The Spanish Chest Part 6

"He can scarcely be a boy now if they grew up together," observed Edith. "Wasn't she sweet? I hope we'll see her again."

"And what did she mean by caves?" Frances continued, pursuing her train of thought. "That sounded very interesting and mysterious."

CHAPTER V

MONT ORGUEIL

To find a tutor for the boys proved less easy than Mrs. Thayne antic.i.p.ated. There seemed a dearth of available young men in Jersey and she had about decided to send Roger to the best school and let Win work as he chose by himself, when Mr. Angus heard of a young Scotchman, already acting as secretary to a gentleman in St.

Helier's and who could give the boys his afternoons.

Such an arrangement was not ideal, but Win took an instant liking to the tall raw-boned person, who announced himself in a delightful manner as "Weelyum Feesher."

Roger promptly dubbed him Bill Fish and refused to speak of him by any other term, causing his mother to live in terror lest Mr.

Fisher should in some way learn of the disrespectful abbreviation.

Roger was not at all enthusiastic about Bill Fish but liked still less the two schools he visited. To accept the tutor seemed the lesser of two evils.

The chief drawback proved that the boys were occupied at just the time when the girls were free, with the exception of Wednesday, a holiday for all.

The result was that Edith and Frances were thrown much together.

Frances found it fortunate that she had a companion of her own age, for the island ladies soon called upon Mrs. Thayne and drew her into numerous social engagements. The little community had a strong army and navy tinge and naturally welcomed Mrs. Thayne. She would have taken far less part in the various festivities had she been leaving her daughter alone, but the two girls proved so congenial and Mrs. Thayne was so well satisfied with Edith as a companion for Frances that she felt free to indulge her own social instincts and enjoy the pleasant circle so invitingly opened.

Whenever they went out, the girls kept a close watch for the "collie lady" and the "beach dog." Twice Tylo came to hail them on the sands, once apparently entirely alone. The other time he merely greeted them and bounded away to rejoin two riders on the road.

One was his lady, her companion a slender young man of distinctly foreign aspect, dark and distinguished-looking. Their horses were walking slowly, the riders engaged in deep conversation and the beach dog's mistress did not see the eager faces of the girls.

They talked a good deal about her, wondering who she was, where she lived and whether they would ever know her. After seeing her on horseback, they fell more and more under the spell of her charm and began to picture her the heroine of all sorts of stories.

Day-dreams and romantic stories however, had but a small place in a world so busily filled with lessons of various kinds. One Tuesday evening, Frances was openly groaning over the need of writing an essay upon Julius Caesar.

"Wouldn't you like him better if you saw something he did?"

inquired Win, hearing her lamentations. "There's a castle in Jersey, part of which he built."

Fran's eyes opened incredulously and Roger whistled. "Is that one of Bill Fish's yarns?" he demanded.

"Ante-dates him," replied Win. "It's Mont Orgueil, over the other side of the island. Let's have a picnic there to-morrow, take our lunch and stay all day. Mother, you must come. Don't say you've promised to make calls."

"I can go perfectly well," said Mrs. Thayne. "Only there is Roger's appointment with the dentist in the afternoon. He'll have to keep that, but there will be plenty of time for the picnic if we start early."

"Think of having an outdoor picnic in December," exclaimed Frances. "We'll take Edith, of course."

"Of course," a.s.sented her mother. "And Estelle, if she will go. I wish she would. She shuts herself up so closely and seems to shrink from seeing people, but perhaps she will go to Orgueil just with us."

Even Edith could not persuade her sister to join the party though Estelle was touched by their regret, evidently genuine.

"If you only would, Star," begged Edith. "You would enjoy it. You don't know how funny and nice they are to go with."

"I couldn't, little sister," said Estelle gently. "You go and tell me about it afterwards."

Edith was not satisfied but all persuasion proved useless. She had a vague idea that Star was worried. Just why, Edith did not see, since the plan of letting lodgings had come out so pleasantly.

Everything was going smoothly at present; why should Star borrow trouble from the future?

Mont Orgueil is reached by a miniature railway leading from St.

Helier's to the fis.h.i.+ng village of Gorey. By this time the young people were all well accustomed to the absurd little narrow gauge tramways with their leisurely trains. But if the train into St.

Helier's crawled, the one to Gorey snailed, to quote Roger. Time was ample to note the pretty stuccoed houses, pink, cream or brown, with gardens and climbing vines that even in December made them spots of beauty. They pa.s.sed under the frowning cliffs of Fort Regent and saw several lovely turquoise-blue bays with s.h.i.+ning sandy beaches. Farther on farms succeeded the villas, stone farmhouses with tiled or thatched roofs, some with orange or other fruit trees trained against their southern walls. Suddenly Frances rose to her feet.

"What on earth are those?" she demanded. "Just look at those cabbages on top of canes."

The others looked and saw something answering exactly to Fran's graphic description.

"Oh, yes" said Mrs. Thayne, "those are the cow cabbages of Jersey.

They are common in the interior of the island. It's a peculiar kind of cabbage growing five or six feet high. The farmers pick the leaves on the stalk and leave just the head on top. These stalks are made into the canes we have seen in shops."

"I saw them," said Win, "but I didn't realize what they were.

Look, there's a Jersey cow among the cabbages."

"The Jersey cattle are so pretty," said Frances admiringly.

"They are very valuable," said Edith. "The farmers coddle them like children."

Gorey proved a picturesque village with many schooners and boats of different kinds drawn up on the beach and in every direction fish nets drying. Above and behind towered the ruined castle of Orgueil, rising more than three hundred feet sheer from the sea.

Mrs. Thayne sent Roger to find and engage a donkey which Win mounted without protest, after one glance at the climb before him, though he insisted on swinging the boxes of luncheon before him on the little animal's neck. Its owner was dismissed, Roger agreeing to pull the beast up the hill.

Mont Orgueil forms the crest of a lofty conical rock and looks down like a grim giant upon the blue waters that stretch away to the coast of France. Tier after tier the fortifications mount the cone, crowned at the apex by a flagstaff.

At the castle entrance, gained after a steady climb, a small boy appeared, sent by the castle keeper to act as guide. He tied the donkey to an iron post and led the way into the interior.

"This is the oldest part," he began shyly. "They do say this tower was built by Julius Caesar."

"Gracious, that's some story!" whistled Roger, looking with all his might.

"I believe it is true," said Mrs. Thayne. "Win, you were reading about the castle before we started."

"Yes," said Win. "That's straight about Caesar. That's why I wanted Fran to see it. And most of the place was built a thousand years ago. Is it ever used now!"

[Ill.u.s.tration: ABOVE AND BEHIND TOWERED THE RUINED CASTLE OF ORGUEIL]

"In summer the signal service is quartered here," replied the boy.

"This is the well, ninety feet deep."

As he spoke, he dropped a pebble over a low parapet. Some seconds later came a hollow splash.

The guide showed them a cell where condemned prisoners were once kept, a ruined chapel with a very old crypt, and above the chapel a room reached by winding stairs. The girls entered with a simultaneous shriek of delight.

"What a love of a room!" said Edith.