The Five-Minute Marriage Read Online Free PDF

tuition while she scoured the streets for her straying parent.
    Presently dusk began to fall, early because of the rain, and Delphie was forced to acknowledge to herself that it was quite useless for her to continue the search; a few of London ’ s streets were now gaslit, but the majority were not; and in general the illumination was dim, flickering, and inadequate; there was no possible chance any longer of spotting the lost lady. Delphie herself, by this time, was soaked and shivering; all she could do was turn homeward once more.
    There, the Baggott sisters received her with distressed and contrite looks; urged her to come into the back parlor, where they had built up a roaring fire, and revived her with what Miss Jenny called “ a little drop of summat ‘ ot ” —a very little brandy and a great deal of lemon, sugar, and hot water, which in the circumstances was highly welcome, for with all the hurrying and calling, searching and inquiring, Delphie ’ s throat had become very hoarse and sore.
    “ If only you haven ’ t took cold your pore self! ” said Jenny anxiously. “ You didn ’ t ought to be running about in the rain, Miss Delphie, indeed you oughtn ’ t, for if you was to take a putrid sore throat, what ’ s to become of you? You can ’ t teach them blessed lambs to sing! ” —a fear which Delphie herself entertained but did not dare acknowledge.
    “ Oh, it is nothing—I am very strong, ” she said, sneezing, “ but poor Mama! I am worried to death about her. Now, I am afraid, I shall really have to inform the constabulary. ”
    The sisters had shut up shop, in consideration of the wet weather, and the emergency, but just at this moment a faint tap was heard on the outer door.
    “ Run, quick, Jenny! ” said Miss Baggott. “ Somebody ’ s out there — only think, perhaps some kind person has took Missus up! ”
    Jenny flew to the door, and, opening it, cried out in a tone of ecstasy , “ Lord, if it ain ’ t Missus herself, but oh! what a pickle she ’ s in! Lord bless us, ma ’ am, where have you been all this time, here ’ s Miss Delphie and all of us in such a pucker and a pelter over you—and you come in looking as if you ’ ve been drug backwards down the Fleet River! ”
    “ Quick, bring the poor lady to the fire, Jenny, don ’ t stand there a-gabbling, ” cried her sister.
    Mrs. Carteret certainly was in a deplorable condition, the feathers on her bonnet hanging limply down her back, her hair all out of curl with wet, and her soaked clothes clinging to her “ for all the world like a drowned rat ’ s fur, ” as Miss Jenny said. She tottered to the fireplace, hardly seeming to know where she was, and sat down abruptly on an upright chair as if her stiff legs would hold her up no longer.
    Sipping a hot toddy which Miss Anne quickly mixed for her, she gazed at her daughter and the Miss Baggotts vacantly over the rim of her cup. Her eyes were strangely bright, and there was a hectic flush on her cheekbones. Kettles for a mustard bath, Delphie thought rapidly, a hot brick for her bed, warm flannel to wrap round her chest ... Will she survive this? Will the congestion return to her?
    “ Mamma dear, where were you? ” Delphie asked gently, as the spirit began to take its effect and a faint spark of understanding returned to Mrs. Carteret ’ s eyes. “ Don ’ t you remember I implored you not to go out, because you are not well enough? What did you have to do that was so important, that I could not have done for you? ”
    “ Where did I have to go? ” quavered Mrs. Carteret at last. “ Why—of course—need you ask?—of course I went to St. Paul ’ s! ”
    “ S t . Paul ’ s? But that is over two miles from here—nearer three! You mean to say that you walked all that way? But why? ”
    “ My dear Mamma would always go to evensong in St. Paul ’ s when she was in town—or so I understand, ” said Mrs. Carteret firmly.
    “ You walked all the way there? And all