A factory-girl, belated, shivered into the car in a thin summer jacket
and stood beside a girl in furs and a handsome coat. Courtland thought
of Bonnie in her little shabby black suit--a summer suit, of course. He
remembered noticing how thin it looked as they stood beside the grave on
the bleak hillside, and wondering if she were not cold. But it was mild
that day compared to this, and the sun had been shining then. She must
have half frozen in that long, long ride! And had she money enough to
buy her something to eat? She had left a five-dollar bill at the
hospital. Some instinct taught him that it was the last she had!
He grew more and more nervous and impatient as he neared his
destination.
He sprang up the narrow stairs that had grown so familiar to him the
past week, watching anxiously the crack under the door to see if there
was a light. But it was all dark! He tapped at the door lightly. But of
course she would have gone to bed at once after the exertion of the
journey! He tapped louder, and held his breath to listen. But no answer
came!
Then he tapped again, and called, in half-subdued tones: "Miss
Brentwood! Are you there?"
A stir was heard at the other end of the hall, the sound of the
scratching of a match. A light appeared under the door of the front
room, the door opened a crack, and a frowsy head was thrust out, with a
candle held high above it, and eyes that were full of sleep peering
into the darkness of the hall.
"Has Miss Brentwood returned? Have you seen her?" he asked.
"Not as I knows on, she 'ain't come," said a woman's voice. "I went to
bed early. She might ov and I not hear her, she's so softly like."
"I wonder if we could find out? Would you mind coming and trying?"
The woman looked at him keenly. "Oh, you're the young feller what come
to the fun'rul, ain't you? Well, you jest wait a bit an' I'll throw
somethin' on an' come an' try." The woman came in an amazing costume of
many colors, and called and shook the door. She got her key and unlocked
the door, stepping cautiously inside and looking about. She advanced,
holding the candle high, Courtland waiting behind. He could see one
withered white rosebud on the floor. There was no sign of Bonnie! Her
room was just as she had left it on the day of the funeral!
Where was Bonnie Brentwood?
CHAPTER XIV
Suddenly, as Courtland stood in the narrow, dark street alone and in
uncertainty, he was no longer alone. As clearly as if he felt a touch
upon his sleeve he knew that One was there beside him, and that this
errand he was upon had the sanction of that Presence which had met him
once in the fiery way and promised to show him what to do.
"God, show me where to find her!" he ejaculated, and then, as if one had
said, "Come with me!" he turned as certainly as if a passer-by had
directed him where he had seen her, and walked up the street. That is,
_they_ walked up the street.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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