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Medoline Selwyn's Work.
BY MRS. J. J. COLTER.

"The golden opportunity.
Is never offered twice: seize, then, the hour
When Fortune smiles and Duty points the way;
Nor shrink aside to 'scape the fear.\u2014
Nor pause though Pleasure beckon from her bower,
But bravely bear thee onward to the goal"

BOSTON:
IRA BRADLEY & CO.
COPYRIGHT, 1889.

INDEX.

CHAPTER I. Mrs. Blake
CHAPTER II. Oaklands
CHAPTER III. Esmerelda
CHAPTER IV. The Funeral
CHAPTER V. A New Accomplishment Learned
CHAPTER VI. Mr. Winthrop
CHAPTER VII. Examination
CHAPTER VIII. Mrs. Larkum
CHAPTER IX. An Evening Walk
CHAPTER X. A Helping Hand
CHAPTER XI. City Life
CHAPTER XII. New Acquaintances
CHAPTER XIII. Alone With His Dead
CHAPTER XIV. Humble Charities
CHAPTER XV. A Pleasant Surprise
CHAPTER XVI. Hope Realized
CHAPTER XVII. Christmas-tide
CHAPTER XVIII. The Christmas Tree
CHAPTER XIX. Three Important Letters
CHAPTER XX. Mrs. Le Grande
CHAPTER XXI. Mrs. Le Grande's Story
CHAPTER XXII. The Changed Heart
CHAPTER XXIII. The Encounter at St. Mark's
CHAPTER XXIV. Mrs. Le Grande's Stratagem
CHAPTER XXV. Beech Street Worshippers
CHAPTER XXVI. From The Depths
CHAPTER XXVII. Convalescence
CHAPTER XXVIII. The Sound of Marriage Bells
CHAPTER XXIX. The End

Medoline Selwyn's Work.
1
MEDOLINE SELWYN'S WORK.
CHAPTER I.
MRS. BLAKE.

The cars were not over-crowded, and were moving leisurely along in the soft, midsummer twilight. At first, I
had felt a trifle annoyed at my carelessness in missing the Express by which I had been expected; but now I
quite enjoyed going in this mixed train, since I could the better observe the country than in the swifter
Express. As I drew near the end of my journey, my pulses began to quicken with nervousness, not unmixed
with dread.

Captain Green, under whose care I had been placed when I left my home for the last eight years, had
concluded, no doubt very wisely, that I could travel the remaining few miles through quiet county places
alone. This last one hundred and fifty miles, however, had been the most trying part of the whole journey. My
English was a trifle halting; all our teachers spoke German as their mother tongue at the school, and the last
two years I was the only English-born pupil. Captain Green was an old East Indian officer, like my own dead
father, and very readily undertook the care of a troublesome chit of a girl across the ocean, in memory of the
strong friendship subsisting between himself and my father, now long since passed to other service than that
of Her Gracious Majesty. The Captain was a very silent man, and therefore not calculated to help me to a
better acquaintance of any language, while he did not encourage me to make friends with my traveling
companions. The journey had been therefore a very quiet one to me, but I had found it delightful. I had, like
most of our species, an innate love of the sea; and the long, still hours as I sat alone gazing out over the
restless waters, have left one of the pleasantest of all the pictures hanging in memory's halls.

As I did not wish to be taken, even by the chance traveling companions of a few hours, for other than an
English or American girl, I resolved to speak fewest possible words to any one on the journey; and when the
conductor came for my ticket, I repressed the desire to ask him to tell me when my own station would be
reached, and merely shook my head at the news agents who were more troublesome, if possible, than the dust
and smoke which poured in at doors and windows. Captain Green had telegraphed my guardian the hour at
which I would arrive, but I got so interested watching the busy crowds on the streets from my hotel window
that, for a while, I forgot that I too needed a measure of their eager haste, if I were soon to terminate this long
journey over land and sea. I was beginning to fear, at last, after the cars had been in motion some hours, that I
might have passed my station; so I concluded to have my question carefully written down, and the next time
the conductor came near me hand it to him. I had not long to wait, and giving him the slip of paper, I
murmured "Please."

He read, and then looking at me very intently said:
"Are you a foreigner?"
"Oh, no; English," I said, blushing furiously.
"Why don't you speak then, when you want anything? That's what we're here for."
I bowed my head quite proudly and said, "Will you please, then, answer my question?"
"We won't be there for an hour or more. Are you not the young lady Mrs. Flaxman is expecting?"

The Project Gutenberg eBook of Medoline Selwyn's Work, by Mrs. J. J. Colter
MEDOLINE SELWYN'S WORK.
2
"I am Mr. Winthrop's ward. I do not know any Mrs. Flaxman."
"Oh, it's all the same. She lives with him; is a cousin, or something connected with him. He is away now; left
a month ago for the Pacific coast."
He was sitting now quite comfortably in the next seat.

"You needn't have any more anxiety about the stopping places," he continued, very cordially; "I will look after
you, and see that you get safely home, if there's no one there to meet you. Most likely they expected you by
the morning's Express." Then he inquired about my luggage, examining my checks and keeping up a running
stream of conversation which I seemed compelled to answer. After the rigid exclusion of my school life,
where we were taught to regard all sorts of men with a measure of wholesome dread, I scarce knew whether to
be proud of my courage in being able to sit there, with such outward calmness, or ashamed of my boldness. If
I could only have consulted one of the teachers just for a moment it would have been such a relief; but
presently the train stopped, when he left my side, his seat to be immediately occupied by an elderly woman
with a huge covered basket. After considerable difficulty she got herself and basket bestowed to her
satisfaction just before the cars got in motion. She moved uneasily on the seat, looking around on all sides a
trifle nervously, and then in an awed whisper said to me, "Don't the cars go all to smash sometimes?"

"Not many times," I tried to say reassuringly.
"I wan't never in 'em afore, and wouldn't be now, only my son Dan'el's wife's took oncommon bad, and he
thinks I can cure her."
She remained quiet a while, and then somewhat reassured began to grow curious about her traveling

companions.
"Have you cum fur?" she asked.
I explained that I had come a good many miles.
"All alone?"
"Only from New York."
"Going fur?"
"To Cavendish."
"Did you say Cavendish?"
"Yes."
"Be you a furriner?"
"No, I am English;" I felt my color rising as I answered.
"Well, you speak sort o' queer, but my old man was English, too, a Norfolk man, and blest if I could

understand quarter he said for ever so long after we got keeping company. I used to say yes to everything I
didn't understand when we was alone, for fear he might be popping the question; but laws, I knew well
enough when he did ask."

The Project Gutenberg eBook of Medoline Selwyn's Work, by Mrs. J. J. Colter
MRS. BLAKE.
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