Elsie's Scholarship by Emma Leslie

HERBERT MILNER kept to his resolution of making enquiries on his own account, if those made by Mr. Capon did not prove satisfactory.

A week after he returned to school, he received a letter from his mother, telling him that Mr. Capon had not only written, but sent a messenger to enquire about the girl named Elsie Winn. But he found that they had moved away from the neighbourhood, and no one seemed to know where they had gone, or cared to talk about them.

"Let this satisfy you now, my dear boy," wrote his mother in conclusion. "We have done what we could to find your aunt, and failed. We have done our duty, and we can do no more."

But Herbert was by no means satisfied that no more could be learned of his missing relatives; and so, after he had read this letter, he decided to write himself to the schoolmistress. And his letter caused no small surprise to the lady who knew Elsie and her mother so well. It was handed to her just as she was leaving school with a friend one day; and she sat down at once to know who had written to her in such a round schoolboy hand.

"Dear Madam,-I think I have a cousin, and her name would very likely be Elsie Winn; but I have never seen her, and we don't know where to find her. You used to have a girl in your school of that name, and she took a scholarship. That is how we heard about her; but I should like to know some more, for I have neither brother nor sister; but I hope Elsie Winn is my cousin, fox I think she did a plucky thing to give up that scholarship to help her mother. I think her mother and my mother are sisters, and we want to find her."

The lady smiled as she read the letter, and handed it to her friend.

"This is from a boy, I have no doubt; but it is rather strange that as soon as Mrs. Winn has moved away from the neighbourhood, there should be these enquiries about her. There was a man here, you know, a day or two ago, asking if I knew where the Winns lived."

"Poor things! I am sorry for them, for I quite believed that man came about some little debt they may have owed. I wonder how much it was, for I know it will be a dreadful worry to Elsie, and her mother too. If I could only find out, I would pay it and send them the receipt, and then they would not be bothered about it again."

"Oh, but this has nothing to do with it," said her friend, quickly. "I am sure it was a boy that wrote this; and he would not be likely to tell this story about a cousin if it was not true."

"Well, I don't know where they have gone to live, and I won't know if I can help it; and then I can tell people truly enough that 'I don't know. ' I am sure of this, that if Mrs. Winn has got into debt, it has been through Tom having the scarlet fever, and that she could not help it; and as for helping people to find her, to worry her about it, I will not, whoever they may be!"

Elsie's governess spoke very firmly, and looked at her friend as she did so, as if mutely asking if she was going to betray this unfortunate family.

"I don't think this is about a debt," said the lady, when she had read Herbert's letter through a second time. "I think this is a genuine schoolboy letter. But still I should like to find out a little about the writer before I answer it, and I can do so, I think; for I have a cousin living at Firdale, and he shall find out who lives at the Old Manor House. It sounds all right, the 'Old Manor House,' but still there is no telling. I can soon learn where Mrs. Winn has gone, if we should think it wise to tell this boy where she may be found."

"Don't tell me the address, please," said the other, "for I want to be able to say, 'I don't know,' if we have any more visitors like the last, for I did not like his manner at all."

A day or two later a letter came to Miss Russell, saying that the Old Manor House, Firdale, was a very select gentleman's boarding-school; which so far relieved the teacher's fears, that it was agreed that Miss Russell should write and tell Herbert where a letter would find Mrs. Winn. It also added the information that it was feared she might be in straightened circumstances, as her son had caught scarlet fever a few months after his father's death, and that had compelled them to remove to another neighbourhood; and she enclosed the address which she had received from an intimate friend of Mrs. Winn's.

"There, I should think that would do," said Miss Russell, as she read over what she had written. "You see I have told him I am writing for you, as you don't know her address."

"No, it will be better altogether for me not to know it," said Elsie's former governess. "People are less likely to come to you for it, and I am sadly afraid the poor things will go down hill very fast through that boy catching the fever."

The lady said "that boy" as though she would like to shake him, for everybody knew it was through Tom's disobedience that his mother had lost her business, and been obliged to go away.

"But if this is really a cousin who writes, there may be better times in, store for the poor woman," said Miss Russell. However, her friend could not feel quite sure that they had not done more harm than good by replying to the schoolboy's letter.

Meanwhile Herbert Milner was delighted at the result of his application to the school, when, after waiting for a week, he received Miss Russell's letter. He did not know how dubious the ladies had been about writing to him; but he felt sure, from the wording of the letter, that this Mrs. Winn, whoever she might be, greatly needed help just now. And his mother, herself a widow, was well provided for, and therefore would be able to help and sympathise with Mrs. Winn. And if it should prove to be her long lost sister, how glad she would be to help her, and the brave girl who had given up the scholarship a year before.