CHAPTER XI
THE CITY STUDIO
"I'm quite anxious to see this paragon of a poet," said Nan, as she satin Patty's room one evening.
Patty was dressing for the party at the Blaneys', and Sam was coming totake her.
"You'll like him, Nan, you can't help it. He is most interesting,--nota bit like other men. And they have such delightful people at theirparties. They do big things, you know,--really big."
"Such as what?"
"Oh, they sing, and play on unusual instruments,--zitherns andlutes----"
"That doesn't sound so awfully wonderful."
"No; I suppose not. But it's the _way_ they do it,--and the--theatmosphere, you know, and the general exalted effect----"
"The what?"
"Oh, I don't know how to express it so you'll understand,--but I likeit all. It's on a higher plane than the usual evening party."
"Don't they dance?"
"Yes, some. But more Solo dances, and Interpretative ones. I'm goingto do a splendid dance for them, soon. Mr. Blaney is making it up forme."
"Can I see it?"
"I guess so. I think they mean to have a large audience for thatoccasion."
"What _are_ you doing, Patty? Are you going to wear your hair likethat?"
"Yes, Sam likes it so."
"But, my gracious goodness, you look like a crazy person!"
"Oh, not so bad as that."
Patty spoke carelessly, but her colour heightened a little. She wassitting at her toilet mirror, while Nan lounged in an easy chair, nearby. Patty's golden hair was drawn smoothly down from a central part,and tightly confined at the back of her neck, where it was rolled andtwisted into an immense knot, hard and round, that was exceedinglyunbecoming.
"It's awful!" declared Nan, "I never saw you look really plain before."
"It's all right," and Patty tossed her head. "That fluffy, curlybusiness is a sign of a light-weight brain,--this arrangement is farmore intellectual."
"And is that your gown!" Nan fairly gasped, as Patty took from herwardrobe a strange-looking affair of mulberry-coloured woolen goods.
"Yes, it's really stunning, Nan. I had it made by Alla Blaney'sdressmaker, and it's a triumph."
"Looks to me as if it had been made by a dressmaker in the house."
"Not much! It's a marvel of line and type. Wait till it's all on."
Patty adjusted the shapeless garment, which hung in loose folds fromher shoulders, but which, with its muddy hue and clumsy drapery, wasdecidedly unattractive. Over it she put on a sort of tunic of greenand orange damask, edged with glittering sequins.
"Oh," cried Nan, relieved, "I didn't know it was a fancy dress affair."
"It isn't," returned Patty. "They all wear this sort of clothes."
"They _do_? Are they supposed to be brainy?--Blaney, I mean!"
"Don't be unpleasant, Nancy, it doesn't suit you. And, honestly, Ilike these people, and I like to be with them. Now, it would be sillyof me to wear my usual dance frocks where everybody dresses quitedifferently. So, don't criticise unkindly, will you?"
"Of course not, you goosie. But it seems a shame when you look sopretty in your own clothes, to wear these hideous duds."
"Thank you for the compliment on the side, but the Cosmic Centre peoplethink I look rather well in these things. I haven't shown them thisgown yet, but I know they'll love it."
"It's lucky for you your father isn't at home! He'd make you take itright straight off."
"Oh, no, he wouldn't, Nancy-lady. I'm not a little girl any more, tobe scolded and sent to bed. There, I'm ready."
Patty had added a long string of queer-looking beads, terminating in ahuge pendant of Oriental effect. It was composed of coloured stonesset in dingy metalwork.
"Where did you get that horror? Gift from the Cosmickers?"
"Funny, aren't you? No, I bought it myself, out of my hard-savedincome. It's great! I found it at Ossilovi's. He says there isn'tanother like it out of Asia."
"I should hope not! Though I doubt if it ever saw Asia."
"Nan, you're positively unbearable! One more speech of that sort, andI'll be right down mad at you."
"Forgive me, Patty, I did let my feelings run away with me. It's allright for you to do these things if you want to, but it doesn't seemlike you,--and it jars, somehow."
They went downstairs, and soon Sam Blaney came to take Patty away.
Nan greeted him very pleasantly, but inspected him very carefully. Hewas not in evening dress, their coterie did not approve of anything soconventional. This was against him in Nan's eyes, for she was astickler for the formalities. But as he threw back his topcoat, andshe saw his voluminous soft silk tie of magenta with vermilion dots,his low rolling collar, and his longish mane of hair, she felt aninstinctive dislike to the man. Her sense of justice, however, madeher reserve judgment until she knew more of him, and she invited him totarry a few moments.
Blaney sat down, gracefully enough, and chatted casually, but Pattyrealised that Nan was looking him over and resented it. And, somehow,Blaney didn't appear to advantage in the Fairfield drawing-room, as hedid in his own surroundings. His attitude, while polite, was the leastbit careless, and his courtesy was indolent rather than alert. Infact, he conducted himself as an old friend might have done, but in away which was not permissible in a stranger.
Nan led the conversation to the recent work of some comparatively newand very worthwhile poets. She asked Blaney his opinion of a certainpoem.
"Oh, that," and the man hesitated, "well, you see,--I--ah,--that is,I'm reserving my opinion as to that man's work,--yes, reserving myopinion."
"And a good idea, too," agreed Nan. "One shouldn't judge, hastily.But you've doubtless made up your mind regarding this poet," and shepicked up a book from the table, containing the poems of another modernand much discussed writer.
"Oh, yes," said Blaney, "oh, yes, of course. But, if you'll excuse me,Mrs. Fairfield, I'd rather not announce my views. You see, I--er--thatis,--I might be quoted wrongly,--misquoted, you know, and it wouldmilitate against my influence,--yes,--militate against my standing.One must be so careful."
"Indeed you are right," Nan said, smiling at him; "a poet yourself, youmust be careful of what you say about others."
"Yes, just that. How quickly you understand."
Patty and her escort went away, and after a short silence, Blaney said,"You didn't show Mrs. Fairfield the verses I wrote for you, did you?"
"No," said Patty, "I promised you I wouldn't."
"And I didn't mean to doubt your word, but I thought you might thinkthat your mother--or stepmother, didn't count."
"No, I haven't shown them to any one. But I wish you weren't sosensitive about your beautiful work."
"I wish so, too," and Blaney sighed. "But it's the penalty of----"
"Of genius, why not say it?"
"Yes, why not say it? I'm glad you recognise the beauty of truthspoken in defiance of conventional modesty."
"Oh, yes, I do think if one is talented, it is silly to deny it."
"It is. That is why our people are so frankly sane and honest abouttheir own achievements----"
"And yet, you're so modest,--I mayn't show your verses!"
"That's a different matter. You know those were for your eyes alone."
"I know. I will keep them for myself."
The Studio of the Blaneys in the city was much like the one Patty hadseen at Lakewood, only a little more elaborately bizarre. The Moorishlamps were bigger and dustier: the thick brocade draperies a littlemore faded and tattered; the furniture a little more gilded and wobbly.
Alla came gliding to greet Patty, and gave her an enthusiastic welcome.
"You darling!" she cried, "you _very_ darling! Look at her, everybody!Look! Gloat over this bit of perfect perfection! Did you ever _see_anything so wonderful?"
Alla had led Patty to the middle of the room, and she now turned herround and round, lik
e a dressmaker exhibiting a model.
Patty felt no embarrassment, for the people all about accepted theexhibition as a matter of course, and gazed at her in smilingapprobation. Moreover, all the guests were dressed as unconventionallyas Patty, and even more so. There were more queer costumes than shehad seen at the Lakewood party, more weird effects of hairdressing andmore eccentric posing and posturing. The New York branch of theseBohemians were evidently farther advanced in their cult than the othersshe had seen.
A little bewildered, Patty allowed herself to be ensconced on a crimsonand gold Davenport, and listened to a rattle of conversation that waspartly intelligible, and partly, it seemed to her, absolute nonsense.
"I am exploiting this gem," Alla announced, indicating Patty herself asthe "gem." "She hasn't quite found herself yet,--but she will sooncommand the range of the whole emotional spectrum! She is a wonder!Her soul is stuffed to bursting with dynamic force! We must train her,educate her, show her, gently guide her dancing feet in the paths ofbeauty,--in the star-strewn paths of cosmic beauty."
"We will!" shouted a dozen voices. "What can she do?"
"Dance," replied Alla. "But such dancing! She is a will-o'-the-wisp,a pixie, a thistledown, a butterfly!"
"All those and more," said Sam Blaney. "She is a velvet angel, arose-coloured leaf in the wind, a fluttering scarf end."
"What imagery!" murmured somebody, and some one else said,"Inspiration!" in an awed tone.
"And now to work," urged Alla. "We must plan for our holiday party.Shall we have it here?"
"Here, of course," she was answered.
"But others of you have larger homes, more pretentious dwellings----"
"But not the atmosphere. This Studio,--" it was a large-eyed youngmusician talking, "this hallowed room has more elevatingtendency,--more inspiring atmosphere than any other. Let us meet hereby all means, and let us have such a program--such a feast of gloriesas never before."
Then another man spoke. He was a tall young chap, with a good-naturedsmile, and Patty liked his face.
"I am an artist," he announced, "and a rattling good artist. I haven'tyet achieved my ultimate recognition, but it will come,--it must come.I, therefore, I will undertake the task,--the ineffably joyous task ofdesigning,--of inventing a dance for Miss Fairfield."
"Do, Grantham," cried Blaney. "No one could do it better. Dream out ascheme, a picture plan that will be worthy of our little Terpsichore.A dance that shall be a whirlwind of violets,--a tornado of liltingveils."
"Veils!" cried Grantham, "that's the keynote! A Dance of the Year,--amad gyration of Time,--of Time, himself, translated intothistledown,--into scented thistledown."
"Bravo!" "Glorious!"
Other praises were shouted, and the place was like a pandemonium.Patty began to realise the Bohemians were a boisterous lot. Sheclapped her hands over her ears in smiling dismay.
"Quiet!" said Blaney, in his low, exquisite tones, and in an instantthe room was almost silent.
Committees were appointed to take charge of the Christmas celebration,and then the program began.
It was long, and, to Patty, a bit uninteresting. She tried hard tounderstand the queer things they read or recited, but it seemed to hera continuous repetition of sound without sense. She was willing toadmit her own stupidity, and noting the rapt expressions on the facesround her, she concluded the lack was in herself. The music, too,though strange and eccentric, didn't seem to her as worth while as ithad done before, though it was decidedly similar. Blaney read some ofhis poems, to a zithern accompaniment, but they weren't veryimpressive, and not nearly so poetic as the lines he had written forher. She wondered if she had really inspired him to greater heights ofsong than he could attain without her influence.
He had assured her of this, and she began to think it might be so.
The supper followed the program. This was not enjoyed by Patty.Usually, after a dance or concert, she was hungry for some lightrefreshment, but in this incense-laden, smoke-heavy atmosphere, shefelt no desire to eat, and had she done so, she could not have relishedthe viands. For they were of highly-spiced and foreign-flavouredsorts, and their principal ingredients were smoked fish, pungentsauces, and strong cheese, all of which Patty detested. Moreover, theservice was far from dainty. The heavy china, thick glass, andbattered, unreal silver detracted still further from the appetisingeffects of the feast.
But everybody was so genuinely distressed at Patty's lack of appetiteand made such to-do about it, that she forced herself to eat, and evenessayed a cup of their muddy, syrupy coffee.
And she enjoyed herself. She absorbed much of their jargon and storedit up in her brain for future use. She unconsciously adapted herselfto their mannerisms and whimsical enthusiasm, and when she went homeeverybody praised her and declared her one of them and the best of them.
"By far the best," said Blaney, as he tucked her into the Fairfieldlimousine which, with an accompanying maid, had been sent for her."And may I call soon, and reiterate this,--in better and longer lines?"
"Yes, do," said Patty. "I'd love to have you."
Nan was waiting up for her.
"Well, I've seen your new friend?" she said, as Patty flung off herwrap and stood for a moment by the library table.
"Yep," said Patty, smiling, "and sumpum tells me, Nan, that you'regoing to be disagreeable or disapproving or disappointed ordis--something or other about him. And I beg of you to don't,--atleast until I get a bite of supper. I couldn't eat their olddelicatessen shop stuff, and I want a decent sandwich and a glass ofmilk,--so I do."
"Why, you poor child! I'll get it for you. Cook has gone to bed, butI'll forage in the pantry."
"Do, that's a fairy stepmother. Bring some fruit, too, please."
Patty went up to her room, and when Nan appeared, shortly, with a mostattractive supper tray, she was in kimono and cap, waiting for it.
"My, but this is good! I tell you, Nan, those Cosmickers know how tothink, but they don't know a thing about foods."
"Your Blaney looks well nourished. But, he didn't strike me as veryerudite. Why, Patty, he didn't know who those poets _were_, I askedhim about!"
"Oh, yes, he did. He didn't want to discuss 'em, that's all."
"Nonsense! I saw his expression. He didn't know them, I tell you. Hehas never read a word of them."
"Well, he doesn't have to. He can write his own poems."
"Does he? Is he a poet, really?"
"Yes, Nan, he is. And he's all right, and Alla is, too. I don't likeall their associate souls, but I like a lot of them, and you would too,if you saw them in their proper setting. Anyhow, their old symposiumhas tired my little brain all up, and with many thanks for your kindcharity,--what there was of it--I'll let you go, if you really feel youmust."
Nan laughed, for there was deep good feeling between these two, thenshe kissed Patty good night and went off with the empty tray.