Mardi Gras Madness (Carnival of Love)

Chapter Twenty

“Tell me about the dance to-night,” Barbara said eagerly. They had finished dinner and were dressing for the ball. Barbara was in Ethel’s room, and both were clad only in sheer underthings as they completed their toilets.

“It’s an annual affair,” Ethel told her, frowning as she applied a final sheen to her nails with a buffer. “About five hundred are usually invited. Next to the Rex and Comus balls it’s considered the high spot of Mardi Gras. Brierly Manor is one of the show places of the city. A huge old Colonial house set in a beautiful grove of trees.”

“Will everyone be masked?” Barbara was carefully rouging her lips before the mirror.

“Oh yes. Masked and costumed. They have prizes for the prettiest costume, and for the most fantastic. I went last year and it was the most gorgeous affair I ever saw. Much prettier and nicer than the Rex ball... I think. The setting and decorations are so wonderful.”

“Tell me about it.” Barbara’s eyes were shining as she turned away from the mirror.

“There’s one huge ballroom inside. And they have two dancing pavilions out under the trees. It’s like fairyland: Myriad strings of colored lights swaying from the branches, beautiful formal gardens, rustic nooks, and dark corners, and shadows...” Ethel spoke ecstatically. Her eyes held memories of the ball a year previously.

That was where she had met Frank. There had been a rustic nook... and shadows.

“It sounds... intriguing.” Barbara spoke hopefully.

“Intriguing? Wait until you see it. But tell me all about this afternoon. You haven’t spilled a word about what you and Frank did. And when did you see Sonia? Exactly what did she tell you?”

“Frank and I spent a quiet afternoon at home,” Barbara said demurely.

“At whose home?” Ethel interjected.

“At. Frank’s. We had lunch... and talked.”

“Yes, yes,” Ethel murmured. “Go on. You didn’t talk all afternoon.”

“No,” Barbara admitted with a rush of color, “we didn’t.”

“Ah.” Ethel looked at her keenly.

“Oh, I don’t know how to tell you,” Barbara said. “But somehow, my experience with Frank opened my eyes. It was... as though I had been looking at a mirage and suddenly encountered reality.”

“And what did you... see?”

“I saw that I love Bob. That I’ve always loved him. And I saw how splendid and wonderful our love will be now that we’ve both learned how much more there is to it than we knew.”

“What did Frank think about the result of your... experiment?” Ethel kept her tone light for she saw Barbara was deadly serious.

“Oh, he understood,” Barbara cried with shining eyes. “I think that’s the most wonderful part of it. He drove me to Sonia’s so I could tell her about Bob and ask her for a chance to win him back to-night.”

“Hmmm. How did Sonia take that?”

“She was awfully nice. I... I was afraid of her at first. She... looked so strange. But she understood.”

“And she offered to turn Bob back to you as soon as she’s through with him? Very magnanimous of her.” Ethel’s voice was tinged with scorn.

“But she... she promised to send him away from her to-night,” Barbara protested. “She won’t have a chance to see him again before the dance. I think it was wonderful of her.”

“Uh-huh. That’s what you think,” Ethel muttered. Her thoughts went back to the scene in the cottage as she had torn away from it this afternoon, and she shivered with sudden revulsion.

“What did you say?” Barbara asked.

“Nothing. Nothing at all. Tell me what you intend to do to-night.” Ethel changed the subject hastily lest she give away the secret of Bob’s presence at Sonia’s.

“Well I... I’m going to be masked,” Barbara said slowly. “I’ll wear a full mask so there won’t be any chance of Bob recognizing me. And he won’t be expecting me either. Sonia promised to disappear and leave him with me.”

“What’s your cue? You going to try and seduce him?” Ethel asked brutally.

Barbara’s cheeks flamed scarlet, but she met Ethel’s gaze bravely. “If you want to... call it that. Yes. I want him to know what I offer him. I want him to know what our love can mean to us with sex to bring us together wholly. I want to show him that I can bring him so much more than Sonia. I want him to learn the lesson I learned from Frank this afternoon.”

“I understand,” Ethel said quietly. “You’re not going to tell him who you really are until he’s succumbed to your voluptuous spell?”

“No,” Barbara said faintly. “That’s the only way I can see,” she cried desperately. “Frank said it sounded like a crazy motion picture plot, but I don’t see any other way. I’m afraid Bob wouldn’t go with me if he knew who I was. He’d be on his guard... holding himself back as he’s always done in the past. I want us to come together gloriously. I want passion to flame between us so that it burns away the repressions we’ve built up together.” Her face was radiant and she flung out her arms in a wide gesture on the last words.

“I understand,” Ethel said unsteadily. She arose quickly and turned to her closet. She would have given her very soul to stand in Barbara’s place. To face the opportunity she faced this night. But she felt no envy. Only sympathy and understanding.

“Here.” She turned back into the room, holding a hanger from which trailed a beautiful evening gown of lustrous satin. Shimmering old rose, cut extremely décolleté, designed to mold itself revealingly about the curves of the wearer.

“Suppose you go as the French courtesan, Du Barry? That will be quite appropriate,” she said smilingly. “And this is really an exquisite costume. I wore it to the Rex ball two years ago.”

“Oh, it’s marvelous, Ethel.” Barbara moved to finger the gorgeous material wistfully. “But I couldn’t wear anything like that,” she protested weakly. “I’d feel absolutely nude. Why, it hasn’t any back at all.”

“So much the better,” Ethel laughed. “You have a swell back of your own. Why hide it? Believe me, this is made to show off everything you’ve got. Here, slip it on.”

“Oh, I shouldn’t,” Barbara protested weakly. “I might ruin it.”

“You’ll ruin its reputation if you don’t get your man with its assistance,” Ethel said grimly. “There.” She slid the garment over Barbara’s smooth shoulders and turned her toward the mirror.

“Look at yourself,” she commanded. “Gee, you’ve got a figure,” she commented enviously. “It’ll have to be taken up here at the shoulders. And that’s everything that needs to be done. It fits you like a charm.”

Barbara gazed at her reflection with quickened breath. The gown was cut so low in the front that the material barely rose to the point of decency. Cunningly beaded arcs below served to draw the shimmering stuff in to reveal the luscious fullness of her youthful figure. The waist and hips were tight, and the material fell about her limbs to outline every feminine charm.

“Oh, it’s lovely,” she exclaimed. “But I... I don’t think I dare. I’d feel so strange. I never wore anything like this in my life. And everybody will be strange and new. I’ll feel as though every eye is on me if I wear this.”

“Every masculine eye will be cocked in your direction,” Ethel promised her tranquilly. “And there’ll be a certain gleam in the depths of each that will bid you beware. Don’t let any of them entice you into a dark corner unless you’re willing to be raped.”

“Ethel!”

“I mean it,” Ethel assured her. “The Comtesse Du Barry would meet some stiff competition if she attended the ball tonight. Believe me, a gown like this is the answer to the riddle of why men leave home. Too bad you have to wear a full mask... a domino would be much more intriguing... but, after all, very few of the men will pay the slightest heed to your face.”

“It makes me feel... funny,” Barbara confessed. “I’m almost ashamed to look at myself in the mirror. Why, if it should slip down just a tiny bit here,” she touched her breast lightly, “I’d be all exposed.”

“So much the better,” Ethel replied with a laugh. “That’s an idea. If the boy friend doesn’t seem to fall in line promptly I’ll slip around and give the front a tug. Then he won’t even have to use any of his imagination.”

“Don’t you dare,” Barbara protested in a shocked tone.

“Why not?” Ethel shrugged elaborately. “You’re hunting big game to-night, aren’t you?” she demanded. “You’re going there deliberately to try and drag him away from Sonia’s spell. Use every weapon nature’s given you. No half measures to-night. There’ll be plenty more just as brazenly exposed as you. The only difference is that you’ve got what it takes to get away with a gown like that.”

“If you really think it’s all right...” Barbara began weakly.

“Of course it’s all right. The matter’s settled. You let me do up your hair. And put about three times as much rouge on your lips.”

“All right.” Barbara found that she turned away from the mirror regretfully. She felt wicked and dashing in the gown. Brazen and shameless. Her spirits whirled upward to dizzy heights.

She was another person. Certainly Bob would not recognize her. The outward change was complemented by an inward transition. The Comtesse Du Barry! To-night she would rival the wickedest courtesan of France. To-night a new Barbara would emerge. Impetuous, daring, challenging.

She felt recklessly gay. To-night she could not fail. She spun recklessly to face Ethel.

“Do your damnedest,” she said gayly. “This is my night.”