CHAPTER XX
TOWARD THE TOE
"HEEL and toe, and away we go," sang Jack on the morning they were tostart for Naples. "We've come down all through the boot leg, Jean, andnow we're going toward the toe."
"It isn't really the toe when we stop," returned Jean. "Aunt Helenshowed me on the map, and it isn't any further down than the ankle."
"Well, but it's toward the toe."
"Yes," admitted Jack. "There are more donkeys there than anywhere wehave been," she went on, "and there are goats that walk up-stairs to bemilked."
"We saw them milk goats in the streets of Paris. Don't you remember theman who used to come by early in the morning playing on the pipes, andhow we used to get up and look out of the window to see him milk thegoats?"
"Yes, but those goats didn't walk up-stairs. Carter told me about theones in Naples and I am going to look out for them."
"Carter told me a lot of things, too," returned Jack, not to beoutdone. "He told me more than he did you. He said there was a cavethat was bright blue inside, and that we should go there, and he saidthere was a great big aquarium, the finest in the world, and--that we'dsee the smoke coming out of Vesuvius, and we'd eat oranges off thetrees just as we did in California."
"I don't care," said Jean. "I reckon he told me just as much, only Idon't remember it all."
"Here, here, you children, stop your bickering," cried Nan, "and lookaround to see if you have left nothing behind. We must start prettysoon."
"I'm all ready," declared Jean.
"So am I," echoed Jack. But at the last moment there was discovered ahair ribbon and a handkerchief of hers which had to be poked into hermother's bag.
"To think this is the end of our travels, and that the next thing willbe to take the steamer for home," said Jo in a woebegone voice whenthey were settled in the train. "What next, I wonder."
"There is a great deal of talk over all of us," said Nan, "but no oneseems exactly to know about next year."
"I think mother and Aunt Helen intend to give themselves up to thesubject on the steamer," remarked Mary Lee.
"They're saving it up to keep them from getting seasick," said Nan."It will be so absorbing, you see, that they won't be able to think ofanything else."
"Well," said Jo, "there is one thing; I hope wherever you go that I cango, too."
"Even if it is back to the Wadsworth school?" said Mary Lee.
"Sure." Jo still clung to her slang on occasions. "The Wadsworth schoolmight be worse, and without Frances is much better, so Charley writes."
"Daniella says it would be much better still if we were all there,"remarked Nan.
"_Natuerlich_," returned Jo calmly.
"What are you girls talking about?" asked Carter sauntering up to thedoor of the compartment.
"Of how extremely desirable we are as companions," replied Nan.
"I found that out long ago," answered Carter. "Why don't you talk aboutsomething not quite so obvious as that?"
"Bah!" exclaimed Nan. "Don't hand us out any more bouquets, Carter,we have not places to put them when we are traveling. What are theyall doing next door?" The train being rather crowded, the party had todivide, Carter and Mr. Kirk finding place in another carriage, thetwins with their mother, Miss Helen and the Pinckneys being next to thethree older girls, who were established on a seat opposite three quietGerman women.
"The twins are eating chocolate, I believe," Carter said, "at leastJean was. Your mother is talking to Mr. Pinckney and your aunt to MissDolores. Hal and I have had a smoke, and I left Hal scribbling thingsin his note-book with a far-away look in his eyes; so, seeing I wasnot of any special use, I wandered here to cast myself on your tendermercies. What shall I do when you all leave me? I've half a mind to goback, too."
"And not go to Sicily and Greece? Oh, Carter," Nan protested.
"Well, I am a sociable beast and can't see much fun in traveling alone.If I can find a decent fellow to travel with me, well and good. Halcan't stay. He took his holiday early that he might come with me. Idon't see why you all have to leave so soon when you could spend thesummer over here as well as not. You don't have to get back beforeschool begins, do you?"
"Yes, we shall have to. At least, so far as we are concerned, itwouldn't matter, but mother wants to go back to see about things on theplace, and we don't want her to go without us. She is too precious tobe parted from. We had enough of that business last year. Now we all,mother included, have made up our minds that we are not going to beparted unless it is absolutely necessary. We shall trot around togetherfrom this on."
"Suppose you were in my shoes, and had to live away from your motherand family," said Carter soberly.
"We'd have to do as you do; grin and bear it."
Carter looked a little wistful, for his life was spent apart from hispeople, as his health did not permit him to live in Richmond where hisparents were. "I wish you would all come out to California again," hesaid.
"Perhaps we shall, some time, but I don't think it will be next winter.Mother may go to Florida or Asheville after Christmas to bridge overthe worst of the year, but the rest of us have got to buckle down tohard study."
Here Mr. Kirk sauntered down the corridor to join his cousin, and theystood talking for a few minutes before returning to their places. Alittle later they appeared again. "It will soon be time to get ourfirst glimpse of Vesuvius," said Carter, "so don't miss it."
From this time on the girls were wildly enthusiastic. First Vesuvius'"misty rim" appeared, and not long after they were all driving throughthe picturesque, if dirty streets of the city. Exclamations of delightaccented the drive. It was, "Oh, look at that!" and "Oh, see there!"all the way to the very door of the hotel, and then as they stoodlooking off at the magnificent sweep of bay before them, with Capriand Ischia in the distance, no one made a movement to go in but stoodmurmuring, "How beautiful!"
With natural youthful energy, the young people were not to be persuadedfrom starting off at once to explore, and that very evening did indeedclimb as far as the villa Floridiana, from which they could look downupon the town with its beautiful surroundings. The climb served as anoutlet to superfluous energies, and they came back ready to make planswhile they had dinner.
They all trooped to the Aquarium first thing the next morning whereJean and Jack were so entertained they could hardly be dragged away.
"It's like being really in the waters under the earth," said Jack."I think the octopus is so horrible." She stood regarding it withfascinated eyes.
"If you think it is so horrible what makes you stand and gaze at it?"asked Mary Lee.
"Because I can't help it," returned Jack transfixed.
"It's a place I'd like to come to every day," admitted Mary Lee."Everything is so wonderfully arranged, and as Jack says you feel as ifyou were really in a room under the water. I love the living coral."
"And those creer, creer crabs are so interesting," put in Jean.
"Creer, creer crabs does sound rather interesting," said Mr. Kirklaughing.
"Did you ever see such wonderfully colored creatures as some of theseare?" said Nan, peering through the glass into the watery home of someof the beautiful Mediterranean fish. "What's Jo doing, Carter?"
"She is amusing herself with the electric fish. She seems to find itmore alluring than some of these beauties."
"Shocking!" exclaimed Nan, "though it's hard to shock Jo," she went onwith an attempt at a pun.
Carter groaned. "If that's the way it's going to affect you we'd betterget out as soon as possible."
"Come over here and see these lovely medusae," said Miss Helen.
"It's a great place, isn't it?" said Carter joining her. "I'd no ideait would be so tremendously interesting."
"It is the greatest place of its kind in the world, I suppose. Itsequipments are very complete, and it is resorted to for study by marinebiologists all over the world. The Mediterranean is a marvelous sourceof supply, and the specimens are constantly being added to."
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"Wouldn't have missed it for a good deal," remarked Mr. Pinckneytrotting up. "We'll have to come here often, youngsters," he nodded tothe twins. "When the others are off looking at their old churches anddried up specimens we'll come here and see these fine wet ones, won'twe?" And the twins were only too ready to agree to this.
The young men were possessed with a desire to see the castles of SanMartino and St. Elmo that afternoon, but started off alone, while theothers took carriages and drove about the city, watching the life inthe narrow little streets where gay colored flowers on the balconies,and bits of scarlet or blue clothing, hung from the windows, added tothe charm of color.
"I think the cool way in which they carry on their household affairs,their trades or anything at all in the streets, is too funny forwords," said Jo. "Do look at that old woman cooking macaroni over ahandful of charcoal, Nan. Doesn't she remind you of one of the witchesin Macbeth?"
"And see that baby with scarce a stitch to cover his dear fat littlebrown body. And oh, the flowers, the flowers!"
"Nan, Nan, see there's a street with steps all the way up the middleand the donkeys are going up the steps just as easy," cried Jack. "Isee a man mending shoes right out on the pavement."
"And a girl with something to sell, something to eat," said Jean. "Iwonder what it is."
"Nothing you would like, probably," Nan told her. "Oh, there is afuneral procession. What a queer looking lot of people, and what agorgeous coffin."
"It is probably empty," Miss Helen told her. "They seldom bear the bodyin procession, for it is generally taken to the cemetery beforehand."
"Who are the men wearing the white things with holes for their eyes? Itlooks like a sheet and pillow-case party," declared Jo.
"Those are probably members of the brotherhood to which the dead manbelonged," Miss Helen returned.
"It is certainly a great show, like some of the old pictures you see inthe galleries," said Nan.
They watched the curious procession move on and then turned theirattention to such passing scenes as a man with a tray of selected cigarends which he had picked up in the streets and which he was offeringto buyers, or to a row of booths where fish, meat and macaroni werebeing cooked and finding a ready sale. In between the moving throngthe patient panniered donkeys threaded their way, those laden withvegetables of different hues adding more color to the scene. It was alively show, sometimes amusing, sometimes pathetic, always interesting,as every one declared.
A morning at the Museum, an afternoon prowling around the shops,looking up souvenirs, a tour of the principal churches for some of theparty while the others went again to the Aquarium, took them to theirthird day which was set apart for an excursion to Pompeii.
"The education I am receiving!" remarked Jo to Nan when they passed inthrough the entrance of the ancient city. "I have always had a veryhazy idea of what Pompeii was like, though I have lately learned whenit existed. In fact I was hazy about so many things that are now clearfacts in my mind, that I expect to overpower my family completely whenI get back. I hope my father won't consider that I have completed myeducation entirely. Perhaps I'd better refrain from showing off, or hemay jerk me out of school for the rest of time. Isn't it fun to getyour history lessons in this way?"
"Don't mention it," returned Nan. "Our history lessons are so full ofillustrations that we'd be idiots if we didn't absorb facts with everybreath. Let me see, how long was the place covered up?"
"Oh, for a mere matter of fifteen centuries I believe. It was firstmentioned in history in 310 B. C., so Baedeker says. Nice old place,eh?"
"Don't speak of it in that flippant way," returned Nan. "See, Jo, weare going to have that nice-looking guide. Keep your ears open anddon't break in upon my efforts to gain fresh knowledge."
For the rest of the morning the party followed their intelligent guide,a young man who spoke English well, and who informed them that he wasfrom Sorrento, but had been in America for several years.
"It's the most uncanny thing to be walking through these streets andgo poking into the houses of a dead city," remarked Nan to her aunt."I'm glad you told us to be sure to read 'The Last Days of Pompeii,'for I can see it all in my mind's eye much more vividly. I fancy Nydiafeeling her way through these places and I can imagine just what wenton in these houses now I have read Bulwer's descriptions."
"Impressive, very impressive," asserted Mr. Pinckney gazing at thegreat amphitheatre. "One doesn't feel in the least old, my dear Mrs.Corner, when he is brought face to face with such antiquity. Why, I ama mere infant compared to it." He chuckled mirthfully.
Jean and Jack amused themselves by skipping back and forth over thestepping-stones set across some of the narrow streets, and were charmedwith the little lizards which darted out from between the old stones,the sole residents of that ancient and populous town. Mary Lee lookeddown at the ruts made by the chariot wheels and remarked, "Just thinkof all the poor animals that must have perished in that dreadful time."
"As for the rest," as Jo said, "they were walking exclamation points.To come upon a town buried for centuries, and then to walk into itskitchens to see its pots and pans, to come upon those great baths andto go poking around the carefully retired courts and bedrooms, dear me,it does set one to conjecturing and exclaiming."
"I love the color, the decorations, the statues and all that," saidNan. "I'm glad they had tried to make it look something as it used to,and have reestablished gardens so as to give you an idea of what itwas like in the long ago."
Believing that the luncheon hour would not find them ready to leave theruins they had provided themselves with lunch so they could stay aslate as they cared to, the evening light giving an added fascination tothe silent city.
"It's been a great day," said Carter as they started for the railwaystation.
"Haven't we had a good time?" said Jack cordially. "What are you goingto do this evening, Carter?"
"Don't know, Jaquita. I may go to the opera, if we get back in time. Iknow very well what you will do."
"What?"
"Tumble into your little bed and go to sleep in about two minutes,"returned Carter laughing.
They were all so tired that opera was not to be thought of, and it wasdecided to put off that pleasure till the next evening when all wentexcept Mrs. Corner and the twins.
"I suppose Nan will be snippy and will say it's not worth listening tobecause the music is not Wagner's," said Mary Lee as they started outthrough the gay streets.
"Indeed I shall not," returned Nan indignantly. "I like Wagner best, ofcourse, but I can enjoy anything good, I hope."
"I've never reached the place where I can appreciate Wagner," confessedJo.
"You're not studying music," Nan explained. "If you were you would feeldifferently. I didn't care so much for it either till Frau Burg-Schmidtintroduced me to the mysteries. Now that I can understand it I think itis the greatest ever."
"Old Rossini and Donizetti and those fellows are good enough for me,"declared Carter.
Nan had her own ideas, but she only whispered to her aunt, "He hasnever heard Knote sing Siegfried or Tannhauser." She was not going tospoil the evening by futile argument.
It was by no means spoiled, however, for the great opera house ofSan Carlo provided them with a fine caste for the light music theyheard. It was a very different and less attentive audience from thatwith which Nan had grown so familiar in Munich, but as she gravelyexplained, "The character of the music is so very different," a remarkwhich caused Miss Helen to smile and Jo to laugh outright, so verysuperior was Nan's tone.
A flood of sunshine, blue Italian skies, dancing blue waters in thelovely bay greeted them the next morning. "This is the day that wasmade for our trip to Capri and the Blue Grotto," announced Miss Helenwhen they were taking breakfast. "So get ready, girls. Pack your bags,for we shall stop off at Sorrento for a few days."
Off flew the girls, for there was but a short time before the steamerwould start on its daily trip. There was bustle enough for
the nextfifteen minutes, and then one after another appeared, ready to go.
"This will be the best of all," said Mary Lee. "I feel it."
"What do you do when you get there?" asked Jean.
"Get where?"
"To wherever we are going. I don't know exactly where it is. One of yousays Capri, another talks about Sorrento, and Jack declares it is theBlue Grotto."
"It is all three," Mary Lee told her. "We stop at the Blue Grottofirst, then we go to Capri and have our lunch, and after that we go toSorrento."
"Oh!" Jean understood. She was somewhat fearful of the Blue Grotto, andwas rather scared when the little boat shot into the small opening,and the wonderful blue cave was before her. She buried her face in hermother's lap and would not look up at first, but a call from Jack, whowas in the next boat with Carter, caused her to be braver. "I wasn'tscared a bit, was I, Carter?" sang out Jack.
This part of the trip was soon over and they went on to Capri, wherethey were ready to linger longer than the time allowed. "Capri is toocharming for words. Must we leave it?" the girls said to their elders.
"My dears, if we stopped at all the charming places we should never gethome," Mrs. Corner told them. "You will have to be satisfied with alittle stop at Sorrento this time."
"Capri will be here for ages yet," said Carter, "and when we get to betottering old people, Jack, we will come here to celebrate our goldenwedding."
"Silly!" was all the answer Jack vouchsafed.
A babble of clamoring voices surrounded their steamer which suddenlycame to a standstill. "What in the world is the matter?" said Mary Leejumping up.
"Come along, girls," Mr. Pinckney called to them, and they found theymust leave the steamer for one of the small rowboats rocking on thewater alongside. The clamor of voices calling out the names of thevarious hotels of Sorrento issued from these. Mr. Pinckney shouted outthe name of the one they had selected, and one after another descendedto reembark and to be rowed shoreward to an ancient pier at the footof the lofty crags.
"Now," said Jean settling herself, "we are going to eat oranges forthree whole days."
Not only oranges, but all manner of good things did their hotel afford.Roses rioted in its gardens, beautiful views were seen from theirwindows, a fair orange grove became their happy retreat. Their threedays in this loveliest of spots seemed all too short, so, throwing allother plans aside, they lingered too happy and content to care foranything further.
If it was a glad time to the Corners, to at least two of the party itseemed a Paradise, the world forgot. It was Jack who first learned whatevery one else suspected. She had been walking with Mr. Pinckney in theorange grove the last evening of their stay at Sorrento. They stoppedto sit down on one of the old stone seats from which they could lookout at the glorious view of Naples, Vesuvius, Capri and Ischia whichwas spread out before them.
Presently Mr. Pinckney gave a long sigh. "Are you sighing because it isso beautiful?" asked Jack solicitously, "or because you ate too muchsupper?"
In spite of himself Mr. Pinckney could not help from laughing, hisjolly old chuckle, but almost immediately became serious again. "It issomething else, Jack," he said. "I'm going to lose my little girl."
"You don't mean me, do you?" said Jack after a moment's pause. Shecould not imagine any other whom he would call his little girl.
"No, not you. I hope we shall not lose you for a great many years. Imean, my dear, that I am doing as you told me to do there in Venice. Iam trying not to be a selfish old fellow and am consenting to give upMiss Dolores because it will make her happy."
Jack's arms went around his neck and she imprinted a hearty kiss uponhis cheek. "You darling!" she exclaimed. "I think you are too sweet forwords."
This was too much for him and he again broke into a laugh. "I'mglad you approve," he said, "but while you are so glad for thatgranddaughter of mine, you haven't a word of sympathy for me. What isto become of me?"
"Why, of course you will be happy, too. Aren't they going to live withyou?"
"Yes, that dear Dolly of mine wouldn't say yes otherwise."
"Of course she wouldn't. Well, then, won't you have her and Mr. Kirkboth, and Nan and Mary Lee and Jean and me besides?" Another mighty hugand kiss.
"Bless your heart, when I get to feeling down-hearted I'll send foryou. I'll make a bargain with your mother this very night."
"I think sometimes you might come and see us where we are," returnedJack, "though, of course, I shall always like to go to see you," sheadded hastily.
"It's a bargain," he said. "When you can't come to me then I will go toyou, whenever I feel that I am in the way at home."
"Oh, but you were never in the way," Jack hastened to assure him, thenshe added mirthfully, "except that first time I saw you when I ran intoyou."
The recollection of this put Mr. Pinckney into a happier humor, and thetwo went up to the house to tell their news to the family.
And so when, a week later, they all turned away from the beautiful landwhere they had enjoyed so many good times, to set out upon the journeyhome, it was not only to school and their native town that they lookedforward, but to the Christmas wedding of their dear and lovely friendMiss Dolores, when for the first time each of the four Corners wouldperform the office of bridesmaid.
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Transcriber's Notes:
Obvious punctuation errors repaired.
Page 222, "Joe" changed to "Jo" twice (Jo asked Nan that) (and Jo werevery fond of)
Page 270, illustration caption, "Kippen" changed to "Krippen" (Delightat The Krippen)
Page 397, "Fraunces" changed to "Frances" (Nan, what would Frances)
The Four Corners Abroad Page 20
