauight *„o toP&Z '.:.*•■ It was the female friend of whom Fm- ' melino first dreamed — ehe gioi, buttered woman, who was to lay her tired head on the young girl'B shoulder acd moan ' about the hardness of the 'world. That this type of moderii -would <ever appear to her in "thiß flesh Emiaeline toad no expectation .. Indeed, she was hot "so sure that her;; father. ..(who was old*asbsoned) wq^%.iaye permitted it. That ■mattered -little. - ' Somewhere in 3_ondon -there;; is i y.at ■*.. least one wevrhan a friend? just. like Me v Therefore, yshe's; wanting Me. .How glad I am hot to -"■■; be ilonely. ,aiiy jmore.'', 'And she spent . a : sociable afternoon'; : loving somebody very /'yyiniiQli^y'tiiVj'ugli' not exactly knowing whom. " " I -^lant it-^therefore.wit' lives for ,'nie— . somewhere." That was her creed as,. the years passing', she longed to hehr the patter' of small feet on the stairs,, 1 and really thought it was: the impossible flock of nephews and niecps. that ..she .desired. '-*_ Somewhere there a™ children, just wishing they had .-.ml. auntie like Me, without knowing it, dear little pets !" But there was a pang in her heart that she had hot felt when thinking of . the - battered veomian. '..'*' l- suppose it's because the children couldn't possibly understand. TSay xaust have the real thing," said Emmeline, ond sighed. Tftiere was another dream figure that came to her about this time. This was the*" true, manly man,-' with the biown . beaird and ihe kind eyes, vhat would lpok, ;■■;.■■ into' ; hers ,'-; with :h*iimqrous tenderness." It came to all •• women, ; ISmtheUne * under- - atood, .Unloi- ' (she ilopk'ett at herself in the glass) they:^^^were, quite N plain, when, of coursei. their lives were : very sad. ' Yet somehow the y years .'* slipped on ; the doctor father went . out into that other dream wvjrld from, which there is no awakening, y and his naughter w-.ke up In her new, little cottage home. to realise thai y^ie was thirty, and Had two "dtlle curves : down each side of her pretty mouth, without that circle on this third finger which compensates for all. •'* . It 'was not the fact y of spinstcrhood that constituted the actual; disgrace, for, of coursej? He might have been unaroiihy, or perhapsjhay^ refused to' give up smok- . ing^^But. to think that there should' have been no proposal at aU. ard that it- y^s on her, lihnmeline i . Caxton.y that this^' strange, "dishonourable, doom, should -.■■'have'-* fallen ! •■''..'.'.- '_.-'..' ._*' ■ p ■■ ; i' p-ZS It was no use j coming baclo < b lier creed, " Love exists for pie somewhere,", (because Emmeline.had learnt by statistics •..-:'■ that ;' there were near l y : three tintes .'. as ■ many- ywpm'en as men- my England,' :-<<tit!h, meant .that i^ite a numb.r 'of girls voi-ld y never^^ find ■_ husbands \. at all. Thore wcrd : actually more boy babies -than girls, she read, -but sb**nehow or other they died iloog: | before^ they ycould -grow -bit©: tender r brpwri-eyied husbands. „ ■ « And among them: Enurieline's had evidently- perished;/ ' '.'•■ ■'-''. ■Sfh_ was sitting on the floor, unpacking old family iJprtraits this ..ho**t:nt oc-. curred to. her. y Among , these pictujos .was . • one ot Mrs . Markhaan, her father 'Sc-u^sin ';'. who had V^uarrelled quite rdmahtically with Dr. Caxton before either hai married; Some time afterwards; she bed sent . him her photo.: by way of recbacil ition, and, also -that of her son Olaud, who had . tMed; ; two: years later. ' -':*■ ■/. '-' -If he -had lived, he would .have been two years older than Emmeline, jind they wouid have met and possibly -lowl" each* ... ; other. :".'.*','.'.. a _'• _■'■"". "ZS'Z. Nothing .was more likely, seeing tl^at there was a feud between the; families..; The sames^y^Ejpimoline -fixed 'ifia-pbbtq : of her curtj^ieaded boy_ cousin inAfibej; place of honohr over the niantelpiecb. l y ; i; "There was a husband meant fv wo,; hut he died at fours year old," -.he murmured, and afsense of -widowhood, rj'Sipred her submerged self-respect. .'. It -was. übtrtit three years later that __io__«l_he * /was ; seated at her sedate •breakfast table, when the n.aid btjon^-iit . in a card that she waa tuo fluttered to - read.:' _■'..■' '•';-,;'•_ •.'■"''.'-.■;. Except the clergyman and the doctor, male visitors were, unknown at Prlxcrose Cottage, the mistress of which ..was !n---.clined to be unduly nervous at the Intru- i sion of the real, world. .*._ . She had stationed: herseif ,at the ine ntelpiece .when the smajl room wa. filled by a large, ;brp**^-te^dedyman,.drp.gg.iv_r. her Christian name';, out of - the bbsciinity , where it had lain, so long. ,' ', ;.,-*" You're yErodrieiinb; I'd know yptiy.st A once. We've got your pi-Jture,- sent 1-y. friends of yours. I've .ott^h looked at it. Mother made me promise T'd hunt y<*u : up. hecause, ybix see, -.we're both cptiMns;. |: and t^oth alone in Ithe word nbv?." Emmolfne clutched -at; the . manttilniece. " I dton't. understand 1". And ncr cheeks grew bright aijd pink; : 'y , '.-'",'•'■>.-' .'■-.■■•'' Why*;"^he .rolled -but,, with a lauchi ■■'* ''I'm :ybtir/ cousin, Claud Markhnm. You've got" my ypboto.. Tsee, ,as a r.sp^ '..- per.' f :A'A-p:i'ZS:. -ZZ': I'Za- '**,_' :'■.-:''■■•';; " .Nipper**!''^ Her. face reddened still more atthe sacrilege. "Claud Markham died as a'cMM." y " No ;. you've got it wrong.. My liltje brother died, but not me, 1 Claud; original, of a-boye photo;." -A A A'^.pi - And "then,* because ; she wtus in dreajmland still, and because those brown eyes wore: the look; of humorous tentftrress so familiar in' her visions, and,; becaus_7well, 'because propriety '-'of conducts' bfmeansyNattiro's revenge iv' one crowding; act of folly; En-tneline did the one weird, impossible,. action of. her life, 'or: she clasped her pretty hands together, looked at her cousin' with shining, happy eyes _ and ' cried :—y: i ■'-' "Then ybu— you are my husband,!" She never could explain, never wou'd explain. Markham must go away., and think; her. mad. She-: would. be- perfectly happy if he would imagine her insane. It ..'-. would be the right and gentlemanly thing for. him to '.dol'-v"-"' That was Emmeline for the next three 'days. " " '■ . \ But Markham was a sailor, and sailors j it is known, dream, too, So it fe!l out that. Emmeline did explain much soil -ncr than she.-expected. 7 "rLove exists for ; us all?-sbmewhere." In 1 the twilight a week later she whisp.r- --' ed her creed. .'."''.■".*.;•* "But Love ■is going lo exist for You ! — Rigiht Here," answered Markham, in an instant; formnlallng his.