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+The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Princess Passes, by Alice Muriel
+Williamson and Charles Norris Williamson
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+
+
+
+Title: The Princess Passes
+
+Author: Alice Muriel Williamson and Charles Norris Williamson
+
+Release Date: January 20, 2005  [eBook #14740]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PRINCESS PASSES***
+
+
+E-text prepared by Rick Niles, Ronald Holder, and the Project Gutenberg
+Online Distributed Proofreading Team
+
+
+
+Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this
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+      See 14740-h.htm or 14740-h.zip:
+      (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/4/7/4/14740/14740-h/14740-h.htm)
+      or
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+
+
+
+
+
+THE PRINCESS PASSES
+
+A Romance of a Motor-Car
+
+by
+
+C. N. and A. M. WILLIAMSON
+
+Authors of _The Lightning Conductor_
+
+Illustrated
+
+New York
+Henry Holt and Company
+
+1905
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: "FOOD FOR THE GODS, AND ONLY A BOY TO EAT IT."]
+
+
+
+
+TO
+
+THE DEAR PRINCESS
+
+WHO, EACH YEAR, MAKES THE RIVIERA SUNNIER FOR HER PRESENCE
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+CHAPTER
+
+     I. WOMAN DISPOSES
+
+    II. MERCÉDÈS TO THE RESCUE
+
+   III. MY LESSON
+
+    IV. POTS, KETTLES, AND OTHER THINGS
+
+     V. IN SEARCH OF A MULE
+
+    VI. THE WINGS OF THE WIND
+
+   VII. AT LAST!
+
+  VIII. THE MAKING OF A MYSTERY
+
+    IX. THE BRAT
+
+     X. THE SCRAPING OF ACQUAINTANCE
+
+    XI. A SHADOW OF NIGHT
+
+   XII. THE PRINCESS
+
+  XIII. AFTERNOON CALLS
+
+   XIV. THE PATH OF THE MOON
+
+    XV. ENTER THE CONTESSA
+
+   XVI. A MAN FROM THE DARK
+
+  XVII. THE LITTLE GAME OF FLIRTATION
+
+ XVIII. RANK TYRANNY
+
+   XIX. THE LITTLE RIFT WITHIN THE LUTE
+
+    XX. THE GREAT PAOLO
+
+   XXI. THE CHALLENGE
+
+  XXII. AN AMERICAN CUSTOM
+
+ XXIII. THERE IS NO SUCH GIRL
+
+  XXIV. THE REVENGE OF THE MOUNTAIN
+
+   XXV. THE AMERICANS
+
+  XXVI. THE VANISHING OF THE PRINCE
+
+ XXVII. THE STRANGE MUSHROOM
+
+XXVIII. THE WORLD WITHOUT THE BOY
+
+  XXIX. THE FAIRY PRINCE'S RING
+
+   XXX. THE DAY OF SUSPENSE
+
+  XXXI. THE BOY'S SISTER
+
+
+
+
+ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+"FOOD FOR THE GODS, AND ONLY A BOY TO EAT IT" (Frontispiece)
+
+"WE REALLY WANT YOU, SAID MOLLY"
+
+"SOMETIMES JACK DROVE, WITH MOLLY BESIDE HIM"
+
+"THE BLUE FLAME OF THE CHAFING-DISH"
+
+"I WAS SUDDENLY CLAPPED UPON THE SHOULDER"
+
+"TREADING THE ROAD BUILT BY NAPOLÉON"
+
+"THERE WAS A PANG WHEN I TURNED MY BACK"
+
+"THAT IS THE DÉJEUNER OF NAPOLÉON"
+
+"DOWN, TURK!" "BE QUIET, JUPITER!"
+
+"ON THE GROUND CROUCHED THE BOY"
+
+"'DO YOU KNOW,' SAID I, 'YOU ARE A VERY QUEER BOY'"
+
+"LOOKING OUT OF THE WINDOW I SAW HIM IN CONVERSATION"
+
+"SITTING WITH MY BACK TO THE HORSES"
+
+"HERE WE WERE AT ANNECY"
+
+"VOILÀ MONSIEUR!"
+
+"THE ROCK OF MONACO"
+
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+Woman Disposes
+
+    "Away, away, from men and towns,
+     To the wild wood and the downs,
+       To the silent wilderness."
+              --PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY.
+
+
+"To your happiness," I said, lifting my glass, and looking the girl in
+the eyes. She had the grace to blush, which was the least that she
+could do, for a moment ago she had jilted me.
+
+The way of it was this.
+
+I had met her and her mother the winter before at Davos, where I had
+been sent after South Africa, and a spell of playing fast and loose
+with my health--a possession usually treated as we treat the poor,
+whom we expect to have always with us. Helen Blantock had been the
+success of her season in London, had paid for her triumphs with a
+breakdown, and we had stopped at the same hotel.
+
+The girl's reputation as a beauty had marched before her, blowing
+trumpets. She was the prettiest girl in Davos, as she had been the
+prettiest in London; and I shared with other normal, self-respecting
+men the amiable weakness of wishing to monopolise the woman most
+wanted by others. During the process I fell in love, and Helen was
+kind.
+
+Lady Blantock, a matron of comfortable rotundity of figure and a
+placid way of folding plump, white hands, had, however, a
+contradictorily cold and watchful eye, which I had feared at first;
+but it had softened for me, and I accepted the omen. In the spring,
+when my London tyrant had pronounced me "sound as a bell," I had
+proposed to Helen. The girl said neither yes nor no, but she had eyes
+and a smile which needed no translation, so I kissed her (it was in a
+conservatory at a dance) and was happy--for a fortnight.
+
+Then came this bidding to dinner. Lady Blantock wrote the invitation,
+of course, but it was natural to suppose that she did it to please her
+daughter. It happened to be my birthday, and I fancied that Helen had
+kept the date in mind. Besides, the selection of the guests had
+apparently been made with an eye to my pleasure.
+
+There was Jack Winston, who had lately married an American heiress,
+not because she was an heiress, but because she was adorable; there
+was the heiress herself, _née_ Molly Randolph, whom I had known
+through Winston's letters before I saw her lovely, laughing face;
+there was Sir Horace Jerveyson, the richest grocer in the world, whom
+I suspected Lady Blantock of actually regarding as a human being, and
+a suitable successor to the late Sir James. Besides these, there was
+only myself, Montagu Lane; and I believed that the dinner had been
+arranged with a view to my claims as leading man in the love drama of
+which Helen Blantock was leading lady, the other characters in the
+scene merely being "on" as our "support." If this idea argued conceit,
+I was punished.
+
+It was with the _entrée_ that the blow fell, and I had a curious,
+impersonal sort of feeling that on every night to come, should I live
+for a hundred years, each future _entrée_ of each future dinner
+would recall the sensation of this moment. Something inside me, that
+was myself yet not myself, chuckled at the thought, and made a note to
+avoid _entrées_.
+
+We had been asking each others' plans for August. Molly and Jack had
+said that they were going to Switzerland to try the new Mercédès,
+which had been given as a wedding present to the girl by a school
+friend of that name, and of many dollars.
+
+Then, solely to be civil, not because I wanted to know, I asked Sir
+Horace Jerveyson what he meant to do. Hardly did I even expect to hear
+his answer, for I was looking at Helen, and she was in great beauty.
+But the man's words jumped to my ears.
+
+"Miss Blantock and I are going to Scotland," answered the grocer, in
+his fat voice, which might have been oiled with his own bacon. I
+stared incredulously. "Together," he informatively added.
+
+Lady Blantock laughed nervously. "I suppose we might as well let this
+pass for an announcement?" she twittered. "Nell and Sir Horace have
+been engaged a whole day. It will be in the _Morning Post_ to-morrow.
+Really, it has been so sudden that I feel quite dazed."
+
+It was at this point that I drank to the girl's happiness, looking
+straight into her eyes.
+
+I have a dim impression that the grocer, who no doubt mistook her
+blush for maiden pride of conquest, essayed to make a speech, and was
+tactfully suppressed by the future mother-in-law. I am sure, though,
+that it was Helen who presently asked, in pink-and-white confusion,
+if I, too, were bound for Scotland. "But, of course you are," she
+added.
+
+"No," I said. "I've been planning to take a walking tour as soon as
+this tiresome season is over. I shall run across to France and wander
+for a while. Eventually, I shall end up at Monte Carlo. A friend whom
+I rather want to meet, will arrive there, at her villa, in October."
+
+I knew that Jack Winston would understand, for he had not been the
+only one last winter who had written letters. But Jack was of no
+importance to me at the instant. I was talking at Helen, and she, too,
+would understand. I hoped that, in understanding, she would suffer a
+pang, a small, insignificant, poor relation of the pang inflicted upon
+me.
+
+It is a thing unexplained by science why the miserable hours of our
+lives should he fifty times the length of happy hours, though stupid
+clocks, seeing nothing beyond their own hands, record both with the
+same measurement. If we had sat at this prettily decorated dinner
+table in the Carlton restaurant (I had thought it pretty at first, so
+I give it the benefit of the doubt) through the night into the next
+day, while other people ate breakfast and even luncheon, the moments
+could not have dragged more heavily. But when it appeared that we must
+have reached a ripe old age--those of us who had been young with the
+evening--Lady Blantock thought we might have coffee in the "palm
+court." We had it, and by rising at last, sweet Molly Winston saved me
+from doing the musicians a mischief. "Lord Lane, you promised to let
+us drop you, in the car," she said to me. "Oh, I don't mean to 'drop
+you' literally. Our auto has no naughty ways. I hope we are not
+carrying you off too soon."
+
+[Illustration: "WE REALLY WANT YOU, SAID MOLLY".]
+
+Too soon! I could have kissed her. "Angel," I murmured, when we were
+out of the hotel, for in reality there had been no engagement. "Thank
+you--and good-bye." I wrung her hand, and she gave a funny little
+squeak, for I had forgotten her rings.
+
+"What! Aren't you coming?" asked Jack.
+
+"We really want you," said Molly. "Please let us take you home with
+us--to supper."
+
+"We've just finished dinner," I objected weakly.
+
+"That makes no difference. Eating is only an incident of supper. It's
+a meal which consists of conversation. Look, here's the car. Isn't she
+a beauty? Can you resist her? Such a dear darling of a girl gave her
+to me, a girl you would love. Can you resist Mercédès?"
+
+"I could resist anything if I could resist you. But seriously, though
+you're very good, I think I'll walk to the Albany, and--and go to
+bed."
+
+"What nonsense! As if you would. You're quite a clever actor, Lord
+Lane, and might deceive a man, but--I'm a woman. Jack and I want to
+talk to you about--about that walking tour."
+
+It would have been ungracious to refuse, since she had set her heart
+upon a rescue. The chauffeur who had brought round the motor
+surrendered his place to Molly, whom Jack had taught to drive the new
+car, and I was given the seat of honour beside her. By this time the
+streets were comparatively clear of traffic, and we shot away as if we
+had been propelled from a catapult, Molly contriving to combine a
+rippling flow of words with intricate tricks of steering, in an
+extraordinary fashion which I would defy any male expert to imitate
+without committing suicide and murder.
+
+I was a determined enemy of motor cars, as Jack knew, and thus far
+had avoided treachery to my favourite animal by never setting foot in
+one. But to-night I was past nice distinctions, and besides, I rather
+hoped that Molly and her Mercédès would kill me. My nerves were too
+numb to tell my brain of any remarkable sensations in the new
+experience, but I remember feeling cheated out of what I had been led
+to expect, when without any tragic event Molly stopped the car before
+their house in Park Lane--another and bigger wedding present.
+
+It was a brand-new toy bestowed by millionaire Chauncey Randolph on
+his one fair daughter. Jack and Molly Winston had been married in New
+York in June (when I would have been best man had it not been for
+Helen), had spent their honeymoon somewhere in the bride's native
+country, and had come "home" to England only a little more than a
+fortnight ago. Jack's father, Lord Brighthelmston, had furnished the
+house as his gift to the bride, and as he is a famous connoisseur and
+collector, his taste, combined with Lady Brighthelmston's management,
+had resulted in perfection. Already I had been taken from cellar to
+attic and shown everything, so that to-night there was no need to
+admire.
+
+We went into the dining-room; why, I do not know, unless that sitting
+round a table in the company of friends opens the heart and loosens
+the tongue. I have reason to believe that on the table there were
+things to eat, and especially to drink, but we gave them the cut
+direct, though I recall vaguely the fizz of soda shooting from the
+syphon, and afterwards holding a glass in my hand.
+
+"Do you mind my saying what I think of Lady Blantock and her
+daughter?" inquired Molly, with the meek sweetness of a coaxing
+child. "Perhaps I oughtn't, but it would be a relief to my feelings."
+
+"I wonder if it would to mine?" I remarked impersonally, addressing
+the ancient tapestry on an opposite wall.
+
+"Let's try, and see," persisted Molly. "Calculating Cats! There, it's
+out. I wouldn't have eaten their old dinner, except to please you.
+I've known them only thirteen days, but I could have said the same
+thing when I'd known them thirteen minutes. Indeed, I'm not sure I
+didn't say it to Jack. Did I, or did I not. Lightning Conductor?"
+
+"You did," replied the person addressed, answering with a smile to the
+name which he had earned in playing the part of Molly Randolph's
+chauffeur, in the making of their love story.
+
+"Women always know things about each other--the sort of things the
+others don't want them to know," Molly went on; "but there's no use in
+our warning men who think they are in love with Calculating Cats,
+because they would be certain we were jealous. Of course I shouldn't
+say this to you, Lord Lane, if you hadn't taken me into your
+confidence a little--that night of my first London ball."
+
+"It was the night I proposed to Nell," I said, half to myself.
+
+"Sir Horace Jerveyson was at the ball, too."
+
+"Talking to Lady Blantock."
+
+"And looking at Miss Blantock. I noticed, and--I put things together."
+
+"Who would ever have thought of putting those two together?"
+
+"I did. I said to myself and afterwards to Jack--may I tell you what I
+said?"
+
+"Please do. If it hurts, it will be a counter-irritant."
+
+"Well, Jack had told me such heaps about you, you know, and he'd
+hinted that, while we were having our great romance on a motor car,
+you were having one on toboggans and skates at Davos, so I was
+interested. Then I saw her at the ball, and we were introduced. She
+was pretty, but--a prize white Persian kitten is pretty; also it has
+little claws. She liked you, of course, because you're young and
+good-looking. Besides, her father was knighted only because he
+discovered a new microbe or something, while you're a 'hearl,' as my
+new maid says."
+
+"A penniless 'hearl,'" I laughed.
+
+"You must have plenty of pennies, for you seem to have everything a
+man can want; but that is different from what a woman can want. I'm
+sure Helen Blantock and her mother had an understanding. I can hear
+Lady Blantock saying, 'Nell, dear, you may give Lord Lane
+encouragement up to a certain point, for it would be nice to be a
+countess; but don't let him propose yet. Who knows what may happen?'
+Then what did happen was Sir Horace Jerveyson, who has more pounds
+than you have pennies. Helen would console herself with the thought
+that the wife of a knight is as much 'Lady So-and-So' as a countess. I
+hate that grocerman, and as for Helen, you ought to thank heaven
+fasting for your escape."
+
+"Perhaps I shall some day, but that day is not yet," I answered.
+"However, there is still Monte Carlo."
+
+"Shall you drown your sorrows in roulette?" asked Molly, looking
+horrified.
+
+"Who knows?"
+
+"Don't let her misjudge you," cut in Jack. "Have you forgotten what I
+told you about the Italian Countess, Molly?"
+
+"Oh, the Countess with whom Lord Lane used to flirt at Davos before he
+met Miss Blantock? Now I see. You said that you were going to Monte
+Carlo, on purpose to make Helen Blantock jealous."
+
+"I'm afraid some spiteful idea of the sort was in my mind," I
+admitted. "But the Countess is fascinating, and if she would be kind,
+Monte Carlo might effect a cure of the heart, as Davos did of the
+lungs."
+
+"I believe you're capable of marrying for pique. Oh, if I could prove
+to you that you aren't, and never have been, in love with Helen!"
+
+"It would be difficult."
+
+"I'll engage to do it, if you'll take my prescription."
+
+"What is that?"
+
+"Cheerful society and amusement. In other words, Jack's and my
+society, and a tour on our motor car."
+
+"What, make a discord in the music of your duet?"
+
+"Dear old boy, we want you," said Jack.
+
+I was grateful. "I can't tell how much I thank you," I answered. "But
+I'm in no mood for companionship. The fact is, I'm stunned for the
+moment, but I fancy that presently I shall find out I'm rather hard
+hit."
+
+"No, you won't, unless you mope," broke in Molly. "On the contrary,
+you'll feel it less every day."
+
+"Time will show," said I. "Anyhow, I must dree my own weird--whatever
+that means. I don't know, and never heard of anyone who did, but it
+sounds appropriate. I should like to do a walking tour alone in the
+desert, if it were not for the annoying necessity to eat and drink. I
+want to get away from all the people I ever knew or heard of--with the
+exceptions named."
+
+"One would think you were the only person disappointed in love!"
+exclaimed Molly. "Why, I have a friend who has really suffered. Dear
+little Mercédès----"
+
+Mrs. Winston stopped suddenly, drawing in her breath. She looked
+startled, as if she had been on the point of betraying a state secret;
+then her eyes brightened; she began abstractedly to trace a leaf on
+the damask tablecloth. "I have thought of just the thing for you," she
+said, apparently apropos of nothing. "Why don't you buy or hire a mule
+to carry your luggage, and walk from Switzerland down into Italy, not
+over the high roads, but do a pass or two, and for the rest, keep to
+the footpaths among the mountains, which would suit your mood?"
+
+"The mule isn't a bad scheme," I replied. "A dirty man is an
+independent animal, but a clean man, or one whose aim is to be clean,
+is more or less helpless. If he has a weakness for a sponge bag, a
+clean shirt or two, and evening things to change into after a long
+tramp, he must go hampered by a caravan of beasts."
+
+"One beast would do," said Molly practically, "unless you count the
+muleteer, and that depends upon his disposition."
+
+"I suppose muleteers have dispositions," I reflected aloud.
+
+"Mules have. I've met them in America. But if you think my idea a
+bright one, reward it by going with Jack and me as far as Lucerne.
+There you can pick up your mule and your mule-man."
+
+"'A picker-up of unconsidered trifles,'" I quoted dreamily. "Well, if
+you and Jack are willing to tool me out on your motor car as far as
+Lucerne, I should be an ungrateful brute to refuse. But the difficulty
+is, I want to turn a sulky back on my kind at once, while you two----"
+
+"We're starting on the first," said Jack.
+
+"What! No Cowes?"
+
+"We wouldn't give a day on the car for a cycle of Cowes."
+
+And so the plan of my consolation tour was settled, in the supreme
+court beyond which there is no appeal. But man can do no more than
+propose; and woman--even American woman--cannot invariably "dispose"
+to the extent of remaking the whole world of mules and men according
+to her whim.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+Mercédès to the Rescue
+
+     "What is more intellectually exhilarating to the mind, and even
+     to the senses, than . . . looking down the vista of some great
+     road . . . and to wonder through what strange places, by what
+     towns and castles, by what rivers and streams, by what mountains
+     and valleys it will take him ere he reaches his destination?"--_The
+     Spectator_.
+
+
+That Locker should have come in at the moment when I was trying on my
+new automobile get-up was more than a pin-prick to my already ruffled
+sensibilities--it was a knife-thrust.
+
+"What on earth are you laughing at, man?" I demanded, whipping off the
+goggles that made me look like a senile owl, and facing him angrily,
+as he had a sudden need to cover his mouth with a decorous palm.
+
+"I beg pardon, me lord," he said. "It was coming on you sudden in them
+things. I never thought to see you, me lord, in hotomobeel
+clothes--you who always was so down on the 'orrid machines."
+
+"Well, help me out of them," I answered, feeling the justice of
+Locker's implied rebuke. I twisted my wrists free of the elastic
+wind-cuffs, and shed the unpleasantly heavy coat that Winston had
+insisted I should buy.
+
+"And you such a friend of the 'orse too, me lord," added Locker, aware
+that he had me at a disadvantage.
+
+I winced, and felt the need of self-justification. "You're right," I
+said. "I never thought I should come to it. But all men fall sooner or
+later, and I have held out longer than most. Don't be afraid, though,
+that I am going to have a machine of my own: I haven't quite sunk to
+that; if everybody else I know has. I'm only going across France on
+Mr. Winston's car. He has a new one--the latest make. He tells me that
+when he 'lets her out' she does seventy an hour."
+
+"Wot--miles, me lord?" Locker almost dropped the coat of which he had
+disencumbered me.
+
+"Kilometres. It's the speed of a good quick train."
+
+It was strange; but until the night of that hateful dinner at the
+Carlton, I had never been in a motor car. Half my friends had them, or
+meant to have them; but in a kind of lofty obstinacy I had refused to
+be a "tooled down" to Brighton or elsewhere. Fancying myself
+considerably as a whip, and being an enthusiastic lover of horses, I
+had taken up an attitude of hostility to their mechanical rivals, and
+chuckled with malice whenever I saw in the papers that any
+acquaintance had been hauled up for going beyond the "legal limit."
+
+But on the night of the Carlton dinner, when Molly Winston whirled me
+from Pall Mall to Park Lane, that part of me which was not frozen by
+the grocer (the part the psychologists call the "unconscious secondary
+self") told me that I was having another startling experience apart
+from being jilted.
+
+Winston is my oldest friend, and when his letters were mere pæans in
+praise of automobilism, I looked upon his fad with compassionate
+indulgence. Then we met in London after his marriage, and between the
+confidences which we had exchanged, he managed to sandwich in
+something about motor cars. But I ruthlessly swept aside the
+interpolation as unworthy of notice. When he suggested a drive in the
+new car, I called up all my tact to evade the invitation. If the
+active part of me had not been stunned on the night when Helen threw
+me over, I believe I should have kept bright the jewel of consistency.
+But the kindness of Molly in circumstances the opposite of kind, had
+undone me. Here I was, pledged to get myself up like a figure of Fun,
+and sit glued for days to the seat of a noisy, jolting, ill-smelling
+machine which I hated, feeling (and looking), in my goggles and hairy
+coat, like a circus monkey or a circus dragon.
+
+Nevertheless, I could confess the motor car to my man with comparative
+calmness. That I should fall was no doubt a disappointment to him. As
+a conscientious snob and a cherisher of conservative ideals, he could
+mention it to other valets without a blush. The mules however, towards
+which the motor was to lead, was a different thing; and while poor
+Locker excavated me from the motor coat, my mind was busily devising
+means to keep the horrid secret of the mule hidden from him forever.
+
+There was but one way to do this.
+
+"I suppose, me lord, I'm to travel with the 'eavy luggage, and take
+rooms at the end of the journey," he suggested.
+
+The crucial moment had come. If a man can support existence without
+the girl he loves, thought I, surely it must be possible for him to
+live without a valet. "No, Locker," I said firmly. "I am to be Mr. and
+Mrs. Winston's guest, and we--er--shall have no fixed destination. I
+shall be obliged to leave you behind."
+
+"Very good, me lord," returned Locker in a meek voice. "Very good, me
+lord; _has_ you will. I do 'ope you won't suffer from dust, with no
+one to keep you in proper repair, as you might say. But no doubt it
+will be only for a short time."
+
+Knowing that days, weeks, and even months might pass while I consorted
+with motors and mules, far from valets and civilisation, I was
+nevertheless toward enough to hint that Locker must be prepared for a
+wire at any time. I had often derived a quaint pleasure from the
+consciousness that he despised my bookish habits and certain
+unconventionalities not suited to a 'hearl'; but one must draw the
+line somewhere, and I drew it at the mule. I would give a good deal
+rather than Locker should suspect me of the mule.
+
+It was arranged that we should leave from Jack's house in Park Lane,
+and as we wanted to reach Southampton early, our start was to be at
+nine o'clock. "In France," Jack had said to me, "we could reel off the
+distance almost as quickly as the train; but in our blessed land, with
+its twenty miles an hour speed limit, its narrow winding roads,
+chiefly used in country places as children's playgrounds, and its
+police traps, motoring isn't the undiluted joy it ought to be. The
+thing to prepare for is the unexpected."
+
+At half-past eight at Jack's door, I bade an almost affectionate
+farewell to the last cabhorse with which for many wild weeks I should
+have business dealings. The untrammelled life before me seemed to be
+signalised by the lonely suit case which was the one article of
+luggage I was allowed to carry on the motor. A portmanteau was to
+follow me vaguely about the Continent, and I had visions of a pack to
+supersede the suit case, when my means of transport should be a mule.
+Sufficient for the motor was the luggage thereof, however, and when my
+neat leather case was deposited in Jack's hall, I was rewarded with
+Molly's approving comment that it would "make a lovely footstool."
+
+We had breakfast together, as though nothing dreadful were about to
+happen, and I heartened myself up with strong coffee. By the time we
+had finished, and Molly had changed herself from a radiant girl into a
+cream-coloured mushroom, with a thick, straight, pale-brown stem, the
+Thing was at the door--Molly's idol, the new goddess, with its votive
+priest pouring incense out of a long-nosed oil can and waving a
+polishing rag for some other mystic rite.
+
+This servant of the car answered to the name of Gotteland, and having
+learned from Jack that he had started life as a jockey in Hungary, I
+thought evil of him for abandoning the horse for the machine. He
+evidently belonged to that mysterious race of beings called suddenly
+into existence by a vast new industry; mysterious, because how or why
+a man drifts or jumps into the occupation of chauffeur is never
+explained to those who see only the finished article. Jack praised him
+as a model of chauffeury accomplishments, among which were a knowledge
+of seventeen languages more or less, to say nothing of dialects, and a
+temper warranted to stand a burst tyre, a disordered silencer, an
+uncertain ignition, and (incidentally) a broken heart--all occurring
+at the same time. Despite these alleged perfections, I distrusted the
+cosmopolitan apostate on principle, and was about to turn upon his
+leather-clad form a disapproving gaze, when I dimly realised that it
+would be a case of the pot calling the kettle black. Instead, I smiled
+hypocritically as we "took a look" at the car before lending it our
+lives.
+
+"I hope the brute isn't vicious; doesn't blow up or explode, or shed
+its safety valve, or anything," I remarked with a facetiousness which
+in the circumstances did me credit.
+
+Gotteland answered with the pitying air of the professional for the
+amateur. "The _one_ thing an automobile can't do, sir, is to blow up."
+
+I was glad to hear this, in spite of the strong coffee lately
+swallowed, but on the other hand there were doubtless a great many
+other equally disagreeable things which it could do. Of course, if it
+were satisfied with merely killing me, neatly and thoroughly, I still
+felt that I should not mind; indeed, would be rather grateful than
+otherwise. But there were objections, even for a jilted lover, to
+being smeared along the ground, and picked up, perhaps, without a
+nose, or the proper complement of legs, or vertebræ.
+
+"Anyhow, the beast has a certain meretricious beauty," I admitted.
+"Those red cushions and all that bright metal work give an effect of
+luxury."
+
+Gotteland revenged his idol with another smile. "Amateurs _do_ notice
+such things, sir," said he. "Professionals don't care much about the
+body; it's the motor that interests them." He lifted a sort of lattice
+which muzzled the dragon's mouth, disclosing some bulbous cylinders
+and a tangle of pipes and wires. "It's the _dernier cri_. That engine
+will work as long as there's a drop of essence in the carburetter,
+and will carry you at forty miles an hour, without feeling a hill
+which would set many cars groaning and puffing. It will do the work of
+twenty horses, and more----"
+
+"Yet I shouldn't be _really_ surprised if one horse had to tow it some
+day," I murmured more to myself than to him, but Molly heard me,
+through her mushroom.
+
+"You'll soon apologise to Mercédès for your doubts of her, for motors
+are their own missionaries," she said, her eyes laughing through a
+triangular talc window. "You will have learned to love her before you
+know what has happened, just as you would the real Mercédès, if you
+could see her."
+
+Curious, I thought, that Molly, knowing my state of mind, should be
+constantly weaving into our conversation some allusion to the namesake
+and giver of her car. I had never in my life been less interested in
+the subject of extraneous girls, and with all Molly's tact, it seemed
+strange that she should not recognise this. However, she did not
+appear to expect an answer, and we were soon settled in the car,
+Molly, as I have said, looking like a graceful fungus growth, Jack and
+I like haggard goblins.
+
+Molly was to drive, and Jack insisted that I should sit in one of the
+two absurdly comfortable armchair arrangements in front. The chauffeur
+was presently to curl like a tendril round a little crimson toadstool
+at our feet, and Jack took the tonneau in lonely state. This was, no
+doubt, an act of fine self-abnegation on his part, nevertheless I
+could have envied him his safe retirement, from my place of honour,
+with no noble horses in front to save Molly and me from swift
+destruction.
+
+Physically, we were very snug, however. The luggage was fitted into
+spaces especially made for it; long baskets on the mudguards at the
+side were stowed with maps and guide-books for the tour, and (as Molly
+remarked in the language of her childhood) a "few nice little 'eaties'
+to make us independent on the way."
+
+There was also a sort of glorified tea basket, containing, Molly said,
+a chafing-dish, without which no self-respecting American woman ever
+travelled, and by whose aid wonderful dishes could be turned out at
+five minutes' notice in a shipwreck, on a desert island, or while a
+tyre was being mended.
+
+As I mentally finished my last will and testament, Gotteland gave a
+short twist to the dragon's tail, which happened to be in front.
+Instantly a heart began to throb, throb. The chauffeur sprang to his
+toadstool. Molly moved a lever which said "R-r-r-tch," pressed one of
+her small but determined American feet on something, and the car gave
+a kind of a smooth, gliding leap forward, as if sent spinning from an
+unseen giant's hand.
+
+Though it was but just after nine, the early omnibus had gathered its
+tribute of toiling or shopping worms, and was too prevalent in Park
+Lane for my peace of mind. There were also enormous drays, which
+looked, as our frail bark passed under their bows, like huge Atlantic
+liners. The hansoms were fierce black sharks skimming viciously round
+us, and there were other monsters whose forms I had no time to
+analyse: but into the midst of this seething ocean Molly pitilessly
+hurled us. How we slipped into spaces half our own width and came out
+scatheless, Providence alone knew, but it seemed that kindly Fate must
+soon tire of sparing us, we tempted it so often.
+
+"Here's a smash!" I said to myself grimly, at the corner of Hamilton
+Place, and it flashed through my brain, with a mixture of
+self-contempt and pity, that my last thought before the end would be
+one of sordid satisfaction because a fortnight ago I had reluctantly
+paid an accident assurance premium.
+
+My fingers yearned with magnetic attraction toward the arms of the
+seat, but with all that was manly in me I resisted. I wreathed my face
+with a smile which, though stiff as a plaster mask, was a useful
+screen; and as South African tan is warranted not to wear off during a
+lifetime, I could feel as pale as I pleased without visible disgrace.
+
+"How do you like it?" asked Molly.
+
+"Glorious," I breezily returned.
+
+"Ah, I _thought_ you would enjoy it, when--as they say of babies--you
+'began to take notice.' The other night, of course, you were a little
+absent-minded. Besides, it was dark, and the streets were dull and
+empty. A motor _is_ just as nice as a horse, isn't it? Do say so, if
+only to please me."
+
+Now I knew why the victims of the Inquisition told any lie which
+happened to come handy. I said that it was marvellous how soon the
+thing got hold of one; and Molly's mushroom reared itself proudly.
+"That is because you are so brave," said the poor, deceived girl. "Of
+course it's having been a soldier, and all that. People who've been in
+battle wouldn't think anything of a first motor experience ("Oh,
+wouldn't they?" I inwardly chortled). But, do you know, Lord Lane,
+I've actually seen men who were quite brave in other ways, feel a
+little _queer_ the first time they drove in an automobile through
+traffic, or even in quiet country roads? I don't suppose you can
+understand it."
+
+"I couldn't," I replied valiantly, "were not imagination the first
+ingredient of sympathy. But--er--don't you think that omnibus in front
+is rather large--near, I mean? You mustn't exert yourself to talk, you
+know, for my sake, if you need to give your whole attention to
+driving."
+
+"I like to talk. It's no exertion at all," said Molly, and I fancy I
+responded with some base flattery, though by this time that smile of
+mine was so hard you could have knocked it off with a hammer.
+
+"The first day I went through traffic," she continued, "my toes had
+the funniest sensation, as if they were turning up in my shoes. One
+seemed to come so awfully _near_ everything, without any horses in
+front."
+
+At this very moment my own toes happened to feel as if they were
+pasted back on my insteps; yet I laughed heartily at the suggestion,
+and to my critical ear there was only a slight hollowness in the ring,
+although before us now loomed a huge railway van. It was loaded with
+iron bars, their rusty ends hanging far out and sagging towards the
+roadway, enough to frighten the gentlest automobile. Ours seemed far
+from gentle, and besides, we could not possibly stop in time to avoid
+impalement on the iron spikes. Molly and I, if not Jack and the
+chauffeur, must surely die a peculiarly unpleasant and unnecessary
+death, in the morning of our lives, just as other more fortunate
+people were starting out, safe and happy in exquisitely beautiful
+omnibuses, to begin their day's pleasure. And Molly believed, because
+I had been in a few battles, with nothing worse than a bee-like
+buzzing of some innocent bullets in my ears, that I should be callous
+in a motor car.
+
+However, the bravest soldiers are those who feel fear, and fight
+despite it. I maintain that I deserved a Victoria Cross for the grim
+smile which did not leave my lips as I braced myself for the
+death-dealing blow. But, as in a dream one finds without surprise that
+the precipice, over which one is hanging by an eyebrow, obligingly
+transforms itself into a bank of violets, so did the dragon which had
+been whirling us to destruction magically change into a swan-like
+creature skimming just out of harm's way.
+
+I now reflected, with a vague sense of self-disgust, that, instead of
+being glad to leave the world which had denied me Helen, I had felt
+distinctly annoyed at the necessity, had not given a thought to my
+lost love, and had been thankful for the mere gift of life without
+her.
+
+"I'm so glad you don't think I'm reckless," said Molly, as quietly as
+though we had not passed through a crisis; and indeed to this day I do
+not believe she would admit that we had.
+
+"I'm really very careful; Jack says I am. He takes tremendous risks
+sometimes, or at least it seems so when you're not driving. You'll see
+the difference when _he's_ in front."
+
+I refrained from comment, but I had never valued Jack's friendship
+less, and I was in the act of concocting a telegram from Locker which
+might recall me to London, when from the speed of the Scotch express
+we slowed down to a pace which would have been mean even for a donkey.
+We continued this rate of progression for a peaceful but all too brief
+interval; then in the line of traffic opened a narrow canal which I
+hoped might escape Molly's eye. But there was no such luck. She saw;
+we leaped into it, raced down it, and before I could have said
+"knife," or any other equally irrelevant word of one syllable, we had
+left everything else behind.
+
+I expected to be (to put it mildly) as uncomfortable as I had been
+before my short respite, yet strange to say, this was not the case. I
+did not know what was the matter with me, but suddenly I seemed to be
+enjoying myself. The tension of muscles relaxed, as if a string which
+had held them tight--like the limbs of a Jumping Jack--had been let
+go. I leaned back against the crimson cushions of my seat with a new
+and singular sense of well-being. Once, as a volunteer in South
+Africa, I had felt the same when, after having a splinter of bone
+taken out, under chloroform, I had waked up to be told it was all
+over. This wasn't over, but somehow, I didn't want it to be.
+
+We took Putney Bridge at a gulp, and swallowed the long hill to
+Wimbledon Common in the fashion of a hungry anaconda; but before we
+arrived at this stage a thing happened which unexpectedly raised my
+opinion of motor cars. It was in the Fullham Road that we glided close
+behind a hansom bowling along at a rattling pace. Traffic on our right
+prevented us from passing, and Molly had just remarked how vexing it
+was to be kept back by a mere hansom, when plunk! down went the little
+nag on his nose. It was one of those tumbles in which the horse
+collapses in a limp heap without any sliding, though he had been going
+fast downhill, and of course the hansom stopped dead. The whole scene
+was as quick as the flashing of a biograph. The driver struggled to
+keep his seat, clawing at the shiny roof of the cab; his fare, in a
+silk hat and pathetic frock coat, shot from the vehicle like a flying
+Mercury, and this time it seemed that nothing could keep us from
+telescoping the vehicle thus suddenly arrested a few feet ahead.
+
+But I reckoned without Molly. Her little gloved hand, and the
+high-heeled American toys she had for feet, moved like lightning.
+Without any violent wrench, the car stopped apparently in less than
+its own length, and as, even thus, we were too close upon the cab,
+Molly threw a quick glance behind, then bade Mercédès glide gently
+backward.
+
+With the fall of the horse, Jack rose in the tonneau, with the
+instinct of protection over Molly. But he said not a word till she had
+guided the car to safety, when he gave her a little congratulatory pat
+on the shoulder. "Good girl; that was perfect. Couldn't have been
+better," he murmured. We waited until we had seen that neither man nor
+horse was badly hurt, and then sped on again, with a certain respect
+for the motor rankling in my reluctant heart. Comparing its behaviour
+with that of an automobile, Hansom's ironically named "Patent Safety"
+had not a wheel to stand upon.
+
+When we were clear of Kingston, and winging lightly along the familiar
+Portsmouth Road, with its dark pines and purple gleams of heather, I
+began to feel an exhilaration scarcely short of treacherous to my
+principles. We were now putting on speed, and running as fast as most
+trains on the South-Western, yet the sensation was far removed from
+any I had experienced in travelling by rail, even on famous lines,
+which give glorious views if one does not mind cinders in the eye or
+the chance of having one's head knocked off like a ripe apple. I
+seemed to be floating in a great opaline sea of pure, fresh air; for
+such dust as we raised was beaten down from the tonneau by the screen,
+and it did not trouble us. Our speed appeared to turn the country into
+a panorama flying by for our amusement; and yet, fast as we went, to
+my surprise I was able to appreciate every feature, every incident of
+the road. Each separate beauty of the way was threaded like a bead on
+a rosary.
+
+Here was Sandown Park, which I had regarded as the goal of a
+respectable drive from town, with horses; but we were taking it, so to
+speak, in our first stride. Esher was no sooner left behind than
+quaint old sleepy Cobham came to view; between there and Ripley was
+but a gliding step over a road which slipped like velvet under our
+wheels. Then a fringe of trees netted across a blue, distant sea of
+billowing hills, and a few minutes later we were sailing under
+Guildford's suspended clock.
+
+It was somewhere near the hour of one when Molly brought the car
+gently to a standstill by the roadside, and announced that she would
+not go a yard further without lunch. The chauffeur successfully took
+up the part of butler at a moment's notice, busying himself with the
+baskets, spreading a picnic cloth under a shady tree, and putting a
+bottle of Graves to cool in a neighbouring brook. Meanwhile Molly was
+doing mysterious things with her chafing-dish and several little china
+jars. By the time Jack and I had with awkward alacrity bestowed
+plates, glasses, knives, and forks on the most hummocky portions of
+the cloth, white and rosy flakes of lobster _à la_ Newburg were
+simmering appetisingly in a creamy froth.
+
+I was deeply interested in this cult of the chafing-dish, which could,
+in an incredibly short time, serve up by the wayside a little feast
+fit for a king--who had not got dyspepsia.
+
+"Can't you imagine the programme if we had gone to an inn?" asked
+Jack, proud of his bride's handiwork. "We should have walked into a
+dingy dining-room, with brown wallpaper and four steel engravings of
+bloodthirsty scenes from the Old Testament. A sleepy head waiter would
+have looked at me with a polite but puzzled expression, as if at a
+loss to know why on earth we had come. I should have enquired
+deprecatingly: 'What can you give us for lunch?' What would he have
+replied?"
+
+"There's only one possible answer to that conundrum, and it doesn't
+take any guessing," said I. "The reply would have been: 'Cold 'am or
+beef, sir; chops, if you choose to wait.' Those words are probably now
+being spoken to some hundreds of sad travellers less fortunate than
+our favoured and sylvan selves."
+
+"If you would like to have a chafing-dish in your family," remarked
+Jack, "you'll have to marry an American girl."
+
+"I'm no Duke," said I.
+
+"Earls aren't to be despised, if there are no Dukes handy," said
+Molly. "Besides, it's getting a little obvious to marry a Duke."
+
+"Which is the reason you took up with a chauffeur," retorted Jack.
+
+"You call yourself a 'penniless hearl,'" went on Molly, "and I
+suppose, of course, you are 'belted.' All earls are, in poetry and
+serials, which must be convenient when you're _really_ very poor,
+because if you're hungry, you can always take a reef in your belt,
+while mere plain men have no such resource. Have you got yours on
+now?"
+
+"It's in pawn," said I. "It's no joke about being penniless. Jack
+will tell you I'm obliged to let my dear old house in Oxfordshire, and
+the only luxuries I can afford are a few horses and a few books. I
+prefer them to necessities--since I can't have both."
+
+I thought that Molly might laugh, but instead she looked abnormally
+grave. "Jack told me," she said, "how, when you and he came over to
+America, six or seven years ago, to shoot big game, you avoided girls,
+for fear people might suppose your alleged bear hunt was really an
+heiress hunt. I forgive Jack, because that was in the dark ages,
+before he knew there was a Me. But why should a girl be shunned by
+nice men solely because she's an heiress? Can't she be as pretty and
+lovable in herself as a poor girl?"
+
+"She can," I replied, emphasising my words with a look in Molly's
+face. "No doubt she often is. But I do wish some American girls who
+marry men from our side of the water wouldn't let the papers advertise
+their weddings as 'functions' (sounds like obscure workings of
+physical organs), attended by the families of their exclusive
+acquaintance, worth, when lumped together, a billion of dollars or
+so."
+
+"I know. It's as if they were prize pigs at a fair, and were of no
+importance except for their dollars," sighed Molly. "And then, the
+detectives to watch the presents! It's disgusting. But some of our
+newspapers are like Mr. Hyde. Poor Dr. Jekyll can't do anything with
+him; and anyhow, you needn't think we're all like that. I have a
+friend who is one of the greatest heiresses in America, but she hates
+her money. It has made her very unhappy, though she's only twenty-one
+years old. If you could see Mercédès, with her lovely, strange sad
+face, and big, wistful eyes----"
+
+"I can think of Mercédès only with a shiny grey body, upholstered
+crimson; and for eyes, huge acetylene lamps," I was rude enough to
+break in; for I fancied that I saw what Mistress Molly would fain be
+up to, and my heart was not of the rubber-ball description, to be
+caught in the rebound. If Molly cherished a secret intention of
+springing her peerless friend Mercédès upon me, during this tour which
+she had organised, it seemed better for everyone concerned that the
+hope should be nipped in the bud. It was with unwonted meekness that
+she yielded to being suppressed, and I suffered immediate pangs of
+remorse. To atone, I did my best to be agreeable. All the way to
+Southampton I praised automobiles in general and hers in particular;
+admitted that in half a day I had become half a convert; and soon I
+had the pleasure of believing that the divine Molly had forgotten my
+sin.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+[Illustration: "SOMETIMES JACK DROVE, WITH MOLLY BESIDE HIM".]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+My Lesson
+
+    "The broad road that stretches."
+                    --R.L. STEVENSON.
+
+
+Forty-eight hours later we drove out of Havre, bound for Paris and
+Lucerne, where I was to "pick up" that mule, and become a lone
+wanderer on the face of the earth. Gotteland had seen to the shipping
+of the car from Southampton, while we spent a day on the crowded sands
+of Trouville, where I was so lucky as to meet no one I knew.
+
+It was only now, Winston said, that I should realise to the full the
+joys of motoring, impossible to taste under present conditions in
+England. Our way was to lie along the Seine to Paris, and Jack
+recalled to us Napoleon's saying that "Paris, Rouen, and Havre form
+only one city, of which the Seine is the highway."
+
+Last year, these two had seen the country of the Loire together, under
+curious and romantic conditions, and now Molly was to be shown another
+great river in France. We changed places in the car, like players in
+the old game of "stage coach." Sometimes Molly had the reins, and I
+the seat of honour by her side. Sometimes Jack drove, with Molly
+beside him, I in the tonneau; then I knew that they were perfectly
+happy, though Gotteland and I could hear every word they said, and
+their talk was generally of what we passed by the way, occasionally
+interspersed by a "Do you remember?"
+
+Now, if there is an insufferable companion under the sun, it is the
+average "well-informed person" who continually dins into your ears
+things you were born knowing. This I resent, for I flatter myself that
+I was born knowing a good many exceptionally interesting and exciting
+things which can't be learned by studying history, geography, or even
+_Tit-Bits_. Jack Winston, however, though he has actually taken the
+trouble to house in his memory an enormous number of facts,--"those
+brute beasts of the language,"--has so tamed and idealised the
+creatures as to make them not only tolerable but attractive. I can
+even hear him tell things which I myself don't know or have forgotten,
+without instantly wishing to throw a jug of water at his good-looking
+head; indeed, I egg him on and have been tempted to jot down an item
+of information on my shirt cuff, with a view of fixing it in my mind,
+and eventually getting it off as my own.
+
+Whenever Molly or I admired any object, natural or artificial, it
+seemed that Jack knew all about it. She showed a flattering interest
+in everything he said, and, fired by her compliments, he suddenly
+exclaimed: "Look here, Molly, suppose we don't hurry on, the way we've
+been planning to do? Last year we had that wonderful chain of feudal
+châteaux in Touraine, to show us what kingly and noble life was in dim
+old days. Now, all along the Seine and near it, we shall have some
+splendid churches instead of castles. We can hold a revel, almost an
+orgie, of magnificent ecclesiastical architecture if we like to spend
+the time. I've got Ferguson's book and Parker's, anyhow, and why
+shouldn't we run off the beaten track----"
+
+"No, dearest," said his wife gently, but firmly, and I could have
+hugged her. My bump of reverence for the Gothic in all its
+developments is creditably large, but in my present "lowness of mind,"
+as Molly would say, a long procession of cold, majestic cathedrals
+would have reduced me to a limp pulp. "No," Molly went on, "I can't
+help thinking that the churches would be a sort of anticlimax after
+our beloved, warm-blooded châteaux. It would be like being taken to
+see your great-grandmother's grave when you'd been promised a matinée.
+You know we engaged to get Lord Lane into his lonely fastnesses as
+soon as possible----"
+
+"I don't believe Monty's in any hurry for them," said Jack,
+crestfallen. "You ask him if----"
+
+"He'd be too polite to be truthful. No, I'm sure that edelweiss will
+do him more good than rose windows, and mountain air than incense."
+
+As she thus prescribed for my symptoms, she gazed through her talc
+window with marked particularity into her "Lightning Conductor's"
+un-goggled face. It wore a puzzled expression at first, which suddenly
+brightened into comprehension. "Do they repent having brought me
+along, and want to get rid of me?" I asked myself. I could scarcely
+believe this. They were too kind and cordial; still, something in that
+look exchanged between them hinted at a secret which concerned me, and
+my curiosity was pricked. Nevertheless, I was grateful to Molly,
+whatever her motive might be for hurrying on to Paris. Fond as I was
+of the two, their happy love, constantly though inadvertently
+displayed before my eyes, was not a panacea for the wound which they
+were trying to cure, and I still longed for high Alpine solitudes.
+
+I had let myself drift into a gloomy thought-land, when it occurred to
+Jack that I had better learn to drive. No doubt the clear fellow
+fancied that I "wanted rousing" and certainly I got it. Luckily, as a
+small boy, I had taken an interest in mechanics, to the extent of
+various experiments actively disapproved of by my family, and the old
+fire was easily relit. I listened to his harangue in mere civility at
+first, then with a certain eagerness. Molly sat in the tonneau, Jack
+driving, full-petrol ahead, and I beside him. We talked motor talk,
+and he forgot the churches, except when they seemed actually to come
+out of their way to get in ours. I listened, and at the same time
+gathered impressions of roads--long, strange, curiously individual
+roads.
+
+Someone has written of the "long, long Indian day." I should like to
+write of the long, long roads of France. They had never before had any
+place in my thoughts. Paris and the Riviera had been France for me
+till now. I had never been intimate, never even got on terms of real
+friendship with any country save my own; and I had sometimes been
+narrow enough to take a kind of pride in this. The sweet English
+country had yielded up her secrets to me; I knew her spring whimsies,
+her soft summer moods, her autumn dreams, her wintry tempers, and I
+had vaunted my faithfulness and love. But here was France in prime of
+summer, giving me of her best. My heart warmed to her loveliness, and
+I sniffed the perfume of her breath, mysteriously characteristic as
+the chosen perfume of some loved woman's laces. It was glorious to
+spin on, on, between the rows of sentinel poplars, bound for the
+horizon, yet never reaching it, and regarding crowded haunts of men
+more as interruptions than as halting places.
+
+Harfleur was a mere mirage to me, a vision of a gently decaying town
+left stranded by the stream of civilisation, flowing past to busy
+Havre. Some lines from "Henry the Fifth" made elusive music in my
+brain, mixed with a discussion of carburetters, explosion chambers,
+and sparking-plugs. At Lillebonne, Winston deigned to break short his
+string of motor technicalities and point out the position of the Roman
+theatre, almost the sole treasure of the sort possessed by Northern
+Europe. I stared through my goggles at the castle where the Conqueror
+unfolded to the assembled barons his scheme for invading England; and
+I begged for a slackening of speed at ancient Caudebec, which, with
+its quay and terrace overhanging the Seine, and its primly pruned
+elms, had such an air of happy peace that I wished to stamp it firmly
+in my memory. Such mental photographs are convenient when one courts
+sleep at night, and has grown weary of counting uncountable sheep
+jumping over a stile.
+
+Beyond Caudebec we sailed along a road running high on the shoulder of
+the hill, with wide views over the serpentine writhings of the Seine.
+Here, Jack urged a turning aside for St. Wandeville or, at least, for
+the abbey of Jumièges, poetic with memories of Agnes Sorel, whose
+heart lies in the keeping of the monks, though her body sleeps at
+Loches. But Molly would countenance no loitering. _Her_ body, she
+said, should sleep at Paris that night.
+
+We held straight on, therefore, keeping to a road at the foot of white
+cliffs, sometimes near the river, sometimes leaving it. Quickly enough
+to please even this unaccountably impatient Molly, we had measured
+off the fifty miles separating Havre from Rouen, and slowed down for
+the venerable streets of the Norman capital.
+
+"I suppose even you will want to give half an hour to the cathedral
+which I love best in France?" Jack inquired, looking back at Molly as
+he turned from the quay up the Rue Grand Port, and stopped in the
+mellow shade of an incomparable pile which towered above us.
+
+Molly's mushroom, however, was agitated in dissent. She has an
+American chin, and an American chin spells determination. We could not
+see it, but we knew that it meant business. "You and I will spend
+hours in the cathedral another time," she said. "But now--" She did
+not finish her sentence, nevertheless a look of comprehension again
+lighted up Jack's face, which for the moment was innocent of goggles.
+
+"Molly's so keen on the Maid," said he, "that she can't forgive Rouen
+for not really being the scene of the trial and burning. But never
+mind, since she wills it, we'll shake the dust off our Michelins, and
+when we're outside, you will have got far enough in your motoring
+lesson, I think, to try driving."
+
+What the last hour had not taught me (thanks to him) in theory of
+coils and accumulators, electromagnets and other things, was scarcely
+worth learning. I seemed to have looked through glass walls into the
+cylinders, at the fussy little pistons working under control of the
+"governor,"--a tyrant, I felt sure. I had already formed a mature
+opinion on the question of mechanically operated inlet valves (which
+sounded disagreeably surgical), and was able to judge what their
+advantage ought to be over those of the old type worked by the suction
+of the piston. I could imagine that more than half the fun of owning a
+motor car would lie in understanding the thing inside and out; and I
+said so.
+
+"It's a little like controlling the elements," Jack answered. "Think
+of the difference in this machine, when it's asleep--cold and quiet,
+an engine mounted on a frame, a tank of water, a reservoir of cheap
+spirit, a pump, a radiator, a magnet, some geared wheels fitting
+together, a lever or two. My man twists a handle. On the instant the
+machine leaps into frenzied life. The carburetter sprays its vapour
+into the explosion chamber, the magnet flashes its sparks to ignite
+it, the cooling water bathes the hot walls of the cylinders--a thing
+of nerves, and ganglions, and tireless muscles is panting eagerly at
+your service. You move this lever, you press your foot lightly on this
+pedal; the engine transfers its power to the wheels; you move. The
+carriage with you and your friends is borne at railway speed across
+continents. You can hurl yourself at sixty miles an hour along the
+great highroads, you can crawl like a worm through the traffic of
+cities."
+
+By the time Jack had finished this harangue we had climbed the hill
+out of Rouen and were on the fine but _accidenté_ highroad that leads
+past Boos and Pont St. Pierre. Soon we would reach Les Andelys and
+Château Gaillard. Still Jack was not quite ready to let me put my
+newly acquired knowledge into practice. There was a hill of some
+consequence before Mantes, which we had to reach by way of La Roche
+Guyon and Limay. After that there would be only what the route book
+calls "_fortes ondulations_"; and under the stronghold of Lion Heart
+himself (an appropriate spot, forsooth!), I was to try my hand at
+dragon-driving.
+
+Winston brought the car to a standstill at the foot of the mouldering
+ruins of Richard's "Saucy Castle," and as we looked up at the towering
+battlements, the huge flanking towers, and the ponderous citadel, the
+dark mass on its lofty rock set in the sunny landscape like a
+bloodstone in a gold ring, seemed to be an epitome in stone of life in
+the Middle Ages.
+
+I uttered every idea that came into my mind concerning the ruin, and
+squeezed my brain for more, till my head felt like a drained orange;
+not that I enjoyed hearing myself talk, or thought that Jack and Molly
+would do so, but because they could not well interrupt the flow of my
+eloquence to remind me of the reason for our stop.
+
+At last, however, silence fell upon us. It was a shock to me when
+Molly broke it. "Oh, Lord Lane, have you forgotten that this is where
+you're to begin driving? The road is nice and broad here."
+
+I put on a brave air, as does one at the dentist's. "I hope that
+you're not afraid I shall run you into a ditch?" I asked, laughing. "I
+don't believe, after all, it can be any worse than steering a toboggan
+down a good run, or driving a four-in-hand with one's eyes shut, as I
+did once for a wager on a road I knew as I knew my own hat."
+
+"Perhaps it isn't exactly _worse_," said Molly, "still--I think you'll
+find it _different_."
+
+I did.
+
+Meanwhile, however, Winston was cheering me on. "You'll find steering
+the simplest thing in the world, really," he assured me. "There's no
+car so sensitive as this. The faster you go, the easier it is----"
+
+"But, perhaps he'd better not try to prove _that_, just at first!"
+cried Molly, with an affected little gasp.
+
+"No, no; certainly he won't, my child. He won't go beyond a walk until
+he's sure of himself and the car. You needn't be frightened. I know my
+man, or I shouldn't trust him with you and your Mercédès. Now, then,
+Monty, are you ready?"
+
+I had never before sufficiently realised the solemnity of that word
+"now." It sounded in my ears like a knell, but I swallowed hard, and
+echoed it. To do myself justice, though, I don't think I was afraid. I
+was only in a funk that I should do something stupid, and be disgraced
+forever in the eyes of Molly Winston. However, I reflected, it
+couldn't be so very bad. Molly herself, and even Jack, had to learn.
+Winston had explained to me several times the purpose of all the
+different levers, and, at least, I shouldn't touch the brake handle
+when I wanted to change the speed.
+
+"No need to grip the wheel so tightly," said Jack, and I became aware
+that I had been clinging to it as if it were a forlorn hope. "A light
+touch is best, you know; it's rather like steering a boat. A very
+slight movement does it, and in half an hour it has got to be
+automatic. Of course, always start on the lowest, that is, the first
+speed, and with the throttle nearly shut."
+
+Mine was in much the same condition, but I managed to mutter something
+as I moved the lever, and touched the clutch-pedal with a caress timid
+as a falling snowflake. Almost apologetically, I slid the lever into
+position, and let in the clutch. Somehow, I had not expected it to
+answer so soon; but, as if it disliked being patted by a stranger, the
+dragon took the bit between its teeth and bolted. I hung on and did
+things more by instinct than by skill, for the beast was hideously
+lithe and strong, a thousand times stronger and wilder than I had
+dreamed.
+
+Every faculty of body and brain was concentrated on first keeping the
+monster out of the ditch on the off side, then the ditch on the near.
+My eyes expanded until they must have filled my goggles. We waltzed,
+we wavered, we shied, until we outdid the Seine in the windings of its
+channel.
+
+I fully expected that Winston would pluck me like a noxious weed from
+the driver's seat where I had taken root, and snatch the helm himself;
+but strange to relate, I remained unmolested. Jack confined his
+interference to an occasional "Whoa," or "Steady, old boy"; while in
+the tonneau so profound a silence reigned that, if I had had time to
+think of anything, I should have supposed Molly to be swooning.
+
+"Why don't you curse me, and put me out of my misery?" I gasped, when
+I had by a miracle avoided a tree as large as a house, which I had
+seen deliberately step out of its proper place to get in my way.
+
+"'Curse you,' my dear fellow? You're doing splendidly," said Jack.
+"You deserve praise, not blows. I did a lot worse when I began."
+
+Thus encouraged, I gained confidence in myself and the machine. Almost
+at once, I was conscious of improvement in mastering the touch of the
+wheel. Soon, I was imitating a straight line with fair success,
+subject to a few graceful deviations. I realised that, after all, we
+were not going very fast, though my sensation at starting had been
+that of hanging on to a streak of greased lightning.
+
+I began to sigh for more worlds to conquer, and when Jack reminded me
+that we were on the first speed, I pronounced myself equal to an
+experiment with the second. He made me practice taking one hand from
+the wheel, looking about me a little, and trying to keep the car
+straight by feeling rather than sight. When I had accomplished these
+feats, and had not brought the car to grief (even though we passed
+several vehicles, and I was drawn by a demoniac influence to swerve
+towards each one as if it had been the loadstone to my magnet, or the
+candle to my moth), Jack finally consented to grant my request. He
+told me clearly what to do, and I did it, or some inward servant of
+myself did, whenever the master was within an ace of losing his head.
+I pressed down the clutch-pedal, pulled the lever affectionately
+towards me, and very gradually opened the throttle, so as not to
+startle it. In spite of my caution, however, I thought for an instant
+we were really going to get on the other side of the horizon, which
+had been avoiding us for so long. We shot ahead alarmingly, but to my
+intense relief, as well as surprise, I found that Jack had not
+exaggerated. It was easier to steer on the second speed than on the
+first. I had merely to tickle the wheel with my finger, to send us
+gliding, swanlike, this way or that. To be sure, I did well-nigh run
+over a chicken, but I would be prepared to argue with it till it was
+black in the face (or resort to litigation, if necessary) that the
+proper place for its blood would be on its own silly head, not mine.
+
+Elated by my triumphs, I scarcely listened further to Jack's
+directions; how, if I thought there was danger, all I had to do was
+to unclutch, and put on the brake, whereupon the car would stop as if
+by magic, as it had for Molly in the Fulham Road; how I must not
+forget that the foot brakes had a way of obeying fiercely, and must
+not be applied with violence; how I must remember to pull the brake
+lever by my hand, towards me if I wanted to stop; how it acted on
+expanding rings on the inside faces of drums, which were on the back
+wheels (I pitied those poor, concealed faces, for the description was
+neuralgic, somehow), and I could lock them at almost any speed.
+
+"I want to get on the third, and then I'll try the fourth, thank you,"
+I interpolated impatiently. "More-more! Faster, faster! Whew, this
+knocks spots out of the Ice Run!"
+
+"Let him have his way, Jack," cried Molly, speaking for the first
+time. "Hurrah, the motor microbe is in his blood, and never, never
+will he get it out again."
+
+"Full speed ahead, then!" said Jack.
+
+I took him at his word. I could have shouted for joy. Mercédès was
+mine, and I was Mercédès'.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+Pots, Kettles, and Other Things
+
+    "Seared is, of course, my heart--but unsubdued
+     Is, and shall be, my appetite for food."
+                                   --C.S. CALVERLEY.
+
+           *       *       *       *       *
+
+    "A little buttery, and therein
+       A little bin,
+     Which keeps my little loaf of bread
+       Unchipt, unflead;
+     Some little sticks of thorn or brier
+       Make me a fire."
+                           --ROBERT HERRICK.
+
+
+If any man had told me before I started, that in two days I should
+find it a genuine sacrifice to stop driving a motor car, I should have
+looked upon him as a polite lunatic. It was only because Jack could
+drive faster than he dared to let me, and because I was ashamed to
+tell Molly that after all I was not in a desperate hurry to reach
+Paris or anywhere else, that I finally tore myself from the driver's
+seat of the Mercédès. Afterwards, though I had not reached the stage
+when confession is good for the soul, I sat wondering what there was
+expensive and at the same time disagreeable which I could give up for
+the sake of possessing a motor of my own. In various phases of my
+mental and spiritual development, I had framed different conceptions
+of a future state beyond this life. Never, even in my earliest years,
+had I sincerely wished to be an angel with an undeserved crown
+weighing down my forehead, and a harp, which I should be totally
+incompetent to play, within my hand; but now it struck me that there
+might be a worse sort of Nirvana than driving a 10,000 horsepower car
+along a broad, straight road free from dogs, chickens, or any other
+animals (except, perhaps, rich, knighted grocers), and reaching all
+round Saturn's ring.
+
+Dogs had been the one "little speck in garnered fruit" for me when
+driving, for I love dogs and would not willingly injure so much as the
+end hair of the most moth-eaten mongrel's tail; therefore my brain
+searched a remedy against their onslaught, as I sat mute, inglorious,
+in the tonneau, after my late triumphs.
+
+We flashed on, passing the kilometre stones in quick succession. At
+pretty little Mantes we crossed the Seine, and presently came into the
+France I knew in my old, conventional way; for we passed St. Germain,
+and so on to Paris by Le Pecq, Reuil, the long descent to the Pont de
+Suresnes (which seemed to hold laughable memories for Jack and Molly),
+through the Bois down the Champs Elysées, and to our hotel in the
+Place Vendôme, where Jack announced that we had had a run of 130
+miles. Winston and I flattered ourselves that Paris had few secrets
+from us (though I don't doubt that five minutes' wrestling with
+Baedeker might have made us feel small), and we had no wish to linger
+at this season. But, if we were deaf to the sirens who sing in the Rue
+de la Paix, Molly was not. She had discovered that there were some
+"little things she wanted, which she really thought she had better
+buy." I fancy that the little things were shoes; anyhow, it was to be
+Jack's blissful privilege to help her choose them, and he was of
+opinion (probably founded on experience) that it would take nearly
+all day. I decided to call on a man at the Embassy, ask him out to
+lunch, and do him very well. I had not seen him for years, and he had
+bored me to extinction the last time we met; but it had come to my
+ears that he had been in love with Helen Blantock, and proposed to
+her, so I felt that there would be a certain charm in his society.
+Later, there was a "little thing" which I, too, wished to buy (though
+I did not intend to seek it in the Rue de la Paix), and then I was to
+meet Molly and Jack about tea time at our hotel, in time to arrange
+for dining out somewhere.
+
+After all, the man was more boring than ever, as he had got himself
+engaged to another girl, and insisted upon talking of her, instead of
+Helen. My one pleasure in the day, therefore, lay in purchasing the
+article of which I had fixed my mind after driving yesterday. This was
+a water pistol, warranted to keep dogs at bay, in motoring. I had some
+difficulty in obtaining it, and when I did, it was expensive, but I
+was rewarded by the thought of the pleasure my acquisition would
+afford my friends. The wild dashes of dogs in front of the wheels gave
+Molly such frequent starts of anguish, that I wondered Jack had not
+thought of this simple preventive, and I congratulated myself on
+having remembered an advertisement of the weapon which I had seen in
+some magazine. It was, I thought, rather clever of me to remember,
+since in those days motors had been no affair of mine; but then, the
+illustration had been striking, in every sense of the word. It had
+represented a lovely girl, with hair unbound, saving from destruction
+the automobile in which she sat with several companions, by shooting a
+fierce blast of water into the face of a huge beast well-nigh as
+terrible as Cerberus. I determined to surprise Jack and Molly, when
+the right time should come; accordingly, the moment I reached our
+hotel, I filled the pistol with water, and placed it, thus loaded, in
+the pocket of my motoring coat ready for emergencies. Hardly had I
+made this preparation for the future when I discovered on the table a
+note addressed to me in Winston's handwriting.
+
+"Dear Monty," I read, "Molly and I have a bet on. She has bet me a
+dinner that you will drive her car out to Madrid, and meet us at
+half-past seven, so that we can have the dinner by daylight. I have
+bet her the same dinner that you won't. Which of us must pay?--Yours,
+Jack."
+
+I whistled. What, drive the car through the traffic of Paris? It must
+be a joke. Of course it was a joke, but----
+
+When I had dressed for dinner, I strolled over to the garage not far
+away where the creature lurked. Anyhow, I would have a look at her,
+and see what orders Gotteland had received. Yes, of course it was a
+joke. Or else my poor friends had gone mad. Still, there was a kind of
+madness with method in it. Diabolical wretches, with their bets, and
+their dinners! Did they dream I would try to do it, and smash the car?
+"Nothing like driving a motor through traffic, to give one
+self-confidence afterwards," Jack had said yesterday, after praising
+me for refraining from killing a small boy in a village street. "Once
+a man has been thrown on his own resources, and has got through the
+ordeal all right, it is as good as a certificate," he had added.
+
+Gotteland was in the shrine of his goddess, talking to other
+cosmopolitan-looking persons in leather. There was a nice smell of
+petrol in the place. I snuffed at it as a war-horse scents the battle,
+and promptly decided that the joke should become deadly earnest, no
+matter what the consequence to the cart the chauffeur, or myself.
+
+"Everything is ready, my lord," said one of the sacrifices about to be
+offered up. He had now discovered that there was a sort of
+starting-handle to my name, and seemed as fond of using it as he was
+of the equivalent on his beloved motor.
+
+"Did Mr. Winston--er--say anything about my driving?" I humbly
+inquired.
+
+"Well, my lord, his orders were that it should be as you pleased. But
+perhaps I had better mention that driving is careless in Paris, with
+cabs and automobiles all over the road, to say nothing of the trams;
+and then there's the keeping to the right instead of the left. If you
+should happen to get a little confused, my lord, not being accustomed
+to drive in France----"
+
+"I wish I had a _mille_ note for every time I've driven a four-in-hand
+through this blessed town," said I. "I'm not afraid if you're not."
+
+"Oh, my lord, I've been in so many accidents, one or two more can't
+matter," he replied, as Hercules might have replied if asked whether
+he were equal to a Thirteenth Labour in odd moments. "When I was
+jockey in Count Tokai's racing stables, a horse went mad and kicked me
+nearly to death. Then I was a racer in old bicycling days, and had
+several bad spills. This scar on my face I got in a smash with one of
+the first Benz cars made. My master thought it a fine thing at that
+time to go ten miles an hour, and before he'd driven much, my lord,
+he was determined to take the car through the streets of Düsseldorf
+himself. There was a wagon coming one way----"
+
+"Thank you," I cut in, "I'll bear the rest of that story another time.
+I'm not sure it would exhilarate me much at the moment. We'll be off
+now, and I'll do my best not to adorn you with a second scar."
+
+Without another word, Gotteland started the motor. The critical eyes
+of the assembled chauffeurs pierced to my marrow, but I squared my
+shoulders, prayed my presence of mind to behave itself and not get
+stage fright; then--_noblesse oblige!_--we swept in a creditable curve
+to the door of the garage, and out in fine style. Gotteland also tried
+to look unconcerned. I think I must have seen this with my ears, as
+both eyes were fully occupied in searching a way through the surging
+current of street traffic, but I did see it. I was pleased to find
+that I was the better actor of the two, for Gotteland's attitude
+revealed a strained alertness. He was like a woman sitting beside a
+driver of skittish horses, saying to herself: "No, I _won't_ scream or
+seize the reins till I must!"
+
+A sneaking impulse pricked me to take the easiest way, by the Rue de
+Rivoli, and across the Place de la Concorde, but I shook myself free
+of it, and with high resolve turned the car towards the Boulevards,
+determined that, if Molly won her bet, it should be well won. A sailor
+steering a quivering smack towards harbour in a North Sea hurricane;
+an Indian guiding a bark canoe through the leaping rapids of a swollen
+river: to both of these I likened myself as the dragon threaded in and
+out among the adverse streams of traffic. The great crossing by the
+Opéra was a whirling maelstrom; a policeman with a white staff,
+scowled when he should have pitied; I felt alone in chaos before the
+creation of the world. As for Noah and his ark, not an experience
+could he have had that I might not have capped it before I reached the
+Bois.
+
+If I have a guardian spirit, I am sure that to numberless other good
+qualities he adds the skill of an accomplished motorist; for if he did
+not get the car to Madrid, without a single scratch upon her brilliant
+body, I do not know who did. I have no distinct memories, after the
+first, yet when we arrived at our destination, Gotteland generously
+complimented, and as I did not care to go into psychological
+explanations, I accepted his eulogium. It was Jack, not Molly, who
+paid for the dinner at Madrid, and it was a good one.
+
+Next morning early we started on our way again. Jack driving, and I
+watching his prowess. I was now as anxious to meet dogs belligerently
+inclined towards motors, as I had been to avoid them, but it was not
+until we were well past Fontainebleau that the chance for which I
+yearned, arrived. Suddenly we came upon a yard of Dachshund wandering
+lizard-like across the road, accompanied by a pert Spitz. The waddler
+prudently retired, but the Spitz, with all the disproportionate
+courage of a knight of old attacking a fire-breathing dragon, lanced
+himself in front of the car. After all, what are dragons but strange,
+new things which we know nothing about and therefore detest? This
+brave little knight detested us, and with magnificent self-confidence
+essayed to punish us for troubling his existence.
+
+My hand flew to my pocket, but paused, even as it grasped the water
+pistol. The dog was small, the weapon large. A fierce jet of water
+propelled from its muzzle might blow the breath from that tiny body,
+which my sole wish was to warn from under the wheels of Juggernaut.
+However, he was persistent, and was in real danger, since to avoid an
+approaching cart, Jack was forced to steer perilously near the yapping
+beast.
+
+I snatched the weapon, pulled the trigger, and--a mild, mellifluous
+trickle which would have disgraced a toilet vaporiser sprayed forth.
+Jack, Molly, and the peasants in the approaching cart burst into
+shouts of laughter. The Spitz, undismayed by the gentle shower, which
+had spattered his nose with a drop or two, leaped at the weapon, and,
+irritated, I flung it at his head. It fell innocuously in the road and
+our last sight of the Spitz was when, rejoined by his lizard friend,
+he industriously gnawed at the pistol, mistaking it for a bone, while
+the Dachs gratefully lapped up the water I had provided. My surprise
+was a popular success, but not the kind of success which I had
+planned. Jack said that he could have "told me so" if I had asked him,
+and I vowed in future to let dogs delight to bark and bite without
+interference from me.
+
+The one inept remark which Shelley seems ever to have made was that
+"there is nothing to see in France." My opinion, as we spun along the
+road which would lead us to Lucerne and my waiting mule, was that
+there was almost too much to see, too much charm, too much beauty for
+the peace of mind of an imaginative traveller; there were so many
+valleys which one longed to explore, in which one felt one could be
+content without going farther, so many blue glimpses of mysterious
+mountains, veiled by the haze of dreamland, that one suffered a
+constant succession of acute pangs in thinking that one would
+probably never see them again, that one would need at least nine long
+lives if one were to spend, say, even a month in each place.
+
+Molly advised me not to be a spendthrift of my emotions, at this stage
+of the journey, lest I should be a worn-out wreck before the grandest
+part came, but the idea of husbanding enthusiasm did not commend
+itself to me. Why not enjoy this moment, instead of waiting until the
+moment after next? It was too much like saving up one's good clothes
+for "best," a lower-middle-class habit which I have detested since the
+days when I howled for my smartest Lord Fauntleroy frills in the
+morning.
+
+There were sweet villages where they made cheese, and where I could
+have been happy making it with Helen Blantock; there were châteaux
+with turret rooms where my book shelves would have fitted excellently;
+but always we fled on, on, until at last, after two bewildering,
+cinematographic days, we drove into the streets of that dignified and
+delightful city, Bern.
+
+It had not been necessary for us to pass through Bern; it was, in
+fact, a few yards more or less out of the most direct path. We chose
+this route simply and solely with the view of paying a visit to the
+Bears. Molly had never met them; I had neglected them since childhood;
+Jack looked forward to the pleasure of introducing them to his wife.
+
+It was on our way to call upon the Bears, that destiny seduced me to
+turn my head at a certain moment, and look into a shop window.
+Suddenly the flame of my desire for the walking solo with a mule
+accompaniment (somewhat diminished lately, I confess) leaped up anew.
+There were things in that window which made a man long to be a
+hermit.
+
+"Mrs. Winston." I cried (Molly was driving), "for goodness' sake stop."
+
+In an instant the car slowed down. "What is the matter?" she implored.
+"Are you ill? Have we run over anything?"
+
+"No, but look there," I said eagerly. "What an outfit for a camping
+tour! My mouth waters only at sight of it."
+
+"Greedy fellow," commented Jack from the tonneau. "Drive on, Molly.
+Get him past the shop. He doesn't really want any of those things, and
+wouldn't use them if he had them. The sooner he forgets the better."
+
+"Never shall I forget that Instantaneous Breakfast for an Alpiniste,"
+I fiercely protested, "and I will have it at any cost. I know there's
+no other shop on the Continent like this, and I shall buy an outfit
+for myself and mule, here, if I have to come back from Lucerne by
+train for it."
+
+"Hang your mule!" exclaimed Jack. "I was hoping you'd forgotten all
+about him by this time, and had made up your mind to go on with us
+indefinitely."
+
+I saw reproach blaze through the talc triangle in Molly's mushroom.
+(Yet I thought she liked me, and had not, thus far, found "three a
+crowd.")
+
+"Lord Lane isn't a _chameleon_, Jack," said she, "that he should
+change his mind every few minutes. _Of course_ he's going to have his
+mule trip. And as for this shop, all those dear little pots and
+kettles and things in the window are too cute for words. He _shall_
+have them."
+
+Was I to be a bone of contention between husband and wife?
+
+"Please, both of you come in and help me choose," I meekly pleaded, in
+haste to restore the peace which I had broken.
+
+We got out, and a small crowd collected round the car, Gotteland
+standing by with his chin raised and the exact expression of the frog
+footman in "Alice in Wonderland." One would have said that he saw,
+afar off, the graves of his ancestors, on the summit of some lonely
+mountain.
+
+It was what Molly would have called a "lovely" shop, and it did
+business under the strange device: "Magasin Suisse d'Equipment
+Sportif." The name alone was worth the money one would spend.
+Everything to cover the outer, and nourish the inner sportsman, was to
+be had. I felt that I could scarcely be lonely or sad if I possessed a
+stock of these friendly articles. Jack's ribald advice to buy a
+pelerine, and a green-loden Gemsjäger hat with a feather, stirred me
+neither to smiles nor anger, for Molly and I were already deep in
+exploration.
+
+The first thing I bought was a mule-pack. Being a merciful man, I
+chose one of medium size, for already I could fancy myself becoming
+fond of the animal which was to be my companion in many wild and
+solitary places, and I did not wish to overburden him. I then, aided
+and abetted by Molly, began to choose the pack's contents.
+
+An "_Appareil de cuisson alpin, Idéal_" went without saying, like the
+air one breathes. It composed itself, according to the voluble
+attendant who displayed it, of six parts, each part far better than
+the others. There was a _gamelle_, with a "_crochet pour l'enlever_"
+and a _couvercle_, which, not to show itself proud, would lend its
+services also as an _assiette_ or a _poêle à frire_. There was the
+burner of alcohol; there was "_le couvercle de celui-ci_," which
+served equally to measure the spirit, and there was a charming
+_appareil brise vent_ which had the air of defying tornadoes. When I
+had secured this treasure, Molly drew my attention to a series of
+aluminium boxes made to fit eggs and sandwiches. I bought these also,
+and, pleased with the clean white metal, invested in plates, goblets,
+and water bottles of the same. Next came a _couvert pliant_,
+containing knife, fork, and spoon; and, lest I should be guilty of
+selfishness, I ordered a duplicate for the man who would look after
+the mule. Best of all, however, were the tinned soups, meats,
+vegetables, puddings, and cocoas, which you simply set on the fire in
+their bright little cans, and heated till they sent forth a steamy
+fragrance. Then you ate or drank them, and were happy as a king.
+
+Molly and I selected a number of these, and completed the list with a
+sleeping bag and a _tente de touriste_, which she persuaded me would
+be indispensable when lost in the mountains, as I was sure to be,
+often.
+
+When my goods and chattels came to be collected, we were shocked to
+find that the mule-pack would not contain them. The question remained,
+then, whether I should sacrifice these new possessions, already dear,
+or whether I should doom my mule to carry a greater burden. The
+attendant intimated that Swiss mules preferred heavy loads, and had
+they the vocal gifts of Balaam's ass, would demand them. Swayed by my
+desires and his arguments, I changed my pack for a larger one. After
+more than an hour in the shop, we tore ourselves away, leaving word
+that the things should be sent by post to Lucerne. We then repaired to
+the Bear Pit, by way of the Clock, and having supplied ourselves with
+plenty of carrots, had no cause to complain of our reception.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+In Search of a Mule
+
+    "Yes, we await it, but it still delays, and then we suffer."
+                                            --MATTHEW ARNOLD.
+
+    "When I arose and saw the dawn, I sighed for thee . . .
+                    Come, long-sought!"
+                                  --PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY.
+
+
+Jack no longer attempted to dissuade me from my walking tour. Whether
+Molly had talked to him, or whether he had, unprompted, seen the error
+of his ways, I cannot tell, but the fact remains that, during the rest
+of our run to Lucerne, he showed a lively interest in the forthcoming
+trip.
+
+"I suppose," said he, when we had caught our first sight of Pilatus
+(seen, as one might say, on his back premises), "I suppose that
+anywhere in Switzerland, there ought to be no trouble about finding a
+good pack-mule. Somehow one thinks of Switzerland and mules together,
+just as one does of bacon and eggs, or nuts and raisins, and yet, I
+can't recall ever having come across any mules in Lucerne, can you,
+Monty?"
+
+"No," I admitted, "but there were probably so many that one didn't
+notice them--like flies, you know."
+
+"Of course, the air of Switzerland is dark with mules and donkeys,"
+said Molly, who always seemed quick to resent any obstacles thrown
+between me and my mule. "One sees them in picture books. All that
+Lord Lane will have to say is, 'Let there be mules,' and there will be
+mules--strings of them. He will only have to pick and choose. The
+thing will be to get a good one, and a nice, handsome, troubadour-sort
+of man who can cook, and jodel, and sew, and put up tents, and keep
+off murderers in mountain passes at night. It may take a day or two to
+find exactly what is wanted."
+
+"The best person in Switzerland to give Monty all the information he
+needs," said Jack, evidently not wholly convinced, "is Herr Widmer,
+who has an hotel high above Lucerne, on the Sonnenberg. He has another
+in Mentone, and I've heard him tell how he has often come up from the
+Riviera to Switzerland on horseback. He would be able to advise Monty
+exactly how to go."
+
+"Let's stop at his place on the Sonnenberg, then," said Molly, who
+never took more than sixty seconds to make the most momentous
+decisions, less important ones getting themselves arranged while
+slow-minded English people drew breath.
+
+Certainly, as we drove through the streets of Lucerne, we saw neither
+mules nor donkeys, but Molly accounted for this by saying that no
+doubt they were all at dinner. In any case, with the blue lake
+a-glitter with silver sequins dropped from the gowns of those
+sparkling White Ladies, the mountains; the shops gay and bright in the
+sunshine, on one side the way, shadows lying cool and soft under the
+long line of green trees on the other, who could take thought of
+absent mules? Let them dine or die; it mattered not. Lucerne was
+beautiful, the day divine.
+
+When we were lunching on the balcony of the Winstons' private
+sitting-room at the Sonnenberg, with mountains billowing round and
+below us, I saw that there was something on Molly's mind for she was
+_distraite_. Suddenly she said, "Before you talk to Herr Widmer about
+your mule, don't you think that you had better decide absolutely upon
+your route?"
+
+"But, darling," objected Jack, "that is largely what he wants advice
+about."
+
+"He can't do better than take mine, then," said Molly. "Lord Lane,
+_promise_ me you'll take mine and _no_ one's else."
+
+"Of course I'll promise," I answered recklessly, for her eyes were
+irresistible, and any man would have been enraptured that so exquisite
+a creature should interest herself in his fate. "It doesn't much
+matter to me where I go, so long as I can moon about in the mountains,
+and eventually, before I'm old and grey, bring up on the Riviera."
+
+"Well, then," said Molly, "since you are so accommodating, I not only
+advise but _order_ you to go over the Great St. Bernard Pass, down to
+Aosta."
+
+"Might a humble mortal ask, 'Why Aosta?'" I ventured.
+
+"Because it's beautiful, and beneficent, and a great many other things
+which begin with B."
+
+"You've never seen it, though," said Jack.
+
+"But I've always wanted to see it, and as you and I have another
+programme to carry out at present, it would be nice if Lord Lane would
+go, and tell us all about it. He's promised me to keep a sort of
+diary, for our benefit later."
+
+"I saw the Duchess of Aosta married at Kingston-on-Thames," I
+reflected aloud. "She was a very pretty girl. What am I to do after
+I've made my pilgrimage to her country--about which, by the way, I
+know practically nothing except that there's a poster in railway
+stations which represents it as having bright pink mountains and a
+purply-yellow sky?"
+
+"Oh, after Aosta, I've no instructions," replied Molly, as if she
+washed her hands of me and of my affairs. "For the rest, let Fate
+decide." As she spoke, she looked mystic, sibylline, and I could
+almost fancy that before her dreamy eyes arose a vision of my future
+as if floating in a magic crystal. For an instant I was inclined to
+beg that she would prophesy, but the mood passed. All that I asked or
+expected to get from the future was a mule, a man, some mountains, and
+forgetfulness.
+
+It was decided, then, that the only questions to be put to Herr Widmer
+should concern the mule. I had a vague dream of presently standing on
+the balcony, while various muleteers and their well-groomed animals
+passed in review under my eyes, but the landlord's first words struck
+at my hopes and left them maimed.
+
+"There are no mules to be had in Lucerne," he said.
+
+"In the country near by, then?"
+
+"Nor in the country near by. The nearest place where you could get one
+would be in the Valais--best at Brig."
+
+"But I don't want to go to Brig," I said forlornly. "If I went to
+Brig, that would mean that I should have to do a lot of walking
+afterwards, to reach the parts I wish to reach, through the hot Rhone
+Valley, where I should be eaten up by gnats and other disagreeable
+wild beasts. I know the Rhone Valley between Brig and Martigny
+already, by railway travelling, and that is more than enough."
+
+"The Rhone Valley is a misunderstood valley. Even between Martigny
+and Brig, it is far more beautiful than anyone who has seen it only
+from the railway can possibly judge," pleaded Herr Widmer. "It well
+repays a riding or walking tour."
+
+But my soul girded against the Rhone Valley, and I would not be driven
+into it by persuasion. "I'd rather put up with a donkey to carry my
+luggage," said I, with visions of discarding half my Instantaneous
+Breakfasts, "than begin my walk in the Rhone Valley. Surely, Lucerne
+can be counted on to yield me up at least a donkey?"
+
+"You must go into Italy to find an _âne_," replied the landlord,
+inexorable as Destiny.
+
+I suddenly understood how a woman feels when she stamps her foot and
+bursts into tears. (There are advantages in being a woman.) To be
+thwarted for the sake of a mere, wretched animal, which I had always
+looked upon with indifference as the least of beasts! It was too much.
+My features hardened. Inwardly, I swore a great oath that, if I went
+to the world's end to obtain it, I would have a pack-mule, or, if
+worse came to worst, a pack-donkey.
+
+At this bitter moment I chanced to meet Molly's eyes and read in them
+a sympathy well-nigh extravagant. But I knew why it had been called
+out. If there is one thing which causes unbearable anguish to a true
+American girl it is to find herself wanting something "right away"
+which she cannot have. But luckily for her country's peace, her
+lovers' happiness, this occurs seldom.
+
+"What is the nearest place in Italy where Lord Lane could get a
+donkey?" she asked.
+
+"It is possible that he might be able to buy or hire one at Airolo,"
+said our landlord. "At one time they had them there, for the railway
+works, and mules also. But now I do not----"
+
+"We can go there and see," said Molly.
+
+"Airolo's on the other side of the St. Gothard, and automobiles aren't
+allowed on the Swiss passes," remarked Jack.
+
+This, to me, sounded final, so far as Airolo was concerned, but not so
+with the Honourable Mrs. Winston!
+
+"What do they do to you if you _do_ go?" she asked, turning slightly
+pale.
+
+"They fined an American gentleman who crossed the Simplon in his
+automobile last year, five thousand francs," answered Herr Widmer.
+
+"Oh!" said she. "So an American did go over one of the passes? Well,
+thank you _so_ much; we must decide what to do, and talk it over with
+you again later. Meanwhile, we're very happy, for it's lovely here."
+
+Hardly had the door of the sitting-room closed on our host, when
+Molly, with the air of having a gun-powder plot to unfold, beckoned us
+both to come near. "I'll tell you what we'll do," said she, in a
+half-whisper, when surrounded by her body-guard of two. "First, we'll
+ask _everybody_ in Lucerne whether there are any mules or donkeys on
+the spot, just in case Herr Widmer might be mistaken; if there aren't
+any, let's go over the St. Gothard _in the middle of the night_."
+
+"Good heavens, what a desperate character I've married!" exclaimed
+Jack.
+
+"Not at all. Don't you see, at night there would be nobody on their
+silly old Pass that they make such a fuss about. Even in daylight
+diligences don't go over the St. Gothard in our times, and at night
+there'd be _nothing_, so we couldn't expose man or beast to danger.
+We'd rush the _douanes_, or whatever they call them on passes, and if
+we _were_ caught, what are five thousand francs?"
+
+"I wouldn't dream of letting you do such a thing for me," I broke in
+hurriedly. "If Airolo or the neighbourhood turns out to be the happy
+hunting ground of the sedate mule or pensive _âne_, I will simply take
+train----"
+
+"You will take the train, if you take it, over Jack's and my dead
+bodies," remarked Molly coldly.
+
+"It would be rather sport to rush the Pass at night," said Jack.
+
+"Oh, you darling!" cried Molly, "I've never loved you so much."
+
+This naturally settled it.
+
+We walked down to the town by an exquisite path leading through dark,
+mysterious pine forests; where the slim, straight trunks of the tall
+trees seemed tightly stretched, like the strings of a great harp, and
+where melancholy, elusive music was played always by the wind spirits.
+In Lucerne we did not, as Molly had suggested, ask everybody to stand
+and deliver information, but we compromised by visiting tourists'
+bureaux. At these places the verdict was an echo of our landlord's,
+and I saw that Molly and Jack were glad. Having scented powder, they
+would have been disappointed if the midnight battle need not be
+fought.
+
+Molly had never seen Lucerne, which was too beautiful for a fleeting
+glance. It was arranged that, after driving me over the Pass, for weal
+or woe, they should return. They would leave most of their luggage at
+the Sonnenberg, and come back to spend some days, before continuing
+their tour as originally mapped out.
+
+We slept that night in peace (it is wonderful how well you do sleep,
+even with a "mind diseased," after hours of racing through pure, fresh
+air on a motor car); and next day we began stealthy preparations for
+our adventure.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+The Wings of the Wind
+
+    "Oh, still solitude, only matched in the skies;
+       Perilous in steep places,
+       Soft in the level races,
+     Where sweeping in phantom silence the cloudland
+         flies."
+                                        --R. BRIDGES.
+
+
+The wind howled a menace to Mercédès, as she glided down the winding
+road towards the comfortable, domestic-looking suburbs of Lucerne.
+Banks of cloud raced each other across the sky, and, crossing the
+bridge over the Reuss, we saw that the waters of the Lake, turquoise
+yesterday, were to-day a sullen indigo. The big steamers rolled at
+their moorings; white-crested waves were leaping against the quays,
+and thick mists clung like rolls of wool to the lower slopes of
+Pilatus.
+
+Molly's spirits rose as the mercury in the barometer fell. "Would you
+care for people if they were always good-tempered, or weather if it
+were always fair?" she asked me (we were sitting together in the
+tonneau, Jack driving). "I revel in storms, and if we have one
+to-night, when we are on the Pass, one of the dearest wishes of my
+life will be gratified. 'A storm on the St. Gothard!' Haven't the
+words a thunder-roll? Sunlight and mountain passes don't belong
+together. I like to think of great Alpine roads as the fastnesses of
+giants, who threaten death to puny man when he ventures into their
+power."
+
+It had been arranged that we should "potter" (as Winston called it)
+round the arms of the star-fish lake, until we reached Flüelen; that
+from there we should steal as far as we dared up the Reussthal while
+daylight lasted, dine at some village inn, and then, instead of
+returning to the lowlands of Lucerne, make a dash across the mighty
+barrier that shut us away from Italy. Under a lowering sky, and
+buffeted by short, sharp gusts of wind, which seemed the heralds of
+fiercer blasts, we swung along the reedy shores of the narrowing lake,
+the broken sides of the Rigi standing finely up on our right hand.
+Winston was satirical about the poor Rigi and its railway, calling it
+the Primrose Hill and the Devil's Dyke of Switzerland, the paradise of
+trippers, a mountain whose sides are hidden under cataracts of
+beer-bottles; but from our point of view, the vulgarities of the
+maligned mountain were mellowed by distance, and I neither could nor
+would look upon it as contemptible.
+
+Leaving the Lake of the Forest Cantons, we spun along the margin of
+the tamer sheet of Zug, to pass, beyond Arth, into the great
+wilderness caused by the fearful landslide of a century ago, when a
+mighty mass of rock and earth split off from the main bulk of the
+Rossberg and thundered down into the valley. The slow processes of
+nature had done much to cover up decently all traces of the Titan's
+rage, but the huge, bare scar on the side of the Rossberg still told
+its tale of tragedy. By the peaceful Lowerzer See the road undulated
+pleasantly, and at Schwyz (the hub of Swiss history) we had tea, the
+torn and imposing pyramids of the two Myten bravely rearing their
+heads above the mists that encumbered the valleys.
+
+There was no need to hurry, for we had the night before us, so we
+passed slowly, halting often, along the marvellous Axenstrasse, while
+Jack distilled into Molly's willing ears legends from the old heroic
+days of Switzerland, before it became the happy haven of
+hotel-keepers. From the car we could note the characteristics of the
+Cantons which had entered into the famous bond; pastoral and leafy
+Unterwalden, with green fields and orchards; Schwyz, also green and
+fertile; but Uri (the cold, highland partner in this great alliance),
+a country of towering mountains and savage rocks. Molly wanted to get
+a boat, and row across to the Rütli to stand on that spot where, in
+1307, Walter Fürst, Arnold of Melchthal, and Werner Stauffacher took
+the famous oath, and very reluctantly she gave up the wish when Jack
+pointed to the rising waves, painting in lurid colours the sudden and
+dangerous storms that sweep the Lake of Uri. When he went on, however,
+to insinuate doubts as to the historic accuracy of these old stories,
+and to hint that even William Tell might himself he an incorporeal
+legend, Molly clapped a little hand over his mouth, crying out that
+even if he had tried to destroy the Maid of Orleans he must spare
+William Tell. Further on, she made us confide the car to Gotteland on
+the Axenstrasse, while we descended the path to Tell's chapel and did
+reverence to the hero's memory. On such a day as this must it have
+been that Tell leaped ashore from the boat, leaving Gessler to look
+after himself; for the blasts were shrieking down the lake, and the
+waves dashed their foam over the ledge where stands the chapel.
+
+Jack stopped several times in the rock galleries of the Axenstrasse
+before we reached Flüelen; consequently it was evening when we
+slipped into little Altdorf, where Molly insisted on making a curtsey
+to the statue of Tell and his agreeable little boy. Winston predicted
+that we should probably not be challenged until we got to Göschenen,
+as up to that point the road does not take on a true Alpine character.
+The storm (which seemed rising to a point of fury) was in our favour,
+too, for no one would choose to be out on such a night, save mad
+English automobilists and wilful American girls.
+
+Dusk was beginning to shadow the Reussthal, as we ran past the railway
+station at Erstfeld, and began at length the ascent of the St. Gothard
+Road. The great railway (of which we had caught glimpses as we came
+along the lake) was now our companion, while on the other hand roared
+the tumbling Reuss. So hoarse and insistent was the voice of the
+stream that Molly suggested it should be "had up for brawling." It did
+us the service, however, of drowning the noise of our motor, at all
+times a discreetly silent machine; and as Jack had given orders that
+the big Bleriots should not be lighted (two good oil lamps showing us
+the way), we had high hopes that we might fly by unnoticed, on the
+wings of the storm. In Amsteg no one seemed to look upon us with
+surprise, and here the road turned, to worm itself into the heart of
+the mountains, while the railway, often disappearing into tunnels, ran
+far above our heads.
+
+By the time we had reached Gurtnellen night had fallen black and
+close, and Molly issued an edict that we should dine in the open air,
+instead of seeking the doubtful comforts of a village inn, where, too,
+we might suffer from the solicitude of some officious policeman. The
+car accordingly was run under the lee of a great rock, the
+ever-inspired Gotteland extemporised a shelter with the waterproof
+rugs, and the blue flame of the chafing-dish presently cheered us with
+its glow. The wind bellowed along the precipices, the Reuss shouted in
+its rocky bed, and once an express from Italy to the north passed high
+above us, streaming its lights through the darkness like sparks from a
+boy's squib. Yet those plutocratic travellers up in the _wagons lits_
+were not having anything like the "good time" we enjoyed, warm in our
+motor coats, sitting snug behind our rock, a lamp from the car
+illuminating our little party and shining on Molly's piquant profile
+as she brewed savoury messes in her magic cauldron. This was testing
+thoroughly the resources of the automobile, which was playing the part
+of travelling kitchen and larder as well as travelling chariot, and
+could no doubt be made, with a little ingenuity, to play the parts
+also of travelling bed and tent. Yet, as I said all this aloud to
+Jack, my mind leaped forward to other nights which I should soon be
+spending alone tinder the stars, and I thought tenderly of my
+aluminium stove and tent, my sleeping-sack, and the other camping
+tools I had bought in Bern.
+
+From where we lay hid behind our rock to Airolo was only some
+thirty-two miles, and the car ate up distance with so voracious an
+appetite, that it was clear we should arrive in the little Italian
+town in the dead waste and middle of the night. To travel a forbidden
+road on an automobile, and then to knock up a snoring innkeeper at one
+in the morning, to ask him where we could find a donkey, seemed to be
+straining unduly the sense of humour; so after consultation we decided
+that we should leave Airolo to its slumbers and speed down the Pass
+into Italy until we ran to earth the object of our quest.
+
+[Illustration: "THE BLUE FLAME OF THE CHAFING-DISH".]
+
+Molly had produced excellent coffee; the smoke of our cigarettes
+mingled its perfume with the night air. Our position had in it
+something unique, for while we were "in the heart of one of nature's
+most savage retreats" (as said a guide-book of my boyhood), we were at
+the same time enjoying the refinements of civilisation, and I
+suggested to Winston that our bivouac would form a fit subject for a
+picture labelled, in the manner of some Dutch masters, "Automobilists
+Reposing."
+
+By the time Gotteland had packed up everything, and we were seated
+once more in the car, it was nearly eleven o'clock at night. Coming
+out from the shelter of our rock, so fierce a blast of wind smote us
+that Molly would, I think, have been carried off her feet had I not
+given her a steadying arm. We had to cram our caps on our heads, or
+the wind would have torn them from us, and the voice of the motor was
+swallowed up in the shrieking of the tempest. Molly was evidently
+destined to have her wish.
+
+The car ran swiftly up the road to Wasen, and some twinkling lights
+and a huge crimson eye at the entrance to the great tunnel told us
+that we had done the ten miles to Göschenen. No one stirred in the
+streets of the village, and, gliding cat-like past the station, Jack
+put the car at the beginning of the real ascent of the famous St.
+Gothard Road. The higher we went, the more wildly roared the storm.
+There was something appalling in the fierce volleyings of the wind
+along the stark and broken faces of the precipice: it was like the
+rattle of thunder. In the sombre defile of the Schöllenen the air
+rushed as through a funnel. We could see nothing save the thread-like
+road illuminated by our steadfast lanterns--the sole beacon of safety
+in this welter. We had a ghostly impression of winding through a
+narrow gorge, the river roaring in its depths; then, dashing through
+an avalanche gallery (where the lights played strange tricks with the
+vaulted roof), we came out upon the Devil's Bridge. The spray from the
+Reuss, which here drops a full hundred feet into the abyss, lashed our
+faces as with whips; the storm leaped at us out of the blackness like
+a wolf; the car quivered, and for an instant it seemed that we should
+be hurled against the parapet of the bridge. But we passed unharmed,
+and a quarter of a mile further on Winston stopped in the welcome
+shelter of the Urner Loch, a tunnelled passage in the rock.
+
+We gasped out broken expressions of a fearful joy; then, seeing that
+Molly was well, and that the wind-wolf's teeth had torn nothing from
+the car, Jack went full speed ahead again, steering along the open
+Urseren Valley, where we had fleeting glimpses of green fields instead
+of granite rocks. Thus we came to Andermatt, where not the eye of a
+mouse seemed open to mark our quick and stealthy passage. We were now
+on that great mountain highroad that slants in a straight line across
+almost all Switzerland from Coire to Martigny; but we kept on it only
+for a little while, to steal through Hospenthal--as dead asleep as the
+other villages (for Labour had not yet begun to waken in its hard
+bed), and take the southern road that leads to Italy.
+
+Thus far, audacity had been laurelled by success. It was near one in
+the morning, and we were spinning fast up a valley which showed
+bleakly in the flying lights of our car. Soon Jack called to us that
+we had crossed the border line of the Canton Ticino, and presently
+through the blackness twinkled the little lakes which mark the summit
+of the Pass. We were nearly seven thousand feet above the sea, and
+suddenly, as we crossed the ridge and began to sail down the dismal
+Val Tremolo towards Airolo, the great wind that had made majestic
+music all day and night ceased to blow. We ran into a zone of
+motionless, ice-cold air, and what seemed an unnatural silence, only
+the hum of the motor breaking the frozen stillness of these high
+Alpine solitudes.
+
+The road plunged to lower levels in interminable windings, the car
+swooping in a series of bird-like flights, exhilarating to the nerves,
+thrilling to the imagination; for in the blackness that held us we
+could but guess at abysses which dropped away almost from under the
+tyres of our wheels. Sometimes we dashed over foaming rivers, and soon
+we sped through Airolo, where yet no one moved. Now the loud-voiced
+Ticino was our companion, and we swept down through an open valley to
+Faido, where we met the first human being we had seen since we left
+Gurtnellen. It was a very old man, with a red cap, like a stocking,
+pulled close upon his head. He had a rake on his shoulder, and we were
+close on him before he knew; for the car was coasting, and ran with
+hardly any noise save the whir of the chains. For a flashing instant
+that old face shone out of the circle of our lights, concave with
+astonishment; then we lost it forever.
+
+"No fear that _he_ will telephone to have us stopped lower down," said
+Molly. "He thinks we are supernatural, and will go home and tell his
+grandchildren that he has seen witches tearing home after a revel up
+among the glaciers."
+
+Faster still the car flew down the road. The air that streamed past us
+held the faint, elusive perfume of Italy, which softly hints the
+presence of the walnut, the chestnut, and the grape. Through village
+after village we swept at speed, our lamps shining now on mulberry and
+fig trees, and on vines trained over trellises held up by splintered
+granite slabs. Next we came suddenly upon an Italian-looking town with
+bad _pavé_ and dimly lighted streets, where three or four workmen,
+early astir, stared at us in bewilderment. It was Bellinzona; but
+passing through, we came out presently on the margin of an immense
+sheet of water, and it was only in Locarno on the edge of Lago
+Maggiore, when dawn was paling the eastern sky, that Jack at last drew
+rein.
+
+No one was tired; no one wanted to rest. On the contrary, our rapid
+flight over the Alps had intoxicated us with the sense of speed; and
+we were all excitedly for going on until we should reach the frontier.
+As pink dawn blossomed in the sky, like a heavenly orchard, and the
+mountain tops were beaten into copper, we glided along the edge of the
+lake, past picturesque villages and _campanili_, and cypress trees. At
+the Italian frontier there were the usual tedious formalities of
+payment and sealing the car with a leaden seal; but when all this was
+done by sleepy officials, surly at our early passage, though little
+recking of our crimes, we sailed on again, Molly driving now, through
+a landscape magically clear in the young morning light.
+
+Suddenly we all started in joyous astonishment, and Molly brought the
+car to a stop. Each had seen the same thing, each had been struck with
+the same thought. Here, at last, we had found what we had come so far
+to seek; what Switzerland denied us, Italy offered. Standing alone in
+a field by the roadside was a small, dark grey donkey, tethered to a
+stone; and no other living being was in sight. The creature was not
+eating; it was only thinking; and it looked at us with an eye that
+seemed to speak of loneliness and the desire for human fellowship.
+"The very thing for you!" cried Molly; and the long-sought-for
+treasure, finding itself observed, flicked one of its heavy ears.
+
+Gotteland and I dismounted and went nearer. As we approached, the
+donkey nickered; and as its family is famed for reticence, such proof
+of friendliness made me yearn to possess the deserted little beast.
+But its legs were very thin, its hoofs exceedingly small, and the
+thought of loading so frail a structure with the great packs that held
+my camping kit seemed a barbarity. Meanwhile Gotteland, who knows
+something of everything, had carefully examined the tiny animal, and
+just as I was growing sentimental over its perfections, he broke the
+charm by pronouncing it to be incredibly old, and unfit for work. He
+also drew my attention to a disagreeable sore upon its shoulder. It
+was sad; but indisputably the man was right; in any case there was no
+one with whom a bargain could have been arranged, and with poignant
+regret I was forced to leave my treasure-trove to its solitary
+thoughts. After this we did not stop again until Molly steered the car
+to the door of a beautiful hotel in Pallanza, where the shirt-sleeved
+concierge hurried into his gold-laced coat, to receive in fitting
+style the unusually early guests.
+
+My first care, after coffee and a bath, was to examine the landlord
+of the hotel on momentous question of mules and donkeys. At Lucerne, I
+told him, they had assured me that the animals "flourished" in Canton
+Ticino and the neighbourhood of the Italian Lakes. But I met with no
+encouragement. Mules and donkeys were rarely seen in these parts, the
+host declared. True, a few peasants employed them in the fields; but
+those were poor things, unfit for an excursion such as Monsieur
+purposed. At Piedimulera, perhaps, Monsieur would find what he wanted;
+yes, at Piedimulera, or if not, at Domodossola; or--his face
+brightened--in the Valais, preferably at Brig. Yes, he was certain
+that mules and asses in abundance could be found at Brig in the Rhone
+Valley. Brig! My heart sank. It was the old story. Counterfeiting
+patience, I explained that I had an antipathy to the Rhone Valley, and
+had actually crossed the Alps to find animals in Italy rather than be
+driven to seek them in Brig.
+
+Crushed by a hopeless, answering gesture, I made my report to Molly
+and Jack. "It will end," I said, "in my traversing the world, and
+eventually arriving in Japan, still searching the _rara avis_. By that
+time I shall have become a harmless lunatic, and people will treat my
+babblings with indulgent forbearance, when I go from house to house
+begging to be supplied with a pack-mule or a pack-donkey."
+
+At _déjeuner_, in a garden which was a successful imitation of Eden,
+the situation did not, however, look so dark. The perfume of flowers,
+distilled by the hot sun, was of Araby the Blest; the Borromean
+Islands spread their enchantments before us, across a glittering blue
+expanse of lake, and the world was after all endurable, though empty
+of mules. Besides, Molly was a sweet consoler. She dwelt on the
+hopeful suggestion in the name Piedimulera. It could not be wholly
+deceiving, she argued. Why name a place Foot-of-a-Mule, if there were
+no mules there?
+
+"If there aren't," I exclaimed, "I swear to you that I will, by fair
+means or foul, dispose of at Piedimulera all the things with which I
+fondly thought to deck the animal my fancy had painted. Everything I
+bought at Bern shall go, if I have to dig a grave by night in which to
+bury them. This is a vow, and though my heart be wrung, I'll keep it."
+
+Molly listened to this outburst as gravely as if I had been
+threatening to sacrifice a son, did not some incredible good fortune
+supply a ram caught by his horns in the bushes.
+
+For Piedimulera we left in the afternoon, somewhat buoyed up by the
+omen of the name. The way led back towards the Alps, up a broad and
+beautiful valley strewn with evidences of the works for the Simplon
+railway: embankments, bridges, quarries, and occasional groups of
+workmen hauling rhythmically on the many ropes of a pile-driver.
+Presently we swerved from the main road, and crossed the valley bed,
+obedient to the map, which was our only guide to Piedimulera. We
+passed one or two romantically placed, ancient villages, each of which
+I hoped might be our goal; but, as usual in life, the town for which
+we were bound did not appear as alluring as other towns, where we had
+no need to stop.
+
+"I feel there will be not so much as the ghost of a long-perished
+Roman mule in this hamlet," I said despondently, hoping that Molly
+would contradict me. But she, too, looked anxious, now that the great
+moment had come, for we were driving into a town, at the mouth of a
+deep gorge already dusky with purpling shadows, and there was no doubt
+that it was Piedimulera.
+
+The gloom of the twilight settled upon our spirits, dissimulate as we
+might, as the car swept into the cobble-paved courtyard of an
+_albergo_, a venerable grandfather of a hostelry, old, grim, and
+forbidding. Out came a large, fair man to welcome us, with calculation
+in his cold grey eye. He looked to me like a spider in his web,
+greeting some inviting flies. We broke the ice by asking for coffee,
+and when we were told that we must have it without milk, as there were
+no cows within a radius of many miles, I would have staked all my
+possessions (especially those acquired at Bern) that there would be no
+such comparatively useless animals as mules or donkeys.
+
+Instinct is seldom wrong. If ever there was nothing in a name, there
+was nothing in that of Piedimulera, which had evidently been applied
+in sheer mockery, or because, untold generations ago, the foot of that
+rare creature, a mule, had been preserved here in a museum. When the
+landlord found that we did not intend to stop overnight, unless mules
+were at once forthcoming, he visibly lost interest in us, as inedible
+insects. He shrugged his shoulders at the bare idea that Piedimulera
+might shelter such creatures as we were mad enough to desire, and
+assured us that there was not the least use in trying Domodossola. We
+had much better spend the night with him, and to-morrow morning go on
+as best we might to Brig. No? Then he washed his hands of us.
+
+I did not give my treasures to this person: rather would I have burnt
+all, than picture him battening on my Instantaneous Breakfasts. Molly
+would have had me keep them, at least until we knew what fate awaited
+us at Domodossola. The moment I had irrevocably parted with my outfit,
+bought in happier days, I should find a mule, and how annoyed would I
+be, she prophesied. But I was adamant. Had I not made a vow? Besides,
+if I were to find a mule or donkey the moment I had got rid of his
+paraphernalia, that alone was an inducement to throw the cargo
+overboard.
+
+On our way to Domodossola, I saw a pretty dark-eyed young woman, with
+a cherubic baby in her arms, standing in the doorway of a tumble-down
+cottage. Evidently she was waiting to greet her husband when he should
+come home, weary with his long day's work. Quickly I made a decision
+and with the same abruptness I had used in urging Molly to draw before
+the too attractive shop in Bern, I begged her now to stop. My white
+elephants were stowed away in separate bundles in the tonneau, where,
+ever since Lucerne, they had been the cause of cramps and "pins and
+needles" to the feet of any member of the party who sat there. I
+ruthlessly collected the lot, and, well-nigh swamped by the load, I
+carried them to the cottage door, where I laid all at the feet of the
+young mother. She suddenly became an incarnate point of admiration,
+and could scarcely believe that I was sane, or that she was not
+dreaming when I explained my wish to make her a present. If I had
+stayed an hour, I could not have dissipated her bewilderment, so I
+left the things to speak for themselves--if she did not take them for
+infernal machines and throw them into the river.
+
+It was evening when we arrived at Domodossola, and I felt nothing
+save cold resignation when told emphatically by the concierge of our
+chosen hotel that my quest was hopeless.
+
+"You will have to go to Brig," he said; and though he was an
+intelligent and worthy man, I could have smitten him to earth.
+
+"You must abandon me to my fate," I told Jack and Molly. "_Il est trop
+fort._ If I'm to walk the face of the earth, I want a pack-mule and a
+man; and, 'somehow, somewhere, somewhen,' I mean to have them. But
+you've more than done your duty by me. You can get back to Lucerne
+from here comfortably, without daring any more mountain passes and
+fines for law-breaking. Since to Brig I must go, I'll make a virtue of
+necessity, and walk over the Simplon, to see the tunnel and railway
+works."
+
+"Walk, if you will," said Molly; "but if I know my Lightning Conductor
+and myself, we'll see you through to the end, be it bitter or sweet."
+
+"Echo answers," added Jack. "If you want to see things clearly, you
+must have daylight, and if we wish to escape the arm of the law, we
+must fly by night, which means that we can't join forces till the
+journey's end."
+
+"You needn't think we're sacrificing ourselves, for we should love
+it," Molly capped him. "We're having the jam of adventure spread thick
+on our bread now."
+
+"Well, then, everything's settled," said Jack, "except the start."
+
+Molly thought a day in Domodossola too much. It was decided, therefore,
+that they should rest till eleven, and that the motor should be ready
+at midnight. They could reach Brig between two and three, and being a
+posting town, the hotel people were sure to be up. I was to start
+early in the morning, and meet my friends at Brig, after walking over
+the Pass.
+
+I saw them off, and then plunged fathoms deep into sleep, dreaming of
+a land flowing with mules and donkeys. At five, I was up, and was
+surprised to find that the despised Domodossola was a beautiful and
+interesting old town, with curiously Spanish effects in its shadowy
+streets, lined with ancient, arcaded houses. I thought to save time
+and fatigue by taking a carriage to the frontier village of Iselle at
+the foot of the Pass, and was glad I had done so, for the road was
+rough and covered inches deep with a deposit of peculiar, grey dust.
+But things mended when we climbed a hill, turned out of the main
+valley, and followed the course of the river Diveria into a lateral
+gorge of the mountains, the real porchway or entrance of the Simplon
+Pass.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+At Last!
+
+    "A Jack-o'-lantern, a fairy fire,
+     A dare, a bliss, and a desire."
+    --BLISS CARMAN.
+
+    "Here a great personal deed has room."
+    --WALT WHITMAN.
+
+
+The further I penetrated into the mountains, the more like a vast
+engineering workshop did the long Alpine valley become. Yet, curiously
+enough, instead of destroying romance, this gave a certain majestic
+romance of its own; the romance of man's struggle to conquer the
+stupendous forces of Nature with his science. It was as if Vulcan's
+stithy had been dropped down into a profound ravine of the Alps, and
+the drone of machinery mingled with the music of the fleeting river--a
+strange diapason.
+
+On the right of the highroad, the flat mountain face opened a black,
+egg-shaped mouth at me. I got out of the carriage to approach it, and
+while I stood peering down the dark throat, as if I were a Lilliputian
+doctor examining the tongue of Giant Gulliver, I was suddenly clapped
+upon the shoulder. It flashed into my mind that perhaps it was
+forbidden to stare at the tunnel-in-making; and turning to defend
+myself from a lash of red tape, with the adage that "a cat may look at
+a king," I saw a man I had known years ago smiling at me.
+
+[Illustration: "I WAS SUDDENLY CLAPPED UPON THE SHOULDER".]
+
+I have a worldly-minded cousin who says that she is always nice to
+girls, because "you never know whom they may marry." It might be
+equally diplomatic to be nice to foreigners who are at Oxford with
+you, because you don't know that they may not become famous engineers,
+able to show you interesting things when you visit their country.
+Giovanni Bolzano had been at Balliol with me, studying English, and
+now it turned out that he was second engineer to the works for the new
+tunnel. I recalled with poignant regret that Jack Winston and I had
+once made hay of his room; but evidently he bore no malice, for after
+saying that he was not surprised to see me, as everybody came this way
+sooner or later, he offered to show me his tunnel, of which this was
+the Italian mouth. It had another at Brig, twelve miles away, and
+boasted the longest throat in the world, but as it was marvellously
+ventilated, it would never choke in its own smoke, and Bolzano was
+very proud of the engineering achievement. Having discharged my
+carriage, I went with him into a workshop, heard the humming of
+dynamos, and the buzzing of tremendous turbines, actuated by the fall
+of the river Diveria, and gazed with the fascination of a mouse for a
+cat at a huge and diabolical fan, driving air into the tunnel. This
+fearful beast had a house to itself, with a passage down which you
+could venture like Theseus entering the labyrinth of the Minotaur; but
+such was the volume of breath which it drew into its mighty lungs that
+you must use all your strength not to be sucked in and hurled against
+the shafting; all your self-control not to be confused by its loud,
+unceasing roar.
+
+Hardly had we come out from this weird place, which would have given
+Edgar Allan Poe an inspiration for a creepy tale, when Bolzano showed
+me a relief gang of men getting ready to enter the tunnel, in a train
+consisting of wooden boxes drawn by a miniature locomotive. This was
+my chance. I was hurried off to his quarters, helped into rough,
+miner's clothing, with great boots up to my knees, and given a miner's
+lamp. Then, joining the eight hundred Italians,--a battalion of the
+soldiers of Labour,--we got into a box, and set off to relieve eight
+hundred other such soldiers who for eight hours had toiled in the
+schisty heart of the mountain.
+
+I felt as if suddenly, between sleeping and waking, I had plunged deep
+into the dusk of dreamland. We rumbled through a lofty egg-shaped
+vault, lined with masonry, lighted waveringly, with strange play of
+shadow, by our many lamps. This phase of the dream seemed to last a
+long time; and then the train of boxes slowed down, for we had reached
+the danger-point, a part of the tunnel where the hidden Genii of the
+Mountain had planned a trap to upset all geological expectations.
+Having allowed the engineers to penetrate thus far, they had suddenly
+flooded the tunnel with cataracts of water from fissures in the rock,
+and had laughed wild, echoing laughter because they had contrived to
+delay the work for a year, and cause the spending of much extra money.
+
+The dream showed me now a long iron cage, shoring up the crumbling
+walls of the excavation; and through this cage we crept like a
+procession of wary mice, suddenly putting on speed at the end, till we
+reached the tunnel-head, and found another train preparing to go out.
+
+Here the dream flung me into a teeming Inferno of darkness and lost
+spirits who (spent with eight hours' monotonous toil in this Circle)
+had dropped asleep, sitting half-naked in the line of boxes which
+would bear them away to a spell of rest. They had fallen into pathetic
+attitudes of collapse, some lying back with their mouths open, some
+resting their heads on folded arms, some drooping on comrades'
+shoulders.
+
+As our train-load of Activity came to a stand, this other train-load
+of Exhaustion rumbled slowly away, the smoky lamps glinting on
+polished, olive-coloured flesh, on hairy arms, and swarthy faces shut
+to consciousness.
+
+Close to the tunnel-head we alighted, and went on into the dream on
+foot, the gallery contracting to a few feet in height, where a group
+of black figures bent over rock-drills which creaked and groaned. I
+saw the drill-holes filled with dynamite, and retired with the others
+while the fuse was lighted. I heard from afar off the thunderous
+detonations as the rock-face was shattered. I saw the débris being
+cleared away, before the drills should begin to grind again; and the
+remembrance that, in another rathole on the Swiss side, another party
+of workers was patiently advancing towards us, in precisely the same
+way, sent a mysterious thrill through my blood.
+
+"Suppose the two galleries don't meet end to end?" I spoke out my
+thought.
+
+"But they will," said Bolzano. "Our calculations are precise, and we
+have allowed for an error of two inches: I do not think there will be
+more. There is a great system of triangulation across the mountains,
+and every few months our reckonings are verified. By-and-bye, we shall
+hear the sound of each other's drills; then, down will come the last
+dividing wall of rock, and Swiss and Italians will be shaking hands."
+
+I think, in coming out of the dark tunnels and windy galleries, I felt
+somewhat as Jonah must have felt after he had been discarded in
+distaste by the whale. The light dazzled my eyes. I could have shouted
+aloud with joy at sight of the sun. I made Bolzano breakfast with me
+in the little inn at Iselle, and got upon my way again, at something
+past noon. The vast turmoil of the growing railway was left behind. It
+was like putting down a volume of Walt Whitman, and taking up
+Tennyson.
+
+The Pass had the extraordinary individuality of one face as compared
+with another. It had not even a family resemblance to the St. Gothard.
+The air was sweet with the good smell of newly cut wood and resinous
+pines. There were sudden glimpses of icy peaks, cut diamonds in the
+sun, seen for a moment, then swallowed up by stealthily creeping white
+clouds, or caressed by them with a benediction in passing. Thin
+streaks of cascades on precipitous rocks made silver veinings in
+ebony. Side valleys opened unexpectedly, and one knew from hearsay
+that gold mines were hidden there. Treading the road built by
+Napoleon, I was enveloped in the gloom of the wondrous Gondo Schlucht,
+to come out into a broad valley,--a green amphitheatre, above which a
+company of white, mountain gods sat grouped to watch a cloud-fight.
+
+If I had not been heart-broken by the cruelty of Helen Blantock, I
+should have been almost minded to thank her for sending me here. But
+then,--I reminded myself hastily when this thought winked at me over
+my shoulder,--I was stunned still, by my heavy disappointment. I was
+not conscious to the full of my suffering now, but I should wake up to
+it by-and-bye, and then it would be awful--as awful as the desolation
+left by a recent great avalanche whose appalling traces I had just
+seen.
+
+[Illustration: "TREADING THE ROAD BUILT BY NAPOLÉON".]
+
+I refused to be interested in the old Hospice of St. Bernard, or the
+newer Hospice, built by order of Napoleon, because neither seemed to
+me the real thing. If I could not see the Hospice of St. Bernard on
+the Pass of Great St. Bernard, I would not see any other hospices
+called by his name. If possible, I would have gone by them with my
+eyes shut; but at the new Hospice the yapping of a dozen adorable
+puppies in a kennel opposite lured me, and I paused to talk to them.
+They did not understand my language, and this was disappointing; but
+if I had not stopped I should have missed a short cut which I half
+saw, half suspected, dimly zigzagging down the mountain into an
+extraordinarily deep valley, and tending in the direction of Brig. It
+would have been a pity to pass it by, for though I often thought
+myself lost, I eventually caught sight of a town, lying far below,
+which could be no other than the one for which I was bound. After
+three hours of fast walking down from the Hospice, I plunged through
+an old archway into the main street of Brig.
+
+Coming into it, I stopped to gaze up in astonishment at an enormous
+house which looked to me as big as Windsor Castle. Indeed, to call it
+a house does not express its personality at all; yet it was hardly
+magnificent enough for a castle. At each corner was an immense tower,
+ornamented with a big bulb of copper, like a gigantic and glorified
+Spanish onion. A beautiful Renaissance gallery, flung across from one
+tall building to another, lent grace to the otherwise too solid pile,
+and I guessed that I must have come upon the ancient stronghold and
+mansion of the famous Stockalper family, still existing and still one
+of the most important in Switzerland. In the Pass I had seen the
+towers built by the first Stockalper--that Gaspar who in mediæval days
+was called "King of the Simplon"; who protected travellers and
+controlled the caravan traffic between Italy and Switzerland; now, to
+see the house which he had founded still occupied by his descendants,
+fixed more pictorially in my mind the stirring legends connected with
+the man.
+
+The little town of Brig seemed noisy and gay after the great silence
+of the Pass. Church bells were ringing, whips were cracking; in the
+central place there were crowding shops, bright with colour, and
+lights were beginning to shine out from the windows of the hotels.
+
+I was to meet the Winstons at the Hôtel Couronne; and as I ventured to
+show my travel-stained person in the hall, I was greeted by a vision:
+Molly in white muslin, dressed for dinner.
+
+"What, you already!" she exclaimed. "You must have come over the Pass
+by steam or electricity. We didn't expect you for an hour. We've lots
+to tell you, and oh, I've bought you a sweet revolver, which you are
+always to have about you, on your walking trip, though Jack laughed at
+me for doing it. But now, for your adventures."
+
+In a few words I sketched them, and learned that the motor had again
+pulled wool over the eyes of the law; then Molly must have seen in
+mine that there was a question which I wished, but hesitated, to ask.
+If a man may have a beam in his eye, why not a mule?
+
+"We've been interviewing animals of various sorts for you all day,"
+she said. "I've had a kind of employment agency for mules, and have
+taken their characters and capacities. But----"
+
+"There's a 'but,' is there?" I cut into her ominous pause.
+
+"Well, the nicest beasts are all engaged for days ahead, or else their
+owners can't spare them for a long trip; or else they're too young; or
+else they're too old; or else they're _hideous_. At least, there's one
+who's hideous, and I'm sorry to say he's the only one you can have."
+
+"'Twas ever thus, from childhood's hour.'"
+
+"But the landlord says there are dozens of mules at Martigny."
+
+"A mere mirage."
+
+"No, he has telephoned. But you'll look at the one here, I suppose, if
+only as a matter of form? I think he's outside now."
+
+"Let him be brought before me," I said, with the air of a tyrant in a
+melodrama; and, by the way, I have always thought it would be very
+pleasant being a tyrant by profession, like Him of Syracuse, for
+instance. You could do all the things you wanted to do, without
+consulting the convenience of anybody else, or having it on your
+conscience that you hadn't.
+
+At this moment Jack appeared. It seemed that he had been putting the
+mule (the one available mule) through his paces, and the wretched
+fellow was laughing. "It's not funny, at all," said I, thinking it was
+the situation which amused him. But Jack explained that it wasn't
+that. "It's the brute's tail," said he. "When you see it, you'll know
+what I mean."
+
+I did know, at sight. The organ--if a mule's tail can be called an
+organ--had mean proportions and a hideous activity which expressed to
+my mind a base and depraved nature. Had there been no other of his
+kind on earth, I would still have refused to take this beast as my
+companion; and after a few moments' feverish discussion, it was
+arranged that after all we must go through the Rhone Valley to-morrow
+to Martigny.
+
+But the Rhone Valley, radiant in morning light, heaped coals of fire
+upon my head. I had maligned perfection. There was all the difference
+between the country between Brig and Martigny seen from a
+railway-carriage window, and seen from a motor car, that there is
+between the back of a woman's head when she is giving you the cut
+direct, and her face when she is smiling on you.
+
+The Rhone Valley tame! The Rhone Valley monotonous! It was poetry
+ready for the pen of Shelley, and a scene for the brush of Turner. The
+little towns sleeping on the shoulders of the mountains, or rising
+turreted from hardy rocks bathed by the golden river; the peeps up
+cool lateral valleys to blue glaciers; the near green slopes and
+distant, waving seas of snowy splendour left a series of pictures in
+the mind; and best of all was Martigny's tower pointing a slender
+finger skyward from its high hill.
+
+Late in the afternoon, as the car whirled us into the garden of the
+Hôtel Mont Blanc, we came face to face with two mules. They had
+brought back a man and a girl from some excursion. The landlord was at
+the door to receive his guests. Jack, Molly, and I flung the same
+question at his head, at the same moment. Was the situation as it had
+been when he telephoned? Could I hire a mule and a man, not for a day
+or two, but for a long journey--a journey half across the world if I
+liked?
+
+The answer was that I might have five mules and five men for a
+journey all across the world if it were my pleasure.
+
+It sounded like a problem in mental arithmetic, but I thanked my stars
+that there seemed no further need for me to struggle over its
+solution.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+The Making of a Mystery
+
+    "There was the secret . . .
+       Hid in . . . grey, young eyes."
+                    --ALICE MEYNELL.
+
+    "Henceforth I whimper no more, postpone no more."
+                                       --WALT WHITMAN.
+
+
+In my opinion it is a sign of strength rather than of weakness, to
+change one's mind with a good grace. For my part, I find pleasure in
+the experience, feeling refreshed by it, as if I had had a bath, and
+got into clean linen after a hot walk. Changing the mind gives also
+somewhat the same sensation as waking in the morning with the
+consciousness that no one on earth has ever seen this day before; or
+the satisfaction one has on breaking an egg, the inside of which no
+human eye has beheld until that moment. A change of mind bestows on
+one for the time being a new Ego; therefore I did not grudge myself my
+delight in the once despised Rhone Valley. Nevertheless, I was glad
+that the Mule of Brig had been one with which I could conscientiously
+decline to associate. My resolve not to take a pack-mule there had
+become so fixed, that to have uprooted it would have seemed a
+confession of failure. Besides, the need to go on to Martigny had
+given an excuse for another day with Jack, Molly, and Mercédès.
+
+I had been as happy as a man whose duty it is to be broken-hearted,
+may dare to be. But the next morning came at Martigny, and with my
+bath the news that the five promised men with their five mules awaited
+my choice.
+
+I had secretly hoped that the day might be mule-less till evening, for
+in that case Jack and Molly would probably stay on, and I should not
+be left alone in the world until to-morrow.
+
+However, it was not to be. I gave myself the satisfaction of keeping
+the mules waiting, on the principle of always doing unto others what
+they have done unto you; and after a leisurely toilet, I went down to
+hold the review.
+
+Four men, with four mules, started forward eagerly, jostling each
+other, at sight of me accompanied by the landlord. But one held back a
+little, with a modest dignity, as if he were too proud to push himself
+into notice, or too generous to exalt himself at the expense of
+others. He was a slim, dark man of middle height, past thirty in age,
+perhaps, with a look of the soldier in the bearing of his shoulders
+and head. He had very short black hair; high cheekbones, where the
+rich brown of his skin was touched with russet; deep-set, thoughtful
+eyes, and a melancholy droop of the moustache. His collar was
+incredibly tall and shiny, with turn-down points; he wore a red tie;
+his thick brown clothes might have been bought ready made in the
+Edgeware Road; evidently he had honoured the occasion with his Sunday
+best. While his comrades jabbered together, in patois which flung in a
+French word now and then, like a sop to Cerberus, he spoke not a word;
+yet I saw his lips tighten, as he laid his arm over the neck of a
+small but well-built mule of a colour which matched its master's
+clothing. The animal rubbed a brown velvet head against the brown
+waistcoat which, perhaps, covered a fast-beating heart. From that
+instant I knew that this was my man, and this my mule, as certainly as
+if they had been tattooed with my family crest and truculent motto:
+"What I will, I take."
+
+"You've been a soldier, haven't you?" I asked the muleteer in French.
+
+He saluted as he replied that he had, and that for several years he
+had served a French general, as orderly. His name was Joseph Marcoz,
+and--he added--he was a Protestant.
+
+"And your mule?" I asked.
+
+"Finois, Monsieur."
+
+"Ah, but his persuasion? He is Protestant, too?" If Joseph had looked
+puzzled, I should have been disappointed, but a spark of humour lit
+the gloom of his sombre eye. "Finois is Pantheist, I think you call
+it, Monsieur. I am persuaded that he has a soul, for which there will
+be a place in the Beyond; and if he goes there first, I hope that he
+will be looking out for me."
+
+It seemed a sudden drop, after this preface, to turn to bargaining.
+The landlord made the break for me, however, when he saw that I had
+set my mind upon Marcoz and his Finois. It then appeared that Joseph
+was not his own master, but worked for the real owner of Finois and
+other mules. The price he would have to ask for such a journey as I
+proposed was twenty-five francs a day. This would include the services
+of man and mule, food for the one, and fodder for the other. Without
+any beating down, I accepted the terms proposed, and the only part of
+the arrangement left in doubt was the time of starting. It was not
+eight o'clock, yet already the diligences and private carriages going
+over the Grand St. Bernard had departed with a jingling of bells and
+sharp cracking of whips which had first informed me that it was day.
+With me, it was different, however. Speed was no longer my aim. I
+would not be in a hurry about arriving anywhere, and when I learned
+that there were a couple of small towns on the Pass, at either of
+which I could lie for a night, there seemed no fair excuse for keeping
+Jack and Molly at Martigny.
+
+As I was wondering when they would wake, that I might consult them on
+the details of my journey, I glanced up and saw Molly, as fresh as if
+she had been born with the morning, standing on a balcony just over my
+head. In her hand was a letter, and as she waved a greeting, something
+came fluttering uncertainly down. I managed to catch this something
+before it touched earth, and had inadvertently seen that it was an
+unmounted photograph, probably taken by an amateur correspondent, when
+Molly leaned over the railing, with an excited cry. "Oh, don't look.
+Please, _please_ don't look at that photograph!" she exclaimed.
+
+"Of course I won't," I answered, slightly hurt. "What do you take me
+for?"
+
+"I know you wouldn't mean to," she answered. "But you might glance
+involuntarily. You _didn't_ see it, did you?"
+
+Suddenly I was tempted to tease her. "Would it be so very dreadful if
+I did?"
+
+"Yes, dreadful," she echoed solemnly. "Don't joke. Do please tell me,
+one way or the other, if you saw what was in the picture?"
+
+"You may set your mind at ease. If it were to save my life, I couldn't
+tell whether the photograph was of man, woman, boy, girl, or beast;
+and now I'm holding it face downward."
+
+Molly broke into a laugh. "Good!" she exclaimed. "I'm coming to claim
+my property, and to look at your new acquisitions. I've been
+criticising them from the window, and I congratulate you."
+
+A moment later she was beside me, had taken her mysterious photograph,
+and hidden it between the pages of a letter, covered with writing in a
+pretty and singularly individual hand. She explained that a whole
+budget of "mail" had been forwarded to Martigny, in consequence of a
+telegram sent to Lucerne, and then, as if forgetting the episode, she
+applied herself to winning the hearts of the man Joseph and the mule
+Finois.
+
+Presently we were joined by Winston, and I broached the subject of the
+start. "The idea is," I said, "to begin as I mean to go on, with a
+walk of from twenty to thirty miles a day, according to the scenery
+and my inclination. Marcoz thinks that we could pass the night
+comfortably enough at a place called Bourg St. Pierre, even if we
+didn't get away from here for an hour or so. Then early to-morrow we
+would push on for the Hospice, and reach Aosta in the evening."
+
+"It would be a mistake to leave here in the heat of the day, don't you
+think so?" said Jack. "Much better if we all stopped on, did some
+sightseeing, and then Molly and I bade you good speed about half-past
+seven to-morrow morning."
+
+"But, Lightning Conductor, you forget we can't stay. You know--_the
+letters_," said Molly, with one of those deep, meaning glances which
+her lovely eyes had more than once sent Jack, when there was some
+question as to our ultimate parting. My heart invariably responded to
+this glance with a pang, as a nerve responds to electricity. She
+wished to go away with her Lightning Conductor, and leave me at the
+mercy of a mule. Well, I would accept my lonely lot without
+complaining, but not without silently reflecting that happy lovers are
+selfish beings at best.
+
+The forlorn consciousness that I was of superlative importance to no
+one was heavy upon me. I wanted somebody to care a great deal what
+became of me, and evidently nobody did. I was horribly homesick at
+breakfast, and the Winstons' gaiety in the face of our parting seemed
+the last straw in my burden. Perhaps Molly saw this straw in my eyes,
+for she looked at me half wistfully for a moment, and then said, "If
+we weren't sure this walking trip of yours will do you more good than
+anything else, we wouldn't let you leave us, for we have loved having
+you. We'll write to you at Aosta, where you will be staying for a
+couple of days, and give you our itinerary, with lots of addresses. By
+that time, you too will have made up your mind about your route. You
+will have decided whether to branch off among the bye-ways, or go
+straight on south, although you mustn't go _too_ quickly, and get
+there too early----"
+
+"I don't believe I shall have made up my mind to anything in Aosta,"
+said I gloomily. "I feel that I shall still be unequal to that, or any
+other mental effort, and what is to become of me, Heaven, Joseph, and
+Finois alone know."
+
+"Now, isn't it funny, I feel exactly the opposite? Something seems to
+tell me that at Aosta, if not before, you will, so to speak, 'read
+your title clear,'" said Molly, with aggravating cheerfulness. "As
+soon as you've settled what way to take, you must write or wire; and
+who knows but by-and-bye we shall cross each other's path again, on
+the road to the Riviera?"
+
+I revived a little. "I don't think you told me that you were going to
+run down there. Jack was talking about keeping mostly to Switzerland,
+I thought."
+
+"But Switzerland will turn a cold shoulder upon us, as the autumn
+comes to spoil its disposition, and we were saying only this morning
+that it would be fine to make a rush to the Riviera, for a wind up to
+our trip."
+
+"You see, Molly had a letter----" Jack had begun to speak with an
+absent-minded air, but suddenly recovered himself. "We don't care to
+get back to England till November," he hastily went on. "I want Molly
+to have some hunting and a jolly round of country houses just to see
+what we can do to make an English winter tolerable. We've got four or
+five ripping invitations, and in January Mistress Molly herself will
+have to play hostess to a big house party, at Brighthelmston Park,
+which the mater and governor have lent us till next season."
+
+If he had wanted to take my mind off an inadvertence, he could
+scarcely have manoeuvred better, but why the inadvertence (if it had
+been one) could concern me, it was difficult to imagine.
+
+There was a friendly dispute as to whether Molly and jack should see
+me off, or whether I should wish them good-bye before starting on my
+journey; but in the end it was settled that I should be the one to
+leave first. Perhaps they believed that, if left to myself, I should
+never start at all; perhaps they wished to add photographs of the
+mule-party to their Kodak collection, already large; or perhaps they
+thought only how to make the parting pleasantest for me, since I had
+no one, and they had each other.
+
+[Illustration: "THERE WAS A PANG WHEN I TURNED MY BACK".]
+
+In any case, at ten o'clock all that was left of my store was placed
+upon the back of Finois, who had the air of ignoring its existence,
+and mine as well. Had he been a horse, he would at least have deigned
+to exchange glances with me, friendly or otherwise; but being what he
+was, he looked everywhere except at me, as if he had been some haughty
+aristocrat conscientiously snubbing an offensive upstart. Joseph
+appeared to be the one human being of more importance for Finois than
+the moving bough of an inedible tree, bush, or shrub, and even Molly
+could win him to no change of facial expression, though he ate her
+offered sugar.
+
+There was a pang when I turned my back irrevocably upon my friends,
+having waved my hand or my panama so often that to do so again would
+he ridiculous. We were off, Joseph, Finois, and I; there was no
+getting round it; and as we ambled away along the hot white road, we
+seemed but small things in the scheme of a busy and indifferent
+world--mere cards, shuffled by the hands of an expert, for a game in
+which our destination was unknown.
+
+[Illustration: No Title]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+The Brat
+
+    "Be kind and courteous to this gentleman; hop in his walk
+    and gambol in his eyes."
+                                              --SHAKESPEARE.
+
+
+In beginning our tramp, I trudged step for step with Joseph, who had
+Finois' bridle over his arm, and answered my questions regarding the
+various features of the landscape. Thus I was not long in discovering
+that he had a knowledge of the English language of which he was
+innocently proud. I made some enquiry concerning a fern which grew
+above the roadside, when we had passed through Martigny Bourg, and
+Joseph answered that one did not see it often in this country. "It is
+a seldom plant," said he. "It live in high up places, where it was
+_difficile_ to catch, for one shall have to walk over rocks, which do
+not--what you say? They go down immediately, not by-and-bye."
+
+I liked this description of a precipice, and later, when we had
+engaged in a desultory discussion on politics, I was delighted when
+Joseph spoke solemnly of the "Great Mights." He had formed opinions of
+Lord Beaconsfield and Gladstone, but had not yet had time to do so of
+Mr. Chamberlain, for, said he, "these things take a long time to think
+about." Fifteen or twenty years from now, he will probably be ready
+with an opinion on men and matters of the present. He asked gravely if
+there had not been a great difference between the two long-dead Prime
+Ministers?
+
+"How do you mean?" I enquired. "A difference in politics or
+disposition?"
+
+"They would not like the same things," he explained. "The Lord
+Beaconsfield, _par exemple_, he would not have enjoyed to come such a
+tour like this, that will take you high in icy mountains. He would
+want the sunshine, and sitting still in a beautiful _chaise_ with
+people to listen while he talked, but Monsieur Gladstone, I think he
+would love the mountains with the snow, as if they were his brothers."
+
+"You are right," I said. "They were his brothers. One can fancy
+edelweiss growing freely on Mr. Gladstone. His nature was of the white
+North. You have hit it, Joseph."
+
+"But I do not see a thing that I have hit," he replied, bewildered,
+glancing at the stout staff in his hand, and then at Finois, who had
+evidently not been brought up on blows. It was then my turn to
+explain; and so we tossed back and forth the conversational
+shuttlecock, until I found myself losing straw by straw my load of
+homesickness, and becoming more buoyant of spirit in the muleteer's
+society.
+
+After the splendours of the Simplon it seemed to rue, as the windings
+of the Great St. Bernard Pass shut us farther and farther away from
+Martigny, that this was in comparison but a peaceful valley. It was a
+cosey cleft among the mountains, with just room for the river to be
+frilled with green between its walls. There was a look of homeliness
+about the sloping pastures, which slept in the sunshine, lulled by the
+song of the swift-flowing Dranse.
+
+The name "Great St. Bernard" had conjured up hopes of rugged
+grandeur, which did not seem destined to be fulfilled, and at last I
+confided my disappointment to Joseph. "If Monsieur will wait an all
+little hour, perhaps he will yet be surprised," he answered, breaking
+into French. "We have a long way to go, before we come to the best."
+
+We walked briskly, lunched at the dull village of Orsières; and
+delaying as short a time as possible, pushed on--indeed, we pushed on
+much farther than Joseph had expected, when he suggested our sleeping
+at Bourg St. Pierre. "We might go higher," said he, "before dark, but
+it would be late before we could reach the Hospice, and there is no
+place where we could rest for the night after St. Pierre, unless
+Monsieur would care to stop at the Cantine de Proz."
+
+"What is the Cantine de Proz?" I asked, trudging along the stony
+road, with my eyes held by a huge snow mountain which had suddenly
+loomed above the green shoulders of lesser hills, like a great white
+barrier across the world.
+
+"The Cantine de Proz is but a house, nothing more, Monsieur, in the
+loneliest and wildest part of the Pass--how lonely, and how wild, you
+cannot guess yet by what you have seen. The people who keep the house
+are good folk, and they live there all the year round, even in winter,
+when the snow is at the second-story windows, and they must cut narrow
+paths, with tall white walls, before they can feed their cattle. These
+people sell you a cup of coffee, or a glass of beer, or of liqueur,
+and they have a spare room, which is very clean. If any traveller
+wishes to spend a night, they will make him as comfortable as they
+can. One English gentleman came, and liked the place so well, that he
+stayed for months, and wrote a book, I have been told. But it is
+desolate. Perhaps Monsieur would think it too _triste_ even for a
+night. At St. Pierre there is at least a little life. And the hotel
+'Au Déjeuner de Napoléon,' I think it will amuse Monsieur."
+
+"That is an odd name for a hotel," said I.
+
+"You see, Monsieur, it was made famous because of the _déjeuner_ which
+Napoléon took there on his march with his army of 30,000 across the
+Pass in the month of May, 1800, and that is the reason of the name.
+The madame who has the house now, is a grand-daughter of the innkeeper
+of that day; and she will show you the room where Napoléon
+breakfasted, with all the furniture just as it was then, and on the
+wall the portraits of her grand-parents, who waited on the great man."
+
+"At all events, we will rest and have something to eat there," I said.
+"Then, if it be not too late, we might push on further. I like the
+idea of the lonely Cantine de Proz."
+
+My opinion of the Pass was changing for the better, before we reached
+the straggling town of stony pavements, which could not have a more
+appropriate patron than St. Pierre. True, our road was always narrow,
+and poorly kept for a great mountain highway; so far, none of the
+magnificent engineering which impressed one on the Simplon. But here
+and there dazzling white peaks glistened like frozen tidal waves
+against the blue, and the Dranse had a particular charm of its own.
+Joseph said little when I patronised the Pass with a few grudging
+words of commendation. He had the secretive smile of a man who hides
+something up his sleeve.
+
+It was five o'clock when we arrived at Bourg St. Pierre, and having
+climbed a dark and hilly street, closely shut in with houses which age
+had not made beautiful, Joseph pointed out a neat, white inn, standing
+at the left of the road.
+
+"That is the 'Déjeuner de Napoléon,'" said he, "and near by are some
+Roman remains which will interest Monsieur if----"
+
+"By Jove, two donkeys!" I broke in, heedless of antiquities, in my
+surprise at seeing two of those animals which experience had taught me
+to look upon as more rare than Joseph's "seldom plant." "Two donkeys
+in front of the inn. Where on earth can they have sprung from? I would
+have given a good deal for that sight a few days ago, but now"--and I
+glanced at the dignified Finois--"I can regard them simply with
+curiosity."
+
+"I have been over this Pass more than twenty times," said Joseph (who
+was a native of Chamounix, I had learned), "yet rarely have I met with
+_ânes_. And see, Monsieur, the woman who is with them. She is not of
+the country, nor of that part of Italy which we enter below the Pass,
+at Aosta. It is a strange costume. I do not know from what valley it
+comes."
+
+"Well," said I, as we drew near to the group in the road outside the
+hotel, "if that girl, or at any rate her hat, did not come from the
+Riviera somewhere, I will eat my panama."
+
+Involuntarily I hastened my steps, and Joseph politely followed suit,
+dragging after him Finois, who seemed to be walking in his sleep. I
+felt it almost as a personal injury from the hand of Fate, that after
+my unavailing search for donkeys in a land where I had thought to be
+forced to beat them off with sticks, I should find other persons
+provided with not one but two of the creatures.
+
+[Illustration: "THAT IS THE DÉJEUNER OF NAPOLÉON".]
+
+They were charming little beasts, one mouse-colour, one dark-brown
+with large, grey-rimmed spectacles, and both animals were of the
+texture of uncut velvet. The former carried an excellent pack, which
+put mine to shame; the latter bore a boy's saddle, and the two were
+being fed with great bread crusts by a bewitching young woman of about
+twenty-six or -eight, wearing one of the toad-stool hats affected by
+the donkey-women of Mentone. She looked up at our approach, and having
+surveyed the pack and proportions of Finois with cold scorn, her
+interest in our procession incontestably focused upon Joseph. She
+tossed her head a little on one side, shot at the muleteer an
+arrow-gleam, half defiant, half coquettish, from a pair of big grey
+eyes fringed heavily with jet. She moistened full red lips, while a
+faint colour lit her cheeks, under the deep stain of tan and a
+tiger-lily powdering of freckles. Then, having seen the weary Joseph
+visibly rejuvenate in the brief sunshine of her glance, she turned
+away, and gave her whole attention to the donkeys.
+
+"Hungry, Joseph?" I asked.
+
+He had to bethink himself before he could answer. Then he replied that
+he had food in his pocket, bread and cheese, and that Finois carried
+his own dinner. They would be ready to go on, if I chose, or to
+remain, if that were my pleasure. "It is too early for a final stop,
+at a place where there can no amusement for the evening," said I. "We
+had better go on. If you intend to stay outside with Finois, I'll send
+you a bottle of beer, and you can, if you will, drink my health."
+
+With this I went in, feeling sure that the time of my absence would
+not pass heavily for Joseph.
+
+This was the hour at which, in England, we would sip a cup of tea as
+an excuse for talk with a pretty woman in her drawing-room; but having
+tramped steadily for some hours in mountain air, I was in a mood to
+understand the tastes of that class who like an egg or a kipper for "a
+relish to their tea." I looked for the landlady with the illustrious
+ancestors, and could not find her; but voices on the floor above led
+me to the stairway. I mounted, passed a doorway, and found myself in a
+room which instinct told me had been the scene of the historic
+_déjeuner_.
+
+It was a low-ceilinged room with wainscoted walls, and at first glance
+one received an impression of the past. There was a soft lustre of
+much-polished mahogany, and a glitter of old silver candelabra; I
+thought that I detected a faint fragrance of lavender lurking in the
+clean curtains, or perhaps it might have come from the square of
+ancient damask covering the table, on which a meal was spread.
+
+That meal consisted of chicken; a salad of pale green lettuce and
+coraline tomatoes; a slim-necked bottle of white wine; a custard with
+a foaming crest of beaten egg and sugar; and a dish of purple figs.
+Food for the gods, and with only a boy to eat it--but a remarkable
+boy. I gazed, and did not know what to make of him. He also gazed at
+me, but his look lacked the curiosity with which I honoured him. It
+expressed frank and (in the circumstances) impudent disapproval.
+Having bestowed it, he nonchalantly continued his conversation with
+the plump and capped landlady, who was evidently enraptured with him,
+while I was left to stand unnoticed on the threshold.
+
+Purely from the point of view of the picturesque, there was some
+excuse for madame's preoccupation. The boy would have delighted an
+artist, no doubt, though our first interchange of glances gave me a
+strong desire to smack him.
+
+His panama--a miniature copy of mine--hung over the back of his
+old-fashioned chair--the one, no doubt, in which Napoleon had sat to
+eat the _déjeuner_. Soft rings of dark, chestnut hair, richly bright
+as Japanese bronze, had been flattened across his forehead by the now
+discarded hat. This hair, worn too long for any self-respecting,
+twentieth-century boy, curled round his small head and behind the slim
+throat, which was like a stem for the flower of his strange little
+face. "Strange" was the first adjective which came into my mind; yet,
+if he had been a girl instead of a boy, he would have been beautiful.
+The delicately pencilled brows were exquisite, and out of the small
+brown face looked a pair of large, brilliant eyes of an extraordinary
+blue--the blue of the wild chicory. When the boy glanced up or down,
+there was great play of dark lashes, long, and amazingly thick. This
+would have been charming on a girl, but seemed somehow affected in a
+boy, though one could hardly have accused the little snipe of making
+his own eyelashes. He wore a very loose-trousered knickerbocker suit
+of navy-blue; a white silk shirt or blouse, loose also, with a
+turned-down Byronic collar and a careless black bow underneath. He had
+extremely small hands, tanned brown, and on the least finger of one
+was a seal ring. My impression of this youthful tourist was that in
+age he might be anywhere between thirteen and seventeen, and I was
+sure that he would be the better for a good thrashing.
+
+"Some rich, silly mother's darling," I said to myself. "Little
+milksop, travelling with a muff of a tutor, I suppose. Why doesn't the
+ass teach him good manners?"
+
+This lesson seemed particularly necessary, because the youth persisted
+in holding the attention of the landlady, who, with a comfortable back
+to me, laughed at some sally of the boy's. When I had stood for a
+moment or two, waiting for a pause which did not come, although the
+brat saw me and knew well what I wanted, I spoke coldly: "Pardon,
+madame, I desire something to eat," I said in French.
+
+The landlady turned, surprised at the voice behind her.
+
+"But certainly, Monsieur. Though I regret that you have come at an
+unfortunate time. We have not a great variety to offer you."
+
+"Something of this sort will suit me very well," I replied, feeling
+hungrily that chicken, salad, custard, and figs were the things which
+of all others I would choose.
+
+"It is most regrettable, Monsieur, but this young gentleman has our
+only chicken, unless you could wait for another to be killed, plucked,
+and made ready for the table."
+
+I shuddered at the suggestion, and did not hide my repulsion. "I must
+put up with an omelette, then, I suppose I can have that?"
+
+"At any other time Monsieur could have had two, if he pleased, but
+to-day all our eggs have gone into this custard. The young gentleman
+ordered his repast by telegraph, and we did our best. As for the
+figs, he brought them himself; but if Monsieur would have a cutlet of
+the _veau_, or----"
+
+"Give me a bottle of wine, and some bread and cheese. I do not like
+the _veau_," I said, with the testiness of a hungry man disappointed.
+As I spoke, my eyes were on the boy, who ate his breast of chicken
+daintily. Pretty as he was, I should have liked to kick him.
+
+"Little brat," I apostrophised him once more, in my mind. "If he were
+not a pig, he would ask me to accept half his meal. Not that I would
+take it. I'd be shot first, so he'd be quite safe; but he might have
+the decency to offer."
+
+Worse was to come, however. I had not yet plumbed the black depths of
+the Brat's selfishness.
+
+"Certainly, Monsieur; we have very good cheese," madame assured me
+soothingly. "If Monsieur would be pleased to step downstairs."
+
+"I should prefer to remain here," I replied. "This is the room, is it
+not, where Napoleon had his _déjeuner_?"
+
+"The same, Monsieur, in every particular. But unfortunately, it is for
+the moment the private sitting-room of this young gentleman, who has
+made me an extra price to keep it for himself."
+
+The poor old lady suffered manifest distress in breaking this news to
+me, and even in my evil mood I could not add intentionally to her
+pain. As for it cause, however, he sat absolutely unmoved. I think,
+indeed, from the blue light in his great eyes (which was absolutely
+impish), that the situation whetted his appetite. I did not deign
+another glance at the little wretch, as I went out, discomfited, but I
+felt that he was grinning at my back.
+
+In a room below, I had a very creditable meal, which I should have
+enjoyed more, had my nerves not been jarred to viciousness. In the
+midst, I heard footsteps running downstairs, and presently outside the
+door of the _salle-à-manger_ the boy's voice--sweet still with
+childish cadences, as a boy's is before the change to manhood first
+breaks, then deepens it.
+
+"If he comes in here, I shall be inclined to throw a rind of cheese at
+his head," I thought; but he did not beard me in my den. The voice
+passed away, and presently I heard another, unmistakably that of a
+woman, giving vent to strange profanities in softest Provençal French.
+The speaker was apostrophising some person or animal, who was,
+according to her, the most insupportable of Heaven's creatures; and at
+last, with calls upon martyred saints, and cries of "Fanny-anny,
+Fanny-anny," there mingled a scuffling and trotting which soon died
+away in the distance, leaving stillness.
+
+Soon after, having finished my meal, and paid my bill, I went out to
+Joseph. I found him alone with Finois. The donkeys and their fair
+guardian had gone.
+
+"Well," said I, as we got upon our way, "I trust you had an agreeable
+spell of rest? The lady in the Riviera hat looked promising. If her
+conversation matched her appearance, you were in luck, and well repaid
+for taking your refreshment out of doors."
+
+"Monsieur," began Joseph, "have you in English a way of expressing in
+one word what a man feels when he is both shocked and astonished?"
+
+"Flabbergasted might do, at a pinch," I replied, after deliberation.
+
+"Ah, the good word, 'flabbergasta'! It says much. It is that I am
+flabbergasta by the young woman of the _ânes_. I was taken, I admit
+it, Monsieur, by her face, as was but natural. And then I wished to
+find out, for the satisfaction of Monsieur and myself, how so strange
+a cavalcade came to arrive upon the St. Bernard Pass.
+
+"I made myself polite. I spoke with praise of the _ânes_, and though
+my advances were coldly received at first, at the very moment I would
+in discouragement have ceased my efforts, the young woman changed her
+front, and seemed willing to talk. She would not answer my questions,
+except to say that she was of Mentone, and that she had escorted the
+young gentleman who now employs her on several excursions, a year ago,
+when he was on the Riviera. That he had sent for her and the two
+_ânes_ to join him by rail, though the expense was great, and that
+they were travelling for the young gentleman's amusement, and his
+health, as he had had an illness which has left him still thin, and a
+little weak. From what place he had come, or to what place they were
+bound, she would not say. Her own name she told me, when I had asked
+twice over, but the young gentleman's name she would not give, nor
+would she even say the country of his birth. It was when I brought up
+this subject that the--the----"
+
+"The flabbergasting began?"
+
+"Precisely, Monsieur. She abused me for my curiosity, and, oh,
+Monsieur, the words she used! The profanities! And at the same time
+her face as mild as a pigeon's! She taunted me with being a
+Protestant, as if it were a black crime which bred others. Her name,
+if you would believe it, is Innocentina Palumbo--_Innocentina!_ But
+her tongue! Monsieur, I listened as if I had been turned to stone.
+And it was at this time that the young gentleman, of whom she had told
+me, came out of the inn. He wished to walk, but Innocentina said that
+he was already too tired, and before he knew what was happening, she
+had him in the saddle on his _âne_. So they went off, and where they
+will pass the night, their saints alone know, for it is all but
+certain that they will never get such animals as those even as far as
+the Cantine de Proz."
+
+"They were going in our direction, then?" I said. "We shall pass them
+on the way presently."
+
+"I do not doubt it, Monsieur, though they had half an hour's start."
+
+"Were the boy and the donkey-woman alone? No tutor with them?"
+
+"Tutor, Monsieur? The poor young gentleman has a tutor and a duenna in
+Innocentina. I wish him joy of her."
+
+"I wish her joy of him," said I, remembering my wrongs. But soon I
+forgot them and all other troubles past and present, in surrendering
+my spirit to the glory of the scene. Joseph had his triumph, for the
+surprise he had kept up his sleeve was out at last. St. Bernard had me
+at his feet, and held me there. The wild and gloomy splendour of the
+Pass struck at my heart, and fired my imagination. Even the Simplon
+had nothing like this to give. The Simplon at its finest sang a pæan
+to civilisation; it glorified the science of engineering, and told you
+that it was a triumph of modernity. But this strange, unkempt Pass,
+with its inadequate road,--now overhanging a sheer precipice, now
+dipping down steeply towards the wild bed of its sombre river,--this
+Great St. Bernard, seemed a secret way back into other centuries,
+savage and remote. I felt shame that I had patronised it earlier, with
+condescending admiration of some prettinesses. No wonder that Joseph
+had smiled and held his peace, knowing what was to come. There was the
+old road, the Roman road, along which Napoleon had led his staggering
+thousands. There were his forts, scarcely yet crumbled into ruin. I
+saw the army, a straggling procession of haggard ghosts, following
+always, and falling as they followed, enacting again for me the
+passing scene of death and anguish. I was one of the men. I struggled
+on, because Napoleon needed all his soldiers. Then weakness crushed
+me, like a weight of iron. A mist before my eyes shut out the opposite
+precipice with its sparse pines, and flashing waterfalls, the mountain
+heights beyond, and the merciless blue sky. This was death. Who cared?
+The echo of thirty thousand feet was in my ears as they passed on,
+leaving me to die by the roadside, as I had left others before.
+
+I started, and waked from my dream. It was a joyful shock to see
+Joseph beside me, in the homely clothes which had replaced his "Sunday
+best"; to see Finois and his pack full of my friendly belongings. But
+I clung to the comfortable present for a few moments only. The spell
+of dead centuries had me in its grip. Farther and farther back into
+the land of dead days, I journeyed with St. Bernard, and helped him
+found the monastery which the eyes of my flesh had not yet seen. The
+eyes of my spirit saw the place, the nerves of my spirit felt the
+chill of its remoteness. And even when I waked again, I could not be
+sure that I was Montagu Lane, an idle young man of the twentieth
+century, who had come for the gratification of a whim to this
+fastness where greater men had ventured in peril and self-sacrifice.
+
+Imagination is the one possession having which no man can be poor, or
+mean, or insignificant. He can walk with kings, and he can see the
+high places of the world with seeing eyes, a gift which no money can
+give; and yet he will have to suffer as those without imagination
+never can suffer or picture others suffering.
+
+I told myself this, somewhat grandiloquently, and with
+self-gratulation, as I rubbed shoulders with certain of the world's
+heroes who had passed along this way; and there was physical relief
+after a strain, when the precipitous valley widened into billowy
+pastures lying green at the rugged feet of mountains. Can any sound be
+more soothing than the tinkle of cow-bells in a mountain pass, as
+twilight falls softly, like the wings of a brooding bird? It is to the
+ear what a cool draught of spring water is to thirsty lips. There are
+verses of poetry in it, only to be reset and rearranged, like pearls
+fallen from their string; there is a perfume of primroses in it; there
+is the colour of early dawn, or of fading sunset, when a young moon is
+rising, curved and white as a baby's arm; there is also the same voice
+that speaks from the brook or the river running over rocks.
+
+Suddenly we were in the midst of a great herd of cows, which blew out
+volumes of clover breath upon us, in mild surprise at our existence.
+They rubbed against us, or ambled away, lowing to each other, and I
+was surprised to find that, instead of each neck being provided with a
+bell, as I had fancied from the multitudinous tinklings, one cow only
+was thus ornamented.
+
+"How was the selection made?" I asked Joseph. "Did they choose the
+most popular cow, a sort of stable-yard belle, voted by her companions
+a fit leader of her set; or was the choice guided by chance?" Joseph
+could not tell me, and I suppose that I shall never know.
+
+The big, lumbering forms crowded so closely round us in the twilight
+shadows, that now and then, to force a passage, Joseph was obliged to
+pull a slowly whisking tail, resembling almost exactly an
+old-fashioned bell-rope. Presently we had made our way past the herd,
+which was shut from our sight by the curtain of evening, though up on
+the mountain-tops it was still golden day.
+
+"There," said Joseph, pointing, "is the Cantine de Proz."
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+The Scraping of Acquaintance
+
+    "You shall be treated to . . . ironical smiles and mockings."
+                                              --WALT WHITMAN.
+
+     "Up the hillside yonder, through the morning."
+                                 --ROBERT BROWNING.
+
+
+I saw, standing desolate in the basin of mountains, an old house of
+grey stone, very square, very plain, very resolute and staunch of
+physiognomy. The windows were still unlighted, and it looked a gloomy
+home for months of winter cold and snow. Suddenly, as we approached,
+rather wearily now, a yellow gleam flashed out in an upper window.
+
+"That is the spare room for strangers," said Joseph, and I thought
+that there was a note of anxiety in his voice.
+
+"Perhaps someone has arrived before us," I remarked. "I hadn't thought
+of that, as you said so few people ever stopped at the Cantine over
+night."
+
+"Had you noticed, Monsieur, that after all we never passed the party
+with the donkeys?" asked my muleteer.
+
+"I had forgotten them."
+
+"I had not, but it was Monsieur's pleasure to go slowly; to stop for
+the views, to look at the ruined torts, and to trace the old road. We
+gave them time to get far ahead. I was always watching, but never saw
+them. The _ânes_ had more endurance than I thought, and as for that
+Innocentina, she is a daughter of Satan; she would know no fatigue."
+
+"It would be like that little brat to gobble up the one spare room of
+the Cantine as he did the one chicken of the 'Déjeûner,'" I muttered.
+"But we shall see what we shall see."
+
+We went on more rapidly, and soon arrived at the bottom of a steep
+flight of stone steps which led up to the door of the Cantine. A man
+came forward to greet us--a fine fellow, with the frank and lofty
+bearing of one whose life is passed in high altitudes.
+
+"Can we have supper and accommodation for the night at your house?" I
+asked.
+
+"Supper, most certainly, and with pleasure," came the courteous
+answer, "though we have only plain fare to offer. But the one spare
+room we have for our occasional guests, has just been taken by a young
+English or American gentleman. The woman who drives the two donkeys
+with which they travel, will have a bed in the room of my sister, and
+we could find sleeping place of a sort for your muleteer; but I fear
+we have no way of making Monsieur comfortable."
+
+I was filled with rage against the wretch who had robbed me of a
+decent meal, and would now filch from me a night's rest.
+
+"We have walked a long way," I said, "and are tired. We might have
+stopped at St. Pierre, but preferred to come on to you. It is now too
+dark to go back, or go on. Surely there are two beds in your spare
+room, and as you keep an inn, and pretend to give bed and board to
+travellers, you are bound to arrange for my accommodation."
+
+"The young monsieur pays for the two beds in the spare room, in order
+to secure the whole for himself alone," replied the landlord. "Not
+expecting any other guests, we agreed to this; but the youth is
+perhaps a countryman of yours, and rather than you should go further,
+or spend a night of discomfort, he will probably consent to let you
+share the room."
+
+"He shall consent, or I will know the reason why," I said to myself
+fiercely; but aloud I merely answered that I would be glad of a few
+minutes' conversation with the young gentleman.
+
+My host led me to the house door, introduced me to a handsome sister,
+who was my hostess, explained to her the situation, with the view of
+it we had arrived at, and descended to show Joseph where to shelter
+Finois.
+
+My landlady said that she would put the case to the occupant of the
+spare room, who was already in his new quarters, preparing for supper,
+but I persuaded her that it would be well for me to be on the spot,
+and add my arguments to hers. We went upstairs, and in a dark passage
+plunged suddenly into a pool of yellow light, gushing from a half-open
+door. I hurried forward, step for step with my guide, lest the door
+should be shut in my face before I could reach it. Over my hostess'
+shoulder, I saw a bare but neat interior; a "coffin" bed, a
+white-washed wall, and an uncarpeted floor, Mademoiselle Innocentina
+Palumbo sitting upon it, tailor-fashion, engaged in excavating a
+large, dark object from a _rücksack_. In front of her stood the Brat,
+deeply interested in the operation, his curly head bent, his childish
+little hands on his hips.
+
+He was talking and laughing gaily; but at the sound of footsteps in
+the passage he glanced up, and, seeing me, stared in haughty
+surprise, which tipped the scales towards anger.
+
+"Here is a monsieur who is belated on the Pass, and begs" (this was
+hardly the way in which I would have put it) "that he may be allowed
+to share your room," explained our landlady.
+
+"_Share my room!_" repeated the Brat, so dumfounded at the simple
+statement that he spoke in English. Now I knew that he was a
+countryman, not of mine, but of Molly's, and I wished that she were
+here to deal with him. "I have never heard anything so--so
+ridiculous."
+
+"Really," said I, assuming an air I had found successful with freshers
+in good old days of under-grad-dom (Molly called it my "belted hearl"
+manner), "really, I fail to see anything ridiculous in the proposal.
+This is an inn, which professes to accommodate travellers. I have a
+right to insist upon a bed."
+
+To my intense irritation Innocentina giggled. The Brat did not laugh,
+but he grew rosy, like a girl. Even his little ears turned pink, under
+his absurd mop of chestnut curls. "You have no right to insist upon
+mine," retorted he, in the honey-sweet contralto which tried in vain
+to make of a pert imp, an angel.
+
+"You cannot sleep in two," said I.
+
+"That is my affair, since I have agreed to pay for them."
+
+"I contend that you cannot pay for both, since one is legally mine, by
+the laws protecting travellers," I argued truculently, hoping to
+frighten the rude child, though I should have been sore put to it to
+prove my point.
+
+"I have always heard that possession is nine points of the law," said
+he, impudent and apparently unintimidated. "This is my room, every
+hole and corner of it, and if you try to intrude, I shall simply sit
+up and yell all night, and throw things, so that you will not get an
+instant's sleep. I swear it."
+
+Then I lost my temper. "You ought to be ashamed of yourself," I
+exclaimed. "I wonder where you were brought up?"
+
+"Where big boys never bully little ones."
+
+"Of all the selfish, impertinent brats!" I could not help muttering.
+
+"If I'm a brat, you're a brute, sir. You have only to glance at the
+dictionary to see which is worse."
+
+He looked so impish, defying me, like a miniature Ajax, that with all
+the will in the world to box his ears, I burst out laughing.
+
+Checking my mirth as soon as I could, however, I covered its
+inappropriateness with a steely frown. "I do not need to glance at the
+dictionary to see that you would be a detestable room-mate," said I,
+"and on second thoughts I prefer to sleep quietly in the stable rather
+than press my claim here." With this, I turned on my heel, not giving
+the enemy time for another volley, and stalked downstairs, followed, I
+regret to say, by Innocentina's ribald laughter.
+
+Almost immediately I was rejoined by the handsome landlady, who,
+profuse in her regrets, though she had understood no word of what had
+passed, attempted to console me with the promise of a bed in the
+_salle-à-manger_. Meanwhile, if I desired to wash, her brother would
+superintend my ablutions.
+
+Over those rites (which were duly performed at a pump, while the
+little wretch upstairs wallowed in the luxury of a basin almost as
+large as my hat), I draw a veil. By the time that they were finished,
+and I was shining with yellow kitchen soap, having been unable to make
+use of my own in the circumstances, supper was ready. I walked sulkily
+into the room, which later would be transformed into my bedchamber,
+and to my annoyance saw the Brat already seated at the table. I had
+fancied that his conscience would counsel supping privately in the
+room he had usurped, but this imp seemed to have been born without a
+sense of shame. Thanks to him, I had not even been able to give myself
+a clean collar, as it had not been possible to open the mule-pack and
+improvise a dressing-room in the neighbourhood of the pump. But
+he--he, the usurper, he, the guilty one--had changed from his
+low-necked shirt and blue serge jacket and knickers into a kind of
+evening costume, original, I should say, to himself, or copied from
+some stage child, or Christmas Annual.
+
+He did not speak to me, nor I to him, though, as I sat down in the
+chair placed for me at the opposite end of the table, I caught a
+sapphire gleam from the brilliant eyes, which burned so vividly in the
+little brown face.
+
+There came an omelette. It was passed to me. Maliciously, I selected
+the best bit from the middle. The boy took what was left. Veal
+followed, in the form of cutlets, two in number. A glance showed me
+that one was mostly composed of bone and gristle. I helped myself to
+the other. Revenge was mine at last, though to enjoy it fully I must
+have a peep at the enemy, to make sure that he felt and understood his
+righteous punishment.
+
+But life is crowded with disappointments. The foe was looking
+incredibly small, and young, and meek, a puny thing for a man to
+wreak his vengeance on. With long lashes cast down, making a deep
+shadow on his thin cheeks, he sat wrestling with his portion, from
+which the cleverest manipulation of knife and fork was powerless to
+extract an inch of nourishment. As he gave up the struggle at last,
+with unmoved countenance, and not even a sigh of complaint, my heart
+failed me. I felt that I had snatched bread from the mouth of starving
+infanthood. Had not Joseph learned from Innocentina that the boy had
+lately recovered from a severe illness? Unspeakable brat that he was,
+and small favour that he deserved at my hands, I resolved that he
+should have the best of the next dish when it came round.
+
+This good intention, however, went to supply another stone in that
+place which seems ever in need of repaving. Cheese succeeded the veal,
+a well-meaning but somewhat overpowering cheese, and neither the Brat
+nor I encouraged it. It was borne away, intact, and after a short
+delay appeared a dish of plums, with another of small and attractive
+cakes, evidently imported from a town.
+
+I saw the boy's eye brighten as it fell upon the cakes. He glanced
+from them to me, as I was offered my choice, and said hastily: "There
+is one cake there which I want very much. I suppose if I tell you
+which it is, you will eat it."
+
+"There is also only one which I care for," said I. "I wonder if it's
+the same?"
+
+"Probably," said the boy. "If you take it, there isn't another which I
+would be found dead with in my mouth, on a desert island. And I
+haven't had much dinner."
+
+"_I_ had to wash under the pump," said I. "Still, greatness lies in
+magnanimity. You shall choose your cake first; but remember, you
+cannot have it, and eat it, too; so make up your mind quickly which is
+better."
+
+"I always thought that a stupid saying," remarked the Brat, as he
+helped himself to a ginger-nut with pink icing. "I have my cake, and
+when I have eaten it, I take another."
+
+"Your experience in life has been fortunate," I replied, contenting
+myself with the second-best cake. "But it has not been long. When you
+are a man----"
+
+"A man! I would rather die--young than grow up to be one."
+
+"Indeed?" I exclaimed, surprised at this outburst.
+
+"I hate men."
+
+"Ah, perhaps then, your experience has not been as fortunate in men as
+in cakes."
+
+"No, it hasn't. It has been just the opposite."
+
+"One would say, 'Thereby hangs a tale.'"
+
+"There does. But it is not for strangers."
+
+"I'm not a lover of after-dinner stories. Here comes the coffee.
+Luckily, there's plenty for us both. Will you have a cigarette?"
+
+"No, thanks."
+
+"A cigar, then?"
+
+"I don't smoke."
+
+"Ah, some boys' heads _won't_ stand it. I'm ashamed to say that I
+smoked at fourteen. But perhaps you're not yet----"
+
+"I will change my mind and have a cigarette, since you are so
+obliging."
+
+"Sure you won't regret it?"
+
+"Quite sure, thank you."
+
+"They're rather strong."
+
+"I'm not afraid."
+
+He took a cigarette from my case, and smoked it daintily. Whether it
+were my imagination, or whether a slight pallor did really become
+visible under the sun-tan on the velvet-smooth face, I am not certain:
+but at all events he rose when nothing was left between his fingers
+save an ash clinging to a bit of gold paper, and excused himself with
+belated politeness.
+
+Not long after, my bed was made up on the floor, and I slept as I
+fancy few kings sleep.
+
+Strange; not then, or ever, did I dream of Helen.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The voice of Finois or some near relative of his roused me at dawn. I
+remembered where I was, whither bound, and sleep instantly seemed
+irrelevant. I scrambled up from my lonely couch, went to the open
+window, which was a square of grey-green light, and looked out at the
+mountain walls of the valley basin.
+
+The day was not awake yet, but only half conscious that it must awake.
+There was the faint thrill of mystery which comes with earliest dawn,
+as though it were for you alone of all the world, and no one else
+could find his way down its dim labyrinths. But even as I looked,
+there came a movement near the house, and I saw the stalwart figure of
+the landlord shape itself from the shadows. Other forms were stirring
+too, the stolid forms of cows, and those of two sturdy little ponies,
+which were being turned into a pasture.
+
+It occurred to me that I could not do better than get through my
+toilet, and, if Joseph and Finois were of the same mind, make an early
+start. I thought that if I could reach the Hospice before all the
+gold of sunrise had boiled over night's brim, I should have a picture
+to frame in memory.
+
+At bedtime they had given me a wooden tub such as laundresses use, and
+filled it for my morning bath. I had my own soap, and a great, clean,
+coarse dish-towel of crash or some such material. Never before was
+there a bath like it, with the good smell of pinewood of which the tub
+was made, and the tingle of the water from a mountain spring. I
+revelled in it, and as I dressed could have sung for pure joy of life,
+until I remembered that I was a jilted man, and this tour a voyage of
+consolation.
+
+"You are miserable, you know." I informed my reflection in a small,
+strange-coloured glass, which allowed me to shave my face in greenish
+sections. "It is a kind of madness, this spurious gaiety of yours."
+
+In half an hour I was out of the house, and found Joseph feeding
+Finois. They were both prepared to leave at ten minutes' notice, and
+when the two human creatures of the party had been refreshed with
+crusty bread and steaming coffee, the procession of three set forth.
+As for the boy, the donkeys and their guardian, as far as I knew they
+were still sleeping the sleep of the unjust.
+
+If the Pass had been glorious in open day, and by falling twilight, it
+was doubly wonderful in this mystic dawn-time before the lamp of the
+rising sun had lit the valley. The green alps where the cattle pasture
+were faintly musical, far and near, with the ringing of unseen bells,
+and the air was vibrant with the rush and whisper of waters. As the
+shadows melted in the crucible of dawn, and an opaline high trembled
+on the dark mountain-tops that towered round us, I saw marvels which
+either had not existed last night, or I had been dull clod enough to
+miss them.
+
+Fairy wild-flowers such as I had never seen studded the rocks with
+jewels of blue and gold, and rose, and little silver stars; and there
+were some wonderful, shining things of creamy grey plush, suggesting
+glorified thistles.
+
+We walked through the Valley of Death, where many of Napoleon's men
+had perished; and the first rays of sunrise touched the tragic rocks
+with the gold of hope. Up, up beyond the alps and the sparse
+pine-trees we climbed, until we came to the snowline, and passed
+beyond the first white ledge, carved in marble by the cold hand of a
+departed winter. Down through a gap in the mountains streamed an icy
+blast, and I had to remind myself, shivering, that this was August,
+not December. The wind tore apart the fabric of lacy cloud which had
+been looped in folds across the rock-face, like a veil hiding the worn
+features of some aged nun, and showed jagged mountain peaks, towering
+against a sky of mother-o'-pearl. Suddenly, after a steep ascent, we
+saw before us a tall, lonely mass of grey stone, built upon the rock.
+Behind it the sun had risen, and fired to burnished gold the still
+lake which mirrored the Hospice and its dark wall of mountains, seamed
+with snow.
+
+The impression of high purity, of peace won through privation, and of
+nearness to Heaven itself, was so strong upon me, that I seemed to
+hear a voice speaking a benediction.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+A Shadow of Night
+
+    "This villain, . . . He dares--I know not half he dares--
+     But remove him--quick!"
+                                       --ROBERT BROWNING.
+
+
+So early was it still, I feared we had come before the brotherhood
+were astir to receive visitors; but as I looked up at the great, grey,
+silent building, the noble head of a magnificent St. Bernard dog
+appeared in the doorway, at the top of steep stone steps. There could
+not have been a more appropriate welcome to this remote dwelling of a
+devoted band; and when the dog, after gazing gravely at the newcomers,
+vanished into darkness, I knew that he had gone in to tell of our
+arrival. I was right, too, for once within, he uttered a deep
+bell-note, more sonorous and more musical than lies in the throats of
+common dogs, and was answered by a distant baying. One could not say
+that these majestic animals "barked." There was as indisputable a
+difference between an ordinary bark, and the sound they made, as
+between the barrel instrument played in the streets, and a grand
+cathedral organ.
+
+Joseph had visited the Hospice many times, and knew the etiquette for
+strangers. He bade me go in, and ring the bell at the _grille_, unless
+I should meet one of the monks before reaching it. I mounted the
+steps, entered the wide doorway which had framed the dog's head, and
+found myself in a vast, dusky corridor, resonant with strange
+echoings, and mysterious with flitting shadows, which might be ghosts
+of the past, or live beings of the present. As my eyes grew accustomed
+to the gloom, I saw that there were numerous persons in this great
+hall: tall monks in flowing robes of black, beggars come to solicit
+alms or breakfast; and dogs, many dogs, who crowded round me, with a
+waving of huge tails, and a gleaming of brown jewelled eyes in the
+dusk. I did not need to ring the bell of the iron gate beyond which,
+according to Joseph, no woman has ever passed. One of the monks came
+to me--a tall, spare young man with a grave face, soft in expression,
+yet hardened in outline by a rigorous life and exposure to extreme
+cold. He gave me welcome in French, with here and there an
+interpellation of "Down, Turk," "Be quiet, Jupiter!" Would I like
+breakfast, he asked; and then--yes, certainly--to see the chapel, the
+_bibliothèque_, the monastery museum, and the Alpine garden? There
+would be plenty of time for this, and still to reach Aosta. Another
+monk was called, and an introduction effected. I was taken into a
+handsomely decorated refectory, where I opened my eyes in some
+astonishment at sight of the Imp, drinking coffee from a shallow bowl
+nearly as big as his childish head. Innocentina was no doubt at this
+moment shocking Joseph by some new depravity, in the _salle-à-manger_
+where humbler folk were entertained with the same hospitality as their
+(so called) betters.
+
+The Brat set down his bowl, and saw me, as I subsided into a chair on
+the opposite side of the long, narrow table. His face flushed, and the
+brilliant blue eyes clouded, but he deigned to acknowledge our
+acquaintance with a slight bow.
+
+[Illustration: "DOWN, TURK!" "BE QUIET, JUPITER!"]
+
+"I didn't suppose you would have started yet," said I.
+
+"I thought the same thing about you," he retorted. "We got off very
+quietly from the Cantine----"
+
+"Ah, you wished to steal a march on me," I broke in, "But really, my
+young friend, you need not have feared that I should impose myself
+upon you as a travelling companion. My one object in making this
+excursion is, if not to enjoy my own society, at any rate to
+experiment with it, therefore----"
+
+"I have _two_ objects in making mine," the boy interrupted. "One is to
+avoid men; the other is to find materials for writing a book, with no
+men in it--only places."
+
+"It will not be owing to me, if you fail in the former," said I. "As
+for the latter, naturally it will depend upon yourself. What shall you
+call it--'A Chiel takkin' Notes' or 'In Search of the Grail'?"
+
+He blushed vividly. "I haven't decided on the name yet, but it can't
+matter to you, as I do not expect you to buy the book when it comes
+out; nor need you be afraid that you will figure in the pages. If I
+were to call my book 'In Search of--anything,' it would be, 'In Search
+of Peace.'"
+
+With this, the strange child rose from the table, and bowing,
+departed, leaving me lost in wonder at him. He was but an infant, and
+an impertinent infant at that; yet suddenly I had had a glimpse
+through the great sea-blue eyes, of a soul, weary after some tragic
+experience. At least this was the impression which flashed into my
+mind, with the one look I surprised before lashes hid its secret; but
+in a moment I was laughing at myself. Ridiculous to have such a
+thought in connection with a slip of a boy, seventeen at most! I
+lingered over my breakfast, so that the Brat have finished his
+sightseeing and got away, before my tour of the Hospice began.
+
+He and I had had the table to ourselves at first, but I sat so long
+that others came in, evidently persons who had spent the night at the
+monastery. There was a Russian family, of so many daughters that I
+wondered their parents had found names for them all; a couple of
+German women in plaid blouses so terrible that they set me
+speculating. Had the material been chosen by their husbands, with the
+view of alienating all masculine admiration, as a Japanese girl, when
+married, blackens her teeth? Or had the ladies inflicted the frightful
+things upon themselves, by way of penance for some grievous sin? I
+should have liked to ask, especially as one of the wearers was very
+pretty, with a large, madonna loveliness. But under my dreaming eyes,
+she began eating honey with her knife, and I sprang from the table
+hastily. As I paused, I heard two stolid Cockneys asking each other
+why the--dickens they had come to this "beastly, cold, God-forsaken
+hole, with nothing but a lot of ugly mountains to see. There was
+better sport in Oxford Street." I should not have considered it murder
+if I had killed them where they sat, but I refrained, rather than soil
+my hands. And after all, if a primrose on a river's brim, but a yellow
+primrose was to them, what did it matter to me?
+
+I visited the _bibliothèque_, which was haunted by a fragrance
+intoxicating to booklovers, of dead centuries, leather bindings, and
+parchment. I saw the piano given by the King when he was Prince of
+Wales; the fine collection of coins and early Roman remains found in
+the neighbourhood of the monastery; I dropped a louis into the box of
+offerings in the chapel, and then was taken by a mild-eyed,
+frail-looking monk to see some of the rooms allotted to guests at the
+Hospice. Seeing them, I was inclined to wish that I had pushed on
+through the darkness last night, and reached this mountain-top to
+sleep. I liked the wainscoted walls, the white, canopied beds, but
+most of all, I liked the deep-set windows with their view of the
+silent lake, asleep in the bosom of the mountains, and dreaming of the
+sky. On most of the walls were votive offerings in the shape of
+pictures, sent to the monks by grateful visitors in far-off countries.
+One was an engraving which had adorned the nursery in my youth, and
+had been a never-failing source of curiosity to me. It was Gustave
+Doré's "Christian Martyrs," and I had once been deprived of pudding at
+the nursery dinner, because I had remarked (with irreverence wholly
+unintentional) that one of the lions seemed ill, and anxious to "climb
+up the wall and get away from the nasty martyrs." Thus it is that
+children are misunderstood by their elders! and now, as I gazed at the
+same picture on the monastery wall, I felt again all the old, impotent
+rebellion against injustice and misplaced power.
+
+Later, I wandered through the pathetically interesting Alpine garden,
+carefully kept by the monks; and then, sure that by this time the Brat
+and his cavalcade must be far on their way, I started, with Joseph and
+Finois, to stroll down the Pass towards Aosta.
+
+I had promised Jack and Molly to tell them in my letters, whether it
+would be possible for them, with a motor, to go by some of the routes
+which I chose. Over the St. Bernard from Martigny to the Hospice they
+could not have ventured, even in the stealthy, fly-by-night manner in
+which they had "done" the St. Gothard and the Simplon; for on the St.
+Bernard the road was always narrow, often stony and dangerous. Beyond,
+on the other side, even carriages cannot yet pass, descending to
+Aosta, though in another year the new road will be finished. As it is,
+for many a generation pilgrims from the Hospice to Italy have been
+obliged to go down as far as the mountain village of St. Rhémy either
+on foot or mule-back; thus there was no hope for Mercédès there.
+
+I went swinging down the steep and winding path, my heart chanting a
+psalm to the mountains. Mountains like cathedrals, with carved,
+graceful spires; mountains like frozen waves left by some great sea
+when the world was chaos; mountains like leaning towers of Pisa;
+mountains like sentinel Titans; mountains silver-grey; mountains
+dark-red. The "Pain de Sucre" was strangest of all in form, perhaps,
+and Joseph distressed me much by remarking guilelessly that it, and
+other white shapes at which he pointed, looked exactly like frosted
+wedding-cakes. It was true; they did; but they looked like nobler
+things also, and I resented having so cheap a simile put into my head.
+
+With every step the way grew more glorious. This was an enchanted
+land. I could hardly believe that thousands of travellers had seen it
+before, and would again. I felt as if I had fallen Sindbad-like, into
+a valley undiscovered by man; and, like Sindbad's valley, this
+sparkled to my dazzled eyes with countless gems. Not all cold, white
+diamonds, like his, but gems of every colour. The rocks through which
+our path was cut, glowed with rainbow hues, like different precious
+metals blended. This effect struck me at first (in the brilliant
+sunshine which alone kept me from being nipped with cold) as puzzling,
+but in a moment I had solved the "jewel mystery" of the mountains. The
+rocks were of porphyry, and marble, and granite, spangled with mica;
+and over all spread in patches a lichen of rose, and green, and
+yellow, like chipped rubies and emeralds among gold-filings.
+
+So wild and splendid was the scene, composed and painted by a peerless
+Master, that I slackened my pace, reluctant to leave so much splendour
+behind; but despite all delaying, we came after a time down to
+tree-level. The landscape changed; the diamond spray of miniature
+cataracts dashed over high cliffs, among balsamic pine forests; the
+sunshine brought out the intense green of moss and fern. We met
+porters struggling up the height with luggage on their backs, and fat
+women riding depressed mules. It was very mediæval, and I had the
+sensation of having walked into a picture--round the corner of it,
+into the best part which you know must be there, though it can't be
+seen by outsiders.
+
+It took us an hour and a half to walk the eleven kilometres down to
+St. Rhémy, where we lunched well, and drank a sparkling wine of the
+country which may have been meretricious, but tasted good. There was a
+_douane_, for we had now passed out of Switzerland into Italy, and my
+mule-pack was examined with curiosity; but why I should have been
+questioned with insistence as to whether I were concealing sausages, I
+could not guess, unless a swashbuckling German princeling who married
+into our family eight generations ago, was using my eyes for windows
+at the time.
+
+I need not have feared that the best of the journey would be over at
+St. Rhémy, for the road (which broadened there, and became "navigable"
+for motor cars as well as horse-drawn vehicles), wound down still
+among stupendous mountains capped with snow, jagged peaks of dark
+granite, and purple porphyry which glowed crimson in contrast with the
+dazzling snow.
+
+We did not leave St. Rhémy till long past one, and as we descended
+upon lower levels the sun grew hot. More than once I called a halt,
+and we had a delicious rest under a tree in some exquisite glade a
+little removed from the roadside. It was during one of these, while
+Finois cropped an indigestible branch, that Joseph opened his heart,
+and told me his life's history. It had been more or less adventurous,
+and it had held a tragedy, for Joseph had loved, and the fair had
+jilted him on the eve of their marriage, for a prosperous baker. This
+fellow-feeling (for had we not both been thrown over for tradesmen?)
+made me wondrous kind towards Joseph; and when I had drawn from him
+the fact that his great ambition was to own three donkeys, and start
+in business for himself, I secretly determined to see what could be
+done towards forwarding this end.
+
+We did not hurry, and while we were still far above Aosta, the shadows
+lengthened and thinned, like children who have grown too fast. We
+exchanged chestnuts for pines, and the pure ethereal blue of Italy
+burned in the sky. Everywhere was rich abundance of colour. The green
+of trees and grass was luscious; even the shadows were of a
+translucent purple. Below us the valley of Aosta lay, so dreamily
+lovely, so peaceful, that one could imagine there only happiness and
+prosperity.
+
+I remarked this to Joseph, and he smiled his melancholy smile. "It is
+beautiful," he said, "and when you are down at the bottom, you will
+not be disappointed in the country. But for happiness? it is no better
+than elsewhere. Wait till you see the _crétins_; there is a _crétin_
+in almost every family. And not long ago there was a dreadful murder
+in the neighbourhood of Aosta. The criminal has not yet been caught.
+He is supposed to be hiding somewhere in the mountains, and the police
+cannot find him. There is a printed notice out, warning people to
+beware of the murderer--so I read in a newspaper not long ago and I
+have heard that the inhabitants of all these little hamlets we see
+here and there, dare not go from village to village after dark, for
+fear of being attacked."
+
+"Then, if we should happen to be belated, we might have an adventure?"
+I said.
+
+"Indeed, it is not at all unlikely, Monsieur. No doubt the man is
+desperate, and if he saw a chance to get a change of clothing, a mule,
+and some money, he might risk attacking even two travellers, from
+behind. But we shall arrive at Aosta before dark, and I am afraid----"
+
+"I'll warrant you're not afraid of danger."
+
+"That we shall get no such sport, Monsieur."
+
+Even as he spoke there came, with the wind blowing up from the valley,
+a loud, long-drawn shriek of fear or distress, uttered by a woman. We
+looked at each other, Joseph and I, and then without a word set off
+running down the hill, in the direction of the cry. Again it came, "À
+moi-à moi!" We could hear the words, now, and then a wild,
+inarticulate scream.
+
+I bounded down the winding white road, where the evening shadows lay,
+and Joseph followed, somehow dragging Finois--at least, I am sure that
+he would not have left his beloved beast behind,--and so at last we
+turned a sharp bend of the path, thickly fringed with a dense wood,
+where suddenly Innocentina sprang almost into my arms. She ran to me,
+blindly, not seeing who it was, but knowing by instinct that help was
+at hand. "A robber--a murderer!" she panted. "Oh, save--" and then, I
+think, she fainted.
+
+I have a vague recollection of tossing her to Joseph, and plunging
+into the dim wood, where something moved, half-hidden by the crowding
+trees. It was the donkeys I saw at first, and then I came full upon a
+man, dressed all in the brown of the tree trunks, so that at a
+distance he would not be seen among them, in the dusk. He had the
+_rücksack_ I had noticed at the Cantine de Proz in one hand, and with
+the other he had just drawn a knife from the belt under his coat. On
+the ground crouched the Boy, shielding his bowed face with a slim,
+blue-serge arm.
+
+[Illustration: "ON THE GROUND CROUCHED THE BOY".]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+The Princess
+
+    "My little body is aweary of this great world."
+                                     --SHAKESPEARE.
+
+
+This was the tableau photographed on my retina as I sprang forward;
+but I drew the revolver which had occasioned Winston's mirth when
+Molly gave it to me at Brig, and in an instant the picture had
+dissolved. The man in brown dropped the _rücksack_, and ran as I have
+never seen man run before--ran as if he wore seven-leagued boots. My
+revolver was not loaded, and all the cartridges were among my shirts
+and collars, on Finois' back, therefore I could pursue him with
+nothing more dangerous than anathemas, unless I had deserted the boy,
+who seemed at first glance to be almost as near fainting as
+Innocentina.
+
+Reluctantly letting the man go free, I bent over the little figure in
+blue, still on its knees. "Are you hurt?" I asked in real anxiety,
+such as I had not thought it possible to feel for the Brat.
+
+"No--only my arm. He wrung it so. And perhaps I have twisted my knee.
+I don't know yet. He pushed me back, and I fell down."
+
+I lifted him up and supported him for a moment, he leaning against me,
+the colour drained from cheeks and lips. But suddenly it streamed
+back, even to his forehead; and raising his head from my shoulder
+where it had lain for a few seconds, he unwound himself gently from my
+arm. "I'm all right now, thank you awfully," he said. "I believe you
+have saved my life and Innocentina's. You see, we fought with the man
+for our things; and when he saw that he couldn't steal them without a
+struggle, he whipped out a knife and--and then you came. Oh, he was a
+coward to attack two--two people so much weaker than himself, and then
+to run away when a stronger one came!"
+
+I kept Joseph's story to myself, and hoped that the boy had not heard
+it. Perhaps, after all, this lurking beast of prey had not been the
+murderer in hiding. The place was desolate, and evening was falling.
+Some tramp, or thievish peasant, taking advantage of the murder-scare,
+might easily have dared this attack; and when I glanced at the picnic
+array under a tree near by, I was even less surprised than before at
+the thing which had happened.
+
+The mouse-coloured pack-donkey had been denuded of his load, and the
+most elaborate tea basket I had ever seen (finer even than Molly's)
+was open on the ground. If the cups, plates and saucers, the knives,
+spoons and forks, were not silver, they were masquerading hypocrites;
+and I now discovered that the large, dark object which I had seen
+Innocentina putting into the _rücksack_ (at this moment half on, half
+off) was a very handsome travelling bag. It was gaping wide, the mouth
+fixed in position with patent catches, and it lay where the
+disappointed thief had flung it, tumbled on its side, with a quantity
+of gold and crystal fittings scattered round about. On the gold backs
+of the brushes, and the tops of the bottles, was an intricate
+monogram, traced in small turquoises.
+
+"By Jove!" I exclaimed. "Do you travel with these things? What
+madness to spread them out in the woods by an unfrequented mountain
+road! That is to offer too much temptation even to the honest poor."
+
+"I know," said the boy meekly. "It was stupid to picnic in such a
+place, but we had come fast" (with this he had the grace to look a
+little shame-faced, knowing that I knew _why_ he had come fast) "and
+we were tired. It was so beautiful here, and seemed so peaceful that
+we never thought of danger, at this time of day. We had just begun to
+pack up our things to move on again, when there was a rustling behind
+us, the crackling of a branch under a foot, and that wretch sprang
+out. I was frightened, but--I hate being a coward, and I just made up
+my mind he _shouldn't_ have our things. Innocentina screamed, and I
+struck at the man with the stick she uses to drive Fanny and Souris.
+Then he got out his knife, and Innocentina screamed a good deal more,
+and--I don't quite know what did happen after that, till you came."
+
+"Well, I'm thankful I was near," I said. "And I must say that, though
+it was foolhardy to make such a display of valuables, you were a
+plucky little David to defend your belongings against such a Goliath.
+I admire you for it."
+
+The boy flushed with pleasure. "Oh, do you really think I was plucky?"
+he asked. "Everything was so confused, I wasn't sure. I'd rather be
+plucky than anything. Thank you for saying that, almost as much as for
+saving our lives. And--and I'm dreadfully sorry I called you a--brute,
+last night."
+
+"It was only because I called you a brat. I fully deserved it, and
+we'll cry quits, if you don't mind. Now, I'd better see how the
+fainting lady is, and then I'll help you get your things together. How
+are the knee and arm?"
+
+"Nothing much wrong with them after all, I think," said the boy,
+limping a little as he walked by my side back to the road, where I had
+left Innocentina with Joseph.
+
+We had taken but a few steps, when they both appeared, the young woman
+white under her tan, her eyes big and frightened. She was herself
+again, very thankful for so good an end to the adventure, and volubly
+ashamed of the weakness to which she had given way. In the midst of
+her explanations and enquiries, however, I noticed that she took time
+now and then to throw a glance at my muleteer, not scornful and
+defiant, as on the day before, but grateful and mildly feminine. In
+conclave we agreed to say nothing in Aosta of the grim encounter, lest
+our lives should be made miserable by _gendarmes_ and much red tape.
+But Joseph, less diplomatic than I, had not scrupled to seize the
+moment of Innocentina's recovery to pour into her ears the story of
+the escaped criminal, and the excitement in which he had plunged the
+neighbouring country. She was anxious to hurry on as quickly as
+possible, lest night should overtake her party on the way, and, still
+pale and tremulous, she sprang eagerly to the work of gathering up the
+scattered belongings. While she and Joseph put the tea-basket to
+rights, the boy and I rearranged the gorgeous fittings of the bag, and
+discovered that not even a single bottle-top was missing.
+
+"What a burden to carry on a donkey's back!" I laughed. "You are a
+regular Beau Brummel."
+
+"Why not?" pleaded the boy. "I like pretty things, and this is very
+convenient. It is no trouble for Souris. When the bag is in the
+_rücksack_, no one would suspect that it is valuable. I have carried
+all this luggage so, ever since Lucerne, and never had any bother
+before."
+
+"What, you too started from Lucerne?"
+
+"Yes. I had Innocentina and the donkeys come up from the Riviera, to
+meet me there. We have been a long time on the way--weeks: for we have
+stopped wherever we liked, and as long as we liked. Until to-day we
+haven't had a single real adventure. I was wishing for one, but
+now--well, I suppose most adventures are disagreeable when they are
+happening, and only turn nice afterwards, in memory."
+
+"Like caterpillars when they become butterflies. But look here, my
+young friend David, lest you meet another Goliath, I really think
+you'd better put up with the proximity (I don't say society) of that
+hateful animal, Man, as far as Aosta. Joseph and I will either keep a
+few yards in advance, or a few yards in the rear, not to annoy you
+with our detestable company, but----"
+
+"Please don't be revengeful," entreated the ex-Brat. "You have been so
+good to us, don't be un-good now. I suppose one may hate men, yet be
+grateful to one man--anyhow, till one finds him out? I can't very well
+find you out between here and Aosta, can I?--so we may be friends, if
+you'll walk beside me, neither behind nor in front. I am excited, and
+feel as if I _must_ have someone to talk to, but I am a little tired
+of conversation with Innocentina. I know all she has ever thought
+about since she was born."
+
+"It's a bargain then," said I. "We're friends and comrades--until
+Aosta. After that----"
+
+"Each goes his own way," he finished my broken sentence; "as ships
+pass in the night. But this little sailing boat won't forget that the
+big bark came to its help, in a storm which it couldn't have weathered
+alone."
+
+"Do you know," said I, as we walked on together, the muleteer and the
+donkey girl behind us, with the animals, "you are a very odd boy. I
+suppose it is being American. Are all American boys like you?"
+
+"Yes," said he, twinkling, "all. I am cut on exactly the same pattern
+as the rest," and he smiled a charming smile, of which I could not
+resist the curious fascination. "Did you never meet any American boys,
+till you met me?"
+
+"I can't remember having any real conversation with one, except once.
+His mother had asked me in his presence (it was in New York) how I
+liked America, and I had answered that it dazzled me; that the only
+yearning I felt was for something dark and quiet, and small and
+uncomfortable. She was rather pleased, but the boy put a string across
+the drawing-room door when I went out, and tripped me up. Then we had
+a little conversation--quite a short one--but full of repartee. That's
+my solitary experience."
+
+"I should have wanted to trip you up for that speech, too; so you see
+the likeness is proved. It is a funny thing, I know very few
+Englishmen. I've met several, but, as you say, I never had any real
+conversation with them."
+
+"Maybe, if you had, you wouldn't be so down on your sex when it has
+reached adolescence."
+
+[Illustration: "'DO YOU KNOW,' SAID I, 'YOU ARE A VERY QUEER BOY'".]
+
+"I'm afraid there isn't much difference in men, whatever their
+country. But it's--their attitude towards women which I hate."
+
+I laughed. "What do you know about that?"
+
+"I have a sister," said he, after a minute's pause. And he did not
+laugh. "She and I have been--tremendous chums all our lives. There
+isn't a thing she has done, or a thought she has had, that I don't
+know, and the other way round, of course."
+
+"Twins?" I asked.
+
+"She is twenty-one."
+
+"Oh, four or five years older than you."
+
+The boy evidently did not take this as a question. "She is
+unfortunately an heiress," he said. "Money has brought misery upon
+her, and through her, on me; for if she suffers, I suffer too. She
+used to believe in everybody. She thought men were even more sincere
+and upright than women, because their outlook on life was larger, and
+so it was easy for her to be deceived. When she came out she wasn't
+quite eighteen (you see we have no father or mother, only a lazy old
+guardian-uncle), and she thought everyone was wonderfully kind to her,
+so she was very happy. I suppose there never was a happier girl--for a
+while. But by-and-bye she began to find out things. She discovered
+that the men who seemed the nicest only cared for her money, not for
+her at all."
+
+"How could she be sure of that?"
+
+"It was proved, over and over again, in lots of ways."
+
+"But if she is a pretty and charming girl----"
+
+"I think she is only odd--like me. People don't understand her,
+especially men. They find her strange, and men don't like girls to be
+strange."
+
+"Don't they? I thought they did."
+
+"Think for yourself. Have you ever been at all in love? And if you
+have, wasn't the girl quite, quite conventional; just a nice sweet
+girl, who was pretty, and who flirted, and who was too properly
+brought up ever to do or to say anything to surprise you?"
+
+"Well," I admitted, my mind reviewing this portrait of Helen, which
+was really a well-sketched likeness, "now you put it in that way, I
+confess the girl I've cared for most was of the type you describe. I
+can see that now, though I didn't think of it then."
+
+"No, you wouldn't; men don't. My sister soon learned that she wasn't
+really the sort of girl to be popular, though she had dozens of
+proposals, heaps of flowers every day, had to split up each dance
+several times at a ball, and all that kind of thing. It was a shock to
+find out _why_. To her face, they called her 'Princess,' and she was
+pleased with the nickname at first, poor thing. She took it for a
+compliment to herself. But she came to know that behind her back it
+was different; she was the 'Manitou Princess.' You see, the money, or
+most of it, came because father owned the biggest silver mines in
+Colorado, and he named the principal one 'Manitou,' after the Indian
+spirit. I shan't forget the day when a man she'd just refused, told
+her the vulgar nickname--and a few other things that hurt. But I don't
+know why I'm talking to you like this. I wanted to get away from you
+yesterday, because I--don't care to meet people. Everything seems
+different though, now. I suppose it's because you saved our lives. I
+feel as if you weren't exactly a new person, but as if--I'd known you
+a long time."
+
+"I have the same sort of feeling about you, for some queer reason,"
+said I. "Are we also to know each other's names?"
+
+"No," he answered quickly. "That would spoil the charm: for there is a
+charm, isn't there? But we won't call each other Brat and Brute any
+more. That's ancient history. I'll be for you--just Boy. I think I
+will call you Man."
+
+"But you hate Man."
+
+"I don't hate you. If I were a girl I might, but as it is, I don't. I
+like you--Man."
+
+"And I like you, Boy. We are pals now. Shall we shake hands?"
+
+We did. I could have crushed his little brown paw, if I had not
+manipulated it carefully.
+
+After that, we did not talk much. By-and-bye, he was tired, and
+remounted his donkey, but we still kept side by side, Innocentina
+sending at intervals a perfunctory cry of "Fanny-anny," from a
+distance, by way of keeping the small brown _âne_ to her work.
+
+So we reached the beautiful valley of Aosta, as the transparent azure
+veil of the Italian dusk was drawn, and out of that dusk glimmered now
+and then, as if born of the shadows, strange, stunted, and misshapen
+forms, gnome-like creatures, who stood aside to let us pass along the
+road. It was as if the Brownie Club were out for a night excursion;
+and I remembered my muleteer's lecture about the _crétins_ of this
+happy valley. These were some of them, going back to town from their
+day's work in the fields. I had set my mind upon stopping at a hotel
+of which Joseph had told me, extolling its situation at a distance
+from Aosta _ville_, the wonderful mountain-pictures its windows
+framed, and a certain pastoral primitiveness, not derogatory to
+comfort, which I should find in the _ménage_. But when my late enemy
+and new chum remarked that he was going to the Mont Blanc, I
+hesitated.
+
+"And you?" he asked.
+
+"Oh, I--well, I had thought--but it doesn't matter."
+
+"I see what you mean. Would it be disagreeable for you if I were in
+the same hotel?"
+
+"On the contrary. But you----"
+
+"I know now that we shall never rub each other up the wrong
+way--again. Besides, we shan't have the chance. I suppose you go on
+somewhere else to-morrow?"
+
+"No, I want to stop a day or two. Some friends have asked me to tell
+them about the sights of the neighbourhood, and what sort of motoring
+roads there are near by."
+
+"I'm stopping, too. So, after all, the little sailing boat and the big
+bark aren't going to pass each other this night? They are to anchor in
+the same harbour for a while."
+
+"And here's the harbour," said I, for we had come down from the hills
+into a marvellous old town of ancient towers and arches, with a
+background of white mountains. Molly should have been satisfied. I had
+obeyed her instructions to the letter, and I was in Aosta at last.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+Afternoon Calls
+
+    "If you climb to our castle's top
+     I don't see where your eyes can stop."
+                         --ROBERT BROWNING.
+
+
+Our hotel had a big loggia, as large as a good-sized room, and we
+dined in it, with a gorgeous stage setting. The mountains floated in
+mid-sky, pearly pale, and magical under the rising moon. The little
+circle of light from our pink-shaded candles on the table (I say our,
+because Boy and I dined together) gave to the picture a bizarre
+effect, which French artists love to put on canvas; a blur of
+gold-and-rose artificial light, blending with the silver-green
+radiance of a full moon.
+
+I don't know what we had to eat, except that there were trout from the
+river, and luscious strawberries and cream; but I know that the dinner
+seemed perfect, and that the head waiter, a delightful person, brought
+us champagne, with a long-handled saucepan wrapped in an immaculate
+napkin, to do duty as an ice-pail. I wondered why I had not come
+long ago to this place, named in honour of Augustus Cæsar, and
+why everybody else did not come. The ex-Brat was in the game
+frame of mind. We talked of more things than are dreamed of in
+philosophy--(other people's philosophy)--and there was not a book
+which was a dear friend of mine that was not a friend of this strange
+child's.
+
+We sat until the moon was high, and the candles low. I felt curiously
+happy and excited, a mood no doubt due in part to the climate of
+Aosta, in part to the discovery of a congenial spirit, where I had
+least expected to find one.
+
+Last night, we had been, at best, on terms of armed neutrality;
+to-night we were friends, and would continue friends, though we parted
+to-morrow. But parting was not what we thought of at the moment. On
+the contrary, half to our surprise, we found ourselves planning to see
+Aosta in each other's company.
+
+After ten o'clock, when, deliciously fatigued, I was on my way to my
+room along a great arcaded balcony which ran the length of the house,
+I met Joseph, lying in wait for me. My conscience pricked. I had
+forgotten to send the poor, tired fellow definite instructions for the
+next day. He had come to solicit them, but, if I could judge by
+moonlight, he looked far from jaded; indeed, he had an air of
+alertness, for him almost of gaiety.
+
+"You and Finois can have a rest to-morrow and the day after," said I,
+"while I do some sightseeing. I hear that I shall need one day at
+least for the town, and another for a drive to the châteaux and
+show-places of the neighbourhood. I hope you will be able to amuse
+yourself."
+
+"Monsieur must not think of me. I shall do very well," dutifully
+replied Joseph.
+
+"It is a pity that you and Innocentina do not get on. Otherwise----"
+
+"Ah, perhaps I should tell monsieur that I may have misjudged the
+young woman a little. It seems a question of bringing up, more than
+real badness of heart. It is her tongue that is in fault; and I am
+not even sure that with good influences she might not improve. I have
+been talking to her, Monsieur, of religion. She is black Catholic, and
+I Protestant, but I think that some of my arguments made a certain
+impression upon her mind."
+
+After this, I gave myself no further anxiety about Joseph's to-morrow,
+but went to bed, and dreamed of fighting for the Boy's life,
+Gulliver-like, against a band of infuriated Brownies.
+
+My first morning thought was to look out of all four windows at the
+mountains; my next, to ring for a bath.
+
+Now, as a rule, your morning tub is a function you are not supposed to
+describe in detail; but not to picture the ceremony as performed at
+Aosta, is to pass by the place without giving the proper dash of local
+colour.
+
+I rang. A girl appeared who struck me as singularly beautiful, but I
+discovered later that all girls are more or less beautiful at Aosta.
+The propriety of this morning visit was insured by the white cap,
+which was, so to speak, an adequate chaperon. On my request for a
+bath, the beauty looked somewhat agitated, but, after reflection, said
+that she would fetch one, and vanished, tripping lightly along the
+balcony.
+
+Twenty minutes then passed, and at the end of that time the young lady
+returned, almost obliterated by an enormous linen sheet which engulfed
+her like an avalanche. She was accompanied by a man and a boy,
+staggering under a strange object which resembled a vast arm-chair, of
+the grandfather variety. When placed on the floor, I became aware that
+it was a kind of cross between a throne and a bath-tub, and, having
+seen the huge sheet flung over it, I still rested in doubt as to the
+latter's purpose. The man and boy, who had not stood upon the order of
+their going, returned after an embarrassing absence, with pails of
+water, the contents of which, to my surprise, they flung upon the
+sheet.
+
+I tried to explain that, if this were a bath, I preferred it without
+the family linen, but the _femme de chambre_ seemed so shocked at
+these protestations, that I ceased uttering them, and determined to
+make the best of things as they stood.
+
+When I was again alone, after several rehearsals I found a way of
+accommodating the human form to the hybrid receptacle, and was amazed
+at its luxuriousness. The secret of this lay in the sheet, which was
+fragrant of lavender, and protected the body from contact with a cold,
+base metal which hundreds of other bodies must have touched before.
+
+"'Twas mine, 'tis his, and has been slave to thousands," might be said
+of a hotel bath-tub as well as of a stolen purse; and having once
+known the linen-lined bath of Aosta, I was promptly spoiled for
+common, un-lined tubs. This was a lesson not to form hasty opinions;
+but being a normal man, I shall no doubt continue to do so until the
+day of my death.
+
+The Boy and I broke our fast together on the loggia, which was even
+more entertaining as a _salle-à-manger_ by morning than by night. The
+coffee was exquisite; the hot, foaming milk had but lately been drawn
+from its original source, a little biscuit-coloured Alderney with the
+pleading eyes of that fair nymph stricken to heiferhood by jealous
+Juno. The strawberries and figs came to the table from the hotel
+garden, and so did the luscious roses, which filled a bowl in the
+centre of our small white table.
+
+This was Arcadia. The very simplicities of the hotel endeared it to
+our hearts, and there was no real comfort lacking which we could have
+obtained in London or in Paris.
+
+After breakfast we set off with our cameras to the town, a walk of ten
+or fifteen minutes. It was strange, in this pilgrimage of mine, how
+often I found myself running back into the Feudal or Middle Ages, as
+far removed from the familiar bustle of modern days as if an iron door
+had been shut and padlocked behind me.
+
+There was little of the Twentieth Century in Aosta (named by Augustus
+the "Rome of the Alps"), except the monument to "Le Roi Chasseur," and
+the bookshops, which seemed extraordinarily well supplied with the
+best literature of all countries. The type of face we met was
+primitive; scarcely one which would have been out of place on some old
+Roman coin. Here, at the end of a narrow, shadowed street, where St.
+Anselm first saw the light (it must have been with difficulty) we came
+upon a magnificent archway, built to do honour to Augustus Cæsar's
+defeat of the brave Salasses, four and twenty years before the world
+had a Saviour. A few steps further on, and we were under the majestic
+mass of the Porta Pretoria; or we were crossing a Roman bridge, or
+gazing at the ruins of Roman ramparts. Or, we lost our way in
+searching for the amphitheatre, and found ourselves suddenly skipping
+over centuries into the Middle Ages, represented by the mysterious
+Tour Bramafam, the Tour des Prisons, or the Tour du Lepreux, round
+which Xavier Maistre wrote his pathetic dialogue. Then, there was the
+cathedral with its extraordinary painted façade, like a great coloured
+picture-book; and the tall cross, straddling a spring in a paved
+street, put up in thanksgiving by the Aostans when they joyfully saw
+Calvin's back for the last time.
+
+We spent all day in sightseeing, and had another moonlight evening on
+the loggia. We were great pals now, Boy and I. I had never met anyone
+in the least like him. At one moment he was a human boy, almost a
+child; at another his brain leaped beyond mine, and he became a poet
+or a philosopher; again he was an elfin sprite, a creature for whom
+Puck was the one thinkable name. There was a single thing only, about
+which you could always be sure. He would never be twice the same.
+
+Still, though we were friends, "Boy" and "Man" we remained. He kept
+his name a secret, and he had forbidden me to mention mine. Nor had he
+spoken of his route or destination, after Aosta. As to this I was
+curious, for I knew now that it would be a wrench to part with the
+strange little being whose ears I had tingled to box three days (or
+was it three years?) ago. Already he had done me good; and though I
+had hardly reached the point of confessing as much to myself, as a
+plain matter of fact I would not have exchanged his quaint
+companionship for that of my lost love. How she would have hated this
+idyllic Arcadia! How _triste_ she would have been; how weary after a
+day's tour among relics of past ages; and how much she would have
+preferred Bond Street to the Arch of Augustus, or the park to our snow
+mountains and green valley! Even Davos she would have found
+intolerable had it not been for the tobogganing, the dances and the
+theatricals, in all of which she had played a leading part. Deep down
+in the darkest corner of my soul, I now knew that I would not have
+fallen in love with Helen Blantock had I first met her in Aosta.
+
+The Boy and I agreed that our head waiter was one of the nicest men we
+had ever met, and when he pledged his personal honour that a day's
+wandering among neighbouring castles would be "very repaying," we
+determined to bolt the five he most recommended in one gulp, on our
+second and last afternoon. If he could, he would have sent us spinning
+like teetotums from one concentric ring of historic châteaux to
+another, until goodness knows how far from Aosta, Finois, Souris, and
+Fanny-anny, we should have ended. He would also have despatched us on
+a two or three days' excursion to Courmayeur; and I fear that his
+respect for us went down like mercury in a chilled thermometer, when
+he understood that we had not come to the country to do any of the
+famous climbs. He named so many, dear to the hearts of my Alpine Club
+acquaintances, that it would have taken us well into the new year to
+accomplish half; and he accepted with mild, disapproving resignation
+our fiat that there were other parts of the world worth seeing.
+
+As we had to cover a radius of many miles, in our rounds of visits at
+the few sample châteaux we had selected from the waiter's list, we
+decided to spare our legs and those of the animals. It was hardly
+playing the game we had set out to play--we two strangely-met
+friends--to amble conventionally from show-house to show-house, in a
+carriage, with guide-books in our hands, like everyday tourists;
+nevertheless, we did this unworthy thing. Perhaps, therefore, I
+deserved the punishment which fell upon me.
+
+Little did I dream, when I flippantly spoke of our expedition as
+"driving out to pay calls," how nearly my thoughtless words were to be
+realised. We started immediately after an early _déjeuner_, sitting
+side by side in a little low-swung carriage, a superior phaeton, or
+poor relation of a victoria. The day was hot, but a delicious breeze
+came to us from the snow mountains, and there was a peculiar buoyancy
+in the air.
+
+Our first castle was Sarre, the Château Royal, an enormous brown
+building with a disproportionately high tower. This hunting-lodge of
+the King would have been grimly ugly, were it not for its rocky
+throne, high above the river bed, and its background of glistening
+white mountains. The huge pile looked like a sleeping dragon with its
+hundreds of window-eyes close-lidded, and I could not imagine it an
+amusing place for a house party. I was glad that the Boy was not
+animated with that wild mania for squeezing the last drop from the
+orange of sightseeing which makes some travelling companions so
+depressing. The castle was closed to visitors, yet many people would
+have insisted on climbing the steep hill for the barren satisfaction
+of saying that they had been there. I rejoiced that my little Pal was
+not one of these; but I should have been more prudent had I waited.
+
+We drove on, after a pause for inspection, along a road which would
+have rejoiced the motor-loving heart of Jack Winston, and I made a
+note to tell him what a magnificent tour he might have in this
+enchanted country one day with his car, tooling down from Milan. As I
+mentally arranged my next letter to the Winstons, the Boy gave a
+little cry of delight. "Oh, what a queer, delightful place! It's all
+towers, just held together by a thread of castle. It must be
+Aymaville."
+
+I looked up and beheld on a high hill an extraordinary château,
+something like four chess castles grouped together at the corners of a
+square heap of dice. It does not sound an attractive description, yet
+the place deserved that adjective. It was charming, and wonderfully
+"liveable," among its vineyards, commanding such a view as is given to
+few show-places in the world.
+
+"The descendants of the original family have restored it, and live
+there, don't they?" asked the Boy in Italian of the _cocher_.
+
+The man answered that this was the case, and was inspired by my evil
+genius to enquire if _ces messieurs_ would like to go over the
+château.
+
+"Is it allowed?" the Boy questioned eagerly.
+
+"But certainly. Shall I drive up to the house? It will be only an all
+little ten minutes."
+
+Without waiting for my answer, the Boy took my consent for granted,
+and said yes.
+
+Instantly we left the broad white road, and began winding up a narrow,
+steep, and stony way, among vineyards. The _cocher's_ all little ten
+minutes lengthened into half an hour, but at last we halted before a
+garden gate--a high, uncompromising, reserved-looking gate.
+
+"The fellow must be mistaken," said I. "This place has not the air of
+encouraging visitors;" but, before the words were out of my mouth, the
+enterprising _cocher_ had rung the gate bell.
+
+After an interval a gardener appeared, and betrayed such mild,
+ingenuous surprise at sight of us that I wished ourselves anywhere
+else than before the portals of the Château d'Aymaville. Gladly would
+I have whipped up our fat, barrel-shaped nag, and driven into the
+nearest rabbit-hole, but it was too late. The gardener took the
+enquiry as to whether visitors were admitted, with the gravity he
+would have given to a question in the catechism: Is your name N. or
+M.? Can one see your master's house?
+
+Oh, without doubt, one could see the house. Would _les messieurs_
+kindly accompany him? His aspect wept, and mine (unless it belied me)
+copied his. "Isn't it hateful?" I asked, _sotto voce_, of the Boy,
+expecting sympathy which I did not get. "No, I think it's great fun,"
+said he.
+
+"But I'm sure they are not in the habit of showing the house. You can
+tell by the man's manner. He's nonplussed. I should think no one has
+ever had the cheek to apply for permission before."
+
+"Then they ought to be complimented because we have."
+
+I was silenced, though far from convinced; but if you have made an
+engagement with an executioner, it is a point of honour not to sneak
+off and leave him in the lurch, when he has taken the trouble to
+sharpen his axe, and put on his red suit and mask for your benefit.
+
+We arrived, after a walk through a pretty garden, upon a terrace where
+there was a marvellous view. The gardener showed it to us solemnly, we
+pacing after him all round the château, as if we played a game. At the
+open front door we were left alone for a few minutes, heavy with
+suspense, while our guide held secret conclave with a personable woman
+who was no doubt a housekeeper. Astonished, but civil, with dignified
+Italian courtesy she finally invited us in, and I was coward enough
+to let the Boy lead, I following with a casual air, meant to show that
+I had been dragged into this business against my will; that I was, in
+fact, the tail of a comet which must go where the cornet leads.
+
+Everywhere, inside the castle, were traces that the family had fled
+with precipitation. Here was a bicycle leaning abject against a wall;
+there, an open book thrown on the floor; here, a fallen chair; there,
+a dropped piece of sewing.
+
+Once or twice in England, I had stayed in a famous show-house, and my
+experience on the public Thursdays there had taught me what these
+people were enduring now. At Waldron Castle we had been hunted from
+pillar to post; if we darted from the hall into a drawing-room, the
+public would file in before we could escape to the boudoir; the lives
+of foxes in the hunting season could have been little less disturbed
+than ours, and we were practically only safe in our own or each
+other's bedrooms--indeed, any port was precious in a storm.
+
+By the time that the Boy and I had been led, like stalled oxen,
+through a long series of living-rooms, I knowing that the rightful
+inhabitants were panting in wardrobes, my nerves were shattered. I
+admired everything, volubly but hastily, and broke into fireworks of
+adjectives, always edging a little nearer to the exit, though not, I
+regret to say, invariably aided by the Boy. He, indeed, seemed to find
+an impish pleasure in my discomfiture.
+
+During the round, I was dimly conscious that the entire staff of
+servants, most of them maids, and embarrassingly beautiful, flitted
+after us like the ghosts who accompanied Dante and his guide on their
+tour of the Seven Circles. As, at last, we returned to the square
+entrance hail, they melted out of sight, still like shadows, and I had
+a final moment of extreme anguish when, at the door, the housekeeper
+refused the ten francs I attempted to press into her haughty Italian
+palm.
+
+"No more afternoon calls on châteaux for me, after _that_ experience,"
+I gasped, when we were safely seated in the homelike vehicle which I
+had not sufficiently appreciated before.
+
+"Oh, I shall be disappointed if you won't go with me to the Château of
+St. Pierre which we saw in the photograph--that quaint mass of towers
+and pinnacles, on the very top of a peaked rock," said the Boy. "I've
+been looking forward to it more than to anything else, but I shan't
+have courage to do it alone."
+
+"Courage?" I echoed. "After the brazen way in which you stalked
+through the scattered belongings of the family at Aymaville, you would
+stop at nothing."
+
+"In other words, I suppose you think me a typical Yankee boy? But I
+really was nervous, and inclined to apologise to somebody for being
+alive. That's why I can't go through another such ordeal without
+company; yet I wouldn't miss this eleventh-century castle for a bag of
+your English sovereigns."
+
+"If only it had been left alone, and not restored!" I groaned. "In
+that case we should meet no one but bats."
+
+"We? Then you will go with me?"
+
+"I suppose so," I sighed. "It can't add more than a dozen grey hairs,
+and what are they among so many?"
+
+A few kilometres further on we reached the "bizarre monticule," from
+which sprouted a still more bizarre château. From our low level, it
+was impossible to tell where the rock stopped, and where the castle
+began, so deftly had man seized every point of vantage offered by
+Nature--and "points" they literally were.
+
+The ascent from the road to the château was much like climbing a
+fire-escape to the top of a New York sky-scraper, but we earned the
+right to cry "Excelsior!" at last, had we not by that moment been
+speechless. History now repeated itself. I rang; the castle gate was
+opened, but this time by a major-domo who had already in some
+marvellous way learned that strangers might be expected.
+
+Never was so appallingly hospitable a man, and I trusted that even the
+Boy suffered from his kindness. Madame la Baronne, who was away for
+the afternoon, would chide him if guests were allowed to leave her
+house without refreshment. Eat we must, and drink we must, in the
+beautiful hall evidently used as a sitting-room by the absent
+châtelaine. Her wine and her cakes were served on an ancient silver
+tray, almost as old as the family traditions, and it was not until we
+had done to both such justice as the major-domo thought fair that he
+would consent to let us go further.
+
+The house was really of superlative interest, though spoiled here and
+there by eccentric modern decoration. Much of the window glass had
+remained intact through centuries; the walls were twelve feet thick;
+the oak-beamed ceilings magnificent, and the secret stairways and
+rooms in the thickness of the walls, bewildering; but when our
+conductor began leading us into the bedrooms in daily use by the
+ladies of the castle, my gorge rose. "This is awful," I said. "I can't
+go on. What if Madame la Baronne returns and finds a strange man and a
+boy in her bedroom? Good heavens, now he's opening the door of the
+bath!"
+
+"We must go on," whispered the Boy, convulsed with silent laughter.
+"If we don't, the major-domo won't understand our scruples. He'll
+think we're tired, and don't appreciate the castle. It would never do
+to hurt his feelings, when he has been so kind."
+
+"To the bitter end, then," I answered desperately; and no sooner were
+the words out of my mouth than the bitter end came. It consisted of a
+collision with the Baronne's dressing-jacket, which hung from a hook,
+and tapped me on the shoulder with one empty frilled sleeve, in soft
+admonition. I could bear no more. One must draw the line somewhere,
+and I drew the line at intruding upon ladies' dressing-jackets in
+their most sacred fastnesses.
+
+If I had been a woman, my pent-up emotion at this moment would have
+culminated in hysterics, but being a man, I merely bolted, stumbling,
+as I fled, over my absent hostess' bedroom slippers. I scuttled down a
+winding flight of tower stairs, broke incontinently into a lighted
+region which turned out to be a kitchen, startled the cook, apologised
+incontinently, and somehow found myself, like Alice in Wonderland,
+back in the great entrance hail. There, starting at every sound, lest
+a returning family party should catch me "lurking," I awaited the Boy.
+
+We left, finally, showering francs and compliments; but I crawled out
+a decrepid wreck, and refused pitilessly to do more than view the
+exterior of other châteaux. It was evening when we saw our white hotel
+once more, and a haze of starlight dusted the sky and all the blue
+distance with silver powder.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+The Path of the Moon
+
+    "And then they came to the turnstile of night."
+                                 --RUDYARD KIPLING.
+
+
+This was to be our last night at Aosta, perhaps our last night
+together, for the Boy's plans kept his name company in some secret
+"hidie hole" of his mind. As, for the third time, we dined on the
+loggia, before the rising of the moon, we drifted into talk of
+intimate things. It was I who began it. I harked back to the broken
+conversation which had first made us friends, and to his chance sketch
+of Helen Blantock and her type. In that connection, I ventured to
+bring up the subject of his sister.
+
+"What you said about her disillusionment interested me very much," I
+told him. "You see, I've just come through an experience something
+like it myself, do you mind talking about her?"
+
+"Not in this place--and this mood--and to you," he answered. "But
+first--what disillusioned you?"
+
+"Disappointment in someone I cared for,--and believed in."
+
+"It was the same with--my sister."
+
+"Poor Princess."
+
+"Yes, poor Princess. Was it--a man friend who disappointed you?"
+
+"A woman. The old story. As a matter of fact, she threw me over
+because another fellow had a lot more money than I."
+
+"Horrid creature."
+
+"Oh, just an ordinary, conventional, well brought up girl. Now you see
+I have as much right to a grudge against women, as your sister the
+Princess has against men."
+
+"But I don't believe the girl _could_ have been as cruel to you, as
+this man I'm thinking of was to--her. They'd known each other for
+years, since childhood. He used to call her his 'little sweetheart'
+when she was ten and he was fifteen. How was she to dream that even
+when he was a boy, he didn't really like her better than other little
+girls, that already he was making calculations about her money? She
+thought he was different from the others, that _he_ cared for herself.
+They were engaged, the bridesmaids asked, the trousseau ready, the
+invitations out for the wedding, and then--one night she overheard a
+conversation between him and a cousin of his, who was to be one of her
+bridesmaids. Only a few words--but they told everything. It was the
+other girl he loved, and had always loved. But he was poor, and
+so--well, you can guess the rest. My sister broke off her engagement
+the next day, though the man went on his knees to her, and vowed he
+had been mad. Then she left home at once, and soon she was taken very
+ill."
+
+"She loved that worthless scoundrel so much?"
+
+"I don't know. I don't think she knows. It was the destruction of an
+ideal which was terrible. She had clung to it. She had said to
+herself: 'Many men may be false, and mercenary, and unscrupulous, but
+this one is true.' Suddenly, he had ceased to exist for her. She stood
+alone in the world--in the dark."
+
+"Except for you."
+
+"Except for me, and a few friends,--one girl especially, who was
+heavenly to her. But the dearest girl friend can't make up for the
+loss of trust in a lover."
+
+"That's true. By Jove, I thought I had been roughly used, but it's
+nothing to this. I feel as if I knew your sister, somehow. I wonder,
+since you and she are such pals, that you can bear to leave her."
+
+"She wanted to be alone. She said she didn't feel at home in life any
+more, and it made her restless to be with anyone who knew her trouble,
+anyone who pitied her. I was ill too,--from sympathy, I suppose,
+and--she thought a tramp like this would do me good. So it has. Being
+close to nature, especially among mountains, as I've been for weeks
+now, makes one's troubles and even one's sister's troubles seem
+small."
+
+"You are young to feel that."
+
+"My soul isn't as young as my body. Maybe that's why nature is so much
+to me. I am more alive when I'm away from big towns. Sunrises and
+sunsets are more important than the rising and falling of money
+markets. They--and the wind in the trees. What things they say to you!
+You can't explain; you can only feel. And when you _have_ felt, when
+you have heard colour, and seen sounds, you are never quite the same,
+quite as sad, again,--I mean if you _have_ been sad."
+
+"I've said all that--precisely that--to myself lately," I exclaimed,
+forgetting that I was a man talking to a child. The strange little
+person whom I had apostrophised as "Brat" seemed not only an equal,
+but a superior. I found myself intensely interested in him, and all
+that concerned him. "Odd, that you, too, should have thought that
+thing about colour and sound! This evening-blue, for instance. Do you
+hear the music of it?"
+
+"Yes. I'm not sure it isn't that which has made me answer your
+questions. But now let's talk of something else--or better still,
+let's not talk at all, for a while."
+
+We were silent, and I wondered if the Boy's thoughts ran with mine, or
+if he had closed and locked the secret door in his brain, and listened
+dreamily to the sweet evening voices of this Valley of Musical Bells.
+
+Suddenly, into the many sounds of the silence, broke a loud and
+jarring note; the trampling of men's feet and horses' hoofs; loud
+laughter and the jingling of accoutrements. We looked over the
+balustrade to see a battalion of soldiers marching at ease, on their
+way back from some mountain manoeuvres, and as we gazed down, they
+stared up, a young fellow shouting to the Boy that he had better join
+them.
+
+"It's like life calling one back," said the strange child. "I suppose
+one must always go on, somewhere else. And we--we must go on, though
+it is sweet here."
+
+"It was what I was thinking of just now," I answered. "Are we to part
+company?"
+
+The Boy laughed--an odd little laugh. "Why, that depends," said he
+abruptly, "on where you are going. I've planned to walk back over the
+St. Bernard to Martigny, and so by way of the Tête Noire to Chamounix.
+That name--Chamounix--has always been to my ears, as Stevenson says,
+'like the horns of elf-land, or crimson lake.' I want to come face to
+face with Mont Blanc, of which I've only seen a far-off mirage, long
+ago when I was a little chap, at Geneva. What are your plans?"
+
+"If I ever had any, I've forgotten them," said I. "Look here, Little
+Pal, shall we join forces as far as--as far as----"
+
+"The turnstile," he finished my broken sentence.
+
+"Where is the turnstile?"
+
+"At the place--whatever it may be--where we get tired of each other.
+Isn't that what you meant?"
+
+"According to my present views, that place might be at the other end
+of the world. You must remember it was never I who tried to get away
+from you. At the Cantine de Proz, I----"
+
+"Don't let's remember to that time. Then, I didn't know that you
+were--You. That makes all the difference. You looked as if you might
+be nice, but I've learned not to trust first impressions, especially
+of men--grown-up men. There are such lots of people one drifts across,
+who are not _real_ people at all, but just shells, with little
+rattling nuts of dull, imitation ideas inside, taken from newspapers,
+or borrowed from their friends. Fancy what it would be to see glorious
+places with such a companion! It would drive me mad. I determined not
+to make aquaintances on this trip; but you--why, I feel now as if it
+would be almost insulting you to call you 'an acquaintance.' We
+are--oh, I'll take your word! We're 'pals,' and Something big that's
+over all meant us to be pals. I don't mind telling you, Man, that I
+should miss you, if we parted now."
+
+"We won't part," I said quickly. "We'll jog along together. Have a
+cigarette? I'm going to smoke a pipe, because I feel contented."
+
+Between puffs of that pipe (an instrument which I strongly but vainly
+recommended to the Boy) I told him of my night drive over the St.
+Gothard. As it was his whim to consider names of no importance, I did
+not mention that of Jack and Molly Winston, but spoke of them merely
+as "my friends."
+
+"Could we do the St. Bernard at night?" he asked eagerly.
+
+"Yes, we could, if we saved ourselves by driving up from here to St.
+Rhémy, after déjeuner, otherwise it would mean being on foot all day
+and all night too. We could send Joseph, Innocentina, and the animals
+on very early to-morrow morning, to the Hospice, where they might rest
+till evening. The good monks would give us a meal of some sort about
+six, and at seven we could leave the Hospice. There would be an
+interval of starry darkness, and then we should have the full moon."
+
+"Splendid to see the Pass by moonlight, after knowing it by day, and
+sunset, and dawn! It would be like finding out wonderful new qualities
+in your friends, which you'd never guessed they had."
+
+Thus the Boy; and a few moments later the details of our journey were
+arranged. Joseph and Innocentina were interrupted in the midst of
+ardent attempts to convert one another, to be told what was in store
+for them. They did not appear averse to the arrangement, for a slight
+pout of the young woman's hardly counted; there was no doubt that a
+journey _á deux_ would offer infinite opportunities for religious
+disputation.
+
+As for the Little Pal and me, we carried out the first part of our
+programme to the letter. Two barrel-shaped nags instead of one took us
+to St. Rhémy, the little mountain village whose men are exempt from
+conscription, and called, poetically yet literally, "Soldiers of the
+Snow." Further up the jewelled way, our little victoria could not
+venture, and we trod the steep path side by side, the Boy stepping out
+bravely, the top of his panama on a level with my ear.
+
+Some magnetic cord of communication between his brain and mine
+telegraphed back and forth, without personal intervention on either
+part, my keen enjoyment of the scene, and his. We did not talk much,
+but each knew what the other was feeling. Most people disappoint you
+by their lack of capacity to enjoy nature, in moments which are
+superlative to you--moments which alone would repay you for the whole
+trouble of living through blank years. But this boy's spirit responded
+to beauty, up to an extreme point which was highly satisfactory. I saw
+it in the exaltation on his little sunburned face.
+
+Joseph and Innocentina were ostentatiously delighted to greet us at
+the Hospice. They and the animals had had their evening meal, and were
+ready to start when we wished. We went to the refectory and dined in
+company with many persons of many nationalities, who had just arrived
+from the Swiss and Italian valleys. Some of them manipulated their
+food strangely, as I had noticed here before; and Boy confided to me
+his opinion that it was a pity human beings were still obliged to eat
+with their mouths, like the lower animals. "It's a disgrace to one's
+face, which ought to be exclusively for better things. It's really too
+primitive, this penny-in-the-slot sort of arrangement. There ought to
+be a tiny trap-door in one's chest somewhere, so that one could just
+slip food in unobtrusively, at a meal, and go on talking and laughing
+as if nothing had happened."
+
+We were not long in dining, but by the time we came out again into the
+biting cold, late afternoon had changed to early evening.
+
+It was sunset. The great mountain shapes of glittering, red gold were
+clear as the profiles of goddesses, against a sky of rose. One--the
+grandest goddess of all--wore on her proud head a crown of snow which
+sparkled with diamond coruscations, rainbow-tinted in the pink light.
+Below her golden forehead hovered a thin cloud-veil, of pale lilac;
+and we had gone a long way down the mountain before the ineffable
+colour burned to ashes-of-rose. Then darkness caught and engulfed us,
+in the Valley of Death. The rushing of the river in its ravine was
+like the voice of night, not a separate sound at all, for hearing it
+was to hear the silence.
+
+By-and-bye we grew conscious of a faint, gradual revealing of the
+mountain-tops, which for a time had been black, jagged pieces cut out
+from the spangled fabric of a starry sky. A ripple of pearly light
+wavered over them, like the reflection of the unseen river mirrored
+for the Lady of Shalott.
+
+It was a strange, living light, beating with a visible pulse, and it
+slowly grew until its white radiance had extinguished the individual
+lamps of the stars. Waterfalls flashed out of darkness, like white,
+laughing nymphs flinging off black masks and dominoes; silver goblets
+and diamond necklaces were flung into the river bed, and vanished
+forever with a mystic gleam.
+
+"If there's a heaven, can there be anything in it better than this,
+Little Pal?" I asked.
+
+"There can be God," he said. "I'm a pagan sometimes in the sun, but
+never on a night like this. Then one _knows_ things one isn't sure of
+at other times. Why, I suppose there isn't really a world at all! God
+is simply thinking of these things, and of us, so we and they seem to
+be. We are his thoughts; the mountains, and the river, and the
+wild-flowers are his thoughts. It's just as if an author writes a
+story. In the story, all the people and the things which concern them
+are real, but you close the volume and they simply don't exist. Only
+God doesn't close the volume, I think, until the next is ready."
+
+"I wonder whether we'll both come into the next story?"
+
+"Who knows? Perhaps you'll wander into one story, and I'll get lost in
+another."
+
+A certain sadness fell upon me, born partly of our talk, partly of the
+poignant beauty of the night. We came to the Cantine de Proz, fast
+asleep in its lonely valley, and so we went on and on, our souls tuned
+to music and poetry by the song of the stars and the beauty of the
+night: But slowly a change stole over us. For a long time I was only
+dimly conscious of it, in a puzzled way, in myself. Why was it that my
+spirit stood no longer on the heights? Why did the moonlight look cold
+and metallic? Why had the rushing sound of the river got on my nerves,
+like the monotonous crying of a fretful child? Why did our frequent
+silences no longer tingle with a meaning which there was no need to
+express in words? Why was my brain empty of impressions as a squeezed
+sponge of water? Why, in fact, though everything was outwardly the
+same, why was all in reality different?
+
+"Oh, Man, I'm so hungry!" sighed Boy.
+
+"By Jove, that's what's been the matter with me this last half-hour,
+and I didn't know it!" said I.
+
+"I feel as if I could form a hollow square, all by myself."
+
+"I only wish there were something to form it round."
+
+"But there isn't--except a few chocolate creams I bought in Aosta
+because I respected their old age, poor things."
+
+"Perhaps even decrepid chocolates are better than nothing. Let's give
+'em honourable burial--unless you want them all to yourself, as you
+did the chicken at the 'Déjeûner,' and the room at the Cantine de
+Proz."
+
+"Oh, you _must_ have thought I was selfish! But truly, I don't think I
+am. It wasn't that. Only--I can't explain."
+
+"You needn't," said I. "I was 'kidding'--a most appropriate treatment
+for a man of your size. What I want is food, not explanations."
+
+The chocolates, which proved to be eighteen in number, were fairly
+divided, Boy refusing to accept more than his half. We each ate one
+with distaste, because the celebrated "Right Spot" was not to be
+pacified by unsuitable sacrifices; but presently it relented and
+demanded more. Appeased for the moment, the Spot allowed us to
+proceed, but incredibly soon it began again to clamour. We ate several
+more chocolates, though our gorge rose against them as a means of
+refreshment. Still Bourg St. Pierre, where we were sooner or later to
+sleep, was far away, and for the third time we were driven to
+chocolate. It was a loathsome business eating the remaining morsels of
+our supply, and we felt that the very name of the food would in
+future be abhorrent to us. The night had become unfriendly, the Pass a
+_Via Dolorosa_, and the last drop was poured into our cup of misery at
+Bourg St. Pierre.
+
+We had wired from the Hospice for rooms, and expected to find the
+little "Déjeûner" cheerfully lighted, the plump landlady amusingly
+surprised to see the guests who had lately brought dissension into her
+house returning peaceably together. But the roadside inn was asleep
+like a comfortable white goose with its head under its wing. Not a
+gleam in any window, save the bleak glint of moonlight on glass.
+
+Joseph and Innocentina were behind us with their charges, whose stored
+crusts of bread they had probably shared. I knocked at the doors No
+responsive sound from within. I pounded with my walking stick. A thin
+imp of echo mocked us, and, my worst passions roused by this
+inhospitality falling on top of nine chocolate creams, I almost beat
+the door down.
+
+Two sleepy eyelid-windows flew up, and a moment later a little servant
+who had served me the other afternoon, appeared at the door like a
+frightened rabbit at bay.
+
+I demanded the wherefore of this reception; I demanded rooms and food
+and reparation. What, was I the monsieur who had telegraphed from the
+Hospice? But madame had answered that she had not a room in the house.
+The carriage of a large party of very high nobility had broken down
+late in the afternoon, and they were remaining for the night, until
+the damage could be repaired. What to do? But there was nothing,
+unless _les messieurs_ would sleep, one on the sofa, the other on the
+floor, in the room of the "déjeûner."
+
+"I suppose we'll have to put up with that accommodation, then. What do
+you say, Boy?" I asked.
+
+"I would rather go on," he replied, in a tone of misery tempered by
+desperate resignation, as if he had been giving orders for his own
+funeral.
+
+"Go on where?" I enquired grimly.
+
+"I don't know. Anywhere."
+
+"'Anywhere' means in this instance the open road."
+
+"Well--I'm not so _very_ cold, are you? And I'm sure they'll give us a
+little bread and cheese here."
+
+"I think it would be wiser to stop," said I. "We might see the ghost
+of Napoleon eating the _déjeuner_. Isn't that an inducement?"
+
+"Not enough."
+
+"I assure you that I don't snore or howl in my sleep. And you could
+have the sofa to curl up on."
+
+"Ye-es; but I'd rather go on. You and Joseph can stop. Innocentina and
+I will be all right."
+
+I was annoyed with the child. I felt that he fully deserved to be
+taken at his word, and deserted on the Pass, but I had not the heart
+to punish him. If anything should happen to the poor Babe in the Wood,
+I should never forgive myself; and besides, it would have been
+hopeless to seek sleep, with visions of disaster to this strange
+Little Pal of mine painting my brain red.
+
+"Of course I won't do anything of the kind," I said crossly. "If one
+party goes on, both will go on." I then snappishly ordered food of
+some sort, any sort--except chocolate,--and having, after a blank
+interval, obtained enough bread, cheese, and ham for at least ten
+persons, I divided the rations with Joseph and Innocentina, who had
+now come up.
+
+We had a short halt for rest and refreshment, taken simultaneously,
+and presently set out again, with a vague idea of plodding on as far
+as Orsières. The Boy refused so obstinately to ride his donkey (I
+believe because I must go on foot), that Innocentina, thwarted, did
+frightful execution among her favourite saints. Joseph reproved her;
+she retorted by calling him a black heretic, and vowing that she had a
+right to talk as she pleased to her own saints; it was not his affair.
+Thus it was that our chastened cavalcade left the "Déjeûner."
+
+After this, our journey was punctuated by frequent pauses. The donkeys
+were tired; everybody was cross; the calm indifference of the glorious
+night was as irritating as must have been the "icily regular,
+splendidly null" perfection of Maud herself.
+
+Only the Boy kept up any pretence of spirits, and I knew well that his
+counterfeited buoyancy was merely to distract attention from guilt. If
+it had not been for him, we should all have been tucked away in some
+corner or other of the "Déjeûner." No doubt he would have dropped, had
+he not feared an "I told you so."
+
+We were still some miles on the wrong side of Orsières, when
+Innocentina came running up from behind, exclaiming that a dreadful
+thing, an appalling thing, had happened. No, no, not an accident to
+Joseph Marcoz. A trouble far worse than that. Nothing to the _mulet ou
+les ânes_. Ah, but how could she break the news? It was that in some
+way--some mad, magical way only to be accounted for by the
+intervention of evil spirits, probably attracted by the heretic
+presence of Joseph--the _rücksack_ containing the fitted bag had
+disappeared. If she were to be killed for it, she--Innocentina--could
+not tell how this great calamity had occurred.
+
+I thought that after such an alarming preface, the Boy would laugh
+when the mountain had brought forth its mouse, but he did no such
+thing. His little face looked anxious and forlorn in the white
+moonlight. And all for a mere bag, which was an absurd article of
+luggage, at best, for an excursion such as his!
+
+"I _can't_ lose it," he said. "There are things in it which I wouldn't
+have anyone's--which I couldn't replace."
+
+"Your sister the Princess will buy you another," I tried to console
+him.
+
+"This is her bag. She would feel dreadfully if it were gone. Besides,
+my diary-notes for the book I want to write are in it. I would give a
+thousand dollars to get it again--or more. I shall have to go back."
+
+"No, you won't," I said. "As to that, I shall put my foot down. If
+anyone goes----"
+
+"Nobody shall go but myself. I won't have it. I----"
+
+"And I won't have you go, if I'm forced to snatch you up and put you
+in my pocket. When I get you safely to Orsières, I don't mind a
+bit----"
+
+"No, no, you needn't say it. If we must go on to Orsières, I'll pay
+someone to come back from there, and search."
+
+"Why shouldn't I be the one? I'm not tired, only rather cross, and for
+all you know, I may be in urgent need of the reward you mean to
+offer."
+
+"You must be satisfied with your virtue. I've my own reasons,
+and--and I suppose I'm my own master?"
+
+"By Jove!" I exclaimed, laughing. "Eton would have done you a lot of
+good. You would have had some of your girly whims knocked out of you
+there, my kid."
+
+"I wonder if that _would_ have done me good?"
+
+"It isn't too late to try. You haven't passed the age."
+
+"I dare say travelling about with you will have much the same effect,"
+said the Boy, suddenly become an imp again. "I think I'll just
+'sample' that experiment first. But I _do_ want my bag."
+
+"Dash your bag! I'll lend you some night things out of the mule-pack.
+The lost treasure is sure to turn up again, like all bad pennies,
+to-morrow."
+
+We reached Orsières and roused the people of the inn with comparative
+ease. They could give us accommodation, but the man of the house
+looked dubious when he heard that a runner must at once be found to
+search for a travelling bag, lost nobody knew where.
+
+"To-morrow morning, when it is light----" he began; but Boy cut him
+short. "To-morrow morning may be too late. I will give five thousand
+francs to whoever finds my bag, and brings it back with everything in
+it undisturbed."
+
+The man opened his eyes wide, and I formed my lips into a silent
+whistle. I thought the Boy exceedingly foolish to name such a reward,
+when the bag and its gold fittings could not have been worth more than
+a hundred pounds, and an offer of three hundred francs would have been
+ample. What could the strange little person have in his precious bag,
+which he valued as the immediate jewel of his soul? and why would he
+not let me be the one to find it, thus keeping his five thousand
+francs in his pocket! He "had his reasons," forsooth! However, it was
+not my business.
+
+[Illustration: "LOOKING OUT OF THE WINDOW I SAW HIM IN
+CONVERSATION".]
+
+It must have been after three o'clock by the time I fell asleep in a
+queer little room where you had but to sit up in bed and stretch out
+your arm to reach anything you wanted. I dreamed of journeying through
+the night with the Boy, but I forgot his lost bag: nor when I waked in
+full morning light, did I recall its tragic disappearance. I found
+that it was nearly eight, and bounded out of bed, performing my toilet
+with maimed rites, since baths were not _comme il faut_ at Orsières.
+
+"The kid will be asleep still, I'll bet," I said to myself; but looking
+out of the window at that moment, I saw him in conversation with
+Joseph, Innocentina, and--apparently--half the inhabitants of the
+village.
+
+I hurried down, and learned that the bag--still a lost bag--had set
+all Orsières on fire with excitement. The searchers had returned
+empty-handed, having gone back as far as the Cantine de Proz; and on
+the oath of Innocentina (more than one, alas!), the _rücksack_ and its
+contents had been secure on the grey back of Souris when we passed the
+Cantine. Desolate as was the Great St. Bernard at night, late as had
+been the hour when the bag vanished, evidently someone had found and
+gone off with it. Nevertheless, many young persons of both sexes were
+eager to try their luck in a second quest.
+
+The Boy, who had been up for hours, had it in mind to wait at Orsières
+until his treasure should be found, or hope abandoned; but I suggested
+going on at once to Martigny. There, we could have handbills printed,
+offering a large reward, and these could be distributed over the
+country. The diligence drivers would help in the work, and we could
+also advertise in a local paper. To this proposal the Little Pal
+consented; and we started off again upon our way, a sadder if not a
+wiser party.
+
+It was late afternoon when we straggled into Martigny. Now, our far
+away Alpine Rome with its crumbling towers and castles, our remote
+heights where a grey monastery was ever mirrored in the blue eye of
+the mountain lake, seemed like phases of a dream.
+
+Friends of the Boy's (nameless to me, like all links with his outside
+life) had stopped lately at the hotel where Molly, Jack, and I had
+stayed; he therefore proposed to go to the same house, and this jumped
+with my inclination: for the hotel had a cheerful and home-like
+individuality which I liked.
+
+Pitying the Little Pal's distress, though I chaffed him for it, I
+undertook the business of getting out the handbills I had suggested,
+and arranging for an advertisement in a paper with a local
+circulation. I had to visit the post-office, engaging in a long
+discussion with the officials who controlled the diligence, and the
+business occupied more than an hour. In mercy to Boy, I had not
+delayed for any selfish attention to personal comfort, and tramping
+back through an inch of white dust to the hotel, I was still as
+travel-worn as on our arrival in the town, nearly two hours ago. I had
+forbidden the tired child to accompany me, and by this time he would
+no doubt be refreshed with a bath and a change of clothing, as,
+fortunately, not all his personal belongings had been contained in the
+ill-fated bag. He would be impatiently waiting for me at the hotel
+door, perhaps; and I quickened my steps, in haste to give him details
+of my doings.
+
+Entering the garden, I had to bound onto the grass, to escape being
+run over by a pair of horses prancing round the curve, at my back. I
+turned with a basilisk glare intended for the coachman, but instead
+met the astonished gaze of the very last eyes I could possibly have
+expected. My glare melted into a smile, but not one of my best, though
+the eyes which called it forth were alluringly beautiful.
+
+"Contessa!" I exclaimed. "Is this you, or your astral body?"
+
+"Lord Lane!" the lovely lady-of-the-eyes responded. "But no, it is not
+possible!"
+
+Just as I was about to protest that it was not only possible, but
+certain, I caught sight of the Boy, in the doorway. As, at the
+Contessa's word, the carriage came to a sudden halt, she reaching out
+to me two little grey suede hands, the slim figure at the door drew
+back a step, as if involuntarily; but there was no getting round it,
+my Italian beauty had made Boy a present of my name, whether he wanted
+it or not.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+Enter the Contessa
+
+    "She was the smallest lady alive,
+     Made in a piece of nature's madness,
+     Too small, almost, for the life and gladness
+     That over-filled her."
+                                --ROBERT BROWNING.
+
+
+Here was a case of Mahomet, _en route_ to pay his respects to the
+Mountain, being met halfway by the object of his pilgrimage; though to
+liken the Contessa di Ravello to a mountain is perhaps to brutalise a
+poetic license. She is a fairy of a woman, a pocket Venus. Gaetà is
+her name, and her sponsors in baptism must have been endowed with
+prophetic souls, for she is the very spirit of irresponsible,
+childlike gaiety.
+
+Not that she has a sense of humour. There is all the difference in the
+world between a sense of humour and a sense of fun, and truth to tell,
+the Contessa had no more humour than a frolicsome kitten. She had
+always been in a frolic of some sort, when I had known her in Davos,
+whither she had gone because she thought it would be "what you call a
+lark"; and she was in a frolic now, judging by her merry laughter when
+she saw me.
+
+Her great wine-brown eyes were laughing, her full, cupid-lips were
+laughing, and more than all, the two deep, round dimples in the olive
+cheeks were laughing. Even the little rings of black hair on her low
+forehead seemed to quiver with mirth, as her head moved with quick,
+bird-like gestures. She was dressed all in grey, and the cut-steel
+buttons on her dress twinkled as if they too were in the joke.
+
+"Fancy meeting you here, of all places!" she said, in her pretty
+English, lisping but correct. "It is a good gift from the saints. We
+have had such stupid adventures, and we have been so bored."
+
+"We" were evidently the handsome, slightly moustached women of
+thirty-five, and the thin, darkly dour man of fifty who were with the
+Contessa in the carriage; and a moment later she had introduced me to
+the Baron and Baronessa di Nivoli. I echoed the name with some
+interest. "Have I the pleasure of meeting the inventor of the new
+air-ship which is so much talked about?" I asked.
+
+"That is my brother Paolo," replied the Baron, unbending slightly.
+
+"He will join us later," added the Baronessa, with a quick look at the
+pretty and rich little widow which betrayed to me a secret. She then
+turned a dark, disapproving gaze upon me which told another, and I
+could have laughed aloud. "They want to nobble my poor little Contessa
+for brother-aëronaut, and they don't countenance chance meetings with
+strange young men," I said to myself, greatly amused. "If they can see
+through the dust, and suspect in me a possible rival for the absent,
+they have sharp eyes, or keen imaginations, and I may be in for a
+little fun."
+
+We were at the hotel door, and I was allowed to help the Contessa out,
+though the elder lady preferred the aid of the concierge. For the
+moment Gaetà had forgotten the claims of her companions, and
+remembered only mine. It is a butterfly way of hers to forget easily,
+and flutter with delight in a new corner of the garden, just because
+it is new.
+
+"You are staying here? How nice!" she exclaimed, without giving me
+time to answer. "We should have arrived last night, but we had an
+accident to our carriage--a broken wheel. It was coming down from the
+Hospice of St. Bernard, which we had been to visit--oh, not to please
+_me_, do not think it. It was the Baron, here. In dim ages his people
+and the saint were cousins, though the idea of a saint having cousins
+seems actually sacrilegious, doesn't it? I do not love monks, I only
+respect them, which is so disagreeable. But the Baron took us. _Dio
+mio!_ I have no warm blood left. It was frozen up there. And then,
+that our carriage should have broken down at a little place--the wrong
+end of nowhere--Bourg St. Something! We had to stop all night. Fancy
+me without my maid, who was to meet me here. I do not know if my dress
+is not on wrong side before. Later, we all have to go on to Chamounix
+and then to Aix-les-Bains. I've taken a villa there for a month. You
+_must_ come and see me."
+
+Thus she chattered on as we entered the hotel, and then, suddenly, her
+bright eyes fell upon the Boy, who had retired near the stairway.
+There he stood, with a book in his hand, and an unwonted colour in his
+brown cheeks, glowing red under the strange blue jewels of his eyes.
+
+"What a divine boy!" the Countess half whispered to me, not taking her
+gaze from him. "He is exactly like a wonderful painting by some old
+Master of my own dear country. What eyes! They are better and bigger
+sapphires than any I own, though I've some famous ones. And how
+strange they are--looking out of his brown face, from under such
+black lashes, too. Oh, a picture, certainly. He is not like a modern,
+every-day boy, at all. He can't be English, of that I'm sure, and
+yet----"
+
+"He is American," I said, when she paused thoughtfully, the Boy at his
+distance reading or pretending to read, as he stood. "But you are
+right. He is very far from being an every-day boy."
+
+"You know him, then?"
+
+"We've been travelling companions for days, and have got to be
+tremendous pals."
+
+"How old is he?" asked the Contessa, a deep glow of interest and
+curiosity kindling in her warm brown eyes.
+
+"I don't know. He has talked freely about himself only once or twice,
+though we've discussed together most other subjects under the sun."
+
+"How deliciously mysterious. Mysterious! yes, that's the word for him.
+He has mysterious eyes; a mysterious face. There is a shadow upon it.
+That is part of the fascination, is it not? I am sure he is
+fascinating."
+
+"Extraordinarily so. I have never met anyone at all like him."
+
+"He might be a boy Tasso. But he has suffered; he is not a child any
+more, though his face is smooth as mine. He must be eighteen or
+nineteen?"
+
+"I should give him less, though he has read and thought a tremendous
+lot for a boy."
+
+"Men are not judges of age, thank heaven. Women are. I _will_ have it
+that your friend is nineteen. I should be too silly to take an
+interest in him, were he less, if it were not motherly; and that
+wouldn't be entertaining. You see, I am already twenty-two."
+
+"You look eighteen," I said; and it was true. Widow as she was, it was
+not possible to think of the Contessa as a responsible, grown woman.
+
+"I told you that you were no judge of age. I was married at eighteen,
+a widow at nineteen. _Dio mio!_ but it all seems a long time ago,
+already! Lord Lane, you must introduce to me your friend the boy."
+
+Here was a dilemma, but I got out of it by telling the truth, which is
+usually, in the end, the best policy, many wise opinions to the
+contrary notwithstanding. "You will laugh," I said, "but I don't know
+his name."
+
+"Not possible."
+
+"True, nevertheless, like most things that seem impossible; nor does
+he know mine, unless he heard you speak it driving up to the hotel. He
+was at the door."
+
+"Men are extraordinary! But, introduce him. You can manage somehow.
+It's not his name I care for. It is those eyes. I shall invite him to
+come and see me in Aix. Please bring him to me now. The Baron is
+arranging about our rooms, and there is sure to be a misunderstanding
+of some sort, as we had engaged for last night and did not come. The
+Baronessa? Oh, never mind; she had better listen to her husband. She
+is my friend, and is soon to be my guest, but she has got upon my
+nerves to-day."
+
+Thus bidden, I could do no less than walk away down the hall to where
+the Boy stood with his book, leaning against the baluster.
+
+"I've done all I could about the bag," I said. "The people in the
+post-office seemed hopeful that the big reward would do the trick."
+
+"Thank you. You are very good," he returned. Something in his tone
+made me look at him closely. There was a change in him, though for my
+life I could not have told what it was or why it had come; there was
+ice in his voice, though I had spent nearly two dusty, unwashed hours
+in his service, while he refreshed himself at leisure.
+
+"I hope it will be all right," I went on, rather heavily. "Look here,
+that pretty little fairy would like to know you. She's the Contessa di
+Ravello. Come along and be introduced."
+
+The Boy flung up his head, his blue eyes flashing. "Why am I to be
+dragged at her chariot wheels?" he demanded.
+
+"Oh, rot, my child. Don't put on airs. Men twice your age would snatch
+at such a chance."
+
+"I can't tell what I may be capable of when I'm twice my age. It's
+difficult enough to know myself now. But I know----"
+
+"Come on, do, like the dear Little Old Pal you really are," I cut in.
+"You don't want to put me in a false position, do you? Besides, I'd
+like particularly to get your opinion on the Contessa. I may have to
+ask your advice about something connected with her, later."
+
+This fetched him, though with not too good a grace. "You don't know my
+name," he said, with a return of impishness, as we walked together
+towards the Contessa.
+
+"I think that you have the advantage of me in that way, now."
+
+"If you call it an advantage. I had a presentiment you weren't plain
+mister, so I'm not surprised. You may tell your Countess that my name
+is Laurence."
+
+"Christian name or 'Pagan' name?"
+
+"Make the Christian name Roy."
+
+In another moment I was introducing Mr. Roy Laurence to the Contessa
+di Ravello; and as they stood eyeing each other, the fairy Gaetà
+pulsing with coquetry through all her hot-blooded Italian veins, the
+Boy aloof and critical, I was struck with the picture that the two
+figures made.
+
+The Boy had three or four inches more of height than the Contessa, and
+looked almost tall beside her, though I had thought of him as small.
+Her round, dimpled face seemed no older than his oval brown one, in
+this moment of his gravity, and the haughty air of a young prince
+which he wore now, consciously or unconsciously, had a certain
+provoking charm for a spoiled beauty used to conquest. The big blue
+stars which lit his face expressed a resolve not to yield to any
+blandishment, and this no doubt piqued Gaetà, before whom all the boys
+and youths at Davos had gone down like grass before the scythe. Helen
+Blantock came after she had left the place, otherwise she might have
+had to fight for her rights as queen; but as it was, she had been
+without rivals and probably had known few dangerous ones elsewhere.
+Never had I seen her take as much real pains to be charming to a grown
+man, as she took with this silent boy, during the few moments that her
+friends spent in wrestling with the landlord. What lamps she lit in
+the windows of her eyes, suddenly raising their curtains on dazzling
+glances! What rosy flags she hung out in his honour, on dimpled
+cheeks; what rich display of pearls and coral her cupid-mouth gave
+him! but all in vain, so far as any change in his cold young face
+showed. I had seen it warm for a gleam of light on the wing of a
+swooping bird, or an effect of cloud-shadow on a mountain, as it would
+not warm for this galaxy of bewitchments, and his quiet civility was
+but a sharper pin-prick, I should fancy, to a woman's vanity.
+
+The little scene was not long in playing, however. Soon the Baronessa
+swept to her friend's side, and bore her away, like a large steam-tug
+making off against wind and tide with a dainty sailing yacht.
+
+Ignoring the subject of the lady; Boy began questioning me about the
+business of the bag, thanking me again more cordially for what I had
+done, when I had answered.
+
+"I must have a bath and change now," said I at last. "At what time
+shall we dine?"
+
+"We? You will be dining with your new friend."
+
+"She's an old friend, if one counts by time of acquaintance, and
+charming, as you've seen; still, we're rather tired perhaps, and not
+up to dinner pitch. I'm not sure but we'd get on better alone
+together, you and I."
+
+"I've taken a private sitting-room, and I'm going to dine there."
+
+"Will you have me with you?"
+
+"If you like."
+
+"It will be a good opportunity to get your advice."
+
+The Boy did not answer; but when we sat at table, and had talked for a
+while of indifferent things, he said abruptly: "What were you going to
+ask me?"
+
+"Your advice as to whether it would be well to fall in love with the
+little Contessa."
+
+"Has she money?"
+
+"Hang it all, do you think I'm the kind of man to want a woman for her
+money?"
+
+"I've known you about six days."
+
+"Don't hedge. Can't six days tell you as much as six years--such six
+days as we've had?"
+
+"Yes. It's true. I would stake a good deal that you're not that kind
+of man. I don't know why I said it. Something hateful made me. The
+Contessa is very pretty. Could you--fall in love with her?"
+
+"It would be an interesting experiment to try."
+
+"If you think so, you must already have begun."
+
+"No, not yet. I assure you I have an open mind. But it's an odd
+coincidence meeting her like this. I was making the fact that she has
+a house at Monte Carlo an excuse for going down there--sooner or
+later--as an end to my journey. Now, she is to be in Chamounix, and
+she intends to invite us both, it seems, to visit her in
+Aix-les-Bains, where she has taken a villa."
+
+The Boy looked at me suddenly, with a slight start. "She is going to
+Chamounix?"
+
+"So she says."
+
+"And--she will invite you to visit her at her villa in Aix-les-Bains."
+
+"You, too. You said yesterday you wanted to go to Aix, as you had
+never been; and we planned an expedition by the mule-path up Mont
+Revard."
+
+"I know. But--but would you visit the Contessa?"
+
+"We might amuse ourselves. She would be well chaperoned, no doubt by
+the Baronessa. There's a brother of the Baron's in the background.
+Probably he'll turn up at Aix. Certainly he will if his relatives
+have any control over his actions. He's no other, it turns out, than
+Paolo di Nivoli, the young Italian whose airship invention has been
+made a fuss about lately. It would be rather a joke to try and cut him
+out with the Contessa--if one could."
+
+"Oh--cut him out." The Boy seemed thoughtful. "Though you aren't in
+love with her?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"I see."
+
+"Will you go if I do--that is, if she really asks us?"
+
+I expected him to flash out a refusal, but he brooded under a deep
+shadow of eyelashes for a while, looking half cross, half mischievous,
+and finally said: "I'll think it over."
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+A Man from the Dark
+
+    "Desperate, proud, fond, sick, . . . rejected by men."
+                                         --WALT WHITMAN.
+
+
+As we drank our _café double_, tap, tap, came at the door; a message
+from the Contessa di Ravello asking if we would not take coffee with
+her and her friends in their private sitting-room.
+
+I would have preferred to finish my talk with the Little Pal, which
+had reached an entertaining point in the announcement that he seemed
+to know me less well since he had heard my name--that names, and past
+histories, and circumstances were barriers between lives. But the Boy,
+reluctant a short time ago to be drawn into the Contessa's society,
+was now apparently willing to give up the tête-à-tête.
+
+We left our coffee, and went to drink the Contessa's, which reached
+our lips chilled by the silent enmity of her friends. But, whether
+because their example had been a warning, or because he had suffered a
+"change, into something new and strange," the Boy was no longer a wet
+blanket. He did not show the self which I had learned to know in some
+of its phases, but he was shyly conciliatory with the Contessa, the
+blue eyes hinting that, if she were persistent, his admiration might
+be won. Still, he often answered in monosyllables or briefly, when she
+spoke to him, a smile curving his short upper lip. I could not
+understand what his manner meant, nor, I am sure, could she; but she
+was evidently bent on solving the puzzle.
+
+"Do you play tennis?" she asked him.
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Ah, so do I, and well, too, though I'm not English. Lord Lane will
+tell you that. And you dance, I know."
+
+"Yes."
+
+"You love it? I do."
+
+"I used to."
+
+"That sounds as if you were a hundred, instead of--nineteen, is it
+not?"
+
+"I'm not quite ninety-nine."
+
+"I should like to dance with you. We are the right size for each other
+in the dance, are we not?"
+
+"I'd try not to disappoint you."
+
+"Oh, we must have a dance. You love music, I know. One sees it by your
+eyes. Once, when I asked Lord Lane if he sang or played, he said that
+he 'had no drawing-room tricks.' Rude of him, _n'est-ce pas_? But you?
+Is it that you play?"
+
+"The violin will talk for me, if I coax it."
+
+"Ah, I was sure. We are going to be congenial. But the singing? I see
+by your face that you sing, though you won't say so. Here is a piano.
+I will accompany you, if you like, and if we know the same things.
+Perhaps our voices would be well together."
+
+I was surprised to see the Boy get up and go to the piano. "I will
+sing if you like; but I accompany myself, always," he said. "I don't
+sing things that many people know."
+
+For a moment he sat at the piano, as if thinking. Then he, who had
+never told me that he sang, never even spoken of singing, turned into
+a young angel, and gripped my heart with a voice as strangely
+haunting as his eyes and his little brown face. Had he been a girl, I
+suppose his voice would have been called a deep contralto. As he was a
+boy--I do not know how to classify it.
+
+I can say only that, while the mellow music rippled from his parted
+lips, it seemed as if the gates of Paradise had fallen ajar. He sang
+an old ballad that I had never heard. It was all about "Douglas
+Gordon," whose story flowed with the tide of a plaintive accompaniment
+which I think he must have arranged himself: for somehow, it was like
+him. All the sadness, all the sweetness in this sweet, sad, old world
+seemed concentrated in the Boy's angel voice, and listening, I was
+Douglas Gordon, and he was putting my life-sorrow into words. He took
+my heart and broke it, yet I would not have had him stop. Then,
+suddenly, he did stop, and the Contessa was in tears. "Bravo! bravo!"
+she cried, diamonds raining over two spasmodic dimples. "Again;
+something else."
+
+He sang Christina Rossetti's "Perchance you may remember, perchance
+you may forget," and the thrill of it was in the marrow of my bones. I
+had scarcely known before what music could do with me, and the voice
+of the little Gaetà, following the song, jarred on my ears as she
+praised the Boy, and pleaded for more.
+
+"I can't sing again to-night," said he. "I'm sorry, but I can sing
+only when I feel in the mood."
+
+"But you will come with Lord Lane, and stay at my villa, which I have
+taken at Aix--yes, if only for a few days? The Baron and Baronessa
+will be with me, too. You are going that way. Lord Lane has told me.
+Will you come?"
+
+"Is he coming?"
+
+"Lord Lane, tell him that you are."
+
+"You are very good, Contessa----"
+
+"There! You hear, it is settled."
+
+"If--Lord Lane makes you a visit, I will also, as you are kind enough
+to want me."
+
+Afterwards, when we had bidden the Contessa and her guardian dragons
+good-night, and it was arranged that we were to stay over to-morrow,
+on account of the lost bag, I said to the Boy on the way upstairs,
+"You've made a conquest of the Contessa."
+
+He blushed furiously, looked angry, and then burst out laughing. "Are
+you jealous?" he asked.
+
+"I ought to be."
+
+"But are you?"
+
+"I haven't had time to analyse my emotions. Why did you never tell me
+you sang?"
+
+"I wasn't ready--till to-night. Now--I sang for you."
+
+"I thought it was for the Contessa."
+
+"Did you? Well"--with sudden crossness--"you may go on thinking so, if
+you like. Can she sing?"
+
+"Rather well."
+
+"As--better than I can?"
+
+"You must judge for yourself when you hear her."
+
+"You might tell me. But no! I don't want you to, now. It's spoiled.
+Good-night."
+
+"Good-night. Dream of your conquest."
+
+"Probably she's only trying to--to bring you to the point, by being
+nice to me. I wonder if you care?"
+
+I would not give the little wretch any satisfaction. I merely
+laughed, and an odd blue light flashed in his eyes. He was making up
+his mind to something, for the life of me I could not tell what.
+
+The Contessa and her satellites should have gone on to Chamounix next
+day, but Gaetà frankly announced her intention of waiting, so that we
+might make the journey together. They were driving over the Tête
+Noire, and we would go afoot, to be sure; still, said she, we could
+keep more or less together, exchanging impressions from time to time,
+and lunching at the same place. She made me promise, as a reward to
+her for this delay, that the Boy and I would not take the way of the
+Col de Balme, by which no carriage could pass. If we did this, our
+party and hers must part company early in the day, and she would be
+left to the tender mercies of the Baron and Baronessa for many a
+_triste_ hour.
+
+"But why should you be imposed upon by them, if they don't amuse you?"
+I ventured to ask; for Gaetà was so frank about her affairs that one
+was sometimes led inadvertently to take liberties.
+
+"Oh, it was the brother who amused me, and he amuses me still,"
+replied she, with a _moue_, and a shrug of her pretty shoulders. "At
+least, I don't _think_ I shall be tired of him, when I see him again.
+He is a whirlwind; he carries a woman off her feet, before she knows
+what is happening, and we like that in a man, we Italians. We adore
+temperament. I was nice to the Baron and Baronessa for Paolo's sake.
+He had to go away from Milan, which is my real home, you know--(if I
+have a home anywhere)--to have a medal for his air-ship, and many
+honours and dinners given him in Paris; so, without stopping to think,
+I invited the Baron and Baronessa to visit me in Aix. Then they
+suggested that we should have a little tour first; and we are having
+it--_Dio mio_, so much the worse for me, till I met you! And now they
+make me feel like a naughty child."
+
+"Will Paolo come also to the villa?" I asked, smiling.
+
+"He has engagements to last a fortnight still. Perhaps afterwards he
+may run out to Aix."
+
+The Boy's face fell when I told him that I had promised the Contessa
+to walk along the highroad, over the Tête Noire.
+
+"Innocentina and I----" he began. Then his eyes wandered to Gaetà, who
+stood with her friends at the other end of the hail. She was looking
+extremely pretty, and chose that instant to throw a quick glance at
+me, demanding sympathy for some _ennui_ or other caused by the
+Baronessa. "Oh, very well," he finished, "it doesn't matter."
+
+He was in suspense all day about his mysteriously important bag.
+Though handbills had been hastily printed and scattered over the
+country, there was no certainty as to when we should hear or whether
+we should hear at all. Late in the evening, however, as we were
+finishing dinner in the _salle-à-manger_, at the same table with Gaetà
+and her friends, a message came that a man desired to see the young
+monsieur who had advertised for a lost bag.
+
+The Boy excused himself, and jumped up. I should have liked to go with
+him, but courtesy to the ladies forbade, and I sat still, feeling
+guilty of disloyalty somehow, nevertheless, because of a look he threw
+me. It seemed to say, "We were such friends, but a woman has come
+between. My affairs are nothing to you now."
+
+I had thought that he would be back in time for coffee, but he did
+not appear, and the curiosity of Gaetà, who had been restless since
+the Boy's departure, could no longer be kept within bounds. "Do go and
+see if he has got that wonderful bag," she said. "He might come to
+tell us!"
+
+I obeyed, nothing loth, but only to learn from the concierge that the
+young gentleman had gone away with the man who had called.
+
+"Did he leave no message?" I asked.
+
+"No, Monsieur. He talked with the man here in the hall for a few
+minutes; then he ran upstairs and soon came down again with a cap and
+coat. Immediately after, he and the man went out together."
+
+"What sort of man was he?"
+
+"An Italian, Monsieur; a very rough-looking peasant-fellow of middle
+age, poorly dressed in his working clothes. I have never seen him
+before."
+
+I did not like this description, nor the news the concierge had given.
+It was nine o'clock, and very dark, for it had begun to rain towards
+evening, and a monotonous drip, drip mingled with the plash of the
+fountain in the garden. Grim fancies came knocking at the door of my
+brain. It was a mad thing for a boy, little more than a child, to go
+out alone in the night with a stranger, a "rough-looking
+peasant-fellow," who pretended to know something of the vanished bag;
+to go out, leaving no word of his intentions, nor the direction he
+would take. As like as not, the man was a villain who scented rich
+prey in a tourist offering a reward of five thousand francs for a lost
+piece of luggage.
+
+As I thought of the brave, innocent little comrade walking
+unsuspectingly into some trap from which I could have saved him had I
+been by his side, a sensation of physical sickness came over me.
+
+"How long is it since they went out?" I asked quickly.
+
+"Ten minutes, at most, Monsieur."
+
+I could have shaken the concierge's hand for this good news, for there
+was hope of catching them up. I was in dinner jacket and pumps, but I
+did not wait to make a dash upstairs for hat or coat. I borrowed the
+blue, gold-handed cap of the concierge, not caring two pence for my
+comical appearance, which would have sent Gaetà into peals of silver
+laughter, and out into the rain I went, turning up the collar of my
+jacket.
+
+I had forgotten the Contessa, and my promise to return immediately
+with tidings from the front. All I thought of was, which direction
+should I take to find the Boy. Ought I to turn towards the town or
+away from it?
+
+Before I reached the garden gate, not many metres from the door, I had
+decided to try the town way; and lest I should be doing the wrong
+thing and have to rectify my mistake later, I ran as a lamplighter is
+popularly supposed to run, but doesn't and never did.
+
+The Boy and his companion would be walking, and, if I were on the
+right track, I was almost sure to catch them up sooner or later at
+this pace, before they could reach the town and turn off into some
+side street.
+
+I had not been galloping along through the fresh, grey mud for three
+hundred metres when I saw two figures moving slowly a few paces ahead.
+One was small and slender, the other of middle height and strongly
+built.
+
+"Boy, is that you?" I shouted.
+
+The slim figure turned, and I mumbled a "Thank goodness!"
+
+"Little wretch!" I exclaimed heartily, as I joined the couple ahead.
+"How could you go off alone like this with a stranger, perhaps a
+ruffian (he looks it), without leaving any word for me? You deserve to
+be shaken."
+
+"You wouldn't say he looked a ruffian, if you could see his face. I'm
+sure he's honest. And as for sending word, I didn't care to disturb
+you and--your Contessa."
+
+"Hang the--no, of course, I don't mean that. Luckily I was in time to
+catch you, and----"
+
+"Did the Contessa send you after me, or did----"
+
+"She doesn't know what's become of you. There was no time for
+politenesses. You gave me some bad moments, little brute. Now, tell me
+what you're about."
+
+He explained that the peasant (who understood no word of English) was
+an Italian who had come to Martigny to find work as a road mender,
+that he had been taken ill and lost his job; that he had tramped back
+over the St. Bernard to Aosta, near which place he had once lived;
+that the work he had heard of there was already given to another; and
+that, walking back to rejoin his family near Martigny, he had found
+the bag on the Pass. He had brought it home, and had only just learned
+the address of the owner, as set forth in the handbills.
+
+"Why didn't he bring the bag to you, and claim the reward?" I asked.
+
+"It is at the house of the priest, and the priest has been away all
+day, visiting a relative in the country somewhere, who is ill, so this
+man, Andriolo Stefani, couldn't get the bag. But he came to tell me
+that it was found, and where it was."
+
+"And he pretends to be guiding you to the house of the priest now?"
+
+"No. I'm going to his house--or rather, the room where he and his wife
+and children live."
+
+"For goodness' sake, why?"
+
+"Because he's refused to accept the reward for finding the bag."
+
+"By Jove, he must have some deep game. What reason did he give, and
+what excuse did he make, for dragging you off to his lair? It sounds
+as if he meant to try and kidnap you for a ransom--(these things do
+happen, you know)--and there are probably others in it besides
+himself. I don't believe in the priest, nor the wife and children, nor
+even in his having found the bag."
+
+"He didn't ask me to go to his house. When I spoke of the reward, he
+said that he couldn't take it, and though I questioned him, would not
+tell me why, but was evidently distressed and unhappy. Finally he
+admitted that it was his wife who would not allow him to accept a
+reward. She had made him promise that he wouldn't. Then I said that
+I'd like to talk to her, and might I go with him to his house. He
+tried to make excuses; he had no house, only one room, not fit for me
+to visit; and the place was a long way off, outside Martigny Bourg;
+but I insisted, so at last he gave in. Now, do you still think he's
+the leader of a band of kidnappers?"
+
+"I don't know what to think. There's evidently something queer. I'll
+talk to him."
+
+During our hurried conversation, the man had walked on a few steps in
+advance. I called him back, speaking in Italian. He came at once, and
+now that we were in the town, where here and there a blur of light
+made darkness visible, I could see his face distinctly. I had to
+confess to myself at first glance that it was not the face of a
+cunning villain,--this worn, weather-beaten countenance, with its
+hollowed cheeks, and the sad dark eyes, out of which seemed to look
+all the sorrows of the world.
+
+He had found the bag night before last, he said, between the Cantine
+de Proz and Bourg St. Pierre. It had been lying in the road, in the
+_rücksack_, and he judged by the strap that it had been attached to
+the back of a man, or a mule. While I questioned him further, trying
+to get some details of description not given in the handbills, he
+paused. "There is the priest's house," he said. "There is a light in
+the window now. Perhaps he has come back."
+
+"We will stop and ask for the bag," said I, watching the face of the
+man. It did not blench, and I began to wonder if, after all, he might
+not be honest.
+
+The priest, a delightful, white-haired old fellow, himself of the
+peasant class, had returned, and from a locked cupboard in his bare
+little dining-room study produced the much talked of bag, in its
+_rücksack_.
+
+The Boy sprang at it eagerly. So secure had he believed it to be on
+the grey donkey's back, that he had not been in the habit of taking
+out the key. It was still in the lock, and, the bag standing on the
+priest's dinner table, the Boy opened it with visible excitement. Then
+he dived down into the contents, without bringing them into sight, and
+a bright colour flamed in his cheeks. "Everything is safe," he said,
+with a long sigh of relief. "I'm thankful."
+
+He turned to the priest, speaking in French--and his French was very
+good. "I have offered a large reward to the finder of this bag. But
+the man will not have it. Can you tell me why, _mon père_?"
+
+"I cannot tell you, Monsieur. Doubtless he has a reason which seems to
+him good," answered the priest, who evidently knew that reason, but
+was pledged not to tell. "He and his family have not been in my parish
+long, but I believe them to be worthy people. I have been trying to
+get work for Andriolo, since he has been well again, and able to
+undertake it, but so far I have not been fortunate."
+
+The Boy took a handful of gold from his pocket. "For the poor of your
+parish, _mon père_, if you will be good enough to accept it for them,"
+said he, with great charm and simplicity of manner. The old priest
+flushed with pleasure, saying that he had many poor, and was
+constantly distressed because he could do so little. This would be a
+Godsend. I glanced at the Italian, and saw that his weary, dark eyes
+were fixed with a passionate wistfulness upon the gold. This look, his
+whole appearance, bespoke poverty, yet he had deliberately refused
+five thousand francs, a fortune to most men of his condition. Now that
+he was vouched for by the priest, extreme curiosity took the place of
+suspicion in my mind.
+
+I hid the blue cap of the concierge behind my back, in the priest's
+house, but the Boy saw it, and saw that I was drenched with rain. I
+must have been a figure for laughter, but he did not laugh. "You see,
+I was in a hurry," I excused myself, under a long, comprehending gaze
+of his. "It's your fault if I look an ass."
+
+"You didn't stop even to go and get a hat," he said. "You came out in
+the rain just as you were, and you ran--I heard you running, behind
+me. But--but of course it's because you're kind-hearted. You would
+have done just the same for anybody. For--the Contessa----"
+
+"Not for the Baronessa, anyhow," said I. "I should have stopped for a
+mackintosh and even goloshes, had her safety been hanging in the
+balance."
+
+Then we both laughed, and Stefani, who by this time was showing us
+the way through the rain to his own home, looked over his shoulder,
+surprised and self-conscious, as if he feared that we were laughing at
+him.
+
+On the outskirts of straggling Martigny Bourg, he stopped before a
+gloomy, grey stone house with four rows of closed wooden shutters,
+which meant four floors of packed humanity. Even Martigny has its
+tenements for poor workers, or those who would be workers if they
+could, and this was one of them.
+
+We followed Andriolo Stefani up four flights of narrow stone stairs,
+picking our way by testing each step with a cautious foot, since light
+there was none. Arrived at the top floor, we groped along a passage to
+the back of the house, and our guide opened a door. There was a yellow
+haze, which meant one candle-flame fighting for its life in the dark,
+and we waited outside, while the Italian spoke for a moment to someone
+we could not see. There came a note of protest in a woman's voice, but
+the man's beat it down with some argument, and then Stefani returned
+to ask us in.
+
+Two women sat in a room almost bare of furniture, and both tried to
+rise on our entrance; but one, who was young as years go, had her lap
+full of little worn shoes, and the other, who looked older than the
+allotted span, was nursing a wailing baby, half undressed.
+
+I found myself strangely embarrassed with the coarse guilt of
+intrusion. I was suddenly oppressed with self-conscious awkwardness,
+wishing myself anywhere else, and not knowing what to do or say. In
+all probability I looked haughty and disagreeable, though I felt
+humble as a worm. How the Boy felt I have no means of knowing; I can
+only tell how he acted. One would have thought that he had known these
+poor people all his life. I lingered near the door, taking notes of
+the sad picture; the two rough wooden boxes, in which slept three
+little dark children, all apparently of exactly the same size; the
+mattress on the floor near by for the parents; the open door leading
+into a dark garret, where, no doubt, the grandmother crept to sleep;
+the shelves on the wall, bare save for a few dishes of peasant-made
+pottery; the pile of dried mud on the tiled floor, which the young
+mother had been carefully scraping with a knife from the little worn
+boots in her lap; the rickety, uncovered table, with a bunch of
+endives on a plate, and a candle guttering in a bottle. This was the
+picture, redeemed from squalor only by the lithograph of the Virgin on
+the wall, draped with fresh wild flowers, and its perfect cleanliness;
+this was the home of the supposed "kidnapper," the man who had refused
+to accept five thousand francs as a reward.
+
+While I stood, stiff and uncomfortable, the Boy went forward quickly,
+begging the two women not to rise. "Poor, dear little baby!" he said
+in Italian, looking down at the dark scrap of humanity in the
+grandmother's arms. "She is ill, isn't she?"
+
+Now, how did he know that the creature was a "she"? If it were a
+guess, it was a lucky one, for both women replied together that the
+little girl had been ailing since yesterday. They could not tell what
+was the matter. They had hoped that she would be better to-day, but
+instead, she seemed worse; and with this, a glittering film which had
+been overspreading the mother's eyes, suddenly dissolved into silently
+falling rain. There were no sobs, no gaspings from this tired woman,
+too used to sorrow to rail against it, yet it was plain to see that
+her heart was breaking. Still, life must go on: and so, while she
+grieved for a little one she feared to lose, she cleaned the boots of
+those she hoped to keep.
+
+"Have you called a doctor for her?" asked the Boy.
+
+"The good priest is half a doctor. He came to see the _bambina_."
+
+"What did he say?"
+
+"Oh, Signor, we cannot give her all the things he said she should
+have, nor can he help us to them, for he has much to do for others,
+and little to do it with."
+
+"Yet you would not let your husband take the reward I offered for
+finding my bag. He is out of work, and you are poor; you have four
+children to feed, and one of them is ill. Why will you not have the
+money? I have come to ask you that. You see, I _want_ you to have it,
+for the bag is worth all I've offered and even more to me."
+
+"Ah, Signor, how can I tell you? It was to save my baby I refused."
+
+"Please tell. You need not mind saying anything to me--or to my
+friend. We are interested and want to help you."
+
+Now the young woman's tears were falling fast, but silently still, as
+if she knew that her heart-break was unimportant in the great scheme
+of things, and she wished to make no noise about it. Her lips moved,
+but no words came.
+
+"She will not speak against me," Stefani said suddenly, "nor will my
+poor mother. But I will tell you the story. I meant to steal your bag,
+and sell the gold things and all the valuables that were in it. It was
+a great temptation, for we had scarce a penny left, and there was no
+work anywhere. I was tired, tired all through to my heart, Signor,
+that night on the Pass, and then I found the bag. I brought it home,
+and charged Emilia and my mother to say nothing to anyone outside. The
+children were at school, so they did not see, or they might have
+lisped out something, and set people talking. The two women begged me
+to give up the bag, and try for a reward in case one should be
+offered, but I was desperate. I said that the gold was worth more than
+anything that would be offered--the gold, and some jewelry in a little
+box. I knew a man who would buy of me, and I had gone out to find him
+yesterday, when, as if Heaven had sent a curse upon us for my sin, the
+_bambina_ was struck down with this illness--a terrible aching of her
+little head, and a fever. When I came home to take away the things out
+of the bag, my wife begged me on her knees, for the child's sake, to
+change my mind; and at last I did, for who can hold out against the
+prayers of those he loves?
+
+"Quickly, lest I should repent, I carried the bag to our priest, and
+told him all. He thought as a penance for the sin which had been in my
+heart, I should take no reward if it were offered, though he did not
+lay this upon me as a command. Emilia was with him, for, said she, Our
+Lady will save the baby if we make this great sacrifice. Now you know
+all the truth."
+
+"And I know that you are good people--better than I would have been in
+your places--better than anyone I know. There's no credit in keeping
+straight if one's not tempted to go wrong, is there? I won't offend
+you by begging that you'll take the reward. I offer you no reward, but
+I am going to give your children a present, and you are to use it for
+the comfort of your family. I have enough with me, because, you see, I
+had to get something ready to-day, in case the reward had to be paid.
+Now, it isn't needed for that, so I can use it in this other way. And
+you have done all that is right, and you would hurt me very much if
+you refused to let me do what I wish. It is always wrong to hurt
+people, you know. And you must send me word early to-morrow morning
+before I go, whether the baby is better. I feel sure, somehow, that
+she will be."
+
+Then a roll of notes was thrust into one of the little boots, still
+caked with mud, which the mother kept mechanically in her hand. There
+was a pat on the shoulder, too, and an instant later the Boy's arm was
+hooked into mine; I was whisked away with him in as rapid a flight as
+if he had been a thief, and not a benefactor.
+
+"How much did you give them, young Santa Claus?" I asked, when he had
+me out in the rain again.
+
+"About one thousand three hundred dollars. I can't stop to calculate
+it for you in pounds or francs. I'm too excited. Oh, how wet you are,
+poor Man! And all for me! But wasn't it splendid! And I just know that
+baby'll be better to-morrow. You see if she isn't."
+
+She was. The news was brought to us early in the morning by a poor man
+half out of his wits with joy and gratitude.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+The Little Game of Flirtation
+
+    "To take your lovers on the road with you, for all that you
+    leave them behind you."
+                                              --WALT WHITMAN.
+
+
+The Contessa had to be pacified, but she adored romance, and she was
+pleased to say that the story of the bag, lost and found, which I--not
+the Boy--told her, came under that category. She was in the best of
+tempers for a day of travelling, and saw us off, before her friends
+were dressed and ready to begin their drive to Chamounix.
+
+"They are taking as long as they can, on purpose," she whispered to
+me, with the air of a naughty child planning mischief behind the backs
+of its elders. "Anything to keep me to themselves and away from you!
+But you are walking, and the way is uphill for a very long time, so
+the hotel people say. We shall catch you up, and just to spite the Di
+Nivolis, if nothing more, I shall beg first one of you, then the
+other, to let me give you a lift. Neither of you must refuse, or I
+shall cry, and no man has ever made me cry yet."
+
+"I'm sure no man ever will," I answered promptly.
+
+"And no boy?" she asked, with a long-lashed glance at my companion,
+who had given no answer save a smile.
+
+"I wonder how you would look when you cried, Contessa?" was the only
+reply the little wretch deigned, but instead of offending, it appeared
+to amuse her. She watched our cavalcade out of the hotel garden (the
+_rücksack_ once more on Souris' faithless back), and the silver bells
+of her laughter lightly rang us down the road.
+
+Again we had to pass through Martigny Bourg, and presently, turning
+aside from the road which had led me to the Grand St. Bernard, we took
+the way on the right, almost at once feeling the rise of the hill.
+Steeper and steeper it grew, and warmer and warmer we, though the day
+was young. Often we were glad of the excuse the view gave us to stop
+and look back, down into the wide bowl of the Rhone Valley, with a
+heat-haze of quivering blue, creating an effect of great distance,
+like a "gauze drop" on the stage.
+
+Surely this was the longest lull on earth, and when we reached the
+top--if we ever did--we should find that we had been climbing Jack's
+Beanstalk, coming out into a different world! Up and up we dragged for
+hours, the Boy determined not to take to donkey-back, despite the
+protestations of Innocentina, emphatic, but slightly modified by
+constant association with the man she was engaged in converting.
+
+Sometimes we were ministered to by small maidens, with marvellously
+neat, sleek hair, who sprang up under our eyes, apparently from
+rabbit-holes, their arms hooked into the handles of big fruit baskets
+which might easily have been their bathtubs or cradles. If we seemed
+inclined to turn away with an expressionless gaze, the little
+creatures forged after us with a determined trot, laid back with tiny
+brown hands the dainty white napkin hiding the basket's contents, and
+tempted us with purple plums or mellow pears. In the end, we
+invariably succumbed to these wiles, even when we had sickened at the
+thought of fruit, and were obliged surreptitiously to hide our
+purchases by the wayside, when the sturdy young vendors' backs were
+turned.
+
+We carried our panamas in our hands, and the Boy's short chestnut
+curls clung to his forehead in damp rings, making him look absurdly
+childish. I wondered at myself for discussing with eager interest, as
+I often did, so many of life's unanswerable questions with such a slip
+of boyhood. Still, I knew that I should often do it again, while we
+remained together, and that he would know how to measure wits with
+mine, to my disadvantage, compelling always my respect for his
+opinions, unless he happened to be in an inconsequential or impish
+mood.
+
+After a long climb, we called a halt at the most attractive of several
+little wayside châlets we had passed. Each was thoughtfully provided
+with an awning or wooden roof stretching across the road to give shade
+to travellers, who were lured to pause by bottles of bright-coloured
+syrups, wine, and beer displayed on flower-decked tables. Our chosen
+châlet made a specialty of milk, and a view. There was a rough balcony
+at the back, built over a sheer precipice, and far beneath, the Rhone
+Valley spread itself for our eyes. We sat resting, with glasses of
+rich yellow milk in our hands, when a voice under the road-shelter in
+front roused us from reverie. It was the Contessa greeting Joseph and
+Innocentina, who were reposing on a bench in the delicious shade.
+
+"I was just thinking it was rather queer they hadn't caught us up," I
+said, rising; and then I asked myself why I had said it; for, when I
+came to cross-question my own thoughts, they had to own up that the
+Contessa had not been in them.
+
+"Oh, it was the Contessa you were thinking of, then, when you sat
+looking as if you were a thousand miles away, and had left your body
+behind to keep your place?" said the Boy, jumping up quickly. "Well,
+here she is; your mind may be at ease."
+
+We returned to the front of the house, through the neat, bare
+"living-room," the Boy a step or two ahead of me, as if anxious to
+greet the new arrivals. Off came his hat, and he stood leaning against
+the carriage, looking up into the warm brown eyes of Gaetà, which were
+warmer and brighter than ever because of this sudden show of devotion.
+
+Had the magnetism of her coquetry fired him? I wondered, it would be
+strange if it were not so, for she was beautiful, and her manner
+flattering to a boy so young. Somehow, my spirits were dashed at the
+thought that my companion's last words to me might be explained by
+jealousy of an older man with a pretty woman. It would be hard if it
+were to come to this between us. Though I had talked of going to see
+her in Monte Carlo, the butterfly Contessa was no more to me than a
+delicate pastel on someone else's wall, or a gay refrain, which charms
+the ear without haunting the memory. I would not interfere with the
+Boy; if he chose to encourage Gaetà to flirt with him, he need not
+fear me; but I had liked to think he valued my comradeship. Now, a
+fancy for this child-woman would rob me of him. Instead of being
+piqued by the Contessa's growing preference for the Boy, as I ought
+to have been by all the rules of the game of flirtation, I was
+conscious of anger against her as an intruder.
+
+This feeling increased almost to sulkiness when the Boy was invited to
+take a seat in the carriage beside the gloomy Baron, and accepted
+promptly.
+
+The driving party had been delayed a long time in starting, Gaetà
+explained, making large eyes which blamed her friends for everything;
+and the driver had brought his horses slowly, oh, so slowly, up the
+long hill, the stupid fellow. But now the carriage flashed ahead, and
+I was left to tramp on alone, while the Contessa and the Boy flirted,
+and Joseph and Innocentina bickered, all alike unmindful of me.
+
+We lunched at the Col de Forclaz, where the hill, tired of going up,
+ran down to another valley. There was a godlike assemblage of
+mountains, white and blue, mountains as far as the eye could reach,
+and I had a thought or two which I would have liked to exchange for
+some of the Boy's. But if he had ever really had any thoughts, save
+for the fun of the moment, he had the air of forgetting them all for
+Gaetà. When, in a tone of unenthusiastic politeness, she asked if I
+would not take my friend's place in the carriage for a while when we
+started on again, out of pure spite against the little wretch who had
+dropped me for her I said that I would.
+
+I could not see the Boy's face, to make sure if he were disappointed,
+but I hoped it. As for myself, I would fain have walked. In a scene of
+such exalted beauty, Gaetà's little quips and quirks struck a wrong
+note. Sitting with my back to the horses, I could see the Boy walking
+on behind, his face raised mountain-ward and sky-ward, and I longed to
+know of what he was thinking, for evidently he had left his
+aggravating, "awfully-jolly-don't-you-know" mood in the carriage with
+the Contessa.
+
+[Illustration: "SITTING WITH MY BACK TO THE HORSES."]
+
+The Baron and his wife disputed volubly about the date of one of
+Paolo's grand dinners in Paris; Gaetà yawned, and I was stricken with
+dumbness. I could think of nothing to say which she would think worth
+hearing. Soon, the tremendously steep descent into the valley gave me
+the best of excuses to jump down and relieve the horses, which the
+coachman was leading. Somehow, I don't quite know how, I fell back a
+good distance behind the carriage, and then I found myself so near the
+Boy, who had been slowly following, that it would have been rude not
+to join him. After all, we had no quarrel, yet oddly enough we could
+not take up the thread of our intercourse exactly where it had been
+broken off. There seemed to be a knot or a tangle in it, which would
+have to be smoothed out.
+
+It was a wholly irrelevant incident which untied the knot, and left us
+as we had been, though there was no reason for it but a laugh which we
+had together.
+
+The thing came about in this wise. We arrived at a small hotel which
+boasted a garden, and was famous as a view-point. From the door a
+carriage containing a man was about to drive away. The man was
+approaching middle age, and had an air of quiet self-reliance which
+redeemed him from insignificance. He was plainly dressed, in clothes
+which were not new, and altogether he did not appear to be a personage
+who, from the hotel-keeper's point of view, would be of supreme
+importance. Yet the landlord and another besieged the quiet man with
+compliments and pleadings, to which he did not seem inclined to
+listen. Bowing gravely, he told his coachman to drive on, and in a
+moment had passed us as we stood in the road.
+
+But when he had gone, the landlord and his assistant still had no eyes
+for us. "Mark my words," exclaimed the former, in a tone of anguish,
+"we shall lose our star."
+
+Were they astrologers, that they should fear this fate?
+
+Our curiosity was excited, and seeing a head-waiterly person, who wore
+a mien between awe and stifled amusement, I called for beer which I
+did not wish to drink. It was served on a table in the shady garden,
+and I enquired if the carriage just out of sight had contained a
+troublesome guest.
+
+"Troublesome is not the word, Monsieur," replied the waiter. "But a
+thing has happened. That gentleman whom you saw, arrived a few days
+ago, giving the name of Karl. He took the cheapest room in the house;
+he drank one of the cheapest wines, having satisfied himself that the
+price was within his means. To-day, he said that he was leaving, and
+asked for his bill. When it was made out, the wine came to a franc
+more than he thought it ought. 'I do not complain,' said he to our
+_patron_; 'if that is the price of the wine, I will pay, but I was
+told at the table it was less. I do not consider the wine good enough
+for the price.' This vexed the _patron_, because one does not think
+the more of a person who haggles over a franc, especially if that
+person has studied cheapness in all ways during his visit. Perhaps the
+_patron_ spoke somewhat irritably, for he did not care whether the
+monsieur ever came back to his house or not. Then the monsieur paid
+the bill, without another word, and was going away, when a German
+gentleman, who had been sitting here in the garden, said to the
+_patron_: 'Do you know who that is?' No,' replied our _patron_, 'I do
+not know, nor do I care.' 'It is Baedeker,' said the gentleman. This
+was terrible; and the patron flew to correct the little mistake about
+the wine, with a thousand apologies; but the monsieur would not have
+his money back, and you saw him drive away. Now, it is possible that
+our hotel will no longer keep its star, and that would be no less than
+a catastrophe."
+
+Evidently, what his cherished peacock-feather is to a Chinese
+mandarin, that is a Baedeker star to a hotel-keeper; and the Boy and I
+were so tickled at the little tragi-comedy that we forgot, as we
+walked on side by side, that we had been upon official terms only.
+
+Again we were struck by the extraordinary individuality which
+differentiates one valley or mountain-pass from another. We had seen
+nothing like this; nothing, perhaps, so purely beautiful. One could
+not imagine that winter snow and ice could still the pulse of summer
+here. It was as if we wandered from one green glade to another in
+fairyland, where all the little people who owned the magic land had
+turned themselves hurriedly into strangely delicate ferns and
+bluebells to watch us, laughing, as we went by.
+
+The village of Trient lay in deep shadow when we reached it, and found
+the others waiting for us in the carriage in front of the chief hotel;
+but there was no gloom in the shadow; it was only a deeper shade of
+green, with a hint of transparent blue streaked across it. Another
+remote, dream-village on the long list of places where I really
+_must_ stay for a lazy summer month--when I have time! The list was
+growing long now, almost worryingly long, and the Boy felt it so, too,
+for he also had a list, and strange to say, it was much the same as
+mine.
+
+We had tea, and were vaguely surprised to see a number of people of
+our own kind, most of them English and American, engaged in the same
+occupation, and evidently at home in the place. Trient was on their
+list as well as ours, and now, if they liked, they could cross it off,
+and begin with the next place.
+
+The Contessa thought the Boy looked tired, and urged him to drive
+again, but though his manner was still flirtatious he found an excuse
+to keep to his feet. He was not really tired, not a bit; how could one
+be tired in so much beauty? The poor horses were fagged though, for
+the carriage was heavy; he would not add to its weight.
+
+"You _are_ getting rather white about the gills," I said to him when
+the driving party had once more left us behind. "Why didn't you take
+up your flirtation where you left it off, like a serial story to be
+'continued in your next'? Your weight is nothing."
+
+"It wasn't that, really," replied the Boy.
+
+"What, then?"
+
+"Do you remember why I wanted to come over the Tête Noire?"
+
+"To have the sensation of Mont Blanc suddenly bursting upon you."
+
+"Well, I--to tell the truth, I had a whim--just a whim, and nothing
+more--to be with you and not with the Contessa when the time for that
+sensation should come."
+
+My heart warmed; but perhaps I was flattering myself unduly. "You
+were afraid that her fascinations might overpower those of Mont Blanc,
+I suppose, whereas I am a mere stock or stone?"
+
+"That's one way of putting it," replied he calmly. But when the
+sensation did come, he caught my arm, with a quick-drawn breath, and
+no word following.
+
+Our worship of other mountains had been a serving of false gods. There
+was the one White Truth, dwarfing all else into insignificance; not a
+mere mountain, but a world of snow sailing moon-like in full sky. It
+was, indeed, as if the moon, gleaming white and bathed in radiance,
+had come to pay Earth a visit. Surely it would not stay; surely it was
+a secret that she had come, and we had found it out, just when this
+great dark rock-door through which we looked, opened by accident to
+show the sight. But if it were a secret, there was no fear that we
+would ever tell it, for it soared beyond words.
+
+The first glimpse gave this impression; afterwards we could not have
+recalled it if we had tried. We grew used to the white Majesty which
+faced us, by-and-bye, as alas! one does grow used to beauty while one
+has it within reach of the eye. But just as the Boy had begun to
+confess himself tired, and to lag in his walk, resting an arm on my
+shoulder, a new wonder came, like a draught of tonic wine. Sunset,
+with King Midas' touch, transformed the whole mountain to gold, so
+that it burned like a lamp to light the world, against a violet sky.
+In the foreground was a low rampart of green mountain, down which
+poured a huge glacier like an arrested cataract. It glimmered with a
+faint radiance, greenish-blue, and pale as the gleam of a glow-worm.
+The violet of the sky deepened to amethyst-purple, and the snow on the
+waving line of mountains turned from gold to pink, as if there had
+been a sudden rain of rose leaves.
+
+For a long time lasted the changing play of jewelled lights, and then
+the magic colour was swallowed at a gulp by the descending night.
+
+Far away, and far down in the deep valley, the lights of Chamounix and
+its satellite villages sparkled like a troupe of fallen stars. They
+lay in a bright heap, clustered together; and Innocentina, coming up
+with us at this moment, said that they were like raisins sunk together
+at the bottom of a pudding. The late rain had set all the little
+torrents talking, and we were silent, listening to their gossip of the
+mountains' secrets.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+Rank Tyranny
+
+    "Thou art past the tyrant's stroke."
+                          --SHAKESPEARE.
+
+
+We seemed to have formed a habit, the Boy and I, of steering always
+for a Hôtel Mont Blanc, if there were one in a town; so that now we
+had come to look upon a hostelry with such a name as a sort of second
+home, a daughter of a mother house. There were still two other reasons
+why we should select the Mont Blanc in Chamounix: the first, because
+the Contessa was going there and had asked us to do likewise; the
+second, because at Martigny we had seen an advertisement of the hotel
+which stated that it was situated in a "_vaste parc avec chamois_."
+
+Our imagination pictured an ancient château, altered for modern uses,
+shut away from the outer world in a mysterious forest of dark pines,
+where wild chamois sported gracefully at will, leaping across chasms
+from one overhanging rock to another.
+
+It was long past twilight when our little procession of four human
+beings and three beasts of burden straggled through a lighted gateway
+which we had been told to enter for the Hôtel Mont Blanc. With one
+blow our ancient castle was shattered. At a hundred metres distant
+from the street rose an enormous modern hotel, blazing with light at
+every window. Where was the vast park with its crowding pines and its
+ravines for the wild chamois? It must be somewhere, since the
+advertisement certified its existence, and so must the chamois.
+Perhaps the forest lay behind the hotel; but the Boy was too tired to
+care, and to us both baths, food, and rest were for the moment worth
+more than parks or chamois. The hotel struck a high note of
+civilisation, and I had seen nothing so fine since London or Paris.
+The Boy and I dined late and sumptuously, tête-à-tête, for the hot sun
+and the long drive had sent Gaetà to bed, chastened with a headache;
+and, weary as he was, the Little Pal had pluck enough left to suggest
+an appointment for early next morning. "I shall want to know how Mont
+Blanc looks from my window, so I won't waste my time in bed," said he.
+"Besides, I'm rather keen to see the chamois, aren't you? The only one
+I've ever met was stuffed, and rather moth-eaten. He was in a dime
+museum in New York."
+
+I was up at half-past six next day, and at my window, where Mont Blanc
+in early sunshine smote me in the face with its nearness. A sudden
+longing took me, as the longing for a great white lamp takes a moth,
+to fly at it, or, in other words, to get myself to the top. I had
+never "done" any Swiss ascents, though I knew almost every peak and
+pinnacle of rock in Cumberland and Wales, and it seemed to me that I
+should be a muff to miss the chance of such a climb as this. By the
+time I had dressed, the thing was decided. I would see about guides,
+and try to arrange at once for the ascent.
+
+The thought had joy in it, and I ran downstairs, whistling the "Alpine
+Maid." The Boy and I had settled overnight that we would drink our
+morning coffee and eat our rolls together, at a quarter to eight, long
+before the Contessa or her friends had opened their eyes; but the
+appointed time was not yet come, and I had it in mind to make
+enquiries concerning my excursion, when I almost stumbled against the
+Boy, coming in at the front door.
+
+"I've been out in the park," said he, when we had exchanged by way of
+greeting a "Hello, Boy" and "Hello, Man."
+
+"Meet any chamois?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Honour bright? An inspection of the park from my window led me to
+fear that they must be an engaging myth. There's a fine big garden,
+with a lot of trees in it, but as for rocks or chamois----"
+
+"There are both. Come out and I'll show you."
+
+I went, walking beside the Boy along one well-kept path after another,
+until suddenly the bubble delusion broke. In a cage stood or sat, in
+various attitudes of bored dejection, five melancholy little animals
+with horns, and singularly large, prominent eyes. Their aspect begged
+pardon for their degradation, as they turned their backs with weak
+scorn upon a toy rock in the centre of their prison. "We have reason
+to believe that we are well connected," they seemed to bleat, "because
+there is an ancient legend in our household that we are chamois, but
+you must not judge the family by us."
+
+"I believe," said the Boy pitifully, "they've degenerated so far now,
+that, if one gave them Mont Blanc to bound upon, they wouldn't know
+what to do with it."
+
+"I would, however," said I, full of my project, "and I'm thinking of
+trying."
+
+"What do you meant" asked the Boy, looking rather startled.
+
+"Let's have breakfast out of doors on a little table under the trees,
+and I'll tell you. Here's one in the shade, and away from the--er--a
+certain chamois-ness in the air." I pulled up chairs, and raised my
+hand to a hovering waiter. "What I mean to say is," I went on, "that
+I'm going to make the ascent as soon as I can arrange it. You won't
+mind waiting for me a couple of days, will you?--or, of course, you
+can travel with the Contessa if you like. No doubt she would be
+delighted to have you."
+
+"You're going up--Mont Blanc?"
+
+"I am, my Kid."
+
+"No."
+
+"Why not?"
+
+"Because--you might be killed."
+
+"Good heavens, one would think I was Icarus, gluing a pair of wax
+wings on to my shoulder-blades for a flight into ether. I'm not
+exactly a novice at the game, you know, though I haven't done any
+snow-climbing. Why, you little donkey, you look pale. What's the
+matter with you?"
+
+"Do you know what happened this morning--or rather last night?" the
+Boy replied to my question with another. "Did any of the hotel people
+tell you?"
+
+"No. Don't be mysterious before breakfast. It isn't good for the
+digestion."
+
+"Don't joke. I wasn't going to say anything about it till afterwards,
+in case you hadn't heard; but now I will. The _femme de chambre_ told
+me. The news has just come that a young guide has died of exhaustion
+on the mountain, between the Observatory and the Grands Mulets. Two
+others who were with him had to leave him lying dead, after dragging
+the body down a long way."
+
+At this inappropriate moment, our coffee, rolls, and honey were set
+before us, and the waiter, being an accomplished linguist, like most
+of his singularly gifted and enterprising kind, had heard and
+understood the last sentence. Bursting with gruesome information, he
+could not resist lightening himself of the burden, for our benefit and
+his own. "You can see the dead man lying on the snow, far up on the
+mountain," said he eagerly, "if you go into the town and look through
+one of the telescopes. I have seen him already; he is like a small,
+dark packet on the white ground, wrapped in his coat."
+
+
+My appetite for breakfast suddenly dwindled, but not so my appetite
+for the climb. I was very sorry that a man had died on the mountain,
+but I could not bring him to life again by remaining on low levels,
+and so I remarked when the Boy asked me if I were still in the same
+mind concerning the ascent. "I shall see about a guide directly after
+breakfast," said I, "and when you hear a cannon fired in the town
+announcing the arrival of a party at the top of Mont Blanc, you will
+know it is an echo of my shout of Excelsior!"
+
+"No, I won't know it," returned the Boy obstinately. "For one thing,
+the cannon might be fired for someone else, and besides, I won't be
+here."
+
+"Oh, you'll go on with the Contessa? But I shouldn't be surprised if
+she were good-natured enough to wait at Chamounix to congratulate me
+when I come down."
+
+"No doubt she thinks enough of you to do that. But what I mean is
+this: if you go up Mont Blanc, I'm going too."
+
+"Nonsense! You'll do nothing of the kind. You are a very plucky chap,
+but you're not a Hercules yet, whatever you may develop into ten years
+from now. No minors are permitted to ascend Mont Blanc."
+
+"_That's_ nonsense, if you like! I shall go if you do."
+
+"I won't take you."
+
+"I don't ask you to. I shan't start until after you've gone, so, you
+see, you'll have no power to prevent me."
+
+"You are simply talking rot, my dear boy. Good heavens, you'd die of
+mountain sickness or exhaustion before you were half-way up."
+
+"Perhaps. I know very little about my ability as a climber, for I've
+never made any big ascents, though I've scrambled about in the
+mountains a little at home."
+
+"It would be madness for you to attempt such a thing. Why, don't you
+know it taxes the endurance of a strong man? You've only lately
+recovered from an illness; you told me so yourself. I shan't allow you
+to----"
+
+"You're not my keeper, you know."
+
+"But we are friends, pals. I ask you, as a great favour, to be
+sensible, and----"
+
+"I asked you as a great favour not to go up Mont Blanc. Things happen.
+I have a feeling that something might happen to you. I should
+be--wretched while you were gone. I couldn't sit still under the
+suspense, feeling as I do. So I would follow your example."
+
+"There'd be no danger for me. There might be death for you."
+
+"Well, then, you can save my life if you like, by not going. If you
+don't go, I won't."
+
+"Of all the brutal tyrants who have tyrannised over mankind----"
+
+"I heard you say once that you would like to have been a professional
+tyrant. Why shouldn't I qualify for the part?"
+
+"You are cruel to put me in such a position."
+
+"You are cruel to make me do it, for your own selfish amusement."
+
+"By Jove! You talk like an exacting woman!"
+
+The blood rushed to his face so hotly that it forced water into the
+brilliant eyes of wild-chicory blue.
+
+"If I were a woman I don't think I would be an exacting one. I should
+only want people I--liked, to do things because they cared about me,
+otherwise favours would be of no value. We're pals, as you say, great
+pals, but if you don't care enough----"
+
+"Oh, hang it all, Kid, I'll give the thing up," I broke in, crossly.
+"I'll potter about with you and the Contessa in Chamounix, and take
+some nice, pretty, proper walks. But all the same, you're a little
+brute."
+
+"Do you hate me?"
+
+"Not precisely. But if I stop down here, Satan will certainly find
+mischief for my idle hands to do. I shall try to take your Contessa
+away from you, perhaps."
+
+"Oh, will you? Then I shall try to keep her; and we shall see which is
+the better man."
+
+He rose from the table with a little swagger, ruffling it gaily in his
+triumph over me; and so young, so small he seemed, to be boasting of
+his manhood and his prowess in the warfare of love, that I burst out
+laughing.
+
+"Come on," I said, "let's go and have a look round Chamounix, since
+there's no better sport to be had."
+
+So we strolled out of the _vaste parc avec chamois_ into the streets
+of the gay and charming little town, lying like a bright crystal at
+the foot of Mont Blanc. Round each of several big telescopes under
+striped canvas umbrellas, was collected a crowd. We could guess at
+what they were looking. "Shall we stop and see that piteous dark
+packet lying lonely on the snow?" I asked, pausing. But the Boy
+hurried on. "No, no," he said, "I should feel as if I had been spying
+on the dead through a keyhole. I want to buy something at the shops."
+
+"And I want to see the statue of Horace de Saussure, the first man who
+ever got to the top of Mont Blanc," said I, with reproachful meaning
+in my tone.
+
+The shops were almost as attractive as those of Lucerne, and gave an
+air of modernity and civilisation to the little place, which would
+have been out of the picture, had it not contrived to suggest the
+piquancy of contrast. The Boy spent a hundred francs for a silver
+chamois poised upon the apex of a perilous peak of uncut amethysts,
+mounted on ebony, and I was witty at the expense of his purchase,
+likening it to the white elephant of Instantaneous Breakfasts et Cie.,
+which I had long ago cast behind me.
+
+"You will be throwing your chamois away in a day or two," I
+prophesied, "or sending it back to our landlord to add to his
+collection of animals."
+
+"You will see that I shan't throw it away," the Boy returned, and
+insisted upon carrying the parcel in his hand, instead of having it
+sent from the shop to the hotel. When we had learned something of the
+town we sauntered homeward; and seated in the _vaste parc_ with a
+novel and a red silk parasol, we found Gaetà. "Where have you been so
+early?" she asked.
+
+"To find a burnt-offering for your shrine," said the Boy; and tearing
+off the white wrappings, he gave her the silver chamois.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+The Little Rift within the Lute
+
+    "There comes a mist, and a weeping rain,
+     And nothing is ever the same again;
+                                       Alas!"
+                           --GEORGE MACDONALD.
+
+
+We devoted three days to some exquisite excursions, which more than
+half consoled me for sacrificing Mont Blanc to make a tyrant's
+holiday, and then decided to push on to Aix-les-Bains, stopping on the
+way for a glimpse of Annecy.
+
+The Contessa had planned to go from Chamounix to Aix by rail with her
+friends, but she had either fallen in love with our mode of travelling
+or pretended it. A hint to the Boy, and Fanny-anny was placed at her
+disposal for a ride from Chamounix to Annecy, a lady's saddle being
+easily picked up in a town of shops which miss no opportunities. As
+for the Baron and Baronessa, it was plain to see the drift of their
+minds. So angry were they at the change of programme, that it would
+have been a satisfaction to quarrel with Gaetà, and leave her in a
+huff. But their devotion to Paolo, which was almost pathetic, forbade
+them this form of self-indulgence. They curbed their annoyance with
+the bit of common-sense, though it galled their mouths, and consented
+to drive to Annecy in a carriage provided by Gaetà for their
+accommodation. They even constrained themselves to be civil to the Boy
+and me, though their heavy politeness had the electrical quality of a
+lull before a storm. How that storm would break I could not foresee,
+but that it would presently burst above our heads I was sure.
+
+There was no longer a question that Boy was hot favourite in the race
+for Gaetà's smiles. There might have been betting on me for "place,"
+but it would have been foolish to put money on my chances as winner.
+The young wretch scarcely gave me a chance for a word with the
+Contessa, for if I walked on the left he walked on the right of her as
+she rode, his little brown hand on the new saddle, which had taken the
+place of the old one sent on to Annecy by _grande vitesse_. I would
+have surrendered, being too lazy for a struggle, had I not been
+somewhat piqued by the Boy's behaviour. He had affected not to care
+for Gaetà at first, and had even feigned annoyance at the temporary
+addition to our party, while in reality he could have had little
+genuine wish for my society, or he would not now betray such eagerness
+in the game he was playing. The vague sense of wrong I suffered gave
+me a wish for reprisal of some sort, and the only one convenient at
+the moment was to prevent the offender from having a clear course. I
+found a certain mean pleasure in stirring the Boy to jealousy by
+reviving, when I could, some half-dead ember of Gaetà's former
+interest in me, and his face showed sometimes that my assiduity
+displeased him.
+
+This was encouragement to persevere, and I praised the Contessa to him
+when we happened to be alone together. "You have a short memory it
+seems," said he. "You told me not so long ago that you'd been in love
+with a girl who jilted you. Have you forgotten her already?"
+
+I winced under this thrust, but hoped that the Boy did not see it.
+His stab reminded me that I had found very little time lately to
+regret Miss Blantock, now Lady Jerveyson; and Molly Winston's words
+recurred to me: "If I could only prove to you that you aren't and
+never have been in love with Helen." I had retorted that to accomplish
+this would be difficult, and she had confidently replied that she
+would engage to do it, if I would "take her prescription." I had taken
+her prescription, and--indisputably the wound had become callous,
+though I was not prepared to admit that it had healed. However, if I
+had ceased actively to mourn the grocer's triumph, it was not Gaetà
+who had wrought the magic change. What had caused it I was myself at a
+loss to understand, but I did not wish to argue the matter with the
+Boy. He was welcome to think what he chose.
+
+"Hearts are caught in the rebound sometimes, if for once a proverb can
+be right," said I evasively; though a few weeks ago, when Molly had
+been constantly alluding to her friend Mercédès, I had told myself
+that no one could achieve such a feat with mine.
+
+To this suggestion the Boy made no response, save to tighten his lips,
+resolving, I supposed, that if hearts were flying about like
+shuttlecocks, his battledore should be ready to catch the Contessa's.
+
+Our road from Chamounix to Annecy led us past gorges and over high
+precipices and among noble mountains, but my mind was no longer in a
+condition to receive or retain strong impressions of natural beauty. I
+was irritable and "out of myself," vainly wishing back the days when
+the Boy and I, undisturbed by feminine society, had travelled
+tranquilly, side by side, giving each other thought for thought.
+
+    "Nothing can be as it has been;
+     Better, so call it, only not the same,"
+
+Browning said; and so, I feared, it would be after this with me.
+
+We were all to stay at Annecy for a night and a day, the Contessa
+having announced that she and her friends would stop too; then Gaetà
+and the others were to go on to Aix-les-Bains by rail, and the Boy and
+I were to follow on foot, attended by our satellites. Later, we were
+to spend a few days at the Contessa's villa and get upon our way
+again, journeying south. But it did not seem to me that my little Pal
+and I would ever be as we had been before, even though we walked from
+Aix-les-Bains all the way down to the Riviera shoulder to shoulder. I
+had the will to be the same, but he was different now; and though we
+left Gaetà in the flesh at her villa, entertaining guests, Gaetà in
+the spirit would still flit between us as we went. The Boy would be
+thinking of her; I should know that he was thinking of her, and--there
+would be an end of our confidences.
+
+The way, though kaleidoscopic with changing beauties, seemed long to
+Annecy. By the time that we arrived, after two days' going, the
+Contessa had eyes or dimples or laughter for no one but the Boy.
+Sometimes he was seized with sudden moods of rebellion against his new
+slavery, and was almost rude to her, saying things which she would not
+have forgiven readily from another, but the child-woman appeared to
+find a keen delight in forgiving him. Seeing the preference bestowed
+upon the young American, Paolo's brother and sister were inclined to
+make common cause with me.
+
+In the garden of the old-fashioned hotel at Annecy where we all took
+up our headquarters, they came and encamped beside me, at a table near
+which I sat alone, smoking, after our first dinner in the place. A
+moment later Gaetà passed with the Boy, pacing slowly under the
+interlacing branches of the trees.
+
+"I believe that youth to be a fortune-hunter!" exclaimed the thin,
+dark Baron.
+
+"You're wrong there," said I, "he's very rich."
+
+"At all events, it is ridiculous, this flirtation," exclaimed the
+plump Baronessa. "He is a mere child. Gaetà is making a fool of
+herself. You are her friend. You should see this and put a stop to the
+affair in some way."
+
+"As to that, many women marry men younger than themselves," I replied,
+willing to tease the lady, though I could have laughed aloud at the
+bare idea of marriage for the Boy. "Still," I went on more
+consolingly, "I hardly think it will come to anything serious between
+them."
+
+"Ah, if you say that, you little know Gaetà," protested Gaetà's
+friend. "She is infatuated--infatuated with this youth of seventeen or
+eighteen, whom she insists, to justify her foolishness, is a year
+older than he can possibly be. Something must be done, and soon, or
+she is capable of proposing to him, if he pretend to hang back."
+
+"Something will be done, my dear; do not be unnecessarily excited,"
+said the Baron. "I fear we have not the full sympathy of Lord Lane."
+
+"If you mean, will I do anything to keep the two apart, I confess you
+haven't," I answered. "The Contessa di Ravello is her own mistress,
+and I should say if she wanted the moon, it would be bad for anyone
+who tried to keep her from getting it."
+
+[Illustration: "HERE WE WERE AT ANNECY".]
+
+"We shall see," murmured the Baron, as the Boy had murmured a few days
+ago; and behind this hint also I felt that there lurked some definite
+plan.
+
+I had been to Aix-les-Bains years before, but it had not then occurred
+to me to visit Annecy, so near by. It was the Boy who had suggested
+coming, and we had planned excursions up the lake, looking out on our
+guide-book maps various spots of historic or picturesque interest
+which we should see _en route_, especially Menthon, the birthplace of
+St. Bernard. Now, here we were at Annecy, and in all the world there
+could not be a town more charming. By the placid blue lake--whose
+water, I am convinced, would still be the colour of melted turquoises
+if you corked it up in a bottle--you could wander along shadowed
+paths, strewn with the gold coin of sunshine, through a park of dells
+as bosky-green as the fair forest of Arden. In the quaint,
+old-fashioned streets of the town you were tempted to pause at every
+other step for one more snap-shot. You longed to linger on the bridge
+and call up a passing panorama of historic pageants. All these things
+the Boy and I would have done, and enjoyed peacefully, had we been
+alone, but Gaetà elected to find Annecy "dull." There was nothing to
+do but take walks, or sit by the lake, or drive for lunch to the Beau
+Rivage, or go out for an afternoon's trip in one of the little
+steamers. Beautiful? Oh, yes; but quiet places made one want to scream
+or stand on one's head when one had been in them a day or two. It
+would be much more amusing at Aix. There were the Casinos, and the
+_fêtes de nuit_, with lots of coloured lanterns in the gardens, and
+fireworks, and music; and then, the baccarat! That was amusing, if
+you liked, for half an hour, and when you were bored there was always
+something else. She must really get to Aix, and see that the Villa
+Santa Lucia was in order. We would promise--promise--_promise_ to
+follow at once? We would find our rooms at her villa ready, with
+flowers in them for a welcome, and we must not be too long on the way.
+
+Gaetà left in the evening, the Boy and I seeing her off at the train;
+and twelve hours later we started for Châtelard, Joseph taking us away
+from the highroads--which would have been perfect for Molly's
+Mercédès--along certain romantic by-paths which he knew from former
+journeys. Conversation no longer made itself between us; we had to
+make it, and in the manufacturing process I mentioned my "friends who
+were motoring."
+
+"They may turn up before long now," I said, "judging from the plans
+they wrote of in a letter I had from them at Aosta. It's just possible
+that they will pass through Aix. You would like them."
+
+"I have run away from my own friends, and--gone rather far to do it,"
+said the Boy. "Yet I seem destined to meet other people's. It was with
+very different intentions that I set out on this journey of mine."
+
+"'Journeys end in lovers' meetings,'" I quoted carelessly. "Perhaps
+yours will end so."
+
+"I thought I had done with lovers," said the Boy, with one of his odd
+smiles.
+
+"You're not old enough to begin with them yet."
+
+"I was thinking of--my sister. Her experience was a lesson in love I'm
+not likely to forget soon. Yet sometimes I--I'm not sure I learned the
+lesson in the right way. But we won't talk of that. Tell me about
+your friends. I'm becoming inured to social duties now."
+
+"You don't seem to find them too onerous. As for my friends--they're
+an old chum of mine, Jack Winston, and his bride of a few months, the
+most exquisite specimen of an American girl I ever met. Perhaps you
+may have heard of her. She's the daughter of Chauncey Randolph, one of
+your millionaires. Look out! Was that a stone you stumbled over?"
+
+"Yes. I gave my ankle a twist. It's all right now. I daresay my sister
+knows your friend."
+
+"I must ask Molly Winston, when I write, or see her. But you've never
+told me your sister's name, except that she's called 'Princess.' If I
+say Miss Laurence----"
+
+"There are so many Laurences. Did you--ever mention in your letters
+to--your friends that you were--travelling with anyone?"
+
+"I haven't written to them since I knew your name, but before that, I
+told them there was a boy whom I had met by accident and chummed up
+with, just before Aosta. I think I rather spread myself on a
+description of our meeting."
+
+"You _didn't_ do that! How horrid of you!"
+
+"Oh, I put it right afterwards, I assure you, in another letter. I
+told them that in spite of the bad beginning, we'd become no end of
+pals. That we travelled together, stopped at the same hotels,
+and--what's the matter?"
+
+"Nothing. My ankle does hurt a little, after all. Shall you go on in
+your friends' motor car if you meet them?" He looked up at me very
+earnestly as he spoke.
+
+"At one time I thought of doing so, if we ran across each other. But
+now that I've got you----"
+
+"Who knows how long we may have each other? Either one of us may
+change his plans--suddenly. You mustn't count on me, Lord Lane."
+
+"Look here," I said crossly, "do speak out. Don't hint things. Do you
+mean me to understand that you wish to stop at Aix, indefinitely, and
+play out your little comedy of flirtation to its close?"
+
+"I don't know what I intend to do; now, less than ever," answered the
+Boy in a very low voice, the shadow of his long lashes on his cheeks.
+
+I was too much hurt to question him further, and we pursued our way in
+silence, along the lake side, and then up the billowy lower slopes of
+the Semnoz. We had showers of rain in the sunshine; and the long, thin
+spears of crystal glittered like spun glass, until dim clouds spread
+over the bright patches of blue, and the world grew mistily
+grey-green.
+
+We had planned long ago, before the spell of the Contessa fell upon
+us, to make the journey we were taking now, by way of the Semnoz, the
+so-called Rigi of this Alpine Savoy, which is neither wholly French
+nor wholly Italian. But we had abandoned the idea since, in a fine
+frenzy to keep our promise of rejoining her with all speed lest she
+perish alone in the icy disapproval of her friends. When the mists
+closed round us, we ceased to regret the decision, if we had regretted
+it; for instead of seeing Savoy spread out beneath us, with its snow
+mountains and fertile valleys, lit with azure lakes--as many as the
+Graces--we should have been wrapped in cloud blankets.
+
+After a walk of thirty-two kilometres, we came to Châtelard, and,
+having known little or nothing of the town, we were surprised to find
+that most other people knew of it as a great centre for excursions.
+It was almost as unbelievable as that the places where we lived could
+possibly go on existing in exactly the same way during our absence.
+
+"There are actually three hotels, all said to be good," I remarked,
+quoting from my guide-book. "To which shall we go?"
+
+The Boy hesitated. "Choose which you like, for yourself," he replied
+with a slight appearance of embarrassment. "As for me, I will make up
+my mind--later."
+
+I could take this in but one way: as a snub. Evidently he had selected
+this fashion of intimating to me the change that Gaetà's intrusion had
+worked in our relations. I bit back a sharp word or two which I might
+have regretted by-and-bye, and answered not at all. In consequence of
+this little passage, however, the Boy went to one hotel, and I to
+another, where I put Joseph up also.
+
+A sense of loneliness was upon me, therefore my conscience stirred
+uneasily, and I reproached myself in that of late I had neglected the
+affairs of my muleteer. At one time he and I had conversed at length
+on such subjects as mules, women, perdition, and the like; but for
+many days now our intercourse had consisted mostly of a "Good morning,
+Joseph!" "Good morning, Monsieur!"
+
+To-night I sent for him, and enquired whether he had anything to wish
+for.
+
+"Ah, Monsieur, there is but one thing for which I ask at present," he
+said.
+
+"Anything I can manage, Joseph?"
+
+"I fear not, Monsieur. It is the assurance that the poor young soul I
+am trying to lead out of darkness may reach the light before we have
+to part."
+
+"Innocentina's?"
+
+"The same, Monsieur."
+
+"You think her conversion within sight?"
+
+"Just round the corner, if I may so express it."
+
+"Yet I hear that she tells her employer she is devoting all her
+energies towards saving you from eternal fire. It was her excuse for
+letting the bag drop off Souris' back without noticing it, and for
+allowing Fanny's saddle to chafe."
+
+"Ah, Monsieur, women are ready with excuses. Do you think I would
+permit any preoccupation of mine to interfere with the well-being of
+Finois?"
+
+"Even saving a pretty woman's soul? No, Joseph, to do you justice, I
+don't. But I warn you, you may not have much more time before you to
+finish your good work. Innocentina's employer and I may part company
+before long." Though I smiled, I spoke heavily.
+
+Joseph's melancholy dark face flushed, and the light died out of his
+eyes. "Thank you, Monsieur, I will do my best to be quick," said he,
+as if it had been a question of saddling Finois, instead of rescuing a
+young lady from the clutches of the Scarlet Woman. Whatever progress
+he had really been making with Innocentina's soul, it was clear that
+she had been getting in some deadly work upon his honest heart.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX
+
+The Great Paolo
+
+     "Condescension is an excellent thing; but it is strange how
+     one-sided the pleasure of it is."--R.L. STEVENSON.
+
+
+After I went to bed that night, I thought long and bitterly of the
+Little Pal's defection. Mentally I addressed him as a young gazelle
+who had gladdened me with his soft dark eye, only to withdraw the
+light of that orb when it was most needed. As he apparently wished me
+to understand that, now he was on with Gaetà, he would fain be off
+with me, I would take him not only at his word, but before it. I would
+make an excuse to avoid stopping at the Contessa's villa, but would
+let him revel there alone in his glory; if one did not count the Di
+Nivolis.
+
+Next morning we met by appointment at eight o'clock, and tried to
+behave as if nothing had happened; but I realised that I would have
+been a dead failure as an actor. I was grumpy and glum, and the
+coaxing, child-like ways which the Boy used for my beguiling were in
+vain. I did not say anything about my change of plans for Aix, but I
+brooded darkly upon them throughout the day, my mood eating away all
+pleasure in the charming scenery through which we passed, as a black
+worm eats into the heart of a cherry.
+
+We had about twenty-nine kilometres to go, and by the time that the
+shadows were growing long and blue, we were approaching Aix-les-Bains.
+Nature had gone back to the simple apparel of her youth, here. She
+was idyllic and charming, but we were not to ask of her any more
+sensational splendours, by way of costume, for she had not brought
+them with her in her dress-basket. There were near green hills, and
+far blue mountains, and certain rocky eminences in the middle
+distance, but nothing of grandeur. Poplars marched along with us on
+either side, primly on guard, and puritanical, though all the while
+their myriad little fingers seemed to twinkle over the keyboard of an
+invisible piano, playing a rapid waltz.
+
+Then we came at last into Aix-les-Bains, where I had spent a merry
+month during a "long," in Oxford days. I had not been back since.
+
+Already the height of the season was over, for it was September now,
+but the gay little watering-place seemed crowded still, and in our
+knickerbockers, with our pack-mule and donkeys, and their attendants,
+we must have added a fantastic note to the dance-music which the very
+breezes play among tree-branches at light-hearted Aix.
+
+"Pretty, isn't it?" I remarked indifferently, as we passed through
+some of the most fashionable streets.
+
+"Yes, very pretty," said the Boy. "But what is there that one misses?
+There's something--I'm not sure what. Is it that the place looks
+huddled together? You can't see its face, for its features. There are
+people like that. You are introduced to them; you think them charming;
+yet when you've been away for a little while you couldn't for your
+life recall the shape of their nose, or mouth, or eyes. I feel it is
+going to be so with Aix, for me."
+
+The villa which the Contessa had taken for a few weeks before her
+annual flitting for Monte Carlo, was on the way to Marlioz, and we had
+been told exactly how to find it. Still silent as to my ultimate
+intentions, I tramped along with the Boy beside me, Joseph and
+Innocentina bringing up the rear. We would know the villa from the
+description we had been given, and having passed out of the town, we
+presently saw it; a little dun-coloured house, standing up slender and
+graceful among trees, like a charming grey rabbit on the watch by its
+hidden warren in the woods.
+
+"I'm tired, aren't you?" asked the Boy. "I shall be glad to rest."
+
+Now was my time. "I shan't be able to rest quite yet," said I, with a
+careless air. "I shall see you in, say 'How-de-do' to the Contessa,
+and then I must be off to the hotel where I used to stop. I remember
+it as delightful."
+
+"Why," exclaimed the Boy blankly, "but I thought--I thought we were
+going to stay with the Contessa!"
+
+"You are, but I'm not," I explained calmly. "My friends the Winstons
+may very likely turn up at the same hotel" (this was true on the
+principle that anything, no matter how unexpected, _may_ happen); "and
+if they should, I'd want to be on the spot to give them a welcome. I
+wouldn't miss them for the world."
+
+"The Contessa will be disappointed," said the Boy slowly.
+
+"Oh no, I don't think so; and if she is, a little, you will easily
+console her."
+
+"If I had dreamed that you wouldn't----" The Boy began his sentence
+hastily, then cut it as quickly short.
+
+I opened the gate. We passed in together, Joseph remaining outside
+according to my directions, keeping Fanny-anny as well as Finois,
+while Innocentina followed the Boy with the pack-donkey.
+
+A turn in the path brought us suddenly upon a lawn, surrounded with
+shrubbery which at first had hidden it from our view. There, under a
+huge crimson umbrella, rising flowerlike by its long slender stem from
+the smooth-shaven grass, sat four persons in basket chairs, round a
+small tea table. Gaetà, in green as pale as Undine's draperies, sprang
+up with a glad little cry to greet us. The Baron and Baronessa smiled
+bleak "society smiles," and a handsome, fair young man frankly glared.
+
+Evidently this was the great Paolo, master of the air and ships that
+sail therein; and as evidently he had heard of us.
+
+Now I knew what the Baron had meant when he said to his wife:
+"Something _shall_ happen, my dear." He had telegraphed a
+danger-signal to Paolo, and Paolo had lost not a moment in responding.
+This looked as if Paolo meant business in deadly earnest, where the
+Contessa was concerned; for how many dinners and medals must he not
+have missed in Paris, how many important persons in the air-world must
+he not have offended, by breaking his engagements in the hope of
+making one here?
+
+He was fair, with a Latin fairness, this famous young man. There was
+nothing Saxon or Anglo-Saxon about him. No one could possibly bestow
+him--in a guess--upon any other country than his native Italy. He was
+thirty-one or two perhaps, long-limbed and wolfishly spare, like his
+elder brother, whom he resembled thus only. He had an eagle nose,
+prominent red lips, sulky and sensuous, a fine though narrow forehead
+under brown hair cut _en brosse_, a shade darker than the small, waxed
+moustache and pointed beard. His brows turned up slightly at the outer
+corners, and his heavy-lidded, tobacco-coloured eyes were bold,
+insolent, and passionate at the same time.
+
+This was the man who wished to marry butterfly Gaetà, and who had come
+on the wings of the wind, in an airship "shod with fire," or in the
+_train de luxe_, to defend his rights against marauders.
+
+His look, travelling from me to the Boy, and from the Boy to
+Innocentina and meek grey Souris, was so eloquent of contempt passing
+words, that I should have wanted to knock the sprawling flannelled
+figure out of the basket chair, if I had not wanted still more to yell
+with laughter.
+
+He, the Boy and I were like dogs from rival kennels eyeing each other
+over, and thinking poorly of the other's points. Paolo di Nivoli was
+doubtless saying to himself what a splendid fellow he was, and how
+well dressed and famous; also how absurd it really would be to fear
+one of us dusty, knickerbockered, thick-booted, panama-hatted louts,
+in the tournament of love. The donkey, too, with its pack, and
+Innocentina with her toadstool hat, must have added for the aëronaut
+the last touch of shame to our environment.
+
+As for us,--if I may judge the Boy by myself,--we were totting up
+against the Italian his stiff crest of hair, for all the world like a
+toothbrush, rampant, gules; the smear of wax on the spikes of his
+unnecessarily fierce moustache; the ridiculous pinpoints of his narrow
+brown shoes; the flaunting newness of his white flannels: the
+detestable little tucks in his shirt; his pink necktie.
+
+In fact, each was despising the other for that on which the other
+prided himself.
+
+All this passed in a glance, but the frigid atmosphere grew no warmer
+for the introduction hastily effected by Gaetà. To be sure, the Boy
+bowed, I bowed, and Paolo bowed the lowest of the trio, so that we saw
+the parting in his hair; but three honest snorts of defiance would
+have been no more unfriendly than our courtesies.
+
+Not a doubt that Gaetà felt the electricity in the air, with the
+instinct of a woman; but with the instinct of a born flirt, she
+thrilled with it. Her colour rose; her warm eyes sparkled. She was
+perfectly happy; for--from her point of view--were there not here
+three male beings all secretly ready to fly at one another's throat
+for love of her; and what can a spoiled beauty want more?
+
+She covered the little awkwardness with charming tact, for all her
+childishness; and then the excuses I made for my defection caused a
+diversion. She was so sorry; it was really too bad. I was going to
+desert her for other friends. Were not we friends, nice new friends,
+so much more interesting than old friends, whom you knew inside-out,
+like your frocks or your gloves? But surely, I would come often, very
+often to the villa--always for _déjeuner_ and _dîner_, till the other
+friends arrived, was it not? And I would not try to take Signor Boy
+(this was the name she had built on mine for him) away from her and
+the dear Baronessa?
+
+I reassured her on this last point, promised everything she asked, and
+then got away as quickly as I could, lest I should disgrace myself by
+letting escape the wild laughter which I caged with difficulty. It was
+arranged that we should all meet that evening, after dinner, at the
+Villa des Fleurs, for one of those _fêtes de nuit_ which Gaetà loved;
+and then I turned my back upon the group under the red umbrella,
+without a glance for the Boy.
+
+I tramped into the town once more, with Joseph close behind, leading
+his own Finois and Innocentina's Fanny, and found my way to the hotel,
+in its large shady garden, where coloured lamps were already beginning
+to glow in the twilight. Soon I had all the resources of civilisation
+at my command: a white-and-gold panelled suite, with a bath as big as
+a boudoir, and hot water enough to make of me a better man (I hoped)
+than Paolo di Nivoli.
+
+Later I dined on the wide balcony, with flower-fragrance blowing
+towards me from the mysterious blue dusk of the garden. I ought, I
+said to myself, to be well-contented, for the dinner was excellent,
+and the surroundings a picture in aquarelles. Still, I had a vague
+sense of something very wrong, such as a well brought up motor car
+must feel when it has a screw loose, and can't explain to the
+chauffeur. What was it? The Boy's absence? Nonsense; he didn't want
+me, rather the contrary. Why should I want him? A few weeks ago I had
+not known that he existed. I drank a pint of dry champagne, iced
+almost to freezing point; but instead of hardening my heart against
+the ex-Brat, to my annoyance the sparkling liquid gradually but surely
+produced the opposite effect.
+
+The fragrance of the flowers, the soft wind among the chestnut trees
+in the garden, the beauty of the night, all reproached me for my
+conduct to the young creature I had abandoned. What use was it to
+remind myself that I had merely taken a leaf out of his book, that I
+had even played into his hands, as he seemed to desire? The answer
+would come that he was a boy, and I a man. No matter what he had done,
+I ought not to have left him to flirt with Gaetà under the jealous
+eyes of the Italian, who was "a whirlwind, and caught a woman off her
+feet."
+
+It was too late now to think of this, for I had refused Gaetà's
+invitation to visit at her house, and having done so I could not ask
+for another, even if I would. Probably the Boy would know well enough
+how far to go, and to protect himself from consequences when he had
+reached the limit.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI
+
+The Challenge
+
+     "'Do I indeed lack courage?' inquired Mr. Archer of himself,
+     'Courage, . . . that does not fail a weasel or a rat--
+      that is a brutish faculty?'"--R.L. STEVENSON.
+
+
+I drank my black coffee and smoked a cigarette. Then, a glance at my
+watch told me that it was time to keep the appointment at the Villa
+des Fleurs, five minutes' walk from the hotel. I expected the
+Contessa's party to be late, but somewhat to my surprise they had
+already arrived, and a quick glance showed me that, outwardly at
+least, the relations of all were still amicable.
+
+"Signor Boy did not wish to come," said the Contessa to me, "but I
+made him. He says that he does not like crowds. Look at him now; he
+has wandered far from us already, probably to find some dark corner
+where he can forget that there are too many people. But then, it was
+sweet of him to come at all, since it was only to please me."
+
+It was true. The Boy had slipped away from the seats we had taken near
+the music. He had gone to avoid me, perhaps, I said to myself
+bitterly. I need not have spoiled my dinner with anxiety for his
+welfare; he seemed to be taking very good care of himself.
+
+"I was horribly worried at dinner," whispered Gaetà to me, the light
+of the fireworks playing rosily over her face. "Those two--you know
+of whom I speak--weren't a bit nice to each other. It was Paolo who
+began it, of course, saying little, hateful things that sounded
+smooth, but had a second meaning; and Signor Boy is not stupid. He did
+not miss the bad intention, oh, not he, and he said other little
+things back again, much sharper and wittier than Paolo, who was
+furious, and gnawed his lip. It was most exciting."
+
+"Did you try to pour oil on the troubled waters?" I asked.
+
+"I was very pleasant to them both, if that is what you mean, first to
+one and then to the other. After dinner, I gave Signor Boy a rose, and
+Paolo a gardenia."
+
+"How charming of you," I commented drily. "If that didn't smooth
+matters, what could?"
+
+The aëronaut was sitting on Gaetà's left, I on her right, with the
+Baronessa next me on the other side, and both were straining every
+nerve to hear our confidences, though pretending to be lost in
+admiration of the _feu d'artifice_.
+
+When the Contessa laughed softly, her little dark head not far from my
+ear, the Italian sprang up, and walked away, unable to endure five
+minutes of Gaetà's neglect. She and I continued our conversation,
+though our eyes wandered, mine in search of the Boy, hers I fancy in
+quest of the same object.
+
+Soon I caught sight of the slim, youthful figure, in its rather
+fantastic evening dress, the becoming dinner-jacket, the Eton collar,
+the loosely tied bow at the throat, and the full, black knickerbocker
+trousers, like those worn in the days of Henri Quatre. As I watched it
+moving through the crowd, and finally subsiding in a seat under an
+isolated tree, I saw the boyish form joined by a tall and manly one.
+Paolo di Nivoli had followed his young rival, and presently came to a
+stand close to the Boy's chair. He folded his arms, and looked down
+into the eyes which were upturned in answer to some word.
+
+We could not see the expression of the two faces. We saw only that the
+man and the boy were talking, spasmodically at first, then
+continuously.
+
+"I do hope they're not quarrelling," said Gaetà, in the seventh heaven
+of delight.
+
+"Of course not," I replied, annoyed at her frivolity. "They are too
+sensible."
+
+"Let us make some excuse, and go over to them," she pleaded. "I am
+tired of sitting still."
+
+There was nothing for it but to obey her whim. I took her across the
+grassy space which divided us from the two under the tree, and she
+began to chatter about the fireworks. What did Signor Boy think of
+them? Was not Aix a charming place?
+
+But abruptly, in the midst of her babble, Paolo di Nivoli swept her
+away from the Boy and me, in his best "whirlwind" manner, which
+doubtless thrilled her with mingled terror and delight.
+
+"Nice night, isn't it?" I remarked brilliantly.
+
+"Yes," said the Boy.
+
+"Did the Contessa give you a good dinner?"
+
+"No--yes--that is, I didn't notice."
+
+"Perhaps that was natural."
+
+The Boy did not answer, but I heard him swallow hard. He was on his
+feet now, having risen at Gaetà's coming, and he stood kicking the
+grass with the point of his small patent-leather toe. Then, suddenly,
+he looked up straight into my face, with big dilated eyes.
+
+"What's the matter?" I asked, when still he did not speak.
+
+"Oh, Man, I'm in _the most awful scrape_."
+
+"What's up?"
+
+"I should be thankful to tell you about it, and get your advice,
+if--you were like you used to be."
+
+"It's you who have changed, not I."
+
+"No, it's you."
+
+"Don't let's dispute about it. Tell me what's the trouble. Has that
+bounder been cheeking you?"
+
+"Worse than that. He said things that made me angry, and--then I
+checked him."
+
+"Just now--under this tree?"
+
+"It began at dinner, a little. But the particular thing I'm speaking
+of happened here. I couldn't stand it, you know."
+
+"What did he say?"
+
+"He asked me how old I was, at first--in _such_ a tone! I answered
+that I was old enough to know my way about, I hoped. He said he should
+have thought not, as I travelled with my nurse. Then he wanted to know
+what was in Souris' pack, whether I carried condensed milk for my
+nursing-bottle. It was all I could do to keep from boxing his ears,
+before everyone, but I kept still, and laughed a little; presently I
+answered in a drawling sort of way, saying I needn't tell him that
+what Souris carried was no affair of his, because when I came to think
+of it, after all it was quite natural that a great donkey should be
+interested in a small one."
+
+"By Jove, you little fire-eater!"
+
+"Well, I had to show him that I was an American, anyhow."
+
+"I suppose he was annoyed."
+
+"He was very much annoyed. Man, he's challenged me to fight a duel.
+Only think of it, a real duel! He said I'd have to fight, or he'd
+thrash me for a coward. I--it's a horrid scrape, but I don't see how
+I'm going to get out of it with--with honour. Will you--if I do have
+to--but look here, I won't have him running me through with a _sword_,
+or anything of that sort. I'm afraid I couldn't face that. I wouldn't
+mind a revolver quite as much."
+
+"The big bully!" I exclaimed. "But of course it's all rot. There can
+be no question of your fighting him."
+
+"I don't know. I'd rather do that--if we could have pistols--than have
+him think an American--could be a coward. I'm not a coward, I hope,
+only--only I never thought of anything like this. He's going to send a
+friend of his to call on you, as a friend of mine, he said. I suppose
+that means a what-you-may-call-'em--a 'second,' doesn't it? If I must
+fight with him, Man, you will be my second, won't you, and--and act
+for me, if that's the right word?"
+
+Gazing up earnestly, his eyes very big, his face pale, he looked no
+more than fourteen, and the idea of a duel to the death between this
+child and Gaetà's whirlwind would have been comic in the extreme, had
+I not been enraged with the whirlwind.
+
+"I'll be your friend, and get you out of the scrape," I said. "But it
+will mean that you must give up the Contessa."
+
+"Give up the Contessa!" echoed the Boy. "What do _I_ want with the
+Contessa! I'm sick of the sight of her."
+
+"Since when?"
+
+"Since the first day we met. I don't think she's even pretty. What
+you can see in her, I don't know--the silly little giggling thing!
+There, it's out at last."
+
+"What I see in her?" I repeated. "I like that."
+
+"I always supposed you did. But I can't _stand_ her."
+
+"Well, of all the---- Look here, why have you been hanging after her,
+if you--"
+
+"I didn't. I just wasn't going to let you make a fool of yourself over
+her, and then regret it afterwards. So I--I did my best to take her
+attention away from you, and I succeeded fairly well. It--vexed me to
+see you falling in love with her. She wasn't worth it."
+
+"There was never the remotest chance of my doing so."
+
+"You said there was."
+
+"I was chaffing, just to hear myself talk. I should have thought you
+would know that."
+
+"How could I know? You were always saying how pretty and dainty she
+was, and quoting poetry about her, while all the time I could read her
+shallow little mind, and see how different she was from what you
+imagined."
+
+"I think I have a fairly clear idea of her limitations."
+
+"But you told me that you'd planned to go down to Monte Carlo
+expressly to see the Contessa; and you said that it would perhaps be a
+wise thing for you to try and fall in love with her."
+
+"If a man has to try and fall in love with a woman, he's pretty safe.
+You and I seem to have been playing at cross purposes, youngster. You
+thought I was in danger of falling in love, and I thought you were
+already in."
+
+"You _couldn't_ have believed it, really."
+
+"I did, and supposed you wanted me out of the way."
+
+"I was thinking the same thing about you. You did seem jealous and
+sulky."
+
+"I was both; but it was because our friendship had been interfered
+with, Little Pal."
+
+"Oh, Man, do you really mean that?"
+
+"Every word of it. I wouldn't give up a talk with you for a kiss from
+the Contessa, of which, by the way, I'm very unlikely to have the
+chance. But you----"
+
+"I've been miserable for the last few days. I--I missed you, Man."
+
+"And I you, Boy."
+
+"What an awful pity it is I've got to stand up and be shot, just as
+we're good friends again, and everything's all right!"
+
+"You've got to do nothing of the sort. _Le cher_ Paolo will, if he is
+really in earnest and not bluffing, send his friend to me, and matters
+will be settled, never fear."
+
+"I don't fear. At least, I--hope I don't--much. Only I wasn't brought
+up to expect challenges to duels. They're not--in my line. But I won't
+apologise, whatever happens. No, I won't, I won't, _I won't_. I dare
+say it doesn't hurt much, being shot; and I suppose he wouldn't be
+so--so impolite as to shoot me in the face, would he?"
+
+"He is not going to shoot you anywhere," said I.
+
+"I am glad I told you. I was feeling--rather queer. What am I to do?
+Am I to go back to the villa as if nothing had happened, or--what?"
+
+"'What' might mean coming to my hotel, but you seemed to find my
+society a bore."
+
+"That's unkind. It was your own fault that I went to a different hotel
+at Châtelard."
+
+"How do you make that out?"
+
+"I can't tell you. I don't suppose you'll ever know. But if you should
+guess, by-and-bye, remembering something you once said, you might
+understand."
+
+"Something I once said----"
+
+"Never mind. Please don't talk of it. I'd rather be shot at. But I
+want you to believe that my reason wasn't the one you thought. Now,
+tell me what you're going to do about Signor di Nivoli. Have you made
+a plan?"
+
+"One has popped into my head," I replied. "It mayn't answer, but will
+you give me _carte blanche_ to try? If it doesn't work, I'll get you
+out of the mess in another way. But this would give us a chance of
+making Paolo eat humble pie."
+
+"Do try it, then. I'd risk a lot for that."
+
+"As for to-night, on the whole I think the best thing will be for you
+to go back to the villa. Of course we mustn't let the Contessa
+suspect----"
+
+"Little cat! I wouldn't give her the satisfaction."
+
+"Upon my word, you're not very gallant."
+
+"I don't care. I'm sick of the Contessa. A plague upon her, and all
+her houses. Yet, I wish her nothing worse than that she should marry
+Paolo. Ugh! A man with his hair _en brosse_!"
+
+"Probably he is saying, 'Ugh! a boy with curls on his collar.'"
+
+"May one of his old balloons fly away with him, before he shoots me.
+Anyhow, he shall find that curls don't make a coward. Only--there's
+just one thing before you treat with him. I won't--I _can't_--be
+jabbed at with anything sharp."
+
+"You shan't," said I.
+
+With this, the Contessa beckoned from a distance, with news that she
+was going home. We followed, the Boy and I, allowing her to walk far
+ahead, with her triumphant aëronaut, the Baron and Baronessa, radiant
+with satisfaction in the success of their plot, arm in arm between the
+two couples.
+
+Having seen my little Daniel to the gate of the Lions' Den, I shook
+hands cordially with everybody, Paolo last of all. He placed his
+fingers with haughty reluctance in my ostentatiously proffered palm,
+but I held the four chilly, fish-like things (chilly only for me) long
+enough to mutter, _sotto voce_: "I want a word with you on a matter of
+importance. I'll walk up and down the road for twenty minutes."
+
+His impulse was to refuse, I could see by the sharp upward toss of his
+chin. But a certain quality in my look, clearly visible to him in the
+light of the gate lamp (I was at some pains to produce the effect),
+warned him that if his bloodthirsty plans were not to be nipped in the
+red bud, he must bend his will to mine in this one instance.
+
+He answered with a glance, and I knew that I should not be kept long
+on my beat.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII
+
+An American Custom
+
+     "Oh, have it your own way; I am too old a hand to argue
+     with young gentlemen, . . . I have too much experience,
+     thank you."--R.L. STEVENSON.
+
+
+Five minutes, ten minutes passed, after the farewells. Then, as I
+sauntered by on the other side of the way, I heard the sound of a foot
+on gravel, and Paolo di Nivoli appeared under the gate light. There he
+paused, expecting me to cross to him, but I allotted him the part of
+Mahomet and selected for myself that of the Mountain. Shrugging his
+square shoulders, he came striding over the road to me; and I had
+scored one small victory. I hoped that I might take it for an omen.
+
+"I do not understand the nature of this appointment, Monsieur," began
+the Italian. "I intended to send my friend Captain de Sales to you
+to----"
+
+"Ah, yes, that is the Continental way in these little affairs," I
+ventured to interrupt him coolly. "On our side of the Channel we are
+rather ignorant on such matters, I fear. But my young friend Mr.
+Laurence is an American."
+
+"Do you mean that he will refuse to fight, after insulting me?" asked
+Paolo, bristling.
+
+"Not at all. He is very young, and this will be his first duel. He may
+have misunderstood your intentions. But I gathered from him that you
+had said he would have to fight; that you then requested him to name
+a friend to whom you could send a friend of yours----"
+
+"This is the fact. There was no misunderstanding. He named you."
+
+"Yes; but as I said, he is an American."
+
+"What of that, since he will fight?"
+
+"As a duellist yourself, no doubt a successful one, you must be aware
+that such matters are conducted differently in the States."
+
+"I know nothing of that. I know only our own ways, which are good
+enough for me."
+
+"But my friend, being the challenged party, has the right, I believe,
+to choose the manner of duel."
+
+"That will be arranged between you and my friend, according to the
+choice of Mr. Laurence."
+
+"I must ask you to go slowly, just at this point. In the States, it is
+against the duelling code to have the details arranged by the friends
+of the principals. It is the principals themselves who do all that,
+and for the best of reasons. But as Mr. Laurence is a boy, and you are
+a man, it is but right that I should speak with you for him. You
+needn't send Captain de Sales to me. We are man to man, and in ten
+minutes we can have everything settled with fairness to both parties."
+
+"This is a new idea, Monsieur, and I confess it does not commend
+itself to me," said Paolo.
+
+"I suppose, however, you are anxious to fight?"
+
+"_Sacré bleu_, but yes. The little jackanapes called me a donkey, and
+he had the impudence to allude to my invention as a 'balloon,' adding
+that there was little to choose between it and my head. _Ciel!_ Do I
+wish to fight?"
+
+"Then, as you must grant him the privileges of the challenged party,
+I fear there is only one way of carrying this thing through. He is
+patriotic to a fault, and he will fight in the American fashion or not
+at all. I must say this is to the credit of his courage, as there is
+to me, an Englishman, something appalling about the method. I trust
+that I'm not a coward, yet it would take all my nerve to face such an
+ordeal. No doubt, however, with the fiery Latin races it is
+different."
+
+"I shall be glad of your explanation, Monsieur. What is this method of
+which you speak?"
+
+"There are several small variations; there are the bits of paper;
+there are the matches; there are the beans of different size."
+
+"I am more in the dark than ever."
+
+"My friend proposes the bits of paper. Two are taken, exactly
+resembling each other, except in length. Both are placed inside a
+book, with an end, say an inch long, sticking out. You and Mr.
+Laurence draw simultaneously, that there can be no question of
+cheating. The one who draws the long bit lives--the other stands up to
+be shot, without defending himself."
+
+"_Mon Dieu_, how horrible! I would never submit to such a barbarous
+test. That is not a duel, it is murder."
+
+I shrugged my shoulders as gracefully, I flatter myself, as Paolo
+himself could have done it. But for the moment Paolo was in no
+shoulder-shrugging mood. His very crest--it seemed to me--was
+drooping.
+
+"Nevertheless," said I, "that is the American idea of a duel, as
+practised in the best society. My friend is a member of the Four
+Hundred, and should it become known that he had been killed in an
+old-fashioned, butcherly duel, his memory would be disgraced."
+
+"But what about my memory?" demanded Paolo, with open palms. "Monsieur
+does not appear to think of that."
+
+"It was not on my mind. I am acting for my friend. You have challenged
+a boy, a mere child, to fight you to the death. He very pluckily
+accepts your challenge. There are those who would think that you had
+done a brutal, even a cowardly thing, in putting a youth of seventeen
+or eighteen into such a position. Then, surely your most lenient
+friends would say that the least you could do would be to give the
+child his right of choice in weapons. Very well; he chooses two bits
+of paper of different lengths."
+
+Paolo shuddered. "I will not consent," he said, swallowing hard, after
+a moment's reflection.
+
+"Very well. You have had my friend's ultimatum. Am I to tell him that
+this is yours?"
+
+"It is not fair!" he exclaimed. "Monsieur Laurence has his friend to
+act for him. As yet, I have no one."
+
+"He is eighteen at most. You are--perhaps thirty. Still, if you
+insist, I will see Captain de Sales, tell him my principal's idea, and
+perhaps he will be more fortunate in inducing you to consent----"
+
+"No, no," cried the Italian quickly. "I would not have him or anyone
+know of this monstrous proposal. I should never hear the end of it,
+and there would be a thousand versions of the story."
+
+I was not surprised at this decision on his part. Indeed, I had
+expected it with confidence.
+
+"You will not reconsider?" I asked nonchalantly.
+
+"Jamais de la vie!"
+
+"Then the duel is off."
+
+Paolo swore.
+
+I smiled; but he did not see the smile. I was careful that he should
+not.
+
+"I consider that you and your principal have taken an unfair
+advantage."
+
+"That is between you and me. If you care to raise the question----"
+
+"I have no quarrel with you."
+
+"Then you and Mr. Laurence must treat the misunderstanding of this
+evening as if it had not been. This will not be difficult, as he will
+go with me on an excursion to-morrow, now that his--er--engagement
+with you is off; and the day after, he and I think of leaving Aix
+altogether, by way of Mont Revard."
+
+This plan arranged itself spontaneously; but as the Boy had
+ungallantly called Gaetà "a little cat," and I was slightly _blasé_ of
+her dimples, I thought that I might count upon its being carried out.
+
+"What--he will go away?" exclaimed Paolo, all at once a different man.
+"He will leave Aix altogether, you say?"
+
+"Yes. You see, we are on our way south. Mr. Laurence merely wanted a
+glance at Aix _en route_, and the Contessa was kind enough to invite
+him to her house. It was really nice of her, as he is such a boy."
+
+"You think so? Yes--perhaps. Well, I consent on these terms to forget.
+You may tell your principal what I have said."
+
+"I will," I returned. "He will be guided by me, and forget also;
+though I assure you, like most of his countrymen, he is a
+fire-eater--a fire-eater."
+
+This time it was Paolo who volunteered to shake hands.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII
+
+There is No Such Girl
+
+    "She has forgotten my kisses, and I--have forgotten her
+    name."--A.C. SWINBURNE.
+
+
+I went early in the morning to the villa with the intention of culling
+the Boy like a wayside flower, and carrying him off to the lake. The
+hour was unearthly for a morning call, and the windows were still
+asleep, but I was spared the necessity of raising the echoes with an
+untimely peal of the bell. Under the red umbrella lounged the Boy,
+reading with the appearance, at least, of nonchalance. For all he
+could tell, I might have failed in my mission, and have come to
+announce the hour fixed for deadly combat; but he was not even pale.
+Indeed, I had never seen him rosier, or brighter-eyed.
+
+I sat down on the rustic seat beside him, and with a glance at the
+veiled windows of the villa, I remarked in a low voice, "It's all
+right."
+
+"That goes without saying."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"Because you promised."
+
+"Thanks for the compliment. Have you had your _café au lait_?"
+
+"No. I got up early, and thought of walking round to your hotel to see
+you, but decided I wouldn't."
+
+"I half expected you."
+
+"I didn't want to seem too--importunate. I hoped you'd come here."
+
+"Like a promising child, I've justified your hopes. Let's walk down to
+the Grand Port, to a garden restaurant I remember; and over our
+coffee, I'll tell you the story of my diplomatic _coup_. Meanwhile,
+we'll discuss Shakespeare and the musical glasses."
+
+"Anything but the Contessa," said the Boy, springing up, and cramming
+his panama over his curls. "I shall breathe more freely on the other
+side of the gate, and I shan't consider myself out of the scrape until
+I'm out of her house for good."
+
+In the street he drew fuller breaths, and with each yard of distance
+that we put between ourselves and the villa his eyes grew brighter and
+his step more airy.
+
+I unfolded my plan for the morning, which was to take a trip up the
+lake to the Abbey of Hautecombe, and return in time for _déjeuner_,
+since, as a guest of the Contessa, the Boy could scarcely absent
+himself all day without conspicuous rudeness. "You'll have to be tied
+to the lady's apron strings, if she wants you knotted there, for the
+afternoon," said I. "But I'm going to have a telegram from my friends
+to meet them on the top of Mont Revard to-morrow, so if you want an
+excuse----"
+
+"What, your friends the Winstons?" he broke in, with one of the sudden
+flaming blushes that made him seem so young.
+
+"Yes, why not?"
+
+"They are coming to join you?"
+
+"I told you they might turn up at any moment, and----"
+
+"And now the moment has arrived. Then it has also arrived for us to
+say good-bye."
+
+"Do you mean that?"
+
+"Oh, don't think me ungrateful--or ungracious. I'm neither. But, in
+any case, we must sooner or later have reached the parting of the
+ways. You are bound to Monte Carlo. I have--the vaguest plans."
+
+"I thought you said that your sister might be going there with
+friends."
+
+"But my sister and I are--very different persons."
+
+"Surely you would wish to meet her there?"
+
+"It's rather undecided at present, anyhow," returned the Boy, his eyes
+bent on the ground as we walked, our steps less sprightly now.
+"There's only one thing settled, which is, that I can't go with you up
+Mont Revard to meet--people."
+
+"There isn't the slightest chance of my meeting anyone there, friend
+Diogenes," I began. "I was only waiting for you to give me time to
+explain, since you're inclined to be obtuse, the difference between
+sending a telegram to yourself, and----"
+
+"Oh, I see. You aren't going to meet a soul on Mont Revard?"
+
+"Not even an astral body--by appointment. And the plan was made for
+your deliverance. Rather hard lines that you should kick at it."
+
+He looked up, laughing and merry once more. "I won't kick again. Man,
+you are--well, you're different from other men. Yes, from every other
+man I've ever met."
+
+"Am I to take that as praise?"
+
+He nodded, his big eyes sending blue rays into mine.
+
+"Thanks. Best man you ever met?"
+
+Another nod, and more colour in his cheeks.
+
+"Good enough to be introduced to your sister?"
+
+"Good enough--even for that."
+
+"What if I should fall in love with her?"
+
+The Boy straightened his shoulders, after a slight start of surprise,
+and seemed to pull himself together. For a moment he was silent, as we
+walked on under the close-growing plane trees which lined the long,
+straight road to the Grand Port. Then at last he said, "You wouldn't."
+
+"How can you tell that?"
+
+"Because--she isn't--your style."
+
+"You don't know my 'style' of girl."
+
+"Oh, yes, I do. Don't you remember a talk we had, the first day we
+were friends? We told each other a lot of things. I can see that girl;
+the girl who--who----"
+
+"Jilted me," I supplied. "Don't hesitate to call a spade a spade."
+
+"A lovely, angelic-looking creature, typically English; golden hair;
+skin like cream and roses."
+
+"The type has palled upon me," said I. "I know now that Molly
+Winston--my friend's wife--was right. I never really loved that girl.
+It was her popularity and my own vanity that I was in love with."
+
+"Are you sure?"
+
+"As sure as that I'm starving for my breakfast. If the young
+lady--she's married now, and I wish her all happiness--should appear
+before me at the end of this street, and sob out a confession of
+repentance for the past, it wouldn't in the least affect my appetite.
+I should tell her not to mind, and hurry on to join you at the
+corner."
+
+"You would have forgotten by that time that there was a Me."
+
+"I can't think of anyone or anything at the moment which would make
+me forget that," said I.
+
+"The Contessa?"
+
+"Not she, nor any other pretty doll."
+
+"An earthquake, then?"
+
+"Nor an earthquake: for I should probably occupy myself in trying to
+save your life. To tell the honest truth, Little Pal, you've become a
+confirmed habit with me, and I confess that the thought of finishing
+this tramp without you gave me a distinct shock, when you flung it at
+my head. If you were open to the idea of adoption, I think I should
+have to adopt you, you know: for, now that I've got used to seeing you
+about, it seems to me that, as certain advertisements say of the
+articles they recommend, no home would be complete without you. But
+there's your sister; she would object to annexation."
+
+The Boy was busily kicking fallen leaves as he walked. "You might ask
+her--if you should ever see each other."
+
+"Make her meet you at Monte Carlo, and introduce us there. I'll tell
+you what I'll do. I'll give a dinner at the Hôtel de Paris--the night
+after we arrive. It shall be in your hands, and of course your
+sister's, who ought to know your pal. You must try hard to get her to
+come. Is it a bargain?"
+
+"I can't answer for her."
+
+"But I only ask you to try your hardest. Come now, when I've told you
+about last night, you'll say I deserve a reward."
+
+"Yes, I'll try."
+
+"But, by Jove, I'd forgotten that your sister is an heiress," I went
+on. "I've vowed not to fall in love with a girl who has a lot of
+money."
+
+"I told you that you wouldn't fall in love with her."
+
+"Is she like you?"
+
+"A good many people think so. That's why I'm so sure she wouldn't be
+the sort of girl you'd care for--you, a man who admires the English
+rose type or--a Contessa."
+
+"The Contessa was your affair. For me, a woman of her type could never
+be dangerous. Whereas, a girl like your sister----"
+
+"Still harping on my sister!"
+
+"I often think of her as 'The Princess.' It's a pretty name. I fancy
+it suits her. Once or twice, since we've been chums, you have had
+letters, I know. I hope you've better news of her?"
+
+"She's cured in body and mind. It is--rather a queer coincidence,
+perhaps, for like you, she has found out, so she tells me--that she
+wasn't really in love with--the man. She was only in love with love."
+
+"I'm heartily glad. If she's as true and brave a little soul, as
+glorious a pal as you are, she will one day make some fellow the
+happiest man alive."
+
+The Boy did not answer. Perhaps he was overwhelmed with the indirect
+praise suddenly heaped upon him; perhaps he thought that I spoke too
+freely of the Princess his sister. I was not sure, myself, that I had
+not gone beyond good taste; but calling up the picture of a girl,
+resembling in character the Little Pal, had stirred me to sudden
+enthusiasm. Fancy a girl looking at one with such eyes! a girl capable
+of being such a companion. It would not bear thinking of. There could
+be no such girl.
+
+I was glad that, at this moment, we arrived at the Grand Port, and the
+garden restaurant, where my regrets for the light that never was on
+land or sea--or in a girl's eyes--were temporarily drowned in _café au
+lait_.
+
+The talk was no more of the unseen Princess, but of Paolo. At last I
+condescended to enter into a detailed account of the night's
+happenings, where the aëronaut was concerned, and the Boy threw up his
+chin, showing his little white teeth in a burst of laughter at my
+manoeuvre. "But that _isn't_ an American duel," he objected, still
+rippling with mirth. "You commit suicide, you know. The man who draws
+the short bit of paper agrees to go quietly off and kill himself
+decently somewhere, before the end of a stipulated time."
+
+"I'm aware of that, but I gambled on Paolo's ignorance of the custom,"
+said I. "I flattered myself that I'd totted up his character like a
+sum on a slate, and I acted on the estimate I formed. If I had kept
+entirely to facts, without giving the rein to my imagination, you
+might now be doomed to travel at this time next year to Buda-Pesth,
+and there drown yourself in the largest possible vat of beer. Had
+Paolo been unlucky in the matter of getting the short bit of paper, a
+little thing like that wouldn't have bothered him much. He would
+simply have gone off for a long trip in his newest air-ship, and
+conveniently forgotten such an obscure engagement. It was the thought
+of standing up defenceless, to be artistically potted at by you, that
+turned his heart to water."
+
+"I believe you're right, and anyway, you are very clever," said the
+Boy. "What does one do for a man who has saved one's life?"
+
+"If you were only a girl, now--a Princess in a fairy story--you would
+bestow upon me your hand," I replied gaily. "As it is--I can't at the
+moment think of a punishment to fit the crime."
+
+"Though I can't be a Princess, I might play the Prince, and give you a
+ring," he said, pulling at the queer seal ring he always wore.
+
+"But it wouldn't fit the crime--I mean the finger."
+
+"Mere mortals never argue when the fairy Prince makes them a present.
+Do take the ring. I should like you to have it to--remember me by."
+
+"To remember you by? But such chums as we have got to be don't give
+memory much pull; they arrange to see each other often."
+
+"Fairy Princes vanish sometimes, you know."
+
+"If I take your ring, will you appear if I rub it?"
+
+The Boy was smiling, but his eyes looked grave. "If when the Fairy
+Prince has vanished--that is, if he _should_--you want to see him
+really badly, try rubbing the ring. It might work. But you'll probably
+lose the ring before that--and the memory."
+
+I answered by hooking the ring, which was far too small for the least
+of my fingers, into the spring-loop which held my watch on its chain.
+
+"My watch and I are one," I said. "Only burglary or death can separate
+me from the ring now; and if I'm smashed next time Jack Winston lets
+me drive his motor car, there will probably be a romantic little
+paragraph in the papers--perhaps even a pathetic verse--about the ring
+on the dead man's watch-chain, which will give you every
+satisfaction."
+
+"The boat's whistling," said the Boy. "We'd better run, if we want to
+see the Abbey of Hautecombe before lunch."
+
+We did run, and caught the boat in that uncertain and exciting manner
+which brings into play a physical appurtenance unrecognised by
+science, _i.e._, the skin of the teeth. Under the awning which shaded
+the deck, we took the only two seats not occupied by an abnormally
+large German family,--abnormally large individually as well as
+collectively,--and settled ourselves for half an hour's enjoyment of a
+charming water-panorama.
+
+"What a heavenly place Aix is!" exclaimed the Boy fervently. "I'm so
+glad I came."
+
+"I thought yesterday that you were disappointed in the place."
+
+"Oh, yesterday was yesterday. To-day's to-day. How glorious everything
+is, in the world. I do love living. And I like everybody so much. What
+nice, good creatures one's fellow beings are. My heart warms to them.
+I don't believe anybody's really horrid, through and through. I should
+like to pat somebody on the shoulder."
+
+"Queer thing; I feel exactly the same way this morning," said I.
+"Shall we throw ourselves on one another's bosom, and kiss each other
+on both cheeks, German fashion, to show our good will towards all
+mankind? I'm sure our travelling companions would warmly sympathize
+with our _schwärmerei_."
+
+"No-o, perhaps we'd better not risk setting them the example, for fear
+they should follow it."
+
+"Then let's shake hands."
+
+He put out his little slim brown paw, and I seized it with such
+heartiness that he visibly winced, but not a squeak did the pain draw
+from him; and the large Germans, looking on gravely, no doubt thought
+that, according to some queer English rite, we had registered an
+important vow.
+
+Really the world was a nice place that day, though I might not have
+noticed it so much if the Boy and I had been still at loggerheads.
+
+Yesterday, as we entered Aix, I had said to myself that the mountains
+surrounding the town had descended to depths of dumpy ugliness
+unworthy the name and dignity of mountains. I had formulated the idea
+that there should be world landscape-gardeners appointed, to work on a
+grand scale, and alter hills or mountains which Nature had neglected
+or bungled. But to-day, as we steamed down the long, narrow Lac de
+Bourget, sitting shoulder to shoulder, the light breeze fluttering
+butterfly-wings against our faces, I could not see that there was
+anything for the most fastidious taste to alter, anywhere.
+
+As the lake at Annecy had been incredibly blue, this lake was
+incredibly green. No weekly penny paper in England, even in its
+fattest holiday number, would have room enough to compute the vast
+number of emeralds which must have been melted to give that vivid tint
+to the sparkling water. It was as easy to see the inhabitants of the
+lake having their luncheon at the bottom, on tables exquisitely
+decorated with coloured pebbles, as it is to look in through the
+plate-glass window of a restaurant. As our course changed, the
+mountains girdling the lake and filling in the perspective, grouped
+themselves in graceful attitudes, like professional beauties sitting
+for their photographs. There were châteaux dotted here and there on
+the hillside, and I no longer peopled them with myself and Helen
+Blantock. I realised that if one had a palace on the Lake of Como or
+Bourget, or any other romantic sheet of water, one could be happy as
+an elderly bachelor, if one's days were occasionally enlivened by
+visits from congenial friends, such as the Winstons and the Boy. No
+wonder that Lamartine was happy at Chatillon, writing his Meditations!
+I felt that a long residence on the shores of the Lac de Bourget would
+inspire me to some modest meditations of my own, and I could even have
+taken down a few memoranda for them, had I not feared that the Boy
+would laugh to see my notebook come out.
+
+I remembered Hautecombe, with its ancient Abbey, deep cream-coloured,
+like old ivory or the marbles of the Vatican, glimmering among dark
+trees, and mirrored in the lake so clearly that, gazing long at the
+reflection, one felt as if standing on one's head. I pointed it out to
+the Boy from a distance, on its jutting promontory, with the pride of
+the well-informed guide, and talked of the place with a superficial
+appearance of erudition. But after all, when he came to pin me down
+with questions, my bubble-reputation burst. Not a date could I pump up
+from the drained depths of my recollection, and in the end I had to
+accept ignominiously from the Boy such crumbs as he had collected from
+a guide-book larder. What was it to us, I contended, that the
+monastery was said to have been built in 1125? What did it matter that
+it had originally been the home of Cistercians? Why clog one's mind
+with such details, since it was enough for all purposes of romance to
+know that the old building had weathered many wars and many centuries,
+and that a special clause had protected the monks when Savoie was
+ceded by Italy to France? The great charm of the place for me, apart
+from its natural beauty, lay in the thought that it was the last home
+of dead kings, the vanished Princes of Savoie; I did not want to know
+the facts of its restoration at different dates, and would indeed
+shut my eyes upon all such traces if I could.
+
+Though the Abbey and its double in the lake had remained a picture in
+my mind, through the years since I had seen them, I was struck anew
+with the peaceful loveliness of the place as we approached the little
+landing-stage. The Kings of Savoie had chosen well in choosing to
+sleep their last sleep at Hautecombe.
+
+The Boy and I slowly ascended the deeply shadowed road which led up
+the hill to the Abbey, but leisurely as we walked, we soon outpaced
+the Germans. For this we were not sorry, since it gave us the silent
+grey church to ourselves--and the sleeping Kings. We bestowed money
+for his charities upon the white-robed monk who would have shown us
+the tombs and the chapels, conscientiously gabbling history the while;
+and then, with compliments, we freed him from the duty. His hard facts
+would have been like dogs yapping at our heels, and, as the Boy said,
+we would not have been able to hear ourselves think.
+
+We whispered as if fearing to wake the sleepers, as we wandered from
+one bed of marble in its dim niche, to another. Never, perhaps, did so
+many crowned heads lie under the same roof as at peaceful Hautecombe,
+sleeping longer, more soundly far, than the Princess in her enchanted
+Palace in the Wood. For centuries the convent bells have rung, calling
+the monks to prayer; and sometimes the walls have trembled with the
+thunder of cannon: yet the sleepers have not stirred. There they have
+lain, those stately, royal figures, with hands folded placidly on
+placid bosoms, resting well after stress and storm.
+
+It was difficult to keep in mind that the real kings and queens had
+mouldered into dust under the stone where reposed their counterfeit
+presentments. Again and again we had to send away the impression that
+we were looking at the actual bodies, transformed by the slow process
+of centuries into marble, together with their guardian lions, their
+favourite hounds, and their curly lambs.
+
+The endless slumber of these royal men and women of Savoie seemed
+magical, mysterious. We felt that, if we but had the secret of the
+talisman, we could wake them; that they would slowly rise on elbow,
+and gaze at us, stony-eyed, and reproachful for shattering their
+dreams.
+
+The murmurous silence of the church whispered broken snatches of their
+life stories--not that part which we could read in history, or see
+graven in Latin on their tombs, but that part of which they might
+choose to dream. Had those knightly men in carven armour loved the
+marble ladies lying in stately right of possession by their sides, or
+had their fancy wandered to others whose dust lay now in some far,
+obscure corner of earth?
+
+If my homage could have compensated in any small degree for kingly
+unfaith, a drop of balm would have fallen upon the marble heart of
+each royal lady to whom such injustice had perchance been done; for I
+loved them all for their noble dignity, and the sweet femininity which
+remained to them even under the mask of stone. Their names alone
+warmed the blood with the wine of romance: the Princess Yolande; the
+Duchess Beatrix; the Lady Melusine. Surely, with such names and such
+profiles, they had been worth a man's living or dying for; and if life
+had not been so vivid for me that day, I should have wished myself
+back in the far past, in heavy, uncomfortable armour, fighting their
+battles.
+
+"'Where are all the dear, dead women?'" asked the Boy. "'What's become
+of all the gold that used to hang, and brush their shoulders?' Maybe
+part of the answer to Browning's question lies in those tombs."
+
+"They were Princesses, like your sister," said I. "I've been fancying
+them with her eyes."
+
+"What do you know about her eyes?" he asked quickly.
+
+"I imagine them like yours."
+
+"Let's get out into the sunshine again," said the Boy. "I'm afraid
+it's time to leave the Princesses, and go back to the Contessa."
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV
+
+The Revenge of the Mountain
+
+    "Contending with the fretful elements."
+                             --SHAKESPEARE.
+
+
+It is the early bird which gathers the worm, if the worm has
+thoughtlessly got up early too; but it is also the bird which comes
+flying from afar off, whatever his engagements elsewhere may be; the
+bird which, having come, remains on the spot favoured by the worm,
+singing sweet songs to charm it into a mood ripe for the gathering.
+
+Such a bird was Paolo, and such--but perhaps it would be more gallant
+not to carry the simile further, since even poetry could scarcely
+license it.
+
+It is enough to say, in proof of the proverb, that when the Boy and I
+arrived at the villa in time for _déjeuner_, to which I had been
+invited over night, we found Paolo with Gaetà, under the red umbrella,
+unencumbered by any irrelevant Barons or Baronesses.
+
+Gaetà was looking pale and a little frightened. Her dimples were in
+abeyance, as if waiting to learn whether something had happened to
+twinkle about, or something which would more likely extinguish them
+forever. But the aëronaut might have invented an air-ship to take the
+place of ordinary Channel traffic, so great with pride was he. He
+appeared to have grown several inches in height, and to have
+increased considerably in chest measurement, as he sprang from his
+chair to welcome us, as if we had been long-lost brothers.
+
+"Congratulate me," said he. "The Contessa has just consented to be my
+wife."
+
+Gaetà clutched the arm of her rustic seat with a tiny hand upon which
+a new ring glittered, like a new star in the firmament. Her warm dark
+eyes, eager, expectant, deliciously fearful, were on the Boy. If the
+discarded favourite of yesterday had leaped to the throat of the
+accepted lover of to-day (her "Whirlwind"), she would have screamed a
+silvery little scream and implored him for _her_ sake to accept the
+inevitable calmly; she would have given him a reproachful flash of the
+eyes, to say, "Why didn't _you_ take me, instead of letting him carry
+me away? What could I do, when you left me alone, at his mercy--I so
+frail, he so big and strong?" Her glance would then have telegraphed
+to Paolo, "You have won me and my love; you can afford to spare a
+defeated rival who is desperate"; and perhaps she might even have
+thrown me a crumb for auld flirtation's sake.
+
+But the Boy did not, apparently, feel the least magnetic attraction
+towards Paolo's throat, or any other vulnerable part of the aëronaut's
+person. Nor did he stamp on the ground, crying upon earth to open and
+swallow the master of the air. I, too, kept an unmoved front; but
+then, being English, that might have been pardoned to my national
+_sang-froid_. There was, however, no such excuse for the mercurial
+young American, and flat disappointment struck out the spark in
+Gaetà's eye. The second act of her little drama seemed doomed to
+failure.
+
+"_Mille congratulations_," said the Boy cordially, I basely echoing
+him. We shook hands with Gaetà; we shook hands with Paolo, and
+something was said about weddings and wedding-cake. Then the Baron and
+Baronessa appeared so opportunely as to give rise to the base
+suspicion that they had been eavesdropping. More polite things were
+mumbled, and we went to luncheon, Gaetà on Paolo's arm, with a
+disappointed droop of her pretty shoulders. We drank to the health and
+happiness of the newly affianced pair, a habit which seemed to be
+growing upon me of late, and might lead me down the fatal grade of
+bachelordom. The Boy and I were unable to conceal, as we ought to have
+done out of politeness, the fact that our appetites had sustained the
+shock of our lady's engagement, and I saw in her eyes that she could
+never wholly forgive us, no, not even if we made love to her after
+marriage.
+
+"Shall you take your wedding trip in a balloon?" asked the Boy
+demurely; and this was the last straw. Gaetà did not make the faintest
+protest when, soon after, it was announced that he and I thought of
+leaving Aix on the morrow. I am not sure that she even heard my vague
+apologies concerning a telegram from friends.
+
+We all went to the opera at one of the Casinos that night. It was
+"Rigoletto," and Gaetà and Paolo sat side by side, looking into each
+other's eyes during the love scene in the first act. But the Boy was
+adamant, and I did not turn a hair. He and I were much occupied in
+wondering at the strange infatuation of the stage hero, but especially
+the villain--quite a superior villain--for the heroine, who looked
+like an elderly papoose: therefore we had no time to be jealous of
+anything that went on under our noses. The party supped with me, _en
+masse_, at my hotel; and afterwards I said good-bye to Gaetà.
+
+She did not know that I had planned my journey with a thought of
+seeing her at the end, and drowning my sorrows in flirtation; but the
+Boy knew, and had not forgotten--the little wretch. I saw his thought
+twinkling in his eyes, as I said debonairly that we might all meet on
+the Riviera. If I had not sternly removed my gaze, I should probably
+have burst out laughing, and precipitated a second duel in which I,
+and not the Boy, would have been a principal.
+
+When I had been in Aix-les-Bains before, I had made the excursion to
+Mont Revard, as all the world makes it, by the funicular railway; and
+after half an hour in the little train, I had arrived at the top for
+lunch and the view, both being enjoyed in a conventional manner. Now,
+all was to be changed. The Boy and I did not regard ourselves as
+tourists, but as pilgrims.
+
+Among other things that self-respecting pilgrims cannot do, is to
+ascend a mountain by means of a funicular railway; better stay at the
+bottom, and look up with reverence. Therefore, instead of strolling
+out to the little station about twelve o'clock, with the view of
+reaching the restaurant on the plateau in time for _déjeuner_, we met
+on the balcony of the Bristol at seven in the morning. There we
+fortified ourselves for a long walk, with eggs and _café au lait_,
+while Innocentina and Joseph grouped the animals at the foot of the
+steps.
+
+The day was divinely young, and most divinely fair, when we set forth.
+Only the soft fall of an occasional leaf, weary of keeping up
+appearances on no visible means of support, told that autumn had
+come. The weather put me in mind of a beautiful woman of forty, who
+can still cheat the world into believing that she is in the full
+summer of her prime, and is making the most of the few good years left
+before the crash.
+
+As we struck up the steep hill that leads out of Aix-les-Bains and
+civilisation, passing with all our little procession into the oak
+copses which fringe the lower slopes of Mont Revard, the Boy and I
+agreed that nothing became the town so well as the leaving it behind.
+At last little Aix unveiled her face to us, as we looked down upon it
+from airy altitudes. We had space to see how pretty she was, how
+charmingly she was dressed, and how gracefully she sat in her
+mountain-backed chair, with her dainty white feet in the lake, which,
+as Joseph said, we could now follow with our eyes _dans toute son
+étendue_. A beautiful _étendue_ it was, the water keeping its
+extraordinary brilliance of colour, even in the far distance; vivid in
+changing blue-greens, flecked with gold, like the spread tail of a
+peacock burnished by the sun.
+
+Mont Revard is chiselled on the same pattern as all the other
+mountains, big and little, of this part of Savoie; first, the long,
+steep slope decently covered with a belt of wood, oak below, and pine
+above; then a grey, precipitous wall, scarred and furrowed by the
+frost and storm of a million years or more. This block-and-socket
+arrangement of Nature is, generally speaking, one of the least
+interesting of mountain forms, and its crudity was the more noticeable
+as we were fresh from the soaring pinnacles and stupendous pyramids of
+Switzerland. But Mont Revard is the perfection of its type; and as we
+plodded in single file up the threadlike path wound round the
+mountain (Joseph and Innocentina in front, driving the animals), my
+respect for Revard increased with each steeply ascending step.
+
+Aromatic-scented branches brushed our faces, and we had to part them
+before we could pass on. Then they flew back into their accustomed
+places, resenting our intrusion by shaking over us a shower of
+fragrant dew. The path, which was always narrow, had fallen away a
+little here and there, for it is no one's business to repair it now,
+since the making of the railway has turned pilgrims into tourists.
+There was just room for man or beast to walk without danger, but so
+sheer were the descents below us, so great the drop, that a woman
+might have been pardoned a few tremors. "It's a good thing you're not
+a girl," said I to the Little Pal, across my shoulder, holding back a
+particularly obstinate branch which would have liked to push us over
+the precipice, with its lean black arm. "You would be screaming, and I
+shouldn't know what to do for you."
+
+"Not if I were an American girl," he replied, bristling with
+patriotism.
+
+"Is your sister plucky?"
+
+"As plucky as I am; but perhaps that's not saying much. So you're glad
+I'm not a girl?"
+
+"I wouldn't metamorphose you, and lose my comrade. Still, if your
+sister were like you, and not an heiress, I should----"
+
+"You would--what?"
+
+"Like to meet her. But she would probably detest me, and wonder how
+her brother could have endured my society for weeks on end."
+
+I was looking back, as I spoke, at the Boy, who was close behind, when
+suddenly his smile seemed to freeze, and springing forward he caught
+me by the coat sleeve.
+
+"What's the matter?" I asked, for he was pale under the brown tan.
+
+For an instant he did not answer. Then, with his lips trembling
+slightly, he smiled again. "I thought you were going to be killed,
+that's all," said he, "so I stopped you. You were looking back at me,
+but I saw that--that you were just going to tread on a stone which
+Fanny had loosened with her hoof as she passed. If you had stepped
+there, before you could regain your balance, you--but there's no use
+talking of it. Only do look where you're walking, won't you, when
+we're on a path like this? Now we can go on."
+
+"Why, you little duffer, you're as white as a ghost!" I exclaimed. "If
+the stone had slipped I should have jumped back. The path isn't really
+so narrow. It only gives that effect because it's steep, and hangs
+over the edge of a precipice. Still, many thanks for your solicitude."
+
+"I believe, after all, I'll have to rest for a minute," the Boy said
+apologetically. "I feel--a little queer. You needn't wait. I'm sorry
+you should see me like this. You'll think that there's nothing to
+choose between me and a girl. But I'm not always a coward."
+
+"I know that well enough," I assured him. "You're not a coward now.
+But come on. You shall rest when the path widens, where the others are
+stopping."
+
+I caught his hand to pull him along, since we could not walk abreast,
+and it was icy cold. Yet it was not for himself that he had feared,
+and my heart was very warm for the Little Pal, as I steered him
+carefully past the loose, flat stone on the edge of the narrow path.
+
+Joseph and Innocentina, who had been driving Finois and Souris,
+allowing Fanny to follow at will, had called a halt with the three
+animals, in a green dell where the way widened. The muleteer had a
+handful of exquisite pink cyclamen, fragrant as violets, which he had
+been gathering from hidden nooks among the rocks, and he was in the
+act of presenting the flowers to Innocentina when we arrived, but she
+waved them aside, exclaiming at her young master's pale face.
+
+The Boy explained that there might have been an accident, owing to
+Fanny, and the donkey girl broke into violent abuse of the brown
+velvet creature who was her favourite.
+
+"Daughter of a thrice-accursed mother, and of a despicable race!" she
+cried in her odd patois, which it was often better not to understand
+too well. "Blighted and bloodthirsty beast! But look at her now,
+eating with an enormous appetite a branch as big as herself. Anaconda!
+She would eat if the world burned. If she had, with a stroke of her
+twenty times condemned hoof, hurled us all to death on the rocks
+below, she would still eat, not even looking over the cliff to see
+what had become of us."
+
+"But you should not talk so," broke in Joseph, lover of animals. "It
+was not the fault of the little _âne_ that the stone was loosened. How
+could she know? It is you who are hard of heart, to turn upon her
+thus. It is because you are Catholic, and believe that the beasts have
+no souls."
+
+"It is better to have none than to be a heretic, and the soul burn,"
+retorted Innocentina. "I am not hard-hearted. I love my young
+Monsieur, and would not see him injured, that is all; while you care
+for nothing in the world so much as your old Finois. Ah, I would I had
+the _insouciance_ of the _ânes_. It is after all that which keeps them
+young."
+
+At this we laughed, which annoyed Innocentina so much that she at once
+fed to the maligned Fanny a bunch of charming yellow-pink mushrooms
+which my prophetic soul told me had been originally intended for her
+master's lunch.
+
+Fortunately for us, Joseph--sadly wearing in his buttonhole the
+despised cyclamen--discovered a few more of these agreeable little
+vegetables, which he tested for our benefit by drawing his sturdy
+thumbnail along the stem, showing how the fluted undersurface flushed
+red at the touch, while the blood flowed carmine from the wound he
+made.
+
+A short rest brought the colour back to the Boy's lips, but we did not
+go on again until we had eaten some of the chicken sandwiches which
+had been put up for me at the hotel. Climbing had made us hungry,
+although we had not been three hours on the way. And we had left the
+summer behind, on lower levels; we did not need to remind ourselves
+now that it was autumn. By noon we were _en route_ again, but the
+brilliance of the day had gone. As we looked back at the world we were
+leaving, serrated mountains were dark against flying silver clouds,
+and when we neared the Col, a fierce north wind, which had been lying
+in wait for us above, swooped down like a great bird of prey. We had
+heard it shrieking from afar, but now we had penetrated into its very
+eyrie; and as we crept, like flies upon a wall, along the tiny path
+which merely roughened the sheer rock precipice, the wind caught and
+clawed us with savage glee.
+
+For a wonder, the much-travelled Joseph had never before made the
+ascent of Mont Revard, therefore a certain pioneer instinct on which I
+pride myself, and yesterday's research in the admirable map of the
+Ministry of the Interior, alone gave us guidance. I did not see how we
+could have come wrong, yet each moment it appeared that our neglected
+path had reached its end, like an unwound tape-measure. Could it be
+possible that this broken, ill-mended thread was the clue which would
+eventually lead us to the Col de Pertuiset, and the châlet-hotel far
+away upon the summit of the mountain?
+
+The Boy and I were ahead now, I sheltering him slightly from the cold
+blast with my body, as I walked before him. Presently the way turned
+abruptly, to zig-zag up a gap in the rock face, and I shouted a
+warning to Joseph to look after Innocentina and the animals, so steep
+and ruinous was the path. But I need not have been alarmed. A backward
+glance showed me that Joseph had anticipated my instructions, so far
+as Innocentina was concerned.
+
+Not a word of complaint came from the Boy; indeed, it would have been
+difficult for him to utter it, even if he would, with the wind rudely
+pressing its seal upon his lips. But I held out a hand to him, and
+though he rebelled at first, an instant's silent tussle made me master
+of his, so that I could pull him up with little effort on his part.
+
+In the deep gullies and hollows of this chasm below the Col, the wind
+had us at its mercy, and forced our breath down our throats. We were
+in deep shadow, though the sun should have been not far past the
+zenith, and looking up to learn the reason, we saw that a huge bank of
+woolly mist hung grey and heavy between us and the sky. Below--far,
+far below--we had a glimpse of the world we had left still bathed in
+September sunshine, warm and beautiful, with cloud-shadows flying over
+low grass mountains and distant lakes. Then we seemed to knock our
+heads against a dull grey ceiling, which noiselessly crumbled round
+us, and we were in the mist.
+
+No longer was it a ceiling, but a sea in which we swam; a sea so cold
+that a shiver crept through our bones into our marrow. We had escaped
+the clutches of the wind, to drown in fog, and in five minutes I had
+beside me a small, ghostly form with frosted hair, and a white rime on
+his jacket. The Boy was like a figure on a great iced cake, for the
+ground was whitened too.
+
+Luckily, the ascent was over, and we were on grassy, undulating land
+where stunted trees stood here and there like pointing wraiths in the
+misty gloom. Dimly I could see, now and then, a daub of paint, red as
+a splash of blood, on a dark boulder, to guide travellers towards the
+summit hotel. Had it not been for these, it would have been impossible
+to find the way, or keep it if found.
+
+We could walk side by side here, and looking down at the Boy, I could
+see that he was shivering.
+
+"Can it be that a few hours ago the mere exertion of walking made us
+so hot that we had to mop our foreheads, and fan ourselves with our
+hats?" I asked.
+
+"Let's talk about it," said the Boy. "It may warm us, just to
+remember."
+
+"Are you very cold?"
+
+"Not so ve-r-y."
+
+"Your teeth are chattering in your head. Stop, we'll have our
+overcoats out of the packs."
+
+"I don't want mine."
+
+"Nonsense; you must have it."
+
+"To tell the truth, I haven't got it with me. I gave it to the
+upstairs waiter at Chamounix. He told me a lot about himself, and he
+was in trouble, poor fellow; he'd been discharged for some fault or
+other, and was so poor that he was going to walk home, in the farthest
+part of Switzerland. You see, I thought as I was on the way south, I
+wouldn't need an overcoat. I'd hardly ever wanted it so far, and the
+waiter was a small, slim chap, not much bigger than I am. Anyhow, we
+shall soon be at the hotel now, and we can walk fast."
+
+He looked so white and spirit-like in the mist, with his big bright
+eyes made brighter by the tired shadows underneath, that I would not
+discourage him with the truth. If I had said that I feared we were
+lost in the mist, and perhaps might not reach the hotel for hours, he
+would have realised all his weariness and suffering. I made him wait,
+however, and when the ghostly procession of man, woman, and beasts had
+trailed up to us, I ordered a stop for Finois to be unloaded, that my
+overcoat might be unearthed.
+
+In place of the workmanlike pack which the mule might have borne, had
+I not insisted on fulfilling a rash vow, my luggage was contained in
+twin brown hold-alls bought at Martigny, and covered with a waterproof
+cloth which was the property of Joseph.
+
+Both these abominable rolls had to be taken off Finois' back and laid
+upon the whitened grass, as I had forgotten in which one was stuffed
+the coat that I had not worn for many days. Now at this bitter
+moment, could my valet but have known it, he had his full revenge. I
+longed for him as a thirsty traveller in the desert longs for a spring
+of water. Yet I knew, deep down in my desolate heart, that Locker
+would not have been able to cope with this crisis. In cities, he was
+more efficient than most of his kind, but the Unusual was a bugbear to
+him; and, lost in a freezing mountain mist, he would have lain down to
+die with my horrible hold-alls still strapped and bulging. It is a
+strange thing that most servants would consider themselves deeply
+injured if asked to bear half the hardships which their masters
+cheerfully undergo for the sheer fun of the thing.
+
+Joseph came to my rescue, but, with all the good will in the world, he
+complicated matters. Finois, Fanny, and Souris pressed nearer, hoping
+for something to eat, and the two donkeys, discouraged and
+disheartened by the unexpected cold, were piteous, shivering objects,
+with their velvet hair bristling on end, their little legs knocking
+together. Even their faces seemed to have shrunk, and Fanny was all
+eyes and grey spectacles.
+
+I opened the hateful object which, by its tuberculous knobs, I
+recognised as the one least often unpacked. It was there that I
+expected to find the coat, wrapped democratically round goodness knew
+how many spare boots, stockings, collars, and other small articles
+which Locker would never have allowed to come within speaking distance
+of each other. But, with the total depravity of inanimate things, the
+coat had escaped from the hold-all. In my certainty that I must come
+upon it sooner or later--at the bottom of everything, of course--I
+scattered the other contents recklessly about; and when at last I gave
+up the search in despair, the white ground was strewn with the most
+intimate accessories of my toilet. Seized with a Berserker rage, I
+tore open the second hold-all, and before the Boy could utter a cry of
+protest, more collars, handkerchiefs, brushes, and little horrors of
+every description peppered the earth. There were as many things there
+as the inestimable mother of the Swiss Family Robinson contrived to
+stow in her wonderful bag during the five minutes before the
+shipwreck--things which fulfilled all the wants of the young Robinsons
+for the period of seventeen years. But, naturally, the one thing I
+needed was missing; and now that it was too late, I vaguely recalled
+seeing that overcoat hanging limply on a peg in the wardrobe of some
+hotel whose very name I had now forgotten.
+
+If I had been a woman, I should inevitably have burst into tears, and
+somebody would have comforted me, and everything would immediately
+have been all right. As it was, I used several of Innocentina's most
+lurid phrases, under my breath, and announced my intention of
+abandoning my luggage on the mountain-side, rather than attempt the
+impossible task of feeding it again to the monsters which had
+disgorged it.
+
+"Poor Man!" exclaimed the Boy. "Why didn't you confide to me before,
+that you were physically and mentally incapable of packing? I've often
+noticed that your hold-alls looked like overfed boa constrictors, but
+I didn't dream things were as bad as this. You had better let
+Innocentina and me do the work for you. We're what you call 'nailers'
+at it, I assure you."
+
+I made a snatch at a dressing-gown, which I rescued from the
+conglomerate heap before he could push me away. Then, with the
+garment hung over my arm, I stood by helplessly with Joseph, while
+Innocentina and the Boy, with incredible swiftness and skill, set
+about the business from which I had been dismissed. Somewhat after
+this fashion must the work of Creation have been done, when there was
+only Chaos to begin upon.
+
+In five minutes all my scattered horrors had been sorted neatly,
+according to their species, like the animals forming in procession for
+the ark; collars after their kind; boots after their kind; and so on,
+down to the humble shoestring and mean shirt-stud. Never had those
+loathsome inventions of an evil mind, my hold-alls, so closely
+resembled self-respecting members of the luggage fraternity as they
+did when the Boy and Innocentina had finished with them.
+
+With a sigh of relief the Little Pal jumped up from his grim task,
+leaving Joseph to fasten the straps; and as he got to his feet, his
+small hands purple with cold, I wrapped the dressing-gown round his
+shoulders. Then, seeing his slight figure engulfed in it, like a very
+small pea in a very big pod, I burst out laughing.
+
+"Is _that_ what you wanted?" cried the Boy. "I won't have it. I won't!
+I'd rather freeze than be a guy. Put it on yourself."
+
+"I don't need it. It was for you. Don't be ungrateful, after all my
+trouble."
+
+"All _my_ trouble, you mean. Take off the horrid thing. I won't wear
+it. Let me alone."
+
+Unmoved by his complaints, I still held him prisoner, using the
+dressing-gown as a strait-jacket, while he fought in my grasp. A
+sudden suppressed giggle from Innocentina at this juncture seemed to
+drive him to frenzy.
+
+"If you don't let me go, I'll--I'll box your ears!" he stammered.
+
+"Try it," I advised sternly.
+
+He could not move his arms, so closely I held him, but his eyes were
+blazing.
+
+"You'll be sorry for this some day," he panted.
+
+"Will you keep on the dressing-gown, if I let you go?".
+
+"No."
+
+"Then will you wear my coat?"
+
+"What! And have you in your shirt-sleeves? Rather not. Let me----"
+
+"I'll give you the coat and wear the dressing-gown myself. _I'm_ not
+as vain as a girl."
+
+Whether the thought of what my appearance would be in the gown, or the
+taunt I flung at him, moved the Boy, I cannot say, but suddenly his
+struggles ceased.
+
+"I'll wear anything you like," said he with a sudden accession of
+meekness, so unexpected that I was alarmed for his health, and gazed
+at him closely to see if he were on the verge of a collapse. Instead
+of looking ill, however, he was no longer pinched and pallid, but
+radiant with colour. Rage had produced a beneficial effect upon his
+circulation.
+
+On his promise, I released him, nor did I insist when he waved me
+aside, and hurriedly girded up the dressing-gown himself. The garment
+reached almost to his feet, and the quaintness of the little figure
+shrouded in its dark folds and hatted with Panama straw, in the midst
+of a mountain snow-cloud, was a sight to make Fanny laugh; but I kept
+a grave face, and so did Joseph and Innocentina, though the
+donkey-girl's eyes were bright.
+
+We marched on again when Finois had been reloaded, the party keeping
+well together, lest we should lose each other in this mist which was
+snow, this snow which was mist. The Boy and I walked ahead at first; I
+silent lest I should laugh, he silent--probably--lest he should cry.
+The woolly cloud wrapped its folds round us thicker and closer, so
+that objects a dozen feet away were blotted out of sight, and for all
+practical purposes ceased to exist. The silvery rime, freezing as it
+fell, covered stones and boulders so that it was no longer possible to
+see the red splashes which marked the way. Soon, we were hopelessly
+lost, plunging down into grassy hollows, where our feet slipped
+between rough stones into muddy ruts concealed under a treacherous
+film of white, or plodding up to the top of knolls which proved to
+have no connection with anything else, when we had toilsomely attained
+them.
+
+By-and-bye I knew how a man feels in a treadmill, and I was anxious
+for the Boy's sake, seeing the queer little figure in the panama and
+dressing-gown gradually droop, despite the brave spirit with which it
+was animated. Losing confidence in my boasted ability as a pioneer, I
+called Joseph to the rescue, and bade him take the lead.
+
+Having intruded upon him suddenly, behind the screen of snow-cloud, I
+found him engaged in the Samaritan act--no doubt carried out on purely
+humanitarian principles--of warming one of Innocentina's hands in his.
+I simulated blindness with such histrionic skill that honest Joseph
+was deceived thereby; but not so Innocentina. She tossed her head, and
+folded her arms in her cape as if it had been the toga of a Roman
+senator unjustly accused of treason. She had been, so she assured me,
+at that instant on the point of coming forward to entreat her young
+monsieur to mount Fanny, since he must be deadly tired; but the Boy,
+joining us at the moment, denied excessive fatigue and said that he
+would freeze if he rode. Besides, he added, it would be cruel to
+burden Fanny, in her present state of depression. The most likely
+thing was that we should have to carry her; and if she continued to
+shrink at her present rate per minute, soon we could slip her into one
+of our pockets.
+
+Joseph, promoted to the post of honour, forged ahead; and either Fanny
+and Souris insisted upon following Finois, or else Innocentina felt
+called upon to continue the process of conversion even in adverse
+circumstances; at all events, the Boy and I almost immediately found
+ourselves in the background, all that we could see of our companions
+being a tassel-like grey tail quivering above a moving blur of little
+legs, scarcely thicker than toothpicks.
+
+The Boy, who was still sulking in the dressing-gown, suddenly broke by
+a spasmodic chuckle the silence which had blended chillingly with the
+weather.
+
+"What's up?" I enquired, thawing joyously in the brief gleam of moral
+sunshine.
+
+"I was only thinking that if Innocentina wants to convert Joseph from
+heresy she'd better not lecture him to-day about eternal fire. The
+idea is too inviting. I never envied anyone so much as my namesake,
+St. Laurence, on his gridiron. It would be a luxury to grill."
+
+"Perhaps the gridiron was to him what my dressing-gown is to you,"
+said I.
+
+"I'm getting resigned to it. That's the reason I'm talking to you. I
+hated you for five minutes; but--you never like people so much as
+when you've just finished hating them."
+
+"Which means that I'm forgiven?"
+
+"That, and something more."
+
+"Good imp! The thermometer is rising. But I feel a beast to have got
+you into this scrape. If it hadn't been for me, you wouldn't have
+known that a mule-path existed on Mont Revard."
+
+"I'm not sorry we came. This will be something to remember always.
+It's a real adventure. Afterwards we shall get the point of view."
+
+"I wish we could get one now," said I. "But the prospect isn't
+cheerful. Molly Winston's prophecy is being fulfilled. She was certain
+that sooner or later I should be lost on a mountain; and her sketch of
+me, curled up in sleeping-sack and tent, toasting my toes before a
+fire of twigs, and eating tinned soup, steaming hot, made me long to
+lose myself immediately. But, alas! a peasant child near Piedimulera
+is basking at this moment in my woolly sack, and battening on my
+Instantaneous Breakfasts."
+
+"Don't think of them," said the Boy. "That way madness lies. A chapter
+in my book shall be called, 'How to be Happy though Freezing.'"
+
+"What would be your definition of the state, precisely?"
+
+"Being with Somebody you--like."
+
+My temperature bounded up several degrees, thanks to these amends, but
+our sole comfort was in each other, since Joseph had no hope to give.
+At this moment he parted the mist-curtain to remark that he could find
+no traces of a path or landmark of any kind.
+
+Hours dragged on, and we were still wandering aimlessly, as one
+wanders in a troubled dream. We were chilled to the bone, and as it
+was by this time late in the afternoon, I began to fear that we should
+have to spend the night on the mountain-side. Revard was wreaking
+vengeance upon us for taking his name in vain. We had made naught of
+him as a mountain; now he was showing us that, were he sixteen
+thousand feet high instead of four, he could scarcely put us to more
+serious inconvenience.
+
+I was growing gravely anxious about the Boy, though the bitter cold
+and great fatigue had not quenched his spirit, when the smell of
+cattle and the muffled sound of human voices put life into the chill,
+dead body of the mist. A house loomed before us, and I sprang to the
+comforting conclusion that we had stumbled upon one of the outlying
+offices of the hotel, but an instant showed me my mistake. The low
+building was a rough stone châlet with two or three cowherds outside
+the door, and these men stared in surprise and curiosity at our
+ghostly party.
+
+"Are we far from the hotel?" I asked in French, but no gleam of
+understanding lightened their faces; and it was not until Joseph had
+addressed them in the most extraordinary patois I had ever heard, that
+they showed signs of intelligence. "Hoo-a-long, hoo-a-long, walla-ha?"
+he remarked, or words to that effect.
+
+"Squall-a-doo, soo-a-lone, bolla-hang," returned one of the men,
+suddenly wound up to gesticulate with violence.
+
+"He says that the hotel is about half an hour's walk from here,"
+Joseph explained to me, looking wistful. And my own feelings gave me
+the clue to that look's significance.
+
+"Thank goodness!" I exclaimed heartily. "But it would be tempting
+Providence to pass this house, which is at least a human habitation,
+without resting and warming the blood in our veins. Perhaps we can get
+something to eat for ourselves and the donkeys--to say nothing of
+something to drink."
+
+Another exchange of words like brickbats afforded us the information,
+when translated, that we could obtain black bread, cheese, and brandy;
+also that we were welcome to sit before the fire.
+
+I pushed the Boy in ahead of me, but he fell back. The stench which
+struck us in the face as the door opened was like an evil-smelling
+pillow, thrown with good aim by an unseen hand. Mankind, dog-kind,
+cow-kind, chicken-kind, and cheese-kind, together with many
+ingredients unknown to science, combined in the making of this
+composite odour, and its strength sent the Boy reeling into my arms.
+
+"No, I can't stand it," he gasped. "I shall faint. Better freeze than
+suffocate."
+
+But I forced him in; and in five minutes, to our own self-loathing, we
+had become almost inured to the smell. Eat we could not, but we drank
+probably the worst brandy in all Europe or Asia, and slowly our blood
+began once more to take its normal course. A spurious animation soon
+enabled the Boy to start on again; one of the cowherds pointed out the
+path, and for a time all went well with our little band, even Fanny
+and Souris having revived on black crusts of mediæval bread. But the
+half-hour in which we had been told we might cover the distance
+between châlet and hotel lengthened into an hour. The mist grew
+greyer, and thicker, and darker, misleading us almost as cleverly as
+its sophisticated English cousin, a London fog. Again and again we
+lost our way. Owing to the fatigue of the Boy and Innocentina, and the
+utter dejection of the unfortunate little donkeys, we could not walk
+fast enough to keep our blood warm, and my tweeds, in which I was
+buttoned to the chin, seemed to afford no more protection than
+newspaper.
+
+When I remarked this to the Boy he replied with a faint chuckle that
+he felt like a newspaper himself--"a newspaper," he repeated,
+shivering, "with the smallest circulation in the world. And if it
+weren't for your dressing-gown there wouldn't be any circulation left
+at all."
+
+The day, which had begun in summer and ended in winter, was darkening
+to night when Joseph, who was in advance, cried out that he had
+flattened his nose against something solid, which was probably the
+wall of the hotel. No blur of yellow light penetrated the gloom, but a
+few minutes of anxious groping brought us to a door--rather an
+elaborate, pretentious door, which instantly dispelled all fear that
+we had come upon another châlet, or perchance a barn.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV
+
+The Americans
+
+    "Is the gentleman anonymous? Is he a great unknown?"
+                                          --SHAKESPEARE.
+
+
+While Joseph and Innocentina remained outside with the animals, the
+Boy and I entered a long, dark corridor, dimly lighted at the far end.
+Half-way down we came upon a porter, whose look of surprise would have
+told us (if we had not learned through bitter experience already) that
+Mont Revard's season was over. He guided us to the door of a large
+salon, which he threw open with an air of wishing to justify the
+hotel; and despite the load of weariness under which the Boy was
+almost fainting, he whipped the dressing-gown off in a flash, shook
+the snow from his panama, squaring his little shoulders, and
+re-entered civilisation with a jauntiness which denied exhaustion and
+did credit to his pride. Nevertheless, he availed himself of the first
+easy-chair, and dropped into it as a ripe apple drops from its leafy
+home into the long grass.
+
+The porter scampered off to send us the landlord, and to see to the
+comfort of Joseph and Innocentina, until they and their charges could
+be definitely provided for. While we waited--the Boy leaning back,
+pale and silent, in an exaggerated American rocking-chair, I standing
+on guard beside him--there was time to look about at our surroundings.
+
+The room was immense, and on a warm, bright day of midsummer might
+have been delightful, with its polished mosaic floor, its painted
+basket chairs and little tables, and its standard lamps with coloured
+silk shades. But to-day a stuffy, red-curtained bar-parlour would have
+been more cheerful.
+
+At first, I thought we were alone in the waste of painted wicker-work,
+for there had been dead silence on our entrance; but hardly had we
+settled ourselves to await the coming of the landlord, when a movement
+at the far end of the big, dim room told me that it had other
+occupants. Two men in knickerbockers were sitting on low chairs drawn
+close to a fireplace, and both were looking round at us with evident
+curiosity.
+
+As the Boy's chair had its high back half-turned in their direction,
+all they could see of him was a little hand dangling over the arm of
+the chair, and a small foot in a stout, workmanlike walking boot,
+laced far up the ankle. I stood facing them; and though the sole
+illumination came flickering from a newly kindled fire, or filtered
+through the red shades of three large lamps, not only could they see
+what manner of man I was, but I could study their personal
+characteristics.
+
+In these I was conscious of no lively interest; but as the men
+continued to gaze over their shoulders at me, and the Boy's chair, I
+decided that they were from the States. They were both young,
+clean-shaven, good-looking; with clear features, keen eyes, and
+prominent chins, reminiscent of the attractive "Gibson type" of
+American youth.
+
+"Well," said one to the other, turning away from his brief but steady
+inspection of the newcomers, "I thought we were the only two fools
+stranded here for the night in this weather, but it seems there are a
+couple more."
+
+Their voices had a carrying quality which brought the words distinctly
+to our ears. Suddenly the "rocker" was agitated, and the Boy's feet
+came to the ground. Nervously, he jerked the chair round so that its
+back was completely turned to the men at the other end of the room.
+His eyes looked so big, and his face was so deeply stained with a
+quick rush of colour, that I feared he was ill.
+
+"Anything wrong?" I asked, bending towards him, with my hand on his
+chair.
+
+"Nothing. I was only--a little surprised to hear people talking,
+that's all. I thought we had the room to ourselves."
+
+His voice was a whisper, and I pitched mine to his in answering. "So
+did I at first, but it seems two countrymen of yours are before us. I
+wonder if they have had adventures to equal ours? Probably we shall
+find out at dinner, for this looks the sort of hotel to herd its
+guests together at one long table."
+
+The Boy's hand closed sharply on the arm of his chair. "I'm too tired
+to dine in public," said he, still in the same muffled voice. "I shall
+have something to eat in my room--if I ever get one."
+
+"If that's your game," said I, "I'll play it with you. We'll ask them
+to give us a sitting-room of sorts, and we'll dine there together like
+kings."
+
+"No, no. You must go down. I shall have my dinner in bed. I'm worn
+out. What are--those men at the other end of the room like?"
+
+"Like sketches from New York _Life_," I replied. "One is dark, the
+other fair, with a deep cleft in his chin, and a nose so straight it
+might have been ruled. Better take a look at them. Perhaps you may
+have met at home."
+
+"All the more reason for not looking," said the Boy. "Thank goodness,
+here comes the landlord."
+
+We could have had twenty rooms if we wished, for, said our host,
+throwing a glance across the salon, he had only two other guests
+besides ourselves. They had come up by the funicular, meaning to walk
+next morning down to Chambéry, but whether they could do so or not
+depended on the weather. In any case, the hotel would close for the
+season in a few days now, and the funicular cease to run. Fires should
+be laid in our rooms immediately, and we should be made comfortable,
+but as for our animals, unfortunately there were no stables attached
+to the hotel, no accommodation whatever for four-footed creatures.
+They would have to go back to the châlet, where they and their drivers
+could be put up for the night.
+
+"That will not do for Innocentina," exclaimed the boy quickly. In his
+eagerness he raised his voice slightly, and the two young men at the
+other end of the salon seemed waked suddenly to renewed interest in us
+and our affairs. But the Boy's tone fell again instantly. "Innocentina
+must have a room at this hotel," he went on. "The châlet will be bad
+enough for Joseph. For her it would be impossible. Joseph won't mind
+taking the donkeys down and caring for them this one night, for
+Innocentina's sake."
+
+"If know Joseph, it will afford him infinite satisfaction; and the
+more intense his physical suffering, the happier he'll be in the
+thought that he is bearing it for her," I replied. "I'll go out and
+break the news to the poor chap."
+
+The Boy sprang up. "No, no; don't leave me alone!" he cried. Then, as
+I looked surprised, he added, more quietly: "I mean I'll go with you,
+and talk to Innocentina. Meanwhile, our things can be sent up to our
+rooms."
+
+Though he had asked "what the men at the other end of the room were
+like," he showed no desire to verify for himself the description I had
+given. He kept his back religiously turned towards his countrymen, and
+did not throw a single glance their way as we left the salon with the
+landlord, though I saw that the two young Americans were interested in
+him.
+
+We returned to the door at the end of the long corridor, where we had
+entered the hotel ten or fifteen minutes earlier, and found Joseph,
+Innocentina, and the animals still sheltering against the house wall.
+The porter had already retailed the bad news, and the faithful
+muleteer had of his own accord volunteered to play the part which the
+Boy and I had assigned him. Though he was tired, cold, and hungry, and
+had the prospect of a gloomy walk, with a night of discomfort to
+follow, he was far from being depressed; and I thought I knew what
+supported him in his hour of trial.
+
+We saw him off, followed by a piteous trail of asshood, and then,
+shivering once more, we re-entered the dim corridor. Innocentina, much
+subdued, was with us now, carrying the famous bag in its snow-powdered
+_rücksack_, while a porter went before with the rest of the luggage,
+taken from the tired backs of our beasts. We had reached the foot of
+the stairs, when we came so suddenly face to face with the two
+Americans that it almost seemed we had stumbled upon an ambush.
+
+They stared very hard at the Boy, who did not give them a glance,
+though I was conscious of a stiffening of his muscles. He turned his
+head a little on one side, so that the shadow of the panama eclipsed
+his face from their point of view; but I could see that he had first
+grown scarlet, then white.
+
+"By Jove, but it can't be possible!" I heard one of the men say as we
+passed and began to ascend the stairs. The answer I did not hear; but
+Innocentina, who was close behind me, glared with unchristian
+malevolence at the young men, as if instinct whispered that they were
+concerning themselves unnecessarily about her master's business.
+
+The Boy ran upstairs as lightly as if he had never known fatigue. The
+porter showed him his room; his luggage was taken in, and then he came
+out to me in the passage.
+
+"You told Joseph that he needn't come up very early to-morrow, didn't
+you?" he enquired.
+
+"Yes, as we're pretty well fagged, and Chambéry isn't an all-day's
+journey, I thought we might take our time in the morning. That suits
+you, doesn't it?" (It was really of him that I had been thinking, but
+I did not say so.)
+
+"Oh, yes," he answered absentmindedly, as if already his brain were
+busy with something else. "What time did you fix for starting? I didn't
+hear?"
+
+"I said to Joseph that it would do if he were on hand at half-past
+ten. You can rest till nine o'clock."
+
+"Thank you. And now, good night. You've been very kind to-day. Maybe I
+didn't seem grateful, but I was, all the same; very, very grateful."
+
+"Nonsense!" said I. "If you're too tired to go down, shan't I have my
+dinner with you? We could have a table drawn up before the fire, and
+it would be quite jolly."
+
+He shook his head, a great weariness in his eyes. "I'm too done up for
+society, even yours. I'd rather you went down. You will, won't you?"
+
+"Certainly, if you won't have me. Rest well. I shall see that they
+send you up something decent."
+
+"It doesn't matter. I'm not as hungry as I was, somehow. Good night,
+Man."
+
+"Good night, Boy."
+
+"Shake hands, will you?"
+
+He pressed mine with all his little force, and shook it again and
+again, looking up in my face. Then he bade me "Good night" once more,
+abruptly, and retreated into his room.
+
+I went to my quarters at the other end of the passage, and was glad of
+the fire which had begun to roar fiercely in a small round stove, like
+a gnome with a pipe growing out of his head. I had a sponge, changed,
+and descended to the salon, only to learn that the eating arrangements
+were carried on in another building, at some distance from the hotel.
+Feeling like a belated insect of summer overtaken by winter cold, I
+darted down the path indicated, to the restaurant, where I found the
+Americans, already seated at just such a long table as I had pictured,
+and still in their knickerbockers. There was, in the big room, a
+sprinkling of little tables under the closed windows, but they were
+not laid for a meal; and a chair being pulled out for me by a waiter,
+exactly opposite my two fellow-guests, I took it and sat down.
+
+My first thought was to order something for the Little Pal, and to
+secure a promise that it should reach him hot, and soon. I then
+devoted myself to my own dinner, which would have been more enjoyable
+had I had the Boy's companionship. I had worked slowly through soup
+and fish, and arrived at the inevitable veal, when I was addressed by
+one of the Americans--him of the cleft chin and light curly hair,
+whose voice I had heard first in the salon.
+
+"You came up by the mule path, didn't you?"
+
+I answered civilly in the affirmative, aware that all my "points" were
+being noted by both men.
+
+"Must have been a stiff journey in this weather."
+
+"We came into the mist and snow just below the Col."
+
+"Your friend is done up, isn't he?"
+
+"Oh, he's a very plucky young chap," I replied, careful for the Boy's
+reputation as a pilgrim; "but he's a bit fagged, and will be better
+off dining in his own room."
+
+"I expect he'll be all right to-morrow. Are you going to try and get
+to Chambéry, or will you return to Aix by train?"
+
+"We shall push on, unless we're snowed in," I said.
+
+"That's our plan, too. I dare say we shall be starting about the same
+time, and if so, if you don't mind, we might join forces."
+
+"Now, what is this chap's game?" I asked myself. "He isn't drawing me
+out for nothing; and as these two are together they have no need of
+companionship. There's some special reason why they want to join us."
+
+Taking this for granted, the one reason which occurred to me as
+probable, was a previous acquaintance with the Boy, which they wished
+to keep up, and he did not wish to acknowledge. I determined that he
+should not be thus entrapped, through me.
+
+"That would be very pleasant, no doubt," I replied; "but you had
+better not wait for us. Our time of starting is uncertain."
+
+Though I spoke with perfect civility, it must have been clear to them
+that I preferred not to have my party enlarged by strangers, and I
+rather regretted the necessity for this ungraciousness, as the men
+were gentlemen, and I usually got on excellently with Americans.
+
+"Oh, very well," returned the handsomer of the two, looking slightly
+offended. "We shall meet on the way down, perhaps. By-the-by, if I'm
+not mistaken, your young friend is a compatriot of ours. He's
+American, isn't he?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"I believe I've met him in New York, though it was so dark I couldn't
+be sure. Do you object to telling me his name?"
+
+"I'm afraid I do object," I answered, stiffly this time. "You must
+satisfy yourself as to his identity, if it interests you, when you see
+each other to-morrow."
+
+Of all that remained of dinner, I can only say the words which Hamlet
+spoke in dying; for indeed, "the rest was silence."
+
+Directly the meal was over, I hurried back to the hotel, like a rabbit
+to its warren; smoked a pipe before a roaring fire in my bedroom, and
+wondered if the Little Pal were wandering "down the uncompanioned way"
+of dreamland. As for me, I never got as far as that land. I fell over
+a precipice without a bottom, before my head had found a nest in the
+soft pillow, and knew nothing more until suddenly I started awake
+with the impression that someone had called.
+
+"What is it, Boy? Do you want me?" I heard myself asking sharply, as
+my eyes opened.
+
+It seemed that I had not been asleep for ten minutes, but to my
+surprise an exquisite, rosy light filled the room. Well-nigh before I
+knew whether I were sleeping or waking, I was out of bed and at the
+window.
+
+It was the light of sunrise, shining over a billowy white world, for
+the fog had been rent asunder, and through its torn, woolly folds, I
+caught an unforgettable glimpse of glory. The sky was a rippling lake
+of red-gold fire, whose reflection turned a hundred snow-clad
+mountain-crests to blazing helmets for Titans. Above the majestic
+ranks rose their leader, towering head and shoulders over all. "Mont
+Blanc!" I had just time to say to myself in awed admiration, when the
+snow-fog was knit together again, only a jagged line of fading gold
+showing the stitches.
+
+Nobody had called me; I knew that, now, yet I had an uneasy impression
+that someone wanted me somewhere, and that something was wrong. It was
+stupid to let this worry me, I told myself, however; and having
+lingered a few moments at the window studying the lovely pattern of
+frost-work lace on the glass, and the fringe of priceless pearls on
+branch of bush, and stunted tree, I went back to bed. There, I pulled
+my watch out from under my pillow, and looked at it. "Only six
+o'clock," I yawned. "Three good hours more of sleep. I wonder if the
+Boy----" Then I tumbled over another pleasant precipice.
+
+When I waked again, it was almost nine, and nerving myself to the
+inevitable, I rang for a cold bath. The morning was bitterly chill,
+but the tingling water soon sent the blood racing through my veins,
+and by ten o'clock I was knocking at the Boy's door. No answer came,
+and thinking that he must already be down, I was on my way across the
+white, frozen grass to the restaurant, when I met the muleteer coming
+up with Finois.
+
+"Hallo, Joseph!" I exclaimed in surprise. "Where are Fanny and
+Souris?"
+
+"Innocentina has taken them, Monsieur," he answered.
+
+"What--they have started?"
+
+"But yes, Monsieur, and very early."
+
+"Tell me what happened," I prompted him.
+
+"Why, Monsieur, it was this way. There was not much sleep for me last
+night, if you will pardon my liberty in mentioning such matters,
+because of the little animal which bites and jumps away. I know not
+what you call him in your language, though I think he is known in all
+lands. Besides, the beasts were noisy in the stable underneath the
+room where I lay with the men. About half-past four the others got up,
+but I lay still, as it was well with my animals, and there was no
+hurry. But a little more than an hour later, they called me from
+below, laughing, and saying there was a lady to see me. I had not
+undressed, Monsieur, for many reasons, and now I was glad, for I knew
+who it must be, though not why she should be there, and so early too.
+I could not bear that she should be alone with these rough fellows,
+and in two minutes I had tumbled down the ladder.
+
+"I had not been mistaken, Monsieur. It was Innocentina. She said her
+master had sent her down to fetch the _ânes_, as he was obliged by
+certain circumstances to start on in advance of my master. I did not
+ask her any questions, but I helped her get ready the donkeys, and I
+would have walked up with her to the hotel, had she permitted it. If I
+did so, she said, the cattle men would talk; so I stayed behind."
+
+"Well, I suppose we shall overtake them," I replied, hiding surprise,
+as I did not care to let Joseph see that I had been left in the dark
+concerning this strange change of programme. My mind groped for an
+explanation of the mystery, and then suddenly seized upon one. The
+Boy, who had evidently met his two compatriots in other days and
+another land, disliked and wished to shun them. He had feared that
+they might be our companions down to Chambéry, and had taken drastic
+measures to avoid their society. Rather than get me up early, for his
+convenience, after a day of some hardship and fatigue, the plucky
+little chap had gone off without us. Possibly I should find that he
+had left a note for me, with some waiter or _femme de chambre_. If
+not, our route down to Chambéry and the hotel at which we were to stay
+there, had already been decided upon. He would have said to himself
+that there could be no mistake, and that he might trust me to find him
+at our destination.
+
+The Americans were not at breakfast, but later, as Joseph, Finois, and
+I were starting, I saw them standing at a distance in the corridor.
+The porter, who had brought down the miserable hold-alls, and was
+waiting for his tip, murmured that "_ces messieurs_" were not going to
+make the walking expedition to Chambéry; the landlord had advised them
+that the weather was too bad, and they had decided to return by the
+noon train to Aix-les-Bains.
+
+I felt that I owed the young men a grudge for the Boy's defection; and
+as there had been no note or message from him, I was not in a
+forgiving mood. Without a second glance towards the pair, I walked
+away with Joseph--alone with him for the first time in many a day.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVI
+
+The Vanishing of the Prince
+
+    "Now to my word:
+     It is, _Adieu, adieu! remember me_."
+                           --SHAKESPEARE.
+
+
+As we dipped down below the summit of the mountain, we stepped from
+under the snow-fog, as if it had been a great white, hanging nightcap.
+The air smelled like early winter, and was vibrant with the melody of
+cowbells. On snow-covered eminences near and far, dark, sentinel
+larches watched us, weeping slow tears from every naked spine. So high
+had they climbed, so acclimatised to the mountains did these
+soldier-trees seem, that I named them for myself the Chasseurs Alpins
+of the forest.
+
+"We shall have fine weather to-morrow," said Joseph, as we left the
+snow and came to what he called the "_terre grasse_," which was greasy
+and slippery under foot. "See, Monsieur, a worm; he comes up out of
+his hole, and the earth clings to him as he walks abroad. If he were
+clean, that would be a sign of another bad day to follow."
+
+"At least we are going down to summer again," I replied; "also to the
+young Monsieur; and to Innocentina. But perhaps you are glad of a rest
+from her sharp tongue."
+
+Joseph shrugged his shoulders. "I am used to it now, Monsieur," said
+he; and I turned away my face to hide a smile. I knew that he missed
+the girl, and I was still more keenly aware that I missed a comrade.
+My fleeting impressions were hardly worth catching and taming, without
+him to help cage them; without his vivid mind to help colour the
+thoughts, which mine only sketched in black and white, it was easier
+to leave the canvas blank.
+
+We had decided last night that it would not be wise to attempt the
+journey by way of the Dent du Nivolets, as it was on a higher level
+than the summit of Mont Revard, and we should risk being again
+extinguished under a nightcap of snow. We descended, therefore, by the
+simpler and shorter route, but it was full of interest for the
+strangeness of the landscape, and the buildings which we reached on
+lower planes.
+
+The houses were no longer characteristically French, but a bastard
+Swiss. The heavy, overhanging roofs were thatched, and of enormous
+thickness; the walls of grey stone, with roughly carved, skeleton
+balconies. The peasants no longer smiled at us in good-natured
+curiosity, but regarded us dourly, though they were gravely civil if
+we had questions to ask.
+
+Although I gave Joseph no instructions, and he made no suggestions, by
+common consent we hastened on as if a prize were to be bestowed for
+our good speed, at the end of the journey. On other days we had
+sauntered, allowing the animals to snatch delicious _hors d'oeuvres_
+from the bushes as they passed, but to-day Finois was in the depths of
+gloom. There was no grey Souris, no spectacled Fanny-anny to cheer him
+on the way, and if he reached out a wistful mouth towards a branch, he
+was hurried past it. How would we feel, I asked myself, if, with the
+inner man clamouring, we were driven remorselessly along a road
+decked on either side with exquisitely appointed tables, set out with
+all our favourite dishes, to be had for nothing--never once allowed to
+stop for a crumb of _pâté de foie gras_, or a bit of chicken in aspic?
+Yet asking myself this, I had no mercy on Finois.
+
+We stopped for lunch at a queer auberge, in an abortive village
+appropriately named Les Déserts, where the highroad for Chambéry
+began. An outer room roughly flagged with stone, was kitchen, nursery,
+and family living-room in one. It swarmed with children, and was
+presided over by two of Macbeth's witches, who were not separated from
+their cauldrons. I took them to be rival mothers-in-law, and they
+could have taught Innocentina some choice new expressions valuable to
+test upon donkeys or other heretics; but they sent me a steaming bowl
+of excellent coffee, when I half expected poison; fried me a couple of
+eggs with crisp brown lace round the edges, and took for my benefit,
+from one of the shelves that lined the nursery wall, the newest of a
+hundred loaves of hard black bread.
+
+I ventured to ask a down-trodden daughter-in-law of the Ladies of the
+Cauldrons, whether a very young gentleman, and an older but still
+all-young woman, with two donkeys, had stopped at the auberge some
+hours earlier.
+
+The spiritless one shook her head. But no. The only other customers of
+the house thus far had been the postman and two soldiers. The party
+might have passed. She and her parents were too busy to take note of
+what went on outside. A faint chill of desolation touched me. It would
+have been cheering to have news of the Boy and his cavalcade _en
+route_.
+
+By three o'clock Chambéry was well in sight, lying far below us as we
+wound down from mountain heights, and looking, from our point of view,
+in position something like an inferior Aosta. It basked in a great
+sun-swept plain, and away to the left a lateral valley, dimly blue,
+opened towards Modane and the Mont Cenis. Descending, we found the
+resemblance carried on by a few ancient châteaux and fortified
+farmhouses, and as we had now come upon a part of the road which
+Joseph knew, he pointed out to me, in the far distance, the little
+villa, Les Charmettes, where Rousseau and Madame de Warens kept house
+together. Again and again I thought we were on the point of arriving
+in the town, and had visions of exchanging adventures with the Boy at
+the Hôtel de France; but always the place seemed to recede before our
+eyes, elusive as a mirage, alighting again five or six miles away; and
+this it did, not once, but several times, with singular skill and
+accuracy.
+
+At last, however, after a tedious tramp along a monotonously level
+road, upon which we had plunged suddenly, we came into an old town,
+all grey, with the soft grey of storks' wings. The place had a mild
+dignity of its own--as befitted the ancient capital of Savoie--and
+might have lived, if necessary, on the romantic reputation of its
+ancient château, standing up high and majestic above a populous modern
+street. There was an air of almost courtly refinement that reminded me
+of the wide, sedate avenues of Versailles; and no doubt this effect
+was largely due to the fine statues and decorative grouping of the
+arcaded streets. One monument was so imposing and so unique, that I
+forgot for a moment my anxiety to find the Boy and hear his news. The
+huge pile held me captive, staring up at a miniature Nelson column,
+supported on the backs of four colossal elephants sculptured in grey
+granite of true elephant-colour. These benevolent mammoths, not
+content with the duty of bearing a tower of stone with a more than
+life-sized general balancing on top of it, generously spent their
+spare time in pouring volumes of water from wrinkled trunks into a
+huge basin. Joseph knew that the balancing general, De Boigne, had
+used a vast fortune made in the service of an Indian prince, to shower
+benefits on his native town, as his elephants showered water, and that
+it was in gratitude to him that Chambéry had raised the monument; but
+I was disappointed to learn that the elephants had no prototypes in
+real life. It would have satisfied my imagination to hear that the
+soldier of fortune had returned from the Orient to his birthplace,
+with the four original elephants following him like dogs, having
+refused to be left behind. But nothing is quite perfect in history,
+and one usually feels that one could have arranged the incidents more
+dramatically one's self; indeed, some historians seem to have found
+the temptation irresistible.
+
+Joseph promised other choice bits of interest in and near
+mountain-ringed Chambéry; but I had small appetite for sightseeing
+without the Boy, and after my brief reverence to the elephants, I
+hurried the muleteer and mule to the hotel.
+
+At the door we were met by a porter, far too polite a person to betray
+the surprise which my companions Joseph and Finois invariably excited
+in civilisation. He helped to unfasten the pack, and as it disappeared
+into the vestibule, I was about to bid Joseph _au revoir_. But his
+face gave me pause. Like the key to a cipher, it told me all the
+secret workings of his mind.
+
+"You might wait here before putting up Finois," I said, "until I
+enquire inside whether the young Monsieur and Innocentina have arrived
+safely. No doubt they have, as we did not catch them up on the road,
+and it would have been difficult to mistake the way. Still----"
+
+"_Voilà_, Monsieur!" exclaimed Joseph, his deep eyes brightening at
+something to be seen over my shoulder.
+
+I turned, and there was meek, grey Souris leading the way for
+Innocentina and Fanny, who were trailing slowly towards us down the
+street.
+
+I was delighted to see them. Not until now had I realised how
+beautiful was Innocentina, how engaging the two little plush-coated
+donkeys. I loved all three.
+
+"_Eh bien_, Innocentina!" I gaily cried. "How are you? How is your
+young Monsieur?"
+
+"He was well when I saw him last," returned Innocentina. "He must be
+very far away by this time."
+
+"Very far away?" I echoed her words blankly. "Yes, Monsieur. Here is
+a letter, which he told me to deliver to you without fail. I was not
+to leave Chambéry until I had put it into your hand, myself. I was on
+my way to your hotel, to see if you had arrived. Now that I have seen
+you"--here a starry flash at Joseph--"I can begin my journey."
+
+"Where, if I may ask?"
+
+"Towards my home. Monsieur had better read his letter."
+
+[Illustration: "VOILÀ, MONSIEUR!"]
+
+I had taken the sealed envelope mechanically, without looking at it.
+Now I fixed my eyes upon the address, which was written in a firm,
+original, and interesting hand, that impressed me as familiar, though
+I could not think where I had seen it. Certainly, so far as I could
+remember, in all my journeyings with him I had never happened to see
+the Boy's handwriting. Yet Innocentina said this letter was from him.
+
+Suddenly it occurred to me that I could do something more enlightening
+than stare at the envelope: I could open it. I did so, breaking a seal
+with the same monogram I had noticed on the gold fittings in the
+celebrated bag. Apparently the entwined letters were M.R.L.
+
+"Forgive me, dear Man," were the first words I read, and they rang
+like a knell in my heart. Without going further I knew what was
+coming. I was to hear that I had lost the Boy.
+
+"Dear Man, the Prince vanishes, not because he wishes it, but because
+he must. He can't explain. But, though you may not understand now,
+believe this. He has been happier in these wanderings, since you and
+he were friends, than he ever was before. You have been more than good
+to the troublesome 'Brat' who has upset all your arrangements and
+calculations so often. Perhaps you may never see the Boy any more.
+Yet, who knows what may happen at Monte Carlo? Anyhow, whatever comes
+in the future, he will never forget, never cease to care for you; and
+of one thing besides he is sure. Never again will he like any other
+man as much as the One Man who deserves to begin with a capital.
+
+"Good-bye, dear Man, and all good things be with you, wherever you may
+go, is the prayer of--Boy."
+
+Perhaps never to see the Boy again! Why, I must be dreaming this. I
+should wake up soon, and everything would be as it had been. I had the
+sensation of having swallowed something very large and very cold,
+which would not melt. Reading the letter over for the second time made
+it no better, but rather worse. The Boy had become almost as important
+in my scheme of life as my lungs or my legs, and I did not quite see,
+at the moment, how it would be any more possible to get on without one
+than the other.
+
+Behold, I was stricken down by mine own familiar friend; yet no wrath
+against him burned within me; there was only that cold lump of
+disappointment, which seemed to be increasing to the size of a small
+iceberg. Even lacking explanations, or attempt at them, I knew that he
+had told the truth without flattery. He had wanted to stay, yet he had
+gone. And he said that perhaps I might never see him again! If I could
+have had my choice last night, whether to have the Boy lopped off my
+life, or to lose a hand, the probabilities are that I would have
+sacrificed the hand. But I had been offered no choice.
+
+I recalled our parting, and found new meaning in the words he had
+spoken at his door. There was no doubt about it; even then he had
+decided to break away from me.
+
+I realised this, and at the same instant rebelled against the
+decision. I determined not to accept it. He had vanished because of
+the two Americans; exactly why, I could not even guess, but I was
+certain that the reason was not to his discredit. To theirs, perhaps,
+but not to his. Nevertheless, they were somehow to blame for my loss,
+and if the young men had appeared at this moment, I should have been
+impelled to do them a mischief.
+
+The principal thing was, however, not to let them cheat me irrevocably
+of my comrade. I would not depend solely upon that hint about Monte
+Carlo. I would find out where he had gone, and I would follow. Let him
+be angry if he would. His anger, though a hot flame while it burned,
+never endured long.
+
+"Did Monsieur leave here by rail?" I enquired of Innocentina.
+
+She shrugged her shoulders. "That I cannot tell."
+
+"Do you mean you can't, or won't?"
+
+"I know nothing, Monsieur, except that I have been paid well, and told
+that I may go home as soon as I like, and by what route I like, having
+delivered the letter to Monsieur. My young master gave me enough to
+return with the donkeys to Mentone all the way from Chambéry by rail
+if I chose; but I prefer to walk down, and keep the extra money for my
+_dot_. It will make me a good one."
+
+I am not sure that, before disentangling a huge bottle-fly from
+Fanny's long lashes, she did not glance under her own at Joseph, when
+giving this information.
+
+"Look here, Innocentina," I said beguilingly, "tell me which way, and
+how, your young Monsieur has gone, and I will double that _dot_ of
+yours."
+
+"Not if you would quadruple it, Monsieur. I promised my master to say
+nothing."
+
+"Couldn't you get absolution for breaking a promise?"
+
+"No, Monsieur. I am not that kind of Catholic. It is only heretics
+who break their promises, and take money for it--like Judas Iscariot."
+
+Joseph did not charge at this red rag, but looked so utterly depressed
+that Innocentina's eyes relented.
+
+"Very well," I said. "You deserve praise for your loyalty. I ought not
+to have tried to corrupt it. But, you know, I shall find out in the
+town, or at the railway station."
+
+Innocentina smiled. "I do not think so, Monsieur."
+
+"We shall see," I retorted. "Joseph, where is the railway station?"
+
+Joseph pointed, accompanying his gesture with directions. Then he
+offered to be my guide, but I refused his services and left him with
+Innocentina, having bidden him call at my room in the hotel for
+instructions later.
+
+But the prophecy of Innocentina the Seeress was fulfilled. I could
+learn nothing of the Boy or his movements, at the _gare_ of Chambéry.
+Several trains had gone out, bound for several destinations in
+different directions, during the past three hours, and no one
+answering the description I gave of the Boy had been seen to leave.
+
+Sadder, but no wiser, I returned to the Hôtel de France, and asked if
+a youth of seventeen, "with large blue eyes, chestnut hair which
+curled, a complexion tanned brown, a panama hat, and a suit of
+navy-blue serge knickerbockers," had lunched there.
+
+The answer was no. Such a yoking gentleman had not come to the hotel,
+nor had he been noticed in the town, either with or without a young
+woman and a couple of donkeys.
+
+I had no more than finished my questionings and gone up to my room,
+when Joseph arrived--a wistful, expectant Joseph, with a deep light of
+excitement burning in his eyes.
+
+"Any news?" I asked.
+
+"No, Monsieur, except that in an hour Innocentina starts to walk on to
+Les Echelles with her _ânes_."
+
+"She is energetic."
+
+"The girl knows not what is the fatigue. Besides, each day less on the
+road means so many more francs added to the _dot_."
+
+"Innocentina seems very keen upon increasing that _dot_. Has she
+anyone in view to share it with her?"
+
+"She has not confided that to me, Monsieur."
+
+"I suppose he would have to be a good Catholic?"
+
+"Of that I am not so sure. I do not think she would object to a good
+Protestant, if he would allow the children to be brought up in her
+faith."
+
+"The lady is brave. She takes time by the forelock."
+
+"It is the wise way, Monsieur."
+
+"Well, whoever he may be, I am sure _you_ do not envy the future
+_mari_, _dot_ or no _dot_. Your opinion of Innocentina----"
+
+"Ah, it is changed, Monsieur, completely changed, I confess."
+
+"Then, after all, it is Innocentina who has converted you."
+
+Joseph bent his head to hide a flush. "Perhaps, Monsieur, if you put
+it in that way. Yet it was not of myself nor of Innocentina I came to
+talk, but of the plans of Monsieur."
+
+"Plans? I've no plans," I answered dejectedly.
+
+"Will Monsieur wish to proceed to-morrow morning as usual?"
+
+"Proceed where?" I gloomily capped his question with another.
+
+"On the way south, towards the Riviera, is it not? If we made an early
+start, it might be possible to go by the route of la Grande
+Chartreuse, and reach the monastery late in the afternoon. If Monsieur
+wished to sleep there, travellers are accommodated at the Sister
+House, which has been turned into an hôtellerie since the expulsion of
+the Order."
+
+I reflected a moment before replying. On the face of it, it appeared
+like weakness to change my plans simply because I had been deserted by
+a comrade whose very existence had been unknown to me when first I
+made them. Yet, on the other hand, I had grown so used to his
+companionship now, that the thought of continuing my journey without
+him was distasteful. With the Little Pal, no day had ever seemed too
+long, no misadventure but had had its spice. Lacking the Little Pal,
+the vista of day after day spent in covering the country at the rate
+of three miles an hour loomed before me monotonous as the treadmill.
+My gorge rose against it. I could not go on as I had begun. Why punish
+myself by a diet of salt when the savour had gone?
+
+"Joseph," I said at last, "the disappearance of the young Monsieur has
+been a blow to me, I admit. It has destroyed my appetite for
+sightseeing, for the moment, at all events. I can't rearrange my plans
+instantly; but this I have determined. I'll end my walking-tour here.
+What to do afterwards I will make up my mind in good time, but
+meanwhile, I won't keep you dancing attendance upon me. You will be
+anxious to get back home----"
+
+"Monsieur, I have no home." There was despair in Joseph's tone, and
+suddenly the keen point of truth pierced the armour of my selfishness.
+Poor Joseph, facing exile--from Innocentina--and keeping his
+countenance politely, while I densely discoursed of "blows"! Being a
+muleteer "farmed out" by a master, he was at the mercy of Fate, and
+temporarily I represented Fate. He could not journey on southwards,
+whither his heart was wandering, unless I bade him go. This fine
+fellow, this old soldier, was as much at my orders as if I had been a
+king.
+
+"If you aren't in a hurry to get back to Martigny, Joseph," said I,
+changing my tone, "I'll tell you what you can do for me. You may take
+some of my luggage down to the Riviera. I'm expecting a portmanteau to
+arrive here by rail to-night or to-morrow morning, with plenty of
+clothing in it. But there are those hold-alls which Finois has carried
+for so long. I can't travel about with them in railway carriages; at
+that I draw the line; yet if I sent them by _grande vitesse_, their
+contents would be injured or stolen. Take them down to Monte Carlo for
+me. I shall go there sooner or later, to meet some friends of mine who
+are motoring, and I shall stop at the Royal."
+
+Joseph's face would have put radium to shame, with the light it
+generated.
+
+"Monsieur is not joking? He is in earnest?" the poor fellow stammered.
+
+"Most certainly. And when we meet on the Riviera, we will talk over a
+scheme for your future of which I've been thinking. If you would like
+to buy Finois of your patron, and two or three other animals only
+less admirable than he, setting up in business for yourself, I think I
+know a man who might advance you the money."
+
+"Oh, Monsieur!"
+
+Had there been a little more of the French, or a little less of the
+Swiss, in honest Joseph's blood, I think that he would have fallen on
+his knees and rained kisses on my mild-stained boots. The Swiss upped
+the balance, luckily for us both, and kept him erect; but there was a
+suspicious glitter in his deep eyes, and a sudden pinkness of his
+respectable brown nose, which gave to his "Oh, Monsieur!" more meaning
+than a volume of protestations.
+
+His hand came out impulsively, then flew back humbly to his side, but
+I put out mine and grasped it.
+
+"Monsieur, I would die for you," he said.
+
+"I would prefer," I returned, "that you should live--for Innocentina."
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVII
+
+The Strange Mushroom
+
+    "Have you any commission from your lord to negotiate with
+    my face?"
+                                                --SHAKESPEARE.
+
+
+When Joseph had gone, with his pockets and his heart both full to
+bursting, I felt much like the captain of a small fishing vessel,
+wrecked in strange seas, who has seen his comrades depart on rafts,
+while he stayed on board his sinking ship alone with three biscuits
+and a gill of water. There was also a certain resemblance between me
+and a well-meaning plant which has been pulled up by its roots just as
+it had begun to grow nicely, and then stuck into the earth again,
+upside down, to do the best it can.
+
+I was not quite sure yet which was up or down, and which way I had
+better grow, if at all. There was, however, an attraction in a
+southerly direction: letters were to be forwarded to me at Grenoble,
+and there would probably be one from Jack or Molly Winston, saying
+when and where they might be expected to come upon the scene with
+Mercédès. Finding me stranded, they would doubtless take pity upon my
+forlornness, and offer me a lift in their car, down to the Riviera.
+And to the Riviera I still felt strongly impelled to go, though I had
+no longer the Contessa for an excuse. She had been engaged, in my
+little drama, for the part of "leading juvenile," with the privilege
+of understudying the heroine. But she had not shown an aptitude for
+either rôle, and having stepped down to that of first walking lady,
+she had minced off my stage altogether. Now the cast was filled up
+without her, though strangely filled, since after the first act there
+had been no leading lady at all. Nevertheless, having arranged a scene
+at Monte Carlo I could not persuade myself to give it up, though it
+would not be played, in any event, at the Contessa's villa.
+
+The Boy had vanished, and the sole word he had left was that I had
+better not count upon seeing him again. But the more I thought of it,
+the less necessity I saw for taking him at that word. He perhaps
+flattered himself that he had picked up all clues and carried them off
+with him in the wonderful bag. But he had purposefully hinted that
+"something might happen at Monte Carlo," and I hoped the something
+might mean that, after all, the Boy would materialise with his sister
+at the Hôtel de Paris on the night after our arrival. In any case, if
+the Princess were going to Monte Carlo, there would the Fairy Prince
+be also, and I did not see why I should not be there too, whether
+Molly and Jack tooled me down in their motor or not.
+
+Fifteen minutes after Joseph had gone from my life to mingle his lot
+with Innocentina's, I had my own plans definitely mapped out. I would
+stop in Chambéry overnight, to wait for the portmanteau with which I
+had kept up a speaking acquaintance in the larger centres of
+civilisation, during the tour, and next day I would go on to Grenoble
+by train, there to pick up letters.
+
+The luggage duly arrived in the evening, so that there was no bar to
+the carrying out of my design; and, accordingly, after my coffee on
+the following morning, I conscientiously went out to see more of the
+town before taking the eleven-o'clock train.
+
+It was only ten, and as my arrangements were all made, I had time for
+strolling--too much to suit my mood. The murmur of an automobile
+preparing to take flight attracted me from a distance, for it seemed
+that the voice had the cadence of a car I knew. I hastened my steps,
+turned a corner, and there, in front of the Hôtel de France's rival,
+stood a fine motor, panting, quivering in eagerness to dart away.
+
+It was a Mercédès, and if it were not Molly Winston's wedding-present
+Mercédès, it was that Mercédès' twin. But there was a strange mushroom
+in it.
+
+I would have known Molly's mushroom among a thousand. It was small,
+round, compact, and of a dark cream colour. This mushroom was flatter,
+wider, more expansive, with an exceedingly slender stem; and in tint
+it was of a pale silvery grey. It grew up straight and slim in the
+tonneau of the car, all alone, unaccompanied by any similar growths,
+or any guardian goblins; and several servants of the hotel were
+grouped about, waiting to see it off.
+
+I waited, too, sniffing adventure with the scent of petrol, and
+interested in the resemblance to that good Dragon with which I had
+been friends; but I was about to turn away at last when a form which
+had evidently been squatting behind the car on the other side, rose to
+its feet. It was that of Gotteland, and had he been a long-lost uncle
+from Australia with his pockets crammed with wills in my favour, I
+could not have been more delighted to see him.
+
+As I rushed forward to claim him as my own, Molly and Jack came out of
+the hotel.
+
+"Monty!" Jack cried, with a sincerity of joy which warmed my heart.
+As for his wife, she cried not at all, but merely gasped.
+
+"What luck for me!" I exclaimed, shaking both Molly's hands so hard
+that it was fortunate (as she remarked afterwards) that she had on
+"only her rainy-day rings." "I did hope to hear of you at Grenoble,
+but scarcely dared think of actually meeting you, even there. In two
+minutes more I should have been on the way to catch my train."
+
+"Here's your train, old man," said Jack, indicating the throbbing
+automobile.
+
+"My one true love, Mercédès," I remarked, looking fondly at the car.
+
+"Sh!" whispered Molly, with an odd little sound which was like a
+giggle strangled at birth. "She's there."
+
+"Who?" I started, bewildered.
+
+"Mercédès."
+
+"I know; the darling! I long to have my hands on her again."
+
+"Oh, Lord Lane, do be careful! You don't understand. I mean the real
+Mercédès. The girl who gave me the car. She's sitting there. She'll
+hear you."
+
+"It's all right," said Jack. "The motor's making such a row, she
+wouldn't catch the words."
+
+"She joined us h--lately," explained Molly hurriedly.
+
+"I remember now. You used to talk rather a lot about her and want us
+to meet."
+
+"Well, you have your wish now, dearie," Jack chimed in. "You can
+introduce them with your own fair hand."
+
+"Wait--wait." Molly whispered piteously, as Jack would have taken a
+step forward, and pulled me with him, a peculiarly dare-devil look in
+his handsome eyes. "For _goodness'_ sake, Jack!"
+
+Her voice restrained him, and again we were in conclave. "You see,
+Lord Lane, it's rather awkward. We want you to go on with us,
+immensely, but----"
+
+"You're awfully good," I hastily cut in. "But I quite see, and I
+couldn't think of----"
+
+"Oh, please, that isn't what I meant. Now, will you and Jack both be
+quite quiet, like angels, and let me talk for a while, till I make
+everything clear to everybody, about everybody else. Don't grin. I
+know I'm not beginning well, but the beginning's the difficult part.
+We wrote to you, Lord Lane, to Grenoble, saying we would be arriving
+about as soon as you got the letter. We didn't know whether we could
+tear you away from your mule or not; but anyhow, we should have seen
+each other and got each other's news. Then this friend of mine joined
+us unexpectedly; at least, we thought we might meet her, but we
+weren't at all sure she would want to travel with us. However, here
+she is, and she's a perfect dear; and next to Jack and Dad I love her
+better than anybody else in the world. Besides, she gave me the car;
+and you know I told you how ill she had been, and how she was
+travelling for her health. Altogether we have to consider her before
+anyone; and I want to know, Lord Lane, if you'll think me a regular
+little beast if I speak to her first, before we arrange anything?"
+
+I opened my lips to answer with a complimentary protest, but before I
+could frame a word, she had rushed to the two Mercédès, her mushroom
+hanging limp in her hand, and had entered into a low-voiced
+conversation with the human namesake.
+
+"Look here, Jack; I wouldn't put you out for the world," I said. "As
+for tearing myself from the mule, that surgical operation has already
+been performed, and I was going on to Monte Carlo----"
+
+"That's our goal," cut in Jack. "Molly maligned the place of old days.
+Now I want her to do it justice. You and I will show her Monte at its
+best."
+
+"Yes, but I'll go down by rail, and meet you there."
+
+"You'll do nothing of the kind. Molly's friend is one of the most
+charming girls alive, but she has passed through a great trouble,
+followed by a severe illness. She came to us in some distress of mind,
+and we are bound, as Molly says, to consider her, as she may not think
+herself equal to intercourse with strangers. However, all that's
+necessary is to explain you to her, as I am now explaining her to you,
+and the thing settles itself. There can be no question of your not
+going on with us. You and Mercédès won't interfere with each other in
+the least, because, you see, now that you've turned up, the thing is
+to get down quietly, and--and enjoy ourselves at the journey's end.
+We'll make a rush of it. In any case, Molly would have sat in the
+tonneau with her friend, and the only difference you will make in our
+arrangements is that I shall have you as a companion in front instead
+of Gotteland."
+
+At this moment our fair emissary returned from the enemy's camp.
+
+"Mercédès says that not for anything would she cheat us out of your
+company," announced Molly. "Only she hopes you won't think her rude
+and horrid if she doesn't talk. There's her message; but I really
+think, Lord Lane, that the best thing is to take no notice of the poor
+child. She is very nervous and upset still, but I hope in a few days
+she will be herself again. I won't even introduce you to her. She and
+I will sit in the tonneau, as quiet as two kittens, while you and Jack
+in front can talk over all your adventures since you met, and forget
+our existence. We shan't be so very long on the way, shall we, Jack?"
+
+I began another "but," which was scornfully disregarded by both Jack
+and Molly. I might as well consent now, as later, they said, since
+they would simply refuse to leave Chambéry without me, and the longer
+I took to see reason, the more _essence_ would the motor be wasting.
+
+Thus adjured, I allowed myself to be hustled off to my hotel by Jack,
+who insisted on accompanying me lest I should turn traitor on the way.
+In ten minutes Gotteland would drive the car to the door of the
+France, and I was expected to be ready by that time. My packing had
+been done before I went out, by the united efforts of a _valet de
+chambre_ and myself; but now all had to be undone again; my motoring
+coat (unused for weeks and aged in appearance by as many years)
+dragged up from the lowest stratum with my goblin-goggles, and a few
+small things dashed into a weird travelling bag which a confused
+porter rushed out to buy at a neighbouring shop. While I settled the
+hotel bill, Jack arranged to have my portmanteau expressed to
+Grenoble, and by a scramble our tasks were finished when the voice of
+the car called us to the door.
+
+The whole incident had happened so quickly, that I had no time to
+realise the change in my circumstances, when, "sole, like a falling
+star," the motor "shot through the pillared town" with me on board.
+
+There had been a time when I shrank from the name of the car's giver,
+believing that Molly thrust it too obviously into notice. When "that
+dear girl Mercédès" had threatened to enter our conversations I had
+often kept her out by force; but now it seemed that I, not she, was
+the intruder, and in a far more material way. This was, perhaps,
+poetical justice, but I did not grudge it, since it was evident that
+Molly no longer cherished the intention of dangling her friend the
+heiress before me like a brilliant fly over the nose of an impecunious
+trout. On the contrary, she warned me off the premises. We were to
+hurry down to Monte Carlo as quickly as possible, that the situation
+might not be overstrained. Mercédès in the tonneau, I in the front
+seat, were to live and let live during the rapid journey, and this was
+well.
+
+I dimly remembered that, in the first days of our journey in search of
+a mule, Molly had vaunted her friend's beauty, but the silver-grey
+mushroom prevented me from verifying or disproving this statement. The
+small, triangular talc window was greyly-opaque, or else there was a
+grey veil underneath; my one glance had not told me which, and I
+neither dared nor desired to steal another.
+
+Jack supplied the blanks in our somewhat broken correspondence, by
+skimming over the details of their doings; how they had spent most of
+their time since our parting in Switzerland; how they had arrived at
+Aix-les-Bains the very morning we left for Mont Revard; and how they
+had motored to Chambéry yesterday afternoon.
+
+"Think of my being in the same town with you for more than twelve
+hours, and not knowing it!" I exclaimed. "To borrow an expression of
+Mrs. Winston's, I was jolly 'low in my mind' last night, and the very
+thought that you two were close by would have been cheering."
+
+I had not dared address myself to Molly in the other camp, but
+evidently all communication between the lines was not to be broken
+off. The wind must have carried my words to her ear, for she bent
+forward, leaning her arm on the back of our seat.
+
+"Did you say you were miserable last night?" she inquired with
+flattering eagerness.
+
+"Yes. Awfully miserable."
+
+"Poor Lord Lane! I haven't understood yet exactly why you suddenly
+gave up your walking tour, and got the idea of going on by rail. I
+thought from your letters you were having such a good time, that we
+could hardly bribe you to desert--your party and come with us, even at
+Grenoble."
+
+"My party deserted me, and that was the end of my 'good time,'" I
+replied, charmed with Molly's conception of the rôle of a "quiet
+kitten" whose existence was to be forgotten. As if any man could ever
+forget hers!
+
+"What, your nice Joseph and his Finois?" she inquired.
+
+"When I speak of 'my party' I refer particularly to the boy I wrote
+you about," I returned, far from averse to being drawn out on the
+subject of my troubles, though I had resolved, were I not intimately
+questioned, to let them prey upon my damask cheek.
+
+"Oh, yes, that wonderful American boy. Did he keep right on being
+wonderful all the time, or did he turn out disappointing in the end?"
+
+"Disappointing!" I echoed. "No; rather the other way round. He was
+always surprising me with new qualities. I never saw anyone like him."
+
+"Ah, perhaps that's because you never knew other American boys. I dare
+say if I'd met him I shouldn't have found him so remarkable."
+
+"Yes, you would," I protested. "There could be no two opinions about
+it."
+
+"Is he good-looking?"
+
+"Extraordinarily. Such eyes as his are wasted on a boy--or would be on
+any other boy. If he'd been a girl, he would have been one for a man
+to fall head over ears in love with."
+
+"You're enthusiastic! Hasn't he got any sisters?"
+
+"He has one, who is supposed to be like him. I was promised--or partly
+promised--to meet her in Monte Carlo, at the end of our journey, where
+the Boy expected her to join him."
+
+"Oh, has he been called away by her?"
+
+"I don't think so."
+
+"I fancied that might have been why he left you."
+
+"I don't know what his reason was, but I have faith enough in the
+little chap to be sure it was a _good one_."
+
+"Sure you didn't bore each other?"
+
+"If you had ever seen that boy, you'd know that the word 'bore' would
+perish in his presence like a microbe in hot water. As for me--I don't
+believe I bored him. He did say once that we would part when we came
+to the 'turnstile,' meaning the point of mutual boredom, but I can't
+believe the turnstile was in his sight. I think that his resolution to
+go was sudden and unexpected."
+
+"He must have been an interesting boy, and you ought to be grateful to
+Fate for sending him your way because apparently he gave you no time
+for brooding on the past."
+
+"The past? Oh, by Jove, I couldn't think what you meant for a second.
+You have a right to say 'I told you so,' Mrs. Winston. There was
+nothing in all that, you know, except a little wounded vanity; and you
+know, _you_ are really the Fate I have to thank for finding it out so
+soon."
+
+"What _do_ you mean?" exclaimed Molly, almost as if she were
+frightened. "I did nothing at all. I----"
+
+"You took me away with you and Jack. The rest followed."
+
+"Oh, _that_. I didn't understand. Well, as we shall get you down to
+Monte Carlo soon, you will meet your boy again."
+
+"I wish I could be sure."
+
+"I thought you said it was an engagement."
+
+"Only conditional. Besides, had we walked, we should have been weeks
+on the way. I wonder you don't laugh in my face, Mrs. Winston, but
+you'd understand if you could have met the Boy."
+
+"I supposed Jack was your best friend," complained Molly.
+
+"So he is. But this is different. I'm going to look for the Boy at
+Monte Carlo. What I'm hoping is, that after all he may keep the
+half-engagement he made to meet me there."
+
+"When?"
+
+"On the night after my arrival for a dinner at the Hôtel de Paris, to
+be given in honour of him and his sister."
+
+"You think he will?"
+
+"It's worth going on the chance."
+
+"You are the right kind of friend," said Molly, "and you deserve to
+be rewarded, doesn't he, Jack?"
+
+"Yes," Jack flung over his shoulder as he drove; "and I shall swear a
+vendetta against everybody concerned, if he isn't."
+
+This did not strike me as a particularly brilliant remark, but Molly
+seemed to find it witty, for she laughed merrily, with a certain
+impish ring in her glee, reminiscent of the Little Pal in some moods.
+Evidently she had exhausted her long list of questions, for, laughing
+still, she twisted her slim body half round in the tonneau, turning a
+shoulder upon us. I took this as a signal that Mercédès was now to
+have her share of attention, and tactfully bestowed mine on Jack.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVIII
+
+The World without the Boy
+
+    "A . . . somewhat headlong carriage."
+                      --R.L. STEVENSON.
+
+
+Though I had given Molly eyes and ears during her long catechism, I
+had been vaguely aware, nevertheless, that on leaving the Hôtel de
+France we had crossed a bridge over the almost dry and pebbly bed of
+the insignificant Leysse; that we had passed the stately elephants,
+and a robust marble lady typifying France in the act of receiving on
+her breast a slender Savoie; that we had caught a last glimpse of the
+château, and were spinning along a well-kept road, cheek by jowl with
+the railway to Lyons.
+
+From a high mountain on our left, the silver Cascade de Coux fell
+vertically, like a white horse's tail; and I smiled to see, as we
+flashed by, a little house which honoured a valiant foe against whom I
+had fought, with the name of the Café de Boers.
+
+Up and up mounted our road, cresting green billows of rolling mountain
+land. We were running towards the boundary of Savoie, into Dauphiné, a
+country which I had never seen. The Boy and I had talked of entering
+it together and visiting its Seven Marvels, the very possession of
+which made it seem in our eyes alluringly mediæval. Had he been my
+companion still, we would have been travelling some hidden side-path,
+where doubtless Joseph and Innocentina, chaperoned by _les animaux_,
+were happily straying at this moment. I could almost hear the
+donkey-girl's mechanically constant, warning cry, "Fanny-anny,
+Fanny-anny! Souris-ouris!" like a low undertone of accompaniment to
+the thrum of the motor.
+
+The fancied sound smote me with homesickness, and to coax my mind from
+the disappointment which still rankled, I asked Jack when he would let
+me try my hand at driving.
+
+"Not here," said he with a smile, which was instantly explained by an
+abrupt plunge from the top of a long hill down into a cutting between
+lichen-scaled rocks, tracing with our "pneus" as we went a series of
+giddy zig-zags. We had hardly twisted one way when lo! the time had
+come to twist in the opposite direction, and nowhere had we a radius
+of more than twenty yards in which to perform our tricks.
+
+"I couldn't have done that as well as you did it, I confess," said I,
+with becoming modesty.
+
+"It's easy enough when you've got the knack," replied the "Lightning
+Conductor."
+
+"So, no doubt, is reeling, writhing, and fainting in coils. Motoring
+down these serpentine hills is like hurling yourself into space, and
+trusting to Providence."
+
+"So is all of life," said Jack. "A timid man might say the same of
+getting out of bed in the morning."
+
+"Even I can do the trick," cut in Molly, who was taking a temporary
+interest in our affairs again. "At least, I can this year, now that
+chickens are better than they used to be."
+
+"They _are_ looking nice and fat this summer" I judicially remarked.
+
+"I don't mean that," explained Molly. "But they are more sensible.
+Last year, before Jack and I were married, chickens were so bad that I
+used to dream of nothing else in my sleep. I had chicken nightmares.
+The absurd creatures never would realise when they were well off, but
+even in the midst of laying a most important egg on one side of the
+road, our automobile had only to come whizzing along to convince them
+that salvation depended on getting across to the other. This year they
+seem to have formed a sort of Chicken Club, a league of defence
+against motors, and to have started a propaganda."
+
+My imagination tricked me, or this theory of Molly's evoked a faint
+sound of stifled mirth in the heart of the mysterious mushroom. In
+haste I turned away, lest I should be suspected of regarding it, and
+Jack began to pump my memory mercilessly for what it might retain of
+his driving lessons. Luckily, I had forgotten nothing, and I was able
+to demonstrate my knowledge by pointing to the various parts of the
+machine with each glib reference I made.
+
+By-and-bye, we came to a place where a grotto was "much recommended";
+but swallows, southward bound, do not stop in their flight for
+grottos. We darted by, thundered through the humming darkness of
+Napoleon's tunnel, and flashed out into a startling landscape, as
+sensational as the country of the "Delectable Mountains" in "Pilgrim's
+Progress." The cup-like valley was ringed in by mountains of
+astonishing shapes; it was nature posing for a picture by John Martin.
+In the fields were dotted characteristic Dauphiné houses, little elfin
+things with overhanging roofs like caps tied under their chins.
+
+Soon, we raced into the main street of tiny Les Echelles, whence, in
+the good old days, fair Princess Beatrice of Savoie went away to wed
+with the famed Raymond of Provence. We whisked through the village,
+and down the valley to St. Laurens du Pont, and the entrance to that
+great rift between mountains which leads to the monastery of the
+Grande Chartreuse.
+
+As we plunged into the narrow jaws of the superb ravine, a wave of
+regret for the Boy swept over me. He and I had talked of this day--the
+day we should see the deserted monastery hidden among its mountains;
+now it had come, and we were parted.
+
+The society of Jack and Molly and the motor car could make up for many
+things, but it could not stifle longings for the Little Pal. Besides,
+magnificent as was Mercédès (the Dragon, not the Mushroom) I felt that
+Finois and Fanny-anny would have been more in keeping with the place.
+I was too dispirited to care whether or no my eyes were filled with
+dust; therefore I had not goggled myself, and I think that Jack must
+have gathered something of my thoughts from my long face.
+
+"How would you like to get out and walk here, like pilgrims of old?"
+he asked. "It will be too much for the girls, but Gotteland will drive
+them up slowly, not to be too far in advance. American girls, you'll
+find, if you ever make a study of one or more of them, can do
+everything in the world except--walk. There they have to bow to
+English girls."
+
+"That's because we've got smaller feet," retorted Molly. "Where an
+English girl can walk ten miles we can do only five, but it's quite
+enough. And we have such imaginations that we can sit in this
+automobile and fancy ourselves princesses on ambling palfreys."
+
+It was close to the deserted distillery of the famous liqueur that we
+parted company, the car, piled with our discarded great-coats, forging
+ahead up the historic path. The little tramway that used to carry the
+cases of liqueur to the station at Fourvoirie was nearly obliterated
+by new-grown grass; the vast buildings stood empty. Never again would
+the mellow Chartreuse verte and Chartreuse jaune he fragrantly
+distilled behind the high grey walls, for the makers were banished and
+scattered far abroad.
+
+We lingered for a moment at the narrow entrance to Le Désert, where
+the rushing river Guiers foams through the throttled gorge, giving
+barely room for the road scored along the lace of the cliff. It was
+like a doorway to the lost domain of the monks, and Jack and I agreed
+that St. Bruno was a man of genius to find such a retreat. A retreat
+it was literally. St. Bernard had taken his followers to a place
+where, suffering great hardships, they could best devote their lives
+to succouring others; but St. Bruno's theory had evidently been that
+holy men can do more good to their kind by prayer in peaceful
+sanctuaries than by offering more material aid.
+
+Here,--at the doorway of St. Bruno's long corridor,--the ravine, the
+old forge, the single-arched bridge flung high across the deep bed of
+the roaring torrent, had all grouped themselves as if after a
+consultation upon artistic effect. Once, there had been an actual
+gate, built alike for defence and for limitation, but there were no
+traces of it left for the eye of the amateur.
+
+We passed into the defile, and the motor car was out of sight long
+ago. Higher and higher the brown road climbed. The mountains towered
+close and tall. Great pillared palaces of rock loomed against the sky
+like castles in the air, incalculably far above the green heads and
+sloping shoulders of the nearer mountain slopes.
+
+I had thought that green was never so green as in the Valley of Aosta,
+but here in St. Bruno's corridor there was a new richness of emerald
+in the green carpet and wall hangings, such as I had not yet known. It
+was green stamped with living gold, in delicate fleur-de-lis patterns
+where the sun wove bright threads; and high above was the ceiling of
+lapis lazuli, in pure unclouded blue.
+
+We heard no sound save the voices of unseen woodcutters crying to each
+other from mountain slope to mountain slope, the resonant ring of
+their axes, striking out wild, echoing notes with a fleeting clang of
+steel on pine, and now and again the sudden thunder-crash of a falling
+tree, like the roar of a distant avalanche.
+
+By-and-bye we came to the aërial bridge which spans the Guiers Mort,
+slender and graceful as the arch of a rainbow, and as we gazed down at
+the far, white water hurling itself in sheets of foam past the
+detaining rocks, the sharp toot of a horn broke discordantly into the
+deep-toned music. A motor car sprang round an abrupt curve and flashed
+by, but not so quickly that I did not recognise among the six
+occupants the two young Americans of Mont Revard. They passed me as
+unseeingly as they did the scenery: for they were talking as fast to
+two pretty girls opposite them in the tonneau, as if the girls had not
+been talking equally fast to them at the same time. I bore the pair a
+grudge, and the sight of them brought back the consciousness of my
+injury.
+
+St. Bruno, fortunate in many ways, was a lucky saint to have so
+beautiful a bridge named after him. And as we climbed the brown
+road--moist with tears wept by the mountains for the banished
+monks--it seemed to us that the scenery was always leading up to him,
+as a preface leads up to the first chapter of a book. We went through
+tunnels as a thread goes through the eye of a needle; we wound round
+intricate turns of the road; we came upon pinnacle rocks; and then, at
+last, when we least expected the climax of our journey, we dropped
+into a great green basin, rimmed with soaring crags. In the midst
+stood an enormous building, a vast conglomeration of pointed,
+dove-grey roofs and dun-coloured walls, a city of slate and stone
+spread over acres of ground and seeming a part of the impressive yet
+strangely peaceful wilderness.
+
+Looking at the vast structure, I was ready to believe that St. Bruno
+had waved his staff in the shadow of a rough-hewn mountain, saying:
+"Let there be a monastery," and suddenly, there was a monastery; but
+our motor, quivering with nervous energy before a door in the high
+wall, snatched me back to practicalities.
+
+Molly, leaning quietly back in the tonneau beside the Perpetual
+Mushroom, saw us coming from afar off, and waved a hand of absurd
+American smallness. By the time we were within speaking distance, she
+was out of the car and coming toward us.
+
+"We were so hungry, that we lunched while we waited," she explained,
+"so now you and Jack can go to the hôtellerie and have something
+quickly. We'll walk in the woods until you come back, and then, as
+Mercédès doesn't seem to mind, we'll all go into the monastery
+together."
+
+It was not until the door of the Grande Chartreuse had opened to
+receive us, and closed again behind our backs, shutting us into a
+large empty quadrangle, that the Spirit of the place took us by the
+hand.
+
+Over the steep grey roofs (pointed like monkish hands with finger-tips
+joined in prayer) we gazed up at mountain peaks, grey and green, and
+pointing also to a heaven which seemed strangely near.
+
+The spell of the vast, the stupendous silence fell upon us. Somehow,
+Molly drifted from me to Jack as we walked noiselessly on, led by a
+silent guide, as if she craved the warm comfort of a loved presence,
+and for a few brief moments the veiled Mercédès paced step for step
+beside me. But we did not speak to each other.
+
+What a tragic, tremendous silence it was! Yes, I wanted the Boy. I
+should have been glad of the touch of his little shoulder. Thinking of
+him thus, by some accident the sleeve of Mercédès's coat brushed
+against mine. Still, not a word from either of us. I did not even say,
+"I beg your pardon," for that would have been to obtrude my voice upon
+the thousand voices of the Silence; dead voices, living voices; voices
+of passionate protest, voices of heartbreaking homesickness, of aching
+grief and longing, never to be assuaged. Poor monks--poor banished men
+who had loved their home, and belonged to it, as the clasping tendrils
+of old, old ivy belong to the oak.
+
+How dared we come here into this place from which they had been
+driven, we aliens? I had not known it would grip me so by the throat.
+How full the emptiness was!--as full to my mind as the air is of
+motes when a bar of sunshine reveals them.
+
+It was the Palace of Sleep, lost in the mountain forests, but here
+there was no hope coming with the springing footsteps of a blithe
+young prince. The sleepers in this palace could not be waked by a
+wish, or a magic kiss, for they were ghosts, ghosts everywhere--in the
+great kitchen, with all its huge polished utensils ready for the meal
+which would never be cooked, and its neat plain dishes on shelved
+trays, waiting to be carried to the _grilles_ of the _solitaires_; in
+the Brothers' refectory where the egg-cups were ranged on long, narrow
+tables, for the meal never to be eaten, where the chair of the Reader
+was waiting to receive him; in the Fathers' refectory next door; in
+the dusky corridors, their ends lost in shadow, where only the sad
+echoes and the running water of the unseen spring were awake; in the
+chapels; in the cemetery with its old carved stones and humbler wooden
+crosses; and most of all in the wonderful cells (which were not cells,
+but mansions), and in their high-walled gardens, the most private of
+all imaginable spots on earth.
+
+Wandering on and on, alone now, I felt myself the saddest man in a
+twilight world. Why, I could not have put into words. Had the
+brotherhood still peopled the monastery, I should have yearned to join
+them, partly because I was sad, and partly because the so-called cells
+were the most charming dwelling-places I had seen. Each comprised a
+two-storied house in miniature, and each had its garden, shut
+irrevocably away from sight or sound of any other. Into one of these
+solitary abodes I went alone, and closed the door upon myself and the
+ghosts. In fancy I was one of the order, in retreat for a week, my
+only means of communication with the outer world of the monastery
+(save for midnight prayers in the dim chapel) a little _grille_. There
+was my workshop, where I carved wood; there the narrow staircase
+leading steeply up to my wainscoted bedroom, my study, and my oratory,
+with windows looking down into the leafy square of garden, planted by
+my own hands. Standing at one of those windows, I knew the anguish of
+parting and loss which had torn the heart of the last occupant, before
+he walked out of the monastery between double lines of Chasseurs
+Alpins.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIX
+
+The Fairy Prince's Ring
+
+    "Rub the ring, and the Genius will appear."
+                             --_Arabian Nights_.
+
+
+Down, down a winding and beautiful road we plunged, on leaving the
+Grande Chartreuse, while the afternoon sunlight was still golden. The
+monastery sank out of our sight as we went, as the moon sinks into the
+sea, and was gone for us as if it were on the other side of the world.
+Ah, but a sweet, warm world, and I was glad after all that I was not a
+monk in carved oak cells and walled gardens, but a free young man who
+could vibrate between the South Pole and the Albany.
+
+Molly said that the monastery of the Grande Chartreuse was like a body
+without a soul; and in another breath she was asking Jack, quite
+seriously, whether she could buy one of the cells from the French
+Government, all complete, to "express" as a present to her father in
+New York.
+
+We flew, our motor humming like a bee, through exquisite forests
+clothing the sides of a narrow ravine, where hidden streams made
+music. Then in a twinkling we slipped out from the secret recesses of
+scented woods, into a village almost too beautiful to accept as
+reality, in a practical mood. There it lay, like a little heap of
+pearls tossed down from the lap of one mountain at the feet of
+another--and we were at St. Pierre de Chartreuse.
+
+The tiny gem of beauty had caught the glory of Switzerland, and the
+soft, fairy charm of Dauphiné. Its guardian mountain was a miniature
+Matterhorn of indescribable grace and airy stateliness; its lesser
+attendants formed a group of peaks, grey and green and rose. As if
+enough gifts had not yet been bestowed upon the little place at its
+christening, a playground of forest land, rolling up over grassy
+slopes, had been given, with a neighbouring river, swift and clear, to
+sing it a lullaby.
+
+I had the impulse to clap my hands at St. Pierre de Chartreuse, as at
+some "setting" excellently designed and carried out by the most
+celebrated of scene painters. It was a place in which to stop a month,
+finding a new walk for each new day; but one does not discover walks
+in a motor car. One sweeps over the country, sounding notes of
+triumph. We glanced at St. Pierre de Chartreuse and sped on towards
+Grenoble, through a landscape markedly different from that of Savoie.
+
+In Savoie everything is done lavishly, on a large scale. The eye roams
+over spaces of noble amplitude, expressing strength in repose.
+
+Dauphiné is livelier and daintier; more lovable, too. Fairies or
+brownies (since no mortals do it) keep the whole country like a vast
+private park. In crossing from Savoie into Dauphiné one seemed to hear
+the allegro movement after listening to the andante.
+
+With each twist of our road the prospect changed. The mountains grew,
+soared more abruptly, and the youthful-looking landscape smiled at
+their strange shapes. As for the Cham Chaude, which had been the
+Matterhorn at St. Pierre de Chartreuse, it now disguised itself for
+some new part at every turn. Such lightning changes must have been
+fatiguing, even for so extraordinarily versatile and clever a
+mountain, for within fifteen minutes after playing it was the
+Matterhorn, it was a giant, tonsured monk; a Greek soldier in a
+helmet; a Dutch cheese; a hen, and a camel.
+
+When Dragon Mercédès had rushed us up the great Col, and whirled round
+a corner, suddenly a battalion of magnificent white warrior-mountains
+sprang at us from an ambush of invisibility. Then, no sooner had they
+struck awe to our hearts with their warlike majesty, than, repentant,
+they turned into lovely white ladies, bidding us welcome to the rich,
+ripe figs and purple grapes which they held in their generous laps. I
+thought of Saint Elizabeth of Hungary with her fair face, her candid
+sky-blue eyes, her high, noble bearing, and her white dress caught up,
+heaped with the roses into which her loaves had been transformed. The
+tallest, purest white mountain of all I chose for sweet Elizabeth, and
+that was none other than far Mont Blanc, floating magically in pure
+blue ether, like a gleaming pearl.
+
+Flying down the perfect road towards the plain where two rivers met,
+loved, and wedded, the valley which was the white mountain's lap
+blended vague, soft greens and blues and purples, hinting of grapes
+and figs clustering under leaves. Here and there a vine had been
+nipped by early frosts and flung its crimson wreaths, like diadems of
+rubies, in a red arch across distant billows of mountain snows.
+
+Autumn was in the air, and though the grass and most of the trees kept
+all their richness of summer greenery, a faint, pungent fragrance of
+dying leaves and the smoke of bonfires came to one's nostrils with
+the breeze. Mingled with the exciting scent of petrol, it was
+delicious.
+
+At the confluence of the newly married Drac and Isère rose the domes
+and towers of stately old Grenoble, hoary with history; and never a
+town had a nobler setting. Swooping down in half-circles, as if our
+car had been a great bird of prey, we saw the valley veiled with a
+silver haze, which wrapped the city in mystery, while through this
+gleaming gauze the two rivers threaded like strings of turquoise
+beads.
+
+"How the Boy would have loved this!" I found myself exclaiming over my
+shoulder to Molly. "He used often to talk of the great charm of
+descending from heights upon places, especially new-old places, which
+one has never seen before."
+
+"Used he?" echoed Molly. "Why, that is rather odd. It is exactly what
+Mercédès has just been saying."
+
+The Perpetual Mushroom moved impatiently. I fancied by the movement of
+her shoulder that she resented having her thoughts passed on to me. I
+hastened to turn away, sorry that I had reminded her inadvertently of
+my cumbersome existence; but I could not help wondering what she had
+been thinking of in the monastery when we had walked for full five
+moments side by side.
+
+There was no disappointment when we had plunged into the silver haze,
+torn it apart, and entered the town over a dignified bridge. All
+around us spread the city old and new; above, on the hills, were
+numerous châteaux, a strange fort, and the queerest of ancient
+convents, like the cork castles I had seen in shop windows and coveted
+as a child. In the town there were statues, many statues--statues
+everywhere and in honour of everybody. Bayard was there, dying; and
+there was a delightfully human old fellow (humorous even in marble)
+who cleverly "lay low" till his worst enemy had finished an
+elaborately fortified castle, then promptly took it. Not a spacious
+modern street that had not at least one magnificent old palace, a
+façade of joyous Renaissance invention, or at least a crumbling
+mediæval doorway of divine beauty; and nothing of romance was lost
+because Grenoble makes gloves for all the world.
+
+We sailed out of the town along the straight five-mile road to the
+Pont de Claix, and now it was ho! for the Basses Alpes, over a road
+which might have been engineered for an emperor's motoring; past the
+quaint twin bridges spanning the stream side by side, which our
+guide-book taught us to recognise as one of the Seven Wonders (with
+capitals) of Dauphiné. Then came a valley, almost theatrical in its
+romantic grace. One would not have believed in it for a moment if one
+had seen it first in a sketch. Even the railway, on which we soon
+looked down, was inspired to gymnastic feats, leaping across chasms on
+giddy viaducts, and twisting back upon itself in corkscrew tunnels.
+There were thrilling retrospective views away to the giant Alps we
+were leaving behind, but soon, nearer mountains crowded them out of
+sight. The country grew wild, with a strange grimness, like the face
+of a blind Fate; cultivation ceased in despair of success; and alike
+on the bare uplands and in the deep-scored valleys there were few
+signs of human life. Then, suddenly, in such a setting, we came upon
+the grandest of the Seven Marvels, the most wonderful lone rock in
+Europe, Mont Aiguille, more like an obelisk of incalculable immensity
+than a mountain. Once, it had been considered unscalable, and might
+have remained virgin until this century of hardy climbers, had not
+Charles the Eighth had a fancy to hear (not to see!) what was on top.
+Up went a few of his bravest satellites, hoisting themselves on to the
+aërial plateau by means of ropes and ladders, and bringing down
+wondrous tales of impossible chamois, savage, brilliant-coloured
+birds, and singular vegetation, which stories promptly went into all
+the geographies of the day and were believed until a more practical
+explorer named Jean Liotard climbed up, to please himself, in 1834.
+
+We lost sight of this second Dauphiné Marvel (the last one we were to
+see) just before running up the steep hill which led down again into
+the dark jaws of another mountain pass. It was the Col de la Croix
+Haute; and once past this gateway of the Alps the landscape changed
+slowly and indefinably, here and there suggesting that we were drawing
+nearer to the south. Though we were still encompassed on every side by
+mountains, they had lost their Alpine splendour of bearing; they
+stooped, or poked their chins.
+
+The country was now all brown and green; and, surfeited with beauty,
+it seemed to me that here was nothing great. We sped through Aspres;
+through Serres, on its rocky promontory; and on through Laragne, whose
+ancient inn with the sign of a spider gave a name to the town. Pointed
+brown-green mountains were crowned with pointed green-brown ruins,
+hoary after much history-making; and at the pointed mountains'
+brown-green feet those _avant-courriers_ of the South, almond trees,
+had sat down to rest on their way home.
+
+Still we flew on; but at Sisteron Jack slowed down the motor. Here
+was something too curious for even spoiled sightseers to pass in a
+hurry.
+
+The town struggled hardily up one side of a gorge, deep and steep,
+where the Durance has forced its patient way through a huge barrier of
+rock whose tilted strata correspond curiously on both sides of the
+stream. Driving down to the low bridge across the river, we gazed up
+at the town piled high above our heads, culminating in a fortress
+which, cut in a dark square out of the sky's turquoise, looked old as
+the beginning of the world.
+
+Sisteron was brown, too, but not at all green; and beyond, for a time,
+the country was still in a grim brown study, though it ought to have
+remembered that it was now laughing Provence. It gave us crumbling
+châteaux, high-perched ancient rock villages without stint, and even a
+house (in the strangely named village of Malijai) where Napoleon had
+lain, early in the Hundred Days; but not a smile or a wild flower.
+Then, in a flash, its mood changed. The savage land had been tamed by
+some whispered word of Mother Nature, and grew youthfully pretty under
+our eyes. The poplars, in their autumn cloaks of gold, fringed the
+road with flame, and scattered largesse of red copper filings in our
+path; the dark mountains drew up over their bare shoulders scarfs of
+crimson, and the sun flung a million diamonds into the wide bed of the
+Durance.
+
+Night was falling as we drove into the lazy-looking Provençal town of
+Digne, where all was green and sleepy, at peace with itself and the
+world at large. Even the beautiful Doric _château d'eau_ was green
+with moss, and the water of its fountain laughed in sleep; the famous
+basilica showed grey through green lichen; its wonderful rose window
+had a green frame of ivy, and the strange, sculptured beasts guarding
+the door had saddles of green velvet mould.
+
+We slept at Digne, and made an early morning start, the car plunging
+us almost from the first into scenery which only Gustave Doré could
+have imagined. Gnome villages and elfin castles clung to slim
+pinnacles of rock which seemed to swing, like blown branches, against
+the sky. Wild grey mountains bristled with rocky spines, and trails of
+scarlet foliage poured like streams of blood down their rough sides,
+completing the resemblance to fierce, wounded boars.
+
+Our road was a road of steep gradients, leading us through gorges of a
+grandeur which would have been called appalling when the world was a
+little younger, and more in awe of savage Nature. If a midge could be
+provided with a proportionately tiny motor car, and sent coasting at
+full tilt down a greased corkscrew, from the handle to the sharp end
+of the screw, the effect would have been somewhat that of our Mercédès
+leaping down the steep defiles. We were vaguely conscious now and then
+that a river far below us clamoured for our bones; on one side we had
+a precipice, on the other a sheer face of towering cliff.
+
+Gorges, glorious gorges! a plethora of gorges. No sooner were we out
+of one, and drawing breath in a valley of golden sunshine and silver
+river, but we were back in another majestic cañon. Finest of all,
+perhaps, was the dark Clou de Rouaine; yet when we sprang out into
+daylight to throw ourselves into the village of Les Scaffarels,
+wonders did not cease. Now we were in the true hinterland of the gay,
+blue-and-gold Riviera, following the course of the Var, down to Nice,
+not many miles away. Wide and pebbly in its bed by the bright pleasure
+town, here it led us through a succession of more gorges, thundered us
+through rock tunnels, swept us over bridges, and at last tumbled us
+into sight of a marvel which must throw the whole seven of Dauphiné
+out of focus. It was the town of Entrevaux, and to my shame I had
+never heard of it. Where the narrow valley opens into a broad one, and
+the green, swift flowing river sweeps in a sickle-curve round the base
+of a high rock, Entrevaux shoots far up into the sky. The river bathes
+its dark walls, protected by devices dear to the hearts of mediæval
+Vaubans. Pepper-castor sentry-boxes jut out over the water; a great
+drawbridge with portcullis, triple gateway, and neat contrivances for
+pouring oil and molten lead upon besiegers, alone gives access to the
+town; while behind the old crowded houses a fortified stairway in the
+rock leads dizzily up to a stronghold clamped upon a towering peak--a
+peak like a black, giant wine-bottle, slender-necked, with the fort
+castle for the cork.
+
+"If the Boy could see this with me!" I thought. And then, because this
+place was like a fairy place, I remembered the fairy prince's ring.
+Never had I followed his instructions; but I rubbed it now, and wished
+that the genie of the ring would give me back the Little Pal at Monte
+Carlo.
+
+After Entrevaux, picturesque Puget-Theniers was an anticlimax; though
+other fairy towns peered down from high crags and sheer hillsides
+where they hung by wires caught in spider webs--and though we passed
+through other gorges of grim beauty, my thoughts had flown ahead of
+our swift car. I was glad when at last we came into sight of a fair
+white city lying on the blue curve of a bay and ringed with green
+hills, glad that our journey was all but ended; for the fair city was
+Nice.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+[Illustration: "THE ROCK OF MONACO".]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXX
+
+The Day of Suspense
+
+    "Will you make me believe that I am not sent for . . . ?
+     Go to, go to, thou art a foolish fellow!"
+                                          --SHAKESPEARE.
+
+
+From Nice to Monte Carlo over the Upper Corniche, was for us a spin of
+less than two hours; and after that most beautiful drive in the world,
+we slowed down before the green-shaded loggia of the Royal, early in
+the afternoon. The hotel was only just open for the season, and it was
+possible to have a choice of rooms. Jack selected a glass-fronted
+suite, with a view more beautiful than any other in the extraordinary
+little principality:
+
+    "Magic casements
+    Opening on the foam of perilous seas
+    In faëry lands forlorn."
+
+which were, respectively, the harbour, and the rock of Monaco (as old
+as Hercules), with its ancient towers dark against a sky of pearl.
+
+I was given a peep into Molly's salon, which appeared to be a sort of
+crystal palace, with its two window-walls curtained by trailing roses;
+and Jack kept me for a moment at the door.
+
+"I suppose we shall meet for dinner about eight, won't we, no matter
+what we may all choose to do meanwhile?" said he.
+
+"Well--er--no," I mumbled, feeling a little foolish. "I have--er--a
+sort of engagement for to-night. I think I mentioned it before."
+
+"What, to meet that missing Boy of yours?" asked Jack, in a chaffing
+tone, so tactlessly loud that it must have been distinctly audible to
+the ladies in the adjoining room, the door of which was open. "Isn't
+that rather a mad idea? You were vaguely engaged to meet your pal, I
+believe you said, on the night after your arrival, at the Hôtel de
+Paris, for dinner. But considering the fact that, if you'd walked down
+as you then intended, instead of motoring, you would have been a
+fortnight on the way, isn't it fantastic to expect that he'll turn up?"
+
+"Not quite as fantastic as you think," I retorted, remembering the
+terms of the Boy's letter, which had not been confided to Jack, in
+their exactness. "Anyhow, I'm going on the off chance."
+
+"You apparently credit the youth with clairvoyance, my dear chap.
+Supposing he has come down here, how could he know that you'd
+arrived?"
+
+"I wired him from Digne, telegraphing to the Poste Restante at Monte
+Carlo, where he would certainly think of enquiring, if he took much
+interest in my movements. In that message I made it very clear that I
+should expect him to stick to our bargain, and I have an impression
+that he will."
+
+"He may. But, look here, my dear fellow,"--Jack now had the decency to
+lower his voice,--"have you no red blood in your veins? Mercédès--the
+real Mercédès--nearly restored to health and spirits by her run with
+us through splendid air and scenery, is to unveil her charms this
+evening at dinner. You have irreverently nicknamed her the Perpetual
+Mushroom. To-night, you will see--but you don't deserve to be told
+what you will see, if you haven't the curiosity to find out at the
+first opportunity for yourself."
+
+"Second opportunities, like second thoughts, are better than first,"
+said I. "I shall he delighted to take the second opportunity of
+meeting Miss Mercédès--by the way, what _is_ her other name? You
+always seemed to take it for granted that I knew; but if it was ever
+mentioned in the summer, I've forgotten."
+
+"You should be ashamed to admit that you could deliberately and
+stoically forget a charming young lady's name, and you don't deserve
+to have your memory jogged. You shall be told the heiress's name when
+you meet her, and not before."
+
+"I must possess my soul in patience until to-morrow, then," I replied,
+"for to me one pal in the bush is worth twenty heiresses in the hand,
+and I am now going out to scour the said bush."
+
+"Which means the Casino, no doubt."
+
+"I shall stroll in, when I've got rid of the dust. The Rooms are the
+place to come across people."
+
+"All right, gang your ain gait, my son, and I suppose I must wish you
+luck. Daresay we shall see each other before bedtime."
+
+A few hours later, I was walking down through the gardens, on my way
+to the Casino. The young grass, sown last month, had already become
+green velvet, and the flowers were as fresh as if they had been
+created an hour ago. The air smelled of La France roses and orange
+blossoms, though I saw neither. Some pretty Austrian girls were
+walking about in muslin frocks and gauzy hats, though by this time,
+in England, women were putting on their fur boas in deference to
+autumn; and a few days ago I had been lost in a snowstorm on a
+middle-sized mountain of Savoie.
+
+As I drew near to the big white Casino, strains of music came to me
+from the terrace, and thinking that the Boy might be there listening
+to the band, I went through the tunnel and came out on the beautiful
+flower-decked plateau overhanging the sea. Out of season though it
+was, a great many people were sitting there, drinking tea or coffee,
+and listening to "La Paloma."
+
+The windows of the Casino were open, protected by awnings; birds were
+taking their last flight, before going to bed in some orange or lemon
+tree. The place was more charming than in the high season; but the
+face I looked for was not to be seen, and I deserted the Terrace for
+the Rooms.
+
+I had not been to "Monte" since the Boer war; and when I had gone
+through the formalities at the Bureau, and entered the first _salle_,
+it struck me strangely to find everything exactly as I had left it
+years ago.
+
+The same heavy stillness, emphasised by the continuous chink, chink of
+gold and silver, and broken only by the announcement of events at
+different tables: "_Onze, noir, impair et manque";--"Rien ne va
+plus";--"Zèro!_"
+
+The same _onze_; the same _rien n'va plus_; the same _zèro_ heralded
+in the same secretly joyous, outwardly apologetic tone, by the
+croupiers fortunate enough to produce it. The same croupiers too;--(or
+do croupiers develop a family likeness of face, of voice, of coat, as
+the years go chinking zeroly on?). The same players, or their
+_doppelgängers_; the same pictured nymphs smiling on the ornate
+walls. But there was no Boy, no Boy's sister; and suddenly it occurred
+to me that I was foolish to expect him. He was too childlike in
+appearance to have obtained a ticket of admission to the gambling
+rooms.
+
+Since it was useless to look for him here, and no other place seemed
+promising at this hour, there was nothing to do but pass the moments
+until time to change for dinner. Accordingly I watched the tables.
+Once, like most men of my age, I had been bitten by the roulette fever
+and had wrestled with "systems" in their thousands, not so much for
+the mere "gamble," as for the joy of striving to beat the wily Pascal
+at his own invention.
+
+In those old days the wheel had been like a populous town for me,
+inhabited by quaint little people, each living in his own snug house;
+the Little People of Roulette. Not a number on the board but his face
+was familiar to me; I would have known him if I had met him in the
+street. There was sly, thin, dark little Dix, always sneaking up on
+tiptoe when you did not want him, and popping out behind your back.
+Business-like, successful, bustling Onze; tactless but honest Douze;
+treacherous yet fascinating Treize; blundering Seize; graceful,
+brunette Dix-Sept; and the faithful, friendly Vingtneuf; feminine
+Rouge; brusque, virile Noir; mean little, underbred Manque, and senile
+Passe; priggish Pair with his skittish young wife; the Dozens,
+_nouveaux-riches_, thinking themselves a cut above the humbler Simple
+Chances in Roulette Society; the upright, unbending Columns; the
+raffish Chevaux; the excitable Transversales, and the brilliant
+Carrés; charming on first acquaintance, but fickle as friends; the
+twin, blind dwarfs, the Coups des Deux; these and many more, down to
+the wretched, worried Intermittances, ever in a violent hurry to catch
+a train but never catching it. I could see them all, still; but I saw
+them pass with calmness now, for I wanted to find the Boy.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXI
+
+The Boy's Sister
+
+    "A little thing would make me tell
+     . . . how much I lack of a man."
+                         --SHAKESPEARE.
+
+
+The palace clock over in Monaco was striking eight as I reached the
+steps of the Hôtel de Paris. Eight had been the hour appointed. Now,
+here were both the Hour and the Man: but where was the Boy?
+
+I walked into the gay restaurant, with its window-wall, and the long
+rank of candle-lit tables ready for dinner. Twenty people, perhaps,
+were dining; but there was no slim figure in short black jacket, Eton
+collar, and loose silk tie; no curly chestnut head; no blue-star eyes.
+Cordially disliking everybody present, I marched down the length of
+the room, and took a corner table, which was laid for four. On the
+sparkling snow of the damask cloth burned a bonfire of scarlet
+geraniums, and two red-shaded wax candles, of the kind which the Boy
+used to call "candles with nostrils," made wavering rose-lights on the
+white expanse.
+
+I sat down, and an attentive waiter appeared at my elbow, having
+apparently shot up from the floor like a pantomime demon.
+
+"Monsieur desires dinner for one?" he deferentially enquired.
+
+"I am expecting one or perhaps two friends," I replied. "I will wait
+for them half an hour. If they do not come by the end of that time, I
+will dine alone."
+
+"Will Monsieur please to regard the menu?"
+
+"Yes, thanks."
+
+He put it in my hand with an appetizing bow, which would have been
+almost as good as an _hors d'oeuvre_ had my mood been appreciative of
+delicacies. But it was not; neither could I fix my mind upon the
+ordering of a dinner. My eyes would keep jumping to the glass door at
+the far end of the room. "I want the best dinner the house can serve,"
+I said, meanly shifting responsibility. "Not too long a dinner,
+but--oh well, you may tell the chef I depend upon his choice."
+
+"I quite understand, Monsieur. A dinner to please a lady, is it not?"
+
+"Yes. Something to please a lady." Was there not the Boy's sister to
+be catered for in case she should come? In thinking of him I must not
+forget her. But then, how improbable it was that my poor dinner would
+be tasted by either!
+
+"And for wine, Monsieur?"
+
+I ordered at random the brand of champagne which had seemed like
+nectar to the Boy and me that evening in far away Aosta, when the
+compact of our friendship was first made. But yes, certainly, it was
+to be had. And it should in an all little moment be on the ice.
+
+The waiter glided away to make that little moment less, and I was left
+to measure it and its brothers. One after another they passed. What a
+pity the moment family is such a large one! I stared at the glass
+door. Other men's friends came in by it, but not mine. I glared at
+the window close to which I sat. The peculiarly theatrical effect of
+daylight melting into night, as seen at Monte Carlo and nowhere else,
+added to the sensation of suspense I felt, as when the curtain is
+about to rise on the crowning act of an exciting play.
+
+The scene out there in the Place was exactly like a setting for the
+stage. The great white Casino, with the constant _va et vient_ to and
+from the open doorway; the bubbly domes of the fantastically Moorish
+café across the way; the velvet grass, unnaturally green in the
+electric light; the flower beds in the garden a mosaic floor of
+coloured jewels; the air blue as a gauze veil, with diamonds shining
+through its meshes; and over all a serene arch of hyacinth sky,
+pulsing with smouldering ashes-of-rose just above the purple line of
+mountain-tops.
+
+A carriage drove quickly past the window, and stopped, far on at the
+main door of the hotel. More people for dinner; but not the Boy. I
+indistinctly saw a tall man and two ladies in long evening cloaks step
+out; then I turned my eyes elsewhere.
+
+Over on the brightly lighted balcony of the Café de Paris opposite,
+the "out-of-season" musicians were playing "Sole Mio," and the
+yearning strains of that simple, hackneyed Italian love song stirred
+my veins oddly.
+
+The glass door down at the other end of the room opened, and the
+movement there caught my eyes. A girl came in, alone, and stood still
+as if looking for someone--her slender white figure, in its long
+flowing cloak, clearly outlined against a darker background. She was
+alone, and there was nobody to introduce us, no one to tell me who she
+was, but the beautiful face as so marvellously like one I knew, that
+I jumped up instantly. The Boy's sister! She must have come, with
+friends, and be looking for him. Then, he was here, or would be!
+
+I have a vague remembrance of treading on several trains as I went to
+meet her, intending to introduce myself, as her brother had not
+arrived. The restaurant seemed suddenly to have become a mile long,
+and she was at the other end of it. So was I, at last, holding out my
+hand to the white girl with a large black hat, and diamond pins
+winking in the curly chestnut hair which they held in place.
+
+She was so astonishingly like him! Now that I had come closer, the
+resemblance was incredible. The hair; the soft oval of the little
+face; the eyes--the great, star-eyes!
+
+I forgot everything but that one figure, lily-white, and swaying like
+a lily, as it stood. Luckily, there was no one near to see, or think
+of us. The diners dined, as if this were an ordinary night, as if
+there might be other such nights again.
+
+"Who are you?" I said as if in a dream.
+
+A wave of colour swept up from the small, firm chin, to the rings of
+chestnut hair. "I--why, I'm the Boy's sister," a low voice stammered.
+"He--sent me. I've a letter from him. My friends are outside. They
+will be here soon, but I--I came. You are--I suppose you are Man----"
+
+"And I know you are Boy, Boy himself. I mean, he never was--for
+heaven's sake tell me--but no, I don't need to ask. I've got my Little
+Pal back again, that's all."
+
+"Oh, if I'd been sure you would guess--if I had known you would talk
+to me like this, I should not have dared to come."
+
+"Yes, you would. For you are brave; and you owed me this."
+
+"I'm ashamed to look you in the face. What must you think of me?"
+
+"Think? I'm past thinking. I'm thanking the gods. If I could think at
+all it would be of myself, that I was a fool not to--and yet, _was_ I
+a fool? You _were_ a boy then. Even the Contessa----"
+
+"Oh, don't! Where can we sit? I must tell you everything--explain
+everything. I can't wait. In a few minutes Molly and Jack will come."
+
+"Good heavens!"
+
+"Yes. Didn't you guess? I'm the Perpetual
+Mushroom,--Mercédès--Roy--Laurence. Oh, Man, Man, how have I dared
+everything--and most of all this meeting? To fight that duel would
+have been easier. I think I would never have ventured after all, I
+would have stayed a Mushroom always, and let the Boy be buried and
+forgotten; but Molly wouldn't let me."
+
+"God bless Molly."
+
+I suppose I must have led her to my table, for at this juncture we
+found ourselves there.
+
+"Will Monsieur have dinner served?" breathed a voice out of the hazy
+unrealities that shut us two in alone together.
+
+"Dinner by-and-bye," I heard myself murmuring, as one brushes away a
+buzzing insect. "Yes,--dinner by-and-bye--for four."
+
+"Man," the Girl began; and then was silent.
+
+"Little Pal," I answered, and she visibly gathered courage.
+
+"You know what a great blow I had, and how it made me very ill," she
+went on. "It was Molly Randolph who persuaded me that a complete
+change, and living in the open air--the open air of other countries
+where no one knew me or my troubles--would cure my heart, and mind,
+too."
+
+(Oh, what a Molly! What might she not do for this sad, bad, mad old
+world, if she would but set up for a specialist in the mind and heart
+line!)
+
+"She didn't help me make the plan that--I finally carried out. You
+see, she had to be married, and whisked off to England, when she had
+half finished my cure. One night when I was lying awake, the thought
+came to me--of a thing I might do. It fascinated me. It wouldn't let
+me get away from it. At first, it was only a fantastic dream; but it
+took shape, and reality, till it was able to plead its own cause and
+argue its own advantages. A girl is handicapped. She can't have
+adventures; she must have a chaperon. A boy is free. Besides--I wanted
+to get away from men. As a boy, I could take Molly's advice, and
+travel, and be a regular gipsy if I liked.
+
+"My hair had been cut short when I was ill. That made me feel as if
+the thing really was to be. One day I sent out and bought some--some
+clothes, ready made, and put them on. That settled it, for I was sure
+no one would ever know me, or the truth. One thing suggested another.
+I thought of travelling with a caravan--then I changed my mind to
+donkeys, and that led to Innocentina. I'd gone out with her up into
+the mountains, donkey-back, every day from Mentone two years ago. She
+had talked to me about Aosta. Her mother's people came from there.
+Always since, I had wanted to go. I wrote her. I began to make
+preparations for a long journey."
+
+"You got the bag!" I exclaimed.
+
+"Oh, that bag! I should have _died_ if any English-speaking person had
+found it, and read my diary, which was to be used--partly--as notes
+for a book--if I should ever write it. I would have offered even a
+bigger reward, if you had let me. But I must go on:--they will
+come--Molly and Jack. I went out to Lucerne, where Innocentina joined
+me with the donkeys; but it wasn't till we were away in the wilds
+that--that the Boy appeared. I didn't mean to visit any very big towns
+afterwards, for it wasn't civilisation I wanted; but--you came into
+the story, and I did lots of things I hadn't meant to do--because of
+you, Man."
+
+"And I did lots of things I hadn't meant to do--because of you, Boy."
+
+"It was doing different things from what I planned that worked all the
+mischief. If we hadn't gone to Aix, we wouldn't have gone up Mont
+Revard; and if we hadn't gone up Mont Revard, the Prince wouldn't have
+had to vanish."
+
+"If he hadn't, would the Princess have appeared--for me? Or would she
+always have been passing--passing--I not dreaming of her presence,
+though she was by my side?"
+
+"Who can tell? Each event in life seems to be propped up against all
+the others, like a tower of children's bricks. Anyway, we did go, and
+Something had sent up to the snowy top of that mountain in Savoie the
+very last man in the world--except one--I would have chosen to meet.
+It was--_his_ brother--the younger brother of the man I had found out.
+He wasn't sure of me, I could tell: for he had never seen me with my
+hair short; and I had got so thin, and my face so brown; but he
+suspected, and he is a gossiping sort of fellow. If he had had a
+chance to see me by daylight, he would have been sure, and then there
+would be some wild story flashing all over America. That is why I ran
+away. But it hurt me to leave you like that, Man."
+
+"It cut off all my arms and legs, and my head, and left me only a
+trunk," I murmured.
+
+"I couldn't think what else to do; indeed, I could hardly think at
+all. But I knew Molly and Jack were going to Chambéry to spend a day,
+and I thought I might catch them there, if I hurried. You see, Molly
+and I wrote to each other sometimes, though I never said a word about
+you. I didn't dream you'd knew them, until one day you announced
+things you'd said to Molly in a letter, which--which--well, things
+which would need a lot of explanation, too difficult for black and
+white."
+
+"By Jove!" I exclaimed. "Now I know where I'd seen your handwriting
+before. It was in a letter which Molly dropped almost on my head, from
+a balcony at Martigny, and there was a photograph----"
+
+"Oh, you didn't see it?"
+
+"That's what Molly asked. I satisfied her that I hadn't."
+
+"Suppose you _had_--before you met me! But never mind. I did find them
+at Chambéry. They'd just arrived, and I told Molly everything."
+
+"What did she say?"
+
+"Oh, she just lent me some of her clothes, and said they'd take me
+with them in the automobile, out of danger's way until we could decide
+on a plan. I bought the thing you call a 'mushroom' in a shop, and we
+were starting off next morning when--you came along. Well----"
+
+"Well?"
+
+"Molly and Jack were in a very awkward position: for I had said to
+Molly that I felt I could never face you again--_never_, anyhow, as
+the Boy, and that _he_ had gone out of your life irrevocably. There I
+sat in the motor car, and there were you in the street. You can't
+imagine how I felt. It would have been horrid for them--your best
+friends--to leave you stranded, and--_I_ didn't want that either. I
+couldn't help feeling there'd be a tremendous fascination in being so
+near you, with my face hidden, you not knowing, if only the strain of
+it needn't last too long; and Molly just cut the Gordian knot of the
+scrape, as she always does. She assured me that being in the same car
+need commit me to _no_ decision as to what I would do in the end.
+But--you remember how she drew you out, about your feeling for the
+Boy, how you missed him, and how you were going all the way down to
+Monte Carlo on the bare chance of his being there? Well, she meant me
+to hear every word, and I did. After that--after that--I--_couldn't_
+give you up. I don't believe I could, anyway, when I'd straightened
+things out in my mind. I'd told you that you would never see the Boy
+again, and you never will; but Molly said that was no reason why you
+shouldn't see the Boy's sister. I wrote a note from him to you, for
+myself to bring to-night, and I thought--I hoped--you might perhaps
+believe----"
+
+"You couldn't have hoped it," I broke in. "Say that you came to give
+me back my Little Pal, whom you had stolen from me."
+
+"It may be. I don't know, myself. I couldn't foresee what would
+happen. As I heard you say, about motoring down steep hills, I just
+hurled myself into space, and trusted to Providence."
+
+"Now I understand all that was mysterious in myself," I said. "My
+heart, not being such a fool as my head, was trying continually to
+telegraph the truth about the Little Pal to my brain, which couldn't
+get the message right, as there was far too much electricity flying
+about in the atmosphere. Now I know why I loved the Boy so dearly,
+because he was you; because he was that Other Half which every man is
+always unconsciously looking for, round the world, and hardly ever
+finds."
+
+"Oh, Man, do you really care--like that? Do you love me--love 'for
+sure' this time?"
+
+"Sure for this time, and for Eternity. There never really was, there
+never will be, any other woman in my life except you: for you are my
+Life and my World."
+
+"You don't hate me for my masquerade?"
+
+"Hate you! I'll prove to you whether I----"
+
+"Why does your face look suddenly different, Man? Why do you stop?"
+
+"Because--I've remembered something that I'd forgotten."
+
+"What?"
+
+"Your horrible money."
+
+"Don't you think I knew you'd forgotten? Oh, Man, the money would be
+horrible indeed, if you should let it come between us, but you won't,
+will you? We belong to each other; your following me here proves it
+beyond doubt. I've known for weeks that I never truly cared for anyone
+else, for I love you, and can't do without you."
+
+"Then there's nothing on earth that shall come between us. Money or
+no money, what does it matter, after all? Will you finish the journey
+of Life with me, my Little Pal--my Love?"
+
+The star-eyes answered. And at that moment Molly and Jack came in.
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PRINCESS PASSES***
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