A RUNAWAY COUPLE

Waikato Times, Volume XXXI, Issue 2540, 20 October 1888, Page 1 (Supplement)

A RUNAWAY COUPLE

" Fan ? I am not going to stand this nonsense one hour longer!" said May Heath to Fannie Calthorpe. " What can you do?" dolorously and doubtfully asked Faunio. "Do? I'll run away! Mr Warren must be a positive idiot to suppose I will stay here ! I cannot imagine what ho was thinking about when he sent us to such a place." "I thought the doctor said you must havo country air, perfect quiet and rest, and positively forbade a fashionable watering-place." " Country air!" was the scornful ejaculation, "Did ho stipulate for it to come in through the broken walls at all hours of the night ? Quiet, with a poultry yard under the window and the barn adjoining it! Rest! on a ticking containing fifteen straws chopped up to the size of needles, over a framework of ropes, that have made a map of bruises all over me ! I have not had an hour of sound sleep since I came, and I am half starvod. I know the food is good enough raw, but the cooking is horrible, everything fried and smothered in prease, or baked to a stone ! I will not stay another day!" "But Mr Warron took our rooms for three months," "He may come and live in them, then !" As she spoke the rebellious young ward of the respectable and absent Robert Warren sat more erect upon the fallen log where she had been expressing her opinion to her bosom friend. Pretty girls they were, both of them, brimful of girlish spirit, although May Heath was still pale from a recent sharp attack of fever. Fannie Calthorpe had the rosiest cheeks and the roundest arms, but- there was little to choose in other matters, both being well dressed, well educated, and what is rather loss common in these degenerate days—well bred. "But," said Fan, after a moment of silence, " what can you do?'' "Run away! Do you remember the cozy farm-house where we stayed a week last summer, on our way to Conway? Well, I secured the name of the farmer, and post-office address, and I have written that we are coining. I did not ask if they would have us, but said we would be "at Violet-banks Farm to-morrow. And we will. I have plenty of money with me, and if my guardian thinks this is an earthly paradise, he may enjoy it himself. Come ! I have sent for Nathan to take us down to the 3.30 train, and we must pack." "But-" 11 No use! You may sit here and state your objections to the trees if you wish, but I am going?" With a sigh and a smile Fan sprang up. She was glad enough to escape from the discomforts of a country boarding-house, whose only attraction was its advertisement. Merrily the girls packed, and telling the bewildered landlady that the gentleman who had engaged the rooms would pay for them, they climbed into old Nathan's waggon, their trunks for seats, aud were jolted down to the railway station.

" Now that we are fairly started," said May, as the pair nestled down in the cushioned chairs of a "Pullman," " I will tell you a secret." Fan was all attention. " Mr Warren is in love with me !"said May. " You don't call that a secret, do you ?" "Well, it is apart of mino. He is awfully, ridiculously jealous, and he put the doctor up to thiscountry business, for I heard him. His mother is very anxious for her darling Robert to marry, and the dear old lady is really very fond of me, so between them I have no peace of my life." " But—l thought you were engaged 1" "We are not. Positively phatical'.y, we are not!" " But don't you like in ? "My dear, blessed child—we are all alone in this compartment, arc we not! Yes. My dear, I adore him. I love every curl on his handsome head, every hair in his whiskers. Life would be a burden without his love, but I am not going to tell him so. So I flirt with Cousin Charlie and Will Thompson, and a dozen or so of others, who all worship my —bank account, and set Robert wild. Wicked ? I know it! But I will not bo punished like a naughty child by being sent to that hole we have just left, and lo pay my guardian for the attempt I shall not let him know where I am until Igo back to the city. I am carrying out the doctor's orders at Mrs Browne's, and I intend to be comfortable, if I cannot hare any society. You and I never did care much for a third party, if we could be together." " Cresson !'' shouted the conductor. And gathering up shawl-straps, dusters, and satchels, the girls went out upon the platform, where their trunks were already standing. It was a country station—a small room of unpainted boards, with open front, and a board nailed to the wall on three sides for a seat.

" Why, where is the waggon ?" cried May. "I wrote to Mrs Browne that we would be here on this train, rain or shine, and she must send the waggon to meet us." " And ic is nearly dark," cried Fan, "and I urn starving." " What are we to do ? Pull the trunks into the room first! Gracious.' how heavy thevure !" But thoy were put under cover by the united strength of the two girls. " We'll have to walk up, and send for them," said May, referring to the trunks. " Don't cry, for pity's sake, Fan," for F.in's big blue eyes were suspiciously misty. , . , " Cry ! Not I," was the quick reply, "•let's stand here, May." "_A. r o do—you—that—is—do we go that way or this way ?" asked May, looking at the wide country road crossed by the railroad track. " Oh, May, you don't moan to say you don't know." •' I am not sure, but I think it is this way," said May, bravely. "It will take us somewhere." There was no help for it. Walking to "somewhere" was the only way out of the difficulty, and burdened with wraps, the. two girls started. The long twilight of a summer evening was over, and there was au oiniauous gathering of clouds, haJ there been light enough to see them. Down the dusty road the two girls walked hastily, May realising, in spite of her accustomed courage, that her recent illness had left her very unfit for over-exertiou. A distant rumble reduced Fan to helplessness. She was a coward in a. thunder sUrm, and to meet such a terror on that lonely road, after dark, drove her almost frantic, "Oh, May! That was thunder!" she cried, "and it is raining !" ■' What are we to do ? There is a light 1" cried May, suddenly, as the twinkle of a oandle ebone out of the darkness. " It is a mile way!"

" Nevertheless, we are going there. Don't cry, Fan !" For Fan was sobbing. It was not surprising, all things, considered. But in spite of her tears and May's increasing weakness, they hurried on, following the light, the rain falling heavily, and they dismally remembered, their watprproof cloaks in their trunks ; it hud been "such a perfect day" when they started. On and on, drenched co the skin, till they reached tho light. A tallow candle stuck in a tin stand ngainst the wall of a Btation precisely similar to the ono they had left. Indeed, May declared if they had not walked in a straight line, she would have been sure it was tho same one.

But there was a shock-headed boy on the bench, evidently seeking shelter from tho Btorm, ruginer furiously by that time. Fan cowered down on a bench, covering her face and sobbing convulsively. May called the boy. " How far is it to Mrs. Browne's P" she anked. " Don't knnw no Mrs. Browne," " At VioletbaDks Farm." "Lor! she's dead! She died laßt Christmas o' fever—ammonia fever— cotohed a cold an' went off sudden." "But who lives at the farm?" " There aint none." " No people there ?" "No farm-honse —got burned, Was sot afire, or cotcbed afire, or suthing. I don't know." "Oh!" wailed Fan, "what are wo to do ?" " Who takes boarders near here?" "Lots of 'em does. But lor! tbey's all packed as clo«e as herrin." There ain't a room nowhere round', there aint. My man sent folks all over in a carryall yistorday an' they took the train on. Couldn't git no kind o' place. 'Taint uo soit o' use you're lookin', I know.' May's heart sank. The storm was abating, tho thunder dying out in distant grumbling, and Fan bad exhausted her tears, But both girls were literally soaked, their tbiu summer clothing drenched, and they were faint with hunger. "HI give you a dollar," said May to the boy, " can you get us something to eat ?"

"I reckon! Mam'll hunt up that's worth \'' "Tell her we arc cold, wet, and hungry, and we did not know of Mrs Browne's death, but were going there," said May. "And tell her one of us is sick," said Fan, suddenly coming to her senses as she saw how deadly white her friend's face looked by the feeble light of the caudle. " I'll tell her," said the boy, and shot down the road ju«t as May fell to the floor, entirely inseusihle. It was Fiti'.< turn then to assume command. S'ta dried her teatv, lifted M ty to a bench, by exerting all her strength, found some brandy, and cologne in her satchel, and wax occupied in restoring the exhausted vii'l to cons':iou-uoHS. wheu the down train flashed by, backed and stopped.

A wild de«ira to lift May into tho oar was ju*t shipiiiif itself into a resolution in Kim's mind, wlieti tho train rushed on again, leaving two passengers on th'! platform. A carriage drew up at the steps at '/he same instant, and May looking up, gave a glad cry: "Mi Warren'. Oh, what good angel sent you hero !" The gentleman addressed fairly gasped with amazement, but in less time thin I could repent it, Fan fold the whole story, and was told that Mr Warren was 'down with a friend for a week's fishing." The friend stepped to the front at once. " You will both come to my place, of course," he said. " Not a word, Warren. You don't suppose I would desert ladies in such distress, even if they were entire strangers. Mother will attend to their comfort." But comfort was something pooT May was not to find for many weary days. She came back from unsdiousness to delirious fever, and lay so dangerously ill that Robert Warren was the very ghost of himself with anxiaty, when she was at last pronounced convalescent. It was a dull time for him, a suffering time for May ; but Harry Thome, tho friend who had so opportunely come to the rescue, thought the summer days had never passed so quickly. His mother was onn of those darling old ladies who ara entirely happy in nursing duties, and she would not let Pun be much in the sick room, although she insisted upon keepinir her as a guest. For Fan, roaming about tearfully, was consoled by drives, boating, walking and talking with Harry Thome as an escort. They had finally concluded that life was to be endured only when they were together, just about the time that May was tearfully asking Robert Warren to forgive her for the suffering she had caused him, and humbly promised she would never run away again. It may he mentioned in conclusion that Robert Warren had the brightest testimonials of the farm house, to which he had sent his ward, and had known of Mrs Brown's death, and tho destruction of tho farm-honse. Also, that the trunk", when sent for. were gone, and never again appeared, and tho shock-headed boy declares " them two was ppooks !"