Girls -- Fiction; Impostors and imposture -- Fiction
As she left the house, a suggestion came to Miss Pritchard in regard to
a lesser matter she had had in mind. Elsie having agreed to drop
everything for July and August and go into the country with her, she
had been studying prospectuses and consulting friends as to the
whither. Seeing Mr. Francis, suddenly recalled a summer twenty years
before when he and his sister had passed a month at a place called
Green River in eastern Massachusetts, and she had driven over a number
of times from a neighboring town to dine with them. It came to her
suddenly that Green River was exactly the place she had been looking
for, and she believed it must be near Enderby, where Elsie's friend
lived. And now she couldn't understand why she hadn't thought before
of going where the friends might meet.
Making inquiries, she discovered that the name Green River had been
changed to Enderby, and that Enderby Inn was considered quite as good a
hostelry as the Green River Hotel had been. She wrote at once to the
proprietor to see if she could engage rooms, saying nothing to Elsie
lest the plan miscarry.
So eager was she, that when she found a telegram on her plate next
morning (almost before her letter had left New York) she opened it
anxiously, uncertain whether such promptness meant success or failure
for her. But it was from Mr. Francis, asking her to lunch with him.
She got through the morning in almost a fever of suspense.
He had gone to hear Elsie that very night of Miss Pritchard's call, and
told her without preface that the girl had a marvellous voice.
"Now, Miss Pritchard, can't you shut down at once on that vaudeville
business and set her to studying under a first-rate teacher?" he
demanded. "She ought not to lose a minute. Of course she is rather
small--too bad she isn't taller--but for all that I believe such a
voice will carry her anywhere. I shouldn't wonder if she should turn
out a star of the first magnitude."
He named a teacher with a studio in Boston who could take her as far as
she could go in this country. He usually went to Naples in the late
spring with a pupil or two, but would be at his home near Boston all
summer this year.
Of course the fact that Enderby was within easy reach of Boston added
to Miss Pritchard's excitement. That night she received word that she
could have accommodations at the inn, and a letter following next day
offered her a choice of rooms. She engaged a suite of three with a
bath, though aware that the single rooms would be satisfactory. And
she smiled at herself for assuming airs already, as guardian of an
operatic star, engaging royal apartments for her.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account