I dusted and shook out every cell in my brain, during the night, in the
hope of finding any inspiration which might save me from the servants'
ball; but I could think of nothing, except that I might suddenly come
down with a contagious disease. The objection to this scheme was that a
doctor would no doubt be sent for, and would read my secret in my lack
of temperature.
When morning came, I was sullenly resigned to the worst. "Kismet!" said
I, as I unfolded her ladyship's dresses, and was blinded by the glare of
the scarlet satin.
"Try it on," commanded my mistress. "I want to get an idea how you will
look."
Naturally, the red thing was a Directoire thing; and putting it on over
my snug little black frock, I was like a cricket crawling into an empty
lobster-shell. But to my surprise and annoyance, the lobster-shell was
actually becoming to the cricket.
I didn't want to look nice and be a credit to Lady Turnour. I wanted to
look a fright, and didn't care if I were a disgrace to her. But the
startling scarlet satin was Liberty satin, and therefore had a sheen,
and a soft way of folding that redeemed it somewhat. Its bright poppy
colour, its emerald beetle-wings shading to gold, and its glittering
fringes that waved like a wheat-field stirred by a breeze, all gave a
bizarre sort of "value," as artists say, to my pale yellow hair and dark
eyes. I couldn't help seeing that the dreadful dress made my skin pearly
white; and I was afraid that, when I had altered the thing, instead of
looking like a frump, I should only present the appearance of a rather
fast little actress. I should be looked at in my scarlet abomination.
People would stare, and smile. The Duchesse de Melun would say to the
Marquise de Roquemartine: "Who is that young person? She looks exactly
like someone I know--that little Lys d'Angely the millionaire-man,
Charretier, is so silly about."
"You see, you can alter it very easily," said Lady Turnour.
"Yes, miladi."
"Have you got any dancing slippers?"
"No--that is--I don't know--"
"Don't be stupid. I will give you ten francs to buy yourself a pair of
red stockings and red slippers to match. The stockings needn't be silk.
They won't show much. Dane can take you in the car to Clermont-Ferrand
this afternoon. I want you to be all right, from head to feet--different
from any of the other maids."
I didn't doubt that I would be different--very different.
Tap, tap, a knock at the door.
"Ontray!" cried her ladyship.
The door opened. Mr. Herbert Stokes stood on the threshold.
"I say, Lady T--" he began, when he saw the scarlet vision, and stopped.
"What is it?" inquired the wife of his stepfather--rather a complicated
relation.
"I--er--wanted--" drawled Bertie. "But it doesn't matter. Another
time."
"You needn't mind _her_," said Lady Turnour, with a nod toward me. "It's
only my maid. I'm giving her a dress for the servants' ball to-night."
Bertie gave vent to the ghost of a whistle, below his breath. He looked
at me, twisting the end of his small fair moustache, as he had looked at
Jack Dane last night; and though his expression was different, I liked
it no better.
"Thought it was a new guest," said he.
"I suppose you didn't take her for a lady, did you?" my mistress was
curious to know. "You pride yourself on your discrimination, your
stepfather says."
"There's nothing the matter with my discrimination," replied the young
man, smiling. But his smile was not for her ladyship. It was for me; and
it was meant to be a piquant little secret between us two.
How well I remembered asking the chauffeur, "_Could_ you know a Bertie?"
And how he answered that he had known one, and consequently didn't want
to know another. Here was the same Bertie; and now that I too knew him,
I thought I would prefer to know another, rather than know more of him.
Yet he was good-looking, almost handsome. He had short, curly light
hair, eyes as blue as turquoises, seen by daylight, full red lips under
the little moustache, a white forehead, a dimple in the chin, and a very
good figure. He had also an educated, perhaps too well educated, voice,
which tried to advertise that it had been made at Oxford; and he had
hands as carefully kept as a pretty woman's, with manicured,
filbert-shaped nails.
"You're making her jolly smart," he went on. "She'll do you credit."
"I want she should," retorted her ladyship, gratified and ungrammatical.
"She must give me a dance--what?" condescended the gilded youth. "Does
she speak English?"
"Yes. So you'd better be careful what you say before her."
Bertie telegraphed another smile to me. I looked at the faded damask
curtains; at the mantelpiece with its gilded clock and two side-pieces,
Louis Seize at his worst, considered good enough for a bedroom; at the
drapings of the enormous bed; at the portière covering the door of Sir
Samuel's dressing-room; at the kaleidoscopic claret-and-blue figures on
the carpet; in fact, at everything within reach of my eyes except Mr.
Herbert Stokes.
"I've nothing to say that she can't hear," said he, virtuously. "I only
wanted to know if you'd like to see the gardens? The marquise sent me to
ask. Several people who haven't been here before are goin'. It's a lot
warmer this mornin', so you won't freeze."
Lady Turnour said that she would go, and ordered me to find her hat and
coat. As I turned to get them, Bertie smiled at me again, and threw me a
last glance as he followed my mistress out of the room.
I begin to be afraid there is an innate vanity in me which nothing can
thoroughly eradicate without tearing me up by the roots; for when I was
ready to alter that red dress, instead of trying to make it look as
ridiculous as possible, something forced me to do my best, to study
fitness and becomingness. I do hope this is self-respect and not
vanity; but to hope that is, I fear, like believing in a thing which you
know isn't true.
I worked all the morning at ensmalling the gown (if one can enlarge, why
can't one ensmall?) and by luncheon time it was finished. I had seen
Jack at breakfast, but had no chance for a word with him alone, although
he succeeded valiantly in keeping other chauffeurs, and valets, from
making my acquaintance. As I stopped only long enough for a cup of
coffee and a roll, I didn't give him too much trouble; but at luncheon
it was different. Everyone was chattering about the ball in the evening
(a privilege promised, it seemed, as a reward for hard work on the
occasion of a real ball above stairs), and house servants and visitors
alike were all so gay and good-natured that it would have been stupid to
snub them. Jack saw this, and though he protected me as well as he could
in an unobtrusive way, he put out no bristles.
The general excitement was contagious, and if it hadn't been for the
panic I was in about the duchess, I should have thrown myself wholly
into the spirit of the hive, buzzing like the busiest bee in it. Even as
it was, I couldn't help entering into the fun of the thing, for it was
fun in its queer way. Something like being on the stage of a third-rate
theatre in the midst of a farce, where the actors mistake you for one of
themselves, calling upon you to play your part, while you alone know
that you are a leading member of the Comédie Française, just dropped in
at this funny place to look on.
Here, the stage was on a much grander scale, and the play more amusing
than in the couriers' dining-rooms at the hotels where I had been. At
the hotels, the maids and valets scarcely knew each other. Some were in
a hurry, others were tired or in a bad humour. Here the little company
had been together for days. Meals were a relaxation, a time for
flirtation and gossip about their own and each other's masters and
mistresses. Each servant felt the liveliest interest in the "Monsieur"
or "Madame" of his or her neighbour; and the stories that were
exchanged, the criticisms that were made, would have caused the hair of
those _messieurs_ and those _mesdames_ to curl.
If I was openly approved by the gentlemen's gentlemen, Mr. Jack Dane had
the undisguised admiration of the ladies' ladies; and he received their
advances with tact. Dances for the evening were asked for and promised
right and left, among the assemblage, always dependent upon summons from
Above. It was agreed that, if a Monsieur or Madame wished to dance with
you, no previous engagement was to stand, for all the castles and big
houses from far and near would be emptied in honour of the ball, from
drawing-rooms to servants' halls, and quality was to mingle with
quantity, as on similar occasions in England, whence--the chef
explained--came the fashion. It was a feature of _l'entente cordiale_,
and the same agreeable understanding was to level all barriers, for the
night, between high and low.
Some of the visitors' _femmes de chambres_ were pretty, coquettish
creatures, and I was delighted to find that they were all called by
their mistresses' titles. The maid of my _bête noire_ was "Duchesse";
she who pertained to our hostess was "Marquise," and I blossomed into
"Miladi." The girls were looking forward to rivalling their mistresses
in _chic_, and also in the admiration of the real princes and dukes and
counts; that they would have an exclusive right to the attentions of
these gentlemen's understudies also seemed to be expected.
After half an hour at table in the servants' hall, there was nothing
left for me to find out about the owners of the castle and their guests;
but the principal interest of everyone seemed to centre upon the affair
between Mr. Herbert Stokes and the heiress sister of Madame la Marquise.
There were even bets among the valets as to how it was to end, and
Bertie's man, who looked as if he could speak volumes if he would, was a
person of importance.
All the men admired Miss Nelson extremely, but the women were divided in
opinion. Her own maid, a bilious Frenchwoman, with a jealous eye, said
that the American miss was _une petite chatte_, who was playing off Mr.
Stokes against the Duc de Divonne, and it was a pity that the handsome
young English monsieur could not be warned of her unworthiness. The duke
was not handsome, and he was neither young nor rich, but--these
Americans were out for titles, just as titles were out for American
money. Why else had the marriage of Madame la Marquise, Miss Daisy's
elder sister, made itself? Miss Daisy liked Mr. Stokes, but he could not
give her a title. The duke could--_if_ he would. But would he? She was
rich, but there were others richer. People said that he was wary. Yet he
admired Miss Daisy, it was true, and if by her flirtation with Mr.
Stokes she could pique him into a proposal, she would have her triumph.
This was only one of many dramas going on in the house, but it was the
most interesting to me, as to others, and I determined to look with all
my might at the duke and at pretty Miss Nelson, of whom I had only had a
glimpse on arriving. If she were really nice, I did hope that Bertie
wouldn't get her!
My costume pressed as weightily on her ladyship's mind, as if I had been
a favourite poodle about to be sent, all ribboned and clipped, to a dog
show. She did not forget the slippers and stockings, and the chauffeur
was ordered to take me into Clermont-Ferrand to buy them. Fortunately
she didn't know how much I looked forward to the excursion!
At precisely three o'clock I walked out to the castle garage, near the
stables, and found Jack getting the car ready; but I did not find him
alone. The garage is a big and splendid one, and not only were the three
household dragons in their stalls, but four or five strange beasts, pets
of visitors; and the finest of these (after our blue Aigle) was the
white Majestic of the Duc de Divonne. That gentleman, whom I recognized
easily from a description breathed into my ear by a countess's countess,
at luncheon, was in the garage when I arrived, showing off his
automobile to Miss Nelson. The ducal chauffeur lurked in the background,
duster in hand, and Mr. Herbert Stokes occupied as large a space as
possible in the foreground.
Nobody deigned to take any open notice of me, though Bertie threw me a
stealthy smile of recognition, carefully screened from Miss Nelson, but
as the Aigle was swallowing a last refreshing draught of petrol, I had
time to observe the actors in the little drama whose plot I had already
heard.
Yes, though Miss Daisy Nelson looked even prettier than I thought her
last night, I could quite believe the bilious maid's statement that she
was _une petite chatte_. Her green-gray eyes, very effective under thick
masses of auburn hair, were turned up at the outer corners in a
fascinating, sly little way; and her cupid-bow lips, which turned down
at _their_ corners, were a bit redder than Nature's formula ordains.
Nevertheless I couldn't help liking her, just as one likes a lovely,
playful Persian kitten which may rub its adorable nose against your
hand, or scratch with its naughty claws. And she was enjoying herself so
much, the pretty, expensive-looking creature! As Pamela would say, it
was evident that she was "having the time of her life," revelling in the
admiration and rivalry of the two men; delighted with her own power over
them, and her importance as a beauty and an heiress, the only unmarried
girl in the house party; amusing herself by making one man miserable and
the other happy, sending them up and down on a mental sea-saw, by turns.
As for the little Duc de Divonne, his profile is of the Roman Emperor
order, and his eyes like the last coals in a dying fire. I said to
myself that, if Miss Nelson should become a duchess, she would have to
pay for some of her girlish antics in pre-duchess days. Still, I decided
that if I had to choose, it would be the duke before Bertie.
The girl kept both her men busy, and after the first glance Bertie
ignored my existence: but the Duke, fired by a moment's neglect, flamed
out with an inspiration. He "dared" Miss Nelson to take a lesson from
him in driving his car, with no other chaperon than the chauffeur. "All
right, I will," said she, "and I bet you I'll be an expert after one
trial."
"What do you bet?" asked the Duke.
She smiled flirtatiously in answer and Bertie stood forlorn, his nice
pink complexion turning an ugly salmon colour. In a minute the white car
was off, Miss Nelson beside the duke, the chauffeur like a small nut in
a large shell, lolling in the tonneau. Bertie turned to us, and having
looked kindly at me, sharply demanded of Jack where he was going.
"Mademoiselle has an errand."
"Ah! then I'll drive Mademoiselle. Wish I had a tenner for every time
I've driven an Aigle! You can sit inside, in case there's work to do."
My eyes opened widely, but I said nothing. I glanced at Jack, and saw
his face harden.
"I have been told to drive the car, and it is my duty to drive it unless
I receive different orders," said he.
"I'm giving you different orders," said Bertie.
"I take my orders only from the owner of the car."
"You're beastly impertinent," snapped Bertie, "and I'll report you to
Sir Samuel."
"As you choose," returned Jack, turning the starting-handle.
"Why don't you say 'sir' when you speak to me? You don't seem to have
trained into chauffeur manners yet."
"If I were your chauffeur, you would have the right to criticize. As I'm
not, and never will be, you haven't. Mademoiselle, the car's ready. Will
you get in?"
I jumped into my usual place, beside the driver's seat.
"Ah, you sit by the chauffeur, do you?" said Bertie. "I don't wonder he
wants to keep his job."
For an instant I was afraid that Jack would strike him.
My blood rushed to my head, and I half rose from the seat, with a
choked, warning whisper of "Jack!"
It was the first time I'd called him that, except to myself, and I saw
him give the faintest start. He looked at the other man, and then,
though Bertie stepped quickly forward as if to open the car door and
jump in, he sprang to his place, and we were off.
"He means mischief," I said, when I felt able to speak.
"So do I, if he does," answered Jack.
"I wish you'd do me a favour," I went on. "Keep away from that awful
ball to-night."
"What! With you there? I know my business better."
I couldn't help laughing. "Your present business, I believe," said I,
"is that of a chauffeur."
"With extra duty as watch-dog."
"I can't bear to have you see me in the ridiculous get-up Lady Turnour
is making me wear, that's the selfish part of my reason--and--and it
will be so _horrid_ for you, in every way."
"I'm callous to anything they can do now, except one thing."
"What?"
"If you don't know already, I mean where you're concerned."
"You're very kind to me."
"Kind? Yes, I am very 'kind.' A man has to be abnormally 'kind' to want
to look after a girl like you."
"How bitterly you speak!" I exclaimed, hardly understanding him.
"I feel bitter sometimes. Do you wonder? But for heaven's sake, don't
let's talk of me. Let's talk of something pleasant. Would you care to do
a little sight-seeing in Clermont-Ferrand, if your shopping doesn't take
us too long?"
I assured him that it would not take ten minutes; and it didn't take
more. I saved a franc on the transaction, too, which would console her
ladyship if I got back a few minutes late; and with that thought in my
mind, I abandoned myself to the joy of the expedition. We went to the
Petrifying Fountain, and inspected its strange menagerie of stone
animals; we made a dash into the Cathedral where St. Louis was married,
and looked at the beautiful thirteenth-century glass in the windows, and
the strange frescoes; we rushed in and out of Notre Dame du Port,
stopping on the way in the _Place_ where the first Crusade was
proclaimed, and to gaze at the house and statue of Pascal. Jack would
squander some of his extremely hard earned money on a box of the burnt
almonds for which Clermont-Ferrand is celebrated; and when we had seen
everything I dared stop to see, he ran the car to Montferrand, to show
me some ancient and wonderful houses, famous all over France. Eventually
he threatened to spin me out to Royat, but I pleaded the certainty that
Lady Turnour would wish to change into her smartest tea-gown for "feef
oclocky" and that I must be there to assist at the ceremony.
So we turned castleward, with all the speed the law allows, if not a
little more; and I arrived with a pair of red stockings, cheap
high-heeled slippers, a franc in change, and a queer presentiment of
dangerous things to happen.