Watsonville High School - Manzanita Yearbook (Watsonville, CA)

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1 8 THE MANZANITA. a moment. Her conscience never pricked her anymore, for her life in the country was a thing of the past. The little grandmother never fail- ed to write her letters to Betty, tell- ing of her love, and the old grand- mother watched the New York pa- pers eagerly for news of her, for the name of Miss Elizabeth Fremont appeared often in the city papers. One day, two years after Betty had left home, the old man's eyes discovered these headlines, En- gagement of Miss Elizabeth Fre- mont and Frank Thorne, a Young Stockbroker, Announced. Tears blurred his eyes, and he cut the par- agraph from the paper and placed it next his heart. Two months later he discovered a long article about Miss Elizabeth Fremont 's marriage to Frank Thorne. This also went next his heart, and the little grandmother never knew. As he sat reading them over a few weeks later, she slipped noiselessly behind his chair, and from over' his shoulder she read the articles through. White and trembling she made her way from the room. Oh! it just eouldn't be true, or her own little Betty would have written! Even if she had never written at any other time, she certainly would have written now. But no letter had come. In a few minutes the little grand- mother came out on the porch, dress- ed in a black traveling suit. Her face was pinched and drawn, and she clenched her hands tightly to- gether. l'm going to her, Jim, was all she said. She did go, but she did not go a- lone. Leaving the cows and chick- ens in the care of a farmhand, the unloved and forgotten old couple started for that city which had caused them so much unhappiness: The next day, with the number of the street and house clipped from the paper to guide them, they ar- rived at the home of Mrs. Thorne. Please, inquired the little grandmother of the white-capped maid who answered the doorbell, Please, is my-is Mrs. Thorne at home? She is away at present. but you may leave your card or wait for her was the reply. So the excited old couple made their way through the immense parlors to a little reception room, where they waited to clasp their own little Betty in their arms once more. As they sat breathlessly waiting in the velvet cushioned chairs, a shrill voice sounded through the corridors, and then- there appeared in the doorway-Betty? that tall, haughty, overdressed creature? No, it couldn't be! And yet- Obi Betty, is it you? came faintly from the depths of the armchair. The creature in the doorway stared with startled eyes at her un- invited guests. Her hands clasped the heavy curtains in the doorway, and her heart beat quickly but no sound was uttered. At last regain- ing her composure, she said briskly, t'l'm in a very great hurry, now, so please forgive me and make your- selves at home! VVith that the new Betty turned, and with a burn- ing face left the room. Of course she would not dwell on the subject, they had no right to come unless she asked them to, and she just could not give up the party that after- noon for their pleasure.

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THE MANZANITA 17 mother. That sweet old ladyis heart beat fast and painfully as she read it. Ohl dearie, do you really want tc- go? Go? repeated Betty, t'Oh! Granny, l'd give the whole world to. Just think, l've never bee11 to a large city i11 my life, and oh! you don't know how inueh it would mean to me. But, Granny dear, don't think that I want to leave you, you know it would be for just a. little While, and Betty kissed the sweet faee. Well, we'll see Grandpa about it, was her only eomment. When showed the letter that old gentleman fidgeted and eleared his throat, but finally said that he saw no reason i11 keeping the ehild at home when she wanted to go, and besides, it would be for only two weeks. ln two days Betty was at last on her way to the city of her dreams. She hardly realized that she was really away from home until she went to her room that first night in her eousin's beautiful home. Oh! how strange and Wonderful every- thing wasl lt seemed more like a fairy palaee than a home. She had this first night free to write a long letter to her grandparents, so she set about it, deseribing all the beaut- ful things and wishing that they were with her. Betty never knew why those two weeks went so fast. She was for- ever going, going, going. A new wardrobe was fitted out with the aid of her elderly eousin, and she was introduced to more people than she had met in all her life before. But she felt all a-tingle with the new life, and her happiness was eom- plete when her cousin asked her if she wouldn't stay a few months longer. L'l'm sure you ought to have a mind of your own, dear, she said. Let me see, you will soon be eigh- teen, won't you? l can tell by your happy faee that this is the life best fitted for you. lf you wish, you may write to your grandparents, and see what they say, and I shall write a little note, too. 'l'l1e grand-parents read the letters together, one letter pleading and persuading, telling about nothing but happiness and good times, the other telling of all the eharms the eity life held for Betty and how much better it was for a young girl than eountry-life. When they had finished reading the letter, the old man sighed, while two big tears splashed down the lit- tle old lady's faee. Oh! why did they let her go? They might have known how it would be, and now it might be years before they would see her again. their own darling baby! But in spite of all this the nare- worn grandmother wrote a brave little letter, telling Betty almost what her eousin had told her, that she was old enough now to know where she would be happiest, and to stay by all means, if she wished to. Betty did stay a few months, and many months more, but she drifted farther and farther away from the old life and those two old people who loved her more than anything else in the world. Her letters be- eame fewer and fewer, and after a year stopped altogether. Often she could have thought of home and loved ones, but she never allowed her mind to dwell on them for even

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THE MANZANITA 19 As she dressed for the party, her mind turned repeatedly to those two old people down stairs. lt seemed impossible that she had lived with them and loved them just a little over two years before. Her mind was so confused and scattered. If she could only be away from it all-- to think, in some quiet, shady spot, where green grass and wild flowers were plentiful. But no, she must hurry to the party and atte11d to a hundred and one other things be- sides. That night the little broken heart- ed grandmother tossed restlessly a- mong her pillows. What was that soft click, click that sounded so far yet so real? She away and was waited for it to stop, but it kept up the same click, click, click. Sliding from the bed, she walked noiseless- ly to the staircase and peered down. Her heart almost stopped beating at what she saw, for there, at the foot of the stairway, between two great pillars, two forms crouched, and one carried a small flashlight. The clicking had ceased, and papers and rolls were being drawn from the safe: for yes, it was a safe, she had taken particular notice of it as she came up the stairs. But they were making away with the money! And she could not utter a sound! ln a moment those two masked forms had glided out into the darkness with their booty. i Sinking limply on the top stair, the little old lady gathered her scat- tered wits. Yes! there was only one thing to be done. Tip-toeing back into the bedroom, she took out all their hard earned savings, savings that they had been accumulating ever since she could remember, but -it was a thousand dollars, thank God it was that. Hastily writing a little note, she stole down the stairs, and placed it, with the roll of bills, inside the safe. Then the iron door elieked shut, and the little lady, sob- bing, went back up the stairs. Waking the old man, she told him all, and thirty minutes later they, too, stole out of the same door that the masked men had just left, away from that unwelcome mansion for- ever, and back to the little farm where they would be welcomed by the mooing of the cows, by the neighing of the horses, by the cackl- ing of the chickens, and by the bleating of the sheep. The next morning Frank Thorne discovered that his safe had been robbed, and also discovered the thousand dollars and the note. Reading the latter, light dawned upon him, and for the first time since Betty had know him, be be- came really angry, angry, not for the loss of his money, but because of that untrue Wife. Seizing the note and money in his hands, he went with set teeth and blazing eyes to seek her, his wife. Soon he found her. Her face was ehalkly white and her teeth ehattered. 'fOh! Frank, they 've goneli' and Betty sank to her knees, sobbing like a child. Frank gazed at her pityingly. His youthful face relaxed its hardness. After all, there was more than one way. Handing her the pitiful and heart-wringing little note, he gently told her to read it. and left her there, with it and the money. He could hear her moaning from a distant room, and after a long while, she appeared before him in traveling clothes, with a refreshed