第14章

"Come up, Ruth!" called her mother."The dress is ready for the last try-on.I think it's going to hang beautifully."Ruth dragged herself up the stairs, lagged into the sitting-room, gazed at the dress with a scowl."What did father say?" she asked.

"It's no use trying to do anything with your father."Ruth flung herself in a corner of the sofa.

"The only thing I can think of," said her mother, humbly and timidly, "is phone the Sinclairs as I originally set out to do.""And have the whole town laughing at me....Oh, what do Icare, anyhow!"

"Arthur Sinclair's taller and a sight handsomer.Right in the face, Sam's as plain as Dick's hatband.His looks is all clothes and polish--and mighty poor polish, I think.Arthur's got rise in him, too, while Sam--well, I don't know what'd become of him if old Wright lost his money."But Arthur, a mere promise, seemed poor indeed beside Sam, the actually arrived.To marry Sam would be to step at once into grandeur; to marry Arthur would mean years of struggle.

Besides, Arthur was heavy, at least seemed heavy to light Ruth, while Sam was her ideal of gay elegance."I _detest_ Arthur Sinclair," she now announced.

"You can get Sam if you want him," said her mother confidently."One evening with a mere child like Susie isn't going to amount to much."Ruth winced."Do you suppose I don't know that?" cried she.

"What makes me so mad is his impudence--coming here to see her when he wouldn't marry her or take her any place.It's insulting to us all.""Oh, I don't think it's as bad as all that, Ruthie," soothed her mother, too simple-minded to accept immediately this clever subtlety of self-deception.

"You know this town--how people talk.Why, his sister----" and she related their conversation at the gate that morning.

"You ought to have sat on her hard, Ruth," said Mrs.Warham, with dangerously sparkling eyes."No matter what we may think privately, it gives people a low opinion of us to----""Don't I know that!" shrilled Ruth.She began to weep."I'm ashamed of myself.""But we must try the dress on." Mrs.Warham spread the skirt, using herself as form."Isn't it too lovely!"Ruth dried her eyes as she gazed.The dress was indeed lovely.

But her pleasure in it was shadowed by the remembrance that most of the loveliness was due to Susan's suggestions.Still, she tried it on, and felt better.She would linger until Sam came, would exhibit herself to him; and surely he would not tarry long with Susan.This project improved the situation greatly.She began her toilet for the evening at once, though it was only three o'clock.Susan finished her pressing and started to dress at five--because she knew Ruth would be appealing to her to come in and help put the finishing touches to the toilet for the party.And, sure enough, at half-past five, before she had nearly finished, Ruth, with a sneaking humility, begged her to come "for half a minute--if you don't mind--and have got time."Susan did Ruth's hair over, made her change to another color of stockings and slippers, put the dress on her, did nearly an hour's refitting and redraping.Both were late for supper; and after supper Susan had to make certain final amendments to the wonderful toilet, and then get herself ready.So it was Ruth alone who went down when Sam Wright came."My, but you do look all to the good, Ruth!" cried Sam.And his eyes no less than his tone showed that he meant it.He hadn't realized what a soft white neck the blond cousin had, or how perfectly her shoulders rounded into her slim arms.As Ruth moved to depart, he said:

"Don't be in such a rush.Wait till Susie finishes her primping and comes down.""She had to help me," said Ruth, with a righteousness she could justly plume herself upon."That's why she's late.No, I must get along." She was wise enough to resist the temptation to improve upon an already splendid impression."Come as soon as you can.""I'll be there in a few minutes," Sam assured her convincingly.

"Save some dances for me."

Ruth went away happy.At the gate she glanced furtively back.

Sam was looking after her.She marched down the street with light step."I must wear low-necked dresses more in the evenings," she said to herself."It's foolish for a girl to hide a good neck."Sam, at the edge of the veranda, regretting his promise to call on Susan, was roused by her voice: "Did you ever see anything as lovely as Ruth?"Sam's regret vanished the instant he looked at her, and the greedy expression came into his sensual, confident young face.

"She's a corker," said he."But I'm content to be where I am."Susan's dress was not cut out in the neck, was simply of the collarless kind girls of her age wear.It revealed the smooth, voluptuous yet slender column of her throat.And her arms, bare to just above the elbows, were exquisite.But Susan's fascination did not lie in any or in all of her charms, but in that subtlety of magnetism which account for all the sensational phenomena of the relations of men and women.She was a clever girl--clever beyond her years, perhaps--though in this day seventeen is not far from fully developed womanhood.But even had she been silly, men would have been glad to linger on and on under the spell of the sex call which nature had subtly woven into the texture of her voice, into the glance of her eyes, into the delicate emanations of her skin.