/ If' ON THE LAKE AT VASSAR. THREE Vassar Girls ABROAD. RAMBLES OF THREE COLLEGE GLRLS ON A VACATLON TRLP THROUGH FRANCE AND SPALN FOR AMUSEMENT AND INSTRUCTION WITH THEIR HAPS AND MISHAPS. 7 \ATL\K W. CHAMPNEY, AUTHOR OF "a NEGLECTED CORNER OF EUROPE," ETC. WITH NEARLY A HUNDRED AND FIFTY ORIGINAL ILLUSTRATIONS BY "CHAVIP' (J. WELLS CHAMPNEY) AND OTHER DISTtNGUISHED ARTISTS. o>«tJc BOSTON: ESTES AND LAURIAT. 1883. Copyright, 1882, By EsTES AND Lauriat. All RiMs Reseved. CONTENTS. I. Paris IS II. French Society ......... 36 III. Joan of Arc's Town 56 IV. An Historic Chateau 70 V. Ocean and Mountains 80 VI. Madrid 92 VII. The Devotional Images of Spain 100 VIII. Toledo 108 IX. Cordova and the Caliphate 118 X. Seville 127 XI. Granada . . . I34 XII. A Bouquet of Legends . . . . . . . 150 XIII. Lisbon and Cintra 182 XIV. The North of Portugal 199 XV. A Glimpse at AfrIca 216 XVI. Home Again 229 ILLUSTRATIONS. On the Lake at Vassar Through the Gorge The Grand Opera House "As she sat on a Grassy Hillside The Sainte Chapelle Palais de L'filys^e Porte St. Denis . " Which of the Three ? " . Palace of the Luxembourg . The Observatory . Dome des Invalides Hotel de Cluny The Donjon of Vincennes . " Not in Need of a Porter " Cabinet de Verdure Labyrinth of Versailles On the Train Chateau de Fontainebleau (View Taken from the Garden) Papa Le Prince and Cecilia . Chateau de Fontainebleau (the Oval Court) Chateau de Maintenon View of Chartres Joan in Prison Fifine as Bonne . The Baroness's Cousin Chateau du Moutier Chateau de Blois, East Side Chateau de Blois, from the North Murder of the Due de Guise A Window .... A Leaf from Maud's Sketch Book Making a Picture Herself . PAGE Frontispiece. 14 17 21 22 23 27 28 29 30 II 37 38 40 41 45 47 50 51 54 57 59 61 64 66 67 70 71 75 79 81 83 On I^uleback .... Death of Roland .... Pepita Charlemagne's School of the Palace Studying Velasquez The Library of the Escorial The Courier Explains . Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe Nuestra Senora del Pilar Nuestra Senora de Monserrat Nuestra Senora de La Merced Nuestra Senora de Toledo . Nuestra Senora d'Atocha Nuestra Senora de los Desemparados Nuestra Senora de Carmen . A Street in Toledo Interior Court at Toledo Interior of the Cathedral at Toledo Cardinal Ximenes . Annie Laurie .... Father St. lago Matamoras . A Murillo Altar Boy . The Giralda He Calls this an Artistic Creation Patio de la Alberca Charles V Fortuny's Model .... A Child's Funeral Looking over the Photographs The Generalife .... Tomb of Runjeet Sing Aladdin's Gate .... Palace of Copal Bhowan Pagoda of Chillambaran 84 8S 88 89 94 97 99 100 lOI 103 IDS 105 106 106 107 109 112 "3 IIS 119 125 129 130 131 13s 139 141 144 145 147 151 15s 158 159 X ILL USTRA TIONS. Garden Gate of the Taj Interior Court, Tanjore Mausoleum, Golconda . Mosque, Triplican Fish Boy of Lisbon Lord Gubbins Castle of Penha de Cintra Donkey Boy at Cintra . Mafra .... Beggar .... Peasant Woman and Donjcey View of Oporto . A Leaf from Maud's Sketch Book PAGE 163 169 186 194 197 198 " Beggars Might Ride " Ox Cart Cathedral of Guimaraes The Castle of Guimaraes Gateway Rock of Gibraltar Sketch in Gibraltar Bazaar in Tunis . A Santo Door of the Mosque of Bou Home at Last The Envelope PAGE 204 205 207 210 214 217 219 221 223 Medina . 225 232 . . 232 THREE VASSAR GIRLS ABROAD. / PARIS. 2^ Mrs, Arnold could not understand how her sister could immure herself in a picture gallery, or Cecilia go prowling about in churches when the avenues presented such a merry out-of-door panorama of sunshine and color. Every afternoon she whirled them away in an open carriage through the Champs Elysees, past the Palais de I'Industrie, and the more interesting Palace de I'Elysee, once the fascinating residence of that most fascinating of women, Madame Pompadour, under the Arc de Triomphe to the Bois de Boulogne. Mrs. Arnold, though their senior, was far more frivolous than any one of the girls. She was a living proof of the absurdity of a chaperone for earnest American girls. Though she had visited France several times she spoke the language poorly, and was apt to lose her head as to locality or the exigencies of any sudden emergency. It was Saint who made inquiries of the officials and acted as general interpreter for the party. It was Barbara who consulted the map in the guide- book and led them straight through puzzling labyrinths to their desired destinations, and it was Maud who settled every point of social etiquette. Most frequently the decision came in the shape of a firm refusal. "We have not time, sister; if we were intending to remain a year or more, we might go into society, but as it is we cannot afford it." Mrs. Arnold was not, however, an easy person to thwart. She had numerous old friends in Paris with whom she exchanged cour- tesies, and she managed to convoy the girls to a number of evening receptions. There was a certain Madame Le Prince, connected in some way with the displaced nobility, who held salon in a fashionable quarter in Paris, to whose rooms she did not for some time succeed in enticing Maud, for Mrs. Arnold had unguardedly remarked that Madame Le Prince was looking for a -parti for her son, a young gentleman reduced by adverse circumstances to a commercial career, but who might, by a turn in the governmental machiner}^, mount to a title. Maud had taken alarm at once. 25 THREE VASSAR GIRLS ABROAD. "I will not be bartered for a title," she asserted, "and wild horses shall not drag: me to Madame Le Prince's soirees." " No one wishes to barter 3^ou, my dear," replied Mrs. Arnold coolly, " and I am sure it shows considerable self-complacency on your part to take it for granted that Madame Le Prince will desire you as a daughter-in-law." " She does not desire me or any particular young girl. What she w^ishes is a dowry — some young woman who shall bring her son a sufficient fortune to enable him to go out of trade and wait with dignity an elevation of rank which will probably never come. If you do not wish to suggest me or one of the other girls for that situation, our being there will look as if you did, and we shall be the talk of the American colony." "Don't get angr}^, Maud," replied Mrs. Arnold; "it makes your face red, and you have enough of that color in your hair. I can go to Madame Le Prince's without you, and we will not refer again to the subject." But she did refer to it again, most emphatically, as after chapters will show. Barbara was as delighted as a child with all that she was. She indulged in suppressed screams of delight at each new wonder, vv^hile Cecilia observed everything with a conscientious interest which seemed to consider it a duty to lose nothing and to mark that which was good, and a calm discrimination which brought evei*ything up for judgment before the highest standards. Maud was only interested in art. Everything else bored her, as she considered it so much time lost from her favorite pursuit. Barbara took a vivid delight in out-of-door Paris. She loved to linger in the Champs Elysees, and watch the delight of the children in the Theatre Guignol, the French Punch-and-Judy show. It seemed to her that the great obelisk in the Place de la Concorde could tell her many a legend if it cared, to do so, and she made it THREE VASSAR GIRLS ABROAD, CHAPTER I. PARIS. THEY were three Vassar girls : Cecilia Boylston, Maud Van Vechten, and Barbara Atchison. They had moored their boat under the willows, and while other girls improved their hour of exercise by quick pulling up and down the pond, they discussed an important project in the privacy of their green-canopied, water-paved arbor. Vacation was approaching, and plans for the summer were now the absorbing topics of conversation. Maud sat in the stern, her pretty face silhouetted darkly against the radiant disc of a Japanese umbrella, which, with the sunlight filtering through, had all the effect of a rose-window. It was she who had called her two dearest friends to secret conclave to inform them that her arrange- ments were happily settled. She was to go to Europe with her sister, Mrs. Arnold, who proposed to spend the summer in travel, and to meet her husband, a naval officer, at Nice, in the winter. " I shall have to come back alone in the fall," said Maud, " for I would not fall out of our class for anything, and you know we'll be Juniors next year. Sister says there are always people returning from Europe in the fall, and she can easily find company for me." "I think you are the luckiest girl in the world, Maud," exclaimed Barbara Atchison; " here am I, with a lot of money, and nowhere to J 5 THREE VASSAR GIRLS ABROAD. go. Father is stationed in the Black Hills, this summer, and he doesn't want me out there. He writes, ^ You have seen enough of Western society for the present. You are too old to be kept in the background as a child, and too young to do the honors of my house. If your mother had lived, home would have been the best place for 3'ou; as it is, I wish you to profit by the civilizing influences of the East. You write enthusiastically of your New York friend; visit with her, this summer, and I will pay all expenses.' There it is, and my New York friend is going to Europe." "Why not come with me. Barb? " "Elegant! But would your sister take charge of such a harum- scarum thing as I am, a western officer's daughter, who has been brought up on the Plains and in forts? And is there time to write to Papa?" "Yes, yes, of course she would; and there's plenty of time. And, oh, Saint, w^on't you come too? " Saint was Cecilia's pet name. "I intended to go to Munich and continue my music, after we graduate," she replied, " and I would enjoy this summer trip immensely, but I am afraid I can't afford it." "Now, Saint, just look here!" exclaimed Barbara. "If we go without 3'ou, there will be three of us, a dreadfully odd number. We will have to pay just as much for carriages and rooms as if there were four; and I will have to room alone, which I detest. If you go, it will cheapen everything, and I insist on paying just what I would have to if 3'ou were not in the party. That will bring down your expenses somewhat. Then you are the only one of us that can speak French creditably. We need you, my dear, as interpreter. And what an improving influence you will have over me! When Papa hears that I am going abroad with a clergyman's daughter from Boston, he will believe that the civilizing influences have begun in good earnest." PARIS. jg "It would be delightful," mused St. Cecilia. " I wonder whether I would liave to buy a very expensive outfit in the way of clothes." " I shall get everything over there," replied Maud. " Sister Lily manages to go abroad at least every three years, so as to do all our shopping in Paris. Dresses are a bother while one is travelling, and you have a first-rate tourist's wardrobe; that Boston waterproof of yours will have occasion to flap its wings and crow over all our finery." The girls laughed at this allusion to Saint's waterproof, for it was a very characteristic bit of costume. Barbara declared that it com- pleted the mediaev^alism of her name, giving her the appearance of a nun, or a saint, in flowing gown of sackcloth. "You are not going to Germany. I shouldn't mind that, for I would like to see a little of other parts of Europe," said St. Cecilia, "and I'm almost sure of Germany after I graduate. I daresay, too,, that I can enjoy many musical advantages in France and Spain. There is the Grand Opera to begin with." "Yes, and think, Saint, there are cathedrals, and stained glass, and old masters! Dear me! I don't see how you can hesitate for a moment." And Saint did not hesitate long. A favorable letter came from the Rev. Mr. Boylston, and early in July the three merry maids looked out from their windows at the Hotel de Louvre, at the imposing pile opposite. " I am so glad," said Maud, " that Lily chose the Hotel de Louvre, for now we have but to cross the street to reach the galleries, and I expect to spend most of my time while in Paris there. Think of the art treasures! Girls, the Venus of Milo is in that lower gallery of sculpture. Raphael's Belle Jardiniere, Da Vinci's .oly Family, Veronese's Marriage of Cana,Murillo's Immaculate Conception, Titian's Entombment! Then there is the Rubens Gallery, and the long array of French painters that we know so well by reputation. I shall take my sketch-box over and paint every morning." 20 THREE VASSAR GIRLS ABROAD. " Now, Maud," interrupted Mrs. Arnold, " this trip was for pleasure, you know, not work. There are the parks and the theatres, the shops and societ}^ We have only two weeks for Paris, and we must make the most of our opportunities." " I will do what you choose, sister, in the afternoon and evening, but every morning I shall reserve for the Louvre Galleries. I must carry away a few souvenirs of the treasures which it contains." Their first evening was spent at the Grand Opera. This was almost as great a delight to the other girls as to Cecilia, for, while she revelled in the music and was oblivious to all outward things, Maud's artistic eye gained keen delight from Baudry's frescoes in ih^ foyer or promenade hall, and from the superb architectural effects of the exterior. Barbara too, who had a somewhat crude love for obvious magnificence, gloated over the general effect. " Now this is what I call a palace," she said, as she stood before the grand staircase. " I don't believe the Grand Monarque ever dreamed of such gorgeousness. Positively, it is so beautiful that it makes one forget to look at the ladies' dresses." This was the summit of effect for Barbara, whose love for display in dress was so barbarian that the girls sometimes said that she was rightly named. In reality, Barbara's startling costumes were onl}^ experiments in search of the beautiful. She had not inherited fine taste, or been brought up to walk between the strait hedgerows of artistic requirements like Maud, and she knew nothing of the culture and philosoph}^ which had shaped Cecilia's life. Her nature was groping blindly, like a wild vine reaching out eager tendrils towards some high object of aspiration. Ever3lhing heroic and noble elicited her admiration, and her heart was as tender as it was true. The party made an excursion one day to Ecouen, as Maud wished to visit the studios of the artist colony there. Barbara was as enthu- siastic as any of the party over the gentle-faced mothers and sweet children in Frere's genre pictures, and over all the varying styles of PARIS. 21 the younger artists who have clustered around this great man. But she knew that she was admiring a talent in which she had no part; and as she sat on a grassy hillside under the old Chateau of Mont- morency, looking away over the fresh country landscape to the spires and domes of Paris, she thought to herself, " How satisfying it must be to have a purpose in life like Maud's, to be an artist or a musician like Saint. Now I have no specialty, no particular talent. Perhaps I will find one during this tour." A bit of a poem by George Herbert occurred to her and she breathed it as a prayer : " Lord, place me in Thy concert, Give one note to my poor reed." Barbara often accompa- nied Saint in her ecclesio- logical pilgrin^ages, and puzzled her brain, vainly attempting to trace differ- ent styles of architecture. \\^ St. Cecilia had a passion for churches. The one - ' she loved in Paris, second only to Notre Dame was "^^ ^^^ ^^"^ °^ ^ grassy hillside." the Sainte Chapelle. It is a dainty, graceful building, with arrowy spire, and many pinnacles pointing their silent fingers upward. It has been called "the completest specimen of the religious archi- tecture of the middle of the thirteenth century." It was built by St. Louis to receive the relics which he brought from the Holy 22 THREE VASSAR GIRLS ABROAD. Land, and is hardly more than a beautifully chased and orna- mented reliquary. The Cathedral of Notre Dame was more im- pressive, and Cecilia, who was familiar with Victor Hugo's novels, felt, when she reached it, that she had met with an old friend. Its superb flying buttresses, its rainbow windows, the two great towers with their quaint gargoyles and clashing bells, the rose windows like a rosette of jewels on the breast of a general, the awe-inspiring aisles and the uplifting music of the organs were all as familiar as though she had known them long ago. The ca- thedral stands on the island of La Cite, in the middle of the Seine, which in turn divides Paris the old from Paris the new. On the left bank of the Seine is the Latin Quarter, with its old universities, crooked and narrow streets, and time- blackened houses. It is the Paris of which Eugene Sue and the older drama- tists and novelists wrote, and has all the mouldy THE SAINTE CHAPELLE. i^^^rQX of aucicut timCS. On the right is the gay sparkling Paris of the present, with its wide boulevards, enticing shops, resplendent palaces, and superb parks. PARIS. 27 a little speech concerning its huge brother in Central Park, for there seemed something pathetic to her in the way they had wandered awav from sunny Egypt to be so far separated in the end. Enchanting Pare Monceaux, with its glancing fountains and curious PORTE ST. DENIS. grottoes, was, perhaps, her favorite resort, but she had an infinite respect for all the historical monuments which Cecilia explained to her; the Porte St. Denis which commemorates the victories of Louis XIV. in the Netherlands 3 the Column which marks the place 28 THREE VASSAR GIRLS ABROAD. of the Bastile, and the Column Vendome which celebrates Napo- leon's victories. Barbara had been specially commissioned by her father to look up all memorials of Napoleon. She kept putting the duty off, as the days whirled by, making meagre notes now and then of his coronation at Notre Dame, of the Column Vendome, and of such chance scraps as came in her way. " When we go out to Versailles," Maud assured her, "you will find no end of historical pictures which will celebrate every event in his career." One afternoon, when the three girls were together in the Champs Elysees, Barbara called Maud's attention to a melancholy individual seated in a drooping attitude upon one of the benches. " He is m}^ ghost," she said. "Wherever I go, I see that dejected and unhappy man. I am sure that he is an American and dread- fully homesick. Whatever brought him to Europe I can't imagine." " I meet him frequently, too," re- marked Saint. "And I," added Maud. "I believe, from the crape around his hat, that he is a widower, and that he is deeply ab- sorbed in contemplating which of us girls he will take." The other girls laughed heartily in spite of the absurdity of the idea, and the innocent old man became the theme of much sport. One pleasant day, the three girls set out for the Latin Quarter together. Maud carried her Japanese parasol and sketch-box, which made her quite as marked a figure as St. Cecilia in her waterproof and near-sighted glasses, and Barbara, as was usual on such occa- sions, was armed with a vermilion-bound guide-book. The guide- book Barbara insisted on carr^nng everywhere, even into churches. WHICH OF THE THREE ? PARIS. 29 much to Saint's annoyance, who suggested one clay that Barbara might at least respect people's feelings sufficiently to have her beloved Baedeker bound as a Bible or prayer-book. On this occasion, the girls had each a special point in view, but had agreed to do all three in company. Cecilia wished to hear the Stabat Mater at St. Sulpice, and Barbara and Maud duly accompanied PALACE OF THE LUXEMBOURG. her, though the former could not resist sly peeps into her guide-book,- and Maud made a surreptitious sketch of a Madonna which hung over one of the side altars. When they came out they all paused before the imposing fountain in front of the church. " It says," said Barbara, who always referred thus to her guide, "that these statues represent the four most celebrated preachers in France, Bossuet, Fenelon, Massillon, and Flechier." 30 THREE VASSAR GIRLS ABROAD. "I wonder why they placed them guard over a fountain?" Maud queried, carelessly. "Why, I think it very appropriate," replied Barbara, seriously; " they were such great spouters, you know." THE OBSERVATORY. " Barb, Barb, you are too bad," groaned Saint. "Barb is like a fountain herself," laughed Maud; "you can't keep her from gushing. What are you girls going to do while I begin my study in the Luxembourg?" " We will wander about in that lovely garden," replied Barbara. They strolled along the terrace among the statues of women PARIS. ^j celebrated in the history of France, and tried to guess how Marie de Medicis felt when she saw the building completed according to her wish. Veterans were sunning themselves on benches beside the wall, and pretty children were sporting among the roses and carnations of the garden. Suddenly Saint noticed a dome-crowned building at the end of one of the avenues. "I do believe, Barb," she exclaimed, " that that is the observatory." " How lucky that I brought my Baedeker," murmured Barbara, as she opened the guide-book, and proceeded, still walking, to consult it. "Yes, it is the observatory; do you want to visit it? " "Yes, indeed, if they will let us." " We can at least try." But the little grille or iron gate was fast locked, and the portress refused to open it unless the demoiselles would bring papers signed by prominent officials. Saint looked through the bars longingly. " I wonder which is the ball-room," she remarked, musingly. "The ball-room!" exclaimed Barbara, interested at once. "Why, yes. Have you never heard that story? When Miss Mitchell was in France the celebrated French astronomer, Leverrier, invited her to spend an evening at the observatory. Professor Mitchell went in a simple suit of Qiiaker gray. When she arrived she was ushered into a brilliantly-lighted ball-room. Leverrier had given a ball in her honor, and there were the noblesse of France in full evening costume — trains, lace, low necks and diamonds — assembled to receive her." Intense admiration shone in Barbara's eyes. " How cheap all their tinsel finery must have looked beside our star," she exclaimed enthusiastically. "There is a woman who has made something really grand of her life. Full dress, indeed! The presumption of expecting her to attend a court ball." "I thought it absurd enough, but that is the French way. In 02 THREE VASSAR GIRLS ABROAD. England, when they wish to do honor to a scientist, they give a dinner instead. I am sure I don't know which I should dread most, a dinner at Oxford or a ball at the French Observatory." " Dinners are poky things," remarked Barbara. " I'd choose the ball." " That is because we Americans resemble the French more than we do the English." They returned to Maud, who was still diligently painting. She closed her sketch-box as she saw them approaching. " I can come here some other day," she said, generously. " I had just as lief my study should dry before I go at it again; and if we do not leave immediately we will never get around to Barb's point of interest, the Hotel des Invalides." " I am sure I am interested in everything," replied Barbara, with truth, " and I never should have thought of poking round after those old Invalides if it had not been for father." The Hotel des Invalides, however, proved more interesting than they had anticipated. The tattered flags that chronicled Napoleon's victories seemed to droop sadly over his tomb, and the old veterans so cozily established in the comfortable hotel recalled to their minds those who had followed the great general in his campaigns, and who never would believe that he was dead. Their little gardens with child-play of fortifications and battle-field were interesting and touching as well. One veteran had arranged his in imitation of the Rock at St. Helena, with a little lead image of the man in the " redingole grise^'^ the heavy gray overcoat which was characteristic of the first Napoleon. There had been men in the institution, so their guide said, who had wounds for nearly every one of Napoleon's great campaigns, a star-shaped, powder-blackened scar in the cheek, received in Italy, — of which the owner vv^as as proud as of a medal of honor; an eye destroyed by scorching desert sands at the time of the battle of the Pyramids; a sabre cut on the arm at Austerlitz; four fingers frozen on DOME DES INVALIDES. PARIS. 35 the march back from Moscow; a wound in the leg, the most trifling of all, but the one that rankled most, received at Waterloo. Barbara's letter, when it went to her father, was not a cold statement of facts and dates, but a vivid and enthusiastic sketch of the career of the great conqueror. She was beginning the study of history in a new way, not by dry dates and names, but from monuments of heroic or brilliant deeds and souvenirs of touching episodes. The great book lay open before her. She had read but one leaf, and henceforward she was an insatiable student. Other characters kept coming up as centres of interest, their lives overlapping and interlacing, making the most romantic and fascinating of continued stories. " I shall read and read," she said to herself, " and perhaps, by and by, I shall find ou*- what to do with my own little life." 36 THREE VASSAR GIRLS ABROAD. CHAPTER II. W FRENCH SOCIETY. WHERE a-re^>^^u going to paint to-day, Maud ? " Barbara asked one ^11 ins:, in their second week in Paris, as she saw Maud ^tD' preparing her sketch-box for an expedition; "I hope not in that tire- some Louvre." " No, I am going to the Cluny palace." "Where is that? Has it anything to do with Cluny lace?" " It is in the Latin quarter, and is used nowadays as a museum of antiquities; it is filled with the most delightful old rubbish. Among other things, I believe there is some splendid lace. Come with me, and 3^ou will enjoy rummaging among the antique furniture, tapestries, carvings, vestments, porcelains, and all manner of bric-a-brac." "Oh! I don't know; I'm rather tired of museums. They stretch away off to infinity, and you are always congratulating yourself that you have reached the last galler}^, when another, with a slippery wax floor piled with loads of fascinating things which you haven't the moral courage to resist, is suddenly sprung upon you." " But the Hotel Cluny is not such a vast and dreary monument. The beauty of it is that it is little and cosy enough to make a nice dwelling-house." "AVhat are you going to paint? Are there rows and rows of pictures to copy ? If there are, I declare I'll not go. My brain just swims when I attempt to disentangle the pictures I've seen in Paris." " No, there are only a few delightfully absurd old pre-Raphaelit6 things that will make you laugh heartily. It is just the quaintest, FRENCH SOCIETY. 37 dearest old house in the world, a bit of medieval times brought to life again. It would be very easy to imagine that the ^ Reine Blanche/ the widow of Louis XII., had just left her bed-room, and we had slipped in by some magic. The carved state bed with its canopy and faded velvet hangings are all there, just as in the olden time. lam HOTEL DE CLUNY. going to paint an interior, a carved fire-place, which one sees looking out from that bed-room." "Well, I'll go with you, Maud, for I must choose between that and the excursion which Saint makes out to the Donjon of Vincennes. The churches are dreary enough sometimes, and I know I could not stand a prison." " Is Saint going alone ? " 38 THREE VASSAR GIRLS ABROAD. "No, those wofully tedious friends of hers, the Shawmuts, invited her. They want her to go with them, too, to the Abbey of St. Denis. They seem to have come to France on purpose to find all the gloomy and repulsive places. The very look of the photograph of the Donjon THE DONJON OF VINCENNES. of VIncennes was enough to frighten me from going there. Mrs. Shawmut was telling, too, a tragic story of the assassination of the Due d' Enghlen, which occurred there. I am sure I should see the - young man's ghost In every shadowy corner." FRENCH SOCIETY. ^q "I am not sure but you would find the excursion an entertaining one. I remember Dumas made the place vividly real to me in his Trois Mousquetaires." " Indeed, I am not sorry I came here instead of going to the dungeon," Barbara exclaimed, as they mounted the curious staircase of the Hotel Cluny, and entered the armor-hung hall; "it is just the place for an adventure of some sort. There is an assassin behind that tapestry, I am morally certain, and if we wait until dusk, a ghost will glide across that gallery. There are blood-stains yonder on the polished oak floor, and Borgia poisons in those old Venetian glasses. — Dear, dear, it is just too lovely for anything." " It is the best place in Paris to paint a medieval interior," replied Maud, practically planting her easel and camp-stool, and opening her box of colors. "Don't feel obliged to sit here beside me all the time, but explore the building and see if you can discover a mystery." Barbara wandered away, inspecting the illuminated missals and old ivories displayed behind the glass doors of the cabinets, and falling into a trance of mingled admiration and amazement before some Palissy plaques filled with porcelain eels and craw-fish, the like of which she had never seen before. She returned after a time to Maud, and the two girls descended the spiral staircase, and lunched in the court, seated among specimens of antique sculpture, relics of old Roman da3's, following Caesar's conquest of Gaul. Maud ran up stairs to pack her artist furniture, the light would be different in the afternoon, and Barbara waited for her in the gar- den. Presently she heard her approaching and speaking to some one. Turning she saw Maud looking back indignantly at a young French- man ; evidently her remarks were not encouraging, for he waved his hand apologetically, and retreated. " What was he saying to you ? " Barbara asked with much interest. "The impudent thing wanted to carry my box for me." "And what did you say? " 40 THREE VASSAR GIRLS ABROAD. " I told him I was not in need of a porter," " Good, he must have felt complimented. I hope he thought you really took him for one. "It is the first time any one has ever spoken to me in Paris. I am so vexed because it helps demonstrate Sister's theory, that girls should not go out without a chap- erone." " I think you man- aged him very nice- ly. I suppose he thought all Ameri- can girls were like Daisy Miller, and had never heard the proverb, — There are two kinds of girls, girls who flirt, and girls who go to Vassar College." " Very likely the benighted individual never heard of Vassar." (A supposition which was afterwards proved to be the fact.) " But Maud, about the chaperone business. If I had been with you I don't see why I would not have answered just as well as your sister." NOT IN NEED OF A PORTER , , .. ^ i^^:^/^^;^r\ , ^ ^^,.^M ^^^f " ^^, fSi^'u^a k - . >-*fc,xo\,,.-. FRENCH SOCIETY. .^ 43 " You are not a married lady." "How is anybody to know that? I am taller than Mrs. Arnold, and have loads more dignity. The next time we go out together, I '11 wear my diamond ear-rings. Only married ladies in France wear diamonds. Then I would like to see anybody dare speak to us." "You had better borrow Saint's spectacles. What we need is some old-looking person. As you say Sister is no better than one of us. She 's prettier and flightier than we are. I am sure I always feel that I am chaperoning her when we are together. Saint has never been molested, and she has been to nearly all the churches in Paris alone." " Which proves to my mind that well-conducted, earnest Ameri- can girls do not need a chaperone, especially when there are two or three of us together." " We will know better after this trip is over, but if I ever come to Europe again, and have to bring a dragon, I will bring an older and a more sensible one than Sister." The next day v^as one long to be remembered. It was spent at Versailles. The four wandered together through the miles of his- torical paintings, peeped almost awe-stricken into the rooms once occupied by the unfortunate Louis XVI. and his lovely Queen, Marie Antoinette, shivered a little at the glassy coldness of the Mirror Salon, and descended with a long drawn breath of relief to the gar- dens, among the most charming in all Europe. The box and yews were cut into fantastic forms; there were long avenues and ^r^r/erri^^ of brilliant flowers, terraces of imposing stairs, statues, and, above all, fountains. It was a day des grandes eaux. "The Queen of the Frogs " was showering the thirsty stone turtles, in another fountain mischievous little Cupids were blowing water at each other through carved billows, and the startled attitude of the statues of the horses in the Rocher of Apolk\ ^at seemed to have been led to one of the pools to drink, was explained by the splashing and leaping water 44 THREE VASSAR GIRLS ABROAD. about them. They lingered after dusk until the stars came out, as did nearl}' all the visitors that evening, for there was to be an illumi- nation. The grand fountain of all, " The Triumph of Neptune," spouted its many columns into the night air, while all around Bengal lights were burning, and their various colors, crimson, blue, yellow and emerald, were reflected in the jets of water with all the changing brilliancy of prisms. " Now I understand," said Barbara, " why Paris received its name. The word is a contraction, only three letters dropped out of Par(a- d)is(e)." They reached their hotel tired out but enthusiastic. " It is cer- tainly the most interesting day and brilliant evening we have spent so far," said Maud. " Those fountains were simply unpaintable, they were geysers of splintered rainbows." " There is one more excursion which we must make before we leave Paris," said Mrs. Arnold, carelessly, " and that is to Fontaine- bleau. It would never do to miss the palace, and you know, Maud, that the artist colon}^ of Barbizon is on the edge of the park." " Yes," replied Maud," I would like to go to Barbizon, since we have seen the other artistic colon}^ at Ecouen." " My dear," said Mrs. Arnold with a trace of triumph in her voice, "you shall go to both. We will set out for Fontainebleau to-morrow. Madame Le Prince has a villa on the confines of the forest. She has invited us out to spend the night with her, and the next day in exploring the palace. Monsieur Le Prince is quite a historian ; he will be an excellent guide in that great rambling cara- vansar}^" Maud's face was not encouraging, but she had already committed herself to a desire to visit the palace, and her sister followed up her advantage. "You can have no objection to going, for Armand is not at home, he is in business somewhere near Marseilles. You will see only two LABYRINTH OF VERSAILLES. FRENCH SOCIETY. 47 old people who have been very polite to me, and to refuse whose kind invitation would be rudeness indeed." The next day the four girls, for Mrs. Arnold was herself very young and childish in appearance, took the train for Fontainebleau. They congratulated themselves on securing an entire compart- ment, but just as they rolled out of the station, a young man sprang hastily in. Barbara grasped Maud's hand impulsively, it was the very forward person whom they had inet at the Hotel Cluny. He seemed in no way abashed by the ren- contre, but made a thou- sand polite apologies for intruding upon an apart- ment which he had not the time to notice was reserved for ladies. Mrs. Arnold bowed very prettily and smiled, but the girls re- treated with freezing hau- teur behind their thick travelling veils. Mrs. Ar- nold, to make up for this lack of cordiality, attempted to converse with the stranger in broken English. As she was not proficient in French, she always spoke to foreigners in as close an imitation as possible of their own efforts in English. It seemed to her that they must understand it better than the language itself, pure and simple. " Do not derange yourself, Monsieur," said Mrs. Arnold, sweetly. " // ne faut pas apologized "Do be still, Lily," whispered Maud, in an agony of despair, " that is the insufferable person who spoke to us at the Cluny." ON THE TRAIN. 48 THREE VASSAR GIRLS ABROAD. Mrs. Arnold's manner underwent a sudden change, she remem- bered the responsibility of her position, and at once assumed a majestic and freezing attitude. The young gentleman made no remark, and was evidently quite as uncomfortable as they were. Arrived at the station, they found an open carriage sent by Madame Le Prince, waiting for them. They had hardly taken their places, however, when, to their utter amazement, the young man mounted to a seat beside the driver. Mrs. Arnold addressed the coachman in broken English, and demanded that their fellow-voyager should be required to descend. The man stared at her in dumb astonishment, not comprehending her meaning. " Translate for me, Saint," Mrs. Arnold insisted, and Cecilia politely, and in perfectly good French, intimated that this was not a public carriage. The 3^oung man looked up with a merry expression. " It is true," he said. " A thousand pardons," and touching his hat gracefully, he clambered down. "Dear me," murmured Mrs. Arnold, " I never heard of such pre- sumption. Don't talk to me about girls travelling without the protection of a married lady, it is utterly out of the question." "Mrs. Arnold! " exclaimed Barbara, "that objectionable young man has taken a cab, and is actually following us." "He is indeed," said Maud, who had ventured one sidelong glance backward. "Oh! how shall we ever get rid of him?" " He will stop somewhere in the town," said Saint, composedly. " I am quite sure that he is not really following us, but that his way and ours happens to lie in the same direction." "I should say it did," replied Barbara, "we have passed the town, and he still keeps on the even tenor and soprano of his wa}^" " He will desist in the pursuit when we enter the park gates of the Le Prince estate," said Mrs. Arnold, confidently. But to their chagrin, the cab passed the gate-lodge just behind them, and followed them up the avenue. "How very mortifying," said Mrs. Arnold. "What will Ma- dame Le Prince think of us ? He must be intoxicated." FRENCH SOCIETY. aq They mounted the steps and rang the bell. While waiting for a response, their follower alighted, joined them, and threw open the great door with a courteous " Entrez^ Mesdaines^'' " Sir," exclaimed Mrs. Arnold in her most withering manner, " this is not a public house.*" " True," he replied, with the same merry twinkle in his eye, '^^ but it is my father's house, to which you are very welcome." It was Mrs. Arnold's turn to be nonplussed, this was the young M. Armand Le Prince of whom his mother had so often spoken. The girls, too, were much confused, but the young man's merriment was contagious, and a hearty laugh helped them over the embarrass- ment of the situation. Papa Le Prince, a fat, white-haired, old gentleman, dressed entirely in white linen, and Madame, also fat and white-haired, but clad conventionally in black silk, gave them a most cordial welcome, and the evening passed very pleasantly. Early the next morning they set out together to view the Palace of Fontainebleau. Their way led them through the famous park so cele- brated in the history of France. They reached at length the quaint jumble of incongrous buildings which makes up the palace. It seemed to Saint as if it were a living thing, some wonderful century- plant originally set out by Robert the Pious, and nursed and tended by Louis VII. and Philippe Auguste, under whose reign, and that of Louis IX., it had put out various stalks and branches; while in that of Francis I., it had blossomed into a splendid hall, and unlike other plants, had kept its first flower while other buds and blossoms gathered about it under Henry IV., Louis Philippe, and Napoleon III. Papa Le Prince knew every legend of love and crime connected with the place, and without him they never could have found their way through the maze of galleries, grand and spiral staircases, secret pasages, suites of salons, mysterious chambers concealed in the walls, haunted corridors, sightly towers, and frescoed halls. Papa Le Prince led the way, escorting St. Cecilia, Madame followed with Mrs. Arnold and 50 THREE VASSAR GIRLS ABROAD. Maud on either hand, and Barbara and young Monsieur Armand brought up the rear. Papa Le Prince admired Cecilia greatly. "What a holy woman!" he remarked to Mrs. Arnold, "she has evidently been brought up in a convent. She cares for nothing but churches and sacred music. She is doubtless destined for a nun- CHATEAU DE FONTAINEBLEAU (viEW TAKEN FROM THE GARDEN). nery!" In their out of door rambles, Papa Le Prince carried an immense white umbrella lined with green, with which he gallantly shaded Cecilia, insisting on carrying her waterproof upon his other arm. They got along very well together, for Cecilia admired his genuine kindliness of heart, and Papa Le Prince was determined to contribute toward giving her as much enjoyment as possible before PAPA LE PRINCE AND CECILIA FRENCH SOCIETY. r-j she entered upon a religious life. Barbara and her escort also soon became quite confidential. They chatted together in French, which Barbara used rather lamely. " Did you know who Maud was when you spoke to her at the Cluny?" Barbara asked. " Not at all. I saw that she was an American, and very prett}^ My mother had written me a great deal of Miss Maud Van Vechten, but I imagined that she was very homely, and that I should detest her." " Why did you think that? " "Because my mother wrote that she was rich, accomplished, and good. With all that it w^ould be too much to demand that a young lady should be attractive, as well. Does she like Paris, or would she prefer to reside in America?" " In America, of course," replied Barbara. " That is good, I have myself often thought of visiting New York. I am in a business which they tell me would be very lucrative over there. We manufacture wines." " I do not think that grapes are cultivated sufficiently in America, to make that a very profitable business there." " But we do not make genuine wines. We simply imitate them. Our firm can furnish an exact duplicate of any required wine, with the flavor, color, and bouquet, so exactl}^ rendered, that the most expert connoisseur would be deceived, and that without the use of a single grape." " What do you use then ? " "Brandy, dye-wood, vitriol, and powerful essences." " But the result must be poisonous." "Most certainly, but there is a great deal of money in it." " I think that is simply horrible." " You object to the business. On what grounds?" " It would be illegal in our countr}'. It must result in ruin every way, to the bodies and souls of 3'our customers." 54 THREE VASSAR GIRLS ABROAD. Monsieur Armand looked at her in wide-eyed surprise. He had never regarded his business in that light before. " Do you think," he asked meditatively, "that Mademoiselle Maud would entertain the same sentiments? Is that the reason that her sister has not come to any definite understanding with my mother? She wrote that there was some objection, and that was why I was interested to come on CHATEAU DE FONTAINEBLEAU (THE OVAL COURT). and see the young lady, but 1 thought that perhaps it was because she did not care to live in France." They were standing in the Oval Court, surrounding which, the most interesting parts of the palace looked down upon them. The others had gone inside, and for a few moments they were alone. " If 3^ou wish to know how Maud would feel in the matter," Bar- bara said slowly, " I am sure if you were to offer her this entire FRENCH SOCIETY. 55 palace, she would refuse it if it were purchased with money obtained in such a way. But then Maud does not want to marry any one, under any circumstances." " Mademoiselle Maud does not wish to marry," the young man replied, in some surprise, " and why is that?" " She is too young, and she has not yet finished her course at Vassar." "What then is this Vassar? Is it a convent, a religious house? " "Oh, dear no, that is, it is quite religious enough, but not in the way you mean. It is a college, where we take all the higher studies, mathematical astronomy, Greek, and Latin." "And is Mademoiselle Maud passionately devoted to Latin?" " She detests it, but it's in the curriculum, you know, and we have to take it. She is devoted to art, and after she graduates, she intends to become an artist. She will never marry, nobody could induce her." " But suppose I also became a great artist, could I not in that way win her admiration ? " Barbara shook her head. "She would not care for you unless you turned out a genius, and you do not look in the least like one." 56 • THREE VASSAR GIRLS ABROAD. CHAPTER III. JOAN OF arc's town. A WAY from fascinating Paris, with its parks and palaces, its -^ ^ gaiety and pathos, our travellers whirled into the heart of the sunny south of France. They paused at historic picturesque Chartres only long enough to make an excursion to the Chateau de Maintenon, the home of the lovable and witty little woman whose misfortune it was to attract the attention of Louis XIV., and to be raised to the onerous dignity of court life. Her letters tell what a slavery it was. "Dear me," exclaimed Saint, as they stood beside the moat and viewed the beautiful old castle with peaked and turreted roofs, its girouettes and balconies, " not even this lovely palace and the honor of being a king's wife could compensate me for the society life she led, the being preyed upon by every member of the court, having to settle their quarrels and intrigues, to hear and sympathize with all their grievances and ambitions, and in living com- pletely for others, have no life left for herself." " She called herself a mushroom," said Maud, " I can imagine that a mushroom might have been pretty well torn ^nd crushed between such thistles and rocks of grandees." From Chartres the quartette passed at once to Orleans, the city so closely identified with the history of its renowned Maid. They found her statue in front of the city hall, and an interesting old museum devoted almost exclusively to souvenirs of her career. But what interested the girls most was the succession of captivating old houses, still standing, from whose mullioned windows and quaintly carved balconies high-bred dames had witnessed the enthusiastic JOAN OF ARC'S TOWN, 59 demonstrations of the people who thronged about the deHverer of their city. Everything here reminded the spectator of the victorious part of the career of Joan of Arc, of her knightly exploits and beatific visions and of the unanimous gratitude and worship of the rescued VIEW OF CHARTRES. people of France. When she trod this soil she was adored almost as a supernatural person, there was nothing to suggest the mock examination in prison, torture and the death of the stake. They found that they could secure lodgings for a few days in one of these his- 5o THREE VASSAR GIRLS ABROAD. toric houses, a fascinating old mansion with a noble spiral staircase of white stone, and a great carved chimney-piece, fit for a baronial hall. A pillared colonnade partly surrounded the central court, and grotesque gargoyles craned their necks from under the eaves. The place had fallen from its ancient state, and was occupied now by a cooper, whose kegs and cheese-boxes v^ere piled in the grand salon until the}' touched the armorial ornaments of the ceiling. It seemed like going back to the middle ages to find themselves actually estab- lished in a building dignified by the name of Agnes Sorel's house, and Saint was sure that one night she heard the clank of armor as though the knightly Dunois were keeping guard in the court below. This clanking proved afterward to be the creaking of the windlass with which the family drew water from the cistern. "What a lovel}^ old place it is!" said Maud. "It is like moving about in one of Scotfs romances. I would rather a thousand times live in a house like this than to have my choice of all the princely modern buildings in America." " It would not take much of a fortune to buy it," suggested Mrs. Arnold, " and Madame Le Prince told me she was not at all merce- nary in regard to her son. She only requires as dowry for his wife as much money as the}' will give him. Now this old place might be bought for a song, and Papa Le Prince with all his antiquarian taste would be just the person to restore and furnish it." " Lily," exclaimed Maud with some indignation, " I do not desire to hear that young man mentioned again. I trust we have done with him forever." "I must say, Maud," expostulated Mrs. Arnold, in an aggrieved manner, " from the way in which you take me to task, one would imagine that I was travelling under your care, instead of having been constituted your adviser in points of social etiquette." Maud bit her lips, " Well, Lily, I trust this is our last disagreement. We are off now for fresh fields and pastures new, and you don't know JOAN IN PRISON. JOAN OF ARC'S TOWN, 5, how thankful I am that you have no acquaintances in the south of France, and that, consequently, there will be no social etiquette to be observed." " I don't know about that," mused Mrs. Arnold, " one sometimes runs across old friends where they are least expected, and then it is one of the privileges of travel, that you are constantly making new and valuable acquaintances." "One can make acquaintances at home," Barbara suggested, "and it seems a pity to waste our time while abroad, in cultivating people, when there are so many more interesting things to be done. I pro- pose that we make Orleans our headquarters, and make excursions all around the country, to the historic chateaux of France." "Orleans is really quite a central point, " assented Saint; "we can radiate around it until we have exhausted the chateaux in its immedi- ate vicinity, and then move our tents a stage southward." Barbara took out her guide-book. " Let us go first to Bourges; it is not far, and there is an exceedingly interesting old castle, the ^Chateau du Moutier,' in the neighborhood." To Bourges accordingly an excursion was planned for the next da}^ but when the morning arrived, Mrs. Arnold awoke with a severe headache. Their tickets had been purchased, and it seemed a pity to forfeit them. "You will be all right to-morrow, Lily," said Maud; "why not let us go on and secure rooms for you? We can meet you at the station when you arrive." Mrs. Arnold demurred. She was afraid to trust them alone, and imagined all sorts of dangers which girls might run without the protection of a married lady. She yielded the point rather un- willingly, stipulating only that Fifine, the daughter of the cooper, should accompany them in a bonne's cap and apron, as a hostage to respectability. It was in vain that Maud protested that they were not babies, and did not need a nurse tagging about with them. Mrs. 64 THREE VASSAR GIRLS ABROAD. •