To Journey Together Read Online Free PDF

a few minutes. Do you want to come and have a drink with me?" Then, as though a rather unfamiliar idea struck him, he added, "Tea or coffee or anything?"
    "No, thank you." She wished she knew how to leave him, gracefully and promptly.
    "Are you afraid it will keep you awake?"
    "Oh, no! Nothing ever keeps me awake. Not even excitement."
    At that moment there was a final outburst of shouting followed by the rumble of something very heavy being pushed across the far end of the deck, and a sort of shudder which ran through the boat announced that they were moving.
    "We're off!" Elinor ran to the side and watched, fascinated, as the narrow channel of water between them and the shore began perceptibly to widen.
    He came and joined her there, a little to her surprise, and stood there beside her as she watched the dark shores of England slip away into the night.
    She turned away at last and walked along the deck with him. Then, just as they stepped indoors, a steward came up to her companion.
    "You're the gentleman from one-eight-three, aren't you?" he said. "Mr. Brownlow?"
    "Yes."
    "Telegram for you, sir."
    Elinor was not actually looking at him as he slit open the envelope and read the telegram. But she heard his exclamation of surprise.
    She glanced at him then. "Is anything wrong?" she asked.
    "Wrong? Oh—no. No, of course not."
     
    At that moment someone swung open the door leading on deck, and a strong draught snatched the paper from Kenneth Brownlow's hand.
    It fluttered past Elinor and dropped a yard or two away. Quite naturally she started forward and seized it before it could blow right away. She had no intention of reading it, but as she stooped to pick it up the few printed words were clearly visible.
    "Bon voyage," it said. "See you in Ehrwald perhaps. Rosemary."
    Elinor returned the telegram to Kenneth Brownlow, who thanked her without comment. Then they bade each other good night and went to their cabins.
    Kenneth Brownlow's private affairs were, of course, no business of Elinor's, but later, as she lay in her narrow but comfortable bunk, she thought for several minutes about him and the problematical Rosemary. Then she gave it up and settled down to sleep to the soothing "slap-slap" of the waves against the side of the ship.
    "Five-thirty, madam! Here's your tea."
    Elinor sat up and rubbed her eyes, wondering where she was. Then she remembered. On board ship, in her own little cabin! And they must have crossed the North Sea during the night.
    "You'll need to hurry," the stewardess told her. "You're taking the Rhinegold Express, aren't you?"
    "Yes," Elinor said. And when the stewardess had gone out of the cabin, she repeated softly to herself, The Rhinegold Express." Because it was such a beautiful, romantic name for a train—the Rhinegold Express.
    She rose and washed and dressed quickly, noticing through her porthole window that it was still quite dark. Indeed there was even a star or two overhead. Then she speedily repacked her nightbag, and went out to see if the others were ready.
    The door of the Connelton's cabin stood open, and Lady Connelton called across to her, "Good morning, my dear. Though it still seems like the middle of the night, really. Are you ready?"
    "Oh, yes, Lady Connelton. Did you sleep well?"
     
    "So-so. I shall sleep a great deal more on the train. No need to ask how you slept. You look as fresh as the dawn. The real dawn, I mean. Not this horrid sort of half-night."
    Elinor didn't really think anything was horrid at the moment, but she smiled sympathetically. And then Kenneth appeared, followed by two porters who—with a few guttural words to each other, which Elinor took to be Dutch—shouldered immense quantities of luggage between them, and it was time to go ashore.
    Landing cards were surrendered, and they stepped off the boat into the cold, fresh air of the morning. It was impossible not to yawn and shiver a little, but, in Elinor's case at least, the shiver was partly one of