CHAPTER XVII--The Tableaux
"Really, you girls choose the oddest time to visit!" Janet said the nextmorning after breakfast.
Gladys sneezed. "Don't rub it in," she begged; "it's bad enough as itis. I do think though, that when we took all that trouble to give you areal ghost, and I make an excellent ghost, if I do say so, that theleast you could have done was to play up to it."
"Phyl did," Prue looked reproachfully at Janet. "Will you please tell mewhatever made you think of opening that door?"
"She was going to call for help," Ann suggested.
Janet smiled a superior smile. "Hardly. I knew, of course, that it was ajoke, and I rather suspected whose. I knew there was only one of you onthe balcony, but I knew the other two would not be far off, so I triedthe door, with what results, you already know."
"Jan Page, I am perfectly willing to take my medicine, but I will not begloated over."
Gladys made a dive for Janet, and they rolled together in arough-and-tumble fight.
In the midst of it Poppy came in.
"What are you two young ones up to?" she demanded. "Do stop, or you'llhurt yourselves and not be fit for the tableaux."
"We've decided about the one for the little lady that fell off thebalcony," Gwen began. "We're going to have it in two scenes."
The girls could hardly keep their faces straight as they listened.
"Is Glad going to be the pretty lady?" Janet inquired innocently.
"No, we thought we'd use you and Phyl for that," Gwen went on with herexplanation.
They discussed and changed their plans many days before Thanksgiving Dayarrived, but when it did come, a little over a week later, it found themready.
The rest of the school, when Poppy had told them of the scheme, hadheartily endorsed it, and Thanksgiving morning found them all busy.
Some were fixing the ballroom with bows of evergreens, and some werebusy preparing the refreshments. The girls who were interested in theDramatic Club were taking care of the stage.
They had ransacked the old barn, where the scenery from year to year wasstored, with a happy result. They had found a balcony that ratherresembled a pulpit, a woodland back drop for the Countess to poseagainst as she had in the miniature, and an old spinnet for a famouscomposer.
The actors themselves were not allowed to do anything, for fear oftiring them, and no famous actress could have been taken more care of,than was Daphne.
The new wing had been a little difficult at first, for the suggestionhad come from the old wing, and they were jealous, but the Seniors hadsmoothed things over, and when the day came it found them all united.
Church took up most of the morning. It was a long walk to the littlebuilding set in a clump of protecting pines, where the schoolworshipped. The sermon was long, and it was not until after one o'clockthat they reached Hilltop.
Luncheon was spread informally on the two long service tables, and thegirls helped themselves. Dinner was to be at six o'clock, so that therewould be plenty of time afterwards for the final preparations.
Miss Hull had been invited to come to the ballroom at eight o'clock, butapart from that, she had no idea what was going to happen. The girls hadall kept it a profound secret, and only Miss Slocum of the faculty knewthe plans.
"Daphne, darling, please don't stuff so," Janet implored in an agonizedwhisper behind Miss Jenks's back. "If you eat another mouthful, you willnever be able to get into that bodice this evening."
"More secrets," Miss Jenks laughed. "It's a good thing we won't have towait much longer, for I couldn't stand it."
"Neither could I," Miss Remsted agreed. "I can't remember ever being socurious or so excited."
"Tell us who's idea it was anyway?" Miss Jenks begged.
"It was a combination," Prue exclaimed. "Sally started it, and Gladfinished it."
"What a truly wonderful combination!" Miss Remsted said smiling.
"I'm very proud of our table," Miss Jenks added.
The girls looked at Daphne, and the Twins and winked at each other.Their favorite teachers would have more cause to be proud later in theday.
After luncheon the entire school plunged into a whirl of work thatlasted until time to dress for dinner.
"Best clothes, mind," Poppy had warned the girls; "white if you have it,Miss Hull loves to see the whole school in white."
The girls nodded, and hurried to their rooms, to appear a half-hourlater in filmy white dresses, their hair tied by pink and blue bows.
"You look like a lot of dainty butterflies," Miss Hull told themdelighted at the pretty picture they made. "I appreciate your wearingwhite, for I am sure you did it to please me. But I mustn't talk anylonger, we have still that surprise ahead of us and it would never do todelay it."
They took their seats and there followed a meal of the kind one readsabout in books--a typical southern dinner.
At every girl's place there was a dainty place card. Miss Remsted hadpainted them all, and every one was a little joke in itself. The Twinshad green pods with two little peas in each, and written above it was"alike as."
Sally had a green poll-parrot with "My Aunt Jane's" written in front ofit. Daphne's read, "I excel with" and then a bow and arrow.
The tables were all decorated with baskets of fruit and nuts, and thesnowy linen and shining silver gave the beautiful old hall a splendidaspect.
Everybody was very merry and happy. The old darkies who had waited onthe tables at Hilltop since it started were immaculate and grinning inwhite aprons and red bandanas.
"And now for the surprise," Miss Jenks said as they left the table afterthe nuts and fruit.
The girls hurried upstairs. Gwen came into the Twins's room to helpthem, and Poppy stayed with Sally and Daphne.
At last everything was ready. The stage was set for the first tableaux,and the lights in the ballroom were out.
The curtain rose slowly to discover Sally, dressed as a boy in a velvetsuit, a broad, white lace collar and shoes with big buckles. She wasposed on a rock with the woodland screen behind her, and she looked solike the first owner of Hilltop, whose painting hung in the library,that Miss Hull and the rest of the faculty gasped.
The next picture was a copy of another painting,--Ann and Prue, dressedin long, very full skirts that showed frilled pantelets beneath them,stood side by side before a tiny grave. They were "Delia and ConstanceHull beside the grave of their favorite spaniel."
Prue was kneeling on a tack in the green denim floor cover, and her kneewas so paralyzed after the curtain fell for the third time, that Sallyhad to lift her up. She limped for a week.
The Twins came next in two scenes from The Haunted Balcony. In thefirst, Phyllis, dressed in a soft white robe, sat with her chin cuppedin her hands and her eyes looked out toward the rising sun. At the backof the stage behind a net curtain, to give the effect of a vision, wereGladys and Janet. They wore black satin knee breeches and white shirts,open at the throat. They held old pearl-handled duelling pistols pointedat each other's hearts.
The curtain fell, to rise again on the sad scene of the poor dementedlady, about to throw herself from the balcony. Attendants were carryingin the crumpled body of her lover. Gladys looked very dead, while herbrother stalked behind, his arms folded, a smile of triumph on hisyouthful face. Gwen was imposing as the old doctor carrying a verydilapidated bag.
The next illustrated the story of Mrs. Fanmore Hull's bravery. Poppy wasseated before a spinning wheel, in a soft gray dress and cap andkerchief. At the door three villainous looking bandits peered in at her.One had a patch over his eye and they all looked very rakish.
Mrs. Hull went on spinning for a minute or two, and then she rose withdignity and grace. She approached the robbers, and just as she reachedthe door she picked up the thin apron she was wearing and as one wouldscare the chickens off the grass, she said, "shoo!" The robbersdisappeared.
Everybody laughed, for they knew the old story, and Miss Hull clappeddelightedly.
The next wa
s the famous Countess de Camier. Daphne in all her radiantloveliness was so like the miniature of the Countess, kept carefully ina locked case in the library, that Miss Hull was stunned. Like hercharming model, Daphne wore a quaint shepherdess dress, that spreadabout her dainty slippered feet in soft billows. Her hat was a whiteleghorn with just a flat bow of blue velvet on top, but a mass of tinyforget-me-nots snuggled beneath the brim, against her wonderful hair, atthe back.
She sat on a small, straight-back chair, leaning a little forward, herlips parted in a haunting little smile, and her eyes bright.
"Oh!" gasped everybody, the girls, the faculty, and Miss Hull, and thenheld their breaths, fearful lest the curtain drop and shut out thelovely picture.
At last it dropped slowly only to rise again and again.
"What a beautiful Juliet she would make!" Miss Hull said, and MissSlocum nodded.
The last picture was hardly worth showing. Helen Jenkins, dressed inman's clothes, sat at the spinnet and tried to look as though she werecomposing a masterpiece, but everybody was too full of Daphne to look ather.
The curtain dropped, the lights came on, and the girls came from behindthe scenes in their costumes to join in the dance that followed. Phyllisand Daphne made a beautiful picture as they walked arm in arm throughthe room, for Phyllis, with her hair over her shoulders and the softivory folds of her robe falling about her graceful body was verybeautiful. They were almost rivalled in loveliness by Sally and Janet,for they made dashing boys and they swaggered about in fine style.
Miss Hull's usually remote disposition was touched by the nature of thesurprise. She loved the history of her house, and she was delighted tosee the genuine feeling the girls put into their impersonations, and shedid not stint her praise as she said good night to each girl in turn.
It was a sleepy but very happy school that sought their beds as thegrandfather clocks throughout the house struck eleven.
"I told you it wouldn't be hard to stay here for the hols, and it hasn'tbeen, has it?"
"Certainly not."
"How about the trip to New York, Prus?"
"Oh, bother New York!" Prue replied, and the evening ended as the dayhad begun, with laughter.