Ah! pinned to the bundle, I find a letter, beginning "Dear Cousin Phmie," and asking me to excuse her, but she sends the things, thinking that I may want to rejuvenate, and perhaps dye, before I go to the ball.
Rejuvenate! Does she mean to say that I"m not young enough? and if I wasn"t, how are these things a-going to help me? I know that girls in school sometimes eat chalk and chew gum, but never heard that they got the younger for it. Then the pink powder--well, it"s no use calculating about it, especially as she wants me to die after it. I wish Cousin E.
E. would ever learn to spell. When a woman dies she does not do it with a "y" as a general thing.
Now what _does_ all this mean?
I was doing my hair at the looking-gla.s.s, when Cousin E. E. came in, looking like a queen; her blue silk dress was all spotted with gold flowers, and it streamed out half across my bedroom. Over that she wore a long white cloak, with ta.s.sels to it, and her hair was looped in with pink roses that were not redder than her cheeks, which would have satisfied me that her health was first-rate, if it hadn"t been for the shadows that lay around her eyes, which had grown awfully dark since I saw her at home.
"Oh!" says she, "I am just in time. Came early, thinking you might want help. Sit down; that will do. Now where is the you-know-what--those boxes--you understand?"
Here E. E. flung off her cloak and came to the gla.s.s. I declare to you the creature"s neck was white as any snow-drift but uncovered to an extent that frightened me out of a week"s growth. Her arms, too, were the same, and bare as her neck. She had a narrow pink shoulder-strap, and some lace between them, and that was all; only a string of white stones, that shone like a rainbow now and then, was around her neck and one arm; two or three of the same kind of stones hung down from her ears, and shot out light from her hair.
The whiteness of that neck astonished me, and made me look every which way.
E. E. didn"t seem to mind that, but took off her long white gloves and laid them on the table; then she s.n.a.t.c.hed up one of the boxes, and began to rub a handkerchief that lay on the bureau in it.
"There now; hold back your head a little," says she; "shut your eyes."
Here she began to rub my face and neck and arms with the handkerchief till they looked white as her own. Then she changed boxes, and I could feel her making soft dabs at my cheeks, which tickled a little.
"Now open your eyes," says she.
I opened them wide, she astonished me so; and, as true as you live, she began to tickle them with a tenty-tointy brush. After that she t.i.tivated my hair a little, washed her hands with some Cologne water, and s.n.a.t.c.hing up my pink silk dress, which lay across the bed, just buried me in it. I declare it was scrumptious to feel the silk a-rustling round me, and a-settling down on the floor, wave on wave. Well, the bill was a damper, but I couldn"t help enjoying it for all that.
"Now," says E. E., a-drawing on her long, white gloves, "just take a look, and let us be off--Dempster is waiting."
I did take a look, right straight in the gla.s.s, and couldn"t help doing it again and again, the lady I saw there seemed so much like a magnificent stranger to me--so white, so blooming--so--. Forgive me, sisters--I forgot that modesty is a tender blossom that should be encouraged--and I will say no more, only this, Cousin Dempster"s neck had a good deal more of it than mine, and that French dress-maker had given me a little chance of sleeves, while her"s left them out altogether.
When she spread out my skirt, it half covered the room. All at once she saw just one little spot of rain on it, and held up both her hands.
"Why, you haven"t worn this before? Good gracious! no lady in our set ever wears the same dress twice. The idea!"
I felt myself wilting, for she was sarcastic in her speech. Then I up and spoke for myself.
"Yes, I wore it once," says I; "but it was tucked up under my waterproof cloak, with the lining turned inside out, and n.o.body saw it--especially the great Grand Duke, who didn"t come out of his own vessel."
"Oh," says she, "then it won"t be an absolute disgrace to the family if you wear it. I began to be afraid to go with you. There, now, don"t look pins and needles at me, but just put something round you, and let us be off, or _he_ will be there before us."
That was enough. I huddled up that pink silk in my arms, and in less than two minutes Cousin Dempster"s carriage was so choke full of his wife and me, that he took a seat with the driver.
XIII.
THE GRAND DUKE"S BALL.
Oh, my! wasn"t that ball-room a sight to see? Seats piled on seats, all cushioned with red velvet, and one end curving round like a great red horseshoe, with flags and flowers and shields running below the bottommost tier; a great swinging balloon of sparkling gla.s.s poured its light, like July sunshine, down on a crowd of people, that looked more like born angels than human creatures. It fairly made me dizzy to look at "em from Cousin Dempster"s box-seat, which was right in the end of the circle.
After a while I got my senses back, and looked out for _him_. He wasn"t there yet, and that gave me a chance to see things. Four more heaps of gla.s.s, that seemed as if they had caught fire, hung in the other end of the room, and beyond them was a fountain of water, a-sparkling and a-flashing and a-tinkling in a make-believe garden by moonlight, with live fish swimming in it, and live flowers blooming in piles and heaps around it, and make-believe trees. Half running round the room was a lot of marble posts, with white flower-pots running over with sweetness, and linked together with running vines, that made you feel yourself almost out of doors.
All this was splendid; but there was one spot that everybody looked towards, and I most of all. Three boxes, cushioned with red velvet, were just chained together with great wreaths of flowers such as I never saw in a garden; but I knew they were genuine because of the scent, which was delicious. Banners set full of stars and stripes of red and white silk, all tangled in with flowers, hung over these boxes, and right in the centre streamed a white silk banner, on which our old bald eagle and the black eagles of all the Russias flocked together as sociable as robins in a nest.
"There he is! There he is!"
I started. I caught my breath, for back of the white flag _he_ stood with the light a-shining on his beautiful yellow hair, and a smile on his lips. Oh, how grand, how tall, how gorgeous! Everybody was a-looking at him. The girls around me--always forward, and _so_ silly--began twittering together, and looking that way as if he would ever think of dancing with them. They swarmed around me, as a representative person.
They forgot their own trivialities, and rendered me such homage as genius commands from commonplace minds.
"You are an author," said they. "You belong to the great aristocracy of the world. Speak for us. He cannot dance with all of us, but he can look this way through his opera-gla.s.s, and give us all a chance of being put in the papers as the beautiful young lady he admired so much. We appoint you a committee of one. Address him in our behalf. Get some memento of him that we may leave to future generations."
The entreaties of these young creatures went to my heart. I raised my forefinger, which was like an oath to them, and says I:
"Thanks for this honor. Like a Roman matron I will do my duty. Wait."
I arose from my seat, and swept, with a dignity and grace that must have done the Society I represent great honor, around the gallery, and found my way into the private retiring-room of our ill.u.s.trious guest. It was small but beautifully furnished. My pink silk, as it trailed in, seemed to fill the whole room. In the looking-gla.s.s I saw a figure, tall, commanding; I may say queenly--but enough of that.
A person stood near the door and looked in. I lifted my finger; he approached.
"Go," says I, "to the great Grand Duke of all the Russias, and tell him that Miss Phmie Frost, a committee lady, awaits his presence here."
He started--he smiled--he went.
I drew back and stood against the wall opposite the door. _He_ entered, looking a little puzzled. I advanced one foot, then the other, three long paces, as queens do when they act on the stage. Then I sunk down in a profound curtsey, wound myself up again into a royal position, and held out my right hand.
"Great Grand Duke Alexis," says I, "son of an ill.u.s.trious father and an imperial mother, whom all women love to honor, welcome to our sh.o.r.es--welcome to the fashion, genius, and beauty embodied in the females of America."
Before I could finish the address to which duty and ever-burning genius inspired me, the great Grand Duke quenched my ardor by a heavenly smile that danced in his blue eyes, and almost broke into a laugh on his red lips. His voice was like over-ripe strawberries when he spoke and said: "The ladies did him great honor; he had not English to express his pleasure, and no power to repay their kindness." This was my time.
"Being the head of a committee of so many young ladies that it is impossible for your Imperial Majesty to dance with the whole, I--that is, these ladies--wish to be represented in the festive cotillon by a person worthy of the occasion. Not the wife of an American potentate, who may or may not have any claims of her own, but a potentate in herself. Not crowned with the shadow of a man"s laurels, but wearing her own bay leaves as Ta.s.so did."
Here I felt my eyes a-drooping, and my tall figure bent like a weeping willow. The great Grand Duke saw my confusion, and his smile deepened audibly.
"Say to the lovely committee of ladies," says he--
But I interrupted him, and putting one hand on my heart, observed, with a gentle bow:
"Embodied in me."
Then he smiled out loud again, and says he:
"If the Committee of Arrangement permit, I shall have much pleasure."
With that he bowed and prepared to go out. I drew back toward the wall till the pink silk skirt began to tangle up my feet, and kept my eyes lifted to his face, which was still bathed in blushing smiles. Another step, a low curtsey, and I lifted myself up with dignity while he pa.s.sed through the door.
I was alone, with nothing but the looking-gla.s.s to gaze on my delight.
The young ladies had begged of me for a memento of royalty. I looked around. An ivory-handled hair-brush lay on a marble shelf under the gla.s.s. I seized upon it, knowing that it had touched his head. I examined it. Imagine my joy--six bright yellow-brown hairs clung to the bristles! Carefully, daintily I picked them out, and, laying them in the palm of my white glove, formed a tiny tress of them--tiny, but oh! how exquisitely precious!
With this treasure in my hand I went back to my const.i.tuency. They crowded round me; sparkling eyes gazed upon the glorious prize I had secured; cherry lips kissed it with gushing fervor, and pleaded with me for just a morsel. I secured one lovely hair for myself, and, cutting the rest into tiny bits, distributed them generously. Oh, sisters! this act endowed me with wonderful popularity among my young companions. We girls should be generous to each other. I was generous, and an orchard full of spring robins could not have chirped more happily than they did while flocking around me. But the dancing began. I stood ready, with my long pink silk skirt gathered half way from the floor. But all at once it dropped from my hand--_he_ was on the floor, and another lady clung to his arm. The jealousy of that committee of gentlemen had prevailed.