Part 5 (2/2)

She placed her gloved fingers in my big palm and stepped up, without so much as a word or a glance. For all that I found myself in an exultant glow. Had I not had the forethought to procure the chair for her? and, what was far more, had I not exercised sufficient courage to retain it for her, despite the other ladies? The big Irishwoman gave me a glance as kindly as it was shrewd, and took up her position beside me, her coal-scuttle bonnet on a level with my curls.

Having done the senorita a service, it seemed to me fitting that I should wait for her to speak before pressing her with further attentions. Accordingly I stood with unturned head, gazing across toward the Speaker's stand, and drinking in with appreciative ears the sonorous bars of ”Columbia.”

With the last note of the national anthem ringing in my ears I became aware of a far more musical sound,--the low-pitched voice of the senorita: ”There is s.p.a.ce for one to stand beside the chair. Dr.

Robinson has my permission to step up and discover for me if Mrs. Merry is present.”

”Dr. Robinson accepts the invitation of Senorita Vallois with pleasure,”

I replied, hoping to bring a smile to the scarlet lips. They did not bend, and I could see nothing but hauteur in her pale face and the drooping lashes of her eyes. I stepped up into the narrow s.p.a.ce beside the chair, but it was not to stare about in search of Mrs. Merry.

”You do not look,” she said with a trace of impatience.

”There is no need,” I replied, my gaze downbent upon her cheek.

”No need?”

”The wife of the British Minister is not here.”

”You have heard that she is ill?”

”No, senorita.”

”Then how should you know that she is not here?”

”Because I have looked into the face of every lady present.”

She smiled with a touch of scorn. ”I had not thought the American gentlemen so gallant!”

”I looked into the faces of all, senorita, searching for one.”

To this she made no reply; and I, fearing that I had gone too far, stood silent, under pretence of listening to the service. It was indeed a pretence, for had I been in sober earnest I could have heard little other than the band above the whispering and giggling all about the room, the occasional loud talk in the lobbies, and the open laughter and conversation of the young ladies and their lovers warming themselves at the fireplaces. Throughout the service these gay young couples came and went from their seats whenever the ladies felt chilled or took the whim, the freedom of their movements seemingly limited only by the closeness of the aisles.

When the time came for the bishop to preach there was a lull, owing to his stately appearance and forceful oratory. The lull was brief. Once more the young couples fell to whispering and t.i.ttering. A group of Representatives and a Senator near us began a muttered disputation about the question of naval appropriations. The senorita bent forward, straining her ears to catch the words of the bishop. It was hopeless. In the most favorable circ.u.mstances the Hall of Representatives has a bad name for its wretched acoustic properties.

In the midst, at the stroke of noon, the attendant who had brought my chair, came in with a great sack and, escorted by an officer of the House, pa.s.sed across the hall through the thick of the throng to the letter-box on the far side. Having emptied the box, he returned with his official escort in the same fas.h.i.+on, the bag on his shoulder bulging with letters. The spectacle did not tend to lessen the lively spirits of the a.s.sembly.

For the first time since I had taken my place beside her the senorita looked up at me. Her face was still cold, but in the sombre depths of her eyes glowed a fire of anger.

”Is it so you republican heretics meet the words of a most venerable prelate?” she demanded.

”From what I hear, senorita, preachers of other churches receive, if anything, still less consideration than this.”

”It is a mockery of wors.h.i.+p!”

”With the thoughtless, perhaps. I see many who listen. Another time it would be advisable to come early and find a seat nearer the speaker.”

”There will be no other time.”

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