The Beloved Stranger - By Grace Livingston Hill Page 0,27
Sherrill drew her inside and fastened the door, feeling suddenly an infinite pity for this girl among strangers in a role that belonged to another.
“Oh, here is Gemmie!” she said gently. “She will help you off with the veil and dress. Gemmie knows how to do it without mussing your hair.”
Arla submitted herself to Gemmie’s ministrations, and Sherrill hovered about, looking over the neatly packed suitcase and the great white box that Gemmie had set forth on the bed.
“Oh, you have the box ready for the wedding dress, haven’t you, Gemmie?” said Sherrill, feeling she must break this awful silence that seemed to pervade the room. “That’s all right. Gemmie will fold it for you and get it all ready to be sent to whatever address you say.”
“Oh,” began Arla, with a hesitant glance toward Gemmie and then looking Sherrill almost haughtily in the eye, “I couldn’t think of keeping it. I really couldn’t!”
“Certainly you will take it,” said Sherrill sternly. “It is your wedding dress! You were married in it. I wouldn’t want it, you know.”
Arla answered with a quick-drawn, startled “Oh!” of comprehension. Then she added, “And I’m afraid I wouldn’t either!”
Over Sherrill’s face there passed a swift look of sympathy.
“I see,” she said quietly. “You wouldn’t want it, of course. I’m sorry. You are right. I’ll keep it.”
Arla was silent until she was freed from the white veil and sheathing satin, but when Gemmie brought forth the dark slip and lovely tailored going-away outfit that Sherrill had prepared for herself, she suddenly spoke with determination:
“No,” she said with a little haughty lifting of her pretty chin, “I will wear my own things away. Where are they? Did somebody take them away?”
“They are here,” said Sherrill, a certain new respect in her voice that had not been there before. “But—you are perfectly welcome to the other dress. I think it would fit you. We are about the same size.”
“No,” said Arla determinedly, “I prefer to wear my own dress. It is new and quite all right. Wouldn’t you prefer to wear your own things?” She asked the question almost fiercely.
“I suppose I would,” said Sherrill meekly. “And I remember your dress. It was very pretty. But I just wanted you to feel you were perfectly welcome to wear the other.”
“Thank you,” said Arla in a choking voice, “but there is no need. You have done enough. You really have been rather wonderful, and I want you to know that I appreciate it all.”
Gemmie, skillfully folding the rich satin, managed somehow to give the impression that she was not there, and presently took herself conveniently out of the room.
Sherrill looked up pleasantly.
“That’s all right,” she said with a wan smile, “and now listen! I’ve packed some things for you in this suitcase. I think there will be enough to carry you through the trip.”
“That wouldn’t be necessary either,” said the other girl coldly. “I can get some things somewhere.”
“I’m afraid not,” said Sherrill. “You’ll barely have time to make the train to the boat. The ship sails at midnight. You might be able to stop for a few personal things if you don’t live too far out of the way, but you’d have to hurry awfully. You couldn’t take more than five minutes to get them, and you couldn’t possibly pack for a trip to Europe in that time.”
“Then I can get along without things!” said the bride with a sob in her voice.
“Don’t be silly!” said Sherrill in a friendly voice. “You can’t make the trip into an endurance test. You’ve got to have the right things, of course. You’re on your wedding trip, you know, and there may be people on board that Carter knows. You’ve got to look right.”
She wondered at herself as she said all this coolly to this other girl who was taking the trip in her place. It was just like a terrible dream that she was going through. A wild thought that perhaps it was a dream passed through her weary mind. Perhaps she would presently wake up and find that none of all this nightmare was true. Perhaps there wasn’t any Arla, and Carter had never been untrue!
Idle thoughts, of course! She pushed them frantically from her and tried to talk practically.
“I haven’t put much in, just some casual things and three little evening dresses. Necessary underthings and accessories, of course. Some slippers, too, and there’s a heavy coat for the deck. The bag is fitted with toilet articles. You won’t