"No," Peggy was driven to confess, "she’s not here."
"We might as well go home. I don’t know what you think about it, Peggy
Raymond, but it looks pretty queer to me."
Peggy was not communicative. In silence they walked to the cars two
blocks away, and on the corner they found Elaine. It was not the
enthusiastic Elaine of the concert, not the self-sufficient Elaine,
familiar ever since her arrival on the Terrace. She looked pale and wan
and harassed.
For her extraordinary flight Elaine offered no explanation. "I thought
I’d wait for you here," she said faintly.
"We didn’t know that. We’ve been waiting for you there." Priscilla’s
tone indicated that she expected something more, but apparently Elaine
did not realize the need either of explanation or apology. But as they
climbed up into the car, she looked so faint and frail that without
thinking, Peggy took her arm to steady her. At the touch Elaine lifted
her eyes with a grateful look which had the effect of sweeping away all
Peggy’s suspicions, like a spring freshet. Peggy made no pretence to
being logical. All she asserted was that sometimes she "just knew
things."
The ride to Friendly Terrace was silent and constrained. At Priscilla’s
door Elaine faltered her thanks for a pleasant afternoon and Priscilla
replied stiffly. As she went up the walk, Elaine turned to Peggy with
unmistakable relief.
"Is it too late for me to go home with you? There’s something I want to
tell you where nobody’ll hear."
"There’s all kinds of time. Father doesn’t get home to-night till
quarter of seven." Peggy led the way into the house, evaded a
categorical reply to her mother’s smiling inquiries if they had had a
pleasant time, and conducted Elaine to her room, where she pulled
forward the wicker rocker.
"That’s the most easy-going chair in the whole room. Sit down and be
comfortable. But, first, take off your coat. It’s so warm."
Elaine obeyed automatically. "Peggy," she said as she took her seat,
"you saw that woman looking at me so hard to-day?"
"Yes," Peggy acknowledged, "I saw her."
"And she said something, didn’t she, to the woman with her?"
"She said she’d know you among a thousand, that’s all. And see here,
Elaine. Don’t tell me anything you don’t want to, just because of
that."
Elaine put her hands to her head, with a gesture which wrung Peggy’s
heart. "But I do want to tell. I’ve got to tell somebody. Sometimes--"
her voice rose in a little cry--"Sometimes I’ve thought I’d go crazy,
keeping it to myself."
Peggy pulled up a chair and sat down. She was used to confidences.
People of the stamp of Peggy Raymond must expect to be receptacles for
the various woes of all sorts and conditions of people. But she
realized that what Elaine had to tell was something out of the ordinary,
and lost a fraction of her usual bright color.
"I knew those women," Elaine explained, twisting her interlaced fingers.
"But they didn’t know me. They thought I was my sister."
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