“my dear eugenia, you might as well confess that you are desperately interested. if you say anything else we won’t believe you,” barbara declared positively.
three days afterward, between four and five in the afternoon, the four american red cross girls were leaving the little french farmhouse together, and evidently with some definite intention. nevertheless, the journey could have nothing to do with their nursing, since the faces and the costumes of three of the girls suggested a gala occasion. eugenia, however, having entirely recovered her health and poise, had returned to her former manner and character. yet she too was wearing her best dress, recently purchased in paris, and was looking sternly handsome.
“then i might as well not answer you at[127] all, barbara, since you have made up your mind already what i should reply,” she answered curtly. without intending to be ungracious she stalked off in front of the little procession.
the other two girls laughed, but barbara, making a little grimace, ran on until she was able to catch up with eugenia. she was beginning to think now and then that the older girl’s manner was more severe than her emotions. now she gave her arm a little shake.
“don’t be so superior, miss peabody from boston! you must make your confession along with the rest of us. so tell me the honest truth—‘hope i may-die-if-i-don’t’ kind—aren’t you terribly pleased that the countess, whose guests we have been for some time, has condescended to be willing to meet us and has asked us to have coffee with her this afternoon at her chateau?”
still eugenia demurred. “oh, i presume it will be a novel experience. nevertheless, i don’t think we show proper pride in accepting an invitation before the countess has called upon us. it isn’t the way we do[128] such things at home. if it comes to a question of family, of course i am an american, but the peabodys of boston——”
barbara’s laughter rang out deliciously. she was in the gayest possible humor and suggested a little woodland creature in her brown cloth suit and hat with a single scarlet wing. what had become of the serious-minded young american woman devoting her life to the care of the wounded?
“but it isn’t a question of family, eugenia, or how should i dare live and breathe in the same world with you, any more than with a french countess?” she protested. “but please remember that we have accepted a great deal more from this same countess than a simple invitation to spend an hour with her. we are living in her house, we have been eating a goodly portion of her food. oh, i know this is because we are in france to nurse the soldiers she adores! still, i can’t see that this cancels our obligations. besides, she is a much older woman and——”
eugenia put her one disengaged hand up to her ear.
[129]
“i surrender, barbara, in all meekness! but really, it is not necessary to produce so many arguments for doing a thing you are simply crazy to do. you merely wish to gratify your curiosity. you know, i don’t believe that we should be engaging in frivolous pursuits like paying visits upon strangers, when we are here in europe for such serious purposes. still, i don’t suppose that an occasional break really interferes with our work.”
“certainly not,” barbara finished with emphasis. then she skipped along beside her taller companion like a small girl endeavoring to keep up with a large one. “besides, eugenia, think of how wonderful the news is! the germans are actually retiring of their own accord! there hasn’t been any fighting in our neighborhood for over a week now. no wonder the countess amélie feels like having guests at last. fran?ois says that she has not been so cheerful since the war began. i don’t know how you feel, eugenia, but mildred and nona and i think it a wonderful experience to see the inside of an old french home[130] which was in existence long before the french revolutionary days. it seems that this countess has never even gone to paris, nor visited anyone except her old family friends who are also members of the nobility. she won’t even acknowledge that france is today a great republic. she still tries to live like the grande dames of the days before the revolution.”
eugenia fairly sniffed. also she held her shoulders straighter and her head higher.
“then she must be a very absurd old woman and i am more than ever sure that i shall not like her. the idea of not realizing that a republic is the only just form of government in the world! i wouldn’t be anything except an american——”
once more barbara smiled, patting the older girl’s arm soothingly.
“of course you wouldn’t, my dear, and neither would any of the rest of us, except perhaps nona. she is really an old-time aristocrat, although she would rather perish than think so. but just the same i don’t see why one should not be interested in[131] contrasts in this life! what could be greater than the gulf between this old french aristocrat and us?”
“what indeed?” answered eugenia, more wisely than she then knew.
for at this moment the interest which the four girls had been feeling in their new hostess temporarily died away.
according to nona’s and barbara’s suggestion, and in spite of the distance, they were approaching the chateau through the woods, which the two girls had visited the day after their arrival in this portion of southern france.
november had come, but the autumn was so far deliciously warm. difficult it was to imagine a world at war on this afternoon and in this particular forest! for, by some freak of fortune, this woodland had so far escaped the ravages of the german shells. over it and around it they had ploughed their devastating way. but until now the birds prepared their winter nests here undisturbed in the tall trees, and the pool of melisande remained unbroken save by its own ripples.
[132]
again the girls walked more quietly along the path under the trees than in the open country. they were thinking perhaps of different things, while their eyes were absorbed in the loveliness about them. for after months of nursing, sometimes amid horrors and suffering one could not afterwards discuss, it was healing to both soul and body to inhale the sweetness of the earth and air.
southern france was unlike the land lying to the north and close to the belgian frontier, where the red cross girls had for some months past been nursing the british soldiers. that was an orchard and a vineyard country, this a land of forest and of golden grain fields. many of the trees were pine and cedar, yet there were occasional maples and elms, and here and there a chestnut.
a small branch of scarlet and yellow leaves dropped near eugenia’s feet. it was a far call to her new england home, yet somehow the color and the atmosphere of the woods awakened home memories. unconsciously eugenia stopped and thrust the[133] bunch of leaves inside her belt. against the blue of her costume they shone like flame, making her eyes and hair show darker by contrast and bringing a brighter tone to her clear but pale skin.
noticing the attractive effect of the careless decoration, the three other girls were far too wise to mention the fact to eugenia, or assuredly the leaves would again have been trampled under foot.
however, they had other interests more engrossing to absorb them.
barbara and nona led a short detour for a sight of the old hut that had interested them on their previous walk. but mildred and eugenia were both a little scornful of the story that this was a hermit’s hut, uninhabited for a number of years. this afternoon it was so self-evident that some one was now living in it that eugenia hurried the others away. no one could be seen at the moment, but there was a pile of fresh ashes in front of the house, a stack of freshly gathered wood and chips by the tumbled-down door, and a scarlet cap caught in the top of a tall bush.
[134]
moreover, because it was growing late and their invitation was for five o’clock, eugenia could not be persuaded to linger by the tiny lake which nona had christened by the poetic title of the “pool of melisande.” the pool one might visit on another afternoon, but perhaps there might never come a like opportunity from the countess.
indeed, as the four girls finally approached the ancient stone house never would they have confessed to one another how nervous they were feeling over the next hour. nona davis was perhaps least self-conscious. life in the southern part of the united states among a few conservative old families is not unlike that of the almost forgotten nobility of old france.
the path to the chateau d’amélie, whose title came down from the first countess of the name, was as overgrown with weeds as any deserted farmhouse. yet who would look down at their feet when trees more than a hundred years old stood guard along the avenue leading to the ancient portico? and in crossing a[135] rickety bridge could one think of the loose planks, knowing that the muddy water that flowed under it was once the moat that surrounded the feudal palace?
nevertheless, barbara had to stifle a laugh when at length fran?ois opened the iron-bound wooden door admitting them to the chateau. for instead of his peasant’s blouse and peaked cap, this afternoon fran?ois wore a livery which must have been handed down to him by a majordomo at least twice his size. his small, bent-over form was almost lost in the large trousers, while the tails of the long coat with its tarnished gold lace hung down past his knees.
moreover, fran?ois’ manner was equally changed. gone was the friendly light in his little dark eyes, the protecting, almost patronizing manner which he had grown accustomed to using in his devoted service to the american red cross girls. this old frenchman had his nation’s gift of feeling the part he was called upon by fate to play. today old fran?ois felt himself a servant of the days of the great louis[136] xiv. apparently he had never seen his lady’s guests before.
hobbling along, fran?ois conducted the visitors toward the drawing room through a cold, gray stone hall. there was no furniture to be seen except two tall, carved chairs and an enormous shield, hanging suspended from the wall.
inside the drawing room, however, there was a kind of shabby splendor, very interesting to the four american girls, no one of whom had seen anything like it.
on the floor was a great rug of tapestry showing nymphs and dolphins carrying wreaths of fruit and flowers woven into the design. the blue and rose and brown of the colors had so faded that they were lovelier than any artist’s palette could have painted them.
the four girls sat down in chairs covered with tapestry of the same kind, which they guessed must be almost priceless in value. but there were only a few other articles of furniture in the room—a beautiful old cabinet, a mahogany table inlaid with brass, a louis xiv sofa, while on the walls were[137] not more than half a dozen pictures by french masters. nevertheless, the room was complete in beauty and elegance. so the american girls did not dream that once it had been crowded with rare treasures, sold one by one to meet the family necessities.
however, there were only a few minutes in which the guests could make a study of their surroundings. very soon their hostess entered with old fran?ois bowing before her as if she had been an empress. she was accompanied by a young man in the uniform of a french officer.
the countess amélie wore a dress of black silk and on her head a cap of lace with the marie antoinette point in front. her hair was exquisitely white and her eyes dark. in spite of the natural coldness and hauteur of her expression she was evidently trying to appear friendly.
her four guests bowed gravely as she shook hands with them, welcoming them to her home. however, it must be confessed that eugenia’s bow was even more stiff than her hostess’s.
[138]
also eugenia frowned, while the other three girls smiled. for the young officer, whom the countess amélie afterwards introduced as her son, was captain henri castaigne, whom they had met through lieutenant hume in paris, and upon whom they had seen bestowed the cross of the legion of honor.
