Rollo in Paris Part 12

Mr. George explained to the children that there was another entrance to this room, leading from the court yard by a separate staircase, and that any person who wished to read or study might go in there and sit at those tables, only he must be still, and not disturb the studies of the rest. If he wished for any book, he could not go and get it from the shelves, but must write the t.i.tle of it in full on a slip of paper, and carry it to one of the desks. The officer would take the slip and give it to one of the messengers, who would then go and get the book.

After looking through the gla.s.s part.i.tion at this great company of readers and students until their curiosity was satisfied, the children turned away, and Mr. George conducted them back through the long ranges of rooms by the same way that they came. When, at length, they got back to the staircase where they had come up, Mr. George, instead of going out where he had come in, descended by another way, through new corridors and pa.s.sages, until he came to a room where a considerable number of people were sitting at tables, looking at books of engravings.

The sides of this room, and of several others opening into it, were filled with bound volumes of prints and engravings, some plain and some colored, but very beautiful. Many of the volumes were very large; but however large they might be, it was very easy to turn over the leaves and see the pictures, for the tables, or rather, desks, in the middle of the room, were so contrived that a book, placed upon them, was held at precisely the right slope to be seen to advantage by persons sitting before it. Mr. George told the children, in a whisper, that any one might ask for any book there was there, and the attendants would place it on one of the tables for him, where he might sit and look at the prints in it as long as he pleased.

"Some day," continued Mr. George, "we will come here and look over some of these books; but to-day we must go to the Garden of Plants."

Mr. George then led the children back to the carriage, and ordered the coachman to drive to his hotel.

The hotel was situated on the site of an open square, which, though by no means so grand and magnificent as the Place Vendome, was still a very pleasant place.

There was a fountain in the centre, with a large basin of water around it. Outside of this basin the square was paved with asphaltum, and was as hard and smooth as a floor. The pavement was shaded with trees, which were planted at equal distances all over it; and under the trees there were seats, where various persons were sitting. There were many children, too, playing about under the trees, some trundling hoop, some jumping rope, and some playing horses.

The carriage stopped at the door of the hotel, and Mr. George took the children up to his room. It was a front room, and it looked out upon the square. The children went to the window, and, while Mr. George was getting ready to go, they amused themselves by looking at the children that were playing on the square.

Among the other children, there was a boy, apparently about eight years of age, who was sitting apart from the rest of the children, on a bench by himself. His complexion was dark, and his hair very black and glossy.

He was very neatly and prettily dressed, though in a very peculiar style, his costume being quite different from any thing that Rollo had ever before seen. He had a ball in his hand, which now and then he tossed into the air.

"He has not any body to play with," said Rollo to Jennie. "I have a great mind to go down and play with him while uncle George is getting ready."

"Very well," said Mr. George; "you can go. I shall not be ready for nearly half an hour. We do not wish to get to the Garden of Plants before twelve o'clock."

Rollo hesitated a little about going down, and while he was hesitating the boy rose from his seat and came toward the hotel. He entered under the archway, and presently Rollo heard him coming up the staircase. He then determined to hesitate no longer; so he went out into the pa.s.sage way to see him.

The boy had reached the top of the staircase when Rollo went out, and was just then coming along the hall. He looked at Rollo with a smile as he came toward him, and this encouraged Rollo to speak to him.

"Can't you find any one to play with you?" said Rollo.

The boy shook his head, but did not speak.

He meant by this that he did not understand what Rollo said; but Rollo thought he meant that he could not find any one to play with him.

"I will play with you," said Rollo; and as he spoke he held out his hands, with the wrists together and the palms open between them, in a manner customary with boys for catching a ball.

The boy understood the sign, though he did not understand the words. He tossed the ball to Rollo, and Rollo caught it. Rollo then tossed it back again. Presently Rollo made signs to the boy to sit down upon the floor at one end of the hall, while he sat down at the other, explaining his wishes also at the same time in words. The boy talked too, in reply to Rollo, accompanying what he said with signs and gestures. They got along thus together in their play very well, each one imagining that he helped to convey his meaning to the other by what he said, while, in fact, neither understood a word that was spoken by the other, and so took notice of nothing but the signs.

Rollo listened attentively once or twice to short replies that his new friend made to him, in order to see if he could not distinguish some words in it that he could understand; but he could not; and he finally concluded that it must be some other language than French that the boy was speaking. He was sorry for this; for he could understand short sentences in French pretty well, and could speak short sentences himself in reply. When, however, he tried to speak to the boy in French, he observed that he did not appear to understand him any better than when he spoke in English. This confirmed him in the opinion that the boy must belong to some other nation.

After playing together for some time with the ball, the two boys began to feel quite acquainted with each other. Rollo wished very much to find out his new companion's name; so he asked him, in English,--

"What is your name?"

The boy smiled, and throwing the ball across again to Rollo as he spoke, said something in reply; but it was a great deal too much to be his name. What he said was, when interpreted into English, "My father bought this ball for me, and gave two francs for it."

Then Rollo thought he would try French; so he translated his question, and asked it in French.

"And I am going to carry it with me to Switzerland and Italy," said the boy, speaking still in the unknown tongue.

"That can't be your name, either," said Rollo, "I am very sure."

Then, after a moment's pause, he added, in an eager voice and manner, as if a new idea had suddenly struck him,--

"We are going to the Garden of Plants--uncle George, and Jennie, and I; wouldn't you like to go, too?"

The boy smiled, and held out his hands for Rollo to roll the ball to him, saying something at the same time which to Rollo seemed totally unmeaning.

"He does not understand me, I suppose; but I know how I can explain it to him."

So he rose from the floor, and, by means of a great deal of earnest gesticulation and beckoning, he induced the boy to get up too, and follow him. Rollo led the way into his uncle's chamber. The boy seemed pleased, though a little timid, in going in.

"Uncle George," said Rollo, "here is a boy that cannot talk. Are you willing that I should invite him to go with us to the Garden of Plants?"

"Yes," said Mr. George; "though I don't see how you are going to do it."

Rollo led the boy to the window, and pointed to the carriage, which stood down before the door below. Then he opened a map of Paris which lay upon the table, and found the Garden of Plants laid down upon it, and showed it to the boy. Then he pointed to his uncle George, to Jennie, and to himself, and then to the carriage. Then he made a motion with his hand to denote going. By these gesticulations he conveyed the idea quite distinctly to his new acquaintance that they were all going to the Garden of Plants. He then finally pointed to the boy himself, and also to the carriage, and looked at him with an inquiring look, which he meant as an invitation to the boy to accompany them. The boy paid close attention to all these signs; and when Rollo had finished, instead of either nodding or shaking his head, in token of his accepting or declining the invitation, as Rollo expected he would have done, he took up the map, and, making certain mysterious gestures, which Rollo could not comprehend, he walked off rapidly out of the room.

Rollo looked at his uncle George with an expression of great astonishment on his countenance.

"What does that mean?" said he.

"Perhaps he has gone to ask his father or his mother," suggested Mr.

George.

"He has," exclaimed Rollo, "he has; that's it, I'm sure."

So Rollo went out immediately into the hall to wait till the boy came back.

In a few minutes a door opened, which led into a suite of apartments in the rear of the hotel, and the boy, with the map in his hand, came into the hall, nodding his head, and looking very much pleased; talking all the time, moreover, in a very voluble but perfectly unintelligible manner. A moment after he came the door opened again, and a very respectably dressed man, of middle age, came into the hall. The boy pointed to Rollo, and said something to this man.

"Are you going to the Garden of Plants?" said the man to Rollo, speaking in English, though with a very decidedly foreign accent.

"Yes, sir," said Rollo.

"And did you invite Carlos to go with you?"

"Yes, sir," said Rollo; "only I did not know that his name was Carlos.

He told me something very different from that. What language is it that he talks? Is it French?"

"No," replied the man, "it is Spanish. He is a Spanish boy. He cannot understand a word of French or English. But he may go with you to the Garden of Plants."

"Are you his father, sir?" asked Rollo.

"No," replied the man, "I am his father's courier."[E]

[E] A courier is a traveling servant. A good courier understands all the princ.i.p.al languages of Europe, and is acquainted with all the routes and modes of travelling. He takes all the care of the party that employs him; makes bargains for them; finds out good hotels for them to go to; pays the bills; obtains all necessary information; and does every thing for them, in fact, which is required in making the tour of Europe.

So saying, the man pa.s.sed on, leaving Rollo and Carlos together.

"Come, Carlos," said Rollo, "let us go into uncle George's room, and see if he is not ready to go."