Everyone turned to glance at the unexpected contestant, and the amazement expressed on many faces, as well as on that of the auctioneer because of the girl"s youth amused Polly"s friends. The auctioneer asked: "Did the young lady make a bid?"
Polly noded affirmatively. But the man who was bidding thought to cut her out by raising his bid considerably higher. The salesman turned then to Polly to see if she still wished to bid.
"Double his bid!" called out Polly.
Again there was surprise shown by others, and the man who thought he had frightened off his youthful opponent, frowned.
When the auctioneer smilingly looked to the collector to increase his bid, the man carefully raised it a small sum. Polly now knew he was wary of spending his money, so she took advantage of the cue to call out a figure that was startlingly higher than the collector"s; so that he instantly shook his head in refusal of any further bidding or interest in the chair.
"What! no higher bid from you when you want this chair?" coaxed the auctioneer.
Again the man frowned and shook his head positively, but he did this hoping Polly would weaken, and then he would come back and mention a slight increase on her price.
The auctioneer thinking his negative signal was final, turned to Polly and said: "It"s yours, Miss. And allow me to congratulate you, not alone on having acquired the finest bit in this entire lot, but also on being a very clever and experienced buyer."
The moment the collector realized that the auctioneer had knocked down the chair to his adversary without again consulting him, he protested.
"I claim that chair!" cried he.
"By what right?" demanded the auctioneer.
"Because I was bidding on it against this young lady, and you did not cry it three times as you should have done."
"I asked you, and you shook your head. Then I told you it was worth higher bidding, but you denied going higher-a shake of the head is as legal a denial as a spoken word, in this case. I have witnesses that you refused to go higher, so I sold it to the young lady."
The man who was a dealer and had a customer for such a chair, was furious at having lost it to a mere girl. He began an argument, but the auctioneer calmly remarked: "This is a public sale, and as such, order must be maintained. I shall have to ask anyone creating a disturbance to leave the premises."
That quieted the disputant, and Polly kept her chair. Her companions congratulated her on securing it, but Mr. Fabian wished to know why she took such a sudden fancy for the piece of furniture, when there were other fine pieces that might appeal to a girl.
"Because, the moment I saw that chair tapestry it reminded me of my home at Pebbly Pit. We have just such wonderful sunsets as that chair covering represents. Glorious colors that flare in points at some places, and then fade away in the western sky like misty violets in a rivulet; or like the gray of twilight before night falls," explained Polly, reminiscently.
"Oh yes, Polly," a.s.sented Eleanor. "Just like we saw over Rainbow Cliffs, so many times."
"Miss Polly is some artiste natural born, I think," said the Count, who had been deeply impressed by the girl"s remark.
"Polly"s a poet and doesn"t know it!" declared Dodo, fervently. "If I ever could say such a lovely thing in words about an old chair, I"d begin to believe I had escaped Ma"s plans for a t.i.tle in the family."
Of course her companions laughed at her unconscious rhyme and, also, at her quaint expression of face, but the Count wondered what she meant by "a t.i.tle in the family."
After Polly secured the armchair, Eleanor bid upon and got a XVI century cabinet of the Lyonnaise school; and Dodo bought a Renaissance hall table. Mr. Fabian secured a Spanish Renaissance divan, and the Count managed to buy the pictures he wanted. Towards the end of the day, Polly and Eleanor secured a few odd things, such as an iron lock, chiselled from a solid block of metal that was said to date from the XV century; and Polly got an old door-knocker that was more than two hundred years old.
The last group of furniture pieces put up for sale, that day, was arranged on the dais just as Mr. Fabian was preparing to go. He turned and saw it, then the auctioneer called out: "Here is a splendid suite of furniture for a bachelor"s den. Now what am I bid for it?"
Mr. Fabian whispered to the girls: "It is a pity the man should try to sell that set by praising it as he did. He knows, only too well, that it is unsuitable for a man"s room. But tell me why, girls?"
Dodo curled her lips in scorn at the elaborate pieces and remarked: "Would one wish to decorate a ball-room with black crepe?"
Her friends laughed at the very sarcastic criticism, and the Count said, smilingly: "But that is not mourning furniture!"
"No, but it is just as bad taste for a man"s room. Why should a bachelor"s _den_ use soft tints and motifs of Louis XVI period, when they are more appropriate in a reception room, or a lady"s boudoir?"
That last retort from such a prepossessing girl, completed the havoc in the Count"s susceptible heart. He thenceforth planned to lay his t.i.tle and enc.u.mbered Italian estate at Dodo"s feet. But he found it not as easy as he had thought for, when he took this fervent decision.
He invited the American party to be his guests that night, at dinner, and he arranged so that he could sit next to Dodo. But that was all the good it did him, for the girls were so full of the fun and joys of bargain hunting that they spoke of nothing else.
After the exultation of possession had calmed down, somewhat, Nancy Fabian said: "Daddy, why are some such atrocious pieces of furniture as we saw today flung to the people?"
"One reason why France has, of recent years, had some such uncouth furniture made, is because the Guild of Cabinet Makers is no longer in existence to enforce its laws. There was once a provision made, in 1645, that every piece of furniture made in France had to be pa.s.sed upon by the Guild. And that is why old furniture from these French cabinet makers, is so highly prized by collectors, now.
"This Guild examined every aspirant to the t.i.tle of Master Craftsman, and without a certificate signed by ten of the jurors of the Guild, he dared not establish himself; their regulations were very strict so as to protect art, consequently but few atrocities were cast upon the market of France for more than two hundred years after the founding of this protective Guild."
"Well, it"s too bad we haven"t a Guild in America," said Polly, her tone causing her friends to laugh heartily.
CHAPTER IX-MR. ALEXANDER"S SURPRISE
The next day Mr. Fabian conducted his girls to various cathedrals and famous buildings in the city, and that night they returned to the hotel to find little Mr. Alexander standing in front of it waiting for them.
"I"ve got turrible news for you-all," said he in a most lugubrious tone.
His face expressed the greatest sorrow and concern.
"My goodness, Pa! What"s the matter?" cried Dodo, anxiously.
"It"s worse than you-all can reckon, so I"ll tell you. This afternoon when I come back from a little joy-ride, I saw a dandy little car out here, but when I took a good squint at it I saw it were a Packard Roadster. At that, my legs began to shake and I feared Maggie might have come over, in spite of my wire to her.
"And then, before I could get courage to go indoors, I heard her voice.
I tried to hide behind that big pillar, there, but no use! So, Dodo, your Ma"s here and is in the parlor talking to Count Chalmys."
As everyone had expected to hear dire news, the relief upon hearing that Mrs. Alexander had arrived was so great that it caused a general laugh.
Nancy Fabian turned and asked of the little millionaire: "How did your wife meet the Count?"
"Oh, I figgered that she would be so glad to know a real live Count, that I saved my own head that way. She won"t remember my misdeeds now,"
softly laughed Mr. Alexander.
When the exchange of effusive greetings on the part of Mrs. Alexander, and the quiet welcome from the other Americans, had subsided, she remembered something to tell Dodo, that concerned her deeply.
"What do you think, Dodo? About those Osgoods?"
"How should I know, Ma. Your tone indicates that you are not very well pleased with them, whatever it is," replied Dodo.
"I should say _not_! Why, I found out that the t.i.tle of "Sir" and "Lady"
does not mean _anything_ in their family. Jimmy can"t inherit the honor, either. His father got it because he did something unusual with a factory that made munitions when the war first broke out. It wasn"t an entailed t.i.tle at all, and it stops with this Osgood. Dear me! When I think of it-you might have had to marry just a plain James Osgood, after all!"
"Oh no, I wouldn"t, Ma. I said from the first, that I never would marry anyone I didn"t like. And it would take an American to do that,"
declared Dodo.