Neither Mr. nor Mrs. Masterman was superior to this form of entertainment. It was the one above all others that reminded them that they belonged to society in the higher sense. They dined out with tolerable frequency; with tolerable frequency their friends dined with them. As for the afternoon teas to which they were bidden in the course of a season, Mrs. Masterman could scarcely keep count of them. But b.a.l.l.s came only once or twice in a winter, and not always so often as that. A ball was a community event. It was an occasion on which to display the fact that the neighborhood could unite in a gathering more socially significant than the mere frolicking of boys and girls. Moreover, it was an opportunity for proving that the higher circles of the village stood on equal terms with those of the city, with the solidarity of true aristocracies all over the world.
On Mrs. Masterman"s murmuring something to the effect that Claude would go to the ball, of course, the young man mumbled words that sounded like, "Not for mine." The mother understood the response to be a negative, and replied with a protest.
"Oh, but you must, Claudie dear. It"ll be so nice for you to meet Elsie.
She"s a charming girl, they say, after her years abroad." She concluded, with a wrinkling of her pretty brow, "It seems to me you don"t know many really nice girls."
She had been moved by no more than a mother"s solicitude, but Claude kept his eyes on his plate. He knew that his father was probably looking at him, and that Thor was saying, "Now"s your chance to speak up and declare that you know the nicest girl in the world." Poor Claude was sensible of the opportunity, and yet felt himself paralyzed with regard to making use of it. In reply he could only say, vaguely, that if he had to go he would have to go, and not long afterward Mrs. Masterman rose.
The sons followed their parents into the library, pausing to light their cigarettes on the way. By the time they had crossed the hall the head of the house had settled himself with the evening paper in his favorite arm-chair before the slumbering wood fire. Mrs. Masterman stooped over the long table strewn with periodicals, turning the pages of a new magazine. Thor advanced to a discreet distance behind his father"s chair, where he paused and said, quietly:
"Father, I want to tell you and mother that I"m engaged to Lois Willoughby. We"re to be married almost at once--toward the end of next month."
There was dead silence. As far as could be observed, Masterman continued to study his paper, while his wife still stooped over the pages of her magazine. It was long before the father said, with the seeming indifference meant to be more bitter than gall:
"That, I presume, is your answer to my move with regard to the father.
Very well, Thor. You"re your own master. I"ve nothing to say."
Before Thor could explain that it was only the carrying out of a long-planned intention, his stepmother looked up and spoke. "I _have_ something to say, Thor dear. I hope you"re going to be very happy. I"m sure you will be. She"s a n.o.ble girl."
Her newly germinating vitality having a.s.serted itself to this extent, she stood aghast till Thor strode up and kissed her, saying: "Thank you, mumphy. She is a n.o.ble girl--one of the best."
The example had its effect on Claude, who had stood hesitating in the doorway, and now came toward his father"s chair, though timidly.
"Father, I"m going to be married, too."
His mother uttered a smothered cry. Masterman turned sharply.
"Who? You?"
The implied scorn in the tone put Claude on his mettle. "Yes, father,"
he tried to say with dignity. It was in search of further support for this dignity that he added, in a manner that he tried to make formal, but which became only faltering, "To--to--to Miss Rosanna Fay."
Masterman shrugged his shoulders and returned to his newspaper. There were full three minutes in which each of the spectators waited for another word. "Have you nothing to say to me, father?" Claude pleaded, in a tone curiously piteous.
The father barely glanced around over his shoulder. "What do you expect me to say?--to call you a d.a.m.n fool? The words would be wasted."
"I"m a grown man, father--" Claude began to protest.
"Are you? It"s the first intimation I"ve had of it. But I"m willing to take your word. If so, you must a.s.sume a grown man"s responsibilities--from now on."
Claude"s throat was dry and husky. "What do you mean by--from now on?"
"I mean from the minute when you"ve irrevocably chosen between this woman and us. You haven"t irrevocably chosen as yet. You"ve still time--to reconsider."
"But if I don"t reconsider, father?--if I can"t?"
"The choice is between her and--us."
He returned to his paper; but again his wife"s nascent will to live a.s.serted itself, to no one"s astonishment more than to her own. "It"s not between her and me, Claude," she cried, casting as she did so a frightened glance at the back of her husband"s head. "I"m your mother. I shall stand by you, whoever fails." Her words terrified her so utterly that before she dared to cross the floor to her son she looked again beseechingly at the iron-gray top of her husband"s head as it appeared above the back of the arm-chair. Nevertheless, she stole swiftly to her boy and put her hands on his shoulders. "I"m your mother, dear," she sobbed, tremblingly; "and if she"s a good girl, and loves you, I"ll--I"ll accept her."
Masterman turned his newspaper inside out, as though pretending not to hear.
Thor waited till Claude and his mother, clinging to each other, had crept out of the room, before saying, "I"m responsible for this, father."
There was no change in the father"s att.i.tude. "So I supposed."
"The girl is a good girl, and I couldn"t let Claude break her heart."
"You found it easier to break mine."
"I don"t mean that, father--"
"Then I can only say that you"re as successful in what you don"t mean as in what you do."
"I don"t understand."
"No, perhaps not. But it would be futile for me to try to explain to you. Good night."
Thor remained where he was. "It isn"t futile for me to try to explain to you, father. I know Rosie Fay, and you don"t. She"s a beautiful girl, with that strong character which Claude needs to give him backbone. He is in love with her, and he"s made her fall in love with him. It wouldn"t be decent on his part or honorable on ours--"
The father interrupted wearily. "You"ll spare me the sentimentalities.
The facts are bad enough. When I want instructions in decency and honor I"ll come to you and get them. In the mean time I"ve said--good night."
"But, father, we _must_ talk about it--"
Masterman raised himself in his chair and turned. "Thor," he said, sternly, his words getting increased effect from his childlike lisp, "if you knew how painful your presence is to me--you"d go."
Thor flushed. There was nothing left for him but to turn. And yet he had not gone many steps beyond the library door before he heard his father fling the paper to the floor, uttering a low groan.
The young man stood still, shifting between two minds. Should he go away and leave his father to the mortifying sense that his sons were setting him at defiance? or should he return and insist on full explanations? He would have done the latter had it not been for the words, "If you knew how painful your presence is to me!" He still heard them. They cut him across the face--across the heart. He went on up-stairs.
As he pa.s.sed the open door of Mrs. Masterman"s room he heard Claude saying: "Oh, mother darling, if you knew her, you"d feel about her just as I do. When she"s dressed up as a lady she"ll put every other girl in the shade. You"ll see she will. After she"s had a year or two in Paris--"
Thor entered the room while the mother was crying out: "Paris! Why, Claudie dear, what are you talking about? How are you going to _live_?--let alone Paris!"
"That"s all right, mother. Don"t fret. I can get money. I"m not a fool.
Look here," he added, in a confidential tone, winking at Thor over her shoulder, "I"ll tell you something. It"s a secret, mind you. Not a word to father! I"m all right for money _now_."
She could only repeat, in a tone of mystification, "All right for money now?"
Claude made an inarticulate sound of a.s.sent. "Got it all fixed."
"Oh, but how?"
"I said it was a secret." He winked at his brother again. "I shouldn"t tell even you, only you"ve been such a spanking good mother to back me up that I want to ease your mind."
She threw an imploring look at her stepson, though she addressed her son. "Oh, Claude, you haven"t done anything wrong, have you?--forged?--or embezzled?--or whatever it is they do in banks."
"No, mother; it"s all on the square." Because of Thor"s presence he added: "If it will make you any the more cheerful I"ll tell you this, too. It"s not going to be my money; it" be Rosie"s. Strictly speaking, I sha"n"t have anything to do with it. She"ll have--about _five thousand dollars a year_! When it"s all over--and we"re married--you can put father wise to that; but not before, mind you."