At this moment she opened a book she had brought with her, a history of Queen Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI. Down the long avenue she could see the outlines of the stately palace, which had been started as a hunting box for Louis XIII, transformed into its present magnificence by the great Louis XIV, and been the home of the last days of the ill-fated Louis XVI and his Queen.
Closer to where Bettina was at present seated was the Little Trianon, the pleasure palace presented to Marie Antoinette by the King, and it was here under a group of the famous Louisiana cypress trees that Bettina had agreed to meet Peggy and Ralph.
She did not wish to be late for her appointment; only a few days before Ralph had arrived in Paris on his way home to the United States and this was his first visit to the park at Versailles. No one could say how long he would remain in France before his orders to sail, but at least he and Peggy had the satisfaction of having their engagement formally acknowledged, although their marriage, because of Peggy’s youth, was still indefinitely postponed.
Bettina did not share Sally’s attitude toward her friends. Since her earliest girlhood she and Peggy had been singularly devoted to each other, and although she did not believe the old friendship could continue after Peggy’s marriage with the same degree of sympathy and affection, nevertheless she meant to make the best of a three-cornered friendship.
It was still too early for her engagement, yet Bettina, after reading only a few chapters, closed her book and got up. It was growing a little cold and she would walk on toward the Little Trianon and wait in some more sheltered place for Ralph’s and Peggy’s arrival.
As she had plenty of time she strolled along down the Avenue de Trianon, studying the details of her surroundings with even more interest than usual.
A little path led away from the avenue to a high stone wall.
Never before had Bettina seen either the path or the wall in her frequent wanderings about the great Park of Versailles. A little aimlessly she now followed the path, discovering that the wall was about six feet in height and oval in shape with long tendrils of winter vines partly hiding it. Strange that she had never noticed this particular wall which might conceal some place of special interest! Yet the Park was so immense and held so many objects of beauty and value that one might spend half a lifetime without seeing all its treasures.
Circling the stone wall Bettina noticed a narrow opening just large enough to permit one person to enter.
There was no one near. At the present time no visitors were allowed to explore the great Park at Versailles without a special permit from the French authorities. The Camp Fire girls owed their privilege to the kindness of Monsieur Georges Duval, the French Senator who was Mrs. Burton’s friend.