Mrs. Temple did not smile at this, but treated it with great seriousness.
"Quite true, my dear; but now that I have promised Jacqueline, I can not disappoint her. You must go for her sake."
"Rather let me say, my dear Jane, that I go for your sake--your wishes, my love, being of paramount importance."
For a henpecked man, it was impossible to be more imposing or agreeable than General Temple. So on the night of the party he was promptly on hand, at eight o'clock, in his old-fashioned evening coat, the tails lined with white satin, and wearing a pair of large, white kid gloves.
Jacqueline and Judith soon appeared. Jacqueline, in her new white frock, looked her prettiest, albeit it showed her youthful thinness and all her half-grown angles. Judith's beauty was of a sort that could stand the simplicity of her black gown that revealed her white neck, and, for the first time since her widowhood, she wore no cap over her red-brown hair. Delilah and Simon Peter yah-yahed and ki-yied over both of them.
"Dem little foots o' Miss Jacky's in de silk stockin's ain' no bigger 'n little Beverley's, hardly, and Miss Judy she look like de Queen o' Sheba," delightedly remarked Delilah.
Judith could scarcely meet Mrs. Temple's eyes. She felt inexplicably guilty. Mrs. Temple examined them critically, though, and the general was loftily complimentary.
"And, Delilah," said Judith, gathering up her gloves nervously, "be sure and look after Beverley. He has never been left alone in his life before."
"I will look after Beverley, Judith," said Mrs. Temple, and Judith blushed faintly at something in the tone.
All the way, going along the country road in the moonlight, Judith could feel Jacqueline's little feet moving restlessly with excitement. As they drove up to the house, and caught glimpses through the open hall-door of the dancers and heard the sound of music, Jacqueline began to bob up and down with childish delight.
Like most Virginia country-houses, Turkey Thicket had an immense entrance hall, which was not heated and was of no earthly use the best part of the year, and for which all the rooms around it were unnecessarily cramped. Mrs. Sherrard's hall was of more use to her than most people's, owing to her party-giving proclivities, and was brightly lighted up for dancing. As Judith came down the broad stairs on General Temple's arm, a kind of thrill of surprise went around among the guests. Nobody expected to see her. Many of them had never seen her except in her widow's veil and cap. Judith, remembering this, could not restrain a blushing consciousness that made her not less handsome; and, besides, her good looks were always full of surprises. One never knew whether she would be simply pale and pretty, or whether she would blaze out into a sudden and captivating beauty.