“Perhaps I would, Mademoiselle,” he replied gently, with a deep sigh.
CHAPTER XVIII—THE MASQUERADE
The picture they made as they filed down the oak staircase two by two and all attired in their antique costumes was one long remembered by the servants of Ten Eyck Hall, who had gathered below to see the masqueraders. Miss Stuart and the major, standing together at the door of the red drawing room, were amazed and delighted.
“Is this a company of ghosts,” cried the major, “ghosts of my dear departed ancestors returned to the halls of their youth?”
“Look at the dears!” exclaimed Miss Sallie. “How pretty they are in their ancient finery! Ruth, my child, you are the very image of the portrait of your great-grandmother at home. And here is Bab, who might have stepped out of an old miniature.”
“So she has,” replied Ruth. “In that pink dress she is a perfect likeness of the miniature the hermit had.”
“José,” said the major kindly, for he could not insult a guest by believing evil of him until it had been actually proved, “you do not belong to this company of belles and beaux. You look more like a Spanish gallant of an earlier day, in that velvet coat and cavalier hat. As for you two slips of girls,” he continued, smiling at Mollie and Grace, “you might be my two colonial great-aunts stepped down from their frames. But come along, now. We must have a little fun, after all this trouble you have taken to amuse us. Strike up, my poor bruised Jimmie, and we’ll have a dance.”
Jimmie had volunteered to furnish the music. His face, in its present state, needed no further disguise, he said. The furniture was moved back, the rugs rolled up, and in a few minutes the dancers were whirling in a waltz. There was a change of partners at the second dance, and Bab found herself dancing with José. He was not familiar with the American two-step, so, after a few rounds, they stepped out upon the piazza for a breath of the cool evening air.
“Aren’t you afraid to stay out here, José, after your experience of the other night?” Bab asked.
“Are you afraid, Barbara?” he replied.