Ruby (Landry 1)

eyes were friendly, although a bit impish. Reluctantly,

my heart t

humping so hard I thought it would take my

breath away and cause me to faint before I reached the

front door, I took his hand and let him lead me back to

the gate and up the walk to the grand galerie. There

was a tile stairway.

"How did you get here?" he asked before we

reached the door.

"The bus," I said. He lifted the ball and hammer

knocker and let the sound echo through what I

imagined, from the sound of the reverberation within, was an enormous entryway. A few moments later, the door was opened and we faced a mulatto man in a butler's uniform. He wasn't short, but he wasn't tall either. He had a round face with large dark eyes and a somewhat pug nose. His dark brown hair was curly and peppered with gray strands. There were dime-size brown spots on his cheeks and forehead and his lips

were slightly orange.

"Good evening, Monsieur Andreas," he said,

then shifted his gaze to me. The moment he set eyes

on me, he dropped his mouth. "But Mademoiselle

Gisselle, I just saw you . . ." He turned around and

looked behind him. Beau Andreas laughed.

"This isn't Mademoiselle Gisselle, Edgar.

Edgar, I'd like you to meet Ruby. Ruby, Edgar Farrar,

the Dumas' butler. Are Mr. and Mrs. Dumas in,

Edgar?" he asked.

"Oh, no, sir. They left for the ball about an hour

ago," he said, his eyes still fixed on me.

"Well then, there's nothing to do but wait for

them to return. Until then, you can visit with

Gisselle," Beau told me. He guided me into the great

house.

The entryway floor was a peach marble and the

ceiling, which looked like it rose to at least twelve feet above me, had pictures of nymphs and angels, doves and blue sky painted over it. There were paintings and sculptures every-where I looked, but the wall to the right was covered by an enormous tapestry depicting a