"Manners--not what, but _how_. Manners are happy ways of doing
things; each once a stroke of genius or of love--now repeated and
hardened into usage. Manners require time; nothing is more vulgar
than haste."--EMERSON.
Madame Moreau was a Frenchwoman, small and old, with a thin shrewd face
and large features. She wore a plain black satin gown, the narrow skirt
gathered in the old-fashioned style, and falling straight to the floor;
the waist of the gown, fastened behind, was in front plaited into a long
rounded point. Broad ruffles of fine lace shielded her throat and hands,
and her cap, garnished with violet velvet, was trimmed with the same
delicate fabric. She was never a handsome woman even in youth, and she
was now seventy-five years of age; yet she was charming.
She rose, kissed the young girl lightly on each cheek, and said a few
words of welcome. Her manner was affectionate, but impersonal. She never
took fancies; but neither did she take dislikes. That her young ladies
were all charming young persons was an axiom never allowed to be brought
into question; that they were simply and gracefully feminine was with
equal firmness established. Other schools of modern and American origin
might make a feature of public examinations, with questions by bearded
professors from boys' colleges; but the establishment of Madame Moreau
knew nothing of such innovations. The Frenchwoman's idea was not a bad
one; good or bad, it was inflexible. She was a woman of marked
character, and may be said to have accomplished much good in a
mannerless generation and land. Thoroughly French, she was respected and
loved by all her American scholars; and it will be long ere her name
and memory fade away.
Miss Vanhorn did not come to see her niece until a week had passed. Anne
had been assigned to the lowest French class among the children, had
taken her first singing lesson from one Italian, fat, rosy, and smiling,
and her first Italian lesson from another, lean, old, and soiled, had
learned to answer questions in the Moreau French, and to talk a little,
as well as to comprehend the fact that her clothes were remarkable, and
that she herself was considered an oddity, when one morning Tante sent
word that she was to come down to the drawing-room to see a visitor.
The visitor was an old woman with black eyes, a black wig, shining false
teeth, a Roman nose, and a high color (which was, however, natural), and
she was talking to Tante, who, with her own soft gray hair, and teeth
which if false did not appear so, looked charmingly real beside her.
Miss Vanhorn was short and stout; she was muffled in an India shawl, and
upon her hands were a pair of cream-colored kid gloves much too large
for her, so that when she fumbled, as she did every few moments, in an
embroidered bag for aromatic seeds coated with sugar, she had much
difficulty in finding them, owing to the empty wrinkled ends of the
glove fingers. She lifted a gold-rimmed eye-glass to her eyes as Anne
entered, and coolly inspected her.
"Dear me! dear me!" she said. Then, in execrable French, "What can be
done with such a young savage as this?"
"How do you do, aunt?" said Anne, using the conventional words with a
slight tremor in her voice. This was the woman who had brought up her
mother--her dear, unremembered mother.
"Grandaunt," said Miss Vanhorn, tartly. "Sit down; I can not bear to
have people standing in front of me. How old are you?"
"I am seventeen, grandaunt."
[Illustration: "DEAR ME, WHAT CAN BE DONE WITH SUCH A YOUNG SAVAGE?"]
Miss Vanhorn let her eyeglass drop, and groaned. "_Can_ anything be done
with her?" she asked, closing her eyes tightly, and turning toward
Tante, while Anne flushed crimson, not so much from the criticism as the
unkindness.
"Oh yes," said Tante, taking the opportunity given by the closed eyes to
pat the young girl's hand encouragingly. "Miss Douglas is very
intelligent; and she has a fine mezzo-soprano voice. Signor Belzini is
much pleased with it. It would be well, also, I think, if you would
allow her to take a few dancing lessons."
"She will have no occasion for dancing," answered Miss Vanhorn, still
with her eyes closed.
"It was not so much for the dancing itself as for grace of carriage,"
replied Tante. "Miss Douglas has a type of figure rare among American
girls."
"I should say so, indeed!" groaned the other, shaking her head gloomily,
still voluntarily blinded.
"But none the less beautiful in its way," continued Tante, unmoved. "It
is the Greek type."
"I am not acquainted with any Greeks," replied Miss Vanhorn.
"You are still as devoted as ever to the beautiful and refined study of
plant life, dear madame," pursued Tante, changing the current of
conversation. "How delightful to have a young relative to assist you,
with the fresh and ardent interest belonging to her age, when the
flowers bloom again upon the rural slopes of Haarderwyck!" As Tante said
this, she looked off dreamily into space, as if she saw aunt and niece
wandering together through groves of allegorical flowers.
"She is not likely to see Haarderwyck," answered Miss Vanhorn. Then,
after a moment's pause--a pause which Tante did not break--she peered at
Anne with half-open eyes, and asked, abruptly, "Do you, then, know
anything of botany?"
Tante made a slight motion with her delicate withered old hand. But Anne
did not comprehend her, and answered, honestly, "No, grandaunt, I do
not."
"Bah!" said Miss Vanhorn; "I might have known without the asking. Make
what you can of her, madame. I will pay your bill for one year: no
longer. But no nonsense, no extras, mind that." Again she sought a
caraway seed, pursuing it vindictively along the bottom of her bag, and
losing it at the last, after all.
"As regards wardrobe, I would advise some few changes," said Tante,
smoothly. "It is one of my axioms that pupils study to greater advantage
when their thoughts are not disturbed by deficiencies in dress.
Conformity to our simple standard is therefore desirable."
"It may be desirable; it is not always, on that account, attainable,"
answered Miss Vanhorn, conveying a finally caught seed to her mouth,
dropping it at the last moment, and carefully and firmly biting the seam
of the glove finger in its place.
"Purchases are made for the pupils with discretion by one of our most
experienced teachers," continued Tante.
"Glad to hear it," said her visitor, releasing the glove finger, and
pretending to chew the seed which was not there.
"But I do not need anything, Tante," interposed Anne, the deep color
deepening in her cheeks.
"So much the better," said her grandaunt, dryly, "since you will have
nothing."
She went away soon afterward somewhat placated, owing to skillful
reminiscences of a favorite cousin, who, it seemed, had been one of
Tante's "dearest pupils" in times past; "a true Vanhorn, worthy of her
Knickerbocker blood." The word "Neeker-bo-ker," delicately comprehended,
applied, and, what was more important still, limited, was one of Tante's
most telling achievements--a shibboleth. She knew all the old Dutch
names, and remembered their intermarriages; she was acquainted with the
peculiar flavor of Huguenot descent; she comprehended the especial
aristocracy of Tory families, whose original property had been
confiscated by a raw republic under George Washington. Ah! skillful old
Tante, what a general you would have made!
Anne Douglas, the new pupil, was now left to face the school with her
island-made gowns, and what courage she could muster. Fortunately the
gowns were black and severely plain. Tante, not at all disturbed by
Miss Vanhorn's refusal, ordered a simple cloak and bonnet for her
through an inexpensive French channel, so that in the street she passed
unremarked; but, in the house, every-day life required more courage than
scaling a wall. Girls are not brutal, like boys, but their light wit is
pitiless. The Southern pupils, provided generously with money in the
lavish old-time Southern way, the day scholars, dressed with the
exquisite simplicity of Northern school-girls of good family, glanced
with amusement at the attire of this girl from the Northwest. This girl,
being young, felt their glances; as a refuge, she threw herself into her
studies with double energy, and gaining confidence respecting what she
had been afraid was her island patois, she advanced so rapidly in the
French classes that she passed from the lowest to the highest, and was
publicly congratulated by Tante herself. In Italian her progress was
more slow. Her companion, in the class of two, was a beautiful dark-eyed
Southern girl, who read musically, but seldom deigned to open her
grammar. The forlorn, soiled old exile to whom, with unconscious irony,
the bath-room had been assigned for recitations in the crowded house,
regarded this pupil with mixed admiration and despair. Her remarks on
Mary Stuart, represented by Alfieri, were nicely calculated to rouse him
to patriotic fury, and then, when the old man burst forth in a torrent
of excited words, she would raise her soft eyes in surprise, and inquire
if he was ill. The two girls sat on the bath-tub, which was decorously
covered over and cushioned; the exile had a chair for dignity's sake.
Above, in a corresponding room, a screen was drawn round the tub, and a
piano placed against it. Here, all day long, another exile, a German
music-master, with little gold rings in his ears, gave piano lessons,
and Anne was one of his pupils. To Signor Belzini, the teacher of vocal
music, the drawing-room itself was assigned. He was a prosperous and
smiling Italian, who had a habit of bringing pieces of pink cream candy
with him, and arranging them in a row on the piano for his own
refreshment after each song. There was an atmosphere of perfume and
mystery about Belzini. It was whispered that he knew the leading
opera-singers, even taking supper with them sometimes after the opera.
The pupils exhausted their imaginations in picturing to each other the
probable poetry and romance of these occasions.
Belzini was a musical trick-master; but he was not ignorant. When Anne
came to take her first lesson, he smiled effusively, as usual, took a
piece of candy, and, while enjoying it, asked if she could read notes,
and gave her the "Drinking Song" from _Lucrezia Borgia_ as a trial. Anne
sang it correctly without accompaniment, but slowly and solemnly as a
dead march. It is probable that "Il Segreto" never heard itself so sung
before or since. Belzini was walking up and down with his plump hands
behind him.
"You have never heard it sung?" he said.
"No," replied Anne.
"Sing something else, then. Something you like yourself."
After a moment's hesitation, Anne sang an island ballad in the voyageur
patois.
"May I ask who has taught you, mademoiselle?"
"My father," said the pupil, with a slight tremor in her voice.
"He must be a cultivated musician, although of the German school," said
Belzini, seating himself at the piano and running his white fingers over
the keys. "Try these scales."
It was soon understood that "the islander" could sing as well as study.
Tolerance was therefore accorded to her. But not much more. It is only
in "books for the young" that poorly clad girls are found leading whole
schools by the mere power of intellectual or moral supremacy. The
emotional type of boarding-school, also, is seldom seen in cities; its
home is amid the dead lethargy of a winter-bound country village.
The great event in the opening of Anne's school life was her first
opera. Tante, not at all blinded by the country garb and silence of the
new pupil, had written her name with her own hand upon the opera list
for the winter, without consulting Miss Vanhorn, who would, however,
pay for it in the end, as she would also pay for the drawing and dancing
lessons ordered by the same autocratic command. For it was one of
Tante's rules to cultivate every talent of the agreeable and decorative
order which her pupils possessed; she bathed them as the photographer
bathes his shadowy plate, bringing out and "setting," as it were, as
deeply as possible, their colors, whatever they happened to be. Tante
always attended the opera in person. Preceded by the usher, the old
Frenchwoman glided down the awkward central aisle of the Academy of
Music, with her inimitable step, clad in her narrow satin gown and all
her laces, well aware that tongues in every direction were saying:
"There is Madame Moreau at the head of her school, as usual. What a
wonderful old lady she is!" While the pupils were filing into their
places, Tante remained in the aisle fanning herself majestically, and
surveying them with a benignant smile. When all were seated, with a
graceful little bend she glided into her place at the end, the motion of
sitting down and the bend fused into one in a manner known only to
herself.
Anne's strong idealism, shown in her vivid although mistaken conceptions
of Shakspeare's women, was now turned into the channel of opera music.
After hearing several operas, she threw herself into her Italian songs
with so much fervor that Belzini sat aghast; this was not the manner in
which demoiselles of private life should sing. Tante, passing one day
(by the merest chance, of course) through the drawing-room while Anne
was singing, paused a moment to listen. "Ma fille," she said, when the
song was ended, tapping Anne's shoulder affably, "give no more
expression to the Italian words you sing than to the syllables of your
scales. Interpretations are not required." The old Frenchwoman always
put down with iron hand what she called the predominant tendency toward
too great freedom--sensationalism--in young girls. She spent her life in
a constant struggle with the American "jeune fille."
During this time Rast wrote regularly; but his letters, not being
authorized by Miss Vanhorn, Anne's guardian, passed first through the
hands of one of the teachers, and the knowledge of this inspection
naturally dulled the youth's pen. But Anne's letters to him passed the
same ordeal without change in word or in spirit. Miss Lois and Dr.
Gaston wrote once a week; Père Michaux contented himself with
postscripts added to the long, badly spelled, but elaborately worded
epistles with which Mademoiselle Tita favored her elder sister. It was
evident to Anne that Miss Lois was having a severe winter.
The second event in Anne's school life was the gaining of a friend.
At first it was but a musical companion. Helen Lorrington lived not far
from the school; she was one of Tante's old scholars, and this Napoleon
of teachers especially liked this pupil, who was modelled after her own
heart. Helen held what may be called a woman's most untrammelled
position in life, namely, that of a young widow, protected but not
controlled, rich, beautiful, and without children. She was also heir to
the estate of an eccentric grandfather, who detested her, yet would not
allow his money to go to any collateral branch. He detested her because
her father was a Spaniard, whose dark eyes had so reprehensibly
fascinated his little Dutch daughter that she had unexpectedly plucked
up courage to marry in spite of the paternal prohibition, and not only
that, but to be very happy also during the short portion of life
allotted to her afterward. The young Spanish husband, with an
unaccountable indifference to the wealth for which he was supposed to
have plotted so perseveringly, was pusillanimous enough to die soon
afterward, leaving only one little pale-faced child, a puny girl, to
inherit the money. The baby Helen had never possessed the dimples and
rose tints that make the beauty of childhood; the girl Helen had not the
rounded curves and peach-like bloom that make the beauty of youth. At
seventeen she was what she was now; therefore at seventeen she was old.
At twenty-seven she was what she was then; therefore at twenty-seven she
was young.
She was tall, and extremely, marvellously slender; yet her bones were
so small that there were no angles visible in all her graceful length.
She was a long woman; her arms were long, her throat was long, her eyes
and face were long. Her form, slight enough for a spirit, was as natural
as the swaying grasses on a hill-side. She was as flexible as a ribbon.
Her beauties were a regally poised little head, a delicately cut
profile, and a remarkable length of hair; her peculiarities, the color
of this hair, the color of her skin, and the narrowness of her eyes. The
hue of her hair was called flaxen; but it was more than that--it was the
color of bleached straw. There was not a trace of gold in it, nor did it
ever shine, but hung, when unbound, a soft even mass straight down below
the knee. It was very thick, but so fine that it was manageable; it was
never rough, because there were no short locks. The complexion which
accompanied this hair was white, with an under-tint of ivory. There are
skins with under-tints of pink, of blue, and of brown; but this was
different in that it shaded off into cream, without any indication of
these hues. This soft ivory-color gave a shade of fuller richness to the
slender straw-haired woman--an effect increased by the hue of the eyes,
when visible under the long light lashes. For Helen's eyes were of a
bright dark unexpected brown. The eyes were so long and narrow, however,
that generally only a line of bright brown looked at you when you met
their gaze. Small features, narrow cheeks, delicate lips, and little
milk-white teeth, like a child's, completed this face which never had a
red tint, even the lips being but faintly colored. There were many men
who, seeing Helen Lorrington for the first time, thought her exquisitely
beautiful; there were others who, seeing her for the first time, thought
her singularly ugly. The _second_ time, there was never a question. Her
grandfather called her an albino; but he was nearly blind, and could
only see the color of her hair. He could not see the strong brown light
of her eyes, or the soft ivory complexion, which never changed in the
wind, the heat, or the cold.
Mrs. Lorrington was always dressed richly, but after a fashion of her
own. Instead of disguising the slenderness of her form, she intensified
it; instead of contrasting hues, she often wore amber tints like her
hair. Amid all her silks, jewels, and laces, there was always supreme
her own personality, which reduced her costumes to what, after all,
costumes should be, merely the subordinate coverings of a beautiful
woman.
Helen had a clear, flute-like voice, with few low notes, and a
remarkably high range. She continued her lessons with Belzini whenever
she was in the city, more in order that he might transpose her songs for
her than for any instruction he could now bestow. She was an old pupil
of his, and the sentimental Italian adored her; this adoration, however,
did not prevent him from being very comfortable at home with his portly
wife. One morning Helen, coming in for a moment to leave a new song,
found Anne at the piano taking her lesson. Belzini, always anxious to
please his fair-haired divinity, motioned to her to stay and listen.
Anne's rich voice pleased her ears; but she had heard rich voices
before. What held her attention now was the girl herself. For although
Helen was a marvel of self-belief, although she made her own peculiar
beauty an object of worship, and was so saturated with knowledge of
herself that she could not take an attitude which did not become her,
she yet possessed a comprehension of other types of beauty, and had, if
not an admiration for, at least a curiosity about, them. In Anne she
recognized at once what Tante had also recognized--unfolding beauty of
an unfamiliar type, the curves of a nobly shaped form hidden under an
ugly gown, above the round white throat a beautiful head, and a
singularly young face shadowed by a thoughtfulness which was very grave
and impersonal when compared with the usual light, self-centred
expressions of young girls' faces. At once Helen's artistic eye had Anne
before her, robed in fit attire; in imagination she dressed her slowly
from head to foot as the song went on, and was considering the question
of jewels when the music ceased, and Belzini was turning toward her.
"I hope I may become better acquainted with this rich voice," she said,
coming back gracefully to the present. "May I introduce myself? I
should like to try a duet with you, if you will allow me, Miss--"
"Douglas," said Belzini; "and this, mademoiselle, is Mrs. Lorrington."
Such was the beginning.
In addition to Helen's fancy for Anne's fair grave face, the young
girl's voice proved a firmer support for her high soprano than it had
ever obtained. Her own circle in society and the music classes had been
searched in vain more than once. For she needed a soprano, not a
contralto. And as soprani are particularly human, there had never been
any lasting co-operation. Anne, however, cheerfully sang whatever
Belzini put before her, remained admiringly silent while Helen executed
the rapid runs and trills with which she always decorated her part, and
then, when the mezzo was needed again, gave her full voice willingly,
supporting the other as the notes of an organ meet and support a flute
after its solo.
Belzini was in ecstasies; he sat up all night to copy music for them. He
said, anxiously, to Helen: "And the young girl? You like her, do you
not? Such a voice for you!"
"But I can not exactly buy young girls, can I?" said Mrs. Lorrington,
smiling.
More and more, however, each day she liked "the young girl" for herself
alone. She was an original, of course; almost an aboriginal; for she
told the truth exactly upon all occasions, appropriate or inappropriate,
and she had convictions. She was not aware, apparently, of the
old-fashioned and cumbrous appearance of these last-named articles of
mental furniture. But the real secret of Helen's liking lay in the fact
that Anne admired her, and was at the same time neither envious nor
jealous, and from her youth she had been troubled by the sure
development of these two feelings, sooner or later, in all her girl
companions. In truth, Helen's lot _was_ enviable; and also, whether
consciously or unconsciously, she had a skill in provoking jealousy. She
was the spoiled child of fortune. It was no wonder, therefore, that
those of her own sex and age seldom enjoyed being with her: the
contrast was too great. Helen was, besides, the very queen of Whim.
The queen of Whim! By nature; which means that she had a highly
developed imagination. By the life she had led, having never, save for
the six short months of her husband's adoring rule, been under the
control, or even advice, of any man. For whim can be thoroughly
developed only in feminine households: it is essentially feminine. And
Helen had been brought up by a maiden aunt, who lived alone. A man,
however mild, demands in a home at least a pretense of fixed hours and
regularity; only a household of women is capable of no regularity at
all, of changing the serious dinner hour capriciously, and even giving
up dinner altogether. Only a household of women has sudden inspirations
as to journeys and departures within the hour; brings forth sudden ideas
as to changes of route while actually on the way, and a going southward
instead of westward, with a total indifference to supper. Helen's
present whim was Anne.
"I want you to spend part of the holidays with me," she said, a few days
before Christmas. "Come on Monday, and stay over New-Year's Day."
"Oh, I can not," said Anne, startled.
"Why not? Tante will consent if I ask her; she always does. Do you love
this crowded house so much that you can not leave it?"
"It is not that. But--"
"But you are shy. But Miss Vanhorn might not like it. You do not know
Aunt Margaretta. You have no silk gown. Now let _me_ talk. I will write
to Miss Vanhorn. Aunt Margaretta is as gentle as a dove. I am bold
enough for two. And the silk dress shall come from me."
"I could not take that, Mrs. Lorrington."
"Because you are proud?"
"No; but because I would rather not. It would be too great an
obligation."
"You repay me by your voice a thousandfold, Anne. I have never had the
right voice for mine until now; and therefore the obligation is on my
side. I do not speak of the pleasure your visit will give me, because I
hope to make that mutual. But say no more. I intend to have my way."
And she had her way. "I have always detested Miss Vanhorn, with her
caraway seeds, and her malice," she explained to Tante. "Much as I like
Anne for herself alone, it will be delicious also to annoy the old
dragon by bringing into notice this unknown niece whom she is hiding
here so carefully. Now confess, Tante, that it will be delicious."
Tante shook her head reprovingly. But she herself was in her heart by no
means fond of Miss Vanhorn; she had had more than one battle royal with
that venerable Knickerbocker, which had tested even her celebrated
suavity.
Helen's note was as follows:
* * * * *
"DEAR MISS VANHORN,--I very much wish to persuade your charming niece,
Miss Douglas, to spend a portion of the holidays with me. Her voice is
marvellously sweet, and Aunt Margaretta is most anxious to hear it;
while _I_ am desirous to have her in my own home, even if but for a few
days, in order that I may learn more of her truly admirable qualities,
which she inherits, no doubt, from your family.
"I trust you will add your consent to Tante's, already willingly
bestowed, and make me thereby still more your obliged friend,
"HELEN ROOSBROECK LORRINGTON."
* * * * *
The obliged friend had the following answer:
* * * * *
"Miss Vanhorn presents her compliments to Mrs. Lorrington, with thanks
for her note, which, however, was an unnecessary attention, Miss Vanhorn
claiming no authority over the movements of Anne Douglas (whose
relationship to her is remote), beyond a due respect for the rules of
the institution where she has been placed. Miss Vanhorn is gratified to
learn that Miss Douglas's voice is already of practical use to her, and
has the honor of remaining Mrs. Lorrington's obliged and humble servant.
"MADISON SQUARE, _Tuesday_."
* * * * *
Tears sprang to Anne's eyes when Helen showed her this note.
"Why do you care? She was always a dragon; forget her. Now, Anne,
remember that it is all understood, and the carriage will come for you
on Monday." Then, seeing the face before her still irresolute, she
added: "If you are to have pupils, some of them may be like me. You
ought, therefore, to learn how to manage _me_, you know."
"You are right," said Anne, seriously. "It is strange how little
confidence I feel."
Helen, looking at her as she stood there in her island gown, coarse
shoes, and old-fashioned collar, did not think it strange at all, but
wondered, as she had wondered a hundred times before, why it was that
this girl did not think of herself and her own appearance. "And you must
let me have my way, too, about something for you to wear," she added.
"It shall be as you wish, Helen. It can not be otherwise, I suppose, if
I go to you. But--I hope the time will come when I can do something for
you."
"Never fear; it will. I feel it instinctively. You will either save my
life or take it--one or the other; but I am not sure which."
Monday came; and after her lonely Christmas, Anne was glad to step into
Miss Teller's carriage, and be taken to the home on the Avenue. The
cordial welcome she received there was delightful to her, the luxury
novel. She enjoyed everything simply and sincerely, from the late
breakfast in the small warm breakfast-room, from which the raw light of
the winter morning was carefully excluded, to the chat with Helen over
the dressing-room fire late at night, when all the house was still.
Helen's aunt, Miss Teller, was a thin, light-eyed person of fifty-five
years of age. Richly dressed, very tall, with a back as immovable and
erect as though made of steel, and a tower of blonde lace on her head,
she was a personage of imposing aspect, but in reality as mild as a
sheep.
"Yes, my dear," she said, when Anne noticed the tinted light in the
breakfast-room; "I take great care about light, which I consider an
influence in our households too much neglected. The hideous white glare
in most American breakfast-rooms on snowy winter mornings has often made
me shudder when I have been visiting my friends; only the extremely
vigorous can enjoy this sharp contact with the new day. Then the
æsthetic effect: children are always homely when the teeth are changing
and the shoulder-blades prominent; and who wishes to see, besides, each
freckle and imperfection upon the countenances of those he loves? I have
observed, too, that even morning prayer, as a family observance, fails
to counter-act the influence of this painful light. For if as you kneel
you cover your face with your hands, the glare will be doubly unbearable
when you remove them; and if you do _not_ cover your brow, you will
inevitably blink. Those who do not close their eyes at all are the most
comfortable, but I trust we would all prefer to suffer rather than be
guilty of such irreverence."
"Now that is Aunt Gretta exactly," said Helen, as Miss Teller left the
room. "When you are once accustomed to her height and blonde caps, you
will find her soft as a down coverlet."
Here Miss Teller returned. "My dear," she said, anxiously, addressing
Anne, "as to soap for the hands--what kind do you prefer?"
"Anne's hands are beautiful, and she will have the white soap in the
second box on the first shelf of the store-room--the rose; _not_ the
heliotrope, which is mine," said Helen, taking one of the young girl's
hands, and spreading out the firm taper fingers. "See her wrists! Now my
wrists are small too, but then there is nothing but wrist all the way
up."
"My dear, your arms have been much admired," said Miss Margaretta, with
a shade of bewilderment in her voice.
"Yes, because I choose they shall be. But when I spoke of Anne's hands,
I spoke artistically, aunt."
"Do you expect Mr. Blum to-day?" said Miss Teller.
"Oh no," said Helen, smiling. "Mr. Blum, Anne, is a poor artist whom
Aunt Gretta is cruel enough to dislike."
"Not on account of his poverty," said Miss Margaretta, "but on account
of my having half-brothers, with large families, all with weak lungs,
taking cold, I may say, at a breath--a mere breath; and Mr. Blum insists
upon coming here without overshoes when there has been a thaw, and
sitting all the evening in wet boots, which naturally makes me think of
my brothers' weak families, to say nothing of the danger to himself."
"Well, Mr. Blum is not coming. But Mr. Heathcote is."
"Ah."
"And Mr. Dexter may."
"I am always glad to see Mr. Dexter," said Aunt Margaretta.
Mr. Heathcote did not come; Mr. Dexter did. But Anne was driving with
Miss Teller, and missed the visit.
"A remarkable man," said the elder lady, as they sat at the dinner table
in the soft radiance of wax lights.
"You mean Mr. Blum?" said Helen. "This straw-colored jelly exactly
matches me, Anne."
"I mean Mr. Dexter," said Miss Teller, nodding her head impressively.
"Sent through college by the bounty of a relative (who died immediately
afterward, in the most reprehensible way, leaving him absolutely
nothing), Gregory Dexter, at thirty-eight, is to-day a man of modern and
distinct importance. Handsome--you do not contradict me there, Helen?"
"No, aunt."
"Handsome," repeated Miss Teller, triumphantly, "successful, moral,
kind-hearted, and rich--what would you have more? I ask you, Miss
Douglas, what would you have more?"
"Nothing," said Helen. "Anne has confided to me--nothing. Long live
Gregory Dexter! And I feel sure, too, that he will outlive us all. I
shall go first. You will see. I always wanted to be first in
everything--even the grave."
"My dear!" said Miss Margaretta.
"Well, aunt, now would you like to be last? Think how lonely you would
be. Besides, all the best places would be taken," said Helen, in
business-like tones, taking a spray of heliotrope from the vase before
her.
New-Year's Day was, in the eyes of Margaretta Teller, a solemn festival;
thought was given to it in June, preparation for it began in September.
Many a call was made at the house on that day which neither Miss
Margaretta, nor her niece, Mrs. Lorrington, attracted, but rather the
old-time dishes and the old-time punch on their dining-room table. Old
men with gouty feet, amateur antiquarians of mild but obstinate aspect,
to whom Helen was "a slip of a girl," and Miss Margaretta still too
youthful a person to be of much interest, called regularly on the old
Dutch holiday, and tasted this New-Year's punch. They cherished the idea
that they were thus maintaining the "solid old customs," and they spoke
to each other in moist, husky under-tones when they met in the hall, as
much as to say, "Ah, ah! you here? That's right--that's right. A
barrier, sir--a barrier against modern innovation!"
Helen had several friends besides Anne to assist her in receiving, and
the young island girl remained, therefore, more or less unnoticed, owing
to her lack of the ready, graceful smiles and phrases which are the
current coin of New-Year's Day. She passed rapidly through the different
phases of timidity, bewilderment, and fatigue; and then, when more
accustomed to the scene, she regained her composure, and even began to
feel amused. She ceased hiding behind the others; she learned to repeat
the same answers to the same questions without caring for their inanity;
she gave up trying to distinguish names, and (like the others) massed
all callers into a constantly arriving repetition of the same person,
who was to be treated with a cordiality as impersonal as it was
glittering. She tried to select Mr. Dexter, and at length decided that
he was a certain person standing near Helen--a man with brown hair and
eyes; but she was not sure, and Helen's manner betrayed nothing.
The fatiguing day was over at last, and then followed an hour or two of
comparative quiet; the few familiar guests who remained were glad to
sink down in easy-chairs, and enjoy connected sentences again. The faces
of the ladies showed fine lines extending from the nostril to the chin;
the muscles that had smiled so much were weary.
And now Anne discovered Gregory Dexter; and he was not the person she
had selected. Mr. Dexter was a tall, broad-shouldered man, with an
appearance of persistent vigor in his bearing, and a look of
determination in his strong, squarely cut jaw and chin. His face was
rather short, with good features and clear gray eyes, which met the
gazer calmly; and there was about him that air of self-reliance which
does not irritate in a large strong man, any more than imperiousness in
a beautiful woman.
The person with brown eyes proved to be Mr. Heathcote. He seemed
indolent, and contributed but few words to the general treasury of
conversation.
Mr. Blum was present also; but on this occasion he wore the peculiarly
new, shining, patent-leather boots dear to the hearts of his countrymen
on festal occasions, and Miss Teller's anxieties were quiescent. Helen
liked artists; she said that their ways were a "proud assertion that a
ray of beauty outvalued all the mere utilities of the world."
"Are bad boots rays of beauty?" inquired Miss Margaretta.
"Yes. That is, a man whose soul is uplifted by art may not always
remember his boots; to himself, no doubt, his feet seem winged."
"Very far from winged are Blum's feet," responded Miss Margaretta,
shaking her head gravely. "Very, very far."
Late in the evening, when almost all the guests had departed, Helen
seemed seized with a sudden determination to bring Anne into
prominence. Mr. Dexter still lingered, and the artist. Also Ward
Heathcote.
"Anne, will you sing now? First with me, then alone?" she said, going to
the piano.
A bright flush rose in Anne's face; the prominent blue eyes of the
German artist were fixed upon her; Gregory Dexter had turned toward her
with his usual prompt attention. Even the indolent Heathcote looked up
as Helen spoke. But having once decided to do a thing, Anne knew no way
save to do it; having accepted Helen's generous kindness, she must now
do what Helen asked in return. She rose in silence, and crossed the
brightly lighted room on her way to the piano. Few women walk well; by
well, is meant naturally. Helen was graceful; she had the lithe shape
and long step which give a peculiar swaying grace, like that of elm
branches. Yet Helen's walk belonged to the drawing-room, or at best the
city pavement; one could not imagine her on a country road. Anne's gait
was different. As she crossed the room alone, it drew upon her for the
first time the full attention of the three gentlemen who were present.
Blum stared gravely. Dexter's eyes moved up to her face, as if he saw it
now with new interest. Heathcote leaned back on the sofa with an amused
expression, glancing from Anne to Helen, as if saying, "I understand."
Anne wore one of Helen's gifts, a soft silk of pale gray, in deference
to her mourning garb; the dress was high over the shoulders, but cut
down squarely in front and behind, according to a fashion of the day.
The sleeves came to the elbow only; the long skirt was severely plain.
They had taken off their gloves, and the girl's beautiful arms were
conspicuous, as well as her round, full, white throat.
The American Venus is thin.
American girls are slight; they have visible collar-bones and elbows.
When they pass into the fullness of womanhood (if they pass at all), it
is suddenly, leaving no time for the beautiful pure virginal outlines
which made Anne Douglas an exception to her kind. Anne's walk was
entirely natural, her poise natural; yet so perfect were her
proportions that even Tante, artificial and French as she was, refrained
from the suggestions and directions as to step and bearing which
encircled the other pupils like an atmosphere.
The young girl's hair had been arranged by Helen's maid, under Helen's
own direction, in a plain Greek knot, leaving the shape of the head, and
the small ear, exposed; and as she stood by the piano, waiting, she
looked (as Helen had intended her to look) like some young creature from
an earlier world, startled and shy, yet too proud to run away.
They sang together; and in singing Anne recovered her self-possession.
Then Helen asked her to sing without accompaniment a little island
ballad which was one of her favorites, and leading her to the centre of
the room, left her there alone. Poor Anne! But, moved by the one desire
of pleasing Helen, she clasped her hands in simple child-like fashion,
and began to sing, her eyes raised slightly so as to look above the
faces of her audience. It was an old-fashioned ballad or chanson, in the
patois of the voyageurs, with a refrain in a minor key, and it told of
the vanishing of a certain petite Marie, and the sorrowing of her
mother--a common-place theme long drawn out, the constantly recurring
refrain, at first monotonous, becoming after a while sweet to the ear,
like the wash of small waves on a smooth beach. But it was the ending
upon which Helen relied for her effect. Suddenly the lament of the
long-winded mother ended, the time changed, and a verse followed
picturing the rapture of the lovers as they fled away in their
sharp-bowed boat, wing and wing, over the blue lake. Anne sang this as
though inspired; she forgot her audience, and sang as she had always
sung it on the island for Rast and the children. Her voice floated
through the house, she shaded her eyes with her hand, and leaned
forward, gazing, as though she saw the boat across the water, and then
she smiled, as, with a long soft note, the song ended.
But the instant it was over, her timidity came back with double force,
and she hastily sought refuge beside Helen, her voice gone, in her eyes
a dangerous nearness to tears.
There was now an outburst of compliments from Blum; but Helen kindly met
and parried them. Mr. Dexter began a few well-chosen sentences of
praise; but in the midst of his fluent adjectives, Anne glanced up so
beseechingly that he caught the mist in her eyes, and instantly ceased.
Nor was this all; he opened a discussion with Miss Teller, dragging in
Heathcote also (against the latter's will), and thus secured for Anne
the time to recover herself. She felt this quick kindness, and was
grateful. She decided that she liked him; and she wondered whether Helen
liked him also.
The next morning the fairy-time was over; she went back to school.