Cinderella Revealed
The rattle of china and silver had begun in a room beyond the dancing
hall and an aroma of coffee and a suggestion of savory food was in the
air. Dancers and spectators sniffed in anticipation. The music
stopped. Judge Middleton walked towards the end of the hall. He had
Judith Buck by his side, her hand resting lightly on his arm. She was
chatting gaily, but the Judge looked rather serious.
When the couple reached a spot near the bass drum, the Judge stopped
and, borrowing the stick from the musician, he rapped sharply on the
side of the drum.
"He's going to make a speech!"
"Be quiet!"
"Judge Middleton is going to talk!"
The other nine old men called for order. Another sharp rap on the drum
and all was still.
"Friends," the Judge said, "I have something to say to you." One could
have heard a pin drop. "Of course all of us old men know that you
have had a very good time, laughing at us because we sent out
invitations calling this a debut party. We are pleased to have given
so many of our friends a good laugh. We did it on purpose, because we
have all of us lived a long time and we know how popular it makes you
to furnish a good laugh. We are proud and happy that so many persons
have seen fit to come to our party and we hope you are having a
pleasant time to repay you for your trouble."
"Hear! Hear!"
"The best this year!"
"Do it again!"
"I wonder if any of you noticed that our invitation did not say to
whom we were giving this debut party? We left that out on purpose,
because we were afraid it might scare off the person whom we are
delighted to honor. Up to this moment the dear child whose debut party
this is has been entirely ignorant that it is hers."
Judith, who had been standing by her old friend, utterly unconscious
of self, wholly absorbed in his speech, now looked at him with an
expression of startled amazement. She gave a little gasp and blushed
violently.
"Friends of Ryeville and our county, we, the old men of the
neighborhood, wish to tell you that this debut ball is in honor of our
fairy godchild, Miss Judith Buck."
A ripple of applause ran around the room.
"We know that we are not doing the conventional thing in the
conventional way," the Judge continued, "but we wanted to do something
different for a girl who is different. Only a few days ago we were
sitting, talking, discussing matters and things, when the thought came
to us that we should like to do something for a girl who has never
been too busy to stop and have a pleasant word with us old men. It was
my friend, Pete Barnes, who thought of this way."
"Yes, my idee, my idee!" cried Pete.
"I am sure a great many of you already know our young friend. You have
seen her grow from childhood to young womanhood--watched her trudging
in to school in all weathers, determined to get an education at any
cost--noted her record at school, always at the top or near the top.
Perhaps others in Ryeville besides the old men have been cheered by
her happy face and ready wit and sympathy."
"Hear! Hear!"
"And now we old men wish to present formally to society Miss Judith
Buck. If you have any criticism to make of our method, please blame us
and not our guest of honor. This is a surprise party for her."
"Well, I call that right down pretty," said Big Josh to his Cousin
Bob. "I have been wanting all evening to get in a word with some of
the crowd concerning this young lady, but it looks like it's hard to
get away from the women folk long enough to talk sense."
"I believe I know what you mean," said Mr. Bucknor uneasily. "It won't
do, Josh, it won't do."
"The dickens it won't do, if we decide to claim her!"
"But the ladies, Josh, the ladies! I fancy Cousin Ann has told you
what she told me. The tale got my madam and the girls up in arms and I
can't cope with the whole biling of them. I'd say no more about it if
I were you. Of course we must go up and shake hands with the girl, and
do the polite, but the least said the soonest mended--about her being
related to us. You know well enough if the women folk are opposed it
would be harder on the girl than just letting the matter drop right
where it is."
"Well, I reckon I can control the ladies in my family," blustered Big
Josh.
"Ahem!" said Mr. Bob Bucknor, with a significant glance at his cousin,
"I must confess that I can't always do so. I find that entertaining
Cousin Ann Peyton, for months at a time, is about all I can do in the
way of coercion where the ladies of my family are concerned."
"I'm going to relieve you of that burden, Bob," declared Big Josh. "I
fully realize you have had more than your share lately, but the truth
of the matter is my lane is in mighty bad shape here lately. I have
just been talking to Cousin Ann about coming to us for a spell. In
fact, I've been telling her I'd come and fetch her before so very
long."
Judith stood demurely between Judge Middleton and Major Fitch and made
her bow to Ryeville society. They had asked Mrs. Buck to stand by her
daughter, but that lady begged to be excused.
"I'm just a private person," she said, "and it would flustrate me so
I'd be sure to have one of my attacks."
Everybody went up and shook hands with the guest of honor--even
Mildred Bucknor, although she did not enjoy it at all.
"It is the silliest thing I ever saw in my life," she declared. "As
though that Judith Buck wasn't forward enough as it is, without those
ridiculous old men forcing her on people this way. If we had known the
party was given to her, we never should have come, but now that we are
here we naturally must behave as gentle folk and be decent."
"Of course," echoed Nan. "We couldn't leave just as supper is
announced either. That would be impolite."
"Very!" said the fat boy.
The knowledge that the debut party was given to little Judith Buck in
no way served to throw a damper on the festivities. On the contrary,
the gaiety of the guests increased. Supper was a decided success and
the stylish waiters from Louisville saw to it that everyone was served
bountifully. Old Billy crept from behind the decorations and insisted
upon waiting on his mistress.
"She am the queen er the ball," he said arrogantly to the young darkey
who objected to giving up his tray to the old man.
"You mean the young lady who's havin' her comin' out?"
"No, I don't mean her, but my Miss Ann, who air a settin' over yonder
all kivered with di'ments."
Miss Ann was weary and tremulous. She had been strangely moved by
Judge Middleton's speech. Why, she did not know exactly, but all
evening she had been putting herself in Judith's place, wondering what
life would have held for her if at the turning point she had shown the
character and spunk of this young girl. She had gone with the rest to
shake hands with the girl after Judge Middleton's speech. She longed
to declare their relationship, but was afraid to until the family
accepted Judith. So Miss Ann merely took Judith's hand in hers and
pressed it gently. All she said was, "I am so happy to have met you."
"Oh, thank you, Miss Peyton. I am indeed glad to know you." Judith had
almost called her cousin. She devoutly hoped nobody had noticed it,
but there was no time for repinings because one was stand-offish. Too
many persons must be introduced to the debutante. Even had Mildred
Bucknor been inclined to chat with her former schoolmate she would not
have been allowed to do it. There were others who pressed forward to
greet the fairy godchild of the old men of Ryeville.
The general attitude of the assembly was good natured and
congratulatory. The aristocratic contingent was inclined to be a
little formal, but polite and not unkindly. The aristocrats were more
or less related to one another, and most of them were connected,
closely or distantly, with the Bucknors. Their formality in greeting
Judith might easily have been accounted for by the fact that Big Josh
Bucknor had kept the ball rolling in regard to old Dick Buck's kinship
with the family. From the moment Miss Ann Peyton had made the
statement that the Bucks and Bucknors were originally the same people,
Big Josh had been spreading the news. All of them had heard it before,
but nobody had ever given serious thought to it. To be related to
slovenly, lazy, dissipated old Dick Buck was out of the question. The
possibility of such a connection was laughably preposterous. It was
quite a different matter, however, to contemplate receiving into the
charmed circle a beautiful young girl who was everything her unworthy
old grandparent had not been.
"But we must go slowly," Little Josh Bucknor had said, when approached
by his cousin, Big Josh. "It's a great deal easier to get relations
than it is to get rid of them. Ahem--Cousin Ann, for instance! Cousin
Ann is so distantly related to us that one cannot trace the kinship,
but we got started wrong with her in old days and now you would think
she was as close as a mother or something.
"I'm mighty bothered about Cousin Ann, Big Josh. The fact of the
matter is, my wife won't stand for her. I can't even make her go up
and speak to the old lady. She's been talking to Cousin Betty
Throckmorton and they've been hatching up a scheme to freeze out
Cousin Ann and fix it so she'll have to go to an old ladies' home.
Cousin Mildred Bucknor is in on it, too, and from the way they've had
their heads together all evening I believe your daughters are in the
plot."
"The minxes! I don't doubt it. Poor Cousin Ann! She's never done
anybody any harm in her life," and Big Josh's round, moon-like face
expressed as much sorrow as it was capable of.
"No--never any harm--but I reckon Cousin Ann hasn't done much good in
her time. When you come right down to it, chronic visiting is a poor
way to spend your time, unless you are a powerful good visitor, which
Cousin Ann isn't. She got started wrong and never has got put on the
right road. I don't see what we are going to do about it. Bob Bucknor
is having more than his share, but I can't do a thing with my wife.
You see, she made her own living before she married me and she's got
no use for what she calls the unproductive consumer. She says that's
what Cousin Ann is. Mrs. Bob is getting worn out with it, too,
because her girls are grown now and they are kicking at having the
poor old lady come down on them on all occasions. It looks as though
we'd have to call a meeting of the family and thresh the thing out."
Little Josh, who had acquired the diminutive title merely because he
had been born two years later than his cousin, Big Josh, showed
despondency in every line of his six-feet-two.
"The women will all be banded against her and want to send her to a
home, but we can't stand for that," said Big Josh. "The women'll have
to get it into their heads that they can't boss the whole shooting
match. Well, come on and let's speak to our little cousin. Oh, you
needn't worry. I'm going to be as careful as possible and never say a
word I shouldn't. I can't take her into the family unless all the
others do. When we have the family meeting about Cousin Ann we might
bring up this business of Miss Judith Buck at the same time."
"Good idea! Good idea!" agreed Little Josh.
What Big Josh said to Judith was, "And how do you do, Miss Buck?
Remember you? Of course I remember you, but do you remember me?"
"And how could I forget you when you have given me many a lift on the
road? You never passed me by without picking me up." Judith's manner
was so frank and sweet and she smiled so brightly at Big Josh,
returning his vigorous handshake with a strong, unaffected clasp, that
the good-natured fellow was won over completely.
"Well, well! We've pretty near got the same name," he cried heartily.
"You are Buck and I am Bucknor. I wouldn't be astonished if we had
been the same in the beginning. Either your folks knocked the _nor_
off or my folks stuck it on. Ha! Ha! We may be related for all we
know."