The Colonel Was In
A Domino And Had Not Tried To Disguise Himself.
We went in to supper together, and I managed to be almost the last one
to unmask, and all the time Colonel Fitz-James, domino removed, was
standing in front of me, and looking down with a smile of serene
expectancy.
The colonel of a regiment is a person of prominence,
therefore many people in the room were watching us, not one
suspecting, however, who I was. So when I did take off the mask there
was a shout: "Why, it is Mrs. Rae," and "Oh, look at Mrs. Rae," and
several friends came up to us. Well, I wish you could have seen the
colonel's face - the mingled surprise and almost horror that was
expressed upon it. Of course the vain man had placed himself in a
ridiculous position, chasing around and flirting with the wife of one
of his very own officers - a second lieutenant at that! It came out
later that he, and others also, had thought that I was a Helena girl
whom the colonel admires very much. It was rather embarrassing, too,
to be told that the girl was sitting directly opposite on the other
side of the room, where she was watching us with two big, black eyes.
And then farther down I saw Faye also looking at us - but then, a man
never can see things from a woman's view point.
The heat and weight of the two dresses had been awful, and as soon as
I could get away, I ran to a dressing room and removed the cambric.
But the pins! There seemed to be thousands of them. Some of the
costumes were beautiful and costly, also. Mrs. Manson, a lovely little
woman of Helena, was "A Comet." Her short dress of blue silk was
studded with gold stars, and to each shoulder was fastened a long,
pointed train of yellow gauze sprinkled with diamond dust. An immense
gold star with a diamond sunburst in the center was above her
forehead, and around her neck was a diamond necklace. Mrs. Palmer,
wife of Colonel Palmer, was "King of Hearts," the foundation a
handsome red silk. Mrs. Spencer advertised the New York Herald; the
whole dress, which was flounced to the waist, was made of the headings
of that paper. Major Blair was recognized by no one as "An Amercan
citizen," in plain evening dress. I could not find Faye at all, and he
was in a simple red domino, too.
I cannot begin to tell you of the many lovely costumes that seemed
most wonderful to me, for you must remember that we were far up in the
Rocky Mountains, five hundred miles from a railroad! I will send you a
copy of the Helena paper that gives an account of the ball, in which
you will read that "Mrs. Rae was inimitable - the best sustained
character in the rooms." I have thought this over some, and I consider
the compliment doubtful.
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