She was angry with Mary for thus bringing her freshman waitress into prominence. But Molly was destined to be the heroine of the evening in spite of all efforts against it.
"Old Kentucky ham!" cried Richard Blount, starting from his chair with mock seriousness, "Where is it? I implore you to tell me. My soul cries out for old ham from the dark and b.l.o.o.d.y battleground of Kentucky!"
Everybody began to laugh, and Judith exclaimed:
"Do hush, Richard. You are so absurd! Did he behave this way at Harvard all the time, Cousin Edwin?"
"Oh, yes; only more so. But tell me more of this wonderful ham, Miss Stewart."
Molly wondered if Professor Green really understood that it was all a joke on her when he asked that question.
Suddenly she formed a resolution. Following her a.s.sistant into the next room, she whispered:
"Which would you rather do, Miss Brinton? Go over to Queen"s and ask Nance to give you the rest of my ham or wait on the table while I go?"
"I"d rather get the ham," replied Miss Brinton, whose proud spirit was crushed by the menial service she had been obliged to undertake that evening.
The dinner progressed. In a little while Molly had cleared the table and was preparing to bring on the grape-fruit salad when Caroline appeared with the remnants of the ham. Molly removed it from its wrappings and, placing it on a dish, bore it triumphantly into the next room.
"What"s this?" cried Richard Blount. "Do my eyes deceive me? Am I dreaming? Is it possible----"
"The old ham, or, rather, the attenuated ghost of the old ham!"
e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed Mary Stewart.
Even Judith joined in the burst of merriment, and Professor Green"s laugh was the gayest of all.
Molly returned with the carving knife and fork, and Richard Blount began to snip off small pieces.
""Ham bone am very sweet,"" he sang, one eye on Molly.
"It is certainly wonderful," exclaimed Professor Green, as he tasted the delicate meat; "but it seems like robbery to deprive the owner of it."
"Now, Edwin, you keep quiet, please," interrupted Richard. "I"ve heard that some owners of old hams are just as fond of things sweeter than ham bones. A five-pound box ought to be the equivalent of this, eh?"
"Really, Richard, you go too far," put in Judith, frowning at her brother.
But Richard took not the slightest notice of her, nor did he pause until he had cleaned the ham bone of every sc.r.a.p of meat left on it.
"Aren"t you going to catch your train?" asked Judith.
"I think not to-night, Ju-ju," he answered, smiling amiably. "Edwin, can you put me up? If not, I"ll stop at the inn in the village."
"No, indeed, you won"t, d.i.c.k. You must stop with me. I have an extra bed, solely in hopes you might stay in it some night. And later this evening we might run over--er--a few notes."
He looked consciously at Richard, then he gave Molly a swift, quizzical glance, remembering probably that he had confided to her and her alone that he was the author of the words of a comic opera.
Having cleared the table, Molly now returned with the coffee. The cups jaggled as she handed them. She was very weary, and her arms ached.
When she had reached Professor Edwin Green, Richard Blount, with his nervous, quick manner, suddenly started from his chair and exclaimed:
"Now, I know whom you remind me of--Ellen Terry at sixteen."
n.o.body but Molly realized for a moment that he was talking to her, and she was so startled that her wrist gave a twist and over went the tray and three full coffee cups straight on to the knees of the august Professor of English Literature.
There was a great deal of noise, Molly remembered. She herself was so horrified and stunned that she stood immovable, clutching the tray wildly, as a drowning person clings to a life preserver. She heard Judith cry:
"How stupid! How could you have been so unpardonably awkward!"
At the same moment Mary Stewart said: "It was entirely your fault, Mr.
Blount. You frightened the poor child with your wild behavior."
And Professor Green said:
"Don"t scold, Judith. I"m to blame. I joggled the tray with my elbow.
There"s no harm done, at any rate. These gray trousers will be much improved by being dyed _cafe au lait_."
Then Richard Blount rose from the table and marched straight over to where Molly was standing transfixed, still miserably holding to the tray.
"Miss Brown," he said humbly, "I want to apologize. All this must have been very trying for you, and you have behaved beautifully. I hope you will forgive me. My only excuse is that I am always forgetting my little sister and her friends are not still children. Will you forgive me?"
He looked so manly and good-natured standing there before her with his hand held out, that Molly felt what slight indignation there was in her heart melting away at once. She put her hand in his.
"There is nothing to forgive, Mr. Blount," she said, and the young man who was a musician p.r.i.c.ked up his ears when he heard that soft, musical voice.
"And I"ve robbed you of your ham," he continued.
"It was a pleasure to know you enjoyed it," she said.
Presently Molly began clearing the table. Richard sat down at the piano.
It was evident that he never wandered far from his beloved instrument, and the girls gathered around him while he ran over the first act of his new opera.
Professor Edwin Green said good night and took himself and his coffee-soaked trousers home to his rooms.
"You can follow later, d.i.c.kie," he called.
As he pa.s.sed Molly, standing by the door, he smiled at her again, and Molly smiled back, though she was quite ready to cry.
"The ham was delicious," he said. "Thank you very much."
That night, when Molly had wearily climbed the stairs to her room and flung herself on her couch, Nance, writing at her desk, called over:
"Well, how was the beefsteak?"
"I didn"t get any," said Molly. "Even if there had been any left, I was too tired to eat anything. I"m afraid I wasn"t born to be anybody"s cook, Nance, or waitress, either."
And Molly turned her face to the wall and wept silently.
Lest we forget, we will say now that two days after this episode of the coffee cups, there came, by express for Miss Molly Brown, a five-pound box of candy without a card, and the girls at Queen"s Cottage feasted right royally for almost two evenings.