Page:Frank Stockton--Adventures of Captain Horn.djvu/260

ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN HORN Mrs. Cliff stared at her. "But I have only a bag and the clothes I have on. I am not ready for a voyage. And there's the house, with nobody but Willy in it. Don't you see it would be impossible for me to go?"

"What you need for the passage," said Edna, "you can buy here in a few hours, and everything else you can get on the other side a great deal cheaper and better than here. As to your house, you can write to that other lady to go there and stay with Miss Croup until you come back. I tell you, Mrs. Cliff, that all these things have become mere trifles to you. I dare say you could buy another house such as you own in Plainton, and scarcely miss the money. Compared to your health and happiness, the loss of that house, even if it should burn up while you are away, would be as a penny thrown to a beggar."

"And there is my new trunk," said Mrs. Cliff, "with my blankets and ever so many things locked up in it."

"Let it stay there," said Edna. "You will not need the blankets, and I don't believe any one will pick the lock."

"But how shall I explain my running away in such a fashion? What will they all think?"

"Simply write," said Edna, "that you are going to Europe as companion to Mrs. Horn. If they think you are poor, that will explain everything. And you may add, if you choose, that Mrs. Horn is so anxious to have you, she will take no denial, and it is on account of her earnest entreaties that you are unable to go home and take leave in a proper way of your friends."

It was half an hour afterwards that Mrs. Cliff said: "Well, Edna, I will go with you. But I can tell you 246