"You expect to begin sometime, do you not? I shall also take you to any
little entertainment that is given in Menlo this summer; and as the
Brannans and Montgomerys are back from Europe,--they arrived last
Thursday,--there may be several. The older girls gave little parties
before they married; but there have not been any grown girls in Menlo
for some years now. Rose Geary and Caro Folsom, who spent last summer in
the East, will spend this in Menlo, so that there will be five of you,
besides Nelly Washington."
Magdaléna knew that the matter was settled. She had given a good deal of
imagination to the time when she should be a young lady, but the
immediate prospect filled her with dismay. Then, out of the knowledge
that her lines had been chosen for her, she adapted herself, as mortals
do, and experienced some of the pleasures of anticipation.
"I believe I did not tell you," her mother resumed, "that I wrote to
Helena some time ago asking her to bring back four dresses for you,--a
ball dress for your début, an English walking suit, a calling dress, and
a dinner dress."
Magdaléna had never given a thought to dress; but this sudden
announcement that she was to have four gowns from Paris and London
pricked her with an intimation that the interests of life were more
varied than she had suspected. She wondered vividly what they would be
like, and recalled several of Nelly Washington's notable gowns.
"You are to have forty dollars a month after your birthday, and your
father will permit me to get you three dresses a year; everything else
must come out of your allowance. You will keep an account-book and show
it to your father every month, as I do. Oh--and there is another thing:
a Mr. Trennahan of New York has brought letters to your father. He is a
man of some importance,--is wealthy and has been Secretary of Legation
twice, and comes of a distinguished family; we must do something for
him, and have decided to ask him down to your dinner. That will kill two
birds with one stone. He can also stay a day or two, and we will show
him the different places."
"A strange man in the house for two days," gasped Magdaléna, forgetting
that she was to have forty dollars a month.
"He can take care of himself most of the time. Here come Nelly."
Mrs. Washington's ponies were rounding the deer park. Magdaléna craned
her neck.
"She has some one with her," she said. And in another half-moment: "Tiny
Montgomery and Ila Brannan."
Magdaléna clasped her hands tightly to keep them from trembling. What
would they think of her? She saw that they were smartly dressed.
Doubtless they were very grand and clever indeed, and would think her
more trying than ever. But although all her shyness threatened for a
moment, it was summarily routed by her Spanish pride.
She rose as the phaeton drew up, and went to the head of the steps,
smiling. They might find her uninteresting, but not _gauche_.
The girls came gracefully forward and kissed her warmly.
"_Dear_ 'Léna," said Miss Montgomery. "We wouldn't wait: we wanted so
much to see you again. And besides, you know," with a mischievous smile,
"we owe you a great many luncheon calls."
Miss Brannan exclaimed almost simultaneously, "How you have improved,
'Léna! I should never have known you." And if her tone was conventional,
it fell upon ears untuned to conventions.
It was Magdaléna's first compliment, and she thrilled with pleasure. "My
face looks very much the same in the glass," she said. "But I am glad to
see you back. Let us sit on this side."
She led the girls a little distance down the verandah; she was trembling
inwardly, but felt that she should get along better if relieved of her
mother's ear. Tiny began at once to talk of her delight in being home
again, and Magdaléna had time to recover herself.
Tiny Montgomery was an exquisitely pretty little creature, very small
but admirably proportioned, although thin. Her brown eyes were very
sweet under well-pencilled brows, her nose aquiline and fine. The mouth
was barely rubbed in, but the teeth were beautiful, the smile as sweet
as the eyes. She had the smallest feet and hands in California, and
to-day they were clad in white _suède_ with no detriment to their fame.
She wore a frock of white embroidered nainsook and a leghorn covered
with white feathers. She talked rather slowly, in language carefully
chosen, although plentifully laden with superlatives. Her voice was very
sweet, and highly cultivated.
Ila Brannan was taller, with a slender full figure, and very smart. She
wore a closely fitting frock of tan-coloured cloth, a small toque, and a
veil covered with large velvet dots. She was very olive, and her cheeks
were deeply coloured. Her black eyes had a slanting expression. Young as
she was, there was a vague suggestion of maturity about her. She smiled
pleasantly and echoed Tiny's little enthusiasms, which had an air of
elaborate rehearsal, but she seemed to have brought something of Paris
with her, and to adapt herself but ill to her old surroundings.
Magdaléna did not feel at ease with either of them, but concluded that
she liked Tiny best.
"Tell me something of Helena," she said finally. "Of course you saw her
in Paris."
"Oh, constantly," replied Tiny. "She's perfectly beautiful, 'Léna,
_perfectly_. Mamma took her with us one night to the opera, and so many
people asked her who the beautiful American was. She has grown _quite_
tall, and is wonderfully stylish. Colonel Belmont has simply showered
money on her since he went over, and she will have beautiful clothes,
and cut us _all_ out when she comes back." But Tiny did not look in the
least disturbed, and peeped surreptitiously into the polished glass of
the window.
"She'll have all the men wild about her," announced Ila; she spoke with
a slight French accent, which was not affected, as she had spent the
greater part of the last five years in Paris. "And she is going to be a
very dashing belle. She informed me that she shall run to fires and do
whatever she chooses, and make people like it whether they want to or
not. But I doubt if she will ever be fast."
"Fast!" echoed Magdaléna, a street of painted women flashing into
memory; she knew of no degrees. "Helena! How can you think of such a
thing in connection with her!"
Ila laughed softly. "You baby!" she said.
Tiny frowned. "You know, Ila," she said coldly, "that I do not like to
talk of such things."
"Well, you need not," said Ila, coolly.
Tiny lifted her brows. "I think you know you cannot talk to me of what I
do not wish to hear," she said with great dignity.
Magdaléna turned to her, the warm light of approval in her eyes; and
Ila, unabashed, rose and said, "I think I'll go over and talk scandal
for awhile," and joined the older women, whose numbers had been
reinforced.
Magdaléna longed to ask Tiny if she really had improved, but was too
shy. Tiny said almost directly,--
"You look _so_ intellectual, 'Léna. Are you? I feel quite afraid."
"Oh, no, no!" replied Magdaléna, hastily, "I really know very little; I
wish I knew more." She hesitated a moment; it was difficult for her to
expand even to the playmate of her childhood, but an alluring prospect
had suddenly opened. "Of course you will have a great deal of leisure
this summer," she added. "Shall we read together?"
Tiny rose with a sweet but rather forced smile. "I am not going to let
you see how ignorant I am," she said. "But I feel very rude: I should go
over and talk to Mrs. Yorba."
When they had gone, Magdaléna sat for a time staring straight before
her, unheeding her mother's comments. The snub had been prettily
administered, but it had cut deep into her sensitiveness. She realised
that she was quite unlike these other girls of her own age, had never
been like them; it was not Europe that had made the difference. "I would
not care," she thought, "if they would keep away from me altogether. I
have what I care much more for. But I must see them nearly every day and
try to interest them. And I know they will find me as dull as when I
gave those dreadful luncheons."
She was recalled by a direct observation of her mother's.
"Your washed cross-barred muslin looked very plain beside their French
things, but I do not think it worth while to get you any new clothes at
present. But do not let it worry you. Remember that what _we_ do seems
right to every one. We can afford to dress exactly as we choose."
"It does not worry me," replied Magdaléna.