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Read Ebook: The congressman's wife a story of American politics by Barry John D John Daniel Kirby Rollin Illustrator
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Ebook has 1851 lines and 62756 words, and 38 pages
Helen glanced up into his face. "I'm not going to worry," she said, with a smile.
"Is the Secretary of State really coming?" Fanny asked.
"I believe so," her aunt replied.
"If he speaks to me I shall faint away. Ugh!" The girl walked over to Guy Fullerton. "You'll have to do all the talking if you sit near me. I shall be too scared to say a word. This is my first dinner, you know."
"You poor thing!" Guy began; but Fanny cut him short.
"Don't make stupid jokes, sir!"
Helen Briggs turned to the girl. "I'm only afraid you'll talk too much, Fanny."
"If she does, we'll send her from the table," said Briggs.
Fanny wrinkled her nose at her uncle. "That funny little Frenchman's to sit on my left," she said, turning to Guy. "Oh, I won't do a thing to him!"
"I want you to be particularly nice to young Clinton, of the British Embassy," Briggs replied. "He's a first-rate fellow, but very shy. I think perhaps you'll amuse him."
Guy at once looked uncomfortable. Fanny observed him, and laughed. "I expect to have a lovely time," she said, casting down her eyes demurely.
"Who's going to take you out?" Briggs asked, glancing first at Fanny and then at Guy.
"Mr. West," Guy promptly replied.
Briggs looked puzzled. "What did you put her with him for?"
Fanny smiled knowingly. "Perhaps because he thought I'd be out of danger," she said demurely.
Briggs turned away impatiently. "Well, don't you dare to flirt with him, Fanny. He's really dangerous."
Guy's face looked anxious. "It isn't too late to change the arrangement," he said, wistfully, and they all laughed.
"Is it true that Mr. West is so wicked, Uncle Doug?" Fanny asked. "The newspapers say awful things about him."
"Well, the newspapers say awful things about everybody. They say awful things about me."
"Then they tell great big lies," Fanny cried, rushing forward and throwing her arms around her uncle's neck.
"Fanny," Mrs. Briggs remonstrated, "you'll get your dress all ruffled."
"Well, never mind," said Fanny, philosophically, and she smiled at her uncle. "I'd just like to meet someone that had been talking about you."
"Gee, it's a good thing you aren't a man," Guy remarked with a shake of his head.
"Won't she be a terrible little boss when she gets married?" Briggs exclaimed, with a knowing look at the young fellow.
"I'm going to be just like Auntie," said Fanny, and Briggs laughed aloud.
"Then you'll have to begin to change mighty quick."
The door-bell rang and a few moments later the first guest appeared in the drawing-room. During the next few moments several other guests arrived and Fanny was kept busy helping her aunt to keep them amused until dinner was announced. The announcement was delayed by the tardiness of the Secretary of State, who was known for his punctuality in business and for his indifference and unpunctuality in social matters. When, finally, the great man entered, walking quickly but maintaining, nevertheless, an air of deliberateness and suavity, Fanny breathed a sigh of relief. She turned to Franklin West, who had taken his place beside her.
"I'm starving," she said.
"You poor child." He looked down at her with his fine dark eyes.
"And yet I'm terribly frightened."
"At what?" he said with a smile.
"Oh, all these wonderful men with their queer wives. Why do great men marry such funny women, do you suppose?"
"Be careful, little girl," West whispered.
Fanny shrugged her shoulders. "I'm not very diplomatic, am I?"
"Perhaps you'll learn to be as you grow older," he said, smiling again. "Diplomacy usually comes with age. It's only the very young who can afford to be frank. It's one of the graces of youth."
Fanny flushed. "I believe you are making fun of me, Mr. West."
"Oh, no," West replied, gallantly. "I'm merely telling you the truth."
"Well, I must say you're complimentary, Miss Fanny," West exclaimed.
"What did you mean then?"
"Well, I guess I mean that there won't ever be any first dinner-party for me again. I'm just foolish, that's all."
After helping Fanny in her seat, West took his place beside her. He had been bored on learning that this child was to be his table companion; now he felt somewhat amused.
"I can't say that any of my dreams have been realized," he remarked, unfolding his napkin.
"You poor thing!" Fanny cried. Then she looked searchingly at his face. "You don't show any very great disappointment."
Fanny glanced quickly around the table: many of the faces were partly concealed from her by the masses of roses and ferns in the centre. There was Guy, talking with that queer little woman from the Argentine Republic, the wife of an under-secretary or something. Fanny wondered vaguely how she had happened to be invited. Oh, she was supposed to be intellectual or literary or something like that. Then Fanny smiled at the thought of the way poor Guy would be bored. Suddenly she turned to Franklin West.
"Who do you think is the prettiest woman here?"
"The prettiest woman?" West repeated, gallantly, emphasizing the noun. "Well, I don't think I should have to hesitate long about that."
"Well, who?"
"Mrs. Douglas Briggs, of course."
Fanny's eyes rested affectionately on her aunt. "Of course," she agreed. "But somehow," she went on, "I never think about Auntie as pretty. I just think of her as good. I don't believe she ever had a mean thought or did a mean thing in her life. Don't you think she's perfectly lovely?" she asked, inconsistently. Fanny looked up into West's face and noticed that it had flushed deeply.
"Yes, she is perfectly lovely," he repeated in a low voice.
"Now, if I were a man I'd fall head over heels in love with her."
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