Aunt Jane's Nieces Abroad
You can take a guide and go by yourselves if you feel you
can't let any get away from you. Go and find another of Mike Angelo's
last work; every church has got one. For my part, I've always been
religiously inclined, but I've been to church enough lately to last me
the rest of my natural life, and I've fully determined not to darken the
doors of another cathedral again. They're like circuses, anyhow; when
you've seen one, you've seen 'em all."
No argument would induce him to abandon this position; so the girls
accepted his proposal and visited their beloved cathedrals in charge of
a guide, whose well of information was practically inexhaustible if not
remarkable for its clarity.
The opera suited Uncle John better, and he freely revelled in the shops,
purchasing the most useless and preposterous things in spite of that
growing bugbear of the customs duties.
But finally this joyous holiday came to an end, as all good things will,
and they sailed from Cherbourg for New York.
Uncle John had six extra trunks, Patsy carried a French poodle that was
as much trouble as an infant in arms, and Louise engineered several
hat-boxes that could not be packed at the last minute. But the girls
embarked gay and rosy-cheeked and animated, and in spite of all the
excitement and pleasure that had attended their trip, not one of the
party was really sorry when the return voyage began.
CHAPTER XXXI
SAFE HOME
"To me," said Uncle John, as he stood on the deck and pointed proudly to
the statue of Liberty in New York harbor, "that is the prettiest sight
I've seen since I left home."
"Prettier than the old masters, Uncle?" asked Patsy, mischievously.
"Yes, or the cathedrals!" he retorted.
When they reached the dock there was the Major waiting to receive Patsy
in a new checked suit with a big flower in his button-hole and a broad
smile on his jolly face.
And there was Mrs. Merrick, too, with Arthur Weldon beside her, which
proved to Louise that he had succeeded in making his peace with her
mother.
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In a village there lived two men who had the self-same name. Both were named Claus. But one of them owned four horses, and the other owned only one horse; so to distinguish between them people called the man who had four horses Big Claus, and the man who had only one horse Little Claus. Now I'll tell you what happened to these two, for this is a true story.
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