Part 12 (2/2)
”Four of the n.o.ble ladies live there. The princesses. The gracious sisters of Furst Hugo. There come two of them now.”
A couple of lean, wrinkled women dressed in soiled merino gowns and huge black ap.r.o.ns, their hair bristling in curl papers, crossed the road, peering curiously at the strangers.
”They came to look at you, Fraulein,” said the man, chuckling.
”Strangers do not stop at Wolfburgh twice in the year.”
”And what do the n.o.ble ladies do all the year?”
”Jean, Jean!” remonstrated Clara.
”Oh, Miss Vance! This is life and death to some of us! What do they do?”
”Do?” said the man, staring. ”What shall any gracious lady do? They cook and brew, and crochet lace and----”
”Are there any more princesses--sisters of Furst Hugo?”
”Two more. They live in Munich. No, none of them are married.
Because,” he added zealously, ”there are no men as high-born as our gracious ladies, so they cannot marry.”
”No doubt that accounts for it,” said Jean. ”Six. These are 'the channels into which the income will flow,' hey?” She gave him more money, and marching into the station caught Lucy by the shoulder, shaking her pa.s.sionately. ”Do you think any American girl could stand that? How would YOU like to be caged up in that ridiculous tower to cook and crochet and brew beer and watch the train go by for recreation? The year round--the year round?”
Lucy rose quietly. ”The train is coming now,” she said. ”Calm yourself, Jean. YOU will not have to live in the tower.”
Jean laughed. When they were seated in the car again, she looked wistfully out at the heaps of ruins.
”It must have been a mighty fortress once,” she said. ”Those stones were hewed before Charlemagne's time. And a great castle could easily be built with them now,” she added thoughtfully.
CHAPTER X
The travellers entered Munich at noon. The great generous city lay tranquil and smiling in the frosty sunlight.
”I have secured apartments,” said Miss Vance, ”used hitherto by royalties or American millionaires. My girl must be properly framed when a prince comes a-wooing.”
Lucy smiled. But her usual warm color faded as they drove through the streets. Jean, however, was gay and eager.
”Ah, the dear splendid town!” she cried. ”It always seems to give us a royal welcome. Nothing is changed! There is the music in the Kellers, and there go the same Bavarian officers with their swagger and saucy blue eyes. They are the handsomest men in Europe! And here is the Munchen-kindl laughing at us, and the same crowds are going to the Pinakothek! What do you want more? Beer and splendor and fun and art!
What a home it will be for you, Lucy!”
Lucy's cold silence did not check Jean's affectionate zeal. She anxiously searched among the stately old buildings, which they pa.s.sed, for the Wolfburgh palace. ”It will not be in these commonplace Haussmannized streets,” she said. ”It is in some old corner; it has a vast, mysterious, feudal air, I fancy. You will hold a little court in it, and sometimes let a poor American artist from Pond City in to hang on the edge of the crowd and stare at the haute n.o.blesse.”
”Don't be absurd, Jean,” said Miss Vance.
”I am quite serious. I think an American girl like Lucy, with her beauty and her money, will be welcomed by these German n.o.bles as a white swan among ducks. She ought to take her place and hold it.”
Jean's black eyes snapped and the blood flamed up her cheeks. ”If I were she I'd make my money tell! I'd buy poor King Ludwig's residence at Binderhof, with the cascades and jewelled peac.o.c.ks and fairy grottos, for my country seat. The Bavarian n.o.bility are a beggarly lot. If they knew that Lucy and her millions were coming to town in this cab, they'd blow their trumpets for joy. 'Wave, Munich, all thy banners wave!'” Lucy's impatient shrug silenced her, but she was preoccupied and excited throughout the day. Miss Vance watched her curiously. Could it be that she had heard of the prince's plan of marrying her to his cousin, and that she was building these air castles for herself?
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