it for theworld. It's the most characteristic thing out."
"Characteristic of what?"
"Of Rushbrook, of course. Nobody else would conceive of getting togethersuch a lot of queer people."
"But don't it strike you that we're a part of the lot?"
"Perhaps," returned the lively Mrs. Leyton. "No doubt that's the reasonwhy Jack Somers is coming over, and is so anxious that YOU should stay.I can't imagine why else he should rave about Miss Grace Nevil as hedoes. Come, Grace, no New York or Philadelphia airs, here! Consider youruncle's interests with this capitalist, to say nothing of ours. Becauseyou're a millionaire and have been accustomed to riches from your birth,don't turn up your nose at our unpampered appetites. Besides, JackSomers is Rushbrook's particular friend, and he may think yourcriticisms unkind."
"But IS Mr. Somers such a great friend of Mr. Rushbrook's?" asked GraceNevil.
"Why, of course. Rushbrook consults him about all these things; giveshim carte blanche to invite whom he likes and order what he likes, andtrusts his taste and judgment implicitly."
"Then this gathering is Mr. Somers's selection?"
"How preposterous you are, Grace. Of course not. Only Somers's IDEA ofwhat is pleasing to Rushbrook, gotten up with a taste and discretionall his own. You know Somers is a gentleman, educated at WestPoint--traveled all over Europe--you might have met him there; andRushbrook--well, you have only to see him to know what HE is. Don't youunderstand?"
A slight seriousness; the same shadow that once before darkened thegirl's charming face gave way to a mischievous knitting of her brows asshe said naively, "No."
CHAPTER III
Grace Nevil had quite recovered her equanimity when the indispensableMr. Somers, handsome, well-bred, and self-restrained, approached herlater in the crowded drawing-room. Blended with his subdued personaladmiration was a certain ostentation of respect--as of a tribute toa distinguished guest--that struck her. "I am to have the pleasure oftaking you in, Miss Nevil," he said. "It's my one compensation for thedreadful responsibility just thrust upon me. Our host has been suddenlycalled away, and I am left to take his place."
Miss Nevil was slightly startled. Nevertheless, she smiled graciously."From what I hear this is no new function of yours; that is, if therereally IS a Mr. Rushbrook. I am inclined to think him a myth."
"You make me wish he were," retorted Somers, gallantly; "but as Icouldn't reign at all, except in his stead, I shall look to you to lendyour rightful grace to my borrowed dignity."
The more general announcement to the company was received with a fewperfidious regrets from the more polite, but with only amused surpriseby the majority. Indeed, many considered it "characteristic"--"so likeBob Rushbrook," and a few enthusiastic friends looked upon it as acrowning and intentional stroke of humor. It remained, however, for thegentleman from Siskyou to give the incident a subtlety that struck MissNevil's fancy. "It reminds me," he said in her hearing, "of ole KernelFrisbee, of Robertson County, one of the purlitest men I ever struck.When he knew a feller was very dry, he'd jest set the decanter aforehim, and managed to be called outer the room on bus'ness. Now, BobRushbrook's about as white a man as that. He's jest the feller, who,knowing you and me might feel kinder restrained about indulging ourappetites afore him, kinder drops out easy, and leaves us alone."And she was impressed by an instinct that the speaker really felt thedelicacy he spoke of, and that it left no sense of inferiority behind.
The dinner, served in a large, brilliantly-lit saloon, that in floraldecoration and gilded columns suggested an ingenious blending of asteamboat table d'hote and "harvest home," was perfect in its cuisine,even if somewhat extravagant in its proportions.
"I should be glad to receive the salary that Rushbrook pays his chef,and still happier to know how to earn it as fairly," said Somers to hisfair companion.
"But is his skill entirely appreciated here?" she asked.
"Perfectly," responded Somers. "Our friend from Siskyou over thereappreciates that 'pate' which he cannot name as well as I do. Rushbrookhimself is the only exception, yet I fancy that even HIS simplicity andregularity in feeding is as much a matter of business with him asany defect in his earlier education. In his eyes, his chef's greatestqualification is his promptness and fertility. Have you noticed thatornament before you?" pointing to an elaborate confection. "It bearsyour initials, you see. It was conceived and executed since youarrived--rather, I should say, since it was known that you would honorus with your company. The greatest difficulty encountered was to findout what your initials were."
"And I suppose," mischievously added the young girl to heracknowledgments, "that the same fertile mind which conceived the designeventually provided the initials?"
"That is our secret," responded Somers, with affected gravity.
The wines were of characteristic expensiveness, and provoked the samegeneral comment. Rushbrook seldom drank wine; Somers had selectedit. But the barbaric opulence of the entertainment culminated in theCalifornian fruits, piled in pyramids on silver dishes, gorgeous andunreal in their size and painted beauty, and the two Divas smiled overa basket of grapes and peaches as outrageous in dimensions and glaringcolor as any pasteboard banquet at which they had professionallyassisted. As the courses succeeded each other, under the exaltation ofwine, conversation became more general as regarded participation, butmore local and private as regarded the subject, until Miss Nevil couldno longer follow it. The interests of that one, the hopes of another,the claims of a third, in affairs that were otherwise uninteresting,were all discussed with singular youthfulness of trust that to heralone seemed remarkable. Not that she lacked entertainment from theconversation of her clever companion, whose confidences and criticismswere very pleasant to her; but she had a gentlewoman's instinct that hetalked to her too much, and more than was consistent with his dutiesas the general host. She looked around the table for her singularacquaintance of an hour before, but she had not seen him since. Shewould have spoken about him to Somers, but she had an instinctiveidea that the latter would be antipathetic, in spite of the stranger'sflattering commendation. So she found herself again following Somers'scynical but good-humored description of the various guests, and, Ifear, seeing with his eyes, listening with his ears, and occasionallyparticipating in his superior attitude. The "fearful joy" she had foundin the novelty of the situation and the originality of the actors seemednow quite right from this critical point of view. So she learned how theguest with the long hair was an unknown painter, to whom Rushbrook hadgiven a commission for three hundred yards of painted canvas, to be cutup and framed as occasion and space required, in Rushbrook's newhotel in San Francisco; how the gray-bearded foreigner near him was anaccomplished bibliophile who was furnishing Mr. Rushbrook's library fromspoils of foreign collections, and had suffered unheard-of agonies fromthe millionaire's insisting upon a handsome uniform binding that shoulddeprive certain precious but musty tomes of their crumbling, worm-eatencoverings; how the very gentle, clerical-looking stranger, mildest of anoisy, disputing crowd at the other table, was a notorious duelist anddead shot; how the only gentleman at the table who retained a flannelshirt and high boots was not a late-coming mountaineer, but a well-knownEnglish baronet on his travels; how the man who told a somewhat floridand emphatic anecdote was a popular Eastern clergyman; how the onequerulous, discontented face in a laughing group was the famous humoristwho had just convulsed it; and how a pale, handsome young fellow, whoate and drank sparingly and disregarded the coquettish advances of theprettiest Diva with the cold abstraction of a student, was a notoriousroue and gambler. But there was a sudden and unlooked-for change ofcriticism and critic.
The festivity had reached that stage when the guests were more or lessaccessible to emotion, and more or less touched by the astounding factthat every one was enjoying himself. This phenomenon, which is apt toburst into song or dance among other races, is constrained to voiceitself in an Anglo-Saxon gathering by some explanation, apology, ormoral--known as an after-dinner speech. Thus it was
that the gentlemanfrom Siskyou, who had been from time to time casting glances at Somersand his fair companion at the head of the table, now rose to his feet,albeit unsteadily, pushed back his chair, and began:--
"'Pears to me, ladies and gentlemen, and feller pardners, that onan occasion like this, suthin' oughter be said of the man who got itup--whose money paid for it, and who ain't here to speak for himself,except by deputy. Yet you all know that's Bob Rushbrook's style--heain't here, because he's full of some other plan or improvements--andit's like him to start suthin' of this kind, give it its aim