CHAPTER XV
ST. GERMAIN
The weeks went happily by. Patty became quite accustomed to French waysand customs, and was becoming proficient in the language.
One of her greatest treats was the Opera. Mr. Farrington had engaged abox for the season, and the girls attended nearly every matineeperformance. The first few times Patty could scarcely listen to themusic for her admiration of the wonderful building, but after shebecame more accustomed to its glories, it did not so distract herattention from the stage. Mr. and Mrs. Farrington occasionally gaveopera parties, and dinner parties, too, but the girls were not allowedto attend these. Although indulgent in many ways, Mrs. Farrington wassomewhat strict about the conventions for her young people; but sogently were her rules laid down, that they never seemed harsh or stern.
On nights when dinner parties were given, the girls had their dinner inthe family breakfast-room, and often were allowed to invite Rosamond,and sometimes Martin to their feasts.
Another delight to Patty was the fact that she was learning to drive amotor-car. It had always fascinated her, and she had always felt thatshe could do it if she only knew how. Once when she timidly expressedthis wish to Mr. Farrington, he replied, "Why certainly, child, I'll beglad to teach you, and some day, who knows, you may have a car of yourown."
So whenever opportunity allowed Mr. Farrington gave her lessons in theart, and often Patty would sit in front with the chauffeur and he wouldteach her many things about the mechanism, until she became reallyquite accomplished as a driver.
Of course, she was never allowed to run the car alone, nor did she wishto, but it was great fun to handle the wheel herself and feel the carobey her lightest touch. Sometimes she would grow elated at her successand put on the high speed, but always under the supervision andprotecting guidance of Mr. Farrington or the affable and amiablechauffeur.
It was a great surprise to Patty when she learned that Christmas wasnot made so much of in Paris as with us, but that the great fete-daywas New Year's Day, or, as they called it, JOUR DE L'AN.
But Patty was not baffled by French customs entirely, and decreed thatthe Farrington household should hold a Christmas celebration all bythemselves. This they did, and the day to them was a pleasant oneindeed.
But this was a minor episode compared to the fact that old Ma'amselleLabesse sent them all an urgent invitation to come to her at St.Germain to spend New Year's Day.
The girls were rejoiced at this invitation, but feared they could notaccept it, as Mr. and Mrs. Farrington had an engagement in Paris forthe festival.
But after much discussion of the matter, and much pleading on the partof the young people, it was arranged that Patty and Elise should go twodays before the New Year Day and spend a whole week with the oldMa'amselle in her chateau. A little tactful managing on Patty's partsecured an invitation also for Rosamond Barstow, and the three girls,who had become almost inseparable, started off together in great glee.
Mr. Farrington sent them out in the motor-car, in care of hischauffeur, and Patty, to her great delight and satisfaction, drove thecar all the way there.
St. Germain is a beautiful town, which dates back about eightcenturies, when it was a favourite summer residence of French royalty.The forest is among the most beautiful of all French woods, and asPatty drove through the roads of the deep forest it seemed likeenchanted ground. They spun along the Terrasse, enjoying the viewbelow, and after passing many beautiful villas and residences came tothe old chateau of Ma'amselle Labesse.
After passing a porter's lodge at the entrance, they went on for a longdistance through the park before reaching the house Then alighting atthe main portal, the doors were thrown open by footmen, and the girlswere ushered in.
Ma'amselle herself received them in the entrance hall. She looked quitedifferent from the way she had appeared on board the steamer, as shewas now attired in very elegant and formal robes, with her white hairarranged after the fashion of Madame de Pompadour.
She cordially welcomed the three young girls, making emphaticassertions at her delight in seeing them, but her warmest welcome wasbestowed upon Patty.
"But it is herself!" she cried; "of a certainty, it is ma petite Patty.Ciel! but it is that I am glad to see you!"
Patty returned the greetings with polite warmth, and indeed she wasreally fond of the quaint old lady.
The girls were all amazed at the grandeur and beauty of Ma'amselle'shome, and were unable to repress their admiration; but Ma'amselle waspleased rather than otherwise that they should express their pleasure.
"But surely," she said, "it is indeed the beautiful home. This hall! Itis not of a smallness! And in the old days it welcomed royal guests."
The hall was indeed magnificent. It was decorated with frescoes andmural paintings by well-known French artists. It contained statues andpaintings and clocks and vases that might have graced a museum. Thearmour of knights stood about, and valuable trophies graced thewainscoted walls.
A wide carved staircase wound spirally up from one end; and atMa'amselle's suggestion, the girls were ushered at once to their room.French maids were sent to them to unlock their boxes and assist withtheir toilettes, and Patty was glad that she now knew enough French atleast to make herself understood.
Rosamond Barstow was a girl who never hesitated to get what she wantedif possible, and now it suited her purpose to dismiss the French maids;in her voluble if somewhat imperfect French, she told them that theyoung ladies wished to be alone for a time and would ring for the maidslater.
"I just HAD to talk to you girls alone for a minute," she exclaimed,"or I should have exploded. Did you EVER see such a gorgeous castle inthis world? I didn't know your old Ma'amselle lived like this! Howshall we ever live up to it?"
"I didn't know she lived like this, either," said Patty, laughing atRosamond's expressions; "and I don't care whether we can live up to itor not. We'll put on our best frocks and our best manners, and that'sall we can do. But, oh girls, I feel like a princess in this room!"
"Then just come and look at mine," cried Elise, who was in the nextapartment.
The girls had been given rooms near each other and which, with theiranterooms and dressing-rooms, filled up the whole of a large wing ofthe chateau.
Patty's, as she expressed it to the other girls, looked more like avery large cretonne shirtwaist box than anything else. For the wallsand ceiling were covered with a chintz tapestry; the lambrequins,window curtains and door hangings were all of the same material andpattern, and the bed itself was draped and heavily curtained with thesame. The bed curtains and window curtains were fastened back with hugerosettes of the chintz, and Patty remarked that it must have beenbrought by the acre.
The furniture was of the quaintest old French pattern, and soold-fashioned and unusual were the appointments all about, that Pattyknew neither the names nor the use of many of them.
"I'd rather sleep in a "cosy-corner" than in that bed," remarkedRosamond; "I know that whole affair will tumble on your head in thenight. It's perfectly gorgeous to look at, but seems to me these oldthings are 'most too old. If I were Ma'amselle I'd root them all outand refurnish."
"You'd be sent home if Ma'amselle heard you talk like that," admonishedPatty, "and I'm not a bit afraid of that tent arrangement tumblingdown. It's most picturesque, and I shall lie in it, feeling like aretired empress."
"Come, Rosamond," said Elise, "call back those comic opera maids yousent away, and let's get dressed. We mustn't keep Ma'amselle waiting,though I'd ever so much rather perch up here and talk by ourselves. Butshe's a dear old lady, and we must do our part as well as she doeshers."
So Rosamond rang and the maids came back, wondering what strange youngdemoiselles they had to wait upon now.
Patty allowed herself to be dressed by the deft-fingered maid, andbeing ready first, stepped out on the little balcony opening from herwindow to wait for the others.
A beautiful view met her eye. The lawn was terraced in many slopes, andthe flowe
r-beds and shrubberies, though arranged with French precision,formed a beautiful landscape. There were fountains playing, and hereand there arbours and trellises and pleasant paths.
But the girls called to her, and Patty joined them, and twining theirarms about each other's waists, they walked down the broad staircase.
They were all in white, and their pretty frocks and dainty slippersmade a modern note that contrasted strangely but pleasantly with theantique relics and ancient atmosphere of the chateau.
When they reached the great hall, a footman ushered them into the granddrawing-room where they were to await Ma'amselle.
She soon appeared, resplendent in her old-time grandeur, and going togreet her, the girls kissed her hand, an old custom which greatlypleased their hostess.
"But it is of a joy to see you!" she exclaimed. "Me, I am so muchalone. It is not good to be alone, and yet, it is my choice. I stay inthe home of my ancestors, therefore I stay alone. Voila!" she shruggedher shoulders, as if to emphasise the fact that it was more joy to livealone in the old chateau than to be anywhere else.
"But I am not always alone," she went on; "no, it is that my Henri, mynephew, comes to me at occasion. And he comes soon. Jour de l'an alwaysbrings him. He spends the day with me. He makes me a pleasure. And youshall see him, you young ladies. Ah, how he is beautiful!" The old ladyclasped her hands and turned her gaze upward, and the girls were fainto believe that her nephew was indeed a wonderful specimen of humanity.
Then the dinner was announced, and leaning on the arm of an oldfootman, who was quite as dignified as she was herself, Ma'amselle ledthe way to the dining-room.
The table appointments, Patty thought, would have done justice to anyof the most celebrated characters in French history, had they beenthere to enjoy them.
Although not exactly embarrassed, the girls were a little bit awed atsplendour so unusual to them. To Rosamond it seemed distinctly humorousthat three such young American girls should be honoured guests in sucha regal household; to Elise it seemed extremely interesting, and thenovelty and strangeness of it all impressed her more than the grandeur.
But Patty, with her usual quick ability to accept a situation, seemedto take everything for granted, and made herself quite at home. Thewonderfully garbed footmen who stood behind their chairs like statues,except when they were wound up, nearly made Rosamond giggle; but toPatty, they were merely part of the performance, and once accepted assuch, of course, they belonged in the picture.
This readiness to adapt herself to any circumstances was inherent inPatty's nature, and she sat there and conversed with her hostess ascharmingly and naturally as if at a plainer board.
Rosamond was much impressed by what she chose to consider Patty's"nerve," and determining not to be outdone, she exerted herself to bebright and entertaining, and as Elise was always more or less of achatterbox, the three girls provided much entertainment, and theirhostess was delighted with her congenial guests.
After the rather lengthy dinner was at an end, the old Ma'amselle tookthe girls through various apartments, and showed them many of thetreasures of the Chateau.
Then they went to the music room and Patty was persuaded to sing.
She sang several songs, and then they all sang choruses together, insome of which the old Ma'amselle joined with her thin but still sweetvoice.
"And now," she said at last, "it is to tear the heart--but I must sendyou babies to bed. Me, I sleep so badly, but you young girls, of asurety, must have the tranquil rest. It is then 'Bon Soir,' and in themorning you are to amuse yourselves. You have but to ring for yourchocolate, when you awake, and then pursue your own pleasures untilnoon, when I will meet you at dejeuner."
After affectionate good-nights, the girls went to their rooms, and ahalf hour later, wrapped in kimonos and with their long braids hangingdown their backs, they were all perched on Patty's big bed--alone atlast.
"But it is of a gorgeousness," exclaimed Rosamond, mimicking, but notunkindly, the old Ma'amselle's imperfect English; "me, I never have somany feetmen at home! Is it that you do, Patty?"
"But I like it all," exclaimed Patty, giggling at comical Rosamond, butstanding up for her own opinions; "of course I'm not envious a mite,and I don't know even as I'd care to live in this way all the time, butit's lovely for a few days, and I'm just going to pretend I'm La GrandeMademoiselle."
"Do," cried Elise, "and I'll be Empress Josephine. Who'll you be,Rosamond?"
"Oh, I'll be Queen Elizabeth, who has come to visit you. There'snothing French about me, so there's no use pretending, but I might bean English Queen."
"Well, Josephine and Elizabeth, you'd better run to bed now," saidPatty, "for I'd like the exclusive occupancy of this upholsteredtennis-court myself."
Amazed to find that it was after midnight, the other girls ran laughingaway, and Patty climbed in behind the chintz curtains, almostpersuading herself that she was a royal Princess after all.
Next morning the Queen and the Empress came bounding in, and shook LaGrande Mademoiselle till she awoke.
"This bed is the biggest," announced Queen Elizabeth, "and so we're allgoing to have our chocolate in here."
"Well, I like the way you monopolise my apartments!" exclaimed Patty.
"I'm glad you like it," said Rosamond; "but we'd come just the same ifyou didn't. Now stop your giggling, while I ring the bell, and see whathappens."
A dainty French waitress answered the summons, and smilingly asked fororders.
Patty modestly asked for chocolate and rolls for them all, but theFrench maid volunteered the information that Ma'amselle was of theopinion that the young ladies would like an omelette, and perhaps a jarof marmalade.
[Illustration with caption: "They were all perched on Patty's bigbed--alone at last"]
"Heavenly!" exclaimed Rosamond, rolling her eyes in ecstacy, and thewaitress departed on her errand.
"This is the jolliest picnic yet," declared Elise, a little later asshe sat, propped up by pillows, in a corner of the big chintz tent, anddevoured flaky hot rolls and apricot marmalade.
The girls were each in a corner of the great bed, which left ample roomin the centre for the tray full of good things, and though perhaps anunusual place for a picnic, it was a most hilarious festivity.