XVII
POLLY WROTE A NICE LITTLE NOTE
"Polly," said Jasper, running down the stairs after her, on her way tothe little garden on the terrace at Heidelberg, "here's something foryou; just came in the mail."
"For me," said Polly, as he put a little parcel in her hand.
"Yes," said Jasper, "father just gave it to me."
"What can it be!" cried Polly, wonderingly; "oh, something from Alexiaor one of the other girls, most likely," and she tore off the outerwrapper.
"It is registered," said Jasper, "and Mr. Henderson got it out for you,father said; that can't be from one of the girls, Polly," as the nextlayer of paper dropping off, disclosed the name of one of the biggestof big London jewellers across a wooden box.
"What can it be!" gasped Polly, tugging at the cover.
"Here--let me." Jasper essayed to open it, but it stuck fast in theslide. Another pull, and a little red leather case appeared in view.
"What in the world--" began Polly; "oh, it can't be for me!" and shestood staring at it, without any attempt to take it out.
"It must be for you, Polly," said Jasper. "There couldn't be any otherMiss Mary Pepper, and besides it is addressed to father's care, andcomes through our bankers,--see here." He stooped, and picked up theouter wrapper; it was torn almost in two, but the name and address wasall there.
So Polly lifted out the little red leather case, still feeling verymuch as if she were opening a parcel belonging to some one else, andtouching a spring at the end, the top flew up, and there on a whitesatin bed lay a little green enamelled watch set with diamonds.
"O dear me!" exclaimed Polly, tumbling back in the utmost distress,"now I _have_ got some one else's box, Jasper. How very dreadful!"
"Let us go to father," said Jasper, feeling this quite beyond him."Shut the box up tight, Polly; it might tumble out on the way."
"You carry it, do, Jasper," begged Polly, with an eye askance at thelittle case; and snapping the cover down, she set it in his hand.
"All right, now, then," said Jasper. "We must carry these papers, andwooden box, and the whole business. Don't worry, Polly," seeing herface, "father will straighten it out."
"Give me the wrapper, Jasper, and the wooden box, if only you'll takethe other," said Polly, feeling very much depressed at coming intopossession of other people's property; and Jasper followed with thelittle enamelled watch.
And Grandpapa was just as much astounded as was Polly herself; and allthe family congregating in Mother Fisher's room, the little watch washanded about from one to the other, and everybody stared at everybodyelse, and the mystery thickened every moment. And the strangest thingabout it was that no one opened the little back cover where any onemight have read:--
"Polly Pepper, from her grateful friend, Arthur Selwyn."
--until the middle of the night, when Jasper was awakened by a noise asif some one were prowling around in his father's room. He started upand listened.
"It's I," said old Mr. King's voice. So Jasper threw on his wrapper,and hurried in. There sat his father, in dressing-gown and slippers, bythe table, with the little enamelled watch in his hand.
"Of all the idiots, Jasper," he exclaimed, "your father is the veryworst. I've only just this moment thought to look in here." He flashedthe little watch around in Jasper's face; it was now opened at the back.
"Dear me!" cried Jasper, for want of anything better to say, as he readthe inscription. Then he looked helplessly at his father.
"Earl or no earl, this piece of foolishness goes back," fumed old Mr.King, getting out of his chair, and beginning to march back and forthacross the floor as he always did when irritated. "Yes, sir, the veryfirst thing in the morning," he repeated, as vehemently as if Jasperhad contradicted him.
"But, father--" began the boy.
"Yes, sir, it goes back, I tell you," repeated his father, now wellwrought up to a passion. "What right has he to send such a piece offoolishness to my Polly Pepper? I can give her all the watches sheneeds. And this trumpery," pointing to the jewelled gift still lying inJasper's hand, "is utterly unfit for a schoolgirl. You know thatyourself, Jasper."
"But Polly was kind to him," began Jasper, again.
"Kind to him!" snorted his father, "don't I know that? Of course shewas. Polly Pepper would be kind to any one. But that's no reason whythe old idiot should presume to give her such a silly and expensivepresent as that. The man doesn't know anything who would do such athing. And this one is queerer than the average."
"As you say, he is eccentric," observed Jasper, seeing here a loopholeby which to get in a soothing word.
"Eccentric? That's a mild way to put it," fumed his father. "He's odderthan Dick's hatband. Heaven save Old England if many of her earls arelike him. Well, I shall just write the fellow a decent sort of a note,and then I'll pack the box off to him, and that'll be the end of thematter."
"I'm afraid Polly will be sorry," said Jasper, feeling at a standstillso far as finding the right word was concerned, for everything heuttered only seemed to make matters worse. So he said the best thing hecould think of, and stopped short.
"Sorry?" Old Mr. King came to a dead stop and glared at him. "You can'tmean that Polly Pepper would like me to keep that watch. It's the lastthing on earth that she would want, such a gewgaw as that. Why, thechild hates the sight of it already as much as I do."
"I don't think Polly would want the watch," said Jasper, quickly. "Iknow she doesn't like it, and I'm sure I wish I could smash it myself,"he added in a burst.
"That's the most sensible thing you've said yet, Jasper," said hisfather, with a grim smile.
"But she would feel dreadfully for you to send it back, for don't yousee, father, that would hurt his feelings? And Polly would worryawfully to have that happen."
Old Mr. King turned uneasily, took a few steps, then came back to throwhimself into his chair again.
"And this old gentleman has such ill attacks," said Jasper, pursuinghis advantage, "that it might be the very thing to bring one on if heshould get that watch back."
"Say no more, say no more, Jasper," said his father, shortly; "put thisthing up for tonight, and then get back to bed again." And Jasper knewthat was the end of it.
And the next day Polly wrote a nice little note, thanking the old earlfor his gift, and hoping that he was quite well; and with so many otherpleasant things in it, that if she could have seen him when he receivedit, she would have been glad indeed. And then she handed the little redleather case to Mr. King. "Keep it for me, Grandpapa," she said simply.
"All right, Polly, my child," he said. And then everybody forgot allabout the episode and proceeded to enjoy Heidelberg.
"I'm so sorry for people who are not going to Bayreuth, Adela!"exclaimed Polly, looking out of the compartment window, as the trainsteamed rapidly on from Nuremberg where they had passed several days ofdelight revelling in the old town.
Adela, with her mind more on those past delights, had less attentionfor thoughts of music, so she answered absently, "Yes. Oh, Polly,wasn't that Pentagonal Tower fine? What is it they call it in German?"
But Polly didn't hear, being absorbed in the Wagner festival of whichher mind was full, so Jasper answered for her. "Alt-Nuenberg, you mean,the oldest building of all Nuremberg."
"Yes," said Adela, "well, I got two or three sketches of that tower."
"Did you?" cried Jasper, "now that's good."
"And I got that horrible old robber-knight,--what's his name?--sittinginside his cell, you know."
"Eppelein von Gallingen," supplied Jasper. "Well, he was ahorrible-looking customer, and that's a fact."
"Oh, I liked him," said Adela, who rejoiced in ugly things if onlypicturesque, "and I got into one corner of the cell opposite him, so asto sketch it all as well as I could in such a dark place, and a ladycame down the little stairs; you remember them."
"I rather think I do," said Jasper, grimly. "I was trying to get out ofthe way of a huge party of tourists, and I nearl
y broke my neck."
"Well, this lady came down the stairs. I could see her where I sat, butshe couldn't see me, it was so dark in the cell; and she called to herhusband--I guess he was her husband, because he looked so _triste_."Adela often fell into French, from being so long at the Paris school,and not from affectation in the least. "And she said, 'Come, Henry, letus see what is in there.' And she took one step in, and peered intothat robber-knight's face; you know how he is sitting on a littlestool, his black hair all round his face, staring at one."
"Yes, I do," said Jasper; "he was uncanny enough, and in the darkness,his wax features, or whatever they were made of, were unpleasantlynatural to the last degree."
"Well," said Adela, "the lady gave a little squeal, and tumbled rightback into her husband's arms. And I guess she stepped on his toes, forhe squealed, too, though in a different way, and he gave her a littlepush and told her not to be a goose, that the man had been dead athousand years more or less and couldn't hurt her. So then she steppedback, awfully scared though, I could see that, and then she caughtsight of me, and she squealed again and jumped, and she screamed rightout, 'Oh, there's another in there, in the corner, and it glared atme.' And I didn't glare at all," finished Adela, in disdain. "And thenI guess he was scared, too, for he said, 'That old cell isn't worthseeing, anyway, and I'm going down into the torture chamber,' and theyhurried off."
"That torture chamber!" exclaimed Jasper; "how any one can hang overthose things, I don't see; for my part, I'd rather have my timesomewhere else."
"Oh, I like them," said Adela, in great satisfaction, "and I've got apicture of the 'Iron Virgin.'"
"That was a good idea, to put the old scold into that wooden tubconcern," said Jasper; "there was some sense in that. I took a pictureof it, and the old tower itself. I got a splendid photograph of it, ifit will only develop well," he added. "Oh, but the buildings--was everanything so fine as those old Nuremberg houses, with their high-peakedgables! I have quantities of them--thanks to my kodak."
"What's this station, I wonder?" asked Polly, as the train slowed up.
Two ladies on the platform made a sudden dash at their compartment."All full," said the guard, waving them off.
"That was Fanny Vanderburgh," gasped Polly.
"And her mother," added Jasper.
"Who was it?" demanded old Mr. King.
His consternation, when they told him, was so great, that Jasper rackedhis brains some way to avoid the meeting.
"If once we were at Bayreuth, it's possible that we might not comeacross them, father, for we could easily be lost in the crowd."
"No such good luck," groaned old Mr. King, which was proved true. Forthe first persons who walked into the hotel, as the manager was givingdirections that the rooms reserved for their party should be shownthem, were Mrs. Vanderburgh and her daughter.
"Oh!" exclaimed Mrs. Vanderburgh, as if her dearest friends were beforeher, "how glad I am to see you again, dear Mr. King, and you all." Sheswept Mrs. Fisher and Mrs. Henderson lightly in her glance as iftoleration only were to be observed toward them. "We have beenperfectly _desolee_ without you, Polly, my dear," she went on, with acharming smile. "Fanny will be happy once more. She has beendisconsolate ever since we parted, I assure you."
Polly made some sort of a reply, and greeted Fanny, as of old times, onthe steamer; but Mrs. Vanderburgh went on, all smiles and eagerness--sorapidly in her friendly intentions, that it boded ill for the futurepeace of Mr. King's party. So Mr. King broke into the torrent of wordsat once, without any more scruple. "And now, Mrs. Vanderburgh, if youwill excuse us, we are quite tired, and are going to our rooms." And hebowed himself off, and of course his family followed; the next momentFanny and her mother were alone.
"If this is to be the way," said Mrs. Vanderburgh, with a savage littlelaugh, "we might much better have stayed in Paris, for I never shouldhave thought, as you know, Fanny, of coming to this out-of-the-wayplace, seeing that I don't care for the music, if I hadn't heard themsay on the steamer that this was their date here."
"Well, I wish that I was at home," declared Fanny, passionately, "and Inever, never will come to Europe, Mamma, again as long as I live. Youare always chasing after people who run away from you, and those wholike me, you won't let me speak to."
"Well, I shall be thankful for the day when you are once in society,"said her mother, every shred of self-control now gone; "and I shallsell my tickets for this old Wagner festival, and go back to Paristo-morrow morning."
At that, Fanny broke into a dismal fit of complaining, which continuedall the time they were dressing for dinner, and getting settled intheir room, and then at intervals through that meal.
Polly looked over at her gloomy face, three tables off, and her ownfell.
"You are not eating anything, child," said Grandpapa, presently, with akeen glance at her. "Let me order something more."
"Oh, no, Grandpapa," and "yes, I will," she cried, incoherently, makinga great effort to enjoy the nice things he piled on her plate.
Jasper followed her glance as it rested on the Vanderburgh table. "Theywill spoil everything," he thought. "And to think it should happen atBayreuth."
"Yes, we are going," said Fanny Vanderburgh as they met after dinner inthe corridor. Her eyes were swollen, and she twisted her handkerchiefin her fingers. "And I did--did--did--" here she broke down andsobbed--"so want to hear the Wagner operas."
"Don't cry," begged Polly, quite shocked. "Oh, Fanny, why can't youstay? How very dreadful to lose the Wagner music!" Polly could think ofno worse calamity that could befall one.
"Mamma doesn't know anybody here except your party," mumbled Fanny,"and she's upset, and declares that we must go back to Paris to-morrow.Oh, Polly Pepper, I hate Paris," she exploded. And then sobbed worsethan ever.
"Wait here," said Polly, "till I come back." Then she ran on light feetto Grandpapa, just settling behind a newspaper in a corner of thegeneral reading room.
"Grandpapa, dear, may I speak to you a minute?" asked Polly, with awoful feeling at her heart. It seemed as if he must hear it beating.
"Why, yes, child, to be sure," said Mr. King, quite surprised at hermanner. "What is it?" and he laid aside his paper and smiledreassuringly.
But Polly's heart sank worse than ever. "Grandpapa," she begandesperately, "Fanny Vanderburgh is feeling dreadfully."
"And I should think she would with such a mother," exclaimed the oldgentleman, but in a guarded tone. "Well, what of it, Polly?"
"Grandpapa," said Polly, "she says her mother is going to take her backto Paris tomorrow morning."
"How very fine!" exclaimed Mr. King, approvingly; "that is the bestthing I have heard yet. Always bring me such good news, Polly, and Iwill lay down my newspapers willingly any time." And he gave a pleasedlittle laugh.
"But, Grandpapa--" and Polly's face drooped, and there was such a sadlittle note in her voice, that the laugh dropped out of his. "Fannywanted above all things to hear the Wagner operas--just think of losingthose!" Polly clasped her hands, and every bit of colour flew from hercheek.
"Well, what can I do about it?" asked the old gentleman, in a greatstate of perturbation. "Speak out, child, and tell me what you want."
"Only if I can be pleasant to Fanny," said Polly, a wave of colourrushing over her face. "I mean if I may go with her? Can I, Grandpapa,this very evening, just as if--" she hesitated.
"As if what, Polly?"
"As if we all liked them," finished Polly, feeling as if the words mustbe said.
There was an awful pause in which Polly had all she could do to keepfrom rushing from the room. Then Grandpapa said, "If you can stand it,Polly, you may do as you like, but I warn you to keep them away fromme." And he went back to his paper.