Gray sent the father away on some pretext, finally; then he called to Allie: "Come in here and talk to me. I am a guest and I demand entertainment." He observed with silent approval her carriage as she entered the room and accepted the chair he offered her. Faint trace of the nester"s daughter here. "I want a good chance to look at you."
Allie colored faintly. "I guess I"m not much to look at."
"Hm-m! You don"t in the least resemble that girl I found hoeing in the garden. You are terribly thin."
"Spinach!" said Allie.
"Dieting, eh?"
"Yes. Spinach and water and a rubber suit. Sometimes I have a party and eat a whole soda cracker."
"It isn"t too high a price to pay for beauty--beauty, "the fading rainbow"s pride." We men should thank Heaven for women"s courage in pursuing it. It is all that makes this world an attractive dwelling place for nice people."
"Sometimes I think it"s kind of wicked to spend so much time and money that way, but--I guess it"s all right. I want to look as good as other people."
"I"m in a mood for quotations. "Is beauty vain because it will fade?
Then are earth"s green robe and heaven"s light vain." Pride, even vanity, is less of a vice than slovenliness, my dear. Now then, do you like Mrs. Ring?"
Allie nodded. "I like her, but--I hate her. She makes me feel awful mad because she can"t understand that I ain"t--I am not mad at her, but at myself. I don"t hardly know how to explain it. If I was her I"d hate me, like I do."
"Would you like to have her remain?"
"Oh, I would! She knows everything, and she makes me learn. But she won"t stay. I just found out that she"s been quitting every few weeks, and Pa"s been raising her wages. No, the disgrace, and our being thrown out--"
"My dear girl, let me a.s.sure you, once for all, there is no suggestion of disgrace about this affair. You behaved with spirit, and those who have heard about it admire you. I have talked with a number of them, and I know. I had a talk with Mrs. Ring also, and she will remain if you wish her to do so."
"You"re a--a good man, ain"t--"
"Aren"t!"
"--aren"t you, Mr. Gray? You fix everything."
"Not a good, but a convenient man. My specialty is making things easier for my friends."
"Are these other folks, these rich ones around the hotel, like you?"
"Oh, much nicer than I!" Gray laughed. "You must meet some of them."
Allie"s face whitened at this suggestion. "Please, sir--I"m scared!"
"Very well. As you wish. Tell me, what are you going to do with me this afternoon?"
"I dunno!" Allie looked blank. "I don"t do anything but study. I s"pose I got to study."
"Nothing of the sort. You have circles under your eyes now from overwork, and this is your vacation. I am a visitor, a restless visitor; I abhor being asked to make myself at home, and I never do. I demand amus.e.m.e.nt. Do you know what I"d like to do best of all?" Allie did not know. "I"d like to sit here and smoke while you show me all your pretty dresses. Ah! Those dark eyes brighten. You"re dying to show them to me, aren"t you?"
"_Would_ you? Honest?"
"Cross my heart. But remember, I have a color sense and I"m not easily pleased. I"ll probably condemn some of them."
Allie breathed deeply. "Oh, Gee!" she said.
"Run along and try them on, then I"ll borrow a pair of puttees and we"ll go for a ride."
For the next two hours Allegheny Briskow was in heaven. Never had she dreamed of anything like this. To have Calvin Gray alone, all to herself--Ma, as usual, had disappeared--and to discuss with him exciting questions of dress and good taste that she could not discuss with her own people; to meet his occasional hearty approval--well, it was enough to make a girl drunk with happiness. Gowns that he liked became precious; she hated those that he condemned. Her fingers grew clumsy with haste, her cheeks burned. He said she wore her clothes well, that she carried herself well. He approved of her--liked her! G.o.d above! And to think that she had contemplated suicide! Of course she was pitifully ignorant as yet, and she had not even learned to talk as he talked, but there were books. She would study. Oh, the fury with which she would apply herself after this! She would beat the contents of those books into her head with her fists, if necessary; she would show him how fast she could learn; she would astonish him. Her heart sang at the thought that she was rich--richer than he. That would count, too, for men liked money.
"Where is Ma?" Gray inquired, when the last gown had been paraded and when Allie appeared in her riding suit.
"Out with the fairies, I suppose. She won"t tell Pa or me where she goes or what she does--says it"s all foolishness."
"Perhaps she will tell me, for I believe in fairies," Gray said, seriously.
Allie smiled at him. "I reckon she will. Folks tell you "most anything you want them to, I reckon."
This was the busiest hour of the afternoon. Gray had purposely ordered the horses sent around at a time when he knew that the veranda, the walks, and the tennis courts would be filled, for ever since his interview with the hotel manager a plan had been shaping in his mind and already he had dropped a few words, a hint or two here and there, that were calculated to stimulate interest in Allie Briskow.
It gratified his craving for the theatric now to lead the girl out before so many curious eyes. For himself, he knew that he commanded attention, and as he noted the lines of this young Juno he could find nothing in her that needed betterment. Allie"s suit was the latest, smartest thing in riding habits, and it set off her magnificent figure as nothing else could. Systematic exercise and hard work, like the final touch of a skilled sculptor, had given it beauty and refinement; harmony and proportion had destroyed the impression of unusual size.
How deep was her bosom, how smooth and flowing were her curves, how superbly tall she was! As a thing of flesh and blood, she made these other women look like females of an insignificant race.
It thrilled him pleasantly to observe the confidence with which she swung herself into the saddle and the instant mastery she exercised over her restless mount. No timidity there, no need of a.s.sistance; no absurd, hampering skirts and artificial posture, either, but a seat astride as befits anyone who chooses to honor the king of four-footed creatures.
Under cover, Gray noted Allie"s effect upon her attentive audience, and he smiled. If only he could spend a few days here he would make her a woman to be sought after by some of the best people. She refused to meet them, eh? Well, that would be as it was to be.
"We"ve been having supper in our rooms lately," she told him, when they returned at dark. "You"re going to eat with us, ain--aren"t you?"
"I am, to be sure. But not in your rooms," he declared.
"I"d rather--"
"You"d rather do exactly what would please me, now wouldn"t you?"
"Yes, sir."
"Then run along and put on that dinner dress that I liked best. And tell Ma to look her prettiest, too. We"ll not spoil this day."
It was seven-thirty when Gray, in evening clothes, appeared at the Briskow suite. Allie told herself there had never been a man so handsome, so distinguished, so G.o.dlike as he. G.o.d, she now felt sure, must wear full dress.
Gus Briskow beamed as the visitor smiled approvingly at his daughter.
"She is purty, ain"t she? Don"t look much like the girl I sent to Dallas for fixin"s."
"Allie is more then pretty, she"s regal. "Such another peerless queen only could her mirror show." But--her head is turned already, Gus.
Don"t spoil her." The speaker stood with arms folded and head lowered while he studied the girl impersonally. Allie wore an expensive black lace dress, sleeveless and sufficiently low of neck to display her charms. "Plain! A little too somber," Gray declared. "She can afford colors, ornaments. Jove! I"d like some time to see her in something Oriental, something barbaric. The next time I"m in New York I"ll select a gown--"
Ma Briskow entered at the moment, greatly fl.u.s.tered and extremely self-conscious, and here, certainly, was no lack of ornamentation or of color. Ma wore all her jewelry, and her dress was an elaborate creation of brilliant jade green, from one shoulder of which depended a filmy streamer of green chiffon. In her desire to gild the lily she had knotted a Roman scarf about her waist--a scarf of many colors, of red, of yellow, of purple, of blue, of orange--a very spectrum of vivid stripes, and it utterly ruined her. It lent her an air of extreme superfluity; it was as if she had put on everything except the bedspread.
"You said to look my nicest," she bubbled, "so I done the best I could."
"You _are_ lovely, both of you, but--this is my party, isn"t it? I can do anything I please?" Gray looked from one to the other in eager inquiry. "Then let me fix you my way. Ma Briskow, your face is too sweet, too gentle, to be spoiled. Your charm is in your simplicity.
Here, I have it!"