_ CHAPTER XXV. THE THUNDERBOLT
Breakfast was over, and the girls had hidden their pretty evening coats under long linen dusters. For, as Mrs. Payton had explained, they would have no time to change for the evening, and they must look their best--to which, needless to say, the girls agreed with enthusiasm.
"And we can wear those new motor bonnets we bought in England the day before we sailed," Lucile rejoiced. So the insistent honk of the motor horn found them all cloaked and bonneted, and ready for the day's fun.
"Come on," cried Lucile, pulling Jessie away from the mirror by main force; "you look wonderful, Jessie," and down the stairs they ran and out onto the veranda, where a good many of the guests had assembled to see them off.
The boys took immediate possession of them and hustled them, willy-nilly, into the car, despite their vehement protestations that they must say "good-byes" to "lots of people."
"They'll be here when you get back," Phil argued, "and mother's already been waiting half an hour. Time's up!" And off they went with great noise and laughter and waving of hands to the group on the porch.
"Oh, what a perfect day!" cried Lucile, settling back between Evelyn and Jessie in the tonneau. As usual, Mr. Payton was in front with the driver, the three girls were squeezed tightly in the rear seat, Mrs. Payton occupied one of the collapsible seats, and Jack and Phil--well, they were anywhere they could get.
Jack had earlier proposed the use of his two-seater for Lucile and himself, but Mr. Payton had demurred, smilingly preferring "safety-first."
But now, the floor of the machine being not the most comfortable place in the world, Phil objected. "Say, Dad, why don't you let Jack take Lucy in his car? He's a fine driver, and he'd stick close to us all the time."
"I think it would be safe enough," Mrs. Payton added. "Mr. Turnbull says he has driven the car for years."
Mr. Payton hesitated, giving the command to slow up, nevertheless. "Well, perhaps it would be better," he agreed at last, but very reluctantly; "if you will promise to stay close to us all the time." This last to Jack.
Jack promised readily and happily, and they turned back. A few minutes later they were on their way again, everybody comfortable, everybody happy, especially Lucile and Jack.
"I didn't dare hope for this," he whispered, as they followed in the wake of the big touring car. "The hat's class!" he added, admiringly.
So the morning was spent in touring the great city. The girls were fascinated by the noise and bustle, the number and magnificence of the public buildings, and, most of all, by the gay little restaurants and cafes lining both sides of the broad boulevards.
"Imagine this at night!" said Jack, hugely enjoying Lucile's unaffected delight in everything she saw. "Can't you just see the lights spring up and the theater crowds gathering?"
"And we are going to see it all!" cried Lucile, clapping her hands and fairly dancing with delight. "Oh, Jack, I simply can't wait; I can't!"
Noon had come and passed. They had luncheon in a wonderful little restaurant near the Rue de la Paix, where they had enjoyed to the full of music and "all that," and now the two automobiles, little and big, drew up before the magnificent piece of architecture, the Louvre.
Lucile caught her breath as she and Jack joined the group already assembled on the sidewalk. "The pictures you see give you absolutely no idea of it," she breathed; "it must have been planned by an artist."
"Yes; and see how big it is," said Phil. "It's going to take us a long time to explore it."
"Explore is hardly the word----" Jessie was beginning, when Evelyn interrupted, "It doesn't make any difference what you call it, but I'm just going to look and look and look till I can't look any more."
"Well, that's what it is here for," laughed Mr. Payton; "and now I'll tell you what I am going to do with you young people. When we get you well started on your sight-seeing, Mrs. Payton and I are going to run away to hunt up this tragic hero and reinstate him and his sweetheart, if it lies within our power. We'll be back in an hour or two, and I guess there will be plenty to interest you for that length of time. So, in with you; there's no time to lose," and he propelled his laughing flock before him up the broad stone steps.
Once inside, as may be easily imagined, the girls experienced no trouble in finding things to absorb their interest, and it was hard for them to take time to say good-by to their chaperons. The latter laughingly left them to their own devices, feeling sure that they were safe for the time being, at any rate.
"Talk about spending an hour here! Why, I could spend a week in just one room!" exclaimed Jessie, after half an hour of blissful wandering. "I never saw so many things all at once in my life."
"I suppose you girls have never visited our great museums at home?" Jack questioned. "I have often felt that way myself; a person could spend a month just studying the things in one room, and still not know all he should about them."
"By home I suppose you mean New York," said Jessie; then added, demurely, "You forget, sir, that we are simple country maids, who have hardly stepped outside of Burleigh until this summer."
"Yes, I guess that's one reason why we like everything so much," said Evelyn, naively.
"Oh, the mummies, the mummies! I must see the mummies!" cried Lucile, startling the others with the suddenness of her outburst. "Oh, Jack, please take me to the mummies."
"There, there; she shall have her mummies if she wants them," said Jack, soothingly. "If they haven't enough, I'll head an expedition to Egypt for more right away, so don't worry; you shall have all you want."
"I wonder what you'd do if I took you up," laughed Lucile, as Jack hurried her off in the direction of the Egyptian section. "Egypt is a long way from here, you know."
"I came to Europe for you; Egypt isn't so much further," he teased.
A few minutes later Lucile and her friends were standing before the glass cases containing the swathed forms of some of Egypt's ancient rulers, encased in their vividly painted coffins.
They could not wonder enough at the miracle that had been wrought--the bodies of men who had ruled mighty Egypt four thousand years ago still in existence for twentieth-century moderns to marvel at! Besides the mummies, there were the numerous curiously wrought vases and utensils that had been placed in the tombs alongside the mummies for their use after death. The little party might easily have spent all their allotted time in the examination of these and other interesting relics, had not Jack hurried them away. "I realize we can't begin to see all there is to see on our first trip," he said, "but we can do our best, anyway."
They visited the art gallery, filled with marvelous paintings and sculptures; went through the room where old-time and modern musical instruments were gathered together; and so on through a very world of wonders, of which, as Evelyn plaintively remarked, "they had only time to see enough to make them want to see more." So interested were they that it was four o'clock before they realized that it was long past the time set for Mr. and Mrs. Payton's return. But suddenly this fact dawned on Phil, and he drew Lucile aside and asked her in a whisper what she supposed could be keeping them.
Lucile looked worried. "You don't think anything could have happened; an accident, perhaps?" she questioned, anxiously. "The streets were awfully crowded, you know, when we came down."
"No, I don't think there has been anything like that; probably it's taken them longer than they thought to look up that Charloix fellow," he answered, trying to be reassuring. "Any way, don't let's say anything to the rest. There's no use making everybody miserable."
So half an hour passed; then an hour; and the brother and sister could keep their anxiety to themselves no longer.
"What do you suppose can be keeping them?" Lucile wondered, as they all gathered round in anxious conference. "They surely never would have stayed away of their own accord, and it's getting really late."
"We've been here about three hours now, haven't we?" Jack added. "And they ought to have been here an hour ago at the latest. Oh, well, we can expect them any minute now."
"Suppose we go outside and see if we can find any sign of them," Evelyn suggested. "It's hot in here."
So out they went, making a very handsome group as they looked eagerly in all directions, vainly hoping to catch a glimpse of the big gray car.
"Phil, I'm terribly worried," Lucile murmured drawing closer to her brother and slipping her hand into his for comfort.
Phil squeezed the little hand reassuringly. "Half an hour from now we'll be laughing at our fears," he said, cheerfully, trying hard at the same time to convince himself.
"Seems to me there's a good deal more noise than there was, Jack. Why are all those boys running around like chickens with their heads cut off? They all have papers, too." Jessie was frankly puzzled.
"They are newsboys, little coz, and they wouldn't be flattered by our comparison. They are yelling what, in United States, would be 'extra!' I'll get a paper and see if I can puzzle out some of the French," and he strolled down to intercept one of the hurrying urchins.
Lucile watched him as he sauntered leisurely back, wondering, in her distracted little brain, how he could be interested in anything when he ought to be as anxious as she. "But it isn't his mother and father," she explained to herself.
Meanwhile, Jack's puzzled frown had turned to a look of absolute dismay and incredulity as he read.
"What is it?" Phil asked. "Everybody seems to be getting more excited and worked up every minute. Look at that group of men over there. Does the paper throw any light on the subject, Jack?"
"Well, I should say so!" cried Jack, in huge excitement. "Look here, all of you!" And while they gathered around him, expecting they knew not what calamity, he brokenly read the headlines: "Austria declares war on Servia. Open break with Russia apprehended. Germany sides with Austria----"
"War, war?" Phil echoed, dazedly. "Why, it's just as old Major B---- prophesied, only sooner. Can you read any more, Jack?"
"Oh, do, do!" urged Lucile, forgetting her anxiety in this overwhelming almost unbelievable news. "There must be more of it you can make out."
The familiar honk of an automobile horn jerked their eyes from the paper to the curb, where the big gray touring car had silently drawn up. Lucile snatched the paper none too ceremoniously from Jack's hand and flew to the machine, joyfully relieved to find her father and mother safe and sound. She was closely followed by the others.
"Mother, Dad, I'm so glad to see you're back all right; we were awfully worried!" she gasped. "But have you seen the paper? Oh, what does it mean?"
"It means," said Mr. Payton, slowly, and with grim emphasis, "it means that the sooner we leave the country behind and set foot on good old United States soil the better it will be for all of us. Come, get in."
"But, Dad, how about dinner, and the theater, and all the other things we were going to do?" Lucile wailed. "Have we got to give them all up?"
"Better to lose a little pleasure than find ourselves stranded in a country at war and perhaps be unable to leave it. We haven't any time to lose." It was the first time Lucile could remember ever hearing that tone of command in her father's voice, and somehow she knew it must be obeyed without question.
Silently, and as yet unable to comprehend the full extent of what had occurred, the party, which had started out so merrily and under such bright auspices in the morning, returned to their hotel.
Only once did Lucile shake off her preoccupation long enough to ask for M. Charloix.
"Did you find him, Dad? We thought you might have had some trouble, you were so long getting back."
"Oh, it did take more time than we expected, but it was worth the trouble when we did find him." In spite of his anxiety, Mr. Payton's eyes twinkled at the memory.
"But what did he do?" Phil broke in. "How did he take the news?"
"Running, I guess. Before I had half finished explaining to the lawyer, he was off on a dead run for the chateau. Didn't even wait to hear about the will."
"Then he doesn't know yet?" Phil cried.
"Of course he does, silly," said Lucile, with the air of one who knows all there is to know of such matters. "Don't you suppose Jeanette has told him long before this?"
Again Phil retreated gracefully. "Well, you know the lady," he admitted.
The rest of the trip passed quickly in visioning the joyful reunion of the two young lovers, and it was not till they were fairly upon the inn that the grim specter of war again intruded itself.
They found the same feverish excitement there as elsewhere, for the newspapers had arrived with the mail and the dire news spread like wildfire.
As Jack took his leave, saying that he had promised his uncle to spend the night with him, but would return the first thing in the morning, uncle and all, to accompany them home, he drew Lucile aside for a moment.
"Mighty hard luck, not seeing the lights, after all," he whispered, "but there may be other times."
"I don't know when we will ever get to Europe again, and there was so much to see yet--Switzerland, and Rome, and--and----" She struggled bravely to choke back the tears of bitter disappointment that rose to her eyes. "I--I don't see--why they had to have an old war--anyway," she sobbed.
For a moment they were alone, and very gently he took her hand in his. "Don't you worry," he soothed. "Some time, after we get home, perhaps you will come to New York, and then I'll show you Broadway. It's better than anything you can get over here, anyway! Here, I have your handkerchief," and he abstracted a filmy little square, all lace and no center, from his pocket and handed it to her.
"Thank you," she said, and smiled uncertainly through her tears. "You must think I'm very childish and foolish--and--everything----"
"Especially the last----"
"Lucile, Lucile, Dad wants to know where you are." It was Phil's voice.
"I'm coming," called Lucile; then, turning to Jack, "Good-by," she murmured, suddenly very reluctant to have him go.
"Until to-morrow," he whispered, and was gone. _