CHAPTER XX.AT THE TENNIS COURT.
She was not too tired. Her aunt took care of that, and made her rest while she prepared supper.
“I want you to be fresh and to hold your own with them,” she said, happy that Elithe was at last to be introduced into society as represented by the tennis club.
It was very select. Not every one could gain admittance, as one “No” rejected the applicant, whoever he or she might be. Any member, however, could bring a friend, and no objections made. Paul was the president of the club, while Clarice was the prime mover of its exclusiveness. Paul had wished to take Elithe there before, thinking she must be lonely, knowing so few young people as she did. Clarice, to whom he proposed it, vetoed it at once.
“She wouldn’t enjoy it,” she said. “She don’t play. She knows none of the members. None of them know her, and besides that, you don’t want her feelings hurt. That old flannel she wears incessantly would be out of place among the gay dresses of the young ladies who might laugh at her.”
“Not if they were ladies,” Paul answered, quickly, wondering why clothes should make so much difference with women.
He didn’t care whether a fellow’s coat were old or new, if he liked the fellow, but he gave up the idea of taking Elithe to the club until he suggested it again on her return from Boston. Nothing could be moreen reglethan her attire, and Miss Hansford looked after her with pride, as she walked down the path with Paul and turned into the avenue. “Carries herself like a duchess. Nobody’d know but what she’d lived in a city all her life,” she thought, wondering how Clarice would receive her.
Clarice was not in a humor to receive any one very cordially. She had just had a letter from Jack which annoyed her exceedingly, and she was anxious to show it to Paul. He was usually early at the court, and, with Jack’s letter in her pocket, she waited for him to come, declining to play and seeming very much out of sorts. All the élite of the club were there, and two or three games were in progress when Paul at last turned the corner with Elithe.
“Where is Mr. Ralston?” a young lady said to Clarice; then, as she saw him in the distance, she added: “There he is now, and some one with him. Who can it be? Gen. Ray’s daughter, from New York, perhaps. They are expected here. She’s lovely, any way, and, look at her ripple skirt, seven yards wide, I am sure. It hangs well, too. How graceful she is, and what a pretty hat! There issomething about a New York girl which marks her from a stiff Bostonian like me.”
If a face as fair as Clarice’s can turn dark hers did as she listened and looked at the slowly approaching couple. She had not seen Elithe since the meeting in the water, but she knew that Miss Hansford had gone to Boston, and that Elithe had gone with her. The little Daily News published in Oak City had it among the Personals, and she had wondered, when she read it, of what possible interest it could be to the world at large to know anything of Miss Hansford’s movements and who had notified the editor.
“Did it themselves, I dare say,” she said, as she threw the paper aside and thought no more of it.
Paul had given the Personal to the editor, thinking it would please Miss Hansford and Elithe to have their movements published with those of Gov. Tracy’s family, just arrived from Paris, and the President at Buzzard’s Bay, and Joe Jefferson, whose young kinswoman was soon to be married. Had he known where Miss Hansford was stopping in Boston he would have sent her a paper. As he didn’t know he kept a copy for her, but forgot to give it to her when he called for Elithe. He was telling the latter about it as they came up to the court, not that he sent the Personal, but that he saw it.
“I wish I had a paper to send to father. I never saw my name in print in my life,” Elithe said, pleased with the attention.
To be mentioned with the President and Joe Jefferson and Gov. Tracy was something to be proud of, and her face was beaming with pleasure at the honor and with delight at the scene the tennis court presented, with the gay dresses of the ladies and the fanciful costumes of the men.
“Isn’t she lovely?” the young lady who had first called Clarice’s attention to her, continued.
“Looks well enough, but I don’t call her lovely, and it isn’t Miss Ray, either. It’s that Hansford girl,” Clarice replied, with a toss of her head.
Who the Hansford girl was the young lady didn’t know, but she watched her as she came up with Paul, who did not at first see Clarice. When he did he went to her, apologizing for being late and saying: “I have brought Miss Hansford with me.”
Clarice bowed stiffly, but did not speak. She was taking in every detail of Elithe’s dress, and wondering at the transformation and hating her for the attention she was attracting. Paul introduced her to those who were not playing, all of whom received her cordially and wondered they had never met her before. The young men especially vied with each other in their attentions to her. At least half a dozen urged her to play, and offered to teach her. She ought to be in the club, they said, and they would propose her name at once if she wished it. Elithe possessed the talent of adaptability to a great extent, and, although this was her first introduction to Oak City’s Four Hundred, she was wholly self-possessed, and received the attention paid her as if she had been accustomed to it all her life. She was fond of society, but had seen little of it since coming to Oak City, and it was very pleasant to find herself the centre of attraction, and to hear so many express their pleasure at meeting her. Before she quite realized it, she was trying her hand at the game, proving an apt scholar and never making a move which was not graceful and lady-like. Many were the whispered inquiries as to who she was, and where she came from, and the fact that she was from thewilds of Montana did not in the least detract from the interest in her.
Only Clarice kept aloof, sitting just where she sat when Paul came up with Elithe. She had a headache, and was too tired and hot to play, she said, and was going home. But she waited and watched Elithe until the game was over, and then arose to go.
“Don’t trouble yourself to go with me. Stay with Miss Hansford by all means,” she said to Paul, who, until then, had not thought it necessary to accompany her, as the Percy cottage was not more than fifty rods away, and it was still daylight, with a full moon rising over the sea.
Now, however, he knew by the tone he was learning that it was necessary.
“I am sorry to take you away, but as Miss Percy is tired I think we will go with her,” he said to Elithe, who, flushed with exercise and pleasure, was looking very bright and beautiful, and around whom the young men were gathered as bees gather around a flower.
Two or three of them at once protested against her leaving, saying they would see her home. Elithe thanked them, but decided to go with Paul and Clarice. The latter was very silent until the cottage was reached. Then she said: “Good-night, Miss Hansford. I am sure you will excuse Mr. Ralston if he stops with me. There is something I particularly wish to tell him.”
“Certainly,” Elithe replied, and was turning away when Paul laid his hand on her shoulder and detained her.
He had not been pleased with Clarice’s manner at the court, and he was less pleased with it now.
“I brought Miss Hansford here,” he said, in a tone of annoyance, “and I shall see her home. You can go with us, if you like.”
Clarice’s face was like a thunder cloud as she saw herself thwarted, but if she could not keep Paul from a long walk alone with Elithe in one way she would in another, and after a moment she said: “Of course I’ll go, but suppose we take a car. There’s one coming now.”
Had he been alone with either of the girls, Paul would have preferred walking. As it was he did not care whether he walked or rode, and the three were soon put down on the avenue opposite Miss Hansford’s cottage. Elithe did not ask them in, but Paul unceremoniously seated himself upon the steps and began to talk of the fine view with the sunset colors on Lake Eau Claire and the moonlight on the sea beyond. Clarice remained standing, nor did Elithe ask her to sit down, knowing that she would refuse. There was a silent antagonism between the two which Paul felt and which made him uncomfortable in spite of his affected gayety. When she had stood as long as she could endure it Clarice said, persuasively: “Come, Paul, I’m very tired, and Miss Hansford does not want to be kept out here all night.”
Then he arose, shook hands with Elithe and said to Clarice: “I’m ready. Come on.”