A Girl in Ten Thousand | Page 6

think
anything menial or beneath them." She colored as she spoke, and
lowered her eyes.
The conversation drifted into other channels. After a time Dorothy got
up and went away; and Effie, yawning slightly, went up to her room to
go to bed. She slept in a little room next to the nursery. Instead of
undressing at once, as was her wont, she went and stood by the window,
threw it open, and looked out. "What would father say if he knew my
thoughts?" she said to herself. "He despises ladies who are nurses; he
thinks it wrong for any lady girl to go away from home; but I am
going--yes, I am going to London. Dorothy is my friend. She is about
the grandest, noblest creature I ever met, and I am going to follow in
her steps. Mother will consent in the end--mother will see that I cannot
throw away my life. Dear mother! I shall miss her and father awfully,
but, all the same, I shall be delighted to go. I do want to get out of this
narrow, narrow life; I do want to do something big and grand. Oh,
Dorothy, how splendid you are! How strong you look! How delightful
it is to feel that one can live a life like yours, and do good, and be loved
by all! Oh, Dorothy, I hope I shall be able to copy you! I hope----"
Effie's eager thoughts came to a sudden stop. A tall dog-cart dashed
down the street and pulled up short at her father's door. A young man in
a Norfolk suit jumped out, threw the horse's reins to his groom, and
pulled the doctor's bell furiously. Effie leaned slightly out of her
window in order to see who it was. She recognized the man who stood
on the doorstep with a start of surprise, and the color flew into her face.
He was the young Squire of the neighborhood. His name was Harvey.
His place was two miles out of Whittington. He was married; his wife
was the most beautiful woman Effie had ever seen; and he had one little
girl. The Harveys were rich and proud; they spent the greater part of
their time in London, and had never before condescended to consult the

village doctor. What was the matter now? Effie rushed from her room
and knocked furiously at her father's door.
"Father, do you hear the night-bell? Are you getting up?" she called.
"Yes, child, yes," answered the doctor.
The bell downstairs kept on ringing at intervals. Effie stood trembling
on the landing; she felt positively sure that something dreadful must
have happened.
"May I go down stairs and say you are coming, father?" she called
again through the key-hole.
"Yes, I wish you would. Say I will be downstairs in a minute."
Effie ran off; she took the chain off the heavy hall door and threw it
open.
"Is Dr. Staunton in?" asked the Squire. He stared at Effie's white
trembling face. His eyes were bloodshot, his hair in disorder; he looked
like a man who is half distracted.
"Yes," said Effie, in as soothing a voice as she could assume; "my
father will be down in a minute."
Harvey took off his cap.
"You are Miss Staunton, I presume? Pray ask your father to be as quick
as possible. My little girl is ill--very ill. We want a doctor to come to
The Grange without a moment's delay."
"All right, Squire; here I am," said the hearty voice of Dr. Staunton on
the stairs.
The Squire shook hands with him, made one or two remarks in too low
a voice for Effie to hear, sprang into his dog-cart, the doctor scrambled
up by his side, and a moment later the two had disappeared. Effie stood
by the open hall door looking up and down the quiet village street. The

great man of the place had come and gone like a flash. The thing Mrs.
Staunton had longed for, dreamed of, and almost prayed for, had come
to pass at last--her husband was sent for to The Grange. Effie wondered
if Fortune were really turning her wheel, and if, from this date they
would be better off than they had been.
Dorothy Fraser's people lived in the house nearly opposite. From where
Effie stood she could see a light still burning in her friend's window.
The thought of Dorothy raised the girl's state of excitement almost to
fever pitch. She longed to go over and see her friend; she knew she
must not do that, however. She shut the hall door, and went slowly
back to her bedroom. She wanted to sleep, but sleep was far away. She
lay listening during the long hours of the summer night, and heard hour