Pearl in the Mist

  We were brought to a sitting room on the right, where we found a velvet sofa and a matching settee arranged to face a high-backed deep blue velvet chair embroidered with gold, its dark walnut arms and legs scrolled with hand-carved designs. It looked like a throne set atop a large Persian rug. The remainder of the floor was uncovered blond hardwood.

  Between the chair and the settees and sofas was a long matching walnut table.

  After Abby and I took our places on the settee and Gisselle was wheeled in beside us, I had a chance to gaze around at the scenic wallpaper and the framed oil paintings of various scenes on the sugar plantation. On the mantel was another stopped clock with its hands pointing to five after two. Above that was a portrait painting of a distinguished-looking man who had been captured slightly turned and peering down, giving the impression he was someone royal.

  Suddenly we heard the definite tap, tap, tapping of a cane on the marble hallway floor. Mrs. Penny, who had been standing near the doorway,

  remembered something and hurried back to us.

  "I forgot to tell you, girls. When Mrs. Clairborne enters, please stand," she said.

  "And how am I supposed to do that?" Gisselle snapped.

  "Oh, you're excused, of course, dear," she said. Before Gisselle could say anything else, all eyes turned toward the doorway for Mrs. Clairborne's entrance, and then Abby and I rose.

  She paused in the doorway, as if waiting to have her picture taken, and gazed over us, moving slowly from Abby to me and then to Gisselle. Mrs. Clairborne looked taller and stouter than she did in any of the portraits around the school. Also, none of the portraits depicted her with the bluing in her gray hair that now looked thinner and shorter, barely reaching the middle of her ears in length. She wore a dark blue silk dress with a wide collar, buttoned to the base of her throat. Hanging on a silver chain was a pocket watch encased in silver, the small hands frozen at five after two.

  I wondered if either Abby or Gisselle had noticed the odd thing about the clocks.

  I lifted my gaze to the large teardrop diamond earrings that dripped from her lobes. Her dress had sleeves with frilly lace cuffs that reached the base of her palms. Over her left wrist she wore a diamond and gold bracelet. The long, bony fingers of both her hands were filled with precious-jewel rings, some set in platinum, some in gold and others in silver.

  Even in her pictures, Mrs. Clairborne had a narrow face that seemed out of place on her portly body; only in person, it seemed even more so. Because of the way her long, thin nose protruded, her dark eyes seemed to be set even more deeply than they were. She had a wide, thin mouth, so thin that when her lips were pressed together, it looked like a pencil line drawn from inside one cheek to the inside of the other. Her complexion, unaided by any cosmetic touch whatsoever, was pasty white, spotted with brown aging marks on her forehead and cheeks.

  I quickly decided that the artists who had done her portraits had used their imaginations almost as much as they had used her as a model.

  She stepped forward and leaned on her cane.

  "Welcome, girls," she said. "Please, be seated."

  Abby and I quickly did so, and Mrs. Clairborne walked directly to her chair, tapping her cane after each step as if to confirm it. She nodded at Mrs. Penny, who sat on the other settee, and then Mrs. Clairborne sat down and hooked her cane over the right arm of the chair before gazing at Gisselle for a moment and then looking at Abby and me.

  "I like to have a personal relationship with each of my Greenwood girls," she began. "Our school is special in that we do not, as most public schools are prone to do, treat the students as if they were numbers, statistics. And so, I would like each of you," she said, "to introduce yourself to me and tell me a little about yourself. And then I will tell you why I decided a long time ago to ensure that Greenwood continue, and what I hope will be accomplished there now and in the years to follow." She had a firm, hard voice, as deep as a man's at times. "Afterward," she continued, "tea will be served."

  She finally softened her expression, even though it was more of a grimace to me than a true warm smile.

  "Who would like to begin?" she asked. No one spoke up. Then she fixed her gaze on me. "Well, since we're all so shy, why don't we start with the twins, just so we won't make any mistakes as to who is who."

  "I'm the crippled one," Gisselle declared with a smirk. There was an unheard gasp, as if all the oxygen had been sucked out of the room. Mrs. Clairborne turned to her slowly.

  "I hope only physically," she said.

  Gisselle's face filled with blood and her mouth fell open. When I looked at Mrs. Penny, I saw she wore an expression of satisfaction. Mrs. Clairborne was heroic in her eyes, and she couldn't be put off balance. I imagined girls a lot smarter than Gisselle had tried and found themselves just as she found herself right now: eating her own words.

  "I'm Ruby Dumas and this is my sister, Gisselle." I started quickly so I could fill the embarrassing silence. "We're seventeen years old and we're from New Orleans. We live in what is known as the Garden District. Our father is an investor in real estate."

  Mrs. Clairborne's eyes grew small. She nodded slowly, but she studied me so intently I felt I was sitting on a mound of swamp mud and slowly sinking.

  "I'm quite -familiar with the Garden District, a most beautiful area of the city. There was a time," she said a bit wistfully, "when I used to go to New Orleans quite often." She sighed and then turned to Abby, who described where she and her family now lived and her father's work as an accountant.

  "You have no brothers or sisters then?"

  "No, madame."

  "I see." She sighed again, deeply. "Are you all comfortable in your rooms?"

  "They're small," Gisselle complained.

  "You don't find them cozy?"

  "No, just small," Gisselle insisted.

  "Perhaps that's because of your unfortunate condition. I'm sure Mrs. Penny will do everything she can to make you as comfortable as can be while you are attending Greenwood," Mrs. Clairborne said, gazing at Mrs. Penny, who nodded.

  "And I'm sure you will find Greenwood a wonderful place in which to be educated. I always say our students come here as little girls and leave as young women, not only highly educated, but morally strengthened.

  "I feel," she continued, her face thoughtful, still, "that Greenwood is one of the last bastions of the moral fiber that once made the South the true capital of gentility and grace. Here you girls will get a sense of your tradition, your heritage. In other places, especially in the Northeast and the West, radicals are invading every aspect of our culture, thinning it out, diluting what was once pure cream and turning it into skim milk."

  She sighed.

  "There is so much immorality and such a lack of respect for what was once sacred in our lives. That comes only when we forget who and what we are, from where we have evolved. Do you all understand?"

  None of us spoke. Gisselle looked

  overwhelmed. I gazed at Abby, who returned my glance quickly with a knowing look.

  "Oh well, enough of this deep, philosophical chatter," Mrs. Clairborne said and then nodded toward the doorway, where two maids stood, waiting for the signal to bring in the tea, cakes, and pralines. The conversation became lighter. Gisselle, after a little urging, told the story of her accident, putting the blame entirely on faulty brakes. I described my love of art, and Mrs. Clairborne suggested I look over some of the paintings in the hallways. Abby was the, most reticent to talk about herself, of course, something I saw that Mrs. Clairborne noticed but didn't pursue.

  About midway through our tea, I asked to be excused to go to the bathroom, and Otis directed me to the closest one, which was on the west side of the house. As I was coming out, I heard piano music coming from a room farther down the corridor. It was so beautiful I was drawn toward it, and I looked through, a doorway that opened to a beautiful sitting room, behind which was a patio that opened to the gardens. But to the right of the patio door was a grand piano, the top up
so that at first I couldn't see much of the young man who was playing. I took a step in and to the right to see more, and I listened.

  Dressed in a white cotton shirt with a buttoneddown collar and dark blue slacks was a slim young man with dark brown hair, the strands thin and loose so that they fell over the sides of his head and over his forehead, settling over his eyes. But he didn't seem to mind--or to notice anything, for that matter. He was so lost in his music, his fingers floating over the keys as if his hands were independent creatures and he was just as much an observer and listener as I was.

  Suddenly he stopped playing and spun around on the stool to turn toward me. However, his eyes shifted to my right, as if he were looking not at me but at someone behind me. I had to turn around myself to be sure I hadn't been followed.

  "Who's there?" he asked, and I realized he was blind.

  "Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to disturb you."

  "Who's there?" he demanded.

  "My name's Ruby. I'm here for Mrs.

  Clairborne's tea."

  "Oh. One of the greenies," he said disdainfully, the corners of his mouth dipping. Otherwise he had a strong, sensuous mouth, with a perfectly straight nose and a smooth forehead that barely wrinkled even when he smirked.

  "I'm not one of the `greenies," " I retorted. "I'm Ruby Dumas, a new student."

  He laughed, folding his arms across his narrow torso, and sat back.

  "I see. You're an individual."

  "That's right."

  "Well, my grandmother and my cousin Margaret, whom you know as Mrs. Ironwood, will see to it that you lose that independent spirit soon enough and become a proper daughter of the South, stepping only where you should step, saying only what you should say--and saying it properly--and," he added with a laugh, "thinking only what you should think."

  "No one will tell me what to say and think," I replied defiantly. He didn't laugh this time, but he held his smile for a moment and then grew serious.

  "There's a different sound in your voice, an accent I detect. Where are you from?"

  "New Orleans," I said, but he shook his head.

  "No, before that. Come on, I can hear things more clearly, more distinctly. Those consonants . . Let me think . . You're from the bayou, aren't you?"

  I gasped at his accurate ears. He put up his hand. "Wait . . . I'm an expert on regional intonations . ."

  "I'm from Houma," I confessed.

  He nodded. "A Cajun. Does my grandmother know your true background?"

  "She might. Mrs. Ironwood knows."

  "And she permitted you to enroll?" he asked with sincere surprise.

  "Yes. Why wouldn't she?"

  "This is a school for pure bloods. Usually, if you're not a Creole from one of the finest Creole families . . ."

  "But I am that too," I said.

  "Oh? Interesting. Ruby Dumas, huh?"

  "Yes. And who are you?" He was hesitant. "You play beautifully," I said quickly.

  "Thank you, but I don't play. I cry, I scream, I laugh through my fingers. The music just happens to be my words, the notes my letters." He shook his head. "Only another musician, a poet or an artist, would understand."

  "I understand. I'm an artist," I said.

  "Oh?"

  "Yes. I have even sold some paintings through a gallery in the French Quarter," I added, finding myself bragging. It was not like me, but something about this young man's condescending, skeptical manner put a steel rod in my spine and hoisted my flag of pride. I might not be blueblood enough for the eyes of Mrs. Clairborne and her grandson, but I was Catherine Landry's granddaughter, I thought.

  "Have you?" He smiled, showing a mouthful of teeth almost as white as his piano keys. "What do you paint?"

  "Most of my paintings are scenes I did when I lived in the bayou."

  He nodded and grew more pensive-looking.

  "You ought to paint the lake at twilight," he said softly. "It used to be my favorite place . . . when the dying sun changes the colors of the hyacinths, shimmering from lavender to dark purple." He spoke about colors as if they were longlost, dead friends.

  "You weren't always blind, then?"

  "No," he said sadly. After a moment, he turned back to his piano. "You had better get back to my grandmother's tea before you're missed."

  "You never told me your name," I said.

  "Louis," he replied and immediately started to play again, only harder, angrier. I watched him for a moment and then I returned to the tea, feeling very melancholy. Abby noticed immediately, but before she could ask me about it, Mrs. Clairborne announced that our tea had come to an end.

  "I'm happy you girls could come to see me," she declared and then stood up. Leaning on her cane, she continued. "I'm sorry you have to be going, but I know you young women have things to do. I will ask you all up here again soon, I'm sure. In the meantime, work hard and remember to distinguish yourselves by being proper Greenwood girls." She started out, clicking her cane over the marble, that stopped watch dangling on the chain around her neck like a small but hefty burden she was sentenced to carry the rest of her life.

  "Come along, girls," Mrs. Penny said. She looked very pleased. "It was a nice afternoon, wasn't it?"

  "I nearly got a heart attack from the

  excitement," Gisselle said, but she looked at me suspiciously, curious about where I had been and why my mood had changed too. I wheeled her out, and Buck came hurrying up the steps to help get her over the portico. Once again he lifted her gently out of the chair, only this time she deliberately saw to it that her lips grazed his cheeks. He shifted a quick gaze at Abby and me, and especially at Mrs. Penny, to see if we'd seen what Gisselle had done. Both of us pretended we hadn't, and Mrs. Penny was too oblivious to have noticed. He looked relieved.

  Once we were all inside the car, Abby asked me where I had been so long.

  "I met a very interesting but very sad young man," I said. Mrs. Penny gasped. "You went into the west side of the house?"

  "Yes, why?"

  "I never let the girls go there. Oh dear, if Mrs. Clairborne finds out. I forgot to tell you not to venture off like that."

  "Why aren't we permitted to go into the west wing?" Abby asked.

  "That's the most private area, where she and her grandson really reside," Mrs. Penny replied.

  "Grandson?" Gisselle looked at me. "Is that who you met?"

  "Yes."

  "How old is he? What does he look like? What's his name?" she followed quickly. "Why wasn't he invited to the tea? At least that would have made it more interesting. Unless he was as ugly as she was."

  "He told me his name was Louis. He's blind, but he wasn't always that way. What happened to him, Mrs. Penny?"

  "Oh dear," she said instead of replying. "Oh dear, dear."

  "Oh stop and just tell us what happened," Gisselle commanded.

  "He became blind after his parents died," she said quickly. "He's not only blind but he suffers from melancholia. He usually doesn't speak to anyone. He has been that way ever since the deaths of his parents. He was only fourteen years old at the time. A great tragedy."

  "Was Mrs. Clairborne's daughter Louis's mother?" Gisselle asked.

  "Yes," Mrs. Penny replied quickly.

  "What's melancholia?" she followed. Mrs. Penny didn't respond. "A disease or what?"

  "It's a deep mental depression, a sadness that takes over your body. People can actually pine away," Abby said softly.

  Gisselle stared at her a moment. "You mean . . die of heartbreak?"

  "Yes."

  "That's so stupid. Does this boy ever come out?" Gisselle asked Mrs. Penny.

  "He's not a boy, dear. He's about thirty now. But to answer your question, he doesn't come out much, no. Mrs. Clairborne sees to his needs and insists he not be disturbed. But please, please," she begged, "let us not dwell on this anymore. Mrs. Clairborne doesn't like it discussed."

  "Maybe she's why he's so sad," Gisselle offered. "Having to live with her." Mrs. Penny gasped.
>
  "Stop it, Gisselle," I said. "Don't tease her."

  "I'm not teasing her," she insisted, but I saw the tiny smile sitting comfortably in the corners of her mouth. "Did he tell you how his parents died?" she asked me.

  "No. I didn't know they had. We didn't speak very long." Gisselle directed herself at Mrs. Penny again.

  "How did his parents die?" she pursued. When Mrs. Penny didn't reply, she demanded an answer. "Can't you tell us how they died?"

  "It's not a fit subject for us to discuss," Mrs. Penny snapped, her face firm. It was the first time we had seen her so adamant. It was clear the answer wasn't coming from her lips.

  "Well, why did you start telling us the story then?" Gisselle said. "It's not fair to start something and not finish."

  "I didn't start anything. You insisted on knowing why he was blind. Oh dear. This is the first time any of my girls have wandered into the west wing."

  "He didn't seem to mind all that much, Mrs. Penny," I said.

  "That's remarkable," she said. "He's never spoken to any of the Greenwood girls before."

  "He plays the piano beautifully."

  "Whatever you do, don't gossip about him with the other girls, please. Please," she added.

  "I don't gossip, Mrs. Penny. I wouldn't do anything to get you in trouble."

  "Good. Let's not talk about it anymore. Please. Did you all enjoy the little cakes?"

  "Oh, damn," Gisselle said. "I forgot to take some for Chubs." She stared at me a moment, and then she looked at Abby and nodded. "I want to speak to you two as soon as we're alone," she ordered. Then she fixed her gaze on Buck all the way back to the dorm.

  Once Mrs. Penny had left us inside, Gisselle spun around in her chair and demanded to know how we knew Buck. I explained about our walk to the boathouse that first night.

  "He lives there?"

  "Apparently."

  "And that's all? That was the only time you saw him?" she asked, obviously disappointed.

  "And once mowing the lawn," I said.

  She thought a moment. "He's cute, but he's just an employee here. Still," she said thoughtfully, "he's the only game in town right now."

  "Gisselle. You stay away from him and don't get him in any trouble."