FullReads

“But IS Mr. Somers such a great friend of Mr. Rushbrook’s?” asked Grace Nevil.

“Why, of course. Rushbrook consults him about all these things; gives him carte blanche to invite whom he likes and order what he likes, and trusts his taste and judgment implicitly.”

“Then this gathering is Mr. Somers’s selection?”

“How preposterous you are, Grace. Of course not. Only Somers’s IDEA of what is pleasing to Rushbrook, gotten up with a taste and discretion all his own. You know Somers is a gentleman, educated at West Point–traveled all over Europe–you might have met him there; and Rushbrook–well, you have only to see him to know what HE is. Don’t you understand?”

A slight seriousness; the same shadow that once before darkened the girl’s charming face gave way to a mischievous knitting of her brows as she said naively, “No.”

CHAPTER III

Grace Nevil had quite recovered her equanimity when the indispensable Mr. Somers, handsome, well-bred, and self-restrained, approached her later in the crowded drawing-room. Blended with his subdued personal admiration was a certain ostentation of respect–as of a tribute to a distinguished guest–that struck her. “I am to have the pleasure of taking you in, Miss Nevil,” he said. “It’s my one compensation for the dreadful responsibility just thrust upon me. Our host has been suddenly called away, and I am left to take his place.”

Miss Nevil was slightly startled. Nevertheless, she smiled graciously. “From what I hear this is no new function of yours; that is, if there really IS a Mr. Rushbrook. I am inclined to think him a myth.”

“You make me wish he were,” retorted Somers, gallantly; “but as I couldn’t reign at all, except in his stead, I shall look to you to lend your rightful grace to my borrowed dignity.”

The more general announcement to the company was received with a few perfidious regrets from the more polite, but with only amused surprise by the majority. Indeed, many considered it “characteristic”–“so like Bob Rushbrook,” and a few enthusiastic friends looked upon it as a crowning and intentional stroke of humor. It remained, however, for the gentleman from Siskyou to give the incident a subtlety that struck Miss Nevil’s fancy. “It reminds me,” he said in her hearing, “of ole Kernel Frisbee, of Robertson County, one of the purlitest men I ever struck. When he knew a feller was very dry, he’d jest set the decanter afore him, and managed to be called outer the room on bus’ness. Now, Bob Rushbrook’s about as white a man as that. He’s jest the feller, who, knowing you and me might feel kinder restrained about indulging our appetites afore him, kinder drops out easy, and leaves us alone.” And she was impressed by an instinct that the speaker really felt the delicacy he spoke of, and that it left no sense of inferiority behind.

The dinner, served in a large, brilliantly-lit saloon, that in floral decoration and gilded columns suggested an ingenious blending of a steamboat table d’hote and “harvest home,” was perfect in its cuisine, even if somewhat extravagant in its proportions.

“I should be glad to receive the salary that Rushbrook pays his chef, and still happier to know how to earn it as fairly,” said Somers to his fair companion.

“But is his skill entirely appreciated here?” she asked.

“Perfectly,” responded Somers. “Our friend from Siskyou over there appreciates that ‘pate’ which he cannot name as well as I do. Rushbrook himself is the only exception, yet I fancy that even HIS simplicity and regularity in feeding is as much a matter of business with him as any defect in his earlier education. In his eyes, his chef’s greatest qualification is his promptness and fertility. Have you noticed that ornament before you?” pointing to an elaborate confection. “It bears your initials, you see. It was conceived and executed since you arrived–rather, I should say, since it was known that you would honor us with your company. The greatest difficulty encountered was to find out what your initials were.”