THE WEDDING BALL
The wedding of Miss Dolly Drake to the Duke of Polin-Crecy was the event
of the season. It was preceded by a ball which marked the definite
surrender of the last recalcitrant members of New York society to the
ambitions of Mrs. Drake. Such events have a more or less public quality,
like a performance for charity or a private view at an important
auction. Every one who could wheedle an invitation by hook or crook,
arrived with the rolling crowd that blocked the avenue and side streets
and necessitated a special detachment of the police to prevent the mob
of enthusiastic democrats from precipitating themselves on the ducal
carriage and tearing the ducal garments in shreds in the quest of
souvenirs.
The three young men from Ali Baba Court arrived together, abandoning
their taxicab and forcing their way on foot to the front. Marsh, who was
always moved to sarcasm by such occasions, kept up a running comment.
"Marvelous exhibition! Every one who's gunning for Drake is here
to-night. There's old Borneman. He's been laying for a chance to catch
Daniel D. on the wrong side of the market ever since Drake trimmed him
in a wheat corner in Chicago. By Jove, the Fontaines and the Gunthers.
They're going to this as to a circus. Why the deuce didn't the cards
read Mr. and Mrs. Daniel Drake invite you to meet their enemies!"
"Never mind," said Bojo, laughing. "It's Mrs. Drake's night--she'll be
in her glory, you can bet."
"Oh, you'll be as bad as the rest," said Marsh, who spoke his mind.
"Tom, you're doomed. I can see that. You've got a feminine will to
contend with, so make your mind up to the inevitable. There's Haggerdy's
party now--every bandit in Wall Street'll be here figuring up how they
can get at their host. Well, Bojo, you're lost to us already."
"How so?"
"In this game, you never pay attention to your friends--you've got to
entertain those who dislike you, to make sure they'll have to invite you
to some function or other where everybody must be seen. Well, I know
what I'll do, I'll get hold of the youngest sister, who is a trump, and
play around with her."
Bojo looked at him uneasily; even this casual interest in Patsie
affected him disagreeably. DeLancy had deserted them to rush over to the
assistance of the Stones, who were just arriving.
"I hope he gets her," said Marsh, studying the blond profile of Miss
Gladys Stone.
"I believe there's some sort of an understanding."
"The sooner the better--for Freddie," said Marsh, with a shake of his
head. "The trouble with Fred is he thinks he's a cold thinking machine,
and he's putty in the hands of any woman who comes along."
"I'm worried about a certain person myself," said Bojo.
But at this moment Thornton, one of Mr. Drake's secretaries, touched him
on the arm.
"Will you please come to the library, Mr. Crocker? Mr. Drake has been
asking for you to witness some papers."
In the library off in a quiet wing he found a party of five gathered
about the table desk, lawyers verifying the securities for the marriage
settlement, Maitre Vondin, a stubby, black-bearded Frenchman imported
for the occasion, coldly incredulous and suavely insistent, the storm
center of an excited group who had been arguing since dinner. Drake, by
the fireplace, was pacing up and down, swearing audibly.
"Is the _gentleman_ now quite satisfied?" he said angrily.
Maitre Vondrin smiled in the affirmative.
Drake sat down at the table with the gesture of brushing away a swarm of
flies and signed his name to a document that was placed before him,
nodding to Bojo to add his signature as a witness.
"Pity some of our corporations couldn't employ Vondrin," said Drake,
rising angrily. "There wouldn't be enough money left to keep a savings
bank."
Other signatures were attached and the party broke up, Maitre Vondrin,
punctilious and unruffled, bowing to the master of the house and
departing with the rest.
Drake's anger immediately burst forth.
"Cussed little sharper! He was keen enough to save this until now. By
heavens, if he'd sprung these tactics on me a week ago, his little Duke
could have gone home on a borrowed ticket."
Bojo learned afterward that the lawyer for the noble family had refused
to take Drake's word on a single item of the transfer of property,
insisting on having every security placed before his eyes, personally
examining them all, wrangling over values, compelling certain
substitutes, even demanding a personal guarantee in one debated issue of
bonds.
"God grant she doesn't come to regret it," said Drake, thinking of his
wife. His anger made him careless of what he said. "Tom, mark my words,
if ever this precious Duke comes to me for money--as, mark my words, he
will--I'll make him get down on his knees for all his superciliousness,
and turn somersaults like a trick dog. Yes, by heaven, I will!"
Bojo was silent, not knowing what to say, and Drake finally perceived
it.
"It isn't Dolly's fault," he said apologetically. "She's a good sort.
This isn't her doing. There was a time when her mother-- Well, I'll say
no more. Nasty business! Tom, I'll bless the day when I see Doris safe
with you, married to a decent American." He took a turn or two and said
abruptly, trying to convey more than he expressed: "Don't wait too long.
It's a bad atmosphere, all this--there are influences--it isn't fair to
the girl, to Doris. Money be damned! I'll see you never have to ask your
wife for pocket money. No, I won't present it to you. We'll make it
together. There are a lot of buzzards sitting around here to-night,
calculating I'm loaded up to the brim and ready for a plucking. Well,
Tom, I'm going to fool them. I'm going to make them pay for the
wedding."
The idea struck him. He burst out laughing. His eyes snapped with a
sudden project.
"Here," he said, clapping Bojo on the shoulder. "Forget what you've
heard. Go in and take a look at Doris. She's a sight for tired eyes." He
held his hand. "Are you willing to risk your money with me--go it blind,
eh?"
"Every cent I have, Mr. Drake," said Bojo, drawn to him by the dramatic
sympathies the older man knew how to arouse; "only I don't want any
favors. If we lose I lose."
"We won't lose," said Drake and, drawing Bojo's arm under his, he added:
"Come on. I've got to get a smile on my face. So here goes."
Bojo found Doris in the corner of the ballroom assiduously surrounded by
a black-coated hedge of young men. He had a moment's thrill at the sight
of her, radiant and dazzling with every art of dressmaker and
hairdresser, revealed in a sinuous arrangement of black chiffon with
mysterious sudden sheens of gold. She came to him at once, expectancy in
her eyes; and the thought that this prize was his, that hundreds would
watch them as they stood together, acknowledging his right, gave him a
sudden swift sense of power and conquest.
"I was with your father," he said, in explanation, "to witness some
papers. Say, Doris, how every woman here must hate you to-night!"
"It's all for you," she said, delighted. "Dance with me. Tell me what
happened. There's been a dreadful row, I know, for days. Mother and
father haven't spoken except in public, and Dolly's been moping."
"It was something about the settlements. Your father was white-hot all
right."
"We won't have more than a round or two," she said. "I've kept what I
could for you--the supper dance, of course. Every one is here!"
"I should say so. Your mother is smiling all over. She even favored me.
Look out, though, Doris--she'll begin on you."
[Illustration: "'Just you wait; you're going to be one of the big men
some day!'"]
"Don't worry, Bojo," she said in a whisper, with a little pressure of
his arm. She was quite excited by the brilliance of the throng, at her
own personal triumph and the good looks of her partner. "I want
something I can make myself, and we'll do it too. Just you wait, you're
going to be one of the big men one of these days, and we'll have our
house and our parties--finer than this, too!"
This time he fell into her mood, turning her over to another partner
with a confident smile, exhilarated with the thought of little
supremacies in regions of brilliant lights and dreamy music. Fred
DeLancy, back from a dance with Gladys Stone, stopped him with an
anecdote.
"I say, Bojo, wish you could have seen some of the old hens inspecting
the palace. You know Mrs. Orchardson, Standard Oil? I was right back of
her when she wandered into some Louis or other room, and what did she
do? She ran her thumbnail into a partition and whispered to her
neighbor: 'Ours is real mahogany'! Don't they love one another, though?"
By the buffet groups of men were smoking, glass in hand, Borneman and
Haggerdy talking business. In the ante-chamber where the great marble
staircase came winding down, he found Patsie at bay repelling a group
of admirers. She signaled him frantically.
"Bojo; rescue me. They're even quoting poetry to me!"
She sprang away and down the stairs to his side, hurrying him off.
"Faster, faster! Isn't there any place we can hide? My ears are dropping
off."
"Patsie, I never should have known you!" he said, amazed.
"Well, I'm out!" she said, with an indignant pout. "How do you like me?"
She stood away from him, a little malicious delight in her eyes at his
bewilderment, her chin saucily tilted, her profile turned, her little
hands balanced in the air.
"This is the way the models pose. Well?"
"I thought you were a child--" he said stupidly, troubled at the sudden
discovery of the woman.
"Is that all?" she said, pretending displeasure.
He checked an impulsive compliment and said a little angrily:
"Oh, Patsie, you are going to make a terrible amount of trouble. I can
see that!"
"Pooh!"
"Yes, and you like the mischief you're causing too. Don t fib!"
"Yes, I like it," she said, nodding her head. "Dolly and Doris stared at
me as if I were a ghost. Well, I'll show them I'm not such a savage."
"I hope you won't change," he said.
"Won't I?" she said, and to tease him she continued, "I'll show them!"
He felt sentimentally moved to give her a lecture, but instead he said,
deeply moved:
"I'd hate to think of your being different."
"Oh, really?" she continued irrelevantly. "You didn't bother your soul
about me while you thought I was nothing but a tomboy and a terror! But
now when there are a lot of black flies buzzing around me--"
"Now, Patsie, you know that isn't true!"
She relented with a laugh.
"Do you really like me like this? No, don't say anything mushy. I see
you do. Oh, dear, I knew this old money would find me," she said,
suddenly perceiving a plump youngster with a smirch of a mustache
bearing down. "Please, Bojo, come and dance with me--often."
He more than shared the evening with her, quite unconscious of the
effect she had made on him, constantly following her in the confusion of
the dances, pleased when at a distance she saw his look and smiled back
at him.
* * * * *
Meanwhile, in the buffet, Haggerdy and Borneman, in the midst of a
group, discussed their host; that is, Borneman discussed and Haggerdy,
stolid as a buffalo, with his great emotionless mask, nodded
occasionally.
"Well, Dan's at the top," said Marcus Stone. "Dukes come high. What do
you think it cost him?"
"Dukes are no longer a novelty," said Borneman. He was rather out of
place in this formal gathering, having about him a curious air of
always being in his shirt-sleeves. A long, sliding nose, lips pursed
like a catfish, every feature seemed alert and pointed to catch the
furthest whisper. Stone nodded and moved off. Borneman drew Haggerdy
into a corner.
"Jim, I have reason to believe Drake's overloaded," he said.
Haggerdy scratched his chin, thoughtfully, as much as to say, "quite
possible," and Borneman continued: "He's stocked up with Indiana
Smelter, and a lot of other things too. I happen to know. He's
long--mighty long of the market. A little short flurry might worry him
considerable. Now, do you know how I've figured it?"
"How?"
"Dan Drake's a plunger, always was. This here duke has cost him
considerable--a million." He glanced at Haggerdy. "Two million
perhaps--and in securities, Jim; nothing speculative; gilt-edged bonds.
That's a million or two out of his reserve--do you get me?--and that's a
lot, when you're carrying a dozen deals at once."
"Well?"
"Well, Dan Drake's a plunger, remember that; he don't see one million
going out--without itching to see where another million's coming in--"
Haggerdy nudged him quietly. At this moment Drake came through the crowd
and perceived them in consultation. A glance at their attitudes made him
divine the subject of their conversation.
"Hello, boys," he said, coming up; "being properly attended to?"
"Dan, that's a pretty fine duke you've got there. Darn sight more
intelligent looking than the one Fontaine picked up," said Borneman.
"Dukes are expensive articles though, Dan. Take more than a wheat corner
to settle up for this, I should say."
"Been thinking so myself," said Drake cheerily. "Well, Al, if I made up
my mind to try a little flyer--just to pay for the wedding, you
understand--what would you recommend?"
"What would _I_ recommend?" said Borneman, startled.
"Exactly. What do you think about general conditions?"
"My feelings are," said Borneman, watching him warily, "the market's
top-heavy. Values are 'way above where they ought to be. Prices are
coming tumbling sooner or later, and then, by golly, it's going hard
with a lot of you fellows."
"You're inclined to be bearish, eh?" said Drake, as though struck by the
thought.
"I most certainly am."
"Shouldn't wonder if you're right, Al. I've a mind to follow your
advice. Sell one thousand Southern Pacific, one thousand Seaboard Air
Line, one thousand Pennsylvania, and one thousand Pittsburgh & New
Orleans. Just as a feeler, Al. Perhaps to-morrow I'll call you up and
increase that. Can't introduce you to any of the pretty girls--not
dancing? All right."
Borneman caught his breath and looked at Haggerdy as Drake went off. If
there was one man he had fought persistently, at every turn biding his
time, it was Daniel Drake, who had thus come to him with an appearance
of frankness and exposed his game.
"It's a bluff," he said excitedly. "He thinks he can fool me. He's in
the market, but he's in to buy."
"Think so?" said Haggerdy profoundly.
"Or he has the impudence to show me his game thinking I won't believe
him. Anyhow, Dan's got something started, and if I know the critter,
it's something big!"
Haggerdy smiled and scratched his chin.