After a survey of the few simple dresses which composed Darsie"s wardrobe, it was p.r.o.nounced that nothing was suitable for garden-party wear, and a dressmaker was summoned from the country town to take measurements for a dainty white dress and hat to match. The dress was made to reach right down to the ankles, in deference to Lady Hayes"s ideas of propriety, and Darsie felt prodigiously fine and grown-up as she peac.o.c.ked about before the long gla.s.s of her bedroom wardrobe on the day of the garden-party itself. Never in her life before had she possessed a gown made by an expert dressmaker, and the result was surprisingly flattering. She expatiated on the same with a candour startling to the audience of aunt and her maid.
"Don"t I look s-weet? So slim! I"d no idea I was such a nice shape. I don"t know which looks nicest, the frock on me or me in the frock!
Aren"t I tall? Isn"t it graceful when I stand like this, and show the pleats? The hat"s a duck! I must say I do look most scrumptiously nice!"
"My dear!" Lady Hayes looked both shocked and alarmed. "My dear, how _can_ you? I shall begin to regret my purchases if they encourage a spirit of vanity. I was always taught to allow others to praise me and to keep silent myself."
"But you _thought_ all the time, Aunt Maria, you couldn"t help thinking, and it"s worse to bottle it up. I"m always quite candid on the subject of my appearance," returned Darsie calmly. "On principle! Why should you speak the truth on every other subject, and humbug about that? When I"ve a plain fit I know it, and grovel accordingly, and when I"m nice I"m as pleased as Punch. I _am_ nice to-day, thanks to you and Mason, and if other people admire me, why shouldn"t I admire myself? I _like_ to admire myself! It"s like the cocoa advertis.e.m.e.nts, "grateful and comforting." Honest Ingin, Aunt Maria! Didn"t _you_ admire yourself when you saw yourself in the gla.s.s _in_ that ducky grey bonnet?"
Evidently the question hit home, for Lady Hayes made a swift change of front.
"My dear, my dear, moderate your language! Your expressions are unsuitable for a young gentlewoman. You are growing up. Try, I beg, to cultivate a more ladylike demeanour!"
Darsie made a little face at the charming reflection in the gla.s.s, the which Lady Hayes wisely affected not to see, and presently aunt and niece were seated side by side in the big old barouche, forming one of a concourse of vehicles which were converging together out of every cross road, and turning in a seemingly endless string in the direction of the Hall. Shut carriages, open carriages, motors of different sizes and makes, dog-carts, pony carriages, governess carts--on they came, one after another, stirring up the dust of the road till the air seemed full of a powdery mist, through which unhappy pedestrians ploughed along in the shadow of the hedgerows, their skirts held high in white-gloved hands.
Darsie thought it inhuman of her aunt not to fill the carriage to overflowing with these unfortunates, but she made no attempt to do so, but sat up stiff and straight in her seat, a typical old lady of the olden times, in her large bonnet, grey satin gown, and richly embroidered China c.r.a.pe shawl.
"If you"re not proud of yourself, I"m proud of you!" the girl declared, smoothing the satin folds with an approving hand. "You look just what you are, a dear old fairy G.o.dmother who pretends to be proud and fierce, and is really a lump of kindness and generosity. All the other old ladies look dowds beside you."
"Don"t flatter me, my dear. I dislike it extremely," returned Lady Hayes with such an obvious look of satisfaction the while that Darsie laughed in her face, and laughed unreproved.
Arrived at the Hall, the guests were escorted through the perilously slippery hall, on which the mats seemed to turn into fresh pitfalls and slide beneath the feet; then through a side-door on to a miniature lawn, in the centre of which stood Mrs Percival, sweetly smiling, and e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.i.n.g. endlessly: "Delighted to see you! _So_ nice of you to come!" before pa.s.sing the visitors on to her husband and children who were ranged at discreet intervals along the sweep of the lawn. The girls whispered dramatically to Darsie that for the time being they were tied, literally tied by the heels, so she sat demurely by her aunt"s side under the shade of a great beech-tree, listened to the band, spilt drops of hot tea down the front of her white dress, b.u.t.tered the thumbs of her white kid gloves, and discovered the unwelcome but no doubt wholesome fact that there were other girls present who appeared just as attractive, or even more so than herself! Then the band began to play item number four on the programme, and Noreen Percival came forward with a sigh of relief.
"At last I am free! They"ve all come, or practically all, and we can"t wait for the laggards. The Hunt begins at three o"clock. Mother thought we"d better have it early, as it would shake them up and make them more lively and sociable. You"ll have to search by yourself, Darsie, for as we have all done some of the hiding, it wouldn"t be fair to us to go about in pairs. There are piles of presents, and your eyes are so sharp that you are sure to find two or three. You mustn"t open them on the spot, but bring them up to the cedar lawn, where mother will be waiting with the old fogies who are too old to run about, but who would like to see the fun of opening. I _do hope_ I find the right thing! There"s the sweetest oxydised buckle with a cairngorm in the centre that would be the making of my grey dress. I have set my heart upon it, but I haven"t the least notion where it"s stowed. It may even have been among my own parcels, and of course I can"t go near those..."
"If I get it, we"ll swop! I wish I knew the garden better. I don"t know of _one_ good hiding-place except those I made myself... Perhaps I shan"t find anything at all."
"Oh, nonsense! Keep your eyes open and poke about with your feet and hands, and you can"t go wrong. The paper"s just a shade lighter than the gra.s.s. Remember!"
Noreen flew off again to move a chair for an old lady who wished to escape the rays of the sun, and once more Darsie was left to her own resources. By her side Lady Hayes was deep in conversation with another old lady on the well-worn subject of a forthcoming agricultural show, and the town-bred visitor, failing to take an intelligent interest in prize carrots and potatoes, turned her attention to the group on the right, where Ralph Percival was making himself agreeable to three fashionable-looking girls of about her own age.
He wore an immaculate grey suit and a Panama hat, and regarding him critically, Darsie felt another shock of surprise at being compelled to admire a _man_! Hitherto she had regarded the race as useful, intelligent creatures, strictly utilitarian in looks, as in attire, but to-day it was impossible to deny that the beauty was on Ralph"s side more than on that of his companions. The poise of the tall, slim figure was so graceful and easy that it was a pleasure to behold; the perfect lines of aquiline nose, and dented chin, the little kink and wave which refused to be banished from the clipped hair, the long narrow eyes, and well-shaped lips made up a whole which was quite startlingly handsome and attractive. The three girls looked back at him with undisguised admiration and vied with one another in animated conversation, in return for which he drawled out slow replies in a tone of languid boredom.
During the fortnight which had elapsed since the date of her misadventure on the river, Darsie had had frequent meetings with the Percivals, and now felt on the footing of a friend rather than an acquaintance. Concerning the girls, there was no question in her mind.
They were dears, not dears of the same calibre as Vie and plain Hannah, dears of a less interesting, more conventional description, but dears all the same, lively, good-tempered, and affectionate. The only brother was a far more complex character, with regard to whom Darsie changed her mind a dozen times a day. At one time he was all that was delightful, full of natural, boy-like good-comradeships at another he was a bored and supercilious dandy, looking down on schoolgirls from an intolerable height of patronage, and evidently priding himself on a _blase_ indifference. The present moment showed him in the latter mood, and Darsie"s lips curled as she watched and listened, and in her eyes there danced a mocking light. "Like a vain, affected girl!" was the mental comment, as her thoughts flew back to Harry and Russell, uncompromising and blunt, and to Dan Vernon in his s.h.a.ggy strength. Even as the thought pa.s.sed through her mind Ralph turned, met the dancing light of the grey eyes, and turned impatiently aside. He would not look at her, but he could _feel_! Darsie watched with a malicious triumph the flush creeping slowly over the smooth pale cheek, the hitch of the shoulders, the restless movement of the hands which betrayed the hidden discomfort.
Presently some friends came forward to join the three ladies, when Ralph immediately joined her with an invitation which sounded more like a command--
"Come for a walk round the gardens!"
Darsie rose, nothing loath, conscious that she was about to be reproved, and finding an agreeable sense of support in her lengthened skirts, and the semblance of grown-up-ness which they imparted.
"What did you mean by staring at me like that?"
"Like which?"
"You know very well. You did it on purpose to annoy me, and make me uncomfortable."
"Oh no, I didn"t! I didn"t do anything. It did itself. It was just the outward and visible expression of my inward and invisible thoughts."
"Pretty middling disagreeable thoughts they must have been!"
"Humph! Not disagreeable exactly. Hardly strong enough for that. Just amused!"
"Amused!" The flush deepened on the lad"s cheek. Unwittingly Darsie had hit upon the most scathing of all indictments. To be an object of _amus.e.m.e.nt_ to others! What could be more lacerating to the dignity of nineteen years. "I had no idea that I was being so funny. Will you have the goodness to point out what you found so amusing?"
"Your airs," replied Darsie bluntly. "And graces! You asked me, you know, so I"m bound to tell you. It"s so odd to see a boy like that.
But you needn"t be cross. I"m speaking only for myself. Those other girls liked it very much... You could see that for yourself."
"Just so. We are talking of _your_ opinion at the moment, however, not of theirs. What sort of--er--_boys_ are you accustomed to meet, if one may ask?"
The strong accent thrown on the word "boys" showed a fresh ground of complaint. Darsie felt a twinge of compunction, remembering the episode of the punt and her own great cause for grat.i.tude. The answer came with startling earnestness.
"Not a bit braver than you, nor quicker and cleverer in an emergency.
Perhaps not so good. If you"d hesitated one moment I mightn"t have been here to criticise. But, just big, simple boys, not an ounce of affectation between them. Of course, they are not handsome. That makes a difference..."
But Ralph was not to be mollified by a compliment on his good looks. He was irritated, and considered that he had good reason for being so.
Darsie Garnett was an unusually pretty and attractive girl, and having saved her from a perilous position but a fortnight earlier, it had been an agreeable delusion to imagine himself ensconced for life in her estimation as a gallant young rescuer, the object of her undying grat.i.tude and admiration--a delusion indeed, since the criticism of those mocking eyes was more than equalled by the explicitness of her explanations!
Ralph looked injured and melancholy, and Darsie, with characteristic softness of heart, was instantly seized with compunction. She was finding out for herself what every one who came in contact with Ralph Percival discovered sooner or later--that it was exceedingly difficult to keep up a feeling of offence against any one who showed his displeasure in so interesting and attractive a fashion.
He was so handsome, so graceful in movement, he had the art of concealing the most ordinary emotions behind a cloak of baffling superiority. To-day, as he paced the garden paths by Darsie"s side, Ralph wore the air of a lovelorn poet, of a patriot sorrowing for his country, an artist wrestling over a life"s masterpiece, like anything or everything, in fact, but just what he was--a sulky and empty-headed young gentleman, wounded in his own conceit!
To her own amazement Darsie presently found herself engaged in the humble position of "making it up," and in taking back one after another each disparaging remark which she had made, which, being done, Ralph graciously consented to "think no more about it!" and strolled off to speak to a friend, leaving her stranded by herself at the far end of the garden.
The position would have been an uncomfortable one had it not happened that just at that moment a bell rang loudly, followed by a sudden gathering together of the guests upon the cedar lawn. Mr Percival was making some announcement which was greeted by bursts of approving laughter. The words of the announcement were inaudible to Darsie"s ears, but the purport was unmistakable. The treasure hunt had begun!
With one accord the guests turned and streamed in the direction of the gardens, turning to right and to left, peering beneath bushes, poking delicately among the foliage of flower-beds with the ferules of walking- sticks and parasols...
Darsie turned and fled like a lapwing along the path leading past the tennis-lawn and rose and vegetable gardens, to the shaded fern grotto which formed one of the boundaries of the grounds. The idea had come to her to begin, so to speak, at the end and have the field to herself, but, as is usually the case, she was to discover that others were as ingenious as herself, for she had soon quite a string of followers along the narrow paths.
The thickly growing ferns seemed to offer endless hiding-places, but a printed notice to the effect that "It is not necessary to walk upon the Beds!" seemed to limit the possible area to that within reach of hand or stick. Darsie poked and peered, lifted the hanging fronds which fell over the rockwork border of the lily pond, stood on tiptoe on the rustic seat to peer between the branches of surrounding trees, but could discover nothing in the semblance of a paper packet. It was the same story in the rose garden, though the thick foliage on the pergolas seemed to offer numberless hiding-places for dainty packets, containing great gear in little bulk; it was the same story in the wide, herbaceous border, though pathways on either side offered double opportunities for search. For the first few minutes the search was pursued in almost complete silence, but as time went on there came the sound of one triumphant cry after another, as a busy searcher was rewarded by a sudden sight of the longed-for paper wrapping. Darsie"s envious eyes beheld one young girl running gaily past, with no less than three trophies carried bag-like in the folds of a chiffon scarf. _Three_!
And she herself had not yet discovered one! What would the Percivals say if at the end of the hunt she returned empty-handed? The surprised incredulity of the girls, the patronising condolences of Ralph, seemed in prospect equally unwelcome. Desire for a present itself became subservient to anxiety for the credit of her own sharp-sightedness and intuition. She _must_ and would discover a parcel before the time limit was past.
The next half-hour pa.s.sed in a search ever more eager and strenuous, as with every moment that pa.s.sed the chance of success diminished. So many treasures had already been discovered that Darsie began to think with a pang that perhaps there were no more to be found. Every third or fourth visitor seemed to be carrying a trophy; some with airs of would-be modesty were wending their way back to the cedar lawn carrying as many as three or four, declaring that really and really they must not look any more--it was altogether _too_ greedy! As they pa.s.sed by the spot where Darsie pursued her ceaseless search, they would pause with words of maddening advice or condolence.
"Not found anything yet? How unfortunate! Look beneath the leaves..."
Once Ralph pa.s.sed by and arched his eyebrows in eloquent surprise. He seemed on the point of offering advice, but Darsie whisked off in the opposite direction, to take refuge in the least frequented portion of the grounds, the orchard.
Only ten minutes left! The bell of warning was pealing loudly from the cedar lawn, she could hear the merry chatter of the returning guests.
Darsie lifted her muslin skirts and ran quickly in and out between the trees, searching for some hiding-place as yet undiscovered. The gnarled branches seemed to offer endless convenient niches, but in none of them could anything in the shape of a parcel be discovered. She was on the point of abandoning the search and returning empty-handed, when, lifting up a heavy branch, her eyes suddenly lit upon a cavity in the trunk of one of the oldest trees. When the branch remained in its ordinary position, the hollow was completely hidden from sight; moreover its position facing the wall made it doubly invisible. It hardly seemed possible that so very obscure a hiding-place would be chosen under the circ.u.mstances, but at this last moment no chance could be neglected.
Darsie rolled back her dainty net sleeve, plunged her hand deep into the hollow trunk, and flushed with triumph as her fingers came in contact with something loose and soft. It was not a paper parcel, it felt more like cloth--cloth with knotted ends all ready to pull. Darsie pulled with a will, found an unexpected weight, put up a second hand to aid the first, and with a tug and a cloud of dust brought to light nothing more exciting than a workman"s handkerchief, knotted round a lumpy parcel which seemed obviously a midday meal.
It was a disappointment, but the next moment an inherent sense of humour had discovered its possibilities of the position and gallantly accepted a second best.
Since she might not possess a proper present, she could at least be the happy proprietor of a joke! Into the middle of the ring of guests she would march, handkerchief bundle in hand, and to her credit would remain, if not the greatest applause, at least the biggest laugh of the afternoon! Darsie drew down her sleeve, brushed the top coating of dust from the handkerchief, and hurried onwards towards the cedar lawn.