when carrie left her, kitty malone was buoyed up with a certain degree of hope. carrie had spoken with confidence; she had assured her that her clothes were worth money. never before, much as she prized pretty things, had they seemed so valuable in poor kitty's eyes. if carrie would really keep her word it would be possible for kitty to send laurie the money which he wanted that evening. could she do this her worst anxieties would be laid to rest, and she felt that it would be even possible for her to try to be good once more. as things were at present, she cared nothing at all about being either good or bad. every thought of her mind was fixed upon laurie; if he were saved she would be good; if not—if he indeed, the darling of her heart, went to the dogs—nothing mattered.
kitty was too restless and miserable to go down to the rest of the family. she walked up and down, up and down her bedroom, watching and longing for carrie. now and then she would rush to the window, putting out her head and shoulders and half her body, to watch if by any chance carrie might be coming up the street. that red-faced, fat, uninteresting-looking young woman now represented all kitty's hopes.
when darkness set in, however, when the hours first struck nine and then ten, poor kitty gradually saw the last star in her firmament expire. "without doubt carrie had failed to pawn the things.
"and i thought them so good," whispered kitty to herself. "aunt bridget would be sure to choose nice and expensive things. perhaps they were too good for the people who come to the pawnbroker for their clothes. that must be the reason; but i wonder carrie did not come back to tell me."
presently alice bustled into the room, and, opening the door of the large wardrobe which the girls shared between them, began to make active search for a neat little jacket which she wanted to put on. she was going out for the evening, and wished to wear it when she was returning home. search as she would, however, she could not find it, and presently turned to ask kitty if she had seen it.
"dear me, no," answered kitty, starting and blushing. "is it not in the wardrobe?"
"no," replied alice. "and i remember i hung it on this peg. where can it possibly have disappeared to? don't you know anything about it, kitty? by the way, how wonderfully empty the wardrobe looks! have you been putting your clothes back into your boxes?"
kitty, who had been standing in the middle of the room looking the very picture of despair, now burst into a hearty peal of laughter.
"what are you laughing about?" asked alice.
"i am awfully afraid it has happened," she cried.
"what do you mean?"
"why, that your jacket has gone to the pawn."
"kitty!" cried alice, looking at the irish girl in some alarm, "have you gone mad?"
"no, alice; but i am dreadfully afraid all the same that it has happened; indeed, there can be no doubt of it."
kitty laughed again. she often cried when she laughed and now the tears ran down her cheeks.
"well, this is too funny!" she gasped between her paroxysms of mirth.
"i don't think it funny at all. i think you must have taken leave of your senses. kitty, please, explain yourself."
"i will try to, alice. oh, don't frown at me so horribly, or i shall go off into fits of laughter again. this is the simple truth. i wanted money very, very badly. i could not get it, and carrie lewis—"
"carrie lewis? who is she?" asked alice.
"oh, don't be so ridiculous, alice. of course you know who carrie lewis is. she is elma's sister. she came here to-day."
"how very interesting! what a nice set of people you seem to be getting to know! i wasn't aware that you were acquainted with any of the lewises except elma."
"well, i am acquainted with carrie now, and i rather like her. she is great fun, much more fun than you are. she is vulgar, of course; but really that does not matter. she called to see me, and as i happened to want money she suggested pawning some of my things for me. i conclude she took your jacket by mistake with the rest."
alice was so stunned absolutely by this news that no words would come to her. she stared at kitty, her face growing whiter and more wooden-looking each moment. then, without vouchsafing a syllable of reply, she left the room, banging the door behind her.
"there, i have given her a good settler," thought kitty; and for a moment the feeling that alice was as uncomfortable as she was herself gave her a certain sense of satisfaction.
the last post brought a letter from laurie. it was brief, and was written in frantic hurry and despair.
"my dear kitty," wrote the boy, "what has come to you? i am looking for a letter by every post, but none arrives. i shall not be able to give wheel-about the money i promised him on saturday, and i know he will not keep my secret any longer. when father hears it, all is up. if i don't receive that money by saturday morning i shall run away to sea.—laurie."
the letter fluttered from poor kitty's fingers to the floor. she felt stunned; there was a cold weight now at her heart, which made it almost impossible for her to move or even think. if laurie did not get the money by saturday morning he would run away to sea. this was thursday evening. there was still time, just time, to save him. oh, if only carrie would come! how dreadful, how terrible of her to fail kitty at such a moment as this! laurie was just the sort of boy to do what he said. the longing to go to sea had been one of the innermost cravings of his heart for many years. if he did so, the squire would never forgive him. his career would be ruined. bad and awful as an english school in kitty's opinion would be, the fate which he now had mapped out for himself would be much worse. the cruel, cruel sea might even drown him. kitty might never behold her laurie again. he was the joy of her heart and the light of her eyes. she uttered a piercing cry, and fell down half-fainting by her bedside. she lay so for the greater part of an hour, then struggling to her feet got into bed without undressing, and pulled the bedclothes well over her head.
when alice came in very late that evening she thought that kitty was asleep, and did not disturb her; but all during the long hours of that miserable night poor kitty lay awake, her heart beating loud, terrible visions passing before her eyes. toward morning she fell into a troubled sleep, to awake again quite early. her head ached badly, her pulses beat too quickly; she could not stand her hot bed any longer. springing up, she went into the bathroom, turned on the cold water, and refreshed herself with a bath. she felt really desperate and quite impervious to all ideas of discipline. she made up her mind to go to the lewises, knock up carrie, and demand an account of the property which she had confided to her on the previous day. even still there was just—just time to save laurie, for if she could catch the early post he would receive his money on saturday morning.
kitty found herself at constantino road between seven and eight o'clock. the blinds of carrie's bedroom window were still down, for the lewises were not early risers. maggie however, was up, and when kitty rang the bell she opened the door for her.
"miss malone!" she cried.
"i want to see miss carrie at once," cried kitty. "is she up, maggie?"
"not she, miss. she's sound asleep and in bed. but i'll run up and tell her that you are here. please come into the dining-room, miss malone."
maggie threw open the door of this by-no-means luxurious apartment, and then ran upstairs to inform carrie of kitty's unexpected arrival.
"now, what can be up?" thought carrie. "surely she is satisfied. i did very well for her."
she dressed herself hastily, and in five minutes was standing by kitty's side.
"what is it?" she asked. "are you not pleased? elma took you the money, did she not? she must have stayed with one of the middleton school girls for the night, for she never returned home; but she took you the money. i thought i did very well by you. were you not satisfied?"
"she took me the money?" cried kitty, turning pale. "no; that she did not. i never had any money. what do you mean, carrie?"
"what i say," answered carrie. "oh, do sit down, kitty; you look quite ghastly. i gave elma ten pounds seven shillings and twopence to give you i got eleven guineas for your things, including the watch and chain. after i deducted my ten per cent., the balance for you was ten pounds seven and twopence. i thought you would be delighted. did she not take you the money early yesterday evening?"
"no. i have never seen her."
"but she left here quite early on purpose. she said she was going straight to your house. i sent you plenty of money, did i not?"
"how much did you say?" asked kitty, putting her hand up to her forehead in a distracted way.
"ten pounds seven and twopence. you only really wanted eight pounds, did you not?"
"i had a little money of my own, and eight pounds would have done," said
kitty in a low voice; "but——"
here she sprang forward and gripped carrie by the arm. "what does it mean, carrie—what does it mean? elma never came near me; i never, never saw her last night."
"you never saw her? elma never went to you?"
"no, never. do you think i would tell an untruth? i never saw her, not since early school yesterday. oh, carrie, tell me what it means?"
"i cannot. i must say it looks very queer," said carrie. she frowned, turned her back partly upon kitty, and supporting her fat chin on one of her dimpled hands, began to think deeply. the more she thought the less she liked the aspect of affairs.
"carrie, what does it mean?" cried kitty, reiterating her words in a kind of frenzy of agitation.
"oh, stop talking to me for a minute, kitty! i must think this out."
carrie walked to the window, pulled up the blinds, threw the sash up, and allowed the fresh morning air to blow upon her hot face. after a time she turned round and faced kitty.
"you may well look pale," she said. "i confess i am as bewildered as you are yourself. of course elma may have been taken ill—she had a dreadful shock yesterday."
"how?"
"you are silly to talk like that. don't you know?"
"you mean because i told about her?"
"well, it turned out very badly, as badly as possible. you did tell, and when you did so you ruined her. if you had only kept that precious story to yourself, even for twenty-four hours, little elma would have been made—made for life; but you ruined her."
"oh do please tell me what you mean! my head is going round in a whirl;
i can scarcely follow you."
"you can pull yourself together if you like. this is what happened. i told you, did i not, yesterday, that aunt charlotte pays elma's fees at middleton school?"
"i think so, but i don't quite remember."
"that is so like you. i always said you were selfish."
"think what you like, carrie; but please tell me everything."
"oh, i'm quite willing. this is the story. aunt charlotte came here yesterday. she had heard of a splendid school in germany, where elma was to be sent as pupil-teacher. she wanted elma to leave middleton school at once, as she had found an escort to take her to germany; but before elma could be admitted into this new school it was necessary for her to have a certificate from miss sherrard. now you see daylight, don't you? my aunt, mrs. steward, went to see miss sherrard, taking elma with her. elma did not know that you had put a match to the mine, and of course aunt charlotte knew nothing about it. when miss sherrard was asked to give elma a certificate for conduct, she refused point-blank. of course the mine exploded. elma was called in, and all your nice, miserable story told to aunt charlotte. elma is to be publicly exposed at middleton school to-day; and aunt charlotte has washed her hands of her forever. there! that's what you have done. we have much to thank you for, have we not?"
kitty's face had grown whiter and whiter.
"you blame me very much for what i am not to be blamed for," she said after a pause.
"that's what you think. you're an irish girl, and you think nothing of a promise. you promised elma you would not tell. you lent her the money, and you promised you would not tell about it. you broke your promise, and you have ruined her for life. there! that's what has happened. i wish you joy of the nice state your conscience must be in."
"you are very bitter to me, carrie; but you cannot quite see my side of the question. i would not have told about elma if elma had been in the least true to me, but she was not, not a bit. all the same, i am terribly, terribly sorry for her. i would not have got her into this scrape if i had known."
"ay, you had no thought, you see. you just blurted out everything."
"i am very miserable," said poor kitty. she clasped her trembling hands together, and tears slowly welled into her beautiful dark-blue eyes. carrie watched her with anxiety.
"there, now i like you," she said, after a pause "you look awfully pretty with those tears in your eyes, and——"
"pretty, do i?" said kitty. for a moment a pleased smile flitted across her face, but then it faded; the present anxiety was too intense for her to give much thought to her personal appearance.
"where can elma be?" she said.
"ah, that's the dreadful part. i don't know. she went out of the house with your money. she evidently never took it to you. i am sure i cannot think what has happened to her."
"and my money is gone?" said kitty.
"so it seems—that is, unless we can find elma. it is all very dreadful, very horrible. i suppose the plain english of the matter is this"—here carrie gulped something down in her throat—"that she—she stole your money and has run away with it."
"carrie, you cannot think so!"
"it is what i have to think," answered carrie. "it is a mighty unpalatable truth, i can tell you. i suppose, now, your next step will be to prosecute her to send the police after her, and have her locked up. then you will ruin me too, for sam raynes—not that he is overparticular, nor that he cares twopence about refinement, or anything of that sort—would not care to marry a girl whose—whose sister was put in prison. that's your next step isn't it, kitty malone?"
"i won't stop to listen to you," said kitty; "you are too terrible."
she ran to the door, opened it, and the next moment found herself in the street. she walked fast, ugly words repeating themselves in her ears. carrie had been very blunt, and had given the petted, half-spoiled girl some home truths to think about. had she really been unkind in telling about elma? oh, what was right and what was wrong? what was the matter? could she ever, ever, in the whole course of her existence, have a light heart again? she walked up the street, little caring what she was doing or where she was going. at the next corner she came plump upon elma herself, who was coming slowly, very slowly in the direction of constantine road. when she saw her, poor kitty gave a sudden shout.
"oh, elma!" she said, "how glad i am—how glad i am!"
"what do you mean?" said elma. her voice was faint.
"i thought i might never see you again. i thought—i don't know what i thought—but you have come back."
"i ran away, and i have come back again," said elma. "you can punish me if you like, kitty; things can never be much worse than they are." here she staggered, and would have fallen had not kitty held her up.
"how dreadfully bad you look! but oh, the relief of seeing you again!" said kitty. "where have you been? what have you done?"
"i scarcely know what i have done, or where i have been. i have a noise in my head, a queer noise. my head aches so badly it seems as if it would never leave off again. i am going to school, and they are going to expose me. it was all because you told, kitty. and here is nearly all your money." elm a put her hand into her pocket. "i must tell you everything, kitty; for nothing really matters now. i meant to take that money. i meant to steal it all, but when it came to the point i found i could not. here is most of it back. i spent three shillings on my fare to saltbury and back, and sixpence on tea last night. that leaves ten pounds three and eightpence. here, count it, won't you, kitty? take it in your hand. here are the ten sovereigns, and the three shillings, and the sixpence and twopence. have you got them all right? i must owe you the balance, but i'll pay you soon—soon."
elma's voice sounded weaker and weaker. kitty clasped the money; her small fingers closed over it, her eyes grew bright, a flaming color rose into each of her cheeks, and it was as if new life was put into her.
"how bad you look!" she cried; "but oh, how happy i am to have this money! never mind for a moment what you meant to do; i have it now, and i forgive you with my whole heart. let us go straight to the nearest post office. i must get a postal order lor eight pounds immediately. come, elma, come."
"but what do you mean? why should i go with you?"
"because you must—because i am not going to part with you—not yet. come, come at once. oh, how dead tired you look! you are not to go back to that dreadful little house of yours—not yet. here is a nice-looking restaurant. you just go straight in, and i'll go on to the post office and send off the postal order to the dear old boy. he is saved now, and i am saved; nothing—nothing else matters. dear elma, of course i forgive you; pray don't look so miserable. i felt fit to die five minutes ago, but now i am as well and jolly as possible. here, elma, come into the restaurant and wait."
kitty had clutched hold of elma's arm, and now she dragged her into a large, bright-looking restaurant, which they were just passing. the next moment elma found herself seated by a small marble table. kitty was ordering tea or something, elma could not quite make out what, nor did she care. everything was dreamy and unreal to her.
"i'll be back in a minute, elma," cried kitty. her flashing eyes smiled as they glanced at elma. elma tried to smile back, but could not. the next moment kitty was out of the place. she was back again in less than a quarter of an hour.
"i have done it," she cried, "and my heart is as light as a feather. i have sent off the postal order to laurie; he will be saved now. oh, it is so comforting; and we have a little over two pounds for ourselves."
"for ourselves—what do you mean?" said elma.
"why, of course, we'll divide it and have a jolly time. aren't you going to have your breakfast? i'm as hungry as a hawk."
as kitty spoke she poured out a cup of tea, added milk to it, and pushed it toward elma. elma drank it off, and when she had done so the confused feeling in her head got a little better. kitty then began to speak in a low, excited whisper.
"let us do something," she said. "let us do something quite mad and wild and jolly. we have got out of our scrape."
"you have; but i am in it up to my neck," said poor elma. "oh kitty, i am a miserable, wretched girl!"
"never mind, you are going to be a jolly girl now, the jolliest girl in the world. do you think because i am happy again that i am going to leave you to all this misery, particularly after that nice blunt, determined carrie of yours telling me that it was my fault, and that i would repent it to my dying day? look here, elma, did you say that you wanted to go back to middleton school this morning?"
"i have to. i am to be exposed, you know."
"not a bit of it. neither you nor i will go to that hateful school; let us run away."
"run away? but i have run away and come back again."
"let us do it over again."
"kitty, what do you mean?"
"what i say. i have heaps of money; let us get back to saltbury and enjoy ourselves, elma. why can't we take the next train? no one will prevent us; no one will guess where we are. we will have a nice time, a really nice time. say 'yes,' elma, won't you?"
"but would you really go with me?"
"why not? i am the wild irish girl, and you are the naughty english girl; let us go off together."
"well, it does sound tempting," said elma, her eyes sparkling. "kitty, it is wonderful of you not to give me up."
"oh, i am not the sort of girl to give up a friend when she is in trouble. you have made it right for me, and the sun is shining again, and i am as happy as the day is long. elma, you must come."
"it does sound tempting—i wish my head did not ache so badly."
"it will be better when you get to the seaside."
"perhaps so, and then i need not go to middleton school."
"you need never go there again. oh, don't waste any more time over breakfast. we can eat when we get to saltbury. i want to get off before alice and carrie or any of them begin to miss us. let us go to the railway station; it is not far off."
kitty's eager and impetuous words earned the day, and in a quarter of an hour's time the girls found themselves speeding away to saltbury.
"we have indeed burned our boats now," said kitty, with a laugh; "we have both run away. now they have something really to scold us about; but never mind. i never felt, more jolly in my life."
