UNCLE JOHN.
When Eric returned to Gravenhaag, whom should he see but his uncle, Mr.
Van Rasseulger? And he being the last person in the world that Eric would
have thought of meeting there, of course he was decidedly surprised.
"Uncle John!" he exclaimed, joyfully. "Who would have thought of seeing
you here?"
"You wouldn't, I'll wager, young man, or you'd not have gone wild goosing
it over the water at Amsterdam."
"I've had a glorious time!" exclaimed Eric. "I've been walking upon the
bottom of the Zuyder Zee."
"It's high time somebody arrived to look after you."
"But, uncle John, it was perfectly safe. Mr. Lacelle is an experienced
diver; and the landlord under whose care papa left me gave me permission.
Besides, nothing happened--"
"How stout and healthy you have grown!" exclaimed Mr. Van Rasseulger,
interrupting Eric. "If Johnny has improved as much as you have, I shall
send him abroad frequently."
"How is Johnny? He was ill when uncle Charlie wrote to me."
"Ill!" exclaimed Johnny's fond papa, instantly growing anxious. "What did
the doctor say, Eric?"
"Only that I must wait here a day or two, until Johnny was well enough to
come on."
"And where were they when he wrote?"
"At Paris," said Eric.
"I meant to stay with you to-night," said his uncle; "but I believe I
shall take the boat to Antwerp to-night, and catch the Express to Paris. I
must look after my boy."
"O, please take me with you," pleaded Eric. "Mr. Lacelle is going to stay
at Amsterdam, and I shall be terribly lonesome here, all alone again."
"Well, get your things together. Can you be ready in two hours?"
"In ten minutes," cried Eric, gayly: "mamma did all my packing before she
left. I've only to tumble a few things into my travelling-bag, and to feed
myself and Froll."
"The little monkey? I've made her acquaintance. We're quite good
friends."
"Uncle John, if you haven't seen the doctor or Johnny, how _did_ you find
me?" said Eric, who had been puzzling himself with this question for some
time.
"Entirely by accident," replied his uncle. "I arrived here about two hours
since, and, finding all your names on the register, supposed I had stepped
right into a family party; but then I learned that your father and mother,
and that bundle of mischief called Nettie, had gone home, and that
_Mynheer_ Eric had gone to Amsteldamme to explore the mysteries of the
bottom of the sea. I was so frightened that if there had been a chance of
hitting you, I should have gone directly after you."
"I wish you had," said Eric, "in time to have gone down into the water."
Mr. Van Rasseulger, for all his talk about Eric's expedition, was heartily
pleased with his brave little nephew, and was thinking to himself such an
honest, energetic, courageous boy would make his way well in the world.
Eric had no idea that he was a particularly interesting boy. He was large
and strong for his age, easy in his manners, and had a frank, joyous
countenance, surmounted by thick, brown, curly hair. His eyes were very
honest eyes indeed, often opening wide in a surprised way, when they saw
anything not quite right, and blazing and flashing upon the aggressor when
they witnessed wrong, cruelty, or injustice. He had been brought up upon
the creed, "First of all, _do right_; and _be a gentleman_." And being
thoughtful, careful, and obedient, he was trusted and respected as few
boys of his age rarely deserve to be.
Of course he had his faults. No young lad is without them. But the
difference between Eric and other boys was, that when he became conscious
of a fault in his character, he immediately set about overcoming it, and
therefore soon got rid of it. But he was obliged to keep a very careful
watch over himself, for little faults creep into one's character faster
than the little weeds spring up in the flower garden, and, like the weeds,
too, if at once removed are almost harmless, but if allowed to spread and
flourish they soon spoil the entire character, as the weeds spoil the
garden.
While we have been moralizing, Eric has eaten his supper, neatly packed up
the few things left about, and, with Froll and his travelling-bag, starts
from the Vyverberg for Paris.
A very common-looking steamboat took them to Antwerp. There is not much to
relate of their journey, for Eric's adventures had so tired him that he
slept all the way, only awakening to take the cars at Antwerp, and rousing
once again to know they were passing through Brussels, and to hear his
uncle say that the finest altar in the world was in the cathedral there.
They arrived at Paris about noon of the next day, and, after considerable
trouble, found that Dr. Ward had taken rooms in a hotel in the _Place
Vendome_, whither they at once repaired.
Eric wanted to give his uncle and cousin a surprise. So Mr. Van Rasseulger
did not send up their names, but they stole softly up the stairs, and
opened the door.
Johnny was alone, lying upon the floor, with a very fretful, discontented
expression upon his countenance.
He turned his head towards the door, and there, upon the threshold,
blushing and laughing, stood Eric; and, better still, behind him was papa.
The child uttered a joyful cry, and sprang into his father's arms, who
hurried to meet him, exclaiming,--
"My boy, my Johnny-boy, what is the matter?"
"It's only the mumps," said Johnny, reassuringly, and holding out his hand
to Eric. "O, ain't I glad you've come!" he added. "It's awful dull here,
uncle Charlie is away at the hospital so much."
"Well, how have you been, excepting the mumps?" inquired his father,
relieved enough to find nothing serious the matter with his petted boy.
"Bully!" exclaimed John, very improperly. "See how strong I'm getting,
papa!" and he threw out his fist suddenly, giving his father a very
uncomfortable punch in the side.
"I'm glad you didn't illustrate on me," said Eric, laughing. "Uncle John,
are you a tester?"
"I'm an _at_testor, certainly," replied his uncle. "Johnny, if you
demonstrate your power of strength so forcibly and practically, some one
will apply oil of birch to you."
"Then I'll be in first-rate running order," retorted Johnny, "and you'll
have to take me to Strasbourg."
"Indeed," said his father, "I think so."
As they all sat, merrily talking, Dr. Ward returned, and was pleased and
surprised enough to find his unexpected guests. His greeting was very
cordial.
Eric he was particularly glad to see; he had been worried about leaving
him so long, alone, at the Hague; and Johnny had been too ill to travel or
to be left with strangers, and Eric was too inexperienced, his uncle
thought, to go from the Hague to Paris alone. So it was quite a relief to
find him safely at hand.
"And now," he said, after talking about home affairs for quite a while, "I
see my way out of a dilemma. I have been anxious to attend two or three
medical lectures at Heidelberg, and if you will look after the boys for a
day or two, I can have my desire."
"Certainly; I will for a day or two. At the end of that time I must go
home. Here's this dutiful boy of mine, with never a word for mamma, Annie,
or Adolphe.
"Well," said Johnny, remonstrating, "you took me so by surprise, papa,
that I forgot all about them."
"Your filial affection must be strong," said his father, laughing at him.
Johnny did not like this, and proposed to Eric to take a walk, and "see
Paris."
While they were gone, Mr. Van Rasseulger arranged with the doctor to meet
them again at Heidelberg; meanwhile he would keep the boys with him for a
week. They would leave Paris the next day, if John was well enough.
Dr. Ward thought he would be.
Mr. Van Rasseulger explained that he had been obliged to visit Rotterdam
and Hague suddenly on business, and must go to Vienna, in Austria, and
start for home, within a fortnight.
"Don't neglect to take the boy to Munich, and show him to his grandfather;
and don't forget your promise to 'make him as hearty and strong as Eric,'"
he said.
Poor little Johnny, in the interval between his own birth and that of his
baby brother,--a space of seven years,--had been petted and pampered, and
almost thoroughly spoiled. His temper had suffered with his constitution,
and he became a delicate, sickly child. His parents, while living in New
York, had lost three boys, and fearing to lose Johnny, too, had sent him
to travel abroad, under Dr. Ward's care. Mr. Van Rasseulger was a native
of Germany, and thought there was no air so invigorating as that breathed
in on German soil. He had great hopes of its curing John's delicacy; and
Dr. Ward thought that a strange country and traveller's hardships would be
excellent aids in restoring the boy's natural health and good-nature.
Meanwhile, Eric was seeing Paris under Johnny's guidance. To be sure, he
could not see much in a day; but he took a look at the war column in the
_Place Vendome_, saw the _Palace of the Tuileries_, the _Jardin des
Plantes_, and entertained his little cousin with an account of his visit
to the King of Holland, and his submarine diving, both of which Johnny
thought very wonderful. Eric was not much concerned at seeing so little of
Paris at the time, for he knew that the doctor intended to spend a month
there, after visiting Munich. He bought a guide-book while out with
Johnny, and then they returned to their rooms in time to see the doctor
start for Heidelberg.
"Eric," said Johnny, when Dr. Ward had gone, "I must show you the American
railway here."
"Why?" said Eric; "I'm sure that is the last thing I came to Paris to
see."
"Now," said Johnny, importantly, "I suppose you think you know just what
it is; but you're quite as mistaken as if you were a donkey without
ears."
"John!" said his father, reprovingly.
"That was only a 'simile,' papa," answered Johnny, roguishly, as he led
Eric out again.
Sure enough, when they reached the railway, Eric found that his idea of it
had been far from correct.
"It is nothing at all but an omnibus running upon rails," he said: "I
don't see why they call it American."
"It isn't anything like as nice as our street cars--is it?" answered
Johnny, with a flourish of national pride quite pardonable in so young an
American.
Just then the conductor, supposing the two boys wished to be passengers,
saluted them politely, exclaiming, "_Complete, complete!_" and the omnibus
rolled off along the rails.
"What did he mean?" asked Eric, quite puzzled.
"He said the coach was full," Johnny replied. "They are never allowed to
carry more passengers than there are seats for."
"That is still less and less like an American railway," said Eric,
laughing, and thinking of the crowded cars and overstrained horses he had
so often seen and pitied, wearily perambulating the streets of New York.
"Let's have some cake and coffee," Johnny proposed, as they were strolling
towards home. "I think French coffee is hard to beat."
"When I was your age," remarked Eric, "mamma almost decided to live in
Paris; but I am very glad she did not, for I think New York a great deal
nicer."
Johnny led the way to a cafe--that is, a coffee-house,--and here they
regaled themselves with rolls and delicious coffee.
Eric was shocked to see Johnny appropriate a couple of cakes and two lumps
of sugar, left over from their repast, and convey them to his pocket.
"Why, Johnny!" he exclaimed, in a tone of mortification.
"They all do so," said John, laughing. "A Frenchman thinks he has a right
to everything that he pays for. Watch the others."
Eric looked around and saw several Frenchmen, who had finished their
lunch, following John's example.
"Well," said he, "if I should do that at Millard's, how they _would_ all
stare!"
Johnny was quite pleased with his own importance in being able to show
Eric around the city, and proposed several places that they "ought to
see." But the afternoon was waning, and a damp, chilly breeze sprang up,
which Eric knew, from experience, was not at all good for the mumps. So he
very prudently hurried Johnny home, holding forth Froll's loneliness as an
additional inducement.