A NOCTURNAL ADVENTURE.
It was very nice to waken the next morning and find the sunshine
streaming in at the windows.
Barbara was ready to be charmed with everything, from the pretty little
maid in the mob cap, who carried in the breakfast, to the crisp rolls
and coffee. Both of the travellers were quite rested, and eager to
begin sight-seeing, and Miss Britton left the choice of place to her
niece. The latter diligently scanned the guide-book as she took her
breakfast, and kept calling out fresh suggestions every few moments;
but, finally, they determined on the Louvre as most worthy of their
first visit.
I do not know whether it was the experience of the night before, but
Aunt Anne seemed to have a fixed idea that Paris was full of thieves,
and before starting out she made the most careful preparations for
encountering pickpockets. She sewed some of her money into a little
bag inside her dress, put some more into a pocket in her underskirt,
and said that Barbara might pay for things in general, as it would
teach her the use of French money. She herself kept only a few
centimes in a shabby purse in her dress pocket, "to disappoint any
thief who took it."
As soon as the _fiacre_ stopped in the court of the Louvre, they were
besieged by several disreputable and seedy-looking men wanting to act
as guides through the galleries. Partly to get rid of the rest, partly
because they thought it might be easier, they engaged the
tidiest-looking one who seemed to know most English, and, feeling
rather pleased with themselves, entered the first gallery. Of course,
Barbara wished to begin by seeing those pictures which she had heard
most about; but the guide had a particular way of his own of taking
people round, and did not like any interference.
Indeed, he did not even like to let them stay longer than a few seconds
at each picture, and kept chattering the whole time, till at last they
grew annoyed, and Aunt Anne told him they would do the rest by
themselves. But it took some time to get rid of him, and then he went
sulkily, complaining that they had not given him enough, though Barbara
felt sure he had really got twice as much as was his due.
They enjoyed themselves very much without him, and saw a great deal
before lunch-time.
At the end of the meal, when Aunt Anne was going to take out her purse
to use the centimes in it for a tip for the waiter, she discovered her
preparations had not been in vain, and that the purse really had been
stolen. Perhaps, on the whole, she was rather glad, for she turned to
Barbara in triumph.
"There now, Barbara," she said, "if I had had my other purse in my
pocket, it would have been just the same, and now whoever has it will
be properly disappointed!"
They did not return to Neuilly until the evening, where they met the
rest of the pension at dinner. Besides two brothers of the Belvoir
family, there were a number of French visitors and one English family,
to whom Miss Britton and her niece took an immediate dislike. The
father, who, they were told, was a solicitor whose health had broken
down, was greedy and vulgar, and his son and daughter were pale,
frightened-looking creatures, who took no part in the gay conversation
which the French kept up.
After dinner, when every one else went into the salon for music, the
solicitor and his children retired to their rooms, which Mademoiselle
Belvoir and her brothers seemed to resent. The former confided to
Barbara, in very quaint English, that they had never had such people in
their house before, and Aunt Anne, who overheard the remark, shook her
head sagely.
"I would not trust them, Mademoiselle" (Miss Britton was English from
the sole of her foot to the tip of her tongue). "They seem unpleasant,
and I have a great power for reading faces." At which Mademoiselle
Belvoir murmured something about wishing her mother were back.
However, the evening was a pleasant one, though Barbara was so tired
that she was hardly an intelligent listener to the music provided, and
fell asleep as soon as her head touched the pillow.
She was, therefore, a little surprised when she awoke suddenly two
hours later for apparently no reason at all. She had been dreaming
about something exciting, and lay trying to remember what it was, when
an eerie feeling stole over her, and it seemed as if she heard
breathing--which was not her aunt's--close beside her. She did not
dare to move for a moment. Then she turned her head very gently, and
between the two windows near the recess she was sure she saw a dark
figure. The longer she watched the surer she became, and she knew it
could not be her aunt, whom she heard breathing quietly in the other
bed.
It was certainly a horrible sensation, and all the unpleasant stories
she had ever read crowded into her mind. At first she could not think
what to do, but at last made up her mind to go across the room to Miss
Britton's bed and tell her.
Yawning, and pretending to wake up gradually, though all the time she
felt as if she had been lying there for hours, she called out, "Aunt
Anne, I can't sleep, so I'm coming into your bed."
Miss Britton awoke at once--she was a light sleeper--and at first I
think she imagined her niece was mad.
"If you can't sleep in your own bed," she said, "I'm quite sure you
won't sleep in mine, for it's not big enough for two."
But Barbara persisted, and at last her aunt gave way. "Well," she said
at last, rather crossly, "be quick if you are coming. I don't want to
be kept awake all night."
The truth was, it seemed so horrible to cross the room close to that
black figure--as she would have to do--that Barbara lingered a moment,
screwing up her courage. It was hard, certainly, to walk slowly
across, for she thought she should not run, feeling all the time as if
two hands would catch hold of her in the darkness. She was very glad
to creep in beside her aunt, and at first could not do anything but lie
and listen to that lady's grumblings. Then warning her not to scream,
she whispered very softly that there was a man beside the window. Miss
Britton took it wonderfully coolly, and after the first start said
nothing for a few minutes. Then she remarked in loud, cheerful tones,
"Well, child, as you are not sleepy, let us talk about our plans for
to-morrow."
They talked a long time, hoping that the man would give it up and go;
but still the black figure stood there motionless.
At last Barbara, who could bear it no longer, said "Oh, aunt, since we
can't sleep let us put on the light and read up things in the
guide-book."
At that moment she heard a rustle behind, and saw the man try to get
into the recess; but the trunks were there, and meeting that
obstruction, he turned and made a quick dash to the French window, and
was out in a moment, whereupon Aunt Anne and Barbara sat up in bed and
screamed. Then the girl leaped to the electric light, and her aunt to
the bell, and in a few moments the maids and the Misses Belvoir came
running in.
"He's gone!" cried Barbara, looking out of the window and feeling quite
brave now that so many people had arrived. "He's gone, and it was too
dark to see his face."
Aunt Anne, meanwhile, explained, as well as she could, what had
happened, and the Misses Belvoir looked so frightened and worried that
Barbara felt she must be a dreadful nuisance. But they were very nice
and extremely apologetic, declaring that such a thing had never
happened before, and that the police should be told in the morning, and
their brothers would search the garden at once and sit outside their
door all night if Miss Britton liked. But Aunt Anne, who had
delightful common-sense, said briskly--
"Nonsense; whoever it was, he will be too frightened to think of coming
back to-night, so just go to your beds, and let us get to ours." And
she pushed them gently out. They continued to murmur apologies after
the door was shut; but Aunt Anne paid not the least heed.
"Now, my dear," she said, turning to Barbara, "I am sure you know that
what I said to them is quite true, and that our friend will not return
to-night. So be sensible, and go back to bed, and we will talk about
it all in the morning."
Of course, Barbara did as she was told, and, though she was sure she
would never get to sleep, strange to say, in a very little while she
was dreaming peacefully, and did not waken till late next morning.