Em Chr 2

Emily's Chronicles: Part 2: An Afternoon Out.
By Trish and Tammy

Disclaimer: The following is a work of fanfiction. Emily of New Moon was created by L.M. Montgomery and is the property of her, her estate, and her heirs, not me. No copyright infringement is intended and no profit was made.

The very next Saturday after Isabel's unexpected return to New Moon Emily sat in the carriage beside her cousin, her Aunt Laura, and her Aunt Elizabeth. She had finally convinced them that she desperately needed new clothes for the coming summer. Laura had championed her neice in this endeavor, and Elizabeth and Isabel had reluctantly agreed. Since there was no school today, they had ventured into town to the dressmakers shop. A tiny establishment run by the Atwood family whose daughter Emily knew, though not well since the girl was forced to work in the shop rather than attend school.

" Hello Heather " Emily said to her acquaintance as she and the ladies disembarked from the buggy. The girl had been setting up a small sign outside advertising a shipment of English wool they had just acquired.

"Hello Emily!" Heather said turning around to reveal a wide grin, and a very pretty face."How wonderful it is to see you again!

" This is my Aunt Laura, my Aunt Elisabeth, and my Cousin Isabel" said
Emily.
"Oh please tell me! When will you be able to go to school? We have a lot of fun there
and
cousin Isabel is the teacher" replied Emily.

Isabel also took the initiative. Yes, dear I haven't seen you in class. I do hope that you will be able to join us. She smiled. I will speak to your mother about sending you on Monday.

Thank you very much, Miss Murry. Heather said sweetly. But you don't have to go to all that trouble. I'm sure I'll be able to come to school once the our inventory rush is over. What she really wanted to say was that she hope she would be able to go. Heather would have given anything to attend classes with the other children of Blair Water, but her family needed her around the store.

Very well, then. Isabel smiled. I'll count on seeing you soon.

With that the ladies, followed by Emily and Heather, entered the little store. Heather took the lead, she had been prepared as a salesgirl well.

"Is there anything I can help you with? Anything in particular that I can help
you find?"

"I need some new dresses." replied Emily with a smile.

"Well, are you looking for a dress that is already made or some nice fabric for sewing?" Heather said as she showed them to the racks. " We just
got some beautiful satin and silk in from France the other week. It is ideal for day or evening functions, but if you are looking for something more practical, this might do nice." Heather said, sounding very rehearsed, as she pulled out a light blue dress that was simple and yet elegant.

Just then, Mrs. Atwood, Heather's mother, came from the back store room. "Ah! Customers... Heather, can you handle everything?" Mrs. Atwood said as
she came to greet them.

"Yes, Mom, I doing fine...." Heather said with an "oh-no" aire. "Anyway, Emily, I think this dress would really bring out your eyes." Heather said as she continued to show off the dress.

Mrs. Atwood, as high headed as usual, took one look at the Murrays and decided to take action. "No,no, no Heather.... let's not be... hasty. Here-" She pulled out a dark brown dress of a much worse material that was unrealistically plain, adorned with a single pocket. "This would probably be more in your.... your.... taste." She said haughtily.

Emily did not like the tone Mrs. Atwood was using, but she tried to be pleasant, although her Murray pride was burning. "Well Mrs.Atwood I have a lot of work dresses of that kind...at home. I came here to buy new one!" She replied.

Oh, yes. Something a little nicer. I think would suit Emily. Laura said timidly.

Isabel, uncharacteristically slow the past couple of days, was just walking through door to catch up with the others when she saw the course, dull material that Mrs. Atwood was handing to Heather. She also saw the pretty blue fabric that Heather had handed to Emily. Normally, Isabel would have opted for the cheaper and more practical brown, but something in her suddenly made her feel defensive and motherly toward her young cousin. She looked at Elizabeth, who was turning red with anger. "And why, may I ask, would that brown material be better suited to Emily?" Isabel questioned Mrs. Atwood.

Elizabeth looked down at her young niece, only restraining the pride she felt in Emily at that moment because...well, really, it just would not do to put one's guard down in front of a woman such as Mrs. Atwood. The younger girl -- Heather, was it? -- she had seemed quite competent, if a bit young to be left in charge of a store by herself. Ah, well, one must deal with the situation at hand.

"Indeed, my niece is getting to be quite old enough to have some say in her clothing -- though of course, the final decision will be left to --" Elizabeth caught Isabel's eye significantly at that moment -- "her elders." Thought Elizabeth, Surely Isabel will have sense and Murray pride enough in her to keep a united front, if only for the benefit of this chit of a Mrs. Atwood!'She turned to Emily before Isabel could reply.

"Emily, child, I don't know what you've been wearing to school lately. I'm sure with as tall as you've grown since I left, though, that some good, quality school dresses would be in order." Elizabeth could be a mistress of sarcasm when she chose. "Wouldn't you say, Isabel?"
Then lower, so as not to be overheard by the Atwoods, "We shall see about an appropriate dress for socializing afterwards, depending on the treatment we receive from Mrs. Atwood."

Isabel understood Elizabeth's meaning very well. Whatever the two "elder" Murray women had to learn about each other, that was to be done
behind the closed doors of New Moon, and not infront of the whole town. Isabel had been blessed, or cursed, with as big a share of Murray pride as had Archibald's eldest daughter. Elizabeth was handling this situation much the same as Isabel herself would. For a second she thought to herself that maybe there was a chance she and her long lost cousin could become friends. To tell that truth Isabel was glad that Elizabeth was there at that moment. She was tired of having to be the backbone of the clan, and it was nice to get a break for a while. Anyway, she was feeling light-headed, and quite warm in the stuffy dress shop, and she was glad to let someone else handle the fight.

" I quite agree, Elizabeth." Isabel answered back in her thick scottish brogue. "Emily has grown even since I arrived in Blair Water. She does need some good quality school clothes."

Isabel mustered the energy she had and turned her tall frame toward Mrs. Atwood. "Mrs. Atwood," she said trying her best to look down her nose at the woman whom she was sure would find a lot in common with Mrs. Stuart. "We will see your best cotton twill, please. And . . . in a color more...appropriate for a girl of Emily's age. Even I wouldn't wear that horrid earth tone."
----------------------------------
The ladies Murray were feeling quite proud of the way they had handled
the business with Mrs. Abbott in the dress shop as they rode home in the late afternoon sunlight to New Moon. They were taking their time enjoying the ride, and even getting in a few laughs. One would think that Emily wasn't the only school girl in the buggy.

It was nice that after all of the tension of the past few weeks that they
seemed to be getting along quite well now. Isabel and Elizabeth were warming
to each other, and for some reason Isabel was even being much kinder and more motherly to Emily. Things at New Moon finally seemed to be getting back to normal.

As the turned onto the rode that stretched beside the sea, Isabel
suddenly felt the spirit of laughter leave her. Her head began to spin, and
she felt as though she might fall out of the buggy if they didn't stop.

"Stop this buggy!" she gasped.

Elizabeth barely managed to bring the horse to a stop when Isabel jumped
from her seat beside Emily in the back onto the dirt road. She barely made
it to the trees that bordered the road on the opposite side from the beach.
Elizabeth, Laura, and Emily sat stunned in the buggy, and could only see
half of their cousin's body as she leaned against an old maple. The sounds
of wretching were unmistakable.
After what seemed like an eternity, Isabel sagged against the tree.
"What is wrong with me?" She thought. If she had picked up influenza or
something in Scotland she would surely have a fever by now.

Then almost immediately, and from nowhere, she remembered the time she had spent with Francis in the lighthouse. She remembered something else,
too. That had been almost two months ago since. . .
She felt her heart begin to race as her hand went unconsciously to mouth,
almost to cover the words she was speaking.
"Oh, my dear lord. . ."

" Cousin Isabel! Are you all right? " asked Emily from behind. She had come across the road from the carriage to see if she could be of help.

Isabel regained her composure for the time, and turned to meet Emily concerned look.

"What? Oh, I'm just not. . . I think with the trip from the old country, and finding *everyone* safe and sound, and starting school again. . ." Isabel searched her mind for a plausible excuse. She knew she must sound completely confused but she was not going to make any more of a scene here than she already had. However, nothing she could seem to use as a cause for her sudden sickness would be plausible for any length of time so she trailed off leaving her sentence unfinished. She was going to have to find out for sure, and she knew it would be soon. Elizabeth was probably already making plans to fetch Dr. Burnley once they returned home.

"What am I going to do?" She thought to herself urgently, but she knew her truth would soon be discovered.


"Come Emily, we'd better be getting home, could you help me to the buggy,dear?" Isabel asked, still feeling as though the world was spinning.


Of course. Emily said, taking her cousin Isabel 's arm, and the two of them walked slowly back to the waiting buggy. Laura and Elizabeth were still sitting stunned in the front seat. Once everyone was back inside. They set off quickly for New Moon.
___________________________________________
As Aunt Thom walked through the woods, she couldn't help slowing her footsteps in thoughts and schemes. After a bit, she finally just sat down to rest a ways off the side of the road, leaning behind a tree. She still didn't feel satisfied about Perry's schooling. She wondered if this Isabel Murray would treat him poorly, simply because he worked as the chore-boy at New Moon. She knew already that Elizabeth Murray had been reluctant in allowing his being schooled at all. Suddenly she heard the sound of a horse and carriage approaching. Something in her "gut" made her turn and look. There was the Isabel Murray herself, coming up the road in a buggy! And even more surprisingly, there was what looked like a ghost of Elizabeth Murray, sitting right next to her!

"Holy smoke!" She thought. "If that ain't *Elizabeth Murray*, come back from the dead! I knew it! Something strange *is* going on..."

Quickly, she put out her pipe, and dropping down, she hid herselfbehind a bush. Peering through the leaves, she watched as the buggyapproached. Suddenly the buggy stopped, and Isabel herself came running over to the side of the road. Thom's eyes went wide.
"God almighty! She's coughin' up a lung all over the side of the road! She don't look like the *type* to be tippin' the bottle! Unless..." Thom whispered to herself.

She continued to watch in secret as the Murrays helped Isabel back into the buggy, and drove off. When they were out of sight, she gotup and stood there a moment, thinking to herself:
"Now, in my experience, this could be only one o' three things. Either she's been drinking, or she's got herself sick, or... or she's got a bun in the oven!"
She chuckled, then grew serious.
"I ain't gonna have no drunk teachin' Perry! And she ain't married, so's if she's gonna be havin' herself a kid, that mean's she has t' have got it from the wrong side of the blanket! I told Perry's Ma that I was gonna see that he's gettin' a respectable edjucation, and I ain't about to let no tramp be his teacher! Somethin' strange is goin' on at New Moon, and I'm gonna find out whatit is!"
Setting her shoulders resolutely, Aunt Thom made her way through the woods towards New Moon...

To Be Continued.....