CHAPTER XIII
CHANTILLY
This plan seemed to please everybody except Lisette, who was a littletroubled to have her young ladies going around with these Chicagopeople, of whom she did not quite approve.
But Patty only laughed at the anxious expression on the French girl'sface. She knew well what was passing in her mind, and she said to herquietly: "It's all right, Lisette, they're our American friends, and Iassure you Mrs. Farrington won't mind a bit, since you are with us.You're dragon enough to chaperon the whole State of Illinois."
It's doubtful if Lisette knew what the State of Illinois was, but shewas devoted to Patty, and waved her scruples in deference to Patty'swishes, although she kept a stern watch on the big Van Ness boys.
But Bob and Guy behaved most decorously, and two more polite orwell-mannered young men could not have been found among the nativeParisians themselves.
Leaving the shop, they continued down the Rue de Rivoli till theyreached the Louvre.
Doris proposed their going in, and as Patty was most anxious to do so,and Lisette saw no objection to visiting the great museum, they allentered.
It was Patty's first glimpse of the great picture gallery, and shebegan to wish she was not accompanied by the chattering crowd, that shemight wander about wherever her fancy directed. But she remembered shewould have ample opportunity for this all winter, so she willingly gaveup her own desire to please the Van Ness girls.
They cared little for pictures, but were really good historicalstudents, and they wanted to visit the rooms which contained curios andrelics of famous people.
So the whole crowd followed the lead of Doris and Alicia, who hadvisited the Louvre before, and Patty found herself learning a greatdeal from the experienced way in which the girls discussed theexhibits. She found, too, that historical relics were more interestingthan she had supposed, and she almost sighed as she thought of the manythings she wanted to see and study during the winter.
"I hope you'll be here when we come back," Guy Van Ness said to her, asthey stood together, looking at some old miniatures.
"I hope so, too," said Patty. "When are you coming?"
"I don't know exactly; it depends on uncle's plans; but probably aboutJanuary."
"Oh, yes, we shall surely be here then, and probably living in a homeof our own. Of course, I mean a temporary home, but not a hotel. I hopeyou will come to see us."
"Indeed I will. I wish we could have seen more of you this week, butuncle has rushed us about sightseeing so fast that there was no timefor social calling."
"We saw Bert Chester and his crowd," said Patty; and then she toldabout the day at Versailles.
"What a lark!" exclaimed Guy; "I wish I had been along. But you must gosomewhere with us when we're here in January, won't you?"
"I'd like to," said Patty, "but I can't promise. It all depends on theFarringtons. I'm their guest, so of course I'm under their orders."
"Well, it won't be my fault if we don't have some fun when we come backhere," declared Guy, "and I shall do all I can to bring it about."
When they left the museum it was getting late in the afternoon, andLisette decreed that her young ladies must go home at once. The VanNess crowd raised great objection to this, but Lisette was obdurate,and calling a cab, she ushered the girls in, and then getting inherself, gave the order for home.
Patty couldn't help laughing at the serious way in which Lisette tookcare of them, but Mrs. Farrington told her it was quite right, and shewould have been displeased had Lisette done otherwise.
"You don't quite understand, my dear," she said kindly, "the differencebetween the conventions of Paris and our own New York. It may seemfoolish to you to be so carefully guarded, but I can't quite explain itto you so you would understand it, and therefore I'm going to ask youto obey my wishes without question, and more than that, when Lisette istemporarily in charge of you to obey her."
"Indeed I will, dear Mrs. Farrington," said Patty heartily; "and trulyI wasn't rebelling the leastest mite. I'm more than ready to obey you,or Lisette, either, only it struck me funny to be put into a cab, likebabies in a baby-carriage by their nursemaid."
"You're a good girl, Patty, and I don't foresee a bit of trouble intaking care of you. To-morrow I shall feel better, and I'll go shoppingwith you girls myself, and perhaps we may have time to look in at a fewother places."
So Patty danced away, quite content to take things as they came, andsure that all the coming days were to be filled with all sorts ofnovelties and pleasures.
Their purchases had been sent home, reaching there before they didthemselves, and Patty immediately fell to work on the albums, placingthe cards in the little slits which were cut in the leaves to receivethem.
The days flew by like Bandersnatches. Patty herself could not realisewhat became of them. She wrote frequently to the people at home andtried to include all of her young friends in America in hercorrespondence, but it seemed to be impossible, and so finally she tookto writing long letters to Marian, and asking her to send the lettersround to the other girls after she had read them.
Mr. and Mrs. Farrington had begun their search for a furnished housewhich they might rent for the winter. When they went to look at variousones suggested to them by their agent, they did not take the girls withthem, as Mrs. Farrington said it was too serious a matter in which toinclude two chattering children.
So Patty and Elise were left pretty much to their own devices while theelder Farringtons went on these important errands.
But one bright morning when Mr. and Mrs. Farrington were preparing tostart off in the automobile for the day, Elise begged that she andPatty might be allowed to go off on an excursion of some sort.
"Indeed, I think you ought," said Mr. Farrington kindly, "and I'll tellyou what I think would be a first-rate plan. How would you like to gowith Lisette to the Chateau of Chantilly for a day's outing? You couldgo on one of those 'personally conducted tours,' in a big motor van,with lots of other tourists."
"I think it will be lots of fun," cried Elise; "I've always wanted toclimb up on one of those moving mountains and go wabbling away."
"I, too," said Patty; "just for once I think that sort of thing wouldbe great fun."
"Then you must hustle to get ready," said Mr. Farrington, "for thecavalcade sets off at ten o'clock, and I don't believe they'd wait,even for two nice little girls like you. So run along and get yourbonnets, and be sure not to forget to remember to feed the carp."
"What is a carp?" asked Patty, as she and Elise ran away to dress.
"Fish, I think," said Elise, "but we'll probably find out when we getthere."
The girls were soon ready, and with Lisette they walked out in thebright sunshine and along the Rue de la Paix until they came to thecorner where the personally conducted tourists were to start from.
Mr. Farrington had telephoned for tickets, so all they had to do was toclamber into their seats. This was done by mounting a stepladder placedat the side of the big vehicle. The seats of the van were graduated inheight, so that the back ones were as good as the front, and, indeed, afull view of what was passing could be commanded from any position.
They had to wait until the tourists had all arrived, and then theystarted off at a good speed toward the country.
"I feel as if I were riding in one of the old royal state carriages,"said Patty, "although there isn't the slightest resemblance in thevehicle, or the means of locomotion."
"No," said Elise, laughing; "nor in the people. I don't believe thesetourists bear much resemblance to the ladies and gentlemen who rode inthe Royal carriages. But I think it's more fun than our own car,because we sit up so high and can see everything so well."
"And hear, too," said Patty, as they listened to the man in the frontseat, who had turned around and was announcing through a megaphone thenames of the places as they passed them.
"He seems to know his lesson pretty well," whispered Patty, "but hisFrench pronunciation is even worse than mine."
"Your pronunciation isn't so bad, Patty, but you haven't any vocabularyto speak of."
"To speak with, you mean. But never you mind, miss; as soon as yourrespected parents decide upon a house, and we get settled in it, I'mgoing to study French like anything, and French history, too. I used tohate these things, but times have changed since Patty came to Paris!"
"I'm glad you're so energetic, but I don't feel much like studying; I'drather drift around and have fun as we are doing."
"We'll have time enough for both, and you want to take some paintinglessons, don't you?"
"Yes; but seeing all the pictures I've seen since I've been herediscourages me. I used to think I was quite an artist, but I see nowthat if I ever do anything really worth while, I'll have to begin allover again and go into a drudgery drawing class."
"It won't be drudgery; you love it so, and you'll make rapid progressif you're as desperately in earnest as all that. Do you think yourmother will decide to take that house they're going to look at to-day?"
"Yes, I think so; her mind is pretty well made up already. It must be alovely house, judging from what she says about it."
It was not very far to Chantilly, and when they reached there the girlswere almost sorry that the pleasant ride was ended.
The megaphone gentleman informed his personally conducted crowd thatthey were to alight and eat luncheon before proceeding to the Chateau.
The hotel where they were to lunch was a quaint, old-fashioned house,built around three sides of a garden. It was called the Hotel duGrand-Conde, and Patty said, "I suppose we shall see and hear ofnothing but the Condes for the rest of the day. I believe the wholeinterest of Chantilly centres in that Conde crowd."
"You seem to know a lot about it," said Elise banteringly.
"I've been reading up," confessed Patty, "and besides, La GrandeMademoiselle has always been one of my favourite characters in Frenchhistory. She was a wonderful woman, and though not of the Condes, sheis mixed up in their history."
"She is an unknown quantity to me," said Elise, "but I'm willing tolearn, so tell me all you know, Patty; it won't take long."
"You'll get no instruction from me after that unflattering speech,"retorted Patty, and then luncheon was announced, and the girls sat downat the table reserved for them.
They were much interested in their fellow-tourists, and as most of themwere socially inclined, Patty and Elise were included in the generalconversation. As the tourists seemed to have a great deal of generalinformation, and as they were quite ready to impart it, the girlspicked up quite a store of knowledge, more or less accurate.
Then they left the hotel, with its quaint old gateway and carefullykept gravel walks, and proceeded on their way to the Chateau.
It was necessary at the entrance to cross a bridge over the moat, andhere Patty discovered the reason for feeding the carp.
To begin with, the carp themselves were exceedingly old, and had beenswimming around in the same moat for hundreds of years.
"I'm not quite sure of the number of years," volunteered a Bostontourist, to any one who might listen, "but it's either hundreds orthousands. Anyway, the carp are dreadfully old."
"They don't look it," declared Patty, as she leaned over the railing ofthe bridge and watched the frisky fish darting around like mad.
An old woman sat nearby with a bushel basket full of French rolls,which she was willing to sell to the tourists at prices which increasedas her stock of rolls decreased. Patty and Elise bought a quantity ofthe rolls and began the fun of throwing them to the fishes. It turnedout to be even more fun than they had anticipated, for the moment aroll reached the water, scores of carp would make a mad dash for it,and a pitched battle ensued for possession of the bread. Sometimes theroll was torn to pieces in the fight, and sometimes a fortunate carpwould secure it and swim away, followed by all the others in angrypursuit. Another roll flung in would, of course, divert theirattention, and the squabble would begin all over again. The fun waslargely in watching the individual peculiarities of the fishes. Onesulky old thing disdained to fight, but if given a roll all to himselfhe would swim away with it, and sticking his head in a small corner ofthe stone parapet, would eat it greedily, while he kept off the otherfishes by madly lashing his tail. Another brisk little fish didn't seemto care to eat the rolls at all, but mischievously tried to prevent theothers from eating them, and played a general game of interference.
The actions of the fish were so ridiculous, and the sport so novel andexciting, that the girls would not leave until they had bought up allthe rolls the old woman had and thrown them down to the comical carp.
The personal conductor of the tour affably waited until the moatperformance was over, and then conducted his party inside the park tothe Chateau.
Though only a toy affair compared with Versailles, Chantilly is one ofthe most beautiful of the historic Chateaus of France, and is in manyrespects a gem. The great paved Court of Honor shone white in thesunlight, and the noble statues and sculptures bore witness to the artand taste displayed in its construction.