A YOUTHFUL GUIDE
AS the days passed Mr. Pinckney seemed to have forgotten entirely his
original intention of deserting his friends in Venice, and of bearing
Miss Dolores away beyond the attentions of Harold Kirk. He was his
old jolly, generous self, so that every one had the best of times in
consequence of his enthusiasm and eagerness for fun. Sometimes he would
take the twins off for a frolic leaving the others to follow some fancy
of their own; again he would have the whole party to dinner at some
pleasant outdoor restaurant, where queer Italian dishes were served.
There were excursions to Murano to see the glass-works, to Burano to
see the lace-makers, to Torcello, to Chioggia on a feast day, and
oftener than anywhere to the Lido, a place which the younger girls
adored.
There seemed to be good feeling on the part of Mr. Pinckney toward
both Carter and his cousin, and there were no more frowns, though once
or twice when Mr. Pinckney caught Jack looking at him speculatively,
he gave her a quizzical glance in return, but he never allowed the
subject they had discussed at the breakfast table to be brought up
again.
At last came a day when Miss Helen and Mrs. Corner decided that they
must leave Venice if they were to see anything of other places. So
again they packed up in order to start for Florence. This decision of
theirs was the signal for the rest to make a move and all traveled in
company.
"If I only had my motor car here we could get another, and go through
Italy in that way," said Carter. "What jolly good times we had in
California traveling around together."
"We'll do it again some time," Miss Helen assured him. "It is too
delightful a thing not to make a separate and distinct tour of. Now you
have started, Carter, no doubt you will come over often."
"Maybe," he said, "though one mustn't do too much junketing, once he
is settled down to the real business of life. Dad thought I had been
pretty diligent in some ways, and he said I deserved a bit of a change,
though if Mr. and Mrs. Roberts hadn't made up their minds to have a
houseful of company this summer, I doubt if I should have left them."
"But you did want to see us, didn't you, Carter?" asked Jack who was
never far away when Carter was on hand.
"Of course I did, and that is precisely why I came, though under
different circumstances I might have felt that I ought to stay behind.
We often can't do the things we want to, Jack, my honey, and often we
must do things we don't like to."
Jack did not apply this quite as it was intended as was apparent by
what followed, for she nodded to Mr. Pinckney and said: "Do you hear
that, Mr. St. Nick?"
"What's that?" he asked looking up from his time-table.
Jack repeated what Carter had said, and Mr. Pinckney's jolly laugh
followed. "Oh, but you are a rogue," he said. "Come over here." Jack
obeyed. "Look over there," said Mr. Pinckney, "and say if I am not a
devoted and long-suffering grandfather."
Jack looked to see Miss Dolores and Mr. Kirk slowly walking together,
evidently absorbed in a deeply interesting conversation. They were all
at the moment making a last visit to the Lido and the next day would
start for Florence.
To this city Nan had looked forward with great expectancy, and though
at first she was disappointed, after being possessed with the beauty
of Venice, in a day or two she was quite satisfied that Florence held
its own delights which were even more satisfying to her than those
of Venice. Its galleries, its churches, its history, its environs
opened, one after another, a series of interests which appealed to the
girl strongly. She did not despise its lighter charms either, for she
reveled in the gay shops along the Lungarno, and the displays of the
goldsmiths on the Ponte Vecchio. The Cascine, the Boboli Gardens and
the gardens of San Miniato were places for which the twins clamored
to be taken often, and there was generally some one in the party to
indulge them; if not Miss Helen or Mrs. Corner, then Mr. Pinckney or
Carter would offer escort. So while the others prowled around picture
galleries and discussed churches the twins were off on some excursion
which better pleased their youthful tastes.
All this while Miss Dolores seemed unconscious of the interest her
love affair was exciting. She knew very well, however, that her
grandfather did not approve of it in the beginning, but feeling that
she owed everything to him she had docilely accepted his decisions. She
realized that it would be hard to part from Mr. Kirk, and she knew the
separation might mean the giving up of her lover entirely, but whatever
she felt she kept within her own heart. So it was a surprise to her
when her grandfather suddenly accepted Mr. Kirk as a member of the
happy party and included him in invitations and plans which she shared.
It was intended to spend Easter at Rome, but at the last moment the
grown-ups decided to remain in Florence because Rome was so crowded
that good rooms for so large a number of persons would be difficult to
get, and because the children would enjoy _Lo Scoppio del Carro_ quite
as much as anything they might see in Rome where the Carnival had lost
many of its pleasant features.
"You don't want our girls in that rabble on the Corso," said Mr.
Pinckney. "We'd better stay here and see the Columbina."
So stay they did, and on the Saturday before Easter gathered with the
rest of the crowd before the cathedral, their carriages joining the
line of others, to watch for the great car filled with fireworks.
Hundreds of country people had assembled, for this was a great occasion
to them, much depending, in their superstitious minds, upon the voyage
of the dove.
Jack and Jean, as interested as the Italian spectators, craned their
necks to see the famous Columbina. "What does it look like?" asked
Jean. "Is it a real dove?"
"No," her Aunt Helen told her, "it is only a contrivance in the shape
of one."
"How does it get here?"
"It is lighted at the high altar during the Gloria and is run along a
string or wire to the car."
This was not so very mysterious, but was sufficiently interesting to
be looked for eagerly, and its progress to and from the altar became a
more exciting thing to watch than the fireworks themselves.
At last the fireworks ceased. There was a movement in the crowd.
Something else was to follow. "Oh, see the white oxen," cried Jack.
Every one looked to see the mild-eyed creatures who, with slow tread,
dragged the car to the Via del Proconsolo.
The Corner party followed, their driver taking a short cut so they
would be in time to see the arrival of the car, and to watch the
remainder of the fireworks which were set off at the Canto de' Pazzi.
As they drove home they stopped at the flower market in the arcades of
the Uffizi, and bore home their Easter flowers. "Such a lot of them and
so cheap," said Mary Lee. "No wonder they call the city Florence, for
what could be more flowery at this time of year?"
The carriages were dismissed at the flower market and all walked along
the Lungarno to their hotel, stopping once in a while to look in the
shop-windows or to interchange remarks.
"We shall go to the Boboli Garden to-morrow," announced the twins. "Mr.
St. Nick is going to take us. We think it is the prettiest thing in
Florence."
"What do you like best, Nan?" Jack asked.
"Oh, the galleries, the Uffizi and the Pitti, of course."
"What do you like best, Jo?" Jack continued her inquiries.
Jo confessed to a weakness for the shops on the Ponte Vecchio; Mary
Lee liked the Foundling Hospital with its medallions by Della Robbia;
Carter admired the cathedral. What Mr. Kirk and Miss Dolores liked
best in Florence Jack did not ask. She whispered to Nan to know if she
should put the question to them.
Nan glanced at the two who were standing absorbed in something of
mutual interest. "I can tell you what they like," she whispered back.
"What?" again in a whisper.
"Each other," returned Nan. Jack's giggle showed that she appreciated
the answer.
Easter Sunday with all the pomp and ceremony of a celebration at the
cathedral. Easter Monday, a last visit to the gardens, to the shops,
and they were off again, this time for Rome.
Nan and Carter sat poring over the latter's Baedeker during the
journey. "Dear me, it would take a lifetime, wouldn't it, Carter?"
said Nan. "How can we see it all?"
"We can't," he replied. "We shall have to begin by picking out the most
important things. I say the Forum first."
"Oh, dear, yes, and then St. Peter's."
"Of course again--and----"
"St. Peter's includes the Vatican."
"Which means days of looking if we are to see all."
"We must drive out the Appian way."
"And see the Catacombs."
"Yes, that comes in with the drive. We must go up the Capitoline hill
to the Museum."
"And the Pincio."
"And, oh, Carter, of all things, we have forgotten the Coliseum."
"So we have, and naturally that is one of the most important things."
"I am quite dizzy over it already. Don't let's write down any more till
after we have seen these. Isn't it overpowering? London is nowhere.
Paris is a mere nothing. I am perfectly wild with anticipation. It's
Rome we are to see, that wonderful, wonderful city. The more I read
about it the more enthusiastically bewildered I get. Hallo, Jo, what do
you think of it? Do you know where we are going?"
"Don't speak to me," said Jo from the other end of the seat. "I am
goose-flesh from top to toe. From this time out I expect to go about
with my mouth agape and my eyes popping out. Oh, Nan, what would
Frances Powers give to have this chance?"
"Poor Frances," returned Nan with a sigh.
"You always say that, and yet you are the one who has least reason to
be sorry for her."
"Maybe that is just it," replied Nan. "I have so much reason to feel
the other way that the pendulum has swung back. She has the worst of
it."
"The girls are all home for the Easter holidays now," said Jo
reflectively. "I think it will be rather good fun to go back there
after all, and after this year's travel. Think what a sensation I shall
make and what an authority I shall be, yet it will be rather hard to
get into the traces again, and to subsist on the everlasting baked
apples and baked beans."
"Our holiday has been a tremendously long one," said Nan, "for though
we have done some studying, there is much of the time we have taken our
mental nourishment in other ways than from books. I am glad Miss Barnes
agreed that travel would count as study and that we should not lose
by giving up school-books for part of the time. Who was Caracalla,
Carter? I see something about the Thermæ of Caracalla here in the book."
"He was a Roman emperor of about 212 B. C."
"That's enough," cried Jo. "Anything B. C. gets beyond my assimilation.
I can't digest it till I have taken a course of treatment, fish or
brain food of some kind. I think while I am in Rome I must consult a
physician and get him to recommend a diet that will increase my supply
of gray matter."
"You certainly do talk funny, Jo Keyes," said Mary Lee. "You are always
trying to make out that you haven't any brains, and yet you are always
the one who rises to the occasion and who comes up smiling whatever
the rest of us do. When Nan and I get completely snowed under by dates
and chronological events you glibly reel them off and tell us that
so-and-so was the daughter of King This-and-That, and that Emperor XYZ
married Princess Tutti-Frutti. Why even that mixy up Bavarian history
you had all smoothed out fine before we came away."
Jo blew Mary Lee a kiss from the tips of her fingers. "Thanks for the
bouquets," she said. "Just because I know a little arithmetic you think
I am smart. When it comes to real literature I am floored." She began
to gather up her traps for they were approaching the station and soon
their feet would be treading the streets of the Eternal City.
A few moments in the station, a swift drive to their hotel and they
were established in Rome.
There was such a variety of wishes displayed the next morning that the
party split up into three sections. Mr. Pinckney, Miss Dolores, Mary
Lee and Mr. Kirk, as a matter of course, yearned to see St. Peter's.
Nan, Carter and Jo voted for the Forum, so Miss Helen agreed to join
them. This left Mrs. Corner and the twins to decide upon what they
should see. Jack was divided between a desire to be of the party with
Carter and to go to the Coliseum, a place upon which Jean had set her
heart. At last Jean's references to the early martyrs and to the dens
and chambers for the wild beasts so fired Jack's imagination that she
concluded to go with her mother and Jean.
"It is too large a party anyhow," declared Miss Helen. "We shall all
get along much more comfortably this way."
"Of course Mary Lee would go with Miss Dolores," remarked Nan, "and
of course Jean and Jack wanted to be harrowed by a view of the spot
where the early Christians were martyred. I suppose Jack will be in
tears over it while Jean will be interested in seeing where they used
to keep the lions and tigers, and will placidly tell Jack that it
all happened so long ago that there is no use in one's feeling badly
about it." This described the temperaments of the two so well that all
laughed.
"Will there be a moon?" asked Nan abruptly just before they reached the
car which would take them to their destination.
Miss Helen laughed. "Are you dreaming, Nan? It isn't night."
Nan laughed, too. "I was thinking of the Coliseum. The guide-book says
it is best seen at moonlight, and I was wondering if we would have a
chance to do that."
"I think we shall, but not till the latter part of our stay."
"As long as we get it in, that will be all right."
Arriving at the point from which the Forum could be best viewed from
above, the four stood looking toward it silently, each impressed by the
sight of the historic columns, the triumphal arches, the ruined temples.
"To think," murmured Miss Helen, "that it is comparatively but a
short time ago that all this was buried under rubbish, that it was a
spot which for a long time was practically hidden from view until the
nineteenth century."
"Why was that, Miss Helen?" asked Jo.
"Because in warring against paganism the temples were destroyed, the
stones were carried away to build into churches and castles, and the
very name Forum was forgotten. You can read all about it in Baedeker,
my dear," said Miss Helen with a smile at Jo's look of admiration at
her knowledge.
"Let's read up, Nan, as soon as we get home," said Jo enthusiastically.
Their talk was at this moment broken in upon by a queer little figure
which approached. A little fellow of about twelve or thirteen was
taking as long strides as he was capable of toward them. He was dressed
in manly attire, long trousers, sack coat and Derby hat. "Want a
guide?" he asked. "I show you alla, evrasing, verra sheep."
The four looked at one another and grinned. His was such a comical
appearance, for he was small for his age, and had such a serious air.
Even Miss Helen smiled.
"I spika Engglis," continued the boy. He struck an attitude. "Frienda
Roma, contra-manna. I coma bury Cæsar," he began.
The three younger ones of the party turned away their heads, and broke
into suppressed giggles. The boy was so ridiculous with his little
pompous manner.
Miss Helen bit her lip, but managed to ask, "What do you know about
being a guide, a little boy like you?"
"I know alla as big manna. He sharge molto, mucha, me, no. Me, verra
clever." He smote his breast with an air of assured self-importance.
"Do let's have him," whispered Nan to her aunt. "Even if he isn't any
good he is so funny."
"What is your charge?" asked Miss Helen, turning to the boy.
He named a moderate enough price with all the gravity possible.
"It's worth it," murmured Carter, "just to see the little rat and his
airs."
"Very well," agreed Miss Helen, "you may come with us. I don't suppose
he knows a thing or will do anything right," she said to the others,
"but I have my Baedeker with me, and he is funny."
The boy strode ahead, taking as mighty steps as his short legs would
permit, and presently began his lecture, waving a small hand in the
direction of the Temple of Saturn, and naming the buildings correctly
enough. When he thought his party had exhausted the resources above
he turned abruptly. "Come along," he said peremptorily, and with long
strides marched ahead.
"He takes the Cook guides for his pattern," laughed Miss Helen. The boy
did not hear, but with the same air of importance led his party over
the ground. At the slightest word of appreciation, he would smite his
breast and say, "Me verra clever." Before he had finished with them he
had taken them to the Capitoline Hill, had procured them post-cards at
a figure less than that usually charged, had marched them to the church
of Santa Maria in Arcoeli that they might view the wonder-working
bambino laden with jewels, and in his queer jargon of broken English
told them many things with such an air of gravity as convulsed them. Jo
once in a while managed to reach the boy in him, and his merry laugh,
in strong contrast to his costume and his general manner, was the more
contagious.
He had really fulfilled his promise so well, and as Carter said, was
"such an amusing little rat" that the others of the party employed him
later and as a matter of course Jack brought him out wonderfully, and
was able to learn more from him than any one else.
At the close of the first day, each was so enthusiastic about what he
or she had seen that the different parties followed the example of one
another the next day, a sort of ladies' change, Jo said, though after
this they divided up in various ways. Sometimes it was Mr. Pinckney
who carried off all four Corners; again it would be two of these who
would go in one direction and two in another. At another time the whole
company of eleven would take carriages for an afternoon's drive or
sightseeing, finally having supper at some out-of-door restaurant, and
coming home through the lighted streets, happy though tired.
Nan had her sight of the Coliseum by moonlight, and was stirred to the
depths by the grandeur and solemnity of the scene. It was an evening
not to be forgotten by any of them, and it may be remarked in passing
that it was a specially happy one to Miss Dolores and Mr. Kirk.
So day after day passed until one morning Mrs. Corner remarked, "If we
expect to reach Naples before it is too hot, we shall have to think of
getting there, for May is passing."
"Leave Rome?" exclaimed the girls.
"Don't you want to see Naples?"
"Of course, but why can't we----" began Mary Lee.
"Do what?"
"I don't know. Make time stand still, I suppose."
"Rome will remain, dear child, and you can come back some day."
"I know, and of course we have been here over two weeks now. Well,
mother, I suppose we shall have to go."
"Don't say it so mournfully, my child. You will be delighted with
Naples, with Sorrento, Amalfi, Capri, Pompeii."
"Oh, I know it. This earth has more in it than one can well see in a
short lifetime. I can't understand how people can ever be bored."
"Like that awful Mrs. Ritchie on the steamer," said Nan; "she didn't
know what places there were left to visit for she and her daughter had
been everywhere. Shall you ever forget her blasé look and set smile?"
"Her name just suited her," declared Jo. "She was just rich and nothing
else. I was so pleased when Miss Helen drew her out, and found that she
had been only to the big cities and that she didn't know anything but
shops, theatres and restaurants."
"There is no danger of this crowd ever getting bored," remarked Nan.
"The trouble is we are too enthusiastic, for we like the little
simple things as much as the big ones, and when we have exhausted our
vocabularies over some small matter we have no words left to express
what we feel for the great ones. Is go the word, mother?"
"Yes, I think it must be if we are to see anything of southern Italy
before we sail for----"
"Home, home, sweet home," broke in a chorus of voices.
"And that is another thing to be enthusiastic about," said Nan at the
close of the outburst. "There is the getting back and the seeing all
the dear old places and the darling people."
[Illustration: CHAPTER XX
TOWARD THE TOE]