Queen of the Mardi Gras Ball Read online

  The dark carved door in the hallway opened again. Laurence St. Rochelle emerged, his coffee cup reeking of brandy. His brother, Dr. Gilbert St. Rochelle, fragrant Cuban cigar still in-hand, accompanied him to the doorway of the parlor.

  “That lad who came with you has Valentino eyes, Gil, and they are looking at my daughter. What can you tell me about him?”

  “That is my erstwhile understudy, Pierre Boniface Landry of Chapelle, Louisiana.”

  “A Cajun? I didn’t know they could read and write, let alone study medicine.”

  Gilbert took another puff of his cigar. “Oh, he claims all his brothers and sisters have finished the sixth grade. It seems his family has a great respect for education. As the seventh son of a seventh son, he was supposed to be apprenticed to the local herb healer and traiteur at the age of thirteen, but old Doc Spivey up in Chapelle stepped in and claimed the boy as his protégé. Got him all the way through high school by paying Pierre to do work around the clinic so the family wouldn’t want for income.”

  “I suppose the backwaters are in need of doctors, and only locals would consider living there.”

  “Yes, you see before you a young man sent through college and medical school on the proceeds of cake walks and gumbo dinners. I feed him whenever I can and don’t want to know where he lives.”

  “I don’t care for his look or his background.”

  “Oh yes, our Pierre is quite the sheik. I know he picks up extra cash examining Madam Josie’s girls once a month. The word is he always gets a free poke as well. He has a way with women. I’ve told him more than once he could get rich with an exclusive gynecology practice here in the city.”

  “You will warn him away from Rosamond. I won’t have him creeping into her tent, so to speak.”

  “That won’t be a problem. He is due to finish his studies and return to the bayou to take over from Spivey. Cajuns are loyal to their own, just as we are. I know a few nurses who would follow Pierre there gladly, but I’m sure his family will want him to marry a nice Catholic country girl with no plans other than having babies and keeping house. It’s a pity, you know, that Rosamond was not permitted to pursue her interest in nursing.”

  “No daughter of mine is going to spend her life emptying bed pans and taking orders from arrogant physicians like you. The nuns at Mt. Carmel Academy may have straightened her out, but they also filled her head with nonsense about serving humanity. Rosamond will marry well and take her place in society. There are plenty of charities that will welcome her efforts. We expect the Krewe’s selection committee to call tomorrow.”

  “Ah, so you have managed to make Rosamond a Mardi Gras queen despite her past lapses.”

  “It took enormous effort on my part, but her mother would have it no other way.”

  “Naturally, having been the queen of two balls, Emmaline would want the same for her daughter. What about the burly page-turner with the blond hair that looks like he had it marcelled at a beauty salon, another beau for Rosamond?”

  As if he had overheard the conversation, Burke Boylan turned toward the men and nodded. The carol finished, Rosamond searched through some music and started a new selection. She banged out the opening chords of If You Knew Susie.

  “Burke Boylan of Philadelphia, a law student and friend of the Delamares. He says his mother is Genevieve Renard. Do you remember Gen?”

  “Indeed I do. Coldest pale blue eyes in the hot South. I see the son has inherited that look. So, he does have a connection to the city.”

  “His father attended Tulane law and took Genevieve back to Philadelphia with him.”

  “That was quite the coup, carrying off a queen of Rex.”

  “Yes, well, I expect cunning in a lawyer is a good thing. I won’t have Rosamond carried off to a foreign place. If Boylan wants to court her, he had better plan on practicing in New Orleans.”

  “And you call me arrogant.” Gilbert St. Rochelle shook his head. “Try not to take away all of Rosamond’s choices, Laurence. Sending her away to the Academy may have given your daughter the veneer of a lady, but beneath it all, I suspect she is still a rebel.”

  In a space cleared around the piano, Artie Delamare jazzed it up to the tune of Susie—rolling his eyes, kicking up his heels, and flashing his hands. Right beside him, Roxanne St. Rochelle, long braids flying, mimicked Artie as Rosamond beat out the tune. Madame St. Rochelle saw and, scandalized, rushed past her husband and brother-in-law.

  “No, no, no. This will not do. This is a holy evening. Rosamond, you will play something more appropriate. Roxanne, you will excuse yourself from the party.”

  “Yes, Mama,” the daughters answered.

  Roxanne executed a pert curtsy holding out her white pleated shirt. “Adieu, adieu, adieu,” she said as she backed out of the room. As soon as her mother turned toward Rosamond, the little flirt blew Artie a kiss. A small round of applause broke out and was silenced by one look from Madame St. Rochelle. Rosamond began playing Hark the Herald Angels Sing a bit more stridently than written, and other voices joined in.

  Guests departed slowly over the next two hours. At last, Dr. St. Rochelle summoned his intern and gave his sister-in-law a peck on the cheek in farewell. Pierre Landry took the hand of his hostess. In that slightly accented voice betraying the fact that the Cajun patois had been his only language before entering elementary school, he said, “Merci beaucoup for having me at your reveillon. I passed a very pleasant evening.”

  Pierre’s warm hand, his dark eyes gazing so sincerely into hers, made Madame St. Rochelle draw back a step. As she suspected, he was precisely the kind of inappropriate young man she would have found attractive in her youth, but she had accepted Laurence as her parents wished, and it had been a good marriage. Rosamond must keep that in mind.

  “Any guests Gilbert brings are welcome of course.” She withdrew her hand, making it clear Dr. Landry would not be welcome otherwise, and turned toward the next departing guest.

  Pierre Landry stepped aside. He had been allowed to bask in the glow of the lovely Rosamond all evening, but would never be accepted as Boylan was. A pity. He recognized Boylan as a swine who saw only the pretty package and not the spark or determination of the woman to be something other than another society deb. If, as Dr. Landry, he set up a practice in the city, he would have an abundance of upper class matrons to attend. Some might take him as a lover, but none would give up their cushy lives to marry him. As for any of them going to live on the bayou as the wife of a country doctor—what a laughable idea. No, Rosamond St. Rochelle was not for him no matter how much he might desire her.

  Madame St. Rochelle concentrated on Burke Boylan and her daughter.

  “I’m so glad we met this evening, Miss St. Rochelle.”

  “Please, call me Roz.”

  “And you must call me Buster. All my frat brothers do. But, Roz, that’s too harsh a name for a lovely lady. I shall call you Rosie.”

  Rosamond wrinkled her nose. She had spent the last two years ridding herself of that childish nickname. She saw her mother watching. “How delightful,” she answered.

  Young Dr. Landry still lurked in the doorway. “Shouldn’t you be on your way? Gilbert left several minutes ago,” Madame St. Rochelle prompted.

  “He is bringing the auto. Mr. Boylan and Mr. Delamare are riding with us, Madame.”

  “I see. Here comes Gilbert now. Mr. Boylan, your ride has arrived.”

  Burke strolled, chatting with Rosamond, to the door. Artie wiggled his fingers at the base of the staircase, then hurried after them. To her mother’s dismay, Rosamond took Dr. Landry’s hand and looked into his dangerous eyes. “So glad you could come, Dr. Landry. Please visit again.”

  “That would be a pleasure if my schedule should allow it. I will remember to call you Roz.” He bent over Rosamond’s hand, his breath heating her flesh, his lips not quite touching her skin.

  “Gilbert is waiting,” Madame prompted again and waved the young men out the door with Artie Delamare still sh
rugging into his hideous raccoon coat. As the door closed behind them, Madame St. Rochelle took a deep breath. The evening had gone very well with only that small lapse instigated by the Delamare boy. As for Burke Boylan, what a triumph it would be to have haughty Genevieve Renard Boylan’s son at Rosamond’s feet.

  “Rosamond, it’s time to retire. You will need your rest. We expect special guests tomorrow, and you must be at your best.” Madame St. Rochelle clapped her hands.

  “I suppose.” Her daughter sighed and ascended the staircase to her bedroom.

  From the shadow of a massive pier table in the upper hallway, Roxanne whispered, “May I come to your room, Roz?”

  “Sure, kiddo. Don’t let Mama see you out here in your nightie and bare feet.”

  In the safety of her sister’s bedroom, Roxie stretched out on the feather-filled gold satin comforter and watched Rosamond undress. “Did you see Artie wave to me? I think he’s the butterfly’s boots.”

  “Artie Delamare is a silly boy. I doubt if he will ever pass the bar exam. Now, Dr. Landry, you can see compassion and dedication in his eyes. Unbutton me, will you? I don’t want to call a maid at this hour.”

  Roxanne fiddled with the tiny pearl buttons down the back of her sister’s dress. “Dr. Landry has eyes like the sheik of Araby, and Burke Boylan’s eyes are like an icy blue sea. I don’t know which one gives me the most frissons.”

  Rosamond hung her dress on a padded hanger scented with potpourri. “You’re twelve years old, Roxie. You shouldn’t be having frissons over men.”

  She loosened the heavy mass of blonde hair gathered at the base of her neck and flipped the pins into a china dish on the dressing table. “I wish Mama would let me bob my hair like all the other girls.”

  “Me, too.” Roxie twisted her braids. “But long hair is a woman’s crowning glory.”

  “How many times have I heard that?” Rosamond pulled the silk underslip over her head and shrugged out of her camisole. Wearing only a breast band and step-ins, she rolled down her stockings and draped them over a chair. Flinging on a white cotton nightgown, she wiggled out of the rest of her undergarments and let them drop.

  “Doesn’t it hurt to bind yourself that way?” Roxie asked.

  “Only when I’m near my monthlies. My biggest fear is that I’ll end up as huge as Mama. Even now they come near to ruining the line of my clothes.” She gave her sister a quick glance. “Has Mama told you about your monthlies?”

  “If you mean The Curse, yes. I think it must be horrible to have that and a big bosom, too.”

  “Not so horrible. It’s a simple biological function that permits women to have children, and we have breasts for the same reason. I told Mama if she didn’t speak to you, I would. My first time, I thought I was dying. If I’d been allowed to become a nurse, I could have given instruction to young girls like you.” Rosamond ran a brush through her hair, then turned to her dressing table and removed the light makeup her mother allowed with cold cream and a cotton pad.

  Bored with the topic of her impending womanhood, Roxie flopped back on to the bed. “So do you think the Mardi Gras committee will come tomorrow with a proclamation to make you queen of Papa’s krewe?”

  “I suppose. Mama should be pleased. I kept my part of the deal.”

  “When I was being seen but not heard, Mama told one of her lady friends that she sent you to Europe last summer before you could shred your reputation any further.”

  “That’s not exactly true. I wanted to tour with Tante Harriet and said I didn’t give a care about my reputation if I couldn’t go. We agreed that when I came back I would play the perfect ingenue from then until Mardi Gras.”

  “It’s true you haven’t been much fun since you came home, but I love the shawl you brought me.”

  “Spanish dancers wear them. Mama still thinks they’re mantillas. And Spanish men—hot, hot, hot.”

  “Like Dr. Landry?”

  “Exactly. Move over, kiddo. You can spend the night, but no more talking. All this proper behavior has worn me out.”

  ****

  With headlamps barely showing the way, Dr. St. Rochelle drove down one of the narrow streets of the Vieux Carre, intersected broad Canal Street with its neutral ground and headed toward Tulane with his burden of young men. Concentrating on peering through a miserable drizzle, he barely paid attention to Artie Delamare’s chatter. Burke Boylan interrupted his buddy. “Your niece, Rosamond, is an absolutely charming young woman, Dr. St. Rochelle.”

  “I suppose so. She was a hellion not too long ago. I remember Mardi Gras, the year she turned fourteen. Rosamond was supposed to dress as a medieval princess and view the parades from the safety of a family friend’s balcony. Instead, she crept out Mardi Gras morning, put on blackface, rags, and a wig and spent the day disguised as a pickaninny. Of course, she hadn’t filled out back then, and people took her for a boy. She returned home well after dark with a burlap sack full of trinkets. My sister-in-law had taken to her bed by then with the megrims, but when she arose, she shipped Roz off to the Academy in Rainbow to be reformed by the nuns. Evidently, there isn’t much trouble a young lady can get into at a girl’s school in the middle of nowhere.”

  Pierre Landry laughed out loud. “You can get into plenty of mischief in the country.”

  “She certainly seems reformed now,” Burke persisted.

  “I don’t know about that. The nuns allowed her to come home for a Mardi Gras holiday last year, and she brought several young ladies from the Academy with her. While my brother and I were having a smoke at the Boston Club, a hired truck with a five piece band pulled up in front, and six lissome cancan girls tumbled out—red wigs, masks, black stockings, petticoats, and ruffled panties—of which the men crowding the balcony saw plenty. They finished their dance and drove away to thunderous applause, but I know my brother saw the same thing I did. The lead dancer’s wig had slipped and a long blonde braid hung down her back. Now, how many girls do you know who haven’t bobbed their hair yet?”

  “Roz, she has a bold spirit,” Landry said.

  “Surely, it wasn’t her. Probably just some ladies of the evening showing off,” answered Boylan.

  “Most of the men at the club would agree with you, Boylan, but others had their suspicions. Still, Roz graduated with honors last spring and shocked her family again by announcing that she wanted to go into nursing.”

  “A noble profession,” Landry agreed.

  “St. Rochelle women do not work, Pierre. They marry and do good deeds through their husbands’ charitable trusts. Roz went off to Europe with her aunt and returned to enroll in Newcomb as a fine arts major. Since then, she has been quite subdued. I rather miss the old, unpredictable Rosamond. She reminds me of my late wife in her heyday.”

  “She’s just grown up as she must. There’s nothing sad about that when you have wealth and beauty, too,” Burke pointed out.

  “Let me out at the corner, doctor. I’ll walk the rest of the way. Joyeux Noel, mes amis,” Landry said.

  Glad to be gone from the present company, Pierre Landry got down from the car and walked toward the mouth of an alley where two bedraggled hookers sharing a cigarette under a torn awning greeted him by name. He stopped and gave each one a gold-banded Cuban cigar acquired at the St. Rochelle house, to smoke or to sell as they wished. “Joyeux Noel,” he said again. Even whores should have a gift for Christmas.

  “Well, you can take the boy from the bayou, but you can’t wash out the lowlife. His family probably trapped the furs for your coat, Artie.” Boylan fingered his own stash of cigars pocketed on the inside of his coat.

  “Actually, Landry is one the most apt pupils I’ve had in years. He is well ahead of his class and will probably be setting up his practice in Chapelle before next Christmas. Unlike lawyers, he won’t be getting rich as a country doctor off his clients’ misery. Where can I let you out?” Dr. St. Rochelle asked, thoroughly tired of snobbery for the evening.

  “At our fraternity house. It’
s just another mile or so. We certainly wish Dr. Landry Godspeed in his career, don’t we, Artie?”

  “Sure, God bless us, everyone.”

  Chapter Two

  “Get up, Rosamond! Your father has been hinting for the last half hour that our special guests are on their way. Roxanne, go to your own room and dress right this minute. Have Odile brush out your hair. Rosamond, put on the red and green plaid dress with the demure white collar. Wear your hair down, too. You’ll look like a young Mary Pickford, so innocent. I’ll send Odette to assist you,” Madame St. Rochelle ordered.

  Roxie scampered out the door, but Roz merely stretched and yawned. “What time is it?”

  “Time to get up if you want to be queen of Mardi Gras.”

  “I think I’d rather sleep.” Despite the comment, Roz slid to the edge of the bed, put on a dressing gown, and took a seat before the mirrored table. While she cleansed her face with cold cream, no drying soap and water for the fair-skinned St. Rochelle women, her mother ranted on.

  “No smart or sarcastic remarks to the men of the committee, Rosamond. Young women should not be known for their wit.”

  “Oh Mama, we got the vote in 1920 for Pete’s sake. You know, if you let me bob and lighten my hair and use a tiny bit more eye makeup, I could look like the starlet, Carol Lombard, instead of Mary Pickford.”

  “No, no, and no. Someday, when the right man comes along, he will glory in your hair, and you will thank me. Here’s Odette to help you dress. Mon Dieu, I think I heard the door chime.” Madame St Rochelle hustled out of the room only to poke her head back through the doorway. “It’s your Uncle Gilbert. We still have time.”

  “Is Dr. Landry with him?”

  “Of course not. This is a day only for family.”

  “And the Mardi Gras committee.”

  “I warn you, Rosamond, no shenanigans. I must check on the refreshments. Odette, carry on.”

  The middle-aged black maid smiled pleasantly. “Yes, ma’am. Let me comb out your beautiful hair, Miss Rosamond.”