"I see. I"ve heard that he did. Well, something will have to be done about this. Myself, being the sort of player from whom the bridge world runs as one man cannot help you much. But Elinor might. She is said to be somewhat proficient at it. We"ll give Arethusa a bridge-party, how about it, Belovedest?"
Elinor agreed, and so Ross suggested a lesson right away.
And Arethusa was just starting off to fetch some cards and have George bring what Elinor spoke of a "card-table," when George himself knocked at the door to announce that Miss Arethusa was wanted on the telephone.
"Mr. Bennet wishes to speak to her."
Bridge lessons were forgotten as if they had never been heard of. Every vestige of color left Arethusa"s face. Her hands clasped tightly over her suddenly tumultuous heart.
"To.... To me, George? To me," she stammered; "are you real sure he said to _me_?"
George nodded, smiling. "He said, "_Miss_ Worthington," very plain, Miss Arethusa."
Then the deepest of red flamed back into her checks and she scuttled off down the hall so fast that she upset every single rug in her path.
Mr. Bennett was Waiting at the telephone!
CHAPTER XVIII
Arethusa"s trembling fingers could hardly find the telephone receiver at first, and even when once located, they could scarcely keep it to her ear.
"h.e.l.lo!" her greeting was soft and almost breathless.
"h.e.l.lo!" And she recognized the deep drawl immediately. "Is this Miss Worthington at the "phone?"
"Yes, it"s me, all right!" Arethusa was too excited to be quite grammatical. "But I"ve been running to get here, and I"ve lost my breath!"
At the other end of the line, Mr. Bennet smiled rather broadly, and his stenographer, just then depositing a pile of letters to be signed on his desk, could not help wondering what the young lady had said that was so funny. Mr. Bennet did not often smile so into a mere telephone.
"Well, this is Gridley Bennet talking."
"I knew it was!" happily.
"And I should like to know if you have any engagement for to-morrow night?"
"Oh, Mr. Bennet!"
"Have you?"
"Of course, I haven"t!" Arethusa considered it a foregone conclusion that if he wanted her for anything, she was free.
"Then will you go to see the "Earl and His Girl" with me?"
"What is that?"
"A musical comedy, and quite a good one, I"ve heard them say."
"Is.... Is it the Theater?"
"Why.... Yes! Certainly!" This surprised him just a bit.
"Oh, Mr. Bennet!" exclaimed Arethusa once more.
"I take it, then, you"ll go with me?"
"You just bet! I should just love it! Why, I"ve never been to the Theater in all my life! Not even to the Opera House in Hawesville!"
Hawesville was the county-seat.
Mr. Bennet laughed outright then. He had been smiling right straight through this conversation, to the deep interest of his blonde stenographer, who smiled herself in sympathy for the laugh. She took a frank pride in Mr. Bennet"s popularity, his many invitations and his telephone calls. It was something to be stenographer to the very handsomest man in the fourteen-story building without his being one of the very nicest to work for, as well.
"That surely makes it all the better," said Mr. Bennet, "and I"ll call for you about eight." Then he added, being what he was, "I was rather afraid I wasn"t going to be allowed this great pleasure; I was sure one of those many youths that surrounded you the other evening had been before me."
"Well, they haven"t. And I"m awfully glad they weren"t, because I would so much rather go with you."
It was only the truth which Arethusa spoke, just as she had been taught it was best to do on every occasion.
Mr. Bennet was still smiling when he hung up the receiver and turned to the blonde stenographer. "Please get me two seats for to-morrow night at the Masonic, Miss Ford. You"d better telephone first to see what they have, and then you can go after them." He looked up at the tall clock between the office windows. "And you needn"t come back any more to-night, unless you yourself have something to do," he added kindly, "because these letters were all, and I can mail them. Just bring the tickets with you to-morrow."
Miss Ford, with a beaming face, sat down to telephone for the seats which were to introduce Arethusa to the world of the theater, while Mr.
Bennet busied himself with the signing of his letters.
It was a kindly Providence that spared Arethusa the loss of life or limb on her way back to impart this Marvelous piece of news, for such a plunge across slippery floors was never made before. Ross and Elinor seemed quite as excited over it as she could have wished, and had a very proper appreciation of the Signal Honor paid their daughter by the Princely-looking Mr. Bennet, although Ross was rather regretful that he had not realized before that she had never attended the theater. He would have taken her himself.
Elinor"s most immediate concern was for the costume, and after due deliberation of Arethusa"s slender wardrobe, it was decided a purchase must be made for this Occasion.
The next day was the longest that Arethusa had ever spent, in spite of all that had to be done toward getting ready for the theater expedition. The hands of the little silver clock on her mantel seemed to Arethusa to be afflicted with a sort of palsy, during the last hours of that day. She consulted them with frequency, but they never seemed to move forward enough to be noticeable. And deeming something to have happened to the clock, for surely time could not creep so slowly by, she was ready and waiting for Mr. Bennet long before the stroke of eight.
On this visit to Miss Rosa, she had produced a Dress of the soft colors of the tinted autumn leaves, shading into almost the color of the bronzy hair of the girl who was to wear it. It was made with soft skirt on top of soft skirt, in these tones, of shimmering chiffon. It was as Wonderful a Frock in its way as the Green Frock itself. Arethusa fairly held her breath with delight when she saw it. And as it was such a very Momentous Occasion, far too momentous for anything borrowed to be worn, Elinor purchased her daughter, to wear with this dress, a cloak of soft velvet in deep olive green with a collar of fluffy brown fur that framed her glowing face in the most fascinating way possible.
So Mr. Bennet could not help but approve her appearance as he handed her into the automobile. He liked those ladies he escorted to festivities to do him credit. He was as much addicted to a liking for feminine loveliness as was ever Mr. Harrison. For Mr. Bennet had looked in the mirror often, and being a person of discernment, had liked what he had seen there; and he had a deep and abiding sense of the fitness of things. Had the G.o.ds been less kind to Arethusa in the matter of looks, undoubtedly her adoration of Mr. Bennet must have remained of a distance. But even a more carping critic than her escort could have found no fault with her this evening; from the crown of her ruddy head to the soles of her satin slippered feet, she was joy to the eye.
The theater lobby was full when they arrived, of a good-natured crowd that laughed and chatted and greeted its acquaintances gayly as it moved slowly toward the inside entrance; where the women whose bare necks gleamed white in their settings of silks and velvets and furs, with their dress-suited men folks, were separated, like the sheep from the goats, for the downstairs of the theater, from the more plainly attired who climbed balconyward. Mr. Bennet and his lady belonged unmistakably with the sheep.
It would be a good house, judging from this number waiting to get inside. It was the first night of a much heralded show, "with the original New York company," its advance notices had said; and it had called forth what the morning newspapers of Lewisburg delighted to call a "representative audience."
Arethusa recognized, among the many, one or two faces she had seen to know at the dinner-dance, and so she could nod and smile a greeting or so, as she and Mr. Bennet pushed forward, with the rest of that crowd.
But the people around her pressed against her so closely, that all unknown to Mr. Bennet, she timidly grasped the skirt of his overcoat and gripped it tightly for an anchor should they be forced apart. It was a fearful thought. What on earth _would_ she do, if she lost him in that swarm of folks?
But once in the more open s.p.a.ce inside, she breathed more easily, and could lose her hold, for separation was no longer to be really feared.
She looked about her then, as Mr. Bennet divested himself of that anchoring overcoat, and they waited for an usher, and, Arethusa-like, was deeply impressed with all that her eyes rested upon; the glittering crystal chandeliers that gleamed like hundreds of diamonds high above her, the distorted pair of cupids, unnaturally fat, who swayed from garlands of stiff flowers over the proscenium arch, the badly anatomized ladies on the ceiling, riding impossible blue clouds; the gorgeousness of many gilded columns, and even the bright red plush of the seats. Arethusa"s tastes were ever slightly rococo.
They were barely seated when the curtain rose, to a fanfare of sound more deafening than musical, and she gave a long drawn out and delighted, "O ... _Oh_!" for a really pleasing riot of color was before her.
The advertising of this musical show had not so very far falsified its attractions. There was plenty of action in the piece, much trotting on and off the stage; a great many songs with an exceedingly active chorus doing its best, and the dancing was unusually good. It had a big company of princ.i.p.als, well costumed; and such music as was offered was almost music.