CHAPTER VII.
THE PENSION SUISSE.
"What do you suppose can have brought Katy Carr to Europe?" inquiredLilly, as she stood in the window watching the three figures walk slowlydown the sands. "She is the last person I expected to turn up here. Isupposed she was stuck in that horrid place--what is the name ofit?--where they live, for the rest of her life."
"I confess I am surprised at meeting her myself," rejoined Mrs. Page. "Ihad no idea that her father could afford so expensive a journey."
"And who is this woman that she has got along with her?"
"I have no idea, I'm sure. Some Western friend, I suppose."
"Dear me, I wish they were going to some other house than this," saidLilly, discontentedly. "If they were at the Rivoir, for instance, or oneof those places at the far end of the beach, we shouldn't need to seeanything of them, or even know that they were in town! It's a realnuisance to have people spring upon you this way, people you don't wantto meet; and when they happen to be relations it is all the worse. Katywill be hanging on us all the time, I'm afraid."
"Oh, my dear, there is no fear of that. A little repression on our partwill prevent her from being any trouble, I'm quite certain. But we_must_ treat her politely, you know, Lilly; her father is my cousin."
"That's the saddest part of it! Well, there's one thing, I shall _not_take her with me every time we go to the frigates," said Lilly,decisively. "I am not going to inflict a country cousin on LieutenantWorthington, and spoil all my own fun beside. So I give you fairwarning, mamma, and you must manage it somehow."
"Certainly, dear, I will. It would be a great pity to have your visit toNice spoiled in any way, with the squadron here too, and that pleasantMr. Worthington so very attentive."
Unconscious of these plans for her suppression, Katy walked back to thehotel in a mood of pensive pleasure. Europe at last promised to be asdelightful as it had seemed when she only knew it from maps and books,and Nice so far appeared to her the most charming place in the world.
Somebody was waiting for them at the Hotel des Anglais,--a tall,bronzed, good-looking somebody in uniform, with pleasant brown eyesbeaming from beneath a gold-banded cap; at the sight of whom Amy rushedforward with her long locks flying, and Mrs. Ashe uttered an exclamationof pleasure. It was Ned Worthington, Mrs. Ashe's only brother, whom shehad not met for two years and a half; and you can easily imagine howglad she was to see him.
"You got my note then?" she said after the first eager greetings wereover and she had introduced him to Katy.
"Note? No. Did you write me a note?"
"Yes; to Villefranche."
"To the ship? I shan't get that till tomorrow. No; finding out that youwere here is just a bit of good fortune. I came over to call on somefriends who are staying down the beach a little way, and dropping in tolook over the list of arrivals, as I generally do, I saw your names; andthe porter not being able to say which way you had gone, I waited foryou to come in."
"We have been looking at such a delightful old place, the PensionSuisse, and have taken rooms."
"The Pension Suisse, eh? Why, that was where I was going to call. I knowsome people who are staying there. It seems a pleasant house; I'm gladyou are going there, Polly. It's first-rate luck that the ships happento be here just now. I can see you every day."
"But, Ned, surely you are not leaving me so soon? Surely you will stayand dine with us?" urged his sister, as he took up his cap.
"I wish I could, but I can't to-night, Polly. You see I had engaged totake some ladies out to drive, and they will expect me. I had no ideathat you would be here, or I should have kept myself free,"apologetically. "Tomorrow I will come over early, and be at your servicefor whatever you like to do."
"That's right, dear boy. We shall expect you." Then, the moment he wasgone, "Now, Katy, isn't he nice?"
"Very nice, I should think," said Katy, who had watched the briefinterview with interest. "I like his face so much, and how fond heis of you!"
"Dear fellow! so he is. I am seven years older than he, but we havealways been intimate. Brothers and sisters are not always intimate, youknow,--or perhaps you don't know, for all of yours are."
"Yes, indeed," said Katy, with a happy smile. "There is nobody likeClover and Elsie, except perhaps Johnnie and Dorry and Phil," she addedwith a laugh.
The remove to the Pension Suisse was made early the next morning. Mrs.Page and Lilly did not appear to welcome them. Katy rather rejoiced intheir absence, for she wanted the chance to get into order withoutinterruptions.
There was something comfortable in the thought that they were to stay awhole month in these new quarters; for so long a time, it seemed worthwhile to make them pretty and homelike. So, while Mrs. Ashe unpacked herown belongings and Amy's, Katy, who had a natural turn for arrangingrooms, took possession of the little parlor, pulled the furniture intonew positions, laid out portfolios and work-cases and their few books,pinned various photographs which they had bought in Oxford and London onthe walls, and tied back the curtains to admit the sunshine. Then shepaid a visit to the little garden, and came back with a long branch oflaurestinus, which she trained across the mantelpiece, and a bunch ofwallflowers for their one little vase. The maid, by her orders, laid afire of wood and pine cones ready for lighting; and when all was doneshe called Mrs. Ashe to pronounce upon the effect.
"It is lovely," she said, sinking into a great velvet arm-chair whichKaty had drawn close to the seaward window. "I haven't seen anything sopleasant since we left home. You are a witch, Katy, and the comfort ofmy life. I am so glad I brought you! Now, pray go and unpack your ownthings, and make yourself look nice for the second breakfast. We havebeen a shabby set enough since we arrived. I saw those cousins of yourslooking askance at our old travelling-dresses yesterday. Let us try tomake a more respectable impression to-day."
So they went down to breakfast, Mrs. Ashe in one of her new Paris gowns,Katy in a pretty dress of olive serge, and Amy all smiles and ruffledpinafore, walking hand in hand with her uncle Ned, who had just arrivedand whose great ally she was; and Mrs. Page and Lilly, who were alreadyseated at table, had much ado to conceal their somewhat unflatteringsurprise at the conjunction. For one moment Lilly's eyes opened into awide stare of incredulous astonishment; then she remembered herself,nodded as pleasantly as she could to Mrs. Ashe and Katy, and favoredLieutenant Worthington with a pretty blushing smile as he went by, whileshe murmured,--
"Mamma, do you see that? What does it mean?"
"Why, Ned, do you know those people?" asked Mrs. Ashe at the samemoment.
"Do _you_ know them!"
"Yes; we met yesterday. They are connections of my friend Miss Carr."
"Really? There is not the least family likeness between them." And Mr.Worthington's eyes travelled deliberately from Lilly's delicate, goldenprettiness to Katy, who, truth to say, did not shine by the contrast.
"She has a nice, sensible sort of face," he thought, "and she looks likea lady, but for beauty there is no comparison between the two." Then heturned to listen to his sister as she replied,--
"No, indeed, not the least; no two girls could be less like." Mrs. Ashehad made the same comparison, but with quite a different result. Katy'sface was grown dear to her, and she had not taken the smallest fancy toLilly Page.
Her relationship to the young naval officer, however, made a wonderfuldifference in the attitude of Mrs. Page and Lilly toward the party. Katybecame a person to be cultivated rather than repressed, andthenceforward there was no lack of cordiality on their part.
"I want to come in and have a good talk," said Lilly, slipping her armthrough Katy's as they left the dining-room. "Mayn't I come now whilemamma is calling on Mrs. Ashe?" This arrangement brought her to the sideof Lieutenant Worthington, and she walked between him and Katy down thehall and into the little drawing-room.
"Oh, how perfectly charming! You have been fixing up ever since youcame, haven't you? It looks like home. I wish we had a _salon_, butmamma thought it wa
sn't worth while, as we were only to be here such alittle time. What a delicious balcony over the water, too! May I go outon it? Oh, Mr. Worthington, do see this!"
She pushed open the half-closed window and stepped out as she spoke. Mr.Worthington, after hesitating a moment, followed. Katy paused uncertain.There was hardly room for three in the balcony, yet she did not quitelike to leave them. But Lilly had turned her back, and was talking in alow tone; it was nothing more in reality than the lightest chit-chat,but it had the air of being something confidential; so Katy, afterwaiting a little while, retreated to the sofa, and took up her work,joining now and then in the conversation which Mrs. Ashe was keeping upwith Cousin Olivia. She did not mind Lilly's ill-breeding, nor was shesurprised at it. Mrs. Ashe was less tolerant.
"Isn't it rather damp out there, Ned?" she called to her brother; "youhad better throw my shawl round Miss Page's shoulders."
"Oh, it isn't a bit damp," said Lilly, recalled to herself by this broadhint. "Thank you so much for thinking of it, Mrs. Ashe, but I am justcoming in." She seated herself beside Katy, and began to question herrather languidly.
"When did you leave home, and how were they all when you came away?"
"All well, thank you. We sailed from Boston on the 14th of October; andbefore that I spent two days with Rose Red,--you remember her? She ismarried now, and has the dearest little home and such a darling baby."
"Yes, I heard of her marriage. It didn't seem much of a match for Mr.Redding's daughter to make, did it? I never supposed she would besatisfied with anything less than a member of Congress or a Secretary ofLegation."
"Rose isn't particularly ambitious, I think, and she seems perfectlyhappy," replied Katy, flushing.
"Oh, you needn't fire up in her defence; you and Clover always did adoreRose Red, I know, but I never could see what there was about her thatwas so wonderfully fascinating. She never had the least style, and shewas always just as rude to me as she could be."
"You were not intimate at school, but I am sure Rose was never rude,"said Katy, with spirit.
"Well, we won't fight about her at this late day. Tell me where you havebeen, and where you are going, and how long you are to stay in Europe."
Katy, glad to change the subject, complied, and the conversationdiverged into comparison of plans and experiences. Lilly had been inEurope nearly a year, and had seen "almost everything," as she phrasedit. She and her mother had spent the previous winter in Italy, had takena run into Russia, "done" Switzerland and the Tyrol thoroughly, andFrance and Germany, and were soon going into Spain, and from there toParis, to shop in preparation for their return home in the spring.
"Of course we shall want quantities of things," she said. "No one willbelieve that we have been abroad unless we bring home a lot of clothes.The _lingerie_ and all that is ordered already; but the dresses must bemade at the last moment, and we shall have a horrid time of it, Isuppose. Worth has promised to make me two walking-suits and twoball-dresses, but he's very bad about keeping his word. Did you do muchwhen you were in Paris, Katy?"
"We went to the Louvre three times, and to Versailles and St. Cloud,"said Katy, wilfully misunderstanding her.
"Oh, I didn't mean that kind of stupid thing; I meant gowns. Whatdid you buy?"
"One tailor-made suit of dark blue cloth."
"My! what moderation!"
Shopping played a large part in Lilly's reminiscences. She recollectedplaces, not from their situation or beauty or historical associations,or because of the works of art which they contained, but as the placeswhere she bought this or that.
"Oh, that dear Piazza di Spagna!" she would say; "that was where Ifound my rococo necklace, the loveliest thing you ever saw, Katy." Or,"Prague--oh yes, mother got the most enchanting old silver chatelainethere, with all kinds of things hanging to it,--needlecases and watchesand scent-bottles, all solid, and so beautifully chased." Or again,"Berlin was horrid, we thought; but the amber is better and cheaperthan anywhere else,--great strings of beads, of the largest size andthat beautiful pale yellow, for a hundred francs. You must get yourselfone, Katy."
Poor Lilly! Europe to her was all "things." She had collected trunksfull of objects to carry home, but of the other collections which do notgo into trunks, she had little or none. Her mind was as empty, her heartas untouched as ever; the beauty and the glory and the pathos of art andhistory and Nature had been poured out in vain before her closed andindifferent eyes.
Life soon dropped into a peaceful routine at the Pension Suisse, whichwas at the same time restful and stimulating. Katy's first act in themorning, as soon as she opened her eyes, was to hurry to the window inhopes of getting a glimpse of Corsica. She had discovered that thiselusive island could almost always be seen from Nice at the dawning, butthat as soon as the sun was fairly up, it vanished to appear no more forthe rest of the day. There was something fascinating to her imaginationin the hovering mountain outline between sea and sky. She felt as if shewere under an engagement to be there to meet it, and she rarely missedthe appointment. Then, after Corsica had pulled the bright mists overits face and melted from view, she would hurry with her dressing, and assoon as was practicable set to work to make the _salon_ look brightbefore the coffee and rolls should appear, a little after eight o'clock.Mrs. Ashe always found the fire lit, the little meal cosily set outbeside it, and Katy's happy untroubled face to welcome her when sheemerged from her room; and the cheer of these morning repasts made agood beginning for the day.
Then came walking and a French lesson, and a long sitting on the beach,while Katy worked at her home letters and Amy raced up and down in thesun; and then toward noon Lieutenant Ned generally appeared, and somescheme of pleasure was set on foot. Mrs. Ashe ignored his evident_penchant_ for Lilly Page, and claimed his time and attentions as hersby right. Young Worthington was a good deal "taken" with the prettyLilly; still, he had an old-time devotion for his sister and the habitof doing what she desired, and he yielded to her behests with no audibleobjections. He made a fourth in the carriage while they drove over thelovely hills which encircle Nice toward the north, to Cimiers and theVal de St. Andre, or down the coast toward Ventimiglia. He went withthem to Monte-Carlo and Mentone, and was their escort again and againwhen they visited the great war-ships as they lay at anchor in a baywhich in its translucent blue was like an enormous sapphire.
Mrs. Page and her daughter were included in these parties more thanonce; but there was something in Mrs. Ashe's cool appropriation of herbrother which was infinitely vexatious to Lilly, who before herarrival had rather looked upon Lieutenant Worthington as her ownespecial property.
"I wish _that_ Mrs. Ashe had stayed at home," she told her mother. "Shequite spoils everything. Mr. Worthington isn't half so nice as he wasbefore she came. I do believe she has a plan for making him fall in lovewith Katy; but there she makes a miss of it, for he doesn't seem to careanything about her."
"Katy is a nice girl enough," pronounced her mother, "but not of thesort to attract a gay young man, I should fancy. I don't believe _she_is thinking of any such thing. You needn't be afraid, Lilly."
"I'm not afraid," said Lilly, with a pout; "only it's so provoking."
Mrs. Page was quite right. Katy was not thinking of any such thing. Sheliked Ned Worthington's frank manners; she owned, quite honestly, thatshe thought him handsome, and she particularly admired the sort ofdeferential affection which he showed to Mrs. Ashe, and his nice wayswith Amy. For herself, she was aware that he scarcely noticed her exceptas politeness demanded that he should be civil to his sister's friend;but the knowledge did not trouble her particularly. Her head was full ofinteresting things, plans, ideas. She was not accustomed to being madethe object of admiration, and experienced none of the vexations of aneglected belle. If Lieutenant Worthington happened to talk to her, sheresponded frankly and freely; if he did not, she occupied herself withsomething else; in either case she was quite unembarrassed both infeeling and manner, and had none of the awkwardness which comes fromdisappointe
d vanity and baffled expectations, and the need forconcealing them.
Toward the close of December the officers of the flag-ship gave a ball,which was the great event of the season to the gay world of Nice.Americans were naturally in the ascendant on an American frigate; and ofall the American girls present, Lilly Page was unquestionably theprettiest. Exquisitely dressed in white lace, with bands of turquoiseson her neck and arms and in her hair, she had more partners than sheknew what to do with, more bouquets than she could well carry, andcompliments enough to turn any girl's head. Thrown off her guard by hertriumphs, she indulged a little vindictive feeling which had beengrowing in her mind of late on account of what she chose to considercertain derelictions of duty on the part of Lieutenant Worthington, andtreated him to a taste of neglect. She was engaged three deep when heasked her to dance; she did not hear when he invited her to walk; sheturned a cold shoulder when he tried to talk, and seemed absorbed by theother cavaliers, naval and otherwise, who crowded about her.
Piqued and surprised, Ned Worthington turned to Katy. She did not dance,saying frankly that she did not know how and was too tall; and she wasrather simply dressed in a pearl-gray silk, which had been her best gownthe winter before in Burnet, with a bunch of red roses in the white laceof the tucker, and another in her hand, both the gifts of little Amy;but she looked pleasant and serene, and there was something about herwhich somehow soothed his disturbed mind, as he offered her his arm fora walk on the decks.
For a while they said little, and Katy was quite content to pace up anddown in silence, enjoying the really beautiful scene,--the moonlight onthe Bay, the deep wavering reflections of the dark hulls and slenderspars, the fairy effect of the colored lamps and lanterns, and thebrilliant moving maze of the dancers.
"Do you care for this sort of thing?" he suddenly asked.
"What sort of thing do you mean?"
"Oh, all this jigging and waltzing and amusement."
"I don't know how to 'jig,' but it's delightful to look on," sheanswered merrily. "I never saw anything so pretty in my life."
The happy tone of her voice and the unruffled face which she turned uponhim quieted his irritation.
"I really believe you mean it," he said; "and yet, if you won't think merude to say so, most girls would consider the thing dull enough if theywere only getting out of it what you are,--if they were not dancing, Imean, and nobody in particular was trying to entertain them."
"But everything _is_ being done to entertain me," cried Katy. "I can'timagine what makes you think that it could seem dull. I am in it all,don't you see,--I have my share--. Oh, I am stupid, I can't make youunderstand."
"Yes, you do. I understand perfectly, I think; only it is such adifferent point of view from what girls in general would take." (Bygirls he meant Lilly!) "Please do not think me uncivil."
"You are not uncivil at all; but don't let us talk any more about me.Look at the lights between the shadows of the masts on the water. Howthey quiver! I never saw anything so beautiful, I think. And how warm itis! I can't believe that we are in December and that it is nearlyChristmas."
"How is Polly going to celebrate her Christmas? Have you decided?"
"Amy is to have a Christmas-tree for her dolls, and two other dolls arecoming. We went out this morning to buy things for it,--tiny little toysand candles fit for Lilliput. And that reminds me, do you suppose onecan get any Christmas greens here?"
"Why not? The place seems full of green."
"That's just it; the summer look makes it unnatural. But I should likesome to dress the parlor with if they could be had."
"I'll see what I can find, and send you a load."
I don't know why this very simple little talk should have made animpression on Lieutenant Worthington's mind, but somehow he did notforget it.
"'Don't let us talk any more about me,'" he said to himself that nightwhen alone in his cabin. "I wonder how long it would be before the otherone did anything to divert the talk from herself. Some time, I fancy."He smiled rather grimly as he unbuckled his sword-belt. It is unluckyfor a girl when she starts a train of reflection like this. Lilly'slittle attempt to pique her admirer had somehow missed its mark.
The next afternoon Katy in her favorite place on the beach was at workon the long weekly letter which she never failed to send home to Burnet.She held her portfolio in her lap, and her pen ran rapidly over thepaper, as rapidly almost as her tongue would have run could hercorrespondents have been brought nearer.
"Nice, December 22.
"Dear Papa and everybody,--Amy and I are sitting on my old purple cloak, which is spread over the sand just where it was spread the last time I wrote you. We are playing the following game: I am a fairy and she is a little girl. Another fairy--not sitting on the cloak at present--has enchanted the little girl, and I am telling her various ways by which she can work out her deliverance. At present the task is to find twenty-four dull red pebbles of the same color, failing to do which she is to be changed into an owl. When we began to play, I was the wicked fairy; but Amy objected to that because I am 'so nice,' so we changed the characters. I wish you could see the glee in her pretty gray eyes over this infantile game, into which she has thrown herself so thoroughly that she half believes in it. 'But I needn't really be changed into an owl! 'she says, with a good deal of anxiety in her voice.
"To think that you are shivering in the first snow-storm, or sending the children out with their sleds and india-rubbers to slide! How I wish instead that you were sharing the purple cloak with Amy and me, and could sit all this warm balmy afternoon close to the surf-line which fringes this bluest of blue seas! There is plenty of room for you all. Not many people come down to this end of the beach, and if you were very good we would let you play.
"Our life here goes on as delightfully as ever. Nice is very full of people, and there seem to be some pleasant ones among them. Here at the Pension Suisse we do not see a great many Americans. The fellow-boarders are principally Germans and Austrians with a sprinkling of French. (Amy has found her twenty-four red pebbles, so she is let off from being an owl. She is now engaged in throwing them one by one into the sea. Each must hit the water under penalty of her being turned into a Muscovy duck. She doesn't know exactly what a Muscovy duck is, which makes her all the more particular about her shots.) But, as I was saying, our little _suite_ in the round tower is so on one side of the rest of the Pension that it is as good as having a house of our own. The _salon_ is very bright and sunny; we have two sofas and a square table and a round table and a sort of what-not and two easy-chairs and two uneasy chairs and a lamp of our own and a clock. There is also a sofa-pillow. There's richness for you! We have pinned up all our photographs on the walls, including Papa's and Clovy's and that bad one of Phil and Johnnie making faces at each other, and three lovely red and yellow Japanese pictures on muslin which Rose Red put in my trunk the last thing, for a spot of color. There are some autumn leaves too; and we always have flowers and in the mornings and evenings a fire.
"Amy is now finding fifty snow-white pebbles, which when found are to be interred in one common grave among the shingle. If she fails to do this, she is to be changed to an electrical eel. The chief difficulty is that she loses her heart to particular pebbles. 'I can't bury you,' I hear her saying.
"To return,--we have jolly little breakfasts together in the _salon_. They consist of coffee and rolls, and are served by a droll, snappish little _garcon_ with no teeth, and an Italian-French patois which is very hard to understand when he sputters. He told me the other day that he had been a _garcon_ for forty-six years, which seemed rather a long boyhood.
"The company, as we meet them at table, are rather entertaining. Cousin Olivia and Lilly are on their best behavior to me because I am travelling with Mrs. Ashe, and Mrs. Ashe is Lieutenant Worthington's sister, and Lieutena
nt Worthington is Lilly's admirer, and they like him very much. In fact, Lilly has intimated confidentially that she is all but engaged to him; but I am not sure about it, or if that was what she meant; and I fear, if it proves true, that dear Polly will not like it at all. She is quite unmanageable, and snubs Lilly continually in a polite way, which makes me fidgety for fear Lilly will be offended, but she never seems to notice it. Cousin Olivia looks very handsome and gorgeous. She quite takes the color out of the little Russian Countess who sits next to her, and who is as dowdy and meek as if she came from Akron or Binghampton, or any other place where countesses are unknown. Then there are two charming, well-bred young Austrians. The one who sits nearest to me is a 'Candidat' for a Doctorate of Laws, and speaks eight languages well. He has only studied English for the past six weeks, but has made wonderful progress. I wish my French were half as good as his English is already.
"There is a very gossiping young woman on the story beneath ours, whom I meet sometimes in the garden, and from her I hear all manner of romantic tales about people in the house. One little French girl is dying of consumption and a broken heart, because of a quarrel with her lover, who is a courier; and the _padrona_, who is young and pretty, and has only been married a few months to our elderly landlord, has a story also. I forget some of the details; but there was a stern parent and an admirer, and a cup of cold poison, and now she says she wishes she were dying of consumption like poor Alphonsine. For all that, she looks quite fat and rosy, and I often see her in her best gown with a great deal of Roman scarf and mosaic jewelry, stationed in the doorway, 'making the Pension look attractive to the passers-by.' So she has a sense of duty, though she is unhappy.
"Amy has buried all her pebbles, and says she is tired of playing fairy. She is now sitting with her head on my shoulder, and professedly studying her French verb for to-morrow, but in reality, I am sorry to say, she is conversing with me about be-headings,--a subject which, since her visit to the Tower, has exercised a horrible fascination over her mind. 'Do people die right away?' she asks. 'Don't they feel one minute, and doesn't it feel awfully?' There is a good deal of blood, she supposes, because there was so much straw laid about the block in the picture of Lady Jane Gray's execution, which enlivened our walls in Paris. On the whole, I am rather glad that a fat little white dog has come waddling down the beach and taken off her attention.
"Speaking of Paris seems to renew the sense of fog which we had there. Oh, how enchanting sunshine is after weeks of gloom! I shall never forget how the Mediterranean looked when we saw it first,--all blue, and such a lovely color. There ought, according to Morse's Atlas, to have been a big red letter T on the water about where we were, but I didn't see any. Perhaps they letter it so far out from shore that only people in boats notice it.
"Now the dusk is fading, and the odd chill which hides under these warm afternoons begins to be felt. Amy has received a message written on a mysterious white pebble to the effect--"
Katy was interrupted at this point by a crunching step on the gravelbehind her.
"Good afternoon," said a voice. "Polly has sent me to fetch you and Amyin. She says it is growing cool."
"We were just coming," said Katy, beginning to put away her papers.
Ned Worthington sat down on the cloak beside her. The distance was nowsteel gray against the sky; then came a stripe of violet, and then abroad sheet of the vivid iridescent blue which one sees on the necks ofpeacocks, which again melted into the long line of flashing surf.
"See that gull," he said, "how it drops plumb into the sea, as if boundto go through to China!"
"Mrs. Hawthorne calls skylarks 'little raptures,'" replied Katy."Sea-gulls seem to me like grown-up raptures."
"Are you going?" said Lieutenant Worthington in a tone of surprise,as she rose.
"Didn't you say that Polly wanted us to come in?"
"Why, yes; but it seems too good to leave, doesn't it? Oh, by the way,Miss Carr, I came across a man to-day and ordered your greens. They willbe sent on Christmas Eve. Is that right?"
"Quite right, and we are ever so much obliged to you." She turned for alast look at the sea, and, unseen by Ned Worthington, formed her lipsinto a "good-night." Katy had made great friends with the Mediterranean.
The promised "greens" appeared on the afternoon before Christmas Day, inthe shape of an enormous fagot of laurel and laurestinus and holly andbox; orange and lemon boughs with ripe fruit hanging from them, thickivy tendrils whole yards long, arbutus, pepper tree, and great branchesof acacia, covered with feathery yellow bloom. The man apologized forbringing so little. The gentleman had ordered two francs worth, he said,but this was all he could carry; he would fetch some more if the younglady wished! But Katy, exclaiming with delight over her wealth, wishedno more; so the man departed, and the three friends proceeded to turnthe little _salon_ into a fairy bower. Every photograph and picture waswreathed in ivy, long garlands hung on either side the windows, and thechimney-piece and door-frames became clustering banks of leaf andblossom. A great box of flowers had come with the greens, and bowls offresh roses and heliotrope and carnations were set everywhere; violetsand primroses, gold-hearted brown auriculas, spikes of veronica, all thezones and all the seasons, combining to make the Christmas-tide sweet,and to turn winter topsy-turvy in the little parlor.
Mabel and Mary Matilda, with their two doll visitors, sat gravely roundthe table, in the laps of their little mistresses; and Katy, putting onan apron and an improvised cap, and speaking Irish very fast, servedthem with a repast of rolls and cocoa, raspberry jam, and deliciouslittle almond cakes. The fun waxed fast and furious; and LieutenantWorthington, coming in with his hands full of parcels for theChristmas-tree, was just in time to hear Katy remark in a strong CountyKerry brogue,--
"Och, thin indade, Miss Amy, and it's no more cake you'll be getting outof me the night. That's four pieces you've ate, and it's little slapeyour poor mother'll git with you a tossin' and tumblin' forenenst herall night long because of your big appetite."
"Oh, Miss Katy, talk Irish some more!" cried the delighted children.
"Is it Irish you'd be afther having me talk, when it's me own langwidge,and sorrow a bit of another do I know?" demanded Katy. Then she caughtsight of the new arrival and stopped short with a blush and a laugh.
"Come in, Mr. Worthington," she said; "we're at supper, as you see, andI am acting as waitress."
"Oh, Uncle Ned, please go away," pleaded Amy, "or Katy will be polite,and not talk Irish any more."
"Indade, and the less ye say about politeness the betther, when ye'reafther ordering the jantleman out of the room in that fashion!" said thewaitress. Then she pulled off her cap and untied her apron.
"Now for the Christmas-tree," she said.
It was a very little tree, but it bore some remarkable fruits; for inaddition to the "tiny toys and candles fit for Lilliput," variousparcels were found to have been hastily added at the last moment forvarious people. The "Natchitoches" had lately come from the Levant, anddelightful Oriental confections now appeared for Amy and Mrs. Ashe;Turkish slippers, all gold embroidery; towels, with richly decoratedends in silks and tinsel;--all the pretty superfluities which the Eastholds out to charm gold from the pockets of her Western visitors. Apretty little dagger in agate and silver fell to Katy's share out ofwhat Lieutenant Worthington called his "loot;" and beside, a mostbeautiful specimen of the inlaid work for which Nice is famous,--alooking-glass, with a stand and little doors to close it in,--which wasa present from Mrs. Ashe. It was quite unlike a Christmas Eve at home,but altogether delightful; and as Katy sat next morning on the sand,after the service in the English church, to finish her home letter, andfelt the sun warm on her cheek, and the perfumed air blow past as softlyas in June, she had to remind herself that Christmas is not necessarilysynonymous with snow and winter, but means the great central heat
andwarmth, the advent of Him who came to lighten the whole earth.
A few days after this pleasant Christmas they left Nice. All of themfelt a reluctance to move, and Amy loudly bewailed the necessity.
"If I could stay here till it is time to go home, I shouldn't behomesick at all," she declared.
"But what a pity it would be not to see Italy!" said her mother. "Thinkof Naples and Rome and Venice."
"I don't want to think about them. It makes me feel as if I was studyinga great long geography lesson, and it tires me so to learn it."
"Amy, dear, you're not well."
"Yes, I am,--quite well; only I don't want to go away from Nice."
"You only have to learn a little bit at a time of your geography lesson,you know," suggested Katy; "and it's a great deal nicer way to study itthan out of a book." But though she spoke cheerfully she was consciousthat she shared Amy's reluctance.
"It's all laziness," she told herself. "Nice has been so pleasant thatit has spoiled me."
It was a consolation and made going easier that they were to drive overthe famous Cornice Road as far as San Remo, instead of going to Genoaby rail as most travellers now-a-days do. They departed from thePension Suisse early on an exquisite morning, fair and balmy as June,but with a little zest and sparkle of coolness in the air which made itadditionally delightful. The Mediterranean was of the deepestviolet-blue; a sort of bloom of color seemed to lie upon it. The skywas like an arch of turquoise; every cape and headland shone jewel-likein the golden sunshine. The carriage, as it followed the windings ofthe road cut shelf-like on the cliffs, seemed poised between earth andheaven; the sea below, the mountain summits above, with a fairy worldof verdure between. The journey was like a dream of enchantment andrapidly changing surprises; and when it ended in a quaint hostelry atSan Remo, with palm-trees feathering the Bordighera Point and Corsica,for once seen by day, lying in bold, clear outlines against the sunset,Katy had to admit to herself that Nice, much as she loved it, was notthe only, not even the most beautiful place in Europe. Already she felther horizon growing, her convictions changing; and who should say whatlay beyond?
The next day brought them to Genoa, to a hotel once the stately palaceof an archbishop, where they were lodged, all three together, in anenormous room, so high and broad and long that their three littlecurtained beds set behind a screen of carved wood made no impression onthe space. There were not less than four sofas and double that number ofarm-chairs in the room, besides a couple of monumental wardrobes; but,as Katy remarked, several grand pianos could still have been moved inwithout anybody's feeling crowded. On one side of them lay the port ofGenoa, filled with craft from all parts of the world, and flying theflags of a dozen different nations. From the other they caught glimpsesof the magnificent old city, rising in tier over tier of churches andpalaces and gardens; while nearer still were narrow streets, whichglittered with gold filigree and the shops of jewel-workers. And whilethey went in and out and gazed and wondered, Lilly Page, at the PensionSuisse, was saying,--
"I am so glad that Katy and _that_ Mrs. Ashe are gone. Nothing has beenso pleasant since they came. Lieutenant Worthington is dreadfully stiffand stupid, and seems quite different from what he used to be. But nowthat we have got rid of them it will all come right again."
"I really don't think that Katy was to blame," said Mrs. Page. "Shenever seemed to me to be making any effort to attract him."
"Oh, Katy is sly," responded Lilly, vindictively. "She never _seems_ todo anything, but somehow she always gets her own way. I suppose shethought I didn't see her keeping him down there on the beach the otherday when he was coming in to call on us, but I did. It was just out ofspite, and because she wanted to vex me; I know it was."
"Well, dear, she's gone now, and you won't be worried with her again,"said her mother, soothingly. "Don't pout so, Lilly, and wrinkle up yourforehead. It's very unbecoming."
"Yes, she's gone," snapped Lilly; "and as she's bound for the East, andwe for the West, we are not likely to meet again, for which I amdevoutly thankful."