"Mrs. Henry Burrage, at home Wednesday evening, March 26th, at half-past
nine o'clock." It was in consequence of having received a card with
these words inscribed upon it that Basil Ransom presented himself, on
the evening she had designated, at the house of a lady he had never
heard of before. The account of the relation of effect to cause is not
complete, however, unless I mention that the card bore, furthermore, in
the left-hand lower corner, the words: "An Address from Miss Verena
Tarrant." He had an idea (it came mainly from the look and even the
odour of the engraved pasteboard) that Mrs. Burrage was a member of the
fashionable world, and it was with considerable surprise that he found
himself in such an element. He wondered what had induced a denizen of
that fine air to send him an invitation; then he said to himself that,
obviously, Verena Tarrant had simply requested that this should be done.
Mrs. Henry Burrage, whoever she might be, had asked her if she shouldn't
like some of her own friends to be present, and she had said, Oh yes,
and mentioned him in the happy group. She had been able to give Mrs.
Burrage his address, for had it not been contained in the short letter
he despatched to Monadnoc Place soon after his return from Boston, in
which he thanked Miss Tarrant afresh for the charming hour she had
enabled him to spend at Cambridge? She had not answered his letter at
the time, but Mrs. Burrage's card was a very good answer. Such a missive
deserved a rejoinder, and it was by way of rejoinder that he entered the
street car which, on the evening of March 26th, was to deposit him at a
corner adjacent to Mrs. Burrage's dwelling. He almost never went to
evening parties (he knew scarcely any one who gave them, though Mrs.
Luna had broken him in a little), and he was sure this occasion was of
festive intention, would have nothing in common with the nocturnal
"exercises" at Miss Birdseye's; but he would have exposed himself to
almost any social discomfort in order to see Verena Tarrant on the
platform. The platform it evidently was to be--private if not
public--since one was admitted by a ticket given away if not sold. He
took his in his pocket, quite ready to present it at the door. It would
take some time for me to explain the contradiction to the reader; but
Basil Ransom's desire to be present at one of Verena's regular
performances was not diminished by the fact that he detested her views
and thought the whole business a poor perversity. He understood her now
very well (since his visit to Cambridge); he saw she was honest and
natural; she had queer, bad lecture-blood in her veins, and a comically
false idea of the aptitude of little girls for conducting movements; but
her enthusiasm was of the purest, her illusions had a fragrance, and so
far as the mania for producing herself personally was concerned, it had
been distilled into her by people who worked her for ends which to Basil
Ransom could only appear insane. She was a touching, ingenuous victim,
unconscious of the pernicious forces which were hurrying her to her
ruin. With this idea of ruin there had already associated itself in the
young man's mind, the idea--a good deal more dim and incomplete--of
rescue; and it was the disposition to confirm himself in the view that
her charm was her own, and her fallacies, her absurdity, a mere
reflexion of unlucky circumstance, that led him to make an effort to
behold her in the position in which he could least bear to think of her.
Such a glimpse was all that was wanted to prove to him that she was a
person for whom he might open an unlimited credit of tender compassion.
He expected to suffer--to suffer deliciously.
By the time he had crossed Mrs. Burrage's threshold there was no doubt
whatever in his mind that he was in the fashionable world. It was
embodied strikingly in the stout, elderly, ugly lady, dressed in a
brilliant colour, with a twinkle of jewels and a bosom much uncovered,
who stood near the door of the first room, and with whom the people
passing in before him were shaking hands. Ransom made her a Mississipian
bow, and she said she was delighted to see him, while people behind him
pressed him forward. He yielded to the impulsion, and found himself in a
great saloon, amid lights and flowers, where the company was dense, and
there were more twinkling, smiling ladies, with uncovered bosoms. It was
certainly the fashionable world, for there was no one there whom he had
ever seen before. The walls of the room were covered with pictures--the
very ceiling was painted and framed. The people pushed each other a
little, edged about, advanced and retreated, looking at each other with
differing faces--sometimes blandly, unperceivingly, sometimes with a
harshness of contemplation, a kind of cruelty, Ransom thought; sometimes
with sudden nods and grimaces, inarticulate murmurs, followed by a quick
reaction, a sort of gloom. He was now absolutely certain that he was in
the best society. He was carried further and further forward, and saw
that another room stretched beyond the one he had entered, in which
there was a sort of little stage, covered with a red cloth, and an
immense collection of chairs, arranged in rows. He became aware that
people looked at him, as well as at each other, rather more, indeed,
than at each other, and he wondered whether it were very visible in his
appearance that his being there was a kind of exception. He didn't know
how much his head looked over the heads of others, or that his brown
complexion, fuliginous eye, and straight black hair, the leonine fall of
which I mentioned in the first pages of this narrative, gave him that
relief which, in the best society, has the great advantage of suggesting
a topic. But there were other topics besides, as was proved by a
fragment of conversation, between two ladies, which reached his ear
while he stood rather wistfully wondering where Verena Tarrant might be.
"Are you a member?" one of the ladies said to the other. "I didn't know
you had joined."
"Oh, I haven't; nothing would induce me."
"That's not fair; you have all the fun and none of the responsibility."
"Oh, the--the fun!" exclaimed the second lady.
"You needn't abuse us, or I will never invite you," said the first.
"Well, I thought it was meant to be improving; that's all I mean; very
good for the mind. Now, this woman to-night; isn't she from Boston?"
"Yes, I believe they have brought her on, just for this."
"Well, you must be pretty desperate when you have got to go to Boston
for your entertainment."
"Well, there's a similar society there, and I never heard of their
sending to New York."
"Of course not, they think they have got everything. But doesn't it make
your life a burden thinking what you can possibly have?"
"Oh dear, no. I am going to have Professor Gougenheim--all about the
Talmud. You must come."
"Well, I'll come," said the second lady; "but nothing would induce me to
be a regular member."
Whatever the mystic circle might be, Ransom agreed with the second lady
that regular membership must have terrors, and he admired her
independence in such an artificial world. A considerable part of the
company had now directed itself to the further apartment--people had
begun to occupy the chairs, to confront the empty platform. He reached
the wide doors, and saw that the place was a spacious music-room,
decorated in white and gold, with a polished floor and marble busts of
composers, on brackets attached to the delicate panels. He forbore to
enter, however, being shy about taking a seat, and seeing that the
ladies were arranging themselves first. He turned back into the first
room, to wait till the audience had massed itself, conscious that even
if he were behind every one he should be able to make a long neck; and
here, suddenly, in a corner, his eyes rested upon Olive Chancellor. She
was seated a little apart, in an angle of the room, and she was looking
straight at him; but as soon as she perceived that he saw her she
dropped her eyes, giving no sign of recognition. Ransom hesitated a
moment, but the next he went straight over to her. It had been in his
mind that if Verena Tarrant was there, _she_ would be there; an instinct
told him that Miss Chancellor would not allow her dear friend to come to
New York without her. It was very possible she meant to "cut"
him--especially if she knew of his having cut her, the other week, in
Boston; but it was his duty to take for granted she would speak to him,
until the contrary should be definitely proved. Though he had seen her
only twice he remembered well how acutely shy she was capable of being,
and he thought it possible one of these spasms had seized her at the
present time.
When he stood before her he found his conjecture perfectly just; she was
white with the intensity of her self-consciousness; she was altogether
in a very uncomfortable state. She made no response to his offer to
shake hands with her, and he saw that she would never go through that
ceremony again. She looked up at him when he spoke to her, and her lips
moved; but her face was intensely grave and her eye had almost a
feverish light. She had evidently got into her corner to be out of the
way; he recognised in her the air of an interloper, as he had felt it in
himself. The small sofa on which she had placed herself had the form to
which the French give the name of _causeuse_; there was room on it for
just another person, and Ransom asked her, with a cheerful accent, if he
might sit down beside her. She turned towards him when he had done so,
turned everything but her eyes, and opened and shut her fan while she
waited for her fit of diffidence to pass away. Ransom himself did not
wait; he took a jocular tone about their encounter, asking her if she
had come to New York to rouse the people. She glanced round the room;
the backs of Mrs. Burrage's guests, mainly, were presented to them, and
their position was partly masked by a pyramid of flowers which rose from
a pedestal close to Olive's end of the sofa and diffused a fragrance in
the air.
"Do you call these 'the people'?" she asked.
"I haven't the least idea. I don't know who any of them are, not even
who Mrs. Henry Burrage is, I simply received an invitation."
Miss Chancellor gave him no information on the point he had mentioned;
she only said, in a moment: "Do you go wherever you are invited?"
"Why, I go if I think I may find you there," the young man replied
gallantly. "My card mentioned that Miss Tarrant would give an address,
and I knew that wherever she is you are not far off. I have heard you
are inseparable, from Mrs. Luna."
"Yes, we are inseparable. That is exactly why I am here."
"It's the fashionable world, then, you are going to stir up."
Olive remained for some time with her eyes fastened to the floor; then
she flashed them up at her interlocutor. "It's a part of our life to go
anywhere--to carry our work where it seems most needed. We have taught
ourselves to stifle repulsion, distaste."
"Oh, I think this is very amusing," said Ransom. "It's a beautiful
house, and there are some very pretty faces. We haven't anything so
brilliant in Mississippi."
To everything he said Olive offered at first a momentary silence, but
the worst of her shyness was apparently leaving her.
"Are you successful in New York? do you like it?" she presently asked,
uttering the inquiry in a tone of infinite melancholy, as if the eternal
sense of duty forced it from her lips.
"Oh, successful! I am not successful as you and Miss Tarrant are; for
(to my barbaric eyes) it is a great sign of prosperity to be the
heroines of an occasion like this."
"Do I look like the heroine of an occasion?" asked Olive Chancellor,
without an intention of humour, but with an effect that was almost
comical.
"You would if you didn't hide yourself away. Are you not going into the
other room to hear the speech? Everything is prepared."
"I am going when I am notified--when I am invited."
There was considerable majesty in her tone, and Ransom saw that
something was wrong, that she felt neglected. To see that she was as
ticklish with others as she had been with him made him feel forgiving,
and there was in his manner a perfect disposition to forget their
differences as he said, "Oh, there is plenty of time; the place isn't
half full yet."
She made no direct rejoinder to this, but she asked him about his mother
and sisters, what news he received from the South. "Have they any
happiness?" she inquired, rather as if she warned him to take care not
to pretend they had. He neglected her warning to the point of saying
that there was one happiness they always had--that of having learned not
to think about it too much, and to make the best of their circumstances.
She listened to this with an air of great reserve, and apparently
thought he had wished to give her a lesson; for she suddenly broke out,
"You mean that you have traced a certain line for them, and that that's
all you know about it!"
Ransom stared at her, surprised; he felt, now, that she would always
surprise him. "Ah, don't be rough with me," he said, in his soft
Southern voice; "don't you remember how you knocked me about when I
called on you in Boston?"
"You hold us in chains, and then, when we writhe in our agony, you say
we don't behave prettily!" These words, which did not lessen Ransom's
wonderment, were the young lady's answer to his deprecatory speech. She
saw that he was honestly bewildered and that in a moment more he would
laugh at her, as he had done a year and a half before (she remembered it
as if it had been yesterday); and to stop that off, at any cost, she
went on hurriedly--"If you listen to Miss Tarrant, you will know what I
mean."
"Oh, Miss Tarrant--Miss Tarrant!" And Basil Ransom's laughter came.
She had not escaped that mockery, after all, and she looked at him
sharply now, her embarrassment having quite cleared up. "What do you
know about her? What observation have you had?"
Ransom met her eye, and for a moment they scrutinised each other. Did
she know of his interview with Verena a month before, and was her
reserve simply the wish to place on him the burden of declaring that he
had been to Boston since they last met, and yet had not called in
Charles Street? He thought there was suspicion in her face; but in
regard to Verena she would always be suspicious. If he had done at that
moment just what would gratify him he would have said to her that he
knew a great deal about Miss Tarrant, having lately had a long walk and
talk with her; but he checked himself, with the reflexion that if Verena
had not betrayed him it would be very wrong in him to betray her. The
sweetness of the idea that she should have thought the episode of his
visit to Monadnoc Place worth placing under the rose, was quenched for
the moment in his regret at not being able to let his disagreeable
cousin know that he had passed _her_ over. "Don't you remember my
hearing her speak that night at Miss Birdseye's?" he said presently.
"And I met her the next day at your house, you know."
"She has developed greatly since then," Olive remarked dryly; and Ransom
felt sure that Verena had held her tongue.
At this moment a gentleman made his way through the clusters of Mrs.
Burrage's guests and presented himself to Olive. "If you will do me the
honour to take my arm I will find a good seat for you in the other room.
It's getting to be time for Miss Tarrant to reveal herself. I have been
taking her into the picture-room; there were some things she wanted to
see. She is with my mother now," he added, as if Miss Chancellor's grave
face constituted a sort of demand for an explanation of her friend's
absence. "She said she was a little nervous; so I thought we would just
move about."
"It's the first time I have ever heard of that!" said Olive Chancellor,
preparing to surrender herself to the young man's guidance. He told her
that he had reserved the best seat for her; it was evidently his desire
to conciliate her, to treat her as a person of importance. Before
leading her away, he shook hands with Ransom and remarked that he was
very glad to see him; and Ransom saw that he must be the master of the
house, though he could scarcely be the son of the stout lady in the
doorway. He was a fresh, pleasant, handsome young man, with a bright
friendly manner; he recommended Ransom to take a seat in the other room,
without delay; if he had never heard Miss Tarrant he would have one of
the greatest pleasures of his life.
"Oh, Mr. Ransom only comes to ventilate his prejudices," Miss Chancellor
said, as she turned her back to her kinsman. He shrank from pushing into
the front of the company, which was now rapidly filling the music-room,
and contented himself with lingering in the doorway, where several
gentlemen were stationed. The seats were all occupied; all, that is,
save one, towards which he saw Miss Chancellor and her companion direct
themselves, squeezing and edging past the people who were standing up
against the walls. This was quite in front, close to the little
platform; every one noticed Olive as she went, and Ransom heard a
gentleman near him say to another--"I guess she's one of the same kind."
He looked for Verena, but she was apparently keeping out of sight.
Suddenly he felt himself smartly tapped on the back, and, turning round,
perceived Mrs. Luna, who had been prodding him with her fan.