Froth Part 35

The royal quadrille was immediately formed, and Clementina left her place by the door to dance in it. The Sovereign led out the d.u.c.h.ess, who made this great effort to please her husband. A triple row of spectators stood round to look on.

Salabert was in his glory. The waif, the beggar, from the market-place of Valencia, was entertaining Royalty. His dull, fish like, dissipated eyes glistened with triumph. This explosion of vanity had blown to the winds all the sordid anxieties which the cost of the ball had caused him--the deadly struggle with his own avarice. To-morrow perhaps the scatered fragments might reunite to give him fresh torment; for the moment, intoxicated with pride, he was drinking deep breaths of the atmosphere of importance and power created by his wealth; his face was flushed with a congestion of ecstatic vanity.

"Only look at Salabert's radiant expression," said Rafael Alcantara to Leon Guzman and some other intimates who were standing in a group. "Joy transpires from every pore! Now is the moment to ask him for a loan of ten thousand dollars."

"Do you think you would get it?"

"Yes, at six per cent., on good security," said the other. "But look, look! Here comes Lola, the most fascinating and delightful creature who has yet entered these rooms." And he raised his voice so as to be heard by the lady in question.

Lola sent him a smile of acknowledgment; and her husband, the Mexican of the cows, who also had heard the remark, bowed with pleasure. She was really very bewitchingly dressed, as a Louis XIV. Marquise, in rose colour, embroidered with gold, and a yellow train, also embroidered. Her hair was powdered, and round her throat was a black velvet ribbon with silver pendants.

When the Royal quadrille was ended, waltzing began. Pepe Castro came to find Esperancita, who was walking with the youngest of the Alcudia girls. It was the first time that they had either of them been present at a ball, and they were perfectly happy as they looked out on the world in its most holiday aspect, confiding their delightful impressions to each other's private ear. He remained with them for a minute till a partner came to claim Paz for the dance, and the two couples floated off at the same time on the tide of waltzers. For Esperancita the world had vanished. A delicious sense of joy and freedom, like that which a bird might feel in flying if it had a soul, glowed in her heart and lapped her in delight. It was the first time she had ever felt Pepe Castro's arm round her waist. Swept away by him into the maelstrom of couples, she felt as though they were alone--he and she. And the music charmed her ears and heart, giving sweet utterance to the ineffable gladness which throbbed in every pulse.

When they paused a moment to rest, her face so unmistakeably expressed the supreme emotion of first love, that her aunt Clementina, happening to pa.s.s on the arm of the President of Congress, could not help looking at her with a half kindly, half mocking smile, which made the child blush. Pepe Castro could scarcely get a word out of her. Delicious excitement seemed to have stricken her dumb. The happiness which filled her soul found an outlet, as so often happens, in a feeling of general benevolence. The ball to her was a pure delight; all the men were amusing; all the women were exquisitely dressed. Even Ramon, who came by, was bedewed with some drops of this overflowing tide of gladness.

"Are you not dancing, Ramon?" she inquired, with so inviting a smile that the poor fellow was quite overcome with joy.

"I have been kept talking by Cotorraso."

"But find yourself a partner. Look, there is Rosa Pallares, who is not dancing."

The smiling statesman hastened to invite the damsel in question, thinking, with characteristic ac.u.men, that Esperancita had selected her for her plain face. Soothed by this flattering reflection he was quite content to dance with the daughter of General Pallares, of whom Cobo Ramirez was wont to speak as "one of our handsomest scarecrows." He felt as though he were doing his lady's bidding, and giving her indisputable proof that her jealousy--if she were jealous--was unfounded.

When the waltz was over, he returned to her, as a mediaeval knight from the tournay, to receive his guerdon at his mistress's hands. But, inasmuch as there is no perfect happiness for any one in this world, at the same moment Cobo Ramirez went up to Esperancita. They both sat down by her and plied her with compliments and attentions. One took charge of her fan, the other of her handkerchief; both tried to entertain her by their remarks, and to flatter her vanity by their a.s.siduity. It must in truth be owned that if Ramon was the more earnest and solid talker, Cobo was by far the more amusing. And yet Esperancita, against her wont, by one of those unaccountable whims of a young girl, was for once inclined to listen kindly to Ramoncito. The trio afforded a diverting subject for contemplation.

The servants moved about the rooms with trays of lemonade, ices, and bonbons. Ramon called one of them to offer Esperancita a particular kind of jelly which he knew she liked. At the same time he insisted on his rival taking an ice. Cobo declined. Ramon pressed him so eagerly that Alcantara and some other men who were standing near could not help noticing it.

"Look at Ramon trying to make Cobo eat an ice," said one.

"He sees he is hot, and wants to be the death of him! Nothing can be plainer," said Leon.

Pepe Castro, as soon as he saw his partner safe in the hands of Ramirez and Maldonado, had stolen away. As he wandered on he met Clementina. She seemed to be in every place at once, returning every few minutes to attend their Majesties, who had retired to a private room with the d.u.c.h.ess and Requena, and the ladies and gentlemen of their suite.

"I saw you dancing with my little niece," said the lady. "Why do you not make up to her?"

"To what end?"

"To marry her."

"Horror! Why, my dear, what have I done to you that you should wish me so dreadful a fate?"

"Come, come, listen to reason," said she, quite gravely, and a.s.suming a maternal air. "Esperancita is no beauty, but she is not disagreeable looking. She is fresh and youthful, and is desperately in love with you, that I know."

"As you are," interrupted the other, with some bitterness.

"As I am--but then she has not known you some sixteen years. Yes, she loves you, I a.s.sure you, very truly. We women can see such things with half a glance. Marry her; do not be foolish. Calderon is very rich."

Before Castro could reply, she was gone. He stood there a few minutes lost in thought; then he moved away slowly, making his way round the rooms with a lazy strut, stopping to stare, with consummate impertinence, at all the pretty women, like a Pasha in a slave-market.

Lola had taken possession of Raimundo, and kept him at her side in one corner of the sitting-room, where she laid herself out to conquer him by every art of the coquette. This was the pretty brunette's favourite amus.e.m.e.nt. No friend of hers could have a man in her train, without Lola's endeavouring to s.n.a.t.c.h him from her. Handsome or ugly, forward or shy, it mattered not; all she cared for was to gratify her incurable craving for admiration, and her desire to triumph over every other woman. Her eyes had a look of sweetness and innocence which deceived every one; it was impossible to believe that behind those guileless...o...b.. there lurked a will as determined as it was astute. Alcazar thought her very pretty, and most agreeable to talk to; but the fact of her being Clementina's friend, and of her talking of scarcely anything else, had a great deal to do with this impression. As he could neither dance nor converse with the lady of his adoration, both for reasons of prudence and because she was too much occupied with other duties, he consoled himself by hearing Lola chatter about the details of her life. Every trifle interested the youth; the dress she had worn at the French Amba.s.sador's ball, the incidents of a shooting-party at the Cotorrasos', the scenes she had with her husband, &c. Lola's tactics were first to gain his attention and captivate his sympathy, and then to win his liking.

When Clementina came into the room, they were deep in conversation. She stood for an instant in the doorway, looking at them with surprise and vexation. For some time past Lola had been out of her good graces.

Though Pepe Castro had ceased to interest her, when her friend had attempted to win him from her, the proceeding had led to a certain coolness between them. Now she perceived that Lola had cast her eyes on Raimundo, and was flirting with him on every possible occasion. This roused an impulse of hatred, which she had some difficulty in dissembling. She gave them a fiercely indignant stare, and going into the middle of the room, she said in a somewhat excited way:

"Alcazar, you are wanted to dance. Are you too tired?"

"Oh, no!" the young man hastened to reply, and he rose at once. "With whom shall I dance?"

Clementina made no answer. Lola had a satirical smile which exasperated her. She turned to leave the room.

"I am sorry to have disturbed you," she said coldly, as they went away together.

Raimundo looked at her in surprise. This tone was quite new to him.

"Disturbed me? Not at all."

"Yes, indeed; for you seemed to be enjoying yourself very much with your companion," and then, unable to repress her temper any longer, she added in a brusque tone:

"Come with me."

She led him to the dining-room, where the supper tables were laid awaiting the guests. There, in the bay of a window, she poured out her wrath. She loaded him with abuse, and announced definitely that all was at an end between them. She even went so far as to shake him violently by the arm. Alcazar was so amazed, so overwhelmed, as to be absolutely incapable of speech. This saved him. Seeing dismay and grief painted on his countenance, Clementina could not fail to perceive that her anger had deceived her. Raimundo, at any rate, had not the faintest notion of flirting. So, calming down a little, she accepted the denial he at last found words to utter.

"But it was solely to talk of you that I sat with her," he said.

"To talk of me? Well, then, for the future, I will trouble you not to talk about me. It is enough that you should love me and hold your tongue."

The servants who were pa.s.sing in and out glanced at them with significant grimaces.

As they left the room they met Pepa Frias. The buxom widow was in the best of humours; she had received many compliments. Her dress, a very handsome one, cut immoderately low, was that of a foreign princess of the time of Charles III., in silver brocade with gold embroidery, and a blue velvet train.

"My dear, I am as hungry as a wolf," she exclaimed as she came in. "When are we to have supper? Ho, ho! so you are whispering in corners!

Prudence, Clementina, prudence! My dear child, I must positively have something to eat or I shall drop. I can wait no longer."

Clementina laughed and took her into a corner, where she had a plate brought for her with some meat. Alcazar returned to the drawing-room, very happy, but still tremulous from the painful emotion his mistress had caused him. He had never before seen her in such a rage.

Clementina's friendship with Pepa had been closer than ever since the scene in the boudoir. The widow was convinced that the safety of her fortune depended on this intimacy, and did all she could to consolidate it. Thanks to this manoeuvre she had, in fact, already recovered possession of a large part of it; nor was she now uneasy about the remainder. She knew that Dona Carmen had made her will in her step-daughter's favour, and though the d.u.c.h.ess had been rather stronger lately, her death ere long was a certainty, for the doctors had p.r.o.nounced that nothing could save her but an operation, which she was too weak to undergo.

Pepa's cynical a.s.surance was quite to Clementina's mind. They understood each other perfectly. They were a pair of hussies, grisettes born into a sphere of society for which Nature had never intended them. Pepa, of course, had a better right there than Clementina, who bore the taint in her blood. Pepa was an adventuress by predilection.

"Look here, Clem," said she as she devoured a slice of galantine of turkey. "Let that boy drop; he is not worth his salt. You have had enough of him for a mere whim."

"How do you know what he is worth?" replied Clementina laughing.

"By his face, my dear. He has been your acknowledged lover for above a year, and to this day he turns as red as a poppy whenever you look at him."

"That is exactly what I like him for."

Pepa shrugged her shoulders.