It had been arranged that we should go to San Gabriel late in the
afternoon of Christmas Day.
As the time approached for our departure, I grew more reluctant to leave
the ranch. I was still loath to submit to the restraints of a hotel. Had
I dared, I would have abandoned the visit. It irritated me to submit
heroically to exile from Paradise, but there now seemed no alternative.
The little valise had been packed for hours; the precious evening frock
safely folded away in its scented wrappings, together with little bits
of finery to be worn at the hotel. Mariposilla, radiant and expectant,
counted the moments which delayed our departure.
Even the grandmother was now comfortably restored, having awakened from
her long sleep fresh and docile.
No vestige of excuse remained to justify a change in our plans. An
ordained agreement of trifles appeared conspiring with Fate.
As we bade farewell to the Dona Maria, I found it impossible to resist
the unhappy presentiments which thronged our departure.
When we drove away with Sidney and passed between the great century
plants, a sudden fear seized my vacillating will. I knew in an instant
that I dreaded the possible consequences of what I had undertaken.
In the front seat of the trap, with Sidney, sat Mariposilla, transformed
by excessive happiness and conventional garb into another creature.
Never again would she be the child she had been even that same morning,
when she had romped upon the Bermuda grass with Marjorie, flushed with
pleasure over her Christmas trifles. Now another flush was upon her
cheeks, another light shone in her eyes; for, even as I looked,
Mariposilla had bidden farewell forever to the restraints of her simple,
beautiful childhood.
Had I created a scene by turning back in our journey into the world, it
is hardly possible that I could have obviated the difficulties of
Mariposilla's emancipation from the life she had determined to escape.
As I continued to face the responsibilities of her case I grew more
tranquil. I reasoned that it was perhaps best not to resist the
unmistakable leadings of Fate, which seemed to point to a destiny for
the girl different from the one desired by the Dona Maria. Her
remarkable beauty, the truly good blood which ran in her veins, to say
nothing of her laudable ambition and determination not to accept a
husband dictated by the priest or her relatives, justified me in the
belief that she had outgrown the old life, which was now each day
growing more and more intolerable.
With care and advantages, it seemed not only credible, but certain, that
Mariposilla might eventually satisfy her ambition.
The longer I thought upon the subject, the more I felt it to be my duty
to watch jealously the marvelous and unavoidable development of this
wonderful girl.
In a word, I compromised with my contending emotions, instituting
myself the guardian of her glorious beauty. Our arrival at the hotel was
concurrent with the usual lively glimpses of festivity always prevalent
at a pleasure resort upon the approach of evening. A gush of music, the
ripple of laughter, the tripping of feet, and the spontaneous rush of
cherubs in white frocks to investigate our arrival constituted for
Mariposilla and Marjorie a prime reception.
Mrs. Sanderson awaited us upon the landing of the broad staircase, then
led us cordially to her own apartments. When she threw open the door to
her sitting-room, Mariposilla exclaimed with pleasure as the lady drew
her affectionately to the open fire.
"Sit down, little one," she said. "I will draw some tea, while Sid
attends to the luggage. My pretty butterfly must be warmed after her
drive; for of course she is to outshine all beauties at the ball
to-night."
As Mrs. Sanderson spoke, she went to the tea-table, where the kettle was
already singing.
I could see, as Mariposilla received her tea from the hand of our
hostess, that the shell-like cup and saucer were a source of
apprehension. The child dreaded a catastrophe more than she would have
dreaded, a month previous, a dire calamity in her family.
Covertly she watched me as I deposited upon the side of my saucer the
biscuit that must not interfere with the manipulation of my spoon.
But, although she endeavored to follow my exact policy, her first
attempt at tea drinking was destined to be unfortunate.
Mariposilla had not yet achieved the confidence necessary for the poise
and counterpoise of the treacherous spoon. The girl had not yet attained
the dallying point. She could not yet sip tea one moment with assurance,
the next, disregard the responsibilities of Dresden or Coalport china
while she chatted unconsciously with her neighbor.
Notwithstanding her most earnest efforts to succeed in the undertaking,
the spoon flew at an aggravating tangent across the room. In a frantic
lurch to capture it she upset her cup, spilling into her lap the
steaming tea.
In a moment Mrs. Sanderson was by her side.
"Dear child," she said, sympathetically, relieving the girl at once from
her costly incumbrances. "I alone am to blame for offering you that
stupid cup. Sid declares each time it is used that it shall be the last.
"You see," she added charmingly, "those miserable little feet, that look
so secure when the cup is standing upon the saucer, have a malicious way
of running away. They are just like the profligate dish that eloped with
the spoon, when the cow jumped over the moon."
In a moment, Mariposilla had forgotten her embarrassment.
The lady took her at once to her bedroom, where she sponged away the
stains, petting and reassuring the child until she glowed with
happiness.
Soon Sidney came to say that our rooms were ready, urging us, as we
withdrew, not to be late for dinner.
When we had unpacked our apparel, Mariposilla became at once absorbed in
the delights of her toilet, speculating innocently, while she dressed,
in regard to the mysteries of the cotillion, which she was to witness
for the first time after dinner.
The cream and gold frock was joyfully assumed, and if possible the
girl's pleasure was keener than upon the previous evening.
With true womanly instinct she established the harmonious intimacy
between herself and her finery which at first had been lacking. She now
wore her gown with composure. None would have suspected that she had not
always been well dressed.
She had pushed above the elbow the wide, puffy sleeves, displaying the
lower half of her rounded arms; while the smile that parted her lips
told plainly of satisfaction, when she regarded the effect.
Now that her mother was absent she wore fearlessly the shining bracelet.
About her throat she fastened with delighted vanity the little necklace,
declaring, with one more loving glance into the mirror, that she was
ready.
Marjorie, having finished her tea, had obediently retired, satisfied to
watch for a few moments from her bed our elaborate preparations. She was
deeply moved by our grand toilets, pronouncing us "the beautifulest
peoples in the house." I was the loveliest of mammas, in my long
neglected "dwaggin dress"; while upon Mariposilla she bestowed a
profusion of compliments, as pretty as they were genuine.
When we had kissed the little girl good night, we started at once to
rejoin our friends. Half way down the hall we met Mrs. Sanderson and her
son coming to us.
The lady wore a rich lavender evening gown, while Sidney for the first
time appeared before Mariposilla in the immaculate perfection of full
dress.
I saw in a moment that the Spanish child was in an ecstasy of adoration.
Ever after, it would be useless for the Dona Maria to endeavor to
interest her in the magnificence of her father's once splendid apparel.
Even upon the threshold of this new experience she was captivated beyond
release. Never again would she submit to her old life.
The next moment was felicitous, when Mrs. Sanderson took caressingly her
hand. Drawing it within her own she commanded her son to escort us to
dinner.