“Here you are for the Halifax!” “Right this way for the Queen! Queen, sir? Queen, madam? Finest hotel in—” “Prince Edward! Right on the bluff—overlooking—” “King’s Arms! Carriage for the King’s Arms?”
To the rail and no further were these runners for their various employers permitted to go, yet even at that few feet of safe distance their cries were so deafening and insistent that Dorothy clapped her hands to her ears and shut her eyes, lest she should grow too much confused.
But there was no hesitation about the Judge. His hotel was a familiar one, their rooms engaged long before; and by a nod he summoned the ’bus of that house, marshalled his party into it, handed the runner his baggage checks, and they rolled away through the streets of the oldest city in the Province.
Just then it was gay with illimitable decorations of bunting and flags, in honor of the visit of the Viceroy of Canada and his consort, due upon the morrow.
“Oh, Papa, did they know we were coming?” mischievously inquired Molly, as vista after vista of red and blue and white unrolled before her eager eyes. “I never saw anything like it! Even at our home Carnival there wasn’t anything to compare.”
“That’s Canada. We Yankees boast we go ahead of everything in the world no matter what line we chance to follow. Canada doesn’t boast, she simply goes ahead.”
“Oh! how disloyal, Schuyler!” protested Aunt Lucretia, herself gazing with admiration at the buildings whose fronts were almost solidly covered with artistically arranged decorations. Of course the English and Canadian flags held first place, but at last their ’bus stopped before a quaint old hotel whose balconies were draped with as many American as English banners.
“Why, is this an American, I mean a United States hotel?” asked Auntie Lu; while Miss Greatorex’s face assumed a more agreeable expression than it had worn since they left the station. She had felt hitherto as if an alien nation had flaunted its colors in her own patriotic face; but her common sense now assured her that these people had a right to honor their rulers after their own fashion even if it could by no possibility be so good a fashion as reigned in her beloved States.
The youngsters of the party felt nothing but delight; and as a squad of scarlet-coated soldiers came marching toward them on the other side of the street Monty tossed up his cap and cheered. Melvin did more, as was natural. They marched to the tune of “God Save the King,” and were on their way to Parliament House to give an evening concert; and as the ’bus came abreast of the squad with its fine band and its national colors floating in front, the young Yarmouthian rose and bared his head, saluting the flag! Then he dropped back to his seat with a slight flush on his fair cheek, as he felt the eyes of the three strangers rest upon him curiously. Then cried Molly:
“That was funny! I forgot you weren’t a ‘Yankee’ like ourselves, but you did right, you did just right. I wouldn’t have let Old Glory pass by without doing it my honor. But, do you know, Auntie Lu, I feel as if this were a foreign country and not part of our own America?”