THE MILITARY RECEPTION
“Are you going with Donald Hilton, Betty?”
“Yes, Cathalina. I can guess whom you are going with—Captain Van
Horne.”
“Yes, I am. What shall we wear?”
“Our very ‘spuzziest’ clothes, they say, white kid gloves and all.
The boys and officers will be immaculate. And there is to be a fancy
drill and a prize drill, too, and the most wonderful supper ever.
Dorothy told me, and Jack told her.”
“I saw Harry Mills and Jack Appleton with the girls the other day.
It was Sunday at dinner, wasn’t it?”
“I think so. Jack has asked Hilary, and Henry has asked Lilian.
Juliet is going with Lieutenant Maxwell.”
“That funny, jolly instructor?”
“Yes, the one you were with at the ice carnival. You haven’t
forgotten him, I hope.”
“Oh, no. What do you think, Betty? You know that Captain Van Horne
was here the other evening?”
“Yes.”
“Well, he was talking away just as dignified as could be, and had
just asked me if he might have ‘the pleasure of my company’ for the
military reception, and then he laughed and said that Lieutenant
Maxwell was going to arrange to take me and that he—Captain Van
Horne—told him to get somebody else! Then he said in a most
persuasive way, ‘Do you mind very much’?”
“And did you tell him, ‘Oh, no, I’d far rather be with you, my
love’?”
“Scarcely. I said, ‘I think it is very kind of you to invite me, and
I am perfectly satisfied with my escort,’ and then went right on
with some reference to our visit in New York.”
“You know they do invite the girls they like, but it isn’t
altogether arranged for that reason. Only the collegiate girls and
the senior academy girls can go, so they fix up the lists some way.
I’m so glad they are having one this year. I just love dress parades
and drills and things.”
“Oh, yes; I was asking Captain Van Horne about Captain Holley, if
the boys liked him, and what sort of a man he is, and Captain Van
Horne said that he is all right so far as he knows, and said that he
asked him to arrange for you to go with him—it seems that Captain
Van Horne had something to do with the lists, but Donald Hilton was
ahead of him.”
“Saved again!” exclaimed Betty. “I can’t tell you how I hate to be
with him!”
“He is one of the handsomest men at the school, too.”
“That doesn’t make any difference. I know there is something wrong
with him, for all his handsome face.”
“I don’t believe you ought to say that, Betty, but he is certainly
different, and it is natural that we shouldn’t have much confidence
in him, knowing about his family as we do. I was so surprised to see
Louise back this year. I wonder how it happened. But I would not
dare ask Miss Randolph. Your meeting with the distinguished Rudolph
was so romantic!”
“I hope I don’t have any more like it. And, besides, it was not half
so romantic as my meeting with Donald. Did I tell you that I had a
letter from Lawrence Haverhill this morning? Wait till I get it.”
“I am surprised at the way the boys are writing to us. I had another
letter from Bob, too. Here it is. You remember when we all said
‘yes, we’d write,’ when the boys all asked us together. But I never
thought they really would—though I did think that Lawrence Haverhill
was interested in you, Betty.”
“I don’t think he is, but I remember how surprised Robert Paget was
to find you so grown up, and how he looked at you so much. Didn’t
you say that either he hadn’t visited Phil for a year or two, or
that you happened to be away?”
“Yes. I was not there when Bob was.”
“Life is getting very interesting, isn’t it?”
“Yes, but I hope that it will not also become too complicated for
comfort. I am no flirt and I am content with one nice man to take me
around.”
“I think we have no need to worry yet. I liked all the boys at your
house, and I’m having a fine time here.”
“There must be something in that Hallowe’en superstition!”
“My, but I was scared when I saw Donald’s face in the mirror!”
“Do the gentlemen come for us for the reception?” asked Cathalina.
“Oh, no. They couldn’t. They have so many things to get ready, and
there’s the drill, you know. We’ll be taken there, and when we get
our wraps off and all our little locks in place we’ll go down to the
big reception hall and the officers and cadets will be there in all
their glory. Dorothy told me all about how they do.”
“It will be different from any party or reception I ever attended.”
“Yes, just imagine how the old colonel—the commandant—will look in
his uniform. He is a real officer in the United States army, Donald
said, and he looks a general at least.”
Miss Randolph confided to Miss West that she would be glad when the
military reception was over, for the girls could not think of much
else. Lessons did not suffer much, but in hours of recreation there
was scarcely any other topic of conversation. To tell the truth,
even Miss Randolph had a new gown for the occasion. She could not be
too much of a contrast to the uniformed commandant she said, by way
of excuse.
Cathalina’s school clothes had been very simple, but now her mother
was permitting her to have a few very beautiful frocks, not made in
any extreme style, but of exquisite material and suited to the
pretty young woman which Cathalina was becoming. For the Greycliff
girls were growing up. At times they seemed like little school girls
together. Again they were interested young women, ambitious for the
different lines of study in which they were engaged. Both Betty and
Cathalina were taking a course in designing. Lilian was working hard
at her violin, keeping up the voice lessons, but being careful not
to sing too much nor strain the young voice. Hilary was earnestly
preparing herself for university life and further study beyond, she
hoped. Yet, at this age, no very definite future was shaped for any
of them. The mysterious Prince Charming was a shadowy possibility,
and not so shadowy of late in some cases.
At last the military reception was at hand. Silken frocks and
sashes, shining slippers and dainty fans were in evidence. “Are you
going to put on your white kid gloves now?” asked Cathalina,
beginning to gather up her lace handkerchief, fan and other small
appurtenances as the time to leave Greycliff Hall approached.
“Mercy, no,” replied Betty. “They would all be soiled before we got
there. We’ll put them on just before we go down stairs at the
school. I’m slipping on these dark ones and will leave them in the
pocket of my coat. What do you think, Hilary—can’t we wear our
slippers, or shall we take our slipper bags?”
“The weather is all right and we are going to ride every step of the
way, after we once get in the ’bus. I’m not going to bother with
mine. My, but your evening coat is pretty, Cathalina. You have every
little perfection in your toilet. Did you hear Isabel’s story?”
“No. I heard her chatting to you as you dressed, though.”
“Louise Holley came in and asked Olivia if she had any white kid
gloves. Olivia said ‘Yes,’ and when Louise asked if she could borrow
them, Olivia brought them out and was going to give them to her,
thought she had to. You know what a generous soul she is.”
“I do, indeed.”
“Well, just then Isabel and Virginia came in, while Olivia was
getting the gloves out and Isabel said, ‘What are you going to do
with your gloves, Olivia?’ Isabel said that it was none of her
affair, of course, but she had a feeling that Louise was borrowing
them. So when Olivia said that Louise wanted them, Isabel spoke up
and asked Louise where her own were. Louise tossed her head and said
that they were not as clean as they ought to be for this reception.
Then Isabel ‘braced up,’ she said, and asked Louise what Olivia’s
were going to look like when she had worn them all evening.
‘Olivia’s have never been worn, and I think anybody who asks to
borrow a new pair of white kid gloves has her nerve!’ Can’t you hear
Isabel say that? But Isabel was about ready to cry when she first
came in. Louise ‘gets on her nerves’ anyway, she says.”
“What did Louise do?”
“Was terribly angry, of course, and flounced out. Olivia cried and
Isabel cried, and then came in to see us and get consoled. She said
that she would apologize to Louise for the way in which she did it,
if she only could be sorry for what she had done.”
“Let’s notice what Louise has on. I’ll wager she gets a pair from
somebody else,” said Betty.
The ride was full of joyful anticipations and lively chatter. They
drove into the grounds and up to the main building of the academy in
style and were met by a detachment of cadets, who helped them out of
the ’buses and escorted them into the building, giving them into the
care of the matron, and several maids imported for the occasion.
Betty looked for Donald, as several girls did for some particular
cadet, but saw nothing of him, though Harry Mills was one of the
welcoming party. Girls and teachers were taken upstairs, where a
large room had been turned into a dressing room. The girls took
their time, as girls do, to lay aside their wraps, fix their hair
and arrange their collars or ribbons to their satisfaction. In those
pre-war days, happily, there was no rouge nor lip-stick fashion to
be forbidden by Miss Randolph. She stood, casually enough, near the
foot of the stairs as the girls came down, but with a keen glance
inspected each one to see that she looked like the lady she should
be.
The commandant stood in the door of the reception room, waited till
the last girl of the flock had come down the stairs and Miss
Randolph turned, then came forward with outstretched hand to greet
Miss Randolph, to meet the girls, and in turn to present them to a
receiving group of officers which waited near. Then the cadets and
other officers or instructors came up to meet the girls whom they
knew, and take charge of their particular ladies. What perfectly
creased and spotless uniforms there were! How the buttons and gilt
braid shone, and how delightful were the erect bearing and courteous
manners!
Betty was almost the last one of the girls left by Miss Randolph
when Captain Van Horne, who had found Cathalina a few minutes
before, came back, consulted with the commandant, said a few words
to Miss Randolph which Betty did not catch, and offered Betty his
arm. “Miss Barnes, if I may, I will take you over with Miss Van
Buskirk and myself. Corporal Hilton is unavoidably detained on duty
for a short time and asked me to make his excuses.”
Betty was quite surprised at this, but gracefully accepted Captain
Van Horne’s arm and joined Cathalina, who was waiting with a group
of the girls and cadets. She noticed Captain Holley’s look of
interest and bowed as she caught his eye. She felt a little awkward,
in spite of Captain Van Horne’s efforts to put her at ease, and the
pleasant attentions of the other young people around her. Lieutenant
Maxwell’s remarks kept them all merry, as they enjoyed this short
social time before the drills. How jolly and young Miss Randolph and
the commandant seemed, but of course they were terribly old—almost
fifty at least!
Betty was standing now near the broad window that looked out upon
the academy campus, and noticed that Captain Holley was edging over
in her direction. He had his sister with him and presently they
joined her, Captain Holley standing so that she was temporarily shut
off from Cathalina and the rest of that group. “I wonder,” said
Captain Holley presently, “if we are going to have rain. I thought
it looked cloudy a while ago.”
“Mercy, I hope not,” returned Louise; “we girls all wore our
slippers and brought no other shoes.”
“We could get you safely into the ’buses without your getting your
feet wet,” said Captain Holley.
“I’d like to know how, Rudolph,” said his sister.
“Carry you!”
“Why, it promised to be moonlight as we drove over,” said Betty, and
she drew back the curtain to peer out. Who was that? A forlorn, lone
figure marched up the walk and turned to go back. Betty grasped the
situation in a moment. It was Donald. Something had happened, and
Donald had been put under discipline, and Captain Holley wanted her
to see it. That was no guard marching up and down. This flashed
through her mind like a flash, as she dropped the curtain, and with
perfect self-control, though with flushing cheeks, turned toward
Louise and began to flirt her fan carelessly in her hands. “Oh,
well, Louise, if it does cloud up, what is the difference? The great
military reception will be over. You have no idea, Captain Holley,
how we girls have looked forward to this night, with the drills, the
fun and the unusual atmosphere of military surroundings. It is all
so—quaint!”
“Quaint, is it? That is good. And will there be no regrets?”
“Possibly, but if one is good and _kind_, there ought to be no
regrets.”
“I am wondering what has become of your escort, Miss Betty.”
“Yes, you must be. I am told that he is detained. It is unfortunate
for me, is it not?”
“It is very unfortunate for him. Will you not join Louise and me to
watch the drills? Captain Van Horne has the young lady he invited
with him.”
“Cathalina will not mind, and I am supposed to be with them, thank
you, Captain Holley. But I appreciate your kindness” (at its true
worth, she thought).
“Let me just speak to the commandant and Miss Randolph,” said
Captain Holley quickly, and before Betty could protest he had
hurried over to the commandant. What could she do? Nothing, she
decided. Let the fates do what they would, then. With Louise on her
hands, she could not explain the situation to Cathalina and Captain
Van Horne. By the smiling appearance of everybody concerned at the
other end of the room, she judged that the determined Rudolph was
having his way. “All right, sir, I shall play up and play the game,”
she thought.
Captain Holley returned with a pleased smile on his handsome face.
He spoke a moment to Captain Van Horne, who bowed, smiled at Betty
and moved away from the group with Cathalina. Betty felt deserted,
but turned with her most charming manner to Captain Holley and his
sister, saying, “Now this is kind of you. Tell me about everything,
Captain Holley. Who is to take part and what is to be done?” It
seemed a very long time since they had arrived, yet it was probably
not more than half an hour. Surely Donald was not to be absent the
whole evening or they would have told her. The drills would begin
pretty soon.
In a few minutes the commandant made an announcement, which Betty
heard as if in a dream, and the ladies all were escorted over to
seats in the big gymnasium, where the drills were to take place.
Captain Holley most gallantly took Betty and his sister along the
concrete walks. He was fascinating when he tried to be. The cadets
all yielded place to the officers and their ladies, who were seated
in the best places. Then the band marched in, after what seemed to
Betty like a long time of waiting.
But Betty now could not help enjoying the scene before her, Donald
or no Donald. The bright lights, the music, the marching companies
of erect figures in their attractive uniforms, as the drill began,
put a thrill in all the spectators. Betty had recovered from her
embarrassment. After all, it was, perhaps, only kindness that made
Captain Holley take her under his wing. Perhaps he only took pains
to show her Donald at his punishment because she would understand
the situation better. Well, what was the use of wondering about it?
Here was a fine entertainment before her eyes. Why not enjoy it? And
now Betty was one of the few to have a bright young officer
explaining things to her. Many of the cadets were taking part in the
drill and some of the instructor officers. Louise was more
interesting and happier than she had ever seen her, and seemed to be
both fond and proud of her brother. To her Captain Holley showed a
superior elder brother sort of affection, but to Betty his manner
was that poised manner of especial interest which is so flattering
and attractive to a young girl. But who was that just marching in?
Was that Donald? In the different uniform she could scarcely
recognize him, but it must be he. Yes, it was. Considerably flushed,
Corporal Hilton was taking his part in the fancy drill.