A Gentleman from Mississippi Part 31

Time pa.s.sed quickly. The old planter enjoyed seeing his daughters have so happy a time, and he was not insensible to the charm of his hostess' conversation, for Mrs. Spangler had studied carefully the art of ingratiating herself with her guests.

Suddenly realizing that he had probably reached the limit of the time he could spare, the Senator drew out his watch.

"What a stunning fob you wear," quickly spoke Mrs. Spangler, reaching out her hand and taking the watch from her guest's hands as the case snapped open.

"Oh, that's Carolina's doings," laughed Langdon. "She said the old gold chain that my grandfather left me was--"

"Why, how lovely," murmured Mrs. Spangler, glancing at the watch. "We have plenty of time yet. Won't have to hurry. Your time is the same as mine," she added, nodding her head toward a French renaissance clock on the black marble mantel.

As the hostess did this she deftly turned back the hands of the Senator's watch thirty-five minutes.

"Do you care to smoke, Senator," Mrs. Spangler asked, as her guests concluded their repast, "if the young ladies do not object?"

Langdon inclined his head gratefully, and laughed.

"They wouldn't be Southern girls, I reckon, if they didn't want to see a man have everything to make him happy--er, I beg pardon, Mrs.

Spangler, I mean, comfortable. n.o.body that's your guest could be unhappy."

The hostess beamed on the chivalrous Southerner.

Langdon drew forth a thick black perfecto and settled back luxuriously in his chair, after another glance at Mrs. Spangler's clock. He was absorbed in a mental resume of his forthcoming speech and did not hear the next words of the woman, addressed pointedly to his daughters.

"Do you know, really, why this luncheon was given to-day?" she queried. Then she continued before Carolina and Hope Georgia could formulate replies:

"Because your father and I wanted to take this opportunity to announce to you--our engagement."

The speaker smiled her sweetest smile.

The two girls gazed at each other in uncontrollable amazement, then at Mrs. Spangler, then at their father, who had turned partly away from the table and was gazing abstractedly at the ceiling.

Hope Georgia was the first to regain her voice.

"Oh, Mrs. Spangler," she e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed, "you are very kind to marry father, but--"

"What's that?" exclaimed the Senator, roused from his thoughts by his youngest daughter's words and thrusting himself forward.

Mrs. Spangler laid her hand on his arm.

"Oh, Senator, I have just told the dear girls that you had asked me to marry you--that we were soon to be married," she said, archly, looking him straight in the eye. She clasped her hands and murmured: "I am so happy!"

The hero of Crawfordsville tried to speak, but he could not. He stared at his hostess, who smiled the smile of the budding debutante. His own open-mouthed astonishment was reflected in the faces of Carolina and Hope Georgia as they observed their father's expression. He forgot he was in Washington. He did not know he was a Senator. The fact that he had ever even thought of making a speech was furthest from his mind.

What did it all mean? Had Mrs. Spangler gone suddenly insane? His daughters--what did they think? These thoughts surged through his fl.u.s.tered brain. Then it flashed over him--she was joking in some new fashionable way. He turned toward the fair widow to laugh, but her face was losing its smile. A pained expression, a suggestion of intense suffering, appeared in her face.

"Why do you so hesitate, Senator Langdon?" she finally asked in low voice, just loud enough for the two girls to overhear.

The junior Senator from Mississippi looked at his hostess. She had entertained him and had done much for his daughters in Washington. She was alone in the world--a widow. He felt that he could not shame her before Carolina and Hope Georgia. His Southern chivalry would not permit that. Then, too, she was a most charming person, and the thought, "Why not--why not take her at her word?" crept into his mind.

"Yes, father, why do you hesitate?" asked Carolina.

Senator Langdon mustered his voice into service at last.

"I've been thinking," he said, slowly, "that--"

"That your daughters did not know," interrupted Mrs. Spangler, "of our--"

"The telephone--upstairs--is ringing, madam," said a maid who had entered to Mrs. Spangler.

The adventuress could not leave the Senator and his daughters alone, though she knew it must be Peabody calling her. At any moment he might remember his speech and leave. Already late, he would still be later, though, because he would have no carriage--hers would purposely be delayed.

"Tell the person speaking that you are empowered to bring me any message--that I cannot leave the dining-hall," she said to the maid.

To gain time and to hold the Senator's attention, Mrs. Spangler asked, slowly:

"Well, Senator, what was it that you were going to say when I interrupted you a few moments ago?"

Langdon had been racking his brain for some inspiration that would enable him to save the feelings of his hostess, and yet indicate his position clearly. He would not commit himself in any way. He would jump up and p.r.o.nounce her an impostor first.

After a moment of silence his clouded face cleared.

"Mrs. Spangler," he began, "your announcement to-day I have considered to be--"

"Premature," she suggested.

The maid returned.

"Mr. Wall says Senator Langdon is wanted at once at the Capitol."

"Great heavens!" exclaimed Langdon, springing to his feet and glancing at the clock. "I'm late! I'm late! I hope to G.o.d I'm not too late!"

"Mr. Wall says a carriage is coming for Senator Langdon," concluded the maid.

"We must talk this matter over some other time, Mrs. Spangler," the Mississippian cried, as he sent a servant for his hat and coat. "I hope that carriage hurries, else I'll try it on the run for the Capitol!"

"It's a half hour away on foot," said Mrs. Spangler. "Better wait.

You'll save time."

But to herself she muttered, as though mystified:

"I wonder why Peabody changed his mind so suddenly? Why should he now want the old fool at the Capitol?"

The rumble of wheels was heard outside.

"Hurry, father!" cried Hope Georgia.

The Senator hurried down the stone steps of Mrs. Spangler's residence as rapidly as his weight and the excitement under which he labored would permit. Opening the coach door, he plunged inside--to come face to face with Bud Haines, who had huddled down in a corner to avoid observance from the Spangler windows. The driver started his horses off on a run.

Struggling to regain his breath, the Senator cried: