CHAPTER XL
THE first use to which the great handsome room with its beamed ceiling, great chimney, deep fire-place, and handsome solid furnishings was put was social, however, rather than educational. On Sunday, Meadowcroft showed Betty the draught of an invitation he was preparing to send out to the Appletons and to the members of the fourth-year class of the Paulding High School.
“Mr. Humphrey Meadowcroft requests the honor of your company at 20, West Main Street, South Paulding, on Saturday, April 17th, at half-past three o’clock. At four, Mr. Thomas Finnemore, assisted by Miss Pogany, will give an exhibition of magic and Miss Harrow will play selections on the pianoforte. Supper will be served at half-past six and carriages to take the guests home will be at the door at half-past eight.R.S.V.P.”
“Mr. Humphrey Meadowcroft requests the honor of your company at 20, West Main Street, South Paulding, on Saturday, April 17th, at half-past three o’clock. At four, Mr. Thomas Finnemore, assisted by Miss Pogany, will give an exhibition of magic and Miss Harrow will play selections on the pianoforte. Supper will be served at half-past six and carriages to take the guests home will be at the door at half-past eight.
R.S.V.P.”
“Can you suggest any changes?” he asked gravely.
Overjoyed as she was with the thought of the happiness in store for Rose and Tommy, on a sudden a sense of her own unworthiness swept over Betty Pogany.
“I wish you would put me down as Bouncing Bet,” she said almost fiercely.
“I am sorry to disappoint you, but it wouldn’t be true. It would be an out-and-out whopper,” he asseverated.
She looked rather pleadingly into his eyes.
“I’ll tell you why I’d like to have it so,” she said seriously. “It would be like wearing mourning. If you do that, people know you have lost friends. I’d like always to go by the name of Bouncing Bet, so that everyone would understand——”
The famous trick of making an omelet in a gentleman’s silk hat was heartily applaudedThe famous trick of making an omelet in a gentleman’s silk hat was heartily applauded
The famous trick of making an omelet in a gentleman’s silk hat was heartily applauded
The famous trick of making an omelet in a gentleman’s silk hat was heartily applauded
“You would like to be branded? An outward and visible sign?” he rejoined. “I know what you mean, Betty, and no doubt many of us would like now and again to don actual sack-cloth. But I can’t allow you to speak nor to feel that way. The past is past and you have promised to try to forget it. And now, unless you agree to forgive yourself absolutely and unconditionally, I shall countermand this order and call off the party. That would be hard on Tommy, for he’s quite mad over his part of the program, one trick in particular, which consists of making an omelet in a silk hat—my silk hat, mind you—being worth a day’s journey in itself. And it would be hard on me, for I got a special dispensation from Tommy’s father allowing him to practise magic for a fortnight. And it would be hard on Rose because she has her pieces at her fingers’ ends and happens to have a new gown into the bargain.”
Betty had a new gown, too, a gift from her father. It was a charming gown, as pretty as had ever been seen in South Paulding, and so becoming that George Pogany was not the only one who thought the girl rarely lovely on the night of the party. Mr. Meadowcroft had gone to Betty’s and Tommy’s fathers and to Rose’s mother and explained the circumstances that had caused so much trouble. No other could have done it so sympathetically and in such a manner as to touch even Mr. Finnemore.Pogany warmed more than ever to Betty, and Tommy’s father not only removed the ban temporarily upon his son’s favorite diversion, but planned to make it permanent after the party, and to give the boy his railroad fares again the next term towards the purchase of supplies.
Some of the guests at the party declared that Tommy Finnemore should have had a new suit, for he was a perfect sight. Perhaps he was. Certainly his trousers and jacket sleeves had been much too short at Christmas, and he had grown nearly three inches since. But Tommy never thought of his clothes, though he looked with great admiration upon his assistant and was very careful of her gown. The boy was in his element, perfectly happy during the progress of the performance, and also for weeks afterwards in dwelling upon it—in speech when he could get a friendly ear, otherwise in dreams. Out of nine tricks, four worked perfectly, two of them being the second and third best of the nine; and the other five were so interesting to watch that the majority of the spectators didn’t know and the rest didn’t care that they did not come out exactly as they should have done.
The famous trick of making an omelet in a gentleman’s silk hat was heartily applauded. A successful magician mixes the eggs with a flourish and presently brings out, not an omelet but a garland of flowers. The flash of red fire which was supposed to cook the ingredients was a great surprise, and Tommy drew forth a handsome wreath of flowers with an impressive gesture. Traces of the egg, which should have disappeared, being transformed into flowers, were, however, visible, and Mr. Meadowcroft’s hat was considerably damaged.He declared that he didn’t care, as he disliked to wear it, and presented it to Tommy for future use. And Tommy’s last waking thought that night was that when summer should come and restore to him the opportunity to practise magic, he would devote all his leisure and all the eggs he could collect to perfecting this most alluring example of the conjurer’s art.