ALL THE WORLD'S A STAGE.
"Outwitted this time," mused Madame, greatly mortified at seeing Vaura
retire with the group, "but I must make one more appeal to him alone,"
and tapping Lord Rivers on the arm with her fan, said gaily, "To the
halls of Comus; we want a change of scene, black is a trying colour."
At this moment Blanche, her hand on Everly's arm, entered from the
dining-room, whither with cunning forethought she had told him just
five minutes previously she wished to go, with "I feel played out
after all this sensation, we had best go for something exhilirating,"
thinking, as she returned "he'll stand it better now, and I'm not one
moment too soon," leading her unsuspecting escort up to Madame, who
stood leaning on the arm of Lord Rivers, her husband near welcoming
late arrivals; and the air was sweet with perfume, and laden with the
ceaseless murmur and everlasting whir-whir with the music of the
laughter of the beautiful, the noble, and the fair, and as they
follow, and crowd around Madame, their goal, the ball-room, some
condole with others on their later _entree_, saying, "Oh, darling!
what! you have missed such a sensation!" or "Oh! you should have been
here earlier, Lady Eldred, our pet of pets, Sir Lionel Trevalyon, is
free;" or "a nun nobodys child, and no end of fun, Stuart," again, "no
end of a time, Delrose has posed as Lucifer, Trevalyon, as all the
angels."
"Vaura Vernon is here, I am among her slain; she's a nymph, a goddess
and a woman; she's the only one for me," said Chancer, feelingly.
"All the others are frocks and frizzes," laughed his friend, who had
never seen her. "Listen, Chancer, what's the go now? that little girl
with all the tin, red eyes, pads and bustles, is getting up a row of
some sort; let's get in."
The face of Mrs. Haughton was a study and the groups about her
reflected the various emotions depicted there. For Blanche had said,
the white mouse, wearing her innocent air "Oh, step-moma darling!"
"Never used a term of endearment before; going to say something
nasty," thought Mrs. Haughton.
_Oui, ma chere_ Madame; yours is an unerring instinct; does not puss
purr, then scratch? does not the snake charm, then sting? And so the
white mouse said, "Oh, step-moma darling, just one minute, I've been
up to a lark, and now present myself to you as Lady Everly; of course
you will feel too awfully small for anything, when I take precedence
of you; but you are so fond of the Baronet, it was nice of me to
keep him in the family;" this she said without a shadow; of
self-consciousness, so intent was she in watching the effect of her
words on her Step-mother, using her pocket-handkerchief at every word,
her escapade in the park adding to the red of the eyes and tiny nose,
looking too as if her robes would fall off the green satin waist, so
low, and velvet train so heavy. Oblivious was she of even the small
baronet, on whose arm she leaned, and who trembled with nervousness
and mortification at the manner blanche had chosen to offer them up to
Mrs. Grundy. The wedding cards the lady of Everly had presented, ere
making her little speech, were dropped to the floor, while madame said
haughtily.
"Blanche Tompkins, you are mad to parade yourself in this manner," and
smiling cynically, "your attendant cavalier wears quite a jubilant
air, looking so proud of his proximity to such a conventional belle of
the evening. What with 'hidden wife,' and this little farce, the place
smells of brimstone; let us all away," she said with a forced laugh,
"to the halls of Comus and a purer sphere; Lord Rivers, your arm."
"Everly," demanded his host, "what is the meaning of all this?" having
heard from Tisdale Follard, not two hours before, that Mrs. Haughton
had given him permission to press his suit with Miss Tompkins, Madame
always considering Everly her own property.
"Allow me one moment," said Delrose following Kate in her exit. "I
find I must bid you and the Colonel adieu; I go to London by the
midnight, from whence I think, across the water."
In spite of herself the colour came and went in Kate's cheeks.
"Are they all mad," she thought; "is he acting or what?"
The Colonel, relieved, and still feeling that he did not much care,
now that he had the sympathetic friendship of Alice Esmondet near,
whether he remained at Rose cottage or no, still said, giving his
hand.
"I wish you a pleasant trip."
"I doubt it," said Delrose inwardly; outwardly, "thank you," and being
a born actor, continued carelessly, "I shall be as happy and free from
care as the waves on the sportive ocean, for congratulate me, I bring
my bride with me, no 'hidden wife,' though the _News_ and _Daily_ will
have us; _Truth_ also, will have a hand in," and he added lightly,
"when a man knows editors and that ilk will shortly wet their pens for
him, he may as well whet the appetite of society by saying only this
and nothing more. In my bride of the sea, you will see a fair cousin
of my own, the daughter of Vivian Delrose," and turning to Kate, whom
he had furtively watched said, as he bid her adieu, "by gaining a wife
I lose a hostess, who has won my heart." With a few careless words to
the others, this man than whom no other ever held his own through life
and in spite of fate better, now made his exit.