in a top-story bedroom in an old-fashioned house in a northern suburb of london, a girl of fourteen was kneeling on the floor, turning out the contents of the bottom cupboards of a big bookcase. her method of doing so was hardly tidy; she just tossed the miscellaneous assortment of articles down anywhere, till presently she was surrounded by a mixed-up jumble of books, papers, paint-boxes, music, chalks, pencils, foreign stamps, picture post-cards, crests, balls of knitting wool, skeins of embroidery silk, and odds and ends of all kinds. she groaned as the circle grew wider, yet the apparently inexhaustible cupboards were still uncleared.
"couldn't have ever believed i'd have stowed so many things away here. and, of course, the one book i want isn't to be found. that's what always happens. it's just my bad luck. hello! who's calling 'renie'? i'm here! here! in my bedroom! don't yell the house down. really, vin, you've got a voice like a megaphone! you might think i was on[2] the top of the roof. what d'you want now? i'm busy!"
"so it seems," commented the fair-haired boy of seventeen, sauntering into his sister's room and taking a somewhat insecure seat upon a fancy table, where, with hands in pockets, he regarded her quizzically. "great scott, what a turn out! you look like a magician in the midst of a magic circle. are you going to witch the lot into newts and toads? whence this thusness? you won't persuade me that it's a fit of neatness and you're actually tidying. doesn't exactly seem you, somehow!"
"hardly," replied irene, with her head inside a cupboard. "fact is, i'm looking for my history book. i can't think where the wretched thing has gone to. school begins to-morrow, and i haven't touched my holiday tasks yet; and what miss gordon will say if i come without those exercises i can't imagine. i'm sure i flung all my books into this cupboard, and, of course, here's the chemistry, which i don't want, but never so much as a single leaf of the history. don't grin! you aggravate me. i believe you've taken it away to tease me. have you? confess now! it's in your pocket all the time?"
irene looked eagerly at the bulging outline of her brother's coat, but her newly formed hopes were doomed to disappointment.
"never seen it! what should i want with your old history book? i've finished for good with such vanities, thank the fates!"[3]
"don't rub it in. it's a beastly shame you should be allowed to leave school while i must go slaving on at miss gordon's. ugh! how i hate the place! the idea of going back there to-morrow! it's simply appalling. a whole term of dreary grind, and only a fortnight's holiday at the end of it. miss gordon gives the stingiest holidays. if my fairy godmother could appear and grant me a wish i should choose never, never, never to see st. osmund's college in all my life again. i'd ask her to wave her magic wand and transport me over the sea."
irene spoke hotly, flinging books about with scant regard for their covers. her slim hands were dusty, and her short, yellow hair as ruffled as her temper. there was even a suspicion of moisture about the corners of her gray eyes. she rubbed them surreptitiously with a ball of a handkerchief when her head happened to be inside the cupboard. she did not wish vincent to witness this phase of her emotions.
"every girl ought to be provided with a decent fairy godmother," she gulped. "if mine did her duty she'd come to rescue me now. yes, she would, and be quick about it too!"
how very seldom in the course of an ordinary life such wishes are granted! not once surely in a million times! yet at that identical moment, almost as if in direct answer to her daughter's vigorous tirade, mrs. beverley entered the room. there was a sparkle of excitement in her eyes, and her whole[4] atmosphere seemed to radiate news. she ran in as joyously as a girl, clapping her hands and evidently brimming over with something she was about to communicate.
"why, mums! mums—darling! what's the matter?" asked irene. "you look as if you'd had a fortune left you. tell us at once."
"not quite a fortune, but next best to it," said mrs. beverley, sitting down on the end of the sofa. "daddy says i may tell you now, bairns. it has all happened so suddenly, and has been arranged in a rush. you remember dad mentioning a few weeks ago that mr. southern, the firm's representative in naples, was very ill? well, mr. fenton has decided to send dad to italy to take his place, for a year at any rate, and perhaps longer. we're to start in a fortnight."
such a stupendous announcement required a little realizing. vincent removed his hands from his pockets.
"you don't mean to say we're all going?" he inquired. "jemima! leaving london fogs and toddling off to italy? materkins, you take my breath away! how's the whole business to be fixed up so soon?"
"quite easily. we shall let this house, just as it is, to mr. atherton, who will come from the norfolk branch to fill father's post in london. we are to rent mr. southern's flat in naples, while he takes a voyage round the world to try to regain his[5] health. dad means to put you into his office in naples, vin. don't look so aghast! it's high time you started, and it will be a splendid opening for you. and as for renie—of course she's too young to leave school yet——"
"mums! mums!" interrupted an agonized voice, as irene took a flying leap over her circle of books and, plumping herself on the sofa, clutched tightly at her mother's sleeve. "you're not going to leave me behind at miss gordon's? you couldn't! oh, i'd die! mums darling, please! if the family's going to jaunt abroad i've got to jaunt too! say yes, quick, quick!"
"what a little tempest you are! cheer up! we'd never any intention of deserting you. we'll stick together for a while at any rate, though when we arrive in naples you'll be packed off to a boarding-school, madam, so i give you fair warning."
"an italian school?"
irene's gray eyes were round with horror.
"no, an anglo-american school for english-speaking girls. do you remember that charming mr. proctor who stayed with us last year on his way from new york to naples? his daughter is at this school, and he strongly recommended it. it seems just exactly the place for you, renie. it will solve a great problem if we can educate you out there. it would have complicated matters very much if we had been obliged to leave you in england. as it is[6] you'll be quite near to naples, and can come home for all your holidays."
"hooray! then i'm not to go to miss gordon's again?"
"as we start in a fortnight it's not worth while your beginning a fresh term at st. osmund's."
"then i needn't bother to find the hateful old history book. i'm so glad i didn't do those wretched holiday tasks—they'd just have been sheer waste. mums, i'm so excited! may i begin and pack for italy now? i can't wait."
for the next two weeks great confusion reigned in the beverley household. it is no light matter to decide what you need to take abroad, what you wish to lock up at home, and to leave your establishment in apple-pie order for the use of strangers. inventories of furniture, linen, blankets, and china had to be written and checked, a rigorous selection made of the things to be packed, and the luggage cut down to the limits prescribed by the railway companies. poor mrs. beverley was nearly worn out when at last the overflowing boxes were fastened, the bags and hold-alls were strapped, and the taxis, which were to take them to the station, arrived at the door. tears stood in her eyes as she crossed the threshold of her own house.
"it's a tremendous wrench!" she fluttered.
"never mind, mums!" consoled irene, linking her arm in her mother's. "it's an adventure, and we all want to go. you'll love it when we're once off. no,[7] don't look back: it's unlucky! your bag's in the cab; i saw jessie put it in. hooray for italy, say i, and a good riddance to smoky old london! in another couple of days we shall be down south and turning into romeos and juliets as fast as we can. you'll see dad learning a guitar and strumming it under your balcony, and serenading you no end."
"hardly at his time of life!" said mrs. beverley; but the joke amused her, she wiped her eyes, and, as irene had hoped and intended, stepped smiling into the waiting taxi, and left her old home with laughter instead of with tears.
in her fourteen years of experience irene had traveled very little, so the migration to italy was a fairy journey so far as she was concerned. to catch the boat express they had made an early start, and they breakfasted in the train between london and dover. it was fun to sit in comfortable padded armchairs, eating fish or ham and eggs, and watching the landscape whirling past; fun to see the deft-handed waiters nipping about with trays or teacups; and fun to observe the occupants of the other tables in the car. there was a fat, good-natured frenchman who amused irene, a languid english lady who annoyed her, an elderly gourmand who excited her disgust, and a neighboring party, one member of which at least aroused her interest and caused her to cast cautious side glances in the direction of the next table. this center of attraction was a small girl about eight or nine years of age, a dainty elfin little[8] person with bewitching blue eyes and a mop of short, flaxen curls. she was evidently well used to traveling, for she would lift a tiny finger to summon the waiter, and gave him her orders with all the savoir-faire of an experienced diner-out. perhaps her clear-toned treble voice was a trifle too high-pitched for the occasion, and would have been better had it been duly modulated, but her parents seemed proud of her conversational powers and allowed her to talk for the benefit of anybody within ear-shot. that she excited comment was manifest, for many looks were turned to her corner. the criticisms on her were complimentary or the reverse. "isn't she perfectly sweet?" gushed a young lady at irene's left. "sweet? she ought to be in the nursery instead of showing off here!" came a tart voice in reply, from some one whose face was invisible but whose back and shoulders expressed an attitude of strong disapproval. "hope we shan't be boxed up with her in the same carriage to paris! i vote we give her a wide berth at calais."
irene laughed softly. the little flaxen-haired girl attracted her; she felt she would have gravitated towards her compartment rather than have avoided her. but traveling companions were evidently more a matter of chance than choice, for the crowd that turned out of the train at dover became mixed and mingled like the colored bits of glass in a kaleidoscope. irene realized that for the moment the one supreme and breathless object in life was to cling to[9] the rest of her family, and not to get separated from them or lost, as they pushed through narrow barriers, showed tickets and passports, traversed gangways, and finally found themselves on board the channel steamer bound for france. father, who had made the crossing many times, scrambled instantly for deck-chairs, and installed his party comfortably in the lee of a funnel, where they would be sheltered from the wind. mrs. beverley, who had inspected the ladies' saloon below, sank on her seat, and tucked a rug round her knees with a sigh of relief.
"it will be the 'black hole of calcutta' downstairs," she remarked. "i'd rather stay on deck however cold it is. the mother of the wee yellow-haired lassie is lying down already, evidently prepared to be ill. the stewardess says we shall have a choppy passage. she earns her tips, poor woman! thanks, vincent! yes, i'd like the air-cushion, please, and that plaid out of the hold-all. no, i won't have a biscuit now; i prefer to wait till we get on terra firma again."
irene, sitting warmly wrapped up on her deck-chair, watched the white cliffs of dover recede from her gaze as the vessel left the port and steamed out into the channel. it was the last of "old england," and she knew that much time must elapse before she would see the shores of her birthplace again. what would greet her in the foreign country to which she was going? new sights, new sounds, new interests—perhaps new friends? the thought of it all was an[10] exhilaration. others might seem sad at a break with former associations, but as for herself she was starting a fresh life, and she meant to get every scrap of enjoyment out of it that was practically possible.
the stewardess had prophesied correctly when she described the voyage as "choppy." the steamer certainly pitched and tossed in a most uncomfortable fashion, and it was only owing to the comparative steadiness of her seat amidships that irene escaped that most wretched of complaints, mal de mer. she sat very still, with rather white cheeks, and refused vincent's offers of biscuits and chocolates: her sole salvation, indeed, was not to look at the heaving sea, but to keep her eyes fixed upon the magazine which she made a pretense of reading. fortunately the dover-calais crossing is short, and, before neptune had claimed her as one of his victims, they were once more in smooth waters and steaming into harbor.
then again the kaleidoscope turned, and the crowd of passengers remingled and walked over gangways, and along platforms and up steep steps, and jostled through the customs, and said "rien à déclarer" to the officials, who peeped inside their bags to find tea or tobacco, and had their luggage duly chalked, and showed their passports once more, and finally, after a bewildering half-hour of bustle and hustle, found themselves, with all their belongings intact, safely in the train for paris. irene had caught brief glimpses of the child whom she named "little flaxen," whose mother, in a state of collapse, had been almost car[11]ried off the vessel, but revived when she was on dry land again: a maid was in close attendance, and two porters were stowing their piles of hand-luggage inside a specially reserved compartment. "the cross lady won't be boxed up with them at any rate," said irene. "i saw her get in lower down the train."
it was dark when they arrived in paris, so irene had only a confused impression of an immense railway station, of porters in blue blouses, of a babel of noise and shouting in a foreign language which seemed quite different from the french she had learned at school, of clinging very closely to father's arm, of a drive through lighted streets, of a hotel where dinner was served in a salon surrounded by big mirrors, then bed, which seemed the best thing in the world, for she was almost too weary to keep her eyes open.
"if every day is going to be like this we shall be tired out by the time we reach naples," she thought, as she sank down on her pillow. "traveling is the limit."
eleven hours of sleep, however, made a vast difference in her attitude towards their long journey. when she came downstairs next morning she was all eagerness to see paris.
"we have the whole day here," said mrs. beverley, "so we may as well get as much out of it as we can. daddy has business appointments to keep, but you and i and vin, renie, will take a taxi and have a look at some of the sights, won't we?"[12]
"rather!" agreed the young people, hurrying over their coffee and rolls.
"i wouldn't miss paris for worlds," added vincent; "only don't spend the whole time inside shops, mater. that's all this fellow bargains for."
"we'll compromise and make it half and half," laughed mother.
a single day is very brief space in which to see the beauties of paris, but the beverleys managed to fit a great deal into it, and to include among their activities a peep at the louvre, a drive in the bois de boulogne, a visit to napoleon's tomb, half an hour in a cinema, and a rush through several of the finest and largest shops.
"it's different from london—quite!" decided irene, at the end of the jaunt. "it's lighter and brighter, somehow, and the streets are wider and have more trees planted in them. it's a terrible scurry, and i should be run over if i tried to cross the street. the shops aren't any better than ours really, though they make more fuss about them. the little children and the small pet dogs are adorable. the cinema was horribly disappointing, because they were all american films, not french ones; but that light that falls from the domed roof down on to napoleon's tomb was worth coming across the channel to see. yes, mummie dear, i thoroughly like paris. i'm only sorry we have to leave it so soon."
the train for rome was to start at nine o'clock[13] in the evening, and immediately after dinner the beverleys made their way to the station. it would be a thirty-eight hour journey, and they had engaged two sleeping compartments, wagon-lits as they are called on the continental express. mrs. beverley and irene were to share one, and mr. beverley and vincent the other. the beds were arranged like berths on board ship, and irene, who occupied the upper one, found, much to her amusement, a little ladder placed in readiness for her climb aloft.
"i don't need to use that!" she exclaimed, scrambling up with the agility gained in her school gymnasium. "how silly of the conductor to put it for me."
"how could the poor man tell who was to occupy the berth! you might have been a fat old lady for anything he knew!" replied mrs. beverley, settling herself on the mattress below.
it was a funny sensation to lie in bed in the jolting train, and irene slept only in snatches, waking frequently to hear clanking of chains, shrieking of engines, shouting of officials at stations, and other disturbing noises. as dawn came creeping through the darkness she drew the curtain aside and looked from the window. what a glorious sight met her astonished gaze! they were passing over the alps, and all around were immense snow-covered mountains, great gorges full of dark fir forests, and rushing streams of green glacier water. it was very cold, and she was glad to pull her rug up, and later[14] to drink the hot coffee which the conducteur made on a spirit-lamp in the corridor and brought to those who had ordered it overnight.
irene never forgot that long journey on the continental express. the sleeping compartments became sitting-rooms by day, for the berths turned into sofas, and a table was unfolded, where it would have been possible to write or sew if she had wished. she could do nothing, however, but stare at the landscape; the snow-capped mountains and the great ravines and gorges were a revelation in the way of scenery, and it was enough occupation to look out of the window. switzerland and northern italy were a dream of wild, rugged beauty, but she woke on the following morning to find the train racing among olive groves and orange trees, and to catch glimpses of gay, unknown, wild flowers blooming on the railway banks. here and there were stretches of the blue mediterranean; and oxen and goats in the fields gave a vivid foreign aspect to the country. everything—trees, houses, landscape, and people—seemed unfamiliar and un-english, yet strangely fascinating. the bright land with its sunshine appeared to be welcoming her.
"i shall like it! i shall like it! i shall like it!" said irene to herself, hanging out of the open window of their compartment and watching some picturesque children who were waving a greeting to the train. "i know i shall like it!"
"put your hat on and strap up your hold-all,"[15] said father's voice in the corridor outside. "everybody else has luggage ready, and in another ten minutes or so we shall be in rome."
