Arabella | Page 3

heart, Arabella felt that the city was near.
As she saw the passengers beginning to collect their small bits of
luggage and to re-arrange their costumes, she felt that her surmise was
correct, and she touched Mrs. Christie upon the arm. The latter started
up, confused for the moment, and uncertain of her whereabouts, while
the train thundered on through the tunnel, and the brakeman, hurrying
through the cars, announced:

"New York."
That was a thrilling moment, though with Arabella the awe just then
predominated over the joy. She clung closely to her companion, as the
latter summoned to her aid all her native energy. Together they
threaded their way through the dizzying crowds. One of their
acquaintances, the son of a neighboring farmer, who by reason of his
business as a commercial traveller was held in great repute, advanced
to Mrs. Christie, inquired with kindly interest as to her destination, and
made an offer, which was eagerly accepted, to put them both on board
the cable car. This, he explained, would take them to their very door.
He carried his solicitude so far as to give a friendly hint to the
conductor, who promised to look after the two women.
They were a quaint and somewhat forlorn-looking pair in their
countrified costumes, both of which had been resurrected and bore
evident marks of being months behind the fashion. Of this they were
thus far happily unconscious. The cable car pursued its way along
Forty-second Street, turning downwards at Third Avenue. The noises
seemed deafening to Arabella, the crowds terrifying. She glanced, from
time to time, at Mrs. Christie, who sat bolt upright, never moving a
muscle, and looked as if she were undergoing a terrible ordeal. When
they had gone a few blocks down Third Avenue, the conductor, jerking
the bell, cried:
"Here you are!"
To this address no one responded, but each began to look at his
neighbor to know for whom it was meant. At last the functionary,
striding towards the two unconscious women, informed them, with a
certain gruff kindness, that "here was their street."
The passengers descended and stood looking helplessly about them.
The car sped on its way, and Mrs. Christie said to Arabella:
"My sister lives in that street, quite close to the corner."
But which corner? They surveyed each one in turn. On one corner was

a thriving grocery, and next door to it a tall tenement. On another a big
department store, extending nearly half the block and closed for the
night. A third was a liquor store with a red light burning at the door and
sounds of revelry from within, which caused the two women to turn
away. The fourth was a small and dingy dwelling, which somehow
looked more encouraging.
"I guess it's the second door after that," Mrs. Christie exclaimed. "Let's
try it, anyhow." They both brightened up at the bare prospect that this
might be their destination, and paused in front of a small structure, the
lower story of which consisted of a bright-looking fruit shop. Therein
they found a clean and civil German woman, and with her aid
discovered that the number over the door, obscured by the darkness,
corresponded to that which Mrs. Christie had inscribed upon a slip of
paper. The rosy and benignant mistress of the shop further informed
them that the Fraulein Norris lived upstairs, and came out to show them
a neighboring door and a narrow staircase, which led to her quarters.
Mrs. Christie thanked her cordially, and following the given directions,
mounted a pair of clean and freshly-painted stairs, covered with a
bright- colored jute carpet. They presently found themselves at a door,
and quite unacquainted with the use of the electric bell indicated by the
button at the side, Mrs. Christie braced herself for action. She had
already recovered much of her resolute and energetic bearing, and as
Arabella hung in the background she knocked loudly at the door.
There was no answer at all for a moment or two, and Arabella's heart
began to sink. she felt that if this were the wrong place, and if they
were really lost in the wilderness of the great city, she could not go out
again into that darkness, now and again relieved as it was by those
glaring lights, or that silence alternating with hideous clamor. Suppose,
thought she, that there was no Miss Norris here, or that she was even
more formidable than Arabella, until this memorable day, had held Mrs.
Christie to be. The prospect was terrifying.
Moreover, the girl, strong as she was, began to feel utterly weary.
Unwonted excitement is a sure cause of fatigue, and the emotions of the
day had been so many and varied as to produce a complete exhaustion

and an almost paralyzing numbness