The Comings of Cousin Ann Part 15

So it happened that Judith's time was fully taken up by her fairy G.o.dfathers until the supper-time intermission.

CHAPTER XV

Cinderella Revealed

The rattle of china and silver had begun in a room beyond the dancing hall and an aroma of coffee and a suggestion of savory food was in the air. Dancers and spectators sniffed in antic.i.p.ation. The music stopped. Judge Middleton walked towards the end of the hall. He had Judith Buck by his side, her hand resting lightly on his arm. She was chatting gaily, but the Judge looked rather serious.

When the couple reached a spot near the ba.s.s drum, the Judge stopped and, borrowing the stick from the musician, he rapped sharply on the side of the drum.

"He's going to make a speech!"

"Be quiet!"

"Judge Middleton is going to talk!"

The other nine old men called for order. Another sharp rap on the drum and all was still.

"Friends," the Judge said, "I have something to say to you." One could have heard a pin drop. "Of course all of us old men know that you have had a very good time, laughing at us because we sent out invitations calling this a debut party. We are pleased to have given so many of our friends a good laugh. We did it on purpose, because we have all of us lived a long time and we know how popular it makes you to furnish a good laugh. We are proud and happy that so many persons have seen fit to come to our party and we hope you are having a pleasant time to repay you for your trouble."

"Hear! Hear!"

"The best this year!"

"Do it again!"

"I wonder if any of you noticed that our invitation did not say to whom we were giving this debut party? We left that out on purpose, because we were afraid it might scare off the person whom we are delighted to honor. Up to this moment the dear child whose debut party this is has been entirely ignorant that it is hers."

Judith, who had been standing by her old friend, utterly unconscious of self, wholly absorbed in his speech, now looked at him with an expression of startled amazement. She gave a little gasp and blushed violently.

"Friends of Ryeville and our county, we, the old men of the neighborhood, wish to tell you that this debut ball is in honor of our fairy G.o.dchild, Miss Judith Buck."

A ripple of applause ran around the room.

"We know that we are not doing the conventional thing in the conventional way," the Judge continued, "but we wanted to do something different for a girl who is different. Only a few days ago we were sitting, talking, discussing matters and things, when the thought came to us that we should like to do something for a girl who has never been too busy to stop and have a pleasant word with us old men. It was my friend, Pete Barnes, who thought of this way."

"Yes, my idee, my idee!" cried Pete.

"I am sure a great many of you already know our young friend. You have seen her grow from childhood to young womanhood--watched her trudging in to school in all weathers, determined to get an education at any cost--noted her record at school, always at the top or near the top.

Perhaps others in Ryeville besides the old men have been cheered by her happy face and ready wit and sympathy."

"Hear! Hear!"

"And now we old men wish to present formally to society Miss Judith Buck. If you have any criticism to make of our method, please blame us and not our guest of honor. This is a surprise party for her."

"Well, I call that right down pretty," said Big Josh to his Cousin Bob. "I have been wanting all evening to get in a word with some of the crowd concerning this young lady, but it looks like it's hard to get away from the women folk long enough to talk sense."

"I believe I know what you mean," said Mr. Bucknor uneasily. "It won't do, Josh, it won't do."

"The d.i.c.kens it won't do, if we decide to claim her!"

"But the ladies, Josh, the ladies! I fancy Cousin Ann has told you what she told me. The tale got my madam and the girls up in arms and I can't cope with the whole biling of them. I'd say no more about it if I were you. Of course we must go up and shake hands with the girl, and do the polite, but the least said the soonest mended--about her being related to us. You know well enough if the women folk are opposed it would be harder on the girl than just letting the matter drop right where it is."

"Well, I reckon I can control the ladies in my family," bl.u.s.tered Big Josh.

"Ahem!" said Mr. Bob Bucknor, with a significant glance at his cousin, "I must confess that I can't always do so. I find that entertaining Cousin Ann Peyton, for months at a time, is about all I can do in the way of coercion where the ladies of my family are concerned."

"I'm going to relieve you of that burden, Bob," declared Big Josh. "I fully realize you have had more than your share lately, but the truth of the matter is my lane is in mighty bad shape here lately. I have just been talking to Cousin Ann about coming to us for a spell. In fact, I've been telling her I'd come and fetch her before so very long."

Judith stood demurely between Judge Middleton and Major Fitch and made her bow to Ryeville society. They had asked Mrs. Buck to stand by her daughter, but that lady begged to be excused.

"I'm just a private person," she said, "and it would fl.u.s.trate me so I'd be sure to have one of my attacks."

Everybody went up and shook hands with the guest of honor--even Mildred Bucknor, although she did not enjoy it at all.

"It is the silliest thing I ever saw in my life," she declared. "As though that Judith Buck wasn't forward enough as it is, without those ridiculous old men forcing her on people this way. If we had known the party was given to her, we never should have come, but now that we are here we naturally must behave as gentle folk and be decent."

"Of course," echoed Nan. "We couldn't leave just as supper is announced either. That would be impolite."

"Very!" said the fat boy.

The knowledge that the debut party was given to little Judith Buck in no way served to throw a damper on the festivities. On the contrary, the gaiety of the guests increased. Supper was a decided success and the stylish waiters from Louisville saw to it that everyone was served bountifully. Old Billy crept from behind the decorations and insisted upon waiting on his mistress.

"She am the queen er the ball," he said arrogantly to the young darkey who objected to giving up his tray to the old man.

"You mean the young lady who's havin' her comin' out?"

"No, I don't mean her, but my Miss Ann, who air a settin' over yonder all kivered with di'ments."

Miss Ann was weary and tremulous. She had been strangely moved by Judge Middleton's speech. Why, she did not know exactly, but all evening she had been putting herself in Judith's place, wondering what life would have held for her if at the turning point she had shown the character and s.p.u.n.k of this young girl. She had gone with the rest to shake hands with the girl after Judge Middleton's speech. She longed to declare their relations.h.i.+p, but was afraid to until the family accepted Judith. So Miss Ann merely took Judith's hand in hers and pressed it gently. All she said was, "I am so happy to have met you."

"Oh, thank you, Miss Peyton. I am indeed glad to know you." Judith had almost called her cousin. She devoutly hoped n.o.body had noticed it, but there was no time for repinings because one was stand-offish. Too many persons must be introduced to the debutante. Even had Mildred Bucknor been inclined to chat with her former schoolmate she would not have been allowed to do it. There were others who pressed forward to greet the fairy G.o.dchild of the old men of Ryeville.

The general att.i.tude of the a.s.sembly was good natured and congratulatory. The aristocratic contingent was inclined to be a little formal, but polite and not unkindly. The aristocrats were more or less related to one another, and most of them were connected, closely or distantly, with the Bucknors. Their formality in greeting Judith might easily have been accounted for by the fact that Big Josh Bucknor had kept the ball rolling in regard to old d.i.c.k Buck's kins.h.i.+p with the family. From the moment Miss Ann Peyton had made the statement that the Bucks and Bucknors were originally the same people, Big Josh had been spreading the news. All of them had heard it before, but n.o.body had ever given serious thought to it. To be related to slovenly, lazy, dissipated old d.i.c.k Buck was out of the question. The possibility of such a connection was laughably preposterous. It was quite a different matter, however, to contemplate receiving into the charmed circle a beautiful young girl who was everything her unworthy old grandparent had not been.

"But we must go slowly," Little Josh Bucknor had said, when approached by his cousin, Big Josh. "It's a great deal easier to get relations than it is to get rid of them. Ahem--Cousin Ann, for instance! Cousin Ann is so distantly related to us that one cannot trace the kins.h.i.+p, but we got started wrong with her in old days and now you would think she was as close as a mother or something.

"I'm mighty bothered about Cousin Ann, Big Josh. The fact of the matter is, my wife won't stand for her. I can't even make her go up and speak to the old lady. She's been talking to Cousin Betty Throckmorton and they've been hatching up a scheme to freeze out Cousin Ann and fix it so she'll have to go to an old ladies' home.

Cousin Mildred Bucknor is in on it, too, and from the way they've had their heads together all evening I believe your daughters are in the plot."

"The minxes! I don't doubt it. Poor Cousin Ann! She's never done anybody any harm in her life," and Big Josh's round, moon-like face expressed as much sorrow as it was capable of.

"No--never any harm--but I reckon Cousin Ann hasn't done much good in her time. When you come right down to it, chronic visiting is a poor way to spend your time, unless you are a powerful good visitor, which Cousin Ann isn't. She got started wrong and never has got put on the right road. I don't see what we are going to do about it. Bob Bucknor is having more than his share, but I can't do a thing with my wife.

You see, she made her own living before she married me and she's got no use for what she calls the unproductive consumer. She says that's what Cousin Ann is. Mrs. Bob is getting worn out with it, too, because her girls are grown now and they are kicking at having the poor old lady come down on them on all occasions. It looks as though we'd have to call a meeting of the family and thresh the thing out."