CHAPTER VI.
THE SUPPER COMPANY
When Sally heard the order for the supper company the next night, she atonce decided that her own simple meal must be quickly eaten, as she mustsee something of the fine things at Ingleside.
By standing on the rocks it would be easy to peep through the thintangle near the arbor just above her head and close by the wall. Itwould not do to take long peeps, but she could take several for a momentat a time. Yet she must beware: a sudden gust of wind might part theslight brush, show her bright eyes, then, alas, the pleasure it mighttake from her!
Oh, but it was wonders she did with the old brush, the same that thegroom had thrown away at Ingleside! She did not wait until evening totry it, but during the afternoon, with the bit of looking-glass proppedup before her, she patiently brushed and brushed, until something like aparting appeared along the middle of her well-shaped head.
At that she took a stout pin, and running it down the uneven seam, madea beautiful even parting, the thick, ruddy hair standing high on eachside of it.
"My, how pretty that looks!" innocently murmured the child. Then againshe brushed and brushed, until the ripply mass shone like unto burnishedgold. And now, instead of a matted mop, it lay row upon row of soft,loose, orderly ringlets, so careless yet neat in arrangement that Sallyawoke right there to a knowledge of the extreme beauty of her luxurioushair.
She gurgled with laughter, saying, in the pretended new voice:
"You will find out considerable about yourself, Maid Sally, what you cando, and maybe what you can be, if only you follow what I teach. Hightime it is you waked up."
Then replied a forlorn young voice:
"Yes, but what good doth it do a poor thing like me to wake up? It isonly to find out how mean and soiled is my dress, how brown are my handsand feet, and worst of all, that no matter how hard I might long for it,learning is not for a maid of my quality."
"Prithee, be patient!" cried the new Sally, cheerily. "Thou hast alreadymade of thyself a more seemly looking maid; still better things may comeere long."
New words came into Sally's mind as she talked to her other self, andher language became more proper, sure sign that somewhere within her atruly fine nature was hidden away.
When she appeared at supper that afternoon, Mistress Cory Ann exclaimed:
"Oh, good Peter! do look at the young one's head, will you? Now have youbeen meddling with my comb to-day?" she asked, sharply.
"I found an old brush that I washed and used, Mistress," Sallyanswered, "and I think it were time my hair should be made decent."
"Now don't go wasting time trying to get up smart looks," said MistressCory Ann; for, truth to tell, it was sorry she felt to see the greatchange and improvement in Sally's appearance. And what was more, she hadnoticed that the useful child was growing careful and thoughtful in away she did not at all desire she should. Because, if Sally began makingthe most of herself, what might it not lead to, pray?
She was through her supper so soon that Mistress Brace again said,tartly:
"If you take not time to eat your victuals, seeing you are let off aftersupper, it is to the table you will stay until the rest of us arethrough."
Sally thought to herself, "I will tarry longer at the table to-morrownight," but now, off she flew, and in a trice was through the hedge, onthe stones, and peeping with great care at a wonderful table, such asshe had never dreamed of in her brightest of fancies.
The long board gleamed with shining, spotless linen. Glass and silverdishes covered the table. Sprays of green, and bright, choice flowerslay around, and in between the plates and glasses, with charming colorand taste.
Corniel, in white clothes, with several colored girls about him, whowere to assist in waiting, was flourishing about, placing food at properspaces, setting chairs, and giving orders in a pompous way Sally thoughthe must enjoy.
Mammy Leezer's cookery was indeed most beautiful to look upon. Theporcupine marmalade, on two separate platters of white china ware edgedwith gilt, was a thick jam made from plums or prunes, then turned outfrom long oval moulds, and stuck all over with small spikes of cocoanutmeat, standing straight and stiff, looking in very truth like the quillsof the little animal called the porcupine.
The melon puff was a splendid-looking mass, heaped high in a tall glassdish, and appearing as if made from strained melon pulp, and the whippedwhites of eggs with powdered sugar.
The peach tart was a form of pie with golden-looking sauce peeping upbetween crisscross strips of rich puff paste. And pandowdy with sorghumfoam had the look, in a deep glass dish, of being apple sauce andpie-crust mixed, with a delicious pyramid of golden-colored whippedsugar standing in a point on the top.
Chicken salad, in other long white and gilt platters, was beautifullyornamented with white and yellow rings of hard-boiled eggs, havingsprigs of green run through the rings in a way to form fancy garlandsabove the crisp whitey-green bordering of lettuce leaves.
"Oh, it is the food of the Fairies! It is the food of the gods!"
Sally whispered in soft delight to herself, not noticing or scarcelyknowing what she was saying. All her soul was steeped in wonder at thefine, the beautifully fine, things spread before her.
"But they are not for me," she sighed. "Oh, no, never can they be forme!"
"Why not?" asked the cheery voice that Sally was beginning to listenfor, and to like much to hear.
"I'm so poor," answered Sally, with the usual downward look at frock,hands, and feet.
"Lift yourself up," said the voice, that seemed ever determined to helpand comfort poor Sally.
"I will try," she replied. Then, in a sparkling, sunshiny way, she saidto herself:
"Oh, you shall be my good Fairy, you new voice! Why not! I will call youthe Fairy whenever you speak."
"Very well, then. You can call me the good Fairy, and Master Lionel canbe your Fairy Prince."
"Oh! Oh! Oh!" gasped Sally. "How dreadful! How ever can I dare!"
She almost tumbled from her perch, so great appeared her presumption inallowing the thought of coming so near to the Fairy Prince even inimagination.
But the hopeful voice was talking again:
"Do not put yourself down all the time; there may be no reason why youshould not rise, _if you will!_"
Sally sat down and began thinking in half wonder. "Now what, oh, what,makes me to have thoughts like that?" she asked, in perplexity. "Arethere very truly two Sallys inside my skin?"
She was too much in earnest to laugh as she went on: "All is, if therebe, we must help each other. Thankful should I be to rise in the world,and great, great joy would it be if some good Fairy could come and livewith me, helping me to rise. Listen, listen will I for your voice, goodFairy, and run wherever you send, and do whatever you bid."
Then Sally heard many voices, and the rustle of silken garments, and sheknew that a soft swish of fine muslins and delicately shod feet werecoming over the lawn.
She dared one peep at the gay company. There was Corniel, in all hisglory, viewing the table he had spread so finely, and Sam Spruce, with ahigh head and knowing air, directing the waiters by signs and nods. Thecompany was a mixed show of splendid coats, gowns, and shimmering laces,but the peep was a short one, and Sally was seated again.
A great chattering, mixed with joyous laughter, floated across the wall,but a "mocker," the lovely mocking-bird of the South, mingled his noteswith it all, and Sally could hear nothing distinctly in the pleasantconfusion.
Then the charming bird-notes hushed, as some one asked plainly aquestion of the Fairy Prince.
"To which university do you go, Master Lionel, to Oxford or toCambridge?"
"I hie me to England in the early fall, to be tutored a year for Oxford.It is to the older university I would go."
"And how old may Oxford be?" asked a young voice.
"It was founded by Alfred the Great, 'way back in the ninth century,872," came in the firm, assured voice of the Fairy Prince.
"And Cambridge?" asked some one else.
"In 1257," came the quick reply.
"And you go in the _Belle Virgeen_?"
"In the _Belle Virgeen_, most surely."
"What will be the whole course?" was the next question.
"Five years if I finish. Affairs may be such as to prevent myfinishing."
"Oh! Ah! Indeed!" cried a voice of mock surprise. "Five years to fit alad, who already hath somewhat in his noddle, to do a man's work?"
"And but twenty-one will I be then," answered the Fairy Prince. "Youthis the time for study."
"And is so very much learning needed?" asked a womanish voice which yetwas a man's, "for the young gentleman who will have lands and servantsof his own whenever he wants them?"
"No man can properly care for houses, lands, or servants, who hath not afair stock of the right kind of learning," said Lionel, stoutly."Besides," he added, "they say that there are troublous times ahead inour fine new country, and one must have a clear understanding ofhistory, laws, and rules of government in order to act wisely. Thecolonists may have to act with great decision before long, and a manshould be equipped 'to follow the right side.'"
"And well prepared you will be, lad, when that time comes!" cried thehearty voice of Captain Rothwell.
The foppish voice asked again, in tones that all at the table could nothear, nor could Sally have heard only that the young man was seatedclose by the wall:
"And what will comfort the sister and our fair Lady Rosamond, meantime?Eh? eh? eh? And our fair Lady Rosamond, prithee?"
"There will be homeward trips in the summer," Lionel replied; "no onewill need forget me."
"Well, maids must weep when swains desert," lisped the silly young man,whom no one answered.
Then the mocker trilled again, the talk became confused, coming infragments across the wall. But Sally's eyes were big with a kind ofsorrow, and there had come a fast rising and falling at the bosom of herfaded little gown.
"He is going away!" she sighed. "My Fairy Prince is going away. The fallwill come soon, and away will he go to make the difference between usgreater still. Ah! ah! why did the fine voice arise within me, only toshow the great distance that lieth between the rich and the poor, thosewho can learn, and those who know naught?"
"Oh, be quiet, child, and cease repining," cried the good Fairy. "Bestiryourself! Watch your Fairy Prince while you may, as it comforts you, andwhen he goeth forth to study, go you forth also, and seek out ways tolearn yourself. There lieth five years between your age and that of theFairy Prince, feel you not within your heart that very much might belearned in five years if with a strong will you do your best for MaidSally?"
"The will is strong enough," whispered Sally, "the will is not wanting,but the way, dear Fairy, who will show me the way?"
"Watch!" cried the Fairy. "Keep the will, and watch for the way. It willcome! Did not the Fairy Prince himself say so? There is a mind withinyou. Stir it up! Jump over hindrances, Sally Dukeen, and find foryourself a way. It is _there_!"
"I will do my best to obey thee, dear Fairy," said poor little Sally.
But down deep in her "heart-place," a pain was tugging, a new pain shedid not in the least understand.
A foppish voice kept sounding in her ears: "Eh? eh? eh? And our fairLady Rosamond, prithee?"