CHAPTER XXLADY JANE DINES WITH MR. GEX
Forsome time Lady Jane sat in the doorway, not knowing just what to do. She was very tired, and at first she was inclined to rest, thinking that Tiburce would come back and find her there; then when no one noticed her, and it seemed very long that she had waited, she felt inclined to cry; but she was a sensible, courageous little soul, and knew that tears would do no good; besides it was very uncomfortable, crying behind a mask. Her eyes burned, and her head ached, and she was hungry and thirsty, and yet Tiburce didn’t come; perhaps they had forgotten her altogether, and had got into the milk-cart, and gone home.
This thought was too much to bear calmly, so she started to her feet, determined to try to find them if they were not coming to search for her.
She did not know which way to turn, for the crowd confused her terribly. Sometimes a rude imp in a domino would push her, or twitch her sleeve, andthen, as frightened as a hunted hare, she would dart into the first doorway, and wait until her tormentor had passed. She was such a delicate little creature to be buffeted by a turbulent crowd, and had it not been for the disguise of the domino she would soon have found a protector amongst those she fled from.
After wandering around for some time, she found herself very near the spot she started from; and, thankful for the friendly shelter of the doorway, she slipped into it and sat down to think and rest. She wanted to take off her mask and cool her hot face, but she did not dare to; for some reason she felt that her disguise was a protection; but how could any one findherwhen there were dozens of little figures flitting about in pink dominos?
While she sat there thinking and wondering what she should do, she noticed a carriage drive up to the next door, and two gentlemen got out, followed by a young man. When the youth turned his face toward her, she started up excitedly, and holding out her hands she cried out pitifully, “It’s me; it’s Lady Jane.”
The young fellow glanced around him with a startled look; he heard the little cry, but did not catch the words, and it moved him strangely; he thought itsounded like some small creature in pain, but he only saw a little figure in a soiled pink domino standing in the next doorway, some little street gamin, he supposed, and without further notice he passed her and followed his companions up the steps.
It was the boy who gave Lady Jane the blue heron, and he had passed her without seeing her; she had called to him, and he had not heard her. This was too much, she could not bear it, and withdrawing again into her retreat she sat down and burst into a passion of tears.
For a long while she cried silently, then she fell asleep and forgot for a time all her troubles. When she woke a rude man was pulling her to her feet, and telling her to wake up and go home; he had a stick and bright buttons on his coat. “A young one tired out and gone to sleep,” he muttered, as he went on his way.
SHE CRIED OUT PITIFULLY, “IT’S LADY JANE”
SHE CRIED OUT PITIFULLY, “IT’S LADY JANE”
SHE CRIED OUT PITIFULLY, “IT’S LADY JANE”
Then Lady Jane began to think that that place was no longer a safe refuge; the man with the stick might come back and beat her if she remained there, so she started out and crept along close to the high buildings. She wondered if it was near night, and what she should do when it got dark. Oh, if Tante Modeste, Tiburce, or Madelon would only come for her,or Tante Pauline,—even she would be a welcome sight, and she would not run away from Raste, although she detested him; he pulled her hair and teased her, and called her “My Lady,” but still if he should come just then she would not run away from him, she would ask him to take her home.
At that moment some one behind her gave her domino a violent pull, and she looked around wildly; an imp in yellow and black was following her. A strand of her bright hair had escaped from her hood and fallen over her back; he had it in his hand, and was using it as a rein. “Get up, my little nag,” he was saying, in a rude, impertinent voice; “come, trot, trot.” At first she tried to jerk her hair away; she was so tired and frightened that she could scarcely stand, but she turned on her tormentor and bade him leave her alone.
“I’m going to pull off your mask,” he said, “and see if you ain’t Mary O’Brien.” He made a clutch at her, but Lady Jane evaded it; all the spirit in her was aroused by this assault, and the usually gentle child was transformed into a little fury. “Don’t touch me,” she cried; “don’t touch me,”—and she struck the yellow and black imp full in the face with all her strength.
Now this blow was the signal for a battle, in which Lady Jane was sadly worsted, for in a few moments the boy, who was older and of course stronger, had torn her domino from her in ribbons, had snatched off her mask, and pulled the hood from her head, which unloosened all her beautiful hair, allowing it to fall in a golden shower far below her waist, and there she stood with flashing eyes and burning cheeks, quivering and panting in the midst of a strange, rude crowd, like a little wild hunted animal suddenly brought to bay.
At that moment she saw some one leap on to thebanquette, and with one well-aimed and dexterous kick send her enemy sprawling into the gutter, while all the bystanders shouted with laughter.
It was Gex, little Gex, who had come to her rescue, and never did fair lady cling with greater joy and gratitude to the knight who had delivered her from the claws of a dragon, than did Lady Jane to the little horny hand of the ancient professeur of the dance.
For a moment she could not speak; she was so exhausted with her battle and so overcome with delight that she had no voice to express her feelings.
Gex understood the situation, and with great politenessand delicacy led her into a pharmacy near, smoothed her disordered dress and hair, and gave her a glass of soda.
This so revived the little lady that she found voice to say: “Oh, Mr. Gex, how did you know where I was?”
“I didn’t, I didn’t,” replied Gex tremulously. “It vas vhat you call one accident. I vas just going down the Rue Royale, vas just turning the corner, I vas on my vay home. I’d finished my Mardi-gras, all I vant of the noise and foolishness, and I vas going back to Rue des Bons Enfants, vhen I hears one leetle girl cry out, and I look and saw the yellow devil pull down my leetle lady’s hair. Oh,bon, bon, didn’t I give him one blow!—didn’t I send him in the gutter flying!”—and Gex rubbed his hands and chuckled with delight. “And how lucky vas I to have one accident to find my leetle lady, vhen she vas in trouble!”
Then Lady Jane and Mr. Gex turned down Rue Royale, and while she skipped along holding his hand, her troubles all forgotten, she told him how it happened that she had been separated from Tiburce, and of all her subsequent misadventures.
Presently, Gex stopped before a neat little restaurant,whose window presented a very tempting appearance, and, looking at Lady Jane with a broad, inviting smile, said, “I should like to know if my leetle lady vas hungry. It is past four of the clock, and I should like to give my leetle lady von Mardi-gras dinner.”
“Oh, thank you, Mr. Gex,” cried Lady Jane, delightedly, for the smell of the savory food appealed to her empty stomach. “I’m so hungry that I can’t wait until I get home.”
“Vell, you sha’n’t; this is one nice place, vairychicand fashionable, fit for one leetle lady, and you shall see that Gex can order one fine dinner, as vell as teach the dance.”
When the quaint little old man, in his antiquated black suit, a relic of other and better days, entered the room, with the beautiful child, rosy and bareheaded, her yellow hair flying out like spun silk, and her dainty though disordered dress plainly showing her superior position, every eye was turned upon him, and Gex felt the stirrings of old pride and ambition, as he placed a chair with great ceremony, and lifted Lady Jane into it. Then he drew out his spectacles with much dignity, and, taking the card thewaiter handed him, waited, pencil poised, for the orders of the young lady.
“If you please,” he said, with a formal bow, and an inviting smile, “to tell me vhat you prefair.”
Lady Jane frowned and bit her lips at the responsibility of deciding so important a matter; at length she said, with sparkling eyes and a charming smile:
“If you please, Mr. Gex, I’ll take some—some ice cream.”
“But first, my leetle lady,—but first, one leetleplatof soup, and the fish withsauce verte, and one leetle bird,—just one leetle bird vith thepetit pois—and one fine, good, leetle salad. How vould that suit my leetle lady?”
“And ice cream?” questioned Lady Jane, leaning forward with her little hands clasped primly in her lap.
“And after, yes, onecrême à la glace, one cake, and one leetle bunch ofraisin, grape you say,” repeated Gex, as he wrote laboriously with his old, stiff fingers. “Now ve vill have one fine leetle dinner, my leetle lady,” he said, with a beaming smile, when he had completed the order.
Lady Jane nodded an affirmative, and while theywaited for their dinner her bright eyes traveled over everything; at length they rested on Mr. Gex with unbounded admiration, and she could not refrain from leaning forward and whispering:
“Oh, Mr. Gex, how nice, how lovely you look! Please, Mr. Gex,pleasedon’t wear an apron any more.”
“Vell, if my leetle lady don’t vant me to, vell, I von’t,” replied Gex, beaming with sudden ambition and pride, “and, perhaps, I vill try to be one fine leetle gentleman again, like vhen I vas professeur of the dance.”