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diff --git a/17342-8.txt b/17342-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..85c30ab --- /dev/null +++ b/17342-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,10674 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Motor Maid, by Alice Muriel Williamson +and Charles Norris Williamson, Illustrated by F. M. Du Mond and F. +Lowenheim + + +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 Motor Maid + + +Author: Alice Muriel Williamson and Charles Norris Williamson + + + +Release Date: December 17, 2005 [eBook #17342] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MOTOR MAID*** + + +E-text prepared by David Cortesi, Suzanne Shell, and the Project Gutenberg +Online Distributed Proofreading Team (https://www.pgdp.net/) + + + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustrations. + See 17342-h.htm or 17342-h.zip: + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/7/3/4/17342/17342-h/17342-h.htm) + or + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/7/3/4/17342/17342-h.zip) + + + + + +THE MOTOR MAID + + + * * * * * + + + BOOKS BY C. N. AND A. M. WILLIAMSON + + LORD LOVELAND DISCOVERS AMERICA + SET IN SILVER + THE LIGHTNING CONDUCTOR + THE PRINCESS PASSES + MY FRIEND THE CHAUFFEUR + LADY BETTY ACROSS THE WATER + ROSEMARY IN SEARCH OF A FATHER + THE PRINCESS VIRGINIA + THE CAR OF DESTINY + THE CHAPERON + + + * * * * * + + +THE MOTOR MAID + +by + +C. N. AND A. M. WILLIAMSON + +Authors of "Lord Loveland Discovers America," +"My Friend the Chauffeur," "The Princess Virginia," etc. + +With Four Illustrations in Color +by F. M. Du Mond and F. Lowenheim + + + + + + + +[Illustration: "We raced along a clear road, the Etang shimmering blue +before us"] + + + +A. L. Burt Company +Publishers New York +All rights reserved, including that of translation +into foreign languages, including the scandinavian +Copyright, 1910, By Doubleday, Page & Company +Published, August, 1910 +The Country Life Press, Garden City, N.Y. + + + + + + To The Three Gertrudes + + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + +"We raced along a clear road, the Etang shimmering + blue before us" _Frontispiece_ + + facing page +"While I wrestled ... with a bodice as snug as + the head of a drum, the lord of all it contained + appeared in the doorway" 48 + +"It took half an hour to dig the car out, and push + her up from the hollow where the snow lay thickest" 272 + +"Jack's hand, inside Mr. Stokes's beautiful, tall + collar, shook Bertie back and forth till his teeth + chattered like castanets" 328 + + + + + +CHAPTER I + + +One hears of people whose hair turned white in a single night. Last +night I thought mine was turning. I had a creepy feeling in the roots, +which seemed to crawl all the way down inside each separate hair, +wriggling as it went. I suppose you couldn't have nervous prostration of +the hair? I worried dreadfully, it kept on so long; and my hair is so +fair it would be almost a temptation for it, in an emergency, to take +the one short step from gold to silver. I didn't dare switch on the +light in the _wagon-lit_ and peep at my pocket-book mirror (which +reflects one's features in sections of a square inch, giving the survey +of one's whole face quite a panorama effect) for fear I might wake up +the Bull Dog. + +I've spelt him with capitals, after mature deliberation, because it +would be nothing less than _lèse majesté_ to fob him off with little +letters about the size of his two lower eye-tusks, or chin-molars, or +whatever one ought to call them. + +He was on the floor, you see, keeping guard over his mistress's shoes; +and he might have been misguided enough to think I had designs on +them--though what I could have used them for, unless I'd been going to +Venice and wanting a private team of gondolas, I can't imagine. + +I being in the upper berth, you might (if you hadn't seen him) have +fancied me safe; but already he had once padded half-way up the +step-ladder, and sniffed at me speculatively, as if I were a piece of +meat on the top shelf of a larder; and if half-way up, why not all the +way up? _Il était capable du tout._ + +I tried to distract my mind and focus it hard on other things, as +Christian Scientists tell you to do when you have a pin sticking into +your body for which _les convenances_ forbid you to make an exhaustive +search. + +I lay on my back with my eyes shut, trying not to hear any of the sounds +in the _wagon-lit_ (and they were not confined to the snoring of His +Majesty), thinking desperately. "I will concentrate all my mentality," +said I to myself, "on thoughts beginning with P, for instance. My Past. +Paris. Pamela." + +Just for a few minutes it was comparatively easy. "Dear Past!" I sighed, +with a great sigh which for divers reasons I was sure couldn't be heard +beyond my own berth. (And though I try always even to _think_ in +English, I find sometimes that the words group themselves in my head in +the old patterns--according to French idioms.) "Dear Past, how thou wert +kind and sweet! How it is brutalizing to turn my back upon thee and thy +charms forever!" + +"Oh, my goodness, I shall certainly die!" squeaked a voice in the berth +underneath; and then there was a sound of wallowing. + +She (my stable-companion, shall I call her?) had been giving vent to all +sorts of strange noises at intervals, for a long time, so that it would +have been hopeless to try and drown my sorrows in sleep. + +Away went the Gentle Past with a bump, as if it had knocked against a +snag in the current of my thoughts. + +Paris or Pamela instead, then! or both together, since they seem +inseparable, even when Pamela is at her most American, and tells me to +"talk United States." + +It was all natural to think of Pamela, because it was she who gave me +the ticket for the _train de luxe_, and my berth in the _wagon-lit_. If +it hadn't been for Pamela I should at this moment have been crawling +slowly, cheaply, down Riviera-ward in a second-class train, sitting bolt +upright in a second-class carriage with smudges on my nose, while +perhaps some second-class child shed jammy crumbs on my frock, and its +second-class baby sister howled. + +"Oh, why did I leave my peaceful home?" wailed the lady in the lower +berth. + +Heaven alone (unless it were the dog) knew why she had, and knew how +heartily I wished she hadn't. A good thing Cerberus was on guard, or I +might have dropped a pillow accidentally on her head! + +Just then I wasn't thanking Pamela for her generosity. The second-class +baby's mamma would have given it a bottle to keep it still; but there +was nothing I could give the fat old lady; and she had already resorted +to the bottle (something in the way of patent medicine) without any good +result. Yet, _was_ there nothing I could give her? + +"Oh, I'm dying, I _know_ I'm dying, and nobody cares! I shall choke to +death!" she gurgled. + +It was too much. I could stand it and the terrible atmosphere no longer. +I suppose, if I had been an early Christian martyr, waiting for my turn +to be devoured might have so got on my nerves eventually that I would +have thrown myself into the arena out of sheer spite at the lions, and +then tried my best to disagree with them. + +Anyway, Bull Dog or no Bull Dog, having made a light, I slid down from +my berth--no thanks to the step-ladder--dangled a few wild seconds in +the air, and then offering--yes, offering my stockinged feet to the +Minotaur, I poked my head into the lower berth. + +"What are you going to do?" gasped its occupant, _la grosse femme_ whose +fault it would be if my hair did change from the gold of a louis to the +silver of a mere franc. + +"You say you're stifling," I reminded her, politely but firmly, and my +tone was like the lull before a storm. + +"Yes, but----" We were staring into each other's eyes, and--could I +believe my sense of touch, or was it mercifully blunted? It seemed that +the monster on the floor was gently licking my toes with a tongue like a +huge slice of pink ham, instead of chewing them to the bone. But there +are creatures which do that to their victims, I've heard, by way of +making it easier to swallow them, later. + +"You also said no one cared," I went on, courageously. "_I_ care--for +myself as well as for you. As for what I'm going to do--I'm going to do +several things. First, open the window, and then--_then I'm going to +undress you_." + +"You must be mad!" gasped the lady, who was English. Oh, but more +English than any one else I ever saw in my life. + +"Not yet," said I, as I darted at the thick blind she had drawn down +over the window, and let it fly up with a snap. I then opened the window +itself, a few inches, and in floated a perfumed breath of the soft April +air for which our bereaved lungs had been longing. The breeze fluttered +round my head like a benediction until I felt that the ebbing tide of +gold had turned, and was flowing into my back hair again. + +"No wonder you're dying, madam," I exclaimed, switching the heat-lever +to "Froid." "So was I, but being merely an Upper Berth, with no rights, +I was suffering in silence. I watched you turn the heat full on, and +shut the window tight. I saw you go to bed in _all_ your clothes, which +looked terribly thick, and cover yourself up with both your blankets; +but I said nothing, because you were a Lower Berth, and older than I am. +I thought maybe you _wanted_ a Turkish Bath. But since you don't--I'll +try and save you from apoplexy, if it isn't too late." + +I fumbled with brooches and buttons, with hooks and eyes. It was even +worse than I'd supposed. The creature's conception of a travelling +costume _en route_ for the South of France consisted of a heavy tweed +dress, two gray knitted stay-bodices, one pink Jaeger chemise, and a +couple of red flannel petticoats. My investigations went no further; +but, encouraged in my rescue work by spasmodic gestures on the part of +the patient, and forbearance on the part of the dog, I removed several +superfluous layers of wool. One blanket went to the floor, where it was +accepted in the light of a gift by His Majesty, and the other was +returned to its owner. + +"Now are you better, madam?" I asked, panting with long and well-earned +breaths. She reposed on an elbow, gazing up at me as at a surgeon who +has performed a painful but successful operation; and she was an object +_pour faire rire_, the poor lady! + +She wore an old-fashioned false front of hair, "sunning over with curls" +(brown ones, of a brown never seen on land or sea), and a pair of +spectacles, pushed up in an absent-minded moment, were entangled in its +waves. Her face, which was large, with a knot of tiny features in the +middle, shone red with heat and excitement. She would have had the look +of an elderly child, if it hadn't been for her bright, shrewd little +eyes, which twinkled observantly--and might sparkle with temper. Nobody +who was not rich and important would dare to dress as badly as she did. +Altogether she was a figure of fun. Indeed, I couldn't help feeling what +quaint mantelpiece ornaments she and her dog would make. Yet, for some +reason, I didn't feel inclined to laugh, and I eyed her as solemnly as +she eyed me. As for His Majesty, I began to see that I had misunderstood +him. After all, he had never, from the first, regarded me as an eatable. + +"Yes, I _am_ better," replied His Majesty's mistress. "People have +always told me it came on treacherously cold at night in France, so I +prepared accordingly. I suppose I ought to thank you. In fact, I do +thank you." + +"I acted for myself as much as for you," I confessed. "It was so hot, +and you were suffering out loud." + +"I have never travelled at night before," the lady defended herself. +"Indeed, I've made a point of travelling as little as possible, except +by carriage. I don't consider trains a means of conveyance for +gentlefolk. They seem well enough for cattle who may not mind being +herded together." + +"Or for dogs," I suggested. + +"Nothing is too good for Beau--my _only_ Beau!" (at this I did not +wonder). "But I wouldn't have moved without him. He's as necessary to me +as my conscience. I was afraid the guard was going to make a fuss about +him, which would have been awkward, as I can't speak a word of French, +or any other silly language into which Latin has degenerated. But +luckily English gold doesn't need to be translated." + +"It loses in translation," said I, amused. I sat down on my bag as I +spoke, and timorously invited Beau (never was name less appropriate) to +be patted. He arose from the blanket and accepted my overtures with an +expression which may have been intended for a smile, or a threat of the +most appalling character. I have seen such legs as his on old-fashioned +silver teapots; and the crook in his tail would have made it useful as a +door-knocker. + +"I don't think I ever saw him take so to a stranger," exclaimed his +mistress, suddenly beaming. + +"I wonder you risked him with me in such close quarters then," said I. +"Wouldn't it have been safer if you'd had your maid in the compartment +with you----" + +"My maid? My tyrant!" snorted the old lady. "She's the one creature on +earth I am afraid of, and she knows it. When we got to Dover, and she +saw the Channel wobbling about a little, she said it was a great nasty +wet thing, and she wouldn't go on it. When I insisted, she showed +symptoms of seasickness; and in consequence she is waiting for me in +Dover till I finish the business that's taking me to Italy. I had no +more experience than she, but I had _courage_. It's perhaps a question +of class. Servants consider only themselves. You, too, I see, have +courage. I was inclined to think poorly of you when you first came in, +and to wish I'd been extravagant enough to take the two beds for myself, +because I thought you were afraid of Beau. Yet now you're patting him." + +"I _was_ rather afraid at first," I admitted. "I never met an English +bull dog socially before." + +"They're more angels than dogs. Their one interest in life is love--for +their friends; and they wouldn't hurt a fly." + +"Larger game would be more in their way, I should think," said I. "But +I'm glad he likes me. I like to be liked. It makes me feel more at home +in life." + +"H'm! That's a funny idea!" remarked the old lady. "'At home in life!' +You've made yourself pretty well at home in this _wagon-lit_, anyhow, +taking off all your clothes and putting on your nightgown. I should +never have thought of that. It seems hardly decent. Suppose we should be +killed." + +"Most people do try to die in their nightgowns, when you come to think +of it," said I. + +"Well, you have a quaint way of putting things. There's something very +original about you, my dear young woman. I thought you were mysterious +at first, but I believe it's only the effect of originality." + +"I don't know which I'd rather be," I said, "original or mysterious, if +I couldn't afford both. But I'm not a young woman." + +"Goodness!" exclaimed the old lady, wrinkling up her eyes to stare at +me. "I may be pretty blind, but it can't be make-up." + +I laughed. "I mean _je suis jeune fille_. I'm not a young woman. I'm a +young girl." + +"Dear me, is there any difference?" + +"There is in France." + +"I'm not surprised at queer ideas in France, or any other foreign +country, where I've always understood that _anything_ may happen. Why +can't everybody be English? It would be so much more simple. But you're +not French, are you?" + +"Half of me is." + +"And what's the other half, if I may ask?" + +"American. My father was French, my mother American." + +"No wonder you don't always feel at home in life, divided up like that!" +she chuckled. "It must be so upsetting." + +"Everything is upsetting with me lately," I said. + +"With me too, if it comes to that--or would be, if it weren't for Beau. +What a pity you haven't got a Beau, my dear." + +I smiled, because (in the Americanized sense of the word) I had one, and +was running away from him as fast as I could. But the thought of +Monsieur Charretier as a "beau" made me want to giggle hysterically. + +"You say 'was,' when you speak of your father and mother," went on the +old lady, with childlike curiosity, which I was encouraging by not +going back to bed. "Does that mean that you've lost them?" + +"Yes," I said. + +"And lately?" + +"My father died when I was sixteen, my mother left me two years ago." + +"You don't look more than nineteen now." + +"I'm nearly twenty-one." + +"Well, I don't mean to catechize you, though one certainly must get +friendly--or the other way--I suppose, penned up in a place like this +all night. And you've really been very kind to me. Although you're a +pretty girl, as you must know, I didn't think at first I was going to +like you so much." + +"And I didn't you," I retorted, laughing, because I really did begin to +like the queer old lady now, and was glad I hadn't dropped a pillow on +her head. + +"That's right. Be frank. I like frankness. Do you know, I believe you +and I would get on very well together if our acquaintance was going to +be continued? If Beau approves of a person, I let myself go." + +"You use him as if he were a barometer." + +"There you are again, with your funny ideas! I shall remember that one, +and bring it out as if it were my _own_. I consider myself quite lucky +to have got you for a travelling companion. It's such a comfort to hear +English again, and talk it, after having to converse by gesture--except +with Beau. I hope you're going on to Italy?" + +"No. I'm getting off at Cannes." + +"I'm sorry. But I suppose you're glad?" + +"Not particularly," said I. + +"I've always heard that Cannes was gay." + +"It won't be for me." + +"Your relations there don't go out much?" + +"I've no relations in Cannes. Aren't you tired now, and wouldn't you +like me to make you a little more comfortable?" + +"Does that mean that _you're_ tired of answering questions? I haven't +meant to be rude." + +"You haven't been," I assured her. "You're very kind to take an +interest." + +"Well, then, I'm _not_ tired, and I _wouldn't_ like to be made more +comfortable. I'm very well as I am. Do you want to go to sleep?" + +"I want to, but I know I can't. I'm getting hungry. Are you?" + +"Getting? I've _got_. If Simpkins were here I'd have her make us tea, in +my tea-basket." + +"I'll make it if you like," I volunteered. + +"A French--a half French--girl make tea?" + +"It's the American half that knows how." + +"You look too ornamental to be useful. But you can try." + +I did try, and succeeded. It was rather fun, and never did tea taste so +delicious. There were biscuits to go with it, which Beau shared; and I +do wish that people (other people) were obliged to make faces when they +eat, such as Beau has to make, because if so, one could add a new +interest to life by inviting even the worst bores to dinner. + +I was fascinated with his contortions, and I did not attempt to conceal +my sudden change of opinion concerning Beau as a companion. When I had +humbly invited him to drink out of my saucer, which I held from high +tide to low, I saw that my conquest of his mistress was complete. +Already we had exchanged names, as well as some confidences. I knew that +she was Miss Paget, and she knew that I was Lys d'Angely; but after the +tea-drinking episode she became doubly friendly. + +She told me that, owing to an unforeseen circumstance (partly, even +largely, connected with Beau) which had caused a great upheaval in her +life, she had now not a human being belonging to her, except her maid +Simpkins, of whom she would like to get rid if only she knew how. + +"Talk of the Old Man of the Sea!" she sighed. "_He_ was an afternoon +caller compared with Simpkins. She's been on my back for twenty years. I +suppose she will be for another twenty, unless I slam the door of the +family vault in her face." + +"Couldn't Beau help you?" I asked. + +"Even Beau is powerless against her. She has hypnotized him with marrow +bones." + +"You've escaped from her for the present," I suggested. "She's on the +other side of the Channel. Now is your time to be bold." + +"Ah, but I can't stop out of England for ever, and I tell you she's +waiting for me at Dover. A relative (a very eccentric one, and quite +different from the rest of us, or he wouldn't have made his home abroad) +has left me a house in Italy, some sort of old castle, I believe--so +unsuitable! I'm going over to see about selling it for I've no one to +trust but myself, owing to the circumstances of which I spoke. I want to +get back as soon as possible--I hope in a few weeks, though how I shall +manage without any Italian, heaven may know--I don't! Do you speak it?" + +"A little." + +"Well, I wish I could have you with me. You'd make a splendid companion +for an old woman like me: young, good to look at, energetic (or you +wouldn't be travelling about alone), brave (conquered your fear of +Beau), accomplished (three languages, and goodness knows what besides!), +presence of mind (the way you whisked my clothes off), handy (I never +tasted better tea)--altogether you sum up ideally. What a pity you're +rich, and out of the market!" + +"If I look rich my appearance must be more distinguished than I +supposed--and it's also very deceiving," said I. + +"You're rich enough to travel for pleasure in _wagon-lits_, and have +silver-fitted bags." + +"I'm not travelling for pleasure. You exaggerate my bags and my +_wagon-lits_, for I've only one of each; and both were given me by a +friend who was at the Convent with me." + +"The Convent! Good heavens! are you an escaping nun?" + +I laughed. "I went to school at a Convent. That was when I thought I +_was_ going to be rich--at least, rich enough to be like other girls. +And if I _am_ 'escaping' from something, it isn't from the arms of +religion." + +"If you're not rich, and aren't going to relatives, why not take an +engagement with me? Come, I'm in earnest. I always make up my mind +suddenly, if it's anything important, and hardly ever regret it. I'm +sure we should suit. You've got no nonsense about you." + +"Oh yes I have, lots!" I broke in. "That's all I have left--that, and my +sense of humour. But seriously, you're very kind--to take me on faith +like this--especially when you began by thinking me mysterious. I'd +accept thankfully, only--I'm engaged already." + +"To be married, I suppose you mean?" + +"Thank heaven, no! To a Princess." + +"Dear me, one would think you were a man hater!" + +"So I am, a _one_-man hater. What Simpkins is to you, that man is to me. +And that's why I'm on my way to Cannes to be the companion of the +Princess Boriskoff, who's said to be rather deaf and very +quick-tempered, as well as elderly and a great invalid. She sheds her +paid companions as a tree sheds its leaves in winter. I hear that Europe +is strewn with them." + +"Nice prospect for you!" + +"Isn't it? But beggars mustn't be choosers." + +"You don't look much like a beggar." + +"Because I can make my own dresses and hats--and nightgowns." + +"Well, if your Princess sheds you, let me know, and you may live yet to +deliver me from Simpkins. I feel you'd be equal to it! My address +is--but I'll give you a card." And, burrowing under her pillow, she +unearthed a fat handbag from which, after some fumbling, she presented +me with a visiting-card, enamelled in an old-fashioned way. I read: +"Miss Paget, 34a Eaton Square. Broomlands House, Surrey." + +"Now you're not to lose that," she impressed upon me. "Write if you're +scattered over Europe by this Russian (I never did believe much in +Princesses, excepting, of course, our _own_ dear Royalties), or if you +ever come to England. Even if it's years from now, I assure you Beau and +I won't have forgotten you. As for your address--" + +"I haven't any," I said. "At present I'm depending on the Princess for +one. She's at the Hotel Majestic Palace, Cannes; but from what my friend +Pam--the Comtesse de Nesle--says, I fancy she doesn't stop long in any +town. It was the Comtesse de Nesle who got me the place. She's the only +one who knows where I'm going, because--after a fashion, I'm running +away to be the Princess's companion." + +"Running away from the Man?" + +"Yes; also from my relatives who're sure it's my duty to be _his_ +companion. So you see I can't give you their address. I've ceased to +have any right to it. And now I really think I _had_ better go back to +bed." + + + + +CHAPTER II + + +At half-past ten this morning we parted, the best of friends, and I +dropped a good-bye kiss into the deep black gorge between the +promontories of Beau's velvet forehead and plush nose. + +We'd had breakfast together, Miss Paget and I, to say nothing of the +dog, and I felt rather cheerful. Of course I dreaded the Princess; but I +always did like adventures, and it appeared to me distinctly an +adventure to be a companion, even in misery. Besides, it was nice to +have come away from Monsieur Charretier, and to feel that not only did +he not know where I was, but that he wasn't likely to find out. Poor me! +I little guessed what an adventure on a grand scale I was in for. +Already this morning seems a long time ago; a year at the Convent used +to seem shorter. + +I drove up to the hotel in the omnibus which was at the station, and +asked at the office for the Princess Boriskoff. I said that I was +Mademoiselle d'Angely, and would they please send word to the Princess, +because she was expecting me. + +It was a young assistant manager who received me, and he gave me a very +queer, startled sort of look when I said this, as if I were a suspicious +person, and he didn't quite know whether it would be better to answer me +or call for help. + +"I haven't made a mistake, have I?" I asked, beginning to be anxious. +"This _is_ the hotel where the Princess is staying, isn't it?" + +"She was staying here," the youth admitted. "But--" + +"Has she _gone_?" + +"Not exactly." + +"She must be either here or gone." + +Again he regarded me with suspicion, as if he did not agree with my +statement. + +"Are you a relative of the Princess?" he inquired. + +"No, I'm engaged to be her companion." + +"Oh! If that is all! But perhaps, in any case, it will be better to wait +for the manager. He will be here presently. I do not like to take the +responsibility." + +"The responsibility of what?" I persisted, my heart beginning to feel +like a patter of rain on a tin roof. + +"Of telling you what has happened." + +"If something has happened, I can't wait to hear it. I must know at +once," I said, with visions of all sorts of horrid things: that the +Princess had decided not to have a companion, and was going to disown +me; that my cousin Madame Milvaine had somehow found out everything; +that Monsieur Charretier had got on my track, and was here in advance +waiting to pounce upon me. + +"It is a thing which we do not want to have talked about in the hotel," +the young man hesitated. + +"I assure you I won't talk to any one. I don't know any one to talk to." + +"It is very distressing, but the Princess Boriskoff died about four +o'clock this morning, of heart failure." + +"Oh!" ... I could not get out another word. + +"These things are not liked in hotels, even when not contagious." + +The assistant manager looked gloomily at me, as if I might be held +responsible for the inconvenient event; but still I could not speak. + +"Especially in the high season. It is being kept secret. That is the +custom. In some days, or less, it will leak out, but not till the +Princess has--been removed. You will kindly not mention it, +mademoiselle. This is very bad for us." + +No, I would kindly not mention it, but it was worse for me than for +them. The Hotel Majestic Palace looked rich; very, very rich. It had +heaps of splendid mirrors and curtains, and imitation Louis XVI. sofas, +and everything that a hotel needs to make it happy and successful, while +I had nothing in the world except what I stood up in, one fitted bag, +one small box, and thirty-two francs. I didn't quite see, at first +sight, what I was to do; but neither did the assistant manager see what +that had to do with him. + +Once I knew a girl who was an actress, and on tour in the country she +nearly drowned herself one day. When the star heard of it, he said: "How +_should_ we have played to-night if you'd been dead--without an +understudy, too?" + +At this moment I knew just how the girl must have felt when the star +said that. + +"I--I think I must stay here a day or two, until I can--arrange things," +I managed to stammer. "Have you a small single room disengaged?" + +"We have one or two small north rooms which are usually occupied by +valets and maids," the young man informed me. "They are twelve francs a +day." + +"I'll take one," I replied. And then I added anxiously: "Have any +relatives of the Princess come?" + +"None have come; and certainly none will come, as it would now be too +late. Her death was very sudden. The Princess's maid knows what to do. +She is an elderly woman, experienced. The suite occupied by Her Highness +will be free to-morrow." + +"Oh! And had she no friends here?" + +"I do not think the Princess was a lady who made friends. She was very +proud and considered herself above other people. Would you like to see +your room, mademoiselle? I will send some one to take you up to it. It +will be on the top floor." + +I was in a mood not to care if it had been on the roof, or in the +cellar. I hardly knew where I was going, as a few minutes later a still +younger youth piloted me across a large square hall toward a lift; but I +was vaguely conscious that a good many smart-looking people were sitting +or standing about, and that they glanced at me as I went by. I hoped +dimly that I didn't appear conspicuously pale and stricken. + +Just in front of the lift door a tall woman was talking to a little man. +There was an instant of delay while my guide and I waited for them to +move, and before they realized that we were waiting. + +"They say the poor thing is no worse than yesterday, however, my maid +tells me--" The lady had begun in a low, mysterious tone, but broke off +suddenly when it dawned upon her that she was obstructing the way. + +I knew instinctively _who_ was the subject of the whispered +conversation, and I couldn't help fixing my eyes almost appealingly on +the tall woman; for though she was middle-aged and not pretty, her voice +was so nice and she looked so kind that I felt a longing to have her for +a friend. She had probably been acquainted with Princess Boriskoff, I +said to myself, or she would not be talking of her now, with bated +breath, as a "poor thing." + +Evidently the lady had been waiting for the lift to come down, for when +my guide rang and it descended she took a step forward, giving a +friendly little nod to her companion, and saying, "Well, I must go. I +feel sure it's _true_ about her." + +Then, instead of sailing ahead of me into the lift, as she had a perfect +right to do, being much older and far more important than I, and the +first comer as well, she hesitated with a pleasant half smile, as much +as to say, "You're a stranger. I give up my right to you." + +"Oh, please!" I said, stepping aside to let her pass, which she did, +making room for me to sit down beside her on the narrow plush-covered +seat. But I didn't care to sit. I was so crushed, it seemed that, if +once I sat down I shouldn't have courage to rise up again and wrestle +with the difficulties of life. + +The lady got out on the second floor, throwing back a kindly glance, as +if she took a little interest in me, and wanted me to know it. I suppose +it must have been because I was tired and nervous after a whole night +without sleep that the shock I'd just received was too much for me. +Anyway, that kind glance made a lump rise in my throat, and the lump +forced tears into my eyes. I looked down instantly, so that she +shouldn't see them and think me an idiot, but I was afraid she did. + +The young man who was taking me up to the top floor, and treating me +rather nonchalantly because I was a North Roomer and a Twelve Francer, +waved the lift boy aside to open the door himself for the lady; so that +I knew she must be considered a person worth conciliating. + +Shut up in my ten-by-six-foot room, I tried to compose myself and make +plans; but to make plans on thirty-two francs, when you've no home, and +would be far from it even if you had one; when you've nobody to help +you, and wouldn't want to ask them if you had--is about as hard as to +play the piano brilliantly without ever having taken a lesson. With +Princess Boriskoff dead, with Pamela de Nesle sailing for New York +to-morrow morning, and no other intimate friends rich enough to do +anything for me, even if they were willing to help me fly in the face of +Providence and Madame Milvaine, it did seem (as Pamela herself would +say) as though I were rather "up against it." + +The thought of Miss Paget suddenly jumped into my head, and the wish +that, somehow, I had kept her up my sleeve as a last resort, in case she +really were in earnest about her offer. But she hadn't told me where she +was going in Italy, and it would be of no use writing to one of her +English addresses, as I couldn't stop on where I was, waiting for an +answer. + +Altogether things were very bad with me. + +After I had sat down and thought for a while, I rang, and asked for the +housekeeper. A hint or two revealed that she was aware of what had +happened, and, explaining that I was to have been Princess Boriskoff's +companion, I said that I must see the Princess's maid. She must come to +my room. I must have a talk with her. + +Presently, after an interval which may have been meant to emphasize her +dignity, appeared a pale, small Russian woman whose withered face was as +tragic and remote from the warmth of daily life as that of the eldest +Fate. + +She could speak French, and we talked together. Yes, her mistress had +died very suddenly, but she and the doctors had always known that it +might happen so, at any moment. It was hard for me, but--what would you? +Life was hard. It might have been that I would have found life hard with +Her Highness. What was to be, would be. I must write to my friends. It +was not in her power to do anything for me. Her Highness had left no +instructions. These things happened. Well! one made the best of them. +There was nothing more to say. + +So we said nothing more, and the woman moved away silently, as if to +funeral music, to prepare for her journey to Russia. I--went down to +luncheon. + +One always does go down to luncheon while one is still inclined to keep +up appearances before oneself; but the restaurant was large and terribly +magnificent, with a violent rose-coloured carpet, and curtains which +made me, in my frightened pallor, with my pale yellow hair and my gray +travelling dress, feel like a poor little underground celery-stalk flung +into a sunlit strawberry-bed, amid a great humming of bees. + +The vast rosy sea was thickly dotted with many small table-islands that +glittered appetizingly with silver and glass; but I could not have +afforded to acknowledge an appetite even if I'd had one. + +My conversation with the Russian woman had made me rather late. Most of +the islands were inhabited, and as I was piloted past them by a haughty +head waiter I heard people talking about golf, tennis, croquet, bridge, +reminding me that I was in a place devoted to the pursuit of pleasure. + +The most desirable islands were next the windows, therefore the one at +which I dropped anchor (for I'd changed from a celery-stalk into a +little boat now) was exactly in the middle of the room, with no view +save of faces and backs of heads. + +One of the faces was that of the lady who had gone up with me in the +lift; and now and then, from across the distance that separated us, I +saw her glance at me. She sat alone at a table that had beautiful roses +on it, and she read a book as she ate. + +One ordered here _à la carte_: there was no _déjeuner à prix fixe_; and +it took courage to tell a waiter who looked like a weary young duke that +I would have _consommé_ and bread, with nothing, no, _nothing_ to +follow. + +Oh! the look he gave me, as if I had annexed the table under false +pretences! + +Suddenly the chorus of an American song ran with mocking echoes through +my brain. I had heard Pamela sing it at the Convent: + + The waiter roared it through the hall: + "We don't give bread with _one_ fish-ball! + We-don't-_give_-bread with one fish-_ba-a-ll_!" + +I half expected some such crushing protest, and it was only when the +weary duke had turned his back, presumably to execute my order, that I +sank into my chair with a sigh of relief after strain. + +Just at that moment I met the eye of the lady of the lift, and when the +waiter reappeared with a small cup, on a charger large enough to have +upheld the head of John the Baptist, she looked again. In five minutes I +had finished the _consommé_, and it became painful to linger. Rising, I +made for the door, which seemed a mile away, and I did not lift my head +in passing the table where the lady sat behind her roses. I heard a +rustling as I went by, however, a crisp rustling like flower-leaves +whispering in a breeze, or a woman's silk ruffles stroking each other, +which followed me out into the hall. + +Then the pleasant voice I had heard near the lift spoke behind me: + +"Won't you have your coffee with me in the garden?" + +I could hardly believe at first that it was for me the invitation was +intended, but turning with a little start, I saw it repeated in a pair +of gentle gray eyes set rather wide apart in a delicate, colourless +face. + +"Oh! thank you!" I hesitated. "I--" + +"Do forgive me," went on the lady, "but your face interested me this +morning, and as we're all rather curious about strangers--we idle ones +here--I took the liberty of asking the manager who you were. He told +me--" + +"About the Princess?" I asked, when she paused as if slightly +embarrassed. + +"He told me that you said you had come to Cannes to be her companion. He +didn't tell me she was dead, poor woman, but--there are some things one +knows by instinct, by intuition, aren't there? And then--I couldn't help +seeing, or perhaps only imagining, that you looked sad and worried. You +are very young, and are here all alone, and so--I thought perhaps you +wouldn't mind my speaking to you?" + +"I'm very grateful," I said, "for your interest. And it's so good of you +to ask me to have coffee with you." (I was almost sure, too, that she +had hurried away in the midst of her luncheon to do this deed of +kindness.) + +"Perhaps, after all, you'll come with me to my own sitting-room," she +suggested. "We can talk more quietly there; and though the garden's +quite lovely, it's rather too glaring at this time of day." + +We went up in the lift together, and the moment she opened the door of +her sitting-room I saw that she had contrived to make it look like +herself. She talked only about her books and photographs and flowers +until the coffee had come, and we seemed better acquainted. Then she +told me that she was Lady Kilmarny--"Irish in every drop in her veins"; +and presently set herself to draw me out. + +I began by making up my mind not to pour forth all my troubles, lest she +should think that I wanted to take advantage of her kindness and sponge +upon her for help; but she was irresistible, as only a true Irishwoman +can be, and the first thing I knew, I had emptied my heart of its +worries. + + + + +CHAPTER III + + +"You will have to go back to the cousins you've been living with in +Paris," pronounced Lady Kilmarny. "You're much too young and pretty to +be _anywhere_ alone." + +"I can't go on living with them unless I promise to marry Monsieur +Charretier," I explained. "I'd rather scrub floors than marry Monsieur +Charretier." + +"You'd never finish one floor. The second would finish you. I thought +French girls--well, then, _half_ French girls--usually let their people +arrange their marriages." + +"Perhaps I'm not usual. I _hope_ Monsieur Charretier isn't." + +"Is he such a monster?" + +"He is fat, especially in all the places he oughtn't to be fat. And old. +But worse than his _embonpoint_ and his nose, he made his money in--you +could never guess." + +"I see by your face, my poor child: it was Liver Pills." + +"Something far more dreadful." + +"Are there lower depths?" + +"There are--Corn Plasters." + +"Oh, my dear, you are _quite_ right! You couldn't marry him." + +"Thank you so much! Then, I can't go back to my cousins. They--they +take Monsieur Charretier seriously. I think they even take his +plasters--gratuitously." + +"Is he so very rich?" + +"But disgustingly rich. He has an awful, bulbous new château in the +country, with dozens of incredibly high-powered motor-cars; and in the +most expensive part of Paris a huge apartment wriggling from floor to +ceiling with _Nouveau Art_. The girl who marries him will have to be +smeared with diamonds, and know the most appalling people. In fact, +she'll have to be a kind of walking, pictorial advertisement for the +success of Charretier's Corn Plasters." + +"He must know some nice people, since he knows relations of yours." + +"Thank you for the compliment, which I hope you pay me on circumstantial +evidence. But it's deceiving. My mother, I believe, was the only nice +person in her family. These cousins, husband and wife, brought mamma to +Europe to live with them when she was a young girl, quite rich and an +orphan. They were furious when she fell in love with papa, who was only +a lieutenant with nothing but a very old name, the ruins of a castle +that tourists paid francs to see, and a ramshackle house in Paris almost +too dilapidated to let. It was a mere detail to them that he happened to +be one of the best-looking and most agreeable young men in the world. +They did nothing but say, 'I told you so!' for years, whenever anything +disastrous happened--as it constantly did, for poor papa and mamma loved +each other so much, and had so much fun, that they couldn't have time +to be business-like. My cousins thought everything mamma did was a +madness--such as sending me to the most fashionable convent school in +France. As if I hadn't to be educated! And then, when the castle fell so +to bits that tourists wouldn't bother with it any more, and nobody but +rats would live in the Paris house unless it was repaired--and poor papa +was killed in a horrid little Saturday-to-Monday war of no importance +(except to people whose hearts it broke)--oh! I believe the cousins were +glad! They thought it was a judgment. That happened years ago, when I +was only fifteen, and though they've plenty of money (more than most +people in the American colony) they didn't offer to help; and mamma +would have died sooner than ask. I had to be snatched out of school, to +find that all the beautiful dreams of being a happy _débutante_ must go +by contraries. We lived in the tumble-down house ourselves, mamma and I, +and her friends rallied round her--she was so popular and pretty. They +got her chances to give singing lessons, and me to do translating, and +painting _menus_. We were happy again, after a while, in spite of all, +and people were so good to us! Mamma used to hold a kind of _salon_, +with all the brightest and best crowding to it, though they got nothing +but sweet biscuits, _vin ordinaire_, and conversation--and besides, the +house might have taken a fancy to fall down on their heads any minute. +It was sporting of them to come at all!" + +"And the cousins. Did they come?" + +"Not they! They're of the society of the little Brothers and Sisters of +the Rich. Their set was quite different from ours. But when mamma died +nearly two years ago, and I was alone, they did call, and Cousin Emily +offered me a home. I was to give up all my work, of course, which she +considered degrading, and was simply to make myself useful to her as a +daughter of the house might do. That was what she _said_." + +"You accepted?" + +"Yes. I didn't know her and her husband as well as I do now; and before +she died mamma begged me to go to them, if they asked me. That was when +Monsieur Charretier came on the scene--at least, he came a few months +later, and I've had no peace since. Lately, things were growing more and +more impossible, when my best friend, Comtesse de Nesle, came to my +rescue and found (or thought she'd found) me this engagement with the +Princess. As I told you, I simply ran away--_sneaked_ away--and came +here without any one but Pamela knowing. And now she--the Comtesse--is +just sailing for New York with her husband." + +"The Comtesse de Nesle--that pretty little American! I've met her in +Paris--and at the Dublin Horse Show," exclaimed Lady Kilmarny. "Well, I +wish I could take up the rescue work where she has laid it down. I think +you are a most romantic little figure, and I'd love to engage you as my +companion, only my husband and I are as poor as church mice. Like your +father, we've nothing but our name and a few ruins. When I come South +for my health I can't afford such luxuries as a husband and a maid. I +have to choose between them and a private sitting-room. So you see, I +can't possibly indulge in a companion." + +People seemed to be always wanting me as one, and then reluctantly +abandoning me! + +"Your kindness and sympathy have helped me a lot," said I. + +"They won't pay your way." + +"I have no way. So far as I can see, I shall have to stop in Cannes, +anonymously so to speak, for the rest of my life." + +"Where would you like to go, if you could choose--since you can't go to +your relations?" + +Again my thoughts travelled after Miss Paget, as if she had been a fat, +red will-o'-the-wisp. + +"To England, perhaps," I answered. "In a few weeks from now I might be +able to find a position there." And I went on to tell, in as few words +as possible, my adventure in the railway train. + +"H'm!" said Lady Kilmarny. "We'll look her up in _Who's Who_, and see if +she exists. If she's anybody, she'll be there. And _Who's Who_ I always +have with me, abroad. One meets so many pretenders, it's quite +dangerous." + +"How can you tell I'm not one?" I asked. "Yet you spoke to me." + +"Why, you're down in a kind of invisible book, called 'You're You.' It's +sufficient reference for me. Besides, if your two eyes couldn't be +trusted, it would be easy to shed you." + +Lady Kilmarny said this smilingly, as she found the red book, and passed +her finger down the columns of P's. + +"Yes, here's the name, and the two addresses on the visiting-card. She's +the Honourable Maria Paget, only daughter of the late Baron Northfield. +Yes, an engagement with her would be safe, if not agreeable. But how to +get you to England?" + +"Perhaps I could go as somebody's maid," I reflected aloud. + +She looked at me sharply. _"Would_ you do that?" + +"It would be better than being an advertisement for Corn Plasters," I +smiled. + +"Then," said Lady Kilmarny, "perhaps, after all, I can help you. But +no--I should never dare to suggest it! The thought of a girl like +you--it would be too dreadful." + + + + +CHAPTER IV + + +When my father had been extravagant, he used to say gaily in +self-defence that "one owed something to one's ancestors." Certainly, if +it had not been for several of his ancestors, he would not have owed so +much to his contemporaries. But in spite of their agreeable vices, or +because of them, I was brought up in the cult of ancestor worship, as +religiously as if I had been Chinese. + +To be a d'Angely was a privilege, in our eyes, which not only supplied +gilding for the gingerbread, but for the most economical substitutes. + + "Ne roi je suis, + Ne prince aussi, + Je suis le Sire d'Angely," + +calmly remarked the gentleman of Louis XI.'s time, who became famous for +hanging as many retainers as he liked, and defending his action by +originating the family motto. + +Mother also had ancestors who began to take themselves seriously +somewhere about the time of the _Mayflower_, though for all we know they +may have secured their passage in the steerage. + +"A Courtenay can do anything," was their rather ambiguous motto, which +suggested that it might have been started in self-defence, if not as a +boast; and it (the name, not the motto) had been thoughtfully +sandwiched in between my Lys and my d'Angely by my sponsors in baptism, +that if necessary I might ever have an excuse at hand for any dark deed +or infra dig-ness. + +I used often to murmur the consoling mottoes to myself when pattering +through muddy streets, too poor to take an omnibus, on the way to +sell--or try to sell--my translations or my _menus_. But now, after all +that's happened, if it is to strike conviction to my soul, I shall be +obliged to yell it at the top of my mental lungs. + +(That expression may sound ridiculous, but it isn't. We could not talk +to ourselves as we do, in all kinds of voices, high or low, if we hadn't +mental lungs, or at the least, sub-conscious-self lungs.) + +_Je suis_ the daughter of the last Sire d'Angely; and a Courtenay can do +anything; so of course it's all right; and it's no good my ancestors +turning in their graves, for they'll only make themselves uncomfortable +without changing my mind. + +I, Lys d'Angely, am going to be a lady's-maid; or rather, I am going to +be the maid of an extremely rich person who calls herself a lidy. + +It's perfectly awful, or awfully comic, according to the point of view, +and I swing from one to the other, pushed by my fastidiousness to my +sense of humour, and back again, in a way to make me giddy. But it's +settled. I'm going to do it. I had almost to drag the suggestion out of +Lady Kilmarny, who turned red and stammered as if I were the great lady, +she the poor young girl in want of a situation. + +There was, said she, a quaint creature in the hotel (one met these +things abroad, and was obliged to be more or less civil to them) who +resembled Monsieur Charretier in that she was disgustingly rich. It was +not Corn Plasters. It was Liver Pills, the very same liver pills which +had dropped into the mind of Lady Kilmarny when I hesitated to put into +words the foundation of my _pretendant's_ future. It was the Liver Pills +which had eventually introduced into her brain the idea she falteringly +embodied for me. + +The husband of the quaint creature had invented the pills, even as +Monsieur Charretier had invented his abomination. Because of the pills +he had been made a Knight; at least, Lady Kilmarny didn't know any other +reason. He was Sir Samuel Turnour (evolved from Turner), just married +for the second time to a widow in whose head it was like the continual +frothing of new wine to be "her ladyship." + +Lady Turnour had lately quarrelled with a maid and dismissed her, Lady +Kilmarny told me. Now, she was in immediate need of another, French +(because French maids are fashionable) able to speak English, because +the Turnour family had as yet mastered no other language. Lady Kilmarny +believed that this was the honeymoon of the newly married pair, and +that, after having paused on the wing at Cannes, for a little billing +and cooing, they intended to pursue their travels in France for some +weeks, before returning to settle down in England. "Her Ladyship" was +asking everybody with whom she had contrived to scrape acquaintance +(especially if they had titles) to recommend her a maid. Lady Kilmarny, +as a member of the League against Cruelty to Animals, had determined +that nothing would induce her to throw any poor mouse to this cat, even +if she heard of a mouse plying for hire; but here was I in a dreadful +scrape, professing myself ready to snap at anything except Corn +Plasters; and she felt bound to mention that the mousetrap was open, the +cheese waiting to be nibbled. + +"Do you think she'd have me?" I asked--"the quaint creature, her +ladyship?" + +"Only too likely that she would," said Lady Kilmarny. "But remember, the +worst is, she doesn't _know_ she's a quaint creature. She is quite happy +about herself, offensively happy, and would consider you the 'creature.' +A truly awful person, my dear. A man in this hotel--the little thing you +saw me talking to this morning, knows all about them both. I think they +began in Peckham or somewhere. They _would_, you know, and call it +'S.W.' She was a chemist's daughter, and he was the humble assistant, +long before the Pill materialized, so she refused him, and married a +dashing doctor. But unfortunately he dashed into the bankruptcy court, +and afterward she probably nagged him to death. Anyway he died--but not +till long after Sam Turner had taken pity on some irrelevant widow, as +his early love was denied him. The widow had a boy, to whom the +stepfather was good--(really a very decent person according to his +lights!) and kept on making pills and millions, until last year he lost +his first wife and got a knighthood. The old love was a widow by this +time, taking in lodgers in some neighbourhood where you _do_ take +lodgers, and Sir Samuel found and gathered her like a late rose. +Naturally she puts on all the airs in the world, and diamonds in the +morning. She'll treat you like the dirt under her feet, because that's +her conception of her part--and yours. But I'll introduce you to her if +you like." + +After a little reflection, I did like; but as it seemed to me that +there'd better not be two airs in the family, I said that I'd put on +none at all, and make no pretensions. + +"She's the kind that doesn't know a lady or gentleman without a label," +my kind friend warned me. "You must be prepared for that." + +"I'll be prepared for anything," I assured her. But when it came to the +test, I wasn't quite. + +Lady Kilmarny wrote a line to Lady Turnour, and asked if she might bring +a maid to be interviewed--a young woman whom she could recommend. The +note was sent down to the bride (who of course had the best suite in the +hotel, on the first floor) and presently an answer came--saying that Her +Ladyship would be pleased to receive Lady Kilmarny and the person in +question. + +Suddenly I felt that I must go alone. "Please leave me to my fate," I +said. "I should be too self-conscious if you were with me. Probably I +should laugh in her face, or do something dreadful." + +"Very well," Lady Kilmarny agreed. "Perhaps you're right. Say that I +sent you, and that, though you've never been with me, friends of mine +know all about you. You might tell her that you were to have travelled +with the Princess Boriskoff. That will impress her. She would kiss the +boot of a Princess. Afterward, come up and tell me how you got on with +'Her Ladyship.'" + +I was stupid to be nervous, and told myself so; but as I knocked at the +door of the suite reserved for Millionaires and other Royalties, my +heart was giving little ineffective jumps in my breast, like--as my old +nurse used to say--"a frog with three legs." + +"Come in!" called a voice with sharp, jagged edges. + +I opened the door. In a private drawing-room as different as the +personality of one woman from another, sat Lady Turnour. She faced me as +I entered, so I had a good look at her, before casting down my eyes and +composing my countenance to the self-abnegating meekness which I +conceived fitting to a _femme de chambre comme il faut_. + +She was enthroned on a sofa. One could hardly say less, there was so +much of her, and it was all arranged as perfectly as if she were about +to be photographed. No normal woman, merely sitting down, with no other +object than to be comfortable, would curve the tail of her gown round in +front of her like a sickle; or have just the point of one shoe daintily +poised on a footstool; or the sofa-cushions at exactly the right angle +behind her head to make a background; or the finger with all her best +rings on it, keeping the place in an English illustrated journal. + +I dared not believe that she had posed for me. It must have been for +Lady Kilmarny; and that I alone should see the picture was a bad +beginning. + +She is of the age when a woman can still tell people that she is forty, +hoping they will exclaim politely, "Impossible!" + +It is not enough for her to be a Ladyship and a millionairess. She will +be a beauty as well, or at all costs she will be looked at. To that end +are her eyebrows and lashes black as jet, her undulated hair crimson, +her lips a brighter shade of the same colour, and her skin of magnolia +pallor, like the heroines of the novels which are sure to be her +favourites. Once, she must have been handsome, a hollyhock queen of a +kitchen-garden kingdom; but she would be far more attractive now if only +she had "abdicated," as nice middle-aged women say in France. + +Her dress was the very latest dream of a neurotic Parisian modiste, and +would have been seductive on a slender girl. On her--well, at least she +would have her wish in it--she would not pass unnoticed! + +She looked surprised at sight of me, and I saw she didn't realize that I +was the expected candidate. + +"Lady Kilmarny couldn't come," I began to explain, "and--" + +"Oh!" she cut me short. "So you are the young person she is recommending +as a maid." + +I corrected Miss Paget when she called me a "young woman," but times +have changed since then, and in future I must humbly consent to be a +young person, or even a creature. + +For a minute I forgot, and almost sat down. It would have been the end +of me if I had! Luckily I remembered What I was, and stood before my +mistress, trying to look like Patience on a monument with butter in her +mouth which mustn't be allowed to melt. + +"What is your name?" began the catechism (and the word was "nime," +according to Lady Turnour). + +"N or M," nearly slipped out of my mouth, but I put Satan with all his +mischief behind me, and answered that I was Lys d'Angely. + +"Oh, the surname doesn't matter. As you're a French girl, I shall call +you by your first name. It's always done." + +(The first time in history, I'd swear, that a d'Angely was ever told his +name didn't matter!) + +"You seem to speak English very well for a French woman?" (This almost +with suspicion.) + +"My mother was American." + +"How extraordinary!" + +(This was apparently a _tache_. Evidently lady's-maids are expected +_not_ to have American mothers!) + +"Let me hear your French accent." + +I let her hear it. + +"H'm! It seems well enough. Paris?" + +"Paris, madame." + +"Don't call me 'madame.' Any common person is madame. You should say +'your ladyship'." + +I said it. + +"And I want you should speak to me in the third person, like the French +servants are supposed to do in good houses." + +"If mad--if your ladyship wishes." + +(Thank heaven for a sense of humour! My one wild desire was to laugh. +Without that blessing, I should have yearned to slap her.) + +"What references have you got from your last situation?" + +"I have never been in service before--my lady." + +"My word! That's bad. However, you're on the spot, and Lady Kilmarny +recommends you. The poor Princess was going to try you, it seems. I +should think she wouldn't have given much for a maid without any +experience." + +"I was to have had two thousand francs a year as the Princess's com--if +the Princess was satisfied." + +"Preposterous! I don't believe a word of it. Why, what can you _do_? Can +you dress hair? Can you make a blouse?" + +"I did my mother's hair, and sometimes my cousin's." + +"_Your_ mother! _Your_ cousin! I'm talking of a lidy." + +My sense of humour _did_ almost fail me just then. But I caught hold of +it by the tail just as it was darting out of the window, spitting and +scratching like a cross cat. + +It was remembering Monsieur Charretier that brought me to my bearings. +"I think your ladyship would be satisfied," I said. "And I make all my +own dresses." + +"That one you've got on?--which is _most_ unsuitable for a maid, I may +tell you, and I should never permit it." + +"This one I have on, also." + +"I thought maybe it had been a present. Well, it's _something_ that you +speak both English and French passably well. I'll try you on Lady +Kilmarny's recommendation, if you want to come to me for fifty francs a +month. I won't give more to an _amateur_." + +I thought hard for a minute. Lady Kilmarny had said it would not be many +weeks before the Turnours went to England. There, if Miss Paget (who +seemed extremely nice by contrast and in retrospect) were still of the +same mind, I might find a good home. If not, she was as kind as she was +queer, and would help me look further. So I replied that I would accept +the fifty francs, and would do my best to please her ladyship. + +She did not express herself as gratified. "You can begin work this +evening," she said. "I was obliged to send away my last maid yesterday, +and I'm _lost_ without one." (This was delightful from a "lidy" who had +kept lodgers for years, with the aid perhaps of one smudgy-nosed +"general"!) "But have you no more suitable clothes? I can't let a maid +of mine go flaunting about, like a Mary-Jane-on-Sunday." + +I mentioned a couple of plain black dresses in my wardrobe, which might +be made to answer if I were allowed a few hours' time to work upon them, +and didn't add that they remained from my mourning for one dearly loved. + +"You can have till six o'clock free," said Lady Turnour. "Then you must +come back to lay out my things for dinner, and dress me. What about your +room? Had the Princess taken something for you in the hotel?" + +I evaded a direct answer by saying that I had a room; and was inwardly +thankful that, evidently, the Turnours had not noticed me in the +restaurant at luncheon, otherwise things might have been awkward. + +"Very well, you can keep the same one, then," went on her ladyship, "and +let the hotel people know it's Sir Samuel who pays for it. To-morrow +morning we leave, in our sixty-horse-power motor car. We are making a +tour before going back to England. Sir Samuel's stepson joins us in +Paris or perhaps before and travels on with us. He is staying now with +some French people of very high title, who live in a château. You will +sit on the front seat with the chauffeur." + +This was a blow! I hadn't thought of the chauffeur. "But," thought I, +"chauffeur or no chauffeur, it's too late now for retreat." + +Talk of Prometheus with his vulture, the Spartan boy with his decently +concealed wolf! What of Lys d'Angely with an English chauffeur in her +pocket? + + + + +CHAPTER V + + +When I was dismissed from the Presence, I ran to Lady Kilmarny with my +story, and she agreed with me that the thing to dread most in the whole +situation was the chauffeur. + +"Of course he'll naturally consider himself on an equality with you," +she said, "and you'll have to eat with him at hotels, and all that. +Once, when my husband and I were touring in France, and used to break +down near little inns, we were obliged to have a chauffeur at the same +table with us, because there was only one long one (table, I mean, not +chauffeur) and we couldn't spare time to let him wait till we'd +finished. My dear, it was ghastly! You would never believe if you hadn't +seen it, how the creature swallowed his knife when he ate, and did +conjuring tricks with his fork and spoon. I simply _dared_ not look at +him gnawing his bread, but used to shut my eyes. I hate to distress you, +poor child, but I tell you these things as a warning. _Are_ you able to +bear it?" + +I said that I, too, could shut my eyes. + +"You can't make a habit of doing so. And he may want to put his arm +round your waist, or chuck you under the chin. I used to have complaints +from my maid, who was comparatively plain, while you--but I don't want +to frighten you. He _may_ be different from our man. Some, they say, +are most respectable. I love common people when they're nice, and give +up quite pleasantly to being common; and of course Irish ones are too +delightful. But you can't hope for an Irish chauffeur. I hear they don't +exist. They're all French or German or English. Let us hope this one may +be the father of a family." + +It was well enough to be told to hope; and Lady Kilmarny meant to be +kind, but what she said made me "creep" whenever I thought of the +chauffeur. + +She advised me not to take my meals with the maids and valets at the +Majestic Palace, because a change, so sudden and Cinderella-like, after +lunching in the restaurant, would cause disagreeable talk in the hotel. +As my living in future would be at the charge of the Turnours, I might +afford myself a few indulgences to begin with, she argued; and deciding +that she was right, I made up my mind to have my remaining meals served +in my own room. + +I hastily stripped a black frock of its trimming, dressed my hair more +simply even than usual, parted down the middle, and altogether strove to +achieve the air of a _femme de chambre_ born, not made. But I'm bound to +chronicle the fact for my own future reference (when some day I shall +laugh at this adventure) that the effect, though restful to the eye, +suggested the stage _femme de chambre_ rather than the sober reality one +sees in every-day life. However, I was conscious of having done my best, +a state of mind which always produces a cool, strawberries-and-cream +feeling in the soul; and thus supported I tripped (yes, I _did_ trip!) +downstairs to adorn Lady Turnour for dinner. + +The door was open between her bedroom and the sitting-room. Waiting in +the former I could hear voices in the latter. Lady Turnour and her +husband were talking about the arrival of the stepson whose name, I soon +gleaned from their conversation, is Herbert. Naturally, it _would_ be. +People like that are always named Herbert, and are familiarly known to +those whom they may concern as "Bertie." + +Presently, her ladyship came into the bedroom, and said, as a queen +might say to her tirewoman, "Put me into my dressing-gown." If there +were a feminine word for "sirrah," I think she would have liked to call +me it. + +My eye, roving distractedly, pounced upon a gold-embroidered, purple +silk kimono, perhaps more appropriate to Pooh-Bah than to a stout +English lady of the lower middle class. I released it from its hook on +the door, and would that her ladyship had been as easy to release from +her bodice! + +She had not one hook, but many; and they were all so incredibly tight +that, to put her into the dressing-gown as ordered, I feared it would be +necessary to melt and pour her out of the gown she had on. + +While I wrestled, silent and red faced, with a bodice as snug as the +head of a drum, the lord of all it contained appeared in the doorway, +and stopped, looking at me in surprise. + +He is common, too, this Sir Samuel, millionaire maker of pills; but he +is common in a good, almost pathetic way, quite different from his +wife's way--or Monsieur Charretier's. He has stick-up gray hair curling +all over his round head, blue eyes, twinkling with a mild, yet shrewd +expression (which might be merry if encouraged by her ladyship), and a +large, slouching body with stooped shoulders. + +"What young lady have we here?" he inquired. + +"Not a young lady at all," explained his wife sharply. "My new French +maid." + +"I beg your pardon, I'm sure," said Sir Samuel, though it wasn't quite +clear whether it was my forgiveness or that of his spouse he craved, for +his mistake in supposing me to be a "young lady." + +"What's her name?" he wanted to know, evidently approving of me, if not +as a maid, at least as a human being. + +"Something ridiculous in French that sounds like 'Liz,'" sniffed her +ladyship. "But I shall call her Elise. Also I shall expect her to stop +dyeing her hair." + +"But, madame, I do not dye it!" I exclaimed. + +"Don't tell me. I know dyed hair when I see it." + +(She ought to, having experience enough with her own!) + +"Nature is the dyer, then," I ventured to persist, piqued to +self-defence by the certainty that her object was to strip me of my +wicked mask before her husband. + +"I'm not used to being contradicted by my servants," her ladyship +reminded me. + +"My dear, do let the poor girl know whether she dyes her hair or not." +Sir Samuel pleaded for me with more kindness than discretion. "I'm sure +she speaks beautiful English." + +[Illustration: "While I wrestled ... with a bodice as snug as the head +of a drum, the lord of all it contained appeared in the doorway"] + +"As if that had anything to do with it! She may as well understand, to +begin with, that I won't put up with impudence and answering back. +Hair that colour doesn't go with dark eyes. And eyelashes like that +aren't suitable to lady's-maids." + +"If your ladyship pleases, what am I to do with mine?" I asked in the +sweetest little voice; and I would have given anything for someone to +whom I might have telegraphed a laugh. + +"Wash the dark stuff off of them and let them be light," were the simple +instructions promptly returned to me. + +There was no more to be said, so I cast down the offending features (are +one's lashes one's features?) and swallowed my feelings just as Lady +Turnour will have to swallow my hair and eyelashes if I'm to stop in her +service. If they stick in her throat, I suppose she will discharge me. +For a leopard cannot change his spots, and a girl will not the colour of +her locks and lashes--when she happens to be fairly well satisfied with +Nature's work. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + + +Pamela's mother-in-law, _la Comtesse douairière_, wears a lovely, fluffy +white thing over her own diminishing front hair, which I once heard her +describe, when struggling to speak English, as her "combination." Pam +and I laughed nearly to extinction, but I didn't laugh this morning when +I was obliged to help Lady Turnour put on hers. + +They say an emperor is no hero to his valet, and neither can an empress +be a heroine to her maid when she bursts for the first time upon that +humble creature's sight, without her transformation. + +It _did_ make an unbelievable difference with her ladyship; and it must +have been a blow to poor Sir Samuel, after all his years of hopeless +love for a fond gazelle, when at last he made that gazelle his own, and +saw it running about its bedroom with all its copper-coloured +"ondulations" naively lying on its dressing-table. + +Poor Miss Paget's false front was one of those frank, self-respecting +old things one might have allowed one's grandmother to wear, just as she +would wear a cap; but a transformation--well, one has perhaps believed +in it, if one has not the eye of a lynx, and the disillusion is awful. + +Of course, a lady's-maid is not a human being, and what it is thinking +matters no more than what thinks a chair when sat upon; so I don't +suppose "her ladyship" cared ten centimes for the impression I was +receiving and trying to digest in the first ten minutes after my morning +entrance. + +As my hair waves naturally, I've scarcely more than a bowing +acquaintance with a curling-iron; but luckily for me I always did Cousin +Catherine's when she wanted to look as beautiful as she felt; and though +my hands trembled with nervousness, I not only "ondulated" Lady +Turnour's transformation without burning it up, but I added it to her +own locks in a manner so deft as to make me want to applaud myself. + +Even she could find no fault. The effect was twice as _chic_ and +becoming as that of yesterday. She looked younger, and nearer to being +the _grande dame_ that she burns to be. I saw various emotions working +in her mind, and attributed her silence on the subject of my personal +defects (unchanged despite her orders) to the success I was making with +her toilet. In her eyes, I began to take on lustre as a Treasure not to +be lightly thrown away on the turn of a dye. + +When she was dressed and painted to represent a "lady motorist," it was +my business to pack not only for her but for Sir Samuel, who is the sort +of man to be miserable under the domination of a valet. There were a +round dozen of trunks, which had to be sent on by rail, and there was +also luggage for the automobile; such ingenious and pretty luggage (bran +new, like everything of her ladyship's, not excepting her complexion) +that it was really a pleasure to pack it. As for the poor motor maid, it +was broken to her that she must, figuratively speaking, live in a bag +during the tour, and that bag must have a place under her feet as she +sat beside the driver. It might make her as uncomfortable as it liked, +but whatever it did, it must on no account interfere with the chauffeur. + +We were supposed to start at ten, but a woman of Lady Turnour's type +doesn't think she's making herself of enough importance unless she keeps +people waiting. She changed her mind three times about her veil, and had +her dressing-bag (a gorgeous affair, beside which mine is a mere +nutshell) reopened at the last minute to get out different hatpins. + +It was half-past ten when the luggage for the automobile was ready to be +taken away, and having helped my mistress into her motoring coat, I left +her saying farewell to some hotel acquaintances she had scraped up, and +went out to put her ladyship's rugs into the car. + +I had not seen it yet, nor the dreaded chauffeur, my galley-companion; +but as the front door opened, _voilà_ both; the car drawn up at the +hotel entrance, the chauffeur dangling from its roof. + +Never did I see anything in the way of an automobile so large, so azure, +so magnificent, so shiny as to varnish, so dazzling as to brass and +crystal. + +Perhaps the windows aren't really crystal, but they were all bevelly and +glittering in the sunshine, and seemed to run round the car from back to +front, giving the effect of a Cinderella Coach fitted on to a motor. +Never was paint so blue, never was crest on carriage panel so large and +so like a vague, over-ripe tomato. Never was a chauffeur so long, so +slim, so smart, so leathery. + +He was dangling not because he fancied himself as a tassel, but because +he was teaching some last piece of luggage to know its place on the roof +it was shaped to fit. + +"Thank goodness, at least he's not fat, and won't take up much room," I +thought, as I stood looking at the back of his black head. + +Then he jumped down, and turned round. We gave each other a glance, and +he could not help knowing that I must be her ladyship's maid, by the way +I was loaded with rugs, like a beast of burden. Of my face he could see +little, as I had on a thick motor-veil with a small triangular talc +window, which Lady Kilmarny had given me as a present when I bade her +good-bye. I had the advantage of him, therefore, in the staring contest, +because his goggles were pushed up on the top of his cap with an +elastic, somewhat as Miss Paget's spectacles had been caught in her +false front. + +His glance said: "Female thing, I've got to be bothered by having you +squashed into the seat beside me. You'd better not be chatty with the +man at the wheel, for if you are, I shall have to teach you motor +manners." + +My glance, I sincerely hoped, said nothing, for I hurriedly shut it off +lest it should say too much, the astonished thought in my mind being: +"Why, Leather Person, you look exactly like a gentleman! You have the +air of being the master, and Sir Samuel your servant." + +He really was a surprise, especially after Lady Kilmarny's warning. +Still, I at once began to tell myself that chauffeurs _must_ have +intelligent faces. As for this one's clear features, good gray eyes, +brown skin, and well-made figure, they were nothing miraculous, since it +is admitted that even a lower grade of beings, grooms and footmen, are +generally chosen as ornaments to the establishments they adorn. Why +shouldn't a chauffeur be picked out from among his fellows to do credit +to a fine, sixty-horse-power blue motor-car? Besides, a young man who +can't look rather handsome in a chauffeur's cap and neat leather coat +and leggings might as well go and hang himself. + +The Leather Person opened the door of the car for me, that I might put +in the rugs. I murmured "thank you" and he bowed. No sooner had I +arranged my affairs, and slipped the scent-bottle and bottle of salts, +newly filled, into a dainty little case under the window, when Lady +Turnour and Sir Samuel appeared. + +I have met few, if any, queens in daily life, but I'm almost sure that +the Queen of England, for instance, wouldn't consider it beneath her +dignity to take some notice of her chauffeur's existence if she were +starting on a motor tour. Lady Turnour was miles above it, however. So +far as she was concerned, one would have thought that the car ran +itself; that at sight of her and Sir Samuel, the arbiters of its +destiny, its heart began to beat, its body to tremble with delight at +the honour in store for it. + +"Tell him to shut the windows," said her ladyship, when she was settled +in her place. "Does he think I'm going to travel on a day like this with +all the wind on the Riviera blowing my head off?" + +The imperial order was passed on to "him," who was addressed as Bane, +or Dane, or something of that ilk; and I was sorry for poor Sir Samuel, +whose face showed how little he enjoyed the prospect of being cooped up +in a glass box. + +"A day like this" meant that there was a wind which no one under fifty +had any business to know came out of the east, for it arrived from a sky +blue as a vast, inverted cup of turquoise. The sea was a cup, too; a cup +of gold glittering where the Esterel mountains rimmed it, and full to +the frothing brim of blue spilt by the sky. + +Perhaps there was a hint of keenness in the breeze, and the palms in the +hotel garden were whispering to each other about it, while they rocked +the roses tangled among their fans; yet it seemed to me that the +whispers were not of complaint, but of joy--joy of life, joy of beauty, +and joy of the spring. The air smelled of a thousand flowers, this air +that Lady Turnour shunned as if it were poison, and brought me a sense +of happiness and adventure fresh as the morning. I knew I had no right +to the feeling, because this wasn't my adventure. I was only in it on +sufferance, to oil the wheels of it, so to speak, for my betters; yet +golden joy ran through all my veins as gaily, as generously, as if I +were a princess instead of a lady's-maid. + +Why on earth I was happy, I didn't know, for it was perfectly clear that +I was going to have a horrid time; but I pitied everybody who wasn't +young, and starting off on a motor tour, even if on fifty francs a month +"all found." + +I pitied Lady Turnour because she was herself; I pitied Sir Samuel +because he was married to her; I pitied the people in the big hotel, +who spent their afternoons and evenings playing bridge with all the +windows hermetically sealed, while there was a world like this out of +doors; and I wasn't sure yet whether I pitied the chauffeur or not. + +He didn't look particularly sorry for himself, as he took his seat on my +right. I was well out of his way, and he had the air of having forgotten +all about me, as he steered away from the hotel down the flower-bordered +avenue which led to the street. + +"Anyhow," said I to myself, behind my little three-cornered talc window, +"whatever his faults may be, appearances are _very_ deceptive if he ever +tries to chuck me under the chin." + +There we sat, side by side, shut away from our pastors and masters by a +barrier of glass, in that state of life and on that seat to which it had +pleased Providence to call us, together. + +"We're far enough apart in mind, though," I told myself. Yet I found my +thoughts coming back to the man, every now and then, wondering if his +nice brown profile were a mere lucky accident, or if he were really +intelligent and well educated beyond his station. It was deliciously +restful at first to sit there, seeing beautiful things as we flashed by, +able to enjoy them in peace without having to make conversation, as the +ordinary _jeune fille_ must with the ordinary _jeune monsieur_. + +"And is it that you love the automobilism, mademoiselle?" + +"But yes, I love the automobilism. And you?" + +"I also." (Hang it, what shall I say to her next?) + +"And the dust. It does not too much annoy you?" + +(Oh, bother, I do wish he'd let me alone!) + +"No, monsieur. Because there are compensations. The scenery, is it not?" + +"And for me your society." (What a little idiot she is!) + +And so on. And so on. Oh yes, there were consolations in being a motor +maid, sitting as far away as possible from a cross-looking if rather +handsome chauffeur, who would want to bite her if she tried to do the +"society act." + +But after a while, when we'd spun past the charming villas and +attractive shops of Cannes (which looks so deceitfully sylvan, and is +one of the gayest watering-places in the world) silence began to be a +burden. + +It is such a nice motor car, and I did want to ask intelligent questions +about it! + +I was almost sure they would be intelligent, because already I know +several things about automobiles. The Milvaines haven't got one, but +most of their friends in Paris have, and though I've never been on a +long tour before, I've done some running about. When one knows things, +especially when one's a girl--a really well-regulated, normal girl--one +does like to let other people know that one knows them. It's all well +enough to cram yourself full to bursting with interesting facts which it +gives you a vast amount of trouble to learn, just out of respect for +your own soul; and there's a great deal in that point of view, in one's +noblest moments; but one's noblest moments are like bubbles, radiant +while they last, then going pop! quite to one's own surprise, leaving +one all flat, and nothing to show for the late bubble except a little +commonplace soap. + +Well, I am like that, and when I'm not nobly bubbling I love to say what +I'm thinking to somebody who will understand, instead of feeding on +myself. + +It really was a waste of good material to see all that lovely scenery +slipping by like a panorama, and to be having quite heavenly thoughts +about it, which must slip away too, and be lost for ever. I got to the +pass when it would have been a relief to be asked if "this were my first +visit to the Riviera;" because I could hastily have said "Yes," and then +broken out with a volley of impressions. + +Seeing beautiful things when you travel by rail consists mostly on +getting half a glimpse, beginning to exclaim, "Oh, look _there_!" then +plunging into the black gulf of a tunnel, and not coming out again until +after the best bit has carefully disappeared behind an uninteresting, +fat-bodied mountain. But travelling by motor-car! Oh, the difference! +One sees, one feels; one is never, never bored, or impatient to arrive +anywhere. One would enjoy being like the famous brook, and "go on +forever." + +Other automobiles were ahead of us, other cars were behind us, in the +procession of Nomads leaving the South for the North, but there had been +rain in the night, so that the wind carried little dust. My spirit sang +when we had left the long, cool avenue lined with the great +silver-trunked plane trees (which seemed always, even in sunshine, to be +dappled with moonlight) and dashed toward the barrier of the Esterels +that flung itself across our path. The big blue car bounded up the +steep road, laughing and purring, like some huge creature of the desert +escaped from a cage, regaining its freedom. But every time we neared a +curve it was considerate enough to slow down, just enough to swing round +with measured rhythm, smooth as the rocking of a child's cradle. + +Perhaps, thought I, the chauffeur wasn't cross, but only concentrated. +If I had to drive a powerful, untamed car like this, up and down roads +like that, I should certainly get motor-car face, a kind of inscrutable, +frozen mask that not all the cold cream in the world could ever melt. + +I wondered if he resorted to cold cream, and before I knew what I was +doing, I found myself staring at the statuesque brown profile through my +talc triangle. + +Evidently animal magnetism can leak through talc, for suddenly the +chauffeur glanced sharply round at me, as if I had called him. "Did you +speak?" he asked. + +"Dear me, no, I shouldn't have dared," I hurried to assure him. Again he +transferred his attention from the road to me, though only a fraction, +and for only the fraction of a second. I felt that he saw me as an eagle +on the wing might see a fly on a boulder toward which he was steering +between intervening clouds. + +"Why shouldn't you dare?" he wanted to know. + +"One doesn't usually speak to lion-tamers while they're engaged in +taming," I murmured, quite surprised at my audacity and the sound of my +own voice. + +The chauffeur laughed. "Oh!" he said. + +"Or to captains of ocean liners on the bridge in thick fogs," I went on +with my illustrations. + +"What do you know about lion-tamers and captains on ocean liners?" he +inquired. + +"Nothing. But I imagine. I'm always doing a lot of imagining." + +"Do you think you will while you're with Lady Turnour?" + +"She hasn't engaged my brain, only my hands and feet." + +"And your time." + +"Oh, thank goodness it doesn't take time to imagine. I can imagine all +the most glorious things in heaven and earth in the time it takes you to +put your car at the next corner." + +He looked at me longer, though the corner seemed dangerously near--to an +amateur. "I see you've learned the true secret of living," said he. + +"Have I? I didn't know." + +"Well, you have. You may take it from me. I'm a good deal older than you +are." + +"Oh, of course, all really polite men are older than the women they're +with." + +"Even chauffeurs?" + +It was my turn to laugh now. "A chauffeur with a lady's-maid." + +"You seem an odd sort of lady's-maid." + +"I begin to think you're an odd sort of chauffeur." + +"Why?" + +"Well--" I hesitated, though I knew why, perfectly. "Aren't you rather +abrupt in your questions? Suppose we change the subject. You seem to +have tamed this tiger until it obeys you like a kitten." + +"That's what I get my wages for. But why do you think I'm an odd sort +of chauffeur?" + +"For that matter, then, why do you think I'm an odd lady's-maid?" + +"As to that, probably I'm no judge. I never talked to one except my +mother's, and she--wasn't at all like you." + +"Well, that proves my point. The very fact that your mother _had_ a +maid, shows you're an odd sort of chauffeur." + +"Oh! You mean because I wasn't always 'what I seem,' and that kind of +_Family Herald_ thing? Do you think it odd that a chauffeur should be by +way of being a gentleman? Why, nowadays the woods and the story-books +are full of us. But things are made pleasanter for us in books than in +real life. Out of books people fight shy of us. A 'shuvvie' with the +disadvantage of having been to a public school, or handicapped by not +dropping his H's, must knock something off his screw." + +"Are you really in earnest, or are you joking?" I asked. + +"Half and half, perhaps. Anyway, it isn't a particularly agreeable +position--if that's not too big a word for it. I envy you your +imagination, in which you can shut yourself up in a kind of armour +against the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune." + +"You wouldn't envy me if you had to do Lady Turnour's hair," I sighed. + +The chauffeur laughed out aloud. "Heaven forbid!" he exclaimed. + +"I'm sure Sir Samuel would forbid, anyhow," said I. + +"Do you know, I don't think this trip's going to be so bad?" said he. + +"Neither do I," I murmured in my veil. + +We both laughed a good deal then. But luckily the glass was expensively +thick, and the car was singing. + +"What are you laughing at?" I asked. + +"Something that it takes a little sense of humour to see, when you've +been down on your luck," said he. + +"A sense of humour was the only thing my ancestors left me," said I. "I +don't wonder you laugh. It really is quaintly funny." + +"Do you think we're laughing at the same thing?" + +"I'm almost sure of it." + +"Do tell me your part, and let's compare notes." + +"Well, it's something that nobody but us in this car--unless it's the +car itself--knows." + +"Then it is the same thing. They haven't an idea of it, and wouldn't +believe it if anyone told them. Yes, it is funny." + +"About their not being--" + +"While you--" + +"And you--" + +"Thanks. A lady--" + +"A gentleman--" + +"And the only ones on board--" + +"Are the two servants!" + +"As long as _they_ don't notice--" + +"And we do!" + +"Perhaps we may get some fun out of it?" + +"Extra--outside our wages. Would it be called a 'perquisite'?" + +"If so, I'm sure we deserve it." + +I sighed, thinking of her ladyship's transformation, and lacing up her +boots. "Well, there's a lot to make up for." + +And he gave me another look--a very nice look, although he could see +nothing of me but eyes and one third of a nose. "If I can ever at all +help to make up, in the smallest way, you must let me try," he said. + +I ceased to think that his profile was cross, or even stern. + +I was glad that the chauffeur and I were in the same box--I mean, the +same car. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + + +All the same, I wondered a great deal how he came there, and I hoped +that he was wondering the same sort of thing about me. In fact, I laid +myself out to produce such a result. That is to say, I took some pains +to show myself as little like the common or parlour lady's-maid as +possible. I never took so much pains to impress any human being, male or +(far less) female, as I took to impress that mere chauffeur--the very +chauffeur I'd been lying awake at night dreading as the most +objectionable feature in my new life. + +All the nice things I'd thought of by the way, before we introduced +ourselves to each other, I trotted out (at least, as many as I had +presence of mind to remember); and though I'm afraid he didn't pay me +the compliment of trying to "brill" in return, I told myself that it was +not because he didn't think me worth brilling for, but because he's +English. It never seems to occur to an Englishman to "show off." I +believe if Sir Samuel Turnour's chauffeur, Mr. What's-his-name, knew +twenty-seven languages, he could be silent in all of them. + +He did let me play the car's musical siren, though; a fascinating +bugbear, supposed to warn children, chickens, and other light-minded +animals that something important is coming, and they'd better look +alive. It has two tunes, one grave, one gay. I suppose we would use the +grave one if the creature hadn't looked alive? + +Although he didn't say much, the chauffeur (or "shuvvie" as he +scornfully names himself) knew all about Robert Macaire and Gaspard De +Besse--knew more about them than I, also their escapades on this road +over the Esterels, and in the mountain fastnesses, when highwaymen were +as fashionable as motor-cars are now. I'd forgotten that it was this +part of the world where they earned their bread and fame; and was quite +thrilled to hear that the ghost of De Besse is supposed to keep on, as a +permanent residence, his old shelter cave near the summit of strangely +shaped Mont Vinaigre. I'm sure, though, even if we'd passed his pitch at +midnight instead of midday, he wouldn't have dared pop out and cry +"Stand and deliver!" to a sixty-horsepower Aigle. + +I almost wished it were night, as we swooped over mountain tops, our +eyes plunging down the deep gorges, and dropping with fearful joy over +precipices, for the effect would have been more solemn, more mysterious. +I could imagine that the fantastically formed rocks which loomed above +us or stood ranged far below would have looked by moonlight like statues +and busts of Titans, carved to show poor little humanity such creatures +as a dead world had known. But it is hard for one's imagination to do +the best of which it feels capable when one is dying for lunch. + +Even the old "Murder Inn," which my companion obligingly pointed out, +didn't give me the thrill it ought, because time was getting on when we +flew past it, and I would have been capable of eating vulgar bread and +cheese under its wickedly historic roof if I had been invited. + +"Do you suppose they know anything about the road and its history?" I +asked the chauffeur, with a slight gesture of my swathed head toward the +solid wall of glass which was our background. + +"They? Certainly not, and don't want to know," he answered with an air +of assurance. + +"Why do they go about in motors then," I wondered, "if they don't take +interest in things they pass?" + +"You must understand as well as I do why this sort of person goes about +in motors," said he. "They go because other people go--because it's the +thing. The 'other people' whom they slavishly imitate may really like +the exhilaration, the ozone, the sight-seeing, or all three; but to this +type the only part that matters is letting it be seen that they've got a +handsome car, and being able to say 'We've just come from the Riviera in +our sixty-horse-power motor-car.' They'd always mention the power." + +"Lady Turnour did, even to me," I remembered. "But is Sir Samuel like +that?" + +"No, to do him justice, he isn't, poor man. But his wife is his +Juggernaut. I believe he enjoys lying under her wheels, or thinks he +does--which is the same thing." + +"Have you been with them long?" I dared to inquire. + +"Only a few days. I brought the car down for them from Paris, though not +this way--a shorter one. We're new brooms, the car and I." + +"All their brooms seem to be new," I reflected. "I wonder what the +stepson is like?" + +"Luckily it doesn't matter much to me," said the chauffeur +indifferently. + +"Nor to me. But his name's Herbert." + +"His surname?" + +"I don't know. There's a Herbert lurking somewhere. It always suggests +to me oily hair parted in the middle and smeared down on each side of a +low, narrow forehead. Could you know a 'Bertie'?" + +"I did once, and never want to again. He was a swine and a snob. Hope +you never came across the combination?" + +I forgot to answer, because, having left the mountain world behind, a +formidable line of nobly planned arches began striding along beside us, +through the sun-bright fields, and I was sure it must be the giant Roman +aqueduct of Fréjus. + +Instead of discussing such little things as the Turnours and their +Bertie, we began to talk of Phoenicians, Ligurians, and of Romans; of +Pliny, who had a beloved friend at Fréjus; and all the while to breathe +in the perfume of a land over which a vast tidal wave of balsamic pines +had swept. + +Fréjus we were not to see now: that was for the dim future, after lunch; +but we turned to the left off the main road, and ran on until we saw, +bathed in pines, deliciously deluged and drowned in pines, the white +glimmer of classic-looking villas. These meant Valescure, said the +chauffeur; and the Grand Hotel--not classic looking, but pretty in its +terraced garden--meant luncheon. + +The car drew up before the door, according to order, or rather, +according to hypnotic suggestion; for it seems that it is the chauffeur +who alone knows anything of the way, and who, while appearing to be +non-committal, is virtually planning the tour. "Valescure might be a +good stopping-place for lunch," he had murmured, an eye on the road map +over which his head bent with Sir Samuel's. "Very beautiful--rather +exclusive. You may remember Mr. Chamberlain stopped there." + +The exclusiveness and the Chamberlain-ness decided Lady Turnour, behind +Sir Samuel's shoulder (so the chauffeur told me); consequently, here we +were--and not at St. Raphael, which would have seemed the more obvious +place to stop. + +I say "we," but Lady Turnour would have been surprised to hear that her +maid dared count herself and a chauffeur in the programme. Creatures +like us must be fed, just as you pour petrol into the tanks of a motor, +or stoke a furnace with coals, because otherwise our mechanism wouldn't +go, and that would be awkward when we were wanted. + +The chauffeur opened the door of the car as if he had been born to open +motor-car doors, and Lady Turnour allowed herself to be helped out by +her husband. Her jewel-bag clutched in her hand (she doesn't know me +well enough yet to trust me with it, and hasn't had bagsful of jewels +for long), she passed her two servants without expending a look on them. +Sir Samuel followed, telling his chauffeur to have the automobile ready +at the door again in an hour and a quarter; and we two Worms were left +to our own resources. + +"I shan't garage her," said my fellow Worm of the car. "I'll just drive +her out of the way, where I can look over her a bit when I've snatched +something to eat. I'll take the fur rugs inside--you're not to bother, +they're big enough to swamp you entirely. And then you--" + +"Yes, then I--" I repeated desolately. "What is to become of me?" + +"Why, you're to have your lunch, of course," he replied. "I thought you +said you were hungry." + +"So I am, starving. But--" + +"Well?" + +"Aren't you going to have a proper lunch?" + +"A sandwich and a piece of cheese will do for me, because there are one +or two little things to tinker up on the car, and an hour and a quarter +isn't long. I think I shall bring my grub out of doors, and--But is +anything the matter?" + +"I can't go in and have lunch alone. I simply can't," I confessed to the +young man whose society I had intended to avoid like a pestilence. "You +see, I--I never--this is the first time." + +A look of comprehension flashed over his face. + +"Yes, I see," he said. "Of course, the moment I heard your voice I +realized that this wasn't your sort of work, but I didn't know you were +quite so new to it as all that. You've never taken a meal in the +couriers' room of an hotel?" + +"No," I confessed. "At the Majestic Palace Lady Kil--that is, I decided +to have everything brought up to my room, there." + +"By Jove, we are a strange pair! This is my first job, too, and so far +I've been able to feed where I chose; but that's too good to last on +tour. One must accommodate oneself to circumstances, and a man easily +can. But you--I know how you feel. However, it's the first step that +costs. Do you mind much?" + +"It's the stepping in alone that costs the most," I said. + +"Well, I'm only too delighted if I can be of the least use. Let the car +rip! I'll see to her afterward. Now I'm going to take care of you. You +need it more than she does." + +What would Lady Kilmarny have said if she had heard my deliberate +encouragement of the chauffeur, and his reckless response? What would +she have thought if she could have seen us walking into the couriers' +dining-room, side by side, as if we had been friends for as many years +as we'd really been acquaintances for minutes, leaving the car he was +paid to cherish in his bosom sulking alone! + +That sweet lady's face, surprised and reproachful, rose before my eyes, +but I had no regrets. And instead of trembling with apprehension when I +saw that the couriers' room was empty, I rejoiced in the prospect of +lunching alone with the redoubtable chauffeur. + +It was too early for the regular feeding hour of the _pensionnaires_, +maids, and valets, and we sat down opposite each other at the end of a +long table. A bored young waiter, with little to hope for in the way of +_pourboires_, ambled off in quest of our food. I began to unfasten my +head covering, and after a search for various fugitive pins I emerged +from obscurity, like the moon from behind a cloud. + +With a sigh of relief, I smiled at my companion; and it was only his +expression of surprise which reminded me that he had been seeing me "as +through a glass darkly." + +I suppose, unless you are a sort of Sherlock Holmes of physiognomy, you +can't map out a woman's face by a mere glimpse of eyes through a +triangular bit of talc, already somewhat damaged by exposure to sun and +wind. + +It mayn't be good manners to look a gift motor-veil in the talc, but I +must admit that, glad as I was of its protection, mine was somewhat the +worse for certain bubbles, cracks, and speckles; so whether or no Mr. +Bane or Dane may combine the science of chauffeuring with that of +physiognomy, it's certain that he had the air of being taken aback. + +Of course, I know that I'm not exactly plain, and that the contrast +between my eyes and hair is a little out of the common; so, as soon as I +remembered that he hadn't seen me before, I guessed more or less what +his almost startled look meant. Still, I suppose most girls--anyway, +half-French, half-American girls--would have done exactly what I +proceeded to do. + +I looked as innocent as a fluffy chicken when it first sidles out of its +eggshell into the wide, wide world; and said: "Oh, I do hope I haven't a +smudge on the end of my nose?" + +"No," replied the chauffeur, instantly becoming expressionless. "Why do +you ask?" + +"Only I was afraid, from your face, that there was something wrong." + +"So far as I can see, there's nothing wrong," said he, calmly, and +broke a piece of bread. "Very good butter, this, that they give to _nous +autres_," he went on, in the same tone of voice, and my respect for him +increased. + +(Men are really rather nice creatures, take them all in all!) + +As he had sacrificed his duty to the car for me, I sacrificed my duty to +my digestion for him, and bolted my luncheon. Then, when released from +guard duty, he returned to his true allegiance, and I ventured to walk +on the terrace to admire the view. + +Far away it stretched, over garden, and pineland, and flowery +meadow-spaces, to the blue, silver-sewn sea, which to my fancy looked +Homeric. Nothing modern caught the eye to break the romance of the +illusion. All was as it might have been twenty or thirty centuries ago, +when on the Mediterranean sailed "Phoenicians, mariners renowned, greedy +merchantmen with countless gauds in a black ship." + +I had just begun to play that I was a young woman of Tyre, taken on an +adventurous excursion by an indulgent father, when presto! Lady +Turnour's voice brought me back to the present with a jump. There's +nothing Homeric about her! + +She and Sir Samuel had finished their luncheon, and so had several other +people. There was an exodus of well-dressed, nice-looking women from +dining-room to terrace, and conscious that I ought to have been herding +among their maids, I fled with haste and humility. What right had I, in +this sweet place divinely fit to be a rest-cure for goddesses tired of +the social diversions of Olympus? + +I scuttled off to the car, and stood ready to serve my mistress when it +should please her to be tucked under her rugs. + +Despite delays, the chauffeur had finished whatever had to be done, and +soon we were spinning away from Valescure, far away, into a world of +flowers. + +Black cypresses soared skyward, so clean cut, so definite, that I seemed +to hear them, crystal-shrill, like the sharp notes in music, as they +leaped darkly out from a silver monotone of olives and a delicate ripple +of pearly plum or pear blossom. Mimosas poured floods of gold over the +spring landscape, blazing violently against the cloudless blue. Bloom of +peach and apple tree garlanded our road on either side; the way was +jewelled with roses; and acres of hyacinths stretched into the distance, +their perfume softening the keenness of the breeze. + +"Are they going to let you pass Fréjus without pausing for a single +look?" I asked mournfully. But at that instant there came a peal of the +electric bell which is one of the luxurious fittings of the car. It +meant "stop!" and we stopped. + +"Aren't there some ruins here--something middle-aged?" asked Sir Samuel, +meaning mediæval. + +"Roman ruins, sir," replied his chauffeur, without changing countenance. + +"Are they the sort of things you ought to say you've seen?" + +"I think most people do stop and see them, sir." + +"What is your wish, my dear?" Sir Samuel gallantly deferred to his +bride. "I know you don't like out-of-door sightseeing when it's windy, +and blows your hair about, but--" + +"We might try, and if I don't like it, we can go on," replied Lady +Turnour, patronizing the remains of Roman greatness, since it appeared +to be the "thing" for the nobility and gentry to do. + +The chauffeur obediently turned the big blue Aigle, and let her sail +into the very centre of the vast arena where Cæsar saw gladiators fight +and die. + +It was very noble, very inspiring, and from some shady corner promptly +emerged a quaintly picturesque old guardian, ready to pour forth floods +of historic information. He introduced himself as a soldier who had seen +fighting in Mexico under Maximilian, therefore the better able to +appreciate and fulfil his present task. But her ladyship listened for +awhile with lack-lustre eyes, and finally, when dates were flying about +her ears like hail, calmly interrupted to say that she was "glad she +hadn't lived in the days when you had to go to the theatre out of +doors." + +"I can't understand more than one word in twelve that the old thing +says, anyhow," she went on. "Elise must give me French lessons every day +while she does my hair. I hope she has the right accent." + +"He's saying that this amphitheatre was once almost as large as the one +at Nîmes, but that it would only hold about ten thousand spectators," +explained the chauffeur, who was engaged partly for his French and +knowledge of France. + +"It's nonsense bothering to know that now, when the place is tumbling to +pieces," sneered her ladyship. + +"I beg your pardon, my lady; I only thought that, as a rule, the best +people do feel bound to know these things. But of course--" He paused +deferentially, without a twinkle in his eye, though I was pressing my +lips tightly together, and trying not to shake spasmodically. + +"Oh, well, go on. What else does the old boy say, then?" groaned Lady +Turnour, _martyrisée_. + +Mr. Bane or Dane didn't dare to glance at me. With perfect gravity he +translated the guide's best bits, enlarging upon them here and there in +a way which showed that he had independent knowledge of his own. And it +was a feather in his cap that his eloquence eventually interested Lady +Turnour. She made him tell her again how Fréjus was Claustra Gallæ to +Cæsar, and how it was the "Caput" for this part of the wonderful Via +Aurelia, which started at Rome, never ending until it came to Arles. + +"Why, we've been to Rome, and we're going to Arles," she exclaimed. "We +can tell people we've been over the whole of the Via Aurelia, can't we? +We needn't mention that the automobile didn't arrive till after we got +to Cannes. And anyway, you say there were once theatres there, and at +Antibes, like the one at Fréjus, so we've been making a kind of Roman +pilgrimage all along, if we'd only known it." + +"It is considered quite the thing to do, in Roman amphitheatres, to make +a tour of the prisoners' cells and gladiators' dressing-rooms, the guide +says," insinuated the chauffeur. And then, when the bride and +bridegroom, reluctant but conscientious, were swimming round the vast +bowl of masonry, like tea-leaves floating in a great cup, he turned to +me. + +"Why don't you thank me?" he inquired. "I was doing it for you. I knew +you hated to miss all this, and I saw she meant to go on, so I +intervened, in the only way I could think of, to touch her." + +"If you're always as clever as that, I don't see why this shouldn't be +_our_ trip," I said. "That will be a consolation." + +"I'm afraid you'll often need more consolation than that," he answered. +"Lady Turnour is--as the Americans say--a pretty 'stiff proposition.'" + +"Still, if you can hypnotize her into going to all the places, and +stopping to look at all the nicest things, this will at least be a cheap +automobile tour for us both." + +I laughed, but he didn't; and I was sorry, for I thought I deserved a +smile. And he has a nice one, with even white teeth in it, and a wistful +sort of look in his eyes at the same time: a really interesting smile. + +I wondered what he was thinking about that made him look so grave; but I +conceitedly felt that it was something concerning me--or the situation +of us both. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + + +The tidal wave of pines followed us as, having had one glance at the +Porte Dorée, we left Fréjus, old and new, behind. It followed us out of +gay little St. Raphael, lying in its alluvial plain of flowers, and on +along the coast past which the ships of Augustus Cæsar used to sail. + +Not in my most starry dreams could I have fancied a road as beautiful as +that which opened to us soon, winding above the dancing water. + +Graceful dryad pines knelt by the wayside, stretching out their arms to +the sea, where charming little bays shone behind enlacing branches, blue +as the eyes of a wood-nymph gleaming shyly through the brown tangle of +her hair. Pine balsam mingled with the bitter-sweet perfume of almond +blossom, and caught a pungent tang of salt from the wind. + +What romance--what beauty! It made me in love with life, just to pass +this way, and know that so much hidden loveliness existed. I glanced +furtively over my shoulder at the couple whose honeymoon it is--our +master and mistress. Lady Turnour sat nodding in the conservatory +atmosphere of her glass cage, and Sir Samuel was earnestly choosing a +cigar. + +Suddenly it struck me that Providence must have a vast sense of humour, +and that the little inhabitants of this earth, high and low, must +afford It a great deal of benevolent amusement. + +All too soon we swept out of the forest, straight into a little town, +St. Maxime, with a picturesque port of its own, where red-sailed fishing +boats lolled as idly as the dark-eyed young men in cafés near the shore. +A few tourists walking out from the hotel on the hill gazed rather +curiously at us in our fine blue car; and we gazed away from them, +across a sapphire gulf, to the distant houses of St. Tropez, banked high +against a promontory of emerald. + +I should have liked to run on to St. Tropez, for I knew his pretty +legend; how he was one of the guards of St. Paul in prison, and was +converted by the eloquence of his captive; but the chauffeur said that, +after La Foux (famed home of miniature horses) the coast road would lose +its surface of velvet. It would be laced in and out with crossings of a +local railway line, and there would be so many bumps that Lady Turnour +was certain to wake up very cross. + +"For your sake I don't want to make her cross," said he, and turned +inland; but the way was no less beautiful. The pines were tired of +running after us, but great cork trees marched beside the road, like an +army of crusaders in disarray, half in, half out, of armour. Above, rose +the Mountains of the Moors, whose very name seemed to ring with the +distant echo of a Saracen war song; and here and there, on a bare, wild +hillside, towered all that was left of some ancient castle, fallen into +ruin. Cogolin was fine, and Grimaud was even finer. + +Up a steep ascent, through shadowy forests we had passed, now and then +coming suddenly upon a little red-roofed village nestling among the +trees as a strawberry among its leaves, when abruptly we flashed out +where spaces of sky and silver sea opened. Between hills that seemed to +sweep a curtsey to us, we flew down an apple-paring road toward Hyères. + +The Turnours had lunched, if not wisely, probably too well, at Valescure +about one o'clock, and it wasn't yet four; but the air at the beautiful +Costebelle hotels is said to be perpetually glittering with Royalties +and other bright beings of the great world, so her ladyship wouldn't +have been persuaded to miss the place. + +Not that anyone tried to persuade her, for the two powers behind the +throne (and in front of the car) wanted to go--not to see the Royalties, +but the beauties of Costebelle itself. + +We slipped gently through the town of Hyères, whose avenues of giant +palms looked like great sea anemones turned into trees, and then spurted +up a hill into a vast and fragrant grove that smelled of a thousand +flowers. In the grove stood three hotels, with wide views over +jade-green lagoons to an indigo sea; and at the most charming of the +trio we stopped. + +Nothing was said about tea for the two servants, but while the "quality" +had theirs on an exquisite terrace, the chauffeur brought a steaming cup +to me, as I sat in the car. + +"This was given me for my _beaux yeux_," he said, "but I don't want any +tea, so please take it, and don't let it be wasted." + +I was convinced that he had paid for that cup of tea with coin harder +if not brighter than the _beaux yeux_ in question; but it would have +hurt his feelings if I had refused, therefore I drank the tea and +thanked the giver. + +"You are being very kind to me," I said, "Mr. Bane or Dane; so do you +mind telling me which it is?" + +"Dane," he replied shortly. "Not that it matters. A chauffeur by any +other name would smell as much of oil and petrol. It's actually my real +name, too. Are you surprised? I was either too proud or too stubborn to +change it--I'm not sure which--when I took up 'shuvving' for a +livelihood." + +"No, I'm not surprised," I said. "You don't look like the sort of man +who would change his name as if it were a coat. I've kept mine, too, to +'maid' with. You 'shuv,' I 'maid.' It sounds like an exercise in a +strange language." + +"That's precisely what it is," he answered. "A difficult language to +learn at first, but I'm getting the 'hang' of it. I hope you won't need +to pursue the study very thoroughly." + +"And you think you will?" + +"I think so," he said, his face hardening a little, and looking dogged. +"I don't see any way out of it for the present." + +I was silent for almost a whole minute--which can seem a long time to a +woman--half hoping that he meant to tell me something about himself; how +it was that he'd decided to be a professional chauffeur, and so on. I +was sure there must be a story, an interesting story--perhaps a romantic +one--and if he confided in me, I would in him. Why not, when--on my +part, at least--there's nothing to conceal, and we're bound to be +companions of the Road for weal or woe? But if he felt any temptation to +be expansive he resisted it, like a true Englishman; and to break a +silence which grew almost embarrassing I was driven to ask him, quite +brazenly, if he had no curiosity to know my name. + +"Not exactly curiosity," said he, smiling his pleasant smile again. "I'm +never curious about people I--like, or feel that I'm going to like. It +isn't my nature." + +"It's just the opposite with me." + +"We're of opposite sexes." + +"You believe that explains it? I don't know. Man may be a fellow +creature, I suppose--though they didn't teach me that at the Convent. +But tell me this: even if you have no curiosity, because you hope you +can manage to endure me, _do_ you think I look like an 'Elise'?" + +"Somehow, you don't. Names have different colours for me. Elise is +bright pink. You ought to be silver, or pale blue." + +"Elise is my professional name; Lady Turnour is my sponsor. My real +name's Lys--Lys d'Angely." + +"Good! Lys _is_ silver." + +"I wish I could coin it. Let me see if I can guess what you ought to be? +You look like--like--well, Jack would suit you. But that's too good to +be true. I shall never meet a 'Jack' except in books and ballads." + +"My name is John Claud. But when I was a boy, I always fought any chap +who called me 'Claud,' and tried to give him a black eye or a bloody +nose. You may call me Jack, if you like." + +"Certainly not. I shall call you Mr. Dane." + +"Shuvvers are never mistered." + +"Not even by the females of their kind? I always supposed that manners +were very toploftical in the servants' hall." + +"We may both soon know." + +"Elise, take that cup at once where you got it from, and come back to +your place. We are ready to start." + +This from Lady Turnour. (Really, if she takes to interfering every time +we others have got to the middle of an interesting conversation, I don't +know what I shall do to her! Perhaps I'll put her transformation on +side-wise. Or would that be blackmail?) + +Silently the chauffeur took the cup from my frightened fingers, and +marched off with it into the hotel, without a "by your leave" or "with +your leave." + +"My word, your chauffeur might have better manners!" grumbled Lady +Turnour to Sir Samuel, as she climbed into the car; but there was no +scolding when the rude young man came briskly back, looking supremely +unconscious of having given offence. + +"Now we must make good time to Marseilles, if we're to get there for +dinner," he said, when he had started the car, and taken his place. "We +shall stop there to-night, or rather, just outside the town, in one of +the nicest hotels on earth, as you will see." + +"Whose choice?" I asked. + +"Mine," he laughed, "but I don't think Sir Samuel knows that!" + +Down to Hyères we floated again, on the wings of the Aigle, I looking +longingly across the valley where the old town climbed a citadeled +hill, and lay down at the foot of a sturdy though crumbling castle. If +this were _really_ my own tour, as I am trying to play it is, I would +have commanded a long stop at Costebelle, to make explorations of the +region round about. I can imagine no greater joy than to be able to stay +at beautiful places as long as one wished, and to keep on doing +beautiful things till one tired of doing them. + +But life is a good deal like a big busybody of a policeman, continually +telling us to get up and move on! + +Our world was a flower world again, ringed in like a secret fairyland, +with distant mountains of extraordinarily graceful shapes--charming +lady-mountains; and as far as we could see the road was cut through a +carpet of pink, white, and golden blossoms destined by and by for the +markets of Paris, London, Berlin, and Vienna. + +Before I thought it could be so near, we dashed into Toulon, a very +different Toulon from the Toulon of the railway station, where I +remembered stopping a few mornings (which seemed like a few years) ago. +Now, it looked a noble and impressive place, as well as a tremendously +busy town; but my eye climbed to the towery heights above, wondering on +which one Napoleon--a smart young officer of artillery--placed the +batteries that shelled the British out of the harbour, and gained for +him the first small laurel leaf of his imperial crown. + +I thought, too, of all the French novels I'd read, whose sailor heroes +were stationed at Toulon, and there met romantic or sensational +adventures. They were always handsome and dashing, those heroes, and as +we threaded intricate fortifications, I found myself looking out for at +least one or two of them. + +Yes, they were there, plenty of heroes, almost all handsome, with +splendid dark eyes that searched flatteringly to penetrate the mystery +of my talc triangle. They didn't know, poor dears, that there was +nothing better than a lady's-maid behind it. What a waste of gorgeous +glances! + +I laughed to myself at the fancy, and the chauffeur sitting beside me +wanted to know why; but I wouldn't tell him. One really can't say +everything to a man one has known only for a day. And yet, the curious +part is, I feel as if we had been the best of friends for a long time. I +never felt like that toward any man before, but I suppose it is because +of the queer resemblance in our fates. + +Beyond Toulon we had to slow down for a long procession of gypsy +caravans on their way to town; quaint, moving houses, with strings of +huge pearls that were gleaming onions, festooned across their blue or +green doors and windows; and out from those doors and windows wonderful +eyes gazed at us--eyes full of secrets of the East, strange eyes, more +fascinating in their passing glance than those of the gay young heroes +at Toulon. + +So we flew on to the village of Ollioules, and into the dim mountain +gorge of the same musical name. The car plunged boldly through the veil +of deep blue shadow which hung, ghostlike, over the serpentine curves of +the white road; and out of its twilight-mystery rose always the faint +singing of a little river that ran beside us, under the steep gray wall +of towering rock. + +At the top of the gorge a surprise of beauty waited for us as our way +led along a sinuous road cut into the swelling mountain-side. Far off +lay the sea, with an army of tremendous purple rocks hurling themselves +headlong into the molten gold of the water, like a drove of mammoths. +All the world was gold and royal purple. Hills and mountains stood up, +darkly violet, out of a golden plain, against a sky of gold; and it was +such a picture as only Heaven or Turner could have painted. + +Nor was there any break in the varied splendor of the scene and of the +sun's setting until we came to the dull-looking town of Aubagne. After +that, the Southern darkness swooped in haste, and while we wound +tediously through the immense, never-ending traffic of Marseilles, it +"made night." All the length and breadth of the Cannebière burst into +brilliance of electric light, as if in our honor. The great street +looked as gay as a Paris boulevard; and as we turned into it, we turned +into an adventure. + +To begin with, nothing seemed less likely than an adventure. We drew up +calmly before the door of a hotel whence a telephonic demand for rooms +must be sent to La Reserve, under the same management. It was the +chauffeur who had to go in and telephone, for the bridegroom is even +more helpless in French than the bride; and before Mr. Dane could stop +the car, Sir Samuel called out: "Keep the motor going, to save time. You +needn't be a minute in there. Her ladyship is hungry, and wants to get +on." + +The chauffeur raised his eyebrows, but obeyed in silence, leaving the +motor hard at work, the automobile panting as impatiently to be off as +if "she" suffered with Lady Turnour. + +No sooner was the tall, leather-clad figure out of sight than a crowd of +small boys and youths pressed boldly round the handsome car. Her +splendour was her undoing, for a plain, every-day sort of automobile +might have failed to attract. + +Laughing, jabbering _patois_, a dozen young imps forced their audacious +attentions on the unprotected azure beauty. What was I, that I could +defend her, left there as helpless as she, while her great heart +throbbed under me? + +It was easy to say "_Allez-vous en--va!_" and I said it, not once, but +again and again, each time more emphatically than before. Nobody paid +the slightest attention, however, except, perhaps to find an extra spice +of pleasure in tormenting me. If I had been a yapping miniature lap-dog, +with teeth only _pour faire rire_, I could not have been treated with +greater disdain by the crowd. I glanced hastily round to see if Sir +Samuel had not taken alarm; but, sitting beside his wife in the big +crystal cage, he seemed blissfully unconscious of danger to his splendid +Aigle. Instead, the couple looked rather pleased than otherwise to be a +centre of attraction. + +"Perhaps," I thought, "they're right, and these young wretches can work +no real harm to the car. They ought to know better than I--" + +But they didn't; for before the thought could spin itself out in my +mind, a gypsy-eyed little fiend of twelve or thirteen made a spring at +the driver's seat. With a yelp of mischievous glee he proved his daring +to his comrades by snatching at the starting-lever. He was quick as a +flash of summer lightning, but if I hadn't been quicker, the big car +might have leaped into life, and run amuck through the most crowded +street in busy Marseilles. I felt myself go cold and hot, horribly +uncertain whether my interference might work harm or good, but before I +quite knew what I did, I had sent the boy flying with a sounding box on +the ear. + +He squealed as he sprawled backward, and I stood up, ready for battle, +my fingers tingling, my heart pounding. The imp was up again, in half a +breath, pushed forward by his friends to take revenge, and I could hear +Sir Samuel or her ladyship wrestling vainly with the window behind me. +What would have happened next I can't tell, except that I was in a mood +to fight for our car till the death, even if knives flashed out; and I +think I was gasping "Police! Police!" but at that instant Mr. Jack Dane +hurled himself like a catapult from the hotel. He dashed the weedy +youths out of his way like ninepins, jumped to his seat, and the car and +the car's occupants were safe. + +"You are a trump, Miss d'Angely," said he, as we boomed away from the +hotel, scattering the crowd before us as an eddy of wind scatters autumn +leaves. "You did just the right thing at just the right time. It was all +my fault. I oughtn't to have left the motor going." + +"It was Sir Samuel's fault," I contradicted him. + +"No. Whatever goes wrong with the car is always the chauffeur's fault. +Sir Samuel wanted me to do a foolish thing, and I oughtn't to have done +it. I had your life to think of--" + +"And theirs." + +"Theirs, of course. But I would have thought of yours first." + +It made my heart feel as warm as a bird in a nest to be complimented by +the man at the helm for presence of mind, and then to hear that already +I'd gained a friend to whom my life was of some value. Since my mother +died, there has been no one for whom I've come first. + +I wanted badly to do something to show my gratitude, but could think of +nothing except that, by and by, when we knew each other better, I might +offer to sew on his buttons or mend his socks. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + + +"I suppose we'll meet by-and-by at dinner?" I said (I'm afraid rather +wistfully) to the chauffeur as he drove the car up a steep hill to the +door of La Reserve, on The Corniche. + +"Well, no," he answered, "because you needn't fear anything disagreeable +here, and I'm going to stop at a less expensive place. You see, I pay my +own way, and as I really have to live on my screw, it doesn't run to +grand hotels. This one _is_ rather grand; but you will be all right, +because, although it's a famous place for food, at this season few +people stop overnight, and I've found out through the telephone that the +Turnours are the only ones who have taken bedrooms. That means you'll +have your dinner and breakfast by yourself." + +"Oh, that will be nice!" I said, trying to speak as if I delighted in +the thought of solitude and reflection. "I wish I were paying my own +way, too; but I couldn't do it on fifty francs a month, could I?" + +"Fifty francs a month!" he echoed, astonished. "Is that your +compensation for being a slave to such a woman? By Jove, it makes me hot +all over, to think that a girl like you should--" + +"Well, this trip is thrown in as additional compensation," I reminded +him. "And thanks to you and your kindness, I believe I'm going to find +my place more than tolerable." + +The car stopped, and duty began. I couldn't even turn and say good night +to the chauffeur, as I walked primly into the hotel, laden with my +mistress's things. + +She and Sir Samuel had the best rooms in the house, a suite big enough +and grand enough for a king and queen, with a delightful _loggia_ +overlooking the high garden and the sea. But of course Lady Turnour +would die rather than seem impressed by anything, and would probably +pick faults if she were invited to sleep at Buckingham Palace or Windsor +Castle--a contingency which I think unlikely. She was snappish with +hunger, and did not trouble to restrain her temper before me. Poor Sir +Samuel! It is he who has snatched her from her lodging-house, to lead +her into luxury, because of his faithful love of many years; and this is +the way she rewards him! If I'd been in his place, and had a javelin +handy, I think I might suddenly have become a widower. + +She was better after dinner, however, so I knew she must have been well +fed: and in the morning, after a gorgeous _déjeuner_ on the loggia, she +was in an amiable mood to plan for the day's journey. + +At ten o'clock the chauffeur arrived, and was shown up to the Turnours' +vast Louis XVI. salon. He looked as much like an icily regular, +splendidly null, bronze statue as a flesh-and-blood young man could +possibly look, for that, no doubt, is his conception of the part of a +well-trained "shuvver"; and he did not seem aware of my existence as he +stood, cap in hand, ready for orders. + +As for me, I flatter myself that I was equally admirable in my own +_métier_. I was assorting a motley collection of guide-books, novels, +maps, smelling-salts, and kodaks when he came in, and was dying to look +up, but I remained as sweetly expressionless as a doll. + +The bronze statue respectfully inquired how its master would like to +make a little _détour_, instead of going by way of Aix-en-Provence to +Avignon, as arranged. Within an easy run was a spot loved by artists, +and beginning to be talked about--Martigues on the Etang de Berre, a +salt lake not far from Marseilles--said to be picturesque. The Prince of +Monaco was fond of motoring down that way. + +At the sound of a princely name her ladyship's mind made itself up with +a snap. So the change of programme was decided upon, and curious as to +the chauffeur's motive, I questioned him when again we sat shoulder to +shoulder, the salt wind flying past our faces. + +"Why the Etang de Berre?" I asked. + +"Oh, I rather thought it would interest you. It's a queer spot." + +"Thank you. You think I like queer spots--and things?" + +"Yes, and people. I'm sure you do. You'll like the Etang and the country +round, but _they_ won't." + +"That's a detail," said I, "since this tour runs itself in the interests +of the _femme de chambre_ and the chauffeur." + +"We're the only ones who have any interests that matter. It's all the +same to them, really, where they go, if I take the car over good roads +and land them at expensive hotels at night. But I'm not going to do that +always. They've got to see the Gorge of the Tarn. They don't know that +yet, but they have." + +"And won't they like seeing it?" + +"Lady Turnour will hate it." + +"Then we may as well give it up. Her will is mightier than the sword." + +"Once she's in, there'll be no turning back. She'll have to push on to +the end." + +"She mayn't consent to go in." + +"Queen Margherita of Italy is said to have the idea of visiting the Tarn +next summer. Think what it would mean to Lady Turnour to get the start +of a queen!" + +"You are Machiavelian! When did you have this inspiration?" + +"Well, I got thinking last night that, as they have plenty of +time--almost as much time as money--it seemed a pity that I should whirl +them along the road to Paris at the rate planned originally. You see, +though there are plenty of interesting places on the way mapped +out--you've been to Tours, you say--" + +"What of that?" + +"Oh, the trip might as well be new for everybody except myself; and as +you like adventures--" + +"You think it's the Turnours' duty to have them." + +"Just so. If only to punish her ladyship for grinding you down to fifty +francs a month. What a reptile!" + +"If she's a reptile, I'm a cat to plot against her." + +"Do cats plot? Only against mice, I think. And anyhow, _I'm_ doing all +the plotting. I've felt a different man since yesterday. I've got +something to live for." + +"Oh, _what?_" The question asked itself. + +"For a comrade in misfortune. And to see her to her journey's end. I +suppose that end will be in Paris?" + +"No-o," I said. "I rather think I shall go on all the way to England +with Lady Turnour--if I can stand it. There's a person in England who +will be kind to me." + +"Oh!" remarked Mr. Dane, suddenly dry and taciturn again. I didn't know +what had displeased him--unless he was sorry to have my company as far +as England; yet somehow I couldn't quite believe it was that. + +All this talk we had while dodging furious trams and enormous waggons +piled with merchandise, in that maelstrom of traffic near the Marseilles +docks, which must be passed before we could escape into the country. At +last, coasting down a dangerously winding hill with a too suggestively +named village at the bottom--L'Assassin--the Aigle turned westward. The +chauffeur let her spread her wings at last, and we raced along a clear +road, the Etang already shimmering blue before us, like an eye that +watched and laughed. + +Then we had to swing smoothly round a great circle, to see in all its +length and breadth that strange, hidden, and fishy fairy-land of which +Martigues is the door. Once the Phoenicians found their way here, +looking for salt, which is exploited to this day; Marius camped near +enough to take his morning dip in the Etang, perhaps; and Jeanne, queen +of Naples, held Martigues for herself. But now only fish, and fishermen, +and a few artists occupy themselves in that quaint little world which +one passes all regardlessly in the flying "_Côte d'Azur_." + +As we sailed round the road which rings the sleepy-looking salt lake, +Lady Turnour had a window opened on purpose to ask what on earth the +Prince of Monaco found to admire in this flat country, where there were +no fine buildings? And her rebellion made me take alarm for the success +of our future plots. But the chauffeur (anxious for the same reason, +maybe, that she should be content) explained things nicely. + +Why, said he, for one thing the best fish eaten at the best restaurants +of Monte Carlo came out of the Etang de Berre. The _bouillabaise_ which +her ladyship had doubtless tasted at La Reserve last night, originally +owed much to the same source; and talking of _bouillabaise_, Martigues +was almost as famous for it as La Reserve itself. One had but to lunch +at the little hotel Paul Chabas to prove that. And then, for less +material reasons, His Serene Highness might be influenced by the fact +that Corot had loved this ring of land which clasped the Etang de +Berre--Ziem, too, and other artists whose opinion could not be despised. + +These arguments silenced if they didn't convince Lady Turnour, though +she had probably never heard of Ziem, or even Corot, and we two in front +were able to admire the charming scene in peace. Crossing bridges here +and there we saw, rising above sapphire lake and silver belt of olives +jewelled with rosy almond blossom, more than one miniature Carcassonne, +or ruined castle small as if peeped at through a diminishing glass. +There was Port le Bouc, the Mediterranean harbour of the Etang, or +watergate to fairyland, as Martigues was the door; Istre on its proud +little height; Miramas and Berre, important in their own eyes, and +pretty in all others when reflected in the glassy surface of blue water. +There were dark groups of cypresses, like mourning figures talking +together after a funeral--ancient trees who could almost remember the +Romans; and better than all else, there was Pont Flavian, which these +Romans had built. + +Even Lady Turnour condescended to get out of the car to do honour to the +bridge with its two Corinthian arches of perfect grace and beauty; but +she had nothing to say to the poor little, tired-looking lions sitting +on top, which I longed to climb up and pat. + +She wanted to push on, and her one thought of Aix-en-Provence was for +lunch. Was Dane sure we should find anything decent to eat there? Very +well, then the sooner we got it the better. + +What a good thing there was someone on board the car to appreciate +Provence, someone to keep saying--"We're in Provence--_Provence!_" +repeating the word just for the joy and music of it, and all it means of +romance and history! + +If there had not been someone to say and feel that, every turn of the +tyres would have been an insult to Provence, who had put on her +loveliest dress to bid us welcome. Among the olives and almonds, young +trees of vivid yellow spouted pyramids of thin, gold flame against a sky +of violet, and the indefinable fragrance of spring was in the air. We +met handsome, up-standing peasants in red or blue _beréts_, singing +melodiously in _patois_--Provençal, perhaps--as they walked beside their +string of stout cart-horses. And the songs, and the dark eyes of the +singers, and the wonderful horned harness which the noble beasts wore +with dignity, all seemed to answer us: "Yes, you are in Provence." + +We talked of old Provence, my Fellow Worm and I, while our master and +mistress wearied for their luncheon; of the men and women who had passed +along this road which we travelled. What would Madame de Sévigné, or +Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, or George Sand have said if a blue car like +ours had suddenly flashed into their vision? We agreed that, in any +case, not one of them--or any other person of true imagination--would +call abominable a wonderful piece of mechanism with the power of +flattening mountains into plains, triumphing over space, annihilating +distance; a machine combining fiercest energy with the mildest docility. +No, only old fogies would close their hearts to a machine fit for the +gods, and pride themselves on being motophobes forever. We felt +ourselves, car and all, to be worthy of this magic way, lined with +blossoms that played like rosy children among the strange rocks +characteristic of Provence--rocks which seemed to have boiled up all hot +out of the earth, and then to have vied with each other in hardening +into most fantastic shapes. Even we felt ourselves worthy to meet a few +troubadours, as we drew near to Aix, where once they held their Courts +of Love; and we had talked ourselves into an almost dangerously romantic +mood by the time we arrived at the hotel in the Cours Mirabeau. + +There, in the wide central _Place_, sprayed a delicious fountain +splashed with gold by the sunlight that filtered through an arbour of +great trees; and there, too, was a statue of good King René. Perhaps, if +I hadn't known that Aix-en-Provence was the home of the troubadours, and +that its springs had been loved by the Romans before the days of +Christianity, I might not have thought it more charming than many +another ancient sleepy town of France; but it is impossible to +disentangle one's imagination and sentiment from one's eyesight; +therefore, Aix seemed an exquisite place to me. + +Now that I knew how knight-errantry in some of its branches was likely +to affect Mr. Dane's pocket, I resolved that nothing should tempt me to +encourage him in the pursuit. No matter how many flirtatious smiles were +shed upon me by enterprising waiters, no matter how many conversations +were begun by couriers who took me for rather a superior sample of +"young person," I would bear all, all, without a complaint which might +seem like a hint for protection. + +When Lady Turnour had forgotten me, in the dazzling light that beat +about the thought of luncheon, I almost bustled into the hotel, and +asked for the servants' dining-room. I knew that there was little hope +of eating alone, for several important-looking motor-cars were drawn up +before the hotel; but I was hardly prepared for the gay company I found +assembled. + +Three chauffeurs, a valet, and two maids were lunching, and judging from +appearances the meal was far enough advanced to have cemented lifelong +friendships. Wine being as free as the air you breathe, in this country +of the grape, naturally the big glass _caraffes_ behind the plates were +more than half empty, and the elder of the two elderly maids had a +shining pink knob on her nose. + +I hadn't yet taken off my diving-bell (as I've named my head covering), +and every eye was upon me during the intricate process of removal. +Conversation, which was in French, slackened in the interests of +curiosity; and when the new face was exposed to public gaze the three +gallant chauffeurs jumped up, as one man, each with the kind intention +of placing me in a chair next himself. "_Voilà une petite tête trop +jolie pour être cachée comme ça!_" exclaimed the best looking and +boldest of the trio. + +The ladies of the party sniffed audibly, and raised their somewhat +moth-eaten eyebrows at each other in virtuous disapproval of a young +female who provoked such remarks from strangers. The valet, who had the +air of being engaged to the maid with the nose, confined himself to a +non-committal grin, but the second and third chauffeurs loyally +supported their leader. "_Vous avez raison_," they responded, laughing +and showing quantities of white teeth. Then they followed up their +compliment by begging that mademoiselle would sit down, and allow her +health to be drunk--with that of the other ladies. + +"Yes, sit down by me," said Number One, indicating a chair. "This is the +Queen's throne." + +"By me," said Number Two. "I'll cut up your meat for you." + +"By me," said Number Three. "I'll give you my share of pudding." + +By this time I was red to the ears, not knowing whether it were wiser +for a lady's-maid to run away, or to take the rough chaff +good-humouredly, and make the best of it. I fluttered, undecided, never +thinking of the old adage concerning the woman who hesitates. + +In an instant, it was forcibly recalled to my mind, for Number One +chauffeur, smelling strongly of the good red wine of Provence, came +forward and offered me his arm. + +This was too much. + +"Please don't!" I stammered, in my confusion speaking English. + +"_Ah, Mademoiselle est Anglaise!_" the two others exclaimed, "_Vive +l'entente cordiale!_ We are Frenchmen. You are Italian. She belongs to +our side." + +"Let her choose," said the handsome Italian, pointing his moustache and +doing such execution upon me with his splendid eyes, that if they'd been +Maxim guns I should have fallen riddled with bullets. + +"I'll sit by nobody," I managed to answer, this time in French. "Please +take your seats. I will have a chair at the other end of the table." + +"You see, mademoiselle is too polite to choose between us. She's afraid +of a duel," laughed good-looking Number One. "I tell you what we must +do. We'll draw lots for her. Three pellets of bread. The biggest wins." + +"Beg your pardon, monsieur," remarked Mr. Dane, whom I hadn't seen as he +opened the door, "mademoiselle is of my party. She is waiting for me." + +His voice was perfectly calm, even polite, but as I whirled round and +looked at him, fearing a scene, I saw that his eyes were rather +dangerous. He looked like a dog who says, as plainly as a dog can speak, +"I'm a good fellow, and I'm giving you the benefit of the doubt. But put +that bone down, or I bite." + +The Italian dropped the bone (I don't mind the simile) not because he +was afraid, I think, but because Mr. John Dane's chin was much squarer +and firmer than his; and because such sense of justice as he had told +him that the newcomer was within his rights. + +"And I beg mademoiselle's pardon," he replied with a bow and a flourish. + +"I'm so glad you've come--but I oughtn't to be, and I didn't expect +you," I said, when my chauffeur had pulled out a chair for me at the end +of the table farthest from the other maids and chauffeurs. + +"Why not?" he wanted to know, sitting down by my side. + +"Because I suppose it's the best hotel in town, and--" + +"Oh, you're thinking of my pocket! I wish I hadn't said what I did last +night. Looking back, it sounds caddish. But I generally do blurt out +things stupidly. If I didn't, I shouldn't be 'shuvving' now--only that's +another story. To tell the whole truth, it wasn't the state of my +pocketbook alone that influenced me last night. I had two other reasons. +One was a selfish one, and the other, I hope, unselfish." + +"I hope the selfish one wasn't fear of being bored?" + +"If that's a question, it doesn't deserve an answer. But because you've +asked it, I'll tell you both reasons. I'd stopped at La Reserve before, +in--in rather different circumstances, and I thought--not only might it +make talk about me, but--" + +"I understand," I said. "Of course, Lady Turnour isn't as careful a +chaperon as she ought to be." + +Then we both laughed, and the danger-signals were turned off in his +eyes. When he isn't smiling, Mr. Dane sometimes looks almost sullen, +quite as if he could be disagreeable if he liked; but that makes the +change more striking when he does smile. + +"You needn't worry about that pocket of mine," he went on, as we ate our +luncheon. "It's as cheap here as anywhere; and when I saw all those +motors before the door, I made up my mind that you'd probably need a +brother, so I came as soon as I could leave the car." + +"So you are my brother, are you?" I echoed. + +"Don't you think you might adopt me, once for all, in that relationship? +Then, you see, the chaperoning won't matter so much. Of course, it's +early days to take me on as a brother, but I think we'd better begin at +once." + +"Before I know whether you have any faults?" I asked. And just for the +minute, the French half of me was a little piqued at his offer. That +part of me pouted, and said that it would be much more amusing to travel +in such odd circumstances beside a person one could flirt with, than to +make a pact of "brother and sister." He might have given me the chance +to say first that I'd be a sister to him! But the American half slapped +the French half, and said: "What silly nonsense! Don't be an idiot, if +you can help it. The man's behaving beautifully. And it will just do you +good to have your vanity stepped on, you conceited little minx!" + +"Oh, I've plenty of faults, I'll tell you to start with--plenty you may +have noticed already, and plenty more you haven't had time to notice +yet," said my new relative. "I'm a sulky brute, for one thing, and I've +got to be a pessimist lately, for another--a horrid fault, that!--and I +have a vile temper--" + +"All those faults might be serviceable in a _brother_," I said. "Though +in any one else--" + +"In a friend or a lover, they'd be unbearable, of course; I know that," +he broke in. "But who'd want me for a friend? And as for a lover, why, +I'm struck off the list of eligibles, forever--if I was ever on it." + +After that, we ate our luncheon as fast as we could (a very bad habit, +which I don't mean to keep up for man or brother), and even though the +others had begun long before we did, we finished while they were still +cracking nuts and peeling apples, their spirits somewhat subdued by the +Englishman's presence. + +"The great folk won't have got their money's worth for nearly an hour +yet," said Mr. Dane. "Don't you want to go and have a look at the +Cathedral? There are some grand things to see there--the triptych called +'Le Buisson Argent,' and some splendid old tapestry in the choir; a +whole wall and some marble columns from a Roman temple of Apollo--oh, +and you mustn't forget to look for the painting of St. Mitre the Martyr +trotting about with his head in his hands. On the way to the Cathedral +notice the doorways you'll pass. Aix is celebrated for its doorways." + +(Evidently my brother passed through Aix, as well as along the Corniche, +under "different circumstances!") + +"You mean--I'm to go alone?" + +"Yes, I can't leave the car to take you. I'm sorry." + +The French half of me was vexed again, but didn't dare let the sensible +American half, which knew he was right, see it, for fear of another +scolding. + +I thanked him in a way as businesslike as his own, and said that I would +take his advice; which I did. Although I hate sightseeing by myself, I +wouldn't let him think I meant to be always trespassing on his good +nature; and afterward I was glad I hadn't yielded to my inclination to +be helpless, for the Cathedral and the doorways were all he had +promised, and more. It was a scramble to see anything in the few minutes +I had, though, and awful to feel that Lady Turnour was hanging over my +head like a sword. The thought of how she would look and what she would +say if I kept the car waiting was a string tied to my nerves, pulling +them all at once, like a jumping-jack's arms and legs, so that I +positively ran back to the hotel, more breathless than Cinderella when +the hour of midnight began to strike. But there was the magic glass +coach, not yet become a pumpkin; there was the chauffeur, not turned +into whatever animal a chauffeur does turn into in fairy stories; and +there were not Sir Samuel and her ladyship, nor any sign of them. + +"Thank goodness, I'm not late!" I panted. "I was afraid I was. That dear +verger wouldn't realize that there could be anything of more importance +in the world than the statue of Ste. Martha and the Tarasque." + +"Nothing is, really," said Mr. Dane, glancing up from some +dentist-looking work he was doing in the Aigle's mouth under her lifted +bonnet. "But you _are_ a little late--" + +"Oh!" I gasped, pink with horror. "You don't mean to say the Turnours +have been out, and waiting?" + +"I do, but don't be so despairing. I told them I thought I'd better +look the car over, and wasn't quite ready. That's always true, you know. +A motor's like a pretty woman; never objects to being looked at. So they +said 'damn,' and strolled off to buy chocolates." + +"It's getting beyond count how many times you've saved me, and this is +only our second day out," I exclaimed. "Here they come now, as they +always do, when we exchange a word." + +I trembled guiltily, but there was no more than a vague general +disapproval in Lady Turnour's eyes, the kind of expression which she +thinks useful for keeping servants in their place. + +I got into mine, on the front seat; the car's bonnet got into its, the +chauffeur into his, and at just three o'clock we turned our backs upon +good King René. + +The morning had drunk up all the sunshine of the day, leaving none for +afternoon, which was troubled with a hint of coming mistral. The +landscape began to look like a hastily sketched water-colour, with its +hills and terraces of vine; and above was a pale sky, blurred like +greasy silver. The wind roamed moaning among the tops of the tall +cypresses, set close together to protect the meadows from one of "the +three plagues of Provence." And even as the mistral tweaked our noses +with a chilly thumb and finger, our eyes caught sight of the second and +more dreaded plague: the deceitfully gentle-seeming Durance, which in +its rage can come tearing down from the Alps with the roar of a famished +lion. + +Far above the wide river, the Aigle glided across a high-hung suspension +bridge, the song of the water floating up to our ears mingling with the +purr of the motor--two giant forces, one set loose by nature, the other +by man, duetting harmoniously together, while the wind wailed over our +heads. But for the third and last plague of Provence we would have had +to search in vain, for the land is no longer tormented by Parliament. + +Always the road had stretched before us, up hill after hill, as straight +drawn between its scantily grass-covered banks as the parting in an old +man's hair; and always, far ahead, wave following wave of hill and +mountain had seemed to roll toward us like the sea as we advanced to +meet them. After the vineyards had come wild rocks, set with crumbling +forts, and towers, and châteaux; then the mild interest of fruit blossom +spraying pink and white among primly pollarded olives; then grape +country again, with squat, low-growing vines like gnomes kicking up +gnarled legs as they turned somersaults; then a break into wonderful +mountain country, with Orgon's ruins towering skyward, dark as despair, +a wild romance in stone. But before we reached the great suspension +bridge, the Pont de Bonpas, the landscape appeared exhausted after its +sublime efforts, and inclined to quiet down for a rest. It was only near +Avignon that it sprung up refreshed, ready for more strange surprises; +and the grim grandeur of the scenery as we approached the ancient town +seemed to prophesy the mediæval towers and ramparts of the historic +city. + +Skirting the huge city wall, the blue car was the one note of modernity; +but hardly had we turned in at a great gate worthy to open in welcome +for Queen Jeanne of Naples, or Bertrand du Guesclin, than we were in the +hum of twentieth-century life. I resented the change, for one expects +nothing, wants nothing, modern in Avignon; but in a moment or two we had +left the bright cafés and shops behind, to plunge back into the middle +ages. Anything, it seemed, might happen in the queer, shadowed streets +of tall old houses with mysterious doorways, through which the Aigle +cautiously threaded, like a glittering crochet needle practicing a new +stitch. Then, in the quiet _place_, asleep and dreaming of stirring +deeds it once had seen, we stopped before a dignified building more like +some old ducal family mansion than a hotel. + +But it was a hotel, and we were to stop the night in it, leaving all +sightseeing for the next morning. Lady Turnour was tired. She had done +too much already for one day--with a reproachful glance at the chauffeur +whom she thus made responsible for her prostration. Nothing would induce +her to go out again that evening, and she thought that she would dine in +her own sitting-room. She didn't like old places, or old hotels, but she +supposed she would have to make the best of this one. She was a woman +who _never_ complained, unless it really was her duty, and then she +didn't hesitate. + +This was her mood when getting out of the car, but inside the quaint and +charming house a look at the visitors' register changed it in a flash. +There was one prince and one duke; there were several counts; and as to +barons, they were peppered about in rich profusion. Each noble being was +accompanied by his chauffeur, so evidently it was the "thing" to stop in +the Hotel de l'Europe, and the _haut monde_ considered Avignon worth +wasting time upon. Instantly her ladyship resolved to recover +gracefully from her fatigue, and descend to the public dining-room for +dinner. + +So fascinated was she by the list of great names, that she lingered over +the reading of them, as one lingers over the last strawberries of the +season; and I had to stand at attention close behind her, with her rugs +over my arm, lest any one should miss seeing that she had a maid. + +"Dane says the best thing is to make Avignon a centre, and stop here two +or three nights, 'doing' the country round, before going on to Nîmes or +Arles," she said to Sir Samuel, who was clamouring for the best rooms in +the house. "I didn't feel I should like that plan, but thinking it over, +I'm not sure he isn't right." + +I knew very well what her "thinking it over" meant! + +They stood discussing the pros and cons, and as I didn't yet know the +numbers of our rooms, I was obliged to wait till I was told. I was not +bored, however, but was looking about with interest, when I heard the +teuf-teuf of a motor-car outside. "There goes Mr. Jack Dane with the +Aigle," I thought; and yet there was a difference in the sound. I'm too +amateurish in such matters to understand the exact reason for such +differences, though chauffeurs say they could tell one make of motor +from another by ear if they were blindfolded. Perhaps it wasn't our car +leaving, but another one coming to the hotel! + +I had nothing better to do than to watch for new arrivals. My eyes were +lazily fixed on the door, and presently it opened. A figure, all fur and +a yard wide, came in. + +It was the figure of Monsieur Charretier. + + + + +CHAPTER X + + +For a minute everything swam before me, as it used to at the Convent +after some older girl had twisted up the ropes of the big swing, with me +in it, and let me spin round. Also, I felt as if a jugful of hot water +had been dashed over my head. I seemed to feel it trickling through my +hair and into my ears. + +If I could have moved, I believe I should have bolted like a frightened +rabbit, perfectly regardless of what Lady Turnour might think, caring +only to dart away without being caught by the man I'd done such wild +deeds to escape. But I was as helpless as a person in a nightmare; and, +indeed, it was as unreal and dreadful to me as a nightmare to see that +fat, fur-coated figure walking toward me, with the bearded face of +Monsieur Charretier showing between turned-up collar and motor-cap +surmounted by lifted goggles. + +They say you have time to think of everything while you are drowning. I +believe that, now, because I had time to think of everything while that +furry gentleman took a dozen steps. I thought of all the things he and +my cousins had ever done to disgust me with him during his "courtship." +I asked myself whether his arrival here was a coincidence, or whether +he'd been tracking me all along, step by step, while I'd been chuckling +to myself over my lucky escape. I thought of what he would do when he +recognized me, and what Lady Turnour would say, and Sir Samuel. And +although I couldn't see exactly what good he could do in such a +situation, I wished vaguely that my brother the chauffeur were on the +spot. Then suddenly, with a wild rush of joy, I remembered that I was +facing the danger through my little talc window. + +Any properly trained heroine of melodrama would have ejaculated "Saved!" +but I haven't a tragedy nose, and I gave only a stifled squeak, more +like the swan-song of a dying frog than anything more romantic. + +Nobody heard it, luckily; and Monsieur Charretier, who had just come +into the twilight of the hall from the brighter light out of doors, +bustled past the retiring figure of the lady's-maid without a glance. I +had even to take a step out of his way, not to be brushed by his fur +shoulder, so wide he was in his expensive motoring coat; and trembling +from the shock, I awkwardly collided with Lady Turnour. She, in her +turn, avoiding my onslaught as if I'd been a beggar in rags, stepped on +Monsieur Charretier's toe. + +He exclaimed in French, she apologized in English. + +He bowed a great deal, assuring madame that she had not inconvenienced +him. She accused her maid, whose stupidity was in fault; and because +each one looked to the other rich and prosperous they were extremely +polite to one another. Even then, though her ladyship snapped at me, +"What _has_ come over you, Elise? You're as clumsy as a cow!" he had no +notice to waste upon the _femme de chambre_. Yet I dared not so much as +murmur, "Pardon!" lest he should recognize my voice. + +Fortunately my mistress and her husband were now ready to go up to +their rooms, and we left Monsieur Charretier engaging quarters for +himself and his chauffeur. Evidently he was going to stop all night; but +from his indifference to me I judged joyfully that he had not come to +the hotel armed with information concerning my movements. He might be +searching for his lost love, but he didn't know that she was at hand. + +All my pleasure in the thought of sightseeing at Avignon was gone, like +a broken bubble. I shouldn't dare to see any sights, lest I should be +seen. But stopping indoors wouldn't mean safety. Lady's-maids can't keep +their rooms without questions being asked; and if I pretended to be ill, +very likely Lady Turnour would discharge me on the spot, and leave me +behind as if I were a cast-off glove. Yet if I flitted about the +corridors between my mistress's room and mine, I might run up against +the enemy at any minute. + +I tried to mend the ravelled edges of my courage by reminding myself +that Monsieur Charretier couldn't pick me up in his motor-car, and run +off with me against my will; but the argument wasn't much of a +stimulant. To be sure, he couldn't use violence, nor would he try; but +if he found me here he would "have it out" with me, and he would tell +things to Lady Turnour which would induce her to send me about my +business with short shrift. + +He could say that I'd run away from my relatives, who were also my +guardians, and altogether he could make out a case against me which +would look a dark brown, if not black. Then, when Lady Turnour and Sir +Samuel had washed their hands of me, and I was left in a strange hotel, +practically without a sou--unless the Turnours chose to be +inconveniently generous, and packed me off with a ticket to Paris--I +should find it very difficult to escape from my Corn Plaster admirer. +This time there would be no kind Lady Kilmarny to whom I could appeal. + +Between two evils, one chooses that which makes less fuss. It wasn't as +intricate to risk facing Monsieur Charretier as it was to eat soap and +be seized with convulsions; so I went about my business, waiting upon +her ladyship as if I had not been in the throes of a mental earthquake. +She was not particularly cross, because the gentleman whose acquaintance +I had thrust upon her might turn out to be Somebody, in which case my +clumsiness would be a blessing in disguise; but if she had boxed my ears +I should hardly have felt it. + +Bent upon dazzling the eyes of potentates in the dining-room, and +outshining possible princesses, the lady was very particular about her +dress. Although the big luggage had gone on by train to some town of +more importance (in her eyes) than Avignon, she had made me keep out a +couple of gowns rather better suited for a first night of opera in Paris +than for dinner at the best of provincial hotels. She chose the smarter +of these toilettes, a black _chiffon_ velvet embroidered with golden +tiger-lilies, and filled in with black net from shoulder to throat. Then +the blue jewel-bag was opened, and a nodding diamond tiger-lily to match +the golden ones was carefully selected from a blinding array of +brilliants, to glitter in her masses of copper hair. Round her neck went +a rope of pearls that fell to the waist whose slenderness I had just, +with a mighty muscular effort, secured; but not until she had dotted a +few butterflies, bats, beetles and other scintillating insects about her +person was she satisfied with the effect. At least, she was certain to +create a sensation, as Sir Samuel proudly remarked when he walked in to +get his necktie tied by me--a habit he has adopted. + +"I wonder if I ought to trust Elise with my bag?" Lady Turnour asked +him, anxiously, at last. "So far, since we've been on tour, I've carried +it over my arm everywhere, but it doesn't go very well with a costume +like this. What do you think?" + +"Why, I think that Elise is a very good girl, and that your jewels will +be perfectly safe with her if you tell her to take care of the bag, and +not let it out of her sight," replied Sir Samuel, evidently embarrassed +by such a question within earshot of the said Elise. + +"Perhaps I'd better have dinner in my own room, so as to guard it more +carefully?" I suggested, brightening with the inspiration. + +"That's not necessary," answered her ladyship. "You can perfectly well +eat downstairs, with the bag over your arm, as I have done for the last +two days. I don't intend to pay extra for you to have your meals served +in your room on any excuse whatever." + +I couldn't very well offer to pay for myself. That would have raised the +suspicion that I had hidden reasons of my own for dining in private, and +I regretted that I hadn't held my tongue. Lady Turnour ostentatiously +locked the receptacle of her jewels with its little gilded key, which +she placed in a gold chain-bag studded with rubies as large as currants; +and then, reminding me that I was responsible for valuables worth she +didn't know how many thousands, she swept away, leaving a trail of white +heliotrope behind. + +In any case I would wait, I thought, until I could be tolerably certain +that all the guests of the hotel had gone down to dinner. If I knew +Monsieur Charretier, he would be among the first to feed, but I couldn't +afford to run needless risks. I lingered over the task of putting my +mistress's belongings in order, almost with pleasure, and then, once in +my own room, I took as long as I could with my own toilet. I was ready +at last, and could think of no further excuse for pottering, when +suddenly it occurred to me that I might do my hair in a demurer, less +becoming way, so that, if I should have the ill luck to encounter a +sortie of the enemy, I might still contrive to pass without being +recognized. + +I pinned a clean towel round my neck, barber fashion, and pulling the +pins out of my hair, shook it down over my shoulders. But before I could +twist it up again, there came a light tap, tap, at the door. + +"There!" I thought. "Some one has been sent to tell me the servants' +dinner will be over if I don't hurry. Perhaps it's too late already, and +I'm _so_ hungry!" + +I bounced to the door, and threw it wide open, to find Mr. John Dane +standing in the passage, holding a small tray crowded with dishes. + +"Here you are," he said, in the most matter-of-fact way, as if bringing +meals to my door had been a fixed habit with him, man and boy, for +years. "Hope I haven't spilt anything! There's such a crush in our +feeding place that I thought you'd be safer up here. So I made friends +with a dear old waiter chap, and said I wanted something nice for my +sister." + +"You didn't!" I exclaimed. + +"I did. Do you mind much? I understood it was agreed that was our +relationship." + +"No, I don't mind much," I returned. "Thank you for everything." I shook +back a cloud of hair, and glanced up at the chauffeur. Our eyes met, and +as I took the tray my fingers touched his. His dark face grew faintly +red, and then a slight frown drew his eyebrows together. + +"Why do you suddenly look like that?" I asked. "Have I done anything to +make you cross?" + +"Only with myself," he said. + +"But why? Are you sorry you've been kind to me? Oh, if you only knew, I +need it to-night. Go on being kind." + +"You're not the sort of girl a man can be kind to," he said, almost +gruffly, it seemed to me. + +"Am I ungrateful, then?" + +"I don't know what you are," he answered. "I only know that if I looked +at you long as you are now I should make an ass of myself--and make you +detest or despise me. So good night--and good appetite." + +He turned to go, but I called him back. "Please!" I begged. "I'll only +keep you one minute. I'm sure you're joking, big brother, about being an +ass, or poking fun at me. But I don't care. I need some advice so badly! +I've no one but you to give it to me. I know you won't desert me, +because if you were like that you wouldn't have come to stop at this +hotel to watch over your new sister--which I'm sure you did, though +that may sound ever so conceited." + +"Of course I won't desert you," he said. "I couldn't--now, even if I +would. But I'll go away till you've had your dinner, and--and made +yourself look less like a siren and more like an ordinary human +being--if possible. Then I'll run up and knock, and you can come out in +the passage to be advised." + +"A siren--with a towel round her neck!" I laughed. "If I should sing to +you, perhaps you might say--" + +"Don't, for heaven's sake, or there would be an end of--your brother," +he broke in, laughing a little. "It wouldn't need much more." And with +that he was off. + +He is very abrupt in his manner at times, certainly, this strange +chauffeur, and yet one's feelings aren't exactly hurt. And one feels, +somehow, as I think the motor seems to feel, as if one could trust to +his guidance in the most dangerous places. I'm sure he would give his +life to save the car, and I believe he would take a good deal of trouble +to save me; indeed, he has already taken a good deal of trouble, in +several ways. + +When he had gone I set down the tray, shut the door, and went to see how +I really did look with my hair hanging round my shoulders. My ideas on +the subject of sirenhood are vague; but I must confess, if the creatures +are like me with my hair down, they must be quite nice, harmless little +persons. I admire my hair, there's so much of it; and at the ends, a +good long way below my waist, there's such a thoroughly agreeable curl, +like a yellow sea-wave just about to break. Of course, that sounds very +vain; but why shouldn't one admire one's own things, if one has things +worth admiring? It seems rather ungrateful to Providence to cry them +down; and ingratitude was never a favourite vice with me. + +One would have said that the chauffeur knew by instinct what I liked +best to eat, and he must have had a very persuasive way with the waiter. +There was crême d'orge, in a big cup; there were sweetbreads, and there +was lemon meringue. Nothing ever tasted better since my "birthday +feasts" as a child, when I was allowed to order my own dinner. + +My room being on the first floor, though separated by a labyrinth of +quaint passages from Lady Turnour's, there was danger in a corridor +conversation with Mr. Dane at an hour when people might be coming +upstairs after dinner; but he was in such a hurry to escape from me that +I had no time to explain; and I really had not the heart to make myself +hideous, by way of disguise, as I'd planned before his knock at the +door. As an alternative I put on a hat, pinning quite a thick veil over +my face, and when the expected tap came again, I was prepared for it. + +"Are you going out?" my brother asked, looking surprised, when I flitted +into the dim corridor, with Lady Turnour's blue bag dutifully slipped on +my arm. + +"No," I answered. "I'm _hiding_. I know that sounds mysterious, or +melodramatic, or something silly, but it's only disagreeable. And it's +what I want to ask your advice about." Then, shamefacedly when it came +to the point, I unfolded the tale of Monsieur Charretier. + +"By Jove, and he's in this house!" exclaimed the chauffeur, genuinely +interested, and not a bit sulky. "You haven't an idea whether he's been +actually tracking you?" + +"If he has, he must have employed detectives, and clever ones, too," I +said, defending my own strategy. + +"Is he the sort of man who would do such a thing--put detectives on a +girl who's run away from home to get rid of his attentions?" + +"I don't know. I only know he has no idea of being a gentleman. What can +you expect of Corn Plasters?" + +"Don't throw his corn plasters in his face. He might be a good fellow in +spite of them." + +"Well, he isn't--or with them, either. He may be acting with my cousin's +husband, who values him immensely, and wants him in the family." + +"Is he very rich?" + +"Disgustingly," said I, as I had said to Lady Kilmarny. + +"Yet you bolted from a good home, where you had every comfort, rather +than be pestered to marry him?" + +"Oh, what do you call a 'good home,' and 'every comfort'? I had enough +to eat and drink, a sunny room, decent clothes, and wasn't allowed to +work except for Cousin Catherine. But that isn't my idea of goodness and +comfort." + +"Nor mine either." + +"Yet you seem surprised at me." + +"I was thinking that, little and fragile as you look--like a delicate +piece of Dresden china--you're a brave girl." + +"Oh, thank you!" I cried. "I do love to be called 'brave' better than +anything, because I'm really such a coward. You don't think I've done +wrong?" + +"No-o. So far as you've told me." + +"What, don't you believe I've told you the truth?" I flashed out. + +"Of course. But do women ever tell the whole truth to men--even to their +brothers? What about that kind friend of yours in England?" + +"What kind friend?" I asked, confused for an instant. Then I remembered, +and--almost--chuckled. The conversation I had had with him came back to +me, and I recalled a queer look on his face which had puzzled me till I +forgot it. Now I was on the point of blurting out: "Oh, the kind friend +is a Miss Paget, who said she'd like to help me if I needed help," when +a spirit of mischief seized me. I determined to keep up the little +mystery I'd inadvertently made. "I know," I said gravely. "_Quite_ a +different kind of friend." + +"Some one you like better than Monsieur Charretier?" + +"_Much_ better." + +"Rich, too?" + +"Very rich, I believe, and of a noble family." + +"Indeed! No doubt, then, you are wise, even from a worldly point of +view, in refusing the man your people want you to marry, and +taking--such extreme measures not to let yourself be over persuaded," +said Mr. Dane, stiffly, in a changed tone, not at all friendly or nice, +as before. "I meant to advise you not to go on to England with Lady +Turnour, as the whole situation is so unsuitable; but now, of course, I +shall say no more." + +"It was about something else I wanted advice," I reminded him. "But I +suppose I must have bored you. You suddenly seem so cross." + +"I am not in the least cross," he returned, ferociously. "Why should I +be?--even if I had a right, which I haven't." + +"Not the right of a brother?" + +"Hang the rights of a brother!" exclaimed Mr. Dane. + +"Then don't you want to be my brother any more?" + +He walked away from me a few steps, down the corridor, then turned +abruptly and came back. "It isn't a question of what I want," said he, +"but of what I can have. Sometimes I think that after all you're nothing +but an outrageous little flirt." + +"Sometimes? Why, you've only known me two days. As if you could judge!" + +"Far be it from me to judge. But it seems as though the two days were +two years." + +"Thank you. Well, I may be a flirt--the French side of me, when the +other side isn't looking. But I'm not flirting with _you_." + +"Why should you waste your time flirting with a wretched chauffeur?" + +"Yes, why? Especially as I've other things to think of. But I don't +_want_ your advice about those things now. I wouldn't have it even if +you begged me to. You've been too unkind." + +"I beg your pardon, with all my heart," he said, his voice like itself +again. "I'm a brute, I know! It's that beastly temper of mine, that is +always getting me into trouble--with myself and others. Do forgive me, +and let me help you. I want to very much." + +"I just said I wouldn't if you begged." + +"I don't beg. I insist. I'll inflict my advice on you, whether you like +it or not. It's this: get the man out of Avignon the first thing +to-morrow morning." + +"That's easy to say!" + +"And easy to do--I hope. What would be his first act, do you think, if +he got a wire from you, dated Genoa, and worded something like this: +'Hear you are following me. I send this to Avignon on chance, to tell +you persecution must cease or I will find means to protect myself. Lys +d'Angely.'" + +"I think he'd hurry off to Genoa as fast as he could go--by train, +leaving his car, or sending it on by rail. But how could I date a +telegram from Genoa?" + +"I know a man there who--" + +"Elise, I'm astonished at you!" exclaimed the shocked voice of Lady +Turnour. "Talking in corridors with strange young men! and you've been +out, too, without my permission, and _with_ my jewel-bag! How dare you?" + +"I haven't been out," I ventured to contradict. + +"Then you were going out--" + +"And I had no intention of going out--" + +"Don't answer me back like that! I won't stand it. What are you doing in +your hat, done up in a thick veil, too, at this time of night, as if you +were afraid of being recognized?" + +I had to admit to myself that appearances were dreadfully against me. I +didn't see how I could give any satisfactory explanation, and while I +was fishing wildly in my brain without any bait, hoping to catch an +inspiration, the chauffeur spoke for me. + +"If your ladyship will permit me to explain," he began, more +respectfully than I'd heard him speak to anyone yet, "it is my fault +ma'mselle is dressed as she is." + +"What on earth is he going to say?" I wondered wildly, as he paused an +instant for Lady Turnour's consent, which perhaps an amazed silence +gave. I believed that he didn't know himself what to say. + +"I wanted your ladyship's maid, when she had nothing else to do, to put +on her out-of-door things and let me make a sketch of her for an +illustrated newspaper I sometimes draw for. Naturally she didn't care +for her face to go into the paper, so she insisted upon a veil. My +sketch is to be called, 'The Motor Maid,' and I shall get half a guinea +for it, I hope, of which it's my intention to hand ma'mselle five +shillings for obliging me. I hope your ladyship doesn't object to my +earning something extra now and then, so long as it doesn't interfere +with work?" + +"Well," remarked Lady Turnour, taken aback by this extraordinary plea, +as well she might have been, "I don't like to tell a person out and out +that I don't believe a word he says, but I do go as far as this: I'll +believe you when I see you making the sketch. And as for earning extra +money, I should have thought Sir Samuel paid good enough wages for you +to be willing to smoke a pipe and rest when your day's work was done, +instead of gadding about corridors gossiping with lady's-maids who've no +business to be outside their own room. But if you're so greedy after +money--and if you want me to take Elise's word--" + +"I'll just begin the sketch in your ladyship's presence, if I may be +excused," said Mr. Dane, briskly. And to my real surprise, as well as +relief, he whipped a small canvas-covered sketch-book out of his pocket. +It was almost like sleight of hand, and if he'd continued the exhibition +with a few live rabbits and an anaconda or two I couldn't have been much +more amazed. + +"I'd like to have a look at that thing," observed Lady Turnour, +suspiciously, as in a business-like manner he proceeded to release a +neatly sharpened pencil from an elastic strap. + +Without a word or a guilty twitch of an eyelid he handed her the book, +and we both stood watching while the fat, heavily ringed and rosily +manicured fingers turned over the pages. + +He could sketch, I soon saw, better than I can, though I've (more or +less) made my living at it. There were types of French peasants done in +a few strokes, here and there a suggestion of a striking bit of mountain +scenery, a quaint cottage, or a ruined castle. Last of all there was a +very good representation of the Aigle, loaded up with the Turnours' +smart luggage, and ready to start. My lips twitched a little, despite +the strain of the situation, as I noted the exaggerated size of the +crest on the door panel. It turned the whole thing into a caricature; +but luckily her ladyship missed the point. She even allowed her face to +relax into a faint smile of pleasure. + +"This isn't bad," she condescended to remark. + +"I thought of asking your ladyship and Sir Samuel if there would be any +objection to my sending that to a Society motoring paper, and labelling +it 'Sir Samuel and Lady Turnour's new sixty-horse-power Aigle on tour +in Provence.' Or, if you would prefer my not using your name, I--" + +"I see no reason why you should _not_ use it," her ladyship cut in +hastily, "and I'm sure Sir Samuel won't mind. Make a little extra money +in that way if you like, while we're on the road, as you have this +talent." + +She gave him back the book, quite graciously, and the chauffeur began +sketching me. In three minutes there I was--the "abominable little +flirt!" in hat and veil, with Lady Turnour's bag in my hand, quite a +neat figure of a motor maid. + +"You may put, if you like, 'Lady Turnour's maid,'" said that young +person's mistress, "if you think it would give some personal interest to +your sketch for the paper." + +"Oh, this is for quite a different sort of thing," he explained. "Not +devoted to society news at all: more for caricatures and _funny_ bits." + +"Oh, then I should certainly not wish my name to appear in _that_," +returned her ladyship, her tone adding that, on the other hand, such a +publication was as suitable as it was welcome to a portrait of _me_. + +"Now, Elise, I wish you to take those things off at _once_, and come to +my room," she finished. "Mind, I don't want you should keep me waiting! +And you can hand over that bag." + +No hope of another word between us! Mr. Jack Dane saw this, and that it +would be unwise to try for it. Pocketing the sketch-book, he saluted +Lady Turnour with a finger to the height of his eyebrows, which gesture +visibly added to her sense of importance. Then, without glancing at me, +he turned and walked off. + +It was not until he had disappeared round the bend of the corridor that +her ladyship thought it right to leave me. + +I knew that she had made this little expedition in search of her maid +with the sole object of seeing what the mouse did while the cat was +away--a trick worthy of her lodging-house past! And I knew equally well +that before I tapped at her door a little later she had examined the +contents of the blue bag to make sure that I had extracted nothing. How +I pity the long procession of "slaveys" who must have followed each +other drearily in that lodging-house under the landlady's jurisdiction. +They, poor dears, could have had no chauffeur friends to save them from +daily perils, and it isn't likely that their mistress allowed such +luxuries as postmen or policemen. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + + +I decided to have my breakfast very early next morning, and would have +thought it a coincidence that Mr. Dane should walk into the couriers' +room at the same time if he hadn't coolly told me that he had been lying +in wait for me to appear. + +"I thought, for several reasons, you would be early," he said. "So, for +all the same reasons and several more, I thought I'd be early too. I had +to know what the situation was to be." + +"The situation?" I repeated blankly. + +"Between us. Am I to understand that we've quarrelled?" + +"We had," I said. "But even on good grounds, it's difficult to keep on +quarrelling with a person who has not only brought up your dinner and +sauced it with good advice, but saved you from--from the _dickens_ of a +scrape." + +"I hope she didn't row you any more afterward?" + +"No. She was too much interested, all the time I was undressing her, in +speculating about Monsieur Charretier to Sir Samuel. It seems that they +struck up an acquaintance over their coffee on the strength of a little +episode in the hall. + +"Inadvertently I introduced them--threw them at each others' heads. +Monsieur Charretier--Alphonse, as he once asked me to call him!--told +her he was on his way to Cannes, where he heard that a friend of his, +whom it was very necessary for him to see, was visiting a Russian +Princess. He had stopped in Avignon, he said, because he was expecting +the latest news of the friend, a change of address, perhaps; and--I +don't know who proposed it, but anyway he arranged to go with Sir Samuel +and Lady Turnour to the Palace of the Popes at ten o'clock. Her ladyship +was quite taken with him, and remarked to Sir Samuel that there was +nothing so fascinating as a French gentleman of the _haut monde_. Also +she pronounced his broken English '_sweet_.' She wondered if he was +married, and whether the friend in Cannes was a woman or a man. Little +did she know that her maid could have enlightened her! Their joining +forces here is, as my American friend Pamela would say, 'the _limit_.'" + +"Don't worry. The Palace of the Popes won't see him to-day," said the +chauffeur. "He's gone. Got a telegram. Didn't even wait for letters, but +told the manager to forward anything that came for him, Poste Restante, +Genoa." + +"Oh, then you--" + +"Acted for you on my own responsibility. There was nothing else to do, +if _anything_ were to be done; and you'd seemed to fall in with my +suggestion. It would have been a pity, I thought, if your visit to +Avignon were to be spoiled by a thing like that." + +"Meaning Monsieur Charretier? I hardly slept last night for dwelling on +the pity of it." + +"It's all right, then? I haven't put my foot into it?" + +"Your foot! You've put your _brains_ into it. You said the other night +that I had presence of mind. It was nothing to yours." + +"All's forgotten and forgiven, then?" + +"It's forgotten that there was anything to forgive." + +"And the 'motor maid' business? You didn't think it too clumsy?" + +"I thought it most ingenious." + +"It wasn't a lie, you know. I haven't a happy talent for lying. I do, or +rather did when I had nothing else on hand, send occasional sketches to +a paper. But the more I look at my 'motor maid,' the more I feel I +should like to keep her--in my sketch-book--if you're willing I should +have her?" + +"Then I don't get my promised five shillings?" I laughed. + +"I'll try and make up the loss to you in some other way." + +"I have you to thank that I didn't lose my situation. So the debt is on +my side." + +"You owe me the scolding you got. I oughtn't to have lured you into the +corridor." + +"It was on my business. And there was no other way." + +"It was my business to have thought of some other way." + +"Are you your sister's keeper?" + +"I wish I--Look here, mademoiselle _ma soeur_, I'm all out of repartees. +Perhaps I shall be better after breakfast. I shall be able to eat, now +that I know you've forgiven me." + +"I don't believe you would care if I hadn't," I exclaimed. "You are so +stolid, so phlegmatic, you Englishmen!" + +"Do you think so? Well, it would have been a little awkward for me to +have taken you about on a sightseeing expedition this morning if we were +at daggers drawn--no matter how appropriate the situation might have +been to Avignon manners of the Middle Ages, when everybody was either +torturing everybody else or fighting to the death." + +"_Are_ you going to take me about?" + +"That's for you to say." + +"Isn't it for Lady Turnour to say?" + +"Sir Samuel told me last night that I shouldn't be wanted till two +o'clock, as he was going to see the town with her ladyship. He wanted to +know if we could sandwich in something else this afternoon, as he +considered a whole day too much for one place. I suggested Vaucluse for +the afternoon, as it's but a short spin from Avignon, and I just +happened to mention that her ladyship might find use for you there, to +follow her to the fountain with extra wraps in case of mistral. I +thought, of all places you'd hate to miss Vaucluse. And we're to come +back here for the night." + +I feared that Monsieur Charretier's sudden disappearance might upset the +Turnours' plans, but Mr. Dane didn't think so. He had impressed it upon +Sir Samuel that no motorist who had not thoroughly "done" Avignon and +Vaucluse would be tolerated in automobiling circles. + +He was right in his surmise, and though her ladyship was vexed at losing +a new acquaintance whom it would have been "nice to know in Paris," she +resigned herself for the morning to the society of husband and +Baedeker. It was kind old Sir Samuel's proposal that I should be left +free to do some sight-seeing on my own account while they were gone (I +had meant to break my own shackles); and though my lady laughed to scorn +the idea that a girl of my class should care for historical +associations, she granted me liberty provided I utilized it in buying +her certain stay-laces, shoe-strings, and other small horrors for which +no woman enjoys shopping. + +When she and Sir Samuel were out of the way, as safely disposed of as +Monsieur Charretier himself, I felt so extravagantly happy in reaction, +after all my worries, that I danced a jig in her ladyship's sacred +bedchamber. + +Then I prepared to start for my own personally conducted expedition; and +this time I took no great pains to do my hair unbecomingly. Naturally, I +didn't want to be a jarring note in harmonious Avignon, so I made myself +look rather attractive for my jaunt with the chauffeur. + +He was sauntering casually about the _Place_ before the hotel, where +long ago Marshal Brune was assassinated, and we walked away together as +calmly as if we had been followed by a whole drove of well-trained +chaperons. When one has joined the ranks of the lower classes, one might +as well reap some advantages from the change! + +"What we'll do," said Mr. Dane, "is to look first at all the things the +Turnours are sure to look at last. By that plan we shall avoid them, and +as I know my way about Avignon pretty well, you may set your mind at +rest." + +I can think of nothing more delightful than a day in Avignon, with an +agreeable brother and--a mind at rest. I had both, and made the most of +them. + +When her ladyship's shoe-strings and stay-laces were off my mind and in +my coat pocket, we wandered leisurely about the modern part of the +wonderful town, which has been busier through the centuries in making +history than almost any other in France. Seen by daylight, I no longer +resented the existence of a new--comparatively new--Avignon. The pretty +little theatre, with its dignified statues of Corneill and Molière, +seemed to invite me kindly to go in and listen to a play by the +splendidly bewigged gentlemen sitting in stone chairs on either side of +the door. The clock tower with its "Jacquemart" who stiffly struck the +quarter hours with an automatic arm, while his wife criticized the +gesture, commanded me to stop and watch his next stroke; and the +curiosity shops offered me the most alluring bargains. People we met +seemed to have plenty of time on their hands, and to be very +good-natured, as if rich Provençal cooking agreed with their digestions. + +Sure that the Turnours would be at the Palace of the Popes or in the +Cathedral, we went to the Museum, and searched in vain among a riot of +Roman remains for the tomb of Petrarch's Laura, which guide-books +promised. In the end we had to be satisfied with a memorial cross made +in the lovely lady's honour by order of some romantic Englishmen. + +"Yet you say we're stolid and phlegmatic!" muttered Mr. Dane, as he read +the inscription. (Evidently that remark had rankled.) + +We had not a moment to waste, but the Turnours had to be avoided; so my +brother proposed that we combine profit with prudence, and take a cab +along the road leading out to Port St. André. Where the ancient tower of +Philippe le Bel crowns a lower slope I should have my first sight of +that grim mountain of architecture, the Palace of the Popes. It was the +best place from which to see it, if its real grandeur were to be +appreciated, he said--or else to go to Villeneuve, across the Rhône, +which we dared not steal time to do; but the Turnours were certain not +to think of anything so esoteric in the way of sight-seeing. + +The vastness of the stupendous mass of brick and stone took my breath +away for an instant, as I raised my eyes to look up, on a signal of +"Now!" from Mr. Dane. It seemed as if all the history, not alone of Old +Provence, but of France, might be packed away behind those tremendous +buttresses. + +Of what romances, what tragedies, what triumphs, and what despairs could +those huge walls and towers tell, if the echoes whispering through them +could crystallize into words! + +There Queen Jeanne of Naples--that fateful Marie Stuart of +Provence--stood in her youth and beauty before her accusers, knowing she +must buy her pardon, if for pardon she could hope. There the wretched +Bishop of Cahors suffered tortures incredible for plots his enemies +vowed he had conceived against the Pope. There came messages from +Western Kings and Eastern Emperors; there Bertrand du Guesclin, my +favourite hero, was excommunicated: and there great Rienzi lay in +prison. + +"Now I think we might risk going to the Palace," said Mr. Dane, when we +had stood gazing in silence for more minutes than we could well afford. +So we made haste back, and walked up to the Rochers des Doms, where we +lurked cautiously in the handsome modern gardens, glorying in the view +over the old and new bridges, and to far off Villeneuve, where the Man +in the Iron Mask was first imprisoned. When we had admired the statue of +Althen the Persian, with his hand full of the beneficent madder that did +so much for Provence, we were rewarded for our patience by seeing Sir +Samuel and Lady Turnour rush out from the Papal Palace, looking furious. + +"They look like that, because they've been inside," said the chauffeur. +"Their souls aren't artistic enough to resent consciously the ruin and +degradation of the place, but even they can be depressed by the hideous +whitewashed barracks which were once splendid rooms, worthy of kings. +You will look as they do if you go in." + +"I hope my cheeks wouldn't be dark purple and my nose a pale lilac!" I +exclaimed. + +"You're twenty, at most, and Lady Turnour's forty-five, at least," said +my brother. "You can stand the pinch of Mistral; but the inside of that +noble old pile is enough to turn the hair gray. It would be much more +original to let your imagination draw the picture." + +"Then I will!" I cried, knowing that nothing pleases a man more in a +girl than taking his advice. By the lateness of the hour we judged that +the Turnours must have visited the Cathedral before they "did" the +Palace, so we went boldly on to Notre Dame des Doms, beloved of +Charlemagne. + +No wonder, I said, that he had thought it worth restoring from the +ruins Saracens had left! Nothing could be more glorious than the +situation of the historic church, once first in importance, perhaps, in +all Christendom; and nothing could be more purely classic than the west +porch. We strained the muscles of our necks staring up at ancient, +fading frescoes, and rested them again in gazing at famous tombs; then +it was time to go, if we were not to start for Vaucluse too hungry to +feed satisfactorily on thoughts of Laura and Petrarch. + +"Now to our own trough with the other beasts," I sighed. "What an +anti-climax! From the cathedral to the couriers' dining-room." + +"I thought that we might have our own private trough, just this once, if +you don't object," said the chauffeur, almost wistfully. "It would be a +shame to spoil the memory of a perfect morning, wouldn't it, so don't +you think you might accept my humble invitation?" + +I hesitated. + +"Is it conventionality or economy that gives you pause?" he asked. "If +it's the latter, or rather a regard for my pocket, your conscience can +be easy. My pocket feels heavy and my heart light to-day. I remember a +little restaurant not far off where they do you in great style for a +franc or two. Will you come with me?" + +He looked quite eager, and I felt myself unable to resist temptation. +"Yes," said I, "and thank you." + +A biting wind, more like March than flowery April, nearly blew us down +into the town, and I was glad to find shelter in the warm, clean little +restaurant. + +"_Is_ my nose lilac after all?" I inquired, when a dear old smiling +waiter had trotted off with our order, murmuring benevolently, "Doude de +zuide, M'sieur," like a true compatriot of Tartarin. + +"A faint pink from the cheeks is undeniably reflected upon it," admitted +the chauffeur. "We're going to be let in for a cold snap as we get up +north," he went on. "I read in the papers this morning that there's been +a 'phenomenal fall of snow for the season' on the Cevennes and the +mountains of Auvergne. Do you weaken on the Gorges of the Tarn now I've +told you that?" + +"Mine not to reason why. Mine but to do or die," I transposed, smiling +with conspicuous bravery. + +"Not at all. It's yours to choose. I haven't even broken the Gorges, +yet, to the slaves of my hypnotic powers. I warn you that, if all the +papers say about snow is true, we may have adventures on the way. Would +you rather--" + +"I'd rather have the adventures," I broke in, and had as nearly as +possible added "with you," but I stopped myself in time. + +We lunched more gaily than double-dyed millionaires, and afterward, +while my host was paying away his hard-earned francs for our food, I +slipped out of the restaurant and into a little shop I had noticed close +by. The window was full of odds and ends, souvenirs of Avignon; and +there were picture-postcards, photographs, and coins with heads of +saints on them. In passing, on the way to lunch, I'd noticed a silver +St. Christopher, about the size of a two-franc piece; and as the Aigle +carries the saint like a figure-head, a glittering, golden statuette six +or seven inches high, I had guessed that St. Christopher must have been +chosen to fill the honourable position of patron saint for motors and +motorists. + +"What's the price of that?" I asked, pointing to the coin. + +It was ten francs, a good deal more than I could afford, more than half +my whole remaining fortune. "Could not madame make it a little cheaper?" +I pleaded with the fat lady whose extremely aquiline nose proclaimed +that she had no personal interest in saints. But no, madame could not +make it cheaper; the coin was of real silver, the figure well chased; a +recherché little pocket-piece, and a great luck-bringer for anybody +connected with the automobile. No accident would presume to happen to +one who carried _that_ on his person. Madame had, however, other coins +of St. Christopher, smaller coins in white metal which could scarcely be +told from silver. If mademoiselle wished to see them-- + +But mademoiselle did not wish to see them. It would be worse than +nothing to give a base imitation. Instead of feeling flattered, St. +Christopher would have a right to be annoyed, and perhaps to punish. +Recklessly I passed across the counter ten francs, and made the coveted +saint mine. Then I darted out, just in time to meet Mr. Dane at the door +of the restaurant. + +"This is for you," I said. "It's to give you luck." + +I pressed the coin into his hand, and he looked at it on his open palm. +For an instant I was afraid he was going to make fun of it, and my +superstition concerning it, which I couldn't quite deny if +cross-questioned. But his smile didn't mean that. + +"You've just bought this--to give to me?" he asked. + +"Yes," I nodded. + +"Why? Not because you want to 'pay me back' for asking you to lunch--or +any such villainous thing, I hope, because--" + +I shook my head. "I didn't think of that. I got it because I wanted to +bring you luck." + +Then he slipped the coin into an inside pocket of his coat. "Thank you," +he said. "But didn't I tell you that you'd brought me something better +than luck already?" + +"What _is_ better than luck?" + +"An interest in life. And the privilege of being a brother." + + + + +CHAPTER XII + + +It would be a singularly hard-headed, cold-hearted person who could set +out for Vaucluse without the smallest thrill; and hard heads and cold +hearts don't "run in our family." As we spun away from the Hotel de +l'Europe soon after two o'clock that afternoon I felt that I was largely +composed of thrill. Cold as the wind had grown, the thrill kept me warm, +mingling in my veins with ozone. + +Inside the car the middle-aged honeymooners had an air of desperate +resignation which the consciousness of doing their duty according to +Baedeker gives to tourists. The tap was turned on in the newly invented +heating-apparatus in the car floor, through which hot water from the +radiator can be made to circulate; and I wondered, if this extreme +measure were resorted to already, what would be left to do when we +reached those high, white altitudes of which the chauffeur had been +speaking. I prayed that Lady Turnour might not read in the papers about +the "phenomenal fall of snow" in those regions, for if she did I was +afraid that even Mr. Dane's magnetic powers of persuasion might fail to +get her there. He might dangle Queen Margherita of Italy over her head +in vain, if worst came to worst: for what are queens to the most +inveterate tuft-hunters if the feet be cold? Yet now that "adventures" +were vaguely prophesied, I felt I could not give up the promised gorges +and mountains. + +Out of Avignon we slid, past the old, old ramparts and the newer but +impressive walls, and turned at the right into the Marseilles road. +"Vaucluse!" said a kilometre-stone, and then another and another +repeated that enchanted and enchanting word, as we flew onward between +the Rhône and the Durance. + +This was our own old way again, as far as the Pont de Bonpas; then our +road wound to the northeast, away from the world we knew--I said to +myself--and into a world of romance, a world created by the love of +Petrarch for Laura, and sacred to those two for ever more. + +The ruined castle, with machicolated towers and haughty buttresses, on +the great rampart of a hill, was for me the porter's lodge at the +entrance gate of an enchanted garden, where poetic flowers of love +bloomed through seasons and centuries; laurels, roses, and lilies, and +pansies for remembrance. We didn't see those flowers with our bodies' +eyes, but what of that? What did it matter that to the Turnours in their +splendid glass cage this was just a road, with queer little gnome +dwellings scooped out of solid rock to redeem it from common-placeness, +with a fringe of deserted cottages farther on, and some ugly brickworks? +My spirit's eyes saw the flowers, and they clustered thicker and +brighter about Pieverde, where I insisted to Mr. Dane that Laura had +been born. + +He was inclined to dispute this at first, and bring up the horrid theory +that the pure white star of Petrarch's life had been a mere Madame de +Sade, with a drove of uninteresting children. But eagerly I quoted +Petrarch himself, using all the arguments on which Pamela and I prided +ourselves at the Convent; and by the time we had got as far as that +sweet "little Venice full of water wheels," L'Isle, I'd persuaded him to +agree with me. In the midst of all that lovely, liquid music of running, +trickling, fluting water, who could go on callously insisting that Laura +resisted Petrarch merely because she was a fat married woman with a +large family? + +All was green and pastoral here, and we seemed to have come into eternal +spring after the bleak, windy plains encircling Avignon. It was +beautiful to remember Petrarch's description of his golden-haired, +dark-eyed love, fair and tall as a lily, sitting in the grass among the +violets, where her bare feet gleamed whiter than the daisies when she +took off her sandals. Even Nicolete, flower of Provençal song, had no +whiter feet than Laura, I am sure! + +We were slipping past the banks of a little river, clear as sapphires +and emeralds melted and mingled together. The sound of its singing +drowned the sound of the motor, so that we seemed to glide toward +Vaucluse noiselessly and reverently. + +At the Inn of Petrarch and Laura the car had to stop; and looking up, we +could see on the height above the castle home of Petrarch's dearest +friend, Philippe de Cabassole, guardian of Queen Jeanne of Naples. Up +there on the cliff Petrarch's eyes must often have turned toward +Pieverde with longing thoughts of Laura, that "white dove" who was +always for him sixteen, as when he met her first. + +No farther than the inn could any wheeled thing go; and having +justified my presence by buttoning Lady Turnour up in her coat, and +finding her muff under several rugs, I stood by the car, gazing after +the couple as they trudged off along the path to the hidden fairy +fountain of Vaucluse. When they should have got well ahead I meant to go +too, for if a cat may look at a king, a lady's maid may try to drink--if +she can--a few drops from the cup of a great poet's inspiration. At +first I resented those two ample, richly clad, prosaic backs marching +sturdily toward the magic fountain; then suddenly the back of Sir Samuel +became pathetic in my eyes. Hadn't he, I asked myself, loved his Emily +("Emmie, pet," as I've heard him call her) as long and faithfully as +Petrarch loved his Laura? Perhaps, after all, he had earned the right to +visit this shrine. + +Rocks shut out from our sight the distant fountain, and the last +windings of the path that led to it, clasping the secret with great +stone arms, like those of an Othello jealously guarding his young wife's +beauty from eyes profane. + +"Aren't you going now?" asked my brother, with a certain wistfulness. + +"Ye-es. But what about you?" + +"Oh, I've been here before, you know." + +"Don't you believe in second times? Or is a second time always second +best?" + +"Not when--Of course I want to go. But I can't leave the car alone." + +My eyes wandered toward the inn door. "There's a boy there who looks as +if he were born to be a watch-dog," said I, basely tempting him. +"Couldn't you--" + +"No, I couldn't," he said decidedly. "At a place like this, where there +are a lot of tourists about, it wouldn't be right. It was different at +Valescure, when I took you in to lunch." + +"You mean I mustn't make that a precedent." + +"I don't mean anything conceited." + +"But you won't desert Mr. Micawber. I believe I shall name the car +Micawber! Well, then, I must go by myself--and if I should fall into the +fountain and be drowned--" + +"Don't talk nonsense, and don't do anything foolish," said Mr. Dane, +sternly, whereupon I turned my back upon him, and plunged into the cool +shadows of the gorge. The great white cliff of limestone was my goal, +and always it towered ahead, as I followed the narrow pathway above the +singing water. I sighed as I paused to look at a garden which maybe once +was Petrarch's, for it was sad to find my way to fairyland, alone. Even +a brother's company would have been better than none, I thought! + +Soon I met my master and mistress coming back. + +There was nothing much to see, said her ladyship, sharply, and I mustn't +be long; but Sir Samuel ventured to plead with her. + +"Let the girl have ten minutes or so, if she likes, dear," said he. +"We'll be wanting a cup of hot coffee at the inn. And it is a pretty +place." There was something in his voice which told me that he would +have felt the charm--if his bride had let him. + +Pools of water, deep among the rocks, were purple-pansy colour or beryl +green; but the "Source" itself, in its cup of stone, was like a block of +malachite. There was no visible bubbling of underground springs fighting +their way up to break the crystal surface of the fountain,--this +fountain so unlike any other fountain; but to the listening ear came a +moaning and rushing of unseen waters, now the high crying of Arethusa +escaping from her pursuing lover, now rich, low notes as of an organ +played in a vast cavern. + +Above the gorge, the towering rocks with their huge holes and archways +hollowed out by turbulent water in dim, forgotten ages, looked exactly +as if the whole front wall had been knocked off a giant's castle, +exposing its secret labyrinths of rough-hewn rooms, floor rising above +floor even to the attics where the giant's servants had lived, and down +to the cellars where the giant's pet dragons were kept in chains. + +I hadn't yet exhausted my ten minutes, though I began to have a guilty +consciousness that they would soon be gone, when I heard a step behind +me, and turning, saw Mr. Dane. + +"They're having coffee in the car," he said. "Sir Samuel proposed it to +his wife, as if he thought it would be rather more select and exclusive +for her than drinking it in the inn; but I have a sneaking suspicion +that it was because he wanted to let me off. Not a bad old boy, Sir +Samuel." + +So we saw the fountain of Vaucluse together, after all. I don't know why +that should have seemed important to me, but it did--a little. + +We didn't say much to each other, all the way back to Avignon, but I +felt that the day had been a brilliant success, and was sure that the +next could not be as good. "What--not with St. Remy and Les Baux?" +exclaimed my brother. But I knew very little about St. Remy, and still +less about Les Baux. For a minute I was ashamed to confess, but then I +told myself that this was a much worse kind of vanity than being pleased +with the colour of one's hair or the length of one's eyelashes. Mr. Jack +Dane was too polite to show surprise at my ignorance; but that evening, +just as I was getting ready to go down to dinner, up he came with a +tray, as he had the night before; and on the tray, among covered dishes, +was a book. + +"Two of your chauffeur-admirers from Aix are in the dining-room," he +said, "so I thought you'd rather stop up in your room and read T.A. +Cook's 'Old Provence,' than go downstairs. Anyway, it will be better for +you." + +I was half angry, half flattered that he should arrange my life for me +in this off-hand way, whether I liked it or not; but the French half of +me will do almost anything rather than be ungracious; and it would have +been ungracious to say I was tired of dining in my room, and could take +care of myself, when he had given himself the trouble of carrying up my +dinner. So I swallowed all less obvious emotions than meek gratitude for +food, physical and mental; and was soon so deeply absorbed in the +delightful book that I forgot to eat my pudding. I sat up late with +it--the book, not the pudding--after putting Lady Turnour to bed (almost +literally, because she thinks it refined to be helpless), and when +morning came I was no longer disgracefully ignorant of St. Remy and Les +Baux. + +Mr. Dane had mapped out the programme of places to see, using Avignon as +a centre, and there were so many notabilities at the Hotel de l'Europe +following the same itinerary, with insignificant variations, that Lady +Turnour was quite contented with the arrangements made for her. + +Morning was for St. Remy; afternoon was for Les Baux, "because the thing +is to see the sunset there," I heard her telling an extremely +rich-looking American lady, laying down the law as if she had planned +the whole trip herself, with a learned reason for each detail. + +The way to St. Remy was along a small but pretty country road, which had +a misleading air, as if it didn't want you to think it was taking you to +a place of any importance. And yet we were in the heart of Mistral-land; +not Mistral the east wind, but Mistral the poet of Provence, great +enough to be worthy of the land he loves, great enough to carry on the +glory of it to future generations. At any moment we might meet a +Fellore. I looked with interest at each man we saw, and some looked back +at me with flattering curiosity; for a woman's eyes are almost as +mysterious behind a three-cornered talc window as behind a yashmak, or +zenana gratings. + +St. Remy itself--birthplace of Nostradamus, maker of powders and +prophecies--was charming in the sunlight, with its straight avenue of +trees like the pillars of a long gray and green corridor in a vast +palace; but we swept on toward the "Plateau des Antiquities," up a +steep slope with St. Remy the modern at our backs; then suddenly I +found myself crying out with delight at sight of the splendid Triumphal +Archway and the gracious Monument we had come out to see. + +Both looked more Greek than Roman, but that was because Greek workmen +helped to build them for Julius Cæsar, when he determined that posterity +should not forget his defeat of great Vercingetorix, and should do +justice to the memory of Marius. + +When I was small I used to dislike poor Vercingetorix, and be glad that +he had to surrender, so that I might be rid of him, owing to the +dreadful difficulty of pronouncing his name; but when we had got out of +the car, and I saw him on the archway, a tall, carved captive, who had +kept his head through all the centuries, while Cæsar (with a hand on the +prisoner's shoulder) had lost his, my heart softened to him for the +first time. + +I thought the Triumphal Monument to Marius even more beautiful than the +Archway, and felt as angry as Marius must, that the guide-books should +take it away from the hero and wrongfully call it a mausoleum for +somebody else. But Mr. Dane assured me with the obstinate air people +have when learned authorities back their opinions, that the Arch was +really the more interesting of the two--the first Triumphal Archway set +up outside Italy, said he, and bade me reflect on that; still, I would +turn my eyes toward the graceful monument, so wickedly annexed by the +three Julii, and then away over the wide plain that lay beneath this +ragged spur of the Alpilles. In the distance I could see Avignon, and +the pale, opal-tinted, gold-veined hills that fold in the fountain of +Vaucluse. Never, since we came into Provence, had I been able so clearly +to realize the wild fascination of her haggard beauty. "Here Marius +stood in his camp," I thought, "shading his eyes from the fierce sun, +and looking out over this strange, arid country for the Barbarians he +meant to conquer." My heart beat with an intoxicating excitement, such +as one feels on seeing great mountains or the ocean for the first time; +and then down I tumbled, with a bump, off my pedestal, when Lady Turnour +wanted to know what I supposed she'd brought me for, if not to put on +her extra cloak without waiting to be told. + +Watches are really luxuries, not necessities, with the Turnours, because +their appetites always strike the hour of one, and if they're sometimes +a little in advance, they can be relied upon never to be behindhand. I +knew before I glanced at the little bracelet-watch Pamela gave me +(hidden under my sleeve) that it must be on the stroke of half-past +twelve when her ladyship began to complain of the sharp wind, and say we +had better be getting back to St. Remy. She was cross, as usual when she +is hungry, and said that if I continued to go about "like a snail in a +dream" whenever she fetched me to carry her things on these short +expeditions, she would leave me in the hotel to mend her clothes; +whereupon I became actually servile in my ministrations. I brushed a +microscopic speck of dust off her gown; I pushed in a hairpin; I tucked +up a flying end of veil; I straightened her toque, and made myself +altogether indispensable; for the bare idea of being left behind was a +box on the ear. I could not endure such a punishment--and the front +seat would look so empty, so unfinished, without me! + +As we went back down the steep hill from old Glanum, St. Remy appeared a +little oasis of spring in the midst of a winter which had come back for +something it had forgotten. All its surrounding orchards and gardens, +screened from the shrewish Mistral by the shoulders of the Alpilles, and +again by lines of tall cypress trees and netted, dry bamboos, had begun +to bloom richly like the earlier gardens on the Riviera. There was a +pinky-white haze of apple blossoms; and even the plane trees in the long +main street were hung with dainty, primrose-coloured spheres, like +little fairy lanterns. Not only did every man seem a possible Felibre, +but every girl was a beauty. Some of them wore a charming and becoming +head-dress, such as I never saw before, and the chauffeur said it was +the head-dress of the women of Arles, where we would go day after +to-morrow. + +Impertinent chauffeurs or couriers would have been more out of place in +poetic St. Remy than the sensational Nostradamus himself; and there was +no trouble of that sort for me in lunching at the pleasant, quiet hotel. +Mr. Dane had bought a French translation of Mistral's "Memoires," and as +we ate, he and I alone together, he read me the incident of the +child-poet and his three wettings in quest of the adored water-flowers. +Nothing could be more beautiful than the wording of the exquisite +thoughts, yet I wished we could have seen those thoughts embodied in +Provençal, the language practically created by Mistral, as Italian was +by Dante and Petrarch, or German by Goethe. + +Not far away lay Mas du Juge, described in the book, where he was born, +and Maillane, where he lives, and I longed to drive that way; but as the +Turnours would be sure to say that there was nothing to see, the +chauffeur thought it wiser not to turn out of our road. We might find +the poet at Arles, perhaps, in his museum there, or lunching at the +Hotel du Forum, a favourite haunt of his on museum days. + +Starting for Les Baux, we turned our faces straight toward the wild +little mountains loved by Mistral, his dear Alpilles. They soon +surrounded us in tumbling gray waves, piled up on either side of the +road as the Red Sea must have tumultuously fenced in the path of the +Israelites. Strange, hummocky mountains were everywhere, as far as we +could see; mountains of incredible, nightmare shapes, and of great +ledges set with gigantic busts of ancient heroes, some nobly carved, +some hideously caricatured, roughly hewn in gray limestone, or red rock +that looked like bronze. On we went, climbing up and up, a road like a +python's back; but not yet was there any glimpse of the old "robber +fortress" of Les Baux about which I had read, and later dreamed, last +night. I knew it would be wonderful, astonishing, a Dead City, a Pompeii +of the Feudal Age, yet different from any other ancient town the whole +world over--a place of tangled histories; yet I tried vainly to picture +what it would be like. Then, suddenly, we reached a turn in that strange +road which, if it had led downhill instead of up, would have seemed like +the way Orpheus took to reach Hades. + +We had come face to face with a huge chasm in the rock, a gap with +sheer walls sliced clean down, like a cut in a great cheese; and I felt +instinctively that this must be the dark doorway through which we should +see Les Baux. + +Through the cut in the stone cheese our road carried us; and the busts +on the rocky ledges were so near now we could almost have put out our +hands and touched them--but curiously enough, in this place of all +others, they were the likenesses of modern men. Mr. Dane and I picked +out an unmistakable Gladstone on the right, a characteristic +Beaconsfield on the left; and farther on Mr. Chamberlain's head was +fantastically grafted on to the body of a prehistoric animal. We were +just tracing Pierpont Morgan's profile, near a few of Hannibal's +elephants, when the car sprang clear of the chasm, out upon the other +side of the doorway; and there rose before us Les Baux, a hundred times +more wonderful, more tragic, than I had hoped to find it. + +Far, far below our mountain road lay a valley so flat that it might have +been levelled on purpose for the tilting of knights in great +tournaments. Above and around us (for suddenly we were in as well as +under it) was a City of Ghosts. + +Huge masses of rock, like Titan babies' playthings, had been hollowed +out for dwellings, fit houses for our late cousins the cave-dwellers. +There were colossal pillars and dark, high doorways such as one sees in +pictures of the temples at Thebes; but all this, said Mr. Jack Dane, was +merely a preface for what was yet to come, only an immense quarry whence +the stones to build Les Baux had been torn. We were still on the road to +the real Les Baux; and even as he spoke, the Aigle was clawing her way +bravely up a hill steeper than any we had mounted. At the top she turned +abruptly, and stopped in a queer, forlorn little place, where to my +astonishment our journey ended in front of a small house ambitiously +named Hotel Monte Carlo. Then I remembered the story I had read: how a +young prince of the Grimaldi family came begging Louis XIII. to protect +him from Spain; how Louis, who didn't want Spain to grab Monaco, +promptly gave soldiers; how the Grimaldi's shrewd wit did more to get +the Spanish out of the little principality than did the fighting men +from France; and how Louis, as a reward, turned poor, war-worn Les Baux +into a Grimaldi marquisate. + +That little episode in history accounted for the Hotel Monte Carlo; and +I wondered if it were put up on the site of the Grimaldis' miniature +pleasure-palace, which the forest-burning revolutionists tore down just +before Les Baux, after all its strange passings from hand to hand, +became the property of the nation. + +Against the rocks a few mean houses leaned apologetically, but on every +side rose the ruins of a proud, dead past: a past beginning with the +ruts of chariot-wheels graven on the rock-paved street. I thought, as I +looked at the sordid little village of to-day, which had crawled into +the very midst of the fortress, of some words I'd read last night: "a +rat in the heart of a dead princess." + +Strange, haggard hill, whispered about by history ever since Christians +ran before Alaric the Visigoth, and hid in its caverns already echoing +with legends of mysterious Phoenician treasure! Strange robber house of +Les Baux, founded thirteen hundred years ago, and claiming half +Provence two centuries later! No wonder, after all the fighting and +plundering, loving and hating, that all it asks now is for its bleached, +picked bones to be left in peace! + +I thought this, standing by the little Hotel Monte Carlo, waiting for my +mistress and her husband to be supplied with a guide. He was the most +intelligent and efficient-seeming guide imaginable, who looked as if he +had the whole history of Les Baux behind his bright dark eyes; and I +hoped that the humble maid and chauffeur might be allowed to follow the +"quality" within respectful earshot. + +Soon they began to walk on, and I turned to look at my brother, who was +lingering by the car. Already the guide had begun to be interesting. I +caught a few words: "Celtic caverns"--"Leibulf, the first Count"--"the +terrible Turenne, called the 'Fléau de Provence'--the Lady Alix's +guardian"--which made me long to hear more; but I didn't want to crawl +on until my Fellow Worm could crawl with me. + +"I can't go," he said. "It wouldn't do to leave the car here. There are +several gipsy faces at the inn window, you see. Why there should be +gipsies I don't know; but there are, for those are gipsies or I'll eat +my cap. And I've got to keep watch on deck." + +"How horrid to leave you here alone, seeing nothing--not even the +sunset!" I exclaimed. "I think I shall stop with you, unless _she_ calls +me--" + +"You'll do nothing of the kind," he had begun, when the summons came, +sooner than I had expected. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + + +"Elise, come here and put what this guide is saying into English," was +the command, and I flew to obey. To hear him tell what he knew was like +turning over the leaves of the Book of Les Baux; and I tried to do him +justice in my translation; but it was disheartening to see Lady +Turnour's lack-lustre gaze wander as dully about the rock-hewn barracks +of Roman soldiers as if she had been in her own lodging-house cellar, +and to be interrupted by her complaints of the cold wind as we went up +the silent streets, past deserted palaces of dead and gone nobles, +toward the crown of all--the Château. + +Nothing moved her to any show of interest in this grave of mighty +memories, of mighty warrior princes, and of lovely ladies with names +sweet as music and perfume of potpourri. Wandering in a splendid +confusion of feudal and mediæval relics--walls with carved doorways, and +doorways without walls; beautiful, purposeless columns whose occupation +had long been gone; carved marvels of fireplaces standing up sadly from +wrecked floors of fair ladies' boudoirs or great banqueting halls, the +stout, painted woman broke in upon the guide's story to talk of any +irrelevant matter that jumped into her mind. She suddenly bethought +herself to scold Sir Samuel about "Bertie," from whom a letter had +evidently been forwarded, and who had been spending too much money to +please her ladyship. + +"That stepson of yours is a regular bad egg," said she. + +"Never you mind," retorted Sir Samuel, defending his favourite. "Many a +bad egg has turned over a new leaf." + +My lip quivered, but I fixed my eyes firmly upon the guide, who was now +devoting his attention entirely to his one respectful listener. I was +ashamed of my companions, but I couldn't help catching stray fragments +of the conversation, and the involuntary mixing of Bertie's affairs with +the Religious Wars, and the destruction of Les Baux by Richelieu's +soldiers, had a positively weird effect on my mind. Bertie, it +seemed--(or was it Richelieu?) was invited to visit at the château of a +French marquis called de Roquemartine (or was it good King René, who +inherited Les Baux because he was a count of Provence?), and the château +was near Clermont-Ferrand. Lady Turnour was of opinion that it would be +well to make a condition before sending the cheque which Bertie wanted +to pay his bridge debts (or was he in debt because the Lady Douce and +her sister Stephanette of Les Baux had quarrelled?). If the advice of +Dane, the chauffeur, were taken, they would be motoring to +Clermont-Ferrand; and why not say to Bertie: "No cheque unless you get +us an invitation to visit the Roquemartines while you are there?" (Or +was it that they wanted an invitation to the boudoir of Queen Jeanne, +René's beloved wife, who lived at Les Baux sometimes, and had very +beautiful things around her--tapestries and Eastern rugs, and wondrous +rosaries, and jewelled Books of Hours?) Really, it was very +bewildering; but in my despair one drop of comfort fell. That château +near Clermont-Ferrand would prove a lodestar, and help Mr. Jack Dane to +lure the Turnours through chill gorges and over snowy mountains. + +"Lodestar" really was a good word for the attraction, I thought, and I +would repeat it to the chauffeur. But it rose over the horizon of my +intellect probably because the guide talked of Countess Alix, last +heiress of the great House of Les Baux. "As she lay dying," he said, +"the star that had watched over and guided the fortunes of her house +came down from the sky, according to the legend, and shone pale and sad +in her bedchamber till she was dead. Then it burst, and its light was +extinguished in darkness for ever." + +Eventually Sir Samuel's eye brightened for the Tudor rose decoration, in +the ruined château, relic of an alliance between an English princess and +the House of Les Baux; and Lady Turnour didn't interrupt once when the +guide told of the latest important discovery in the City of Ghosts. +"Near the altar of the Virgin here," he began, in just the right, hushed +tone, "they found in a tomb the body of a beautiful young girl. There +she lay, as the tomb was opened, just for an instant--long enough for +the eye to take in the picture--as lovely as the loveliest lady of Les +Baux, that famed princess Cecilie, known through Provence as Passe-Rose. +Her long golden hair was in two great plaits, one over either shoulder, +and her hands were crossed upon her breast, holding a Book of Hours. But +in a second, as the air touched her, she was gone like a dream; her +sweet young face, white as milk, and half smiling, her long dark +eyelashes, even the Book of Hours, all crumbled into dust, fine as +powder. Only the golden hair, tied with blue ribbon, was left; and when +you go to Arles you can see it in the Museum of Monsieur Mistral." + +"Make a note of hair for Arles, Sam," said her ladyship, gravely; and +just as solemnly he obeyed, scribbling a few words in the pocket +memorandum-book in which the poor man industriously puts down all the +things which his wife thinks he ought to remember. + +"Anything else interesting ever been found here?" she wanted to know. +"Any jewels or things of that sort?" + +I passed the question on to the guide. + +Many things had been found, he said: coins, vases, pottery, and mosaics. +Occasionally such things were turned up, though usually, nowadays, of no +great value; but it was the hope of finding something which brought the +gipsies. Often there were gypsies at Les Baux. They would go to Les +Saintes Maries, the place of the sacred church where the two sainted +Maries came ashore from Palestine in their little boat, and they would +pray to Sarah, whose tomb was also in that wonderful church. Had we seen +it yet? No? But it was not far. Many people went, though the great day +was on May twenty-fourth, when the Archbishop of Aix lowered the ark of +relics from the roof, and healed those of the sick who were true +believers. It was for Sarah, though, that the gipsies made their +pilgrimages. They thought that prayers at her tomb would bring them +whatever they desired; and sometimes, when they were able to come on as +far as Les Baux, they would wish at the tomb to find the buried +Phoenician treasure, for which many had searched generation after +generation, since history began, but none had ever found. + +I did not say anything about the gipsies at the inn-window, but I saw +now that Mr. Dane had done wisely in sticking to his post. A +sixty-horse-power Aigle might largely make up for a disappointment in +the matter of treasure, even if she had to be towed down into the valley +by a horse. + +"Calvé, and all the great singers, come here sometimes by moonlight in +their motors," went on the guide, "after the great musical festival of +Orange in the month of August. They stand on the piles of stone among +the ruins when all is white under the moon, and they sing--ah! but they +sing! It is wonderful. They do it for their own pleasure, and there is +no audience except the ghosts--and me, for they allow me to listen. Yet +I think, if our eyes could be opened to such things, we would see +grouped round a noble company of knights and ladies--such a company as +would be hard to get together in these days." + +"Well, I would rather sing here in August than April!" exclaimed Lady +Turnour, with the air of a spoiled prima donna. And then she shivered +and wanted to go down to the car without waiting for the sunset, which, +after all, could only be like any other mountain sunset, and she could +see plenty of better ones next summer in Switzerland. She felt so +chilled, she was quite anxious about herself, and should certainly not +dare to start for Avignon until she had had a glass of steaming hot rum +punch or something of that sort, at the inn. Did the guide think she +could get it--and have it sent out to her in the car, as nothing would +induce her to go inside that little den? + +The guide thought it probable that something hot might be obtained, +though there might be a few minutes' delay while the water was made to +boil, as it would be an unusual order. + +A few minutes! thought I, eagerly, looking at the sun, which was +hurrying westward. I knew what "a few minutes" at such an inn would +mean--half an hour at least; and apparently I was no longer needed as an +interpreter. Without a thought of me, now that I had ceased to be +useful, Lady Turnour slipped her arm into her husband's for support (her +high-heeled shoes and the rough, steep streets had not been made for +each other), and began trotting down the hill, in advance of the guide. +They had finished with him, too, and were already deep in a discussion +as to whether rum punch, or hot whisky-and-water with sugar and lemon +were better, for warding off a chill. I didn't see why I shouldn't +linger a little on the wide plateau, with the Dead City looming above me +like a skeleton seated on a ruined throne, and half southern France +spread out in a vast plain, a thousand feet below. + +It was wonderful there, and strangely, almost terribly still. Once the +sea had washed the feet of the cliff, dim ages ago. Now my eyes had to +travel far to the Mediterranean, where Marseilles gloomed dark against +the burnished glimmer of the water. I could see the Etang de Berre, too, +and imagine I saw the Aurelian Way, and gloomy old Aigues-Mortes, which +we were to visit later. At lunch we had talked of a poem of Mistral's, +which a friend of Mr. Dane's had put into French--a poem all about a +legendary duel. And it was down there, in that far-stretching field, +that the duel was fought. + +As I looked I realized that the clouds boiling up from some vast +cauldron behind the world were choking the horizon with their purple +folds. They were beautiful as the banners of a royal army advancing over +the horizon, but--they would hide the sun as he went down to bathe in +the sea. He was embroidering their edges with gold now. I was seeing the +best at this moment. If I started to go back, I should have time to +pause here and there, gazing at things the Turnours had hurried past. + +I went down slowly, reluctantly, the melancholy charm of the place +catching at my dress as I walked, like the supplicating fingers of a +ghost condemned to dumbness. There was one rock-hewn house I had wanted +to see, coming up, which Lady Turnour had scorned, saying "when you've +been in one, you've been in all." And she had not understood the guide's +story of a legend that was attached to this particular house. Perhaps if +she had she would not have cared; but now I was free I couldn't resist +the temptation of going in, to poke about a little. You could go several +floors down, the guide had said; that was certain, but the tale was, +that a secret way led down from the lowest cellar of this cave house, +continuing--if one could only find it--to the enchanted cavern far +below, where Taven, the witch, kept and cured of illness the girl loved +by Mireio. + +I didn't know who Mireio was, except that he lived in songs and legends +of Old Provence, but the story sounded like a beautiful romance; and +then, the guide had added that some people thought the Kabre d'Or, or +Phoenician treasure, was hidden somewhere between Les Baux and the +"Fairy Grotto," or the "Gorge of Hell," near by. + +Caves have always had the most extraordinary, magical fascination for +me. When I was a child, I believed that if I could only go into one I +should be allowed to find fairyland; and even in an ordinary, every-day +cellar I was never quite without hope. The smell of a cellar suggested +the most cool, delightful, shadowy mysteries to me, at that time, and +does still. + +It was as if the ghostly hand that had been pulling me back, begging me +not to leave Les Baux, led me gently but insistently through the doorway +of the rock house. + +It was not yet dark inside. I tiptoed my way through some rough bits of +debris, to the back of the big room, crudely cut out of stone. There +were shelves where the dwellers had set lights or stored provisions, and +there was nothing else to see except a square hole in the floor, below +which a staircase had been hewn. A glimmer of light came up to me, gray +as a bat's wing, and I knew that there must be some opening for +ventilation below. + +I felt that I would give anything to go down those rough stone stairs, +only half way down, perhaps; just far enough to see what lay underneath. +It was as if Taven herself had called me, saying: "Come, I have +something to show you." + +I put a foot on the first step, then the other foot wanted a chance to +touch the next step, and so on, each demanding its own turn in +fairness. I had gone down eight steps, counting each one, when I heard a +faint rustling noise. I stopped, my heart giving a jump, like a bird in +a cage. + +There were no windows in the underground room, which was much smaller +and less regular in shape than the one above, but a faint twilight +seemed to rain down into it in streaks, like spears of rain, and I +guessed that holes had been made in the rock to give light and +ventilation. Something alive was down there, moving. I was frightened; I +hardly dared to look. And I had a nightmare feeling of being struck dumb +and motionless. I tried to turn and run up the stairs but I had to look, +and the gray filtering light struck into a pair of eyes. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + + +They were great black eyes, sunken into the face of an old woman. She +stood in a corner, and it occurred to me that she had perhaps run there, +as much afraid of me as I was of her. No eyes were ever like those, I +thought, except the eyes of a gipsy. + +"What are you doing?" I stammered, in French, hardly expecting her to +understand and answer me; but she replied in an old, cracked voice that +sounded hollow and unreal in the cavern. + +"I have been asleep," she said. "I am waiting for my sons. We are in Les +Baux on business. I thought, when I heard you, it was my boys coming to +fetch me. I can't go till they are here, because I have dropped my +rosary with a silver crucifix down below, and the way is too steep for +me. They must get it." + +"Do they know you are here?" I asked. + +"Oh, yes," she returned. "They will come at six. We shall perhaps have +our supper and sleep in this house to-night. Then we will go away in the +morning." + +"It is only a little after five now," I told her. "You frightened me at +first." + +She cackled a laugh. "I am nothing to be afraid of," she chuckled. "I am +very old. Besides, there is no harm in me. If you have the time, I could +tell your fortune." + +"I'm afraid I haven't time," I said, though I was tempted. To have +one's fortune told in a cavern under a rock house where Romans had +lived, told by a real, live gipsy who looked as if she might be a lineal +descendant from Taven, and who was probably fresh from worshipping at +the tomb of Sarah! It would be an experience. No girl I knew, not even +Pam herself, who is always having adventures, could ever have had one as +good as this. If only I need not miss it! + +"It would take no more than five minutes," she pleaded in her queer +French, which was barely understandable, and evidently not the tongue in +which she was most at home. + +"Well, then," I said, hastily calculating that it was no more than ten +minutes since Lady Turnour and Sir Samuel left me, and that the water +for their punch couldn't possibly have begun to boil yet. "Well, then, +perhaps I might have five minutes' fortune, if it doesn't cost too much; +but I'm very poor--poorer than you, maybe." + +"That cannot be, for then you would have less than nothing," said the +old woman, cackling again. "But it is your company I like to have, more +than your money. I have been waiting here a long time, and I am dull. No +fortune can be expected to come true, however, unless the teller's hand +be crossed with silver, otherwise I might give it you for nothing. But a +two-franc piece--" + +"I think I have as much as that," I cut her short, as she paused on the +hint; and deciding not to ask her, as I felt inclined, to come to the +upper room lest we should be interrupted, I went down the remaining five +or six high steps, and got out my purse under a long, straight rod of +gray light. + +There were only a few francs left, but I would have beggared myself to +buy this adventure, and thought it cheap at the price she named. I found +a two-franc piece--a bright new one, worthy of its destiny--and looking +up as I shut my purse, I saw the old woman's eyes fixed on me, and sharp +as gimlets. Used to the dusk now, I could see her dark face distinctly, +and so like a hungry crow did she look that I was startled. But it was +only for a second that I felt a little uncomfortable. She was so old and +weak, I was so young and strong, that even if she were an evil creature +who wanted to do me harm, I could shake her off and run away as easily +as a bird could escape from a tied cat. + +"Make a cross with the silver piece on my palm," she said. + +I did as she told me, and it was a dark and dirty palm, in the hollow of +which seemed to lie a tiny pool of shadow. Her eyes darted to the +bracelet-watch as my wrist slipped out of the protecting sleeve, and I +drew back my hand quickly. She plucked the coin from my fingers, and +then told me to give her my left hand. + +"You can't see the lines," I said. "It's too dark." + +"I see with my night eyes," she answered, as a witch might have +answered. "And I feel. I have the quick touch of the blind. I can feel +the pores in a flower-petal." + +Impressed, I let her hold my hand in one of her lean claws while she +lightly passed the spread fingers of the other down the length of mine +from the tips to the joining with the palm, and then along the palm +itself, up and down and across. It was like having a feather drawn over +my hand. + +"You have foreign blood in your veins," she said. "You are not all +French. But you have the charm of the Latin girl. You can make men love +you. You make them love you whether you wish or not, and whether _they_ +wish or not. Sometimes that is a great trouble to you. You are anxious +now, for many reasons. One of the reasons is a man, but there is more +than one who loves you. You make one of them unhappy, and yourself +unhappy, too. The man you ought to love is young and handsome, and +dark--very dark. Do not think ever of marrying a fair man. You are on a +journey now. Something very unexpected will happen to you at the +end--something to do with a man, and something to do with a woman. Be +careful then, for your future happiness may depend on your actions in a +moment of surprise. You are not rich, but you have a lucky hand. You +could find things hidden if you set yourself to look for them." + +"Hidden treasure?" I asked, laughingly, and venturing to break in +because she was speaking slowly now, as if she had come to the end of +her string of prophecies. + +"Perhaps. Yes. If you looked for the hidden treasure here, you might be +the one to find it after all these hundreds of years. Who knows? These +things happen to the lucky ones." + +"Well, if I believed that I'd been born for such luck, I'd try to come +back some day, and have a look," I said. "I should begin in this house, +I think." + +"It is never so lucky to return for things as to try and get them at +the right time," the old woman pronounced. "If you would like to wait +till my sons come--" + +"No, I wouldn't," I said. "I must go now." + +"If you would at least do me a favour, for the good fortune I have told +you so cheap," she begged. "I, who in my day have had as much as two +louis from great ladies who would know their fortune!" + +"What is the favour?" I asked. + +"Oh, it is next to nothing. Only to go down to the foot of the stairs in +the cellar below this, and pick up my rosary, which I dropped, and which +I know is lying there." + +"It's too dark," I said. "I couldn't see to find it--and you said your +sons were coming soon." + +"Not soon enough, for when you are gone, and I am alone, I should like +to pray at the time of vespers. And it is not so dark as you think. +Besides, this will be the test of the fortune I have just told you. If +it's true that you have the lucky hand for finding you will put it on +the rosary in an instant. That will be a sign you can find anything. +Unless you are afraid, mademoiselle--" + +"Of course I'm not afraid," I said, for I always have been ashamed of my +fear of the dark, and have forced myself to fight against it. "If the +rosary is at the foot of the staircase I'll try and get it for you, but +I won't go any farther." + +Her corner was close by the opening where more steps were cut into the +rock. I could see the bottom, I thought, and started down quickly, +because I was in a hurry to come back and be on my way home--to the +Aigle. + +Six, seven steps, and then--crash! down I came on my hands and knees. + +Oh, how it hurt! And how it made my head ring! Fireworks went off before +my eyes, and I felt stupid, inclined to lie still. But suddenly the idea +flashed into my brain, like lightning darting among dark clouds, that +the old woman had made me do this thing on purpose. She had played me a +trick--and if she had, she must have some bad reason for doing it. Those +two sons of hers! I scrambled up, shocked and jarred by the fall, my +hands and knees smarting as if they were skinned. + +"I've fallen down," I cried. "Do you hear?" + +No answer. + +I called again. It was as still as a grave up above. It seemed to me +that it could not be so unnaturally, so inhumanly still, if there were a +living, breathing creature there. I was sure now that the horrible old +thing had known what would happen, had wanted it to happen, and had gone +hobbling away to fetch her wicked gipsy sons. How she had looked at my +poor little purse! How she had looked at Pamela's watch! + +I saw now how it was that I had been so stupid. The dim light from above +had lain on the last step and made it appear as if the floor were near; +but there was a gap between the stairway and the bottom of the cellar. +The lower steps had been hewn away--perhaps in a quest for the +ever-elusive treasure. Maybe a crack had appeared, and people, always +searching, had suspected a secret opening and tried to find it. Anyway, +there was the gap, and there was a rough pile of broken stone not far +off, which had once been the end of the rocky stairway. It was lucky +that I hadn't struck my forehead against it in falling--the only bit of +luck which the fortune-teller had brought me! + +As it was, I was not seriously hurt. Perhaps I had torn my dress, and I +should certainly have to buy a new pair of gloves, whether I could +afford them or not; otherwise I didn't think I should suffer, except for +a few black-and-blue patches. But how was I to get out of this dark +hole? That was the question. I was too hot with anger against the sly +old fox of a woman, who had pretended that she wanted to say her +prayers, to feel the chill of fear; but I couldn't help understanding +that she had got me into this trap with the object of annexing my watch +and purse or anything else of value. Perhaps the gipsy sons would rob me +first, and then murder me, rather than I should live to tell; but if +they meant to do that they would have to come and be at it soon, or I +should be missed and sought. + +This last fancy really did turn me cold, and the nice hot anger which +had kept me warm began to ooze out at my fingers and toes. I thought of +my brave new brother, who would fight ten gipsy men to save me if he +only knew; and then I wanted to cry. + +But that would be the silliest thing I could do. Soon they would begin +to look for me (oh, how furious Lady Turnour would be that I should dare +keep her waiting, and at the fuss about a servant!) and if I screamed at +the top of my voice maybe some one would hear. + +I took a long breath, and gave vent to a blood-curdling shriek which +would have made the fortune of an actress on the stage. Odd! I couldn't +help thinking of that at the time. One thinks of queer things at the +most inappropriate moments. + +It was a glorious howl, but the rock walls seemed to catch it as a +battledore catches a shuttlecock, and send it bounding back to me. I +knew then that a cry from those depths would not carry far; and the fear +at my heart gave a sharp, rat-like bite. + +If I could scramble up! I thought; and promptly tried. + +It looked almost easy; but for me it was impossible. A very tall woman +might have done it, perhaps, but I have only five foot four in my +Frenchiest French heels; and the broken-off place was higher than my +waist. With good hand-hold I might have dragged myself up, but the steps +above did not come at the right height to give me leverage; and always, +though I tried again and again, till my cut hands bled, I couldn't climb +up. And how silly it seemed, the whole thing! I was just like a young +fly that had come buzzing and bumbling round an ugly old spider's web, +too foolish to know that it was a web. And even now how lightly the +fly's feet were entangled! A spring, and I should be out of prison. + + "Oh, the little more, and how much it is! + And the little less, and what worlds away!" + +The words came and spoke themselves in my ears, as if they were +determined to make me cry. + +I was desperately frightened and homesick--homesick even for Lady +Turnour. I should have felt like kissing the hem of her dress if I could +only have seen her now--and I wasn't able to smile when I thought what a +rage she'd be in if I did it. She would have me sent off to an insane +asylum: but even that would be much gayer and more homelike than an +underground cellar in the Ghost City of Les Baux. + +Dear old Sir Samuel, with his nice red face! I almost loved him. The car +seemed like a long-lost aunt. And as for the chauffeur, my brother--I +found that I dared not think of him. As in my imagination I saw his +eyes, his good dark eyes, clear as a brook, and the lines his brown face +took when he thought intently, the tears began running down my cheeks. + +"Oh, Jack--Jack, come and help me!" I called. + +That comes of _thinking_ people's Christian names. They will pop out of +your mouth when you least expect it. But it mattered little enough now, +except that the sound of the name and the echo of it fluttering back to +me made my tears feel boiling hot--hotter than the punch which the +Turnours must have finished by this time. + +"Jack! Jack!" I called again. + +Then I heard a stone rattle up above, somewhere, and a sick horror +rushed over me, because of the gipsy men coming back with their wicked +old mother. + +It was only a very dark gray in the cellar, to my unaccustomed eyes, but +suddenly it turned black, with purple edges. I knew then I was going to +faint, because I've done it once or twice before, and things always +began by being black with purple edges. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + + +"For heaven's sake, wake up--tell me you're not hurt!" a familiar voice +was saying in my ear, or I was dreaming it. And because it was such a +good dream I was afraid to break it by waking to some horror, so I kept +my eyes shut, hoping and hoping for it to come again. + +In an instant, it did come. "Child--little girl--wake up! Can't you +speak to me?" + +His hand, holding mine, was warm and extraordinarily comforting. +Suddenly I felt so happy and so perfectly safe that I was paid for +everything. My head was on somebody's arm, and I knew very well now who +the somebody was. He was real, and not a dream. I sighed cozily and +opened my eyes. His face was quite close to mine. + +"Thank God!" he said. "Are you all right?" + +"Now you're here," I answered. "I thought they were coming to kill me." + +"Who?" he asked, quite fiercely. + +"An old gipsy woman and her sons." + +"Those people!" he exclaimed. "Why, it was they who told me you were in +this place. If it hadn't been for them I shouldn't have found you so +soon--though I _would_ have found you. The wretches! What made you +think--" + +"The old woman was in the room above," I said, "waiting for her sons; +and she begged me to look down here for a rosary she dropped. She must +have known the bottom steps were gone. She _wanted_ me to fall; and +though I called, she didn't answer, because she'd probably hobbled off +to find her sons and bring them back to rob me. I haven't hurt myself +much, but when I found I couldn't climb up I was so frightened! I +thought no one would ever come--except those horrible gipsies. And when +I heard a sound above I was sure they were here. I felt sick and +strange, and I suppose I must have fainted." + +"I heard you call, just as I got into the upper room. Then, though I +answered, everything was still. Jove! I had some bad minutes! But you're +sure you're all right now?" + +"Sure," I answered, sitting up. "Did I call you 'Jack'? If I did, it was +only because one can't shriek 'Mister,' and anyway you told me to." + +"Now I _know_ you're all right, or you wouldn't bother about +conventionalities. I wish I had some brandy for you--" + +"I wouldn't take it if you had." + +"That sounds like you. That's encouraging! Are you strong enough to let +me get you up into the light and air?" + +"Quite!" I replied briskly, letting him help me to my feet. "But how are +we to get up?" + +"I'll show you. It will be easy." + +"Let's look first for the wicked old creature's rosary. If it isn't +here, it's certain she's a fraud." + +"I should think it's certain without looking. I'd like to put the old +serpent in prison." + +"I wouldn't care to trouble, now I'm safe. And anyway, how could we +prove she meant her sons to rob me, since they hadn't begun the act, and +so couldn't be caught in it?" + +"She didn't know you had a man to look after you. When the guide and I +came this way, searching, we met a gipsy woman with two awful brutes, +and asked if they'd seen a young lady in a gray coat. They were all +three on their way here, as you thought; but when they saw us close to +this house, of course, they dared not carry out their plan, and the old +woman made the best of a bad business. No doubt they're as far off by +this time as they could get. It might be difficult to prove anything, +but I'd like to try." + +"_I_ wouldn't," I said. "But let's look for that rosary. Have you any +matches?" + +"Plenty." He took out a match-case, and held a wax vesta for me to peer +about in the neighbourhood of the broken stairway. + +"Here's something glittering!" I exclaimed, just as I had been about to +give up the search in vain. "She said there was a silver crucifix." + +I slipped my fingers into a crack where the rock had been split in +breaking off the lower steps. A small, bright thing was there, almost +buried in débris, but I could not get my fingers in deep enough to +dislodge it. Impatiently I pulled out a hat-pin, and worked until I had +unearthed--not the rosary, but a silver coin. + +"Somebody else has been down here, dropping money," I said, handing the +piece up for Mr. Dane to examine. + +"Then it was a long time ago," he replied, "for the coin has the head of +Louis XIII. on it." + +"Oh, then she was right!" I cried. "I _can_ find lost treasure. I'm +going to look for more. I believe that piece must have fallen out of a +hole I've found here, which goes back ever so far into the rock. I can +get my arm in nearly to the elbow." + +"_Who_ was 'right'?" my brother wanted to know. + +"The gipsy. She told my fortune. That was why I didn't refuse to look +for her rosary." + +"I should have thought a child would have known better," he remarked, +scornfully; and his tone hurt my sensitiveness the more because his +voice had been so anxious and his words so kind when I was fainting. He +had called me "child" and "little girl." I remembered well, and the +words had been saying themselves over in my mind ever since. I rather +thought that they betrayed a secret--that perhaps he had been getting to +care for me a little. That idea pleased me, because he had been abrupt +sometimes, and I hadn't known what to make of him. Every girl owes it to +herself to understand a man thoroughly--at least, as much of his +character and feelings as may concern her. Besides, it is not soothing +to one's vanity to try--well, yes, I may as well confess that!--to _try_ +and please a man, yet to know you've failed after days of association so +constant and intimate that hours are equal to the same number of months +in an ordinary acquaintance. Now, after thinking I'd made the discovery +that he really had found me attractive, it was a shock to be spoken to +in this way. + +"Oh, you _are_ cross!" I exclaimed, still poking about in the hole under +the stairway. + +"I'm not cross," he said, "but if I were, you'd deserve it, because you +know you've been foolish. And if you don't know, you ought to, so that +you may be wiser next time. The idea of a sensible young woman chumming +up in a lonely cave, with a dirty old gipsy certain to be a thief, if +not worse, letting her tell fortunes, and then falling into a trap like +this. I wouldn't have believed it of you!" + +"I think you're perfectly horrid," said I. "I wish you had let the guide +find me. He would have done it just as well, and been much more polite." + +"Doubtless he would have been more polite, but he isn't as young, and +might have had trouble in getting you out. There! that's my last match, +and you mustn't waste any more time looking for treasure which you won't +find." + +"Which I _have_ found!" I announced. "I've got something more--away at +the back of the hole. Not that you deserve to see it!" + +However, I held up my hand in its torn, bloodstained glove, with two +silver pieces displayed on the palm. + +"A child's hidey-hole, I suppose," he said without showing as much +interest as the occasion warranted. "Otherwise there would be something +more valuable. A young servant of the Grimaldis, perhaps; these coins +are all of the same period--of no great value as antiques, I'm afraid." + +"They're of value to me," I retorted. "They'll bring me luck." I would +of course have given him one, if he hadn't been so disagreeable; but now +I felt that he shouldn't have anything of mine if he were starving. + +"You are very superstitious, among other childlike qualities," he +replied, laughing. So _that_ was what he thought of me, and _that_ was +why he had called me "child"! It was all spoiled now, from the +beginning; and the guide might as well have found me, as I had said, +without _quite_ meaning it at the time. + +"If you don't like lucky things, you can throw away my St. Christopher," +I said, coldly. "You must have thought it very silly." + +"I thought it extremely kind of you to give it, and I've no intention of +throwing it away, or parting with it," said he. "Now, are you ready?" + +"Yes," I snapped. + +In an instant he had me by the waist between two hands which felt strong +as steel buckles, and swung me up like a feather on to the first step of +the broken stairs. Then, in another second, he was at my side, +supporting me to the top without a word, except a muttered "Don't be +childish!" when I would have pushed away his arm. + +Strange to say, I forgot Lady Turnour and Sir Samuel until we saw the +guide, to whom long ago Mr. Dane had called up a reassuring _"Tout va +bien!_" Then, suddenly, the awful truth sprang into my mind. All this +time they had been waiting for me! What would they say? What would they +do? + +In my horror, I even forgot my righteous anger with the chauffeur. "Oh!" +I gasped. "_The Turnours!_" + +Then Mr. Dane spoke kindly again. "Don't worry," he said. "It's all +right. They've gone on." + +"In the car?" I cried. + +"No. Sir Samuel can't drive the car. And as Lady Turnour thought she had +a chill, rather than wait for me to find you they took a carriage which +was here, and drove down to St. Remy. They'll go on by rail to Avignon, +and--" + +"There must have been a dreadful row!" I groaned. + +"Not at all. You're not to worry. Lady Turnour behaved like a cad, as +usual, but what can you expect? Sir Samuel did the best he could. He +would have liked to wait, but if he'd insisted she would have had +hysterics." + +"How came there to be a carriage here?" I asked the guide. + +"The gentleman paid three young men who had driven up in it a good sum +to get it for himself," he explained, "and they are walking down. They +are of Germany." + +"Was it a long time?" I went on. "Oh, it _must_ have been. It's nearly +dark now, except for the moonlight." + +"It is perhaps an hour altogether since mademoiselle separated herself +from the others," the guide admitted. "But they have been gone for more +than half that time. They did not delay long, after the little dispute +with monsieur about the car." + +"Oh, there was a dispute!" I caught him up, wheeling upon the chauffeur. +"You _must_ tell me." + +"It was nothing much," he said, still very kindly, "and it was her +ladyship's fault, of course. If you were plain and elderly she'd have +more patience; but as it is, you've seen how quick she is to scold; so, +of course, she was angry when she'd finished her grog and you didn't +turn up." + +"What did she say," I asked. + +He laughed. "She was quite irrelevant." + +"I must know!" + +"Well, she seemed to lay most of the blame on the colour of your hair +and eyelashes." + +"She said--" + +"What could be expected of a girl that dyed her hair yellow and her +eyelashes black?" + +"_Horrid_ woman! You don't believe I do, do you?" + +"I must say it hadn't occurred to me to think of it." + +Then I remembered how angry I was with him, and didn't pursue that +subject, but turned again to the other. However, I made a mental note +that there was one more thing to punish him for when I got the chance. + +"What else did she say?" + +"She began to turn purple when Sir Samuel would have defended you, and +said she wouldn't stand your taking such liberties. That it was +monstrous, and a few other things, to be kept freezing on mountains by +one's domestics, and that she should be ill if she waited. Sir Samuel +persuaded her to give you fifteen minutes' grace, but after that she was +determined to start. Of course, she didn't know that an accident had +happened. She thought you were simply dawdling, and wanted Sir Samuel to +arrange for you to drive down with the newly arrived German tourists. +Sir Samuel and I objected to this, and later it was settled for the +Turnours to do what her ladyship planned for you, without the company of +the tourists. Lady Turnour resents _lèse-majesté_." + +"It's a miracle she consented to leave the car," I said. + +"She couldn't use it without a chauffeur, and naturally I refused to go +without knowing what had happened to you." + +"You refused!" I stammered. + +"Of course. That was where the row came in. We had a few words, and +eventually I was deputed to look you up." + +"Deputed!" I echoed, desperately. "They never 'deputed' you to do it, +I'm sure." + +"They jolly well couldn't help themselves. You can't make a man drive a +car if he won't. So they went off in the Germans' carriage, and the +Germans were enchanted." + +"Oh!" I exclaimed, so miserable now that anger leaked out of my heart +like water through a sieve. "It's all my fault. Did they discharge you?" + +"I didn't give them the chance. After a few little things her ladyship +said, I felt rather hot in the collar, and discharged myself. That is, I +gave them notice that I would go as soon as they could get another +chauffeur. It would have been bad form to leave them in the lurch, +without anyone, on tour." + +The tears came to my eyes, and I was thinking so little about myself +that I let them roll down without bothering to wipe them away. "Do, do +forgive me," I implored. "But you never can, of course. All through my +foolishness you're out of an engagement. And you depended upon it, I +know, from what you said." + +"There's nothing to forgive, my dear little sister," he said. "It's you +who must forgive me, if I've distressed you by telling the story in a +clumsy way. It wasn't your fault. I couldn't stand that bounderess's +cruel tongue, so I have myself to blame, if anyone. And it's sure to +turn out right in the end." + +"You refused to drive their car because you would stay behind and find +me--" + +"Any decent chap would do that--even a chauffeur." He spoke lightly to +comfort me. "Besides, I wanted to stop. You're the only sister I ever +had." + +"You must hate me," I moaned. + +"I don't. Please don't cry. I shall faint if you do." + +I was obliged to laugh a little through my tears. + +"Come," he said, gently. "Let me take you down. Just a word with the +guide about those gipsies, and--" + +"Oh, leave the wretched gipsies alone!" I begged. "Who cares, now? If +you say anything, they may call us as witnesses at St. Remy or some town +where we don't want to stop. Let them go." + +"I suppose we might as well," he said, "for we can't prove anything +worth proving. Come, then." He slipped some money into the guide's hand, +and thanked him for his courtesy and kindness. But another pang shot +through my remorseful heart. More money spent by this man for me, when +he had so little, and had lost the engagement which, though unworthy his +rank in life, was the only present means he had of earning a livelihood. +I came, obeying in forlorn silence, and could not answer when he tried +to cheer me up as we walked down to the Hotel Monte Carlo. There stood +the Aigle in charge of a youth from the inn, and there was more money +to be paid to him. I wanted to give it, but saw that if I insisted Mr. +Dane would be vexed. + +He suggested putting me inside, as the air was now very cold, with the +chill that falls after sunset; but I refused. "I want to sit by you!" I +implored, and he said no more. With the glass cage behind us empty, and +the great acetylene lamps alight, the Aigle turned and flew down the +hill. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + + +For some time we did not speak, but my thoughts moved more quickly than +the beating of the engine. At last I said meekly, "Of course, I may as +well consider myself discharged, too. And even if I weren't, I should +go." + +"I've been thinking about that," Mr. Dane answered. "It was the first +thought that came into my head when the row began. It isn't likely +she'll want you to leave, because she won't like getting on without a +maid. I think, in the circumstances, unless she is brutal, you'd better +stay with her till your friends can receive you. Someone _must_ come +forward and help you now." + +"I wouldn't ask anyone but Pamela, who's gone to America," I protested. +"Besides, I can't stand Lady Turnour after what's happened--with you +gone." + +(As I said this, I remembered again how I had dreaded to associate with +the chauffeur, and planned to avoid him. It was rather funny, as it had +turned out; but somehow I didn't feel like laughing.) + +"Of course _you_ won't mind," I went on. "It's different for a man. If +you were left and I going, it wouldn't matter, because you'd have the +car. But I've nothing--except Lady Turnour's 'transformation.' Luckily, +she won't want me to stop." + +"I think she will," he said, "because your only fault was in having an +accident. You weren't impudent, as she thinks I was in refusing to drive +the car. Also in letting her see that I thought her willingness to leave +a young girl in a place like this, alone for hours (she did propose to +let me drive back for you) was the most brutal thing I'd ever heard of." + +"Oh, how good you were, to sacrifice yourself like that for me!" I +exclaimed. + +"It wasn't entirely for you," he said. "One owes some things to oneself. +But when we get to Avignon, and it's settled between you and Lady +Turnour, promise to let me know what you mean to do and give me a chance +to advise you." + +I promised. But I was so melancholy as to the future and so ashamed of +myself for the trouble brought upon my only friend, that his efforts to +cheer me were hopeless as an attempt to let off wet fireworks. Mine were +soaked; and instead of admiring the moonlight, which soon flooded the +wild landscape, it made me the more dismal. + +The drive by day had seemed short, but now it was long, for I was in +haste to begin the expected battle. + +"Courage! and be wise," said Mr. Dane, as he helped me out of the car in +front of the Hotel de l'Europe. "I shall bring up your dinner +again--it's no use saying you don't want anything--and we'll exchange +news." + +When lions have to be faced, my theory is that the best thing is to open +the cage door and walk in boldly, not crawl in on your knees, saying: +"Please don't eat me." + +I expected Lady Turnour to have a fine appetite for any martyrs lying +about loose, but to my surprise a faint "Come in!" answered my +dauntless knock, and I beheld her prostrate in bed. + +She said that I had nearly killed her, and that she would probably not +be able to move for a week; but the story of my adventures with the +gipsy interested her somewhat, and she brightened when she heard of the +old coins found in a hole in the rock. There was not a word about +sending me away, and I suspected that a scene with Sir Samuel had +crushed the lady. Even a worm will turn, and Sir Samuel may be one of +those mild men who, when once roused, are capable of surprising those +who know them best. Quite meekly she desired that I would show her the +coins, and having seen them, she said that she would buy them off me. +Not that they were of any intrinsic value, but they might be "lucky," +and she would give me a sovereign for the three. + +Then an idea came and whispered in my ear. I thanked Lady Turnour +politely, but said I thought I had better keep the coins and show them +to an antiquary. They might be more valuable than we supposed, and I +should need all the money, as well as all the luck possible, now that I +was leaving her ladyship's service. + +"Leaving!" she echoed. "But as you had an accident I've made up my mind +to excuse you this time, and not discharge you as I intended. You don't +know your business too well, but any maid is better than no maid on a +tour like this, as Sir Samuel pointed out to me." + +"But, begging your ladyship's pardon," I ventured, "I understand that +the chauffeur is to go because he stopped at Les Baux to look for me. As +he very likely saved my life, I couldn't be so ungrateful as to stay on +in my situation when he is losing his for my sake." + +"What nonsense!" snapped her ladyship. "As if that had anything to do +with you, and if it has, it _oughtn't_. Besides, if he will apologize, +he can stop. Sir Samuel says so." + +"He doesn't seem to think he was in the wrong, my lady," said I. "As +your ladyship will probably be at Avignon some time before finding +another chauffeur, it will be easy to look for a maid at the same time." + +"Be here some time!" she cried. "I won't! We want to get on to a château +where my stepson's visiting." + +"I should be delighted to offer your ladyship two of the lucky coins for +nothing," said I, my impertinence wrapped in honey, "if she would +persuade Sir Samuel to _ask_ the chauffeur to stay." + +"Why, that's just what Sir Samuel wants to do, if I would hear of it!" +The words popped out before she had stopped to think. + +"It might be too late after this evening," I suggested. "The chauffeur +will perhaps take steps at once to secure some other engagement; and I +fear that a good man is always in great demand. I hope that your +ladyship will kindly understand that it would be nothing to _me_, if he +hadn't got into trouble for my sake." + +"You can leave the coins, and call Sir Samuel, who is in his room next +door," remarked Lady Turnour with dignity. "I will talk with him." + +The greedy creature was delighted to have the coins without paying for +them, and delighted with the excuse to do what she would have liked to +do without an excuse, if obstinacy had not forbidden. I kept one coin +for my own luck; I called Sir Samuel, who was sulking in his den, was +dismissed with an order for her ladyship's dinner, which she would have +in bed, and told to return with the menu. + +A few minutes later, coming back, I met Mr. Jack Dane in the corridor. + +"Have you seen Sir Samuel yet?" I inquired. + +"No. He's sent for me, and I'm on my way to him now." + +"He's going to ask you to stay," I said. + +"I think you're mistaken there," replied the chauffeur. "The old boy +himself has a strong sense of justice, and would like to make everything +all right, no doubt, but his wife would give him no peace if he did." + +"If he does, though, what shall you do?" I inquired anxiously. + +Mr. Dane looked into space. "I think I'd better go in any case." + +"Why?" + +If he'd been a woman, I think he would have answered "Because," but +being a man he reflected a few seconds, and said he thought it would be +better for him in the end. + +"Do you want to go?" I asked, drearily. + +"No. But I ought to want to." + +"Please stay," I begged. "Please--brother." + +"Sir Samuel mayn't ask me; and you wouldn't have me crawl to him?" + +"But if he does ask you." + +"I'll stay," he said. + +Impulsively, I held out my hand. He took it, and pressed it so hard +that it hurt, then dropped it suddenly. His manner is certainly very odd +sometimes. I suppose he doesn't want me to flatter myself that I am of +any importance in his scheme of existence. But he needn't worry. He has +shown me very plainly that he is one of those typical, unsusceptible +Englishmen French writers put in their books, men with hearts whose +every compartment is warranted love-tight. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + + +Lady Turnour opened her heart and her wardrobe and gave me a blouse the +first thing in the morning, which act of generosity was the more +remarkable as morning is not her best time. I have found that it is the +early maid who catches the first snub, which otherwise might fall +innocuously upon a husband. The blouse was one which I had heard her +ladyship say she hated; but then her idea of true charity, combined, as +it should be, with economy, is always to give to the poor what you +wouldn't be found dead in yourself, because it is more blessed to give +than to receive badly made things. On the same principle I immediately +passed the gift on to a chambermaid of the hotel, who perhaps in her +turn dropped it a grade lower in the social scale, and so it may go on +forever, blouse without end; but all that is apart from the point. The +important part of the transaction was the token that the dead past was +to bury its dead; and possibly Sir Samuel timidly offered a waistcoat or +a pair of boots to the chauffeur. + +Instead of lying in bed, as Lady Turnour had threatened to do for a +week, she was up earlier than usual, as well as ever she had been, and +not more than half as disagreeable. Although the sky looked as if it +might burst into tears at any moment, and although Orange has nothing +but historic remains and historic records to show, she was ready to +start, almost cheerfully, at ten o'clock. + +I was allowed to be of the party, laden with mackintoshes for my master +and mistress; and I didn't admire the triumphal arch at Orange nearly as +much as I had admired the smaller and older one at St. Remy. But Lady +Turnour admired it far more, and was so nice to Sir Samuel that he +thought it _the_ arch of the world. They put their heads together over +the same volume of Baedeker, which was an exquisite pleasure to the poor +man, and he was so pathetic I could have cried into his footsteps, as he +read (pronouncing almost everything wrong) about the building of the +Arch of Tiberius. "Why, that's just like a sweet little statuette I used +to have standing on a table in my drawing-room window!" exclaimed Lady +Turnour, looking up at the beautiful Winged Victory. "You might think it +was a copy!" + +Although the histories say Orange wasn't very important in Roman days, +it has taken revenge by letting everything not Roman fall into decay, +except, of course, its memories of the family through which William the +Silent of Holland became William of Orange. The house of the first +William of Orange, the hero of song who rode back wounded from +Roncesvalles to his waiting wife, is gone now, save for a wall and a +buttress or two on a lonely hill of the old town; yet the arch, which +was old when his château was begun, still towers dark yellow as +tarnished Etruscan gold against the sky; and the Roman theatre is the +grandest out of Italy. Lady Turnour could not see why the Comédie +Française should produce plays there, even once a year, when they could +do it so much more comfortably at any modern theatre in the provinces +if they _must_ travel; and as to the gathering of the Felibres, she +didn't even know what Felibres were, nor did she care, as she was +unlikely to meet any in society. She would have proposed going on +somewhere else, as there was so "little to see in Orange," but that rain +came sweeping down, cold from the east, when I had followed the pair a +quarter of a mile from the motor. They fled into their mackintoshes as a +hermit-crab flees into his borrowed shell, and I was the only one the +worse for wear when we reached the car. I didn't much mind the wetting, +but it was rather nice to be fussed over by a brother, and forced into a +coat of his, whether I liked or not. "The quality" must have seen me in +it, through the glass, but Lady Turnour ignored the sight. Altogether, +everything was agreeable, and the thunder-storm of last night, in +clearing, had turned us into quite a happy family party. + +It rained all day, and I sat in my room before a blazing fire of olive +wood which a dear old waiter, exactly like a confidential servant of a +pope, bestowed upon me out of sheer Provençal good nature. As he's been +in the hotel for thirty years, he is a privileged person, and can do +what he likes. + +Lady Turnour gave me a pile of stockings to look over, lest Satan should +find some more ornamental use for my idle hands; so I asked Mr. Dane for +his socks too; and pretended that I should consider it a slight upon my +skill if he refused. + +That was our last night at Avignon, and early in the morning I packed +for Arles, where we would sleep. But on the way we stopped at Tarascon, +so splendid with its memories of Du Guesclin, and the towers of King +René's great château reflected in a water-mirror, that no Tartarin could +be blamed if he were born with a boasting spirit. And there are other +things in Tarascon for its Tartarins to be proud of, besides the noble +old castle where King René used to spend his springs and summers when he +was tired of living in state at Aix. There is the church of Saint +Martha, and the beautiful Hotel de Ville, and--almost best of all for +its quaintness, though far from beautiful--the great Tarasque lurking in +a dark and secret lair. + +We couldn't go into the château, but perhaps it was better to see it +only from the outside, and remember it always in a crystal picture, +framed with the turquoise of the sky. Besides, not going in gave us more +time for Beaucaire, just across the river--Beaucaire of the Fair; +Beaucaire of sweet Nicolete and her faithful lover Aucassin. + +I know a song about Nicolete of the white feet and hair of yellow gold, +and I sang it below my breath, sitting beside my brother Jack, as we +crossed the bridge. Although I sang so softly, he heard, and turned to +me for an instant. "You _can_ sing!" he said. + +"You don't like singing," I suggested. + +"Only better than most things--that's all." + +"Yet you didn't want me to sing the other night." + +"That was because your hair was down. I couldn't stand both together." + +"I don't know what you mean." + +"Don't you? All the better. Never mind trying to guess. Let's think +about the fair. Wouldn't you have liked to come here in the days when it +was one of the greatest shows in all France?" + +"I couldn't have come in a motor then." + +"You're getting to be an enthusiast. You'll have to marry a millionaire +with at least a forty-horse-power car." + +"I happen to be running away from one now, in a sixty-horse-power car. +But I don't want to think of him in this romantic country. The idea of +Corn Plasters, near the garden where Nicolete's little feet tripped +among the daisies by moonlight, is too appalling." + +"Up on the hill are the towers of the castle where Aucassin was in +prison for his love of Nicolete," said the chauffeur. "If only I can +induce them to go there, and walk in the garden on the battlements! It's +beautiful, full of great perfumed Provençal roses, and quantities of +fleur-de-lys growing wild under pine trees and peering out of formal yew +hedges. You never saw anything quite like it. Oh, I must manage the +thing somehow." + +"I think you could, in their present mood," said I. "They're quite +properly honey-moony since the storm, which was a blessing in disguise. +They'll go up, and feel romantic and young; but as for me--" + +"You'll go up, and _be_ the things they can only feel. I should like to +go with you there--" he broke off, looking wistful. + +"Oh, do get some one to guard the car, and come," I begged him. "You've +seen it all before?" + +"Yes." + +"You look as if the place had sentimental memories for you." + +He smiled. "There is a sentiment attaching to it. Someday I may tell +you--" he stopped again. "No, I don't think I'll do that." + +Suddenly the thought of the garden was spoiled for me. I imagined that, +in happier days, he must have walked there with a girl he loved. Perhaps +he loved her still, only misfortune had come to him, and they could not +marry. In that case, I'd been misjudging him, maybe. His bluntnesses and +abruptnesses and coldnesses didn't mean that the compartments were +"love-tight," as I'd fancied, but that they were already full to +overflowing. + +He did induce the Turnours to see the garden on the old battlements, and +he did find a suitable watch-dog for the car in order to be my +companion. And he was less self-conscious and happier in his manner than +he had been since the first day or two of our acquaintance. Also the +garden, starred with spring flowers, was even more lovely than I had +expected. I ought to have enjoyed every moment there; but--it is never +pleasant to be with a man when you think he is wishing that you were +another girl. + +"Was she pretty?" I couldn't resist asking. + +For an instant he looked bewildered; then he understood. "Very," he +replied, smiling. "About the prettiest girl I ever saw. The description +of Nicolete would fit her very well. 'The clear face, delicately fine,' +and all that. But I don't let my mind dwell much on girls in these days, +when I can help it, as you can well imagine." + +"And when you can't help it?" I wanted to know. + +"Oh, when I can't help it, I feel like a bear with a sore head, and no +honey in my hollow tree." + +So that is why he is so disagreeable, sometimes! He is thinking of the +girl of the battlemented garden at Beaucaire. I shall try and find out +all about her; but I don't know that I shall feel better satisfied when +I have. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + + +The garden on the battlements at Beaucaire seemed to bring out all +that's best in Lady Turnour, and she was--for her--quite radiant when we +arrived at Arles. Not that it was much credit to her to be radiant, when +the road had been perfect, and the car had behaved like an angel, as +usual; but small favours from small natures are thankfully received; and +just as it is a blight upon the spirits of the whole party when her +ladyship frowns, so do we cheer up and hope for better things when she +smiles. + +As we were to spend the night at Arles, and arrived at the quaint, +delightful Hôtel du Forum before lunch, even the working classes +(meaning my alleged brother and myself) could afford that pleasant, +leisured feeling which is the right of those more highly placed. + +The moment we arrived I knew that I was going to fall in love with +Arles, and I hurried to get the unpacking done, so that I might be free +to make its acquaintance. Lady Turnour, still in her garden mood, told +me to do as I liked till time to dress her for dinner, but to mind and +have no more accidents, as all her frocks hooked at the back. + +I am getting to be quite a skilled lady's-maid now, and am not sure it +ought not to be my permanent _métier_, though I do like to think I was +born for better things, and comfort myself by remembering how mother +used to say that a lady can always do everything better than a common +person if she chooses to try, even menial work, because she puts her +intelligence and love for daintiness into all she does. I unpacked my +master's and mistress's things with the flashing speed of summer +lightning and the neatness of a drill-sergeant. In a twinkling +everything was in exactly the right place, and my conscience felt as if +it were growing wings as I flew off to my luncheon. The whole afternoon +free, and the saints only knew what nice, unexpected adventures might +happen! Cousin Catherine used to say, not meaning to be complimentary, +that I "attracted adventures as some people seem to attract microbes," +and I could almost hear them buzzing round my head as I ran down-stairs. + +There, waiting for me as if he were an incarnate adventure, was the +chauffeur, who appeared to be quite excited. "You must have a peep into +the dining-room," he said. "The door's open. You can look in without +being noticed, and see the walls, which are painted with pictures from +Mistral's works. Also there's something else of interest, but I won't +tell you what it is. I want to see if you can discover it for yourself." + +I peeped, and found the pictures charming. After following them with my +eyes all round the green walls which they decorate effectively, my gaze +lit upon a man sitting at one of the small tables. He was with two or +three friends who hung upon the words which he accompanied by the most +graceful, spirited, yet unconscious gestures. Old he may have been as +years go, but the fire of eternal youth was in his vivid dark eyes, and +his smile, which had in it the tenderness of great experience, of long +years lived in sympathy and love for mankind. His head was very noble; +and its shape, and the way he had of carrying it, would alone have shown +that he was Someone. + +"Who is that man?" I whispered to Jack Dane. "That one who is so +different from all the others." + +"Can't you guess?" he asked. + +"Not Mistral?" + +"Yes. It's one of his days here. He'll be in the museum after lunch. +I'll take you there, and if he sees that you're interested in things, +he'll talk to you." + +"Oh, how glorious!" I breathed, quite awed at the prospect. "But if he +should find out that we're only lady's-maid and chauffeur?" + +"Do you think it would matter to him _who_ we were--a great genius like +that? He wouldn't care if we were beggars, if we had souls and brains +and hearts." + +"Well, we have got _some_ of those things," I said. "Do let's hurry, and +get to the museum before our betters. They can always be counted upon to +spend an hour and a half at lunch if there's a good excuse, such as +there's sure to be in this place, famous for rich Provençal cooking. +Whereas Monsieur Mistral looks as if he would grudge more than half an +hour on an occupation so prosaic as eating." + +"Nothing could be prosaic to him," said Mr. Dane. "And that's the secret +of life, isn't it? I think you have it, too, and I'm trying to take +daily lessons from you. By the time we part I hope I shan't be quite +such a sulky, discontented brute as I am now." + +"By the time we part!" The words gave me a queer, horrid little prick, +with just that nasty ache that comes when you jab a hatpin into your +head instead of into your hat, and have got to pull it out again. I have +grown so used to being constantly with him, and having him look after me +and order me about in his dictatorial but curiously nice way, that I +suppose I shall rather miss him for a week or two when this odd +association of ours comes to an end. + +It is strange how one ancient town can differ utterly from its +neighbour, and what an extraordinary, unforgettable individuality each +can have. + +The whole effect of Avignon is mediæval. In Arles your mind flies back +at once to Rome, and then pushes away from Rome to find Greece. All +among the red, pink, and yellow houses, huddled picturesquely together +round the great arena, you see Rome in the carved columns and dark piles +of brick built into mediæval walls. The glow and colour of the shops and +houses seem only to intensify the grimness and grayness of that Roman +background, the immense wall of the arena. Greece you see in the eyes of +the beautiful, stately women, young and old, in their classic features, +and the moulding of their noble figures. (No wonder Epistemon urged his +giant to let the beautiful girls of Arles alone!) You feel Greece, too, +in the soft charm of the atmosphere, the dreamy blue of the sky, and the +sunshine, which is not quite garish golden, not quite pale silver; a +special sky and special sunshine, which seem to belong to Arles alone, +enclosing the city in a dream of vanished days. The very gaiety which +must have sparkled there for happy Greek youths and maidens gives a +strange, fascinating sadness to it now, as if one felt the weight of +Roman rule which came and dimmed the sunlight. + +It was delightful to walk the streets, to look at the lovely women in +their becoming head-dresses, and to stare into the windows of curiosity +shops. But there was the danger of committing _lèse-majesté_ by running +into the arms of the bride and groom at the museum, so "my brother" +hurried me along faster than I liked, until the fascination of the +museum had enthralled me; then I thanked him, for Mistral was there, for +the moment all alone. + +Mr. Dane hadn't told me that they had met before, but Monsieur Mistral +greeted him at once as an acquaintance, smiling one of his illuminating +smiles. He even remembered certain treasures of the museum which the +chauffeur--in unchauffeur days--had liked best. These were pointed out +and their interest explained to me, best of all to my romantic, Latin +side being the "Cabelladuro d'Or," the lovely golden hair of the dead +Beauty of Les Baux, that enchanted princess whose magic sleep was so +rudely broken. We all talked together of the exquisite Venus of Arles, +agreeing that it was wicked to have transplanted her to the Louvre; and +Mistral's eyes rested upon me with something like interest for a moment +as I said that I had seen and loved her there. I felt flattered and +happy, forgetting that I was only a servant, who ought scarcely to have +dared speak in the presence of this great genius. + +"She seems to understand something of the charm of Provence, which +makes our country different from any other in the world, does she not?" +the poet said at last to my companion. "She would enjoy an August fête +at Arles. Some day you ought to bring her." + +Mr. Dane did not answer or look at me; and I was thankful for that, +because I was being silly enough to blush. It was too easy so see what +Monsieur Mistral thought! + +"Why didn't you tell me you knew him already?" I asked, when we had +reluctantly left the museum (which might be invaded by the Philistines +at any minute) and were on our way to the famous Church of St. Trophime. +That we meant to see first, saving the theatre for sunset. + +"Oh," answered the chauffeur evasively, "I wasn't at all sure he'd +remember me. He has so many admirers, and sees so many people." + +"I have a sort of idea that your last visit to this part of the world +was paid _en prince_, all the same!" I was impertinent enough to say. + +He laughed. "Well, it was rather different from this one, anyhow," he +admitted. "A little while ago it made me pretty sick to compare the past +with the present, but I don't feel like that now." + +"Why have you changed?" I asked. + +"Partly the influence of your cheerful mind." + +"Thank you. And the other part?" + +"Another influence, even more powerful." + +"I should like to know what it is, so that I might try to come under it, +too, if it's beneficent," that ever-lively curiosity of mine prompted me +to say. + +"I am inclined to think it is not beneficent," he answered, smiling +mysteriously. "Anyhow, I'm not going to tell you what it is." + +"You never do tell me anything about yourself," I exclaimed crossly, +"whereas I've given you my whole history, almost from the day I cut my +first tooth, up to that when I--adopted my first brother." + +"Or had him thrust upon you," he amended. "You see, you've nothing to +reproach yourself with in your past, so you can talk of it without +bitterness. I can't--yet. Only to think of some things makes me feel +venomous, and though I really believe I'm improving in the sunbath of +your example, which I have every day, the cure isn't complete yet. Until +I am able to talk of a certain person without wanting to sprinkle my +conversation with curses, I mean to be silent. But I owe it to you that +I don't _want_ to curse her any more. A short time ago it gave me actual +pleasure." + +So it is to a woman he owes his misfortunes! As Alice said in +Wonderland, it grows "mysteriouser and mysteriouser." Also it grows more +romantic, when one puts two and two together; and I have always been +great at that. The "sentimental association" of the battlement garden +plus the inspiration to evil language, equal (in my fancy) one fair, +faithless lady, once loved, now hated. I hate her, too, whatever she +did, and I should like to box her ears. I hope she's _quite_ old, and +married, and that she makes up her complexion, and everything else which +causes men to tire of their first loves sooner or later. Not that it is +anything to me, personally; but one owes a little loyalty to one's +friends. + +The porch and cloisters of St. Trophime's were too perfectly beautiful +to be marred by a mood; but my brother Jack's mysteriously wicked +sweetheart would keep coming in between me and the wonderful carvings in +the most disturbing way. Some women never know when they are wanted! But +I did my best to make Mr. Dane forget her by taking an intelligent +interest in everything, especially the things he cared for most, though +once, in an absent-minded instant, I did unfortunately say: "I don't +admire that type of girl," when we were talking about a sculptured +saint; and although he looked surprised I thought it too complicated to +try and explain. + +The afternoon light was burnishing the ancient stone carvings to copper +when we left the cloisters of St. Trophime, took one last look at the +porch, and turned toward the amphitheatre. We were right to have waited, +for the vast circle was golden in the sunset, like a heavy bracelet, +dropped by Atlas one day, when he stretched a weary arm; and the +beautiful fragments of coloured marbles, which the Greeks loved and +Christians destroyed, were the jewels of that great bracelet. The place +was so pathetically beautiful in the dying day that a soft sadness +pressed upon me like a hand on my forehead, and echoes of the long-dead +past, when Greek Arles was a harbour of commerce by sea and river, or +when it was Roman Arelate, rich and cruel, rang in my ears as we +wandered through the cells of prisoners, the dens of lions, and the +rooms of gladiators, where the young "men about town" used to pat their +favourites on oiled backs, or make their bets on ivory tablets. + +"If we were here by moonlight, we should see ghosts," I said. "Come, +let us go before it grows any darker or sadder. The shadows seem to +move. I think there's a lion crouching in that black corner." + +"He won't hurt you, sister Una," said my brother Jack. "There's one +thing you must see here before I take you home--back to the hotel, I +mean; and that is the Saracen Tower, as they call it." + +So we went into the Saracen Tower, and high up on the wall I saw the +presentment of a hand. + +"That is the Hand of Fatima," explained the guide, who had been +following rather than conducting us, because the chauffeur knew almost +as much about the amphitheatre as he did. "You should touch it, +mademoiselle, for luck. All the young ladies like to do that here; and +the young men also, for that matter." + +Instantly my brother lifted me up, so that I might touch the hand; and +then I would not be content unless he touched it too. + +I had dinner in the couriers' room that evening, with my brother, when I +had dressed Lady Turnour for hers. We were rather late, and had the room +to ourselves, for the crowd which had collected there at luncheon time +had vanished by train or motor. There was a nice old waiter, who was +frankly interested in us, recognizing perhaps that, as a maid and +chauffeur, we were out of the beaten track. He wanted to know if we had +done any sight-seeing in Arles, and seemed to take it as a personal +compliment that we had. + +"Mademoiselle touched the Hand of Fatima, of course?" he asked, letting +a trickle of sauce spill out of a sauce-boat in his friendly eagerness +for my answer. + +"Oh, yes, I saw to it that she did that," replied Mr. Dane, with +conscious virtue in the achievement. + +"It is for luck, isn't it?" I said, to make conversation. + +"And more especially for love," came the unexpected answer. + +"For love!" I exclaimed. + +"But yes," chuckled the old man. "If a young girl puts her hand on the +Hand of Fatima at Arles, that hand puts love into hers. Her fate is +sealed within the month, so it is said." + +"Nonsense!" remarked Mr. Dane, "I never heard that silly story before." +And he went on eating his dinner with extraordinary nonchalance and an +unusual, almost abnormal, appetite. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + + +I shall always feel that I dreamed Aigues Mortes: that I fell asleep at +night--oh, but fell very far, so much farther than one usually falls +even when one wakes with the sensation of dropping from a great height, +that I went bumping down, down from century to century, until I touched +earth in a strange, drear land, to find I had gone back in time about +seven hundred years. + +Not that there is a conspicuous amount either of land or earth at Aigues +Mortes, City of Dead Waters--if the place really does exist, which I +begin to doubt already; but I have only to shut my eyes to call it up; +and in my memory I shall often use it as a background for some mediæval +picture painted with my mind. For with my mind I can rival Raphael. It +is only when I try to execute my fancies that I fail, and then they "all +come different," which is heart breaking. But it will be something to +have the background always ready. + +The dream did not begin while we spun gaily from Arles to Aigues Mortes, +through pleasant if sometimes puerile-seeming country (puerile only +because we hadn't its history dropping from our fingers' ends); but +there was time, between coming in sight of the huge, gray-brown towers +and driving in through the fortified gateway, for me to take that great +leap from the present far down into the past. + +To my own surprise, I didn't want to think of the motor-car. It had +brought us to older places, but within this walled quadrangle it was as +if we had come full tilt into a picture; and the automobile was not an +artistic touch. Ingrate that I was, I turned my back upon the Aigle, and +was thankful when Sir Samuel and Lady Turnour walked out of my sight +around the corner of the picture. I pretended, when they had +disappeared, that I had painted them out, and that they would cease to +exist unless I relented and painted them in again, as eventually I +should have to do. But I had no wish to paint the driver of the car out +of my picture, for in spite of his chauffeur's dress he is of a type +which suits any century, any country--that clear-cut, slightly stern, +aquiline type which you find alike on Roman coins and in modern +drawing-rooms. He would have done very well for one of St. Louis's +crusaders, waiting here at Aigues Mortes to sail for Palestine with his +king, from the sole harbour the monarch could claim as his on all the +Mediterranean coast. I decided to let him remain in the dream picture, +therefore, and told him so, which seemed to please him, for his eyes +lighted up. He always understands exactly what I mean when I say odd +things. I should never have felt _quite_ the same to him again, I think, +if he had stared and asked "What dream picture?" + +I had been brought on this expedition strictly for use, not for +ornament. We were going from Aigues Mortes to St. Gilles and from St. +Gilles to Nîmes, therefore Arles was already a landmark in our past. I +could walk about and amuse myself if I liked, but I must be at the inn +before the return of my master and mistress to arrange a light repast +collected at Arles, as we should have to lunch later at Nîmes, and the +resources of Aigues Mortes were not supposed to be worthy of +millionaires in search of the picturesque. There were several neat +packages, the contents of which would aid and abet such humble +refreshment as the City of Dead Waters could produce; but I had more +than an hour to play with; and much can be done in an hour by an +enthusiast with a good circulation. + +I had not quite realized, however, how largely my brother's +companionship contributed to my pleasure on these excursions. We had +seen almost everything together, and suddenly it occurred to me that I +was taking his presence too much for granted. He would not go with me +now, because in so small a round we were certain to run up against the +Turnours, and her ladyship might be pleased to give me another lecture +like that of evil memory at Avignon. I would have risked future +punishment for the sake of present pleasure, and it was on my tongue to +say so; but I swallowed the words with difficulty, like an over-large +pill. + +So it fell out that I wandered off alone, sustaining myself on high +thoughts of Crusaders as I gazed up at the statue of St. Louis, and +paced the sentinels' pathway round the gigantic ramparts, unchanged +since Boccanegra built them. Looking down from the ramparts the town, +enclosed in the fortress walls, was like a faded chessboard cast ashore +from the wreck of some ancient ship; and round the dark walls and towers +waves of yellow sand and wastes of dead blue waters stretched as far as +my gaze could reach, toward the tideless sea. + +Louis bought this tangled desert of sand and water in the middle of the +thirteenth century from an Abbot of Psalmodi, so the guide told me, and +I liked the name of that abbot so much that I kept saying it over and +over, to myself. Abbot of Psalmodi! It was to the ear what an old, +illuminated missal is to the eye, rich with crimson lake, and gold, and +ultramarine. It was as if I heard an echo from King Arthur's day, that +dim, mysterious day when history was flushed with dawn; the Abbot of +Psalmodi! + +The heart of Aigues Mortes for me was the great tower of Constance, but +a very wicked heart, full of clever and murderous devices, which was at +its wickedest, not in the dark ages, but in the glittering times of +Louis XIV. and of other Louis after him. That tower is the bad part of +the dream where horrors accumulate and you struggle to cry out, while a +spell holds you silent. In the days when Aigues Mortes was not a dream, +but a terrible reality to the prisoners of that cruel tower, how many +anguished cries must have broken the spell; cries from hideous little +dungeons like rat-holes, cries from the far heights of the tower where +women and children starved and were forgotten! + +I was almost glad to get away; yet now that I am away I shall often go +back--in my dream. + +Alexander Dumas the elder went from Aigues Mortes to St. Gilles, driving +along the Beaucaire Canal, on that famous tour of his which took him +also to Les Baux; and we too went from Aigues Mortes to St. Gilles, +though I'm sure the Turnours had no idea that it was a pilgrimage in +famous footprints. Only the humble maid and chauffeur had the joy of +knowing that. We had both read Dumas' account of his journey, and we +laughed over the story of the little saint he stole at Les Baux. + +It was a pleasant run to St. Gilles, though there was a shrewish nip in +the wind which made me hope that Lady Turnour's mind was not running +ahead to the mountains and gorges in front of her, not far away by days +or miles now. I wanted her to get tangled up in them before she had time +to think of the cold, and then it would be too late to turn tail. + +I had just begun to call the little town of St. Gilles an "ugly hole," +and wonder what St. Louis saw to love in it, when, coming out of a +squalid, hilly street through which I had tried to pick my way on foot, +alone, suddenly the façade of the wonderful old church burst upon my +sight, a vision of beauty. + +No self-respecting motor-car would have condescended to trust itself in +such a street, and as a rabble of small male St. Gillesites swarmed +round the Aigle when she stopped at the beginning of the ascent, Mr. +Dane had to play guardian angel. "I've been here before," he said, as +usual, for this whole tour seems to be a twice-told tale for him. A few +days ago I should have pitied him aloud for not being able to blow the +dust off his old impressions; but now, when he speaks of past +experiences, I think: "Oh, I wonder if this is another place associated +in his mind with that _horrid_ woman?" For on mature deliberation I have +definitely niched her among the Horrors in my mental museum. In front of +me walked Sir Samuel and Lady Turnour, whose very backs cried out their +loathing of St. Gilles; but abruptly the expression of their shoulders +changed; they had seen the façade, and even they could not help feeling +vaguely that it must be unique in the world, that of its kind nothing +could be more beautiful. + +That was before I saw it, for a respectful distance must be maintained +between Those Who Pay and Those Who Work; but I guessed from the backs +that something extraordinary was about to be revealed. Then it was +revealed, and I would have given a good deal to have some one to whom I +could exclaim "Isn't it glorious!" + +Still, I am luckily very good chums with myself, and it is never too +much trouble to think out new adjectives for my own benefit, or to +indicate quaint points of view. I was soon making the best of my own +society in the way of intelligent companionship, shaking crumbs of +half-forgotten history out of my memory, and finding a dried currant of +fact here and there. In convent days there was hardly a saint or +saintess with whom I hadn't a bowing acquaintance, and although a good +many have cut me since, I can generally recall something about them, if +necessary, as title worshippers can about the aristocracy. I thought +hard for a minute, and suddenly up rolled a curtain in my mind, and +there in his niche stood St. Gilles. He was born in Athens, and was a +most highly connected saint, with the blood of Greek kings in his veins, +all of which was eventually spilled like water in the name of religion. +It seemed very suitable that such perfection of carving and proportion +as was shown in steps, towers, façade, and frieze should be dedicated to +a Greek saint, who must have adored and understood true beauty as few of +his brother saints could. + +Mr. Dane had said, just before I started, that there was a gem of a +spiral staircase, called the Vis de St. Gilles, which I ought to see, +and a house, unspoiled since mediæval days; but the question of these +sights was settled adversely for me by my master and mistress. The +frieze they did admire, but it sufficed. Their inner man and woman +clamoured for a feast, and the eyes must be sacrificed. + +As for me, I did not count even as a sacrifice, of course, but I +followed them back to the car as I'd followed them from it, and the car +flew toward Nîmes. + +Just at first, for a few moments which I hate to confess to myself now, +I was disappointed in Nîmes. The town looked cold, and modern, and +conceited after the melancholy charm of Arles and the mediæval aspect of +Avignon; but that was only as we drove to our stately hotel in its +large, dignified square. Afterward--after the inevitable lunching and +unpacking--when I started out once again in the society of my adopted +relative, I prayed to be forgiven. + +A gale was blowing, but little cared we. A toque or a picture-hat make +all the difference in the world to a woman's impressions, even of +Paradise--if the wind be ever more than a lovely zephyr there. Lady +Turnour had insisted on changing her motoring hat for a Gainsborough +confection which would, I was deadly certain, cause her to loathe Nîmes +while memory should last; but the better part was mine. Toqued and +veiled, the mistral could crack its cheeks if it liked; it couldn't hurt +mine, or do unseemly things to my hair. + +In the gardens of Louis XIV. I gave myself to Nîmes as devotee forever; +and as the glories of the past slowly dawned upon me, that Past round +which the King had planted his flowers and formal trees, and placed +vases and statues, I wished I were a worthier worshipper at the shrine. + +I think that there can be no more beautiful town in the world than Nîmes +in springtime. The wind brought fairy perfumes, and lovely little green +and golden puff-balls fell from the budding trees at our feet, as if +they wanted to surprise us. The fish in the crystal clear water of the +old Roman baths, which King Louis tried to spoil but couldn't, swam back +and forth in a golden net of sunshine. We two children of the twentieth +century amused ourselves in attempting to reconstruct the baths as they +must have looked in the first century; and the glimmering columns under +the green water, now lost to the eye, now seen again, white and elusive +as mermaids playing hide and seek, helped our imagination. + +Far easier was it to go back to Rome in the Temple of Diana, so +beautiful in ruin and so little changed except by time, as to bring to +the heart a pang of mingled joy and pain, of sadness which women love +and men resent--unless they are poets. Doves were cooing softly there, +the only oracles of the temple in these days; and what they said to each +other and to us seemed more mysterious than the sayings of common doves, +because their ancestors had no doubt handed down much wisdom to them, +from generation to generation, ever since Diana was taken seriously as a +goddess, or perhaps even since the dim days when Celtic gods were +reigning powers. + +From the gardens we went slowly to that other temple which unthinking +people and guide-books have named the Maison Carrée, the most lovely +temple out of Greece, and the one which has suffered most from sheer, +uncompromising stupidity in modern days. Now it rests from persecution, +though it shows its scars; and I wondered dully, as I stood gazing at +the Corinthian columns--strong, yet graceful--how so dull a copy as the +Madeleine could possibly have been evolved from such perfection. + +Inside in the museum was the dearest old gentleman in a tall hat, who +explained to us with ingenuous pride and dignity the splendid collection +of coins which he himself had given to the town. It was easy to see that +they were the immediate jewels of his soul; there was not one piece +which he did not know and love as if it had been his child, though there +were so many thousands that he alone could keep strict count of them. He +insisted gravely upon the superlative value of the least significant in +appearance, but he could joke a little about other things than coins. +There was an old mosaic which we admired, with a faded God of Love +riding a winged steed. + +"_L'Amour s'en va_," he chuckled, pointing to the half-obliterated +figure. "_N'est pas?_" and he turned to me for confirmation. "I don't +know yet," I answered. + +"Mademoiselle is very fortunate--but very young," said the dear old +gentleman, looking like a late eighteenth-century portrait as he smiled +under his high hat. "And what thinks monsieur?" + +"That it is better not to give him a chance to fly away, by keeping the +door shut against him in the beginning," replied Mr. Dane, as coldly as +if he kept his heart on ice. + +Sunset was fading, like Love on the mosaic, when we came to the +amphitheatre; but the sky was still stained red, and each great arch of +stone framed a separate ruby. It was a strange effect, almost sinister +in its splendour, and all the air was rose-coloured. + +"Is it a good omen or an evil one for our future?" I asked. + +"Means storms, I think," the chauffeur answered in the laconic way he +affects sometimes, but there was an odd smile in his eyes, almost like +defiance--of me, or of Fate. I didn't know which but I should have liked +to know. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + + +The wind sang me to sleep that night in Nîmes--sang in my dreams, and +sang me awake when morning turned a white searchlight on my eyelids. + +I was glad to see sunshine, for this was the day of our flight into the +north, and if the sky frowned on the enterprise Lady Turnour might frown +too, in spite of Bertie and his château. + +It was cold, and I trembled lest the word "snow" should be dropped by +the bridegroom into the ear of the bride; but nothing was said of the +weather or of any change in the programme, while I and paint and powder +and copper tresses were doing what Nature had refused to do for her +ladyship. + +"Cold morning, madame!" remarked the porter, who came to bring more wood +for the sitting-room fire before breakfast. He was a polite and pleasant +man, but I could have boxed his ears. "Madame departs to-day in her +automobile? Is it to go south or north? Because in the north--" + +With great presence of mind I dropped a pile of maps and guide-books. + +"What a clumsy creature you are!" exclaimed her ladyship, playing into +my hands. "I couldn't understand the last part of what he said." + +Luckily by this time the man was gone; and my memory of his words was +extraordinarily vague. But a dozen things contrived to keep me in +suspense. Every one who came near Lady Turnour had something to say +about the weather. Then, for the first time, it occurred to the Aigle to +play a trick upon us. Just as the luggage was piled in, after numerous +little delays, she cast a shoe; in other words, burst a tyre, apparently +without any reason except a mischievous desire to be aggravating. +Another half hour wasted! And fat, silvery clouds were poking up their +great white heads over the horizon in the north, where, perhaps, they +were shaking out powder. + +The next thing that happened was a snap and a tinkle in our inner +workings, rather like the sound you might expect if a giantess dropped a +hairpin. "Chain broken!" grumbled the chauffeur, as he stopped the car +on the level of a long, straight road, and jumped nimbly down. "We +oughtn't to have boasted yesterday." + +"Who's superstitious now?" I taunted him, as he searched the tool-box in +the same way a child ransacks a Christmas stocking. + +"Oh, about motor-cars! That's a different thing," said he calmly. "Cold, +isn't it? My fingers are so stiff they feel as if they were all thumbs." + +"Et tu, Brute," I wailed. "For _goodness_' sake, don't let _her_ hear +you. She's capable even now of turning back. The invitation to the +château hasn't come--and we're not safely in the gorges yet." + +"Nor shan't be soon, if this sort of thing keeps on," remarked the +chauffeur. "We shall have to lunch at Alais." + +"You say that as if it was the devil's kitchen." + +"There's probably first rate cooking in the devil's kitchen; I'm not so +sure about the inns at Alais." + +"But it's arranged to picnic on the road to-day for the first time, you +know. They put up such good things at Nîmes, and I was to make coffee in +the tea-basket." + +"That's why I wanted to get on. Picnic country doesn't begin till after +Alais. Who could lunch on a dull roadside like this? Only a starving +tramp wouldn't get indigestion." + +It was true, and I began to detest the unknown Alais. Perhaps, after +all, we might sweep through the place, I thought, without the idea of +lunch occurring to the passengers. But Mr. Dane's heart-to-heart talk +with the Aigle resulted in quite a lengthy argument; and no sooner did a +town group itself in the distance than Sir Samuel knocked on the glass +behind us. + +"What place is this?" he asked. + +"Alais," was the answer the chauffeur made with his lips, while his +eyebrows said "I told you so!" to me. + +"I think we'd better lunch here," Sir Samuel went on. And the arrival of +a princely blue motor car at the nearest inn was such a shock to the +nerves of the landlady and her staff that the interval before lunch was +as long and solemn as the Dead March in Saul. To show what he could do +in an emergency, the chef slaughtered and cooked every animal within +reach for miles around. + +They appeared in a procession, according to their kind, when necessary +disguised in rich and succulent sauces which did credit to the creator's +imagination; and there were reserve forces of cakes, preserves, and +puddings, all of which coldly furnished forth the servants' meal when +they had served our betters. + +It was nearly three o'clock when we were ready to leave Alais, and the +chauffeur had on his bronze-statue expression as he took his seat beside +me after starting the car. + +"What's the matter?" I asked. + +"Nothing," said he, "except that I don't know where we're likely to lay +our heads to-night." + +"Where do you want to lay them?" I inquired flippantly. "Any gorge will +do for mine." + +"It won't for Lady Turnour's. But it may have to, and in that case she +will probably snap yours off." + +"Cousin Catherine has often told me it was of no use to me, except to +show my hair. But aren't there hotels in the gorge of the Tarn?" + +"There are in summer, but they're not open yet, and the inns--well, if +Fate casts us into one, Lady Turnour will have a fit. My idea was: a +splendid run through some of the wildest and most wonderful scenery of +France--little known to tourists, too--and then to get out of the Tarn +region before dark. We may do it yet, but if we have any more trouble--" + +He didn't finish the sentence, because, as if he had been calling for +it, the trouble came. I thought that an invisible enemy had fired a +revolver at us from behind a tree, but it was only a second tyre, +bursting out loud, instead of in a ladylike whisper, like the other. + +Down got Mr. Dane, with the air of a condemned criminal who wants every +one to believe that he is delighted to be hanged. Down got I also, to +relieve the car of my weight during the weird process of "jacking up," +though the chauffeur assured me that I didn't matter any more than a fly +on the wheel. Our birds of paradise remained in their cage, however, +Lady Turnour glaring whenever she caught a glimpse of the chauffeur's +head, as if he had bitten that hole in the tyre. But before us loomed +mountains--disagreeable-looking mountains--more like _embonpoints_ +growing out of the earth's surface than ornamental elevations. On the +tops there was something white, and I preferred having Lady Turnour +glare at the chauffeur, no matter how unjustly, than that her attention +should be caught by that far, silver glitter. + +Suddenly my brother paused in his work, unbent his back, stood up, and +regarded his thumb with as much intentness as if he were an Indian fakir +pledged to look at nothing else for a stated number of years. He pinched +the nail, shook his hand, and then, abandoning it as an object of +interest, was about to inflate the mended tyre when I came forward. + +"You've hurt yourself," I said. + +"I didn't know you were looking," he replied, fixing the air-pump. "Your +back seemed to be turned." + +"A girl who hasn't got eyes in the back of her head is incomplete. What +have you done to your hand?" + +"Nothing much. Only picked up a splinter somehow. I tried to get it out +and couldn't. It will do when we arrive somewhere." + +"Let me try," I said. + +"Nonsense! A little flower of a thing like you! Why, you'd faint at the +sight of blood." + +"Oh, is it bleeding?" I asked, horrified, and forgetting to hide my +horror. + +He laughed. "Only a drop or two. Why, you're as white as your name, +child." + +"That's only at the thought," I said. "I don't mind the _sight_, +although I _do_ think if Providence had made blood a pale green or a +pretty blue it would have been less startling than bright red. However, +it's too late to change that now. And if you don't show me your thumb, +I'll have hysterics instantly, and perhaps be discharged by Lady Turnour +on the spot." + +At this awful threat, which I must have looked terribly capable of +carrying out, he obeyed without a word. + +A horrid little, thin slip of iron had gone deep down between the nail +and the flesh, and large drops of the most sensational crimson were +splashing down on to the ground. + +"The idea of your driving like that!" I exclaimed fiercely. But my voice +quivered. "One, two, three!" I said to myself, and then pulled. I wanted +to shut my eyes, but pride forbade, so I kept them as wide open as if my +lids had been propped up with matches. Out came the splinter of metal, +and seeing it in my hand--so long, so sharp--things swam in rainbow +colours for a few seconds; but I was outwardly calm as a Stoic, and +wrapped the thumb in my handkerchief despite my brother's protests. + +"Brave child," he said. "Thank you." + +I looked up at him, and his eyes had such a beautiful expression that a +queer tenderness began stirring in my heart, just as a young bird stirs +in a nest when it wakes up. I couldn't help having the impression that +he felt the same thing for me at the moment. It was as if our thoughts +rushed together, and then flew away in a hurry, frightened at something +they'd seen. He dashed back to his tyre pumping, and I pranced away down +the road to look intently at a small white stone, as if it had been a +pearl of price. + +Afterward I stooped and picked it up. "You're a kind of little milestone +in my life," I said to it. "I think I'd like to keep you, I hardly know +why." And I slipped it into the pocket of my coat. + +Every sort of work that you do on a motor-car always seems to take +exactly half an hour. You may _think_ it will be twenty minutes, but you +know in your heart that it will be thirty, to the last second. The +people in the glass-house lost count of time after the first, through +playing some ghastly kind of double dummy bridge, and as they seemed +cheerful Lady Turnour and her dummy were evidently winning. But Mr. Dane +did not lose count, I was sure; and when we had started again, and got a +mile or two beyond Alais, he looked somewhat sternly at the mountains +which no longer appeared ill-shapen. We mounted toward them over the +heads of their children the foothills, and came into a region which +promised wild picturesqueness. There was an extra thrill, too, because +the mountains were the Cévennes, where Robert Louis Stevenson wandered +with his Modestine, and slept under the stars. Judging from the gravity +of the chauffeur's face he was not sure that we, too, might not have to +sleep under the stars (if any), a far less care-free company than +"R.L.S." and his donkey. + +Sir Samuel has now exchanged cards for a Taride map, which he often +studied with no particular result beyond mental satisfaction, as he +generally held it upside down and got his information by contraries. But +at a straggling hillside village where two roads bifurcated he suddenly +became excited. Down went the window, and out popped his head. + +"You go to the left here!" he shouted, as the Aigle was winging +gracefully to the right. + +"I think you're mistaken, sir," replied the chauffeur, stopping while +the car panted reproachfully. "I know the 'Routes de France' says left, +but they told me at Alais a new road had now been finished, and the old +one condemned." + +"Well, I'd take anything I heard there with a grain of salt," said Sir +Samuel. "How should they know? Motor-cars are strange animals to them. +If there were a new road the 'Routes' would give it, and _I_ vote for +the left." + +"Whose car is it, anyway?" Lady Turnour was heard to murmur, not having +forgiven my Fellow Worm two burst tyres and a broken chain. + +Since chauffeurs should be seen and not heard, Mr. Jack Dane looked +volumes and said not a word. Backing the big Aigle, who was sulking in +her bonnet, he put her nose to the left. Now we were making straight, +almost as the crow flies, for the Cevennes; but luckily for Lady +Turnour's peace of mind the snowy tops were hidden from sight behind +other mountains' shoulders as we approached. A warning chill was in the +air, like the breath of a ghost; but it could not find its way through +the glass; and a few cartloads of oranges which we passed opportunely +looked warm and attractive, giving a delusive suggestion of the south to +our road. + +It was gipsy-land, too, for we met several tramping families: boldly +handsome women, tall, dark men and boys with eagle eyes, and big silver +buttons so well cared for they must have been precious heirlooms. +"'Steal all you can, and keep your buttons bright,' is a gipsy father's +advice to his son," said Jack Dane, as we wormed up the road toward a +pass where the brown mountains seemed to open a narrow, mysterious +doorway. So, fold upon fold shut us in, as if we had entered a vast maze +from which we might never find our way out; and soon there was no trace +of man's work anywhere, except the zigzag lines of road which, as we +glanced up or down, looked like thin, pale brown string tied as a child +ties a "cat's-cradle." We were in the ancient fastnesses of the +Camisards; and this world of dark rock under clouding sky was so stern, +so wildly impressive, that it seemed a country hewn especially for +religious martyrs, a last stand for such men as fought and died praying, +calling themselves "enfants de Dieu." Bending out from the front seat of +the motor, my gaze plunged far down into the beds of foaming rivers, or +soared far up to the dazzling white world of snow and steely sky toward +which we steadily forged on. Oh, there was no hope of hiding the snow +now from those whom it might concern! But Lady Turnour still believed, +perhaps, that we should avoid it. + +The higher the Aigle rose, climbing the wonderful road of snakelike +twistings and turnings above sheer precipices, the more thrilling was +the effect of the savage landscape upon our souls--those of us who +consciously possess souls. + +We had met nobody for a long time now; for, since leaving the region of +pines, we seemed to have passed beyond the road-mender zone, and the +zone of waggons loaded with dry branches like piled elks' horns. Still, +as one could never be sure what might not be lurking behind some rocky +shoulder, where the road turned like a tight belt, our musical siren +sang at each turn its gay little mocking notes. + +After a lonely mountain village, named St. Germain-en-Calberte, and +famous only because the tyrant-priest Chayla was burned there, the +surface of the road changed with startling abruptness. Till this moment +we'd known no really bad roads anywhere, and almost all had been as +white as snow, as pink as rose leaves, and smooth as velvet; but +suddenly the Aigle sank up to her expensive ankles in deep, thick mud. + +"Hullo, what's this bumping? Anything wrong with the car?" + +Out popped Sir Samuel's anxious head from its luxurious cage. + +"The trouble is with the road," answered the chauffeur, without so much +as an "I told you so!" expression on his face. "I'm afraid we've come to +that _déclassée_ part." + +Poor Sir Samuel looked so humble and sad that I was sorry for him. "My +mistake!" he murmured meekly. "Had we better turn after all?" + +"I fear we can't turn, or even run back, sir," said Mr. Dane. "The +road's so bad and so narrow, it would be rather risky." + +This was a mild way of putting it; and he was considerate in not +mentioning the precipice which fell abruptly down under the uneven shelf +he generously called a road. + +Sir Samuel gave a wary glance down, and said no more. Luckily Lady +Turnour, sitting inside her cage, on the side of the rock wall we were +following up the mountains, could not see that unpleasant drop under the +shelf, or even quite realize that she was on a shelf at all. Her husband +sat down by her side, more quietly than he had got up, even forgetting +to shut the window; but he was soon reminded of that duty. + +"Are you frightened?" the chauffeur asked me; and I thought it no harm +to answer: "Not when you're driving." + +"Do you mean that? Or is it only an empty little compliment?" he +catechized me, though his eyes did not leave the narrow slippery road, +up which he was steering with a skill of a woman who aims for the eye of +a delicate needle with the end of a thread a size too big. + +"I mean it!" I said. + +"I'm glad," he answered. "I was going to tell you not to be nervous, for +we shall win through all right with this powerful car. But now I will +save my breath." + +"You may," I said, "I'm very happy." And so I was, though I had the most +curious sensation in my toes, as if they were being done up in curl +papers. + +On we climbed, creeping along the high shelf which was so untidily +loaded with rough, fallen stones and layers of mud, powdered with bits +of ice from the rocky wall that seemed sheathed in glass. Icicles +dangled heavy diamond fringes low over the roof of the car; snow lay in +dark hollows which the sun could never reach even in summer noons; and +as we ploughed obstinately on, always mounting, the engine trembling, +our fat tyres splashed into a custardy slush of whitish brown. The shelf +had been slippery before; now, slopping over with this thick mush of +melting snow or mud, it was like driving through gallons of ice pudding. +The great Aigle began to tremble and waltz on the surface that was no +surface; yet it would have been impossible to go back. I saw by my +companion's set face how real was the danger we were in; I saw, as the +car skated first one way, then another, that there were but a few inches +to spare on either side of the road shelf; the side which was a rocky +wall, the side which was a precipice; I saw, too, how the man braced +himself to this emergency, when three lives besides his own depended on +his nerve and skill, almost upon his breath--for it seemed as if a +breath too long, a breath too short, might hurl us down--down--I dared +not look or think how far. Yet the fixed look of courage and +self-confidence on his face was inspiring. I trusted him completely, and +I should have been ashamed to feel fear. + +But it was at this moment, when all hung upon the driver's steadiness of +eye and hand, that Lady Turnour chose to begin emitting squeaks of +childish terror. I hadn't known I was nervous, and only found out that I +was highly strung by the jump I gave at her first shriek behind me. If +the chauffeur had started--but he didn't. He showed no sign of having +heard. + +I would not venture to turn, and look round, lest the slightest movement +of my body so near his arm might disturb him; but poor Sir Samuel, +driven to desperation by his wife's hysterical cries, pushed down the +glass again. + +"Good Lord, Dane, this is appalling!" he said. "My wife can't bear it. +Isn't it possible for us to--to--" he paused, not knowing how to end so +empty a sentence. + +"All that's possible to do I'm doing," returned the chauffeur, still +looking straight ahead. And instead of advising the foolish old +bridegroom to shake the bride or box her ears, as surely he was tempted +to do, he added calmly that her ladyship must not be too anxious. We +were going to get out of this all right, and before long. + +"Tell him to go back. I _shall_ go back!" wailed Lady Turnour. + +"Dearest, we can't!" her husband assured her. + +"Then tell him to stop and let me get out and walk. This is too awful. +He wants to kill us." + +"_Can_ you stop and let us get out?" pleaded Sir Samuel. + +"To stop here would be the most dangerous thing we could do," was the +answer. + +"You hear, Emmie, my darling." + +"I hear. Impudence to dictate to you! Whatever _you_ are willing to do, +_I_ won't be bearded." + +One would have thought she was an oyster. But she was quite right in not +wishing to add a beard to her charms, as already a moustache was like +those coming events that cast a well-defined shadow before. For an +instant I half thought that Mr. Dane would try and stop, her tone was so +furious, but he drove on as steadily as if he had not a passenger more +fit for Bedlam than for a motor-car. + +Seeing that Dane stuck like grim death to his determination and his +steering-wheel, Sir Samuel shut the window and devoted himself to +calming his wife who, I imagine, threatened to tear open the door and +jump out. The important thing was that he kept her from doing it, +perhaps by bribes of gold and precious stones, and the Aigle moved on, +writhing like a wounded snake as she obeyed the hand on the wheel. If +the slightest thing should go wrong in the steering-gear, as we read of +in other motor-cars each time we picked up a newspaper--but other cars +were not in charge of Mr. Jack Dane. I felt sure, somehow, that nothing +would ever go wrong with a steering-gear of whose destiny he was master. + +Not a word did he speak to me, yet I felt that my silence of tongue and +stillness of body was approved of by him. He had said that we would be +"out of this before long," so I believed we would; but suddenly my eyes +told me that something worse than we had won through was in store for us +ahead. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + + +All this time we'd been struggling up hill, but abruptly we came to the +top of the ascent, and had to go sliding down, along the same shelf, +which now seemed narrower than before. Looking ahead, it appeared to +have been bitten off round the edge here and there, just at the stiffest +zigs and zags of the nightmare road. And far down the mountain the way +went winding under our eyes, like the loops of a lasso; short, jerky +loops, as we came to each new turn, to which the length of our chassis +forced us to bow and curtsey on our slippery, sliding skates. Forward +the Aigle had to go until her bonnet hung over the precipice, then to be +cautiously backed for a foot or two, before she could glide ticklishly +down the next steep gradient. + +Involuntarily I shrank back against the cushions, bit my lip, and had to +force myself not to catch at the arm of the seat in those giddy seconds +when it felt as if we were dropping from sky to earth in a leaky +balloon; but if the blood in your veins has been put there by decent +ancestors who trail gloriously in a long line behind you, I suppose it's +easier for you not to be a coward than it is for people like the +Turnours, who have to be their own ancestors, or buy them at auctions. + +The first words my companion spoke to me came as the valley below us +narrowed. "Look there," he said, nodding; and my gaze followed the +indication, to light joyously upon a distant _col_, where clustered a +friendly little group of human habitations. + +The sight was like a signal to relax muscles, for though there was a +long stretch still of the appalling road between us and the _col_, the +eye seemed to grasp safety, and cling to it. + +"Beyond that _col_ we shall strike the _route nationale_, which we +missed by coming this way," said Mr. Dane; and then it was the motor +only which gave voice, until we were close to the oasis in our long +desert of danger. That comforting voice was like a song of triumph as +the Aigle paused to rest at last before a _gendarmerie_ and a rough, +mountain inn. Some men who had been standing in front of the buildings +gave us a hearty cheer as we drew up at the door, and grinned a pleasant +welcome. + +"We have been watching you a long way off," said a tall gendarme to the +chauffeur, "and to tell the truth we were not happy. That road has been +_déclassée_ for some time now, and is one of the worst in the country, +even in fine weather. It was not a very safe experiment, monsieur; but +we have been saying to each other it was a fine way to show off your +magnificent driving." + +Laughing, Jack Dane assured the gendarme that it was not done with any +such object, and Sir Samuel, out of the car by this time, with the +indignant Lady Turnour, wanted the conversation translated. I obeyed +immediately, and he too praised his chauffeur, in a nice manly way which +made me the more sorry for him because he had succeeded in marrying his +first love. + +"I should like to pay you compliments too," said I hurriedly, in a low +voice, when Sir Samuel and Lady Turnour had gone to the inn door to +revive themselves with blood-warming cordials after their thrilling +experience. "I should like to, only--it seems to go beyond compliments." + +"I hate compliments, even when I deserve them, which I don't now," +replied the young man whom I'd been comparing sentimentally in my mind +with the sun-god, steering his chariot of fire up and down the steeps of +heaven from dawn to sunset. "And I'd hate them above all from my--from +my little pal." + +Nothing he could have named me would have pleased me as well. During the +wild climb, and wilder drop, we had hardly spoken to each other, yet I +felt that I could never misunderstand him, or try frivolously to +aggravate him again. He was too good for all that, too good to be played +with. + +"You are a man--a real _man_," I said to myself. I felt humble compared +with him, an insignificant wisp of a thing, who could never do anything +brave or great in life; and so I was proud to be called his "pal." When +he asked if I, too, didn't need some cordial, I only laughed, and said I +had just had one, the strongest possible. + +"So have I," he answered. "And now we ought to be going on. Look at +those shadows, and it's a good way yet to Florac, at the entrance of the +gorge." + +Already night was stretching long gray, skeleton fingers into the late +sunshine, as if to warm them at its glow before snuffing it out. + +It was easier to say we ought to go, however, than to induce Lady +Turnour to get into the car again, after all she had endured, and after +that "bearding" which evidently rankled still. She had not forgiven the +chauffeur for the courage which for her was merely obstinacy and +impudence, nor her husband for encouraging him; but the glow of the +cordial in her veins warmed the cockles of her heart in spite of herself +(I should think her heart was _all_ cockles, if they are as bristly as +they sound); and as it would be dull to stop on this _col_ for the rest +of her life, she at last agreed to encounter further dangers. + +"Come, come, that's my brave little darling!" we heard Sir Samuel coo to +her, and dared not meet each other's eyes. + +The road, from which we ought never to have strayed, was splendid in +engineering and surface, and we winged down to earth in a flight from +the clouds. Ice and snow were left behind on the heights, and the Aigle +gaily careered down the slopes like a wild thing released from a weary +bondage. As we whirled earthwards, embankments and railway bridges +showed here and there by our side, but we lost all such traces of +feverish modern civilization as we swept into the dusky hollow at the +bottom of which Florac lay, like a sunken town engulfed by a dark lake. + +We did not pause in the curiously picturesque place, which looked no +more than a village, with its gray-brown houses and gray brown shadows +huddled confusedly together. Probably it looked much the same when the +Camisards used to hide themselves and their gunpowder in caves near by; +and certainly scarce a stone or brick had been added or removed since +Stevenson's eyes saw the town, and his pen wrote of it, as he turned +away there from the Tarn region, instead of being the first Englishman +to explore it. And what a wild region it looked as we and the Aigle were +swallowed up in the yawning mouth of the gorge! + +In an every-day world, above and outside, no doubt it was sunset, as on +other evenings which we had known and might know again; but this hidden, +underground country had no place in an every-day world. It seemed almost +as if my brother and I (I can't count the Turnours, for they were so +unsuitable that they temporarily ceased to exist for us) were explorers +arriving in an air-ship, unannounced, upon the planet Mars. + +The moon, a glinting silver shield, shimmered pale through ragged red +clouds like torn and blood-stained flags; and the walls of the gorge +into which we penetrated, bleakly glittering here and there where the +moon touched a vein of mica, were the many-windowed castles of the +Martians, who did not yet know that they had visitors from another +world. + +There were fantastic villages, too, whose builders and inhabitants must +have drawn their architectural inspiration from strange mountain forms +and groupings, after the fashion of those small animals who defend +themselves by looking as much as possible like their surroundings. And +if by some mistake we hadn't landed on Mars, we were in gnome-land, +wherever that might be. + +There was no ordinary twilight here. The brown-gray of rocks and wild +rock-villages was flushed with red and shadowed with purple; but as the +moon drank up the ruddy draught of sunset, the landscape crouched and +hunched its shoulders into shapes ever more extraordinary. The white +light spilled down from the tilted crescent like silver rain, and +bleached the few pink peach-blossoms, which bloomed timidly under the +shelter of snow-mountains, to the pallor of fluttering night-moths, +throwing out their clusters in sharp contrast against dark rocks. The +River Tarn, gliding onward through the gorge toward the Garonne, was +scaled with steel on its emerald back, like a twisting serpent. Over a +bed of gravel, white as scattered pearls, the sequined lengths coiled +on; and the snake-green water, the strange burnt-coral vegetation like a +trail of blood among the pearls, the young foliage of trees, filmy as +wisps of blowing gauze, were the only vestiges of colour that the moon +allowed to live in the under-world which we had reached. But above, on +the roof of that world--"les Causses"--where we had left ice and snow, +we could see purple chimneys of rock rising to an opal sky, and now and +then a mountain bonfire, like a great open basket of witch-rubies, +glowing beneath the moon. + +"This is the last haunt of the fairies," I said under my breath, but the +man by my side heard the murmur. + +"I thought you'd find that out," he said. "Trust you to get telepathic +messages from the elf-folk! Why, this gorge teems with fairy tales and +legends of magic, black and white. The Rhine Valley and the Black Forest +together haven't as many or as wonderful ones. I should like you to hear +the stories from some of the village people or the boatmen. They believe +them to this day." + +"Why, _of course_," I said, gravely. Then, a question wanted so much to +be asked, that when I refused it asked itself in a great hurry, before +I could even catch it by its lizard-tail. "Was _she_ with you when you +were here before?" + +"She?" he echoed. "I don't understand." + +"The lady of the battlement garden," I explained, ashamed and repentant +now that it was too late. + +He did not answer for a moment. Then he laughed, an odd sort of laugh. +"Oh, my romance of the battlement garden? Yes, she was with me in this +gorge. She is with me now." + +"I wonder if she is thinking about you to-night?" I asked, knowing he +meant that the mysterious lady was carried along on this journey in his +spirit, as I was in the car. + +"Not seriously, if at all," he answered, with what seemed to me a forced +lightness. "But I am thinking of her--thoughts which she will probably +never know." + +Then I did wish that I, too, had a hidden sorrow in my life, a man in +the background, but as unlike Monsieur Charretier as possible, for whose +love I could call upon my brother's sympathy. And I suppose it was +because he had some one, while I had no one, in this strange, hidden +fairyland like a secret orchard of jewelled fruits, that I felt suddenly +very sad. + +He pointed out Castlebouc, a spellbound château on a towering crag that +held it up as if on a tall black finger, above a village which might +have fallen off a canvas by Gustave Doré. Farther on lay a strange place +called Prades, memorable for a huge buttress of rock exactly like the +carcass of a mammoth petrified and hanging on a wall. Then, farther on +still, over the black face of the rocks flashed a whiteness of waving +waters, pouring cascades like bridal veils whose lace was made of +mountain snows. + +"Here we are at Ste. Enemie," said Mr. Dane. "Don't you remember about +her--'King Dagobert's daughter, ill-fated and fair to look upon?' Well, +at this village of hers we must either light our lamps or rest for the +night, which ever Sir Samuel--I mean her ladyship--decides." + +So he stopped, in a little town which looked a place of fairy +enchantment under the moon. And as the song of the motor changed into +jogging prose with the putting on of the brakes, open flew the door of +an inn. Nothing could ever have looked half so attractive as the rosy +glow of the picture suddenly revealed. There was a miniature hall and a +quaint stairway--just an impressionist glimpse of both in play of +firelight and shadow. With all my might I willed Lady Turnour to want to +stay the night. The whole force of my mind pressed upon that part of her +"transformation" directly over the deciding-cells of her brain. + +The chauffeur jumped down, and respectfully inquired the wishes of his +passengers. Would they remain here, if there were rooms to be had, and +take a boat in the morning to make the famous descent of the Tarn, while +the car went on to meet them at Le Rosier, at the end of the Gorge? Or +would they, in spite of the darkness, risk-- + +"We'll risk nothing," Lady Turnour promptly cut him short. "We've run +risks to-day till I feel as if I'd been in my grave and pulled out +again. No more for me, by dark, _thank_ you, if I have to sleep in the +car!" + +"I hope your ladyship won't have to do that," returned my Fellow Worm, +alive though trodden under foot. "I have never spent a night in Ste. +Enemie, but I've lunched here, and the food is passable. I should think +the rooms would be clean, though rough--" + +"I don't find this country attractive enough to pay us for any +hardships," said the mistress of our fate. "I never was in such a +dreary, God-forsaken waste! Are there no decent hotels to get at?" + +Patiently he explained to her, as he had to me, how the better hotels +which the Gorge of the Tarn could boast were not yet open for the +summer. "If we had not had such a chapter of accidents we should have +run through as far as this early in the day, and could then have +followed the good motoring road down the gorge, seeing its best sights +almost as well as from the river; but--" + +"Whose fault were the accidents, I should like to know?" demanded the +lady. But obviously there was no answer to that question from a servant +to a mistress. + +"Shall I inquire about rooms?" the chauffeur asked, calmly. + +And it ended in Sir Samuel going in with him, conducted by a smiling and +somewhat excited young person who had been holding open the door. + +They must have been absent for ten minutes, which seemed half an hour. +Then, when Lady Turnour had begun muttering to herself that she was +freezing, Sir Samuel bustled back, in a cheerfulness put on awkwardly, +like an ill-fitting suit of armour in a pageant. + +"My dear, they're very full, but two French gentlemen were kind enough +to give up their room to us, and the landlady'll put them out +somewhere--" + +"What, you and I both squashed into one room!" exclaimed her ladyship, +forgetful, in haughty horror, of her lodging-house background. + +"But it's all they have. It's that or the motor, since you won't risk--" + +"Oh, very well, then, I suppose it can't _kill_ me!" groaned the bride, +stepping out of the car as if from tumbril to scaffold. + +What a way to take an adorable adventure! I was sorry for Sir Samuel, +but dimly I felt that I ought to be still sorrier for a woman +temperamentally unable to enjoy anything as it ought to be enjoyed. Next +year, maybe, she will look back on the experience and tell her friends +that it was "fun"; but oh, the pity of it, not to gather the flowers of +the Present, to let them wither, and never pluck them till they are +dried wrecks of the Past! + +I was ready to dance for joy as I followed her ladyship into the +miniature hall which, if not quite so alluring when viewed from the +inside, had a friendly, welcoming air after the dark mountains and cold +white moonlight. I didn't know yet what arrangements had been made for +my stable accommodation, if any, but I felt that I shouldn't weep if I +had to sit up all night in a warm kitchen with a purry cat and a snory +dog. + +The stairs were bare, and our feet clattered crudely as we went up, +lighted by a stout young girl with bared arms, who carried a candle. +"What a hole!" snapped Lady Turnour; but when the door of a bedroom was +opened for her by the red-elbowed one, she cried out in despair. "Is +_this_ where you expect me to sleep, Samuel? I'm surprised at you! I'm +not sure it isn't an insult!" + +"My darling, what can _I_ do?" implored the unfortunate bridegroom. + +The red-elbowed maiden, beginning to take offence, set the candlestick +down on a narrow mantelpiece, with a slap, and removed herself from the +room with the dignity of a budding Jeanne d'Arc. We all three filed in, +I in the rear; and for one who won't accept the cup of life as the best +champagne the prospect certainly was depressing. + +The belongings of the "two gentlemen" who were giving up their rights in +a lady's favour, had not yet been transferred to the "somewhere +outside." Those slippers under the bed could have belonged to no species +of human being but a commercial traveller; and on the table and one +chair were scattered various vague collars, neckties, and celluloid +cuffs. There was no fire in the fireplace, nor, by the prim look of it, +had there ever been one in the half century or so since necessity called +for an inn to be built. + +I snatched from the chair a waistcoat tangled up in some suspenders, and +Lady Turnour, flinging herself down in her furs, burst out crying like a +cross child. + +"If this is what you call adventure, Samuel, I hate it," she whimpered. +"You _would_ bring me motoring! I want a fire. I want hot water. I want +them now. And I want the room cleared and all these awful things taken +away this instant. I don't consider them _decent_. Whatever happens, I +shan't dream of getting into that bed to-night, and I don't feel now as +if I should eat any dinner." + +Distracted, Sir Samuel looked piteously at me, and I sprang to the +rescue. I assured her ladyship that everything should be made nice for +her before she quite knew what had happened. If she would have patience +for _five_ minutes, _only_ five, she should have everything she wanted. +I would see to it myself. With that I ran away, followed by Sir Samuel's +grateful eyes. But, once downstairs, I realized what a task I had set +myself. + +The whole establishment had gone mad over us. There had been enough to +do before, with the house full of _ces messieurs_, _les commis +voyageurs_, but it was comparatively simple to do for them. For _la +noblesse Anglaise_ it was different. + +There were no men to be seen, and the three or four women of the +household were scuttling about crazily in the kitchen, like hens with +their heads cut off. The patronage was so illustrious and so large; +there was so much to do and all at once, therefore nobody tried to do +anything but cackle and plump against one another. + +Enter Me, a whirlwind, demanding an immediate fire and hot water for +washing. Landlady and assistants were aghast. There had never been +anything in any bedroom fireplace of the inn less innocent than paper +flowers; bedroom fireplaces were for paper flowers; while as for washing +it was a _bêtise_ to want to do so in the evening, especially with hot +water, which was a madness at any time, unless by doctor's orders. +Besides, did not mademoiselle see that everybody had more than they +could do already, in preparing dinner for the great people! There was +plenty of time to put the bedroom in order when it should be bedtime. If +the noble lady were so fatigued that she must lie down, why, the bed +had only been slept in for one night by two particularly sympathetic +messieurs. It would be _presque un crime_ to change linen after so brief +an episode, nevertheless for a client of such importance it should +eventually be done. + +For a moment I was dashed by this volume of eloquence, but not for long, +for I was pledged. A wild glance round the kitchen showed me a kettle +standing empty in a corner. I seized it, and though it was heavy, swung +it to an open door near which I could see a ghostly pump. I flew out, +and seized that ghost by its long and rigid arm. + +"Let me," said a voice. + +It was the voice of Mr. Jack Dane. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + + +"You dear!" I thought. But I only said, "How sweet of you!" in a nice, +ladylike tone. And while he pumped the wettest and coldest water I ever +felt, he drily advised me to call him "Adversity" if I found his "uses +sweet," since he wasn't to be Jack for me. What if he had known that I +always call him "Jack" to myself? + +He not only pumped the kettle full, but carried it into the kitchen, and +bullied or flattered the goddesses there until they gave him the hottest +place for it on the red-hot stove. Meanwhile, as my eyes accustomed +themselves to darkness after light, I spied in the courtyard of the pump +a shed piled with wood; and my uncomfortably prophetic soul said that if +Lady Turnour were to have a fire, the woodpile and I must do the trick +together. Souls can be mistaken though, sometimes, if consciences never +can; and Brother Adversity contradicted mine by darting out again to see +what I was doing, ordering me to stop, and doing it all himself. + +I ran to beg for immediate bed-linen while he annexed a portion of the +family woodpile, and we met outside my mistress's door. On the threshold +I confidently expected her grateful ladyship to say: "What _are_ you +doing with that wood, Dane?" But she was too much crushed under her own +load of cold and discomfort to object to his and wish it transferred to +me. I'd knelt down to make a funeral pyre of paper roses, when in a +voice low yet firm my brother ordered me to my feet. This wasn't work +for girls when men were about, he grumbled; and perhaps it was as well, +for I never made a wood fire in my life. As for him, he might have been +a fire-tamer, so quickly did the flames leap up and try to lick his +hands. When it was certain that they couldn't go stealthily crawling +away again, he shot from the room, and in two minutes was back with the +big kettle of hot water under whose weight I should have staggered and +fallen, perhaps. + +By this time I had made the bed, and tumbled all reminders of the two +"sympathetic messieurs" ruthlessly into no-man's land outside the door. +Things began to look more cheerful. Lady Turnour brightened visibly; and +when appetizing smells of cooking stole through the wide cracks all +round the door she decided that, after all, she would dine. + +It was not until after I had seen her descend with her husband, and had +finished unpacking, that I had a chance to think of my own affairs. Then +I did wonder on what shelf I was to lie, or on what hook hang, for the +night. I had no information yet as regarded my own sleeping or eating, +but both began to assume importance in my eyes, and I went down to learn +my fate. Where was I to dine? Why, in the kitchen, to be sure, since the +_salle à manger_ was in use as a sitting-room until bedtime. As for +sleeping--why, that was a difficult matter. It was true that the English +milord had spoken of a room for me, but in the press of business it had +been forgotten. What a pity that the chauffeur and I were not a married +couple, _n'est pas?_ That would make everything quite simple. But--as +it was, no doubt there was a box-room, and matters would arrange +themselves when there was time to attend to them. + +"Matters have already arranged themselves," announced Mr. Jack Dane, +from the door of the pump-court. "I heard Sir Samuel speak about your +accommodation, and I saw that nothing was being done, so I discovered +the box-room, and it is now ready, all but bed-covering. And for fear +there might be trouble about that, I've put Lady Turnour's cushions and +rugs on the alleged bed. Would you like to have a look at your quarters +now, or are you too hungry to care?" + +"I'm not too hungry to thank you," I exclaimed. "You are a kind of +genie, who takes care of the poor who have neither lamps nor rings to +rub." + +"Better not thank me till you've seen the place," said he. "It's a +villainous den; but I didn't think any one here would be likely to do +better with it than I would. Anyhow, you'll find hot water. I +unearthed--literally--another kettle. And it's the first door at the top +of the back stairs." + +I flew, or rather stumbled, up the ladder-like stairway, with a candle +which I snatched from the high kitchen mantelpiece, and at the top I +laughed out, gaily. In the narrow passage was a barricade of horrors +which my knight had dragged from the box-room. On strange old hairy +trunks of cowhide he had piled broken chairs, bandboxes covered with +flowered wall-paper, battered clocks, chipped crockery, fire-irons, +bundles done up in blankets, and a motley collection of unspeakable odds +and ends that would have made a sensational jumble sale. I opened the +low door, and peeped into the room with which such liberties had been +taken for my sake. Although it was no more than a store cupboard, my +wonderful brother had contrived to give it quite an air of coziness. The +tiny window was open, and was doing its best to drive out mustiness. A +narrow hospital cot stood against the wall, spread with a mattress quite +an inch thick, and piled with the luxurious rugs and cushions from the +motor car. I was sure Lady Turnour would have preferred my sitting up +all night or freezing coverless rather than I should degrade her +possessions by making use of them; but Mr. Dane evidently hadn't thought +her opinion of importance compared with her maid's comfort. Two wooden +boxes, placed one upon another, formed a wash-hand stand, which not only +boasted a beautiful blue tin basin, but a tumbler, a caraffe full of +water, and a not-much-cracked saucer ready for duty as a soap-dish. The +top box was covered with a rough, clean towel, evidently filched from +the kitchen, and this piece of extra refinement struck me as actually +touching. A third box standing on end and spread with another towel, +proclaimed itself a dressing-table by virtue of at least half a looking +glass, lurking in one corner of a battered frame, like a sinister, +partially extinguished eye. Other furnishings were a kitchen chair and a +small clothes-horse, to compensate for the absence of wall-hooks or +wardrobe. On the bare floor--oh, height of luxury!--lay the fleecy white +rug whose high mission it was to warm the toes of Lady Turnour when +motoring. On the floor beside the box wash-hand stand, a small kettle +was pleasantly puffing, doing its best to heat the room with its gusty +breath; and the clothes-horse had a saddle of towels which I shrewdly +suspected had been intended for her ladyship or some other guest of +importance in the house. + +How these wonders had been accomplished in such a short space of time, +and by a man, too, would have passed my understanding, had I not begun +to know what manner of man the chauffeur was. And to think that there +was a woman in the world who had known herself loved by him, yet had +been capable of sending him away! If he would do such things as these +for an acquaintance, at best a "pal," what would he not do for a woman +beloved? I should have liked to duck that creature under the pump in the +court, on just such a nipping night as this. + +He had not forgotten my dressing bag, which was on the bed, but I could +not stop to open it. I had to run down to the kitchen again, and tell +him what I thought of his miracles. He was not there, but, at the sound +of my voice, he appeared at the door of the court, drying his hands, +having doubtless been making his toilet at the accommodating pump. In +the crude light of unshaded paraffin lamps with tin reflectors, he +looked tired, and I was sharply reminded of the nervous strain he had +gone through in that ordeal on the mountains, but he smiled with the +delight of a boy when I burst into thanks. + +"It was jolly good exercise, and limbered me up a bit, after sitting +with my feet on the brake for so long," said he. "May I have my dinner +with you?" + +My answer was rather enthusiastic, and that seemed to please him, too. +A quarter of an hour later I came down again, having made myself tidy +meanwhile, in the room which he had retrieved from the jungle. Had the +landlady but had the ordering of the change, my quarters would have been +fifty per cent. less attractive, I was sure, and told my brother so. + +We were both starving, but there was too much to do in the dining-room +for domestics to expect attention. As for Monsieur le Chauffeur, he was +informed that the presence of a mechanician would be permitted in the +_salle à manger_, though a _femme de chambre_ might not enter there. I +begged him to go, but, of course, I should have been surprised if he +had. "I have a plan worth two of that," he said to me. "Do you remember +the picnic preparations we brought from Nîmes? It seems about a week +ago, but it was only this morning. We might as well try to eat on a +battlefield as in this kitchen, at present, and if we're kept waiting, +we may develop cannibal propensities. What about a picnic _à deux_ in +the glass cage, with electric illuminations? The water's still hot in +the automatic heater under the floor, and you shall be as warm as toast. +Besides, I'll grab a jug of blazing soup for a first course, and come +back for coffee afterward." + +I clapped my hands as I used to when a child and my fun-loving young +parents proposed an open air fête. "Oh, how too nice!" I cried. "If you +don't think the Turnours would be angry?" + +"I think the labourers are worthy of their hire," said he. "I'll fetch +your coat for you. No, you're not to come without it." + +The car, it appeared, was lodged in the court; and my brother's +prophecies for the success of the picnic were more than fulfilled. Never +was such a feast! I got out the gorgeous tea-basket, trembling with a +guilty joy, and Jack washed the white and gold cups and plates at the +pump between courses, I drying them with cotton waste, which the car +generously provided. Besides the cabbage soup and good black coffee, +foraging expeditions produced apricot tarts, nuts, and raisins. We both +agreed that no food had ever tasted so good, and probably never would +again; but I kept to myself one thought which crept into my mind. It +seemed to me that nothing would ever be really interesting in my life, +when the chauffeur--the terrible, dreaded chauffeur--should have gone +out of it forever. In a few weeks--but I wouldn't think ahead; I put my +soul to enjoying every minute, even the tidying of the tea-basket after +the picnic was over, for that business he shared with me, like the rest. +And when I dreamed, by-and-by in my box-room, that he was polishing my +boots, Lady Turnour's boots, the boots of the whole party, I waked up to +tell myself that it was most likely true. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + + +"You selfish little brute!" was my first address to myself as I realized +my Me-ness, between waking and sleeping, in the morning at Ste. Enemie. +I had never asked Jack where and how he was going to spend the night. +Think of that, after all he had done for me! + +It was only just dawn, but already there was a stirring under my window. +Perhaps it was that which had roused me, not the early prick of an +awakening conscience. + +The first thing I did to-day was (as it had been yesterday) to bounce up +and climb on to a chair to look out of the high window; but it was a +very different window and a very different scene. I now discovered that +my room gave on the pump court, and to my surprise, I saw that through +the blue silk blinds of the Aigle which were all closely drawn, a light +was streaming. This was very queer indeed, and must mean something +wrong. My imagination pictured a modern highwayman inside, with the +electric lamps turned on to help him rifle the car, and I stood on +tiptoe, peering out of the tiny aperture which was close under the low +ceiling of the box-room. Ought I to scream, and alarm the household, +since I knew not where to go and call the chauffeur? + +To be sure, there was very little, if anything, of value, which a thief +could carry away, but an abandoned villain might revenge himself for +disappointment by slashing the tyres, or perhaps even by setting the car +on fire. + +At the thought of such a catastrophe, which would bring the trip to an +end and separate me at once from the society of my brother (I'm afraid I +cared much more about losing him than for the Turnours' loss of their +Aigle) I was impelled to run down in my nightgown and _mules_ to do +battle single-handed with the ruffian; but suddenly, before I had quite +decided, out went the light in the blue-curtained glass cage. In another +instant the car door opened, and Jack Dane quietly got out. + +In a second I understood. I knew now, without asking, where he had spent +his night. Poor fellow--after such a day! + +Someone spoke to him--someone who had been making that disturbing noise +in the woodshed. The household was astir, and I would be astir, too. I +didn't yet know what was to happen to-day, but I wanted to know, and I +was prepared to find any plan good, since, in a country like this, all +roads must lead to Adventures. My one fear was, that if the Turnours +took to a boat, I should have to go with them to play cloak-bearer, or +hot-water-bag-carrier, while the car whirled away, free and glorious. +The thought of a whole day in my master's and mistress's society, +undiluted by the saving presence of my adopted brother, was like bolting +a great dry crust of yesterday's bread. What an indigestion I should +have! + +I was too wise, however, to betray the slightest anxiety one way or the +other; for if her ladyship suspected me of presuming to have a +preference she would punish me by crushing it, even if inconvenient to +herself. I was exquisitely meek and useful, lighting her fire (with wood +brought me by Jack) supplying her with hot water, and wrangling with the +landlady over her breakfast, which would have consisted of black coffee +and unbuttered bread, had it not been for my exertions. Breakfasts more +elaborate were unknown at Ste. Enemie; but coaxings and arguments +produced boiled eggs, goats' milk, and _confiture_, which I added to the +repast, and carried up to Lady Turnour's room. + +No definite plans had been made even then; but harassed Sir Samuel told +his chauffeur to engage a boat, and have it ready "in case her ladyship +had a whim to go in it." The motor was to be in readiness +simultaneously, and then the lady could choose between the two at the +last moment. + +Thus matters stood when my mistress appeared at the front door, hatted +and coated. At last she must decide whether she would descend the rapids +of the Tarn (quite safe, kind rapids, which had never done their worst +enemies any harm), or travel by a newly finished road through the gorge, +in the car, missing a few fine bits of scenery and an experience, but, +it was to be supposed, enjoying extra comfort. There was the big blue +car; there was the swift green river, and on the river a boat with two +respectful and not unpicturesque boatmen. + +"Ugh! the water looks hideously cold and dangerous," she sighed, +shivering in the clear sunlight, despite her long fur coat. "But I have +a horror of the motor, since yesterday. I _may_ get over it, but it will +take me days. It's a hateful predicament--between _two_ evils, one as +bad as the other. I oughtn't to have been subjected to it." + +"Dane says everyone does go by the river. It's the thing to do," +ventured Sir Samuel, becoming subtle. "They've put a big foot-warmer in +the boat, and you can have your own rugs. There's a place where we land, +by the way, to get a hot lunch." + +With a moan, the bride pronounced for the boat, which was a big +flat-bottomed punt, as reliable in appearance as pictures of John Bull. +I fetched her rugs from the car. She was helped into the boat, and then, +as my fate remained to be settled, I asked her in a voice soft as silk +what were her wishes in regard to her handmaiden. + +"Why, you'll come with us in the boat, of course. What else did you +dream?" she replied sharply. + +Down went my heart with a thump like a fish dropping off its hook. But +as I would have moved toward the pebbly beach, a champion rode to my +defence. + +"Your ladyship doesn't think a load of five might disturb the balance of +the boat?" mildly suggested the chauffeur. "The usual load is two +passengers and two boatmen; and though there's no danger in the rapids +if--" + +She did not give him time to finish. "Oh, very well, you must stop with +the car, Elise," said she. "It is only one inconvenience more, among +many. No doubt I can put up with it. Get me the brandy flask out of the +tea-basket." + +I would have tried to scoop all the green cheese out of the moon for +her, if she had asked me, I was so delighted. And part of my joy was +mixed up with the thought that _he_ wanted me to be with him. He had +actually schemed to get me! I envied no one in the world, not even the +lovely lady of the battlement garden. He was mine for to-day, in spite +of her--so there! + +Sir Samuel got into the boat, and wrapped his wife in rugs. The boatmen +pushed off. Away the flat-bottomed punt slid down the clear green +stream, the sun shining, the cascades sparkling, the strange precipices +which wall the gorge, copper-tinted in the morning light. It was the +most wonderful world; yet Lady Turnour was cackling angrily. Was she +afraid? Had she changed her mind? No, the saints be praised! She was +only burning holes in her petticoat on the brazier supplied by the +hotel! I turned away to hide a smile almost as wicked as a grin, and +before I looked round again, the swift stream had swept the boat out of +sight round a jutting corner of rock. We were safe. This time it really +_was_ our world, our car, and our everything. We didn't even need to +"pretend." + +Ste. Enemie is only at the gates of the gorge--a porter's lodge, so to +speak, and in the Aigle we sped on into the fairyland of which we'd had +our first pale, moonlit peep last night. There were castles made by man, +and castles made by gnomes; but the gnomes were the better architects. +Their dwellings, carved of rock, towered out of the river to a giddy +height, and some were broken in half, as if they had been rent asunder +by gnome cannon, in gnome battles. There were gnome villages, too, which +looked exactly like human habitations, with clustering roofs plastered +against the mountain-side. But the hand of man had not placed one of +these stones upon another. + +There were gigantic rock statues, and watch-towers for gnomes to warn +old-time gnome populations, perhaps, when their enemies, the +cave-dwellers, were coming that way from a mammoth-hunt; and there was a +wonderful grotto, fitted with doors and windows, a grotto whose +occupants must surely have inherited the mansion from their ancestors, +the cave-dwellers. Every step of the way History, gaunt and war-stained, +stalked beside us, followed hot-foot by his foster-mother, Legend; and +the first stories of the one and the last stories of the other were +tangled inextricably together. + +Legend and history were alike in one regard; both told of brave men and +beautiful women; and the people we met as we drove, looked worthy of +their forebears who had fought and suffered for religion and +independence, in this strange, rock-walled corridor, shared with fairies +and gnomes. The men were tall, with great bold, good-natured eyes and +apple-red cheeks, to which their indigo blouses gave full value. The +women were of gentle mien, with soft glances; and the children were even +more attractive than their elders. Tiny girls, like walking dolls, with +dresses to the ground, bobbed us curtseys; and sturdy little boys, +curled up beside ancient grandfathers, in carts with old boots +protecting the brakes, saluted like miniature soldiers, or pulled off +their quaint round caps, as they stared in big-eyed wonder at our grand, +blue car. For them we were prince and princess, not chauffeur and maid. + +Sometimes our road through the gorge climbed high above the rushing +green river, and ran along a narrow shelf overhanging the ravine, but +clear of snow and ice; sometimes it plunged down the mountain-side as if +on purpose to let us hear the music of the water; and one of these +sudden swoops downward brought us in sight of a château so enchanting +and so evidently enchanted, that I was sure a fairy's wand had waved for +its creation, perhaps only a moment before. When we were gone, it would +disappear again, and the fairy would flash down under the translucent +water, laughing, as she sent up a spray of emeralds and pearls. + +"Of course, it isn't real!" I exclaimed. "But do let's stop, because +such a knightly castle wouldn't be rude enough to vanish right before +our eyes." + +"No, it won't vanish, because it's a most courteous little castle, which +has been well brought up, and even though its greatness is gone, tries +to live up to its traditions," said Jack. "It always appears to everyone +it thinks likely to appreciate it; and I was certain it would be here in +its place to welcome you." + +We smiled into each other's eyes, and I felt as if the castle were a +present from him to me. How I should have loved to have it for mine, to +make up for one poor old château, now crumbled hopelessly into ruin, and +despised by the least exacting of tourists! Coming upon it unexpectedly +in this green dell, at the foot of the precipice, seeing it rise from +the water on one side, reflected as in a broken mirror, and draped in +young, golden foliage on the other, it really was an ideal castle for a +fairy tale. A connoisseur in the best architecture of the Renaissance +would perhaps have been ungracious enough to pick faults; for to a +critical eye the turrets and arches might fall short of perfection; and +there was little decoration on the time-darkened stone walls, save the +thick curtain of old, old ivy; but the fairy grace of the towers rising +from the moat of glittering, bright green water was gay and sweet as a +song heard in the woods. + +"Some beautiful nymph ought to have lived here," I said dreamily, when +we had got out of the car. "A nymph whose beauty was celebrated all over +the world, so that knights from far and near came to this lovely place +to woo her." + +"Why, you might have heard the story of the place!" said Jack. "It's the +Château de la Caze, usually called the Castle of the Nymphs, for instead +of one, eight beautiful nymphs lived in it. But their beauty was their +undoing. I don't quite know why they were called 'nymphs,' for nymphs +and naiads had gone out of fashion when they reigned here as Queens of +Beauty, in the sixteenth century. But perhaps in those days to call a +girl a 'nymph' was to pay her a compliment. It wouldn't be now, when +chaps criticize the 'nymphery' if they go to a dance! Anyhow, these +eight sisters, were renowned for their loveliness, and all the unmarried +gentlemen of France--according to the story--as well as foreign knights, +came to pay court to them. The unfortunate thing was, when the cavaliers +saw the eight girls together, they were all so frightfully pretty it +wasn't possible to choose between them, so the poor gentlemen fought +over their rival charms, and were either killed or went away unable to +make up their minds. The sad end was, if you'll believe me, that all +the eight maidens died unmarried, martyrs to their own incomparable +charms." + +"I can quite believe it," I answered, "and it wasn't at all sad, because +I'm sure any girl who had once had this place for her home would have +pined in grief at being taken away, even by the most glorious knight of +the world." + +"Come in and see their boudoir," said the knight who worked, if he did +not fight, for me. + +So we went in, without the trouble of using battering rams; for alas, +the family of the eight nymphs grew tired of their château and the gorge +in the dreadful days of the religious wars, and now it is an hotel. It +would not receive paying guests until summer, but a good-natured +caretaker opened the door for us, and we saw a number of stone-paved +corridors, and the nymphs' boudoir. + +Their adoring father had ordered their portraits to be painted on the +ceiling; and there they remain to this day, simpering sweetly down upon +the few bits of ancient furniture made to match the room and suit their +taste. + +They smiled amiably at us, too, the eight little faces framed in +Henrietta Maria curls; and their eyes said to me, "If you want to be +happy, _m'amie_, it is better not to be too beautiful; or else not to +have any sisters. Or if Providence _will_ send you sisters, go away +yourself, and visit your plainest friend, till you have got a husband." + +Gazing wistfully back, as one does gaze at places one fears never to see +again, the Castle of the Nymphs looked like a fantastic water-flower +standing up out of the green river, on its thick stem of rock. Then it +was gone; for our time was not quite our own, and we dared not linger, +lest the boat with our Betters should arrive at the meeting place before +we reached it in the car. But there were compensations, for almost with +every moment the gorge grew grander. Cascades sparkled in the sun like +blowing diamond-dust. The rocks seemed set with jewels, or patterned +with mosaic; and there were caves--caves almost too good to be true. Yet +if we could believe our eyes, they were true, even the dark cavern +where, once upon a time, lived a scaly dragon who terrorized the whole +country for miles around, and had no relish for his meals unless they +were composed of the most exquisite young maidens--though he would +accept a child as an _hors d'oeuvre_. In such a strange world as this, +after all, it was no harder to believe in dragons, than in hiding +countesses, fed and tended for months upon months by faithful servants, +while the red Revolution raged; yet the countess and her cave were +vouched for by history, which ignored the dragon and his. + +Not only had each mountain at least one cavern, but every really +eligible crag had its ruined castle; and each ruin had its romance, +which clung like the perfume of roses to a shattered vase. There were +rocks shaped like processions of marching monks following uplifted +crucifixes; and farther on, one would have thought that half the animals +had scrambled out of the ark to a height where they had petrified before +the flood subsided. As we wound through the gorge the landscape became +so strange, hewn in such immensity of conception, that it seemed +prehistoric. We, in the blue car, were anachronisms, or so I felt until +I remembered how, in pre-motoring days, I used to think that owning an +automobile must be like having a half-tamed minotaur in the family. As +for the Aigle, she was a friendly, not a vicious, monster, and as if to +make up for her mistakes of yesterday, she was to-day more like a +demi-goddess serving an earthly apprenticeship in fulfilment of a vow +than a dragon of any sort. Swinging smoothly round curve after curve, +the noble car running free and cooing in sheer joy of fiery life, as she +swooped from height to depth, I, too, felt the joy of life as I had +hardly ever felt it before. The chauffeur and I did not speak often, but +I looked up at him sometimes because of the pleasure I had in seeing and +re-seeing the face in which I had come to have perfect confidence; and I +fancied from its expression that he felt as I felt. + +So we came to Les Vignes, and lunched together at a table set out of +doors, close to the car, that she might not be left alone. We had for +food a strange and somewhat evil combination; wild hare and wild boar; +but they seemed to suit the landscape somehow, as did the mystical music +of the conch-shells, blown by passing boatmen. It was like being waked +from a dream of old-time romance, by a rude hand shaking one's shoulder, +to hear the voices of Sir Samuel and Lady Turnour, he mildly arguing, +she disputing, as usual. + +Poetry fled like a dryad of some classic wood, scared by a motor +omnibus; and, though the gorge as far as Le Rozier was magnificent, and +the road all the way to Millau beautiful in the sunset, it was no longer +_our_ gorge, or _our_ road. That made a difference! + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + + +There was a telegram from "Bertie" at Millau. The invitation to the +château where he was stopping near Clermont-Ferrand, had been asked for +and given. I heard all about it, of course, from the conversation +between the bride and groom; for Lady Turnour prides herself on +discussing things in my presence, as if I were deaf or a piece of +furniture. She has the idea that this trick is a habit of the "smart +set"; and she would allow herself to be tarred and feathered, in +Directoire style, if she could not be smart at smaller cost. + +Nothing was ever more opportune than that telegram, for her ladyship had +burnt her frock and chilled her liver in the boat, and though the hotel +at Millau was good, she arrived there with the evident intention of +making life a burden to Sir Samuel. The news from Bertie changed all +that, however; and though the weather was like the breath of icebergs +next morning, Lady Turnour was warmed from within. She chatted +pleasantly with Sir Samuel about the big luggage which had gone on to +Clermont-Ferrand, and asked his advice concerning the becomingness of +various dresses. The one unpleasant thing she allowed herself to say, +was that "certainly Bertie wasn't doing this for nothing," and that his +stepfather might take her word for it, Bertie would be neither slow nor +shy in naming his reward. But Sir Samuel only grinned, and appeared +rather amused than otherwise at the shrewdness of his wife's insight +into the young man's character. + +I was conscious that my jacket hadn't been made for motoring, when I +came out into the sharp morning air and took my place in the Aigle. I +was inclined to envy my mistress her fur rugs, but to my surprise I saw +lying on my seat a Scotch plaid, plaider than any plaid ever made in +Scotland. + +"Does that belong to the hotel?" I asked the chauffeur, as he got into +the car. + +"It belongs to you," said he. "A present from Millau for a good child." + +"Oh, you mustn't!" I exclaimed. + +"But I have," he returned, calmly. "I'm not going to watch you slowly +freezing to death by my side; for it won't be exactly summer to-day. Let +me tuck you in prettily." + +I groaned while I obeyed. "I've been an expense to you all the way, +because you wouldn't abandon me to the lions, even in the most expensive +hotels, where I knew you wouldn't have stayed if it hadn't been for me. +And now, _this!_" + +"It cost only a few francs," he tried to reassure me. "We'll sell it +again--afterward, if that will make you happier. But sufficient for the +day is the rug thereof--at least, I hope it will be. And don't flaunt +it, for if her ladyship sees there's an extra rug of any sort on board +she'll be clamouring for it by and by." + +Northward we started, in the teeth of the wind, which made mine chatter +until I began to tingle with the rush of ozone, which always goes to my +head like champagne. Our road was a mere white thread winding loosely +through a sinuous valley, and pulled taut as it rose nearer and nearer +to the cold, high level of _les Causses_, the roof of that gnome-land +where we had journeyed together yesterday. From snow-covered billows +which should have been sprayed with mountain wild-flowers by now, a +fierce blast pounced down on us like a swooping bird of prey. We felt +the swift whirr of its wings, which almost took our breath away, and +made the Aigle quiver; but like a bull that meets its enemy with lowered +horns, the brave car's bonnet seemed to defy the wind and face it +squarely. We swept on toward the snow-reaches whence the wind-torrent +came. Soon we were on the flat plateau of the Causse, where last year's +faded grass was frosted white, and a torn winding-sheet wrapped the +limbs of a dead world. There was no beauty in this death, save the wild +beauty of desolation, and a grandeur inseparable from heights. Before us +grouped the mountains of Auvergne, hoary headed; and looking down we +could see the twistings of the road we had travelled, whirling away and +away, like the blown tail of a kite trailed over mountain and foothill. + +"The people at Millau told me I should get up to St. Flour all right, in +spite of the fall of snow," said the chauffeur, his eyes on the great +white waves that piled themselves against a blue-white sky, "but I begin +to think there's trouble before us, and I don't know whether I ought to +have persisted in bringing you." + +"Persisted!" I echoed, defending him against himself. "Why, do you +suppose wild horses would have dragged Lady Turnour in any other +direction, now that she's actually invited to be the guest of a marquis +in a real live castle?" + +"A railway train could very well have dragged her in the same direction +and got her to the castle as soon, if not a good deal sooner than she's +likely to get in this car, if we have to fight snow. I proposed this way +originally because I wanted you to see the Gorge of the Tarn, and +because I thought that you'd like Clermont-Ferrand, and the road there. +It was to be _your_ adventure, you know, and I shall feel a brute if I +let you in for a worse one than I bargained for. Even this morning it +wasn't too late. I could have hinted at horrors, and they would have +gone by rail like lambs, taking you with them." + +"Lady Turnour can do nothing like a lamb," I contradicted him. "I should +never have forgiven you for sending me away from--the car. Besides, Lady +Turnour wants to teuf-teuf up to the château in her sixty-horse-power +Aigle, and make an impression on the aristocracy." + +"Well, we must hope for the best now," said he. "But look, the snow's an +inch thick by the roadside even at this level, so I don't know what we +mayn't be in for, between here and St. Flour, which is much higher--the +highest point we shall have to pass in getting to the Château de +Roquemartine, a few miles out of Clermont-Ferrand." + +"You think we may get stuck?" + +"It's possible." + +"Well, that _would_ be an adventure. You know I love adventures." + +"But I know the Turnours don't. And if--" He didn't finish his +sentence. + +Higher we mounted, until half France seemed to lie spread out before us, +and a solitary sign-post with "Paris-Perpignans" suggested unbelievable +distances. The Aigle glided up gradients like the side of a somewhat +toppling house, and scarcely needed to change speed, so well did she +like the rarefied mountain air. I liked it too, though I had to be +thankful for the plaid; and above all I liked the wild loneliness of the +Causse, which was unlike anything I ever saw or imagined. The savage +monotony of the heights was broken just often enough by oases of pine +wood; and the plains on which we looked down were blistered with conical +hills, crowned by ancient castles which would have rejoiced the hearts +of mediæval painters, as they did mine. Severac-le-Château, perched on +its naked pinnacle of rock, was best of all, as we saw it from our +bird's-eye view, and then again, almost startlingly impressive when we +had somehow whirled down below it, to pass under its old huddled town, +before we flew up once more to higher and whiter levels. + +Never had the car gone better; but Lady Turnour had objected to the +early start which the chauffeur wanted, and the sun was nearly overhead +when many a huge shoulder of glittering marble still walled us away from +our journey's end. The cold was the pitiless cold of northern midwinter, +and I remembered with a shiver that Millau and Clermont-Ferrand were +separated from one another by nearly two hundred and fifty kilometres of +such mountain roads as these. Oh yes, it was an experience, a splendid, +dazzling experience; nevertheless, my cowardly thoughts would turn, +sunflower-like, toward warmth; warm rooms, even stuffy rooms, without a +single window open, fires crackling, and hot things to drink. Still, I +wouldn't admit that I was cold, and stiffened my muscles to prevent a +shudder when my brother asked me cheerfully if I would enjoy a visit to +the Gouffre de Padirac, close by. + +A "gouffre" on such a day! Not all the splendours of the posters which I +had often seen and admired, could thrill me to a desire for the +expedition; but I tried to cover my real feelings with the excuse that +it must now be too late to make even a small détour. Mr. Jack Dane +laughed, and replied that he had no intention of making it; he had only +wanted to test my pluck. "I believe you'd pretend to be delighted if I +told you we had plenty of time, and mustn't miss going," said he. "But +don't be frightened; this isn't a Gouffre de Padirac day, though it +really is a great pity to pass it by. What do you say to lunch instead?" + +And we rolled through a magnificent mediæval gateway into the ancient +and unpronounceable town of Marvejols. + +Before he had time to make the same suggestion to his more important +passengers, it came hastily from within the glass cage. So we stopped at +an inn which proudly named itself an hotel; and chauffeur and maid were +entertained in a kitchen destitute of air and full of clamour. +Nevertheless, it seemed a snug haven to us, and never was any soup +better than the soup of "Marvels," as Sir Samuel and Lady Turnour called +the place. + +The word was "push on," however, for we had still the worst before us, +and a long way to go. The Quality had promised to finish its luncheon in +an hour; and well before the time was up, we two Worms were out in the +cold, each engaged in fulfilling its own mission. I was arranging rugs; +the chauffeur was pouring some libation from a long-nosed tin upon the +altar of his goddess when our master appeared, wearing such an "I +haven't stolen the cream or eaten the canary" expression that we knew at +once something new was in the wind. + +He coughed, and floundered into explanations. "The waiter, who can speak +some English, has been frightening her ladyship," said he. "After the +day before yesterday she's grown a bit timid, and to hear that the cold +she has suffered from is nothing to what she may have to experience +higher up, and later in the day, as the sun gets down behind the +mountains, has put her off motoring. It seems we can go on from here by +train to Clermont-Ferrand and that's what she wants to do. I hate +deserting the car, but after all, this _is_ an expedition of pleasure, +and if her ladyship has a preference, why shouldn't it be gratified?" + +"Quite so, sir," responded the chauffeur, his face a blank. + +"My first thought on making up my mind to the train was to have the car +shipped at the same time," went on Sir Samuel, "but it seems that can't +be done. There's lots of red tape about such things, and the motor might +have to wait days on end here at Marvels, before getting off, to say +nothing of how long she might be on the way. Whereas, I've been +calculating, if you start now and go as quick as you can, you ought to +be at the château" (he pronounced it 'chattoe') "before us. Our train +doesn't leave for more than an hour, and it's a very slow one. Still, it +will be warm, and we have cards and Tauchnitz novels. Then, you know, +you can unload the luggage at the château and run back to the railway +station at Clermont-Ferrand, see to having our big boxes sent out +(they'll be there waiting for us) and meet our train. What do you think +of the plan?" + +"It ought to do very well--if I'm not delayed on the road by snow." + +"Do you expect to be?" + +"I hope not. But it's possible." + +"Well, her ladyship has made up her mind, and we must risk it. I'll +trust you to get out of any scrape." + +The chauffeur smiled. "I'll try not to get into one," he said. "And I'd +better be off--unless you have further instructions?" + +"Only the receipt for the luggage. Here it is," said Sir Samuel. "And +here are the keys for you, Elise. Her ladyship wants you to have +everything unpacked by the time she arrives. Oh--and the rugs! We shall +need them in the train." + +"Isn't mademoiselle going with you?" asked my brother, showing surprise +at last. + +"No. Her mistress thinks it would be better for her to have everything +ready for us at the 'chattoe.' You see, it will be almost dinner-time +when we get there." + +"But, sir, if the car's delayed--" + +"Well," cut in Sir Samuel, "we must chance it, I'm afraid. The fact is, +her ladyship is in such a nervous state that I don't care to put any +more doubts into her head. She's made up her mind what she wants, and +we'd better let it go at that." + +If I'd been near enough to my brother I should have stamped on his foot, +or seized some other forcible method of suggesting that he should kindly +hold his tongue. As it was, my only hope lay in an imploring look, which +he did not catch. However, in pity for Sir Samuel he said no more; and +before we were three minutes older, if her ladyship had yearned to have +me back, it would have been too late. We were off together, and another +day had been given to us for ours. + +The chauffeur proposed that I should sit inside the car; but I had +regained all my courage in the hot inn-kitchen. I was not cold, and +didn't feel as if I should ever be cold again. + +The road mounted almost continuously. Sometimes, as we looked ahead, it +seemed to have been broken off short just in front of the car, by some +dreadful earth convulsion; but it always turned out to be only a sudden +dip down, or a sharp turn like the curve of an apple-paring. At last we +had reached the highest peak of the Roof of France--a sloping, +snow-covered roof; but steep as was the slant, very little of the snow +appeared to have slipped off. + +The Cévennes on our right loomed near and bleak; the Auvergne stretched +endlessly before us, and the virgin snow, pure as edelweiss, was +darkened in the misty distance by patches of shadow, purple-blue, like +beds of early violets. + +At first but a thin white sheet was spread over our road, but soon the +lace-like fabric was exchanged for a fleecy blanket, then a thick quilt +of down, and the motor began to pant. The winds seemed to come from all +ways at once, shrieking like witches, and flinging their splinters of +ice, fine and small as broken needles, against our cheeks. Still I would +not go inside. I could not bear to be warm and comfortable while Jack +faced the cold alone. I knew his fingers must be stiff, though he +wouldn't confess to any suffering, and I wished that I knew how to drive +the car, so that we might have taken turns, sitting with our hands in +our pockets. + +In the deepening snow we moved slowly, the wheels slipping now and then, +unable to grip. Then, on a steep incline, there came a report like a +revolver shot. But it didn't frighten me now. I knew it meant a +collapsed tyre, not a concealed murderer; but there couldn't have been a +much worse place for "jacking up." Nevertheless, it's an ill tyre that +blows up for its own good alone, and the forty minutes out of a waning +afternoon made the chauffeur's cold hands hot and the hot engine cold. + +Starting on again, we had ten miles of desolation, then a tiny hamlet +which seemed only to emphasize that desolation; again another ten-mile +stretch of desert, and another hamlet; here and there a glimpse of the +railway line, like a great black snake, lost in the snow; now and then +the gilded picture of an ancient town, crowning some tall crag that +stood up from the flat plain below like a giant bottle. And there was +one thrilling view of a high viaduct, flinging a spider's web of +glittering steel across a vast and shadowy ravine. "Garabit!" said the +chauffeur, as he saw it; and I remembered that this road was not new +for him. He did not talk much. Was he thinking of the companion who +perhaps had sat beside him before? I wondered. Was it because he thought +continually of her that he looked at me wistfully sometimes, often in +silence, wishing me away, maybe, and the woman who had spoilt his life +by his side again for good or ill? + +Suddenly we plunged into a deep snow-bank which deceitfully levelled a +dip in the road, and the car stopped, trembling like a horse caught by +the hind leg while in full gallop. + +On went the first speed, most powerful of all, but not powerful enough +to fight through snow nearly up to the hubs. The Aigle was prisoned like +a rat in a trap, and could neither go back nor forward. + +"Well?" I questioned, half laughing, half frightened, at this fulfilment +of the morning's prophecy. + +"Sit still, and I'll try to push her through," said Jack jumping out +into the deep snow. "It's only a drift in a hollow, you see; and we +should have got by the worst, just up there at St. Flour." + +I looked where his nod indicated, and saw a town as dark and seemingly +as old as the rock out of which it grew, climbing a conical hill, to +dominate all the wide, white reaches above which it stood, like an +armoured sentinel on a watch-tower. As I gazed, struck with admiration, +which for an instant made me forget our plight, he began to push. The +car, surprised at his strength and determination, half decided to move, +then changed her mind and refused to budge. In a second, before he could +guess what I meant to do, I had flashed out of my seat into the snow, +and was wading in his tracks to help him when he snatched me up--a hand +on either side of my waist--and swung me back into my place again. + +"Little wretch!" he exclaimed. "How dare you disobey me?" + +Then I was vexed, for it was ignominious to be treated as a child, when +I had wanted to aid him like a comrade. + +"You are very unkind--very rude," I said. "You wouldn't dare to do that, +or speak like that to _Her_." + +He laughed loudly. "What--haven't you forgotten 'Her?'" (As if I ever +could!) "Well, I may tell you, it's just because I did dare to 'speak +like that' to a woman, that I'm a chauffeur stuck in the snow with +another man's car, and the--" + +"The rest is another epithet which concerns me, I suppose," I remarked +with dignity, though suddenly I felt the chill of the icy air far, far +more cruelly than I had felt it yet. I was so cold, in this white +desolation, that it seemed I must die soon. And it wouldn't matter at +all if I were buried under the drifts, to be found in the late spring +with violets growing out of the places where my eyes once had been. + +"Yes," said he, in that cool way he has, which can be as irritating as a +chilblain. "It was an epithet concerning you, but luckily for me I +stopped to think before I spoke--an accomplishment I'm only just +beginning to learn." + +I swallowed something much harder and bigger than a cannon ball, and +said nothing. + +"Of course you're covered with snow up to your knees, foolish child!" He +was glaring ferociously at me. + +"It doesn't matter." + +"It does matter most infernally. Don't you know that you make no more +than a featherweight of difference to the car?" + +"I feel as if I weighed a thousand pounds, now." + +"It's that snow!" + +"No. It's you. Your crossness. I _can't_ have people cross to me, on +lonely mountains, just when I'm trying to help them." + +His glare of rage turned to a stare of surprise. "Cross? Do you think I +was cross to you?" + +"Yes. And you just stopped in time, or you would have been worse." + +"Oh, I see," he said. "You thought that the 'epithet' was going to be +invidious, did you?" + +"Naturally." + +"Well, it wasn't. I--no, I _won't_ say it! That would be the last folly. +But--I wasn't going to be cross. I can't have you think that, whatever +happens. Now sit still and be good, while I push again." + +I weighed no more than half the thousand pounds now, and the cannon ball +had dissolved like a chocolate cream; but the car stood like a rock, +fixed, immutable. + +"There ought to be half a dozen of me," said the chauffeur. "Look here, +little pal, there's nothing else for it; I must trudge off to St. Flour +and collect the missing five. Are you afraid to be left here alone?" + +Of course I said no; but when he had disappeared, walking very fast, I +thought of a large variety of horrors that might happen; almost +everything, in fact, from an earthquake to a mad bull. As the sun leaned +far down toward the west, the level red light lay like pools of blood +in the snow-hollows, and the shadows "came alive," as they used when I +was a child lying awake, alone, watching the play of the fire on wall +and ceiling. + +Long minutes passed, and at last I could sit still no longer. Gaily +risking my brother's displeasure, now I knew that he wasn't "cross," I +slipped out into the snow again, opened the car door, stood in the +doorway, hanging on with one hand, and after much manoeuvring extricated +the tea-basket from among spare tyres and luggage on the roof. Then, +swinging it down, planted it inside the car, opened it, and scooped up a +kettleful of snow. As soon as the big white lump had melted over a rose +and azure flame of alcohol, I added more snow, and still more, until the +kettle was filled with water. By the time I had warmed and dried my feet +on the automatic heater under the floor, the water bubbled; and as jets +of steam began to pour from the spout I saw six figures approaching, +dark as if they had been cut out in black velvet against the snow. + +"Tea for seven!" I said to myself; but the kettle was large, if the cups +were few. + +It took half an hour to dig the car out, and push her up from the hollow +where the snow lay thickest. When she stood only a foot deep, she +consented readily to move. We bade good-bye to the five men, for whom we +had emptied our not-too-well filled pockets, and forged, bumbling, past +St. Flour. It was a great strain for a heavy car, and the chauffeur only +said, "I thought so!" when a chain snapped five or six miles farther on. + +"What a good thing Lady Turnour isn't here!" said I, as he doctored the +wounded Aigle. + +[Illustration: "_It took half an hour to dig the car out, and push her +up from the hollow where the snow lay thickest_"] + +"Lots of girls would be in a blue funk," said he. "I could shake that +beastly woman for not taking you with her." + +"Oh!" I exclaimed. "When I'm not doing you _any_ harm!" + +He glanced up from his work, and then, as if on an irresistible impulse, +left the chain to come and stand beside me, as I sat wrapped up in his +gift "for a good girl." + +He gazed at me for a moment without speaking, and I wonderingly returned +the gaze, not knowing what was to follow. + +The moon had come sailing up like a great silver ship, over the snow +billows, and gleamed against a sky which was still a garden of +full-blown roses not yet faded, though sunset was long over. The soft, +pure light shone on his dark face, cutting it out clearly, and he had +never looked so handsome. + +"You don't mean to do _me_ any harm, do you?" he said. + +"I couldn't if I would, and wouldn't if I could," I answered in +surprise. + +"Yet you _do_ me harm." + +"You're joking!" + +"I never was further from joking in my life. You do me harm because you +make me wish for something I can't have, something it's a constant fight +with me, ever since we've been thrown together, not to wish for, not to +think of. Yet you say I'm cross! Now, do you know what I mean, and will +you help me a little to remain your faithful brother, instead of +tempting me--tempting me, however unconsciously, to--to +wish--for--for--what a fool I am! I'm going to finish my mending." + +I sat perfectly still, with my mouth open, feeling as if it were _my_ +chain, not the car's, which had broken! + +Of course if it hadn't been for all his talk of _Her_, I should have +known, or thought that I knew, well enough what he meant. But how could +I take his strange words and stammered hints for what they seemed to +suggest, knowing as I did, from his own veiled confessions, that he was +in love with some beautiful fiend who had ruined his career and then +thrown him over! + +I longed to speak, to ask him just one question, but I dared not. No +words would come; and perhaps if they had, I should have regretted them, +for I was so sure he was not a man who would fall out of love with one +woman to tumble into love for another, that I didn't know what to make +of him; but the thought which his words shot into my mind, swift and +keen, and then tore away again, showed me very well what to make of +myself. + +If I hadn't quite known before, I knew suddenly, all in a minute, that I +was in love, oh, but humiliatingly deep in love, with the chauffeur! It +seemed to me that no nice, well-regulated girl could ever have let +herself go tobogganing down such a steep hill, splash into such a sea of +love, unless the man were at the bottom in a boat, holding out his arms +to catch her as she fell. But the chauffeur hadn't the slightest +intention of holding out his arms to the poor little motor maid. He went +on mending the chain, and when he got into the car beside me again he +began to talk about the weather. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + + +It was ten o'clock when we came into Clermont-Ferrand, which looked a +beautiful old place in the moonlight, with the great, white Puy de Dome +floating half way up the sky, like a marble dream-palace. + +I trembled for our reception at the château, for everything would be our +fault, from the snow on the mountains to Lady Turnour's lack of a dinner +dress; and the consciousness of our innocence would be our sole comfort. +Not for an instant did we believe that it would help our case to stop at +the railway station and arrange for the big luggage to be sent the first +thing in the morning; nevertheless, we satisfied our consciences by +doing it, though we were so hungry that everything uneatable seemed +irrelevant. + +A young woman in a book, who had just pried into the depths of her soul, +and discovered there a desperate love, would have loathed the thought of +food; but evidently I am unworthy to be a heroine, for my imagination +called up visions of soup and steak; and because it seemed so extremely +important to be hungry, I could quite well put off being unhappy until +to-morrow. + +It is only three miles from Clermont-Ferrand to the Château de +Roquemartine, and we came to it easily, without inquiries, Jack having +carefully studied the road map with Sir Samuel. He had only to stop at +the porter's lodge to make sure we were right, and then to teuf-teuf up +a long, straight avenue, sounding our musical siren as an announcement +of our arrival. It was only when I saw the fine old mansion on a +terraced plateau, its creamy stone white as pearl in the moonlight, its +rows upon rows of windows ablaze, that I remembered my position +disagreeably. I was going to stay at this charming place, as a servant, +not as a member of the house-party. I would have to eat in the servants' +hall--I, Lys d'Angely, whose family had been one of the proudest in +France. Why, the name de Roquemartine was as nothing beside ours. It had +not even been invented when ours was already old. What would my father +say if he could see his daughter arriving thus at a house which would +have been too much honoured by a visit from him? I was suddenly ashamed. +My boasted sense of humour, about which I am usually such a Pharisee, +sulked in a corner and refused to come out to my rescue, though I called +upon it. Funny it might be to eat in the kitchens of inns, but I could +not feel that it was funny to be relegated to the servants' brigade in +the private house of a countryman of my father. + +What queerly complicated creatures we little human animals are! An +avalanche of love hadn't destroyed my hunger. A knife-thrust in my +vanity killed it in an instant; and I can't believe this was simply +because I'm female. I shouldn't be surprised if a man might feel exactly +the same--or more so. + +"Oh, dear!" I sighed. "It's going to be horrid here. But"--with a stab +of remorse for my self-absorption--"it's just as bad for you as for me. +_You_ don't need to stay in the house, though. You're a man, and free. +Don't stop for my sake. I won't have it! Please live in an inn. There's +sure to be one near by." + +"I'm not going to look for it," said my brother. "You needn't worry +about me. I've got pretty callous. I shall have quarters for nothing +here--you're always preaching economy." + +But I wouldn't be convinced. "Pooh! You're only saying that, so that I +won't think you're sacrificing yourself for me. Do you know anything +about the Roquemartines?" + +"A little." + +"Good gracious, I hope you've never met them?" + +"I believe I lunched here with them once three years ago, with a +motoring friend of theirs." + +He stated this fact so quietly, that, if I hadn't begun to know him and +his ways, I might have supposed him indifferent to the situation; but--I +can hardly say why--I didn't suppose it. I supposed just the contrary; +and I respected him, and his calmness, twenty times more than before, if +that were possible. Besides, I would have loved him twenty times more, +only that was impossible. How much stronger and better he was than I--I, +who blurted out my every feeling! I, a stranger, felt the position +almost too hateful for endurance, simply because it was ruffling to my +vanity. He, an acquaintance of these people, who had been their guest, +resigned himself to herding with their servants, because--yes, I knew +it!--because he would not let me bear annoyances alone. + +"You can't, you _shan't_ stop in the house!" I gasped. "Leave me and the +luggage. Drive the car to the nearest village." + +"I don't _want_ to leave you. Can't you understand that?" he said. "I'm +not sacrificing myself." + +We were at the door. We had been heard. If I had suddenly been endowed +with the eloquence of Demosthenes, the gift would have come too late. +The door was thrown open, not by servants, but by a merry, curious crowd +of ladies and gentlemen, anxious to see the arrival of the belated, no +doubt much talked of, automobile. Light streamed out from a great hall, +which seemed, at first glance, to be half full of people in evening +dress, girls and young men, gay and laughing. Everybody was talking at +the same time, chattering both English and French, nobody listening to +anybody else, all intent on having a glimpse of the car. I believe they +were disappointed not to see it battered by some accident; sensations +are so dear to the hearts of idle ones. + +Sir Samuel Turnour came out, with two young men and a couple of girls, +while Lady Turnour, afraid of the cold, remained on the threshold in a +group of other women among whom she was violently conspicuous by the +blazing of her jewels. The others were all in dinner dress, with very +few jewels. She had attempted to atone for her blouse and short skirt by +putting on all her diamonds and a rope or two of pearls. Poor woman! I +knew her capable of much. I had not supposed her capable of this. + +Instinct told me that one of the young men with Sir Samuel was the +Marquis de Roquemartine, and I trembled with physical dread, as if under +a lifted lash, of his greeting to Jack. But the _pince-nez_ over +prominent, near-sighted eyes, gave me hope that my chauffeur might be +spared an unpleasant ordeal. Joy! the Marquis did not appear to +recognize him, and neither did the Marquise, if she were one of the +young women who had run out to the car. Maybe, if he could escape +recognition now, he might escape altogether. Once swept away among the +flotsam and jetsam below stairs, he would be both out of sight and out +of mind. I did not care about myself now, only for him, and I was +beginning to cheer up a little, when I noticed that the other young man +was gazing at the chauffeur very intently. + +His flushed face, and small fair moustache, his light eyes and hair, +looked as English as the Marquis' short, pointed chestnut beard and +sleek hair _en brosse_, looked French. "Bertie!" I said to myself, +flashing a glance at him from under my veil. + +Bertie, if Bertie it was, did not speak. He simply stared, mechanically +pulling an end of his tiny moustache, while Sir Samuel talked. But he +was so much interested in his stepfather's chauffeur that when the +really very pretty girl near him spoke, over his shoulder, he did not +hear. + +"Well, we began to think you'd tumbled over a precipice!" exclaimed Sir +Samuel, with the jovial loudness that comes to men of his age from good +champagne or the rich red wines of Southern France. + +Jack explained. The fair-haired young man let him finish in peace, and +then said, slowly, "Isn't your name Dane?" + +"It is," replied my brother. + +"Thought I knew your face," went on the other. "So you've taken to +chauffeuring as a last resort--what?" + +He was intended by Providence to be good looking, but so snobbish was +his expression as he spoke, so cruelly sarcastic his voice, that he +became hideous in my eyes. A bleached skull grinning over a tall collar +could not have seemed more repulsive than the pink, healthy features of +that young man with his single eye-glass and his sneer. + +Jack paid no more attention than if he had not heard, but the slight +stiffening of his face and raising of his eyebrows as he turned to Sir +Samuel, made him look supremely proud and distinguished, incomparably +more a gentleman in his dusty leather livery, than Bertie in his +well-cut evening clothes. + +"I called at the railway station, and the luggage will be here before +eight to-morrow morning," he said, quietly. + +"All right, all right," replied Sir Samuel, slow to understand what was +going on, but uncomfortable between the two young men. "I didn't know +that you were acquainted with my stepson, Dane." + +"It was scarcely an acquaintance, sir," said the chauffeur. "And I +wasn't aware that Mr. Stokes was your stepson." + +"If you had been, you jolly well wouldn't have taken the +engagement--what?" remarked Bertie, with a hateful laugh. + +This time Jack condescended to look at him; from the head down, from the +feet up. "Really," he said, after an instant's reflection, "it wouldn't +have been fair to Sir Samuel to feel a prejudice on account of the +relationship. If one of the servants would kindly show me the garage--" + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + + +If it hadn't been for the hope of seeing Jack again, I should have said +that I wanted nothing to eat, when I was asked; but I thought that he +might come to the servants' dining-room, if only because he would expect +to find me there; and I was right: he came. + +"What an imbroglio!" I whispered, as he joined me at the table, where +hot soup and cold chicken were set forth. + +"Not at all," said he, cheerfully. "Things are better for me than I +thought. Roquemartine didn't recognize me, I'm sure, for if he had, he +would have said so. He isn't a snob. But I rather hoped he would have +forgotten. I came as a stranger, brought by a friend of his and mine, +was here only for a meal (we were motoring then, too)--and it's three +years ago." + +"But the marquise?" + +"She's a bran new one. I fancied I'd heard that the wife died. This one +has the air of a bride, and I should say she's an American." + +"Yes. She is. The maid who showed me my room told me. The other girl who +came out of doors, is her sister. They're fearfully rich, it seems, and +that young brute wants to marry her." + +"Thank you for the descriptive adjective, my little partizan, but you're +troubling yourself for me more than you need. I don't mind, really. +It's all in a life-time, and I knew when I went in for this business, +that I should have to take the rough with the smooth. I was down on my +luck, and glad to get anything. What I have got is honest, and something +that I know I can do well--something I enjoy, too; and I'm not going to +let a vulgar young snob like that make me ashamed of myself, when I've +nothing to be ashamed of." + +"You ought to be proud of yourself, not ashamed!" I cried to him, trying +to keep my eyes cold. + +"Heaven knows there's little enough to be proud of. You'd see that, if I +bored you with my history--and perhaps I will some day. But anyhow, I've +nothing which I need to hide." + +"As if I didn't know that! But Bertie hates you." + +"I don't much blame him for that. In a way, the position in which we +stand to each other is a kind of poetical justice. I don't blame myself, +either, for I always did loathe a cad and Stokes is a cad par +excellence. He visited, more or less on suffrance, at two or three +houses where I used to go a good deal, in my palmy days. How he got +asked, originally, I don't exactly know, for the people weren't a bit +his sort; but money does a lot for a man in these days; and once in, he +wasn't easy to get rid of. He had a crawling way with any one he hoped +to squeeze any advantage out of--" + +"I suppose he crawled to you then," I broke in. + +"He did try it on, a bit, because I knew people he wanted to know; but +it didn't work. I rather put myself out to be rude to him, for I +resented a fellow like that worming himself into places where he had no +earthly right to be--no right of brains, or heart, or breeding. I must +admit, now I think of it, that he has several scores to wipe off; and +judging from the way he begins, he will wipe hard. Let him!" + +"No, no," I protested. "You mustn't let him. It's too much. You will +have to tell Sir Samuel that he must find a new chauffeur at once. It +hurts me like a blow to think of such a creature humiliating you. I +couldn't see it done." + +He looked at me very kindly, with quite all a brother's tenderness. "My +dear little pal," he said, "you won't have to see it." + +"You mean--you will go?" Of course, I wanted him to take my advice, or I +wouldn't have offered it, yet it gave me a heartache to think he was +ready to take it so easily. + +"I mean that I'm not the man to let myself be humiliated by a Bertie +Stokes. Possibly he may persuade his stepfather to sack me, but I don't +think he'll succeed in doing that, even if he tries. Sir Samuel, I +suppose, has given him every thing he has; sent him to Oxford (I know he +was there, and scraped through by the skin of his teeth), and allows him +thousands enough to mix with a set where he doesn't belong; but though +the old boy is weak in some ways, he has a strong sense of justice, and +where he likes he is loyal. I think he does like me, and I don't believe +he'd discharge me to please his stepson. Not only that, I should be +surprised if the promising Bertie wanted me discharged. It would be more +in his line to want me kept on, so that he might take it out of me." + +I shuddered; but Jack smiled, showing his white teeth almost merrily. +"You may see some fun," he said, "but it shan't be death to the frogs; +not so bad as that. And I shall have you to be kind to me." + +"Kind to you!" I echoed, rather tremulously. (If he only knew how kind I +should like to be!) "Yes, I will be kind. But I can't do anything to +make up for what you'll have to bear. You had better go." + +"Perhaps I would, if I could take you away with me, but that can't be. +And, no, even in that case, I should prefer to stick it out. I shouldn't +like to let that young bounder drive me from a place, whether I wanted +to go or not. And do you think I would clear out, and leave him to worry +you?" + +"He can't," I said. + +"I wish I were sure of that. When the beast sees you without your +veil--oh, hang it, you mustn't let him come near you, you know." + +"He isn't likely to take the slightest notice of his stepfather's wife's +maid," said I, "especially as he's dying to marry the American heiress +here." + +"Anyhow, be careful." + +"I shan't look at him if I can help it. And we shall be gone before +long. I believe the Turnours' invitation, which their Bertie was bribed +to ask for, is only for two or three days. How you _must_ have been +feeling when you were told to drive here! But you showed nothing." + +"I had a qualm or two when I was sure of the place; but then it was +over. It's far worse for you than for me. And I told you I've been +learning from you a lesson of cheerfulness. I was merely a Stoic +before." + +"It's nothing for me, comparatively," I said, and by this time, I was +quite sincere; but I didn't know then what the next twenty-four hours +were to bring. + +We were not left alone for long, but in ten minutes we had had our talk +out, while we played at eating the meal we had looked forward to with +eagerness before our appetites were crowded into the background. A fat +_sous chef_ flitted about; maids and valets glanced in; nevertheless, we +found time for a heart-warming hand pressure before we parted for the +night. Altogether, I had not had more than fifteen minutes in the +dining-room; yet when I left I felt a hundred times braver and more +cheerful. + +Already I had been to my mistress's quarters. The maid who took charge +of me on my arrival showed me that room before she showed me mine, and +explained the way from one to the other. My "bump of locality" was +tested, however, in getting back to her ladyship's part of the house, +for the castle has its intricacies. + +The word "château," in France, covers a multitude of comfortable, +unpretentious family mansions, as I had not to find out now, for the +first time; and the dwelling of the Roquemartines, though a fine old +house of the seventeenth century, is no more imposing, under its high, +slate roof, than many another. It is Lady Turnour's first experience, +though, as a visitor in the "mansions of the great," and when I had been +briskly unpacking for half an hour or so, she came in, somewhat subdued +by her new emotions. I think that she was rather glad to see a familiar +face, to have someone to talk to of whom she did not feel in awe, with +whom she need not be afraid of making some mistake; and she seemed +quite human to me, for the first time. + +Never had I seen her in such an expansive mood, not even when she gave +me the blouse. Instead of the cross words I had braced myself to expect, +she was almost friendly. She had felt a fool, she said, not being able +to dress for dinner, but then no one else could touch her, for jewels; +and didn't every one just stare, at the table, though, of course, she +hadn't put on her tiara, as that wouldn't have been suitable with a +blouse and short skirt! Sir Samuel's stepson had been quite nasty and +superior about the jewels, when he got at her, afterward, and she +believed would have been rude if he'd dared, but luckily he didn't know +her well enough for that; and he'd better be careful how far he went, or +he'd find things very different from what they'd been with him, since +his mother married Sir Samuel. As if men knew when women ought to wear +their jewels, and when not! But he was green with jealousy of the things +his stepfather had given her; wanted everything himself. + +She went on to describe the other members of the house party, and +mouthed their titles with delight, though she had only her own maid to +impress. Everyone had a title, it seemed, except Bertie, and the +American girl he wanted to marry, Miss Nelson, a sister of the young +marquise. Some of the titles were very high ones, too. There were +princes and princesses, and dukes and duchesses all over the place, +mostly French and Italian, though one of the duchesses was American, +like the marquise and her sister. + +"Not the Duchesse de Melun!" I exclaimed, before I stopped to think. + +"Yes, that's the name," said her ladyship, twisting round to look up at +me, as I wound her back hair in curling-pins. "What do you know about +her?" + +How I wished that I knew nothing--and that I hadn't spoken! + +The name had popped out, because the Duchesse de Melun is the only +American-born duchess of my acquaintance, and because I was hoping very +hard that the duchess of the Château de Roquemartine might _not_ be the +Duchesse de Melun. What bad luck that the Roquemartines had selected +that particular duchess for this particular house party, when they must +know plenty, and could just as well have chosen another specimen! + +"I have heard her name," I admitted, primly. And so I had, too often. "A +friend of mine was--was with her, once." + +"As her maid?" + +"Not exactly." + +"Another sort of servant, I suppose?" + +As her ladyship stated this as a fact, rather than asked it as a +question, I ventured to refrain from answering. Fortunately she didn't +notice the omission, as her thoughts had jumped to another subject. But +mine were not so readily displaced. They remained fastened to the +Duchesse de Melun; and while Lady Turnour talked, I was wondering +whether I could successfully contrive to keep out of the duchess's way. +She is quite intimate with Cousin Catherine; and I told myself that she +was pretty sure already to have heard the truth about my disappearance. +Or, if even with her friends, Cousin Catherine clings to +conventionalities, and pretends that I'm visiting somewhere by her +consent, people are almost certain to scent a mystery, for mysteries are +popular. "If that duchess woman sees me, she'll write to Cousin +Catherine at once," I thought. "Or I wouldn't put it _past_ her to +telegraph!" + +("Put it past" is an expression of Cousin Catherine's own, which I +always disliked; but it came in handy now.) + +I tried to console myself, though, by reflecting that, if I were +careful, I ought to be able to avoid the duchess. The ways of great +ladies and little maids lie far apart in grand houses and-- + +"There is going to be a servants' ball to-morrow night," announced Lady +Turnour, while my thoughts struggled out of the slough of despond. "And +I want you to be the best dressed one there, for _my_ credit. We're all +going to look on, and some of the young gentlemen may dance. The +marquise and Miss Nelson say they mean to, too, but I should think they +are joking. _I_ may not be a French princess nor yet a marquise, but I +_am_ an English lady, and I must say I shouldn't care to dance with my +cook, or my chauffeur." + +Her chauffeur would be at one with her there! But I could think of +nothing save myself in this crisis. "Oh, miladi, I _can't_ go to a +servants' ball!" I exclaimed. + +She bridled. "Why not, I should like to know? Do you consider yourself +above it?" + +"It isn't that," I faltered. (And it wasn't; it was that duchess!) +"But--but--" I searched for an excuse. "I haven't anything to wear." + +"I will see to that," said my mistress, with relentless generosity. "I +intend to give you a dress, and as you have next to nothing to do +to-morrow, you can alter it in time. If you had any gratitude in you, +Elise, you'd be out of yourself with joy at the idea." + +"Oh, I am out of myself, miladi," I moaned. + +"Well, you might say 'Thank your ladyship,' then." + +I said it. + +"When you have unpacked the big luggage in the morning, I will give you +the dress. I have decided on it already. Sir Samuel doesn't like it on +me, so I don't mind parting with it; but it's very handsome, and cost me +a great deal of money when I was getting my trousseau. It is scarlet +satin trimmed with green beetle-wing passementerie, and gold fringe." + +My one comfort, as I gasped out spasmodic thanks, was this: I would look +such a vulgar horror in the scarlet satin trimmed with green +beetle-wings and gold fringe, that the Duchesse de Melun might fail to +recognize Lys d'Angely. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + + +I dusted and shook out every cell in my brain, during the night, in the +hope of finding any inspiration which might save me from the servants' +ball; but I could think of nothing, except that I might suddenly come +down with a contagious disease. The objection to this scheme was that a +doctor would no doubt be sent for, and would read my secret in my lack +of temperature. + +When morning came, I was sullenly resigned to the worst. "Kismet!" said +I, as I unfolded her ladyship's dresses, and was blinded by the glare of +the scarlet satin. + +"Try it on," commanded my mistress. "I want to get an idea how you will +look." + +Naturally, the red thing was a Directoire thing; and putting it on over +my snug little black frock, I was like a cricket crawling into an empty +lobster-shell. But to my surprise and annoyance, the lobster-shell was +actually becoming to the cricket. + +I didn't want to look nice and be a credit to Lady Turnour. I wanted to +look a fright, and didn't care if I were a disgrace to her. But the +startling scarlet satin was Liberty satin, and therefore had a sheen, +and a soft way of folding that redeemed it somewhat. Its bright poppy +colour, its emerald beetle-wings shading to gold, and its glittering +fringes that waved like a wheat-field stirred by a breeze, all gave a +bizarre sort of "value," as artists say, to my pale yellow hair and dark +eyes. I couldn't help seeing that the dreadful dress made my skin pearly +white; and I was afraid that, when I had altered the thing, instead of +looking like a frump, I should only present the appearance of a rather +fast little actress. I should be looked at in my scarlet abomination. +People would stare, and smile. The Duchesse de Melun would say to the +Marquise de Roquemartine: "Who is that young person? She looks exactly +like someone I know--that little Lys d'Angely the millionaire-man, +Charretier, is so silly about." + +"You see, you can alter it very easily," said Lady Turnour. + +"Yes, miladi." + +"Have you got any dancing slippers?" + +"No--that is--I don't know--" + +"Don't be stupid. I will give you ten francs to buy yourself a pair of +red stockings and red slippers to match. The stockings needn't be silk. +They won't show much. Dane can take you in the car to Clermont-Ferrand +this afternoon. I want you to be all right, from head to feet--different +from any of the other maids." + +I didn't doubt that I would be different--very different. + +Tap, tap, a knock at the door. + +"Ontray!" cried her ladyship. + +The door opened. Mr. Herbert Stokes stood on the threshold. + +"I say, Lady T--" he began, when he saw the scarlet vision, and stopped. + +"What is it?" inquired the wife of his stepfather--rather a complicated +relation. + +"I--er--wanted--" drawled Bertie. "But it doesn't matter. Another +time." + +"You needn't mind _her_," said Lady Turnour, with a nod toward me. "It's +only my maid. I'm giving her a dress for the servants' ball to-night." + +Bertie gave vent to the ghost of a whistle, below his breath. He looked +at me, twisting the end of his small fair moustache, as he had looked at +Jack Dane last night; and though his expression was different, I liked +it no better. + +"Thought it was a new guest," said he. + +"I suppose you didn't take her for a lady, did you?" my mistress was +curious to know. "You pride yourself on your discrimination, your +stepfather says." + +"There's nothing the matter with my discrimination," replied the young +man, smiling. But his smile was not for her ladyship. It was for me; and +it was meant to be a piquant little secret between us two. + +How well I remembered asking the chauffeur, "_Could_ you know a Bertie?" +And how he answered that he had known one, and consequently didn't want +to know another. Here was the same Bertie; and now that I too knew him, +I thought I would prefer to know another, rather than know more of him. +Yet he was good-looking, almost handsome. He had short, curly light +hair, eyes as blue as turquoises, seen by daylight, full red lips under +the little moustache, a white forehead, a dimple in the chin, and a very +good figure. He had also an educated, perhaps too well educated, voice, +which tried to advertise that it had been made at Oxford; and he had +hands as carefully kept as a pretty woman's, with manicured, +filbert-shaped nails. + +"You're making her jolly smart," he went on. "She'll do you credit." + +"I want she should," retorted her ladyship, gratified and ungrammatical. + +"She must give me a dance--what?" condescended the gilded youth. "Does +she speak English?" + +"Yes. So you'd better be careful what you say before her." + +Bertie telegraphed another smile to me. I looked at the faded damask +curtains; at the mantelpiece with its gilded clock and two side-pieces, +Louis Seize at his worst, considered good enough for a bedroom; at the +drapings of the enormous bed; at the portière covering the door of Sir +Samuel's dressing-room; at the kaleidoscopic claret-and-blue figures on +the carpet; in fact, at everything within reach of my eyes except Mr. +Herbert Stokes. + +"I've nothing to say that she can't hear," said he, virtuously. "I only +wanted to know if you'd like to see the gardens? The marquise sent me to +ask. Several people who haven't been here before are goin'. It's a lot +warmer this mornin', so you won't freeze." + +Lady Turnour said that she would go, and ordered me to find her hat and +coat. As I turned to get them, Bertie smiled at me again, and threw me a +last glance as he followed my mistress out of the room. + +I begin to be afraid there is an innate vanity in me which nothing can +thoroughly eradicate without tearing me up by the roots; for when I was +ready to alter that red dress, instead of trying to make it look as +ridiculous as possible, something forced me to do my best, to study +fitness and becomingness. I do hope this is self-respect and not +vanity; but to hope that is, I fear, like believing in a thing which you +know isn't true. + +I worked all the morning at ensmalling the gown (if one can enlarge, why +can't one ensmall?) and by luncheon time it was finished. I had seen +Jack at breakfast, but had no chance for a word with him alone, although +he succeeded valiantly in keeping other chauffeurs, and valets, from +making my acquaintance. As I stopped only long enough for a cup of +coffee and a roll, I didn't give him too much trouble; but at luncheon +it was different. Everyone was chattering about the ball in the evening +(a privilege promised, it seemed, as a reward for hard work on the +occasion of a real ball above stairs), and house servants and visitors +alike were all so gay and good-natured that it would have been stupid to +snub them. Jack saw this, and though he protected me as well as he could +in an unobtrusive way, he put out no bristles. + +The general excitement was contagious, and if it hadn't been for the +panic I was in about the duchess, I should have thrown myself wholly +into the spirit of the hive, buzzing like the busiest bee in it. Even as +it was, I couldn't help entering into the fun of the thing, for it was +fun in its queer way. Something like being on the stage of a third-rate +theatre in the midst of a farce, where the actors mistake you for one of +themselves, calling upon you to play your part, while you alone know +that you are a leading member of the Comédie Française, just dropped in +at this funny place to look on. + +Here, the stage was on a much grander scale, and the play more amusing +than in the couriers' dining-rooms at the hotels where I had been. At +the hotels, the maids and valets scarcely knew each other. Some were in +a hurry, others were tired or in a bad humour. Here the little company +had been together for days. Meals were a relaxation, a time for +flirtation and gossip about their own and each other's masters and +mistresses. Each servant felt the liveliest interest in the "Monsieur" +or "Madame" of his or her neighbour; and the stories that were +exchanged, the criticisms that were made, would have caused the hair of +those _messieurs_ and those _mesdames_ to curl. + +If I was openly approved by the gentlemen's gentlemen, Mr. Jack Dane had +the undisguised admiration of the ladies' ladies; and he received their +advances with tact. Dances for the evening were asked for and promised +right and left, among the assemblage, always dependent upon summons from +Above. It was agreed that, if a Monsieur or Madame wished to dance with +you, no previous engagement was to stand, for all the castles and big +houses from far and near would be emptied in honour of the ball, from +drawing-rooms to servants' halls, and quality was to mingle with +quantity, as on similar occasions in England, whence--the chef +explained--came the fashion. It was a feature of _l'entente cordiale_, +and the same agreeable understanding was to level all barriers, for the +night, between high and low. + +Some of the visitors' _femmes de chambres_ were pretty, coquettish +creatures, and I was delighted to find that they were all called by +their mistresses' titles. The maid of my _bête noire_ was "Duchesse"; +she who pertained to our hostess was "Marquise," and I blossomed into +"Miladi." The girls were looking forward to rivalling their mistresses +in _chic_, and also in the admiration of the real princes and dukes and +counts; that they would have an exclusive right to the attentions of +these gentlemen's understudies also seemed to be expected. + +After half an hour at table in the servants' hall, there was nothing +left for me to find out about the owners of the castle and their guests; +but the principal interest of everyone seemed to centre upon the affair +between Mr. Herbert Stokes and the heiress sister of Madame la Marquise. +There were even bets among the valets as to how it was to end, and +Bertie's man, who looked as if he could speak volumes if he would, was a +person of importance. + +All the men admired Miss Nelson extremely, but the women were divided in +opinion. Her own maid, a bilious Frenchwoman, with a jealous eye, said +that the American miss was _une petite chatte_, who was playing off Mr. +Stokes against the Duc de Divonne, and it was a pity that the handsome +young English monsieur could not be warned of her unworthiness. The duke +was not handsome, and he was neither young nor rich, but--these +Americans were out for titles, just as titles were out for American +money. Why else had the marriage of Madame la Marquise, Miss Daisy's +elder sister, made itself? Miss Daisy liked Mr. Stokes, but he could not +give her a title. The duke could--_if_ he would. But would he? She was +rich, but there were others richer. People said that he was wary. Yet he +admired Miss Daisy, it was true, and if by her flirtation with Mr. +Stokes she could pique him into a proposal, she would have her triumph. + +This was only one of many dramas going on in the house, but it was the +most interesting to me, as to others, and I determined to look with all +my might at the duke and at pretty Miss Nelson, of whom I had only had a +glimpse on arriving. If she were really nice, I did hope that Bertie +wouldn't get her! + +My costume pressed as weightily on her ladyship's mind, as if I had been +a favourite poodle about to be sent, all ribboned and clipped, to a dog +show. She did not forget the slippers and stockings, and the chauffeur +was ordered to take me into Clermont-Ferrand to buy them. Fortunately +she didn't know how much I looked forward to the excursion! + +At precisely three o'clock I walked out to the castle garage, near the +stables, and found Jack getting the car ready; but I did not find him +alone. The garage is a big and splendid one, and not only were the three +household dragons in their stalls, but four or five strange beasts, pets +of visitors; and the finest of these (after our blue Aigle) was the +white Majestic of the Duc de Divonne. That gentleman, whom I recognized +easily from a description breathed into my ear by a countess's countess, +at luncheon, was in the garage when I arrived, showing off his +automobile to Miss Nelson. The ducal chauffeur lurked in the background, +duster in hand, and Mr. Herbert Stokes occupied as large a space as +possible in the foreground. + +Nobody deigned to take any open notice of me, though Bertie threw me a +stealthy smile of recognition, carefully screened from Miss Nelson, but +as the Aigle was swallowing a last refreshing draught of petrol, I had +time to observe the actors in the little drama whose plot I had already +heard. + +Yes, though Miss Daisy Nelson looked even prettier than I thought her +last night, I could quite believe the bilious maid's statement that she +was _une petite chatte_. Her green-gray eyes, very effective under thick +masses of auburn hair, were turned up at the outer corners in a +fascinating, sly little way; and her cupid-bow lips, which turned down +at _their_ corners, were a bit redder than Nature's formula ordains. +Nevertheless I couldn't help liking her, just as one likes a lovely, +playful Persian kitten which may rub its adorable nose against your +hand, or scratch with its naughty claws. And she was enjoying herself so +much, the pretty, expensive-looking creature! As Pamela would say, it +was evident that she was "having the time of her life," revelling in the +admiration and rivalry of the two men; delighted with her own power over +them, and her importance as a beauty and an heiress, the only unmarried +girl in the house party; amusing herself by making one man miserable and +the other happy, sending them up and down on a mental sea-saw, by turns. + +As for the little Duc de Divonne, his profile is of the Roman Emperor +order, and his eyes like the last coals in a dying fire. I said to +myself that, if Miss Nelson should become a duchess, she would have to +pay for some of her girlish antics in pre-duchess days. Still, I decided +that if I had to choose, it would be the duke before Bertie. + +The girl kept both her men busy, and after the first glance Bertie +ignored my existence: but the Duke, fired by a moment's neglect, flamed +out with an inspiration. He "dared" Miss Nelson to take a lesson from +him in driving his car, with no other chaperon than the chauffeur. "All +right, I will," said she, "and I bet you I'll be an expert after one +trial." + +"What do you bet?" asked the Duke. + +She smiled flirtatiously in answer and Bertie stood forlorn, his nice +pink complexion turning an ugly salmon colour. In a minute the white car +was off, Miss Nelson beside the duke, the chauffeur like a small nut in +a large shell, lolling in the tonneau. Bertie turned to us, and having +looked kindly at me, sharply demanded of Jack where he was going. + +"Mademoiselle has an errand." + +"Ah! then I'll drive Mademoiselle. Wish I had a tenner for every time +I've driven an Aigle! You can sit inside, in case there's work to do." + +My eyes opened widely, but I said nothing. I glanced at Jack, and saw +his face harden. + +"I have been told to drive the car, and it is my duty to drive it unless +I receive different orders," said he. + +"I'm giving you different orders," said Bertie. + +"I take my orders only from the owner of the car." + +"You're beastly impertinent," snapped Bertie, "and I'll report you to +Sir Samuel." + +"As you choose," returned Jack, turning the starting-handle. + +"Why don't you say 'sir' when you speak to me? You don't seem to have +trained into chauffeur manners yet." + +"If I were your chauffeur, you would have the right to criticize. As I'm +not, and never will be, you haven't. Mademoiselle, the car's ready. Will +you get in?" + +I jumped into my usual place, beside the driver's seat. + +"Ah, you sit by the chauffeur, do you?" said Bertie. "I don't wonder he +wants to keep his job." + +For an instant I was afraid that Jack would strike him. + +My blood rushed to my head, and I half rose from the seat, with a +choked, warning whisper of "Jack!" + +It was the first time I'd called him that, except to myself, and I saw +him give the faintest start. He looked at the other man, and then, +though Bertie stepped quickly forward as if to open the car door and +jump in, he sprang to his place, and we were off. + +"He means mischief," I said, when I felt able to speak. + +"So do I, if he does," answered Jack. + +"I wish you'd do me a favour," I went on. "Keep away from that awful +ball to-night." + +"What! With you there? I know my business better." + +I couldn't help laughing. "Your present business, I believe," said I, +"is that of a chauffeur." + +"With extra duty as watch-dog." + +"I can't bear to have you see me in the ridiculous get-up Lady Turnour +is making me wear, that's the selfish part of my reason--and--and it +will be so _horrid_ for you, in every way." + +"I'm callous to anything they can do now, except one thing." + +"What?" + +"If you don't know already, I mean where you're concerned." + +"You're very kind to me." + +"Kind? Yes, I am very 'kind.' A man has to be abnormally 'kind' to want +to look after a girl like you." + +"How bitterly you speak!" I exclaimed, hardly understanding him. + +"I feel bitter sometimes. Do you wonder? But for heaven's sake, don't +let's talk of me. Let's talk of something pleasant. Would you care to do +a little sight-seeing in Clermont-Ferrand, if your shopping doesn't take +us too long?" + +I assured him that it would not take ten minutes; and it didn't take +more. I saved a franc on the transaction, too, which would console her +ladyship if I got back a few minutes late; and with that thought in my +mind, I abandoned myself to the joy of the expedition. We went to the +Petrifying Fountain, and inspected its strange menagerie of stone +animals; we made a dash into the Cathedral where St. Louis was married, +and looked at the beautiful thirteenth-century glass in the windows, and +the strange frescoes; we rushed in and out of Notre Dame du Port, +stopping on the way in the _Place_ where the first Crusade was +proclaimed, and to gaze at the house and statue of Pascal. Jack would +squander some of his extremely hard earned money on a box of the burnt +almonds for which Clermont-Ferrand is celebrated; and when we had seen +everything I dared stop to see, he ran the car to Montferrand, to show +me some ancient and wonderful houses, famous all over France. Eventually +he threatened to spin me out to Royat, but I pleaded the certainty that +Lady Turnour would wish to change into her smartest tea-gown for "feef +oclocky" and that I must be there to assist at the ceremony. + +So we turned castleward, with all the speed the law allows, if not a +little more; and I arrived with a pair of red stockings, cheap +high-heeled slippers, a franc in change, and a queer presentiment of +dangerous things to happen. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + + +Although a good many neighbours were coming to the Château de +Roquemartine to look on at the servants' ball, they were all to drive or +motor over in their ordinary dinner dress; it was only the servants +themselves who were to "make toilettes." + +Lady Turnour, however, who regretted having missed the smart ball for +the great world, given a few nights before, determined that people +should be forced to appreciate her wealth and position; and the wardrobe +of Solomon in all his glory could hardly have produced anything to +exceed her gold tissue, diamanté. + +When I had squeezed, and poked, and pushed her into it, and was +bejewelling her, Sir Samuel came, as usual, to have his white cravat +tied by me. Bertie, too, appeared, dressed for dinner, and watched me +with silent amusement as I performed my evening duty for his stepfather. + +"Pretty gorgeous, aren't you?" he remarked to Lady Turnour; but she was +flattered rather than annoyed by the criticism, and sailed away +good-natured, leaving me to gather up the few jewels of her collection +which she had discarded. Lately I had been trusted with her treasures, +and felt the responsibility disagreeably, especially as my +mistress--when she remembered it--counted everything ostentatiously +over, after relieving me of my charge. + +To-night I had just begun picking up the brooches, bracelets, diamond +stars, coronets and bursting suns which illuminated the dressing-table +firmament, when Bertie walked in again, through the door that he had +left ajar. + +"I came back because my necktie's a failure," said he. "My man must be +in love, I should think. Probably with you! Anyhow, something's the +matter; his fingers are all thumbs. But you turned out my old governor +rippin'ly. You'll do me, won't you?" + +As he spoke, he untied his cravat, and produced another. + +"I'm sorry," I said. "I don't know how to do _that_ kind of tie." + +"What--what?" he stared. "It's just the same as the governor's--only a +little better. Come along, there's a dear." He had pushed the door to; +now he shut it. + +I walked to the other end of the room, and began folding a blouse. +"You'd better give your valet another trial," I said. "I'm _not_ a +valet. I'm Lady Turnour's maid." + +"She's in luck to get you." + +"I'm engaged to wait upon _her_." + +"You are stiff! You do the governor's tie." + +"Sir Samuel's very kind to me." + +"Well, I'll be kind, too. I'd like nothing better. I'll be a lot kinder +than he'd dare to be. I say, I've got a present for you--something +rippin', that you'll like. You can wear it at the ball to-night, but +you'd better not tell anyone who gave it to you--what? You shall have +it for tyin' my necktie. Now, don't you call that 'kind'?" + +I stopped folding the blouse, and increased my height by at least an +inch. "No," I said, "I call it impertinent, and I shall be obliged if +you will leave Lady Turnour's room. That's the only thing you can do for +me." + +"By Jove!" said Bertie. "What theatre were you at before you took to +lady's maidin'?" + +To this I deigned no answer. + +"Anyhow, you're a rippin' little actress." + +Silence. + +"And a pretty girl. As pretty as they make 'em." + +I invented a new kind of sigh, a cross between a snarl and a moan. + +"Tell me, what's the mystery? There is a mystery about you, you know. +Not a bit of good tryin' to deceive me.... You might as well own up. I +can keep a secret as well as the next one." + +A tapping of my foot. A slamming of a wardrobe door, which was able to +squeak furiously without loss of dignity. + +"What _were_ you before my lady took you on?... Look here, if you don't +answer, I shall begin to think the secret's got to do with _those_." And +he pointed to the dressing table, where the jewels still lay. He even +put out his hand and took up the bursting sun. (How I sympathized with +it for bursting!) "Worth somethin'--what?" + +"You can think whatever you like," I flashed at him, "if only you'll go +out of this room." + +"Pity your chauffeur isn't at hand for you to run to," Bertie half +sneered, half laughed, for he was keeping his hateful, teasing good +nature. "And by the way, talkin' of him, since you're such a little +prude, I'll just warn you in a friendly way to look out for that chap. +You don't know his history--what? I'm sure the governor doesn't." + +"Sir Samuel knows he can drive, and that he's a _gentleman_," said I, +with meaning emphasis. + +"Well, I've warned you," replied Bertie, injured. "You may see which one +of us is really your friend, before you're out of this galley. But if +you want to be a good and happy little girl, you'd best be nice to me. I +shall find out all about you, you know." + +That was his exit speech; and the only way in which I could adequately +express my opinion of it was to bang the door on his back. + + * * * * * + +The ball was in a huge vault of a room which had once been a granary. +The stone floor had been worn smooth by many feet and several centuries, +and the blank gray walls were brightened with drapery of flags, yards of +coloured cotton, paper flowers and evergreens, arranged with an effect +which none save Latin hands could have given. Dinner above and below +stairs was early, and before ten the guests began to assemble in the +ballroom. All the servant-world had dined in ball costume, excepting +Jack and myself, and it was only at the last minute that the cricket +hopped upstairs and wriggled into its neatly reduced lobster shell. + +I had visions of my brother lurking gloomily yet observantly in obscure +corners, ready at any moment for a _sortie_ in my defence; but when I +sneaked, sidled, and slid into the ballroom, making myself as small as +possible that I might pass unobserved in spite of my sensational +redness, I had a surprise. Near the door stood the chauffeur in evening +dress, out-princing and out-duking every prince and duke among the +Marquise de Roquemartine's guests. And I, who hadn't even known that he +possessed evening clothes, could not have opened my eyes wider if my +knight had appeared in full armour. + +I had broken the news of the scarlet dress to him, nevertheless I saw it +was a shock. To each one, the other was a new person, as we stood and +talked together. I said not a word about my scene with Bertie, for there +was trouble enough between the two already; but when Jack told me that, +if I were asked to dance by anyone objectionable, I must say I was +engaged to him, I knew which One loomed largest and ugliest in his mind. + +A glance round the big, bright room showed me many strangers. All were +servants, however, for the grand people had not yet come down to play +their little game of condescension. A band from Clermont-Ferrand was +making music, but the ball was to be opened by the marquise and her +guests, who were to honour their servants by dancing the first dance +with them. Each noble lady was to select a cook, butler, footman, +chauffeur, or groom, according to her pleasure; and each noble lord was +to lead out the female worm which least displeased his eye. + +Hardly had I time to dive deep into the wave of domesticity, when the +great moment arrived, and a spray of aristocracy sprinkled the top of +that heavy wave, with the dazzling sparkle of its jewels and its beauty. +Really it was a pretty sight! I had to admire it; and in watching the +play of light and colour I forgot my private worries until I saw Bertie +bowing before me. + +The marquise had just honoured her own butler. The marquis was offering +his arm to the housekeeper; the Duc de Divonne had led out Miss Nelson's +bilious maid, appalling in apple-green: Miss Nelson was returning the +compliment by giving her hand to his valet: why should not this young +gentleman dance with his step-mother-in-law's maid? + +There seemed no reason why not, except the maid's disinclination; and +sudden side-slip of the brain caused by the glassy impudence in Mr. +Stokes's eye so disturbed my equilibrium that I forgot Jack's offer. He +did not forget, however--it would hardly have been Jack, if he had--but +stepped forward to claim me as I began to stammer some excuse. + +"Oh, come, that isn't playin' the game," said Bertie. "We're all dancin' +with servants this turn. Go ask a lady, Dane." + +"I have asked a lady, and she has promised to dance with me," said Jack. +"Miss d'Angely--" + +"Oh, that's the lady's name, is it? I'm glad to know," mumbled Bertie, +as Jack whisked me away from under his nose. + +"By Jove, I oughtn't to have let that out, ought I?" said Jack, +remorseful. "The less he knows about you, the better; and as Lady +Turnour has no idea of pronunciation, if it hadn't been for my +stupidity--" + +"Don't call it that," I stopped him, as we began to dance. "It doesn't +matter a bit--unless it should occur to the Duchesse de Melun to ask +him questions about me. And I'd rather not think about that possibility, +or anything else disagreeable, to spoil this heavenly waltz." + +"You _can_ dance a little, can't you?" said Jack, in a tone and with a +look that made the words better than any compliment any other man had +ever paid me on my dancing, though I'd been likened to feathers, and +vine-tendrils, and various poetically airy things. + +"You aren't so bad yourself, brother," I retorted, in the same tone. +"Our steps suit, don't they?" + +He muttered something, which sounded like "Just a little better than +anything else on earth, that's all"; but of course it couldn't really +have been what my ears tried to make my vanity believe. + +When we stopped--which we didn't do while there was music to go on +with--I was conscious that people were looking at us, and nobody with +more interest than the Duchesse de Melun. I glanced hastily away before +my eye had quite caught hers; but no female thing needs to give a whole +eye to what is going on around her. I knew, although my back was soon +turned in her direction, that the Duchesse de Melun was talking to Lady +Turnour, and I guessed the subject of the conversation. Thank goodness, +my mistress's mind had never compassed more than a misleading "Elise," +and thank goodness, also, many of the great folk were preparing to leave +us humble ones to ourselves, now that their condescension had been +proved in the first dance. Would the duchess go? Yes--oh joy!--she gets +up from her seat. She moves toward the door. Lady Turnour has risen too, +but sits down again, lured by the proximity of a princess. All will be +well, perhaps! The duchess mayn't think of catechizing Bertie, now that +my mistress has put her off the track. He, with several other young men, +evidently means to stop and see the fun out. If only he would sit still, +now, beside the marquise! But no. Miss Nelson and the Duc de Divonne are +going out together. Bertie must needs jump up and dash across the room +for a word with the girl. Discouraged by some laughing answer flung over +her shoulder, he almost bumps against the duchess. Horror! She speaks to +him quite eagerly. She puts a question. He replies. She bends her head +near to him. They walk slowly out of the room, talking, talking. All is +up with Lys d'Angely! The next thing that Meddlesome Matty of a +duchess will do, is to wire Cousin Catherine Milvaine. Crash! +thunder--lightning--hail!--Monsieur Charretier on my track again. + + * * * * * + +I resolved, as I saw myself lying shattered at my own feet, to pick up +the bits and say nothing to Jack, lest he should blame his own +inadvertent dropping of my name for all present and future mischief. +Being a man, he can see things only with his eyes; and as he happened to +be looking at me, he missed the pantomime at the other end of the room. +I was looking at him too, but of course that didn't prevent me from +seeing other things; and while I was chatting with him, and wondering +how long it might be before the thunderbolt (Monsieur Charretier) should +fall, I received another invitation to dance. This time it was from a +delightful old boy who looked sixty and felt twenty-one. + +He was ruddy-brown, with tight gray curls on his head, and deep dimples +in his cheeks. If anyone had told me that he was not an English admiral +I should have known it was a fib. + +"I hope you aren't engaged for this next waltz?" said he. "I should like +very much to have it with you." And he spoke as nicely as he would to a +young girl of his own world, although he must have heard from someone +that I was a lady's maid. + +I glanced at Jack, but evidently he approved of admirals as partners for +his sister. He kept himself in the background, smiling benevolently, and +I skipped away with my brown old sailor, as the music for the dance +began. + +"Heard you spoke English," said he, encircling my Directoire waist with +the arm of a sea-going Hercules, "otherwise I shouldn't have had the +courage to come up and speak to you." + +I laughed. "A Dreadnought afraid of a fishing-smack!" + +"My word, if you were a fishin'-smack, my little friend, you wouldn't +lack for fish to catch," chuckled the old gentleman, who was waltzing +like an elderly angel--as all sailors do. Now, if Bertie had said what +he said, I should have been offended, but coming from the admiral it +cheered me up. + +"You _are_ an admiral, aren't you?" I was bold enough to ask. + +"Who told you that?" he wanted to know. + +"My eyes," said I. + +"They're bright ones," he retorted. "But I suppose I do look an old +sea-dog--what? A regular old salt-water dog. But by George, it's hot +water I've got into to-night. D'ye see that stout lady we're just +passin'?--the one in the red wig and yellow frock covered with paste or +diamonds?" + +(If she could have heard the description! It was Lady Turnour, in her +gold tissue, her Bond Street jewellery shop, and, my charge, her +beautifully undulated, copper-tinted transformation.) + +"Yes, I see her," I said faintly, as we waltzed past; and I wondered why +she was glaring. + +"I suppose you didn't notice me doin' the first dance with her? Well, I +asked her because they said we'd all got to invite servants to begin +with, and as the best were snapped up before I got a chance, I walked +over to her like a man. Give you my word, where all are dressed like +duchesses, I took her for a cook." + +I laughed so much that I shook my feet out of time with the music. + +"Did you treat her like a cook, too?" I gurgled. "Ask her to give you +her favourite recipe for soup?" + +"Heaven forbid, no. I treated her like a countess. One would a cook, you +know. It was afterward I got into the hot water. I popped her down in a +seat when we'd scrambled through a turn or two of the dance, and that +was all right; but instead of stoppin' where she was put, she must have +stood up with some other poor chap when my back was turned, and been +plamped down somewhere else. Anyhow, I danced the end of the waltz with +the Marquise de Roquemartine, when she'd finished doin' the polite to +the butler, and when we sat down to breathe at last, for the sake of +somethin' to say I asked if the fat lady in yellow was her own cook, or +a visitor's cook. Anyhow, I was certain of the _cook_: fancied myself on +spottin' a cook anywhere. Well, the marquise giggled 'Take care!' and +nearly had a fit. And if there wasn't my late partner close to my +shoulder. 'That's Lady Turnour, one of my guests,' said the marquise. +Little witch, she looked more pleased than shocked; but 'pon my honour, +you could have knocked me down with a feather. I hope the good lady +didn't hear, but my friends tell me I talk as if I were yellin' through +a megaphone, so I'm afraid she got the news." + +"What did you do?" I gasped. + +"Do? I jumped up as if I'd been shot, and trotted over to ask you to +dance. But I expect it will get about." + +Now I knew why Lady Turnour had glared. Poor woman! I was really sorry +for her--on this, her happy night! + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX + + +"It never rains, but it pours, after dry weather," says Pamela de Nesle. +And so it was for the Turnour family. They had had their run of luck, +and everything determinedly went wrong for them that night. + +For her ladyship, there was the dreadful douche of the admiral's +mistake, and the Marquise de Roquemartine's coming to hear of it. +(Wicked little witch, I'm sure she couldn't resist telling the story to +everyone!) For Bertie, the blow of an announcement, before the ball was +over, that Miss Nelson was going to marry the Duc de Divonne (she went +out of the room to get engaged to him). For Sir Samuel, a telegram from +his London solicitors advising him to hurry home and straighten out some +annoying business tangle. + +After all, however, I doubt that the telegram ought to be classed among +disasters, as it gave the family a good excuse to escape without delay +from the château which they had so much wished to enter. + +Lady Turnour had hysterics in her bedroom, having retired early on +account of a "headache." She pretended that her rage was caused by a +rent in her golden train, made by "that clumsy Admiral Gray who came +over with the Frasers, and had the impudence to almost _force_ me to +dance with him--gouty old horror!" But I know it was the rent in her +vanity, not her dress, which made her gurgle, and wail, and choke, until +frightened Sir Samuel patted her on the back, and she stopped short, to +scold him. + +Bertie came in, ostensibly to learn his father's plans, but really, I +surmised, to suggest some of his own; and Lady Turnour relieved her +feelings by stirring up evil ones in him. "So sure you were going to get +the girl! Why, you wrote your stepfather the other day, you were +practically engaged," she sneered, delighted that she was not the only +one who had suffered humiliations at the castle. + +"If she hadn't seen you, I believe it would have been all right," +growled Bertie, vicious as a chained dog who has lost his bone. And then +Lady Turnour had hysterics all over again, and Sir Samuel told Bertie +that he was an ungrateful young brute. The three raged together, and I +could not go, because I had to hold sal-volatile under her ladyship's +nose. Lady Turnour said that the marquise was no lidy, and for her part +she was glad she wasn't going to have that cat of a sister in _her_ +family. She'd leave the beastly chattoe that night, if she could; but +anyhow, she'd go the first thing in the morning as ever was, so there! +People that let their visitors be insulted, and did nothing but +laugh!--_She'd_ show them, if they ever came to London, _that_ she +would, though she mightn't be a marquise herself, exactly. Not one of +the lot should ever be invited to her house, not if they were all +married to Bertie. And who was Bertie, anyhow? + +Sir Samuel said 'darling' to her, and quite different words that began +with "d" to his stepson; and Bertie, seeing the error of his ways, +apologized humbly. His apologies were eventually accepted; and when he +had intimated to her ladyship that she should be introduced to all his +"swell friends" in England, it was settled that he should make one of +the party in the car, his valet travelling by train. As this arrangement +completed itself, Mr. Bertie suddenly remembered my presence, and +flashed me a look of triumph. + +I, listening silently, had been rejoicing in the development of the +situation as far as I was concerned; for the sooner we got away from the +château, the less likely was Monsieur Charretier to succeed in catching +us up. But when I heard that we were to have Bertie with us, my heart +sank, especially as his look told me that I counted for something in his +plan. The chauffeur counted for something, too, I feared. In any case, +the rest of the tour was spoiled, and if it hadn't been for the thought +that when it was over, Jack and I might meet no more, I should have +wished it cut short. + +Good-byes were perfunctory in the morning, and nobody seemed heartbroken +at parting from the Turnour family. The big luggage, packed early and in +haste, was sent on to Paris; and when the chauffeur had disposed of +Bertie's additions to the Aigle's load, hostilities began. + +"Put down that seat for me," said Mr. Stokes to Mr. Dane, indicating one +of the folding chairs in the glass cage, and carefully waiting to do so +until I was within eye and earshot. + +They glared at each other like two tigers, for an instant, and then Jack +put the seat down--I knew why. A refusal on his part to do such a +service for his master's stepson would mean that he must resign or be +discharged--and leave me to deal unaided with a cad. I think Bertie +knew, too, why he was unhesitatingly obeyed; and racked his brain for +further tests. It was not long before he had a brilliant idea. + +The car stopped at a level crossing, to let a train go by, and Bertie +availed himself of the opportunity to get out. + +"Sir Samuel's going' to let me try my hand at drivin'," said he. "I +don't think much of your form, and I've been tellin' him so. My best pal +is a director of the Aigle company, and I've driven his car a lot of +times. Her ladyship will let Elise sit inside, and I'll watch your style +a bit before I take the wheel." + +Not a word said Jack. He didn't even look at me as he helped me down +from the seat which had been mine for so many happy days. I crept +miserably into the stuffy glass cage, where, in the folding chair, I sat +as far forward as my own shape and the car's allowed; Sir Samuel's fat +knees in my back, Lady Turnour's sharp voice in my ears. And for +scenery, I had Bertie's aggressive shoulders and supercilious +gesticulations. + +The road to Nevers I scarcely saw. I think it was flat; but Bertie's +driving made it play cup and ball with the car in a curious way, which a +good chauffeur could hardly have managed if he tried. We passed Riom, +Gannat, Aigueperse, I know; and at Moulins, in the valley of the Allier, +we lunched in a hurry. To Nevers we came early, but it was there we were +to stop for the night, and there we did stop, in a drizzle of rain which +prevented sight-seeing for those who had the wish, and the freedom, to +go about. As for me, I was ordered by Lady Turnour to mend Mr. Stokes's +socks, he having made peace by offering to "give her a swagger dinner in +town." + +Bertie's cleverness was not confined to ingratiating himself with her +ladyship. He contrived adroitly to damage the steering-gear by grazing a +wall as he turned the Aigle into the hotel courtyard, and by this feat +disposed of the chauffeur's evening, which was spent in hard work at the +garage. Such dinner as Jack got, he ate there, in the shape of a furtive +sandwich or two, otherwise we should not have been able to leave in the +morning at the early hour suggested by Mr. Stokes. + +Warned by the incidents of yesterday, Sir Samuel desired his chauffeur +to take the wheel again from Nevers to Paris. But--no doubt with the +view of keeping us apart, and devising new tortures for his +enemy--Bertie elected to play Wolf to Jack's Spartan Boy, and sit beside +him. This relegated me to the cage again, with back-massage from Sir +Samuel's knees. + +Before Fontainebleau, I found myself in a familiar land. As far as +Montargis I had motored with the Milvaines more than once, conducted by +Monsieur Charretier, in a great car which might have been mine if I had +accepted it, not "with a pound of tea," but with two hundred pounds of +millionaire. I knew the lovely valley of the Loing, and the forest which +makes the world green and shadowy from Bourrau to Fontainebleau, a world +where poetry and history clasp hands. I should have had plenty to say +about it all to Jack, if we had been together, but I was still inside +the car, and by this time Bertie had induced his stepfather to consent +to his driving again. He pleaded that there had been something wrong +with the ignition yesterday. That was why the car had not gone well. It +had not been his fault at all. Sir Samuel, always inclined to say "Yes" +rather than "No" to one he loved, said "Yes" to Bertie, and had cause to +regret it. Close to Fontainebleau Mr. Stokes saw another car, with a +pretty girl in it. The car was going faster than ours, as it was higher +powered and had a lighter load. Naturally, being himself, it occurred to +Bertie that it would be well to show the pretty girl what he could do. +We were going up hill, as it happened, and he changed speed with a +quick, fierce crash. The Aigle made a sound as if she were gritting her +teeth, shivered, and began to run back. Bertie, losing his head, tried a +lower speed, which had no effect, and Lady Turnour had begun to shriek +when Jack leaned across and put on the hand-brake. The car stopped, just +in time not to run down a pony cart full of children. + +No wonder the poor dear Aigle had gritted her teeth! Several of them +turned out to be broken in the gear box. + +"We're done!" said Jack. "She'll have to be towed to the nearest garage. +Pity we couldn't have got on to Paris." + +"Can't you put in some false teeth?" suggested Lady Turnour, at which +Bertie laughed, and was thereupon reproached for the accident, as he +well deserved to be. + +Then the question was what should be the next step for the passengers. I +expected to be trotted reluctantly on to Paris by train, leaving Jack +behind to find a "tow," and see the dilemma through to an end of some +sort, but to my joyful surprise Bertie used all his wiles upon the +family to induce them to stop at Fontainebleau. It was a beautiful +place, he argued, and they would like it so much, that they would come +to think the breakdown a blessing in disguise. In any case, he had +intended advising them to pause for tea, and to stay the night if they +cared for the place. They would find a good hotel, practically in the +forest; and he had an acquaintance who owned a château near by, a very +important sort of chap, who knew everybody worth knowing in French +society. If the Governor and "Lady T." liked, he would go dig his friend +up, and bring him round to call. Maybe they'd all be invited to the +château for dinner. The man had a lot of motors and would send one for +them, very likely--perhaps would even lend a car to take them on to +Paris to-morrow morning. + +I listened to these arguments and suggestions with a creepy feeling in +the roots of my hair, for I, too, have an "acquaintance" who owns a +château near Fontainebleau: a certain Monsieur Charretier. He, also, has +a "lot of motors" and would, I knew, if he were "in residence" be +delighted to lend a car and extend an invitation to dinner, if informed +that Lys d'Angely was of the party. Could it be, I thought, that Mr. +Stokes was acquainted with Monsieur Charretier, or that, not being +acquainted, he had heard something from the Duchesse de Melun, and was +making a little experiment with me? + +Perhaps I imagined it, but it seemed that he glanced my way +triumphantly, when Lady Turnour agreed to stay in the hope of meeting +the nameless, but important, friend; and I felt that, whatever +happened, I must have a word of advice from Jack. + +The discussion had taken place in the road, or rather, at the side of +the road, where the combined exertions of Jack and Bertie had pushed the +wounded Aigle. The chauffeur, having examined the car and pronounced her +helpless, walked back to interview a carter we had passed not long +before, with the view of procuring a tow. Now, just as the discussion +was decided in favour of stopping over night at Fontainebleau, he +appeared again, in the cart. + +We were so near the hotel in the woods that we could be towed there in +half an hour, and, ignominious as the situation was, Lady Turnour +preferred it to the greater evil of walking. I remained in the car with +her, the chauffeur steered, the carter towed, and Sir Samuel and his +stepson started on in advance, on foot. + +At the hotel Jack was to leave us, and be towed to a garage; but, in +desperation, I murmured an appeal as he gave me an armful of rugs. "I +_must_ ask you about something," I whispered. "Can you come back in a +little less than an hour, and look for me in the woods, somewhere just +out of sight of the hotel?" + +"Yes," he said. "I can and will. You may depend on me." + +That was all, but I was comforted, and the rugs became suddenly light. + +Rooms were secured, great stress being laid upon a good sitting-room (in +case the important friend should call), and I unpacked as usual. When my +work was done, I asked her ladyship's permission to go out for a little +while. She looked suspicious, clawed her brains for an excuse to refuse, +but, as there wasn't a buttonless glove, or a holey stocking among the +party, she reluctantly gave me leave. I darted away, plunged into the +forest, and did not stop walking until I had got well out of sight of +the hotel. Then I sat down on a mossy log under a great tree, and looked +about for Jack. + +A man was coming. I jumped up eagerly, and went to meet him as he +appeared among the trees. + +It was Mr. Herbert Stokes. + + + + +CHAPTER XXX + + +"I followed you," he said. + +"I thought so," said I. "It was like you." + +"I want to talk to you," he explained. + +"But I don't want to talk to you," I objected. + +"You'll be sorry if you're rude. What I came to say is for your own +good." + +"I doubt that!" said I, looking anxiously down one avenue of trees after +another, for a figure that would have been doubly welcome now. + +"Well, I can easily prove it, if you'll listen." + +"As you have longer legs than I have, I am obliged to listen." + +"You won't regret it. Now, come, my dear little girl, don't put on any +more frills with me. I'm gettin' a bit fed up with 'em." + +(I should have liked to choke him with a whole mouthful of "frills," the +paper kind you put on ham at Christmas; but as I had none handy, I +thought it would only lead to undignified controversy to allude to +them.) + +"I had a little conversation about you with the Duchesse de Melun night +before last," Bertie went on, with evident relish. "Ah, I thought that +would make you blush. I say, you're prettier than ever when you do that! +It was she began it. She asked me if I knew your name, and how Lady T. +found you. Her Ladyship couldn't get any further than 'Elise,' for, if +she knew any more, she'd forgotten it; but thanks to your friend the +shuvver, I could go one better. When I told the duchess you called +yourself d'Angely, or something like that, she said 'I was sure of it!' +Now, I expect you begin to smell a rat--what?" + +"I daresay you've been carrying one about in your pocket ever since," I +snapped, "though I can't think what it has to do with me. I'm not +interested in dead rats." + +"This is your own rat," said Bertie, grinning. "What'll you give to know +what the duchess told me about you?" + +"Nothing," I said. + +"Well, then, I'll be generous and let you have it for nothing. She told +me she thought she recognized you, but until she heard the name, she +supposed she must be mistaken; that it was only a remarkable resemblance +between my stepmother's maid and a girl who'd run away under very +peculiar circumstances from the house of a friend of hers. What do you +think of that?" + +"That the duchess is a cat," I replied, promptly. + +"Most women are." + +"In _your_ set, perhaps." + +"She said there was a man mixed up with the story, a rich middle-aged +chap of the name of Charretier, with a big house in Paris and a new +château he'd built, near Fontainebleau. She gave me a card to him." + +"He's sure not to be at home," I remarked. + +Bertie's face fell; but he brightened again. "Anyhow you admit you know +him." + +"One has all sorts of acquaintances," I drawled, with a shrug of my +shoulders. + +"You're a sly little kitten--if you're not a cat. You heard me say I +thought of calling at the château." + +"And you heard me say the owner wasn't at home." + +"You seem well acquainted with his movements." + +"I happened to see him, on his way south, at Avignon, some days ago." + +"Did he see you?" + +"Isn't that my affair--and his?" + +"By Jove--you've got good cheek, to talk like this to your mistress's +stepson! But maybe you think you won't have difficulty in finding a +place that pays you better--what?" + +"I couldn't find one to pay me much worse." + +"Look here, my dear, I'm not out huntin' for repartee. I want to have an +understanding with you." + +"I don't see why." + +"Yes, you do, well enough. You know I like you--in spite of your +impudence." + +"And I dislike you because of yours. Oh, do go away and leave me, Mr. +Stokes." + +"I won't. I've got a lot to say to you. I've only just begun, but you +keep interruptin' me, and I can't get ahead." + +"Finish then." + +"Well, what I want to say is this. I always meant we should stop at +Fontainebleau." + +"Oh--you damaged your stepfather's car on purpose! He would be obliged +to you." + +"Not quite that. I intended to get them to have tea here, and while +they were moonin' about I was going to have a chat with you. I was goin' +to tell you about that card to Charretier, and somethin' else. That the +duchess asked me where we would stop in Paris, and I told her at the +best there is, of course--Hotel Athenée. She said she'd wire her friends +you'd run away from, that they could find you there; and if Charretier +wasn't at Fontainebleau when we passed through, these people would +certainly know where to get at him. I warned you the other night, didn't +I? that if you wouldn't be good and confide in me I'd find out what you +refused to tell me yourself; and I have, you see. Clever, aren't I?" + +"You're the hatefullest man I ever _heard_ of!" I flung at him. + +"Oh, I say! Don't speak too soon. You don't know all yet. If you don't +want me to, I won't call on Charretier. Lady T. and her tuft-huntin' can +go hang! And you shan't stop at the Athenée to be copped by the +Duchess's friends, if you don't like. That's what I wanted to see you +about. To tell you it all depends on yourself." + +"How does it depend on myself?" I asked, cautiously. + +"All you have to do, to get off scot free is to be a little kind to poor +Bertie. You can begin by givin' him a kiss, here in the poetic and +what-you-may-call-'em forest of Fontainebleau." + +"I wouldn't kiss you if you were made of gold and diamonds, and I could +have you melted down to spend!" I exclaimed. And as I delivered this +ultimatum, I turned to run. His legs might be longer than mine, but I +weighed about one-third as much as he, which was in my favour if I chose +to throw dignity to the winds. + +As I whisked away from him, he caught me by the dress, and I heard the +gathers rip. I had to stop. I couldn't arrive at the hotel without a +skirt. + +"You're a cad--a _cad_!" I stammered. + +"And you're a fool. Look here, I can lose you your job and have you sent +to the prison where naughty girls go. See what I've got in my pocket." + +Still grasping my frock, he scooped something out of an inner pocket of +his coat, and held it for me to look at, in the hollow of his palm. I +gave a little cry. It was Lady Turnour's gorgeous bursting sun. + +"I nicked that off the dressin' table the other night, when you weren't +looking. Has Lady T. been askin' for it?" + +"No," I answered, speaking more to myself than to him. "She--she's had +too much to think of. She didn't count her things that night; and at +Nevers she didn't open the bag." + +"So much the worse for you, my pet, when she does find out. She left her +jewels in your charge. When I came into the room, they were all lyin' +about on the dressin' table, and you were playin' with 'em." + +"I was putting them back into her bag." + +"So you say. Jolly careless of you not to know you hadn't put this thing +back. It's about the best of the lot she hadn't got plastered on for the +servants' ball." + +"It was careless," I admitted. "But it was your fault. You came in, and +were so horrid, and upset me so much that I forgot what I'd put into +the bag already, and what I hadn't." + +"Lady T. doesn't know I went back to her room." + +"I'll tell her!" I cried. + +"I'll bet you'll tell her, right enough. But I can tell a different +story. I'll say I didn't go near the room. My story will be that I was +walkin' through the woods this afternoon on my way to Charretier's +château when I saw you with the thing in your hands, lookin' at it. +Probably goin' to ask the shuvver to dispose of it for you--what? and +share profits." + +"Oh, you coward!" I exclaimed, and snatched the diamond brooch from him. + +Instantly he let go my dress, laughing. + +"_That's_ right! That's what I wanted," he said. "Now you've got it, and +you can keep it. I'll tell Lady T. where to look for it--unless you'll +change your mind, and give me that kiss." + +I was so angry, so stricken with horror and a kind of nightmare fear +which I had not time to analyze, that I stood silent, trembling all +over, with the brooch in my hand. How silly I had been to play his game +for him, just like the poor stupid cat who pulled the hot chestnut out +of the fire! I don't think any chestnut could ever have been as hot as +that bursting sun! + +I wanted to drop it in the grass, or throw it as far as I could see it, +but dared not, because it would be my fault that it was lost, and Lady +Turnour would believe Bertie's story all the more readily. She would +think he had seen me with the jewel, and that I'd hidden it because I +was afraid of what he might do. + +"To kiss, or not to kiss. _That's_ the question," laughed Bertie. + +"Is it?" said Jack. And Jack's hand, inside Mr. Stokes's beautiful, tall +collar, shook Bertie back and forth till his teeth chattered like +castanets, and his good-looking pink face grew more and more like a +large, boiled beetroot. + +I had seen Jack coming, long enough to have counted ten before he came. +But I didn't count ten. I just let him come. + +Bertie could not speak: he could only gurgle. And if I had been a Roman +lady in the amphitheatre of Nîmes, or somewhere, I'm afraid I should +have wanted to turn my thumb down. + +"What was the beast threatening you with?" Jack wanted to know. + +"The beast was threatening to make Lady Turnour think I'd stolen this +brooch, which he'd taken himself," I panted, through the beatings of my +heart. + +"If you didn't kiss him?" + +"Yes. And he was going to do lots of other horrid things, too. Tell +Monsieur Charretier--and let my cousins come and find me at the Hotel +Athenée, in Paris, and--" + +"He won't do any of them. But there are several things I am going to do +to him. Go away, my child. Run off to the house, as quick as you can." + +I gasped. "What are you going to do to him?" + +"Don't worry. I shan't hurt him nearly as much as he deserves. I'm only +going to do what the Head must have neglected to do to him at school." + +[Illustration: "_Jack's hand, inside Mr. Stokes's beautiful, tall +collar, shook Bertie back and forth till his teeth chattered like +castanets_"] + +Bertie had come out into the woods with a neat little stick, which +during part of our conversation he had tucked jauntily under his arm. It +now lay on the ground. I saw Jack glance at it. + +"Ah!"--I faltered. "Do--do you think you'd _better_?" + +"I know I had. Go, child." + +I went. + +I had great faith in Jack, faith that he knew what was best for +everyone. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI + + +Unfortunately I forgot to ask for instructions as to how I should behave +when I came to the hotel. And I had the bursting sun still in my hand. + +I thought things over, as well as I could with a pounding pulse for +every square inch in my body. + +If I were a rabbit, I could scurry into my hole and "lay low" while +other people fought out their destiny and arranged mine; but being a +girl, tingling with my share of American pluck, and blazing with French +fire, rabbits seemed to me at the instant only worthy of being made into +pie. + +Bertie, at this moment, was being made into pie--humble pie; and I don't +doubt that the chauffeur, whom he had consistently tortured (because of +me) would make him eat a large slice of himself when the humble pie was +finished--also because of me. And because it was because of me, I +knocked at the Turnours' sitting-room door with a bold, brave knock, as +if I thought myself their social equal. + +They had had tea, and were sitting about, looking graceful in the +expectation of seeing Bertie and his French friend. + +It was a disappointment to her ladyship to see only me, and she showed +it with a frown, but Sir Samuel looked up kindly, as usual. + +I laid the bursting sun on the table, and told them everything, very +fast, without pausing to take breath, so that they wouldn't have time to +stop me. But I didn't begin with the bursting sun, or even with the +beating that Bertie was enjoying in the woods; I began with the Princess +Boriskoff, and Lady Kilmarny; and I addressed Sir Samuel, from beginning +to end. Somehow, I felt I had his sympathy, even when I rushed at the +most embarrassing part, which concerned his stepson and the necktie. + +Just as I'd told about the brooch, and Bertie's threat, and was coming +to his punishment, another knock at the door produced the two young men, +both pale, but Jack with a noble pallor, while Bertie's was the sick +paleness of pain and shame. + +"I've brought him to apologize to Miss d'Angely, in your presence, Sir +Samuel, and Lady Turnour's," said the chauffeur. "I see you know +something of the story." + +"They know all now," said I. For Bertie's face proved the truth of my +words, if they had needed proof. His eyes were swimming in tears, and he +looked like a whipped school-boy. + +But suddenly a whim roused her ladyship to speak up in his defence--or +at least to criticize the chauffeur for presuming to take her stepson's +chastisement into his hands. + +"What right have you to set yourself up as Elise's champion, anyway?" +she demanded, shrilly. "Have you and she been getting engaged to each +other behind our backs?" + +"It would be my highest happiness to be engaged to Miss d'Angely if she +would marry me," said Jack, with such a splendidly sincere ring in his +voice that I could almost have believed him if I hadn't known he was in +love with another woman. "But I am no match for her. It's only as her +friend that I have acted in her defence, as any decent man has a right +to act when a lady is insulted." + +Then Bertie apologized, in a dull voice, with his eyes on the ground, +and mumbled a kind of confession, mixed with self-justification. He had +pocketed the brooch, yes, meaning to play a trick, but had intended no +harm, only a little fun--pretty girl--lady's-maids didn't usually mind a +bit of a flirtation and a present or two; how was he to know this one +was different? Sorry if he had caused annoyance; could say no more--and +so on, and so on, until I stopped him, having heard enough. + +Poor Sir Samuel was crestfallen, but not too utterly crushed to reproach +his bride with unwonted sharpness, when she would have scolded me for +carelessness in not putting the brooch away. "Let the girl alone!" he +grumbled, "she's a very good girl, and has behaved well. I wish I could +say the same of others nearer to me." + +"Of course, Sir Samuel, after what's happened, you wouldn't want me to +stay in your employ, any more than I would want to stay," said Jack. +"Unfortunately the Aigle will be hung up two or three days, till new +pinions can be fitted in, at the garage. I can send them out from Paris, +if you like; but no doubt you'll prefer to have my engagement with you +to come to an end to-day. Mr. Stokes has driven the car, and can again." + +"Not if I have anything to say about it," murmured her ladyship. +"Scattering the poor thing's teeth all over the place!" + +"There are plenty of good chauffeurs to be got at short notice in +Paris," Jack suggested, "and you are certain to find one by the time +you're ready to start." + +"You're right, Dane. We'll have to part company," said Sir Samuel. "As +for Elise here--" + +"She'll have to go too," broke in her ladyship. "It's most inconvenient, +and all your stepson's fault--though she's far from blameless, in my +humble opinion, whatever yours may be. Don't tell me that a young man +will go about flirting with lady's maids unless they encourage him!" + +"I shall leave of course, immediately," said I, my ears tingling. + +"Who wants you to do anything else? Though nobody cares for _my_ +convenience. _I_ can always go to the wall. But thank heaven there are +maids in Paris as well as chauffeurs. And talking of that combination, +my advice to you is, if Dane's willing to have you, don't turn up your +nose at him, but marry him as quickly as you can. I suppose even in your +class of life there's such a thing as _gossip_." + +I was scarlet. Somehow I got out of the room, and while I was scurrying +my few belongings into my dressing bag, and spreading out the red satin +frock to leave as a legacy to Lady Turnour (in any case, nothing could +have induced me to wear it again), Sir Samuel sent me up an envelope +containing a month's wages, and something over. I enclosed the +"something over" in another envelope, with a grateful line of refusal, +and sent it back. + +Thus ends my experience as a motor maid! + + * * * * * + +What was going to become of me I didn't know, but while I was jamming in +hatpins and praying for ideas, there came a knock at the door. A +pencilled note from the late chauffeur, signed hastily, "Yours ever, +J.D.," and inviting me down to the couriers' dining-room for a +conference. There would be no one there but ourselves at this hour, he +said, and we should be able to talk over our plans in peace. + +What a place to say farewell forever to the only man I ever had, could +or would love--a couriers' dining room, with grease spots on the +tablecloth! However, there was no help for it, since I was facing the +world with fifty francs, and could not afford to pay for a romantic +background. + +After all that had happened, and especially after certain impertinent +references made to our private affairs, I felt a new and very +embarrassing shyness in meeting the man with whom I'd been playing that +pleasant little game called "brother and sister." He was waiting for me +in the couriers' room, which was even dingier and had more grease spots +than I had fancied, and I hurried into speech to cover my nervousness. + +"I don't know how I'm going to thank you for all you've done for me," I +stammered. "That horrible Bertie--" + +"Let's not talk of him," said Jack. "Put him out of your mind for ever. +He has no place there, or in your life--and no more have any of the +incidents that led up to him. You've had a very bad time of it, poor +little girl, and now--" + +"Oh, I haven't," I exclaimed. "I've been happier than ever before in my +life. That is--I--it was all so novel, and like a play--" + +"Well, now the play's over," Jack broke in, pitying my evident +embarrassment. "I wanted to ask you if you'd let me advise and perhaps +help you. We _have_ been brother and sister, you know. Nothing can take +that away from us." + +"No," said I, in a queer little voice. "Nothing can." + +"You want to go to England, I know," he went on. "And--if you'll forgive +my taking liberties, you haven't much money in hand, you've almost told +me. I suppose you haven't changed your mind about your relations in +Paris? You wouldn't like to go back to them, or write, and tell them +firmly that you won't marry the person they seem to have set their +hearts on for you? That you've made your own choice, and intend to abide +by it; but that if they'll be sensible and receive you, you're willing +to stop with them until--until the man in England--" + +"_What_ man in England?" I cut him short, in utter bewilderment. + +"Why, the--er--you didn't tell me his name, of course, but that rich +chap you expected to meet when you got over to England. Don't you think +it would be better if he came to you at your cousins', if they--" + +"There _isn't_ any 'rich chap'," I exclaimed. "I don't know what you +mean--oh, _yes_, I do, too. I did speak about someone who was very rich, +and would be kind to me. I rather think--I remember now--I _guessed_ +you imagined it was a man; but that seemed the greatest joke, so I +didn't try to undeceive you. Fancy your believing that, all this time, +though, and thinking about it!" + +"I've thought of it on an average once every three minutes," said Jack. + +"You're chaffing now, of course. Why, the person I hoped might be kind +to me in England is an old lady--oh, but such a funny old lady!--who +wanted me to be her companion, and said, no matter when I came, if it +were years from now, I must let her know, for she would like to have me +with her to help chase away a dragon of a maid she's afraid of. I met +her only once, in the train the night before I arrived at Cannes; but +she and I got to be the greatest friends, and her bulldog, Beau--." + +"Her bulldog, Beau!" + +"A perfect lamb, though he looks like a cross between a crocodile and a +gnome. The old lady's name is Miss Paget--" + +"My aunt!" + +I stared at Jack, not knowing how to take this exclamation. The few +Englishmen I met when mamma and I were together, or when I lived with +the Milvaines, were rather fond of using that ejaculation when it was +apparently quite irrelevant. If you told a youthful Englishman that you +were not allowed to walk or bicycle alone in the Bois, he was as likely +as not to say "My aunt!" In fact, whatever surprised him was apt to +elicit this cry. I have known several young men who gave vent to it at +intervals of from half to three-quarters of an hour; but I had never +before heard Jack make the exclamation, so when I had looked at him and +he had looked at me in an emotional kind of silence for a few seconds, I +asked him, "Why 'My aunt'?" + +"Because she is my aunt." + +"Surely not my Miss Paget?" + +"I should think it highly improbable that your Miss Paget and my Miss +Paget could be the same, if you hadn't mentioned her bulldog, Beau. +There can't be a quantity of Miss Pagets going about the world with +bulldogs named Beau. Only my Miss Paget never does go about the world. +She hates travelling." + +"So does mine. She said that being in a train was no pursuit for a +gentlewoman." + +"That sounds like her. She's quite mad." + +"She seemed very kind." + +"I'm glad she did--to you. She has seemed rather the contrary to me." + +"Oh, what did she do to you?" + +"Did her best to spoil my life, that's all--with the best intentions, no +doubt. Still, by Jove, I thank her! If it hadn't been for my aunt I +should never have seen--my sister." + +"Thank you. You're always kind--and polite. Do you mean it was because +of _her_ you took to what you call 'shuvving'?" + +"Exactly." + +"But I thought--I thought--" + +"What?" + +"I--don't dare tell you." + +"I should think you might know by this time that you can tell me +anything. You _must_ tell me!" + +"I thought it was the beautiful lady who was with you the first time +you saw the battlement garden at Beaucaire, who ruined your life?" + +"Beautiful lady--battlement garden? Good heavens, what extraordinary +things we seem to have been thinking about each other: I with my man in +England; you with your beautiful lady--" + +"She's a different thing. You _talked_ to me about her," I insisted. +"Surely you must remember?" + +"I remember the conversation perfectly. I didn't explain my meaning as a +professor demonstrates a rule in higher mathematics, but I thought you +couldn't help understanding well enough, especially a vain little thing +like you." + +"I, vain? Oh!" + +"You are, aren't you?" + +"I--well, I'm afraid I am, a little." + +"You could never have looked in the glass if you weren't. Didn't you +see, or guess, that I was talking about an Ideal whom I had conjured +into being, as a desirable companion in that garden? I can't understand +from the way the conversation ran, how you could have helped it. When I +first went to the battlement garden I was several years younger, steeped +with the spirit of Provence and full of thoughts of Nicolete. I was just +sentimental enough to imagine that such a girl as Nicolete was with me +there, and always afterward I associated the vision of the Ideal with +that garden. I said to myself, that I should like to come there again +with that Ideal in the flesh. And then--then I did come again--with +you." + +"But you said--you thought of her always--that because you couldn't +have her--or something of the sort--" + +"Well, all that was no surprise to you, was it? You must have known +perfectly well--ever since that night at Avignon when you let your hair +down, anyhow, if not before, that I was trying desperately hard not to +be an idiot about you--and not exactly radiant with joy in the thought +that whoever the man was who would get you, it couldn't be I?" + +"O-oh!" I breathed a long, heavenly breath, that seemed to let all the +sorrows and worries pour out of my heart, as the air rushed out of my +lungs. "O-oh, you _can't_ mean, truly and really, that you're in love +with Me, can you?" + +"Surely it isn't news to you." + +"I should think it was!" I exclaimed, rapturously. "Oh, I'm so happy!" + +"Another scalp--though a humble one?" + +"Don't be a beast. I'm so horribly in love with you, you know. It's been +hurting so _dreadfully_." + +Then I rather think he said "My darling!" but I'm not quite sure, for I +was so busy falling into his arms, and he was holding me so very, very +tightly. + +We stayed like that for a long time, not saying anything, and not even +thinking, but feeling--feeling. And the couriers' dining-room was a +princess's boudoir in an enchanted palace. The grease spots were stars +and moons that had rolled out of heaven to see how two poor mortals +looked when they were perfectly happy. Just a poor chauffeur and a motor +maid: but the world was theirs. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII + + +After a while we talked again, and explained all the cross-purposes to +each other, with the most interesting pauses in between the +explanations. And Jack told me about himself, and Miss Paget. + +It seems that her only sister was his mother, and she had been in love +with his father before he met the sister. The father's name was Claud, +and Jack was named after him. It was Miss Paget's favourite name, +because of the man she had loved. But the first Claud wasn't very lucky. +He lost all his own money and most of his wife's, and died in South +America, where he'd gone in the hope of making more. Then the wife, +Jack's mother, died too, while he was at Eton. After that Miss Paget's +house was his home. Whenever he was extravagant at Oxford, as he was +sometimes, she would pay his debts quite happily, and tell him that +everything she had would be his some day, so he was not to bother about +money. Accordingly, he didn't bother, but lived rather a lazy life--so +he said--and enjoyed himself. A couple of years before I met him he got +interested, through a friend, in a newly invented motor, which they both +thought would be a wonderful success. Jack tried to get his aunt +interested, too, but she didn't like the friend who had invented +it--seemed jealous of Jack's affection for him--and refused to have +anything to do with the affair. Jack had gone so far, however, while +taking her consent for granted, that he felt bound to go on; and when +Miss Paget would have nothing to do with floating the new invention, +Jack sold out the investments of his own little fortune (all that was +left of his mother's money), putting everything at his friend's +disposal. Miss Paget was disgusted with him for doing this, and when the +motor wouldn't mote and the invention wouldn't float, she just said, "I +told you so!" + +It was at this time, Jack went on to tell me, that Miss Paget bought +Beau. She had had another dog, given her by Jack, which died, and she +collected Beau herself. Only a few days after Beau's arrival, Jack went +down into the country to see his aunt and talk things over; for she had +brought him up to expect to be her heir; and as she wanted him with her +continually, as if he had been her son, she had objected to his taking +up any profession. Now that he'd lost his own money in this unfortunate +speculation, he felt he ought to do something not to be dependent upon +her, his income of two hundred a year having been sunk with the +unfloatable motor invention. He meant to ask Miss Paget to lend him +enough to go in as partner with another friend, who had a very thriving +motor business, and to suggest paying her back so much a year. But +everything was against him on that visit to his aunt's country house. + +In the first place, she was in a very bad humour with him, because he +had gone against her wishes, and she didn't want to hear anything more +about motors or motor business. Then, there was Beau, as a _tertium +quid_. + +Beau had been bought from a dreadful man who had probably stolen, and +certainly ill-treated him. The dog was very young, and owing to his late +owner's cruelty, feared and hated the sight of a man. Since she had had +him Miss Paget had done her very best to spoil the poor animal, +encouraging him to growl at the men-servants, and laughing when he +frightened away any male creature who had come about the place. While +she and Jack were arguing over money and motors, who should stroll in +but Beau, who at sight of a stranger--a man--closeted with his indulgent +mistress, flew into a rage. He seized Jack by the trouser-leg and began +to worry it, and Jack had to choke him before the dog would let go his +grip. + +The sight of this dreadful deed threw Miss Paget into hysterics. She +shrieked that her nephew was cruel, ungrateful--that he had never loved +her, that he cared only for her money, and now that he grudged her the +affection of a dog with which _he_ had had nothing to do; that the dog's +dislike for him was a warning to her, and made her see him in his true +light at last. "Go--go--out of my sight--or I'll set my poor darling at +you!" she cried, and Jack went, after saying several rather frank +things. + +At heart he was fond of his aunt, in spite of her eccentricities, and +believed that she was of him, therefore he expected a letter of apology +for her injustice and a request to come back. But no such letter ever +arrived. Perhaps Miss Paget thought it was _his_ place to apologize, and +was waiting for him to do so. In any case, they had never seen each +other again; and after a few weeks, Jack received a formal note from +his aunt's solicitor saying that, as she realized now he had "no real +affection for her or _hers_" he need look for no future advantages from +her, but was at liberty to take up any line of business he chose. Miss +Paget would "no longer attempt to interfere with his wishes or direct +his affairs." + +This must have been a pleasant letter for a penniless young man, just +robbed of all his future prospects. His own money gone, and no hope of +any to put into a profession or business! Jack lived as he could for +some months, trying for all sorts of positions, making a few guineas by +sketches and motoring articles for newspapers, and somehow contriving to +keep out of debt. He went to France to "write up" a great automobile +race, as a special commission; but the paper which had given the +commission--a new one devoted to the interests of motoring--suddenly +failed. Jack found himself stranded; advertised for a position as +chauffeur, and got it. There was the history which he "hadn't inflicted +on me before, lest I should be bored." + +He was interested to hear of Miss Paget's journey to Italy, and knew all +about the cousin who had died, leaving her money which she didn't need, +and a castle in Italy which she didn't want. He laughed when I told him +how the redoubtable Simpkins refused to trust herself upon that "great +nasty wet thing," which was the Channel: but nothing could hold his +attention firmly except _our_ affairs. For his affairs and my affairs +were not separate any longer. They were joined together for weal or woe. +Whatever happened, however imprudent the step might be, he decided that +we must be married. We loved each other; each was the other's world, and +nothing must part us. Besides, said Jack, I needed a protector. I had no +home, and he could not have me persecuted by creatures who produced Corn +Plasters. His idea was to take me to England at once, and have me there +promptly made Mrs. John Dane, by special licence. He had a few pounds, +and a few things which he could sell would bring in a few more. Then, +with me for an incentive, he should get something to do that was worth +doing. + +I said "Yes" to everything, and Jack darted away to converse with a nice +man he had met in the garage, who had a motor, and was going to Paris +almost immediately. If he had not gone yet, perhaps he would take us. + +Luckily he had not gone, and he did take us. He took us to the Gare du +Nord, where we would just have time to eat something, and catch the boat +train for Calais. We should be in London in the morning, and Jack would +apply for a special licence as early as possible. + +I stood guarding our humble heap of luggage, while Jack spent his +hard-earned sovereigns for our tickets, when suddenly I heard a voice +which sounded vaguely familiar. It was broken with distress and +excitement; still I felt sure I had heard it before, and turned quickly, +exclaiming "Miss Paget!" + +There she was, with a dressing bag in one hand, and a broken dog-leash +in the other. Tears were running down her fat face (not so fat as it had +been) under spectacles, and her false front was put on anyhow. + +"Oh, my dear girl!" she wailed, without showing the slightest sign of +astonishment at sight of me. "What a mercy you've turned up, but it's +just like you. Have you seen my Beau anywhere?" + +"No," I said, rather stiffly, for I couldn't forgive her or her dog for +their treatment of my Jack. + +"Oh, dear, what shall I do!" she exclaimed. "He hates railway stations. +You can't think the awful time we've had since you left me in the train +at Cannes. And now he's broken his leash, and run away, and I can't +speak any French, except to ask for hot water in Italian, and I don't +see how I'm going to find my darling again. They'll snatch him up, to +fling him into some terrible, murderous waggon, and take him to a lethal +home, or whatever they call it. For heaven's sake, go and ask everybody +where he is--and if you find him you can have anything on earth I've +got, especially my Italian castle which I can't sell. You can come to +England with me and Beau, when you've got him, and I'll make you happy +all the rest of your life. Oh, go--_do_ go. I'll look after your +luggage." + +"It's half your own nephew's, Jack Dane's, luggage," said I, breathless +and pulsing. "I'm going to England with him, and _he's_ going to make me +happy all the rest of my life, for we mean to be married, in spite of +your cruelty which has made him poor, and turned him into a chauffeur. +But--here he comes now. And--why, Miss Paget, there's _Beau_ walking +with him, without any leash. Beau must remember him." + +"Beau with Jack Dane!" gasped the old lady. "Jack Dane's found Beau? +_Beau's_ forgiven him! Then so will I. You can both have the Italian +castle--and everything that goes with it. And everything else that's +mine, too, except Beau." + +"Hello, aunt, here's your dog," said Jack. + +Beau licked his foot. + + + + * * * * * + + + +Transcriber's note: + +In converting this book the following evident typographical +errors were corrected, causing differences from the original: + p. 65, correct spelling of "Gaspard de Besse"; + p. 79, correct accent in "Hyères"; + p. 102, correct spelling of "Le Buisson Ardent"; + p. 140, insert t in "At first"; + p. 291, change "be began" to "he began." + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MOTOR MAID*** + + +******* This file should be named 17342-8.txt or 17342-8.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/7/3/4/17342 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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