Full Text Archive

Full Text Archive
https://www.fulltextarchive.com
jesting, some slappings of shoulders, some good story-telling, and so the afternoon waned into
evening, and they went away.
Aileen had created an impression in a street costume of dark blue silk with velvet pelisse to
match, and trimmed with elaborate pleatings and shirrings of the same materials. A toque of
blue velvet, with high crown and one large dark-red imitation orchid, had given her a jaunty,
dashing air. Beneath the toque her red-gold hair was arranged in an enormous chignon, with
one long curl escaping over her collar. She was not exactly as daring as she seemed, but she
loved to give that impression.
"You look wonderful," Cowperwood said as she passed him.
"I'll look different to-night," was her answer.
She had swung herself with a slight, swaggering stride into the dining-room and disappeared.
Norah and her mother stayed to chat with Mrs. Cowperwood.
"Well, it's lovely now, isn't it?" breathed Mrs. Butler. "Sure you'll be happy here. Sure you will.
When Eddie fixed the house we're in now, says I: 'Eddie, it's almost too fine for us altogether--
surely it is,' and he says, says 'e, 'Norah, nothin' this side o' heavin or beyond is too good for
ye'--and he kissed me. Now what d'ye think of that fer a big, hulkin' gossoon?"
"It's perfectly lovely, I think, Mrs. Butler," commented Mrs. Cowperwood, a little bit nervous
because of others.
"Mama does love to talk so. Come on, mama. Let's look at the dining-room." It was Norah
talking.
"Well, may ye always be happy in it. I wish ye that. I've always been happy in mine. May ye
always be happy." And she waddled good-naturedly along.
The Cowperwood family dined hastily alone between seven and eight. At nine the evening
guests began to arrive, and now the throng was of a different complexion--girls in mauve and
cream-white and salmon-pink and silver-gray, laying aside lace shawls and loose dolmans, and
the men in smooth black helping them. Outside in the cold, the carriage doors were slamming,
and new guests were arriving constantly. Mrs. Cowperwood stood with her husband and Anna
in the main entrance to the reception room, while Joseph and Edward Cowperwood and Mr. and
Mrs. Henry W. Cowperwood lingered in the background. Lillian looked charming in a train gown
of old rose, with a low, square neck showing a delicate chemisette of fine lace. Her face and
figure were still notable, though her face was not as smoothly sweet as it had been years before
when Cowperwood had first met her. Anna Cowperwood was not pretty, though she could not
be said to be homely. She was small and dark, with a turned-up nose, snapping black eyes, a
pert, inquisitive, intelligent, and alas, somewhat critical, air. She had considerable tact in the
matter of dressing. Black, in spite of her darkness, with shining beads of sequins on it, helped
her complexion greatly, as did a red rose in her hair. She had smooth, white well-rounded arms
and shoulders. Bright eyes, a pert manner, clever remarks--these assisted to create an illusion
of charm, though, as she often said, it was of little use. "Men want the dolly things."
In the evening inpour of young men and women came Aileen and Norah, the former throwing off
76 / 312

---