The Two Elsies

The Two Elsies

The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Two Elsies, by Martha Finley
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Title: The Two Elsies A Sequel to Elsie at Nantucket, Book 10
Author: Martha Finley
Release Date: September 6, 2004 [EBook #13379]
Language: English
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The Two Elsies
A Sequel to Elsie at Nantucket
BOOK 10
By Martha Finley
1868

LIST OF THE ELSIE BOOKS AND OTHER POPULAR BOOKS BY
MARTHA FINLEY
ELSIE DINSMORE. ELSIE'S HOLIDAYS AT ROSELANDS.
ELSIE'S GIRLHOOD. ELSIE'S WOMANHOOD. ELSIE'S

MOTHERHOOD. ELSIE'S CHILDREN. ELSIE'S WIDOWHOOD.
GRANDMOTHER ELSIE. ELSIE'S NEW RELATIONS. ELSIE AT
NANTUCKET. THE TWO ELSIES. ELSIE'S KITH AND KIN.
ELSIE'S FRIENDS AT WOODBURN. CHRISTMAS WITH
GRANDMA ELSIE. ELSIE AND THE RAYMONDS. ELSIE
YACHTING WITH THE RAYMONDS. ELSIE'S VACATION.
ELSIE AT VIAMEDE. ELSIE AT ION. ELSIE AT THE WORLD'S
FAIR. ELSIE'S JOURNEY ON INLAND WATERS. ELSIE AT
HOME. ELSIE ON THE HUDSON. ELSIE IN THE SOUTH.
MILDRED KEITH. MILDRED AT ROSELANDS. MILDRED'S
MARRIED LIFE. MILDRED AND ELSIE. MILDRED AT HOME.
MILDRED'S BOYS AND GIRLS. MILDRED'S NEW DAUGHTER.
CASELLA. SIGNING THE CONTRACT AND WHAT IT COST.
THE TRAGEDY OF WILD RIVER VALLEY. OUR FRED. AN
OLD-FASHIONED BOY. WANTED, A PEDIGREE. THE THORN
IN THE NEST.

THE TWO ELSIES.

CHAPTER I.
"Art is long, and Time is fleeting, And our hearts, though stout and
brave, Still, like muffled drums, are beating Funeral marches to the
grave."
LONGFELLOW.
It was a lovely summer morning, glorious with sunlight, sweet with the
fragrance of flowers and the songs of birds.
The view from the bay-window of the library of Crag Cottage, the
residence of Mr. George Leland, architect and artist, was very fine,
embracing, as it did, some of the most magnificent scenery on the
banks of the Hudson.
The house stood very high, and from that window one might look north
and south over wooded mountain, hill and valley, or east upon the

majestic river and its farther shore.
The nearer view was of well-kept, though not extensive, grounds; a
flower-garden and lawn with a winding carriage-way leading up the hill
by a gradual ascent.
It was a pleasant place to sit even on a sunny summer morning, for a
tall tree partially shaded the window without greatly obstructing the
view, and it was there the master of the house was usually to be found,
at this time of day, with Evelyn, his only child, close at his side.
They were there now, seated at a table covered with books and papers,
he busied in drawing plans for a building, she equally so with her
lessons.
But presently, at the sound of a deep sigh from her father, she glanced
hastily up at him.
He had dropped his pencil and was leaning back against the cushions of
his easy-chair, with a face so wan and weary that she started up in
alarm, and springing to his side, exclaimed, "Dear papa, I am sure you
are not well! Do stop working, and lie down on the sofa. And won't you
let me tell Patrick to go for the doctor when he has taken mamma to
Riverside?"
"Yes, Evelyn, I think you may," he answered in low feeble tones, and
with a sad sort of smile, gently pressing the hand she had laid in his, as
he spoke. "It will do no harm for me to see Dr. Taylor, even should it
do no good."
"What is that? send for the doctor? Are you ill, Eric?" asked a lady who
had entered the room just in time to catch his last sentence.
"I am feeling unusually languid, Laura," he replied; "yet not much
more so than I did yesterday. Perhaps it is only the heat."
"The heat!" she echoed; "why, it is a delightful day! warm, to be sure,
but not oppressively so."

"Not to you or me, perhaps, mamma," remarked Evelyn, "but we are
well and strong, and poor papa is not."
"A holiday would do you good, Eric," the lady said, addressing her
husband; "come, change your mind and go with me to Riverside."
"My dear," he said, "I should like to go to gratify you, but really I feel
quite unequal to the exertion."
"You need make none," she said; "you need only to sit quietly under
the trees on the lawn; and I think you will find amusement in watching
the crowd, while the fresh air, change of scene, and