CHAPTER XII--A WEEK LATER
"Barbara, I wouldn't play tennis with Gladys and Harry Townsend, if Iwere you," said Mollie to her sister, one morning a week later. "Theywere horrid to you yesterday. Didn't you notice, when you called to Hughand Ruth that their last ball had gone over the line, Gladys justshrugged her shoulders, and gave a sneery kind of smile to that Townsendfellow, and he lifted his eyebrows! Is your score the best, or Ruth's? Iknow you're both ahead of Gladys and Grace. I am sure Gladys doesn'tplay a bit better than I do; so she needn't have been so high andmighty."
Mollie shrugged her dainty shoulders. "You see, she told me, the firstday she arrived, that, of course, I didn't play in the class with theothers, so you had just the right eight for the two courts--four girlsand four men."
"Why, Mollie!" Bab looked surprised. "I thought you said you didn't wantto play. You can take my place any time."
Mollie smiled. "No," she answered; "I don't want to play. It's not that.But it annoys me when you let Gladys Le Baron, cousin or no cousin, snubus all the time, and you not notice it. Ralph certainly wouldn't like tohave me play with him now, when you're in for a match game."
"Mollie," said Bab, tying her tennis shoe, "I _do_ notice how rudeGladys is. She left me standing all alone the other afternoon, when Ruthand Grace had gone into the club house to speak to Aunt Sallie. Friendsof Gladys's came up, and she deliberately turned her back on me anddidn't introduce me. I felt so out of it! Mrs. Post and Mrs. Erwin soonjoined them, and they shook hands with me. I found the other people weresome guests who had come down for Mrs. Erwin's ball, next week, and werestaying at her house.
"I know," she continued, "Gladys is furious that we are invited to thedance. Mrs. Erwin was so cordial and nice. She said, right before me,that though the ball was a grown-up affair, she knew Gladys would wanther cousins and friends, and she had invited us on her account. Wasn'tit funny? Miss Gladys couldn't say a word. Goodness knows, _she_ doesn'twant us. She has been lording it over us, for days, because she andHarry were to be the only very young people invited. Gladys imaginesherself a woman of society, and is in reality merely a foolish littlegirl," said Barbara. Then she added reflectively: "Miss Sallie says weare all too young to 'go out,' and she doubts the propriety of allowingus to attend Mrs. Erwin's ball. Last night she told Ruth she had almostdecided against our going. Ruth championed our cause on the strength ofthe shortness of our stay in Newport, also that we should be permittedto go as a special favor to our hostess. You know Miss Sallie hates torefuse Ruth anything. Consequently we will be 'among those present' atMrs. Erwin's ball whether Miss Gladys approves or not."
"I just wish I could tell my lovely Mrs. Cartwright how mean Gladys is,"said Mollie. "She would not ask her to her charity fair."
"Please don't say anything, Mollie," pleaded Barbara, taking her tennisracquet from the bed. She had already answered Ralph's impatient whistlefrom the garden below. "It won't do any good for us to be horrid toGladys in return; it will only make us seem as hateful as she is. Thingswill come around, somehow. I don't mind her--so very much."
"Well, I do," answered Mollie. "But you haven't told me how your scoreand Ruth's stand."
"Oh, I think we are pretty nearly even." Barbara was half way out thedoor. "Be careful, Molliekins," she urged, "if you go rowing with thatfreshman this afternoon. Why do you want to know about Ruth's score andmine? It's a week before the game, and anything may happen before then.We all play pretty evenly; Hugh Post and Ralph Ewing, too."
"Oh, I didn't mean anything, Bab," Mollie said, thoughtfully. "OnlyRuth's awfully anxious to play in the tournament. She's just crazy aboutit."
"Of course she is, child. So are we all, for that matter," answered Bab."You don't mean----"
"I don't mean a single thing, Bab Thurston!" said Mollie, a littleindignantly.
"Yes, I am coming, at last, Ralph," Barbara sang softly over thebanisters. She had not overcome her awe of Mrs. Ewing. Ralph's motherwas by no means pleased with the idea that her adored Ralph preferredBarbara to any of the other girls.
"It's like Ralph," she complained to his father, "to pick out thepoorest girl of the lot, when the rich ones are so much more charming. Agreat way for him to retrieve the family fortunes!"
"We will hope," said Ralph's father quietly, "that Ralph will not try torestore our fortunes by marrying for money."
As Barbara walked down to meet Ralph she looked grave, and her face wasflushed. Ruth _did_ want to play in the tournament, but so did she, forthat matter! Could she resign in Ruth's favor? Then Barbara laughed toherself. "Catch a girl like Ruth letting me give up to her! I wonder ifit would be fair of me to disappoint Ralph?"
"Come on, Miss Day-dreamer," ordered Ralph, hurrying her along. "Theothers have been waiting for us for fifteen minutes down at the Casinocourts. Do you know that there is a party on for the afternoon? Ruth andHugh are to pile as many of us as they can into their motor cars, andtake us ten miles out the Ocean Drive. We are to stop at Mrs. Duffy'sEnglish tea place on our way back."
Bab was certainly not playing in good form today. She even missed one ofGladys's serves, which were usually too soft to count. When themorning's practice was over, Ruth's and Hugh's score was two pointsahead.
"Who is going to play in the tournament from these courts?" asked Mrs.Cartwright, crossing the lawn, her tennis racquet swinging in her hand.Mollie was close beside her, also "that freshman," who followed Molliewherever she went.
"Bab," answered Ruth, coming up to smile at Mrs. Cartwright, who waslooking prettier than usual in her tennis blouse of pale pink madraswith a linen skirt of the same shade.
"What a funny Gladys!" Mrs. Cartwright laughed as the other girls joinedher. "You are following our latest Newport fad, are you not, of havingyour head wrapped in a chiffon veil while you play tennis. You look likea Turkish girl, with only your eyes peeping out."
Gladys had tied up her head in a pale blue chiffon veil, with a fetchingbow just over the ear. The other women who were playing on the courts,with the exception of Mrs. Cartwright and the automobile girls, weredraped in the same fashion.
"That suggests a game to me," continued Mrs. Cartwright. "You must cometo my veranda some night and we will play it. It is called 'eyeology.' Iwon't tell you anything more about it now. Just you wait! But to go backto my first question. Then I am to enter Barbara for the tournament?"
"I should say not, Mrs. Cartwright," said Barbara, who was standingnear. This time she would not let Ruth speak.
"Ruth is certainly the best player among us," drawled Gladys; "she andMr. Post; but," she went on in insinuating tones, "you know there arestrange things that can happen in tennis!"
"If you mean, Gladys, that I cheated the other day," broke out Barbarafiercely, "I simply won't bear it! I know it is horrid of me to make ascene," she turned to Ruth with her eyes full of tears, "but this is thesecond time."
"Please don't get excited, Miss Thurston," cried Gladys scornfully. "Ihave not said you cheated. It looks a little bit like a case of guiltyconscience."
Harry Townsend smiled knowingly.
Bab, nearly in tears, couldn't answer, but Ralph and Hugh Post bothprotested indignantly.
"Please don't discuss a thing of this kind here," said Mrs. Cartwright,angrily. "We don't allow quarreling on the Casino courts. I am surprisedat you, Barbara. You were accused of nothing."
Mollie's eyes were black, instead of their usual lovely blue. She wasvery indignant, but she was always more of a diplomat than Barbara.
"Lovely lady," she said, putting her hand in Mrs. Cartwright's as theymoved away, "Gladys did mean that Bab cheated. This is the second timeshe has said it. Wouldn't you answer back if you were accused of notplaying fair with your very best friend?"
Mrs. Cartwright gave Mollie's hand a squeeze. "Tell Barbara I am sorryif I was too hard on her, but I don't like scenes!"
"I wish I could get an excuse to pummel that Harry Townsend!" mutteredRalph indignantly to Hugh, when the girls had gone home.
"I can't takeit out on Gladys, for she's a girl. That Townsend fellow's nothing but asneak. He just stands round and smiles and says nothing, until he putsme in a rage!"
"Oh, don't fight, Ralph," Hugh protested. "I hate that Townsend man,though, as much as you do. He is too infernally polite, for one thing,and he walks on his tiptoes. He comes right up behind you, and you neverknow where he is until he speaks. I believe he wears rubber soles on hisshoes!"
That afternoon, when the automobile parties had finished drinking theirtea, Barbara asked Ralph to take a little walk with her in the woods.She wanted to ask him something.
"Ralph," she began, "if I should fall down in my tennis, in the next fewdays, would you and Hugh play a test game to see which of you is thebetter man to help Ruth out in the tournament?"
Ralph shook his head. "No," he answered. "You are not losing your nerve,are you, Bab? Ruth and Hugh are wonderfully good players, but we are asgood as the rest of 'em. I'll take my chances with you."
"Would you be very, very much disappointed if we lost?"
"Oh, yes," said Ralph, cheerily, "but I could bear it all right." Helooked hard at Barbara for a minute. Then he said: "Go ahead, Barbara; Ithink I understand. I am game. And I'll never breathe it to a soul. Hughand Ruth would never forgive us, if they found out!"
"Well, Ralph," said Barbara, "I don't think there's going to be anyreason for my trying to let Ruth win; she's a better player than I am,and she will win anyhow, but, in case she shouldn't, Ruth has been aperfect dear to Mollie and me!"
"Gladys," said Ruth that night, when the young people were having aninformal dance at the Casino, "I shall never forgive you for accusingBarbara of cheating, as you did today. Barbara is perfectly incapable ofcheating. I can't understand why you don't like her."
Ruth's frank face clouded. She was incapable of understanding the pettymeannesses in Gladys's nature.
"Mr. Townsend and I thought differently concerning Miss Thurston,"Gladys replied, "but I have made no accusations, and will make none. Youwill find things out for yourself, though, when it is too late!"
Mollie was very sympathetic with Barbara that night. Things had not beengoing well with Bab for several days; she had an unfortunate habit ofspeaking her mind without thinking, and this trait had gotten her intotrouble with Miss Sallie several times. That lady had a profound respectfor the rich, while Barbara had been heard to say that some of the mostfashionable ideas of Newport were "just nonsense."
"Bab," comforted Mollie, "Mrs. Cartwright told me to say she was sorryshe had been cross to you. She wants you to be the gypsy fortune-tellerat her bazaar. She says you are very clever, and would do it better thananyone else; besides, she thinks no one would know you. She has lots ofgypsy things to dress up in."
"I would much rather be a waitress, like you girls," Bab declared.
"But you will do what Mrs. Cartwright wants you to, won't you?" urgedMollie.
"I'll see," said Bab.
The automobile girls were seeing Newport indeed! Mrs. Erwin and Mrs.Cartwright were both leaders in society. The girls had not only beeninvited to Mrs. Erwin's ball, but to the big dance which took placeafter the tennis tournament, and Mrs. Cartwright was arranging for aCharity Fair, which was to be the most original entertainment of theNewport season.