Patty in Paris Part 25

As soon as he could for laughter, Henri helped matters out by explaining that what was desired was MELa.s.sE.

"Ah! OUI, OUI, OUI!" exclaimed the delighted Cesar, and he sent the kitchen boys flying for the right thing at last.

Laughing herself at the absurdity of making mola.s.ses candy, with the a.s.sistance of half a dozen French cooks, Patty proceeded to measure out cupfuls of the treacle and pour it into a skillet.

She was enchanted with the immaculate purity and spotlessness of the French kitchen, which even that of a New England housewife cannot rival.

She had set the boys to cracking nuts and picking them out, and when the time came, she added b.u.t.ter and a dash of vinegar to her boiling candy, watched with great interest by Cesar, whose French repertoire did not include any such strange mess as this.

After the candy was poured out into the pans, and partly cooled, the pulling began.

Patty never liked this part of the performance herself, and she frankly said so, stating that if the others wanted to pull the taffy she would show them how. Elise declined, but Rosamond pulled away briskly, using only the tips of her fingers, and with a practiced touch, until her portion of candy became of a beautiful cream colour and then almost white. After watching her a few moments, Cesar caught the trick, and taking a large panful, pulled and tossed it about with such dexterity that they all applauded.

Henri, of course, could not join in the sport, but Philippe and Cecil undertook it bravely, though, meeting with difficulties, they soon gave it up.

"It Is a knack," said Patty, "and though I can do it fairly well, I hate it because it's so messy. But Cesar is an artist at it, so suppose we let him do the rest."

Cesar willingly consented to this plan, and the young people ran away, leaving him to finish the taffy.

"Next," said Patty, as after much was.h.i.+ng of hands they had again a.s.sembled in the gla.s.s parlour, "I'm going to teach you to play bean bags."

Elise and Rosamond set up a shout of laughter at this, and the boys looked politely inquisitive.

Calling a footman, Patty, who greatly enjoyed the joke of being waited upon to such an absurd degree, asked him pleasantly to bring her some beans. She chose her French carefully, designating what she wanted by the term haricots.

"Oui, Mademoiselle," said the obsequious footman, hurrying away on his errand. He quickly returned, bearing a tin of French beans on a silver tray.

Patty burst into laughter, and so did the rest of them, though only Elise and Rosamond knew what the joke was about.

"Non, Non!" exclaimed Patty, between her peals of laughter; "beans, beans! oh, wait a minute, I'll tell you, I'll tell you; stop, let me think!"

After a moment's hard thought, she triumphantly exclaimed, "Feve!"

"Oui, oui, oui," exclaimed the footman, comprehendingly, and away he stalked once more. This time he returned with a large silver dish full of coffee beans, neither roasted nor ground.

These Patty accepted with many thanks. "I don't believe," she said, "that they have real bean-bag beans in this benighted country, and these will answer the purpose just as well."

Then again summoning her best French to her aid, she asked the footman to procure for her some pieces of material--cloth or cotton--and she indicated the size with her finger, also asking him to bring a work-basket. Then with an exhausted air she sat back in her chair and waited.

"Patty, you do beat the Dutch!" said Elise; "you know he can't find such things."

"Can't he?" said Patty complacently; "something tells me that that able footman will return with material for bean-bags."

The boys were looking on with great amus.e.m.e.nt, though only half understanding what it was all about. They understood English, and nearly all of Patty's French, but BEAN-BAGS was an unknown word to them.

True to Patty's prophecy the clever footman returned, still grave and immovable of countenance, but bearing a well-filled work-basket, and a quant.i.ty of pieces of magnificent satin brocades which had been cut in six-inch squares--that being the size indicated by Patty.

Patty took them with a gracious air of satisfaction, and rewarded the footman with thanks in French and a smile in American.

"Now," she went on calmly, "I shall be pleased to have the a.s.sistance of you two ladies, as I fancy these young men are not any more accustomed to sewing than to pulling taffy."

But to her surprise Cecil declared himself an expert needleman, and proved it by st.i.tching up a bean-bag, under Patty's direction, in most praiseworthy fas.h.i.+on.

Each of the girls made one, too, and when they were filled with the coffee beans, and sewed up, Patty was again overcome by merriment at the regal appearance of their satin brocaded bean-bags.

Then into the long hall they went, but alas! the girls could not bring themselves to toss bean-bags in an apartment so filled with fragile objects of value.

In despair Patty again consulted her friend the footman. As soon as he understood her dilemma, he a.s.sured her he would arrange all; and in less than fifteen minutes he came back to her, almost smiling, and invited the party to follow him.

They followed to the picture gallery, where the ingenious man had carefully placed a number of large, folding j.a.panese screens in front of the pictures to protect them from possible harm.

Patty was delighted at this contrivance, and then followed such a game of bean-bags as had probably never been seen before in all France.

The only drawback was that Henri could not take part in this sport, but as Patty said wisely, "One cannot have everything in France; and, at any rate, he can eat some of our American taffy, which must be cooled by this time."

CHAPTER XIX

CYCLAMEN PERFUME

It didn't seem possible they had been at the Chateau for a week when the day came to go home. "It was lovely at St. Germain," said Elise, as they were once again settled in Paris, "but I'm glad to be back in the city, aren't you, Patty?"

"Yes, I am, but I did have a lovely time at the Chateau. I think I like new experiences, and the memory of them is like a lot of pictures that I can look back to, and enjoy whenever I choose. I think my mind is getting to be just like a postcard alb.u.m, it's so filled with views of foreign places."

"Mine is more like a kaleidoscope; it's all in a jumble, and I can't seem to straighten it out."

But after a day or two the girls settled down into a fairly steady routine of home life. They were both interested in their various lessons, and though there was plenty of work, there was also plenty of play.

They did not become acquainted with many French people, but the members of the American Colony, as it was called, were socially inclined, and they soon made many friends.

Then there was much shopping to be done, and Mrs. Farrington seemed quite as interested in selecting pretty things for Patty as she did for her own daughter.

The girls had especially pretty winter costumes of dark cloth, and each had a handsome and valuable set of furs. In these, with their Paris hats, they looked so picturesque that Mrs. Farrington proposed they should have their photographs taken to send to friends at home.

The taking of the photographs developed into quite a lengthy performance; for Mrs. Farrington said, that while they were about it, they might as well have several styles.

So it resulted in their taking a trunk full of their prettiest dresses and hats, and spending a whole morning in the photograph gallery.

"It's really more satisfactory," observed Patty, "to do these things by the wholesale. Now I don't think I shall have to have photographs taken again before I'm seventy, at least."

"You ought to have them at fifty," replied Elise; "you'll be such a charming middle-aged lady, Patty. A little prim, perhaps, but rather nice, after all."

"Thanks for the flattering prospect. I prophesy that when you're fifty, you'll be a great artist, and you'll look exactly like Rosa Bonheur, and you'll wear short grey hair and a linen duster. So you'd better have plenty of photographs taken now, for I don't believe the linen duster will be very becoming."

The photographs turned out to be extremely successful, both as likenesses and as pictures. The girls sent many copies to their friends in America, and Nan wrote back that she thought the girls ought to hurry home, or they would become incorrigible Parisiennes.