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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/18505-8.txt b/18505-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..204b0f7 --- /dev/null +++ b/18505-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7779 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, A Popular Schoolgirl, by Angela Brazil, +Illustrated by Balliol Salmon + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: A Popular Schoolgirl + + +Author: Angela Brazil + + + +Release Date: June 5, 2006 [eBook #18505] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A POPULAR SCHOOLGIRL*** + + +E-text prepared by Suzanne Shell, Mary Meehan, and the Project Gutenberg +Online Distributed Proofreading Team (https://www.pgdp.net/) + + + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustrations. + See 18505-h.htm or 18505-h.zip: + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/8/5/0/18505/18505-h/18505-h.htm) + or + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/8/5/0/18505/18505-h.zip) + + + + + +A POPULAR SCHOOLGIRL + +by + +ANGELA BRAZIL + +Illustrated by Balliol Salmon + + + + + + + +New York +Frederick A. Stokes Company +Publishers +Copyright, 1920, by +Frederick A. Stokes Company +All Rights Reserved +First published in the United States of America, 1921 + + + + +[Illustration: UNDER THE LANTERNS _Chapter XX_] + + + + +CONTENTS + + + I. The End of the Holidays + + II. Opening Day + + III. Wynch-on-the-Wold + + IV. Intruder Bess + + V. The Fifth-form Fête + + VI. The School Parliament + + VII. Hockey + + VIII. An Unpleasant Experience + + IX. A Hostel Frolic + + X. The Whispering Stones + + XI. On Strike + + XII. The Rainbow League + + XIII. Quenrede Comes Out + + XIV. The Peep-hole + + XV. Brotherly Breezes + + XVI. An Easter Pilgrimage + + XVII. The Rivals + + XVIII. Bess at Home + + XIX. The Nun's Walk + + XX. Under the Lanterns + + XXI. The Abbey Recital + + + + +Illustrations + + + Under the Lanterns + + "Let's Call ourselves the Foursome League" + + A Friend in Need + + "You look _nice_--you do, _really_, with your hair down" + + "You may think you know everything, Bess Haselford, but you don't know + this!" + + A Tall Figure, clothed in some White Garment, was gliding towards them + + + + +A POPULAR SCHOOLGIRL + + + + +CHAPTER I + +The End of the Holidays + + +"Ingred! Ingred, old girl! I say, Ingred! Wherever have you taken +yourself off to?" shouted a boyish voice, as its owner, jumping an +obstructing gooseberry bush, tore around the corner of the house from +the kitchen garden on to the strip of rough lawn that faced the windows. +"Hullo! Cuckoo! Coo-ee! _In_-gred!" + +"I'm here all the time, so you needn't bawl!" came in resigned tones +from under the shade of a large fuchsia. "You're enough to wake the +dead, Chumps! What is it you want now! It's too hot to go a walk till +after tea. I'm trying to get ten minutes peace and quiet!" + +Hereward, otherwise "Chumps," put his feet together in the second +position, flung out his arms in what was intended to be a graceful +attitude, and made a mock bow worthy of the cinema stage. + +"Have them by all means, Madam!" he replied in mincing accents. "Your +humble servant has no wish to disturb your ladyship's elegant repose. He +offers a thousand apologies for his unceremonious entrance into your +august presence, and implores you to condescend----_Ow! Stop it, you +brute!_" + +Hereward's burst of eloquence was brought to an abrupt end by the +violent onslaught of a fox-terrier puppy which flung itself upon him and +began to worry his ankles with delighted yelps of appreciation. + +"Stop it! Keep off, I tell you! I _won't_ be chewed to ribbons!" he +protested, dodging the attacks of the playful but all too sharp teeth, +and catching the little dog by the piece of tarred rope that formed its +collar. "Here, you'll get throttled in a minute if you don't mend your +manners." + +"Give him to his auntie, bless his heart!" laughed Ingred, extending +welcoming arms to the fat specimen of puppyhood, and rolling him about +on her knee. "Oh, he _did_ make you dance! You looked so funny! There, +precious! Don't chump auntie's fingers. Go bye-byes now. Snuggle down on +auntie's dress, and----" + +"If you've _quite_ finished talking idiotic nonsense to that little +beast," interrupted Hereward sarcastically, "you'll perhaps kindly +oblige me by mentioning whether you're coming or not!" + +"Not coming anywhere--too hot!" grunted Ingred, resettling her cushion +under the fuchsia bush. + +"Right you are! Please yourself and you'll please me! Though I should +have thought the run to Chatcombe----" + +Ingred sprang to her feet, dropping the puppy unceremoniously. + +"You don't mean to say Egbert's finished mending the motor bike? You +abominable boy! Why couldn't you tell me so before?" + +"You never gave me the chance--just said off-hand you wouldn't go +anywhere. Yes, the engine's running like a daisy, and the sidecar's on, +and Egbert's fussing to be off. If you really change your mind and want +to go----" + +But by this time Ingred was round the corner of the house; so, shaking a +philosophic head at the ways of girls in general, her brother gathered a +gooseberry or two en route, and followed her in the direction of the +stable-yard. + +The Saxons were spending their summer holidays at a farm near the +seaside, and for the first time in four long years the whole family was +reunited. Mr. Saxon, Egbert, and Athelstane had only just been +demobilized, and had hardly yet settled down to civilian life. They had +joined the rest of the party at Lynstones before returning to their +native town of Grovebury. The six weeks by the sea seemed a kind of +oasis between the anxious period of the war that was past and gone, and +the new epoch that stretched ahead in the future. To Ingred they were +halcyon days. To have her father and brothers safely back, and for the +family to be together in the midst of such beautiful scenery, was +sufficient for utter enjoyment. She did not wish her mind to venture +outside the charmed circle of the holidays. Beyond, when she thought +about it all, lay a nebulous prospect, in the center of which school +loomed large. + +On this particular hot August afternoon, Ingred welcomed an excursion in +the sidecar. She had not felt inclined to walk down the white path +under the blazing sun to the glaring beach, but it was another matter to +spin along the high road till, as the fairy tales put it, her hair +whistled in the wind. Egbert was anxious to set off, so Hereward took +his place on the luggage-carrier, and, after some back-firing, the three +started forth. It was a glorious run over moorland country, with +glimpses of the sea on the one hand, and craggy tors on the other, and +round them billowy masses of heather, broken here and there by runnels +of peat-stained water. If Egbert exceeded the speed-limit, he certainly +had the excuse of a clear road before him; there were no hedges to hide +advancing cars, neither was there any possibility of whisking round a +corner to find a hay-cart blocking the way. In the course of an hour +they had covered a considerable number of miles, and found themselves +whirling down the tremendous hill that led to the seaside town of +Chatcombe. + +Arrived in the main street they left the motorcycle at a garage, and +strolled on to the promenade, joining the crowd of holiday-makers who +were sauntering along in the heat, or sitting on the benches watching +the children digging in the sand below. Much to Ingred's astonishment +she was suddenly hailed by her name, and, turning, found herself greeted +with enthusiasm by a schoolfellow. + +"Ingred! What a surprise!" + +"Avis! Who'd have thought of seeing you?" + +"Are you staying here?" + +"No, only over for the afternoon." + +"We've rooms at Beach View over there. Come along and have some tea with +us, and your brothers too. Yes, indeed you must! Mother will be +delighted to see you all. I shan't let you say no!" + +Borne away by her hospitable friend, Ingred presently found herself +sitting on a seat in the front garden of a tall boarding-house facing +the sea, and while Egbert and Hereward discussed motor-cycling with +Avis's father, the two girls enjoyed a confidential chat together. + +"Only a few days now," sighed Avis, "then we've got to leave all this +and go home. How long are you staying at Lynstones, Ingred?" + +"A fortnight more, but don't talk of going home. I want the holidays to +last forever!" + +"So do I, but they won't. School begins on the twenty-first of +September. It will be rather sport to go to the new buildings at last, +won't it? By the by, now the war's over, and we've all got our own +again, I suppose you're going back to Rotherwood, aren't you?" + +"I suppose so, when it's ready." + +"But surely the Red Cross cleared out ages ago, and the whole place has +been done up? I saw the paperhangers there in June." + +"Oh, yes!" Ingred's voice was a little strained. + +"You'll be so glad to be living there again," continued Avis. "I always +envied you that lovely house. You must have hated lending it as a +hospital. I expect when you're back you'll be giving all sorts of +delightful parties, won't you? At least that's what the girls at school +were saying." + +"It's rather early to make plans," temporized Ingred. + +"Oh, of course! But Jess and Francie said you'd a gorgeous floor for +dancing. I do think a fancy-dress dance is about the best fun on earth. +The next time I get an invitation, I'm going as a Quaker maiden, in a +gray dress and the duckiest little white cap. Don't you think it would +suit me? With your dark hair you ought to be something Eastern. I can +just imagine you acting hostess in a shimmery sort of white-and-gold +costume. _Do_ promise to wear white-and-gold!" + +"All right," laughed Ingred. + +"It's so delightful that the war's over, and we can begin to have +parties again, like we used to do. Beatrice Jackson told me she should +never forget that Carnival dance she went to at Rotherwood five years +ago, and all the lanterns and fairy lamps. Some of the other girls talk +about it yet. Hullo, that's the gong! Come indoors, and we'll have tea." + +Ingred was very quiet as she went back in the sidecar that evening, +though Hereward, sitting on the luggage-carrier, was in high spirits, +and fired off jokes at her the whole time. The fact was she was thinking +deeply. Certain problems, which she had hitherto cast carelessly away, +now obtruded themselves so definitely that they must at last be faced. +The process, albeit necessary, was not altogether a pleasant one. + +To understand Ingred's perplexities we must give a brief account of the +fortunes of her family up to the time this story begins. Mr. Saxon was +an architect, who had made a good connection in the town of Grovebury. +Here he had designed and built for himself a very beautiful house, and +had liberally entertained his own and his children's friends. When war +broke out, he had been amongst the first to volunteer for his country's +service, and, as a further act of patriotism, he and his wife had +decided to offer the use of "Rotherwood" for a Red Cross Hospital. The +three boys were then at school, Egbert and Athelstane at Winchester, and +Hereward at a preparatory school; so, storing the furniture, Mrs. Saxon +moved into rooms with Quenrede and Ingred, who were attending the girls' +college in Grovebury as day boarders. For the whole period of the war +this arrangement had continued; Rotherwood was given over to the wounded +soldiers, and Mrs. Saxon herself worked as one of their most devoted +nurses. + +In course of time Egbert and Athelstane had also joined the army, and +with three of her menkind at the front, their mother had been more than +ever glad to fill up at the hospital the hours when her girls were +absent from her at school. Then came the Armistice, and the blessed +knowledge that, though not yet home again, the dear ones were no longer +in danger. By April the Red Cross had finished its work in Grovebury; +the remaining patients regretfully departed, the wards were dismantled +of their beds, and Rotherwood was handed back to its rightful owners. + +Naturally it needed much renovation and decorating before it was again +fit for a private residence, and paperers and painters had been busy +there for many weeks. They had only just removed the ladders by the +middle of July. + +It was nearly August before Mr. Saxon, Egbert, and Athelstane were +finally demobilized, and they had gone straight to Lynstones to join the +rest of the family at the farmhouse rooms. What was to happen after the +delirious joy of the holiday was over, Ingred did not know. She had +several times mentioned to her mother the prospect of their return to +Rotherwood, but Mrs. Saxon had always evaded the subject, saying: "Wait +till Daddy comes back!" and the welcoming of their three heroes had +seemed a matter of such paramount importance that in comparison with it +even the question of their beloved Rotherwood might stand aside. + +The Saxons were a particularly united family, tremendously proud of one +another, and interested in each other's doings. Their name bespoke their +old English origin, which (except in the case of Ingred) was further +vouched for by their blue eyes, fair skins, and flaxen hair. Egbert and +Athelstane were strapping young fellows of six feet, and +thirteen-year-old Hereward was taller already than Ingred. Quenrede, +immensely proud of her quaint Saxon name, and not at all pleased that +the family generally shortened it to Queenie, had just left school, and +had turned up her long fair pigtail, put on a grown-up and rather +condescending manner, powdered the tip of her classic little nose, and +was extremely particular about the cut of her skirts and the fit of her +suède shoes. It was a grievance to Quenrede that, as she expressed it, +she had "missed the war." She had longed to go out to France and drive +an ambulance, or to whirl over English roads on a motorcycle, buying up +hay for the Government, or to assist in training horses, or to help in +some other patriotic job of an equally interesting and exciting +character. + +"It's _too_ bad that just when I'm old enough all the jolly things are +closed to women!" she groused. "If Mother had only let me leave school a +year ago, I'd at least have had three months' fun. Life's going to be +very slow now. There's nothing sporty to do at all!" + +Ingred, the youngest but one, and fifteen on her last birthday, was the +only dark member of the fair Saxon family. At present she was not nearly +so good-looking as pretty Quenrede; her mouth was a trifle heavy and her +cheeks lacked color; but her eyes had depths that were not seen in her +sister's, and her thick brown hair fell far below her waist. She would +gladly have exchanged it for the lint-white locks of Hereward. + +"Queenie was always chosen for a fairy at school plays," she grumbled, +"and they never would have me, though her dresses would have come in for +me so beautifully. I don't see why some fairies shouldn't have dark +hair! And it was just as bad when we acted _The Merchant of Venice_. +Miss Carter gave 'Portia' to Francie Hall, and made me take 'Jessica,' +and Francie was a perfect stick, and spoilt the whole thing! Next time, +I declare I'll bargain to wear a golden wig, and see what happens." + +Ingred had been educated at Grovebury College since the morning when, a +fat little person of five, she had taken her place in the Kindergarten. +She and Quenrede had always been favorites in the school. In pre-war +days they had been allowed to give delightful parties at Rotherwood to +their form-mates, and though that had not been possible during the last +five years, everybody knew that their beautiful home had been lent to +the Red Cross, and admired their patriotism in thus giving it for the +service of the nation. From Avis's remarks that afternoon it was evident +that the girls at the college expected the Saxons to return immediately +to Rotherwood, and were looking forward to being invited to +entertainments there during the coming autumn and winter. Ingred had +contrived to parry her friend's interested questions, but she felt the +time had come when she must be prepared to give some definite answer to +those who inquired about their future plans. She managed to catch her +mother alone next morning for a quiet chat. + +"Mumsie, dear," she began. "I've been wanting to ask you this--are we +going back to Rotherwood after the holidays?" + +Mrs. Saxon folded up her sewing, put her thimble and scissors away in +her work-basket, and leaned her elbow on the arm of the garden seat as +if prepared for conversation. + +"And I've been wanting to talk to you about this, Ingred. Shall you be +very disappointed when I tell you 'No'?" + +"Oh, Muvvie!" Ingred's tone was agonized. + +"It can't be helped, little woman! It can't indeed! I think you're old +enough now to understand if I explain. You know this war has hit a great +many people very hard. There has been a sort of general financial +see-saw; some have made large fortunes, but others have lost them. We +come in the latter list. When your father went out to France, he had to +leave his profession to take care of itself, and other architects have +stepped in and gained the commissions that used to come to his office. +It may take him a long while to pull his connection together again, and +the time of waiting will be one of much anxiety for him. Then, most of +our investments, which used to pay such good dividends, are worth hardly +anything now, and only bring us in a pittance compared with former +years. Instead of being rich people, we shall have to be very careful +indeed to make ends meet. To return to Rotherwood is utterly out of the +question, and with the price of everything doubled and trebled, and our +income in the inverse ratio, it is impossible to keep up so big an +establishment nowadays." + +"Where are we going to live, then?" asked Ingred in a strangled voice. + +"At the bungalow that Daddy built on the moors. Fortunately the tenant +was leaving, and we had not let it to any one else. In present +circumstances it will suit us very well. Athelstane is to be entered in +the medical school at Birkshaw; he can ride over every day on the +motor-bicycle. We had hoped to send him to study in London, but that's +only one of the many plans that have 'gane agley'." + +"Are Hereward and I to go in to Grovebury every day?" + +"Hereward can manage it all right, but I shall arrange for you to be a +weekly boarder at the new hostel. You can come home from Friday to +Monday. Now, don't cry about it, childie!" as a big tear splashed down +Ingred's dress. "After all, we've much to be thankful for. If we had +lost Father, or Egbert, or Athelstane out in France we might indeed +grieve. So long as we have each other we've got the best thing in life, +and we must all cling together as a family, and help one another on. +Cheer up!" + +"It will be simply h--h--h--hateful to go back to school this term, and +not live at R--r--r--rotherwood!" sobbed Ingred. + +Her mother patted the dark head that rested against her knee. + +"Poor little woman! Remember it's just as hard for all the rest of us. +We've each got a burden to carry at present. Suppose we see who can be +pluckiest over it. We're fighting fortune now, instead of the Hun, and +we must show her a brave face. Won't you march with the family regiment, +and keep the colors flying?" + +"I'll try," said Ingred, scrubbing her eyes with her +pocket-handkerchief. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +Opening Day + + +The Girls' College at Grovebury, under its able head-mistress, Miss +Burd, had made itself quite a name in the neighborhood. The governors, +realizing that it was outgrowing its old premises, decided to erect +others, and had put up a handsome building in a good situation near the +Abbey. No sooner was the last tile laid on the roof, however, than war +broke out, and the new school was immediately commandeered by the +Government as a recruiting office, and it had been kept for that purpose +until after the Armistice. + +The girls considered it a very great grievance to be obliged to remain +cramped so long in their old college. The foundation stone of the new +building had been laid by Queen Mary herself, and they thought the +Government might have fixed upon some other spot in which to conduct +business, instead of keeping them out of their proper quarters. All +things come to an end, however, even the circumlocution and delays of +Government offices, and by the beginning of the autumn term the removal +had been effected, and the ceremony arranged for the opening of the new +college. Naturally it was to be a great day. The Members of Parliament +for Grovebury, and the Mayor, and many other important people were to be +present, to say nothing of parents and visitors. The pupils, assembled +in the freshly color-washed dressing-rooms, greeted one another +excitedly. + +"How do you like it?" + +"Oh, it's topping!" + +"Beats the old place hollow!" + +"There's room to turn around here!" + +"And the lockers are just A1." + +"Have you seen the class-rooms?" + +"Not yet." + +"The gym's utterly perfect!" + +"And so is the lab." + +"Shame we've had to wait for it so long!" + +"Never mind, we've got into it at last!" + +Among the numbers of girls in the capacious dressing-rooms, Ingred also +hung up her hat and coat, and passed on into the long corridor. Like the +others she was excited, interested, even a little bewildered at the +unfamiliar surroundings. It seemed extraordinary not to know her way +about, and she seized joyfully upon Nora Clifford, who by virtue of ten +minutes' experience could act cicerone. + +"We're to be in VA.," Nora assured her. "All our old set, that is, except +Connie Lord and Gladys Roper and Meg Mason. I've just met Miss Strong, +and she told me. She's moved up with us, and there's a new mistress for +VB. Haven't seen her yet, but they say she's nice, though I'd rather +stick to Miss Strong, wouldn't you?" + +"I don't know," temporized Ingred, screwing her mouth into a button. + +"Oh, of course! I forgot! You're not a 'Strong' enthusiast--never were! +Now _I_ like her!" + +"It's easy enough to like anybody who favors you. Miss Strong was always +down on me somehow, and I'd rather have tried my luck with a fresh +teacher. I wonder if Miss Burd would put me in VB. if I asked her." + +"Of course she wouldn't! Don't be a silly idiot! I think Miss Strong's +absolutely adorable. Don't you like the decorations in the corridor? +Miss Godwin and some of the School of Art students did them. But just +wait till you've seen the lecture-hall! Here we are! Now then, what +d'you say to this?" + +The big room into which Nora ushered her companion was lighted from the +top, and the walls, distempered in buff, had been decorated with +stencils of Egyptian designs, the bright barbaric colors of which gave a +very striking effect. There was a platform at the far end, where were +placed rows of chairs for the distinguished visitors, and also pots of +palms and ferns and geraniums to add an air of festivity to the opening +ceremony. The long lines of benches in the body of the hall were already +beginning to fill with girls, their bright hair-ribbons looking almost +like a further array of flowers. Mistresses here and there were ushering +them to their places, the Kindergarten children to the front seats, +Juniors to the middle, and Seniors to the rear. Ingred and Nora, +motioned by Miss Giles to a bench about three-quarters down the room, +took their seats and talked quietly with their nearest neighbors. A +general buzz of conversation, constantly restrained by mistresses, kept +rising and then falling again to subdued whispers. In a short time the +hall was full, Miss Perry had opened the piano, and the choir leaders +had ranged themselves round her. In dead silence all the girls, big and +little, turned their eyes towards the platform. The door behind the row +of palms and ferns was opening, and Miss Burd, in scholastic cap and +gown, was ushering in the Mayor, the Mayoress, several Town Councilors +and their wives, a few clergy, the head-master of the School of Art, +and, to the place of honor in the middle, Sir James Hilton, the Member +of Parliament for Grovebury, who was to conduct the ceremony of the +afternoon. He was a pleasant, genial-looking man, and though, as he +assured his audience, he had never before had the opportunity of +addressing a room full of girls, he seemed to be able to rise to the +occasion, and made quite a capital speech. + +"You're lucky to have this handsome building in which to do your +lessons," he concluded. "Our environment makes a great difference to us, +and I think it is far easier to turn out good work in the midst of +beautiful surroundings. Grovebury College has reaped a well-deserved +reputation in the past, and I trust that its hitherto excellent +standards will be maintained or even surpassed in the future. As member +for the town there's a special word I wish to say to you. Train +yourselves to be good women citizens. Some day, when you're grown up, +you will have votes, and in that way assist in the self-government of +this great nation. The better educated and the more enlightened you are, +the better fitted you will be for your civic responsibility. Every girl +who does her duty at school is helping her country, because she is +making herself efficient to serve it in some capacity. At present +England stands at a great crisis; if we are to keep up the traditions of +our forefathers we want workers, not slackers, in every department of +life. Even the smallest of those little girls sitting in the front row +can do her bit. As for you elder girls, think of yourselves as a Cadet +Corps, training for the service of the British Empire, and let every +lesson you learn be not for your own advantage, but for the good you can +do with it afterwards to the world. I have very great pleasure in +declaring this new building open." + +After Sir James had sat down, the Mayor and several other people made +short speeches, and when all the clapping had finally subsided, the +piano struck up, and the school sang an Empire Song and the National +Anthem. Then the door at the back of the platform opened again for the +exit of the visitors, who, chatting among themselves, made their way to +Miss Burd's study to be hospitably entertained with tea and cakes. The +whole ceremony had barely occupied an hour, and it was not yet four +o'clock. The girls, in orderly files, marched from the lecture-hall, and +betook themselves first to their new form-rooms, where textbooks were +given out with preparation for the next day, and desks allotted; then, +when the great bell rang for dismissal, to the playground and +cloak-rooms, en route for home. + +Ingred, with a goodly pile of fresh literature under her arm, walked +slowly downstairs. She was not in any hurry to leave the class-room, and +lingered as long as the limits of Miss Strong's patience lasted. She +knew there was a certain ordeal to be faced with her form-mates, and she +was not sure whether she wanted to put it off, or to get it over at +once. + +"Better let them know and have done with it," she said to herself after +a few moments' consideration on the landing. "After all, it's my +business, not theirs!" + +It was a rather airily-defiant Ingred who strolled into the cloak-room +and put on her hat. Francie Hall, trying to thread her boot with a lace +that had lost its tag, looked up, smiled, and made room for her on the +form. + +"Cheery-ho, Ingred! How do you like our new diggings? Some removal, +this, isn't it? I must say the place looks nice. It's topping to be here +at last. By the by, I suppose you'll be getting in Rotherwood soon? Or +have you got already?" + +Ingred was stooping to lace her shoe, so perhaps the position accounted +for her stifled voice. + +"We're not going back there." + +"Not going back!" Francie's tone was one of genuine amazement. "Why, but +you said it was being done up for you, and you'd be moving before the +term started!" + +"Well, we're not, at any rate." + +"What a disappointment for you!" began Beatrice Jackson tactlessly, as +several other girls who were standing near turned and joined the group. +"You always said you were just longing for Rotherwood." + +"Do the Red Cross want it again?" queried Jess Howard. + +"No, they don't; but we're not going to live there. Where are we going +to live? At our bungalow on the moors, and I'm a weekly boarder at the +hostel. Are there any other impertinent questions you'd like to ask? +Don't all speak at once, please!" + +And Ingred, having laced both shoes, got up, seized her pile of books, +and, turning her back on her form-mates, stalked away without a good-by. +She knew she had been rude and ungracious, but she felt that if she had +stopped another moment the tears that were welling into her eyes would +have overflowed. Ingred had many good points, but she was a remarkably +proud girl. She could not bear her schoolfellows to think she had come +down in the world. She had thrown out so many hints last term about the +renewed glories of Rotherwood, that it was certainly humiliating to have +to acknowledge that all the happy expectations had come to nothing. On +the reputation of Rotherwood both she and Quenrede had held their heads +high in the school; she wondered if her position would be the same, now +that everybody knew the truth. + +As a matter of fact, most of the girls giggled as she went out through +the cloak-room door. + +"My lady's in a temper!" exclaimed Francie. + +"Lemons and vinegar!" hinnied Jess. + +"Why did she fly out like that?" asked Beatrice. + +"Well, really, Beatrice Jackson, after all the stupid things you said, +anybody would fly out, I should think," commented Verity Richmond. "I'm +sorry for Ingred. I'd heard the Saxons can't go back to their old house. +It's hard luck on them after lending it all these years to the Red +Cross." + +"But _why_ aren't they going back?" + +"Why, silly, because they can't keep it up, I suppose. If you've any +sense, you won't mention Rotherwood to Ingred again. It's evidently a +sore point. Don't for goodness sake, go rubbing it into her." + +"I wasn't going to!" grumbled Beatrice. "Surely I can make an innocent +remark without you beginning to preach to me like this! I call it +cheek!" + +Verity did not reply. She had had too many squabbles with Beatrice in +the past to want to begin a fresh campaign on the first day of a new +term. She discreetly pretended not to hear, and addressing Francie Hall, +launched into an account of her doings during the holidays. + +"We're moving out to Repworth at the September quarter," she concluded. +"And it's too far for me to bicycle in to school every day, so I've +started as a boarder at the hostel. I shall go home for week-ends, +though. Nora Clifford and Fil Trevor are there too. They'll be glad +Ingred's come. With four of us out of one form, things ought to be +rather jinky. Hullo, here they are! I say, girls, let's go to our +diggings." + +The two girls who came strolling up arm-in-arm were the most absolute +contrast. Nora was large-limbed, plump, rosy, with short-cut hair, a +lively manner, and any amount of confidence. Without being exactly +pretty, she gave a general impression of jolly, healthy girlhood, and +reminded one of an old-fashioned, sweet-scented cabbage rose that had +just burst into bloom. Dainty little Filomena might, on the other hand, +be described as the most delicate of tea roses. She was fair to a fault, +a lily-white maid with the silkiest of flaxen tresses. Her pale-blue +eyes, with their light lashes, and rather colorless little face with its +straight features were of the petite fairy type. You felt instinctively +that, like a Dresden china vase, she was made more for ornament than for +use, and nobody--even school-mistresses--expected too much from her. +Experience had shown them that they did not get it. + +For two years, ever since her mother's death, Fil had been a boarder at +the College, and because at first she had been such a pathetic little +figure in her deep mourning, the girls had petted her, and had continued +an indulgent attitude long after the black dress had been exchanged for +colors. If Fil had rather got into the habit of posing as the mascot of +the form, she certainly deserved some consideration, for she was a dear +little thing, with a very sweet temper, and never made any of the +ill-natured remarks that some of the other girls flung about like +missiles. She was so manifestly unfitted to take her own part that +somebody else invariably took it for her. + +Verity Richmond, who, with Nora, Filomena and Ingred, represented +VA. in the hostel, was a brisk, up-to-date, go-ahead girl, full +of fun and high spirits. She was a capital mimic, and had a turn for +repartee that, quite good-naturedly, laid any adversary flat in the +dust. If Nora and Fil were like rose and lily, she was decidedly the +robin of the party. Her fair complexion seemed to add force to the +brightness of her twinkling brown eyes, and her general restlessness and +quick alert ways made one think of a bird always hopping about. Though +not quite such a romp as Nora, she was ready for any fun that was going, +and intended to get as much enjoyment as possible out of the coming +term. She linked herself now on to Fil's disengaged arm, taking the +latter's pile of books with her own and began towing her two friends in +the direction of the hostel. + +"I've hardly had time even for a squint at our dormitory yet," she +announced. "Mrs. Best said I was late, and made me pop down my bag and +fly; but she told me we were all four together, so I went off with an +easy mind. I'd been worrying for fear I'd be boxed up with some kids, or +sandwiched in among the Sixth. I told you Ingred was to be with us, +didn't I? Let's go and hunt her out; she'll have wiped her eyes and got +over her jim-jams by now. We'll have time to do some unpacking before +tea, if they've carried up our boxes." + +The hostel was a separate house, built at the opposite side of the +school playground. It could accommodate thirty girls, and twenty-six +were already entered on its register. After a brief peep into the +attractive dining-hall, and an equally pleasant-looking boarders' +sitting-room, the three girls went upstairs to a dormitory marked 2. +They found Ingred already at work on her task of unpacking, putting +clothes away in drawers, and spreading the shelf that served as a +dressing-table with an assortment of photos, books, and toilet +requisites. She looked rather in the dumps, but it was impossible for +anybody to remain gloomy when in the presence of such lively spirits as +Nora and Verity, and by the time the gong sounded for tea she had +cheered up, and was sitting on her bed discussing school news. + +[Illustration: "LET'S CALL OURSELVES THE FOURSOME LEAGUE."] + +"Look here!" said Verity. "If we want to have a jolly term we four must +stick together. Let's make a compact that, both in school and in the +hostel, we'll support each other through thick and thin. We'll be a sort +of society of Freemasons. I haven't made up any secrets yet, but whoever +betrays them will be outlawed! Let's call ourselves 'The Foursome +League.' Now then, put your right hands all together on mine, and say +after me: 'I hereby promise and vow on my honor as a gentlewoman that +I'll stand by my chums in No. 2 Dormitory at any cost.' That's a good +beginning. When we've time, we'll draw up the rules. Subscriptions? Oh, +bother! You can each give sixpence if you like, and we'll spend the +money on a chocolate feast. Remember, Fil, not a word to anybody! It's +to be kept absolutely quiet. There's the gong. If the tea's up to the +standard of the rest of the hostel, I shan't object. Glad we're not +rationed now, for I'm as hungry as a hunter." + + + + +CHAPTER III + +Wynch-on-the-Wold + + +Though the College only opened on Tuesday afternoon, the short remainder +of the week seemed enormously long to Ingred. Her form mates were the +same, but everything else was absolutely changed; she might have been at +a new school. She appreciated the convenient arrangements of the +handsome building: the lecture-hall, with its stained-glass window and +polished floor, the airy class-rooms, the studio with its facilities for +every kind of art work, the three music-rooms, the laboratory, the +gymnasium, and, last but not least, the hostel. Ingred had never before +been a boarder, and she had not expected to like the experience, but +there is a subtle charm in community life that infects everybody with +"the spirit of the hive," and in spite of herself she began to be +interested in the particular set of faces that met round the table for +meals. The greater part of the girls were in the middle and lower +school, but there were a few members of the Sixth, who sat next to Mrs. +Best, the matron, and Nurse Warner, and looked with superior eyes on the +crowd of intermediates and juniors. To have secured such congenial +room-mates was an asset for which she could not be sufficiently +thankful. Whatever troubles might await her downstairs, it was a +comfort to know that she had three allies ready to flock to her support. +She had not known any of them well in the past, but as they seemed +prepared to offer their friendship, she also was ready to act the part +of chum. By exchanging desks with Linda Slater, she managed to secure a +seat next to Verity in school, and entered into an arrangement with her +that they should supply the missing gaps in each other's notes, for Miss +Strong often lectured so rapidly that it was impossible to keep up with +her. + +"I wish I knew shorthand," grumbled Ingred, comparing scribbles with +Verity as the girls tidied their hair for tea. "How anybody's expected +to get down all Miss Strong tells us, I can't imagine! It's impossible." + +"I don't try," admitted Fil. "At least I do try--I put a bit here and +there, but I write so slowly, I'm only half-way through before she's +bounced on to something else, and I've missed the beginning of it. I +have to stop, too, sometimes, to think how to spell the words." + +The others laughed, for Fil's spelling was proverbial in the form, and +was often of a purely phonetic character. Miss Strong had periodical +crusades to improve it, but generally gave them up as a bad job, and +recommended constant use of a dictionary instead. + +"Though you can't go about the world with a dictionary perpetually under +your arm," she had remarked on the last occasion. "If you have to write +a letter in a hurry, and you begin 'Dear Maddam' and end 'Yours +trueley'--well! Please don't let anybody know you've been educated here, +that's all, or it will be a poor advertisement for the College!" + +Ingred was not at all delighted to be still in Miss Strong's form. She +only moderately liked this mistress. Undoubtedly Miss Strong was a +clever teacher, but sarcasm was one of her favorite weapons of +discipline. Some of the girls did not mind it, indeed thought it rather +amusing, even when directed against themselves, and enjoyed it hugely +when someone else was the victim of the sally. Ingred, however, proud +and sensitive, writhed under the attacks of Miss Strong's sharp tongue, +and would often have preferred a punishment to a witticism. As a matter +of fact, the mistress rarely gave punishments, and was proud of her +ability to control her form without resorting to them. She was short in +stature, but made up in spirit for her lack of inches, and would fix her +dark eyes on offenders against discipline with the personal magnetism of +a circus trainer or a leopard-tamer. Schoolgirls are irreverent beings, +and though to her face her pupils showed her all respect, behind her +back they spoke of her familiarly as "The Bantam," in allusion to her +small size but plucky disposition, or sometimes, in reference to her +sarcastic powers, as "The Sark," which by general custom became "The +Snark." On the whole Miss Strong's pithy, racy, humorous style of +teaching made her a far greater favorite than mistresses of duller +caliber. She had a remarkable faculty for getting work out of the most +unwilling brains. Her form always made excellent progress, and she had a +reputation for obtaining record successes in examinations. To judge from +the first few days of term, she meant to keep up her standard of +efficiency. Miss Burd had mapped out a heavy time-table for +VA., and it was Miss Strong's business to see that the girls +got through it. Of course they grumbled. After the long weeks of the +summer holidays it was doubly difficult to apply their minds to lessons, +and set to work in the evenings to perform the enormous amount of +preparation demanded from them. To some the task was wellnigh +impossible, and poor Fil would send in very imperfect exercises, but +others, Ingred and Verity among the number, had ambitions, and boosted +up the record of the form. + +It was after a most strenuous few days that Ingred came to the close of +the first week of the new term, and, taking her books and hand-bag, +started off to spend the week-end at home. She left the College with a +feeling of intense relief. She had dreaded the return there, and the +confession of her altered circumstances. It had not proved quite so +disagreeable an ordeal as she had anticipated, for, after the first +expressions of surprise, nobody had referred again to Rotherwood; yet +Ingred, on the look-out for slights, imagined that she was not treated +with as much consideration as formerly. Avis Marlowe and Jess Howard had +hardly spoken to her, and, though the omission was probably owing to +sheer lack of time or opportunity, she chose to set it down to a desire +to show her the cold shoulder. + +"Now I have no parties to offer them, they don't care about me!" she +thought bitterly. "They'll hunt about till they find somebody else who's +likely to act entertainer." + +Fortunately, as Ingred stepped out of the College on that first Friday +afternoon, the fresh breeze and the bright September sunshine blew away +the cobwebs, and sent her almost dancing down the street. She had a +naturally buoyant disposition, and her uppermost thought was: "I'm going +home! I'm going home! Hurrah!" + +The journey was really quite a little business. She had to take a tram +to the Waterstoke terminus, then change on to a light electric railway +that ran along the roadside for seven miles to Wynch-on-the-Wold. +Grovebury, an old town that dated back to mediæval times, lay in a deep +hollow among a rampart of hills, so that, in whatever direction you left +it, you were obliged to climb. The scenery was very beautiful, for trees +edged the river, and clothed the slopes till they gave way to the gorse +and heather of the wild moorlands. Wynch-on-the-Wold was a hamlet which, +since the opening of the electric railway, was just beginning to turn +into a suburb of Grovebury. Close to the terminus neat villas had sprung +up like mushrooms; there were a few shops and a branch post office, and +a brass plate to the effect that Dr. Whittaker had consulting hours +twice a week. Tradesmen's carts drove out constantly, and the electric +railway did quite a little business in the conveyance of parcels. + +Wynchcote, the house where the Saxons had retired to try their scheme of +retrenchment, lay at some little distance beyond the terminus, and might +be considered the outpost of the new suburb. It was a small, picturesque +modern bungalow; Mr. Saxon had built it as an architectural experiment, +intending it for a sort of model country cottage. The tenants who had +occupied it during the period of the war had just returned to Scotland, +so, as it was vacant, it had seemed a convenient place in which to +settle. It was near enough to Grovebury to allow him to attend his +office, and far enough away to cut them adrift from old associations. +After four and a half years of war work, Mrs. Saxon wanted a complete +rest from committees, crèches, canteens, and recreation huts, and would +be glad to urge the excuse of distance to those who appealed for her +help. Perhaps also she felt that in their straitened circumstances it +was wiser to live where they could not enter into social competition +with their former acquaintances. + +"I just want to be quiet, to attend to my family, and to enjoy the moors +and our garden," she declared. "I believe I'm going to be very happy at +Wynchcote." + +Though it was small, the bungalow was admirably planned, and had many +advantages. The view from its French window was one of the finest in the +district, and it faced a magnificent gorge, wild, rocky, and thickly +wooded, at the bottom of which wound the silver river that ran through +Grovebury. Civilization, in the shape of fields and hedges, stretched +out fingers as far as Wynchcote, and there stopped abruptly. Past the +bungalow lay the open wold with miles of heather, gorse, and bracken, +and a road edged with low, grassy fern-covered banks instead of walls. +The air blew freshly up here, and was far more bracing and healthy than +down in the hollow of Grovebury. The residents of the new suburb +affected seaside fashions, and went their moorland walks without hats +or gloves. + +Ingred was joined in the tram-car by Hereward, who attended the King +George's School, and made the journey daily. + +"Getting quite used to it now!" he assured his sister airily. "I +had a terrific run yesterday for the train, but I caught it! There's +another fellow in our form living up here, so we generally go +together--Scampton, that chap in the cricket cap standing by the door. +He's A1. He won't come near now, though, because he says he's terrified +of girls. He's going to give me a rabbit, and I shall make a hutch for +it out of one of those packing-cases. See, I've bought a piece of +wire-netting for the door. There's heaps of room at the bottom of the +garden. I believe I'll ask him to bring it over after tea." + +"But the hutch isn't ready," objected Ingred. + +"Oh, that won't matter! I can keep it in a packing-case for a day or +two." + +When Ingred and Hereward reached home they found that tea had been set +out on the patch of grass under the apple trees, and Mother and Quenrede +were sitting sewing and waiting for them. It was one of those beautiful +September days when the air seems almost as warm as in August, and with +the clock still at summer time, the sun had not climbed very far down +the valley. The garden, where Mother and Quenrede had been working +busily all the afternoon, was gay with nasturtiums and asters, and +overhead hung a crop of the rosiest apples ever seen. Minx, the Persian +cat, wandered round, waving a stately tail and mewing plaintively for +her saucer of milk. Derry, the fox terrier, barked an enthusiastic +greeting. + +"Come along, you poor starving wanderers!" said Mrs. Saxon. "The +kettle's boiling, and we'll make the tea in half a moment. Isn't it +glorious here? Queenie and I have been digging up potatoes, and we quite +enjoyed it. We felt exactly as if we were 'on the land.' How is your +cold, Hereward? Ingred, you look tired, child! Sit down and rest while +Queenie fetches the teapot." + +Ingred sank into a garden-chair with much satisfaction. Wynchcote might +not be Rotherwood, but it looked an uncommonly pretty little place in +the September sunshine. To live there would be like a perpetual picnic. +Mother and Queenie looked so complacently smiling that it seemed +impossible to grouse, especially with newly-baked scones and rock-cakes +on the tea-table. + +The men kind of the family had not yet returned home. Mr. Saxon and +Egbert rarely left their office before six, and Athelstane had that day +gone over to Birkshaw on the motor-bicycle, to arrange about the medical +course which he was to take at the University. There was plenty of news, +however, to be exchanged. Ingred had to give a full account of her +experiences at school and hostel, and to hear in return the various +achievements in the shape of home-carpentry, mending, making, and +altering which are always an essential part of settling into a new +establishment. + +"I hardly feel I've been round the estate properly yet," she said, when +tea was over, and she sat leaning back lazily in her deck-chair, with +Minx purring upon her knee. + +"Then come and lend me a hand with my rabbit-hutch," suggested Hereward. +"Put down that wretched pampered beast of a cat, for goodness sake! If +it gets at my new rabbit, I'll finish it! Yes, I will! I'll hang it or +drown it! Get along, you brute!" + +Hereward's blood-thirsty remarks were ignored by Minx, who, finding +herself dropped from Ingred's lap, took a flying run up his back, and +settled herself on his shoulder, rubbing her head into his neck. He +scratched her under the chin, swung her gently down, and shook a +reproving finger at her. + +"Don't try to come round me with your blarneyings, you siren!" he +declared. "Who was it ate my goldfinch? Yes, you may well look guilty! +Don't blink your eyes at me like that! I haven't forgiven you yet, and I +don't think I ever shall. Ingred, old sport, are you coming to help me, +or are you not? I want some one to hold the wire." + +"All right, Uncle Podger, I'll come and 'podge' for you," laughed +Ingred. "Don't hammer my fingers, that's all I bargain for. Wait a +moment till I get my overall. Your joinering performances are apt to be +somewhat grubby and messy." + +There was quite a good garden at the back of the bungalow, with rows of +vegetables and gooseberry bushes and fruit-trees. At the end was a +wooden shed where the motor-bicycle was kept, and a small wired +enclosure originally made for hens. + +"It's exactly the place for rabbits, when I get a hutch for them," +explained Hereward, putting down his box of tools, and turning over the +packing-case with a professional eye. "Now a wooden frame covered with +wire, and a pair of hinges will just do the job. I can saw these pieces +to fit. Hold the wood steady, that's a mascot!" + +The two were kneeling on the ground by the side of the packing-case, +much absorbed in the process of exact measurements, when suddenly there +was a rustling and a scrambling noise, and on the wall close to them +appeared a collie dog, growling, snarling, and showing its teeth. Ingred +sprang to her feet in alarm. Wynchcote was so retired that they had +scarcely realized that its garden adjoined the garden of another house. +The collie must have jumped up on to the dividing wall, and, being an +ill-tempered beast, did not use proper discrimination between neighbors +and tramps. + +"Shoo! Get away!" urged Ingred, with rather shaking knees. + +"Be off, you ill-mannered brute!" shouted Hereward. + +The dog, however, appeared to think the wall was his own special +property, and that it was his business to drive them away from their own +garden. It continued to bark and snarl. Now, as Hereward wished to fix +the rabbit-hutch in exactly the spot over which the creature had mounted +guard, he was naturally much annoyed, and sought for some ready means of +dislodging it from its point of vantage. He did not relish the prospect +of being bitten, so did not want to engage it at close quarters, and no +pole or other weapon lay handy. + +Looking hastily round, his eye fell upon the garden-syringe with which +Athelstane sometimes cleaned the motor-bicycle. It had been left, with a +bucket of water, outside the shed. He drew out the piston, filled the +syringe, then discharged its contents straight at the dog. But at that +most unlucky moment a quick change took place on the wall; the collie +retired in favor of his master, and the stream of water charged full +into the astonished countenance of a precise and elderly gentleman from +next door. For a few moments there was a ghastly silence, while he wiped +his face and recovered his dignity. Then he demanded in withering tones: + +"May I ask what is the meaning of this?" + +Ingred and Hereward, overwhelmed with confusion, stuttered out apologies +and explanations. The old gentleman listened with his busy gray eyebrows +knitted and his mouth pursed into a thin line. + +"I shall immediately take steps to ensure that my dog has no further +opportunities of annoying you," he remarked stiffly, and took his +departure. + +"Who is he?" whispered Ingred, as the footsteps on the other side of the +wall shuffled away. + +"His name's Mr. Hardcastle. He's retired, and lives there with a +housekeeper. Great Scot! I've put my foot in it, haven't I? Who'd have +thought he was just going to pop his head up? Dad was going to ask him +to lend us his garden-roller, but it's no use now. I expect I've made an +enemy of him for life!" + +"I hope he means to keep that savage dog fastened up," said Ingred. +"It's a horrid idea to think that it may, any time, pounce over the wall +at us. It's like having a wolf loose in the garden." + +As a matter of fact, Mr. Hardcastle kept his word in a way that the +Saxons least anticipated. Instead of chaining the dog, he had a tall +wooden paling erected along the top of the wall, making an effectual +barrier between the two gardens. It was not a beautiful object, and it +cut off the sunshine from a whole long flower-bed; so, though it insured +privacy, it might be regarded as a doubtful benefit for the bungalow. + +"It makes one feel so suburban," mourned Quenrede. + +"We shan't be visible, at any rate, when we're digging potatoes," +laughed Mrs. Saxon, "and that's a great point to me, for I'm past the +age that looks fascinating in an overall. If we've Suburbia on one side +of us, we've the open moor on the other, which is something to be +thankful for." + +"Yes, until it's sold in building plots," sighed Quenrede, who was in a +fit of blues, and unwilling to count up her blessings. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +Intruder Bess + + +Ingred, after a blissful week-end, returned to Grovebury by the early +train on Monday morning, and, wrenching her mind with difficulty from +the interests of Wynch-on-the-Wold, focused it on school affairs +instead. There was certainly need of mental concentration if she meant +to make headway in the College. The standard of work required from +VA. was very stiff, and taxed the powers of even the brightest +girls to the uttermost. + +"Miss Strong reminds me of Rehoboam!" wailed Fil, fresh from the study +of the Second Book of Chronicles. "Her little finger's thicker than her +whole body used to be, and, instead of whips, she chastises us with +scorpions. I want to go and bow the knee to Baal." + +"Rather mixed up in your Scripture, child, but we understand your +meaning," laughed Verity. "The Bantam's certainly piling it on nowadays +in the way of prep." + +"Shows an absolutely brutal lack of consideration," agreed Nora. + +"So do all the mistresses," groaned Ingred. "Each of them seems to think +we've nothing to do but her own particular subject. Dr. Linton actually +asked me if I could practise two hours a day. Why, he might as well have +suggested four! I can only get the piano for an hour, even if I wanted +it longer. It's a frightful business at the hostel to cram in all our +practicing, isn't it? I nearly had a free fight with Janie Potter +yesterday. She commandeered the piano, and though I showed her the music +time-table, with my name down for '5 to 6' she wouldn't budge. I had to +tilt her off the stool in the end. It was like a game of musical chairs. +She wouldn't look at me to-day, she's so cross about it. Not that _I_ +care in the least!" + +Music was a favorite subject with Ingred, and one in which she excelled. +She would willingly have given more time to it, had the school +curriculum allowed. She was a good reader, and had a sympathetic, if +rather spidery touch. This term she had begun lessons with Dr. Linton, +who was considered the best master in Grovebury. He was organist at the +Abbey Church, and was not only a Doctor of Music, but a composer as +well. His anthems and cantatas were widely known, he conducted the local +choral society and trained the operatic society for the annual +performance. His time was generally very full, so he did not profess to +teach juniors; it was only after celebrating her fifteenth birthday that +Ingred had been eligible as one of his pupils. He had the reputation of +being peppery tempered, therefore she walked into the room to take her +first lesson with her heart performing a sort of jazz dance under her +jersey. Dr. Linton, like many musicians, was of an artistic and +excitable temperament, and highly eccentric. Instead of sitting by the +side of his new pupil, he paced the room, pursing his lips in and out, +and drawing his fingers through his long lank dark hair. + +"Have you brought a piece with you," he inquired. "Then play to me. Oh, +never mind if you make mistakes! That's not the point. I want to know +how you can talk on the piano. What have you got in that folio? +Beethoven? Rachmaninoff? M'Dowell? We'll try the Beethoven. Now don't be +nervous. Just fire away as if you were practising at home!" + +It was all very well, Ingred thought, for Dr. Linton to tell her not to +be nervous, but it was a considerable ordeal to have to perform a test +piece before so keen a critic. In spite of her most valiant efforts her +hands trembled, and wrong chords crept in. She kept bravely at it, +however, and managed to reach the end of the first movement, where she +called a halt. + +"It's not talking--it's only stuttering and stammering on the piano," +she apologized. + +Dr. Linton laughed. Her remark had evidently pleased him. He always +liked a pupil who fell in with his humor. + +"You've the elements of speech in you, though you're still in the +prattling-baby stage," he conceded. "It's something, at any rate, to +find there's material to work upon. Some people wouldn't make musicians +if they practised for a hundred years. We've got to alter your +touch--your technique's entirely wrong--but if you're content to +concentrate on that, we'll soon show some progress. You'll have to stick +to simple studies this term: no blazing away into M'Dowell and +Rachmaninoff yet awhile." + +"I'll do anything you tell me," agreed Ingred humbly. + +Dr. Linton's manner might be brusque, but he seemed prepared to take an +interest in her work. He was known to give special pains to those whose +artistic caliber appealed to him. In his opinion pupils fell under two +headings: those who had music in them, and those who had not. The +latter, though he might drill them in technique, would never make really +satisfactory pianists; the former, by dint of scolding or cajoling, +according to his mood at the moment, might derive real benefit from his +tuition, and become a credit to him. It was a by-word in the school that +his favorites had the stormiest lessons. + +"I'm thankful I'm not a pet pupil," declared Fil, whose playing was +hardly of a classical order. "I should have forty fits if he stalked +about the room, and tore his hair, and shouted like he does with Janie. +He scared me quite enough sitting by my side and saying: 'Shall we take +this again now?' with a sort of grim politeness, as if he were making an +effort to restrain his temper. I know I'm not what he calls musical, but +I can't help it. I'd rather hear comic opera any day than his wretched +cantatas, and when I'm not practising I shall play what I like. There!" + +And Fil, who was sitting at the piano, twirled round on the stool and +strummed "Beautiful K--K--Katie" with a lack of technique that probably +would have brought her teacher's temper up to bubbling-over point had he +been there to listen to her. + +It was exactly ten days after the term had begun that Bess Haselford +came to the College. She walked into the Upper Fifth Form room one +Monday morning, looking very shy and lost and strange, and stood +forlornly, not knowing where to sit, till somebody took pity on her, and +pointed to a vacant desk. It happened to be on a line with Ingred's, and +the latter watched her settle herself. She looked her over with the +critical air that is generally bestowed on new girls, and decided that +she was particularly pretty. Bess was the image of one of the Sir Joshua +Reynolds' child angels in the National Gallery. The likeness was so +great that her mother had always cut and curled her golden-brown hair in +exact copy of the picture. She was a slim, rosy, bright-eyed, smiling +specimen of girlhood, and, though on this first morning she was +manifestly afflicted with shyness, she had the appearance of one whose +acquaintance might be worth making. Ingred decided to cultivate it at +the earliest opportunity, and spoke to the new arrival at lunch-time. +Bess replied readily to the usual questions. + +"We've only come lately to Grovebury. We used to live at Birkshaw. Yes, +I'm fairly keen on hockey, though I like tennis better. Have you asphalt +courts here, and do you play in the winter? I adore dancing, but I hate +gym. I'm learning the violin, and I'm to start oil-painting this term." + +She seemed such a pleasant, winsome kind of girl that Ingred, who was +apt to take sudden fancies, constituted herself her cicerone, and showed +her round the school. By the time they had made the entire tour of the +buildings, Ingred began to wonder whether, without offense, it would be +possible to leave her desk, next to Verity, and sit beside Bess. There +was a great charm of voice and manner about the new-comer, and Ingred's +musical ear was sensitive to gentle voices. She discussed Bess with the +others next morning before school. + +"Yes, she's pretty, and that blue dress is simply adorable," conceded +Nora. "I'm going to have an embroidered one myself next time." + +"Her hair is so sweet," commented Francie. + +"I call her ripping!" said Ingred with enthusiasm. + +"Well, you ought to take an interest in her, Ingred, considering that +she lives at Rotherwood," put in Beatrice. + +"At Rotherwood!" + +"Yes, didn't you know _that_?" + +Ingred, under pretence of distributing exercise-books, turned hastily +away. Her heart was in a sudden turmoil. This was indeed a bolt from the +blue. She, of course, knew that Rotherwood was let, but she had not +heard the name of the tenants, and, as the subject was a sore one, had +forborne to ask any questions at home. It was surely the irony of fate +that the house should be taken by people who had a daughter of her own +age, and that this daughter should come to the College, and actually be +placed in the same form as herself. She seemed a rival ready-made. +Biased by jealous prejudice, Ingred's hastily-formed judgment reversed +itself. + +"I'm thankful I didn't move away from Verity to sit next to her," she +thought. "I expect she'll be ever so conceited and give herself airs, +and the other girls will truckle to her no end. I know them! I wish to +goodness she hadn't come to the College. Why didn't they send her away +to a boarding school? I'm not going to make a fuss over her, so she +needn't think it." + +Poor Bess, quite unaware of being any cause of offence, and grateful for +the kindness shown her the day before, greeted Ingred in most friendly +fashion, and looked amazement itself at the cool reception of her +advances. She stared for a moment as if hardly believing the evidence of +her eyes and ears, then turned away with a hurt look on her pretty, +sensitive face. + +Ingred shut her desk with a slam. She was feeling very uncomfortable. +She had liked Bess with a kind of love-at-first-sight, and if the latter +had come to live at any other house in the town than Rotherwood, would +have been prepared to go on liking her. Generosity whispered that her +conduct was unjust, but at this particular stage of Ingred's evolution +she did not always listen to those inner voices that act as our highest +guides. Like most of us, she had a mixed character, capable of many good +things but with certain failings. Rotherwood was what the girls called +"the bee in her bonnet," and the knowledge that Bess was in possession +of the beautiful home she had lost was sufficient to check the incipient +friendship. + +It was otherwise with the rest of the form. They frankly welcomed the +new-comer, and if they did not, as Ingred had bitterly prognosticated, +exactly "truckle" to her, they certainly began to treat her as a +favorite. She was asked at once to join the Photographic Society and the +Drawing Club, and her very superior camera, beautiful color-box, and +other up-to-date equipments were immensely admired. Ingred, on the +outside of the enthusiastic circle, preserved a stony silence. Her own +camera was three years old, and she did not possess materials for +oil-painting. She thought it quite unnecessary for Verity to want to +look at Bess's paraphernalia. Verity, who was a kind-hearted little +soul, perhaps divined the cause of her chum's glumness, for she came +presently and took Ingred's arm. + +"I've something to tell you, Ingred," she whispered. "We are to have the +election on Friday afternoon, and everybody's saying you'll be chosen +warden for the form." + +"Don't suppose I've the remotest chance!" grunted Ingred gloomily. + +"Nonsense! Don't be a blue-bottle! Cheery-ho! In my opinion you'll just +have an easy walk over." + +With the removal into the new building, Miss Burd had instituted many +innovations and changes. Among the most important of these was the +College Council, which really served as a sort of House of Parliament +for the school. Each form among the seniors and intermediates was to +elect a representative called a warden, and these, with such permanent +officers as the prefects and the games captain, were to meet once a +fortnight to discuss questions of self-government. It was a new +experiment, and the head mistress hoped it would give the girls some +idea of responsibility, and train them to understand civic duties later +on. The girls themselves voted it a "ripping" idea. They took it up most +enthusiastically. It would be fun to have elections, and it seemed +desirable that there should be a warden to look after the interests of +each separate form. + +"When I was in the Fourth we never got a chance for the tennis courts, +and it was utterly hopeless to appeal to the prefects," said Ingred. "I +always used to feel there ought to be some way of making one's voice +heard." + +"Well, if you're elected, you'll have a chance to make your maiden +speech!" laughed Verity. "By the bye, will there be a 'Strangers' +Gallery, so that we can come and listen to you? I'd be sorry to miss the +fun!" + +Friday afternoon had been fixed for the election, and a bright idea +originated in VA., circulated through the school, and finally +crystallized in the Sixth. It was nothing less than that each form +should make a special fête of the affair. Lispeth Scott, the head girl, +went boldly to Miss Burd, and asked permission for those who liked to +bring thermos flasks, cups, and bags of buns and cakes, and hold parties +in the various class-rooms. + +"It would make so much more of the whole thing," she urged. "If we +simply stop for ten minutes after school and vote, I'm afraid it may +fall rather flat. But if every form has its festival to elect its own +warden, it will make the council seem a much more important business. +We'd like to be allowed to stay till about half-past five, if we may, so +that there would be time to have some fun over it. We'd promise not to +make a mess with our picnicking." + +Miss Burd, looking rather astonished, nevertheless consented. She was a +wise woman, and believed in permitting a certain amount of liberty, +within limits. + +"You may try it this once," she conceded. "But it's on the distinct +understanding that you're all on your good behavior. I shall hold you +prefects responsible for controlling the school. If you hear a great +noise, you must go into their form-rooms and stop them. I can't allow +the College to be turned into a bear-garden." + +"We won't! I'll put them all on their honor to behave, and I'll leave +the door of our form-room open so that I can hear what's going on. Thank +you so much, Miss Burd!" + +And Lispeth departed, fearful lest any other qualifications should be +added to temper the joy of the proceedings. + +Six girls, waiting outside the door to hear the result of the +negotiations, waved signals of success to others farther down the +corridor, and, in an almost incredibly short space of time, the happy +news had spread to the remotest corners of the school. + +"But how are we hostelites going to manage our share?" asked Ingred +anxiously. + +"Don't you worry about that," Jess and Francie assured her. "Ten girls +in our form have promised to bring thermos flasks, and if we pool to tea +there'll be heaps to go round, and the same with buns and cakes. We'll +each bring a little extra to make enough. The hostel will very likely +lend you each a cup if you ask for it. That's all you'll need!" + +"Right-o! We'll cast ourselves on the charity of the form!" agreed +Ingred. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +The Fifth-form Fête + + +By a general indulgence issued from head-quarters, the dismissal bell +rang at 3:45 the next Friday afternoon, instead of, as usual, at four +o'clock. The mistresses entered up the marks, put away their books, said +"Good afternoon, girls!" and made their exit, leaving the building for +once in the sole possession of the pupils. Miss Strong, indeed, who +disapproved of the whole business, took the precaution of locking her +desk before her departure, a proceeding which provoked indignant sniffs +from the witnesses; but, sublimely indifferent to public opinion, she +put the key in her pocket, and stalked from the room. The girls gave her +a few moments' grace to get out of earshot, then broke into a babble of +conversation. + +"Which are we having first, the election or the tea?" + +"Oh, the tea!" + +"No, no! Business first and pleasure afterwards." + +"I can't vote till I've had some tea." + +"It's too early!" + +"No, it isn't! We're most of us ready for it." + +"Look here!" suggested Ingred. "Let's settle it this way. Have tea +first, then the election, and then some fun afterwards. Don't you think +that would sandwich things best?" + +"True, O Queen! I don't mind what happens afterwards, so long as I get a +bun quick!" + +"Let's fetch the prog," agreed Linda Slater, leading the way towards the +cloak-room where the baskets had been stored. + +The giggling procession met emissaries from other forms, bent on a like +errand, and exchanged a brisk banter as they passed on the stairs. + +"We've got jam tartlets!" + +"Not as nice as our cheese cakes!" + +"Nellie's brought a whole pound of macaroons!" + +"Oh! will you swap with us for rock buns?" + +"I should just think not!" + +"Dolly Arden has five oranges!" + +"Well, we've got bananas!" + +After successfully fetching the provisions, having routed a marauding +band of juniors who were poking inquisitive fingers into the baskets, +the members of VA. returned to the form-room, closed the door, and gave +themselves up to festivity. The four girls from the hostel need have had +no fear of scarcity, for the others had brought ample to compensate for +their deficiency. By general consent all the cakes were pooled, set out +on hard-backed exercise books in lieu of plates, and handed round the +company. Bess, whose basket contained two thermos flasks, a dozen cheese +cakes, and some meringues, was felt to have brought a valuable +contribution. It seemed a new experience to be sitting at their desks, +drinking tea and eating cakes, instead of doing translation or writing +exercises. + +"Pity the Snark didn't stop! She doesn't know what she's missing!" +remarked Joanna Powers, as she took a meringue. + +"Oh, Kafoozalum! We shouldn't have had much fun if the Snark had stayed! +Don't bring her back, for goodness' sake, Jo!" + +"I wasn't going to! Besides which, she's probably half-way down town at +present, having tea in a café. She generally does on Fridays." + +"She won't get a better tea than we're having!" + +"I'll undertake she won't! This meringue is absolutely topping! I wonder +if there's another left." + +"No, they're gone, every one of them!" + +"Hard luck!" + +Though the hour might be early, the girls' appetites were quite equal to +the task of finishing the various delicacies in the way of sweet stuff +which they had brought with them. Cakes disappeared like snow in summer, +and chocolate boxes, passed round impartially, soon returned empty to +their owners. When everything seemed almost finished, Bess produced +another hamper, which she had carried up from the cloak-room, and stowed +away under her desk. She handed it rather shyly to Beatrice, who +happened to be her nearest neighbor. + +"Mother sent these, and wants you all to share them," she remarked. + +Beatrice, Francie, and Linda opened the hamper all three together, then +with a delighted "O-Oh!" of satisfaction drew out six beautiful bunches +of purple grapes. Ingred, finishing her cup of tea, choked and coughed. +She knew those grapes well. They grew in the vinery at Rotherwood, and +had been the pride of her father and of the head-gardener. She had not +tasted one of them for five years, for during the war they had always +been given to the patients in the Red Cross Hospital, but she could not +forget their delicious flavor. Why had her father let the vinery with +the house? The grapes ought to be hers to give away--not this girl's. +Nobody else in the room cared in the least where the fruit came from, so +long as it was there. Appreciative eyes looked on in glad anticipation +while Beatrice and Francie divided the bunches with as much mathematical +accuracy as they could muster at the moment. A portion was laid upon +each desk, and the girls fell to. + +"Delicious!" + +"Never tasted better in my life!" + +"Absolutely topping!" + +"Makes one want to go and live in a vineyard!" + +"They're exactly ripe!" + +"Ingred, you're not eating yours!" + +"I don't want them, thanks," said Ingred hurriedly. "I don't indeed. +I've had enough. Pass them on to somebody else, please!" + +"Well, if you really don't want them, they won't go a-begging, I dare +say!" + +Ingred felt as if the grapes would choke her. She could not touch one of +them. She hated Bess for having brought them to school, quite +irrespective of the fact that she would have done exactly the same in +her place, had she been fortunate enough to have the opportunity. Bess, +looking shy, and anxious to evade the thanks that poured in upon her, +bundled the hamper away under the desk again, and made a palpable effort +to change the subject. + +"What about this election?" she asked. "Time's getting on. It's after +half-past four." + +"Good night! Have we been all that time feeding? Here, girls, if you've +_quite_ finished, let's get to business," said Avis, rapping on her desk +as a signal for silence, and constituting herself spokeswoman for the +occasion. "You know what we've met here for--to choose a warden to +represent us on the School Council. Well, I feel we couldn't do better +than send up Ingred Saxon. She'd look after our interests all right, if +anybody would. I beg to propose Ingred Saxon." + +"And I beg to second that!" called Nora. + +"Hands up, those in favor!" + +Such a forest of arms immediately waved in the air that (though in +strict order) it seemed hardly necessary for Avis to call out: + +"Those against!" + +No opposition hands appeared, so without further discussion the election +was carried. + +"Congrats, Ingred!" said Nora, patting the heroine on the back. + +"I told you it would be a walk over, old sport!" whispered Verity. + +"We'd talked it over beforehand, you see, and everybody had agreed to +choose you, so it was really only a matter of form," explained Francie. + +"The Sixth are having a ballot," put in Jess. + +"And VB. are going to fight like Kilkenny cats over Magsie and Barbara." + +"There'll be some hullabaloo in several of the forms, I expect." + +"Thanks awfully for electing me," replied Ingred. "I suppose I ought to +make a speech, but I really don't know what to say!" + +"You've got to say it all the same!" laughed Verity. "Members of +Parliament always make speeches to their constituents. Here, take the +Snark's desk as your thingumgig--rostrum, or whatever it's called, and +begin your jaw-wag!" + +"Friends, Romans, Countrymen, lend me your ears!" squeaked Kitty +Saunders. + +Pushed forward by a dozen hands, Ingred found herself occupying the +mistress's place, and, facing her audience, made a valiant attempt at +oratory. With cheeks aglow, and dark eyes shining like stars, she looked +an attractive little figure, and a bright and suitable leader for the +form. + +"I can't really think why you should have chosen me," she began ("don't +be too modest!" yelled a voice from the back), "but as you _have_ made +me your warden, I'll take care that all our grievances are very well +aired at the School Council." ("You'll have your work cut out!" +interrupted Francie.) "Of course I know it won't all be plain sailing, +and that the Sixth need a great deal of sticking up to over many +matters." ("That's so!" came from the front desk.) "But perhaps they'll +be prepared to talk things over now, and make some concessions." ("Time +they did!") "At any rate, I shall be able to tell them what you all +think" ("Flattering for them!"), "and to make things as smooth as +possible for VA. Now, as I'm warden, may I propose that we have +some fun before we go? Shall we have music, or games? Hands up for an +Emergency Concert!" + +"A very neat way of getting out of further speechifying!" said Verity, +as by general consent the concert carried the day; "but you shall open +it yourself, Madam Warden, so I warn you! You're not going to be let +off, don't you think it! Silence! Ladies and gentlemen, the first item +on the program will be a piano solo by Miss Ingred Saxon, the celebrated +musical star, brought over at enormous expense, on purpose for this +occasion." + +"You blighter!" murmured Ingred, as the prospective audience shouted +"Hear! Hear!" + +"Not a bit of it!" purred Verity. "I guess we'll take sparks out of the +Sixth and everybody else." + +VA. that afternoon was certainly in a position to boast itself. +It was the only form in possession of a piano: for by the sheerest +accident it had one. The instrument was only a temporary visitor, placed +there for convenience while some repairs were being done to a leaking +gas-pipe in one of the music rooms. It's an ill wind, however, that +blows nobody good, and it gave VA. an opportunity that was denied even +to the Sixth. Ingred was at once escorted to the piano, and officious +hands piled exercise books on a chair to make her seat high enough. + +"I can't remember anything! I can't indeed!" she protested vigorously. + +"Now don't twitter nonsense!" said Nora. "I've heard you play +dozens--yes, _dozens_!--of things without music at the hostel, so you've +just got to try!" + +"I shall break down, I know I shall!" + +"Then you can begin again at the beginning. Fire away, and don't be +affected!" commanded Nora. + +It is one thing to play a piece from memory when you have the room to +yourself, and quite another to play it with half a dozen girls hanging +over the piano, and the rest of the audience sitting on their desks. +Ingred wisely did not venture on anything too classical, but tried a +bright "Spanish Ballade," and managed to get successfully to the end of +it without any breakdown. In the midst of the clapping that followed +came a loud rap-tap-tap at the door, which immediately opened to +admit--much to the astonishment of the Fifth--two of the prefects, and a +consignment of Sixth form girls. + +"Whatever have we been and gone and done now?" murmured Verity. + +"Is music taboo?" asked Ingred guiltily, slipping away from the piano. + +The errand of the prefects, however, was evidently one of conciliation, +and not of reproof. They were smiling, and looking amiability itself. + +"We thought, as you've got a piano in your room," began Lilias Ashby, +"that we might as well come and join you, if you don't mind. Janie's got +a book of songs with her." + +"Oh, by all means, of course!" replied VA. politely and unanimously. +"We're just having a sort of concert, you know." + +"Sure you don't mind?" + +"Not a bit of it!" + +"Right-o! Run and tell Janie then, Susie, and ask her to bring the +others." + +An invasion from the Sixth was indeed an unwonted honor, which probably +nothing short of a piano would have accomplished. The hostesses, +somewhat overwhelmed, seated the distinguished guests to the best of +their ability in the rather limited accommodation, and hospitably passed +round their few remaining pieces of chocolate. + +"We'll leave the door open, please," said Lispeth, "because I promised +Miss Burd not to let those intermediates get too outrageous, and I have +to listen out for them." + +Janie Potter, with her book of songs, was pushed forward, and began to +entertain the company with popular selections of the day, to which they +chanted the choruses. She had a good clear voice, and the audience +joined with enthusiasm in the various ditties. + +The clapping which followed was continued down the landing, and, through +the open door, peered the interested faces of most of the members of +VB. who had come to share the fun. + +"May we butt in?" they asked hopefully. + +"Not a square inch of room for you," answered Lispeth, "but you may +squat in the corridor outside if you like. Anybody who performs can join +the show, but that's all. I'll tell you when it's your turn. It's +VA. next. Now then," (turning to the hostesses), "who else can +do anything? Francie Hall, come along at once!" + +"I can't! I can't!" objected Francie. "So it's no use asking me; it +isn't indeed! I'll tell you what--Bess Haselford plays the violin, and, +what's more, she's got it with her, for I saw her put it away in the +dressing-room." + +"O-O-Oh! It was my lesson with Signor Chianti this afternoon, that's why +I had to bring it!" said Bess, turning red. + +"Go and fetch it, Francie!" ordered Lispeth. "You know where it is." + +Francie returned in a short time, and handed the neat leather case to +its owner. Bess, looking flustered and nervous, drew out the violin, and +began to tune it. + +"I've brought your music too!" said Francie, triumphantly opening a +folio, "so you've no excuse for saying you can't remember anything. +Who'll play your accompaniment? Here, Ingred!" + +"Oh! somebody else would do it far better," protested Ingred. +"Janie----" + +"I'm no reader." + +"Lilas?" + +"Couldn't to save my life!" + +"Go ahead, Ingred, and don't waste time!" said Lispeth firmly. + +Ingred sat down to the piano without a smile. Her schoolmates took her +unwillingness for modesty, but in her heart of hearts her main thought +was: "Why should _I_ help this new girl to show off?" She would have +played accompaniments gladly for anybody else, but she considered that +Bess had already received quite enough attention in one afternoon. For +her own credit, however, she must do her best, so she concentrated her +energies on the prelude. When the first strains of the violin joined in, +her musical ear recognized immediately that Bess's playing was of a very +high quality. The tone was pure, the notes were perfectly in tune, and +there was a ringing sweetness, a crisp power of expression, and a +haunting pathos in the rendering of the melody that showed the performer +to be capable of interpreting the composer's meaning. In spite of her +disinclination, Ingred warmed to the accompaniment. When the violin +seemed to be bringing out laughter and tears, the piano must do its +part, and not merely supply a succession of unimpassioned chords. Ingred +was a good reader for a girl of fifteen, but she surpassed herself on +this occasion, and seemed to accomplish the difficult passages almost by +instinct. She played the final notes very softly as the last fairy +strains of the melody thrilled slowly away. + +There was a second of silence, then the girls, inside and outside the +room, clapped their loudest. + +"It was capital!" declared Lispeth encouragingly. "Bess, we shall want +you again for school concerts. You and Ingred ought to practise +together. Let me look at your violin. I wish _I_ could play like that!" + +"Thanks ever so much!" murmured Bess to Ingred, as the latter got up +from the piano. + +"Oh! it's all right!" replied Ingred airily, moving away in a hurry to +the other side of the room. She did not want Bess to take up Lispeth's +no doubt well meant but rather embarrassing suggestion that they should +practise together, and was quite ready with an excuse if it should be +proposed. + +"It's the turn of the Sixth now," she jodelled. + +"VB. haven't done anything yet; I'll call one of them in," said +Lispeth, stepping out to the landing. + +Once through the door, however, her ears were assailed by such an +absolute din proceeding from the farther end of the corridor, that she +dropped her character of impresario for the duties of head-girl, and +calling two of her fellow prefects, went to investigate the cause of the +disturbance. She returned in a short time, looking flushed and flurried. + +"It's those wretched kids in IVB.," she proclaimed. "They were +behaving disgracefully, pelting each other with the remains of their +buns, and fencing with rulers. And they actually had the cheek to tell +me they weren't making any more noise than we were with our singing and +playing! I sent them home at once, and I think we'd all better go too. +Those intermediates always overstep the line if they've an atom of a +chance. I told them what I thought about them. It's been quite a ripping +concert, and I'm sorry to break it up, but you understand, don't you?" + +"Rather!" replied the others, as they began their exodus into the +corridor. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +The School Parliament + + +During the excitement of the concert Ingred had hardly time to realize +the greatness of the honor thrust upon her in being chosen as warden to +represent her form. All it stood for struck her afterwards. + +"My word! You'll have to sit up and behave yourself after this, Madame!" +remarked Quenrede, when she mentioned the matter at home. + +"Yes, of course they'll all look to you now as an example!" added +Mother. + +"Oh, I don't think they will!" declared Ingred, who had not considered +her new office from that point of view. "I've just to speak up for the +interests of the form, you know." + +"There are obligations as well as interests," said Mother seriously. +"Try to make VA. a useful factor in the school. That would be something +worth doing, wouldn't it?" + +In arranging for the School Parliament, Miss Burd had allowed wardens to +be chosen by each form, from IIIB. upwards, but had decided that the +smaller girls were too young to take part in public affairs. Every form +that sent a representative constituted itself into a kind of club, and +chose a special name. These were placed on the Council Register as +follows: + + VI. The True Blues. + VA. The Pioneers. + VB. The Amazons. + IVA. The Old Brigade. + IVB. The Mermaids. + IIIA. The Dragonflies. + IIIB. The Cuckoos. + +"You can compare marks every fortnight," said Miss Burd, "and whichever +gets the best average shall hold a cup that I intend to present. The +marks of the whole form will count, so that slackers will be a distinct +drawback to their own companies. Any girl who loses a mark hinders her +form from gaining the cup, and of course vice versa, those who work will +help." + +The question of marks had been a much debated subject with Miss Burd. +She had discussed it in detail at several educational conferences, and +had come to the conclusion that, on the whole, the system was highly +desirable. + +"It's all very well to talk about the evils of emulation, and work for +work's sake," she confided to Miss Strong, "but you can't get children +to see things altogether in the same light as grown-ups. I own that, +when I was a child myself, I made tremendous efforts so that I might be +head of my form, and when the arrangements were changed at our school, +and, instead of carefully-registered marks and places, we only had +first, second, or third class, I slacked off considerably. I knew that a +lesson not quite so perfectly learnt, or an exercise with one or two +mistakes, would still find me in the First Class, so why should I make +such enormous exertions? When every slip might mean the loss of my +chance to be top, I was far more careful. Of course I know that +Emulation, with a big E, is supposed to be all wrong, but really I think +people make too much fuss about it. It was quite friendly rivalry when I +was at school, and the girls with whom I competed were my dearest chums. +I believe my new system here is going to unite both methods. Every girl +will work for herself, but her marks will also count for her form, and +if she slacks, and so pulls down the standard, I hope her companions +will give her as bad a time as they do to a 'butter-fingers' at cricket, +and that's saying something!" + +The idea of each form constituting a club appealed to the school. It was +far more interesting to be "Amazons" or "Cuckoos" than merely +VB. or IIIB., and as awards were to be according to averages, it was +thrilling to feel that girls of twelve could wrest away the silver cup +from the hands of the very prefects themselves. + +"It makes it just like playing a game!" declared Ida Brooke. + +"Yes, a sort of tug-of-war when everybody's got to pull, and mustn't let +go!" added Cissie Barnes, "Do you remember playing 'Oranges and Lemons' +once with the Sixth? _We_ all held on to each others' waists like grim +death, and Janie Potter gave way and broke their chain, so we won!" + +"We'll beat them again, too! I'd like to see that cup on our +mantelpiece!" + +"The Pioneers," otherwise VA., were as anxious as any of the other forms +to carry off laurels. Even Fil, much under protest, really made quite an +effort to work. + +"You ought to help me with my exercises, though, Ingred," she wheedled. +"Remember, it's for the benefit of the form. If you let me make +mistakes, well--it's the form that will suffer. You can't call it _my_ +fault, it's on your own head. You know as well as I do that I simply +can't spell, and it takes me hours to hunt up words in the dictionary. +I'm looking for 'phenomenon' now." + +"You certainly won't find it in the F's," laughed Ingred. "What an +infant in arms you are! Here, then, go ahead, and I'll act as +dictionary. You've only written half a page yet. You'll be a week of +Sundays at this rate." + +"And I haven't touched my Latin or French!" sighed Fil dismally. "I wish +I could go to a school where there isn't any homework, and that somebody +would invent a typewriter that would just spell the words ready-made +when you press a button." + +"There's a fortune waiting for the man who does!" agreed Ingred. "'The +Royal-Road-to-Learning Typewriter: spells of itself.' It would sell by +the million, I should think." + +Ingred washed her hands, plaited her hair, and put on her best brooch +and her new bangle to attend the first meeting of the School Parliament. +The function was held in the Sixth Form room, which she thought slightly +unfair, for the prefects, being on their own ground, felt a distinct +advantage, and acted as hostesses. There were four of them, so with the +games captain they made a party of five from the Sixth, as opposed to +six representatives of lower forms, a quite undue proportion in the +opinion of the younger girls. Whatever successes the intermediates might +win later on, "The True Blues" had carried all before them so far, and +had won the cup by an average at least a dozen marks in advance of "The +Mermaids," who came second. The trophy stood on their mantelpiece, and +they had brought an ornamental glazed tile on which to place it, as if +they meant it to stay there. + +On the whole they received the other wardens very graciously, and gave +them opportunities to speak and air their views. Questions such as the +due apportioning of the asphalt tennis-courts, basket-ball and hockey +fixtures, and various school societies were discussed, and the general +business of the term got under way. + +"It helps things to be able to talk it over and know what you all +think," said Lispeth. "We're making so many changes with coming into the +new building, that it's almost like an entirely fresh start. Miss Burd +wants us to get up a sort of Reconstruction Society in the school. She +hasn't quite planned it out yet, but she told me a little about it, and +I think it's ever so nice. As soon as it's quite fixed up, I'm going to +call a general meeting, and explain it to everybody. I expect that will +be next Wednesday. Will you give me power to do this on my own, or must +I call a special committee on Monday to discuss it first, before I put +it to the school?" + +"It's my music lesson on Monday, I couldn't come," demurred Ingred. + +"And I have to go to the dentist immediately after four," chimed in Alys +Horner, the warden of "The Amazons." + +"If Miss Burd has arranged it, I suppose it's all serene," said Mabel +Hughes, of "The Old Brigade." + +"You'll like it, I know. I'd explain now, only I haven't got any of the +papers, and besides, it would take such a long time, and it's rather +late, and I want to be getting home. Anyway, I hope we shall all take it +up hot and strong. Be sure to keep Wednesday free, though I'm going to +ask Miss Burd to let us have the meeting in school hours if possible, +then we're absolutely sure of everybody." + +"Right you are!" agreed the wardens, separating in a rather +unparliamentary fashion to admire a vinaigrette, scented with +heliotrope, which Althea took from her pocket and handed round for +appreciative sniffs. + +All the girls felt that Lispeth Scott was to be trusted. She was a +worthy leader for the new order of things. She was a tall, stout, fair +girl of almost eighteen, and rather grown-up for her age. She was the +youngest member of a large family who had made enormous exertions during +the war, and, with sisters who had nursed in Serbia, driven +motor-ambulances in France, served in canteens, in Y. M. C. A. huts, and +worked at munitions, she had excellent examples of what it is possible +to do for one's country. She was a decided favorite in the College, +being athletic as well as clever, and of a very jolly merry temperament +with a vein of great earnestness. Though the girls sometimes called her +"Jumbo," they meant the nickname in token of friendship, and submitted +to her dictatorship far more readily than they would have done to that +of any other member of the Sixth who had been put in her place. Miss +Burd had great confidence in Lispeth, and consequently, when they had +talked over the matter of the new society which she wished to be formed +in the school, she decided to leave its institution entirely in the +hands of her head girl. + +"It will be far better for the mistresses not to be present at the +meeting," she said. "I can trust you, Lispeth, to explain things, and +the girls will like it much more if it seems to emanate from the new +Council. Talk to them in your own way, and they'll understand you. I +want the Society to be an absolutely voluntary one, or it's of no use. +Don't let them think they must join merely to please _me_. I'd rather +have a dozen who are in earnest over it than a hundred half-hearted +members. Only those who feel enthusiastic need give in their names. I +don't mind if it begins in quite a humble way. Indeed, I only expect a +small membership at first." + +"On the contrary, Miss Burd, I think it will catch on," replied Lispeth. + +In consequence of this conversation, the head prefect pinned a paper on +the notice-board, convening a general meeting of all girls over twelve +years of age, to be held in the big hall on Wednesday afternoon at 3:30 +sharp, the last lesson of the day having been remitted by orders from +the Study. There was a universal feeling that something important was on +foot, so those forms that were eligible trooped in a body to the hall, +while the disappointed juniors tried to console themselves with the +reflection that they would be able to go home half an hour earlier than +their elders. After considerable shuffling about, places were taken. +Unwilling to waste further time, Lispeth mounted the platform, and rang +the bell for silence. + +"Are we all here? Well, I can't wait for anybody else. Those who come in +late will have to hear what they can, and you must tell them the rest +afterwards. Oh, here they are! Quietly, please! There's plenty of room +over there. Violet, will you shut the door? Now that we're all together, +I want to have a talk with you. You know I'm what may be called 'Prime +Minister' of our School Parliament, and, though your wardens will report +all we say in council, I think it is well to have a public meeting +sometimes. This term everything seems to have made a fresh start. We're +in new buildings, and we have new rules, and our very Parliament is a +new institution. You're all in new forms, and I'm the new Head Prefect. +It's not only in school that everything's different, but in the outside +world as well. This is our first term since peace was signed. I can +remember our first term after War was declared. I was only in +IIIA. then--quite a youngster! Hetty Hughes, who was the head girl, made +a speech, and told us what we ought to do to try to help our country. I +think some of us who were here have never forgotten that. We nearly +hurrahed the roof off, and we formed a Knitting Club and a Soldiers' +Parcel Society on the spot. You know for yourselves how we worked to keep +those up. Well, to-day the Empire is at peace, but our country needs our +help as much as ever, or even more. It's making a fresh start, and we +want the new world to be a better place than the old. Hundreds of +thousands of gallant young lives have been gladly given to establish this +new world--in this school alone we know to our cost--and we owe it to our +heroic dead not to let their sacrifice be in vain. We want a better and +purer England to rise up and make a clean sweep of the bad things that +disgraced her before. I expect you'll say: 'Oh, that's for politicians, +and not for us schoolgirls!' but it isn't. Popular opinion is a mighty +thing. The schoolgirls of to-day are the women of to-morrow, and the +women of a country have an enormous amount to do with the formation of +public opinion--more nowadays than ever before--and their influence will +go on increasing with every year that passes. If each of us tries to help +the world instead of hindering it, think what an asset each one may be to +the country! It's really a tremendous honor to know that we can all take +our part in the reconstruction of England. It's like each being allowed +to lay a brick in the foundation of a new building. Of course you'll ask +me: 'Well, and how are we going to help?' That's just what I want to talk +about. We pride ourselves on being practical at the College. Some of us +thought we might start a new society, to be called 'The Rainbow League.' +It's a sort of 'Guild of Helpers,' and we want to do all kinds of jolly +things to help in the town, something like our old 'Knitting Club' and +'Soldiers' Parcel Society,' only of course different. We could give +concerts and make clothes for war orphans, and toys for the hospitals, +and scrap-books for crippled children. There are heaps of nice things +like that you'll just love doing. It's called 'The Rainbow League,' +because a rainbow was set in the sky after the Flood, to help people to +remember, and we want, in our small way, not to let the Great War be +forgotten, but to do our bit to help with the future of the race. + +"I'm not any great hand at speaking or explaining, so I want you each to +take a copy of the rules of 'The Rainbow League' and to read them +quietly over at home. Then any girl who likes to join can put her name +down. All the Sixth want to become members, and I hope lots of others +will too. That's all I have to say. I'm afraid I'm rather a bungler, but +you'll understand everything if you read the papers. I'm going to give +them out now." + +Lispeth, very red in the face, came down from the platform, and, aided +by her fellow-prefects, began to distribute papers right and left to the +girls as they filed from the benches. Amongst the others, Ingred took +hers, and put it in her pocket. She did not care to discuss it with the +crowd, so retired to a corner of the hostel garden, and, amid a shower +of falling autumn leaves, opened the typewritten sheet, and read as +follows: + + The Rainbow League + + A Society for Schoolgirls who wish to help in the great work of + reconstruction after the War + + WHAT THE LEAGUE HOLDS + + That every soul is of infinite and equal value, because all are the + children of one Father. + + That every girl must do her best to help all other girls, and to + advance the Sisterhood of Women. + + That woman's greatest and strongest weapons are love and sweetness. + + That by conscious radiation of unselfish love to her fellow-beings, + a girl may undoubtedly raise the moral atmosphere of the world + around her. + + That every girl, however young, can help this glorious old country, + and that, joined together for good, the schoolgirls of a nation can + influence the well-being of a race. + + That good can always triumph over evil, and that love and + unselfishness will wipe out many social blots, and put beauty in + their place. + + As the rainbow has seven prismatic colors, these may stand for + seven talents of woman. + + Violet = Virtue--the bed-rock of woman's + influence. + + Indigo = Industry--which means willing service. + + Blue = Beauty--in its many and varied forms. + + Green = Generosity--to give of our best to + others. + + Yellow = Youth--to offer our best years to God. + + Orange = Order--which includes organization. + + Red = Radiation--the Love Force going out to + others. + + Fellowship + + Every member of the League shall pledge herself to forward its + objects and to take an active part in any schemes of help that may + be instituted in connection with it. + + Flower Emblem. The Iris. + + Motto. "Freely ye have received, freely give." + +Ingred sat for a moment or two, watching the petals blow from the last +roses on the bush that hung over the worn stone wall. The old Abbey lay +on one hand, the buildings of the new school on the other. They seemed +the very personification of ancient and modern. + +"The world can't stand still," she thought, "and if it's got to move on, +I suppose I'd better help to give it a shove in the right direction." + +Walking into the hostel, she met Nora and Fil walking arm-in-arm. + +"Hullo, Ingred! Have you read the paper about the Rainbow League?" asked +Fil eagerly. "I think it's ripping! Nora and I are both going to join." + +"And so am I," said Ingred, as she passed by them, and went upstairs. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +Hockey + + +Ingred signed her name next morning as a member of the Rainbow League, +and received a neat notebook with a Japanese design of purple irises +stencilled on the cover. Though the new society was supposed to be run +entirely by the girls themselves, it was much encouraged at +head-quarters, and special allowances were made for its activities. Miss +Burd sent for a book on _Toy-making at Home_, and gave the Handicraft +classes an indulgence to concentrate for the present on the construction +of little windmills, carts, dolls' furniture, trains, jigsaw puzzles, +and other articles described in its fascinating pages. Such a number of +girls had joined the League that many willing hands were at work, and at +Christmas they hoped to have a sale of the best of the toys in aid of a +fund for War Orphans, and to send the remainder to be given away as +treats for poor children. + +Lispeth was highly enthusiastic, and full of future schemes. + +"We'll do toy-making this term," she decreed, "and then next term we can +think of something else. In the spring and summer we'll have a Posy +Union to send bunches of flowers to sick people. We can't do anything of +that, of course, during the winter, unless some of you like to put down +bulbs; it would be lovely to give a pot of purple crocuses to a little +crippled child! I think making the toys is just A1. I want to start a +manufactory!" + +"Barring the glue," said Susie Wakefield. "It smells simply abominable +when it boils over. Why doesn't somebody bring out a patent for +sweet-scented glue?" + +"Sweet-scented glue! You Sybarite!" + +"Why not? They could make it out of all those delicious gums and resins +you read about in books on the Spice Islands, instead of--by the by, +what is glue made of?" + +"Horses' hoofs, I believe, but I fancy it's better not to ask what it's +made of. I don't think your gums and resins would do the deed so well. +We'd best stick to good old-fashioned glue." + +"That's just what I complained of--I _do_ stick to it, or rather it +sticks to me. I get it all over my hands, and smears down my overall." + +"Then you're an untidy workwoman, old sport, and I can't do anything for +you except recommend 'Gresolvent.'" + +The girls were grateful for the latitude of the Handicraft class, for +otherwise they would have had little or no time to give to the +construction of toys. The homework of the College was stiff, and +certain games were compulsory. The hockey season had begun, and fixtures +had been made with other schools in the neighborhood. + +"We must see that the old Coll. keeps up its reputation," said Blossom +Webster, the games captain. "Last year, when we had Lennie Peters and +Sophy Aston, we did a thing or two, didn't we? 'What girl has done, girl +can do!' and we've just got to buck up and try." + +"Rather!" agreed the team. + +Among the various matches which had been arranged was one with The +Clinton High School Old Girls' Association. It was an amateur team of +enthusiasts, who, debarred from playing any longer for their school, had +established a club of their own. They had sent a challenge to Grovebury +College, and it had been accepted. + +"Saturday morning's a weird time for a match!" said Blossom, re-reading +the letter to her chums. "But their captain says it's the only time they +can get their field. It's used by another club in the afternoons, so +she's fixed eleven o'clock." + +"It suits me rather decently," said Janie Potter. "I'm going out to tea +in the afternoon, so I couldn't have come if the match had been at +three. Don't stare at me like that! _No_ I'm _not_ a slacker! I must +accept invitations to tea sometimes, even if I _am_ in the team. What a +dragon you are, Blossom!" + +"Good thing some one keeps the team up, or you'd be gadding off +tea-drinking instead of playing!" returned Blossom grimly. "Grovebury +expects every girl to do her duty on Saturday. It will be bad luck for +the season if we lose our first match." + +The Clinton Old Girls' Association had its field at Denscourt, a town +ten miles away from Grovebury. It was arranged by the team, and for any +girls from the college who cared to come as spectators, to meet at the +railway station at 10:15, and travel together under the escort of Miss +Giles. + +Ingred, who was a keen player, and very proud of having been placed in +the reserve, was to spend Friday night at the hostel, instead of +returning as usual to Wynch-on-the-Wold. + +Nora, Verity, and Fil were also to be numbered among the spectators. + +On the eventful morning, as the girls were just finishing breakfast, a +telegram arrived for Rachel Grant. She tore open the yellow envelope, +and her face fell as she read the brief message. Her mother was +seriously ill, and she must return home immediately. Mrs. Best went +upstairs at once to arrange for her hurried journey, and to help her to +pack. + +Downstairs at the breakfast-table the girls discussed the bad news. They +were very sorry for Rachel, and also for themselves, for she was their +right inner. + +"It's like our luck!" fretted Janie Potter. + +"Too disgusting for words!" groused Doreen Hayward. + +"Poor old Rachel!" groaned Fil. + +"What's going to be done?" asked everybody, as they folded their +serviettes and left the table. + +That question was answered by Miss Giles, who beckoned to Ingred in the +hall, and said briefly: + +"Ingred, will you fetch your hockey-stick and pads?" + +Ingred did not need telling twice. To take Rachel's place was indeed an +honor. Such a chance did not come often. With huge satisfaction she +donned her neat navy-blue skirt, edged with its orange band, and her +blouse with its orange collar and cuffs. + +"You lucker!" sighed Nora enviously. "I'd just jolly well give +everything I have to be in the match to-day. It's not much sport to +stand by and cheer. Oh, don't think I'm trying to get out of coming! I'm +going to look on and see that you do your duty. If you're not playing +up, I'll hiss!" + +"I'll do my best," laughed Ingred, "and if I drop down for sheer lack of +breath, I shall expect you and Verity to carry me home. There!" + +"Right you are! It's a bargain, though you'd be a jolly heavy burden, I +can tell you." + +The team, Miss Giles, and about twenty girls as spectators, were +punctual to their appointment, and assembled at the station just in time +for the train. By a little maneuvering, combined with good fortune, they +secured three compartments to themselves, for a solitary old gentleman, +whom they found in possession of a corner seat, bolted in alarm at such +an invasion of schoolgirls, and sought sanctuary in a smoking carriage. +Some generous spirits had brought chocolates and butter-scotch, which +they shared round, and Nora, the irrepressible, produced from her pocket +a mouth-organ, with which she proceeded to entertain the company, until +frantic raps from the next compartment made her aware that Miss Giles +heard and disapproved of her amateur recital. Naturally the talk was +largely about hockey and the chances of the match. It was known that the +Old Clintonians were a strong team, for most of them had been the crack +players of their school. To beat them would indeed be a feather in the +cap of the college. + +"Too good to come off!" groaned Blossom gloomily. + +"Nonsense, you can't tell till you've tried! Make up your mind you're +going to win!" said Nora indignantly. "I shan't speak to you again if +you lose this match!" + +"I'm only one out of eleven, please!" + +"Well, I don't care! One who makes up her mind to fail can spoil +everything, and vice-versa, so just buck up and win!" + +The hockey ground was not very far from the station at Denscourt, and +when the Grovebury contingent arrived they found the Old Clintonians +ready and waiting for them. The eleven ran into the pavilion and took +off the long coats that had covered their gym costumes; then trooped out +on to the field, as neat and business-like looking a team as could be +imagined. Blossom, with her chums, Janie and Doreen, took good stock of +their opponents. + +"They're a strong set, and will take some beating," said Janie. + +"Rather!" agreed Blossom. "You may be sure we're not going to goal just +when we please." + +"They look topping sports!" commented Doreen. + +Everything was now in perfect order; the teams were placed, and the +umpire blew her whistle for the match to begin. As the account of such a +contest is always much more interesting when narrated by an actual +spectator, and as Nora wrote a long and accurate description of it +afterwards to a cousin at school in London, I will insert her letter, +and allow it to speak for itself. + +(_This letter is an account of a real match, written by a real +schoolgirl._) + + "Grovebury College. + + "_My Dear Margaret_, + + "I simply must tell you about the hockey match we played last + Saturday! + + "The team played the Clinton High School Old Girls' Association at + Denscourt. Our girls were awfully keen to meet them, and were not + at all daunted by the fact that they were exceptionally strong. + + "About twenty of us went as spectators, and as we were about to set + off to the station with the Eleven, Rachel Grant, the Left Inner, + received a telegram, conveying news of her mother's serious + illness. To our great misfortune, she was obliged to go home at + once, and the first girl on the Reserve, Ingred Saxon, had to fill + her place. + + "Miss Giles, the Games Mistress, went on to get the tickets, and, + in spite of some delay, we managed to meet her in time to catch the + train. It is ten miles from here to Denscourt, and we arrived there + in about twenty minutes. + + "The field is not very far from the railway station. The team girls + were taken to the pavilion, and when they were ready, the captain + tossed up. Veronica Hall, the opposing captain, who is a tall + strong girl, and a fine hockey player, won the toss, and chose to + play against the wind for the first half. At exactly eleven, the + center forwards, Blossom and Veronica, began the bully-off. There + were three dull clashes as their sticks met, and then with a + dexterous stroke, Blossom passed the ball to her Right Inner, Janie + Potter. Before she could strike, the wing on the opposite side + captured the ball, and with a clean drive sent it spinning down the + field. It was soon stopped, however, by Doreen Hayward, the Right + Half, who, after successfully dribbling it past the enemy Inner, + sent it hard out to Aline West, the School Right Wing. Soon Aline + had the ball half-way up the field, but suddenly she stumbled, and + fell headlong to the ground. Before she could rise, the ball had + been sent to the rival Center Forward, who, with a magnificent hit, + drove it nearly into the goal-circle. There it was splendidly + blocked by Kitty Saunders, our Left Back, and quickly passed to + Evie Irving, the Left Wing. There was a brief, though fierce, + struggle for possession of the ball between the two wings, in which + Evie was victorious. She neatly avoided the Clinton Right Half, but + the ball went off the line. The opposing Half-back rolled in--to + her wing, as she thought--but with a swift movement, Ingred Saxon, + the Left Inner, reached the ball first, and taking it with her, ran + up the field like lightning. The Inner on the other side was an + equally fast runner, but Ingred easily evaded her opponent's + continued efforts to get the ball for some time. + + "'Oh! has she lost the ball?' 'No. Is she still flying on, the ball + before her?' 'Will she pass the rival back safely?' were the + questions which thronged my brain, nearly paralyzed with + excitement. + + "Not able to dribble the ball any farther, and being attacked by a + girl wearing the Clinton colors, Ingred hit the ball out to her + wing, who struck in to center again. The Left Back on the opposing + side stopped it just as it entered the goal-circle. + + "'Clear!' yelled one of the onlookers, unable to contain herself, + and with a fine stroke the Back sent the ball flying away to the + other side of the field. It went with such force that, although our + Right Back made an attempt to stop it, it raced past her stick and + over the outside line. After the roll-in, nearly all the play was + carried on practically in the center of the field. Each side + displayed some excellent passing, but when the whistle blew at half + time, neither had scored. By this time all the girls were hot and + panting, except the Goal-keepers, and were ready for the brief + rest. Our Eleven stood in a group together, sharing the lemons + which the Clinton girls provided, and discussing the events of the + last half-hour. + + "'Girls!' exclaimed Blossom, our captain 'we simply must win this + match! We shall have the wind against us the next half, but we are + not going to let things end in a victory for the Clintonians, or in + a draw either, are we?' + + "'No!' was the decided answer. + + "A few minutes later every one was in her place again, but of + course defending the other goal. Blossom and Veronica were once + more bullying-off. This time the latter was the quicker of the two, + for, with a clever hit, she succeeded in sending the ball away to + her Left Wing. The Clinton Left Wing began to dribble it along + towards the goal we were defending, and, when confronted by our + Right Half, passed it to her center. I almost screamed out to our + Center Forward not to let Veronica keep the ball, for I knew she + was a dangerous opponent. She was well up the field, and with a + neat turn of her stick sent the ball past our Right Back. There was + only one girl now to prevent her from getting a goal! Blossom was + now fast gaining, and then, just as Veronica came within shooting + distance, her foot slipped in the slimy mud, and she lost her + balance. Blossom was level with Veronica by this time, and before + the Clinton captain could steady herself, she had sent the ball far + away from the danger zone. + + "The play went on fairly evenly again until five minutes to twelve. + I felt wild with anxiety, and I am sure the others did too, for + there were only five minutes left. + + "The ball had just been sent over the line by one of the Clinton + girls, and our Left Half rolled in. The wing missed the bill, but + Ingred took it, and--well, I cannot tell you clearly what happened + after that. I still have in my mind the picture of Ingred, who, the + ball at her side, literally flew up the field, her feet scarcely + touching the ground. No one knows how she did it, but by some + marvellous playing she passed all her opponents, and shot the only + goal of the whole match just three seconds before the whistle blew + for 'Time.' + + "Of course Ingred was the heroine of the hour. As she was being + escorted to the pavilion, flushed but triumphant, Miss Giles said + to her: 'Well played! I am proud of you!' + + "Those few words of praise meant a good deal to Ingred, and we all + felt how well she deserved them, especially as it was only by + accident that she played in the team at all. + + "I do hope I have not tired you by going too fully into our match, + but I know you are interested in our school games, hockey in + particular. I will tell you about our later fixtures when I see you + at Christmas, so until then--Good-bye. + + "With love from your affectionate cousin, + + "Nora Clifford." + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +An Unpleasant Experience + + +The girls filed out from the hockey ground as speedily as possible. +There was a train due from Grovebury in about a quarter of an hour. They +walked to the station in groups, discussing details of the match as they +went. Ingred, Beatrice, and Verity happened to be blocked at the exit by +the Clintonian team, and were obliged to wait some minutes before they +could pass, and when at last they were through the gate, all their own +schoolfellows were disappearing up the road. + +"We needn't run after them--I believe we've plenty of time," said +Verity. "We can almost see the station from here. I say, aren't you +fearfully hungry? I'm literally starving. Let's find a confectioner's +and each buy a bun before we go." + +Both Beatrice and Ingred felt that they required fortifying before they +started for home, so they dived into the nearest pastry-cook's and +demanded buns. They were eating them rather hastily, when Linda Slater +entered the shop in company with a gentleman, evidently her father. She +hailed her class-mates, and at once began to talk over the match and +rejoice at the school victory. + +"Who says we're no good at games now? This has sent up our credit ten +per cent! I'm proud of the Coll.!" + +"Blossom was A1," exulted Verity. + +"And Janie was simply ripping. Dad thought no end of her. Didn't you, +Dad?" + +"Well, I'm glad we made something of a record," admitted Ingred. + +"I say," declared Beatrice, hastily finishing her bun, "if that clock's +right, we must bolt for our train." + +"As a matter of fact, it's one minute slow," exclaimed Linda, consulting +her watch. "You'll have to sprint." + +"Aren't _you_ coming?" + +"No, we have our car here. It's outside." + +"Those girls will hardly catch their train," remarked Mr. Slater to +Linda, as the three went to the pay desk to settle for their buns. +"Couldn't we stow them into the car, and take them along with us?" + +"Oh, no, Dad!" frowned Linda. "There really isn't room. You promised +you'd call at Brantbury and bring Gerald and Eustace back for the +afternoon. We couldn't cram them all in the car!" + +"There isn't time for them to get the train." + +"Oh, yes! You don't know how they can run!" + +Quite unaware of the kindly offer which had been rejected on their +behalf, Beatrice, Verity, and Ingred fled from the shop, and hurried +with all possible speed in the direction of the railway station. They +could see the train coming along the top of the embankment, and it had +drawn up at the platform before they reached the passenger entrance. +They were not the only late comers. It was Saturday, and a crowd of work +people from various factories near were returning to Grovebury. + +In company with a very mixed and motley crew they pushed their way up +the long flight of steps. A collector stood at the top, and just as they +were nearing their goal, he slammed the gate and refused further +admission to the platform. They could hear the whistle, and the general +bumping of chains that betokened the starting of the carriages. They +were exactly half a minute too late! When the train was well out of the +station, the collector once more opened his barrier, and the crowd +surged on. The three girls, who disliked pushing among a rough assembly, +stood on one side to let the people pass by. There was no hurry now, and +no object to be gained by forcing their way ahead. Last of all, +therefore, they presented themselves at the gate. + +"Tickets, please!" repeated the collector automatically. + +All three felt in their pockets, but felt in vain. Return tickets and +purses were alike missing, and even penknives and handkerchiefs had +vanished, Ingred's pocket, indeed, was neatly turned inside out. Here +was a dilemma! They had evidently been robbed on the stairs by a +professional thief, who had appropriated all their portable belongings. +In utter consternation they looked at one another. + +"We've lost our tickets!" faltered Beatrice. + +"They've been stolen!" added Ingred. + +"Do please let us through!" entreated Verity. + +In ordinary circumstances the collector would no doubt have listened to +the girl's story, and taken them to interview the station-master, but +to-day he had to do double duty, and could scarcely cope with the extra +work. He had to deal with crowds, and to keep a sharp eye to see that no +one defrauded the railway company by travelling without paying the fare. +A train was due at the next moment on the other side of the platform, +and his services were urgently required at the opposite exit. + +"Haven't you got your tickets?" he demanded curtly. "Then I must close +the gate. No one's allowed on the platform without tickets." + +The advancing train whistled as it ran through the cutting, and, +disregarding the girls' remonstrances, the official locked the barrier. +He bolted across the line in front of the engine, just in time to take +his place at the other gateway before the rush of passengers began, and +probably never gave another thought to the three whom he had just +excluded. Left shut out on the top of the station steps, the unlucky +trio ruefully reviewed the situation. + +"What _are_ we to do?" demanded Ingred breathlessly. + +"Goodness only knows!" sighed Verity. + +"We're in a very awkward fix!" admitted Beatrice. + +They were much too far from Grovebury to make walking possible. + +"I wonder Miss Giles didn't miss us!" fretted Verity, trying to throw +the blame on somebody. + +"It isn't her fault--fair play to her!" urged Beatrice. "She wasn't +looking after us officially to-day, you know. On Saturdays we're +supposed to be on our own." + +"I lay the blame on buns!" said Ingred. "We'd have kept with the rest of +the school if we hadn't stopped at that confectioner's." + +"Well, it's no use crying over spilt milk now! What we've got to do is +to find some means of getting home. We can't stay here all day." + +"I believe it's not very far to Waverley from Denscourt," ventured +Beatrice. "If we can manage to walk, I know some people who live at a +house there. I'd ask them to lend us our fares, and we could catch a +train at Waverley station." + +The idea seemed feasible, and, as it was the only one that suggested +itself, they unanimously decided to adopt it. They walked down the steps +again, therefore, on to the high road, and, stopping a girl who was +passing, asked the way to Waverley. + +"It's a good four miles by the road, but it's only about two by the +fields," she volunteered in reply. "I think you'd find the path. You go +down the road to the right, and turn through the first gate across a +field to a farm. Then you keep along the river bank, on the left. You +can't miss it." + +To save two miles in their present predicament was a matter of +importance, and they all felt that they would greatly prefer walking +through fields to tramping along a dusty high road. Thanking their +informant, they took her advice, and set off in the direction which she +indicated. After all, the affair was rather an adventure. + +"The Mortons are sure to offer us lunch when we get there," affirmed +Beatrice; "of course we shall be fearfully late home, and our people +will be getting very anxious about us, but we can't help that. I was to +have gone to a matinée of _Carmen_ this afternoon, but it's off, +naturally! I expect Doris will use my ticket, when I don't turn up." + +"I meant to wash our dog when I got back!" laughed Ingred. "He'll have +to look dirty on Sunday, now." + +"And I meant to do a hundred things; but what's the use of talking about +them now?" groaned Verity. "Here's our farm, and that appears to be the +river over there. Didn't that girl say: 'Keep along to the left'? +Perhaps we'd better ask again." + +They verified their instructions from a boy who was standing in the +farmyard, whittling a stick, and trudged away over a stubble field and +through a turnstile gate. It was quite pretty along the path by the +river. There was a tall hedge where hips and haws showed red, and a +grassy border where a few wild flowers still bloomed. The sun shed a +soft golden autumnal haze over the fields and bushes and the lines of +yellow trees. + +The girls rather enjoyed themselves; it was an unexpected country +excursion, and had all the charm of novelty. They walked about half a +mile, chatting about school matters as they went, then suddenly they +were confronted by an alternative. A bridge spanned the river, and the +broad, well-trodden path along which they had come turned over the +bridge. There was indeed a track that continued along the left bank, but +it was over-grown, and looked little used. Which were they to take? + +That was a question which required discussion. + +"The girl said: 'keep along the river bank on the left,'" urged Ingred. + +"Yet the path so plainly goes across here," demurred Verity. + +"That's certainly the left bank, but that way looks as if it led to +nowhere," vacillated Beatrice. + +"Can't we ask anybody?" + +"There isn't a soul in sight." + +"Isn't there a signpost?" + +"Nothing of the sort." + +"Then which way _shall_ we go?" + +"Better take votes on it." + +"Right-o! I'm for 'bypath meadow.'" + +"And I'm for the 'king's highway.'" + +"So am I, so we're two to one!" + +"I'll give in, then," said Ingred, "only I've a sort of feeling we're +going wrong, all the same!" + +The new path led along the opposite bank, and was very much a replica of +the former. It ran on and on for what seemed quite a long distance, but +they met nobody from whom they could inquire the way. For nearly a +quarter of a mile a belt of trees obscured the view, and when at last +the prospect could once more be seen, Beatrice stopped short with a +groan of despair. On the other side of the water was the unmistakable +spire of Waverley church. + +"We've come wrong, after all!" + +"Oh, good night! So we have!" + +"What an absolute swindle!" + +The girls were certainly not in luck that day. They had missed their +path as effectually as they had missed their train. The chimneys of +Waverley were in sight, but separated from them by a wide stream, and +unless they were prepared to wade, swim, or fly, there was no way of +reaching the village. + +"There's nothing for it but to turn back!" + +"Why, but that's _miles_!" + +"Are you sure it's Waverley over there? Can we ask anybody?" + +"No one to ask, worse luck!" + +"Yes, there is! I can see some people coming along in a boat." + +Rendered desperate by the emergency, Ingred struggled through the reeds +to the very edge of the river, and lifted up her voice in an agonized +cry of "Help!" + +A punt was drifting slowly with the current, and its occupants, a lady +and gentleman, looked with surprise at the agitated girl who was hailing +them from the bank. The gentleman at once paddled in her direction, and, +running his little craft among the reeds, inquired what was the matter. + +"Oh, please, is that Waverley over there?" asked Ingred anxiously. +"We've lost our way, and we've walked miles! Is there any bridge near?" + +"That's certainly Waverley, but there's no bridge till you come to one a +mile and a half down stream." + +Ingred's face was tragic. She turned to Beatrice and Verity, who had +joined her. + +"It's no use! We shall have to go back!" + +But the lady was whispering something to the gentleman, and he beckoned +to the girls with a smile. + +"Don't run away!" he said. "Look here, we'll punt you across if you +like." + +"Like!" The girls hardly knew how to express their gratitude. + +"The three of you'd be too heavy a load. I think I'd better take just +one at a time. Can you manage to get in? It's rather swampy here. Give +me your hand!" + +Ingred splashed ankle deep in oozy mud as she scrambled on board, but +that was a trifle compared with the relief of being ferried over the +river. Her knight-errant was neither young nor handsome, being, indeed, +rather bald and stout, but no orthodox interesting hero of fiction could +have been more welcome at the moment. She tendered her utmost thanks as +she landed, again with damage to her shoes, on the rushy bank opposite. +Their friends in need, having successfully punted over Beatrice and +Verity also, bade them a laughing good-bye, and resumed their easy +course down stream, leaving three very grateful girls behind them. + +[Illustration: A FRIEND IN NEED] + +"That's helped us out of a fix! Don't say again we've no luck!" cried +Beatrice, wiping her boots carefully on the grass. + +"They were angels in disguise!" sighed Ingred. + +"Rather stout angels!" chuckled Verity. "Now, how are we going to get +out of this field?" + +"Over the hedge, I suppose. There's a piece of fence that looks +climbable!" returned Beatrice, swinging herself up with elephantine +grace, and dropping with a heavy thud on the other side. "Oh! good biz! +We're on a cinder path!" + +They were indeed in a back lane which led at the bottom of some gardens, +then behind a row of stables, and finally through a gate on to the high +road. + +"I know where we are now!" exclaimed Beatrice gleefully. "It's only +quite a short way to the Morton's. They live in the next terrace but +two. I believe we're within measurable distance of some lunch." + +This was such good news that they strode along in renewed spirits. +Considering all, they thought the adventure was turning out well. A meal +would undoubtedly be most acceptable, if Beatrice's friends were +hospitable enough to offer it. + +"It's the fourth house," said Beatrice, "the one with the copper beech +over the gate. Linden Lea--yes, here we are! Oh, I say, what are all the +blinds down for?" + +The girls faced each other blankly. + +"Is anyone dead?" faltered Ingred. + +"I'll ring and inquire, at any rate," murmured Beatrice. + +So she rang, and rang again and yet again. She could hear the bell +clanging quite plainly and unmistakably somewhere in the back regions, +yet nobody came to the door. + +"It's funny! I don't hear anybody in the house either," she remarked. +"Their dog generally barks at the least sound." + +At that moment a small face peeped over the top of the wall which +divided the garden from that of the next house, and a childish voice +asked: + +"Do you want the Mortons?" + +"Yes. Isn't anybody in?" + +"They're all gone away to Llandudno, for a month." + +"All? Isn't anyone here?" + +"No, the house is locked up." + +Here a warning call of "Willie!" caused their informant to disappear as +suddenly as he had come, but the girls had heard enough. All their hopes +were suddenly blighted. They had arrived at the end of their journey +only to draw a blank. They were indeed in a worse position than when +they had missed the train at Denscourt, for they were farther from home, +and it was much later. Almost ready to cry, they turned down the garden +again. + +"We've got to get home to-night somehow!" said Ingred through her set +teeth. + +"Shall we go to the police station?" quavered Verity. + +"And give ourselves up like lost children? No, it's too undignified! +Wait a moment, I've got an idea!" said Beatrice. "We passed the post +office just now, and I noticed it had a 'Public Telephone.' I'll ring up +Mother and tell her where we are, and ask her to come over for us." + +"But you can't telephone for nothing, and we haven't so much as a +solitary penny amongst us!" + +"I know. I thought I'd explain that to the people at the post office, +and ask them to let me have the call, and Mother will pay when she +comes. I could give them my watch as a security." + +"It's worth trying!" + +So, with just a little grain of hope, they retraced their steps to the +post office, which was also a stationer's and newsagent's. Nobody was in +the shop, but when the girls thumped on the counter a rosy-cheeked young +person appeared from the back regions. + +"Want to telephone without paying? It's against the post office rules," +she snapped, as Beatrice briefly explained the circumstances. + +"My mother will pay when she comes, and if you'd take my watch----" + +"I can't go against post office rules! All calls must be paid for +beforehand. That's our instructions." + +"But just for once----" + +"What's the matter, Doris?" asked a voice, and a kindly-looking little +man emerged from the back parlor, wiping his mouth hastily, and took his +place behind the counter. Beatrice turned to him with eagerness, and +again stated the urgency of their peculiar situation. + +"Well, of course we've our instructions from the post office, and we've +got to account for the calls, but in this particular case we might let +you have one, and pay afterwards," he replied. "Oh, never mind the +watch; it's all right!" + +Beatrice lost no time in ringing up Number 167 Grovebury, and to her +immense delight, when she got the connection, she heard her mother's +voice at the instrument. A short explanation was all that was necessary. + +"Stay where you are at the Waverley post office, and I will get a taxi +and fetch you myself immediately," returned Mrs. Jackson. "It's the +greatest relief to know what has become of you. I was going to ring up +the police station, and describe you as 'missing!'" + +The girls had to wait nearly three-quarters of an hour before the taxi +made its appearance, and the welcome form of Mrs. Jackson stepped out of +it. She paid what was owing for the call, thanked the postmaster for his +civility, and hustled the girls into the conveyance as quickly as +possible. + +"I suppose girls will be girls," she said, "but I think you've been very +silly ones to-day! Why didn't you keep with the rest of the school, as +you ought to have done?" + +"It sounds a most horrible greedy confession," replied Beatrice +guiltily, "but I'm afraid it was all the fault of--buns! They just threw +us late, and we missed the others. We'll never buy buns again! Never! +Never! _O peccavi!_ We have sinned!" + +And she looked so humorously contrite that Mrs. Jackson, who was +inclined to scold, laughed in spite of herself, and forgave the +delinquents. + +"On condition that such a thing doesn't happen again!" she declared. + +"Trust us! We wouldn't go through such an experience again for all the +buns in the world! Next time we'll cling to the College apron strings +like--like----" + +"Like adhesive sticking-plaster!" supplied Ingred gently. + +"Or oysters to a mermaid's tail!" murmured Verity. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +A Hostel Frolic + + +"The Foursome League," which Verity had instituted with her room-mates +at the hostel, was kept by them as a solemn compact. They stuck to one +another nobly, though often in the teeth of great inconvenience. It +generally took three of them to urge Fil through her toilet in the +mornings and drag her down to breakfast in time. She was always so +terribly sleepy at seven o'clock, and so positive that she could whisk +through her dressing in ten minutes, and that it was quite unnecessary +to get up so soon: even when the others mercilessly pulled the +bed-clothes from her, and pointed to their watches, she would dawdle +instead of "whisking," and spend much superfluous time over manicure or +dabbing on cucumber cream to improve her complexion. She was so innocent +about her little vanities, and conducted them with such child-like +complacency, that the girls tolerated them quite good humoredly, and +even assisted sometimes. One of them generally volunteered to brush her +long flaxen hair, and tie her ribbon, and half out of habit the others +would tidy her cubicle, which was apt to be chaotic, and put her things +away in her drawers. They did it almost automatically, for they had come +to look upon Fil somewhat in the light of a big doll, the exclusive +property of "The Foursome League," and to be treated as the mascot of +the dormitory. + +Mrs. Best, the hostel matron, was what the girls called "rather an old +dear." Her gray hair was picturesque, and the knowledge that she had +lost her husband and a son in the war added an element of pathetic +interest to her personality. She was experienced in the ways of girls, +and contrived to keep order without seeming to be constantly obtruding +rules. Among her various sane practices she instituted the plan of +awarding marks for good conduct and order to each dormitory, and +allowing the one which scored the highest to give an entertainment to +the others during the last hour before bedtime on Thursday night. +Naturally this was a privilege to be desired. It was fun to act variety +artistes before the rest of the hostel, and well worth being in time for +meals, preserving silence during prep., or getting up a little earlier +so as to leave cubicles in apple-pie order. The Foursome League had not +yet earned distinction, chiefly owing to lapses on the part of Fil, and +Nora's incorrigible love of talking in season and out of season. One +week, however, after a really heroic series of efforts, they succeeded +in establishing a record, and sat perking themselves at dinner-time when +Mrs. Best read out the score. + +"We've not had you on the boards before," said Susie Wakefield, one of +the Sixth, as the girls filed from the room when the meal was over; +"we're all expecting something extra tiptop and thrillsome, so play up!" + +"Hope we shan't let you down!" replied Ingred. "Please don't expect too +much, or you mayn't get it!" + +Dormitory 2 held a hurried conclave before afternoon school. + +"It's a great stunt!" rejoiced Nora. + +"What _are_ we to act?" fluttered Fil. + +"Especially when we've to play up!" twittered Verity. + +"What silly idiots we were not to plan it all out beforehand! But I +really never dreamt we'd ever get the chance!" + +"No more did I," said Ingred, sitting with her head in her hands, +considering. "On the whole, it doesn't matter. Sometimes a quite +impromptu thing goes off best. It's largely a question of what costumes +we can rake up out of nothing. + +"The cleverer those are, the more we'll get applauded. I've one or two +ideas simmering. Thank goodness it's drawing this afternoon, and I shall +have time to think them over." + +"We'll all think!" agreed Verity. "Then we'll compare notes at four +o'clock, and fix on what we're going to do. Great Minerva! It'll be a +hectic evening! I'm shivering in my shoes!" + +"And I'm absolutely green with stage-fright! What a life!" proclaimed +Fil. + +If Miss Godwin, the drawing-mistress, noticed a slacking off in accuracy +on the part of four of her pupils, that afternoon, she perhaps set it +down to want of artistic feeling. It is difficult to copy with absolute +exactness when only your fingers are busy, and your brain is far away. +Ingred planned enough entertainments to supply a Pierrot troupe for a +month, but abandoned most of them as being quite impossible to act with +the very limited resources that were available at the hostel. At a +select Foursome Committee after school, however, she presented the pick +of the performances, and as nobody else had thought of anything better, +or indeed quite so good, her suggestions, with a few amendments and +alterations, were carried unanimously. + +At eight o'clock that evening, when preparation was finished, the +boarders' room was rapidly transformed into an amateur theater. The +trestle tables were carried to one end to form the gallery, rows of +chairs represented the dress circle, and cushions in front either the +pit or the stalls, according to individual taste, or, as Mrs. Best said, +the behavior of the occupants. + +There was no curtain, but, as the scenery preserved Shakespearian +methods of simplicity, that did not matter. Part of the charm of these +Thursday night entertainments was their absolutely spontaneous +character, and the fact that many details had to be left to the +imagination of the spectators only made things more amusing. + +When the audience, after a slight struggle for gallery seats, had +settled itself, and Mrs. Best and Nurse Warner had taken possession of +the arm-chairs specially reserved for them, Dollie Ransome, who had been +requisitioned by the performers to act as Greek chorus, placed some +stools by the fire-place, and announced importantly: + +"King Alfred and the Cakes. A Historical Drama." + +The little old woman who entered, carrying some sticks and a basin, was +difficult to identify as Fil. Her fair hair had been powdered, wrinkles +were painted on her smooth forehead, a handkerchief was knotted on her +head for a cap, and she wore an apron borrowed from the cook, and a +check table-cover arranged as a shawl. She bestowed the sticks in the +fender to represent a fire on the hearth, and taking some biscuits from +her basin, placed them amongst the supposed embers, indulging meanwhile +in a soliloquy about the hardness of the times for poor folk, and the +danger from the Danes. + +A violent knocking on the door was followed by the entrance of such a +magnificent object that the spectators immediately applauded his advent. +Nora, with her large build, short-cut hair, and generally boyish +appearance, was the very one to act King Alfred. She had folded a plaid +traveling rug into a kilt which reached just to her bare knees, borrowed +a velvet coatee and a leather belt from Mrs. Best, and, by the aid of +bandages from the ambulance cupboard, had made quite a good imitation of +Saxon leg-gear. Armed with a bow and arrows, hastily constructed from +twigs cut in the garden, she advanced with a manly stride, begged for +hospitality, and was accommodated with a stool by the hearth, where she +sat whittling arrows in an abstracted fashion, and heaving gusty sighs. + +The audience had hardly recovered from its astonishment when it was +thrilled again by the entrance of an ancient and elderly peasant man, so +disguised that it was almost impossible to recognize Ingred. A +water-proof with a broad leather belt served as coat, and, being padded +inside with a pillow, gave the effect of bent and bowed shoulders. Some +tow, supplied by Mrs. Best, was fastened as a long straggling beard, and +bushy eyebrows of the same material were fixed on with soap. Leaning +heavily upon a stick, he came limping in, complaining in a tremulous +voice of his rheumatism, started with amazement at the sight of the +handsome stranger seated by his hearth, and drew his wife aside for +explanations. The old couple, after conversing in audible whispers, +decided to go out for more firewood, and as a last charge the dame +commended her cakes to the care of their guest. King Alfred, on being +left alone by the hearth, whittled away at his arrows with more energy +than discrimination, and showed indeed a sad lack of practical skill for +so well seasoned a warrior. Perhaps, however, he was not accustomed to +have to make them for himself, and missed his chief archer. Throwing +them down at last, he sank his head in his hands in an absolute cinema +pose of despondency, and sighed to an extent which must have been +painful to his lungs. The dame returned to sniff burning cakes and fly +to the rescue of her cookery. Fil was quite a good little actress, and +produced what she considered her _pièce de résistance_. She had spent +her summer holidays in Somerset, and had there picked up a local ballad +which dealt with the legend in dialect. She brought out a verse of it +now with great effect: + + "Cusn't ee zee the ca-akes, man? + And cusn't ee zee 'em burrn? + I'se warrant ee eat 'em fast enough, + Zoon as it be ee turn!" + +And catching up a biscuit, carefully blackened beforehand by toasting it +over the gas, she flaunted it in the face of the embarrassed monarch. + +The dramatic situation was slightly spoilt by the delay in the entrance +of the courtier, who ought to have come in at that psychological moment, +and didn't. The fact was that Verity, finding it dull waiting in the +passage, had run upstairs to make some additions to her costume, and had +miscalculated the length, or rather shortness, of the act. It is +difficult for the most accomplished actor to go on looking embarrassed +for any length of time, and as Fil's eloquence in the scolding line +suddenly failed her, there was an awful pause while the peasant husband, +with wonderful agility considering his rheumatism, hopped to the door +and called agitatedly for the missing performer. The courtier flew +downstairs like a whirlwind, tripped into the room, and fell upon his +red-stockinged knees to do homage to his sovereign, who rose +majestically and extended a hand of pardon to the now grovelling +peasant. + +The audience, particularly that portion seated in the gallery, clapped +and cheered to such an extent that one of the trestles, which had been +carelessly fixed, collapsed, and sent a whole row of girls sliding on to +the floor, whence they were rescued speechless with laughter, but +uninjured. They came crowding round the performers to admire the +costumes. + +"They're topping!" + +"How _did_ you think of them?" + +"I like King Alfred's legs!" + +"Ingred, you look about a hundred!" + +"Fil _could_ scold!" + +"Verity, what was a courtier doing rambling about a forest in a blue +dressing-gown? It would get torn on the bushes!" + +"I know. We told her so, but she _would_ wear it!" declared Ingred. "She +was just pig-headed over that dressing-gown!" + +"Well, go and look at the Saxon pictures for yourself, in the history +book!" retorted Verity, sticking to her point. "You'll see the courtiers +in long flowing garments very like dressing-gowns. I think it was a +capital idea, and the best I could do. There wasn't another rug for the +kilt anyhow, and when other people have taken the best parts and the +nicest costumes, you've just got to put up with anything you can find +that's left." + +"You did it so well," Ingred assured her hastily, for Verity had gone +very pink, and her voice sounded distinctly offended. "I thought the way +you dropped on one knee and cried: 'My liege lord! I am your humble +socman!' was most impressive. What made you think of 'socman'?" + +"Got it out of the history book," said Verity, slightly mollified. "It +means a man who owned land, but wasn't quite as high up as a thane. I +meant to bring in some more Saxon words, but I hadn't time." + +"You must win the dormitory score again, and give us another +performance," urged Mrs. Best. "I'm afraid it's too late for any more +to-night, though we're all sorry to stop. Those juniors ought to be in +bed. Janie and Doreen, if you'd like a quiet half-hour to finish your +prep. you may go into my room. Somebody put the tables back, please, and +be sure the trestles are in their right places this time, we don't want +another collapse! Phyllis, your cough's worse. Nurse shall rub your +chest with camphorated oil, and you mustn't kiss anybody. Betty too? +I'll give you a lozenge, but don't suck it lying down in bed, in case +you choke." + +So saying, Mrs. Best, who generally mothered the hostel, dismissed her +large family and bustled away with Nurse to superintend the putting to +bed of the juniors and the due care of those who might be regarded as +even ever so slightly on the sick list. It was perhaps owing to the +excitement of their spirited performance that the members of No. 2 +Dormitory could not get to sleep that night. They all lay wide awake in +bed, and told each other tales about burglars, in whispers. Verity's +stories were blood-curdling in the extreme; she was a great reader, and +had got them from magazines. Her three room-mates listened with cold +shivers running down their spines. According to Verity's accounts it was +a common and every day occurrence for a house-breaker to force an +entrance, murder the occupants, and depart, leaving a case to baffle the +police until some amateur detective turned up and solved the mystery. + +"Has it ever struck you that the hostel would be a very easy place to +burgle?" asked Fil. "Those French windows have no shutters, and the +glass could be cut with a diamond." + +"Or the doors could be opened with a skeleton key!" quavered Nora. + +"I suppose they generally wear goloshes, so as to tread softly," +ventured Ingred. + +"Wouldn't it be dreadful," continued Verity, whose mind still ran on +magazine stories, "to marry a fascinating man whom you'd met by chance, +and then find out that he was a gentleman-burglar? What would you do?" + +"It often happens on the cinema," said Nora. "The girl wavers about in +an agony whether to tell or not, and wrings her hands and rolls her +eyes, like they always _do_ roll them on the films, and then, just when +things are at the very last gasp, the husband tumbles over a precipice, +or is wrecked at sea, or smashed in a railway accident, and she marries +the other, who's as good as gold, and loved her first." + +"Is the man who loves you first always as good as gold?" asked Fil. + +"Well, generally on the Pictures. He's loved you as a child, you see. +You come on the film hand in hand, in socks, and he gives you his +apple." + +"But suppose they don't love you from a child?" said Fil plaintively. +"I've only known a lot of horrid little boys whom I didn't care for in +the least. None of them ever gave me his apple, though I remember one +taking mine. Is the first fascinating man I meet the true lover or the +burglar? How am I to know which is which?" + +"You'd better let me be there to decide for you, child, or you'll be +snapped up by the first adventurer that comes along," declared Nora. +"Don't trust him if he has a mustache. 'Daring Dick of the Black Gang' +had a little twisted mustache like Mephistopheles in 'Faust'." + +"Oh dear! And the last piece I saw on the Pictures, the villain was +clean shaven! That's no guide at all!" + +"Girls, you're breaking the silence rule!" said Mrs. Best, opening the +door of Dormitory 2, where the conversation, which had begun in +whispers, had risen to a pitch audible on the landing outside. "This +doesn't look like scoring again next week, and giving another +performance. Why, Nora, the rain's driving through that open window +straight on to your bed! You'll be getting rheumatism! I shall shut it, +and leave the door wide open for air instead. Now be good girls and go +to sleep at once. Don't let me hear any more talking." + +The Foursomes, in common with most of the hostel, were fond of Mrs. +Best, so they turned over obediently, and composed themselves to +slumber. They were really tired by this time, and dropped off into the +land of Nod before the clock on the stairs had chimed another quarter. +How long she slept, Ingred did not know. She dreamt quite a long and +circumstantial dream of wandering on the cliffs near the sea with a +gentleman-burglar, who was telling her his intention of raiding +Buckingham Palace and taking away the Crown Jewels, and she heard his +daring designs (as we always do in dreams) without the slightest +surprise or any suggestion that the Crown Jewels are kept at the Tower +instead of at Buckingham Palace. She woke suddenly, and laughed at the +absurdity of the idea. She felt hot, and threw back her eiderdown. The +other girls were sleeping quietly, and the rain was still beating +against the window in heavy showers, for it was a stormy night. The door +of the bedroom stood wide open. What was that sound coming up the stairs +from the hall below? It was certainly not the ticking of the clock. It +seemed more like muffled and stealthy footsteps. In an instant Ingred +was very wide awake indeed, and listening intently. There it came again! +She could not lie still and ignore it. She got out of bed, and with +rather shaking knees walked on to the landing and peeped over the +banisters. There was a tiny oil-lamp hanging on the wall; it faintly +illuminated the stairs. Was that somebody moving about in the darkness +of the hall? If it was a burglar, he certainly must not come upstairs, +or she would die of fright. An idea occurred to her, and acting on a +sudden impulse she dashed into Dormitory 2, roused the others, and told +them to snatch what missiles they could, and hurry to her aid. + +"We'll fling things at him if he tries to come up!" she gasped, groping +for her boots. + +It was a horrible experience: four nervous, quaking girls stood in the +dim light on the landing gazing down into the haunted blackness of the +shadowy hall. The sounds had ceased temporarily, but now they began +again--a distinct shuffling as of footsteps, and even a subdued sniff, +then the outline of a dark figure made its appearance, bearing straight +for the stairs. + +With quite commendable bravery Ingred flung her boots at it, which +missiles were instantly followed by Nora's hairbrush, Fil's dispatch +case, and Verity's pillow. It screamed in a most unburglar-like voice, +and apparently with genuine fright. + +"If you t-t-t-try to c-c-come nearer, I'll sh-sh-shoot you dead!" +quavered Ingred, wishing she had at least some semblance of a pistol to +bluff with. + +"What _are_ you doing, girls?" replied the dark shadow, persisting in +its movement towards the staircase, and, as it came into the faint +circle of radiance spread by the lamp, resolving itself into the +familiar form of Nurse Warner. "Have you suddenly gone mad?" + +Here was a situation! The four girls flew back to their dormitory in +great haste, especially as Mrs. Best, disturbed by the noise, had opened +her door and come on to the scene in a pink-and-gray dressing-gown. They +were followed, however, by both Matron and Nurse, and forced to give an +explanation of their extraordinary conduct. + +"I couldn't sleep for the wind, so I put on my felt slippers and my +cloak, and went downstairs for a biscuit," declared Nurse Warner, whose +voice sounded rather aggrieved. "I didn't think I should disturb +anybody." + +"You girls are the limit with your silly notions!" said Mrs. Best, +really angry for once. "If you fill your heads with absurd ideas about +burglars before you go to sleep, of course you can imagine anything. If +I hear any more talking in No. 2 another night after the lights are out, +I shall separate you, and send each of you to sleep in another +dormitory. I'll not have the house upset like this! So you know what to +expect. Are you all in your beds? Then not another word!" + +"It's very uncomfy without my pillow!" whispered naughty Verity, in +distinct disobedience to this mandate, as the door of Mrs. Best's room +closed. "Dare I go and fetch it?" + +"Sh! Sh! No!" + +"I know what we'll give Nursie for a Christmas present," murmured Fil +softly. "A nice ornamental tin box of biscuits to keep in her bedroom. +She shan't get hungry in the night again, poor dear!" + +"_Sh! Sh! Will_ you go to sleep!" warned Ingred emphatically. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +The Whispering Stones + + +The Saxon family had squeezed themselves and certain of their +possessions into the little home at Wynch-on-the-Wold, and while flowers +still bloomed in the garden and apples hung ripe on the trees it seemed +a kind of continuation of their summer holiday; but as the novelty wore +off, and stormy weather came on, their altered circumstances began to be +more evident. Most of us can make a plucky fight against fate at +first--there had been something rather romantic about retiring to the +bungalow--but the plain prose of the proceeding was yet to come, and +there were certainly many disadvantages to be faced. Mr. Saxon was +worried about business affairs; he was a proud, sensitive man, and felt +it a great "come down" to be obliged to resign Rotherwood, and the +social position it had stood for, and confess himself to the world as +one of the "newly poor." It was humiliating to have to walk or take a +tram where he had formerly used his car in fulfilling his professional +engagements, hard not to be able to entertain his friends, and perhaps +hardest of all to be obliged to refuse subscriptions to the numerous +charities in the town where his name had always stood conspicuously upon +the liberal list. His temper, never his strongest point, suffered under +the test, and he would come home from Grovebury in the evenings tired +out, moody and fretful, and inclined to find fault with everything and +everybody. + +It took all his wife's sunny sweetness of disposition to keep the home +atmosphere cheerful and peaceful, for Egbert also had a temper, and was +bitterly disappointed at not being sent to Cambridge, and at having to +settle down in the family office instead. Father and son did not get on +remarkably well together. Mr. Saxon, like many parents, pooh-poohed his +boy's business efforts, and would sometimes--to Egbert's huge +indignation--point out his mistakes before the clerks. He would declare, +in a high and mighty way, that his own son should not receive special +preference at the office, and so overdid his attitude of impartiality +that he contrived to give him a worse time than any of his other +articled pupils. + +Athelstane, who had begun his medical course at the University of +Birkshaw, also had his troubles. He had hoped to study at Guy's Hospital +in preparation for the London M.D., and to an ambitious young fellow it +was hard to be satisfied with a provincial degree. The thirty-mile motor +ride to and from Birkshaw soon lost its charm, and the difficulties of +home study in the evenings were great in a bungalow with thin partition +walls and a family not always disposed to quiet. As a rule, he kept his +feelings to himself, but he went about with a depressed look, and got +into a habit of lifting his eyebrows which was leaving permanent lines +on a hitherto smooth and unwrinkled forehead. + +Pretty Quenrede, who had just left school, was going through the awkward +phase of discovering her individuality. At the College, with a full +program of lessons and games, she had followed the general lead of the +form. Now, cast upon her own resources, she was quite vague as to any +special bent or taste. The war-time occupations which had tempted her +imagination were no longer available, and _Careers for Women_ did not +attract her, even if family funds had run to the necessary training. So, +for the present, she stayed at home, going once a week to the School of +Art at Grovebury, and practicing singing in a rather desultory fashion. +Though she pretended to be glad she was an emancipated young lady, as a +matter of fact she missed school immensely, and was finding life +decidedly slow and tame. + +With their elders palpably dissatisfied, Ingred and Hereward would have +been hardly human if they had not raised some personal grievances of +their own to grumble at, and matters would often have been dismal enough +at the bungalow but for Mrs. Saxon's happy capacity for looking on the +bright side of things. The whole household centered round "Mother." She +was a woman in a thousand. Naturally it had hurt her to relinquish +Rotherwood, and it grieved her--for the girls' sake--that most of her +old acquaintances in Grovebury had not troubled to pay calls at +Wynchcote. The small rooms, the one maid from the Orphanage, the +necessity of doing much of the housework herself, the difficulties of +shopping on a limited purse, and her husband's fretfulness and +fault-finding, might have soured a less unselfish disposition: she had +married, however, "for better or for worse," and took the altered +circumstances with cheery optimism. She was a great lover of nature and +of scenery, and the nearness of the moors, with their ever-changing +effects of storm and sunshine, and the opportunities they gave for the +study of birds and insects, proved compensation for some of the things +which life otherwise lacked. + +Every morning, after the fuss of getting off the family to their several +avocations, she would run down the garden, and stand for a few minutes +by the wall that overlooked the moor, watching great shafts of sunlight +fall from a gray sky on to brown wastes of heather and bracken, +listening to the call of the curlews or to the trilling autumn warble of +the robin, perched on the red-berried hawthorn bush. Kind Mother Nature +could always soothe her spirits, and send her back with fresh courage +for the day's work. And, in the evening, when husband and children came +home to fire and lamp-light, she had generally some nature notes to tell +them, or some amusing little incident to make them laugh and forget +their various woes and worries. + +"I'm so glad, Muvvie dear, you're not a melancholy lugubrious person!" +said Ingred once. "It would be _so_ trying if you sat at the tea-table +and sighed." + +"Humor is the salt of life," smiled Mrs. Saxon. "We may just as well get +all the fun out of the little daily happenings. Even 'the orphan' has +her bright side!" + +As "the orphan" was a temporary member of the Wynchcote establishment +she merits a word of description. She came from an institution in the +neighborhood, and, being the only servant procurable at the time, was +tolerated in spite of a terrible propensity for smashing plates, and for +carolling at the very pitch of a nasal voice. She was a rough, +good-tempered girl, devoted to Minx, the cat, and really kind if anybody +had a headache or toothache, but quite without any sense of +discrimination: she would show a traveling hawker into the drawing-room, +and leave the clergyman standing on the doorstep, took the best +serviettes to wipe the china, scoured the silver with Monkey Brand Soap, +and systematically bespattered the kitchen tablecloth with ink. Her love +of music was a terrible trial to the medical student of the family on +Saturday morning, when he was endeavoring to read at home. + +"Carlyle says somewhere: 'Give, oh, give me a man who sings at his +work!'" growled Athelstane one day, bursting forth from his den to +complain of the nuisance, "but I bet the old buffer didn't write that +sentiment with a maid-servant howling popular songs in the next room. +According to all accounts he loathed noise and couldn't even stand the +crowing of a cock. I should call that bit of eloquence just bunkum. If +the orphan doesn't stop this voice-production business I shall have to +go and slay her. How _can_ a fellow study in the midst of such a racket? +Where's the Mater? Down in Grovebury? I suppose that accounts for it. +While the cat's away, &c." + +"Hardly complimentary to compare your maternal relative to a cat!" +chuckled Ingred. "Stop the orphan if you can, but you might as well try +to stop the brook! She's quiet for five minutes then bursts out into +song again like a chirruping cricket or a croaking corn-crake. I want to +spiflicate her myself sometimes." + + "'Late last night I slew my wife, + Stretched her on the parquet flooring; + I was loath to take her life, + But I _had_ to stop her snoring!'" + +quoted Hereward from _Ruthless Rhymes_. + +"Look here!" said Quenrede, emerging from the kitchen with a half-packed +lunch basket. "We three are taking sandwiches, and going for a good old +tramp over the moors. Why not drop your work for once and come with us? +You look as if you needed a holiday." + +"I've a beast of a headache," admitted Athelstane. + +"You want fresh air, not study," decreed Quenrede with sisterly +firmness, "and I shall just make some extra sandwiches and put another +apple in the basket. With mother out, the orphan will carol all the +morning, unless you gag her, so you may as well accept the inevitable." + +"Cut and run, in fact!" added Hereward. + +"The voice of the siren tempts me to go--to escape the voice of the +siren who stays!" wavered Athelstane. + +"Oh, come along, old sport!" urged Ingred. "What are a few old bones to +Red Ridge Barrow? You can swat to-night to make up, if you want to." + +"It's three to one!" said Athelstane, giving way gracefully; "and there +mayn't be any more fine Saturdays for walks." + +The four young people started forth with the delightful sense of having +the day before them. It was fairly early, and a hazy November sun had +not yet drawn the moisture from the heather. On the moor the few trees +were bare, but the golden autumn leaves still clothed the woods in the +sheltered valley that stretched below. Masses of gossamer covered with +dew-drops lay among the bracken, like fairies' washing hung out to dry. +There was a hint of hoarfrost under the bushes. The air had that +delicious invigorating quality when every breath sets the body dancing. +It was too late in the year for flowers, though here and there a little +gorse lingered, or a few buttercups and hawkweeds. After about an hour +of red haziness the sun pierced the bank of mist and shone out +gloriously, almost as in summer; the birds, ready to snatch a moment's +joy, were flitting about tweeting and calling, a water-wagtail took a +bath in a shallow pool of a stream, and a great flock of bramblings, +rare visitors in those parts, paused in their migration to hold a +chattering conference round an old elder tree. + +The Saxons were determined to-day to go farther afield than their walks +had hitherto taken them. The local guide-book mentioned some prehistoric +menhirs and a chambered barrow on the top of Red Ridge, a distant hill, +so they had fixed that as their Mecca. + +It was a considerable tramp, but the bracing air helped them on, and +they sat down at last to eat their lunch by the side of the path that +led to the summit. The boys had wished to mount to the top without +calling a halt, but the girls had struck, and insisted on a rest before +the final climb. + +"Pity Mother isn't here!" said Ingred, voicing the general feeling of +the family, which always missed its central pivot. + +"Yes, but it would have been too great a trapse for her, poor darling!" +qualified Quenrede. "I don't see how we could get her all this way +unless we hired a pony." + +"Or borrowed an aeroplane. One seems about as possible as the other," +grunted Ingred. + +"She shall have a photo of the stones at any rate," said Hereward, +fingering his camera. "Hurry up and finish, you girls, or the light will +be gone!" + +"Well, we can't bolt our sandwiches at the rate you do! I wonder you +don't choke!" + +The old gray stones stood in a circle on the top of the hill, from +whence they had possibly seen four thousand summers and winters pass by. +Whether their original purpose was temple, astronomical observatory, or +both is one of the riddles of antiquarian research, for neolithic man +left no record of his doings beyond the weapons buried with him in his +barrow. Legend, however, like a busy gossip, had stepped in and supplied +points upon which history was silent. Traditions of the neighborhood +explained the menhirs as twelve giants turned into stone by the magic +powers of good King Arthur, who, in defiance of the claims of the isle +of Avalon, was supposed to be buried in a hitherto unexplored chamber of +the large green mound that stood near. Sometimes, so the story ran, the +giants whispered to one another, and any one who came there alone at +daybreak on May morning might glean much useful information regarding +the personal appearance of his or her future lover. As it was obviously +difficult to reach so out-of-the-way a spot at such a very early hour, +the oracles were seldom consulted at the one and only moment when they +were supposed to whisper. There were reputed, however, to be other and +easier means of gleaning knowledge from them. Ingred, who had been +priming herself with local lore, confided details of the occult +ceremonial to Quenrede. + +"It sounds rather thrillsome!" admitted that damsel doubtfully. "I'd +really like to try it, only the boys would tease me to death. You know +what they are!" + +"They're going over there to photograph the cromlech. You'd have time +before they come back." + +"Shall I?" + +"Go on!" + +"Tell me again what to do." + +"You let your hair down, and walk bareheaded in and out and in and out +round all the circle of stones. Then you put an offering of flowers on +that biggest stone--the Giant King, he's called--and throw a pebble into +the little pool below. You count the bubbles that come up--one for A, +two for B, &c.,--and they'll give you the initial of your future lover. +With _very_ great luck, you might see his shadow in the pool, but that +does not often happen." + +"I don't believe in it, of course, but I'll try for fun! The Giant King +won't get much in the way of a bouquet to-day!" + +Quenrede, protesting her scepticism, but all the same palpably enjoying +the magic experiment, picked an indifferent nosegay of the few +buttercups, hawkweeds, and late pieces of scabious which were the only +flowers available. Then she removed her hair-pins, and, letting down a +shower of flaxen hair, commenced her winding pilgrimage among the old +gray stones. There is a vein of superstition in the most modern of +minds, and she was probably following a custom that had come down the +ages from the days when our primitive ancestresses clothed themselves in +skins and twisted their prehistoric locks with pins of mammoth ivory. +In and out and in and out, with Ingred, like an attendant priestess, +behind her, she performed the necessary itinerary, and laid her floral +offering upon what may have been the remains of a neolithic altar. The +pool below was dark and boggy and brown with peat. She took a good-sized +pebble, and flung it into the middle with a terrific splash. Ingred, +giggling nervously, counted the bubbles. + +"A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I--It's 'I,' Queenie! No, there's another! It's +'J'! It's going to be 'J,' old sport! Aren't you thrilled? Oh, I say! +Whoever on earth is that?" + +Following the direction of her sister's eyes, Quenrede looked through a +veil of wind-blown hair, to see, standing among the stones, a stranger +of the opposite sex, garbed in tweed knickers and leather gaiters. One +glance was enough. The next second she turned, and beat a hurried and +ignominious retreat to the sheltered side of the green mound. Ingred, +panting in the rear, followed her to cover. + +Quenrede, very pink in the face, sat down on a clump of heather and +immediately began to put up her hair. + +"I never felt such an idiot in my life!" she confided with energy to her +sympathetic audience of one. "Ingred! That man knew what I was doing! I +saw the horrid amusement in his face. He was laughing at me for all he +was worth. I _know_ he was!" + +At eighteen it is an overwhelming matter to be laughed at. Quenrede's +newly-developed dignity was decidedly wounded. + +"After all, it was a very schoolgirlish thing to do," she remarked, +sticking in hair-pins as well as she could without a mirror. "Do you +think he's still there? I shall stop here till he marches off." + +"I'll go and prospect," said Ingred. + +She came back with the bad news that not only was the stranger still +there, but he was actually in close and apparently familiar conversation +with Athelstane and Hereward, who were calling loudly for their sisters, +and to confirm her words came distant jodellings of: + +"Ingred!" + +"Queenie!" + +"Where are you girls?" + +There was nothing for it but to come forth from their retreat. It was +impossible to stay hidden forever. Quenrede issued as nonchalantly as +she could, with her hair tucked under her tam-o'-shanter, and her gloves +on. She bowed instead of shaking hands when Athelstane introduced Mr. +Broughten, a fellow-student of his college; it seemed a more grown-up +and superior attitude to adopt. She thought his eyes twinkled, but she +preserved such an air of stand-off dignity that he promptly suppressed +any undue inclinations towards mirth, and stood looking the epitome of +grave politeness. + +"Broughten knows all about the old barrow," Athelstane explained. "He's +got a candle with him--we were duds not to bring one ourselves--and he's +going to act showman. Come along!" + +The entrance into the mound was through a low doorway with lintel and +posts of unhewn stone. Inside was a kind of central hall with three +rudely-constructed chambers leading out of it. A pile of rough stones in +front seemed to point to further chambers. + +"That part's never been explored yet," said Mr. Broughten. "Some of us +want to tackle it some day, if we can get permission, but it's a big +job. You don't want to bring the barrow down on your head, and be buried +in the ruins! I never think the roof looks too secure," he added easily, +poking at the stones above with his stick. + +The girls, aghast at the notion of a possible subsidence, made a hasty +exit to the open air, and hovered near the entrance in much agitation of +mind till the rest of the party made a safe reappearance. Their +conductor, with a side glance at the bunch of flowers--which Quenrede +ignored--made some reference to the Giant King stone and his whispering +companions: he was evidently well versed in all old traditions, though +he refrained from mentioning local practices. He walked part of the way +home with the Saxons before he branched off to the place where he had +left his bicycle. + +[Illustration: "YOU LOOK _NICE_--YOU DO _REALLY_, WITH YOUR HAIR DOWN"] + +"You look _nice_--you do, _really_, with your hair down," said Ingred to +Quenrede that night, as the latter sat wielding her hairbrush at +bedtime. "And you needn't be afraid anybody would mistake you for a +flapper. Why, Harry Scampton actually asked Hereward the other day if +you were married! By the by," she added wickedly, "do you know I've +ascertained that Mr. Broughten's Christian name begins with 'J.' Whether +'John' or 'James' I can't say!" + +"I don't care if it's Jehosaphat!" snorted Queenie. "I've told you +already he doesn't interest me in the least!" + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +On Strike + + +It was about this time that a general spirit of trouble and +dissatisfaction seemed to creep into the school. How and where it +started nobody knew, any more than one can trace the origin of influenza +germs. There is no epidemic more catching than grumbling, however, and +the complaint spread rapidly. It had the unfortunate effect of reacting +upon itself. The fact that the girls were restive made the teachers more +strict, and that in its turn produced fresh complaints. Miss Burd, +careful for the cause of discipline, made a new rule that any form +showing a record of a single cross for conduct would be debarred for a +week from the use of the asphalt tennis-courts, a decidedly drastic +measure, but one that in her opinion was necessary to meet the +emergency. + +Though the disorder was mostly among the juniors, Va was not +altogether immune from the microbe. It really began with a quarrel +between Ingred and Beatrice Jackson. The latter was a type of girl +common enough in all large schools. She was not always scrupulously +honorable over her work, but she liked to curry favor with the +mistresses. She copied her exercises shamelessly, would surreptitiously +look up words in the midst of unseen Latin translation, and was capable +not only of other meannesses, but sometimes of a downright deliberate +fib. She and Ingred were at such opposite poles that they did not +harmonize well together. In the old days, with visions of parties at +Rotherwood, Beatrice had at least been civil, but now that there seemed +no further prospect of being asked to pleasant entertainments, she had +turned round and treated Ingred with scant politeness in general, and +sometimes with deliberate rudeness. Little things that perhaps we laugh +at afterwards, hurt very much at the time, and Ingred was passing +through an ultra sensitive phase. During the latter part of that autumn +term she detested Beatrice. + +One day Miss Burd announced that on the following Saturday there was to +be a match played in a suburb of Grovebury between two first-class +ladies' hockey clubs. She suggested that it might be of advantage to +some of the girls to go and watch it, and proposed that each of the +upper forms should elect one of their number as special reporter to +write an account of the match which could be read aloud afterwards in +school. The idea rather struck them. + +"It's Finbury Wanderers _versus_ Hilton," said Linda Slater, "and +they're both jolly good, I know. Wish I could have gone myself, but I'm +booked already for Saturday." + +"Heaps of us are," said Cicely Denham. + +"We'd like to hear about it, though," added Kitty Saunders. "I call it +rather a brain wave to choose a reporter." + +"Hands up any girls who are free on Saturday!" called Beatrice Jackson. + +The announcement had been made rather late, so most of the form already +had engagements for the holiday. Only six hands were raised, belonging +respectively to Ingred Saxon, Avie Irving, Avis Marlowe, Francie Hall, +Bess Haselford, and Beatrice Jackson herself. + +"A poor muster for Va!" remarked Kitty. "As Ingred's our +warden, I should think she'd better write the report." + +"The Finbury ground is a horribly awkward place to get to," put in +Beatrice. "I suppose you'll motor there, Ingred." + +"We have no car now," confessed Ingred, turning very red, for she was +sure that Beatrice knew that fact only too well, and had brought it into +prominence on purpose to humiliate her. + +"Oh! I suppose you'll be motoring, Bess? Couldn't you give some of us a +lift?" + +"I believe I could take you all," replied Bess pleasantly. "Of course I +shall have to ask Dad first if I may have the car out on Saturday, but I +don't expect he'll say no." + +"Oh, what sport! We'll come, you bet. Look here, I beg to propose that +Bess Haselford writes the report of the match." + +"And I second it," declared Francie. "Hands up, girls! Bess shall be +'boss' for this show." + +Half the girls in the room had not heard Kitty's proposal that Ingred +should be chosen, and some of the others, listening imperfectly, had +gathered that she was not able to go to the match, so without giving her +a further thought they raised hands in favor of Bess, and the matter was +carried. + +"But indeed I'm no good at writing or describing things!" protested +Bess. + +"Yes, you are! You've got to try, so there!" cried her friends +triumphantly. "You'll do it just as well as anybody else would." + +Ingred turned away with a red-hot spot raging under her blouse. That +she, the warden of the form, should have been passed over in favor of a +girl whose sole qualification seemed to be that she could offer some of +the others a lift in her car, was a very nasty knock. Was Bess to +supplant her in everything? + +"Perhaps you'd like to make her warden instead of me!" she remarked +bitterly to Belle Charlton, who stood near. "I'm perfectly willing to +resign if you're tired of me!" + +Belle only giggled and poked Joanna Powers, who said: + +"Don't be nasty, Ingred! Bess is a sport, and we most of us like her." + +"I can't see the attraction myself!" snapped Ingred. + +She did not want to go to the hockey match now, and made up her mind +obstinately that nothing in this wide world should decoy her to it. Bess +came to school next morning armed with full permission to use her +father's car and to invite as many of her schoolfellows as it would +accommodate. She cordially pressed Ingred to join the party. + +"I'm not going to the match, thanks," replied the latter frigidly. + +"But there's heaps of room--there is indeed, without a frightful +squash." + +"There's something I want to do at home on Saturday." + +"Couldn't you do it in the morning? The form will be disappointed if you +don't go--and, I say----" (shyly) "I wish you'd write that wretched +report instead of me. I hate the idea of doing it!" + +"The form won't care twopence whether I go or stay away, and as they've +chosen you to write the report you'll have to write it or it'll be left +undone," retorted Ingred perversely. + +Bess, looking decidedly hurt, turned away. Her little efforts at +friendship with Ingred were invariably met in this most ungracious +fashion. She could not understand why her kindly-meant advances should +always be so systematically repulsed. Ingred, on her part, stalked off +with the mean feeling of one who at bottom knows she is in the wrong, +but won't acknowledge it even to herself. Under the sub-current of +indignation she realized that she would have liked Bess immensely if +only the latter had not taken up her residence at Rotherwood. That, +however, was an offense which she deemed it quite impossible ever to +forgive. + +Ingred went about her work that morning in a very scratchy mood, so much +so as to attract the attention of Miss Strong, who possibly felt a +little prickly herself, since even teachers have their phases of temper. +It was at that time a fashion in the form for the girls to keep all +sorts of absurd mascots inside their desks, the collecting and +comparison of which afforded them huge satisfaction. Now Miss Strong +happened to be lecturing on "The Age of Elizabeth," a subject so +congenial to her that she was generally most interesting. But to-day she +had reached a rather dry and arid portion of that famous reign, and even +her powers of description failed for once and the lesson became a mere +catalogue of events and dates. Ingred, bored stiff with listening, +secretly opened her desk, and, taking a selection of treasures from it, +began to fondle them surreptitiously upon her lap. It was, of course, a +quite illegal thing to do. She glanced at them occasionally, but for the +most part kept her eyes upon her teacher. Beatrice, however, who sat +near and had an excellent view of Ingred's lap, gazed at it with such +persistent and marked attention that she attracted the notice of Miss +Strong, who followed the direction of her looks and pounced upon the +offender. + +"Ingred Saxon, what have you there? Bring those things to me immediately +and put them on my desk!" + +With a crimson face Ingred obeyed, and handed over into the teacher's +custody: + + 1. A black velvet cat. + + 2. A small golliwog. + + 3. A piece of four-leaved clover. + + 4. A stone with a hole in it. + + 5. An ivory pig. + +Miss Strong smiled cynically. + +"At fifteen years of age," she remarked, "I should have thought a girl +would have advanced a little further than playthings of this +description. The Kindergarten would evidently be a more fit form for you +than Va! You lose five order marks." + +Five order marks! Ingred gasped with amazed indignation. One at a time +was the usual forfeit, but to lose five "at one fell swoop" seemed +excessive, and would make a considerable difference to her weekly +record. She blazed against the injustice. No girl in the form had ever +had so severe punishment. + +"Oh, Miss Strong!" she protested hotly. "_Five!_ I haven't really done +anything more than heaps of the others. It's not fair!" + +Now if Ingred had really hoped to get her sentence remitted she could +not have done a more absolutely suicidal thing. A mistress may overlook +some faults, but she will not stand "cheek." The discipline of the form +was at stake, and Miss Strong was not a mistress to be trifled with. Her +little figure absolutely quivered with dignity, and though physically +she was shorter than her pupil, morally she seemed to tower yards. She +fixed her clear dark eyes in a kind of hypnotic stare on Ingred and +remarked witheringly: + +"That will do! I don't allow _any_ girl to speak to me in this fashion! +You'll take a cross for conduct as well as losing the five order marks. +You may go to your seat now." + +Ingred walked back to her desk covered with humiliation. To be publicly +rebuked before the whole form was an unpleasant experience, particularly +for a warden. Beatrice, Francie, and several others were holding up +self-righteous noses, though their desks contained an equal assortment +of mascots. Ingred, still seething, made little attempt to listen to the +rest of the lecture, and was obliged to pass the questions which came to +her afterwards on the subject-matter. She was heartily thankful when +eleven o'clock brought the brief ten minutes "break." + +"Well, you _have_ been a lunatic this morning!" said Beatrice, passing +her, biscuits in hand, in the cloak-room. "What possessed you to go and +lose the tennis-court for the form?" + +"If you hadn't stared so hard at me Miss Strong would never have +noticed." + +"Oh, of course! Throw the blame on somebody else! You're always the +'little white hen that never lays astray.'" + +"Kitty and Evie and Belle and I had arranged a set!" grumbled Cicely +Denham. "It's most unfair, this rule of punishing the whole form for +what one girl does!" + +"Go and tell Miss Burd so then!" flared Ingred. "It hasn't been very +successful so far to tell teachers they're not fair, but you may have +better luck than I had. She'll probably say: 'Oh, yes, Cicely dear, I'll +rearrange the rules at once!' So like her, isn't it?" + +"Now you're sark! Almost as sarky as the Snark herself!" commented +Cicely, as Ingred, choking over a last biscuit, stumped away. + +There is much written nowadays about the unconscious power of thought +waves, and certainly one grumbler can often spread dissatisfaction +through an entire community. Perhaps the black looks which Ingred +encountered from the disappointed tennis-players in her form turned into +naughty sprites who whispered treason in the ears of the juniors, or +perhaps it was a mere coincidence that mutiny suddenly broke out in the +Lower School. It began with a company of ten-year-olds who, with pencil +boxes and drawing books, were being escorted by Althea Riley, one of the +prefects, along the corridor to the studio. Hitherto, by dint of +judicious curbing, they had always walked two and two in decent line and +had refrained from prohibited conversation. To-day they surged upstairs +in an unseemly rabble, chattering and talking like a flock of rooks or +jackdaws at sunset. It was in vain that Althea tried to restore order, +her efforts at discipline were simply scouted by the unruly mob, who +rushed into the studio helter-skelter, took their places anyhow, and +only controlled themselves at the entrance of Miss Godwin, the art +mistress. + +Althea, flushed, indignant, and most upset, sought her fellow-prefects. + +"Shall I go and complain to Miss Burd?" she asked. + +"Um--I don't think I should yet," said Lispeth a little doubtfully. "You +see, Miss Burd has given us authority and she likes us to use it +ourselves as much as we can, without appealing to her. Of course in any +extremity she'll support us. I'll pin up a notice in the junior +cloak-room and see what effect that has. It may settle them." + +Lispeth stayed after four o'clock until the last coat and hat had +disappeared from the hooks in the juniors' dressing-room. Then she +pinned her ultimatum on their notice board: + +"In consequence of the extremely bad behavior of certain girls on the +stairs this afternoon, the prefects give notice that should any +repetition of such conduct occur, the names of the offenders will be +taken and they will be reported to Miss Burd for punishment." + +"That ought to finish those kids!" she thought as she pushed in the +drawing-pins. + +There was more than the usual amount of buzzing conversation next +morning as juvenile heads bumped each other in their efforts to read the +notice. The result, however, was absolutely unprecedented in the annals +of the school. It was the custom of the Sixth Form, and of many of the +Fifth, to take their lunch and eat it quietly in the gymnasium. There +was no hard and fast rule about this, but it was generally understood to +be a privilege of the upper forms only, and intermediates and juniors +were not supposed to intrude. To-day most of the elder girls were +sitting in clumps at the far end of the gymnasium, when through the open +door marched a most amazing procession of juniors. They were headed by +Phyllis Smith and Dorrie Barnes carrying between them a small blackboard +upon which was chalked: + + DOWN WITH PREFECTS! + RIGHTS FOR JUNIORS! + THE WHOLE SCHOOL IS EQUAL! + +After these ringleaders marched a determined crowd waving flags made of +handkerchiefs fastened to the end of rulers. A band, equipped with combs +covered with tissue-paper torn from their drawing-books, played the +strains of the "Marseillaise." They advanced towards the seniors in a +very truculent fashion. + +"Well, really!" exclaimed Lispeth, recovering from her momentary +amazement. "What's the meaning of all this, I'd like to know?" + +"It's a strike!" said Dorrie proudly, as she and Phyllis paused so as to +display the blackboard before the eyes of the Sixth. "We don't see why +you big girls should lord it over us any longer. We'll obey the +mistresses, but we'll not obey prefects." + +"You'll just jolly well do as you're told, you impudent young monkeys!" +declared Lispeth, losing her temper. "Here, clear out of this gymnasium +at once!" + +"We shan't! We've as good a right here as you!" + +"We ought to send wardens to the School Parliament." + +"We haven't any voice in school affairs!" + +"It's not fair!" + +"We shan't stand it any longer!" + +The shrill voices of the insurgents reached crescendo as they hurled +forth their defiance. They were evidently bent on red-hot revolution. +Lispeth rose to read the Riot Act. + +"If you don't take yourselves off I shall go for Miss Burd, and +a nice row you'd get into then. I give you while I count ten. +One--two--three--four----" + +Whether the strikers would have stood their ground or not is still an +unsolved problem, but at that opportune moment the big school bell began +to clang, and Miss Willough, the drill mistress, in her blue tunic, +entered the gymnasium ready to take her next class. At sight of her, +Dorrie hastily wiped the blackboard, and the juniors fled to their own +form-rooms, suppressing flags and musical instruments on the way. Miss +Willough gazed at them meditatively, but made no comment, and the Sixth, +hurrying to a literature lesson, had no time to offer explanations. + +Lispeth, more upset than she cared to own, talked the matter over with +her mother when she went to dinner at one o'clock. She was a very +conscientious girl and anxious to do her duty as "Head." As a result of +the home conference she went to Miss Burd, explained the situation, and +asked to be allowed to have the whole school together for ten minutes +before four o'clock. + +"It's only lately there's been this trouble," she said. "I believe if I +talk nicely to the girls I can get back my influence. That's what Mother +advised. She said 'try persuasion first.'" + +"She's right, too," agreed Miss Burd. "If you can get them to obey you +willingly it's far better than if I have to step in and put my foot +down. What we want is to change the general current of thought." + +Speculation was rife in the various forms as the closing bell rang at +3:45 instead of at 4 o'clock, and the girls were told to assemble in the +Lecture Hall, and were put on their honor to behave themselves. To their +surprise, the mistresses, after seeing them seated, left the room. Miss +Burd mounted the platform and announced: + +"Lispeth Scott wishes to speak to you all, and I should like you to know +that anything she has to say is said with my entire approval and +sanction. I hope you will listen to her in perfect silence." + +Then she followed the other mistresses. + +All eyes were fixed on Lispeth as she ascended the platform. With her +tall ample figure, earnest blue eyes, light hair, and fair face flushed +with the excitement of her task she looked a typical English girl, and +made what she hoped was a typical English speech. + +"I asked you to come," she began rather shyly, "because I think lately +there have been some misunderstandings in the school, and I want, if +possible, to put them straight. There has been a good deal of talk about +'equality,' and some of you say there oughtn't to be prefects. I wonder +exactly what you mean by 'equality?' Certainly all girls aren't born +with equal talents, yet each separate soul is of value to the community +and must not go to waste. The test of a school is not how many show +pupils it has turned out, but how _all_ its pupils are prepared to face +the world. I think we can only do this by sticking together and trying +to help each other. In every community, however, there must be leaders. +An army would soon go to pieces without its officers! The prefects and +wardens have been chosen as leaders, and it ought to be a point of honor +with you to uphold their authority. I assure you they don't work for +their own good, but for the good of the school. I hear it is a grievance +with the juniors that they mayn't elect wardens for the Council. +Well--they shall do that when they're older; it will be something for +them to look forward to! There's a privilege, though, that we can and +will give them. We're going to start a Junior branch of the Rainbow +League, and I think when they're doing their level best to help others, +they'll forget about themselves. Carlyle says that the very dullest +drudge has the elements of a hero in him if he once sees the chance of +aiming at something higher than happiness. Please don't say I'm +preaching, for I hate to be a prig! Only we'd all made up our minds to +do our 'bit' in 'after the war work,' and it seems such a pity if we +forget, and let the tone of the school drop--as it certainly _has_ +dropped lately. I'm sure if we all think about it we can keep it up, and +Seniors and Juniors can work together without any horrid squabbles. We +big girls were juniors ourselves once, and you little ones will be +seniors some day, so that's one way of looking at it. Now that's all +I've got to say, except that any Juniors who like can stay behind now +and join the Junior Branch of the Rainbow League. We want to get up a +special Scrap-book Union, and Miss Burd says she'll give a prize for the +best scrap-book, and also for the best home-made doll. She's going to +have an exhibition on breaking-up day." + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +The Rainbow League + + +Though Lispeth, in her agitation, had not said half the nice things she +had intended to say, her little speech had good effect. It reminded the +girls of some of the high ideals with which they had started the term, +and which, like many high and beautiful things, were in danger of +getting crowded out of the way by commoner interests. Everybody suddenly +remembered the exhibition and sale which was to come off before +Christmas, and made a spurt to send some adequate contribution. The +juniors, flattered at having a special branch of their own of the +Rainbow League, and time allotted in school to its work, dabbed away +blissfully at scrap-book making, with gummy overalls and seccotiny +fingers, but complacent faces. The prefects, with intent, dropped in +when possible to admire the efforts. + +"I believe," said Lispeth to her special confidante Althea, "that +perhaps we were making rather a mistake. You can't have any influence +with those kids unless you keep well in touch with them. I was so busy, +I just let them slide before, and I suppose that was partly why they got +out of hand, though the little monkeys had no business to get up that +impudent strike! They're as different as possible now, and some of them +are quite decent kiddies. Dorrie Barnes brought me a rose this morning. +I suppose it was meant as a sort of peace-offering." + +It was arranged to hold what was called "The Rainbow Fête" on +breaking-up afternoon, and parents and friends were invited to the +ceremony. There was to be both a sale and an exhibition. The best of the +toys and little fancy articles were to be at a special stall, and would +be sold for the benefit of the "War Orphans' Fund," and those that were +not quite up to standard would nevertheless be on view, and would be +sent away afterwards to help to deck Christmas trees in the slums. _THE_ +stall, as the girls called it, was of course the center of attraction. +It was draped with colored muslins in the rainbow tints, and though real +irises were unobtainable, some vases of artificial ones formed a very +good substitute. The home-made toys were really most creditable to the +handicraft-workers, and had been ingeniously contrived with bobbins, +small boxes, and slight additions of wood, cardboard, and paper, aided +by the color-box. Windmills, whirligigs, carts, engines, trains, dolls' +house furniture, jigsaw puzzles, cardboard animals with movable limbs, +black velveteen cats with bead eyes, beautifully dressed rag dolls, wool +balls and rattles for babies, and dear little books of extracts, were +some of the things set out in a tempting display. Fil, whose slim +fingers excelled in dainty work, had contributed three charming booklets +of poetry and nice bits cut from magazines and newspapers, the back +being of colored linen embroidered with devices in silk. They were so +pretty that they were all snapped up beforehand, and could have been +sold three times over. + +"You promised one to me--you know you did!" urged Linda Slater, much +aggrieved at the non-performance of an order. + +"Well, I thought I'd have time to do four, and could only manage three," +apologized Fil. "You see, they really take such ages, and Miss Strong +was getting raggy about my prep." + +"You _might_ make me one for my birthday!" begged Evie. + +"Certainly not! Those that ask shan't have!" + +"Well, couldn't you do some during the Christmas holidays?" + +"No, I can't and shan't!" snapped Fil. "I'm sick to death of making +booklets, and I'm not going to touch one of them during the holidays. +You seem to think I've nothing else to do except cut bits out of +magazines for your benefit!" + +"There! There! Poor old sport! Don't get baity!" + +"You shouldn't do them so jolly well, and then you wouldn't get asked!" + +_The_ stall occupied a position of importance at the end of the lecture +hall, and the rest of the exhibits were put round on trestle tables. +They were what Ingred described as "a mixed lot." Some of the animals +were bulgy in their proportions, or shaky in their cardboard limbs, the +wheels of the carts did not quite correspond, the windmills were apt to +stick, or the puzzles would not quite fit. In spite of their +imperfections, however, they looked attractive, and would, no doubt, +give great pleasure to the little people who were to receive them, and +who were hardly likely to be very critical of their workmanship. + +To make the afternoon more festive, there was to be a tea stall, to +which the girls brought contributions of cakes, and music was to be +given from the platform, so that the scene might resemble a café +chantant. Ingred had been chosen as one of the artistes, and arrayed in +her best brown velveteen dress, with a new pale-yellow hair ribbon, she +waited about in her usual agonies of stage fright. Learning from Dr. +Linton, however improving it might be to her touch, was hardly conducive +to self-complacency, and, after having suffered much vituperation for +her imperfect rendering of a piece, it was decidedly appalling to have +to play it in public, especially with the horrible possibility that at +any moment her master might happen to pop in to view the exhibition and +arrive in time for her performance. + +"I shall have forty fits if I see him in the room, I know I shall!" she +confided to Fil. "You've no idea how he scares me. I have my lessons on +the study piano generally, and if only he would sit still I shouldn't +mind, but he _will_ get up and prowl about the room, and swing out his +arms when he's explaining things; he only _just_ missed knocking over +that pretty statuette of Venus the other day. I'm sure if Miss Burd knew +how he flourishes about, she wouldn't let him loose among her cherished +ornaments!" + +"Perhaps he won't turn up to-day!" + +"Oh yes! He said he should make a point of buying a toy for his little +boy. If I break down suddenly in the midst of my piece, you'll know the +reason. I'm shaking now." + +"Poor old sport! Don't take it so hard!" + +By three o'clock the lecture hall was filled with what Lilias Ashby (who +had undertaken to write a report for the school magazine) described as +"a distinguished crowd." Fathers indeed were as few and far between as +currants in a war pudding, but mothers, aunts, and sisters had responded +nobly to the invitations, and were being conducted round by the girls to +see their special exhibits. + +Mrs. Saxon had been unable to come that afternoon, but Quenrede had +turned up, looking very pretty in a plum-colored hat, and giving herself +slight airs as of one who is now a finished young lady, and no longer a +mere schoolgirl. She chatted, in rather mincing tones, to Miss Burd +herself, while Ingred stood by in awe and amazement, and when she bought +a cup of tea from Doreen Hayward at the refreshment stall, she murmured: +"Oh, thanks _so_ much!" with the manner of a patroness, though only six +months ago she and Doreen had sat side by side in the Science Lectures. +It was a new phase of Quenrede, which, though accepted to some extent at +home, had never shown itself before with quite such aggravated symptoms. + +Ingred, walking as it were in her shadow, was not sure whether to admire +or laugh. It was, of course, something to have such a pretty and +decidedly stylish sister; she appreciated the angle at which the +plum-colored hat was set, and the self-restraint that made the tiny iced +bun last such an enormous time, when a schoolgirl would have finished it +in three bites, and have taken another. A grand manner was certainly +rather an asset to the family, and Queenie was palpably impressing some +of the intermediates, who poked each other to look at her. + +"It's my turn to play soon, and I'm just shivering!" whispered Ingred. + +"Nonsense, child! Don't be such a little goose!" declared her sister +airily. "It's only a school party--there's really nothing to make a fuss +about!" + +"_Only_ a school party!" That seemed to Ingred the absolute limit. +Quenrede last term had, in her turn, shivered and trembled when she had +been obliged to mount the platform! Could a few short months have indeed +effected so magnificent a change of front? + +"All the same, it's I who've got to play, not she! It's easy enough to +tell somebody else not to mind," thought Ingred, as, in answer to Miss +Clough's beckoning finger, she made her way towards the piano to undergo +her ordeal. + +One point in favor of the recital was that the audience moved about the +room and went on buying toys or cups of tea and cakes, and even talking, +instead of sitting on rows of seats doing nothing but watching and +listening. It was rather comforting to think that the concert was really +only like the performance of a band, a soothing accompaniment to +conversation. Ingred opened her music with an almost "don't care" +feeling. For one delirious moment she felt at her ease, then, alack! her +mood suddenly changed. In a last lightning glance towards the audience +she noticed among the crowd near the tea-stall the tall thin figure, +cadaverous face, and long lank hair of Dr. Linton. The sight instantly +wrecked her world of composure. If it had not been for the fact that +Miss Clough was standing near, and nodding to her to begin, she would +have run away from the platform. + +"Oh, the ill luck of it!" she thought. "If I had only played last time, +instead of Gertie, I'd have had it over before he came into the room! I +know he'll be just listening to every note, and criticizing!" + +With a horrid feeling, as if her breath would not come properly, and her +head was slightly spinning, and her hands dithering, Ingred began her +"Nocturne," trying with a sort of "drowning" effort to keep her mind on +the music in front of her, instead of on the music-master at the other +end of the room. For sixteen bars she succeeded, then came the hitch. +She had rejected the offered services of Doris Grainger, and had elected +to turn over her own pages. She now made a hasty dash at the leaf, her +trembling hand was not sufficiently agile, the sheet slipped, she +grabbed in vain, and the music fluttered on to the floor. The +performance came to a dead halt. Doris and Miss Clough rushed to the +rescue, but they were put politely aside by a tall figure who stepped on +to the platform, and Dr. Linton himself picked up the scattered sheets +of the unfortunate "Nocturne." He arranged them together in order, +placed them upon the stand, and, addressing his dismayed pupil, said: + +"Now, then, begin again, and _I_ shall turn over for you. Bring out that +_forte_ passage properly! Remember there's a pedal on the piano!" + +It was like having a lesson in public. Ingred felt too scared to begin, +and yet she was too much afraid of her master to refuse, so the bigger +fright prevailed, and--as a cat will swim to escape an enemy--she dashed +at the "Nocturne." Once restarted, it went magnificently: afterwards, +she always declared that Dr. Linton must have hypnotized her, she was +sure her unaided efforts could never have rendered it in such style. He +behaved as if he were conducting an orchestra, soothing the _piano_ +passages and spurring her on to _fortissimo_ efforts, even humming the +melody in his eccentric fashion, quite unmindful of the audience. The +enthusiastic applause at the end was so evidently for both master and +pupil that he bowed instinctively in response. + +Ingred, remembering, now the ordeal was over, that she was nervous, +melted from the platform, and left him to receive the laurels. He did a +characteristic but very kind act, looked round for his pupil, and then, +perceiving that she had beaten a retreat, sat down to the piano himself, +and, unasked, gave an encore for her. A solo from Dr. Linton was an +unexpected treat, especially as he was in the mood for music, and played +with a sort of rapture that carried his listeners into an ethereal world +of delicate sounds. Ingred, hidden behind a protecting barrier of +schoolfellows, could see all the sylphs dancing and the fairy pipers +piping as the crisp notes came tripping from his practised fingers. At +the end she came back as from a dream, to realize that she was not in +elf-land, but in the College Lecture Hall, and that she was sitting on a +form next to Miss Strong, who held on her knee a little red-coated, +brown-haired boy with Dr. Linton's unmistakable dark eyes. + +In that instant, as the music ceased, Ingred received quite a sudden and +new impression of Miss Strong; there was a tender look on the mistress's +face, as she held her arm around the child, and she whispered something +to him that made the dark eyes dance. He slipped from her lap, and hand +in hand they went together towards the toy-stall. It was quite a pretty +little scene, one of those tiny glimpses into other people's lives that +we catch occasionally when the veil of their reserve is for a moment +held aside. Ingred looked after them meditatively. + +"Shouldn't have thought the Snark capable of it," she ruminated. +"Perhaps she likes boys better than girls. Some people do." + +The toy stall, though half depleted of its contents, was still the +center of attraction. Lispeth and Althea were displaying what were left +of its windmills and whirligigs to friends who bought with an eye to +Christmas presents. Miss Strong, reckless in the matter of expense, +purchased the _chef-d'euvre_ of the whole collection--a wonderful +contrivance consisting of two cardboard towers and a courtyard, across +which, by means of a tape wound round bobbins, and turned by a handle, +walked a miniature procession of wooden soldiers. Little Kenneth Linton +received it with open arms. + +"Better let me wrap it up in paper," urged Lispeth. "Somebody said just +now that it's beginning to snow, and you don't want to have it spoilt +before you get it home, do you?" + +"N-no," said Kenneth, relinquishing it doubtfully. + +"You're a lucky boy," continued Lispeth, as she made up the parcel. +"Isn't that a Teddy Bear in your pocket? And a ball too? There, I +believe I've used up all the string! What a nuisance! Can anybody get me +any from anywhere?" + +"I'll find you some in half a jiff," said Dorrie Barnes, whisking off +immediately. + +Since the formation of the Junior Rainbow League, Dorrie had taken a +liking to Lispeth which amounted to absolute infatuation. She followed +her like a pink-faced shadow, and was always at her elbow, sometimes at +convenient and sometimes at embarrassing moments. She fled now, like a +messenger from Olympus, with the fixed determination of procuring string +for her goddess from somewhere. It was not an easy task, for string was +a scarce commodity; what there was of it had mostly been already used, +and what was left was jealously guarded by its proprietresses, who +refused to part with it, even on the plea that it was for the head +prefect. Dorrie, however, was a young person of spirit and resource, and +she did not mean to be done. One of the trestles that supported the +secondary exhibits of toys had rather come to grief, and had been +patched up temporarily with stout twine. Her sharp eyes had noted this +fact, so, going down on her hands and knees, she managed to creep +unobserved under the table, cut the twine with her penknife, and unwound +it. She was just congratulating herself upon the success of her +achievement when the unexpected happened, or, rather, what might have +been expected by any one with an ounce of forethought. The damaged +trestle, no longer held together, promptly gave way, and the table +collapsed, burying a squealing Dorrie amid a shower of toys. She was +pulled out, agitated but uninjured, and the scattered exhibits were +carried to another table. In the confusion of their transit she managed +to secrete the piece of twine, the loss of which had been the cause of +the whole upset, and presented it quite innocently to Lispeth, who, not +knowing that she was receiving stolen goods, thanked her and tied the +parcel. Ingred, who had watched the whole comedy, laughed, but did not +give away the secret. + +"That child's an imp!" she said to Quenrede. "But she's a very +accomplished imp. I'll tell you the joke afterwards, not now! Lispeth +little knows where her string comes from, and she's wrapping up that +parcel so placidly! Isn't the Snark looking quite pretty this afternoon? +Never saw her with such a color! Well, if you're ready, Queenie, we'll +go over to the hostel and get my things. We can just catch the four +o'clock train, if we're quick. Wait half a sec, though! There goes Dr. +Linton with Kenneth. I don't want to walk out under his wing!" + +The tall dark figure of the music master was striding through the +doorway, carrying his small son, who hugged his toy with one arm, and +waved a friendly good-by with the other. + +"What possessed you to drop all your music, child?" said Quenrede, +rather patronizingly to Ingred. She was still trying to live up to the +plum-colored hat. "You played ever so decently afterwards, though--you +did, really! Don't tell me again that you're nervous, for it's all +rubbish. You looked as if you enjoyed it." + +"Enjoyed it!" echoed Ingred. "If you'd gone through the palpitations +that I felt this afternoon you'd want to go to a specialist, and consult +him for heart trouble! I've lived through it this once, but if I'm ever +asked to play again in public, you'd better go to the cemetery +beforehand, and choose a picturesque corner for my grave, and buy a +weeping willow ready to plant upon it. Yes, and order a headstone too, +with the simple words: 'Died of fright.' I mean it! 'Enjoyed it!' +indeed! Why, I've never in the whole of my life been in such an +absolutely blue funk!" + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +Quenrede Comes Out + + +The Saxon family celebrated Christmas at the bungalow with mixed +feelings. As Ingred said, it was like the curate's egg--parts of it were +very nice. It was the first Christmas they had spent all together for +many years, and if they could only have forgotten Rotherwood, and their +altered circumstances, they would have enjoyed it immensely. Mrs. Saxon, +the unfailing sunshine-radiator of the household, tried to ignore the +tone of discontent in her husband's voice, the grumpy attitude of +Egbert, Quenrede's fit of the blues, and Athelstane's rather martyred +pose. She insisted on bundling everybody out for a blow on the moors. + +"If we'd been living in Grovebury," she remarked, "we should probably +have taken a jaunt to Wynch-on-the-Wold as a special treat. Let us think +ourselves lucky in being on the spot and only having to turn out of our +own door to be at once in such lovely scenery. It's like having a +country holiday at Christmas instead of midsummer--a thing I always +hankered after and never got before!" + +Certainly winter on the wold held a charm of its own. The great waste of +brown moor stretching under the gray sky showed rich patches where +yellow grass and rushes edged dark boggy pools, the low-growing stems of +sallows and alders were delicate with shades of orange and mauve; here +and there a sprig of furze lingered in flower, and black flights of +starlings and fieldfares, driven from colder climates in quest of food, +swept in long lines across the horizon. The weather was open for the +time of year, the wind strong but not too keen, and had it not been for +the lowness of the sun in the sky the day might have been autumn instead +of December. It was glorious to walk to the top of Wetherstone Heights +and see, miles away, the spire of Monkswell Church and the gleam of the +distant river, then to hurry back in the gloaming with the rising mists +creeping up like advancing specters, and to find the lamps lighted and +tea ready in the cheery bungalow. Nobody wanted to quarrel with Yule +cake and muffins, and even Mr. Saxon temporarily forgot his worries and +relapsed into quite amusing reminiscences of certain adventures in +France. + +If only our spirits would keep up to the point to which, with much +effort, we screw them, all would be well: unfortunately they often have +a tiresome knack of descending with a run. When tea was finished and +cleared away Mr. Saxon found the presence of his family a hindrance to +reading, and at a hint from their mother the younger members of the +party took themselves off into the little drawing-room. Here, round a +black fire, which, despite Hereward's poking, refused to burn brightly, +the grumble-cloud that had been lowering all day burst at last. + +"If we'd only got the Rotherwood billiard table there'd be something to +do!" groused Egbert gloomily. + +"There isn't a corner in this poky hole where a fellow can fiddle with +photography," chimed in Athelstane, "even if there was time to do it. +When I get back from Birkshaw it's nothing but grind, grind, grind at +medical books all the evening." + +"Rather have your job than mine, though," said Egbert. "You haven't to +sit under the Pater's eye all day long, and have him down on you like a +cartload of bricks if you make the slightest slip. I'm the worst off of +the whole lot of us!" + +"What about me at that odious Grammar School?" asked Hereward, pressing +his claims to the palm of dissatisfaction. + +"Or me at the hostel!" urged Ingred, not to be outdone. + +"I don't think you, any of you, realize how slow it is just to stop at +home!" sighed Quenrede. "There were sixteen dozen things I'd made up my +mind to do, and I can't do one of them. It's going to be a hateful New +Year for all of us--just a New Year of going without and scraping and +saving and economizing--ugh! What a life!" + +"Life's mostly what we make it," said Mother, who had quietly joined the +circle. "After all, what we think we want doesn't always give the +greatest happiness. Suppose each of us tries to let this be the best +year we've ever had? Very little in the way of material wealth may come +to us, but the other kind of wealth is far better worth working for. I +think this hard time gives us the chance to show what we're made of. +During the fighting, the lads at the front went steadily through severe +privations, and the women at home worked in the same brave, cheery +fashion. Now the strain of the war is over, are we going to let all this +splendid spirit drop? Suppose we fight our own battles as we fought our +country's? Let me feel I've still got a family of soldiers to be proud +of." + +"You're the Colonel, then, of the new corps," said Egbert, with an +affectionate bear-hug to the slight figure that was already making the +black fire break into a blaze. "You've pluck enough for the whole clan, +little Mother o' mine! You shall sound your slogan and lead the attack +on Fate till we get back to Rotherwood! There!" + +"I'm aiming at higher things than Rotherwood, darling boy!" said his +mother gravely. + +"_I_ know!" whispered Quenrede, squeezing the dear hand that reached out +and clasped her own. "I won't be a selfish beast any more. I won't +indeed. Economizing shall be my New Year's cross!" + +"If we're going to count up crosses," proclaimed Athelstane humorously, +"the orphan's fine voice while I'm studying is mine!" + +"But _she_ probably counts it her choicest blessing!" exclaimed Ingred. + +And then the whole family broke out laughing, and Mother's little +lecture ended in fun. It made its impression upon individual members all +the same. + +The six miles which separated the Saxons from Grovebury seemed to have +set up an effectual barrier between them and the old world in which they +had moved before. Many people who had been friendly in the Rotherwood +days did not trouble to come so far as Wynch-on-the-Wold to pay calls, +and the numerous invitations which had formerly been extended to the +young folks decreased this Christmas to very few. + +First and foremost amongst these scanty festivities came Mrs. Desmond's +dance. It was a grown-up affair, and she had sent printed invitations to +Egbert, Athelstane and Quenrede. The latter, who only knew the Desmonds +slightly and was always overwhelmed in their presence, developed a +sudden and acute fit of shyness and implored to be allowed to refuse. + +"If it had been the Browns' or Lawrences' I'd have loved it," she urged, +"but you know, Mumsie, how Mrs. Desmond absolutely withers me up! I +never can say six words when she's there. I'd run five miles to avoid +meeting her: you know I would! She's so starchy." + +"You see very little of your hostess at a dance. Don't be silly, +Queenie!" insisted Mrs. Saxon. "I say you're to go, so there's an end of +it." + +"I'll go for an evening's martyrdom, then, not for enjoyment!" wailed +her daughter dolefully. + +A first grown-up dance is often a terrible ordeal to a girl of eighteen, +and Quenrede, though she had put on a few airs to impress the +schoolgirls at the Rainbow League sale, was at bottom woefully bashful. +She was still in the stage when her newly-turned-up hair looked as if it +were unaccustomed to be coiled round her head; she had a painful habit +of blushing, and had not yet acquired that general _savoir faire_ which +comes to us with the passing of our teens. To be plunged for a whole +evening into the society of a succession of strangers seemed to her +anything but an exhilarating prospect. + +"If I could just dance with our own boys!" she sighed. + +"I'd pity you if you did!" declared Ingred, pausing in an effort to make +Athelstane's steps more worthy of a ball-room. "Why, half the fun will +be your different partners. I only wish I'd your chance and was 'coming +out' too!" + +"I'm sure you're welcome to go instead of me," proclaimed Quenrede +petulantly. + +All the same she watched the preparations for the event with +considerable girlish interest. Mother, whose ambitions at first had run +to a dress from town, regretfully decided that the family finances could +only supply a home-made costume, and set to work with fashion book and +sewing-machine to act amateur dressmaker, a thrilling experience to +unaccustomed fingers, for paper patterns are sometimes difficult to +understand, seams do not fit together as they ought, and the bottom hem +of a skirt is the most awkward thing in the world to make hang perfectly +straight. Quenrede, standing on the table, revolved slowly while Mrs. +Saxon and Ingred stuck in pins and debated whether a quarter of an inch +here and there should be raised or lowered. Ingred showed far more +cleverness in sewing than her sister; her natty fingers could contrive +pretty things already in the shape of collars and blouses. + +"You'd make an admirable curate's wife!" Quenrede laughingly assured +her. "_I_ shall have to marry a rich man and get my things from London." + +"It will probably be the other way," declared Mother. "Stand still, +Queenie, I can't measure properly if you _will_ dance about!" + +Though she was ready with a joke, as a matter of fact Quenrede was +having a severe struggle not to be snappy. For years and years she had +planned her "coming out," and she had decided upon a ball at Rotherwood, +and an absolute creation of a gown that was to be sent for from Paris. +There would have been some éclat then in emerging from the chrysalis +stage of the school-room and becoming a butterfly of society. To make +her first grown-up appearance at Mrs. Desmond's dance and in a home-made +dress seemed not so much a "coming out" as an "oozing out." There are +degrees in butterflies, and she feared her appearance would resemble not +the gorgeous "Red Admiral" or "Painted Lady," but the "Common White +Cabbage." If it had not been for the New Year's resolution, some traces +of her disappointment would have leaked out, but she kept the secret +bravely to herself. The family indeed knew she was not anxious to go, +but set her unwilling attitude down to mere shyness. Her mother never +guessed at the real reason. + +There was a tremendous robing on the evening of January the ninth, with +Mother and Ingred for lady's-maids, and "The Orphan" hovering about, +offering to bring pins or hot water on the chance of getting a peep at +the proceedings. Mrs. Saxon stepped back, when all was complete, and +viewed the result somewhat in the spirit of an artist who has finished a +picture. It is an event in a mother's life when her first little girl +grows up and becomes a young lady. To-night Quenrede was to be launched +on the stream of society. Looked at critically, her appearance was very +satisfactory. Though the new dress might not be up to the level of a +fashion-plate, it certainly became her, and set off the pretty fair +face, white neck, and coils of gleaming flaxen hair. + +"Your gloves and shoes and stockings are all right, and you've got a +nice handkerchief, and your fan," reviewed Mother, wrapping an evening +cloak round her handiwork. "Good-by, my bird! Enjoy yourself, and don't +be silly and shy." + +"I shall keep awake till you come back!" Ingred assured her. + +It was something at any rate to be going with Egbert and Athelstane. +Among the stream of strangers there would be at least two home objects +upon which she might occasionally cast anchor. The thought of that +buoyed her up as the taxi whirled them down hill to Grovebury. + +The Desmonds were giving the dance as a coming-out for one of their own +daughters, and their house was _en fête_. An awning protected the porch, +red cloth carpeted the steps, a marquee filled the lawn, and a stringed +band from Birkshaw had been engaged to play the latest dance music. + +Quenrede passed calmly enough through the ordeals of leaving her cloak +in the dressing-room (where a crowd of girls were prinking, and there +was no room for even a glance in the mirror), and the greeting from her +host and hostess in the drawing-room. It was in the ball-room afterwards +that her agony began. Egbert and Athelstane were whisked away from her +to be introduced to other girls, and utter strangers, whose names she +seldom caught, were brought to her, took her program, recorded their +initials and passed on to book other partners. The few people in the +marquee whom she knew were too far away or too occupied to speak to her, +so she stood alone, and heartily wished herself at home. + +It was better when the dancing began, though her partners scared her +horribly. They all made exactly the same remarks about the excellence of +the floor, the taste of the decorations, and the beauty of the music, +and asked her if she had been to the pantomime, and whether she played +golf. Small talk is an art, and though Quenrede had many interests, and +in ordinary circumstances could have discussed them, to-night she felt +tongue-tied, and let the ball of conversation drop with a "yes" or "no" +or "very." Dances with strangers who expected her to talk were bad +enough, but the gaps in her program were worse. No doubt Mrs. Desmond +tried to look after all her guests, but several gentlemen had +disappointed her at the last minute, and there were not quite partners +enough to go round. At a young people's party Quenrede would have +cheerily danced with some other girl in like plight, but at this stiff +grown-up gathering she dared not suggest such an informality, and +remained a wallflower. She caught glimpses occasionally of Egbert and +Athelstane, the former apparently enjoying himself, the latter looking +as solemn as if he were in church. + +"I know the poor boy's counting his steps and trying not to tread on +anybody's toes!" thought Quenrede. "Ingred said his partners would have +to pull him around somehow." + +Supper was a diversion, for she was taken in by quite a nice red-headed +boy, a little younger than herself, who, after a manful effort to talk +up to her supposed level, thankfully relapsed into details of +football-matches. Being a nephew of the house, he proved an adept in +attracting the most tempting dishes of fruit or trifle to their +particular table, and even basely commandeered other people's crackers +for her benefit. She bade him good-by with regret. + +"I say, I wish my card wasn't full! I'd have liked a dance with you!" he +murmured wistfully as they left the supper-room. + +If only she had known people better, and the atmosphere had not seemed +so stiff and formal, and she had not been so miserably shy, Quenrede +might have enjoyed herself. As it was she began counting the hours. In +one of the wallflower gaps of her program she took a stroll into the +conservatory. It looked like fairyland with the colored lanterns hanging +among the palms and flowers. Somebody else was apparently enjoying the +pretty effect--somebody who turned round rather guiltily as if he were +caught; then at sight of her smiled in relief. + +"I thought you were one of my hostesses come to round me up to do my +duty," he confessed. "I'm a duffer at dancing, so I've taken cover in +here. I see you don't remember me, but we've met before--at Red Ridge +Barrow. My name's Broughten." + +"Why, of course! You had a piece of candle and showed us inside the +mound. I ought to have known you again, but--you look so different----" + +"In evening dress! So do you; but I recognized you in a minute. Look +here" (in sudden compunction), "am I keeping you from a partner?" + +"No more than I am keeping you!" twinkled Quenrede, pointing to the +empty line on her program. "I'm not dancing this, so I came here to--to +enjoy myself." + +Her companion laughed in swift comprehension. + +"I don't know how other people may find it," he confided, "but hour +after hour of this sort of thing gets on my nerves. A tramp over the +moor is far more my line of amusement. I was wishing I might go home!" + +"So was I!" + +"But there's still at least another hour and a half." + +"With extras, more!" admitted Quenrede. + +He held out his hand for her program. "I'm an idiot at dancing, but +would you mind sitting out a few with me?" + +"If you won't talk about the floor and the decorations and the band, and +ask me whether I've been to the pantomime, or if I like golf!" + +"I promise that those topics shall be utterly and absolutely taboo. I'm +sick of them myself." + +Quenrede's shyness, which was only an outer casing, had suddenly +disappeared in the presence of a fellow-victim of social conventions, +and conversation came easily, all the more so after being pent-up all +the evening. Henry Desmond, wandering into the conservatory presently, +remarked to his partner, sotto voce: + +"That Saxon girl's chattering sixteen to the dozen now! Couldn't get a +word out of her myself!" + +When Quenrede, sometime about five o'clock in the morning, tried to +creep stealthily to bed without disturbing her sister, Ingred, refreshed +by half a night's sleep, sat up wide awake and demanded details. + +"Sh! Sh! Mother said we weren't to talk now, and I must tell you +everything afterwards. Oh, I got on better than I expected, though most +of the people were rather starchy. How did my dress look? +Well--_promise_ you won't breathe a word to darling Mother--it was just +passable, and that's all. Some girls had _lovely_ things. I didn't care. +The second part of the evening was far nicer than the first, and I +enjoyed the dances that I sat out the most. The conservatory was all +hung with lanterns. There; I'm dead tired and I want to go to sleep. +Good-night, dear!" + +"But you've 'come out!'" said Ingred with satisfaction as she subsided +under her eiderdown. + +"Oh yes, I'm most decidedly 'out,'" murmured Quenrede. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +The Peep-hole + + +The Foursome League met in Dormitory 2 after the holidays with much +clattering of tongues. Each wanted to tell her own experience, and they +all talked at once. Fil had a new way of doing her hair, and gave the +others no peace till they had duly realized and appreciated it. Verity +had been bridesmaid to a cousin, and wished to give full details of the +wedding; Nora had played hockey in a Scotch team against a Ladies' Club, +and had been promised ten minutes in an aeroplane, but the weather had +been too stormy for the flight; the disappointment--when she happened to +remember it--quite weighed down her spirits. + +"If there's one thing on earth--or rather on air--I'd like to be, it's a +flying woman!" she told her friends emphatically. "I'm hoping aeroplanes +will get a little cheaper some day, and rich people will keep them +instead of motor cars. Then I'll go out as an aviatress. It's a new +career for women." + +"I wouldn't trust myself to _your_ tender mercies, thank you!" shuddered +Ingred. "You'd soon bring the machine down with a crash, and smash us to +smithereens." + +"Indeed I shouldn't! I'd go sailing about like a bird!" + +And Nora, suiting action to words, stood on her bed fluttering her arms, +till Verity wickedly gave her a push behind, and sent her springing with +more force than grace to the floor. + +"You Jumbo! You make the room shake!" exclaimed Ingred. "If that's how +you're going to land you'll dig a hole in the ground like a bomb! Do +move out, and let me get to my drawer! You're growing too big for this +bedroom!" + +"Nobody's looked at my new hair ribbons yet!" interposed Fil's plaintive +voice. "See, I've got six! Aren't they beauties! Pale pink, pale blue, +Saxe blue, navy for my gym. costume, black for a useful one, and olive +green to go with my velveteen Sunday dress. Don't you think they're +nice?" + +"Ripping!" agreed Nora. "We'll know where to go when we want to borrow. +There, don't look so scared, Baby! I've chopped my hair so short I +couldn't wear a ribbon if I tried! It would be off in three cracks! +Stick them back in their box, and don't tempt me! They're not in my +line! I'm going in for uniform. _You_'re the sort who wears chiffons and +laces and all the rest of it, but you'll see _me_ in gilt buttons before +I have done, with wings on them, I hope! I may be the first to fly to +Mars! Who knows? You shall all have my photo beforehand just in case!" + +Everybody at the College, and particularly at the Hostel, agreed that +the first few weeks of the new term were trying. After the interval of +the holidays, the yoke of homework seemed doubly heavy, and undoubtedly +the prep. was stiffer than ever. Only certain hours were set apart for +study during the evenings at the hostel, and any girl who could not +accomplish her lessons in that time had to finish them as best she could +in odd minutes during the day, or even in bed in the mornings if she +happened to wake sufficiently early. Fil, who generally succeeded in +mastering about half her preparation and no more, railed at fate. + +"I'm so unlucky!" she sighed to a sympathetic audience in No. 2. "I knew +the first ten lines of my French poetry beautifully, and I could have +said them if Mademoiselle had asked me, but of course she didn't. She +set me on those wretched irregular verbs, and they always floor me +utterly. As for the 'dictée'--I can't spell in English--let alone +French! It's not the least use for Mademoiselle to get excited and stamp +her foot at me. I shall be glad when I'm old enough to leave school. I +never mean to look at a French book again!" + +"How about English spelling?" suggested Ingred. "You'll want to write a +letter occasionally!" + +"I think by that time," said Fil hopefully, "somebody will have invented +a typewriter that can spell for itself. You'll just press a knob for +each word, you know!" + +"There are about 3000 words in common daily use!" laughed Verity. "If +you need a knob for each, your typewriter will have to be the size of a +church organ. It'll want a room to itself!" + +"Oh, but think of the convenience of it! No more hunting in the +dictionary!" declared Fil. + +To add to the aggravations of the new term the weather was doubtful, and +seemed to take a spiteful pleasure in being particularly wet on hockey +afternoons. Day after day, disappointed girls would watch the streaming +rain and lament the lack of practice. To give them some form of exercise +they were assembled in the gymnasium, and held rival displays of Indian +clubs, Morris dancing, or even skipping. "The True Blues" excelled at +high jumping, "The Pioneers" at certain rigid balancing feats, "The Old +Brigade" were great at vaulting, and "The Amazons" and "The Mermaids" +performed marvels in the way of Swedish Boom exercises. + +Still, everybody agreed that though the contests were fun in their way +they were not hockey, and the girls would much have preferred the +playing-fields, however wet, to the gymnasium. + +The girls in the hostel had the hour between four and five o'clock at +their own disposal. They were not allowed to leave the College bounds, +but they might amuse themselves as they pleased in the garden, +playground, or gymnasium. In turns, according to the practising list, +they had to devote the time to the piano, and a few even began their +prep., though this was not greatly encouraged by Miss Burd, who thought +a short brain rest advisable. One afternoon Ingred walked along the +corridor with a big pile of music in her arms. Just outside the study +she met Verity, and saluted her: + +"Cheerio, old sport! Here's Dr. Linton left his whole cargo behind him +to-day. He rushed off in a hurry and forgot it, and I know he'll be just +raging. I'm going to ask Miss Burd if I may run over into the Abbey and +leave it on the organ for him. He has a choir practice to-night, so he's +sure to find it. Will you come with me? Right-o! We'll both go in and +ask 'exeats.'" + +The College was erected upon a plot of land which had originally been +part of the Abbey grounds. All the old buildings, formerly inhabited by +the monks of St. Bidulph's, and by the nuns in the adjoining convent of +St. Mary's, had long ago been swept away, and only a few ruined walls +marked their sites. The nave of the Abbey, however, had escaped, and was +still in use as a parish church, though the beautiful original chancel +and transepts had been battered down by Henry the Eighth's +Commissioners. It was only a few hundred yards from the school to the +Abbey, and Miss Burd readily gave the girls permission to take Dr. +Linton's music and leave it for him on the organ. It was the first time +either of them had been inside the church when no service was going on, +and they looked round curiously. The organ was locked, or Ingred would +certainly never have resisted the temptation to put on the fascinating +stops and pedals. She tried to lift the lid that hid the keyboards, but +with no success. + +"He might have left it open!" she sighed. + +"But the verger would come fussing up directly you began to play," said +Verity. + +"I don't see the verger anywhere about." + +"Why, no more do I, now you mention it." + +"Perhaps he's slipped across to his cottage to have his tea!" + +"Perhaps. I say, Ingred, what a gorgeous opportunity to explore. Let's +look round a little on our own." + +There was nobody to forbid, so they started on a tour of inspection. The +places they wanted to look at were those that ordinary church-goers +never have a chance of seeing. They peeped into the choir vestry, and +Verity gave rather a gasp at the sight of an array of white surplices +hanging on the wall like a row of ghosts. They went down a narrow flight +of damp steps into a dark place where the coke was kept, they peered +into a dusty recess behind the organ, and into a room under the tower, +where spare chairs were stored. All this was immensely interesting, but +did not quite content them. Verity's ambition soared farther. Very high +up on the wall, above the glorious pillars, and just under the +clerestory windows, was a narrow passage called the Nuns' Ambulatory. It +had been built in the long-ago ages to provide exercise for the sisters +in the adjoining convent, to which a covered way had originally led. + +"Just think of the poor dears parading round there on wet days when they +couldn't walk in their own garden!" said Verity, turning her head almost +upside down in her efforts to scan the passage. "I wonder if they ever +felt giddy." + +"There's a balustrade, of course, but I prefer our modern gym. I believe +there's a walk all over the roof too. Athelstane went up once. He said +it was like being on the top of a mountain, and you could look all over +the town." + +"What's that queer stone box thing on the wall?" asked Verity, still +gazing upwards. + +Ingred followed the line of her friend's eye to a point above the +pillars but below the Nuns' Ambulatory. Here, built out like an oriel +window, was a curious closed-in-gallery of stone, pierced in places by +tiny frets. It seemed to have nothing to do with the architecture of the +Abbey, and indeed to be a sort of excrescence which had been added to it +at some later date. It spoilt the beauty of line, and would have been +better removed. + +"Oh, that's the peep-hole!" said Ingred, lowering her head, for it was +painful to stretch her neck in so uncomfortable a position. "It was put +up in the seventeenth century, when the whole place was full of those +old-fashioned high pews. People were very dishonest in those days, and +thieves used to come to church on purpose to pick pockets. So they +always used to keep somebody stationed up there, looking down through +the holes over the congregation to see that no purses were taken during +the service. Nice state of things, wasn't it?" + +"Rather! But I'd love to go up there. I say, the verger's still at his +tea. Shall we try?" + +"Right-o! I'm game if you are!" + +By the north porch there was a small oak door studded with nails. +Generally this was kept locked, but to-day, by a miracle of good +fortune, it happened to be open. It was, of course, a very unorthodox +thing for the verger to go away and leave the Abbey unattended, even for +half an hour, but vergers, after all, are only human, and enjoy a cup of +tea as much as other people who do not wear black cassocks. He was +safely seated by the fireside in his ivy-colored cottage at the other +side of the churchyard, so the girls seized their golden opportunity. +They went up and up and up, along a winding staircase for an +interminable way. It was dark, and the steps were worn with the tread of +seven centuries, and here and there was a broken bit over which they had +to clamber with care. At last, after what seemed like mounting the Tower +of Babel, they stumbled up through a narrow doorway into the most +extraordinary place in the world. They were in the garret of the roof +over the south aisle. Above them were enormous beams or rafters, and +below, a rough flooring. It was very dim and dusky, but about midway +shone a bright shaft of light evidently from some communication with the +interior of the nave. Towards this they directed their steps. It was a +difficult progress owing to the huge rafters that supported the roof. A +plank pathway about four feet above the floor had been laid across the +beams, and along this Ingred decided to venture. + +She started, balancing herself with her arms, and kept her equilibrium, +though the plank was narrow and sprang as she walked. Verity, who had no +head for such achievements, preferred to scramble along the floor, +creeping under the rafters, in spite of the thick dust of years that lay +there. Eventually they both reached the radius of light, and found +another doorway leading down by a few steps into what was apparently a +cupboard. In the wall of the cupboard, however, were frets through which +the sunlight was streaming. Ingred applied an eye and gave a gasp of +satisfaction. + +They were in the peep-hole on the wall of the nave, and could gaze +straight down into the church below. It was marvellous what an excellent +view they obtained. Nothing was hidden, not even the interiors of the +old-fashioned square pews that had lingered as a relic of the eighteenth +century. Anybody stationed in this spy-box would certainly be able to +keep guard over the congregation, and note any nefarious designs on the +pockets of the worshipers. + +For the moment the church was empty, then footsteps were audible in the +porch. Was it the verger returning from his tea? The girls began to +flutter at the prospect of his wrath if he discovered them. It was no +cassock-clad verger that entered, however, but two young people, far too +much interested in each other to gaze upwards towards the frets of the +peep-hole. They thought they had the church to themselves, and walked +along conversing in a low tone. The particular shade of flaxen hair in +the masculine figure seemed familiar, and Ingred chuckled as she +recognized her eldest brother. + +"Caught you, old boy! Caught you neatly!" she thought. "Who's the girl? +Oh, I know. It's one of the Bertrands--Queenie said they were at the +Desmonds' dance, so I suppose he met her there. What a priceless joke! +How I shall crow over him for this! They're actually going to sit down +in a pew and talk! Well, this is the limit!" + +Quite unconscious that sisterly eyes were watching, Egbert ushered his +fair partner into one of the old-fashioned square pews. It was a quiet +place to rest, and perhaps the young lady was tired. He sat by her side, +very much occupied in explaining something which the girls in the +peep-hole could not overhear. At last the quiet well-trained footsteps +of the verger echoed again in the nave. He glanced at the young couple +in the pew, and began to dust and rearrange the hymn-books. Egbert and +Miss Bertrand took the hint and departed. + +The pair spying through the fretwork above also judged it expedient to +beat a hasty retreat. They were terrified lest the verger should +remember that he had left the tower door open, and should lock them in. +They stumbled back among the rafters, regardless of dust, and groped +their rather perilous way down the winding staircase. To their infinite +relief the door was not shut, and they were able to creep quietly out +and bolt from the Abbey unperceived. They fled along the stone path that +edged the churchyard, then stopped under the shelter of a ruined wall to +brush the dust off their dresses before re-entering the College. + +"It's been quite an adventure!" gasped Verity. + +"Rather! Particularly catching old Egbert. Won't he look silly when I +bring it out before the family? I don't know whether I _will_ tell them, +though! I think I'll keep it back, so as to have something to hold over +his head when he teases me. Yes, that would be far more fun, really. I +can hint darkly that I know one of his secrets, and he'll be so puzzled. +I don't admire his taste much. Queenie detests those Bertrand girls. I +don't know them myself to speak to, but I'm not impressed. Look here, +the dust simply _won't_ come off your skirt, Verity!" + +"It'll do as it is, then, and I'll use the clothes brush afterwards. +Don't worry any more. There's the Abbey clock striking five! It's a few +minutes fast, fortunately, but we shall simply have to sprint, or we +shall be late for tea!" + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +Brotherly Breezes + + +There was no doubt that Egbert was the odd one in the Saxon family. He +had inherited a testy strain of temper, and was frequently most +obstinate and perverse. It was unfortunate that he was an articled pupil +in his father's office, for he fretted and tried Mr. Saxon far more than +Athelstane would have done in the circumstances. Egbert's saving quality +was his intense love for his mother. Her influence held him steadily to +his work, and smoothed over many difficult situations. He was apt to +quarrel with Quenrede, but he had a soft corner for Ingred, and +sometimes made rather a pet of her. + +A few days after the incident at the Abbey he turned up at school, to +her immense astonishment, and asked leave from Miss Burd to take her out +to tea at a café. It had been an old promise on his part, ever since +Ingred went to the hostel, but it had hung fire so long that she had +come to regard it as one of those piecrust promises that elder members +of a family frequently make, and never find it convenient to carry out. +She had reminded Egbert of it at intervals all through the autumn term, +then had given it up as "a bad job." To find him waiting for her in Miss +Burd's study, ready to escort her to the Alhambra tea-rooms, seemed like +a fairy tale come true. She whisked off at once to make the best +possible toilet in the circumstances, and reappeared smilingly ready. +When you have tea every day at a long table full of girls, the meal is +apt to grow monotonous, and it was a welcome change to take it instead +in a gay Oriental room with Moorish decorations and luxurious +arm-chairs, and a platform in a corner, where musicians were giving a +capital concert. Ingred leaned back on an embroidered cushion and ate +cakes covered with pink sugar, and listened to a violin solo followed by +some charming songs, and watched the gay crowd sitting at the other +small tables. It was really delightful to be out just with Egbert alone. +It made her feel almost grown-up. Moreover, he was in such a remarkably +generous mood. He set no limit to the supply of cakes, and he stopped at +the counter as they went downstairs and bought her a box of chocolates +and a large packet of Edinburgh rock. He even went further, for as they +walked round the square together, and looked into the window of a fancy +shop, he told her to choose her birthday present, and agreed amicably +when she selected a morocco-leather bag which was for the moment the +summit of her dreams. She parted from him at the College gates in +deepest gratitude. This was indeed something like a brother! + +"You're an absolute trump!" she assured him. + +"Well, a fellow's always got a decent sister to take about, anyway," he +replied enigmatically, a remark over which Ingred pondered, but could +not fathom. + +She mentioned the jaunt at the family supper-table on Friday evening. To +her immense surprise her innocent remark had somewhat the effect of a +bomb. Mr. Saxon turned to his son with a sudden keen expression, as if +he had convicted him of a crime. Mrs. Saxon's face also was full of +suppressed meaning, while Egbert colored furiously, looked thunderous at +his sister, and relapsed into sulky silence. Poor Ingred felt that she +had, quite unconsciously, put her foot in it, though how or why she +could not tell. She said no more at the time, and when, afterwards, she +ventured to refer again to the subject, she was so tremendously shut up +that she saw clearly it was discreet to make no further inquiry. Plainly +there was some tremendous quarrel between Egbert and his father, for +they were barely on speaking terms. + +Mr. Saxon threw out occasional inuendoes that caused his son finally to +stump from the room. Mrs. Saxon went about with a cloud of distress on +her face, and Quenrede, to whom Ingred applied for enlightenment, +promptly and pointedly changed the subject. It was miserably +uncomfortable, for father and son were like two Leyden jars charged with +electricity, and ready to let fly at any moment. It was only the +mother's influence that averted a family thunderstorm. Athelstane, too, +seemed in the depths of gloom. He was willing, however, to communicate +his woes. + +"I want a whole heap more medical books," he confided to his sister, +"and Dad says he can't get them, and I must manage without. How on earth +_can_ I manage without. What's the use of my going to College if I +haven't the proper textbooks? I can't always be borrowing. If I fail in +my exams, it will be his fault, not mine. He's the most absolutely +unreasonable man anybody could have to deal with. Of course I know +they're expensive, and funds are low, but I've simply _got_ to have +them, or chuck up medicine!" + +"It's so terrible to be poor!" sighed Quenrede, thinking of the old, +happy pre-war days at Rotherwood, when everything came so easily, and +there were no struggles to make ends meet. + +She talked the matter over afterwards with Ingred. + +"If I could only help somehow!" she mourned. "I've often thought I might +go out and earn something, but Mother's not strong, and I really do a +great deal in the house. If I went away and left her with only 'The +Orphan,' she'd be laid up in a fortnight. As it is, she tries to do far +too much. How could we possibly get some money for Athelstane's books? +We'd rather die than ask our friends!" + +Ingred shook her head sadly. Wild ideas surged through her mind of +disguising herself and sweeping a crossing--there were stories of +wealthy crossing-sweepers--or rivaling Charlie Chaplin on the cinema +stage, but somehow they did not seem quite practicable for a girl of +sixteen. She left Quenrede's question unanswered. It was only late on +Saturday afternoon that a great idea came to her. Great--but so +overwhelming that she winced at the bare notion. It was as if some inner +voice said to her: "Sell Derry!" Now Derry, the fox terrier, was her +very own property. He had been given to her two years before by a cousin +as a birthday present. He was of prize breed, and had brought his +pedigree with him. He was a smart, bright little fellow, and on the +whole a favorite in the household, though he sometimes got into trouble +for jumping on to the best chairs and leaving his hairs on the cushions. +It had never particularly struck Ingred that Derry was of value, until +last week, when Mr. Hardcastle noticed him. Relations with that precise +old neighbor next door had been rather strained for a long time, since +the unfortunate episode when Hereward had unwittingly discharged the +contents of the garden syringe in his face. For months he studiously +avoided them, calling his collie away with quite unnecessary caution if +they happened to pass him on the road, and bolting into his own premises +if they met near the gate. But one day, about Christmas-time, Sam, the +collie, who was a giddy and irresponsible sort of dog, given to aimless +yapping at passing conveyances, overdid his supposed guardianship of his +owner's property, and blundered into a motor that was whisking by. The +car did not trouble to stop, and when it was a hundred yards away, Sam +picked himself up and limped on three legs to show his bleeding paw to +his agitated master. Fortunately Athelstane, from the bungalow garden, +had witnessed the accident, and came forward like a Good Samaritan with +offers of help. His elementary acquaintance with surgery stood him in +good stead, and he neatly set the injured limb, and bound it up with +splints and plaster. There had been many inquiries over the hedge as to +the invalid's progress, and congratulations when the bandages were able +at last to be removed. Old Mr. Hardcastle had waxed quite friendly as he +expressed his thanks, and one day, catching Ingred by the gate with +Derry, he had volunteered the information that "that fox terrier of +yours is a fine dog, and no mistake, and would be worth something to a +fancier!" + +"Sell Derry!" the idea, though she hated it, had taken possession of +Ingred's brain. He was the only thing she had that was of marketable +value. To part with the poor little fellow would be like selling her +birthright, but, after all, brothers came first, and how could +Athelstane study without books? Something Mother had said the other day +clamored in her memory. "If we've lost our fortune we've got our family +intact, and we must stick tight together, and be ready to make +sacrifices for one another." Ingred had quite made up her mind. She put +on her hat, took Derry from his cozy place by the kitchen fire, kissed +his nose, and, carrying him in her arms, walked to the next-door house, +rang the bell, and asked to see Mr. Hardcastle. + +She found the old gentleman in a cozy dining-room, seated by a cheery +fire, and reading the evening paper. He looked a little astonished when +she was ushered in, but received her politely, as if it was quite a +matter of course for a young lady, hugging a dog, to pay him an +afternoon visit. + +Ingred put Derry down on the hearth rug, took the arm-chair that was +offered her, and with a beating heart and a very high color plunged into +business, and inquired if it were possible to find a fancier who wished +to buy a prize fox terrier. + +"I've his pedigree here," she finished, "and he really is a nice little +dog. If you know of anybody, I'd be so glad if you would tell me +please!" + +Mr. Hardcastle, evidently much electrified, knitted his bushy eyebrows +in thought, and pursed his mouth into a button. + +"There was a vet. in Grovesbury who told me a while ago that he wanted +one, but I saw him yesterday, and he said he had just bought one, so +that's no good! You might try the advertisements in _The Bazaar_. He +looks a bright little chap. Why are you in such a panic to get rid of +him? Been killing chickens?" + +"No," said Ingred, turning pinker still; "it isn't that--I don't want to +sell him, of course--only--only----" + +And then to her extreme annoyance, her brimming eyes overflowed, and she +burst into stifled sobs. + +The old gentleman shot his lips in and out in mingled consternation and +sympathy. + +"There! There! There!" he exclaimed. "Don't cry! For goodness' sake, +don't cry! Tell me, whatever's the matter?" + +It was, of course, a most unorthodox thing for Ingred to blurt out +family affairs, and Father and Mother would have been justly indignant +had they known, but she was impulsive, and without much worldly wisdom, +and Mr. Hardcastle seemed sympathetic, so on the spur of the moment she +told him the urgency of Athelstane's need, and how she was trying to +meet it. He sat quite quiet for a short time, staring into the fire, +then he said, very gently and kindly: + +"My dear little girl, you needn't part with your dog. I believe I can +lend your brother all the medical books he wants." + +"You! But you're not a doctor?" exclaimed Ingred. + +"No, but my boy was studying medicine at Birkshaw. He had just passed +his intermediate M. B. when he was called up. I've got all his books. He +won't want them again now. He was flying over the German lines, and his +machine crashed down. One comfort, he was killed instantly! He had +always hoped he'd never be taken prisoner. I think he'd have liked his +books to be put to some use. I'll hunt them out, and send them across to +your brother, and the microscope, and any other things I can find. He +may just as well have them." + +There was a huskiness in the old gentleman's voice, but he coughed it +away. + +"I don't know how to thank you!" stammered Ingred. + +"I don't want any thanks. It's only a neighborly act. Take your dog +home, and say nothing about all this. I'll write to your brother. I +wonder I never thought about it before!" + +Mr. Hardcastle was as good as his word, for next Monday evening quite a +large consignment arrived for Athelstane, with a note offering the loan +of books and microscope if they would be of any service in his medical +studies. + +"Why, they're absolutely the very things I wanted!" exclaimed that youth +rapturously. "What a trump he is! A real good sort! I say, you know, +it's really most awfully kind of him! I wonder what the Dickens put it +into his head?" + +But on that point none of the family could enlighten him, for only +Ingred and Derry knew the secret, and Ingred was at school, while Derry, +belonging to the dumb creation, expressed his opinions solely in barks. + +When the household was reunited for next week-end, the clouds had +cleared from Athelstane's horizon, but seemed to have settled more +darkly than ever round Egbert. There was a horrible feeling of impending +storm in the home atmosphere. It lent a constraint to conversation at +meals, and put an effectual stopper on the fun which generally +circulated round the fireside. It was all the more uncomfortable because +nobody voiced the cause. + +"Father looks unutterables, Mother's plainly worried to death, Egbert is +sulks personified, Queenie won't tell, Athelstane and Hereward either +don't know or don't care what's the matter, but it makes them cross. +What is one to do with such a family?" thought Ingred on Sunday +afternoon. + +It had been wet, and, though a detachment of them had ventured to church +in waterproofs, they had not been able to take their usual safety valve +of a walk across the moors. Seven people in a small house seem to get in +one another's way on Sunday afternoons. Father was dozing in the +dining-room, Mother, Athelstane and Hereward were in the drawing-room, +interrupting each other's reading by constant extracts from their own +books; Ingred, who hated to pause in the midst of _The Scarlet +Pimpernel_ to hear choice bits from _The Young Visiters_ or _Parisian +Sketches_, sought sanctuary in her bedroom, only to find the blind drawn +and Quenrede with a bad headache, trying to rest. There seemed no +comfortable corner available, so she slipped on her thick coat, put her +book in the pocket, and walked down the garden to sit in the cycle-shed. +Even in the rain it was nice out of doors; clumps of purple and yellow +crocuses showed under the gooseberry bushes; lilies were pushing up +green heads through the soil; the flowering currant was bursting into +bud; roots of polyanthus flaunted mauve and orange blossoms; under a +sheltered wall were even a few early violets, whose sweet fresh scent +seemed as the first breath of spring. A missel-thrush on the bare pear +tree sang triumphantly through the rain, and a song-thrush, with more +melodious notes, trilled forth an occasional call; the robin, which had +haunted the garden all the winter, was scraping energetically for grubs +among the ivy on the wall, and scarcely troubled to fly away at her +approach. + +Ingred drew great breaths of sweet-scented wet air, and, with almost the +same instinct as the thrush, broke into "Thank God for a Garden!" the +song that Mother loved to hear Quenrede sing in the evenings when the +day's work was over. + +Delightful and refreshing and soothing as Nature may be, however, it is +rather a wet business to stand admiring crocuses in the streaming rain, +so Ingred made a dash through the dripping bushes to the cycle-shed. If +she had calculated upon finding solitude here she was disappointed. It +was occupied already. Egbert, looking as gloomy as Hamlet, was tinkering +with the motor-bicycle. He greeted his sister with something between a +sigh and a grunt, whistled monotonously for a moment or two, then burst +into confidence. + +"Look here, Ingred; I can't stand this any longer. I wish I were back in +the army! I've a jolly good mind to chuck everything up, and re-enlist!" + +"Is it as bad as all that?" asked Ingred. + +"Yes, I'm about fed up with life. If it weren't for the little Mater I'd +have cleared out before this. Perhaps she'll miss me, but I don't know +that anybody else will, and I don't care!" + +"How about Miss Bertrand?" asked Ingred, obeying a sudden impulse of +mischief. + +Egbert flung down a spanner, and turned to her the most astonished face +in the world. + +"What do _you_ know about Miss Bertrand?" he queried. + +Ingred chuckled delightedly. To use her own schoolgirl expression, she +felt she "had him on toast." + +"More than you imagine! Who went into the Abbey Church, I should like to +know, and sat in a pew for ever so long, and looked tender nothings? Oh +yes! _I_ saw you, and a pretty sight it was, too!" she teased. + +Egbert was gazing at her as if he could scarcely believe his senses. + +"But--but--where were you?" he stuttered. + +"In the peep-hole!" exploded Ingred. "I could see right down into the +church, and I watched you come in! I've been saving this up!" + +Egbert drew a long breath. + +"If I'd only known before!" he said slowly. "Ingred, stop laughing! You +don't understand. Look here, will you go and tell Dad that you saw me +there, and the exact day and time when it happened. You can remember +that?" + +"Why, surely Father's the very last person you want to know?" said +Ingred, sobering down. + +"No, he isn't, he's the one it's most important should hear about it +from a reliable witness whom he can believe. I don't mind telling you +about it now" (as Ingred expressed her astonishment in her face), "I'd +got myself into a jolly old mess, and you'll be able to clear me! It was +this way; I slipped out from the office one afternoon for an hour, and +went into the Abbey as you saw. Well, when I got back, somebody had been +into Dad's room during his absence, and a small sum of money was +missing. He taxed me with taking it!" + +"_You!_ But why you?" exclaimed Ingred indignantly. + +"Because I was the only person who had access to his private room. I +told Dad I had been out--which made him angrier still--but none of the +clerks had happened to see me go or come back, and I had no other +witness to prove my words. As a matter of fact, I went out before +Father, and came back after he had returned, but he wouldn't take my +word for it. You know what he is when he's angry. You simply can't argue +with him! Then you made things ever so much worse by blurting out how +I'd taken you to tea at the café, and bought you a bag. Father glared as +if it proved I'd been spending stolen money!" + +"You were rather flush of cash that day," commented Ingred. + +"Yes, the fact is I'd been writing a short story, and it had been +accepted by a newspaper. It's a poor enough thing, and I didn't sign my +own name to it. I didn't want to tell them at home I was trying to write +until I could do something better. Anyhow, I'd just cashed the check, +and thought I'd give you a treat for once. I knew it was no use to +explain to Father. Mother has stuck up for me, but I can tell you I've +been having a time of it this last fortnight." + +"But, Egbert," said Ingred, frankly puzzled, "couldn't you have got Miss +Bertrand to tell Dad where you were? It would have been better after all +than letting him think you took the money." + +Egbert's face darkened again tragically. + +"I wouldn't appeal to Miss Bertrand to clear my character if it were a +charge of murder. I'd be hanged first! I met her the very day after we +were in the Abbey together--she was walking with some idiot of an +airman--and she stared straight in my face and cut me. I've done with +girls! They're all of them alike!" and the gloomy young misanthrope +picked up the spanner and began energetically tightening nuts on the +motorcycle. + +Ingred shook a sympathetic head. She had not much experience in love +affairs, but she fancied that this one did not go very deep. + +"You'll get over it," she consoled. "And she wasn't a very nice girl, +anyway. Queenie always loathed her. If Dad's had his nap, I'll go and +tell him how I saw you in the Abbey. I know it was a Tuesday, because +I'd had my music lesson, and was taking the books that Dr. Linton left +behind him." + +"Good! That's what's called proving an alibi. I don't know who walked +off with those notes, but as long as Dad's satisfied I had nothing to do +with it, that's all I care. He can thrash it out with the clerks now, or +leave it alone." + +Mr. Saxon questioned Ingred closely, but accepted her account of the +matter, which set his doubts at rest concerning his son. The relief in +the family circle was enormous. Mother's face was beaming, and it seemed +as if the storm-clouds had blown away, and the sun had shone out. Tea +was the most comfortable meal that the household had taken together for +a fortnight. + +"I haven't spent quite all that check I got from the _Harlow Weekly +News_," whispered Egbert to Ingred that evening, "and I'm going to buy +you a box of chocolates on Monday. I'll leave them for you at the +Hostel. You deserve them!" + +"You mascot! I can't quite see that I _do_ deserve them, for I really +meant to rag you about that Abbey business. But I won't say 'No, thank +you!' to chocks! Rather not! We'll have a gorgeous little private feast +in No. 2 to-morrow night." + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +An Easter Pilgrimage + + +The thirteen weeks between Christmas and Easter dragged much more slowly +than those of the autumn term. The weather was cold and variable. As +fast as Spring stirred in the earth, Winter seemed to stretch forth +chilly fingers to check her advent. Nature, like a careful mother, kept +the buds tightly folded on the trees and the yellow daffodil blossoms +securely hidden under their green casement curtains. Only the most +foolhardy birds ventured to begin building operations. The rooks in the +elm trees near the Abbey had begun to repair their nests during a mild +spurt in January, then put off further alterations till late in March. +Morning after morning the girls would wake to find the roofs covered +with hoar frost. Ingred, who hated the cold, shivered as she crossed the +windy quadrangle from the college to the hostel, and congratulated +herself that she lived in the days of modern comforts. + +"How the old monks and nuns managed to exist in those wretched chilly +damp cloisters I can't imagine," she said, as she squatted by the stove +warming her hands. "Were they allowed to take hot bricks to bed with +them in their cells? Think of turning out for midnight services into an +unwarmed church! It sounds absolutely miserable!" + +"Perhaps they made themselves more comfortable than we think," commented +Verity. "One of them probably kept up the fire and doled out hot drinks +after the services. It might even have been possible to take a hot-water +bottle to church under the folds of those ample habits." + +"I don't believe that would have been allowed. Surely the cold was part +of the discipline." + +"I shouldn't have been a nun if I'd lived in the Middle Ages," said Fil. +"I'd have wanted to go to the tournaments and to have seen my knight +fighting with my ribbons in his helmet and bringing me the crown. Oh, +wouldn't it have been fun? Life's not a scrap romantic nowadays. I do +think men are slackers. Why don't they wear their ladies' colors at +football, and let whoever gets a goal carry a wreath of flowers to the +pavilion and crown his girl 'Queen of Beauty'? There'd be some +excitement in looking on then. As it is it's nothing but a scrimmage; +and I never care a button which side wins. You needn't laugh. Why +shouldn't a footballer look gallant and present trophies? The world +would jog on a great deal better if there were more chivalry in it." + +"The girls want to play games themselves nowadays instead of looking on +and receiving trophies," giggled Verity. + +"I don't!" declared Fil emphatically. "I hate tearing about at hockey, +or running at cricket. I'd far rather let my knight do the work for me." + +"Chilly work looking on in this weather. The games keep one warm," said +Ingred, who was still only half thawed. + +In spite of boisterous March winds and late spring frosts the sun +climbed steadily higher in the sky and the days lengthened. Ingred, who +used to arrive home in the twilight at Wynchcote on Friday afternoons, +could now dig in the garden after tea. She liked the scent of +newly-turned earth, and was happy working away with a trowel +transplanting roots of wall-flowers and forget-me-nots to make a display +in the bed near the dining-room window. At school the various forms vied +with one another in shows of hyacinths grown in bowls, the best of which +were lent to the studio on drawing days and figured as models for +water-color sketches, together with daffodils and hazel catkins. +Lispeth, who did not relax the activities of The Rainbow League, revived +her idea of a Posy Union, persuaded some of the girls to bring little +pots of gay crocuses or blue squills to school, and after these had been +duly exhibited on a table in the lecture-hall, sent them through the +agency of a "Children's Welfare Worker" to brighten the bedsides of +various small invalids in the poorer quarters of the town and let them +know that spring had arrived. + +Easter-tide was very near now, and the school would break up for three +weeks. Miss Burd was going away to allow her tired brains to lie fallow +for a while, and most of the other teachers were looking forward to a +well-earned rest apart from their forms. It came as a surprise to +everybody when Miss Strong--alone--among the staff--suggested the +project of taking some of her pupils for a short walking tour. They were +to start off, like pilgrims of old, carrying with them the barest +necessaries, and have a four days' tramp to visit a few of the beauty +spots of the neighborhood, spending a couple of nights _en route_. + +"It will be a real open-air holiday," she assured them. "We shall be out +of doors all day long and eat most of our meals by the roadside. I've +planned it out carefully. A short railway journey to Carford, then walk +by easy stages through Ryton-on-the-Heath to Dropwick and Pursborough, +where we can get the train again back to Grovebury. I know of two +extremely nice Temperance Hotels where we can be put up for the night. +By going in this way we shall see the cream of the country. Any girl who +is a good walker may join the party." + +It certainly sounded a fascinating program, and after due consideration +at home eight girls put their names down for the excursion--Ingred, +Verity, Nora, Bess, Linda, Francie, Kitty, and Belle. They felt it would +be quite a new experience to know Miss Strong out of school hours; the +light in her eyes when she announced the scheme gave promise of hitherto +hidden capacities for fun. It circulated round the form that she might +prove quite a jolly companion. Those girls who could not join the tour +were a trifle wistful and inclined towards envy. They took it out of the +pilgrims in gloomy prognostications concerning the weather. + +"It will probably rain all the time and you'll tramp along like a row of +drowned rats," suggested Beatrice. + +"It won't do anything of the sort. I believe we're going to have a fine +mild spell and it will be just glorious. I'm taking my 'Brownie,' so +there'll be some snapshots to show we've been enjoying ourselves," +retorted Nora briskly. "You stay-at-homes will be sorry for yourselves +when you hear our adventures!" + +To allow the weather ample chance of improvement, and perhaps also to +give Miss Strong time to rest, the excursion was fixed for the last week +of the holidays. One morning in mid-April, therefore, found teacher and +pupils meeting together on the platform of Grovebury station to catch +the 9.25 train to Carford. They wore jerseys and their school hats, and +they carried their luggage according to their individual ideas of +convenience. Linda wore her little brother's satchel slung over her +back. Nora had borrowed a knapsack, Kitty preferred a parcel, Verity +packed her possessions in a string bag, and Bess carried a neat +dispatch-case. + +"I'd a ripping idea for mine, but it wouldn't work," declared Ingred. "I +meant to tie my parcel to a balloon and then just lead it along by a +string. But I couldn't get a proper gas balloon for the business, and +that's what you ought to have." + +"And suppose the wind were to blow it away from you, what then?" +inquired Miss Strong. + +"I suppose I should have to cable it round my waist." + +"Then you might be whisked up with it, and we should see you sailing off +into the clouds in a kind of aeroplane holiday instead of a walking +tour! I don't think we can patent your balloon dodge yet." + +"What I want," said Kitty, "is a sort of child's light mail-cart +arrangement that I could wheel along. It's what Mother always says she +needs for shopping--a parcel-holder on wheels. Why doesn't somebody +invent one? He--or she (I'm sure it would be a _she_)--would make a +fortune." + +"We might have borrowed a perambulator," said Belle, quite seriously, +"and have packed all our luggage into it." + +"Oh, I dare say! And who would have wheeled it?" + +"We could have taken it in turns." + +"With long turns for the willing horses, and short turns for shirkers! +No, thanks! Better each to stick to our own." + +"Besides which, forget stiles. We hope to try some field paths as well +as high roads," added Miss Strong. "Also I should decidedly have jibbed +at escorting a perambulator. Here comes the train! Let us make a dash +for an empty carriage and keep it to ourselves." + +It was only a short journey to Carford, but it took them over twelve +rather uninteresting miles and put them down just at the commencement of +a very beautiful stretch of country where open uplands alternated with +wooded coombes, and where the stone-roofed villages were the prettiest +in the county. + +Miss Strong, who had had some experience of mountaineering in +Switzerland, restrained the pace and kept them all at what she called a +"guide's walk." + +"It pays in the long run," she assured them. "If you tear ahead at +first, you get tired later on, and we must keep fairly well together. I +can't have some of you half a mile behind." + +The April days were still cold, but very bracing for exercise. Lambs +were out in the fields, primroses grew in clumps under the hedgerows, +hazel catkins flung showers of pollen to the winds, and in the coppice +that bordered the road pale-mauve March violets and white anemone stars +showed through last year's carpet of dead leaves. There was that joyful +thrill of spring in the air, that resurrection of Nature when the +thraldom of winter is over, and beauty comes back to the gray dim world. +The old Greeks felt it, thousands of years ago, and fabled it in their +myth of Persephone and her return from Hades. The Druids knew it in +Ancient Britain, and fixed their religious ceremonies for May Day. The +birds were caroling it still in the hedgerows, and the girls caught the +joyous infection and danced along in defiance of Miss Strong's jog-trot +guide walk. Even the mistress herself, so wise at the outset, finally +flung prudence to the winds, and skirmished through the coppices with +enthusiasm equal to that of her pupils, lured from the pathway by the +glimpses of kingcups, or the pursuit of a peacock butterfly. + +"All the same, if we tear round like small dogs, we shall never reach +Dropwick to-night, and I've booked our rooms there," she assured them. +"You don't want to sleep on the heather, I suppose!" + +"Bow-wow! Shouldn't mind!" laughed Kitty. "We could cling together and +keep each other warm." + +"You won't cling to me, thanks! I prefer a bed of my own." + +Nora, having brought a good supply of films for her Brownie camera, was +most keen on taking snapshots. She photographed the company eating their +lunch on a bank by the roadside, with Miss Strong in the very act of +biting a piece of bread and butter, and Ingred with her face buried in a +mug. She even went further. She had been reading a book on faked +photography, and she yearned to try experiments. + +"I'm going to give those stay-at-homes a few thrills," she declared. "I +told them we'd have adventures." + +Nora expounded her plan to Miss Strong, who was sufficiently interested +in the subject to promise her collusion and good advice. A mock Alpine +scene came first. Nora had brought with her, for this express purpose, a +length of rope, which she wore around her jersey like a Carmelite's +girdle. She took it off now and fastened it round the waists of three of +her schoolfellows, linking them together in the manner of Swiss +mountaineers. Then she found a piece of rock on which were narrow +ledges, and, with the help of Miss Strong, posed them in attitudes of +apparent peril. Really, they were only a couple of feet from the ground, +and a fall would have been a laughing matter, but in a camera they +appeared to be clinging almost by their eyelashes to the face of an +inaccessible crag and in imminent danger of their lives. Nora took two +views, and chuckled with satisfaction. + +"That'll make their hair stand on end! I'll fix a few more sensations if +I can. Who's game to run six inches in front of a mild old cow's horns, +while somebody urges her on from behind?" + +"How will you guarantee she's mild?" inquired Bess dubiously. "She might +take it into her head to toss us!" + +"Not she! It was only the 'cow with the crumpled horn' that went in for +tossing." + +"Well, I'd rather be in a safer photo, thanks! I'm terrified of cows, +anyway." + +Nora's instincts were really quite dramatic. She photographed Bess +crouching in the hollow of a tree, an imaginary fugitive, to whom +Francie, in an attitude of caution, handed surreptitious victuals. She +posed Linda, apparently lifeless, on the borders of a pond, with Kitty +and Verity applying artificial respiration. She bound up Ingred's head +with a handkerchief, and placed her arm in a sling as the result of a +fictitious accident, and would have arranged a circle of weeping girls +round the prostrate body of Miss Strong, had not that stalwart lady +stoutly objected. + +"I'm not going to do anything of the sort, so put up that camera, and +come along at once. We've wasted far too much time already, and we shall +have to step out unless we want to finish our walk in the dark. I +promise you tea at Ryton-on-the-Heath, if you hurry, but we can't stop +half an hour there unless you put your best foot foremost, so, quick +march!" + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +The Rivals + + +This book does not propose to extol an ideal heroine, only to chronicle +the deeds and thoughts of a girl, who, like most other girls, had her +pleasant and her disagreeable moods, her high aspirations and good +intentions, and her occasional bursts of bad temper. Ingred had been +very passionate as a child, and, though she had learnt to put on the +curb, sometimes that uncomfortable lower self would take the bit between +its teeth and gallop away with her. It is sad to have to confess that +the enjoyment of her walking tour was entirely spoilt by an ugly little +imp who kept her company. In plain words she was horribly jealous of +Bess. Ingred liked to be popular. She was gratified to be warden of "The +Pioneers" and a member of the School Parliament. She felt she had an +acknowledged standing not only in her own form but throughout the +college. Her official position, her cleverness in class, her aptitude +for music, her skill at games, made her an all-round force and a referee +on most subjects. There is no doubt that Ingred would have had the +undivided post of favorite in her form had it not been for Bess +Haselford. Not that Bess was in any way a self-constituted rival--on the +contrary she was rather shy and retiring, and made no particular bid for +popularity. Perhaps that was one reason why the girls liked her. She was +generous in lending her property, invited her form-mates to charming +parties at Rotherwood, and often persuaded an indulgent father to +include some of her special chums in motoring expeditions on Saturday +afternoons. She had, indeed, taken up the exact role that Quenrede had +played years ago, before the war, and which Ingred would have followed +had Rotherwood and a car still been in the Saxons' possession. In spite +of several overtures from Bess, Ingred had thrust away all idea of +friendship, and had steadily refused any invitations to her old home. +The reports which the girls brought back of the renewed glories of +Rotherwood made her feel like a disinherited princess. She considered it +rough luck that her supplanter should be at the same school and in the +same form as herself, and decided that Bess had ousted her from both +house and favor. It made it only the more aggravating that Bess's +musical talent was quite equal, if not superior, to her own. Bess had +improved immensely on the violin, and her performance at the end-of-term +recital had received quite a little ovation. + +When the question of the walking tour was broached, Bess, owing to home +engagements, had at first reluctantly refused, then had managed to +rearrange her holidays and had joined the party after all. To Ingred her +presence utterly marred the enjoyment. It was extremely unreasonable of +Ingred, for Bess was most unassuming and really very long-suffering. She +put up with snubs that would have made most girls retaliate indignantly. +Nobody likes to be sat upon too hard, however, and even the proverbial +worm will turn at last. + +As the walking party, much urged by Miss Strong straggled along towards +Ryton-on-the-Heath, Bess made a lightning dive up a bank and came back +with a blue flower plainly of the _labiate_ species. + +"Bugle!" she remarked with satisfaction. + +"Bugle?" echoed Ingred scornfully. "Shows how much you know about +botany! That's self-heal!" + +"Oh no; it's certainly bugle." + +"I tell you it's self-heal. I found some at Lynstones last August and +looked it up in the flower-book." + +"Very likely you did, but that doesn't prove that this is self-heal." + +"It does, for anybody with a pair of eyes. I've been studying botany." + +"And so have I!" + +"You may think you know everything, Bess Haselford, but you don't know +this." + +[Illustration: "YOU MAY THINK YOU KNOW EVERYTHING, BESS HASELFORD, BUT +YOU DON'T KNOW THIS!"] + +"I didn't say I knew everything; but I'm certain this is bugle all the +same, and I stick to it!" + +Bess's usually sweet voice had an obstinate note in it for once. She +seemed determined to defend her botanical trenches. + +"Go it--hammer and tongs!" laughed Kitty. "I'll back the winner!" + +"And I'll take the case into court," said Linda, snatching the flower +from her schoolfellow's hand and running on to show it to Miss Strong, +who was an authority on the subject. + +The mistress paused to let the others overtake her. + +"Bugle, certainly," she decided emphatically. "The first bit we've found +this year. It's out early. Self-heal? Oh dear no! The two are rather +alike and are sometimes mistaken one for another, but no botanist would +dream of confusing them. Bugle is a spring and early summer flower, and +self-heal blooms much later. Make a note in your nature diaries that you +found bugle on 15th April." + +Considerably squashed, Ingred had for once to acknowledge her botany to +be at fault, and, though Bess did not triumph, Francie gave Kitty a poke +and the pair giggled. + +"Well, of course, one can't be always right," said Ingred airily. + +"So it seems; though some people set themselves up for wiseacres!" +sniggered Kitty. + +Ingred fell behind with Verity and let the others walk on. It was only a +trifling incident, but she was annoyed to notice how openly and +instantly the girls had sided with Bess. She felt too glum for speech, +and as Verity was tired and disinclined to talk, they tramped along in +silence. + +They had been winding steadily uphill for some miles and were now on the +heath from which Ryton took its name. The ground fell steeply to the +west, showing glimpses of a great river in the valley below, where the +still-leafless woods had burst here and there into faint tokens of +spring. Beyond the river rose the characteristic grey hills of the +neighborhood, with their stone walls and sheepfolds and stretches of +moorland, looking a little hazy in the afternoon light, but with patches +of yellow gorse catching the sunshine. Ryton was a delightful little +village. Its cottages, built long ago by local craftsmen, seemed +absolutely in harmony with the landscape: walls, dormers, and mullions +and long undulating roofs were all of limestone and conveyed an +impression of sturdy self-respect. The rain-worn, lichen-covered roofs +had weathered to charming irregularities of form and lovely tones of +color. Ivy and clematis climbed over the porches and twisted themselves +round the low chimneys. The little gardens were bright with daffodils, +mezereon, and flowering currant. + +To the girls, somewhat tired and decidedly hungry, the main focus of the +village was a long iron post which stretched out over the street and +supported a rudely-painted sign of a bird, whose species might have been +a puzzle to an ornithologist but for the words "Pelican Inn" that +appeared beneath it. + +In the long-ago days before railroads, the little hostelry had been a +stopping-place for stage-coaches, and a wooden board still set forth +that it supplied "Posting in all its branches." The landlord would no +doubt have been much dismayed if any wag had entered and demanded a +chaise and post-horses to drive to Gretna Green, and a shabby motor in +his stable-yard showed that he marched with the times. + +Miss Strong, on consulting her watch, decided that her party might +safely indulge in a halt of half an hour, and ordered tea for nine +persons. The inn, built on a type common in the district, was entered by +an archway leading straight into a courtyard. A door on the right led to +the bar, and a door on the left to the coffee-room. To this latter more +aristocratic quarter Miss Strong conducted her pupils. Some of them had +never before been in a small village hostelry, and were much amused at +the quaint old parlor with its sporting prints, its glass cases of +stuffed squirrels and badgers, and its horsehair-seated chairs with +crochet antimacassars hung over the backs. The atmosphere was certainly +rather redolent of stale beer and tobacco, but a bunch of crimson +wall-flowers on the table did their best to spread a pleasant perfume. +The tea, when, after much delay, it arrived, was delicious. The Pelican +was a farm as well as an inn, and the rosy-faced servant girl carried in +cream, fresh butter, and red-currant jam to the coffee-room. She +apologized for the absence of cake, but it was an omission that nobody +minded. Upland air gives good appetites, and, though Miss Strong +reminded her flock that this was only a meal by the way, and that supper +was ordered for them at Dropwick, they set to work as if they would +taste nothing more till midnight. There was something so delightfully +fresh and out of the common in having tea at a wayside inn; they felt +true pilgrims of the road, and civilization and school seemed to have +faded into a far background. The love of travel is in the blood of both +Celt and Anglo-Saxon; our forefathers visited shrines for the joy of the +journey as well as for religious motives, and maybe our Bronze Age +ancestors, who flocked to the great Sun Festivals at Stonehenge or +Avebury Circles, derived pleasure from the change of scene as well as a +blessing from the Druids. The Romans, those great pioneers of travel, +had opened out the district eighteen centuries ago, and laid a straight, +paved road from Wendcester to Pursborough; the remains of their +fortified camps and of their villas were still left to mark their era. +The foss-way, leading from Ryton-on-the-Heath to Dropwick, was their +handiwork, and our pilgrims were to march on the identical track of some +old Roman legion. + +It must be owned that when tea was finished they were very unwilling +pilgrims, and would gladly have spent the night at The Pelican and have +slept in the funny, musty, low-ceiled little bedrooms upstairs. + +"Couldn't we possibly stop here?" implored Verity. + +But Miss Strong, having booked rooms in Dropwick, was adamant. + +"Besides which I wouldn't trust the beds here," she remarked. "So early +in the year they're almost bound to be damp, and we don't want any of +you laid up with rheumatic fever as the result of our trip. I prefer to +give a wayside inn a week's notice if I mean to sleep there in April. +Nobody has had enough coal during the winter to keep fires going in +spare bedrooms. That front room was as chilly as a country church! You +won't feel so tired, Verity, when you're on your feet again, and it's +all downhill to Dropwick." + +The Temperance Hotel, where the girls finally stayed their weary feet, +was quite modern and unromantic, though well aired and fairly +comfortable. Ingred, whom the fates had placed to sleep with Nora, had a +trying night, for her obstreperous bedfellow had a habit of flinging out +her arms, and of appropriating the larger half of the clothes, leaving +poor Ingred to wake shivering. Also, the bed sloped towards the middle, +so that both girls had to poise themselves on a kind of hillside, and +were constantly rolling down and colliding. These troubles, however, +were only incidental in the Pilgrimage, and certainly might have been +worse. + +On comparing notes at breakfast nearly everybody had had similar +experiences. Miss Strong confessed to a patent mattress with a broken +spring jutting up in the center, round which she had been obliged to lie +in a curve. Linda and Francie had slept near the water-cistern, which +alarmed them with weird noises, and Bess and Kitty, trying to open their +window wider, had found it lacked sash-cords, and descended like a +guillotine, sending the prop that had upheld it, flying into the street. +Though they groused at the time, the girls laughed as they discussed +these details over the eggs and bacon. The sun was shining and they felt +rested, and quite ready once more to shoulder their kit and set out on +the march. + +There was nothing of very great interest to see in Dropwick itself, +though it was a quaint enough old-fashioned market-town, with a +fifteenth-century church tower, and a few black and white houses. Miss +Strong decided not to waste any time there, but to push on as fast as +possible across the hills to Sudbury, where there was a fine +Romano-British villa that was well worth a visit. So the foss-way took +them up, and up, and up, through fir-woods where the new cones were +showing like candles on Christmas trees, and alongside a quarry where +they pounced upon some quite interesting fossils in the heaps of stones +by the road, and over a craggy weather-worn peak, where, again, they +caught the magnificent view of the valley and the river and hills +beyond. Then down again, through more fir-woods, where the timber was +being felled, and great tree-trunks lay piled in rows one above another, +and past banks that were a dream, with starry blackthorn blossom and +primroses growing beneath, to where the cross-roads met and the signpost +pointed an arm to Sudbury. + +The Romans might take their roads straight as an arrow across moor and +hill, but they chose out the beauty spots of the land on which to build +their villas, and were careful to fix upon a southern aspect and shelter +from the prevailing winds. The remains of the old settlement lay behind +a farm, and had been carefully excavated by a local antiquarian society. +Visitors applied at the farmhouse, entered their names in a book, paid +their admission money, and were escorted round by a guide. + +Time, and successive conquests, had demolished the greater part of the +villa, but its foundations and some of the old brick walls could be +plainly traced. The great bath, that indispensable feature of a Roman +establishment, could still be seen, with its beautiful tesselated +pavement, inlaid with mosaics of doves, cupids, and designs of fruit and +flowers. The heating system also, with the leaden pipes and remains of +furnaces, was a testimony to the civilization of the period, and the +amount of comfort that the legions brought with them into their foreign +exile. A large shed had been fitted up as a museum, and held a number of +objects that had been dug up during the excavations. The girls, poring +over the glass cases, looked with interest at a Roman lady's silver +hand-mirror, toilet pots, and tiny shears that must have been the early +substitute for scissors. More fascinating still were the toys from a +little child's grave, small glass bottles, roughly-made animals of clay, +and a carved object that no doubt had been at one time a treasured doll, +though now it was crumbling into dust. + +Among the pile of broken statues or fragments of ornamental stonework in +the corner was a monumental tablet, cracked across in two places, but +pieced together for preservation with iron rivets. The inscription ran: + + "D.M. Simpliciæ Florentinæ Animæ Innocentissimæ quæ vixit menses + decem. Felicius Simplex Pater fecit. Leg. vi, V." + + (To the Divine Shades. To Simplicia Florentina, a most innocent + soul, who lived ten months. Felicius Simplex of the Sixth Legion, + the Victorious, the father, erected this.) + +Some of the girls glanced at the tablet, and the English translation of +the inscription which lay near, and turned away without much notice. But +Ingred stood gazing at them with a catch in her throat. They brought a +whole pathetic human story to life again. She could picture the noble +Roman father, leader of the victorious legion, sent over from Italy and +making his home here in a conquered foreign land, as our officers do in +India, and bringing with him his lady with her Roman customs and her +slaves. Those few brief words--"a most innocent soul who lived ten +months"--told the tragedy of the cherished little daughter whose frail +life faded in the fogs of the British climate about eighteen hundred +years ago. Hearts are the same all the world over, and the pretty +dark-eyed Roman baby must have been laid to its rest with as much grief +and sadness as the fair-haired darlings whom British mothers sometimes +bury in Indian soil. + +"It's a sweet name, too--Simplicia Florentina!" mused Ingred. "I wonder +what she would have grown up like. And what her history would have been! +I'd give worlds to know more about her!" + +"Aren't you coming, Ingred?" called Verity from the doorway. "Miss +Strong says we ought to be getting on now." + +Ingred brought her thoughts back with an effort to the twentieth +century, and joined the waiting party outside. Miss Strong was talking +to their guide, who was describing a short cut across the fields that +would save them several miles on their way to Pursborough. + +Verity, after calling to her friend in the museum, had run out. Ingred +followed her, to find her with her arm locked closely through Bess's. +There was no reason why she should not display such a mark of affection, +but to Ingred it seemed little short of an insult to herself. Verity, +her particular chum, to have openly gone over to the enemy! She stared +at her in surprise. Verity did not appear to notice the stare, however, +and walked on quite calmly. + +Miss Strong had decided that they should find a quiet place along the +lane where they could eat their lunch before beginning the second part +of their march. She fixed on a lovely spot with a high wooded bank at +the back and in front fields that sloped to the river. There were specks +of yellow in these fields, and Kitty who finished her sandwiches first, +ran to inspect nearer and reported cowslips. Instantly most of the girls +went scrambling over the stile. + +Miss Strong, who had bought picture-postcards of the Roman villa, and +was addressing them with a stylo-pen, did not follow the exodus. She +called to Ingred, however, who was last. + +"Warn the girls," she said, "not on any account to go into that meadow +where there is a horse with a young foal. The guide at the farm said it +is a savage beast and will attack people. Be sure to tell them _all_!" + +"I'll run after them now," answered Ingred, calling "Cuckoo!" to attract +their attention. + +She told Belle and Linda and Verity, who were near to the stile, and +Linda passed the news on to Francie and Kitty. Bess was quite a long +distance down the field, gathering blackthorn from the hedge. + +"I'm not going to tear all that way after her!" thought Ingred crossly. +"Verity will be sure to tell her. They seem inseparable to-day. Besides +which nobody's particularly likely to go into that other meadow. There +are plenty of cowslips here." + +It took Miss Strong a much longer time to write her postcards than she +had originally intended, and while she was thus employed her girls +spread themselves out in quest of flowers. It is always amazing when you +start rambling in company with others how quickly you can find yourself +alone. By the time Ingred had gathered a fragrant, sweet-smelling bunch +and looked round for somebody to admire it, her schoolmates were gone. +She hunted about for them, and noticed Verity's green jersey and Kitty's +brown tam-o'-shanter in the wood above. Surely they must all be up there +together. + +She was just going to follow, when a qualm of conscience seized her. She +had not delivered Miss Strong's message to Bess, and it would perhaps be +as well to ascertain that the latter had not strayed unwarned into the +danger zone. + +"It's not at all likely," Ingred kept repeating to herself, as she +walked briskly along the meadow to the fence. "I'm really only going on +a wild goose chase." + +Likely or unlikely, it was the very thing which had happened. The +cowslips on the other side of the railings were larger and finer, and +Bess, having no fear of horses, had climbed over and wandered some way +down the field. Only about twenty yards from her the lanky foal was +gambolling round its mother, a big draught mare, cropping the grass +innocently enough at present, and apparently not perceiving trespassers. + +If Bess could retreat quietly and unnoticed from the field all might be +well. Ingred did not dare to call for fear of attracting the mare's +attention. If Bess would only turn round she might wave to her. But Bess +kept her back to the fence and had no idea of danger. There was only one +course open to Ingred. She slipped over the railings and went along the +meadow to warn her schoolfellow. In a few quiet words she explained the +situation. + +"Don't run," she whispered. "Let us walk back and perhaps it will take +no notice of us." + +The girls went as softly as possible, looking over their shoulders every +now and then to see that all was safe. Of bulls they had a wholesome +terror, but they had had no previous experience of a savage horse. + +They were about fifteen yards from the railings, when the mare, which +hitherto had been feeding quietly, raised her head and lumbered round. +She saw strangers in her territory; her primeval instinct was to protect +her foal, and she came tearing across the field with wild eyes and lip +turned back from gleaming teeth. The girls fled for their lives. It was +a question of which could reach the railings first, they or the +dangerous brute whose huge hoofs thundered behind them. Ingred, who was +the taller and the stronger of the two, seized Bess by the hand and +literally dragged her along. Together they tumbled over the fence +somehow and rolled down the bank into the safe shelter of some gorse +bushes. For a moment they were afraid the mare would leap after them, +but the height of the rails balked her; apparently she was satisfied +with routing the enemy and returned across the field to her foal. The +girls, with shaking knees, got up and hurried towards the lane where +they had left Miss Strong. + +"You've saved my life, Ingred!" gasped Bess, as they went along. + +"No, I haven't!" choked Ingred. "At least, it was my fault you ever went +into the field at all. Miss Strong told me to tell you the horse was +savage, and you were such a long way off picking cowslips that I didn't +trouble to go after you. I trusted to Verity telling you." + +"Verity ran the other way with Kitty." + +"I know. Well, at any rate, it was my fault and I'm ready to take the +blame. Precious row I shall get into with the Snark!" + +"Why should we say anything about it?" + +"Not say anything?" + +"There's really no need. It's over and done with now. I don't want to +get you into a scrape. I vote we just keep it to ourselves." + +Ingred paused, with her hand on the gate, and gazed with unaffected +astonishment at her companion. + +"Bess Haselford, you're the biggest trump I've ever met! It's only one +girl in a thousand who'd want to cover up a thing like that. Most people +would make _such_ a tale of it, and pose as an injured martyr whom I'd +nearly murdered. I'm sure Francie would, or even Verity." + +"You put yourself into danger to come and warn me!" + +"Well, it was the least I could do!" + +"Let's forget about it then. And don't tell any of the girls, in case +they blab. It would make Miss Strong so nervous, she'd be scared about +our going into any fields for ever afterwards." + +"Right-o, I won't tell, but I shan't forget. As I said before, I think +you're the biggest trump on the face of the earth." + +"Cuckoo!" rang out Linda's voice from the bank. + +"Where are you girls?" shouted Miss Strong from the lane. + +"Coming!" called Ingred, as she latched the gate and hurried with Bess +to rejoin the rest of the party. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +Bess at Home + + +The Pilgrims, after a glorious tramp down the dale of Beechcombe, +reached Pursborough without further adventure, and spent the night +there. They gave an hour next morning to inspecting the glorious old +church and the ruins of the castle, then once more resumed the Roman +road. It was the last day of their tour, so they made the best of it. +They explored some delightful woods, followed the course of a +fascinating stream, ate their lunch in a picturesque quarry, had an +early tea at a wayside inn which rivalled "The Pelican" in quaintness, +and finally reached Ribstang in time to catch the 5:20 train to +Grovebury. The conclusion of the excursion meant the close of the +holiday, for school would begin again on the following Monday. Everybody +had enjoyed it immensely, and everybody was only too sorry it was over. +To Ingred it marked an epoch. She had suddenly made friends with Bess +Haselford. Now she viewed Bess with unprejudiced eyes she realized what +an exceedingly nice and attractive girl she really was. The adventure in +the field had flung them together, and--much to the astonishment of the +others, who did not know their secret--they had walked the whole way +from Pursborough to Ribstang in each other's company. + +"I can't make out Ingred!" declared Verity. "Here she's been abusing +Bess, and calling her a bounder, and now she's hanging on her arm! The +way some people turn round is really most extraordinary----" + +"'There's naught so queer as folks!'" quoted Linda. "Glad Ingred's come +to her senses, at any rate. I always thought she was perfectly beastly +to Bess!" + +"So she was. I wonder Bess will put up with her now. I'm sure I +wouldn't!" + +Bess, however, was of a forgiving disposition, and let bygones be +bygones. It is the only plan at schools, for girls are generally so +frank in the nature of their remarks that if you begin to treasure up +the disagreeable things said to you, and let them rankle, you will +probably find yourself without a chum in the world. Though the fashion +may be for plain speaking, it is often a matter of mood, and the mate +who genuinely believes you a "blighter" one day, will claim you as a +"mascot" with equal persuasion on the next. It is all part of the +wholesome rough-and-tumble of your education, and proves of as much use +in training you and rounding your projecting corners as the lessons you +learn in your form. The girls thought Ingred's new infatuation would +soon wear off, but it had come to stay. She herself was quite surprised +at the force of the attraction. It was almost like falling in love. She +marched with Bess at drilling, chose her for her partner at tennis, and +would have changed desks to sit next to her, had not Miss Strong refused +permission. As a natural result of this new state of affairs came a shy +invitation from Bess asking Ingred to tea at Rotherwood. After the many +previous refusals she would hardly have ventured to give in but for +several hints which paved the way. Circumstances, however, alter cases, +and Ingred, who had declared that nothing should induce her to set foot +in her old home, was now all eagerness to go. She was delighted to find +that she was to be the only guest. She felt that on this particular +visit even Verity would be _de trop_. + +On a certain Tuesday afternoon, therefore, with full permission from +Miss Burd, she absented herself from the hostel tea-table, and walked +home with Bess instead. It gave her quite a thrill to turn in at the +familiar gate of Rotherwood. The lawns were in beautiful order, and the +beds gay with tulips, aubrietias, forget-me-nots, and a lovely show of +hyacinths. So far from being neglected, the place seemed even better +kept than in the old days. The house, with its pretty modern +black-and-white front, its many gables, and its cheerful red-tiled roof, +looked the same as formerly; but indoors there were great changes. The +hall, which used to be Moorish, was now hung with tapestry, and +furnished in old oak; the drawing-room was yellow instead of blue, with +a big brocade-covered couch and a Chappell piano; the dining-room had +rows of book-cases and some good oil-paintings; the morning-room was a +cheerful chintz boudoir with a gilt mirror and Chippendale chairs; the +conservatory was full of choice flowers, and an aviary had been added to +it. + +"Mother is so fond of birds," explained Bess. "They amuse her when her +head's bad and she doesn't care to see anybody. She's made most of them +wonderfully tame." + +Mrs. Haselford proved to be a gentle pleasant lady who shook hands +kindly with Ingred, then excused herself on the score of ill-health, and +retired to her room, leaving the girls to have tea by themselves. + +"Mother's never been really well for three years," said Bess. "Not since +Bert and Larry----" + +She did not finish her sentence, but her eyes turned to the wall where +hung two portraits of lads in khaki. Ingred understood. She knew that +Bess had lost both brothers in the war, and she had heard that poor Mrs. +Haselford had shut herself up in her grief and refused all comfort, +sometimes even to the extent of remaining for days upstairs, and +neglecting the company of husband and child. Her attitude to Bess was +often peculiar, it was almost as if she resented her daughter being left +when her adored boys had been taken from her. Bess never knew how she +would be received, for sometimes her mother would seem unable to bear +her presence, and at other times would unreasonably chide her for +neglect. It began to dawn on Ingred how very lonely her friend must be. +She had secretly envied her the possession of Rotherwood, but now she +realized how little the house itself would mean without the happy home +life in which brothers and sister had borne their part. + +"I'd rather have the bungalow with the family, than Rotherwood all +alone!" she ruminated. "As for Muvkins, she's one in a million. I +believe she'd be cheery in a coal cellar, so long as she'd a solitary +chick to keep under her wing. Why, if we'd lost _our_ boys, she'd have +been trying to make it up to Queenie and me for not having brothers. I +know her! That's her way!" + +Bess had much to show to her visitor when tea in the dainty morning-room +was over. There were her books, and her photographs and postcard albums, +and all kinds of girlish possessions, and a cocker spaniel with three +puppies as fat as roly-poly puddings, and a fern-case opening out of one +of her bedroom windows, and a collection of pressed wild flowers, and a +green parroquet that would sit on her wrist, and allow her to stroke its +head, though it snapped at strangers. They had been working upwards +through the house, and finally Bess led the way to the top landing of +all. She paused for a moment before the door of an attic room. + +"I expect you'll know this place!" she remarked shyly, ushering in her +guest. + +Ingred looked round in amazement. It was a little sanctum which she and +Quenrede had shared in the old days as a kind of studio. Here they had +been allowed to try experiments in poker work, painting, fret-carving, +spatter-work, or any other operations which were considered too messy to +be performed in the school-room downstairs. They had loved their "den," +as they called it, and had taken a particular pleasure in covering its +walls with pictures, cut, most of them, from magazines, and stuck on +with glue or paste. During the occupation of Rotherwood by the "Red +Cross," this room had been locked up, and Ingred had imagined that Mr. +Haselford would have had it papered when the rest of the house was +decorated. She was delighted to find it in this untouched condition. All +her dear former treasures adorned the walls, and she ran from one to +another rejoicing over them. There was even a further surprise. Years +ago an artist cousin had sketched her portrait in pastel crayons upon +the color-wash of the wall. It had been done as a mere artistic freak, +but like many such spontaneous drawings it had been an admirable +likeness and a very pretty picture. It bore her name, "Ingred," in +flourishy letters underneath. The whole of this had now been protected +with a sheet of glass and enclosed by a frame. A table in the room, an +easy chair, and a gas-fire seemed to point to its occasional occupation. + +"You actually haven't had this changed!" exclaimed Ingred. "I thought it +must all have been swept away by now!" + +"No. You see, Father took me over the house when first he decided to +come here, and when he was arranging what papers to choose. I fell in +love with this dear wee room just as it was, and begged that it mightn't +be touched. Father let me have it for my very own. It was so different +from all other rooms. I liked the pictures pasted on the walls, and the +bits of poker-work nailed up. I knew some other girls must have been +here, and it gave me a homely feeling, as if you had only gone away for +a few minutes, and might come back any time and talk to me. Then there +was your portrait. I wondered who 'Ingred' was! The name struck my fancy +immensely, and so did the face. You remember we removed to Rotherwood at +the end of July, and all the rest of the summer I wondered about the +portrait. I used to come up here and sit when I felt very lonely, and it +seemed company, somehow. You can't think how fond I got of it. I suppose +I was rather silly and absurd, but I knew nobody in Grovebury then, and +Mother was ill in her room, and Father away all day--anyhow I got into +the habit of talking to it as if it were a girl friend, and showing it +my paintings, and my pressed flowers, and everything I was doing. I +pretended it liked to see them. Sometimes I even brought up my violin +and played to it. That was nicer than being quite by myself. It grew to +be as dear to me as the little sister I had always longed to have. + +"Then in September I went to the College. You can imagine what a start +it gave me when somebody called you 'Ingred.' I looked at you, and I saw +at once that you were the 'Ingred' of my picture, only grown older. I +was absolutely thrilled. It was very foolish of me, but I thought +somehow you'd understand. Of course you didn't! How could you? It was +idiotic of me to expect it. The 'Ingred' on the wall was simply the +friend of my fancy." + +"And the real one was just hateful to you!" said Ingred sorrowfully. "I +know I was a perfect beast! I was ashamed of myself all the time, only I +wouldn't confess it. Lispeth used to slate me sometimes for my +nastiness. She called me 'a jealous blighter,' and so I was! The girl of +your fancy is a great deal nicer than I am, or ever can be, but I'll try +to live up to her as well as I can, Bess, if you'll let me!" + +"Let you!" echoed Bess, linking her arm affectionately in that of her +friend. "You're a perfect dear nowadays." + +The girls tore themselves away quite regretfully from the little attic +studio, but time was passing only too quickly, and they wished to try a +game of tennis before Ingred returned to the hostel. + +"So you like the house in its new dress?" asked Bess as they walked down +the steps into the garden. "Father thinks it's beautiful. He says Mr. +Saxon is the best architect he knows. He's simply put every thing in +exactly the right place. Does he only design houses, or does he go in +for anything bigger?" + +"He would if he got the chance," replied Ingred. "What sort of things do +you mean?" + +"Oh, a church, or a museum, or an art gallery." + +"I know he's done most splendid designs for these, but he's never had +the luck to get them accepted. There's generally so much influence +needed to get your plans taken for a big public building like that. At +least, that's what Dad says. If you have a relation on the City Council, +it makes a vast difference to your chances. We've no friends at Court." + +"Oh!" said Bess, rather abstractedly, and the subject dropped. + +The girls had only time for one game of tennis, when the stable-clock, +chiming half-past six, reminded Ingred that if she wished to do her +preparation that evening she must rush back to the hotel. She bade Bess +a reluctant good-by. + +"You'll come and see me again?" asked the latter. + +"Rather! And I'll send thought-waves to animate my portrait, and let it +talk for me in my absence," laughed Ingred. "Perhaps you'll get more +than you bargain for--I'm an awful chatter-box." + +"You'll never talk too much for me," said Bess, as she kissed her +good-by. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +The Nun's Walk + + +The Saxon family agreed that whatever might be the drawbacks of +Wynch-on-the-Wold in wintry weather, it was an idyllic spot in the month +of May. The wall-flowers which Ingred had transplanted were now in their +prime, the apple trees were in blossom, clumps of lilies were pushing up +fast, and pink double daisies bordered the front walk. The woods in the +combe below the moor were a mass of bluebells, and here and there those +who searched might find rarer flowers, orchises, lily of the valley, and +true lover's knot. Friends who had shirked the journey while the winds +blew cold, now began to drop in at the bungalow and take tea under the +apple trees. Ingred, returning home on Friday afternoons, would find +bicycles stacked by the gate and visitors seated in the garden. She +greeted them with enthusiasm or the reverse, according to her individual +tastes. + +"Really, Ingred, they don't seem to teach manners at the College now!" +said Quenrede one day. "The way you scowled at Mrs. Galsworthy and +Gertrude was most uncivil. You didn't look in the very least pleased to +see them." + +"I wasn't! They're the most stupid people on the face of the earth! And +they stayed such ages. I thought they'd never go. Just when I wanted a +nice private talk with you and Mother before the boys came back. Why +should you look glad to see a person when you're not?" + +"For the sake of manners, my dear!" + +"Then manners really mean humbug," declared Ingred, who loved to argue. +"To say you're glad to see people, when you're not, is telling +deliberate fibs. Most hypocritical, I call it! Why can't people tell the +truth?" + +"Because it would generally be offensive and unkind to do so," put in +Mother, who happened to overhear. "There's another side to the question, +too. When you say--against your will--that you are glad to see somebody, +you mean that all the _best_ part of you is glad--the kind, generous +part that likes to give pleasure, not the selfish lower part that only +thinks of its own convenience. So you are not really telling a fib, but +being true to your nobler self. A great deal of what people call 'plain +speaking' is simply giving rein to their most uncharitable thoughts. As +a rule, I say Heaven defend me from those ultra-truthful souls who enjoy +'speaking their minds.'" + +"But are we to gush over every bore?" asked Ingred. + +"There are limits, of course. We can't let all our time be frittered +away by idle friends, but we can generally manage tactfully without +offending them. Don't look so woe-begone, childie! Nobody else is coming +to-night, and I promise you tea in the woods to-morrow." + +"By ourselves?" + +"Unless anyone very nice comes over to join us," put in Quenrede +quickly. + +"You girls shall give the invitations. I won't bring any middle-aged +people," laughed Mother, with a sly glance at Quenrede. + +The party in the bluebell woods on Saturday was entirely a family one, +with the exception of Mr. Broughten, who rode over on a motor-bicycle +ostensibly to lend some microscopic slides to Athelstane, though Ingred +suspected there was another attraction in the visit. Quenrede, who +professed great surprise, gave him a guarded welcome. + +"After all the fuss you made about my manners yesterday, you might have +seemed more glad to see him," sniffed Ingred critically. + +"Might I? Well, really, I think I'm going to hang a label round my neck: +'Pleased to meet you! Let 'em all come!' It would save trouble. Stick +tight to me when we're gathering bluebells. Three's better company +sometimes than two. Don't I like him? Oh yes, he's all right, but I'm +not keen on a _tête-à-tête_." + +After which hint, Ingred, who had some acquaintance with the perversity +of Quenrede's feminine mind, did exactly the opposite, and, abandoning +her basket to the custody of Mr. Broughten, left him helping her sister +to gather bluebells, and took herself off with Hereward. + +"He's not half bad!" she ruminated laughingly. "Not of course a fairy +prince exactly, or even a Member of Parliament, but the bubbles on the +pool by the whispering stones certainly came to 'J,' and his name is +'John,' for I asked Athelstane. There's the finger of fate about it, and +Queenie had better make up her mind." + +With Ingred, however, school matters were at present much more +interesting than speculating about her sister's possible future. It was +an interesting term at the College. Cricket and tennis were in full +swing, and she took an active part in both. The best of being at the +hostel was that the boarders had the benefit of the tennis courts in the +evening, and so secured an advantage in the matter of practice over any +girls who did not possess a private court at home. So far the College +had not competed in tournaments, but Blossom Webster was hopeful that +later on in the term some champions might be chosen who would not +disgrace the Games Club. Meantime she urged everybody to practice, and +coached her favorites with the eye of an expert. Nora was particularly +marked out for future distinction. She had made tremendous strides +lately, and her swift serves were the terror of her opponents. The +hostel felt justly proud of her achievements, and would collect in the +evening, after prep., to watch her play a set of singles with Susie +Wakefield, who, though older and taller, almost invariably lost. + +Susie had good points of her own, however, and with Nora as partner +could beat even Blossom and Aline occasionally. No doubt the future +credit of the school was in their hands. + +One evening it happened that Nora was in a particularly slashing and +reckless mood, and she sent no less than three balls flying straight +over the wall that bordered the tennis courts. They fell into the +premises of old Dr. Broadfield, whose garden adjoined that of the +school. They were not the first that had done so, indeed so many balls +had gone over lately that the loss was growing serious. At one time the +girls had been wont to ring Dr. Broadfield's front-door bell and beg +permission to pick up their property, but they had been received so +sourly by his elderly housekeeper, that they hardly dared to ask again. + +"Three good balls gone in half an hour!" grieved Verity. "There'll soon +be none left at this rate. I believe there must be a dozen at least +lying on the grass over there, only that stingy old thing won't throw +them back. It's really too bad." + +"How could we possibly get them?" ruminated Doreen. + +"Sham ill, get Dr. Broadfield to attend, and coax them out of him," +suggested Fil. + +Doreen shook her head. + +"He's not the school doctor, unfortunately. When Millie sprained her +ankle, Miss Burd sent for Dr. Harrison. We might fish for them with a +butterfly net tied to the end of a drilling pole, if they're anywhere +near enough." + +"They're not. I peeped over the wall and they've rolled quite a long way +off." + +"How weak! What are we to do?" + +"There's nothing for it," said Ingred slowly, "but to make a sally into +the enemy's trenches and fetch them back!" + +"Oh! I dare say! But who's going to do the sallying business?" + +"_I_ will, if you like." + +"_You!_" + +"Yes; I don't mind a scrap." + +"You heroine!" + +"Don't mensh!" + +"But suppose you're caught?" + +"I shall have to risk that, of course. I'll reconnoiter carefully +first." + +The boundary between the College premises and the property of Dr. +Broadfield was part of the old Abbey wall. The mortar had crumbled away +from the stones, leaving large interstices, so it was quite easy to +climb. With a little boosting from Verity and Nora, Ingred successfully +reached the top, and peered over into the neighboring garden. Just below +her was a rockery, which offered not only an easy means of descent, but +a quick mode of egress in the case of the necessity of beating a hasty +retreat. + +Beyond the flower-bed, and lying on the lawn, were no less than seven +tennis balls, marked with the unmistakable blue cross that claimed them +for the College. The sight was enough to spur on the faintest heart. +Apparently there was nobody in this part of the garden, and no watchful +face peered from any of the windows. It was certainly an opportunity +that ought not to be missed. Ingred slipped first one foot and then the +other over the wall, and dropped on to the rockery. It was the work of a +minute to pick up the balls and throw them back to rejoicing friends. If +she herself had followed immediately there would have been no sequel to +the episode. But happening to look under the bushes, she noticed another +ball, and went in quest of it. It seemed a shame to return until she had +found any that might have strayed farther afield, so she dived under the +rhododendron bushes, and was rewarded with two more balls. She had +issued out on to another part of the lawn, and was on the very point of +retreating, when she suddenly heard voices on the path between the +bushes. To run to the wall would be to cross open country, so, with an +instinctive desire to seek cover, she dived into a summer-house close +by, and shut the door. The footsteps came nearer. Were they going to +follow her into her retreat, and catch her? It would be too ignominious! +Peeping warily through a small window of the summer-house, she saw two +young people, apparently much interested in each other, strolling +leisurely up. To her immense relief they did not attempt to enter, but +sat down on a seat outside the window. They were so near that she could +perforce hear every word, and was an unwilling but compulsory +eavesdropper. + +At first the conversation consisted mostly of tender nothings: "He" +certainly called her "Darling!"; "She" replied: "Oh, Donald, don't!" and +a sound followed so suspiciously like a kiss that Ingred, only a few +feet away from them, almost giggled aloud. She wondered how long they +were going to keep her a prisoner. It might be very pleasant for +themselves to sit "spooning" in the garden on a mild May evening, but if +they prolonged their enjoyment beyond eight o'clock, the hostel +supper-bell would ring, and any girl not in her place at the table would +lose a mark for punctuality. + +"He" on the other side of the window, was waxing sentimental about old +times and bygone days. + +"I'm glad you're not a nun, darling!" he remarked fatuously. "If you had +lived in the ancient Abbey, I shouldn't have been able to walk about the +garden with you, should I?" + +"I suppose not," she ventured, "especially if you'd been a monk." + +"I dare say some of them _did_ manage to do a little love-making +sometimes, though. What's that story about the ghost?" + +"The White Nun, do you mean? The one that haunts the College gardens?" + +(Ingred pricked up her ears at this). + +"Yes. Isn't there some legend or other about her?" + +"I believe there is, but I've forgotten it. I only know she walks on +moonlight nights, down the steps by the sun-dial, and then disappears +into the wall near the Abbey. At least she's supposed to. I've never met +anybody who's seen her. Don't talk of such shuddery things! You make me +feel creepy!" + +Apparently he offered masculine protection, for another suggestive sound +was followed by a giggle and a remonstrance. The hostel bell was +ringing, and the Abbey clock was striking eight. Were they going to stay +talking all night? Ingred was growing desperate. She wondered how she +was going to explain her absence to Mrs. Best. She even debated whether +it would be advisable to open the summer-house door, bolt across the +lawn, and trust to luck that the matter was not reported at the College. +She had her hand on the latch when the feminine voice outside remarked: + +"It's getting chilly, Donald!" + +"Don't catch cold, darling!" with tender solicitude. "Would you rather +go indoors?" + +"Hooray!" triumphed Ingred inwardly, though she did not dare to utter a +sound. + +It took a little while for the lovers to get under way and finally +stroll back along the path among the bushes. Ingred gave them time to +walk out of sight and hearing, then made a dash for the rockery, +scrambled over the wall, tore across the tennis courts, and entered the +dining-room nearly ten minutes late for supper. Mrs. Best looked at her +reproachfully, and Doreen, who was monitress for the month, took a +notebook from her pocket and made an entry therein. Nora and Verity and +Fil went on eating sago blanc-mange with stolid countenances that +betrayed no knowledge of their room-mate's doings, but that night, when +The Foursomes met in the privacy of Dormitory 2, they demanded an +account of her adventure. + +She certainly had a piece of interesting news to confide. + +"Did you know that a ghost haunts the garden?" + +"No! Oh, I say, where?" + +"That part by the sun-dial. I've heard it called 'The Nun's Walk!'" + +"So have I; but I never knew there was a ghost!" + +"It's supposed to walk on moonlight nights." + +"How fearfully thrillsome!" + +"I've never seen a ghost!" shivered Fil. + +"No more have I--and I've never met anyone who exactly has. It's +generally their cousin's cousin who's told them about it." + +"There's a moon to-night," remarked Nora. + +"So there is!" + +The four girls looked at one another, hair brushes in hand. Each had it +on the tip of her tongue to make a suggestion. + +"I _dare_ you to go!" said Verity at last. + +"Not alone?" + +Fil was clutching already at Nora's hand. + +"Well, no! Hardly alone. I vote we all go together and try if we can see +anything." + +"It would be rather spooksomely jinky!" + +"Well, look here, don't let's undress properly, but get into bed, and +cover ourselves up until Nurse has been her rounds, then we'll slip +downstairs and out through the side door into the garden. Are you game?" + +"Who's afraid?" said Ingred valiantly. + +Upstairs in their bedroom, with the gas turned on, it was easy enough to +feel courageous. Their spirits rose indeed at the prospect of such an +adventure. Nurse Warner, who came into the room a little later, looked +round at the four beds, turned out the gas, and departed without a +suspicion. She had not been gone five minutes when a surreptitious +dressing took place, and four figures in dark coats stole down the +stairs. Though the building of the College might be absolutely modern, +the garden was a relic of mediæval days. It had formerly belonged to the +nunnery of St. Mary's, and had adjoined the Abbey. Parts of the +crumbling old wall were still left, and a flagged path led from a +sun-dial to some ruins. In the day-time it was a cheerful place, and a +blaze of color. The girls had never before seen it in its night aspect. +On this May evening it had a quiet beauty that was most impressive. The +full moon shone on the great dark pile of the Abbey towers and the beech +avenue beyond. There was just light enough in the garden to distinguish +bushes as heavy masses, and to trace the paths from the grass. The air +was sweet with the scent of flowers. + +It is amazing how different conditions can alter a scene: at noon, with +the hum from the busy streets, it was commonplace enough; by moonlight +it became a mystic bower of enchantment. The girls walked along very +quietly, treading on the grass so as to make no noise. A slight mist was +rising from the ground near the Abbey; in the rays of the moon it +resembled a lake. Everything, indeed, was altered. The outline of the +sumach bush was like a crouching tiger; the laburnum tassels waved like +skeleton fingers. It seemed a witching, unreal world. + +Four rather scared girls crept along, clasping hands for moral support. +Each secretly would have been relieved to abandon the quest, but did not +like to be the first to turn tail. They had determined to walk from the +sun-dial to the Abbey wall and back again. So far the garden, though +mysterious, showed no signs of anything supernatural. They began to +pluck up courage, and even to talk to one another in low whispers. At +the ruins they turned and looked back towards the sun-dial. The +moonlight streamed along the flagged path, and shimmered on the clumps +of early yellow lilies. + +What was that, stealing from under the shelter of the hawthorn tree? The +girls gasped and almost stopped breathing. + +[Illustration: A TALL FIGURE, CLOTHED IN SOME WHITE GARMENT, WAS GLIDING +TOWARDS THEM.] + +A tall figure, clothed in some long white garment, was gliding towards +them. It kept in the shadow, and they could see no details, only a light +mass that was slowly and steadily advancing apparently straight to where +they were crouching beside the wall. Fil was trembling like a leaf, Nora +declared afterward that her hair stood on end, Ingred and Verity felt +shivers run down their spines. Nearer and nearer came the white figure. +Its approach was more than flesh and blood could stand. With a wild +shriek Fil dashed across the lawn, followed closely by Nora, Ingred, and +Verity. + +"Girls!" cried a clear and well-known voice. "Girls! Stop! What are you +doing here?" + +There was no mistaking the tone of command of the head-mistress. Four +amazed and crestfallen damsels halted and turned back, to find Miss +Burd, attired in a white dressing-gown, standing in the moonlight on the +grass. + +"What is the meaning of this?" she asked. "And why aren't you all in +bed?" + +It is always difficult to give explanations, and (to such a +matter-of-fact person as Miss Burd) it seemed particularly silly to have +to confess that they had come out ghost-hunting, and had mistaken her +for a spirit. She emptied the vials of her scorn upon their dejected +heads. + +"Don't let me hear of any more nonsense of this sort!" she finished. "I +should have thought you were too intelligent to believe in such rubbish. +As for leaving your dormitory at this hour, you deserve to be locked in +the cycle-shed for the night. I shall, of course, report you to Mrs. +Best, and none of you will play tennis for a week, as a punishment." + +Miss Burd, bristling with anger, swept the delinquents before her to the +door of the hostel, and watched them flee upstairs, then went to lay the +matter before Mrs. Best. + +In Dormitory 2, four girls got into bed at topmost speed. + +"Of all the ill-luck!" mourned Fil. + +"I didn't know Miss Burd prowled about the garden in a dressing-gown," +exclaimed Ingred. + +"She _did_ look exactly like a ghost!" confirmed Verity. + +"Tennis off for a whole week! Blossom will be furious! It's too +absolutely grizzly for anything!" groused Nora. "I wish the wretched old +ghost had been at Jericho before we went to look for it!" + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +Under the Lanterns + + +It is an ill wind that blows nobody good, and though Nora, Fil, Ingred, +and Verity might chafe at being debarred from tennis for a whole week, +their adventure in the garden had given them an idea. How it exactly +originated could not be decided, for each fiercely claimed the full +credit for it. Its evolution, however, was somewhat as follows: + + Stage 1. How lovely the garden looked in the evening. + + Stage 2. Why should we not _all_ enjoy it some time? + + Stage 3. Miss Burd evidently does. + + Stage 4. And looked very fascinating in her white dressing-gown. + + Stage 5. It was exactly like a fancy dress. + + Stage 6. Why should not we all wear fancy dress? + + Stage 7. _Let us ask Miss Burd to let the hostel have a fancy-dress + dance in the school garden._ + +Great minds generally think in company, and often hit upon the same +invention at the same moment, so perhaps all four girls had an equal +share in the brain-wave. They communicated it cautiously to companions, +and as it "caught on" they sounded Mrs. Best, and finding her favorably +disposed to the scheme, begged her to intercede for them with Miss Burd. +The head-mistress was wonderfully gracious about the matter, gave full +permission for the dance, promised to be present herself, and allowed +the invitation to be extended to any mistresses and seniors who would +care to join the party. It was quite a long time since the hostel had +had any particularly exciting doings, so that the girls flung themselves +into their preparation with much enthusiasm. Those who were lucky enough +already to possess fancy costumes, or who were able to borrow them, of +course scored, and the rest set to work to manufacture anything that +came to hand. It was to be in the nature of an impromptu affair, but a +few days' notice was given, and the girls were able to devote a Saturday +to the all-absorbing problem. Ingred, home for the week-end, enlisted +the help of Mother and Quenrede, and turned the bungalow almost upside +down in her quest for suitable accessories. She thought of a number of +characters she would have liked to impersonate, but was always balked by +the lack of some vital article of dress. + +"It's no use!" she lamented. "I can't be 'Joan of Arc' without a suit of +armor, or 'Queen Elizabeth' when I haven't a flowered velvet robe! I'm +so tired of all the old things! It's too stale to twist some roses in my +hair for 'Summer,' and I've been a gipsy so often that everybody knows +my red handkerchief and gilt beads. I'd as soon be a Red Indian squaw!" + +"And why shouldn't you be?" asked Quenrede. "It's a remarkably pretty +costume." + +"Oh, I dare say, if I could beg, borrow, or steal it!" + +"You've no need to do either, my dear. I've had a brain-wave, and we'll +fix it up for you at home. Yes, I mean it! Allow me to introduce myself: +'Miss Quenrede Saxon, Court Costumier. The very latest theatrical +productions.' I'll make you look so that your own mother will hardly +know you!" + +"I'd like to puzzle them!" rejoiced Ingred. "Miss Burd said she should +have a parade, and hinted something about a prize. They always give +points to whoever has the best disguise. Masks are barred, but we may +paint our faces. I think I shall be rather choice as a squaw!" + +"You ought to have me with you as your 'brave'!" chuckled Hereward. + +"It's a 'Ladies Only' dance, so you can't be invited, my boy! There +won't be a solitary masculine individual present--even the gardener will +have gone home." + +"You bet folks will peep in!" + +"No, they won't. The premises are strictly private." + +Quenrede was in some respects a clever and ingenious little person. She +was not much good at ordinary dressmaking, where fashion must be +followed, but she displayed great originality in her construction of +Ingred's fancy costume. There were two clean sacks in the house, and she +commandeered them. She cut one into a skirt and the other into a jumper, +stitched up the sides, and frayed out the bottoms to represent fringes. +Then she took her water-color paints, mixed them with Chinese white to +form a strong body color, and painted Indian patterns on both garments. +The head-dress she considered a triumph. She went to a neighboring +poultry farm, and boldly begged the tail feathers which had been plucked +the day before from some game fowls. These she glued round a cardboard +crown, and the effect was magnificent. A dress rehearsal was held, and +the family rejoiced over Ingred's most decidedly Wild West appearance. + +"You have a pair of real moccasins that Uncle Ernest sent you for +bedroom slippers. I'll cut some strips of cloth into fringe for +leggings, and you can wear Athelstane's leather belt, and carry an axe +for a tomahawk," said Quenrede, surveying her work with critical +satisfaction. "Don't forget to paint your face!" + +"I shan't show anyone my costume beforehand," chuckled Ingred. "I really +don't believe anyone will know me! What luck if I won a prize for the +best disguise!" + +"Bet you anything you like you don't!" murmured Hereward. + +"Why shouldn't I?" + +"Because there may be others even better!" + +"Well, of course, that's for Miss Burd to judge! But I think I've a +sporting chance, at any rate!" + +The dance was to be held on Monday evening after supper, when it was +just beginning to grow dusk. The mistresses had taken the matter up +quite enthusiastically, and had stretched some wires across the garden, +and hung up Chinese lanterns. The hostel piano had been pulled close to +the window, so that the strains of music could float out into the +garden. At least fifteen seniors had accepted the invitation, and it was +rumored that Miss Burd had invited a few private friends. Supper was +held earlier than usual, so as to allow time for the all-important +operation of dressing, and the moment it was finished every inmate of +the hostel fled to her bedroom. Dormitory 2 was naturally a scene of +much confusion. The girls tried to put on their own costumes and help +each other at the same time. Fil, as a Dresden China Shepherdess, needed +much assistance in the settling of her panniers, and the arrangement of +her curls, which by special permission from Mrs. Best had been twisted +up in curl papers from four o'clock until the last available moment, and +came out, much to Fil's satisfaction, in quite creditable ringlets. The +effect was so altogether charming that her room-mates called a general +halt for admiration. + +"You look like a mixture of Dolly Varden and Sweet Lavender, with a dash +of Maid Marian thrown in," decided Verity. + +"I hope my hair'll keep in curl! There's rather a damp feeling in the +air," fluttered Fil anxiously. + +"You could fly indoors, and give it a twist with the tongs, if it gets +very limp," suggested Nora. + +Nora herself was going as a personification of "The Kitchen." Her skirt +was draped with dusters and dish-cloths, she wore a small dish-cover as +a hat, clothes-pegs were suspended round her neck as a necklace, and she +brandished a rolling-pin in her hand. + +"I'm bound to be something comic," she assured the others. "I'd never +keep my face straight for a romantic character. I could no more live up +to Lady Jane Grey than I could fly! She's above me altogether!" + +Verity, who had borrowed a Dutch costume slightly too small for her, was +trying to squeeze her proportions into the tight velvet bodice, and +looked dubiously at the sabots. + +"I'll never be able to dance in those!" she decided. "I'll put them on +to start with, and then kick them off and slip on my sandals instead. +They're the most extraordinary clumpy things in the world, I feel like a +cat walking in walnut shells!" + +Ingred's toilet progressed very favorably till it came to the stage of +coloring her face. She was not quite sure as to the best means of +obtaining a Red Indian complexion. First she tried rubbing it with soil +from the garden, but that was a painful process which almost scraped the +skin from her cheeks. So she washed her face and used cocoa. She mixed +it in a cup and dabbed it over, but it would not go on smoothly, and the +result was so patchy and hideous that once more she brought out her +sponge and wiped it off. At that point Verity came to the rescue, +smeared the poor cheeks (already sore through such ill-treatment) with +vanishing cream, then powdered on some dry cocoa, which certainly gave a +dusky and non-European aspect to her features, especially when combined +with the feather head-dress. Her dark hair, plaited in two long tails, +completed the illusion. The girls held a complacent review of their +toilets, then walked downstairs with caution, for Nora's dish-cover was +difficult to balance as a hat, and Verity's heels kept slipping out of +the sabots. Fil's ringlets, alas! were already beginning to untwist, and +Ingred's jumper, put on in too big a hurry, showed symptoms of splitting +down the seam. There was no time for repairs of any sort, however. They +were five minutes late, and the rest of the company were assembled on +the lawn. The boarders from the hostel, together with mistresses and +seniors who had come by invitation, made a total of more than fifty +persons, all in fancy dress. + +These gay costumes were a pretty sight against the background of trees +and bushes and flower-beds. The sun had set, leaving a yellow glow in the +sky, and the Chinese lanterns were beginning to glow in the gathering +twilight. It was certainly a varied crowd; all centuries had met +together. A Japanese damsel walked arm-in-arm with a Lancashire witch; +an Italian peasant hob-a-nobbed with "The Queen of Sheba," a Spanish +lady was talking to "Old Mother Hubbard," while such characters as "A +Medicine Bottle," or "An Aeroplane" rubbed shoulders with an "Egyptian +Princess" or "Dick Whittington's Cat." + +Miss Burd, garbed appropriately as Chaucer's Prioress, received the +company at the top of the sun-dial steps, looking, in the opinion of the +Foursome League, quite sufficiently like the ghost of yesterday to have +justified squeals had they met her alone. When the ceremony of +introduction was over, the guests dispersed about the lawn, Miss Perry +struck up a waltz on the piano, and the fun began. Dancing on the grass, +in the growing darkness, with the Chinese lanterns sending out a soft +but uncertain radiance overhead, was a new experience to most of the +school. It was difficult not to step on to the flower-beds, or to brush +against the bushes. Trailing garments were decidedly in the way, and +came to grief. There was a delirious sort of Eastern feeling about it--a +kind of combination of "The Thousand and One Nights" and the "Rubáiyat +of Omar Khayyam." The Abbey tower for once seemed out of place, and +ought to have changed miraculously into a pagoda or a minaret. + +It was after the girls had been dancing for some little time that Ingred +first noticed a couple whom she did not remember to have seen before. +They followed persistently in her steps, and even gently bumped into her +once or twice, thus compelling her attention. She looked at them, +considerably mystified. One was attired in Early Victorian Costume, with +a crinoline, a little tippet, and a poke bonnet, from which peeped some +bewitching ringlets; the other, in a gorgeous Turkish costume, was +enveloped in a shimmering gauze veil. + +"Who are those?" Ingred asked her partner. + +But Verity could not tell. + +In the twilight it was, of course, easy to make mistakes, but Ingred +began to have a strong suspicion that neither of the mysterious partners +belonged to the school. They were certainly not members of the Fifth or +Sixth. Perhaps some of the Juniors had forced themselves in? No, they +were too tall for Juniors. + +"Perhaps they are ghosts!" shivered Verity. + +"Ghosts don't bump into people. These are real substantial flesh and +blood!" + +"It's so dark, we can hardly see." + +"Well, I vote we keep close to them, and next time we get near a +lantern, we'll turn the tables and bump into them, and try to see who +they are." + +It was easier said than done, however; the strangers seemed to have +changed their tactics, and instead of pursuing Ingred and Verity now +endeavored to avoid them. No "elusive Pimpernels" could have been more +difficult to follow. They would come quite close and then suddenly dodge +and glide away, only to reappear and repeat the same tantalizing +performance. Ingred and Verity began to get on their mettle. It was so +evidently done on purpose that they were fully determined to catch the +errant pair. After a long game at hide-and-seek they at last managed to +dance along side them, and laying violent hands upon them, to drag them +into the light of a lantern. As Ingred gazed for a moment in perplexity, +the Early Victorian lady gave a most un-Early Victorian wink inside the +poke bonnet. + +"Hereward! How _dare_ you!" gasped his sister. + +A firm hand drew her away from the light, and in the shelter of a laurel +bush, a voice, choking with laughter, proclaimed: + +"Done you, old girl! Done you brown! What about that bet? I told you +you'd never know me!" + +"You abominable young wretch," replied Ingred, laughing in spite of +herself. "How _did_ you manage it? And who is your friend?" + +"Allow me to introduce Vashti, Queen of Persia!" + +"Bunkum! It's a boy! I know it is!" + +The explosive sounds issuing from under the shimmering veil of Queen +Vashti certainly sounded more masculine than feminine, and that Persian +princess confessed presently to the name of Franklin. + +"He's a chum of mine," explained Hereward, "and he lives close by, so we +made it up to come together. His sister lent us the clothes and dressed +us. I say, your Prioress never found us out, did she? What about that +prize?" + +"There isn't going to be a prize, and you certainly wouldn't have +deserved it! Look here, you'd better wangle yourselves off before it +gets about who you are. _I_ should get into a row, not you!" + +"Would the Prioress kick up rough?" + +"She'd probably think I'd planned the whole business, and encouraged you +to come." + +"Even if we apologized?" + +"She wouldn't accept an apology. If you want me to have any tennis next +week, you had better clear out." + +"Just a round with you first, and Franklin can take your friend, or vice +versa if you prefer it!" + +"You impudent boy! Certainly not. I daren't risk it. Look, Miss Strong +is bringing out the lamp, and putting it on the sun-dial, and I believe +Miss Perry is going to take a flashlight photo presently. If you want to +disgrace me for ever----" + +"We'll go!" sighed a mournful voice. "Though it's Adam and Eve turned +out of Paradise. I say, Franklin, they don't want us, after all our +trouble! We'd better be getting on, I suppose. Our deepest respects to +the Prioress. She's given us a delightful evening, if she only knew it. +We'd like to come again some time. Ta-ta!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +The Abbey Recital + + +Now that Ingred had at last made friends with Bess, she found they had +innumerable subjects of interest in common. They were both keen tennis +players, dabbled a little in art, pursued Nature study, liked acting, +when they had any opportunity of showing their talents in that line, and +were enthusiastic over music. Bess was making as good progress on the +violin as Ingred on the piano, so there seemed great possibilities of +playing together. Sometimes when Bess brought her instrument to school +for her lesson, she and Ingred would try over a few pieces, and other +girls who chanced to be near would collect and act audience. + +"I vote we get up a musical society next year," suggested Ingred. "It's +impossible this term--we've too much on our hands already--but if the +societies are rearranged in September, we'll agitate to let music take a +much bigger place than it has done so far." + +"Yes, that would be glorious!" agreed Bess, with visions of a school +choir, and even a school orchestra, dancing before her eyes. "Signor +Chianti is leaving Grovebury, so if we have a new violin master next +term, I hope it will be somebody who's enthusiastic and able and willing +to organize things." + +"That's the point, of course. Dr. Linton is very able, but not willing +to bother with us beyond our lessons--he's so frightfully busy. I +suppose he feels that after training the Abbey choir, and conducting +choral societies to sing his cantatas, he doesn't care to trouble +himself over schoolgirls." + +"He's a _real_ musician, though. I often wish I could study under him. +I'd love to play something with him, just once, to see how it feels to +have him accompany me. I think it would be so inspiring, it would just +make one let oneself go! I stay every Sunday evening after service at +the Abbey to hear his recitals. Occasionally somebody plays the violin, +and his accompaniment is simply gorgeous. He manages to make it sound +like a whole orchestra. I've never played with an organ. It's so much +fuller than a piano." + +"Yes," agreed Ingred contemplatively. + +Bess's remarks had given her an idea, but she did not want to +communicate it at once to her friend. It was nothing more or less than +that she should ask Dr. Linton to allow Bess to play with him some time +in the Abbey. She wondered whether she dared. His temper was still +decidedly irritable, and it was quite uncertain whether he would receive +the suggestion graciously, or snap her head off. She thought, however, +it was worth venturing. + +"I'll try to catch him in an amiable mood," she decided. + +In order not to arouse any grounds for irritation, she practiced +particularly well, and took her next work to him at a high stage of +excellence. + +"Bravo!" he said, when she had finished her "Serenade." "I believe +you've really got some music in you! You brought out that crescendo +passage very well indeed. We want a little more delicacy in these +arpeggios, and then it will do. Your touch has improved very much +lately." + +It was so seldom that her master launched forth into praise, that Ingred +colored with pleasure. Now certainly seemed the time, if ever--to put in +a word for Bess. + +"Oh, Dr. Linton, may I ask you to do something for me?" she blurted out. + +He thrust back his hair with a mock-pathetic gesture. + +"What is it?" he inquired humorously. "Another autograph album? Or a +subscription? I've grown cautious by experience, and I don't answer +'Yes, thou shalt have it to the half of my kingdom!' I never give blind +promises." + +"It isn't an autograph album (though I'd be glad to have your name in +mine, all the same, if I may bring it some day), it is this: I've a +friend at school, Bess Haselford, who plays the violin very well. She +has lessons from Signor Chianti. She goes to all your recitals, and she +would so _love_ some time to try a piece over with the organ. Do you +think, some day when you are in the Abbey, you could let her? I know +it's fearful cheek to ask you!" + +"Why, bring her by all means," said Dr. Linton heartily. "Let me see, I +have an organ pupil to-morrow at 3.30. Suppose you come at half-past +four, and I'll give her ten minutes with pleasure. I can fit it in +before the choir practice, I dare say." + +"Oh, thank you!" exclaimed Ingred. "We can come straight on from +school." + +It was delightful to have caught Dr. Linton in such an amiable mood. +Ingred hastened to tell the good news to Bess, and also to beg the +necessary permission from Miss Burd. + +Bess, greatly thrilled, turned up next afternoon with her violin and +music-case, and when classes were over they walked across to the Abbey. +The pupil was just finishing his lesson, and some rather extraordinary +sounds were palpitating among the arches and pillars of the old Minster. + +"It must take ages to learn to manage all those stops and pedals +properly," commented Bess. "I'm glad a violin has only four +strings--they're quite enough!" + +They sat in a pew, and waited till the lesson was over, then ventured +into the chancel. Dr. Linton saw them in the looking-glass which hung +over his seat, and turning round beckoned them to him. + +"So you want to hear what it's like to play with an organ?" he said +kindly to Bess, sounding the notes for her to tune her violin, and at +the same time turning over her music. "What have we got here? It must be +something I know, so that I can improvise an accompaniment. Let us try +this Impromptu. Don't be afraid of your instrument, and bring the tone +well out. Remember, you're in a church, and not in a drawing-room." + +Bess, fluttered, nervous, but fearfully excited and pleased, declared +herself ready, and launched into the Impromptu. Dr. Linton accompanied +her with the finished skill of a clever musician. He subdued the organ +just sufficiently to allow the violin to lead, but brought in such a +beautiful range of harmonies that the piece really became a duet. + +"Why, that's capital!" he declared at the conclusion. "What else have +you inside that case? We'll have this Prelude now; it's rather a +favorite of mine. The Bourrée? Oh, we'll take that afterwards!" + +Ingred had only expected Dr. Linton to play one piece with Bess, but he +went on and on, and even kept the choir waiting while he made her try +the Prelude over again. + +"I've had quite an enjoyable half-hour," he said, shutting the books at +last. "You're a sympathetic little player! Look here, the lady who was +to have helped me with my recital on Sunday week has failed me. Suppose +you take her place, and play the Prelude. It would go very well if we +practiced it a few times together." + +"Play at the recital!" gasped Bess. + +"Why not? Ask your father when you go home, and send me a note +to-morrow, for I want to get the thing fixed up. These boys are waiting +for me now. I have to train them for an anthem. You can come and +practice with me on Friday at the same time, 4.30." + +Dr. Linton dismissed the girls as if he took it entirely for granted +that the matter was settled. Bess was almost overwhelmed by the +proposal. It was considered a great honor to play in the Abbey, and she +had never dreamed that it could fall to her lot to be asked to take part +in the Sunday recital. She was not sure how her father and mother would +view the idea, but rather to her surprise they both readily acquiesced. + +"We shall have to get your grandfather to come over and hear you," said +Mr. Haselford. + +"Oh yes! And may I ask Ingred to stay with us for the week-end? You see, +she can't come all the way from Wynch-on-the-Wold for Sunday recitals, +and it's entirely owing to her that I'm playing. I should so like her to +be there." + +Ingred accepted the invitation with alacrity. She had grown very fond of +Bess lately--so fond, indeed, that Verity's nose was put considerably +out of joint. Verity, though an amusing school comrade, was not a "home" +friend. Apart from fun in their dormitory, she and Ingred had little in +common, and had never arranged to spend a holiday together. She was a +jolly enough girl, but so fond of "ragging" that it was impossible to do +anything but joke with her. Bess, on the contrary, was a real confidante +who could be trusted with secrets. The two friends spent an idyllic +Saturday together. Mr. Haselford motored over to Birkshaw to fetch his +father, and took the girls with him in the car. Mr. Haselford the elder +proved a delightful old gentleman, deeply interested in music, and much +gratified that his grand-daughter was to play at the Abbey. + +"It was a happy thought of yours, my dear!" he said to Ingred. "Why, +I've often attended those recitals, and never guessed little Bess would +be asked to take part in one! I sang in Grovebury Abbey choir when I was +a boy, and I've always had a tender spot in my heart for the old town." + +"And you're not going to forget it, are you, Grandfather?" said Bess +pointedly. + +"Well, well, we shall see," he evaded, stroking her brown hair. + +Even poor delicate Mrs. Haselford made a supreme effort and went to +church on Sunday evening. It was a beautiful service, and the old +Minster looked lovely with the late sunshine streaming through its +gorgeous west window. Some of the congregation went away after the +sermon and concluding hymn were over, but a large number stayed to hear +the recital. Bess, horribly nervous, went with Ingred to the choir, +where she had left her violin. There were to be two organ solos, and her +piece was to separate them. She was thankful she had not to play first. +She sat on one of the old carved Miserere seats, and listened as Dr. +Linton's subtle fingers touched the keys, and flooded the church with +the rich tones of Bach's Toccata in F Major. She wished it had been five +times as long, so as to delay her own turn. But a solo cannot last for +ever, and much too soon the last notes died away. There was a pause +while the verger fetched a music stand and placed it close to the +chancel steps. Dr. Linton was looking in her direction, and sounding the +A for her. With her usually rosy face almost pale, Bess walked to the +organ, tuned her violin, then took her place at the music stand. It was +seldom that so young a girl had played in the Abbey, and everybody +looked sympathetically at the palpably frightened little figure. It was +the feeling of standing there facing all eyes that unnerved poor Bess. +For a second or two her hand trembled so greatly that she could scarcely +hold her bow. Then by a sudden inspiration she looked over the heads of +the congregation to the west window, where the sunset light was gleaming +through figures of crimson and blue and gold. Down all the centuries +music had played a part in the service of the Minster. She would not +remember that people were there to listen to her, but would let her +violin give its praise to God alone. She did not need to look at her +notes, for she knew the piece by heart, and with her eyes fixed on the +west window she began the "Prelude." + +Once the first notes were started, her courage returned, and she brought +out her tone with a firm bow. The splendid harmonies of the organ +supported her and she seemed spurred along in an impulse to do her very +best. Ingred, listening in the choir, was sure her friend had never +played so well, or put such depth of feeling into her music before. It +was over at last, and in the hush of the church, Bess stole back to her +seat, while Dr. Linton plunged into the fantasies of a "Triumphal +March." + +"I'm proud of you!" whispered Ingred, as they walked down the aisle +together afterwards. + +"Oh, don't! I felt as if it wasn't half good enough," answered Bess, +giving a nervous little shiver now that the ordeal was over. + +When Ingred returned to Wynch-on-the-Wold next Friday afternoon she +found the family had some news for her. Old Mr. Haselford had been to +Mr. Saxon's office, and had confided to him a scheme that lay very near +to his heart. He had prospered exceedingly in his business affairs at +Birkshaw, and he was anxious to do something for his native town of +Grovebury, where he had been born and had spent his boyhood. He asked +Mr. Saxon to prepare designs for a combined museum and art gallery, +which he proposed to build and present to the public. + +"I can trust the architect of 'Rotherwood' to give us something in the +best possible taste," he had remarked. "I want the place to be an object +of beauty, not the blot on the landscape that such buildings often +prove. Fortunately I have the offer of a splendid site, so the plans +need not be hampered by lack of space. I think we shall be able to show +that the twentieth century can produce work of merit on its own lines, +without slavishly copying either the classical or the mediæval style of +architecture." + +Old Mr. Haselford had even gone further. + +"My son's part of the business is now entirely at Grovebury," he +continued. "And I feel I should like him to have a house of his own. I +have bought five acres of land above the river at Trenton, on the hill, +where there is a glorious view of the valley. I don't ask you to copy +'Rotherwood,' for I know no architect cares to repeat himself, but a +place in the same style and with equal conveniences would suit us very +well. My daughter-in-law could talk over the details. It would make a +fresh interest for her. We are all tremendously keen about it." + +The new schemes which occupied the minds of the Haselfords brought great +rejoicings to the Bungalow. + +"Why, it will almost make Father's fortune!" triumphed Ingred, still in +a state of delighted bewilderment. + +"It will certainly be an immense pull to him professionally to have the +designing of an important public building," smiled Mother. "And I think +he will be able to plan a house to satisfy Mr. and Mrs. Haselford. It's +just the kind of work he likes." + +"Mother, when they leave Rotherwood, shall we have to let it to any one +else, or would it be possible----" Ingred hesitated, with the wish that +for nearly a year she had put resolutely away from her trembling on her +lips. + +"To go back there ourselves?" finished Mother. "If Father's affairs +prosper, as they seem likely to do at present, I think we may safely say +'yes.' It never rains but it pours, and just as his profession has +suddenly taken a leap forward, his private investments have picked up. +Colonial mines, that he thought utterly done for, have begun to work +again, and pay dividends. Our prospects now are very different indeed +from what they were a few months ago. Don't look too excited, Ingred! +Houses take a long time to build, nowadays, and it may be years before +Mr. Haselford's new place is finished, and we can get re-possession of +Rotherwood." + +"I don't care, so long as there's hope of ever having it again!" + +"It's our own home, and naturally we love it, but we must not forget +what a debt of gratitude we owe to the Bungalow. We have been very happy +here, and I think we have been thrown together, and have learnt to know +one another in a way we should never have done at Rotherwood. All the +sacrifices we have made for each other have drawn us far closer as a +family, and linked us up so that we ought never to be able to drift +apart now, which might have happened if we had all been able just to +pursue our own line. We have learnt the value here of simple pleasures, +we've enjoyed the moors and the flowers and the birds and the stars and +all the beautiful things that Nature can give us. The realization of +them is worth far more than anything that money can buy, for it's the +'joy that no man taketh from you.' I have grown to love +Wynch-on-the-Wold so dearly that I shall beg Father to keep on the +Bungalow as a country cottage, and I shall run out here for holidays +when I feel Rotherwood is too much for me, and I want to be alone for a +while with Nature." + +"I expect we'll all want to do just the same!" said Quenrede, looking +from the gay flower-beds, which her own hands had planted, over the +hedge to where the brown moors stretched away into the dim gray of the +distance. "I thought it was going to be hateful when I came here, but, +Muvvie, I think it's been the happiest year of my life! The country may +be quiet, but it has its compensation. We'll walk to the Whistling +Stones again, Ingred, as soon as you break up!" + +"And that will be exactly a week next Friday!" rejoiced Ingred. + +The school was busy with all the usual activities that seem to happen at +the end of the summer term. There was a successful cricket match with +the Girls' High School from Birkshaw, a tennis tournament where Nora and +Susie took part after all, and won laurels for the College, a Nature +Notebook Competition in which Linda, to every one's amazement, bore off +the first prize against all other schools in the town. + +Then there was the annual function, when parents were invited to see a +display of Swedish Drill, listen to three-part songs given by the +singing class, admire the drawings and clay models exhibited in the +studio, and watch a French play acted by the Sixth. It was at the close +of this performance that (when friends had taken their departure, and +Dr. Linton, who had conducted the singing class, had closed the grand +piano and had hurried across to the Abbey to keep an appointment with an +organ pupil) a certain piece of news leaked out, and began to circulate +round the school. Verity had the proud importance of carrying it into +the hostel. + +"Do you know," she announced, "that Miss Strong is engaged to Dr. +Linton, and they're to be married in the holidays?" + +Nora, who was changing a crêpe de chine dress for a serviceable tennis +costume, collapsed on to her bed. + +"Hold me up!" she murmured dramatically. "Why, I didn't know he was a +widower!" + +"Of course he is," endorsed Ingred, "and a most uncomfortable one, I +should say. I went to his house once for a music lesson, and it looked +in a fearful muddle. Good old Bantam! We must give her congrats! She'll +soon get things into order there! I believe she adores little Kenneth. +I've often seen her taking him about the town. She shall have my +blessing, by all means!" + +"We might give her something more substantial than congrats and +blessings!" suggested Verity. "I vote we get up a subscription in the +form for a decent wedding present!" + +"Oh yes! Think of Sarkie as Mrs. Linton! They'll be the oddest couple! I +wonder if she'll get tired of perpetual music, and if he'll rage round +his own drawing-room and ruffle his hair when he feels annoyed, like he +does with his pupils!" + +"Perhaps she'll break him off bad habits! I could trust her to hold her +own." + +"Oh, she'll be the gray mare, don't you fear! But honestly I'm glad! She +has her points, and I hope she'll be happy." + +"I wonder who'll have her form next term?" + +"That doesn't concern us, for we shall probably be in the Sixth." + +"Help! So we shall! I can't bring my mind to it yet. It gives me +spasms!" + +"Quite a blossomy prospect, though!" + +On the afternoon before breaking-up day, the School Parliament met for +the last time. Lispeth, rather sad, and inclined to be sentimental, +reviewed from The Chair the events of the past year. + +"It has been pioneer work," she said. "I dare say we might have done it +better, but at least we've tried. We laid ourselves out to set a +standard for the tone of the school, and I think it has kept up fairly +well on the whole. The Rainbow League seems thoroughly established, and +likely to go on. May I read you some of the things it has done during +the year? We made four pounds for the 'War-Orphans Fund,' and sent +ninety-seven home-made toys to poor children's treats. The Posy Union +gave nine pots of crocuses and fifty-six bunches of flowers to cripples +and invalids; the penny-a-week subscriptions have kept two little girls +all the summer at the children's camp, and the Needlework Guild has made +thirty-seven garments. It doesn't sound much when you put it all in hard +black and white like that! I hate reports and statistics of societies, +they always sound to me somehow so pharisaical, as if we were saying: +'Look how good we are!' You know I don't mean that. What I _do_ mean, +though, is that we've tried not to run everything entirely for +ourselves. A rainbow shines when the world is clearing up, and perhaps +our little efforts, small as they are, show that things are moving in +the right direction. Next term all of us girls in the Sixth will have +left, and a new set will take the lead. I can't say yet who will be Head +of the school, but I don't fancy there's very much doubt about it. I +hope whoever has the reins will keep up what we have worked so hard for +this year." + +Lispeth was looking straight at Ingred as she spoke; her meaning was +unmistakable. Ingred blushed a faint rosy pink. It had only just dawned +upon her that next term would possibly bring her the greatest honor that +the College had to confer. + +"Whoever is chosen for head-girl," she stammered bashfully, "I'm sure +will try her very best to work for the good of the school. She couldn't +do more than you've done--probably she won't do half so well--but she'll +make an enormous effort to--shall we say--just 'carry on'!" + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A POPULAR SCHOOLGIRL*** + + +******* This file should be named 18505-8.txt or 18505-8.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/8/5/0/18505 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at <a href = "http://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></pre> +<p>Title: A Popular Schoolgirl</p> +<p>Author: Angela Brazil</p> +<p>Release Date: June 5, 2006 [eBook #18505]</p> +<p>Language: English</p> +<p>Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1</p> +<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A POPULAR SCHOOLGIRL***</p> +<p> </p> +<h3>E-text prepared by Suzanne Shell, Mary Meehan,<br /> + and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team<br /> + (http://www.pgdp.net/)</h3> +<p> </p> +<hr class="full" /> +<p> </p> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<a href="images/cover01.jpg"><img src="images/cover01.jpg" alt=""/></a> +</div> + +<h1>A Popular Schoolgirl</h1> + +<h2>BY ANGELA BRAZIL</h2> + +<h3><i>Illustrated by Balliol Salmon</i></h3> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + + +<h4>NEW YORK<br /> +FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY<br /> +PUBLISHERS</h4> + +<h4><i>Copyright, 1920, by</i><br /> +<span class="smcap">Frederick A. Stokes Company</span><br /> +<i>All Rights Reserved</i><br /> +<i>First published in the United States of America, 1921</i></h4> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<a href="images/gs01.jpg"><img src="images/gs01.jpg" alt=""/></a> +</div> + +<h4><a name="gs01" id="gs01"></a>[Illustration: UNDER THE LATTERNS <i>Chapter XX</i>]</h4> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CONTENTS</h2> + +<!-- Autogenerated TOC. Modify or delete as required. --> +<p> + +<a href="#CHAPTER_I">CHAPTER I. <span class="smcap">The End of the Holidays</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER II. <span class="smcap">Opening Day</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER III. <span class="smcap">Wynch-on-the-Wold</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER IV. <span class="smcap">Intruder Bess</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER V. <span class="smcap">The Fifth-form Fête</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER VI. <span class="smcap">The School Parliament</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_VII">CHAPTER VII. <span class="smcap">Hockey</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">CHAPTER VIII. <span class="smcap">An Unpleasant Experience</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_IX">CHAPTER IX. <span class="smcap">A Hostel Frolic</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_X">CHAPTER X. <span class="smcap">The Whispering Stones</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XI">CHAPTER XI. <span class="smcap">On Strike</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XII">CHAPTER XII. <span class="smcap">The Rainbow League</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">CHAPTER XIII. <span class="smcap">Quenrede Comes Out</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XIV">CHAPTER XIV. <span class="smcap">The Peep-hole</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XV">CHAPTER XV. <span class="smcap">Brotherly Breezes</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XVI">CHAPTER XVI. <span class="smcap">An Easter Pilgrimage</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XVII">CHAPTER XVII. <span class="smcap">The Rivals</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XVIII">CHAPTER XVIII. <span class="smcap">Bess at Home</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XIX">CHAPTER XIX. <span class="smcap">The Nun's Walk</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XX">CHAPTER XX. <span class="smcap">Under the Lanterns</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XXI">CHAPTER XXI. <span class="smcap">The Abbey Recital</span></a><br /> +</p> +<!-- End Autogenerated TOC. --> + + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + + +<h2><a name="Illustrations" id="Illustrations"></a>Illustrations</h2> + + +<p><a href="#gs01">Under the Lanterns</a></p> + +<p><a href="#gs02">"Let's Call ourselves the Foursome League"</a></p> + +<p><a href="#gs03">A Friend in Need</a></p> + +<p><a href="#gs04">"You look <i>nice</i>—you do, <i>really</i>, with your hair down"</a></p> + +<p><a href="#gs05">"You may think you know everything, Bess Haselford, but you don't know +this!"</a></p> + +<p><a href="#gs06">A Tall Figure, clothed in some White Garment, was gliding towards them</a></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="A_POPULAR_SCHOOLGIRL" id="A_POPULAR_SCHOOLGIRL"></a>A POPULAR SCHOOLGIRL</h2> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I</h2> + +<h3>The End of the Holidays</h3> + + +<p>"Ingred! Ingred, old girl! I say, Ingred! Wherever have you taken +yourself off to?" shouted a boyish voice, as its owner, jumping an +obstructing gooseberry bush, tore around the corner of the house from +the kitchen garden on to the strip of rough lawn that faced the windows. +"Hullo! Cuckoo! Coo-ee! <i>In</i>-gred!"</p> + +<p>"I'm here all the time, so you needn't bawl!" came in resigned tones +from under the shade of a large fuchsia. "You're enough to wake the +dead, Chumps! What is it you want now! It's too hot to go a walk till +after tea. I'm trying to get ten minutes peace and quiet!"</p> + +<p>Hereward, otherwise "Chumps," put his feet together in the second +position, flung out his arms in what was intended to be a graceful +attitude, and made a mock bow worthy of the cinema stage.</p> + +<p>"Have them by all means, Madam!" he replied in mincing accents. "Your +humble servant has no wish to disturb your ladyship's elegant repose. He +offers a thousand apologies for his unceremonious entrance into your +august presence, and implores you to condescend——<i>Ow! Stop it, you +brute!</i>"</p> + +<p>Hereward's burst of eloquence was brought to an abrupt end by the +violent onslaught of a fox-terrier puppy which flung itself upon him and +began to worry his ankles with delighted yelps of appreciation.</p> + +<p>"Stop it! Keep off, I tell you! I <i>won't</i> be chewed to ribbons!" he +protested, dodging the attacks of the playful but all too sharp teeth, +and catching the little dog by the piece of tarred rope that formed its +collar. "Here, you'll get throttled in a minute if you don't mend your +manners."</p> + +<p>"Give him to his auntie, bless his heart!" laughed Ingred, extending +welcoming arms to the fat specimen of puppyhood, and rolling him about +on her knee. "Oh, he <i>did</i> make you dance! You looked so funny! There, +precious! Don't chump auntie's fingers. Go bye-byes now. Snuggle down on +auntie's dress, and——"</p> + +<p>"If you've <i>quite</i> finished talking idiotic nonsense to that little +beast," interrupted Hereward sarcastically, "you'll perhaps kindly +oblige me by mentioning whether you're coming or not!"</p> + +<p>"Not coming anywhere—too hot!" grunted Ingred, resettling her cushion +under the fuchsia bush.</p> + +<p>"Right you are! Please yourself and you'll please me! Though I should +have thought the run to Chatcombe——"</p> + +<p>Ingred sprang to her feet, dropping the puppy unceremoniously.</p> + +<p>"You don't mean to say Egbert's finished mending the motor bike? You +abominable boy! Why couldn't you tell me so before?"</p> + +<p>"You never gave me the chance—just said off-hand you wouldn't go +anywhere. Yes, the engine's running like a daisy, and the sidecar's on, +and Egbert's fussing to be off. If you really change your mind and want +to go——"</p> + +<p>But by this time Ingred was round the corner of the house; so, shaking a +philosophic head at the ways of girls in general, her brother gathered a +gooseberry or two en route, and followed her in the direction of the +stable-yard.</p> + +<p>The Saxons were spending their summer holidays at a farm near the +seaside, and for the first time in four long years the whole family was +reunited. Mr. Saxon, Egbert, and Athelstane had only just been +demobilized, and had hardly yet settled down to civilian life. They had +joined the rest of the party at Lynstones before returning to their +native town of Grovebury. The six weeks by the sea seemed a kind of +oasis between the anxious period of the war that was past and gone, and +the new epoch that stretched ahead in the future. To Ingred they were +halcyon days. To have her father and brothers safely back, and for the +family to be together in the midst of such beautiful scenery, was +sufficient for utter enjoyment. She did not wish her mind to venture +outside the charmed circle of the holidays. Beyond, when she thought +about it all, lay a nebulous prospect, in the center of which school +loomed large.</p> + +<p>On this particular hot August afternoon, Ingred welcomed an excursion in +the sidecar. She had not felt inclined to walk down the white path +under the blazing sun to the glaring beach, but it was another matter to +spin along the high road till, as the fairy tales put it, her hair +whistled in the wind. Egbert was anxious to set off, so Hereward took +his place on the luggage-carrier, and, after some back-firing, the three +started forth. It was a glorious run over moorland country, with +glimpses of the sea on the one hand, and craggy tors on the other, and +round them billowy masses of heather, broken here and there by runnels +of peat-stained water. If Egbert exceeded the speed-limit, he certainly +had the excuse of a clear road before him; there were no hedges to hide +advancing cars, neither was there any possibility of whisking round a +corner to find a hay-cart blocking the way. In the course of an hour +they had covered a considerable number of miles, and found themselves +whirling down the tremendous hill that led to the seaside town of +Chatcombe.</p> + +<p>Arrived in the main street they left the motorcycle at a garage, and +strolled on to the promenade, joining the crowd of holiday-makers who +were sauntering along in the heat, or sitting on the benches watching +the children digging in the sand below. Much to Ingred's astonishment +she was suddenly hailed by her name, and, turning, found herself greeted +with enthusiasm by a schoolfellow.</p> + +<p>"Ingred! What a surprise!"</p> + +<p>"Avis! Who'd have thought of seeing you?"</p> + +<p>"Are you staying here?"</p> + +<p>"No, only over for the afternoon."</p> + +<p>"We've rooms at Beach View over there. Come along and have some tea with +us, and your brothers too. Yes, indeed you must! Mother will be +delighted to see you all. I shan't let you say no!"</p> + +<p>Borne away by her hospitable friend, Ingred presently found herself +sitting on a seat in the front garden of a tall boarding-house facing +the sea, and while Egbert and Hereward discussed motor-cycling with +Avis's father, the two girls enjoyed a confidential chat together.</p> + +<p>"Only a few days now," sighed Avis, "then we've got to leave all this +and go home. How long are you staying at Lynstones, Ingred?"</p> + +<p>"A fortnight more, but don't talk of going home. I want the holidays to +last forever!"</p> + +<p>"So do I, but they won't. School begins on the twenty-first of +September. It will be rather sport to go to the new buildings at last, +won't it? By the by, now the war's over, and we've all got our own +again, I suppose you're going back to Rotherwood, aren't you?"</p> + +<p>"I suppose so, when it's ready."</p> + +<p>"But surely the Red Cross cleared out ages ago, and the whole place has +been done up? I saw the paperhangers there in June."</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes!" Ingred's voice was a little strained.</p> + +<p>"You'll be so glad to be living there again," continued Avis. "I always +envied you that lovely house. You must have hated lending it as a +hospital. I expect when you're back you'll be giving all sorts of +delightful parties, won't you? At least that's what the girls at school +were saying."</p> + +<p>"It's rather early to make plans," temporized Ingred.</p> + +<p>"Oh, of course! But Jess and Francie said you'd a gorgeous floor for +dancing. I do think a fancy-dress dance is about the best fun on earth. +The next time I get an invitation, I'm going as a Quaker maiden, in a +gray dress and the duckiest little white cap. Don't you think it would +suit me? With your dark hair you ought to be something Eastern. I can +just imagine you acting hostess in a shimmery sort of white-and-gold +costume. <i>Do</i> promise to wear white-and-gold!"</p> + +<p>"All right," laughed Ingred.</p> + +<p>"It's so delightful that the war's over, and we can begin to have +parties again, like we used to do. Beatrice Jackson told me she should +never forget that Carnival dance she went to at Rotherwood five years +ago, and all the lanterns and fairy lamps. Some of the other girls talk +about it yet. Hullo, that's the gong! Come indoors, and we'll have tea."</p> + +<p>Ingred was very quiet as she went back in the sidecar that evening, +though Hereward, sitting on the luggage-carrier, was in high spirits, +and fired off jokes at her the whole time. The fact was she was thinking +deeply. Certain problems, which she had hitherto cast carelessly away, +now obtruded themselves so definitely that they must at last be faced. +The process, albeit necessary, was not altogether a pleasant one.</p> + +<p>To understand Ingred's perplexities we must give a brief account of the +fortunes of her family up to the time this story begins. Mr. Saxon was +an architect, who had made a good connection in the town of Grovebury. +Here he had designed and built for himself a very beautiful house, and +had liberally entertained his own and his children's friends. When war +broke out, he had been amongst the first to volunteer for his country's +service, and, as a further act of patriotism, he and his wife had +decided to offer the use of "Rotherwood" for a Red Cross Hospital. The +three boys were then at school, Egbert and Athelstane at Winchester, and +Hereward at a preparatory school; so, storing the furniture, Mrs. Saxon +moved into rooms with Quenrede and Ingred, who were attending the girls' +college in Grovebury as day boarders. For the whole period of the war +this arrangement had continued; Rotherwood was given over to the wounded +soldiers, and Mrs. Saxon herself worked as one of their most devoted +nurses.</p> + +<p>In course of time Egbert and Athelstane had also joined the army, and +with three of her menkind at the front, their mother had been more than +ever glad to fill up at the hospital the hours when her girls were +absent from her at school. Then came the Armistice, and the blessed +knowledge that, though not yet home again, the dear ones were no longer +in danger. By April the Red Cross had finished its work in Grovebury; +the remaining patients regretfully departed, the wards were dismantled +of their beds, and Rotherwood was handed back to its rightful owners.</p> + +<p>Naturally it needed much renovation and decorating before it was again +fit for a private residence, and paperers and painters had been busy +there for many weeks. They had only just removed the ladders by the +middle of July.</p> + +<p>It was nearly August before Mr. Saxon, Egbert, and Athelstane were +finally demobilized, and they had gone straight to Lynstones to join the +rest of the family at the farmhouse rooms. What was to happen after the +delirious joy of the holiday was over, Ingred did not know. She had +several times mentioned to her mother the prospect of their return to +Rotherwood, but Mrs. Saxon had always evaded the subject, saying: "Wait +till Daddy comes back!" and the welcoming of their three heroes had +seemed a matter of such paramount importance that in comparison with it +even the question of their beloved Rotherwood might stand aside.</p> + +<p>The Saxons were a particularly united family, tremendously proud of one +another, and interested in each other's doings. Their name bespoke their +old English origin, which (except in the case of Ingred) was further +vouched for by their blue eyes, fair skins, and flaxen hair. Egbert and +Athelstane were strapping young fellows of six feet, and +thirteen-year-old Hereward was taller already than Ingred. Quenrede, +immensely proud of her quaint Saxon name, and not at all pleased that +the family generally shortened it to Queenie, had just left school, and +had turned up her long fair pigtail, put on a grown-up and rather +condescending manner, powdered the tip of her classic little nose, and +was extremely particular about the cut of her skirts and the fit of her +suède shoes. It was a grievance to Quenrede that, as she expressed it, +she had "missed the war." She had longed to go out to France and drive +an ambulance, or to whirl over English roads on a motorcycle, buying up +hay for the Government, or to assist in training horses, or to help in +some other patriotic job of an equally interesting and exciting +character.</p> + +<p>"It's <i>too</i> bad that just when I'm old enough all the jolly things are +closed to women!" she groused. "If Mother had only let me leave school a +year ago, I'd at least have had three months' fun. Life's going to be +very slow now. There's nothing sporty to do at all!"</p> + +<p>Ingred, the youngest but one, and fifteen on her last birthday, was the +only dark member of the fair Saxon family. At present she was not nearly +so good-looking as pretty Quenrede; her mouth was a trifle heavy and her +cheeks lacked color; but her eyes had depths that were not seen in her +sister's, and her thick brown hair fell far below her waist. She would +gladly have exchanged it for the lint-white locks of Hereward.</p> + +<p>"Queenie was always chosen for a fairy at school plays," she grumbled, +"and they never would have me, though her dresses would have come in for +me so beautifully. I don't see why some fairies shouldn't have dark +hair! And it was just as bad when we acted <i>The Merchant of Venice</i>. +Miss Carter gave 'Portia' to Francie Hall, and made me take 'Jessica,' +and Francie was a perfect stick, and spoilt the whole thing! Next time, +I declare I'll bargain to wear a golden wig, and see what happens."</p> + +<p>Ingred had been educated at Grovebury College since the morning when, a +fat little person of five, she had taken her place in the Kindergarten. +She and Quenrede had always been favorites in the school. In pre-war +days they had been allowed to give delightful parties at Rotherwood to +their form-mates, and though that had not been possible during the last +five years, everybody knew that their beautiful home had been lent to +the Red Cross, and admired their patriotism in thus giving it for the +service of the nation. From Avis's remarks that afternoon it was evident +that the girls at the college expected the Saxons to return immediately +to Rotherwood, and were looking forward to being invited to +entertainments there during the coming autumn and winter. Ingred had +contrived to parry her friend's interested questions, but she felt the +time had come when she must be prepared to give some definite answer to +those who inquired about their future plans. She managed to catch her +mother alone next morning for a quiet chat.</p> + +<p>"Mumsie, dear," she began. "I've been wanting to ask you this—are we +going back to Rotherwood after the holidays?"</p> + +<p>Mrs. Saxon folded up her sewing, put her thimble and scissors away in +her work-basket, and leaned her elbow on the arm of the garden seat as +if prepared for conversation.</p> + +<p>"And I've been wanting to talk to you about this, Ingred. Shall you be +very disappointed when I tell you 'No'?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, Muvvie!" Ingred's tone was agonized.</p> + +<p>"It can't be helped, little woman! It can't indeed! I think you're old +enough now to understand if I explain. You know this war has hit a great +many people very hard. There has been a sort of general financial +see-saw; some have made large fortunes, but others have lost them. We +come in the latter list. When your father went out to France, he had to +leave his profession to take care of itself, and other architects have +stepped in and gained the commissions that used to come to his office. +It may take him a long while to pull his connection together again, and +the time of waiting will be one of much anxiety for him. Then, most of +our investments, which used to pay such good dividends, are worth hardly +anything now, and only bring us in a pittance compared with former +years. Instead of being rich people, we shall have to be very careful +indeed to make ends meet. To return to Rotherwood is utterly out of the +question, and with the price of everything doubled and trebled, and our +income in the inverse ratio, it is impossible to keep up so big an +establishment nowadays."</p> + +<p>"Where are we going to live, then?" asked Ingred in a strangled voice.</p> + +<p>"At the bungalow that Daddy built on the moors. Fortunately the tenant +was leaving, and we had not let it to any one else. In present +circumstances it will suit us very well. Athelstane is to be entered in +the medical school at Birkshaw; he can ride over every day on the +motor-bicycle. We had hoped to send him to study in London, but that's +only one of the many plans that have 'gane agley'."</p> + +<p>"Are Hereward and I to go in to Grovebury every day?"</p> + +<p>"Hereward can manage it all right, but I shall arrange for you to be a +weekly boarder at the new hostel. You can come home from Friday to +Monday. Now, don't cry about it, childie!" as a big tear splashed down +Ingred's dress. "After all, we've much to be thankful for. If we had +lost Father, or Egbert, or Athelstane out in France we might indeed +grieve. So long as we have each other we've got the best thing in life, +and we must all cling together as a family, and help one another on. +Cheer up!"</p> + +<p>"It will be simply h—h—h—hateful to go back to school this term, and +not live at R—r—r—rotherwood!" sobbed Ingred.</p> + +<p>Her mother patted the dark head that rested against her knee.</p> + +<p>"Poor little woman! Remember it's just as hard for all the rest of us. +We've each got a burden to carry at present. Suppose we see who can be +pluckiest over it. We're fighting fortune now, instead of the Hun, and +we must show her a brave face. Won't you march with the family regiment, +and keep the colors flying?"</p> + +<p>"I'll try," said Ingred, scrubbing her eyes with her +pocket-handkerchief.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II</h2> + +<h3>Opening Day</h3> + + +<p>The Girls' College at Grovebury, under its able head-mistress, Miss +Burd, had made itself quite a name in the neighborhood. The governors, +realizing that it was outgrowing its old premises, decided to erect +others, and had put up a handsome building in a good situation near the +Abbey. No sooner was the last tile laid on the roof, however, than war +broke out, and the new school was immediately commandeered by the +Government as a recruiting office, and it had been kept for that purpose +until after the Armistice.</p> + +<p>The girls considered it a very great grievance to be obliged to remain +cramped so long in their old college. The foundation stone of the new +building had been laid by Queen Mary herself, and they thought the +Government might have fixed upon some other spot in which to conduct +business, instead of keeping them out of their proper quarters. All +things come to an end, however, even the circumlocution and delays of +Government offices, and by the beginning of the autumn term the removal +had been effected, and the ceremony arranged for the opening of the new +college. Naturally it was to be a great day. The Members of Parliament +for Grovebury, and the Mayor, and many other important people were to be +present, to say nothing of parents and visitors. The pupils, assembled +in the freshly color-washed dressing-rooms, greeted one another +excitedly.</p> + +<p>"How do you like it?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, it's topping!"</p> + +<p>"Beats the old place hollow!"</p> + +<p>"There's room to turn around here!"</p> + +<p>"And the lockers are just A1."</p> + +<p>"Have you seen the class-rooms?"</p> + +<p>"Not yet."</p> + +<p>"The gym's utterly perfect!"</p> + +<p>"And so is the lab."</p> + +<p>"Shame we've had to wait for it so long!"</p> + +<p>"Never mind, we've got into it at last!"</p> + +<p>Among the numbers of girls in the capacious dressing-rooms, Ingred also +hung up her hat and coat, and passed on into the long corridor. Like the +others she was excited, interested, even a little bewildered at the +unfamiliar surroundings. It seemed extraordinary not to know her way +about, and she seized joyfully upon Nora Clifford, who by virtue of ten +minutes' experience could act cicerone.</p> + +<p>"We're to be in <span class="smcap">Va.</span>," Nora assured her. "All our old set, that +is, except Connie Lord and Gladys Roper and Meg Mason. I've just met +Miss Strong, and she told me. She's moved up with us, and there's a new +mistress for <span class="smcap">Vb</span>. Haven't seen her yet, but they say she's nice, +though I'd rather stick to Miss Strong, wouldn't you?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know," temporized Ingred, screwing her mouth into a button.</p> + +<p>"Oh, of course! I forgot! You're not a 'Strong' enthusiast—never were! +Now <i>I</i> like her!"</p> + +<p>"It's easy enough to like anybody who favors you. Miss Strong was always +down on me somehow, and I'd rather have tried my luck with a fresh +teacher. I wonder if Miss Burd would put me in <span class="smcap">Vb.</span> if I asked +her."</p> + +<p>"Of course she wouldn't! Don't be a silly idiot! I think Miss Strong's +absolutely adorable. Don't you like the decorations in the corridor? +Miss Godwin and some of the School of Art students did them. But just +wait till you've seen the lecture-hall! Here we are! Now then, what +d'you say to this?"</p> + +<p>The big room into which Nora ushered her companion was lighted from the +top, and the walls, distempered in buff, had been decorated with +stencils of Egyptian designs, the bright barbaric colors of which gave a +very striking effect. There was a platform at the far end, where were +placed rows of chairs for the distinguished visitors, and also pots of +palms and ferns and geraniums to add an air of festivity to the opening +ceremony. The long lines of benches in the body of the hall were already +beginning to fill with girls, their bright hair-ribbons looking almost +like a further array of flowers. Mistresses here and there were ushering +them to their places, the Kindergarten children to the front seats, +Juniors to the middle, and Seniors to the rear. Ingred and Nora, +motioned by Miss Giles to a bench about three-quarters down the room, +took their seats and talked quietly with their nearest neighbors. A +general buzz of conversation, constantly restrained by mistresses, kept +rising and then falling again to subdued whispers. In a short time the +hall was full, Miss Perry had opened the piano, and the choir leaders +had ranged themselves round her. In dead silence all the girls, big and +little, turned their eyes towards the platform. The door behind the row +of palms and ferns was opening, and Miss Burd, in scholastic cap and +gown, was ushering in the Mayor, the Mayoress, several Town Councilors +and their wives, a few clergy, the head-master of the School of Art, +and, to the place of honor in the middle, Sir James Hilton, the Member +of Parliament for Grovebury, who was to conduct the ceremony of the +afternoon. He was a pleasant, genial-looking man, and though, as he +assured his audience, he had never before had the opportunity of +addressing a room full of girls, he seemed to be able to rise to the +occasion, and made quite a capital speech.</p> + +<p>"You're lucky to have this handsome building in which to do your +lessons," he concluded. "Our environment makes a great difference to us, +and I think it is far easier to turn out good work in the midst of +beautiful surroundings. Grovebury College has reaped a well-deserved +reputation in the past, and I trust that its hitherto excellent +standards will be maintained or even surpassed in the future. As member +for the town there's a special word I wish to say to you. Train +yourselves to be good women citizens. Some day, when you're grown up, +you will have votes, and in that way assist in the self-government of +this great nation. The better educated and the more enlightened you are, +the better fitted you will be for your civic responsibility. Every girl +who does her duty at school is helping her country, because she is +making herself efficient to serve it in some capacity. At present +England stands at a great crisis; if we are to keep up the traditions of +our forefathers we want workers, not slackers, in every department of +life. Even the smallest of those little girls sitting in the front row +can do her bit. As for you elder girls, think of yourselves as a Cadet +Corps, training for the service of the British Empire, and let every +lesson you learn be not for your own advantage, but for the good you can +do with it afterwards to the world. I have very great pleasure in +declaring this new building open."</p> + +<p>After Sir James had sat down, the Mayor and several other people made +short speeches, and when all the clapping had finally subsided, the +piano struck up, and the school sang an Empire Song and the National +Anthem. Then the door at the back of the platform opened again for the +exit of the visitors, who, chatting among themselves, made their way to +Miss Burd's study to be hospitably entertained with tea and cakes. The +whole ceremony had barely occupied an hour, and it was not yet four +o'clock. The girls, in orderly files, marched from the lecture-hall, and +betook themselves first to their new form-rooms, where textbooks were +given out with preparation for the next day, and desks allotted; then, +when the great bell rang for dismissal, to the playground and +cloak-rooms, en route for home.</p> + +<p>Ingred, with a goodly pile of fresh literature under her arm, walked +slowly downstairs. She was not in any hurry to leave the class-room, and +lingered as long as the limits of Miss Strong's patience lasted. She +knew there was a certain ordeal to be faced with her form-mates, and she +was not sure whether she wanted to put it off, or to get it over at +once.</p> + +<p>"Better let them know and have done with it," she said to herself after +a few moments' consideration on the landing. "After all, it's my +business, not theirs!"</p> + +<p>It was a rather airily-defiant Ingred who strolled into the cloak-room +and put on her hat. Francie Hall, trying to thread her boot with a lace +that had lost its tag, looked up, smiled, and made room for her on the +form.</p> + +<p>"Cheery-ho, Ingred! How do you like our new diggings? Some removal, +this, isn't it? I must say the place looks nice. It's topping to be here +at last. By the by, I suppose you'll be getting in Rotherwood soon? Or +have you got already?"</p> + +<p>Ingred was stooping to lace her shoe, so perhaps the position accounted +for her stifled voice.</p> + +<p>"We're not going back there."</p> + +<p>"Not going back!" Francie's tone was one of genuine amazement. "Why, but +you said it was being done up for you, and you'd be moving before the +term started!"</p> + +<p>"Well, we're not, at any rate."</p> + +<p>"What a disappointment for you!" began Beatrice Jackson tactlessly, as +several other girls who were standing near turned and joined the group. +"You always said you were just longing for Rotherwood."</p> + +<p>"Do the Red Cross want it again?" queried Jess Howard.</p> + +<p>"No, they don't; but we're not going to live there. Where are we going +to live? At our bungalow on the moors, and I'm a weekly boarder at the +hostel. Are there any other impertinent questions you'd like to ask? +Don't all speak at once, please!"</p> + +<p>And Ingred, having laced both shoes, got up, seized her pile of books, +and, turning her back on her form-mates, stalked away without a good-by. +She knew she had been rude and ungracious, but she felt that if she had +stopped another moment the tears that were welling into her eyes would +have overflowed. Ingred had many good points, but she was a remarkably +proud girl. She could not bear her schoolfellows to think she had come +down in the world. She had thrown out so many hints last term about the +renewed glories of Rotherwood, that it was certainly humiliating to have +to acknowledge that all the happy expectations had come to nothing. On +the reputation of Rotherwood both she and Quenrede had held their heads +high in the school; she wondered if her position would be the same, now +that everybody knew the truth.</p> + +<p>As a matter of fact, most of the girls giggled as she went out through +the cloak-room door.</p> + +<p>"My lady's in a temper!" exclaimed Francie.</p> + +<p>"Lemons and vinegar!" hinnied Jess.</p> + +<p>"Why did she fly out like that?" asked Beatrice.</p> + +<p>"Well, really, Beatrice Jackson, after all the stupid things you said, +anybody would fly out, I should think," commented Verity Richmond. "I'm +sorry for Ingred. I'd heard the Saxons can't go back to their old house. +It's hard luck on them after lending it all these years to the Red +Cross."</p> + +<p>"But <i>why</i> aren't they going back?"</p> + +<p>"Why, silly, because they can't keep it up, I suppose. If you've any +sense, you won't mention Rotherwood to Ingred again. It's evidently a +sore point. Don't for goodness sake, go rubbing it into her."</p> + +<p>"I wasn't going to!" grumbled Beatrice. "Surely I can make an innocent +remark without you beginning to preach to me like this! I call it +cheek!"</p> + +<p>Verity did not reply. She had had too many squabbles with Beatrice in +the past to want to begin a fresh campaign on the first day of a new +term. She discreetly pretended not to hear, and addressing Francie Hall, +launched into an account of her doings during the holidays.</p> + +<p>"We're moving out to Repworth at the September quarter," she concluded. +"And it's too far for me to bicycle in to school every day, so I've +started as a boarder at the hostel. I shall go home for week-ends, +though. Nora Clifford and Fil Trevor are there too. They'll be glad +Ingred's come. With four of us out of one form, things ought to be +rather jinky. Hullo, here they are! I say, girls, let's go to our +diggings."</p> + +<p>The two girls who came strolling up arm-in-arm were the most absolute +contrast. Nora was large-limbed, plump, rosy, with short-cut hair, a +lively manner, and any amount of confidence. Without being exactly +pretty, she gave a general impression of jolly, healthy girlhood, and +reminded one of an old-fashioned, sweet-scented cabbage rose that had +just burst into bloom. Dainty little Filomena might, on the other hand, +be described as the most delicate of tea roses. She was fair to a fault, +a lily-white maid with the silkiest of flaxen tresses. Her pale-blue +eyes, with their light lashes, and rather colorless little face with its +straight features were of the petite fairy type. You felt instinctively +that, like a Dresden china vase, she was made more for ornament than for +use, and nobody—even school-mistresses—expected too much from her. +Experience had shown them that they did not get it.</p> + +<p>For two years, ever since her mother's death, Fil had been a boarder at +the College, and because at first she had been such a pathetic little +figure in her deep mourning, the girls had petted her, and had continued +an indulgent attitude long after the black dress had been exchanged for +colors. If Fil had rather got into the habit of posing as the mascot of +the form, she certainly deserved some consideration, for she was a dear +little thing, with a very sweet temper, and never made any of the +ill-natured remarks that some of the other girls flung about like +missiles. She was so manifestly unfitted to take her own part that +somebody else invariably took it for her.</p> + +<p>Verity Richmond, who, with Nora, Filomena and Ingred, represented +<span class="smcap">Va.</span> in the hostel, was a brisk, up-to-date, go-ahead girl, full +of fun and high spirits. She was a capital mimic, and had a turn for +repartee that, quite good-naturedly, laid any adversary flat in the +dust. If Nora and Fil were like rose and lily, she was decidedly the +robin of the party. Her fair complexion seemed to add force to the +brightness of her twinkling brown eyes, and her general restlessness and +quick alert ways made one think of a bird always hopping about. Though +not quite such a romp as Nora, she was ready for any fun that was going, +and intended to get as much enjoyment as possible out of the coming +term. She linked herself now on to Fil's disengaged arm, taking the +latter's pile of books with her own and began towing her two friends in +the direction of the hostel.</p> + +<p>"I've hardly had time even for a squint at our dormitory yet," she +announced. "Mrs. Best said I was late, and made me pop down my bag and +fly; but she told me we were all four together, so I went off with an +easy mind. I'd been worrying for fear I'd be boxed up with some kids, or +sandwiched in among the Sixth. I told you Ingred was to be with us, +didn't I? Let's go and hunt her out; she'll have wiped her eyes and got +over her jim-jams by now. We'll have time to do some unpacking before +tea, if they've carried up our boxes."</p> + +<p>The hostel was a separate house, built at the opposite side of the +school playground. It could accommodate thirty girls, and twenty-six +were already entered on its register. After a brief peep into the +attractive dining-hall, and an equally pleasant-looking boarders' +sitting-room, the three girls went upstairs to a dormitory marked 2. +They found Ingred already at work on her task of unpacking, putting +clothes away in drawers, and spreading the shelf that served as a +dressing-table with an assortment of photos, books, and toilet +requisites. She looked rather in the dumps, but it was impossible for +anybody to remain gloomy when in the presence of such lively spirits as +Nora and Verity, and by the time the gong sounded for tea she had +cheered up, and was sitting on her bed discussing school news.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<a href="images/gs02.jpg"><img src="images/gs02.jpg" alt=""/></a> +</div> + +<h4><a name="gs02" id="gs02"></a>[Illustration: "LET'S CALL OURSELVES THE FOURSOME LEAGUE."]</h4> + +<p>"Look here!" said Verity. "If we want to have a jolly term we four must +stick together. Let's make a compact that, both in school and in the +hostel, we'll support each other through thick and thin. We'll be a sort +of society of Freemasons. I haven't made up any secrets yet, but whoever +betrays them will be outlawed! Let's call ourselves 'The Foursome +League.' Now then, put your right hands all together on mine, and say +after me: 'I hereby promise and vow on my honor as a gentlewoman that +I'll stand by my chums in No. 2 Dormitory at any cost.' That's a good +beginning. When we've time, we'll draw up the rules. Subscriptions? Oh, +bother! You can each give sixpence if you like, and we'll spend the +money on a chocolate feast. Remember, Fil, not a word to anybody! It's +to be kept absolutely quiet. There's the gong. If the tea's up to the +standard of the rest of the hostel, I shan't object. Glad we're not +rationed now, for I'm as hungry as a hunter."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III</h2> + +<h3>Wynch-on-the-Wold</h3> + + +<p>Though the College only opened on Tuesday afternoon, the short remainder +of the week seemed enormously long to Ingred. Her form mates were the +same, but everything else was absolutely changed; she might have been at +a new school. She appreciated the convenient arrangements of the +handsome building: the lecture-hall, with its stained-glass window and +polished floor, the airy class-rooms, the studio with its facilities for +every kind of art work, the three music-rooms, the laboratory, the +gymnasium, and, last but not least, the hostel. Ingred had never before +been a boarder, and she had not expected to like the experience, but +there is a subtle charm in community life that infects everybody with +"the spirit of the hive," and in spite of herself she began to be +interested in the particular set of faces that met round the table for +meals. The greater part of the girls were in the middle and lower +school, but there were a few members of the Sixth, who sat next to Mrs. +Best, the matron, and Nurse Warner, and looked with superior eyes on the +crowd of intermediates and juniors. To have secured such congenial +room-mates was an asset for which she could not be sufficiently +thankful. Whatever troubles might await her downstairs, it was a +comfort to know that she had three allies ready to flock to her support. +She had not known any of them well in the past, but as they seemed +prepared to offer their friendship, she also was ready to act the part +of chum. By exchanging desks with Linda Slater, she managed to secure a +seat next to Verity in school, and entered into an arrangement with her +that they should supply the missing gaps in each other's notes, for Miss +Strong often lectured so rapidly that it was impossible to keep up with +her.</p> + +<p>"I wish I knew shorthand," grumbled Ingred, comparing scribbles with +Verity as the girls tidied their hair for tea. "How anybody's expected +to get down all Miss Strong tells us, I can't imagine! It's impossible."</p> + +<p>"I don't try," admitted Fil. "At least I do try—I put a bit here and +there, but I write so slowly, I'm only half-way through before she's +bounced on to something else, and I've missed the beginning of it. I +have to stop, too, sometimes, to think how to spell the words."</p> + +<p>The others laughed, for Fil's spelling was proverbial in the form, and +was often of a purely phonetic character. Miss Strong had periodical +crusades to improve it, but generally gave them up as a bad job, and +recommended constant use of a dictionary instead.</p> + +<p>"Though you can't go about the world with a dictionary perpetually under +your arm," she had remarked on the last occasion. "If you have to write +a letter in a hurry, and you begin 'Dear Maddam' and end 'Yours +trueley'—well! Please don't let anybody know you've been educated here, +that's all, or it will be a poor advertisement for the College!"</p> + +<p>Ingred was not at all delighted to be still in Miss Strong's form. She +only moderately liked this mistress. Undoubtedly Miss Strong was a +clever teacher, but sarcasm was one of her favorite weapons of +discipline. Some of the girls did not mind it, indeed thought it rather +amusing, even when directed against themselves, and enjoyed it hugely +when someone else was the victim of the sally. Ingred, however, proud +and sensitive, writhed under the attacks of Miss Strong's sharp tongue, +and would often have preferred a punishment to a witticism. As a matter +of fact, the mistress rarely gave punishments, and was proud of her +ability to control her form without resorting to them. She was short in +stature, but made up in spirit for her lack of inches, and would fix her +dark eyes on offenders against discipline with the personal magnetism of +a circus trainer or a leopard-tamer. Schoolgirls are irreverent beings, +and though to her face her pupils showed her all respect, behind her +back they spoke of her familiarly as "The Bantam," in allusion to her +small size but plucky disposition, or sometimes, in reference to her +sarcastic powers, as "The Sark," which by general custom became "The +Snark." On the whole Miss Strong's pithy, racy, humorous style of +teaching made her a far greater favorite than mistresses of duller +caliber. She had a remarkable faculty for getting work out of the most +unwilling brains. Her form always made excellent progress, and she had a +reputation for obtaining record successes in examinations. To judge from +the first few days of term, she meant to keep up her standard of +efficiency. Miss Burd had mapped out a heavy time-table for +<span class="smcap">Va.</span>, and it was Miss Strong's business to see that the girls +got through it. Of course they grumbled. After the long weeks of the +summer holidays it was doubly difficult to apply their minds to lessons, +and set to work in the evenings to perform the enormous amount of +preparation demanded from them. To some the task was wellnigh +impossible, and poor Fil would send in very imperfect exercises, but +others, Ingred and Verity among the number, had ambitions, and boosted +up the record of the form.</p> + +<p>It was after a most strenuous few days that Ingred came to the close of +the first week of the new term, and, taking her books and hand-bag, +started off to spend the week-end at home. She left the College with a +feeling of intense relief. She had dreaded the return there, and the +confession of her altered circumstances. It had not proved quite so +disagreeable an ordeal as she had anticipated, for, after the first +expressions of surprise, nobody had referred again to Rotherwood; yet +Ingred, on the look-out for slights, imagined that she was not treated +with as much consideration as formerly. Avis Marlowe and Jess Howard had +hardly spoken to her, and, though the omission was probably owing to +sheer lack of time or opportunity, she chose to set it down to a desire +to show her the cold shoulder.</p> + +<p>"Now I have no parties to offer them, they don't care about me!" she +thought bitterly. "They'll hunt about till they find somebody else who's +likely to act entertainer."</p> + +<p>Fortunately, as Ingred stepped out of the College on that first Friday +afternoon, the fresh breeze and the bright September sunshine blew away +the cobwebs, and sent her almost dancing down the street. She had a +naturally buoyant disposition, and her uppermost thought was: "I'm going +home! I'm going home! Hurrah!"</p> + +<p>The journey was really quite a little business. She had to take a tram +to the Waterstoke terminus, then change on to a light electric railway +that ran along the roadside for seven miles to Wynch-on-the-Wold. +Grovebury, an old town that dated back to mediæval times, lay in a deep +hollow among a rampart of hills, so that, in whatever direction you left +it, you were obliged to climb. The scenery was very beautiful, for trees +edged the river, and clothed the slopes till they gave way to the gorse +and heather of the wild moorlands. Wynch-on-the-Wold was a hamlet which, +since the opening of the electric railway, was just beginning to turn +into a suburb of Grovebury. Close to the terminus neat villas had sprung +up like mushrooms; there were a few shops and a branch post office, and +a brass plate to the effect that Dr. Whittaker had consulting hours +twice a week. Tradesmen's carts drove out constantly, and the electric +railway did quite a little business in the conveyance of parcels.</p> + +<p>Wynchcote, the house where the Saxons had retired to try their scheme of +retrenchment, lay at some little distance beyond the terminus, and might +be considered the outpost of the new suburb. It was a small, picturesque +modern bungalow; Mr. Saxon had built it as an architectural experiment, +intending it for a sort of model country cottage. The tenants who had +occupied it during the period of the war had just returned to Scotland, +so, as it was vacant, it had seemed a convenient place in which to +settle. It was near enough to Grovebury to allow him to attend his +office, and far enough away to cut them adrift from old associations. +After four and a half years of war work, Mrs. Saxon wanted a complete +rest from committees, crèches, canteens, and recreation huts, and would +be glad to urge the excuse of distance to those who appealed for her +help. Perhaps also she felt that in their straitened circumstances it +was wiser to live where they could not enter into social competition +with their former acquaintances.</p> + +<p>"I just want to be quiet, to attend to my family, and to enjoy the moors +and our garden," she declared. "I believe I'm going to be very happy at +Wynchcote."</p> + +<p>Though it was small, the bungalow was admirably planned, and had many +advantages. The view from its French window was one of the finest in the +district, and it faced a magnificent gorge, wild, rocky, and thickly +wooded, at the bottom of which wound the silver river that ran through +Grovebury. Civilization, in the shape of fields and hedges, stretched +out fingers as far as Wynchcote, and there stopped abruptly. Past the +bungalow lay the open wold with miles of heather, gorse, and bracken, +and a road edged with low, grassy fern-covered banks instead of walls. +The air blew freshly up here, and was far more bracing and healthy than +down in the hollow of Grovebury. The residents of the new suburb +affected seaside fashions, and went their moorland walks without hats +or gloves.</p> + +<p>Ingred was joined in the tram-car by Hereward, who attended the King +George's School, and made the journey daily.</p> + +<p>"Getting quite used to it now!" he assured his sister airily. "I +had a terrific run yesterday for the train, but I caught it! There's +another fellow in our form living up here, so we generally go +together—Scampton, that chap in the cricket cap standing by the door. +He's A1. He won't come near now, though, because he says he's terrified +of girls. He's going to give me a rabbit, and I shall make a hutch for +it out of one of those packing-cases. See, I've bought a piece of +wire-netting for the door. There's heaps of room at the bottom of the +garden. I believe I'll ask him to bring it over after tea."</p> + +<p>"But the hutch isn't ready," objected Ingred.</p> + +<p>"Oh, that won't matter! I can keep it in a packing-case for a day or +two."</p> + +<p>When Ingred and Hereward reached home they found that tea had been set +out on the patch of grass under the apple trees, and Mother and Quenrede +were sitting sewing and waiting for them. It was one of those beautiful +September days when the air seems almost as warm as in August, and with +the clock still at summer time, the sun had not climbed very far down +the valley. The garden, where Mother and Quenrede had been working +busily all the afternoon, was gay with nasturtiums and asters, and +overhead hung a crop of the rosiest apples ever seen. Minx, the Persian +cat, wandered round, waving a stately tail and mewing plaintively for +her saucer of milk. Derry, the fox terrier, barked an enthusiastic +greeting.</p> + +<p>"Come along, you poor starving wanderers!" said Mrs. Saxon. "The +kettle's boiling, and we'll make the tea in half a moment. Isn't it +glorious here? Queenie and I have been digging up potatoes, and we quite +enjoyed it. We felt exactly as if we were 'on the land.' How is your +cold, Hereward? Ingred, you look tired, child! Sit down and rest while +Queenie fetches the teapot."</p> + +<p>Ingred sank into a garden-chair with much satisfaction. Wynchcote might +not be Rotherwood, but it looked an uncommonly pretty little place in +the September sunshine. To live there would be like a perpetual picnic. +Mother and Queenie looked so complacently smiling that it seemed +impossible to grouse, especially with newly-baked scones and rock-cakes +on the tea-table.</p> + +<p>The men kind of the family had not yet returned home. Mr. Saxon and +Egbert rarely left their office before six, and Athelstane had that day +gone over to Birkshaw on the motor-bicycle, to arrange about the medical +course which he was to take at the University. There was plenty of news, +however, to be exchanged. Ingred had to give a full account of her +experiences at school and hostel, and to hear in return the various +achievements in the shape of home-carpentry, mending, making, and +altering which are always an essential part of settling into a new +establishment.</p> + +<p>"I hardly feel I've been round the estate properly yet," she said, when +tea was over, and she sat leaning back lazily in her deck-chair, with +Minx purring upon her knee.</p> + +<p>"Then come and lend me a hand with my rabbit-hutch," suggested Hereward. +"Put down that wretched pampered beast of a cat, for goodness sake! If +it gets at my new rabbit, I'll finish it! Yes, I will! I'll hang it or +drown it! Get along, you brute!"</p> + +<p>Hereward's blood-thirsty remarks were ignored by Minx, who, finding +herself dropped from Ingred's lap, took a flying run up his back, and +settled herself on his shoulder, rubbing her head into his neck. He +scratched her under the chin, swung her gently down, and shook a +reproving finger at her.</p> + +<p>"Don't try to come round me with your blarneyings, you siren!" he +declared. "Who was it ate my goldfinch? Yes, you may well look guilty! +Don't blink your eyes at me like that! I haven't forgiven you yet, and I +don't think I ever shall. Ingred, old sport, are you coming to help me, +or are you not? I want some one to hold the wire."</p> + +<p>"All right, Uncle Podger, I'll come and 'podge' for you," laughed +Ingred. "Don't hammer my fingers, that's all I bargain for. Wait a +moment till I get my overall. Your joinering performances are apt to be +somewhat grubby and messy."</p> + +<p>There was quite a good garden at the back of the bungalow, with rows of +vegetables and gooseberry bushes and fruit-trees. At the end was a +wooden shed where the motor-bicycle was kept, and a small wired +enclosure originally made for hens.</p> + +<p>"It's exactly the place for rabbits, when I get a hutch for them," +explained Hereward, putting down his box of tools, and turning over the +packing-case with a professional eye. "Now a wooden frame covered with +wire, and a pair of hinges will just do the job. I can saw these pieces +to fit. Hold the wood steady, that's a mascot!"</p> + +<p>The two were kneeling on the ground by the side of the packing-case, +much absorbed in the process of exact measurements, when suddenly there +was a rustling and a scrambling noise, and on the wall close to them +appeared a collie dog, growling, snarling, and showing its teeth. Ingred +sprang to her feet in alarm. Wynchcote was so retired that they had +scarcely realized that its garden adjoined the garden of another house. +The collie must have jumped up on to the dividing wall, and, being an +ill-tempered beast, did not use proper discrimination between neighbors +and tramps.</p> + +<p>"Shoo! Get away!" urged Ingred, with rather shaking knees.</p> + +<p>"Be off, you ill-mannered brute!" shouted Hereward.</p> + +<p>The dog, however, appeared to think the wall was his own special +property, and that it was his business to drive them away from their own +garden. It continued to bark and snarl. Now, as Hereward wished to fix +the rabbit-hutch in exactly the spot over which the creature had mounted +guard, he was naturally much annoyed, and sought for some ready means of +dislodging it from its point of vantage. He did not relish the prospect +of being bitten, so did not want to engage it at close quarters, and no +pole or other weapon lay handy.</p> + +<p>Looking hastily round, his eye fell upon the garden-syringe with which +Athelstane sometimes cleaned the motor-bicycle. It had been left, with a +bucket of water, outside the shed. He drew out the piston, filled the +syringe, then discharged its contents straight at the dog. But at that +most unlucky moment a quick change took place on the wall; the collie +retired in favor of his master, and the stream of water charged full +into the astonished countenance of a precise and elderly gentleman from +next door. For a few moments there was a ghastly silence, while he wiped +his face and recovered his dignity. Then he demanded in withering tones:</p> + +<p>"May I ask what is the meaning of this?"</p> + +<p>Ingred and Hereward, overwhelmed with confusion, stuttered out apologies +and explanations. The old gentleman listened with his busy gray eyebrows +knitted and his mouth pursed into a thin line.</p> + +<p>"I shall immediately take steps to ensure that my dog has no further +opportunities of annoying you," he remarked stiffly, and took his +departure.</p> + +<p>"Who is he?" whispered Ingred, as the footsteps on the other side of the +wall shuffled away.</p> + +<p>"His name's Mr. Hardcastle. He's retired, and lives there with a +housekeeper. Great Scot! I've put my foot in it, haven't I? Who'd have +thought he was just going to pop his head up? Dad was going to ask him +to lend us his garden-roller, but it's no use now. I expect I've made an +enemy of him for life!"</p> + +<p>"I hope he means to keep that savage dog fastened up," said Ingred. +"It's a horrid idea to think that it may, any time, pounce over the wall +at us. It's like having a wolf loose in the garden."</p> + +<p>As a matter of fact, Mr. Hardcastle kept his word in a way that the +Saxons least anticipated. Instead of chaining the dog, he had a tall +wooden paling erected along the top of the wall, making an effectual +barrier between the two gardens. It was not a beautiful object, and it +cut off the sunshine from a whole long flower-bed; so, though it insured +privacy, it might be regarded as a doubtful benefit for the bungalow.</p> + +<p>"It makes one feel so suburban," mourned Quenrede.</p> + +<p>"We shan't be visible, at any rate, when we're digging potatoes," +laughed Mrs. Saxon, "and that's a great point to me, for I'm past the +age that looks fascinating in an overall. If we've Suburbia on one side +of us, we've the open moor on the other, which is something to be +thankful for."</p> + +<p>"Yes, until it's sold in building plots," sighed Quenrede, who was in a +fit of blues, and unwilling to count up her blessings.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV</h2> + +<h3>Intruder Bess</h3> + + +<p>Ingred, after a blissful week-end, returned to Grovebury by the early +train on Monday morning, and, wrenching her mind with difficulty from +the interests of Wynch-on-the-Wold, focused it on school affairs +instead. There was certainly need of mental concentration if she meant +to make headway in the College. The standard of work required from +<span class="smcap">Va.</span> was very stiff, and taxed the powers of even the brightest +girls to the uttermost.</p> + +<p>"Miss Strong reminds me of Rehoboam!" wailed Fil, fresh from the study +of the Second Book of Chronicles. "Her little finger's thicker than her +whole body used to be, and, instead of whips, she chastises us with +scorpions. I want to go and bow the knee to Baal."</p> + +<p>"Rather mixed up in your Scripture, child, but we understand your +meaning," laughed Verity. "The Bantam's certainly piling it on nowadays +in the way of prep."</p> + +<p>"Shows an absolutely brutal lack of consideration," agreed Nora.</p> + +<p>"So do all the mistresses," groaned Ingred. "Each of them seems to think +we've nothing to do but her own particular subject. Dr. Linton actually +asked me if I could practise two hours a day. Why, he might as well have +suggested four! I can only get the piano for an hour, even if I wanted +it longer. It's a frightful business at the hostel to cram in all our +practicing, isn't it? I nearly had a free fight with Janie Potter +yesterday. She commandeered the piano, and though I showed her the music +time-table, with my name down for '5 to 6' she wouldn't budge. I had to +tilt her off the stool in the end. It was like a game of musical chairs. +She wouldn't look at me to-day, she's so cross about it. Not that <i>I</i> +care in the least!"</p> + +<p>Music was a favorite subject with Ingred, and one in which she excelled. +She would willingly have given more time to it, had the school +curriculum allowed. She was a good reader, and had a sympathetic, if +rather spidery touch. This term she had begun lessons with Dr. Linton, +who was considered the best master in Grovebury. He was organist at the +Abbey Church, and was not only a Doctor of Music, but a composer as +well. His anthems and cantatas were widely known, he conducted the local +choral society and trained the operatic society for the annual +performance. His time was generally very full, so he did not profess to +teach juniors; it was only after celebrating her fifteenth birthday that +Ingred had been eligible as one of his pupils. He had the reputation of +being peppery tempered, therefore she walked into the room to take her +first lesson with her heart performing a sort of jazz dance under her +jersey. Dr. Linton, like many musicians, was of an artistic and +excitable temperament, and highly eccentric. Instead of sitting by the +side of his new pupil, he paced the room, pursing his lips in and out, +and drawing his fingers through his long lank dark hair.</p> + +<p>"Have you brought a piece with you," he inquired. "Then play to me. Oh, +never mind if you make mistakes! That's not the point. I want to know +how you can talk on the piano. What have you got in that folio? +Beethoven? Rachmaninoff? M'Dowell? We'll try the Beethoven. Now don't be +nervous. Just fire away as if you were practising at home!"</p> + +<p>It was all very well, Ingred thought, for Dr. Linton to tell her not to +be nervous, but it was a considerable ordeal to have to perform a test +piece before so keen a critic. In spite of her most valiant efforts her +hands trembled, and wrong chords crept in. She kept bravely at it, +however, and managed to reach the end of the first movement, where she +called a halt.</p> + +<p>"It's not talking—it's only stuttering and stammering on the piano," +she apologized.</p> + +<p>Dr. Linton laughed. Her remark had evidently pleased him. He always +liked a pupil who fell in with his humor.</p> + +<p>"You've the elements of speech in you, though you're still in the +prattling-baby stage," he conceded. "It's something, at any rate, to +find there's material to work upon. Some people wouldn't make musicians +if they practised for a hundred years. We've got to alter your +touch—your technique's entirely wrong—but if you're content to +concentrate on that, we'll soon show some progress. You'll have to stick +to simple studies this term: no blazing away into M'Dowell and +Rachmaninoff yet awhile."</p> + +<p>"I'll do anything you tell me," agreed Ingred humbly.</p> + +<p>Dr. Linton's manner might be brusque, but he seemed prepared to take an +interest in her work. He was known to give special pains to those whose +artistic caliber appealed to him. In his opinion pupils fell under two +headings: those who had music in them, and those who had not. The +latter, though he might drill them in technique, would never make really +satisfactory pianists; the former, by dint of scolding or cajoling, +according to his mood at the moment, might derive real benefit from his +tuition, and become a credit to him. It was a by-word in the school that +his favorites had the stormiest lessons.</p> + +<p>"I'm thankful I'm not a pet pupil," declared Fil, whose playing was +hardly of a classical order. "I should have forty fits if he stalked +about the room, and tore his hair, and shouted like he does with Janie. +He scared me quite enough sitting by my side and saying: 'Shall we take +this again now?' with a sort of grim politeness, as if he were making an +effort to restrain his temper. I know I'm not what he calls musical, but +I can't help it. I'd rather hear comic opera any day than his wretched +cantatas, and when I'm not practising I shall play what I like. There!"</p> + +<p>And Fil, who was sitting at the piano, twirled round on the stool and +strummed "Beautiful K—K—Katie" with a lack of technique that probably +would have brought her teacher's temper up to bubbling-over point had he +been there to listen to her.</p> + +<p>It was exactly ten days after the term had begun that Bess Haselford +came to the College. She walked into the Upper Fifth Form room one +Monday morning, looking very shy and lost and strange, and stood +forlornly, not knowing where to sit, till somebody took pity on her, and +pointed to a vacant desk. It happened to be on a line with Ingred's, and +the latter watched her settle herself. She looked her over with the +critical air that is generally bestowed on new girls, and decided that +she was particularly pretty. Bess was the image of one of the Sir Joshua +Reynolds' child angels in the National Gallery. The likeness was so +great that her mother had always cut and curled her golden-brown hair in +exact copy of the picture. She was a slim, rosy, bright-eyed, smiling +specimen of girlhood, and, though on this first morning she was +manifestly afflicted with shyness, she had the appearance of one whose +acquaintance might be worth making. Ingred decided to cultivate it at +the earliest opportunity, and spoke to the new arrival at lunch-time. +Bess replied readily to the usual questions.</p> + +<p>"We've only come lately to Grovebury. We used to live at Birkshaw. Yes, +I'm fairly keen on hockey, though I like tennis better. Have you asphalt +courts here, and do you play in the winter? I adore dancing, but I hate +gym. I'm learning the violin, and I'm to start oil-painting this term."</p> + +<p>She seemed such a pleasant, winsome kind of girl that Ingred, who was +apt to take sudden fancies, constituted herself her cicerone, and showed +her round the school. By the time they had made the entire tour of the +buildings, Ingred began to wonder whether, without offense, it would be +possible to leave her desk, next to Verity, and sit beside Bess. There +was a great charm of voice and manner about the new-comer, and Ingred's +musical ear was sensitive to gentle voices. She discussed Bess with the +others next morning before school.</p> + +<p>"Yes, she's pretty, and that blue dress is simply adorable," conceded +Nora. "I'm going to have an embroidered one myself next time."</p> + +<p>"Her hair is so sweet," commented Francie.</p> + +<p>"I call her ripping!" said Ingred with enthusiasm.</p> + +<p>"Well, you ought to take an interest in her, Ingred, considering that +she lives at Rotherwood," put in Beatrice.</p> + +<p>"At Rotherwood!"</p> + +<p>"Yes, didn't you know <i>that</i>?"</p> + +<p>Ingred, under pretence of distributing exercise-books, turned hastily +away. Her heart was in a sudden turmoil. This was indeed a bolt from the +blue. She, of course, knew that Rotherwood was let, but she had not +heard the name of the tenants, and, as the subject was a sore one, had +forborne to ask any questions at home. It was surely the irony of fate +that the house should be taken by people who had a daughter of her own +age, and that this daughter should come to the College, and actually be +placed in the same form as herself. She seemed a rival ready-made. +Biased by jealous prejudice, Ingred's hastily-formed judgment reversed +itself.</p> + +<p>"I'm thankful I didn't move away from Verity to sit next to her," she +thought. "I expect she'll be ever so conceited and give herself airs, +and the other girls will truckle to her no end. I know them! I wish to +goodness she hadn't come to the College. Why didn't they send her away +to a boarding school? I'm not going to make a fuss over her, so she +needn't think it."</p> + +<p>Poor Bess, quite unaware of being any cause of offence, and grateful for +the kindness shown her the day before, greeted Ingred in most friendly +fashion, and looked amazement itself at the cool reception of her +advances. She stared for a moment as if hardly believing the evidence of +her eyes and ears, then turned away with a hurt look on her pretty, +sensitive face.</p> + +<p>Ingred shut her desk with a slam. She was feeling very uncomfortable. +She had liked Bess with a kind of love-at-first-sight, and if the latter +had come to live at any other house in the town than Rotherwood, would +have been prepared to go on liking her. Generosity whispered that her +conduct was unjust, but at this particular stage of Ingred's evolution +she did not always listen to those inner voices that act as our highest +guides. Like most of us, she had a mixed character, capable of many good +things but with certain failings. Rotherwood was what the girls called +"the bee in her bonnet," and the knowledge that Bess was in possession +of the beautiful home she had lost was sufficient to check the incipient +friendship.</p> + +<p>It was otherwise with the rest of the form. They frankly welcomed the +new-comer, and if they did not, as Ingred had bitterly prognosticated, +exactly "truckle" to her, they certainly began to treat her as a +favorite. She was asked at once to join the Photographic Society and the +Drawing Club, and her very superior camera, beautiful color-box, and +other up-to-date equipments were immensely admired. Ingred, on the +outside of the enthusiastic circle, preserved a stony silence. Her own +camera was three years old, and she did not possess materials for +oil-painting. She thought it quite unnecessary for Verity to want to +look at Bess's paraphernalia. Verity, who was a kind-hearted little +soul, perhaps divined the cause of her chum's glumness, for she came +presently and took Ingred's arm.</p> + +<p>"I've something to tell you, Ingred," she whispered. "We are to have the +election on Friday afternoon, and everybody's saying you'll be chosen +warden for the form."</p> + +<p>"Don't suppose I've the remotest chance!" grunted Ingred gloomily.</p> + +<p>"Nonsense! Don't be a blue-bottle! Cheery-ho! In my opinion you'll just +have an easy walk over."</p> + +<p>With the removal into the new building, Miss Burd had instituted many +innovations and changes. Among the most important of these was the +College Council, which really served as a sort of House of Parliament +for the school. Each form among the seniors and intermediates was to +elect a representative called a warden, and these, with such permanent +officers as the prefects and the games captain, were to meet once a +fortnight to discuss questions of self-government. It was a new +experiment, and the head mistress hoped it would give the girls some +idea of responsibility, and train them to understand civic duties later +on. The girls themselves voted it a "ripping" idea. They took it up most +enthusiastically. It would be fun to have elections, and it seemed +desirable that there should be a warden to look after the interests of +each separate form.</p> + +<p>"When I was in the Fourth we never got a chance for the tennis courts, +and it was utterly hopeless to appeal to the prefects," said Ingred. "I +always used to feel there ought to be some way of making one's voice +heard."</p> + +<p>"Well, if you're elected, you'll have a chance to make your maiden +speech!" laughed Verity. "By the bye, will there be a 'Strangers' +Gallery, so that we can come and listen to you? I'd be sorry to miss the +fun!"</p> + +<p>Friday afternoon had been fixed for the election, and a bright idea +originated in <span class="smcap">Va.</span>, circulated through the school, and finally +crystallized in the Sixth. It was nothing less than that each form +should make a special fête of the affair. Lispeth Scott, the head girl, +went boldly to Miss Burd, and asked permission for those who liked to +bring thermos flasks, cups, and bags of buns and cakes, and hold parties +in the various class-rooms.</p> + +<p>"It would make so much more of the whole thing," she urged. "If we +simply stop for ten minutes after school and vote, I'm afraid it may +fall rather flat. But if every form has its festival to elect its own +warden, it will make the council seem a much more important business. +We'd like to be allowed to stay till about half-past five, if we may, so +that there would be time to have some fun over it. We'd promise not to +make a mess with our picnicking."</p> + +<p>Miss Burd, looking rather astonished, nevertheless consented. She was a +wise woman, and believed in permitting a certain amount of liberty, +within limits.</p> + +<p>"You may try it this once," she conceded. "But it's on the distinct +understanding that you're all on your good behavior. I shall hold you +prefects responsible for controlling the school. If you hear a great +noise, you must go into their form-rooms and stop them. I can't allow +the College to be turned into a bear-garden."</p> + +<p>"We won't! I'll put them all on their honor to behave, and I'll leave +the door of our form-room open so that I can hear what's going on. Thank +you so much, Miss Burd!"</p> + +<p>And Lispeth departed, fearful lest any other qualifications should be +added to temper the joy of the proceedings.</p> + +<p>Six girls, waiting outside the door to hear the result of the +negotiations, waved signals of success to others farther down the +corridor, and, in an almost incredibly short space of time, the happy +news had spread to the remotest corners of the school.</p> + +<p>"But how are we hostelites going to manage our share?" asked Ingred +anxiously.</p> + +<p>"Don't you worry about that," Jess and Francie assured her. "Ten girls +in our form have promised to bring thermos flasks, and if we pool to tea +there'll be heaps to go round, and the same with buns and cakes. We'll +each bring a little extra to make enough. The hostel will very likely +lend you each a cup if you ask for it. That's all you'll need!"</p> + +<p>"Right-o! We'll cast ourselves on the charity of the form!" agreed +Ingred.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V</h2> + +<h3>The Fifth-form Fête</h3> + + +<p>By a general indulgence issued from head-quarters, the dismissal bell +rang at 3:45 the next Friday afternoon, instead of, as usual, at four +o'clock. The mistresses entered up the marks, put away their books, said +"Good afternoon, girls!" and made their exit, leaving the building for +once in the sole possession of the pupils. Miss Strong, indeed, who +disapproved of the whole business, took the precaution of locking her +desk before her departure, a proceeding which provoked indignant sniffs +from the witnesses; but, sublimely indifferent to public opinion, she +put the key in her pocket, and stalked from the room. The girls gave her +a few moments' grace to get out of earshot, then broke into a babble of +conversation.</p> + +<p>"Which are we having first, the election or the tea?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, the tea!"</p> + +<p>"No, no! Business first and pleasure afterwards."</p> + +<p>"I can't vote till I've had some tea."</p> + +<p>"It's too early!"</p> + +<p>"No, it isn't! We're most of us ready for it."</p> + +<p>"Look here!" suggested Ingred. "Let's settle it this way. Have tea +first, then the election, and then some fun afterwards. Don't you think +that would sandwich things best?"</p> + +<p>"True, O Queen! I don't mind what happens afterwards, so long as I get a +bun quick!"</p> + +<p>"Let's fetch the prog," agreed Linda Slater, leading the way towards the +cloak-room where the baskets had been stored.</p> + +<p>The giggling procession met emissaries from other forms, bent on a like +errand, and exchanged a brisk banter as they passed on the stairs.</p> + +<p>"We've got jam tartlets!"</p> + +<p>"Not as nice as our cheese cakes!"</p> + +<p>"Nellie's brought a whole pound of macaroons!"</p> + +<p>"Oh! will you swap with us for rock buns?"</p> + +<p>"I should just think not!"</p> + +<p>"Dolly Arden has five oranges!"</p> + +<p>"Well, we've got bananas!"</p> + +<p>After successfully fetching the provisions, having routed a marauding +band of juniors who were poking inquisitive fingers into the baskets, +the members of <span class="smcap">Va.</span> returned to the form-room, closed the door, +and gave themselves up to festivity. The four girls from the hostel need +have had no fear of scarcity, for the others had brought ample to +compensate for their deficiency. By general consent all the cakes were +pooled, set out on hard-backed exercise books in lieu of plates, and +handed round the company. Bess, whose basket contained two thermos +flasks, a dozen cheese cakes, and some meringues, was felt to have +brought a valuable contribution. It seemed a new experience to be +sitting at their desks, drinking tea and eating cakes, instead of doing +translation or writing exercises.</p> + +<p>"Pity the Snark didn't stop! She doesn't know what she's missing!" +remarked Joanna Powers, as she took a meringue.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Kafoozalum! We shouldn't have had much fun if the Snark had stayed! +Don't bring her back, for goodness' sake, Jo!"</p> + +<p>"I wasn't going to! Besides which, she's probably half-way down town at +present, having tea in a café. She generally does on Fridays."</p> + +<p>"She won't get a better tea than we're having!"</p> + +<p>"I'll undertake she won't! This meringue is absolutely topping! I wonder +if there's another left."</p> + +<p>"No, they're gone, every one of them!"</p> + +<p>"Hard luck!"</p> + +<p>Though the hour might be early, the girls' appetites were quite equal to +the task of finishing the various delicacies in the way of sweet stuff +which they had brought with them. Cakes disappeared like snow in summer, +and chocolate boxes, passed round impartially, soon returned empty to +their owners. When everything seemed almost finished, Bess produced +another hamper, which she had carried up from the cloak-room, and stowed +away under her desk. She handed it rather shyly to Beatrice, who +happened to be her nearest neighbor.</p> + +<p>"Mother sent these, and wants you all to share them," she remarked.</p> + +<p>Beatrice, Francie, and Linda opened the hamper all three together, then +with a delighted "O-Oh!" of satisfaction drew out six beautiful bunches +of purple grapes. Ingred, finishing her cup of tea, choked and coughed. +She knew those grapes well. They grew in the vinery at Rotherwood, and +had been the pride of her father and of the head-gardener. She had not +tasted one of them for five years, for during the war they had always +been given to the patients in the Red Cross Hospital, but she could not +forget their delicious flavor. Why had her father let the vinery with +the house? The grapes ought to be hers to give away—not this girl's. +Nobody else in the room cared in the least where the fruit came from, so +long as it was there. Appreciative eyes looked on in glad anticipation +while Beatrice and Francie divided the bunches with as much mathematical +accuracy as they could muster at the moment. A portion was laid upon +each desk, and the girls fell to.</p> + +<p>"Delicious!"</p> + +<p>"Never tasted better in my life!"</p> + +<p>"Absolutely topping!"</p> + +<p>"Makes one want to go and live in a vineyard!"</p> + +<p>"They're exactly ripe!"</p> + +<p>"Ingred, you're not eating yours!"</p> + +<p>"I don't want them, thanks," said Ingred hurriedly. "I don't indeed. +I've had enough. Pass them on to somebody else, please!"</p> + +<p>"Well, if you really don't want them, they won't go a-begging, I dare +say!"</p> + +<p>Ingred felt as if the grapes would choke her. She could not touch one of +them. She hated Bess for having brought them to school, quite +irrespective of the fact that she would have done exactly the same in +her place, had she been fortunate enough to have the opportunity. Bess, +looking shy, and anxious to evade the thanks that poured in upon her, +bundled the hamper away under the desk again, and made a palpable effort +to change the subject.</p> + +<p>"What about this election?" she asked. "Time's getting on. It's after +half-past four."</p> + +<p>"Good night! Have we been all that time feeding? Here, girls, if you've +<i>quite</i> finished, let's get to business," said Avis, rapping on her desk +as a signal for silence, and constituting herself spokeswoman for the +occasion. "You know what we've met here for—to choose a warden to +represent us on the School Council. Well, I feel we couldn't do better +than send up Ingred Saxon. She'd look after our interests all right, if +anybody would. I beg to propose Ingred Saxon."</p> + +<p>"And I beg to second that!" called Nora.</p> + +<p>"Hands up, those in favor!"</p> + +<p>Such a forest of arms immediately waved in the air that (though in +strict order) it seemed hardly necessary for Avis to call out:</p> + +<p>"Those against!"</p> + +<p>No opposition hands appeared, so without further discussion the election +was carried.</p> + +<p>"Congrats, Ingred!" said Nora, patting the heroine on the back.</p> + +<p>"I told you it would be a walk over, old sport!" whispered Verity.</p> + +<p>"We'd talked it over beforehand, you see, and everybody had agreed to +choose you, so it was really only a matter of form," explained Francie.</p> + +<p>"The Sixth are having a ballot," put in Jess.</p> + +<p>"And <span class="smcap">Vb.</span> are going to fight like Kilkenny cats over Magsie and +Barbara."</p> + +<p>"There'll be some hullabaloo in several of the forms, I expect."</p> + +<p>"Thanks awfully for electing me," replied Ingred. "I suppose I ought to +make a speech, but I really don't know what to say!"</p> + +<p>"You've got to say it all the same!" laughed Verity. "Members of +Parliament always make speeches to their constituents. Here, take the +Snark's desk as your thingumgig—rostrum, or whatever it's called, and +begin your jaw-wag!"</p> + +<p>"Friends, Romans, Countrymen, lend me your ears!" squeaked Kitty +Saunders.</p> + +<p>Pushed forward by a dozen hands, Ingred found herself occupying the +mistress's place, and, facing her audience, made a valiant attempt at +oratory. With cheeks aglow, and dark eyes shining like stars, she looked +an attractive little figure, and a bright and suitable leader for the +form.</p> + +<p>"I can't really think why you should have chosen me," she began ("don't +be too modest!" yelled a voice from the back), "but as you <i>have</i> made +me your warden, I'll take care that all our grievances are very well +aired at the School Council." ("You'll have your work cut out!" +interrupted Francie.) "Of course I know it won't all be plain sailing, +and that the Sixth need a great deal of sticking up to over many +matters." ("That's so!" came from the front desk.) "But perhaps they'll +be prepared to talk things over now, and make some concessions." ("Time +they did!") "At any rate, I shall be able to tell them what you all +think" ("Flattering for them!"), "and to make things as smooth as +possible for <span class="smcap">Va.</span> Now, as I'm warden, may I propose that we have +some fun before we go? Shall we have music, or games? Hands up for an +Emergency Concert!"</p> + +<p>"A very neat way of getting out of further speechifying!" said Verity, +as by general consent the concert carried the day; "but you shall open +it yourself, Madam Warden, so I warn you! You're not going to be let +off, don't you think it! Silence! Ladies and gentlemen, the first item +on the program will be a piano solo by Miss Ingred Saxon, the celebrated +musical star, brought over at enormous expense, on purpose for this +occasion."</p> + +<p>"You blighter!" murmured Ingred, as the prospective audience shouted +"Hear! Hear!"</p> + +<p>"Not a bit of it!" purred Verity. "I guess we'll take sparks out of the +Sixth and everybody else."</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Va.</span> that afternoon was certainly in a position to boast itself. +It was the only form in possession of a piano: for by the sheerest +accident it had one. The instrument was only a temporary visitor, placed +there for convenience while some repairs were being done to a leaking +gas-pipe in one of the music rooms. It's an ill wind, however, that +blows nobody good, and it gave <span class="smcap">Va.</span> an opportunity that was +denied even to the Sixth. Ingred was at once escorted to the piano, and +officious hands piled exercise books on a chair to make her seat high +enough.</p> + +<p>"I can't remember anything! I can't indeed!" she protested vigorously.</p> + +<p>"Now don't twitter nonsense!" said Nora. "I've heard you play +dozens—yes, <i>dozens</i>!—of things without music at the hostel, so you've +just got to try!"</p> + +<p>"I shall break down, I know I shall!"</p> + +<p>"Then you can begin again at the beginning. Fire away, and don't be +affected!" commanded Nora.</p> + +<p>It is one thing to play a piece from memory when you have the room to +yourself, and quite another to play it with half a dozen girls hanging +over the piano, and the rest of the audience sitting on their desks. +Ingred wisely did not venture on anything too classical, but tried a +bright "Spanish Ballade," and managed to get successfully to the end of +it without any breakdown. In the midst of the clapping that followed +came a loud rap-tap-tap at the door, which immediately opened to +admit—much to the astonishment of the Fifth—two of the prefects, and a +consignment of Sixth form girls.</p> + +<p>"Whatever have we been and gone and done now?" murmured Verity.</p> + +<p>"Is music taboo?" asked Ingred guiltily, slipping away from the piano.</p> + +<p>The errand of the prefects, however, was evidently one of conciliation, +and not of reproof. They were smiling, and looking amiability itself.</p> + +<p>"We thought, as you've got a piano in your room," began Lilias Ashby, +"that we might as well come and join you, if you don't mind. Janie's got +a book of songs with her."</p> + +<p>"Oh, by all means, of course!" replied <span class="smcap">Va.</span> politely and +unanimously. "We're just having a sort of concert, you know."</p> + +<p>"Sure you don't mind?"</p> + +<p>"Not a bit of it!"</p> + +<p>"Right-o! Run and tell Janie then, Susie, and ask her to bring the +others."</p> + +<p>An invasion from the Sixth was indeed an unwonted honor, which probably +nothing short of a piano would have accomplished. The hostesses, +somewhat overwhelmed, seated the distinguished guests to the best of +their ability in the rather limited accommodation, and hospitably passed +round their few remaining pieces of chocolate.</p> + +<p>"We'll leave the door open, please," said Lispeth, "because I promised +Miss Burd not to let those intermediates get too outrageous, and I have +to listen out for them."</p> + +<p>Janie Potter, with her book of songs, was pushed forward, and began to +entertain the company with popular selections of the day, to which they +chanted the choruses. She had a good clear voice, and the audience +joined with enthusiasm in the various ditties.</p> + +<p>The clapping which followed was continued down the landing, and, through +the open door, peered the interested faces of most of the members of +<span class="smcap">Vb.</span> who had come to share the fun.</p> + +<p>"May we butt in?" they asked hopefully.</p> + +<p>"Not a square inch of room for you," answered Lispeth, "but you may +squat in the corridor outside if you like. Anybody who performs can join +the show, but that's all. I'll tell you when it's your turn. It's +<span class="smcap">Va.</span> next. Now then," (turning to the hostesses), "who else can +do anything? Francie Hall, come along at once!"</p> + +<p>"I can't! I can't!" objected Francie. "So it's no use asking me; it +isn't indeed! I'll tell you what—Bess Haselford plays the violin, and, +what's more, she's got it with her, for I saw her put it away in the +dressing-room."</p> + +<p>"O-O-Oh! It was my lesson with Signor Chianti this afternoon, that's why +I had to bring it!" said Bess, turning red.</p> + +<p>"Go and fetch it, Francie!" ordered Lispeth. "You know where it is."</p> + +<p>Francie returned in a short time, and handed the neat leather case to +its owner. Bess, looking flustered and nervous, drew out the violin, and +began to tune it.</p> + +<p>"I've brought your music too!" said Francie, triumphantly opening a +folio, "so you've no excuse for saying you can't remember anything. +Who'll play your accompaniment? Here, Ingred!"</p> + +<p>"Oh! somebody else would do it far better," protested Ingred. +"Janie——"</p> + +<p>"I'm no reader."</p> + +<p>"Lilas?"</p> + +<p>"Couldn't to save my life!"</p> + +<p>"Go ahead, Ingred, and don't waste time!" said Lispeth firmly.</p> + +<p>Ingred sat down to the piano without a smile. Her schoolmates took her +unwillingness for modesty, but in her heart of hearts her main thought +was: "Why should <i>I</i> help this new girl to show off?" She would have +played accompaniments gladly for anybody else, but she considered that +Bess had already received quite enough attention in one afternoon. For +her own credit, however, she must do her best, so she concentrated her +energies on the prelude. When the first strains of the violin joined in, +her musical ear recognized immediately that Bess's playing was of a very +high quality. The tone was pure, the notes were perfectly in tune, and +there was a ringing sweetness, a crisp power of expression, and a +haunting pathos in the rendering of the melody that showed the performer +to be capable of interpreting the composer's meaning. In spite of her +disinclination, Ingred warmed to the accompaniment. When the violin +seemed to be bringing out laughter and tears, the piano must do its +part, and not merely supply a succession of unimpassioned chords. Ingred +was a good reader for a girl of fifteen, but she surpassed herself on +this occasion, and seemed to accomplish the difficult passages almost by +instinct. She played the final notes very softly as the last fairy +strains of the melody thrilled slowly away.</p> + +<p>There was a second of silence, then the girls, inside and outside the +room, clapped their loudest.</p> + +<p>"It was capital!" declared Lispeth encouragingly. "Bess, we shall want +you again for school concerts. You and Ingred ought to practise +together. Let me look at your violin. I wish <i>I</i> could play like that!"</p> + +<p>"Thanks ever so much!" murmured Bess to Ingred, as the latter got up +from the piano.</p> + +<p>"Oh! it's all right!" replied Ingred airily, moving away in a hurry to +the other side of the room. She did not want Bess to take up Lispeth's +no doubt well meant but rather embarrassing suggestion that they should +practise together, and was quite ready with an excuse if it should be +proposed.</p> + +<p>"It's the turn of the Sixth now," she jodelled.</p> + +<p>"<span class="smcap">Vb.</span> haven't done anything yet; I'll call one of them in," said +Lispeth, stepping out to the landing.</p> + +<p>Once through the door, however, her ears were assailed by such an +absolute din proceeding from the farther end of the corridor, that she +dropped her character of impresario for the duties of head-girl, and +calling two of her fellow prefects, went to investigate the cause of the +disturbance. She returned in a short time, looking flushed and flurried.</p> + +<p>"It's those wretched kids in <span class="smcap">IVb.</span>," she proclaimed. "They were +behaving disgracefully, pelting each other with the remains of their +buns, and fencing with rulers. And they actually had the cheek to tell +me they weren't making any more noise than we were with our singing and +playing! I sent them home at once, and I think we'd all better go too. +Those intermediates always overstep the line if they've an atom of a +chance. I told them what I thought about them. It's been quite a ripping +concert, and I'm sorry to break it up, but you understand, don't you?"</p> + +<p>"Rather!" replied the others, as they began their exodus into the +corridor.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI</h2> + +<h3>The School Parliament</h3> + + +<p>During the excitement of the concert Ingred had hardly time to realize +the greatness of the honor thrust upon her in being chosen as warden to +represent her form. All it stood for struck her afterwards.</p> + +<p>"My word! You'll have to sit up and behave yourself after this, Madame!" +remarked Quenrede, when she mentioned the matter at home.</p> + +<p>"Yes, of course they'll all look to you now as an example!" added +Mother.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I don't think they will!" declared Ingred, who had not considered +her new office from that point of view. "I've just to speak up for the +interests of the form, you know."</p> + +<p>"There are obligations as well as interests," said Mother seriously. +"Try to make <span class="smcap">Va.</span> a useful factor in the school. That would be +something worth doing, wouldn't it?"</p> + +<p>In arranging for the School Parliament, Miss Burd had allowed wardens to +be chosen by each form, from <span class="smcap">IIIb.</span> upwards, but had decided +that the smaller girls were too young to take part in public affairs. +Every form that sent a representative constituted itself into a kind of +club, and chose a special name. These were placed on the Council +Register as follows:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">VI</span> The True Blues.<br /></span> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Va.</span> The Pioneers.<br /></span> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Vb.</span> The Amazons.<br /></span> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">IVa.</span> The Old Brigade.<br /></span> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">IVb.</span> The Mermaids.<br /></span> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">IIIa.</span> The Dragonflies.<br /></span> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">IIIb.</span> The Cuckoos.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>"You can compare marks every fortnight," said Miss Burd, "and whichever +gets the best average shall hold a cup that I intend to present. The +marks of the whole form will count, so that slackers will be a distinct +drawback to their own companies. Any girl who loses a mark hinders her +form from gaining the cup, and of course vice versa, those who work will +help."</p> + +<p>The question of marks had been a much debated subject with Miss Burd. +She had discussed it in detail at several educational conferences, and +had come to the conclusion that, on the whole, the system was highly +desirable.</p> + +<p>"It's all very well to talk about the evils of emulation, and work for +work's sake," she confided to Miss Strong, "but you can't get children +to see things altogether in the same light as grown-ups. I own that, +when I was a child myself, I made tremendous efforts so that I might be +head of my form, and when the arrangements were changed at our school, +and, instead of carefully-registered marks and places, we only had +first, second, or third class, I slacked off considerably. I knew that a +lesson not quite so perfectly learnt, or an exercise with one or two +mistakes, would still find me in the First Class, so why should I make +such enormous exertions? When every slip might mean the loss of my +chance to be top, I was far more careful. Of course I know that +Emulation, with a big E, is supposed to be all wrong, but really I think +people make too much fuss about it. It was quite friendly rivalry when I +was at school, and the girls with whom I competed were my dearest chums. +I believe my new system here is going to unite both methods. Every girl +will work for herself, but her marks will also count for her form, and +if she slacks, and so pulls down the standard, I hope her companions +will give her as bad a time as they do to a 'butter-fingers' at cricket, +and that's saying something!"</p> + +<p>The idea of each form constituting a club appealed to the school. It was +far more interesting to be "Amazons" or "Cuckoos" than merely +<span class="smcap">Vb.</span> or <span class="smcap">IIIb.</span>, and as awards were to be according to +averages, it was thrilling to feel that girls of twelve could wrest away +the silver cup from the hands of the very prefects themselves.</p> + +<p>"It makes it just like playing a game!" declared Ida Brooke.</p> + +<p>"Yes, a sort of tug-of-war when everybody's got to pull, and mustn't let +go!" added Cissie Barnes, "Do you remember playing 'Oranges and Lemons' +once with the Sixth? <i>We</i> all held on to each others' waists like grim +death, and Janie Potter gave way and broke their chain, so we won!"</p> + +<p>"We'll beat them again, too! I'd like to see that cup on our +mantelpiece!"</p> + +<p>"The Pioneers," otherwise <span class="smcap">Va.</span>, were as anxious as any of the +other forms to carry off laurels. Even Fil, much under protest, really +made quite an effort to work.</p> + +<p>"You ought to help me with my exercises, though, Ingred," she wheedled. +"Remember, it's for the benefit of the form. If you let me make +mistakes, well—it's the form that will suffer. You can't call it <i>my</i> +fault, it's on your own head. You know as well as I do that I simply +can't spell, and it takes me hours to hunt up words in the dictionary. +I'm looking for 'phenomenon' now."</p> + +<p>"You certainly won't find it in the F's," laughed Ingred. "What an +infant in arms you are! Here, then, go ahead, and I'll act as +dictionary. You've only written half a page yet. You'll be a week of +Sundays at this rate."</p> + +<p>"And I haven't touched my Latin or French!" sighed Fil dismally. "I wish +I could go to a school where there isn't any homework, and that somebody +would invent a typewriter that would just spell the words ready-made +when you press a button."</p> + +<p>"There's a fortune waiting for the man who does!" agreed Ingred. "'The +Royal-Road-to-Learning Typewriter: spells of itself.' It would sell by +the million, I should think."</p> + +<p>Ingred washed her hands, plaited her hair, and put on her best brooch +and her new bangle to attend the first meeting of the School Parliament. +The function was held in the Sixth Form room, which she thought slightly +unfair, for the prefects, being on their own ground, felt a distinct +advantage, and acted as hostesses. There were four of them, so with the +games captain they made a party of five from the Sixth, as opposed to +six representatives of lower forms, a quite undue proportion in the +opinion of the younger girls. Whatever successes the intermediates might +win later on, "The True Blues" had carried all before them so far, and +had won the cup by an average at least a dozen marks in advance of "The +Mermaids," who came second. The trophy stood on their mantelpiece, and +they had brought an ornamental glazed tile on which to place it, as if +they meant it to stay there.</p> + +<p>On the whole they received the other wardens very graciously, and gave +them opportunities to speak and air their views. Questions such as the +due apportioning of the asphalt tennis-courts, basket-ball and hockey +fixtures, and various school societies were discussed, and the general +business of the term got under way.</p> + +<p>"It helps things to be able to talk it over and know what you all +think," said Lispeth. "We're making so many changes with coming into the +new building, that it's almost like an entirely fresh start. Miss Burd +wants us to get up a sort of Reconstruction Society in the school. She +hasn't quite planned it out yet, but she told me a little about it, and +I think it's ever so nice. As soon as it's quite fixed up, I'm going to +call a general meeting, and explain it to everybody. I expect that will +be next Wednesday. Will you give me power to do this on my own, or must +I call a special committee on Monday to discuss it first, before I put +it to the school?"</p> + +<p>"It's my music lesson on Monday, I couldn't come," demurred Ingred.</p> + +<p>"And I have to go to the dentist immediately after four," chimed in Alys +Horner, the warden of "The Amazons."</p> + +<p>"If Miss Burd has arranged it, I suppose it's all serene," said Mabel +Hughes, of "The Old Brigade."</p> + +<p>"You'll like it, I know. I'd explain now, only I haven't got any of the +papers, and besides, it would take such a long time, and it's rather +late, and I want to be getting home. Anyway, I hope we shall all take it +up hot and strong. Be sure to keep Wednesday free, though I'm going to +ask Miss Burd to let us have the meeting in school hours if possible, +then we're absolutely sure of everybody."</p> + +<p>"Right you are!" agreed the wardens, separating in a rather +unparliamentary fashion to admire a vinaigrette, scented with +heliotrope, which Althea took from her pocket and handed round for +appreciative sniffs.</p> + +<p>All the girls felt that Lispeth Scott was to be trusted. She was a +worthy leader for the new order of things. She was a tall, stout, fair +girl of almost eighteen, and rather grown-up for her age. She was the +youngest member of a large family who had made enormous exertions during +the war, and, with sisters who had nursed in Serbia, driven +motor-ambulances in France, served in canteens, in Y. M. C. A. huts, and +worked at munitions, she had excellent examples of what it is possible +to do for one's country. She was a decided favorite in the College, +being athletic as well as clever, and of a very jolly merry temperament +with a vein of great earnestness. Though the girls sometimes called her +"Jumbo," they meant the nickname in token of friendship, and submitted +to her dictatorship far more readily than they would have done to that +of any other member of the Sixth who had been put in her place. Miss +Burd had great confidence in Lispeth, and consequently, when they had +talked over the matter of the new society which she wished to be formed +in the school, she decided to leave its institution entirely in the +hands of her head girl.</p> + +<p>"It will be far better for the mistresses not to be present at the +meeting," she said. "I can trust you, Lispeth, to explain things, and +the girls will like it much more if it seems to emanate from the new +Council. Talk to them in your own way, and they'll understand you. I +want the Society to be an absolutely voluntary one, or it's of no use. +Don't let them think they must join merely to please <i>me</i>. I'd rather +have a dozen who are in earnest over it than a hundred half-hearted +members. Only those who feel enthusiastic need give in their names. I +don't mind if it begins in quite a humble way. Indeed, I only expect a +small membership at first."</p> + +<p>"On the contrary, Miss Burd, I think it will catch on," replied Lispeth.</p> + +<p>In consequence of this conversation, the head prefect pinned a paper on +the notice-board, convening a general meeting of all girls over twelve +years of age, to be held in the big hall on Wednesday afternoon at 3:30 +sharp, the last lesson of the day having been remitted by orders from +the Study. There was a universal feeling that something important was on +foot, so those forms that were eligible trooped in a body to the hall, +while the disappointed juniors tried to console themselves with the +reflection that they would be able to go home half an hour earlier than +their elders. After considerable shuffling about, places were taken. +Unwilling to waste further time, Lispeth mounted the platform, and rang +the bell for silence.</p> + +<p>"Are we all here? Well, I can't wait for anybody else. Those who come in +late will have to hear what they can, and you must tell them the rest +afterwards. Oh, here they are! Quietly, please! There's plenty of room +over there. Violet, will you shut the door? Now that we're all together, +I want to have a talk with you. You know I'm what may be called 'Prime +Minister' of our School Parliament, and, though your wardens will report +all we say in council, I think it is well to have a public meeting +sometimes. This term everything seems to have made a fresh start. We're +in new buildings, and we have new rules, and our very Parliament is a +new institution. You're all in new forms, and I'm the new Head Prefect. +It's not only in school that everything's different, but in the outside +world as well. This is our first term since peace was signed. I can +remember our first term after War was declared. I was only in +<span class="smcap">IIIa.</span> then—quite a youngster! Hetty Hughes, who was the head +girl, made a speech, and told us what we ought to do to try to help our +country. I think some of us who were here have never forgotten that. We +nearly hurrahed the roof off, and we formed a Knitting Club and a +Soldiers' Parcel Society on the spot. You know for yourselves how we +worked to keep those up. Well, to-day the Empire is at peace, but our +country needs our help as much as ever, or even more. It's making a +fresh start, and we want the new world to be a better place than the +old. Hundreds of thousands of gallant young lives have been gladly given +to establish this new world—in this school alone we know to our +cost—and we owe it to our heroic dead not to let their sacrifice be in +vain. We want a better and purer England to rise up and make a clean +sweep of the bad things that disgraced her before. I expect you'll say: +'Oh, that's for politicians, and not for us schoolgirls!' but it isn't. +Popular opinion is a mighty thing. The schoolgirls of to-day are the +women of to-morrow, and the women of a country have an enormous amount +to do with the formation of public opinion—more nowadays than ever +before—and their influence will go on increasing with every year that +passes. If each of us tries to help the world instead of hindering it, +think what an asset each one may be to the country! It's really a +tremendous honor to know that we can all take our part in the +reconstruction of England. It's like each being allowed to lay a brick +in the foundation of a new building. Of course you'll ask me: 'Well, and +how are we going to help?' That's just what I want to talk about. We +pride ourselves on being practical at the College. Some of us thought we +might start a new society, to be called 'The Rainbow League.' It's a +sort of 'Guild of Helpers,' and we want to do all kinds of jolly things +to help in the town, something like our old 'Knitting Club' and +'Soldiers' Parcel Society,' only of course different. We could give +concerts and make clothes for war orphans, and toys for the hospitals, +and scrap-books for crippled children. There are heaps of nice things +like that you'll just love doing. It's called 'The Rainbow League,' +because a rainbow was set in the sky after the Flood, to help people to +remember, and we want, in our small way, not to let the Great War be +forgotten, but to do our bit to help with the future of the race.</p> + +<p>"I'm not any great hand at speaking or explaining, so I want you each to +take a copy of the rules of 'The Rainbow League' and to read them +quietly over at home. Then any girl who likes to join can put her name +down. All the Sixth want to become members, and I hope lots of others +will too. That's all I have to say. I'm afraid I'm rather a bungler, but +you'll understand everything if you read the papers. I'm going to give +them out now."</p> + +<p>Lispeth, very red in the face, came down from the platform, and, aided +by her fellow-prefects, began to distribute papers right and left to the +girls as they filed from the benches. Amongst the others, Ingred took +hers, and put it in her pocket. She did not care to discuss it with the +crowd, so retired to a corner of the hostel garden, and, amid a shower +of falling autumn leaves, opened the typewritten sheet, and read as +follows:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p><span class="smcap">The Rainbow League</span></p> + +<p>A Society for Schoolgirls who wish to help in the great work of +reconstruction after the War</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">WHAT THE LEAGUE HOLDS</span></p> + +<p>That every soul is of infinite and equal value, because all are the +children of one Father.</p> + +<p>That every girl must do her best to help all other girls, and to +advance the Sisterhood of Women.</p> + +<p>That woman's greatest and strongest weapons are love and sweetness.</p> + +<p>That by conscious radiation of unselfish love to her fellow-beings, +a girl may undoubtedly raise the moral atmosphere of the world +around her.</p> + +<p>That every girl, however young, can help this glorious old country, +and that, joined together for good, the schoolgirls of a nation can +influence the well-being of a race.</p> + +<p>That good can always triumph over evil, and that love and +unselfishness will wipe out many social blots, and put beauty in +their place.</p> + +<p>As the rainbow has seven prismatic colors, these may stand for +seven talents of woman.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Violet</span> = <span class="smcap">Virtue</span>—the bed-rock of woman's +influence.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Indigo</span> = <span class="smcap">Industry</span>—which means willing service.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Blue</span> = <span class="smcap">Beauty</span>—in its many and varied forms.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Green</span> = <span class="smcap">Generosity</span>—to give of our best to +others.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Yellow</span> = <span class="smcap">Youth</span>—to offer our best years to God.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Orange</span> = <span class="smcap">Order</span>—which includes organization.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Red</span> = <span class="smcap">Radiation</span>—the Love Force going out to +others.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Fellowship</span></p> + +<p>Every member of the League shall pledge herself to forward its +objects and to take an active part in any schemes of help that may +be instituted in connection with it.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Flower Emblem.</span> The Iris.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Motto.</span> "Freely ye have received, freely give."</p></div> + +<p>Ingred sat for a moment or two, watching the petals blow from the last +roses on the bush that hung over the worn stone wall. The old Abbey lay +on one hand, the buildings of the new school on the other. They seemed +the very personification of ancient and modern.</p> + +<p>"The world can't stand still," she thought, "and if it's got to move on, +I suppose I'd better help to give it a shove in the right direction."</p> + +<p>Walking into the hostel, she met Nora and Fil walking arm-in-arm.</p> + +<p>"Hullo, Ingred! Have you read the paper about the Rainbow League?" asked +Fil eagerly. "I think it's ripping! Nora and I are both going to join."</p> + +<p>"And so am I," said Ingred, as she passed by them, and went upstairs.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII</h2> + +<h3>Hockey</h3> + + +<p>Ingred signed her name next morning as a member of the Rainbow League, +and received a neat notebook with a Japanese design of purple irises +stencilled on the cover. Though the new society was supposed to be run +entirely by the girls themselves, it was much encouraged at +head-quarters, and special allowances were made for its activities. Miss +Burd sent for a book on <i>Toy-making at Home</i>, and gave the Handicraft +classes an indulgence to concentrate for the present on the construction +of little windmills, carts, dolls' furniture, trains, jigsaw puzzles, +and other articles described in its fascinating pages. Such a number of +girls had joined the League that many willing hands were at work, and at +Christmas they hoped to have a sale of the best of the toys in aid of a +fund for War Orphans, and to send the remainder to be given away as +treats for poor children.</p> + +<p>Lispeth was highly enthusiastic, and full of future schemes.</p> + +<p>"We'll do toy-making this term," she decreed, "and then next term we can +think of something else. In the spring and summer we'll have a Posy +Union to send bunches of flowers to sick people. We can't do anything of +that, of course, during the winter, unless some of you like to put down +bulbs; it would be lovely to give a pot of purple crocuses to a little +crippled child! I think making the toys is just A1. I want to start a +manufactory!"</p> + +<p>"Barring the glue," said Susie Wakefield. "It smells simply abominable +when it boils over. Why doesn't somebody bring out a patent for +sweet-scented glue?"</p> + +<p>"Sweet-scented glue! You Sybarite!"</p> + +<p>"Why not? They could make it out of all those delicious gums and resins +you read about in books on the Spice Islands, instead of—by the by, +what is glue made of?"</p> + +<p>"Horses' hoofs, I believe, but I fancy it's better not to ask what it's +made of. I don't think your gums and resins would do the deed so well. +We'd best stick to good old-fashioned glue."</p> + +<p>"That's just what I complained of—I <i>do</i> stick to it, or rather it +sticks to me. I get it all over my hands, and smears down my overall."</p> + +<p>"Then you're an untidy workwoman, old sport, and I can't do anything for +you except recommend 'Gresolvent.'"</p> + +<p>The girls were grateful for the latitude of the Handicraft class, for +otherwise they would have had little or no time to give to the +construction of toys. The homework of the College was stiff, and +certain games were compulsory. The hockey season had begun, and fixtures +had been made with other schools in the neighborhood.</p> + +<p>"We must see that the old Coll. keeps up its reputation," said Blossom +Webster, the games captain. "Last year, when we had Lennie Peters and +Sophy Aston, we did a thing or two, didn't we? 'What girl has done, girl +can do!' and we've just got to buck up and try."</p> + +<p>"Rather!" agreed the team.</p> + +<p>Among the various matches which had been arranged was one with The +Clinton High School Old Girls' Association. It was an amateur team of +enthusiasts, who, debarred from playing any longer for their school, had +established a club of their own. They had sent a challenge to Grovebury +College, and it had been accepted.</p> + +<p>"Saturday morning's a weird time for a match!" said Blossom, re-reading +the letter to her chums. "But their captain says it's the only time they +can get their field. It's used by another club in the afternoons, so +she's fixed eleven o'clock."</p> + +<p>"It suits me rather decently," said Janie Potter. "I'm going out to tea +in the afternoon, so I couldn't have come if the match had been at +three. Don't stare at me like that! <i>No</i> I'm <i>not</i> a slacker! I must +accept invitations to tea sometimes, even if I <i>am</i> in the team. What a +dragon you are, Blossom!"</p> + +<p>"Good thing some one keeps the team up, or you'd be gadding off +tea-drinking instead of playing!" returned Blossom grimly. "Grovebury +expects every girl to do her duty on Saturday. It will be bad luck for +the season if we lose our first match."</p> + +<p>The Clinton Old Girls' Association had its field at Denscourt, a town +ten miles away from Grovebury. It was arranged by the team, and for any +girls from the college who cared to come as spectators, to meet at the +railway station at 10:15, and travel together under the escort of Miss +Giles.</p> + +<p>Ingred, who was a keen player, and very proud of having been placed in +the reserve, was to spend Friday night at the hostel, instead of +returning as usual to Wynch-on-the-Wold.</p> + +<p>Nora, Verity, and Fil were also to be numbered among the spectators.</p> + +<p>On the eventful morning, as the girls were just finishing breakfast, a +telegram arrived for Rachel Grant. She tore open the yellow envelope, +and her face fell as she read the brief message. Her mother was +seriously ill, and she must return home immediately. Mrs. Best went +upstairs at once to arrange for her hurried journey, and to help her to +pack.</p> + +<p>Downstairs at the breakfast-table the girls discussed the bad news. They +were very sorry for Rachel, and also for themselves, for she was their +right inner.</p> + +<p>"It's like our luck!" fretted Janie Potter.</p> + +<p>"Too disgusting for words!" groused Doreen Hayward.</p> + +<p>"Poor old Rachel!" groaned Fil.</p> + +<p>"What's going to be done?" asked everybody, as they folded their +serviettes and left the table.</p> + +<p>That question was answered by Miss Giles, who beckoned to Ingred in the +hall, and said briefly:</p> + +<p>"Ingred, will you fetch your hockey-stick and pads?"</p> + +<p>Ingred did not need telling twice. To take Rachel's place was indeed an +honor. Such a chance did not come often. With huge satisfaction she +donned her neat navy-blue skirt, edged with its orange band, and her +blouse with its orange collar and cuffs.</p> + +<p>"You lucker!" sighed Nora enviously. "I'd just jolly well give +everything I have to be in the match to-day. It's not much sport to +stand by and cheer. Oh, don't think I'm trying to get out of coming! I'm +going to look on and see that you do your duty. If you're not playing +up, I'll hiss!"</p> + +<p>"I'll do my best," laughed Ingred, "and if I drop down for sheer lack of +breath, I shall expect you and Verity to carry me home. There!"</p> + +<p>"Right you are! It's a bargain, though you'd be a jolly heavy burden, I +can tell you."</p> + +<p>The team, Miss Giles, and about twenty girls as spectators, were +punctual to their appointment, and assembled at the station just in time +for the train. By a little maneuvering, combined with good fortune, they +secured three compartments to themselves, for a solitary old gentleman, +whom they found in possession of a corner seat, bolted in alarm at such +an invasion of schoolgirls, and sought sanctuary in a smoking carriage. +Some generous spirits had brought chocolates and butter-scotch, which +they shared round, and Nora, the irrepressible, produced from her pocket +a mouth-organ, with which she proceeded to entertain the company, until +frantic raps from the next compartment made her aware that Miss Giles +heard and disapproved of her amateur recital. Naturally the talk was +largely about hockey and the chances of the match. It was known that the +Old Clintonians were a strong team, for most of them had been the crack +players of their school. To beat them would indeed be a feather in the +cap of the college.</p> + +<p>"Too good to come off!" groaned Blossom gloomily.</p> + +<p>"Nonsense, you can't tell till you've tried! Make up your mind you're +going to win!" said Nora indignantly. "I shan't speak to you again if +you lose this match!"</p> + +<p>"I'm only one out of eleven, please!"</p> + +<p>"Well, I don't care! One who makes up her mind to fail can spoil +everything, and vice-versa, so just buck up and win!"</p> + +<p>The hockey ground was not very far from the station at Denscourt, and +when the Grovebury contingent arrived they found the Old Clintonians +ready and waiting for them. The eleven ran into the pavilion and took +off the long coats that had covered their gym costumes; then trooped out +on to the field, as neat and business-like looking a team as could be +imagined. Blossom, with her chums, Janie and Doreen, took good stock of +their opponents.</p> + +<p>"They're a strong set, and will take some beating," said Janie.</p> + +<p>"Rather!" agreed Blossom. "You may be sure we're not going to goal just +when we please."</p> + +<p>"They look topping sports!" commented Doreen.</p> + +<p>Everything was now in perfect order; the teams were placed, and the +umpire blew her whistle for the match to begin. As the account of such a +contest is always much more interesting when narrated by an actual +spectator, and as Nora wrote a long and accurate description of it +afterwards to a cousin at school in London, I will insert her letter, +and allow it to speak for itself.</p> + +<p>(<i>This letter is an account of a real match, written by a real +schoolgirl.</i>)</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"<span class="smcap">Grovebury College.</span></p> + +<p>"<i>My Dear Margaret</i>,</p> + +<p>"I simply must tell you about the hockey match we played last +Saturday!</p> + +<p>"The team played the Clinton High School Old Girls' Association at +Denscourt. Our girls were awfully keen to meet them, and were not +at all daunted by the fact that they were exceptionally strong.</p> + +<p>"About twenty of us went as spectators, and as we were about to set +off to the station with the Eleven, Rachel Grant, the Left Inner, +received a telegram, conveying news of her mother's serious +illness. To our great misfortune, she was obliged to go home at +once, and the first girl on the Reserve, Ingred Saxon, had to fill +her place.</p> + +<p>"Miss Giles, the Games Mistress, went on to get the tickets, and, +in spite of some delay, we managed to meet her in time to catch the +train. It is ten miles from here to Denscourt, and we arrived there +in about twenty minutes.</p> + +<p>"The field is not very far from the railway station. The team girls +were taken to the pavilion, and when they were ready, the captain +tossed up. Veronica Hall, the opposing captain, who is a tall +strong girl, and a fine hockey player, won the toss, and chose to +play against the wind for the first half. At exactly eleven, the +center forwards, Blossom and Veronica, began the bully-off. There +were three dull clashes as their sticks met, and then with a +dexterous stroke, Blossom passed the ball to her Right Inner, Janie +Potter. Before she could strike, the wing on the opposite side +captured the ball, and with a clean drive sent it spinning down the +field. It was soon stopped, however, by Doreen Hayward, the Right +Half, who, after successfully dribbling it past the enemy Inner, +sent it hard out to Aline West, the School Right Wing. Soon Aline +had the ball half-way up the field, but suddenly she stumbled, and +fell headlong to the ground. Before she could rise, the ball had +been sent to the rival Center Forward, who, with a magnificent hit, +drove it nearly into the goal-circle. There it was splendidly +blocked by Kitty Saunders, our Left Back, and quickly passed to +Evie Irving, the Left Wing. There was a brief, though fierce, +struggle for possession of the ball between the two wings, in which +Evie was victorious. She neatly avoided the Clinton Right Half, but +the ball went off the line. The opposing Half-back rolled in—to +her wing, as she thought—but with a swift movement, Ingred Saxon, +the Left Inner, reached the ball first, and taking it with her, ran +up the field like lightning. The Inner on the other side was an +equally fast runner, but Ingred easily evaded her opponent's +continued efforts to get the ball for some time.</p> + +<p>"'Oh! has she lost the ball?' 'No. Is she still flying on, the ball +before her?' 'Will she pass the rival back safely?' were the +questions which thronged my brain, nearly paralyzed with +excitement.</p> + +<p>"Not able to dribble the ball any farther, and being attacked by a +girl wearing the Clinton colors, Ingred hit the ball out to her +wing, who struck in to center again. The Left Back on the opposing +side stopped it just as it entered the goal-circle.</p> + +<p>"'Clear!' yelled one of the onlookers, unable to contain herself, +and with a fine stroke the Back sent the ball flying away to the +other side of the field. It went with such force that, although our +Right Back made an attempt to stop it, it raced past her stick and +over the outside line. After the roll-in, nearly all the play was +carried on practically in the center of the field. Each side +displayed some excellent passing, but when the whistle blew at half +time, neither had scored. By this time all the girls were hot and +panting, except the Goal-keepers, and were ready for the brief +rest. Our Eleven stood in a group together, sharing the lemons +which the Clinton girls provided, and discussing the events of the +last half-hour.</p> + +<p>"'Girls!' exclaimed Blossom, our captain 'we simply must win this +match! We shall have the wind against us the next half, but we are +not going to let things end in a victory for the Clintonians, or in +a draw either, are we?'</p> + +<p>"'No!' was the decided answer.</p> + +<p>"A few minutes later every one was in her place again, but of +course defending the other goal. Blossom and Veronica were once +more bullying-off. This time the latter was the quicker of the two, +for, with a clever hit, she succeeded in sending the ball away to +her Left Wing. The Clinton Left Wing began to dribble it along +towards the goal we were defending, and, when confronted by our +Right Half, passed it to her center. I almost screamed out to our +Center Forward not to let Veronica keep the ball, for I knew she +was a dangerous opponent. She was well up the field, and with a +neat turn of her stick sent the ball past our Right Back. There was +only one girl now to prevent her from getting a goal! Blossom was +now fast gaining, and then, just as Veronica came within shooting +distance, her foot slipped in the slimy mud, and she lost her +balance. Blossom was level with Veronica by this time, and before +the Clinton captain could steady herself, she had sent the ball far +away from the danger zone.</p> + +<p>"The play went on fairly evenly again until five minutes to twelve. +I felt wild with anxiety, and I am sure the others did too, for +there were only five minutes left.</p> + +<p>"The ball had just been sent over the line by one of the Clinton +girls, and our Left Half rolled in. The wing missed the bill, but +Ingred took it, and—well, I cannot tell you clearly what happened +after that. I still have in my mind the picture of Ingred, who, the +ball at her side, literally flew up the field, her feet scarcely +touching the ground. No one knows how she did it, but by some +marvellous playing she passed all her opponents, and shot the only +goal of the whole match just three seconds before the whistle blew +for 'Time.'</p> + +<p>"Of course Ingred was the heroine of the hour. As she was being +escorted to the pavilion, flushed but triumphant, Miss Giles said +to her: 'Well played! I am proud of you!'</p> + +<p>"Those few words of praise meant a good deal to Ingred, and we all +felt how well she deserved them, especially as it was only by +accident that she played in the team at all.</p> + +<p>"I do hope I have not tired you by going too fully into our match, +but I know you are interested in our school games, hockey in +particular. I will tell you about our later fixtures when I see you +at Christmas, so until then—Good-bye.</p> + +<p>"With love from your affectionate cousin,</p> + +<p>"<span class="smcap">Nora Clifford.</span>"</p></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII</h2> + +<h3>An Unpleasant Experience</h3> + + +<p>The girls filed out from the hockey ground as speedily as possible. +There was a train due from Grovebury in about a quarter of an hour. They +walked to the station in groups, discussing details of the match as they +went. Ingred, Beatrice, and Verity happened to be blocked at the exit by +the Clintonian team, and were obliged to wait some minutes before they +could pass, and when at last they were through the gate, all their own +schoolfellows were disappearing up the road.</p> + +<p>"We needn't run after them—I believe we've plenty of time," said +Verity. "We can almost see the station from here. I say, aren't you +fearfully hungry? I'm literally starving. Let's find a confectioner's +and each buy a bun before we go."</p> + +<p>Both Beatrice and Ingred felt that they required fortifying before they +started for home, so they dived into the nearest pastry-cook's and +demanded buns. They were eating them rather hastily, when Linda Slater +entered the shop in company with a gentleman, evidently her father. She +hailed her class-mates, and at once began to talk over the match and +rejoice at the school victory.</p> + +<p>"Who says we're no good at games now? This has sent up our credit ten +per cent! I'm proud of the Coll.!"</p> + +<p>"Blossom was A1," exulted Verity.</p> + +<p>"And Janie was simply ripping. Dad thought no end of her. Didn't you, +Dad?"</p> + +<p>"Well, I'm glad we made something of a record," admitted Ingred.</p> + +<p>"I say," declared Beatrice, hastily finishing her bun, "if that clock's +right, we must bolt for our train."</p> + +<p>"As a matter of fact, it's one minute slow," exclaimed Linda, consulting +her watch. "You'll have to sprint."</p> + +<p>"Aren't <i>you</i> coming?"</p> + +<p>"No, we have our car here. It's outside."</p> + +<p>"Those girls will hardly catch their train," remarked Mr. Slater to +Linda, as the three went to the pay desk to settle for their buns. +"Couldn't we stow them into the car, and take them along with us?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, no, Dad!" frowned Linda. "There really isn't room. You promised +you'd call at Brantbury and bring Gerald and Eustace back for the +afternoon. We couldn't cram them all in the car!"</p> + +<p>"There isn't time for them to get the train."</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes! You don't know how they can run!"</p> + +<p>Quite unaware of the kindly offer which had been rejected on their +behalf, Beatrice, Verity, and Ingred fled from the shop, and hurried +with all possible speed in the direction of the railway station. They +could see the train coming along the top of the embankment, and it had +drawn up at the platform before they reached the passenger entrance. +They were not the only late comers. It was Saturday, and a crowd of work +people from various factories near were returning to Grovebury.</p> + +<p>In company with a very mixed and motley crew they pushed their way up +the long flight of steps. A collector stood at the top, and just as they +were nearing their goal, he slammed the gate and refused further +admission to the platform. They could hear the whistle, and the general +bumping of chains that betokened the starting of the carriages. They +were exactly half a minute too late! When the train was well out of the +station, the collector once more opened his barrier, and the crowd +surged on. The three girls, who disliked pushing among a rough assembly, +stood on one side to let the people pass by. There was no hurry now, and +no object to be gained by forcing their way ahead. Last of all, +therefore, they presented themselves at the gate.</p> + +<p>"Tickets, please!" repeated the collector automatically.</p> + +<p>All three felt in their pockets, but felt in vain. Return tickets and +purses were alike missing, and even penknives and handkerchiefs had +vanished, Ingred's pocket, indeed, was neatly turned inside out. Here +was a dilemma! They had evidently been robbed on the stairs by a +professional thief, who had appropriated all their portable belongings. +In utter consternation they looked at one another.</p> + +<p>"We've lost our tickets!" faltered Beatrice.</p> + +<p>"They've been stolen!" added Ingred.</p> + +<p>"Do please let us through!" entreated Verity.</p> + +<p>In ordinary circumstances the collector would no doubt have listened to +the girl's story, and taken them to interview the station-master, but +to-day he had to do double duty, and could scarcely cope with the extra +work. He had to deal with crowds, and to keep a sharp eye to see that no +one defrauded the railway company by travelling without paying the fare. +A train was due at the next moment on the other side of the platform, +and his services were urgently required at the opposite exit.</p> + +<p>"Haven't you got your tickets?" he demanded curtly. "Then I must close +the gate. No one's allowed on the platform without tickets."</p> + +<p>The advancing train whistled as it ran through the cutting, and, +disregarding the girls' remonstrances, the official locked the barrier. +He bolted across the line in front of the engine, just in time to take +his place at the other gateway before the rush of passengers began, and +probably never gave another thought to the three whom he had just +excluded. Left shut out on the top of the station steps, the unlucky +trio ruefully reviewed the situation.</p> + +<p>"What <i>are</i> we to do?" demanded Ingred breathlessly.</p> + +<p>"Goodness only knows!" sighed Verity.</p> + +<p>"We're in a very awkward fix!" admitted Beatrice.</p> + +<p>They were much too far from Grovebury to make walking possible.</p> + +<p>"I wonder Miss Giles didn't miss us!" fretted Verity, trying to throw +the blame on somebody.</p> + +<p>"It isn't her fault—fair play to her!" urged Beatrice. "She wasn't +looking after us officially to-day, you know. On Saturdays we're +supposed to be on our own."</p> + +<p>"I lay the blame on buns!" said Ingred. "We'd have kept with the rest of +the school if we hadn't stopped at that confectioner's."</p> + +<p>"Well, it's no use crying over spilt milk now! What we've got to do is +to find some means of getting home. We can't stay here all day."</p> + +<p>"I believe it's not very far to Waverley from Denscourt," ventured +Beatrice. "If we can manage to walk, I know some people who live at a +house there. I'd ask them to lend us our fares, and we could catch a +train at Waverley station."</p> + +<p>The idea seemed feasible, and, as it was the only one that suggested +itself, they unanimously decided to adopt it. They walked down the steps +again, therefore, on to the high road, and, stopping a girl who was +passing, asked the way to Waverley.</p> + +<p>"It's a good four miles by the road, but it's only about two by the +fields," she volunteered in reply. "I think you'd find the path. You go +down the road to the right, and turn through the first gate across a +field to a farm. Then you keep along the river bank, on the left. You +can't miss it."</p> + +<p>To save two miles in their present predicament was a matter of +importance, and they all felt that they would greatly prefer walking +through fields to tramping along a dusty high road. Thanking their +informant, they took her advice, and set off in the direction which she +indicated. After all, the affair was rather an adventure.</p> + +<p>"The Mortons are sure to offer us lunch when we get there," affirmed +Beatrice; "of course we shall be fearfully late home, and our people +will be getting very anxious about us, but we can't help that. I was to +have gone to a matinée of <i>Carmen</i> this afternoon, but it's off, +naturally! I expect Doris will use my ticket, when I don't turn up."</p> + +<p>"I meant to wash our dog when I got back!" laughed Ingred. "He'll have +to look dirty on Sunday, now."</p> + +<p>"And I meant to do a hundred things; but what's the use of talking about +them now?" groaned Verity. "Here's our farm, and that appears to be the +river over there. Didn't that girl say: 'Keep along to the left'? +Perhaps we'd better ask again."</p> + +<p>They verified their instructions from a boy who was standing in the +farmyard, whittling a stick, and trudged away over a stubble field and +through a turnstile gate. It was quite pretty along the path by the +river. There was a tall hedge where hips and haws showed red, and a +grassy border where a few wild flowers still bloomed. The sun shed a +soft golden autumnal haze over the fields and bushes and the lines of +yellow trees.</p> + +<p>The girls rather enjoyed themselves; it was an unexpected country +excursion, and had all the charm of novelty. They walked about half a +mile, chatting about school matters as they went, then suddenly they +were confronted by an alternative. A bridge spanned the river, and the +broad, well-trodden path along which they had come turned over the +bridge. There was indeed a track that continued along the left bank, but +it was over-grown, and looked little used. Which were they to take?</p> + +<p>That was a question which required discussion.</p> + +<p>"The girl said: 'keep along the river bank on the left,'" urged Ingred.</p> + +<p>"Yet the path so plainly goes across here," demurred Verity.</p> + +<p>"That's certainly the left bank, but that way looks as if it led to +nowhere," vacillated Beatrice.</p> + +<p>"Can't we ask anybody?"</p> + +<p>"There isn't a soul in sight."</p> + +<p>"Isn't there a signpost?"</p> + +<p>"Nothing of the sort."</p> + +<p>"Then which way <i>shall</i> we go?"</p> + +<p>"Better take votes on it."</p> + +<p>"Right-o! I'm for 'bypath meadow.'"</p> + +<p>"And I'm for the 'king's highway.'"</p> + +<p>"So am I, so we're two to one!"</p> + +<p>"I'll give in, then," said Ingred, "only I've a sort of feeling we're +going wrong, all the same!"</p> + +<p>The new path led along the opposite bank, and was very much a replica of +the former. It ran on and on for what seemed quite a long distance, but +they met nobody from whom they could inquire the way. For nearly a +quarter of a mile a belt of trees obscured the view, and when at last +the prospect could once more be seen, Beatrice stopped short with a +groan of despair. On the other side of the water was the unmistakable +spire of Waverley church.</p> + +<p>"We've come wrong, after all!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, good night! So we have!"</p> + +<p>"What an absolute swindle!"</p> + +<p>The girls were certainly not in luck that day. They had missed their +path as effectually as they had missed their train. The chimneys of +Waverley were in sight, but separated from them by a wide stream, and +unless they were prepared to wade, swim, or fly, there was no way of +reaching the village.</p> + +<p>"There's nothing for it but to turn back!"</p> + +<p>"Why, but that's <i>miles</i>!"</p> + +<p>"Are you sure it's Waverley over there? Can we ask anybody?"</p> + +<p>"No one to ask, worse luck!"</p> + +<p>"Yes, there is! I can see some people coming along in a boat."</p> + +<p>Rendered desperate by the emergency, Ingred struggled through the reeds +to the very edge of the river, and lifted up her voice in an agonized +cry of "Help!"</p> + +<p>A punt was drifting slowly with the current, and its occupants, a lady +and gentleman, looked with surprise at the agitated girl who was hailing +them from the bank. The gentleman at once paddled in her direction, and, +running his little craft among the reeds, inquired what was the matter.</p> + +<p>"Oh, please, is that Waverley over there?" asked Ingred anxiously. +"We've lost our way, and we've walked miles! Is there any bridge near?"</p> + +<p>"That's certainly Waverley, but there's no bridge till you come to one a +mile and a half down stream."</p> + +<p>Ingred's face was tragic. She turned to Beatrice and Verity, who had +joined her.</p> + +<p>"It's no use! We shall have to go back!"</p> + +<p>But the lady was whispering something to the gentleman, and he beckoned +to the girls with a smile.</p> + +<p>"Don't run away!" he said. "Look here, we'll punt you across if you +like."</p> + +<p>"Like!" The girls hardly knew how to express their gratitude.</p> + +<p>"The three of you'd be too heavy a load. I think I'd better take just +one at a time. Can you manage to get in? It's rather swampy here. Give +me your hand!"</p> + +<p>Ingred splashed ankle deep in oozy mud as she scrambled on board, but +that was a trifle compared with the relief of being ferried over the +river. Her knight-errant was neither young nor handsome, being, indeed, +rather bald and stout, but no orthodox interesting hero of fiction could +have been more welcome at the moment. She tendered her utmost thanks as +she landed, again with damage to her shoes, on the rushy bank opposite. +Their friends in need, having successfully punted over Beatrice and +Verity also, bade them a laughing good-bye, and resumed their easy +course down stream, leaving three very grateful girls behind them.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<a href="images/gs03.jpg"><img src="images/gs03.jpg" alt=""/></a> +</div> + +<h4><a name="gs03" id="gs03"></a>[Illustration: A FRIEND IN NEED]</h4> + + + +<p>"That's helped us out of a fix! Don't say again we've no luck!" cried +Beatrice, wiping her boots carefully on the grass.</p> + +<p>"They were angels in disguise!" sighed Ingred.</p> + +<p>"Rather stout angels!" chuckled Verity. "Now, how are we going to get +out of this field?"</p> + +<p>"Over the hedge, I suppose. There's a piece of fence that looks +climbable!" returned Beatrice, swinging herself up with elephantine +grace, and dropping with a heavy thud on the other side. "Oh! good biz! +We're on a cinder path!"</p> + +<p>They were indeed in a back lane which led at the bottom of some gardens, +then behind a row of stables, and finally through a gate on to the high +road.</p> + +<p>"I know where we are now!" exclaimed Beatrice gleefully. "It's only +quite a short way to the Morton's. They live in the next terrace but +two. I believe we're within measurable distance of some lunch."</p> + +<p>This was such good news that they strode along in renewed spirits. +Considering all, they thought the adventure was turning out well. A meal +would undoubtedly be most acceptable, if Beatrice's friends were +hospitable enough to offer it.</p> + +<p>"It's the fourth house," said Beatrice, "the one with the copper beech +over the gate. Linden Lea—yes, here we are! Oh, I say, what are all the +blinds down for?"</p> + +<p>The girls faced each other blankly.</p> + +<p>"Is anyone dead?" faltered Ingred.</p> + +<p>"I'll ring and inquire, at any rate," murmured Beatrice.</p> + +<p>So she rang, and rang again and yet again. She could hear the bell +clanging quite plainly and unmistakably somewhere in the back regions, +yet nobody came to the door.</p> + +<p>"It's funny! I don't hear anybody in the house either," she remarked. +"Their dog generally barks at the least sound."</p> + +<p>At that moment a small face peeped over the top of the wall which +divided the garden from that of the next house, and a childish voice +asked:</p> + +<p>"Do you want the Mortons?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. Isn't anybody in?"</p> + +<p>"They're all gone away to Llandudno, for a month."</p> + +<p>"All? Isn't anyone here?"</p> + +<p>"No, the house is locked up."</p> + +<p>Here a warning call of "Willie!" caused their informant to disappear as +suddenly as he had come, but the girls had heard enough. All their hopes +were suddenly blighted. They had arrived at the end of their journey +only to draw a blank. They were indeed in a worse position than when +they had missed the train at Denscourt, for they were farther from home, +and it was much later. Almost ready to cry, they turned down the garden +again.</p> + +<p>"We've got to get home to-night somehow!" said Ingred through her set +teeth.</p> + +<p>"Shall we go to the police station?" quavered Verity.</p> + +<p>"And give ourselves up like lost children? No, it's too undignified! +Wait a moment, I've got an idea!" said Beatrice. "We passed the post +office just now, and I noticed it had a 'Public Telephone.' I'll ring up +Mother and tell her where we are, and ask her to come over for us."</p> + +<p>"But you can't telephone for nothing, and we haven't so much as a +solitary penny amongst us!"</p> + +<p>"I know. I thought I'd explain that to the people at the post office, +and ask them to let me have the call, and Mother will pay when she +comes. I could give them my watch as a security."</p> + +<p>"It's worth trying!"</p> + +<p>So, with just a little grain of hope, they retraced their steps to the +post office, which was also a stationer's and newsagent's. Nobody was in +the shop, but when the girls thumped on the counter a rosy-cheeked young +person appeared from the back regions.</p> + +<p>"Want to telephone without paying? It's against the post office rules," +she snapped, as Beatrice briefly explained the circumstances.</p> + +<p>"My mother will pay when she comes, and if you'd take my watch——"</p> + +<p>"I can't go against post office rules! All calls must be paid for +beforehand. That's our instructions."</p> + +<p>"But just for once——"</p> + +<p>"What's the matter, Doris?" asked a voice, and a kindly-looking little +man emerged from the back parlor, wiping his mouth hastily, and took his +place behind the counter. Beatrice turned to him with eagerness, and +again stated the urgency of their peculiar situation.</p> + +<p>"Well, of course we've our instructions from the post office, and we've +got to account for the calls, but in this particular case we might let +you have one, and pay afterwards," he replied. "Oh, never mind the +watch; it's all right!"</p> + +<p>Beatrice lost no time in ringing up Number 167 Grovebury, and to her +immense delight, when she got the connection, she heard her mother's +voice at the instrument. A short explanation was all that was necessary.</p> + +<p>"Stay where you are at the Waverley post office, and I will get a taxi +and fetch you myself immediately," returned Mrs. Jackson. "It's the +greatest relief to know what has become of you. I was going to ring up +the police station, and describe you as 'missing!'"</p> + +<p>The girls had to wait nearly three-quarters of an hour before the taxi +made its appearance, and the welcome form of Mrs. Jackson stepped out of +it. She paid what was owing for the call, thanked the postmaster for his +civility, and hustled the girls into the conveyance as quickly as +possible.</p> + +<p>"I suppose girls will be girls," she said, "but I think you've been very +silly ones to-day! Why didn't you keep with the rest of the school, as +you ought to have done?"</p> + +<p>"It sounds a most horrible greedy confession," replied Beatrice +guiltily, "but I'm afraid it was all the fault of—buns! They just threw +us late, and we missed the others. We'll never buy buns again! Never! +Never! <i>O peccavi!</i> We have sinned!"</p> + +<p>And she looked so humorously contrite that Mrs. Jackson, who was +inclined to scold, laughed in spite of herself, and forgave the +delinquents.</p> + +<p>"On condition that such a thing doesn't happen again!" she declared.</p> + +<p>"Trust us! We wouldn't go through such an experience again for all the +buns in the world! Next time we'll cling to the College apron strings +like—like——"</p> + +<p>"Like adhesive sticking-plaster!" supplied Ingred gently.</p> + +<p>"Or oysters to a mermaid's tail!" murmured Verity.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX</h2> + +<h3>A Hostel Frolic</h3> + + +<p>"The Foursome League," which Verity had instituted with her room-mates +at the hostel, was kept by them as a solemn compact. They stuck to one +another nobly, though often in the teeth of great inconvenience. It +generally took three of them to urge Fil through her toilet in the +mornings and drag her down to breakfast in time. She was always so +terribly sleepy at seven o'clock, and so positive that she could whisk +through her dressing in ten minutes, and that it was quite unnecessary +to get up so soon: even when the others mercilessly pulled the +bed-clothes from her, and pointed to their watches, she would dawdle +instead of "whisking," and spend much superfluous time over manicure or +dabbing on cucumber cream to improve her complexion. She was so innocent +about her little vanities, and conducted them with such child-like +complacency, that the girls tolerated them quite good humoredly, and +even assisted sometimes. One of them generally volunteered to brush her +long flaxen hair, and tie her ribbon, and half out of habit the others +would tidy her cubicle, which was apt to be chaotic, and put her things +away in her drawers. They did it almost automatically, for they had come +to look upon Fil somewhat in the light of a big doll, the exclusive +property of "The Foursome League," and to be treated as the mascot of +the dormitory.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Best, the hostel matron, was what the girls called "rather an old +dear." Her gray hair was picturesque, and the knowledge that she had +lost her husband and a son in the war added an element of pathetic +interest to her personality. She was experienced in the ways of girls, +and contrived to keep order without seeming to be constantly obtruding +rules. Among her various sane practices she instituted the plan of +awarding marks for good conduct and order to each dormitory, and +allowing the one which scored the highest to give an entertainment to +the others during the last hour before bedtime on Thursday night. +Naturally this was a privilege to be desired. It was fun to act variety +artistes before the rest of the hostel, and well worth being in time for +meals, preserving silence during prep., or getting up a little earlier +so as to leave cubicles in apple-pie order. The Foursome League had not +yet earned distinction, chiefly owing to lapses on the part of Fil, and +Nora's incorrigible love of talking in season and out of season. One +week, however, after a really heroic series of efforts, they succeeded +in establishing a record, and sat perking themselves at dinner-time when +Mrs. Best read out the score.</p> + +<p>"We've not had you on the boards before," said Susie Wakefield, one of +the Sixth, as the girls filed from the room when the meal was over; +"we're all expecting something extra tiptop and thrillsome, so play up!"</p> + +<p>"Hope we shan't let you down!" replied Ingred. "Please don't expect too +much, or you mayn't get it!"</p> + +<p>Dormitory 2 held a hurried conclave before afternoon school.</p> + +<p>"It's a great stunt!" rejoiced Nora.</p> + +<p>"What <i>are</i> we to act?" fluttered Fil.</p> + +<p>"Especially when we've to play up!" twittered Verity.</p> + +<p>"What silly idiots we were not to plan it all out beforehand! But I +really never dreamt we'd ever get the chance!"</p> + +<p>"No more did I," said Ingred, sitting with her head in her hands, +considering. "On the whole, it doesn't matter. Sometimes a quite +impromptu thing goes off best. It's largely a question of what costumes +we can rake up out of nothing.</p> + +<p>"The cleverer those are, the more we'll get applauded. I've one or two +ideas simmering. Thank goodness it's drawing this afternoon, and I shall +have time to think them over."</p> + +<p>"We'll all think!" agreed Verity. "Then we'll compare notes at four +o'clock, and fix on what we're going to do. Great Minerva! It'll be a +hectic evening! I'm shivering in my shoes!"</p> + +<p>"And I'm absolutely green with stage-fright! What a life!" proclaimed +Fil.</p> + +<p>If Miss Godwin, the drawing-mistress, noticed a slacking off in accuracy +on the part of four of her pupils, that afternoon, she perhaps set it +down to want of artistic feeling. It is difficult to copy with absolute +exactness when only your fingers are busy, and your brain is far away. +Ingred planned enough entertainments to supply a Pierrot troupe for a +month, but abandoned most of them as being quite impossible to act with +the very limited resources that were available at the hostel. At a +select Foursome Committee after school, however, she presented the pick +of the performances, and as nobody else had thought of anything better, +or indeed quite so good, her suggestions, with a few amendments and +alterations, were carried unanimously.</p> + +<p>At eight o'clock that evening, when preparation was finished, the +boarders' room was rapidly transformed into an amateur theater. The +trestle tables were carried to one end to form the gallery, rows of +chairs represented the dress circle, and cushions in front either the +pit or the stalls, according to individual taste, or, as Mrs. Best said, +the behavior of the occupants.</p> + +<p>There was no curtain, but, as the scenery preserved Shakespearian +methods of simplicity, that did not matter. Part of the charm of these +Thursday night entertainments was their absolutely spontaneous +character, and the fact that many details had to be left to the +imagination of the spectators only made things more amusing.</p> + +<p>When the audience, after a slight struggle for gallery seats, had +settled itself, and Mrs. Best and Nurse Warner had taken possession of +the arm-chairs specially reserved for them, Dollie Ransome, who had been +requisitioned by the performers to act as Greek chorus, placed some +stools by the fire-place, and announced importantly:</p> + +<p>"King Alfred and the Cakes. A Historical Drama."</p> + +<p>The little old woman who entered, carrying some sticks and a basin, was +difficult to identify as Fil. Her fair hair had been powdered, wrinkles +were painted on her smooth forehead, a handkerchief was knotted on her +head for a cap, and she wore an apron borrowed from the cook, and a +check table-cover arranged as a shawl. She bestowed the sticks in the +fender to represent a fire on the hearth, and taking some biscuits from +her basin, placed them amongst the supposed embers, indulging meanwhile +in a soliloquy about the hardness of the times for poor folk, and the +danger from the Danes.</p> + +<p>A violent knocking on the door was followed by the entrance of such a +magnificent object that the spectators immediately applauded his advent. +Nora, with her large build, short-cut hair, and generally boyish +appearance, was the very one to act King Alfred. She had folded a plaid +traveling rug into a kilt which reached just to her bare knees, borrowed +a velvet coatee and a leather belt from Mrs. Best, and, by the aid of +bandages from the ambulance cupboard, had made quite a good imitation of +Saxon leg-gear. Armed with a bow and arrows, hastily constructed from +twigs cut in the garden, she advanced with a manly stride, begged for +hospitality, and was accommodated with a stool by the hearth, where she +sat whittling arrows in an abstracted fashion, and heaving gusty sighs.</p> + +<p>The audience had hardly recovered from its astonishment when it was +thrilled again by the entrance of an ancient and elderly peasant man, so +disguised that it was almost impossible to recognize Ingred. A +water-proof with a broad leather belt served as coat, and, being padded +inside with a pillow, gave the effect of bent and bowed shoulders. Some +tow, supplied by Mrs. Best, was fastened as a long straggling beard, and +bushy eyebrows of the same material were fixed on with soap. Leaning +heavily upon a stick, he came limping in, complaining in a tremulous +voice of his rheumatism, started with amazement at the sight of the +handsome stranger seated by his hearth, and drew his wife aside for +explanations. The old couple, after conversing in audible whispers, +decided to go out for more firewood, and as a last charge the dame +commended her cakes to the care of their guest. King Alfred, on being +left alone by the hearth, whittled away at his arrows with more energy +than discrimination, and showed indeed a sad lack of practical skill for +so well seasoned a warrior. Perhaps, however, he was not accustomed to +have to make them for himself, and missed his chief archer. Throwing +them down at last, he sank his head in his hands in an absolute cinema +pose of despondency, and sighed to an extent which must have been +painful to his lungs. The dame returned to sniff burning cakes and fly +to the rescue of her cookery. Fil was quite a good little actress, and +produced what she considered her <i>pièce de résistance</i>. She had spent +her summer holidays in Somerset, and had there picked up a local ballad +which dealt with the legend in dialect. She brought out a verse of it +now with great effect:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Cusn't ee zee the ca-akes, man?<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And cusn't ee zee 'em burrn?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I'se warrant ee eat 'em fast enough,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Zoon as it be ee turn!"<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>And catching up a biscuit, carefully blackened beforehand by toasting it +over the gas, she flaunted it in the face of the embarrassed monarch.</p> + +<p>The dramatic situation was slightly spoilt by the delay in the entrance +of the courtier, who ought to have come in at that psychological moment, +and didn't. The fact was that Verity, finding it dull waiting in the +passage, had run upstairs to make some additions to her costume, and had +miscalculated the length, or rather shortness, of the act. It is +difficult for the most accomplished actor to go on looking embarrassed +for any length of time, and as Fil's eloquence in the scolding line +suddenly failed her, there was an awful pause while the peasant husband, +with wonderful agility considering his rheumatism, hopped to the door +and called agitatedly for the missing performer. The courtier flew +downstairs like a whirlwind, tripped into the room, and fell upon his +red-stockinged knees to do homage to his sovereign, who rose +majestically and extended a hand of pardon to the now grovelling +peasant.</p> + +<p>The audience, particularly that portion seated in the gallery, clapped +and cheered to such an extent that one of the trestles, which had been +carelessly fixed, collapsed, and sent a whole row of girls sliding on to +the floor, whence they were rescued speechless with laughter, but +uninjured. They came crowding round the performers to admire the +costumes.</p> + +<p>"They're topping!"</p> + +<p>"How <i>did</i> you think of them?"</p> + +<p>"I like King Alfred's legs!"</p> + +<p>"Ingred, you look about a hundred!"</p> + +<p>"Fil <i>could</i> scold!"</p> + +<p>"Verity, what was a courtier doing rambling about a forest in a blue +dressing-gown? It would get torn on the bushes!"</p> + +<p>"I know. We told her so, but she <i>would</i> wear it!" declared Ingred. "She +was just pig-headed over that dressing-gown!"</p> + +<p>"Well, go and look at the Saxon pictures for yourself, in the history +book!" retorted Verity, sticking to her point. "You'll see the courtiers +in long flowing garments very like dressing-gowns. I think it was a +capital idea, and the best I could do. There wasn't another rug for the +kilt anyhow, and when other people have taken the best parts and the +nicest costumes, you've just got to put up with anything you can find +that's left."</p> + +<p>"You did it so well," Ingred assured her hastily, for Verity had gone +very pink, and her voice sounded distinctly offended. "I thought the way +you dropped on one knee and cried: 'My liege lord! I am your humble +socman!' was most impressive. What made you think of 'socman'?"</p> + +<p>"Got it out of the history book," said Verity, slightly mollified. "It +means a man who owned land, but wasn't quite as high up as a thane. I +meant to bring in some more Saxon words, but I hadn't time."</p> + +<p>"You must win the dormitory score again, and give us another +performance," urged Mrs. Best. "I'm afraid it's too late for any more +to-night, though we're all sorry to stop. Those juniors ought to be in +bed. Janie and Doreen, if you'd like a quiet half-hour to finish your +prep. you may go into my room. Somebody put the tables back, please, and +be sure the trestles are in their right places this time, we don't want +another collapse! Phyllis, your cough's worse. Nurse shall rub your +chest with camphorated oil, and you mustn't kiss anybody. Betty too? +I'll give you a lozenge, but don't suck it lying down in bed, in case +you choke."</p> + +<p>So saying, Mrs. Best, who generally mothered the hostel, dismissed her +large family and bustled away with Nurse to superintend the putting to +bed of the juniors and the due care of those who might be regarded as +even ever so slightly on the sick list. It was perhaps owing to the +excitement of their spirited performance that the members of No. 2 +Dormitory could not get to sleep that night. They all lay wide awake in +bed, and told each other tales about burglars, in whispers. Verity's +stories were blood-curdling in the extreme; she was a great reader, and +had got them from magazines. Her three room-mates listened with cold +shivers running down their spines. According to Verity's accounts it was +a common and every day occurrence for a house-breaker to force an +entrance, murder the occupants, and depart, leaving a case to baffle the +police until some amateur detective turned up and solved the mystery.</p> + +<p>"Has it ever struck you that the hostel would be a very easy place to +burgle?" asked Fil. "Those French windows have no shutters, and the +glass could be cut with a diamond."</p> + +<p>"Or the doors could be opened with a skeleton key!" quavered Nora.</p> + +<p>"I suppose they generally wear goloshes, so as to tread softly," +ventured Ingred.</p> + +<p>"Wouldn't it be dreadful," continued Verity, whose mind still ran on +magazine stories, "to marry a fascinating man whom you'd met by chance, +and then find out that he was a gentleman-burglar? What would you do?"</p> + +<p>"It often happens on the cinema," said Nora. "The girl wavers about in +an agony whether to tell or not, and wrings her hands and rolls her +eyes, like they always <i>do</i> roll them on the films, and then, just when +things are at the very last gasp, the husband tumbles over a precipice, +or is wrecked at sea, or smashed in a railway accident, and she marries +the other, who's as good as gold, and loved her first."</p> + +<p>"Is the man who loves you first always as good as gold?" asked Fil.</p> + +<p>"Well, generally on the Pictures. He's loved you as a child, you see. +You come on the film hand in hand, in socks, and he gives you his +apple."</p> + +<p>"But suppose they don't love you from a child?" said Fil plaintively. +"I've only known a lot of horrid little boys whom I didn't care for in +the least. None of them ever gave me his apple, though I remember one +taking mine. Is the first fascinating man I meet the true lover or the +burglar? How am I to know which is which?"</p> + +<p>"You'd better let me be there to decide for you, child, or you'll be +snapped up by the first adventurer that comes along," declared Nora. +"Don't trust him if he has a mustache. 'Daring Dick of the Black Gang' +had a little twisted mustache like Mephistopheles in 'Faust'."</p> + +<p>"Oh dear! And the last piece I saw on the Pictures, the villain was +clean shaven! That's no guide at all!"</p> + +<p>"Girls, you're breaking the silence rule!" said Mrs. Best, opening the +door of Dormitory 2, where the conversation, which had begun in +whispers, had risen to a pitch audible on the landing outside. "This +doesn't look like scoring again next week, and giving another +performance. Why, Nora, the rain's driving through that open window +straight on to your bed! You'll be getting rheumatism! I shall shut it, +and leave the door wide open for air instead. Now be good girls and go +to sleep at once. Don't let me hear any more talking."</p> + +<p>The Foursomes, in common with most of the hostel, were fond of Mrs. +Best, so they turned over obediently, and composed themselves to +slumber. They were really tired by this time, and dropped off into the +land of Nod before the clock on the stairs had chimed another quarter. +How long she slept, Ingred did not know. She dreamt quite a long and +circumstantial dream of wandering on the cliffs near the sea with a +gentleman-burglar, who was telling her his intention of raiding +Buckingham Palace and taking away the Crown Jewels, and she heard his +daring designs (as we always do in dreams) without the slightest +surprise or any suggestion that the Crown Jewels are kept at the Tower +instead of at Buckingham Palace. She woke suddenly, and laughed at the +absurdity of the idea. She felt hot, and threw back her eiderdown. The +other girls were sleeping quietly, and the rain was still beating +against the window in heavy showers, for it was a stormy night. The door +of the bedroom stood wide open. What was that sound coming up the stairs +from the hall below? It was certainly not the ticking of the clock. It +seemed more like muffled and stealthy footsteps. In an instant Ingred +was very wide awake indeed, and listening intently. There it came again! +She could not lie still and ignore it. She got out of bed, and with +rather shaking knees walked on to the landing and peeped over the +banisters. There was a tiny oil-lamp hanging on the wall; it faintly +illuminated the stairs. Was that somebody moving about in the darkness +of the hall? If it was a burglar, he certainly must not come upstairs, +or she would die of fright. An idea occurred to her, and acting on a +sudden impulse she dashed into Dormitory 2, roused the others, and told +them to snatch what missiles they could, and hurry to her aid.</p> + +<p>"We'll fling things at him if he tries to come up!" she gasped, groping +for her boots.</p> + +<p>It was a horrible experience: four nervous, quaking girls stood in the +dim light on the landing gazing down into the haunted blackness of the +shadowy hall. The sounds had ceased temporarily, but now they began +again—a distinct shuffling as of footsteps, and even a subdued sniff, +then the outline of a dark figure made its appearance, bearing straight +for the stairs.</p> + +<p>With quite commendable bravery Ingred flung her boots at it, which +missiles were instantly followed by Nora's hairbrush, Fil's dispatch +case, and Verity's pillow. It screamed in a most unburglar-like voice, +and apparently with genuine fright.</p> + +<p>"If you t-t-t-try to c-c-come nearer, I'll sh-sh-shoot you dead!" +quavered Ingred, wishing she had at least some semblance of a pistol to +bluff with.</p> + +<p>"What <i>are</i> you doing, girls?" replied the dark shadow, persisting in +its movement towards the staircase, and, as it came into the faint +circle of radiance spread by the lamp, resolving itself into the +familiar form of Nurse Warner. "Have you suddenly gone mad?"</p> + +<p>Here was a situation! The four girls flew back to their dormitory in +great haste, especially as Mrs. Best, disturbed by the noise, had opened +her door and come on to the scene in a pink-and-gray dressing-gown. They +were followed, however, by both Matron and Nurse, and forced to give an +explanation of their extraordinary conduct.</p> + +<p>"I couldn't sleep for the wind, so I put on my felt slippers and my +cloak, and went downstairs for a biscuit," declared Nurse Warner, whose +voice sounded rather aggrieved. "I didn't think I should disturb +anybody."</p> + +<p>"You girls are the limit with your silly notions!" said Mrs. Best, +really angry for once. "If you fill your heads with absurd ideas about +burglars before you go to sleep, of course you can imagine anything. If +I hear any more talking in No. 2 another night after the lights are out, +I shall separate you, and send each of you to sleep in another +dormitory. I'll not have the house upset like this! So you know what to +expect. Are you all in your beds? Then not another word!"</p> + +<p>"It's very uncomfy without my pillow!" whispered naughty Verity, in +distinct disobedience to this mandate, as the door of Mrs. Best's room +closed. "Dare I go and fetch it?"</p> + +<p>"Sh! Sh! No!"</p> + +<p>"I know what we'll give Nursie for a Christmas present," murmured Fil +softly. "A nice ornamental tin box of biscuits to keep in her bedroom. +She shan't get hungry in the night again, poor dear!"</p> + +<p>"<i>Sh! Sh! Will</i> you go to sleep!" warned Ingred emphatically.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X</h2> + +<h3>The Whispering Stones</h3> + + +<p>The Saxon family had squeezed themselves and certain of their +possessions into the little home at Wynch-on-the-Wold, and while flowers +still bloomed in the garden and apples hung ripe on the trees it seemed +a kind of continuation of their summer holiday; but as the novelty wore +off, and stormy weather came on, their altered circumstances began to be +more evident. Most of us can make a plucky fight against fate at +first—there had been something rather romantic about retiring to the +bungalow—but the plain prose of the proceeding was yet to come, and +there were certainly many disadvantages to be faced. Mr. Saxon was +worried about business affairs; he was a proud, sensitive man, and felt +it a great "come down" to be obliged to resign Rotherwood, and the +social position it had stood for, and confess himself to the world as +one of the "newly poor." It was humiliating to have to walk or take a +tram where he had formerly used his car in fulfilling his professional +engagements, hard not to be able to entertain his friends, and perhaps +hardest of all to be obliged to refuse subscriptions to the numerous +charities in the town where his name had always stood conspicuously upon +the liberal list. His temper, never his strongest point, suffered under +the test, and he would come home from Grovebury in the evenings tired +out, moody and fretful, and inclined to find fault with everything and +everybody.</p> + +<p>It took all his wife's sunny sweetness of disposition to keep the home +atmosphere cheerful and peaceful, for Egbert also had a temper, and was +bitterly disappointed at not being sent to Cambridge, and at having to +settle down in the family office instead. Father and son did not get on +remarkably well together. Mr. Saxon, like many parents, pooh-poohed his +boy's business efforts, and would sometimes—to Egbert's huge +indignation—point out his mistakes before the clerks. He would declare, +in a high and mighty way, that his own son should not receive special +preference at the office, and so overdid his attitude of impartiality +that he contrived to give him a worse time than any of his other +articled pupils.</p> + +<p>Athelstane, who had begun his medical course at the University of +Birkshaw, also had his troubles. He had hoped to study at Guy's Hospital +in preparation for the London M.D., and to an ambitious young fellow it +was hard to be satisfied with a provincial degree. The thirty-mile motor +ride to and from Birkshaw soon lost its charm, and the difficulties of +home study in the evenings were great in a bungalow with thin partition +walls and a family not always disposed to quiet. As a rule, he kept his +feelings to himself, but he went about with a depressed look, and got +into a habit of lifting his eyebrows which was leaving permanent lines +on a hitherto smooth and unwrinkled forehead.</p> + +<p>Pretty Quenrede, who had just left school, was going through the awkward +phase of discovering her individuality. At the College, with a full +program of lessons and games, she had followed the general lead of the +form. Now, cast upon her own resources, she was quite vague as to any +special bent or taste. The war-time occupations which had tempted her +imagination were no longer available, and <i>Careers for Women</i> did not +attract her, even if family funds had run to the necessary training. So, +for the present, she stayed at home, going once a week to the School of +Art at Grovebury, and practicing singing in a rather desultory fashion. +Though she pretended to be glad she was an emancipated young lady, as a +matter of fact she missed school immensely, and was finding life +decidedly slow and tame.</p> + +<p>With their elders palpably dissatisfied, Ingred and Hereward would have +been hardly human if they had not raised some personal grievances of +their own to grumble at, and matters would often have been dismal enough +at the bungalow but for Mrs. Saxon's happy capacity for looking on the +bright side of things. The whole household centered round "Mother." She +was a woman in a thousand. Naturally it had hurt her to relinquish +Rotherwood, and it grieved her—for the girls' sake—that most of her +old acquaintances in Grovebury had not troubled to pay calls at +Wynchcote. The small rooms, the one maid from the Orphanage, the +necessity of doing much of the housework herself, the difficulties of +shopping on a limited purse, and her husband's fretfulness and +fault-finding, might have soured a less unselfish disposition: she had +married, however, "for better or for worse," and took the altered +circumstances with cheery optimism. She was a great lover of nature and +of scenery, and the nearness of the moors, with their ever-changing +effects of storm and sunshine, and the opportunities they gave for the +study of birds and insects, proved compensation for some of the things +which life otherwise lacked.</p> + +<p>Every morning, after the fuss of getting off the family to their several +avocations, she would run down the garden, and stand for a few minutes +by the wall that overlooked the moor, watching great shafts of sunlight +fall from a gray sky on to brown wastes of heather and bracken, +listening to the call of the curlews or to the trilling autumn warble of +the robin, perched on the red-berried hawthorn bush. Kind Mother Nature +could always soothe her spirits, and send her back with fresh courage +for the day's work. And, in the evening, when husband and children came +home to fire and lamp-light, she had generally some nature notes to tell +them, or some amusing little incident to make them laugh and forget +their various woes and worries.</p> + +<p>"I'm so glad, Muvvie dear, you're not a melancholy lugubrious person!" +said Ingred once. "It would be <i>so</i> trying if you sat at the tea-table +and sighed."</p> + +<p>"Humor is the salt of life," smiled Mrs. Saxon. "We may just as well get +all the fun out of the little daily happenings. Even 'the orphan' has +her bright side!"</p> + +<p>As "the orphan" was a temporary member of the Wynchcote establishment +she merits a word of description. She came from an institution in the +neighborhood, and, being the only servant procurable at the time, was +tolerated in spite of a terrible propensity for smashing plates, and for +carolling at the very pitch of a nasal voice. She was a rough, +good-tempered girl, devoted to Minx, the cat, and really kind if anybody +had a headache or toothache, but quite without any sense of +discrimination: she would show a traveling hawker into the drawing-room, +and leave the clergyman standing on the doorstep, took the best +serviettes to wipe the china, scoured the silver with Monkey Brand Soap, +and systematically bespattered the kitchen tablecloth with ink. Her love +of music was a terrible trial to the medical student of the family on +Saturday morning, when he was endeavoring to read at home.</p> + +<p>"Carlyle says somewhere: 'Give, oh, give me a man who sings at his +work!'" growled Athelstane one day, bursting forth from his den to +complain of the nuisance, "but I bet the old buffer didn't write that +sentiment with a maid-servant howling popular songs in the next room. +According to all accounts he loathed noise and couldn't even stand the +crowing of a cock. I should call that bit of eloquence just bunkum. If +the orphan doesn't stop this voice-production business I shall have to +go and slay her. How <i>can</i> a fellow study in the midst of such a racket? +Where's the Mater? Down in Grovebury? I suppose that accounts for it. +While the cat's away, &c."</p> + +<p>"Hardly complimentary to compare your maternal relative to a cat!" +chuckled Ingred. "Stop the orphan if you can, but you might as well try +to stop the brook! She's quiet for five minutes then bursts out into +song again like a chirruping cricket or a croaking corn-crake. I want to +spiflicate her myself sometimes."</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"'Late last night I slew my wife,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Stretched her on the parquet flooring;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I was loath to take her life,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But I <i>had</i> to stop her snoring!'"<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>quoted Hereward from <i>Ruthless Rhymes</i>.</p> + +<p>"Look here!" said Quenrede, emerging from the kitchen with a half-packed +lunch basket. "We three are taking sandwiches, and going for a good old +tramp over the moors. Why not drop your work for once and come with us? +You look as if you needed a holiday."</p> + +<p>"I've a beast of a headache," admitted Athelstane.</p> + +<p>"You want fresh air, not study," decreed Quenrede with sisterly +firmness, "and I shall just make some extra sandwiches and put another +apple in the basket. With mother out, the orphan will carol all the +morning, unless you gag her, so you may as well accept the inevitable."</p> + +<p>"Cut and run, in fact!" added Hereward.</p> + +<p>"The voice of the siren tempts me to go—to escape the voice of the +siren who stays!" wavered Athelstane.</p> + +<p>"Oh, come along, old sport!" urged Ingred. "What are a few old bones to +Red Ridge Barrow? You can swat to-night to make up, if you want to."</p> + +<p>"It's three to one!" said Athelstane, giving way gracefully; "and there +mayn't be any more fine Saturdays for walks."</p> + +<p>The four young people started forth with the delightful sense of having +the day before them. It was fairly early, and a hazy November sun had +not yet drawn the moisture from the heather. On the moor the few trees +were bare, but the golden autumn leaves still clothed the woods in the +sheltered valley that stretched below. Masses of gossamer covered with +dew-drops lay among the bracken, like fairies' washing hung out to dry. +There was a hint of hoarfrost under the bushes. The air had that +delicious invigorating quality when every breath sets the body dancing. +It was too late in the year for flowers, though here and there a little +gorse lingered, or a few buttercups and hawkweeds. After about an hour +of red haziness the sun pierced the bank of mist and shone out +gloriously, almost as in summer; the birds, ready to snatch a moment's +joy, were flitting about tweeting and calling, a water-wagtail took a +bath in a shallow pool of a stream, and a great flock of bramblings, +rare visitors in those parts, paused in their migration to hold a +chattering conference round an old elder tree.</p> + +<p>The Saxons were determined to-day to go farther afield than their walks +had hitherto taken them. The local guide-book mentioned some prehistoric +menhirs and a chambered barrow on the top of Red Ridge, a distant hill, +so they had fixed that as their Mecca.</p> + +<p>It was a considerable tramp, but the bracing air helped them on, and +they sat down at last to eat their lunch by the side of the path that +led to the summit. The boys had wished to mount to the top without +calling a halt, but the girls had struck, and insisted on a rest before +the final climb.</p> + +<p>"Pity Mother isn't here!" said Ingred, voicing the general feeling of +the family, which always missed its central pivot.</p> + +<p>"Yes, but it would have been too great a trapse for her, poor darling!" +qualified Quenrede. "I don't see how we could get her all this way +unless we hired a pony."</p> + +<p>"Or borrowed an aeroplane. One seems about as possible as the other," +grunted Ingred.</p> + +<p>"She shall have a photo of the stones at any rate," said Hereward, +fingering his camera. "Hurry up and finish, you girls, or the light will +be gone!"</p> + +<p>"Well, we can't bolt our sandwiches at the rate you do! I wonder you +don't choke!"</p> + +<p>The old gray stones stood in a circle on the top of the hill, from +whence they had possibly seen four thousand summers and winters pass by. +Whether their original purpose was temple, astronomical observatory, or +both is one of the riddles of antiquarian research, for neolithic man +left no record of his doings beyond the weapons buried with him in his +barrow. Legend, however, like a busy gossip, had stepped in and supplied +points upon which history was silent. Traditions of the neighborhood +explained the menhirs as twelve giants turned into stone by the magic +powers of good King Arthur, who, in defiance of the claims of the isle +of Avalon, was supposed to be buried in a hitherto unexplored chamber of +the large green mound that stood near. Sometimes, so the story ran, the +giants whispered to one another, and any one who came there alone at +daybreak on May morning might glean much useful information regarding +the personal appearance of his or her future lover. As it was obviously +difficult to reach so out-of-the-way a spot at such a very early hour, +the oracles were seldom consulted at the one and only moment when they +were supposed to whisper. There were reputed, however, to be other and +easier means of gleaning knowledge from them. Ingred, who had been +priming herself with local lore, confided details of the occult +ceremonial to Quenrede.</p> + +<p>"It sounds rather thrillsome!" admitted that damsel doubtfully. "I'd +really like to try it, only the boys would tease me to death. You know +what they are!"</p> + +<p>"They're going over there to photograph the cromlech. You'd have time +before they come back."</p> + +<p>"Shall I?"</p> + +<p>"Go on!"</p> + +<p>"Tell me again what to do."</p> + +<p>"You let your hair down, and walk bareheaded in and out and in and out +round all the circle of stones. Then you put an offering of flowers on +that biggest stone—the Giant King, he's called—and throw a pebble into +the little pool below. You count the bubbles that come up—one for A, +two for B, &c.,—and they'll give you the initial of your future lover. +With <i>very</i> great luck, you might see his shadow in the pool, but that +does not often happen."</p> + +<p>"I don't believe in it, of course, but I'll try for fun! The Giant King +won't get much in the way of a bouquet to-day!"</p> + +<p>Quenrede, protesting her scepticism, but all the same palpably enjoying +the magic experiment, picked an indifferent nosegay of the few +buttercups, hawkweeds, and late pieces of scabious which were the only +flowers available. Then she removed her hair-pins, and, letting down a +shower of flaxen hair, commenced her winding pilgrimage among the old +gray stones. There is a vein of superstition in the most modern of +minds, and she was probably following a custom that had come down the +ages from the days when our primitive ancestresses clothed themselves in +skins and twisted their prehistoric locks with pins of mammoth ivory. +In and out and in and out, with Ingred, like an attendant priestess, +behind her, she performed the necessary itinerary, and laid her floral +offering upon what may have been the remains of a neolithic altar. The +pool below was dark and boggy and brown with peat. She took a good-sized +pebble, and flung it into the middle with a terrific splash. Ingred, +giggling nervously, counted the bubbles.</p> + +<p>"A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I—It's 'I,' Queenie! No, there's another! It's +'J'! It's going to be 'J,' old sport! Aren't you thrilled? Oh, I say! +Whoever on earth is that?"</p> + +<p>Following the direction of her sister's eyes, Quenrede looked through a +veil of wind-blown hair, to see, standing among the stones, a stranger +of the opposite sex, garbed in tweed knickers and leather gaiters. One +glance was enough. The next second she turned, and beat a hurried and +ignominious retreat to the sheltered side of the green mound. Ingred, +panting in the rear, followed her to cover.</p> + +<p>Quenrede, very pink in the face, sat down on a clump of heather and +immediately began to put up her hair.</p> + +<p>"I never felt such an idiot in my life!" she confided with energy to her +sympathetic audience of one. "Ingred! That man knew what I was doing! I +saw the horrid amusement in his face. He was laughing at me for all he +was worth. I <i>know</i> he was!"</p> + +<p>At eighteen it is an overwhelming matter to be laughed at. Quenrede's +newly-developed dignity was decidedly wounded.</p> + +<p>"After all, it was a very schoolgirlish thing to do," she remarked, +sticking in hair-pins as well as she could without a mirror. "Do you +think he's still there? I shall stop here till he marches off."</p> + +<p>"I'll go and prospect," said Ingred.</p> + +<p>She came back with the bad news that not only was the stranger still +there, but he was actually in close and apparently familiar conversation +with Athelstane and Hereward, who were calling loudly for their sisters, +and to confirm her words came distant jodellings of:</p> + +<p>"Ingred!"</p> + +<p>"Queenie!"</p> + +<p>"Where are you girls?"</p> + +<p>There was nothing for it but to come forth from their retreat. It was +impossible to stay hidden forever. Quenrede issued as nonchalantly as +she could, with her hair tucked under her tam-o'-shanter, and her gloves +on. She bowed instead of shaking hands when Athelstane introduced Mr. +Broughten, a fellow-student of his college; it seemed a more grown-up +and superior attitude to adopt. She thought his eyes twinkled, but she +preserved such an air of stand-off dignity that he promptly suppressed +any undue inclinations towards mirth, and stood looking the epitome of +grave politeness.</p> + +<p>"Broughten knows all about the old barrow," Athelstane explained. "He's +got a candle with him—we were duds not to bring one ourselves—and he's +going to act showman. Come along!"</p> + +<p>The entrance into the mound was through a low doorway with lintel and +posts of unhewn stone. Inside was a kind of central hall with three +rudely-constructed chambers leading out of it. A pile of rough stones in +front seemed to point to further chambers.</p> + +<p>"That part's never been explored yet," said Mr. Broughten. "Some of us +want to tackle it some day, if we can get permission, but it's a big +job. You don't want to bring the barrow down on your head, and be buried +in the ruins! I never think the roof looks too secure," he added easily, +poking at the stones above with his stick.</p> + +<p>The girls, aghast at the notion of a possible subsidence, made a hasty +exit to the open air, and hovered near the entrance in much agitation of +mind till the rest of the party made a safe reappearance. Their +conductor, with a side glance at the bunch of flowers—which Quenrede +ignored—made some reference to the Giant King stone and his whispering +companions: he was evidently well versed in all old traditions, though +he refrained from mentioning local practices. He walked part of the way +home with the Saxons before he branched off to the place where he had +left his bicycle.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<a href="images/gs04.jpg"><img src="images/gs04.jpg" alt=""/></a> +</div> + +<h4><a name="gs04" id="gs04"></a>[Illustration: "YOU LOOK <i>NICE</i>—YOU DO <i>REALLY</i>, WITH YOUR HAIR DOWN"]</h4> + + +<p>"You look <i>nice</i>—you do, <i>really</i>, with your hair down," said Ingred to +Quenrede that night, as the latter sat wielding her hairbrush at +bedtime. "And you needn't be afraid anybody would mistake you for a +flapper. Why, Harry Scampton actually asked Hereward the other day if +you were married! By the by," she added wickedly, "do you know I've +ascertained that Mr. Broughten's Christian name begins with 'J.' Whether +'John' or 'James' I can't say!"</p> + +<p>"I don't care if it's Jehosaphat!" snorted Queenie. "I've told you +already he doesn't interest me in the least!"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI</h2> + +<h3>On Strike</h3> + + +<p>It was about this time that a general spirit of trouble and +dissatisfaction seemed to creep into the school. How and where it +started nobody knew, any more than one can trace the origin of influenza +germs. There is no epidemic more catching than grumbling, however, and +the complaint spread rapidly. It had the unfortunate effect of reacting +upon itself. The fact that the girls were restive made the teachers more +strict, and that in its turn produced fresh complaints. Miss Burd, +careful for the cause of discipline, made a new rule that any form +showing a record of a single cross for conduct would be debarred for a +week from the use of the asphalt tennis-courts, a decidedly drastic +measure, but one that in her opinion was necessary to meet the +emergency.</p> + +<p>Though the disorder was mostly among the juniors, <span class="smcap">Va</span> was not +altogether immune from the microbe. It really began with a quarrel +between Ingred and Beatrice Jackson. The latter was a type of girl +common enough in all large schools. She was not always scrupulously +honorable over her work, but she liked to curry favor with the +mistresses. She copied her exercises shamelessly, would surreptitiously +look up words in the midst of unseen Latin translation, and was capable +not only of other meannesses, but sometimes of a downright deliberate +fib. She and Ingred were at such opposite poles that they did not +harmonize well together. In the old days, with visions of parties at +Rotherwood, Beatrice had at least been civil, but now that there seemed +no further prospect of being asked to pleasant entertainments, she had +turned round and treated Ingred with scant politeness in general, and +sometimes with deliberate rudeness. Little things that perhaps we laugh +at afterwards, hurt very much at the time, and Ingred was passing +through an ultra sensitive phase. During the latter part of that autumn +term she detested Beatrice.</p> + +<p>One day Miss Burd announced that on the following Saturday there was to +be a match played in a suburb of Grovebury between two first-class +ladies' hockey clubs. She suggested that it might be of advantage to +some of the girls to go and watch it, and proposed that each of the +upper forms should elect one of their number as special reporter to +write an account of the match which could be read aloud afterwards in +school. The idea rather struck them.</p> + +<p>"It's Finbury Wanderers <i>versus</i> Hilton," said Linda Slater, "and +they're both jolly good, I know. Wish I could have gone myself, but I'm +booked already for Saturday."</p> + +<p>"Heaps of us are," said Cicely Denham.</p> + +<p>"We'd like to hear about it, though," added Kitty Saunders. "I call it +rather a brain wave to choose a reporter."</p> + +<p>"Hands up any girls who are free on Saturday!" called Beatrice Jackson.</p> + +<p>The announcement had been made rather late, so most of the form already +had engagements for the holiday. Only six hands were raised, belonging +respectively to Ingred Saxon, Avie Irving, Avis Marlowe, Francie Hall, +Bess Haselford, and Beatrice Jackson herself.</p> + +<p>"A poor muster for <span class="smcap">Va</span>!" remarked Kitty. "As Ingred's our +warden, I should think she'd better write the report."</p> + +<p>"The Finbury ground is a horribly awkward place to get to," put in +Beatrice. "I suppose you'll motor there, Ingred."</p> + +<p>"We have no car now," confessed Ingred, turning very red, for she was +sure that Beatrice knew that fact only too well, and had brought it into +prominence on purpose to humiliate her.</p> + +<p>"Oh! I suppose you'll be motoring, Bess? Couldn't you give some of us a +lift?"</p> + +<p>"I believe I could take you all," replied Bess pleasantly. "Of course I +shall have to ask Dad first if I may have the car out on Saturday, but I +don't expect he'll say no."</p> + +<p>"Oh, what sport! We'll come, you bet. Look here, I beg to propose that +Bess Haselford writes the report of the match."</p> + +<p>"And I second it," declared Francie. "Hands up, girls! Bess shall be +'boss' for this show."</p> + +<p>Half the girls in the room had not heard Kitty's proposal that Ingred +should be chosen, and some of the others, listening imperfectly, had +gathered that she was not able to go to the match, so without giving her +a further thought they raised hands in favor of Bess, and the matter was +carried.</p> + +<p>"But indeed I'm no good at writing or describing things!" protested +Bess.</p> + +<p>"Yes, you are! You've got to try, so there!" cried her friends +triumphantly. "You'll do it just as well as anybody else would."</p> + +<p>Ingred turned away with a red-hot spot raging under her blouse. That +she, the warden of the form, should have been passed over in favor of a +girl whose sole qualification seemed to be that she could offer some of +the others a lift in her car, was a very nasty knock. Was Bess to +supplant her in everything?</p> + +<p>"Perhaps you'd like to make her warden instead of me!" she remarked +bitterly to Belle Charlton, who stood near. "I'm perfectly willing to +resign if you're tired of me!"</p> + +<p>Belle only giggled and poked Joanna Powers, who said:</p> + +<p>"Don't be nasty, Ingred! Bess is a sport, and we most of us like her."</p> + +<p>"I can't see the attraction myself!" snapped Ingred.</p> + +<p>She did not want to go to the hockey match now, and made up her mind +obstinately that nothing in this wide world should decoy her to it. Bess +came to school next morning armed with full permission to use her +father's car and to invite as many of her schoolfellows as it would +accommodate. She cordially pressed Ingred to join the party.</p> + +<p>"I'm not going to the match, thanks," replied the latter frigidly.</p> + +<p>"But there's heaps of room—there is indeed, without a frightful +squash."</p> + +<p>"There's something I want to do at home on Saturday."</p> + +<p>"Couldn't you do it in the morning? The form will be disappointed if you +don't go—and, I say——" (shyly) "I wish you'd write that wretched +report instead of me. I hate the idea of doing it!"</p> + +<p>"The form won't care twopence whether I go or stay away, and as they've +chosen you to write the report you'll have to write it or it'll be left +undone," retorted Ingred perversely.</p> + +<p>Bess, looking decidedly hurt, turned away. Her little efforts at +friendship with Ingred were invariably met in this most ungracious +fashion. She could not understand why her kindly-meant advances should +always be so systematically repulsed. Ingred, on her part, stalked off +with the mean feeling of one who at bottom knows she is in the wrong, +but won't acknowledge it even to herself. Under the sub-current of +indignation she realized that she would have liked Bess immensely if +only the latter had not taken up her residence at Rotherwood. That, +however, was an offense which she deemed it quite impossible ever to +forgive.</p> + +<p>Ingred went about her work that morning in a very scratchy mood, so much +so as to attract the attention of Miss Strong, who possibly felt a +little prickly herself, since even teachers have their phases of temper. +It was at that time a fashion in the form for the girls to keep all +sorts of absurd mascots inside their desks, the collecting and +comparison of which afforded them huge satisfaction. Now Miss Strong +happened to be lecturing on "The Age of Elizabeth," a subject so +congenial to her that she was generally most interesting. But to-day she +had reached a rather dry and arid portion of that famous reign, and even +her powers of description failed for once and the lesson became a mere +catalogue of events and dates. Ingred, bored stiff with listening, +secretly opened her desk, and, taking a selection of treasures from it, +began to fondle them surreptitiously upon her lap. It was, of course, a +quite illegal thing to do. She glanced at them occasionally, but for the +most part kept her eyes upon her teacher. Beatrice, however, who sat +near and had an excellent view of Ingred's lap, gazed at it with such +persistent and marked attention that she attracted the notice of Miss +Strong, who followed the direction of her looks and pounced upon the +offender.</p> + +<p>"Ingred Saxon, what have you there? Bring those things to me immediately +and put them on my desk!"</p> + +<p>With a crimson face Ingred obeyed, and handed over into the teacher's +custody:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">1. A black velvet cat.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">2. A small golliwog.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">3. A piece of four-leaved clover.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">4. A stone with a hole in it.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">5. An ivory pig.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Miss Strong smiled cynically.</p> + +<p>"At fifteen years of age," she remarked, "I should have thought a girl +would have advanced a little further than playthings of this +description. The Kindergarten would evidently be a more fit form for you +than <span class="smcap">Va</span>! You lose five order marks."</p> + +<p>Five order marks! Ingred gasped with amazed indignation. One at a time +was the usual forfeit, but to lose five "at one fell swoop" seemed +excessive, and would make a considerable difference to her weekly +record. She blazed against the injustice. No girl in the form had ever +had so severe punishment.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Miss Strong!" she protested hotly. "<i>Five!</i> I haven't really done +anything more than heaps of the others. It's not fair!"</p> + +<p>Now if Ingred had really hoped to get her sentence remitted she could +not have done a more absolutely suicidal thing. A mistress may overlook +some faults, but she will not stand "cheek." The discipline of the form +was at stake, and Miss Strong was not a mistress to be trifled with. Her +little figure absolutely quivered with dignity, and though physically +she was shorter than her pupil, morally she seemed to tower yards. She +fixed her clear dark eyes in a kind of hypnotic stare on Ingred and +remarked witheringly:</p> + +<p>"That will do! I don't allow <i>any</i> girl to speak to me in this fashion! +You'll take a cross for conduct as well as losing the five order marks. +You may go to your seat now."</p> + +<p>Ingred walked back to her desk covered with humiliation. To be publicly +rebuked before the whole form was an unpleasant experience, particularly +for a warden. Beatrice, Francie, and several others were holding up +self-righteous noses, though their desks contained an equal assortment +of mascots. Ingred, still seething, made little attempt to listen to the +rest of the lecture, and was obliged to pass the questions which came to +her afterwards on the subject-matter. She was heartily thankful when +eleven o'clock brought the brief ten minutes "break."</p> + +<p>"Well, you <i>have</i> been a lunatic this morning!" said Beatrice, passing +her, biscuits in hand, in the cloak-room. "What possessed you to go and +lose the tennis-court for the form?"</p> + +<p>"If you hadn't stared so hard at me Miss Strong would never have +noticed."</p> + +<p>"Oh, of course! Throw the blame on somebody else! You're always the +'little white hen that never lays astray.'"</p> + +<p>"Kitty and Evie and Belle and I had arranged a set!" grumbled Cicely +Denham. "It's most unfair, this rule of punishing the whole form for +what one girl does!"</p> + +<p>"Go and tell Miss Burd so then!" flared Ingred. "It hasn't been very +successful so far to tell teachers they're not fair, but you may have +better luck than I had. She'll probably say: 'Oh, yes, Cicely dear, I'll +rearrange the rules at once!' So like her, isn't it?"</p> + +<p>"Now you're sark! Almost as sarky as the Snark herself!" commented +Cicely, as Ingred, choking over a last biscuit, stumped away.</p> + +<p>There is much written nowadays about the unconscious power of thought +waves, and certainly one grumbler can often spread dissatisfaction +through an entire community. Perhaps the black looks which Ingred +encountered from the disappointed tennis-players in her form turned into +naughty sprites who whispered treason in the ears of the juniors, or +perhaps it was a mere coincidence that mutiny suddenly broke out in the +Lower School. It began with a company of ten-year-olds who, with pencil +boxes and drawing books, were being escorted by Althea Riley, one of the +prefects, along the corridor to the studio. Hitherto, by dint of +judicious curbing, they had always walked two and two in decent line and +had refrained from prohibited conversation. To-day they surged upstairs +in an unseemly rabble, chattering and talking like a flock of rooks or +jackdaws at sunset. It was in vain that Althea tried to restore order, +her efforts at discipline were simply scouted by the unruly mob, who +rushed into the studio helter-skelter, took their places anyhow, and +only controlled themselves at the entrance of Miss Godwin, the art +mistress.</p> + +<p>Althea, flushed, indignant, and most upset, sought her fellow-prefects.</p> + +<p>"Shall I go and complain to Miss Burd?" she asked.</p> + +<p>"Um—I don't think I should yet," said Lispeth a little doubtfully. "You +see, Miss Burd has given us authority and she likes us to use it +ourselves as much as we can, without appealing to her. Of course in any +extremity she'll support us. I'll pin up a notice in the junior +cloak-room and see what effect that has. It may settle them."</p> + +<p>Lispeth stayed after four o'clock until the last coat and hat had +disappeared from the hooks in the juniors' dressing-room. Then she +pinned her ultimatum on their notice board:</p> + +<p>"In consequence of the extremely bad behavior of certain girls on the +stairs this afternoon, the prefects give notice that should any +repetition of such conduct occur, the names of the offenders will be +taken and they will be reported to Miss Burd for punishment."</p> + +<p>"That ought to finish those kids!" she thought as she pushed in the +drawing-pins.</p> + +<p>There was more than the usual amount of buzzing conversation next +morning as juvenile heads bumped each other in their efforts to read the +notice. The result, however, was absolutely unprecedented in the annals +of the school. It was the custom of the Sixth Form, and of many of the +Fifth, to take their lunch and eat it quietly in the gymnasium. There +was no hard and fast rule about this, but it was generally understood to +be a privilege of the upper forms only, and intermediates and juniors +were not supposed to intrude. To-day most of the elder girls were +sitting in clumps at the far end of the gymnasium, when through the open +door marched a most amazing procession of juniors. They were headed by +Phyllis Smith and Dorrie Barnes carrying between them a small blackboard +upon which was chalked:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">DOWN WITH PREFECTS!<br /></span> +<span class="i3">RIGHTS FOR JUNIORS!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">THE WHOLE SCHOOL IS EQUAL!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>After these ringleaders marched a determined crowd waving flags made of +handkerchiefs fastened to the end of rulers. A band, equipped with combs +covered with tissue-paper torn from their drawing-books, played the +strains of the "Marseillaise." They advanced towards the seniors in a +very truculent fashion.</p> + +<p>"Well, really!" exclaimed Lispeth, recovering from her momentary +amazement. "What's the meaning of all this, I'd like to know?"</p> + +<p>"It's a strike!" said Dorrie proudly, as she and Phyllis paused so as to +display the blackboard before the eyes of the Sixth. "We don't see why +you big girls should lord it over us any longer. We'll obey the +mistresses, but we'll not obey prefects."</p> + +<p>"You'll just jolly well do as you're told, you impudent young monkeys!" +declared Lispeth, losing her temper. "Here, clear out of this gymnasium +at once!"</p> + +<p>"We shan't! We've as good a right here as you!"</p> + +<p>"We ought to send wardens to the School Parliament."</p> + +<p>"We haven't any voice in school affairs!"</p> + +<p>"It's not fair!"</p> + +<p>"We shan't stand it any longer!"</p> + +<p>The shrill voices of the insurgents reached crescendo as they hurled +forth their defiance. They were evidently bent on red-hot revolution. +Lispeth rose to read the Riot Act.</p> + +<p>"If you don't take yourselves off I shall go for Miss Burd, and +a nice row you'd get into then. I give you while I count ten. +One—two—three—four——"</p> + +<p>Whether the strikers would have stood their ground or not is still an +unsolved problem, but at that opportune moment the big school bell began +to clang, and Miss Willough, the drill mistress, in her blue tunic, +entered the gymnasium ready to take her next class. At sight of her, +Dorrie hastily wiped the blackboard, and the juniors fled to their own +form-rooms, suppressing flags and musical instruments on the way. Miss +Willough gazed at them meditatively, but made no comment, and the Sixth, +hurrying to a literature lesson, had no time to offer explanations.</p> + +<p>Lispeth, more upset than she cared to own, talked the matter over with +her mother when she went to dinner at one o'clock. She was a very +conscientious girl and anxious to do her duty as "Head." As a result of +the home conference she went to Miss Burd, explained the situation, and +asked to be allowed to have the whole school together for ten minutes +before four o'clock.</p> + +<p>"It's only lately there's been this trouble," she said. "I believe if I +talk nicely to the girls I can get back my influence. That's what Mother +advised. She said 'try persuasion first.'"</p> + +<p>"She's right, too," agreed Miss Burd. "If you can get them to obey you +willingly it's far better than if I have to step in and put my foot +down. What we want is to change the general current of thought."</p> + +<p>Speculation was rife in the various forms as the closing bell rang at +3:45 instead of at 4 o'clock, and the girls were told to assemble in the +Lecture Hall, and were put on their honor to behave themselves. To their +surprise, the mistresses, after seeing them seated, left the room. Miss +Burd mounted the platform and announced:</p> + +<p>"Lispeth Scott wishes to speak to you all, and I should like you to know +that anything she has to say is said with my entire approval and +sanction. I hope you will listen to her in perfect silence."</p> + +<p>Then she followed the other mistresses.</p> + +<p>All eyes were fixed on Lispeth as she ascended the platform. With her +tall ample figure, earnest blue eyes, light hair, and fair face flushed +with the excitement of her task she looked a typical English girl, and +made what she hoped was a typical English speech.</p> + +<p>"I asked you to come," she began rather shyly, "because I think lately +there have been some misunderstandings in the school, and I want, if +possible, to put them straight. There has been a good deal of talk about +'equality,' and some of you say there oughtn't to be prefects. I wonder +exactly what you mean by 'equality?' Certainly all girls aren't born +with equal talents, yet each separate soul is of value to the community +and must not go to waste. The test of a school is not how many show +pupils it has turned out, but how <i>all</i> its pupils are prepared to face +the world. I think we can only do this by sticking together and trying +to help each other. In every community, however, there must be leaders. +An army would soon go to pieces without its officers! The prefects and +wardens have been chosen as leaders, and it ought to be a point of honor +with you to uphold their authority. I assure you they don't work for +their own good, but for the good of the school. I hear it is a grievance +with the juniors that they mayn't elect wardens for the Council. +Well—they shall do that when they're older; it will be something for +them to look forward to! There's a privilege, though, that we can and +will give them. We're going to start a Junior branch of the Rainbow +League, and I think when they're doing their level best to help others, +they'll forget about themselves. Carlyle says that the very dullest +drudge has the elements of a hero in him if he once sees the chance of +aiming at something higher than happiness. Please don't say I'm +preaching, for I hate to be a prig! Only we'd all made up our minds to +do our 'bit' in 'after the war work,' and it seems such a pity if we +forget, and let the tone of the school drop—as it certainly <i>has</i> +dropped lately. I'm sure if we all think about it we can keep it up, and +Seniors and Juniors can work together without any horrid squabbles. We +big girls were juniors ourselves once, and you little ones will be +seniors some day, so that's one way of looking at it. Now that's all +I've got to say, except that any Juniors who like can stay behind now +and join the Junior Branch of the Rainbow League. We want to get up a +special Scrap-book Union, and Miss Burd says she'll give a prize for the +best scrap-book, and also for the best home-made doll. She's going to +have an exhibition on breaking-up day."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII</h2> + +<h3>The Rainbow League</h3> + + +<p>Though Lispeth, in her agitation, had not said half the nice things she +had intended to say, her little speech had good effect. It reminded the +girls of some of the high ideals with which they had started the term, +and which, like many high and beautiful things, were in danger of +getting crowded out of the way by commoner interests. Everybody suddenly +remembered the exhibition and sale which was to come off before +Christmas, and made a spurt to send some adequate contribution. The +juniors, flattered at having a special branch of their own of the +Rainbow League, and time allotted in school to its work, dabbed away +blissfully at scrap-book making, with gummy overalls and seccotiny +fingers, but complacent faces. The prefects, with intent, dropped in +when possible to admire the efforts.</p> + +<p>"I believe," said Lispeth to her special confidante Althea, "that +perhaps we were making rather a mistake. You can't have any influence +with those kids unless you keep well in touch with them. I was so busy, +I just let them slide before, and I suppose that was partly why they got +out of hand, though the little monkeys had no business to get up that +impudent strike! They're as different as possible now, and some of them +are quite decent kiddies. Dorrie Barnes brought me a rose this morning. +I suppose it was meant as a sort of peace-offering."</p> + +<p>It was arranged to hold what was called "The Rainbow Fête" on +breaking-up afternoon, and parents and friends were invited to the +ceremony. There was to be both a sale and an exhibition. The best of the +toys and little fancy articles were to be at a special stall, and would +be sold for the benefit of the "War Orphans' Fund," and those that were +not quite up to standard would nevertheless be on view, and would be +sent away afterwards to help to deck Christmas trees in the slums. <i>THE</i> +stall, as the girls called it, was of course the center of attraction. +It was draped with colored muslins in the rainbow tints, and though real +irises were unobtainable, some vases of artificial ones formed a very +good substitute. The home-made toys were really most creditable to the +handicraft-workers, and had been ingeniously contrived with bobbins, +small boxes, and slight additions of wood, cardboard, and paper, aided +by the color-box. Windmills, whirligigs, carts, engines, trains, dolls' +house furniture, jigsaw puzzles, cardboard animals with movable limbs, +black velveteen cats with bead eyes, beautifully dressed rag dolls, wool +balls and rattles for babies, and dear little books of extracts, were +some of the things set out in a tempting display. Fil, whose slim +fingers excelled in dainty work, had contributed three charming booklets +of poetry and nice bits cut from magazines and newspapers, the back +being of colored linen embroidered with devices in silk. They were so +pretty that they were all snapped up beforehand, and could have been +sold three times over.</p> + +<p>"You promised one to me—you know you did!" urged Linda Slater, much +aggrieved at the non-performance of an order.</p> + +<p>"Well, I thought I'd have time to do four, and could only manage three," +apologized Fil. "You see, they really take such ages, and Miss Strong +was getting raggy about my prep."</p> + +<p>"You <i>might</i> make me one for my birthday!" begged Evie.</p> + +<p>"Certainly not! Those that ask shan't have!"</p> + +<p>"Well, couldn't you do some during the Christmas holidays?"</p> + +<p>"No, I can't and shan't!" snapped Fil. "I'm sick to death of making +booklets, and I'm not going to touch one of them during the holidays. +You seem to think I've nothing else to do except cut bits out of +magazines for your benefit!"</p> + +<p>"There! There! Poor old sport! Don't get baity!"</p> + +<p>"You shouldn't do them so jolly well, and then you wouldn't get asked!"</p> + +<p><i>The</i> stall occupied a position of importance at the end of the lecture +hall, and the rest of the exhibits were put round on trestle tables. +They were what Ingred described as "a mixed lot." Some of the animals +were bulgy in their proportions, or shaky in their cardboard limbs, the +wheels of the carts did not quite correspond, the windmills were apt to +stick, or the puzzles would not quite fit. In spite of their +imperfections, however, they looked attractive, and would, no doubt, +give great pleasure to the little people who were to receive them, and +who were hardly likely to be very critical of their workmanship.</p> + +<p>To make the afternoon more festive, there was to be a tea stall, to +which the girls brought contributions of cakes, and music was to be +given from the platform, so that the scene might resemble a café +chantant. Ingred had been chosen as one of the artistes, and arrayed in +her best brown velveteen dress, with a new pale-yellow hair ribbon, she +waited about in her usual agonies of stage fright. Learning from Dr. +Linton, however improving it might be to her touch, was hardly conducive +to self-complacency, and, after having suffered much vituperation for +her imperfect rendering of a piece, it was decidedly appalling to have +to play it in public, especially with the horrible possibility that at +any moment her master might happen to pop in to view the exhibition and +arrive in time for her performance.</p> + +<p>"I shall have forty fits if I see him in the room, I know I shall!" she +confided to Fil. "You've no idea how he scares me. I have my lessons on +the study piano generally, and if only he would sit still I shouldn't +mind, but he <i>will</i> get up and prowl about the room, and swing out his +arms when he's explaining things; he only <i>just</i> missed knocking over +that pretty statuette of Venus the other day. I'm sure if Miss Burd knew +how he flourishes about, she wouldn't let him loose among her cherished +ornaments!"</p> + +<p>"Perhaps he won't turn up to-day!"</p> + +<p>"Oh yes! He said he should make a point of buying a toy for his little +boy. If I break down suddenly in the midst of my piece, you'll know the +reason. I'm shaking now."</p> + +<p>"Poor old sport! Don't take it so hard!"</p> + +<p>By three o'clock the lecture hall was filled with what Lilias Ashby (who +had undertaken to write a report for the school magazine) described as +"a distinguished crowd." Fathers indeed were as few and far between as +currants in a war pudding, but mothers, aunts, and sisters had responded +nobly to the invitations, and were being conducted round by the girls to +see their special exhibits.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Saxon had been unable to come that afternoon, but Quenrede had +turned up, looking very pretty in a plum-colored hat, and giving herself +slight airs as of one who is now a finished young lady, and no longer a +mere schoolgirl. She chatted, in rather mincing tones, to Miss Burd +herself, while Ingred stood by in awe and amazement, and when she bought +a cup of tea from Doreen Hayward at the refreshment stall, she murmured: +"Oh, thanks <i>so</i> much!" with the manner of a patroness, though only six +months ago she and Doreen had sat side by side in the Science Lectures. +It was a new phase of Quenrede, which, though accepted to some extent at +home, had never shown itself before with quite such aggravated symptoms.</p> + +<p>Ingred, walking as it were in her shadow, was not sure whether to admire +or laugh. It was, of course, something to have such a pretty and +decidedly stylish sister; she appreciated the angle at which the +plum-colored hat was set, and the self-restraint that made the tiny iced +bun last such an enormous time, when a schoolgirl would have finished it +in three bites, and have taken another. A grand manner was certainly +rather an asset to the family, and Queenie was palpably impressing some +of the intermediates, who poked each other to look at her.</p> + +<p>"It's my turn to play soon, and I'm just shivering!" whispered Ingred.</p> + +<p>"Nonsense, child! Don't be such a little goose!" declared her sister +airily. "It's only a school party—there's really nothing to make a fuss +about!"</p> + +<p>"<i>Only</i> a school party!" That seemed to Ingred the absolute limit. +Quenrede last term had, in her turn, shivered and trembled when she had +been obliged to mount the platform! Could a few short months have indeed +effected so magnificent a change of front?</p> + +<p>"All the same, it's I who've got to play, not she! It's easy enough to +tell somebody else not to mind," thought Ingred, as, in answer to Miss +Clough's beckoning finger, she made her way towards the piano to undergo +her ordeal.</p> + +<p>One point in favor of the recital was that the audience moved about the +room and went on buying toys or cups of tea and cakes, and even talking, +instead of sitting on rows of seats doing nothing but watching and +listening. It was rather comforting to think that the concert was really +only like the performance of a band, a soothing accompaniment to +conversation. Ingred opened her music with an almost "don't care" +feeling. For one delirious moment she felt at her ease, then, alack! her +mood suddenly changed. In a last lightning glance towards the audience +she noticed among the crowd near the tea-stall the tall thin figure, +cadaverous face, and long lank hair of Dr. Linton. The sight instantly +wrecked her world of composure. If it had not been for the fact that +Miss Clough was standing near, and nodding to her to begin, she would +have run away from the platform.</p> + +<p>"Oh, the ill luck of it!" she thought. "If I had only played last time, +instead of Gertie, I'd have had it over before he came into the room! I +know he'll be just listening to every note, and criticizing!"</p> + +<p>With a horrid feeling, as if her breath would not come properly, and her +head was slightly spinning, and her hands dithering, Ingred began her +"Nocturne," trying with a sort of "drowning" effort to keep her mind on +the music in front of her, instead of on the music-master at the other +end of the room. For sixteen bars she succeeded, then came the hitch. +She had rejected the offered services of Doris Grainger, and had elected +to turn over her own pages. She now made a hasty dash at the leaf, her +trembling hand was not sufficiently agile, the sheet slipped, she +grabbed in vain, and the music fluttered on to the floor. The +performance came to a dead halt. Doris and Miss Clough rushed to the +rescue, but they were put politely aside by a tall figure who stepped on +to the platform, and Dr. Linton himself picked up the scattered sheets +of the unfortunate "Nocturne." He arranged them together in order, +placed them upon the stand, and, addressing his dismayed pupil, said:</p> + +<p>"Now, then, begin again, and <i>I</i> shall turn over for you. Bring out that +<i>forte</i> passage properly! Remember there's a pedal on the piano!"</p> + +<p>It was like having a lesson in public. Ingred felt too scared to begin, +and yet she was too much afraid of her master to refuse, so the bigger +fright prevailed, and—as a cat will swim to escape an enemy—she dashed +at the "Nocturne." Once restarted, it went magnificently: afterwards, +she always declared that Dr. Linton must have hypnotized her, she was +sure her unaided efforts could never have rendered it in such style. He +behaved as if he were conducting an orchestra, soothing the <i>piano</i> +passages and spurring her on to <i>fortissimo</i> efforts, even humming the +melody in his eccentric fashion, quite unmindful of the audience. The +enthusiastic applause at the end was so evidently for both master and +pupil that he bowed instinctively in response.</p> + +<p>Ingred, remembering, now the ordeal was over, that she was nervous, +melted from the platform, and left him to receive the laurels. He did a +characteristic but very kind act, looked round for his pupil, and then, +perceiving that she had beaten a retreat, sat down to the piano himself, +and, unasked, gave an encore for her. A solo from Dr. Linton was an +unexpected treat, especially as he was in the mood for music, and played +with a sort of rapture that carried his listeners into an ethereal world +of delicate sounds. Ingred, hidden behind a protecting barrier of +schoolfellows, could see all the sylphs dancing and the fairy pipers +piping as the crisp notes came tripping from his practised fingers. At +the end she came back as from a dream, to realize that she was not in +elf-land, but in the College Lecture Hall, and that she was sitting on a +form next to Miss Strong, who held on her knee a little red-coated, +brown-haired boy with Dr. Linton's unmistakable dark eyes.</p> + +<p>In that instant, as the music ceased, Ingred received quite a sudden and +new impression of Miss Strong; there was a tender look on the mistress's +face, as she held her arm around the child, and she whispered something +to him that made the dark eyes dance. He slipped from her lap, and hand +in hand they went together towards the toy-stall. It was quite a pretty +little scene, one of those tiny glimpses into other people's lives that +we catch occasionally when the veil of their reserve is for a moment +held aside. Ingred looked after them meditatively.</p> + +<p>"Shouldn't have thought the Snark capable of it," she ruminated. +"Perhaps she likes boys better than girls. Some people do."</p> + +<p>The toy stall, though half depleted of its contents, was still the +center of attraction. Lispeth and Althea were displaying what were left +of its windmills and whirligigs to friends who bought with an eye to +Christmas presents. Miss Strong, reckless in the matter of expense, +purchased the <i>chef-d'euvre</i> of the whole collection—a wonderful +contrivance consisting of two cardboard towers and a courtyard, across +which, by means of a tape wound round bobbins, and turned by a handle, +walked a miniature procession of wooden soldiers. Little Kenneth Linton +received it with open arms.</p> + +<p>"Better let me wrap it up in paper," urged Lispeth. "Somebody said just +now that it's beginning to snow, and you don't want to have it spoilt +before you get it home, do you?"</p> + +<p>"N-no," said Kenneth, relinquishing it doubtfully.</p> + +<p>"You're a lucky boy," continued Lispeth, as she made up the parcel. +"Isn't that a Teddy Bear in your pocket? And a ball too? There, I +believe I've used up all the string! What a nuisance! Can anybody get me +any from anywhere?"</p> + +<p>"I'll find you some in half a jiff," said Dorrie Barnes, whisking off +immediately.</p> + +<p>Since the formation of the Junior Rainbow League, Dorrie had taken a +liking to Lispeth which amounted to absolute infatuation. She followed +her like a pink-faced shadow, and was always at her elbow, sometimes at +convenient and sometimes at embarrassing moments. She fled now, like a +messenger from Olympus, with the fixed determination of procuring string +for her goddess from somewhere. It was not an easy task, for string was +a scarce commodity; what there was of it had mostly been already used, +and what was left was jealously guarded by its proprietresses, who +refused to part with it, even on the plea that it was for the head +prefect. Dorrie, however, was a young person of spirit and resource, and +she did not mean to be done. One of the trestles that supported the +secondary exhibits of toys had rather come to grief, and had been +patched up temporarily with stout twine. Her sharp eyes had noted this +fact, so, going down on her hands and knees, she managed to creep +unobserved under the table, cut the twine with her penknife, and unwound +it. She was just congratulating herself upon the success of her +achievement when the unexpected happened, or, rather, what might have +been expected by any one with an ounce of forethought. The damaged +trestle, no longer held together, promptly gave way, and the table +collapsed, burying a squealing Dorrie amid a shower of toys. She was +pulled out, agitated but uninjured, and the scattered exhibits were +carried to another table. In the confusion of their transit she managed +to secrete the piece of twine, the loss of which had been the cause of +the whole upset, and presented it quite innocently to Lispeth, who, not +knowing that she was receiving stolen goods, thanked her and tied the +parcel. Ingred, who had watched the whole comedy, laughed, but did not +give away the secret.</p> + +<p>"That child's an imp!" she said to Quenrede. "But she's a very +accomplished imp. I'll tell you the joke afterwards, not now! Lispeth +little knows where her string comes from, and she's wrapping up that +parcel so placidly! Isn't the Snark looking quite pretty this afternoon? +Never saw her with such a color! Well, if you're ready, Queenie, we'll +go over to the hostel and get my things. We can just catch the four +o'clock train, if we're quick. Wait half a sec, though! There goes Dr. +Linton with Kenneth. I don't want to walk out under his wing!"</p> + +<p>The tall dark figure of the music master was striding through the +doorway, carrying his small son, who hugged his toy with one arm, and +waved a friendly good-by with the other.</p> + +<p>"What possessed you to drop all your music, child?" said Quenrede, +rather patronizingly to Ingred. She was still trying to live up to the +plum-colored hat. "You played ever so decently afterwards, though—you +did, really! Don't tell me again that you're nervous, for it's all +rubbish. You looked as if you enjoyed it."</p> + +<p>"Enjoyed it!" echoed Ingred. "If you'd gone through the palpitations +that I felt this afternoon you'd want to go to a specialist, and consult +him for heart trouble! I've lived through it this once, but if I'm ever +asked to play again in public, you'd better go to the cemetery +beforehand, and choose a picturesque corner for my grave, and buy a +weeping willow ready to plant upon it. Yes, and order a headstone too, +with the simple words: 'Died of fright.' I mean it! 'Enjoyed it!' +indeed! Why, I've never in the whole of my life been in such an +absolutely blue funk!"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII"></a>CHAPTER XIII</h2> + +<h3>Quenrede Comes Out</h3> + + +<p>The Saxon family celebrated Christmas at the bungalow with mixed +feelings. As Ingred said, it was like the curate's egg—parts of it were +very nice. It was the first Christmas they had spent all together for +many years, and if they could only have forgotten Rotherwood, and their +altered circumstances, they would have enjoyed it immensely. Mrs. Saxon, +the unfailing sunshine-radiator of the household, tried to ignore the +tone of discontent in her husband's voice, the grumpy attitude of +Egbert, Quenrede's fit of the blues, and Athelstane's rather martyred +pose. She insisted on bundling everybody out for a blow on the moors.</p> + +<p>"If we'd been living in Grovebury," she remarked, "we should probably +have taken a jaunt to Wynch-on-the-Wold as a special treat. Let us think +ourselves lucky in being on the spot and only having to turn out of our +own door to be at once in such lovely scenery. It's like having a +country holiday at Christmas instead of midsummer—a thing I always +hankered after and never got before!"</p> + +<p>Certainly winter on the wold held a charm of its own. The great waste of +brown moor stretching under the gray sky showed rich patches where +yellow grass and rushes edged dark boggy pools, the low-growing stems of +sallows and alders were delicate with shades of orange and mauve; here +and there a sprig of furze lingered in flower, and black flights of +starlings and fieldfares, driven from colder climates in quest of food, +swept in long lines across the horizon. The weather was open for the +time of year, the wind strong but not too keen, and had it not been for +the lowness of the sun in the sky the day might have been autumn instead +of December. It was glorious to walk to the top of Wetherstone Heights +and see, miles away, the spire of Monkswell Church and the gleam of the +distant river, then to hurry back in the gloaming with the rising mists +creeping up like advancing specters, and to find the lamps lighted and +tea ready in the cheery bungalow. Nobody wanted to quarrel with Yule +cake and muffins, and even Mr. Saxon temporarily forgot his worries and +relapsed into quite amusing reminiscences of certain adventures in +France.</p> + +<p>If only our spirits would keep up to the point to which, with much +effort, we screw them, all would be well: unfortunately they often have +a tiresome knack of descending with a run. When tea was finished and +cleared away Mr. Saxon found the presence of his family a hindrance to +reading, and at a hint from their mother the younger members of the +party took themselves off into the little drawing-room. Here, round a +black fire, which, despite Hereward's poking, refused to burn brightly, +the grumble-cloud that had been lowering all day burst at last.</p> + +<p>"If we'd only got the Rotherwood billiard table there'd be something to +do!" groused Egbert gloomily.</p> + +<p>"There isn't a corner in this poky hole where a fellow can fiddle with +photography," chimed in Athelstane, "even if there was time to do it. +When I get back from Birkshaw it's nothing but grind, grind, grind at +medical books all the evening."</p> + +<p>"Rather have your job than mine, though," said Egbert. "You haven't to +sit under the Pater's eye all day long, and have him down on you like a +cartload of bricks if you make the slightest slip. I'm the worst off of +the whole lot of us!"</p> + +<p>"What about me at that odious Grammar School?" asked Hereward, pressing +his claims to the palm of dissatisfaction.</p> + +<p>"Or me at the hostel!" urged Ingred, not to be outdone.</p> + +<p>"I don't think you, any of you, realize how slow it is just to stop at +home!" sighed Quenrede. "There were sixteen dozen things I'd made up my +mind to do, and I can't do one of them. It's going to be a hateful New +Year for all of us—just a New Year of going without and scraping and +saving and economizing—ugh! What a life!"</p> + +<p>"Life's mostly what we make it," said Mother, who had quietly joined the +circle. "After all, what we think we want doesn't always give the +greatest happiness. Suppose each of us tries to let this be the best +year we've ever had? Very little in the way of material wealth may come +to us, but the other kind of wealth is far better worth working for. I +think this hard time gives us the chance to show what we're made of. +During the fighting, the lads at the front went steadily through severe +privations, and the women at home worked in the same brave, cheery +fashion. Now the strain of the war is over, are we going to let all this +splendid spirit drop? Suppose we fight our own battles as we fought our +country's? Let me feel I've still got a family of soldiers to be proud +of."</p> + +<p>"You're the Colonel, then, of the new corps," said Egbert, with an +affectionate bear-hug to the slight figure that was already making the +black fire break into a blaze. "You've pluck enough for the whole clan, +little Mother o' mine! You shall sound your slogan and lead the attack +on Fate till we get back to Rotherwood! There!"</p> + +<p>"I'm aiming at higher things than Rotherwood, darling boy!" said his +mother gravely.</p> + +<p>"<i>I</i> know!" whispered Quenrede, squeezing the dear hand that reached out +and clasped her own. "I won't be a selfish beast any more. I won't +indeed. Economizing shall be my New Year's cross!"</p> + +<p>"If we're going to count up crosses," proclaimed Athelstane humorously, +"the orphan's fine voice while I'm studying is mine!"</p> + +<p>"But <i>she</i> probably counts it her choicest blessing!" exclaimed Ingred.</p> + +<p>And then the whole family broke out laughing, and Mother's little +lecture ended in fun. It made its impression upon individual members all +the same.</p> + +<p>The six miles which separated the Saxons from Grovebury seemed to have +set up an effectual barrier between them and the old world in which they +had moved before. Many people who had been friendly in the Rotherwood +days did not trouble to come so far as Wynch-on-the-Wold to pay calls, +and the numerous invitations which had formerly been extended to the +young folks decreased this Christmas to very few.</p> + +<p>First and foremost amongst these scanty festivities came Mrs. Desmond's +dance. It was a grown-up affair, and she had sent printed invitations to +Egbert, Athelstane and Quenrede. The latter, who only knew the Desmonds +slightly and was always overwhelmed in their presence, developed a +sudden and acute fit of shyness and implored to be allowed to refuse.</p> + +<p>"If it had been the Browns' or Lawrences' I'd have loved it," she urged, +"but you know, Mumsie, how Mrs. Desmond absolutely withers me up! I +never can say six words when she's there. I'd run five miles to avoid +meeting her: you know I would! She's so starchy."</p> + +<p>"You see very little of your hostess at a dance. Don't be silly, +Queenie!" insisted Mrs. Saxon. "I say you're to go, so there's an end of +it."</p> + +<p>"I'll go for an evening's martyrdom, then, not for enjoyment!" wailed +her daughter dolefully.</p> + +<p>A first grown-up dance is often a terrible ordeal to a girl of eighteen, +and Quenrede, though she had put on a few airs to impress the +schoolgirls at the Rainbow League sale, was at bottom woefully bashful. +She was still in the stage when her newly-turned-up hair looked as if it +were unaccustomed to be coiled round her head; she had a painful habit +of blushing, and had not yet acquired that general <i>savoir faire</i> which +comes to us with the passing of our teens. To be plunged for a whole +evening into the society of a succession of strangers seemed to her +anything but an exhilarating prospect.</p> + +<p>"If I could just dance with our own boys!" she sighed.</p> + +<p>"I'd pity you if you did!" declared Ingred, pausing in an effort to make +Athelstane's steps more worthy of a ball-room. "Why, half the fun will +be your different partners. I only wish I'd your chance and was 'coming +out' too!"</p> + +<p>"I'm sure you're welcome to go instead of me," proclaimed Quenrede +petulantly.</p> + +<p>All the same she watched the preparations for the event with +considerable girlish interest. Mother, whose ambitions at first had run +to a dress from town, regretfully decided that the family finances could +only supply a home-made costume, and set to work with fashion book and +sewing-machine to act amateur dressmaker, a thrilling experience to +unaccustomed fingers, for paper patterns are sometimes difficult to +understand, seams do not fit together as they ought, and the bottom hem +of a skirt is the most awkward thing in the world to make hang perfectly +straight. Quenrede, standing on the table, revolved slowly while Mrs. +Saxon and Ingred stuck in pins and debated whether a quarter of an inch +here and there should be raised or lowered. Ingred showed far more +cleverness in sewing than her sister; her natty fingers could contrive +pretty things already in the shape of collars and blouses.</p> + +<p>"You'd make an admirable curate's wife!" Quenrede laughingly assured +her. "<i>I</i> shall have to marry a rich man and get my things from London."</p> + +<p>"It will probably be the other way," declared Mother. "Stand still, +Queenie, I can't measure properly if you <i>will</i> dance about!"</p> + +<p>Though she was ready with a joke, as a matter of fact Quenrede was +having a severe struggle not to be snappy. For years and years she had +planned her "coming out," and she had decided upon a ball at Rotherwood, +and an absolute creation of a gown that was to be sent for from Paris. +There would have been some éclat then in emerging from the chrysalis +stage of the school-room and becoming a butterfly of society. To make +her first grown-up appearance at Mrs. Desmond's dance and in a home-made +dress seemed not so much a "coming out" as an "oozing out." There are +degrees in butterflies, and she feared her appearance would resemble not +the gorgeous "Red Admiral" or "Painted Lady," but the "Common White +Cabbage." If it had not been for the New Year's resolution, some traces +of her disappointment would have leaked out, but she kept the secret +bravely to herself. The family indeed knew she was not anxious to go, +but set her unwilling attitude down to mere shyness. Her mother never +guessed at the real reason.</p> + +<p>There was a tremendous robing on the evening of January the ninth, with +Mother and Ingred for lady's-maids, and "The Orphan" hovering about, +offering to bring pins or hot water on the chance of getting a peep at +the proceedings. Mrs. Saxon stepped back, when all was complete, and +viewed the result somewhat in the spirit of an artist who has finished a +picture. It is an event in a mother's life when her first little girl +grows up and becomes a young lady. To-night Quenrede was to be launched +on the stream of society. Looked at critically, her appearance was very +satisfactory. Though the new dress might not be up to the level of a +fashion-plate, it certainly became her, and set off the pretty fair +face, white neck, and coils of gleaming flaxen hair.</p> + +<p>"Your gloves and shoes and stockings are all right, and you've got a +nice handkerchief, and your fan," reviewed Mother, wrapping an evening +cloak round her handiwork. "Good-by, my bird! Enjoy yourself, and don't +be silly and shy."</p> + +<p>"I shall keep awake till you come back!" Ingred assured her.</p> + +<p>It was something at any rate to be going with Egbert and Athelstane. +Among the stream of strangers there would be at least two home objects +upon which she might occasionally cast anchor. The thought of that +buoyed her up as the taxi whirled them down hill to Grovebury.</p> + +<p>The Desmonds were giving the dance as a coming-out for one of their own +daughters, and their house was <i>en fête</i>. An awning protected the porch, +red cloth carpeted the steps, a marquee filled the lawn, and a stringed +band from Birkshaw had been engaged to play the latest dance music.</p> + +<p>Quenrede passed calmly enough through the ordeals of leaving her cloak +in the dressing-room (where a crowd of girls were prinking, and there +was no room for even a glance in the mirror), and the greeting from her +host and hostess in the drawing-room. It was in the ball-room afterwards +that her agony began. Egbert and Athelstane were whisked away from her +to be introduced to other girls, and utter strangers, whose names she +seldom caught, were brought to her, took her program, recorded their +initials and passed on to book other partners. The few people in the +marquee whom she knew were too far away or too occupied to speak to her, +so she stood alone, and heartily wished herself at home.</p> + +<p>It was better when the dancing began, though her partners scared her +horribly. They all made exactly the same remarks about the excellence of +the floor, the taste of the decorations, and the beauty of the music, +and asked her if she had been to the pantomime, and whether she played +golf. Small talk is an art, and though Quenrede had many interests, and +in ordinary circumstances could have discussed them, to-night she felt +tongue-tied, and let the ball of conversation drop with a "yes" or "no" +or "very." Dances with strangers who expected her to talk were bad +enough, but the gaps in her program were worse. No doubt Mrs. Desmond +tried to look after all her guests, but several gentlemen had +disappointed her at the last minute, and there were not quite partners +enough to go round. At a young people's party Quenrede would have +cheerily danced with some other girl in like plight, but at this stiff +grown-up gathering she dared not suggest such an informality, and +remained a wallflower. She caught glimpses occasionally of Egbert and +Athelstane, the former apparently enjoying himself, the latter looking +as solemn as if he were in church.</p> + +<p>"I know the poor boy's counting his steps and trying not to tread on +anybody's toes!" thought Quenrede. "Ingred said his partners would have +to pull him around somehow."</p> + +<p>Supper was a diversion, for she was taken in by quite a nice red-headed +boy, a little younger than herself, who, after a manful effort to talk +up to her supposed level, thankfully relapsed into details of +football-matches. Being a nephew of the house, he proved an adept in +attracting the most tempting dishes of fruit or trifle to their +particular table, and even basely commandeered other people's crackers +for her benefit. She bade him good-by with regret.</p> + +<p>"I say, I wish my card wasn't full! I'd have liked a dance with you!" he +murmured wistfully as they left the supper-room.</p> + +<p>If only she had known people better, and the atmosphere had not seemed +so stiff and formal, and she had not been so miserably shy, Quenrede +might have enjoyed herself. As it was she began counting the hours. In +one of the wallflower gaps of her program she took a stroll into the +conservatory. It looked like fairyland with the colored lanterns hanging +among the palms and flowers. Somebody else was apparently enjoying the +pretty effect—somebody who turned round rather guiltily as if he were +caught; then at sight of her smiled in relief.</p> + +<p>"I thought you were one of my hostesses come to round me up to do my +duty," he confessed. "I'm a duffer at dancing, so I've taken cover in +here. I see you don't remember me, but we've met before—at Red Ridge +Barrow. My name's Broughten."</p> + +<p>"Why, of course! You had a piece of candle and showed us inside the +mound. I ought to have known you again, but—you look so different——"</p> + +<p>"In evening dress! So do you; but I recognized you in a minute. Look +here" (in sudden compunction), "am I keeping you from a partner?"</p> + +<p>"No more than I am keeping you!" twinkled Quenrede, pointing to the +empty line on her program. "I'm not dancing this, so I came here to—to +enjoy myself."</p> + +<p>Her companion laughed in swift comprehension.</p> + +<p>"I don't know how other people may find it," he confided, "but hour +after hour of this sort of thing gets on my nerves. A tramp over the +moor is far more my line of amusement. I was wishing I might go home!"</p> + +<p>"So was I!"</p> + +<p>"But there's still at least another hour and a half."</p> + +<p>"With extras, more!" admitted Quenrede.</p> + +<p>He held out his hand for her program. "I'm an idiot at dancing, but +would you mind sitting out a few with me?"</p> + +<p>"If you won't talk about the floor and the decorations and the band, and +ask me whether I've been to the pantomime, or if I like golf!"</p> + +<p>"I promise that those topics shall be utterly and absolutely taboo. I'm +sick of them myself."</p> + +<p>Quenrede's shyness, which was only an outer casing, had suddenly +disappeared in the presence of a fellow-victim of social conventions, +and conversation came easily, all the more so after being pent-up all +the evening. Henry Desmond, wandering into the conservatory presently, +remarked to his partner, sotto voce:</p> + +<p>"That Saxon girl's chattering sixteen to the dozen now! Couldn't get a +word out of her myself!"</p> + +<p>When Quenrede, sometime about five o'clock in the morning, tried to +creep stealthily to bed without disturbing her sister, Ingred, refreshed +by half a night's sleep, sat up wide awake and demanded details.</p> + +<p>"Sh! Sh! Mother said we weren't to talk now, and I must tell you +everything afterwards. Oh, I got on better than I expected, though most +of the people were rather starchy. How did my dress look? +Well—<i>promise</i> you won't breathe a word to darling Mother—it was just +passable, and that's all. Some girls had <i>lovely</i> things. I didn't care. +The second part of the evening was far nicer than the first, and I +enjoyed the dances that I sat out the most. The conservatory was all +hung with lanterns. There; I'm dead tired and I want to go to sleep. +Good-night, dear!"</p> + +<p>"But you've 'come out!'" said Ingred with satisfaction as she subsided +under her eiderdown.</p> + +<p>"Oh yes, I'm most decidedly 'out,'" murmured Quenrede.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIV" id="CHAPTER_XIV"></a>CHAPTER XIV</h2> + +<h3>The Peep-hole</h3> + + +<p>The Foursome League met in Dormitory 2 after the holidays with much +clattering of tongues. Each wanted to tell her own experience, and they +all talked at once. Fil had a new way of doing her hair, and gave the +others no peace till they had duly realized and appreciated it. Verity +had been bridesmaid to a cousin, and wished to give full details of the +wedding; Nora had played hockey in a Scotch team against a Ladies' Club, +and had been promised ten minutes in an aeroplane, but the weather had +been too stormy for the flight; the disappointment—when she happened to +remember it—quite weighed down her spirits.</p> + +<p>"If there's one thing on earth—or rather on air—I'd like to be, it's a +flying woman!" she told her friends emphatically. "I'm hoping aeroplanes +will get a little cheaper some day, and rich people will keep them +instead of motor cars. Then I'll go out as an aviatress. It's a new +career for women."</p> + +<p>"I wouldn't trust myself to <i>your</i> tender mercies, thank you!" shuddered +Ingred. "You'd soon bring the machine down with a crash, and smash us to +smithereens."</p> + +<p>"Indeed I shouldn't! I'd go sailing about like a bird!"</p> + +<p>And Nora, suiting action to words, stood on her bed fluttering her arms, +till Verity wickedly gave her a push behind, and sent her springing with +more force than grace to the floor.</p> + +<p>"You Jumbo! You make the room shake!" exclaimed Ingred. "If that's how +you're going to land you'll dig a hole in the ground like a bomb! Do +move out, and let me get to my drawer! You're growing too big for this +bedroom!"</p> + +<p>"Nobody's looked at my new hair ribbons yet!" interposed Fil's plaintive +voice. "See, I've got six! Aren't they beauties! Pale pink, pale blue, +Saxe blue, navy for my gym. costume, black for a useful one, and olive +green to go with my velveteen Sunday dress. Don't you think they're +nice?"</p> + +<p>"Ripping!" agreed Nora. "We'll know where to go when we want to borrow. +There, don't look so scared, Baby! I've chopped my hair so short I +couldn't wear a ribbon if I tried! It would be off in three cracks! +Stick them back in their box, and don't tempt me! They're not in my +line! I'm going in for uniform. <i>You</i>'re the sort who wears chiffons and +laces and all the rest of it, but you'll see <i>me</i> in gilt buttons before +I have done, with wings on them, I hope! I may be the first to fly to +Mars! Who knows? You shall all have my photo beforehand just in case!"</p> + +<p>Everybody at the College, and particularly at the Hostel, agreed that +the first few weeks of the new term were trying. After the interval of +the holidays, the yoke of homework seemed doubly heavy, and undoubtedly +the prep. was stiffer than ever. Only certain hours were set apart for +study during the evenings at the hostel, and any girl who could not +accomplish her lessons in that time had to finish them as best she could +in odd minutes during the day, or even in bed in the mornings if she +happened to wake sufficiently early. Fil, who generally succeeded in +mastering about half her preparation and no more, railed at fate.</p> + +<p>"I'm so unlucky!" she sighed to a sympathetic audience in No. 2. "I knew +the first ten lines of my French poetry beautifully, and I could have +said them if Mademoiselle had asked me, but of course she didn't. She +set me on those wretched irregular verbs, and they always floor me +utterly. As for the 'dictée'—I can't spell in English—let alone +French! It's not the least use for Mademoiselle to get excited and stamp +her foot at me. I shall be glad when I'm old enough to leave school. I +never mean to look at a French book again!"</p> + +<p>"How about English spelling?" suggested Ingred. "You'll want to write a +letter occasionally!"</p> + +<p>"I think by that time," said Fil hopefully, "somebody will have invented +a typewriter that can spell for itself. You'll just press a knob for +each word, you know!"</p> + +<p>"There are about 3000 words in common daily use!" laughed Verity. "If +you need a knob for each, your typewriter will have to be the size of a +church organ. It'll want a room to itself!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, but think of the convenience of it! No more hunting in the +dictionary!" declared Fil.</p> + +<p>To add to the aggravations of the new term the weather was doubtful, and +seemed to take a spiteful pleasure in being particularly wet on hockey +afternoons. Day after day, disappointed girls would watch the streaming +rain and lament the lack of practice. To give them some form of exercise +they were assembled in the gymnasium, and held rival displays of Indian +clubs, Morris dancing, or even skipping. "The True Blues" excelled at +high jumping, "The Pioneers" at certain rigid balancing feats, "The Old +Brigade" were great at vaulting, and "The Amazons" and "The Mermaids" +performed marvels in the way of Swedish Boom exercises.</p> + +<p>Still, everybody agreed that though the contests were fun in their way +they were not hockey, and the girls would much have preferred the +playing-fields, however wet, to the gymnasium.</p> + +<p>The girls in the hostel had the hour between four and five o'clock at +their own disposal. They were not allowed to leave the College bounds, +but they might amuse themselves as they pleased in the garden, +playground, or gymnasium. In turns, according to the practising list, +they had to devote the time to the piano, and a few even began their +prep., though this was not greatly encouraged by Miss Burd, who thought +a short brain rest advisable. One afternoon Ingred walked along the +corridor with a big pile of music in her arms. Just outside the study +she met Verity, and saluted her:</p> + +<p>"Cheerio, old sport! Here's Dr. Linton left his whole cargo behind him +to-day. He rushed off in a hurry and forgot it, and I know he'll be just +raging. I'm going to ask Miss Burd if I may run over into the Abbey and +leave it on the organ for him. He has a choir practice to-night, so he's +sure to find it. Will you come with me? Right-o! We'll both go in and +ask 'exeats.'"</p> + +<p>The College was erected upon a plot of land which had originally been +part of the Abbey grounds. All the old buildings, formerly inhabited by +the monks of St. Bidulph's, and by the nuns in the adjoining convent of +St. Mary's, had long ago been swept away, and only a few ruined walls +marked their sites. The nave of the Abbey, however, had escaped, and was +still in use as a parish church, though the beautiful original chancel +and transepts had been battered down by Henry the Eighth's +Commissioners. It was only a few hundred yards from the school to the +Abbey, and Miss Burd readily gave the girls permission to take Dr. +Linton's music and leave it for him on the organ. It was the first time +either of them had been inside the church when no service was going on, +and they looked round curiously. The organ was locked, or Ingred would +certainly never have resisted the temptation to put on the fascinating +stops and pedals. She tried to lift the lid that hid the keyboards, but +with no success.</p> + +<p>"He might have left it open!" she sighed.</p> + +<p>"But the verger would come fussing up directly you began to play," said +Verity.</p> + +<p>"I don't see the verger anywhere about."</p> + +<p>"Why, no more do I, now you mention it."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps he's slipped across to his cottage to have his tea!"</p> + +<p>"Perhaps. I say, Ingred, what a gorgeous opportunity to explore. Let's +look round a little on our own."</p> + +<p>There was nobody to forbid, so they started on a tour of inspection. The +places they wanted to look at were those that ordinary church-goers +never have a chance of seeing. They peeped into the choir vestry, and +Verity gave rather a gasp at the sight of an array of white surplices +hanging on the wall like a row of ghosts. They went down a narrow flight +of damp steps into a dark place where the coke was kept, they peered +into a dusty recess behind the organ, and into a room under the tower, +where spare chairs were stored. All this was immensely interesting, but +did not quite content them. Verity's ambition soared farther. Very high +up on the wall, above the glorious pillars, and just under the +clerestory windows, was a narrow passage called the Nuns' Ambulatory. It +had been built in the long-ago ages to provide exercise for the sisters +in the adjoining convent, to which a covered way had originally led.</p> + +<p>"Just think of the poor dears parading round there on wet days when they +couldn't walk in their own garden!" said Verity, turning her head almost +upside down in her efforts to scan the passage. "I wonder if they ever +felt giddy."</p> + +<p>"There's a balustrade, of course, but I prefer our modern gym. I believe +there's a walk all over the roof too. Athelstane went up once. He said +it was like being on the top of a mountain, and you could look all over +the town."</p> + +<p>"What's that queer stone box thing on the wall?" asked Verity, still +gazing upwards.</p> + +<p>Ingred followed the line of her friend's eye to a point above the +pillars but below the Nuns' Ambulatory. Here, built out like an oriel +window, was a curious closed-in-gallery of stone, pierced in places by +tiny frets. It seemed to have nothing to do with the architecture of the +Abbey, and indeed to be a sort of excrescence which had been added to it +at some later date. It spoilt the beauty of line, and would have been +better removed.</p> + +<p>"Oh, that's the peep-hole!" said Ingred, lowering her head, for it was +painful to stretch her neck in so uncomfortable a position. "It was put +up in the seventeenth century, when the whole place was full of those +old-fashioned high pews. People were very dishonest in those days, and +thieves used to come to church on purpose to pick pockets. So they +always used to keep somebody stationed up there, looking down through +the holes over the congregation to see that no purses were taken during +the service. Nice state of things, wasn't it?"</p> + +<p>"Rather! But I'd love to go up there. I say, the verger's still at his +tea. Shall we try?"</p> + +<p>"Right-o! I'm game if you are!"</p> + +<p>By the north porch there was a small oak door studded with nails. +Generally this was kept locked, but to-day, by a miracle of good +fortune, it happened to be open. It was, of course, a very unorthodox +thing for the verger to go away and leave the Abbey unattended, even for +half an hour, but vergers, after all, are only human, and enjoy a cup of +tea as much as other people who do not wear black cassocks. He was +safely seated by the fireside in his ivy-colored cottage at the other +side of the churchyard, so the girls seized their golden opportunity. +They went up and up and up, along a winding staircase for an +interminable way. It was dark, and the steps were worn with the tread of +seven centuries, and here and there was a broken bit over which they had +to clamber with care. At last, after what seemed like mounting the Tower +of Babel, they stumbled up through a narrow doorway into the most +extraordinary place in the world. They were in the garret of the roof +over the south aisle. Above them were enormous beams or rafters, and +below, a rough flooring. It was very dim and dusky, but about midway +shone a bright shaft of light evidently from some communication with the +interior of the nave. Towards this they directed their steps. It was a +difficult progress owing to the huge rafters that supported the roof. A +plank pathway about four feet above the floor had been laid across the +beams, and along this Ingred decided to venture.</p> + +<p>She started, balancing herself with her arms, and kept her equilibrium, +though the plank was narrow and sprang as she walked. Verity, who had no +head for such achievements, preferred to scramble along the floor, +creeping under the rafters, in spite of the thick dust of years that lay +there. Eventually they both reached the radius of light, and found +another doorway leading down by a few steps into what was apparently a +cupboard. In the wall of the cupboard, however, were frets through which +the sunlight was streaming. Ingred applied an eye and gave a gasp of +satisfaction.</p> + +<p>They were in the peep-hole on the wall of the nave, and could gaze +straight down into the church below. It was marvellous what an excellent +view they obtained. Nothing was hidden, not even the interiors of the +old-fashioned square pews that had lingered as a relic of the eighteenth +century. Anybody stationed in this spy-box would certainly be able to +keep guard over the congregation, and note any nefarious designs on the +pockets of the worshipers.</p> + +<p>For the moment the church was empty, then footsteps were audible in the +porch. Was it the verger returning from his tea? The girls began to +flutter at the prospect of his wrath if he discovered them. It was no +cassock-clad verger that entered, however, but two young people, far too +much interested in each other to gaze upwards towards the frets of the +peep-hole. They thought they had the church to themselves, and walked +along conversing in a low tone. The particular shade of flaxen hair in +the masculine figure seemed familiar, and Ingred chuckled as she +recognized her eldest brother.</p> + +<p>"Caught you, old boy! Caught you neatly!" she thought. "Who's the girl? +Oh, I know. It's one of the Bertrands—Queenie said they were at the +Desmonds' dance, so I suppose he met her there. What a priceless joke! +How I shall crow over him for this! They're actually going to sit down +in a pew and talk! Well, this is the limit!"</p> + +<p>Quite unconscious that sisterly eyes were watching, Egbert ushered his +fair partner into one of the old-fashioned square pews. It was a quiet +place to rest, and perhaps the young lady was tired. He sat by her side, +very much occupied in explaining something which the girls in the +peep-hole could not overhear. At last the quiet well-trained footsteps +of the verger echoed again in the nave. He glanced at the young couple +in the pew, and began to dust and rearrange the hymn-books. Egbert and +Miss Bertrand took the hint and departed.</p> + +<p>The pair spying through the fretwork above also judged it expedient to +beat a hasty retreat. They were terrified lest the verger should +remember that he had left the tower door open, and should lock them in. +They stumbled back among the rafters, regardless of dust, and groped +their rather perilous way down the winding staircase. To their infinite +relief the door was not shut, and they were able to creep quietly out +and bolt from the Abbey unperceived. They fled along the stone path that +edged the churchyard, then stopped under the shelter of a ruined wall to +brush the dust off their dresses before re-entering the College.</p> + +<p>"It's been quite an adventure!" gasped Verity.</p> + +<p>"Rather! Particularly catching old Egbert. Won't he look silly when I +bring it out before the family? I don't know whether I <i>will</i> tell them, +though! I think I'll keep it back, so as to have something to hold over +his head when he teases me. Yes, that would be far more fun, really. I +can hint darkly that I know one of his secrets, and he'll be so puzzled. +I don't admire his taste much. Queenie detests those Bertrand girls. I +don't know them myself to speak to, but I'm not impressed. Look here, +the dust simply <i>won't</i> come off your skirt, Verity!"</p> + +<p>"It'll do as it is, then, and I'll use the clothes brush afterwards. +Don't worry any more. There's the Abbey clock striking five! It's a few +minutes fast, fortunately, but we shall simply have to sprint, or we +shall be late for tea!"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XV" id="CHAPTER_XV"></a>CHAPTER XV</h2> + +<h3>Brotherly Breezes</h3> + + +<p>There was no doubt that Egbert was the odd one in the Saxon family. He +had inherited a testy strain of temper, and was frequently most +obstinate and perverse. It was unfortunate that he was an articled pupil +in his father's office, for he fretted and tried Mr. Saxon far more than +Athelstane would have done in the circumstances. Egbert's saving quality +was his intense love for his mother. Her influence held him steadily to +his work, and smoothed over many difficult situations. He was apt to +quarrel with Quenrede, but he had a soft corner for Ingred, and +sometimes made rather a pet of her.</p> + +<p>A few days after the incident at the Abbey he turned up at school, to +her immense astonishment, and asked leave from Miss Burd to take her out +to tea at a café. It had been an old promise on his part, ever since +Ingred went to the hostel, but it had hung fire so long that she had +come to regard it as one of those piecrust promises that elder members +of a family frequently make, and never find it convenient to carry out. +She had reminded Egbert of it at intervals all through the autumn term, +then had given it up as "a bad job." To find him waiting for her in Miss +Burd's study, ready to escort her to the Alhambra tea-rooms, seemed like +a fairy tale come true. She whisked off at once to make the best +possible toilet in the circumstances, and reappeared smilingly ready. +When you have tea every day at a long table full of girls, the meal is +apt to grow monotonous, and it was a welcome change to take it instead +in a gay Oriental room with Moorish decorations and luxurious +arm-chairs, and a platform in a corner, where musicians were giving a +capital concert. Ingred leaned back on an embroidered cushion and ate +cakes covered with pink sugar, and listened to a violin solo followed by +some charming songs, and watched the gay crowd sitting at the other +small tables. It was really delightful to be out just with Egbert alone. +It made her feel almost grown-up. Moreover, he was in such a remarkably +generous mood. He set no limit to the supply of cakes, and he stopped at +the counter as they went downstairs and bought her a box of chocolates +and a large packet of Edinburgh rock. He even went further, for as they +walked round the square together, and looked into the window of a fancy +shop, he told her to choose her birthday present, and agreed amicably +when she selected a morocco-leather bag which was for the moment the +summit of her dreams. She parted from him at the College gates in +deepest gratitude. This was indeed something like a brother!</p> + +<p>"You're an absolute trump!" she assured him.</p> + +<p>"Well, a fellow's always got a decent sister to take about, anyway," he +replied enigmatically, a remark over which Ingred pondered, but could +not fathom.</p> + +<p>She mentioned the jaunt at the family supper-table on Friday evening. To +her immense surprise her innocent remark had somewhat the effect of a +bomb. Mr. Saxon turned to his son with a sudden keen expression, as if +he had convicted him of a crime. Mrs. Saxon's face also was full of +suppressed meaning, while Egbert colored furiously, looked thunderous at +his sister, and relapsed into sulky silence. Poor Ingred felt that she +had, quite unconsciously, put her foot in it, though how or why she +could not tell. She said no more at the time, and when, afterwards, she +ventured to refer again to the subject, she was so tremendously shut up +that she saw clearly it was discreet to make no further inquiry. Plainly +there was some tremendous quarrel between Egbert and his father, for +they were barely on speaking terms.</p> + +<p>Mr. Saxon threw out occasional inuendoes that caused his son finally to +stump from the room. Mrs. Saxon went about with a cloud of distress on +her face, and Quenrede, to whom Ingred applied for enlightenment, +promptly and pointedly changed the subject. It was miserably +uncomfortable, for father and son were like two Leyden jars charged with +electricity, and ready to let fly at any moment. It was only the +mother's influence that averted a family thunderstorm. Athelstane, too, +seemed in the depths of gloom. He was willing, however, to communicate +his woes.</p> + +<p>"I want a whole heap more medical books," he confided to his sister, +"and Dad says he can't get them, and I must manage without. How on earth +<i>can</i> I manage without. What's the use of my going to College if I +haven't the proper textbooks? I can't always be borrowing. If I fail in +my exams, it will be his fault, not mine. He's the most absolutely +unreasonable man anybody could have to deal with. Of course I know +they're expensive, and funds are low, but I've simply <i>got</i> to have +them, or chuck up medicine!"</p> + +<p>"It's so terrible to be poor!" sighed Quenrede, thinking of the old, +happy pre-war days at Rotherwood, when everything came so easily, and +there were no struggles to make ends meet.</p> + +<p>She talked the matter over afterwards with Ingred.</p> + +<p>"If I could only help somehow!" she mourned. "I've often thought I might +go out and earn something, but Mother's not strong, and I really do a +great deal in the house. If I went away and left her with only 'The +Orphan,' she'd be laid up in a fortnight. As it is, she tries to do far +too much. How could we possibly get some money for Athelstane's books? +We'd rather die than ask our friends!"</p> + +<p>Ingred shook her head sadly. Wild ideas surged through her mind of +disguising herself and sweeping a crossing—there were stories of +wealthy crossing-sweepers—or rivaling Charlie Chaplin on the cinema +stage, but somehow they did not seem quite practicable for a girl of +sixteen. She left Quenrede's question unanswered. It was only late on +Saturday afternoon that a great idea came to her. Great—but so +overwhelming that she winced at the bare notion. It was as if some inner +voice said to her: "Sell Derry!" Now Derry, the fox terrier, was her +very own property. He had been given to her two years before by a cousin +as a birthday present. He was of prize breed, and had brought his +pedigree with him. He was a smart, bright little fellow, and on the +whole a favorite in the household, though he sometimes got into trouble +for jumping on to the best chairs and leaving his hairs on the cushions. +It had never particularly struck Ingred that Derry was of value, until +last week, when Mr. Hardcastle noticed him. Relations with that precise +old neighbor next door had been rather strained for a long time, since +the unfortunate episode when Hereward had unwittingly discharged the +contents of the garden syringe in his face. For months he studiously +avoided them, calling his collie away with quite unnecessary caution if +they happened to pass him on the road, and bolting into his own premises +if they met near the gate. But one day, about Christmas-time, Sam, the +collie, who was a giddy and irresponsible sort of dog, given to aimless +yapping at passing conveyances, overdid his supposed guardianship of his +owner's property, and blundered into a motor that was whisking by. The +car did not trouble to stop, and when it was a hundred yards away, Sam +picked himself up and limped on three legs to show his bleeding paw to +his agitated master. Fortunately Athelstane, from the bungalow garden, +had witnessed the accident, and came forward like a Good Samaritan with +offers of help. His elementary acquaintance with surgery stood him in +good stead, and he neatly set the injured limb, and bound it up with +splints and plaster. There had been many inquiries over the hedge as to +the invalid's progress, and congratulations when the bandages were able +at last to be removed. Old Mr. Hardcastle had waxed quite friendly as he +expressed his thanks, and one day, catching Ingred by the gate with +Derry, he had volunteered the information that "that fox terrier of +yours is a fine dog, and no mistake, and would be worth something to a +fancier!"</p> + +<p>"Sell Derry!" the idea, though she hated it, had taken possession of +Ingred's brain. He was the only thing she had that was of marketable +value. To part with the poor little fellow would be like selling her +birthright, but, after all, brothers came first, and how could +Athelstane study without books? Something Mother had said the other day +clamored in her memory. "If we've lost our fortune we've got our family +intact, and we must stick tight together, and be ready to make +sacrifices for one another." Ingred had quite made up her mind. She put +on her hat, took Derry from his cozy place by the kitchen fire, kissed +his nose, and, carrying him in her arms, walked to the next-door house, +rang the bell, and asked to see Mr. Hardcastle.</p> + +<p>She found the old gentleman in a cozy dining-room, seated by a cheery +fire, and reading the evening paper. He looked a little astonished when +she was ushered in, but received her politely, as if it was quite a +matter of course for a young lady, hugging a dog, to pay him an +afternoon visit.</p> + +<p>Ingred put Derry down on the hearth rug, took the arm-chair that was +offered her, and with a beating heart and a very high color plunged into +business, and inquired if it were possible to find a fancier who wished +to buy a prize fox terrier.</p> + +<p>"I've his pedigree here," she finished, "and he really is a nice little +dog. If you know of anybody, I'd be so glad if you would tell me +please!"</p> + +<p>Mr. Hardcastle, evidently much electrified, knitted his bushy eyebrows +in thought, and pursed his mouth into a button.</p> + +<p>"There was a vet. in Grovesbury who told me a while ago that he wanted +one, but I saw him yesterday, and he said he had just bought one, so +that's no good! You might try the advertisements in <i>The Bazaar</i>. He +looks a bright little chap. Why are you in such a panic to get rid of +him? Been killing chickens?"</p> + +<p>"No," said Ingred, turning pinker still; "it isn't that—I don't want to +sell him, of course—only—only——"</p> + +<p>And then to her extreme annoyance, her brimming eyes overflowed, and she +burst into stifled sobs.</p> + +<p>The old gentleman shot his lips in and out in mingled consternation and +sympathy.</p> + +<p>"There! There! There!" he exclaimed. "Don't cry! For goodness' sake, +don't cry! Tell me, whatever's the matter?"</p> + +<p>It was, of course, a most unorthodox thing for Ingred to blurt out +family affairs, and Father and Mother would have been justly indignant +had they known, but she was impulsive, and without much worldly wisdom, +and Mr. Hardcastle seemed sympathetic, so on the spur of the moment she +told him the urgency of Athelstane's need, and how she was trying to +meet it. He sat quite quiet for a short time, staring into the fire, +then he said, very gently and kindly:</p> + +<p>"My dear little girl, you needn't part with your dog. I believe I can +lend your brother all the medical books he wants."</p> + +<p>"You! But you're not a doctor?" exclaimed Ingred.</p> + +<p>"No, but my boy was studying medicine at Birkshaw. He had just passed +his intermediate M. B. when he was called up. I've got all his books. He +won't want them again now. He was flying over the German lines, and his +machine crashed down. One comfort, he was killed instantly! He had +always hoped he'd never be taken prisoner. I think he'd have liked his +books to be put to some use. I'll hunt them out, and send them across to +your brother, and the microscope, and any other things I can find. He +may just as well have them."</p> + +<p>There was a huskiness in the old gentleman's voice, but he coughed it +away.</p> + +<p>"I don't know how to thank you!" stammered Ingred.</p> + +<p>"I don't want any thanks. It's only a neighborly act. Take your dog +home, and say nothing about all this. I'll write to your brother. I +wonder I never thought about it before!"</p> + +<p>Mr. Hardcastle was as good as his word, for next Monday evening quite a +large consignment arrived for Athelstane, with a note offering the loan +of books and microscope if they would be of any service in his medical +studies.</p> + +<p>"Why, they're absolutely the very things I wanted!" exclaimed that youth +rapturously. "What a trump he is! A real good sort! I say, you know, +it's really most awfully kind of him! I wonder what the Dickens put it +into his head?"</p> + +<p>But on that point none of the family could enlighten him, for only +Ingred and Derry knew the secret, and Ingred was at school, while Derry, +belonging to the dumb creation, expressed his opinions solely in barks.</p> + +<p>When the household was reunited for next week-end, the clouds had +cleared from Athelstane's horizon, but seemed to have settled more +darkly than ever round Egbert. There was a horrible feeling of impending +storm in the home atmosphere. It lent a constraint to conversation at +meals, and put an effectual stopper on the fun which generally +circulated round the fireside. It was all the more uncomfortable because +nobody voiced the cause.</p> + +<p>"Father looks unutterables, Mother's plainly worried to death, Egbert is +sulks personified, Queenie won't tell, Athelstane and Hereward either +don't know or don't care what's the matter, but it makes them cross. +What is one to do with such a family?" thought Ingred on Sunday +afternoon.</p> + +<p>It had been wet, and, though a detachment of them had ventured to church +in waterproofs, they had not been able to take their usual safety valve +of a walk across the moors. Seven people in a small house seem to get in +one another's way on Sunday afternoons. Father was dozing in the +dining-room, Mother, Athelstane and Hereward were in the drawing-room, +interrupting each other's reading by constant extracts from their own +books; Ingred, who hated to pause in the midst of <i>The Scarlet +Pimpernel</i> to hear choice bits from <i>The Young Visiters</i> or <i>Parisian +Sketches</i>, sought sanctuary in her bedroom, only to find the blind drawn +and Quenrede with a bad headache, trying to rest. There seemed no +comfortable corner available, so she slipped on her thick coat, put her +book in the pocket, and walked down the garden to sit in the cycle-shed. +Even in the rain it was nice out of doors; clumps of purple and yellow +crocuses showed under the gooseberry bushes; lilies were pushing up +green heads through the soil; the flowering currant was bursting into +bud; roots of polyanthus flaunted mauve and orange blossoms; under a +sheltered wall were even a few early violets, whose sweet fresh scent +seemed as the first breath of spring. A missel-thrush on the bare pear +tree sang triumphantly through the rain, and a song-thrush, with more +melodious notes, trilled forth an occasional call; the robin, which had +haunted the garden all the winter, was scraping energetically for grubs +among the ivy on the wall, and scarcely troubled to fly away at her +approach.</p> + +<p>Ingred drew great breaths of sweet-scented wet air, and, with almost the +same instinct as the thrush, broke into "Thank God for a Garden!" the +song that Mother loved to hear Quenrede sing in the evenings when the +day's work was over.</p> + +<p>Delightful and refreshing and soothing as Nature may be, however, it is +rather a wet business to stand admiring crocuses in the streaming rain, +so Ingred made a dash through the dripping bushes to the cycle-shed. If +she had calculated upon finding solitude here she was disappointed. It +was occupied already. Egbert, looking as gloomy as Hamlet, was tinkering +with the motor-bicycle. He greeted his sister with something between a +sigh and a grunt, whistled monotonously for a moment or two, then burst +into confidence.</p> + +<p>"Look here, Ingred; I can't stand this any longer. I wish I were back in +the army! I've a jolly good mind to chuck everything up, and re-enlist!"</p> + +<p>"Is it as bad as all that?" asked Ingred.</p> + +<p>"Yes, I'm about fed up with life. If it weren't for the little Mater I'd +have cleared out before this. Perhaps she'll miss me, but I don't know +that anybody else will, and I don't care!"</p> + +<p>"How about Miss Bertrand?" asked Ingred, obeying a sudden impulse of +mischief.</p> + +<p>Egbert flung down a spanner, and turned to her the most astonished face +in the world.</p> + +<p>"What do <i>you</i> know about Miss Bertrand?" he queried.</p> + +<p>Ingred chuckled delightedly. To use her own schoolgirl expression, she +felt she "had him on toast."</p> + +<p>"More than you imagine! Who went into the Abbey Church, I should like to +know, and sat in a pew for ever so long, and looked tender nothings? Oh +yes! <i>I</i> saw you, and a pretty sight it was, too!" she teased.</p> + +<p>Egbert was gazing at her as if he could scarcely believe his senses.</p> + +<p>"But—but—where were you?" he stuttered.</p> + +<p>"In the peep-hole!" exploded Ingred. "I could see right down into the +church, and I watched you come in! I've been saving this up!"</p> + +<p>Egbert drew a long breath.</p> + +<p>"If I'd only known before!" he said slowly. "Ingred, stop laughing! You +don't understand. Look here, will you go and tell Dad that you saw me +there, and the exact day and time when it happened. You can remember +that?"</p> + +<p>"Why, surely Father's the very last person you want to know?" said +Ingred, sobering down.</p> + +<p>"No, he isn't, he's the one it's most important should hear about it +from a reliable witness whom he can believe. I don't mind telling you +about it now" (as Ingred expressed her astonishment in her face), "I'd +got myself into a jolly old mess, and you'll be able to clear me! It was +this way; I slipped out from the office one afternoon for an hour, and +went into the Abbey as you saw. Well, when I got back, somebody had been +into Dad's room during his absence, and a small sum of money was +missing. He taxed me with taking it!"</p> + +<p>"<i>You!</i> But why you?" exclaimed Ingred indignantly.</p> + +<p>"Because I was the only person who had access to his private room. I +told Dad I had been out—which made him angrier still—but none of the +clerks had happened to see me go or come back, and I had no other +witness to prove my words. As a matter of fact, I went out before +Father, and came back after he had returned, but he wouldn't take my +word for it. You know what he is when he's angry. You simply can't argue +with him! Then you made things ever so much worse by blurting out how +I'd taken you to tea at the café, and bought you a bag. Father glared as +if it proved I'd been spending stolen money!"</p> + +<p>"You were rather flush of cash that day," commented Ingred.</p> + +<p>"Yes, the fact is I'd been writing a short story, and it had been +accepted by a newspaper. It's a poor enough thing, and I didn't sign my +own name to it. I didn't want to tell them at home I was trying to write +until I could do something better. Anyhow, I'd just cashed the check, +and thought I'd give you a treat for once. I knew it was no use to +explain to Father. Mother has stuck up for me, but I can tell you I've +been having a time of it this last fortnight."</p> + +<p>"But, Egbert," said Ingred, frankly puzzled, "couldn't you have got Miss +Bertrand to tell Dad where you were? It would have been better after all +than letting him think you took the money."</p> + +<p>Egbert's face darkened again tragically.</p> + +<p>"I wouldn't appeal to Miss Bertrand to clear my character if it were a +charge of murder. I'd be hanged first! I met her the very day after we +were in the Abbey together—she was walking with some idiot of an +airman—and she stared straight in my face and cut me. I've done with +girls! They're all of them alike!" and the gloomy young misanthrope +picked up the spanner and began energetically tightening nuts on the +motorcycle.</p> + +<p>Ingred shook a sympathetic head. She had not much experience in love +affairs, but she fancied that this one did not go very deep.</p> + +<p>"You'll get over it," she consoled. "And she wasn't a very nice girl, +anyway. Queenie always loathed her. If Dad's had his nap, I'll go and +tell him how I saw you in the Abbey. I know it was a Tuesday, because +I'd had my music lesson, and was taking the books that Dr. Linton left +behind him."</p> + +<p>"Good! That's what's called proving an alibi. I don't know who walked +off with those notes, but as long as Dad's satisfied I had nothing to do +with it, that's all I care. He can thrash it out with the clerks now, or +leave it alone."</p> + +<p>Mr. Saxon questioned Ingred closely, but accepted her account of the +matter, which set his doubts at rest concerning his son. The relief in +the family circle was enormous. Mother's face was beaming, and it seemed +as if the storm-clouds had blown away, and the sun had shone out. Tea +was the most comfortable meal that the household had taken together for +a fortnight.</p> + +<p>"I haven't spent quite all that check I got from the <i>Harlow Weekly +News</i>," whispered Egbert to Ingred that evening, "and I'm going to buy +you a box of chocolates on Monday. I'll leave them for you at the +Hostel. You deserve them!"</p> + +<p>"You mascot! I can't quite see that I <i>do</i> deserve them, for I really +meant to rag you about that Abbey business. But I won't say 'No, thank +you!' to chocks! Rather not! We'll have a gorgeous little private feast +in No. 2 to-morrow night."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVI" id="CHAPTER_XVI"></a>CHAPTER XVI</h2> + +<h3>An Easter Pilgrimage</h3> + + +<p>The thirteen weeks between Christmas and Easter dragged much more slowly +than those of the autumn term. The weather was cold and variable. As +fast as Spring stirred in the earth, Winter seemed to stretch forth +chilly fingers to check her advent. Nature, like a careful mother, kept +the buds tightly folded on the trees and the yellow daffodil blossoms +securely hidden under their green casement curtains. Only the most +foolhardy birds ventured to begin building operations. The rooks in the +elm trees near the Abbey had begun to repair their nests during a mild +spurt in January, then put off further alterations till late in March. +Morning after morning the girls would wake to find the roofs covered +with hoar frost. Ingred, who hated the cold, shivered as she crossed the +windy quadrangle from the college to the hostel, and congratulated +herself that she lived in the days of modern comforts.</p> + +<p>"How the old monks and nuns managed to exist in those wretched chilly +damp cloisters I can't imagine," she said, as she squatted by the stove +warming her hands. "Were they allowed to take hot bricks to bed with +them in their cells? Think of turning out for midnight services into an +unwarmed church! It sounds absolutely miserable!"</p> + +<p>"Perhaps they made themselves more comfortable than we think," commented +Verity. "One of them probably kept up the fire and doled out hot drinks +after the services. It might even have been possible to take a hot-water +bottle to church under the folds of those ample habits."</p> + +<p>"I don't believe that would have been allowed. Surely the cold was part +of the discipline."</p> + +<p>"I shouldn't have been a nun if I'd lived in the Middle Ages," said Fil. +"I'd have wanted to go to the tournaments and to have seen my knight +fighting with my ribbons in his helmet and bringing me the crown. Oh, +wouldn't it have been fun? Life's not a scrap romantic nowadays. I do +think men are slackers. Why don't they wear their ladies' colors at +football, and let whoever gets a goal carry a wreath of flowers to the +pavilion and crown his girl 'Queen of Beauty'? There'd be some +excitement in looking on then. As it is it's nothing but a scrimmage; +and I never care a button which side wins. You needn't laugh. Why +shouldn't a footballer look gallant and present trophies? The world +would jog on a great deal better if there were more chivalry in it."</p> + +<p>"The girls want to play games themselves nowadays instead of looking on +and receiving trophies," giggled Verity.</p> + +<p>"I don't!" declared Fil emphatically. "I hate tearing about at hockey, +or running at cricket. I'd far rather let my knight do the work for me."</p> + +<p>"Chilly work looking on in this weather. The games keep one warm," said +Ingred, who was still only half thawed.</p> + +<p>In spite of boisterous March winds and late spring frosts the sun +climbed steadily higher in the sky and the days lengthened. Ingred, who +used to arrive home in the twilight at Wynchcote on Friday afternoons, +could now dig in the garden after tea. She liked the scent of +newly-turned earth, and was happy working away with a trowel +transplanting roots of wall-flowers and forget-me-nots to make a display +in the bed near the dining-room window. At school the various forms vied +with one another in shows of hyacinths grown in bowls, the best of which +were lent to the studio on drawing days and figured as models for +water-color sketches, together with daffodils and hazel catkins. +Lispeth, who did not relax the activities of The Rainbow League, revived +her idea of a Posy Union, persuaded some of the girls to bring little +pots of gay crocuses or blue squills to school, and after these had been +duly exhibited on a table in the lecture-hall, sent them through the +agency of a "Children's Welfare Worker" to brighten the bedsides of +various small invalids in the poorer quarters of the town and let them +know that spring had arrived.</p> + +<p>Easter-tide was very near now, and the school would break up for three +weeks. Miss Burd was going away to allow her tired brains to lie fallow +for a while, and most of the other teachers were looking forward to a +well-earned rest apart from their forms. It came as a surprise to +everybody when Miss Strong—alone—among the staff—suggested the +project of taking some of her pupils for a short walking tour. They were +to start off, like pilgrims of old, carrying with them the barest +necessaries, and have a four days' tramp to visit a few of the beauty +spots of the neighborhood, spending a couple of nights <i>en route</i>.</p> + +<p>"It will be a real open-air holiday," she assured them. "We shall be out +of doors all day long and eat most of our meals by the roadside. I've +planned it out carefully. A short railway journey to Carford, then walk +by easy stages through Ryton-on-the-Heath to Dropwick and Pursborough, +where we can get the train again back to Grovebury. I know of two +extremely nice Temperance Hotels where we can be put up for the night. +By going in this way we shall see the cream of the country. Any girl who +is a good walker may join the party."</p> + +<p>It certainly sounded a fascinating program, and after due consideration +at home eight girls put their names down for the excursion—Ingred, +Verity, Nora, Bess, Linda, Francie, Kitty, and Belle. They felt it would +be quite a new experience to know Miss Strong out of school hours; the +light in her eyes when she announced the scheme gave promise of hitherto +hidden capacities for fun. It circulated round the form that she might +prove quite a jolly companion. Those girls who could not join the tour +were a trifle wistful and inclined towards envy. They took it out of the +pilgrims in gloomy prognostications concerning the weather.</p> + +<p>"It will probably rain all the time and you'll tramp along like a row of +drowned rats," suggested Beatrice.</p> + +<p>"It won't do anything of the sort. I believe we're going to have a fine +mild spell and it will be just glorious. I'm taking my 'Brownie,' so +there'll be some snapshots to show we've been enjoying ourselves," +retorted Nora briskly. "You stay-at-homes will be sorry for yourselves +when you hear our adventures!"</p> + +<p>To allow the weather ample chance of improvement, and perhaps also to +give Miss Strong time to rest, the excursion was fixed for the last week +of the holidays. One morning in mid-April, therefore, found teacher and +pupils meeting together on the platform of Grovebury station to catch +the 9.25 train to Carford. They wore jerseys and their school hats, and +they carried their luggage according to their individual ideas of +convenience. Linda wore her little brother's satchel slung over her +back. Nora had borrowed a knapsack, Kitty preferred a parcel, Verity +packed her possessions in a string bag, and Bess carried a neat +dispatch-case.</p> + +<p>"I'd a ripping idea for mine, but it wouldn't work," declared Ingred. "I +meant to tie my parcel to a balloon and then just lead it along by a +string. But I couldn't get a proper gas balloon for the business, and +that's what you ought to have."</p> + +<p>"And suppose the wind were to blow it away from you, what then?" +inquired Miss Strong.</p> + +<p>"I suppose I should have to cable it round my waist."</p> + +<p>"Then you might be whisked up with it, and we should see you sailing off +into the clouds in a kind of aeroplane holiday instead of a walking +tour! I don't think we can patent your balloon dodge yet."</p> + +<p>"What I want," said Kitty, "is a sort of child's light mail-cart +arrangement that I could wheel along. It's what Mother always says she +needs for shopping—a parcel-holder on wheels. Why doesn't somebody +invent one? He—or she (I'm sure it would be a <i>she</i>)—would make a +fortune."</p> + +<p>"We might have borrowed a perambulator," said Belle, quite seriously, +"and have packed all our luggage into it."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I dare say! And who would have wheeled it?"</p> + +<p>"We could have taken it in turns."</p> + +<p>"With long turns for the willing horses, and short turns for shirkers! +No, thanks! Better each to stick to our own."</p> + +<p>"Besides which, forget stiles. We hope to try some field paths as well +as high roads," added Miss Strong. "Also I should decidedly have jibbed +at escorting a perambulator. Here comes the train! Let us make a dash +for an empty carriage and keep it to ourselves."</p> + +<p>It was only a short journey to Carford, but it took them over twelve +rather uninteresting miles and put them down just at the commencement of +a very beautiful stretch of country where open uplands alternated with +wooded coombes, and where the stone-roofed villages were the prettiest +in the county.</p> + +<p>Miss Strong, who had had some experience of mountaineering in +Switzerland, restrained the pace and kept them all at what she called a +"guide's walk."</p> + +<p>"It pays in the long run," she assured them. "If you tear ahead at +first, you get tired later on, and we must keep fairly well together. I +can't have some of you half a mile behind."</p> + +<p>The April days were still cold, but very bracing for exercise. Lambs +were out in the fields, primroses grew in clumps under the hedgerows, +hazel catkins flung showers of pollen to the winds, and in the coppice +that bordered the road pale-mauve March violets and white anemone stars +showed through last year's carpet of dead leaves. There was that joyful +thrill of spring in the air, that resurrection of Nature when the +thraldom of winter is over, and beauty comes back to the gray dim world. +The old Greeks felt it, thousands of years ago, and fabled it in their +myth of Persephone and her return from Hades. The Druids knew it in +Ancient Britain, and fixed their religious ceremonies for May Day. The +birds were caroling it still in the hedgerows, and the girls caught the +joyous infection and danced along in defiance of Miss Strong's jog-trot +guide walk. Even the mistress herself, so wise at the outset, finally +flung prudence to the winds, and skirmished through the coppices with +enthusiasm equal to that of her pupils, lured from the pathway by the +glimpses of kingcups, or the pursuit of a peacock butterfly.</p> + +<p>"All the same, if we tear round like small dogs, we shall never reach +Dropwick to-night, and I've booked our rooms there," she assured them. +"You don't want to sleep on the heather, I suppose!"</p> + +<p>"Bow-wow! Shouldn't mind!" laughed Kitty. "We could cling together and +keep each other warm."</p> + +<p>"You won't cling to me, thanks! I prefer a bed of my own."</p> + +<p>Nora, having brought a good supply of films for her Brownie camera, was +most keen on taking snapshots. She photographed the company eating their +lunch on a bank by the roadside, with Miss Strong in the very act of +biting a piece of bread and butter, and Ingred with her face buried in a +mug. She even went further. She had been reading a book on faked +photography, and she yearned to try experiments.</p> + +<p>"I'm going to give those stay-at-homes a few thrills," she declared. "I +told them we'd have adventures."</p> + +<p>Nora expounded her plan to Miss Strong, who was sufficiently interested +in the subject to promise her collusion and good advice. A mock Alpine +scene came first. Nora had brought with her, for this express purpose, a +length of rope, which she wore around her jersey like a Carmelite's +girdle. She took it off now and fastened it round the waists of three of +her schoolfellows, linking them together in the manner of Swiss +mountaineers. Then she found a piece of rock on which were narrow +ledges, and, with the help of Miss Strong, posed them in attitudes of +apparent peril. Really, they were only a couple of feet from the ground, +and a fall would have been a laughing matter, but in a camera they +appeared to be clinging almost by their eyelashes to the face of an +inaccessible crag and in imminent danger of their lives. Nora took two +views, and chuckled with satisfaction.</p> + +<p>"That'll make their hair stand on end! I'll fix a few more sensations if +I can. Who's game to run six inches in front of a mild old cow's horns, +while somebody urges her on from behind?"</p> + +<p>"How will you guarantee she's mild?" inquired Bess dubiously. "She might +take it into her head to toss us!"</p> + +<p>"Not she! It was only the 'cow with the crumpled horn' that went in for +tossing."</p> + +<p>"Well, I'd rather be in a safer photo, thanks! I'm terrified of cows, +anyway."</p> + +<p>Nora's instincts were really quite dramatic. She photographed Bess +crouching in the hollow of a tree, an imaginary fugitive, to whom +Francie, in an attitude of caution, handed surreptitious victuals. She +posed Linda, apparently lifeless, on the borders of a pond, with Kitty +and Verity applying artificial respiration. She bound up Ingred's head +with a handkerchief, and placed her arm in a sling as the result of a +fictitious accident, and would have arranged a circle of weeping girls +round the prostrate body of Miss Strong, had not that stalwart lady +stoutly objected.</p> + +<p>"I'm not going to do anything of the sort, so put up that camera, and +come along at once. We've wasted far too much time already, and we shall +have to step out unless we want to finish our walk in the dark. I +promise you tea at Ryton-on-the-Heath, if you hurry, but we can't stop +half an hour there unless you put your best foot foremost, so, quick +march!"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVII" id="CHAPTER_XVII"></a>CHAPTER XVII</h2> + +<h3>The Rivals</h3> + + +<p>This book does not propose to extol an ideal heroine, only to chronicle +the deeds and thoughts of a girl, who, like most other girls, had her +pleasant and her disagreeable moods, her high aspirations and good +intentions, and her occasional bursts of bad temper. Ingred had been +very passionate as a child, and, though she had learnt to put on the +curb, sometimes that uncomfortable lower self would take the bit between +its teeth and gallop away with her. It is sad to have to confess that +the enjoyment of her walking tour was entirely spoilt by an ugly little +imp who kept her company. In plain words she was horribly jealous of +Bess. Ingred liked to be popular. She was gratified to be warden of "The +Pioneers" and a member of the School Parliament. She felt she had an +acknowledged standing not only in her own form but throughout the +college. Her official position, her cleverness in class, her aptitude +for music, her skill at games, made her an all-round force and a referee +on most subjects. There is no doubt that Ingred would have had the +undivided post of favorite in her form had it not been for Bess +Haselford. Not that Bess was in any way a self-constituted rival—on the +contrary she was rather shy and retiring, and made no particular bid for +popularity. Perhaps that was one reason why the girls liked her. She was +generous in lending her property, invited her form-mates to charming +parties at Rotherwood, and often persuaded an indulgent father to +include some of her special chums in motoring expeditions on Saturday +afternoons. She had, indeed, taken up the exact role that Quenrede had +played years ago, before the war, and which Ingred would have followed +had Rotherwood and a car still been in the Saxons' possession. In spite +of several overtures from Bess, Ingred had thrust away all idea of +friendship, and had steadily refused any invitations to her old home. +The reports which the girls brought back of the renewed glories of +Rotherwood made her feel like a disinherited princess. She considered it +rough luck that her supplanter should be at the same school and in the +same form as herself, and decided that Bess had ousted her from both +house and favor. It made it only the more aggravating that Bess's +musical talent was quite equal, if not superior, to her own. Bess had +improved immensely on the violin, and her performance at the end-of-term +recital had received quite a little ovation.</p> + +<p>When the question of the walking tour was broached, Bess, owing to home +engagements, had at first reluctantly refused, then had managed to +rearrange her holidays and had joined the party after all. To Ingred her +presence utterly marred the enjoyment. It was extremely unreasonable of +Ingred, for Bess was most unassuming and really very long-suffering. She +put up with snubs that would have made most girls retaliate indignantly. +Nobody likes to be sat upon too hard, however, and even the proverbial +worm will turn at last.</p> + +<p>As the walking party, much urged by Miss Strong straggled along towards +Ryton-on-the-Heath, Bess made a lightning dive up a bank and came back +with a blue flower plainly of the <i>labiate</i> species.</p> + +<p>"Bugle!" she remarked with satisfaction.</p> + +<p>"Bugle?" echoed Ingred scornfully. "Shows how much you know about +botany! That's self-heal!"</p> + +<p>"Oh no; it's certainly bugle."</p> + +<p>"I tell you it's self-heal. I found some at Lynstones last August and +looked it up in the flower-book."</p> + +<p>"Very likely you did, but that doesn't prove that this is self-heal."</p> + +<p>"It does, for anybody with a pair of eyes. I've been studying botany."</p> + +<p>"And so have I!"</p> + +<p>"You may think you know everything, Bess Haselford, but you don't know +this."</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<a href="images/gs05.jpg"><img src="images/gs05.jpg" alt=""/></a> +</div> + +<h4><a name="gs05" id="gs05"></a>[Illustration: "YOU MAY THINK YOU KNOW EVERYTHING, BESS HASELFORD, BUT +YOU DON'T KNOW THIS!"]</h4> + + +<p>"I didn't say I knew everything; but I'm certain this is bugle all the +same, and I stick to it!"</p> + +<p>Bess's usually sweet voice had an obstinate note in it for once. She +seemed determined to defend her botanical trenches.</p> + +<p>"Go it—hammer and tongs!" laughed Kitty. "I'll back the winner!"</p> + +<p>"And I'll take the case into court," said Linda, snatching the flower +from her schoolfellow's hand and running on to show it to Miss Strong, +who was an authority on the subject.</p> + +<p>The mistress paused to let the others overtake her.</p> + +<p>"Bugle, certainly," she decided emphatically. "The first bit we've found +this year. It's out early. Self-heal? Oh dear no! The two are rather +alike and are sometimes mistaken one for another, but no botanist would +dream of confusing them. Bugle is a spring and early summer flower, and +self-heal blooms much later. Make a note in your nature diaries that you +found bugle on 15th April."</p> + +<p>Considerably squashed, Ingred had for once to acknowledge her botany to +be at fault, and, though Bess did not triumph, Francie gave Kitty a poke +and the pair giggled.</p> + +<p>"Well, of course, one can't be always right," said Ingred airily.</p> + +<p>"So it seems; though some people set themselves up for wiseacres!" +sniggered Kitty.</p> + +<p>Ingred fell behind with Verity and let the others walk on. It was only a +trifling incident, but she was annoyed to notice how openly and +instantly the girls had sided with Bess. She felt too glum for speech, +and as Verity was tired and disinclined to talk, they tramped along in +silence.</p> + +<p>They had been winding steadily uphill for some miles and were now on the +heath from which Ryton took its name. The ground fell steeply to the +west, showing glimpses of a great river in the valley below, where the +still-leafless woods had burst here and there into faint tokens of +spring. Beyond the river rose the characteristic grey hills of the +neighborhood, with their stone walls and sheepfolds and stretches of +moorland, looking a little hazy in the afternoon light, but with patches +of yellow gorse catching the sunshine. Ryton was a delightful little +village. Its cottages, built long ago by local craftsmen, seemed +absolutely in harmony with the landscape: walls, dormers, and mullions +and long undulating roofs were all of limestone and conveyed an +impression of sturdy self-respect. The rain-worn, lichen-covered roofs +had weathered to charming irregularities of form and lovely tones of +color. Ivy and clematis climbed over the porches and twisted themselves +round the low chimneys. The little gardens were bright with daffodils, +mezereon, and flowering currant.</p> + +<p>To the girls, somewhat tired and decidedly hungry, the main focus of the +village was a long iron post which stretched out over the street and +supported a rudely-painted sign of a bird, whose species might have been +a puzzle to an ornithologist but for the words "Pelican Inn" that +appeared beneath it.</p> + +<p>In the long-ago days before railroads, the little hostelry had been a +stopping-place for stage-coaches, and a wooden board still set forth +that it supplied "Posting in all its branches." The landlord would no +doubt have been much dismayed if any wag had entered and demanded a +chaise and post-horses to drive to Gretna Green, and a shabby motor in +his stable-yard showed that he marched with the times.</p> + +<p>Miss Strong, on consulting her watch, decided that her party might +safely indulge in a halt of half an hour, and ordered tea for nine +persons. The inn, built on a type common in the district, was entered by +an archway leading straight into a courtyard. A door on the right led to +the bar, and a door on the left to the coffee-room. To this latter more +aristocratic quarter Miss Strong conducted her pupils. Some of them had +never before been in a small village hostelry, and were much amused at +the quaint old parlor with its sporting prints, its glass cases of +stuffed squirrels and badgers, and its horsehair-seated chairs with +crochet antimacassars hung over the backs. The atmosphere was certainly +rather redolent of stale beer and tobacco, but a bunch of crimson +wall-flowers on the table did their best to spread a pleasant perfume. +The tea, when, after much delay, it arrived, was delicious. The Pelican +was a farm as well as an inn, and the rosy-faced servant girl carried in +cream, fresh butter, and red-currant jam to the coffee-room. She +apologized for the absence of cake, but it was an omission that nobody +minded. Upland air gives good appetites, and, though Miss Strong +reminded her flock that this was only a meal by the way, and that supper +was ordered for them at Dropwick, they set to work as if they would +taste nothing more till midnight. There was something so delightfully +fresh and out of the common in having tea at a wayside inn; they felt +true pilgrims of the road, and civilization and school seemed to have +faded into a far background. The love of travel is in the blood of both +Celt and Anglo-Saxon; our forefathers visited shrines for the joy of the +journey as well as for religious motives, and maybe our Bronze Age +ancestors, who flocked to the great Sun Festivals at Stonehenge or +Avebury Circles, derived pleasure from the change of scene as well as a +blessing from the Druids. The Romans, those great pioneers of travel, +had opened out the district eighteen centuries ago, and laid a straight, +paved road from Wendcester to Pursborough; the remains of their +fortified camps and of their villas were still left to mark their era. +The foss-way, leading from Ryton-on-the-Heath to Dropwick, was their +handiwork, and our pilgrims were to march on the identical track of some +old Roman legion.</p> + +<p>It must be owned that when tea was finished they were very unwilling +pilgrims, and would gladly have spent the night at The Pelican and have +slept in the funny, musty, low-ceiled little bedrooms upstairs.</p> + +<p>"Couldn't we possibly stop here?" implored Verity.</p> + +<p>But Miss Strong, having booked rooms in Dropwick, was adamant.</p> + +<p>"Besides which I wouldn't trust the beds here," she remarked. "So early +in the year they're almost bound to be damp, and we don't want any of +you laid up with rheumatic fever as the result of our trip. I prefer to +give a wayside inn a week's notice if I mean to sleep there in April. +Nobody has had enough coal during the winter to keep fires going in +spare bedrooms. That front room was as chilly as a country church! You +won't feel so tired, Verity, when you're on your feet again, and it's +all downhill to Dropwick."</p> + +<p>The Temperance Hotel, where the girls finally stayed their weary feet, +was quite modern and unromantic, though well aired and fairly +comfortable. Ingred, whom the fates had placed to sleep with Nora, had a +trying night, for her obstreperous bedfellow had a habit of flinging out +her arms, and of appropriating the larger half of the clothes, leaving +poor Ingred to wake shivering. Also, the bed sloped towards the middle, +so that both girls had to poise themselves on a kind of hillside, and +were constantly rolling down and colliding. These troubles, however, +were only incidental in the Pilgrimage, and certainly might have been +worse.</p> + +<p>On comparing notes at breakfast nearly everybody had had similar +experiences. Miss Strong confessed to a patent mattress with a broken +spring jutting up in the center, round which she had been obliged to lie +in a curve. Linda and Francie had slept near the water-cistern, which +alarmed them with weird noises, and Bess and Kitty, trying to open their +window wider, had found it lacked sash-cords, and descended like a +guillotine, sending the prop that had upheld it, flying into the street. +Though they groused at the time, the girls laughed as they discussed +these details over the eggs and bacon. The sun was shining and they felt +rested, and quite ready once more to shoulder their kit and set out on +the march.</p> + +<p>There was nothing of very great interest to see in Dropwick itself, +though it was a quaint enough old-fashioned market-town, with a +fifteenth-century church tower, and a few black and white houses. Miss +Strong decided not to waste any time there, but to push on as fast as +possible across the hills to Sudbury, where there was a fine +Romano-British villa that was well worth a visit. So the foss-way took +them up, and up, and up, through fir-woods where the new cones were +showing like candles on Christmas trees, and alongside a quarry where +they pounced upon some quite interesting fossils in the heaps of stones +by the road, and over a craggy weather-worn peak, where, again, they +caught the magnificent view of the valley and the river and hills +beyond. Then down again, through more fir-woods, where the timber was +being felled, and great tree-trunks lay piled in rows one above another, +and past banks that were a dream, with starry blackthorn blossom and +primroses growing beneath, to where the cross-roads met and the signpost +pointed an arm to Sudbury.</p> + +<p>The Romans might take their roads straight as an arrow across moor and +hill, but they chose out the beauty spots of the land on which to build +their villas, and were careful to fix upon a southern aspect and shelter +from the prevailing winds. The remains of the old settlement lay behind +a farm, and had been carefully excavated by a local antiquarian society. +Visitors applied at the farmhouse, entered their names in a book, paid +their admission money, and were escorted round by a guide.</p> + +<p>Time, and successive conquests, had demolished the greater part of the +villa, but its foundations and some of the old brick walls could be +plainly traced. The great bath, that indispensable feature of a Roman +establishment, could still be seen, with its beautiful tesselated +pavement, inlaid with mosaics of doves, cupids, and designs of fruit and +flowers. The heating system also, with the leaden pipes and remains of +furnaces, was a testimony to the civilization of the period, and the +amount of comfort that the legions brought with them into their foreign +exile. A large shed had been fitted up as a museum, and held a number of +objects that had been dug up during the excavations. The girls, poring +over the glass cases, looked with interest at a Roman lady's silver +hand-mirror, toilet pots, and tiny shears that must have been the early +substitute for scissors. More fascinating still were the toys from a +little child's grave, small glass bottles, roughly-made animals of clay, +and a carved object that no doubt had been at one time a treasured doll, +though now it was crumbling into dust.</p> + +<p>Among the pile of broken statues or fragments of ornamental stonework in +the corner was a monumental tablet, cracked across in two places, but +pieced together for preservation with iron rivets. The inscription ran:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"D.M. Simpliciæ Florentinæ Animæ Innocentissimæ quæ vixit menses +decem. Felicius Simplex Pater fecit. Leg. vi, V."</p> + +<p>(To the Divine Shades. To Simplicia Florentina, a most innocent +soul, who lived ten months. Felicius Simplex of the Sixth Legion, +the Victorious, the father, erected this.)</p></div> + +<p>Some of the girls glanced at the tablet, and the English translation of +the inscription which lay near, and turned away without much notice. But +Ingred stood gazing at them with a catch in her throat. They brought a +whole pathetic human story to life again. She could picture the noble +Roman father, leader of the victorious legion, sent over from Italy and +making his home here in a conquered foreign land, as our officers do in +India, and bringing with him his lady with her Roman customs and her +slaves. Those few brief words—"a most innocent soul who lived ten +months"—told the tragedy of the cherished little daughter whose frail +life faded in the fogs of the British climate about eighteen hundred +years ago. Hearts are the same all the world over, and the pretty +dark-eyed Roman baby must have been laid to its rest with as much grief +and sadness as the fair-haired darlings whom British mothers sometimes +bury in Indian soil.</p> + +<p>"It's a sweet name, too—Simplicia Florentina!" mused Ingred. "I wonder +what she would have grown up like. And what her history would have been! +I'd give worlds to know more about her!"</p> + +<p>"Aren't you coming, Ingred?" called Verity from the doorway. "Miss +Strong says we ought to be getting on now."</p> + +<p>Ingred brought her thoughts back with an effort to the twentieth +century, and joined the waiting party outside. Miss Strong was talking +to their guide, who was describing a short cut across the fields that +would save them several miles on their way to Pursborough.</p> + +<p>Verity, after calling to her friend in the museum, had run out. Ingred +followed her, to find her with her arm locked closely through Bess's. +There was no reason why she should not display such a mark of affection, +but to Ingred it seemed little short of an insult to herself. Verity, +her particular chum, to have openly gone over to the enemy! She stared +at her in surprise. Verity did not appear to notice the stare, however, +and walked on quite calmly.</p> + +<p>Miss Strong had decided that they should find a quiet place along the +lane where they could eat their lunch before beginning the second part +of their march. She fixed on a lovely spot with a high wooded bank at +the back and in front fields that sloped to the river. There were specks +of yellow in these fields, and Kitty who finished her sandwiches first, +ran to inspect nearer and reported cowslips. Instantly most of the girls +went scrambling over the stile.</p> + +<p>Miss Strong, who had bought picture-postcards of the Roman villa, and +was addressing them with a stylo-pen, did not follow the exodus. She +called to Ingred, however, who was last.</p> + +<p>"Warn the girls," she said, "not on any account to go into that meadow +where there is a horse with a young foal. The guide at the farm said it +is a savage beast and will attack people. Be sure to tell them <i>all</i>!"</p> + +<p>"I'll run after them now," answered Ingred, calling "Cuckoo!" to attract +their attention.</p> + +<p>She told Belle and Linda and Verity, who were near to the stile, and +Linda passed the news on to Francie and Kitty. Bess was quite a long +distance down the field, gathering blackthorn from the hedge.</p> + +<p>"I'm not going to tear all that way after her!" thought Ingred crossly. +"Verity will be sure to tell her. They seem inseparable to-day. Besides +which nobody's particularly likely to go into that other meadow. There +are plenty of cowslips here."</p> + +<p>It took Miss Strong a much longer time to write her postcards than she +had originally intended, and while she was thus employed her girls +spread themselves out in quest of flowers. It is always amazing when you +start rambling in company with others how quickly you can find yourself +alone. By the time Ingred had gathered a fragrant, sweet-smelling bunch +and looked round for somebody to admire it, her schoolmates were gone. +She hunted about for them, and noticed Verity's green jersey and Kitty's +brown tam-o'-shanter in the wood above. Surely they must all be up there +together.</p> + +<p>She was just going to follow, when a qualm of conscience seized her. She +had not delivered Miss Strong's message to Bess, and it would perhaps be +as well to ascertain that the latter had not strayed unwarned into the +danger zone.</p> + +<p>"It's not at all likely," Ingred kept repeating to herself, as she +walked briskly along the meadow to the fence. "I'm really only going on +a wild goose chase."</p> + +<p>Likely or unlikely, it was the very thing which had happened. The +cowslips on the other side of the railings were larger and finer, and +Bess, having no fear of horses, had climbed over and wandered some way +down the field. Only about twenty yards from her the lanky foal was +gambolling round its mother, a big draught mare, cropping the grass +innocently enough at present, and apparently not perceiving trespassers.</p> + +<p>If Bess could retreat quietly and unnoticed from the field all might be +well. Ingred did not dare to call for fear of attracting the mare's +attention. If Bess would only turn round she might wave to her. But Bess +kept her back to the fence and had no idea of danger. There was only one +course open to Ingred. She slipped over the railings and went along the +meadow to warn her schoolfellow. In a few quiet words she explained the +situation.</p> + +<p>"Don't run," she whispered. "Let us walk back and perhaps it will take +no notice of us."</p> + +<p>The girls went as softly as possible, looking over their shoulders every +now and then to see that all was safe. Of bulls they had a wholesome +terror, but they had had no previous experience of a savage horse.</p> + +<p>They were about fifteen yards from the railings, when the mare, which +hitherto had been feeding quietly, raised her head and lumbered round. +She saw strangers in her territory; her primeval instinct was to protect +her foal, and she came tearing across the field with wild eyes and lip +turned back from gleaming teeth. The girls fled for their lives. It was +a question of which could reach the railings first, they or the +dangerous brute whose huge hoofs thundered behind them. Ingred, who was +the taller and the stronger of the two, seized Bess by the hand and +literally dragged her along. Together they tumbled over the fence +somehow and rolled down the bank into the safe shelter of some gorse +bushes. For a moment they were afraid the mare would leap after them, +but the height of the rails balked her; apparently she was satisfied +with routing the enemy and returned across the field to her foal. The +girls, with shaking knees, got up and hurried towards the lane where +they had left Miss Strong.</p> + +<p>"You've saved my life, Ingred!" gasped Bess, as they went along.</p> + +<p>"No, I haven't!" choked Ingred. "At least, it was my fault you ever went +into the field at all. Miss Strong told me to tell you the horse was +savage, and you were such a long way off picking cowslips that I didn't +trouble to go after you. I trusted to Verity telling you."</p> + +<p>"Verity ran the other way with Kitty."</p> + +<p>"I know. Well, at any rate, it was my fault and I'm ready to take the +blame. Precious row I shall get into with the Snark!"</p> + +<p>"Why should we say anything about it?"</p> + +<p>"Not say anything?"</p> + +<p>"There's really no need. It's over and done with now. I don't want to +get you into a scrape. I vote we just keep it to ourselves."</p> + +<p>Ingred paused, with her hand on the gate, and gazed with unaffected +astonishment at her companion.</p> + +<p>"Bess Haselford, you're the biggest trump I've ever met! It's only one +girl in a thousand who'd want to cover up a thing like that. Most people +would make <i>such</i> a tale of it, and pose as an injured martyr whom I'd +nearly murdered. I'm sure Francie would, or even Verity."</p> + +<p>"You put yourself into danger to come and warn me!"</p> + +<p>"Well, it was the least I could do!"</p> + +<p>"Let's forget about it then. And don't tell any of the girls, in case +they blab. It would make Miss Strong so nervous, she'd be scared about +our going into any fields for ever afterwards."</p> + +<p>"Right-o, I won't tell, but I shan't forget. As I said before, I think +you're the biggest trump on the face of the earth."</p> + +<p>"Cuckoo!" rang out Linda's voice from the bank.</p> + +<p>"Where are you girls?" shouted Miss Strong from the lane.</p> + +<p>"Coming!" called Ingred, as she latched the gate and hurried with Bess +to rejoin the rest of the party.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVIII" id="CHAPTER_XVIII"></a>CHAPTER XVIII</h2> + +<h3>Bess at Home</h3> + + +<p>The Pilgrims, after a glorious tramp down the dale of Beechcombe, +reached Pursborough without further adventure, and spent the night +there. They gave an hour next morning to inspecting the glorious old +church and the ruins of the castle, then once more resumed the Roman +road. It was the last day of their tour, so they made the best of it. +They explored some delightful woods, followed the course of a +fascinating stream, ate their lunch in a picturesque quarry, had an +early tea at a wayside inn which rivalled "The Pelican" in quaintness, +and finally reached Ribstang in time to catch the 5:20 train to +Grovebury. The conclusion of the excursion meant the close of the +holiday, for school would begin again on the following Monday. Everybody +had enjoyed it immensely, and everybody was only too sorry it was over. +To Ingred it marked an epoch. She had suddenly made friends with Bess +Haselford. Now she viewed Bess with unprejudiced eyes she realized what +an exceedingly nice and attractive girl she really was. The adventure in +the field had flung them together, and—much to the astonishment of the +others, who did not know their secret—they had walked the whole way +from Pursborough to Ribstang in each other's company.</p> + +<p>"I can't make out Ingred!" declared Verity. "Here she's been abusing +Bess, and calling her a bounder, and now she's hanging on her arm! The +way some people turn round is really most extraordinary——"</p> + +<p>"'There's naught so queer as folks!'" quoted Linda. "Glad Ingred's come +to her senses, at any rate. I always thought she was perfectly beastly +to Bess!"</p> + +<p>"So she was. I wonder Bess will put up with her now. I'm sure I +wouldn't!"</p> + +<p>Bess, however, was of a forgiving disposition, and let bygones be +bygones. It is the only plan at schools, for girls are generally so +frank in the nature of their remarks that if you begin to treasure up +the disagreeable things said to you, and let them rankle, you will +probably find yourself without a chum in the world. Though the fashion +may be for plain speaking, it is often a matter of mood, and the mate +who genuinely believes you a "blighter" one day, will claim you as a +"mascot" with equal persuasion on the next. It is all part of the +wholesome rough-and-tumble of your education, and proves of as much use +in training you and rounding your projecting corners as the lessons you +learn in your form. The girls thought Ingred's new infatuation would +soon wear off, but it had come to stay. She herself was quite surprised +at the force of the attraction. It was almost like falling in love. She +marched with Bess at drilling, chose her for her partner at tennis, and +would have changed desks to sit next to her, had not Miss Strong refused +permission. As a natural result of this new state of affairs came a shy +invitation from Bess asking Ingred to tea at Rotherwood. After the many +previous refusals she would hardly have ventured to give in but for +several hints which paved the way. Circumstances, however, alter cases, +and Ingred, who had declared that nothing should induce her to set foot +in her old home, was now all eagerness to go. She was delighted to find +that she was to be the only guest. She felt that on this particular +visit even Verity would be <i>de trop</i>.</p> + +<p>On a certain Tuesday afternoon, therefore, with full permission from +Miss Burd, she absented herself from the hostel tea-table, and walked +home with Bess instead. It gave her quite a thrill to turn in at the +familiar gate of Rotherwood. The lawns were in beautiful order, and the +beds gay with tulips, aubrietias, forget-me-nots, and a lovely show of +hyacinths. So far from being neglected, the place seemed even better +kept than in the old days. The house, with its pretty modern +black-and-white front, its many gables, and its cheerful red-tiled roof, +looked the same as formerly; but indoors there were great changes. The +hall, which used to be Moorish, was now hung with tapestry, and +furnished in old oak; the drawing-room was yellow instead of blue, with +a big brocade-covered couch and a Chappell piano; the dining-room had +rows of book-cases and some good oil-paintings; the morning-room was a +cheerful chintz boudoir with a gilt mirror and Chippendale chairs; the +conservatory was full of choice flowers, and an aviary had been added to +it.</p> + +<p>"Mother is so fond of birds," explained Bess. "They amuse her when her +head's bad and she doesn't care to see anybody. She's made most of them +wonderfully tame."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Haselford proved to be a gentle pleasant lady who shook hands +kindly with Ingred, then excused herself on the score of ill-health, and +retired to her room, leaving the girls to have tea by themselves.</p> + +<p>"Mother's never been really well for three years," said Bess. "Not since +Bert and Larry——"</p> + +<p>She did not finish her sentence, but her eyes turned to the wall where +hung two portraits of lads in khaki. Ingred understood. She knew that +Bess had lost both brothers in the war, and she had heard that poor Mrs. +Haselford had shut herself up in her grief and refused all comfort, +sometimes even to the extent of remaining for days upstairs, and +neglecting the company of husband and child. Her attitude to Bess was +often peculiar, it was almost as if she resented her daughter being left +when her adored boys had been taken from her. Bess never knew how she +would be received, for sometimes her mother would seem unable to bear +her presence, and at other times would unreasonably chide her for +neglect. It began to dawn on Ingred how very lonely her friend must be. +She had secretly envied her the possession of Rotherwood, but now she +realized how little the house itself would mean without the happy home +life in which brothers and sister had borne their part.</p> + +<p>"I'd rather have the bungalow with the family, than Rotherwood all +alone!" she ruminated. "As for Muvkins, she's one in a million. I +believe she'd be cheery in a coal cellar, so long as she'd a solitary +chick to keep under her wing. Why, if we'd lost <i>our</i> boys, she'd have +been trying to make it up to Queenie and me for not having brothers. I +know her! That's her way!"</p> + +<p>Bess had much to show to her visitor when tea in the dainty morning-room +was over. There were her books, and her photographs and postcard albums, +and all kinds of girlish possessions, and a cocker spaniel with three +puppies as fat as roly-poly puddings, and a fern-case opening out of one +of her bedroom windows, and a collection of pressed wild flowers, and a +green parroquet that would sit on her wrist, and allow her to stroke its +head, though it snapped at strangers. They had been working upwards +through the house, and finally Bess led the way to the top landing of +all. She paused for a moment before the door of an attic room.</p> + +<p>"I expect you'll know this place!" she remarked shyly, ushering in her +guest.</p> + +<p>Ingred looked round in amazement. It was a little sanctum which she and +Quenrede had shared in the old days as a kind of studio. Here they had +been allowed to try experiments in poker work, painting, fret-carving, +spatter-work, or any other operations which were considered too messy to +be performed in the school-room downstairs. They had loved their "den," +as they called it, and had taken a particular pleasure in covering its +walls with pictures, cut, most of them, from magazines, and stuck on +with glue or paste. During the occupation of Rotherwood by the "Red +Cross," this room had been locked up, and Ingred had imagined that Mr. +Haselford would have had it papered when the rest of the house was +decorated. She was delighted to find it in this untouched condition. All +her dear former treasures adorned the walls, and she ran from one to +another rejoicing over them. There was even a further surprise. Years +ago an artist cousin had sketched her portrait in pastel crayons upon +the color-wash of the wall. It had been done as a mere artistic freak, +but like many such spontaneous drawings it had been an admirable +likeness and a very pretty picture. It bore her name, "Ingred," in +flourishy letters underneath. The whole of this had now been protected +with a sheet of glass and enclosed by a frame. A table in the room, an +easy chair, and a gas-fire seemed to point to its occasional occupation.</p> + +<p>"You actually haven't had this changed!" exclaimed Ingred. "I thought it +must all have been swept away by now!"</p> + +<p>"No. You see, Father took me over the house when first he decided to +come here, and when he was arranging what papers to choose. I fell in +love with this dear wee room just as it was, and begged that it mightn't +be touched. Father let me have it for my very own. It was so different +from all other rooms. I liked the pictures pasted on the walls, and the +bits of poker-work nailed up. I knew some other girls must have been +here, and it gave me a homely feeling, as if you had only gone away for +a few minutes, and might come back any time and talk to me. Then there +was your portrait. I wondered who 'Ingred' was! The name struck my fancy +immensely, and so did the face. You remember we removed to Rotherwood at +the end of July, and all the rest of the summer I wondered about the +portrait. I used to come up here and sit when I felt very lonely, and it +seemed company, somehow. You can't think how fond I got of it. I suppose +I was rather silly and absurd, but I knew nobody in Grovebury then, and +Mother was ill in her room, and Father away all day—anyhow I got into +the habit of talking to it as if it were a girl friend, and showing it +my paintings, and my pressed flowers, and everything I was doing. I +pretended it liked to see them. Sometimes I even brought up my violin +and played to it. That was nicer than being quite by myself. It grew to +be as dear to me as the little sister I had always longed to have.</p> + +<p>"Then in September I went to the College. You can imagine what a start +it gave me when somebody called you 'Ingred.' I looked at you, and I saw +at once that you were the 'Ingred' of my picture, only grown older. I +was absolutely thrilled. It was very foolish of me, but I thought +somehow you'd understand. Of course you didn't! How could you? It was +idiotic of me to expect it. The 'Ingred' on the wall was simply the +friend of my fancy."</p> + +<p>"And the real one was just hateful to you!" said Ingred sorrowfully. "I +know I was a perfect beast! I was ashamed of myself all the time, only I +wouldn't confess it. Lispeth used to slate me sometimes for my +nastiness. She called me 'a jealous blighter,' and so I was! The girl of +your fancy is a great deal nicer than I am, or ever can be, but I'll try +to live up to her as well as I can, Bess, if you'll let me!"</p> + +<p>"Let you!" echoed Bess, linking her arm affectionately in that of her +friend. "You're a perfect dear nowadays."</p> + +<p>The girls tore themselves away quite regretfully from the little attic +studio, but time was passing only too quickly, and they wished to try a +game of tennis before Ingred returned to the hostel.</p> + +<p>"So you like the house in its new dress?" asked Bess as they walked down +the steps into the garden. "Father thinks it's beautiful. He says Mr. +Saxon is the best architect he knows. He's simply put every thing in +exactly the right place. Does he only design houses, or does he go in +for anything bigger?"</p> + +<p>"He would if he got the chance," replied Ingred. "What sort of things do +you mean?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, a church, or a museum, or an art gallery."</p> + +<p>"I know he's done most splendid designs for these, but he's never had +the luck to get them accepted. There's generally so much influence +needed to get your plans taken for a big public building like that. At +least, that's what Dad says. If you have a relation on the City Council, +it makes a vast difference to your chances. We've no friends at Court."</p> + +<p>"Oh!" said Bess, rather abstractedly, and the subject dropped.</p> + +<p>The girls had only time for one game of tennis, when the stable-clock, +chiming half-past six, reminded Ingred that if she wished to do her +preparation that evening she must rush back to the hotel. She bade Bess +a reluctant good-by.</p> + +<p>"You'll come and see me again?" asked the latter.</p> + +<p>"Rather! And I'll send thought-waves to animate my portrait, and let it +talk for me in my absence," laughed Ingred. "Perhaps you'll get more +than you bargain for—I'm an awful chatter-box."</p> + +<p>"You'll never talk too much for me," said Bess, as she kissed her +good-by.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIX" id="CHAPTER_XIX"></a>CHAPTER XIX</h2> + +<h3>The Nun's Walk</h3> + + +<p>The Saxon family agreed that whatever might be the drawbacks of +Wynch-on-the-Wold in wintry weather, it was an idyllic spot in the month +of May. The wall-flowers which Ingred had transplanted were now in their +prime, the apple trees were in blossom, clumps of lilies were pushing up +fast, and pink double daisies bordered the front walk. The woods in the +combe below the moor were a mass of bluebells, and here and there those +who searched might find rarer flowers, orchises, lily of the valley, and +true lover's knot. Friends who had shirked the journey while the winds +blew cold, now began to drop in at the bungalow and take tea under the +apple trees. Ingred, returning home on Friday afternoons, would find +bicycles stacked by the gate and visitors seated in the garden. She +greeted them with enthusiasm or the reverse, according to her individual +tastes.</p> + +<p>"Really, Ingred, they don't seem to teach manners at the College +now!" said Quenrede one day. "The way you scowled at Mrs. Galsworthy and +Gertrude was most uncivil. You didn't look in the very least pleased to +see them."</p> + +<p>"I wasn't! They're the most stupid people on the face of the earth! And +they stayed such ages. I thought they'd never go. Just when I wanted a +nice private talk with you and Mother before the boys came back. Why +should you look glad to see a person when you're not?"</p> + +<p>"For the sake of manners, my dear!"</p> + +<p>"Then manners really mean humbug," declared Ingred, who loved to argue. +"To say you're glad to see people, when you're not, is telling +deliberate fibs. Most hypocritical, I call it! Why can't people tell the +truth?"</p> + +<p>"Because it would generally be offensive and unkind to do so," put in +Mother, who happened to overhear. "There's another side to the question, +too. When you say—against your will—that you are glad to see somebody, +you mean that all the <i>best</i> part of you is glad—the kind, generous +part that likes to give pleasure, not the selfish lower part that only +thinks of its own convenience. So you are not really telling a fib, but +being true to your nobler self. A great deal of what people call 'plain +speaking' is simply giving rein to their most uncharitable thoughts. As +a rule, I say Heaven defend me from those ultra-truthful souls who enjoy +'speaking their minds.'"</p> + +<p>"But are we to gush over every bore?" asked Ingred.</p> + +<p>"There are limits, of course. We can't let all our time be frittered +away by idle friends, but we can generally manage tactfully without +offending them. Don't look so woe-begone, childie! Nobody else is coming +to-night, and I promise you tea in the woods to-morrow."</p> + +<p>"By ourselves?"</p> + +<p>"Unless anyone very nice comes over to join us," put in Quenrede +quickly.</p> + +<p>"You girls shall give the invitations. I won't bring any middle-aged +people," laughed Mother, with a sly glance at Quenrede.</p> + +<p>The party in the bluebell woods on Saturday was entirely a family one, +with the exception of Mr. Broughten, who rode over on a motor-bicycle +ostensibly to lend some microscopic slides to Athelstane, though Ingred +suspected there was another attraction in the visit. Quenrede, who +professed great surprise, gave him a guarded welcome.</p> + +<p>"After all the fuss you made about my manners yesterday, you might have +seemed more glad to see him," sniffed Ingred critically.</p> + +<p>"Might I? Well, really, I think I'm going to hang a label round my neck: +'Pleased to meet you! Let 'em all come!' It would save trouble. Stick +tight to me when we're gathering bluebells. Three's better company +sometimes than two. Don't I like him? Oh yes, he's all right, but I'm +not keen on a <i>tête-à-tête</i>."</p> + +<p>After which hint, Ingred, who had some acquaintance with the perversity +of Quenrede's feminine mind, did exactly the opposite, and, abandoning +her basket to the custody of Mr. Broughten, left him helping her sister +to gather bluebells, and took herself off with Hereward.</p> + +<p>"He's not half bad!" she ruminated laughingly. "Not of course a fairy +prince exactly, or even a Member of Parliament, but the bubbles on the +pool by the whispering stones certainly came to 'J,' and his name is +'John,' for I asked Athelstane. There's the finger of fate about it, and +Queenie had better make up her mind."</p> + +<p>With Ingred, however, school matters were at present much more +interesting than speculating about her sister's possible future. It was +an interesting term at the College. Cricket and tennis were in full +swing, and she took an active part in both. The best of being at the +hostel was that the boarders had the benefit of the tennis courts in the +evening, and so secured an advantage in the matter of practice over any +girls who did not possess a private court at home. So far the College +had not competed in tournaments, but Blossom Webster was hopeful that +later on in the term some champions might be chosen who would not +disgrace the Games Club. Meantime she urged everybody to practice, and +coached her favorites with the eye of an expert. Nora was particularly +marked out for future distinction. She had made tremendous strides +lately, and her swift serves were the terror of her opponents. The +hostel felt justly proud of her achievements, and would collect in the +evening, after prep., to watch her play a set of singles with Susie +Wakefield, who, though older and taller, almost invariably lost.</p> + +<p>Susie had good points of her own, however, and with Nora as partner +could beat even Blossom and Aline occasionally. No doubt the future +credit of the school was in their hands.</p> + +<p>One evening it happened that Nora was in a particularly slashing and +reckless mood, and she sent no less than three balls flying straight +over the wall that bordered the tennis courts. They fell into the +premises of old Dr. Broadfield, whose garden adjoined that of the +school. They were not the first that had done so, indeed so many balls +had gone over lately that the loss was growing serious. At one time the +girls had been wont to ring Dr. Broadfield's front-door bell and beg +permission to pick up their property, but they had been received so +sourly by his elderly housekeeper, that they hardly dared to ask again.</p> + +<p>"Three good balls gone in half an hour!" grieved Verity. "There'll soon +be none left at this rate. I believe there must be a dozen at least +lying on the grass over there, only that stingy old thing won't throw +them back. It's really too bad."</p> + +<p>"How could we possibly get them?" ruminated Doreen.</p> + +<p>"Sham ill, get Dr. Broadfield to attend, and coax them out of him," +suggested Fil.</p> + +<p>Doreen shook her head.</p> + +<p>"He's not the school doctor, unfortunately. When Millie sprained her +ankle, Miss Burd sent for Dr. Harrison. We might fish for them with a +butterfly net tied to the end of a drilling pole, if they're anywhere +near enough."</p> + +<p>"They're not. I peeped over the wall and they've rolled quite a long way +off."</p> + +<p>"How weak! What are we to do?"</p> + +<p>"There's nothing for it," said Ingred slowly, "but to make a sally into +the enemy's trenches and fetch them back!"</p> + +<p>"Oh! I dare say! But who's going to do the sallying business?"</p> + +<p>"<i>I</i> will, if you like."</p> + +<p>"<i>You!</i>"</p> + +<p>"Yes; I don't mind a scrap."</p> + +<p>"You heroine!"</p> + +<p>"Don't mensh!"</p> + +<p>"But suppose you're caught?"</p> + +<p>"I shall have to risk that, of course. I'll reconnoiter carefully +first."</p> + +<p>The boundary between the College premises and the property of Dr. +Broadfield was part of the old Abbey wall. The mortar had crumbled away +from the stones, leaving large interstices, so it was quite easy to +climb. With a little boosting from Verity and Nora, Ingred successfully +reached the top, and peered over into the neighboring garden. Just below +her was a rockery, which offered not only an easy means of descent, but +a quick mode of egress in the case of the necessity of beating a hasty +retreat.</p> + +<p>Beyond the flower-bed, and lying on the lawn, were no less than seven +tennis balls, marked with the unmistakable blue cross that claimed them +for the College. The sight was enough to spur on the faintest heart. +Apparently there was nobody in this part of the garden, and no watchful +face peered from any of the windows. It was certainly an opportunity +that ought not to be missed. Ingred slipped first one foot and then the +other over the wall, and dropped on to the rockery. It was the work of a +minute to pick up the balls and throw them back to rejoicing friends. If +she herself had followed immediately there would have been no sequel to +the episode. But happening to look under the bushes, she noticed another +ball, and went in quest of it. It seemed a shame to return until she had +found any that might have strayed farther afield, so she dived under the +rhododendron bushes, and was rewarded with two more balls. She had +issued out on to another part of the lawn, and was on the very point of +retreating, when she suddenly heard voices on the path between the +bushes. To run to the wall would be to cross open country, so, with an +instinctive desire to seek cover, she dived into a summer-house close +by, and shut the door. The footsteps came nearer. Were they going to +follow her into her retreat, and catch her? It would be too ignominious! +Peeping warily through a small window of the summer-house, she saw two +young people, apparently much interested in each other, strolling +leisurely up. To her immense relief they did not attempt to enter, but +sat down on a seat outside the window. They were so near that she could +perforce hear every word, and was an unwilling but compulsory +eavesdropper.</p> + +<p>At first the conversation consisted mostly of tender nothings: "He" +certainly called her "Darling!"; "She" replied: "Oh, Donald, don't!" and +a sound followed so suspiciously like a kiss that Ingred, only a few +feet away from them, almost giggled aloud. She wondered how long they +were going to keep her a prisoner. It might be very pleasant for +themselves to sit "spooning" in the garden on a mild May evening, but if +they prolonged their enjoyment beyond eight o'clock, the hostel +supper-bell would ring, and any girl not in her place at the table would +lose a mark for punctuality.</p> + +<p>"He" on the other side of the window, was waxing sentimental about old +times and bygone days.</p> + +<p>"I'm glad you're not a nun, darling!" he remarked fatuously. "If you had +lived in the ancient Abbey, I shouldn't have been able to walk about the +garden with you, should I?"</p> + +<p>"I suppose not," she ventured, "especially if you'd been a monk."</p> + +<p>"I dare say some of them <i>did</i> manage to do a little love-making +sometimes, though. What's that story about the ghost?"</p> + +<p>"The White Nun, do you mean? The one that haunts the College gardens?"</p> + +<p>(Ingred pricked up her ears at this).</p> + +<p>"Yes. Isn't there some legend or other about her?"</p> + +<p>"I believe there is, but I've forgotten it. I only know she walks on +moonlight nights, down the steps by the sun-dial, and then disappears +into the wall near the Abbey. At least she's supposed to. I've never met +anybody who's seen her. Don't talk of such shuddery things! You make me +feel creepy!"</p> + +<p>Apparently he offered masculine protection, for another suggestive sound +was followed by a giggle and a remonstrance. The hostel bell was +ringing, and the Abbey clock was striking eight. Were they going to stay +talking all night? Ingred was growing desperate. She wondered how she +was going to explain her absence to Mrs. Best. She even debated whether +it would be advisable to open the summer-house door, bolt across the +lawn, and trust to luck that the matter was not reported at the College. +She had her hand on the latch when the feminine voice outside remarked:</p> + +<p>"It's getting chilly, Donald!"</p> + +<p>"Don't catch cold, darling!" with tender solicitude. "Would you rather +go indoors?"</p> + +<p>"Hooray!" triumphed Ingred inwardly, though she did not dare to utter a +sound.</p> + +<p>It took a little while for the lovers to get under way and finally +stroll back along the path among the bushes. Ingred gave them time to +walk out of sight and hearing, then made a dash for the rockery, +scrambled over the wall, tore across the tennis courts, and entered the +dining-room nearly ten minutes late for supper. Mrs. Best looked at her +reproachfully, and Doreen, who was monitress for the month, took a +notebook from her pocket and made an entry therein. Nora and Verity and +Fil went on eating sago blanc-mange with stolid countenances that +betrayed no knowledge of their room-mate's doings, but that night, when +The Foursomes met in the privacy of Dormitory 2, they demanded an +account of her adventure.</p> + +<p>She certainly had a piece of interesting news to confide.</p> + +<p>"Did you know that a ghost haunts the garden?"</p> + +<p>"No! Oh, I say, where?"</p> + +<p>"That part by the sun-dial. I've heard it called 'The Nun's Walk!'"</p> + +<p>"So have I; but I never knew there was a ghost!"</p> + +<p>"It's supposed to walk on moonlight nights."</p> + +<p>"How fearfully thrillsome!"</p> + +<p>"I've never seen a ghost!" shivered Fil.</p> + +<p>"No more have I—and I've never met anyone who exactly has. It's +generally their cousin's cousin who's told them about it."</p> + +<p>"There's a moon to-night," remarked Nora.</p> + +<p>"So there is!"</p> + +<p>The four girls looked at one another, hair brushes in hand. Each had it +on the tip of her tongue to make a suggestion.</p> + +<p>"I <i>dare</i> you to go!" said Verity at last.</p> + +<p>"Not alone?"</p> + +<p>Fil was clutching already at Nora's hand.</p> + +<p>"Well, no! Hardly alone. I vote we all go together and try if we can see +anything."</p> + +<p>"It would be rather spooksomely jinky!"</p> + +<p>"Well, look here, don't let's undress properly, but get into bed, and +cover ourselves up until Nurse has been her rounds, then we'll slip +downstairs and out through the side door into the garden. Are you game?"</p> + +<p>"Who's afraid?" said Ingred valiantly.</p> + +<p>Upstairs in their bedroom, with the gas turned on, it was easy enough to +feel courageous. Their spirits rose indeed at the prospect of such an +adventure. Nurse Warner, who came into the room a little later, looked +round at the four beds, turned out the gas, and departed without a +suspicion. She had not been gone five minutes when a surreptitious +dressing took place, and four figures in dark coats stole down the +stairs. Though the building of the College might be absolutely modern, +the garden was a relic of mediæval days. It had formerly belonged to the +nunnery of St. Mary's, and had adjoined the Abbey. Parts of the +crumbling old wall were still left, and a flagged path led from a +sun-dial to some ruins. In the day-time it was a cheerful place, and a +blaze of color. The girls had never before seen it in its night aspect. +On this May evening it had a quiet beauty that was most impressive. The +full moon shone on the great dark pile of the Abbey towers and the beech +avenue beyond. There was just light enough in the garden to distinguish +bushes as heavy masses, and to trace the paths from the grass. The air +was sweet with the scent of flowers.</p> + +<p>It is amazing how different conditions can alter a scene: at noon, with +the hum from the busy streets, it was commonplace enough; by moonlight +it became a mystic bower of enchantment. The girls walked along very +quietly, treading on the grass so as to make no noise. A slight mist was +rising from the ground near the Abbey; in the rays of the moon it +resembled a lake. Everything, indeed, was altered. The outline of the +sumach bush was like a crouching tiger; the laburnum tassels waved like +skeleton fingers. It seemed a witching, unreal world.</p> + +<p>Four rather scared girls crept along, clasping hands for moral support. +Each secretly would have been relieved to abandon the quest, but did not +like to be the first to turn tail. They had determined to walk from the +sun-dial to the Abbey wall and back again. So far the garden, though +mysterious, showed no signs of anything supernatural. They began to +pluck up courage, and even to talk to one another in low whispers. At +the ruins they turned and looked back towards the sun-dial. The +moonlight streamed along the flagged path, and shimmered on the clumps +of early yellow lilies.</p> + +<p>What was that, stealing from under the shelter of the hawthorn tree? The +girls gasped and almost stopped breathing.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<a href="images/gs06.jpg"><img src="images/gs06.jpg" alt=""/></a> +</div> + +<h4><a name="gs06" id="gs06"></a>[Illustration: A TALL FIGURE, CLOTHED IN SOME WHITE GARMENT, WAS GLIDING +TOWARDS THEM.]</h4> + + +<p>A tall figure, clothed in some long white garment, was gliding towards +them. It kept in the shadow, and they could see no details, only a light +mass that was slowly and steadily advancing apparently straight to where +they were crouching beside the wall. Fil was trembling like a leaf, Nora +declared afterward that her hair stood on end, Ingred and Verity felt +shivers run down their spines. Nearer and nearer came the white figure. +Its approach was more than flesh and blood could stand. With a wild +shriek Fil dashed across the lawn, followed closely by Nora, Ingred, and +Verity.</p> + +<p>"Girls!" cried a clear and well-known voice. "Girls! Stop! What are you +doing here?"</p> + +<p>There was no mistaking the tone of command of the head-mistress. Four +amazed and crestfallen damsels halted and turned back, to find Miss +Burd, attired in a white dressing-gown, standing in the moonlight on the +grass.</p> + +<p>"What is the meaning of this?" she asked. "And why aren't you all in +bed?"</p> + +<p>It is always difficult to give explanations, and (to such a +matter-of-fact person as Miss Burd) it seemed particularly silly to have +to confess that they had come out ghost-hunting, and had mistaken her +for a spirit. She emptied the vials of her scorn upon their dejected +heads.</p> + +<p>"Don't let me hear of any more nonsense of this sort!" she finished. "I +should have thought you were too intelligent to believe in such rubbish. +As for leaving your dormitory at this hour, you deserve to be locked in +the cycle-shed for the night. I shall, of course, report you to Mrs. +Best, and none of you will play tennis for a week, as a punishment."</p> + +<p>Miss Burd, bristling with anger, swept the delinquents before her to the +door of the hostel, and watched them flee upstairs, then went to lay the +matter before Mrs. Best.</p> + +<p>In Dormitory 2, four girls got into bed at topmost speed.</p> + +<p>"Of all the ill-luck!" mourned Fil.</p> + +<p>"I didn't know Miss Burd prowled about the garden in a dressing-gown," +exclaimed Ingred.</p> + +<p>"She <i>did</i> look exactly like a ghost!" confirmed Verity.</p> + +<p>"Tennis off for a whole week! Blossom will be furious! It's too +absolutely grizzly for anything!" groused Nora. "I wish the wretched old +ghost had been at Jericho before we went to look for it!"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XX" id="CHAPTER_XX"></a>CHAPTER XX</h2> + +<h3>Under the Lanterns</h3> + + +<p>It is an ill wind that blows nobody good, and though Nora, Fil, Ingred, +and Verity might chafe at being debarred from tennis for a whole week, +their adventure in the garden had given them an idea. How it exactly +originated could not be decided, for each fiercely claimed the full +credit for it. Its evolution, however, was somewhat as follows:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Stage 1. How lovely the garden looked in the evening.</p> + +<p>Stage 2. Why should we not <i>all</i> enjoy it some time?</p> + +<p>Stage 3. Miss Burd evidently does.</p> + +<p>Stage 4. And looked very fascinating in her white dressing-gown.</p> + +<p>Stage 5. It was exactly like a fancy dress.</p> + +<p>Stage 6. Why should not we all wear fancy dress?</p> + +<p>Stage 7. <i>Let us ask Miss Burd to let the hostel have a fancy-dress +dance in the school garden.</i></p></div> + +<p>Great minds generally think in company, and often hit upon the same +invention at the same moment, so perhaps all four girls had an equal +share in the brain-wave. They communicated it cautiously to companions, +and as it "caught on" they sounded Mrs. Best, and finding her favorably +disposed to the scheme, begged her to intercede for them with Miss Burd. +The head-mistress was wonderfully gracious about the matter, gave full +permission for the dance, promised to be present herself, and allowed +the invitation to be extended to any mistresses and seniors who would +care to join the party. It was quite a long time since the hostel had +had any particularly exciting doings, so that the girls flung themselves +into their preparation with much enthusiasm. Those who were lucky enough +already to possess fancy costumes, or who were able to borrow them, of +course scored, and the rest set to work to manufacture anything that +came to hand. It was to be in the nature of an impromptu affair, but a +few days' notice was given, and the girls were able to devote a Saturday +to the all-absorbing problem. Ingred, home for the week-end, enlisted +the help of Mother and Quenrede, and turned the bungalow almost upside +down in her quest for suitable accessories. She thought of a number of +characters she would have liked to impersonate, but was always balked by +the lack of some vital article of dress.</p> + +<p>"It's no use!" she lamented. "I can't be 'Joan of Arc' without a suit of +armor, or 'Queen Elizabeth' when I haven't a flowered velvet robe! I'm +so tired of all the old things! It's too stale to twist some roses in my +hair for 'Summer,' and I've been a gipsy so often that everybody knows +my red handkerchief and gilt beads. I'd as soon be a Red Indian squaw!"</p> + +<p>"And why shouldn't you be?" asked Quenrede. "It's a remarkably pretty +costume."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I dare say, if I could beg, borrow, or steal it!"</p> + +<p>"You've no need to do either, my dear. I've had a brain-wave, and we'll +fix it up for you at home. Yes, I mean it! Allow me to introduce myself: +'Miss Quenrede Saxon, Court Costumier. The very latest theatrical +productions.' I'll make you look so that your own mother will hardly +know you!"</p> + +<p>"I'd like to puzzle them!" rejoiced Ingred. "Miss Burd said she should +have a parade, and hinted something about a prize. They always give +points to whoever has the best disguise. Masks are barred, but we may +paint our faces. I think I shall be rather choice as a squaw!"</p> + +<p>"You ought to have me with you as your 'brave'!" chuckled Hereward.</p> + +<p>"It's a 'Ladies Only' dance, so you can't be invited, my boy! There +won't be a solitary masculine individual present—even the gardener will +have gone home."</p> + +<p>"You bet folks will peep in!"</p> + +<p>"No, they won't. The premises are strictly private."</p> + +<p>Quenrede was in some respects a clever and ingenious little person. She +was not much good at ordinary dressmaking, where fashion must be +followed, but she displayed great originality in her construction of +Ingred's fancy costume. There were two clean sacks in the house, and she +commandeered them. She cut one into a skirt and the other into a jumper, +stitched up the sides, and frayed out the bottoms to represent fringes. +Then she took her water-color paints, mixed them with Chinese white to +form a strong body color, and painted Indian patterns on both garments. +The head-dress she considered a triumph. She went to a neighboring +poultry farm, and boldly begged the tail feathers which had been plucked +the day before from some game fowls. These she glued round a cardboard +crown, and the effect was magnificent. A dress rehearsal was held, and +the family rejoiced over Ingred's most decidedly Wild West appearance.</p> + +<p>"You have a pair of real moccasins that Uncle Ernest sent you for +bedroom slippers. I'll cut some strips of cloth into fringe for +leggings, and you can wear Athelstane's leather belt, and carry an axe +for a tomahawk," said Quenrede, surveying her work with critical +satisfaction. "Don't forget to paint your face!"</p> + +<p>"I shan't show anyone my costume beforehand," chuckled Ingred. "I really +don't believe anyone will know me! What luck if I won a prize for the +best disguise!"</p> + +<p>"Bet you anything you like you don't!" murmured Hereward.</p> + +<p>"Why shouldn't I?"</p> + +<p>"Because there may be others even better!"</p> + +<p>"Well, of course, that's for Miss Burd to judge! But I think I've a +sporting chance, at any rate!"</p> + +<p>The dance was to be held on Monday evening after supper, when it was +just beginning to grow dusk. The mistresses had taken the matter up +quite enthusiastically, and had stretched some wires across the garden, +and hung up Chinese lanterns. The hostel piano had been pulled close to +the window, so that the strains of music could float out into the +garden. At least fifteen seniors had accepted the invitation, and it was +rumored that Miss Burd had invited a few private friends. Supper was +held earlier than usual, so as to allow time for the all-important +operation of dressing, and the moment it was finished every inmate of +the hostel fled to her bedroom. Dormitory 2 was naturally a scene of +much confusion. The girls tried to put on their own costumes and help +each other at the same time. Fil, as a Dresden China Shepherdess, needed +much assistance in the settling of her panniers, and the arrangement of +her curls, which by special permission from Mrs. Best had been twisted +up in curl papers from four o'clock until the last available moment, and +came out, much to Fil's satisfaction, in quite creditable ringlets. The +effect was so altogether charming that her room-mates called a general +halt for admiration.</p> + +<p>"You look like a mixture of Dolly Varden and Sweet Lavender, with a dash +of Maid Marian thrown in," decided Verity.</p> + +<p>"I hope my hair'll keep in curl! There's rather a damp feeling in the +air," fluttered Fil anxiously.</p> + +<p>"You could fly indoors, and give it a twist with the tongs, if it gets +very limp," suggested Nora.</p> + +<p>Nora herself was going as a personification of "The Kitchen." Her skirt +was draped with dusters and dish-cloths, she wore a small dish-cover as +a hat, clothes-pegs were suspended round her neck as a necklace, and she +brandished a rolling-pin in her hand.</p> + +<p>"I'm bound to be something comic," she assured the others. "I'd never +keep my face straight for a romantic character. I could no more live up +to Lady Jane Grey than I could fly! She's above me altogether!"</p> + +<p>Verity, who had borrowed a Dutch costume slightly too small for her, was +trying to squeeze her proportions into the tight velvet bodice, and +looked dubiously at the sabots.</p> + +<p>"I'll never be able to dance in those!" she decided. "I'll put them on +to start with, and then kick them off and slip on my sandals instead. +They're the most extraordinary clumpy things in the world, I feel like a +cat walking in walnut shells!"</p> + +<p>Ingred's toilet progressed very favorably till it came to the stage of +coloring her face. She was not quite sure as to the best means of +obtaining a Red Indian complexion. First she tried rubbing it with soil +from the garden, but that was a painful process which almost scraped the +skin from her cheeks. So she washed her face and used cocoa. She mixed +it in a cup and dabbed it over, but it would not go on smoothly, and the +result was so patchy and hideous that once more she brought out her +sponge and wiped it off. At that point Verity came to the rescue, +smeared the poor cheeks (already sore through such ill-treatment) with +vanishing cream, then powdered on some dry cocoa, which certainly gave a +dusky and non-European aspect to her features, especially when combined +with the feather head-dress. Her dark hair, plaited in two long tails, +completed the illusion. The girls held a complacent review of their +toilets, then walked downstairs with caution, for Nora's dish-cover was +difficult to balance as a hat, and Verity's heels kept slipping out of +the sabots. Fil's ringlets, alas! were already beginning to untwist, and +Ingred's jumper, put on in too big a hurry, showed symptoms of splitting +down the seam. There was no time for repairs of any sort, however. They +were five minutes late, and the rest of the company were assembled on +the lawn. The boarders from the hostel, together with mistresses and +seniors who had come by invitation, made a total of more than fifty +persons, all in fancy dress.</p> + +<p>These gay costumes were a pretty sight against the background of trees +and bushes and flower-beds. The sun had set, leaving a yellow glow in the +sky, and the Chinese lanterns were beginning to glow in the gathering +twilight. It was certainly a varied crowd; all centuries had met +together. A Japanese damsel walked arm-in-arm with a Lancashire witch; +an Italian peasant hob-a-nobbed with "The Queen of Sheba," a Spanish +lady was talking to "Old Mother Hubbard," while such characters as "A +Medicine Bottle," or "An Aeroplane" rubbed shoulders with an "Egyptian +Princess" or "Dick Whittington's Cat."</p> + +<p>Miss Burd, garbed appropriately as Chaucer's Prioress, received the +company at the top of the sun-dial steps, looking, in the opinion of the +Foursome League, quite sufficiently like the ghost of yesterday to have +justified squeals had they met her alone. When the ceremony of +introduction was over, the guests dispersed about the lawn, Miss Perry +struck up a waltz on the piano, and the fun began. Dancing on the grass, +in the growing darkness, with the Chinese lanterns sending out a soft +but uncertain radiance overhead, was a new experience to most of the +school. It was difficult not to step on to the flower-beds, or to brush +against the bushes. Trailing garments were decidedly in the way, and +came to grief. There was a delirious sort of Eastern feeling about it—a +kind of combination of "The Thousand and One Nights" and the "Rubáiyat +of Omar Khayyam." The Abbey tower for once seemed out of place, and +ought to have changed miraculously into a pagoda or a minaret.</p> + +<p>It was after the girls had been dancing for some little time that Ingred +first noticed a couple whom she did not remember to have seen before. +They followed persistently in her steps, and even gently bumped into her +once or twice, thus compelling her attention. She looked at them, +considerably mystified. One was attired in Early Victorian Costume, with +a crinoline, a little tippet, and a poke bonnet, from which peeped some +bewitching ringlets; the other, in a gorgeous Turkish costume, was +enveloped in a shimmering gauze veil.</p> + +<p>"Who are those?" Ingred asked her partner.</p> + +<p>But Verity could not tell.</p> + +<p>In the twilight it was, of course, easy to make mistakes, but Ingred +began to have a strong suspicion that neither of the mysterious partners +belonged to the school. They were certainly not members of the Fifth or +Sixth. Perhaps some of the Juniors had forced themselves in? No, they +were too tall for Juniors.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps they are ghosts!" shivered Verity.</p> + +<p>"Ghosts don't bump into people. These are real substantial flesh and +blood!"</p> + +<p>"It's so dark, we can hardly see."</p> + +<p>"Well, I vote we keep close to them, and next time we get near a +lantern, we'll turn the tables and bump into them, and try to see who +they are."</p> + +<p>It was easier said than done, however; the strangers seemed to have +changed their tactics, and instead of pursuing Ingred and Verity now +endeavored to avoid them. No "elusive Pimpernels" could have been more +difficult to follow. They would come quite close and then suddenly dodge +and glide away, only to reappear and repeat the same tantalizing +performance. Ingred and Verity began to get on their mettle. It was so +evidently done on purpose that they were fully determined to catch the +errant pair. After a long game at hide-and-seek they at last managed to +dance along side them, and laying violent hands upon them, to drag them +into the light of a lantern. As Ingred gazed for a moment in perplexity, +the Early Victorian lady gave a most un-Early Victorian wink inside the +poke bonnet.</p> + +<p>"Hereward! How <i>dare</i> you!" gasped his sister.</p> + +<p>A firm hand drew her away from the light, and in the shelter of a laurel +bush, a voice, choking with laughter, proclaimed:</p> + +<p>"Done you, old girl! Done you brown! What about that bet? I told you +you'd never know me!"</p> + +<p>"You abominable young wretch," replied Ingred, laughing in spite of +herself. "How <i>did</i> you manage it? And who is your friend?"</p> + +<p>"Allow me to introduce Vashti, Queen of Persia!"</p> + +<p>"Bunkum! It's a boy! I know it is!"</p> + +<p>The explosive sounds issuing from under the shimmering veil of Queen +Vashti certainly sounded more masculine than feminine, and that Persian +princess confessed presently to the name of Franklin.</p> + +<p>"He's a chum of mine," explained Hereward, "and he lives close by, so we +made it up to come together. His sister lent us the clothes and dressed +us. I say, your Prioress never found us out, did she? What about that +prize?"</p> + +<p>"There isn't going to be a prize, and you certainly wouldn't have +deserved it! Look here, you'd better wangle yourselves off before it +gets about who you are. <i>I</i> should get into a row, not you!"</p> + +<p>"Would the Prioress kick up rough?"</p> + +<p>"She'd probably think I'd planned the whole business, and encouraged you +to come."</p> + +<p>"Even if we apologized?"</p> + +<p>"She wouldn't accept an apology. If you want me to have any tennis next +week, you had better clear out."</p> + +<p>"Just a round with you first, and Franklin can take your friend, or vice +versa if you prefer it!"</p> + +<p>"You impudent boy! Certainly not. I daren't risk it. Look, Miss Strong +is bringing out the lamp, and putting it on the sun-dial, and I believe +Miss Perry is going to take a flashlight photo presently. If you want to +disgrace me for ever——"</p> + +<p>"We'll go!" sighed a mournful voice. "Though it's Adam and Eve turned +out of Paradise. I say, Franklin, they don't want us, after all our +trouble! We'd better be getting on, I suppose. Our deepest respects to +the Prioress. She's given us a delightful evening, if she only knew it. +We'd like to come again some time. Ta-ta!"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXI" id="CHAPTER_XXI"></a>CHAPTER XXI</h2> + +<h3>The Abbey Recital</h3> + + +<p>Now that Ingred had at last made friends with Bess, she found they had +innumerable subjects of interest in common. They were both keen tennis +players, dabbled a little in art, pursued Nature study, liked acting, +when they had any opportunity of showing their talents in that line, and +were enthusiastic over music. Bess was making as good progress on the +violin as Ingred on the piano, so there seemed great possibilities of +playing together. Sometimes when Bess brought her instrument to school +for her lesson, she and Ingred would try over a few pieces, and other +girls who chanced to be near would collect and act audience.</p> + +<p>"I vote we get up a musical society next year," suggested Ingred. "It's +impossible this term—we've too much on our hands already—but if the +societies are rearranged in September, we'll agitate to let music take a +much bigger place than it has done so far."</p> + +<p>"Yes, that would be glorious!" agreed Bess, with visions of a school +choir, and even a school orchestra, dancing before her eyes. "Signor +Chianti is leaving Grovebury, so if we have a new violin master next +term, I hope it will be somebody who's enthusiastic and able and willing +to organize things."</p> + +<p>"That's the point, of course. Dr. Linton is very able, but not willing +to bother with us beyond our lessons—he's so frightfully busy. I +suppose he feels that after training the Abbey choir, and conducting +choral societies to sing his cantatas, he doesn't care to trouble +himself over schoolgirls."</p> + +<p>"He's a <i>real</i> musician, though. I often wish I could study under him. +I'd love to play something with him, just once, to see how it feels to +have him accompany me. I think it would be so inspiring, it would just +make one let oneself go! I stay every Sunday evening after service at +the Abbey to hear his recitals. Occasionally somebody plays the violin, +and his accompaniment is simply gorgeous. He manages to make it sound +like a whole orchestra. I've never played with an organ. It's so much +fuller than a piano."</p> + +<p>"Yes," agreed Ingred contemplatively.</p> + +<p>Bess's remarks had given her an idea, but she did not want to +communicate it at once to her friend. It was nothing more or less than +that she should ask Dr. Linton to allow Bess to play with him some time +in the Abbey. She wondered whether she dared. His temper was still +decidedly irritable, and it was quite uncertain whether he would receive +the suggestion graciously, or snap her head off. She thought, however, +it was worth venturing.</p> + +<p>"I'll try to catch him in an amiable mood," she decided.</p> + +<p>In order not to arouse any grounds for irritation, she practiced +particularly well, and took her next work to him at a high stage of +excellence.</p> + +<p>"Bravo!" he said, when she had finished her "Serenade." "I believe +you've really got some music in you! You brought out that crescendo +passage very well indeed. We want a little more delicacy in these +arpeggios, and then it will do. Your touch has improved very much +lately."</p> + +<p>It was so seldom that her master launched forth into praise, that Ingred +colored with pleasure. Now certainly seemed the time, if ever—to put in +a word for Bess.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Dr. Linton, may I ask you to do something for me?" she blurted out.</p> + +<p>He thrust back his hair with a mock-pathetic gesture.</p> + +<p>"What is it?" he inquired humorously. "Another autograph album? Or a +subscription? I've grown cautious by experience, and I don't answer +'Yes, thou shalt have it to the half of my kingdom!' I never give blind +promises."</p> + +<p>"It isn't an autograph album (though I'd be glad to have your name in +mine, all the same, if I may bring it some day), it is this: I've a +friend at school, Bess Haselford, who plays the violin very well. She +has lessons from Signor Chianti. She goes to all your recitals, and she +would so <i>love</i> some time to try a piece over with the organ. Do you +think, some day when you are in the Abbey, you could let her? I know +it's fearful cheek to ask you!"</p> + +<p>"Why, bring her by all means," said Dr. Linton heartily. "Let me see, I +have an organ pupil to-morrow at 3.30. Suppose you come at half-past +four, and I'll give her ten minutes with pleasure. I can fit it in +before the choir practice, I dare say."</p> + +<p>"Oh, thank you!" exclaimed Ingred. "We can come straight on from +school."</p> + +<p>It was delightful to have caught Dr. Linton in such an amiable mood. +Ingred hastened to tell the good news to Bess, and also to beg the +necessary permission from Miss Burd.</p> + +<p>Bess, greatly thrilled, turned up next afternoon with her violin and +music-case, and when classes were over they walked across to the Abbey. +The pupil was just finishing his lesson, and some rather extraordinary +sounds were palpitating among the arches and pillars of the old Minster.</p> + +<p>"It must take ages to learn to manage all those stops and pedals +properly," commented Bess. "I'm glad a violin has only four +strings—they're quite enough!"</p> + +<p>They sat in a pew, and waited till the lesson was over, then ventured +into the chancel. Dr. Linton saw them in the looking-glass which hung +over his seat, and turning round beckoned them to him.</p> + +<p>"So you want to hear what it's like to play with an organ?" he said +kindly to Bess, sounding the notes for her to tune her violin, and at +the same time turning over her music. "What have we got here? It must be +something I know, so that I can improvise an accompaniment. Let us try +this Impromptu. Don't be afraid of your instrument, and bring the tone +well out. Remember, you're in a church, and not in a drawing-room."</p> + +<p>Bess, fluttered, nervous, but fearfully excited and pleased, declared +herself ready, and launched into the Impromptu. Dr. Linton accompanied +her with the finished skill of a clever musician. He subdued the organ +just sufficiently to allow the violin to lead, but brought in such a +beautiful range of harmonies that the piece really became a duet.</p> + +<p>"Why, that's capital!" he declared at the conclusion. "What else have +you inside that case? We'll have this Prelude now; it's rather a +favorite of mine. The Bourrée? Oh, we'll take that afterwards!"</p> + +<p>Ingred had only expected Dr. Linton to play one piece with Bess, but he +went on and on, and even kept the choir waiting while he made her try +the Prelude over again.</p> + +<p>"I've had quite an enjoyable half-hour," he said, shutting the books at +last. "You're a sympathetic little player! Look here, the lady who was +to have helped me with my recital on Sunday week has failed me. Suppose +you take her place, and play the Prelude. It would go very well if we +practiced it a few times together."</p> + +<p>"Play at the recital!" gasped Bess.</p> + +<p>"Why not? Ask your father when you go home, and send me a note +to-morrow, for I want to get the thing fixed up. These boys are waiting +for me now. I have to train them for an anthem. You can come and +practice with me on Friday at the same time, 4.30."</p> + +<p>Dr. Linton dismissed the girls as if he took it entirely for granted +that the matter was settled. Bess was almost overwhelmed by the +proposal. It was considered a great honor to play in the Abbey, and she +had never dreamed that it could fall to her lot to be asked to take part +in the Sunday recital. She was not sure how her father and mother would +view the idea, but rather to her surprise they both readily acquiesced.</p> + +<p>"We shall have to get your grandfather to come over and hear you," said +Mr. Haselford.</p> + +<p>"Oh yes! And may I ask Ingred to stay with us for the week-end? You see, +she can't come all the way from Wynch-on-the-Wold for Sunday recitals, +and it's entirely owing to her that I'm playing. I should so like her to +be there."</p> + +<p>Ingred accepted the invitation with alacrity. She had grown very fond of +Bess lately—so fond, indeed, that Verity's nose was put considerably +out of joint. Verity, though an amusing school comrade, was not a "home" +friend. Apart from fun in their dormitory, she and Ingred had little in +common, and had never arranged to spend a holiday together. She was a +jolly enough girl, but so fond of "ragging" that it was impossible to do +anything but joke with her. Bess, on the contrary, was a real confidante +who could be trusted with secrets. The two friends spent an idyllic +Saturday together. Mr. Haselford motored over to Birkshaw to fetch his +father, and took the girls with him in the car. Mr. Haselford the elder +proved a delightful old gentleman, deeply interested in music, and much +gratified that his grand-daughter was to play at the Abbey.</p> + +<p>"It was a happy thought of yours, my dear!" he said to Ingred. "Why, +I've often attended those recitals, and never guessed little Bess would +be asked to take part in one! I sang in Grovebury Abbey choir when I was +a boy, and I've always had a tender spot in my heart for the old town."</p> + +<p>"And you're not going to forget it, are you, Grandfather?" said Bess +pointedly.</p> + +<p>"Well, well, we shall see," he evaded, stroking her brown hair.</p> + +<p>Even poor delicate Mrs. Haselford made a supreme effort and went to +church on Sunday evening. It was a beautiful service, and the old +Minster looked lovely with the late sunshine streaming through its +gorgeous west window. Some of the congregation went away after the +sermon and concluding hymn were over, but a large number stayed to hear +the recital. Bess, horribly nervous, went with Ingred to the choir, +where she had left her violin. There were to be two organ solos, and her +piece was to separate them. She was thankful she had not to play first. +She sat on one of the old carved Miserere seats, and listened as Dr. +Linton's subtle fingers touched the keys, and flooded the church with +the rich tones of Bach's Toccata in F Major. She wished it had been five +times as long, so as to delay her own turn. But a solo cannot last for +ever, and much too soon the last notes died away. There was a pause +while the verger fetched a music stand and placed it close to the +chancel steps. Dr. Linton was looking in her direction, and sounding the +A for her. With her usually rosy face almost pale, Bess walked to the +organ, tuned her violin, then took her place at the music stand. It was +seldom that so young a girl had played in the Abbey, and everybody +looked sympathetically at the palpably frightened little figure. It was +the feeling of standing there facing all eyes that unnerved poor Bess. +For a second or two her hand trembled so greatly that she could scarcely +hold her bow. Then by a sudden inspiration she looked over the heads of +the congregation to the west window, where the sunset light was gleaming +through figures of crimson and blue and gold. Down all the centuries +music had played a part in the service of the Minster. She would not +remember that people were there to listen to her, but would let her +violin give its praise to God alone. She did not need to look at her +notes, for she knew the piece by heart, and with her eyes fixed on the +west window she began the "Prelude."</p> + +<p>Once the first notes were started, her courage returned, and she brought +out her tone with a firm bow. The splendid harmonies of the organ +supported her and she seemed spurred along in an impulse to do her very +best. Ingred, listening in the choir, was sure her friend had never +played so well, or put such depth of feeling into her music before. It +was over at last, and in the hush of the church, Bess stole back to her +seat, while Dr. Linton plunged into the fantasies of a "Triumphal +March."</p> + +<p>"I'm proud of you!" whispered Ingred, as they walked down the aisle +together afterwards.</p> + +<p>"Oh, don't! I felt as if it wasn't half good enough," answered Bess, +giving a nervous little shiver now that the ordeal was over.</p> + +<p>When Ingred returned to Wynch-on-the-Wold next Friday afternoon she +found the family had some news for her. Old Mr. Haselford had been to +Mr. Saxon's office, and had confided to him a scheme that lay very near +to his heart. He had prospered exceedingly in his business affairs at +Birkshaw, and he was anxious to do something for his native town of +Grovebury, where he had been born and had spent his boyhood. He asked +Mr. Saxon to prepare designs for a combined museum and art gallery, +which he proposed to build and present to the public.</p> + +<p>"I can trust the architect of 'Rotherwood' to give us something in the +best possible taste," he had remarked. "I want the place to be an object +of beauty, not the blot on the landscape that such buildings often +prove. Fortunately I have the offer of a splendid site, so the plans +need not be hampered by lack of space. I think we shall be able to show +that the twentieth century can produce work of merit on its own lines, +without slavishly copying either the classical or the mediæval style of +architecture."</p> + +<p>Old Mr. Haselford had even gone further.</p> + +<p>"My son's part of the business is now entirely at Grovebury," he +continued. "And I feel I should like him to have a house of his own. I +have bought five acres of land above the river at Trenton, on the hill, +where there is a glorious view of the valley. I don't ask you to copy +'Rotherwood,' for I know no architect cares to repeat himself, but a +place in the same style and with equal conveniences would suit us very +well. My daughter-in-law could talk over the details. It would make a +fresh interest for her. We are all tremendously keen about it."</p> + +<p>The new schemes which occupied the minds of the Haselfords brought great +rejoicings to the Bungalow.</p> + +<p>"Why, it will almost make Father's fortune!" triumphed Ingred, still in +a state of delighted bewilderment.</p> + +<p>"It will certainly be an immense pull to him professionally to have the +designing of an important public building," smiled Mother. "And I think +he will be able to plan a house to satisfy Mr. and Mrs. Haselford. It's +just the kind of work he likes."</p> + +<p>"Mother, when they leave Rotherwood, shall we have to let it to any one +else, or would it be possible——" Ingred hesitated, with the wish that +for nearly a year she had put resolutely away from her trembling on her +lips.</p> + +<p>"To go back there ourselves?" finished Mother. "If Father's affairs +prosper, as they seem likely to do at present, I think we may safely say +'yes.' It never rains but it pours, and just as his profession has +suddenly taken a leap forward, his private investments have picked up. +Colonial mines, that he thought utterly done for, have begun to work +again, and pay dividends. Our prospects now are very different indeed +from what they were a few months ago. Don't look too excited, Ingred! +Houses take a long time to build, nowadays, and it may be years before +Mr. Haselford's new place is finished, and we can get re-possession of +Rotherwood."</p> + +<p>"I don't care, so long as there's hope of ever having it again!"</p> + +<p>"It's our own home, and naturally we love it, but we must not forget +what a debt of gratitude we owe to the Bungalow. We have been very happy +here, and I think we have been thrown together, and have learnt to know +one another in a way we should never have done at Rotherwood. All the +sacrifices we have made for each other have drawn us far closer as a +family, and linked us up so that we ought never to be able to drift +apart now, which might have happened if we had all been able just to +pursue our own line. We have learnt the value here of simple pleasures, +we've enjoyed the moors and the flowers and the birds and the stars and +all the beautiful things that Nature can give us. The realization of +them is worth far more than anything that money can buy, for it's the +'joy that no man taketh from you.' I have grown to love +Wynch-on-the-Wold so dearly that I shall beg Father to keep on the +Bungalow as a country cottage, and I shall run out here for holidays +when I feel Rotherwood is too much for me, and I want to be alone for a +while with Nature."</p> + +<p>"I expect we'll all want to do just the same!" said Quenrede, looking +from the gay flower-beds, which her own hands had planted, over the +hedge to where the brown moors stretched away into the dim gray of the +distance. "I thought it was going to be hateful when I came here, but, +Muvvie, I think it's been the happiest year of my life! The country may +be quiet, but it has its compensation. We'll walk to the Whistling +Stones again, Ingred, as soon as you break up!"</p> + +<p>"And that will be exactly a week next Friday!" rejoiced Ingred.</p> + +<p>The school was busy with all the usual activities that seem to happen at +the end of the summer term. There was a successful cricket match with +the Girls' High School from Birkshaw, a tennis tournament where Nora and +Susie took part after all, and won laurels for the College, a Nature +Notebook Competition in which Linda, to every one's amazement, bore off +the first prize against all other schools in the town.</p> + +<p>Then there was the annual function, when parents were invited to see a +display of Swedish Drill, listen to three-part songs given by the +singing class, admire the drawings and clay models exhibited in the +studio, and watch a French play acted by the Sixth. It was at the close +of this performance that (when friends had taken their departure, and +Dr. Linton, who had conducted the singing class, had closed the grand +piano and had hurried across to the Abbey to keep an appointment with an +organ pupil) a certain piece of news leaked out, and began to circulate +round the school. Verity had the proud importance of carrying it into +the hostel.</p> + +<p>"Do you know," she announced, "that Miss Strong is engaged to Dr. +Linton, and they're to be married in the holidays?"</p> + +<p>Nora, who was changing a crêpe de chine dress for a serviceable tennis +costume, collapsed on to her bed.</p> + +<p>"Hold me up!" she murmured dramatically. "Why, I didn't know he was a +widower!"</p> + +<p>"Of course he is," endorsed Ingred, "and a most uncomfortable one, I +should say. I went to his house once for a music lesson, and it looked +in a fearful muddle. Good old Bantam! We must give her congrats! She'll +soon get things into order there! I believe she adores little Kenneth. +I've often seen her taking him about the town. She shall have my +blessing, by all means!"</p> + +<p>"We might give her something more substantial than congrats and +blessings!" suggested Verity. "I vote we get up a subscription in the +form for a decent wedding present!"</p> + +<p>"Oh yes! Think of Sarkie as Mrs. Linton! They'll be the oddest couple! I +wonder if she'll get tired of perpetual music, and if he'll rage round +his own drawing-room and ruffle his hair when he feels annoyed, like he +does with his pupils!"</p> + +<p>"Perhaps she'll break him off bad habits! I could trust her to hold her +own."</p> + +<p>"Oh, she'll be the gray mare, don't you fear! But honestly I'm glad! She +has her points, and I hope she'll be happy."</p> + +<p>"I wonder who'll have her form next term?"</p> + +<p>"That doesn't concern us, for we shall probably be in the Sixth."</p> + +<p>"Help! So we shall! I can't bring my mind to it yet. It gives me +spasms!"</p> + +<p>"Quite a blossomy prospect, though!"</p> + +<p>On the afternoon before breaking-up day, the School Parliament met for +the last time. Lispeth, rather sad, and inclined to be sentimental, +reviewed from The Chair the events of the past year.</p> + +<p>"It has been pioneer work," she said. "I dare say we might have done it +better, but at least we've tried. We laid ourselves out to set a +standard for the tone of the school, and I think it has kept up fairly +well on the whole. The Rainbow League seems thoroughly established, and +likely to go on. May I read you some of the things it has done during +the year? We made four pounds for the 'War-Orphans Fund,' and sent +ninety-seven home-made toys to poor children's treats. The Posy Union +gave nine pots of crocuses and fifty-six bunches of flowers to cripples +and invalids; the penny-a-week subscriptions have kept two little girls +all the summer at the children's camp, and the Needlework Guild has made +thirty-seven garments. It doesn't sound much when you put it all in hard +black and white like that! I hate reports and statistics of societies, +they always sound to me somehow so pharisaical, as if we were saying: +'Look how good we are!' You know I don't mean that. What I <i>do</i> mean, +though, is that we've tried not to run everything entirely for +ourselves. A rainbow shines when the world is clearing up, and perhaps +our little efforts, small as they are, show that things are moving in +the right direction. Next term all of us girls in the Sixth will have +left, and a new set will take the lead. I can't say yet who will be Head +of the school, but I don't fancy there's very much doubt about it. I +hope whoever has the reins will keep up what we have worked so hard for +this year."</p> + +<p>Lispeth was looking straight at Ingred as she spoke; her meaning was +unmistakable. Ingred blushed a faint rosy pink. It had only just dawned +upon her that next term would possibly bring her the greatest honor that +the College had to confer.</p> + +<p>"Whoever is chosen for head-girl," she stammered bashfully, "I'm sure +will try her very best to work for the good of the school. She couldn't +do more than you've done—probably she won't do half so well—but she'll +make an enormous effort to—shall we say—just 'carry on'!"</p> + + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<hr class="full" /> +<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A POPULAR SCHOOLGIRL***</p> +<p>******* This file should be named 18505-h.txt or 18505-h.zip *******</p> +<p>This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:<br /> +<a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/8/5/0/18505">http://www.gutenberg.org/1/8/5/0/18505</a></p> +<p>Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed.</p> + +<p>Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: A Popular Schoolgirl + + +Author: Angela Brazil + + + +Release Date: June 5, 2006 [eBook #18505] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A POPULAR SCHOOLGIRL*** + + +E-text prepared by Suzanne Shell, Mary Meehan, and the Project Gutenberg +Online Distributed Proofreading Team (https://www.pgdp.net/) + + + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustrations. + See 18505-h.htm or 18505-h.zip: + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/8/5/0/18505/18505-h/18505-h.htm) + or + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/8/5/0/18505/18505-h.zip) + + + + + +A POPULAR SCHOOLGIRL + +by + +ANGELA BRAZIL + +Illustrated by Balliol Salmon + + + + + + + +New York +Frederick A. Stokes Company +Publishers +Copyright, 1920, by +Frederick A. Stokes Company +All Rights Reserved +First published in the United States of America, 1921 + + + + +[Illustration: UNDER THE LANTERNS _Chapter XX_] + + + + +CONTENTS + + + I. The End of the Holidays + + II. Opening Day + + III. Wynch-on-the-Wold + + IV. Intruder Bess + + V. The Fifth-form Fete + + VI. The School Parliament + + VII. Hockey + + VIII. An Unpleasant Experience + + IX. A Hostel Frolic + + X. The Whispering Stones + + XI. On Strike + + XII. The Rainbow League + + XIII. Quenrede Comes Out + + XIV. The Peep-hole + + XV. Brotherly Breezes + + XVI. An Easter Pilgrimage + + XVII. The Rivals + + XVIII. Bess at Home + + XIX. The Nun's Walk + + XX. Under the Lanterns + + XXI. The Abbey Recital + + + + +Illustrations + + + Under the Lanterns + + "Let's Call ourselves the Foursome League" + + A Friend in Need + + "You look _nice_--you do, _really_, with your hair down" + + "You may think you know everything, Bess Haselford, but you don't know + this!" + + A Tall Figure, clothed in some White Garment, was gliding towards them + + + + +A POPULAR SCHOOLGIRL + + + + +CHAPTER I + +The End of the Holidays + + +"Ingred! Ingred, old girl! I say, Ingred! Wherever have you taken +yourself off to?" shouted a boyish voice, as its owner, jumping an +obstructing gooseberry bush, tore around the corner of the house from +the kitchen garden on to the strip of rough lawn that faced the windows. +"Hullo! Cuckoo! Coo-ee! _In_-gred!" + +"I'm here all the time, so you needn't bawl!" came in resigned tones +from under the shade of a large fuchsia. "You're enough to wake the +dead, Chumps! What is it you want now! It's too hot to go a walk till +after tea. I'm trying to get ten minutes peace and quiet!" + +Hereward, otherwise "Chumps," put his feet together in the second +position, flung out his arms in what was intended to be a graceful +attitude, and made a mock bow worthy of the cinema stage. + +"Have them by all means, Madam!" he replied in mincing accents. "Your +humble servant has no wish to disturb your ladyship's elegant repose. He +offers a thousand apologies for his unceremonious entrance into your +august presence, and implores you to condescend----_Ow! Stop it, you +brute!_" + +Hereward's burst of eloquence was brought to an abrupt end by the +violent onslaught of a fox-terrier puppy which flung itself upon him and +began to worry his ankles with delighted yelps of appreciation. + +"Stop it! Keep off, I tell you! I _won't_ be chewed to ribbons!" he +protested, dodging the attacks of the playful but all too sharp teeth, +and catching the little dog by the piece of tarred rope that formed its +collar. "Here, you'll get throttled in a minute if you don't mend your +manners." + +"Give him to his auntie, bless his heart!" laughed Ingred, extending +welcoming arms to the fat specimen of puppyhood, and rolling him about +on her knee. "Oh, he _did_ make you dance! You looked so funny! There, +precious! Don't chump auntie's fingers. Go bye-byes now. Snuggle down on +auntie's dress, and----" + +"If you've _quite_ finished talking idiotic nonsense to that little +beast," interrupted Hereward sarcastically, "you'll perhaps kindly +oblige me by mentioning whether you're coming or not!" + +"Not coming anywhere--too hot!" grunted Ingred, resettling her cushion +under the fuchsia bush. + +"Right you are! Please yourself and you'll please me! Though I should +have thought the run to Chatcombe----" + +Ingred sprang to her feet, dropping the puppy unceremoniously. + +"You don't mean to say Egbert's finished mending the motor bike? You +abominable boy! Why couldn't you tell me so before?" + +"You never gave me the chance--just said off-hand you wouldn't go +anywhere. Yes, the engine's running like a daisy, and the sidecar's on, +and Egbert's fussing to be off. If you really change your mind and want +to go----" + +But by this time Ingred was round the corner of the house; so, shaking a +philosophic head at the ways of girls in general, her brother gathered a +gooseberry or two en route, and followed her in the direction of the +stable-yard. + +The Saxons were spending their summer holidays at a farm near the +seaside, and for the first time in four long years the whole family was +reunited. Mr. Saxon, Egbert, and Athelstane had only just been +demobilized, and had hardly yet settled down to civilian life. They had +joined the rest of the party at Lynstones before returning to their +native town of Grovebury. The six weeks by the sea seemed a kind of +oasis between the anxious period of the war that was past and gone, and +the new epoch that stretched ahead in the future. To Ingred they were +halcyon days. To have her father and brothers safely back, and for the +family to be together in the midst of such beautiful scenery, was +sufficient for utter enjoyment. She did not wish her mind to venture +outside the charmed circle of the holidays. Beyond, when she thought +about it all, lay a nebulous prospect, in the center of which school +loomed large. + +On this particular hot August afternoon, Ingred welcomed an excursion in +the sidecar. She had not felt inclined to walk down the white path +under the blazing sun to the glaring beach, but it was another matter to +spin along the high road till, as the fairy tales put it, her hair +whistled in the wind. Egbert was anxious to set off, so Hereward took +his place on the luggage-carrier, and, after some back-firing, the three +started forth. It was a glorious run over moorland country, with +glimpses of the sea on the one hand, and craggy tors on the other, and +round them billowy masses of heather, broken here and there by runnels +of peat-stained water. If Egbert exceeded the speed-limit, he certainly +had the excuse of a clear road before him; there were no hedges to hide +advancing cars, neither was there any possibility of whisking round a +corner to find a hay-cart blocking the way. In the course of an hour +they had covered a considerable number of miles, and found themselves +whirling down the tremendous hill that led to the seaside town of +Chatcombe. + +Arrived in the main street they left the motorcycle at a garage, and +strolled on to the promenade, joining the crowd of holiday-makers who +were sauntering along in the heat, or sitting on the benches watching +the children digging in the sand below. Much to Ingred's astonishment +she was suddenly hailed by her name, and, turning, found herself greeted +with enthusiasm by a schoolfellow. + +"Ingred! What a surprise!" + +"Avis! Who'd have thought of seeing you?" + +"Are you staying here?" + +"No, only over for the afternoon." + +"We've rooms at Beach View over there. Come along and have some tea with +us, and your brothers too. Yes, indeed you must! Mother will be +delighted to see you all. I shan't let you say no!" + +Borne away by her hospitable friend, Ingred presently found herself +sitting on a seat in the front garden of a tall boarding-house facing +the sea, and while Egbert and Hereward discussed motor-cycling with +Avis's father, the two girls enjoyed a confidential chat together. + +"Only a few days now," sighed Avis, "then we've got to leave all this +and go home. How long are you staying at Lynstones, Ingred?" + +"A fortnight more, but don't talk of going home. I want the holidays to +last forever!" + +"So do I, but they won't. School begins on the twenty-first of +September. It will be rather sport to go to the new buildings at last, +won't it? By the by, now the war's over, and we've all got our own +again, I suppose you're going back to Rotherwood, aren't you?" + +"I suppose so, when it's ready." + +"But surely the Red Cross cleared out ages ago, and the whole place has +been done up? I saw the paperhangers there in June." + +"Oh, yes!" Ingred's voice was a little strained. + +"You'll be so glad to be living there again," continued Avis. "I always +envied you that lovely house. You must have hated lending it as a +hospital. I expect when you're back you'll be giving all sorts of +delightful parties, won't you? At least that's what the girls at school +were saying." + +"It's rather early to make plans," temporized Ingred. + +"Oh, of course! But Jess and Francie said you'd a gorgeous floor for +dancing. I do think a fancy-dress dance is about the best fun on earth. +The next time I get an invitation, I'm going as a Quaker maiden, in a +gray dress and the duckiest little white cap. Don't you think it would +suit me? With your dark hair you ought to be something Eastern. I can +just imagine you acting hostess in a shimmery sort of white-and-gold +costume. _Do_ promise to wear white-and-gold!" + +"All right," laughed Ingred. + +"It's so delightful that the war's over, and we can begin to have +parties again, like we used to do. Beatrice Jackson told me she should +never forget that Carnival dance she went to at Rotherwood five years +ago, and all the lanterns and fairy lamps. Some of the other girls talk +about it yet. Hullo, that's the gong! Come indoors, and we'll have tea." + +Ingred was very quiet as she went back in the sidecar that evening, +though Hereward, sitting on the luggage-carrier, was in high spirits, +and fired off jokes at her the whole time. The fact was she was thinking +deeply. Certain problems, which she had hitherto cast carelessly away, +now obtruded themselves so definitely that they must at last be faced. +The process, albeit necessary, was not altogether a pleasant one. + +To understand Ingred's perplexities we must give a brief account of the +fortunes of her family up to the time this story begins. Mr. Saxon was +an architect, who had made a good connection in the town of Grovebury. +Here he had designed and built for himself a very beautiful house, and +had liberally entertained his own and his children's friends. When war +broke out, he had been amongst the first to volunteer for his country's +service, and, as a further act of patriotism, he and his wife had +decided to offer the use of "Rotherwood" for a Red Cross Hospital. The +three boys were then at school, Egbert and Athelstane at Winchester, and +Hereward at a preparatory school; so, storing the furniture, Mrs. Saxon +moved into rooms with Quenrede and Ingred, who were attending the girls' +college in Grovebury as day boarders. For the whole period of the war +this arrangement had continued; Rotherwood was given over to the wounded +soldiers, and Mrs. Saxon herself worked as one of their most devoted +nurses. + +In course of time Egbert and Athelstane had also joined the army, and +with three of her menkind at the front, their mother had been more than +ever glad to fill up at the hospital the hours when her girls were +absent from her at school. Then came the Armistice, and the blessed +knowledge that, though not yet home again, the dear ones were no longer +in danger. By April the Red Cross had finished its work in Grovebury; +the remaining patients regretfully departed, the wards were dismantled +of their beds, and Rotherwood was handed back to its rightful owners. + +Naturally it needed much renovation and decorating before it was again +fit for a private residence, and paperers and painters had been busy +there for many weeks. They had only just removed the ladders by the +middle of July. + +It was nearly August before Mr. Saxon, Egbert, and Athelstane were +finally demobilized, and they had gone straight to Lynstones to join the +rest of the family at the farmhouse rooms. What was to happen after the +delirious joy of the holiday was over, Ingred did not know. She had +several times mentioned to her mother the prospect of their return to +Rotherwood, but Mrs. Saxon had always evaded the subject, saying: "Wait +till Daddy comes back!" and the welcoming of their three heroes had +seemed a matter of such paramount importance that in comparison with it +even the question of their beloved Rotherwood might stand aside. + +The Saxons were a particularly united family, tremendously proud of one +another, and interested in each other's doings. Their name bespoke their +old English origin, which (except in the case of Ingred) was further +vouched for by their blue eyes, fair skins, and flaxen hair. Egbert and +Athelstane were strapping young fellows of six feet, and +thirteen-year-old Hereward was taller already than Ingred. Quenrede, +immensely proud of her quaint Saxon name, and not at all pleased that +the family generally shortened it to Queenie, had just left school, and +had turned up her long fair pigtail, put on a grown-up and rather +condescending manner, powdered the tip of her classic little nose, and +was extremely particular about the cut of her skirts and the fit of her +suede shoes. It was a grievance to Quenrede that, as she expressed it, +she had "missed the war." She had longed to go out to France and drive +an ambulance, or to whirl over English roads on a motorcycle, buying up +hay for the Government, or to assist in training horses, or to help in +some other patriotic job of an equally interesting and exciting +character. + +"It's _too_ bad that just when I'm old enough all the jolly things are +closed to women!" she groused. "If Mother had only let me leave school a +year ago, I'd at least have had three months' fun. Life's going to be +very slow now. There's nothing sporty to do at all!" + +Ingred, the youngest but one, and fifteen on her last birthday, was the +only dark member of the fair Saxon family. At present she was not nearly +so good-looking as pretty Quenrede; her mouth was a trifle heavy and her +cheeks lacked color; but her eyes had depths that were not seen in her +sister's, and her thick brown hair fell far below her waist. She would +gladly have exchanged it for the lint-white locks of Hereward. + +"Queenie was always chosen for a fairy at school plays," she grumbled, +"and they never would have me, though her dresses would have come in for +me so beautifully. I don't see why some fairies shouldn't have dark +hair! And it was just as bad when we acted _The Merchant of Venice_. +Miss Carter gave 'Portia' to Francie Hall, and made me take 'Jessica,' +and Francie was a perfect stick, and spoilt the whole thing! Next time, +I declare I'll bargain to wear a golden wig, and see what happens." + +Ingred had been educated at Grovebury College since the morning when, a +fat little person of five, she had taken her place in the Kindergarten. +She and Quenrede had always been favorites in the school. In pre-war +days they had been allowed to give delightful parties at Rotherwood to +their form-mates, and though that had not been possible during the last +five years, everybody knew that their beautiful home had been lent to +the Red Cross, and admired their patriotism in thus giving it for the +service of the nation. From Avis's remarks that afternoon it was evident +that the girls at the college expected the Saxons to return immediately +to Rotherwood, and were looking forward to being invited to +entertainments there during the coming autumn and winter. Ingred had +contrived to parry her friend's interested questions, but she felt the +time had come when she must be prepared to give some definite answer to +those who inquired about their future plans. She managed to catch her +mother alone next morning for a quiet chat. + +"Mumsie, dear," she began. "I've been wanting to ask you this--are we +going back to Rotherwood after the holidays?" + +Mrs. Saxon folded up her sewing, put her thimble and scissors away in +her work-basket, and leaned her elbow on the arm of the garden seat as +if prepared for conversation. + +"And I've been wanting to talk to you about this, Ingred. Shall you be +very disappointed when I tell you 'No'?" + +"Oh, Muvvie!" Ingred's tone was agonized. + +"It can't be helped, little woman! It can't indeed! I think you're old +enough now to understand if I explain. You know this war has hit a great +many people very hard. There has been a sort of general financial +see-saw; some have made large fortunes, but others have lost them. We +come in the latter list. When your father went out to France, he had to +leave his profession to take care of itself, and other architects have +stepped in and gained the commissions that used to come to his office. +It may take him a long while to pull his connection together again, and +the time of waiting will be one of much anxiety for him. Then, most of +our investments, which used to pay such good dividends, are worth hardly +anything now, and only bring us in a pittance compared with former +years. Instead of being rich people, we shall have to be very careful +indeed to make ends meet. To return to Rotherwood is utterly out of the +question, and with the price of everything doubled and trebled, and our +income in the inverse ratio, it is impossible to keep up so big an +establishment nowadays." + +"Where are we going to live, then?" asked Ingred in a strangled voice. + +"At the bungalow that Daddy built on the moors. Fortunately the tenant +was leaving, and we had not let it to any one else. In present +circumstances it will suit us very well. Athelstane is to be entered in +the medical school at Birkshaw; he can ride over every day on the +motor-bicycle. We had hoped to send him to study in London, but that's +only one of the many plans that have 'gane agley'." + +"Are Hereward and I to go in to Grovebury every day?" + +"Hereward can manage it all right, but I shall arrange for you to be a +weekly boarder at the new hostel. You can come home from Friday to +Monday. Now, don't cry about it, childie!" as a big tear splashed down +Ingred's dress. "After all, we've much to be thankful for. If we had +lost Father, or Egbert, or Athelstane out in France we might indeed +grieve. So long as we have each other we've got the best thing in life, +and we must all cling together as a family, and help one another on. +Cheer up!" + +"It will be simply h--h--h--hateful to go back to school this term, and +not live at R--r--r--rotherwood!" sobbed Ingred. + +Her mother patted the dark head that rested against her knee. + +"Poor little woman! Remember it's just as hard for all the rest of us. +We've each got a burden to carry at present. Suppose we see who can be +pluckiest over it. We're fighting fortune now, instead of the Hun, and +we must show her a brave face. Won't you march with the family regiment, +and keep the colors flying?" + +"I'll try," said Ingred, scrubbing her eyes with her +pocket-handkerchief. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +Opening Day + + +The Girls' College at Grovebury, under its able head-mistress, Miss +Burd, had made itself quite a name in the neighborhood. The governors, +realizing that it was outgrowing its old premises, decided to erect +others, and had put up a handsome building in a good situation near the +Abbey. No sooner was the last tile laid on the roof, however, than war +broke out, and the new school was immediately commandeered by the +Government as a recruiting office, and it had been kept for that purpose +until after the Armistice. + +The girls considered it a very great grievance to be obliged to remain +cramped so long in their old college. The foundation stone of the new +building had been laid by Queen Mary herself, and they thought the +Government might have fixed upon some other spot in which to conduct +business, instead of keeping them out of their proper quarters. All +things come to an end, however, even the circumlocution and delays of +Government offices, and by the beginning of the autumn term the removal +had been effected, and the ceremony arranged for the opening of the new +college. Naturally it was to be a great day. The Members of Parliament +for Grovebury, and the Mayor, and many other important people were to be +present, to say nothing of parents and visitors. The pupils, assembled +in the freshly color-washed dressing-rooms, greeted one another +excitedly. + +"How do you like it?" + +"Oh, it's topping!" + +"Beats the old place hollow!" + +"There's room to turn around here!" + +"And the lockers are just A1." + +"Have you seen the class-rooms?" + +"Not yet." + +"The gym's utterly perfect!" + +"And so is the lab." + +"Shame we've had to wait for it so long!" + +"Never mind, we've got into it at last!" + +Among the numbers of girls in the capacious dressing-rooms, Ingred also +hung up her hat and coat, and passed on into the long corridor. Like the +others she was excited, interested, even a little bewildered at the +unfamiliar surroundings. It seemed extraordinary not to know her way +about, and she seized joyfully upon Nora Clifford, who by virtue of ten +minutes' experience could act cicerone. + +"We're to be in VA.," Nora assured her. "All our old set, that is, except +Connie Lord and Gladys Roper and Meg Mason. I've just met Miss Strong, +and she told me. She's moved up with us, and there's a new mistress for +VB. Haven't seen her yet, but they say she's nice, though I'd rather +stick to Miss Strong, wouldn't you?" + +"I don't know," temporized Ingred, screwing her mouth into a button. + +"Oh, of course! I forgot! You're not a 'Strong' enthusiast--never were! +Now _I_ like her!" + +"It's easy enough to like anybody who favors you. Miss Strong was always +down on me somehow, and I'd rather have tried my luck with a fresh +teacher. I wonder if Miss Burd would put me in VB. if I asked her." + +"Of course she wouldn't! Don't be a silly idiot! I think Miss Strong's +absolutely adorable. Don't you like the decorations in the corridor? +Miss Godwin and some of the School of Art students did them. But just +wait till you've seen the lecture-hall! Here we are! Now then, what +d'you say to this?" + +The big room into which Nora ushered her companion was lighted from the +top, and the walls, distempered in buff, had been decorated with +stencils of Egyptian designs, the bright barbaric colors of which gave a +very striking effect. There was a platform at the far end, where were +placed rows of chairs for the distinguished visitors, and also pots of +palms and ferns and geraniums to add an air of festivity to the opening +ceremony. The long lines of benches in the body of the hall were already +beginning to fill with girls, their bright hair-ribbons looking almost +like a further array of flowers. Mistresses here and there were ushering +them to their places, the Kindergarten children to the front seats, +Juniors to the middle, and Seniors to the rear. Ingred and Nora, +motioned by Miss Giles to a bench about three-quarters down the room, +took their seats and talked quietly with their nearest neighbors. A +general buzz of conversation, constantly restrained by mistresses, kept +rising and then falling again to subdued whispers. In a short time the +hall was full, Miss Perry had opened the piano, and the choir leaders +had ranged themselves round her. In dead silence all the girls, big and +little, turned their eyes towards the platform. The door behind the row +of palms and ferns was opening, and Miss Burd, in scholastic cap and +gown, was ushering in the Mayor, the Mayoress, several Town Councilors +and their wives, a few clergy, the head-master of the School of Art, +and, to the place of honor in the middle, Sir James Hilton, the Member +of Parliament for Grovebury, who was to conduct the ceremony of the +afternoon. He was a pleasant, genial-looking man, and though, as he +assured his audience, he had never before had the opportunity of +addressing a room full of girls, he seemed to be able to rise to the +occasion, and made quite a capital speech. + +"You're lucky to have this handsome building in which to do your +lessons," he concluded. "Our environment makes a great difference to us, +and I think it is far easier to turn out good work in the midst of +beautiful surroundings. Grovebury College has reaped a well-deserved +reputation in the past, and I trust that its hitherto excellent +standards will be maintained or even surpassed in the future. As member +for the town there's a special word I wish to say to you. Train +yourselves to be good women citizens. Some day, when you're grown up, +you will have votes, and in that way assist in the self-government of +this great nation. The better educated and the more enlightened you are, +the better fitted you will be for your civic responsibility. Every girl +who does her duty at school is helping her country, because she is +making herself efficient to serve it in some capacity. At present +England stands at a great crisis; if we are to keep up the traditions of +our forefathers we want workers, not slackers, in every department of +life. Even the smallest of those little girls sitting in the front row +can do her bit. As for you elder girls, think of yourselves as a Cadet +Corps, training for the service of the British Empire, and let every +lesson you learn be not for your own advantage, but for the good you can +do with it afterwards to the world. I have very great pleasure in +declaring this new building open." + +After Sir James had sat down, the Mayor and several other people made +short speeches, and when all the clapping had finally subsided, the +piano struck up, and the school sang an Empire Song and the National +Anthem. Then the door at the back of the platform opened again for the +exit of the visitors, who, chatting among themselves, made their way to +Miss Burd's study to be hospitably entertained with tea and cakes. The +whole ceremony had barely occupied an hour, and it was not yet four +o'clock. The girls, in orderly files, marched from the lecture-hall, and +betook themselves first to their new form-rooms, where textbooks were +given out with preparation for the next day, and desks allotted; then, +when the great bell rang for dismissal, to the playground and +cloak-rooms, en route for home. + +Ingred, with a goodly pile of fresh literature under her arm, walked +slowly downstairs. She was not in any hurry to leave the class-room, and +lingered as long as the limits of Miss Strong's patience lasted. She +knew there was a certain ordeal to be faced with her form-mates, and she +was not sure whether she wanted to put it off, or to get it over at +once. + +"Better let them know and have done with it," she said to herself after +a few moments' consideration on the landing. "After all, it's my +business, not theirs!" + +It was a rather airily-defiant Ingred who strolled into the cloak-room +and put on her hat. Francie Hall, trying to thread her boot with a lace +that had lost its tag, looked up, smiled, and made room for her on the +form. + +"Cheery-ho, Ingred! How do you like our new diggings? Some removal, +this, isn't it? I must say the place looks nice. It's topping to be here +at last. By the by, I suppose you'll be getting in Rotherwood soon? Or +have you got already?" + +Ingred was stooping to lace her shoe, so perhaps the position accounted +for her stifled voice. + +"We're not going back there." + +"Not going back!" Francie's tone was one of genuine amazement. "Why, but +you said it was being done up for you, and you'd be moving before the +term started!" + +"Well, we're not, at any rate." + +"What a disappointment for you!" began Beatrice Jackson tactlessly, as +several other girls who were standing near turned and joined the group. +"You always said you were just longing for Rotherwood." + +"Do the Red Cross want it again?" queried Jess Howard. + +"No, they don't; but we're not going to live there. Where are we going +to live? At our bungalow on the moors, and I'm a weekly boarder at the +hostel. Are there any other impertinent questions you'd like to ask? +Don't all speak at once, please!" + +And Ingred, having laced both shoes, got up, seized her pile of books, +and, turning her back on her form-mates, stalked away without a good-by. +She knew she had been rude and ungracious, but she felt that if she had +stopped another moment the tears that were welling into her eyes would +have overflowed. Ingred had many good points, but she was a remarkably +proud girl. She could not bear her schoolfellows to think she had come +down in the world. She had thrown out so many hints last term about the +renewed glories of Rotherwood, that it was certainly humiliating to have +to acknowledge that all the happy expectations had come to nothing. On +the reputation of Rotherwood both she and Quenrede had held their heads +high in the school; she wondered if her position would be the same, now +that everybody knew the truth. + +As a matter of fact, most of the girls giggled as she went out through +the cloak-room door. + +"My lady's in a temper!" exclaimed Francie. + +"Lemons and vinegar!" hinnied Jess. + +"Why did she fly out like that?" asked Beatrice. + +"Well, really, Beatrice Jackson, after all the stupid things you said, +anybody would fly out, I should think," commented Verity Richmond. "I'm +sorry for Ingred. I'd heard the Saxons can't go back to their old house. +It's hard luck on them after lending it all these years to the Red +Cross." + +"But _why_ aren't they going back?" + +"Why, silly, because they can't keep it up, I suppose. If you've any +sense, you won't mention Rotherwood to Ingred again. It's evidently a +sore point. Don't for goodness sake, go rubbing it into her." + +"I wasn't going to!" grumbled Beatrice. "Surely I can make an innocent +remark without you beginning to preach to me like this! I call it +cheek!" + +Verity did not reply. She had had too many squabbles with Beatrice in +the past to want to begin a fresh campaign on the first day of a new +term. She discreetly pretended not to hear, and addressing Francie Hall, +launched into an account of her doings during the holidays. + +"We're moving out to Repworth at the September quarter," she concluded. +"And it's too far for me to bicycle in to school every day, so I've +started as a boarder at the hostel. I shall go home for week-ends, +though. Nora Clifford and Fil Trevor are there too. They'll be glad +Ingred's come. With four of us out of one form, things ought to be +rather jinky. Hullo, here they are! I say, girls, let's go to our +diggings." + +The two girls who came strolling up arm-in-arm were the most absolute +contrast. Nora was large-limbed, plump, rosy, with short-cut hair, a +lively manner, and any amount of confidence. Without being exactly +pretty, she gave a general impression of jolly, healthy girlhood, and +reminded one of an old-fashioned, sweet-scented cabbage rose that had +just burst into bloom. Dainty little Filomena might, on the other hand, +be described as the most delicate of tea roses. She was fair to a fault, +a lily-white maid with the silkiest of flaxen tresses. Her pale-blue +eyes, with their light lashes, and rather colorless little face with its +straight features were of the petite fairy type. You felt instinctively +that, like a Dresden china vase, she was made more for ornament than for +use, and nobody--even school-mistresses--expected too much from her. +Experience had shown them that they did not get it. + +For two years, ever since her mother's death, Fil had been a boarder at +the College, and because at first she had been such a pathetic little +figure in her deep mourning, the girls had petted her, and had continued +an indulgent attitude long after the black dress had been exchanged for +colors. If Fil had rather got into the habit of posing as the mascot of +the form, she certainly deserved some consideration, for she was a dear +little thing, with a very sweet temper, and never made any of the +ill-natured remarks that some of the other girls flung about like +missiles. She was so manifestly unfitted to take her own part that +somebody else invariably took it for her. + +Verity Richmond, who, with Nora, Filomena and Ingred, represented +VA. in the hostel, was a brisk, up-to-date, go-ahead girl, full +of fun and high spirits. She was a capital mimic, and had a turn for +repartee that, quite good-naturedly, laid any adversary flat in the +dust. If Nora and Fil were like rose and lily, she was decidedly the +robin of the party. Her fair complexion seemed to add force to the +brightness of her twinkling brown eyes, and her general restlessness and +quick alert ways made one think of a bird always hopping about. Though +not quite such a romp as Nora, she was ready for any fun that was going, +and intended to get as much enjoyment as possible out of the coming +term. She linked herself now on to Fil's disengaged arm, taking the +latter's pile of books with her own and began towing her two friends in +the direction of the hostel. + +"I've hardly had time even for a squint at our dormitory yet," she +announced. "Mrs. Best said I was late, and made me pop down my bag and +fly; but she told me we were all four together, so I went off with an +easy mind. I'd been worrying for fear I'd be boxed up with some kids, or +sandwiched in among the Sixth. I told you Ingred was to be with us, +didn't I? Let's go and hunt her out; she'll have wiped her eyes and got +over her jim-jams by now. We'll have time to do some unpacking before +tea, if they've carried up our boxes." + +The hostel was a separate house, built at the opposite side of the +school playground. It could accommodate thirty girls, and twenty-six +were already entered on its register. After a brief peep into the +attractive dining-hall, and an equally pleasant-looking boarders' +sitting-room, the three girls went upstairs to a dormitory marked 2. +They found Ingred already at work on her task of unpacking, putting +clothes away in drawers, and spreading the shelf that served as a +dressing-table with an assortment of photos, books, and toilet +requisites. She looked rather in the dumps, but it was impossible for +anybody to remain gloomy when in the presence of such lively spirits as +Nora and Verity, and by the time the gong sounded for tea she had +cheered up, and was sitting on her bed discussing school news. + +[Illustration: "LET'S CALL OURSELVES THE FOURSOME LEAGUE."] + +"Look here!" said Verity. "If we want to have a jolly term we four must +stick together. Let's make a compact that, both in school and in the +hostel, we'll support each other through thick and thin. We'll be a sort +of society of Freemasons. I haven't made up any secrets yet, but whoever +betrays them will be outlawed! Let's call ourselves 'The Foursome +League.' Now then, put your right hands all together on mine, and say +after me: 'I hereby promise and vow on my honor as a gentlewoman that +I'll stand by my chums in No. 2 Dormitory at any cost.' That's a good +beginning. When we've time, we'll draw up the rules. Subscriptions? Oh, +bother! You can each give sixpence if you like, and we'll spend the +money on a chocolate feast. Remember, Fil, not a word to anybody! It's +to be kept absolutely quiet. There's the gong. If the tea's up to the +standard of the rest of the hostel, I shan't object. Glad we're not +rationed now, for I'm as hungry as a hunter." + + + + +CHAPTER III + +Wynch-on-the-Wold + + +Though the College only opened on Tuesday afternoon, the short remainder +of the week seemed enormously long to Ingred. Her form mates were the +same, but everything else was absolutely changed; she might have been at +a new school. She appreciated the convenient arrangements of the +handsome building: the lecture-hall, with its stained-glass window and +polished floor, the airy class-rooms, the studio with its facilities for +every kind of art work, the three music-rooms, the laboratory, the +gymnasium, and, last but not least, the hostel. Ingred had never before +been a boarder, and she had not expected to like the experience, but +there is a subtle charm in community life that infects everybody with +"the spirit of the hive," and in spite of herself she began to be +interested in the particular set of faces that met round the table for +meals. The greater part of the girls were in the middle and lower +school, but there were a few members of the Sixth, who sat next to Mrs. +Best, the matron, and Nurse Warner, and looked with superior eyes on the +crowd of intermediates and juniors. To have secured such congenial +room-mates was an asset for which she could not be sufficiently +thankful. Whatever troubles might await her downstairs, it was a +comfort to know that she had three allies ready to flock to her support. +She had not known any of them well in the past, but as they seemed +prepared to offer their friendship, she also was ready to act the part +of chum. By exchanging desks with Linda Slater, she managed to secure a +seat next to Verity in school, and entered into an arrangement with her +that they should supply the missing gaps in each other's notes, for Miss +Strong often lectured so rapidly that it was impossible to keep up with +her. + +"I wish I knew shorthand," grumbled Ingred, comparing scribbles with +Verity as the girls tidied their hair for tea. "How anybody's expected +to get down all Miss Strong tells us, I can't imagine! It's impossible." + +"I don't try," admitted Fil. "At least I do try--I put a bit here and +there, but I write so slowly, I'm only half-way through before she's +bounced on to something else, and I've missed the beginning of it. I +have to stop, too, sometimes, to think how to spell the words." + +The others laughed, for Fil's spelling was proverbial in the form, and +was often of a purely phonetic character. Miss Strong had periodical +crusades to improve it, but generally gave them up as a bad job, and +recommended constant use of a dictionary instead. + +"Though you can't go about the world with a dictionary perpetually under +your arm," she had remarked on the last occasion. "If you have to write +a letter in a hurry, and you begin 'Dear Maddam' and end 'Yours +trueley'--well! Please don't let anybody know you've been educated here, +that's all, or it will be a poor advertisement for the College!" + +Ingred was not at all delighted to be still in Miss Strong's form. She +only moderately liked this mistress. Undoubtedly Miss Strong was a +clever teacher, but sarcasm was one of her favorite weapons of +discipline. Some of the girls did not mind it, indeed thought it rather +amusing, even when directed against themselves, and enjoyed it hugely +when someone else was the victim of the sally. Ingred, however, proud +and sensitive, writhed under the attacks of Miss Strong's sharp tongue, +and would often have preferred a punishment to a witticism. As a matter +of fact, the mistress rarely gave punishments, and was proud of her +ability to control her form without resorting to them. She was short in +stature, but made up in spirit for her lack of inches, and would fix her +dark eyes on offenders against discipline with the personal magnetism of +a circus trainer or a leopard-tamer. Schoolgirls are irreverent beings, +and though to her face her pupils showed her all respect, behind her +back they spoke of her familiarly as "The Bantam," in allusion to her +small size but plucky disposition, or sometimes, in reference to her +sarcastic powers, as "The Sark," which by general custom became "The +Snark." On the whole Miss Strong's pithy, racy, humorous style of +teaching made her a far greater favorite than mistresses of duller +caliber. She had a remarkable faculty for getting work out of the most +unwilling brains. Her form always made excellent progress, and she had a +reputation for obtaining record successes in examinations. To judge from +the first few days of term, she meant to keep up her standard of +efficiency. Miss Burd had mapped out a heavy time-table for +VA., and it was Miss Strong's business to see that the girls +got through it. Of course they grumbled. After the long weeks of the +summer holidays it was doubly difficult to apply their minds to lessons, +and set to work in the evenings to perform the enormous amount of +preparation demanded from them. To some the task was wellnigh +impossible, and poor Fil would send in very imperfect exercises, but +others, Ingred and Verity among the number, had ambitions, and boosted +up the record of the form. + +It was after a most strenuous few days that Ingred came to the close of +the first week of the new term, and, taking her books and hand-bag, +started off to spend the week-end at home. She left the College with a +feeling of intense relief. She had dreaded the return there, and the +confession of her altered circumstances. It had not proved quite so +disagreeable an ordeal as she had anticipated, for, after the first +expressions of surprise, nobody had referred again to Rotherwood; yet +Ingred, on the look-out for slights, imagined that she was not treated +with as much consideration as formerly. Avis Marlowe and Jess Howard had +hardly spoken to her, and, though the omission was probably owing to +sheer lack of time or opportunity, she chose to set it down to a desire +to show her the cold shoulder. + +"Now I have no parties to offer them, they don't care about me!" she +thought bitterly. "They'll hunt about till they find somebody else who's +likely to act entertainer." + +Fortunately, as Ingred stepped out of the College on that first Friday +afternoon, the fresh breeze and the bright September sunshine blew away +the cobwebs, and sent her almost dancing down the street. She had a +naturally buoyant disposition, and her uppermost thought was: "I'm going +home! I'm going home! Hurrah!" + +The journey was really quite a little business. She had to take a tram +to the Waterstoke terminus, then change on to a light electric railway +that ran along the roadside for seven miles to Wynch-on-the-Wold. +Grovebury, an old town that dated back to mediaeval times, lay in a deep +hollow among a rampart of hills, so that, in whatever direction you left +it, you were obliged to climb. The scenery was very beautiful, for trees +edged the river, and clothed the slopes till they gave way to the gorse +and heather of the wild moorlands. Wynch-on-the-Wold was a hamlet which, +since the opening of the electric railway, was just beginning to turn +into a suburb of Grovebury. Close to the terminus neat villas had sprung +up like mushrooms; there were a few shops and a branch post office, and +a brass plate to the effect that Dr. Whittaker had consulting hours +twice a week. Tradesmen's carts drove out constantly, and the electric +railway did quite a little business in the conveyance of parcels. + +Wynchcote, the house where the Saxons had retired to try their scheme of +retrenchment, lay at some little distance beyond the terminus, and might +be considered the outpost of the new suburb. It was a small, picturesque +modern bungalow; Mr. Saxon had built it as an architectural experiment, +intending it for a sort of model country cottage. The tenants who had +occupied it during the period of the war had just returned to Scotland, +so, as it was vacant, it had seemed a convenient place in which to +settle. It was near enough to Grovebury to allow him to attend his +office, and far enough away to cut them adrift from old associations. +After four and a half years of war work, Mrs. Saxon wanted a complete +rest from committees, creches, canteens, and recreation huts, and would +be glad to urge the excuse of distance to those who appealed for her +help. Perhaps also she felt that in their straitened circumstances it +was wiser to live where they could not enter into social competition +with their former acquaintances. + +"I just want to be quiet, to attend to my family, and to enjoy the moors +and our garden," she declared. "I believe I'm going to be very happy at +Wynchcote." + +Though it was small, the bungalow was admirably planned, and had many +advantages. The view from its French window was one of the finest in the +district, and it faced a magnificent gorge, wild, rocky, and thickly +wooded, at the bottom of which wound the silver river that ran through +Grovebury. Civilization, in the shape of fields and hedges, stretched +out fingers as far as Wynchcote, and there stopped abruptly. Past the +bungalow lay the open wold with miles of heather, gorse, and bracken, +and a road edged with low, grassy fern-covered banks instead of walls. +The air blew freshly up here, and was far more bracing and healthy than +down in the hollow of Grovebury. The residents of the new suburb +affected seaside fashions, and went their moorland walks without hats +or gloves. + +Ingred was joined in the tram-car by Hereward, who attended the King +George's School, and made the journey daily. + +"Getting quite used to it now!" he assured his sister airily. "I +had a terrific run yesterday for the train, but I caught it! There's +another fellow in our form living up here, so we generally go +together--Scampton, that chap in the cricket cap standing by the door. +He's A1. He won't come near now, though, because he says he's terrified +of girls. He's going to give me a rabbit, and I shall make a hutch for +it out of one of those packing-cases. See, I've bought a piece of +wire-netting for the door. There's heaps of room at the bottom of the +garden. I believe I'll ask him to bring it over after tea." + +"But the hutch isn't ready," objected Ingred. + +"Oh, that won't matter! I can keep it in a packing-case for a day or +two." + +When Ingred and Hereward reached home they found that tea had been set +out on the patch of grass under the apple trees, and Mother and Quenrede +were sitting sewing and waiting for them. It was one of those beautiful +September days when the air seems almost as warm as in August, and with +the clock still at summer time, the sun had not climbed very far down +the valley. The garden, where Mother and Quenrede had been working +busily all the afternoon, was gay with nasturtiums and asters, and +overhead hung a crop of the rosiest apples ever seen. Minx, the Persian +cat, wandered round, waving a stately tail and mewing plaintively for +her saucer of milk. Derry, the fox terrier, barked an enthusiastic +greeting. + +"Come along, you poor starving wanderers!" said Mrs. Saxon. "The +kettle's boiling, and we'll make the tea in half a moment. Isn't it +glorious here? Queenie and I have been digging up potatoes, and we quite +enjoyed it. We felt exactly as if we were 'on the land.' How is your +cold, Hereward? Ingred, you look tired, child! Sit down and rest while +Queenie fetches the teapot." + +Ingred sank into a garden-chair with much satisfaction. Wynchcote might +not be Rotherwood, but it looked an uncommonly pretty little place in +the September sunshine. To live there would be like a perpetual picnic. +Mother and Queenie looked so complacently smiling that it seemed +impossible to grouse, especially with newly-baked scones and rock-cakes +on the tea-table. + +The men kind of the family had not yet returned home. Mr. Saxon and +Egbert rarely left their office before six, and Athelstane had that day +gone over to Birkshaw on the motor-bicycle, to arrange about the medical +course which he was to take at the University. There was plenty of news, +however, to be exchanged. Ingred had to give a full account of her +experiences at school and hostel, and to hear in return the various +achievements in the shape of home-carpentry, mending, making, and +altering which are always an essential part of settling into a new +establishment. + +"I hardly feel I've been round the estate properly yet," she said, when +tea was over, and she sat leaning back lazily in her deck-chair, with +Minx purring upon her knee. + +"Then come and lend me a hand with my rabbit-hutch," suggested Hereward. +"Put down that wretched pampered beast of a cat, for goodness sake! If +it gets at my new rabbit, I'll finish it! Yes, I will! I'll hang it or +drown it! Get along, you brute!" + +Hereward's blood-thirsty remarks were ignored by Minx, who, finding +herself dropped from Ingred's lap, took a flying run up his back, and +settled herself on his shoulder, rubbing her head into his neck. He +scratched her under the chin, swung her gently down, and shook a +reproving finger at her. + +"Don't try to come round me with your blarneyings, you siren!" he +declared. "Who was it ate my goldfinch? Yes, you may well look guilty! +Don't blink your eyes at me like that! I haven't forgiven you yet, and I +don't think I ever shall. Ingred, old sport, are you coming to help me, +or are you not? I want some one to hold the wire." + +"All right, Uncle Podger, I'll come and 'podge' for you," laughed +Ingred. "Don't hammer my fingers, that's all I bargain for. Wait a +moment till I get my overall. Your joinering performances are apt to be +somewhat grubby and messy." + +There was quite a good garden at the back of the bungalow, with rows of +vegetables and gooseberry bushes and fruit-trees. At the end was a +wooden shed where the motor-bicycle was kept, and a small wired +enclosure originally made for hens. + +"It's exactly the place for rabbits, when I get a hutch for them," +explained Hereward, putting down his box of tools, and turning over the +packing-case with a professional eye. "Now a wooden frame covered with +wire, and a pair of hinges will just do the job. I can saw these pieces +to fit. Hold the wood steady, that's a mascot!" + +The two were kneeling on the ground by the side of the packing-case, +much absorbed in the process of exact measurements, when suddenly there +was a rustling and a scrambling noise, and on the wall close to them +appeared a collie dog, growling, snarling, and showing its teeth. Ingred +sprang to her feet in alarm. Wynchcote was so retired that they had +scarcely realized that its garden adjoined the garden of another house. +The collie must have jumped up on to the dividing wall, and, being an +ill-tempered beast, did not use proper discrimination between neighbors +and tramps. + +"Shoo! Get away!" urged Ingred, with rather shaking knees. + +"Be off, you ill-mannered brute!" shouted Hereward. + +The dog, however, appeared to think the wall was his own special +property, and that it was his business to drive them away from their own +garden. It continued to bark and snarl. Now, as Hereward wished to fix +the rabbit-hutch in exactly the spot over which the creature had mounted +guard, he was naturally much annoyed, and sought for some ready means of +dislodging it from its point of vantage. He did not relish the prospect +of being bitten, so did not want to engage it at close quarters, and no +pole or other weapon lay handy. + +Looking hastily round, his eye fell upon the garden-syringe with which +Athelstane sometimes cleaned the motor-bicycle. It had been left, with a +bucket of water, outside the shed. He drew out the piston, filled the +syringe, then discharged its contents straight at the dog. But at that +most unlucky moment a quick change took place on the wall; the collie +retired in favor of his master, and the stream of water charged full +into the astonished countenance of a precise and elderly gentleman from +next door. For a few moments there was a ghastly silence, while he wiped +his face and recovered his dignity. Then he demanded in withering tones: + +"May I ask what is the meaning of this?" + +Ingred and Hereward, overwhelmed with confusion, stuttered out apologies +and explanations. The old gentleman listened with his busy gray eyebrows +knitted and his mouth pursed into a thin line. + +"I shall immediately take steps to ensure that my dog has no further +opportunities of annoying you," he remarked stiffly, and took his +departure. + +"Who is he?" whispered Ingred, as the footsteps on the other side of the +wall shuffled away. + +"His name's Mr. Hardcastle. He's retired, and lives there with a +housekeeper. Great Scot! I've put my foot in it, haven't I? Who'd have +thought he was just going to pop his head up? Dad was going to ask him +to lend us his garden-roller, but it's no use now. I expect I've made an +enemy of him for life!" + +"I hope he means to keep that savage dog fastened up," said Ingred. +"It's a horrid idea to think that it may, any time, pounce over the wall +at us. It's like having a wolf loose in the garden." + +As a matter of fact, Mr. Hardcastle kept his word in a way that the +Saxons least anticipated. Instead of chaining the dog, he had a tall +wooden paling erected along the top of the wall, making an effectual +barrier between the two gardens. It was not a beautiful object, and it +cut off the sunshine from a whole long flower-bed; so, though it insured +privacy, it might be regarded as a doubtful benefit for the bungalow. + +"It makes one feel so suburban," mourned Quenrede. + +"We shan't be visible, at any rate, when we're digging potatoes," +laughed Mrs. Saxon, "and that's a great point to me, for I'm past the +age that looks fascinating in an overall. If we've Suburbia on one side +of us, we've the open moor on the other, which is something to be +thankful for." + +"Yes, until it's sold in building plots," sighed Quenrede, who was in a +fit of blues, and unwilling to count up her blessings. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +Intruder Bess + + +Ingred, after a blissful week-end, returned to Grovebury by the early +train on Monday morning, and, wrenching her mind with difficulty from +the interests of Wynch-on-the-Wold, focused it on school affairs +instead. There was certainly need of mental concentration if she meant +to make headway in the College. The standard of work required from +VA. was very stiff, and taxed the powers of even the brightest +girls to the uttermost. + +"Miss Strong reminds me of Rehoboam!" wailed Fil, fresh from the study +of the Second Book of Chronicles. "Her little finger's thicker than her +whole body used to be, and, instead of whips, she chastises us with +scorpions. I want to go and bow the knee to Baal." + +"Rather mixed up in your Scripture, child, but we understand your +meaning," laughed Verity. "The Bantam's certainly piling it on nowadays +in the way of prep." + +"Shows an absolutely brutal lack of consideration," agreed Nora. + +"So do all the mistresses," groaned Ingred. "Each of them seems to think +we've nothing to do but her own particular subject. Dr. Linton actually +asked me if I could practise two hours a day. Why, he might as well have +suggested four! I can only get the piano for an hour, even if I wanted +it longer. It's a frightful business at the hostel to cram in all our +practicing, isn't it? I nearly had a free fight with Janie Potter +yesterday. She commandeered the piano, and though I showed her the music +time-table, with my name down for '5 to 6' she wouldn't budge. I had to +tilt her off the stool in the end. It was like a game of musical chairs. +She wouldn't look at me to-day, she's so cross about it. Not that _I_ +care in the least!" + +Music was a favorite subject with Ingred, and one in which she excelled. +She would willingly have given more time to it, had the school +curriculum allowed. She was a good reader, and had a sympathetic, if +rather spidery touch. This term she had begun lessons with Dr. Linton, +who was considered the best master in Grovebury. He was organist at the +Abbey Church, and was not only a Doctor of Music, but a composer as +well. His anthems and cantatas were widely known, he conducted the local +choral society and trained the operatic society for the annual +performance. His time was generally very full, so he did not profess to +teach juniors; it was only after celebrating her fifteenth birthday that +Ingred had been eligible as one of his pupils. He had the reputation of +being peppery tempered, therefore she walked into the room to take her +first lesson with her heart performing a sort of jazz dance under her +jersey. Dr. Linton, like many musicians, was of an artistic and +excitable temperament, and highly eccentric. Instead of sitting by the +side of his new pupil, he paced the room, pursing his lips in and out, +and drawing his fingers through his long lank dark hair. + +"Have you brought a piece with you," he inquired. "Then play to me. Oh, +never mind if you make mistakes! That's not the point. I want to know +how you can talk on the piano. What have you got in that folio? +Beethoven? Rachmaninoff? M'Dowell? We'll try the Beethoven. Now don't be +nervous. Just fire away as if you were practising at home!" + +It was all very well, Ingred thought, for Dr. Linton to tell her not to +be nervous, but it was a considerable ordeal to have to perform a test +piece before so keen a critic. In spite of her most valiant efforts her +hands trembled, and wrong chords crept in. She kept bravely at it, +however, and managed to reach the end of the first movement, where she +called a halt. + +"It's not talking--it's only stuttering and stammering on the piano," +she apologized. + +Dr. Linton laughed. Her remark had evidently pleased him. He always +liked a pupil who fell in with his humor. + +"You've the elements of speech in you, though you're still in the +prattling-baby stage," he conceded. "It's something, at any rate, to +find there's material to work upon. Some people wouldn't make musicians +if they practised for a hundred years. We've got to alter your +touch--your technique's entirely wrong--but if you're content to +concentrate on that, we'll soon show some progress. You'll have to stick +to simple studies this term: no blazing away into M'Dowell and +Rachmaninoff yet awhile." + +"I'll do anything you tell me," agreed Ingred humbly. + +Dr. Linton's manner might be brusque, but he seemed prepared to take an +interest in her work. He was known to give special pains to those whose +artistic caliber appealed to him. In his opinion pupils fell under two +headings: those who had music in them, and those who had not. The +latter, though he might drill them in technique, would never make really +satisfactory pianists; the former, by dint of scolding or cajoling, +according to his mood at the moment, might derive real benefit from his +tuition, and become a credit to him. It was a by-word in the school that +his favorites had the stormiest lessons. + +"I'm thankful I'm not a pet pupil," declared Fil, whose playing was +hardly of a classical order. "I should have forty fits if he stalked +about the room, and tore his hair, and shouted like he does with Janie. +He scared me quite enough sitting by my side and saying: 'Shall we take +this again now?' with a sort of grim politeness, as if he were making an +effort to restrain his temper. I know I'm not what he calls musical, but +I can't help it. I'd rather hear comic opera any day than his wretched +cantatas, and when I'm not practising I shall play what I like. There!" + +And Fil, who was sitting at the piano, twirled round on the stool and +strummed "Beautiful K--K--Katie" with a lack of technique that probably +would have brought her teacher's temper up to bubbling-over point had he +been there to listen to her. + +It was exactly ten days after the term had begun that Bess Haselford +came to the College. She walked into the Upper Fifth Form room one +Monday morning, looking very shy and lost and strange, and stood +forlornly, not knowing where to sit, till somebody took pity on her, and +pointed to a vacant desk. It happened to be on a line with Ingred's, and +the latter watched her settle herself. She looked her over with the +critical air that is generally bestowed on new girls, and decided that +she was particularly pretty. Bess was the image of one of the Sir Joshua +Reynolds' child angels in the National Gallery. The likeness was so +great that her mother had always cut and curled her golden-brown hair in +exact copy of the picture. She was a slim, rosy, bright-eyed, smiling +specimen of girlhood, and, though on this first morning she was +manifestly afflicted with shyness, she had the appearance of one whose +acquaintance might be worth making. Ingred decided to cultivate it at +the earliest opportunity, and spoke to the new arrival at lunch-time. +Bess replied readily to the usual questions. + +"We've only come lately to Grovebury. We used to live at Birkshaw. Yes, +I'm fairly keen on hockey, though I like tennis better. Have you asphalt +courts here, and do you play in the winter? I adore dancing, but I hate +gym. I'm learning the violin, and I'm to start oil-painting this term." + +She seemed such a pleasant, winsome kind of girl that Ingred, who was +apt to take sudden fancies, constituted herself her cicerone, and showed +her round the school. By the time they had made the entire tour of the +buildings, Ingred began to wonder whether, without offense, it would be +possible to leave her desk, next to Verity, and sit beside Bess. There +was a great charm of voice and manner about the new-comer, and Ingred's +musical ear was sensitive to gentle voices. She discussed Bess with the +others next morning before school. + +"Yes, she's pretty, and that blue dress is simply adorable," conceded +Nora. "I'm going to have an embroidered one myself next time." + +"Her hair is so sweet," commented Francie. + +"I call her ripping!" said Ingred with enthusiasm. + +"Well, you ought to take an interest in her, Ingred, considering that +she lives at Rotherwood," put in Beatrice. + +"At Rotherwood!" + +"Yes, didn't you know _that_?" + +Ingred, under pretence of distributing exercise-books, turned hastily +away. Her heart was in a sudden turmoil. This was indeed a bolt from the +blue. She, of course, knew that Rotherwood was let, but she had not +heard the name of the tenants, and, as the subject was a sore one, had +forborne to ask any questions at home. It was surely the irony of fate +that the house should be taken by people who had a daughter of her own +age, and that this daughter should come to the College, and actually be +placed in the same form as herself. She seemed a rival ready-made. +Biased by jealous prejudice, Ingred's hastily-formed judgment reversed +itself. + +"I'm thankful I didn't move away from Verity to sit next to her," she +thought. "I expect she'll be ever so conceited and give herself airs, +and the other girls will truckle to her no end. I know them! I wish to +goodness she hadn't come to the College. Why didn't they send her away +to a boarding school? I'm not going to make a fuss over her, so she +needn't think it." + +Poor Bess, quite unaware of being any cause of offence, and grateful for +the kindness shown her the day before, greeted Ingred in most friendly +fashion, and looked amazement itself at the cool reception of her +advances. She stared for a moment as if hardly believing the evidence of +her eyes and ears, then turned away with a hurt look on her pretty, +sensitive face. + +Ingred shut her desk with a slam. She was feeling very uncomfortable. +She had liked Bess with a kind of love-at-first-sight, and if the latter +had come to live at any other house in the town than Rotherwood, would +have been prepared to go on liking her. Generosity whispered that her +conduct was unjust, but at this particular stage of Ingred's evolution +she did not always listen to those inner voices that act as our highest +guides. Like most of us, she had a mixed character, capable of many good +things but with certain failings. Rotherwood was what the girls called +"the bee in her bonnet," and the knowledge that Bess was in possession +of the beautiful home she had lost was sufficient to check the incipient +friendship. + +It was otherwise with the rest of the form. They frankly welcomed the +new-comer, and if they did not, as Ingred had bitterly prognosticated, +exactly "truckle" to her, they certainly began to treat her as a +favorite. She was asked at once to join the Photographic Society and the +Drawing Club, and her very superior camera, beautiful color-box, and +other up-to-date equipments were immensely admired. Ingred, on the +outside of the enthusiastic circle, preserved a stony silence. Her own +camera was three years old, and she did not possess materials for +oil-painting. She thought it quite unnecessary for Verity to want to +look at Bess's paraphernalia. Verity, who was a kind-hearted little +soul, perhaps divined the cause of her chum's glumness, for she came +presently and took Ingred's arm. + +"I've something to tell you, Ingred," she whispered. "We are to have the +election on Friday afternoon, and everybody's saying you'll be chosen +warden for the form." + +"Don't suppose I've the remotest chance!" grunted Ingred gloomily. + +"Nonsense! Don't be a blue-bottle! Cheery-ho! In my opinion you'll just +have an easy walk over." + +With the removal into the new building, Miss Burd had instituted many +innovations and changes. Among the most important of these was the +College Council, which really served as a sort of House of Parliament +for the school. Each form among the seniors and intermediates was to +elect a representative called a warden, and these, with such permanent +officers as the prefects and the games captain, were to meet once a +fortnight to discuss questions of self-government. It was a new +experiment, and the head mistress hoped it would give the girls some +idea of responsibility, and train them to understand civic duties later +on. The girls themselves voted it a "ripping" idea. They took it up most +enthusiastically. It would be fun to have elections, and it seemed +desirable that there should be a warden to look after the interests of +each separate form. + +"When I was in the Fourth we never got a chance for the tennis courts, +and it was utterly hopeless to appeal to the prefects," said Ingred. "I +always used to feel there ought to be some way of making one's voice +heard." + +"Well, if you're elected, you'll have a chance to make your maiden +speech!" laughed Verity. "By the bye, will there be a 'Strangers' +Gallery, so that we can come and listen to you? I'd be sorry to miss the +fun!" + +Friday afternoon had been fixed for the election, and a bright idea +originated in VA., circulated through the school, and finally +crystallized in the Sixth. It was nothing less than that each form +should make a special fete of the affair. Lispeth Scott, the head girl, +went boldly to Miss Burd, and asked permission for those who liked to +bring thermos flasks, cups, and bags of buns and cakes, and hold parties +in the various class-rooms. + +"It would make so much more of the whole thing," she urged. "If we +simply stop for ten minutes after school and vote, I'm afraid it may +fall rather flat. But if every form has its festival to elect its own +warden, it will make the council seem a much more important business. +We'd like to be allowed to stay till about half-past five, if we may, so +that there would be time to have some fun over it. We'd promise not to +make a mess with our picnicking." + +Miss Burd, looking rather astonished, nevertheless consented. She was a +wise woman, and believed in permitting a certain amount of liberty, +within limits. + +"You may try it this once," she conceded. "But it's on the distinct +understanding that you're all on your good behavior. I shall hold you +prefects responsible for controlling the school. If you hear a great +noise, you must go into their form-rooms and stop them. I can't allow +the College to be turned into a bear-garden." + +"We won't! I'll put them all on their honor to behave, and I'll leave +the door of our form-room open so that I can hear what's going on. Thank +you so much, Miss Burd!" + +And Lispeth departed, fearful lest any other qualifications should be +added to temper the joy of the proceedings. + +Six girls, waiting outside the door to hear the result of the +negotiations, waved signals of success to others farther down the +corridor, and, in an almost incredibly short space of time, the happy +news had spread to the remotest corners of the school. + +"But how are we hostelites going to manage our share?" asked Ingred +anxiously. + +"Don't you worry about that," Jess and Francie assured her. "Ten girls +in our form have promised to bring thermos flasks, and if we pool to tea +there'll be heaps to go round, and the same with buns and cakes. We'll +each bring a little extra to make enough. The hostel will very likely +lend you each a cup if you ask for it. That's all you'll need!" + +"Right-o! We'll cast ourselves on the charity of the form!" agreed +Ingred. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +The Fifth-form Fete + + +By a general indulgence issued from head-quarters, the dismissal bell +rang at 3:45 the next Friday afternoon, instead of, as usual, at four +o'clock. The mistresses entered up the marks, put away their books, said +"Good afternoon, girls!" and made their exit, leaving the building for +once in the sole possession of the pupils. Miss Strong, indeed, who +disapproved of the whole business, took the precaution of locking her +desk before her departure, a proceeding which provoked indignant sniffs +from the witnesses; but, sublimely indifferent to public opinion, she +put the key in her pocket, and stalked from the room. The girls gave her +a few moments' grace to get out of earshot, then broke into a babble of +conversation. + +"Which are we having first, the election or the tea?" + +"Oh, the tea!" + +"No, no! Business first and pleasure afterwards." + +"I can't vote till I've had some tea." + +"It's too early!" + +"No, it isn't! We're most of us ready for it." + +"Look here!" suggested Ingred. "Let's settle it this way. Have tea +first, then the election, and then some fun afterwards. Don't you think +that would sandwich things best?" + +"True, O Queen! I don't mind what happens afterwards, so long as I get a +bun quick!" + +"Let's fetch the prog," agreed Linda Slater, leading the way towards the +cloak-room where the baskets had been stored. + +The giggling procession met emissaries from other forms, bent on a like +errand, and exchanged a brisk banter as they passed on the stairs. + +"We've got jam tartlets!" + +"Not as nice as our cheese cakes!" + +"Nellie's brought a whole pound of macaroons!" + +"Oh! will you swap with us for rock buns?" + +"I should just think not!" + +"Dolly Arden has five oranges!" + +"Well, we've got bananas!" + +After successfully fetching the provisions, having routed a marauding +band of juniors who were poking inquisitive fingers into the baskets, +the members of VA. returned to the form-room, closed the door, and gave +themselves up to festivity. The four girls from the hostel need have had +no fear of scarcity, for the others had brought ample to compensate for +their deficiency. By general consent all the cakes were pooled, set out +on hard-backed exercise books in lieu of plates, and handed round the +company. Bess, whose basket contained two thermos flasks, a dozen cheese +cakes, and some meringues, was felt to have brought a valuable +contribution. It seemed a new experience to be sitting at their desks, +drinking tea and eating cakes, instead of doing translation or writing +exercises. + +"Pity the Snark didn't stop! She doesn't know what she's missing!" +remarked Joanna Powers, as she took a meringue. + +"Oh, Kafoozalum! We shouldn't have had much fun if the Snark had stayed! +Don't bring her back, for goodness' sake, Jo!" + +"I wasn't going to! Besides which, she's probably half-way down town at +present, having tea in a cafe. She generally does on Fridays." + +"She won't get a better tea than we're having!" + +"I'll undertake she won't! This meringue is absolutely topping! I wonder +if there's another left." + +"No, they're gone, every one of them!" + +"Hard luck!" + +Though the hour might be early, the girls' appetites were quite equal to +the task of finishing the various delicacies in the way of sweet stuff +which they had brought with them. Cakes disappeared like snow in summer, +and chocolate boxes, passed round impartially, soon returned empty to +their owners. When everything seemed almost finished, Bess produced +another hamper, which she had carried up from the cloak-room, and stowed +away under her desk. She handed it rather shyly to Beatrice, who +happened to be her nearest neighbor. + +"Mother sent these, and wants you all to share them," she remarked. + +Beatrice, Francie, and Linda opened the hamper all three together, then +with a delighted "O-Oh!" of satisfaction drew out six beautiful bunches +of purple grapes. Ingred, finishing her cup of tea, choked and coughed. +She knew those grapes well. They grew in the vinery at Rotherwood, and +had been the pride of her father and of the head-gardener. She had not +tasted one of them for five years, for during the war they had always +been given to the patients in the Red Cross Hospital, but she could not +forget their delicious flavor. Why had her father let the vinery with +the house? The grapes ought to be hers to give away--not this girl's. +Nobody else in the room cared in the least where the fruit came from, so +long as it was there. Appreciative eyes looked on in glad anticipation +while Beatrice and Francie divided the bunches with as much mathematical +accuracy as they could muster at the moment. A portion was laid upon +each desk, and the girls fell to. + +"Delicious!" + +"Never tasted better in my life!" + +"Absolutely topping!" + +"Makes one want to go and live in a vineyard!" + +"They're exactly ripe!" + +"Ingred, you're not eating yours!" + +"I don't want them, thanks," said Ingred hurriedly. "I don't indeed. +I've had enough. Pass them on to somebody else, please!" + +"Well, if you really don't want them, they won't go a-begging, I dare +say!" + +Ingred felt as if the grapes would choke her. She could not touch one of +them. She hated Bess for having brought them to school, quite +irrespective of the fact that she would have done exactly the same in +her place, had she been fortunate enough to have the opportunity. Bess, +looking shy, and anxious to evade the thanks that poured in upon her, +bundled the hamper away under the desk again, and made a palpable effort +to change the subject. + +"What about this election?" she asked. "Time's getting on. It's after +half-past four." + +"Good night! Have we been all that time feeding? Here, girls, if you've +_quite_ finished, let's get to business," said Avis, rapping on her desk +as a signal for silence, and constituting herself spokeswoman for the +occasion. "You know what we've met here for--to choose a warden to +represent us on the School Council. Well, I feel we couldn't do better +than send up Ingred Saxon. She'd look after our interests all right, if +anybody would. I beg to propose Ingred Saxon." + +"And I beg to second that!" called Nora. + +"Hands up, those in favor!" + +Such a forest of arms immediately waved in the air that (though in +strict order) it seemed hardly necessary for Avis to call out: + +"Those against!" + +No opposition hands appeared, so without further discussion the election +was carried. + +"Congrats, Ingred!" said Nora, patting the heroine on the back. + +"I told you it would be a walk over, old sport!" whispered Verity. + +"We'd talked it over beforehand, you see, and everybody had agreed to +choose you, so it was really only a matter of form," explained Francie. + +"The Sixth are having a ballot," put in Jess. + +"And VB. are going to fight like Kilkenny cats over Magsie and Barbara." + +"There'll be some hullabaloo in several of the forms, I expect." + +"Thanks awfully for electing me," replied Ingred. "I suppose I ought to +make a speech, but I really don't know what to say!" + +"You've got to say it all the same!" laughed Verity. "Members of +Parliament always make speeches to their constituents. Here, take the +Snark's desk as your thingumgig--rostrum, or whatever it's called, and +begin your jaw-wag!" + +"Friends, Romans, Countrymen, lend me your ears!" squeaked Kitty +Saunders. + +Pushed forward by a dozen hands, Ingred found herself occupying the +mistress's place, and, facing her audience, made a valiant attempt at +oratory. With cheeks aglow, and dark eyes shining like stars, she looked +an attractive little figure, and a bright and suitable leader for the +form. + +"I can't really think why you should have chosen me," she began ("don't +be too modest!" yelled a voice from the back), "but as you _have_ made +me your warden, I'll take care that all our grievances are very well +aired at the School Council." ("You'll have your work cut out!" +interrupted Francie.) "Of course I know it won't all be plain sailing, +and that the Sixth need a great deal of sticking up to over many +matters." ("That's so!" came from the front desk.) "But perhaps they'll +be prepared to talk things over now, and make some concessions." ("Time +they did!") "At any rate, I shall be able to tell them what you all +think" ("Flattering for them!"), "and to make things as smooth as +possible for VA. Now, as I'm warden, may I propose that we have +some fun before we go? Shall we have music, or games? Hands up for an +Emergency Concert!" + +"A very neat way of getting out of further speechifying!" said Verity, +as by general consent the concert carried the day; "but you shall open +it yourself, Madam Warden, so I warn you! You're not going to be let +off, don't you think it! Silence! Ladies and gentlemen, the first item +on the program will be a piano solo by Miss Ingred Saxon, the celebrated +musical star, brought over at enormous expense, on purpose for this +occasion." + +"You blighter!" murmured Ingred, as the prospective audience shouted +"Hear! Hear!" + +"Not a bit of it!" purred Verity. "I guess we'll take sparks out of the +Sixth and everybody else." + +VA. that afternoon was certainly in a position to boast itself. +It was the only form in possession of a piano: for by the sheerest +accident it had one. The instrument was only a temporary visitor, placed +there for convenience while some repairs were being done to a leaking +gas-pipe in one of the music rooms. It's an ill wind, however, that +blows nobody good, and it gave VA. an opportunity that was denied even +to the Sixth. Ingred was at once escorted to the piano, and officious +hands piled exercise books on a chair to make her seat high enough. + +"I can't remember anything! I can't indeed!" she protested vigorously. + +"Now don't twitter nonsense!" said Nora. "I've heard you play +dozens--yes, _dozens_!--of things without music at the hostel, so you've +just got to try!" + +"I shall break down, I know I shall!" + +"Then you can begin again at the beginning. Fire away, and don't be +affected!" commanded Nora. + +It is one thing to play a piece from memory when you have the room to +yourself, and quite another to play it with half a dozen girls hanging +over the piano, and the rest of the audience sitting on their desks. +Ingred wisely did not venture on anything too classical, but tried a +bright "Spanish Ballade," and managed to get successfully to the end of +it without any breakdown. In the midst of the clapping that followed +came a loud rap-tap-tap at the door, which immediately opened to +admit--much to the astonishment of the Fifth--two of the prefects, and a +consignment of Sixth form girls. + +"Whatever have we been and gone and done now?" murmured Verity. + +"Is music taboo?" asked Ingred guiltily, slipping away from the piano. + +The errand of the prefects, however, was evidently one of conciliation, +and not of reproof. They were smiling, and looking amiability itself. + +"We thought, as you've got a piano in your room," began Lilias Ashby, +"that we might as well come and join you, if you don't mind. Janie's got +a book of songs with her." + +"Oh, by all means, of course!" replied VA. politely and unanimously. +"We're just having a sort of concert, you know." + +"Sure you don't mind?" + +"Not a bit of it!" + +"Right-o! Run and tell Janie then, Susie, and ask her to bring the +others." + +An invasion from the Sixth was indeed an unwonted honor, which probably +nothing short of a piano would have accomplished. The hostesses, +somewhat overwhelmed, seated the distinguished guests to the best of +their ability in the rather limited accommodation, and hospitably passed +round their few remaining pieces of chocolate. + +"We'll leave the door open, please," said Lispeth, "because I promised +Miss Burd not to let those intermediates get too outrageous, and I have +to listen out for them." + +Janie Potter, with her book of songs, was pushed forward, and began to +entertain the company with popular selections of the day, to which they +chanted the choruses. She had a good clear voice, and the audience +joined with enthusiasm in the various ditties. + +The clapping which followed was continued down the landing, and, through +the open door, peered the interested faces of most of the members of +VB. who had come to share the fun. + +"May we butt in?" they asked hopefully. + +"Not a square inch of room for you," answered Lispeth, "but you may +squat in the corridor outside if you like. Anybody who performs can join +the show, but that's all. I'll tell you when it's your turn. It's +VA. next. Now then," (turning to the hostesses), "who else can +do anything? Francie Hall, come along at once!" + +"I can't! I can't!" objected Francie. "So it's no use asking me; it +isn't indeed! I'll tell you what--Bess Haselford plays the violin, and, +what's more, she's got it with her, for I saw her put it away in the +dressing-room." + +"O-O-Oh! It was my lesson with Signor Chianti this afternoon, that's why +I had to bring it!" said Bess, turning red. + +"Go and fetch it, Francie!" ordered Lispeth. "You know where it is." + +Francie returned in a short time, and handed the neat leather case to +its owner. Bess, looking flustered and nervous, drew out the violin, and +began to tune it. + +"I've brought your music too!" said Francie, triumphantly opening a +folio, "so you've no excuse for saying you can't remember anything. +Who'll play your accompaniment? Here, Ingred!" + +"Oh! somebody else would do it far better," protested Ingred. +"Janie----" + +"I'm no reader." + +"Lilas?" + +"Couldn't to save my life!" + +"Go ahead, Ingred, and don't waste time!" said Lispeth firmly. + +Ingred sat down to the piano without a smile. Her schoolmates took her +unwillingness for modesty, but in her heart of hearts her main thought +was: "Why should _I_ help this new girl to show off?" She would have +played accompaniments gladly for anybody else, but she considered that +Bess had already received quite enough attention in one afternoon. For +her own credit, however, she must do her best, so she concentrated her +energies on the prelude. When the first strains of the violin joined in, +her musical ear recognized immediately that Bess's playing was of a very +high quality. The tone was pure, the notes were perfectly in tune, and +there was a ringing sweetness, a crisp power of expression, and a +haunting pathos in the rendering of the melody that showed the performer +to be capable of interpreting the composer's meaning. In spite of her +disinclination, Ingred warmed to the accompaniment. When the violin +seemed to be bringing out laughter and tears, the piano must do its +part, and not merely supply a succession of unimpassioned chords. Ingred +was a good reader for a girl of fifteen, but she surpassed herself on +this occasion, and seemed to accomplish the difficult passages almost by +instinct. She played the final notes very softly as the last fairy +strains of the melody thrilled slowly away. + +There was a second of silence, then the girls, inside and outside the +room, clapped their loudest. + +"It was capital!" declared Lispeth encouragingly. "Bess, we shall want +you again for school concerts. You and Ingred ought to practise +together. Let me look at your violin. I wish _I_ could play like that!" + +"Thanks ever so much!" murmured Bess to Ingred, as the latter got up +from the piano. + +"Oh! it's all right!" replied Ingred airily, moving away in a hurry to +the other side of the room. She did not want Bess to take up Lispeth's +no doubt well meant but rather embarrassing suggestion that they should +practise together, and was quite ready with an excuse if it should be +proposed. + +"It's the turn of the Sixth now," she jodelled. + +"VB. haven't done anything yet; I'll call one of them in," said +Lispeth, stepping out to the landing. + +Once through the door, however, her ears were assailed by such an +absolute din proceeding from the farther end of the corridor, that she +dropped her character of impresario for the duties of head-girl, and +calling two of her fellow prefects, went to investigate the cause of the +disturbance. She returned in a short time, looking flushed and flurried. + +"It's those wretched kids in IVB.," she proclaimed. "They were +behaving disgracefully, pelting each other with the remains of their +buns, and fencing with rulers. And they actually had the cheek to tell +me they weren't making any more noise than we were with our singing and +playing! I sent them home at once, and I think we'd all better go too. +Those intermediates always overstep the line if they've an atom of a +chance. I told them what I thought about them. It's been quite a ripping +concert, and I'm sorry to break it up, but you understand, don't you?" + +"Rather!" replied the others, as they began their exodus into the +corridor. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +The School Parliament + + +During the excitement of the concert Ingred had hardly time to realize +the greatness of the honor thrust upon her in being chosen as warden to +represent her form. All it stood for struck her afterwards. + +"My word! You'll have to sit up and behave yourself after this, Madame!" +remarked Quenrede, when she mentioned the matter at home. + +"Yes, of course they'll all look to you now as an example!" added +Mother. + +"Oh, I don't think they will!" declared Ingred, who had not considered +her new office from that point of view. "I've just to speak up for the +interests of the form, you know." + +"There are obligations as well as interests," said Mother seriously. +"Try to make VA. a useful factor in the school. That would be something +worth doing, wouldn't it?" + +In arranging for the School Parliament, Miss Burd had allowed wardens to +be chosen by each form, from IIIB. upwards, but had decided that the +smaller girls were too young to take part in public affairs. Every form +that sent a representative constituted itself into a kind of club, and +chose a special name. These were placed on the Council Register as +follows: + + VI. The True Blues. + VA. The Pioneers. + VB. The Amazons. + IVA. The Old Brigade. + IVB. The Mermaids. + IIIA. The Dragonflies. + IIIB. The Cuckoos. + +"You can compare marks every fortnight," said Miss Burd, "and whichever +gets the best average shall hold a cup that I intend to present. The +marks of the whole form will count, so that slackers will be a distinct +drawback to their own companies. Any girl who loses a mark hinders her +form from gaining the cup, and of course vice versa, those who work will +help." + +The question of marks had been a much debated subject with Miss Burd. +She had discussed it in detail at several educational conferences, and +had come to the conclusion that, on the whole, the system was highly +desirable. + +"It's all very well to talk about the evils of emulation, and work for +work's sake," she confided to Miss Strong, "but you can't get children +to see things altogether in the same light as grown-ups. I own that, +when I was a child myself, I made tremendous efforts so that I might be +head of my form, and when the arrangements were changed at our school, +and, instead of carefully-registered marks and places, we only had +first, second, or third class, I slacked off considerably. I knew that a +lesson not quite so perfectly learnt, or an exercise with one or two +mistakes, would still find me in the First Class, so why should I make +such enormous exertions? When every slip might mean the loss of my +chance to be top, I was far more careful. Of course I know that +Emulation, with a big E, is supposed to be all wrong, but really I think +people make too much fuss about it. It was quite friendly rivalry when I +was at school, and the girls with whom I competed were my dearest chums. +I believe my new system here is going to unite both methods. Every girl +will work for herself, but her marks will also count for her form, and +if she slacks, and so pulls down the standard, I hope her companions +will give her as bad a time as they do to a 'butter-fingers' at cricket, +and that's saying something!" + +The idea of each form constituting a club appealed to the school. It was +far more interesting to be "Amazons" or "Cuckoos" than merely +VB. or IIIB., and as awards were to be according to averages, it was +thrilling to feel that girls of twelve could wrest away the silver cup +from the hands of the very prefects themselves. + +"It makes it just like playing a game!" declared Ida Brooke. + +"Yes, a sort of tug-of-war when everybody's got to pull, and mustn't let +go!" added Cissie Barnes, "Do you remember playing 'Oranges and Lemons' +once with the Sixth? _We_ all held on to each others' waists like grim +death, and Janie Potter gave way and broke their chain, so we won!" + +"We'll beat them again, too! I'd like to see that cup on our +mantelpiece!" + +"The Pioneers," otherwise VA., were as anxious as any of the other forms +to carry off laurels. Even Fil, much under protest, really made quite an +effort to work. + +"You ought to help me with my exercises, though, Ingred," she wheedled. +"Remember, it's for the benefit of the form. If you let me make +mistakes, well--it's the form that will suffer. You can't call it _my_ +fault, it's on your own head. You know as well as I do that I simply +can't spell, and it takes me hours to hunt up words in the dictionary. +I'm looking for 'phenomenon' now." + +"You certainly won't find it in the F's," laughed Ingred. "What an +infant in arms you are! Here, then, go ahead, and I'll act as +dictionary. You've only written half a page yet. You'll be a week of +Sundays at this rate." + +"And I haven't touched my Latin or French!" sighed Fil dismally. "I wish +I could go to a school where there isn't any homework, and that somebody +would invent a typewriter that would just spell the words ready-made +when you press a button." + +"There's a fortune waiting for the man who does!" agreed Ingred. "'The +Royal-Road-to-Learning Typewriter: spells of itself.' It would sell by +the million, I should think." + +Ingred washed her hands, plaited her hair, and put on her best brooch +and her new bangle to attend the first meeting of the School Parliament. +The function was held in the Sixth Form room, which she thought slightly +unfair, for the prefects, being on their own ground, felt a distinct +advantage, and acted as hostesses. There were four of them, so with the +games captain they made a party of five from the Sixth, as opposed to +six representatives of lower forms, a quite undue proportion in the +opinion of the younger girls. Whatever successes the intermediates might +win later on, "The True Blues" had carried all before them so far, and +had won the cup by an average at least a dozen marks in advance of "The +Mermaids," who came second. The trophy stood on their mantelpiece, and +they had brought an ornamental glazed tile on which to place it, as if +they meant it to stay there. + +On the whole they received the other wardens very graciously, and gave +them opportunities to speak and air their views. Questions such as the +due apportioning of the asphalt tennis-courts, basket-ball and hockey +fixtures, and various school societies were discussed, and the general +business of the term got under way. + +"It helps things to be able to talk it over and know what you all +think," said Lispeth. "We're making so many changes with coming into the +new building, that it's almost like an entirely fresh start. Miss Burd +wants us to get up a sort of Reconstruction Society in the school. She +hasn't quite planned it out yet, but she told me a little about it, and +I think it's ever so nice. As soon as it's quite fixed up, I'm going to +call a general meeting, and explain it to everybody. I expect that will +be next Wednesday. Will you give me power to do this on my own, or must +I call a special committee on Monday to discuss it first, before I put +it to the school?" + +"It's my music lesson on Monday, I couldn't come," demurred Ingred. + +"And I have to go to the dentist immediately after four," chimed in Alys +Horner, the warden of "The Amazons." + +"If Miss Burd has arranged it, I suppose it's all serene," said Mabel +Hughes, of "The Old Brigade." + +"You'll like it, I know. I'd explain now, only I haven't got any of the +papers, and besides, it would take such a long time, and it's rather +late, and I want to be getting home. Anyway, I hope we shall all take it +up hot and strong. Be sure to keep Wednesday free, though I'm going to +ask Miss Burd to let us have the meeting in school hours if possible, +then we're absolutely sure of everybody." + +"Right you are!" agreed the wardens, separating in a rather +unparliamentary fashion to admire a vinaigrette, scented with +heliotrope, which Althea took from her pocket and handed round for +appreciative sniffs. + +All the girls felt that Lispeth Scott was to be trusted. She was a +worthy leader for the new order of things. She was a tall, stout, fair +girl of almost eighteen, and rather grown-up for her age. She was the +youngest member of a large family who had made enormous exertions during +the war, and, with sisters who had nursed in Serbia, driven +motor-ambulances in France, served in canteens, in Y. M. C. A. huts, and +worked at munitions, she had excellent examples of what it is possible +to do for one's country. She was a decided favorite in the College, +being athletic as well as clever, and of a very jolly merry temperament +with a vein of great earnestness. Though the girls sometimes called her +"Jumbo," they meant the nickname in token of friendship, and submitted +to her dictatorship far more readily than they would have done to that +of any other member of the Sixth who had been put in her place. Miss +Burd had great confidence in Lispeth, and consequently, when they had +talked over the matter of the new society which she wished to be formed +in the school, she decided to leave its institution entirely in the +hands of her head girl. + +"It will be far better for the mistresses not to be present at the +meeting," she said. "I can trust you, Lispeth, to explain things, and +the girls will like it much more if it seems to emanate from the new +Council. Talk to them in your own way, and they'll understand you. I +want the Society to be an absolutely voluntary one, or it's of no use. +Don't let them think they must join merely to please _me_. I'd rather +have a dozen who are in earnest over it than a hundred half-hearted +members. Only those who feel enthusiastic need give in their names. I +don't mind if it begins in quite a humble way. Indeed, I only expect a +small membership at first." + +"On the contrary, Miss Burd, I think it will catch on," replied Lispeth. + +In consequence of this conversation, the head prefect pinned a paper on +the notice-board, convening a general meeting of all girls over twelve +years of age, to be held in the big hall on Wednesday afternoon at 3:30 +sharp, the last lesson of the day having been remitted by orders from +the Study. There was a universal feeling that something important was on +foot, so those forms that were eligible trooped in a body to the hall, +while the disappointed juniors tried to console themselves with the +reflection that they would be able to go home half an hour earlier than +their elders. After considerable shuffling about, places were taken. +Unwilling to waste further time, Lispeth mounted the platform, and rang +the bell for silence. + +"Are we all here? Well, I can't wait for anybody else. Those who come in +late will have to hear what they can, and you must tell them the rest +afterwards. Oh, here they are! Quietly, please! There's plenty of room +over there. Violet, will you shut the door? Now that we're all together, +I want to have a talk with you. You know I'm what may be called 'Prime +Minister' of our School Parliament, and, though your wardens will report +all we say in council, I think it is well to have a public meeting +sometimes. This term everything seems to have made a fresh start. We're +in new buildings, and we have new rules, and our very Parliament is a +new institution. You're all in new forms, and I'm the new Head Prefect. +It's not only in school that everything's different, but in the outside +world as well. This is our first term since peace was signed. I can +remember our first term after War was declared. I was only in +IIIA. then--quite a youngster! Hetty Hughes, who was the head girl, made +a speech, and told us what we ought to do to try to help our country. I +think some of us who were here have never forgotten that. We nearly +hurrahed the roof off, and we formed a Knitting Club and a Soldiers' +Parcel Society on the spot. You know for yourselves how we worked to keep +those up. Well, to-day the Empire is at peace, but our country needs our +help as much as ever, or even more. It's making a fresh start, and we +want the new world to be a better place than the old. Hundreds of +thousands of gallant young lives have been gladly given to establish this +new world--in this school alone we know to our cost--and we owe it to our +heroic dead not to let their sacrifice be in vain. We want a better and +purer England to rise up and make a clean sweep of the bad things that +disgraced her before. I expect you'll say: 'Oh, that's for politicians, +and not for us schoolgirls!' but it isn't. Popular opinion is a mighty +thing. The schoolgirls of to-day are the women of to-morrow, and the +women of a country have an enormous amount to do with the formation of +public opinion--more nowadays than ever before--and their influence will +go on increasing with every year that passes. If each of us tries to help +the world instead of hindering it, think what an asset each one may be to +the country! It's really a tremendous honor to know that we can all take +our part in the reconstruction of England. It's like each being allowed +to lay a brick in the foundation of a new building. Of course you'll ask +me: 'Well, and how are we going to help?' That's just what I want to talk +about. We pride ourselves on being practical at the College. Some of us +thought we might start a new society, to be called 'The Rainbow League.' +It's a sort of 'Guild of Helpers,' and we want to do all kinds of jolly +things to help in the town, something like our old 'Knitting Club' and +'Soldiers' Parcel Society,' only of course different. We could give +concerts and make clothes for war orphans, and toys for the hospitals, +and scrap-books for crippled children. There are heaps of nice things +like that you'll just love doing. It's called 'The Rainbow League,' +because a rainbow was set in the sky after the Flood, to help people to +remember, and we want, in our small way, not to let the Great War be +forgotten, but to do our bit to help with the future of the race. + +"I'm not any great hand at speaking or explaining, so I want you each to +take a copy of the rules of 'The Rainbow League' and to read them +quietly over at home. Then any girl who likes to join can put her name +down. All the Sixth want to become members, and I hope lots of others +will too. That's all I have to say. I'm afraid I'm rather a bungler, but +you'll understand everything if you read the papers. I'm going to give +them out now." + +Lispeth, very red in the face, came down from the platform, and, aided +by her fellow-prefects, began to distribute papers right and left to the +girls as they filed from the benches. Amongst the others, Ingred took +hers, and put it in her pocket. She did not care to discuss it with the +crowd, so retired to a corner of the hostel garden, and, amid a shower +of falling autumn leaves, opened the typewritten sheet, and read as +follows: + + The Rainbow League + + A Society for Schoolgirls who wish to help in the great work of + reconstruction after the War + + WHAT THE LEAGUE HOLDS + + That every soul is of infinite and equal value, because all are the + children of one Father. + + That every girl must do her best to help all other girls, and to + advance the Sisterhood of Women. + + That woman's greatest and strongest weapons are love and sweetness. + + That by conscious radiation of unselfish love to her fellow-beings, + a girl may undoubtedly raise the moral atmosphere of the world + around her. + + That every girl, however young, can help this glorious old country, + and that, joined together for good, the schoolgirls of a nation can + influence the well-being of a race. + + That good can always triumph over evil, and that love and + unselfishness will wipe out many social blots, and put beauty in + their place. + + As the rainbow has seven prismatic colors, these may stand for + seven talents of woman. + + Violet = Virtue--the bed-rock of woman's + influence. + + Indigo = Industry--which means willing service. + + Blue = Beauty--in its many and varied forms. + + Green = Generosity--to give of our best to + others. + + Yellow = Youth--to offer our best years to God. + + Orange = Order--which includes organization. + + Red = Radiation--the Love Force going out to + others. + + Fellowship + + Every member of the League shall pledge herself to forward its + objects and to take an active part in any schemes of help that may + be instituted in connection with it. + + Flower Emblem. The Iris. + + Motto. "Freely ye have received, freely give." + +Ingred sat for a moment or two, watching the petals blow from the last +roses on the bush that hung over the worn stone wall. The old Abbey lay +on one hand, the buildings of the new school on the other. They seemed +the very personification of ancient and modern. + +"The world can't stand still," she thought, "and if it's got to move on, +I suppose I'd better help to give it a shove in the right direction." + +Walking into the hostel, she met Nora and Fil walking arm-in-arm. + +"Hullo, Ingred! Have you read the paper about the Rainbow League?" asked +Fil eagerly. "I think it's ripping! Nora and I are both going to join." + +"And so am I," said Ingred, as she passed by them, and went upstairs. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +Hockey + + +Ingred signed her name next morning as a member of the Rainbow League, +and received a neat notebook with a Japanese design of purple irises +stencilled on the cover. Though the new society was supposed to be run +entirely by the girls themselves, it was much encouraged at +head-quarters, and special allowances were made for its activities. Miss +Burd sent for a book on _Toy-making at Home_, and gave the Handicraft +classes an indulgence to concentrate for the present on the construction +of little windmills, carts, dolls' furniture, trains, jigsaw puzzles, +and other articles described in its fascinating pages. Such a number of +girls had joined the League that many willing hands were at work, and at +Christmas they hoped to have a sale of the best of the toys in aid of a +fund for War Orphans, and to send the remainder to be given away as +treats for poor children. + +Lispeth was highly enthusiastic, and full of future schemes. + +"We'll do toy-making this term," she decreed, "and then next term we can +think of something else. In the spring and summer we'll have a Posy +Union to send bunches of flowers to sick people. We can't do anything of +that, of course, during the winter, unless some of you like to put down +bulbs; it would be lovely to give a pot of purple crocuses to a little +crippled child! I think making the toys is just A1. I want to start a +manufactory!" + +"Barring the glue," said Susie Wakefield. "It smells simply abominable +when it boils over. Why doesn't somebody bring out a patent for +sweet-scented glue?" + +"Sweet-scented glue! You Sybarite!" + +"Why not? They could make it out of all those delicious gums and resins +you read about in books on the Spice Islands, instead of--by the by, +what is glue made of?" + +"Horses' hoofs, I believe, but I fancy it's better not to ask what it's +made of. I don't think your gums and resins would do the deed so well. +We'd best stick to good old-fashioned glue." + +"That's just what I complained of--I _do_ stick to it, or rather it +sticks to me. I get it all over my hands, and smears down my overall." + +"Then you're an untidy workwoman, old sport, and I can't do anything for +you except recommend 'Gresolvent.'" + +The girls were grateful for the latitude of the Handicraft class, for +otherwise they would have had little or no time to give to the +construction of toys. The homework of the College was stiff, and +certain games were compulsory. The hockey season had begun, and fixtures +had been made with other schools in the neighborhood. + +"We must see that the old Coll. keeps up its reputation," said Blossom +Webster, the games captain. "Last year, when we had Lennie Peters and +Sophy Aston, we did a thing or two, didn't we? 'What girl has done, girl +can do!' and we've just got to buck up and try." + +"Rather!" agreed the team. + +Among the various matches which had been arranged was one with The +Clinton High School Old Girls' Association. It was an amateur team of +enthusiasts, who, debarred from playing any longer for their school, had +established a club of their own. They had sent a challenge to Grovebury +College, and it had been accepted. + +"Saturday morning's a weird time for a match!" said Blossom, re-reading +the letter to her chums. "But their captain says it's the only time they +can get their field. It's used by another club in the afternoons, so +she's fixed eleven o'clock." + +"It suits me rather decently," said Janie Potter. "I'm going out to tea +in the afternoon, so I couldn't have come if the match had been at +three. Don't stare at me like that! _No_ I'm _not_ a slacker! I must +accept invitations to tea sometimes, even if I _am_ in the team. What a +dragon you are, Blossom!" + +"Good thing some one keeps the team up, or you'd be gadding off +tea-drinking instead of playing!" returned Blossom grimly. "Grovebury +expects every girl to do her duty on Saturday. It will be bad luck for +the season if we lose our first match." + +The Clinton Old Girls' Association had its field at Denscourt, a town +ten miles away from Grovebury. It was arranged by the team, and for any +girls from the college who cared to come as spectators, to meet at the +railway station at 10:15, and travel together under the escort of Miss +Giles. + +Ingred, who was a keen player, and very proud of having been placed in +the reserve, was to spend Friday night at the hostel, instead of +returning as usual to Wynch-on-the-Wold. + +Nora, Verity, and Fil were also to be numbered among the spectators. + +On the eventful morning, as the girls were just finishing breakfast, a +telegram arrived for Rachel Grant. She tore open the yellow envelope, +and her face fell as she read the brief message. Her mother was +seriously ill, and she must return home immediately. Mrs. Best went +upstairs at once to arrange for her hurried journey, and to help her to +pack. + +Downstairs at the breakfast-table the girls discussed the bad news. They +were very sorry for Rachel, and also for themselves, for she was their +right inner. + +"It's like our luck!" fretted Janie Potter. + +"Too disgusting for words!" groused Doreen Hayward. + +"Poor old Rachel!" groaned Fil. + +"What's going to be done?" asked everybody, as they folded their +serviettes and left the table. + +That question was answered by Miss Giles, who beckoned to Ingred in the +hall, and said briefly: + +"Ingred, will you fetch your hockey-stick and pads?" + +Ingred did not need telling twice. To take Rachel's place was indeed an +honor. Such a chance did not come often. With huge satisfaction she +donned her neat navy-blue skirt, edged with its orange band, and her +blouse with its orange collar and cuffs. + +"You lucker!" sighed Nora enviously. "I'd just jolly well give +everything I have to be in the match to-day. It's not much sport to +stand by and cheer. Oh, don't think I'm trying to get out of coming! I'm +going to look on and see that you do your duty. If you're not playing +up, I'll hiss!" + +"I'll do my best," laughed Ingred, "and if I drop down for sheer lack of +breath, I shall expect you and Verity to carry me home. There!" + +"Right you are! It's a bargain, though you'd be a jolly heavy burden, I +can tell you." + +The team, Miss Giles, and about twenty girls as spectators, were +punctual to their appointment, and assembled at the station just in time +for the train. By a little maneuvering, combined with good fortune, they +secured three compartments to themselves, for a solitary old gentleman, +whom they found in possession of a corner seat, bolted in alarm at such +an invasion of schoolgirls, and sought sanctuary in a smoking carriage. +Some generous spirits had brought chocolates and butter-scotch, which +they shared round, and Nora, the irrepressible, produced from her pocket +a mouth-organ, with which she proceeded to entertain the company, until +frantic raps from the next compartment made her aware that Miss Giles +heard and disapproved of her amateur recital. Naturally the talk was +largely about hockey and the chances of the match. It was known that the +Old Clintonians were a strong team, for most of them had been the crack +players of their school. To beat them would indeed be a feather in the +cap of the college. + +"Too good to come off!" groaned Blossom gloomily. + +"Nonsense, you can't tell till you've tried! Make up your mind you're +going to win!" said Nora indignantly. "I shan't speak to you again if +you lose this match!" + +"I'm only one out of eleven, please!" + +"Well, I don't care! One who makes up her mind to fail can spoil +everything, and vice-versa, so just buck up and win!" + +The hockey ground was not very far from the station at Denscourt, and +when the Grovebury contingent arrived they found the Old Clintonians +ready and waiting for them. The eleven ran into the pavilion and took +off the long coats that had covered their gym costumes; then trooped out +on to the field, as neat and business-like looking a team as could be +imagined. Blossom, with her chums, Janie and Doreen, took good stock of +their opponents. + +"They're a strong set, and will take some beating," said Janie. + +"Rather!" agreed Blossom. "You may be sure we're not going to goal just +when we please." + +"They look topping sports!" commented Doreen. + +Everything was now in perfect order; the teams were placed, and the +umpire blew her whistle for the match to begin. As the account of such a +contest is always much more interesting when narrated by an actual +spectator, and as Nora wrote a long and accurate description of it +afterwards to a cousin at school in London, I will insert her letter, +and allow it to speak for itself. + +(_This letter is an account of a real match, written by a real +schoolgirl._) + + "Grovebury College. + + "_My Dear Margaret_, + + "I simply must tell you about the hockey match we played last + Saturday! + + "The team played the Clinton High School Old Girls' Association at + Denscourt. Our girls were awfully keen to meet them, and were not + at all daunted by the fact that they were exceptionally strong. + + "About twenty of us went as spectators, and as we were about to set + off to the station with the Eleven, Rachel Grant, the Left Inner, + received a telegram, conveying news of her mother's serious + illness. To our great misfortune, she was obliged to go home at + once, and the first girl on the Reserve, Ingred Saxon, had to fill + her place. + + "Miss Giles, the Games Mistress, went on to get the tickets, and, + in spite of some delay, we managed to meet her in time to catch the + train. It is ten miles from here to Denscourt, and we arrived there + in about twenty minutes. + + "The field is not very far from the railway station. The team girls + were taken to the pavilion, and when they were ready, the captain + tossed up. Veronica Hall, the opposing captain, who is a tall + strong girl, and a fine hockey player, won the toss, and chose to + play against the wind for the first half. At exactly eleven, the + center forwards, Blossom and Veronica, began the bully-off. There + were three dull clashes as their sticks met, and then with a + dexterous stroke, Blossom passed the ball to her Right Inner, Janie + Potter. Before she could strike, the wing on the opposite side + captured the ball, and with a clean drive sent it spinning down the + field. It was soon stopped, however, by Doreen Hayward, the Right + Half, who, after successfully dribbling it past the enemy Inner, + sent it hard out to Aline West, the School Right Wing. Soon Aline + had the ball half-way up the field, but suddenly she stumbled, and + fell headlong to the ground. Before she could rise, the ball had + been sent to the rival Center Forward, who, with a magnificent hit, + drove it nearly into the goal-circle. There it was splendidly + blocked by Kitty Saunders, our Left Back, and quickly passed to + Evie Irving, the Left Wing. There was a brief, though fierce, + struggle for possession of the ball between the two wings, in which + Evie was victorious. She neatly avoided the Clinton Right Half, but + the ball went off the line. The opposing Half-back rolled in--to + her wing, as she thought--but with a swift movement, Ingred Saxon, + the Left Inner, reached the ball first, and taking it with her, ran + up the field like lightning. The Inner on the other side was an + equally fast runner, but Ingred easily evaded her opponent's + continued efforts to get the ball for some time. + + "'Oh! has she lost the ball?' 'No. Is she still flying on, the ball + before her?' 'Will she pass the rival back safely?' were the + questions which thronged my brain, nearly paralyzed with + excitement. + + "Not able to dribble the ball any farther, and being attacked by a + girl wearing the Clinton colors, Ingred hit the ball out to her + wing, who struck in to center again. The Left Back on the opposing + side stopped it just as it entered the goal-circle. + + "'Clear!' yelled one of the onlookers, unable to contain herself, + and with a fine stroke the Back sent the ball flying away to the + other side of the field. It went with such force that, although our + Right Back made an attempt to stop it, it raced past her stick and + over the outside line. After the roll-in, nearly all the play was + carried on practically in the center of the field. Each side + displayed some excellent passing, but when the whistle blew at half + time, neither had scored. By this time all the girls were hot and + panting, except the Goal-keepers, and were ready for the brief + rest. Our Eleven stood in a group together, sharing the lemons + which the Clinton girls provided, and discussing the events of the + last half-hour. + + "'Girls!' exclaimed Blossom, our captain 'we simply must win this + match! We shall have the wind against us the next half, but we are + not going to let things end in a victory for the Clintonians, or in + a draw either, are we?' + + "'No!' was the decided answer. + + "A few minutes later every one was in her place again, but of + course defending the other goal. Blossom and Veronica were once + more bullying-off. This time the latter was the quicker of the two, + for, with a clever hit, she succeeded in sending the ball away to + her Left Wing. The Clinton Left Wing began to dribble it along + towards the goal we were defending, and, when confronted by our + Right Half, passed it to her center. I almost screamed out to our + Center Forward not to let Veronica keep the ball, for I knew she + was a dangerous opponent. She was well up the field, and with a + neat turn of her stick sent the ball past our Right Back. There was + only one girl now to prevent her from getting a goal! Blossom was + now fast gaining, and then, just as Veronica came within shooting + distance, her foot slipped in the slimy mud, and she lost her + balance. Blossom was level with Veronica by this time, and before + the Clinton captain could steady herself, she had sent the ball far + away from the danger zone. + + "The play went on fairly evenly again until five minutes to twelve. + I felt wild with anxiety, and I am sure the others did too, for + there were only five minutes left. + + "The ball had just been sent over the line by one of the Clinton + girls, and our Left Half rolled in. The wing missed the bill, but + Ingred took it, and--well, I cannot tell you clearly what happened + after that. I still have in my mind the picture of Ingred, who, the + ball at her side, literally flew up the field, her feet scarcely + touching the ground. No one knows how she did it, but by some + marvellous playing she passed all her opponents, and shot the only + goal of the whole match just three seconds before the whistle blew + for 'Time.' + + "Of course Ingred was the heroine of the hour. As she was being + escorted to the pavilion, flushed but triumphant, Miss Giles said + to her: 'Well played! I am proud of you!' + + "Those few words of praise meant a good deal to Ingred, and we all + felt how well she deserved them, especially as it was only by + accident that she played in the team at all. + + "I do hope I have not tired you by going too fully into our match, + but I know you are interested in our school games, hockey in + particular. I will tell you about our later fixtures when I see you + at Christmas, so until then--Good-bye. + + "With love from your affectionate cousin, + + "Nora Clifford." + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +An Unpleasant Experience + + +The girls filed out from the hockey ground as speedily as possible. +There was a train due from Grovebury in about a quarter of an hour. They +walked to the station in groups, discussing details of the match as they +went. Ingred, Beatrice, and Verity happened to be blocked at the exit by +the Clintonian team, and were obliged to wait some minutes before they +could pass, and when at last they were through the gate, all their own +schoolfellows were disappearing up the road. + +"We needn't run after them--I believe we've plenty of time," said +Verity. "We can almost see the station from here. I say, aren't you +fearfully hungry? I'm literally starving. Let's find a confectioner's +and each buy a bun before we go." + +Both Beatrice and Ingred felt that they required fortifying before they +started for home, so they dived into the nearest pastry-cook's and +demanded buns. They were eating them rather hastily, when Linda Slater +entered the shop in company with a gentleman, evidently her father. She +hailed her class-mates, and at once began to talk over the match and +rejoice at the school victory. + +"Who says we're no good at games now? This has sent up our credit ten +per cent! I'm proud of the Coll.!" + +"Blossom was A1," exulted Verity. + +"And Janie was simply ripping. Dad thought no end of her. Didn't you, +Dad?" + +"Well, I'm glad we made something of a record," admitted Ingred. + +"I say," declared Beatrice, hastily finishing her bun, "if that clock's +right, we must bolt for our train." + +"As a matter of fact, it's one minute slow," exclaimed Linda, consulting +her watch. "You'll have to sprint." + +"Aren't _you_ coming?" + +"No, we have our car here. It's outside." + +"Those girls will hardly catch their train," remarked Mr. Slater to +Linda, as the three went to the pay desk to settle for their buns. +"Couldn't we stow them into the car, and take them along with us?" + +"Oh, no, Dad!" frowned Linda. "There really isn't room. You promised +you'd call at Brantbury and bring Gerald and Eustace back for the +afternoon. We couldn't cram them all in the car!" + +"There isn't time for them to get the train." + +"Oh, yes! You don't know how they can run!" + +Quite unaware of the kindly offer which had been rejected on their +behalf, Beatrice, Verity, and Ingred fled from the shop, and hurried +with all possible speed in the direction of the railway station. They +could see the train coming along the top of the embankment, and it had +drawn up at the platform before they reached the passenger entrance. +They were not the only late comers. It was Saturday, and a crowd of work +people from various factories near were returning to Grovebury. + +In company with a very mixed and motley crew they pushed their way up +the long flight of steps. A collector stood at the top, and just as they +were nearing their goal, he slammed the gate and refused further +admission to the platform. They could hear the whistle, and the general +bumping of chains that betokened the starting of the carriages. They +were exactly half a minute too late! When the train was well out of the +station, the collector once more opened his barrier, and the crowd +surged on. The three girls, who disliked pushing among a rough assembly, +stood on one side to let the people pass by. There was no hurry now, and +no object to be gained by forcing their way ahead. Last of all, +therefore, they presented themselves at the gate. + +"Tickets, please!" repeated the collector automatically. + +All three felt in their pockets, but felt in vain. Return tickets and +purses were alike missing, and even penknives and handkerchiefs had +vanished, Ingred's pocket, indeed, was neatly turned inside out. Here +was a dilemma! They had evidently been robbed on the stairs by a +professional thief, who had appropriated all their portable belongings. +In utter consternation they looked at one another. + +"We've lost our tickets!" faltered Beatrice. + +"They've been stolen!" added Ingred. + +"Do please let us through!" entreated Verity. + +In ordinary circumstances the collector would no doubt have listened to +the girl's story, and taken them to interview the station-master, but +to-day he had to do double duty, and could scarcely cope with the extra +work. He had to deal with crowds, and to keep a sharp eye to see that no +one defrauded the railway company by travelling without paying the fare. +A train was due at the next moment on the other side of the platform, +and his services were urgently required at the opposite exit. + +"Haven't you got your tickets?" he demanded curtly. "Then I must close +the gate. No one's allowed on the platform without tickets." + +The advancing train whistled as it ran through the cutting, and, +disregarding the girls' remonstrances, the official locked the barrier. +He bolted across the line in front of the engine, just in time to take +his place at the other gateway before the rush of passengers began, and +probably never gave another thought to the three whom he had just +excluded. Left shut out on the top of the station steps, the unlucky +trio ruefully reviewed the situation. + +"What _are_ we to do?" demanded Ingred breathlessly. + +"Goodness only knows!" sighed Verity. + +"We're in a very awkward fix!" admitted Beatrice. + +They were much too far from Grovebury to make walking possible. + +"I wonder Miss Giles didn't miss us!" fretted Verity, trying to throw +the blame on somebody. + +"It isn't her fault--fair play to her!" urged Beatrice. "She wasn't +looking after us officially to-day, you know. On Saturdays we're +supposed to be on our own." + +"I lay the blame on buns!" said Ingred. "We'd have kept with the rest of +the school if we hadn't stopped at that confectioner's." + +"Well, it's no use crying over spilt milk now! What we've got to do is +to find some means of getting home. We can't stay here all day." + +"I believe it's not very far to Waverley from Denscourt," ventured +Beatrice. "If we can manage to walk, I know some people who live at a +house there. I'd ask them to lend us our fares, and we could catch a +train at Waverley station." + +The idea seemed feasible, and, as it was the only one that suggested +itself, they unanimously decided to adopt it. They walked down the steps +again, therefore, on to the high road, and, stopping a girl who was +passing, asked the way to Waverley. + +"It's a good four miles by the road, but it's only about two by the +fields," she volunteered in reply. "I think you'd find the path. You go +down the road to the right, and turn through the first gate across a +field to a farm. Then you keep along the river bank, on the left. You +can't miss it." + +To save two miles in their present predicament was a matter of +importance, and they all felt that they would greatly prefer walking +through fields to tramping along a dusty high road. Thanking their +informant, they took her advice, and set off in the direction which she +indicated. After all, the affair was rather an adventure. + +"The Mortons are sure to offer us lunch when we get there," affirmed +Beatrice; "of course we shall be fearfully late home, and our people +will be getting very anxious about us, but we can't help that. I was to +have gone to a matinee of _Carmen_ this afternoon, but it's off, +naturally! I expect Doris will use my ticket, when I don't turn up." + +"I meant to wash our dog when I got back!" laughed Ingred. "He'll have +to look dirty on Sunday, now." + +"And I meant to do a hundred things; but what's the use of talking about +them now?" groaned Verity. "Here's our farm, and that appears to be the +river over there. Didn't that girl say: 'Keep along to the left'? +Perhaps we'd better ask again." + +They verified their instructions from a boy who was standing in the +farmyard, whittling a stick, and trudged away over a stubble field and +through a turnstile gate. It was quite pretty along the path by the +river. There was a tall hedge where hips and haws showed red, and a +grassy border where a few wild flowers still bloomed. The sun shed a +soft golden autumnal haze over the fields and bushes and the lines of +yellow trees. + +The girls rather enjoyed themselves; it was an unexpected country +excursion, and had all the charm of novelty. They walked about half a +mile, chatting about school matters as they went, then suddenly they +were confronted by an alternative. A bridge spanned the river, and the +broad, well-trodden path along which they had come turned over the +bridge. There was indeed a track that continued along the left bank, but +it was over-grown, and looked little used. Which were they to take? + +That was a question which required discussion. + +"The girl said: 'keep along the river bank on the left,'" urged Ingred. + +"Yet the path so plainly goes across here," demurred Verity. + +"That's certainly the left bank, but that way looks as if it led to +nowhere," vacillated Beatrice. + +"Can't we ask anybody?" + +"There isn't a soul in sight." + +"Isn't there a signpost?" + +"Nothing of the sort." + +"Then which way _shall_ we go?" + +"Better take votes on it." + +"Right-o! I'm for 'bypath meadow.'" + +"And I'm for the 'king's highway.'" + +"So am I, so we're two to one!" + +"I'll give in, then," said Ingred, "only I've a sort of feeling we're +going wrong, all the same!" + +The new path led along the opposite bank, and was very much a replica of +the former. It ran on and on for what seemed quite a long distance, but +they met nobody from whom they could inquire the way. For nearly a +quarter of a mile a belt of trees obscured the view, and when at last +the prospect could once more be seen, Beatrice stopped short with a +groan of despair. On the other side of the water was the unmistakable +spire of Waverley church. + +"We've come wrong, after all!" + +"Oh, good night! So we have!" + +"What an absolute swindle!" + +The girls were certainly not in luck that day. They had missed their +path as effectually as they had missed their train. The chimneys of +Waverley were in sight, but separated from them by a wide stream, and +unless they were prepared to wade, swim, or fly, there was no way of +reaching the village. + +"There's nothing for it but to turn back!" + +"Why, but that's _miles_!" + +"Are you sure it's Waverley over there? Can we ask anybody?" + +"No one to ask, worse luck!" + +"Yes, there is! I can see some people coming along in a boat." + +Rendered desperate by the emergency, Ingred struggled through the reeds +to the very edge of the river, and lifted up her voice in an agonized +cry of "Help!" + +A punt was drifting slowly with the current, and its occupants, a lady +and gentleman, looked with surprise at the agitated girl who was hailing +them from the bank. The gentleman at once paddled in her direction, and, +running his little craft among the reeds, inquired what was the matter. + +"Oh, please, is that Waverley over there?" asked Ingred anxiously. +"We've lost our way, and we've walked miles! Is there any bridge near?" + +"That's certainly Waverley, but there's no bridge till you come to one a +mile and a half down stream." + +Ingred's face was tragic. She turned to Beatrice and Verity, who had +joined her. + +"It's no use! We shall have to go back!" + +But the lady was whispering something to the gentleman, and he beckoned +to the girls with a smile. + +"Don't run away!" he said. "Look here, we'll punt you across if you +like." + +"Like!" The girls hardly knew how to express their gratitude. + +"The three of you'd be too heavy a load. I think I'd better take just +one at a time. Can you manage to get in? It's rather swampy here. Give +me your hand!" + +Ingred splashed ankle deep in oozy mud as she scrambled on board, but +that was a trifle compared with the relief of being ferried over the +river. Her knight-errant was neither young nor handsome, being, indeed, +rather bald and stout, but no orthodox interesting hero of fiction could +have been more welcome at the moment. She tendered her utmost thanks as +she landed, again with damage to her shoes, on the rushy bank opposite. +Their friends in need, having successfully punted over Beatrice and +Verity also, bade them a laughing good-bye, and resumed their easy +course down stream, leaving three very grateful girls behind them. + +[Illustration: A FRIEND IN NEED] + +"That's helped us out of a fix! Don't say again we've no luck!" cried +Beatrice, wiping her boots carefully on the grass. + +"They were angels in disguise!" sighed Ingred. + +"Rather stout angels!" chuckled Verity. "Now, how are we going to get +out of this field?" + +"Over the hedge, I suppose. There's a piece of fence that looks +climbable!" returned Beatrice, swinging herself up with elephantine +grace, and dropping with a heavy thud on the other side. "Oh! good biz! +We're on a cinder path!" + +They were indeed in a back lane which led at the bottom of some gardens, +then behind a row of stables, and finally through a gate on to the high +road. + +"I know where we are now!" exclaimed Beatrice gleefully. "It's only +quite a short way to the Morton's. They live in the next terrace but +two. I believe we're within measurable distance of some lunch." + +This was such good news that they strode along in renewed spirits. +Considering all, they thought the adventure was turning out well. A meal +would undoubtedly be most acceptable, if Beatrice's friends were +hospitable enough to offer it. + +"It's the fourth house," said Beatrice, "the one with the copper beech +over the gate. Linden Lea--yes, here we are! Oh, I say, what are all the +blinds down for?" + +The girls faced each other blankly. + +"Is anyone dead?" faltered Ingred. + +"I'll ring and inquire, at any rate," murmured Beatrice. + +So she rang, and rang again and yet again. She could hear the bell +clanging quite plainly and unmistakably somewhere in the back regions, +yet nobody came to the door. + +"It's funny! I don't hear anybody in the house either," she remarked. +"Their dog generally barks at the least sound." + +At that moment a small face peeped over the top of the wall which +divided the garden from that of the next house, and a childish voice +asked: + +"Do you want the Mortons?" + +"Yes. Isn't anybody in?" + +"They're all gone away to Llandudno, for a month." + +"All? Isn't anyone here?" + +"No, the house is locked up." + +Here a warning call of "Willie!" caused their informant to disappear as +suddenly as he had come, but the girls had heard enough. All their hopes +were suddenly blighted. They had arrived at the end of their journey +only to draw a blank. They were indeed in a worse position than when +they had missed the train at Denscourt, for they were farther from home, +and it was much later. Almost ready to cry, they turned down the garden +again. + +"We've got to get home to-night somehow!" said Ingred through her set +teeth. + +"Shall we go to the police station?" quavered Verity. + +"And give ourselves up like lost children? No, it's too undignified! +Wait a moment, I've got an idea!" said Beatrice. "We passed the post +office just now, and I noticed it had a 'Public Telephone.' I'll ring up +Mother and tell her where we are, and ask her to come over for us." + +"But you can't telephone for nothing, and we haven't so much as a +solitary penny amongst us!" + +"I know. I thought I'd explain that to the people at the post office, +and ask them to let me have the call, and Mother will pay when she +comes. I could give them my watch as a security." + +"It's worth trying!" + +So, with just a little grain of hope, they retraced their steps to the +post office, which was also a stationer's and newsagent's. Nobody was in +the shop, but when the girls thumped on the counter a rosy-cheeked young +person appeared from the back regions. + +"Want to telephone without paying? It's against the post office rules," +she snapped, as Beatrice briefly explained the circumstances. + +"My mother will pay when she comes, and if you'd take my watch----" + +"I can't go against post office rules! All calls must be paid for +beforehand. That's our instructions." + +"But just for once----" + +"What's the matter, Doris?" asked a voice, and a kindly-looking little +man emerged from the back parlor, wiping his mouth hastily, and took his +place behind the counter. Beatrice turned to him with eagerness, and +again stated the urgency of their peculiar situation. + +"Well, of course we've our instructions from the post office, and we've +got to account for the calls, but in this particular case we might let +you have one, and pay afterwards," he replied. "Oh, never mind the +watch; it's all right!" + +Beatrice lost no time in ringing up Number 167 Grovebury, and to her +immense delight, when she got the connection, she heard her mother's +voice at the instrument. A short explanation was all that was necessary. + +"Stay where you are at the Waverley post office, and I will get a taxi +and fetch you myself immediately," returned Mrs. Jackson. "It's the +greatest relief to know what has become of you. I was going to ring up +the police station, and describe you as 'missing!'" + +The girls had to wait nearly three-quarters of an hour before the taxi +made its appearance, and the welcome form of Mrs. Jackson stepped out of +it. She paid what was owing for the call, thanked the postmaster for his +civility, and hustled the girls into the conveyance as quickly as +possible. + +"I suppose girls will be girls," she said, "but I think you've been very +silly ones to-day! Why didn't you keep with the rest of the school, as +you ought to have done?" + +"It sounds a most horrible greedy confession," replied Beatrice +guiltily, "but I'm afraid it was all the fault of--buns! They just threw +us late, and we missed the others. We'll never buy buns again! Never! +Never! _O peccavi!_ We have sinned!" + +And she looked so humorously contrite that Mrs. Jackson, who was +inclined to scold, laughed in spite of herself, and forgave the +delinquents. + +"On condition that such a thing doesn't happen again!" she declared. + +"Trust us! We wouldn't go through such an experience again for all the +buns in the world! Next time we'll cling to the College apron strings +like--like----" + +"Like adhesive sticking-plaster!" supplied Ingred gently. + +"Or oysters to a mermaid's tail!" murmured Verity. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +A Hostel Frolic + + +"The Foursome League," which Verity had instituted with her room-mates +at the hostel, was kept by them as a solemn compact. They stuck to one +another nobly, though often in the teeth of great inconvenience. It +generally took three of them to urge Fil through her toilet in the +mornings and drag her down to breakfast in time. She was always so +terribly sleepy at seven o'clock, and so positive that she could whisk +through her dressing in ten minutes, and that it was quite unnecessary +to get up so soon: even when the others mercilessly pulled the +bed-clothes from her, and pointed to their watches, she would dawdle +instead of "whisking," and spend much superfluous time over manicure or +dabbing on cucumber cream to improve her complexion. She was so innocent +about her little vanities, and conducted them with such child-like +complacency, that the girls tolerated them quite good humoredly, and +even assisted sometimes. One of them generally volunteered to brush her +long flaxen hair, and tie her ribbon, and half out of habit the others +would tidy her cubicle, which was apt to be chaotic, and put her things +away in her drawers. They did it almost automatically, for they had come +to look upon Fil somewhat in the light of a big doll, the exclusive +property of "The Foursome League," and to be treated as the mascot of +the dormitory. + +Mrs. Best, the hostel matron, was what the girls called "rather an old +dear." Her gray hair was picturesque, and the knowledge that she had +lost her husband and a son in the war added an element of pathetic +interest to her personality. She was experienced in the ways of girls, +and contrived to keep order without seeming to be constantly obtruding +rules. Among her various sane practices she instituted the plan of +awarding marks for good conduct and order to each dormitory, and +allowing the one which scored the highest to give an entertainment to +the others during the last hour before bedtime on Thursday night. +Naturally this was a privilege to be desired. It was fun to act variety +artistes before the rest of the hostel, and well worth being in time for +meals, preserving silence during prep., or getting up a little earlier +so as to leave cubicles in apple-pie order. The Foursome League had not +yet earned distinction, chiefly owing to lapses on the part of Fil, and +Nora's incorrigible love of talking in season and out of season. One +week, however, after a really heroic series of efforts, they succeeded +in establishing a record, and sat perking themselves at dinner-time when +Mrs. Best read out the score. + +"We've not had you on the boards before," said Susie Wakefield, one of +the Sixth, as the girls filed from the room when the meal was over; +"we're all expecting something extra tiptop and thrillsome, so play up!" + +"Hope we shan't let you down!" replied Ingred. "Please don't expect too +much, or you mayn't get it!" + +Dormitory 2 held a hurried conclave before afternoon school. + +"It's a great stunt!" rejoiced Nora. + +"What _are_ we to act?" fluttered Fil. + +"Especially when we've to play up!" twittered Verity. + +"What silly idiots we were not to plan it all out beforehand! But I +really never dreamt we'd ever get the chance!" + +"No more did I," said Ingred, sitting with her head in her hands, +considering. "On the whole, it doesn't matter. Sometimes a quite +impromptu thing goes off best. It's largely a question of what costumes +we can rake up out of nothing. + +"The cleverer those are, the more we'll get applauded. I've one or two +ideas simmering. Thank goodness it's drawing this afternoon, and I shall +have time to think them over." + +"We'll all think!" agreed Verity. "Then we'll compare notes at four +o'clock, and fix on what we're going to do. Great Minerva! It'll be a +hectic evening! I'm shivering in my shoes!" + +"And I'm absolutely green with stage-fright! What a life!" proclaimed +Fil. + +If Miss Godwin, the drawing-mistress, noticed a slacking off in accuracy +on the part of four of her pupils, that afternoon, she perhaps set it +down to want of artistic feeling. It is difficult to copy with absolute +exactness when only your fingers are busy, and your brain is far away. +Ingred planned enough entertainments to supply a Pierrot troupe for a +month, but abandoned most of them as being quite impossible to act with +the very limited resources that were available at the hostel. At a +select Foursome Committee after school, however, she presented the pick +of the performances, and as nobody else had thought of anything better, +or indeed quite so good, her suggestions, with a few amendments and +alterations, were carried unanimously. + +At eight o'clock that evening, when preparation was finished, the +boarders' room was rapidly transformed into an amateur theater. The +trestle tables were carried to one end to form the gallery, rows of +chairs represented the dress circle, and cushions in front either the +pit or the stalls, according to individual taste, or, as Mrs. Best said, +the behavior of the occupants. + +There was no curtain, but, as the scenery preserved Shakespearian +methods of simplicity, that did not matter. Part of the charm of these +Thursday night entertainments was their absolutely spontaneous +character, and the fact that many details had to be left to the +imagination of the spectators only made things more amusing. + +When the audience, after a slight struggle for gallery seats, had +settled itself, and Mrs. Best and Nurse Warner had taken possession of +the arm-chairs specially reserved for them, Dollie Ransome, who had been +requisitioned by the performers to act as Greek chorus, placed some +stools by the fire-place, and announced importantly: + +"King Alfred and the Cakes. A Historical Drama." + +The little old woman who entered, carrying some sticks and a basin, was +difficult to identify as Fil. Her fair hair had been powdered, wrinkles +were painted on her smooth forehead, a handkerchief was knotted on her +head for a cap, and she wore an apron borrowed from the cook, and a +check table-cover arranged as a shawl. She bestowed the sticks in the +fender to represent a fire on the hearth, and taking some biscuits from +her basin, placed them amongst the supposed embers, indulging meanwhile +in a soliloquy about the hardness of the times for poor folk, and the +danger from the Danes. + +A violent knocking on the door was followed by the entrance of such a +magnificent object that the spectators immediately applauded his advent. +Nora, with her large build, short-cut hair, and generally boyish +appearance, was the very one to act King Alfred. She had folded a plaid +traveling rug into a kilt which reached just to her bare knees, borrowed +a velvet coatee and a leather belt from Mrs. Best, and, by the aid of +bandages from the ambulance cupboard, had made quite a good imitation of +Saxon leg-gear. Armed with a bow and arrows, hastily constructed from +twigs cut in the garden, she advanced with a manly stride, begged for +hospitality, and was accommodated with a stool by the hearth, where she +sat whittling arrows in an abstracted fashion, and heaving gusty sighs. + +The audience had hardly recovered from its astonishment when it was +thrilled again by the entrance of an ancient and elderly peasant man, so +disguised that it was almost impossible to recognize Ingred. A +water-proof with a broad leather belt served as coat, and, being padded +inside with a pillow, gave the effect of bent and bowed shoulders. Some +tow, supplied by Mrs. Best, was fastened as a long straggling beard, and +bushy eyebrows of the same material were fixed on with soap. Leaning +heavily upon a stick, he came limping in, complaining in a tremulous +voice of his rheumatism, started with amazement at the sight of the +handsome stranger seated by his hearth, and drew his wife aside for +explanations. The old couple, after conversing in audible whispers, +decided to go out for more firewood, and as a last charge the dame +commended her cakes to the care of their guest. King Alfred, on being +left alone by the hearth, whittled away at his arrows with more energy +than discrimination, and showed indeed a sad lack of practical skill for +so well seasoned a warrior. Perhaps, however, he was not accustomed to +have to make them for himself, and missed his chief archer. Throwing +them down at last, he sank his head in his hands in an absolute cinema +pose of despondency, and sighed to an extent which must have been +painful to his lungs. The dame returned to sniff burning cakes and fly +to the rescue of her cookery. Fil was quite a good little actress, and +produced what she considered her _piece de resistance_. She had spent +her summer holidays in Somerset, and had there picked up a local ballad +which dealt with the legend in dialect. She brought out a verse of it +now with great effect: + + "Cusn't ee zee the ca-akes, man? + And cusn't ee zee 'em burrn? + I'se warrant ee eat 'em fast enough, + Zoon as it be ee turn!" + +And catching up a biscuit, carefully blackened beforehand by toasting it +over the gas, she flaunted it in the face of the embarrassed monarch. + +The dramatic situation was slightly spoilt by the delay in the entrance +of the courtier, who ought to have come in at that psychological moment, +and didn't. The fact was that Verity, finding it dull waiting in the +passage, had run upstairs to make some additions to her costume, and had +miscalculated the length, or rather shortness, of the act. It is +difficult for the most accomplished actor to go on looking embarrassed +for any length of time, and as Fil's eloquence in the scolding line +suddenly failed her, there was an awful pause while the peasant husband, +with wonderful agility considering his rheumatism, hopped to the door +and called agitatedly for the missing performer. The courtier flew +downstairs like a whirlwind, tripped into the room, and fell upon his +red-stockinged knees to do homage to his sovereign, who rose +majestically and extended a hand of pardon to the now grovelling +peasant. + +The audience, particularly that portion seated in the gallery, clapped +and cheered to such an extent that one of the trestles, which had been +carelessly fixed, collapsed, and sent a whole row of girls sliding on to +the floor, whence they were rescued speechless with laughter, but +uninjured. They came crowding round the performers to admire the +costumes. + +"They're topping!" + +"How _did_ you think of them?" + +"I like King Alfred's legs!" + +"Ingred, you look about a hundred!" + +"Fil _could_ scold!" + +"Verity, what was a courtier doing rambling about a forest in a blue +dressing-gown? It would get torn on the bushes!" + +"I know. We told her so, but she _would_ wear it!" declared Ingred. "She +was just pig-headed over that dressing-gown!" + +"Well, go and look at the Saxon pictures for yourself, in the history +book!" retorted Verity, sticking to her point. "You'll see the courtiers +in long flowing garments very like dressing-gowns. I think it was a +capital idea, and the best I could do. There wasn't another rug for the +kilt anyhow, and when other people have taken the best parts and the +nicest costumes, you've just got to put up with anything you can find +that's left." + +"You did it so well," Ingred assured her hastily, for Verity had gone +very pink, and her voice sounded distinctly offended. "I thought the way +you dropped on one knee and cried: 'My liege lord! I am your humble +socman!' was most impressive. What made you think of 'socman'?" + +"Got it out of the history book," said Verity, slightly mollified. "It +means a man who owned land, but wasn't quite as high up as a thane. I +meant to bring in some more Saxon words, but I hadn't time." + +"You must win the dormitory score again, and give us another +performance," urged Mrs. Best. "I'm afraid it's too late for any more +to-night, though we're all sorry to stop. Those juniors ought to be in +bed. Janie and Doreen, if you'd like a quiet half-hour to finish your +prep. you may go into my room. Somebody put the tables back, please, and +be sure the trestles are in their right places this time, we don't want +another collapse! Phyllis, your cough's worse. Nurse shall rub your +chest with camphorated oil, and you mustn't kiss anybody. Betty too? +I'll give you a lozenge, but don't suck it lying down in bed, in case +you choke." + +So saying, Mrs. Best, who generally mothered the hostel, dismissed her +large family and bustled away with Nurse to superintend the putting to +bed of the juniors and the due care of those who might be regarded as +even ever so slightly on the sick list. It was perhaps owing to the +excitement of their spirited performance that the members of No. 2 +Dormitory could not get to sleep that night. They all lay wide awake in +bed, and told each other tales about burglars, in whispers. Verity's +stories were blood-curdling in the extreme; she was a great reader, and +had got them from magazines. Her three room-mates listened with cold +shivers running down their spines. According to Verity's accounts it was +a common and every day occurrence for a house-breaker to force an +entrance, murder the occupants, and depart, leaving a case to baffle the +police until some amateur detective turned up and solved the mystery. + +"Has it ever struck you that the hostel would be a very easy place to +burgle?" asked Fil. "Those French windows have no shutters, and the +glass could be cut with a diamond." + +"Or the doors could be opened with a skeleton key!" quavered Nora. + +"I suppose they generally wear goloshes, so as to tread softly," +ventured Ingred. + +"Wouldn't it be dreadful," continued Verity, whose mind still ran on +magazine stories, "to marry a fascinating man whom you'd met by chance, +and then find out that he was a gentleman-burglar? What would you do?" + +"It often happens on the cinema," said Nora. "The girl wavers about in +an agony whether to tell or not, and wrings her hands and rolls her +eyes, like they always _do_ roll them on the films, and then, just when +things are at the very last gasp, the husband tumbles over a precipice, +or is wrecked at sea, or smashed in a railway accident, and she marries +the other, who's as good as gold, and loved her first." + +"Is the man who loves you first always as good as gold?" asked Fil. + +"Well, generally on the Pictures. He's loved you as a child, you see. +You come on the film hand in hand, in socks, and he gives you his +apple." + +"But suppose they don't love you from a child?" said Fil plaintively. +"I've only known a lot of horrid little boys whom I didn't care for in +the least. None of them ever gave me his apple, though I remember one +taking mine. Is the first fascinating man I meet the true lover or the +burglar? How am I to know which is which?" + +"You'd better let me be there to decide for you, child, or you'll be +snapped up by the first adventurer that comes along," declared Nora. +"Don't trust him if he has a mustache. 'Daring Dick of the Black Gang' +had a little twisted mustache like Mephistopheles in 'Faust'." + +"Oh dear! And the last piece I saw on the Pictures, the villain was +clean shaven! That's no guide at all!" + +"Girls, you're breaking the silence rule!" said Mrs. Best, opening the +door of Dormitory 2, where the conversation, which had begun in +whispers, had risen to a pitch audible on the landing outside. "This +doesn't look like scoring again next week, and giving another +performance. Why, Nora, the rain's driving through that open window +straight on to your bed! You'll be getting rheumatism! I shall shut it, +and leave the door wide open for air instead. Now be good girls and go +to sleep at once. Don't let me hear any more talking." + +The Foursomes, in common with most of the hostel, were fond of Mrs. +Best, so they turned over obediently, and composed themselves to +slumber. They were really tired by this time, and dropped off into the +land of Nod before the clock on the stairs had chimed another quarter. +How long she slept, Ingred did not know. She dreamt quite a long and +circumstantial dream of wandering on the cliffs near the sea with a +gentleman-burglar, who was telling her his intention of raiding +Buckingham Palace and taking away the Crown Jewels, and she heard his +daring designs (as we always do in dreams) without the slightest +surprise or any suggestion that the Crown Jewels are kept at the Tower +instead of at Buckingham Palace. She woke suddenly, and laughed at the +absurdity of the idea. She felt hot, and threw back her eiderdown. The +other girls were sleeping quietly, and the rain was still beating +against the window in heavy showers, for it was a stormy night. The door +of the bedroom stood wide open. What was that sound coming up the stairs +from the hall below? It was certainly not the ticking of the clock. It +seemed more like muffled and stealthy footsteps. In an instant Ingred +was very wide awake indeed, and listening intently. There it came again! +She could not lie still and ignore it. She got out of bed, and with +rather shaking knees walked on to the landing and peeped over the +banisters. There was a tiny oil-lamp hanging on the wall; it faintly +illuminated the stairs. Was that somebody moving about in the darkness +of the hall? If it was a burglar, he certainly must not come upstairs, +or she would die of fright. An idea occurred to her, and acting on a +sudden impulse she dashed into Dormitory 2, roused the others, and told +them to snatch what missiles they could, and hurry to her aid. + +"We'll fling things at him if he tries to come up!" she gasped, groping +for her boots. + +It was a horrible experience: four nervous, quaking girls stood in the +dim light on the landing gazing down into the haunted blackness of the +shadowy hall. The sounds had ceased temporarily, but now they began +again--a distinct shuffling as of footsteps, and even a subdued sniff, +then the outline of a dark figure made its appearance, bearing straight +for the stairs. + +With quite commendable bravery Ingred flung her boots at it, which +missiles were instantly followed by Nora's hairbrush, Fil's dispatch +case, and Verity's pillow. It screamed in a most unburglar-like voice, +and apparently with genuine fright. + +"If you t-t-t-try to c-c-come nearer, I'll sh-sh-shoot you dead!" +quavered Ingred, wishing she had at least some semblance of a pistol to +bluff with. + +"What _are_ you doing, girls?" replied the dark shadow, persisting in +its movement towards the staircase, and, as it came into the faint +circle of radiance spread by the lamp, resolving itself into the +familiar form of Nurse Warner. "Have you suddenly gone mad?" + +Here was a situation! The four girls flew back to their dormitory in +great haste, especially as Mrs. Best, disturbed by the noise, had opened +her door and come on to the scene in a pink-and-gray dressing-gown. They +were followed, however, by both Matron and Nurse, and forced to give an +explanation of their extraordinary conduct. + +"I couldn't sleep for the wind, so I put on my felt slippers and my +cloak, and went downstairs for a biscuit," declared Nurse Warner, whose +voice sounded rather aggrieved. "I didn't think I should disturb +anybody." + +"You girls are the limit with your silly notions!" said Mrs. Best, +really angry for once. "If you fill your heads with absurd ideas about +burglars before you go to sleep, of course you can imagine anything. If +I hear any more talking in No. 2 another night after the lights are out, +I shall separate you, and send each of you to sleep in another +dormitory. I'll not have the house upset like this! So you know what to +expect. Are you all in your beds? Then not another word!" + +"It's very uncomfy without my pillow!" whispered naughty Verity, in +distinct disobedience to this mandate, as the door of Mrs. Best's room +closed. "Dare I go and fetch it?" + +"Sh! Sh! No!" + +"I know what we'll give Nursie for a Christmas present," murmured Fil +softly. "A nice ornamental tin box of biscuits to keep in her bedroom. +She shan't get hungry in the night again, poor dear!" + +"_Sh! Sh! Will_ you go to sleep!" warned Ingred emphatically. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +The Whispering Stones + + +The Saxon family had squeezed themselves and certain of their +possessions into the little home at Wynch-on-the-Wold, and while flowers +still bloomed in the garden and apples hung ripe on the trees it seemed +a kind of continuation of their summer holiday; but as the novelty wore +off, and stormy weather came on, their altered circumstances began to be +more evident. Most of us can make a plucky fight against fate at +first--there had been something rather romantic about retiring to the +bungalow--but the plain prose of the proceeding was yet to come, and +there were certainly many disadvantages to be faced. Mr. Saxon was +worried about business affairs; he was a proud, sensitive man, and felt +it a great "come down" to be obliged to resign Rotherwood, and the +social position it had stood for, and confess himself to the world as +one of the "newly poor." It was humiliating to have to walk or take a +tram where he had formerly used his car in fulfilling his professional +engagements, hard not to be able to entertain his friends, and perhaps +hardest of all to be obliged to refuse subscriptions to the numerous +charities in the town where his name had always stood conspicuously upon +the liberal list. His temper, never his strongest point, suffered under +the test, and he would come home from Grovebury in the evenings tired +out, moody and fretful, and inclined to find fault with everything and +everybody. + +It took all his wife's sunny sweetness of disposition to keep the home +atmosphere cheerful and peaceful, for Egbert also had a temper, and was +bitterly disappointed at not being sent to Cambridge, and at having to +settle down in the family office instead. Father and son did not get on +remarkably well together. Mr. Saxon, like many parents, pooh-poohed his +boy's business efforts, and would sometimes--to Egbert's huge +indignation--point out his mistakes before the clerks. He would declare, +in a high and mighty way, that his own son should not receive special +preference at the office, and so overdid his attitude of impartiality +that he contrived to give him a worse time than any of his other +articled pupils. + +Athelstane, who had begun his medical course at the University of +Birkshaw, also had his troubles. He had hoped to study at Guy's Hospital +in preparation for the London M.D., and to an ambitious young fellow it +was hard to be satisfied with a provincial degree. The thirty-mile motor +ride to and from Birkshaw soon lost its charm, and the difficulties of +home study in the evenings were great in a bungalow with thin partition +walls and a family not always disposed to quiet. As a rule, he kept his +feelings to himself, but he went about with a depressed look, and got +into a habit of lifting his eyebrows which was leaving permanent lines +on a hitherto smooth and unwrinkled forehead. + +Pretty Quenrede, who had just left school, was going through the awkward +phase of discovering her individuality. At the College, with a full +program of lessons and games, she had followed the general lead of the +form. Now, cast upon her own resources, she was quite vague as to any +special bent or taste. The war-time occupations which had tempted her +imagination were no longer available, and _Careers for Women_ did not +attract her, even if family funds had run to the necessary training. So, +for the present, she stayed at home, going once a week to the School of +Art at Grovebury, and practicing singing in a rather desultory fashion. +Though she pretended to be glad she was an emancipated young lady, as a +matter of fact she missed school immensely, and was finding life +decidedly slow and tame. + +With their elders palpably dissatisfied, Ingred and Hereward would have +been hardly human if they had not raised some personal grievances of +their own to grumble at, and matters would often have been dismal enough +at the bungalow but for Mrs. Saxon's happy capacity for looking on the +bright side of things. The whole household centered round "Mother." She +was a woman in a thousand. Naturally it had hurt her to relinquish +Rotherwood, and it grieved her--for the girls' sake--that most of her +old acquaintances in Grovebury had not troubled to pay calls at +Wynchcote. The small rooms, the one maid from the Orphanage, the +necessity of doing much of the housework herself, the difficulties of +shopping on a limited purse, and her husband's fretfulness and +fault-finding, might have soured a less unselfish disposition: she had +married, however, "for better or for worse," and took the altered +circumstances with cheery optimism. She was a great lover of nature and +of scenery, and the nearness of the moors, with their ever-changing +effects of storm and sunshine, and the opportunities they gave for the +study of birds and insects, proved compensation for some of the things +which life otherwise lacked. + +Every morning, after the fuss of getting off the family to their several +avocations, she would run down the garden, and stand for a few minutes +by the wall that overlooked the moor, watching great shafts of sunlight +fall from a gray sky on to brown wastes of heather and bracken, +listening to the call of the curlews or to the trilling autumn warble of +the robin, perched on the red-berried hawthorn bush. Kind Mother Nature +could always soothe her spirits, and send her back with fresh courage +for the day's work. And, in the evening, when husband and children came +home to fire and lamp-light, she had generally some nature notes to tell +them, or some amusing little incident to make them laugh and forget +their various woes and worries. + +"I'm so glad, Muvvie dear, you're not a melancholy lugubrious person!" +said Ingred once. "It would be _so_ trying if you sat at the tea-table +and sighed." + +"Humor is the salt of life," smiled Mrs. Saxon. "We may just as well get +all the fun out of the little daily happenings. Even 'the orphan' has +her bright side!" + +As "the orphan" was a temporary member of the Wynchcote establishment +she merits a word of description. She came from an institution in the +neighborhood, and, being the only servant procurable at the time, was +tolerated in spite of a terrible propensity for smashing plates, and for +carolling at the very pitch of a nasal voice. She was a rough, +good-tempered girl, devoted to Minx, the cat, and really kind if anybody +had a headache or toothache, but quite without any sense of +discrimination: she would show a traveling hawker into the drawing-room, +and leave the clergyman standing on the doorstep, took the best +serviettes to wipe the china, scoured the silver with Monkey Brand Soap, +and systematically bespattered the kitchen tablecloth with ink. Her love +of music was a terrible trial to the medical student of the family on +Saturday morning, when he was endeavoring to read at home. + +"Carlyle says somewhere: 'Give, oh, give me a man who sings at his +work!'" growled Athelstane one day, bursting forth from his den to +complain of the nuisance, "but I bet the old buffer didn't write that +sentiment with a maid-servant howling popular songs in the next room. +According to all accounts he loathed noise and couldn't even stand the +crowing of a cock. I should call that bit of eloquence just bunkum. If +the orphan doesn't stop this voice-production business I shall have to +go and slay her. How _can_ a fellow study in the midst of such a racket? +Where's the Mater? Down in Grovebury? I suppose that accounts for it. +While the cat's away, &c." + +"Hardly complimentary to compare your maternal relative to a cat!" +chuckled Ingred. "Stop the orphan if you can, but you might as well try +to stop the brook! She's quiet for five minutes then bursts out into +song again like a chirruping cricket or a croaking corn-crake. I want to +spiflicate her myself sometimes." + + "'Late last night I slew my wife, + Stretched her on the parquet flooring; + I was loath to take her life, + But I _had_ to stop her snoring!'" + +quoted Hereward from _Ruthless Rhymes_. + +"Look here!" said Quenrede, emerging from the kitchen with a half-packed +lunch basket. "We three are taking sandwiches, and going for a good old +tramp over the moors. Why not drop your work for once and come with us? +You look as if you needed a holiday." + +"I've a beast of a headache," admitted Athelstane. + +"You want fresh air, not study," decreed Quenrede with sisterly +firmness, "and I shall just make some extra sandwiches and put another +apple in the basket. With mother out, the orphan will carol all the +morning, unless you gag her, so you may as well accept the inevitable." + +"Cut and run, in fact!" added Hereward. + +"The voice of the siren tempts me to go--to escape the voice of the +siren who stays!" wavered Athelstane. + +"Oh, come along, old sport!" urged Ingred. "What are a few old bones to +Red Ridge Barrow? You can swat to-night to make up, if you want to." + +"It's three to one!" said Athelstane, giving way gracefully; "and there +mayn't be any more fine Saturdays for walks." + +The four young people started forth with the delightful sense of having +the day before them. It was fairly early, and a hazy November sun had +not yet drawn the moisture from the heather. On the moor the few trees +were bare, but the golden autumn leaves still clothed the woods in the +sheltered valley that stretched below. Masses of gossamer covered with +dew-drops lay among the bracken, like fairies' washing hung out to dry. +There was a hint of hoarfrost under the bushes. The air had that +delicious invigorating quality when every breath sets the body dancing. +It was too late in the year for flowers, though here and there a little +gorse lingered, or a few buttercups and hawkweeds. After about an hour +of red haziness the sun pierced the bank of mist and shone out +gloriously, almost as in summer; the birds, ready to snatch a moment's +joy, were flitting about tweeting and calling, a water-wagtail took a +bath in a shallow pool of a stream, and a great flock of bramblings, +rare visitors in those parts, paused in their migration to hold a +chattering conference round an old elder tree. + +The Saxons were determined to-day to go farther afield than their walks +had hitherto taken them. The local guide-book mentioned some prehistoric +menhirs and a chambered barrow on the top of Red Ridge, a distant hill, +so they had fixed that as their Mecca. + +It was a considerable tramp, but the bracing air helped them on, and +they sat down at last to eat their lunch by the side of the path that +led to the summit. The boys had wished to mount to the top without +calling a halt, but the girls had struck, and insisted on a rest before +the final climb. + +"Pity Mother isn't here!" said Ingred, voicing the general feeling of +the family, which always missed its central pivot. + +"Yes, but it would have been too great a trapse for her, poor darling!" +qualified Quenrede. "I don't see how we could get her all this way +unless we hired a pony." + +"Or borrowed an aeroplane. One seems about as possible as the other," +grunted Ingred. + +"She shall have a photo of the stones at any rate," said Hereward, +fingering his camera. "Hurry up and finish, you girls, or the light will +be gone!" + +"Well, we can't bolt our sandwiches at the rate you do! I wonder you +don't choke!" + +The old gray stones stood in a circle on the top of the hill, from +whence they had possibly seen four thousand summers and winters pass by. +Whether their original purpose was temple, astronomical observatory, or +both is one of the riddles of antiquarian research, for neolithic man +left no record of his doings beyond the weapons buried with him in his +barrow. Legend, however, like a busy gossip, had stepped in and supplied +points upon which history was silent. Traditions of the neighborhood +explained the menhirs as twelve giants turned into stone by the magic +powers of good King Arthur, who, in defiance of the claims of the isle +of Avalon, was supposed to be buried in a hitherto unexplored chamber of +the large green mound that stood near. Sometimes, so the story ran, the +giants whispered to one another, and any one who came there alone at +daybreak on May morning might glean much useful information regarding +the personal appearance of his or her future lover. As it was obviously +difficult to reach so out-of-the-way a spot at such a very early hour, +the oracles were seldom consulted at the one and only moment when they +were supposed to whisper. There were reputed, however, to be other and +easier means of gleaning knowledge from them. Ingred, who had been +priming herself with local lore, confided details of the occult +ceremonial to Quenrede. + +"It sounds rather thrillsome!" admitted that damsel doubtfully. "I'd +really like to try it, only the boys would tease me to death. You know +what they are!" + +"They're going over there to photograph the cromlech. You'd have time +before they come back." + +"Shall I?" + +"Go on!" + +"Tell me again what to do." + +"You let your hair down, and walk bareheaded in and out and in and out +round all the circle of stones. Then you put an offering of flowers on +that biggest stone--the Giant King, he's called--and throw a pebble into +the little pool below. You count the bubbles that come up--one for A, +two for B, &c.,--and they'll give you the initial of your future lover. +With _very_ great luck, you might see his shadow in the pool, but that +does not often happen." + +"I don't believe in it, of course, but I'll try for fun! The Giant King +won't get much in the way of a bouquet to-day!" + +Quenrede, protesting her scepticism, but all the same palpably enjoying +the magic experiment, picked an indifferent nosegay of the few +buttercups, hawkweeds, and late pieces of scabious which were the only +flowers available. Then she removed her hair-pins, and, letting down a +shower of flaxen hair, commenced her winding pilgrimage among the old +gray stones. There is a vein of superstition in the most modern of +minds, and she was probably following a custom that had come down the +ages from the days when our primitive ancestresses clothed themselves in +skins and twisted their prehistoric locks with pins of mammoth ivory. +In and out and in and out, with Ingred, like an attendant priestess, +behind her, she performed the necessary itinerary, and laid her floral +offering upon what may have been the remains of a neolithic altar. The +pool below was dark and boggy and brown with peat. She took a good-sized +pebble, and flung it into the middle with a terrific splash. Ingred, +giggling nervously, counted the bubbles. + +"A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I--It's 'I,' Queenie! No, there's another! It's +'J'! It's going to be 'J,' old sport! Aren't you thrilled? Oh, I say! +Whoever on earth is that?" + +Following the direction of her sister's eyes, Quenrede looked through a +veil of wind-blown hair, to see, standing among the stones, a stranger +of the opposite sex, garbed in tweed knickers and leather gaiters. One +glance was enough. The next second she turned, and beat a hurried and +ignominious retreat to the sheltered side of the green mound. Ingred, +panting in the rear, followed her to cover. + +Quenrede, very pink in the face, sat down on a clump of heather and +immediately began to put up her hair. + +"I never felt such an idiot in my life!" she confided with energy to her +sympathetic audience of one. "Ingred! That man knew what I was doing! I +saw the horrid amusement in his face. He was laughing at me for all he +was worth. I _know_ he was!" + +At eighteen it is an overwhelming matter to be laughed at. Quenrede's +newly-developed dignity was decidedly wounded. + +"After all, it was a very schoolgirlish thing to do," she remarked, +sticking in hair-pins as well as she could without a mirror. "Do you +think he's still there? I shall stop here till he marches off." + +"I'll go and prospect," said Ingred. + +She came back with the bad news that not only was the stranger still +there, but he was actually in close and apparently familiar conversation +with Athelstane and Hereward, who were calling loudly for their sisters, +and to confirm her words came distant jodellings of: + +"Ingred!" + +"Queenie!" + +"Where are you girls?" + +There was nothing for it but to come forth from their retreat. It was +impossible to stay hidden forever. Quenrede issued as nonchalantly as +she could, with her hair tucked under her tam-o'-shanter, and her gloves +on. She bowed instead of shaking hands when Athelstane introduced Mr. +Broughten, a fellow-student of his college; it seemed a more grown-up +and superior attitude to adopt. She thought his eyes twinkled, but she +preserved such an air of stand-off dignity that he promptly suppressed +any undue inclinations towards mirth, and stood looking the epitome of +grave politeness. + +"Broughten knows all about the old barrow," Athelstane explained. "He's +got a candle with him--we were duds not to bring one ourselves--and he's +going to act showman. Come along!" + +The entrance into the mound was through a low doorway with lintel and +posts of unhewn stone. Inside was a kind of central hall with three +rudely-constructed chambers leading out of it. A pile of rough stones in +front seemed to point to further chambers. + +"That part's never been explored yet," said Mr. Broughten. "Some of us +want to tackle it some day, if we can get permission, but it's a big +job. You don't want to bring the barrow down on your head, and be buried +in the ruins! I never think the roof looks too secure," he added easily, +poking at the stones above with his stick. + +The girls, aghast at the notion of a possible subsidence, made a hasty +exit to the open air, and hovered near the entrance in much agitation of +mind till the rest of the party made a safe reappearance. Their +conductor, with a side glance at the bunch of flowers--which Quenrede +ignored--made some reference to the Giant King stone and his whispering +companions: he was evidently well versed in all old traditions, though +he refrained from mentioning local practices. He walked part of the way +home with the Saxons before he branched off to the place where he had +left his bicycle. + +[Illustration: "YOU LOOK _NICE_--YOU DO _REALLY_, WITH YOUR HAIR DOWN"] + +"You look _nice_--you do, _really_, with your hair down," said Ingred to +Quenrede that night, as the latter sat wielding her hairbrush at +bedtime. "And you needn't be afraid anybody would mistake you for a +flapper. Why, Harry Scampton actually asked Hereward the other day if +you were married! By the by," she added wickedly, "do you know I've +ascertained that Mr. Broughten's Christian name begins with 'J.' Whether +'John' or 'James' I can't say!" + +"I don't care if it's Jehosaphat!" snorted Queenie. "I've told you +already he doesn't interest me in the least!" + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +On Strike + + +It was about this time that a general spirit of trouble and +dissatisfaction seemed to creep into the school. How and where it +started nobody knew, any more than one can trace the origin of influenza +germs. There is no epidemic more catching than grumbling, however, and +the complaint spread rapidly. It had the unfortunate effect of reacting +upon itself. The fact that the girls were restive made the teachers more +strict, and that in its turn produced fresh complaints. Miss Burd, +careful for the cause of discipline, made a new rule that any form +showing a record of a single cross for conduct would be debarred for a +week from the use of the asphalt tennis-courts, a decidedly drastic +measure, but one that in her opinion was necessary to meet the +emergency. + +Though the disorder was mostly among the juniors, Va was not +altogether immune from the microbe. It really began with a quarrel +between Ingred and Beatrice Jackson. The latter was a type of girl +common enough in all large schools. She was not always scrupulously +honorable over her work, but she liked to curry favor with the +mistresses. She copied her exercises shamelessly, would surreptitiously +look up words in the midst of unseen Latin translation, and was capable +not only of other meannesses, but sometimes of a downright deliberate +fib. She and Ingred were at such opposite poles that they did not +harmonize well together. In the old days, with visions of parties at +Rotherwood, Beatrice had at least been civil, but now that there seemed +no further prospect of being asked to pleasant entertainments, she had +turned round and treated Ingred with scant politeness in general, and +sometimes with deliberate rudeness. Little things that perhaps we laugh +at afterwards, hurt very much at the time, and Ingred was passing +through an ultra sensitive phase. During the latter part of that autumn +term she detested Beatrice. + +One day Miss Burd announced that on the following Saturday there was to +be a match played in a suburb of Grovebury between two first-class +ladies' hockey clubs. She suggested that it might be of advantage to +some of the girls to go and watch it, and proposed that each of the +upper forms should elect one of their number as special reporter to +write an account of the match which could be read aloud afterwards in +school. The idea rather struck them. + +"It's Finbury Wanderers _versus_ Hilton," said Linda Slater, "and +they're both jolly good, I know. Wish I could have gone myself, but I'm +booked already for Saturday." + +"Heaps of us are," said Cicely Denham. + +"We'd like to hear about it, though," added Kitty Saunders. "I call it +rather a brain wave to choose a reporter." + +"Hands up any girls who are free on Saturday!" called Beatrice Jackson. + +The announcement had been made rather late, so most of the form already +had engagements for the holiday. Only six hands were raised, belonging +respectively to Ingred Saxon, Avie Irving, Avis Marlowe, Francie Hall, +Bess Haselford, and Beatrice Jackson herself. + +"A poor muster for Va!" remarked Kitty. "As Ingred's our +warden, I should think she'd better write the report." + +"The Finbury ground is a horribly awkward place to get to," put in +Beatrice. "I suppose you'll motor there, Ingred." + +"We have no car now," confessed Ingred, turning very red, for she was +sure that Beatrice knew that fact only too well, and had brought it into +prominence on purpose to humiliate her. + +"Oh! I suppose you'll be motoring, Bess? Couldn't you give some of us a +lift?" + +"I believe I could take you all," replied Bess pleasantly. "Of course I +shall have to ask Dad first if I may have the car out on Saturday, but I +don't expect he'll say no." + +"Oh, what sport! We'll come, you bet. Look here, I beg to propose that +Bess Haselford writes the report of the match." + +"And I second it," declared Francie. "Hands up, girls! Bess shall be +'boss' for this show." + +Half the girls in the room had not heard Kitty's proposal that Ingred +should be chosen, and some of the others, listening imperfectly, had +gathered that she was not able to go to the match, so without giving her +a further thought they raised hands in favor of Bess, and the matter was +carried. + +"But indeed I'm no good at writing or describing things!" protested +Bess. + +"Yes, you are! You've got to try, so there!" cried her friends +triumphantly. "You'll do it just as well as anybody else would." + +Ingred turned away with a red-hot spot raging under her blouse. That +she, the warden of the form, should have been passed over in favor of a +girl whose sole qualification seemed to be that she could offer some of +the others a lift in her car, was a very nasty knock. Was Bess to +supplant her in everything? + +"Perhaps you'd like to make her warden instead of me!" she remarked +bitterly to Belle Charlton, who stood near. "I'm perfectly willing to +resign if you're tired of me!" + +Belle only giggled and poked Joanna Powers, who said: + +"Don't be nasty, Ingred! Bess is a sport, and we most of us like her." + +"I can't see the attraction myself!" snapped Ingred. + +She did not want to go to the hockey match now, and made up her mind +obstinately that nothing in this wide world should decoy her to it. Bess +came to school next morning armed with full permission to use her +father's car and to invite as many of her schoolfellows as it would +accommodate. She cordially pressed Ingred to join the party. + +"I'm not going to the match, thanks," replied the latter frigidly. + +"But there's heaps of room--there is indeed, without a frightful +squash." + +"There's something I want to do at home on Saturday." + +"Couldn't you do it in the morning? The form will be disappointed if you +don't go--and, I say----" (shyly) "I wish you'd write that wretched +report instead of me. I hate the idea of doing it!" + +"The form won't care twopence whether I go or stay away, and as they've +chosen you to write the report you'll have to write it or it'll be left +undone," retorted Ingred perversely. + +Bess, looking decidedly hurt, turned away. Her little efforts at +friendship with Ingred were invariably met in this most ungracious +fashion. She could not understand why her kindly-meant advances should +always be so systematically repulsed. Ingred, on her part, stalked off +with the mean feeling of one who at bottom knows she is in the wrong, +but won't acknowledge it even to herself. Under the sub-current of +indignation she realized that she would have liked Bess immensely if +only the latter had not taken up her residence at Rotherwood. That, +however, was an offense which she deemed it quite impossible ever to +forgive. + +Ingred went about her work that morning in a very scratchy mood, so much +so as to attract the attention of Miss Strong, who possibly felt a +little prickly herself, since even teachers have their phases of temper. +It was at that time a fashion in the form for the girls to keep all +sorts of absurd mascots inside their desks, the collecting and +comparison of which afforded them huge satisfaction. Now Miss Strong +happened to be lecturing on "The Age of Elizabeth," a subject so +congenial to her that she was generally most interesting. But to-day she +had reached a rather dry and arid portion of that famous reign, and even +her powers of description failed for once and the lesson became a mere +catalogue of events and dates. Ingred, bored stiff with listening, +secretly opened her desk, and, taking a selection of treasures from it, +began to fondle them surreptitiously upon her lap. It was, of course, a +quite illegal thing to do. She glanced at them occasionally, but for the +most part kept her eyes upon her teacher. Beatrice, however, who sat +near and had an excellent view of Ingred's lap, gazed at it with such +persistent and marked attention that she attracted the notice of Miss +Strong, who followed the direction of her looks and pounced upon the +offender. + +"Ingred Saxon, what have you there? Bring those things to me immediately +and put them on my desk!" + +With a crimson face Ingred obeyed, and handed over into the teacher's +custody: + + 1. A black velvet cat. + + 2. A small golliwog. + + 3. A piece of four-leaved clover. + + 4. A stone with a hole in it. + + 5. An ivory pig. + +Miss Strong smiled cynically. + +"At fifteen years of age," she remarked, "I should have thought a girl +would have advanced a little further than playthings of this +description. The Kindergarten would evidently be a more fit form for you +than Va! You lose five order marks." + +Five order marks! Ingred gasped with amazed indignation. One at a time +was the usual forfeit, but to lose five "at one fell swoop" seemed +excessive, and would make a considerable difference to her weekly +record. She blazed against the injustice. No girl in the form had ever +had so severe punishment. + +"Oh, Miss Strong!" she protested hotly. "_Five!_ I haven't really done +anything more than heaps of the others. It's not fair!" + +Now if Ingred had really hoped to get her sentence remitted she could +not have done a more absolutely suicidal thing. A mistress may overlook +some faults, but she will not stand "cheek." The discipline of the form +was at stake, and Miss Strong was not a mistress to be trifled with. Her +little figure absolutely quivered with dignity, and though physically +she was shorter than her pupil, morally she seemed to tower yards. She +fixed her clear dark eyes in a kind of hypnotic stare on Ingred and +remarked witheringly: + +"That will do! I don't allow _any_ girl to speak to me in this fashion! +You'll take a cross for conduct as well as losing the five order marks. +You may go to your seat now." + +Ingred walked back to her desk covered with humiliation. To be publicly +rebuked before the whole form was an unpleasant experience, particularly +for a warden. Beatrice, Francie, and several others were holding up +self-righteous noses, though their desks contained an equal assortment +of mascots. Ingred, still seething, made little attempt to listen to the +rest of the lecture, and was obliged to pass the questions which came to +her afterwards on the subject-matter. She was heartily thankful when +eleven o'clock brought the brief ten minutes "break." + +"Well, you _have_ been a lunatic this morning!" said Beatrice, passing +her, biscuits in hand, in the cloak-room. "What possessed you to go and +lose the tennis-court for the form?" + +"If you hadn't stared so hard at me Miss Strong would never have +noticed." + +"Oh, of course! Throw the blame on somebody else! You're always the +'little white hen that never lays astray.'" + +"Kitty and Evie and Belle and I had arranged a set!" grumbled Cicely +Denham. "It's most unfair, this rule of punishing the whole form for +what one girl does!" + +"Go and tell Miss Burd so then!" flared Ingred. "It hasn't been very +successful so far to tell teachers they're not fair, but you may have +better luck than I had. She'll probably say: 'Oh, yes, Cicely dear, I'll +rearrange the rules at once!' So like her, isn't it?" + +"Now you're sark! Almost as sarky as the Snark herself!" commented +Cicely, as Ingred, choking over a last biscuit, stumped away. + +There is much written nowadays about the unconscious power of thought +waves, and certainly one grumbler can often spread dissatisfaction +through an entire community. Perhaps the black looks which Ingred +encountered from the disappointed tennis-players in her form turned into +naughty sprites who whispered treason in the ears of the juniors, or +perhaps it was a mere coincidence that mutiny suddenly broke out in the +Lower School. It began with a company of ten-year-olds who, with pencil +boxes and drawing books, were being escorted by Althea Riley, one of the +prefects, along the corridor to the studio. Hitherto, by dint of +judicious curbing, they had always walked two and two in decent line and +had refrained from prohibited conversation. To-day they surged upstairs +in an unseemly rabble, chattering and talking like a flock of rooks or +jackdaws at sunset. It was in vain that Althea tried to restore order, +her efforts at discipline were simply scouted by the unruly mob, who +rushed into the studio helter-skelter, took their places anyhow, and +only controlled themselves at the entrance of Miss Godwin, the art +mistress. + +Althea, flushed, indignant, and most upset, sought her fellow-prefects. + +"Shall I go and complain to Miss Burd?" she asked. + +"Um--I don't think I should yet," said Lispeth a little doubtfully. "You +see, Miss Burd has given us authority and she likes us to use it +ourselves as much as we can, without appealing to her. Of course in any +extremity she'll support us. I'll pin up a notice in the junior +cloak-room and see what effect that has. It may settle them." + +Lispeth stayed after four o'clock until the last coat and hat had +disappeared from the hooks in the juniors' dressing-room. Then she +pinned her ultimatum on their notice board: + +"In consequence of the extremely bad behavior of certain girls on the +stairs this afternoon, the prefects give notice that should any +repetition of such conduct occur, the names of the offenders will be +taken and they will be reported to Miss Burd for punishment." + +"That ought to finish those kids!" she thought as she pushed in the +drawing-pins. + +There was more than the usual amount of buzzing conversation next +morning as juvenile heads bumped each other in their efforts to read the +notice. The result, however, was absolutely unprecedented in the annals +of the school. It was the custom of the Sixth Form, and of many of the +Fifth, to take their lunch and eat it quietly in the gymnasium. There +was no hard and fast rule about this, but it was generally understood to +be a privilege of the upper forms only, and intermediates and juniors +were not supposed to intrude. To-day most of the elder girls were +sitting in clumps at the far end of the gymnasium, when through the open +door marched a most amazing procession of juniors. They were headed by +Phyllis Smith and Dorrie Barnes carrying between them a small blackboard +upon which was chalked: + + DOWN WITH PREFECTS! + RIGHTS FOR JUNIORS! + THE WHOLE SCHOOL IS EQUAL! + +After these ringleaders marched a determined crowd waving flags made of +handkerchiefs fastened to the end of rulers. A band, equipped with combs +covered with tissue-paper torn from their drawing-books, played the +strains of the "Marseillaise." They advanced towards the seniors in a +very truculent fashion. + +"Well, really!" exclaimed Lispeth, recovering from her momentary +amazement. "What's the meaning of all this, I'd like to know?" + +"It's a strike!" said Dorrie proudly, as she and Phyllis paused so as to +display the blackboard before the eyes of the Sixth. "We don't see why +you big girls should lord it over us any longer. We'll obey the +mistresses, but we'll not obey prefects." + +"You'll just jolly well do as you're told, you impudent young monkeys!" +declared Lispeth, losing her temper. "Here, clear out of this gymnasium +at once!" + +"We shan't! We've as good a right here as you!" + +"We ought to send wardens to the School Parliament." + +"We haven't any voice in school affairs!" + +"It's not fair!" + +"We shan't stand it any longer!" + +The shrill voices of the insurgents reached crescendo as they hurled +forth their defiance. They were evidently bent on red-hot revolution. +Lispeth rose to read the Riot Act. + +"If you don't take yourselves off I shall go for Miss Burd, and +a nice row you'd get into then. I give you while I count ten. +One--two--three--four----" + +Whether the strikers would have stood their ground or not is still an +unsolved problem, but at that opportune moment the big school bell began +to clang, and Miss Willough, the drill mistress, in her blue tunic, +entered the gymnasium ready to take her next class. At sight of her, +Dorrie hastily wiped the blackboard, and the juniors fled to their own +form-rooms, suppressing flags and musical instruments on the way. Miss +Willough gazed at them meditatively, but made no comment, and the Sixth, +hurrying to a literature lesson, had no time to offer explanations. + +Lispeth, more upset than she cared to own, talked the matter over with +her mother when she went to dinner at one o'clock. She was a very +conscientious girl and anxious to do her duty as "Head." As a result of +the home conference she went to Miss Burd, explained the situation, and +asked to be allowed to have the whole school together for ten minutes +before four o'clock. + +"It's only lately there's been this trouble," she said. "I believe if I +talk nicely to the girls I can get back my influence. That's what Mother +advised. She said 'try persuasion first.'" + +"She's right, too," agreed Miss Burd. "If you can get them to obey you +willingly it's far better than if I have to step in and put my foot +down. What we want is to change the general current of thought." + +Speculation was rife in the various forms as the closing bell rang at +3:45 instead of at 4 o'clock, and the girls were told to assemble in the +Lecture Hall, and were put on their honor to behave themselves. To their +surprise, the mistresses, after seeing them seated, left the room. Miss +Burd mounted the platform and announced: + +"Lispeth Scott wishes to speak to you all, and I should like you to know +that anything she has to say is said with my entire approval and +sanction. I hope you will listen to her in perfect silence." + +Then she followed the other mistresses. + +All eyes were fixed on Lispeth as she ascended the platform. With her +tall ample figure, earnest blue eyes, light hair, and fair face flushed +with the excitement of her task she looked a typical English girl, and +made what she hoped was a typical English speech. + +"I asked you to come," she began rather shyly, "because I think lately +there have been some misunderstandings in the school, and I want, if +possible, to put them straight. There has been a good deal of talk about +'equality,' and some of you say there oughtn't to be prefects. I wonder +exactly what you mean by 'equality?' Certainly all girls aren't born +with equal talents, yet each separate soul is of value to the community +and must not go to waste. The test of a school is not how many show +pupils it has turned out, but how _all_ its pupils are prepared to face +the world. I think we can only do this by sticking together and trying +to help each other. In every community, however, there must be leaders. +An army would soon go to pieces without its officers! The prefects and +wardens have been chosen as leaders, and it ought to be a point of honor +with you to uphold their authority. I assure you they don't work for +their own good, but for the good of the school. I hear it is a grievance +with the juniors that they mayn't elect wardens for the Council. +Well--they shall do that when they're older; it will be something for +them to look forward to! There's a privilege, though, that we can and +will give them. We're going to start a Junior branch of the Rainbow +League, and I think when they're doing their level best to help others, +they'll forget about themselves. Carlyle says that the very dullest +drudge has the elements of a hero in him if he once sees the chance of +aiming at something higher than happiness. Please don't say I'm +preaching, for I hate to be a prig! Only we'd all made up our minds to +do our 'bit' in 'after the war work,' and it seems such a pity if we +forget, and let the tone of the school drop--as it certainly _has_ +dropped lately. I'm sure if we all think about it we can keep it up, and +Seniors and Juniors can work together without any horrid squabbles. We +big girls were juniors ourselves once, and you little ones will be +seniors some day, so that's one way of looking at it. Now that's all +I've got to say, except that any Juniors who like can stay behind now +and join the Junior Branch of the Rainbow League. We want to get up a +special Scrap-book Union, and Miss Burd says she'll give a prize for the +best scrap-book, and also for the best home-made doll. She's going to +have an exhibition on breaking-up day." + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +The Rainbow League + + +Though Lispeth, in her agitation, had not said half the nice things she +had intended to say, her little speech had good effect. It reminded the +girls of some of the high ideals with which they had started the term, +and which, like many high and beautiful things, were in danger of +getting crowded out of the way by commoner interests. Everybody suddenly +remembered the exhibition and sale which was to come off before +Christmas, and made a spurt to send some adequate contribution. The +juniors, flattered at having a special branch of their own of the +Rainbow League, and time allotted in school to its work, dabbed away +blissfully at scrap-book making, with gummy overalls and seccotiny +fingers, but complacent faces. The prefects, with intent, dropped in +when possible to admire the efforts. + +"I believe," said Lispeth to her special confidante Althea, "that +perhaps we were making rather a mistake. You can't have any influence +with those kids unless you keep well in touch with them. I was so busy, +I just let them slide before, and I suppose that was partly why they got +out of hand, though the little monkeys had no business to get up that +impudent strike! They're as different as possible now, and some of them +are quite decent kiddies. Dorrie Barnes brought me a rose this morning. +I suppose it was meant as a sort of peace-offering." + +It was arranged to hold what was called "The Rainbow Fete" on +breaking-up afternoon, and parents and friends were invited to the +ceremony. There was to be both a sale and an exhibition. The best of the +toys and little fancy articles were to be at a special stall, and would +be sold for the benefit of the "War Orphans' Fund," and those that were +not quite up to standard would nevertheless be on view, and would be +sent away afterwards to help to deck Christmas trees in the slums. _THE_ +stall, as the girls called it, was of course the center of attraction. +It was draped with colored muslins in the rainbow tints, and though real +irises were unobtainable, some vases of artificial ones formed a very +good substitute. The home-made toys were really most creditable to the +handicraft-workers, and had been ingeniously contrived with bobbins, +small boxes, and slight additions of wood, cardboard, and paper, aided +by the color-box. Windmills, whirligigs, carts, engines, trains, dolls' +house furniture, jigsaw puzzles, cardboard animals with movable limbs, +black velveteen cats with bead eyes, beautifully dressed rag dolls, wool +balls and rattles for babies, and dear little books of extracts, were +some of the things set out in a tempting display. Fil, whose slim +fingers excelled in dainty work, had contributed three charming booklets +of poetry and nice bits cut from magazines and newspapers, the back +being of colored linen embroidered with devices in silk. They were so +pretty that they were all snapped up beforehand, and could have been +sold three times over. + +"You promised one to me--you know you did!" urged Linda Slater, much +aggrieved at the non-performance of an order. + +"Well, I thought I'd have time to do four, and could only manage three," +apologized Fil. "You see, they really take such ages, and Miss Strong +was getting raggy about my prep." + +"You _might_ make me one for my birthday!" begged Evie. + +"Certainly not! Those that ask shan't have!" + +"Well, couldn't you do some during the Christmas holidays?" + +"No, I can't and shan't!" snapped Fil. "I'm sick to death of making +booklets, and I'm not going to touch one of them during the holidays. +You seem to think I've nothing else to do except cut bits out of +magazines for your benefit!" + +"There! There! Poor old sport! Don't get baity!" + +"You shouldn't do them so jolly well, and then you wouldn't get asked!" + +_The_ stall occupied a position of importance at the end of the lecture +hall, and the rest of the exhibits were put round on trestle tables. +They were what Ingred described as "a mixed lot." Some of the animals +were bulgy in their proportions, or shaky in their cardboard limbs, the +wheels of the carts did not quite correspond, the windmills were apt to +stick, or the puzzles would not quite fit. In spite of their +imperfections, however, they looked attractive, and would, no doubt, +give great pleasure to the little people who were to receive them, and +who were hardly likely to be very critical of their workmanship. + +To make the afternoon more festive, there was to be a tea stall, to +which the girls brought contributions of cakes, and music was to be +given from the platform, so that the scene might resemble a cafe +chantant. Ingred had been chosen as one of the artistes, and arrayed in +her best brown velveteen dress, with a new pale-yellow hair ribbon, she +waited about in her usual agonies of stage fright. Learning from Dr. +Linton, however improving it might be to her touch, was hardly conducive +to self-complacency, and, after having suffered much vituperation for +her imperfect rendering of a piece, it was decidedly appalling to have +to play it in public, especially with the horrible possibility that at +any moment her master might happen to pop in to view the exhibition and +arrive in time for her performance. + +"I shall have forty fits if I see him in the room, I know I shall!" she +confided to Fil. "You've no idea how he scares me. I have my lessons on +the study piano generally, and if only he would sit still I shouldn't +mind, but he _will_ get up and prowl about the room, and swing out his +arms when he's explaining things; he only _just_ missed knocking over +that pretty statuette of Venus the other day. I'm sure if Miss Burd knew +how he flourishes about, she wouldn't let him loose among her cherished +ornaments!" + +"Perhaps he won't turn up to-day!" + +"Oh yes! He said he should make a point of buying a toy for his little +boy. If I break down suddenly in the midst of my piece, you'll know the +reason. I'm shaking now." + +"Poor old sport! Don't take it so hard!" + +By three o'clock the lecture hall was filled with what Lilias Ashby (who +had undertaken to write a report for the school magazine) described as +"a distinguished crowd." Fathers indeed were as few and far between as +currants in a war pudding, but mothers, aunts, and sisters had responded +nobly to the invitations, and were being conducted round by the girls to +see their special exhibits. + +Mrs. Saxon had been unable to come that afternoon, but Quenrede had +turned up, looking very pretty in a plum-colored hat, and giving herself +slight airs as of one who is now a finished young lady, and no longer a +mere schoolgirl. She chatted, in rather mincing tones, to Miss Burd +herself, while Ingred stood by in awe and amazement, and when she bought +a cup of tea from Doreen Hayward at the refreshment stall, she murmured: +"Oh, thanks _so_ much!" with the manner of a patroness, though only six +months ago she and Doreen had sat side by side in the Science Lectures. +It was a new phase of Quenrede, which, though accepted to some extent at +home, had never shown itself before with quite such aggravated symptoms. + +Ingred, walking as it were in her shadow, was not sure whether to admire +or laugh. It was, of course, something to have such a pretty and +decidedly stylish sister; she appreciated the angle at which the +plum-colored hat was set, and the self-restraint that made the tiny iced +bun last such an enormous time, when a schoolgirl would have finished it +in three bites, and have taken another. A grand manner was certainly +rather an asset to the family, and Queenie was palpably impressing some +of the intermediates, who poked each other to look at her. + +"It's my turn to play soon, and I'm just shivering!" whispered Ingred. + +"Nonsense, child! Don't be such a little goose!" declared her sister +airily. "It's only a school party--there's really nothing to make a fuss +about!" + +"_Only_ a school party!" That seemed to Ingred the absolute limit. +Quenrede last term had, in her turn, shivered and trembled when she had +been obliged to mount the platform! Could a few short months have indeed +effected so magnificent a change of front? + +"All the same, it's I who've got to play, not she! It's easy enough to +tell somebody else not to mind," thought Ingred, as, in answer to Miss +Clough's beckoning finger, she made her way towards the piano to undergo +her ordeal. + +One point in favor of the recital was that the audience moved about the +room and went on buying toys or cups of tea and cakes, and even talking, +instead of sitting on rows of seats doing nothing but watching and +listening. It was rather comforting to think that the concert was really +only like the performance of a band, a soothing accompaniment to +conversation. Ingred opened her music with an almost "don't care" +feeling. For one delirious moment she felt at her ease, then, alack! her +mood suddenly changed. In a last lightning glance towards the audience +she noticed among the crowd near the tea-stall the tall thin figure, +cadaverous face, and long lank hair of Dr. Linton. The sight instantly +wrecked her world of composure. If it had not been for the fact that +Miss Clough was standing near, and nodding to her to begin, she would +have run away from the platform. + +"Oh, the ill luck of it!" she thought. "If I had only played last time, +instead of Gertie, I'd have had it over before he came into the room! I +know he'll be just listening to every note, and criticizing!" + +With a horrid feeling, as if her breath would not come properly, and her +head was slightly spinning, and her hands dithering, Ingred began her +"Nocturne," trying with a sort of "drowning" effort to keep her mind on +the music in front of her, instead of on the music-master at the other +end of the room. For sixteen bars she succeeded, then came the hitch. +She had rejected the offered services of Doris Grainger, and had elected +to turn over her own pages. She now made a hasty dash at the leaf, her +trembling hand was not sufficiently agile, the sheet slipped, she +grabbed in vain, and the music fluttered on to the floor. The +performance came to a dead halt. Doris and Miss Clough rushed to the +rescue, but they were put politely aside by a tall figure who stepped on +to the platform, and Dr. Linton himself picked up the scattered sheets +of the unfortunate "Nocturne." He arranged them together in order, +placed them upon the stand, and, addressing his dismayed pupil, said: + +"Now, then, begin again, and _I_ shall turn over for you. Bring out that +_forte_ passage properly! Remember there's a pedal on the piano!" + +It was like having a lesson in public. Ingred felt too scared to begin, +and yet she was too much afraid of her master to refuse, so the bigger +fright prevailed, and--as a cat will swim to escape an enemy--she dashed +at the "Nocturne." Once restarted, it went magnificently: afterwards, +she always declared that Dr. Linton must have hypnotized her, she was +sure her unaided efforts could never have rendered it in such style. He +behaved as if he were conducting an orchestra, soothing the _piano_ +passages and spurring her on to _fortissimo_ efforts, even humming the +melody in his eccentric fashion, quite unmindful of the audience. The +enthusiastic applause at the end was so evidently for both master and +pupil that he bowed instinctively in response. + +Ingred, remembering, now the ordeal was over, that she was nervous, +melted from the platform, and left him to receive the laurels. He did a +characteristic but very kind act, looked round for his pupil, and then, +perceiving that she had beaten a retreat, sat down to the piano himself, +and, unasked, gave an encore for her. A solo from Dr. Linton was an +unexpected treat, especially as he was in the mood for music, and played +with a sort of rapture that carried his listeners into an ethereal world +of delicate sounds. Ingred, hidden behind a protecting barrier of +schoolfellows, could see all the sylphs dancing and the fairy pipers +piping as the crisp notes came tripping from his practised fingers. At +the end she came back as from a dream, to realize that she was not in +elf-land, but in the College Lecture Hall, and that she was sitting on a +form next to Miss Strong, who held on her knee a little red-coated, +brown-haired boy with Dr. Linton's unmistakable dark eyes. + +In that instant, as the music ceased, Ingred received quite a sudden and +new impression of Miss Strong; there was a tender look on the mistress's +face, as she held her arm around the child, and she whispered something +to him that made the dark eyes dance. He slipped from her lap, and hand +in hand they went together towards the toy-stall. It was quite a pretty +little scene, one of those tiny glimpses into other people's lives that +we catch occasionally when the veil of their reserve is for a moment +held aside. Ingred looked after them meditatively. + +"Shouldn't have thought the Snark capable of it," she ruminated. +"Perhaps she likes boys better than girls. Some people do." + +The toy stall, though half depleted of its contents, was still the +center of attraction. Lispeth and Althea were displaying what were left +of its windmills and whirligigs to friends who bought with an eye to +Christmas presents. Miss Strong, reckless in the matter of expense, +purchased the _chef-d'euvre_ of the whole collection--a wonderful +contrivance consisting of two cardboard towers and a courtyard, across +which, by means of a tape wound round bobbins, and turned by a handle, +walked a miniature procession of wooden soldiers. Little Kenneth Linton +received it with open arms. + +"Better let me wrap it up in paper," urged Lispeth. "Somebody said just +now that it's beginning to snow, and you don't want to have it spoilt +before you get it home, do you?" + +"N-no," said Kenneth, relinquishing it doubtfully. + +"You're a lucky boy," continued Lispeth, as she made up the parcel. +"Isn't that a Teddy Bear in your pocket? And a ball too? There, I +believe I've used up all the string! What a nuisance! Can anybody get me +any from anywhere?" + +"I'll find you some in half a jiff," said Dorrie Barnes, whisking off +immediately. + +Since the formation of the Junior Rainbow League, Dorrie had taken a +liking to Lispeth which amounted to absolute infatuation. She followed +her like a pink-faced shadow, and was always at her elbow, sometimes at +convenient and sometimes at embarrassing moments. She fled now, like a +messenger from Olympus, with the fixed determination of procuring string +for her goddess from somewhere. It was not an easy task, for string was +a scarce commodity; what there was of it had mostly been already used, +and what was left was jealously guarded by its proprietresses, who +refused to part with it, even on the plea that it was for the head +prefect. Dorrie, however, was a young person of spirit and resource, and +she did not mean to be done. One of the trestles that supported the +secondary exhibits of toys had rather come to grief, and had been +patched up temporarily with stout twine. Her sharp eyes had noted this +fact, so, going down on her hands and knees, she managed to creep +unobserved under the table, cut the twine with her penknife, and unwound +it. She was just congratulating herself upon the success of her +achievement when the unexpected happened, or, rather, what might have +been expected by any one with an ounce of forethought. The damaged +trestle, no longer held together, promptly gave way, and the table +collapsed, burying a squealing Dorrie amid a shower of toys. She was +pulled out, agitated but uninjured, and the scattered exhibits were +carried to another table. In the confusion of their transit she managed +to secrete the piece of twine, the loss of which had been the cause of +the whole upset, and presented it quite innocently to Lispeth, who, not +knowing that she was receiving stolen goods, thanked her and tied the +parcel. Ingred, who had watched the whole comedy, laughed, but did not +give away the secret. + +"That child's an imp!" she said to Quenrede. "But she's a very +accomplished imp. I'll tell you the joke afterwards, not now! Lispeth +little knows where her string comes from, and she's wrapping up that +parcel so placidly! Isn't the Snark looking quite pretty this afternoon? +Never saw her with such a color! Well, if you're ready, Queenie, we'll +go over to the hostel and get my things. We can just catch the four +o'clock train, if we're quick. Wait half a sec, though! There goes Dr. +Linton with Kenneth. I don't want to walk out under his wing!" + +The tall dark figure of the music master was striding through the +doorway, carrying his small son, who hugged his toy with one arm, and +waved a friendly good-by with the other. + +"What possessed you to drop all your music, child?" said Quenrede, +rather patronizingly to Ingred. She was still trying to live up to the +plum-colored hat. "You played ever so decently afterwards, though--you +did, really! Don't tell me again that you're nervous, for it's all +rubbish. You looked as if you enjoyed it." + +"Enjoyed it!" echoed Ingred. "If you'd gone through the palpitations +that I felt this afternoon you'd want to go to a specialist, and consult +him for heart trouble! I've lived through it this once, but if I'm ever +asked to play again in public, you'd better go to the cemetery +beforehand, and choose a picturesque corner for my grave, and buy a +weeping willow ready to plant upon it. Yes, and order a headstone too, +with the simple words: 'Died of fright.' I mean it! 'Enjoyed it!' +indeed! Why, I've never in the whole of my life been in such an +absolutely blue funk!" + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +Quenrede Comes Out + + +The Saxon family celebrated Christmas at the bungalow with mixed +feelings. As Ingred said, it was like the curate's egg--parts of it were +very nice. It was the first Christmas they had spent all together for +many years, and if they could only have forgotten Rotherwood, and their +altered circumstances, they would have enjoyed it immensely. Mrs. Saxon, +the unfailing sunshine-radiator of the household, tried to ignore the +tone of discontent in her husband's voice, the grumpy attitude of +Egbert, Quenrede's fit of the blues, and Athelstane's rather martyred +pose. She insisted on bundling everybody out for a blow on the moors. + +"If we'd been living in Grovebury," she remarked, "we should probably +have taken a jaunt to Wynch-on-the-Wold as a special treat. Let us think +ourselves lucky in being on the spot and only having to turn out of our +own door to be at once in such lovely scenery. It's like having a +country holiday at Christmas instead of midsummer--a thing I always +hankered after and never got before!" + +Certainly winter on the wold held a charm of its own. The great waste of +brown moor stretching under the gray sky showed rich patches where +yellow grass and rushes edged dark boggy pools, the low-growing stems of +sallows and alders were delicate with shades of orange and mauve; here +and there a sprig of furze lingered in flower, and black flights of +starlings and fieldfares, driven from colder climates in quest of food, +swept in long lines across the horizon. The weather was open for the +time of year, the wind strong but not too keen, and had it not been for +the lowness of the sun in the sky the day might have been autumn instead +of December. It was glorious to walk to the top of Wetherstone Heights +and see, miles away, the spire of Monkswell Church and the gleam of the +distant river, then to hurry back in the gloaming with the rising mists +creeping up like advancing specters, and to find the lamps lighted and +tea ready in the cheery bungalow. Nobody wanted to quarrel with Yule +cake and muffins, and even Mr. Saxon temporarily forgot his worries and +relapsed into quite amusing reminiscences of certain adventures in +France. + +If only our spirits would keep up to the point to which, with much +effort, we screw them, all would be well: unfortunately they often have +a tiresome knack of descending with a run. When tea was finished and +cleared away Mr. Saxon found the presence of his family a hindrance to +reading, and at a hint from their mother the younger members of the +party took themselves off into the little drawing-room. Here, round a +black fire, which, despite Hereward's poking, refused to burn brightly, +the grumble-cloud that had been lowering all day burst at last. + +"If we'd only got the Rotherwood billiard table there'd be something to +do!" groused Egbert gloomily. + +"There isn't a corner in this poky hole where a fellow can fiddle with +photography," chimed in Athelstane, "even if there was time to do it. +When I get back from Birkshaw it's nothing but grind, grind, grind at +medical books all the evening." + +"Rather have your job than mine, though," said Egbert. "You haven't to +sit under the Pater's eye all day long, and have him down on you like a +cartload of bricks if you make the slightest slip. I'm the worst off of +the whole lot of us!" + +"What about me at that odious Grammar School?" asked Hereward, pressing +his claims to the palm of dissatisfaction. + +"Or me at the hostel!" urged Ingred, not to be outdone. + +"I don't think you, any of you, realize how slow it is just to stop at +home!" sighed Quenrede. "There were sixteen dozen things I'd made up my +mind to do, and I can't do one of them. It's going to be a hateful New +Year for all of us--just a New Year of going without and scraping and +saving and economizing--ugh! What a life!" + +"Life's mostly what we make it," said Mother, who had quietly joined the +circle. "After all, what we think we want doesn't always give the +greatest happiness. Suppose each of us tries to let this be the best +year we've ever had? Very little in the way of material wealth may come +to us, but the other kind of wealth is far better worth working for. I +think this hard time gives us the chance to show what we're made of. +During the fighting, the lads at the front went steadily through severe +privations, and the women at home worked in the same brave, cheery +fashion. Now the strain of the war is over, are we going to let all this +splendid spirit drop? Suppose we fight our own battles as we fought our +country's? Let me feel I've still got a family of soldiers to be proud +of." + +"You're the Colonel, then, of the new corps," said Egbert, with an +affectionate bear-hug to the slight figure that was already making the +black fire break into a blaze. "You've pluck enough for the whole clan, +little Mother o' mine! You shall sound your slogan and lead the attack +on Fate till we get back to Rotherwood! There!" + +"I'm aiming at higher things than Rotherwood, darling boy!" said his +mother gravely. + +"_I_ know!" whispered Quenrede, squeezing the dear hand that reached out +and clasped her own. "I won't be a selfish beast any more. I won't +indeed. Economizing shall be my New Year's cross!" + +"If we're going to count up crosses," proclaimed Athelstane humorously, +"the orphan's fine voice while I'm studying is mine!" + +"But _she_ probably counts it her choicest blessing!" exclaimed Ingred. + +And then the whole family broke out laughing, and Mother's little +lecture ended in fun. It made its impression upon individual members all +the same. + +The six miles which separated the Saxons from Grovebury seemed to have +set up an effectual barrier between them and the old world in which they +had moved before. Many people who had been friendly in the Rotherwood +days did not trouble to come so far as Wynch-on-the-Wold to pay calls, +and the numerous invitations which had formerly been extended to the +young folks decreased this Christmas to very few. + +First and foremost amongst these scanty festivities came Mrs. Desmond's +dance. It was a grown-up affair, and she had sent printed invitations to +Egbert, Athelstane and Quenrede. The latter, who only knew the Desmonds +slightly and was always overwhelmed in their presence, developed a +sudden and acute fit of shyness and implored to be allowed to refuse. + +"If it had been the Browns' or Lawrences' I'd have loved it," she urged, +"but you know, Mumsie, how Mrs. Desmond absolutely withers me up! I +never can say six words when she's there. I'd run five miles to avoid +meeting her: you know I would! She's so starchy." + +"You see very little of your hostess at a dance. Don't be silly, +Queenie!" insisted Mrs. Saxon. "I say you're to go, so there's an end of +it." + +"I'll go for an evening's martyrdom, then, not for enjoyment!" wailed +her daughter dolefully. + +A first grown-up dance is often a terrible ordeal to a girl of eighteen, +and Quenrede, though she had put on a few airs to impress the +schoolgirls at the Rainbow League sale, was at bottom woefully bashful. +She was still in the stage when her newly-turned-up hair looked as if it +were unaccustomed to be coiled round her head; she had a painful habit +of blushing, and had not yet acquired that general _savoir faire_ which +comes to us with the passing of our teens. To be plunged for a whole +evening into the society of a succession of strangers seemed to her +anything but an exhilarating prospect. + +"If I could just dance with our own boys!" she sighed. + +"I'd pity you if you did!" declared Ingred, pausing in an effort to make +Athelstane's steps more worthy of a ball-room. "Why, half the fun will +be your different partners. I only wish I'd your chance and was 'coming +out' too!" + +"I'm sure you're welcome to go instead of me," proclaimed Quenrede +petulantly. + +All the same she watched the preparations for the event with +considerable girlish interest. Mother, whose ambitions at first had run +to a dress from town, regretfully decided that the family finances could +only supply a home-made costume, and set to work with fashion book and +sewing-machine to act amateur dressmaker, a thrilling experience to +unaccustomed fingers, for paper patterns are sometimes difficult to +understand, seams do not fit together as they ought, and the bottom hem +of a skirt is the most awkward thing in the world to make hang perfectly +straight. Quenrede, standing on the table, revolved slowly while Mrs. +Saxon and Ingred stuck in pins and debated whether a quarter of an inch +here and there should be raised or lowered. Ingred showed far more +cleverness in sewing than her sister; her natty fingers could contrive +pretty things already in the shape of collars and blouses. + +"You'd make an admirable curate's wife!" Quenrede laughingly assured +her. "_I_ shall have to marry a rich man and get my things from London." + +"It will probably be the other way," declared Mother. "Stand still, +Queenie, I can't measure properly if you _will_ dance about!" + +Though she was ready with a joke, as a matter of fact Quenrede was +having a severe struggle not to be snappy. For years and years she had +planned her "coming out," and she had decided upon a ball at Rotherwood, +and an absolute creation of a gown that was to be sent for from Paris. +There would have been some eclat then in emerging from the chrysalis +stage of the school-room and becoming a butterfly of society. To make +her first grown-up appearance at Mrs. Desmond's dance and in a home-made +dress seemed not so much a "coming out" as an "oozing out." There are +degrees in butterflies, and she feared her appearance would resemble not +the gorgeous "Red Admiral" or "Painted Lady," but the "Common White +Cabbage." If it had not been for the New Year's resolution, some traces +of her disappointment would have leaked out, but she kept the secret +bravely to herself. The family indeed knew she was not anxious to go, +but set her unwilling attitude down to mere shyness. Her mother never +guessed at the real reason. + +There was a tremendous robing on the evening of January the ninth, with +Mother and Ingred for lady's-maids, and "The Orphan" hovering about, +offering to bring pins or hot water on the chance of getting a peep at +the proceedings. Mrs. Saxon stepped back, when all was complete, and +viewed the result somewhat in the spirit of an artist who has finished a +picture. It is an event in a mother's life when her first little girl +grows up and becomes a young lady. To-night Quenrede was to be launched +on the stream of society. Looked at critically, her appearance was very +satisfactory. Though the new dress might not be up to the level of a +fashion-plate, it certainly became her, and set off the pretty fair +face, white neck, and coils of gleaming flaxen hair. + +"Your gloves and shoes and stockings are all right, and you've got a +nice handkerchief, and your fan," reviewed Mother, wrapping an evening +cloak round her handiwork. "Good-by, my bird! Enjoy yourself, and don't +be silly and shy." + +"I shall keep awake till you come back!" Ingred assured her. + +It was something at any rate to be going with Egbert and Athelstane. +Among the stream of strangers there would be at least two home objects +upon which she might occasionally cast anchor. The thought of that +buoyed her up as the taxi whirled them down hill to Grovebury. + +The Desmonds were giving the dance as a coming-out for one of their own +daughters, and their house was _en fete_. An awning protected the porch, +red cloth carpeted the steps, a marquee filled the lawn, and a stringed +band from Birkshaw had been engaged to play the latest dance music. + +Quenrede passed calmly enough through the ordeals of leaving her cloak +in the dressing-room (where a crowd of girls were prinking, and there +was no room for even a glance in the mirror), and the greeting from her +host and hostess in the drawing-room. It was in the ball-room afterwards +that her agony began. Egbert and Athelstane were whisked away from her +to be introduced to other girls, and utter strangers, whose names she +seldom caught, were brought to her, took her program, recorded their +initials and passed on to book other partners. The few people in the +marquee whom she knew were too far away or too occupied to speak to her, +so she stood alone, and heartily wished herself at home. + +It was better when the dancing began, though her partners scared her +horribly. They all made exactly the same remarks about the excellence of +the floor, the taste of the decorations, and the beauty of the music, +and asked her if she had been to the pantomime, and whether she played +golf. Small talk is an art, and though Quenrede had many interests, and +in ordinary circumstances could have discussed them, to-night she felt +tongue-tied, and let the ball of conversation drop with a "yes" or "no" +or "very." Dances with strangers who expected her to talk were bad +enough, but the gaps in her program were worse. No doubt Mrs. Desmond +tried to look after all her guests, but several gentlemen had +disappointed her at the last minute, and there were not quite partners +enough to go round. At a young people's party Quenrede would have +cheerily danced with some other girl in like plight, but at this stiff +grown-up gathering she dared not suggest such an informality, and +remained a wallflower. She caught glimpses occasionally of Egbert and +Athelstane, the former apparently enjoying himself, the latter looking +as solemn as if he were in church. + +"I know the poor boy's counting his steps and trying not to tread on +anybody's toes!" thought Quenrede. "Ingred said his partners would have +to pull him around somehow." + +Supper was a diversion, for she was taken in by quite a nice red-headed +boy, a little younger than herself, who, after a manful effort to talk +up to her supposed level, thankfully relapsed into details of +football-matches. Being a nephew of the house, he proved an adept in +attracting the most tempting dishes of fruit or trifle to their +particular table, and even basely commandeered other people's crackers +for her benefit. She bade him good-by with regret. + +"I say, I wish my card wasn't full! I'd have liked a dance with you!" he +murmured wistfully as they left the supper-room. + +If only she had known people better, and the atmosphere had not seemed +so stiff and formal, and she had not been so miserably shy, Quenrede +might have enjoyed herself. As it was she began counting the hours. In +one of the wallflower gaps of her program she took a stroll into the +conservatory. It looked like fairyland with the colored lanterns hanging +among the palms and flowers. Somebody else was apparently enjoying the +pretty effect--somebody who turned round rather guiltily as if he were +caught; then at sight of her smiled in relief. + +"I thought you were one of my hostesses come to round me up to do my +duty," he confessed. "I'm a duffer at dancing, so I've taken cover in +here. I see you don't remember me, but we've met before--at Red Ridge +Barrow. My name's Broughten." + +"Why, of course! You had a piece of candle and showed us inside the +mound. I ought to have known you again, but--you look so different----" + +"In evening dress! So do you; but I recognized you in a minute. Look +here" (in sudden compunction), "am I keeping you from a partner?" + +"No more than I am keeping you!" twinkled Quenrede, pointing to the +empty line on her program. "I'm not dancing this, so I came here to--to +enjoy myself." + +Her companion laughed in swift comprehension. + +"I don't know how other people may find it," he confided, "but hour +after hour of this sort of thing gets on my nerves. A tramp over the +moor is far more my line of amusement. I was wishing I might go home!" + +"So was I!" + +"But there's still at least another hour and a half." + +"With extras, more!" admitted Quenrede. + +He held out his hand for her program. "I'm an idiot at dancing, but +would you mind sitting out a few with me?" + +"If you won't talk about the floor and the decorations and the band, and +ask me whether I've been to the pantomime, or if I like golf!" + +"I promise that those topics shall be utterly and absolutely taboo. I'm +sick of them myself." + +Quenrede's shyness, which was only an outer casing, had suddenly +disappeared in the presence of a fellow-victim of social conventions, +and conversation came easily, all the more so after being pent-up all +the evening. Henry Desmond, wandering into the conservatory presently, +remarked to his partner, sotto voce: + +"That Saxon girl's chattering sixteen to the dozen now! Couldn't get a +word out of her myself!" + +When Quenrede, sometime about five o'clock in the morning, tried to +creep stealthily to bed without disturbing her sister, Ingred, refreshed +by half a night's sleep, sat up wide awake and demanded details. + +"Sh! Sh! Mother said we weren't to talk now, and I must tell you +everything afterwards. Oh, I got on better than I expected, though most +of the people were rather starchy. How did my dress look? +Well--_promise_ you won't breathe a word to darling Mother--it was just +passable, and that's all. Some girls had _lovely_ things. I didn't care. +The second part of the evening was far nicer than the first, and I +enjoyed the dances that I sat out the most. The conservatory was all +hung with lanterns. There; I'm dead tired and I want to go to sleep. +Good-night, dear!" + +"But you've 'come out!'" said Ingred with satisfaction as she subsided +under her eiderdown. + +"Oh yes, I'm most decidedly 'out,'" murmured Quenrede. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +The Peep-hole + + +The Foursome League met in Dormitory 2 after the holidays with much +clattering of tongues. Each wanted to tell her own experience, and they +all talked at once. Fil had a new way of doing her hair, and gave the +others no peace till they had duly realized and appreciated it. Verity +had been bridesmaid to a cousin, and wished to give full details of the +wedding; Nora had played hockey in a Scotch team against a Ladies' Club, +and had been promised ten minutes in an aeroplane, but the weather had +been too stormy for the flight; the disappointment--when she happened to +remember it--quite weighed down her spirits. + +"If there's one thing on earth--or rather on air--I'd like to be, it's a +flying woman!" she told her friends emphatically. "I'm hoping aeroplanes +will get a little cheaper some day, and rich people will keep them +instead of motor cars. Then I'll go out as an aviatress. It's a new +career for women." + +"I wouldn't trust myself to _your_ tender mercies, thank you!" shuddered +Ingred. "You'd soon bring the machine down with a crash, and smash us to +smithereens." + +"Indeed I shouldn't! I'd go sailing about like a bird!" + +And Nora, suiting action to words, stood on her bed fluttering her arms, +till Verity wickedly gave her a push behind, and sent her springing with +more force than grace to the floor. + +"You Jumbo! You make the room shake!" exclaimed Ingred. "If that's how +you're going to land you'll dig a hole in the ground like a bomb! Do +move out, and let me get to my drawer! You're growing too big for this +bedroom!" + +"Nobody's looked at my new hair ribbons yet!" interposed Fil's plaintive +voice. "See, I've got six! Aren't they beauties! Pale pink, pale blue, +Saxe blue, navy for my gym. costume, black for a useful one, and olive +green to go with my velveteen Sunday dress. Don't you think they're +nice?" + +"Ripping!" agreed Nora. "We'll know where to go when we want to borrow. +There, don't look so scared, Baby! I've chopped my hair so short I +couldn't wear a ribbon if I tried! It would be off in three cracks! +Stick them back in their box, and don't tempt me! They're not in my +line! I'm going in for uniform. _You_'re the sort who wears chiffons and +laces and all the rest of it, but you'll see _me_ in gilt buttons before +I have done, with wings on them, I hope! I may be the first to fly to +Mars! Who knows? You shall all have my photo beforehand just in case!" + +Everybody at the College, and particularly at the Hostel, agreed that +the first few weeks of the new term were trying. After the interval of +the holidays, the yoke of homework seemed doubly heavy, and undoubtedly +the prep. was stiffer than ever. Only certain hours were set apart for +study during the evenings at the hostel, and any girl who could not +accomplish her lessons in that time had to finish them as best she could +in odd minutes during the day, or even in bed in the mornings if she +happened to wake sufficiently early. Fil, who generally succeeded in +mastering about half her preparation and no more, railed at fate. + +"I'm so unlucky!" she sighed to a sympathetic audience in No. 2. "I knew +the first ten lines of my French poetry beautifully, and I could have +said them if Mademoiselle had asked me, but of course she didn't. She +set me on those wretched irregular verbs, and they always floor me +utterly. As for the 'dictee'--I can't spell in English--let alone +French! It's not the least use for Mademoiselle to get excited and stamp +her foot at me. I shall be glad when I'm old enough to leave school. I +never mean to look at a French book again!" + +"How about English spelling?" suggested Ingred. "You'll want to write a +letter occasionally!" + +"I think by that time," said Fil hopefully, "somebody will have invented +a typewriter that can spell for itself. You'll just press a knob for +each word, you know!" + +"There are about 3000 words in common daily use!" laughed Verity. "If +you need a knob for each, your typewriter will have to be the size of a +church organ. It'll want a room to itself!" + +"Oh, but think of the convenience of it! No more hunting in the +dictionary!" declared Fil. + +To add to the aggravations of the new term the weather was doubtful, and +seemed to take a spiteful pleasure in being particularly wet on hockey +afternoons. Day after day, disappointed girls would watch the streaming +rain and lament the lack of practice. To give them some form of exercise +they were assembled in the gymnasium, and held rival displays of Indian +clubs, Morris dancing, or even skipping. "The True Blues" excelled at +high jumping, "The Pioneers" at certain rigid balancing feats, "The Old +Brigade" were great at vaulting, and "The Amazons" and "The Mermaids" +performed marvels in the way of Swedish Boom exercises. + +Still, everybody agreed that though the contests were fun in their way +they were not hockey, and the girls would much have preferred the +playing-fields, however wet, to the gymnasium. + +The girls in the hostel had the hour between four and five o'clock at +their own disposal. They were not allowed to leave the College bounds, +but they might amuse themselves as they pleased in the garden, +playground, or gymnasium. In turns, according to the practising list, +they had to devote the time to the piano, and a few even began their +prep., though this was not greatly encouraged by Miss Burd, who thought +a short brain rest advisable. One afternoon Ingred walked along the +corridor with a big pile of music in her arms. Just outside the study +she met Verity, and saluted her: + +"Cheerio, old sport! Here's Dr. Linton left his whole cargo behind him +to-day. He rushed off in a hurry and forgot it, and I know he'll be just +raging. I'm going to ask Miss Burd if I may run over into the Abbey and +leave it on the organ for him. He has a choir practice to-night, so he's +sure to find it. Will you come with me? Right-o! We'll both go in and +ask 'exeats.'" + +The College was erected upon a plot of land which had originally been +part of the Abbey grounds. All the old buildings, formerly inhabited by +the monks of St. Bidulph's, and by the nuns in the adjoining convent of +St. Mary's, had long ago been swept away, and only a few ruined walls +marked their sites. The nave of the Abbey, however, had escaped, and was +still in use as a parish church, though the beautiful original chancel +and transepts had been battered down by Henry the Eighth's +Commissioners. It was only a few hundred yards from the school to the +Abbey, and Miss Burd readily gave the girls permission to take Dr. +Linton's music and leave it for him on the organ. It was the first time +either of them had been inside the church when no service was going on, +and they looked round curiously. The organ was locked, or Ingred would +certainly never have resisted the temptation to put on the fascinating +stops and pedals. She tried to lift the lid that hid the keyboards, but +with no success. + +"He might have left it open!" she sighed. + +"But the verger would come fussing up directly you began to play," said +Verity. + +"I don't see the verger anywhere about." + +"Why, no more do I, now you mention it." + +"Perhaps he's slipped across to his cottage to have his tea!" + +"Perhaps. I say, Ingred, what a gorgeous opportunity to explore. Let's +look round a little on our own." + +There was nobody to forbid, so they started on a tour of inspection. The +places they wanted to look at were those that ordinary church-goers +never have a chance of seeing. They peeped into the choir vestry, and +Verity gave rather a gasp at the sight of an array of white surplices +hanging on the wall like a row of ghosts. They went down a narrow flight +of damp steps into a dark place where the coke was kept, they peered +into a dusty recess behind the organ, and into a room under the tower, +where spare chairs were stored. All this was immensely interesting, but +did not quite content them. Verity's ambition soared farther. Very high +up on the wall, above the glorious pillars, and just under the +clerestory windows, was a narrow passage called the Nuns' Ambulatory. It +had been built in the long-ago ages to provide exercise for the sisters +in the adjoining convent, to which a covered way had originally led. + +"Just think of the poor dears parading round there on wet days when they +couldn't walk in their own garden!" said Verity, turning her head almost +upside down in her efforts to scan the passage. "I wonder if they ever +felt giddy." + +"There's a balustrade, of course, but I prefer our modern gym. I believe +there's a walk all over the roof too. Athelstane went up once. He said +it was like being on the top of a mountain, and you could look all over +the town." + +"What's that queer stone box thing on the wall?" asked Verity, still +gazing upwards. + +Ingred followed the line of her friend's eye to a point above the +pillars but below the Nuns' Ambulatory. Here, built out like an oriel +window, was a curious closed-in-gallery of stone, pierced in places by +tiny frets. It seemed to have nothing to do with the architecture of the +Abbey, and indeed to be a sort of excrescence which had been added to it +at some later date. It spoilt the beauty of line, and would have been +better removed. + +"Oh, that's the peep-hole!" said Ingred, lowering her head, for it was +painful to stretch her neck in so uncomfortable a position. "It was put +up in the seventeenth century, when the whole place was full of those +old-fashioned high pews. People were very dishonest in those days, and +thieves used to come to church on purpose to pick pockets. So they +always used to keep somebody stationed up there, looking down through +the holes over the congregation to see that no purses were taken during +the service. Nice state of things, wasn't it?" + +"Rather! But I'd love to go up there. I say, the verger's still at his +tea. Shall we try?" + +"Right-o! I'm game if you are!" + +By the north porch there was a small oak door studded with nails. +Generally this was kept locked, but to-day, by a miracle of good +fortune, it happened to be open. It was, of course, a very unorthodox +thing for the verger to go away and leave the Abbey unattended, even for +half an hour, but vergers, after all, are only human, and enjoy a cup of +tea as much as other people who do not wear black cassocks. He was +safely seated by the fireside in his ivy-colored cottage at the other +side of the churchyard, so the girls seized their golden opportunity. +They went up and up and up, along a winding staircase for an +interminable way. It was dark, and the steps were worn with the tread of +seven centuries, and here and there was a broken bit over which they had +to clamber with care. At last, after what seemed like mounting the Tower +of Babel, they stumbled up through a narrow doorway into the most +extraordinary place in the world. They were in the garret of the roof +over the south aisle. Above them were enormous beams or rafters, and +below, a rough flooring. It was very dim and dusky, but about midway +shone a bright shaft of light evidently from some communication with the +interior of the nave. Towards this they directed their steps. It was a +difficult progress owing to the huge rafters that supported the roof. A +plank pathway about four feet above the floor had been laid across the +beams, and along this Ingred decided to venture. + +She started, balancing herself with her arms, and kept her equilibrium, +though the plank was narrow and sprang as she walked. Verity, who had no +head for such achievements, preferred to scramble along the floor, +creeping under the rafters, in spite of the thick dust of years that lay +there. Eventually they both reached the radius of light, and found +another doorway leading down by a few steps into what was apparently a +cupboard. In the wall of the cupboard, however, were frets through which +the sunlight was streaming. Ingred applied an eye and gave a gasp of +satisfaction. + +They were in the peep-hole on the wall of the nave, and could gaze +straight down into the church below. It was marvellous what an excellent +view they obtained. Nothing was hidden, not even the interiors of the +old-fashioned square pews that had lingered as a relic of the eighteenth +century. Anybody stationed in this spy-box would certainly be able to +keep guard over the congregation, and note any nefarious designs on the +pockets of the worshipers. + +For the moment the church was empty, then footsteps were audible in the +porch. Was it the verger returning from his tea? The girls began to +flutter at the prospect of his wrath if he discovered them. It was no +cassock-clad verger that entered, however, but two young people, far too +much interested in each other to gaze upwards towards the frets of the +peep-hole. They thought they had the church to themselves, and walked +along conversing in a low tone. The particular shade of flaxen hair in +the masculine figure seemed familiar, and Ingred chuckled as she +recognized her eldest brother. + +"Caught you, old boy! Caught you neatly!" she thought. "Who's the girl? +Oh, I know. It's one of the Bertrands--Queenie said they were at the +Desmonds' dance, so I suppose he met her there. What a priceless joke! +How I shall crow over him for this! They're actually going to sit down +in a pew and talk! Well, this is the limit!" + +Quite unconscious that sisterly eyes were watching, Egbert ushered his +fair partner into one of the old-fashioned square pews. It was a quiet +place to rest, and perhaps the young lady was tired. He sat by her side, +very much occupied in explaining something which the girls in the +peep-hole could not overhear. At last the quiet well-trained footsteps +of the verger echoed again in the nave. He glanced at the young couple +in the pew, and began to dust and rearrange the hymn-books. Egbert and +Miss Bertrand took the hint and departed. + +The pair spying through the fretwork above also judged it expedient to +beat a hasty retreat. They were terrified lest the verger should +remember that he had left the tower door open, and should lock them in. +They stumbled back among the rafters, regardless of dust, and groped +their rather perilous way down the winding staircase. To their infinite +relief the door was not shut, and they were able to creep quietly out +and bolt from the Abbey unperceived. They fled along the stone path that +edged the churchyard, then stopped under the shelter of a ruined wall to +brush the dust off their dresses before re-entering the College. + +"It's been quite an adventure!" gasped Verity. + +"Rather! Particularly catching old Egbert. Won't he look silly when I +bring it out before the family? I don't know whether I _will_ tell them, +though! I think I'll keep it back, so as to have something to hold over +his head when he teases me. Yes, that would be far more fun, really. I +can hint darkly that I know one of his secrets, and he'll be so puzzled. +I don't admire his taste much. Queenie detests those Bertrand girls. I +don't know them myself to speak to, but I'm not impressed. Look here, +the dust simply _won't_ come off your skirt, Verity!" + +"It'll do as it is, then, and I'll use the clothes brush afterwards. +Don't worry any more. There's the Abbey clock striking five! It's a few +minutes fast, fortunately, but we shall simply have to sprint, or we +shall be late for tea!" + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +Brotherly Breezes + + +There was no doubt that Egbert was the odd one in the Saxon family. He +had inherited a testy strain of temper, and was frequently most +obstinate and perverse. It was unfortunate that he was an articled pupil +in his father's office, for he fretted and tried Mr. Saxon far more than +Athelstane would have done in the circumstances. Egbert's saving quality +was his intense love for his mother. Her influence held him steadily to +his work, and smoothed over many difficult situations. He was apt to +quarrel with Quenrede, but he had a soft corner for Ingred, and +sometimes made rather a pet of her. + +A few days after the incident at the Abbey he turned up at school, to +her immense astonishment, and asked leave from Miss Burd to take her out +to tea at a cafe. It had been an old promise on his part, ever since +Ingred went to the hostel, but it had hung fire so long that she had +come to regard it as one of those piecrust promises that elder members +of a family frequently make, and never find it convenient to carry out. +She had reminded Egbert of it at intervals all through the autumn term, +then had given it up as "a bad job." To find him waiting for her in Miss +Burd's study, ready to escort her to the Alhambra tea-rooms, seemed like +a fairy tale come true. She whisked off at once to make the best +possible toilet in the circumstances, and reappeared smilingly ready. +When you have tea every day at a long table full of girls, the meal is +apt to grow monotonous, and it was a welcome change to take it instead +in a gay Oriental room with Moorish decorations and luxurious +arm-chairs, and a platform in a corner, where musicians were giving a +capital concert. Ingred leaned back on an embroidered cushion and ate +cakes covered with pink sugar, and listened to a violin solo followed by +some charming songs, and watched the gay crowd sitting at the other +small tables. It was really delightful to be out just with Egbert alone. +It made her feel almost grown-up. Moreover, he was in such a remarkably +generous mood. He set no limit to the supply of cakes, and he stopped at +the counter as they went downstairs and bought her a box of chocolates +and a large packet of Edinburgh rock. He even went further, for as they +walked round the square together, and looked into the window of a fancy +shop, he told her to choose her birthday present, and agreed amicably +when she selected a morocco-leather bag which was for the moment the +summit of her dreams. She parted from him at the College gates in +deepest gratitude. This was indeed something like a brother! + +"You're an absolute trump!" she assured him. + +"Well, a fellow's always got a decent sister to take about, anyway," he +replied enigmatically, a remark over which Ingred pondered, but could +not fathom. + +She mentioned the jaunt at the family supper-table on Friday evening. To +her immense surprise her innocent remark had somewhat the effect of a +bomb. Mr. Saxon turned to his son with a sudden keen expression, as if +he had convicted him of a crime. Mrs. Saxon's face also was full of +suppressed meaning, while Egbert colored furiously, looked thunderous at +his sister, and relapsed into sulky silence. Poor Ingred felt that she +had, quite unconsciously, put her foot in it, though how or why she +could not tell. She said no more at the time, and when, afterwards, she +ventured to refer again to the subject, she was so tremendously shut up +that she saw clearly it was discreet to make no further inquiry. Plainly +there was some tremendous quarrel between Egbert and his father, for +they were barely on speaking terms. + +Mr. Saxon threw out occasional inuendoes that caused his son finally to +stump from the room. Mrs. Saxon went about with a cloud of distress on +her face, and Quenrede, to whom Ingred applied for enlightenment, +promptly and pointedly changed the subject. It was miserably +uncomfortable, for father and son were like two Leyden jars charged with +electricity, and ready to let fly at any moment. It was only the +mother's influence that averted a family thunderstorm. Athelstane, too, +seemed in the depths of gloom. He was willing, however, to communicate +his woes. + +"I want a whole heap more medical books," he confided to his sister, +"and Dad says he can't get them, and I must manage without. How on earth +_can_ I manage without. What's the use of my going to College if I +haven't the proper textbooks? I can't always be borrowing. If I fail in +my exams, it will be his fault, not mine. He's the most absolutely +unreasonable man anybody could have to deal with. Of course I know +they're expensive, and funds are low, but I've simply _got_ to have +them, or chuck up medicine!" + +"It's so terrible to be poor!" sighed Quenrede, thinking of the old, +happy pre-war days at Rotherwood, when everything came so easily, and +there were no struggles to make ends meet. + +She talked the matter over afterwards with Ingred. + +"If I could only help somehow!" she mourned. "I've often thought I might +go out and earn something, but Mother's not strong, and I really do a +great deal in the house. If I went away and left her with only 'The +Orphan,' she'd be laid up in a fortnight. As it is, she tries to do far +too much. How could we possibly get some money for Athelstane's books? +We'd rather die than ask our friends!" + +Ingred shook her head sadly. Wild ideas surged through her mind of +disguising herself and sweeping a crossing--there were stories of +wealthy crossing-sweepers--or rivaling Charlie Chaplin on the cinema +stage, but somehow they did not seem quite practicable for a girl of +sixteen. She left Quenrede's question unanswered. It was only late on +Saturday afternoon that a great idea came to her. Great--but so +overwhelming that she winced at the bare notion. It was as if some inner +voice said to her: "Sell Derry!" Now Derry, the fox terrier, was her +very own property. He had been given to her two years before by a cousin +as a birthday present. He was of prize breed, and had brought his +pedigree with him. He was a smart, bright little fellow, and on the +whole a favorite in the household, though he sometimes got into trouble +for jumping on to the best chairs and leaving his hairs on the cushions. +It had never particularly struck Ingred that Derry was of value, until +last week, when Mr. Hardcastle noticed him. Relations with that precise +old neighbor next door had been rather strained for a long time, since +the unfortunate episode when Hereward had unwittingly discharged the +contents of the garden syringe in his face. For months he studiously +avoided them, calling his collie away with quite unnecessary caution if +they happened to pass him on the road, and bolting into his own premises +if they met near the gate. But one day, about Christmas-time, Sam, the +collie, who was a giddy and irresponsible sort of dog, given to aimless +yapping at passing conveyances, overdid his supposed guardianship of his +owner's property, and blundered into a motor that was whisking by. The +car did not trouble to stop, and when it was a hundred yards away, Sam +picked himself up and limped on three legs to show his bleeding paw to +his agitated master. Fortunately Athelstane, from the bungalow garden, +had witnessed the accident, and came forward like a Good Samaritan with +offers of help. His elementary acquaintance with surgery stood him in +good stead, and he neatly set the injured limb, and bound it up with +splints and plaster. There had been many inquiries over the hedge as to +the invalid's progress, and congratulations when the bandages were able +at last to be removed. Old Mr. Hardcastle had waxed quite friendly as he +expressed his thanks, and one day, catching Ingred by the gate with +Derry, he had volunteered the information that "that fox terrier of +yours is a fine dog, and no mistake, and would be worth something to a +fancier!" + +"Sell Derry!" the idea, though she hated it, had taken possession of +Ingred's brain. He was the only thing she had that was of marketable +value. To part with the poor little fellow would be like selling her +birthright, but, after all, brothers came first, and how could +Athelstane study without books? Something Mother had said the other day +clamored in her memory. "If we've lost our fortune we've got our family +intact, and we must stick tight together, and be ready to make +sacrifices for one another." Ingred had quite made up her mind. She put +on her hat, took Derry from his cozy place by the kitchen fire, kissed +his nose, and, carrying him in her arms, walked to the next-door house, +rang the bell, and asked to see Mr. Hardcastle. + +She found the old gentleman in a cozy dining-room, seated by a cheery +fire, and reading the evening paper. He looked a little astonished when +she was ushered in, but received her politely, as if it was quite a +matter of course for a young lady, hugging a dog, to pay him an +afternoon visit. + +Ingred put Derry down on the hearth rug, took the arm-chair that was +offered her, and with a beating heart and a very high color plunged into +business, and inquired if it were possible to find a fancier who wished +to buy a prize fox terrier. + +"I've his pedigree here," she finished, "and he really is a nice little +dog. If you know of anybody, I'd be so glad if you would tell me +please!" + +Mr. Hardcastle, evidently much electrified, knitted his bushy eyebrows +in thought, and pursed his mouth into a button. + +"There was a vet. in Grovesbury who told me a while ago that he wanted +one, but I saw him yesterday, and he said he had just bought one, so +that's no good! You might try the advertisements in _The Bazaar_. He +looks a bright little chap. Why are you in such a panic to get rid of +him? Been killing chickens?" + +"No," said Ingred, turning pinker still; "it isn't that--I don't want to +sell him, of course--only--only----" + +And then to her extreme annoyance, her brimming eyes overflowed, and she +burst into stifled sobs. + +The old gentleman shot his lips in and out in mingled consternation and +sympathy. + +"There! There! There!" he exclaimed. "Don't cry! For goodness' sake, +don't cry! Tell me, whatever's the matter?" + +It was, of course, a most unorthodox thing for Ingred to blurt out +family affairs, and Father and Mother would have been justly indignant +had they known, but she was impulsive, and without much worldly wisdom, +and Mr. Hardcastle seemed sympathetic, so on the spur of the moment she +told him the urgency of Athelstane's need, and how she was trying to +meet it. He sat quite quiet for a short time, staring into the fire, +then he said, very gently and kindly: + +"My dear little girl, you needn't part with your dog. I believe I can +lend your brother all the medical books he wants." + +"You! But you're not a doctor?" exclaimed Ingred. + +"No, but my boy was studying medicine at Birkshaw. He had just passed +his intermediate M. B. when he was called up. I've got all his books. He +won't want them again now. He was flying over the German lines, and his +machine crashed down. One comfort, he was killed instantly! He had +always hoped he'd never be taken prisoner. I think he'd have liked his +books to be put to some use. I'll hunt them out, and send them across to +your brother, and the microscope, and any other things I can find. He +may just as well have them." + +There was a huskiness in the old gentleman's voice, but he coughed it +away. + +"I don't know how to thank you!" stammered Ingred. + +"I don't want any thanks. It's only a neighborly act. Take your dog +home, and say nothing about all this. I'll write to your brother. I +wonder I never thought about it before!" + +Mr. Hardcastle was as good as his word, for next Monday evening quite a +large consignment arrived for Athelstane, with a note offering the loan +of books and microscope if they would be of any service in his medical +studies. + +"Why, they're absolutely the very things I wanted!" exclaimed that youth +rapturously. "What a trump he is! A real good sort! I say, you know, +it's really most awfully kind of him! I wonder what the Dickens put it +into his head?" + +But on that point none of the family could enlighten him, for only +Ingred and Derry knew the secret, and Ingred was at school, while Derry, +belonging to the dumb creation, expressed his opinions solely in barks. + +When the household was reunited for next week-end, the clouds had +cleared from Athelstane's horizon, but seemed to have settled more +darkly than ever round Egbert. There was a horrible feeling of impending +storm in the home atmosphere. It lent a constraint to conversation at +meals, and put an effectual stopper on the fun which generally +circulated round the fireside. It was all the more uncomfortable because +nobody voiced the cause. + +"Father looks unutterables, Mother's plainly worried to death, Egbert is +sulks personified, Queenie won't tell, Athelstane and Hereward either +don't know or don't care what's the matter, but it makes them cross. +What is one to do with such a family?" thought Ingred on Sunday +afternoon. + +It had been wet, and, though a detachment of them had ventured to church +in waterproofs, they had not been able to take their usual safety valve +of a walk across the moors. Seven people in a small house seem to get in +one another's way on Sunday afternoons. Father was dozing in the +dining-room, Mother, Athelstane and Hereward were in the drawing-room, +interrupting each other's reading by constant extracts from their own +books; Ingred, who hated to pause in the midst of _The Scarlet +Pimpernel_ to hear choice bits from _The Young Visiters_ or _Parisian +Sketches_, sought sanctuary in her bedroom, only to find the blind drawn +and Quenrede with a bad headache, trying to rest. There seemed no +comfortable corner available, so she slipped on her thick coat, put her +book in the pocket, and walked down the garden to sit in the cycle-shed. +Even in the rain it was nice out of doors; clumps of purple and yellow +crocuses showed under the gooseberry bushes; lilies were pushing up +green heads through the soil; the flowering currant was bursting into +bud; roots of polyanthus flaunted mauve and orange blossoms; under a +sheltered wall were even a few early violets, whose sweet fresh scent +seemed as the first breath of spring. A missel-thrush on the bare pear +tree sang triumphantly through the rain, and a song-thrush, with more +melodious notes, trilled forth an occasional call; the robin, which had +haunted the garden all the winter, was scraping energetically for grubs +among the ivy on the wall, and scarcely troubled to fly away at her +approach. + +Ingred drew great breaths of sweet-scented wet air, and, with almost the +same instinct as the thrush, broke into "Thank God for a Garden!" the +song that Mother loved to hear Quenrede sing in the evenings when the +day's work was over. + +Delightful and refreshing and soothing as Nature may be, however, it is +rather a wet business to stand admiring crocuses in the streaming rain, +so Ingred made a dash through the dripping bushes to the cycle-shed. If +she had calculated upon finding solitude here she was disappointed. It +was occupied already. Egbert, looking as gloomy as Hamlet, was tinkering +with the motor-bicycle. He greeted his sister with something between a +sigh and a grunt, whistled monotonously for a moment or two, then burst +into confidence. + +"Look here, Ingred; I can't stand this any longer. I wish I were back in +the army! I've a jolly good mind to chuck everything up, and re-enlist!" + +"Is it as bad as all that?" asked Ingred. + +"Yes, I'm about fed up with life. If it weren't for the little Mater I'd +have cleared out before this. Perhaps she'll miss me, but I don't know +that anybody else will, and I don't care!" + +"How about Miss Bertrand?" asked Ingred, obeying a sudden impulse of +mischief. + +Egbert flung down a spanner, and turned to her the most astonished face +in the world. + +"What do _you_ know about Miss Bertrand?" he queried. + +Ingred chuckled delightedly. To use her own schoolgirl expression, she +felt she "had him on toast." + +"More than you imagine! Who went into the Abbey Church, I should like to +know, and sat in a pew for ever so long, and looked tender nothings? Oh +yes! _I_ saw you, and a pretty sight it was, too!" she teased. + +Egbert was gazing at her as if he could scarcely believe his senses. + +"But--but--where were you?" he stuttered. + +"In the peep-hole!" exploded Ingred. "I could see right down into the +church, and I watched you come in! I've been saving this up!" + +Egbert drew a long breath. + +"If I'd only known before!" he said slowly. "Ingred, stop laughing! You +don't understand. Look here, will you go and tell Dad that you saw me +there, and the exact day and time when it happened. You can remember +that?" + +"Why, surely Father's the very last person you want to know?" said +Ingred, sobering down. + +"No, he isn't, he's the one it's most important should hear about it +from a reliable witness whom he can believe. I don't mind telling you +about it now" (as Ingred expressed her astonishment in her face), "I'd +got myself into a jolly old mess, and you'll be able to clear me! It was +this way; I slipped out from the office one afternoon for an hour, and +went into the Abbey as you saw. Well, when I got back, somebody had been +into Dad's room during his absence, and a small sum of money was +missing. He taxed me with taking it!" + +"_You!_ But why you?" exclaimed Ingred indignantly. + +"Because I was the only person who had access to his private room. I +told Dad I had been out--which made him angrier still--but none of the +clerks had happened to see me go or come back, and I had no other +witness to prove my words. As a matter of fact, I went out before +Father, and came back after he had returned, but he wouldn't take my +word for it. You know what he is when he's angry. You simply can't argue +with him! Then you made things ever so much worse by blurting out how +I'd taken you to tea at the cafe, and bought you a bag. Father glared as +if it proved I'd been spending stolen money!" + +"You were rather flush of cash that day," commented Ingred. + +"Yes, the fact is I'd been writing a short story, and it had been +accepted by a newspaper. It's a poor enough thing, and I didn't sign my +own name to it. I didn't want to tell them at home I was trying to write +until I could do something better. Anyhow, I'd just cashed the check, +and thought I'd give you a treat for once. I knew it was no use to +explain to Father. Mother has stuck up for me, but I can tell you I've +been having a time of it this last fortnight." + +"But, Egbert," said Ingred, frankly puzzled, "couldn't you have got Miss +Bertrand to tell Dad where you were? It would have been better after all +than letting him think you took the money." + +Egbert's face darkened again tragically. + +"I wouldn't appeal to Miss Bertrand to clear my character if it were a +charge of murder. I'd be hanged first! I met her the very day after we +were in the Abbey together--she was walking with some idiot of an +airman--and she stared straight in my face and cut me. I've done with +girls! They're all of them alike!" and the gloomy young misanthrope +picked up the spanner and began energetically tightening nuts on the +motorcycle. + +Ingred shook a sympathetic head. She had not much experience in love +affairs, but she fancied that this one did not go very deep. + +"You'll get over it," she consoled. "And she wasn't a very nice girl, +anyway. Queenie always loathed her. If Dad's had his nap, I'll go and +tell him how I saw you in the Abbey. I know it was a Tuesday, because +I'd had my music lesson, and was taking the books that Dr. Linton left +behind him." + +"Good! That's what's called proving an alibi. I don't know who walked +off with those notes, but as long as Dad's satisfied I had nothing to do +with it, that's all I care. He can thrash it out with the clerks now, or +leave it alone." + +Mr. Saxon questioned Ingred closely, but accepted her account of the +matter, which set his doubts at rest concerning his son. The relief in +the family circle was enormous. Mother's face was beaming, and it seemed +as if the storm-clouds had blown away, and the sun had shone out. Tea +was the most comfortable meal that the household had taken together for +a fortnight. + +"I haven't spent quite all that check I got from the _Harlow Weekly +News_," whispered Egbert to Ingred that evening, "and I'm going to buy +you a box of chocolates on Monday. I'll leave them for you at the +Hostel. You deserve them!" + +"You mascot! I can't quite see that I _do_ deserve them, for I really +meant to rag you about that Abbey business. But I won't say 'No, thank +you!' to chocks! Rather not! We'll have a gorgeous little private feast +in No. 2 to-morrow night." + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +An Easter Pilgrimage + + +The thirteen weeks between Christmas and Easter dragged much more slowly +than those of the autumn term. The weather was cold and variable. As +fast as Spring stirred in the earth, Winter seemed to stretch forth +chilly fingers to check her advent. Nature, like a careful mother, kept +the buds tightly folded on the trees and the yellow daffodil blossoms +securely hidden under their green casement curtains. Only the most +foolhardy birds ventured to begin building operations. The rooks in the +elm trees near the Abbey had begun to repair their nests during a mild +spurt in January, then put off further alterations till late in March. +Morning after morning the girls would wake to find the roofs covered +with hoar frost. Ingred, who hated the cold, shivered as she crossed the +windy quadrangle from the college to the hostel, and congratulated +herself that she lived in the days of modern comforts. + +"How the old monks and nuns managed to exist in those wretched chilly +damp cloisters I can't imagine," she said, as she squatted by the stove +warming her hands. "Were they allowed to take hot bricks to bed with +them in their cells? Think of turning out for midnight services into an +unwarmed church! It sounds absolutely miserable!" + +"Perhaps they made themselves more comfortable than we think," commented +Verity. "One of them probably kept up the fire and doled out hot drinks +after the services. It might even have been possible to take a hot-water +bottle to church under the folds of those ample habits." + +"I don't believe that would have been allowed. Surely the cold was part +of the discipline." + +"I shouldn't have been a nun if I'd lived in the Middle Ages," said Fil. +"I'd have wanted to go to the tournaments and to have seen my knight +fighting with my ribbons in his helmet and bringing me the crown. Oh, +wouldn't it have been fun? Life's not a scrap romantic nowadays. I do +think men are slackers. Why don't they wear their ladies' colors at +football, and let whoever gets a goal carry a wreath of flowers to the +pavilion and crown his girl 'Queen of Beauty'? There'd be some +excitement in looking on then. As it is it's nothing but a scrimmage; +and I never care a button which side wins. You needn't laugh. Why +shouldn't a footballer look gallant and present trophies? The world +would jog on a great deal better if there were more chivalry in it." + +"The girls want to play games themselves nowadays instead of looking on +and receiving trophies," giggled Verity. + +"I don't!" declared Fil emphatically. "I hate tearing about at hockey, +or running at cricket. I'd far rather let my knight do the work for me." + +"Chilly work looking on in this weather. The games keep one warm," said +Ingred, who was still only half thawed. + +In spite of boisterous March winds and late spring frosts the sun +climbed steadily higher in the sky and the days lengthened. Ingred, who +used to arrive home in the twilight at Wynchcote on Friday afternoons, +could now dig in the garden after tea. She liked the scent of +newly-turned earth, and was happy working away with a trowel +transplanting roots of wall-flowers and forget-me-nots to make a display +in the bed near the dining-room window. At school the various forms vied +with one another in shows of hyacinths grown in bowls, the best of which +were lent to the studio on drawing days and figured as models for +water-color sketches, together with daffodils and hazel catkins. +Lispeth, who did not relax the activities of The Rainbow League, revived +her idea of a Posy Union, persuaded some of the girls to bring little +pots of gay crocuses or blue squills to school, and after these had been +duly exhibited on a table in the lecture-hall, sent them through the +agency of a "Children's Welfare Worker" to brighten the bedsides of +various small invalids in the poorer quarters of the town and let them +know that spring had arrived. + +Easter-tide was very near now, and the school would break up for three +weeks. Miss Burd was going away to allow her tired brains to lie fallow +for a while, and most of the other teachers were looking forward to a +well-earned rest apart from their forms. It came as a surprise to +everybody when Miss Strong--alone--among the staff--suggested the +project of taking some of her pupils for a short walking tour. They were +to start off, like pilgrims of old, carrying with them the barest +necessaries, and have a four days' tramp to visit a few of the beauty +spots of the neighborhood, spending a couple of nights _en route_. + +"It will be a real open-air holiday," she assured them. "We shall be out +of doors all day long and eat most of our meals by the roadside. I've +planned it out carefully. A short railway journey to Carford, then walk +by easy stages through Ryton-on-the-Heath to Dropwick and Pursborough, +where we can get the train again back to Grovebury. I know of two +extremely nice Temperance Hotels where we can be put up for the night. +By going in this way we shall see the cream of the country. Any girl who +is a good walker may join the party." + +It certainly sounded a fascinating program, and after due consideration +at home eight girls put their names down for the excursion--Ingred, +Verity, Nora, Bess, Linda, Francie, Kitty, and Belle. They felt it would +be quite a new experience to know Miss Strong out of school hours; the +light in her eyes when she announced the scheme gave promise of hitherto +hidden capacities for fun. It circulated round the form that she might +prove quite a jolly companion. Those girls who could not join the tour +were a trifle wistful and inclined towards envy. They took it out of the +pilgrims in gloomy prognostications concerning the weather. + +"It will probably rain all the time and you'll tramp along like a row of +drowned rats," suggested Beatrice. + +"It won't do anything of the sort. I believe we're going to have a fine +mild spell and it will be just glorious. I'm taking my 'Brownie,' so +there'll be some snapshots to show we've been enjoying ourselves," +retorted Nora briskly. "You stay-at-homes will be sorry for yourselves +when you hear our adventures!" + +To allow the weather ample chance of improvement, and perhaps also to +give Miss Strong time to rest, the excursion was fixed for the last week +of the holidays. One morning in mid-April, therefore, found teacher and +pupils meeting together on the platform of Grovebury station to catch +the 9.25 train to Carford. They wore jerseys and their school hats, and +they carried their luggage according to their individual ideas of +convenience. Linda wore her little brother's satchel slung over her +back. Nora had borrowed a knapsack, Kitty preferred a parcel, Verity +packed her possessions in a string bag, and Bess carried a neat +dispatch-case. + +"I'd a ripping idea for mine, but it wouldn't work," declared Ingred. "I +meant to tie my parcel to a balloon and then just lead it along by a +string. But I couldn't get a proper gas balloon for the business, and +that's what you ought to have." + +"And suppose the wind were to blow it away from you, what then?" +inquired Miss Strong. + +"I suppose I should have to cable it round my waist." + +"Then you might be whisked up with it, and we should see you sailing off +into the clouds in a kind of aeroplane holiday instead of a walking +tour! I don't think we can patent your balloon dodge yet." + +"What I want," said Kitty, "is a sort of child's light mail-cart +arrangement that I could wheel along. It's what Mother always says she +needs for shopping--a parcel-holder on wheels. Why doesn't somebody +invent one? He--or she (I'm sure it would be a _she_)--would make a +fortune." + +"We might have borrowed a perambulator," said Belle, quite seriously, +"and have packed all our luggage into it." + +"Oh, I dare say! And who would have wheeled it?" + +"We could have taken it in turns." + +"With long turns for the willing horses, and short turns for shirkers! +No, thanks! Better each to stick to our own." + +"Besides which, forget stiles. We hope to try some field paths as well +as high roads," added Miss Strong. "Also I should decidedly have jibbed +at escorting a perambulator. Here comes the train! Let us make a dash +for an empty carriage and keep it to ourselves." + +It was only a short journey to Carford, but it took them over twelve +rather uninteresting miles and put them down just at the commencement of +a very beautiful stretch of country where open uplands alternated with +wooded coombes, and where the stone-roofed villages were the prettiest +in the county. + +Miss Strong, who had had some experience of mountaineering in +Switzerland, restrained the pace and kept them all at what she called a +"guide's walk." + +"It pays in the long run," she assured them. "If you tear ahead at +first, you get tired later on, and we must keep fairly well together. I +can't have some of you half a mile behind." + +The April days were still cold, but very bracing for exercise. Lambs +were out in the fields, primroses grew in clumps under the hedgerows, +hazel catkins flung showers of pollen to the winds, and in the coppice +that bordered the road pale-mauve March violets and white anemone stars +showed through last year's carpet of dead leaves. There was that joyful +thrill of spring in the air, that resurrection of Nature when the +thraldom of winter is over, and beauty comes back to the gray dim world. +The old Greeks felt it, thousands of years ago, and fabled it in their +myth of Persephone and her return from Hades. The Druids knew it in +Ancient Britain, and fixed their religious ceremonies for May Day. The +birds were caroling it still in the hedgerows, and the girls caught the +joyous infection and danced along in defiance of Miss Strong's jog-trot +guide walk. Even the mistress herself, so wise at the outset, finally +flung prudence to the winds, and skirmished through the coppices with +enthusiasm equal to that of her pupils, lured from the pathway by the +glimpses of kingcups, or the pursuit of a peacock butterfly. + +"All the same, if we tear round like small dogs, we shall never reach +Dropwick to-night, and I've booked our rooms there," she assured them. +"You don't want to sleep on the heather, I suppose!" + +"Bow-wow! Shouldn't mind!" laughed Kitty. "We could cling together and +keep each other warm." + +"You won't cling to me, thanks! I prefer a bed of my own." + +Nora, having brought a good supply of films for her Brownie camera, was +most keen on taking snapshots. She photographed the company eating their +lunch on a bank by the roadside, with Miss Strong in the very act of +biting a piece of bread and butter, and Ingred with her face buried in a +mug. She even went further. She had been reading a book on faked +photography, and she yearned to try experiments. + +"I'm going to give those stay-at-homes a few thrills," she declared. "I +told them we'd have adventures." + +Nora expounded her plan to Miss Strong, who was sufficiently interested +in the subject to promise her collusion and good advice. A mock Alpine +scene came first. Nora had brought with her, for this express purpose, a +length of rope, which she wore around her jersey like a Carmelite's +girdle. She took it off now and fastened it round the waists of three of +her schoolfellows, linking them together in the manner of Swiss +mountaineers. Then she found a piece of rock on which were narrow +ledges, and, with the help of Miss Strong, posed them in attitudes of +apparent peril. Really, they were only a couple of feet from the ground, +and a fall would have been a laughing matter, but in a camera they +appeared to be clinging almost by their eyelashes to the face of an +inaccessible crag and in imminent danger of their lives. Nora took two +views, and chuckled with satisfaction. + +"That'll make their hair stand on end! I'll fix a few more sensations if +I can. Who's game to run six inches in front of a mild old cow's horns, +while somebody urges her on from behind?" + +"How will you guarantee she's mild?" inquired Bess dubiously. "She might +take it into her head to toss us!" + +"Not she! It was only the 'cow with the crumpled horn' that went in for +tossing." + +"Well, I'd rather be in a safer photo, thanks! I'm terrified of cows, +anyway." + +Nora's instincts were really quite dramatic. She photographed Bess +crouching in the hollow of a tree, an imaginary fugitive, to whom +Francie, in an attitude of caution, handed surreptitious victuals. She +posed Linda, apparently lifeless, on the borders of a pond, with Kitty +and Verity applying artificial respiration. She bound up Ingred's head +with a handkerchief, and placed her arm in a sling as the result of a +fictitious accident, and would have arranged a circle of weeping girls +round the prostrate body of Miss Strong, had not that stalwart lady +stoutly objected. + +"I'm not going to do anything of the sort, so put up that camera, and +come along at once. We've wasted far too much time already, and we shall +have to step out unless we want to finish our walk in the dark. I +promise you tea at Ryton-on-the-Heath, if you hurry, but we can't stop +half an hour there unless you put your best foot foremost, so, quick +march!" + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +The Rivals + + +This book does not propose to extol an ideal heroine, only to chronicle +the deeds and thoughts of a girl, who, like most other girls, had her +pleasant and her disagreeable moods, her high aspirations and good +intentions, and her occasional bursts of bad temper. Ingred had been +very passionate as a child, and, though she had learnt to put on the +curb, sometimes that uncomfortable lower self would take the bit between +its teeth and gallop away with her. It is sad to have to confess that +the enjoyment of her walking tour was entirely spoilt by an ugly little +imp who kept her company. In plain words she was horribly jealous of +Bess. Ingred liked to be popular. She was gratified to be warden of "The +Pioneers" and a member of the School Parliament. She felt she had an +acknowledged standing not only in her own form but throughout the +college. Her official position, her cleverness in class, her aptitude +for music, her skill at games, made her an all-round force and a referee +on most subjects. There is no doubt that Ingred would have had the +undivided post of favorite in her form had it not been for Bess +Haselford. Not that Bess was in any way a self-constituted rival--on the +contrary she was rather shy and retiring, and made no particular bid for +popularity. Perhaps that was one reason why the girls liked her. She was +generous in lending her property, invited her form-mates to charming +parties at Rotherwood, and often persuaded an indulgent father to +include some of her special chums in motoring expeditions on Saturday +afternoons. She had, indeed, taken up the exact role that Quenrede had +played years ago, before the war, and which Ingred would have followed +had Rotherwood and a car still been in the Saxons' possession. In spite +of several overtures from Bess, Ingred had thrust away all idea of +friendship, and had steadily refused any invitations to her old home. +The reports which the girls brought back of the renewed glories of +Rotherwood made her feel like a disinherited princess. She considered it +rough luck that her supplanter should be at the same school and in the +same form as herself, and decided that Bess had ousted her from both +house and favor. It made it only the more aggravating that Bess's +musical talent was quite equal, if not superior, to her own. Bess had +improved immensely on the violin, and her performance at the end-of-term +recital had received quite a little ovation. + +When the question of the walking tour was broached, Bess, owing to home +engagements, had at first reluctantly refused, then had managed to +rearrange her holidays and had joined the party after all. To Ingred her +presence utterly marred the enjoyment. It was extremely unreasonable of +Ingred, for Bess was most unassuming and really very long-suffering. She +put up with snubs that would have made most girls retaliate indignantly. +Nobody likes to be sat upon too hard, however, and even the proverbial +worm will turn at last. + +As the walking party, much urged by Miss Strong straggled along towards +Ryton-on-the-Heath, Bess made a lightning dive up a bank and came back +with a blue flower plainly of the _labiate_ species. + +"Bugle!" she remarked with satisfaction. + +"Bugle?" echoed Ingred scornfully. "Shows how much you know about +botany! That's self-heal!" + +"Oh no; it's certainly bugle." + +"I tell you it's self-heal. I found some at Lynstones last August and +looked it up in the flower-book." + +"Very likely you did, but that doesn't prove that this is self-heal." + +"It does, for anybody with a pair of eyes. I've been studying botany." + +"And so have I!" + +"You may think you know everything, Bess Haselford, but you don't know +this." + +[Illustration: "YOU MAY THINK YOU KNOW EVERYTHING, BESS HASELFORD, BUT +YOU DON'T KNOW THIS!"] + +"I didn't say I knew everything; but I'm certain this is bugle all the +same, and I stick to it!" + +Bess's usually sweet voice had an obstinate note in it for once. She +seemed determined to defend her botanical trenches. + +"Go it--hammer and tongs!" laughed Kitty. "I'll back the winner!" + +"And I'll take the case into court," said Linda, snatching the flower +from her schoolfellow's hand and running on to show it to Miss Strong, +who was an authority on the subject. + +The mistress paused to let the others overtake her. + +"Bugle, certainly," she decided emphatically. "The first bit we've found +this year. It's out early. Self-heal? Oh dear no! The two are rather +alike and are sometimes mistaken one for another, but no botanist would +dream of confusing them. Bugle is a spring and early summer flower, and +self-heal blooms much later. Make a note in your nature diaries that you +found bugle on 15th April." + +Considerably squashed, Ingred had for once to acknowledge her botany to +be at fault, and, though Bess did not triumph, Francie gave Kitty a poke +and the pair giggled. + +"Well, of course, one can't be always right," said Ingred airily. + +"So it seems; though some people set themselves up for wiseacres!" +sniggered Kitty. + +Ingred fell behind with Verity and let the others walk on. It was only a +trifling incident, but she was annoyed to notice how openly and +instantly the girls had sided with Bess. She felt too glum for speech, +and as Verity was tired and disinclined to talk, they tramped along in +silence. + +They had been winding steadily uphill for some miles and were now on the +heath from which Ryton took its name. The ground fell steeply to the +west, showing glimpses of a great river in the valley below, where the +still-leafless woods had burst here and there into faint tokens of +spring. Beyond the river rose the characteristic grey hills of the +neighborhood, with their stone walls and sheepfolds and stretches of +moorland, looking a little hazy in the afternoon light, but with patches +of yellow gorse catching the sunshine. Ryton was a delightful little +village. Its cottages, built long ago by local craftsmen, seemed +absolutely in harmony with the landscape: walls, dormers, and mullions +and long undulating roofs were all of limestone and conveyed an +impression of sturdy self-respect. The rain-worn, lichen-covered roofs +had weathered to charming irregularities of form and lovely tones of +color. Ivy and clematis climbed over the porches and twisted themselves +round the low chimneys. The little gardens were bright with daffodils, +mezereon, and flowering currant. + +To the girls, somewhat tired and decidedly hungry, the main focus of the +village was a long iron post which stretched out over the street and +supported a rudely-painted sign of a bird, whose species might have been +a puzzle to an ornithologist but for the words "Pelican Inn" that +appeared beneath it. + +In the long-ago days before railroads, the little hostelry had been a +stopping-place for stage-coaches, and a wooden board still set forth +that it supplied "Posting in all its branches." The landlord would no +doubt have been much dismayed if any wag had entered and demanded a +chaise and post-horses to drive to Gretna Green, and a shabby motor in +his stable-yard showed that he marched with the times. + +Miss Strong, on consulting her watch, decided that her party might +safely indulge in a halt of half an hour, and ordered tea for nine +persons. The inn, built on a type common in the district, was entered by +an archway leading straight into a courtyard. A door on the right led to +the bar, and a door on the left to the coffee-room. To this latter more +aristocratic quarter Miss Strong conducted her pupils. Some of them had +never before been in a small village hostelry, and were much amused at +the quaint old parlor with its sporting prints, its glass cases of +stuffed squirrels and badgers, and its horsehair-seated chairs with +crochet antimacassars hung over the backs. The atmosphere was certainly +rather redolent of stale beer and tobacco, but a bunch of crimson +wall-flowers on the table did their best to spread a pleasant perfume. +The tea, when, after much delay, it arrived, was delicious. The Pelican +was a farm as well as an inn, and the rosy-faced servant girl carried in +cream, fresh butter, and red-currant jam to the coffee-room. She +apologized for the absence of cake, but it was an omission that nobody +minded. Upland air gives good appetites, and, though Miss Strong +reminded her flock that this was only a meal by the way, and that supper +was ordered for them at Dropwick, they set to work as if they would +taste nothing more till midnight. There was something so delightfully +fresh and out of the common in having tea at a wayside inn; they felt +true pilgrims of the road, and civilization and school seemed to have +faded into a far background. The love of travel is in the blood of both +Celt and Anglo-Saxon; our forefathers visited shrines for the joy of the +journey as well as for religious motives, and maybe our Bronze Age +ancestors, who flocked to the great Sun Festivals at Stonehenge or +Avebury Circles, derived pleasure from the change of scene as well as a +blessing from the Druids. The Romans, those great pioneers of travel, +had opened out the district eighteen centuries ago, and laid a straight, +paved road from Wendcester to Pursborough; the remains of their +fortified camps and of their villas were still left to mark their era. +The foss-way, leading from Ryton-on-the-Heath to Dropwick, was their +handiwork, and our pilgrims were to march on the identical track of some +old Roman legion. + +It must be owned that when tea was finished they were very unwilling +pilgrims, and would gladly have spent the night at The Pelican and have +slept in the funny, musty, low-ceiled little bedrooms upstairs. + +"Couldn't we possibly stop here?" implored Verity. + +But Miss Strong, having booked rooms in Dropwick, was adamant. + +"Besides which I wouldn't trust the beds here," she remarked. "So early +in the year they're almost bound to be damp, and we don't want any of +you laid up with rheumatic fever as the result of our trip. I prefer to +give a wayside inn a week's notice if I mean to sleep there in April. +Nobody has had enough coal during the winter to keep fires going in +spare bedrooms. That front room was as chilly as a country church! You +won't feel so tired, Verity, when you're on your feet again, and it's +all downhill to Dropwick." + +The Temperance Hotel, where the girls finally stayed their weary feet, +was quite modern and unromantic, though well aired and fairly +comfortable. Ingred, whom the fates had placed to sleep with Nora, had a +trying night, for her obstreperous bedfellow had a habit of flinging out +her arms, and of appropriating the larger half of the clothes, leaving +poor Ingred to wake shivering. Also, the bed sloped towards the middle, +so that both girls had to poise themselves on a kind of hillside, and +were constantly rolling down and colliding. These troubles, however, +were only incidental in the Pilgrimage, and certainly might have been +worse. + +On comparing notes at breakfast nearly everybody had had similar +experiences. Miss Strong confessed to a patent mattress with a broken +spring jutting up in the center, round which she had been obliged to lie +in a curve. Linda and Francie had slept near the water-cistern, which +alarmed them with weird noises, and Bess and Kitty, trying to open their +window wider, had found it lacked sash-cords, and descended like a +guillotine, sending the prop that had upheld it, flying into the street. +Though they groused at the time, the girls laughed as they discussed +these details over the eggs and bacon. The sun was shining and they felt +rested, and quite ready once more to shoulder their kit and set out on +the march. + +There was nothing of very great interest to see in Dropwick itself, +though it was a quaint enough old-fashioned market-town, with a +fifteenth-century church tower, and a few black and white houses. Miss +Strong decided not to waste any time there, but to push on as fast as +possible across the hills to Sudbury, where there was a fine +Romano-British villa that was well worth a visit. So the foss-way took +them up, and up, and up, through fir-woods where the new cones were +showing like candles on Christmas trees, and alongside a quarry where +they pounced upon some quite interesting fossils in the heaps of stones +by the road, and over a craggy weather-worn peak, where, again, they +caught the magnificent view of the valley and the river and hills +beyond. Then down again, through more fir-woods, where the timber was +being felled, and great tree-trunks lay piled in rows one above another, +and past banks that were a dream, with starry blackthorn blossom and +primroses growing beneath, to where the cross-roads met and the signpost +pointed an arm to Sudbury. + +The Romans might take their roads straight as an arrow across moor and +hill, but they chose out the beauty spots of the land on which to build +their villas, and were careful to fix upon a southern aspect and shelter +from the prevailing winds. The remains of the old settlement lay behind +a farm, and had been carefully excavated by a local antiquarian society. +Visitors applied at the farmhouse, entered their names in a book, paid +their admission money, and were escorted round by a guide. + +Time, and successive conquests, had demolished the greater part of the +villa, but its foundations and some of the old brick walls could be +plainly traced. The great bath, that indispensable feature of a Roman +establishment, could still be seen, with its beautiful tesselated +pavement, inlaid with mosaics of doves, cupids, and designs of fruit and +flowers. The heating system also, with the leaden pipes and remains of +furnaces, was a testimony to the civilization of the period, and the +amount of comfort that the legions brought with them into their foreign +exile. A large shed had been fitted up as a museum, and held a number of +objects that had been dug up during the excavations. The girls, poring +over the glass cases, looked with interest at a Roman lady's silver +hand-mirror, toilet pots, and tiny shears that must have been the early +substitute for scissors. More fascinating still were the toys from a +little child's grave, small glass bottles, roughly-made animals of clay, +and a carved object that no doubt had been at one time a treasured doll, +though now it was crumbling into dust. + +Among the pile of broken statues or fragments of ornamental stonework in +the corner was a monumental tablet, cracked across in two places, but +pieced together for preservation with iron rivets. The inscription ran: + + "D.M. Simpliciae Florentinae Animae Innocentissimae quae vixit menses + decem. Felicius Simplex Pater fecit. Leg. vi, V." + + (To the Divine Shades. To Simplicia Florentina, a most innocent + soul, who lived ten months. Felicius Simplex of the Sixth Legion, + the Victorious, the father, erected this.) + +Some of the girls glanced at the tablet, and the English translation of +the inscription which lay near, and turned away without much notice. But +Ingred stood gazing at them with a catch in her throat. They brought a +whole pathetic human story to life again. She could picture the noble +Roman father, leader of the victorious legion, sent over from Italy and +making his home here in a conquered foreign land, as our officers do in +India, and bringing with him his lady with her Roman customs and her +slaves. Those few brief words--"a most innocent soul who lived ten +months"--told the tragedy of the cherished little daughter whose frail +life faded in the fogs of the British climate about eighteen hundred +years ago. Hearts are the same all the world over, and the pretty +dark-eyed Roman baby must have been laid to its rest with as much grief +and sadness as the fair-haired darlings whom British mothers sometimes +bury in Indian soil. + +"It's a sweet name, too--Simplicia Florentina!" mused Ingred. "I wonder +what she would have grown up like. And what her history would have been! +I'd give worlds to know more about her!" + +"Aren't you coming, Ingred?" called Verity from the doorway. "Miss +Strong says we ought to be getting on now." + +Ingred brought her thoughts back with an effort to the twentieth +century, and joined the waiting party outside. Miss Strong was talking +to their guide, who was describing a short cut across the fields that +would save them several miles on their way to Pursborough. + +Verity, after calling to her friend in the museum, had run out. Ingred +followed her, to find her with her arm locked closely through Bess's. +There was no reason why she should not display such a mark of affection, +but to Ingred it seemed little short of an insult to herself. Verity, +her particular chum, to have openly gone over to the enemy! She stared +at her in surprise. Verity did not appear to notice the stare, however, +and walked on quite calmly. + +Miss Strong had decided that they should find a quiet place along the +lane where they could eat their lunch before beginning the second part +of their march. She fixed on a lovely spot with a high wooded bank at +the back and in front fields that sloped to the river. There were specks +of yellow in these fields, and Kitty who finished her sandwiches first, +ran to inspect nearer and reported cowslips. Instantly most of the girls +went scrambling over the stile. + +Miss Strong, who had bought picture-postcards of the Roman villa, and +was addressing them with a stylo-pen, did not follow the exodus. She +called to Ingred, however, who was last. + +"Warn the girls," she said, "not on any account to go into that meadow +where there is a horse with a young foal. The guide at the farm said it +is a savage beast and will attack people. Be sure to tell them _all_!" + +"I'll run after them now," answered Ingred, calling "Cuckoo!" to attract +their attention. + +She told Belle and Linda and Verity, who were near to the stile, and +Linda passed the news on to Francie and Kitty. Bess was quite a long +distance down the field, gathering blackthorn from the hedge. + +"I'm not going to tear all that way after her!" thought Ingred crossly. +"Verity will be sure to tell her. They seem inseparable to-day. Besides +which nobody's particularly likely to go into that other meadow. There +are plenty of cowslips here." + +It took Miss Strong a much longer time to write her postcards than she +had originally intended, and while she was thus employed her girls +spread themselves out in quest of flowers. It is always amazing when you +start rambling in company with others how quickly you can find yourself +alone. By the time Ingred had gathered a fragrant, sweet-smelling bunch +and looked round for somebody to admire it, her schoolmates were gone. +She hunted about for them, and noticed Verity's green jersey and Kitty's +brown tam-o'-shanter in the wood above. Surely they must all be up there +together. + +She was just going to follow, when a qualm of conscience seized her. She +had not delivered Miss Strong's message to Bess, and it would perhaps be +as well to ascertain that the latter had not strayed unwarned into the +danger zone. + +"It's not at all likely," Ingred kept repeating to herself, as she +walked briskly along the meadow to the fence. "I'm really only going on +a wild goose chase." + +Likely or unlikely, it was the very thing which had happened. The +cowslips on the other side of the railings were larger and finer, and +Bess, having no fear of horses, had climbed over and wandered some way +down the field. Only about twenty yards from her the lanky foal was +gambolling round its mother, a big draught mare, cropping the grass +innocently enough at present, and apparently not perceiving trespassers. + +If Bess could retreat quietly and unnoticed from the field all might be +well. Ingred did not dare to call for fear of attracting the mare's +attention. If Bess would only turn round she might wave to her. But Bess +kept her back to the fence and had no idea of danger. There was only one +course open to Ingred. She slipped over the railings and went along the +meadow to warn her schoolfellow. In a few quiet words she explained the +situation. + +"Don't run," she whispered. "Let us walk back and perhaps it will take +no notice of us." + +The girls went as softly as possible, looking over their shoulders every +now and then to see that all was safe. Of bulls they had a wholesome +terror, but they had had no previous experience of a savage horse. + +They were about fifteen yards from the railings, when the mare, which +hitherto had been feeding quietly, raised her head and lumbered round. +She saw strangers in her territory; her primeval instinct was to protect +her foal, and she came tearing across the field with wild eyes and lip +turned back from gleaming teeth. The girls fled for their lives. It was +a question of which could reach the railings first, they or the +dangerous brute whose huge hoofs thundered behind them. Ingred, who was +the taller and the stronger of the two, seized Bess by the hand and +literally dragged her along. Together they tumbled over the fence +somehow and rolled down the bank into the safe shelter of some gorse +bushes. For a moment they were afraid the mare would leap after them, +but the height of the rails balked her; apparently she was satisfied +with routing the enemy and returned across the field to her foal. The +girls, with shaking knees, got up and hurried towards the lane where +they had left Miss Strong. + +"You've saved my life, Ingred!" gasped Bess, as they went along. + +"No, I haven't!" choked Ingred. "At least, it was my fault you ever went +into the field at all. Miss Strong told me to tell you the horse was +savage, and you were such a long way off picking cowslips that I didn't +trouble to go after you. I trusted to Verity telling you." + +"Verity ran the other way with Kitty." + +"I know. Well, at any rate, it was my fault and I'm ready to take the +blame. Precious row I shall get into with the Snark!" + +"Why should we say anything about it?" + +"Not say anything?" + +"There's really no need. It's over and done with now. I don't want to +get you into a scrape. I vote we just keep it to ourselves." + +Ingred paused, with her hand on the gate, and gazed with unaffected +astonishment at her companion. + +"Bess Haselford, you're the biggest trump I've ever met! It's only one +girl in a thousand who'd want to cover up a thing like that. Most people +would make _such_ a tale of it, and pose as an injured martyr whom I'd +nearly murdered. I'm sure Francie would, or even Verity." + +"You put yourself into danger to come and warn me!" + +"Well, it was the least I could do!" + +"Let's forget about it then. And don't tell any of the girls, in case +they blab. It would make Miss Strong so nervous, she'd be scared about +our going into any fields for ever afterwards." + +"Right-o, I won't tell, but I shan't forget. As I said before, I think +you're the biggest trump on the face of the earth." + +"Cuckoo!" rang out Linda's voice from the bank. + +"Where are you girls?" shouted Miss Strong from the lane. + +"Coming!" called Ingred, as she latched the gate and hurried with Bess +to rejoin the rest of the party. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +Bess at Home + + +The Pilgrims, after a glorious tramp down the dale of Beechcombe, +reached Pursborough without further adventure, and spent the night +there. They gave an hour next morning to inspecting the glorious old +church and the ruins of the castle, then once more resumed the Roman +road. It was the last day of their tour, so they made the best of it. +They explored some delightful woods, followed the course of a +fascinating stream, ate their lunch in a picturesque quarry, had an +early tea at a wayside inn which rivalled "The Pelican" in quaintness, +and finally reached Ribstang in time to catch the 5:20 train to +Grovebury. The conclusion of the excursion meant the close of the +holiday, for school would begin again on the following Monday. Everybody +had enjoyed it immensely, and everybody was only too sorry it was over. +To Ingred it marked an epoch. She had suddenly made friends with Bess +Haselford. Now she viewed Bess with unprejudiced eyes she realized what +an exceedingly nice and attractive girl she really was. The adventure in +the field had flung them together, and--much to the astonishment of the +others, who did not know their secret--they had walked the whole way +from Pursborough to Ribstang in each other's company. + +"I can't make out Ingred!" declared Verity. "Here she's been abusing +Bess, and calling her a bounder, and now she's hanging on her arm! The +way some people turn round is really most extraordinary----" + +"'There's naught so queer as folks!'" quoted Linda. "Glad Ingred's come +to her senses, at any rate. I always thought she was perfectly beastly +to Bess!" + +"So she was. I wonder Bess will put up with her now. I'm sure I +wouldn't!" + +Bess, however, was of a forgiving disposition, and let bygones be +bygones. It is the only plan at schools, for girls are generally so +frank in the nature of their remarks that if you begin to treasure up +the disagreeable things said to you, and let them rankle, you will +probably find yourself without a chum in the world. Though the fashion +may be for plain speaking, it is often a matter of mood, and the mate +who genuinely believes you a "blighter" one day, will claim you as a +"mascot" with equal persuasion on the next. It is all part of the +wholesome rough-and-tumble of your education, and proves of as much use +in training you and rounding your projecting corners as the lessons you +learn in your form. The girls thought Ingred's new infatuation would +soon wear off, but it had come to stay. She herself was quite surprised +at the force of the attraction. It was almost like falling in love. She +marched with Bess at drilling, chose her for her partner at tennis, and +would have changed desks to sit next to her, had not Miss Strong refused +permission. As a natural result of this new state of affairs came a shy +invitation from Bess asking Ingred to tea at Rotherwood. After the many +previous refusals she would hardly have ventured to give in but for +several hints which paved the way. Circumstances, however, alter cases, +and Ingred, who had declared that nothing should induce her to set foot +in her old home, was now all eagerness to go. She was delighted to find +that she was to be the only guest. She felt that on this particular +visit even Verity would be _de trop_. + +On a certain Tuesday afternoon, therefore, with full permission from +Miss Burd, she absented herself from the hostel tea-table, and walked +home with Bess instead. It gave her quite a thrill to turn in at the +familiar gate of Rotherwood. The lawns were in beautiful order, and the +beds gay with tulips, aubrietias, forget-me-nots, and a lovely show of +hyacinths. So far from being neglected, the place seemed even better +kept than in the old days. The house, with its pretty modern +black-and-white front, its many gables, and its cheerful red-tiled roof, +looked the same as formerly; but indoors there were great changes. The +hall, which used to be Moorish, was now hung with tapestry, and +furnished in old oak; the drawing-room was yellow instead of blue, with +a big brocade-covered couch and a Chappell piano; the dining-room had +rows of book-cases and some good oil-paintings; the morning-room was a +cheerful chintz boudoir with a gilt mirror and Chippendale chairs; the +conservatory was full of choice flowers, and an aviary had been added to +it. + +"Mother is so fond of birds," explained Bess. "They amuse her when her +head's bad and she doesn't care to see anybody. She's made most of them +wonderfully tame." + +Mrs. Haselford proved to be a gentle pleasant lady who shook hands +kindly with Ingred, then excused herself on the score of ill-health, and +retired to her room, leaving the girls to have tea by themselves. + +"Mother's never been really well for three years," said Bess. "Not since +Bert and Larry----" + +She did not finish her sentence, but her eyes turned to the wall where +hung two portraits of lads in khaki. Ingred understood. She knew that +Bess had lost both brothers in the war, and she had heard that poor Mrs. +Haselford had shut herself up in her grief and refused all comfort, +sometimes even to the extent of remaining for days upstairs, and +neglecting the company of husband and child. Her attitude to Bess was +often peculiar, it was almost as if she resented her daughter being left +when her adored boys had been taken from her. Bess never knew how she +would be received, for sometimes her mother would seem unable to bear +her presence, and at other times would unreasonably chide her for +neglect. It began to dawn on Ingred how very lonely her friend must be. +She had secretly envied her the possession of Rotherwood, but now she +realized how little the house itself would mean without the happy home +life in which brothers and sister had borne their part. + +"I'd rather have the bungalow with the family, than Rotherwood all +alone!" she ruminated. "As for Muvkins, she's one in a million. I +believe she'd be cheery in a coal cellar, so long as she'd a solitary +chick to keep under her wing. Why, if we'd lost _our_ boys, she'd have +been trying to make it up to Queenie and me for not having brothers. I +know her! That's her way!" + +Bess had much to show to her visitor when tea in the dainty morning-room +was over. There were her books, and her photographs and postcard albums, +and all kinds of girlish possessions, and a cocker spaniel with three +puppies as fat as roly-poly puddings, and a fern-case opening out of one +of her bedroom windows, and a collection of pressed wild flowers, and a +green parroquet that would sit on her wrist, and allow her to stroke its +head, though it snapped at strangers. They had been working upwards +through the house, and finally Bess led the way to the top landing of +all. She paused for a moment before the door of an attic room. + +"I expect you'll know this place!" she remarked shyly, ushering in her +guest. + +Ingred looked round in amazement. It was a little sanctum which she and +Quenrede had shared in the old days as a kind of studio. Here they had +been allowed to try experiments in poker work, painting, fret-carving, +spatter-work, or any other operations which were considered too messy to +be performed in the school-room downstairs. They had loved their "den," +as they called it, and had taken a particular pleasure in covering its +walls with pictures, cut, most of them, from magazines, and stuck on +with glue or paste. During the occupation of Rotherwood by the "Red +Cross," this room had been locked up, and Ingred had imagined that Mr. +Haselford would have had it papered when the rest of the house was +decorated. She was delighted to find it in this untouched condition. All +her dear former treasures adorned the walls, and she ran from one to +another rejoicing over them. There was even a further surprise. Years +ago an artist cousin had sketched her portrait in pastel crayons upon +the color-wash of the wall. It had been done as a mere artistic freak, +but like many such spontaneous drawings it had been an admirable +likeness and a very pretty picture. It bore her name, "Ingred," in +flourishy letters underneath. The whole of this had now been protected +with a sheet of glass and enclosed by a frame. A table in the room, an +easy chair, and a gas-fire seemed to point to its occasional occupation. + +"You actually haven't had this changed!" exclaimed Ingred. "I thought it +must all have been swept away by now!" + +"No. You see, Father took me over the house when first he decided to +come here, and when he was arranging what papers to choose. I fell in +love with this dear wee room just as it was, and begged that it mightn't +be touched. Father let me have it for my very own. It was so different +from all other rooms. I liked the pictures pasted on the walls, and the +bits of poker-work nailed up. I knew some other girls must have been +here, and it gave me a homely feeling, as if you had only gone away for +a few minutes, and might come back any time and talk to me. Then there +was your portrait. I wondered who 'Ingred' was! The name struck my fancy +immensely, and so did the face. You remember we removed to Rotherwood at +the end of July, and all the rest of the summer I wondered about the +portrait. I used to come up here and sit when I felt very lonely, and it +seemed company, somehow. You can't think how fond I got of it. I suppose +I was rather silly and absurd, but I knew nobody in Grovebury then, and +Mother was ill in her room, and Father away all day--anyhow I got into +the habit of talking to it as if it were a girl friend, and showing it +my paintings, and my pressed flowers, and everything I was doing. I +pretended it liked to see them. Sometimes I even brought up my violin +and played to it. That was nicer than being quite by myself. It grew to +be as dear to me as the little sister I had always longed to have. + +"Then in September I went to the College. You can imagine what a start +it gave me when somebody called you 'Ingred.' I looked at you, and I saw +at once that you were the 'Ingred' of my picture, only grown older. I +was absolutely thrilled. It was very foolish of me, but I thought +somehow you'd understand. Of course you didn't! How could you? It was +idiotic of me to expect it. The 'Ingred' on the wall was simply the +friend of my fancy." + +"And the real one was just hateful to you!" said Ingred sorrowfully. "I +know I was a perfect beast! I was ashamed of myself all the time, only I +wouldn't confess it. Lispeth used to slate me sometimes for my +nastiness. She called me 'a jealous blighter,' and so I was! The girl of +your fancy is a great deal nicer than I am, or ever can be, but I'll try +to live up to her as well as I can, Bess, if you'll let me!" + +"Let you!" echoed Bess, linking her arm affectionately in that of her +friend. "You're a perfect dear nowadays." + +The girls tore themselves away quite regretfully from the little attic +studio, but time was passing only too quickly, and they wished to try a +game of tennis before Ingred returned to the hostel. + +"So you like the house in its new dress?" asked Bess as they walked down +the steps into the garden. "Father thinks it's beautiful. He says Mr. +Saxon is the best architect he knows. He's simply put every thing in +exactly the right place. Does he only design houses, or does he go in +for anything bigger?" + +"He would if he got the chance," replied Ingred. "What sort of things do +you mean?" + +"Oh, a church, or a museum, or an art gallery." + +"I know he's done most splendid designs for these, but he's never had +the luck to get them accepted. There's generally so much influence +needed to get your plans taken for a big public building like that. At +least, that's what Dad says. If you have a relation on the City Council, +it makes a vast difference to your chances. We've no friends at Court." + +"Oh!" said Bess, rather abstractedly, and the subject dropped. + +The girls had only time for one game of tennis, when the stable-clock, +chiming half-past six, reminded Ingred that if she wished to do her +preparation that evening she must rush back to the hotel. She bade Bess +a reluctant good-by. + +"You'll come and see me again?" asked the latter. + +"Rather! And I'll send thought-waves to animate my portrait, and let it +talk for me in my absence," laughed Ingred. "Perhaps you'll get more +than you bargain for--I'm an awful chatter-box." + +"You'll never talk too much for me," said Bess, as she kissed her +good-by. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +The Nun's Walk + + +The Saxon family agreed that whatever might be the drawbacks of +Wynch-on-the-Wold in wintry weather, it was an idyllic spot in the month +of May. The wall-flowers which Ingred had transplanted were now in their +prime, the apple trees were in blossom, clumps of lilies were pushing up +fast, and pink double daisies bordered the front walk. The woods in the +combe below the moor were a mass of bluebells, and here and there those +who searched might find rarer flowers, orchises, lily of the valley, and +true lover's knot. Friends who had shirked the journey while the winds +blew cold, now began to drop in at the bungalow and take tea under the +apple trees. Ingred, returning home on Friday afternoons, would find +bicycles stacked by the gate and visitors seated in the garden. She +greeted them with enthusiasm or the reverse, according to her individual +tastes. + +"Really, Ingred, they don't seem to teach manners at the College now!" +said Quenrede one day. "The way you scowled at Mrs. Galsworthy and +Gertrude was most uncivil. You didn't look in the very least pleased to +see them." + +"I wasn't! They're the most stupid people on the face of the earth! And +they stayed such ages. I thought they'd never go. Just when I wanted a +nice private talk with you and Mother before the boys came back. Why +should you look glad to see a person when you're not?" + +"For the sake of manners, my dear!" + +"Then manners really mean humbug," declared Ingred, who loved to argue. +"To say you're glad to see people, when you're not, is telling +deliberate fibs. Most hypocritical, I call it! Why can't people tell the +truth?" + +"Because it would generally be offensive and unkind to do so," put in +Mother, who happened to overhear. "There's another side to the question, +too. When you say--against your will--that you are glad to see somebody, +you mean that all the _best_ part of you is glad--the kind, generous +part that likes to give pleasure, not the selfish lower part that only +thinks of its own convenience. So you are not really telling a fib, but +being true to your nobler self. A great deal of what people call 'plain +speaking' is simply giving rein to their most uncharitable thoughts. As +a rule, I say Heaven defend me from those ultra-truthful souls who enjoy +'speaking their minds.'" + +"But are we to gush over every bore?" asked Ingred. + +"There are limits, of course. We can't let all our time be frittered +away by idle friends, but we can generally manage tactfully without +offending them. Don't look so woe-begone, childie! Nobody else is coming +to-night, and I promise you tea in the woods to-morrow." + +"By ourselves?" + +"Unless anyone very nice comes over to join us," put in Quenrede +quickly. + +"You girls shall give the invitations. I won't bring any middle-aged +people," laughed Mother, with a sly glance at Quenrede. + +The party in the bluebell woods on Saturday was entirely a family one, +with the exception of Mr. Broughten, who rode over on a motor-bicycle +ostensibly to lend some microscopic slides to Athelstane, though Ingred +suspected there was another attraction in the visit. Quenrede, who +professed great surprise, gave him a guarded welcome. + +"After all the fuss you made about my manners yesterday, you might have +seemed more glad to see him," sniffed Ingred critically. + +"Might I? Well, really, I think I'm going to hang a label round my neck: +'Pleased to meet you! Let 'em all come!' It would save trouble. Stick +tight to me when we're gathering bluebells. Three's better company +sometimes than two. Don't I like him? Oh yes, he's all right, but I'm +not keen on a _tete-a-tete_." + +After which hint, Ingred, who had some acquaintance with the perversity +of Quenrede's feminine mind, did exactly the opposite, and, abandoning +her basket to the custody of Mr. Broughten, left him helping her sister +to gather bluebells, and took herself off with Hereward. + +"He's not half bad!" she ruminated laughingly. "Not of course a fairy +prince exactly, or even a Member of Parliament, but the bubbles on the +pool by the whispering stones certainly came to 'J,' and his name is +'John,' for I asked Athelstane. There's the finger of fate about it, and +Queenie had better make up her mind." + +With Ingred, however, school matters were at present much more +interesting than speculating about her sister's possible future. It was +an interesting term at the College. Cricket and tennis were in full +swing, and she took an active part in both. The best of being at the +hostel was that the boarders had the benefit of the tennis courts in the +evening, and so secured an advantage in the matter of practice over any +girls who did not possess a private court at home. So far the College +had not competed in tournaments, but Blossom Webster was hopeful that +later on in the term some champions might be chosen who would not +disgrace the Games Club. Meantime she urged everybody to practice, and +coached her favorites with the eye of an expert. Nora was particularly +marked out for future distinction. She had made tremendous strides +lately, and her swift serves were the terror of her opponents. The +hostel felt justly proud of her achievements, and would collect in the +evening, after prep., to watch her play a set of singles with Susie +Wakefield, who, though older and taller, almost invariably lost. + +Susie had good points of her own, however, and with Nora as partner +could beat even Blossom and Aline occasionally. No doubt the future +credit of the school was in their hands. + +One evening it happened that Nora was in a particularly slashing and +reckless mood, and she sent no less than three balls flying straight +over the wall that bordered the tennis courts. They fell into the +premises of old Dr. Broadfield, whose garden adjoined that of the +school. They were not the first that had done so, indeed so many balls +had gone over lately that the loss was growing serious. At one time the +girls had been wont to ring Dr. Broadfield's front-door bell and beg +permission to pick up their property, but they had been received so +sourly by his elderly housekeeper, that they hardly dared to ask again. + +"Three good balls gone in half an hour!" grieved Verity. "There'll soon +be none left at this rate. I believe there must be a dozen at least +lying on the grass over there, only that stingy old thing won't throw +them back. It's really too bad." + +"How could we possibly get them?" ruminated Doreen. + +"Sham ill, get Dr. Broadfield to attend, and coax them out of him," +suggested Fil. + +Doreen shook her head. + +"He's not the school doctor, unfortunately. When Millie sprained her +ankle, Miss Burd sent for Dr. Harrison. We might fish for them with a +butterfly net tied to the end of a drilling pole, if they're anywhere +near enough." + +"They're not. I peeped over the wall and they've rolled quite a long way +off." + +"How weak! What are we to do?" + +"There's nothing for it," said Ingred slowly, "but to make a sally into +the enemy's trenches and fetch them back!" + +"Oh! I dare say! But who's going to do the sallying business?" + +"_I_ will, if you like." + +"_You!_" + +"Yes; I don't mind a scrap." + +"You heroine!" + +"Don't mensh!" + +"But suppose you're caught?" + +"I shall have to risk that, of course. I'll reconnoiter carefully +first." + +The boundary between the College premises and the property of Dr. +Broadfield was part of the old Abbey wall. The mortar had crumbled away +from the stones, leaving large interstices, so it was quite easy to +climb. With a little boosting from Verity and Nora, Ingred successfully +reached the top, and peered over into the neighboring garden. Just below +her was a rockery, which offered not only an easy means of descent, but +a quick mode of egress in the case of the necessity of beating a hasty +retreat. + +Beyond the flower-bed, and lying on the lawn, were no less than seven +tennis balls, marked with the unmistakable blue cross that claimed them +for the College. The sight was enough to spur on the faintest heart. +Apparently there was nobody in this part of the garden, and no watchful +face peered from any of the windows. It was certainly an opportunity +that ought not to be missed. Ingred slipped first one foot and then the +other over the wall, and dropped on to the rockery. It was the work of a +minute to pick up the balls and throw them back to rejoicing friends. If +she herself had followed immediately there would have been no sequel to +the episode. But happening to look under the bushes, she noticed another +ball, and went in quest of it. It seemed a shame to return until she had +found any that might have strayed farther afield, so she dived under the +rhododendron bushes, and was rewarded with two more balls. She had +issued out on to another part of the lawn, and was on the very point of +retreating, when she suddenly heard voices on the path between the +bushes. To run to the wall would be to cross open country, so, with an +instinctive desire to seek cover, she dived into a summer-house close +by, and shut the door. The footsteps came nearer. Were they going to +follow her into her retreat, and catch her? It would be too ignominious! +Peeping warily through a small window of the summer-house, she saw two +young people, apparently much interested in each other, strolling +leisurely up. To her immense relief they did not attempt to enter, but +sat down on a seat outside the window. They were so near that she could +perforce hear every word, and was an unwilling but compulsory +eavesdropper. + +At first the conversation consisted mostly of tender nothings: "He" +certainly called her "Darling!"; "She" replied: "Oh, Donald, don't!" and +a sound followed so suspiciously like a kiss that Ingred, only a few +feet away from them, almost giggled aloud. She wondered how long they +were going to keep her a prisoner. It might be very pleasant for +themselves to sit "spooning" in the garden on a mild May evening, but if +they prolonged their enjoyment beyond eight o'clock, the hostel +supper-bell would ring, and any girl not in her place at the table would +lose a mark for punctuality. + +"He" on the other side of the window, was waxing sentimental about old +times and bygone days. + +"I'm glad you're not a nun, darling!" he remarked fatuously. "If you had +lived in the ancient Abbey, I shouldn't have been able to walk about the +garden with you, should I?" + +"I suppose not," she ventured, "especially if you'd been a monk." + +"I dare say some of them _did_ manage to do a little love-making +sometimes, though. What's that story about the ghost?" + +"The White Nun, do you mean? The one that haunts the College gardens?" + +(Ingred pricked up her ears at this). + +"Yes. Isn't there some legend or other about her?" + +"I believe there is, but I've forgotten it. I only know she walks on +moonlight nights, down the steps by the sun-dial, and then disappears +into the wall near the Abbey. At least she's supposed to. I've never met +anybody who's seen her. Don't talk of such shuddery things! You make me +feel creepy!" + +Apparently he offered masculine protection, for another suggestive sound +was followed by a giggle and a remonstrance. The hostel bell was +ringing, and the Abbey clock was striking eight. Were they going to stay +talking all night? Ingred was growing desperate. She wondered how she +was going to explain her absence to Mrs. Best. She even debated whether +it would be advisable to open the summer-house door, bolt across the +lawn, and trust to luck that the matter was not reported at the College. +She had her hand on the latch when the feminine voice outside remarked: + +"It's getting chilly, Donald!" + +"Don't catch cold, darling!" with tender solicitude. "Would you rather +go indoors?" + +"Hooray!" triumphed Ingred inwardly, though she did not dare to utter a +sound. + +It took a little while for the lovers to get under way and finally +stroll back along the path among the bushes. Ingred gave them time to +walk out of sight and hearing, then made a dash for the rockery, +scrambled over the wall, tore across the tennis courts, and entered the +dining-room nearly ten minutes late for supper. Mrs. Best looked at her +reproachfully, and Doreen, who was monitress for the month, took a +notebook from her pocket and made an entry therein. Nora and Verity and +Fil went on eating sago blanc-mange with stolid countenances that +betrayed no knowledge of their room-mate's doings, but that night, when +The Foursomes met in the privacy of Dormitory 2, they demanded an +account of her adventure. + +She certainly had a piece of interesting news to confide. + +"Did you know that a ghost haunts the garden?" + +"No! Oh, I say, where?" + +"That part by the sun-dial. I've heard it called 'The Nun's Walk!'" + +"So have I; but I never knew there was a ghost!" + +"It's supposed to walk on moonlight nights." + +"How fearfully thrillsome!" + +"I've never seen a ghost!" shivered Fil. + +"No more have I--and I've never met anyone who exactly has. It's +generally their cousin's cousin who's told them about it." + +"There's a moon to-night," remarked Nora. + +"So there is!" + +The four girls looked at one another, hair brushes in hand. Each had it +on the tip of her tongue to make a suggestion. + +"I _dare_ you to go!" said Verity at last. + +"Not alone?" + +Fil was clutching already at Nora's hand. + +"Well, no! Hardly alone. I vote we all go together and try if we can see +anything." + +"It would be rather spooksomely jinky!" + +"Well, look here, don't let's undress properly, but get into bed, and +cover ourselves up until Nurse has been her rounds, then we'll slip +downstairs and out through the side door into the garden. Are you game?" + +"Who's afraid?" said Ingred valiantly. + +Upstairs in their bedroom, with the gas turned on, it was easy enough to +feel courageous. Their spirits rose indeed at the prospect of such an +adventure. Nurse Warner, who came into the room a little later, looked +round at the four beds, turned out the gas, and departed without a +suspicion. She had not been gone five minutes when a surreptitious +dressing took place, and four figures in dark coats stole down the +stairs. Though the building of the College might be absolutely modern, +the garden was a relic of mediaeval days. It had formerly belonged to the +nunnery of St. Mary's, and had adjoined the Abbey. Parts of the +crumbling old wall were still left, and a flagged path led from a +sun-dial to some ruins. In the day-time it was a cheerful place, and a +blaze of color. The girls had never before seen it in its night aspect. +On this May evening it had a quiet beauty that was most impressive. The +full moon shone on the great dark pile of the Abbey towers and the beech +avenue beyond. There was just light enough in the garden to distinguish +bushes as heavy masses, and to trace the paths from the grass. The air +was sweet with the scent of flowers. + +It is amazing how different conditions can alter a scene: at noon, with +the hum from the busy streets, it was commonplace enough; by moonlight +it became a mystic bower of enchantment. The girls walked along very +quietly, treading on the grass so as to make no noise. A slight mist was +rising from the ground near the Abbey; in the rays of the moon it +resembled a lake. Everything, indeed, was altered. The outline of the +sumach bush was like a crouching tiger; the laburnum tassels waved like +skeleton fingers. It seemed a witching, unreal world. + +Four rather scared girls crept along, clasping hands for moral support. +Each secretly would have been relieved to abandon the quest, but did not +like to be the first to turn tail. They had determined to walk from the +sun-dial to the Abbey wall and back again. So far the garden, though +mysterious, showed no signs of anything supernatural. They began to +pluck up courage, and even to talk to one another in low whispers. At +the ruins they turned and looked back towards the sun-dial. The +moonlight streamed along the flagged path, and shimmered on the clumps +of early yellow lilies. + +What was that, stealing from under the shelter of the hawthorn tree? The +girls gasped and almost stopped breathing. + +[Illustration: A TALL FIGURE, CLOTHED IN SOME WHITE GARMENT, WAS GLIDING +TOWARDS THEM.] + +A tall figure, clothed in some long white garment, was gliding towards +them. It kept in the shadow, and they could see no details, only a light +mass that was slowly and steadily advancing apparently straight to where +they were crouching beside the wall. Fil was trembling like a leaf, Nora +declared afterward that her hair stood on end, Ingred and Verity felt +shivers run down their spines. Nearer and nearer came the white figure. +Its approach was more than flesh and blood could stand. With a wild +shriek Fil dashed across the lawn, followed closely by Nora, Ingred, and +Verity. + +"Girls!" cried a clear and well-known voice. "Girls! Stop! What are you +doing here?" + +There was no mistaking the tone of command of the head-mistress. Four +amazed and crestfallen damsels halted and turned back, to find Miss +Burd, attired in a white dressing-gown, standing in the moonlight on the +grass. + +"What is the meaning of this?" she asked. "And why aren't you all in +bed?" + +It is always difficult to give explanations, and (to such a +matter-of-fact person as Miss Burd) it seemed particularly silly to have +to confess that they had come out ghost-hunting, and had mistaken her +for a spirit. She emptied the vials of her scorn upon their dejected +heads. + +"Don't let me hear of any more nonsense of this sort!" she finished. "I +should have thought you were too intelligent to believe in such rubbish. +As for leaving your dormitory at this hour, you deserve to be locked in +the cycle-shed for the night. I shall, of course, report you to Mrs. +Best, and none of you will play tennis for a week, as a punishment." + +Miss Burd, bristling with anger, swept the delinquents before her to the +door of the hostel, and watched them flee upstairs, then went to lay the +matter before Mrs. Best. + +In Dormitory 2, four girls got into bed at topmost speed. + +"Of all the ill-luck!" mourned Fil. + +"I didn't know Miss Burd prowled about the garden in a dressing-gown," +exclaimed Ingred. + +"She _did_ look exactly like a ghost!" confirmed Verity. + +"Tennis off for a whole week! Blossom will be furious! It's too +absolutely grizzly for anything!" groused Nora. "I wish the wretched old +ghost had been at Jericho before we went to look for it!" + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +Under the Lanterns + + +It is an ill wind that blows nobody good, and though Nora, Fil, Ingred, +and Verity might chafe at being debarred from tennis for a whole week, +their adventure in the garden had given them an idea. How it exactly +originated could not be decided, for each fiercely claimed the full +credit for it. Its evolution, however, was somewhat as follows: + + Stage 1. How lovely the garden looked in the evening. + + Stage 2. Why should we not _all_ enjoy it some time? + + Stage 3. Miss Burd evidently does. + + Stage 4. And looked very fascinating in her white dressing-gown. + + Stage 5. It was exactly like a fancy dress. + + Stage 6. Why should not we all wear fancy dress? + + Stage 7. _Let us ask Miss Burd to let the hostel have a fancy-dress + dance in the school garden._ + +Great minds generally think in company, and often hit upon the same +invention at the same moment, so perhaps all four girls had an equal +share in the brain-wave. They communicated it cautiously to companions, +and as it "caught on" they sounded Mrs. Best, and finding her favorably +disposed to the scheme, begged her to intercede for them with Miss Burd. +The head-mistress was wonderfully gracious about the matter, gave full +permission for the dance, promised to be present herself, and allowed +the invitation to be extended to any mistresses and seniors who would +care to join the party. It was quite a long time since the hostel had +had any particularly exciting doings, so that the girls flung themselves +into their preparation with much enthusiasm. Those who were lucky enough +already to possess fancy costumes, or who were able to borrow them, of +course scored, and the rest set to work to manufacture anything that +came to hand. It was to be in the nature of an impromptu affair, but a +few days' notice was given, and the girls were able to devote a Saturday +to the all-absorbing problem. Ingred, home for the week-end, enlisted +the help of Mother and Quenrede, and turned the bungalow almost upside +down in her quest for suitable accessories. She thought of a number of +characters she would have liked to impersonate, but was always balked by +the lack of some vital article of dress. + +"It's no use!" she lamented. "I can't be 'Joan of Arc' without a suit of +armor, or 'Queen Elizabeth' when I haven't a flowered velvet robe! I'm +so tired of all the old things! It's too stale to twist some roses in my +hair for 'Summer,' and I've been a gipsy so often that everybody knows +my red handkerchief and gilt beads. I'd as soon be a Red Indian squaw!" + +"And why shouldn't you be?" asked Quenrede. "It's a remarkably pretty +costume." + +"Oh, I dare say, if I could beg, borrow, or steal it!" + +"You've no need to do either, my dear. I've had a brain-wave, and we'll +fix it up for you at home. Yes, I mean it! Allow me to introduce myself: +'Miss Quenrede Saxon, Court Costumier. The very latest theatrical +productions.' I'll make you look so that your own mother will hardly +know you!" + +"I'd like to puzzle them!" rejoiced Ingred. "Miss Burd said she should +have a parade, and hinted something about a prize. They always give +points to whoever has the best disguise. Masks are barred, but we may +paint our faces. I think I shall be rather choice as a squaw!" + +"You ought to have me with you as your 'brave'!" chuckled Hereward. + +"It's a 'Ladies Only' dance, so you can't be invited, my boy! There +won't be a solitary masculine individual present--even the gardener will +have gone home." + +"You bet folks will peep in!" + +"No, they won't. The premises are strictly private." + +Quenrede was in some respects a clever and ingenious little person. She +was not much good at ordinary dressmaking, where fashion must be +followed, but she displayed great originality in her construction of +Ingred's fancy costume. There were two clean sacks in the house, and she +commandeered them. She cut one into a skirt and the other into a jumper, +stitched up the sides, and frayed out the bottoms to represent fringes. +Then she took her water-color paints, mixed them with Chinese white to +form a strong body color, and painted Indian patterns on both garments. +The head-dress she considered a triumph. She went to a neighboring +poultry farm, and boldly begged the tail feathers which had been plucked +the day before from some game fowls. These she glued round a cardboard +crown, and the effect was magnificent. A dress rehearsal was held, and +the family rejoiced over Ingred's most decidedly Wild West appearance. + +"You have a pair of real moccasins that Uncle Ernest sent you for +bedroom slippers. I'll cut some strips of cloth into fringe for +leggings, and you can wear Athelstane's leather belt, and carry an axe +for a tomahawk," said Quenrede, surveying her work with critical +satisfaction. "Don't forget to paint your face!" + +"I shan't show anyone my costume beforehand," chuckled Ingred. "I really +don't believe anyone will know me! What luck if I won a prize for the +best disguise!" + +"Bet you anything you like you don't!" murmured Hereward. + +"Why shouldn't I?" + +"Because there may be others even better!" + +"Well, of course, that's for Miss Burd to judge! But I think I've a +sporting chance, at any rate!" + +The dance was to be held on Monday evening after supper, when it was +just beginning to grow dusk. The mistresses had taken the matter up +quite enthusiastically, and had stretched some wires across the garden, +and hung up Chinese lanterns. The hostel piano had been pulled close to +the window, so that the strains of music could float out into the +garden. At least fifteen seniors had accepted the invitation, and it was +rumored that Miss Burd had invited a few private friends. Supper was +held earlier than usual, so as to allow time for the all-important +operation of dressing, and the moment it was finished every inmate of +the hostel fled to her bedroom. Dormitory 2 was naturally a scene of +much confusion. The girls tried to put on their own costumes and help +each other at the same time. Fil, as a Dresden China Shepherdess, needed +much assistance in the settling of her panniers, and the arrangement of +her curls, which by special permission from Mrs. Best had been twisted +up in curl papers from four o'clock until the last available moment, and +came out, much to Fil's satisfaction, in quite creditable ringlets. The +effect was so altogether charming that her room-mates called a general +halt for admiration. + +"You look like a mixture of Dolly Varden and Sweet Lavender, with a dash +of Maid Marian thrown in," decided Verity. + +"I hope my hair'll keep in curl! There's rather a damp feeling in the +air," fluttered Fil anxiously. + +"You could fly indoors, and give it a twist with the tongs, if it gets +very limp," suggested Nora. + +Nora herself was going as a personification of "The Kitchen." Her skirt +was draped with dusters and dish-cloths, she wore a small dish-cover as +a hat, clothes-pegs were suspended round her neck as a necklace, and she +brandished a rolling-pin in her hand. + +"I'm bound to be something comic," she assured the others. "I'd never +keep my face straight for a romantic character. I could no more live up +to Lady Jane Grey than I could fly! She's above me altogether!" + +Verity, who had borrowed a Dutch costume slightly too small for her, was +trying to squeeze her proportions into the tight velvet bodice, and +looked dubiously at the sabots. + +"I'll never be able to dance in those!" she decided. "I'll put them on +to start with, and then kick them off and slip on my sandals instead. +They're the most extraordinary clumpy things in the world, I feel like a +cat walking in walnut shells!" + +Ingred's toilet progressed very favorably till it came to the stage of +coloring her face. She was not quite sure as to the best means of +obtaining a Red Indian complexion. First she tried rubbing it with soil +from the garden, but that was a painful process which almost scraped the +skin from her cheeks. So she washed her face and used cocoa. She mixed +it in a cup and dabbed it over, but it would not go on smoothly, and the +result was so patchy and hideous that once more she brought out her +sponge and wiped it off. At that point Verity came to the rescue, +smeared the poor cheeks (already sore through such ill-treatment) with +vanishing cream, then powdered on some dry cocoa, which certainly gave a +dusky and non-European aspect to her features, especially when combined +with the feather head-dress. Her dark hair, plaited in two long tails, +completed the illusion. The girls held a complacent review of their +toilets, then walked downstairs with caution, for Nora's dish-cover was +difficult to balance as a hat, and Verity's heels kept slipping out of +the sabots. Fil's ringlets, alas! were already beginning to untwist, and +Ingred's jumper, put on in too big a hurry, showed symptoms of splitting +down the seam. There was no time for repairs of any sort, however. They +were five minutes late, and the rest of the company were assembled on +the lawn. The boarders from the hostel, together with mistresses and +seniors who had come by invitation, made a total of more than fifty +persons, all in fancy dress. + +These gay costumes were a pretty sight against the background of trees +and bushes and flower-beds. The sun had set, leaving a yellow glow in the +sky, and the Chinese lanterns were beginning to glow in the gathering +twilight. It was certainly a varied crowd; all centuries had met +together. A Japanese damsel walked arm-in-arm with a Lancashire witch; +an Italian peasant hob-a-nobbed with "The Queen of Sheba," a Spanish +lady was talking to "Old Mother Hubbard," while such characters as "A +Medicine Bottle," or "An Aeroplane" rubbed shoulders with an "Egyptian +Princess" or "Dick Whittington's Cat." + +Miss Burd, garbed appropriately as Chaucer's Prioress, received the +company at the top of the sun-dial steps, looking, in the opinion of the +Foursome League, quite sufficiently like the ghost of yesterday to have +justified squeals had they met her alone. When the ceremony of +introduction was over, the guests dispersed about the lawn, Miss Perry +struck up a waltz on the piano, and the fun began. Dancing on the grass, +in the growing darkness, with the Chinese lanterns sending out a soft +but uncertain radiance overhead, was a new experience to most of the +school. It was difficult not to step on to the flower-beds, or to brush +against the bushes. Trailing garments were decidedly in the way, and +came to grief. There was a delirious sort of Eastern feeling about it--a +kind of combination of "The Thousand and One Nights" and the "Rubaiyat +of Omar Khayyam." The Abbey tower for once seemed out of place, and +ought to have changed miraculously into a pagoda or a minaret. + +It was after the girls had been dancing for some little time that Ingred +first noticed a couple whom she did not remember to have seen before. +They followed persistently in her steps, and even gently bumped into her +once or twice, thus compelling her attention. She looked at them, +considerably mystified. One was attired in Early Victorian Costume, with +a crinoline, a little tippet, and a poke bonnet, from which peeped some +bewitching ringlets; the other, in a gorgeous Turkish costume, was +enveloped in a shimmering gauze veil. + +"Who are those?" Ingred asked her partner. + +But Verity could not tell. + +In the twilight it was, of course, easy to make mistakes, but Ingred +began to have a strong suspicion that neither of the mysterious partners +belonged to the school. They were certainly not members of the Fifth or +Sixth. Perhaps some of the Juniors had forced themselves in? No, they +were too tall for Juniors. + +"Perhaps they are ghosts!" shivered Verity. + +"Ghosts don't bump into people. These are real substantial flesh and +blood!" + +"It's so dark, we can hardly see." + +"Well, I vote we keep close to them, and next time we get near a +lantern, we'll turn the tables and bump into them, and try to see who +they are." + +It was easier said than done, however; the strangers seemed to have +changed their tactics, and instead of pursuing Ingred and Verity now +endeavored to avoid them. No "elusive Pimpernels" could have been more +difficult to follow. They would come quite close and then suddenly dodge +and glide away, only to reappear and repeat the same tantalizing +performance. Ingred and Verity began to get on their mettle. It was so +evidently done on purpose that they were fully determined to catch the +errant pair. After a long game at hide-and-seek they at last managed to +dance along side them, and laying violent hands upon them, to drag them +into the light of a lantern. As Ingred gazed for a moment in perplexity, +the Early Victorian lady gave a most un-Early Victorian wink inside the +poke bonnet. + +"Hereward! How _dare_ you!" gasped his sister. + +A firm hand drew her away from the light, and in the shelter of a laurel +bush, a voice, choking with laughter, proclaimed: + +"Done you, old girl! Done you brown! What about that bet? I told you +you'd never know me!" + +"You abominable young wretch," replied Ingred, laughing in spite of +herself. "How _did_ you manage it? And who is your friend?" + +"Allow me to introduce Vashti, Queen of Persia!" + +"Bunkum! It's a boy! I know it is!" + +The explosive sounds issuing from under the shimmering veil of Queen +Vashti certainly sounded more masculine than feminine, and that Persian +princess confessed presently to the name of Franklin. + +"He's a chum of mine," explained Hereward, "and he lives close by, so we +made it up to come together. His sister lent us the clothes and dressed +us. I say, your Prioress never found us out, did she? What about that +prize?" + +"There isn't going to be a prize, and you certainly wouldn't have +deserved it! Look here, you'd better wangle yourselves off before it +gets about who you are. _I_ should get into a row, not you!" + +"Would the Prioress kick up rough?" + +"She'd probably think I'd planned the whole business, and encouraged you +to come." + +"Even if we apologized?" + +"She wouldn't accept an apology. If you want me to have any tennis next +week, you had better clear out." + +"Just a round with you first, and Franklin can take your friend, or vice +versa if you prefer it!" + +"You impudent boy! Certainly not. I daren't risk it. Look, Miss Strong +is bringing out the lamp, and putting it on the sun-dial, and I believe +Miss Perry is going to take a flashlight photo presently. If you want to +disgrace me for ever----" + +"We'll go!" sighed a mournful voice. "Though it's Adam and Eve turned +out of Paradise. I say, Franklin, they don't want us, after all our +trouble! We'd better be getting on, I suppose. Our deepest respects to +the Prioress. She's given us a delightful evening, if she only knew it. +We'd like to come again some time. Ta-ta!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +The Abbey Recital + + +Now that Ingred had at last made friends with Bess, she found they had +innumerable subjects of interest in common. They were both keen tennis +players, dabbled a little in art, pursued Nature study, liked acting, +when they had any opportunity of showing their talents in that line, and +were enthusiastic over music. Bess was making as good progress on the +violin as Ingred on the piano, so there seemed great possibilities of +playing together. Sometimes when Bess brought her instrument to school +for her lesson, she and Ingred would try over a few pieces, and other +girls who chanced to be near would collect and act audience. + +"I vote we get up a musical society next year," suggested Ingred. "It's +impossible this term--we've too much on our hands already--but if the +societies are rearranged in September, we'll agitate to let music take a +much bigger place than it has done so far." + +"Yes, that would be glorious!" agreed Bess, with visions of a school +choir, and even a school orchestra, dancing before her eyes. "Signor +Chianti is leaving Grovebury, so if we have a new violin master next +term, I hope it will be somebody who's enthusiastic and able and willing +to organize things." + +"That's the point, of course. Dr. Linton is very able, but not willing +to bother with us beyond our lessons--he's so frightfully busy. I +suppose he feels that after training the Abbey choir, and conducting +choral societies to sing his cantatas, he doesn't care to trouble +himself over schoolgirls." + +"He's a _real_ musician, though. I often wish I could study under him. +I'd love to play something with him, just once, to see how it feels to +have him accompany me. I think it would be so inspiring, it would just +make one let oneself go! I stay every Sunday evening after service at +the Abbey to hear his recitals. Occasionally somebody plays the violin, +and his accompaniment is simply gorgeous. He manages to make it sound +like a whole orchestra. I've never played with an organ. It's so much +fuller than a piano." + +"Yes," agreed Ingred contemplatively. + +Bess's remarks had given her an idea, but she did not want to +communicate it at once to her friend. It was nothing more or less than +that she should ask Dr. Linton to allow Bess to play with him some time +in the Abbey. She wondered whether she dared. His temper was still +decidedly irritable, and it was quite uncertain whether he would receive +the suggestion graciously, or snap her head off. She thought, however, +it was worth venturing. + +"I'll try to catch him in an amiable mood," she decided. + +In order not to arouse any grounds for irritation, she practiced +particularly well, and took her next work to him at a high stage of +excellence. + +"Bravo!" he said, when she had finished her "Serenade." "I believe +you've really got some music in you! You brought out that crescendo +passage very well indeed. We want a little more delicacy in these +arpeggios, and then it will do. Your touch has improved very much +lately." + +It was so seldom that her master launched forth into praise, that Ingred +colored with pleasure. Now certainly seemed the time, if ever--to put in +a word for Bess. + +"Oh, Dr. Linton, may I ask you to do something for me?" she blurted out. + +He thrust back his hair with a mock-pathetic gesture. + +"What is it?" he inquired humorously. "Another autograph album? Or a +subscription? I've grown cautious by experience, and I don't answer +'Yes, thou shalt have it to the half of my kingdom!' I never give blind +promises." + +"It isn't an autograph album (though I'd be glad to have your name in +mine, all the same, if I may bring it some day), it is this: I've a +friend at school, Bess Haselford, who plays the violin very well. She +has lessons from Signor Chianti. She goes to all your recitals, and she +would so _love_ some time to try a piece over with the organ. Do you +think, some day when you are in the Abbey, you could let her? I know +it's fearful cheek to ask you!" + +"Why, bring her by all means," said Dr. Linton heartily. "Let me see, I +have an organ pupil to-morrow at 3.30. Suppose you come at half-past +four, and I'll give her ten minutes with pleasure. I can fit it in +before the choir practice, I dare say." + +"Oh, thank you!" exclaimed Ingred. "We can come straight on from +school." + +It was delightful to have caught Dr. Linton in such an amiable mood. +Ingred hastened to tell the good news to Bess, and also to beg the +necessary permission from Miss Burd. + +Bess, greatly thrilled, turned up next afternoon with her violin and +music-case, and when classes were over they walked across to the Abbey. +The pupil was just finishing his lesson, and some rather extraordinary +sounds were palpitating among the arches and pillars of the old Minster. + +"It must take ages to learn to manage all those stops and pedals +properly," commented Bess. "I'm glad a violin has only four +strings--they're quite enough!" + +They sat in a pew, and waited till the lesson was over, then ventured +into the chancel. Dr. Linton saw them in the looking-glass which hung +over his seat, and turning round beckoned them to him. + +"So you want to hear what it's like to play with an organ?" he said +kindly to Bess, sounding the notes for her to tune her violin, and at +the same time turning over her music. "What have we got here? It must be +something I know, so that I can improvise an accompaniment. Let us try +this Impromptu. Don't be afraid of your instrument, and bring the tone +well out. Remember, you're in a church, and not in a drawing-room." + +Bess, fluttered, nervous, but fearfully excited and pleased, declared +herself ready, and launched into the Impromptu. Dr. Linton accompanied +her with the finished skill of a clever musician. He subdued the organ +just sufficiently to allow the violin to lead, but brought in such a +beautiful range of harmonies that the piece really became a duet. + +"Why, that's capital!" he declared at the conclusion. "What else have +you inside that case? We'll have this Prelude now; it's rather a +favorite of mine. The Bourree? Oh, we'll take that afterwards!" + +Ingred had only expected Dr. Linton to play one piece with Bess, but he +went on and on, and even kept the choir waiting while he made her try +the Prelude over again. + +"I've had quite an enjoyable half-hour," he said, shutting the books at +last. "You're a sympathetic little player! Look here, the lady who was +to have helped me with my recital on Sunday week has failed me. Suppose +you take her place, and play the Prelude. It would go very well if we +practiced it a few times together." + +"Play at the recital!" gasped Bess. + +"Why not? Ask your father when you go home, and send me a note +to-morrow, for I want to get the thing fixed up. These boys are waiting +for me now. I have to train them for an anthem. You can come and +practice with me on Friday at the same time, 4.30." + +Dr. Linton dismissed the girls as if he took it entirely for granted +that the matter was settled. Bess was almost overwhelmed by the +proposal. It was considered a great honor to play in the Abbey, and she +had never dreamed that it could fall to her lot to be asked to take part +in the Sunday recital. She was not sure how her father and mother would +view the idea, but rather to her surprise they both readily acquiesced. + +"We shall have to get your grandfather to come over and hear you," said +Mr. Haselford. + +"Oh yes! And may I ask Ingred to stay with us for the week-end? You see, +she can't come all the way from Wynch-on-the-Wold for Sunday recitals, +and it's entirely owing to her that I'm playing. I should so like her to +be there." + +Ingred accepted the invitation with alacrity. She had grown very fond of +Bess lately--so fond, indeed, that Verity's nose was put considerably +out of joint. Verity, though an amusing school comrade, was not a "home" +friend. Apart from fun in their dormitory, she and Ingred had little in +common, and had never arranged to spend a holiday together. She was a +jolly enough girl, but so fond of "ragging" that it was impossible to do +anything but joke with her. Bess, on the contrary, was a real confidante +who could be trusted with secrets. The two friends spent an idyllic +Saturday together. Mr. Haselford motored over to Birkshaw to fetch his +father, and took the girls with him in the car. Mr. Haselford the elder +proved a delightful old gentleman, deeply interested in music, and much +gratified that his grand-daughter was to play at the Abbey. + +"It was a happy thought of yours, my dear!" he said to Ingred. "Why, +I've often attended those recitals, and never guessed little Bess would +be asked to take part in one! I sang in Grovebury Abbey choir when I was +a boy, and I've always had a tender spot in my heart for the old town." + +"And you're not going to forget it, are you, Grandfather?" said Bess +pointedly. + +"Well, well, we shall see," he evaded, stroking her brown hair. + +Even poor delicate Mrs. Haselford made a supreme effort and went to +church on Sunday evening. It was a beautiful service, and the old +Minster looked lovely with the late sunshine streaming through its +gorgeous west window. Some of the congregation went away after the +sermon and concluding hymn were over, but a large number stayed to hear +the recital. Bess, horribly nervous, went with Ingred to the choir, +where she had left her violin. There were to be two organ solos, and her +piece was to separate them. She was thankful she had not to play first. +She sat on one of the old carved Miserere seats, and listened as Dr. +Linton's subtle fingers touched the keys, and flooded the church with +the rich tones of Bach's Toccata in F Major. She wished it had been five +times as long, so as to delay her own turn. But a solo cannot last for +ever, and much too soon the last notes died away. There was a pause +while the verger fetched a music stand and placed it close to the +chancel steps. Dr. Linton was looking in her direction, and sounding the +A for her. With her usually rosy face almost pale, Bess walked to the +organ, tuned her violin, then took her place at the music stand. It was +seldom that so young a girl had played in the Abbey, and everybody +looked sympathetically at the palpably frightened little figure. It was +the feeling of standing there facing all eyes that unnerved poor Bess. +For a second or two her hand trembled so greatly that she could scarcely +hold her bow. Then by a sudden inspiration she looked over the heads of +the congregation to the west window, where the sunset light was gleaming +through figures of crimson and blue and gold. Down all the centuries +music had played a part in the service of the Minster. She would not +remember that people were there to listen to her, but would let her +violin give its praise to God alone. She did not need to look at her +notes, for she knew the piece by heart, and with her eyes fixed on the +west window she began the "Prelude." + +Once the first notes were started, her courage returned, and she brought +out her tone with a firm bow. The splendid harmonies of the organ +supported her and she seemed spurred along in an impulse to do her very +best. Ingred, listening in the choir, was sure her friend had never +played so well, or put such depth of feeling into her music before. It +was over at last, and in the hush of the church, Bess stole back to her +seat, while Dr. Linton plunged into the fantasies of a "Triumphal +March." + +"I'm proud of you!" whispered Ingred, as they walked down the aisle +together afterwards. + +"Oh, don't! I felt as if it wasn't half good enough," answered Bess, +giving a nervous little shiver now that the ordeal was over. + +When Ingred returned to Wynch-on-the-Wold next Friday afternoon she +found the family had some news for her. Old Mr. Haselford had been to +Mr. Saxon's office, and had confided to him a scheme that lay very near +to his heart. He had prospered exceedingly in his business affairs at +Birkshaw, and he was anxious to do something for his native town of +Grovebury, where he had been born and had spent his boyhood. He asked +Mr. Saxon to prepare designs for a combined museum and art gallery, +which he proposed to build and present to the public. + +"I can trust the architect of 'Rotherwood' to give us something in the +best possible taste," he had remarked. "I want the place to be an object +of beauty, not the blot on the landscape that such buildings often +prove. Fortunately I have the offer of a splendid site, so the plans +need not be hampered by lack of space. I think we shall be able to show +that the twentieth century can produce work of merit on its own lines, +without slavishly copying either the classical or the mediaeval style of +architecture." + +Old Mr. Haselford had even gone further. + +"My son's part of the business is now entirely at Grovebury," he +continued. "And I feel I should like him to have a house of his own. I +have bought five acres of land above the river at Trenton, on the hill, +where there is a glorious view of the valley. I don't ask you to copy +'Rotherwood,' for I know no architect cares to repeat himself, but a +place in the same style and with equal conveniences would suit us very +well. My daughter-in-law could talk over the details. It would make a +fresh interest for her. We are all tremendously keen about it." + +The new schemes which occupied the minds of the Haselfords brought great +rejoicings to the Bungalow. + +"Why, it will almost make Father's fortune!" triumphed Ingred, still in +a state of delighted bewilderment. + +"It will certainly be an immense pull to him professionally to have the +designing of an important public building," smiled Mother. "And I think +he will be able to plan a house to satisfy Mr. and Mrs. Haselford. It's +just the kind of work he likes." + +"Mother, when they leave Rotherwood, shall we have to let it to any one +else, or would it be possible----" Ingred hesitated, with the wish that +for nearly a year she had put resolutely away from her trembling on her +lips. + +"To go back there ourselves?" finished Mother. "If Father's affairs +prosper, as they seem likely to do at present, I think we may safely say +'yes.' It never rains but it pours, and just as his profession has +suddenly taken a leap forward, his private investments have picked up. +Colonial mines, that he thought utterly done for, have begun to work +again, and pay dividends. Our prospects now are very different indeed +from what they were a few months ago. Don't look too excited, Ingred! +Houses take a long time to build, nowadays, and it may be years before +Mr. Haselford's new place is finished, and we can get re-possession of +Rotherwood." + +"I don't care, so long as there's hope of ever having it again!" + +"It's our own home, and naturally we love it, but we must not forget +what a debt of gratitude we owe to the Bungalow. We have been very happy +here, and I think we have been thrown together, and have learnt to know +one another in a way we should never have done at Rotherwood. All the +sacrifices we have made for each other have drawn us far closer as a +family, and linked us up so that we ought never to be able to drift +apart now, which might have happened if we had all been able just to +pursue our own line. We have learnt the value here of simple pleasures, +we've enjoyed the moors and the flowers and the birds and the stars and +all the beautiful things that Nature can give us. The realization of +them is worth far more than anything that money can buy, for it's the +'joy that no man taketh from you.' I have grown to love +Wynch-on-the-Wold so dearly that I shall beg Father to keep on the +Bungalow as a country cottage, and I shall run out here for holidays +when I feel Rotherwood is too much for me, and I want to be alone for a +while with Nature." + +"I expect we'll all want to do just the same!" said Quenrede, looking +from the gay flower-beds, which her own hands had planted, over the +hedge to where the brown moors stretched away into the dim gray of the +distance. "I thought it was going to be hateful when I came here, but, +Muvvie, I think it's been the happiest year of my life! The country may +be quiet, but it has its compensation. We'll walk to the Whistling +Stones again, Ingred, as soon as you break up!" + +"And that will be exactly a week next Friday!" rejoiced Ingred. + +The school was busy with all the usual activities that seem to happen at +the end of the summer term. There was a successful cricket match with +the Girls' High School from Birkshaw, a tennis tournament where Nora and +Susie took part after all, and won laurels for the College, a Nature +Notebook Competition in which Linda, to every one's amazement, bore off +the first prize against all other schools in the town. + +Then there was the annual function, when parents were invited to see a +display of Swedish Drill, listen to three-part songs given by the +singing class, admire the drawings and clay models exhibited in the +studio, and watch a French play acted by the Sixth. It was at the close +of this performance that (when friends had taken their departure, and +Dr. Linton, who had conducted the singing class, had closed the grand +piano and had hurried across to the Abbey to keep an appointment with an +organ pupil) a certain piece of news leaked out, and began to circulate +round the school. Verity had the proud importance of carrying it into +the hostel. + +"Do you know," she announced, "that Miss Strong is engaged to Dr. +Linton, and they're to be married in the holidays?" + +Nora, who was changing a crepe de chine dress for a serviceable tennis +costume, collapsed on to her bed. + +"Hold me up!" she murmured dramatically. "Why, I didn't know he was a +widower!" + +"Of course he is," endorsed Ingred, "and a most uncomfortable one, I +should say. I went to his house once for a music lesson, and it looked +in a fearful muddle. Good old Bantam! We must give her congrats! She'll +soon get things into order there! I believe she adores little Kenneth. +I've often seen her taking him about the town. She shall have my +blessing, by all means!" + +"We might give her something more substantial than congrats and +blessings!" suggested Verity. "I vote we get up a subscription in the +form for a decent wedding present!" + +"Oh yes! Think of Sarkie as Mrs. Linton! They'll be the oddest couple! I +wonder if she'll get tired of perpetual music, and if he'll rage round +his own drawing-room and ruffle his hair when he feels annoyed, like he +does with his pupils!" + +"Perhaps she'll break him off bad habits! I could trust her to hold her +own." + +"Oh, she'll be the gray mare, don't you fear! But honestly I'm glad! She +has her points, and I hope she'll be happy." + +"I wonder who'll have her form next term?" + +"That doesn't concern us, for we shall probably be in the Sixth." + +"Help! So we shall! I can't bring my mind to it yet. It gives me +spasms!" + +"Quite a blossomy prospect, though!" + +On the afternoon before breaking-up day, the School Parliament met for +the last time. Lispeth, rather sad, and inclined to be sentimental, +reviewed from The Chair the events of the past year. + +"It has been pioneer work," she said. "I dare say we might have done it +better, but at least we've tried. We laid ourselves out to set a +standard for the tone of the school, and I think it has kept up fairly +well on the whole. The Rainbow League seems thoroughly established, and +likely to go on. May I read you some of the things it has done during +the year? We made four pounds for the 'War-Orphans Fund,' and sent +ninety-seven home-made toys to poor children's treats. The Posy Union +gave nine pots of crocuses and fifty-six bunches of flowers to cripples +and invalids; the penny-a-week subscriptions have kept two little girls +all the summer at the children's camp, and the Needlework Guild has made +thirty-seven garments. It doesn't sound much when you put it all in hard +black and white like that! I hate reports and statistics of societies, +they always sound to me somehow so pharisaical, as if we were saying: +'Look how good we are!' You know I don't mean that. What I _do_ mean, +though, is that we've tried not to run everything entirely for +ourselves. A rainbow shines when the world is clearing up, and perhaps +our little efforts, small as they are, show that things are moving in +the right direction. Next term all of us girls in the Sixth will have +left, and a new set will take the lead. I can't say yet who will be Head +of the school, but I don't fancy there's very much doubt about it. I +hope whoever has the reins will keep up what we have worked so hard for +this year." + +Lispeth was looking straight at Ingred as she spoke; her meaning was +unmistakable. Ingred blushed a faint rosy pink. It had only just dawned +upon her that next term would possibly bring her the greatest honor that +the College had to confer. + +"Whoever is chosen for head-girl," she stammered bashfully, "I'm sure +will try her very best to work for the good of the school. She couldn't +do more than you've done--probably she won't do half so well--but she'll +make an enormous effort to--shall we say--just 'carry on'!" + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A POPULAR SCHOOLGIRL*** + + +******* This file should be named 18505.txt or 18505.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/8/5/0/18505 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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