|
Main
- books.jibble.org
My Books
- IRC Hacks
Misc. Articles
- Meaning of Jibble
- M4 Su Doku
- Computer Scrapbooking
- Setting up Java
- Bootable Java
- Cookies in Java
- Dynamic Graphs
- Social Shakespeare
External Links
- Paul Mutton
- Jibble Photo Gallery
- Jibble Forums
- Google Landmarks
- Jibble Shop
- Free Books
- Intershot Ltd
|
books.jibble.org
Previous Page
| Next Page
Page 67
"My!" interrupted Lizzie with her mouth full of fried potatoes. "That's
that fellow that was engaged to that Miss What's-her-Name Loring. Don't
you 'member? They had his picture in the papers, and her; and then all at
once she threw him over for some dook or something, and this feller went
off. I heard about it from Mame. Her sister works in a department-store,
and she knows Miss Loring. She says she's an awfully handsome girl, and
George Benedict was just gone on her. He had a fearful case. Mame says
Miss Loring--what is her name?--O, Geraldine--Geraldine Loring bought some
lace of her. She heard her say it was for the gown she was going to wear
at the horse-show. They had her picture in the paper just after the
horse-show, and it was all over lace, I saw it. It cost a whole lot. I
forget how many dollars a yard. But there was something the matter with
the dook. She didn't marry him, after all. In her picture she was driving
four horses. Don't you remember it, grandma? She sat up tall and high on a
seat, holding a whole lot of ribbons and whips and things. She has an
elegant figger. I guess mebbe the dook wasn't rich enough. She hasn't been
engaged to anybody else, and I shouldn't wonder now but she'd take George
Benedict back. He was so awful stuck on her!"
Lizzie rattled on, and the grandmother read more society notes, but
Elizabeth heard no more. Her hear had suddenly frozen, and dropped down
like lead into her being. She felt as if she never would be able to raise
it again. The lady! Surely she had forgotten the lady. But Geraldine
Loring! Of all women! Could it be possible? Geraldine Loring was
almost--well, fast, at least, as nearly so as one who was really of a fine
old family, and still held her own in society, could be. She was beautiful
as a picture; but her face, to Elizabeth's mind, was lacking in fine
feeling and intellect. A great pity went out from her heart to the man
whose fate was in that doll-girl's hands. True, she had heard that Miss
Loring's family were unquestionable, and she knew her mother was a most
charming woman. Perhaps she had misjudged her. She must have done so if he
cared for her, for it could not be otherwise.
The joy had gone out of the morning when Elizabeth went home. She went up
to her Grandmother Bailey at once, and after she had read her letters for
her, and performed the little services that were her habit, she said:
"Grandmother, I'm expecting a man to call upon me to-day. I thought I had
better tell you."
"A man!" said Madam Bailey, alarmed at once. She wanted to look over and
portion out the right man when the time came. "What man?"
"Why, a man I met in Montana," said Elizabeth, wondering how much she
ought to tell.
"A man you met in Montana! Horrors!" exclaimed the now thoroughly aroused
grandmother. "Not that dreadful creature you ran away from?"
"O no!" said Elizabeth, smiling. "Not that man. A man who was very kind to
me, and whom I like very much."
So much the worse. Immediate action was necessary.
"Well, Elizabeth," said Madam Bailey in her stiffest tones, "I really do
not care to have any of your Montana friends visit you. You will have to
excuse yourself. It will lead to embarrassing entanglements. You do not in
the least realize your position in society. It is all well enough to
please your relatives, although I think you often overdo that. You could
just as well send them a present now and then, and please them more than
to go yourself. But as for any outsiders, it is impossible. I draw the
line there."
"But grandmother----"
"Don't interrupt me, Elizabeth; I have something more to say. I had word
this morning from the steamship company. They can give us our staterooms
on the Deutschland on Saturday, and I have decided to take them. I have
telegraphed, and we shall leave here to-day for New York. I have one or
two matters of business I wish to attend to in New York. We shall go to
the Waldorf for a few days, and you will have more opportunity to see New
York than you have had yet. It will not be too warm to enjoy going about a
little, I fancy; and a number of our friends are going to be at the
Waldorf, too. The Craigs sail on Saturday with us. You will have young
company on the voyage."
Elizabeth's heart sank lower than she had known it could go, and she grew
white to the lips. The observant grandmother decided that she had done
well to be so prompt. The man from Montana was by no means to be admitted.
She gave orders to that effect, unknown to Elizabeth.
Previous Page
| Next Page
|
|