CHAPTER VI.--MORE SURPRISES.
"Whose voice is that?" exclaimed Molly and Judy in unison; and withoutwaiting to be answered they rushed into the hall to find Kent Brownbeing warmly greeted by Professor Green. Before he had time to shake thesnow from his broad shoulders, Molly seized him and he seized Judy, andthey had a good old three-cornered Christmas hug.
"Did you get my note tied to the mistletoe?"
"Yes, you goose; but we did not know you were really coming. I thoughtyou were speaking in parables," said Molly, but Judy only blushed.
"Well, it is powerful fine to get here. My train is four hours late."
"I know you are tired and hungry," said Miss Green, who was as cordialas her brother in her reception of the young Kentuckian. "But where isyour grip, Mr. Brown?"
"Oh, I left it at the inn in the village. I could not think of piling inon you in this way without any warning."
"Well, Edwin will 'phone for it immediately. You Southern people thinkyou are the only ones who can put yourselves out for guests. It would bea pretty thing for one of Mrs. Brown's sons to be in Wellington and notat our house."
So Kent was taken into the Greens' house with as much cordiality andhospitality as Chatsworth itself could have shown. The odor of coffeesoon began to invade the hall and parlors, and in a little while thedining-room doors were thrown open and the feasting began. Miss Greenwas an excellent housekeeper, and knew how to cater to young people'stastes as well as Mrs. Brown herself, so the food was plentiful anddelicious. Molly noticed with a smile that some of the precious ham wassmuggled to the plates of Dr. and Mrs. McLean and Mr. Oldham, where itwas duly appreciated, and that later on the favored three were regaledwith slices of the fruit cake.
Kent found a cozy seat for Judy by the hall fire, and soon joined herwith trays of supper.
"Oh, Miss Judy, it has been years since last July. I have worked as hardas a man could, hoping to make the time fly, but it hasn't done muchgood,--except that it made my firm suggest that I let up for a few daysat Christmas, and here I am! I am working awfully hard trying to learnto do water coloring of the architectural drawings. I wish I had you tohelp me, you are so clever. I am hoping to get to New York or Paris someday to learn the tricks of the trade, but in the meantime there are lotsof things to learn in Louisville; and I am getting more money for mywork than I did. Did Molly give you my message tied to the mistletoe?"
"Yes, Kent."
"Will you wait? I was speaking in parables. I think somehow that I mustarrive a little more, before I can catch you under the mistletoe; andyou must do your work, too. Oh, Judy, it is hard to be so wise andcircumspect! But will you wait?"
"Yes, Kent. I am working hard, too, harder than I have ever worked in mylife. I was terribly disappointed when papa would not let me go to Paristhis winter, but insisted on the year of hard drawing in New York, totest myself and find myself, as it were, and I have been determined tomake good. I am drawing all the time, and you know that is virtuous whenI am simply demented on the subject of color. I let myself work in coloron Saturday in Central Park, but the rest of the time it is charcoalfrom the antique or from life, with classes in composition and design.There is no use in talking about being a decorator if you can't draw. Ihope to be in Paris next year, and then I shall reap my reward andsimply wallow in color."
When supper was over, they were all called on to stand up for theVirginia Reel, which Mrs. McLean played with such spirit that Mr. Oldhamand Dr. McLean could not keep their feet still; and before theastonished eyes of Edwin Green and Andy McLean, who had other plans, Mr.Oldham seized Molly and Dr. McLean Nance, and they danced down themiddle and back again with as much spirit as they had ever shown intheir youth.
"It takes the old timers to dance the old dances, hey, Mr. Oldham?" saidthe panting doctor as he came up the middle smiling and cutting pigeonwings, while Nance arose to the occasion and "chasseed" to his stepslike any belle of the sixties. Even Miss Alice Fern forgot her dignityand romped, but she was very gay, as Edwin had sought her out when Mollydanced off with Mr. Oldham. He had remembered that he had been ratherremiss in his attentions to his fair cousin.
How they did dance!--and all of the extra men danced with each other, sothere were no wall flowers. Richard Blount claimed Melissa as a partner,and they delighted the crowd by singing as they danced a song thatMelissa had taught Richard, as she told him of some of the mountaindance games, the words fitting themselves to Mrs. McLean's lively tunes.
"'Old man, old man, let me have your daughter?' 'Yes, young man, for a dollar and a quarter. Pick up her duds and pitch 'em up behind her.' 'Here's your money, old man, I've got your daughter.'"
After the dance they drew around the open fire in the hall and roastedchestnuts and popped corn and told stories, and had a very merryold-fashioned time capping quotations. And finally the one thingwanting, as Molly thought, came to pass, and Professor Green readDickens' Christmas Carol just as he had three years before, when he andhis sister gave Molly the surprise party at Queen's in her Sophomoreyear.
"At the risk of making myself verra unpopular, I am afraid I shall haveto say it is time for all of us to be in bed," said Mrs. McLean, whenthe professor closed the worn old copy of Dickens.
"Oh, not 'til we have had a little more dancing, please, dear Mrs.McLean," came in a chorus from the young people; and Professor Greentold her that it would be a pity to throw Dodo back on a rocking chairfor a partner before he had had a little more practice with flesh andblood. So up they all sprang, and with Miss Grace at the piano, torelieve the good-natured Mrs. McLean, who had thrummed her fingers sore,off they went into more waltzes and two-steps, even the shy Melissadancing with Richard Blount as though she had been at balls every nightof her life. Otoyo and Mr. Seshu hopped around together as though"step-twoing" and "dance-rounding" were the national dances of Japan.
And so ended the delightful surprise party. Before they departed, Dr.McLean drew his wife under the mistletoe and kissed her.
"Just to show you bashful young fellows how it is done," said the jovialdoctor.
"And I will give the lassies a lesson in how to accept such publicdemonstration," said his blushing wife, and she suited the action to theword by giving him a playful slap, whereupon he kissed her again, butinstead of another slap she hugged him in return, and there was ageneral laugh.
"I did that just to show the indignant lassies that they must not holdwith their anger too long. A kiss under the mistletoe has never yet beenoffered as an insult, and the forward miss is not the one to get thekiss."