Wild Heather. Meade L. T.

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СКАЧАТЬ station to meet her."

      "How much money will you give me?" asked the red-faced woman.

      "I will give you a whole half-crown," I said. "Please, please take me – it is so dreadfully important, for the next train may come in, and Anastasia may not know where to go to."

      "Well, to be sure," said the woman, looking me all over from top to toe; "I don't seem to know you, little miss, but there's no harm in me taking you as far as the station, and the next train will be due in a very few minutes, so we'll have to go as fast as possible."

      "I don't mind running, if you don't mind running too," I answered.

      "I can't run," said the woman; "I'm too big."

      "Well," I said, "perhaps the best thing of all would be for you to show me how to get to the railway station. If you do that, I can run very fast indeed, and you shall have your half-crown."

      "That would be much the best way," said the woman; "and look, missy, you haven't very far to go. Here we are at the foot of this steep hill. Well, you run up it as fast as ever you can, and when you get to the top you will see the railway station right in front of you, and all you have to do is to ask if the train is in. There's only one train in and one train out at a little railway station like ours, so you can't miss your way. You will have to ask a porter, or any man you see, to show you the platform where the trains come in, and there you are. Now, my half-crown, please, missy."

      "Yes. Here it is," I answered, "and I am very much obliged to you, woman."

      I thrust the money into her hand and began to run as fast as ever I could up the hill. I was a very slight child, and ran well. With the fear and longing, the indescribable dread of I knew not what in my heart, there seemed to be wings attached to my feet now, for I went up the hill so fast – oh, so fast! – until at last I arrived, breathless, at the top. A man was standing leisurely outside an open door. He said, "Hallo!" when he saw me, and I answered back, "Hallo!" and then he said:

      "What can I do for you, little miss?" and I said:

      "I have come to meet the next train, and, please, when will it be in, for Anastasia is coming by it?"

      "Whoever is Anastasia?" asked the man.

      "My nurse," I answered; "and she's coming by the next train."

      The man whistled.

      "Please show me the right platform, man," I said. "I have no money to give you at all, so I hope you will be very, very kind, for I gave all the money I possessed in the world to a stout, red woman at the bottom of the hill. She showed me how to get here, but she could not run fast enough, for she was so very stout, so I left her and came on alone. Please show me the platform and Anastasia shall give you some money when she comes."

      "I don't want any money, missy," said the man in a kind tone. "You come along of me. There's the London express specially ordered to stop here, because Sir John Carrington and his lady are expected. The expresses don't stop here as a rule, missy – only the slow trains; but maybe the person you want will be in this express."

      "She's sure to be if it's the next train," I said. "Is it the next train?"

      "Well, yes, miss, I suppose it is. Ah! she is signalled."

      "Who is signalled?" I asked. "Is it Anastasia?"

      "No, missy; the train. You grip hold of my hand, and I'll see you safe. What a mite of a thing you be."

      I held the man's hand very firmly. I liked him immensely – I put him at once third in my heart. Father was first, Anastasia second, and the railway porter third.

      The great train came thundering in, and a kind-looking gentleman, accompanied by a beautifully-dressed lady and a number of servants, alighted on the platform. But peer and peer as I would, I could not get a sight of Anastasia.

      "Now, missy, you look out," said the porter. "Wherever do she be?"

      "Hallo – hallo! Where have you dropped from?" said a voice at that moment in my ears, and, looking up, I saw that Sir John Carrington was a man who had come all the way from India on board the Pleiades, and that, of course, I knew him quite well.

      "Why, Heather," he said. "My dear," he continued, turning to his wife, "here's Major Grayson's little girl. Heather, child, what are you doing here?"

      "I am looking for Anastasia," I said, in a bewildered sort of way.

      Lady Carrington had a most sweet face. I had never noticed before how very lovely and kind it could be.

      "You poor little darling," she said, "Anastasia isn't here." Then she began whispering to her husband and looking down at me, and her soft, brown eyes filled with tears, and Sir John shook his head and I heard him say, "Dear, dear, how very pathetic!" and then Lady Carrington said, "We must take her home with us, John."

      "No, no," I answered at that; "I can't go home – I must wait until the next train, for Anastasia will come by the next train."

      "We'll see that she's met," said Sir John. "Come, Heather, you've got to come home with us."

      I have often wondered since what my subsequent life would have been had I really gone home that night with Sir John and Lady Carrington, whether the troubles which lay before me would ever have existed, and whether I should have been the Heather I now am, or not. But be that as it may, just as Lady Carrington had put sixpence into the hand of my kind porter and was leading me away towards the beautiful motor car which was waiting for her, a strong and very bony hand was laid on my shoulder, and a voice said fiercely, and yet with a tremble in it:

      "Well, you are enough to try the nerves of anybody, you bad, naughty child!"

      "Oh, Aunt Penelope," I said. "Oh, Aunt Penelope, I can't go back with you!"

      "We knew this little girl," said Sir John; "she came from India on board the Pleiades with us."

      "Heather Grayson came from India on board the Pleiades to live with me," said Aunt Penelope. "Her father has just committed her to my care. She is an extremely naughty child. I haven't the least idea who you are."

      "This is my card," said Sir John.

      When Aunt Penelope read the words on the card she became kinder in her manner.

      "I suppose I must welcome you back again, Sir John," she said. "It is years and years since you visited your native place. But I won't detain you now. Heather, come with me."

      "Pray give us your name," said Lady Carrington.

      "Miss Despard, of Hill View," was her answer, and then she took my hand and led me out into the street.

      I suppose I was really feverish, or whatever that word signifies to a child, for I do not remember anything about what happened during the next few days; then by slow degrees memory returned to me. I was very weak when this happened. Memory came back in a sort of dim way at first, and seemed to be half real and half a dream. Once I was quite certain that I saw a tall and broadly-made man in the room, and that when he stood up his head nearly touched the ceiling, and that when he sat down by my cot and took my hand I said "Daddy, daddy," and after that I had a comfortable sleep. There is no doubt whatever that I had a sort of dream or memory of this tall man, not once, but twice or thrice; then I did not see him any more.

      Again, I had another memory. Anastasia had really СКАЧАТЬ