AFTER THE BALL
Yes, here was the hitch that Anne had secretly dreaded and which the
other girls had anxiously hoped to avoid.
She had not dreamed what it would be, but she had felt it coming all
evening, ever since she had seen Miriam hovering near the library door.
And, in a way, Miriam was connected with the disaster. Had not Miriam's
guest and chum exceeded all bounds of politeness by prying into other
people's affairs? No doubt, as she fled from David, her dress had caught
in one of the branches of the tree and so pulled it over.
All this darted through Anne's head as she stood leaning against the
wall while the room was fast filling with smoke and the pungent odor of
burning pine.
Suddenly, some one at her elbow deliberately called "Fire! Fire!" These
were the same ominous words she had heard Thanksgiving night, only they
seemed now more alarming, more threatening. Who could be so foolish, so
ill-advised as to scream those agitating words in a roomful of girls and
boys already keyed up to a high pitch of excitement? Anne turned quickly
and confronted Miriam.
"Don't do that!" exclaimed Anne. "You will only make matters worse."
Miriam looked at her scornfully, although it was evident she had not
noticed her before.
"Be quiet, spy," she hissed, "and don't make trouble."
"I suspect you of making a great deal," returned Anne, calmly.
She was not afraid of this passionate, spoiled girl, and only the fact
that Miriam was the sister of David, her devoted friend, kept Anne from
saying more.
In another moment, the entire Christmas tree was in a bright blaze. Anne
had climbed up to a chair, and thence to the table that the crowd had
pushed against her as it ran. Anne was about to leap to the floor when
Grace and Tom Gray dashed in with an armful apiece of wet blankets. With
the help of the others they spread the blankets over the burning tree
and the blaze was extinguished almost as soon as it was born.
"No harm has been done," said Tom. "The canvas covering saved the floor
and fortunately all the furniture has been taken out anyhow. It's all
right, Aunt Rose. Nobody hurt; nothing damaged. I never heard of a more
accommodating fire in my life."
"Open the windows now and let out the smoke," ordered Mrs. Gray, "and,
if you have all finished eating, I think you had better come into the
drawing room while the servants clear out this debris. Tom, please tell
the musicians to play a waltz. I do not want my guests to carry away any
unpleasant impressions of this house."
The music struck up and the dance began again.
"Well," said Grace, "no one need feel badly about the fire, because a
Christmas tree generally has to be burned, anyway, and nothing of value
but the ornaments was destroyed. So everything is all right."
"It was all my fault," exclaimed David, in a contrite voice. "Mrs. Gray,
you will have to forgive me before I can enjoy a clear conscience again.
If it hadn't been for that lumbering sophomore, Julia Crosby, I should
never have lost my temper the way I did."
"My dear David," cried Mrs. Gray, patting him affectionately on the arm,
"you couldn't do anything I would disapprove of. If you wanted to rescue
Anne's doll I am sure you had some excellent reason for it."
Mrs. Gray had not heard the history of Anne's father, for Grace and her
friends had kept the secret well, and Anne, herself, had never cared to
tell the story. She was a quiet, reserved girl who talked little of her
own affairs.
"He _did_ have a good reason, Mrs. Gray," put in Grace, "and it was
enough to make him lose his temper. Julia Crosby is everlastingly
playing practical jokes and getting people into trouble. However, I
don't suppose she upset the tree on purpose," she added, thoughtfully.
"Well, well," exclaimed Mrs. Gray, "let us forget all about it and wind
up the party with a Virginia reel. Tom and Grace must lead it off, and
Anne, you and David watch the others so that when it comes your turn you
will be able to dance it yourselves."
So it was that Mrs. Gray's freshman Christmas ball ended as gayly as it
had started, with a romping, joyous Virginia reel. There was not a soul,
except the little old lady herself, who did not join the two long lines
stretching from one end of the rooms to the other and when it came
Anne's turn, she was not afraid to bow and curtsey as the others had
done, for she had quickly mastered the various figures of the dance.
Moreover, was she not wearing a beautiful dress of pink crepe de Chine?
After all a pretty dress does make a great difference. Anne felt she
could never have danced so well in the old black silk.
When the reel was over the boys and girls joined hands and formed an
immense circle about their charming hostess, whirling madly around her
as they cried:
"Three cheers for Mrs. Gray!"
The old lady was very happy. She waved her small, wrinkled hands at them
and called out over the din:
"Three cheers for my dear freshmen boys and girls!"
At length, when the hands of the clock pointed to two, and the last of
the dancers had departed, Mrs. Gray sank into a chair exhausted.
"I am tired," she said, "but I never in my life had such a good time!"
Was there ever a girl in the world who did not want to exchange
confidences with her best friends after a party?
Grace and Anne, therefore, were not surprised when two figures in
dressing gowns and slippers stole into their room, crouching on the rug
before the fire.
"We've all sorts of things to say," exclaimed Nora, "else we wouldn't
think of keeping you up so late. In the first place, wasn't it perfectly
delightful?"
"Grand!" sighed the others.
"Everything except that one accident, and the thing that caused it,"
answered Grace.
"By the way, Anne, where is the doll?" asked Jessica.
Anne produced it from its box.
"Here it is," she said sadly. "But it was a cruel joke. Can you imagine
who could have done it?"
"I have several suspicions," answered Grace, "but I make no accusations
without grounds."
The four girls examined the doll carefully.
"My poor father!" exclaimed Anne, her eyes filling with tears.
"I'll tell you what, girls," cried Nora suddenly, "there's more to this
than just Anne's secret. How did anyone know we were going to have a
marionette show? Didn't we keep it dark?"
"Yes," they answered.
"Perhaps it got out through the servants," suggested Jessica.
"It certainly is rather an underhanded business," cried Grace, "for
whoever did this not only must have bribed one of Mrs. Gray's servants,
but also must have some way or other raked up Anne's secret. It was
evidently some one who had a grudge against you, poor dear," she added,
patting Anne on the cheek.
"Girls!" exclaimed Jessica, who all this time had been looking the doll
over carefully, "where have you seen this material before?" She pointed
at the fancy red waistcoat the doll was wearing.
"It has a familiar look," answered Nora.
"It looks to me very much like a red velveteen suit I saw somewhere once
upon a time," observed Grace.
"You did see it, Grace. But it was--how long ago? Two or more years,
wasn't it?"
"I know," cried Nora. "Miriam Nesbit's!"
"Sh-h-h!" warned Grace. "Remember David. He's just across the hall."
"And he must never know," added Anne, "not if she sent me a dozen
dolls."
"But I haven't finished," continued Jessica. "I feel exactly like a
detective on the scent. This doll is wearing something else that is
familiar to us all. Anne, you have seen it, I am sure."
They scanned the doll eagerly. The shabby black suit was made of some
indescribable material that might have come from anywhere. The red
velveteen waistcoat they had already identified. Then came a little
white cotton dickey, with a high standing collar and then----
"The tie!" cried Nora. "The green tie! Is that it, Jessica?"
"You are right," answered Jessica. "Have you never seen that green silk
before?"
Grace was in a brown study.
Anne could not recall it and Nora was groping in the dark.
"I'll tell you this much," said Jessica, who loved a mystery; "It just
matches a certain veil----"
"Miss Leece!" exclaimed Grace. "It's a piece of the trimming on an old
dress she sometimes wears."
"Exactly," said Jessica. "Who, having once seen it could ever forget
it?"
And so Miss Leece and Miriam had combined forces against poor little
Anne!