RED DOMINOS
The water fete a thing of the past, the Warrens' domino ball became the
excitement of the hour.
The "Automobile Girls" were talking over their costumes when there came
a rap on their door.
Grace responded, to find the corridor empty; but at her feet lay a
sealed envelope addressed to Barbara, who hastily tore it open and read
aloud the enclosed note.
"Maud and the Count have planned to elope during the domino
ball. At midnight Maud and her chaperon will steal out of the
side entrance of the hotel. The chaperon will wear a black
domino, but will remain in her room until ten minutes before
midnight, when she will go to the veranda, meet Maud, and the
two will go to the east entrance of the hotel grounds, where
they will be met by the count with an automobile. They will go
to the village and be married there. Arrangements have been made
and the license secured. Maud will wear a red silk domino and a
black mask. Just over her heart will be a small black silk heart
the size of the one enclosed. I promised to warn you should
anything serious arise, and have done so at great personal risk.
Stop the elopement if you can without outside aid. Some day I
will explain why.
"M. S."
"'M. S.' Marian Smythe. She is a good scout, girls," said Ruth. "But I
didn't think that Maud would go so far as this."
"This pattern for the heart--I imagine that Marian is suggesting that we
all wear dominos exactly like Maud's. But why?" put in Barbara.
"We'll take that step in the dark, for Father is waiting now to
telegraph for the silk to make our dominos, and discuss details later."
"I did want a pink domino," sighed Mollie. "But you're right, Ruth; and
the count will be a dizzy man before we're through with him!"
"Won't the count be suspicious on seeing five Mauds and change his
plans?" asked Grace.
"He'll not see five Mauds. There will be a big crowd at the ball, and
four of the Mauds will carefully keep out of one another's way,"
explained Ruth.
It was after the girls had gone to bed that night that the full answer
came to Ruth, so she aroused Barbara to tell her of the plan.
"I have it, Bab! We'll switch couples on the count! I'm sorry, but
you'll have to take the risk, for you're the only one tall enough to
represent Maud. I'm sure that Mrs. De Lancey Smythe is to be the
chaperon on the occasion, and if we can persuade Aunt Sallie--and I
think we can--to take her place, our Count de Sonde will find himself
with the wrong pair on his hands--and, oh, Bab, shan't we have fun
seeing the count rage!"
It was a brief statement of the plan, but Barbara understood.
"Maud will not be easy to fool, and what if the count gets the right
pair?"
"Just before the hour set, one of us will get a note to Mrs. Smythe
changing the place of meeting. There--at the new place--Maud and her
chaperon will wait in vain for her count, who will be eloping with the
wrong couple."
"It leaves many loopholes for failure, but I can think of no better way;
so I'm for it if your Aunt Sallie consents."
"Monsieur Duval is the unknown X of the problem," stated Ruth slowly,
"but that's one of the many chances we'll have to take."
At last it was the night of the ball.
"How lovely!"
One of the five red dominos paused on the threshold of the ball room,
almost breathless with admiration. Glowing lights, exotic decorations,
swaying, brilliantly clad figures moving to perfect dance music, made
indeed an entrancing scene.
"Yes, lovely, but lovelier outside. Shall we go into the garden?"
whispered a voice in the ear of the little red domino.
"Not yet," she responded, and sped away among the dancers.
"Mademoiselle," whispered a voice that made the blood of a second red
domino tingle, "is it all arranged?"
"Yes," she answered under her breath.
"You won't fail us?" whispered the other.
"No," she replied quietly, but there was a threat in his tone that boded
evil. Then this red domino slipped away in the crowd.
Meanwhile, a third red domino was peering from behind a screen of palms
when she felt her arm seized and, turning, encountered the angry little
mask that had been pursuing red dominos until his brain reeled.
"Mademoiselle," he hissed, "you are cruel! Why do you avoid me so?"
"Ah, Count, can't you wait so short a time?" and the third red domino
was lost in the crowd.
The fourth red domino had been amusing herself like a wilful butterfly
on a summer's day. But it was getting late, and she paused at length to
look about her. As she passed a grotto in the garden, formed by palms
and orange trees, she heard the low chatter of voices speaking French. A
vine-covered trellis screened her from view. One of the voices she
recognized as Monsieur Duval's. She heard him say:
"In three quarters of an hour we shall start. The maid tells me the
officer is asleep. She saw to that. The young one is on the veranda with
the older one, and they never retire until after midnight. We must have
that paper to-night, even though we use violence." The fourth red domino
did not wait for more.
"I must find Father," she told herself. "How shall I ever get him in
time? They're talking of the countess, and Monsieur Duval intends to go
to the villa!"
But what of the fifth red domino, the hostess of the great ball?
Time had hung rather heavily on her hands. No one recognized her, and,
not being a graceful dancer, she was somewhat neglected.