A LITTLE TRUNK
It was a journey of only a few hours to the dock where the party were to
take ship, the sailing being set for early afternoon. Before it seemed
possible they had left the train and were being conveyed by motor to the
pier. It was at the first whiff of salt-water fragrance that Georgiana
felt a sudden onset of dread of the sailing of the great ship. And when
she caught sight of the four black funnels rising above the mass of
smaller smokestacks and masts and spars which lifted beyond the dingy
buildings of the pier, she experienced an unexpected and disconcerting
longing to run away--back to her home.
Her father's face rose before her as she had seen it that morning, pale
and worn, the inner brightness of the undaunted spirit shining through
the thinnest of veils. What if anything should happen to that beloved
face, so that she should never set eyes on it again? The thought shook
her with a throb of pain.
They were on the pier, they were ascending the gangway, they were on one
of the lower decks and entering the elevator which was to lift them
past many intermediate decks to that one, next the highest of all, where
their quarters lay. And when they came out upon that upper deck
Georgiana was dimly conscious that they were a party to attract
attention, even among many people evidently of the same class. Any party
to which Aunt Olivia and Jeannette belonged, she felt, must necessarily
expect to be noticed. Of her own contribution to the party's distinction
she was entirely unaware.
But now that she was actually on shipboard, where during the last
fortnight she had so many times imagined herself, Georgiana found to her
distress that she could not for a moment banish the thought, the image
itself, of that gentle, suffering face at home. Not that she wanted to
forget it--not that; but she did want, now that her decision was made,
to be able to appreciate what a happy occasion it was and how fortunate
the circumstances which had brought about her presence here, the last
place in the world she had expected ever to be in.
She entered the stateroom which she was to share with her cousins, and
was amazed at the size and comfort of it. It was half filled with
flowers and baskets of fruit and other offerings sent for the girls,
with two boxes addressed to herself. Both Stuart and Mr. Jefferson had
sent her flowers. As she examined them a hurried steward appeared with
a third box, which proved to be also for her--a small box, which had
come not from a city florist, like the others, but by mail.
It had been put up by unskilled hands, as its crushed shape and damp
exterior clearly showed. She opened it, wondering, and found a little
bunch of garden flowers, sadly wilted, their limp stems protruding from
the moistened newspaper in which they were wrapped. She searched for a
card, and found it. In a hand she knew well, a little cramped, a little
wavering, but full of character, she read these words: "Blessing her,
praying for her, loving her."
Georgiana's heart gave a great leap of fear. What were those lines, what
the context? She knew them--knew them well. She had never heard her
father quote them, and never read with him the lines from which they
came. Did he know them, use them with intent, not imagining she would
place them? As she well remembered, they were from "Enoch Arden," and
she had spoken them herself, in a dramatized version of that pathetic
poem, the last winter of her college life. And they ran thus:
When you shall see her, tell her that I died
Blessing her, praying for her, loving her.
At the moment she was alone in the stateroom, the two girls having been
an instant before summoned by their brother to meet some friends who
had come on board to see them off. She stood staring at the touching
little bunch of faded bloom, knowing just how tender had been the
thought of her which had prompted the effort. It had not occurred to Mr.
Warne that there was any other way of sending flowers to ships than by
mailing them from one's own garden. As for the words, she knew well
enough that he had not dreamed of disturbing her content by quoting
them, yet--she could but feel that the reason why they came to his mind
when he was searching there for a bit of tender sentiment to send with
his parting gift was the thought of his own possible end being not far
away. And if he, too, were thinking of that----
With a fast-beating heart Georgiana stood staring out of the open
porthole at the scene of activity outside. Far below her she could see
the gangway over which she had come on board. In less than an hour--the
party had arrived early--that gangway would be withdrawn, the water
would slowly widen between pier and ship, and there would be no turning
back. Could she go--could she bear to go--and take the chance? Were her
fears only the natural forebodings of the unaccustomed traveler, or was
there a real reason why she should never have allowed herself to be
persuaded to leave one whose hold on life was so frail, the only being
in the world to whom she was closely bound? She closed her eyes and
tried to think....
Mrs. Thomas Crofton, turning from a group of friends at the touch of her
niece's hand upon hers, would have drawn the girl into the circle and
presented her with genuine pride in her, but the low voice in her ear
deterred her:
"Aunt Olivia, please forgive me, but I must ask you to come away with me
just for five minutes. Please----"
In a temporarily forsaken angle of the deck Georgiana laid her case
before her aunt, speaking with rapid, shaken words, but none the less
determinedly. Mrs. Crofton listened with an astonished face and with
lips which protested even before they had the chance to speak.
"I know just how dreadful it will seem to you all--that I shouldn't have
known my duty long ago. But I see it now--oh, so plainly! And it's not
only my duty, it's my love that takes me back. I can't stop to tell you
how I feel about leaving you all when you've been so kind, so wonderful
to me. I can tell you that another time. But the thing now for me is to
get off this ship before it sails. I must!"
"But, Georgiana, my dear child----"
"Oh, please don't try to keep me, Aunt Olivia! My mind is made up. I
can't tell you how it hurts to do it, but I don't dare to leave my
father. If anything happened to him I could never forgive
myself--never. He isn't well. It would do no good to take me with you
now. I should be so miserable I should spoil it all for you."
"Georgiana, listen." The calmly poised woman of the world held the
clinging hand in a firm, warm grasp, the low voice spoke evenly. "Many
people feel just as you do, dear, on the eve of sailing. Some are made
actually ill, even quite old travelers. But they know that it is pure
hysteria and they fight it off, and afterward they are able to laugh at
their fears. My dear, you are quite mistaken about there being any
danger threatening your father. He is in the best of hands, and he
himself would be sadly disappointed----"
It was of no use. Mrs. Crofton took her niece to her stateroom, and,
sending for Jeannette and Rosalie, even for Uncle Thomas, tried in vain
to shake her.
Ten minutes before the hour of sailing, Rosalie, rushing about the deck
in search of Miles Channing, finally discovered him and burst out under
her breath with the appalling news:
"Georgiana's going back! She's got the idea somehow that her father
mayn't live till she comes home. We can't do a thing with her. Oh, do
come and see if you can't show her how absurd it is to do such a thing!"
"Going back!" Miles Channing seized Rosalie's arm. "Where is she? Why,
she can't go back; the ship's all but casting off. What on earth is the
matter with her? She's too sensible a girl to lose her head at the last
minute. Good heavens! We won't let her go; we'll keep her in her
stateroom till it's too late. Take me there--quick!"
They dashed along the narrow passageways, until, coming from the
Croftons' suite, they encountered Georgiana pale but quiet, Jeannette
flushed scarlet and in tears, and Mrs. Crofton evidently sorely
exasperated, but keeping herself well in hand.
Channing walked straight up to Georgiana. "Will you give me five
minutes?" he asked.
She shook her head with a faint smile. "It's no use, Mr. Channing. I
shall not change my mind again. I should have known it in the first
place, and there mayn't be five minutes to spare. I must be in sight of
the gangway."
"I'll take you there," he said, and glanced at the others in a way which
clearly said: "Give me my chance." They understood and let him lead
Georgiana on ahead toward the place she sought.
He was a clever man and an experienced one in the ways of women, even
though his years among them were not yet many. He realized that argument
was of little use; there was only one weapon left with which to fight
the girl's determination, and it was one he was not loath to use, though
he had not meant to speak so plainly until quite different surroundings
invited.
"This is a hard blow to my hopes," he said very low, as they stood where
they could watch the manoeuvres of the officers and men who were in
charge of the embarkation of passengers. "I can't tell you what this
voyage with you has meant to me; I don't know how to give it up. Now,
please listen. Won't you do this? Come across with us, and then, when
you are actually over--it's only a five-day crossing, you know--if you
still feel you must go back, we'll not try to prevent you. You'll be
away then only a fortnight, and nothing in the world can go wrong at
your home in that little time. And meanwhile we shall have had this
voyage together--Georgiana?"
His voice with its meaning inflections would have been very hard to
resist, if the girl had not by now set her teeth upon her determination.
Having suffered already so much humiliation for the sake of her sudden
conviction, her pride would not have let her change again, though a
voice from the skies had then and there assured her that all was and
would be well with her father. So once more she shook her head and moved
toward the gangway. Behind her, ready to follow her if must be, a
deckhand waited with her luggage. The Croftons, their faces showing much
concern, had remained in the background waiting for a signal from
Channing that he had or had not prevailed.
"If you go ashore," threatened Channing, "I shall go with you. And the
ship will sail without me."
This roused her to speech. "No, no; don't even say such a thing--just to
frighten me. Good-bye, Mr. Channing, and--I'm truly very, very sorry."
"I mean it," he urged hotly. "The whole thing is nothing to me without
you; you know that perfectly well."
"I should never forgive you," she said, turning to look once into his
eyes, as if to convince him of the reality of her prohibition; and he
saw there all the spirit he had reckoned with, and saw, too, such a
world of possibilities for one who could arouse that intense and
purposeful nature, that he was swept off his feet.
"But you will forgive me if I come back by the next ship," he said
quickly.
"No. Not if you come a day sooner than you intended."
Once more their glances met, like blows; then Georgiana moved rapidly
toward the gangway, where the sailor in charge was beckoning. The
Croftons, one and all, hurried forward, and the retreating traveler
suffered their embraces.
"My child, you are forcing us to leave you here alone to look after
yourself, after our promising to take every care of you," mourned Mrs.
Crofton. "I shall be most uneasy about you."
"No, no, dear Aunt Olivia, you mustn't be. I am a perfectly independent
person, and I can take myself home without a particle of trouble.
Good-bye--and please, please forgive me, all of you!"
She was off at last, with Jeannette's hot tears on her cheek, Rosalie's
reproachful and all but angry final speech, "I didn't think you'd
actually do it, Georgiana Warne!" ringing in her ears; and Chester's
explosive, derisive prediction following her, "By thunder, but you'll be
a sorry girl when it's too late. I can tell you that!"--to make her feel
that nobody really understood or sympathized with her.
It was Uncle Thomas who applied the one touch of balm to his niece's
sore heart:
"David Warne is a rich man, my dear girl, to have you," he said gently,
as he kissed her. "Don't feel too badly over disappointing us; it's all
right. Take good care of yourself going home, and give my love to your
father."
She smiled bravely back at him as she ran down the gangway with half a
score of belated visitors to the ship. In a moment she was only one of
the crowd of people who were watching the huge bulk of the liner draw
almost imperceptibly away from the pier. Through blurred vision she
looked up to the spot where they were all waving at her and
smiling--thank heaven, they were smiling, as it was obviously their
duty to do, no matter what their feelings.
When their faces had become indistinguishable, and the great ship had
backed far out into the waters, and was headed toward the Atlantic,
Georgiana turned to a porter at her elbow. "No," she said, "I didn't
sail. Yes, this trunk is mine; it's to go back."
Somehow, as she followed the man through the long, dingy building, the
thing which drove home the ache in her heart was the sight of the
little, aristocratic-looking, leather-covered steamer trunk, Uncle
Thomas's gift, packed with so many high hopes, now riding alone on a
great truck. Of all the baggage which that truck had borne to the lading
of the ship, hers was the only little, lonely piece to come back!