The Main Chance

by Meredith Nicholson

  CHAPTER XI

  THE KNIGHTS OF MIDAS BALL

  There were two separate and distinct sides to the annual carnival of theKnights of Midas. The main object to which the many committees onarrangements addressed themselves was the assembling in Clarkson of asmany people as could be collected by assiduous advertising and thegranting of special privileges by the railroads. The streets must befilled, and to fill them and keep them filled it was necessary toentertain the masses; and this was done by providing what the committeeon publicity and promotion proclaimed to be a monster Pageant ofIndustry. The spectacle was not tawdry nor ugly. It did not lack touchesof real beauty. The gaily decked floats, borne over the street cartracks by trolleys, were like barges from a pageant of the Old World inthe long ago, impelled by mysterious forces. From many floats fireworkssummoned the heavens to behold the splendor and bravery of the parade.The procession was led by the Knights of Midas, arrayed in yellow robesand wearing helmets which shone with all the effulgence of bright tin.There was a series of floats on which Commerce, Agriculture,Transportation and Manufacturing were embodied and deified in thepersons of sundry young women, posed in appropriate attitudes and liftedhigh on uncertain pedestals for the admiration of the multitude. Onother cars men followed strenuously their callings; coopers hammeredhoops upon their barrels; a blacksmith, with an infant forge at hiscommand, made the sparks fly from his anvil as his float rumbled by. Anenormous steer was held in check by ropes, and surrounded by murderousgiants from the abattoirs; Gambrinus smiled down from a proud height ofkegs on men that bottled beer below. Many brass bands, including afamous cowboy band from Lone Prairie, and an Indian boy band from aWyoming reservation, played the newest and most dashing marches of theday. Thus were the thrift, the enterprise, the audacity, and thegenerosity of the people of Clarkson exemplified.

  Such was the first night's entertainment. The crowd which was brought totown to spend its money certainly was not defrauded. The second night itwas treated to band concerts, a horse-show and other entertainments,while the Knights of Midas closed the door of their wooden temple uponall but their chosen guests. These were, of course, expected to pay acertain sum for their tickets, and the sum was not small. The Knights ofMidas ball was not, it should be said, a cheap affair. Raridan andSaxton had taken a balcony box for the ball and they asked Evelyn'sguests to share it with them. Raridan still growled to Saxton over whathe called Evelyn's debasement, but he had said nothing more to Evelynabout it.

  "Here's to the deification of Jim Wheaton," he sighed, as he and Saxtonwaited for the young ladies in the Porter drawing-room.

  Saxton grinned at him unsympathetically.

  "Stop sighing like an air-brake. You will be dancing yourself to deathin an hour."

  When the two young women came in, Raridan's spirits brightened. Evelynwas, Miss Marshall declared, "perfectly adorable" in her gown; but theyoung men did not see her. She was to go later with her father.

  They were early at the hall, whose bareness had been relieved by a gayshow of bunting and flags.

  "I will now give you a succinct running account of the first families ofthis community as they assemble," Raridan announced, when they hadsettled in their chairs. There were no seats on the main floor, as theceremonial part of the entertainment was brief, and the greater numberof the spectators stood until it was over. An aisle was kept down themiddle of the hall and on each side the crowd gossiped, while a bandhigh above played popular airs.

  "We're all here," said Raridan, when the band rested. "The butcher, thebaker and the candlestick-maker; also probably some of our cooks. We arethe spectators at one of Nero's matinees; the goodly knights are readyfor combat, and those who have had practice in the adjacent packinghouses have the best chance of winning the victory. There comes TimMargrave, one of the merriest of them all, full of Arthurian valor andas gentle a knight as ever held lance or bought a city council. Andthere is the master of our largest and goriest abattoir. That is not astar on his chest, but a diamond pig, rampant on a field of dress-shirt.He used to wear it on his watch-chain, but it was too inconspicuousthere--

  'On his breast a five-point star Points the way that his kingdoms are.'"

  Miss Marshall was scrutinizing the man indicated through her operaglasses.

  "Why, it _is_ a pig!" she declared.

  "Of course it is," said Warry, with an aggrieved air. "I hope you don'tthink I'd fib about it. Now, the girl over there by the window, with theyoung man with the pompadour hair, is Mabel Margrave, whose father yousaw a minute ago. She is looking this way with her lorgnette; but don'tflinch; there's only the plain window glass of our rude western commercein it; she handles it awfully well, though."

  "And the man coming in who looks like a statesman?" asked Miss Marshall.

  "That's Wilkins, the boy orator of the Range. He palpitates withCiceronian speech. He's our greatest authority on the demonetization ofwampum. The young man who's talking to him is telling him what hot stuffhe is, and that the speech he made at Tin Cup, Texas, last week on the'Inequalities of Taxation' is the warmest little speech that has beenmade in this country since Patrick Henry died. He's a goodthing,--Wilkins. The Indians back on the reservation, where he goes toraise the wolf's mournful howl when white people won't listen to him,call him Young-man-not-afraid-of-his-voice. Our Chinaman calls him YungLung. Quite a character, Wilkins."

  "And," Miss Warren inquired, "the grave, handsome man, who must be aneminent jurist?"

  "He does one's laundry," Raridan replied, "and," looking at his cuffscritically, "he does it rather decently."

  "There's another side to this," said Saxton to Miss Warren, whileRaridan babbled on to the pretty Virginian. "These people have had aterribly hard time of it. They've been through a panic that would havekilled an ordinary community; a good many of the nicest of them have hadto begin over again; and it's uphill work. It isn't so funny when weconsider that these older people have tried their level best to make thewilderness blossom as the rose, and after they'd made a fine beginningthe desert repossessed it. There's something splendid in their courage."

  "Yes, it's hard for us who live on the outside to appreciate it. Andthey seem such nice people, too."

  "Don't they! They're big-hearted and plucky and generous! Eastern peopledon't begin to appreciate the people who do their rough work for them."

  The other boxes and the gallery had filled, and the main floor wascrowded, save where the broad aisle had been maintained down the centerfrom the front door to the stage. A buzz of talk floated over the hall.The band was silent while its leader peered down upon the floor waitinghis signal. He turned suddenly and the trumpets broke forth into thenotes of a dignified march. All eyes turned to the front of the hall,where the knights, in their robes, preceded by the grand seneschal,bearing his staff of office, were emerging slowly from the outer doorinto the aisle. When the stage was reached, the procession formed inlong lines, facing inward on the steps, making a path through which thegovernors, who were distinguished by scarlet robes, came attending theperson of the king.

  "All hail the king!" A crowd of knights in evening dress, who werehonorary members of the organization and had no parts in costume, sentup the shout.

  "Hail to Midas!"

  "Isn't he noble and grand?" shouted Raridan in Miss Marshall's ear. Amurmur ran through the hall as Wheaton was recognized; his name waspassed to those who did not know him, and everybody applauded. He wasreally imposing in the robes of his kingship. He walked with a fittingdeliberation among his escort. He was conscious of the lights, theapplause, the music, and of the fact that he was the center of it all.The cheers were subsiding as the party neared the throne.

  "I'll wager he's badly frightened," said Raridan to Saxton.

  "Don't you think it," declared Saxton, "he looks as cool as a cucumber."

  "Oh, he's cool enough," grumbled Raridan.

  "You see what envy will do for a man," remarked Saxton to Miss Marshall."Mr. Raridan's simply perishing because he is
n't there himself. Butwhat's this?"

  The king had reached his throne and faced the audience. All the knightsbowed low; the king returned the salutation while the audience cheered.

  "It's like a comic opera," said Miss Marshall.

  The supreme knight advanced and handed Wheaton the scepter and there wasrenewed applause and cheering.

  "Only funnier," said Raridan. "Yell, Saxton, yell!" He rose to his feetand led his end of the house in cheering. "It makes me think of oldtimes at football," he declared, sinking back into his chair with an airof exhaustion, and wiping his face.

  The king had seated himself, and expectancy again possessed the hall.The band struck up another air, and a line of girls in filmy, trailinggowns was filing in.

  "There are the foolish virgins who didn't fill their lamps," saidRaridan; "that's why they have brought bouquets."

  "But they ought to have got their gowns at the same place," said MissMarshall, who was abetting Raridan in his comments. Miss Warren andSaxton, on the other side of her, were taking it all more seriously.

  "It's really very pretty and impressive," Miss Warren declared, "and notat all silly as I feared it might be."

  "Well, _that_ is very pretty," replied Saxton.

  The queen, following her ladies in waiting, had appeared at the door.There was a pause, a murmur, and then a great burst of applause as thosewho were in the secret identified the queen, and those who were notlearned it as Evelyn's name passed from lip to lip. Whatever there wasof absurdity in the scene was dispelled by Evelyn's loveliness anddignity. Her white gown intensified her fairness, and her long courttrain added an illusion of height. She carried her head high, with aserene air that was habitual. The charm that set her apart from othergirls was in no wise lost in the mock splendor of this ceremony.

  "She's as lovely as a bride," murmured Belle Marshall, so low that onlyRaridan heard her. Something caught in his throat and he looked steadilydown upon the approaching queen and said nothing. The supreme knightdescended to escort the queen to the dais. The king came down to meether and led her to a place beside him, where they turned and faced theapplauding crowd.

  The grand chamberlain now stepped forward and read the proclamation ofthe Knights of Midas, announcing that the king had reached their city,and urging upon all subjects the duty of showing strict obedience. Heread a formula to which Evelyn and Wheaton made responses. A page stoodbeside the queen holding a crown, which glittered with false brilliantsupon a richly embroidered pillow, and when the king knelt before her,she placed it upon his head. At this there was more cheering andhandclapping. Saxton glanced toward Raridan as he beat his own handstogether, expecting one of Raridan's gibes at the chamberlain's bombast;but there was a fierce light in Raridan's eyes that Saxton had neverseen there before. He was staring before him at Evelyn Porter, as shenow sat beside Wheaton on the tawdry throne; his face was white and hislips were set. Saxton was struck with sorrow for him.

  There was a stir throughout the hall. The king and queen weredescending; the floor manager was already manifesting his authority.

  "Let's stay here until the grand march is over," said Raridan. He hadpartly regained his spirits, and was again pointing out people ofinterest on the floor below.

  "Now wasn't it magnificent?" he demanded.

  "Wasn't Evelyn lovely?" exclaimed the girls in a breath.

  "We didn't need this circus to prove it, did we?" asked Raridancynically.

  "Aren't there any more exercises--is it all over?" cried Miss Marshall.

  "Bless us, no!" replied Raridan.

  The evolutions of the grand march were now in progress and they stoodwatching it.

  "They didn't get enough rehearsals for this," said Raridan. "Look atthat mix up!" One of the knights had tripped and stumbled over the skirtof his robe. "They ought to behead him for that."

  "Mr. Raridan's terribly severe," said Saxton. The king and queen,leading the march, were passing under the box.

  "The king really looks scared," remarked Miss Warren.

  "Yes; he's rather conscious of his clothes," said Raridan. "His trainrattles him." Evelyn glanced up at them and laughed and nodded.

  Before the march broke up into dancing they went down from the gallery.On the floor, the older people were resolving themselves into layfigures against the wall. They found Mr. Porter leaning against one ofthe rude supports of the gallery, wondering whether he might now escapeto the retirement of the cloak-room to get his hat and cigar. The youngpeople burst upon him with congratulations.

  "You must he dying of pride," exclaimed Miss Marshall.

  "Evelyn never looked better," declared Miss Warren. "It was splendid!"

  "We are proud to know you, sir," said Raridan, shaking hands.

  "I surely came to Clarkson in the right year," said Saxton.

  Porter regarded them with the patronizing smile which he kept for thosewho praised Evelyn to his face.

  "The only thing now," he said, "is to get that girl home beforedaylight."

  "Oh, the queen gives her own orders," said Raridan. "You'll never beboss at the Hill any more!" He was bringing up all the unattached men heknew to present them to the visitors. He never forgot any one, and notmerely the debutantes of other years, but girls that were voted slow inthe brutal court of social opinion, were always sure of rescue at hishands. Evelyn and Wheaton were bearing down upon them; Evelyn, flushedand happy, and Wheaton in a glow from the exercise of the march and adance with her. There was a fusillade of interjections as many crowdedabout with praise of the leading actors. It was all breathless andincoherent. The crowd was uncomfortably large, and the hall was hot.Porter found General Whipple and escaped with him to the smoking room.Young men were everywhere writing their names on elaborate dance cards.

  "Save a few for us," Raridan pleaded airily as the men he had introducedhovered about Evelyn's guests. He made no effort to speak to Evelyn, whowas besieged by a throng that wished to congratulate her or to dancewith her. She gave Saxton her fingers through a rift in the crowd and heturned again to find himself deserted. Raridan was dancing with BelleMarshall and Annie Warren nodded to him over the shoulder of a youth whohad waltzed her away. While Saxton waited for the quadrilles to whichhis dancing limitations restricted him, he made a circuit of the room.Mrs. Whipple was holding forth to a group of dowagers but turned fromthem to him.

  "I'm hardly sure of you without Warry, and this is the first time I'veseen you alone. Of course, you were looking for me!"

  "That's what I came for."

  "Please say something more like that. I saw you come in, young man; theyare very nice girls, too."

  She was trying to remember who had told her that Saxton was stupid.

  "How did you like it? This was your first, I think."

  "Beautiful! charming! An enchanting entertainment!"

  "Is that for you and Warry, too? He always has to approve everythinghere."

  "Oh, I can't speak for him," John answered; "we don't necessarily alwaysagree."

  "I'll have to find out later, from him. You and Warry appear to be fastfriends, and he talks a great deal. What has he told you about me?"

  "He said you were kind to strange young men; but that wasn'tinformation."

  "You'll do, I think. Here comes Warry now."

  Raridan came along looking for a country girl whose brother he knew, andwith whom he had engaged the dance which was now in progress.

  "I think she's hiding from me," he complained to Mrs. Whipple, "but thegods are kind; I can talk to you. The general is a generous man." Heregarded critically a great bunch of red roses which she held in herlap. "That's why the florist didn't have any for me."

  "Oh, these are Evelyn's," explained Mrs. Whipple. "She asked me to keepthem for her--the king's gift, you know. I feel highly honored."

  "By the king? Impossible! I'll give you something nice to let me dropthem into the alley."

  "Is it as bad as that? Well, good luck to you!"

  He stood with his hands in
his pockets looking musingly out over theheads of the dancers. Mrs. Whipple eyed him attentively.

  "You know you always tell me all of them," she persisted; but he wasfollowing a fair head and a pair of graceful shoulders and ever and anona laughing face that flashed into sight and then out of range. His ruralfriend's sister loomed before him, in an attitude of dejection againstthe wall, and he hastened to her with contrition, and made paradise flyunder her feet.

  Saxton was doing his best with the square dances, and had finished aquadrille with Evelyn, who had thereafter asked him to sit out a rounddance with her; still Raridan did not come near them. He was busy withEvelyn's guests or immolating himself for the benefit of the countrywallflowers. Supper was served at midnight in an annex of the hall.

  "Here's where we forget to be polite," Raridan announced. "If we die inthe struggle I hope you fair young charges will treasure our memories."

  The king and queen and the high powers of the knights enjoyed thedistinction of sitting at a table where they were served by waiters,while the multitude fought for their food.

  "If you lose our seats while we're gone," Raridan warned Miss Marshalland Miss Warren, "you shall have only six olives apiece." He led Saxtonin a descent upon an array of long tables at which men were harpooningsandwiches and dipping salad. The successful raiders were rewarded bythe waiters with cups of coffee to add to their perils as they boretheir plates away. There was a great clatter and buzz in the room. Onthe platform where the distinguished personages of the carnival satthere was now much laughing.

  "Margrave's pretty noisy to-night," observed Raridan, biting into hissandwich, and sweeping the platform with a comprehensive glance.

  "You mustn't forget that this is a carnival," replied Saxton. He hadfollowed his friend's eyes and knew that it was not the horse-laugh ofMargrave that troubled him, but the vista which disclosed both Wheatonand Evelyn Porter.

  "Mr. Raridan's really not so funny as Evelyn said he was," remarkedBelle Marshall.

  "The truth is," Raridan answered, rallying, "that I'm getting old. MissPorter remembers only my light-hearted youth."

  "Well, let's revive our youth in another food rush," suggested Saxton.They repeated their tactics of a few minutes before, returning withice-cream, which the waiters were cutting from bricks for supplicantswho stood before them in Oliver Twist's favorite attitude.

  "Mr. Saxton's a terrible tenderfoot," lamented Raridan, when theyreturned from the charge. "He was giving your ice-cream, Miss Warren, toan old gentleman, who stood horror-struck in the midst of the carnage."

  "You'd think we rehearsed our talk," Saxton objected. "He wants me totell you that he got the poor old gentleman not only food for all hisrelations, but took away other people's chairs for him, as well."

  "Lying isn't a lost art, after all," said Raridan.

  As they returned to the hall they met a crowd of the nobility who weredescending from their high seats.

  "So sorry to have deserted you all evening," said Evelyn to her girlfriends as they came together in a crush at the door; "but the worst isover." She looked up curiously at Raridan, who seemed purposely to haveturned away to talk to Captain Wheelock, and was commenting ironicallyon the management that made such a mob possible. There was only a momentfor any interchange, but she was sure now that Raridan was avoiding herand it touched her pride.

  "I hope you won't forget our dance, Mr. Saxton," she said, struggling tofollow a young man who had come to claim her. Raridan turned again, buthung protectingly over Miss Marshall, whom the noisy Margrave seemedbent on crushing. Raridan had not asked Evelyn to dance, though she hadbeen importuned by every other man she knew, and by a great many otherswhom she did not know. As the gay music of a waltz carried her down thehall with a proud youngster who had been waiting for her, the lightnessof her heart was gone for the moment. She remembered Raridan's curiousmood on the night before her friends came, and his unfriendliness to theidea of her taking part in the carnival. She was piqued that he hadstudiously avoided her to-night. The others must have noticed it. Warryneeded discipline; he had been spoilt and she meant to visit punishmentupon him. She did not care, she told herself; whether Warry Raridanliked what she did or not.

  But something of the glory of the evening had departed. She was reallygrowing tired, and several of the youths who came for dances were toldthat they must sit them out, and she welcomed their chatter, throwing inher yes and no occasionally merely to impel them on. Wheaton had grown alittle afraid of her after the glow of his royal honors had begun tofade. It is often so with players in amateur theatricals, who think theyare growing wonderfully well acquainted during rehearsals; but after theperformance is concluded, they are surprised to find how easily theyslip back to the old footing of casual acquaintance. There was a flutterabout Evelyn at the last, when her father made bold to ask her when shewould be ready to go.

  "The girls have already gone," he said, replying to her question. Whenthey were in the carriage together and were rolling homeward, she gave asigh of relief.

  "Are you glad it's over?" asked her father.

  "Yes, I believe I am."

  "Well, they all said fine things about you, girl. I guess I've got to beproud of you." This was his way of saying that he was both proud andgrateful.

  As they reached the entrance to the Hill they passed another carriagejust leaving the grounds. Saxton put his head out of the window andcalled a cheery good night, and Evelyn waved a hand to him.

  "It was Warry and Saxton," said Mr. Porter. "I thought they'd stop totalk it over."

  Evelyn had thought so too, but she did not say so.