THE PRINCESS' MYTHOLOGICAL BALL
FOR some little time before and after the event, the Mythological Ball
given at her villa by the Princess Colonna was the most talked-of
entertainment in Roman society.
The Princess was young, an American and immensely rich. Having married
into one of the noblest families in Italy, in spite of their poverty, it
was but natural that she had soon become a conspicuous social leader in
Rome. Her parties were always regarded with deep interest, but this
latest ball was to outstrip all the others in novelty and beauty. For
her guests were invited to appear as characters from ancient Greek or
Roman mythology. Surely the idea was sufficiently original and daring to
excite wide curiosity.
And to the Ranch girls, naturally, the Princess' ball was _the_
important social occasion of their lives. For days Jean had written of
nothing but the preparations going on at the villa and to inquire what
parts they wished to impersonate and what costumes to wear. Several
times she had driven into the hotel for long consultations with Ruth and
the other girls, for Jean had been asked to remain at the villa until
after the costume ball. As a matter of course the four girls were a good
deal overwhelmed at the decisions before them. For in the first place
Ruth positively declined to be present at the entertainment unless she
were permitted to appear in a regulation evening dress. For Ruth would
always be a Puritan at heart and the thought of arraying herself as a
Pagan goddess, or even as an humbler heroine, actually made the cold
shivers run up and down her back. To Ruth the Princess' idea seemed
fantastic and absurd. Nevertheless, she did not wish to spoil the Ranch
girls' pleasure, and was in reality more deeply anxious than any one of
them that they should make as beautiful an impression as possible. The
girls were lovely enough, she felt sure; their only problem was to
select suitable characters and to see that their toilettes were
exquisite and appropriate.
Of course the Princess Colonna agreed to Ruth's desire about herself,
assuring her that there would be others of her guests who would dress
as she did. However, she made a great point of the Ranch girls' coming
in costume. For she had been talking of her four American girls to her
friends in Rome and was counting on their making a sensation. She and
Jean together had decided on their heroines and also what they were both
to wear. Jean had then kept her character a secret from the other three
girls and from Ruth, wishing to be a complete surprise to them as well
as to everybody else.
The drive from the hotel to the Princess' villa would require almost an
hour. Notwithstanding, when Captain Madden asked that he might accompany
the Rainbow Ranch party, Ruth thanked him and declined. There were only
Jack, Frieda and Olive, she herself making the fourth, so with Jean
away, one carriage would hold them all comfortably. She did not care to
separate their little party. They would see Captain Madden later at the
ball.
No one could have guessed whether or not Jacqueline Ralston had noticed
it, but it was perfectly true that her chaperon had never allowed her a
minute alone with her new friend since the night of their moonlight
excursion. Captain Madden was well aware of it, though he had not yet
made any protest or given any sign. He had been studying Jack pretty
closely in the few weeks of their acquaintance and felt fairly sure that
if she could once be persuaded to make a decision, no amount of
opposition afterwards would have the power to change her. It was not for
nothing that her chin had that slightly square outline and that she held
her head with an unconscious and therefore a beautiful pride. Jack had a
look of purity and faithfulness that sometimes made older persons watch
her with a kind of wistful anxiety. Would life ever make her lose her
faith in her ideals and in the few persons to whom she would give her
undivided love?
The entrance to the Prince Colonna's estate was through a long avenue of
magnolia trees so that the night air was heavy with their fragrance. As
there were several hundred guests driving into the grounds at nearly the
same time, the Ranch girls' carriage was compelled to move slowly. And
for this they and Ruth were devoutly thankful. Because they were one
instant thrilled beyond measure at the prospect of the brilliant scene
before them, and the next terrified at the thought of the parts they
were expected to play.
"I don't see how Jean Bruce has ever managed to spend an entire week in
such grandeur as this and with strangers. I should have died of
embarrassment!" Olive exclaimed, in a rather shaky voice, slipping her
hand inside Jack's and giving it a gentle squeeze. She wished to assure
herself of the reality of the fairy world about her and also to receive
strength for the coming ordeal from the sense of Jack's presence. For
never, for an instant, had these two friends swerved in their devotion
to each other, the one always finding in the other just the qualities
she herself lacked.
Jack laughed. "Jean, you must remember, is never afraid of any one and
is the only truly society person among us. Then, if you please won't
mention it, I've an idea that the Italian nephew is entertaining Miss
Bruce mightily. Remember she confided that he was teaching her Italian
and she instructing him in English, poor Ralph! I am afraid Jean will
never be content at the Rainbow Ranch any more after this experience of
foreign life."
With her pale blonde hair carefully concealed from the night air in
clouds of pale blue chiffon, Frieda, from the opposite seat, now leaned
over toward her sister.
"Jack," she demanded seriously, as only Freida could, "why do you say,
'poor Ralph!' Do you think Ralph Merrit has ever been in love with Jean?
They were always friends at the ranch, I know, but Ralph is poor and
isn't good-looking and doesn't care for society. I am sure he would
never suit Jean one bit."
But before she had finished speaking, Jack's gloved fingers were laid
lightly on her small sister's lips. "For goodness sake, baby mine, do
hush," she implored. "Of course I was only joking about Jean and Ralph.
I can see how Ruth is frowning at me even in the dark. Who would ever
have supposed that an infant like you would talk about 'being in love'
in such a solemn fashion! You don't know the meaning of the word."
"Do you?" Frieda returned, speaking just as seriously.
But Jack only shook her head without replying.
The wonderful ivory-colored house, built in the fashion of the Italian
Renaissance, was now coming into view with hundreds of low-growing
evergreen shrubs close at its base. The house itself was lighted with
golden, shaded lights. To one side was the Italian garden, where the
girls had had tea with the Princess several afternoons before. It was
also lighted, but hardly discernible now from the driveway.
By the Princess' orders, Ruth and the three Ranch girls were shown
immediately to Jean's bedroom, which was apart from the dressing rooms
provided for her other guests.
There Jean was waiting for them in her fancy costume and in a delicious
state of excitement. As her door opened, the newcomers, forgetting
themselves altogether, gave a cry of surprised admiration and were then
curiously silent.
Jean had been standing in front of a long, gold-framed mirror, and now,
turning swiftly, moved in their direction. Her costume was of the palest
pink. The little bodice was of pink silk and pink chiffon, simply made
and cut with a girlishly rounded neck, trimmed with a narrow edging of
old lace. But from her silk girdle the skirt showed a wonderful
arrangement of chiffon drapery, falling below her feet into a slightly
pointed train at the back. She wore pink sandals bound with pink
ribbons.
All this Ruth and the three girls observed in the instant that she ran
to greet them. But the next moment, swinging slowly around on one
lightly poised toe that the full effect of her appearance might be
disclosed, between Jean's shoulders could be seen a tiny pair of
butterfly wings. Her dark hair was parted low over her forehead and
drawn into a loose knot high toward the back of her head. The costume
was a lovely one, and Jean looked exquisite in it.
"Can you guess whom I represent?" she asked shyly, abashed by the
admiration of her own family.
In answer Jack did something unusual between the two cousins, who were
not usually as demonstrative with each other as with Ruth or with Olive
and Frieda. For suddenly she leaned over, and holding Jean's chin in her
white gloved hand kissed her, afterwards studying her face closely.
"I think I can guess, Jean," she returned. "I have been reading so much
mythology lately, besides seeing so many famous statues. Your butterfly
wings tell me that you are Psyche. I remember your story. Psyche was
the daughter of a king and so beautiful that Venus, the goddess of
beauty, grew jealous of her and sent her son Cupid to punish her for her
presumption. But Cupid wounded himself with his own arrow and so fell in
love with Psyche. There is a great deal more to the story, of course;
afterwards Psyche and Cupid quarreled and for many years she had to
wander around the world performing difficult tasks before being reunited
with her love again. Psyche is the Greek name for soul and a butterfly
the ancient emblem of the soul. Somehow you don't look like yourself
tonight, Jean," here Jack hesitated; "you are like a spirit. Please
don't be finding your fate too soon and so flying away from us."
But although Jean blushed and seemed for half a second troubled by her
cousin's suggestion, she shook her head and began helping Frieda remove
her wraps. When the blue cloak and the blue veil were thrown aside, the
youngest of the Ranch girls stepped into the center of the room.
"Do I look almost as well as Jean?" she inquired earnestly. "I thought
my costume so pretty when we left the hotel. But now that I have seen
hers--"
Jean was dancing around Frieda as though she had been in reality a
butterfly. Ruth, Jack and Olive would not allow the maids to take off
their cloaks in order to give her their undivided attention.
"Frieda is the star of us all, isn't she?" Jack declared, since the
spoiling of her small sister was a sin upon which the entire ranch party
agreed. Unwrapping a round gold bowl, she then handed it to her. "Frieda
represents the lovely goddess, Hebe, who served nectar and ambrosia to
the high gods on Mount Olympus," she explained.
Quite oblivious of the admiring Italian maids, Ruth knelt down on the
floor to rearrange Frieda's skirt. The young girl's dress was of corn
color, almost the shade of her blond hair. So her eyes looked bluer and
her cheeks pinker than ever. It was odd that her toilet had been copied
from an old Greek model and yet was not unlike the modern style. A tunic
of soft yellow crepe was loosely belted at the waist, the overskirt
falling to her knees. About this was a border of gold braid in the
Trojan wall pattern and beneath it hung the narrow, plain skirt.
Frieda's yellow hair was caught together in a bunch of curls and a gold
fillet encircled her head.
Olive was by this time ready to be admired. She seemed shy at being seen
even by her dearest friends; but then Olive would never entirely recover
from her timidity. Tonight she wore Nile green, the shade always best
suited to her. She was dressed as Amphitrite, the wife of Neptune. Her
costume was unlike the others. It was of India silk, because of its
peculiar glistening quality, and strung with tiny sea shells. Around her
slender throat was a string of pearls, which she had lately bought for
herself in Rome as a gift from her friend, Miss Winthrop. In and out
among the braids of her black hair were other strands of pearls. Above
the middle of her forehead was a jeweled spear with three points. This
represented a tiny trident, the symbol of Neptune's power over the sea.
Notwithstanding the assistance of the maids, after Ruth Drew had finally
given a hurried glance at herself in Jean's mirror and had seen that
three of the girls were ready to go down to the ball room, to her
surprise she found Jack loitering. The girl had seated herself in a
chair and, in the face of Olive's and Jean's protestations, still had
her opera coat wrapped close about her.
"Are you ill, Jack?" Ruth queried, observing that she was paler than any
one of them.
But Jack shook her head, smiling nervously. All of a sudden she did not
seem like herself.
"I am _frightened_," she confessed the next moment. "It does not seem
possible for me to go down to the ball room dressed as I am before so
many strangers. I don't want to keep the rest of you waiting, but can't
I stay here by myself for a few moments, Ruth? I want to think about
something."
But before Ruth could answer Jean had almost forcibly pulled off her
cousin's wrap. "If you are not ill, Jack dear, how can you be so absurd!
If it were Olive now who suddenly had an attack of stage fright we might
forgive her. But you! Why you have never been afraid of people or of
things in your life. Besides you will only have to speak to the Princess
and the Prince Colonna. We won't know any one else except Captain Madden
and--perhaps a few other persons. The others we can just enjoy seeing."
During her speech Jean had tried to catch her cousin's expression. But
Jack had her eyes down. Now she jumped hurriedly to her feet and went
out of the room ahead of the others. Evidently she did not wish to hear
herself or her costume discussed. She did look unlike the other three
Ranch girls tonight--taller and older. And while their costumes were in
colors, hers was pure white, nothing but soft folds of drapery from her
shoulders to her feet. Her only ornament was a half moon of brilliants
in the bronze coils of her hair. For Jacqueline, partly because the
girls had used to call her Diana in the old days at the ranch on account
of her love of hunting and supposed coldness of character, had dressed
as the far-famed Latin goddess of the moon.
Slipping down the marble staircase in her gray evening gown, Ruth Drew
felt like a chimney swallow amid an assemblage of brilliant, gaily
colored birds. Yet she was glad enough to be inconspicuous. Never in
their lives had the four Ranch girls been so lovely. Ruth was almost
sorry. She did not wish them to attract too much attention. The interest
they had taken in their toilets had been for their own and for her
pleasure and because of the Princess Colonna's kindness. At this instant
Ruth decided that so soon as their greetings were spoken she would find
a secluded place, where they might have their first sight of foreign
society and yet be properly out of the limelight themselves.