Green Money by D.E. Stevenson

Author:D.E. Stevenson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Dean Street Press
Published: 2021-11-13T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER II

The Sugar-Stick Frock

Elma shut the doors between the two rooms before she began to dress, for she did not want to disturb Miss Wilson by the rustling of tissue paper. She had already decided to wear the “sugar-stick” frock—it was so bright and pretty after the dull black clothes which she had worn for so long. It was made of thick silk and was striped in bright shades of cherry and green and white, and it was so stiff that it almost stood by itself. The skirt was long and very wide, and the bodice fitted tightly. When Elma had bathed and donned her new crêpe de chine undies she slipped the dress over her head and looked at herself in the mirror.

“Oh!” she said aloud. “Oh, how pretty!”

She was enchanted with the vision in the glass—and, as a matter of fact, anybody would have been enchanted. She pointed the toe of her new green satin slipper and lifted her full long skirt and curtsied to her reflection in the glass. “Good-evening, Elma Green,” she said. “You are a new-fashioned girl. How are you liking things?” And then she laughed. Her eyes were very bright and her cheeks were pink with excitement.

It was at this moment that Pauline arrived upon the scene. She stood in the doorway for a moment, quite dazzled by the metamorphosis of her new friend.

“Well, I’m blessed!” she said.

Elma ran to her and took her hand. “Do you like me?” she asked. “Am I all right, Pauline?”

“Turn round slowly,” Pauline said. “Yes . . . yes, you’re all right, in fact, you’re very much all right.”

“Should I not have had my hair waved like you?”

“No, I told you before. It would spoil you. You’re a special sort of type—not like other people at all—so it’s much better to stick to what you are. . . . You’d better powder your face. I’ll do your mouth for you.”

“You are kind,” said Elma.

“I’m not kind,” replied her new friend quickly, so quickly that you might have thought she had been accused of some major crime. Pauline prided herself on being hard boiled. There was no soft, silly nonsense about her, and, truth to tell, although she had given up a whole day to the refashioning of her father’s ward, she did not feel that she had been “kind.” She had enjoyed it thoroughly, and she now felt the same sort of pride in, and responsibility for, Elma as a man might feel for a work of art which he has made with his own hands. She therefore did Elma’s mouth with great care and gave a few finishing touches to the sugar-stick frock, and they went downstairs together.

“I shall see your brother to-night,” said Elma as they went down.

“Yes,” replied Pauline. And then she added somewhat cryptically, “And he’ll see you.”

“Yes,” said Elma. It was obvious, of course, but she was far too much excited to wonder why Pauline should have made such a silly remark. They

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