The Sunday morning news. [volume] (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1886-1891, 1891-11-22
MELISSA'S TOUR.
4 Story Of TWO Continents and the
Intervening Ocean.
nv GRANT ALLEN
Copyriqht 1s91-AH Riqhts Reserved.

in the carsl Melissa p. E~asterbrook"
Perhaps" l said tentatively, "she
may be better than her name. And at
any rate, Demands not bound to marry
her"
Lucy darted at me profounds volumes
of mute feminine contempt. THE girls
pretty" she said at last, after n long,
deep pause, during which l had been
made to realize to the full my w utter
moral and intellectual nothingness.
.sYou may be sure she's pretty. Mrs.
Wade wouldn't have foisted her upon us
if she wasn't pretty, but unspeakable.
It's a vile plot on her part to destroy my
peace of mind. You won't believe it,
Vernon; but / know that woman. And
what does the girl mean by signing her
self Respectfully / wenderT'
'It's the American way,"I ventured
gently to interpose.
$50 gather" my wife answered,
with a profound accent Of contempt. To
her anything that isn't done in the
purest English way stands, ipso facto,
self condemned Immediately.
A day or two later a second letter ar
rived from Miss Easterbrook, in reply to
one of Lucy's suggesting a rendezvous.
I confess it drew up in my mind a some
what painful picture. | began to believe
my wife's fears were in some ways well
grounded.
MRS. Lucy B. Hancock, London" (as
before).
"DEAR MADAM thank you for yours
and will meet you on the day and hour
you mention at st. Pancras depot. You
will know me when you see me, because
/ shall wear a dove colored dress, with
bonnet to match, and a pair of gray
spectacles. Respectfully,
s'MELIssA P. E~AsTERBRooK."
laid it down and sighed. "a New
England schoolmarml" l exclaimed with
a groan. at sounds rather terrible. A
dove colored dress and q pair of gray
s~pectacles! ! fancy l can picture her. to
myself-a tall and bony person of a GER
tain age, with corkscrew curls, who
reads improving books and has views
of her own about the fulfillment Of
prophecy"
But as my spirits went down, so Lu-
cy's went up, like the old man and WON
an in the cottage weather glass. "That
looks more promising" she said. "The
spectacles are good. Perhaps after all
dear Bernard may escape. Idon't think
he's at all the sort of person to be taken
with dove colored bonnet"
For some days after Bernard came
home from Cambridge we chaffed a good
deal among ourselves about Miss Melissa
Easterbrook. Bernard took quite my
view about the spectacles and dress. He
even drew on an envelope a fancy por-
trait of Miss E~asterbrook, as he said him
self, from documentary evidence" 1t
represented a typical schoolmarm of the
most yirulent order, and was calculated
to strike terror into the receptive mind
of Ingenious youth on simple inspection.
At last the day came when we were to
60 to Liverpool. We arrived at st. Pan
cras in very good time, and looked about
on the platform for a tall and hardfaced
person OF transatlantic aspect, arrayed
in a dove colored dress and a pair Of
gray spectacles. But we looked in vain;
nobody about seemed to answer to the
description. At last Bernard turned to
my wife with a curious smile: 81 think
I've spotted her mother, /" he said, waving
his hand vaguely to the right. "That
lady over yonder-by the door of the re-
freshment room. Don't you see? That
must be Melissa" For we knew her only
as Melissa already among ourselves; it
had been raised to the mild rank Of a
family witticism.
Hooked in the direction he suggested
and paused for certainty. There, irreso-
lutte by the door and gazing about her
timidly with inquiring eyes, stood the
prettiest, ~tiniest, most shrinking little
western girl you ever saw in your life
attired, as she said, in a doye colored
dress, with bonnet to match, and a pair
of gray s~pectacles. But oh, what a dove
colored dress! Walter Crane might have
designed it--one of those perfect travel
ing costumes of which the American girl
seems to possess q monopoly; and the
spectacles-well, the spectacles, though
undoubtedly real, added just q touch OF
piquancy to an otherwise almost pain
Lully llIulu anu lObllinS ittiO hSuiC.
The moment / set eyes on Melissa East
erbrook, | will candidly admit, / was
her captive at once; and even Lucy, as
she looked at her, relaxed her face in
voluntarily into a sympathetic smile.
As u rule, Lucy might pose as a perfect
model of the British matron in her am
pier and maturer years-"calmly ter
rible," as an American observer once de-
scribed the genus; but at sight Of
Melissa she melted without a struggle.
Poor, wee little thing, how pretty she
ISL she exclaimed with a start. You
will readily admit that was a great deal,
from Lucy.
Melissa came forward tentatively, q
dainty blush half rising on her rather
pale and delicate little cheek. Mrs.
Hancock she said in an inquiring tone,
with just the faintest suspicion of All
American accent in her musical, small
voice. Lucy took her hand cordially.
Il was sure it was you, ma'am," Melissa
went on with pretty confidence, looking
up into her face, because Mrs. Wade
told me you'd be as kind to me as a
mother, and the moment / saw you !
Just said to myself, THAT must be Mrs.
Hancock, she's so sweetly motherly.
How good of you to burden yourself with
a stranger like mel l hope indeed