CHAPTER XVI
HERR GREEN-CAP
ALTHOUGH Nan's responsibilities did seem heavier after the departureof her mother and aunt, the fact that they were shared in a measure byMrs. Hoyt and Fraeulein Bauer as well as by Dr. Paul, made them seemless. To Dr. Paul Nan poured out her confidences in the most artlessmanner, and he responded as any considerate older brother might havedone. There was plenty of work for all to do, for beyond the demand ofmusic, Nan had her German and other studies in which Mary Lee shared.Jo, though doing well in most directions, floundered terribly when itcame to German accent and pronunciation. Fortunately Fraeulein Bauer washerself North German, and so was the teacher under whom Jo studied,so she did not fall into a very pronounced dialect, and she comfortedherself by saying: "My exams will be written and not spoken, so I thinkI shall pass all right." Jack cheerfully plunged in with a recklessdisregard of anything but making herself understood, and consequentlygained a large vocabulary, while Jean, more timid and self-conscious,depended upon her twin when it came to an emergency.
Jo, who had been the life of Miss Barnes's boarding-school, was muchmore subdued here in Germany. It seemed to be borne in upon her thatthis was the opportunity of her life, and she must make the most of it.She had never studied very hard before, but being naturally bright, haddepended upon a good memory and sudden inspiration to cope with theoccasion.
The girls had received Christmas letters from all their lateschoolmates, telling of the little events which they knew wouldinterest them on the other side of the water. Charlotte Loring's wasthe longest; Daniella's the most vividly interesting, for the latterhad a picturesque way of presenting things, born of her early free lifein the Virginia mountains. There had been, too, letters from home, fromCousin Polly Lewis, telling of her approaching marriage, from Gordonand his brother, from Phil, and last of all from Aunt Sarah, giving theintimate details of home life which brought the brown house and itsinmates very distinctly before them.
And now there were three months of hard study before them, interspersedwith such pleasures as skating in the Englischer Garten, visits to somespecially interesting place, like the great foundry where had beencast such famous works as the great doors of the Capitol at Washington,and numerous world-renowned statues. For Nan there were always operaand concerts as often as practicable, and if Fraeulein Bauer could notgo with her, Mrs. Hoyt was generally ready. Failing her, Dr. Paul wouldbe called up, and it was seldom that he could not set aside all else inorder to act as escort. There were merry doings, too, in Mrs. Hoyt'ssitting-room, walks on the Parada to hear the band, expeditions to theIsarthal, or the beautiful Starnberger See when a brisk walk over snowypaths brought them all back ready to attack a supper which, even when_wurst_ appeared as its principal dish, seldom failed to satisfy.
Strange to say, it was not Jack nor Jean about whom Nan finally felta certain anxiety, but it was Jo. Had it been one of her own sisters,if she could not have laid the matter before Mrs. Hoyt, Nan could haveconsulted Dr. Paul, but she felt a certain hesitancy in discussing Jowith any one but Mary Lee who was the first to discover that all wasnot right and who came to her sister in great perplexity.
"Nan," she said, "I think we ought to do something about Jo."
Nan, who was puzzling out a difficult passage in her translation,stopped short. "What do you mean, Mary Lee?" she said.
"Where are the twinnies?" asked Mary Lee, looking around.
"Gone with Mrs. Hoyt to the Englischer Garten. Jo isn't here either."
"I know that well enough. She is skating at another place with thathorrid boy."
"What horrid boy?" Nan looked amazed.
"Some one she met on the ice last week one day when you weren't there.He is a student, and he came up and asked Jo to skate with him. Youknow how free and easy she is. He is a good skater, waltzes on theice and does that sort of thing, so off Jo went before I could say aword. Ever since then he has been trying to get chances to meet her.He followed her home and found out where she lived. Jo is the mostunconventional girl in the world, and she didn't hesitate to tell himher name, so he wrote to her and asked her to meet him on the icethe next day. We all went together, all but you, and in that crowdMrs. Hoyt couldn't keep track of us all. Jo has skated with him everyday since, but often they go to another skating pond. She has beenanswering his notes and all that. He speaks English and says he is theson of a countess."
"Dear me, I wonder if that is so, but, even if it is, that amounts tonothing. There are plenty of disreputable counts and countesses overhere and we don't know a thing about him. It is too bad that my musiclesson comes in the afternoon, or I would go oftener with you all. Ireally don't have time to go more than twice a week, and opera nights Ican't go at all."
"Do you think we ought to tell Mrs. Hoyt?"
Nan considered the question for a moment. "Oh, I don't know," shereplied, presently. "It seems mean to tattle--yet--I'll tell you, MaryLee, we'll see if we can't get her to stop, and if she won't we'llthink of what is best to do."
"She won't stop. She thinks it is the greatest piece of fun, and can't,or won't see that there is any harm in it."
"Why couldn't she be satisfied with the nice boys she already knows?"
"That's what I asked her, and she said that none of them was a countand that it was much more of a lark to carry on with a foreigner. Shecould know all the Americans she wanted at home. You know how Jo talks."
"Did the other boys see her skating with this fellow?"
"Yes, and she told them he was a friend of hers. I suppose Mrs. Hoytthinks so, too, now that she has seen the two together. He is rathernice-looking, and I have no doubt Mrs. Hoyt thinks we know all abouthim and that it is all right. She doesn't know that when Jo isn't withus she is off skating at some other place."
"I'll try talking to her," said Nan, "though it may not do any good.Probably she thinks I am not old enough to give advice. Of course weare not exactly responsible for her in one way, but she is of our partyand that does give us some rights. If mother were here she would soonsettle it in the nicest sort of way. I will try talking and if thatdoes no good I will write to mother and get her advice. Jo is very fondof both mother and Aunt Helen and would hate to displease them or losetheir respect."
"I feel differently about Jo than about most girls," said Mary Lee,"for you know she hasn't had much comfort at home, and as she says,has 'tumbled up.' Before her father married a second time she was leftto the care of servants, and now there are all those little children,she is out of it. All the training she has ever had has been at MissBarnes's. She really doesn't realize, Nan, for out West where she hasalways lived they are much more ready to make friends with every onethan we are. You know how full of fun and nonsense she is. The boysall like her and I suppose this one never met a girl like her before."
"I hope he doesn't think all American girls are ready to make chanceacquaintances in that way. All you say is quite true, Mary Lee, and forthat very reason I don't want to discuss it with any one but motheror Aunt Helen. They know all about Jo and can make allowances. I willwrite to-night."
"I thought you had a lot of work to do and that was why you couldn't gothis afternoon with us."
Nan sighed. "Yes, I have a lot, but I can get up early and finish it."
"It is pitch dark till nearly eight in the morning."
"I can get a lamp and go into the sitting-room."
Mary Lee was so used to leaving such matters to her elder sister thatshe didn't at once think of protesting. Moreover she was not quite sounselfish as Nan; she did love her morning nap and was not ready togive up an evening's fun with the Hoyts. But at last she said, a littlereluctantly: "Couldn't I write the letter, Nan?"
"No, thanks, I reckon I'd better do it," said Nan lightly, and Mary Leefelt relieved not only that she had made the offer but that it had notbeen accepted.
But after all, Nan did not have to write the letter that evening, forDr. Paul came in early. He generally stopped for a few minutes everyday to see that
all was right with his wards, as he called the girls.Jo had come home late, when the others were already seated at thesupper table. She gave Mary Lee a top-loftical glance but carried on aconversation principally with Juliet and Maurice.
"She doesn't like it because I wouldn't stay with her and meet thatcreature," Mary Lee whispered to Nan as they left the dining-room.
"I'm glad you had the good sense not to," said Nan. "Did he come homewith her?"
"I suppose so, though I don't know any more about it than you do."
Jo had not tarried with the girls, but had gone directly to the Hoyts'room, to which Mary Lee declared her intention of going also.
"That letter has got to be written, I plainly see," said Nan.
She was about to settle herself to her task, the others havingcongregated around Mrs. Hoyt, when Dr. Paul came in. Nan greeted him ina preoccupied way.
"Am I interrupting some important study?" he asked.
"No," replied Nan. "I was just beginning a letter to mother; that wasall."
"Everything all right?"
"Ye-es." She spoke a little doubtfully, the shadow of Jo's affair stillupon her.
Dr. Paul looked at her fixedly, his keen eye noticing the trouble inher face. "Look here, Nan," he said. "I don't believe everything is allright."
Nan recovered herself and smiled. "Oh, yes, it is. You'll not find aCorner who hasn't a clear conscience and a clean bill of health."
"That's good. Then I've no prescriptions to write, no advice to giveyou this time?"
Nan shook her head. "No, you'll have to look out for other patients."
"Then I'll not keep you from that letter. I know how precious time isjust now. Where are the rest?"
"Where they generally are; over in Mrs. Hoyt's room 'ca'y'in on' asMitty would say."
The doctor picked up his hat. "After all, it was only that the girl wasthinking about her work," he told himself. He knew she was practicingfor a musicale which was to be given by Frau Burg-Schmidt's pupils,and that she had much to do. He was about to go when he turned back."Listen, Nan," he said. "Who is the German youth with the green cap Isaw skating with your friend Jo, this afternoon?"
"Were you out there? Oh, he is a friend of Jo's." She tried to speaklightly.
"Do you know him?"
Nan was silent, but the question was too direct to avoid. "No," sheanswered truthfully, then hurriedly, "Why do you ask?"
"Because I don't believe he is the kind you all want to know."
"What makes you think so?"
"Well, I'll tell you the whole thing. I was standing with a fellowstudent watching the skaters when Miss Jo swung along with Green-Cap.She saw me and I bowed. I don't think she saw my friend who was justbehind me. 'Who is that?' said he. 'A young compatriot of ours,' I toldhim. 'Nice girl.' 'Humph!' he said. 'I wonder where she picked up thatfellow.' 'What's the matter with him?' I asked. 'He is a bad lot,' saidmy friend. 'I shouldn't like a sister of mine to be seen with him.'Later on I happened to be coming home directly behind the couple. Theywere laughing and talking in great shape. I noticed that none of youwere along, and I wondered; that's all."
Nan stood leaning on the back of a chair, listening thoughtfully. "Sitdown, Dr. Paul," she said. "I don't believe I shall have to writethat letter to-night, for you happen to bring up the very subject Iwas going to write about. No, we don't know that young man. He is achance acquaintance whom Jo has picked up without realizing it wasanything out of the way. He asked if he might skate with her, and she,thinking it the custom, accepted his invitation. Mary Lee, whom youknow is always a most proper and discreet young person, came away andleft Jo. Mrs. Hoyt believing him to be a friend of ours hasn't inquiredabout him. She is an awfully jolly sort of somebody, and is reallyparticular, but I think she doesn't want to appear fussy, and of coursedoesn't dream but that we all know this person. So, Jo has been goingher own gait, and I am awfully bothered about it. I don't want to telltales to Mrs. Hoyt, and have her annoyed with Jo. I don't want to tellFraeulein Bauer, for fear she would say Jo could not stay here, for theFraeulein is a great stickler of proprieties, and I could see nothing todo but to write to mother, though I hate to bother her."
The doctor looked down at her with a sympathetic expression in his darkeyes. "You are always shouldering somebody's burdens, Nan," he said. "Ihaven't forgotten last year."
"Oh, that was quite a different thing."
"If I remember right, Miss Jo was mixed up in that."
"Yes, in a way," Nan admitted. "Though she hadn't the least idea thatshe was, and as soon as she found out, you know she went straight toMiss Barnes and told her all about it."
"And this time she is going into an affair with her eyes open."
"Not exactly. You know she is a Western girl who has not had much careat home. Her mother died before Jo was big enough to remember her,and though the stepmother is a kind enough sort of person, she has nothought beyond her family of little children and Jo has had to hoe herown row always. Her father is away from home a good deal and absorbedin business so Jo has not had much chance."
"I see, and you think that all the more she should be warned. Have yousaid anything to her on the subject?"
"No, but Mary Lee has, and she thinks she is prudish."
"Well, I tell you you are not to think of this any more. I will settleit. You must leave it all to me."
"But you will not----" Nan began in alarm.
The doctor smiled. "I am not going to do anything rash, and Miss Joshall not know that I know anything about her cuttings up. I have ascheme which I hope will work out all right and rid you all of theundesirable acquaintance. Do you trust me?"
"Indeed I do. You are always such a rock of defense, Dr. Paul," saidNan gratefully. "I don't know what I should do without you."
"I'd be a pretty sort of cad if I didn't look out for you," he saidvehemently. "I'd like to bring young Bingham with me to call, if I may.He is a nice fellow, I can assure you. Your Fraeulein will not object?"
"Oh, no, though she is a very good watchdog. So long as he comes withyou he will be admitted. I am not so sure but that she would growl andshow her teeth if he came alone."
"All right, I will stop in or will telephone to-morrow and tell youwhen to expect us. Now, remember, no more anxiety over Miss Jo and HerrGreen-Cap. You promise?"
"I promise." Nan held out her hand, and as the door closed after thedoctor she felt a distinct sense of relief that he should have takenher burden on his own shoulders. She could not resist going over tocall Mary Lee out into the hall for a whispered conversation beforegoing back to her studies, for which, after all, she would not have torise before daylight.
Just what the doctor meant to do the girls could not imagine, and theywere very curious to discover. True to his word, he called Nan up overthe telephone the next day and said that he and Mr. Bingham would callthat evening, if convenient.
"I'll ask the Fraeulein," said Nan, and presently that lady herselfcame to the 'phone. Of course any friend of the Herr doctor would beacceptable. Yes, she would be pleased to receive them. Therefore whenevening came she was established in the place of honor, the sofa, sometime before the two visitors arrived. The Hoyts were out, the twins hadgone to bed, therefore there was no excuse for Jo not to be present.She had rather avoided being alone with the girls, and was relievedwhen company came. She felt the unspoken disapproval in the manner ofboth Mary Lee and Nan, and resented it, though, in her heart of hearts,she could not help knowing there was reason for it.
Mr. Bingham was a pleasant, ruddy-faced young man, who, as he hailedfrom the West, was looked upon with favor by Jo. As was natural thetalk fell upon student life. Mr. Bingham, being a university man, wasgood authority, for he had been in Munich two years.
"Do you know many of the students?" he asked Nan.
"Not one," she replied, "unless you can call Dr. Woods a student. Weknow a number of Dr. Mann's schoolboys, but you're the first realstudent we have met. I am glad you haven't let them slash your face." br />
"There is a law against dueling," Mr. Bingham told her. "But in someway the men manage to avoid it."
"They are very proud of their scars, I am told," remarked Jo.
"Yes, one of the men just out of the hospital told me proudly thismorning that he had forty scars."
"Silly creature!" said Mary Lee scornfully.
"I never saw so many colored caps in all my life, but I suppose youdon't sport one of those either," said Jo.
"No, I'm not a German, you see, and I don't join any of the societieswhich are strictly local affairs."
"Do you make friends with many of the German students?" asked Mary Lee;"and are they nice?"
"I know a number of very nice fellows. Of course there are all sorts,and as is the case everywhere there are some the better men don'tcare to know. Some of them are a pretty tough set. There is one inparticular I happen to know about, who is sure to be sent up if hedoesn't look out."
"Sent up where? This is interesting," said Jo.
"Well, you see there are certain rules, and if a man breaks themand gets found out he is liable to imprisonment for ten days. Theuniversity attends to all its own cases without recourse to the police."
"Oh, dear! Tell us some more. Do you know the man? Is he very wicked?"Mary Lee asked.
"He is simply a worthless, reckless nobody. He calls himself the sonof a countess, and likes people to believe he will inherit a titlehimself. His mother did marry a count for her second husband, thoughher first husband, this fellow's father, was little more than apeasant. She herself is a mere adventuress from whom the count partedyears ago, having found out her character. She is a handsome woman,they say, and quite fascinating; the son resembles her, I am told, notonly in looks but in character."
The Corner girls did not dare to look at Jo, whose face was scarlet.All three were listening intently.
"Go on," said Nan with more than usual eagerness. "Tell us some moreabout him. It is quite like a story-book."
"His mother managed to get him into the university," Mr. Bingham wenton, "but I imagine he has about run his career, for his escapades arebecoming known to the faculty, and, moreover, his reputation has becomesuch that none of the decent fellows want to be seen with him. He istricky at cards and has done a number of shady things."
"I suppose you couldn't tell his name," said Nan. "We want to avoidhim, you see," she added with a slight laugh.
"Oh, every one knows him. I am divulging no secret," replied Mr.Bingham. "His name is Karl Hofer."
Dr. Paul's scheme had worked well so far as Jo was concerned. She wentfrom red to white and sat looking straight ahead. A sudden silencefell, broken presently by Dr. Paul, who had been talking to FraeuleinBauer and who now joined the others. "Have you dared to sit on a sofalately?" he asked Nan. He turned to Mr. Bingham. "Miss Nan made thefatal error of taking her place on a sofa the very first time shecalled on a German household."
"Yes," said Nan glad of the change of subject, "and you should haveseen the awful glance an old German dowager gave me. She came injust behind me. It was her proper place, of course. She quite forgaveme, however, when she learned that I was a barbarous American anddidn't know the customs. Since that time I have always taken the mostunassuming chair in the room. But come, let's get Fraeulein Bauer totell us some German tales. She is very entertaining, really, Mr.Bingham, and she looks quite out in the cold sitting over there byherself with her knitting. She doesn't speak English, you know, but wecan all understand enough German to get on all right."
They moved the chairs nearer the seat of state and the subject ofstudents was left behind.
But after the visitors had departed and the girls were in bed withthe lights all out from the corner where Jo's bed stood came a voice:"Girls, I have been making a perfectly silly ass of myself, but I'vehad my lesson. Please never mention green caps to me again, and do saythat you do not utterly despise me."
"Of course we don't, Jo," came promptly from the other beds. And therethe matter ended so far as Jo was concerned, though Nan had a word withthe doctor later.
"Oh, you sly boots," she said. "How well you managed, and Jo neversuspected. There you sat talking so sweetly to Fraeulein and all thetime----"
They both laughed. "Bingham and I thought it was worth a littleman[oe]uvering," said the doctor, "even at the risk of offending MissJo, but she took it just as we hoped she would, and no one is the wiserexcept ourselves. Bingham is the soul of honor and as chivalrous as anAmerican gentleman should be, so our secret is safe."
CHAPTER XVII
GOOD-BYE MUNICH]