Aunt Jane's Nieces Abroad
"Hop in, my dears."
They entered the crazy looking vehicle and found the seats ample and
comfortable despite the appearance of dilapidation everywhere prevalent.
The driver mounted the box, cracked his whip, and the lean nags ambled
away at a fair pace.
They passed near to the square, where the first thing that attracted
Uncle John's attention was the beautiful turnout he had hired yesterday.
It was standing just as it had before, and beside it was another man
dressed in the splendid uniform his driver had claimed that he had left
at home.
"Here--stop! Stop, I say!" he yelled at the man, angrily. But the fellow
seemed suddenly deaf, and paid no heed. He cracked his whip and rattled
away through the streets without a glance behind him. The girls laughed
and Uncle John stopped waving his arms and settled into his seat with a
groan.
"We've been swindled, my dears," he said; "swindled most beautifully.
But I suppose we may as well make the best of it."
"Better," agreed Patsy. "This rig is all right, Uncle. It may not be as
pretty as the other, but I expect that one is only kept to make
engagements with. When it comes to actual use, we don't get it."
"That's true enough," he returned. "But I'll get even with this rascal
before I've done with him, never fear."
It was a cold, raw morning, but the portiere at the Victoria had told
them the sun would be out presently and the day become more genial.
Indeed, the sun did come out, but only to give a discouraged look at the
landscape and retire again. During this one day in which they rode to
Amalfi and back, Uncle John afterward declared that they experienced
seven different kinds of weather. They had sunshine, rain, hail, snow
and a tornado; and then rain again and more sunshine. "Sunny Italy"
seemed a misnomer that day, as indeed it does many days in winter and
spring, when the climate is little better than that prevailing in the
eastern and central portions of the United States. And perhaps one
suffers more in Italy than in America, owing to the general lack of
means to keep warm on cold days.
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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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