This nettled Tom. "Of something besides clothes and bonnets," he broke
out. Then he was sorry he had spoken.
"Well, there's the Louvre," said Polly, after an uncomfortable little
pause.
"Yes," said Adela, "that's best of all, and it doesn't cost anything;
so Mademoiselle takes us there very often."
"I should think it would be," cried Polly, beaming at her, and
answering the first part of Adela's sentence. "Oh, Adela, I do so long
to see it."
"And you can't go there too often, Polly," said Jasper.
"It's the only decent thing in Paris," said Tom, "that I like, I mean;
that, and to sail up and down on the Seine."
"We'll go there the first day, Polly," said Jasper, "the Louvre, I
mean. Well, here we are in Paris!" And then it was all confusion, for
the guards were throwing open the doors to the compartments, and
streams of people were meeting on the platform, in what seemed to be
inextricable confusion amid a babel of sounds. And it wasn't until
Polly was driving up in the big cab with her part of Mr. King's
"family," as he called it, through the broad avenues and boulevards,
interspersed with occasional squares and gardens, and the beautiful
bridges here and there across the Seine, gleaming in the sunshine, that
she could realise that they were actually in Paris.
And the next day they did go to the Louvre. And Adela, who was to stay
a day or two at the hotel with them before going back into her school,
was very important, indeed.
Pages:
269
270
271
272
273
274
275
276
277
278
279
280
281
282
283
284
285
286
287
288
289
290
291
292
293