Then the conductor came through the car calling:
"Wolfville! All out for Wolfville!"
"Out" they were all, in a minute, and again the "Flying Bluenose" was speeding on toward the end of its route.
"This is the nearest, or best, point from which to make our excursion to Grand Pre and old Acadia, which our beloved Longfellow made famous by his poem. You"ll find yourselves "Evangelined" on every hand while you"re here. Glad it"s so pleasant. We won"t have to waste time on account of the weather."
They found comfortable quarters for the night and longer if desired and were early to bed. The girls to dream of the hapless maid whose story thrilled their romantic souls; and Molly went to sleep with an abridged copy of the poem under her pillow.
Early in the morning she and Dorothy took a brisk walk through the pretty village and peered into the shop windows where, indeed, the name "Evangeline" seemed tacked to most articles of commerce. So frequently was it displayed that when they met a meditative cow pacing along the dewy street Molly exclaimed:
"I wonder if that"s Evangeline"s "dun white cow," whatever "dun white"
may be like. She looks ancient enough and--Oh! she"s coming right toward us!"
Molly was afraid of cows and instinctively hid herself behind Dolly, who laughed and remarked:
"Poor old creature! She looks as if she might have lived in the days of the Acadians, she"s so thin and gaunt. Yet the whole street is gra.s.s-bordered if she chose to help herself. But isn"t this glorious?
Can you hardly wait till we get to Grand Pre? It"s only a few miles away and I"d almost rather walk than not."
"You"ll not be let to walk, mind that. My father has had enough of things happening to us youngsters. I heard him tell Auntie Lu that none of us must be allowed out of sight of some of them, the grown-ups, till we were landed safe on that farm, and Auntie laughed. She said she agreed with him but she wasn"t so sure about even a farm being utterly safe from adventures. So we"ll all have to walk just niminy-piminy till then. We shouldn"t be here if Miss Greatorex hadn"t said she too wanted to "exercise." Now, she"s beckoning to us and we must turn back. Come away from staring over into that garden! That hedge of sweet-peas is not for you, honey, badly as you covet it!"
"All right, I"ll come. But I wish, I wish Father John could see them. I never saw any so big and free-blooming as they are in this beautiful Province."
"It"s the moisture and coolness of the air, Auntie Lu says. Now, Miss Greatorex, do make Dolly Doodles walk between us, else she"ll never tear herself away from the lovely gardens we pa.s.s."
But they were not late to breakfast, nevertheless. They had learned at last that nothing so annoyed the genial Judge as want of punctuality. He planned the hours of his day to a nicety and by keeping to his plans managed to get a great deal of enjoyment for everybody.
Already carriages to take them on the drive to Grand Pre and the old Acadian region had been ordered and were at the door when they had breakfasted and appeared on the piazza. The two girls were helped into the smaller open wagon where Melvin sat holding the reins and visibly proud of the confidence reposed in him, and on the front seat of this the Judge also took his place. The ladies with Monty and a driver occupied the comfortable surrey; and already other vehicles were entering the hotel grounds, engaged by other tourists for the same trip.
Monty looked back with regret at the other young folks and longed to ask the Judge to exchange places; then laughed to himself as he remembered that it was no longer his place to ask favors--a penniless boy as he had become!
That was a never-to-be-forgotten day for all the party. No untoward incident marked it, but so well-known is the story of that region that it needs no repet.i.tion here. Of course they visited the famous well whence "Evangeline" drew water for her herd, and almost the original herd might have fed in the meadow surrounding it, so peaceful were the cattle cropping the gra.s.s there. They saw the "old willows" and the ancient Covenanter church, wherein they all inscribed their names upon the pages of a great book kept for that special purpose.
The church especially interested Dorothy, with its quaint old pulpit and sounding board, its high-backed pews and small-paned windows; and when she wandered into the old burying ground behind, with its periwinkle-covered graves, a strange sadness settled over her.
The whole story had that tendency and the talk of "unknown graves"
roused afresh in her mind the old wonder:
"Where are my own parents" graves, if they are dead? Where are _they_ if they are still alive?"
With this in mind and in memory of these other unknown sleepers whose ancient head-stones had moved her so profoundly, she gathered from the confines of the field a bunch of that periwinkle, or myrtle which grew there so abundantly. Thrusting this into the front of her jacket she resolved to pack it nicely in wet moss and send it home to Alfaretta, with the request that she would plant it in the cottage garden. Then she rejoined the others at the gate and the ride was continued to another point of interest called "Evangeline Beach." Why or wherefore, n.o.body explained; yet it was a pretty enough spot on the sh.o.r.e where a few guests of a near-by hotel were bathing and where they all stopped to rest their horses before the long ride home.
Dorothy was full of thoughts of home by then, and something in the color of the horse which had drawn her hither awoke tender memories of pretty Portia, now doubtless happily grazing on a dear mountain far away. With this sentiment in mind she stooped and plucked a handful of gra.s.s and held it under the nose of the pensive livery-nag.
But alas, for sentiment! Not the few blades of sea-gra.s.s appealed to the creature who, while Dorothy"s head was turned, stretched forth its own and pulled the myrtle from the jacket and was contentedly munching it when its owner discovered its loss.
"Dolly Doodles, whatever are you doing?" cried Molly, running up.
"She"s got--he"s got my "Evangeline" vines! I"m getting--what I can!"
Molly shouted in her glee and the rest of the party drew near to also enjoy. They had all alighted to walk about a bit and stretch their limbs, and now watched in answering amus.e.m.e.nt the brief tussle between maid and mare. It ended with the latter"s securing the lion"s share of the goodly bunch; but myrtle vines are tough and Dorothy came off a partial victor with one spray in her hand. It had lost most of its leaves and otherwise suffered mischance, yet she was not wholly hopeless of saving that much alive; and in any case the incident had banished all morbid thoughts from her mind, and she was quite the merriest of all during that long drive homeward to the hotel.
As they alighted Monty stepped gallantly forward and offered:
"When we get to Halifax I"ll buy you a slender vase and you can keep it in water till you go home yourself. Or I"ll send back to that graveyard and pay somebody to send you on a lot, after you get back to your own home."
"Oh! thank you. That"s ever so kind, and I"ll be glad of the vase. But you needn"t send for any more vines. They wouldn"t be the same as this I gathered myself for darling Father John."
"But you shall have them all the same. They"d be just as valuable to him if not to you and some of those boys that hung around the church would pack it for a little money. I"ll do it, sure."
"_Will_ you, Montmorency? _How?_" asked a voice beside him and the lad looked up into the face of the Judge.
"No, sir, I won"t! I"ll have to take that offer back, Dorothy, take them both back," and he flushed furiously at her surprised and questioning glance. It was the first test he had made of his "poverty" and he found it as uncomfortable as novel.
CHAPTER XII
SIGHT SEEING UNDER DIFFICULTIES
"Halifax! End of the line!"
The conductor"s announcement was followed by the usual haste and bustle among the pa.s.sengers, the taking down of parcels from the racks overhead, and a general settling and straightening of travel-crushed garments.
This little preparatory freshening over, the travelers stepped into the car aisles and followed the rush forward; pa.s.sing out into by far the most pretentious station they had seen in the Province. Lines of hackmen were drawn up alongside the rail which bordered the paved descent to the railway level, and a policeman in uniform held back the too-solicitous drivers from the arriving strangers, who looked about them, mostly, in doubt which vehicle to select:
"Here you are for the Halifax!" "Right this way for the Queen! Queen, sir? Queen, madam? Finest hotel in--" "Prince Edward! Right on the bluff--overlooking--" "King"s Arms! Carriage for the King"s Arms?"
To the rail and no further were these runners for their various employers permitted to go, yet even at that few feet of safe distance their cries were so deafening and insistent that Dorothy clapped her hands to her ears and shut her eyes, lest she should grow too much confused.
But there was no hesitation about the Judge. His hotel was a familiar one, their rooms engaged long before; and by a nod he summoned the "bus of that house, marshalled his party into it, handed the runner his baggage checks, and they rolled away through the streets of the oldest city in the Province.
Just then it was gay with illimitable decorations of bunting and flags, in honor of the visit of the Viceroy of Canada and his consort, due upon the morrow.
"Oh, Papa, did they know we were coming?" mischievously inquired Molly, as vista after vista of red and blue and white unrolled before her eager eyes. "I never saw anything like it! Even at our home Carnival there wasn"t anything to compare."
"That"s Canada. We Yankees boast we go ahead of everything in the world no matter what line we chance to follow. Canada doesn"t boast, she simply goes ahead."
"Oh! how disloyal, Schuyler!" protested Aunt Lucretia, herself gazing with admiration at the buildings whose fronts were almost solidly covered with artistically arranged decorations. Of course the English and Canadian flags held first place, but at last their "bus stopped before a quaint old hotel whose balconies were draped with as many American as English banners.
"Why, is this an American, I mean a United States hotel?" asked Auntie Lu; while Miss Greatorex"s face a.s.sumed a more agreeable expression than it had worn since they left the station. She had felt hitherto as if an alien nation had flaunted its colors in her own patriotic face; but her common sense now a.s.sured her that these people had a right to honor their rulers after their own fashion even if it could by no possibility be so good a fashion as reigned in her beloved States.
The youngsters of the party felt nothing but delight; and as a squad of scarlet-coated soldiers came marching toward them on the other side of the street Monty tossed up his cap and cheered. Melvin did more, as was natural. They marched to the tune of "G.o.d Save the King," and were on their way to Parliament House to give an evening concert; and as the "bus came abreast of the squad with its fine band and its national colors floating in front, the young Yarmouthian rose and bared his head, saluting the flag! Then he dropped back to his seat with a slight flush on his fair cheek, as he felt the eyes of the three strangers rest upon him curiously. Then cried Molly:
"That was funny! I forgot you weren"t a "Yankee" like ourselves, but you did right, you did just right. I wouldn"t have let Old Glory pa.s.s by without doing it my honor. But, do you know, Auntie Lu, I feel as if this were a foreign country and not part of our own America?"
She was to feel it more and more, but to find a keen delight in all that was so new to her and so matter of fact to Melvin. Even the dishes served at table, were decidedly "English" in name and flavor, though there were plenty of other and more familiar ones upon the _menu_.