My Friend the ChauffeurWilliamson, C. N. (Charles Norris)
General
My Friend the Chauffeur
Williamson, C. N. (Charles Norris)
Automobiles -- Fiction; Europe -- Fiction; Voyages and travels -- Fiction
"I want all these streets for mine," said Beechy, in a chattering mood.
"Oh, and especially the market-place, with that strange old fountain,
and the booths under the red umbrellas like scarlet mushrooms. Mamma,
have you got money enough to buy them for me, and have them packed up in
a big box with dried moss, like the toy villages, and expressed to
Denver?"
"Speaking of dried moss, all these lovely old churches and palaces and
monuments look as if history had covered them with a kind of delicate
lichen," I said, more to Mr. Barrymore than to Beechy. "And it enhances
their beauty, as the lace of a bride's veil enhances the beauty of her
face."
"Or a nun's veil," cut in Beechy. I wonder why she says things like that
so often lately? Well, perhaps it's best that I should be reminded of my
vocation, but it gives me a cold, desolate feeling for a minute, and
seems to throw a constraint upon us all.
We had made the Chauffeulier stop three or four times in every street to
look at some beautiful bit; a gate of flexible iron-work that even
Ruskin must have admired, the doorway of a church, the wonderful windows
of a faded palace; but suddenly I felt ready to go to the hotel, where
we were to stop for the night, that we might do our sight-seeing slowly.
It was a delightful hotel, itself once a palace, and to be there was to
be "in the picture," in such a place as Verona. The Prince had arrived
before us, as his motor is retrieving its reputation, and we all lunched
together, making plans for the afternoon.
As usual, he was _blase_--so different from Mr. Barrymore, who has seen
the best things in Italy as often as Prince Dalmar-Kalm has, yet never
tires; indeed, finds something new each time.
The Prince began by announcing that Verona bored him. But one could
always go to sleep.
"That's what I mean to do," said Aunt Kathryn, who generally takes her
cue from him. "I consider that I've seen Verona now, and I shall lie
down this afternoon. Perhaps later I shall write a few letters in the
hall."
I was unkind enough to fancy this a hint for the Prince, but perhaps I
wronged her. And anyway, why should she not give him hints if she likes?
He has been very attentive to her, although for the last few days I
don't think they have been quite so much in "each others' pockets" (as
Beechy calls it) as before.
A little attention was needed by the automobile, it appeared--such as a
tightening up of chains, and a couple of lost grease-cups to replace;
therefore Mr. Barrymore's time would be filled up without any
sight-seeing. But Sir Ralph offered to take Beechy and me anywhere we
liked to go. I was very glad that the Prince said nothing about
accompanying us, for somehow I'd been afraid he would.
We consulted guide-books until we were bewildered, but in the midst of
confusion I held fast to two things. We had seen Romeo's house, towering
picturesquely behind the Scaligers' tombs; but I wanted to see where
Juliet had lived, and where she had been buried.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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