Christian fiction; Families -- Fiction; Love stories
"No," said Graham, quickly, with a flash of anxiety in his face. "I
wouldn't if I were you. They'll be anxious to see you, and if it's
necessary you can run up again sometime. I think you'll find there are
lots of shawls down at the cottage. I'm anxious to have you safely
landed with your family once more. I promised Carol you'd be down the
first train after you got your work done. How long is it going to take
you to fix Mr. Barnard up so he can run things without you?"
"Oh, not more than two hours I should think, unless He wants something
more than I know."
"Well, two hours. It is half-past nine now. We'll say two hours and a
half. That ought to give you time. I think there's a train about
then. I'll phone to the station and find out and let you know the
exact time. The car will be here waiting for you."
"Oh, Mr. Graham, that's not a bit necessary! You have taken trouble
enough for me already!" protested Shirley.
"No trouble at all!" declared Graham. "My chauffeur hasn't a thing to
do but hang around with the car this morning and you might as well ride
as walk. I'll phone you in plenty of time."
He lifted his hat and gave her a last look that kept the glow in her
cheeks. She turned and went with swift steps in to her elevator.
Sidney Graham dropped his chauffeur at the station to enquire about
trains and get tickets, with orders to report at his office within an
hour, and himself took the wheel. Quickly working his way out of the
city's traffic he put on all possible speed toward Glenside. He must
get a glimpse of things and see that all was going well before he went
to the office. What would Shirley have said if she had carried out her
plan of coming out for her mother's shawl? He must put a stop to that
at all costs. She simply must not see the old barn till the work was
done, or the whole thing would be spoiled. Strange it had not occurred
to him that she might want to come back after something! Well, he
would just have to be on the continual lookout. For one thing he would
stop at a store on the way back and purchase a couple of big steamer
rugs and a long warm cloak. He could smuggle them into the cottage
somehow and have the servants bring them out for common use as if they
belonged to the house.
He was as eager as a child over every little thing that had been
started during his absence, and walked about with the boss carpenter,
settling two or three questions that had come up the day before. In
ten minutes he was back in his car, whirling toward the city again,
planning how he could best get those rugs and cloaks into the hands of
the housekeeper at the shore without anybody suspecting that they were
new. Then it occurred to him to take them down to Elizabeth and let
her engineer the matter. There must be two cloaks, one for Shirley,
for he wanted to take her out in the car sometimes and her little scrap
of a coat was entirely too thin even for summer breezes at the shore.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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