ST. GERMAIN
The weeks went happily by. Patty became quite accustomed to French ways
and customs, and was becoming proficient in the language.
One of her greatest treats was the Opera. Mr. Farrington had engaged a
box for the season, and the girls attended nearly every matinee
performance. The first few times Patty could scarcely listen to the
music for her admiration of the wonderful building, but after she
became more accustomed to its glories, it did not so distract her
attention from the stage. Mr. and Mrs. Farrington occasionally gave
opera parties, and dinner parties, too, but the girls were not allowed
to attend these. Although indulgent in many ways, Mrs. Farrington was
somewhat strict about the conventions for her young people; but so
gently were her rules laid down, that they never seemed harsh or stern.
On nights when dinner parties were given, the girls had their dinner in
the 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 a
motor-car. It had always fascinated her, and she had always felt that
she could do it if she only knew how. Once when she timidly expressed
this wish to Mr. Farrington, he replied, "Why certainly, child, I'll be
glad to teach you, and some day, who knows, you may have a car of your
own."
So whenever opportunity allowed Mr. Farrington gave her lessons in the
art, and often Patty would sit in front with the chauffeur and he would
teach her many things about the mechanism, until she became really
quite accomplished as a driver.
Of course, she was never allowed to run the car alone, nor did she wish
to, but it was great fun to handle the wheel herself and feel the car
obey her lightest touch. Sometimes she would grow elated at her success
and put on the high speed, but always under the supervision and
protecting guidance of Mr. Farrington or the affable and amiable
chauffeur.
It was a great surprise to Patty when she learned that Christmas was
not made so much of in Paris as with us, but that the great fete-day
was New Year's Day, or, as they called it, JOUR DE L'AN.
But Patty was not baffled by French customs entirely, and decreed that
the Farrington household should hold a Christmas celebration all by
themselves. This they did, and the day to them was a pleasant one
indeed.
But this was a minor episode compared to the fact that old Ma'amselle
Labesse 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 not
accept it, as Mr. and Mrs. Farrington had an engagement in Paris for
the festival.
But after much discussion of the matter, and much pleading on the part
of the young people, it was arranged that Patty and Elise should go two
days before the New Year Day and spend a whole week with the old
Ma'amselle in her chateau. A little tactful managing on Patty's part
secured 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 his
chauffeur, and Patty, to her great delight and satisfaction, drove the
car all the way there.
St. Germain is a beautiful town, which dates back about eight
centuries, when it was a favourite summer residence of French royalty.
The forest is among the most beautiful of all French woods, and as
Patty drove through the roads of the deep forest it seemed like
enchanted ground. They spun along the Terrasse, enjoying the view
below, and after passing many beautiful villas and residences came to
the old chateau of Ma'amselle Labesse.
After passing a porter's lodge at the entrance, they went on for a long
distance through the park before reaching the house Then alighting at
the main portal, the doors were thrown open by footmen, and the girls
were ushered in.
Ma'amselle herself received them in the entrance hall. She looked quite
different from the way she had appeared on board the steamer, as she
was now attired in very elegant and formal robes, with her white hair
arranged after the fashion of Madame de Pompadour.
She cordially welcomed the three young girls, making emphatic
assertions at her delight in seeing them, but her warmest welcome was
bestowed 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 was
really fond of the quaint old lady.
The girls were all amazed at the grandeur and beauty of Ma'amselle's
home, and were unable to repress their admiration; but Ma'amselle was
pleased rather than otherwise that they should express their pleasure.
"But surely," she said, "it is indeed the beautiful home. This hall! It
is not of a smallness! And in the old days it welcomed royal guests."
The hall was indeed magnificent. It was decorated with frescoes and
mural paintings by well-known French artists. It contained statues and
paintings and clocks and vases that might have graced a museum. The
armour of knights stood about, and valuable trophies graced the
wainscoted walls.
A wide carved staircase wound spirally up from one end; and at
Ma'amselle's suggestion, the girls were ushered at once to their room.
French maids were sent to them to unlock their boxes and assist with
their toilettes, and Patty was glad that she now knew enough French at
least to make herself understood.
Rosamond Barstow was a girl who never hesitated to get what she wanted
if possible, and now it suited her purpose to dismiss the French maids;
in her voluble if somewhat imperfect French, she told them that the
young ladies wished to be alone for a time and would ring for the maids
later.
"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 in
this world? I didn't know your old Ma'amselle lived like this! How
shall we ever live up to it?"
"I didn't know she lived like this, either," said Patty, laughing at
Rosamond's expressions; "and I don't care whether we can live up to it
or not. We'll put on our best frocks and our best manners, and that's
all 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 next
apartment.
The girls had been given rooms near each other and which, with their
anterooms and dressing-rooms, filled up the whole of a large wing of
the chateau.
Patty's, as she expressed it to the other girls, looked more like a
very large cretonne shirtwaist box than anything else. For the walls
and ceiling were covered with a chintz tapestry; the lambrequins,
window curtains and door hangings were all of the same material and
pattern, and the bed itself was draped and heavily curtained with the
same. The bed curtains and window curtains were fastened back with huge
rosettes of the chintz, and Patty remarked that it must have been
brought by the acre.
The furniture was of the quaintest old French pattern, and so
old-fashioned and unusual were the appointments all about, that Patty
knew neither the names nor the use of many of them.
"I'd rather sleep in a "cosy-corner" than in that bed," remarked
Rosamond; "I know that whole affair will tumble on your head in the
night. It's perfectly gorgeous to look at, but seems to me these old
things are 'most too old. If I were Ma'amselle I'd root them all out
and refurnish."
"You'd be sent home if Ma'amselle heard you talk like that," admonished
Patty, "and I'm not a bit afraid of that tent arrangement tumbling
down. It's most picturesque, and I shall lie in it, feeling like a
retired empress."
"Come, Rosamond," said Elise, "call back those comic opera maids you
sent 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. But
she's a dear old lady, and we must do our part as well as she does
hers."
So Rosamond rang and the maids came back, wondering what strange young
demoiselles they had to wait upon now.
Patty allowed herself to be dressed by the deft-fingered maid, and
being ready first, stepped out on the little balcony opening from her
window to wait for the others.
A beautiful view met her eye. The lawn was terraced in many slopes, and
the flower-beds and shrubberies, though arranged with French precision,
formed a beautiful landscape. There were fountains playing, and here
and there arbours and trellises and pleasant paths.
But the girls called to her, and Patty joined them, and twining their
arms about each other's waists, they walked down the broad staircase.
They were all in white, and their pretty frocks and dainty slippers
made a modern note that contrasted strangely but pleasantly with the
antique relics and ancient atmosphere of the chateau.
When they reached the great hall, a footman ushered them into the grand
drawing-room where they were to await Ma'amselle.
She soon appeared, resplendent in her old-time grandeur, and going to
greet her, the girls kissed her hand, an old custom which greatly
pleased their hostess.
"But it is of a joy to see you!" she exclaimed. "Me, I am so much
alone. It is not good to be alone, and yet, it is my choice. I stay in
the home of my ancestors, therefore I stay alone. Voila!" she shrugged
her shoulders, as if to emphasise the fact that it was more joy to live
alone in the old chateau than to be anywhere else.
"But I am not always alone," she went on; "no, it is that my Henri, my
nephew, comes to me at occasion. And he comes soon. Jour de l'an always
brings him. He spends the day with me. He makes me a pleasure. And you
shall see him, you young ladies. Ah, how he is beautiful!" The old lady
clasped her hands and turned her gaze upward, and the girls were fain
to believe that her nephew was indeed a wonderful specimen of humanity.
Then the dinner was announced, and leaning on the arm of an old
footman, who was quite as dignified as she was herself, Ma'amselle led
the way to the dining-room.
The table appointments, Patty thought, would have done justice to any
of the most celebrated characters in French history, had they been
there to enjoy them.
Although not exactly embarrassed, the girls were a little bit awed at
splendour so unusual to them. To Rosamond it seemed distinctly humorous
that three such young American girls should be honoured guests in such
a regal household; to Elise it seemed extremely interesting, and the
novelty and strangeness of it all impressed her more than the grandeur.
But Patty, with her usual quick ability to accept a situation, seemed
to take everything for granted, and made herself quite at home. The
wonderfully garbed footmen who stood behind their chairs like statues,
except when they were wound up, nearly made Rosamond giggle; but to
Patty, they were merely part of the performance, and once accepted as
such, of course, they belonged in the picture.
This readiness to adapt herself to any circumstances was inherent in
Patty's nature, and she sat there and conversed with her hostess as
charmingly 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 be
bright and entertaining, and as Elise was always more or less of a
chatterbox, the three girls provided much entertainment, and their
hostess was delighted with her congenial guests.
After the rather lengthy dinner was at an end, the old Ma'amselle took
the girls through various apartments, and showed them many of the
treasures 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, in
some of which the old Ma'amselle joined with her thin but still sweet
voice.
"And now," she said at last, "it is to tear the heart--but I must send
you babies to bed. Me, I sleep so badly, but you young girls, of a
surety, must have the tranquil rest. It is then 'Bon Soir,' and in the
morning you are to amuse yourselves. You have but to ring for your
chocolate, when you awake, and then pursue your own pleasures until
noon, when I will meet you at dejeuner."
After affectionate good-nights, the girls went to their rooms, and a
half hour later, wrapped in kimonos and with their long braids hanging
down their backs, they were all perched on Patty's big bed--alone at
last.
"But it is of a gorgeousness," exclaimed Rosamond, mimicking, but not
unkindly, the old Ma'amselle's imperfect English; "me, I never have so
many feetmen at home! Is it that you do, Patty?"
"But I like it all," exclaimed Patty, giggling at comical Rosamond, but
standing 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, but
it's lovely for a few days, and I'm just going to pretend I'm La Grande
Mademoiselle."
"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's
nothing French about me, so there's no use pretending, but I might be
an English Queen."
"Well, Josephine and Elizabeth, you'd better run to bed now," said
Patty, "for I'd like the exclusive occupancy of this upholstered
tennis-court myself."
Amazed to find that it was after midnight, the other girls ran laughing
away, and Patty climbed in behind the chintz curtains, almost
persuading herself that she was a royal Princess after all.
Next morning the Queen and the Empress came bounding in, and shook La
Grande Mademoiselle till she awoke.
"This bed is the biggest," announced Queen Elizabeth, "and so we're all
going 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 if
you didn't. Now stop your giggling, while I ring the bell, and see what
happens."
A dainty French waitress answered the summons, and smilingly asked for
orders.
Patty modestly asked for chocolate and rolls for them all, but the
French maid volunteered the information that Ma'amselle was of the
opinion that the young ladies would like an omelette, and perhaps a jar
of marmalade.
[Illustration with caption: "They were all perched on Patty's big
bed--alone at last"]
"Heavenly!" exclaimed Rosamond, rolling her eyes in ecstacy, and the
waitress departed on her errand.
"This is the jolliest picnic yet," declared Elise, a little later as
she sat, propped up by pillows, in a corner of the big chintz tent, and
devoured flaky hot rolls and apricot marmalade.
The girls were each in a corner of the great bed, which left ample room
in the centre for the tray full of good things, and though perhaps an
unusual place for a picnic, it was a most hilarious festivity.