CHAPTER XIV
MAKING A HOME.
The party was marshalled up on the peristyle, where they received,collectively, instructions in a loud voice to leave their sticks andumbrellas before entering the Chateau.
Patty and Elise agreed that the beauty and dignity of the situation wassomewhat impaired by the personally conducted effect, but they thoughtthat was compensated for by the funny side of it all. The touristsfollowed the conductor like a flock of sheep, one or anotheroccasionally straying away for a time, and nearly all of them makingnotes in little note-books. Indeed, some of them were so intent ontheir notes that they merely gave glances at the beautiful thingsexhibited, and spent most of their time scribbling in their books andreferring to their Baedekers.
The interior of the Chateau was delightful. As Patty had surmised, itwas largely devoted to pictures and relics of the Conde family. She wasgreatly pleased to discover a gallery of battles which, though notlarge, illustrated the battles of the great prince who was called theGrand Conde. Although Patty was of a peaceful enough nature, she had aspecial liking for the glory and grandeur of paintings of battlescenes, and she tarried in this gallery as long as she could.
Both she and Elise adopted the Grand Conde as one of their favourites,and greatly admired the numerous portraits of him, with his handsomeface and generally gorgeous effects.
In one of the halls of the Chateau post-cards were on sale, and Pattyeagerly looked them over to make the selection she wanted.
But the Personal Conductor discovered that time was flying, and that ifhe let all of his charges delay over the post-cards, other sights mustbe omitted.
So he scurried them along through the various galleries and salons,pausing in the Library and the Chapel. The Chapel awed Patty, as theimpressive burial places of kings always did, and especially was sheinterested in a Cippus, which was a receptacle for the hearts ofseveral of the princes of Conde.
"It seems wonderful," she said to Elise, "to take out their hearts andput them all away together like that, but they had strange ways in thetimes of my friends, the Condes."
"I'm beginning to be very much interested in your friends, the Condes,"replied Elise, "and I think, after all, I shall join your Frenchhistory class this winter."
Then they proceeded to the beautiful park of Chantilly, which was laidout by the same landscape gardener who afterward designed the gardensof Versailles.
The park was enchanting, and the many buildings in it most interesting.
"There's one thing certain," said Patty, "I shall come here some dayand camp out for the day in this park and wander around without beingpersonally conducted."
"And I shall do myself the honour to accompany you," said Elise; "I'msure I can persuade father to send us out here in the car some day andlet us play around by ourselves."
All too soon the megaphone's voice called them to start on theirhomeward trip. Patty and Elise were among the first to take their seatsin the great motor car, and as Patty was looking over her belovedpost-cards, she suddenly discovered that she had no portrait of herfriend, the Grand Prince.
But by good luck she saw a woman standing near, and suspended by astrap round her neck was a tray of post-cards.
Calling the woman to her, Patty made known her desire for a picture ofthe Grand Conde.
"Oui, oui," exclaimed the woman as she offered various portraits ofother members of the Conde family.
"Non, non," cried Patty, shaking her head, vigorously, "le GrandPrince,-le Grand Conde!"
At length the woman discovered the proper card, and when Patty acceptedit, and paid her for it, she burst into voluble thanks and begged herto buy more.
Remembering Elise's album, Patty bought another copy of the samepicture for that, and then, thinking she would like to take one toMarian, she asked for a third copy.
This the woman did not have in stock, but anxious to please her prettyyoung patron, she flew over to another post-card vender, of which thereseemed to be several near by, and demanded the required card from her.But a search through her stock proved unavailing, and both women,chatting volubly in French, tried to procure one from a third post-cardseller.
Patty and Elise became much amused at the excitement they had created,and suddenly to their surprise one of the tourists expressed her desirealso for a portrait of the Grand Conde.
Patty surmised at once that she had no particular reason for desiringit save an idea that if it was in such great demand it must be of aspecial value.
And then following the example of the first, several other tourists setup a clamour for the same picture, and the scene became one of greatexcitement. The post-card venders put their heads together, and stilljabbering rapidly, produced all sorts of portraits which theyendeavoured to foist upon the buyers as portraits of the Grand Prince.But the tourists were shrewd, and they knew what they wanted, thoughthey had no idea why they wanted it.
The natural result of this situation was a rise in price of the desiredpicture. The original price of ten CENTIMES was doubled and thenquadrupled, and finally the tourists began to bid for the picture untilthe affair became an auction.
Patty and Elise were convulsed with laughter at the absurdity of itall, and finally the motor man whizzed away, leaving the Frenchwomenchuckling over their marvelous sales, and carrying some excitedtourists, who wondered why they had paid so much for ordinarypost-cards.
Patty's recital of the affair at dinner that night greatly amused theFarringtons, and Mr. Farrington declared that the whole scene wastypical of human nature.
"As you had cornered the market, Patty," he said, "why didn't you sellyour Conde pictures at top prices, or else put them up at auction?"
"For the very good reason that I wanted them myself," replied Patty,"and if I had sold them, perhaps I never could get any more."
"Well, we, too, have achieved an important success to-day," went on Mr.Farrington; "we have secured a foothold in this somewhat uncertaincity, and we shall soon have a roof over our heads that we can call ourown, for a time, at least."
"Oh, you took the house, then," exclaimed Elise; "how jolly! and whenare we going there to live?"
"As soon as it can be made habitable," said Mrs. Farrington; "they callit a furnished house, but it is not at all my idea of furnishing. It'sabout as well appointed as a summer cottage might be at home. Thedrawing-room is all right, and the dining-room is fairly good, but thebedrooms must be almost entirely refurnished. Some day, my children,you shall go shopping with me to select things for your own rooms."
This shopping expedition took place soon, and Patty, with her usualhappy enthusiasm, thought it was quite as much fun as any other mode ofentertainment.
Mrs. Farrington and the two girls, driven by the chauffeur, went flyingaround in the automobile, stopping now at one beautiful shop, and nowat another, and buying lovely things.
"It seems foolish," said Mrs. Farrington, "to buy a lot of furniturefor a rented house, but we must be comfortable through the winter, andthen the prettiest of the things we'll take back to America with us."
The girls were allowed to make their own selections, and Patty decidedthat her room should be green and white, while Elise chose pink.
The girls had not yet seen the house, but Mrs. Farrington told themthat two large rooms adjoining each other on the third floor were to befor their use, and though the principal articles of furniture werealready in them, they might choose some pretty appointments, such aswriting-desks, work-tables or book-racks.
Also, they selected some little French gilded chairs and queer-shapedottomans, Patty thinking the while how pretty these would look whentransported back to her New York home.
After about a week more of hotel life the Farringtons moved to theirown home.
It was a good-sized house on the Bois de Boulogne, and stood in a smallbut well-laid out park or garden.
There were stone porticos on which opened long, French windows, and thehigh ceilings and winding staircase with broad landings gave th
e housean attractive, though foreign air.
Like all French houses, the decorations were elaborate, and mirrorswere everywhere, and crystal chandeliers and painted panels abounded.
It was all of great interest to Patty, who dearly loved home-making,and who saw great possibilities for the unusual combination of Americancosiness in a Paris house.
Mrs. Farrington was delighted when she discovered Patty's capabilitiesin domestic matters, and declared that she would not wish for a betterassistant.
It was Patty's deft fingers that transformed stiff and formal roomsinto apartments of real comfort and homelikeness. It was very oftenPatty's taste that selected simple decorations or ornaments which toneddown the gorgeousness of the original scheme.
The two girls' own rooms were greatly successful.
Patty had bought a number of pictures and statuettes and variousParisian ornaments, which she was delighted to arrange in a room of hervery own. She helped Elise with hers, too, for though Elise had goodtaste and a fine appreciation of the fitness of things, she had notPatty's capability of execution and facility of arrangement.
As they sat for the first time around their own family dinner table,Mr. Farrington exclaimed, "Now this is what I call comfortable! It'sunpretentious, but it's way ahead of that gorgeously dressed-up hotel,which made one feel, though well taken care of, like a traveller and awayfarer. But I expect you were sorry to leave it, eh, Patty?"
"No I wasn't," said Patty; "I liked it tremendously for a time, as itwas a novel experience for me; but I'm quite as pleased as you are, Mr.Farrington, to be in a home once more."
"And the next thing to do," said Mrs. Farrington, "is to get mastersfor you girls."
"Shall we go to school, mother?" asked Elise.
"No, I think not. I don't like the idea of your going to a Frenchschool, and, too, I think you'd enjoy it better, to study a little athome. You needn't have a great variety of lessons. I think if you studythe French language and French history, it will be enough for you inthe way of school books. Then Patty ought to take singing lessons, andif Elise wants to learn to paint pictures, she will probably never geta better opportunity to do so."
This plan seemed to suit perfectly the young ladies most interested,and Mr. Farrington said he would take it upon himself to find the rightmasters for them.
So the family settled down into a life which was quiet compared withthe first few weeks of their stay in Paris.
The masters came every morning except Saturday, and that day was alwaysdevoted to sightseeing or pleasures of some sort. Occasionally, too, awhole holiday was taken during the week, for Mr. Farrington said he hada vivid recollection of a certain proverb which discussed the result ofall work and no play.
Patty declared she was never afraid of any lack of play hours in theFarrington family, and she enjoyed alike both her morning tasks and herafternoon pleasures.
Twice a week a professor came to give her singing lessons, and it wasarranged that at the same hour Elise should be busy with her drawingmaster. Though Elise did not show promise of becoming a really greatartist, her parents thought it wise to cultivate such talent as shepossessed, if only for the pleasure it might give to herself and herfriends.
So Elise worked away at her drawing from casts, and occasionallypainted flowers in water colours, while Patty practised her scales, andlearned to sing some pretty little French ballads.
Though neither of the girls was possessed of genius, they both hadtalent, and by application to study they found themselves rapidlyimproving in their arts.
As Patty had expected, she developed an intense interest in Frenchhistory, and as Elise shared this taste, they learned their lessonswell, and also read books of history outside of school hours quite fromchoice.
[Illustration with caption: "They also read books of history outside ofschool hours quite from choice"]
There were a great many Americans residing in Paris, and it was notlong before Mr. and Mrs. Farrington renewed old acquaintances there,and also made new ones among the American colony.
This meant pleasant associates for the girls, and they soon becameacquainted with several American families.
Indeed, the house next to their own, was occupied by an American familynamed Barstow, with whom the Farringtons soon made friends.
The young people of the family were Rosamond, a girl of seventeen, andher brother Martin, a few years older.
The first time they met, Elise and Patty took a decided liking to theBarstows, and Rosamond often spent the afternoon with them, while theychatted gaily over their work, or went driving with them along thebeautiful Bois, or visited the galleries with them.