University of Santa Clara - Redwood Yearbook (Santa Clara, CA)

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22 THE REDWOOD Her next partner was on hand and claimed her much to the reluctant Jim ' s chagrin. Meanwhile, Jack Michaels, becoming attracted by the crowd, wormed his way through to the front ranks. With his usual forwardness he stepped up closely to her, smiled boorishly, and asked for the next dance. She looked at him angrily ; then with a toss of her blonde head, began to converse with her partner. Jack was a trifle dazed, but realizing something was wrong unsuccessfully tried to right it. At last, he went up to Donovan, who seemed to be enjoying the situation and asked for an invitation. This, that obliging person did. The music struck up again and Made- moiselle left Michaels with a merry smile and a promise of the sixth dance. What do you think of our .coun- try? asked her partner. Ah, eet ees wonderful, she re- plied. Ze men are so fine, so human, so grand, so-so-so — oh, I cannot express ze thought. But I feel wizin me, ze love of your countree, of ze scenery. Eet ees incomparable, eet cannot be found in any ozzer place. At last, after what seemed to be hours, Jack ' s turn came, and he was treated with the same shower of words as his predecessors had been — except she said more to him than to any of the others. M ' sieu Michaels, you are such a fine man. Votre pays est beau. Les fleurs dans les campagnes sont belles. Les bois de France sont petits et en Calif ornie ils sont grands. M ' sieu Michaels, aujourd ' hui montrez moi votre cheval, s ' il vous plait, she look- ed at him so pleadingly. Now all of the above speech was the same as Chinese to him. However, Jack ' s head was filled with something besides ivory so he began to use it. As far as he could remember, she said ' cheval ' , or something that sounded like that anyway. Now, he knew that caballo meant horse in Spanish. Then while he had been in school he had a faint recollection that his teacher had said that French and Spanish were alike in many ways. So putting two and two together, he decided that ' cheval ' meant a horse. The rest of the sentence he knew not, still he thought she might be asking to see his horse. But the fact was, he didn ' t have one. However, he guessed one of the boys would lend him one for an hour or so. Now, certainly she wouldn ' t want to see him tonight. Finally, with a quaking heart he answered. Of course, I ' ll show you my horse tomorrow. He ' s a fine one too. Jack could lie gallantly when he had to — and this happened to be one of those times. Qu ' est la couleur? she inquired innocently. This was a sticker. However, he took a chance on color. Again it re- quired some quick thinking. The first friend of his whom he could remember at the present time who had a horse

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THE REDWOOD 19 mighty glad to learn to ' parley-vous. ' : She pronounced each word distinctly. Aw, tell us something new, he sneered. I suppose you were in that sort of a fix yourself. No I wasn ' t! But, if you don ' t look out, you ' ll wish you were back in France! With these words her face turned white. And her father, who had been a rather amused listener, knowing that she was about angry enough to do anything, stepped in be- tween them. That ' ll be about enough from the both of you. By the way, I ' d like to say a few words to Vi — alone. When they were alone the elder Michaels, turned to his daughter. Lis- ten, Vi, he said to her. I have some very bad news for you. The cook ' s quit and there ' s nobody to take her place, so if — He hesitated, not quite sure of his ground. Sure, I will, she assented. And believe me, the guests ' 11 be fed well while I ' m in charge of the kitchen. She grew reminiscent. It ' s been a long time since I ' ve been in that kitchen. Do you remember the last time I was there? Michaels pere roared. Do I? Don ' t you know that was the real cause of my shipping you East? And I ' m sure glad I did, too. So ' m I, she returned quickly. I learned a lot when I was there. II Some weeks later a young man of the tenderfoot appearance arrived in town and procured a room at the Swanton House, Pescadero ' s up-to-date hostelry, J. Michaels, Prop. He was an unobtrusive individual and for some reason or other roused Jack ' s dislike. Perhaps it was because he was East- ern-looking , perhaps not. That evening when he came down to the dining room there was a great craning of necks to see what he looked like. But in spite of all the publicity, he didn ' t seem to be a bit fussed . These actions roused the ire of a cer- tain clique, of which Jack was the leader. The rest however seemed to be satisfied with him and he was left in peace. He kept to himself for several days, appearing in public only when it was necessary for him to do so. This awoke the curiosity of nearly everybody in town. Many people thought he was a criminal trying to evade the law, and began to search the papers for notices concerning the offer of a reward for a man answering his description. Some allowed that he was an inventor, while others wouldn ' t venture an opin- ion. However, had any of the hotel patrons watched the stranger when Vi was serving him, it would have seemed that he eyed her too familiarly for a new comer who hadn ' t made any ac- quaintances. At last, one night, the mild man of mystery, registered as Thomas C. Don- ovan, Buffalo, N. Y., left the confines of his chamber, and came down to what was formerly the bar room. He

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THE REDWOOD 23 was Shorty Allen. Shorty ' s was a pinto, and that would have to answer the oc- casion ' s necessity. Besides, she wouldn ' t know what color pinto was anyway. So he blurted out, Pinto . She smiled upon him. Merci, merci, M ' sieu. These words had scarcely been spok- en when the last notes of Oh By Jingo died out. And right then and there, had the occasion demanded it, Jack would have sworn his life away for her. Dance followed dance, until late in the evening a serious dispute arose be- tween Jim Smith and Bill Walters as to who ' ' had the next ' ' . The argument waxed warmer and warmer, and under cover of the attention it attracted, Tom Donovan and his friend slipped into the night. IV The next morning was Sunday and breakfast was served later than usual at the Swanton House. Finally, the kitchen door opened and Vi appeared. She looked her audience over care- fully. After completing her survey, she smiled benignly upon her brother. Ah, messieurs, I trust zat you are all well zis morning. Mouths stood agape. All looked be- wildered. Gradually it dawned on them. So this was the girl whom they had fell for . Finally one of them regained his powers of speech. Well, I ' ll be- Say, Vi, how ' d you do it anyway? The dress 1 wore in a play at school. Mr. Donovan, as you all re- member, left town early yesterday morning. He went to the City and got me that blonde wig — also, the make-up. The rest was easy. She was walking slowly over to her brother. And, Jack, dear, what good does it do to know French? If you had learned to speak it — or at least un- derstand a little — you probably wouldn ' t ' ve been in the pickle I got you into last night. Jack was silent. Say, Vi, someone asked, who ' s that fellow with you? Why, he ' s Tommy Donovan of Brooklyn. I met him while I was at school. There was a university very close to ours, and he and his friend used to come and see me and my room- mate. One year both places put on a play. He and I took the leading parts. Well, what ' s he doing out here? the questioner went on. Slowly and smilingly Viola disap- peared through the kitchen door, while the presence in the dining room of Michaels pere was first noticed when that old gentleman broke into a hearty laugh.