MOLLY'S FIRST MINUET
I have now to tell you how Molly made her first public appearance at
the assembly, and how she delighted and pleased the kindly ladies who
formed the company.
It was a crowded gathering. Lord Fylingdale, it was known, would be
present. Many gentlemen, therefore, who would otherwise have been at
the coffee house, the tavern, or the cockpit, were present in honour
of this distinguished visitor, or in the hope of being presented to
him. And all the ladies visiting the spa were there as well, young and
old, matrons and maids; the latter, perhaps, permitting themselves
dreams of greatness.
His lordship arrived brave in apparel, tall, handsome, proud, still in
early manhood, wearing his star upon his breast. Every girl's heart
beat only to think of the chance should she be able to attract the
attention and the passion of such a man. He was accompanied (say,
followed) by his secretary, our poet--the only poet that our town has
produced. The master of the ceremonies received him with a profound
bow, and, after a few words, conducted him to the chair or throne on
which sat the Lady Anastasia with a small court around her. Then the
music began, and Lord Fylingdale led out that lady for the minuet. And
the company stood around in a circle, admiring. He next danced with
the young wife of a Norfolk gentleman and member of Parliament, after
which he retired and stood apart. Sir Harry followed, dancing twice
with a fine show of agility. After him others of lower rank followed.
Towards the conclusion of the minuet Molly entered the room, led by
her guardian, Captain Crowle, and followed by myself in my new
disguise.
The captain was no better dressed than if he were sitting in the Crown
Inn, save that he had exchanged his worsted stockings for white silk.
He looked what he was--a simple sailor and commander of a ship. But no
one regarded him or myself, because all eyes were turned upon Molly.
She appeared before the astonished assembly clothed, so to speak, with
diamonds and precious stones, glittering in the light of the candles
like a crowd of stars. She was covered with jewels. Diamonds were in
her headdress; they were also hanging from her neck; there were rubies
and emeralds, sapphires and opals in her necklace and her bracelets;
heavy gold chains, light gold chains, gold chains set with pearls were
hanging about her. She was clothed, I say, from head to foot with gold
and with precious stones.
The intention of the captain was carried out. On her first appearance
she proclaimed herself as she stood before them all as an heiress who
was able to carry a great fortune upon her back, as the saying is, and
to have another great fortune at home. Never before had the company
beheld so strange a sight; a girl wearing so much wealth and such
splendid jewels for a simple assembly.
Then from lip to lip was passed the words, "Who is she? What is her
name? Where does she come from? What is her family? What is the
meaning of this resplendent show of gems and gold? Are they real? Why
does she wear them?" And for the whole of that evening, while Molly
was in the room, no one thought of anything except this wonderful
vision of dazzling jewels. The eyes of the whole company followed her
about, and in their conversation they talked of nothing else. For, of
all things, this was the most unexpected, and, to all the other
maidens, the most disconcerting. They were plain country girls, while
Molly was a goddess. To say that she outshone them all is to say
nothing. There was no comparison possible.
Truly the captain was right. There was no one in that room who could
compare with Molly--either for beauty or for bravery of apparel. As
for her beauty, it was of the kind the power of which women seem not
to understand. Men, who do understand it, call it loveliness. Venus
herself--Helen of Troy--Fair Rosamond--Jane Shore--all the fair women
of whom we have heard, possessed, I am sure, this loveliness. Your
regular beauty of straight features of which so much is made doth
never, I think, attract mankind so surely, or so quickly; doth never
hold men so strongly; doth never make them so mad with love. It is the
woman of the soft eyes, the sweet eyes, the eyes that are sometimes
hazel and sometimes blue, the eyes full of light and sunshine, the
eyes where Cupid plays; the lips that are always ready to smile; the
lips so rosy red; so round and small; the cheek that is like a peach
for softness and for bloom, touched with a natural pink and red; the
rounded chin; the forehead white and not too large; the light brown
hair that is almost flaxen, curling naturally but disposed by art.
Such a woman was Molly.
Yet not a weakly thin slip of a girl. She was tall and strong; her
arms were round and white as a woman's should be, but they were big as
well, as if they could do man's work--they were strengthened and
rounded by the oars which she had handled from childhood. Her ample
cheek wanted no daub of paint; it had a fine healthy colour, like a
damask rose, but more delicate; her eyes were full and bright; there
was no girl in the place, not even among the country ladies, could
show a face and figure so strong, so finely moulded, of such large and
generous charms. When the men gazed upon her they gasped; when the
women gazed upon her their hearts sank low with envy.
How am I to describe her dress? I know that her head was made in what
they called the English fashion, with a structure of lace, thin wires
and round rolls on cushions, with ringlets at the sides and pinned to
a small cap on the top.
All I can safely say about her dress is that she wore a gown of
cherry-coloured silk, with gold flowers over a petticoat of pink silk
adorned by a kind of network of gold lace; that her sleeves were wide
with a quantity of lace--I have never carried a cargo of lace, and
therefore I know not its value; that her gloves were of white silk;
that her arms were loaded with bracelets which clanged and clashed
when she moved; and that chains of gold hung round her neck and over
her shoulders.
The master of ceremonies received us with distinction.
"Captain Crowle," he said, loudly, "you have too long withheld your
lovely ward from the assembly of the spa. I would invite her to dance
the last minuet with Mr. Pentecrosse."
All this had been arranged beforehand. The people gazed curiously, and
began to press around us as I advanced with Molly's hand in mine.
"Be not abashed, Jack," whispered the old captain. "They know not what
to think. Show them how the dance should be done. Slide and sprawl, my
lad. Sprawl with a will and both together," he added, hoarsely, "with
a yo-heave-ho!"
Then the music began again, and Molly stood opposite to me--and the
dance began.
For my own part I obeyed the captain's admonition. I endeavoured to
forget the people who were looking on--I tried to think that we were
rehearsing in the garden--and feeling confidence return, I began to
slide and sprawl with a will.
All the people were gathered round us in a circle. The ladies, holding
their fans before their faces, tittered and giggled audibly. The men,
for their part, laughed openly, making observations not intended to be
good-natured. They were laughing at me! And I was getting on, as I
believed, so well. However, I did not know the cause of their
merriment, and carried on the sprawling with a greater will than ever.
I am sorry now, whenever I think upon it, that Molly had not a better
partner. For my performance, which was quite correct, and in every
particular exactly what Mr. Prappet had taught me, was distinguished,
I learned afterwards, by a certain exaggeration of gesture due to my
desire to be correct, which made the dance ridiculous. If only I had
been permitted to give them a hornpipe! What had I, a mere tarpaulin,
as they say, to do with fine clothes, fashionable sliding and
sprawling, and the pretence of fashionable manners?
You must not think that Molly, though it was her first appearance in
public, though she wore these fine things for the first time, though
all eyes were upon her, was in the least degree abashed. She bore
herself with modesty and an assumed unconsciousness of what people
were saying and how they were looking at her, which certainly did her
great credit. And I am quite sure that, whatever my own performance,
hers was full of grace and ease, and the dignity which makes this
dance so fit for great lords and ladies and so unfit for rustic swains
and shepherdesses. She smiled upon her partner as sweetly as if we
were together in the garden; she played her fan as prettily as if we
were rehearsing the dance with mirth and merriment--it was a costly
fan, with paintings upon it and a handle set with pearls.
The dance was finished at last, and I led my partner to the end of the
room, where the maids sat all in a row with white aprons and white
caps--among them Molly's woman, Nigra--to repair any disorder to the
head or to the dress caused by the active movements of the dance.
And then they all began to talk. I could hear fragments and whole
sentences. They were talking about us.
"Who is she, then?" asked one lady, impatiently. "Where does she come
from?"
"Perhaps a sea nymph," replied a gentleman, gallantly, "brought from
the ocean by the god Neptune, who stands over yonder. One can smell
the seaweed."
"And the gems and chains come, I suppose, from old wrecks."
"Or," said the ancient beau, Sir Harry, "a wood nymph from the train
of Diana. In that case the old gentleman may be the god Pan. The
nymphs of Diana, it appears, have lately taken lessons in the
fashionable dance. As yet, unfortunately----" He shrugged his
shoulders.
"I cannot choose but hear, Jack," said Molly. "Let us make as if we
heard nothing."
"She is an actress," said another lady. "I saw her last night in the
play. She personated an impudent maidservant. The chains and gems are
false; one can see that with half an eye. They are what those vagabond
folk call stage properties."
Yet another took up the parable. "She should be put to the door, or
she should stand in a white apron with the maids. What? We are decent
and respectable ladies, I hope."
"They are not gems at all," observed a young fellow, anxious to display
his wit. "They are the lamps from the garden. She has cut them down and
hung them round herself. See the pretty colours--red--green--blue."
"Let her put them back again, then, and leave the company into which
she dares to intrude." This was the spiteful person who had seen her
on the stage and knew her for one of the strollers. The resentment of
the ladies against a woman who presumed to be more finely dressed than
themselves, and to display more jewels than they themselves possessed,
or even hoped to possess, was deeper and louder than one could believe
possible. Yet this was a polite assembly, and these ladies had learned
the manners which we are taught to copy, at a distance--we who are not
gentlefolk.
"Jack," said Molly, "these are the flouts of which the captain warned
us. Lead me round the room. Right through the middle of them, so that
they may see with half an eye how false are my jewels."
I obeyed. They fell back, making a lane for us, and talking about us
after we passed through them, without the least affectation of a
whisper.
They had an opportunity, however, of seeing the dress and the
trappings more closely.
"My dear," said one, "the jewels are real. I am sure they are real. On
the stage they wear large glass things. Those are brilliants of the
first water in her hair, and those are true pearls about her neck."
"And her dress," said another, "is of the finest silk; and did you see
the gold lace in front of her petticoat? The dress and the jewels,
they must be worth--oh! worth a whole estate. Who can she be?"
"Such a woman," observed an elderly matron very sweetly, "would
probably be ashamed to say where she found those things. Oh! But the
master of the ceremonies must be warned. She must not be tolerated
here again."
"How kind they are, Jack!" whispered Molly.
"Who is the fellow with her?" I heard next.
"He sells flounders and eels in the market. I have seen him in a blue
coat and long white sleeves and an apron."
"No. He is a clerk in a counting-house."
"Not at all. The fellow, like the girl, belongs to the strollers. I
saw him last night laying a carpet on the stage."
"A personable fellow, with a well turned leg." This compliment made me
blush. "It is his misfortune that he must be coupled with so impudent
a baggage."
"You see, Jack," said Molly, "it all comes back to me."
So we went on walking round the room, pretending to hear nothing. We
met Victory, also walking round the room with her beau, a young
merchant of the town. She, fortunate girl! had no jewels with which to
excite the envy, hatred, and malice of the ladies. She was unmolested,
though not a gentlewoman by station.
"Molly," she said, "you are splendid. I have never seen such a show of
jewels. But you will drive them mad with envy. Hateful creatures! I
see them turning green. The minuet was beautiful, my dear. Oh! Jack,
you made me laugh. Never was seen such posturing. The men are angry,
because they think you meant to make them ridiculous."
Thus may one learn unpalatable truth, even from friends. My
"posturing," then, as the girl called it, was ridiculous. And I
thought my performance correct, and quite in the style of the highest
fashion!
Then the captain joined in. "Famous!" he said. "Jack, you rolled about
like a porpoise at the bows. Never believe that a sailor cannot show
the way at a dance. Molly, my dear, you were not so brisk as Jack. But
it was very well, very well, indeed. The women cannot contain
themselves for spite and envy. What did I tell you, my dear?"