Astra by Grace Livingston Hill Read Free Book Online

get money to go away, and if she had the money, where she would go. When she finished her lunch, she hurried upstairs to look over what she owned and see if there was anything she could sell that would bring her enough to pay her for parting with it.
    It was the memory of all this, and the anguish of the few hours before she started on this journey, that came flashing into Astra’s mind when she awoke in her berth two days later. It was like a picture of a former life that seemed very long ago. It was hard for a moment or two to struggle back into the present and remember. Why had she ever started on this journey, and what was there for her to do this morning that would start in a few minutes now, in this new life she had come into?

Chapter 4
    C ameron had asked Astra to wait for word from him in the morning, and she was scarcely dressed and ready for the day before the elderly porter from the night before came ambling down to her section.
    “De gemmen say he ’bliged ta he’p wid de ’rangements, an’ take de ole missus out ta her car when we ’rive, an’ he say would yoh let me ordah yoh breakfus sent to yoh right hyeah? He says that will be least trouble ta yoh.”
    “Oh, why yes of course. Thank you. Just orange juice, buttered toast, and coffee. That’s all.”
    And presently she was sitting there eating the pleasant, simple breakfast and looking at the thick patterns of frosty ferns and mountains that now decorated the windows. The snow had come in good earnest, and she was glad. It was nice to have a real winter and to feel free from the constant espionage and bickering of her cousin’s home. She wondered what her father would have thought about it if he had known just what she was to go through. Surely he would have tried to make some other arrangement for her than to stay with Miriam.
    But the sun had come out and was lighting up a glorious white world. It was almost Christmas, and there was snow! She remembered her childish delight at snow for Christmas, which had lasted through the years. That was something to be glad for, anyway, even if she was alone.
    Then her thoughts went back to her hectic preparations and her wild search for something to turn into money.
    There had been answers to prayer all along the way, and a sure indication that she was right in going away. She had begun her search by asking the Lord to please provide the money if He wanted her to go. And then she had started that systematic search.
    She had got out a box of old trinkets, scarcely hoping that any of them would be profitable. But first of all she came upon a heavy gold chain and a pair of bracelets to match that had been given to her by an odd old lady who had an apartment near theirs one winter while they were staying in New York. Astra hadn’t liked the old lady very much. She was always asking inquisitive questions about her father’s writing. And Astra never liked the jewelry, though she had to be polite about it, of course. But it was utterly unsuitable for so young a girl to wear, and she had no tender memories of the old lady, who was all too evidently trying to attract the attention of Astra’s father. But the old lady seemed to have plenty of money, and likely the chain and bracelets were worth something. There was no reason in the world why she should not sell them. Their marking showed they were solid gold, not plated.
    She went on searching through the jewelry, finding a number of gold trinkets, gold collar buttons, a couple of old watches with no sentimental value to them, some gold spectacles belonging to her father’s old uncle, some outmoded bits of sterling silver. There was quite a handful of things. Perhaps they were not all sterling, but it might be she could get something for them. She remembered hearing her cousin speak of a good place to take such things, where they were paying the highest prices for old gold and silver.
    When she had gathered these things together, she went to her wardrobe and looked