The Lightning Conductor Discovers AmericaWilliamson, C. N. (Charles Norris)
General
The Lightning Conductor Discovers America
Williamson, C. N. (Charles Norris)
Automobiles -- Fiction
I don't suppose Pat had slept; but luckily faces are being worn small
and white this year, with eyes too big for them, and she looked as young
next morning as if she had spent her night in paradise instead of _far_
below that level. I felt horribly worried, because the plot wasn't
working a bit, and I couldn't eat my breakfast (if this keeps up, I
shall get so thin my veils won't fit!), but all the same I _couldn't_
help enjoying the day. It was so nice, in spite of all, proving to Jack
that you can _never_ exhaust the beauties of my country: there are
always more to come! He had prophesied that after the Water Gap the rest
of the trip would be an anticlimax. But he needn't have feared. The
first stage of the way beyond gave us a new sensation. It seems the road
is known to be one of the most exquisite in America; and indeed it was
as well worth coming from Europe for as the Water Gap itself--worth even
the risk of being torpedoed. Our procession seemed to pass through a
painted and tapestried corridor, so pink and purple and azure and gold
were the rocks that lined our way, with millions of delicate wild
flowers. And oh, the retrospect view! It was wonderful, too, crossing by
ferry, and looking back. Albertson's ferry we chose, and one car at a
time rolled sedately on to a flatboat to be rowed to the opposite side
of the river by a very young Charon in a very large straw hat.
We had groves to drive through, and little leafy roads like Surrey
lanes, that looked innocent enough to lead nowhere, but somehow we
managed to skip from valley to valley with a sensation almost of flying;
and if the roads were like Surrey, the colour of the earth--when a bare
place showed in a meadow--was rose-pink as Devon. Goldenrod, not yet in
bloom, might have been planted purposely, in borders, mixed with sumach.
The red barns were bigger and "homier" than those of the day before, and
the little stone farmhouses most inviting. It was quite a shock to find
ourselves suddenly in "Vienna." (What if Jack should be interned!) But
it was a miniature Vienna. Next came Hackettstown, a charming place, and
then the famous Schooley's Mountain, which dropped us down, down into
German Valley. At Morristown we lunched, and afterward went to
Washington's Headquarters, an adorable old yellow house almost as fine
as Kidd's Pines. So by Persippany and Pine Brook to Jersey City and into
New York: beauty and interest of one sort or other all the way, but our
great object not accomplished. Everything worse than ever, and Pat and
Larry each obstinately determined to be sacrificed. Oh, that Caspian
man! I wish I had the formula for becoming a _werewolf_, and I would
devour him!
Your every loving,
MOLLY.
XVI
ANGELE, PATRICIAS MAID, TO THE MARQUISE DE MONCOURT
(_Translation_)
_Kidd's Pines._
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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