第52章 CHAPTER XI(1)

WHEREIN ELNORA GRADUATES,AND FRECKLES AND THE ANGEL SEND GIFTSThat was Friday night.Elnora came home Saturday morning and began work.Mrs.Comstock asked no questions,and the girl only told her that the audience had been large enough to more than pay for the piece of statuary the class had selected for the hall.Then she inquired about her dresses and was told they would be ready for her.She had been invited to go to the Bird Woman's to prepare for both the sermon and Commencement exercises.Since there was so much practising to do,it had been arranged that she should remain there from the night of the sermon until after she was graduated.If Mrs.Comstock decided to attend she was to drive in with the Sintons.When Elnora begged her to come she said she cared nothing about such silliness.

It was almost time for Wesley to come to take Elnora to the city,when fresh from her bath,and dressed to her outer garment,she stood with expectant face before her mother and cried:"Now my dress,mother!"Mrs.Comstock was pale as she replied:"It's on my bed.

Help yourself."

Elnora opened the door and stepped into her mother's room with never a misgiving.Since the night Margaret and Wesley had brought her clothing,when she first started to school,her mother had selected all of her dresses,with Mrs.Sinton's help made most of them,and Elnora had paid the bills.The white dress of the previous spring was the first made at a dressmaker's.She had worn that as junior usher at Commencement;but her mother had selected the material,had it made,and it had fitted perfectly and had been suitable in every way.So with her heart at rest on that point,Elnora hurried to the bed to find only her last summer's white dress,freshly washed and ironed.For an instant she stared at it,then she picked up the garment,looked at the bed beneath it,and her gaze slowly swept the room.

It was unfamiliar.Perhaps this was the third time she had been in it since she was a very small child.Her eyes ranged over the beautiful walnut dresser,the tall bureau,the big chest,inside which she never had seen,and the row of masculine attire hanging above it.Somewhere a dainty lawn or mull dress simply must be hanging:but it was not.Elnora dropped on the chest because she felt too weak to stand.In less than two hours she must be in the church,at Onabasha.She could not wear a last year's washed dress.She had nothing else.She leaned against the wall and her father's overcoat brushed her face.

She caught the folds and clung to it with all her might.

"Oh father!Father!"she moaned."I need you!I don't believe you would have done this!"At last she opened the door.

"I can't find my dress,"she said.

"Well,as it's the only one there I shouldn't think it would be much trouble.""You mean for me to wear an old washed dress to-night?""It's a good dress.There isn't a hole in it!There's no reason on earth why you shouldn't wear it.""Except that I will not,"said Elnora."Didn't you provide any dress for Commencement,either?""If you soil that to-night,I've plenty of time to wash it again."Wesley's voice called from the gate.

"In a minute,"answered Elnora.

She ran upstairs and in an incredibly short time came down wearing one of her gingham school dresses.Her face cold and hard,she passed her mother and went into the night.Half an hour later Margaret and Billy stopped for Mrs.Comstock with the carriage.She had determined fully that she would not go before they called.With the sound of their voices a sort of horror of being left seized her,so she put on her hat,locked the door and went out to them.

"How did Elnora look?"inquired Margaret anxiously.

"Like she always does,"answered Mrs.Comstock curtly.

"I do hope her dresses are as pretty as the others,"said Margaret."None of them will have prettier faces or nicer ways."Wesley was waiting before the big church to take care of the team.As they stood watching the people enter the building,Mrs.Comstock felt herself growing ill.When they went inside among the lights,saw the flower-decked stage,and the masses of finely dressed people,she grew no better.

She could hear Margaret and Billy softly commenting on what was being done.

"That first chair in the very front row is Elnora's,"exulted Billy,"cos she's got the highest grades,and so she gets to lead the procession to the platform.""The first chair!""Lead the procession!"Mrs.Comstock was dumbfounded.The notes of the pipe organ began to fill the building in a slow rolling march.Would Elnora lead the procession in a gingham dress?Or would she be absent and her chair vacant on this great occasion?For now,Mrs.

Comstock could see that it was a great occasion.Every one would remember how Elnora had played a few nights before,and they would miss her and pity her.Pity?Because she had no one to care for her.Because she was worse off than if she had no mother.For the first time in her life,Mrs.Comstock began to study herself as she would appear to others.

Every time a junior girl came fluttering down the aisle,leading some one to a seat,and Mrs.Comstock saw a beautiful white dress pass,a wave of positive illness swept over her.

What had she done?What would become of Elnora?

As Elnora rode to the city,she answered Wesley's questions in monosyllables so that he thought she was nervous or rehearsing her speech and did not care to talk.

Several times the girl tried to tell him and realized that if she said the first word it would bring uncontrollable tears.

The Bird Woman opened the screen and stared unbelievingly.

"Why,I thought you would be ready;you are so late!"she said."If you have waited to dress here,we must hurry.""I have nothing to put on,"said Elnora.

In bewilderment the Bird Woman drew her inside.