Page:Jackson Gregory--joyous trouble maker.djvu/312

296 back into the crowd of dancers. A pair of very bright eyes just guessed through very tiny slits of her mask, a slender body in ornamental buckskin blouse and short skirt, hands encased in gauntlets, feet and calves in high heeled buckskin boots, a girl of the big out-doors of the mountains.

"Now, they won't know me for a little while," she told the very attractive and alluring reflection in her pier glass. "And before they guess right I'll know!" Della had caught her enthusiasm.

"If there was just somebody to wear the gown and things you just took off," she suggested. Beatrice at the door, whirled and came back, laughing softly.

"Hurry, Della!" she commanded, "Just play the part for five minutes and I'll give you the whole outfit!"

And, to the last hastily adjusted flounce of lace, it was the mistress who dressed the maid, much to Della'a unspeakable confusion and to Beatrice's delighted satisfaction.

"A scarf over your head, Della … your hair is just a little too dark … about your face, too, a bit … like that. … You mustn't talk, yon know—that's perfectly … Gloves, Della. You must have gloves …"

At last it was done and despite her protestation and growing embarrassment, Della the maid, went slowly down the long hall way, her colour very high, her heart beating like mad. And Beatrice, watching and then following, as unostentatiously as possible, carried a heart scarcely less fluttering.