Altogether, it was a very happy young person who embraced Mr. David Warne, shook hands with Mr. Jefferson, and ran down the path to the great car in the wake of Jeannette, and followed by James Stuart looking extremely personable. Well-cut clothes were the one extravagance Stuart allowed himself now that he was immured for at least the early half of his life, as he expected, upon the farm of his inheritance.
"Well, well, I"m glad to have my little girl run away for a few hours,"
said Father Davy, from the window where, with Mr. Jefferson at his shoulder, he stood watching for the final wave of Georgiana"s hand. "She has enjoyed her cousin"s visit, but it has meant considerable extra labour for her. This seems a fitting return for Jeannette to make."
"One can hardly blame Miss Crofton for wanting to prolong her enjoyment of your daughter"s society," observed Mr. Jefferson, his eyes watching closely the laughing faces behind the gla.s.s as the travelers settled themselves. "I can imagine one"s feeling a very decided emptiness in a place which she had left."
"There, they"re off!" announced Mr. Warne, waving his slender arm with eagerness, his delicate features alight with pleasure in this unexpected happening. "Emptiness, you say, Jefferson?" he added as the two turned away, with the car out of sight down the snowy road. "That quite expresses it. Even for a few hours I am conscious of a distinct sense of loneliness without Georgiana. Her personality is one which makes itself felt; it has individuality, audacity; even--I think--that curious quality which for want of a better name we call "charm." Am I too prejudiced?"
He placed himself upon his couch, plainly very weary with the flurry of the last hour. He lay looking up at Mr. Jefferson, who had lingered a little before going back to the work which loudly called to him. It was quite possible for the younger man to comprehend how desolate was the gentle invalid"s feeling at being left, if only for a day and a night, in the care of the friendly neighbour who was to minister to his needs and who was already to be heard bustling about the dining-room, laying the table for the coming meal.
"You may be prejudiced," admitted his companion, "but it is a prejudice which can be readily forgiven--and even shared," he added, smiling.
"Her cousin," pursued Mr. Warne slowly, "would outshine her in beauty and in sweetness of disposition, perhaps, though I doubt if Jeannette has ever had a fraction of the tests of character and endurance my girl has had."
"She surely never has," agreed the other. "And as for mere sweetness of disposition, there are other qualities which make their own appeal."
A whimsical smile appeared upon the pale face resting against one of Georgiana"s crimson couch pillows. "How she would make me signals of distress and warning," he mused, "if she could hear me carrying on an antiphonal service in her praise with our lodger, who, she would consider, knows her not at all. Well, well----
""Man, she is mine own, And I as rich in having such a jewel, As twenty seas, if all their sand were pearl, The water nectar, and the rocks pure gold."
You"ll forgive an old man"s romanticism, Mr. Jefferson, I hope?"
"You are one of the youngest men I know. And if you may quote Shakespeare to your purpose, I may quote good old Doctor Holmes," said Mr. Jefferson, drawing the pillow into an easier position as he spoke:
""He doth not lack an almanac Whose youth is in his soul.""
To Georgiana Warne, a year out of college, and during that year having sorely missed the many gayeties of the life she had known for four happy years, the present experience was delightful. She enjoyed every minute of the swift drive over the sixty miles to her cousin"s home, enjoyed the arrival there, the meeting with the family and their house guests a.s.sembled for afternoon tea, the installment in a luxuriously furnished room where Jeannette presently brought her an armful of gowns to choose from for the evening. A small dinner was to precede the dance, and all sorts of scheming for Georgiana"s pleasure had been fermenting in Jeannette"s brain on the way home.
"I"ve arranged with Rosalie to put you next her special prize--the most wonderful man she knows. All her set are crazy over him, though he belongs in ours fast enough. It"s Miles Channing, just home after a year"s travel, and as good looking as any ill.u.s.trator ever drew. You see you simply must be your most brilliant self. And here"s the way to do it--wear this!"
She held up before Georgiana"s disconcerted gaze such a marvel of colour and cunning as brought a gasp of astonishment and a quick denial: "Oh, my dear! Not that--for me. It"s bad enough to wear your things at all, but don"t give me something that will make everybody look at me, like that!"
"That"s precisely what I want," laughed Jeannette. "And this is a thing I haven"t ventured to wear and never shall, though I"m wild to do it.
But I couldn"t carry it off; you can. Those orange shades will be glorious with your eyes and hair. Besides, as for making you conspicuous above the rest, on account of any gorgeousness of colour or eccentricity of style, it simply can"t be done these days. So put this on and see for yourself. You needn"t wear it, of course, if you don"t like it; but you will."
Reluctantly Georgiana allowed a slim French maid to slip the marvel of her country"s art over the bared shoulders, and the next minute she was staring at herself in a long mirror, while Susette clasped her hands, and gay young Rosalie, pa.s.sing the door at the moment and summoned to the private view, cried joyously:
"Oh, Georgiana, you"re perfectly stunning! Of course you must wear it, and you"ll be the star of the evening."
Rosalie rushed on, having settled the questions out of hand, after the manner of the youthful. Jeannette was laughing as she called her mother in to confirm the decision.
Mrs. Crofton, languidly interested, surveyed her niece with approval.
She was an impressive lady, was Aunt Olivia, and was accustomed to have her opinion carry weight. "It suits you, my dear," was her verdict.
"Those who can wear such daring effects should do it, for every scene needs points of light and intensity."
"And these other frocks," Jeannette declared, pointing to them where Susette had spread them out upon the bed, "are just colourless baby things that anybody can wear."
"They look exquisite to me," regretted Georgiana, eying them wistfully.
Somehow, now that she was here, she did not so much enjoy the thought of appearing in borrowed finery, and, since it must be done, would have preferred the simplest white frock in Jeannette"s wardrobe. But this was not to be without displeasing her hostesses, and she reluctantly submitted. Susette begged leave to arrange her hair, Jeannette hunted out silk stockings and slippers to match the frock, and Rosalie contributed the long white gloves which completed the costuming.
When Georgiana was ready to descend she took one last look at the girl in the long mirror, and turned to Jeannette, herself a picture in the delicate colourings which she affected and which set off her golden beauty. "I feel like the old woman in the nursery song," she said, "doubtful of my ident.i.ty."
"But you must admit you"re simply glorious," cried Jeannette. "I knew you were a beauty, but I didn"t know you were such a raving one as this."
"I"m no beauty," denied Georgiana with spirit. "It"s just the clothes.
But you--I never saw anything so enchanting as you to-night."
"Delightful! I"m so glad, for--there"s somebody I want to enchant. Come on," and Jeannette led the way.
At the foot of the great staircase, about a wide fireplace, Georgiana saw James Stuart with a group of other young men, and noted swiftly that there was no too-striking contrast to be noted between her friend and his faultlessly attired companions, except that his face and hands wore a deeper coat of winter tan than theirs, and he looked stronger and more virile than any of them. And even in his outdoor colouring, there was among them one who rivalled him, the one who, as Georgiana instantly guessed, was the lately arrived traveler. A moment later she met Stuart"s eyes and saw his look of astonishment as he gazed at her.
Presently, when those whom she had not already met had been made known to her, she found Stuart at her elbow. "Am I dreaming?" said his voice in her ear, "or is this my chum? I"m almost afraid to speak to you!"
"You look awfully nice, Jimps," she returned under her breath. "Yes, isn"t it absurd for me to be peac.o.c.king like this? But they made me do it."
"You take my breath away."
"Look at Jean," she whispered. "Isn"t she the loveliest thing you ever saw in your life?"
He looked. "You and she are a pair," he admitted.
Jeannette came up to them with the tall traveler, and Georgiana found herself looking up into a pair of dark eyes whose glance told her that their owner found her worth studying intently. Miles Channing was of the sort who waste no time in preliminaries. By the time she had sat out half the dinner by his side she felt as if she had been under fire for hours. All her youth and wit responded to his sallies, and she enjoyed the encounter as keenly as a girl might be expected to do, who for a year had seen no men but the slow village swains--always excepting James Stuart, who was her one reliance in time of famine.
Channing made no attempt to disguise his preoccupation with the most attractive of the few strangers in the set of young people whom he had known for years. Between the dinner and the dance, Jeannette, who had been observing without seeming to observe, dropped a word in Georgiana"s ear:
"You"ve done it, dear. I never saw him lose his head so completely.
You"ll have to be careful or you"ll have all the girls down on you.
They"re crazy over him, you know--including Rosalie."
"Absurd! I shall never see him again, so what does it matter?" retorted Georgiana.
"Don"t be too sure of that. Nothing can stop him when he"s interested.
And you know you are a witch to-night; anybody would be caught in your snare. I didn"t know you were such a clever thing at the game, though I might have guessed it."
"If I weren"t, I might take lessons of you," Georgiana gave back. "You have Jimps slightly delirious, I can see. Is he the one you wanted to enchant? I"m sure you"ve done it."
"Isn"t he splendid? He looks so much stronger and more interesting than half these boys I"ve known all my life. I do want him to have a good time."
"He"s having it."
Georgiana was sure of this, but she was having so good a time herself she didn"t mind. More than once she had caught Stuart"s eyes across the table, and had noted how they were sparkling. The glance the two exchanged might have been interpreted to mean: "Fun, isn"t it? You play up to your opportunities and so will I. This won"t happen again in our lives, perhaps."
Presently the dancing began, in great rooms cleared for the purpose and decorated with every art of the florist. The music was all of a quality more perfect than any Georgiana had ever heard, and the strains which a.s.sailed her ears made her wild to dance to every note. She was besieged by invitations.
"But I haven"t danced for more than a year, and I don"t know one of the latest steps," she said regretfully.
"We"ll soon remedy that," promised Chester Crofton, her cousin, who carried her off into an unoccupied room, where the music could yet be heard, and proceeded to teach her. She was easily taught, having all the foundations after four years of practice among college girls, and she was soon able to go upon the floor with young Crofton and the rest.