CHAPTER X
MAGIC LANTERNS
Two weeks of constant hustle, excitement and preparation passed byuntil at last came--the big night!
It was seven o'clock and Betty had started to dress. Mechanically,with fingers that shook a little from excitement, she went throughthe early stages of the process, until it was time to slip into thepretty filmy lace dress she was to wear for the first part of theevening.
Then her eyes met the reflected ones in the mirror, and she stoppedshort, wondering "if this were really I." She was very sure that thatvery pretty girl in the mirror, with the flushed cheeks and brillianteyes, could never be the Betty Nelson she had grown up with--it couldnot be! And yet she thrilled with a strange new happiness. It was sogood to be pretty.
Then she drew a deep breath, and turned away with a little ripplinglaugh at herself.
"Betty Nelson," she scolded, slipping the pretty dress over her head,and keeping her eyes severely away from the mirror, "you'll begetting conceited next; and if there's anything I hate, it's aconceited person."
At a quarter of eight there came a ring at the door bell, and Betty'sheart missed a beat. It proved to be only Allen, however--but,strange as it may seem, that fact did not seem to improve thebehavior of her heart in the least.
As for Allen, he simply stood and stared, as a transformed Betty randown the stairs toward him.
"Oh, Allen, I'm _so_ glad it was only you," she said, holding out herhands to him--which he seemed by no means reluctant to take. "I wasso hoping you'd get here before the rest. There are one or two thingsI want to talk over with you."
"Betty," he whispered, his voice sounding strange, even to himself,"you're so pretty, I can't think of anything else, or look atanything else, while you're around. I always did have trouble thatway, but to-night----"
"I--I'm--just the same to-night as I always am," she stammered, notdaring to look at him. "Allen, dear--I----"
"What did you call me?" he shouted, turning her about so she had tolook at him. "Betty, Betty, say it again. I, oh, I--"
"I--I didn't mean it," gasped Betty, joyfully afraid, wanting to runaway, yet wanting desperately not to. "I don't know what made me----"
"Don't you?" he cried, that same wild thrill in his voice. "Then I'lltell you, Betty. You said it because----"
"Good evening, Allen." It was Mrs. Nelson's voice as she cameunsuspectingly upon them from the dining-room. "I didn't even knowyou were here. Betty and I were hoping you would get here early. Thefootlights don't work just as they should----" and Allen's goldenhour was gone, for the moment, at least.
He gazed pleadingly toward Betty, but she had put an arm about hermother--Allen noticed with joy that it trembled a little--and wasleading the way toward the rear of the house, and out upon the lawn,where the big tent had been erected.
It took Allen, who, besides being a very able and rising younglawyer, was also something of an electrician, about two minutes tofind the flaw in the wiring and remedy it. Soon after that the firstguests began to arrive.
The rest of the evening was one brilliant panorama, that the girlsnever forgot. Until nine o'clock, the time set for the concert andsketch in the big tent, the guests, about two hundred in number,wandered happily about the lawn, watching "Denton's trained animals,"which consisted of a little French poodle, an aristocratic yellowcat, and a gifted parrot, with an immense and varied vocabulary,perform.
The animals were the undisputed property of this young Denton, whohad grown up in Deepdale, and who, being a lover of animals, haduntiringly trained his pets, until their fame had spread all over thetown. He had a booth all to himself, and was having more fun than thespectators--and that was saying a good deal, judging from the merrylaughter and jests issuing from the tent.
There were several other attractions, the favorite, after "Denton'strained animals," being the fortune-telling booth. This was presidedover by Jessie Johnson--one of the jolliest and wittiest of theDeepdale girls. She was made up to resemble an old crone, and herfortune-telling kept her victims in gales of laughter.
"Isn't it great?" cried Mollie, hugging Betty rapturously, as theymet behind the scenes in the big tent about nine o'clock. "I knew itwould be a success, but this is better even than I expected."
"Mollie," returned Betty, and there was a strange new thrill in hervoice, that made her friend look at her quickly, "I'm happy, happy,happy! I thought I knew what it was to be happy before, but I neverdid. I just feel like shouting aloud and hugging everybody I see. Oh,I never dreamed we'd make such a success of it!"
"It isn't over yet, though," said Mollie, beginning to feel a littlepanicky. "We've got to speak _our_ little piece yet, and I never didfeel quite sure of that last line."
"Oh, goodness, don't begin to worry now," cried Betty. "Our lastrehearsal was perfect, and we've never fallen down in anything we'vetried to do yet."
"Well, there has to be a beginning to everything, hasn't there?"argued Mollie pessimistically. "I'm perfectly sure I'm going toforget that last line. I feel it coming on."
"Well, then you deserve to lose it," said Betty, knowing very wellhow best to handle Mollie. "You'll do just whatever you think you'regoing to do, and if you think you're going to fail, you'll fail!"
"I'm not going to fail any more than you are, Betty Nelson," criedMollie, her eyes blazing. "I've never seen anything yet I couldn't doas well as you."
"Goodness, what's this?" cried gentle Amy, aghast, coming upon thetwo suddenly. "You're not quarreling, are you?"
"What did it sound like--talk about the weather?" asked Molliesarcastically. "You just wait and _see_ what I'll do, Betty Nelson!"and she marched out with her nose in the air.
"Oh, dear," sighed Amy; "and I thought everything was going sobeautifully."
"It is," chuckled Betty, and hustled the bewildered Amy out anotherdoor of the tent.
Then came Allen, dressed as a herald of olden times, and blew ingolden notes, a message to the people scattered about the lawn, thatthe real attraction of the evening was about to begin.
The girls had worried a little for fear the big tent would not beable to accommodate all the guests, so great had been their responseto the call of patriotism, but it was found to their intense reliefthat, although a few had to stand at the back, all could be admitted.
The first part of the program consisted of music, recitations andsome very cleverly arranged tableaux. Everything was remarkably good,as the hearty applause testified, and behind the scenes everywhere,was jubilation.
"Now if we only do as well," said Grace, as the improvised curtaindropped, signaling the intermission, "we'll not have anything toworry about."
"We will," said Betty confidently. "Jean, you did wonderfully," sheadded, to the girl who had been the elocutionist of the evening. "Ithought it was wonderful at the last rehearsal, but you outdidyourself to-night. And you, too, Larry. Oh, it's such a success!"
They fairly danced with impatience during the intermission, and wereready with their costumes and stage settings before the ten minuteswas up.
"Oh, I'm so frightened, I can hardly stand up," chattered Amy as sheand Betty stood together, waiting for the endless last minute to dragpast. "Betty, if this is stage fright, it's a lot worse than Ithought. I can't think of a line I have to say."
"Well, you'd better not keep that up _too_ long," returned Bettygrimly. "It might be serious. There, that's Allen's cue."
Local talent had even produced an orchestra for the sketch, andalthough once in a while, the cornetist forgot to toot, or the firstviolin became excited and left the rest of his flock behind to followhim as best it might, still the music was pretty good and addedconsiderably to the general effect.
And the play was the crowning glory of the evening! The stage frightwhich had threatened to overwhelm the actors, magically disappearedwhen they found themselves put upon their mettle, and they frolickedthrough the play, with an ease and naive enjoyment that delightedtheir audience and brought storms of applause.
The play was called, "A Day in Court." It was a professionalproduction which had been almost completely rewritten by Allen andBetty. The judge was a woman, and the various characters broughtbefore her, were all more or less funny. One character had originallybeen a German servant girl, suing her mistress for wages, but thischaracter, on account of the war, was changed to Irish, and wasimpersonated by Amy with marked success.
Betty was the woman judge, and the way she laid down the law was mostmarvelous, and brought forth many peals of laughter.
Will, in a most ridiculous costume, performed the offices of courtclerk.
Mollie impersonated a French flower girl, who had failed to receivepay for bouquets sold to a local dude, a part played by Roy Anderson,and it developed during the court scene, that the dude was engaged totwo girls at once, impersonated by Grace and another girl.
There was an irate uncle of one of the girls, none other than FrankHaley, and Allen as the brother of the other girl, who also demandedsatisfaction, and the mix-up in the courtroom was most realistic.
"About the funniest thing I ever saw in my life," was Mr. Nelson'scomment.
"They are certainly doing remarkably well," answered Mrs. Billette,who chanced to sit near by.
"If those youngsters keep on doing as well as that, they'll all wantto go on the professional stage," remarked Mr. Ford.
All during the ice cream and cake part of the entertainment the youngperformers were feted and congratulated, till they began, as Royexpressed it, "to feel themselves some punkins."
It was late before the last guest had departed, still laughinglybandying jests back and forth, and the Little Captain and the groupof her particular chums and followers were left alone. Then--
"I wish it were beginning all over again," said Amy, leaning her headagainst a pillar of the porch and gazing dreamily up at the stars. "Inever had such a good time in my life."
"It seems to me I'm always saying that," sighed Betty, sinking intothe hammock, and laughing up at Allen, as he stood before her. "It'swonderful when life is just a succession of good times."
"Betty," he answered, sitting down beside her, and finding her handunder cover of the darkness, "that's my one ambition--to make lifefor you just a 'succession of good times.'"
"But I guess that never happens to anybody," she said, trying tospeak lightly. "And I don't know that just having good times is avery big ambition. No--I--didn't mean that, Allen," she addedquickly, seeing she had hurt him. "You've always been altogether toogood to me. I--I guess I don't deserve it."
"There's nothing half good enough for you," said Allen fervently."Betty," he added, after a slight pause, "I--I may have to go awaypretty soon, and before I go I want you to know----"
"Say, Allen, are you going home like a respectable citizen, or shallwe have to use force?" It was Roy who accosted him, and Allenmuttered something under his breath.
"I'm going home when I get good and ready," he was beginning, whenBetty herself jumped to her feet and held out a hand to him.
"It _is_ getting late," she said, "and we're all going to meet to-morrow,anyway, so we won't even say good-bye. _Au revoir,_ everybody. It'sbeen such a night!"
As she stood on the porch waving her hand to them, Allen hesitated amoment, started forward, then ran back again.
"There will come a night," he whispered, close in her ear, "when youwon't get rid of me so easily."
And Betty, left alone, smiled a new smile at the stars.
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