PARIS.
"Judy! Judy! I can't believe that we are really here, that this is
Paris, and that you are you! As for me, I feel like 'there was an old
woman as I've heard tell' who said 'Lawk a mercy on me, this surely
can't be I.'"
Molly settled herself with a sigh of supreme enjoyment on the lumpy seat
of an extremely rickety taxi that Judy had engaged to take the Browns
from the station to Mrs. Pace's very exclusive pension on the Boulevard
St. Michel.
"It does seem almost too good to be true that I have got you and your
dear mother at last. I have not been able to work for a week because of
the excitement of expectation. I went over to Monroe's this morning and
got your mail. I could hardly lug it home, both of you had such a batch.
You see, the mail has beaten your slow steamer in and everyone is
writing to have a greeting ready for you in Paris." And Judy, who was in
the middle, put embracing arms around both Mrs. Brown and Molly as they
rode down the Avenue de l'Opera.
How wonderful Paris looked to them on that clear, crisp day in autumn!
She was showing her best and most smiling aspect to the travelers, which
delighted Judy, as she felt quite responsible for her beloved city and
wanted her friends to like it as much as she did. They passed various
points of interest which Judy pointed out with pride, and which brought
answering thrills from Mrs. Brown and Molly.
The streets were gay with little pushcarts, laden with chrysanthemums
and attended by the most delightful looking old women. Everyone seemed
to be in a good humor and no one in much of a hurry except the
chauffeurs, and they went whizzing by at a most incredible speed through
the crowded thoroughfares.
"How clean the streets are!" exclaimed Mrs. Brown. "And what a good
smell!"
"Oh, I just wondered if you would notice the smell! That is Paris.
'Every city has an odor of its own,' Papa says, and I believe he is
right. Paris smells better than New York, although I like the smell in
New York, too; but Paris has a strange freshness in its odor that
reminds me of flowers and good things to eat, and suggests gay times,
rollicking fun and adventure."
"Same old Judy," laughed Molly, "with her imagination on tap."
Just then they ran under the arches of the Louvre into the Place du
Carrousel, and Molly held her breath with wonder and delight. Then came
the Seine with its beautiful bridges, its innumerable boats, and its
quays with the historic secondhand book stalls where Edwin Green had
looked forward to walking with her, searching for treasures of first
editions and what not. "Never mind," thought Molly, "Professor Green may
come later and the first editions will keep."
"There is the wonderful statue of Voltaire, and through this street you
can catch a glimpse of the Beaux Arts," chanted Judy. "Now look out, for
before you know it we will be in the aristocratic Faubourg St.
Germain,--and then the Luxembourg Gardens,--and here we are at our own
respectable door before we are ready for it! Now Mrs. Pace will eat both
of you up for a while and I cannot get a word in edgewise."
The Pension Pace was on the corner where a small street ran into the
broad boulevard at a sharp angle, making the building wedge-shaped. It
was a very imposing looking house and Mrs. Brown wondered at a woman
being able to conduct such a huge affair. She expressed her surprise to
Judy, who informed her that Mrs. Pace had only the three upper floors
and that the other flats were let to different tenants.
"The elevator takes us to the fifth floor, where Mrs. Pace has her
parlors, dining salon and swellest boarders,--at least the boarders able
to pay the most. Of course _we_ do not think that they are the swellest,
since we are on the seventh floor ourselves. Who so truly swell as we?"
Judy got out of the taxi with such an assumption of great style that the
chauffeur, much impressed, demanded a larger _pourboire_ than she saw
fit to give him.
"They always try to make you pay more, no matter what you offer. I am
adamant, however, where cabbies and chauffeurs are concerned. Papa says,
'Look after the tips and the legitimate expenses will look after
themselves.' So I look after the tips and trust to luck for the rest to
come out right. I am not much of an economist, I fear, but I am
learning, now that I am on a strict allowance."
An elevator, so slow that its progress was almost imperceptible, took
them to the fifth floor where Mrs. Pace was in readiness to receive
them. Her greeting was very cordial and condescending. She seemed to be
taking them under her protecting wing, giving them to understand that
with her they had nothing more to fear or worry about; and as Molly and
her mother had nothing in particular to worry about and certainly
nothing to fear, they were very much amused by her attitude toward them.
Judy was purple with suppressed merriment as Mrs. Pace advised them to
go right to bed, to rest up from their long journey, poor sick,
miserable, friendless females.
Mrs. Brown assured her that she was not at all tired and never felt
better in her life; that she had made many friends on the steamer; and
that she would freshen up a bit with some soap and water and then go out
for a walk with Miss Julia Kean. Mrs. Brown had reckoned without her
host, however, as the intrepid Mrs. Pace took them to their room on the
seventh floor, just across the hall from Judy's, and did not leave them
until they were in their kimonos and actually lying down.
"You must not try to keep up, dear ladies, when you are overfatigued and
ill. Bed is the best place for you, bed and quiet. Miss Kean had better
leave you now and let you have a little nap."
While Mrs. Pace talked, she had plumped up their pillows and lowered the
shade of the one large window, opened their suitcases and got out their
kimonos and, despite their feeble protest, had actually undressed them
and put them to bed! Then, forcibly ejecting Judy, she shut the door
with admonitions for them to sleep until dinner at six-thirty.
Judy went very dutifully to her room until she heard the last of Mrs.
Pace's ponderous tread on the stairs; then she crept softly to the
Browns' door and gently opened it to find Mrs. Brown and Molly rolling
on the bed, overcome with laughter.
"Oh, oh, oh! She has taken at least forty-five years off of my age,"
giggled Mrs. Brown like a veritable boarding-school miss. "I have never
in my life seen such a born boss as the redoubtable Mrs. Pace! Did you
see her undo my belt and take off my skirt? I could not have felt more
like a child if my waist had been a pinafore instead of a respectable
black silk. And as for Molly, she was treated as though she were just
about old enough to go into rompers." And they all went off into peals
of laughter.
"Well, now is the time to take a stand or you will never be able to,"
said Judy. "I defied her from the first and she lets me alone
wonderfully."
"Yes, I noticed how you withstood her authority when you were sent to
your room!" grinned Molly, as she got back into the clothes that had
been forcibly removed only five minutes before. "I see you have sneaked
in our letters and I, for one, am going to read mine, and then if we can
get down stairs without the dragon devouring us, let's take a walk. We
shall have plenty of time before dinner."
They accordingly read their letters and crept down stairs and out on the
street for a breath of air and a stroll in the Luxembourg Gardens. It
was too late to try to see the pictures in the Gallery of the Luxembourg
and, after all, they had the winter before them. And now that she was
out on the street, having escaped the dragon, Mrs. Brown confessed to
feeling a little mite tired, so they sat down on a bench in the Gardens
and watched the children play.
"Poor Mrs. Brown, of course you are tired! That is the most irritating
thing about Mrs. Pace: she is always right. 'It is best to rest after a
trip whether you feel tired or not, as the reaction after a journey is
obliged to come, and you pay up for it to-morrow if you do not rest
to-day'," and Judy imitated Mrs. Pace to the life.
"Well, you may be sure, my dear girls, that wild horses will not drag
the fact from me in the presence of the dragon, even if I am weary unto
death. Does she coerce all her boarders as she did me, Judy?"
"Most of them are completely under her dominion, finding it easiest and
best to take the course of least resistance. Some few rebel, but they
usually end by moving on. If you stay at the Pension Pace and wish to
"_requiescat in pace_," you do as she says to do. I have defied her from
the first and now I am rated as an undesirable boarder. Had it not been
that she was wild to have you with her because of your relationship to
the Marquise d'Ochtè, she would have raised some cock and bull story
about my room having been engaged by someone a year ago and, since her
honor was at stake, she would have to ask me to vacate.
"I tell you she is a sly one. You must either have lots and loads of
money, or you must do as she says, do--or die. Of course she has an
excellent house in a most desirable quarter and she caters to Americans.
You will notice that the food is much more American than French; and
after people have been knocking around the Continent, of course they are
overjoyed to have some food that seems like home."
"But I don't want American food," wailed Molly. "I want French things,
even snails; and I want to learn how to ask for these things in the most
Frenchy style. What is the use in coming to Paris and staying with a
stuffy old dame from Philadelphia and eating the things we have at
home?"
"Oh, I am so glad you feel that way! How about you, Mrs. Brown? Papa and
Mamma made me promise to do just as you thought best. They put me in
Mrs. Pace's house and I have been determined not to worry them about
changing, but I am 'most dead of her and her ways. Do say you think we
ought to go to housekeeping or should get in a French family; anything
to get out of the dragon's den," pleaded Judy.
"For how long did you engage our room?" asked Mrs. Brown, smiling at
Judy's despair.
"One week; and mine, also, is taken by the week. She tried to make Papa
sign for the whole winter, but he was on to her from the first and
refused to do more than take it from week to week. He and Mamma stayed
here a few days on their way to Turkey, and you would have died laughing
if you had seen Mrs. Pace try to make Papa 'Fletcherize.' You know he
always eats as though the train would not wait. At every meal she
remarked on it and one day said at dinner: 'This is veal, Mr. Kean, and
should be thoroughly masticated.' Whereupon he put down his knife and
fork and, looking her solemnly in the eye, said: 'That is good advice no
doubt for ordinary mortals, but after long years in railroad camps I
have acquired a gizzard.' With that he took a great piece of _blanquette
de veau_ and to all appearances swallowed it whole without changing his
expression. I choked so I had to leave the table and I believe Mrs.
Pace, to this day, thinks that by a skillful legerdemain I swallowed the
veal! Anyhow, Bobby ate to suit himself after that."
"Oh, Judy, how ridiculous you are! I wish I could have seen Mr. Kean
execute his daring feat," laughed Molly. "Mother, let's look around for
an apartment and go to housekeeping immediately. I am sorry we told
Elise O'Brien about Mrs. Pace's. I can't bear for her to be anywhere
that is not pleasant. She has had tribulations enough in her day."
Judy had not yet heard anything of their fellow passengers, as they had
been so occupied with Paris and the pension that they had had no time to
tell her of their voyage and the pleasant people they had met. She was
much interested in the fact that Miss O'Brien was to be at the art
school for the winter and said she was a girl of undoubted talent. As
for young Kinsella, he was the cleverest draughtsman at the League.
"Do you girls think you like Elise enough to have her come to live with
us for the winter?" asked Mrs. Brown. "I feel sure the poor girl would
be happy, and if you would all fit in together and be congenial, I
really think it would be an act of charity to ask her. We must consider
it from all sides before we rush into it, however."
"Mother, it would be splendid!" declared Molly. "I believe Mrs.
Huntington was dying for you to ask Elise, but of course had to wait for
you to suggest it. We could divide the expenses into four parts and I
know it would be cheaper than boarding and infinitely more agreeable."
"Mrs. Brown, I am sure we should get on like a house afire, and it does
seem as though we might take Elise in and give her a pleasant home. I
promise to be real good and get on with everybody, if I can only know I
am to leave the _Maison Pace_ in peace," promised Judy.
So it was decided by these three impulsive souls to take in Elise
O'Brien and to get a flat forthwith and leave the sheltering wing of the
dragon. Mrs. Brown thought it best to stay a fortnight in their present
quarters so they could look well about them; she also wanted to see her
old friend and cousin, the Marquise d'Ochtè, for if she were anything
like the Sally Bolling of old, she felt sure she could depend on her for
some assistance in the matter of getting settled.
"Of course, she may have changed so, after being married to a French
nobleman for some twenty-eight years, that I will hesitate to ask
anything of her; but I have an idea old Sally could not change. I
remember her as being a great harum-scarum but with the best heart in
the world, and absolutely honest and unaffected. My experience is that
honest, unaffected people do not change in the long run."
"What did she look like, Mother?" asked Molly.
"Well, when I come to think of it, she looked a little like you. She is
only my second cousin, once removed, not such very close kin; but this
red hair of yours comes cropping out in every generation or so in my
family and the similar coloring makes one fancy a likeness even if there
is none; but Sally had your eyes and your chin. She took life much more
lightly than my Molly does, saw a jest where none was intended and
sometimes cracked a joke when seriousness would have been in better
taste. I have not seen her for many years and she stopped corresponding
with all of us; not that there was any disagreement, but letter-writing
simply died a natural death, as time went on. I am greatly interested in
seeing her."
Mrs. Brown also decided to let Mr. Kinsella approach the O'Briens in
regard to having Elise live with her. She was very well aware of Mrs.
Huntington's nature and felt that that lady would be fully capable of
treating her as though Elise were necessary to the housekeeping scheme
to help out the financial end; and Mrs. Brown was determined to have no
one with her as a boarder, but to run the _ménage_ on a co-operative
principle, letting all of them share the expense.
Mrs. Huntington and Elise had stopped in Brussels for a visit with some
friends and Mr. Kinsella and Pierce were still in Antwerp getting their
fill of the pictures to be seen there. They were uncertain how long it
would take them to grow tired of the interesting Belgian city and could
not tell just when their friends might expect them in Paris.
When the three renegades returned from their walk in the Luxembourg
Gardens, they hoped to reach their rooms without being seen by Mrs.
Pace, but that lady's motto was "Eternal Vigilance," and no one went out
of her house or came in unobserved. She met them as they stepped off the
elevator on the fifth floor and gently but firmly admonished them for
their disobedience. Molly noticed her mother's heightening color and her
quivering nostrils and remembered with a smile what Aunt Mary, their old
cook, always said to them when they were children: "Ole Miss is long
suffrin' an' slow to anger but when her nose gits to wuckin', you
chillun ought to learn that she done had 'nuf and you had better make
yo'sefs scurse." Peace-loving Molly drew Mrs. Brown's arm through her
own and gently pressing it, led her upstairs.
"Thank you, my dear, I was on the verge of attacking the dragon, and
since we are to be here two weeks, I must not do anything to make it
more difficult. But did you ever see anyone more impertinent?" asked
Mrs. Brown, still sniffing the battle from afar.
"Never," sympathized Judy. "I wish you had said your say. I believe you
could get ahead of the fabulous monster in open combat. She is, after
all, a very flabby, fabulous monster and one prick would do for her."