Molly Brown's Orchard Home Page 5

  CHAPTER V.

  PARIS.

  "Judy! Judy! I can't believe that we are really here, that this isParis, and that you are you! As for me, I feel like 'there was an oldwoman as I've heard tell' who said 'Lawk a mercy on me, this surelycan't be I.'"

  Molly settled herself with a sigh of supreme enjoyment on the lumpy seatof an extremely rickety taxi that Judy had engaged to take the Brownsfrom the station to Mrs. Pace's very exclusive pension on the BoulevardSt. Michel.

  "It does seem almost too good to be true that I have got you and yourdear mother at last. I have not been able to work for a week because ofthe excitement of expectation. I went over to Monroe's this morning andgot your mail. I could hardly lug it home, both of you had such a batch.You see, the mail has beaten your slow steamer in and everyone iswriting to have a greeting ready for you in Paris." And Judy, who was inthe middle, put embracing arms around both Mrs. Brown and Molly as theyrode down the Avenue de l'Opera.

  How wonderful Paris looked to them on that clear, crisp day in autumn!She was showing her best and most smiling aspect to the travelers, whichdelighted Judy, as she felt quite responsible for her beloved city andwanted her friends to like it as much as she did. They passed variouspoints of interest which Judy pointed out with pride, and which broughtanswering thrills from Mrs. Brown and Molly.

  The streets were gay with little pushcarts, laden with chrysanthemumsand attended by the most delightful looking old women. Everyone seemedto be in a good humor and no one in much of a hurry except thechauffeurs, and they went whizzing by at a most incredible speed throughthe crowded thoroughfares.

  "How clean the streets are!" exclaimed Mrs. Brown. "And what a goodsmell!"

  "Oh, I just wondered if you would notice the smell! That is Paris.'Every city has an odor of its own,' Papa says, and I believe he isright. Paris smells better than New York, although I like the smell inNew York, too; but Paris has a strange freshness in its odor thatreminds me of flowers and good things to eat, and suggests gay times,rollicking fun and adventure."

  "Same old Judy," laughed Molly, "with her imagination on tap."

  Just then they ran under the arches of the Louvre into the Place duCarrousel, and Molly held her breath with wonder and delight. Then camethe Seine with its beautiful bridges, its innumerable boats, and itsquays with the historic secondhand book stalls where Edwin Green hadlooked forward to walking with her, searching for treasures of firsteditions and what not. "Never mind," thought Molly, "Professor Green maycome later and the first editions will keep."

  "There is the wonderful statue of Voltaire, and through this street youcan catch a glimpse of the Beaux Arts," chanted Judy. "Now look out, forbefore you know it we will be in the aristocratic Faubourg St.Germain,--and then the Luxembourg Gardens,--and here we are at our ownrespectable door before we are ready for it! Now Mrs. Pace will eat bothof you up for a while and I cannot get a word in edgewise."

  The Pension Pace was on the corner where a small street ran into thebroad boulevard at a sharp angle, making the building wedge-shaped. Itwas a very imposing looking house and Mrs. Brown wondered at a womanbeing able to conduct such a huge affair. She expressed her surprise toJudy, who informed her that Mrs. Pace had only the three upper floorsand that the other flats were let to different tenants.

  "The elevator takes us to the fifth floor, where Mrs. Pace has herparlors, dining salon and swellest boarders,--at least the boarders ableto pay the most. Of course _we_ do not think that they are the swellest,since we are on the seventh floor ourselves. Who so truly swell as we?"Judy got out of the taxi with such an assumption of great style that thechauffeur, much impressed, demanded a larger _pourboire_ than she sawfit to give him.

  "They always try to make you pay more, no matter what you offer. I amadamant, however, where cabbies and chauffeurs are concerned. Papa says,'Look after the tips and the legitimate expenses will look afterthemselves.' So I look after the tips and trust to luck for the rest tocome out right. I am not much of an economist, I fear, but I amlearning, now that I am on a strict allowance."

  An elevator, so slow that its progress was almost imperceptible, tookthem to the fifth floor where Mrs. Pace was in readiness to receivethem. Her greeting was very cordial and condescending. She seemed to betaking them under her protecting wing, giving them to understand thatwith her they had nothing more to fear or worry about; and as Molly andher mother had nothing in particular to worry about and certainlynothing to fear, they were very much amused by her attitude toward them.Judy was purple with suppressed merriment as Mrs. Pace advised them togo right to bed, to rest up from their long journey, poor sick,miserable, friendless females.

  Mrs. Brown assured her that she was not at all tired and never feltbetter in her life; that she had made many friends on the steamer; andthat she would freshen up a bit with some soap and water and then go outfor a walk with Miss Julia Kean. Mrs. Brown had reckoned without herhost, however, as the intrepid Mrs. Pace took them to their room on theseventh floor, just across the hall from Judy's, and did not leave themuntil they were in their kimonos and actually lying down.

  "You must not try to keep up, dear ladies, when you are overfatigued andill. Bed is the best place for you, bed and quiet. Miss Kean had betterleave you now and let you have a little nap."

  While Mrs. Pace talked, she had plumped up their pillows and lowered theshade of the one large window, opened their suitcases and got out theirkimonos and, despite their feeble protest, had actually undressed themand put them to bed! Then, forcibly ejecting Judy, she shut the doorwith admonitions for them to sleep until dinner at six-thirty.

  Judy went very dutifully to her room until she heard the last of Mrs.Pace's ponderous tread on the stairs; then she crept softly to theBrowns' door and gently opened it to find Mrs. Brown and Molly rollingon the bed, overcome with laughter.

  "Oh, oh, oh! She has taken at least forty-five years off of my age,"giggled Mrs. Brown like a veritable boarding-school miss. "I have neverin my life seen such a born boss as the redoubtable Mrs. Pace! Did yousee her undo my belt and take off my skirt? I could not have felt morelike a child if my waist had been a pinafore instead of a respectableblack silk. And as for Molly, she was treated as though she were justabout old enough to go into rompers." And they all went off into pealsof laughter.

  "Well, now is the time to take a stand or you will never be able to,"said Judy. "I defied her from the first and she lets me alonewonderfully."

  "Yes, I noticed how you withstood her authority when you were sent toyour room!" grinned Molly, as she got back into the clothes that hadbeen forcibly removed only five minutes before. "I see you have sneakedin our letters and I, for one, am going to read mine, and then if we canget down stairs without the dragon devouring us, let's take a walk. Weshall have plenty of time before dinner."

  They accordingly read their letters and crept down stairs and out on thestreet for a breath of air and a stroll in the Luxembourg Gardens. Itwas too late to try to see the pictures in the Gallery of the Luxembourgand, after all, they had the winter before them. And now that she wasout on the street, having escaped the dragon, Mrs. Brown confessed tofeeling a little mite tired, so they sat down on a bench in the Gardensand watched the children play.

  "Poor Mrs. Brown, of course you are tired! That is the most irritatingthing about Mrs. Pace: she is always right. 'It is best to rest after atrip whether you feel tired or not, as the reaction after a journey isobliged to come, and you pay up for it to-morrow if you do not restto-day'," and Judy imitated Mrs. Pace to the life.

  "Well, you may be sure, my dear girls, that wild horses will not dragthe fact from me in the presence of the dragon, even if I am weary untodeath. Does she coerce all her boarders as she did me, Judy?"

  "Most of them are completely under her dominion, finding it easiest andbest to take the course of least resistance. Some few rebel, but theyusually end by moving on. If you stay at the Pension Pace and wish to"_requiescat in pace_," you do as she says to do. I have defied her fromthe fi
rst and now I am rated as an undesirable boarder. Had it not beenthat she was wild to have you with her because of your relationship tothe Marquise d'Ochte, she would have raised some cock and bull storyabout my room having been engaged by someone a year ago and, since herhonor was at stake, she would have to ask me to vacate.

  "I tell you she is a sly one. You must either have lots and loads ofmoney, or you must do as she says, do--or die. Of course she has anexcellent house in a most desirable quarter and she caters to Americans.You will notice that the food is much more American than French; andafter people have been knocking around the Continent, of course they areoverjoyed to have some food that seems like home."

  "But I don't want American food," wailed Molly. "I want French things,even snails; and I want to learn how to ask for these things in the mostFrenchy style. What is the use in coming to Paris and staying with astuffy old dame from Philadelphia and eating the things we have athome?"

  "Oh, I am so glad you feel that way! How about you, Mrs. Brown? Papa andMamma made me promise to do just as you thought best. They put me inMrs. Pace's house and I have been determined not to worry them aboutchanging, but I am 'most dead of her and her ways. Do say you think weought to go to housekeeping or should get in a French family; anythingto get out of the dragon's den," pleaded Judy.

  "For how long did you engage our room?" asked Mrs. Brown, smiling atJudy's despair.

  "One week; and mine, also, is taken by the week. She tried to make Papasign for the whole winter, but he was on to her from the first andrefused to do more than take it from week to week. He and Mamma stayedhere a few days on their way to Turkey, and you would have died laughingif you had seen Mrs. Pace try to make Papa 'Fletcherize.' You know healways eats as though the train would not wait. At every meal sheremarked on it and one day said at dinner: 'This is veal, Mr. Kean, andshould be thoroughly masticated.' Whereupon he put down his knife andfork and, looking her solemnly in the eye, said: 'That is good advice nodoubt for ordinary mortals, but after long years in railroad camps Ihave acquired a gizzard.' With that he took a great piece of _blanquettede veau_ and to all appearances swallowed it whole without changing hisexpression. I choked so I had to leave the table and I believe Mrs.Pace, to this day, thinks that by a skillful legerdemain I swallowed theveal! Anyhow, Bobby ate to suit himself after that."

  "Oh, Judy, how ridiculous you are! I wish I could have seen Mr. Keanexecute his daring feat," laughed Molly. "Mother, let's look around foran apartment and go to housekeeping immediately. I am sorry we toldElise O'Brien about Mrs. Pace's. I can't bear for her to be anywherethat is not pleasant. She has had tribulations enough in her day."

  Judy had not yet heard anything of their fellow passengers, as they hadbeen so occupied with Paris and the pension that they had had no time totell her of their voyage and the pleasant people they had met. She wasmuch interested in the fact that Miss O'Brien was to be at the artschool for the winter and said she was a girl of undoubted talent. Asfor young Kinsella, he was the cleverest draughtsman at the League.

  "Do you girls think you like Elise enough to have her come to live withus for the winter?" asked Mrs. Brown. "I feel sure the poor girl wouldbe happy, and if you would all fit in together and be congenial, Ireally think it would be an act of charity to ask her. We must considerit from all sides before we rush into it, however."

  "Mother, it would be splendid!" declared Molly. "I believe Mrs.Huntington was dying for you to ask Elise, but of course had to wait foryou to suggest it. We could divide the expenses into four parts and Iknow it would be cheaper than boarding and infinitely more agreeable."

  "Mrs. Brown, I am sure we should get on like a house afire, and it doesseem as though we might take Elise in and give her a pleasant home. Ipromise to be real good and get on with everybody, if I can only know Iam to leave the _Maison Pace_ in peace," promised Judy.

  So it was decided by these three impulsive souls to take in EliseO'Brien and to get a flat forthwith and leave the sheltering wing of thedragon. Mrs. Brown thought it best to stay a fortnight in their presentquarters so they could look well about them; she also wanted to see herold friend and cousin, the Marquise d'Ochte, for if she were anythinglike the Sally Bolling of old, she felt sure she could depend on her forsome assistance in the matter of getting settled.

  "Of course, she may have changed so, after being married to a Frenchnobleman for some twenty-eight years, that I will hesitate to askanything of her; but I have an idea old Sally could not change. Iremember her as being a great harum-scarum but with the best heart inthe world, and absolutely honest and unaffected. My experience is thathonest, unaffected people do not change in the long run."

  "What did she look like, Mother?" asked Molly.

  "Well, when I come to think of it, she looked a little like you. She isonly my second cousin, once removed, not such very close kin; but thisred hair of yours comes cropping out in every generation or so in myfamily and the similar coloring makes one fancy a likeness even if thereis none; but Sally had your eyes and your chin. She took life much morelightly than my Molly does, saw a jest where none was intended andsometimes cracked a joke when seriousness would have been in bettertaste. I have not seen her for many years and she stopped correspondingwith all of us; not that there was any disagreement, but letter-writingsimply died a natural death, as time went on. I am greatly interested inseeing her."

  Mrs. Brown also decided to let Mr. Kinsella approach the O'Briens inregard to having Elise live with her. She was very well aware of Mrs.Huntington's nature and felt that that lady would be fully capable oftreating her as though Elise were necessary to the housekeeping schemeto help out the financial end; and Mrs. Brown was determined to have noone with her as a boarder, but to run the _menage_ on a co-operativeprinciple, letting all of them share the expense.

  Mrs. Huntington and Elise had stopped in Brussels for a visit with somefriends and Mr. Kinsella and Pierce were still in Antwerp getting theirfill of the pictures to be seen there. They were uncertain how long itwould take them to grow tired of the interesting Belgian city and couldnot tell just when their friends might expect them in Paris.

  When the three renegades returned from their walk in the LuxembourgGardens, they hoped to reach their rooms without being seen by Mrs.Pace, but that lady's motto was "Eternal Vigilance," and no one went outof her house or came in unobserved. She met them as they stepped off theelevator on the fifth floor and gently but firmly admonished them fortheir disobedience. Molly noticed her mother's heightening color and herquivering nostrils and remembered with a smile what Aunt Mary, their oldcook, always said to them when they were children: "Ole Miss is longsuffrin' an' slow to anger but when her nose gits to wuckin', youchillun ought to learn that she done had 'nuf and you had better makeyo'sefs scurse." Peace-loving Molly drew Mrs. Brown's arm through herown and gently pressing it, led her upstairs.

  "Thank you, my dear, I was on the verge of attacking the dragon, andsince we are to be here two weeks, I must not do anything to make itmore difficult. But did you ever see anyone more impertinent?" askedMrs. Brown, still sniffing the battle from afar.

  "Never," sympathized Judy. "I wish you had said your say. I believe youcould get ahead of the fabulous monster in open combat. She is, afterall, a very flabby, fabulous monster and one prick would do for her."