AN EXPECTED GUEST
The three girls spent a delightful morning exploring the old Chateau,
and its park and garden. The clear air was brisk and keen, and a few
hours out of doors sent them back into the house with rosy cheeks and
bright eyes.
They discovered a delightful room that they had not seen before, which
was built out from one of the wings, and whose walls and ceiling were
entirely of glass.
"This is something like your room at home, Elise," said Patty, as they
seated themselves there.
"Not very much; my room is glass, to be sure, but it's square, and this
circular apartment is quite a different matter. And did you ever see
such exquisite furniture? I can quite believe myself an Empress when I
sit gracefully on this gilded blue satin sofa."
"I'm glad you think you're sitting gracefully," said Rosamond, laughing
at Elise, who, in her favourite position, had one foot tucked up under
her.
"I don't care," said Elise. "Probably Josephine would have liked to sit
on her foot, only she didn't dare."
"Her empire would have tottered if she had done such a thing as that,"
observed Patty, "but as it tottered anyway, she might as well have sat
as she pleased."
Ma'amselle joined the young people at luncheon time, and although she
called it breakfast, the repast was quite as elaborate and formal in
its way as dinner had been. But the girls brought to it three healthy
young appetites, that did full justice to the exquisite viands set
before them.
At the table, Ma'amselle announced to the girls her plans for their
entertainment.
It seemed that she expected her nephew that evening, to spend a few
days, and as the next day would be the great festival of New Year's
Day, she had planned a celebration of the event.
So she proposed that except for a short automobile drive that afternoon
the girls should rest and keep themselves fresh for dinner-time, when
she expected the arrival of her paragon of a nephew.
From her description of the young man, the girls were led to think that
he must be a sort of fairy prince in disguise,--and not very much
disguised, either.
So in the afternoon the three girls and Ma'amselle went for a drive in
one of the great touring cars, of which Ma'amselle had several.
Patty begged to be allowed to sit in front with the chauffeur, and
rather astonished that impassive factotum by asking to be allowed to
drive.
He was very much disinclined to grant her request, lest it should
displease the old Ma'amselle, of whom all her servants stood greatly in
awe; but when Patty appealed to her hostess, and received a not very
willing permission, the chauffeur allowed her to change seats with him,
and really drive the car.
He was greatly surprised at Patty's skill, and became more than ever
convinced that Americans were a strange race.
Their route lay past the railway station and along the beautiful
terrace which skirts the forest of St. Germain on one side, and
commands such a marvellous view of the valley and the Seine.
Returning home, the girls were left to their own devices until
dinner-time, when they were adjured to array themselves appropriately
to do homage with the wonderful Henri.
"Henri must be something out of the ordinary," declared Elise, when the
girls were alone.
"Probably not," said Patty; "only Ma'amselle thinks him so."
"At any rate I'm anxious to see him," declared Elise, "for I don't know
any real live French boy except that Pauvret who was on the steamer,
and he was too lackadaisical for any use."
"Well, I don't apprehend M'sieu Henri will be much better," said Patty;
"I don't care much about Frenchmen, anyway. What are you going to wear,
girls?"
"I shall wear my red chifon," said Rosamond; "it's most becoming to me;
I'm a perfect dream in it, and I shall quite cut out you other girls
with our foreign prince."
"Pooh!" said Elise; "he won't look at you when he sees me in my white
tulle. I'm the Frenchiest thing in that you ever saw!"
"Oh girls," cried Patty, "I'm going to wear my light blue crepe de
chine. And then we'll be red, white and blue! Won't that be a graceful
compliment to the French colours, as well as to our own dear flag!"
"Long may it wave!" cried Rosamond, and then following Patty's lead,
the girls sang the "Star Spangled Banner" with true American heartiness
and patriotism. This they followed up with the "Marseillaise," in which
they were interrupted by the appearance of one of the maids in a great
state of excitement.
In breathless haste, which made her French difficult for them to
understand, she explained that Ma'amselle had had a telegram of
dreadful import, and would the young ladies attend upon her at once.
The maid ushered the wondering girls to Ma'amselle's apartments and
found her in her dressing-room, in the hands of her maid, who was
assisting her in a hasty toilette.
The tears were rolling down the old lady's cheeks, and she seemed to be
in a state of trembling agitation.
"Ah, mes enfants" she cried, "but it is news of the most dreadful! Mon
Henri, my well-beloved nephew,--his arm,--it is broken! Ah the sadness
for the poor boy. Me, I fly to him at once,--but at once! You, but you
will excuse me, you will forgive, because of the dear boy! I go to
Paris, but I return, bringing my boy with me."
It was rather a mixed-up explanation, but the girls finally gathered
that Henri had had the misfortune to break his arm, and had sent for
his aunt to come to Paris and spend the New Year Day with him instead
of taking his intended trip to St. Germain.
Henri had not known that his aunt had the young ladies visiting her,
and so had no idea that he was disarranging her plans to such an extent.
"He can come!" she exclaimed; "bah, it is not his legs; it is but his
arm. Of a certainty, one does not walk on one's arm! But the dear boy!
I shall go to him and explain all. Then we will return, and there shall
be feasting and happiness. A broken arm is not so much,--it will
mend,--but to him I must fly!"
Patty endeavoured to find out definitely the old lady's plan, but she
could only gather that there was no time to be lost, that Ma'amselle
must catch the seven o'clock train.
To be sure of this, she must leave the house at half-past six.
And so she started, in her swift touring car, accompanied by her maid
and a groom, in addition to her capable and trusty chauffeur.
Away they went, and the girls returned to the drawing-room to consider
the situation.
"It was all over so quickly," said Patty, "that I hardly know whether
I'm on my head or my heels. What a whirlwind Ma'amselle is!"
"Yes, she flew around like a hen with its head off, or whatever French
hens do," said Rosamond; "if she whisks that broken-armed boy home as
fast as she whisked herself off they'll be here in a minute."
"She can't," said the practical Elise. "If she takes that seven o'clock
train, she won't get to Paris until nearly eight, and then, I don't
know where the interesting invalid lives, but anyway, to kidnap him and
get back here again is a matter of several hours. I don't expect to see
them before midnight."
"What shall we do?" said Patty; "shall we have our dinner?"
"I don't believe we'll have any say in the matter," volunteered Elise.
"I think that waxwork butler, and the 'feetmen,' as Rosamond calls
them, will arrange our lives for us, and we'll be simply under orders."
"What an exciting experience," exclaimed Patty; "to think of us three
American girls, alone except for the servants, in a gorgeous old French
Chateau! I feel as if I must do something to live up to my privileges."
"Suppose anything should happen that Ma'amselle never came back,"
suggested Rosamond; "we could take possession of the place and live
here forever."
"I don't think much of that plan," declared Patty; "New York is good
enough for me, as a permanent residence. But I do want to do somethink
in keeping with the atmosphere of this place. If there's a dungeon keep
on the premises, I think I'll throw you two girls into it, after having
first bound you in chains."
"You mean a donjon keep, Patty," said Elise; "you're so careless with
your mediaeval diction."
A noise in the hall, as of an arrival, startled the girls, and rising
impulsively, they flew out to see what it was all about.
To their astonishment, they found the footmen holding open the great
front doors, while three stalwart young men entered.
The middle one, who was partly supported by the other two, had his arm
in a sling, and as he was undoubtedly a Frenchman, the girls were sure
at once that he was no other than the worshipful Henri.
At sight of the three astonished girls the three young men looked
equally amazed, and whipping off their caps, they made profound bows to
the strangers.
It was a comical situation, for doubtless Henri had expected to see his
aunt, and was instead confronted by three unmistakably American misses.
Of the six, quick-witted Patty grasped the situation first.
"You are Monsieur Henri Labesse, is it not so?" she said, advancing
toward the broken-armed one.
In her haste and bewilderment, Patty spoke in English, forgetting that
the young man might not understand her native tongue.
But he answered in English quite as good as her own, though with a
decided French accent, "Yes, Mademoiselle, I am Henri Labesse. I make
you my homage, These are my two friends, Cecil Villere and Philippe
Baring."
"We are glad to welcome you," said Patty, in her pretty, frank way;
"these are my friends, Mademoiselle Farrington and Mademoiselle
Barstow. We are guests of your aunt."
"Ah, my aunt!" said Henri, as the other boys acknowledged the
introductions, "where is she? Did she not get my telegram?"
"She did, indeed," returned Patty, smiling, "and she went flying off to
Paris."
"But my second telegram; I wired again, saying I would come here."
"No, she did not get your second telegram,--only the first one
announcing your accident."
"And she has gone! oh how dreadful! but can we not stop her? Let us
send post haste after her."
"It's no use," said Elise; "she has been gone about ten minutes, and in
her fast car she is now more than half way to the station."
"Did you boys come in an automobile?" asked Patty.
"No," replied Mr. Villere; "we came in a rickety old cab from the
station, and it has gone back."
Patty's thoughts were flying rapidly. It seemed dreadful to let the old
Ma'amselle go to Paris on a wild-goose chase, when if she could but be
stopped, and brought back home, it would save the long and troublesome
journey and be a delight to them all.
She not only thought quickly, but she determined to act quickly.
"Can either of you boys drive an automobile?" she demanded of the two
uninjured guests.
With voluble lamentations the two confessed their inability in that
direction.
"Elise," cried Patty, turning upon her a look, which Elise well knew
demanded implicit obedience, "you stay right here and play you're the
hostess of this Chateau, and see that you do it properly. Rosamond, you
come with me!"
Without a further glance at the astonished young men, without a word to
the pompous butler who was hovering in the background, Patty grasped
Rosamond by the arm and pulled her away with her.