The Four Corners Abroad Page 2

  CHAPTER II

  THE DAY OF BASTILLE

  MADAME LEMERCIER smiled indulgently when the afternoon's celebrationwas described to her. "Ah, but you will be here on our great day," shesaid. "And then, my friends, you will see. Paris is gay like that uponour holiday. If you have your Forrs July, and your great Vashington,we have our Fourteen July, our day of Bastille. We must zen see zecity, ze illumination, ze dance, ze pyrotechnic at night. You willallow, madame," she turned to Mrs. Corner, "that your demoiselles haveze freedom not encouraged at ozzer time. Ve are a free peoples moreas before, upon zat day. Each does as he will, but we do not abuse,no, we do not take advantage of ze liberte, for zough we rejoice we donot forget our native politeness. It will be perfectly safe, zough agentleman escort or two will not be of objection."

  "What does Bastille mean, anyway?" whispered Jack to Jean as they leftthe dining-room together. "Is it anything like pastilles, those funnysweet-smelling things we had in California? Maybe she said Pastille,though it sounded more like Bas than Pas."

  "I don't know which it was," confessed Jean. "I wasn't thinking muchabout anything she was saying. You'd better ask Nan; she'll know."

  "Did Madame say Bas or Pas?" Jack put her question.

  "She said Bastille," Nan told her, "and it isn't a bit like thepastilles you have in mind. In fact there isn't any more Bastille atall. Do you remember when we went to Mt. Vernon that we saw the big keythere?"

  "I believe I do remember something like a big key. What was it the keyof? I forget."

  "The Bastille was a great big fortress or castle, and was wherethey used to imprison nobles and other people who had offended thegovernment or whom the kings wanted to get rid of. It was a verymassive and strong place. Its walls were ten feet thick, and it hadeight great towers. It was a terrible place, and when the Revolutionbegan one of the first things the Revolutionists wanted to destroywas the great fortress, so they cried, 'Down with the Bastille!' Thenthey had a tremendous fight over it, for to the mass of people itrepresented the power of the monarchy, and to the monarchy and thenobles it meant their greatest stronghold. At last the Revolutionistsgot in, and it was destroyed, blown to pieces. The fight took place onthe fourteenth of July and that is why they celebrate the day as we doour Fourth. It will be good fun to see what they do, I think."

  "But it is ten days off. What are we going to do till then?"

  "Lawsee, you silly child, there will be plenty to do. We're going toVersailles and to St. Cloud, to the Musee de Cluny, to Pere le Chaise,to the Louvre, and dozens of other places."

  "I want to go up the tour Eiffel," said Jack, who delighted in suchperformances, the higher up the better.

  "I suppose you'll not rest till you get there," returned Nan laughing.

  Indeed, there was enough to do in the next ten days to keep every onebusy, for each had some special wish to be fulfilled and where therewere five youngsters to satisfy, there was little danger of timehanging heavily on their hands. Mary Lee loved the Jardin des Plantes,Jo never tired of the boulevards, and delighted in riding on the topsof the omnibuses. Nan reveled in the Louvre and the Musee de Cluny,Jean liked the Luxembourg gardens, the Tuilleries and the river, Jackwanted to climb to the top of every accessible steeple and tower inthe city. Whenever a church was being discussed her first inquiry wasalways, "Has it a tower?"

  Paris was too full of opportunities for Jack to miss anything that wasin the least feasible, and she was always so innocently unconsciousof doing anything out of the way that it was hard to make her realizethat she must be censured. As Miss Helen said, it was all the point ofview, and from Jack's standpoint, if you did but tell the truth, didno one harm, and pursued what seemed a rational and agreeable course,why stand on the manner of doing it? She and Jean were allowed toplay in the Bois within certain limits, for it was very near to their_pension_, and they could be found readily by one of their elders ifthey were wanted.

  "But," said Mrs. Corner, "you must not go further without some olderperson with you." This order the children always fulfilled to theletter and Mrs. Corner felt perfectly safe about them.

  But one morning, Jean chose to go back to the house for somethingshe wanted, and on her return Jack was nowhere in sight. Jean waitedpatiently for a while, and then not daring to go beyond bounds, shereturned to the house to report. Nan immediately left her practicing togo in search of her little sister. She ventured, herself, further thanever before, but after a long and fruitless hunt came back to whereJean had been left as sentry, this being the spot where she had partedfrom her twin.

  Nan was not easily scared about Jack, but this time she felt therewas cause for anxiety. Suppose she had fallen into the lake; supposeshe had been beguiled away by some beggar who would strip her of herclothes and hold her for a ransom. Nan had heard of such things. "Ihate to go back and tell mother," she murmured.

  Jean began to cry. "Oh, Nan, do you think she could have been run overby an automobile?" she asked.

  Nan shook her head gravely. "I'm sure I don't know, Jean. She alwaysmanages to turn up all right, and has the most plausible reasons fordoing as she does, but this time I cannot imagine where she could havegone. Mother and Aunt Helen are both at home and so are Jo and MaryLee, so she could not have gone anywhere with one of them." She againlooked anxiously up the road.

  "Oh, there she is," suddenly cried Jean in joyful tones.

  "Where? Where?" cried Nan grasping Jean's shoulder.

  "In that cab coming this way. Don't you see her?"

  Nan waited till the cab stopped, then she rushed forward to see Jackclamber down from the side of the red-faced _cocher_, shake hands withtwo gaudily dressed women of the bourgeois class, and walk calmly offwhile the cab drove on.

  "Jack Corner!" cried Nan, not refraining from giving the child a littleshake, "where have you been? Do you know you have scared Jean and menearly to death? Poor little Jean has been crying her eyes out aboutyou."

  "What for?" asked Jack with a look of surprise.

  "Because she was afraid you had been run over or had fallen in thelake. Where have you been?"

  "Just taking a ride around," said Jack nonchalantly. "You might haveknown, Nan," she went on in a tone of injured innocence, "that Iwouldn't go anywhere without an older person when mother said we werenot to, and there were three older persons with me."

  "But didn't you realize that Jean wouldn't know where you had gone, andthat she would be frightened about you?"

  "I didn't think we would be gone so long," returned Jack. "You see Iknow the _cocher_ quite well. He has a dear little dog he lets me playwith sometimes. Aunt Helen always tries to have this man when she can,so to-day when he asked me if I didn't want to ride back with him, hewas going back to the stand, you see, I said, _Oui, monsieur, de toutmon c[oe]ur_, and so I got up. Then just as we were going to startthose two ladies came along."

  "Ladies!" exclaimed Nan contemptuously.

  "One of them had beautiful feathers in her hat," returned Jackdefiantly.

  "Well, never mind. Go on."

  "They wanted to take a drive, but they wanted to pay very little forit, and finally the _cocher_ said if I could go, too, he would takethem for a franc and a half. So they went and they stopped quite atime; we had to wait, the _cocher_ and I."

  "Where was the place?"

  "I don't know. It was somewhere that you get things to eat and drink.They didn't ask me to take any of what they were having."

  "I should hope not. So then you waited, and the _cocher_ brought youback?"

  Jack nodded. "Hm, hm. He was going to take the ladies further, so whenI saw you and Jean I said I would get down, and here I am all safe andsound," she added cheerfully.

  "You ought to be spanked and put to bed," said Nan severely.

  Jack looked at her with wide-eyed reproach. "Why, Nan," she said, "Ididn't do a thing to make you say that. He is a very nice _cocher_; hisname is Francois, and I am sure I minded mother. It would have beenquite different if I had gone off anywhere alone
. Mother said an olderperson, and Francois is very old; he must be forty."

  "Well," returned Nan, "mother will tell you that you are not to goanywhere with strange _cochers_, or strange any other persons, and thatwill be the last of that sort of performance."

  Jack gave a deep sigh, as of one misunderstood. It was very hard tokeep up with the exactions of her family who were continually hedgingher about with some new condition.

  After this the days passed quietly till the fourteenth came around.Madame Lemercier pronounced the city deserted, while Miss Joycedeclared it might be by Parisians, but was taken possession of byAmerican tourists. The Corners, however, wondered whether it could bepossible that it ever held any more than those who crowded the streetsthat evening when they all set out to see the sights. Along the Seinethey concluded they would be able to see more than elsewhere, so theymade the Louvre and the Palais Royal their destination. The streetswere full of a good-natured, jostling throng. Every now and then theparty would come upon some dancers footing it gaily in some "place" orat some street corner. The cafes were thronged, and there were vendersof all sorts driving a thriving trade. From the bridges ascendedsplendid fireworks which were continually cheered by the gapingspectators. Illuminations brightened the entire way. No one forbadejoking, singing students to walk abreast so they would take up theentire sidewalk, for no one minded walking around them.

  "One can scarcely imagine what it must have been during that dreadfulReign of Terror," said Nan to her aunt when they reached the "Place dela Concorde." "This jolly, contented crowd of people is very differentfrom the bloodthirsty mob that gloried in the guillotine then. Justover there the guillotine was set up, wasn't it? And, somewhere near,those horrible fishwives sat knitting and telling of the number of thepoor victims. I think this 'Place de la Concorde' is one of the mostsplendid spots in Paris, but I can never pass it without a shudder."

  "Too much imagination on this occasion, Nan," said her aunt. "You mustnot let your mind dwell upon such things when you are trying to have agood time. One could be miserable anywhere, remembering past history.I am sure to-night doesn't suggest an angry mob. Don't let us lose ourparty. We must keep an eye on them. I thought I saw Jack wriggle ahead,through the crowd, by herself."

  "I'll dash on and get her," said Nan, "and stand still till you allcome up." She managed to get hold of Jack before the child was whollyswallowed up in the crowd, and cautioned her to keep close to theothers if she would not lose them.

  But Jack was always resourceful and independent. "It wouldn't make anydifference if I did lose you all," she declared. "I could find my wayback, and the _concierge_ would let me in."

  "That cross old creature? I shouldn't like to bother him," returnedNan. "He is an old beast."

  "Oh, no, he isn't always. If you call him _monsieur_ often enough hegets quite pleasant," Jack assured her.

  "I'll be bound for you," Nan answered. "We must stand here, Jack, tillthe others come up. Don't you think it is fun? I can't imagine where somany people came from, all sorts and conditions."

  "I think it is very nice," returned Jack, "but I wish Carter were herewith his automobile, and I wish he were here anyhow, so he could dancewith me. I'd love to go dance out in the street with the rest of thepeople. Won't you come dance with me, Nan?"

  "I'd look pretty, a great long-legged girl like me in a crowd of French'_bonnes_' and '_blanchisseuse_,' wouldn't I? Suppose we should be seenby some of our friends, what would they think to see me twirling aroundin the midst of such a gang as this?"

  But in spite of this scoffing on Nan's part, Jack was not easily rid ofher desire, and looked with longing eyes upon each company of dancersthey passed. Nan managed to keep a pretty strict lookout for herlittle sister, but finally she escaped in an unguarded moment, and wassuddenly missed.

  "She is the most trying child," said Mary Lee, who had experienced nodifficulty in keeping the tractable Jean in tow.

  "Jack gets so carried away by things of the moment," said Nan, alwaysready to make excuses for her little sister. "She gets perfectly lostto everything but what is interesting her at the time, and forgets tokeep her mind on anything else. I'll go ahead as I did before, andprobably I shall find her."

  But no Jack was to be discovered. Mary Lee scolded, Jean began to cryand Mrs. Corner looked worried.

  "We can't leave the child by herself in the streets of Paris on sucha night as this," she said anxiously. "There is no telling what mighthappen to her."

  "Don't bother, mother dear," said Nan. "I'm sure she can't be a greatway off. You and some of the others stand here, and I'll go ahead withAunt Helen. We'll come back to you in a few minutes."

  "I verily believe I caught a glimpse of her," suddenly exclaimed Jo.

  "Where?" asked Nan, craning her neck.

  "Over there where you hear the music."

  "She's possessed about the dancing in the streets, and very likely sheis watching the dancing."

  They all moved over in the direction from which the music came, andthere, sure enough, in the centre of a company of dancers, was Jackwith a round black-whiskered Frenchman, whirling merrily to the strainsof a violin.

  Nan and her Aunt Helen edged their way to the outskirts of the circleof onlookers, and then Nan forced herself nearer. "Jack," she called."Jack, come right here."

  Jack cast a glance over her shoulder, gave several more twirls, and wasfinally surrendered to her proper guardians by the rotund Frenchmanwho made a low bow with heels together as he bade adieu to his littlepartner.

  "I did it, Nan, I did it," announced Jack joyfully. "He was a nice manand he called me _la petite Americaine_. He has a brother in New Yorkand was so pleased when I told him I had been there. He is a barber andhe gave me a flower." She produced a rose proudly.

  "Come right over here to mother," said Nan, paying small attention towhat Jack was saying. "She is worried to death about you."

  "Why?" asked Jack in her usual tone of surprise when such a conditionof affairs was mentioned. "Madame Lemercier said on Bastille day everyone could do just what she wanted, and I am sure I was only doing whatdozens and hundreds of other people were doing. What was there wrongabout it, Aunt Helen?"

  She looked so aggrieved and innocent, that Miss Helen, between smilesand frowns, could only ejaculate, "Oh, Jack, Jack, there is no doinganything with you."

  Even after she had joined her mother and had been told how alarmed Mrs.Corner had been, Jack could not see the least indiscretion in joiningin the dance. "Anybody could do it," she said, "and you didn't have topay a cent."

  "It is the question of Jack's point of view again," said Miss Helen toMrs. Corner. "Jack has been told that every one in Paris does as he orshe chooses upon the fourteenth of July, and why not she with the rest?She could understand Nan's not caring to dance because she objected tobeing conspicuous; as to any other reason, it never entered the child'shead." So, as usual, Jack got off with a mild reproof, and the partywent on their way without further trouble, Miss Helen and Nan keepingJack between them, and Nan never letting go for one instant her holdupon Jack's arm.

  To the two youngest of the company there was a great excitement inbeing up so late in the Paris streets, and when they stopped at acafe, less crowded than most, and in a quiet street, to have _limonadegaseuze_, their satisfaction was complete.

  After this there was less sightseeing, for Miss Helen and Mrs. Cornerhad shopping to do, and Nan had an object in making the most of hertime in Paris, as she was anxious to add to her knowledge of French,intending to specialize in languages when she entered college. MaryLee, with not so correct an ear, acquired facility less easily, and Jodeclared that it would be impossible for herself ever to get rid ofher American accent. But it was Jack who soon picked up a surprisingvocabulary which she used to the utmost advantage, jabbering away withwhomsoever she came in contact, be it some _cocher_ or the learnedprofessor who sat next her at table, the chambermaids or MadameLemercier herself, with whom the girls had lessons. Jack had not theleast
self-consciousness, and never feared ridicule. Jean, more timid,would have learned little, if her twin had not urged her to exertherself, forcing her to speak when they encountered some little Frenchgirls in the Bois.

  These little girls came every day for an orderly walk with theirgoverness, and for a discreet hour of play. Jack liked their looks,and was determined to make their acquaintance. She accordingly smiledmost beguilingly upon them but for some time could win no more than shysmiles in return.

  "I mean to make them speak to me," she told Jean.

  "How are you going to do it?" asked Jean. "Maybe their governess won'tlet them speak to strangers. She looks very prim."

  "I reckon she only looks that way because she is French," returnedJack, nothing daunted. "I saw her watch me playing Diabolo, and I knowshe thinks I do it well."

  "You're awfully stuck up about it," replied Jean, herself less expert.

  "No, I'm not. I can play much better than some of those great biggirls, and I know I can, so what is the use of pretending I don't?"

  However, it was not this which won the response Jack hoped for, butit was because chance gave her the opportunity of returning a bookwhich the governess left on a bench one day. Jack saw it after thedemure little girls had gone, and she pounced upon it, carrying ittriumphantly home and presenting it the next day to the owner with apolite little speech. The thanks she received made a sufficient wedgefor Jack and she was soon talking affably to the little girls as wellas to the governess. Jack could be the most entertaining of persons,and it was no time before she had an absorbed audience. After this itwas a common occurrence for the twins to meet Paulette and Clemence inthe Bois, and the little French girls were never refused permission toplay with the two Americans.

  CHAPTER III

  HOUSEKEEPING]