The Ranch Girls in Europe Part 6

"Oh no, there were dozens of other men equally ready to do just what I did, only I managed to have the honor first," he returned lightly. And of course by his ignoring his own action, Jack was the more impressed by it.

For she looked at the older man gravely. "I can understand that you don't want to be thanked for what you have done. I know that from my own experience once. But just the same I shall always be grateful to you.

And if ever there is a time when I can in any way show my grat.i.tude--"

To do Captain Madden justice he felt uncomfortable over Jack's excessive grat.i.tude, for whatever his other faults of character, he was a physically brave man.

Although insisting that she was perfectly well and that her wetting had not done her the least harm, Jack was straightway put to bed and dosed with warm drinks. So that Olive, in order to talk with the other girls and yet allow Jack to sleep, was obliged to slip into Ruth's stateroom soon after dinner.

There she found Ruth and Jean engaged in argument.

"Of course I am grateful to Captain Madden," Jean was saying in an irritated tone of voice, "but just the same, I don't see why he could not have waited for one of the sailors whose business it was to rescue Jack. We all of us know what a queer disposition Jack has and how if she once likes a person she sticks to him through thick and thin. And I--well, candidly, I don't want her to like this Captain Madden any too much. I don't trust him and I would write to old Jim tonight if I knew a single thing to say against him or any reason for saying it."

"But you are simply prejudiced, Jean dear. Anyhow we will be landing in Naples in a few days and after that see no more of our ship friends,"

Ruth argued. "So if I were you I would say and think nothing more about this. Really, such a casual acquaintance is not of so great importance."

And Ruth frowned, because Frieda was staring at her cousin with her big blue eyes wide open with the effort to guess what possible reason Jean could have for showing so much unnecessary feeling. For her own part, her anger was directed entirely against Mrs. Grant and her son. And she firmly made up her mind not to speak to either one of them again, no matter how humble their apologies.

CHAPTER IX

REFLECTIONS

RUTH had her way. When the Martha Washington finally arrived in Naples, good-byes were said to all their ship's acquaintances and the Rainbow Ranch party had their first ten days in Italy to themselves. There was a little time of rest and then visits to the Island of Capri, to the ruins of Pompeii, to Mount Vesuvius. And before very long Ruth and the four girls found themselves yielding more than they had dreamed to the wonderful spell of southern Italy. Not that any one object or place made so great an impression beyond another, but because Italy seemed so different from their own land. It was as though they had one day been transported by an airship for a journey through the planet Jupiter or Mars.

The soft Italian voices with their tuneful cadences, the laziness and air of having all eternity for the performance of a task, the big, brown-eyed beauty of the women and children--it was all irresistible.

Actually the girls felt their own characters changing. Where was their old energetic desire to take long walks, to rise up early and certainly never to waste a moment in a nap in the afternoon? Why in Naples one felt always drowsy, less inclined to talk, and wished only to drive and dream and feast one's eyes and ears and nose, all the senses at once.

For here was beauty, music and such fragrance, surely the three graces of nature! And the roses, they were everywhere in bloom, climbing over every ruined wall and broken gateway, covering whole hillsides, until at last Jack was obliged to admit that they were as abundant and even more beautiful than her own wild prairie roses.

But Naples was only to be the Ranch girls' first introduction to Italy, their first taste of her delights. Rome was really the central object of their pilgrimage, where the greater part of their time was to be spent.

And Rome Ruth had decided must be taken seriously.

In Naples she had let things drift, had even felt as inactive and pleasure-loving as her younger companions. But then she had been tired from her sea voyage. Many persons had said that it required a week or ten days for recovery if one had been seasick. Also this may have explained why so frequently of late she had caught herself thinking of Jim Colter. Why should the nights in Naples recall moonlit evenings on the ranch which they had spent together years before?

Almost the only suggestion that Jim had made to her before their sailing was that the girls should acquire enough culture on their European trip to compensate him for the loss of their society. And Ruth had conscientiously determined to do her best. All the winter past she had devoted to the study of Roman history. Indeed, it had helped her pa.s.s many a lonely evening, when otherwise the picture of the Rainbow Lodge living room, with the girls seated about the fire and the big figure of their guardian stalking in and out half a dozen times within the hour, had a fashion of appearing before her eyes.

Ruth had begun her acquaintance with the Ranch girls as their teacher.

So that now, although they were nearly grown, it was hard for her to give up all her old principles and practices. In their different ways the four girls were charming, and yet there was much Ruth felt that they should know. However, the past year had made more changes in their characters than she could ever have supposed. She had been surprised to find how much they now cared for people and society, and had been disappointed as well; for Ruth had not realized that the Ranch girls were yet old enough for these interests, in spite of the fact that Jack was nearly twenty and Olive and Jean not so far away. Jack in particular had been a revelation to Ruth, who had been making special plans for her intellectual development. For she was the oldest of the four girls and yet had never had the advantage of Primrose Hall and Miss Winthrop.

After their trip abroad then, there would be time enough for society, their chaperon decided, actually believing that the natural experiences of life can be persuaded to wait for set times and set places.

So all the way along the road from Naples to Rome, Ruth was making her own plans for the four girls, little guessing what was occupying their minds. Nevertheless their thoughts were as eternal to youth as any symbol of eternity in the most wonderful of all cities.

"'Tis the center To which all gravitates. One finds no rest Elsewhere than here. There may be other cities That please us for a while, but Rome alone Completely satisfies."

Or at least this was Ruth Drew's idea, as she sat watching the landscape fly past her window, with these lines keeping time to the turning of the car wheels.

Notwithstanding that, Jean Bruce sat exactly opposite, with her eyes closed showing the length of her dark lashes against the clear pallor of her cheeks, Jean was not devoting all her energies to reflecting upon the historic curiosities of ancient Rome. She wanted to see everything of importance, of course, but she was also wondering if the Princess Colonna would keep the promise made in their farewells on the steamship.

Would she call on them in Rome and afterwards invite them to meet her friends? The invitation might possibly be to an afternoon tea; yet even then there was a chance of meeting some member of the Italian n.o.bility or other prominent person. And Jean did not think herself a sn.o.b because she wanted to meet big people as well as to see big things. Always they had led such a quiet life at the ranch, and boarding school had offered but few opportunities for making outside friends. Indeed, her only other chances for mingling with the world had been their summer trip through the Yellowstone and her week's visit to Margaret Belknap during the Christmas holidays at Primrose Hall. So Jean's social aspirations were possibly not unreasonable.

And, curiously enough, Olive Van Mater, for at least a portion of their pilgrimage to Rome, was considering certain friends whom she might possibly meet there, instead of the marvels of the city itself. For she was expecting that her cousins, Mrs. Harmon, Donald and Elizabeth, might make their appearance. And although Olive was fond of all three of them, she could not look forward to their meeting with pleasure. The truth is that Olive's grandmother, as we must know from the past volume in this series, was a self-willed, unwise old woman. No sooner had she seen Olive and Donald together half a dozen times and noticed the young fellow's liking for her granddaughter, than she had made up her mind the way she intended to escape her own difficulty. Why puzzle to decide whether she should leave her large fortune to the Harmons, as she had so long promised, or give it to the newly found granddaughter?

"Let the two young persons marry and share the money between them.

Elizabeth could be comforted with a reasonable legacy." This decision Madame Van Mater had confided to Miss Winthrop almost as soon as the idea had come into her head. And then, in spite of Miss Winthrop's openly expressed disapproval, after Olive's return from the ranch for her second winter at Primrose Hall, her grandmother had made known her wishes to her.

"So that you may not get any other love nonsense into your head," Madame Van Mater explained to Olive, as though there could be no possibility of her desire being disobeyed. And this in spite of the fact that Olive had insisted that Donald could never care for her or she for him, and that nothing would induce her to follow her grandmother's wishes. Indeed, except for Miss Winthrop, Olive might have been made extremely unhappy.

But her friend had explained that Madame Van Mater was growing childish with age and would probably change her mind in regard to the willing of her wealth many times before her death. Also she a.s.sured her that Madame Van Mater had never mentioned her purpose to Donald Harmon, and if Miss Winthrop could influence her, never should. Nevertheless Olive's peace of mind and pleasure in her cousin's society had been successfully destroyed by her grandmother's suggestion. Actually the girl lived in a kind of shy dread of Don's ever finding it out or attempting to follow Madame Van Mater's wishes. She had always protested that the greater share of the family fortunes should be left to the Harmons. She herself would be content with very little and wanted no special favors, since her grandmother had never brought herself to care for her.

Notwithstanding this, the old lady had seen that her granddaughter had an even larger sum than the three Ranch girls for her traveling expenses in Europe. And had said that she was to buy whatever she liked and to send for more money whenever it was necessary.

Yet Ruth and the girls were traveling in a far more expensive fashion and spending more money than they ever had before. For, in spite of the discovery of the Rainbow mine, they had continued to live simply.

Nevertheless, in starting off on their European trip, Jim had advised them to have a good time and not to worry, as he guessed the gold mine could do the rest.

So that Jack in the course of her journey from Naples rather wondered if Captain Madden had not received a wrong impression of the amount of their wealth. Or possibly Frank Kent had told him. In any case it was annoying for Frank to have mentioned their financial affairs to so complete a stranger as Captain Madden had then been. Jack was glad she had written asking Frank not to join them in Italy. Two years might have made a great change in his character, so that they could not be friends as they had once been. Besides, had she not guessed, without actually having been told, that Captain Madden and Frank, in spite of being cousins, were not particularly good friends? And as Captain Madden had mentioned that there was a bare chance of his spending the spring in Rome it might be awkward meeting them together. Of course Jack had not spoken of the chance of running across Captain Madden in Rome to any of her family. In the first place, Captain Madden had been by no means sure of his presence there, and in the second, Jack had the impression that Jean, Olive and Frieda did not like him. This was absurd, of course, with a man so much older! As he had traveled and spent other seasons in Rome, surely he would be an agreeable guide and help them to see the right things in the right way?

Only Frieda, besides Ruth, was not looking forward with either pleasure or dread to any persons whom she might happen to run across in Rome.

Certainly d.i.c.k Grant and his mother were to be there (d.i.c.k had told her every detail of their plans in the course of their early acquaintance), but whether they were in Rome or not was of no interest to Frieda. For the younger Miss Ralston had been true to her decision and not once in the two-day-and-a-half sail from Gibraltar to Naples had she acknowledged the existence of either Mrs. Grant or her son. And this in spite of their humble apologies to Jack, and her sister's ready acceptance of them.

However, this much justice must be accorded the Ranch girls that when, at sunset, they at last entered "the eternal city" all personal thoughts and considerations were swept from their minds. High in the distance they could see the tower of St. Peter's; in the midst of the town ran the muddy stream of the Tiber; and over all Rome's beauty and antiquity hovered the golden atmosphere for which the city is also justly famous.

CHAPTER X

ITALIAN VIOLETS

"DO make up your minds and let us go somewhere," Frieda pleaded. "I don't see that it is so important where we go first."

She was wearing a new lavender cloth frock trimmed in silk and a hat of the same shade, with a big bunch of violets resting against her yellow hair. From her hand dangled her adored gold-link pocketbook. So there was no question of Frieda's preparedness for beginning their first day's sight-seeing in Rome. Ruth and the other three girls showed no such signs of being ready for immediate departure.

They were together in their big sitting room, which overlooked a beautiful enclosed court, characteristic of Italian hotels and homes.

And at least half an hour of their morning the girls had devoted to gazing out of their windows. In the center of the courtyard a fountain played continually--not a fountain of an ordinary kind, but the figure of a beautiful boy, with his arms high in the air, holding two great sh.e.l.ls into which the water poured and then splashed down to the ground below. Around the enclosure were copies of famous statues and miniature orange and lemon trees.

Jack in a comfortable silk dressing gown was placidly gazing at this scene when Frieda's speech arrested her attention.

"Why be in such a hurry, Frieda mia?" she inquired. "You know we have firmly decided not to begin our labors too early. Besides, this morning we are tired and don't you see that Ruth, Jean and Olive are deeply engaged in laying out our plan of campaign? It has got to be arranged where we are to go, what we are to do on our arrival, what things we are to thrill over and what to pa.s.s by." And Jack laughed, letting her eyes rest for a moment on Ruth's face. Their chaperon's expression was so serious. Did Jack guess that her education was about to be solemnly taken in hand? Well, she felt very young this morning and very much in need of learning a great many things. Rome gave one such an overpowering sense of ignorance!

But Frieda was much displeased. "You told me you would be ready at half-past ten, Jacqueline Ralston, and let me go and dress. Now it is after eleven. And if n.o.body will come with me I shall just go out and walk up and down by myself."

From the pages of her Baedeker Ruth looked up quickly. It was not often that she was positive with the girls, but she had insisted that during their stay in Italy no one of them go anywhere alone.

Frieda blushed penitently. "I didn't mean it, Ruth, of course. Still, I think it's hateful for none of you even to start to get ready."

"Oh, do be quiet, Frieda, and sit down and wait, or, if not, go to your own room," Jack remarked impatiently. "I think you are forgetting our compact very soon. One more objection and you will kindly place your fine in Ruth's charge."

Without replying, Frieda marched haughtily out of the sitting room and into her own and Jean's bed room.