CHAPTER VI
ALBUQUERQUE FESTIVITIES
Upon arriving at the hotel in Albuquerque, Jack was given a letter written by Mr. Dalken that same morning. In it he explained that Mr. Alexander, Mr. Fuzzier and he had to go on to Gallup in order to confer with several other gentlemen who would be in that place for a few days. Jack was told to conduct his friends to such points of interest as they might wish to see, and to come on to Gallup not later than three days from date.
“Hurrah!” shouted Jack, waving the paper at the girls, as they waited for him in one of the beautiful alcoves of the hotel, “We have carte blanche to do whatever we please for the next three days. Dalky has to be in Gallup, where we will meet him when we leave here.”
“Oh!” returned Polly, regretfully, “I was sure we would have him with us on our tours in Albuquerque.”
“What’s the matter with me—any complaints about my manner of playing host?” demanded Jack.
“No, but that’s just it, Jacky,” laughed Eleanor. “You only play host, while Dalky is the real thing.”
“Humph!” snorted Jack, then he turned away to Dodo. “I see you disagree with the others—and it’s just as well that you do, or I would resign, and take up my valet duties again.”
The girls smiled, but Algy had not heard of Jack’s engagement as a valet, so he was horrified at what he just heard.
“Valet! Valet! Wh-y,—I was told by Mrs. Alexander that you were quite my equal in society. She never mentioned the fact that you had been a common servant,” gasped Algy, horrified at the disclosure.
“Oh! didn’t you,” was Jack’s delighted reply. “Perhaps Mrs. Alex. never knew it herself, or I’m sure she never would have associated with me so intimately.” Then Jack sighed heavily and added, to the girls’ intense amusement, “I have had a hard life of it—till Mr. Dalken took an interest in my future career and offered me the position of valet to himself. You can imagine how I jumped at such a chance—having been a waif thrown upon the mercies of a cold world all those years!”
“You don’t say!” was all Algy could whisper in his distress at hearing such astounding revelations from a young man whom he had fondly believed to be a millionaire. What a shock to his sensitive self!
“You will pawdon me, I’m suah, Mr. Baxter, but I—ah—feel that I must attend to an urgent errand,” stammered the troubled youth.
“Certainly! Certainly!” agreed Jack, grinning broadly as Algy hurriedly left the group to seek out Mrs. Alexander.
“Oh! That’s the best joke yet!” laughed Eleanor.
“The little snob!” muttered Dodo, angrily. “Now he’ll act so superior to Jack that life will be made wretched.”
“It will be the best fun I ever had, Dodo, and I don’t want you to spoil it by telling the child the truth about me,” said Jack.
“We’ll have to warn Dalky and Mrs. Courtney then, or they’ll wonder what’s wrong with A. A. A.,” added Polly.
“You tell Mrs. Courtney, and I’ll put Dalky and Dodo’s father on,” laughed Jack, gleefully.
Before the plotters had had time to plan for their next diversion, the hotel porter came over to Jack and asked politely: “I am holding a number of trunks for your party, sir, and I shall be glad to deliver them to the rooms you direct me to.”
“Trunks! Why, we brought our light luggage with us,” exclaimed Jack, astonished.
“These were forwarded from the Spring Hotel at Colorado Springs, and they are plainly directed to Mrs. Alexander, care Dalken Party, Alvarado Hotel, Albuquerque,” explained the porter.
“Goodness me! They are mother’s trunks!” cried Dodo, with intense annoyance. “I warned her not to send her trunks, because we would have no need for elaborate clothes. She promised me she would have the hotel management store them for her till further notice. Now what does she mean?”
It was soon explained, because Mrs. Alexander now joined the surprised circle of young friends and used her loftiest manner in addressing the porter and Jack.
“Young man (to Jack), show the porter to my room, and help him unstrap the trunks.” She held forth the key to her room as she spoke.
Dodo was about to exclaim, but Jack sent her a look, and the other two girls nudged her quickly to keep her quiet. Jack took the proffered key, and nodded to the staring porter to follow him.
“I got ’em on the freight elevator, sir. We got to go up that way,” announced the porter, apologetically.
“Quite right, porter,” retorted Mrs. Alexander. “All servants should be made to use other elevators than those their masters use.”
“Mother!” exclaimed Dodo, frowning at such airs, but Jack bowed humbly and followed the porter.
“Don’t you ever look at me, or speak to me in such a shocked manner again, Dorothy, when I am addressing servants. If there is any reason left in this world of silly democracy since the War, I’m going to find it, and I shall act as though I understood the rights of Class. If you prefer to follow with the rabble along with your father, do so.”
Dodo turned away in anger, but she did not reply as usual to her mother’s irritating remarks. Then Mrs. Alexander hurried away also, leaving Polly and Eleanor alone to discuss the peculiar situation.
When Jack got back to the hotel lobby no one he knew was to be seen, and he rightly decided that all had gone to their rooms. Then he strolled over to the desk and began to chat with the clerk. When he left him again, the clerk was seen to be smiling appreciatively at a joke.
That day was spent in seeing the sights of Albuquerque, and arrangements were made for a motor trip to Isleta, Laguna and Acoma, including the Enchanted Mesa. Jack had engaged a seven-passenger car as usual, which would carry the entire party, but Mrs. Alexander and Algy refused to go. Dodo looked furious after she had asked her mother privately for her reasons in not being one of the group, and the other girls and Jack had no trouble in guessing the cause—why two members of their group dropped out of the sight-seeing. Jack smiled.
The five remaining members of the outing party enjoyed the day as much as though Algy and Mrs. Alexander had been with them, and it must be confessed that the ride was far more enjoyable with but five in the car, which made it possible for Jack to be with his friends, instead of sitting outside beside the driver.
Isleta and the Ruins were visited that day, but Laguna and Acoma were left for the following day. This change of plan was agreed upon after Jack was told by the chauffeur of the mid-week dance to be given at the hotel that night. Immediately, the young folks voted to go back in time to rest and be ready for the hop.
Dinner was speedily disposed of, and then the girls hurried to their rooms to dress in the simple evening frocks which they had packed in their light luggage. Polly and Eleanor were soon ready, and then they ran to Dodo’s room to help her if necessary. A few minutes after they were comfortably seated and watching Dodo slip her feet into silver brocade slippers, a sharp rap sounded upon the door.
“That’s Ma’s knock,” whispered Dodo, going to unlock the door. She was right. Mrs. Alexander entered the room with a gorgeous frock over her arm.
“I brought your dress for this evening, Dodo,” she said, dropping it upon the bed. Then she sneered at the simple gown her daughter wore. “You don’t mean to say that you’d be seen in this exclusive hotel in that rag!”
Polly and Eleanor wore similar unpretentious dresses and they wondered what Mrs. Alexander would think of their costumes! Dodo was not to be so easily influenced as once she had been long ago, while on that European tour. She had developed a great deal of independence since that time, and she had scant patience with her mother’s whims.
“This is not a personal affair, Ma, nor is it expected that transient guests dress like all-possessed. You’d look a hundred per cent more exclusive, and appear in better taste, if you’d remove that imported Paris gown and all your diamonds, and wear a simpler rig,” advised Dodo, her expression plainly condemning her mother’s tendency to display her finery.
“When one has jewels and clothes like mine, it is foolish to keep them in the trunks. How is the world to know we have these things, unless we show them?” demanded Mrs. Alexander, angrily.
“There are places where it is correct to wear them, and there are people who know enough to keep them for proper occasions; but you’ll find such society members do not consider this sort of an impromptu hop the place to show off personal effects.”
“Humph! I suppose you are throwing Mrs. Courtney up to me, by speaking of society persons who know how to dress! Well, I will say this much: I wouldn’t think of traveling in such a dowdy tailormade suit as she wears on this trip. Not a speck of trimming on it, and no panels or drape to conform to the very latest fashion. Her ball-gown most likely will be similar to her convent-like taste in dressing,” declared Mrs. Alexander.
Eleanor flared up in defence of her friend’s perfect judgment in dressing. “If you knew the price of that exclusive tailormade suit imported direct from London a few weeks ago, and showing next season’s advanced styles, you’d change your mind, Mrs. Alex.”
But Mrs. Alex. had no opportunity to change her mind at that moment, since a knock sounded upon the door, and Dodo opened it to admit the lady just being discussed. The moment the girls saw Mrs. Courtney, they felt secretly delighted. She wore a handsome though strictly suitable black velvet gown relieved only by a long string of beautiful pearls about her neck. In contrast to the flashily gowned Mrs. Alexander, there could be no doubt as to the good taste of the one dressed in simple black.
Mrs. Alexander must have felt the silent rebuke of the other lady’s quiet appearance, for she tossed her extravagantly coiffured head and marched to the half-open door. There she turned and said: “I expect you to wear that dress I brought in, Dodo,” then she was gone.
“Ma may expect it of me, but she is doomed to disappointment, this time,” remarked Dodo, giving the dress a disgusted look.
“If you are ready, girls, we may as well go down to the dance,” suggested Mrs. Courtney, wondering what had caused the suppressed anger so plainly manifested on the faces of the three girls.
“Yes,” cried Eleanor, jumping up quickly; “let’s get out of here before we explode.”
Grasping Dodo by the hand, she dragged her towards the door. Polly, laughing, followed with Mrs. Courtney. They descended and upon arriving at the ball-room where the mid-week hop was held, they found Jack waiting for them.
“The poor valet has to ask some fair lady to befriend him, because A. A. A. and his patroness just sailed past me without a glance. Even a lapdog may be given a kindly look or a bonbon,” complained Jack.
“You do not seem to be downcast over your treatment,” giggled Dodo. “But come along—I’ll take you under my wing and introduce you to the Honorable Algy and my Ma.”
“Better not! Ma may send you to bed,” warned Eleanor. “Or more dreadful still, Algy may never be seen in your company again, if you persist in associating with a mere valet.”
“S-s-h! Girls, remember Mrs. Alexander is Dodo’s mother, and as such she is entitled to your respect,” was Mrs. Courtney’s rebuke.
There were many dancers on the floor when Polly and her friends were ready to join them, and the sight of pretty gowns and still prettier faces presented a festive scene. Since there was but one man in their party, the girls urged Jack to take Dodo for the first dance—in spite of Mrs. Courtney’s shake of the head. And off Dodo and Jack danced.
At first glance nothing was seen of Mrs. Alexander and Algy; soon, however, they were seen whirling swiftly around in the dance, drawing nearer and nearer to Dodo and the despised “valet”—both of whom danced slowly and gracefully. The other two girls and their chaperon watched the two couples eagerly.
Algy seemed to think that speed in dancing proved he was a past master in the art, so he, metaphorically speaking, “stepped on the gas” at every other round, gathering momentum as he whirled. Naturally his partner had to keep step with him or give up the race. But Mrs. Alexander was not the woman to give up a dancing partner, even though that partner flew around like a mad kitten after a ball of wool.
As might have been foreseen by the watchers of this comedy, Algy and his partner, in blindly wheeling fast and furiously, collided with Dodo and Jack, who were chatting and enjoying the rhythm of the music and the motion of the sliding steps.
Jack seemed slender in black evening clothes, but he was a splendid athlete, and his body was hard as nails. Thus, when the soft pulpy form of Mrs. Alexander struck him back to back, it was not Jack who grunted and fell over.
Algy, being a “fragile darling,” and never prepared for emergencies, was lifted from his feet when Mrs. Alexander began to slip and gyrate, while endeavoring to balance in an upright position. The grip the lady maintained upon the only tangible thing at hand made Algy hop-skip-and-jump about like a Jack-on-a-stick. But all this performing took only a few moments to accomplish, then came the end—upon the floor.
For such a little fellow Algy needed more room in sprawling than three big men could have covered. Consequently he managed to trip several other couples who could not avoid dancing close to the danger zone, and they, too, began to slip and slide about grotesquely before they subsided upon the floor.
Polly and Eleanor, try as they would, could not help laughing at the amusing scene; and others in every direction joined in the general laugh. The music now came to an abrupt end, leaving the embarrassed group of unfortunates the center of attraction.
Mrs. Alexander, much too stout for her elaborate gown, had paid the room-maid handsomely to strap her into her harness. Then she found it possible to work herself into the tight-fitting costume. She had had difficulty in breathing, however, and soon after Algy began to whirl her giddily around the floor, she wished with all her heart that she had had courage to refuse to dance. But she had heard that dancing made people slender and sylphlike, so she had succumbed to the temptation.
After turning about like a whirligig, Mrs. Alexander had appreciated why dancing made one thin—she was perspiring freely and had no opportunity in which to dry her streaming face. Her breath had become shorter and shorter, and her head seemed to swim. At the last she felt that she must drop or die, but instead, had come the collision.
Now she doubled up on the smooth floor, gasping madly for a bit of air. The more she struggled to gain a foothold on the waxed wood, the more she slid and gasped. Finally a desperately deep breath broke the bonds which held her lungs and heart as in a vise, and instantly there sounded the r-r-r-ip of a tight seam.
“Ah!” sighed the wearer of the armor, as she released her pent-up lungs and thought she would fly from sheer lightness. Then she recollected where she was. This reminded her that she must divert the laughter from herself to others, so she instantly pretended to faint—to rouse sympathy in place of ridicule. And she was an adept at fainting.
“Oh, I say! Mah deah Mrs. Alex.! Do try to sit up,” cried Algy, plaintively, when he saw her head roll back and her eyes close.
But his partner seemingly was dead to his supplications. He managed to stand up, and then he gazed helplessly around for some one to come and advise him what to do. His eyes, in their roving, found the despised valet watching him with ill-concealed amusement.
“Oh, I say theah! Come heah, and lift this lady from the floah.” But Jack turned and gave his attention to the girls. Mrs. Courtney seemed to be urging them to do something against which they rebelled.
Algy felt angry at a common valet’s treatment of him, and now he cried aloud shrilly: “I say! Mr. Dalken’s valet—you, Baxtah! Come heah directly, and lift this lady to a chaih!”
Several men sprang over at the call, believing the poor woman to be injured; and finally Dodo had to go with Mrs. Courtney to see that her mother was not hurt. Dodo had declared the truth—that she knew her mother too well to fear that anything worse than chagrin could be the matter with her.
Even while Mrs. Alexander was planning what to do, should they try to carry her to an alcove to revive, an unexpected turn was given events, by the presence of a physician. He kneeled upon the floor beside the prostrate woman and took her wrist between his practised fingers. As he counted the strong, regular beats, he began to smile.
Evidently the doctor had no patience with women who played upon the sympathy of their friends. He must have seen other cases similar to Mrs. Alexander’s, because he applied a drastic remedy.
“Here, gentlemen—lend me a pocket-knife, will you? I must slash this gown up and down to give the patient plenty of room to breathe. And you, my good woman, remove her jeweled dog-collar so her neck muscles can act. Hold it till she revives—it’s only paste, I suppose.”
The very idea of slashing that wonderful gown was bad enough to bring consciousness back to a dying woman, but add to that the awful fact that a ten-thousand-dollar collar would be handled as though the stones were paste, was too much! Suddenly Mrs. Alexander sat up!
She forgot to regain consciousness slowly and gracefully, but she remembered the heartless doctor’s words—only paste!
“Don’t you dare ruin my gown!” cried she, catching hold of the hand that would devastate a Parisian model. “As for my diamonds being paste! Well, I can show you the insurance on them. Paste, indeed!”
With this retort, Mrs. Alexander managed to stand on her feet, though it was not done without awkwardness.
“There!” muttered Dodo, flushing scarlet, “Didn’t I tell you so?” And the poor girl turned away quickly and hurried from the room. Mrs. Courtney followed immediately, beckoning Polly and Eleanor to come, too.