"Never you mind." Mrs. Selwyn gave him a pat on the back. "Tom, let us talk about those nice people," as they filed slowly out with the crowd.
Not a word did Tom lisp about the invitation to supper, but tucked his mother"s arm loyally within his own. "Sorry I forgot to engage a table!" he exclaimed, as they entered the restaurant.
"Why, there is Tom!" exclaimed Jasper, craning his neck as his party were about to sit down. "Father, Tom Selwyn is here with his mother, and they can"t find places, I almost know, and we might have two more chairs easily at our table," he hurried it all out.
"What is all this about?" demanded old Mr. King; "whom are you talking about, pray tell, Jasper?"
So Jasper ran around to his father"s chair and explained. The end of it all was, that he soon hurried off, being introduced to Tom"s mother, to whom he presented his father"s compliments, and would she do him the favour to join their party? And in ten minutes, every one felt well acquainted with the English matron, and entirely forgot that she was an earl"s daughter. And Tom acquitted himself well, and got on famously with old Mr. King.
But he didn"t dare talk to Polly, but edged away whenever there was the least chance of matters falling out so that he would have to.
And then it came out that the Selwyns thought of going to Munich and down to Lucerne.
"And the Bernese Alps," put in Jasper, across the table. "How is that, Tom, for an outing? Can"t you do it?" For it transpired that Mrs.
Selwyn had left the other children, two girls and two smaller boys, with their grandfather, on the English estate. They all called this place home since the father was in a business in Australia that required many long visits, and Tom"s mother had decided that he should have a bit of a vacation with her, so they had packed up and off, taking in the Wagner festival first, and here they were. "Yes," after she considered a bit, "we can do that. Join the party and then over to Lucerne, and perhaps take in the Bernese Alps."
Only supposing that Polly"s letter hadn"t gone to the little old earl, Jasper kept saying over and over to himself. Just for one minute, suppose it!
And in the midst of it all, the horn sounded; the intermission was over, chairs were pushed back hastily, and all flocked off. No one must be late, and there must be no noisy or bustling entrances into the opera house.
And if Polly Pepper sat entranced through the rest of the matchless performance, Tom Selwyn--three seats back and off to the left--was just as quietly happy. But he wasn"t thinking so much of "Parsifal" as might have been possible. "It"s no end fine of the little mother to say "yes,"" he kept running over and over to himself, with a satisfied glance at the quiet face under the plain, English bonnet.
"It"s funny we don"t see f.a.n.n.y Vanderburgh anywhere," said Polly, as they went through the corridor and up the hotel stairs that night.
"She and her mother probably came home earlier," said Mrs. Fisher; "you know we were delayed, waiting for our carriages. You will see her in the morning, Polly."
But in the morning, it was ten o"clock before Mr. King"s party gathered for breakfast, for Grandpapa always counselled sleeping late when out the night before. And when Polly did slip into her chair, there was a little note lying on her plate.
"f.a.n.n.y Vanderburgh has gone," she said, and turned quite pale.
It was too true. Mrs. Vanderburgh had sold her two tickets to the "Flying Dutchman," to be presented that evening, and departed from Bayreuth.
"It"s no use, Polly," f.a.n.n.y"s note ran, "trying to make me have a good time. Mamma says we are to go back to Paris; and go we must. You"ve been lovely, and I thank you ever so much, and good-by."
Mother Fisher found Polly, a half-hour later, curled up in a corner of the old sofa in her room, her face pressed into the cushion.
"Why, Polly," exclaimed her mother, seeing the shaking shoulders, and, bending over her, she smoothed the brown hair gently, "this isn"t right, child--"
Polly sprang up suddenly and threw her arms around her mother"s neck.
Her face was wet with tears, and she sobbed out, "Oh, if I"d done more for her, Mamsie, or been pleasant to Mrs. Vanderburgh, she might have stayed."
"You haven"t any call to worry, Polly, child," said Mother Fisher, firmly. "You did all that could be done--and remember one thing, it"s very wrong to trouble others as you certainly will if you give way to your feelings in this manner."
"Mamsie," exclaimed Polly, suddenly wiping away the trail of tears from her cheek, "I won"t cry a single bit more. You can trust me, Mamsie, I truly won"t."
"Trust you," said Mother Fisher, with a proud look in her black eyes, "I can trust you ever and always, Polly; and now run to Mr. King and let him see a bright face, for he"s worrying about you, Polly."
XIX
MR. KING HAS A LITTLE PLAN FOR POLLY
"Oh Jasper," exclaimed Polly, clasping her hands, "do you suppose we"ll ever get to a piano where it"s all alone, and n.o.body wants to play on it--"
"But just you and I," finished Jasper. "I declare I don"t know. You see we don"t stay still long enough in any one place to hire a decent one; and besides, father said, when we started, that it was better for us to rest and travel about without any practising this summer. You know he did, Polly."
"I know it," said Polly; "but oh, if we could just play once in a while," she added mournfully.
"Well, we can"t," said Jasper, savagely; "you know we tried that at Brussels, when we thought everybody had gone off. And those half a dozen idiots came and stared at us through the gla.s.s door."
"And then they came in," added Polly, with a little shiver at the recollection. "But that big fat man with the black beard was the worst, Jasper." She glanced around as if she expected to see him coming down the long parlour.
"Well, he didn"t hear much; there didn"t any of them," said Jasper; "that"s some small satisfaction, because you hopped off the piano stool and ran away."
"You ran just as fast, I"m sure, Jasper," said Polly, with a little laugh.
"Well, perhaps I did," confessed Jasper, bursting into a laugh. "Who wouldn"t run with a lot of staring idiots flying at one?" he brought up in disgust.
"And we forgot the music," went on Polly, deep in the reminiscence, "and we wouldn"t go back--don"t you remember?--until the big fat man with the dreadful black beard had gone, for he"d picked it up and been looking at it."
"Yes, I remember all about it," said Jasper; "dear me, what a time we had! It"s enough to make one wish that the summer was all over, and that we were fairly settled in Dresden," he added gloomily, as he saw her face.
"Oh, no," exclaimed Polly, quickly, and quite shocked to see the mischief that she had done.
"We wouldn"t have the beautiful summer go a bit faster, Jasper. Why, that would be too dreadful to think of."
"But you want to get at your music, Polly."
"I"ll fly at it when the time comes," cried Polly, with a wise little nod, "never you fear, Jasper. Now come on; let"s get Phronsie and go out and see the shops."
Old Mr. King in a nook behind the curtain, dropped the newspaper in his lap and thought a bit. "Best to wait till we get to Lucerne," he said to himself, nodding his white head; "then, says I, Polly, my child, you shall have your piano."
And when their party were settling down in the hotel at Lucerne, ending the beautiful days of travel after leaving Munich, Jasper"s father called him abruptly. "See here, my boy."
"What is it, father?" asked Jasper, wonderingly; "the luggage is all right; it"s gone up to the rooms--all except the portmanteau, and Francis will go down to the station and straighten that out."
"I"m not in the least troubled in regard to the luggage, Jasper,"
replied his father, testily; "it"s something much more important than the luggage question about which I wish to speak to you."
Jasper stared, well knowing his father"s views in regard to the luggage question. "The first thing that you must unpack--the very first," old Mr. King was saying, "is your music. Don"t wait a minute, Jasper, but go and get it. And then call Polly, and--"
"Why, father," exclaimed Jasper, "there isn"t a single place to play in. You don"t know how people stare if we touch the piano. We can"t here, father; there"s such a crowd in this hotel."
"You do just as I say, Jasper," commanded his father. "And tell Polly to get her music; and then do you two go to the little room out of the big parlour, and play to your hearts" content." And he burst into a hearty laugh at Jasper"s face, as he dangled a key at the end of a string, before him.
"Now I do believe, father, that you"ve got Polly a piano and a little room to play in," cried Jasper, joyfully, and pouncing on the key.