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diff --git a/20632-h/20632-h.htm b/20632-h/20632-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5f36b16 --- /dev/null +++ b/20632-h/20632-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,7385 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<html> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1" /> +<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Molly Brown's Orchard Home, by Nell Speed</title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + p { margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; + } + hr { width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; + } + + table {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;} + + body{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + + .linenum {position: absolute; top: auto; left: 4%;} /* poetry number */ + .blockquot{margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 10%;} + .pagenum {position: absolute; left: 92%; font-size: smaller; text-align: right;} /* page numbers */ + .sidenote {width: 20%; padding-bottom: .5em; padding-top: .5em; + padding-left: .5em; padding-right: .5em; margin-left: 1em; + float: right; clear: right; margin-top: 1em; + font-size: smaller; background: #eeeeee; border: dashed 1px;} + + .bb {border-bottom: solid 2px;} + .bl {border-left: solid 2px;} + .bt {border-top: solid 2px;} + .br {border-right: solid 2px;} + .bbox {border: solid 2px;} + + .center {text-align: center;} + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + .u {text-decoration: underline;} + + .caption {font-weight: bold;} + + .figcenter {margin: auto; text-align: center;} + + .figleft {float: left; clear: left; margin-left: 0; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: + 1em; margin-right: 1em; padding: 0; text-align: center;} + + .figright {float: right; clear: right; margin-left: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em; + margin-top: 1em; margin-right: 0; padding: 0; text-align: center;} + + .footnotes {border: dashed 1px;} + .footnote {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 0.9em;} + .footnote .label {position: absolute; right: 84%; text-align: right;} + .fnanchor {vertical-align: super; font-size: .8em; text-decoration: none;} + + .poem {margin-left:10%; margin-right:10%; text-align: left;} + .poem br {display: none;} + .poem .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;} + .poem span.i0 {display: block; margin-left: 0em;} + .poem span.i2 {display: block; margin-left: 2em;} + .poem span.i4 {display: block; margin-left: 4em;} + hr.full { width: 100%; + margin-top: 3em; + margin-bottom: 0em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + height: 4px; + border-width: 4px 0 0 0; /* remove all borders except the top one */ + border-style: solid; + border-color: #000000; + clear: both; } + pre {font-size: 80%;} + // --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> +</head> +<body> +<h1>The Project Gutenberg eBook, Molly Brown's Orchard Home, by Nell Speed</h1> +<pre> +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 <a href = "http://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></pre> +<p>Title: Molly Brown's Orchard Home</p> +<p>Author: Nell Speed</p> +<p>Release Date: February 19, 2007 [eBook #20632]</p> +<p>Language: English</p> +<p>Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1</p> +<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MOLLY BROWN'S ORCHARD HOME***</p> +<p> </p> +<h3>E-text prepared by Suzanne Shell, Mary Meehan,<br /> + and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team<br /> + (http://www.pgdp.net/c/)</h3> +<p> </p> +<hr class="full" /> +<p> </p> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<a href="images/cover.jpg"><img src="images/cover.jpg" alt=""/></a> +</div> +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + + +<h1>MOLLY BROWN'S ORCHARD HOME</h1> + +<h2><span class="smcap">By</span> NELL SPEED</h2> + +<h3><span class="smcap">Author of</span></h3> + +<h3>"The Tucker Twins Series," "The Carter Girls Series," etc.</h3> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + + +<h4>A. L. BURT COMPANY<br /> +Publishers New York<br /> +Printed in U. S. A.</h4> + + + +<h4>Copyright, 1915,<br /> +BY<br /> +HURST & COMPANY</h4> + +<h4>Printed in U. S. A.</h4> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<a href="images/frontis.jpg"><img src="images/frontis.jpg" alt=""/></a> +</div> + +<h3>Jo proved to be a singularly tactful hostess.</h3> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CONTENTS</h2> + +<!-- Autogenerated TOC. Modify or delete as required. --> +<p> +<a href="#CHAPTER_I">CHAPTER I. <span class="smcap">Letters</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER II. <span class="smcap">Bon Voyage</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER III. <span class="smcap">The Deep Sea</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER IV. <span class="smcap">What Molly Overheard</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER V. <span class="smcap">Paris</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER VI. <span class="smcap">La Marquise</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_VII">CHAPTER VII. <span class="smcap">The Faubourg</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">CHAPTER VIII. <span class="smcap">The Opera</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_IX">CHAPTER IX. <span class="smcap">The Postscript</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_X">CHAPTER X. <span class="smcap">Bohemia</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XI">CHAPTER XI. <span class="smcap">A Studio Tea in the Latin Quarter</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XII">CHAPTER XII. <span class="smcap">The Green-eyed Monster</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">CHAPTER XIII. <span class="smcap">A Julia Kean Scrape</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XIV">CHAPTER XIV. <span class="smcap">Coals of Fire</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XV">CHAPTER XV. <span class="smcap">Mr. Kinsella's Indian Summer</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XVI">CHAPTER XVI. <span class="smcap">Apple Blossom Time in Normandy</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XVII">CHAPTER XVII. <span class="smcap">The Ghost in the Chapel</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XVIII">CHAPTER XVIII. <span class="smcap">The Prescription</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XIX">CHAPTER XIX. <span class="smcap">Fontainebleau and What Came of It</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XX">CHAPTER XX. <span class="smcap">More Letters</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XXI">CHAPTER XXI. <span class="smcap">Molly Brown's Orchard Home</span></a><br /><br /> +<a href="#Other_books_by_AL_Burt_Company">Other books by A.L. Burt Company</a><br /> +</p> +<!-- End Autogenerated TOC. --> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>Molly Brown's Orchard Home.</h2> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I.</h2> + +<h3>LETTERS.</h3> + + + + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>From Miss Molly Brown of Kentucky to Miss Nance Oldham of Vermont.</p> + +<p>Chatsworth, Kentucky.</p> + +<p>My dearest Nance:</p> + +<p>Our passage to Antwerp is really engaged and in two weeks Mother +and I will be on the water. I can hardly believe it is I, Molly +Brown, about to have this "great adventure." That is what Mother +and I call this undertaking: "Our great adventure." Mother says it +sounds Henry Jamesy and I take her word for it (so far I have not +read that novelist), but he must be very interesting, as Mother and +Professor Green used to discuss him for hours at a time.</p> + +<p>Our going is not quite so happy as we meant it to be. Kent can't +come with us as we had planned, but will have to stay in Louisville +for some months, and may not be able to leave at all this winter. +There is some complication of our affairs, that makes it best for +him to be on hand until the matter is settled. I remember how +interested you were in the fact that oil was found on my mother's +land and that she expected to realize an independent income from +the sale of the land, also pay off the mortgage on Chatsworth, our +beloved home. Don't be too uneasy, the oil is there all right +enough and we shall finally get the money, but the arrangement was: +so much down and the rest when the wells should begin operation.</p> + +<p>The first payment Mother used immediately to pay the mortgage, but +the second payment has not been made yet, as Mother's sister, Aunt +Clay, living on the adjoining place, has got out an injunction +against the Oil Trust as a public nuisance, and all work in the oil +land has had to be stopped for the time being. The lawyer for the +Trust told my brother, Paul, that Aunt Clay has not a leg to stand +on, but of course the law has to take its leisurely course, and in +the meantime the money for Mother is not forthcoming until the +wells are in operation. Aunt Clay is in her element, making +everyone as uncomfortable as possible and engaged in a foolish +lawsuit. She is always going to law about something and always +losing. We are devoutly thankful that her suit is with the Trust +and not our Mother, as we know that Mother is so constituted she +could not stand up against a member of her family in a lawsuit. I +truly believe she would let Aunt Clay take the oil lands and all +the rest of Chatsworth, rather than have a row over it.</p> + +<p>This property, where the oil was found, was given to Mother by Aunt +Clay when she settled up Grandfather Carmichael's estate. Of course +she considered the property of no value or she would never have let +it out of her clutches, and as executrix and administratrix of the +estate she had absolute power. Now that she sees it is worth more +than all the rest put together, she is in such a rage with Mother +that it is really absurd. She does not want us to go to Paris and +is furious at the idea of Kent's "stopping work," as she calls it. +She has got out this injunction just to keep us from going, I +believe, as she is intelligent enough to know there is no use in +trying to get ahead of a mighty Trust, and they will have to win in +the end; but she had an idea that we would not go unless we had +plenty of money to have a good time on. She little knows our +Mother, in spite of being her sister.</p> + +<p>Mother says she believes it will be more fun and easier to +economize in Paris than in Kentucky; and she is as gay as a lark +over the prospect. Kent may be able to come later and take that +much talked of and longed for course in Architecture at the Beaux +Arts. In the meantime, he is very busy and, as he says, "making +good with his boss." Mother refuses to discuss Aunt Clay's behavior +and actually goes to see her as though nothing had happened; but I +know she has had many a sleepless night, brooding over her sister's +unsisterly act.</p> + +<p>I am longing to see you, dearest Nance, and wish you could manage +to meet me in New York before we sail, but if you can't, be sure to +have a letter on the steamer for me. We are going on a slow boat to +Antwerp. We think the long sea trip will be good for Mother, who is +tired out with all this worry and the work of getting Chatsworth in +condition to leave; and besides, the slow boats are much cheaper. +<i>Laurens</i> is the name of our boat, sailing from Hoboken. I will +write you from Paris, where Julia Kean is already installed and +hard at work on her beloved art.</p> + +<p>I am afraid you will think I am horrid about Aunt Clay. Mother says +she is the only person she ever knew me to feel bitter about. So +she is, but then she is the only person who was ever mean to my +beloved Mother. Maybe when my hair turns gray I can be as much of a +lady as Mother is, but so far I am too red-headed to be a perfect +lady.</p> + +<p>I am going to miss you, Nance, more than I can tell you. We have +been roommates for five years at college, and never once did we +have a shadow of a disagreement. Of course we occasionally got in a +kind of penumbra. Once I remember when I was touchy because you +called Professor Edwin Green an oldish person, but my pettishness +only lasted "like a cloud's flying shadow," and that ought not to +count.</p> + +<p>I think you are splendid to make such a happy home for your father +and I know you are a wonderful housekeeper. Please give him my +kindest regards. Kent drove Mother and me into Louisville to hear +your mother speak at the Equal Suffrage Convention. She was simply +overpowering in her arguments, and converted Kent in five minutes. +I wish Aunt Clay, who is such an ardent Anti, had heard her. We +were so sorry Mrs. Oldham could not come out to Chatsworth to visit +us, but she did not have the time. I must stop. I have written two +stamps' worth already.</p> + +<p>Ever your devoted friend and roommate in heart,</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Molly Brown.</span></p></div> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>To Miss Molly Brown, Chatsworth, Kentucky,</p> + +<p>From Miss Julia Kean, Paris, France.</p> + +<p>71 Boulevard St. Michel, Paris.</p> + +<p>Molly dear:</p> + +<p>The news that you and your mother are to sail in a few weeks threw +me into the seventh heaven of happiness,—I am already on the +seventh floor of a <i>pension</i> with not much more of an elevator than +the tower of Babel had. Mamma and Papa brought me here and +installed me and then shot off to Turkey, Papa like a comet and +Mamma like the tail of one, to finish up the bridge that has kept +them so busy for the last year.</p> + +<p>This <i>pension</i> is kept by an American lady and is full of +Americans. It is rather fun to be here for a while, but I am +longing for the time to come when you will be with me and we can go +apartment hunting, that is, if your mother still thinks it will be +wiser for us to keep house and not try to board. Of course you will +come here first and we can take our time about getting settled for +the winter. Mrs. Pace, the landlady, (but you had better not call +her that to her face, as she is very much the <i>grande dame</i>, with +so much blue blood she finds it difficult to keep it to herself,) +wants you to stay all winter with her and has many arguments +against housekeeping, but I'll let her get them off herself to your +mother.</p> + +<p>She is looking forward with great interest to meeting dear Mrs. +Brown, as it seems she knows intimately a cousin and old friend of +hers, a certain Sally Bolling of Kentucky, who is now the Marquise +d'Ochtè, a swell of the Faubourg St. Germain, with a chateau in +Normandy, family ghost, devoted peasantry and what not. I fancy +your mother has told you of her. It will be great fun to meet some +of the nobility, I think.</p> + +<p>I am enrolled at the Julien Academy for the winter and am going to +put in some months of hard drawing before I jump into color. I work +only in the morning and spend the afternoons looking at pictures. I +am such a sober person pacing the long galleries of the Louvre +studying the wonderful paintings that no one would dream I am the +harum-scarum I really am. Papa gave me a very serious talking to +about how to conduct myself in Paris and I find, as usual, his +advice is excellent. His theory is that any grown woman can go +anywhere she wants to alone in Paris, provided she has some +business to attend to and attends to it.</p> + +<p>Of course Mrs. Pace is merely a nominal chaperone for me until your +mother comes. She really seldom sees me, and when she does she is +so full of her own affairs that she hardly remembers I have any; +and then when she recalls that she is supposed to be my chaperone, +she feels called upon to tell me to do my hair differently, or she +does not like my best hat, or something else equally out of her +province. But I am not going to tell you any more about her, as you +can judge for yourself when you see her.</p> + +<p>I am sorry your brother, Kent, cannot carry out his plan of +studying at the Beaux Arts, but maybe something will turn up and he +can come after all. I might have known Aunt Clay would obstruct, +all she had in her power, but thank goodness, her power is limited +and your mother will finally get the full amount of money for her +oil lands that Papa thought she should have. As for being in Paris +without much money, it really is a grand place to be poor in; and +one can have more fun here on a franc than in New York on a dollar.</p> + +<p>Hug your darling mother for me, and tell Kent that I refuse to +answer his letters unless he gets some thin paper to write on. I am +tired of paying double extra postage on his bulky epistles.</p> + +<p>Let me know in plenty of time when to expect you and your mother, +so I can engage the room of Mrs. Pace and meet you at the station. +I wish I could go to Antwerp to be there when you arrive or even +meet you halfway in Brussels, but I must put the temptation from me +and await you quietly in Paris. Good-by, my darling old Molly +Brown,</p> + +<p>Your own devoted, ever loving</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Judy.</span></p></div> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Steamer letter from Professor Edwin Green +of Wellington College to Miss Molly Brown of +Kentucky, sailing on <i>S. S. Laurens</i>.</p> + +<p>Wellington College.</p> + +<p>My dear Miss Molly:</p> + +<p>Surely the "best laid schemes of mice and men gang aft aglee." I +feel more like a mouse caught in a trap than a man, just now. I +have been thinking of nothing else all summer but the delightful +time I should have with you and your mother in Paris. It is my +sabbatical year at Wellington, which means a fine long holiday, one +much needed and looked forward to by all hard-worked professors. +But just as I began to prepare for this delightful trip, I found +that my substitute had in the most unaccountable manner, +disappointed the President, Miss Walker, and Wellington was in a +fair way to open without a professor of English. Of course I had to +rush to the rescue and here I am in the old grind again.</p> + +<p>I really do not mind teaching, enjoy it, in fact, but oh, my +holiday and those walks and jaunts I have been dreaming of in +Paris! Miss Walker is deeply grateful to me for helping her out of +this difficulty, and is doing all in her power to find a suitable +person to take my place; and of course, I, too, am reaching out in +every direction for help.</p> + +<p>One thing, I do not intend to be like poor Jacob: serve seven years +more before I get my reward. I feel in a way that this is making up +to the College for the long, enforced holiday two years ago, when I +was so ill with typhoid fever.</p> + +<p>My sister Grace had made her plans to spend the winter in New York +as she did not expect to be needed by me as housekeeper, so I am +"baching" again; and very lonesome it is after being so spoiled and +looked after by Grace.</p> + +<p>The place seems sad and gloomy to me and the College is full of raw +and unattractive girls. I could hardly refrain from throwing a copy +of Rosetti at a forward miss the other day in class, when she +attempted to read "The Blessed Damozel" and I remembered a certain +little Freshman, who, five years ago, held me enthralled by her +rendering of that wonderful poem.</p> + +<p>I was delighted to see your friend Miss Melissa Hathaway, who is a +relief indeed, after all of these chattering school girls. What a +wonderful personality she has! Her beauty is even richer and more +glowing than formerly. She reminds me of October in the mountains, +her own Kentucky mountains. Did you ever notice her eyes and the +quality they possess, which is a very rare one: that of seeming to +hold the reflection of trees and skies when she is indoors? It is +as though she were still seeing her forests at home.</p> + +<p>I hope to help her a great deal in her English as she is afraid +this will have to be her last year at college. She feels that she +is needed at home to carry on the work of her friend and teacher +Miss Allfriend, whose long and arduous labors among the mountain +folk have impaired her health. Melissa thinks she should take up +the work and give her friend a rest. Noble girl! Dicky Blount +thinks so, too, and even more so. Did you know that he found or +manufactured some business in Catlettsburg, Kentucky, last summer +and surprised Miss Hathaway in her mountain fastness?</p> + +<p>Please give my kindest regards to your mother and express to her my +deep regret that I am not to be her cicerone for some of the sights +of Paris. I am hoping that before the winter is over I may be +relieved and then, ho, for the fastest steamer afloat!</p> + +<p>I am sending you some novels that may amuse you both on your +voyage; also, a box of crystallized ginger that is the very best +thing for seasickness that I know,—not that you are to be seasick, +but just in case.</p> + +<p>I am trying to be cheerful and not let Miss Walker see how I am +kicking at fate, but I am as mad as a schoolboy who has to do +chores on Saturday! Very sincerely your friend,</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Edwin Green.</span></p></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II.</h2> + +<h3>BON VOYAGE.</h3> + + +<p>Mrs. Brown and her daughter Molly were at last safely off on what they +called their "great adventure." They had waved their handkerchiefs until +the dock at Hoboken was nothing more than a blur to them and they felt +sure that the <i>Laurens</i> was little more than a speck to the friends that +had turned up to see them off.</p> + +<p>Molly's classmates at Wellington College, Katherine and Edith Williams, +Edith with the nice, new husband whom Molly was overjoyed to meet, had +appeared, bearing books and candy for the trip. Jimmy Lufton, of course, +just to show that there was no hard feeling, as he whispered to Molly, +was there, also, doing everything for their comfort; finding their +luggage; engaging the steamer chairs; seeing to it that the stewardess +understood about the baths before breakfast; and attending to many +things of the importance of which Molly and her mother were ignorant.</p> + +<p>Richard Blount, too, had turned up ten minutes before sailing, but he +had managed to get in a word with Molly about Melissa Hathaway.</p> + +<p>"She is a queen among women, Miss Molly, and I consider that Edwin Green +is a lucky dog to have the privilege of teaching her. To think of seeing +her day after day and hearing her read poetry with that wonderful voice! +He tells me she is the most remarkable reader he has ever known. I am +too fond of old Ed to hate him, otherwise I should find it easy. By the +way I have left something in care of the steward for you and your mother +as a cure for seasickness. You will find that there is nothing like it!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, thank you so much! I feel sure that I shall not be sick, but I am +just as obliged as though I were going to be. Mother may be. You see we +have never been on the ocean in our lives, but we have always felt that +we would like it beyond anything, and that liking it so much would keep +us from being harmed by it," Molly had answered, a little chagrined at +what Richard Blount had had to say about Professor Green and Melissa, +but determined not to show it to that young man or to let herself think +there was anything in it.</p> + +<p>Miss Grace Green and dear, good Mary Stewart had been on the steamer +waiting when Molly and her mother came aboard. Their devotion to Molly +was so apparent that they won Mrs. Brown's heart at once, and that +charming lady with her cordial manner and gracious bearing as usual made +Molly's friends hers.</p> + +<p>Miss Green had had a little private talk with Molly, giving her messages +from her younger brother, Dodo, and telling her what she knew of +Professor Edwin's disappointment in having to go on with his duties for +the time being at least. Molly had not had a chance to open and read the +steamer letter he had written her, but was forced to postpone it until +the vessel sailed and she could compose herself after the flurry of +good-bys and the bustle of the departure.</p> + +<p>There were many letters waiting in the cabin, but the harbor was so +fascinating to these two women who had done so little traveling, that +they could not tear themselves from the deck until they were out of +sight of land.</p> + +<p>"Mother, isn't it too lovely and aren't we going to be the happiest pair +on earth? I am glad we are seeing the ocean for the first time together, +because you know exactly how I feel and I know how you feel. The idea of +our being seasick! Richard Blount sent some remedy to the steamer for +us, just in case we were seasick. It was very kind of him but absolutely +unnecessary, I am sure. I never felt better in my life and look, there +is quite a little swell."</p> + +<p>"Seasick indeed! I have no more feeling of sickness than I have on the +Ohio River at home," said Mrs. Brown, taking deep breaths of the bracing +salt air. "I suspect it is incumbent upon us to go read our letters now, +but I must say I do not want to miss one moment on deck during our +entire voyage. I feel as though twenty years had dropped off me." And +indeed she looked it, too, with a pretty pink in her cheeks and her wavy +hair blown about her face.</p> + +<p>Molly rather wanted to read Professor Green's letter first, but she put +it aside and opened those from Nance Oldham and several other college +mates. Then she discovered a thoroughly characteristic note from Aunt +Clay, dry and dictatorial but enclosing a check for ten dollars on +Monroe & Co., the Paris bankers. "For you and your extravagant mother to +spend on foolishness," wrote that stern lady.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Mother! Isn't she hateful? How easy it would have been to send a +pleasant message with the check! Now all the fun of having it is gone +and I have a great mind to send it back!"</p> + +<p>"No, my dear, don't do that. Your Aunt Clay does not mean to be as +unkind as she seems. I know she intended this check as a kind of peace +offering to me, and we must take it as she meant it and pay no attention +to her words."</p> + +<p>"Mother, you are an angel and I have to hug you right here in the cabin, +even if that black-eyed man over there with the pile of telegrams in +front of him is looking a hole through us."</p> + +<p>She suited the action to the word and Mrs. Brown, emerging from the bear +hug that Molly was prone to give, surprised a smile on the dark face of +their fellow traveler. He was seated across from them at the same table +behind a pile of telegrams a foot high, and was very busy opening the +messages, making notes on them as he read. He was an interesting looking +man with dark, fathomless eyes, swarthy complexion and iron gray hair, +but he bore a youthful look that made one feel he had not the right of +years to the gray hair. His expression was gloomy and not altogether +pleasant, but when he smiled he displayed a row of dazzling white teeth +and his eyes lost the sad look and held the smile long after his mouth +had closed with a determined click.</p> + +<p>"'Duty before pleasure,' as King Richard said when he killed the old +king before a-smothering of the babies," said Molly as she finished Aunt +Clay's letter and opened Edwin Green's. What a nice letter it was to be +sure! She laughed aloud over his wanting to throw Rosetti at the girl +and blushed with pleasure at the compliment to her reading of the +blessed Damozel, for well she knew whom he had in mind. His praise of +Melissa would have merely pleased her as praise of her friends always +did, had she not already been somewhat disturbed by what Dicky Blount +had said to her of Professor Edwin Green and the beautiful mountain +girl.</p> + +<p>"I am a silly girl and intend to put all such foolish notions out of my +head," declared Molly to herself. "Surely Professor Green has as much +right to make friends as I have, and I intend to know as many people and +like as many as I can. I am not the least bit in love with Edwin +Green,—but somehow I don't think he and Melissa are suited to one +another."</p> + +<p>As the young girl sat reading over her letter, a feeling of sadness and +loneliness took possession of her and, looking up, she surprised a +furtive tear in her mother's eye. Mrs. Brown was reading a letter from +her married daughter Mildred, then living in Iowa where her husband +Crittenden Rutledge was at work as a bridge engineer.</p> + +<p>The cabin had begun to fill with people who were leaving decks and +staterooms to hunt up their letters and belongings and generally prepare +themselves for a ten-day trip on the Atlantic.</p> + +<p>"Mother, they say this is a small steamer, but it seems huge to me! Did +you ever see so many strange people? I don't believe we ever shall know +any of them. They all of them look at home and I feel so far from home. +Don't you?"</p> + +<p>"Now, Molly, please don't get blue or I shall have to weep outright. Of +course we shall come to know most of the passengers and no doubt will +find many charming persons ready to know and like us. Suppose we hurry +up with our letters and go on deck again."</p> + +<p>Just then a young man bounded into the cabin, made a hasty survey of the +crowd and came rapidly over to the dark gentleman seated opposite them.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Uncle Tom, how can you stay down in this stuffy cabin? There is a +sunset on the water that is just screaming out to be looked at. As for +that work, you have ten days to attend to those tiresome telegrams and +letters."</p> + +<p>"Nonsense, Pierce, I have no idea of waiting ten days for this important +business. You forget the wireless," answered the uncle, looking fondly +at the enthusiastic young fellow, who was so like him except for the +gray hair that it was almost ludicrous.</p> + +<p>"Oh, goodness gracious me, where is your holiday to be, with you tied to +your Mother Country with a stringless apron? That is what that old +wireless telegraphy reminds me of," laughed the young man, showing all +his perfect teeth. "Well, I've got your chair and steamer rug all ready +for you and all you have to do is come sit in it."</p> + +<p>"Now, Pierce, don't wait on me. Part of having a holiday is to forget +how old I am. When I get these telegrams off, I am going to show you how +skittish I can be and forget all about business. I fancy you will have +to hold me back in my race for a good time. This limerick is to be my +motto:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Said this long-legged daddy of Troy,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">'Although I'm no longer a boy,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I bet I can show<br /></span> +<span class="i0">You chaps how to go.'<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Which he did to his own savage joy."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Mrs. Brown and Molly could not help overhearing this conversation and at +the above limerick they laughed outright. The young man called Pierce +looked at them with a friendly glance and the uncle smiled another of +his rare smiles, which made the ladies from Kentucky feel that the ocean +was not going to be such a terribly lonesome place after all. They +gathered up their belongings and made their way on deck to view the +sunset that was "screaming to be looked at."</p> + +<p>"It really is worth seeing, isn't it, Mother? Somehow, though, I never +do like to be made to look at a sunset. The persons who insist on your +doing it always seem to have a kind of proprietary air. Now that young +man wanted to bulldoze his uncle into coming when—when——" Molly +stopped suddenly, realizing that the two men in great-coats, with the +collars turned up to their ears, who had taken their places at the +railing next to her mother, were no other than the two in question.</p> + +<p>"You are perfectly right, madam," said the elder, raising his hat. "This +nephew of mine is always doing it. Now I should much rather come on deck +when the sun is down and see the after-glow. The crepuscule appeals to +me more than the brilliancy of the sunset."</p> + +<p>"I fancy my daughter had no complaint to make of the brilliancy of the +color, but of being coerced into looking at it. She likes to be the +discoverer herself and the one to make others come to look. Isn't it so, +Molly?"</p> + +<p>"Maybe it is," said Molly blushing. "I did not really mean much of +anything and was just talking for talk's sake."</p> + +<p>"Anyhow," spoke the nephew, "this sunset is mine and I think it is +beautiful and all of you have simply got to look at it." Turning to +Molly, "You can have to-morrow's and make us look all you want to, but +this is my discovery."</p> + +<p>The ice was broken and Molly and her mother made their first +acquaintances on their travels. Mr. Kinsella introduced himself and his +nephew Pierce and in the course of half an hour they were all good +steamer friends. Everyone must make up his or her mind to be ready to +make friends on a steamer or to have a very stupid, lonesome crossing. +Mrs. Brown and Molly were both too sociable and friendly to be guilty of +such standoffishness and were as pleased at making friends with the two +Kinsellas as those gentlemen were to secure such pleasant companions as +these ladies were proving themselves to be.</p> + +<p>"We are all of us to be at the captain's table," said Pierce.</p> + +<p>"And how do you know where we are to be?" asked Molly. "I don't know +myself where we are to sit, and how can you know?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, that is easy. While you and your mother and Uncle Tom were busy +reading your letters and before I got my sunset ready, I was finding out +things like Rikki-tikki. First I got the steward's list and located the +Kinsellas at mess; then I looked over all the names and where the people +hailed from and decided that Miss Molly Brown of Kentucky sounded kind +of cheerful. And when I knew there was a Mrs. Brown along, too, I +decided that Miss Molly Brown was young enough to have a mother along +and the mother was young enough to be along, and you were more than +likely a pretty nice couple to cultivate. The steward told me you were +to be at the captain's table, too, as you were friends of Miss Mary +Stewart. Her father owns much stock in these nice old tubs of steamers, +and the daughter had made a special request that you should be very well +looked after."</p> + +<p>"Isn't that too like Mary? She did not say one word about it. That +accounts for our having such a lovely stateroom to ourselves, too. We +had engaged a stateroom that was supposed to hold three persons. The +company had the privilege of putting someone else in with us, and as the +steamer is quite full, of course we had expected to have a roommate. We +hated the thought of it, too, but it was so much less expensive. And +Mother and I hoped to spend most of our time on deck, anyhow. We could +not understand the number not being the same as that on our tickets, but +thought the officials knew best and if we did not belong there they +would oust us in good time."</p> + +<p>"Well, I am jolly glad you have the best stateroom on board. Uncle tried +to get it but had to content himself with second best."</p> + +<p>"Are you seasick, as a rule? I do hope not," asked the young man of Mrs. +Brown, who had been conversing with Mr. Kinsella while the nephew and +Molly were making friends.</p> + +<p>"No, we don't make it a rule to be any kind of sick; but my daughter and +I are on the ocean for the first time. In fact, we are really seeing the +ocean for the first time and do not know how we are to behave. So far we +feel as well as possible, but I fancy such a smooth sea is no test."</p> + +<p>"Only fancy, Uncle Tom, what it must seem to see the ocean for the first +time! I almost wish I had never seen it until now, just for the +sensation."</p> + +<p>"There was a superior New York girl at Wellington College who had a +great time trying to tease me because I had never seen the ocean. She +kept it up so long that I began to feel like a 'po' nigger at a frolic', +so I retaliated by asking her if she had ever been to a hanging. I +completely took the wind out of her sails, and then confessed that I +hadn't either," said Molly with a laugh.</p> + +<p>"Good for you, Miss Brown, give it to him. New York people are certainly +very superior in their own estimation and need a good taking down every +now and then. They are often more provincial than villagers, with no +excuse for so being," and Mr. Kinsella gave his nephew an affectionate +push.</p> + +<p>The air was clear and crisp, with a rising wind that gave promise of a +heavy sea. The passengers had begun to fill the decks, dragging steamer +chairs into sheltered nooks and looking about for desirable places out +of the wind, where they could see the sun set and the moon rise, get out +of the way of the smokestacks, the fog horn and the whistle, and at the +same time be in a good locality to see everything that was going on. +Molly and her mother were much amused at the sight. They were both +inclined to be rather careless of their ease and it had never entered +their heads to hustle and bustle to make themselves comfortable on the +trip.</p> + +<p>"Jimmy Lufton has had our chairs placed on deck and lashed to the +railing. He said he knew we would never look out for ourselves, and +unless he saw to it, we would go abroad standing up or sitting on the +floor! He tagged our chairs, too, as our names were on the backs only. +He said there were always some 'chair hogs' who would push the chairs +against the wall with the name out of sight and refuse to budge," said +Molly.</p> + +<p>"Where are your chairs?" asked Pierce. "Let's go find them and afterward +we can get Uncle's and mine and have a snug foursome of a chat. Oh, Miss +Brown, how lovely your mother is! I want to paint her; but I should have +to put you in the picture, too, so that I could catch the wonderful +expression on her face. It is when she is looking at <i>you</i> that she is +most lovely."</p> + +<p>"Well, don't you think I could be present to inspire the desired +expression without being in the picture?" laughed Molly, delighted by +the praise of her beloved mother. "But can you paint? I have been +wondering what you are and what your uncle is, but I did not like to be +too inquisitive."</p> + +<p>"Well, one does not have to be with me long to hear the story of my +life," said the boy. "You ask if I can paint: yes, I can paint; not as +well as I want to by a long shot, but I mean to be a great painter. That +sounds conceited, but it is not. I have talent and there is no use in +being mealy-mouthed over it. To be a great painter means work, work, +work; and I am prepared to do that with every breath I breathe. Painting +isn't work to me; it is joy and life. Besides, I mean to make it up to +Uncle for his disappointment in life, and the only way I can do it is by +succeeding."</p> + +<p>Molly was dying to know more about the uncle and what his disappointment +was, but she was too well bred to show her desire and Pierce did not +seem inclined to go on with his family disclosures. He stood looking at +two ladies who had just come on deck, followed by a maid carrying rugs +and cushions. The ladies were a very handsome mother and daughter, +although the mother appeared too young to have such a very +sophisticated, grown-up daughter. They were beautifully dressed in long +fur coats and small toques. "Rather warm for October," thought Molly, +but the rising cold wind soon made her know her mistake.</p> + +<p>"There are our chairs," said Molly, starting toward the railing where +the ever handy-man, Jimmy, had lashed the two steamer chairs.</p> + +<p>At the same moment the elegant, fur-clad lady rapidly crossed the deck +and placing her hand on the back of the nearest chair, said in a cold +and haughty tone to the maid: "Here, Marie, place the rugs and cushions +in these chairs. They will do quite nicely."</p> + +<p>"Excuse me, but these chairs are ours, mine and my mother's," said +Molly. "But we are not going to use them until after supper, I mean +dinner, so you are welcome to them until then."</p> + +<p>"Some mistake surely," rejoined the older woman, eying Molly scornfully +through her lorgnette. "You will have to complain to the steward if you +cannot find your chairs, young woman; these are mine, engaged and paid +for." With that, she prepared to seat herself with the help of the maid, +who was blushing furiously, mortified by the flagrant untruth of her +mistress.</p> + +<p>Molly was, by nature, easy-going and peace-loving and her inclination +was to leave the haughty dame in possession of the chairs and beat a +hasty retreat; but she remembered Jimmy Lufton's remark about "chair +hogs" and a joking promise she had made him to stand up for her mother +if not for herself, so she braced herself for battle. Despite her +girlish face and figure, Molly Brown could command as much dignity as +any member of the Four Hundred.</p> + +<p>With a polite smile and gently modulated voice she said, very calmly and +firmly: "Madam, as I said before, these are my chairs but you are quite +welcome to them until after dinner. If you have any doubt about it, you +will find our names on the backs; but to save you the trouble of moving +to look behind you, if you will be so kind as to glance at these tags +you can verify my statement."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I did not dream I was to call forth such a tirade," yawned the +nonplussed woman, reading the tags: "'Mrs. M. Brown, Kentucky; Miss M. +Brown, Kentucky.' If you are not going to use the chairs until after +dinner, my daughter and I will just stay in them until other +arrangements can be made. These small steamers are wretchedly managed. I +can't imagine where our chairs are. Elise," calling to her daughter, "it +seems these are not our chairs, after all."</p> + +<p>"Well, I did not think they could be, as these chairs seem real enough +and ours are entirely imaginary," answered the daughter rudely. "Mother, +this is Mr. Kinsella, whom I have known at the Art Students' League. My +mother, Mrs. Huntington, Mr. Kinsella."</p> + +<p>"I am so glad to meet you, Mrs. Huntington. Your daughter, Miss O'Brien, +and I have been working in the same costume class at the League. I did +not dream she was to be on this boat and when I saw her come on deck I +thought I was seeing ghosts."</p> + +<p>Pierce had come eagerly forward to meet the mother of the interesting +girl he had known and liked at the art school; but Mrs. Huntington +looked as though she, too, were seeing ghosts. She shrank back in her +down pillows and her face became pinched and pale, and it was a moment +before the hardened woman of the world could command her voice to return +the greeting of the young man.</p> + +<p>"Kinsella, did you say? Could you be Tom Kinsella's son? You are +strangely like him."</p> + +<p>"Thank you, madam, for that. There is no one I want to be like so much +as my Uncle Tom. I am his nephew; my uncle has never married. Did you +know my uncle? He is on board and I know would be glad to renew his +acquaintance with you. But let me introduce Miss Brown to both of you."</p> + +<p>The two girls shook hands, and as they looked in each other's eyes, +Molly felt in her heart an instinctive liking for the older girl. There +was something honest and straight about her face despite the rather +sullen expression of her mouth. She was beautiful, besides, and beauty +always appealed to Molly,—almost always, at least, for although Mrs. +Huntington was beautiful, too, Molly felt no leaning toward her. Mother +and daughter looked enough alike to make it not difficult to guess the +relationship at the first glance; but the more one saw of them, the +fainter grew the resemblance. The older woman was smaller, fairer and +plumper; her hair was golden while the daughter's was light brown; her +complexion pink and white, the daughter's rather sallow; her eyes baby +blue, the other's gray green. But the daughter's features were more +pronounced and her well-cut chin and mouth showed character and pride, +while the mother's looked a little petulant.</p> + +<p>"I am very glad to meet you, Miss Brown. I believe I have heard of you. +Aren't you Julia Kean's 'Molly'?" And Elise O'Brien gave Molly's hand a +little squeeze.</p> + +<p>"Of course I am. To think of your knowing my Judy! You must have met her +at the League. Perhaps you knew her, too, Mr. Kinsella."</p> + +<p>"Who? Miss Kean? I should say I did. She was the life of the outdoor +sketch club we got up; and believe me, she has a soul for color. Why, +that little 'postage stamp landscape' she had in the American Artists' +Exhibition was a winner. Did you see a memory sketch she did for the +final exhibition at the League? It was a tall girl in black standing up +singing and a beautiful red-headed girl in diaphanous blue playing an +accompaniment on a guitar, with a background of holly and a great bunch +of mistletoe at one side." Pierce stopped suddenly in the midst of his +description of Judy's picture and, gazing intently at Molly, cried out, +"By the great jumping jingo, if Miss Brown isn't the red-headed girl in +diaphanous blue!"</p> + +<p>"Yes, I saw it," exclaimed Elise, "and thought it was wonderfully +clever. Miss Kean got a splendid likeness of you, considering it was +from memory."</p> + +<p>"Oh, Judy has sketched me until she says doing me is almost as easy as +writing her name. That must have been the Christmas party at Professor +Green's when Melissa Hathaway was singing 'The Mistletoe Bough.' I +remember Judy sat opposite us and I almost laughed out because she kept +making pictures in the air with her thumb, which is a habit of hers when +anything appeals to her as paintable. Won't it be splendid to see her +again? Are you both going to Paris? You know Judy is there now and my +mother and I are to join her."</p> + +<p>"Glorious!" exclaimed the enthusiastic Pierce. "Of course I am going +there; but how about you, Miss O'Brien?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, I am to be there for a while, but my art is not considered +seriously enough for me to stick at it long enough to accomplish much. +Mother thinks Paris is nothing but one big shop, and when she has bought +all the clothes we are supposed not to be able to be decent without, we +have to go on. I am going to work while she shops. Thank goodness, she +is so fussy that it takes her twice as long to get an outfit as it would +anyone else, so I shall have time to get in some work," answered the +girl bitterly.</p> + +<p>Just then the gong was sounded for dinner. There was a general movement +toward the saloon and the growing darkness prevented Molly from seeing +the resentment on the face of Mrs. Huntington, if resentment she held, +at the daughter's rudeness toward her.</p> + +<p>"Such a nice girl," thought Molly, "and so clever and beautiful! But +how, how can she be so horrid to her mother? There is no telling what +provocation she has, though. Her mother was certainly not honest about +the chairs; but then, your mother is your mother. Thank goodness, Aunt +Clay is not mine!"</p> + +<p>Molly hastened to her own mother's side and they made their way to the +first meal on board.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III.</h2> + +<h3>THE DEEP SEA.</h3> + + +<p>Such a pleasant bustle, as the passengers came streaming into the cabin! +Everyone seemed to have made or met some friend, with the exception of a +few shy-looking, lonesome persons, and Molly devoutly hoped that these +would find some congenial souls before very long and not be so forlorn. +She and her mother had made such a fine beginning in the way of pleasant +acquaintances that she wished the same good luck to all on board.</p> + +<p>Their seats were next to the Captain, with Mr. Kinsella and Pierce +opposite. The Captain was just what a captain ought to be: big and +hearty, blond and bearded, with a booming laugh. "Like a Viking of old," +whispered Molly to her mother.</p> + +<p>"Good sailor, madam?" asked the Captain of Mrs. Brown.</p> + +<p>"A Mississippi steamboat is the only test I have given myself so far, +but my daughter and I are hoping we will prove good sailors," answered +his neighbor. "We are evidently expected to be sick by our friends, as +several of them have sent us remedies. Champagne from one, crystallized +ginger from another and a box of big black pills from a third that look +for all the world like shoe buttons."</p> + +<p>"Well, don't trust to any of them. If you are sick, get on deck all you +can and don't waste your champagne on seasickness, but get ginger ale, +which is much cheaper and quite as effective," boomed the Captain with a +laugh that made the glasses rattle.</p> + +<p>Molly wished they would stop talking about seasickness! The food looked +good. A plate of cream celery soup had just been placed in front of her. +It seemed all that celery soup should be, but a qualm had suddenly +arisen in her soul, (at least she called it her soul,) and she decided +to let the soup go and wait for the next course.</p> + +<p>"Uncle Tom, I have met an old friend of yours on board; also an +acquaintance of my own from the Art Students' League," said Pierce as +soon as the business of eating was well under way.</p> + +<p>"Is that so? I'll bet on you for nosing around to find out things! Who +is the gentleman?" inquired Mr. Kinsella.</p> + +<p>"Gentleman much! It's a lady, and a very beautiful lady at that, who +complimented you greatly by saying you looked like me," laughed the boy. +"Her name is Mrs. Huntington."</p> + +<p>"Huntington? I know no one of that name that I can remember. She must be +some casual acquaintance who has slipped from my memory."</p> + +<p>"Well, maybe,—anyhow, she called you Tom. Her daughter, Miss Elise +O'Brien, is my friend."</p> + +<p>Mr. Kinsella's face flushed and his somber eyes lit up with what Molly +thought an angry light.</p> + +<p>"So," he muttered, "she has married again. Yes, yes, my boy, I—I did +know a Miss Lizzie Peck in my youth who married an old friend of mine, +George O'Brien. I have not seen or heard of them for years and did not +know George was dead. I shall take great pleasure in meeting his little +girl."</p> + +<p>"Little! She is as tall as Miss Brown, who is certainly not stumpy, and +is some years older, if I am any judge of the fair sex."</p> + +<p>"Of course you are a judge of the fair sex, a most competent one, I +should say. What boy of eighteen is not?" teased his uncle. "Where are +your new acquaintances seated?"</p> + +<p>"They are at the other end of the next table with their backs to us. You +will have to rubber a little to get a good view of them."</p> + +<p>Mr. Kinsella accordingly "rubbered," as his slangy nephew put it, and +satisfied himself of the identity of Mrs. Huntington. Molly was greatly +interested in the occurrence. Mr. Kinsella was different from anyone she +had ever seen before and Pierce's hint of a disappointed life had fired +her imagination, ever ready for a romance. She had a feeling that the +proud, beautiful, inconsiderate woman whose acquaintance she had +recently made was in some way connected with Mr. Kinsella's +disappointment.</p> + +<p>Soup was removed and the next course of baked bluefish brought on. +Molly's senses reeled and a drowsy numbness stole over her. "What a +strange feeling! What on earth is the matter with me? I was so hungry +when I came down here and now I can't touch a thing," she said to +herself.</p> + +<p>Mr. Kinsella was watching her and finally spoke:</p> + +<p>"My dear Miss Brown, let me take you on deck. You will feel much better +in the air."</p> + +<p>"Why, my darling daughter, are you sick?" inquired the anxious mother, +who was eating her dinner with the greatest enjoyment.</p> + +<p>"I believe I'll go to bed," gasped poor Molly. "But don't you come, +Mother. I'll be better in a minute."</p> + +<p>A grim smile went down the Captain's table as Molly beat a hasty and +ignominious retreat. Mrs. Huntington was heard to remark to her daughter +as a white and hollow-eyed Molly flew past their chairs on the way to +her stateroom: "There goes that red-headed girl from Kentucky, who was +so rude to me on deck. I fancy we can occupy her chairs for a while +longer."</p> + +<p>"Oh, Mamma, why do we not have chairs of our own? It is so embarrassing +to sponge on other people all the time, and the expense of chairs is not +very great," implored Elise.</p> + +<p>"Nonsense, Elise; I have crossed the ocean innumerable times and never +get chairs. There are always enough seasick people who have to stay in +their bunks, and since I abhor waste, I use their chairs. As you say, +the expense is not very great, but if I do not save in small ways I +cannot make ends meet and keep up appearances and that is most +important, until you see fit to catch a husband."</p> + +<p>All this was in an aside to her daughter, who seemed accustomed to such +remarks and coolly helped herself to stuffed mangoes without deigning +any reply. But after brooding a few seconds she spoke:</p> + +<p>"Do you think that the chair episode on deck before dinner was 'keeping +up appearances' very well?"</p> + +<p>"And so you have your eye on young Mr. Kinsella, have you?"</p> + +<p>"Not at all, Mamma, and you know I haven't. In the first place, Pierce +Kinsella is years younger than I am, and while he is tremendously clever +with his brush, he is not the intellectual man I must have or do +without."</p> + +<p>"Never mind your age. If you do not mind being frank on the subject, you +must have some consideration for me, who am your unwilling mother. No +one will ever believe I was a mere school girl when I married George +O'Brien. If I should not keep up appearances for young Kinsella, who was +it, please? Surely not that Miss Smith!"</p> + +<p>"Miss Brown, Mamma, Molly Brown. She is a lovely girl and a perfect +lady; and what will have more weight with you, she is a friend of the +Stewarts. Pierce Kinsella told me it was at Mr. Stewart's request that +she and her mother were put next to the Captain and they have the best +stateroom the ship affords."</p> + +<p>"Ah, dead-heads, I surmise."</p> + +<p>"Not at all. They had their tickets and stateroom engaged and did not +know of the honor done them until Pierce Kinsella told them himself. I +fancy we are the only dead-heads on board."</p> + +<p>"Elise, I will not have you be so cynical. Mr. Stewart is a connection +of mine and I am entitled to some consideration from him," snapped the +mother.</p> + +<p>"Yes, I know, a very close connection: Mr. Huntington's first wife's +cousin-in-law. For that reason, you must have transportation free on a +line of steamers Mr. Stewart is interested in; but you had to send me to +ask for the favor, and I'll tell you now what I did not tell you before +for fear of hurting your feelings, that Mr. Stewart said he was glad to +do it for my sake."</p> + +<p>The last was a poser for the angry woman, and mother and daughter ceased +their wrangling and devoted themselves to the very good dinner.</p> + +<p>Poor Molly got to bed as best she could and stayed there twenty-four +hours. She was sure her seasickness was the worst that had ever been +known, but we all feel that. On the second day she was persuaded to go +on deck by her solicitous mother,—who, by the way, was not +uncomfortable one minute,—and as she dropped limply into her steamer +chair, carefully arranged for her by the Kinsellas, she for the first +time had a desire to live. The ocean was a wonderful color, all pearly +gray with little flecks of pink on top of every wave. The sun was +setting in a mist. The wind had died down and there was a delicious +dampness in the air that smelt of salt.</p> + +<p>"Oh, how glad I am to get up here! All of you are so good to me. It +seems a year since I went to my stateroom and I believe it is only a day +and a night. Has anything happened since I disappeared?"</p> + +<p>"Nothing," answered Pierce. "The sun and the ship have moved but the +rest of us have just stood still waiting for you to come back. By the +way, this is your sunset, you remember. You forgot to advertise it, so +you have not a very large audience."</p> + +<p>"Well, if Miss Brown can get up that good a show without even trying, +what couldn't she accomplish if she put her mind on it? I believe I like +yours better than Pierce's," said Mr. Kinsella. "His was so flamboyant, +while yours has a certain reserve and distinction."</p> + +<p>The conversation went gayly on between uncle and nephew while Mrs. Brown +hovered over her daughter, tucking in the rug and shifting the pillows +for more perfect comfort. Molly smiled a little wanly at first but soon +the good air and gay talk got in their perfect work, and before she knew +it she was laughing outright at some of Pierce's sallies. The color +began to come back into her cheeks. A desire for life grew stronger and +stronger. Mr. Kinsella noticed the change in the girl, and while Mrs. +Brown and Pierce were engaged in an animated discussion on Woman's +Suffrage, Pierce taking the Anti side "just for practice," he slipped +away and soon returned with a tray of dainty food.</p> + +<p>"Please eat a little something now, Miss Brown. It will put new life in +you and I feel sure you are on the mend and can trust yourself to take +some nourishment. Chicken aspic and dry toast can't hurt you, and I feel +sure it will do you good."</p> + +<p>"Why, Mr. Kinsella, you are too good to me! How did you know I was +hungry? I was ashamed to say so, but I felt that a little food was all +that was needed to make me perfectly well." And Molly fell to with an +avidity that surprised her mother, who had not been able to persuade her +to take a mouthful all day.</p> + +<p>"I have seen seasick persons before now," laughed Mr. Kinsella, "and +know by experience that there is a crucial moment when food must be +administered, and then the patient gets well immediately. I noticed you +were laughing, and no one with <i>mal-de-mer</i> can laugh! And then your +color came back, and that is a signal for food, too. I am so glad you +like what I brought you."</p> + +<p>"Mr. Kinsella, I cannot tell you how grateful I am," said Mrs. Brown. "I +don't wish you to be seasick, but I do wish Molly and I could repay your +kindness in some way."</p> + +<p>"My dear lady, I am already in your debt for permitting my scape-grace +nephew and me to know you and your daughter. I have had my nose at the +grindstone of business for so many years that I feared it had grown out +of my power to make new friends; but I begin to see that I have not lost +the knack. Perhaps my somber presence is tolerated because of my gay, +jolly boy," and Mr. Kinsella gazed rather wistfully after Pierce, who +had crossed the deck to meet Elise O'Brien, just emerging from the +cabin.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Mr. Kinsella, you must not think that," eagerly implored Molly. "I +always like serious men better than boys, and besides you are not somber +but full of gaiety and jokes. You are not fair to yourself if you think +people like you only on account of Pierce. He is a delightful boy, +but——"</p> + +<p>"But what?"</p> + +<p>"Don't press her too far, Mr. Kinsella," laughed Mrs. Brown. "She has +already confessed to a penchant to seriousness and finds 'beauty in +extreme old age'," and pinching Molly's blushing cheek, she went over to +join a group of recently made acquaintances who were looking at a +distant sail through an overworked spyglass belonging to one of the +tourists.</p> + +<p>"What a tease Mother is! But she looks so like my brother Kent when she +teases me that I don't mind. Kent is always teasing and the only reason +I can stand it is that it makes him look like Mother! You see, Kent is +my special beloved brother and you know what my mother is."</p> + +<p>"Yes, I know," answered Mr. Kinsella, who had sunk into the chair +vacated by Mrs. Brown. "Your mother is a rare woman: beautiful and +honest and tolerant, charming and well-bred, broad-minded and cultured. +Eternal youth is in her heart, but she has a character gracefully to +accept the years that Providence has allotted her and that only serve to +make her more lovely. I have no patience with the assumption of extreme +youth in the middle-aged, despite the limerick I have taken for my +motto."</p> + +<p>"But, Mr. Kinsella, you are not middle-aged," protested Molly. "I never +even think of Mother as being middle-aged. I think that is the ugliest +word in our language, except, maybe, stout. I'd a great deal rather be +called fat and forty than stout and middle-aged!"</p> + +<p>"Well, it will be many a year before you will be called either, and by +that time you may change your mind. 'A rose by any other name would +smell as sweet,' and, after all, it is being stout and middle-aged that +makes the difference, not being called it."</p> + +<p>While Molly was having the little chat with Mr. Kinsella, Mrs. +Huntington had come on deck and had approached them from behind. Looking +up, Molly surprised on her face an expression of extreme bitterness, and +she wondered if she had overheard Mr. Kinsella's views on the subject of +the assumption of youth in the middle-aged. "I do hope she didn't," +thought Molly. "She is so pretty, and it must be hard to give up youth +and to feel your beauty slipping from you. Especially hard when beauty +has been your chief asset in life, as I fancy it has been with Mrs. +Huntington." She gave the older woman a polite bow and smile and Mr. +Kinsella formally offered her his chair but with no great cordiality.</p> + +<p>"Oh, thank you, Tom. And how are you, Miss Brown? I do hope you are +feeling better. My daughter has taken such a fancy to you, she has been +quite <i>désolé</i> at your nonappearance all day."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I am all well again, thanks to Mr. Kinsella's getting me some food +at the psychological moment when health was returning," answered Molly, +wondering at Mrs. Huntington's change of tactics since the evening +before, when she had been so insolent in her bearing to her. "It is +certainly nicer to have her polite to me than rude, whether she means it +or not," she said to herself. "I do wish I had not been sick all day. I +did want to see her first meeting with Mr. Kinsella. I know she had +something to do with his premature grayness and the disappointment that +Pierce hinted at. How coldly polite he is to her now. If a man like that +had ever loved me and then could be so cold to me, I believe it would +kill me," which shows that Molly was very sentimental and on the lookout +for romance.</p> + +<p>The gong rang for dinner and there was a general move toward the cabin.</p> + +<p>"Please tell Mother I am all right and will sit here while she is at +dinner, and that she must not hurry. I believe 'discretion would be the +better part of valor' for me and I had better not try to eat anything +more for a while."</p> + +<p>After the deck was clear except for a few helplessly, hopelessly sick +persons who lay like mummies in their chairs, ranged along the deck, +Molly decided to get up and walk around a little, feeling anxious to try +her sea legs. Then as the wind had shifted, she determined to move her +chair to a sheltered nook behind one of the life-boats. She bundled +herself up in her rug, pulling the corner of it over her head and lay +for all the world like the rest of the mummies. "Only, thank goodness, I +am no longer sick," she thought gratefully.</p> + +<p>Her soul was at peace, after the night and day of agony, and she dropped +off easily into a doze. She dreamed that she was at home in the old +apple tree that they had called "The Castle" and that Kent was gently +shaking the tree, trying to make her get out so Professor Green could +build his bungalow there; and when she refused and declared it was her +Castle and she intended to stay in it, the Professor himself had come, +with his kind brown eyes looking into hers, and said: "But, Miss Molly, +the bungalow is yours, too, and the Orchard is still your home." She +awoke but lay quite still wondering at the reality of her dream.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV.</h2> + +<h3>WHAT MOLLY OVERHEARD.</h3> + + +<p>It had grown quite dark. The passengers were evidently still at dinner. +A man loomed up close to her and then stopped, evidently unaware of her +presence. Leaning over the rail and gazing into the black depths of +water, he emitted a sigh that seemed to come from his soul. Suddenly a +woman joined him. Molly was still half asleep, thinking of the orchard +at Chatsworth and of what Professor Green's bungalow would look like +among the apple trees. Her thoughts came back to the ship with a bounce +when she heard the woman say:</p> + +<p>"Tom, why do you avoid me? Can't you let bygones be bygones?"</p> + +<p>"That is exactly what I am doing, Mrs. Huntington: letting bygones be +bygones. It seems a useless thing for us to rake up the past."</p> + +<p>"'Mrs. Huntington' sounds very cold and formal coming from your lips."</p> + +<p>"Well, I gathered you did not think much of the name of Lizzie since you +have changed your daughter's to Elise."</p> + +<p>"Oh, Tom, you are cruel!"</p> + +<p>"Now see here, Mrs. Huntington, I do not want to be rude to you. I have +lived in total ignorance of you and your affairs for twenty-five years, +and since by chance we meet on a steamer, you cannot make me feel that +what I do or say is of the slightest importance to you. You made the +young Tom Kinsella about as miserable as a man could be, but the old Tom +is immune from misery, thank God, and there is no use in trying to get a +flame from the dead ashes of the past. I am very glad to see you again +and especially glad to make the acquaintance of the daughter of my old +friend, George O'Brien."</p> + +<p>"You forgive George but do not forgive me."</p> + +<p>"I have nothing to forgive George, and you know it. He was the soul of +honor and had no idea of there being an engagement between us, when he +married you. I am as sure of this as though George himself had told me. +In those good old days in Paris when we were all of us art students, +George and I were great chums. I could read him like a book and there +never lived a more honest fellow.</p> + +<p>"When my father died and his foundry at Newark seemed in a fair way to +be on its last legs for want of management and the family income was in +danger of being decidedly lessened, you persuaded me, in fact, you put +it up to me, to give you up or give up art and go to work and pull the +foundry out of the hole.</p> + +<p>"Art meant a lot to me, but at the time you meant a lot more. You +remember you would not let me announce our engagement to our friends, +not even to George.</p> + +<p>"I went back to America and piled into a work, entirely uncongenial, but +determined to win out. Things were in an awful mess because of my +father's long inability to attend to business. My brother Pierce was +still in college and could be of no assistance to me. I had to master +the business from the beginning, learning every detail before I could +put it on the efficiency basis that I knew it must attain before I could +be satisfied.</p> + +<p>"I wrote you rather discouraged letters, I will admit, but I felt I +could pour out my soul to you and you alone. I knew it would be two or +three years before it would be expedient for us to marry, but my faith +in you was supreme and it never entered my head you would not wait for +me.</p> + +<p>"When the goal was in sight, you may imagine the shock it gave me when a +casual acquaintance, recently returned from Paris, spoke of having had +such a gay time at your wedding breakfast, given in old George's studio +(the one I used to share with him) by his fellow students.</p> + +<p>"Not a word from you; later on a letter from George, full of happiness +and your charms and explaining to me how it came about he could marry. +He had been one of the poorest among a lot of fellows, where poverty was +the rule and not the exception; but his uncle, the Brooklyn politician, +had died and left him a hundred thousand dollars. That seemed immense +wealth to the Latin Quarter, and there was rejoicing in all of the +atéliers where George O'Brien was a general favorite and Lizzie Peck was +known as the prettiest American girl in the Quarter.</p> + +<p>"The shock was so great I was like a dead man for weeks, but I never +told a soul of my pitiful love affair. I got over the loss of you as +soon as I could pull myself together enough to think that if you were +the kind who could do as you did, I was well out of it; and George had +my pity and not my envy. But my Art—my Art—nothing can ever make up to +me for giving it up. I could not go back to it, as I had plunged too +deeply into the foundry affairs to pull out, and one cannot serve +business and Art at the same time. Art is too jealous a mistress to +share her lover's time with anything else. I went on with the work and +came out very well.</p> + +<p>"This is the first real holiday I have had for many years, but I am +determined to have a good time and am not going to let regret prey upon +me."</p> + +<p>Molly had been a forced listener to this long speech, but she could not +fool herself into thinking she had been an unwilling one. She was +thrilled to the soul by Mr. Kinsella's history. No wonder he was so sad +looking and occasionally so bitter! She was glad he had not truckled to +the spoiled Mrs. Huntington, but had let her know exactly where he +stood. It was not so very chivalrous of him, but she needed a good +mental and moral slap and Mr. Kinsella had administered it as gently as +possible, no doubt.</p> + +<p>What was Molly to do now? To let them know she was there would make it +horribly embarrassing for all concerned, and still she felt she had +already heard more than she had any business to know.</p> + +<p>"I'll have to pretend I am asleep and never divulge to a soul, (except +Mother, of course,) that I have overheard this tremendously interesting +conversation."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Huntington was silenced for a few moments by Mr. Kinsella's +harangue, but finally spoke:</p> + +<p>"Tom, you are hard on me. I was very young at the time and had always +been so poor."</p> + +<p>"That is so, Lizzie. It was hard on you to be so poor; but you were not +so very young. You must have been about the age your daughter is now, +and I fancy you would not excuse much in her because of her youth. You +were two years older than I was in those days."</p> + +<p>"Brute!"</p> + +<p>"Mind you, I said 'in those days.' I do not mean you are still two years +older than I am."</p> + +<p>Molly was sorry that Mr. Kinsella was pushing the poor lady so far. She +made a quick calculation from the evidence in hand and realized that +Mrs. Huntington must be about forty-nine. "Almost as old as Mother! And +just look at her hair and clothes! She looks much younger, and I know it +is hard on her to give up her youth. I do wish Mr. Kinsella had not said +that to her about being two years older than he is! It was not very +kind, even if she did jilt him. It seems a small revenge to me. I wish I +could have made my presence known and then I should not have heard Mr. +Kinsella belittle himself, which I certainly think he did."</p> + +<p>Poor Mrs. Huntington swallowed her resentment as best she could and +continued the conversation: "There is one thing I should like to ask of +you as a favor, Tom, and that is: please do not tell Elise that her +father and I ever studied art. Not that I ever studied very hard, but +George was certainly much interested and it took a deal of managing to +persuade him to give it up and go into politics. You see, his uncle's +influence was still hot and there were many plums waiting for him. I was +too ignorant in those days to know that it did not necessarily follow +that political jobs brought social success.</p> + +<p>"George was very successful and doubled his inheritance, but we had no +position at all. He changed a great deal. You would hardly have known +him in his last years. You remember how gay and light-hearted and +good-tempered he always was. Well, he lost it all and became morose and +bitter. Elise was the only person who had any influence on him at all. +We had to live in Brooklyn and how I did hate it!"</p> + +<p>"How long has George been dead?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, ten years or so. Elise was a mere child and George never spoke to +her of having wished to become an artist. It seemed best to me for her +to live in ignorance of the fact as she is already ridiculously fond of +trying to paint; and if she knew there were any hereditary reasons for +it, there is no telling what stand she would take. I hate the Bohemian +life that artists lead, and now that I have made so many sacrifices for +her to place her in the best society, I have no idea of allowing her to +drop out.</p> + +<p>"We are received in the most exclusive houses in New York and Newport, +and while our means do not permit us to entertain very largely, our +at-homes are most popular with the Four Hundred.</p> + +<p>"Elise is very stubborn. She has had several excellent offers but +refuses to consider anyone whom she does not love. George O'Brien was +very sentimental and she has inherited that from him, along with her +love for dabbling."</p> + +<p>Mr. Kinsella had maintained a grim silence during this heartless speech; +but he now asked: "What sacrifice have you made for your daughter's +welfare, you poor put-upon lady?"</p> + +<p>"Why, I married Ponsonby Huntington! He had not a <i>sou</i> to his name but +he had the <i>entrée</i> into all the fashionable homes in the East. He was a +great expense, but it fully repaid me, as he lived long enough to +establish Elise and me in that society for which we are eminently +fitted. I am deeply grateful to him and his family and do not begrudge +the money, now that he is dead.</p> + +<p>"I was keen enough not to let him go into my principal very largely. I +am an excellent business woman, Tom, and have managed my affairs +wonderfully well."</p> + +<p>"So it seems," muttered Mr. Kinsella. "You have evidently satisfied all +your ideals. I am glad to tell you that I have already divulged to Elise +that her father might have become a very good painter, and was +astonished that she was ignorant of the fact that he had ever drawn a +line in his life. I say that I am glad, as I want to talk to George's +daughter about her father, and I cannot think of my old friend, George +O'Brien, as anything but the gay, care-free art student, always ready to +go on a lark and to share his last penny, of which he had very few, with +any needy fellow-student. Don't you ever feel like painting yourself?"</p> + +<p>"No! I hate the sight of a paint brush, and as for adding in any way to +the ever-increasing flood of poorly painted pictures,—I can at least +claim my innocence of that crime."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps you are right, but you used to be so clever at catching a +likeness."</p> + +<p>"Elise has the same power, but I hate to see it in her and never +encourage her by the least praise. Of course you can't understand this +feeling, but I know the girl would fly off at the slightest chance and +live in that shabby Latin Quarter. There, no doubt, she would marry some +down-at-the-heel artist, who would live on her money and go on painting +bad pictures to the end of time; and she would aid and abet him and +paint worse ones herself!"</p> + +<p>"Elise has money, then?"</p> + +<p>"The money is all hers except my pitiful third that the law allows me, +and I had to go into that a little to keep Ponsonby Huntington in a good +humor. However, Elise cannot get control of her money until she is +twenty-five and I have several years yet. She is quite equal to throwing +me over in spite of all I have done for her." Mrs. Huntington spoke with +a rancor that was really astounding to Molly, whose own mother was so +different that the girl had an idea that all mothers must have some of +Mrs. Brown's qualities.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I am sure you are mistaken in judging your daughter thus severely! +She must have inherited from George some other traits along with the +artistic talent."</p> + +<p>"That is just it. She inherited from him this very tendency to be hard +on me. Was it kind or right for George to leave all the money to her; +and to me, his devoted and long-suffering wife, nothing more than the +law exacted? My only hope is that she may marry a man rich enough to +make a handsome settlement on me. One who will have money enough not to +regard Elise's fortune at all, except, perhaps, to realize the necessity +of turning it over to me. Now tell me: do you think the Latin Quarter a +likely place for a girl to find such a husband?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, I don't know. You did pretty well there, and if you had waited for +me, you might have done even better from a financial standpoint, as I +have been very successful as the world takes it. Perhaps poor little +Elise might have equal luck. Oh, Lizzie, Lizzie, how changed you are! +You have spoken only of money and position and society; never once of +love and humanity. I can't bear to see you this way. When I think of you +as a girl with your soft, sweet manner and no more worldliness than a +kitten, I can hardly bear to contemplate this change in you."</p> + +<p>"Oh la, la, Tom, you and I know that a kitten only takes a year to grow +into a horrid cat, and as you so brutally and frankly put it, I have had +about twenty-five years to grow and sharpen my claws. You struck this +note first in our conversation. I was prepared to be as nice as you once +thought me, but I saw how cynical you had grown and I knew there was no +use in putting on; so I have rather enjoyed showing you my true self. +Anyhow, you are grateful to me for throwing you over, now that you see +what I am. Is it not so?"</p> + +<p>Mr. Kinsella did not answer for a moment, but finally said, changing the +subject: "There is one thing I am going to ask of you for auld lang syne +and I think maybe you will grant it: let Elise put in this winter in a +good studio in Paris. She is hungry for a long period of uninterrupted +work and I know it will soften her toward you instead of hardening her; +and I feel sure that when the dreaded twenty-fifth birthday arrives, she +will want to settle half of the fortune on you. Do this for me, Lizzie. +I guarantee it will come out well for you."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Huntington hesitated for a moment and then by a quick calculation +came to the conclusion that it would be a good thing, after all, and +would leave her free to go where she chose. She well knew how cheaply a +girl could board in Paris when she was at work in a studio, and, as Tom +said, there was every chance of her picking up a rich husband among the +students. There were always some young men who were rolling in wealth, +but still had the artistic bee in their bonnets.</p> + +<p>"I'll do it, Tom, but if it turns out badly I'll have you to thank."</p> + +<p>"Lizzie, now you are more like your old self and I am grateful to you +for this concession. Come, let us find Elise and tell her the good +news."</p> + +<p>Molly was indeed glad to have the interview over. It was against her +whole honest nature to eavesdrop, but she felt it best for all concerned +for her to remain quiet. As soon as Mr. Kinsella and Mrs. Huntington had +disappeared, Molly beat a hasty retreat to her stateroom where her +mother was looking for her, not being able to find her on deck.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Mother, I am so excited!" And she told Mrs. Brown all about her +forced concealment during the intimate conversation between the old +lovers.</p> + +<p>"It is very interesting, certainly, and I hardly know how you could help +being a listener. Since it will go no farther, as of course neither of +us will ever mention the matter to a soul, it will do no harm. I wish +you had not had to hear it, however, as I hate for my Molly to realize +that such women as Mrs. Huntington exist, so cold and selfish and +worldly. I am glad poor Elise is to be allowed to stay in Paris all +winter and work. Perhaps we can make up to her some for her mother's +heartlessness."</p> + +<p>So mother and daughter kissed and went to bed; Molly waked the next +morning with no trace of seasickness, ready and eager to enjoy the rest +of the voyage.</p> + +<p>The trip was delightful to both mother and daughter. They made many +acquaintances on board, but Elise O'Brien and the two Kinsellas they +counted among their real friends. So closely were the five thrown +together on the voyage, that they often said it seemed as though they +had known one another all their lives. Mrs. Huntington kept to herself +much of the time. She seemed to realize that it was policy to let Elise +have as good a time as she could with her father's old friend and his +nephew; and since the Browns seemed to have influential and wealthy +friends, they could, at least, do her daughter no harm, and might even +prove useful during the girl's sojourn in Paris.</p> + +<p>Elise bloomed in this congenial atmosphere and did not look like the +same girl. She had a ready wit, was quick at repartee, and after a while +her tongue lost its bitterness and her sarcastic humor became much more +genial.</p> + +<p>Mr. Kinsella would often say: "That is like your father. He had the +kindest humor in the world and was truly Irish in his wit." But when she +was too critical or inclined to let her wit run away with her heart, he +would shake his head and look sad; and the girl began to care what her +father's friend thought of her, and tried to please him.</p> + +<p>She had liked Molly from the minute they clasped hands when Pierce +introduced them, and this liking grew to enthusiastic love. She had had +few intimates and this friendship was wonderful to her. Mr. Kinsella +realized the importance of this wholesome influence on his charge, (he +had made Elise his charge ever since he wrung from her mother the +promise to let her continue her studies in art), and he did everything +to throw the girls together and give them opportunities to talk their +eager girls' talk.</p> + +<p>"I hate to think of the journey coming to an end," said Molly. "It has +been splendid; but if the trip is nearly over, our friendship has just +begun! And what times we can have in Paris! Isn't it great that you and +Judy know each other and that the three of us are so congenial?"</p> + +<p>Elise looked sad. "Yes, it is fine, but I know you and Judy will want me +out of the way. You are such old friends, and I shall always feel like +an interloper."</p> + +<p>"Oh, Elise, Elise! You must not feel that way for an instant. Judy and I +love each other a whole lot, but we are not a bit inclined to pair off +and not make new friends. Judy is more than likely already to have begun +a big affair of friendship with somebody. She will get so thick with +that one that she will have no time for anyone else; and then she will +find out the person is not the paragon she had imagined and come weeping +back to me," said Molly, throwing her arm around Elise and giving her a +warm hug.</p> + +<p>"Well, let's enjoy the few hours left to us. It seems hardly possible +that this is the same, stupid old boat that we boarded a little over +a week ago. I hated it, our stuffy stateroom, the crowded table; +and then I always dread a long voyage with Mamma. She gets so cross +and overbearing when she is cut off from society and amusements +and——" Elise stopped suddenly. She felt Molly's friendly arm growing +slack around her waist and she realized that her new friends, the Browns, +could not tolerate her impertinent remarks to and about her mother. "Oh, +Molly, please excuse me. I am trying to be nicer about Mamma. It is +awfully ill-bred of me to speak of her in that way, no matter how I +feel."</p> + +<p>"Elise, why don't you try to feel differently and then it would be +impossible for you to speak so?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, Molly, I will try." And it shows she was already trying, for she +did not add what was in her heart to say, "If you only knew my mother +you would not ask that of me."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V.</h2> + +<h3>PARIS.</h3> + + +<p>"Judy! Judy! I can't believe that we are really here, that this is +Paris, and that you are you! As for me, I feel like 'there was an old +woman as I've heard tell' who said 'Lawk a mercy on me, this surely +can't be I.'"</p> + +<p>Molly settled herself with a sigh of supreme enjoyment on the lumpy seat +of an extremely rickety taxi that Judy had engaged to take the Browns +from the station to Mrs. Pace's very exclusive pension on the Boulevard +St. Michel.</p> + +<p>"It does seem almost too good to be true that I have got you and your +dear mother at last. I have not been able to work for a week because of +the excitement of expectation. I went over to Monroe's this morning and +got your mail. I could hardly lug it home, both of you had such a batch. +You see, the mail has beaten your slow steamer in and everyone is +writing to have a greeting ready for you in Paris." And Judy, who was in +the middle, put embracing arms around both Mrs. Brown and Molly as they +rode down the Avenue de l'Opera.</p> + +<p>How wonderful Paris looked to them on that clear, crisp day in autumn! +She was showing her best and most smiling aspect to the travelers, which +delighted Judy, as she felt quite responsible for her beloved city and +wanted her friends to like it as much as she did. They passed various +points of interest which Judy pointed out with pride, and which brought +answering thrills from Mrs. Brown and Molly.</p> + +<p>The streets were gay with little pushcarts, laden with chrysanthemums +and attended by the most delightful looking old women. Everyone seemed +to be in a good humor and no one in much of a hurry except the +chauffeurs, and they went whizzing by at a most incredible speed through +the crowded thoroughfares.</p> + +<p>"How clean the streets are!" exclaimed Mrs. Brown. "And what a good +smell!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, I just wondered if you would notice the smell! That is Paris. +'Every city has an odor of its own,' Papa says, and I believe he is +right. Paris smells better than New York, although I like the smell in +New York, too; but Paris has a strange freshness in its odor that +reminds me of flowers and good things to eat, and suggests gay times, +rollicking fun and adventure."</p> + +<p>"Same old Judy," laughed Molly, "with her imagination on tap."</p> + +<p>Just then they ran under the arches of the Louvre into the Place du +Carrousel, and Molly held her breath with wonder and delight. Then came +the Seine with its beautiful bridges, its innumerable boats, and its +quays with the historic secondhand book stalls where Edwin Green had +looked forward to walking with her, searching for treasures of first +editions and what not. "Never mind," thought Molly, "Professor Green may +come later and the first editions will keep."</p> + +<p>"There is the wonderful statue of Voltaire, and through this street you +can catch a glimpse of the Beaux Arts," chanted Judy. "Now look out, for +before you know it we will be in the aristocratic Faubourg St. +Germain,—and then the Luxembourg Gardens,—and here we are at our own +respectable door before we are ready for it! Now Mrs. Pace will eat both +of you up for a while and I cannot get a word in edgewise."</p> + +<p>The Pension Pace was on the corner where a small street ran into the +broad boulevard at a sharp angle, making the building wedge-shaped. It +was a very imposing looking house and Mrs. Brown wondered at a woman +being able to conduct such a huge affair. She expressed her surprise to +Judy, who informed her that Mrs. Pace had only the three upper floors +and that the other flats were let to different tenants.</p> + +<p>"The elevator takes us to the fifth floor, where Mrs. Pace has her +parlors, dining salon and swellest boarders,—at least the boarders able +to pay the most. Of course <i>we</i> do not think that they are the swellest, +since we are on the seventh floor ourselves. Who so truly swell as we?" +Judy got out of the taxi with such an assumption of great style that the +chauffeur, much impressed, demanded a larger <i>pourboire</i> than she saw +fit to give him.</p> + +<p>"They always try to make you pay more, no matter what you offer. I am +adamant, however, where cabbies and chauffeurs are concerned. Papa says, +'Look after the tips and the legitimate expenses will look after +themselves.' So I look after the tips and trust to luck for the rest to +come out right. I am not much of an economist, I fear, but I am +learning, now that I am on a strict allowance."</p> + +<p>An elevator, so slow that its progress was almost imperceptible, took +them to the fifth floor where Mrs. Pace was in readiness to receive +them. Her greeting was very cordial and condescending. She seemed to be +taking them under her protecting wing, giving them to understand that +with her they had nothing more to fear or worry about; and as Molly and +her mother had nothing in particular to worry about and certainly +nothing to fear, they were very much amused by her attitude toward them. +Judy was purple with suppressed merriment as Mrs. Pace advised them to +go right to bed, to rest up from their long journey, poor sick, +miserable, friendless females.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Brown assured her that she was not at all tired and never felt +better in her life; that she had made many friends on the steamer; and +that she would freshen up a bit with some soap and water and then go out +for a walk with Miss Julia Kean. Mrs. Brown had reckoned without her +host, however, as the intrepid Mrs. Pace took them to their room on the +seventh floor, just across the hall from Judy's, and did not leave them +until they were in their kimonos and actually lying down.</p> + +<p>"You must not try to keep up, dear ladies, when you are overfatigued and +ill. Bed is the best place for you, bed and quiet. Miss Kean had better +leave you now and let you have a little nap."</p> + +<p>While Mrs. Pace talked, she had plumped up their pillows and lowered the +shade of the one large window, opened their suitcases and got out their +kimonos and, despite their feeble protest, had actually undressed them +and put them to bed! Then, forcibly ejecting Judy, she shut the door +with admonitions for them to sleep until dinner at six-thirty.</p> + +<p>Judy went very dutifully to her room until she heard the last of Mrs. +Pace's ponderous tread on the stairs; then she crept softly to the +Browns' door and gently opened it to find Mrs. Brown and Molly rolling +on the bed, overcome with laughter.</p> + +<p>"Oh, oh, oh! She has taken at least forty-five years off of my age," +giggled Mrs. Brown like a veritable boarding-school miss. "I have never +in my life seen such a born boss as the redoubtable Mrs. Pace! Did you +see her undo my belt and take off my skirt? I could not have felt more +like a child if my waist had been a pinafore instead of a respectable +black silk. And as for Molly, she was treated as though she were just +about old enough to go into rompers." And they all went off into peals +of laughter.</p> + +<p>"Well, now is the time to take a stand or you will never be able to," +said Judy. "I defied her from the first and she lets me alone +wonderfully."</p> + +<p>"Yes, I noticed how you withstood her authority when you were sent to +your room!" grinned Molly, as she got back into the clothes that had +been forcibly removed only five minutes before. "I see you have sneaked +in our letters and I, for one, am going to read mine, and then if we can +get down stairs without the dragon devouring us, let's take a walk. We +shall have plenty of time before dinner."</p> + +<p>They accordingly read their letters and crept down stairs and out on the +street for a breath of air and a stroll in the Luxembourg Gardens. It +was too late to try to see the pictures in the Gallery of the Luxembourg +and, after all, they had the winter before them. And now that she was +out on the street, having escaped the dragon, Mrs. Brown confessed to +feeling a little mite tired, so they sat down on a bench in the Gardens +and watched the children play.</p> + +<p>"Poor Mrs. Brown, of course you are tired! That is the most irritating +thing about Mrs. Pace: she is always right. 'It is best to rest after a +trip whether you feel tired or not, as the reaction after a journey is +obliged to come, and you pay up for it to-morrow if you do not rest +to-day'," and Judy imitated Mrs. Pace to the life.</p> + +<p>"Well, you may be sure, my dear girls, that wild horses will not drag +the fact from me in the presence of the dragon, even if I am weary unto +death. Does she coerce all her boarders as she did me, Judy?"</p> + +<p>"Most of them are completely under her dominion, finding it easiest and +best to take the course of least resistance. Some few rebel, but they +usually end by moving on. If you stay at the Pension Pace and wish to +"<i>requiescat in pace</i>," you do as she says to do. I have defied her from +the first and now I am rated as an undesirable boarder. Had it not been +that she was wild to have you with her because of your relationship to +the Marquise d'Ochtè, she would have raised some cock and bull story +about my room having been engaged by someone a year ago and, since her +honor was at stake, she would have to ask me to vacate.</p> + +<p>"I tell you she is a sly one. You must either have lots and loads of +money, or you must do as she says, do—or die. Of course she has an +excellent house in a most desirable quarter and she caters to Americans. +You will notice that the food is much more American than French; and +after people have been knocking around the Continent, of course they are +overjoyed to have some food that seems like home."</p> + +<p>"But I don't want American food," wailed Molly. "I want French things, +even snails; and I want to learn how to ask for these things in the most +Frenchy style. What is the use in coming to Paris and staying with a +stuffy old dame from Philadelphia and eating the things we have at +home?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, I am so glad you feel that way! How about you, Mrs. Brown? Papa and +Mamma made me promise to do just as you thought best. They put me in +Mrs. Pace's house and I have been determined not to worry them about +changing, but I am 'most dead of her and her ways. Do say you think we +ought to go to housekeeping or should get in a French family; anything +to get out of the dragon's den," pleaded Judy.</p> + +<p>"For how long did you engage our room?" asked Mrs. Brown, smiling at +Judy's despair.</p> + +<p>"One week; and mine, also, is taken by the week. She tried to make Papa +sign for the whole winter, but he was on to her from the first and +refused to do more than take it from week to week. He and Mamma stayed +here a few days on their way to Turkey, and you would have died laughing +if you had seen Mrs. Pace try to make Papa 'Fletcherize.' You know he +always eats as though the train would not wait. At every meal she +remarked on it and one day said at dinner: 'This is veal, Mr. Kean, and +should be thoroughly masticated.' Whereupon he put down his knife and +fork and, looking her solemnly in the eye, said: 'That is good advice no +doubt for ordinary mortals, but after long years in railroad camps I +have acquired a gizzard.' With that he took a great piece of <i>blanquette +de veau</i> and to all appearances swallowed it whole without changing his +expression. I choked so I had to leave the table and I believe Mrs. +Pace, to this day, thinks that by a skillful legerdemain I swallowed the +veal! Anyhow, Bobby ate to suit himself after that."</p> + +<p>"Oh, Judy, how ridiculous you are! I wish I could have seen Mr. Kean +execute his daring feat," laughed Molly. "Mother, let's look around for +an apartment and go to housekeeping immediately. I am sorry we told +Elise O'Brien about Mrs. Pace's. I can't bear for her to be anywhere +that is not pleasant. She has had tribulations enough in her day."</p> + +<p>Judy had not yet heard anything of their fellow passengers, as they had +been so occupied with Paris and the pension that they had had no time to +tell her of their voyage and the pleasant people they had met. She was +much interested in the fact that Miss O'Brien was to be at the art +school for the winter and said she was a girl of undoubted talent. As +for young Kinsella, he was the cleverest draughtsman at the League.</p> + +<p>"Do you girls think you like Elise enough to have her come to live with +us for the winter?" asked Mrs. Brown. "I feel sure the poor girl would +be happy, and if you would all fit in together and be congenial, I +really think it would be an act of charity to ask her. We must consider +it from all sides before we rush into it, however."</p> + +<p>"Mother, it would be splendid!" declared Molly. "I believe Mrs. +Huntington was dying for you to ask Elise, but of course had to wait for +you to suggest it. We could divide the expenses into four parts and I +know it would be cheaper than boarding and infinitely more agreeable."</p> + +<p>"Mrs. Brown, I am sure we should get on like a house afire, and it does +seem as though we might take Elise in and give her a pleasant home. I +promise to be real good and get on with everybody, if I can only know I +am to leave the <i>Maison Pace</i> in peace," promised Judy.</p> + +<p>So it was decided by these three impulsive souls to take in Elise +O'Brien and to get a flat forthwith and leave the sheltering wing of the +dragon. Mrs. Brown thought it best to stay a fortnight in their present +quarters so they could look well about them; she also wanted to see her +old friend and cousin, the Marquise d'Ochtè, for if she were anything +like the Sally Bolling of old, she felt sure she could depend on her for +some assistance in the matter of getting settled.</p> + +<p>"Of course, she may have changed so, after being married to a French +nobleman for some twenty-eight years, that I will hesitate to ask +anything of her; but I have an idea old Sally could not change. I +remember her as being a great harum-scarum but with the best heart in +the world, and absolutely honest and unaffected. My experience is that +honest, unaffected people do not change in the long run."</p> + +<p>"What did she look like, Mother?" asked Molly.</p> + +<p>"Well, when I come to think of it, she looked a little like you. She is +only my second cousin, once removed, not such very close kin; but this +red hair of yours comes cropping out in every generation or so in my +family and the similar coloring makes one fancy a likeness even if there +is none; but Sally had your eyes and your chin. She took life much more +lightly than my Molly does, saw a jest where none was intended and +sometimes cracked a joke when seriousness would have been in better +taste. I have not seen her for many years and she stopped corresponding +with all of us; not that there was any disagreement, but letter-writing +simply died a natural death, as time went on. I am greatly interested in +seeing her."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Brown also decided to let Mr. Kinsella approach the O'Briens in +regard to having Elise live with her. She was very well aware of Mrs. +Huntington's nature and felt that that lady would be fully capable of +treating her as though Elise were necessary to the housekeeping scheme +to help out the financial end; and Mrs. Brown was determined to have no +one with her as a boarder, but to run the <i>ménage</i> on a co-operative +principle, letting all of them share the expense.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Huntington and Elise had stopped in Brussels for a visit with some +friends and Mr. Kinsella and Pierce were still in Antwerp getting their +fill of the pictures to be seen there. They were uncertain how long it +would take them to grow tired of the interesting Belgian city and could +not tell just when their friends might expect them in Paris.</p> + +<p>When the three renegades returned from their walk in the Luxembourg +Gardens, they hoped to reach their rooms without being seen by Mrs. +Pace, but that lady's motto was "Eternal Vigilance," and no one went out +of her house or came in unobserved. She met them as they stepped off the +elevator on the fifth floor and gently but firmly admonished them for +their disobedience. Molly noticed her mother's heightening color and her +quivering nostrils and remembered with a smile what Aunt Mary, their old +cook, always said to them when they were children: "Ole Miss is long +suffrin' an' slow to anger but when her nose gits to wuckin', you +chillun ought to learn that she done had 'nuf and you had better make +yo'sefs scurse." Peace-loving Molly drew Mrs. Brown's arm through her +own and gently pressing it, led her upstairs.</p> + +<p>"Thank you, my dear, I was on the verge of attacking the dragon, and +since we are to be here two weeks, I must not do anything to make it +more difficult. But did you ever see anyone more impertinent?" asked +Mrs. Brown, still sniffing the battle from afar.</p> + +<p>"Never," sympathized Judy. "I wish you had said your say. I believe you +could get ahead of the fabulous monster in open combat. She is, after +all, a very flabby, fabulous monster and one prick would do for her."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI.</h2> + +<h3>LA MARQUISE.</h3> + + +<p>"<i>La Marquise d'Ochtè</i> is attending <i>Madame Brune</i> in the <i>salon au +cinquième étage</i>," announced a very excited little housemaid, who was +supposed to speak English for the benefit of the American pensionnaires +at <i>Maison Pace</i>. "<i>Madame Pace</i> is some time gone at the <i>boucher</i>, not +expecting callers at so early <i>heur</i>. <i>La Marquise</i> demanded not <i>Madame +Pace</i>; but said very <i>distinctment 'Madame Brune et sa fille'</i>."</p> + +<p>"Very well, Alphonsine, thank you so much. My daughter and I will come +down immediately," said Mrs. Brown, smiling at the agitation of the +little maid. Mrs. Pace had evidently given her servants to understand +the importance her pension gained from the visits of a marchioness.</p> + +<p>"Milly, Milly, how I have longed to see you," and the Marquise d'Ochtè +rose from her seat and clasped her one-time friend and beloved cousin in +a warm embrace. "And this is your daughter? Goodness, child, you look +like me,—at least, like me when I was young!"</p> + +<p>Molly knew in the first second of greeting that she was going to like +this cousin, and Mrs. Brown was delighted to see in the marchioness the +same Sally Bolling of thirty years ago. She was like Molly in a way, but +it was hard to realize that Molly could ever be quite so buxom as this +middle-aged cousin. She was a very large woman with an excellent figure +for her weight, and hair a little darker than Molly's with no silver +threads showing so far.</p> + +<p>"I pull 'em out if they dare to so much as show their noses. They say +forty will come in when you pull out one, but then I'll make my maid +pull out forty, if it kills me in the pulling," she declared when Mrs. +Brown remarked on it in the course of their inventory of each other. "My +Jean declares he got caught in my hair and could not get away, and I +mean still to keep him."</p> + +<p>"I am afraid I would snatch myself bald-headed if I tried to pull all of +my gray hairs out," laughed Mrs. Brown; "but, Sally, you are exactly the +same girl who left Kentucky ages ago; there is just a little more of +you."</p> + +<p>"A little more of me, indeed! There is about twice as much of me as +there used to be. But, Milly, you are exactly the same; there is not +even any more of you. You look much more like a member of the French +nobility than I do."</p> + +<p>The marchioness did not look in the least French, but more like a +well-groomed English woman. Her dark brown suit was very simple and well +made, and her shoes bore the earmarks of an English boot maker, fitting +her perfectly but with low heels, broad toes and heavy soles. Her hat +was the only French touch about her, and that could have been concocted +in no spot in the world but Paris, so perfectly did it blend with her +hair and furs.</p> + +<p>"Now tell me all about yourselves and what you are going to do with your +winter, and we can 'reminisce' another time. We must hurry before Henny +Pace gets back from market. I came early so as to avoid her and see you +a moment alone. She is a kind, good soul and I am really very fond of +her for auld lang syne, but you might as well try to hold a conversation +with a bumping bug in the room as Henrietta. Firstly, do you mean to +stay here?"</p> + +<p>Molly and her mother laughed outright at the bumping bug comparison. It +was very apt.</p> + +<p>"Why, Cousin Sally, we could not think of spending the winter being +coerced at every turn," returned Molly. "We were hardly in the house +before Mrs. Pace actually took Mother's clothes off and put her to bed, +and last night at dinner she refused to let me have any coffee. She said +it would ruin my complexion!"</p> + +<p>The marchioness roared with laughter. "How like old Henny that is! She +always was a boss, but I don't blame you for objecting. I let her seem +to boss me just for the fun of it. I have known her since first coming +to Paris and understand how good she is at bottom, but wild horses could +not drag me to spend a night in her house. I ask her to <i>la Roche Craie</i> +every year and try to give her a rest, (she really works awfully hard,) +but she is so busy there trying to change my housekeeper's methods and +rearrange the linen presses that she gets very little rest after all. +Jean cannot stand her, but my son Philippe sees the good in her that I +have brought him up to see; and then he clings to any and everything +American. I am anxious for you to know my husband and son and for them +to meet you. Do you know French?"</p> + +<p>"Mother speaks better French than I do in spite of my work at college," +confessed Molly.</p> + +<p>"Well, I studied French with the old time method more as we study Latin, +and while my accent is vile, my verbs are all right. I am going to try +to brace up in accent, and Molly and Judy are endeavoring to perfect +themselves in grammar. But you have not met our friend Judy, Miss Julia +Kean," said Mrs. Brown.</p> + +<p>"No, I have not, but from all the complaints Henny Pace has made of her, +I know she must be charming. When Henny gives a boarder a good +character, I know without meeting her that she is some spineless old +maid who is afraid to call her soul her own, or that she is a hypocrite +like me who wants peace at any price. Now she tells me that Miss Kean is +head-strong, self-willed, flippant, slangy, ill-bred, inconsiderate——"</p> + +<p>"Oh, how could she tell such things?" interrupted Molly. "Why, Cousin +Sally, Judy is splendid! She is independent and knows her own mind, and +all of us are a little slangy, I am afraid; but she is very well-bred +and Mother says the most considerate visitor she has ever had."</p> + +<p>"Well, child, her report of your friend had no effect on me but to make +me want to meet the young lady, so I can judge for myself. I want you +and your mother to come and dine with us this evening at six-thirty and +to bring Miss Kean with you. We will go to the opera to hear <i>Louise</i>. +It is wonderful and I know you will like it," and la Marquise d'Ochtè +smiled on her young Kentucky cousin and pressed her hand, pleased to see +how she could speak up for her friend.</p> + +<p>"We shall be delighted to come," said Mrs. Brown, "and I know Judy will +appeal to you. She is a dear child and as free from affectation as you +yourself. Now, Sally, tell me how we must go to work to find an +apartment and where we should settle ourselves. We are far from affluent +and want something inexpensive but, of course, respectable. Judy is to +be with us; also a Miss Elise O'Brien, whose acquaintance we made on the +steamer. You know so many persons, I wonder if you ever met her mother: +she was a Miss Lizzie Peck, who married a young artist, George O'Brien, +some twenty-five years ago here in Paris. At his death she married Mr. +Huntington."</p> + +<p>"Know Lizzie Peck? I should say I did,—the outrageous piece! You see, +before Jean succeeded to the estate and before I had my windfall from +Aunt Sarah Carmichael, we lived in a very small way and our principal +society was in Bohemia. At that time Lizzie Peck was the beauty of the +Latin Quarter. She was supposed to be studying art, and indeed she was +quite clever. But she was such a belle and so busy drawing young men to +her, that she did not give much time to any other drawing. George +O'Brien was much too good for her in every way. He was one of the +wittiest men I ever knew and good nature itself. It is to be hoped that +the daughter Elise inherited a disposition from him and not from the +flirtatious Lizzie. Jean always insisted that there was an understanding +between Tom Kinsella and Lizzie, but I hardly think a man as keen as Tom +could ever have been taken in by the likes of Lizzie," and the +marchioness got up preparatory to making her departure.</p> + +<p>"Why, Mother, to think of Cousin Sally's knowing Mr. Kinsella, too! You +liked him, didn't you, Cousin Sally?" asked Molly eagerly. "He was on +our steamer and so kind to us."</p> + +<p>"Yes, my dear, I liked him very much and should like to see him again, +and so would my Jean. I fancy a great many persons are kind to my little +cousin," and she pinched Molly's blushing cheek. "Now, Milly, don't +worry for one moment about an apartment as I am almost sure I know of a +place that will just suit you. It is a studio apartment on the Rue Brea, +just across the Luxembourg Garden from here. It belongs to an American +artist named Bent. He and his wife are going to Italy for the winter and +would be delighted to rent it furnished, I am sure. It is very superior +to many of the studios in the Latin Quarter as it has a bathroom. But I +am not going to tell you any more about it until I find out if you can +get it, what the price is, and just what sleeping accommodations it has. +I have my limousine at the door and shall go immediately to the Rue +Brea, and to-night when you come to us for dinner I can tell you more. +<i>Au revoir</i>, then, my long lost cousin," and she kissed Mrs. Brown on +both cheeks.</p> + +<p>"That is the first Frenchy thing she has done yet," thought Molly; and +then when the elevator had slowly descended out of hearing distance she +remarked to her mother: "How could anyone live in a foreign country for +almost thirty years and stay so exactly like 'home folks'? Cousin +Sally's accent is much more southern than yours and mine. Did you notice +her 'sure' was almost 'sho' and she spoke of Lizzie Peck's dra-a-win' +young men? I love her for keeping the same. And oh what fun to be going +there to dinner! I can hardly wait for Judy to come home from the studio +to tell her."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Brown was equally pleased with her cousin's having remained so +unaffected and looked forward with much pleasure to renewing the +girlhood intimacy, and also to meeting the Marquis d'Ochtè, of whom his +wife spoke so enthusiastically as "my Jean," and the son Philippe. She +had some misgivings about the son because the literature of the day does +not paint a young Frenchman in particularly desirable colors as the +companion of girls; but she hoped that the mother's innate good sense +had served to bring up the boy in the proper way. Then Molly and Judy +could meet him as they would any young man from their own country, and +he would understand their easy freedom of manner and of speech, +different, she well knew, from that of the unmarried French girl. She +determined to say nothing to the girls of the difference, as she did not +want them changed or embarrassed by self-consciousness, and she felt +sure of their having breeding and <i>savoir faire</i> to carry them through +any situation with flying colors.</p> + +<p>As the marchioness had indicated, she had married before Jean had +succeeded to the estates and indeed before he had any idea of being the +heir presumptive. His uncle, the Marquis d'Ochtè, was at the time a +comparatively young man, a widower with a son of twelve; and everyone +expected that he would marry again and perhaps have other sons. Jean +d'Ochtè, when she met him, was a rising young journalist, making, +however, but a meager salary. His father was dead. His mother, Madame +d'Ochtè, was a very superior woman and recognized Sally Bolling's worth +in spite of the fact that she had but a tiny dot to bestow at her +marriage. She saw her son's infatuation for the American girl and gave +her consent to the marriage, without which, as is the law in France, +they could not have been wed. Sally's alliance gave her the <i>entrée</i> +into the most exclusive homes of the Faubourg St. Germain but she was +not a whit impressed by it. She took her honors so simply and naturally +that she won the hearts of all her husband's connection and they ended +by applauding the leniency of Madame d'Ochtè in permitting the match, +which they had formerly condemned as sentimental.</p> + +<p>Jean and his wife spent their first married years living in the simplest +style and Sally learned the economy for which the French are famous. +Then came the windfall of fifty thousand dollars from Aunt Sarah +Carmichael, which reconciled the exclusive Faubourg more than ever to +the match; and then the death of the little cousin of Jean's, making him +his uncle's heir; and finally the death of the uncle, which gave Jean +the title of Marquis d'Ochtè. It meant giving up his profession, to +which he was much attached; but the estates had to be looked after and +the dignity of the title maintained; and now there was leisure for the +reading and writing of plays, which had been his secret ambition.</p> + +<p>Sally made a delightful marchioness. She had been accustomed to the best +society in Kentucky and she declared good society was the same all over +the world; as far as she could see the only way to get on was just to be +yourself and not put on airs. She was very popular in the select circle +to which the title of Marquise d'Ochtè admitted her but she did not +confine herself to that circle; she knew all kinds and conditions of +people, and never forgot a friend, no matter how humble.</p> + +<p>Judy was very much excited at the prospect of dining with a live member +of the old nobility, but her excitement was nothing to that of Mrs. +Pace. That lady, when she received the message from Mrs. Brown telling +her they would not be at home for dinner as they would dine out, +immediately climbed to the seventh story to find out where they were to +dine, and on being informed of their destination, she went off into +transports of delight. Her ardor was somewhat dampened when it was +divulged that Judy was to be one of the party.</p> + +<p>"Sally is very good natured but entirely too democratic for her position +as the wife of one of the very oldest of the nobility in France. Of +course she asked Miss Kean because of her friendship with your +daughter," panted the irate dame, out of breath from her climb up two +flights.</p> + +<p>"I don't believe that was the only reason," said Molly, rather glad to +give Mrs. Pace a dig after her report of her darling Judy. "Cousin Sally +said she had been anxious to meet Miss Kean from what you had told her +of my friend; so you are really responsible for the pleasure in store +for her."</p> + +<p>"Well, I only hope she appreciates the honor done her," spluttered Mrs. +Pace. "What are you going to wear? A dinner in the Faubourg and the +Opera afterward calls for the very best in your wardrobe."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps you had better advise us about our clothes," said Mrs. Brown +sweetly, remembering what her cousin had said of Mrs. Pace's kind heart +and how she humored her by seeming to let her boss her. "I have a very +pretty black crêpe de Chine. I think I am too old to go décolleté, but I +am sure this is suitable, especially as I have nothing else."</p> + +<p>"It is perfectly suitable, and if you take my advice you will wear it +and leave the neck exactly as it is with that lovely old lace finishing +it off in a V. For pity sakes, don't tell Sally you are too old for low +necks as she is about your age and wears décolleté gowns on every +occasion where one is warranted," said Mrs. Pace, much pleased at being +taken into anyone's confidence on the subject of clothes or anything +else.</p> + +<p>Molly, taking her cue from her mother, then got out her dress and showed +it to the eager landlady.</p> + +<p>"It is lovely and just your color. Sally used to be given to that blue +when she was young, but she says now she is too big and red to wear +anything but brown or black. You must have a taxi to go in. I will +attend to it for you. I hope Miss Kean will not do herself up in any +fantastic, would-be artistic get-up, but will do you and your daughter +credit, to say nothing of me, after I have got her this invitation," and +Mrs. Pace bustled off, filled with importance.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Brown and the girls, left alone at last, dressed themselves with +the greatest care for the occasion, realizing what it meant to dine with +the nobility and then go to the far-famed Opera.</p> + +<p>"Only think, the tomb of Napoleon, dinner with a marquis and the Opera, +all in one day! I almost wish we had put off the tomb until to-morrow. +Our impressions are coming too fast," exclaimed Molly.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII.</h2> + +<h3>THE FAUBOURG.</h3> + + +<p>At the toot of the horn, the porte cochère of the Hotel d'Ochtè was +thrown open by a venerable porter and the taxi containing Mrs. Brown and +the girls swept into the court in great style. How beautiful it was! The +soft color of the stone walls blended with the formal box bushes and +tubs of oleanders; here and there a wrought-iron lantern projected from +the pilasters; rows of snub-nosed caryatides held up little balconies, +also of wrought iron, of the most delicate design and workmanship. Judy +held her breath at the effect of line and color and wondered if she +would ever know the inmates well enough to be allowed to make a picture +of the court.</p> + +<p>They were met in the hall by the most gracious and least formal of +hostesses and taken immediately to her boudoir to remove their wraps.</p> + +<p>"And this is Miss Julia Kean, the friend of my cousin, as the easy +lessons in French put it. I am afraid I shall just have to call you +Judy, my dear, and not start out trying to 'miss' you. And Molly in my +own blue! Ah, child, for the first time in my life I tremble for the +affections of my Jean! There is something about the combination of that +particular blue with red hair that goes to his head. Milly, you are +beautiful! How proud I am of my kin!" And the marchioness chattered on, +leading them down a long, dim hall, hung with tapestries and armor, to +the library.</p> + +<p>"We live in our library. It is so much cosier than the great salon and +we feel more at home in the smaller room; and here we can talk without +having to shout across space."</p> + +<p>The door was opened at their approach by Philippe who bowed low as they +entered and stood aside, while they were introduced to his father, the +Marquis d'Ochtè.</p> + +<p>The marquis was a very interesting-looking man, tall for a Frenchman, +with merry brown eyes and a black, closely cut, pointed beard. His hair +was iron gray, thick and rather bushy. His manner was very cordial and +all of the ladies were secretly relieved to find that he spoke English +fluently, if with an accent.</p> + +<p>Philippe was a handsomer man than his father, having that rare +combination of coloring: dark eyes and golden hair. He wore a pointed +beard, too, as is the almost invariable custom of Frenchmen; his eye was +as merry as his father's and he had inherited his mother's strong chin, +big honest mouth and perfect teeth. The d'Ochtè family certainly made a +wonderfully fine looking trio. The marchioness was radiant in black +velvet and diamonds, her neck and arms beautiful and white, her abundant +hair parted in the middle and done in a loose knot on her neck. She was +a very distinguished looking woman and worthy to take her place with +royalty as well as with the nobility. Years had touched her but lightly; +but the eternal youth in her heart, as in that of Mrs. Brown, was what +gave her the charm of expression and manner.</p> + +<p>Cordial relations were established immediately between old and young.</p> + +<p>"There is nothing like a good American handshake to make strangers +acquainted," said the host, looking admiringly at his wife's cousins and +their attractive companion, Judy, who in spite of Mrs. Pace's fears that +she might get herself up in "paint rags," was most artistically gowned +in old-rose messaline. "It is more pleasure than I can express to meet +the cousins of my Sara; also Mademoiselle Kean, of whom we have heard +much from the respected Madame Pace," he added with a mischievous +twinkle.</p> + +<p>"Heavens, how must I behave if Mrs. Pace has already given me a +character?" exclaimed Judy. "Must I be as she says I am, or must I be as +she wants me to be?"</p> + +<p>"Be yourself, and you will be as we want you," said the marchioness, +kindly. "Jean and Philippe do not have the chance to meet many American +girls and they do not, as a rule, care to meet Henny's boarders, who are +usually dry-as-dust old maids, especially the ones Henny recommends."</p> + +<p>"Oh, please don't change yourselves, any of you," begged Philippe in a +voice and accent so southern that it was amusing coming from a veritable +Frenchman. "All my life, I have longed to meet some of my cousins and to +hear more of the Kentucky stories, and of Chatsworth and the Carmichael +place. Does Cousin Sarah Carmichael, Mrs. Clay, I believe she is now, +still take the biggest piece of cake, and are the beech trees as +beautiful as they were when my mother used to play under them with you, +Cousin Mildred?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, Philippe, you should not tell tales out of school! Sarah is Milly's +sister and she might not like the cake reminiscences. Sarah was mighty +grabby, though, wasn't she, Milly? I am afraid she will never forgive me +for getting the legacy from Aunt Sarah Carmichael. You see we were both +named for her and Sarah naturally expected an equal division if not the +'biggest piece of cake,' and when the whole fifty thousand came to me, +it was a sad blow to Sarah. But she was quite comfortable and Jean and I +were the needy members of the family, as far as money went. That was all +we did need as we had everything else," and the marchioness laid her +hand lightly on her husband's bushy hair whence he gently drew it down +to his cheek.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Brown could not help smiling over Sister Clay and the big piece of +cake. She remembered how the two Sarahs had always been at daggers +drawn. Her sister was much older than Sally Bolling and had always been +critical of the lively girl who had repaid her by laughing at her and +cracking jokes at her expense.</p> + +<p>"Yes indeed, Philippe, the beeches are even more beautiful having had +some years since then to grow. Trees are one of the things that improve +with age. I hope you will come to Kentucky and make us a long visit and +see all of your kin and their homes," said Mrs. Brown cordially.</p> + +<p>"That would be fine, if the mother and father could come, too. You don't +know how beautiful your southern tongue sounds to me, Cousin Mildred. +You say 'kin' just as my mother does and as I do. I am laughed at by my +English friends for my way of speaking their language, but I would not +give up my southern accent for worlds."</p> + +<p>Dinner was announced, interrupting Philippe, and they made their way to +the <i>salle a manger</i>. The marquis gave his arm to Mrs. Brown; Judy fell +to the share of the handsome young son; and the marchioness put her arm +affectionately around Molly's waist.</p> + +<p>"My dear," she said, "having you with us is a pleasure, indeed. I wish I +had a daughter just like you. I think your mother might spare you to me. +She has two other daughters and four sons. That is too much for any +woman."</p> + +<p>"You had better not say that to mother," laughed Molly. "The only time I +ever saw her lose her temper with Aunt Clay, who would try the patience +of a saint, was when Aunt Clay intimated that it would be much more +economical if there had been only half of us, three children and a half +instead of seven. I was a tiny little girl, but I can remember how I +crawled under the table I was so scared. I had never seen mother get +really mad before and she turned on Aunt Clay in such a rage that I felt +sorry for her. You know it must have been pretty bad if I felt sorry for +Aunt Clay, for she is the one person in the world I can't like."</p> + +<p>"Molly, we are alike in more ways than one! She is an abomination unto +me! Sarah Clay made my childhood unhappy. You see, I had no regular home +as my mother and I were very poor. We spent much of our time visiting +and Cousin George Carmichael, your grandfather, was goodness itself to +us. The Carmichael place was more like home than any other to me. I +simply loved it and spent many happy hours playing with your dear +mother; but Sarah never lost a chance to rub it in on me that I was in a +measure a dependent. As a child it would cut me to the quick; but as I +got older and made my visits at Cousin George's, I would retaliate by +making game of my older cousin; and no one can abide being made fun of. +I tell you I gave her tit for tat and usually came out ahead. But we +must stop this whispering. Your mother can't stand any criticism of her +sister. Some day we can get together and say all the mean things we've a +mind to about old Sarah!" Then the marchioness was transformed in the +twinkling of an eye from the naughty Sally Boiling to the gracious +hostess, seeing that her guests were seated and leading the conversation +into the most agreeable channels.</p> + +<p>The dinner was perfect, every detail in absolute taste, served +beautifully but with an elegant simplicity. Molly made mental notes on +the sauce with the fish, trying to find out without asking what was in +it; and then the gravy with the filet of beef occupied her attention. +Such a wonderful gravy with a character all its own. She remembered what +Edwin Green had told her of the Frenchman who was visiting America. When +asked his impressions of the country, he had said: "America is a country +with a thousand different religions and one sauce." She wondered what +Miss Morse would think of this gravy, and smiled as she recalled the +lecture on gravies delivered by that highly educated teacher of domestic +science and the smooth, perfect specimen she demonstrated, with no more +flavor than Miss Morse herself.</p> + +<p>"What is the little joke my Cousin Mollee is having all to herself," +asked the marquis.</p> + +<p>Molly frankly confessed what had made her smile, since her cousin wanted +to know, and of course in her confession praise of the gravy had to be +included.</p> + +<p>"Brava, brava," and the Marquis d'Ochtè clapped his hands. "She is like +my Sara in all ways. She is also a discriminator in foods. This gravy, +my dear Mademoiselle, is the <i>chef d'[oe]uvre</i> of my chef. You notice +the butler, Jules, has left the room. <i>Pourquoi</i> does he go? He cannot +wait to tell Gaston, the chef, that Madame's cousin from across the seas +has been so gracious as to praise his work of art. If you will turn ever +so little you will see the happy face of Gaston peeping in to view the +beautiful young lady."</p> + +<p>Molly turned, and sure enough, tip-toeing to see over the shoulder of +Jules the butler, was Gaston, his face radiant.</p> + +<p>"Molly is a wonderful cook herself," said Judy. "She has an instinct for +food that is truly remarkable. At college an invitation to a Molly Brown +spread was looked upon with greater reverence than being asked to have +tea with the President. But has she not learned from Aunt Mary, that +dear old colored woman who cooks like an angel? We trembled for fear +that the domestic science teacher would ruin Molly's touch and make her +too academic, but I hope it hasn't."</p> + +<p>"Dear Aunt Mary, I had almost forgotten her!" exclaimed the marchioness. +"Don't tell me you can make Aunt Mary's spoon corn bread, Molly! If you +can, I'll make the Bents move out of their studio to-morrow so you can +move in. And I'll come to live with you and get you to make me some for +every meal until all the cornmeal to be purchased at the American +grocers' is used up!"</p> + +<p>"Indeed she can, Sally, and many things besides. Aunt Mary has initiated +her into all the secrets of her trade," said Mrs. Brown. "I remember so +well hearing the old woman say to Molly, when she was a little girl, 'Ef +you wan' ter know how ter make bread, you have ter begin at de +beginnin'. Now yeast is de fust an' maindest thing and tater yeast is +the onliest kin' fit ter use, an' you can't git taters 'thout diggin' +'em; so fer the fust step, s'pose you go an' dig some taters.' So, you +see, my Molly can do it all."</p> + +<p>"Oh, how I love to hear about Aunt Mary!" sighed Philippe. "Am I to have +some of this ambrosial bread, too, Cousin Molly?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, indeed, but I am afraid the meal we get in Paris will not be +right. Tell us, Cousin Sally, about the studio in the Rue Brea. Can we +get it? We have had so many things to talk about, we have not asked you +about it."</p> + +<p>"The Bents expect to go to Italy for six months and are very much +pleased to have good tenants in their absence. I am going to take you +and your mother and Miss Kean, if she can come, to see the place +to-morrow morning. The rent is reasonable, ridiculously cheap even, one +hundred and twenty-five francs a month."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Brown's face fell at the rental named by her cousin. The +marchioness saw it and gave a merry laugh. "I know just what you are +doing, Milly; you are thinking in dollars. I said a hundred and +twenty-five <i>francs</i>; that is only twenty-five dollars."</p> + +<p>"Oh, how silly I am! I did think you meant dollars. Of course, that is +cheap and well within our means. We are so grateful to you, Sally, and I +am sure it will suit," said Mrs. Brown, blushing at her mistake, which +she need not have done as it is no easy matter to think in foreign +money.</p> + +<p>The dinner went gaily on. Molly and Judy told Philippe all about +Wellington College, and he in turn had much to tell them of Nancy, where +he had been studying forestry after his course at the Sorbonne. The +marquis and marchioness had many questions to ask Mrs. Brown of the +relatives in Kentucky. The talk was interesting and delightful and they +felt as though they had known one another always.</p> + +<p>They lingered over their coffee and cheese until the butler announced +that the limousine was at the door ready to take them to the Opera. +There was a general move for wraps and gloves, but Philippe stopped his +mother long enough to embrace her and whisper in her ear: "Both of them +are jewels and I can't tell which one is the more precious"; and Molly +and Judy, unconscious of their being rivals, hugged each other in Cousin +Sally's boudoir and said in chorus: "What an Adonis!"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII.</h2> + +<h3>THE OPERA.</h3> + + +<p>The ride through the brilliantly lighted streets; across the Seine with +its myriad of small boats with their red and green lanterns; through the +Place du Carrousel where the Louvre loomed up dark and mysterious; under +the arch and across the Rue de Rivoli; then into the Avenue de l'Opera, +seemed to Mrs. Brown and Molly the very most delightful experience of +their "great adventure." It was an old story to Judy but one she could +not hear too often, this Paris at night; and the marchioness confessed +that after thirty years, the Avenue, if you approached it as they were +doing, gave her a thrill that was ever new and wonderful. They proceeded +slowly, as the procession of automobiles was endless.</p> + +<p>"The horse is almost an extinct animal in Paris," said the marquis to +Mrs. Brown, who had remarked that she feared she was coming to Paris too +late to see the much written of type of "cab, cab horse and cabby." One +sees occasionally a specimen of the old days: rickety cab, thin horse +and fat, red-faced <i>cocher</i>; but such an equipage seems to be in demand +only by the very timid who are afraid to trust themselves to the modern +means of locomotion. Those poor souls are not, as a rule, on the +boulevards at this hour, but shut snugly behind doors, locked and +barred, safe from the "dread Apaches and all the terrors of the night."</p> + +<p>"I love automobiles," exclaimed Molly, "but nothing could ever take the +place of a horse to me, even a poor, abused, old cab horse."</p> + +<p>"Ah then, you can ride!" cried the delighted Philippe. "And you, too, +Miss Kean? American girls are the finest on earth surely," (only he said +"sholy"). "We have horses at <i>Roche Craie</i> and all of us ride. Mother is +a splendid horsewoman."</p> + +<p>"Yes indeed, I am going to ride just as long as a horse can be found big +enough to carry me," laughed the marchioness. "Sometimes I think my poor +beast must look like a pet duck I had when I was a child. It got run +over by a wagon, and my old mammy said, 'Yo' lil duck got run over, +honey chile. He is right down in the back but still able to bear up!'</p> + +<p>"But it is fine that you girls can ride, and when you come to visit us +at <i>Roche Craie</i> you can have some famous gallops. I hate the English +riding horse with his eternal trotting and the rider working himself to +death posting. Our horses are good Kentucky riding stock with gaits. I +hope you brought your riding habits."</p> + +<p>"I did!" and "I did!" said Molly and Judy almost in the same breath.</p> + +<p>"I never move without my riding habit, bathing suit and skates," +declared Judy. "I learned my lesson about my bathing suit once when I +spent the summer in camp with Papa. I did not know we would have any +bathing worthy the name and did not put mine in the trunk. When we got +there we found that the only form of bath that could be had was in a +creek as there was not even a basin in camp, and there was I without a +bathing suit! Papa was furious at my stupidity. We were miles from any +kind of shop. 'Necessity is the mother of invention,' so I took a big +laundry bag, cut slits for arms and legs, tied the draw string around my +neck, and with a neat belt I looked quite chic. It did not give me much +freedom for swimming but I could at least get the necessary bath."</p> + +<p>Every one roared at the picture Judy drew of herself tied up in the +laundry bag and just then they got out of the jam on the Avenue, crossed +the great Boulevard des Italiens, and stopped at the beautiful entrance +to the Opera.</p> + +<p>The d'Ochtè box was in the first tier and proved very roomy and +comfortable, commanding an excellent view of the house as well as the +stage.</p> + +<p>"We have come early on purpose," said the marchioness, "as I wanted you +to see the house fill. I can point out any celebrities I happen to know +before the performance begins."</p> + +<p>The girls and Mrs. Brown were seated in the front, with the host and +hostess and their son in the back of the box. There were two extra +seats, but madame declared that she liked to have some left for +visitors.</p> + +<p>"<i>Louise</i> is the opera of all others to introduce strangers to Paris," +explained Philippe to Molly. "It is Paris, Paris sounds, Paris sights, +the tragedy and comedy of Paris."</p> + +<p>Molly was devoutly thankful that she had bought the libretto of the +opera of <i>Louise</i> when she and her mother had ventured out to see the +tomb of Napoleon after the visit of Cousin Sally in the morning; and +when they were taking their much needed rest before dressing for dinner +in the Faubourg, she had read it aloud to her mother.</p> + +<p>"I was so afraid I might miss something," she explained ingenuously to +her cousin. "You see, mother and I want to see and hear everything we +can. We have done so little traveling and seen so little in our lives +that this coming to Paris is like a visit to fairyland to us. I am +afraid I'll wake up and find it is all a dream."</p> + +<p>"I feel as though I were in a dream, too," said Philippe. "I have had so +little chance to talk to girls like you and Miss Kean. <i>La jeune fille</i>, +<i>bien élevèe</i>, in France is so missish and afraid to speak out to a man. +You and your friend look me straight in the eye without the least +affectation of timidity, just as though you were boys instead of girls; +and at the same time you are delightfully feminine. It is a strange +thing to me to watch one of these girls of my country, with downcast +eyes and so much modesty she can hardly speak above a whisper. The +moment she becomes <i>madame</i> all this timidity disappears, and in the +twinkling of an eye she is the charming young married woman, full of all +the arts and graces. The transformation is so sudden, it makes one doubt +the sincerity of the former modesty. Mother says the French girl is thus +because it is what the average Frenchman wants, the old story of supply +and demand. But I am half Anglo-Saxon and want no such person for my +wife. My mother has spoiled me, and I can never be happy with a +hypocrite."</p> + +<p>Molly smiled, thinking that while her cousin was declaring himself +Anglo-Saxon, he was certainly not talking like one. Such candor is +seldom seen in the male Anglo-Saxon. His warmth and fervor were +decidedly French.</p> + +<p>The house was beginning to fill and many glasses were leveled at the box +of Madame la Marquise d'Ochtè. The general verdict was that it was a +very effective grouping. Certainly there were not two middle-aged women +in the whole audience more distinguished looking or handsomer than the +marchioness and her cousin; nor were there two fresher or sweeter +looking girls, charming in their eagerness to see and not for one moment +conscious that they were attracting any attention. The marquis and +Philippe formed a pleasing background of masculinity to these beautiful +women.</p> + +<p>The opening scene, <i>Louise's</i> garret room in her father's house with the +view through the window of her lover's studio; the duet with her lover +in which she tells him of her father's refusal to their marriage; and +then her promise to run away with him in event of her parent's +persisting in his hard-hearted resolution to separate them, seemed to +Molly most wonderful and touching; but when the mother came in and +berated the lover, <i>Julien</i>, as "a rascal, a starveling, a dissipator"; +and when <i>Louise</i> defended him as being "so good, so courageous," and +the mother retaliated by calling him the pillar of a wine shop and +attempted to beat her daughter, Molly covered her eyes and wept, all +unconscious of the amused glances of the occupants of the neighboring +box.</p> + +<p>But in a moment she was watching again: The father has come in and there +is some sort of reconciliation between him and Louise, although her +mother is still furious and slaps her in the face when she takes up for +him; then the father interferes and embraces <i>Louise</i>, and they are +finally all seated around the table, the mother with her sewing, the +father with his pipe, when <i>Louise</i> starts to read aloud from the +newspaper: "The Spring Season is most brilliant. All Paris is in holiday +garb." <i>Louise</i> stops reading and after a moment sobs: "Paris——" and +the curtain slowly descends.</p> + +<p>There was a storm of applause, and Molly came to the realization that +she was in a fair way to have a red nose if she did not control her +emotions. She gave a sad little smile and hoped that Philippe would talk +to Judy and let her be sure of herself before she trusted her voice.</p> + +<p>As she looked out over the "sea of upturned faces," she saw Mr. Kinsella +and Pierce in the pit. They were applauding vigorously but Mr. Kinsella +had an eye on their box, evidently in hopes of recognition. Molly gave +him a delighted bow and then told her mother and the marchioness of his +presence. The marquis overheard her remark.</p> + +<p>"What! Do you mean my old friend, Tom Kinsella? Where, where? Point him +out to me. I'll go and bring him to our box."</p> + +<p>He hurried out and made his way to where the Kinsellas were seated. The +twenty-five years since he had seen his American friend were forgotten. +He remembered him as the glowing, enthusiastic boy, for whom the whole +Latin Quarter felt such sympathy when he had to give up his beloved art +and go into business. It escaped his mind entirely that time had not +stood still with Tom Kinsella any more than with him. Jean d'Ochtè made +a very natural mistake. He put his arm lovingly around Pierce and in his +impulsive French way said: "<i>Mon cher Tom, je t'embrasse.</i>"</p> + +<p>Pierce looked up, very much amused at being hugged at the Opera by a +distinguished looking French gentleman with a black beard and bushy, +gray hair. Mr. Kinsella rose from his seat and clasping the marquis by +the hand, exclaimed:</p> + +<p>"Jean, how splendid to meet you on this my first night in Paris after +all these years! Don't apologize for mistaking my nephew for me," and he +introduced Pierce to him, calling him "Monsieur d'Ochtè," being entirely +ignorant of the fact of his old friend's having inherited a title and +estates. "Now tell me of Madame. I do hope I am to be allowed to see +her."</p> + +<p>"<i>Certainment</i>, my friend. She now awaits you in the box where we are +entertaining Sara's cousins, Mrs. and Miss Brown, of Kentukee, also a +charming <i>jeune fille</i>, by name Miss Kean."</p> + +<p>Uncle and nephew were led, willing captives, to fill the unoccupied +seats in the box. Mrs. Brown and Molly were delighted to see them again, +and Judy and Pierce plunged into a discussion of art schools and +pictures. The marchioness was overjoyed to meet a friend from the old +Bohemian days and her husband was like a boy in his enthusiasm over this +long lost companion. Philippe looked a little sad and downcast, although +he was studiously polite to the strangers. He had been having such a +splendid time with the girls that he could not help resenting the +interruption to his pleasure caused by the entrance of these two +Americans. He was secretly glad when the curtain went up and the whole +party was forced to give their attention to the stage.</p> + +<p>The next act, in front of the wine shop, the lover <i>Julien</i> and his +companions playing and making horseplay, had the note of true comedy and +Molly could find nothing to weep over, for which she was truly thankful. +She whispered to Mr. Kinsella that when there was anything to cry over, +she simply had to cry, and he said:</p> + +<p>"I see you have what Mr. Dooley calls 'the stage delusion'. It is a +delightful quality to feel the reality of the drama and not remember +there is any 'behind the scenes'. I fancy at this minute <i>Louise</i>, who +got a little husky in that duet with <i>Julien</i>, when she promised to +leave her mother and father and come to him, is off in her dressing room +spraying her throat and gargling with peroxide to get her voice in trim +for the third act. In that she has a long and very beautiful love scene +in the little home at the apex of the Butte Montmartre where <i>Julien</i> +takes her."</p> + +<p>"Why did you come to Paris so soon?" asked Mrs. Brown just then. "You +meant to exhaust the sights of Antwerp before leaving, did you not?"</p> + +<p>"Well, you see the sights exhausted me before I exhausted them, and +then, like <i>Louise</i>, I felt the call of Paris. We got in only an hour +ago, and after a very hasty dinner came to the Opera. <i>Louise</i> seemed to +me to be the very best introduction I could give my nephew to this +wonderful city."</p> + +<p>"That is exactly what I have been saying to my cousin Molly!" broke in +Philippe. "It seems to me that Charpentier has given the true Paris with +all of its charm and its dangers. Of course one should see this opera +for the first time in the spring of the year, as that is when Paris is +most alluring and in that season the scene is laid."</p> + +<p>"Molly, look in the second tier of boxes almost directly opposite us and +see if that good looking young woman in the rather <i>outré</i> gown is an +acquaintance of yours," said the marchioness. "She has been looking at +our box steadily ever since we arrived."</p> + +<p>"Her face is familiar but I can't place her. Judy, see if you know her," +said Molly, as she adjusted Mr. Kinsella's opera glasses to her eyes. +She and Judy got the focus at the same moment and exclaimed in unison: +"Frances Andrews!"</p> + +<p>"She is a girl we knew in our freshman year at college" explained Molly +to her Cousin Sally. "I remember she came to Paris to join her +grandmother, but we have never seen or heard of her since she left +college. She was a very peculiar person but clever and bright, and +always awfully nice to me."</p> + +<p>"Humph!" sniffed Judy. "I'd like to see the person who isn't nice to +you, you old saint! The only thing I ever liked about Frances Andrews +was that she got into bigger scrapes than I did and made my misdemeanors +seem small in comparison. She was clever enough, I'll grant you that, +but peculiar is a kind adjective to use in describing that girl. Why, +Molly, she was the most unpopular girl at Wellington. Even her own class +did not stand by her. She was crooked, as crooked as a snake."</p> + +<p>"Oh, Judy, there was a lot of good in Frances, but she got in bad with +her class and could not redeem herself somehow. She was so young, too, +and I haven't a doubt that she is vastly improved," and Molly caught the +eager eye of the handsome girl in the opposite box and gave her a +cordial bow.</p> + +<p>In a moment an usher brought a card to the door of the d'Ochtè box. On +it was scrawled the following note:</p> + +<p>"Molly darling: I am wild to see you. Give me your address and I'll come +to-morrow.—Frances."</p> + +<p>Molly wrote the address of the <i>Maison Pace</i> and said she would be glad +to see her, but had an engagement for the time named. She was a little +sorry that Frances had turned up, as she knew that Judy would refuse to +see any good in her and did not know just how the very sophisticated +young woman would impress her mother. But Molly was not one to turn her +back on any one who was fond of her and she had always been sorry for +Frances, feeling in the old days at college that she had been too easily +condemned by her classmates. "There was good in her," reiterated Molly +to herself, "and there still is, and I am going to be nice to her. Judy +can be as stand-offish as she pleases. I know mother will be kind; she +always is."</p> + +<p>The last act of <i>Louise</i> was the most wonderful of all and Molly felt +herself becoming so filled with emotion that she feared she would spill +over again. She was grateful to Mr. Kinsella when he said to her in an +undertone: "The gargle evidently did her good as the huskiness has +gone." She smiled in spite of herself and the tears had to go.</p> + +<p>It was over all too soon. <i>Louise's</i> father, after he realizes that +<i>Louise</i> has gone for good to her devoted lover in Montmartre, gazes +through the garret window at Paris, which, lighted, seems like a +thousand-eyed monster to the old man. He shakes his fist in a rage and +cries, "Oh, <i>Paris</i>!"</p> + +<p>As they put on their wraps, Molly heard the marchioness whisper to her +husband: "Ah, Jean, your mother was wise to let us marry, wise and good. +How much better it would have been for this poor old man if he could +have let youth have its say!"</p> + +<p>"Ah, my Sara, indeed she was. And now <i>ma mère</i> can still hear the voice +of Paris calling as did <i>Louise</i> in the first act, and she does not have +to curse it as did <i>la père</i> in the last." And the marquis disguised a +fervent hug in the pretext of helping his wife with her cloak.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX.</h2> + +<h3>THE POSTSCRIPT.</h3> + + +<p>The Bents' studio apartment proved to be exactly the thing for Mrs. +Brown and the girls, and arrangements were made with the artist and his +wife to have it turned over to them in ten days, which would just fill +out their time at <i>Maison Pace</i>.</p> + +<p>The apartment consisted of a large studio, kitchenette and two small +bedrooms. The plan was for Mrs. Brown to have one of the bedrooms and +Elise O'Brien the other, while Molly and Judy, to their unbounded +delight, were to sleep in a balcony that ran across one end of the +studio. The Marquise d'Ochtè explained to them that this was quite +customary in Bohemia, and that she and her husband had occupied a +similar roost for several years during their early married life.</p> + +<p>"I am versed in many a makeshift and this minute could come to live in +the Latin Quarter on half of what you, with your extravagant American +notions, will spend," declared the marchioness, as she showed our +friends over the apartment. "Now this is my advice for the conducting of +your <i>ménage</i>, Milly, but I am not like Henny Pace to get riled if you +do not take it. Get your own breakfast, which is a simple matter in +France, having fresh rolls and butter sent in every morning and making +your own coffee or chocolate; take your <i>déjeuner à la fourchette</i>, I +mean your luncheon at a restaurant; and then leave your dinners to +circumstances, sometimes having them at home or going out as the +occasion offers.</p> + +<p>"Get a servant to come in and clean for you every morning by the hour, +but do not have a regular <i>bonne</i>. It would be a useless expense and +then there is no sense in your having to slave over housekeeping. The +way for foreigners to become acquainted with Paris is to see the +restaurants, and there are so many you need not get tired of the cooking +in any one. All I ask of you is to have a regular Kentucky supper for me +some night with——but never mind what with, it will be sure to be what +I want if Molly cooks it."</p> + +<p>Molly was busy inspecting the kitchenette, which Mrs. Bent was showing +with much pride as it was quite unique in the Latin Quarter. There was a +tiny gas range, a convenience not often enjoyed as gas was a luxury not +as a rule afforded in Bohemia. The floor was of octagonal, terra cotta +tiles and there was a high mullioned window over the infinitesimal sink. +Long-handled copper skillets and stew pans were ranged along the walls, +suspended from hooks; and a strangely colored china press filled with an +odd assortment of dishes was at one side.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Bent laughed when she saw Molly examining the press. "That is +inherited from Mr. Bent's student days. It is a plain deal closet, +colored with palette scrapings. It is always a great stunt with students +to make something like this. Mr. Bent has long ago outgrown it as a +studio furnishing and will have nothing short of mahogany around him, +but it is too roomy and useful for me to give up, so it is banished to +the limbo of the kitchen. I have known students to clean their palettes +many times a day just to get a little more scrapings on their presses."</p> + +<p>The effect was a peculiarly deep, rich tone and Judy declared that she +liked it.</p> + +<p>"It looks like the shadows in some of Monet's landscapes, dark, but +clear, with light all through them. Some day I am going to make a press +just like this one if I have to clean my palette a hundred times a day +to get scrapings."</p> + +<p>The apartment was on the ground floor and one entered across a very +pretty paved court which had green tubs of evergreens here and there +along the wall. The indoor studio balcony, where Judy and Molly were to +sleep, had a long casement that opened on a tiny iron balcony which +overhung the court. There were four similar balconies belonging to the +neighboring studios and all had porch boxes filled with ivy or +chrysanthemums, making a wonderful effect of color.</p> + +<p>Judy was Judy-like, entranced. She stepped upon the balcony and holding +out her arms to the tubbed spruce trees, exclaimed in a melodramatic +voice:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"'O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Deny thy father and refuse thy name:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And I'll no longer be a Capulet.'"<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Suddenly what should she see, from the open door of the opposite studio, +but the faun-like face of Pierce Kinsella, grinning delightedly at the +unexpected encounter. He proved himself equal to the occasion and said +in a low and feeling voice:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"'Shall I hear more, or shall I speak at this?'"<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>And Judy came back with:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"'How cam'st thou hither, tell me, and wherefore?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The orchard walls are high and hard to climb,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And the place death, considering who thou art,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">If any of my kinsmen find thee here.'"<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>And Pierce answered:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"'With love's light wings did I o'erperch these walls;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For stony limits cannot hold love out,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And what love can do that dares love attempt;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Therefore thy kinsmen are no let to me.'"<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>By this time Mr. Kinsella had come out into the court and Molly, hearing +the spouting of so much poetry, joined Judy on the balcony to see what +was going on. She and Mr. Kinsella applauded loudly until the windows of +the two other balconies opened, and from one the head of a long-haired +man and from the other that of a short-haired woman were poked out.</p> + +<p>"Poetry aside, Mr. Kinsella, what are you and Pierce doing here in the +Rue Brea?" called Judy.</p> + +<p>"We are looking at a studio that is for rent. And what are you doing +here, please?"</p> + +<p>"Sitting under our own vine and fig tree, sir! At least, it will be ours +in about ten days," answered Molly.</p> + +<p>"You don't mean it! Well, if this isn't luck! Pierce, I'll go back and +sign up with the concierge immediately. Such neighbors as these would +make the meanest studio desirable and, after all, these are pretty good +rooms. We could hardly do better in the Quarter."</p> + +<p>Pierce was pleased to have the matter settled, as he felt himself to be +among friends and had visions of many good times in store for him after +working hours with the three bright girls and Mrs. Brown, who was even +more attractive to him than the girls. Mr. Kinsella had assured Mrs. +Brown that Elise would be sure to fall in with any plans that good lady +may have made for her, and he answered for Mrs. Huntington's +acquiescence in any arrangements he saw fit to bring about for her +daughter. She had really washed her hands of the matter, and had given +him to understand that since he had interfered and insisted upon Elise's +having a chance to go on with her much interrupted art studies, he could +go ahead and place her where he chose. For her part, she declared, it +made no difference one way or the other. She had seen too much of +Bohemia in the old days to want ever to cross the borderland again. Mr. +Kinsella felt sure she had secretly hoped that Mrs. Brown would want +Elise with her, and he only awaited their arrival from Brussels to let +them know of the studio apartment in the Rue Brea and of the cordial +welcome Elise O'Brien would have from all three of the ladies concerned.</p> + +<p>The next ten days were very busy and exciting ones. Judy and Pierce +plunged into their drawing with renewed zest. Pierce was at Julien's, +too, but as the men's school is in an entirely different part of Paris +from the women's, he and Judy saw each other only in picture galleries +or on the delightful jaunts that the whole crowd took. The <i>Maison Pace</i> +was not a very pleasant place to make a call, as there was always a +bunch of snuffy old maids huddled together in the parlor, knitting +shawls and swapping tales of the good and bad pensions they had +encountered in their travels. When a caller braved the ordeal, they +always stopped knitting and talking and sat spellbound, intent on not +losing one word of the visitor's conversation.</p> + +<p>Mr. Kinsella and Pierce made one essay, but the occasion was so stiff +and formal and Mrs. Pace so monopolizing that they determined never to +repeat it, but to wait until their friends were installed in their own +apartment. That longed-for time arrived quickly enough for Molly and her +mother, who were sight-seeing in a most systematic manner, with +Baedecker in one hand and Hare's "Walks in Paris" in the other. They +would come home tired and footsore but very happy and enthusiastic.</p> + +<p>Molly wrote Professor Green that she felt like the little girl at the +fair, who, when her mother noticed she lagged behind and asked her if +she were tired, said: "My hands and feet are tired, but my face isn't."</p> + +<p>"We do become weary unto death but each morning we get up with renewed +zest," she wrote, "with so many wonderful things to see before +nightfall. One thing that bothers us is having to dress and sit through +a formal dinner with the eagle eye of Mrs. Pace upon us. We are looking +forward to the time when we shall be in our own apartment, where we need +not dress for dinner unless we have a mind to. My Cousin Philippe +d'Ochtè declares that already my mother and I know more about Paris than +he does. We are trying to be systematic in our sight-seeing and not to +hurry, as we have the winter before us, but at every corner and square +there is something interesting to find out about.</p> + +<p>"Philippe is very kind to us and ready to escort us through any parts of +the city where he thinks it best for women not to go alone. For my part, +I think we could go anywhere we wished. The Parisians are so obliging +and courteous, and so far no one has been the least rude to us. The old +maids in our pension have many tales to tell of the encounters they have +had with impertinent men, and one lady declares that she never goes on +the street without being insulted. But I agree with Mr. Kean who says: +'If you have some business to attend to—and attend to it, you women can +go anywhere in the world you want to in perfect safety.'</p> + +<p>"I have not begun my studies yet, as my time has been so taken up with +seeing the places of interest, but Philippe is going to see that I am +put in the proper class in French Lit. at the Sorbonne where he has +obtained a very important degree. He says there are several English and +American women there, so I shall not feel strange.</p> + +<p>"I am so glad your orchard home is coming on so well. Kent writes us +that it is already beginning to look like a house. The rough stone +chimneys and foundations are lovely, I know, and will make such a +beautiful support for English ivy.</p> + +<p>"We are looking forward to Christmas with great eagerness. This is the +first Christmas I have had with my mother for five years and the first +one she has spent away from all of her other children ever. I shall have +to make a noise like seven Browns to keep her from being homesick."</p> + +<p>Here Molly stopped and reflected that some of those five Christmases she +had spent in the company of Professor Edwin Green and she wondered if he +would remember it, too; and if he would miss her as she felt she was +missing him, in spite of all the delightful things she was doing and +seeing. "I know he is not thinking of me at all and I am a goose to +waste any sentiment on him. I have never had a single letter from him I +could not show mother and Judy. When Judy gets a letter from Kent she +never shows it to us, but takes it to her own room and evidently gets +great satisfaction from its perusal, as she always comes out beaming. Ah +me! I am sure I shall die an old maid,—but anyhow I do not intend to +knit shawls and sit around a boarding house talking about the food!"</p> + +<p>When poor Professor Green received the letter, part of which is given +above, he, too, was plunged into sad reflections. He reached for a +pretty azure paper weight that always stood on his desk and reminded him +of a certain pair of blue, blue eyes, and looking into it as though he +were crystal-gazing, he shook his head mournfully and said: "Ah, Molly, +you little know how you hurt me! And still, what right have I to expect +anything else from you? I see you now being conducted around Paris by +your Cousin Philippe. I'll be bound he thinks you need a courier even +when you go to a Duval restaurant, the sly dog. I know his type: small +and dark, with a pointed beard and insinuating manner.</p> + +<p>"Here I am tied to Wellington and these hated classes and lectures, when +I hoped to be in Paris acting courier for Molly instead of this +disgusting foreigner, who won't know how to appreciate her——But what +an ass I am! I don't know that Philippe is disgusting, and from what +Miss Molly says of his mother, the marchioness, she must be charming.</p> + +<p>"I do wish she would not write so coolly of my 'orchard home.' I should +think she would know by telepathy that I always think of it as 'Molly +Brown's Orchard Home.' I was a fool to take Mrs. Brown's advice and not +tell Molly of my love. It may be too late now, and then what shall I +do?"</p> + +<p>The distinguished professor of English at Wellington College groaned +aloud. His housekeeper, who was bringing in his tea, heard him and +almost dropped the tray in her alarm.</p> + +<p>"And is it the schtomic ache ye be ahfter havin'?"</p> + +<p>"No, Mrs. Brady, it is higher up than the stomach. I am glad to see my +tea. 'The beverage which cheers but does not inebriate' may make me feel +better."</p> + +<p>"Phwat ye need is a wife to look ahfter ye and keep ye straight. +Schmokin', schmokin' all the time an' brroodin' over the fire is not +good for a young gintleman. An' your disk and floor littered up wit' +paaperrs and ashes."</p> + +<p>The kindly old soul began to clear off the untidy desk and stooped to +pick up a piece of paper that had fallen from Molly's letter without +Professor Green's having read it or noticed its existence. She started +to put it in the waste basket, but the professor noticed the action, +being, like most scholars, impatient of having his books and papers +touched. In fact, he had over his desk a framed rubbing of Shakespeare's +epitaph which he had once confided to Molly he kept there especially to +scare Mrs. Brady and make her let his things alone:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Good friend for Iesus sake forbeare<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To digg ye dust encloased heare<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Bleste be ye man yt spares the stones<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And curst be he yt moves my bones."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>"Wait, my good Mrs. Brady! What is that you are throwing away?"</p> + +<p>"Nawthin' but a bit o' blue paaperr, Profissorr. To be shure there's a +schrap o' writin' on the back. Blue things always brring to me mind the +swate eyes o' Miss Molly Brown, the saints protict her" and she handed +the stray piece of thin, blue, foreign letter paper to the eager young +man, who clutched it and smoothed it out and read the following +postscript:</p> + +<p>"My cousins, the d'Ochtès, have been very anxious to get up a party and +take us to Fontainebleau to see the palace and then drive through the +forest; but I have done everything to keep from going and I hope the +scheme has fallen through. You have told me so much of the wonderful +forest and the walk from Fontainebleau to Barbizon that I am hoping to +see the place for the first time with you. The spring is the time to see +it, anyhow, I am sure, and perhaps by then you can find a suitable +substitute and have a holiday."</p> + +<p>Professor Green looked up from the perusal of the little half sheet of +paper with his face beaming. What can't a woman put in a postscript? The +pain, which he had confessed to Mrs. Brady was a little higher up than +his stomach, had entirely disappeared. He was no longer jealous of "any +little, black, dried-up Frenchman." That is the way he thought of +Philippe; and it was certainly well for the young American's peace of +mind that he did not know that Molly and Judy always spoke of Philippe +d'Ochtè as "the Adonis."</p> + +<p>"Mrs. Brady, your good, strong, hot tea has done wonders for me. I am +feeling so much better, I am going to take your advice and go for a long +walk and not sit over the fire any longer."</p> + +<p>He accordingly unwound his long legs, put the little blue letter with +its health-giving postscript carefully in his breast pocket, (right over +the spot of the vanished pain!) and went for one of his fifteen-mile +tramps, humming sentimentally, "When the robins nest again, and the +flowers are in bloom."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Brady looked after him and smilingly shook her head: "He may say +it's the tay, but there was some preschription in that bit o' blue +paaperr I was ahfter destroyin' that was the pain-killer this toime for +the poor young gintleman. Me prrivit opinion is that he, too, is +a-missin' the swate eyes o' Miss Molly Brown!"</p> + +<p>Professor Edwin Green came home from his long walk in an excellent frame +of mind, happy and tired; but he was not too tired to write to Molly a +letter that somehow she forgot to read to her mother and Judy.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X.</h2> + +<h3>BOHEMIA.</h3> + + +<p>What fun it was to be moving to their own apartment! Mrs. Pace was the +only drawback to their happiness. She was very lugubrious and was sure +they would find the ground floor damp, although it was explained to her +that there was a good cellar under the studio and you went up several +steps to the entrance. For a week before they left her, she would emit +groans and shake her head sadly, saying: "I know it is a great mistake. +These artists are notoriously careless and the place will be filthy, I +haven't a doubt. And then the expense of keeping house is so great. +Never mind, I shall hold your rooms in readiness for you and you can +come back to them at any time."</p> + +<p>"I beg you will do no such thing," said Mrs. Brown. "Of course we shall +stay in the studio for six months, as we have rented it for that time. +As for the dirt we are sure to find: you see Mrs. Bent is not an artist +and she has the cleanest rooms I have ever seen."</p> + +<p>But nothing convinced Henrietta Pace. She only knew that she was not to +have the very pleasant boarders, so well connected, too, and so easy to +please and courteous. Of course she blamed it on that very pert Miss +Kean, who had defied her from the beginning; but what could one expect +from a girl brought up in no place in particular, not even born in a +fixed spot, (Julia Kean, you remember, was born at sea,) with a father +who openly boasted of having a gizzard? And Mrs. Pace would give what +Judy called, "one of her black satin sighs."</p> + +<p>"Why should she dress in black satin all the time?" exclaimed Judy, +after a particularly dismal dinner where Mrs. Pace had spent the time +telling of all the misguided persons who had left her protecting wing +and of the direful things that had befallen them. "The idea of any one +as huge as she is wearing tight black satin! Why, I noticed two great +square high-lights on her, measuring six inches across, one on her arm +and one on her capacious bosom. In the latter, the whole dinner table +was reflected. She should wear soft, loose things where no accenting +high-lights could find a foothold."</p> + +<p>"Oh, Judy, you are too delicious!" laughed Molly. "Who but you would +notice the high-lights on your landlady's bosom, and then even the +reflections in those high-lights? But weren't you amused at the +'unmerciful disaster that followed fast and followed faster' all the +boarders that had not stayed at <i>Maison Pace</i>?</p> + +<p>"One girl married a worthless art student and had to paint bathtubs for +a living; one girl got lead poisoning in a studio where she was +studying; one lady got her pocket picked on the Bois de Boulogne and one +poor gentleman was lost at sea. Two of these calamities certainly could +not have happened in this place. I'd defy anyone to get married here, +even to a worthless art student, nor could one very well get lost at +sea. I am glad we are to leave to-morrow and also glad that Elise +O'Brien will not come until we are installed in the Rue Brea."</p> + +<p>Molly had seen Frances Andrews several times since the recognition at +the Opera, and had found her very agreeable but still peculiar, +passionate and moody. She was extravagant in her affection for Molly and +seemed eager to please Mrs. Brown. On the one occasion in which she had +seen Judy when she called at the <i>Maison Pace</i>, she had been embarrassed +and ill at ease with her and a little wistful, Molly thought.</p> + +<p>She whispered to Molly on leaving: "I know Miss Kean despises me, but +don't let her influence you. I am not as good as you think I am, but I +am not half so bad as Miss Kean thinks I am. I got in wrong at +Wellington and never could live down that scrape. Breaking the eleventh +commandment is a terrible mistake: getting found out, I mean. I really +did not do anything nearly so bad as lots of the other girls: Judith +Blount, for instance. She did <i>mean</i> things and I never did. I was my +own worst enemy and harmed no one else."</p> + +<p>"Well, Judith Blount has 'come through,' as the darkeys say when they +get religion, wonderfully well. It was the best thing that ever happened +for her to become poor; and then she had such a wise little friend, +Madeleine Pettit, who showed her how to work. You know I am your friend, +Frances, and always did like you. You must not think Judy Kean does not, +too. I am sure she has no reason to dislike you," and Molly bade her +good-by with promises to come to call on her and her grandmother very +soon.</p> + +<p>But Frances was not mistaken about Judy's feelings for her. That young +woman had a deep-seated dislike to the handsome, dashing Frances. "I +don't trust her, Molly. She certainly did a dishonorable thing at +college, and her eyes, although they are so beautiful, are a little +shifty. I don't want to like her and I don't mean to, so there!"</p> + +<p>The Browns' move from Boulevard St. Michael amounted almost to a +flitting in the eyes of Mrs. Pace, as they departed while she was at +market and had to leave their good-bye with Alphonsine for their +respected landlady. The Marquise d'Ochtè sent her limousine to convey +them to their new quarters, and knowing the habits of the redoubtable +Henny, she deliberately had the chauffeur call very early for her +cousins so that they could avoid the stormy good-bye she knew they would +have to undergo.</p> + +<p>They found the apartment shining and beautiful, everything swept and +garnished, a fire burning in the big stove in the studio and a wonderful +green bowl of chrysanthemums on the table. A little note was stuck in +the flowers, bidding them welcome from the Bents and wishing them joy in +the apartment where they had been so happy themselves.</p> + +<p>"Aren't they the nicest people you ever saw," exclaimed Mrs. Brown. "The +place looks as though it had been arranged for honored guests instead of +just renters. I don't see how they could have slept here last night, +eaten breakfast here, and left everything in such apple pie order. I +almost wish Mrs. Pace could see it, just to keep her from feeling so +sorry for us. Now let's unpack, put away our clothes, and make a list of +what we need in the larder. When we go out for luncheon, we can do our +purchasing."</p> + +<p>"Of course we'll have dinner at home to-night. Elise gets in at +four-thirty and Mr. Kinsella says he thinks there will be no doubt about +her coming straight to us. He is to meet them at the station and intends +to put the question immediately to Mrs. Huntington, and if her answer is +favorable, he will bring Elise to us bag and baggage. So Pierce told me +when he stopped in on his way to the art school to see if he could be of +any service to us in the move. Oh, my mother, aren't we going to have a +lovely time in our own little flat and away from that terrible dragon?" +Molly kissed her mother and then flew up the steps of the balcony to the +sleeping quarters that she and Judy were to occupy, just to peep out of +the window into the court. Then she ran to the tiny kitchen. "I am +itching to get to work on that little gas stove and see how it cooks," +she exclaimed.</p> + +<p>"Now, Molly, there is one thing I am going to put my foot down about: +you are not to be working and cooking all the time we are in Paris. If +this housekeeping is going to make you slave constantly, we will give it +up and go back to Mrs. Pace. We will all share the work; the girls must +do their part, too," and Mrs. Brown looked quite serious and determined.</p> + +<p>"I promise, Mumsy, not to overwork but please let me do most of the +cooking. I simply love to cook and I know Judy can't brew a cup of tea +or boil an egg, and I fancy Elise has not had the kind of training that +would make her very domestic. Of course, I'll be studying myself before +so very long at the Sorbonne, and then I am afraid you will be the one +to be overworked."</p> + +<p>Just then there was a knock at the door: it proved to be the +short-haired female artist from the adjoining studio. "I saw you had +just moved in and I came to offer my assistance in settling you if you +need me," she said in a voice singularly low and sweet for one of her +very mannish appearance.</p> + +<p>Her sandy hair was parted on the side and rather tousled, she had a +freckled face and a turned-up nose, and a broad, good-natured, clever +looking mouth. Her clothes were just as near being a man's as the law +allowed: black Turkish trousers and a workman's blouse with paint all +over the back, giving it very much the effect of the Bents' china press. +Mrs. Brown and Molly looked at her wonderingly. She was a new and +strange specimen to them. Their politeness was equal, however, to any +shock and they thanked her for her kindness and asked her to come in.</p> + +<p>"My name is Williams, Josephine Williams, commonly known as Jo Bill. +Mrs. Bent told me of you and asked me to look after you until you got on +to the ways of the Quarter and the tricks of the concierge. I thought +I'd begin by asking you to afternoon tea to-morrow. I wish I could have +you to-day but I've got a model posing for me and I must work every +minute of daylight. I am going to get in the Kinsellas, our other +neighbors, and Polly Perkins,—that is the man who lives in the court +with us. He is not nearly such a big fool as he looks and talks."</p> + +<p>"Is his name really 'Polly?'" asked Molly.</p> + +<p>"Oh, no! He has a perfectly good man's name, but I am blessed if I +remember it. Everybody calls him Polly. He is a cubist painter, you +know; does the weirdest things and now has taken up a kind of cubist +effect in sculpture; but you will see his things for yourself. I'd like +to give him a good shaking and stand him in the corner. The poor fool +can draw; made quite a name for himself at Carlo Rossi's and has a sense +of color that even this crazy cult can't down. Goodness, how I am +rattling on! I must fly back to my model who has rested long enough. You +will come to-morrow, then? Please bring three tea cups with you," and +the strange looking female strode off.</p> + +<p>"Mother, isn't she funny? I like her, though, and think it will be grand +to have tea with her and to meet 'Polly'."</p> + +<p>"I like her, too," said Mrs. Brown. "She has such a nice, big, honest +mouth. You know I never could stand little mouths. But, Molly, how on +earth does she manage to wipe her paint brush on the back of her blouse +and keep the front so clean? I wonder what kind of an artist she is."</p> + +<p>"Maybe she is a futurist or a symbolist. Anyhow, she is very cordial and +kind. I wish Aunt Clay could know that we are to have tea with a woman +in trousers and a long-haired man."</p> + +<p>The shops in the Rue Brea proved to be all that could be desired. A +delightful little coffee, tea and chocolate shop was the first to be +visited. It was no bigger than their tiled kitchen, but was lined with +mirrors which gave it quite a spacious effect. The madame who presided +was lovely and looked just like a cocoa advertisement in her cap and +apron. They made their purchases of freshly ground Mocha-and-Java coffee +and chocolate. The tea they had been warned against by the Marquise +d'Ochtè. "Never get tea from a French shop or let a French person make +it for you. Tea is beyond the ken of the French."</p> + +<p>Then they went to a creamery, painted white inside and out as are all +the creameries in Paris. There were great pyramids of butter ranged +along the marble counter according to its freshness, with rosy girls +deftly patting off pounds and half pounds, quarter pounds and even two +sous' worth. Molly and her mother followed their noses to the freshest +pyramid. It seemed to be just out of the churn and Molly declared that +it made her homesick for Aunt Mary and the dairy at Chatsworth. They +bought some of the delicious unsalted butter for dinner and left an +order for a fresh pat to be sent in every morning for breakfast, also +milk and cream and eggs.</p> + +<p>Next came the grocery where they got their list of dull necessities in +the way of flour, lard, salt, pepper, sugar and what not. Then the +bakery, to order the little crescent rolls, <i>croissants</i>, to be sent in +every morning and also to purchase a crusty loaf for dinner.</p> + +<p>"Mother, smell that smell!" exclaimed Molly as they left the bakery. +"What can it be? It is a mixture of all good cooking but I can't +distinguish any particular odor."</p> + +<p>Next to the bakery was a poultry shop, with every kind of winged +creature hanging from hooks, inside and out: turkeys, ducks, chickens, +geese, guineas, grouse, pigeons, partridges. In the back of the small, +dark shop was a great open fireplace where logs of wood were blazing +brightly, and in front of this fire were a series of spits, one over the +other, stretching across the whole fireplace, all arranged to turn by a +common crank. On these spits were stuck specimens of the different +birds, and a fat, red-faced youth in white cap and blouse turned the +spit and basted the browning fowls from a long, deep trough which caught +all of the drippings. And so it happened that the turkeys borrowed +delicacy from the pigeons; and the chickens, flavor from the wild duck, +etc. And the gravy: Oh that gravy! All the perfumes of Araby could not +equal it. The Browns were carried away by their discovery of this +wonderful place. They immediately purchased a fine fat hen and monsieur, +the proprietor, promised to have it roasted and sent hot to them by +six-thirty.</p> + +<p>"And please give us a whole lot of gravy, <i>beaucoup de jus</i>," demanded +Molly.</p> + +<p>The charming fat boy gave her a beaming smile and determined to take an +extra quantity to the beautiful Americaine if he lost his job as +spitter.</p> + +<p>The dinner was a great success. Elise did come directly from the station +as they had hoped she would, and she was so happy at being made one of +the gay little crowd in the Rue Brea and so grateful to Mrs. Brown for +taking her into her fold, that it made all of them glad to have her.</p> + +<p>"Isn't it splendid to be able to loosen up and undress for dinner? It is +especially fine when the dinner is so delicious," exclaimed Elise. "I am +going to learn how to cook, if Molly will help me. Mamma never would let +me go near the kitchen, and do you know I have never even seen any +uncooked food except in shop windows and don't know a raw beefsteak from +an old boot leg?"</p> + +<p>"Papa says a French chef can cook up a boot leg with a sauce surprise +that you couldn't for the life of you tell from the finest kind of +steak. Now this roast chicken is the best I have ever tasted, with a +gravy that has the squawk of the wild duck and the coo of a pigeon +and——" but here Judy stopped to help herself plentifully to the +wonderful gravy and Molly finished out her speech for her:</p> + +<p>"And the gobble of a turkey; and what attribute of the goose?"</p> + +<p>The table in the studio, with its bowl of chrysanthemums, strips of +Japanese toweling in lieu of a cloth, and odd blue china was very +attractive. The china was odd in two senses of the word, as not a single +saucer matched its cup and no two plates were of the same size. But what +mattered that? Was not the coffee in the cups of the hottest and +clearest and strongest? Was not the chicken and gravy, on the +miscellaneous plates, food for the gods? Was not the rice, <i>à la New +Orleans</i>, a marvel of culinary skill? Where but in Paris could one find +such crusty bread and delicious butter? The <i>salade Romaine</i> was crisp +and fresh and Judy had made the salad dressing. It was her one +accomplishment in the way of preparing food. She did it in great style +and was always much hurt if any one else was given her job.</p> + +<p>"Judy reminds me of Garrick and ought to make the dressing, anyhow," +said Molly. "You remember what Sydney Smith said of him: 'Our Garrick's +a salad, for in him we see, oil, vinegar, pepper, and mustard agree.'"</p> + +<p>"Do you know the Spanish recipe for salad dressing?" asked Elise. "'A +spendthrift for oil; a niggard for vinegar; a sane man for salt and a +maniac for beating it.'"</p> + +<p>Judy was proving her suitability by beating so vigorously and clicking +so loudly with the fork, that a gentle knock on the door had to be +sharply repeated before they were sure of it. There was a general +scramble from the kimonoed crowd, who were not expecting a visitor at +this hour. But Mrs. Brown, who wore a black China silk wrapper and was +always presentable, went to the door where a small boy in a long white +linen apron and a baker's cap stood with a huge flat basket on his head.</p> + +<p>"<i>Un gâteau pour Madame Brune.</i>"</p> + +<p>"But we have not ordered a cake."</p> + +<p>But the small boy was sure it was a cake for Mrs. Brown, and when the +great flat basket was lifted from his head, there, in verity, was +reposing a beautiful mocha cake with Mrs. Brown's name and address +distinctly written on a card, but nothing else.</p> + +<p>"An anonymous cake for Mumsy," laughed Molly. "Oh, you chaperone!"</p> + +<p>There was another knock at the door, which this time turned out to be a +bunch of violets apiece for the four ladies from Mr. Kinsella and a box +of chocolates from Pierce.</p> + +<p>"Why, this is a house warming, girls! What next? I wonder who sent the +cake."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Brown cut generous slices of that <i>spécialité</i> of Paris, with its +luscious, soft coffee-flavored covering, hardly an icing, as it is too +soft and creamy to be called that.</p> + +<p>"<i>Ah, j'en ai jusque à la</i>," said Judy, disposing of the last crumb of +cake and making a motion of cutting her throat with her hand, "which in +plain English means 'stuffed'. I am glad we can't eat the violets. Maybe +after we move around a little we can hold some chocolates, but not yet, +not yet!"</p> + +<p>Mrs. Brown and Molly began to clear off the table, but they were +forcibly held by Elise and Judy who insisted that the scullions' part +was theirs.</p> + +<p>"Mamma tried to make me promise to stand twenty minutes after meals for +form's sake, I mean my own form," said Elise. "And what could be better +than washing dishes for the complexion? A good steaming is what Mamma +has said I need, as she declares I am so sallow, so I shall steam over +the dishpan. Let's make a rule never to leave the dishes, no matter how +tired we are. Mr. Kinsella says that when he and my father were sharing +a studio here in Paris, when they were boys, they used to leave the +dishes until they had used up all their supply; and then they would turn +them over and eat off the bottoms of the plates. He says those careless +ways are what disgust one finally with Bohemia."</p> + +<p>"It was certainly kind of Mr. Kinsella to remember me, too, and send me +a bunch of violets," said Judy as she wiped the cups Elise was washing.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Kinsella is always kind," said Elise. "There never was such a +thoughtful man. I feel so grateful to him, and I am going to work like a +Trojan to let him see how I appreciate his interest in me." Elise +blushed rather more than mere gratitude called for, and Judy thought +that the dish water steaming was improving her complexion greatly +already. She determined to wash next time herself and let Elise do the +drying!</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI.</h2> + +<h3>A STUDIO TEA IN THE LATIN QUARTER.</h3> + + +<p>"The only thing that worries me in this delightful arrangement of +co-operative housekeeping is the accounts," sighed Mrs. Brown at +breakfast the next morning. "I am such a poor hand at arithmetic and a +franc is so like a quarter that it is hard for me to remember it is only +twenty cents; and a sou is so huge and heavy, I feel that it must be +more than a cent. I pin my faith to a five franc piece which is like and +is a dollar. I'd turn the money part over to Molly if she were not even +worse than I am about it."</p> + +<p>"Don't give it to me, please," begged Molly. "You know dear old Nance +Oldham used to say I could do without money but I could not keep it."</p> + +<p>"Well, Mrs. Brown, you should not be bothered to death about it, and I +think we should elect a secretary and treasurer; and since there is no +one here fitted to fill the place, I propose a new member to our club." +Judy got up and reached from a high plate rack a funny, glazed Toby jug.</p> + +<p>"I propose the name of Sir Toby Belch as a member of this club."</p> + +<p>"I second the nomination and wish to offer an amendment to the motion," +said Elise: "that the said Sir Toby be made secretary and treasurer of +this association. All in favor of this amendment say 'Aye,' contrary +'No.' The ayes have it. Now are we ready to vote on the motion?"</p> + +<p>The result was that Sir Toby Belch was unanimously elected and Mrs. +Brown's duties were lightened. The plan was that every week the four +members of the Co-operative Housekeepers' Association should put into +Sir Toby a certain amount of money which would be drawn out for expenses +as the occasion arose. If Sir Toby should get hungry and empty before +the week was up, an assessment was to be made on all of the members and +he was to be fed, even if it did happen to be between meals for him. If +any member should be out of funds at the time, she could give an I. O. +T. (I Owe Toby) which could be cashed when convenient.</p> + +<p>"Dear lady, you shall not be worried," said Elise affectionately. "I +believe this arrangement with Sir Toby will work beautifully."</p> + +<p>And so it did. Sometimes Toby would get very lean and hungry and the few +stray sous left in him would clink dismally against his ribs; and again +he would be bursting with silver, paper and copper. Sometimes he would +have to suspend payment until he could negotiate his I. O. T.'s., and +sometimes when the week was up and all outstanding bills settled, he +would be so affluent that he would treat the whole crowd to the theater +or give a party to the friends in the Latin Quarter. Many a jest was +made at his expense and sometimes Mrs. Brown and Judy, both of them able +to quote Shakespeare at any point, would give whole pages of "Twelfth +Night," impersonating the immortal Sir Toby and Sir Andrew Ague-cheek +and the naughty Maria.</p> + +<p>Our friends went to many studio teas during their stay in Paris, but the +first one with their erratic neighbor, Miss Jo Bill, they never forgot. +Her studio was the size of their own but had no apartment attached. The +hostess slept in a balcony, similar to the one Judy and Molly occupied, +and her housekeeping and sleeping arrangements were much in evidence. +Molly, going over ahead of the others to take the three tea cups +requested, found Miss Williams washing her own five cups with their +varied assortment of saucers and clearing off a table littered with +papers and magazines, preparatory to placing the alcohol lamp, kettle +and teapot thereon.</p> + +<p>"Do let me help you," begged Molly. "Where is your tea towel? I can wipe +the cups."</p> + +<p>"Tea towel!" exclaimed Miss Williams. "Why, I don't possess such a +thing! If the water is good and hot and clean, you don't need a towel. +Just let the dishes drain. It is much more sanitary. Towels are awful +germ harborers. But if you want to help, you might straighten up this +table. Don't ask for a cloth or you will embarrass me."</p> + +<p>Molly accordingly went to work and got order out of chaos in a short +while. She piled the papers and magazines neatly on a shelf; emptied the +teapot of its former drawing of leaves; washed and rinsed it; filled the +kettle with fresh water; and replenished the alcohol lamp from a bottle +of wood alcohol she found on the shelf.</p> + +<p>"Well, if you aren't a peach, Miss Brown!" said the admiring Jo Bill. "I +bet you are dying to go up on my roost and clear it out some. I was +going to let it alone hoping to make it so interesting <i>en bas</i> that no +one would glance up; but if you feel a calling to go up there and stir +around a little, you are welcome."</p> + +<p>Molly was itching to get her hands on the balcony, which reminded her of +Mrs. Jellyby's closet, full to overflowing with every conceivable and +inconceivable thing. The floor was strewn with coats, dresses and hats +while the shoes were neatly hung on a row of hooks. Very pretty, +well-shaped shoes they were, too, as it seemed Jo's feet were her one +vanity.</p> + +<p>"I never make up my bed, but just kick the covers over the dash board +and let it air all day. Much more sanitary than tucking the germs in, +giving them chance to multiply. You can make it up if you want to, +though, since we are by the way of giving a party. Yes, hang up the +dresses if you think it will improve the looks of things. I keep my +shoes on the hooks so they can dry well and not be losing themselves all +the time. I don't often need the dresses as I usually wear these +painting togs. By Jove, speaking of dresses, I fancy I ought to put on +one this afternoon! I wonder if your mother would think I was not +showing her proper respect if I just put on a clean blouse and didn't +try to get into one of those pesky dresses."</p> + +<p>"Oh, don't dress up for mother, please! She would feel bad if she +thought her coming would make any trouble for you, and besides, you +hardly have time to do much; it is after five now," laughed Molly.</p> + +<p>So Jo pulled off her workman's blouse and donned a clean one.</p> + +<p>"Please tell me what makes you wipe your paint brushes on your back and +how you manage it," asked Molly.</p> + +<p>"What a question!" roared the amused Jo. "I wipe the brushes on the +front of my blouses until it gets too gummy, and then I turn it hind +part before. You and your mother must have thought I was some +contortionist yesterday," and she extracted a hair brush from one of the +shoes hanging on a hook and gave her tousled hair a vigorous punishment.</p> + +<p>"Shall I put this tub out of sight?" asked Molly, picking up a great +English hat tub.</p> + +<p>"No, indeed, leave it there. I always put it where Polly Perkins can see +it to shame him. You see he is as tidy as I am careless, but he leads an +unhealthy, uncleanly life in spite of all of his pernickity ways, and I +am really very sanitary and healthy in spite of all of my untidiness. In +the first place, I take a cold bath every morning of my life and sleep +in a hurricane of fresh air; and if my bed is in a mess, you notice my +sheets are clean; while Polly is one of these once-a-weekers as to +baths, and he is afraid of opening windows and letting in dust, and he +makes up his bed the minute he gets out of it, animal heat, germs and +all."</p> + +<p>Molly was vastly amused and interested in her neighbor and her evident +rivalry with the long-haired cubist, whom she now saw daintily picking +his way across the court, in velveteen jacket and Byronic collar with +the loose flowing tie common in the Latin Quarter. In his hand he held a +stiff bouquet of red and yellow chrysanthemums, which, bowing low, he +presented to Jo as she jerked the door open at his knock.</p> + +<p>"The flower which you most resemble, I bring as an offering of——"</p> + +<p>"Stuff and nonsense! That's a nice thing to tell a girl: that she looks +like a ragged chrysanthemum! I have brushed my hair, too, so your +'comparison is odious.' I have a great mind not to introduce you to Miss +Brown just to pay you back for being so saucy."</p> + +<p>But Mr. Perkins did not wait for the formal introduction. He came into +the studio, his pasty face beaming, and gave Molly's hand a cordial +shake. Then the others began to arrive: Mrs. Brown, Judy and Elise, Mr. +Kinsella and Pierce.</p> + +<p>"Polly, put the kettle on and we'll all have tea," sang Jo, and the +obedient Mr. Perkins did her bidding. In a short while the water was +boiling and the tea put to draw, and Jo produced from her cupboard a +plate of Napoleons (that delicious pastry of Paris) and a <i>brioche</i>.</p> + +<p>"Now, Jo Bill, that is mean to go have my kind of cake, too," exclaimed +Polly Perkins fretfully. "You know I never have Napoleons at my teas +because you call them yours, but <i>brioche</i> has always been mine; and +when I have our neighbors in to my studio, what can I give them? I did +not know you could be so sneaky."</p> + +<p>Strange to tell, Jo took the repulse quite meekly and confessed that it +was low, but there were not enough Napoleons at the <i>patisserie</i> and she +had to fill out with something else.</p> + +<p>"Please don't be cross, Polly. I got <i>brioche</i> because I know you like +it so much. I like macaroons myself," and she helped the indignant +cubist to a generous slice of his favorite cake and he was mollified.</p> + +<p>The party was very gay. Jo proved to be a singularly tactful hostess and +put them at their ease immediately. The tea was perfect.</p> + +<p>"Where on earth do you get it?" asked Mrs. Brown as she accepted a +second cup.</p> + +<p>"Smuggle it," responded Jo. "Every time I go to California I bring +enough back to run me for a year; enough for Polly, too. The custom +house officials never hunt through my luggage for tea. They often remark +that I am 'not the tea drinking type', but Polly, here, can't bring in a +leaf of it without getting found out. He is a regular tea drinking +type."</p> + +<p>"Are you from California, too?" asked Molly, smiling at Polly and +wondering if Jo's frankness hurt his feelings. But if it did he +concealed his wounds remarkably well.</p> + +<p>"Yes, indeed, Jo and I are from the same town. I have known her ever +since she was a little boy. She is an awful clever sort and as kind and +good as can be. I never mind her blague. We are the best friends in the +world and she likes me as much as I do her. Have you seen her painting? +She does the best and highest paid miniature work among the American +artists in Paris. She has a very interesting way of working: paints +everything big first and then in miniature. She says it keeps her from +getting a sissy manner."</p> + +<p>"I can't fancy Miss Williams with a sissy manner in anything," laughed +Elise, who joined Molly and Mr. Perkins. "I want to see her things so +much; and I do hope you will show us some of your work, Mr. Perkins. I +hear you are of the new movement in art."</p> + +<p>"Yes," said poor Polly sadly. "Jo hates me for it and refuses to think I +am sincere or that there is any good in the movement, but I declare that +she is the insincere one in not trying to see the good in the cubist +movement. Jo is very hard-headed and conventional at heart, in spite of +her pants."</p> + +<p>The girls burst out laughing at this. The idea of Jo's being +conventional was certainly absurd. Hard-headed she no doubt was.</p> + +<p>"This will show you how stubborn she is: she pretends she does not +remember my name. I don't mind her calling me Polly, but I do think she +should address my letters to Mr. Peter Perkins and not Polly. I have +known her ever since we were both of us babies and she must remember +what my parents call me, even though she never did call me Peter +herself," said the poor cubist who looked ready to weep.</p> + +<p>Just then there was a diversion caused by a great knocking on a door in +the court. It proved to be none other than Mrs. Pace.</p> + +<p>"She has come to spy out the nakedness of the land," whispered Judy to +Mr. Kinsella, who had been having a long talk with her. Pierce had had +so much to say of this delightful young lady that his uncle was +determined to make her acquaintance and find out if she were the kind of +girl to be a help to his beloved nephew, or if there could be a chance +of Judy's being the type that he had unfortunately come in contact with +in his youth, causing so much disaster to his happiness. Judy was in her +gayest mood and was enjoying herself hugely, and Mr. Kinsella seemed to +find her quite as delightful as Pierce had led him to believe her to be. +That young man was looking rather disconsolate since his uncle was +occupying the place he coveted. He wandered over to where Elise was +examining some of Jo's miniatures. Elise, too, was a little wistful. She +had looked forward with so much eagerness to meeting Mr. Kinsella again, +and now on the first occasion when they might have had a real +conversation, here he was spending the whole time laughing and talking +with Julia Kean. She was glad of the diversion of Mrs. Pace's entrance, +as it necessarily caused some cessation of what looked to her like a +flirtation between Mr. Kinsella and Judy.</p> + +<p>Enter, Mrs. Pace did, with a scornful sniff. After rapping sharply on +the Browns' door and receiving no answer, she had made her way to the +studio where the tea was being held. When Jo Bill opened the door, +without waiting to tell her whom she was seeking, she swept into the +room, "not like a ship in full sail," declared Judy to her companion, +"but like a great coal barge in her shiny black satin and her huge jet +bonnet."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Brown introduced her to the members of the party with whom she was +not already acquainted, but she acknowledged the honor only with a +slight quiver of the stiff jet trimmings of her headgear.</p> + +<p>"Well, Mrs. Brown! Is this what you left my house for?"</p> + +<p>Mrs. Brown made no answer but Molly noticed that her nose was what Aunt +Mary called "a-wucken'"; and she was wondering what would be the outcome +of Mrs. Pace's rudeness, when Polly Perkins saved the day. He was taking +tea to the uninvited guests at Jo's bidding. That young woman was +totally oblivious and indifferent to Mrs. Pace's scornful attitude. She +was Mrs. Brown's friend and she, Jo Bill, knew how to behave in her own +house. Mrs. Pace was seated so that the last rays of the setting sun +slanted through the window on her bonnet and the lighted lamp on the +other hand shone full on her capacious chest, making the large square +high lights of which Judy had made such merry jests. Polly handed her +the cup of tea and slice of <i>brioche</i> and then backed away from her, +standing with his eyes half closed and his hands clasped in adoration.</p> + +<p>"Well, young man, what are you looking at me that way for?" snapped the +irate Henny.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Madame, you are so beautiful! You must pardon my raptures, but I am +a cubist and you are exactly the type I am looking for to make myself +famous withal. As I stand and gaze at you with my eyes half-closed, you +present the most wonderful spectacle. I see a series of beautiful cubes, +one on top of the other: black and gray, black and gray, and now and +then where the light strikes, a brilliant white one. And oh, your +<i>chapeau</i>! I can hardly wait to get to work on your portrait! You will +sit to me, won't you?"</p> + +<p>During this effusion, Mrs. Pace sat with a pleased smirk on her face. It +had been many a long day since any one had called her beautiful, and no +one had ever called her beautiful with such enthusiasm or wanted to +paint her portrait. To be sure it was nothing but a small, pasty-faced, +long-haired artist, but he was a man for all that, and his eyes were +kind and earnest and his voice most appealing.</p> + +<p>"I am a very busy woman," she answered gently, "but I will pose for you +with pleasure, if it will help you in any way."</p> + +<p>Her shiny ornaments trembled with emotion and she gave a sentimental +sigh that broke the beautiful square high-light, so admired by Polly, +into a dozen little ripples.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Brown arose to make her adieux, taking Mrs. Pace with her to show +the new quarters to the much softened lady. Mrs. Brown knew by the look +in Judy's eyes that she would explode with laughter in a moment. Molly +and Elise were bending over Jo's miniatures, their shoulders shaking. +Pierce was standing in the middle of the floor with an alert expression +as though he were in readiness to seize the lunatic, poor Polly, if he +should become dangerous. Mr. Kinsella's composure was ominous of an +outbreak. Jo Bill stood with arms akimbo and gazed at her former +playmate, anger gradually gaining the ascendency over the amusement +caused by his outspoken admiration of the ponderous and impolite Mrs. +Pace.</p> + +<p>As the door closed on the two ladies, Jo suddenly reached out, and +grabbing Polly by his flowing tie, she boxed his ears soundly. "There, +you goose, I've been wanting to do that for years!"</p> + +<p>Polly received the chastisement with the utmost delight and actually +seemed to look upon it as a form of caress from the enraged Jo. He +whispered to Molly: "I believe Jo is jealous of the beautiful Mrs. +Pace."</p> + +<p>Mr. Kinsella asked Elise to take a walk with him that evening before +dinner and they had the long talk that the girl had been eager for; and +the little cloud of—not exactly jealousy, more envy of Judy's powers of +attraction than jealousy, was dispelled for the time being.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII.</h2> + +<h3>THE GREEN-EYED MONSTER.</h3> + + +<p>The winter went merrily on. Elise and Judy worked diligently at +Julien's, the hard academic drawing being good for them and helping to +counteract a tendency both had to rather slipshod methods. They gave +only the morning to the school and in the afternoon looked at pictures +or painted at home, if they could get a model among their acquaintances.</p> + +<p>Judy made some charming memory sketches of the Paris streets. Seeing +some bit that took her fancy, going or coming, she would burn to get her +impression on canvas. She could hardly wait to get her hat and coat off, +but would come tearing into the studio, pulling off her wraps as she +came, hair flying, cheeks glowing, looking very like Brer Rabbit, Molly +declared, when he ran down the hill with the six tin plates fer the +chillun to sop outen; and the six tin cups fer the chillun to drink +outen; the coffee pot fer the fambly; and the hankcher fer hisself, +hollerin': "Gimme room, gimme room". They gave her room, all right, +especially if her medium happened to be water color, as Judy was a grand +splasher and spared neither water nor paint.</p> + +<p>Elise was delighting in her steady work, the first she had ever been +allowed to do. She lacked Judy's sense of color but on the other hand +was very clever at sketching and getting a likeness, and had inherited +her father's inimitable powers of caricature.</p> + +<p>"Oh," sighed Judy, "if I could only get the people in my memory sketches +to stand on their legs and seem to move as yours do, Elise, how happy I +should be!"</p> + +<p>"And I," said Elise, "would give anything if I could see and put on +canvas the lovely colors that you can. I can't see anything but drab, +somehow. It must be a somberness of disposition that affects my +eyesight."</p> + +<p>"But, Elise," broke in Molly, "you are not somber at all. You are full +of jokes and <i>bon mots</i>."</p> + +<p>"Oh, that is just my way here with all of you lovely, good, happy +people. I am usually very dull and sober. Mamma says I can be the +stupidest company in all the world, and I am sure she is right."</p> + +<p>Elise had indeed blossomed in the congenial atmosphere in which she +found herself for the first time in her life. Mr. Kinsella watched her +eagerly, seeing many things about her to remind him of his old friend +George O'Brien; and when the girl occasionally let drop some of the +worldly cynicism that she had perforce learned from her mother, the sad +look in his eyes would make her quickly repent her bitterness, and her +endeavors to bring back his rarely sweet smile were almost pathetic in +their eagerness. Mrs. Brown understood the girl thoroughly and did +everything in her power to make her feel that she was one of the little +coterie and a valued member; but Elise found it difficult to look upon +herself as anything but an outsider. She was sensitively afraid of being +in the way where Molly's and Judy's intimacy was concerned, and the +girls often had to force her to join them on a lark unless Mrs. Brown +was one of the party.</p> + +<p>Pierce was "making good," as he expressed it, at the school. He had gone +through several years of hard drawing at the League in New York, so +decided that he could give his time to the painting that was to be his +life's work. His uncle was delighted with his progress, and felt that +his own youth was not lost at all but reincarnated in the glowing genius +of his beloved nephew.</p> + +<p>Molly was studying at the Sorbonne, where her Cousin Philippe d'Ochtè +had duly installed her. It did not seem like studying, but more like +going to the theater for several hours a day. The lecturers were so +charming, so vivacious; their delivery was so dramatic, their gestures +so animated. She drank in every word and found herself understanding +French as she had never dreamed that she could.</p> + +<p>She wrote on her stories when she was not attending the lectures. The +Latin Quarter had given her several good plots and she was eager to work +them out before Professor Green should put in his appearance, as she was +anxious to let him see she had accomplished something during her Paris +winter. That poor young man was still teaching the young idea how to +shoot at Wellington and saw no hope of his release before March.</p> + +<p>Kent Brown wrote cheerful letters from Kentucky. He was very busy in his +chosen field of architecture and was learning French in a night class to +fit himself for the Beaux Arts when he would finally be able to get to +Paris. Aunt Clay was fighting the Trust vindictively as only she could +fight and was dying hard, but Kent predicted that the end was near; and +as soon as the suit was settled, he intended to take the first steamer +abroad.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Brown was not concerning herself in the least about her financial +affairs. She felt sure that sooner or later she would realize on the +sale of oil lands, and in the meantime the economy she and Molly were +compelled to practice was rather exciting and interesting than annoying. +Mrs. Brown had the happy faculty of adaptability, and living on Rue Brea +she found there were many American students who were compelled to +exercise the greatest thrift to exist.</p> + +<p>Poor Polly Perkins was a sad example of the unproductive consumer. He +had never earned a cent in his life and it looked as though he never +would earn one, but still he stayed on in Paris, hoping against hope +that his luck would change and that he could either sell a picture or +that his cubist theories would become so popular that pupils would flock +to him to sit at the feet of learning. He had a small monthly remittance +from home that enabled him to pay his rent and by the strictest economy +to clothe himself in the artistic garb of the Quarter (velveteen is +fortunately very durable and not very costly); also to feed and partly +nourish his far from robust little body. Mrs. Brown and Molly felt very +sorry for Polly.</p> + +<p>"He is such a sad little fellow," said Molly, "and he is very kind and +good and takes Jo's teasing and bossing so patiently. He is really +sincere about his art, and just because we can't see his way, we ought +not to laugh at him. I believe Jo likes him a lot more than she knows +she does. It nearly kills her for him to make himself ridiculous. I am +crazy to see his portrait of Mrs. Pace. I do hope I can keep my face +straight when he unveils it for us."</p> + +<p>"Mrs. Pace declares it is wonderful. She told your Cousin Sally and me +that it was a speaking likeness."</p> + +<p>"Well, any likeness of Mrs. Pace would have to be a speaking likeness," +laughed Molly.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Brown and Molly were having one of their confidential talks, rather +rare at that time, as Judy and Elise were usually at home when Molly +was; or if mother and daughter did have a few moments alone, they were +interrupted by callers: the Kinsellas or the d'Ochtès, Jo Williams or +Polly Perkins or some of the new acquaintances they had made among the +students.</p> + +<p>"Mother, don't you notice a kind of sadness about Elise lately? She does +not seem to me to be quite herself. Sometimes that old bitter way of +talking gets hold of her and although she knows it pains Mr. Kinsella, +she takes especial delight in giving vent to this satire when he is +present. I am glad he has gone off to the Riviera for a change. She is +devoted and grateful to him for influencing her mother to let her have +the winter in Paris, but she has taken a strange way to show her +gratitude in the last week or so.</p> + +<p>"Did you see an almost noisy flirtation she was having with Philippe the +last time we had all of them in to tea? She was not a bit like her +sincere self, the natural, well-bred Elise that we all love so much, but +more like her mother with her smart-set manner and flippant witticisms. +I thought Cousin Sally was a little concerned about her precious +Philippe. Cousin Sally is much more Frenchified in her soul than she +dreams. I believe she is going to control the destiny of her son just as +much as any mother in France."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Brown smiled. She had an idea that she knew what Sally Bolling's +plans for her son were: namely, her own Molly Brown. But since Molly +herself had no idea of it, she was the last woman in the world to +suggest it to her. She felt sure of her Molly, sure that no rank or +wealth would influence her in choosing a mate (if choose one she must). +She was confident that Molly liked Professor Green better than any man +she knew, and that Philippe d'Ochtè with all his charm and good looks, +wealth and position, did not appeal to her little daughter as did Edwin +Green, the quiet, scholarly professor with no wealth at all. She had +mentioned the professor only casually to her cousin, Sally d'Ochtè, as +she did not feel it was incumbent upon her to speak of him as Molly's +lover, since Molly herself did not consider him as one.</p> + +<p>As for Philippe's heart, she did not think there was any danger of its +being broken. She had carefully observed her young cousin and could see +no sign of the languishing lover. That young man seemed to find +difficulty in deciding which young lady he considered the most +attractive. Molly was all that was lovely and sweet and delightful; Judy +had a singular charm for him, with her vivacious manner and originality; +Elise O'Brien evidently amused him and interested him greatly; and now a +new star had come on his horizon: Frances Andrews, whom he had met at +the Browns' and found very fascinating, a mixture of American and +French. Philippe had, in truth, met too many charmers in too short a +space of time and they had proved an embarrassment of riches, as it +were.</p> + +<p>His Cousin Mildred Brown knew what safety in numbers there was for him, +and hoped he would not come to the conclusion that her Molly was the one +of all others for him. Not that she did not like him. She was very fond +of him and fully appreciated all of the d'Ochtè kindness to her and her +little crowd of girls; but she had in a measure given her word to Edwin +Green: that if he would not speak to Molly of his love for her for a +year, he would find her daughter still unattached. She felt that she had +done right in asking this of Professor Green. She was confident that she +knew Molly's inmost thoughts and feelings, and that if she had any +preference at all, it was for the young professor.</p> + +<p>There were times when this anxious mother realized that one could not be +too cocksure about the heart of anyone, even of one's own flesh and +blood. Molly had noticed that Elise was not herself, and Mrs. Brown had +noticed that none of her girls were quite themselves. For the last few +days there had been a condition in the apartment in the Rue Brea of +nerves at high tension; tempers a little uncertain; feelings a little +tender. Mrs. Brown held her peace and endeavored tactfully to steer +their little <i>ménage</i> safely over the shoals.</p> + +<p>She thought she understood Elise. The poor girl was suffering with +jealousy of Judy, who had plunged into an intimacy with the Kinsellas, +uncle and nephew alike. She and Pierce would go on long tramps into the +country and play a kind of game of memory sketches, seeing which one +could bring home the greater number of impressions. Mr. Kinsella had +become interested in their game and had joined them on one of their +walks, becoming so fired with enthusiasm that he had actually tried to +do some painting himself. He had been quite successful, considering the +number of years that had passed since he had even so much as squeezed +paint out of a tube. They had asked Elise to join them, but she had +coldly refused. After those walks had become so popular with the trio, +then it was that Elise had begun a rather half-hearted flirtation with +Philippe d'Ochtè.</p> + +<p>Judy was in one of her gayest and most irritating moods. "Getting ready +for what she calls 'a Judy Kean scrape,' I am afraid," thought Mrs. +Brown. "Our winter has been so peaceful and harmonious; but this mist +will clear away soon, I know."</p> + +<p>Judy seemed to realize that she was hurting Elise in some way but to be +perfectly careless of the result. She never lost an opportunity to give +Molly a dig about Frances Andrews, and when that young woman had come to +the studio to tea, Judy had been very cold and almost rude to her. +Molly, on her side, was a little distrait and listless and very touchy.</p> + +<p>"What is the matter with my girls?" thought poor Mrs. Brown. "For the +last week they have been like naughty children."</p> + +<p>When Molly and her mother were having the little confidential talk +recorded above, the elder lady did not realize that two American mails +had come and that neither Judy nor Molly had received the bulky epistles +that they usually did,—Judy one from Kentucky, and Molly one from +Wellington. This was the cause of their unreasonable tempers. And had +she but known it, on the other side of the Atlantic her own son Kent was +eaten up with the green-eyed monster all because Judy had mentioned the +name of Kinsella six times in her last letter! And he, Kent, had only +that morning called his brother Paul "a conceited ass" because Paul had +on a cravat to match his socks; and he had been equally unreasonable +with a misguided waiter who brought him macaroni when he ordered +spaghetti.</p> + +<p>As for the dignified Professor Green, he had actually "hollered" at a +poor freshman who had in reading some poetry pronounced "unshed tears" +as though unshed were in one syllable. "'Unched tears', I could almost +shed them," said the much-tried teacher; and all because a certain Molly +Brown had a cousin Philippe who was kind enough to see that she heard +all the lectures worth while at the Sorbonne.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Brown decided to take Molly into her confidence and divulge to her +her ideas concerning Elise and Mr. Kinsella. Molly was astonished and +delighted.</p> + +<p>"Oh, mother, how wise you are and how blind I am! I realize now how +Elise must have suffered and all for nothing. I just know Mr. Kinsella +adores her. I see it all. He went off just because he thought Elise was +serious about Philippe and he could not stay to see it. How I wish he +would come back and it could all be set right, and dear Elise could make +up to him for all the suffering her mother caused him! I do wish I could +put a flea in Judy's ear and she would behave."</p> + +<p>"But you must not do that, my dear," said Mrs. Brown. "That would not be +quite fair to Elise. You see it is only surmise on our part."</p> + +<p>"Right as usual, mother, but it is going to be hard to see things going +wrong when a word would right them. Judy means no harm and is really +doing nothing. She takes long walks with Mr. Kinsella and Pierce, and +Mr. Kinsella delights in Judy's frankness and originality. He likes to +be with her, but as for thinking of her in any other light than as +Pierce's playmate,—I don't believe it has entered his head."</p> + +<p>"I am sure it hasn't; but Elise has had very few friends and has been +brought up in such a selfish world, that she is perhaps prone to see the +wrong motive. Molly, do you feel well? I have fancied you were a little +pale lately and not quite so enthusiastic as usual."</p> + +<p>Just then there was a knock on the door and the concierge's little son +entered, bringing a stack of mail. One from Wellington was on top, and +Molly was able truthfully to tell her mother that she never felt better +in her life.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII"></a>CHAPTER XIII.</h2> + +<h3>A JULIA KEAN SCRAPE.</h3> + + +<p>One day in late February when there was a faint hint of spring in the +air, on the way to the art school Judy said to Elise:</p> + +<p>"I am dead tired of drawing from a model indoors. I've a great mind to +cut the whole thing and do something desperate. I know the sap is rising +in the trees and the color is getting wonderful and more wonderful every +day. I believe I'll go on a high old lonesome to the country, take my +sketch box, pick up some luncheon where I happen to land and have a +general holiday. Why don't you come, too?"</p> + +<p>"Thank you, no. If I should go, too, it would not be a high old lonesome +for you; and then, besides, I am so interested in the model this week," +said Elise.</p> + +<p>She did not say that she half expected Mr. Kinsella back that afternoon +and could not bear to be out of Paris when he returned. Mr. Kinsella had +been off on a three weeks' jaunt, and during his absence Elise had taken +herself severely to task for her behavior to him and to everyone. She +had reasoned herself into seeing how absurd her jealousy was toward +Judy, and when Mr. Kinsella should return, he was to find a much +chastened Elise.</p> + +<p>"But, Judy," continued Elise, "if you do go, you will skip a criticism +from the master; and then, isn't it a little imprudent for you to go out +to the country all alone?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, I am glad to skip a criticism from old C——, he is such an old +fogy. All he can say is: '<i>Ça va mieux, mademoiselle, ça va mieux!</i>' As +for being imprudent going to the country alone, why, I am surely big +enough, old enough and ugly enough to take care of myself," and Judy +made a face and assumed a militant air.</p> + +<p>"Well, you are ridiculous enough to carry through any project," laughed +Elise. "And where will you go, you big, ugly, old thing?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, not far. St. Cloud, perhaps. I fancy I'll be back before you get +home. I am not so crazy about being by myself when I once get there. I +am a gregarious animal when all is told. Good-by, my love to old C——," +and Judy swung off, determined to take one of the little boats to St. +Cloud.</p> + +<p>It was a glorious day. The water of the Seine was clear and blue; the +little boats were puffing up and down; the fishermen lined the walls and +patiently and diligently cast their hooks. Judy stood on the Pont Neuf +glad she was living; glad she was in Paris and had eyes to see it and +ears to hear it; glad of her truancy; gladdest of all when one old +fisherman actually caught a fish and she was there to behold it. She had +been told that none were ever caught, that the fishermen sat there day +after day, year after year, with never a reward for their patience. She +wandered up the quay, not certain whether she would take a boat to St. +Cloud or go to the station and catch a train for Versailles. As she +loafed along, an ogling old man joined her and with voluble +protestations assured her of his admiration of her beauty. Judy gave him +a withering glance and, quickening her pace, soon left him far behind.</p> + +<p>"That is exactly what Papa warned me against," she thought. "He said: +'Never loaf along the streets when you are alone. Have some business to +attend to and attend to it and no one will have anything to say to you.' +I must assume some business if I have it not."</p> + +<p>She accordingly put on an air of great purpose, grasped her sketching +kit very firmly, and went and got on a little "penny puff puff" that was +just starting out for Sèvres and St. Cloud.</p> + +<p>St. Cloud was beautiful, indeed. The sap was rising in the trees and a +few buds were showing their noses on bush and shrub. There was a haze +over everything like a tulle veil, and Judy had an idea if that would +lift, she could catch a glimpse of spring. She remembered that these +groves were the ones that Corot loved to paint and indeed the effect was +very much that obtained by that great artist: a soft, lovely, misty +atmosphere, with vistas through the trees, and an occasional glimpse of +shining water. Judy made several tiny "postage stamp" sketches. "Taking +notes from nature," she called it.</p> + +<p>"I wish some nymphs would come dancing out now," she exclaimed. "Corot +could call them up at any time, and why not I? 'I can call spirits from +the vasty deep. And so can I, and so can any man; but will they come +when you do call them thus?'" No nymphs came, but a wedding party +appeared, the buxom bride dressed in white with a long veil and wreath +of artificial orange blossoms, the groom in dress coat, gray trousers, +and red cravat.</p> + +<p>St. Cloud is a famous place for wedding parties of the <i>petit +bourgeois</i>, and Judy felt herself to be very fortunate to witness this +first one of the spring. The bride's dress looked rather chilly for +February although it was such a warm, sunny day; but through the coarse +lace yoke it was easy to see that the prudent young woman had on a +sensible red flannel undershirt, and as she turned around and around in +the mazes of the dance, with the ecstatic groom, an equally sensible +gray woolen petticoat was in plain view. A hurdy-gurdy furnished the +music and the greensward was their ballroom floor. Everyone danced, old +and young, fat and lean.</p> + +<p>Judy sat entranced and beat time with her eager feet. It was such a +good-natured crowd. The groom's mother danced with the bride's father, +and the bride's mother danced with the groom's father. Everyone had a +partner and everyone seemed to feel it to be his or her duty as well as +pleasure to dance as long as the hurdy-gurdy man could grind out a tune. +The fat mother of the bride (at least Judy thought she must be her +mother from a similarity of gray woolen petticoats) sank on the bench +almost into the wet sketch with the Corot effect, and made speechless +signals that she could proceed no farther. Her disconsolate partner was +not nearly through with his breath or enthusiasm. He was as lean as his +partner was fat and had not so much to carry as the poor mother of the +bride. He took two or three steps alone, kicking out his long legs like +a jumping-jack, and then he made a sudden resolve. Coming over to Judy, +he took off his hat, pressed it to his starched shirt bosom, made a low +bow and asked her to take pity on a poor old man who would have to dance +alone, as dance he must, unless she would be his partner.</p> + +<p>Impulsive Julia Kean found herself on a terrace at St. Cloud, spinning +around like a dancing dervish. She, with her partner, danced down the +whole wedding party; even the untiring street piano gave up, and their +last spin was taken without music. The good-natured revelers applauded +loudly; and some of them congratulated her on her powers of endurance; +and the flattered <i>bon père</i> declared that in his youth he had been able +to dance down three charming partners but he had never had the pleasure +of dancing with a young lady with the endurance of the English miss. +With that, he heard a scornful "Bah" from his good wife, who berated him +for his stupidity in not knowing <i>l'Americaine</i> from <i>l'Anglaise</i>.</p> + +<p>"An English lady would be scornful of our kind, but an American would +not be so particular, blockhead?" And the large grenadier of a woman, +looking like one of the commune, gave his ear a playful tweak.</p> + +<p>"My wife is jealous, mademoiselle. She was ever thus," said the lean +dancer; and all the company roared with delight at his wit. Then the +hurdy-gurdy started up a brisk polka. Judy was claimed by the grinning +groom, and once more her endurance was put to the test. For the honor of +her country, she was glad of her athletic training and record at +Wellington. The bride was dancing with her new father-in-law, Judy's +former partner, and it was recognized at the beginning that this was to +be fight to the finish between the two couples.</p> + +<p>"Breathe through your nose and save your wind," she whispered to her +partner, who was puffing like a porpoise and showed signs of giving in. +The others had one by one succumbed to fatigue and were now sitting in a +more or less exhausted state on the various benches, noisily applauding +the endurance of the spinning couples and betting on their favorites.</p> + +<p>The groom was not the man his father was, but he had youth in his favor; +and Judy had the advantage of the bride in lightness and training. The +old father was beginning to look grim and haggard, and the bride very +hot, with her red flannel shirt showing in splotches through her moist +wedding finery. Judy's soul was filled with compassion. This was the +bride's day and no honor should be wrested from her. If the husband +scored one on her to-day she might never catch even, and he might hold +the whip hand over her for the rest of their married life. As for the +old man, it was hard enough to be old and have young ones usurp your +place.</p> + +<p>Judy made a sudden resolve to let her opponents win. She was the +stronger member of their team and knew if it had not been for her +endurance, the young man would have given in long ago; so assuming a +shortness of breath that she did not really feel, she slid from her +partner's flabby embrace and sank on a bench by the side of the bride's +mother, just a second before the old man and his daughter-in-law flopped +in an ignominious heap on the grass.</p> + +<p>Being tired and victorious is a very different thing from being tired +and beaten, so the fallen pair were soon restored. The groom picked up +his lady-love and bestowed a burning kiss on her panting mouth, (just to +let her know there was no hard feeling,) and Judy, remembering she had +in her shirtwaist in lieu of a missing button, a tiny enamelled American +flag, went forward and pinned it on the lapel of the old man's coat, and +making a low curtsey, said:</p> + +<p>"A tribute from America to France!"</p> + +<p>There was much applause. Judy was urged by all present to stay with them +all day, but she had decided to take a train at the nearby station for +Versailles and get her luncheon there, so she bade them good-by. +Gathering up her sketches and sliding them into the grooves in the back +of her kit, she left the gay throng and soon got a local to Versailles.</p> + +<p>On reaching Versailles, she did not go into the palace but wandered in +the park, stopping to feed the carp in the pond with some gingerbread +she had bought from a red-cheeked old woman. These carp are large and +fat and lazy, lying at the bottom of the pool, moving their tails almost +imperceptibly and opening and shutting their eyes with such a bored +expression that Judy had to laugh. There is a rumor that they are the +same carp that Marie Antoinette used to feed; certainly they are very +old and very tired. Judy remembering this legend of the carp, began to +think of poor Marie Antoinette and decided to go over to the Trianon. +The poor misunderstood queen had always been one of Judy's favorites. +She walked along under the trees in a brown study musing on the fortunes +of that royal lady.</p> + +<p>Suddenly she rubbed her eyes. Was she dreaming or was she crazy? The +Trianon was before her and on the terrace was Marie Antoinette herself +dressed as a shepherdess and leading a beautiful woolly lamb by a blue +ribbon. Accompanying her was a pretty maid of honor dressed as a milk +maid with a pail in her hand and a three-legged stool under her arm. The +Count d'Artois, gay, handsome, debonair, met them and held them in +conversation, then the grave, sedate Monsieur, as the elder of the two +brothers of King Louis XVI was styled, approached, and with him was our +own Benjamin Franklin, dressed in sober brown.</p> + +<p>"Where am I? What can it mean? I am wide awake, and that is as certainly +Benjamin Franklin as that I ate Quaker Oats every morning for breakfast +at Wellington. But who is this madman?"</p> + +<p>A furious person in shirt sleeves came tearing across the terrace. In +plain American he berated Marie Antoinette, the grave Monsieur, d'Artois +and even the dignified Franklin, and, strange to say, they took it very +amiably. True, the spoiled Marie pouted a bit, but Franklin, with a vile +Cockney accent, said:</p> + +<p>"I saiy, wot's your 'urry? The negative hain't spoiled none. Hold 'Press +the Button' hain't in his box."</p> + +<p>"Moving picture actors," exclaimed Judy. "What a sell!"</p> + +<p>She sat and watched them for some time, amused by the vociferous +manager, who did not hesitate to swear at the royal Louis XVI, who came +into view, forgetting to show the bunch of keys he was supposed to have +fashioned with his own kingly hands.</p> + +<p>The day had been full of adventure and in consequence a great success in +Judy's eyes. She was tired of the humdrum of the last few weeks and her +soul thirsted for excitement. "I do wish Molly had come. How she would +have enjoyed the thrill of seeing Marie Antoinette in her own setting of +the Trianon; but if I had been with anyone, I am sure the dear old +dancing father would never have asked me to dance and I should have +missed that delightful experience of being one of a wedding party at St. +Cloud.</p> + +<p>"Molly is a little hurt with me, anyhow, because I have been rather +nasty about Frances Andrews. Frances is improved but I have not had the +courage to tell Molly I am sorry, and knowing I am wrong makes me ruder +than ever to Frances. As soon as I get back to town I am going to 'fess +up. Frances is off on a trip with her grandmother, but when she comes +back she will find me as polite as a basket of chips. Suppose Molly had +turned her back on me when I got into all of those mix-ups with Adele +Windsor! I don't know whether I would have had the backbone to go +through with the senior year or not if it had not been for Molly. +Frances is certainly much more of a lady than Adele Windsor and she has +never done a thing to hurt me. I am going to try to be good. I know dear +Mrs. Brown will be glad.</p> + +<p>"I fancy that dear lady has had some worried moments lately. Elise has +got over her dumps and is behaving like a rational human being, and I am +the only one who has not reformed. I am going to get my lunch and go +right back to Paris and tell them what a brute I am and how good I am +going to be. Kent would hate me for worrying his mother, and he despises +meanness in anyone."</p> + +<p>Judy accordingly went to a little café near the station and ordered a +good luncheon, which took almost all of the change she had in her +pocket; but her ticket back to Paris, which was only a few sous, was all +that she needed so she did not let her finances worry her. She still had +a bag with a big slab of gingerbread in it. This she determined to leave +at the café as it was a cumbersome parcel, but the <i>garçon</i> ran after +her with it and she thought it a simpler matter just to take it along, +not knowing that the time would come when she would look upon that +gingerbread as her preserver. Inquiring at the station, she found there +would not be a train back to Paris for about half an hour and so, after +buying her ticket, she determined to take a walk in the Versailles +grounds rather than spend the time waiting.</p> + +<p>She chose a rather unfrequented path leading to the lake and walked +slowly for Judy, who was ever quick in her movements; but the day was +beginning to drag a little. She was, as she had told Elise, a gregarious +animal, and a whole day of her own company was beginning to pall on her. +She sat down on a bench. Along the path came a typical Boulevardier, a +very much over-dressed dandy, with shiny boots and hat, lemon colored +gloves, waxed black mustache and beard, and all the manner of a +"would-be-masher." How Judy hated his expression as he ogled her! But +she thought utter disregard of him would discourage him, so she assumed +a very superior air and looked the other way. The Frenchman was so +certain of his powers of fascination that he could not believe her +manner to be anything but coy, so he sank on the bench by her side and +began in the most insinuating way to praise her beauty and style, her +hair, eyes and mouth. The girl was furious, but determined to say +nothing, hoping by her scornful silence to drive off her admirer. He +persisted, however, in his unwelcome attentions.</p> + +<p>"<i>Peut-être madamoiselle</i> does not schpick <i>Français</i>. I can <i>parler</i> a +leetle Eenglesh, <i>mais pas beaucoup</i>." Judy rose from her seat, overcome +with indignation and a slight feeling of fear.</p> + +<p>"I know he can't hurt me," thought the girl, "but he can make things +very disagreeable and embarrassing for me."</p> + +<p>The place seemed singularly lonesome and desolate. The bright sun had +gone behind a cloud and a sharp breeze had sprung up. There was not a +soul in sight and the station was at least a five minutes' walk distant. +As she hurried off, the man picked up the bag, from the top of which +gingerbread was protruding, and followed her.</p> + +<p>"You have forgot your <i>gouter</i>, <i>cherie</i>. Do you like puddeen very much, +my dear?"</p> + +<p>Judy seized the bag of gingerbread that she seemed unable to lose, and a +sudden remembrance of her talk with Elise came to her: "I am big enough, +old enough and ugly enough to take care of myself." She thought if it +was beauty that he was admiring she would cure him fast enough. She +grabbed the slab of soggy brown cake from the bag and crammed about six +inches of it into her mouth, the rest of it sticking out in a manner far +from dainty. It had the desired effect. The fastidious Frenchman was +completely disgusted. He immediately stopped his pursuit, exclaiming +with a shrug: "<i>Ah quelle betise!</i>"</p> + +<p>When Judy arrived at the little station a train was on the track, and +without waiting to ask any question of the guard, since she had her +ticket, she jumped into a second class coach from which someone had just +alighted, slammed the door shut, sank back on the cushions and burst out +crying. Crying was something in which Judy was not an adept and only a +few tears came, but she felt better because of them. Then she settled +herself for a pleasant, if short, trip to Paris. There was no one in the +coach with her, for which she was very thankful.</p> + +<p>"I'd hate for anyone, even a Frenchy, to see me blubber. Oh, how I +should have liked to hit that man a good uppercut on the jaw! I shall +crow over Molly. I did as much with a piece of gingerbread as she did +with a tennis racket when she floored the burglar who was after Mildred +Brown's wedding presents. This looks like a long trip to Paris. We +should be getting there by this time. We are going mighty fast for a +local. Oh, these beastly foreign trains where they hermetically seal you +and you can't ask a question until you get to a station."</p> + +<p>The train slowed up but did not stop. They passed a village and then +another and another. The country was not familiar to Judy. She read +"Rambouillet" on a passing station, and then the fact became clear to +her that she was on the wrong train, going from Paris instead of towards +it.</p> + +<p>"Rambouillet is at least twenty miles from Paris. Judy Kean, you idiot, +you idiot, you idiot!"</p> + +<p>Judy was in truth on the Chartres express with six sous in her pocket, +left after she bought her ticket to Paris; and the one piece of jewelry +she might have converted into enough cash at least to telegraph her +friends, was pinned on the coat of that crazy old dancing fiend.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIV" id="CHAPTER_XIV"></a>CHAPTER XIV.</h2> + +<h3>COALS OF FIRE.</h3> + + +<p>A furious, vociferous guard bundled Judy out of the coach, when on +arriving at Chartres the door was unlocked. She showed her ticket to +Paris and endeavored to explain her mistake and situation, but he was +almost inarticulate with rage at her for having "stolen a ride" as he +expressed it; and now she could look out for herself. It was none of his +affair. She went into the waiting room to find out when the next train +to Paris was due. She debated whether or not she should tell the ticket +agent of her trouble and see if he could pass her back to Paris, but his +appearance was so forbidding and his eyes so fishy that she could hardly +make up her mind even to ask the time for the train. She made out from a +bulletin that it was not due until ten at night. That would land her in +Paris at midnight. In the meantime, she must raise enough money to pay +for her ticket and hire a taxi when she got to Paris. She must also +manage to send a telegram to Molly.</p> + +<p>"Julia Kean, you have always thought yourself pretty clever and this is +the first time in all your life you have had really and truly to depend +on yourself. Now let's see what you can do. First thing, I warn you not +to sniffle and get sorry for yourself. If you do, the game is up. +Suppose I can't raise the spondulicks in time for the ten train! Maybe I +had better drop a postal to Molly with some of my six sous so she can +get it first pop in the morning."</p> + +<p>This she accordingly did. She found a tobacco shop where stamps and +postal cards were sold and mailed a piteous appeal to Molly. She then +found a telegraph office and wrote a telegram to be sent collect, but +the hard-hearted operator refused to send it unless she prepaid it, and +that she could not do. Her French deserted her whenever she thought of +explaining her situation to anyone. She kept her eye open for Americans +or even English, but not a sign of a foreigner did she see.</p> + +<p>"I might have raised a little money on the American flag if I only had +not been so smart-Alec and given it to that old man. I wonder what +possessed me to eat such an expensive lunch at Versailles! I fancy it +was my virtuous resolve to be nice to Frances Andrews that made me feel +like treating myself. Thank goodness for the gingerbread! I won't +starve, at least," and she hugged to her faint heart the remains of her +preserver in time of peril and need.</p> + +<p>Whom should she see approaching at this juncture but Frances Andrews and +her grandmother? Judy's first feeling was one of delight; but she +remembered how rude she had been to Frances and her resolve to be nice +to her, and felt if she should be cordial now there could be but one +interpretation for Frances to put on it, and that would be: she had an +"axe to grind."</p> + +<p>She bowed coldly and Frances returned the salutation, but she stopped +her to ask if the Browns were in Chartres, too.</p> + +<p>"No, I am here alone," said Judy with great nonchalance, "I bid you good +afternoon," and she walked on, trying to keep her back from looking +dejected.</p> + +<p>"Grandmother, there is something the matter with Miss Kean and I feel as +though I should find out if she needs help," said Frances, gazing after +Judy until she turned the corner.</p> + +<p>"Nonsense, my child. She is a bad-mannered piece. I have an idea I know +why she is in Chartres. I believe it is a runaway match between her and +that dark, middle-aged man we met at the Browns' tea. I caught a glimpse +of him at the hotel at déjeuner to-day. Kinsella is his name. I could +not quite place him but knew his face was familiar. You keep out of it. +It is none of your business if persons choose to make fools of +themselves," and the irate old woman clutched her granddaughter's arm +and dragged her along.</p> + +<p>"There is no use in trying to stop me, Grandmother. She is Molly Brown's +friend, and while she is horrid to me, I am going to see if she needs my +help for Molly's sake. You can get back to the hotel alone; if you +can't, just call a cab," and Frances whisked off, leaving her aged +relative fussing and fuming in the street.</p> + +<p>With all of Judy's acting, Frances had seen that she was excited about +something and she certainly had not the air of one coming to meet a +lover. The day in the country had not been conducive to tidiness. Judy's +hair was blown, her collar and shirtwaist were rumpled, her shoes dusty +and the tears in the train had left a smudge on her cheek.</p> + +<p>On turning the corner, Judy had discovered a pawnbroker's shop. "That is +where people in books go when they are hard up, so that is where I am +going," she thought.</p> + +<p>It was kept by a benevolent looking old Jew, and benevolent he may have +been, but Judy soon found out, as she expressed it, "He was not in +business for his health."</p> + +<p>She asked him what he would give her for her sketching kit. It was a +very attractive and expensive little box, with a palette, a drawer full +of color tubes, a partition with sliding panels for sketching and a tray +of brushes. He sniffed with disgust and said, "Two francs."</p> + +<p>Judy's heart sank. Forty cents for a box that cost at least ten dollars, +counting the tubes of expensive colors! But she remembered that at a +pawnbroker's you can redeem your belongings, so she decided to take the +forty cents and send a telegram with it.</p> + +<p>"There are some sketches in here that I should like to dispose of, too, +but they are more valuable than the box," she added slyly, having an +instinct that she must meet the old man on his own ground and cry up her +wares. "Be careful! The paint is not quite dry on them."</p> + +<p>She slid the panel with the Corot effect out of the back of the box and +held it out to the ancient Shylock. He adjusted his horn spectacles on +the end of his long nose and holding the sketch upside down, viewed it +critically.</p> + +<p>"Ah, very pretty, very pretty; two francs fifty for it; but I want to +buy it, not to be redeemed. Any more?" and the dealer stretched out his +eager hand.</p> + +<p>Judy had two more which she got a franc apiece for, making in all six +francs fifty, one dollar and thirty cents, enough to get her back to +Paris traveling third class, since she already had her ticket from +Versailles to Paris.</p> + +<p>"I can't telegraph to Molly, though, I haven't enough money," she +thought sorrowfully. "I hate to think how worried all of them will be. I +should have told Frances about my predicament, but somehow I could not +bring myself to ask a favor of her when I have always been so nasty to +her."</p> + +<p>The old pawnbroker could hardly wait for Judy to get out of his shop to +begin his work on the sketches, converting them into perfectly good, +authentic antiques. The Corot effect he put by a very hot fire, not +quite hot enough to scorch it but hot enough to dry it very quickly and +bake it, so it was covered with innumerable tiny cracks. Then he took +some shellac, dissolved in alcohol and mixed with a little yellow ochre, +and sprayed this all over the sketch. The result was remarkable. He then +slipped it into a heavy gilt frame (still upside down), and displayed it +in his window with the price mark: forty francs, without the frame.</p> + +<p>Judy, feeling a little sad over her beloved sketching kit but jubilant +over her financial success, started down the street and bumped right +into Frances Andrews, who was eagerly searching for her. Judy made a +sudden resolve to be nice to Frances from that time on. Frances spoke +first:</p> + +<p>"Miss Kean, I do not want to intrude on you, but I want you to feel that +you can call on me to serve you in any way in my power. We are both of +us Molly's friends and somehow I have a feeling that you need help of +some sort."</p> + +<p>"Frances—I am not going to call you Miss Andrews—I have been in a +pickle but since I met you and your grandmother on the street I have +come into a fortune of a dollar and thirty cents, so my troubles are +about over. I am going to tell you all about it, but first I want to +tell you that I am sorry I have been so rude and hateful and cold to +you. I have been out in the country alone with my conscience all day and +determined to be a nicer, sweeter girl and to apologize to you and to +Molly; but I got on the train at Versailles going away from Paris +instead of towards it, and landed here in Chartres with only six sous in +my purse. When I met you on the street, I felt if I told you how sorry I +was that I had been so studiedly mean, you would think I had a change of +heart because I wanted something out of you; but now that I have earned +enough to get back to Paris, you can't think that. You show yourself to +be generous-hearted and kind by coming back to look me up after I was so +unbearable to you and your grandmother. You have heaped coals of fire on +my head."</p> + +<p>As the girls talked they had come near the hotel where Frances and her +grandmother were stopping.</p> + +<p>"Well, Judy—I can't call you Miss Kean ever again—I think you are +simply splendid and worthy to be Molly's friend and I do thank you for +what you have said. Now you must promise to have dinner with grandmother +and me at the hotel and you can come up to my room and rest." And be it +said right here that Frances proved herself to be very much of a lady +for not adding "and wash your face," for Judy's face was ludicrously +dirty. "Grandmother said she thought she saw Mr. Kinsella at the hotel."</p> + +<p>"What, Uncle Tom? How splendid!" exclaimed Judy, realizing that her +troubles were at last over.</p> + +<p>Mr. Kinsella was sitting on the piazza as they approached. He jumped to +his feet and hurried down the steps. Explanations were soon over and the +kind gentleman took affairs in his own hands. The plan was that all of +them should take the ten o'clock train back to Paris. Mr. Kinsella went +off immediately to telegraph Mrs. Brown of Judy's whereabouts.</p> + +<p>The friends in Rue Brea had begun to be very uneasy about Judy. All they +knew was what Elise could tell them of the girl's sudden determination +to cut the art school and spend the morning in the country. Dark came +and no Judy. Pierce Kinsella was called into consultation and could +throw no light on the subject. Jo Williams consoled them greatly by +saying:</p> + +<p>"Don't worry about Judy Kean. She is the kind to light on her feet."</p> + +<p>So she was, but worry they did. Elise reproached herself for not going +with her. Pierce wished his uncle had come back as he had half hoped he +would that afternoon. They were a very disconsolate crowd. It was seven +o'clock and no clue to their beloved friend. A knock on the door: "<i>Une +dépêche pour Madame Brune!</i>"</p> + +<p>"A telegram, a telegram!" Mrs. Brown's hands trembled so that Pierce had +to open it for her.</p> + +<p>"Why, it is from Uncle Tom! 'Miss Judy Kean safe in Chartres with me. +Will arrive in Paris at midnight. T. Kinsella.' That's all."</p> + +<p>"Well, of all things! What is Judy doing in Chartres?" exclaimed Molly +and her mother in one breath.</p> + +<p>Elise, her face crimson and eye flashing, burst out with: "Lighting on +her feet, evidently, like the cat she is!" She covered her face with her +hands and fled to her room.</p> + +<p>Pierce looked mystified, the Browns both distressed, and Jo Williams +snorted: "So that's what is the matter!"</p> + +<p>In the meantime, Judy was having a splendid time. Knowing her friends in +Rue Brea were no longer worrying about her, she gave herself up to +enjoyment. Mr. Kinsella dined with the three ladies and Judy kept them +in a gale with the description of her day of adventure. That young woman +never did things by halves, and she was now engaged in fascinating +Frances and her grandmother with as much spirit as she had formerly +exercised in insulting them. The old lady was completely won over and +Frances was too glad to have Molly's friends like her not to want to let +bygones be bygones.</p> + +<p>After dinner Mr. Kinsella redeemed the sketching kit, paying twenty per +cent. interest for the loan. He saw the Corot in the window, where it +looked very genuine in its old gilt frame. He offered the man forty +francs for it, including the frame and the bargain was clinched in short +order. They made very merry over this, and Judy descanted on the genius +that could paint a picture that looked just as well upside down as +rightside up.</p> + +<p>"You see the bit of sky in the upper right corner makes very good water +when turned over, and the water in the lower right corner makes a dandy +sky."</p> + +<p>Mr. Kinsella wrapped his prize up very carefully and said he intended to +fool Pierce with his find of a genuine old master.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XV" id="CHAPTER_XV"></a>CHAPTER XV.</h2> + +<h3>MR. KINSELLA'S INDIAN SUMMER.</h3> + + +<p>The next morning Molly arranged a tray with a very inviting breakfast +and took it to Elise's room. She found her still in bed, looking very +woebegone and wistful.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Molly! You should not spoil me so. I was getting up, at least +thinking about getting up. I did not sleep very well at first and +towards morning went off into such a deep slumber that I could not wake +up," exclaimed the girl.</p> + +<p>"I love to spoil people, besides you are always the energetic one and +might for once be allowed a little morning snooze. I hope Judy and I did +not keep you awake. She had so many adventures to tell me that it was +two o'clock before we quieted down. She got into the wrong train at +Versailles and was landed at Chartres with only six sous in her pocket. +With part of this wealth she sent me this postal which has just come, +fearing when she sent it that she might have to spend the night in +Chartres. Only read it and see what a plight she was in," said Molly, +handing the smudgy, pencilled postal to Elise.</p> + +<p>"Dearest Molly: Here I am alone in Chartres, where as far as I can see +there is not one friendly soul. Got on the wrong train at Versailles. +Have five sous left after buying this postal but am not discouraged. +Will try to sell my sketch box. Have no jewelry but have enough +gingerbread to keep me from starving. Will sit up all night in station. +Get Pierce to come for me in morning and bring my toothbrush. Will be +home soon as I get some money. Judy."</p> + +<p>"Guess whom she met first in Chartres: Frances Andrews and her +grandmother! Then Mr. Kinsella. But before she did anything, she sold +her sketches for enough to get her here third class on the train. She +has made up with Frances and is now as enthusiastic about her as she +used to be down on her. What a Judy she is, anyhow!</p> + +<p>"Mr. Kinsella has been here twice this morning to ask if he could see +you. He is afraid you are ill because you are sleeping so late. He told +me to beg you not to go to the art school this morning but to take a +holiday with him. He says this wonderful weather will have to break +soon, as it is too unseasonable to last."</p> + +<p>Molly's heart was filled with joy to see the effect her words had on her +friend.</p> + +<p>Elise finished the last crumb of <i>croissant</i> and drained the last drop +of coffee. "It does seem best to take advantage of the good weather for +a little outing, and, besides, the model we have is thoroughly +uninteresting this week."</p> + +<p>Elise bounced out of bed and Molly noticed that all trace of her bad +night had left her face. Elise did not remember that only the day before +she had thought the model too interesting to think of cutting work for +the day!</p> + +<p>Judy, peeping from her balcony where Molly had been spoiling her, too, +with breakfast in bed, saw Mr. Kinsella and Elise start off on their +jaunt.</p> + +<p>"Molly, Molly!" she screamed. "I have made a most wonderful discovery: +Elise and Mr. Kinsella are—are—well, seekin'! As they went off just +now there was something in the way he looked at her and she looked at +him that made me know it's so."</p> + +<p>"Well, old mole, if you had not been as blind as a bat you would have +seen that all winter. I was dead to tell you, so you would not make +Elise so jealous of you, but mother would not let me. She thought it +would not be fair to Elise. I knew if you knew you would be +careful——" but Judy could not let Molly finish.</p> + +<p>"Careful! Elise jealous of me! Uncle Tom and me! Oh, Molly, Molly, how +absurd! Why, Mr. Kinsella has kept close to me to be ready to catch +Pierce by the heels and pull him out, in case I should decide to gobble +him up. I thought everybody knew that. The only reason he decided to go +off on this trip was that I had a heart-to-heart talk with him and told +him that he need not have any fear of me, that I was—was—but never +mind what I told him. Anyhow, he is not afraid I'll make a meal of his +beloved Pierce."</p> + +<p>"How about Pierce?" asked Molly. "Is he, too, relieved at his assured +safety?"</p> + +<p>"That kid!" sniffed Judy. "He is not in the least in love with anything +but his art. I fancy it would bore him to death if he thought Uncle Tom +and I had had that talk. He likes me just as he would another boy."</p> + +<p>Molly felt very happy that the clouds were all clearing away and her +friends were behaving as friends should. She went off to her lecture +hoping that Mr. Kinsella and Elise would quickly come to an +understanding, and glad that she and her beloved Judy were once more on +the old confidential terms.</p> + +<p>Mr. Kinsella and Elise did come to an understanding and that +understanding was perfectly satisfactory to both of them. They spent a +wonderful day together, following the trail Judy had taken the day +before, the morning at St. Cloud, with luncheon later on at Versailles. +But they did not dance with the wedding parties they met, nor did they +take the wrong train and go to Chartres instead of back to Paris.</p> + +<p>It seemed so marvelous to Mr. Kinsella that this young, handsome, +brilliant girl should find anything in him to care for, middle-aged, +careworn man that he felt himself to be. On the other hand, Elise was +equally astonished that a man of Mr. Kinsella's keen intelligence and +experience could put up with a foolish, silly girl like herself. He +endeavored to make her understand what a remarkable young woman she +really was; and she tried equally hard to explain to him that his age +was one of his chief attractions in her eyes, but that his virtues were +so numerous it was hard to tell which ones made her love him so much.</p> + +<p>At any rate, they came back to Paris with a much better opinion of +themselves than they had taken away. Mr. Kinsella looked more than ever +like a gray-haired Pierce. He said he had taken a dip in the fountain of +eternal youth and never intended to get a day older than he was. Elise's +eyes were sparkling and her cheeks all aglow. Her mother could not have +complained that she lacked animation now or that her sallow complexion +needed steaming.</p> + +<p>When they returned to the studio in Rue Brea, they found Mrs. Brown, +Molly and Judy trying not to look expectant, but, as Judy said, "ready +to pop with curiosity." Elise ran to Mrs. Brown, and throwing her arms +around her dear chaperone, hid her blushing face on her shoulder; while +Mr. Kinsella, with boyish ingenuousness, said: "Well, what do you think? +Elise and I have gone and done it!"</p> + +<p>Enthusiastic congratulations followed and no one asked the question: +"Done what?"</p> + +<p>"We thought at first we would not tell for a few days, but keep our +secret; but I have been persuading Elise that there is no use in waiting +for wedding finery. She is beautiful enough in the clothes she has. And +we have determined to go to Rome, where Mrs. Huntington now is, and be +married immediately."</p> + +<p>"That will be splendid," declared Mrs. Brown, "but we are sorry not to +have it here, so we can all be present. I hate to give up my girl, but, +of course, she must go straight to her mother."</p> + +<p>"The only thing I don't like about it is for me, of all people, to be +the one to interrupt Elise's studies at the art school, after all my +talk about its being so important for her to get in a winter of hard, +continuous work! I am afraid Mrs. Huntington will think I am not very +consistent," laughed the happy fiancé.</p> + +<p>Molly was wondering, too, what Mrs. Huntington would think of the match. +She hoped Mr. Kinsella had told Elise of his former attachment to her +mother, and that Elise would be prepared for the more than probable +taunts from that far from considerate lady. Mr. Kinsella was well aware +of the disposition of his prospective mother-in-law, and had prepared +Elise by divulging to her the fact that he had at one time been engaged +to her mother; but he spared her the knowledge of her perfidy. Mrs. +Huntington had already told her daughter of what she designated a +conquest of Tom Kinsella, as she was ever inclined to boast of the +number of scalps of former suitors and to wear them as ornaments.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Huntington proved to be very much pleased with the alliance. She +had tried to inform herself of Mr. Kinsella's affairs and had been +delighted to learn that he was really rich. She was too keen an observer +not to know that Mr. Kinsella's interest in Elise was not altogether +because of her father, nor yet her artistic talent. She had predicted to +herself from the first that Tom Kinsella was falling in love with her +daughter, and felt that her wisest course was to take herself off and +not interfere in any way.</p> + +<p>Elise, accompanied by her adoring lover and Pierce (Pierce rather dazed +by the rapidity of the proceedings), and chaperoned by a lady produced +by the ever resourceful Marquis d'Ochtè, made her journey to Rome. She +found her mother in a most gracious humor and not even inclined to +object to the marriage being hurried. Elise had rather feared she would +obstruct their plans with a plea for wedding clothes, but her mother +knew very well when it was wise to acquiesce. She gave in very +gracefully and actually consented to Elise's being married in a dress +that was not absolutely new nor of the latest cut.</p> + +<p>She felt repaid for her amiability when Mr. Kinsella informed her that +his wife intended, with his entire approval, to make over the bulk of +her fortune to her mother on her twenty-fifth birthday.</p> + +<p>"I have enough for all of us, but I know you will be happier if you have +an independent fortune," said the happy bridegroom. "I am so grateful to +you for letting me have Elise that I wish I could do something to show +my appreciation."</p> + +<p>"All I can say is that Elise is a very fortunate girl," said Mrs. +Huntington; and there was a glitter in her eye that looked hard but it +was really an unaccustomed tear trying to form itself.</p> + +<p>And so Elise and Mr. Kinsella went off on their honeymoon. We will not +even try to find out where they went, but be glad to know that they +found each other more and more delightful and congenial as time passed. +Mr. Kinsella gave the impression more than ever of being a prematurely +gray young man as happiness smoothed out the few lines in his face. +Elise lost altogether the hard, bitter expression that had occasionally +marred her beauty, and quickly blossomed into the sweet, lovely woman +that Mother Nature had planned her to be but that her own mother had +blindly and selfishly tried to nip in the bud.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVI" id="CHAPTER_XVI"></a>CHAPTER XVI.</h2> + +<h3>APPLE BLOSSOM TIME IN NORMANDY.</h3> + + +<p>After the excitement occasioned by Elise's and Mr. Kinsella's sudden +decision to go to Rome and be married, our friends in the Rue Brea +settled down to weeks of hard work, interspersed with many delightful +jaunts to theaters, picture galleries and places of interest in and near +Paris.</p> + +<p>Molly got much from the lectures at the Sorbonne and to her delight +found she could "think in French." They say that is the true test of +whether you know a language.</p> + +<p>Judy and Pierce worked diligently at their respective art schools and +made great progress. Judy took no more trips to the country alone. She +said she was big enough, old enough, and ugly enough to take care of +herself, but she was afraid she did not have sense enough.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Brown was enjoying herself quite as much as the young people. Her +cousin, the marchioness, looked to it that she did not become lonesome, +including her in all of her plans, taking her shopping, to clubs and +lectures, to teas and receptions. The Marquis d'Ochtè and his son +Philippe were always delighted when the American cousins were able to +dine with them, and they had many charming evenings in their company.</p> + +<p>Philippe was a faithful courier, holding himself in readiness to conduct +them any and everywhere. He confided to his mother that he could not +decide which girl, Molly or Judy, he loved most.</p> + +<p>"How happy could I be with either, were t'other dear charmer away," he +sighed.</p> + +<p>"Well, my opinion is you will fall between two stools if you can't +decide which one you want," answered his mother a little sharply, +considering that it was her beloved son she was addressing. "Of course +Molly is my choice, but Judy is charming and lovely, and if you think +you will be happier with her you must not consider me. For my part, I +have my doubts about either one of them accepting you." But Sally +Bolling d'Ochtè was not quite her honest self when she made that last +remark, as she did not see how any girl in her senses could refuse her +beautiful young son. "Next week we will all be at <i>Roche Craie</i> and +maybe you can fix your seesawing heart. Cousin Mildred and the girls are +delighted at the thought of getting out to the country for awhile, and +goodness knows, I'll be glad to quit the glitter of Paris for a quiet +rest."</p> + +<p>All of them were glad to have a change. The spring was well under way. +Paris was never more beautiful, with flowers everywhere; but Mrs. Brown +confessed to being a little tired of housekeeping; and Molly was looking +a little fagged. The lecture rooms were hot and the dinners at the +restaurants were not so delightful, now that the novelty had worn off. +Spring fever was the real matter with them and a good lazy time at the +chateau in Normandy was all that was necessary to put them on their feet +again. Pierce Kinsella had been included in the invitation, as the +marchioness slyly told her son, to take care of the girl that he, +Philippe, would finally decide not to be the one of all others for him.</p> + +<p><i>Roche Craie</i> was very interesting to the Americans. It was a castle +literally dug out of chalk cliffs. The so-called new chateau (only about +two hundred years old), was built out in front, but the original old +castle was little more than a cave or series of caves. The family used +only the new part but kept it all in absolute repair. The architecture +was pure Gothic, vaulted roofs and pointed arches. Where the roof and +walls were dug in the chalk, there was an attempt at carving, carrying +out the Gothic spirit. Huge chimneys had their openings in the fields +overhead, and strange, indeed, did it seem to find one of these old +chimneys in a wheat field with poppies and corn flowers growing in its +crevices.</p> + +<p>"A very convenient country for Santa Claus to ply his trade," said Molly +to Philippe, who was showing her over the estate. "But what is this +peaked thing with the cross on it?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, that is the steeple to the chapel, which is dug very far back under +the hill and is one of the most interesting things about <i>Roche Craie</i>. +We did not take you there this morning when we were showing you over the +old castle, as my mother has a kind of horror of it and hates to go in +it. There is a ghost story connected with it, and you must know by this +time how <i>ma mère</i> shuns the disagreeable things of this life," answered +Philippe, looking at Molly with growing admiration. Some persons seem to +belong out of doors and Molly was one of them. Her clear, fine +complexion could stand the searchlight of the brightest sun, her hair +was like burnished gold, her eyes, Philippe thought, like the bluets in +the fields of Normandy.</p> + +<p>"Cousin Molly, you remind me of the beautiful Jehane de Saint-Pol. +Jehane of the Fair Girdle, the beloved of Richard C[oe]ur de Lion, +Richard Yea-and-Nay. Her eyes were gray green while yours are of the +most wonderful blue, but there is something about your height and +slenderness, your poise, the set of your head, the glory of your hair +that suggests her. If Mother gives the fancy dress ball that she is +threatening, please go as Jehane. I should like to go as Richard."</p> + +<p>Molly blushed. She was always confused by compliments and personalities +and hoped Philippe would stop pressing them on her. They had been +pleasant companions in Paris and she had liked being with him very much. +He was extremely agreeable and well-informed, handsome and charming, but +Molly preferred him as a cousin to a courtier. She had an idea that the +title of "Yea-and-Nay" was rather suitable for him, more suitable than +"Lion Hearted."</p> + +<p>"Please tell me the ghost story about the chapel," she begged, changing +the subject adroitly.</p> + +<p>"All right, if you won't tell mother I told it. She has a horror of it +and is afraid the servants might get timid and refuse to stay here alone +while we are in Paris, if the old tale were revived. My people, you +perhaps know, were Huguenots. The archives show that it was from flocks +of sheep belonging to <i>Roche Craie</i> that the wool was taken to send as a +present to Queen Elizabeth of England, in return for her gift of nine +pieces of cannon to the downtrodden Huguenots.</p> + +<p>"The owner of <i>Roche Craie</i> was one Jean d'Ochtè, a man of great +intelligence and integrity. He had been a gay courtier at the court of +Charles IX, but, there, had come under the influence of Admiral Coligny +and had turned Huguenot. His wife, much younger than himself, the +beautiful Elizabeth, a cousin of the Guises, followed her husband's +example but saw no reason why she need give up all gaiety and pleasure +because of her change of heart. But Jean took her away from the court +and all of its dissipations and dangers and brought her here to the old +chateau, where she was literally buried alive in stupidity and ennui.</p> + +<p>"Jean fought with the Prince of Condé against the Guises, but when peace +was finally declared in 1570, I think it was, he came back to <i>Roche +Craie</i> and began to get his estate in order. Elizabeth besought him to +take her back to court where she had been a great favorite, but he +feared that the life of gaiety would undermine her not too strenuous +piety, and refused.</p> + +<p>"The Huguenots were seemingly in great favor with Catherine de Medicis, +who was preparing for her great coup, the Massacre of St. Bartholomew. +The d'Ochtès were not overlooked by the cruel queen, but a guard was +sent to <i>Roche Craie</i> headed by a zealous Jesuit. Jean was murdered in +his bed but Elizabeth escaped with her little son Henri to the chapel. +She shut the great iron door and managed to place the heavy bar so that +the soldiers could not open it, but the artful Jesuit came up into this +field and made the soldiers tear down the steeple and then he lowered +himself into the chapel with a rope. It was raining in torrents and as +the steeple was removed the floor was deluged. Elizabeth hid her little +son behind the altar and ran to the door hoping, it is supposed, to +divert the attention of the furious priest from her son to herself. She +shrieked, and the soldiers in the field above heard her agonizing cry, +'God help me, God help me!'</p> + +<p>"There was a tremendous clap of thunder and a blinding flash of +lightning. The Jesuit lunged forward with his dagger raised, but the +lightning struck before he could, and he and the Lady Elizabeth met +death at the same moment. Strange to say, the little Henri, hiding +behind the altar, was unharmed. The bolt from heaven had come straight +through the aperture made by tearing down this steeple, not touching the +soldiers in the field above or the frightened child below. It is said +that the bodies of the lady and the priest were both entirely consumed. +The soldiers, taking it as a sign from heaven, spared the young heir of +<i>Roche Craie</i>; otherwise, the race would have been exterminated on that +dreadful day.</p> + +<p>"And now for the ghost story after my long narrative, which I am afraid +must have bored you sadly."</p> + +<p>"Oh, don't think it! I have been thrilled by it. Please go on," +exclaimed Molly.</p> + +<p>"You are very kind to find it interesting. It always excites me, +especially when I think how close little Henri was to being killed; and +had he not been spared, I myself could never have come into existence."</p> + +<p>"That would have been a calamity, indeed," laughed Molly.</p> + +<p>"Would it have made any difference to you, Cousin Molly? I should like +to think it would have made some difference to you," and Philippe looked +rather more ardent than Molly liked to see him.</p> + +<p>"Of course it would make loads of difference to all of us, Philippe. But +the ghost story, the ghost story! I believe you are afraid to tell it to +me."</p> + +<p>"Well, the legend runs that on a stormy night if the floor of the +chapel, which is paved with soapstone, gets wet, the footprints of the +Lady Elizabeth, where she ran across the deluged floor, are plainly +visible. She was just out of her bed and her feet were bare. They say it +shows she had a very small foot with a high arch, the print of the heel, +a space where the instep arches over, and then the ball of the foot and +the tiny toes. Peasants passing in the field above have heard (provided +the night is stormy enough), the agonizing cry, 'God help me, God help +me!' seeming to come from the old steeple."</p> + +<p>"How wonderful! But tell me, have you never seen the footprints +yourself?"</p> + +<p>"Mother has such a horror of the story and the talk about ghosts that I +have spared her feelings and never put the legend to the test. I used to +think I'd go some stormy night alone to the chapel, but when the stormy +nights come I am too sleepy or too indolent or afraid of disturbing +mother or something else turns up, and I never have done it."</p> + +<p>The young heir of the d'Ochtès led his cousin to a higher point of the +hill overlooking the chateau where he could show her the whole estate of +<i>Roche Craie</i>. It was a beautiful sight. The gentle hills sloped to the +Seine with here and there a sharp cleft showing a cliff of chalk, +standing out very white against the green of the spring grass.</p> + +<p>Some of the peasants had their homes in the cliffs, and Philippe assured +Molly that they were very comfortable, dry houses. It was a vast estate +in the highest state of cultivation. The village was clean and +prosperous, consisting of about twenty houses besides the ones dug in +the cliffs, two shops and an inn. Across the river was a forest of great +trees that made the beeches at Chatsworth seem saplings.</p> + +<p>"Is the land across the river yours, too?" she asked.</p> + +<p>"Yes, indeed, that is the best part of <i>Roche Craie</i>. My studies at +Nancy have taught me what to do to keep our forest, and I am at work now +preserving those beautiful old trees. You do like it here, don't you, +Cousin Molly? It does not seem small and mean to you after Chatsworth, +does it?"</p> + +<p>"Small and mean! It is beautiful, the most beautiful place I ever saw! +You must not get an idea that Chatsworth is magnificent like this."</p> + +<p>As Molly looked out across the hills of this splendid French estate she +thought of her home in Kentucky, of the beech woods and the orchard as +it was before the old tree they called their castle blew down; and then +she began to wonder what the orchard looked like now with Professor +Green's bungalow occupying the site of the old castle. There had been no +letter for her from Wellington, the week before she left Paris for +Normandy, and the girl had secretly hoped it meant perhaps that her +friend was on the eve of his departure from America. She longed for some +definite news both of Professor Green and her brother Kent.</p> + +<p>"What are you thinking about, Cousin Molly?"</p> + +<p>"Apple trees," answered Molly, coming back to earth.</p> + +<p>"Oh, are you especially fond of apple trees? I must show you the orchard +over this hill. It is in bloom and a very beautiful sight. Not much to +look at unless it is in bloom, however," and Philippe conducted Molly +over the brow of another hill where a very orderly apple orchard was in +full bloom.</p> + +<p>Philippe broke off a spray for her. "I must not let the steward see me +do such a thing. The old man would count the blossoms and tell me I had +spoiled so many apples."</p> + +<p>Molly buried her face in the cluster of flowers and her thoughts flew +back again to the trees at Chatsworth, not the orderly, trimmed ones +like these of Normandy, but old and gnarled and twisted. The dream she +had had on the steamer came back to her and again she felt Edwin Green +leaning over her, looking at her with his kind brown eyes and saying: +"Molly, this is <i>your</i> orchard home."</p> + +<p>She was awakened from her revery by Philippe, who seized her hand, apple +blossoms and all, and addressed her in the most impassioned tones: +"Cousin Molly! Molly, dearest Molly! I have longed for this moment as I +want to tell you how much I am gratified that you like <i>Roche Craie</i>. +The place means so much to my mother and father and to me that we are +happy when any one likes it, but for you of all persons to be pleased +with it, adds to its value in our eyes. We all of us want you to make +your home here. I know it would be more convenable for me to address +your mother first, but since I am half American you will pardon me if I +let that half speak to you, and later on the French half can arrange +with your charming mother."</p> + +<p>Molly was greatly mystified. At first she had feared that Philippe was +going to make love to her when he had seized her hand with so much +ardor; but it turned out that he was merely offering <i>Roche Craie</i> as a +home to her mother and herself in the name of the Marquis and Marquise +d'Ochtè. She was greatly relieved that he was not going to be +sentimental and answered him gratefully:</p> + +<p>"You are very kind, Philippe, but mother and I have our home in +Kentucky, and while we are enjoying our stay in France, every moment of +it, we have every intention of returning to our own country in the +course of time. I cannot answer for mother, but I am almost sure she +will take the same stand I do."</p> + +<p>"But should she not, would you abide by her decision, like a dutiful +daughter?" exclaimed Philippe eagerly. "My own mother has been very +happy in her adopted country and you are strangely like her in some +ways."</p> + +<p>"Yes, but Cousin Sally had every reason for remaining in France. She had +her Jean——"</p> + +<p>"Ah," interrupted Philippe, "would not you have your Philippe? Could I +not be as much to you as my father has been to my mother?"</p> + +<p>At last Molly understood. Her cousin was proposing to her. Molly was by +nature so kind that her first feeling was one of pity for the young man +as she hated to hurt his feelings; but she was sure that he did not love +her in the least and that her refusal of him would astonish him but not +give him a single heartache.</p> + +<p>"Philippe," she answered, looking him straight in the eye without sign +of coquetry or softness, "you know very well you could never be to me +what your father is to your mother; and one of the biggest reasons is +that I am not to you what your mother is to your father and never could +be. You are not in love with me nor am I in love with you. I have liked +you a whole lot and I believe you like me, but there must be more than +mere liking to make it right to marry. I don't see how you could have +lived always in the house with your mother and father, who are as much +sweethearts now as when they first married, and not understand something +about real love."</p> + +<p>Philippe's feelings ran the gamut from astonishment and embarrassment to +humility. He was not by nature a conceited fellow, but so many mothers +and fathers of so many demoiselles had approached him with a view to an +alliance for those daughters, that it had never really entered his head +that, when the time came for him to make a decision in choice of a wife, +he would be refused. He did like Molly very much, liked and admired her, +found her agreeable and interesting, lovely to behold and such a lady, +and at the same time so perfectly acceptable to his beloved mother and +father. She was in fact so entirely suitable to become the future +Marquise d'Ochtè. Had his mother not made a wonderful success as a +marchioness? Were she and Molly not of the same blood and traditions? +True, he did not have for Molly the grand passion that novelists write +of; but a sincere liking might last longer than the so-called grand +passion.</p> + +<p>Molly's words brought him upstanding. After all, he did not understand +anything about real love, not as much as this chit of an American girl. +He bowed his head for a moment in deep dejection, and then, shrugging +his shoulders, he smiled into her stern eyes a little wistfully.</p> + +<p>"I thank you, Cousin Molly, for your salutary admonishment. You are +right; I do not know what real love means. I have an idea I could learn, +though, with as good a teacher as I am sure you would be. I value your +friendship and liking so much that I am going to ask you to forget that +I have made this stupid proposal and let us continue the good comrades +we have been."</p> + +<p>"Oh, Philippe, I have already forgotten it! You must not think I was +severe, but I do like you so much I hated for you to demean yourself."</p> + +<p>"There is one thing I should like to ask you, Cousin Molly: how do you +happen to know so much about true love?" And the young man, his +equanimity entirely restored, looked teasingly at his cousin. "Is it +entirely theoretical?"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVII" id="CHAPTER_XVII"></a>CHAPTER XVII.</h2> + +<h3>THE GHOST IN THE CHAPEL.</h3> + + +<p>Philippe told his mother of the outcome of his proposal to Molly and +when he repeated her remark about her and her Jean, the good lady shed +tears of remorse that she had encouraged Philippe to want to marry a +girl that she well knew her son did not really and truly love. Molly's +answer made her realize even more than before the fine, true heart of +her little Kentucky cousin, and her regret was very great that Molly was +not to become the bride of her son.</p> + +<p>"Ah, my boy, how stupid we have been! Here you and I have gone serenely +on all winter, confident that either one of these lovely girls, Judy or +Molly, was ready to drop like a ripe plum if you but touched the tree. +We never once thought of the damage we might do one of the girls. +Suppose you had engaged the affections of both of them, while you were +deciding which one you wanted the more? Thank goodness, there are no +hearts broken, not even yours. Tell me, dear: will you try for Judy +now?"</p> + +<p>"As our American friends say: 'Not on your life,'" laughed Philippe. +"Molly has taught me a lesson. I am not in love with Miss Julia Kean +even as much as with my cousin, and with the example of happiness ever +before my eyes that you and my father present, I shall be very careful +and pick out for my wife one whom I truly love and who, I hope, truly +loves me. I can't quite see how I escaped falling deeply in love with +Cousin Molly. She is so sweet and so everything that I admire. Do you +know, <i>ma mère</i>, I have an idea that the Providence that looks after +children and fools has protected me from a calamity which falling in +love with Molly would have been? I have a feeling that my little cousin +is already in love with someone else, and that there never has been a +chance for me."</p> + +<p>"Well, what a wise young man a refusal has made of you!" teased his +mother. "Two or three more experiences of the sort will make a real +savant of you. What makes you have this feeling, this pricking in your +thumbs?"</p> + +<p>"Something about the way she spoke of love. Her eyes are certainly the +mirrors of her soul, and there was a look in them that made me feel she +knew what she was talking about."</p> + +<p>"Well, we never can tell. I am glad my thoughtlessness and stupidity +have not done any damage," said the marchioness, looking fondly at her +handsome son and thinking in her heart that both girls must be either +blind or already very much in love not to be crazy about her Adonis.</p> + +<p>That night, the soft white clouds that had been the despair of Judy and +Pierce all day as they had vainly tried to put them on canvas, came +together and managed to make a very large black cloud which finally +filled the whole heavens; and a fierce thunder storm ensued.</p> + +<p>Molly and Judy lay awake talking. Judy had the hardihood to accuse Molly +of having turned down a chance to become the future Marquise d'Ochtè.</p> + +<p>"How on earth do you know, Judy? I would never think of telling such a +thing even to you, my very best friend. It seems a very unfair advantage +to take of a man, to let people know he has been refused. But you are +the greatest guesser in the world."</p> + +<p>"It didn't take much guessing to come to this conclusion. Who's a mole +now, you old bat? I have known for some time that the handsome Philippe +has had us both under consideration and it was a toss up which one would +be honored. I was betting on you but hoping I would draw the prize," +laughed Judy.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Judy!" exclaimed Molly, shocked a little and wondering if, after +all, Judy was just flirting with her brother Kent.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I didn't want to accept him, but I just wanted to jar him a little! +I like him very much and am crazy about his mother and father, but his +complacency in regard to you and me has rather—rather—well, 'got my +goat.' I don't know how else to put it. It has never entered his +aristocratic French mind that we would think of refusing him. He isn't +exactly conceited, in fact, I don't think he is at all conceited; but +things have come his way too much all his life.</p> + +<p>"But my, wouldn't it be great to be mistress of this wonderful place? +The chateau is simply perfect and the country around just screaming to +be painted. Pierce and I found so many motifs this morning that I know I +could live here a hundred years and not paint half of them. I am afraid +if Philippe had chosen 'Apple Blossom Time in Normandy' to make love to +me; and had first taken me on a high hill and shown me all of his +wonderful estates, that I should have been tempted to make a <i>marriage +de convenance</i>, in spite of my desire to jar your handsome cousin. +Pierce and I were on the opposite hill trying to paint some cloud +effects when Philippe broke off a spray of apple blossoms and gave it to +you. I couldn't help seeing what ensued; but I got in front of Pierce, +so he missed the tableau; and he was so taken up with the clouds that he +did not know he was missing anything."</p> + +<p>Molly was thankful for the darkness that hid her hot face. But the storm +was becoming so severe that Judy dropped the subject and got up to look +out of the window for more cloud effects.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Judy, I forgot to tell you that Philippe told me the ghost story +connected with the old chateau! Come on back to bed and I'll tell it to +you," said Molly.</p> + +<p>Judy accordingly abandoned the study of the storm clouds and eagerly +drank in every word Molly had to tell her of the beautiful Elizabeth and +the terrible night of Saint Bartholomew.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Molly, delicious thrills are running up and down my backbone? And +you say Philippe has never been to the chapel on a stormy night to test +the truth of the story? Lived here all his life and never had the +get-up-and-get to go find out? That is the keynote of his character. He +lacks imagination, and that is one big reason both of us have had for +not succumbing to his charms. There is no telling what havoc he might +have played with our hearts if he had had more imagination."</p> + +<p>Then both girls lay still listening to the storm, each one thinking of +another good reason she had for not falling in love with poor Philippe, +even if he had been gifted with the imagination of a Byron.</p> + +<p>"Oh, what a clap of thunder!" Judy clutched Molly and held her close. "I +have always been more afraid of thunder than lightning. Molly, I wonder +if Elizabeth's footprints wouldn't be visible on such a night? Let's go +see. I can't sleep for thinking of her. We can easily get there without +being seen or heard."</p> + +<p>Wrapped in their kimonos and armed with Judy's electric searchlight and +a big pitcher of water, as Philippe had said the floor must be wet to +bring out the footprints, the girls made their way to the haunted +chapel. They groped along narrow passages connecting the new chateau +with the old. There was an entrance to the chapel through the old +chateau made since the fatal night of Saint Bartholomew, but the girls +were not aware of it. They opened a narrow door on the court and ran +through the pouring rain to the great door of the chapel. It was not +locked but very heavy and it took their combined strength to push it +open. The few moments that it took to accomplish this were enough for +them to become wet to the skin.</p> + +<p>How dark and grewsome the chapel was! The storm was raging. Looking up +through the cracks in the little steeple, they could see flash after +flash of continuous white lightning. They might have spared themselves +the trouble of bringing the pitcher of water as the floor was already +very wet from the leaks in the steeple. Molly clutched Judy, trying to +keep from screaming, as something brushed her cheek.</p> + +<p>"Something touched me! There it is again!" But the searchlight proved it +to be nothing more than a great thick rope hanging from the steeple.</p> + +<p>"Could it be the one the Jesuit came down?" gasped Judy.</p> + +<p>"Hardly," whispered Molly. "Ropes don't last four hundred years. It must +be the bell rope."</p> + +<p>"Of course," exclaimed Judy, reassured. "What a stupid I am! But come +on, we must examine the floor. Let's see: she started at the altar where +she had concealed the boy, and then ran towards the door. The footprints +should be along here where we are standing. Not enough wetness here." +Judy turned over the pitcher and Molly had to jump to keep her feet out +of the water. The girls stooped and began examining every inch of the +flagging.</p> + +<p>"Judy, Judy, look!" cried Molly. "This is a footprint. It stays dry +while all the floor is wet. Look, the little toes and then a space for +the high arch and then the slender little heel! Here is another and +another."</p> + +<p>Tense with excitement the girls stood up and faced each other. There was +an extra loud crash of thunder and a vivid flash of lightning. There +emerged from behind the altar a tall figure in a priest's black cowl, +carrying a lantern.</p> + +<p>If there had been any peasants in the field passing the old steeple on +this night of terrible storm, they would have been able to bear witness +to the truth of the ghost story of the beautiful Elizabeth. There was +certainly a shriek of "God help me! God help me!" but it came from the +over-wrought Judy. Molly reasoned quickly that ghosts of Jesuits would +not carry kerosene lanterns; and, besides, that ghosts do not as a rule +appear to two persons at the same time.</p> + +<p>The man put down his lantern on the altar and threw back his hood, +disclosing the features of Philippe. His lantern had little effect on +the blackness of the chapel and Molly had turned off their searchlight +at sight of the apparition. Philippe peered into the darkness and spoke +with a slight agitation:</p> + +<p>"Is some one in the chapel? I thought I heard a scream, but the thunder +was so loud I am not sure."</p> + +<p>Judy sat down in the puddle made by the overturned pitcher and gave a +dry sob, while Molly turned on the searchlight and called out:</p> + +<p>"Nobody but two penitents, Brother Philippe."</p> + +<p>"Well, you gave me quite a turn! I thought you were at least the poor +murdered Elizabeth," and Philippe strode forward and assisted the +trembling Judy to her feet. "I couldn't sleep and I thought I would come +and test the truth of the old tale about the footprints. I felt somehow +that I had lacked in imagination never to have done it before. Certainly +you girls have no lack of it."</p> + +<p>"I wish I did lack a little of the abundance I possess," shuddered Judy. +"I was as certain a moment ago that you were the murderous Jesuit as I +am now that you are Philippe d'Ochtè. But tell me: how did you get +behind the altar without our seeing you; and where did you get that +cloak? It is about the most picturesque thing I ever saw."</p> + +<p>"There is an entrance to the old chateau from behind the altar; and as +for my cloak it is an ordinary <i>gens d'arme</i> cape. It does look rather +monkish. If you admire it, I will present it to you. It will make good +studio property."</p> + +<p>The young people had to examine the footprints more carefully, and of +course Philippe discovered that they were really raised places in the +rock, and for that reason showed when the floor was wet.</p> + +<p>He conducted the girls back to the main building through the narrow +corridor that had entrance to the chapel through a small door behind the +altar.</p> + +<p>"If you only had known of this way, you would have been spared a +wetting. Both of you are drenched. There is a fire in the library. If +you will come there you can dry off. I am so afraid you will catch +cold," said Philippe. "I think you girls are a spunky pair. I have never +known a French girl who would have dared to go on the adventure you have +to-night."</p> + +<p>"Well, I fancy we would not have dared to go had we really believed in +ghosts. As for drying ourselves by the library fire I think we had much +better go off to bed. We might rouse the household. Cousin Sally is not +to know of our escapade, as you say she has a dread of this old story +getting started up again," said Molly.</p> + +<p>The two bade their young host good-night and crept quietly to their +room.</p> + +<p>"My, don't dry clothes and warm covers feel good!" exclaimed Judy, +snuggling down in the lavender-scented linen sheets. "Molly, I was never +more frightened in my life than when that figure appeared behind the +altar! My not really believing in ghosts did not help me one bit. Did +you ever see anything in the way of a mere man quite so excruciatingly +handsome as Philippe when he threw back his cowl and stood bareheaded +peering into the darkness?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, Judy, what a girl you are! How could you take note of all that when +you were in a little heap on the floor sobbing out your soul?"</p> + +<p>"I peeped through my fingers. People don't sob with their eyes. What a +picture he would make!" and Judy began to draw in the air. "Golden hair +and beard, with the black peaked hood half off and that expression of +looking into the future that he had when he spoke to ask who was there! +'The Young Prophet,' must be the title. He seems to have a latent +imagination, after all. I believe I have done him an injustice. An awful +pity one of us can't marry him! Somehow we ought to keep him in the +family. I bet you I know why your Cousin Sally hates to have the ghost +talked about! I just know she has made a trip to the chapel in a spirit +of adventure and got good and scared."</p> + +<p>But Molly was breathing so quietly that Judy realized she was talking to +the air, making no more impression than her imaginary brush had made +when she painted the wonderful picture of "The Young Prophet."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVIII" id="CHAPTER_XVIII"></a>CHAPTER XVIII.</h2> + +<h3>THE PRESCRIPTION.</h3> + + +<p>Paris was as pleasant to return to as it had been to leave. The change +and rest in the country had put new life in all of the marchioness's +guests, and they were ready to go back to their duties with renewed +interest and vigor.</p> + +<p>They found on their arrival, however, interruptions to their work more +potent than plain spring fever:—Professor Edwin Green and Kent Brown +had reached Paris the day before, intending to surprise their friends, +and had been themselves both surprised and disappointed to find the +apartment in Rue Brea closed. Miss Josephine Williams had come to the +fore with information and kindly offers of tea and <i>brioche</i>. Professor +Green was thrown into the depths of despair when he learned that the +absent ones were visiting the d'Ochtès in Normandy, and Kent could not +conceal his misery when Jo let out that Pierce Kinsella was one of the +party.</p> + +<p>That young woman, with a feminine instinct that belied her masculine +attire, understood the two men, and divining that they were both in love +and jealous, one of Philippe and the other of Pierce, exercised the +greatest tact and succeeded in sending them off to their hotel in a much +better frame of mind. She did a great deal of quiet talking about how +boyish Pierce Kinsella was, and what a pet to the whole community, being +years younger than any of the girls. As for Philippe she touched lightly +on his evident admiration for Elise O'Brien before her marriage and +hinted that he seemed equally pleased with Frances Andrews now that +Elise was off the carpet.</p> + +<p>As the young men walked toward their student hotel on the Boulevarde +Mont Parnesse, they agreed that Jo Bill was a pretty nice sort. They had +been so impressed by the quality of her tea and <i>brioche</i> and her kindly +tact in telling them exactly what they wanted to hear about their lady +loves and their feared rivals, that they had forgotten to notice her +trousers and her tousled red hair and spoke only of her honest mouth and +good teeth, friendly eyes and shapely feet.</p> + +<p>Professor Green had been threatened with a nervous breakdown and +President Walker had at the eleventh hour been able to procure a +substitute. The wise President understood very well that there was a +cure to his nervous breakdown, but that it had to be taken on the other +side of the Atlantic; so she was delighted to hasten his departure. +Edwin had telegraphed Kent of his intended sailing, and that young man +had joyously made preparations to join him in New York. He had the great +pleasure of paying a visit of condolence to his Aunt Sarah Clay, who had +at last lost her suit against the Oil Trust. He also had the pleasure of +depositing in the safety vault a goodly number of bonds for his beloved +mother, enough to insure a comfortable income to her and the certainty +that her financial worries were over forever.</p> + +<p>"This is what I call an anticlimax," said Edwin to Kent the next morning +as they lounged on the Pont Carrousel. "We got ourselves ready for the +excitement of surprising the ladies yesterday and nothing came off, and +now this hanging around waiting has taken all the life out of me. Miss +Williams insisted we could not miss them if we guarded the Pont +Carrousel, and of course this would be the natural way for them to come +from the Gare du Nord; but things don't seem to be happening in the +natural way here, lately."</p> + +<p>Kent looked narrowly at his friend. He did look tired and depressed, but +the voyage had done him good. He was better than he had been at +Wellington when Dr. McLean had given him a thorough going over and, +after a consultation with his wise partner (Mrs. McLean), had prescribed +an immediate sea trip as the only cure for his malady.</p> + +<p>"Oh, buck up, old man, the worst is yet to come!" Kent gave him an +affectionate push just as a taxicab came lumbering on the far end of the +bridge and he saw a blue scarf floating in the breezes, a blue scarf +that could belong to no one but his dear sister Molly. "What did I tell +you? There they are now. Now get ready for the anticlimax that you so +scorn. I bet it will out-climax the climax!"</p> + +<p>Judy was the first to see the young men. "Stop, stop!" she called to the +chauffeur.</p> + +<p>"Extra charge if I stop, Mademoiselle," warned the man, slowing down his +car.</p> + +<p>"Oh, these Frenchies!" wailed the excited girl. "They part mother and +son for three sous; and—and——" but she did not finish about whom else +they would part.</p> + +<p>Edwin and Kent crowded in on the front seat with the greedy chauffeur, +and the happy crowd was quickly taken to the Rue Brea.</p> + +<p>As Professor Green gazed over his shoulder into the sweet eyes of Molly +Brown, he knew that the sea trip was just exactly what he needed to +restore his failing health and that his old friend Dr. McLean was a wise +physician.</p> + +<p>Molly, on the back seat with her mother and Judy, felt very happy. Had +she not cause to feel so? Was not her beloved brother on the seat in +front of her after being parted from them for months and months? Was not +her mother's face a picture of maternal joy to be once again near her +boy? Did not her dear friend Julia Kean frankly show her delight at +Kent's proximity? And last, and Molly tried to make herself think it the +least reason, was not her friend Professor Green rattling along in the +taxi with them with an expression in his kind eyes as they gazed into +hers that made her drop her own, fearing that hers might have the same +telltale look to him that his had to her?</p> + +<p>Kent overpaid the chauffeur in spite of Judy's protestations and then +Professor Green came back and gave him an extra <i>pourboire</i>.</p> + +<p>"Let us squander our hard-earned wealth if we want to, Miss Judy," +begged Kent. "When I saw that man's round, red face looming up in front +of Molly and mother and you, it seemed to me that he looked like a +veritable cupid; and I should like to give him a good big tip just for +bringing us all together again."</p> + +<p>"All right, but Fate ought to be tipped instead of that red-faced, +avaricious old Frenchy," laughed Judy.</p> + +<p>What a talk they did have when they got themselves settled comfortably +in the studio, which the kindly Jo Williams and Polly Perkins had aired +and freshened up for their arrival!</p> + +<p>Kent had to tell all the Kentucky news first, as Mrs. Brown and Molly +were eager to hear every detail concerning the loved ones at home. The +report was a good one: John and Paul were doing well in their chosen +professions; Sue was happy as a lark with her Cyrus, who was having the +"muddy lane" macadamized; a recent letter from Ernest said that he would +take his holiday in August, provided his mother and Molly would have +returned to Kentucky by that time; Aunt Clay was in a pleasant, +chastened mood, seeming rather reconciled to losing her suit; Aunt Mary, +the dear old cook, was lonesome and forlorn with "Ole Miss and Molly +Baby done gone so fer away. Looks lak I ain't got the heart to put a +livin' thing inter a pie sence they done gone an' lef' me. I cyarn't eat +fer a thinkin' what kind er messes they is puttin' in they own innerds; +an I cyarn't sleep fer thinkin' of the deep waters a rollin' betwixt +us." Mrs. Brown and Molly had to wipe their eyes at Kent's description +of the dear old darkey.</p> + +<p>"Speaking of innerds," laughed Kent, "where are we to have luncheon? +This constant change of climate is giving me a powerful good appetite. +My only regret in regard to our crossing was that we did not come on a +German line. The French line is good enough except that they have only +four meals a day, while I am told the German has six."</p> + +<p>"Oh, you greedy!" said Molly, giving him a little extra hug for luck. +"How would you like to have a spread in the studio? Judy and I will +gladly show you what we can do. I'll go forage right now."</p> + +<p>"The very thing!" exclaimed Judy. "You attend to the meat and dessert, +and I'll hold up the salad end. Now, Mrs. Brown, you must rest and not +do one thing but entertain the gentlemen, while Molly and I hustle +around."</p> + +<p>"I think the gentlemen had much better go with you and Molly and help +forage. I will lie down and take a real rest while all of you are gone," +said Mrs. Brown with a whimsical smile.</p> + +<p>As they went out, Kent said to Judy: "What a brick Mumsy is, anyhow!" +Edwin Green said nothing, but he thought: "Mrs. Brown's tact and +kindness are never failing."</p> + +<p>He was eager to see Molly alone, but when they were alone he found he +had not the courage to say to her the words that were in his heart. They +talked of Wellington and their mutual friends. He had news to tell of +Richard Blount and Melissa Hathaway which gave Molly great delight.</p> + +<p>"The mountain would not go to Mohammed, so Mohammed is going to the +mountain. There is an excellent opening for Richard in a Kentucky +mountain town, Pineville, as a railroad lawyer, and he has accepted. +Melissa has been appointed supervisor of the schools for the district, +and Miss Allfriend assures Melissa she can do more good to her beloved +mountains in this way than by merely teaching, so she has accepted. Miss +Allfriend is very happy at this outcome. She has seen her own youth go +in the uphill work and is so glad to know that Melissa is to have a life +of her own. Melissa and Richard are to be married in June."</p> + +<p>"How splendid!" exclaimed Molly, clasping her hands and thinking what a +silly girl she had been to fancy that Professor Green might care for the +beautiful mountain girl otherwise than as a friend. "I know they will be +very happy, and I believe Melissa will not let matrimony interfere with +what she considers her life work."</p> + +<p>"Dicky Blount declares he will never be jealous of such small things as +mountains. That is rather complimentary to me, as he did me the honor to +be jealous of me," laughed the professor.</p> + +<p>"Why, how ridiculous!" and Molly plunged into the poultry shop, where +the blazing fire accounted to her companion for her heightened color. +The proprietor had an extra pullet on the spit roasting for a chance +customer. He pronounced it "<i>charmante et tendre</i>," and the hungry crowd +declared he was right.</p> + +<p>The luncheon was perfect. Everyone was happy and so much talk was the +order of the day that Jo Williams poked her head in to see what the row +was about, and they made her stay to dessert; and then Polly Perkins +came to see where Jo was, and they invited him to stay to coffee.</p> + +<p>"You have had a very successful winter, have you not?" said Edwin Green +to Mrs. Brown, while Molly and Judy cleared the table and Kent went over +to Polly's studio to see the portrait of Mrs. Pace.</p> + +<p>"Yes, indeed, most delightful. I have been much disappointed in not +having Kent with us, and now that he has come, I must soon leave him +here and go back to all the others. They need me, especially old Aunt +Mary. I could never forgive myself if anything should happen to the old +woman while I am away. She is getting very feeble. I fancy Kent will do +well enough without me. He makes friends so easily and then dear Judy is +to be here for another year at least."</p> + +<p>As Judy leaned over her to arrange the bowl of flowers on the table, +Mrs. Brown smiled on her as though she were already her daughter.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIX" id="CHAPTER_XIX"></a>CHAPTER XIX.</h2> + +<h3>FONTAINEBLEAU AND WHAT CAME OF IT.</h3> + + +<p>Molly's promise to wait to see the Forest of Fontainebleau with him had +kept up Edwin Green's spirits through the long winter, and now he +eagerly planned the excursion to that historic spot. They were to take +the early morning train; spend the forenoon seeing the palace; have +lunch at a restaurant that Edwin remembered of old; then walk or ride +through the Forest as the ladies should decide; and spend the night at +Barbizon.</p> + +<p>Everything was coming up to his dreams. Even the day was perfect. He was +allowed to sit by Molly on the train and later on to be by her side +while the guide showed them through the palace and over the beautiful +grounds. Mrs. Brown and Judy and Kent were inseparable.</p> + +<p>"The poor old boy has been sick and my opinion is he needs a little +Molly-coddling; so let's give him all the chance in the world," +whispered Kent to Judy; and Judy fell in with the suggestion and hooked +her arm in Mrs. Brown's with a "Whither thou goest, I will go" look.</p> + +<p>They had luncheon at a restaurant, The Sign of the Swan, kept by an old +English couple, who made a specialty of roast beef and English mustard.</p> + +<p>"None of the ready mixed French stuff that is so mild you can eat it by +itself, but the good English brand that will really burn," said the +buxom madame, as she smilingly served great slabs of rare beef with +generous helpings of freshly mixed mustard.</p> + +<p>"It burns all right, all right," exclaimed Kent between gulps of water. +"It would be invaluable for outside application, but I advise all of you +to go easy on how you place it in the interior. The English have stopped +wearing visible armor but my opinion is they have swallowed it to +protect their insides from the onslaught of their own mustard."</p> + +<p>"I think it is delicious," said Molly.</p> + +<p>"So do I," echoed Edwin. "I never tasted better."</p> + +<p>Kent gave the professor a quizzical glance and then flicked his eyelid +at Judy. The young man was very far gone, he thought, if he could +swallow that mustard and make out he enjoyed it, since he, Kent, +happened to know that Edwin Green abhorred all highly seasoned food. But +forsooth, if Molly liked mustard he would like mustard, too.</p> + +<p>Molly and Judy had expressed their desire to walk through the Forest to +Barbizon but Mrs. Brown was to take the diligence, as it was rather too +long a walk for her to attempt. Judy suddenly decided that she was tired +and would ride with Mrs. Brown, and Kent declared that he needed +assistance to carry the quantity of roast beef he had consumed at The +Sign of the Swan, and was delighted to be spared the walk of several +miles.</p> + +<p>"I tell you, I almost sang my 'Swan Song' when I got that first mouthful +of mustard, and it would have been to the tune of 'It's a hot time in +the old town to-night.' If you and the professor are going to walk, +Molly, you had better start now and not wait for the diligence to be +off."</p> + +<p>So Molly and Edwin did start on the walk that the young man had been +looking forward to for so many months. The Forest of Fontainebleau is a +wonderful spot and a fitting place for a young man to use as the setting +for his day dreams. Here he was actually doing the thing he had been +dreaming of, only it was more delightful than he had let himself think +it could be. Molly was all loveliness and sweetness. He blessed the +miles that made it necessary for Mrs. Brown to ride; he blessed the +unusual fatigue that had overtaken Judy; and above all, he blessed the +slabs of rare roast beef that had put Kent out of the running. So blind +was he to everything but Molly, the color of her eyes and hair, the +curve of her cheek and sweetness of her mouth, that he had not seen that +Kent and Judy had deliberately given up the walk for his sake. Julia +Kean did not know what "tired" meant, and as for Kent, he was a young +man of unlimited capacity.</p> + +<p>They soon left the broad avenue and struck into one of the by-paths +going in the direction of Barbizon. Edwin had a map of the Forest on +which every path was indicated, and with the help of the many +finger-posts, they were able to locate themselves from time to time.</p> + +<p>"Is it as beautiful as you thought it would be, Miss Molly?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, more beautiful! I never have seen such trees. It is so wonderful, +too, to think that there are no snakes. They say they have not seen a +snake in these parts for over fifty years. When I am in the woods, I am +always a little bit uneasy about snakes."</p> + +<p>"Since there are no snakes, we might sit down on this moss-covered rock +and rest."</p> + +<p>There was more to Edwin's dream than simply walking through the woods +with Molly; and he felt that no more suitable place could be found than +this sylvan spot where she could be seated like a queen on a throne +while he poured out assurances of his life-long allegiance, if she would +but admit him as a subject.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Miss Molly! Molly, my darling, I am dumb with love of you. I want +to tell you how much I love you; how long I have loved you. Can you love +me just a little?"</p> + +<p>And Molly raised her frank blue eyes to his appealing brown ones and +answered: "No, I can't love you just a little, but I have to love you a +whole lot."</p> + +<p>His day dream was indeed coming true: alone with Molly Brown in the +great, deep, silent forest, his love spoken at last and Molly actually +confessing that she cared for him. That eminent instructor of English at +Wellington College found when the time came to express himself that all +his knowledge of words was as naught, and the only English he had at his +command was: "I love you, do you love me?" and "I have loved you since +the day in your Freshman year when you got locked in the corridor. How +long have you loved me, if you do really love me?"</p> + +<p>They finally resumed their walk, but now they went hand in hand. How +much there was to talk about, how many things to explain!</p> + +<p>"And will you be willing to spend the summers in your orchard home with +me? I have always called it 'Molly's Orchard Home' in my mind."</p> + +<p>"I can think of no place in the world where I'd rather spend the +summers. Would I not be near all of my people? I am so glad you asked my +advice about the bungalow! Now the doors open the way I want them to; +and the cellar has an outside entrance; and the guest chamber has those +extra inches on it, besides the nice big closet; and the attic steps are +big enough to get a trunk up. Did you really and truly think it was +going to be my home when you were planning it?"</p> + +<p>"I could only hope and hope and plan and dream. For almost six years I +have known that it was you or nobody for me. Ever since you came to +Wellington, a slip of a girl, it has been all I could do to keep from +claiming you. You were too young. I knew it would not be fair to try to +tie you to an old dry-as-dust like me until you had seen the world a +little. But oh, how hard it has been not to speak out all that was in my +heart! And when I thought I had lost you, first to Jimmy Lufton, then to +your cousin, Philippe d'Ochtè, life was very bitter, and I looked +forward to years of misery and longing."</p> + +<p>"'Way down in my heart of hearts," confessed Molly, "I knew that you +cared, and the knowledge of it kept me from thinking seriously of any +other man. It was awfully conceited of me to feel that way when you have +never given me any real reason for it. At least, you had never written +or spoken your love; but the language that is neither written nor spoken +is understood by the heart, and my heart told me you loved me when my +intelligence would have me understand that you did not."</p> + +<p>"Bless your sweet heart for understanding me and speaking a good word +for me! I wish my heart could have done as much for me. I could not see +how you could care for me, and still I hoped and prayed. And now what is +to prevent our being married right now and spending our honeymoon +abroad?"</p> + +<p>"Well, it seems to me that a young man who could possess his soul in +patience for six years to find out his fate, might wait a while longer +now that he knows his answer," teased Molly.</p> + +<p>"But all my patience is gone, used up, worn out! I want you all the time +to make up for this terrible nightmare of a winter that I have passed +through. What is to prevent our getting married, if you really and truly +care for me? Oh, Molly, be good to me! I could not stand it if the ocean +separated us again!"</p> + +<p>And Molly was good to this extent; she said: "Let's see what mother says +about it."</p> + +<p>When the pair of happy lovers reached Barbizon, they broke the news of +their engagement to their friends, who had the tact to pretend to be +astonished. Mrs. Brown was in a measure relieved that Molly returned the +affections of the young professor. She liked him very much and fully +approved of him as a son-in-law. She felt sure that he would take the +best possible care of her darling daughter. There had been times when +she had felt a little afraid that her advice to Edwin Green not to speak +to Molly of his love until the girl had matured somewhat, was perhaps a +mistake. But now, convinced that all was well, Mrs. Brown, as impulsive +as ever, agreed that there was no reason to delay their marriage.</p> + +<p>The next few days were filled with unmixed charm and delight. Barbizon +was intensely interesting, having been the home of Jean François Millet. +Here he lived, painted and died, the great peasant painter. The fields +around the village were the scenes for the Gleaners, the Angelus, the +Man with the Hoe.</p> + +<p>The Forest, which touched the outskirts of the village, had furnished +motifs for Diaz, Rousseau and Daubigny, and Judy was in a state of the +greatest enthusiasm and excitement trying to spy out the exact spots +where those masters of landscape had painted their pictures. Kent was +delighted to follow in her footsteps and, as he expressed it, "sit at +the feet of learning." He had seen but few good pictures, but he had an +unerring taste in the matter of art and was able to understand Judy's +ravings.</p> + +<p>Molly and Edwin seemed to be floating above the earth. They touched +ground occasionally to eat the very good food that the madame at <i>Maison +Chevillon</i> served them or to pass the time of day with the other members +of the party.</p> + +<p>"Look at those two infatuated lovers, Mother," said Kent. "They look as +though they had left this mundane sphere for good and all. I believe +they talk in blank verse with occasional lapses into rhyme.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"'What kind er slippers do the angels wear?<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Chillun, chillun, chillun, won't yer foller me?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Don' wear none fer they tred on air,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Hally, Hally, Hally, Hallyloodja!'"<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>"Nonsense, Kent, don't tease them," implored Mrs. Brown.</p> + +<p>But strange to say, Molly did not mind the teasing she was forced to +take from her brother, although Judy called him "Mr. Brown" in the most +formal manner whenever he yielded to the temptation to tease her beloved +Molly.</p> + +<p>"I don't mind your calling me 'Mr. Brown' now that none of my brothers +are here to answer to your endearments," laughed Kent. "I rather like +it, in fact. It adds a kind of dignity to me."</p> + +<p>They could not play around the Forest of Fontainebleau forever, much as +they would have liked to. They went back to Paris a very contented, +happy party: Mrs. Brown happy that her judgment had been correct in +regard to her daughter's affairs; Kent and Judy happy to be in each +other's society and knowing they were to have much of their chosen work +ahead of them; Kent feeling almost certain that when his work was +accomplished the reward awaited him, that Judy cared for him and if he +could make good, would marry him; Professor Green and Molly in a seventh +heaven of bliss.</p> + +<p>Cousin Sally was immediately taken into their confidence. The news of +the engagement was broken to her by Molly herself.</p> + +<p>"Oh, what a sly-boots you were!" exclaimed the marchioness. "Philippe +was right about your knowing too much about how persons ought to love +not to be in love yourself. Well, my dear, I know you will be happy, and +as for that Green—I hardly know how to say how happy he should be. He +is not one-half so good looking as my boy, but never mind, child, I know +just how clever and good and intelligent he is. He is much more suitable +for you. He has the imagination that Philippe lacks. Tut—tut, I know +perfectly well where my dear son falls short. There is no poetry in his +make up. His father and I have often wondered at it. He looks so +poetical and is all prose."</p> + +<p>The marchioness took arrangements for the wedding into her own hands. +Getting married in Paris if you happen to be foreigners, is no easy +matter. There is enough red tape connected with it to reach all the way +across the Atlantic; but Sally Bolling d'Ochtè was quite equal to cope +with it. It took several weeks and much signing and countersigning. +Birth certificates had to be obtained from Kentucky as well as baptismal +certificates for Molly. The law did not seem to be so strict concerning +the man.</p> + +<p>"It does not seem fair," declared Kent. "These Frenchies will let a +<i>man</i> get married without any proof of his being born; but a woman, +forsooth, must first prove she is born and that she has been christened +before she is allowed to enter into the holy state of matrimony."</p> + +<p>All the papers were finally obtained, however, and Molly and her +professor were married very quietly at the Protestant Episcopal Church, +with no one present but the near friends and relatives. It all went as +merry as a marriage bell should, but does not always go. No one wept but +Polly Perkins; but Jo declared he always was a "slobber baby."</p> + +<p>Molly naturally was married in blue, her own blue. The dressmaker almost +cried when she was told that it was a wedding dress she was making, +because it was not to be of white.</p> + +<p>"Ah, the blonde bride is so wonderful and so rare! I could create for +Mademoiselle a dress that would be the talk of Paris. With that hair and +such fairness of complexion—well, never mind, I will still make her as +beautiful as the dawn." And so she did.</p> + +<p>After the ceremony, a wedding breakfast followed at the home of the good +Cousin Sally, who felt like weeping but refrained for fear of casting a +cloud on Molly's day; but it was noticed that she was especially +attentive and kind to poor emotional Polly, showing that she appreciated +his feelings and longed to show hers.</p> + +<p>Molly and Edwin went on their wedding trip to—But is it kind to follow +them? Let them have their solitude <i>à deux</i>. They are well able to take +care of each other without our assistance.</p> + +<p>They joined Mrs. Brown in a month and went back to Kentucky with her, +leaving Judy and Kent to continue their art studies in Paris.</p> + +<p>Judy was terribly afraid that she would have to go back under Mrs. +Pace's wing when the Browns left her, but the all-capable Marchioness +d'Ochtè got her a room at the American Girls' Club where she could be as +free as she wished with the appearance of being well chaperoned. As for +Kent he struck up quite a friendship with Pierce Kinsella, whom he had +once so feared as a rival, and the two young men decided to share a +studio, lessening the expense for both and heightening their pleasure.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XX" id="CHAPTER_XX"></a>CHAPTER XX.</h2> + +<h3>MORE LETTERS.</h3> + + + + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>From Mrs. Edwin Green to Miss Nance Oldham.</p> + +<p>My dearest Nance:</p> + + +<p>Oh, Nance, I'm so happy! I wonder if any two people were ever so +happy as Edwin and I. Am I not glib with my "Edwin"? I found it +rather hard at first to keep from calling him Professor Green, but +it seemed to mean so much to him that I have at last broken myself +of the habit.</p> + +<p>I longed for you on the day of the wedding. It did not seem right +for me to take such a step without my darling Nance to help me. I +was married in a traveling suit. I really believe I could not have +been married in a white dress and veil unless you had been there to +put on my veil.</p> + +<p>We are having a wonderful trip, and (please don't laugh at me), but +do you know it is a real privilege to travel with a man like Edwin? +He knows so many things without being the least bit teachy. Mother +says you are never conscious of the pedagogue in Edwin. That is +really so, which I think is remarkable, considering the many +persons he has to teach.</p> + +<p>First we went to Scotland. Nothing in France thrilled me as did the +lakes of Scotland. How thankful I am that, as a child, I did not +have access to very many books, only the classics, and I had to +read the Waverley Novels or nothing. Scotland meant a great deal +more to me because of my having read Scott. Edwin says he finds +about one out of ten of the young persons of the day know their +Dickens and their Scott.</p> + +<p>Edinburgh is so interesting that already Edwin and I are planning +to revisit it in his next Sabbatical year. That is a long way off +but we are so happy those seven years will pass quickly, I know. I +almost fell over the ramparts of Edinburgh Castle trying to see the +exact spot where Robert Louis Stevenson's hero, St. Ives, went down +on the rope to the rocks below. As I craned my neck, Edwin +whispered hoarsely in my ear: "Past yin o'cloak, and a dark, haary +moarnin."</p> + +<p>Edwin says I take fiction much more seriously than I do history. He +does, too, unless the history happens to be Mary Queen of Scots or +something that by rights should have been fiction. Greyfriars +Bobby, for instance, is a true tale but affects us both as though +it were fiction. We gave a whole afternoon to that dear little +doggy, following in his footsteps as nearly as we could through the +streets of Edinburgh, and out into the country by the road he took +to the farm, and then back to Greyfriars Churchyard where the old +shepherd, his master, was buried.</p> + +<p>Of course we did the Burns country thoroughly. Edwin seemed as at +home there as I am in the beech woods at Chatsworth. Burns has +never been one of my poets, but he is now. I have adopted him for +life since I realize what he means to Edwin.</p> + +<p>We are in London now and could spend a year here and not see all we +want to see. We play a splendid game which maybe you will think is +silly, but you don't know how much fun it is. We pretend for a +whole day to be some characters in fiction, Dickens, Thackeray, +Barrie, anyone we happen to think of, and then we do the things +those persons might have done. For instance, when we were slumming, +I was the Marchioness and Edwin was Dick Swiveller. That was +perhaps the best day of all. When we went down to the Thames +embankment, Edwin suddenly turned into Rogue Riderhood and I was +Lizzie Hexam.</p> + +<p>Edwin did not think much of me as Becky Sharp when we went to the +Opera nor did I think his Rawdon Crawley very convincing. His Peter +Pan was splendid the afternoon we spent in Kensington Gardens, and +he thought my Wendy was so perfect he tried to make me give him a +"thimble" right there before all the nurse maids.</p> + +<p>We are going home in a few days now. We are to meet Mother at +Liverpool and sail from there. I do wish Mother could have done the +things we have done. She would have enjoyed it so much. She laughed +until she cried when I proposed her going with us. She said she +loved Edwin too much and felt that he loved her too much to put his +affection to such a test.</p> + +<p>One of the very best things about being Mrs. Edwin Green is that +Mother so highly approves of Edwin.</p> + +<p>In a few weeks now we will be settled in our little Orchard Home. I +hate to leave London but I long for the little home. I am a born +homemaker and I am eager to get to housekeeping in the bungalow.</p> + +<p>Edwin expects to be very busy working on a text-book on American +Literature that he feels there is a need of. He does not have to go +back to Wellington until January and that will give us time for +lots of things in Kentucky.</p> + +<p>When we get to Wellington, you are the first person we want to have +visit us, and I want to engage you right now.</p> + +<p>What you tell me of Andy McLean's success at Harvard does not +astonish me. I was sure he would do well. I shall not be astonished +either when you tell me some other news about Andy. Come on now, +Nance, and 'fess up.</p> + +<p>Good-bye.—Edwin sends his kindest regards to you and says he, too, +is counting on that visit from you in January.</p> + +<p>Yours always,</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Molly</span>.</p></div> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + + + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>Mrs. Sarah Carmichael Clay to Mrs. Mildred Carmichael Brown.</p> + +<p>Dear Milly:</p> + +<p>For a woman who is noted through the whole County as being the +least practical person in the world, the most gullible and +credulous, you certainly seem to come out at the big end of the +horn.</p> + +<p>You have managed to marry off your daughters very young, though in +my opinion they are none of them beauties. Your sons seem to be +able to support themselves. You have contrived to sell your +birthright to an oil trust and to lift the mortgage on Chatsworth. +Your servants stay with you until they die on your hands; and your +friends vie with each other in rendering service to you.</p> + +<p>I can't understand it. You must be deeper than shows on the +surface. Anyhow, I take off my hat to you as being much more of a +personage than I ever gave you credit for.</p> + +<p>I am going to give Molly, for a wedding present, the portrait of +our grandmother by Jouett. It is a valuable painting, so I am told, +but I have had it in the attic for years as I could not bear the +sight of it. You will remember it was the image of that impertinent +Sally Bolling, who seemed to have the faculty of making me appear +ridiculous. I never could abide her and hardly wanted to have her +picture in my drawing room. I always lost sight of the fact that it +was really our grandmother. I am afraid Molly is going to look like +it, too.</p> + +<p>It is high time you were coming home. Now that you have managed to +marry Molly off, I should think you would have some feeling for me. +My health is very poor, and certainly your duty is to look after me +some and not give all of your time to your children. What with the +lawsuit that I have been forced into and the constant changing of +house-servants, I am in a very nervous condition.</p> + +<p>Affectionately your sister,</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Sarah Carmichael Clay</span>.</p></div> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + + + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>From Professor Edwin Green to Dr. McLean at Wellington.</p> + +<p>My dear Doctor:</p> + +<p>I have come to the conclusion that you can take a place by the side +of Dr. Weir Mitchell as one of the greatest nerve specialists of +this age or any age. I am taking your prescription in large doses: +deep full breaths of happiness and great brimming bowls of it. I am +feeling fine and my wife says I am getting fat.</p> + +<p>We have had a splendid trip. I have been over the same ground +before, but it all seems new and wonderful to me. My wife's +knowledge of your beloved Scotland put me to shame. She declares +she got it all from Walter Scott and Robert Louis Stevenson and +never studied a history of the country in her life.</p> + +<p>My wife joins me in love to you and Mrs. McLean. She says that one +of her chief pleasures is looking forward to having Mrs. McLean for +a neighbor the rest of her life.</p> + +<p>We will be back in Wellington after Christmas. We are now going to +my wife's native state, Kentucky, where I expect to finish the +text-book on American Literature that I have been pretending to +work on for some time. My wife's presence will serve as inspiration +to me and I hope to get ahead with it now.</p> + +<p>Very sincerely,</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Edwin Green</span>.</p> + +<p>P. S.—My wife, using a wife's prerogative, has read this over my +shoulder and declares that I may be a teacher of English, but as a +writer of it I am a failure. She says she can count about a dozen +"wives" in this little letter, which is very bad writing. But can +you blame me? E. G.</p></div> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + + + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>From Caroline Jackson to Mrs. Brown.</p> + +<p>Dear Miss Milly:</p> + +<p>I takes my pen in hand tow enform you that most of us is enjawen +pore health and hopes it finds you the same. This letter is writ +for Aunt Mary Morton although the paper and awnvelop is mine, the +same what Miss Molly sent me for Christmus come two yers next time. +Aunt Mary wisht me tow say that she is rejicing that her Molly Baby +done catch sech a fine man as her teacher pears tow be and she is +praying that she will be spared tow greet them both on this side of +the ribber.</p> + +<p>We have done cleaned up Chatswuth tel you kin see yore face in mos +any place you is enclined tow look. Lewis has white washed evything +tel it minds me of icecreamcandyandpopcorn. Lewis has also done put +in and tended the garden same as ifn you wus here. The bungleboo in +the awchard is all finished and vines and flowrs growin on it same +as ef it done been there fer yers.</p> + +<p>Aunt Mary's grand darter Kizzie lows she is goin tow cook fer Miss +Molly. All I kin say is Gawd hep litle Miss Molly, cause that there +Kizzie is sho slow tow move and proudified (this las from me and +not Aunt Mary).</p> + +<p>Miss Sarah Clay is done had twelve cooks sence Christmus and I +cyarnt count as high as the house girls run up tow. Miss Sarah is +lookin right peaked and not near so buxo as formally. All of us +ladies and gentlemen of African scent is rejicing that you will +soon go down into the deep waters and return again once more to +Kaintucky. No more at present. Plese excuse blots and a bad pen. +Lewis wushes me tow add that he done furnished the stamp fer this +here pistle.</p> + +<p>Aunt Mary lows she aint long fer this here world but I knows she is +still got the strenth tow make other colord folks work.</p> + +<p>With umblest respecks,</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Caroline Jackson</span>.</p></div> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + + + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>From Miss Julia Kean to Mrs. Edwin Green.</p> + +<p>Molly Darling:</p> + +<p>All day I sing: "What's this dark world to me? Molly's not here." +When the wedding breakfast was over and you and your Edwin were +really gone, we all of us collapsed like busted balloons. Polly +Perkins was cheerful beside the rest of us. He says he always cries +at weddings. I believe he is thinking of Josephine Williams and +weeps because he knows she never will marry him. I don't blame Jo, +but I do feel sorry for Polly.</p> + +<p>Your Mother and I are plunged into getting the Bents' studio in +order for them. We are determined that they shall find it as +shining as they left it. What a place it has been for us and how we +have enjoyed it!</p> + +<p>The d'Ochtès will soon go back to Normandy. They have asked Kent +and me to visit them during the summer. Won't that be grand?</p> + +<p>I have seen Frances Andrews several times. I never did see any one +improve as she has. I think it is your influence but I know you +will say it is the angle at which I am looking at her. I believe +Philippe d'Ochtè is really becoming very much interested in her. I +wonder what Cousin Sally will think. I fancy she will think poor +Frances a far cry from her choice for her son, namely: our own +Molly. I still think it is a pity we can't keep La Roche Craie in +the family, but I see no way to do it.</p> + +<p>Pierce Kinsella is painting like mad on a portrait of your mother. +He says he has been crazy to paint her from the moment he laid eyes +on her on the steamer. She says she rather likes posing because it +means she can sit still and think. We have been in such a whirl +that it might be some comfort to sit still, but I fancy I'd get +enough of it in a half hour sitting.</p> + +<p>Pierce demands only one thing of Mrs. Brown and that is that she +thinks about you. He declares her expression is different.</p> + +<p>Speaking of parents, my own are leaving Turkey to-day. Why I should +keep it to the end of my letter, I don't know. I am wild with +delight. It seems years since I saw them and I can hardly wait. I +wish they could have got here for the wedding. Bobby always whoops +things up so.</p> + +<p>Give my best love to that most fortunate man alive; and tell him +that matrimony does not mean eternal monopilization. Write to me +soon at the American Girls' Club. They say it is fine and homelike +there, but it will surely be some comedown after Rue Brea.</p> + +<p>Your ever devoted,</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Judy</span>.</p></div> + + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + + + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>Jimmy Lufton to Molly.</p> + +<p>Press Club, New York.</p> + +<p>My dear Mrs. Green:</p> + +<p>Ah me! I have swallowed the bitter pill and now I am gasping for +breath. I mean I have actually called you <i>Mrs. Green</i>. I did not +know I was man enough to do it. One never can tell what he can do +until put to the test. Anyhow, I want to congratulate both you and +the Professor with all my heart. If I have to call you Mrs. +Anything I believe I'd rather it would be Mrs. Green. Did you ever +hear this saying?</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Change the name and not the letter,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Change for worse and not for better.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Change the name and colour, too,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Change for good and never rue."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>I am sure you will "never rue" and will be as happy as you deserve, +which is saying a great deal. With kindest regards to your husband +(I feel myself to be a giant among men now, actually to have spoken +of the Prof. as your husband!) and hoping I shall be allowed the +pleasure of seeing you when you pass through New York on the way to +your home in Kentucky,</p> + +<p>I am very sincerely your friend,</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Jimmy Lufton</span>.</p></div> + + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + + + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>From Miss Josephine Williams to Mrs. Edwin Green.</p> + +<p>Rue Brea, Paris.</p> + +<p>My dear Molly Brown Green:</p> + +<p>The Bents are good friends of mine, but I must say I'll be sorry to +see them back in their studio, for it will mean the departure of +your wonderful mother. I truly think she has done real social +settlement work in this quarter of Paris. Her influence is felt +wherever she goes. For instance, I cite myself as an example. I +wear trousers still, but only when I am actually at work, and I +find skirts not so bad after all. As for Polly Perkins, he has +actually acquired backbone enough to propose to me. I am sure your +mother was at the bottom of it.</p> + +<p>The winter bids fair to be a hard one for American artists in +Paris, so I have decided that it would be wise to economize in +rent. Therefore, I have consented to share a studio with Polly. +Your mother is at the bottom of this move, too. Of course we have +got to live, and two can live together more cheaply than they can +separately. Economy of rent and fuel and light is to be considered, +to say nothing of the fact that it is an impossibility to make one +cup of tea or coffee. I always have a lot left in the pot and Polly +might just as well have it as not. All these reasons to explain why +I have said "Yes"!</p> + +<p>Mrs. Pace bought her own portrait and has been the means of another +order for poor Polly. She has also arranged to have him give some +talks at her <i>pension</i> on the new movement in Art. Polly is quite +spunked up and has actually had his hair cut.</p> + +<p>The portrait of Mrs. Pace is on the whole rather interesting. I +have to confess that the Cubist way of looking at her was the only +way to do her justice. I think Polly was rather remarkable to see +the possibilities in her.</p> + +<p>We miss you more than I can tell you. Rue Brea seemed very lonesome +at first and it took us several days to get back in our ruts.</p> + +<p>I see a lot of your splendid young brother. I think he has been a +good influence for Polly, too. He seemed to take Polly seriously +and that always does a fellow good.</p> + +<p>Pierce Kinsella is doing a wonderful portrait of your mother. It +will be a sure Salon success and I bet anything will get a Mention. +It has some of the qualities of Whistler's Mother. I think Pierce +is one of the coming giants.</p> + +<p>As you know by experience how difficult it is for foreigners to be +married in Paris, I need not tell you of the trouble we are having +to get all of my certificates from California. Polly and I can't +begin our economies for several weeks yet. I should not be +astonished if by that time my hair will be long enough to tuck up. +Another one of your mother's touches—I'm letting it grow. Regards +to the man, most blessed on earth.</p> + +<p>Your friend,</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Jo Bill.</span></p></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXI" id="CHAPTER_XXI"></a>CHAPTER XXI.</h2> + +<h3>MOLLY BROWN'S ORCHARD HOME.</h3> + + +<p>"Ter think er my Molly Baby back here in Kaintucky, a wedded wife with a +live husband er her own! Who'd a thought it? It seems jes' a spell sence +she were so teency she had to clim' on a soap box to reach up ter de +dough tray ter pinch off a lil piece er yeas' dough ter make her play +rolls wif, so she an' that there Kent could have a party in de ole apple +tree they called ther carstle. An' now de carstle done blowed down an' +in a twinklin' of de eye, most fo' dis ole nigger could tun 'round, here +is a sho nuf house whar de carstle stood an' my lil baby chile is +mistress here wif a dough tray an' bis'it board er her own, an' now," +and here Aunt Mary paused to give one of her inimitable chuckles, "she +don' have ter stretch up none ter reach de table but has to ben' over +right smart in de tother d'rection."</p> + +<p>"Don't you think our bungalow is lovely?" asked Molly, who looked very +pretty in her cap and apron as she bent over her own biscuit board +cutting out tiny biscuit, the kind that Edwin liked best, ready to bake +for breakfast.</p> + +<p>"Yes, chile, it is a fittin' home for the likes of you; but fer the +land's sake, don' call it no sich a name as that there! It makes me +think er hants. It soun's too like bugger-boo ter me. Jes' call it house +or home, but not dat scarey name what you and yo' teacher roll out so +keerless like."</p> + +<p>"All right, Aunt Mary, if you don't like bungalow, 'my teacher' and I +will stop calling it that."</p> + +<p>Molly popped the biscuit into the oven, put the sliced bacon on the +griddle, tested her coffee to see if it had percolated sufficiently, got +the butter and cream out of the refrigerator, cracked ice to put in the +cantaloupe, and made a pitcher of ice water before it was time to turn +the bacon.</p> + +<p>"Sakes alive, chile, how you kin tun aroun'! That there Ca'line would a +bin a hour doin' what you done 'complished in a few minutes."</p> + +<p>Just then Professor Green came into the kitchen, hunting Molly, whom he +could not let out of his sight for very long.</p> + +<p>"Well, Aunt Mary, I am so glad to see you," and he shook hands with the +old woman. "My wife tells me that you are to spend the day with us, also +that your granddaughter, Kizzie, is coming to cook for us. Just look at +my wife, Aunt Mary, isn't she the most beautiful wife in all the world?"</p> + +<p>He proceeded to embrace Molly, dish towel, coffee pot and all. Molly put +the coffee pot down by the ice water, dropped the dish towel into the +wood box and allowed herself to be kissed, laughing gayly at the old +darkey's expression of amusement.</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes, wife, wife, wife! That's all one er these here green husbands +kin say. But I see right here ef I <i>is</i> comp'ny done come to spen' de +day, I'd bes' put on a ap'on and git ter wuck. De bac'n is ready ter +burn up and I 'low that there pan er baby bis'it is done to a turn. De +coffee pot done het up de ice water and de ice water done took the 'roma +from de coffee. Here I was a passin' compliments on Miss Molly 'bout her +swif'ness, and she actin' jes lak Ca'line! De kitchen ain't no place fer +spoons, 'less they is i'on spoons to stir up de batter wif. Go 'long an' +sit down in yo' cheers. I'll bring in the victuals."</p> + +<p>Aunt Mary was very strict with the other servants and would have +reprimanded any of them severely for venturing a remark "while de white +folks was eatin'," but she followed Molly and Edwin to the screened +porch where the table was laid, and while they ate the very good +breakfast which, thanks to her, had not burned up, the old woman +entertained them with her keen observations.</p> + +<p>"I knowed you'd be pleased wif de Jonases gourd I done planted hin' de +kitchen on that arbor what Mr. Kent called by some outlandish name lak +perg'low. I say I planted de gourd, which ain't ter say the wholesome +truf. Yer see, gourds mus' be planted by a foolish 'ooman or a lazy, +no-'count man ef you want 'em to grow fas'. I sho did want that there +vine to kiver de arbor befo' you and yo' teacher got here, so I got +Ca'line, who is 'thout doubt the foolishest virgin I ever seed, to plant +on one side and that low down, lazy Buck Jasper to tend to tother, and +you kin see fer yo'self they's meetin' overhead."</p> + +<p>"The vine has certainly grown very rapidly," laughed the professor. "I +have never heard before what were the requisites for a flourishing +gourd."</p> + +<p>"Well, I ain't a-sayin' that part of its comin' on so well ain't due to +the haid work that old Mary Morton put on it. I bossed them free niggers +till they done disremembered they was 'mancipated."</p> + +<p>"What would you say, Aunt Mary, if Kent should bring a wife back to +Chatsworth?" asked Molly.</p> + +<p>"Well, if it is that there Judy gal, I'd say, 'Glory be!' She's sho jes' +lak our own folks, if she do say her ma and pa ain't never owned they +own home, but always been renters. That don' sound zactly lak quality, +but since the war, that ain't sich a sho sign as it uster be. You see +plenty er po' white trash now a-ownin' fine homes and de quality rentin' +nothin' mo' than cabins."</p> + +<p>"Well, Judy is the gal I mean, Aunt Mary, and I fancy they will come to +live with Mother at Chatsworth."</p> + +<p>"Don' it beat all how Miss Milly's daughters is marryin' out and her +sons a-marryin' in? I done heard Miss Milly say hunderds er times that +she'd 'low her daughters to marry in but her sons must marry out, as +daughters-in-law is heaps mo' ticklish to git 'long wif than +sons-in-law. Here her three daughters is a marryin' an' going to all +kin's er outlan'ish places leavin' they ma an' they home; an' now the +boys is thinkin' bout takin' unto theyselves wives, an' one an' all say +they can't sleep nowheres but at Chatsworth, an' they mus' bring they +wives back home to keep comp'ny wif yo' ma! Mr. Paul's cou'tin' 'round, +but he manages to git stuck on too many gals at oncet and makes it hard +to settle hisself. I done noticed, howsomever, 'bout that kinder +whimsified lover, when he do settle down, he makes the bes' husband er +all. Men folks is gotter have they fling, and they bes' have it 'fo' +matrimony than durin' it.</p> + +<p>"Dr. John was right hard hit wif that Miss Hunt what was a-visiting yo' +Aunt Clay 'til he seed her wif her hair all stringy an' out er curl that +time you all went on the night picnic and the creek riz so and mos' +drownded the passel of you. He ain't never paid no 'tention to her +since; but they do tell me that pretty, rosy-cheeked young lady he drove +out here las' week from Lou'ville is liable to be Mrs. Dr. John. What's +mo,' Ca'line tells me she is a trained nurse. She certainly do look lak +a lady and I tuck notice she eat lak a lady, ef she does hire herself +out in service. Pears lak to me that the mo' things the niggers thinks +theyselves too good to do, the mo' things the white folks decide they +ain't too good ter do fer theyselves."</p> + +<p>"Why, Aunt Mary, of course Miss Graves is a lady. She belongs to one of +the very best families and is very well educated and certainly charming +and sweet. John will be lucky, indeed, if he can persuade her to have +him."</p> + +<p>"Well, honey chile, ef you say so, 'tis so. 'Cose in days gone by a nuss +was a nuss, cep' some was good and some was bad, but now it seems some +is ladies an' some ain't."</p> + +<p>"Here comes Mother," exclaimed Edwin, springing from his seat to go meet +his mother-in-law, who was opening the neat little green gate that +connected the Chatsworth gardens with the old orchard where he had built +his nest.</p> + +<p>"What lazy children, just having breakfast! I feel as though I had eaten +mine ages ago, and yours looks so good, I believe I'll have some +more,—just a cup of coffee and a biscuit. Aunt Mary, you have made a +better cook of your Molly Baby than you have of Caroline. I never have +such biscuit as these except when you come to spend the day."</p> + +<p>Aunt Mary had become so feeble that she was not able to do steady work. +She lived in a comfortable cabin at the foot of the hill, making +frequent excursions to the "great house" to see that "the niggers was +'memberin' they places and that that there Ca'line wan't sleepin' out er +season."</p> + +<p>"Well, Miss Milly, it's jes' this way: some folks is good slow cooks an' +some is good quick cooks. Now Ca'line shines when slow patience is the +needcessity. She is great on a biled dinner, where the 'gredients have +to jes' simper along. You have her make a Brunswick stew an' you'll +think she is the bes' cook in the county. Her yeas' bread is good 'cause +that takes time and Ca'line is twins to whatsoever takes time; but ef +you have a steak to brile or quick bis'it to cook, you jes sen' fer this +ole woman, an' ef she can't crawl up the hill she kin ketch holt er +President's tail an' he kin pull her up."</p> + +<p>Aunt Mary then busied herself clearing off the table, as her way of +spending the day was to help her hostess in many ways.</p> + +<p>What a peaceful picture the orchard home presents on this late summer +morning! The little brown bungalow looks as though it had always been +there. The trees are laden with apples. The fall cheeses are beginning +to ripen, and the wine saps are so heavy that Edwin has proudly propped +up the bending boughs. The quickly growing vines have done their best +for the newly-wedded pair, and the slower ivy has begun to send out +shoots that need daily training with matting tacks until they accustom +themselves to sticking to the stone foundations. Molly's porch boxes are +filled with nasturtiums and petunias, and on each side of the steps are +beds of scarlet sage.</p> + +<p>Her sister Sue drove over to the orchard as soon as the news came of +Molly's approaching wedding, and superintended the planting of many +flowers to beautify the little home; and even stern old Aunt Clay unbent +to the extent of lending her gardener to do the work. She had also +donated a clump of Adam's and Eve's needles and threads that proved very +decorative, but quite as unapproachable as Aunt Clay herself.</p> + +<p>"It is a splendid apple year," remarked Mrs. Brown, her eyes wandering +over the bountifully laden trees. "Do you know, Edwin, I believe you +will realize enough off your wine saps and pippins to pay for all your +furniture!"</p> + +<p>"It is all paid for, thank goodness!" laughed the young man. "But the +apple money is to be put in the bank in Molly's account."</p> + +<p>"You remember when I went to college, Mother, you said I must win the +three golden apples. Don't you think apple money in the bank is a golden +apple?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, my child, perhaps it is; but happiness is a bigger and more golden +apple than money in the bank, and I believe you have gained happiness."</p> + +<p>"Indeed I have," said Molly blushing. "And now I am going to make a pie +for my own husband; out of my own apples; off my own tree; in my own +kitchen; with my own hands; and before I go, I am going to hug the old +man who bought the orchard so I could go on with my college education."</p> + +<p>This time Edwin did not "bow his head and wait 'til the storm passed +over him" as he had, according to Molly, in years gone by; but he drew +her down on the arm of his chair, and the making of the famous pie had +to be postponed.</p> + +<p>The pie was finally made, though, and an extra one to send over to +Mother. Aunt Mary declared it was the "bestest I ever set gum in. I +uster have a sweet tooth, but now I ain't got nothin' but a sweet gum; +but my Molly Baby kin make sich good crus' th' ain't no need to chaw +none."</p> + +<p>The old woman had been rather scornful of the method of making pastry +that Molly had learned from the domestic science teacher at Wellington, +but when the pie turned out such a success she was converted.</p> + +<p>"Yo' teacher is sho' done drawd a prize cook. The two things what men +folks think the mos' of is the gal's outsides an' they own insides. The +gal's outsides is goin' to change an' fade; but ef she's got sense 'nuf +ter keep on a caterin' ter his insides, the man ain't a gwine ter notice +the change. Ain't that the truf?" she asked Edwin as he came into the +kitchen hunting his Molly.</p> + +<p>"You know best, Aunt Mary. Certainly this pie would hide a multitude of +wrinkles and even gray hair. But now, Aunt Mary, can't you persuade my +wife to leave the kitchen long enough to come take a little walk with +me?"</p> + +<p>"Go long with him, chile. I reckon I can keep the bungleboo from flyin' +off while you an' yo' teacher takes a little ex'cise."</p> + +<p>So Molly took off her cap and apron and, donning a shade hat, stepped +joyfully out in the sunshine with her husband. They followed the little +brook at the foot of the orchard, and climbing the fence, found +themselves once more in the beechwoods. Both of them remembered the walk +they had taken there together more than two years before, and with one +accord they directed their footsteps to the great tree, the father of +the forest, where they had sat on that memorable walk.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"'Of all the beautiful pictures<br /></span> +<span class="i2">That hang on Memory's wall,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Is one of a dim, old forest<br /></span> +<span class="i2">That seemeth the best of all.'<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>"Do you remember, Dearest, how you quoted that poem to me when we walked +here before?" asked Edwin, drawing Molly to him.</p> + +<p>"Yes, I remember quite well," said Molly. "I also remember what you +said, but I am afraid it will make you conceited if I tell you. It is a +long time to remember something that is not poetry."</p> + +<p>"Please tell me. If I ever said anything that was worth remembering that +long, you should encourage me by telling it to me."</p> + +<p>"You said: 'A beautiful picture comes to my inward eye, and that is an +old Molly with white hair sitting where you are now, still in the +romantic era, still in the beechwoods; and God willing, I'll be beside +you.' I have thought of those words very often, and when I wasn't +certain that you really cared for me, I would say to myself that you +must have cared then." And Molly blushed.</p> + +<p>"Cared for you! I can't see how I ever kept from telling you that day. +It is best as it is. You were too young, but sometimes even now when I +know you are mine, I tremble to think that I might have lost you by +waiting."</p> + +<p>"There was never any real danger of that. If you had not cared, I was +determined to be an old maid." And Molly gave a sigh of happiness as she +nestled close to her "teacher."</p> + +<p>The quiet and peace of the "Orchard Home" seemed too perfect to be +disturbed even by the uneasy mutterings of distant war clouds. But as +time passed and the chill forebodings and grim shadows of war reached +the most secluded and sacred spots in the world, so they came, too, as +we shall see, into the home and into the life of "Molly Brown of +Kentucky."</p> + +<p>THE END</p> + + + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="Other_books_by_AL_Burt_Company" id="Other_books_by_AL_Burt_Company"></a>Other books by A.L. Burt Company</h2> + + + +<h3>A. L. BURT COMPANY, Publishers,<br /> +114-120 EAST 23rd STREET NEW YORK</h3> + + + +<h4><i>SAVE THE WRAPPER!</i></h4> + + +<p>If you have enjoyed reading about the adventures of the new friends you +have made in this book and would like to read more clean, wholesome +stories of their entertaining experiences, turn to the book jacket—on +the inside of it, a comprehensive list of Burt's fine series of +carefully selected books for young people has been placed for your +convenience.</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>THE Ann Sterling Series</h2> + +<h3>By HARRIET PYNE GROVE</h3> + +<h4>Stories of Ranch and College Life<br /> +For Girls 12 to 16 Years</h4> + +<p>ANN STERLING</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>The strange gift of Old Never-Run, an Indian whom she has befriended, brings exciting events into Ann's life.</p> +</div> + +<p>THE COURAGE OF ANN</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>Ann makes many new, worthwhile friends during her first year at Forest Hill College.</p> +</div> + +<p>ANN AND THE JOLLY SIX</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>At the close of their Freshman year Ann and the Jolly Six enjoy a house party at the Sterling's mountain ranch.</p> +</div> + +<p>ANN CROSSES A SECRET TRAIL</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>The Sterling family, with a group of friends, spend a thrilling vacation under the southern Pines of Florida.</p> +</div> + +<p>ANN'S SEARCH REWARDED</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>In solving the disappearance of her father, Ann finds exciting adventures, Indians and bandits in the West.</p> +</div> + +<p>ANN'S AMBITIONS</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>The end of her Senior year at Forest Hill brings a whirl of new events into the career of "Ann of the Singing Fingers."</p> +</div> + +<p>ANN'S STERLING HEART</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>Ann returns home, after completing a busy year of musical study abroad.</p> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h2>Books for Girls</h2> + +<h3>By GRACE MAY NORTH</h3> + +<h4>Author of THE VIRGINIA DAVIS SERIES</h4> + +<p>MEG OF MYSTERY MOUNTAIN</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>This story tells of the summer vacation some young people spent in the mountains and how they cleared up the mystery of the lost cabin at Crazy Creek Mine.</p> +</div> + +<p>RILLA OF THE LIGHTHOUSE</p> +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>"Rilla" had lived all her life with only her grandfather and "Uncle Barney" as companions, but finally, at +High Cliff Seminary, her great test came and the lovable girl from Windy Island Lighthouse met it brilliantly.</p> +</div> + +<p>NAN OF THE GYPSIES</p> +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>In this tale of a wandering gypsy band, Nan, who has spent her childhood with the gypsies, is adopted by +a woman of wealth, and by her love and loyalty to her, she proves her fine character and true worth.</p> +</div> + +<p>SISTERS</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>The personal characteristics and incidents in the lives of two girls—one thoughtless and proud, the other +devoted and self-sacrificing—are vividly described in this story, told as it is with sympathy and understanding +for both.</p> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + + +<h2>The Camp Fire Girls Series</h2> + +<h3>By HILDEGARD G. FREY</h3> + +<h4>A Series of Outdoor Stories for<br /> +Girls 12 to 16 Years.</h4> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>THE CAMP FIRE GIRLS IN THE MAINE WOODS;<br /> +or, The Winnebagos go Camping.</p> + +<p>THE CAMP FIRE GIRLS AT SCHOOL; or, The<br /> +Wohelo Weavers.</p> + +<p>THE CAMP FIRE GIRLS AT ONOWAY HOUSE; or,<br /> +The Magic Garden.</p> + +<p>THE CAMP FIRE GIRLS GO MOTORING; or, Along<br /> +the Road That Leads the Way.</p> + +<p>THE CAMP FIRE GIRLS' LARKS AND PRANKS; or,<br /> +The House of the Open Door.</p> + +<p>THE CAMP FIRE GIRLS ON ELLEN'S ISLE; or, The<br /> +Trail of the Seven Cedars.</p> + +<p>THE CAMP FIRE GIRLS ON THE OPEN ROAD;<br /> +or, Glorify Work.</p> + +<p>THE CAMP FIRE GIRLS DO THEIR BIT; or, Over<br /> +the Top with the Winnebagos.</p> + +<p>THE CAMP FIRE GIRLS SOLVE A MYSTERY; or,<br /> +The Christmas Adventure at Carver House.</p> + +<p>THE CAMP FIRE GIRLS AT CAMP KEEWAYDIN;<br /> +or, Down Paddles.</p> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + + +<h2>The Girl Scouts Series</h2> + +<h3>BY EDITH LAVELL</h3> + +<h4>A new copyright series of Girl Scouts stories by +an author of wide experience in Scouts' craft, as +Director of Girl Scouts of Philadelphia.</h4> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>THE GIRL SCOUTS AT MISS ALLENS SCHOOL</p> + +<p>THE GIRL SCOUTS AT CAMP</p> + +<p>THE GIRL SCOUTS' GOOD TURN</p> + +<p>THE GIRL SCOUTS' CANOE TRIP</p> + +<p>THE GIRL SCOUTS' RIVALS</p> + +<p>THE GIRL SCOUTS ON THE RANCH</p> + +<p>THE GIRL SCOUTS' VACATION ADVENTURES</p> + +<p>THE GIRL SCOUTS' MOTOR TRIP</p> + +<p>THE GIRL SCOUTS' CAPTAIN</p> + +<p>THE GIRL SCOUTS' DIRECTOR</p> + +</div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + + +<h2>The Greycliff Girls Series</h2> + +<h3>By HARRIET PYNE GROVE</h3> + +<h4>Stories of Adventure, Fun, Study and Personalities of girls attending Greycliff School.<br /> +For Girls 10 to 15 Years</h4> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>CATHALINA AT GREYCLIFF</p> + +<p>THE GIRLS OF GREYCLIFF</p> + +<p>GREYCLIFF WINGS</p> + +<p>GREYCLIFF GIRLS IN CAMP</p> + +<p>GREYCLIFF HEROINES</p> + +<p>GREYCLIFF GIRLS IN GEORGIA</p> + +<p>GREYCLIFF GIRLS' RANCHING</p> + +<p>GREYCLIFF GIRLS' GREAT ADVENTURE</p> + +</div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h2>Marjorie Dean High School Series</h2> + +<h3>BY PAULINE LESTER</h3> + +<h4>Author of the Famous Marjorie Dean College Series</h4> + +<h4>These are clean, wholesome stories that will be of great interest to all girls of high school age.</h4> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>MARJORIE DEAN, HIGH SCHOOL FRESHMAN</p> + +<p>MARJORIE DEAN, HIGH SCHOOL SOPHOMORE</p> + +<p>MARJORIE DEAN, HIGH SCHOOL JUNIOR</p> + +<p>MARJORIE DEAN, HIGH SCHOOL SENIOR</p> + +</div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h2>THE MERRY LYNN SERIES</h2> + +<h3>By HARRIET PYNE GROVE</h3> + +<h4>The charm of school and camp life, outdoor sports and European travel is found in these winning +tales of Merilyn and her friends at boarding school and college. These realistic stories of the +everyday life, the fun, frolic and special adventures of the Beechwood girls will be enjoyed by all girls of +high school age.</h4> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>MERILYN ENTERS BEECHWOLD</p> + +<p>MERILYN AT CAMP MEENAHGA</p> + +<p>MERILYN TESTS LOYALTY</p> + +<p>MERILYN'S NEW ADVENTURE</p> + +<p>MERILYN FORRESTER, CO-ED.</p> + +<p>THE "MERRY LYNN" MINE</p> + +</div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h2>The Virginia Davis Series</h2> + +<h3>By GRACE MAY NORTH</h3> + +<h4>Clean, Wholesome Stories of Ranch Life.<br /> +For Girls 12 to 16 Years.</h4> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>VIRGINIA OF V. M. RANCH</p> + +<p>VIRGINIA AT VINE HAVEN</p> + +<p>VIRGINIA'S ADVENTURE CLUB</p> + +<p>VIRGINIA'S RANCH NEIGHBORS</p> + +<p>VIRGINIA'S ROMANCE</p> + +</div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h2>Princess Polly Series</h2> + +<h3>By AMY BROOKS</h3> + +<h4>Author of "Dorothy Dainty" series, Etc.</h4> + +<h4>Stories of Sweet-Tempered, Sunny, Lovable Little "Princess Polly."<br /> +For girls 12 to 16 years.</h4> + +<div class="blockquot"> + + +<p>PRINCESS POLLY</p> + +<p>PRINCESS POLLY'S PLAYMATES</p> + +<p>PRINCESS POLLY AT SCHOOL</p> + +<p>PRINCESS POLLY BY THE SEA</p> + +<p>PRINCESS POLLY'S GAY WINTER</p> + +<p>PRINCESS POLLY AT PLAY</p> + +<p>PRINCESS POLLY AT CLIFFMORE</p> + +</div> + + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<hr class="full" /> +<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MOLLY BROWN'S ORCHARD HOME***</p> +<p>******* This file should be named 20632-h.txt or 20632-h.zip *******</p> +<p>This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:<br /> +<a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/0/6/3/20632">http://www.gutenberg.org/2/0/6/3/20632</a></p> +<p>Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed.</p> + +<p>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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