“‘We reached Mayence in the evening in a pouring rain, and took a cab, driven by a funny, red-faced driver, to a hotel where English was spoken, for however Mrs. Hill may have been impressed by my honors in German she had taken care to recommend English hotels. Our train for Berlin was to leave at nine A.M., so we went to bed early, feeling too self-resourceful for words.
“‘Do you remember how, with cheers for St. Helen’s and groans for Athens, we bequeathed Greenie to the Ancient World last winter? Who at that joyous moment would have thought that she would again and so soon enter our lives? Imagine then, if you can, the chill of horror which shook us all when upon alighting at the Mayence station the next morning, ready to take our train 77 for Berlin, we beheld—unmistakably beheld—our beloved Greenie by the drinking-fountain!!! Her back was toward us, and all the proofs we had at that moment were the hang of her familiar gray suit, and our old friend, that absurd chicken feather, awry upon her little, black, St. Helen’s hat. We stood breathless and surveyed her.
“‘“It is!” said Jess. “Let’s run!”
“‘“It’s not!” said Anne. “She’s in Athens. Besides, she’s too antiseptic to drink at a fountain!”
“‘“I believe it is,” said I. “It’s just as well to look for shelter!”
“‘“Of course, it is,” said Jess. “That chicken-feather——”
“‘And just then she looked up! There was no longer any question as to identity. In spite of drinking-fountains and Athens, it was Greenie! She looked quite the same as ever, except for the absence of the gray shawl, and no visible effects of curl-papers.
“‘Whether it was Providence, Greenie’s near-sightedness or our own speed that saved us, I 78 don’t know; but I do know we took her bearings and all ran in opposite directions. She was going through the door marked South. Anne accordingly ran north, Jess east, and I west.
“‘“Meet in five minutes at the fountain,” I commanded hoarsely as we separated.
“‘That was the last we saw of Greenie’s visible form. How she happened to be in Mayence we knew not. Jess insisted she never reached Athens at all, but was discovered en route at Mayence, placed in the Museum there, and was simply out on parole for exercise! Be that as it may, the excitement of seeing her, and the flight which followed, proved most disastrous to us all, for when we met five minutes later at the fountain, the Blackmore purse, carried by Jess, was gone!