Red Caps and Lilies

"Flambeau!"

The sound was illusive. Flambeau listened with every bit of him, his taut, strong body alert with eagerness. The call might have come from the landing outside the small salon of Madame la Comtesse, but it had sounded higher up; the schoolroom, perhaps, or the nurseries beyond. Flambeau gained the top of a high staircase with a few leaping bounds, ran down a corridor, turned a corner, and almost knocked down his own Marie Josephine, who had been calling him. He leaped upon her in welcome.

"I've been out on the balcony, Flambeau. I called you from there, for I thought you might be in the garden."

A voice from a half-open door near them called sharply, "Marie Josephine, come in and close the door."

Marie Josephine walked slowly toward a flicker of light reflected on the wall opposite the schoolroom door, and went inside, closing the door after her. Flambeau had come in with her and he walked somewhat disdainfully toward a table which was drawn close to a dancing fire in a deep, old-fashioned fireplace. The table was covered with bits of brocade, satin, and gold lace. Two girls sat one on each side of it, and a short, fat maid sat cross-legged on a stool at their feet, bending over a piece of sewing in her lap. When Marie Josephine and the dog came into the room, the maid stood up and made a curtsy.

"Will you sit in your favorite big chair by the fire, Little Mademoiselle?" she asked.

Marie Josephine shook her head for reply, watching the swift darting of the maid's needle as she sat down again and went on with her work. Then she glanced at her cousin Hortense, who held a piece of ermine up before her.

"It will do for the edging of the mantle, will it not, Proté?" Hortense asked the maid. Without waiting for an answer, she went on speaking. "I hoped that Tante would allow us to sew the ruby in the crown, but she would not consent!" As she spoke, Hortense looked at Denise, Marie Josephine's sister, who sat opposite her.

Denise tossed her red-brown curls out of her eyes and pouted. The pout made her look younger than her fourteen and a half years.

"You've made this one crookedly. You must do another one at once, Proté," she said, handing the maid a small black object.

"Yes, Mademoiselle," Proté answered.

Marie Josephine

"Fasten this cord, please, Proté. It does not seem to be right the way I have done it!" Hortense held out another black object to the little maid, who took it smilingly, with a little bow which made her black hair, gathered into a huge knob at the back of her neck, stand out like a big black bun.

Marie Josephine still stood by the fire, Flambeau beside her. She looked at her brother as he spoke.

"Proté cannot do everything at once," he said. He sat in the deep shadow of the window seat at the far end of the room, his hands clasped about his knees.

Denise smiled at him over her shoulder as she answered: "You know nothing about these things, Lisle. You have nothing to do about them, but sit and look on. All that concerns you regarding them is that you are to wear the robe and crown at the De Soignés' ball!"

"Ball! You speak as though you were going to a ball. You are only two years older than Rosanne and I. There is no reason why we should not have been invited. I should think they would be ashamed to leave Rosanne out of it all!" exclaimed Marie Josephine.

"Little Mademoiselle would like, perhaps, to make a bow for her hair? A rosette of this rose brocade and a bit of the gold tinsel would become her," suggested Proté, tying a neat knot in a corner of the piece of black cardboard which Hortense had handed her.

Marie Josephine shook her head. "No, Proté," she answered.

Flambeau came up to Denise and nosed at the bits of ribbon in her lap. Denise gave his head a pat.

"Would you not like Flambeau to have a big rose bow? Greyhounds always look better with bows," she said.

Marie Josephine shook her head listlessly, but did not speak. A big rose bow would be charming for Flambeau, a puffy one under his right ear. She was not invited to the De Soigné party, therefore she would not appear to be interested in any of the glittering array on the table. She caught her brother's eyes. His head was thrown back against the dark, carved-oak window settle. He was looking straight at Marie Josephine, and she saw that he was smiling. She frowned at him with her straight black brows, and he frowned back with his straight fair ones. Marie Josephine's frown was in earnest, but her brother's was in fun.

"What a thundercloud! What a dragon! What an ogress! What a--"

Marie Josephine stopped her brother's words with a stamp of her foot. "You are not to say that, Lisle!" she exclaimed passionately.

"Don't tease her, my cousin. How can you do it?" reproved Hortense, rising as she spoke and going over to the fireplace. She laid both hands on the carved, gilded mantelpiece and stood looking down at the dancing swirl of blue and gold. Suddenly she put her face in her hands.

Marie Josephine went up to her and touched her arm, forgetting her own trouble for the moment. "What is it, Hortense? Why are you sad?" she asked.

Hortense raised her face and smiled. "I'm not sad, chérie; not this afternoon. It is only that now everything seems grey and dreadful, and Tante is unhappy because so many of her friends have gone away, and because of everything."

"You'll have the party," Marie Josephine answered bitterly.

Her cousin put her arm about her for a moment and gave her a little hug. "You want to go so badly. I do wish you could; but even if Madame de Soigné had asked you, Tante would never have allowed you to go. Twelve and a half doesn't sound much younger than fourteen and a half, but it is, you know," she said.

"I'm always treated like a baby," Marie Josephine replied. There was a good deal of truth in her words. She was small and quiet and shy. She would not be thirteen until November and that was three months away.

Lisle came up to the fire, stepping over Flambeau, who had settled himself in the heat of the blaze, and pinched Marie Josephine's ear.

Proté came up to him with a collar of fluted gold tinsel and ermine. "Will you allow me to see if it fits properly, Monsieur Lisle?" she asked, putting her funny, plump face on one side as she examined her handiwork.

"No, I'll not be bothered with frills to-day." Lisle frowned this time in earnest, rubbing his shoulders restlessly against the side of the mantel and looking out of the window where dark trees tossed against a grey, stormy sky.

Hortense and Denise both spoke at once. "Lisle!" they exclaimed. Denise jumped up and came over to him, dragging a piece of blue velvet after her and unmindful of the fact that a piece of black cardboard was sticking to her chin. They all burst out laughing as she clasped her hands together and burst into a torrent of words.

"Lisle, you're not going to be obstinate. You are going to be the Sun King at the ball, aren't you?" she pleaded.

Lisle shrugged his shoulders, saying teasingly: "We shall see. I'll not go with you if you do not clean your face. A nice, grown-up duchess you will make, with paste and black paper on your chin. I for one think it's all nonsense. It's stupid of the De Soigné to have a party now."

Lisle was tall, and he held his blond head high, which made him look even taller and older than he was. He would not be sixteen until the following winter. He had a very fair face with a pointed nose and blue eyes which had a straight unwinking way of looking at one. His cousin Hortense, who had lived in his family since her infancy, was almost as tall as he, but she was dark, like Marie Josephine. Strangers always took them for sisters.

"I think it's splendid of the De Soigné to have the party!" Denise danced mockingly in front of her brother as she spoke. He had consented to allow Proté to try on the collar, but he stood frowning over her shoulder as she surveyed the effect.

Some one came in quickly from the nurseries beyond. It was a short, sharp-nosed woman in a black silk dress with wide, flowing sleeves and a fichu of lace at the neck. This was Madame le Pont, the governess.

"There you are, chérie. I have been uneasy because I could not find you. Surely you have not been in the garden unattended!"

"I wasn't in the garden. I was out on the balcony listening," Marie Josephine answered.

"Listening! What do you mean?" the governess asked her.

"The noises of Paris, Madame. There are so many noises now. Flambeau was restless last night. He heard them, too!"

There was a low rap on the door. It opened and a servant came in. He walked noiselessly about the room, a taper in his hand, and a moment later lights flickered and then shone bravely from the many candles in bronze sockets on the tapestried walls. The servant made a bright bit of color himself as he moved about in his trousers of crimson velvet.

"Madame la Comtesse wishes the young ladies, Mademoiselle Hortense and Mademoiselle Denise, to accompany her in an hour's time to the house of Madame la Comtesse de Soigné," he announced.

Denise gave a little laugh of pleasure and danced the whole length of the room and back again. Then she caught Flambeau's forepaws and tried to make him dance too, but the dog had such a bored expression that Denise only laughed again and dropped his paws.

"It is only Marie Josephine that you love, is it not, Flambeau?" she exclaimed, and then went on eagerly: "We shall enjoy talking about the ball with the dear De Soigné. Proté, I wish to wear my white cloak in spite of the storm."

"I am tired of the very name of this ball!" Lisle walked over to the door as he spoke, but turned as Denise answered him.

"We are happy about it because we have had no fun in such a long time, now that everything is so different. Maman will not allow us to go out except in our own garden and to the De Soigné. It is only because they live in the next square that we may go there at all," she said.

"Maman is foolish!" Lisle exclaimed, and the governess admonished him.

"Monsieur Lisle!"

"It is true, Madame le Pont. There is no real danger, not here in Paris. It is 1792, not the dark ages. Help will come from the royalists in Europe. It is only a question of being patient. It is not really a revolution, you know!"

Marie Josephine watched her brother with admiration as he spoke. How tall and brave and confident he was!

The governess smiled sadly but she was cheerful enough when she spoke.

"Come at once, Mesdemoiselles," she said briskly. "Proté, tell Felice that the young ladies wish their coiffures done at once, and see to their mantles and hats yourself." Then she turned to Lisle, who still stood lounging against the door.

"What will you do while they are away, Monsieur Lisle?" she asked.

Lisle smiled in his quiet, teasing way.

"I'm going to ride with my tutor, Madame," he answered.

Madame le Pont threw up her hands. "Please do not do it when it so worries Madame your mother. It makes her afraid when you are so reckless!" she exclaimed.

"You are never to say that my mother is afraid, if you please, Madame," Lisle said and, as he spoke, he opened the door and went out.

Madame le Pont went over to the table and stood fingering the bits of gold lace there. Marie Josephine watched her. Why had she not been told that she could go with Hortense and Denise? Rosanne de Soigné was her greatest chum. They could have sat quietly in a corner and talked. Marie Josephine turned toward the nurseries and then looked back at the governess, who still stood by the table.

"Le Pont is worrying. She is uneasy like maman. This is a bad time. Grandfather said that it would come. He said to me: 'Little Marie Josephine, I can almost see the black clouds, they are so thick ahead of us. But when they come I shall not be here, and I am the only one that seems to know they are drifting toward us!'"

The governess looked up and when she looked at Marie Josephine it was as though she had for the moment forgotten her.

"Little one, what will you do while I am away this afternoon? Proté will amuse you if you like. Perhaps you will work for a little while on the tapestry for your great-aunt?"

Marie Josephine shook her head vigorously. She stood thinking for a moment and then smiled up at the governess.

"I won't be lonely, Madame. I don't mind them at all. They may have as many parties as they like. They may go out for go?ter every afternoon. It is nothing to me. I do not care!" She spoke earnestly but she knew she was not speaking the truth and the governess knew it also.

"But what will you do, then, all the rest of the afternoon?" Madame le Pont insisted.

"I'll be thinking of grandfather," Marie Josephine answered.