THE QUILL

She laughed, and her laugh had a silvery
tinkle. She was very pretty with her flushed
cheeks and bright eyes.

“Goodnight, then.”
“That’ s better.”

He smiled now, and she knew the warmth
and comfort of that smile. It set her blood
racing, and she went out from the office feeling
well and young again.

S she stepped into the little hallway her
first feeling was one of exasperation.
Really, it was too bad of Elspeth not to have
a single light going. She found and punched
the button on the wall. The living room and
hall were flooded with sudden light, but there
was no one in even the farthest of corners, and
not Ellie or young Holloway came from behind
the folds of the portieres or from out the little
sun room that adjoined the parlor. Elspeth
had even omitted the pretense of a meal for
"her mother, and Mrs. Maitland found nothing
better in the ice box than a cold mutton chop
and a bit of wilted lettuce. She warmed over
the chop and made herself some tea. The tea
cleared her head, and when she went to her
room, the dreariness of the day and the sense
of exhaustion following her sleepless night
pressed less heavily upon her. She even found
herself smiling in a sort of absent way at her
own face in the mirror.

After all, she was only thirty-five and in
these days, women of thirty five, dressed and
felt and looked like “chickens”. That was
one of Ellie’s terms, and she laughed girlishly
at the thought. Many women of her age
“fixed up” a lot. A bit of talcum powder was
her only assistance to the smooth and clear
complexion with which nature had so kindly
endowed her. Even her hair was untouched,
though it was the fashion of even young girls
to “henna” or “brighten up" their hair. Mrs.
Maitland’s had that live young growing look.
Its waves were smooth and natural, and it was
the color of dark gold. She said to herself
suddenly:

“It's perfectly ridiculous for me to stand
here and admire myself in this way. It doesn’t
matter the least little bit whether I’m young
or old, or pretty or ugly. I'm just Elspeth’s
mother—that’s all. Elspeth!”

Everywhere about that room Elspeth had
left her mark. Even all around the edges of
that mirror, photographs of the girl’s friends
had been stuck into the ridge. On the left
side, quite prominently stuck out, there was
a piece of white paper, and presently Mrs.
Maitland saw it. Idly she pulled it out and
unfolded it. Elspeth’s childish handwriting
was sprawled across either side of the sheet,

ELSPETH

and right in the middle of the note there was
an unmistakable smudge.

“Dearest Muzzie :

Now I know you’re going to be aw-
fully mad with me, but I just had to do it
or bust. Hal and I adore each other, and
we couldn't live another single day apart.
So we are going to” Here a word had been
scratched out. . . “away, and we’re going
to get married, whether the old law says
we can or not. I know you’ll say I'm too
young and all the rest of that guff, but if
you only knew how I fairly loathed that
Word—_young you’d never use it again.
Besides, I always remind myself! that you
were almost as young as I when you ran
away and got married too, and Hal says
what one person can do, so can another.
So, Muzzie dear, do forgive me, and won’t
you like an old love, break the news to
Hal’s people. They’ll be awful mad too,
but we should worry. He's of age, and his
parents can't do a thing about it, and he
says he doesn’t mind giving up college so
long as he has me.—he says I’m worth ten
colleges and more*—and as for me, Oh
muzzie love, I know you won’t do any-
thing to hurt your own and only daughter.

Elspeth."

Mrs. Maitland’s hands shock. The paper
fluttered from her fingers‘-—drifted to the floor.

“Oh Ellie, Ellie!" she cried. ‘1My baby!”

FTER a long interval she picked up the
letter, and read it through again. A smile
forced its way to her lips, and her eyes were
moist. How characteristic that letter was of
Elspeth‘-—poor, impulsive, hot-hearted, hot-
headed child! Elspeth, who loathed Youth!
Ah! If she but knew!

Holloway! That was the boy's name. Ellie
had asked her to break the news to his people.
But who were his people and how was she to
find them. Calgary was a big city now—-
80,000 population, and more and more people
were coming in with every year. Still, the
name was not a common one; indeed it was
the name of the biggest man in the country
so far as that went. It was plainly her duty,
at all events to discover who were Hal Hollo-
way's people, and, as_ Ellie had required,
acquaint them with the fact of their son's
marriage.

She went slowly down to the little hall again,
and sat by the telephone table, turning over
the leaves till she came to the H’s, and then
running her finger down till she came to the
clan of Holloway. Five of them had tele-
phones, and these one by one she called, and

Twenty-nine