A FRIEND IN THE NIGHT.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 9430, 2 January 1909, Page 2

A FRIEND IN THE NIGHT.

(By KATHAKINE TYNAN.) . '* . ' Author of "Her Ladyship/ " JuU»,. " For Maisie," etc. / ; [All Rights Rbkbbved.] The fog had settled down thickly over the suburb. It was a pea-BQup fog in which one moved as in a wofld-'-bf dirty cotton-wool. There was a strange stillness, broken only by the sound of distant fog-signals. Now and again Elsie Leigh would go to the window, lift the blind to look out, sigh a little anxiously as she saw that the fog stU* was an impenetrable wall, and return to the fire and her book. She was a little sorry now that she had let Annie, the one servant, off for the evening, Annie had wanted io go to the pantomime with her mother > and the request, sprung on Elsie ai the last moment, was one she could not bear to refuse. Annie was such a good, cheerful little thing, and her sisters were fairies in the pantomime, arid the tickets had been given to Annfe s mother for that night and would be forfeited if they wer.e not used. _ And now, perhaps Annie would not come back at all ; and papa would very likely be kept. out till the small bdurs. AH traffic must be pretty well dislocated. Papal had promised to be home by eleven at latest; and Elsie had looked forward to a quiet, cheerful evening with a new novel she had been longing to read. But now that the fog wasiso thick she wished she had nojb let Annie go. Perhaps neither papa nor Annie oould get back ; and if so Elsie was going to be in the house alone all night. The prospect had terrors for her* The house, a very tiny one, was by itself down a by-road. It was a very old bouse and stood in its original garden. There were fields at the back and building-plots in front of it. It was in fact a country cottage which the town had nearly reached at last. The room at which Elsie sat was the dining-room. There was a little cold supper set out on the table against Mr Leigh's return. The fire of wood and coal glowed warmly till the room was full of its rosy light. There was a shaded lamp on the table at Elsie's elbow. Her chair was deliciously com- i fortable, and a box of her favourite sweets stood by the novel. What more could a - eirl wv»h for? But Elsie could not be happy. Some uneasiness was upon her. Supposiifg anything were to happen to papa in the fog? She knew he would make an effort to get home, and the river ran