Rollo in Switzerland | Page 3

the courier came to the door.[2] Rollo inquired for Carlos, and the courier said that he would go and get him. In the mean time the courier asked Rollo to step in and take a seat. So Rollo went in. The room that he entered was a small one, and was used as an antechamber to the apartment; and it was very neatly and pleasantly furnished for such a purpose. There were a sofa and several chairs, and maps and pictures on the walls, and a table with writing materials on it in the centre. Rollo sat down upon the sofa. In a few minutes Carlos came.
"Look here!" said Rollo, rising when Carlos came in. "See these passports! We're going to get them stamped. Will you go with me? I have got a carriage at the door."
Here Rollo made a sort of whirling motion with his hand, advancing it forward at the same time as it rolled, to indicate the motion of a wheel. This was to signify to Carlos that they were going in a carriage.
All that Carlos understood was, that Rollo was going somewhere, and that he wished him, Carlos, to go too. He seemed very much pleased with his invitation, and went eagerly back into the inner apartments. He returned in a very few minutes with his cap in his hand, evidently all ready to go.
"Now," said Rollo, as they went out of the antechamber together, "the first thing is to go and ask the master of the hotel what we are to do."
There was a very pleasant little room on the lower floor, on one side of the archway which formed the entrance into the court of the hotel from the street, that served the purpose of parlor, sitting room, counting room, and office. Thus it was used both by the master of the hotel himself and by his family. There was a desk at one side, where the master usually sat, with his books and papers before him. At the other side, near a window, his wife was often seated at her sewing; and there were frequently two or three little children playing about the floor with little wagons, or tops, or other toys. Rollo went to this room, occupying himself as he descended the stairs in trying to make up a French sentence that would ask his question in the shortest and simplest manner.
He went in, and, going to the desk, held out his passports to the man who was sitting there, and said, in French,--
"Passports. To Switzerland. Where to go to get them stamped?"
"Ah," said the master of the hotel, taking the passports in his hand. "Yes, yes, yes. You must get them stamped. You must go to the Swiss legation and to the prefecture of police."
Here Rollo pointed to a piece of paper that was lying on the desk and made signs of writing.
"Ah, yes, yes, yes," said the man. "I will write you the address."
So the man took a piece of paper and wrote upon the top of it the words "prefecture of police," saying, as he wrote it, that every coachman knew where that was. Then, underneath, he wrote the name of the street and number where the Swiss legation was; and, having done this, he gave the paper to Rollo.
Rollo took the memorandum, and, thanking the man for his information, led Carlos out to the carriage.
"Come, Carlos," said he; "now we are ready. I know where to go; but I don't know at all what we are to do when we get there. But then we shall find some other people there, I suppose, getting their passports stamped; and we can do as they do."
Rollo had learned to place great reliance on the rule which his uncle George had given for his guidance in travelling; namely, to do as he saw other people do. It is, in fact, a very excellent rule.
Carlos got into the carriage; while Rollo, looking upon the paper in order to be sure that he understood the words right, said, "To the prefecture of police."
The coachman said, "Yes, yes;" and Rollo got into the coach. The coachman, without leaving his seat, reached his arm down and fastened the door and then drove away.
He drove on through various crowded streets, which seemed to lead in towards the heart of the city, until at last the carriage came to the river. Rollo and Carlos looked out and saw the bridges, and the parapet wall which formed the river side of the street, with the book stalls, and picture stalls, and cake and fruit booths which had been established along the side of it, and the monstrous bathing houses which lay floating on the water below, all gayly painted and adorned with flags and little parterres of flowers;