The Beautiful Wretch; The Pupil of Aurelius; and The Four Macnicols Part 4

At this moment the music slowly ceased; and the kaleidoscopic groups out there, that had been going through all sorts of interminglings and combinations, lost cohesion, as it were, and melted away into the murmuring and amorphous crowd. Miss Nan knew very well that she ought now to return to her mamma; but how was she to break in upon this story? When one has already begun to tell you something, more particularly when that something is about himself and an old companion--and especially if you do not wish to be perplexed with invitations to dance--it is not polite to interrupt.

So the young lieutenant, taking no notice whatever of the cessation of the dancing, continued his story, and told several more, which Miss Nan found intensely interesting--so absorbing, indeed, that she met the eyes of her companion without any abashment, and frequently laughed in her low, quiet way. These two seemed very friendly, and heedless of what was going on around them; and might, in fact, have continued talking for a quite indefinite time had not, all of a sudden, Charley Stratherne come up, followed by a tall man with a long yellow beard; and before Nan knew what had happened, she was being led away to pierce the great throng that had now grown very dense indeed, a waltze having already begun. As for the young lieutenant, he somewhat abruptly declined his friend's offer to find him a partner.

'You have plenty of dancing men; there won't be room to move shortly.'

Charley Stratherne was too busy to stay and ask why his friend refused to dance, and would not even remain in the ball-room; the next second he was off. Then the young lieutenant managed to make his way through the crowd to the door; and as there were still plenty of people arriving, he succeeded in pa.s.sing his hostess un.o.bserved and making his way downstairs.

He entered the brilliantly-decorated but quite empty supper-room, and sat down. One of the servants happened to come in and stared at him.

'Look here,' said he, 'could you get me an evening paper?'

'Oh yes, sir,' said the man: and he went off and speedily returned with the newspaper.

Frank King sat down, turned his back to the table, and was soon all by himself in this long chamber, apparently deeply absorbed in the evening's news. What he really was doing, however, was listening to the music overhead.

Meanwhile, Nan got through the waltz somehow. The crush was so great that her partner, who was not much of a pilot, generally succeeded in steering her into some little side bay, where they came slowly to rest by mere friction, or else landed her right in the middle of the room, where there was a throng of unskilful dancers become stationary in spite of themselves. At last she was surrendered again to her mother's care.

'Well, Nan,' said Lady Beresford, with an amused look, 'how did you get on?'

'You mean how much did I get off?' said she.

'I believe I'm all in rags. And that elephant of a man b.u.mped me against every person in the room.'

Here the Admiral came along--bustling as was his wont, talking to everybody at the same time, and invariably putting his hand on the shoulder of those whom he knew best, to give effect to his speech.

'Well, well, my girl,' he said, 'how did you like your partner? Did he amuse you? Did he compliment you on the roses in your cheeks--ah, that's the Brighton air, that is.'

'Oh, if you mean Lieutenant King,' said Nan, without any hesitation or embarra.s.sment, 'I think he is very amusing indeed--very. And very clever, too, is he not?

'Oh yes, he's a smart young fellow--a smart young fellow is Frank King.

We've had an eye on him for some time back.'

'I should say now,' remarked Nan, with a wise air, 'that he had got his Three Ones?'

The Admiral stared at her, and then burst out laughing.

'You young impertinence! What do you know about the Three Ones? He had got his certificates before he was one-and-twenty. But here, I will tell you something.'

He took her a step aside.

'Hush, now--hush-sh. It is a State secret. Don't say a word. But I'll tell you what we're going to do with Frank King to-morrow; we're going to give him the command of the _Fly-by-Night_. What do you think of that for a lieutenant of five-and-twenty?'

'If he has relatives, I suppose they will be very proud,' said Nan.

'Relatives? Don't you know the Kings of Kingscourt? But there now, I mustn't keep you talking; I suppose you're engaged for every dance.

Mind you are down at supper while I'm there; I will drink a gla.s.s of wine to the roses in your cheeks----'

And so he was off again before she could say, as she greatly wished to say--'Oh, Sir George, I would rather talk to you than have to do any more dancing. Surely there are enough people dancing.'

Then she looked round the room for some considerable time. At last she said to herself contentedly,

'Yes, I thought he was too clever looking to care about dancing, and I don't wonder he has gone home. But it would have been nice if I had had the chance to tell him he was going to have the command of the _Fly-by-Night_.'

CHAPTER V.

THE SAME.

The night pa.s.sed quickly, and amid all this bewilderment of music and dancing and introductions, Nan very soon forgot even the existence of the young Lieutenant whose acquaintance she had made. Moreover, the succession of these rapid excitements left no room for anything resembling stage-fright--although, it is true, each time the band began anew she felt a little throb. But Lady Stratherne, who had now all her guests a.s.sembled, was so indefatigable in seeing that Nan should not be left neglected, and the dancing in this crowd was so much a matter of experiment and accident, and the fact that she was introduced to one or two partners who seemed no more expert than herself, was so rea.s.suring, that on the whole Nan was very much delighted in her demure way, and that delight showed itself in her face and in her clear bright eyes.

Her hair was a little wild, and she had lost some of her forget-me-nots, and there were one or two flying tags that had got dissociated from the skirt of her dress; but was not that all part of the play? Nan's cheeks were flushed, and her eyes were pleased and bright; the only thing that troubled her in this whirl of excitement was an occasional qualm about her mother. Had she not promised to keep the poor mamma company? But a time would come, and then she would make amends by being particularly affectionate.

The time did come. On consulting the programme Nan found opposite the next dance a scrawl that might be made out to be 'F. H. King;' and then she bethought herself of the young sailor. Well, he had left. That was very opportune. She would devote the time of this dance to her mother, and take her into the tea-room, and ask which of her old friends she had met, and even offer to go home with her if she felt fatigued.

'Mamma,' she said to Lady Beresford, 'don't you think I've done enough?

England can't expect you to do more than your duty, even with all those flags overhead. Come away, and I will get you some tea, though what would be better for you still would be some B. and S.'

'Nan, how dare you!' said her mother, angrily, and glancing round at the same time. 'You may use such expressions, if you like, when you are with your brother. Pray don't disgrace the whole family when you are elsewhere.'

'Mamma, dear,' said Nan, contritely, 'it is madness, pure madness. The excitement of my first ball has got into my brain----'

'Into your what?' said her mother, with a smile. Nan, and Nan alone, could pacify her in a second.

At the same moment the band began again; and somehow Nan, looking up, found before her some one who was no other than the young Lieutenant she had met at the beginning of the evening. She was somewhat bewildered by this Jack-in-the-box sort of appearance.

'I think you promised me this next dance, Miss Beresford,' said he. He was a grave-looking young man for his years--a Corsican Brother--the Ghost in _Hamlet_. She did not know what to make of him.

'I thought you had left,' she stammered. 'You have not been dancing?'

'No, I have not been dancing,' he repeated.

'I will come back to you soon, mamma,' she said, and she put her hand on his arm, and moved away with him.

'The fact is,' said he, 'I don't like much being introduced to strangers. Most girls stare at you so, with a sort of hold-off air, and it is so difficult to get on pleasant and friendly terms with them.'

'I should not have thought you were so shy,' said Nan, with an honest laugh.

He flushed a little, and said--

'If you've lived most of your life on board s.h.i.+p, you may feel a little bit awkward; but mind,' he added with some eagerness, 'sometimes, not often (once in half a dozen years, maybe), you meet with a girl who is quite different from the others, quite different. You know it at once from her manner, and you can make friends with her with the greatest ease, simply because she is intelligent and quick in appreciation, and not affected in her ways, or stiff.'

This eager encomium pa.s.sed upon an imaginary person struck Nan as being somewhat out of place; for the waltz had already begun, and she wanted to get back to her mamma: whereas this Lieutenant King seemed to wish to stand there and talk to her.

'Of course, that's special good luck for a sailor,' said he with a smile, 'to be able to make friends in a short time; for it's only a short time he has. Ash.o.r.e to-day, and off to-morrow again; and what's worse, out of sight out of mind.'

'Oh, not always,' said Nan, cheerfully.