Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1882-02-09
Cite Stutp Teller.
ELSIE'S TRUNK.


| He ALWAYS went into the kitchen to smoke
his cigar of winter evening. He said 1t wa!
to save the snowy muslin curtains of his Aunt
Phedra's pretty parlor but, in her secret
heart. Aunt Phedra believed that 1t was tt
enjoy the light and warmth of the open fire.
And really Aunt Phedra's kitchen was q
cozier and more comfortable place than most
parlors, with it's red-and-black striped rag
carpet, its tall clock in the corner, and vel
low-washed walls all festooned with shining
tin, and the big cushioned chair in the corner
He was smoking his cigar, as we said be-
| fore and Aunt Phedra was industriously
picking yellow leaves off the fish-geranium in
the window.
back, or she wouldn't have sent her trunk"
"No," said Mr.. Sunfold, 81 presume not"
"And I'm heartily sorry' added Aunt Phe
dra.
Mr.. Sunfold knocked the ashes off the tip
of his cigar, replaced on the fre-dogs a log
which had rolled off, and asked in rather a
low tone
tsWhy ?'
Because you are determined to marry her, .
said Aunt Phedra.
"And why shouldn't I marry her, Aunt
Phedra ?''
Aunt Phedra wheeled around to face hel
nephew. :,
':Because she is a heartless little flirt," said
she. "And I am sorry ever adopted her and
brought her here to break the hearts Of halt
the young men in the country"
Mr.. Sunfold laughed.
LET them take care Of their own hearts, .
said he., "That is no business Of mine. She
loves me, and me only, and that is enough"
II am not so sure Of that" said Aunt Phe'
dra, with spice of feminine malice, she is a
regular coquet, Elisha Bennett is, and she may
jilt you, as well as another"
''In that, Aunt Phedra," said the young
man, slowly, ''I'm sure that you are mistaken.
II am only repeating what people say" re-
torted the old lady "However, that's Meth.
Ell here nor there. She told me to open the
trunk as soon as it came, and get out the
black silk dress pattern, and send it to the
dressmaker's. I think" Aunt Phedra add
ed, incidentally, ''that black silk dress for
girl of Elsie's narrow means is simply a
piece of extravaganza. Yes, Ralph, l know
what you're going to say-"1f girl teaches
school and earns her own money, she has a
right to spend it as she pleases." But that
don't alter the common sense of the matter.
And she never sent the key"
"Then you can't open it" said Ralph Sun
fold.
"Unless,' said Aunt Phedra, producing a
prodigious ring of different sized keys-'un.
less one of these happens to fit it. borrowed
'em from Luke Smiths wife, whose husband
used to be in the locksmith business. wish,
Ralph, you'd come into the next room and try
it. I'm so afraid of breaking the lock-"
s'Certainly, Aunt Phedra," said Ralph Sum
fold. .........-....
If he couldn't see pretty Elsie's dimpled,
&oh ho oh fa In cnpnofhinr for
her was the next best thing; and he follow
ed the old lady with alacrity into the adjoin-
ing apartment, where battered trunk stood
against the wall, like leviathan in repose.
ssShe must have been dreadful hard on her
new trunk" sighed Aunt Phedra. -...
Baggage e-smashers p suggested her nephew.
Zone can't travel without having ones things
torn to pieces. Where are your keys, Aunt
Phedra 20
He knelt before the trunk, the old lady
standing solicitously by, as one key after
another was tested, without any apparent
success.
"I'm afraid we shall have to give it up
said Ralph. "Stop! here is one more on the
ring. Eurekal We have 1.-THE very thing P'
''Well, I declared % said Aunt Phedra, as
the young man lifted heavy lid and balanced
it against the wall, eff that wasnt't sheer
good luck. Now for the black silk dress pat
tern and the trimmings, Eh-.what? A gen,
tleman' s photograph of 'em ? A box OF
cigarettes do hope Elsie hasn't got the
nasty habit of smoking, like those dreadful
Cuban ladies one reads about. A red SILK
smoking-cap and pair Of Turkish slippers
"Stop, Aunt Phedra ~ said Mr.. Sunfold,
who had grown very pale. eve have no right
further to pry into another PERSONS belong
ings."
Aunt Phedra turned upon him like an en-
ragged lioness
HShe wrote me to look into her things y
said she, s'and I'm looking. And I'm glad l
looked for as sure as you live, Ralph Sunfold,
Elsie Bennett, my adopted daughter, has got
married on the sly, and these are her husbands
things, packed in among hers"
sBut that is impossible" said straightfor-
ward Ralph Sunfold. "She is engaged to me ~
"Oh, Ralph, Ralph!' cried the old lady,
bursting into the slow agonizing tears of old
age, as she let her head fall on her nephew's
shoulder, s'don't think any more OF her. She's
jilt-a heartless coquette Oh, my boy, my
boy she never was good enough for you %
Mr.. Sunfold turned. silently away. lie
would have pledged his life for the truth and
purity of little Elsie Bennett but what do
these mute witnesses mean-the testimony OF
the laughing, handsome, photographs, with the
silky mOustache and the dark, audacious eyes
"What are you doing, Aunt Phedra =, ne
asked, with his attention at last attracted Dy
her quick, sudden motions.
"Shutting up the trunk" said the old lady,
brusuuely. ''I'll send it back to her at once.
III not have such brazen-faced doings in my
house ~
"No, Aunt Phedra," said Ralph, resolutely
eff either of us leaves the house, it must be l.
Elsie has a right to the shelter OF your roof.
She is your adopted daughter"
''From this moment" said the old lady.
sharply, ssshe is nothing more to me ~
A cloud had come over the starlight OF the
autumn night the sad wind moaned among
the yellow leaves that had drifted along the
roadside; and Mr.. Sunfold, sitting sadly by
the fire felt as if his whole life were darkened
over and changed. Aunt Phedra, opposite
to him, was knitting mechanically away with
compressed lips and ominously grave visage
and neither spoke.
Sweet and sprightly, a laugh sounded on the
frosty silence outside, merry footstep trip
ped up the three stone steps, and, like gale
of fresh, pure air, in fiuttered Elsie Bennett
herself Elsie. with cheeks painted the sOftest
carmine by the brush of the great Frost
Artist, brown tresses escaping from under the
brim of her black straw hat, and eyes spark
ling like blue jewels.
II thought should take you by surprise,
said Elsie, looking triumphantly around. lone
of the school trustees is dead, and we've got 9
vacation until Monday. So 1 took the first
train, and here am. And, dear me, what's
the matter ?" as, for the first time, she per-
ceived the inscrutable change in the faces Of
Mr.. Sunfold and Aunt Phedra. els anybody
sick9 Has anything happened ~
ooh, Elsie, Elsie % said the old lady. chow
can YOU stand there looking us in the face Sc
calmly ?"
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