Anonymous - Frank and I

“I don’t care if you do spank me,” she replied sobbing. Then she added fiercely: “I tell you I hate her!”

“You will make me very angry if you go on like that I have already told you that she was my sweetheart before I knew you. She is nothing to me now. Do be a sensible girl. You will like her, I am sure. She has excellent taste in dress, and you will want some one to help you when you are getting your trousseau.”

Her brow cleared, she wiped her eyes and smiled; all the woman in her was stirred at the thought of buying dresses.

“Oh, how funny I shall feel when I put on petticoats again. And long ones too! The last petticoats I wore, — the ones Mrs. Leslie turned up-were short, only reaching halfway between my knees and ankles.”

“You will soon get used to petticoats; and I shall be delighted to see you in a toilette from some fashionable dressmaker’s. I am sure you will look charming. You know I shall often see you.”

She laughed gleefully, got on to my knees, and kissed me, saying: “It will cost you a lot of money to dress me out, for I shall want to have everything of the very best description.”

“So you shall. And after the lady has married, and gone away, you shall live in the house, and I will go and stay with you.”

“Oh, yon darling!” she exclaimed, kissing and hugging me. “I am so sorry I was cross just now; but I am so fond of you that I can’t bear the idea of your being with another woman.”

Then she asked me a number of questions about the lady; and I answered as truthfully as was possible under the circumstances. However, she appeared to be satisfied with what I told her, as she did not show any more signs of jealousy, and by the time she had heard all I chose to tell her, it was late, so we went to bed.

Next day, we both began to make preparations for leaving Oakhurst; as it was my intention, as soon as I had seen Frances safely settled with Maud, to go up to Scotland to stay with a friend who had invited me to shoot grouse with him. The servants were told that “Mr. Francis” was going away for good; and in a couple of days, when everything was in readiness for our departure, I wrote to Maud, telling her that we should be with her next day in time for lunch.

The morning came, and after an early breakfast, the dog-cart was brought to the door; our luggage was put in; Frances, with rather a shaky voice, bade good bye to the servants, all of whom had assembled on the terrace, apparently sorry that “Mr. Francis” was going away. Then we climbed into the trap, and I drove off.

The groom had gone on before us, so we were alone in the dog-cart, and as soon as we had got out of the avenue on to the road, Frances burst into a flood of tears, saying: “Oh, I am so sorry to leave the dear old house.”

“Never mind, Frances,” I said. “You will soon have a prettily-furnished little house of your own: we shall be together very often, and have lots of fun in London; and by and by I will take you abroad.”

She smiled, nestled close up to me, and soon recovered her spirits. In due course, we reached London, and arrived at the villa in St. John’s Wood, about one o’clock.

Maud greeted Frances in a most friendly manner, and kissed her; then, after looking at her for a moment or two, said heartily, and without the least sign of jealousy: “Well dear, I must say you make a very good-looking young man; bur when you are dressed in your proper attire, you will be a very pretty girl.”

Frances laughed, looking pleased with the evidently sincere compliment. Then we sat down to a nice little lunch with champagne; and though Frances was a little shy at first, she brightened up under the influence of a glass of wine, added to Maud’s cheerful talk and kindly manner; and in a short time she was chatting away perfectly at her ease.

After lunch, while I was smoking my cigar, the two young women sat together in a corner of the room, conversing in low tones and laughing merrily every now and then as they glanced at me, their eyes sparkling with fun. No doubt they were comparing notes on the various whippings and pokings they had received from me.

However, I was glad to see that they had taken to each other, and I felt sure that Maud would be kind to the young girl, for my sake.

I finished my cigar, and then I thought I had better tell Frances at once that I was going to Scotland for a short time. I said to her: “You know that Maud is going to be married in less than a month. I am going away to Scotland for three weeks, and by the time I come back you will have got your ‘trousseau,’ and also have learnt how to wear the garments of your-sex in a graceful manner; therefore you will appear to me in a new and charming light. I shall feel that you are my sweetheart in reality then.”

My communication took her completely by surprise; she gazed at me for a moment, and then began to cry, saying: “Oh, I thought you were going to stay here with me.”

“Well, so I am, when I come back. In the meantime, you will have plenty of amusement in buying all the pretty things you want; and Maud will take you out driving every day. You’ll find that the three weeks will soon pass.” She smiled sorrowfully; and Maud said, kindly: “Cheer up, Frances. We shall have a jolly time together, with no man to bother us.”

There was nothing more to be said or done; so I sent for a hansom, and when it came, my portmanteau, and gun case were put in. I gave Maud a kiss, and bade her good bye; and she promised to take the greatest care of Frances in every way. The girl clung round my neck, sobbing; I kissed her tenderly, left the villa, and drove off to King’s Cross station, quite confident that my sweetheart would be true to me during my absence.

I had a long tiresome journey; as my friend lived in the wilds of Argyllshire, twenty miles from a railway station; and consequently I did not arrive at his place until late the following day.

My friend was a bachelor, and the house was merely a shooting-lodge, so the accommodation was rather rough. I need not enter into details of what happened during my stay in the North; for one day was exactly like another; though I will just remark that I had good sport with the grouse, but no sport of any kind with a woman. In fact the only female I spoke to, was a bare-legged, but good-looking Highland lass whom I met on the moor one evening when I was walking home alone. She had not “much English,” as she quaintly expressed it; but we managed to talk a little, and she allowed me to kiss her pretty face several times; but when I took hold of her round the waist, and tried to put my hand up her short petticoats, she gave me a box on the ear, and scolded me volubly in Gaelic. I let her go!

I got back to London early one afternoon, having been away just three weeks, to a day; and I drove off at once to the villa, where I knew Frances would be waiting to receive me, for we had corresponded regularly, and I had written to tell her when she was to expect me. During the long drive from King’s Cross, I kept› wondering how Frances would look in her woman’s clothes, and I felt as excited as if I had been a young bridegroom going to meet his bride. On my arrival at the house, I was ushered into the drawing-room, where I was received by a lovely young lady, who threw her arms round my neck, and who kissed me, and fondled me, and cooed to me with all sorts of endearing terms.

It was Frances, but I should never have recognized her had I met her in the street: she appeared so much caller in her sweeping draperies, and she was far more handsome than I had ever expected. She was beautifully and tastefully dressed in a frock that set off to perfection all the rounded contours of her splendid figure; there were ribbons on various parts of the dress, and there was creamy lace round her throat and wrists. Her hair had grown longer, covering her well-shaped head with a wealth of little, silky, golden curls, which came low down upon her broad, white forehead, but did not hide her pretty shell-like ears. Her blue eyes seemed to be larger, and more limpid than ever; her complexion was like milk and roses; and the excitement had raised a pink flush on her peach-like cheeks.