Ladybird (24 page)

The sight was most disturbing, the girl could not quite tell why. It was none of her business, of course, what this lady of hers did or what relation she bore to this unpleasant caller, but she did long to feel that she was beyond reproach in every way.

So she went up to her lovely room with an oppression upon her that she could not shake off.

The room was in a soft light from the rose-shaded lamp by her bedside, and the covers were turned back for her convenience. A rose-colored satin quilt lay like a bright cloud across the foot of the bed, and on a chair lay rosy garments for the night and a delightful robe of rose and white chiffon with frills and tiny rosebuds of ribbon. Think of having things like this to wear when she was all by herself in her room! Nobody else to share its beauty! A sense of reluctance was upon her that she should have luxury when her mother had gone without everything lovely most of her life and was lying now in that hasty unmarked grave in the distant valley. If only her mother could have shared all this!

She turned her back on the beautiful room and went to the window to gaze out on the dark river.

There were lights below on the drive, cars hurrying by, lights off to the left where she knew the crowded city lay, lights across in the little park between the drive and the river, lights everywhere along the shore, and out on the river, on the boats. There were even lights twinkling across on the opposite shore and high above on the palisades, where dim outlines of tower and roof marked noble mansions among the trees.

And up in the wide sky there were lights, her dear stars, come to New York with her. She would not be able to locate them all perhaps, but she had found the Little Dipper at once, and it made her feel at home. God’s sky, how wide and dear it was!

She stood within the shadow of the draperies that shrouded the windows and tried to shake off the oppression that was upon her about her dear lady, and she found tears upon her cheeks.
Oh Mother! If only you were here! Oh God, show me how to walk!

There was a slight stirring, and she turned to see the white-capped maid standing in the doorway.

“I am Jeanne, Madam’s maid. Madam told me to ask if there was anything I could do for Mademoiselle.”

“Oh, no, thank you, Jeanne,” said Fraley, turning and smiling at the maid. “I have put all my things away.”

“I could draw your bath,” said the woman, “anytime when Mademoiselle is ready, and perhaps Mademoiselle would like me to brush her hair. Mademoiselle has pretty hair.”

“You are very kind, Jeanne, but I’ve never been waited upon. I’ve always done everything for myself, and I wouldn’t know how to be taken care of. Only my mother ever did anything for me.”

“One’s mother is always best,” said the maid, unbending from her formal tone. “Is Mademoiselle’s mother far away?”

“She is in heaven.”

“Oh, that’s too bad, Mademoiselle!” apologized the maid sympathetically. “I beg your pardon, Mademoiselle, I didn’t know. But you’re going to stop here in this house now, and there’ll be plenty of cheery times to help you to forget.”

“Oh, I don’t want to forget, Jeanne. I love to think about my dear mother, but sometimes I feel just as if I had to cry.”

“You poor little dear!” said the maid, now thoroughly won over. “Now, you just get a nice book and sit here and read, or get into bed if you like. I’ll fix the pillows for you. That’s what Madam generally does. She most generally reads herself to sleep.”

“I shall not need to read myself to sleep tonight,” laughed the girl. “I’m sleepy already. That bed looks wonderful!”

“Well then, I’ll just draw the water for your bath,” said the maid. “I know Madam would be better pleased if I helped you, and I’ll get you some of Madam’s nice bath salts. They have such a pleasant odor; Mademoiselle will like it, I know.”

“Call me Fraley, won’t you, please?” said the girl. “It sounds more friendly.”

“Very well, Miss Fraley,” said the maid in a pleased tone. “Now, you undress, and I’ll have the water ready for you at once.” And the persistent maid marched into the bathroom and prepared the bath. Jeanne put the lovely rosy folds of the robe around Fraley’s shoulders and then departed, but when Fraley came out from her bath she was there at the door again.

“I just thought I’d come back and fix your hair for the night,” she said. “It’ll be a pleasure for me to handle such hair as yours. I used to work in a beauty parlor before I took a place as lady’s maid, and they gave me all the fine ladies to do their hair. But now since everybody’s bobbed, there is little of that to be done anymore. I was always sorry Madam bobbed her hair. Of course she looks more distinguished this way, but she had such lovely hair, Miss Fraley; it was such a pity to do away with it. And she’s so chic herself she could have got away with hair on her very well. You never bobbed yours, did you, Miss Fraley?”

“Do you mean cut it? No, Mother liked it to grow. And then, I was living out west on a mountain, where I never saw other girls. I had only Mother to please. But I wouldn’t like my hair cut. God gave it to me, and I’d like to keep it.”

“That’s what I always say, Miss Fraley. I say keep as near to nature as you can. Of course a bit of paint and powder now and then for pale people, but you, now, you don’t need any. Your skin is like a baby’s. You’ve got an odd name, Miss Fraley; is it a family name?”

“Yes, my mother’s name was Alison Fraley.”

“Why, that’s odd now. There’s an Alison Fraley lives on the Drive. Is she related to you?”

“Oh no, I don’t suppose so. Mrs. Wentworth spoke of her on the train, but I’ve never heard of her. It is odd, isn’t it, my mother’s name?”

“She might be some kin, you can’t tell. You’ll have to ask her when you get to know her. She comes here a lot. Her mother is one of Mrs. Wentworth’s crowd, and they entertain a great deal. You’ll probably see a good deal of her. But she’s not like you, one could see that at a glance. Of course she’s handsome in her way, and very stylish, goes to all the extremes, and like that. But she hasn’t got good skin like yours, and her ways are very proud like. She’d not be conversing with a maid, kind like you are, Miss Fraley. She thinks she’s above everybody. She’d be more like to throw her shoe at me if I spoke of anything but my work.”

“Oh!” said Fraley distressed. “I am afraid I shan’t like her.”

“Oh, she’ll not be like that to you, not if you are Mrs. Wentworth’s friend. She dotes on Mrs. Wentworth. She went to Europe with her three months last summer. She’s tall and dark and a bit too bold looking to my thinking, but she’s very popular, too, Miss Fraley. You’ve got a way with you that makes people like you. Now Miss Alison, she is popular more because people are afraid she’ll turn them down than because they like her.”

“I’m sorry she’s that way,” said Fraley looking troubled. “I don’t like to think anybody that has my mother’s name is disagreeable. My mother was so dear!”

“I’ll bet she was, Miss Fraley, or you wouldn’t be what you are. I’ll tell you frankly, there’s not many girls today as unspoiled and friendly as you are, and that’s a fact. Now, Miss Fraley, if you’ll just step into bed I’ll fix the pillows for you and the light, and then you can read as long as you like. Can I get your book for you?”

“Oh, this is my book,” said Fraley, gathering the old cotton-covered Bible from the little bedside stand. “It was my mother’s, and I love it.”

“It’s not many young ladies nowadays read the Bible,” commented the maid, hovering around and patting the pillows. “I’ve never read it myself, but I’ve heard it has some very good things in it.”

“Oh, it has, Jeanne! Sit down, and let me read to you.”

Fraley turned the pages and began to recite one of her favorite chapters.

The maid stood at the foot of the bed and listened curiously.

“That’s beautiful, Miss Fraley,” she said enthusiastically when the chapter was finished. “I never knew it was like that. If I had an education I might read it, too, but somehow, when you read it, it sounds nice. I’d like to hear it again sometime, Miss Fraley, if you ever have time.”

“Oh, I’ll read to you every night, Jeanne, if you can come up here!” said Fraley eagerly. “I’d love to.”

“I certainly appreciate that, Miss Fraley. I’ll never forget your offer, but I know the madam when she gets herself going will have your evenings all full. You’ll be going out with her a lot.”

“Oh, I don’t think so, not much,” said the girl, lying back on her pillow. “You know I’m here to work for her, don’t you? I’m not here just visiting.”

“I know she’s taken you up, Miss Fraley, and that means you’re just like a guest in the house or a member of the family, and I’ve seen enough of this house to know she’ll keep you going. But I’ll be glad to hear you read, Miss Fraley, whenever you have the time. And now, would you like a glass of milk or something before you sleep?”

“No indeed,” laughed Fraley. “I’ve already had more to eat today than I needed. Good night, Jeanne, and don’t forget to come tomorrow night.”

“Thank you, Miss Fraley, for being so good to me. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen a young lady I’ve been so drawn to as you, and I’ll do anything I can for you, bless your little heart.”

The maid withdrew and closed the door, and Fraley lay back on her pillows and watched the lights across from her windows and soon fell asleep.

T
he maid brought a tray to Fraley’s room next morning and found her fully dressed, sitting by the window absorbed in watching the boats on the river and the automobiles in the street.

“Here’s your breakfast, Miss Fraley,” explained Jeanne, setting down a dainty tray on the little stand and drawing up a chair. “You could have had it earlier if I had known you were up, but I was afraid to disturb you.”

“Oh, you don’t need to bring me anything, Jeanne. Couldn’t I go down? I’ve been waiting for Mrs. Wentworth to open her door. I did go downstairs once, but there was nobody around, and I concluded she had sat up late and had overslept.”

“She always sits up late in New York, Miss Fraley, and she never rises before ten anyway. She takes her breakfast in bed, and she doesn’t have it till she rings for it. I haven’t heard a sound from her yet this morning, but I thought I’d venture to see if you were awake, as you went to bed pretty early last night.”

“Oh,” said Fraley, somewhat dismayed at a state of things like this. On the mountain she had usually risen at dawn or a little after and gone to bed with the birds. “Well, then after this I’ll come down and get my breakfast. That’ll be less trouble for you, won’t it? And I don’t need a thing but a glass of milk and a little bread or something. Don’t let anybody bother getting a breakfast for me.”

“It’s no bother, Miss Fraley. The breakfast is always cooked anyway, for the servants, and it’s less trouble for me to bring a tray up than for you to have the table set in the dining room just for you.”

So Fraley ate her delicious breakfast hungrily, and presently Jeanne returned with a message: “Madam says you’re to go shopping with her this morning, and she’ll be ready in half an hour.”

Fraley had put on the little cotton dress of her mother’s make when she first got up, but when she stood before the mirror and surveyed herself, she realized that it looked wrong, here in this grand new home. She did not understand it because it had always seemed nice and appropriate enough—a whole, clean dress without any ugly patches; but now, since she had traveled in a Pullman and watched the people in the diner, and more than all since she had been with this lovely lady, she did not like her own looks in this mountain-made dress of faded cotton. So she had changed into the borrowed one again. Now she was glad she had done so, for her dear Violet would not have liked her to go shopping in her old dress, of course.

So she put on hat and coat and gloves and sat down by the window to count her money. How much did dresses cost? She seemed to have a lot of money left from those Bibles, but one could never tell in this new world to which she had come. There might be only enough for a pair of shoes. The dear lady had said she must have shoes.

But before her problem was solved, there came the summons to start, and Fraley went down to find her lady arrayed in a smart street suit with her face so startlingly fresh and lovely that she almost exclaimed over it.

But she seemed a different lady—this variable new friend—this morning. She was all businesslike, giving orders for the day before she left, and somehow the girl did not like to speak intimately.

The car was at the door, a wonderful shining limousine, glittering and luxurious with deep, soft upholstery.

“Isn’t this wonderful!” Fraley said before she could stop herself as she sat down on the deep cushions and looked out of the clear glass at her side. “Why, it’s like a little house!”

The lady smiled.

“Do you like the car? It’s a new one. It seems comfortable, doesn’t it? Now, let’s begin to talk about what you need. We want to get your wardrobe all in order before people find out that I’m home and begin to come and I have so many engagements that I can’t attend to anything else.”

“I was thinking about it this morning,” said Fraley. “I put on one of my old dresses, and it looked kind of odd after I’d worn yours, so I guess perhaps I’d better buy a new dress to save this one if you think I’ve got enough money. The Bibles didn’t cost as much as I expected, and I haven’t spent any of the money my mother gave me, except for crackers and prunes and apples and cheese. How much do everyday dresses cost?”

“Oh, you needn’t bother about that, child; I’ll attend to all that. You’ll need a lot of things besides an everyday dress if you’re going to stay with me, and I’ll just have them charged and then we’ll take it out of your first month’s salary. How is that?”

“Why, that is very kind but suppose something happened to me and I couldn’t do the work right, or I got sick and died. Then I wouldn’t have paid for them.”

“Well, I’d still have the dresses and things, wouldn’t I?” smiled the lady. “And anyhow, that’s my affair. I say you’ve got to have the things if you stay with me, so I’ll take the chance of your doing what I want you to do in payment.”