Part 15 (1/2)

Mrs. Dean betrayed no sign of what went on in her mind, but her thoughts on the subject of Mignon were not flattering. Ill-bred, she mentally styled her, and decided that she would look into the matter of her growing friends.h.i.+p with Mary.

The dancing had already begun when, piloted by Mary, who had apparently forgotten that she was of the receiving party, the two girls strolled into the impromptu ballroom. Mary was immediately claimed as a partner by Lawrence Armitage, who tried to console himself with the thought that, at least, she looked like Constance. Mignon's face darkened as they danced off. Lawrie had merely bowed to her. But he had asked Mary to dance. That was because she resembled that odious Stevens girl. Her resentment against Constance blazed forth afresh. She hoped Constance would never return to Sanford.

Thanks to a long lecture which Jerry had read to her brother Hal, Mignon was not neglected. Although none of the Weston High boys really liked her, she was asked to dance almost every number. Later in the evening Lawrence Armitage asked her for a one-step, and she vainly imagined that, after all, she had made an impression on him. Radiant with triumph over her social success, Mignon saw herself firmly entrenched in the leaders.h.i.+p she dreamed would be hers. But her triumph was to be short-lived.

After supper, which was served at two long tables in the dining-room, the guests returned to their dancing with the tireless ardor of first youth. Chancing to be without a partner, Mignon slipped into a palm-screened nook under the stairs for a chat with Mary, who had followed her about all evening, more with a view of hurting Marjorie than from an excess of devotion. From their position they could see all that went on about them, yet be quite hidden from the un.o.bservant. The un.o.bservant happened to be Marjorie and Jerry Macy, who had come from the ballroom for a confidential talk and taken up their station directly in front of the alcove. Save for the two girls behind the palms, the hall was deserted.

”Well, I guess Mignon's having a good time,” declared Jerry Macy in her brisk, loud tones. ”She ought to. I nearly talked myself hoa.r.s.e to Hal before he'd promise to see that the boys asked her to dance. This reform business is no joke.”

”Lower your voice, Jerry,” warned Marjorie. ”Someone might hear you.”

Mary Raymond made a sudden movement to rise. Stubborn she might be, but she was not so dishonorable as to listen to a conversation not intended for her ears. Mignon pulled her back with sudden savage strength. She laid her finger to her lips, her black eyes gleaming with anger.

”Oh, there's no one around. Say, Marjorie, do you think it's really worth while to go out of our way to reform Mignon? Look at her to-night.

You'd think she had conquered the universe. She was all smiles when Laurie Armitage asked her to dance. He can't bear her, he told me so last Hallowe'en, after she made all that fuss about her old bracelet. If we hadn't banded ourselves together to find that better self which you are so sure she's carrying around with her, I'd say call it off and forget it. None of us really likes her. You know that, even if you won't say so. She is----”

The waltz time ended in a soft chord and the dancers began trooping through the doorway to the big punch-bowl of lemonade in one corner of the hall. They were just in time to see a lithe figure in pink spring out, catlike, from behind the palm-screened alcove and hear a furious voice cry out, ”How dare you insult a guest by talking about her, the moment her back is turned?”

CHAPTER XV

AN IRATE GUEST

Jerry Macy and Marjorie Dean whirled about at the sound of that wrathful voice. Mignon La Salle confronted them, her eyes flas.h.i.+ng, her fingers closing and unclosing in nervous rage, looking for all the world like a young tigress.

”Oh, for goodness' sake, some one lead her away!” muttered the Crane to Irma Linton. ”I told Hal to-day that, with Mignon aboard the good old party s.h.i.+p, we'd be sure to have fireworks. Real dynamite, too, and no mistake. I wonder what's upset her sweet, retiring disposition?” His boyish face indicated his deep disgust.

”I heard every word you said!” screamed Mignon. Rage had stripped her of the thin veneer of civilization. She was the same young savage who had kicked and screamed her way to whatever she desired when years before she had been the terror of the neighborhood. ”So, that's the reason you invited me to your old party! You got together and picked me to pieces and decided to reform me! Just let me tell you that you had better look to yourselves. I don't need your kind offices. You are a crowd of hateful, deceitful, mean, horrible girls! I despise you all! Everyone of you! Do you hear me? I despise you! And _you_, Jerry Macy, had better be a little careful as to what you gossip about me. I can tell you----”

There came a sudden interruption to the tirade. Through the amazed groups of young people who could not resist lingering to find out what it was all about, Mrs. Dean resolutely made her way.

”That will do, Miss La Salle,” she commanded sternly. ”I cannot allow you to make such a disgraceful scene in my home, or insult my daughter and her guests. If you will come quietly upstairs with me and state your grievance, I shall do all in my power to rectify it. Marjorie,” she turned to her daughter, who stood looking on in wide-eyed distress, ”ask the musicians to start the music for the next dance.”

Marjorie obeyed and, somewhat ashamed of their curiosity, the dancers forgot their thirst for lemonade and flocked into the ballroom. Only Jerry Macy and Mary Raymond remained.

”It's all my fault, Mrs. Dean,” began Jerry contritely. ”I didn't know Mignon was in the alcove. I can't help saying she had no business to listen, but----”

”It _is_ my business,” began Mignon furiously. ”I have a right----”

”Don't begin this quarrel all over again.” Mrs. Dean held up her hand for silence. ”I repeat,” she continued, regarding Mignon with marked displeasure, ”if you will come upstairs with me----”

”Mrs. Dean, it's a shame the way Mignon has been treated to-night,”

burst forth Mary Raymond, ”and I for one don't intend to stand by and see her insulted. Miss Macy said perfectly hateful things about her. I heard them. Marjorie is just as much to blame. She listened to them and never said a word to stop them.”

”Mary Raymond!” Mrs. Dean's voice held an ominous note that should have warned Mary to hold her peace. Instead it angered her to open rebellion.

”Don't 'Mary Raymond' me,” she mocked in angry sarcasm. ”I meant what I said, every word of it. Mignon is my dear friend and I shall stand up for her.”