“And I am accustomed to helping beautiful young ladies out of cars,” said Tom. “You don’t know what a past master I am in the art.”
“If there were any beautiful young ladies around I am sure they would be delighted, but since there are not any in sight your art will have to languish for lack of exercise,” flashed Judith.
Mrs. Buck and her daughter had both covered their finery with old linen dusters, which they had planned to discard before entering the hall. It was a distinct annoyance to Mrs. Buck that these two handsome young cavaliers should see them thus enveloped.
“They’ll get the wrong impression of my girl,” was her thought, and now here was Judith wasting her time and the precious dancing hours bantering with a strange young man as to whether she should be allowed to jump from her car unassisted or should be helped out in a ladylike manner.
“Well, Judith, come along one way or the other,” Mrs. Buck drawled.
“Perhaps Miss Buck would take one of my hands and one of yours,” suggested Jeff to Tom. 149
“Perhaps the decrepit old lady will,” laughed Judy, making a flying leap between their outstretched hands without touching them and landing lightly on the sidewalk by her mother. “Thank you both very much,” she said, and clutching her mother’s arm she hurried into the lobby of the skating rink and was lost to view in the crowd of arriving guests.
“Here’s the dressing-room, Mumsy, and we can leave our awful old dusters in there. Weren’t you furious at being seen in the horrid things and that by the best beaux of the ball? Now, Mumsy, you just stick to me and we’ll go say howdy to the dear old men and thank them for my dress and shoes and stockings and then you can go sit by some of your nice church members, while I find somebody to dance with me.”
“But, Judy, surely you are not going to thank the old men right out before everybody, and surely you are not going to ask anybody to dance with you!”
“Of course not, Mumsy! I’m going to use finesse about both things. You just see how tactful I am. Oh! Oh! Oh! I’m so excited! Just look at the streamers and flags and all the funny funeral wreaths, and only listen to the music! I’m about sure there are wings 150 on my golden slippers. Really and truly, Mumsy, they do not touch the ground when I walk. I’m simply floating in a kind of nebulous haze—in fact I believe I am charged with electricity.”