Luke Barnicott, and Other Stories

  CHAPTER III.--MRS. DOTE.

  There,--all at once, the road again expanding, the castle stood beforetheir astonished gaze, in its ancient splendour! Two gigantic bears,carved in stone, which gave name to the castle, stood like sentinelsbefore it; whilst bounding deer on the pillars, and a pair of monstrousstag's horns on the pediment, showed it to be, as of old, a huntingcastle. Lofty gates opening upon broad flights of steps led to a greenturfed front court, where, in the midst of flowering shrubs, a splendidfountain threw aloft its silvery jet of water. The last golden beams ofthe setting sun lit up the beautiful old building, and the childrenstood enraptured, seeming almost to have entered into Fairyland.

  "Now, where are you going?" inquired in a somewhat surprised, but notunfriendly voice, an old gentleman handsomely dressed in blue uniformwith white facings, who was pacing slowly up and down with a thick cane,to which was attached a thick tassel. Fritz supposing that at least hemust be a general, and hardly knowing what title sufficiently elevatedto give him, replied, "Your pardon, dear prince!" this being a style ofaddress to dignified persons, which he had met with in an oldalmanac,--"Your pardon, but we are only going to Mrs. Dote, thehousekeeper. You know Mrs. Dote, perhaps," he added, with a certaindegree of consequence.

  "Oh, yes, to Mrs. Housekeeper Walter," returned he graciously, andsmiling to himself at the grand title which had been given, for he wasno greater a personage than the porter. "You must simply ring at thelittle side-door yonder. Mrs. Housekeeper told me that she was expectingsome visitors;" and he pointed out with his stick the direction in whichthey must go.

  Encouraged by this gracious reception, and yet anxious, nevertheless,the children advanced to the wing of the castle which had beenindicated, and which opened into the inner court, where again they hadanother view of the castle, which on this side, lying in deep shadow,looked still more imposing and mysterious than in the front. Here,seated on a bench in a little garden, sat a stately lady, with her handslying gracefully one upon the other in her lap, and who had turned herhead towards the shyly-advancing children.

  "So, so, there comes at last my little schoolmaster!" exclaimed she in apleasant voice as they approached. "Well, it is nice that you are come!Yes, yes, mountain and valley cannot meet, but people can! How little Ithought that the baby Fritz that I carried in my arms to be baptized,and dandled so nicely to keep him from crying, would one day come to seeme such a fine young fellow! But now, come in with me, you must behungry."

  Anything more charming than Mrs. Dote's little parlour could not beimagined; the children thought that the princess herself could not livein one more beautiful. It was full of all such old, carved furniture aswas superfluous in the castle; a little sofa and high-backed chairs offaded blue silk damask; a cabinet and table of marqueterie and ormolu; asplendid fire-screen, on which figured, in faded embroidery, ashepherdess with her flock of sheep feeding around her. By the stovestood a basket lined with wool, in which lay a fat lap-dog, so soundlyasleep as only to make a little grumbling as the children entered; abeautiful cage hung in the window, in which was a canary bird, now tooaged to sing; vases of artificial flowers; portraits of princelypersonages; every kind of splendour, in short, which was not wantedelsewhere, gave to this apartment a princely appearance; and thechildren, who had never in their lives seen anything more beautiful thanthe bright sofa which stood in the parsonage parlour, were dumb withreverential wonder.

  But it was not possible to remain very long silent with Mrs. Walter, asshe was called at the castle; she was lively and talkative, and knew howto win the children's confidence. She led them to talk to her abouttheir life at home, about their parents and their little brothers, andshe in her turn told them of the time when she and their parents livedsuch near neighbours.

  "I had not such a very easy life in those days," she said. "I had beenleft an orphan when very young, and for many years was knocked aboutamongst strangers. The lady I then lived with was very queer-temperedand proud; for it often happens, that those who have only riches toboast of, are not nearly so affable and considerate as the truly noblyborn. I had no parents, no brothers nor sisters, and felt myself quitealone in the world. Then came your parents, and as I myself was thedaughter of a schoolmaster, I had naturally a liking for schoolmasters.Your mother is of a timid, gentle nature. I was much older, and had, asa matter of course, much more experience than she; I therefore was ableto help her in many ways, and, in short, I found quite a home with yourparents. We had very nice times together, and sympathized with eachother in joy and in sorrow. I could not have stayed in my place whenthey left if I had not become acquainted with my blessed late husband,the castle house-steward, who, when we married, brought me here, whereit was quite another thing to living in the house merely of a wealthybaron."

  "Was your gentleman-husband, the castle house-steward, as elegant as thegentleman out there in the blue coat?" asked Fritz.

  "As he?" asked Mrs. Walter, with offended pride. "Get along with you! Heis a simple porter, and was my husband's underling! You should have seenmy husband in his grand official uniform, with his beautiful white hairand his bunch of keys, going through the castle before the grandees, andrelating everything from the days of the late prince up to the time ofthe ever-blessed Emperor Charlemagne! I learnt it all off from him, andit is to me just as if I had been born and brought up in the castle. Butnow, children, you must have your suppers. Barbett has made us somecurrant-marmalade; to-night you must go to bed early; to-morrow youshall see everything."

  The children would gladly have seen something of the castle thatnight. Through the window they could see only in the moonlightmysterious-looking marble statues, and hear the splash of the fountain;but they expressed their acquiescence, and after they had eaten thecurrant marmalade, which did great credit to Barbett, they wereconducted to their beds, where a new delight awaited them.

  For Mina a bed had been prepared in the lady housekeeper's own prettychamber, whilst that for Fritz was in a small room adjoining, where allkinds of curiosities were stowed together. But they did not forget,according to the promise they had made their mother, before going tosleep, to thank their Father in heaven, who had brought them safely tothe end of their journey. Mina, in going to sleep, looked upon a largeportrait of some princely child in a rose-coloured laced coat, and withhigh-dressed hair. Fritz, on the other hand, was faced by an ancientfolding-screen, upon which an Indian princess was riding on an elephant.They both, however, soon dropped asleep, to pass into a world ofwonderful dreams.