CHAPTER XV TEA IN A STABLE
"Tavia!" exclaimed Dorothy, the next afternoon, as they prepared to go toa matinee, "this address is Aunt Winnie's apartment house--the one sheinvested so much money in." She handed Tavia Miss Mingle's card.
"How strange that the teacher should be Aunt Winnie's tenant, and younever knew it," cried Tavia, as she arranged a bunch of orchids, realhot-house orchids, that Ned had sent.
"Won't Aunt Winnie be surprised when she learns that our little MissMingle is one of her tenants?" Dorothy said. She was pinning on a hugebunch of roses. Ned had laughed at the girls' tale of finding everythingon the shopping tour to be false, and to prove that there were realthings in New York City, had sent them these beautiful flowers to wear tothe matinee.
"Indeed," continued Dorothy, "I'm mighty glad we met Miss Mingle. AuntWinnie has had just about enough worry over that old apartment house!Miss Mingle, no doubt, will relieve that anxiety to some extent. I do sohope that everything will come out right. But come, dear, don't look sograve, we must be gay for the show!"
Ned ran into the room. "Hurry, girls," he said, bowing low, "the motor isat the door."
"The car!" screamed the girls in delight, "where did the car come from?"
"Oh, just the magic of New York," said Ned, with a smile.
"Not the _Fire Bird_?" asked Dorothy, hat pin suspended in mid-air.
"Oh, no, just a car. Maybe you girls like being bumped along on top ofthe 'bus, but little Neddie likes to have his hand on the wheel himself,"said Ned.
"Running a car in New York," said Tavia, "is not North Birchland, youknow. Maybe we'll get a worse bump in it than we ever dreamed of on topof the 'bus."
"Oh, I know something about it," said Ned confidently, "been downtowntwice to-day in the thickest part of the traffic, and I'm back, as you'llsee, if you'll stop fooling with those flowers long enough to look atme."
Tavia turned and looked lingeringly at Ned. "To-be-sure," she drawled,"there's Ned, Dorothy."
"I'm really afraid, Ned," said Dorothy, "the traffic is so awful, youknow you aren't accustomed to driving through such crowds."
"If you stand there arguing all afternoon, there won't be any troubleabout getting through the crowd, of course," gently reminded Ned. "It's alimousine and a dandy! Bigger than the _Fire Bird_ and a beautifulyellow!"
"Yellow!" cried Tavia in horror. "With my complexion! Couldn't you engagea car to match my hair?"
"And my feathers are green!" exclaimed Dorothy. "Just like a man, engagea car and never ask what shade we prefer!"
Tavia sat down in mock dismay. "Our afternoon is spoiled! Noself-respecting person in this town ever rides in a car that doesn'tmatch!"
"Oh, tommyrot," said Ned in deep disgust, listening in all seriousness tothe girls' banter. "Who is going to look at us? Never heard of suchfoolishness!" And he dug his hands into his pockets, and walked gloomilyabout the room.
"Ned, dear, you're a darling," enthused Dorothy, "you don't reallybelieve we are so imbued with the spirit of New York as to demand that?"
"Ned really has paid us the greatest compliment," said Tavia,complacently, "he believed it was all true, and only geniuses can producethat effect."
Fifteen minutes later, after several near-collisions, Ned drove theyellow car up to the entrance of the theatre, and while he was gettinghis check from the lobby usher, the girls tripped into the playhouse.
They had box seats. With intense interest the girls watched thecontinuous throng pouring into their places. Few of the passing crowd,however, returned the lavish interest that was centered on them from thefirst floor box; no one in the vast audience knew or cared that twocountry girls were having their first glimpse of a New York theatreaudience. They saw nothing unusual in the eager, smiling young faces, andas Dorothy said to Tavia, only the striking, unique and frightfullyunusual would get more than a passing glance from those that journeythrough New York town.
But Dorothy and Tavia did not look at the crowd long. It was something tobe in a metropolitan theatre, witnessing one of the great successes ofthe season.
Soon the curtain rolled up on the first act, a beautiful parlor scene,and Tavia gave a gasp.
"Say, it beats when I went on the stage," she whispered to Dorothy,referring to a time already related in detail in "Dorothy Dale's GreatSecret."
"Do you wish to go back?" asked Dorothy.
"Never!"
The play went on, and as it was something really worth while, the girlsenjoyed it greatly.
"Isn't he handsome?" whispered Tavia, referring to the leading man.
"Look out, or you'll fall in love with him," returned Ned, with a grin."He's one of the girls' matinee idols, you know."
Between the acts Ned slipped out for a few minutes. He returned with abox of bonbons and chocolates.
"Oh, how nice!" murmured Dorothy and Tavia.
Then came the great scene of the play, and the young folks were all butspellbound. When Vice was exposed and Virtue triumphed Dorothy felt likeclapping her hands, and so did the others, and all applauded eagerly.
There was a short, final act. Just before the curtain arose a stepsounded in the box and to the girls' astonishment there stood Cologne.
"I've been trying to attract your attention for ever so long," she cried,after embracing and kissing her friends enthusiastically. "I'm spendingthe day with a chum. It's such a joy to meet you like this!"
"And yesterday we met Miss Mingle," laughed Dorothy. They drew theirchairs up close, and told Cologne about the attempted theft.
"I'm so sorry for Miss Mingle," Cologne said, rather guardedly, "it seemsa pity that we never tried to know her better. She must have needed oursympathy and friendship so much."
"All the time, she has been one of Aunt Winnie's tenants," explainedDorothy. "But of course I did not know that."
"Then she must have told you about it," said Cologne.
"We've heard nothing," said Dorothy, "but we expect to call thereto-morrow."
"Then," said Cologne discreetly, "I can say no more."
Soon the last act was over, the orchestra struck up a popular tune, theapplause was deafening, and the audience rose to leave the theatre.
"It's all over," said Ned, and then he greeted Cologne and her friend,Helen Roycroft.
"Didn't you like it?" exclaimed Cologne's friend, who was a New Yorkgirl. "The critics just rave over it! Everyone must see it beforeanything else! But I'm hungry; aren't you?" she asked, including allthree.
Ned slipped back, but Tavia grasped his arm.
"There's the most wonderful little tea-room just off Fifth Avenue," saidHelen Roycroft, with perfect self-possession and calm, "and I should solove to have you enjoy a cup of tea with me."
Tavia murmured in Ned's ear: "Of course you're crazy for a cup of tea."
Ned looked helplessly at Dorothy, and calculated the money in hispockets. Four girls and all hungry! Helen Roycroft, meeting a new man,lost little time in impressing him with the wonderful importance ofherself, and together she and Ned led the little party over Thirty-eighthStreet to Fifth Avenue, while good-natured Cologne, with Dorothy andTavia, followed behind.
The tea-room they entered, as Helen explained, was the most popular placein town for people of fashion, for artistic souls, and the moneyed,leisure class.
"Everyone likes to come here," continued Helen, in a manner that plainlysuggested that she loved to show off her city, "mostly because the placewas once the stable of a member of the particular four hundred, and asthis is as near as most of its patrons will ever come to the fourhundred, they make it a rendezvous at this particular hour everyafternoon."
The "stable" still retained its original architecture, beamed ceiling andquaint stalls, painted a modest gray and white, in which were placedlittle tables to accommodate six persons, lighted with shaded candles.Cushioned benches were built to the sides of the stalls for seats; daintywaitresses, dressed also in demure gray
and white, dispensed tea, andcrackers and salads.
Hidden somewhere in the dim distance, musicians played soft, low musicand the whole effect was so charming that even Ned held his breath andlooked around him in wonder. This tea-room was something akin to awoman's club, where they could entertain their men friends with afternoontea, in seclusion within the stalls.
Helen Roycroft mentioned the name of a well-known actress and, tryinghard to keep her enthusiasm within bounds, pointed her out to the party.The actress was seated alone in a stall, dreaming apparently, over a cupof tea. The waitress stood expectantly waiting for the young people toselect their stall. When Tavia saw the actress, with whose picture theywere all very familiar, she pinched Dorothy hard.
"Surely we never can have such luck as to sit at the same tea table withher," indicating the matronly actress.
"Should you like to?" asked the New York girl.
And forthwith they were led to the stall. The matronly-looking womanlanguidly raised blue, heavy-lashed eyes to the gushing young girls whoinvaded her domain, then put one more lump of sugar in her tea and drankit, and Tavia breathlessly watched!
She was an actress of note, one of the finest in the world, and herpictures had always shown her as tall and slender and beautifully young!The woman Tavia gazed at had the face of the magazine pictures, but shewas decidedly matronly; there was neither romance nor tragedy written onthe smooth lines of her brow. She was so like, and yet so unlike herpictures, that Tavia fell to studying wherein lay the difference. It wasrude, perhaps, but the lady in question, understood the eager brown eyesturned on her, and she smiled.
And that smile made everyone begin to talk.
It was quite like a family party. Ned, as the only man present, came infor the lion's share of attention and it pleased him much. Just a whim ofthe noted actress perhaps, made her join gaily in the tea-party, ormayhap, it was a privilege she rarely enjoyed, this love of genuinelaughter, and bright, merry talk of the fresh young school girls. And itwas a moment in the lives of the girls that was never forgotten.
The voices in the tea-room scarcely rose above a murmur; the music playednot a note above a dreamy, floating ripple; and the essence of thefreshly-made tea pervaded the air.
At times Tavia could see the actress of the magazines, and again she wasjust somebody's mother, tired out and drinking tea, like every motherTavia had ever met. But the most thrilling moment of all was when shesaid good-bye and asked the girls to call. And best of all, she meantit--Dorothy knew that! There was no mistaking the sincerity of the voice,the kindly light of her eyes, nor the simple words of the invitation tocall.
"I must hurry now," she had said, "I'm due at the theatre in anotherhour; but I want to see you again. I want you to tell me more of yourimpressions of this great city. I've really enjoyed this cup of tea morethan you know, my dears," and she smiled at Tavia and Dorothy.
Tavia and Dorothy had really talked so much that Helen Roycroft hadlittle chance to display her fine knowledge of city life. Cologne waswell content to sit and listen.
When the actress was gone, Tavia said to Dorothy: "Must we really go? Icould stay here drinking tea for a week."
"I never want to see a cup of tea again," declared Ned. "And say," hecontinued, "next time I'm dragged into a ladies' tea-room, I want an endseat! These stalls were never meant for fellows with knees where minecome!" And he painfully unwound himself from a cramped position.
"Ned does have so much trouble with those knees," explained Dorothy. "Henever can have any but an end seat or box-seat at the theatre, becausethere is no room for his knees elsewhere. Poor boy! How uncomfortablewill be your memory of this tea-room!"
"It will be the loveliest memory of my trip," Tavia declared. "We foundsomething real and true!"
"I'd give the whole world to be able to stay over," said Cologne,plaintively.
"Just one more cup of tea!" cried Dorothy, "then we'll start for home inthe yellow car."
"I'm glad it's dark," said Tavia, mischievously glancing at Ned, "thecolor combination is such wretched taste!"
"I'm sorry, Cologne," said Dorothy, "that you can't stay and come with usto-morrow to call on Miss Mingle."
Ned was cranking up the car, and the girls for a moment were just aconfused mass of muffs and feathers and kisses, then they jumped in, anddrove home to the Riverside apartment.