XXVI
GREAT EXCITEMENT
For several moments all was confusion. While trying not to show aninconsiderate curiosity, the girls behind the tables could not helpleaving their places, though they stood at a fair distance from the spotwhere Julia and Miss South and two or three older women were trying todo what they could to revive Madame Du Launy. Although she had notactually fainted, she was certainly not herself, and for several minutesshe leaned back in her chair with her eyes half-closed. Yet although shelooked pale and almost pitiful with the lines of age clearly showing inher face, she would not accept help from any one, not even the glass ofwater which they offered her. At last, after a time that seemed longerthan it really was to those who stood by, she opened her eyes, andwithout a word to those standing near, motioned to her man.
"My carriage, at once," was all she said, then motioning to him againshe took his arm, as she rose from her seat. Turning for a moment towardJulia who had extended her hand, "Good-bye, dear," she murmured as shestarted to walk with stately step across the room.
The whole thing had been so strange--Madame Du Launy's fainting-spell,and her peculiar manner on coming to herself, that those who stood nearinstead of making any comments only gazed after the old lady insurprise. In the midst of the excitement Miss South, too, had slippedaway, and on making enquiries about her Julia was told that she had gonehome.
Yet although at the very moment of this strange occurrence no one hadhad much to say, when the girls gathered in little groups aside, theirtongues swung back and forward with great energy.
"What in the world could have caused it?" was asked on every hand, andmany were the guesses and speculations as to what had caused the littlescene.
"Oh, old ladies ought not to try to go to festive places like this,"said one of the girls glancing around the long room with its wallspaneled with mirrors, its decorations of vines, and plants, and brightstreamers.
"Especially old ladies who have hardly set foot in the house of any oneelse for fifty years, more or less," added another.
"Well, even then I don't see what made her faint," said Nora, whohappened to have heard the last remark. "There wasn't anythingparticularly exciting going on here."
"Oh," replied Belle, "it had something to do with Miss South. I stoodwhere I could see Madame Du Launy's face, and when she fainted she hadjust met Miss South's eye, and didn't you notice, Miss South looked asif she would like to faint herself!"
"How ridiculous!" said a girl who had newly joined the group, "youalways see more than any one else does, Belle."
"What if I do? I am just as often right, and you can see for yourselfthat Miss South is not here now. I noticed that she hurried away as soonas she could."
"What if she did?" cried Nora; "I do think, Belle, that you aresometimes perfectly ridiculous. Any number of people are not here now,who were in the room half an hour ago."
"Oh, you know what I mean, Nora; mark my words there is something queerabout the whole thing."
"How in the world, I wonder, did Madame Du Launy happen to know aboutthe Bazaar?" asked Frances Pounder.
"Why, Frances Pounder, where have you been?" cried Nora.
"Why, yes, Frances Pounder, where have you been?" echoed Belle. "Haven'tyou heard of the tremendous intimacy that has sprung up between Juliaand Madame Du Launy since she rescued her little Fidessa from the parkpolice? It really is a wonderful story, and we all expect Julia to bethe old lady's heir."
"Come, come," interrupted Nora, "we can't afford to waste our timegossiping; we should be thankful that Madame Du Launy ventured to comehere at all, for she bought any number of things, and paid good prices,and now if we do not return to our tables, we may lose all the patronageof the other old ladies who are wandering about."
So two by two the little crowd dispersed. Some of the girls went behindthe tables, while others hovered about, picking and choosing what theyshould buy according to their purses or their taste.
But to tell all the happenings of that afternoon and evening would takea longer time than can be spared to it now. In the evening not only thefathers and uncles of many of the girls came upon the scene, but Philipand his friends appeared to form a small army of purchasers. The latterwere not on the whole inclined to buy very expensive things, though theypatronized the refreshment table so steadily that Belle had to beg oneof the New York boys to become assistant cashier. They also almost sweptthe flower booth clean of cut flowers and plants, to the loss of thelittle patients in the children's hospital, who might otherwise havebeen benefited, had any flowers been left over. Yet although I say thatthey did not buy a great deal I must not be misunderstood. They didcarry off all kinds of little things that they thought would raise alaugh in their college rooms. Philip, for example, bought a work-basket,lined with pink and white silk, grumbling as he did so that this was thenearest approach he could find to crimson. Besides that he paid a goodprice for the doll which he had admired, and which Nora hadmischievously reserved for him by pinning to it a card bearing his name.He also bought a small hammock of twisted ribbons, in which he said heintended to suspend the doll in a conspicuous place over hismantelpiece.
Tom Hurst had to buy two or three tobacco pouches, and in addition hechose a rattle, the covering of which Nora had knitted and decoratedwith bells.
"Pleased with a rattle, tickled with a straw,"
quoted Nora, as he carried away his purchase, at the same timepresenting him with a wisp of straws from a broom, which she had tiedtogether with a piece of crimson ribbon. "To be forever cherished,"responded Tom, as he walked off with his trophies, in a tone that madethe usually unsentimental Nora blush.
As to Will Hardon, he lost no time in going to the table over whichFrances and Edith presided to enquire for a sofa pillow which had beenreserved for him.
"Reserved!" cried Edith in a tone of surprise, for Ruth had taken herinto the secret. "I thought it was understood that nothing could bereserved here----"
Will's face fell, for he was very much in earnest.
"Oh, now Miss Blair," he said, "you surely were not in earnest lastevening; you know that I had made up my mind to that pillow."
"Wouldn't something else do just as well?" she asked, "this centrepiecefor example, _I_ worked this," with an emphasis on the pronoun.
"Why, it's very pretty," said poor Will, "only I shouldn't know what todo with it, but I'd like it very much, really I would," he hastened toadd, as Edith looked a little serious.
"Well, I'm sorry," she responded, "that you fix your affection on suchimpossible things; now this centrepiece is also disposed of. Mrs. Barlowhas bought it, and will take it home this evening."
"Also," exclaimed Will, "you said 'also,' do you mean that the sofapillow is really gone?"
Edith could not help smiling at his expression of disappointment.
"Here comes Ruth," she said, "ask her;" and Ruth, with her hands full offlowers which she was carrying across the room to Mrs. Pounder, pausedfor a moment.
"Why, you look as if you were quarreling," she said to Edith, "youand--Mr. Hardon; can't I be umpire?"
"Why, yes," replied Will, "that was just what we wish, for you are theonly one who really understands the merits of the case. You rememberthat cushion?"
Ruth looked sufficiently conscious to make further reply unnecessary.
"Of course you _do_ remember it," continued Will, "and you know that youmore than half promised to save it for me. Now nobody here at this tableseems able to tell me about it, at least Miss Blair isn't, and she oughtto, if any one could, tell me just where it is."
"I am not sure," responded Edith, "that you have really put the questionto me. At any rate I am positive that I have not made any statementabout it."
"But you told me to refer to Miss Roberts, and I thought that that meantthat you knew nothing about it."
"Well, honestly, I can't tell you about the cushion," said Ruth; "if anyone offered more than one hundred dollars, which I think was your limit,I suppose that
it has been sold."
"You think that I did not mean what I said," cried Will.
"Oh, no, indeed, but if any one offered more----"
All this time Edith had been standing with one hand behind her back, andat the last minute she raised her arm, and disclosed the cushion, whicha minute before she had brought from its hiding-place beneath the table.
"There, that is mine," exclaimed the young man, "let me have it."
"Well, I declare!" cried Edith, as in surprise, "this card really doesbear your name, and so I suppose that I must give you the cushion."
Will leaned forward eagerly. "Yes, it is mine, but," as he glanced atthe card, "the price is not right. It is only one-tenth what I expectedto pay."
"Why! would you really have paid one hundred dollars for it?" askedRuth.
"Why not?" he asked.
"Oh, it is so much more than it is worth," she replied. "Even for theRosas we could not have permitted it."
"Well," he answered, as he handed out the crisp ten dollar bill, whichpaid the price marked on the pillow, "well, I must make it up to theRosas in some other way." Then turning toward Edith, "thank you, MissBlair, for waiting on me, although you did give me a bad quarter of aminute, when you made me believe that I might have missed the purchasewhich I came expressly to make." So with a pleasant smile, carrying thepretty cushion on one arm, he walked across the room with Ruth.
Belle, as she watched them, could not help thinking how well they lookedtogether, even though for the moment she felt a little jealousy ofRuth's growing popularity. Neither the evening before, nor during thewhole progress of the Bazaar, had Belle received any special attentionfrom even one of "the boys" as Philip and his friends were calledcollectively. Ruth, to be sure, was nearly a year and a half older than"The Four," and it was more natural that she should receive a littlemore attention of the kind that young ladies receive. But Belle thoughtthat she herself felt as old as she should ever feel, and now since shewore her hair done up, and had skirts that almost touched, she did notsee why she should not be treated just as if she were "grown up." Tosuit her ideas, therefore, of the deportment of a young lady, she hadbegun to assume a very coquettish manner. But this, instead of producingthe desired effect--that of gaining for her great admiration, onlyamused the boys, and led them to make fun of her when by themselves.Edith through Philip, and Nora through her brother, had some knowledgeof this fact. But Brenda regarded Belle with more or less awe, andconsidered her an exceedingly worldly-wise person. When, therefore,Belle proposed to her that instead of selling the water-color paintingof which I have spoken, at a fixed price, they should vote it to themost popular young man of their acquaintance, Brenda acquiesced.
"You see it will be this way," said Belle, "we can get people to vote bytaking shares."
"How much will the shares be?"
"Oh, a dollar, and we can easily sell a hundred and fifty dollars worth.I am sure that is a great deal better than letting the picture go forone hundred dollars."
"But isn't that the same as a raffle?"
"No, stupid, of course not."
"For you know that Mrs. Blair has forbidden us to have any raffles."
"Yes, I know about that rule, and a very silly rule it is, too," repliedBelle, "but this isn't at all the same thing as a raffle. People justpay for the privilege of voting, and don't expect any gain forthemselves, as they would in a lottery or raffle. It's a good thing,too, for the person they vote for, it's doing him good, and no one candisapprove of a plan to help other people," said Belle with anunselfishness of sentiment that could not have been looked for in her.
"Oh, no," said Brenda, hesitatingly, "I suppose not."
"All the same," Belle had continued, "I think that we had better not sayanything to Edith and Nora about it, they might interfere in some way,and besides I am sure that they both have enough to do looking aftertheir own tables."
"Well, but how can we get any votes if we do not say anything toanybody?" enquired Brenda.
"Oh, of course we must take Frances into our confidence. She is at thetable where the picture is. There won't be much danger of its selling atonce for one hundred dollars, and we can trust Frances to head any oneoff who pretends to wish to buy it."
So it was as a result of this plan of Belle's that Frances had preventeda sale of the picture to Madame du Launy. For at that time Brenda andBelle had a number of names on their books, enough in fact to representone half the valuation of the picture. Each girl who voted was bound tosecrecy, for Belle realized (though she had put it in a different lightto Brenda) that she was violating the spirit, if not the letter of Mrs.Blair's command. Nevertheless the very fact that the carrying out ofthis plan involved a certain amount of mystery, gave the whole thingmore zest than it would otherwise have had for the two.
Strangely enough, however, after the first fifty votes had been cast,with a great scattering as to the most popular youth, the two girlsfound it hard to get more names. The evening, indeed, was half overbefore the list had increased to sixty votes.
About this time an awkward thing happened. Running upstairs from thedining-room, Belle had dropped the neat little book in which she keptrecord of her votes, and when one of the maids handed it to Mrs. Blair,great was her surprise to find on the fly-leaf the sentence "votingcontest for the picture."
"Whose handwriting is this?" she asked Edith, "and what does this allmean; surely none of you is carrying on a raffle."
"It's Belle's writing," answered Edith a little reluctantly, for she sawthat her mother was angry. "But I do not know what it means."
Well after this, of course Belle was summoned to talk with Mrs. Blair,and though she reiterated that she had only desired to make as muchmoney as she could for the Bazaar, Mrs. Blair insisted that Belle shouldgive her all that she had already received to return to those who hadsubscribed or voted. Brenda, too, came in for a good share of reproof,and the whole thing was very humiliating to the two girls, who foundthemselves so clearly in the wrong. Beyond obliging them to conform,however, to her views of what was proper, Mrs. Blair had no intention ofmaking them unduly uncomfortable.
"Think no more about it," she said, "only remember that you haveprevented the sale of the picture, for I saw to-day that Madame Du Launywas very anxious to buy it."
After hearing this Brenda and Belle, although mortified, decided to makethe best of the rest of the evening. They merely explained to some ofthe voters who asked them, that it had been decided to give up this planfor disposing of the picture, and that the money would be returned.
The episode of Madame Du Launy in the afternoon, and this littleunpleasant incident of the evening were the only things to make thisBazaar seem very different from other Bazaars.
You know what they are all like, and that each fair or sale or Bazaardepends for its charm on the unity with which the workers carry thingson, and the extent to which their friends patronize it, and I will sayfor "The Four" that they were much more in harmony through this wholeaffair than often they had been in the past, and that theirfriends--especially their young friends--did even more than had beenexpected of them to help swell the fund for the Rosas.
Brenda had been anxious to have one or two of this interesting family onthe spot to work on the sympathies of the patrons of the Bazaar. She hadthought that it would be delightful to have Angelina wait on therefreshment table, and she did not see why Manuel might not have beenpresent all the time. "In some kind of fancy costume, of course, for Iknow that his own clothes would not be exactly clean and whole."
But Mrs. Blair had objected to the presence of the Rosas whether infancy dress, or in their usual garb, and Mrs. Barlow had succeeded inmaking Brenda see that it would not be the best thing in the world forthe Rosa children to be introduced to what must seem to them a scene ofgreat luxury in a Back Bay house, even though it might be explained tothem that part of the gorgeousness was due to a desire to help them--thespecial gorgeousness, I mean, of the Bazaar.
"Who in the world is to tak
e care of all the money?" asked Nora, as shelooked at the large tin box almost running over with silver and billstaken in as receipts at the various tables.
"Oh, Mrs. Blair is to put it in her safe to-night, and to-morrow it willbe exchanged at the bank for large bills!" answered Brenda.
"And then----?"
"And then we must have a committee meeting to decide what is to be donewith it. When it was last counted there were nearly three hundreddollars, and there has been something added to it since."
"Why, how perfectly splendid!" cried Nora; "why we should be able to doalmost anything we wish to do for the Rosas; why, it is a regularfortune!" for Nora had ideas almost as vague as Brenda of the value ofmoney.
"Oh, yes, we've done very well, but I am glad that it is all over; theBazaar has been fun, but it is kind of a relief not to have it on mymind any more."
"Oh, Brenda, it hasn't worried you much, you took things very easy untilthe last day or two."
"Well, that's just it; I've felt so busy to-day, that I would like torest for a week."
"But you haven't been half as busy as Julia, she has hardly left herpost all day, and I think that she looks pretty tired."
"Dear me," said Brenda crossly, "if she had not wished to serve at theflower booth, we could have found some other girl to do it. Oh, Julia,"she cried as her cousin drew near her, "are you coming home in thecarriage with me?"
"Why, yes, if you wish it."
"Well, it has just taken papa and mamma home, and when it comes back, Ishall be ready."
The pretty dancing-hall now presented a thoroughly disorderedappearance. It was strewn with wrapping papers that had been pushed frombehind the tables, or had been thrown there by careless persons who hadtossed down the coverings of their surprise packages. There were also anumber of faded flowers lying about, and the tables themselves were inconfused heaps. For, of course, not everything had sold, and the"remains" as one of the boys called what was left, had to stay on thetables until the morning.
When Brenda and Julia were finally ready to go home, they were almostthe last to leave. Even the Cambridge boys had said "good-bye" and Ruthand Frances had started for home.
"Thank you very much, Mrs. Blair, for letting us come here," saidBrenda, as they left the room. For Brenda seldom forgot her good mannerswhere older people were concerned, even though she was sometimesinclined to be pettish toward her younger friends.
"Why, what is that?" she enquired, as Julia had a large package liftedinto the carriage.
"It's that water-color that was on Edith's table."
"Why, what are you taking it home for?"
"I have bought it," replied Julia quietly, "and I am going to give it toAunt Anna."
Brenda was almost too much surprised to speak, for this was the picturewhich she and Belle had tried to raffle.
"But you did not pay one hundred dollars for it?"
"Why not?" said Julia with a smile, as they reached their door.