CHAPTER XXII.
HELEN IN SOCIETY.
It was three days before Christmas, and Katy was talking confidentially to Mrs. Banker, whom she had asked to see the next time she should call.
"I want so much to surprise her," she said, speaking in a whisper, "and you have been so kind to us both that I thought it might not trouble you very much if I asked you to make the selection for me, and see to the engraving. Wilford gave me fifty dollars, all I needed, as I had fifty more of my own, and now that I have a baby, I am sure I shall never again care to go out. My darling baby, how small the whole world seems to me now when compared with her," and the little mother glanced lovingly at the crib where slept the baby, worth more than all the world.
"Yes," Mrs. Banker said, thoughtfully, as she rolled up the bills, "you wish me to get as heavy bracelets as I can find--for the hundred dollars."
"Yes," Katy replied, "I think that will please her, don"t you?"
Mrs. Banker knew Katy"s fondness for jewelry, and knowing, too, that her girlhood was spent in comparative poverty, she could readily understand how she would gratify her taste when circ.u.mstances were favorable; but Helen was different, and she felt certain that the hundred dollars could be spent to better advantage and in a manner more satisfactory to her.
Still she hardly liked to interfere until Katy, observing her hesitancy, asked again if she did not think Helen would be pleased.
"Yes, pleased with anything you choose to give her, but--excuse me, dear Mrs. Cameron, if I speak as openly as if I were the mother of you both.
Bracelets are suitable for you who can have everything else, but is there not something your sister needs more, something which will do more good? Now, allowing me to suggest, I should say, buy her some furs, and let the bracelets go. In Silverton her furs were well enough, but here, as the sister of Mrs. Wilford Cameron, she is deserving of better."
It was the first time that Katy had thought that in New York her sister might need more than at home. Seeing her only in the dim sickroom, the contrast between Helen and her and her husband"s sisters had not struck her, or if it had, she gave the preference to Helen in her dark merino and linen collar, rather than to Juno in her silks and velvet; but she understood Mrs. Banker at once, her cheeks reddening as there flashed upon her the reason why Wilford had never yet been in the street with Helen, notwithstanding that she had more than once requested it.
"You are right," she said. "It was thoughtless in me not to think of this myself. Helen shall have the furs, and whatever else is necessary.
I am so glad you reminded me of it. You are kind as my own mother," and Katy kissed her friend fondly as she bade her good-by, charging her a dozen times not to let Helen know the surprise in store for her.
There was little need of this caution, for Mrs. Banker understood human nature too well to divulge a matter which might wound one as sensitive as Helen. Between the latter and herself there was a strong bond of friendship, and to the kind patronage of this lady Helen owed most of the attentions she had as yet received from her sister"s friends; while Mark Ray did much toward lifting her to the place she held in spite of the common country dress, which Juno unsparingly criticised, and which, in fact, kept Wilford from taking her out, as his wife so often asked him to do. And Helen, too, keenly felt the difference between herself and those with whom she came in contact, crying over it more than once, but never dreaming of the surprise in store for her, when on Christmas morning she went as usual to Katy"s room, finding her alone, her face all aglow with excitement, and her bed a perfect showcase of dry goods, which she bade Helen examine and say how she liked them.
Wilford was no n.i.g.g.ard with his money, and when Katy had asked for more, it had been given unsparingly, even though he knew the purpose to which it was to be applied.
"Oh, Katy, Katy, why did you do it?" Helen cried, her tears falling like rain through the fingers she clasped over her eyes.
"You are not angry?" Katy said, in some dismay, as Helen continued to sob without looking at the handsome furs, the stylish hat, the pretty cloak, and rich patterns of blue and black silk, which Mrs. Banker had selected.
"No, oh, no!" Helen replied. "I know it was all meant well; but there is something in me which rebels against taking this from Wilford. He had better have sent to Silverton for that trunk. Its contents have never been disturbed, and surely there might be something found good enough for me."
It was the first time Helen had alluded to that trunk; but Katy did not think that anything ill-natured was meant by the remark. She only felt that Helen shrank from receiving so much from Wilford, as it was natural she should, and she hastened to rea.s.sure her, using all her powers to comfort her until she at last grew calm enough to examine and admire the Christmas gifts upon which no expense had been spared. Much as we may ignore dress, and sinful as is an inordinate love for it, there is yet about it an influence for good, when the heart of the wearer is right, holding it subservient to all higher, holier affections. At least Helen Lennox found it so, when, clad in her new garments, which added so much to her good looks, she drove with Mrs. Banker, or returned Sybil Grandon"s call, feeling that there was about her nothing for which Katy need to blush, or even Wilford, who blandly invited her one pleasant day to drive with him to the Park, seeming so disappointed when told that he had been forestalled by Mr. Ray, whose fine turnout attracted less attention that afternoon than did the handsome lady at his side, Helen Lennox, who bade fair to rival even her Sister Katy tarrying at home, and listening with delight to the flattering things which Wilford reported as having been said of Helen by those for whose opinion he cared the most. He was not afraid to be seen with her now, and Helen, while knowing the reason of the change, did not feel like quarreling with him for it, but accepted with a good-natured grace of what made her life in New York very happy. With Bell Cameron she was on the best of terms; while Sybil Grandon, always going with the tide, professed for her an admiration, which, whether fancied or real, did much toward making her popular; and when, as the mistress of her brother"s house, she issued cards of invitation for a large party, she took especial pains to insist upon Helen"s attending, even if Katy were not able. But from this Helen shrank. She could not meet so many strangers alone, she said, and so the matter was dropped, until Mrs. Banker offered to chaperone her, when Helen began to waver, changing her mind at last and promising to go.
Never since the days of her first party had Katy been so wild with excitement as she was in deciding upon Helen"s dress, which well became the wearer, who scarcely knew herself when, before the mirror, with the blaze of the chandelier falling upon her, she saw the picture of a young girl arrayed in rich pink silk, with an overskirt of lace, and the light pretty cloak, just thrown upon her uncovered neck, where Katy"s pearls were shining. Even Wilford was pleased, and stood by admiring her almost as much as Katy.
"What would they say at home if they could only see you?" Katy exclaimed, throwing back the handsome cloak so as to show more of the well-shaped neck, gleaming so white beneath it.
"Aunt Betsy would say I had forgotten half my dress," Helen replied, blushing as she glanced at the uncovered arms, which never since her childhood had been thus exposed to view, except at such times as her household duties had required it.
Even this exception would not apply to the low neck, at which Helen long demurred, yielding finally to Katy"s entreaties, but often wondering what Mark Ray would think, and if he would not be shocked. Mark Ray had been strangely blended with all Helen"s thoughts as she submitted herself to Esther"s practiced hands, and when the hairdresser, summoned to her aid, asked what flowers she would wear, it was a thought of him which led her to select a single water lily, which looked as natural as if its bed had really been the bosom of Fairy Pond.
"Nothing else? Surely mademoiselle will have these few green leaves?"
Celine had said, but Helen would have nothing save the lily, which was twined tastefully amid the heavy braids of the brown hair, whose length and luxuriance had thrown the hairdresser into ecstasies of delight, and made Esther lament that in these days of false tresses no one would give Miss Lennox credit for what was wholly her own.
"You will be the belle of the evening," Katy said, as she kissed her sister good-night and then ran back to her baby, while Wilford, yielding to her importunities that he should not remain with her, followed Mrs.
Banker"s carriage in his own private conveyance, and was soon set down at Sybil Grandon"s door.
Meanwhile, at the elder Cameron"s there had been a discussion touching the propriety of their taking Helen under their protection, instead of leaving her to Mrs. Banker to chaperone, Bell insisting that it ought to be done, while the father swore roundly at the imperious Juno, who would not "be bothered with that country girl."
"You would rather leave her wholly to Mark Ray and his mother, I suppose," Bell said, adding, as she saw the flush on Juno"s face. "You know you are dying of jealousy, and nothing annoys you so much as to hear people talk of Mark"s attentions to Miss Lennox."
"Do they talk?" Mrs. Cameron asked quickly, while in her gray eyes there gleamed a light far more dangerous and threatening to Helen than Juno"s open scorn.
Mrs. Cameron had long intended Mark Ray for her daughter, and accustomed to see everything bend to her wishes, she had come to consider the matter as almost certain, even though he had never proposed in words. He had done everything else, she thought, attending Juno constantly and frequenting their house so much that it was a standing joke for his friends to seek him there when he was not at home or at his office.
Latterly, however, there had been a change, and the ambitious mother could not deny that since Helen"s arrival in New York Mark had visited them less frequently and stayed a shorter time, while she had more than once heard of him at her son"s in company with Helen. Very rapidly a train of thought pa.s.sed through her mind; but it did not manifest itself upon her face, which was composed and quiet as she decided with Juno that Helen should not trouble them. With the utmost care Juno arrayed herself for the party, thinking with a great deal of complacency how impossible it was for Helen Lennox to compete with her in point of dress.
"She is such a prude, I daresay she will go in that blue silk with the long sleeves and high neck, looking like a Dutch doll," she said to Bell, as she shook back the folds of her rich crimson, and turned her head to see the effect of her wide braids of hair.
"I am not certain that a high dress is worse than bones," Bell retorted, playfully touching Juno"s neck, which, though white and gracefully formed, was shockingly guiltless of flesh.
There was an angry reply, and then wrapping her cloak about her Juno followed to their carriage, and was ere long one of the gay crowd thronging Sybil Grandon"s parlors. Helen had not yet arrived, and Juno was hoping she would not come, when there was a stir at the door and Mrs. Banker, in her velvet and diamonds, appeared, and with her Helen Lennox, but so transformed that Juno hardly knew her, looking twice ere she was sure that the beautiful young lady, so wholly self-possessed, was indeed the country girl she affected to despise.
"Who is she?" was asked by many, who at once acknowledged her claims to their attention, and as soon as practicable sought her acquaintance, so that Helen suddenly found herself the center of a little court of which she was the queen and Mark her sworn knight.
Presuming upon his mother"s chaperonage, he claimed the right of attending her, and Juno"s glory waned quite as effectually as it had done when Katy was the leading star to which New York paid homage.
Juno had been annoyed then, but now fierce jealousy took possession of her heart as she watched the girl whom all seemed to admire, even Wilford feeling a thrill of pride that the possession of so attractive a sister-in-law reflected credit upon himself.
He was not ashamed of her now, nor did he retain a single thought of the farmhouse or Uncle Ephraim as he made his way to her side, standing protectingly at her left, just as Mark was standing at her right, and at last asking her to dance.
With a heightened color Helen declined, saying frankly:
"I have never learned."
"You miss a great deal," Wilford rejoined, appealing to Mark for a confirmation of his words.
But Mark did not heartily respond. He, too, had solicited Helen as a partner when the dancing first commenced, and her quiet refusal had disappointed him a little, for Mark was fond of dancing, and though as a general thing he disapproved of waltzes and polkas when he was the looker-on, he felt that there would be something vastly agreeable and exhilarating in clasping Helen in his arm and whirling her about the room just as Juno was being whirled by a young cadet, a friend of Lieutenant Bob"s. But when he reflected that not his arm alone would encircle her waist, or his breath touch her snowy neck, he was glad she did not dance, and professing a weariness he did not feel, he declined to join the dancers on the floor, but kept with Helen, enjoying what she enjoyed, and putting her so perfectly at her ease that no one would ever have dreamed of the curdy cheeses she had made, or the pounds of b.u.t.ter she had churned. But Mark thought of it as he secretly admired the neck and arms seen once before on that memorable day when he a.s.sisted Helen in the labors of the dairy. If nothing else had done so, the lily in her hair would have brought that morning to his mind, and once as they walked up and down the hall he spoke of the ornament she had chosen, and how well it became her.
"Pond lilies are my pets," she said, "and I have kept one of those I gathered last fall when at Silverton. Do you remember them?" and his eyes rested upon Helen with a look that made her blush as she faintly answered "yes"; but she did not tell him of a little box at home, a box made of cones and acorns, and where was hidden a withered water lily, which she could not throw away, even after its beauty and fragrance had departed.
Had she told him this it might have put to flight the doubts troubling Mark so much, and making him wonder if Dr. Grant had really a claim upon the girl stealing his heart so fast.
"I mean to sound her," he thought, and as just then Lieutenant Bob pa.s.sed by, making some jocose remark about his offending all the fair ones by the course he was taking, Mark said to Helen, who suggested returning to the parlor:
"As you like, though it cannot matter; a person known to be engaged is above Bob Reynolds" jokes."
Quick as thought the hot blood stained Helen"s face and neck, for Mark had made a most egregious blunder, giving her only the impression that he was the engaged one referred to, not herself, and for a moment she forgot the gay scene around her in the sharpness of the pang with which she recognized all that Mark Ray was to her.
"It was kind in him to warn me. I wish it had been sooner," she thought, and then with a bitter feeling of shame she wondered how much he had guessed of her real feelings, and who the betrothed one was. "Not Juno Cameron," she hoped, as after a few moments Mrs. Cameron came up, and adroitly detaching Mark from her side, took his place while he sauntered to a group of ladies and was ere long dancing merrily with Juno, whose crimson robe once brushed against Helen"s pink, and whose black eyes looked exultingly into Helen"s face.
"They are a well-matched pair," Mrs. Cameron said, a.s.suming a very confidential manner toward Helen, who a.s.sented to the remark, while the lady continued: "There is but one thing wrong about Mark Ray. He is a most unscrupulous flirt, pleased with every new face, and this of course annoys Juno."
"Are they engaged?" came faintly and involuntarily from Helen"s lips, while Mrs. Cameron"s foot beat the carpet with a very becoming hesitancy, as she replied: "Oh, that was settled in our family a long time ago. Wilford and Mark have always been like brothers."