Chapter III: Willie's Mistake

WHEN the steamer reached Calais, Mr. and Mrs. Gray, and Willie, and Lucy, and Nurse, went on shore. They slept that night at an hotel, and Willie thought it seemed very funny indeed to hear all the people talking French round him. The servant came in and spoke to Mrs. Gray, and Mrs. Gray spoke back, and Willie could not make out a word of what they said; so he began to laugh. But Mrs. Gray told him that was not polite, for the servant might think he was laughing at her. So Willie squeezed his hand over his mouth, and did his best to look grave.

Next day, they went on by train to Paris, and stayed there for two nights.

Willie thought the journey all very nice, but he was so eager to see the mountains that he would have liked to get on faster.

They had one day in a "diligence," that is, a large rumbling coach. Willie and Lucy were both very much pleased to have to get up and dress by candlelight at one o'clock in the morning, and to start in the coach at two. But they both grew very sleepy and tired as the fourteen hours of their long drive passed away, and Willie wanted very much to jump out sometimes, and take a run, and stretch his cramped legs.

It roused them quite up at last, though, to reach the high Jura Mountains. Willie rubbed his eyes, and began to look about him again quite briskly, and said:—

"Are we really going up a mountain, Mamma? And where is the snow?"

"The Jura Mountains are not high enough to keep snow on them all through the summer, dear," said Mrs. Gray. "Still they are very much higher than any hills you have ever seen."

Willie thought so too when the "diligence" had reached the top, and began to go down on the other side.

It was such a steep sharp zig-zag on which they drove, that Nurse was quite afraid lest the great "diligence" should topple over and fall down the mountain; but Mr. Gray said they need not have any fear. Willie clapped his hands when he saw a little chaise going quickly down in the bends of the road far below them. And, though the road was so steep, both the little chaise and the great "diligence" reached the bottom of the mountain quite safely.

Mr. and Mrs. Gray had settled to sleep in Geneva this night—the very same place where Mrs. Gray's pretty watch came from. Willie made a funny mistake when they first got there. Mr. Gray stayed behind at the station to see after the boxes, and sent on the others in a cab to the hotel. As soon as they were in their rooms, Willie ran to the window; and there, instead of the road, he saw a great deep strong stream of water, like a wide river, rushing past quite close to the house. Willie called out so loud that he startled the others.

"What is the matter, Master Willie?" asked Nurse.

"Oh Nurse, Nurse, look here!" cried Willie, in great distress. "There has been a flood, and the water has come right over the road, and Papa will be drowned."

"Why, Master Willie, that is the river," said Nurse.

"Oh no! It's the road. Look, it is close up to the house," said Willie, almost sobbing. "And Papa will never be able to drive here from the station."

Nurse took Willie's hand without a word, and, leading him into a second room across the passage, she told him to look out of the window.

"Why, there's the very road we came by. Oh Nurse, I'm so glad!" said Willie, in great relief. "But what is all that water?"

"Why, that is the river, Master Willie. That is at the back of the hotel, and the road is in front of it."

"The river?" said Willie.

"Yes, the river Rhone, Willie," said his Mamma, who was in the room. "Did you never hear the name of the Rhone at your lessons?"

Willie was not quite sure whether he had, but he felt very certain that he would never forget it again from this time. He liked to stand at the window of the other room and look down at the wide deep water, rushing and rushing past, and never stopping for a single instant. He thought even the snowy mountains could hardly be more lovely.

And, to tell the truth, Willie at first thought them a great deal less lovely. For the next day was damp, and dull, and drizzling, with heavy clouds low down in the sky. They had to finish off their long journey in a steamer, which took them from one end of the lake to the other, and it was a very dismal voyage indeed. Then, when they landed, they drove through pouring rain to the little village of Veytaux, where a friend had chosen them some lodgings.

But the lodgings were not so nice as Mr. and Mrs. Gray had wished. It was a dull little house, just in the middle of the village, and the sitting-room had only one window looking into a small yard, with high walls round it and a mulberry tree standing in the middle. Little Lucy was so tired that she curled herself up on the sofa and went sound asleep. And Willie stood by the window, looking out, and saying in a doleful tone:—

"Mamma, I don't like Switzerland one bit. It isn't the least like what I thought it was going to be."

"Wait a little, Willie," said his Mamma, smiling. "I don't like this house, I confess, but Papa will look out for other lodgings in a day or two. And as for Switzerland, you have not seen it yet."

"I don't care for the mountains," said Willie. "I am sure they don't look high."

"No, because you cannot see much of them—the clouds come so low down their sides."

"Do the tops go up higher than those clouds, Mamma?"

"Indeed they do. The mountains are all wearing night-caps to-day."

"I think they are day-caps," said Willie, "and very wet ones too, Mamma."

That little bit of a laugh cheered Willie up. He ate a very good tea, and then was glad to go to bed and to sleep, hoping to wake up and see something better worth looking at than low grey clouds next morning.