|
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 85
"Will you send me off with the assurance that at least my friendship is
still something to you?" he asked her. "You can be as independent as you
like, but you need friends. Or, if that has small weight with you, let me
appeal to your generosity. I need your friendship even more than you need
mine."
"Unhappy Mr. Brant." She was smiling. "So few friends, so few pleasures,
he needs poor Charlotte Ruston's support!"
"Poor Charlotte Ruston is a greater inspiration to Eugene Brant's good
work than any dozen of his fashionable patrons."
"I am honoured--truly. And, of course, we are friends, the best of
friends. I will send you the print soon. Thank you for coming. You have
helped me very much."
With which he was obliged to be content.
CHAPTER XVI
IN FEBRUARY
One cold December morning Charlotte Ruston, sweeping up her hearth after
making her fire for the day, preparatory to bringing little Madam Chase
downstairs, heard the knock upon her door which heralded Mrs. Redfield
Pepper Burns. It was a peculiar knock, reminiscent of the days at
boarding-school when certain signals conveyed deep meaning. This
particular triple tattoo meant "I have something to tell you."
Charlotte opened the door, smiling at sight of her friend. "You are worth
looking at, in those beautiful furs, with the frost on your cheeks," she
said, drawing Ellen in to the fire, and passing a caressing hand over the
rich softness of her sleeve. "Furry hat and furry gloves--and furry
boots, too, probably--let me see? I thought so," as she examined Ellen's
footgear. "You could start on a trip to Greenland, this minute, and not
freeze so much as the tip of your nose, behind that wonderful muff."
"It will be Greenland on the Atlantic liner next week," said Ellen,
drawing off the enveloping coat at Charlotte's motion, and seating
herself in Granny's winged chair. "The trip to Germany is on foot, at
last. Red has had to put it off so many times I began to think we
shouldn't get away this year at all. But he's taken our passage now, and
vows that nothing shall hinder. So I'm packing in rather a hurry, for we
mean to be off on Saturday, though we shall not sail until Tuesday. One
can always use a day or two in New York."
"Lucky mortals. I wish I were going with you." Charlotte said it gayly,
but her eyes were suddenly wistful. "How long shall you stay? I shall
miss you horribly."
"I wish you were going, dear. Nothing could make me happier. We should be
a great party then, for Dr. Leaver goes with us. It's a sudden decision
on his part. Red wrote him of certain work he wanted to do in the clinics
and urged him to go along, thinking it would be just the thing for him
now, after plunging into work again with such a will. You know they spent
a year there together, ten years ago, and Dr. Leaver wrote that the
thought of going over the old scenes with Red tempted him beyond
resistance. He's been across twice since, but only for a special purpose
of study. Of course both will do more or less observing in clinics now,
but I imagine they will get in a bit of merrymaking together. If I only
had you to go about with me while they were busy I should ask nothing
better."
"Shall you be gone all winter?"
"Oh, no; only two months in all. Neither Red nor 'Jack'--as he always
calls him--feel that they can spare longer than that, this time. So by
the first of March you will see us returning to our own fireside, and
probably glad enough to get back to it. German fires, as I remember them,
are by no means as hot as American ones. And that brings me to my plan
for you and Granny. I want you to come over and live in the house in our
absence. There'll be only Cynthia there, for Bob is to stay with Martha.
He will be happier over there with her boys than with Cynthia. So you
will have the whole house to yourselves and can be as snug as possible
all through the heaviest part of the winter."
Previous Page
| Next Page
|
|