The Debut Party
Everything was propitious for the debut party, even the weather. A
brisk shower in the morning, followed by refreshing breezes, gave
assurance of a night not too hot for dancing but not too cool for
couples so inclined to sit out on the balcony and enjoy the
moonlight.
The ten old men were very much excited as the time approached for
their ball. The skating rink was swept and garnished and decorated
with bunting and flags, and wreaths of immortelles rented from the
undertaker. Extra chairs were also furnished by that accommodating
person. The caterer from Louisville came in a truck, bringing with him
stylish negro waiters and many freezers and hampers. The musicians
arrived on the seven o'clock trolley, almost filling one car with
their great drums and saxophones and bass fiddles.
The women who were either supported by, or supported, the ten old men
were kept busy by their aged relatives hunting shirt studs and collar
buttons, pressing broadcloth trousers, letting out waistcoats or
taking them up, sewing on buttons and laundering white ties. The
barber had to call in extra help, because of the trimming of beards
and shaving of chins and cutting of hair that the party entailed.
Judge Middleton was chosen to make the speech naming the guest of
honor for whom the debut party was given.
"He's got the gift of gab," Pete Barnes had said, "but I hope he ain't
gonter forget 'twas my idee."
One of the many virtues that belong to country people is that they
come on time. At eight o'clock the fiddles were tuning up, the skating
rink lights were on and already Main Street was crowded with a varied
assortment of vehicles--automobiles, buggies, wagons, surreys,
rockaways and even a large hay wagon that had brought a merry party of
young folks from Clayton.
Buck Hill arrived, three automobiles strong, besides Miss Ann Peyton's
coach. Behind them came Judith Buck and her mother, the little blue
car brave from a recent bath and Judith's eyes shining and dancing
like will-o-the-wisps.
"Mumsy, listen! They are tuning up! I'm going to dance every dance if
I have to do it by myself. I don't know any of the new dances, but it
won't take me a minute to learn. It's the golden slippers that make me
feel so like flying."
"Now, Judy, don't take on so. It ain't modest to be so sure you'll be
asked to dance. Besides, you must save your dress and slippers and not
wear them out this first time you wear them."
Judith laughed happily. "Oh, Mumsy, what a spendthrift you are with
your breath! I'm going to dance my dress to a rag. Did you ever think
that Cinderella may have just danced her dress to rags by twelve
o'clock and after all the fairy godmother had nothing to do with it?
Cinderella danced every dance with the prince and perhaps he was an
awkward prince and tangled his feet in her train. In fact, I am sure
he was awkward or he would have caught up with her when she tried to
run away, and she with one shoe off and one shoe on like 'Diddle,
diddle, dumpling, my son John!'"
"Let me help you out, Mrs. Buck." It was Jeff Bucknor, leaning over
the little blue car. He had heard every word of Judith's foolishness
and seemed to be much pleased with it, considering he was a learned
young lawyer getting ready to hang out his shingle, and supposed to
be above fairy stories and nursery jingles.
Jeff had noticed, as he passed Judith's home, that the little blue car
was parked in front and his surmise was that the girl was going to the
ball but had not yet gone. He registered the determination to hurry
his own crowd into the skating rink and wait and speak to Judith. This
decision had come immediately after his promising himself that he
wasn't even going to think any more about the girl, and that if she
happened to be one of the guests at the debut party he was going to
spend the evening being pleasant to his sisters' friends and not even
ask her to dance.
Mrs. Buck accepted his offer of assistance with shy acquiescence. The
blue car was not easy to get out of, as the seat was low and there was
no step, so Jeff must swing the lady out, lifting her up bodily and
jumping her to the curbing. She came down lightly but flustered.
Unreasoning anger filled Jeff Bucknor's heart when he released the
blushing Mrs. Buck to find Tom Harbison had pushed his way in between
the sidewalk and the blue car and was insisting upon helping Judith to
alight.
"Thanks awfully, but I am accustomed to getting out by myself," she
said.
"And I am accustomed to helping beautiful young ladies out of cars,"
said Tom. "You don't know what a past master I am in the art."
"If there were any beautiful young ladies around I am sure they would
be delighted, but since there are not any in sight your art will have
to languish for lack of exercise," flashed Judith.
Mrs. Buck and her daughter had both covered their finery with old
linen dusters, which they had planned to discard before entering the
hall. It was a distinct annoyance to Mrs. Buck that these two handsome
young cavaliers should see them thus enveloped.
"They'll get the wrong impression of my girl," was her thought, and
now here was Judith wasting her time and the precious dancing hours
bantering with a strange young man as to whether she should be allowed
to jump from her car unassisted or should be helped out in a ladylike
manner.
"Well, Judith, come along one way or the other," Mrs. Buck drawled.
"Perhaps Miss Buck would take one of my hands and one of yours,"
suggested Jeff to Tom.
"Perhaps the decrepit old lady will," laughed Judy, making a flying
leap between their outstretched hands without touching them and
landing lightly on the sidewalk by her mother. "Thank you both very
much," she said, and clutching her mother's arm she hurried into the
lobby of the skating rink and was lost to view in the crowd of
arriving guests.
"Here's the dressing-room, Mumsy, and we can leave our awful old
dusters in there. Weren't you furious at being seen in the horrid
things and that by the best beaux of the ball? Now, Mumsy, you just
stick to me and we'll go say howdy to the dear old men and thank them
for my dress and shoes and stockings and then you can go sit by some
of your nice church members, while I find somebody to dance with me."
"But, Judy, surely you are not going to thank the old men right out
before everybody, and surely you are not going to ask anybody to dance
with you!"
"Of course not, Mumsy! I'm going to use finesse about both things. You
just see how tactful I am. Oh! Oh! Oh! I'm so excited! Just look at
the streamers and flags and all the funny funeral wreaths, and only
listen to the music! I'm about sure there are wings on my golden
slippers. Really and truly, Mumsy, they do not touch the ground when I
walk. I'm simply floating in a kind of nebulous haze--in fact I
believe I am charged with electricity."
"Charged with foolishness, you mean!"
"Oh, but Mumsy, look, we are right behind my cousins from Buck Hill.
Let's don't go in too close to them. I'm entirely too happy to take a
snubbing from Mildred Bucknor. Doesn't Cousin Ann Peyton look
beautiful?"
"You mean the old lady in hoop skirts? She's terribly behind the
times, ain't she? But, Judy, who was the young man who was so bent on
helping you out of the car? You didn't pretend to introduce him."
"Mr. Harbison. I have not met him myself yet. I believe he is Mildred
Bucknor's special property."
The ten old men of the receiving line were drawn up in battle array,
in all the glory of their best clothes. Pete Barnes was gorgeous in
checked trousers and Prince Albert coat, with his bushy iron-gray hair
well oiled and combed in what used to be known as a roach, a style
popular in his early manhood. Some of the veterans were in
uniform--the blue or the gray. All wore white carnations in their
button-holes. The guests shook hands with the hosts and then moved on.
Those who had come merely to look on sought the chairs ranged against
the wall; others who wanted to dance were eagerly arranging for
partners if they were men, while the fair sex assumed a supreme
indifference. Colonel Crutcher busied himself giving out dancing cards
and seeing that the young people were introduced.
The first sensation of the evening was the entrance of Miss Ann
Peyton. With slow grace and dignity she sailed into the ballroom and
approached the receiving line alone. Mr. and Mrs. Bucknor had stopped
a moment to speak to some acquaintances and Mildred had intentionally
held back the crowd of young people comprising the house party from
Buck Hill, whispering that they really need not mix with the others.
"Of course we must speak to those ridiculous old men, but after that
we can just stay together. It will be lots more fun."
"Here comes Miss Ann Peyton!" the whisper went around the hall.
"Well, if it isn't Cousin Ann!" Big Josh Bucknor boomed to his
daughters.
"For goodness sake don't ask her to go home with us," begged those
ladies.
Big Josh slapped his leg and laughed aloud. Everything about Big Josh
was loud and hearty. He was a short, fat man with a big, red face and
a perfectly bald head. The Misses Bucknor were tall and aristocratic
in figure and bearing. They were constantly being mortified by their
father's tendency to make a noise and his unfailing habit of diverging
from the strict truth. But Big Josh was more popular in the county
than his conscientious daughters.
Old Billy had wormed his way into the ballroom with the pretext of
having to carry Miss Ann's shawl. Quietly he slipped up the stairs
into the balcony and, hiding behind the festooned bunting, he peeped
down on his beloved mistress as she stood, a quaint, old-fashioned
figure, making her bow to the receiving line.
"By gad, Miss Ann, you are looking fit," said Major Fitch. "We are
proud to have you with us. I hope you will save me a dance. Yes, yes!
We are going to have some reels and lancers and some good old time
quadrilles. If the young uns don't like it they can lump it. Here,
Colonel Crutcher, give Miss Ann a dance card. How about giving me the
first square dance?"
"And put me down for the next," begged the Colonel gallantly. "It
won't be the first quadrille I have stepped with you."
All down the line Miss Ann was greeted with kindness and courtesy. Old
Billy almost fell out of the balcony, so great was his joy when he saw
Miss Ann's card in demand and realized that his mistress was being
sought after. A flush was on the old lady's cheeks as she swept across
the ballroom floor and seated herself in the outer row of chairs,
reserved for the dancers. A little titter arose.
"What a funny-looking old woman!" was the general verdict.
"By the great jumping jingo, they shan't laugh at her!" exclaimed Big
Josh. "She's kin--hoop skirt and all."
His daughters held him back a moment: "Remember! Don't dare invite her
home with you."
Big Josh made a wry face but he immediately went to speak to his aged
cousin, looking threateningly at the crowd who had dared to giggle at
anyone related to him.
"How do you do, Cousin?" he said, pushing her voluminous skirts aside
so that he might slide into the chair next to her. "Glad to see you
looking so spry. Thought we couldn't come to-night because the lane is
so bad after the rain this morning. Dust three feet deep yesterday
and to-day puddles big enough to drown a pig. I'm gonter get me a
flying machine. Lots cheaper than trying to put that road in
condition. Yes--I'll get a family machine for the girls and a light
little fly-by-night for myself. I believe in the latest improvements
in everything.
"Oh, yes, I have flown often. Every time I go to Louisville a friend
takes me up. Not afraid a bit--love it. Of course I know how to run
the motor--simplest thing in the world. All you have to remember is
not to sneeze while you are up in the air. Sneezing is sometimes
fatal. It destroys your equilibrium as nothing else does and you are
liable to make a disastrous nose dive. Running an airplane is much
easier than an automobile. Nerve? Not a bit of it. I tell you, Cousin
Ann, when I get my flying machine I'll come get you and ride you to my
place and then you will be spared the bumps of that devilish lane.
Just as soon as I get it I'll drop you a line. Of course, old Billy
can bring the carriage and horses up at his convenience. You are at
Buck Hill now, I understand. I tell you, I'll 'phone over just as soon
as my airplane comes and you can get yourself ready for a flight. Be
sure to wrap up warm and put something over your head."
Miss Ann assured him she would.
"By crickity! Who is that girl speaking to the old men now? That
red-headed girl in the fairy queen dress? Bless Bob, if it ain't old
Dick Buck's granddaughter. I used to give her a lift into school when
she was a kid. I tell you she's got some style about her. Looks more
born and bred than any gal here. I don't see where she got it from."
"From the Bucknors!" announced Miss Ann, firmly.
"Bucknors! Oh, come now, Cousin Ann, you aren't going to come that old
gag on me. Old Dick Buck used to boast he was our kin when he got
drunk, but it is absurd. Drunk or sober, he was no relation of ours."
"He was your cousin, both drunk and sober. I've heard my grandfather
tell--" and Miss Ann launched into the tale.
"Well, by gad, if she's of the blood we ought to recognize her!"
declared Big Josh, smiting his thigh with a resounding smack. "I'll
speak to the family about it. Little Josh will be here to-night and
Cousin Betty Throckmorton's Philip and no doubt many of the clan. I
tell you I wouldn't mind claiming kin with a gal like that, especially
now that old Dick Buck is dead."