THE BALL.
Lady Randolph's ball was one of the first of the season, and as it was
the first ball she had ever given, and both Lucy and her husband were
favourites in society, it was looked forward to as the forerunner of
much excitement and pleasure, and with a freshness of interest and
anticipation which, unless in April, is scarcely to be expected in town.
The rooms in Park Lane, though there was nothing specially exquisite or
remarkable in their equipment, were handsome and convenient. They formed
a good background for the people assembled under their many lights
without withdrawing the attention of any one from the looks, the
dresses, the bright eyes, and jewels collected within, which, perhaps,
after all, is an advantage in its way. And everybody who was in town was
there, from the Duchess, upon whom the Contessa had designs of so
momentous a character, down to those wandering young men-about-town who
form the rank and file of the great world and fill up all the corners.
There was, it is true, not much room to dance, but a bewildering amount
of people, great names, fine toilettes, and beautiful persons.
The Contessa timed her arrival at the most effective moment, when the
rooms were almost full, but not yet crowded, and most of the more
important guests had already arrived. It was just after the first
greetings of people seeing each other for the first time were over, and
an event of some kind was wanted. At such a moment princes and
princesses are timed to arrive and bring the glory of the assembly to a
climax. Lucy had no princess to honour her. But when out of the crowd
round the doorway there were seen to emerge two beautiful and stately
women unknown, the sensation was almost as great. One of them, who had
the air of a Queen-Mother, was in dark dress studiously arranged to be a
little older, a little more massive and magnificent than a woman of the
Contessa's age required to wear (and which, accordingly, threw up all
the more, though this, to do her justice, was a coquetry more or less
unintentional, her unfaded beauty); and the other, an impersonation of
youth, contemplated the world by her side with that open-eyed and
sovereign gaze, proud and modest, but without any of the shyness or
timidity of a _debutante_ which becomes a young princess in her own
right. There was a general thrill of wonder and admiration wherever they
were seen. Who were they, everybody asked? Though the name of the
Forno-Populo was too familiarly known to a section of society, that is
not to say that the ladies of Lucy's party, or even all the men had
heard it bandied from mouth to mouth, or were aware that it had ever
been received with less than respect: and the universal interest was
spoiled only here and there in a corner by the laugh of the male
gossips, who made little signs to each other, in token of knowing more
than their neighbours. It was said among the more innocent that this was
an Italian lady of distinction with her daughter or niece, and her
appearance, if a little more marked and effective than an English lady's
might have been, was thus fully explained and accounted for by the
difference in manners and that inalienable dramatic gift, which it is
common to believe in England, foreigners possess. No doubt their
entrance was very dramatic. The way in which they contrasted and
harmonised with each other was too studied for English traditions,
which, in all circumstances, cling to something of the impromptu, an air
of accidentalism. They were a spectacle in themselves as they advanced
through the open central space, from which the ordinary guests
instinctively withdrew to leave room for them. "Is it the Princess?"
people asked, and craned their necks to see. It must at least be a
German Serenity--the Margravine of Pimpernikel, the Hereditary Princess
of Weissnichtwo--but more beautiful and graceful than English prejudice
expects German ladies to be. Ah, Italian! that explained
everything--their height, their grace, their dark beauty, their
effective pose. The Latin races alone know how to arrange a spectacle in
that easy way, how to produce themselves so that nobody could be
unimpressed. There was a dramatic pause before them, a hum of excitement
after they had passed. Who were they? Evidently the most distinguished
persons present--the guests of the evening. Sir Tom, uneasy enough, and
looking grave and preoccupied, which was so far from being his usual
aspect, led them into the great drawing-room, where the Duchess, who had
daughters who danced, had taken her place. He did not look as if he
liked it, but the Contessa, for her part, looked round her with a
radiant smile, and bowed very much as the Queen does in a state
ceremonial to the people she knew. She performed a magnificent curtsey,
half irony, half defiance, before the Dowager Lady Randolph, who looked
on at this progress speechless. How Lucy could permit it; how Tom could
have the assurance to do it; occupied the Dowager's thoughts. She had
scarcely self-command to make a stiff sweep of recognition as the
procession passed.
The Duchess was at the upper end of the room, with all her daughters
about her. Besides the younger ones who danced, there were two
countesses supporting their mother. She was the greatest lady present,
and she felt the dignity. But when she perceived the little opening that
took place among the groups about, and, looking up, perceived the
Contessa sweeping along in that regal separation, you might have blown
her Grace away with a breath. Not only was the Duchess the most
important person in the room, but her reception of the newcomer would be
final, a sort of social life or death for the Contessa. But the
supplicant approached with the air of a queen, while the arbiter of fate
grew pale and trembled at the sight. If there was a tremor in her
Grace's breast there was no less a tremor under the Contessa's velvet.
But Madame di Forno-Populo had this great advantage, that she knew
precisely what to do, and the Duchess did not know: she was fully
prepared, and the Duchess taken by surprise: and still more that her
Grace was a shy woman, whose intellect, such as it was, moved slowly,
while the Contessa was very clever, and as prompt as lightning. She
perceived at a glance that the less time the great lady had to think the
better, and hastened forward for a step or two, hurrying her stately
pace, "Ah, Duchess!" she said, "how glad I am to meet so old an
acquaintance. And I want, above all things, to have your patronage for
my little one. Bice--the Duchess, an old friend of my prosperous days,
permits me to present you to her." She drew her young companion forward
as she spoke, while the Duchess faltered and stammered a "How d'ye do?"
and looked in vain for succour to her daughters, who were looking on.
Then Bice showed her blood. It had not been set down in the Contessa's
programme what she was to do, so that the action took her patroness by
surprise, as well as the great lady whom it was so important to
captivate. While the Duchess stood stiff and awkward, making a
conventional curtsey against her will, and with a conventional smile on
her mouth, Bice, with the air of a young princess, innocently, yet
consciously superior to all her surroundings, suddenly stepped forward,
and taking the Duchess's hand, bent her stately young head to kiss it.
There was in the sudden movement that air of accident, of impulse, which
we all love. It overcame all the tremors of the great lady. She said,
"My dear!" in the excitement of the moment, and bent forward to kiss the
cheek of this beautiful young creature, who was so deferential, so
reverent in her young pride. And the Duchess's daughters did not
disapprove! Still more wonderful than the effect on the Duchess was the
effect upon these ladies, of whose criticisms their mother stood in
dread. They drew close about the lovely stranger, and it immediately
became apparent to the less important guests that the Italian ladies,
the heroines of the evening, had amalgamated with the ducal party--as it
was natural they should.
Never had there been a more complete triumph. The Contessa stepped in
and made hay while the sun shone. She waved off with a scarcely
perceptible movement of her hand several of her intimates who would have
gathered round her, and vouchsafed only a careless word to Montjoie, who
had hastened to present himself. The work to which she devoted herself
was the amusement of the Duchess, who was not, to tell the truth, very
easily amused. But Madame di Forno-Populo had infinite resources, and
she succeeded. She selected the Dowager Lady Randolph for her butt, and
made fun of her so completely that her Grace almost exceeded the bounds
of decorum in her laughter.
"You must not, really; you must not--she is a great friend of mine," the
Duchess said. But perhaps there was not much love between the two
ladies. And thus by degrees the conversation was brought round to the
Populina palace and the gay scenes so long ago.
"You must have heard of our ruin," the Contessa said, looking full into
the Duchess's face; "everybody has heard of that. I have been too poor
to live in my own house. We have wandered everywhere, Bice and I. When
one is proud it is more easy to be poor away from home. But we are in
very high spirits to-day, the child and I," she added. "All can be put
right again. My little niece has come into a fortune. She has made an
inheritance. We received the news to-night only. That is how I have
recovered my spirits--and to see you, Duchess, and renew the beautiful
old times."
"Oh, indeed!" the Duchess said, which was not much; but then she was a
woman of few words.
"Yes, we came to London very poor," said the Contessa. "What could I do?
It was the moment to produce the little one. We have no Court. Could I
seek for her the favour of the Piedmontese? Oh no! that was impossible.
I said to myself she shall come to that generous England, and my old
friends there will not refuse to take my Bice by the hand."
"Oh no; I am sure not," said the Duchess.
As for Bice she had long ere now set off with Montjoie, who had hung
round her from the moment of her entrance into the room, and whose
admiration had grown to such a height by the cumulative force of
everybody else's admiration swelling into it, that he could scarcely
keep within those bounds of compliment which are permitted to an adorer
who has not yet acquired the right to be hyperbolical.
"Oh yes, it's pretty enough: but you don't see half how pretty it is,
for you can't see yourself, don't you know?" said this not altogether
maladroit young practitioner. Bice gave him a smile like one of the
Contessa's smiles, which said everything that was needful without giving
her any trouble. But now that the effect of her entrance was attained,
and all that dramatic business done with, the girl's soul was set upon
enjoyment. She loved dancing as she loved every other form of rapid
movement. The only drawback was that there was so little room. "Why do
they make the rooms so small?" she said pathetically; a speech which was
repeated from mouth to mouth like a witticism, as something so
characteristic of the young Italian, w hose marble halls would never be
overcrowded: though, as a matter of fact, Bice knew very little of
marble halls.
"Were you ever in the gallery at the Hall?" she asked. "To go from one
end to the other, that was worth the while. It was as if one flew."
"I never knew they danced down there," said Montjoie. "I thought it very
dull, don't you know, till you appeared. If I had known you had dances,
and fun going on, and other fellows cutting one out----"
"There was but one other fellow," said Bice gravely. "I have seen in
this country no one like him. Ah, why is he not here? He is more fun
than any one, but better than fun. He is----"
Montjoie's countenance was like a thunder-cloud big with fire and flame.
"Trevor, I suppose you mean. I never thought that duffer could dance. He
was a great sap at school, and a hideous little prig, giving himself
such airs! But if you think all that of him----"
"It was not Mr. Trevor," said Bice. Then catching sight of Lady Randolph
at a little distance, she made a dart towards her on her partner's arm.
"I am telling Lord Montjoie of my partner at the Hall," she said. "Ah,
Milady, let him come and look! How he would clap his hands to see the
lights and the flowers. But we could not have our gymnastique with all
the people here."
Lucy was very pale; standing alone, abstracted amid the gay crowd, as if
she did not very well know where she was.
"Baby? Oh, he is quite well, he is fast asleep," she said, looking up
with dim eyes. And then there broke forth a little faint smile on her
face. "You were always good to him," she said.
"So it was the baby," said Montjoie, delighted. "What a one you are to
frighten a fellow. If it had been Trevor I think I'd have killed him.
How jolly of you to do gymnastics with that little beggar; he's
dreadfully delicate, ain't he, not likely to live? But you're awfully
cruel to me. You think no more of giving a wring to my heart than if it
was a bit of rag. I think you'd like to see the blood come."
"Let us dance," said Bice with great composure. She was bent upon
enjoyment. She had not calculated upon any conversation. Indeed she
objected to conversation on this point even when it did not interfere
with the waltz. All could be settled much more easily by the Contessa,
and if marriage was to be the end, that was a matter of business not
adapted for a ballroom. She would not allow herself to be led away to
the conservatory or any other retired nook such as Montjoie felt he must
find for this affecting purpose. Bice did not want to be proposed to.
She wanted to dance. She abandoned him for other partners without the
slightest evidence of regret. She even accepted, when he was just about
to seize upon her at the end of a dance, Mr. Derwentwater, preferring to
dance the Lancers with him to the bliss of sitting out with Lord
Montjoie. That forsaken one gazed at her with a consternation beyond
words. To leave him and the proposal that was on his very lips for a
square dance with a tutor! The young Marquis gazed after her as she
disappeared with a certain awe. It could not be that she preferred
Derwentwater. It must be her cleverness which he could not fathom, and
some wonderful new system of Italian subtlety to draw a fellow on.
"I like it better than standing still--I like it--enough," said Bice.
"To dance, that is always something." Mr. Derwentwater also felt, like
Lord Montjoie, that the young lady gave but little importance to her
partner.
"You like the rhythm, the measure, the woven paces and the waving
hands," her companion said.
Bice stared at him a little, not comprehending. "But you prefer," he
continued, "like most ladies, the modern Bacchic dance, the whirl, the
round, though what the old Puritans call promiscuous dancing of men and
women together was not, I fear, Greek----"
"I know nothing of the Greeks," said Bice. "Vienna is the best place for
the valse, but Greek--no, we never were there."
"I am thinking of classic terms," said MTutor with a smile, but he liked
her all the better for not knowing. "We have in vases and in sculpture
the most exquisite examples. You have never perhaps given your attention
to ancient art? I cannot quite agree with Mr. Alma Tadema on that point.
He is a great artist, but I don't think the wild leap of his dances is
sanctioned by anything we possess."
"Do not take wild leaps," said Bice, "but keep time. That is all you
require in a quadrille. Why does every one laugh and go wrong. But it is
a shame! One should not dance if one will not take the trouble. And why
does _he_ not do anything?" she said, in the pause between two figures,
suddenly coming in sight of Jock, who stood against the wall in their
sight, following her about with eyes over which his brows were curved
heavily; "he does not dance nor ride; he only looks on."
"He reads," said Mr. Derwentwater. "The boy will be a great scholar if
he keeps it up."
"One cannot read in society," said Bice. "Now, you must remember, you go
_that_ way; you do not come after me."
"I should prefer to come after you. That is the heavenly way when one
can follow such a leader. You remember what your own Dante----"
"Oh!" murmured Bice, with a long sigh of impatience, "I have no Dante. I
have a partner who will not give himself the pains--Now," she said, with
an emphatic little pat of her foot and movement of her hands. Her soul
was in the dance, though it was only the Lancers. With a slight line of
annoyance upon her forehead she watched his performance, taking upon
herself the responsibility, pushing him by his elbow when he went wrong,
or leading him in the right way. Mr. Derwentwater had thought to carry
off his mistakes with a laugh, but this was not Bice's way of thinking.
She made him a little speech when the dance was over.
"I think you are a great scholar too," she said; "but it will be well
that you should not come forward again with a lady to dance the Lancers,
for you cannot do it. And that will sometimes make a girl to have the
air of being also awkward, which is not just."
Mr. Derwentwater grew very red while this speech was making to him. He
was a man of great and varied attainments, and had any one told him that
he would blush about so trivial a matter as a Lancers----! But he grew
very red and almost stammered as he said with humility, "I am afraid I
am very deficient, but with you to guide me--Signorina, there is one
divine hour which I never forget--when you sang that evening. May I
call? May I see you for half an hour to-morrow?"
"Oh," said Bice, with a deep-drawn breath, "here is some one else coming
who does not dance very well! Talk to him about the Greek, and Lord
Montjoie will take me. To-morrow! oh yes, with pleasure," she said as
she took Montjoie's arm and darted away into the crowd. Montjoie was
all glowing and radiant with pride and joy.
"I thought I'd hang off and on and take my chance, don't you know? I
thought you'd soon get sick of that sort. You and I go together like two
birds. I have been watching you all this time, you and old Derwentwater.
What was that he said about to-morrow? I want to talk about to-morrow
too--unless, indeed to-night----"
"Oh, Lord Montjoie," cried Bice, "dance! It was not to talk you came
here, and you can dance better than you talk," she added, with that
candour which distinguished her. And Montjoie flew away with her rushing
and whirling. He could dance. It was almost his only accomplishment.