Patty stopped a passing cab, and giving the driver the address, the girls got in.
As they rolled smoothly along Patty's spirits rose. "You see, we did just the right thing," she said; "and we'll be back there now before Jules is."
On they went, across the Seine and into a strange district, unlike any they had ever seen before.
But it was not long before they came to the address written on the paper. The girls went into the shop and found to their dismay that the perfumery company was there no longer, but had moved some time since to another address.
With great dignity, and fairly good French, Patty inquired the present address of the firm, and, receiving it, returned to the cab.
"I'm determined," she said to Elise, "to go on with this thing, now that I've begun it. I'm going to find that Cyclamen, just because I've made up my mind to do so."
The cabman seemed to know the address indicated, and started his horse off at a jog trot. On they went, farther and farther, and getting into a more and more disagreeable district. The streets grew narrower, the houses shabbier, and the people along the streets were noisy and boisterous.
Patty did not like to admit it, but she began to wish she had not come, and Elise was plainly frightened, for the people along the street stared at the pretty American girls driving about alone in a public conveyance.
At last Patty said in a low voice: "It's horrid, Elise, and I'm truly sorry I insisted on coming. Shall we ask the man to go back?"
"Yes," said Elise; "that is, if you think best. But I hate to go any farther in this horrid quarter."
So Patty explained to the driver that they had concluded not to go to the perfumer's that day, and directed him to take them back to the Magasins du Louvre.
But the cabman objected to this proposition, and said they were now not far from the place they were in search of, and he would go on till they reached it.
Patty expostulated, but the cabman was firm in his decision. He was not impertinent, but he seemed to think that the young ladies were too easily discouraged, and assured them they would soon reach their destination. So they went on, and Patty and Elise grew more and more alarmed as their situation became more unpleasant. It was certainly no place for them to be, unattended, and the fact that they could not persuade the cabman to go back dismayed them both.
But Patty's pluck stood by her. Grasping Elise's hand firmly, she whispered: "Don't you collapse, Elise! If you cry I'll never forgive you! Brace up now and help me through. It will be all right if we don't act afraid."
"How can I help acting afraid?" said poor Elise, her teeth chattering, "when I'm s-scared to death!"
"Don't be scared to death! I tell you there's nothing to be afraid of! Brace up, I say!" Patty gave Elise's arm such a pinch as to make her jump, and just then the cab stopped at the establishment of Boissier Freres.
It proved to be the right place this time, and the girls went in. Behind the counter stood a dapper young man, who waited on them obsequiously. But when he heard Patty's request he said they did not have that essence in their regular stock and only made it when ordered.
"Then," said Patty, at the end of her patience, "I'll order some. Will you make it for me, please?"
"For that," said the young man, "I must refer you to another department. You'll have to go to see M. Poirier, who takes such orders."
"And where shall I find him?" asked Patty.
The obliging young man began to write down an address. "It is some distance away," he said, "and not a very accessible place to get to."
Patty looked at Elise and laughed. "I give it up," she said; "I thought I could do Marian's errand, but it's proving too much for me!"
She thanked the young man for the address and put it away in her purse, with but slight intention of ever using it. She bought a bottle of another sort of perfumery, and, saying good afternoon, left the shop.
But when she and Elise regained the sidewalk there was no cab in sight. They looked in every direction, but could see nothing of it.
"He can't have gone away," said Patty, "for I haven't paid him."
"But he has gone away," said Elise; "and oh, Patty, I just remember! I left my purse on the seat!"
"Was there much in it?"
"Yes, a good deal. I haven't done any shopping yet, you know."
"Well, that explains it. He's gone off with your purse, for he knew that very likely we didn't have his number, and of course we can never find him again. Elise, don't you dare to cry! We're in an awful scrape now, but we'll get out of it somehow if you'll only be plucky about it! Don't you fail me, and I'll get out of it somehow!"
Patty's admonitions were none too soon, for Elise was on the very verge of bursting into tears. But when Patty appealed to her for aid she tried hard to overcome her fears and be a help instead of a hindrance.
Patty considered the situation. "I hate to go back into that shop and ask that young man to call me a cab," she said, "for he was so fawning and officious that I didn't like his manner a bit. But there doesn't seem to be anything else to do, for there's no policeman in sight, and of course no telephone station, and of course it wouldn't work if there was one, and there's no other place about here that looks as if I dare go in, and so we must go back and ask that horrid man. Now brace up, Elise; put on your most haughty air and look as dignified as a duchess."
Chapter XX.
The Bazaar
Elise tried hard to follow Patty's directions, but she did not represent a very haughty type of duchess as she tremblingly followed Patty into the shop.
But Patty herself held her head high, and assumed the dignity of a whole line of duchesses as she stalked toward the counter. She chose her French with much care, and in exceedingly formal diction informed the young man that she desired to call a cab.
Without expressing astonishment at this, the young man politely assured her that he would call a cab for her at once; that it would take some time to procure one, as there were none save at a considerable distance.
There being nothing else to do, poor Patty expressed herself as willing to wait, but coldly desired that all possible haste be made.
The fifteen minutes that the girls waited was perhaps the most uncomfortable quarter of an hour they had ever spent in their lives, and indeed it seemed more like fifteen hours than fifteen minutes. They scarcely spoke to one another; Patty, feeling the responsibility of the whole affair, was thinking what she should do in case a cab didn't come, while Elise was entirely absorbed in her earnest endeavours not to cry.
But at last a cab appeared and the two girls got in.
Patty gave the order to drive back to the great shop from which they had started on their adventure.
It seemed an interminable distance through the unpleasant streets, but when at last they reached the Magasins du Louvre and drew up to the entrance Elise gave a delighted cry, and said: "Oh, there's our car, and Jules in it!"
The car was across the street, and the chauffeur sat with his arms folded, in an attitude of patient waiting. The girls got out of the cab, Patty paid the cabman, and as they beckoned to Jules, he started the car across the street toward them.
"Where have you been?" inquired Elise, in a reproving tone.
But the chauffeur declared that he had sat the whole afternoon in that one spot, waiting for the young ladies.
When Elise said that they had come to the door and looked for him in vain, he only asseverated that he had not moved from the spot opposite the entrance, but had been there all the time watching the