TER XIV

THE JOLLY SEND-OFF

The Mrs. Haney who came to Alice Heath's dinner at the Antlers was in
outward seeming an entirely different person from the constrained young
wife who stepped into Lee Congdon's home that night of her first dinner.
She was gowned now in that severe good taste which betokens a
high-priced "ladies' tailor" combined with very judicious criticism. Her
critic she had found in Miss Franklin, a young lady from the university
who had passed easily and naturally from teaching history and etiquette
up to the higher function of advising as to the cut and color of gowns.
Bertha's black velvet was this time a close-clasping sheath which
revealed her slender figure, and delicately and modestly disclosed the
growing grace of her bosom. She wore, too, some jewels of diamond and
turquoise--not showy (her mentor had taken great pains to warn her of
all that). And she was not merely irreproachable, she was radiant, as
she slowly entered with the Captain, who, having submitted like a martyr
to evening dress, was uneasy as a colt in harness, and more than usually
uncertain of step.

Ben's eyes expanded with surprise and his heart warmed with pride as he
greeted her. "You are beautiful!" he exclaimed to her, and the tone of
his exclamation as well as the words exalted her. Her brain filled with
a mist of gold. She hardly felt the floor beneath her feet. To be called
beautiful--and by him--had been outside the circle of her most daring
hope, and the repetition of this word in her mind was like the clash of
musical bells--entrancing her. Mechanically she took her place at his
right hand, silently, and with a far-away look, listening to the merry
clamor of the table. She hardly knew what she ate or what any one
said--except when Ben spoke to her. But she was aware of the Captain
down at Alice's right, and wondered vaguely how he was getting on with
his napkin and his fork.

The first words that really roused her and stopped the musing smile on
her lips were spoken by Ben in a lower voice--half-laughing, but tender
also. "You mustn't stay away too long. I'll feel as if I weren't earning
my salary while you're gone."

"I wish you were going too," she said. She had thought this many times,
but had not permitted herself to utter it. "Why can't you--and
Alice--come with us?"

"I can't afford it, for one thing. The Captain spoke of it, but it's out
of the question."

"He'll pay you wages just the same."

"I w