"She wants to take me away with her?" exclaimed Elma, starting, and her pale face flushing.
"And you had better go, Elma, and be quick about it," said Carrie, giving her a warning glance.
"I don"t know what all this means," said Elma, her heart beating uncomfortably fast; "but I had better go in and see Aunt Charlotte."
"Yes, my love, yes; and while you are talking to her I--What do you say, Carrie--you and I might go out upon that little matter of business, might we not?"
"To be sure, mother; an excellent thought. If you stay here I"ll run upstairs and fetch your bonnet, veil, and mantle in a twinkling. Go in to Aunt Charlotte, Elma; do, for goodness sake, make yourself of use.
More depends on it than you think. If she hears us whispering and mattering in the hall she"ll be out upon us."
Elma instinctively put up her two hands to smooth back her hair, she straightened her already perfectly neat little jacket, and, drawing herself up to her full _pet.i.te_ height, entered the little dining-room.
Elma was a perfect contrast to her untidy mother and her frowzy sister.
However poorly dressed, she was always the pink of neatness. She was full of agitation now and nervous fear, but not a trace of these emotions could be visible in her manner and appearance. She went up to her Aunt Charlotte, who for her part held out both her arms and, drawing the girl down, printed a kiss upon her cheek.
"I am really glad to see you, Elma," exclaimed Mrs. Steward. "Sit near me, my dear; it is a pity you were not in when I arrived. It was the least you might have done for your aunt, Elma. You had my letter this morning. Oh, my poor child, I have gone through a dreadful hour! These vulgar relations of yours grow worse and worse."
"My mother and sister?" murmured Elma.
"Yes; it is a terrible affliction for you. But, my dear, I am going to relieve you from the strain. I, your aunt, am coming to the rescue.
There, Elma, pour me out another cup of tea, and I will tell you everything."
Elma raised the teapot, she filled her aunt"s cup with fresh tea, added a little milk, and brought it to her side.
"Thank you, my dear. Now, Elma, you may consider yourself a made girl."
"Made?" echoed Elma, turning her white face to Mrs. Steward.
"Yes, made. What would you say to going abroad?"
Elma"s eyes brightened.
"Do you mean on the Continent?"
"Yes, I do, my dear child. To no less a place than the Harz Mountains. I have heard of a most charming school, fifty times better than Middleton School; and you are to go there, my dear Elma, at my expense. You will go as pupil-teacher, and you thus acquire perfect German. Think what that will mean for you! I propose to leave you in Germany for two years, and at the end of that time you will return and go to Girton, I being responsible for all your expenses. My dear, your fortune is made. I have further arranged with your poor unfortunate mother that you spend the holidays with me, as it is not to be expected that you can a.s.sociate any longer with such a person, nor with that frowzy young woman who calls herself your sister."
Elma did not speak. This news which would have delighted her at another and less hara.s.sing moment, was now fraught with perplexity and alarm. At the same time she thought she saw in it a possible means of escape.
Suppose Aunt Charlotte took her away at once, before Kitty had time to tell what she knew, before Middleton School had time to ring with the news of her dishonor. Oh, if so, she might indeed be saved!
"Am I to go immediately?" she asked, choking down a strangled sob in her throat, "or am I to stay at Middleton School till the end of the term?"
"Well, dear, that is the awkward part, for of course you are working very hard for a prize, are you not?"
"I am working for a small scholarship," answered Elma. "If I succeed in my examination I shall obtain a scholarship in English Literature worth ten pounds a year for three years. That would be a very large sum to me, Aunt Charlotte."
"A large sum to you! I should think it would be a large sum to anybody,"
said Mrs. Steward in a severe tone. "Ten pounds is quite a fortune for any young girl. Pray don"t begin to speak of money in that disparaging sort of way, Elma; it ill suits your circ.u.mstances, my love. But now, dear, I am sorry to disappoint you--I have heard of an admirable escort; a certain Fraulein Van Brunt is going to the Harz Mountains next Monday; it will therefore be necessary for me to take you back to Buckinghamshire to-night, Elma."
"Oh, Aunt Charlotte, I am glad!" burst from Elma"s lips.
"Glad to leave your mother and sister?" said Mrs, Steward, looking severely at the young girl. "After all, they are the last people you ought to a.s.sociate with; but still natural ties, my dear Elma."
"Oh, I am sorry to leave them, I am sorry to go; I am both glad and sorry," gasped poor Elma. "I have been worried, and am glad to get out of everything."
"Worried! I suppose with that dreadful sister and your poor, muddled mother. Her unfortunate habit of weeping has reduced the little brain she possessed to a state of pap. Of course I know she is not well off; but all she absolutely could offer me in this house was a stale egg, and not even toast. Oh, I scorn to complain, but--I know this is not your wish, Elma. Your ideas were always very different, my dear child."
Elma did not say anything; she was fidgeting with her hand, making a slight noise with the teaspoon which she was tapping against a saucer.
The noise was irritating to Mrs. Steward"s easily-affected nerves.
"That calm of manner which I trust you will acquire after you have had the advantages which I am giving you will soon show you how very unpleasant those little tattoos and small noises are, Elma," remarked the good lady, taking the teaspoon severely out of her niece"s hand.
"Yes, my dear, you are to come with me to-night; that is, of course--"
"What do you mean by "of course," Aunt Charlotte?"
"After I have seen your head-mistress, Miss Sherrard."
"Do you want to see Miss Sherrard?" asked Elma, a note of alarm in her voice.
"Certainly; and I am going immediately to the school. You will not be admitted into the admirable school in Germany without a testimonial from your present teacher; and I am going to Miss Sherrard in order to secure one. It will, of course be merely a matter of form my asking for it, for your conduct has always been admirable--admirable in the extreme. Miss Sherrard has written to me about you from time to time, and always spoke of you with affection and admiration. She said your abilities were good; your moral character without a flaw. I will just step across to the school now, Elma; and, if you like, you can accompany me."
Elma hesitated. She did not yet know what had taken place; but when she had last seen Kitty there was a flash in her eyes the reverse of a.s.suring. She could only hope against hope that nothing had yet taken place; that Kitty had still kept her miserable secret. If Miss Sherrard knew nothing she would of course give her an excellent character; and she herself would leave Middleton School that afternoon and forever.
Then indeed she might snap her fingers at Kitty and her distress. She would be saved just at the very moment when she thought her ruin most imminent.
CHAPTER XXII
STUNNED AND COLD.
"Come, Elma, what are you looking so thoughtful about?" asked Mrs.
Steward in an impatient voice.
"Nothing, Aunt Charlotte," replied Elma, rising to her feet. "I am ready to go," she added. She sighed as she spoke.
"You must give up that unpleasant habit, my dear child. Nothing irritates me more than hearing people sigh. It always seems as if they were discontented and ungrateful to Providence. Now, what have you, for instance, to sigh about? A singularly fortunate girl, a girl who possesses an aunt who is willing to take a mother"s duties upon her shoulders. If it were that wretched, vulgar Carrie now, or even my poor sister herself; but you, Elma, don"t let me think that you are ungrateful to me or I wash my hands of you on the spot."
"Oh, I am nothing of the kind indeed, Aunt Charlotte," replied Elma. "I always have felt that you--you were more than good to me."
"Well, my dear that"s as it should be. I honor your feelings. I often say to myself and to your uncle-in-law--remember he is not your real uncle, Elma, but your uncle-in-law, my dear husband, the rector of St.
Bartholomew"s--"John," I say, "if Elma doesn"t show grat.i.tude for all I am doing for her I shall once and for all give up the human race. I shall never again expect right feeling from any one." But of course you are grateful, Elma; you will be the comfort of my old age. You will be as my own child to me. I--I sometimes think, my dear, that when your education is finished and you are turned into a refined, highly-cultivated, highly-trained woman, I will keep you with me. You shall be my companion, my housekeeper, the one who is to read aloud to me, to sit with me in the long evenings when my sight begins to fail. My eyes do ache at times, my dear, I have thought of all that. You will be my adopted child; not that I can leave you anything in my will, but I would provide a home for you while I am left in this tabernacle of the flesh. What do you say, Elma, eh?"
"It is too soon to say anything at present," answered Elma, to whom this prospect was the reverse of charming. To live as her aunt"s unsalaried companion could not be attractive to her; but she wisely concluded that sufficient unto the day was the evil thereof, and she had yet to be educated and brought to that calm of spirit and strain of intellect which would satisfy Aunt Charlotte.
"Come now at once," said the good lady, who suddenly from being in a very cross temper became in the best of humor. "We have just nice time to go across to the school, and then after we have seen Miss Sherrard to return here for you to pack your things. What do you say, Elma, to our both staying in London to-night? It would be a pleasant treat for you, and there may be a few little things necessary to add to your wardrobe, which I shall have much pleasure in providing you with. Elma, you are in rare luck. When I think of all I am doing for you I feel that you have indeed much to be thankful for."
"Yes, Aunt Charlotte," echoed Elma, but her voice sounded faint, and she brought out her words with an effort.