The Colonel's Dream Page 22

  _Twenty-two_

  The atmosphere of the Treadwell home was charged, for the next fewdays, with electric currents. Graciella knew that her aunt was engagedto Colonel French. But she had not waited, the night before, to hearher aunt express the wish that the engagement should be kept secret.She was therefore bursting with information of which she couldmanifest no consciousness without confessing that she had beeneavesdropping--a thing which she knew Miss Laura regarded asdetestably immoral. She wondered at her aunt's silence. Except acertain subdued air of happiness there was nothing to distinguish MissLaura's calm demeanor from that of any other day. Graciella haddetermined upon her own attitude toward her aunt. She would kiss her,and wish her happiness, and give no sign that any thought of ColonelFrench had ever entered her own mind. But this little drama,rehearsed in the privacy of her own room, went unacted, since thecurtain did not rise upon the stage.

  The colonel came and went as usual. Some dissimulation was required onGraciella's part to preserve her usual light-hearted manner towardhim. She may have been to blame in taking the colonel's attentions asintended for herself; she would not soon forgive his slightingreference to her. In his eyes she had been only a child, who ought togo to school. He had been good enough to say that she had the makingof a fine woman. Thanks! She had had a lover for at least two years,and a proposal of marriage before Colonel French's shadow had fallenathwart her life. She wished her Aunt Laura happiness; no one coulddeserve it more, but was it possible to be happy with a man so lackingin taste and judgment?

  Her aunt's secret began to weigh upon her mind, and she effacedherself as much as possible when the colonel came. Her grandmother hadbegun to notice this and comment upon it, when the happening of acertain social event created a diversion. This was the annualentertainment known as the Assembly Ball. It was usually held later inthe year, but owing to the presence of several young lady visitors inthe town, it had been decided to give it early in the fall.

  The affair was in the hands of a committee, by whom invitations weresent to most people in the county who had any claims to gentility. Thegentlemen accepting were expected to subscribe to the funds for hallrent, music and refreshments. These were always the best the townafforded. The ball was held in the Opera House, a rather euphemistictitle for the large hall above Barstow's cotton warehouse, wherethird-class theatrical companies played one-night stands several timesduring the winter, and where an occasional lecturer or conjurer heldforth. An amateur performance of "Pinafore" had once been given there.Henry W. Grady had lectured there upon White Supremacy; the ReverendSam Small had preached there on Hell. It was also distinguished ashaving been refused, even at the request of the State Commissioner ofEducation, as a place for Booker T. Washington to deliver an address,which had been given at the town hall instead. The Assembly Balls hadalways been held in the Opera House. In former years the music hadbeen furnished by local Negro musicians, but there were no longer anyof these, and a band of string music was brought in from another town.So far as mere wealth was concerned, the subscribers touched suchextremes as Ben Dudley on the one hand and Colonel French on theother, and included Barclay Fetters, whom Graciella had met on theevening before her disappointment.

  The Treadwell ladies were of course invited, and the question of waysand means became paramount. New gowns and other accessories wereimperative. Miss Laura's one party dress had done service until it waspast redemption, and this was Graciella's first Assembly Ball. MissLaura took stock of the family's resources, and found that she couldafford only one gown. This, of course, must be Graciella's. Her ownmarriage would entail certain expenses which demanded some presentself-denial. She had played wall-flower for several years, but nowthat she was sure of a partner, it was a real sacrifice not to attendthe ball. But Graciella was young, and in such matters youth has aprior right; for she had yet to find her mate.

  Graciella magnanimously offered to remain at home, but was easilyprevailed upon to go. She was not entirely happy, for the humiliatingfailure of her hopes had left her for the moment without a recognisedadmirer, and the fear of old maidenhood had again laid hold of herheart. Her Aunt Laura's case was no consoling example. Not one man ina hundred would choose a wife for Colonel French's reasons. Most menmarried for beauty, and Graciella had been told that beauty thatmatured early, like her own, was likely to fade early.

  One humiliation she was spared. She had been as silent about her hopesas Miss Laura was about her engagement. Whether this was due to mereprudence or to vanity--the hope of astonishing her little world bythe unexpected announcement--did not change the comforting fact thatshe had nothing to explain and nothing for which to be pitied. If herfriends, after the manner of young ladies, had hinted at the subjectand sought to find a meaning in Colonel French's friendship, she hadsmiled enigmatically. For this self-restraint, whatever had been itsmotive, she now reaped her reward. The announcement of her aunt'sengagement would account for the colonel's attentions to Graciella asa mere courtesy to a young relative of his affianced.

  With regard to Ben, Graciella was quite uneasy. She had met him onlyonce since their quarrel, and had meant to bow to him politely, butwith dignity, to show that she bore no malice; but he hadostentatiously avoided her glance. If he chose to be ill-natured, shehad thought, and preferred her enmity to her friendship, herconscience was at least clear. She had been willing to forget hisrudeness and be a friend to him. She could have been his true friend,if nothing more; and he would need friends, unless he changed a greatdeal.

  When her mental atmosphere was cleared by the fading of her dream, Benassumed larger proportions. Perhaps he had had cause for complaint; atleast it was only just to admit that he thought so. Nor had hesuffered in her estimation by his display of spirit in not waiting tobe jilted but in forcing her hand before she was quite ready to playit. She could scarcely expect him to attend her to the ball; but hewas among the subscribers, and could hardly avoid meeting her, ordancing with her, without pointed rudeness. If he did not ask her todance, then either the Virginia reel, or the lancers, or quadrilles,would surely bring them together; and though Graciella sighed, she didnot despair. She could, of course, allay his jealousy at once bytelling him of her Aunt Laura's engagement, but this was not yetpracticable. She must find some other way of placating him.

  Ben Dudley also had a problem to face in reference to the ball--aproblem which has troubled impecunious youth since balls wereinvented--the problem of clothes. He was not obliged to go to theball. Graciella's outrageous conduct relieved him of any obligation toinvite her, and there was no other woman with whom he would have caredto go, or who would have cared, so far as he knew, to go with him. Forhe was not a lady's man, and but for his distant relationship wouldprobably never have gone to the Treadwells'. He was looked upon byyoung women as slow, and he knew that Graciella had often beenimpatient at his lack of sprightliness. He could pay his subscription,which was really a sort of gentility tax, the failure to meet whichwould merely forfeit future invitations, and remain at home. He didnot own a dress suit, nor had he the money to spare for one. He, orthey, for he and his uncle were one in such matters, were in debtalready, up to the limit of their credit, and he had sold the lastbale of old cotton to pay the last month's expenses, while the newcrop, already partly mortgaged, was not yet picked. He knew that someyoung fellows in town rented dress suits from Solomon Cohen, who,though he kept only four suits in stock at a time, would send to NewYork for others to rent out on this occasion, and return themafterwards. But Ben would not wear another man's clothes. He had borneinsults from Graciella that he never would have borne from any oneelse, and that he would never bear again; but there were things atwhich his soul protested. Nor would Cohen's suits have fitted him. Hewas so much taller than the average man for whom store clothes weremade.

  He remained in a state of indecision until the day of the ball. Latein the evening he put on his black cutaway coat, which was getting alittle small, trousers to match, and a white waistcoat, and started totown on hors
eback so as to arrive in time for the ball, in case heshould decide, at the last moment, to take part.