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diff --git a/21656-h/21656-h.htm b/21656-h/21656-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..75c79b3 --- /dev/null +++ b/21656-h/21656-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,10303 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" /> + <title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Princess of the School, by Angela Brazil + </title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + p { margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + + h1, h2 { + text-align: center; + clear: both; + } + + hr { width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; + } + + table { margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + } + + body { margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + + .pagenum { position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: smaller; + text-align: right; + } + + .blockquot { margin-left: 15%; + margin-right: 15%; + margin-top: 20px; + margin-bottom: 20px; + } + + .smcap { font-variant: small-caps; } + + .caption { font-size: 1.2em; + font-variant: small-caps; + } + + .figcenter { margin: auto; + margin-top: 40px; + margin-bottom: 40px; + text-align: center; + } + + .imgborder img { border: 2px solid #000; } + + .poem { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; margin-top: 20px; margin-bottom: 20px; text-align: left;} + .poem .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;} + .poem span.i0 {display: block; margin-left: 0em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i2 {display: block; margin-left: 2em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i4 {display: block; margin-left: 4em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + // --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Princess of the School, by Angela Brazil + +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: The Princess of the School + +Author: Angela Brazil + +Illustrator: Frank Wiles + +Release Date: June 1, 2007 [EBook #21656] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PRINCESS OF THE SCHOOL *** + + + + +Produced by Jana Srna, Suzanne Shell and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 398px;"> +<img src="images/title.jpg" width="398" height="600" alt="The Princess of the School, by Angela Brazil" title="" /> +</div> + +<div class="figcenter imgborder" style="width: 386px;"> +<img src="images/good-by.jpg" width="386" height="600" alt=""I've come to say good-by to you, sis"" title="" /> +<p><span class="caption">"i've come to say good-by to you, sis"</span></p> +</div> + +<div style="width: 400px; margin: auto; border: 6px double #000;"> +<h2>THE PRINCESS<br/> +OF THE SCHOOL</h2> + +<hr style="width: 90%; margin-top: 16px; margin-bottom: 16px;"/> + +<p class="smcap" style="text-align: center;">By ANGELA BRAZIL</p> + +<hr style="width: 90%; margin-top: 16px; margin-bottom: 16px;"/> + +<p style="text-align: center;" class="smcap">Author of</p> + +<p style="text-align: center;">"The Luckiest Girl in the School,"<br/> +"The Harum-Scarum Schoolgirl,"<br/> +"A Popular Schoolgirl,"<br/> +"The Head Girl at the Gables."</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 120px; margin-top: 20px; margin-bottom: 20px;"> +<img src="images/decoration.png" width="120" height="113" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<p style="text-align: center;">Illustrated by Frank Wiles.</p> + +<hr style="width: 90%; margin-top: 16px; margin-bottom: 16px;"/> + +<p style="text-align: center; font-size: 1.2em;">A. L. BURT COMPANY</p> +<p style="font-size: 1.2em; padding-left: 8px; padding-right: 8px;"><span style="float: left;">Publishers</span> <span style="float: right;">New York</span><br/></p> + +<p style="text-align: center;">Published by arrangement with Frederick A. Stokes Company</p> + +<p style="text-align: center;">Printed in U. S. A.</p> +</div> + +<p style="text-align: center; margin-top: 80px;"><em>Copyright, 1920, by</em><br/> +<span class="smcap">Frederick A. Stokes Company</span></p> + +<p style="text-align: center;"><em>All rights reserved</em></p> + +<p style="text-align: center; margin-top: 40px;"><em>First published in the United States of America, 1921</em></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%; margin-top: 10em;" /> +<h2><a name="Contents" id="Contents"></a>Contents</h2> + + + +<table style="width: 400px; text-align: left;" summary="contents"> +<tr> +<th style="text-align: right; font-weight: normal;" class="smcap">chapter</th> +<th style="width: 100%;"></th> +<th style="text-align: right; font-weight: normal;" class="smcap">page</th> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td style="text-align: right;"><a href="#CHAPTER_I">I</a></td> +<td class="smcap" style="padding-left: 20px;">The Ingleton Family</td> +<td style="text-align: right;">1</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td style="text-align: right;"><a href="#CHAPTER_II">II</a></td> +<td class="smcap" style="padding-left: 20px;">A Stolen Joy-ride</td> +<td style="text-align: right;">15</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td style="text-align: right;"><a href="#CHAPTER_III">III</a></td> +<td class="smcap" style="padding-left: 20px;">A Valentine Party</td> +<td style="text-align: right;">33</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td style="text-align: right;"><a href="#CHAPTER_IV">IV</a></td> +<td class="smcap" style="padding-left: 20px;">Disinherited</td> +<td style="text-align: right;">50</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td style="text-align: right;"><a href="#CHAPTER_V">V</a></td> +<td class="smcap" style="padding-left: 20px;">The New Owner</td> +<td style="text-align: right;">61</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td style="text-align: right;"><a href="#CHAPTER_VI">VI</a></td> +<td class="smcap" style="padding-left: 20px;">Princess Carmel</td> +<td style="text-align: right;">73</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td style="text-align: right;"><a href="#CHAPTER_VII">VII</a></td> +<td class="smcap" style="padding-left: 20px;">An Old Greek Idyll</td> +<td style="text-align: right;">88</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td style="text-align: right;"><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">VIII</a></td> +<td class="smcap" style="padding-left: 20px;">Wood Nymphs</td> +<td style="text-align: right;">100</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td style="text-align: right;"><a href="#CHAPTER_IX">IX</a></td> +<td class="smcap" style="padding-left: 20px;">The Open Road</td> +<td style="text-align: right;">114</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td style="text-align: right;"><a href="#CHAPTER_X">X</a></td> +<td class="smcap" style="padding-left: 20px;">A Meeting</td> +<td style="text-align: right;">129</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td style="text-align: right;"><a href="#CHAPTER_XI">XI</a></td> +<td class="smcap" style="padding-left: 20px;">A Secret Society</td> +<td style="text-align: right;">145</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td style="text-align: right;"><a href="#CHAPTER_XII">XII</a></td> +<td class="smcap" style="padding-left: 20px;">White Magic</td> +<td style="text-align: right;">157</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td style="text-align: right;"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">XIII</a></td> +<td class="smcap" style="padding-left: 20px;">The Money-makers</td> +<td style="text-align: right;">171</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td style="text-align: right;"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIV">XIV</a></td> +<td class="smcap" style="padding-left: 20px;">All in a Mist</td> +<td style="text-align: right;">190</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td style="text-align: right;"><a href="#CHAPTER_XV">XV</a></td> +<td class="smcap" style="padding-left: 20px;">On the High Seas</td> +<td style="text-align: right;">201</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td style="text-align: right;"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVI">XVI</a></td> +<td class="smcap" style="padding-left: 20px;">The Casa Bianca</td> +<td style="text-align: right;">215</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td style="text-align: right;"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVII">XVII</a></td> +<td class="smcap" style="padding-left: 20px;">Sicilian Cousins</td> +<td style="text-align: right;">229</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td style="text-align: right;"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVIII">XVIII</a></td> +<td class="smcap" style="padding-left: 20px;">A Night of Adventure</td> +<td style="text-align: right;">242</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td style="text-align: right;"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIX">XIX</a></td> +<td class="smcap" style="padding-left: 20px;">At Palermo</td> +<td style="text-align: right;">261</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td style="text-align: right;"><a href="#CHAPTER_XX">XX</a></td> +<td class="smcap" style="padding-left: 20px;">Old England</td> +<td style="text-align: right;">271</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td style="text-align: right;"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXI">XXI</a></td> +<td class="smcap" style="padding-left: 20px;">Carmel's Kingdom</td> +<td style="text-align: right;">283</td> +</tr> + +</table> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%; margin-top: 10em;" /> +<h1>THE PRINCESS OF THE SCHOOL</h1> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2 style="margin-top: 5em;"><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a><span class="smcap">chapter i</span></h2> +<h2>The Ingleton Family</h2> + + +<p>On a certain morning, just a week before<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[1]</a></span> +Christmas, the little world of school at Chilcombe +Hall was awake and stirring at an unusually +early hour. Long before the slightest hint of +dawn showed in the sky the lamps were lighted +in the corridors, maids were scuttling about, +bringing in breakfast, and Jones, the gardener, +assisted by his eldest boy, a sturdy grinning +urchin of twelve, was beginning the process of +carrying down piles of hand-bags and hold-alls, +and stacking them on a cart which was waiting in +the drive outside.</p> + +<p>Miss Walters, dreading the Christmas rush on +the railway, had determined to take time by the +forelock, and meant to pack off her pupils by the +first available trains, trusting they would most of +them reach their destinations before the overcrowding +became a serious problem in the traffic.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[2]</a></span> +The pupils themselves offered no objections to +this early start. The sooner they reached home +and began the holidays, so much the better from +their point of view. It was fun to get up by +lamp-light, when the stars were still shining in +the sky; fun to find that rules were relaxed, and +for once they might chatter and talk as they +pleased; fun to run unreproved along the passages, +sing on the stairs, and twirl one another +round in an impromptu dance in the hall.</p> + +<p>The particular occupants of the Blue Bedroom +had been astir even before the big bell clanged +for rising, so they stole a march over rival dormitories, +performed their toilets, packed their hand-bags, +strapped their wraps, and proceeded downstairs +to the dining-hall, where cups and plates +were just being laid upon the breakfast-table. It +was quite superfluous energy on the part of +Lilias, Dulcie, Gowan, and Bertha, for as a matter +of fact not one of them was on the list of +earliest departures, but the excitement of the general +exodus had awakened them as absolutely as +the advent of Santa Claus on Christmas mornings. +They stood round the newly-lighted fire, +warming their hands, chatting, and hailing fresh +arrivals who hurried into the hall.</p> + +<p>"You going by the 6.30, Edith? You lucker! +My train doesn't start till ten! I begged and +implored Miss Walters to let me leave by the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[3]</a></span> +early one, and wait at the junction, but she would +not hear of it, so I've got to stop here kicking my +heels, and watch you others whisked away. Isn't +it a grisly shame?"</p> + +<p>Gowan's round rosy face was drawn into a decided +pout, and her blue eyes were full of self-pity. +She had to be sorry for her own grievance, +because nobody else had either time or much inclination +to sympathize; they were all far too +much excited about their own concerns.</p> + +<p>"Well, you'll get off sometime, I suppose," +returned Edith airily. "There are twelve of us, +all going together as far as Colminster. We +mean to cram into one carriage if we can. Don't +suppose the train will be full, as it's so early. I +thought you were coming with us, Bertha, but +Miss Hardy says you're not!"</p> + +<p>"Dad changed his mind at the last minute, and +promised to send the car to fetch me. It's only +forty miles by road, you know, though it takes +hours by the train. He seemed to think I should +lose either myself or my luggage at Sheasby Junction, +and it is a horrid place to change. You +never can get hold of a porter, and you don't +know which platform you'll start from."</p> + +<p>"How are you going home, Lilias?" asked +Noreen, who with several other girls had joined +the group at the fire.</p> + +<p>Lilias, squatting on the fender, stretching two<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[4]</a></span> +cold hands towards the blazing sticks, looked up +brightly.</p> + +<p>"We're riding! Astley and Elton are to fetch +Rajah and Peri over for us. Grandfather said +they needed exercise. I don't suppose he'd have +thought of it, only Dulcie wrote to Cousin Clare +and begged her to ask him. Won't it be just +splendiferous? We haven't had a ride the whole +term, and I'm pining to see Rajah!"</p> + +<p>"Grandfather had promised to let us ride to +school in September," put in Dulcie, "but Everard +and a friend of his commandeered the horses +and went to Rasebury, so we couldn't have them, +and we were so disappointed. I do hope nothing +will happen to stop them this time! Everard +was to arrive home yesterday, so he'll be before +us. I shan't ever be friends with him again if he +plays us such a mean trick!"</p> + +<p>"It's 'coach—carriage—wheelbarrow—truck,' +it seems to me, the way we're all trotting +home!" laughed Edith. "If I could have my +choice, I'd sprint on a scooter!"</p> + +<p>"Next term we'll travel by private aeroplane, +specially chartered!" scoffed Noreen.</p> + +<p>"I don't mind how I go, so long as I get off +somehow!" chirped Truie. "Thank goodness, +here come the urns at last! I began to think +breakfast would never be ready. We want to +have time to eat something before we start."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[5]</a></span>Miss Walters' excellent arrangements had left +ample time for the healthy young appetites to be +satisfied before the taxis arrived at the door to +convey the first contingent of pupils to the station. +Sixteen girls, under the escort of a mistress, +took their departure in the highest of spirits, +packed as tightly as sardines, but managing to +wave good-bys. Their boxes had been dispatched +the previous day, their hand-bags had +gone on by cart before breakfast and would be +waiting for them at the station, where Jones, that +most useful factotum, would, by special arrangement +with the station-master, be taking their +tickets before the ordinary opening of the booking-office.</p> + +<p>Though the departure of sixteen girls made +somewhat of a clearance at Chilcombe Hall, Miss +Walters' labors were not yet over. There was +a train at eight and a train at ten, and the young +people who had to wait for these found it difficult +to know how to employ the interval until it +was their turn to enter the taxis. By nine o'clock +Lilias and Dulcie, ready in their riding habits, +were looking eagerly out of the dining-hall window +along the drive which led to the gate.</p> + +<p>"I know Elton would be early," said Dulcie. +"It's always Astley who stops and fusses. It +was the same when Everard went cub-hunting. +You don't think there's a hitch, do you?" (uneasily).<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[6]</a></span> +"Shall we get a horrid yellow envelope +and a message to say 'Come by train'? It would +be <em>too</em> bad, and yet, it's as likely as not!"</p> + +<p>Dulcie's fears, which in the course of twenty +minutes' waiting and watching had almost conjured +up the telegraph boy with his scarlet bicycle +and brown leather wallet, were suddenly dispelled, +however, by a brisk sound of trotting, and +a moment later appeared the welcome sight of +her grandfather's two grooms riding up to the +house, each leading a spare horse by the rein. +Those schoolfellows who had not yet departed +to the station came to the door to witness the +interesting start. A sleek, well-groomed horse is +always a beautiful object, and the girls decided +unanimously that Lilias and Dulcie were lucky to +be carried home in so delightful a fashion. They +watched them admiringly as they mounted. +Edith stroked Rajah's smooth neck as she said +good-by to her friends.</p> + +<p>"Riding beats motoring in my opinion," she +vouchsafed, "though of course you can go farther +in a car. Perhaps I shall pass you on the +road."</p> + +<p>"No, you won't, for we're taking a short cut +across country. We always choose by-lanes if +we can. Write and tell me if you get a motor-scooter. +They sound fearfully thrillsome. +Good-by, see you again in January!"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[7]</a></span>"Good-by! and a merry Christmas to everybody!" +added Dulcie, turning on her saddle to +wave a parting salute to those who were left behind +on the doorstep.</p> + +<p>The two girls walked their horses down the +drive, but once out on the level road they trotted +on briskly, with the grooms riding behind. They +formed quite a little cavalcade as they turned +from the hard motor track down the grassy lane +where a dilapidated sign-post pointed to Ringfield +and Cheverley. It was a distance of seven good +country miles from Chilcombe Hall to Cheverley +Chase, and, as the events of this story center +largely round Lilias and Dulcie, there will be +ample time to describe them while they are wending +their way through the damp of the misty +December morning, up from the low-lying river +level to the hill country that stretched beyond.</p> + +<p>Lilias was just sixteen, and very pretty, with +gray eyes, fair hair, a straight nose, and two +bewitching dimples when she smiled. These +dimples were rather misleading, for they gave +strangers the impression that Lilias was humorous, +which was entirely a mistake: it was Dulcie +who was the humorist in reality, Dulcie whose +long lashes dropped over her shy eyes, and who +never could say a word for herself in public, +though in the society of intimate friends she could +be amusing enough. Dulcie, at fourteen, seemed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[8]</a></span> +years younger than Lilias; she did not wish to +grow up too soon, and thankfully tipped all responsibilities +on to her elder sister. Cousin +Clare always said there were undiscovered depths +in Dulcie's character, but they were slow in development, +and at present she was a childish little +person with a pink baby face, an affection for +fairy tales, and even a sneaking weakness for her +discarded dolls. Life, that to Lilias seemed a +serious business, was a joyous venture to Dulcie; +she had a happy knack of shaking off the unpleasant +things, and throwing the utmost possible +power of enjoyment into the nice ones. If innocent +happiness is the birthright of childhood, +she clung to it steadfastly, and had not yet +exchanged it for the red pottage of worldly +wisdom.</p> + +<p>Ever since Father and Mother, in the great +disaster of the wreck of the <em>Titanic</em>, had gone +down together into the gray waters of the Atlantic, +the Ingleton children had lived with their +grandfather, Mr. Leslie Ingleton, at Cheverley +Chase. There were six of them, Everard, Lilias, +Dulcie, Roland, Bevis, and Clifford, and as time +passed on, and the memory of that tragedy in mid-ocean +grew faint, the Chase seemed as entirely +their home as if they had been born there. In +Everard's opinion, at any rate, it belonged to +them, as it had always belonged to the prospective<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[9]</a></span> +heirs of the Ingleton family. And that +family could trace back through many centuries to +days of civil wars and service for king and country, +to crusades and deeds of chivalry, and even +to far-away ancestors who gave counsel at Saxon +Witenagemots. Norman keep had succeeded +wooden manor, and that in its turn had given +place to a Tudor dwelling, and both had finally +merged into a long Georgian mansion, with +straight rows of windows and a classic porch, not +so picturesque as the older buildings, but very +convenient and comfortable from a modern point +of view. The lovely gardens, with their clipped +yew hedges, were one of the sights of the neighborhood, +and it was a family satisfaction that the +view from the terrace over park, wood, and +stream showed not a single acre of land that was +not their own.</p> + +<p>Mr. Leslie Ingleton, a fine type of the old-fashioned, +kindly, but autocratic English squire, +belonged to a bygone generation, and found it +difficult to move with the march of the times. +Because he had spent his seventy-four years of +life on the soil of Cheverley, the people tolerated +in "the ould squire" many things that they would +not have passed over in a younger man or a +stranger. They shrugged their shoulders and +gave way to his well-meant tyranny, for man and +boy, everybody on the estate had experienced his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[10]</a></span> +kindness and realized his good intentions towards +his tenants.</p> + +<p>"If he does fly off at a tangent, ten to one Miss +Clare'll be down the next day and set all straight +again," was the general verdict on his frequent +outbursts.</p> + +<p>Cheverley Chase would have been quite incomplete +without Cousin Clare. She was a second +cousin of the Ingletons, who had come to tend +Grandmother in her last illness, and after her +death had remained to take charge of the household +and the newly-arrived family of grandchildren. +She was one of those calm, quiet, big-souled +women who in the early centuries would +have been a saint, and in mediæval times the abbess +of a nunnery, but happening to be born in +the nineteenth century, her mental outlook had +a modern bias, and both her philanthropy and her +religious instincts had developed along the latest +lines of thought. She had schemes of her own +for work in the world, but at present she was doing +the task that was nearest in helping to bring +up the motherless children who had been placed +temporarily in her care. To manage this rather +turbulent crew, soothe the irascible old Squire, +and keep the general household in unity was a +task that required unusual powers of tact, and a +capacity for administration and organization that +was worthy of a wider sphere. She might be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[11]</a></span> +described as the axle of the family wheel, for she +was the unobtrusive center around which everything +unconsciously revolved.</p> + +<p>But by this time Lilias and Dulcie will have +ridden up hill and down dale, and will be turning +Rajah and Peri in at the great wrought-iron gates +of Cheverley Chase, and trotting through the +park, and up the laurel-bordered carriage drive to +the house. There was quite a big welcome for +them when they arrived. Everard had returned +the day before from Harrow, Roland was back +from his preparatory school, and the two little +ones, Bevis and Clifford, had just said good-by +for three weeks to their nursery governess, and +in consequence were in the wildest of holiday +spirits. There was a general family pilgrimage +round the premises to look at all the most cherished +treasures, the horses, the pigeons, the pet +rabbits, the new puppies, the garden, and the +woods beyond the park; there were talks with the +grooms and the keepers, and plans for cutting +evergreens and decorating both the house and +the village church in orthodox Christmas fashion.</p> + +<p>"It's lovely to be at home again," sighed Lilias +with satisfaction, as the three elder ones sauntered +back through the winding paths of the terraced +vegetable garden.</p> + +<p>"And such a home, too!" exulted Dulcie.</p> + +<p>"Rather!" agreed Everard. "That was exactly<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[12]</a></span> +what was in my mind. The first thing I +thought when I looked out of the window this +morning was: 'What a ripping place it is, and +some day it will be all mine.'"</p> + +<p>"Yours, Everard?"</p> + +<p>"Why, of course. Who's else should it be? +The Chase has always gone strictly in the male +line, and I'm the oldest grandson, so naturally +I'm the heir. It goes without saying!"</p> + +<p>Dulcie's pink face was looking puzzled.</p> + +<p>"Do you mean to say if Grandfather were to +die, that everything would be yours?" she asked. +"Would you be the Squire?"</p> + +<p>"I believe I'm called 'the young squire' already," +replied Everard airily.</p> + +<p>"But what about the rest of us?" objected +Dulcie.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I'd look after you, of course! The heir +always does something for the younger ones. +You needn't be afraid on that score!"</p> + +<p>Everard's tone was magnanimous and patronizing +in the extreme. He was gazing at the house +with an air of evident proprietorship. Dulcie, +who had never considered the question before, +revolved it carefully in her youthful brain for a +moment or two; then she ventured a comment.</p> + +<p>"Wouldn't it be fairer to divide it?"</p> + +<p>"Nonsense, Dulcie!" put in Lilias. "You +don't understand. Properties like this are never<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[13]</a></span> +divided. They always go, just as they are, to +the eldest son. You couldn't chop them up into +pieces, or there'd be no estate left."</p> + +<p>"Couldn't one have the house and the other +the wood, and another the park?"</p> + +<p>"Much good the house would do anybody +without the estate to keep it up!" grunted Everard. +"Dulcie, you're an utter baby. I don't +believe you ever see farther than the end of your +silly little nose. You may be glad you've got a +brother to take care of you."</p> + +<p>"But haven't I as much right here as you?" +persisted Dulcie obstinately.</p> + +<p>"No, you haven't; the heir always has the best +right to everything. Cheer up! When the +place is mine, I mean to have a ripping time here! +I'll make things hum, I can tell you—ask my +friends down, and you girls shall help to entertain. +I've planned it all out. I suppose I shall +have to go to Cambridge first, but I'll enjoy myself +there too—you bet! On the whole I think +I was born under a lucky star! Hallo! there goes +Astley; I want to speak to him."</p> + +<p>Everard whistled to the groom, and ran down +the garden, leaving his sisters to return to the +house. At seventeen he was a fair, handsome, +dashing sort of boy, of a type more common +thirty years ago than at present. He held closely +to the old-fashioned ideas of privileges of birth,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[14]</a></span> +and, according to modern notions, had contracted +some false ideals of life. He had lounged +through school without attempting to work, and +was depending for all his future upon what should +be left him by the industry of others. All the +same, in spite of his attitude of "top dog" in the +family, he was attractive, and inclined to be generous. +Like most boys of seventeen, he had +reached the "swollen head" stage, and imagined +himself of vastly greater importance than he really +was. The sobriquet of "the young squire" +pleased his fancy, and he meant to live up to what +he considered were the traditions of so distinguished +a title.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2 style="margin-top: 5em;"><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a><span class="smcap">chapter ii</span></h2> +<h2>A Stolen Joy-ride</h2> + + +<p>Christmas passed over at Cheverley Chase in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[15]</a></span> +good old-fashioned orthodox mode. The young +Ingletons, with plenty of evergreens to work +upon, performed prodigies in the way of decorations +at church and home. They distributed +presents at a Christmas-tree for the children of +tenants, and turned up in a body to occupy the +front seats at the annual New Year's concert in +the village. When the usual festivities were finished, +however, time hung a little heavy on their +hands, and one particular morning found them +lounging about the breakfast-room in the especially +aggravating situation of not quite knowing +what to do with themselves.</p> + +<p>"It's too bad we can't have the horses to-day!" +groused Dulcie. "I'd set my heart on a +ride, and I can't get on with my fancy work till I +can go to Balderton for some more silks."</p> + +<p>"And I want some wool," proclaimed Lilias, +stopping from a rather unnecessary onslaught of +poking at the fire. "There's never anything fit<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[16]</a></span> +to buy at this wretched little shop in the village!"</p> + +<p>"Except bacon and kippers!" grinned Roland.</p> + +<p>"I can't knit with kippers!"</p> + +<p>"Fact is, we're all bored stiff!" drawled +Everard from the sofa, flinging away the book he +was reading, and stretching his arms in the luxury +of a long-drawn yawn. "What should you say +to a turn in the car? Wouldn't it be rather +sport, don't you think?"</p> + +<p>"If Grandfather would spare Milner to take +us!" said Lilias doubtfully.</p> + +<p>"We don't want Milner. <em>I'll</em> drive you! I +can manage a car as well as he can, any day. +Don't get excited, you kids! <em>No</em>, Bevis, I shall +certainly <em>not</em> allow you to try to drive! There's +only going to be one man at that job, and that's +myself!"</p> + +<p>"Shall we go and ask Grandfather?" suggested +Dulcie.</p> + +<p>"Right you are! No, not the whole of us," +(as there was a general family move). "Three's +enough!"</p> + +<p>So a deputation, consisting of Everard, Lilias, +and Dulcie, promptly presented themselves at the +study door and tapped for admission. As there +was no reply to a second rap, they opened the +door and walked into the room. Grandfather +was rather deaf, and sometimes, when he had +ignored a summons, he would say: "Well, why<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[17]</a></span> +didn't you come in?" He was generally to be +found writing letters at this hour in the morning, +but to-day the revolving chair was empty. He +had apparently begun his usual correspondence, +for his desk was littered with papers. Leaning +up against the ink-pot there was a photograph. +The young people, who had walked across the +room towards the window, could not fail to notice +it, for it was tilted in such a prominent place +that it at once attracted their attention. It represented +a very pretty dark-eyed young lady, holding +a baby on her lap, with a slight background +of Greek columns. The decidedly foreign look +about it was justified by the photographer's name +in the corner: "Carlo Salviati, Palermo." +Over the top was written in ink, in a man's handwriting: +"My wife and Leslie, from Tristram."</p> + +<p>"Who is it?" asked Everard, gazing at the +portrait with curiosity. "She's rather decent +looking. Never seen her here, though, that I can +remember!"</p> + +<p>"It's a ducky little baby! But who is Tristram?" +said Dulcie.</p> + +<p>"We had an Uncle Tristram once," answered +Lilias doubtfully.</p> + +<p>"Why, but he died years and years ago, when +we were all kids!" returned Everard.</p> + +<p>"I know. He was the only Tristram in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[18]</a></span> +family, though. I can't imagine who these two +can be. Leslie, too! Why, that's Grandfather's +name! Was the baby christened after him?"</p> + +<p>"We'll ask Cousin Clare sometime," said Dulcie, +so interested that she could scarcely tear +herself away. "I really want to know most fearfully +who they are."</p> + +<p>"Oh, don't bother about photos at present! +Let's find Grandfather!" urged Everard. +"Perhaps he's gone down to the stables, or he +may be in the gun-room."</p> + +<p>On further inquiry, however, they ascertained +that a telegram had arrived for Mr. Ingleton, on +the receipt of which he had consulted Miss Clare, +had ordered the smaller car, and they had both +been driven away by Milner, the chauffeur, and +were not expected back until seven or eight o'clock +in the evening. This was news indeed. For a +whole day the heads of the establishment would +be absent, and the younger generation had the +place to themselves. For the next eight hours +they could do practically as they pleased.</p> + +<p>Everard stood for a moment thinking. He +did not reveal quite all that passed through his +mind, but the first instalment was sufficient for the +family.</p> + +<p>"We'll get out the touring car, take some lunch +with us, and have a joy-ride."</p> + +<p>Five delighted faces smiled their appreciation.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[19]</a></span>"Oh, Everard! Dare we?" Dulcie's objection +was consciously faint.</p> + +<p>"Why not? When Grandfather's away, I +consider I've a right to take his place and use the +car if I want. I'm master here in his absence! +I'll make it all right with him; don't you girls +alarm yourselves! Tear off and put on your +coats, and tell Atkins to pack us a basket of lunch, +and to put some coffee in the thermos flasks."</p> + +<p>With Everard willing to assume the full responsibility +the girls could not resist such a tempting +offer, while the younger boys were, of course, +only too ready to follow where their elders led. +Elton, the groom, made some slight demur when +Everard went down to the motor-house and began +to get out the big touring-car, but the boy +behaved with such assurance that he concluded +he must be acting with his grandfather's permission. +Moreover, Elton was in charge of the +horses, and not the cars, and Milner, the chauffeur, +who might reasonably have raised objections, +was away driving his master.</p> + +<p>The cook, who perhaps considered it was no +business of hers to offer remonstrances, and that +the house would be quieter without the young +folks, hastily packed a picnic hamper and filled +the thermos flasks. A rejoicing crew carried +them outside and stowed them in the car.</p> + +<p>It seemed a delightful adventure to go off in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[20]</a></span> +this way entirely on their own. There was some +slight wrangling over seats, but Everard settled +it in his lofty fashion.</p> + +<p>"You'll sit where I tell you. I'll have Lilias +in front, and the rest of you may pack in behind. +If you don't like it, you can stop at home. No, +I'm not going to have you kids interfering here, +so you needn't think it."</p> + +<p>Everard had been taught by the chauffeur to +drive, and could manage a car quite tolerably +well. He possessed any amount of confidence, +which is a good or bad quality according to circumstances. +He ran the large touring "Daimler" +successfully through the park, and turned +her out at the great iron gateway on to the highroad. +Everybody was in the keenest spirits. It +was a lovely day, wonderfully mild for January, +and the sunshine was so pleasant that they hardly +needed the thick fur rugs. There seemed a hint +of spring in the air; already hazel catkins hung +here and there in the hedgerows, thrushes and +robins were singing cheerily, and wayside cottages +were covered with the blossom of the yellow jessamine. +It was a joy to spin along the good +smooth highroad in the luxurious car. Everard +was a quick driver, and kept a pace which sometimes +exceeded the speed limit. Fortunately his +brothers and sisters were not nervous, or they +might have held their breath as he dashed round<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[21]</a></span> +corners without sounding his horn, pelted down +hills, and on several occasions narrowly avoided +colliding with farm carts. A reckless boy of +seventeen, without much previous experience, +does not make the most careful of motorists. As +a matter of fact it was the first time Master +Everard had driven without the chauffeur at his +elbow, and, though he got on very well, his performance +was not unattended with risks.</p> + +<p>Towards one o'clock the crew at the back began +to clamor for lunch, and to suggest a halt +when some suitable spot should be reached. The +difficulty was to find a place, for they were driving +so fast that by the time the younger boys had +called out the possibilities of some wood or small +quarry, the car had flown past, and, sooner than +turn back, Everard would say: "Oh, we'll stop +somewhere else!"</p> + +<p>By unanimous urging, however, he was at last +persuaded to halt at a picturesque little bridge in +a sheltered hollow, where they had the benefit of +the sunshine and escaped the wind. A small +brook wandered below between green banks +where autumn brambles still showed brown leaves, +and actually a shriveled blackberry or two remained. +There was a patch of grass by the roadside, +and here Everard put the car, to be out of +reach of passing traffic, while its occupants spread +the rugs on the low wall of the bridge, and began<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[22]</a></span> +to unpack their picnic baskets. Cook had certainly +done her best for them: there were ham +sandwiches and pieces of cold pie, and jam turnovers, +and slices of cake, and some apples and +oranges, and plenty of hot coffee in the thermos +flasks.</p> + +<p>"It's ever so much nicer to have one's meals +out-of-doors, even in January!" declared Bevis, +munching a damson tartlet, and dropping stones +into the brook below. "I believe it's warm +enough to wade. That water doesn't look cold, +somehow!"</p> + +<p>"No, you don't!" said Lilias briskly. "You +needn't think, just because Miss Mason isn't here, +you can do all the mad things you like. It's no +use beginning to unlace your boots, for I shan't +let you wade, or Clifford either! The idea! In +January!"</p> + +<p>"Why not?" sulked Bevis. "I didn't ask +<em>you</em>, Lilias. Everard won't say no!"</p> + +<p>"You can please yourselves," answered his +eldest brother, "but <em>I'm</em> going to take the car on +now. If you stay and wade, you'll have to walk +home, that's all! I certainly shan't came back +for you."</p> + +<p>At so awful a threat the youngsters, who had +really meant business where the water was concerned, +hurriedly relaced their boots, and ran to +take their places in the car; the girls finished packing<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[23]</a></span> +the remains of the picnic in the basket, and +followed, and soon the engine was started again, +and they were once more flying along the road.</p> + +<p>Everard had brought out the family for a joy-ride +without any very particular idea of where +they were going, though he was steering generally +in the direction of the Cleland Hills. To his +mind the chief fun of the expedition lay in simply +taking any road that looked interesting, without +regard to sign-posts. The others trusted implicitly +to his powers of path-finding, and had really +not the slightest idea in what part of the country +they were traveling. After quite a long time, +however, it occurred to Lilias to ask where they +were, and how long it would take them to get +home again.</p> + +<p>"We've come such a roundabout route, I +scarcely know," replied Everard. "Those are +the Cleland Hills in front of us, though, and if +we bowl straight ahead, and go over them, we +shall get to Clacton Bridge; then we can get the +straight highroad back to Cheverley."</p> + +<p>"We shan't be home before it's dark, +though?"</p> + +<p>"Well, no! But the head lights are working +all right—I tried them before we started."</p> + +<p>"It will be fun to drive in the dark!" chuckled +the boys behind.</p> + +<p>"I hope we shall be back before Grandfather<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[24]</a></span> +and Cousin Clare, though," said Dulcie a little +uneasily.</p> + +<p>The road over the Cleland Hills was much +wilder than they expected, and it was very stony +and bad. Up and up they went till walls, hedges +and farms had disappeared, and only the lonely +moor lay on either side of the rough track. It +was a place where no motorist in his senses would +have ventured to take a car, the extreme roughness +of the road made steering difficult, and the +strain on the tires was enormous. Instead of +driving cautiously, Everard plunged along with +all the hardihood of youth, bumping anyhow over +ruts and stones. They were just beyond the +brow of the hill when a loud bang, followed by a +grinding sensation, announced the bad news that +one of their tires had burst.</p> + +<p>"What beastly bad luck!" lamented Everard, +getting out to inspect the injured cover. "It +might have had the decency to keep up till we had +reached civilization! Well, there's nothing for +it but to put on the spare tire. I've helped Milner +to do it before, so I can manage. It's a +bother we left the spare wheel at home. I shall +want some of you to help me, though."</p> + +<p>Everard had indeed rendered some assistance +to the chauffeur on various occasions, but it was +quite another matter to perform the troublesome +operation of changing the tire with only two girls<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[25]</a></span> +and three young brothers to lend a hand. In +their inexperienced enthusiasm, they did all the +wrong things, very nearly nipped the tube, mislaid +the tools, and pulled where they should have +pushed. It was only after nearly an hour's work +that Everard at last managed to get the business +finished. The family, warm and excited, packed +once more into the car.</p> + +<p>"Well, I hope we shall have no more troubles +now!" exclaimed Lilias, who was growing tired +and longing for home and tea. "What's the +matter, Everard?"</p> + +<p>"Matter! Why, she won't start, that's all!"</p> + +<p>Here was a predicament! Whether the bumping +up the rough road had thrown some delicate +piece of mechanism out of gear, or the waiting in +the cold had cooled the engine, it was impossible +to say, but nothing that Everard could do would +induce the car to start. He examined everything +which his rather limited knowledge of motorology +suggested might be the cause of the stoppage, but +with no result. After half an hour's tinkering, +he was obliged ruefully to acknowledge himself +utterly baffled.</p> + +<p>They were indeed in an extremely awkward +situation, stranded on a wild moor, probably sixty +miles from home, and with the short winter's day +closing rapidly in.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[26]</a></span>"What <em>are</em> we to do?" gasped Lilias, half-crying.</p> + +<p>"We can't stay here all night!"</p> + +<p>"Finish our prog and sleep in the car," suggested +Roland.</p> + +<p>"No, no! We should be frozen before morning."</p> + +<p>"I think we'd better walk on while it's light +enough to see," said Everard. "We shall probably +strike a highroad soon, and we'll stop some +motorist, ask for a lift to the nearest town, and +stay all night at a hotel."</p> + +<p>"But what about the car?"</p> + +<p>"We must just leave her to her fate. There's +nothing else for it. I don't suppose anybody +will touch her up here. It can't be helped, any +way."</p> + +<p>"Let's finish our prog before we set off!" persisted +Roland, opening the picnic basket.</p> + +<p>The family was hungry again, so they readily +set to work to dispose of the remains of their +lunch. It might be a long time before they were +within reach of their next meal, and they blessed +Cook for having packed a plentiful supply. +Everard would not let them linger for more than +a few minutes.</p> + +<p>"Hurry up, you kids!" he urged. "We +don't know how far we may have to go, and it +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[27]</a></span>will be getting dark soon. Thank goodness we +shall be walking down hill, at any rate."</p> + +<div class="figcenter imgborder" style="width: 382px;"> +<img src="images/car.jpg" width="382" height="600" alt=""What are we to do!" gasped Lilias" title="" /> +<p class="caption">"what <span style="font-style: italic;">are</span> we to do!" gasped lilias</p> +</div> + +<p>After whisking along in the car, "Shanks's +pony" seemed a very slow mode of progress; +their breakdown had happened in an out-of-the-way +spot, and it was more than an hour before +they reached a highroad. It was almost dark by +that time, and matters seemed so desperate that +Everard determined to hail the very first passing +motorist who seemed to be able to help them. +Fate brought along no handsome tourist car, but +a rattling motor-lorry, the driver of which stopped +in answer to their united shouts, and, after hearing +of the difficulty they were in, consented to give +them a lift to the town, five miles away, for which +he was bound. Fortunately the lorry was empty, +so the family thankfully climbed in, and squatted +on the floor, while Everard sat in front with the +driver.</p> + +<p>It was not a very aristocratic mode of conveyance +for the heir of Cheverley Chase, but Everard +was in no mood to pick and choose just then, and +would have accepted a seat in a coal truck if necessary. +As for the younger ones, they enjoyed +the fun of it. It was a very bumpy performance +to sit on the floor of the jolting wagon, but at any +rate infinitely preferable to walking.</p> + +<p>Arrived in Bilstone, their cicerone drove them +to a Commercial Hotel with whose landlady he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[28]</a></span> +had some acquaintance, and that good dame, after +eyeing the party curiously, consented to make up +beds for them for the night.</p> + +<p>"I've no private sitting-room to put you in, +and I can't show these young ladies into the commercial +room," she objected; "but I'll have a fire +lighted in one of the bedrooms, and you can all +have some tea up there. Will that suit you?"</p> + +<p>Lilias and Dulcie, catching a glimpse through +an open door of the company smoking in the commercial +room, agreed thankfully, glad to find +some safe haven to which they could beat a retreat.</p> + +<p>"I wonder what Cousin Clare would say?" +they asked each other.</p> + +<p>It was indeed an urgent matter to send some +news of their whereabouts to Cheverley Chase, +where their absence must be causing much alarm. +While the landlady, therefore, ordered the tea, +Everard went out to the public telephone, asked +for a trunk call, and rang up No. 169 Balderton. +He could hear relief in the voice of old Winder, +who answered the telephone. Everard was not +anxious to enter into too many explanations, so +he simply said that they had had a breakdown, +told the name of the town and the hotel where +they were staying, and suggested that Milner +should come over next morning to the rescue. On +hearing his Grandfather's voice, he promptly rang<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[29]</a></span> +off. To-morrow would be quite time enough, so +he felt, for giving the history of their adventure. +The unpleasant interview might just as well be +deferred, and he had no wish to listen to explosions +of anger over the telephone.</p> + +<p>Tea, tinned salmon, plum and apple jam, and +very indifferent bedrooms were the best that the +Commercial Hotel had to offer, but it was infinitely +better than being benighted on the moor. +In spite of lack of all toilet necessaries, the Ingletons +slept peacefully, worn out with their long day +in the fresh air. Milner, the chauffeur, must have +made an early start, for he arrived at eleven +o'clock next morning in the small car, armed with +his master's instructions. He paid the hotel bill, +chartered a taxi, in which he dispatched Lilias, +Dulcie, Roland, Bevis and Clifford, straight for +home, then, engaging a mechanic from a garage, +and taking Everard as guide, he started up the +hill in the pouring rain to find the abandoned car. +It needed several hours' attention before it could +be induced to start, and it was not until evening +that he was able to place it safely back in the +motor-house at Cheverley Chase.</p> + +<p>Everard had expected his peppery grandfather +to be angry, but he was quite unprepared for the +intensity of the storm which burst over his head +on his return.</p> + +<p>"Your insolence goes beyond all bounds!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[30]</a></span> +thundered Mr. Ingleton. "To borrow my car +without leave! And to take your sisters without +a chaperon to a fifth-rate public-house! You deserve +horsewhipping for it! You think yourself +the young Squire, do you? And imagine you can +do just what you like here? While I'm above +ground I'll have you to know <em>I'm</em> master, and nobody +else in this place!"</p> + +<p>"I can't see it was anything so out of the way +to take the kids a run in the car, and I never +meant to keep the girls out all night," replied +Everard defiantly. He had a temper as well as +his grandfather, and the pair had often been at +loggerheads before.</p> + +<p>"Indeed! There are ways of making people +see! You can just go a little too far sometimes!" +declared the old gentleman sarcastically. "I've +given orders that you don't take either car out +again unless Milner is with you. So you understand?"</p> + +<p>"I suppose I do," grunted Everard, turning +sulkily away.</p> + +<p>It was only a few days after this that Everard, +Lilias, and Dulcie, returning home across the park +from a walk in the woods, met Mr. Bowden, the +family solicitor, who was riding down the drive +from the Chase. He stopped his motor-bicycle +and got off to speak to them. They knew him +well, for he often came to the house to conduct<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[31]</a></span> +their grandfather's business, and he was indeed +quite a favorite with them all. He looked at +Everard keenly when the first greetings were over.</p> + +<p>"Been getting yourself into considerable hot +water just lately, haven't you?" he remarked.</p> + +<p>Everard colored and frowned, then burst forth.</p> + +<p>"Grandfather's quite too ridiculous! Why +shouldn't I take out the car if I want to? I can +drive as well as Milner! He behaved as if I +were a kid! It's more than a fellow can stand +sometimes! He likes to keep everything tight +in his own hands; at his age it's time he began to +stand aside a little and let <em>me</em> look after things! +I shall have to take charge of the whole property +some day, I suppose!"</p> + +<p>Mr. Bowden was gazing at Everard with the +noncommittal air often assumed by lawyers.</p> + +<p>"I wouldn't make too sure about that," he said +slowly. "I suppose you know your Uncle Tristram +left a child? No! Well, he did, at any +rate. I must hurry on now. I've an appointment +to keep at my office. A happy New Year +to you all. Good-by!"</p> + +<p>And, starting his engine, he was off before they +had time to reply.</p> + +<p>"What does he mean?" asked Lilias, watching +the retreating bicycle. "Uncle Tristram has been +dead for thirteen years! We never seem to have +heard anything about him!"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[32]</a></span>"What was that photo we saw on the study +table?" queried Dulcie. "Don't you remember—the +lady and the baby, and it had written on it: +'My wife and Leslie, from Tristram.'"</p> + +<p>"I suppose it was Uncle Tristram's wife and +child," replied Everard thoughtfully. "He +must have called the kid 'Leslie' after Grandfather. +They ought to have christened <em>me</em> +'Leslie.' I can't think why they didn't."</p> + +<p>"Have we a cousin Leslie, then, whom we +don't know?"</p> + +<p>"I suppose we must have, somewhere!"</p> + +<p>"How fearfully thrilling!"</p> + +<p>"Um! I don't know that it's thrilling at all. +It's the first I've heard of it until to-day. I wish +our father had been the eldest son, instead of +Uncle Tristram!"</p> + +<p>"Why? What does it matter?"</p> + +<p>"It may matter more than you think. You're +a silly little goose, Dulcie, and, as I often tell you, +you never see farther than the end of your own +nose. Surely, after all these years, though, +Grandfather <em>must</em>——"</p> + +<p>"Must what?" asked Lilias curiously.</p> + +<p>"Never you mind! Girls can't know everything!" +snapped Everard, walking on in front of +his sisters with a look of unwonted worry upon +his usually careless and handsome young face.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2 style="margin-top: 5em;"><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a><span class="smcap">chapter iii</span></h2> +<h2>A Valentine Party</h2> + + +<p>Chilcombe Hall, where Lilias and Dulcie had<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[33]</a></span> +been boarders for the last two years, was an exceedingly +nice school. It stood on a hill-side well +raised above the river, and behind it there was +a little wood where bulbs had been naturalized, +and where, in their season, you might find clumps +of pure white snowdrops, sheets of glorious daffodils, +and later on lovely masses of the lily of the +valley. In the garden all kinds of sweet things +seemed to be blooming the whole year round. +Golden aconite buds opened with the January +term, and in a wild patch above the rockery the +delicious heliotrope-scented <em>Petasites fragrans</em> +blossomed to tempt the bees which an hour's sunshine +would bring forth from the hives, scarlet +<em>Pyrus japanica</em> was trained along the wall under +the front windows, and early flowering cherry and +almond blossoms made delicate pink patches of +color long before leaves were showing on the +trees.</p> + +<p>Beautiful surroundings in a school can be quite<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[34]</a></span> +as important a part of our education as the textbooks +through which we toil. We are made up +of body, mind, and spirit, and the developing soul +needs satisfying as much as the physical or mental +part of us. Long years afterwards, though we +utterly forget the lessons we may have learnt as +children, we can still vividly recall the effect of +the afternoon sun streaming through the fuchsia +bush outside the open French window where we +sat conning those unremembered tasks. The +lovely things of nature, assimilated half unconsciously +when we are young, equip us with a +purity of heart and a refinement of taste that +should safeguard us later, and keep our thoughts +at a lofty level.</p> + +<p>The "beauty cult" was a decided feature of +Chilcombe Hall. Miss Walters was extremely +artistic; she painted well in water-colors and had +exquisite taste. Many of the charming decorations +in the house had been done by herself; she +had designed and stencilled the frieze of drooping +clusters of wistaria that decorated the dining-hall +wall; the framed landscapes in the drawing-room +were her own work, and she herself always +superintended the arrangement of the bowls of +flowers that gave such brightness to the schoolrooms.</p> + +<p>Her twenty pupils had on the whole a decidedly +pleasant time. There were just enough of them<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[35]</a></span> +to develop the community spirit, but not too many +to obliterate the individual, or, as Ida Spenser +put it: "You can get up a play, or a dance, or +any other sort of fun, and yet we all know each +other like a kind of big family."</p> + +<p>"Divided up into small families according to +bedrooms!" added Hester Wilson.</p> + +<p>The bedrooms at Chilcombe Hall were rather +a speciality. They were large, and were furnished +partly as studies, and girls had their own +bookcases, knick-knacks, and pretty things there. +As the house was provided with central heating, +they were warmed, and a certain amount of preparation +was done in them each afternoon. Miss +Walters' artistic faculty had decorated them in +schemes of various colors, so that they were +known respectively as The Rose, The Gold, The +Green, The Brown, and The Blue Bedrooms. +Lilias and Dulcie Ingleton, Gowan Barbour, and +Bertha Chesters, who occupied the last-named, +considered it quite the choicest of all. They had +each made important contributions to its furniture, +had clubbed together to buy a Liberty table-cloth, +had provided vases in lovely shades of turquoise +blue, and had worked toilet-mats, nightdress +cases and other accessories to accord with +the prevailing tone. "The Blue Grotto," as they +named their dormitory, certainly had points over +rival bedrooms, for it looked down the garden<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[36]</a></span> +towards the river, and had the best view of the +sunset. Moreover, it was at the very end of the +corridor, so that sudden outbursts of laughter did +not meet the ears of Miss Hardy quite so easily +as from the Rose or the Brown room.</p> + +<p>The work of the spring term had been in full +swing for nearly a month, when Gowan Barbour, +looking at the calendar—hand-painted, with blue +cranesbill geraniums—suddenly discovered that +next morning would be the festival of St. Valentine.</p> + +<p>"Could anything be better?" she exulted. +"We've won the record for tidiness three weeks +running, so we're entitled to a special indulgence. +I vote we ask to bring tea up here, and have a +Valentine party. Don't you think it would be +rather scrumptious? I've all sorts of ideas in +my head."</p> + +<p>"Topping!" agreed Dulcie, pausing in the act +of tying her hair ribbon to consider the important +question, "specially if we could get Miss Walters +to let us send to Glazebrook for a few cakes. I +believe she would, if we wheedled!"</p> + +<p>"What about visitors?" asked Lilias. "It +would be much more of a party if we had a few +of the others in."</p> + +<p>"We don't want a crowd, or we might as well +be in the dining-hall," objected Bertha.</p> + +<p>"Well, of course we shouldn't ask the whole<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[37]</a></span> +school, naturally, but perhaps just Noreen and +Phillida!"</p> + +<p>"We must get at the soft spot in Miss Walters' +heart," decided Gowan. "Pick a bunch of early +violets if you can find them, lay them on her study +table, talk about flowers and nature for a little +while, then ask if we may have a quiet little party +in our bedroom to-morrow afternoon, with cakes +at our own expense."</p> + +<p>"Quiet?" queried Lilias.</p> + +<p>"Well, of course you couldn't call it rowdy, +could you? We'll send you to do the asking. +Those dimples of yours generally get what you +want, and on the whole I think you're the pattern +one of us, and the most likely to be listened to."</p> + +<p>Tea at Chilcombe Hall was a quite informal +meal. It partook, indeed more of the nature of +a canteen. The urns were what the girls called +"on tap" from four to four-thirty, and during +summer any one might take cup, saucer, and plate +into the garden, provided she duly brought them +back afterwards to the dining-hall. Special permission +for a bedroom feast was therefore not +very difficult to obtain, and Lilias returned from +her interview in the study with her dimples conspicuously +in evidence.</p> + +<p>"Well?" asked the interested circle in the +Blue bedroom.</p> + +<p>"Sweet as honey!" reported Lilias. "She<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[38]</a></span> +said 'Certainly, my dear!' We may each ask +one friend, and we may spend two shillings +amongst us on cakes, if we give the money and +the list of what we want to Jones this afternoon, +because he's going into Glazebrook first thing to-morrow +morning."</p> + +<p>"Only two shillings!" commented Gowan.</p> + +<p>"It will go no way!" pouted Bertha.</p> + +<p>"Well, I can't help it. Miss Walters said +'Two shillings' most emphatically."</p> + +<p>"You might have stuck out for more! Those +iced cakes are always half a crown!"</p> + +<p>"I didn't dare to stick out for anything. I +was so afraid she'd change her mind, and say +'There's good plain home-made cake with your +schoolroom tea, and you must be content with +that,' like she did to Nona and Muriel."</p> + +<p>"We could get twelve twopenny cakes for +two shillings," calculated Dulcie; "but if there +are eight of us, that's only one and a half +apiece."</p> + +<p>"Best get eight twopenny iced cakes, and eight +penny buns," suggested Bertha, taking pencil and +paper to write the important order.</p> + +<p>"Right-o! Only be sure you put <em>pink</em> iced +cakes, they are so much the nicest."</p> + +<p>"Whom shall we ask? It won't be much of a +beano on two shillings. Still, they'll be keen on +coming, I expect."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[39]</a></span>Noreen, Phillida, Prissie, and Edith, the four +finally selected favorites, accepted the invitation +with alacrity. Bedroom tea-parties were indulgences +only given to winners of three weeks' +dormitory records, so the less fortunate occupants +of the Brown and Rose rooms were really profiting +by the tidiness of their hostesses. The Blue +Grotto was placed in apple-pie order on the afternoon +of the fourteenth of February. A white +hemstitched cloth and a bowl of snowdrops +adorned the center table, and the cakes were set out +on paper doilies. Both hostesses and guests were +in the dining-hall by four o'clock, awaiting the +appearance of the urns, and each bore her cup of +tea and a portion of bread and butter and scones +upstairs with her.</p> + +<p>It was a jolly party round the square table, and +if the cakes were not too plentiful, they were at +least voted delicious. The girls carried down the +cups when they had finished, shook the table-cloth +out of the window, carefully collected crumbs +from the floor, so as to preserve their record for +neatness, then gathered round the table again for +an hour's fun before the bell should ring for +prep.</p> + +<p>"It's a Valentine party, and I've got a ripping +idea," said Gowan. "We'll put our names on +pieces of paper, fold them up, shuffle them and +draw them; then each of us must write a valentine<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[40]</a></span> +to the one we've drawn. We'll shuffle these, +and one of us must read them all out. Then we +must each guess who's written our valentines."</p> + +<p>"Sounds rather brainy, doesn't it?" objected +Noreen. "I don't think I'm any hand at +poetry!"</p> + +<p>"Oh! you can make up something if you try. +Valentines are generally doggerel."</p> + +<p>"Need it be quite original?" asked Edith.</p> + +<p>"Well, if you really <em>can't</em> compose anything, +we'll allow quotations."</p> + +<p>"Cracker mottoes?" suggested Dulcie.</p> + +<p>"Exactly. They're just about in the right +style."</p> + +<p>"Are you all getting into a sentimental vein?" +giggled Bertha. "Remember 'Love' rhymes +with 'Dove,' and Cupid with—with—"</p> + +<p>"Stupid," supplied Dulcie laconically.</p> + +<p>"I'm not going to give my rhymes away beforehand," +said Phillida. "Is that shuffling +business finished, Gowan? Then bags me first +draw."</p> + +<p>Each girl, having been apportioned the name of +her valentine, set to work to compose a suitable +ode in her honor. There was much knitting of +brows and nibbling of pencils, and demands for a +few minutes longer, when Gowan called "Time!" +At last, however, the effusions were all finished, +folded, shuffled, and laid in a pile. Gowan, as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[41]</a></span> +the originator of the game, was unanimously +elected president. She drew one at a venture, +opened it, and read:</p> + +<p class="poem"> +"TO PHILLIDA<br /> +<br /> +"Fair maiden, who in ancient song<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Was wont to flout her swain,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">I prithee be not always coy,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">But turn your face again.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">My heart is true, and it will rue,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">That ever you should doubt me,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">So sweet, be kind, and change your mind,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">And don't for ever flout me."</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>"Who wrote that?" asked Phillida, glancing +keenly round the circle. "Noreen, I believe +you're looking conscious! I always suspect people +who say they can't write."</p> + +<p>"<em>I!</em> No, indeed!" declared Noreen.</p> + +<p>"You may make guesses, but nobody's to confess +or deny authorship till the end," put in +Gowan hastily. "Remember, valentines are always +supposed to be anonymous. Now I'm going +to read another.</p> + +<p class="poem"> +"TO LILIAS<br /> +<br /> +"Cupid with his fatal dart<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Shot me through and made me smart,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">So I pray, before we part,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Kiss me once, and heal my heart!"</span><br /> +</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[42]</a></span>"Short and sweet!" commented Edith.</p> + +<p>"Very sweet—quite sugary, in fact," agreed +Lilias. "It's the sort of motto you get out of +a superior cracker with gelatine paper on the outside, +and trinkets inside. There ought to be a +ring with all that. I believe it's Prissie's, but +I'm not sure it isn't by Bertha."</p> + +<p>"You mayn't have two guesses!" reminded +Gowan, reaching for another paper. "Hallo! +this actually to me! I feel quite shy!"</p> + +<p>"Go on! You're not usually afflicted with +shyness," urged the others.</p> + +<p class="poem"> +"TO GOWAN<br /> +<br /> +"Wee modest, crimson-tipped flower,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Thou'st met me in an evil hour;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">For I maun gang far frae thy bower,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">And leave thee greeting 'mang the stour.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">But lassie, thou art no thy lane,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">This heart is also brak in twain,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">And like to burst with grief and pain</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">To think I'll see thee ne'er again."</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>"H'm! He might have signed 'Robbie +Burns' at the end of it!" commented Gowan. +"Seems to take it for granted I'm doing half of +the grieving. No, thanks! I prefer to 'flout +them' like Phillida. He may go away with his +old broken heart if he likes. That's not my idea +of a valentine."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[43]</a></span>"There were bad valentines as well as good +ones, weren't there?" twinkled Dulcie.</p> + +<p>"Certainly; and if I set this down to you, perhaps +I'll not be far out. Who comes next? Oh! Bertha.</p> + +<p class="poem"> +"TO BERTHA<br /> +<br /> +"I have a little heart to let,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">As nice as nice can be;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">It's vacant just at present,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">On a yearly tenancy.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">It's quite completely furnished</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">With affection's choicest store,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Sweet nothings by the bushel,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">And kisses by the score.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">It sadly wants a tenant,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">This little heart of mine,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">So I beg that you will take it,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">And be my Valentine!"</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>"Edith! Dulcie! Phillida!—Oh! I can't +guess!" laughed Bertha. "There's not the least +clue! Go on, Gowan! I'll plump for Phillida."</p> + +<p>The next on the list was—</p> + +<p class="poem"> +"TO NOREEN<br /> +<br /> +"Cupid on his rosy wing<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Flits to offer you a ring:</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Take it, dear, and happy make</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">One who'd die for your sweet sake!"</span><br /> +</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[44]</a></span>"That's the sugary type again, and suggests a +cracker!" decided Noreen. "You feel there +ought to be a big dish of trifle somewhere near."</p> + +<p>"I wish there were!" chirped Edith. "You +haven't guessed yet!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, well, I guess you!"</p> + +<p>"I hope it's my turn next," said Prissie.</p> + +<p>"No, it happens to be Dulcie," retorted +Gowan. "You'll probably be the last of all.</p> + +<p class="poem"> +"TO DULCIE<br /> +<br /> +"Oh, lady fair from Cheverley Chase,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">The day when first I saw your face</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Put me in such a fearful flutter</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">I could do naught but moan and mutter.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Whether I'm standing on my head,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Or if I'm on my heels instead,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">I scarce can tell, for Cupid's arrows</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Have made my brain like any sparrow's.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">When you come near, my foolish heart</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Goes pit-a-pat with throb and start,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">And when I try my love to utter,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">My fairest speech is but a stutter.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">How to propose is all my task,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Whether to write or just to ask,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">And ere I solve the problem knotty</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">I really fear I shall go dotty.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Oh, lady fair, in pity stop</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">And list while I the question pop.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">'Tis here on paper; think it over,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">And let me be your humble lover."</span><br /> +</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[45]</a></span>"Quite the longest of them all!" smiled Dulcie +complacently.</p> + +<p>"But not as poetical as mine!" contended +Noreen.</p> + +<p>"Oh, go on!" said Edith. "I'm sure I'm +next!"</p> + +<p>And so she was.</p> + +<p class="poem"> +"TO EDITH<br /> +<br /> +"Maiden of the swan-like neck,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">I am at your call and beck;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">If you will but wave a finger,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">In your neighborhood I'll linger,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Praise your eyes, and cheeks of roses,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Bring you presents of sweet posies,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Sweetheart, if you will be mine,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Let me be your Valentine!"</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>"I haven't got a swan neck! It's no longer +than other people's, I'm sure!" protested Edith +indignantly, looking round the circle for the offender. +"Who wrote such stuff?"</p> + +<p>"There, don't get excited, child!" soothed +Gowan. "'Edith of the Swan Neck' was a historical +character. Don't you remember? She +ought to have married King Harold, only she +didn't, somehow. It's meant as a compliment, +no doubt!"</p> + +<p>"I believe you wrote it yourself!"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[46]</a></span>"No, I didn't. At least I mustn't tell just yet. +I'm going to read the last one now.</p> + +<p class="poem"> +"TO PRISSIE<br /> +<br /> +"I am not sentimental, please,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">I cannot write in rhyme,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">I beg you'll all ecstatics leave</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Until another time.</span><br /> +<br /> +"But if I'm lacking in romance,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">At least my heart is true,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">And in its own prosaic way,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">It only beats for you.</span><br /> +<br /> +"'Mong damsels all I think you are<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">The nicest little Missie,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">And beg to have for Valentine</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">That sweetest maid, Miss Prissie."</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>"Author! Author!" cried Prissie. "It's +Lilias, I do believe!"</p> + +<p>"Guessing's been horribly wrong!" said +Gowan. "Only about one of you was right. +Shall I read the list?</p> + +<p class="poem"> +"To Phillida by Dulcie.<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">To Lilias by Noreen.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">To Gowan by myself.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">To Bertha by Phillida.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">To Noreen by Prissie.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">To Dulcie by Bertha.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">To Edith by Lilias.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">To Prissie by Edith."</span><br /> +</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[47]</a></span>"So you wrote your own, Gowan! What a +humbug you are! You quite put us off the +scent!"</p> + +<p>"Well, I drew my own name, you see. I had +to write something! Bertha ought to have a +prize for guessing right, only we've nothing to +give her. Shall we play something else?"</p> + +<p>"Prissie's brought a pack of cards, and she says +she'll tell our fortunes," proclaimed Edith.</p> + +<p>"I learnt how in the holidays," confessed +Prissie. "A girl was staying with us who had a +book about it. We used to have ripping fun +every evening over it. Whose fortune shall I +tell first? Oh, don't all speak at once! Look +here, you'd better each cut, and the lowest shall +win."</p> + +<p>Dulcie, who turned up an ace, was the lucky +one, and was therefore elected as the first to consult +the oracle. By Prissie's orders she shuffled +the cards, then handed them back to the sorceress, +who laid them out face upward in rows, and after +a few moments' meditation began her prophecies.</p> + +<p>"You're fair, and therefore the Queen of Diamonds +is your representative card—all the +luck's behind you instead of facing you. I see a +disappointment and great changes. A dark +woman is coming into your life. She's connected +somehow with money, but there are hearts behind<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[48]</a></span> +her. You'll take a journey by land, and +find trouble and perplexity."</p> + +<p>"Haven't you anything nicer to tell me than +that?" pouted Dulcie. "Who's the dark +woman?"</p> + +<p>"She seems to be a relation, by the way the +cards are placed."</p> + +<p>"I haven't any dark relations. They're all as +fair as fair—the whole family."</p> + +<p>"It's silly nonsense! I don't believe in it!" +declared Lilias emphatically.</p> + +<p>"I dare say it is, but it's fun, all the same. +Do tell mine now, Prissie!" urged Noreen, gathering +up the cards and reshuffling them.</p> + +<p>Before the fates could be further consulted, +however, the big bell clanged for preparation, +and the magician was obliged to pocket her cards, +hurry downstairs, get out her lesson books, and +write a piece of French translation, while the inquirers +into her mysteries also separated, some to +practise piano or violin, and some to study.</p> + +<p>"A dark woman!" scoffed Dulcie, spilling the +ink in her scorn as she filled her fountain pen. +"Any gypsy would have told me a fortune like +that. I'll let you know when she comes along, +Prissie!"</p> + +<p>"All serene! Bring her to school if you like!" +laughed Prissie. "You didn't let me finish, or I +might have gone on to something nicer. There<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[49]</a></span> +were other things on the cards as well as those."</p> + +<p>"What things?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, I shan't tell you now, when you only +make fun of them! Sh! sh! Here's Miss Herbert!"</p> + +<p>And Prissie, turning away from her comrade, +opened her French dictionary and plunged into the +difficulties of her page of translation from Racine.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2 style="margin-top: 5em;"><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a><span class="smcap">chapter iv</span></h2> +<h2>Disinherited</h2> + + +<p>Valentine's Day had brought early flowers, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[50]</a></span> +the song of the thrush and glints of golden sunshine, +but the bright weather was too good to last, +and winter again stretched out an icy hand to +check the advance of spring. Green daffodil +buds peeped through a covering of snow, and the +yellow jessamine blossom fell sodden in the rain. +The playing-field was a quagmire, and the girls +had to depend upon walking for their daily exercise. +Their tramps were somewhat of an adventure, +for in places the swollen brooks were washing +over the tops of their bridges, and they would +be obliged to turn back, or go round by devious +ways. The river in the valley had overflowed +its banks and spread over the low-lying meadows +like a lake. Tops of gates and hedges appeared +above the flood, and sea-gulls, driven inland by +the gales, swam over the pastures. Flocks of +peewits, starlings, and red-wings collected on the +uplands, and an occasional heron might be seen +flitting majestically across the storm-flecked sky.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[51]</a></span>As a rule the school sallied forth in waterproofs +and thick boots, regardless of drizzle or +slight snow, but on days of blizzard there was +Swedish drill or dancing in the big class-room, to +work off the superfluous energy accumulated during +hours of sitting still at lessons.</p> + +<p>One afternoon, when driving sleet and showers +swept past the house, and an inclement sky hid +every hint of sunshine, the twenty girls, clad in +their gymnasium costumes, were hard at work doing +Indian club exercises. Dulcie, who stood in +the vicinity of the window, could watch the raindrops +splashing on the pane, and see the wet tree-tops +waving about in the wind, and runnels of +water coursing down the drive like little rivulets. +It was the sort of afternoon when nobody who +could help it would choose to be out, and a visitor +to the Hall seemed about the most unlikely event +on the face of the earth. Judge her surprise, +therefore, when she heard the hoot of a motor-horn, +and the next instant saw, coming up the +drive, the well-known Daimler touring car from +Cheverley Chase. In her excitement she almost +dropped her clubs. Had Cousin Clare come +over to see them? Or had Everard a holiday? +She longed to communicate the thrilling news to +Lilias, but the music was still going on, and her +arms must move in time to it. She waited in a +flutter of expectation, revolving all kinds of delightful<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[52]</a></span> +possibilities that might occur. Cousin +Clare would surely send a cake and a box of chocolates, +even if she had not come herself. Five +minutes passed, then Davis, the parlor-maid, +opened the door, and whispered a brief message +to Miss Perkins. The mistress held up her hand +and stopped the exercises.</p> + +<p>"Lilias and Dulcie are wanted at once in the +study," she said.</p> + +<p>Amid the astonished looks of their companions, +the two girls put down their clubs and left the +room, Dulcie hastily telling her sister, as they +hurried down the passage, how she had seen the +car from the window. They tapped at the study +door, and entered full of pleasant anticipation. +Miss Walters was standing by the fire, with a +letter in her hand.</p> + +<p>"Come in, girls," she said gravely. "I've +sent for you because I have something very sad +to tell you. Can you prepare your minds for a +great shock? Your Grandfather was taken ill +suddenly last night, and passed away this morning. +Your cousin has sent the car to fetch you both +home. Go at once and change your dresses, and +Miss Harvey will help you to pack a few clothes. +The chauffeur is having some tea, but you must +not keep him waiting very long. I can't tell you +how grieved I am. You must be brave girls and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[53]</a></span> +try to comfort every one else at home. It will be +a sad loss for you all."</p> + +<p>Lilias and Dulcie went upstairs almost dazed +with the unexpected bad news. They could +hardly believe that their grandfather, whom they +had left apparently in the best of health and +spirits, could have gone away into that other +world where Father and Mother and a little sister +had already passed over before. They packed +in a sort of dream, drank the cups of tea which +Miss Walters, full of kind sympathy, pressed upon +them in the hall, greeted Milner, who was starting +his engine, and entered the waiting car. Owing +to the floods, they took a roundabout route, +but half an hour's drive through sleet and rain +brought them to Cheverley Chase. It was +strange to see the blinds all down as they drew +up at the house. As they ran indoors, Winder, +the old butler, came from his pantry into the hall. +They questioned him eagerly. He shook his +head as he replied:</p> + +<p>"It's a sad business, Miss Lilias and Miss Dulcie. +He was just as usual yesterday, then about +nine o'clock Miss Clare rang the bell violently, +and when I came into the drawing-room, there +was Master lying on the floor in a kind of fit. +I telephoned to the doctor, and we got him to +bed, but he never recovered consciousness. He +went at eleven this morning, as you'll see by the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[54]</a></span> +clock there. I stopped all the clocks at once. +It's the right thing to do in a house when the +master dies. Miss Clare's in her room. I'll let +her know you've arrived."</p> + +<p>"We'll go and find her, thank you," said Lilias, +walking quietly upstairs.</p> + +<p>The Ingleton children were truly grieved at +the loss of the grandfather who, for so many +years, had stood to them in the place of a parent. +They went softly about the house and spoke in +hushed voices. Everything seemed strange and +unusual. A dressmaker came from London with +boxes of mourning for Cousin Clare and the girls; +beautiful wreaths and crosses of flowers kept arriving +and were carried upstairs. Mr. Bowden, +the lawyer, was constantly in and out, making +arrangements for the funeral; neighbors left +cards with "Kind sympathy" written across the +corner. Everard, who had arrived home shortly +after his sisters, seemed to have grown years +older. He walked with a new dignity, as of one +who is suddenly called to fill a high position.</p> + +<p>"I'll be a good brother to you all," he said to +the younger ones. "You must always look upon +the Chase as your home, of course. I'll do +everything for you that Grandfather ever did, and +more!"</p> + +<p>"Will the Chase be yours now, then, Everard?" +asked Bevis.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[55]</a></span>"I suppose so. I'm the eldest son, you see, +and the property has always gone in the direct +line. It was entailed until fifty years ago. I +shan't make any changes. I've told the servants +so, and they all said they wished to stay on. +I wouldn't part with Winder or Milner for the +world! They're part of the establishment."</p> + +<p>"I couldn't imagine the place without them," +agreed Dulcie.</p> + +<p>On the afternoon before the funeral, Mr. Bowden, +who had motored over to make some final +arrangements, concluded his business, drank a cup +of tea in the drawing-room, and was escorted by +Everard and Lilias through the hall.</p> + +<p>"The passing of the Squire is a sad loss to the +neighborhood," he remarked. "He was a true +type of the good old school of country gentlemen, +and most of us feel 'we shall not look upon his +like again.'"</p> + +<p>"No," replied Everard. "It will be very hard +to succeed him, I know, but I shall try to do my +best."</p> + +<p>Mr. Bowden started, looked at him musingly +for a moment, knitted his brows, then apparently +came to a decision. Instead of taking his hat +and coat from Winder, he waved the two young +people into the study, followed them, and shut the +door.</p> + +<p>"I want a word with you in private," he began.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[56]</a></span> +"I'm going to do a very unprofessional +thing, but, as I've known you for years, I feel +the case justifies me. I can't let you come into the +dining-room to-morrow, after the funeral, and +hear your grandfather's will read aloud, without +giving you some warning beforehand of its contents. +I hinted to you, Everard, at Christmas-time, +not to count too much upon expectations."</p> + +<p>"Why, but surely I am the heir?" burst out +Everard with white lips.</p> + +<p>"My poor boy, you are nothing of the sort. +Your grandfather has willed the property to the +child of his elder son, Tristram."</p> + +<p>At that critical moment there was a rap at the +door, and Winder, the butler, entered, respectfully +apologetic, to summon Mr. Bowden to the +telephone. The lawyer answered the call, which +was apparently a very urgent one, for, without +another word to Everard and Lilias, he took hat +and coat, hurried from the house, mounted his +motor-cycle, and was gone. He left utter consternation +behind him. The two young people, +returning to the study, tried to face the disastrous +news. He had indeed told them no details, +but the main outline was quite sufficient. They +could scarcely accustom themselves to believe it +for a moment or two.</p> + +<p>"To bring me up as the heir, and then disinherit +me!" gasped Everard.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[57]</a></span>"Why, everybody called you 'the young +squire'!" exclaimed Lilias. "It's unthinkable!"</p> + +<p>"Unthinkable or not, I'm afraid it's true," said +Everard bitterly. "Bowden wouldn't have told +me otherwise. I suppose he drew up the will, so +he knows what's in it. Nice position to be in, +isn't it? Turned out to make room for some +other chap!"</p> + +<p>"Who is this child of Uncle Tristram's? +We've never heard of him."</p> + +<p>"It'll be the kid who is in that photo, I suppose—Leslie. +He looked about a year old in +the portrait, and it's thirteen years since Uncle +Tristram died, so he's probably fourteen or so +now. To think of a kid of fourteen taking <em>my</em> +place here! It's monstrous!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, Everard, what <em>shall</em> we do?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know. I'm going out to think it over. +Don't say a word about it to anybody yet. +Promise me you won't!"</p> + +<p>Everard seized his cap and waterproof, and +plunged out-of-doors into the rain. He did not +return till dinner-time. If he was silent and preoccupied +at that meal, both Cousin Clare and Dulcie +set it down as natural to his new sense of responsibility. +Lilias looked at him uneasily. +There was a hardness in his face which she had +never seen there before. She longed to catch +him alone and question him, but after dinner he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[58]</a></span> +purposely avoided her, and left a message that he +had gone to the stables. She would have liked to +confide in Cousin Clare, but she had given her +promise to keep the secret, and even Dulcie must +not share it yet. The girls slept in separate +rooms at home, so that when Lilias had said good +night to the family she was alone. She went to +bed, as a matter of course, but tossed about with +throbbing heart and whirling brain. Mr. Bowden's +information had effectually banished sleep. +In about an hour, when the house was absolutely +quiet, came a soft tap at her door. She jumped +up hastily, threw on her dressing-gown, and +opened it. Everard stood in the passage outside.</p> + +<p>"May I come in? I want to speak to you, +Sissy! It's important," he whispered.</p> + +<p>"I thought you had gone to bed," said Lilias, +admitting him, and dragging forward two basket +chairs. "What is it, Everard? Don't look like +that—you frighten me!"</p> + +<p>Her brother had seated himself wearily, and +buried his head in his hands. He raised two haggard +eyes at her words.</p> + +<p>"I've come to say good-by to you, Sis. I'm +going away to-night! Don't speak to me, for I'm +not in a mood for argument! Do you think that +I could stand by Grandfather's grave to-morrow, +when I know he has disinherited me? I tell you, +I can't. I'm not going to stay and hear the will<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[59]</a></span> +read! If I'm kicked out of the property, at +least I'll keep my dignity. Why, everybody on +the estate believed I was the heir! Only this afternoon, +Rogerson, the new under-gardener, asked +me to keep him on, and Hicks said he'd serve me +as faithfully as he'd served the old Squire. How +could I face the servants when they knew the +Chase wasn't mine after all! The humiliation +would be intolerable! No! I've all the Ingleton +pride in me, and if I'm not to be master here, +I'll shake the dust of the place off my feet for ever. +Grandfather will have made some provisions +for you younger ones; he always promised +to do that, and it's right you should take it, but +as for me, if he's left me anything, I don't mean +to touch a penny of it—it must be all or nothing! +You others are welcome to my share, whatever it +is. I'm going out into the world to earn my own +living."</p> + +<p>He spoke forcibly, and with desperate earnestness. +To Lilias, watching him anxiously, he +seemed in these few hours to have changed from +a boy into a man. Eager words rose to her lips, +but he stood up and stopped her.</p> + +<p>"I've told you it's no use arguing! My mind's +absolutely made up. I've ordered Elton to have +the small car ready, and to drive me to Balderton +to catch the midnight express to town. It's the +last order I shall give in this house. He looked<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[60]</a></span> +surprised, but he didn't dare to question me. To-morrow +everybody will know that I've no more +authority here than the kids. I'll be far away by +then, thank goodness."</p> + +<p>"But, Everard, what are you going to do in +London? How can you earn your own living?" +pressed Lilias.</p> + +<p>"Sweep a crossing, or go to sea! I don't care +two-pence what happens to me. Good-by, Sis, +I'm off! You may tell the others to-morrow, if +you like. No, I won't promise to write! You'll +be better without me. I've closed this chapter of +my life completely, and I'm going to begin a different +one. The two won't bear mixing up."</p> + +<p>Giving his sister a hasty kiss, Everard left the +room and walked softly away down the passage. +A few minutes later, Lilias heard the sound of +wheels, and, looking through the window, saw the +rear lights of the car disappearing down the drive, +and away across the park. She went back to bed, +sobbing.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2 style="margin-top: 5em;"><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a><span class="smcap">chapter v</span></h2> +<h2>The New Owner</h2> + + +<p>The wild wind and rain, which for some weeks<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[61]</a></span> +had blown from the north, changed suddenly to +a southerly breeze, and the sun shone out in all +its spring glory on the day of Mr. Ingleton's +funeral. Half the country-side came to do honor +to "the old Squire." He had been a favorite +in the neighborhood, and people forgot his autocratic +ways and remembered now only his many +kindnesses. The absence of Everard, who should +have been the chief representative of the family, +caused universal comment, and some rumor of +the state of affairs began to be passed round +among the servants and guests. Cousin Clare, to +whom Lilias had confided the secret of her +brother's flight, shook her head.</p> + +<p>"He might at least have shown his grandfather +the respect of following him to his grave!" she +commented. "He owed that to him, at any rate. +I thought Everard would have realized such an +obvious duty. Whatever comes or does not come +to us in the way of legacies cannot free us from<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[62]</a></span> +our obligations to the dead. It seems to me +hardly decent to be thinking about the disposal of +the property while its late owner is still unburied."</p> + +<p>Lilias crept away, crying. She knew there was +justice in Cousin Clare's scathing judgment, but +she was sure the latter did not, could not, understand +the extent of Everard's bitter disappointment. +She did not care to say any more, or ask +questions, and could only wait until the whole sad, +miserable affair was over. Some of the guests +returned to the house after the funeral, and these, +with the family, were present when Mr. Bowden +read aloud the will of the late Squire of Cheverley +Chase. Like most testamentary documents, it +was couched in legal terms, but Lilias and Dulcie, +sitting in their black dresses beside Cousin Clare, +grasped the main features. There were certain +legacies to servants and friends, a provision for +each of the grandchildren and for Cousin Clare, +then the entire residue of the estate was +bequeathed to "Leslie, only child of my elder son, +Tristram."</p> + +<p>All, except the few who had known the secret +beforehand, were filled with surprise that Everard, +who had always been regarded in the neighborhood +as "the young squire" should have been +passed over in favor of another heir. The +guests, however, after a word or two of sympathy, +took their departure, and went away to spread<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[63]</a></span> +the news, leaving the family alone to discuss matters +among themselves.</p> + +<p>"So I suppose the Chase isn't our home any +longer?" asked Dulcie, as the young Ingletons +clustered round their cousin for explanations. +"Who is this Leslie? We've never heard anything +of him before."</p> + +<p>"I didn't know Uncle Tristram had a son!" +said Roland.</p> + +<p>"Will everything be his instead of Everard's?" +asked Bevis pitifully.</p> + +<p>"No, and yes," replied Cousin Clare. "The +estate is certainly left to Leslie, but, as it happens, +she is a daughter, and not a son."</p> + +<p>Here was a surprise indeed!</p> + +<p>"A daughter!" echoed Lilias. "The Chase +left to a girl!"</p> + +<p>"Remember, she is the daughter of the elder +son, so that in your grandfather's opinion she was +the lawful heiress."</p> + +<p>"But where does she live?"</p> + +<p>"How old is she?"</p> + +<p>"Why have we never seen her?"</p> + +<p>"It's a long story," said Cousin Clare. "But, +without going into any details, I can tell you +briefly that years ago your grandfather and your +Uncle Tristram had a serious quarrel. It was +about a lady whom your grandfather thought his +elder son loved, and whom he very much wished<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[64]</a></span> +him to marry. Well, we can't love to order, and, +though Tristram liked and respected the prospective +bride whom his father had chosen for him, +he had given his heart to a beautiful Italian girl, +and he insisted upon marrying her. The affair +caused a complete breach between them, but +shortly before Tristram's death he patched up a +half reconciliation, and sent home a photograph +of his wife and little daughter, whom he named +'Leslie' after her grandfather. I believe some +years ago an effort was made to bring the child +over to England to be educated, but her mother, +who by that time was married again and living in +Sicily, refused to give her up to her English relations. +I have never seen her myself, but she +must be quite fourteen years old by now. It will +be a great surprise to her to learn that she succeeds +to the property."</p> + +<p>"And a great disappointment to us," said +Lilias bitterly. "It seems most unfair, when +we've lived at the Chase all these years, that this +interloper should step in and turn us out of our +home."</p> + +<p>"I hate her!" declared Clifford, clenching his +little fists.</p> + +<p>"No, no, dears! Don't take it in that way!" +begged Cousin Clare. "Remember that, after +all, the Chase was Grandfather's property, and +he had absolute right to leave it to whom he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[65]</a></span> +pleased. He stood in the place of parents to +you all, but that did not mean that he must will +the estate to Everard. Leslie is also his grandchild, +and belongs to the elder branch of the +family. He has left you each a most generous +legacy, so that there is plenty for your education. +I don't know what arrangements will be made for +you, but Mr. Bowden is one of your guardians, +and he is such a kind friend that I am sure he +can be thoroughly trusted to take good care of +your affairs. Try to look on the bright side of +things. Matters might be so much worse."</p> + +<p>In Lilias's opinion, at any rate, matters were +quite bad enough. As Everard's particular chum, +she took his disinheritance more hardly than Dulcie. +She wondered what he was doing in London, +and if he would send her his address. It +angered her that Mr. Bowden took his departure +quite calmly, and seemed to think he would turn +up again in a few days, when he had spent the +money he had taken with him. She knew her +brother too well for that, and was sure that his +pride would not allow him to return either to Cheverley +or to Harrow in the character of a disappointed +heir. In that respect she could entirely +sympathize with him. She and Dulcie went back +to Chilcombe Hall at the beginning of the next +week, and, though all their companions were very +kind and sympathetic, it was humiliating to be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[66]</a></span> +obliged to acknowledge that the Chase was no +longer virtually their home. For the present, as +the heiress was a minor, the estate was in the +hands of the executors. Mr. Bowden decided to +send Bevis and Clifford to the same preparatory +school as Roland, and Cousin Clare, after various +letters and telegrams, departed on a mission to +Sicily, to interview Leslie's mother and stepfather. +What the purport of her visit might be, the girls +had as yet no hint.</p> + +<p>The weeks dragged wearily on towards Easter. +Though Dulcie might throw herself into hockey +or basket ball, to Lilias school interests seemed +to have lost their former zest. She wondered +where they were to spend their holidays. Various +friends had extended invitations, but Mr. Bowden, +to whom everything must now be referred, +had not yet written to consent. At last came his +reply.</p> + +<p>"I have arranged for you and your sister to +spend your holidays as usual at the Chase. Miss +Clare will be arriving back from Sicily, and will +bring your cousin Leslie with her. They would +like you to be at home to receive them."</p> + +<p>Lilias, showing the letter to Dulcie in the privacy +of the Blue bedroom, simply raged.</p> + +<p>"It's <em>too</em> bad! When we were so keen to go +to London, too! Why should we be there to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[67]</a></span> +receive Madame Leslie, I should like to know. +I don't want to see her!"</p> + +<p>"Neither do I, only I <em>do</em> wonder what she's +like, all the same," ventured Dulcie. "Can she +speak English? And will she take over the whole +place, and make us feel it's hers?"</p> + +<p>"No doubt she will. We shall have to take +very back seats indeed! It's just too disgusting +for words. I really think Mr. Bowden needn't +have forced this upon us."</p> + +<p>"The girls will be ever so sorry for us!"</p> + +<p>"I know; and that's just what I hate. I can't +bear to be pitied."</p> + +<p>The Easter exodus seemed very different indeed +from the happy breaking up of last Christmas. +No "Rajah" and "Peri" with glossy coats and +arching necks came to take Lilias and Dulcie +from school, and give them the delight of a ride +over the hills, though Milner arrived with the +car, and told them that he was to fetch their +three younger brothers on the following morning. +The Chase seemed lonely and deserted with nobody +to welcome them except the servants. It +brought back vividly those few sad days of drawn +blinds, and the memory of the long black line +slowly disappearing down the drive. They had +supper by themselves, and spent a very quiet evening +reading in the drawing-room. The advent +next day of Roland, Bevis, and Clifford certainly<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[68]</a></span> +enlivened the atmosphere, and things would have +felt like old times again had it not been for the +shadow of the arrival of the heiress. A telegram +had been received from Cousin Clare announcing +the train, and the car was to meet them at the +station on that same evening. Winder and the +other servants were bustling about getting the +house in order for its new mistress. A log fire +was lighted in the hall, and plants in pots were carried +in from the conservatory. The Union Jack +fluttered from over the porch, and the gardener +had put up some decorations with the word "Welcome."</p> + +<p>Five very sober young people stood in the drawing-room +and watched as the car came up the +drive to the front door. Next minute they heard +Cousin Clare's cheerful voice calling to them, and +they came shyly forth into the hall.</p> + +<p>Standing on the Persian rug in front of the log +fire was a girl of about fourteen, an erect, slender, +graceful little figure, with dark silky hair +hanging in loose curls, and wonderful bright eyes +that were dark and yet full of light and seemed to +shine like stars. For an instant she included the +Ingletons in one comprehensive glance, then her +whole face broke into eager smiles.</p> + +<p>"I know which of you is which! Lilias, Dulcie, +Roland, Bevis, Clifford!" she declared, shaking +hands with each. "I'm very rich to have five<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[69]</a></span> +new cousins all at once! To-morrow you must +show me everything, the rabbits and the dogs, and +the tame jackdaw! Oh yes! I've been hearing +about them and about you! Cousin Clare told +me just what you would be like. I kept asking +her questions the whole way!"</p> + +<p>She spoke prettily, and without a trace of a foreign +accent; her manner was warm and friendly. +She looked, indeed, as if she would like to kiss +her new relations. She was so entirely different +from what the Ingletons had expected, that in their +utter amazement they could think of nothing to +say in reply, and stood gazing at her in embarrassed +silence. Cousin Clare saved the situation.</p> + +<p>"Carmel, child, you're tired out!" she decreed. +"I'm going to take you straight upstairs +and put you to bed. Thirty-six hours of traveling +is too much for anybody, and you never slept in +the train. Come along! You must make friends +with your cousins to-morrow."</p> + +<p>Long afterwards, when Dulcie tried to analyze +her first impressions of the new-comer, she realized +that what struck her most was the extreme charm +of her personality. We have all possibly gone +through a similar psychic experience of meeting +somebody against whom we had conceived a bitter +prejudice, and finding our intended hatred +suddenly veer round into love. The effect is like +stepping out into what you imagine will be a blizzard,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[70]</a></span> +and finding warm sunshine. The little mistress +of the Chase was very weary with her long +journey, but, when at last she was sufficiently +rested to be shown round her demesne, she made +her royal progress with an escort of half-fascinated +cousins.</p> + +<p>"You'll like to see your property," Lilias began +shyly, leading the way into the garden.</p> + +<p>"<em>Please</em> don't call it mine. I want you all to +understand, at the very beginning, that it's still +your home, and I don't wish to take it from you. +I have my own dear home in Sicily, and I hope to +go back there some day. While I'm in England, +let me be your visitor. That's all I want. I +can't bear to think that I'm taking anybody's place, +or anything that ought to belong to some one else. +If only Mother were here, she'd explain properly."</p> + +<p>"But it <em>is</em> yours, Leslie!" objected Dulcie.</p> + +<p>"In a way yes, but in another way, no! It +can be mine and yours at the same time. And +please will you call me Carmel? Leslie is a boy's +name, not a girl's. I'm always Carmel at home. +I didn't want to leave home at all, but Mother +and Daddy said I must go with Cousin Clare +when she had come all the way to Sicily to fetch +me. They promised it should be only a visit."</p> + +<p>Lilias and Dulcie could hardly believe the evidence +of their ears. They had expected Carmel<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[71]</a></span> +to be appraising her new property with keen satisfaction, +instead of which she appeared to be +suffering from a bad attack of homesickness. +She looked at the gardens, the stables, and all the +pets with interest, but without any apparent sense +of proprietorship. Her behavior was exactly +that of an ordinary visitor who admires a friend's +possessions. In her talk she referred constantly +to her home in Sicily, to her stepfather and her +younger brothers and sisters. They and her +mother were evidently the supreme center of her +life.</p> + +<p>"We thought you'd only know Italian," confided +Dulcie, whose shyness was beginning to wear +off.</p> + +<p>Carmel laughed.</p> + +<p>"Of course I talk Italian too, but we always +speak English at home. Isn't it strange that +mother should have married two Englishmen? I +can't remember my own father at all, but Daddy is +a dear, and we're tremendous friends. I've +brought his photo, and Mother's and the children's. +I'll show them to you when I've unpacked."</p> + +<p>Carmel's astounding attitude, while it amazed +her cousins in the extreme, was certainly highly +satisfactory. The boys, when they realized that +she had no desire to wrest their pets from them, +waxed suddenly friendly. With the naïve impulsiveness<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[72]</a></span> +of childhood they gave her a full account +of what they had expected her to be.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps I was rather frightened of you too, +till I saw you all," she confessed. "We've none +of us turned out such dreadful bogies, have we?"</p> + +<p>"Do you know what I'm going to call you?" +said Clifford, slipping a plump hand into hers, and +gazing up into the shining brown eyes. "Princess +Carmel!"</p> + +<p>And Carmel bent down and kissed him.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2 style="margin-top: 5em;"><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a><span class="smcap">chapter vi</span></h2> +<h2>Princess Carmel</h2> + + +<p>In the long talk which Cousin Clare had had<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[73]</a></span> +with Mr. and Mrs. Greville in Sicily, it had been +arranged that Carmel was to be sent to school +with Lilias and Dulcie at Chilcombe Hall. The +new term, therefore, saw her established in a little +dressing-room which led out of the Blue bedroom, +and which by good luck happened to be vacated by +Evie Hughes, who had left at Easter. +It was soon spread over with Carmel's private possessions. +They were different from the equipment +of an ordinary English schoolgirl, and +aroused as much interest as their owner. First +there were the portraits of her mother, of her +stepfather, Mr. Greville, and of the little half-brothers +and sisters—Bertram, Nina, Vincent, +and Luigia—taken by an Italian photographer in +wonderfully artistic poses, and with classic backgrounds +of pillars and palm trees. Then there +were fascinating snapshots of her home, a white +Sicilian house with a vine-covered veranda, and +its lovely half-tropical garden with fountains and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[74]</a></span> +statues and pomegranate blossom, and trees hung +with ripe oranges and lemons. Carmel's things +seemed nearly all foreign. Her nightdress case +was of drawn linen beautifully embroidered by +the nuns at a convent; her work-box was of inlaid +wood from Sorrento; the trinkets on her +dressing-table were Italian; her clothes and shoes +bore the names of Paris shops. Some of the +books she had brought with her were in French; +the calendar that hung on her wall held pictures +of Naples and Vesuvius.</p> + +<p>Carmel was undoubtedly a most unusual combination +of two nationalities. Though in some +respects she was English enough, there was a certain +little gracious dignity and finish about her +manners that was peculiarly southern. Clifford, +with a child's true instinct, had named her "Princess." +She was indeed "royal" with that best +type of good breeding which gives equal courtesy +to all, be it queen or beggar. In the school she +was soon an immense favorite. The girls admired +her attitude towards Lilias and Dulcie. If +she had posed as the heiress of the Chase, they +would probably have "sat upon her" thoroughly, +but, as she never put forward her claims in +that respect, they were disposed to show her decided +consideration, all the more so as she was +visibly fretting for her Sicilian home. She put +a brave face on things in the day-time, but at night<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[75]</a></span> +she would be caught crying, and her eagerness for +letters was pathetic.</p> + +<p>"Poor child! She's like an exotic plant transferred +to a northern soil!" said Miss Walters. +"We must try to settle her somehow. It won't +do for her to go about with dark rings round +her eyes. I wonder how we could possibly interest +her? I don't believe our school happenings +appeal to her in the least."</p> + +<p>Certainly the new-comer went through the ordinary +routine of classes, walks, and games without +any display of enthusiasm. Gowan Barbour +tried to coach her at cricket, but the result was +not successful.</p> + +<p>"It's a boy's game, and the ball is so hard, it +hurts my hands!" objected Carmel.</p> + +<p>"Didn't you play cricket at home?"</p> + +<p>"Never!"</p> + +<p>"Or tennis?"</p> + +<p>"On a cinder court. The sun scorched up our +grass court."</p> + +<p>"What used you to do then, to amuse yourself?"</p> + +<p>"We made paper dresses for the carnival, and +sometimes we acted. We used to have plays on +the veranda, or in the garden. And we went +on picnics to the hills. It was beautiful there in +spring, when the anemones were out in the fields."</p> + +<p>"We're to have a picnic next Saturday," announced<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[76]</a></span> +Gowan; "I heard Miss Walters telling +Miss Herbert so."</p> + +<p>It was perhaps with special reference to Carmel +that Miss Walters had arranged an outing +for the school. It was bluebell time, and the +woods in the neighborhood would be a show. By +permission of the owner, Sir Ranald Joynson, +they were to have access to large private grounds, +and to be allowed to ramble in his famous rhododendron +gardens. None of the girls had ever +been there before, so it was a treat for all. Motor +wagonettes were to convey them all the six +miles; they were to start after an early lunch, and +to take tea baskets with them. Even Carmel +cheered up at the pleasant prospect.</p> + +<p>"You have a treat before you!" Dulcie assured +her. "You may talk about your Sicilian +flowers, but just wait till you have seen an English +wood full of bluebells! There's nothing to beat +it in the whole world. I've often heard of Sir +Ranald Joynson's grounds. We're in luck to get +leave to go in them, because I believe he's generally +rather stingy about allowing people there. +I wonder how Miss Walters managed it."</p> + +<p>"She's a clever woman," said Gowan. "She +always seems to manage to get what she wants. +Some people do!"</p> + +<p>"I wish <em>I</em> did!" wailed Bertha. "I've +wanted a principal part in the French plays ever<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[77]</a></span> +since I came to school, and Mademoiselle never +will give me one; I always have to be a servant, +or an extra guest, and speak about two lines!"</p> + +<p>"Well, your French accent is so atrociously +bad, I don't wonder!" returned Gowan. "You +certainly wouldn't be a credit to Mademoiselle +in a principal part. And you're very stiff and +wooden in acting, too!"</p> + +<p>"Thank you for your compliments!" sniffed +Bertha, much offended.</p> + +<p>"Oh, don't be sarkie! I must tell the truth. +Cheer up! It's a picnic on Saturday, not a +French play!"</p> + +<p>"Thank goodness it is!" rejoiced Dulcie. "I +hate Mademoiselle's French afternoons! I don't +know which is worst; to have to learn and act +yards of dialogue, or to sit in the audience and +listen while other people show off. I like out-of-doors +treats! I'm an open-air girl."</p> + +<p>The occupants of the Blue bedroom decided +that it was high time something happened to stir +up Carmel, who was behaving more like an exile +than an heiress. Now the first excitement of her +arrival and unpacking was over, she had relapsed +into a piteous fit of homesickness.</p> + +<p>"I believe she's crying again!" said Dulcie, +laying an ear to the door that communicated with +the dressing-room. "Do you think I ought to +go in to her?"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[78]</a></span>"It's no use!" declared Lilias. "I went last +night and tried to comfort her, and I'm sure I only +made her cry harder. Best leave her to herself."</p> + +<p>"Homesick people always do cry harder if +you sympathize," proclaimed Gowan. "I was +prefect of the junior dormitory at my other school +before I came here, and the new kids always +turned on the water works at first. I learnt how +to manage them. Sympathy makes them worse. +What you want is to switch their minds off thinking +about home, and make them enjoy school life. +Carmel will come round in time."</p> + +<p>"Meantime," said Bertha, "she reminds me of +that picture in Miss Walters' study: 'The Hostage.' +You know the one I mean, the girl who's +standing leaning over the castle wall and gazing +out to sea, and evidently thinking of her own +country. I wonder if princesses who were sent +to be married to foreign princes felt homesick?"</p> + +<p>"I dare say they did," grunted Gowan, "but +I'm sure my plan's the best for curing the complaint. +Smack them on the back and make them +cheer up, instead of letting them weep on your +shoulder. I don't like a damp atmosphere!"</p> + +<p>To do Carmel justice, however acute her sense +of exile might be, she had not obtruded her woes +upon her schoolfellows, and had conducted her +weeping in secret. If sounds of distress filtered +through the door, it was only when matters<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[79]</a></span> +seemed particularly hopeless. On Saturday she +came down dressed for the jaunt, and all smiles.</p> + +<p>"Sit her between Edith and Bertha," commanded +Gowan, "and tell them they may be their +silliest! Make her laugh till she's weak. I'll +take a turn at her myself later. Don't let her +mope about in the woods alone. Keep close to +her, and make all the insane jokes you can. I +tell you I was homesick myself once, though you +mayn't believe it. I don't often dab my eyes +now, do I?"</p> + +<p>"Here are the wagonettes," said Dulcie. +"Why, that driver has stuck up a flag! How +nice of him! It looks so festive. Bags me go +in his chariot."</p> + +<p>It took a little while to arrange mistresses, +girls, and tea-baskets inside the two motors, but +at last everything was packed in, and they started +off in the direction of Bradstone. Other people +were out enjoying Saturday's holiday, and cars, +bicycles, and conveyances were frequent on the +road. Grinsdale Park, their destination, was approached +by great gates, outside which the wagonettes +stopped and unloaded their passengers. +Miss Walters, armed with Sir Ranald Joynson's +letter, called at the lodge for permission to enter, +and, her credentials being in strict order, the party +was duly admitted.</p> + +<p>"Won't everybody who sees us go in be just<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[80]</a></span> +green with envy?" rejoiced Edith. "Did you see +how those two cyclists tried to hang on to us and +push in too? Miss Walters looked at them most +witheringly. 'May I ask if you have a private +permit?' I heard her say to them. It squashed +them flat, and they beat a retreat."</p> + +<p>"I believe Sir Ranald used to let the public in +at one time," said Noreen, "but people behaved +so atrociously that he had to stop. Rough boys +used to tear about and break the bushes, and take +the flowers, and do a great deal of damage."</p> + +<p>"I know! I've heard about it," said Lilias. +"They went bird-nesting, too, and took all the +eggs. That was the absolute finish. Sir Ranald +is very keen on natural history, and he keeps these +grounds as a sort of bird sanctuary. I believe +quite rare kinds build here, and he never lets them +be disturbed."</p> + +<p>"I wonder he gave us a permit to come!"</p> + +<p>"Well, you see, most of the young birds are +fledged by now, and, besides, he wouldn't expect +us to go about climbing trees and robbing nests!"</p> + +<p>Carrying the picnic-baskets amongst them, the +party started forth along the drive, but after ten +minutes' walking turned down a bypath into the +woods. They were at the edge of a beautiful +lake, and on one side of them stretched a gleaming +expanse of water, edged with shimmering +reeds, and on the other grew thick groves of trees<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[81]</a></span> +with a carpet of wild hyacinths beneath. The sun +glinted through the new green leaves on to the +springing bracken and bluebells, and made long +rifts of light across the water, birds were flitting +about and twittering in the trees, and everywhere +there was that delicious scent of the woodlands, +a mixture of honey and flowers and warm moist +earth and damp moss, which is the incense nature +burns at the shrine of the goddess of spring.</p> + +<p>It was so lovely that the party straggled considerably. +They could not help putting down the +picnic-baskets and leaving the path to explore and +gather flowers. There were so many delightful +surprises. Phillida and Noreen noticed a moorhen's +nest built on an overhanging bough that +swept the lake, and saw four tiny downy creatures +swimming away very fast to take cover; Ursula +found a specimen of the Truelove-knot, and triumphed +immensely, partly on botanical grounds +and partly because she regarded it as an omen of +early matrimony, though needless to say this latter +aspect of her rejoicing was not communicated +to Miss Walters, only chuckled over in private +with her intimate friends.</p> + +<p>Knowing that the girls would not do any damage, +the mistresses allowed them to disperse, on +the understanding that they came at once when +they heard the Guide's whistle.</p> + +<p>Dulcie, Carmel, and Prissie had wandered<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[82]</a></span> +away down the banks of the little stream where +grew pale marsh violets, golden globeflowers, and +the sweet-scented fern. Pushing through the undergrowth +above the water, they found themselves +in a tiny natural clearing such as poets of +old would have described as a "a bower." Budding +trees encircled it, a guelder rose bush overtopped +it, and delicate fern-like moss sprang +through the grass underfoot. There were fairies, +too, in the bower; four little whitethroats were +flitting about in the sunshine. It was perhaps +their first exodus from the nest, for as yet they +were without the slightest sense of fear. They +allowed the girls to catch them, fondle them, and +stroke their lovely plumage; they would fly delicately +away, twittering with pleasure, then flit +back to the caressing hands like sprites at play. +Anything more innocent and beautiful it would +have been impossible to conceive; it was like a +glimpse into Paradise before the fear and dread +of man had passed over God's lesser creatures. +The girls stood absolutely fascinated, till at last, +attracted perhaps by some warning mother-signal, +their dainty bird friends took a sudden rapid +flight into the woods and were gone. Carmel +looked after them with shining eyes.</p> + +<p>"It's like St. Francis of Assissi and his 'little +sisters the birds,'" she said softly. "Have you +read the <em>Little Flowers of St. Francis</em>, and how<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[83]</a></span> +he preached to the swallows and they all flocked +round him and twittered? I've never seen birds +so tame as this! They aren't in Sicily, you can +hardly ever get near them there."</p> + +<p>"They aren't in England either," said Dulcie, +"though our gamekeeper told us that if you can +just chance to see them when they first leave the +nest, they don't know what fear is. He once +found some newly-hatched wild ducks, and they +were perfectly unafraid, but when he passed the +place half an hour later, the mother duck gave a +call, and the little ones wouldn't let him come +anywhere near them. They'd had their lesson, +and learnt fear."</p> + +<p>"I once brought up a starling that had tumbled +out of a nest," said Prissie, "and it was always +perfectly tame, and would let me stroke it, and +would perch on my hand. I had it for years. +Do you think we could have kept the whitethroats?"</p> + +<p>"No, no!" said Carmel quickly. "I'd as soon +think of caging fairies! It would be a shame to +take them out of this lovely wood; it's their fairy-land. +I'm so glad Sir Ranald doesn't allow boys +to come in here! I thought at first it was rather +selfish of him, but I begin to understand. There +must be some quiet places left where the birds can +be undisturbed. I'm glad to have seen these!"</p> + +<p>Miss Walter's whistle, sounding loudly in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[84]</a></span> +distance, recalled them to the path. They found +the school very excited over a heronry which they +could see on an island in the lake. Some large +untidy nests were in the trees, and every now and +then a heron, with long legs outstretched behind +it, would sail majestically through the air from +the mainland.</p> + +<p>"It would be a very fishy place if we could get +near," remarked Miss Hardy. "All the ground +underneath the nests would be strewn with bones +and remains. The herons fly a tremendous long +way in search of food, sometimes a radius of as +much as forty miles. Look! there's one fishing +in the lake over there."</p> + +<p>"I like the whitethroats best," said Dulcie. +"I shouldn't care to hold a young heron in my +hand and cuddle it!"</p> + +<p>At the lower end of the lake was a hill-side, and +down the slopes Sir Ranald had caused to be +planted a little forest of rhododendrons. They +were in their prime, and stretched a beautiful mass +of every shade from crimson to pink and lavender. +On the top of the hill was a summer-house, +a temple-like building with pillars and steps, and +here, by arrangement, they expected the lodge-keeper's +wife to supply them with boiling water +for their tea. It looked an ideal place for a picnic, +and they started at once to climb the steep +path that led among the rhododendrons to the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[85]</a></span> +summit. Up and up under the screen of delicate +blossom, they felt as if they were treading in some +tropical garden, and when they reached the summit, +and the view burst upon them of crimson-clad +slope, gleaming lake, and flecked blue sky, +they stood gazing with much satisfaction. "The +Temple," as the girls called the summer-house, +was a classic building with a terrace in front, and +here the school elected to sit, instead of in the +rather cramped room. There was a kitchen at +the back, and Mrs. Bates, the lodge-keeper's wife, +had lighted a fire and boiled kettles in readiness +for them.</p> + +<p>"Sir Ranald and his friends come for lunch +here sometimes in the shooting season," she explained, +"so I'm used to getting tea and coffee +made. Take some chairs outside if you like. +You'd rather sit on the steps! Well, there's no +accounting for tastes! Give me your teapots, +and I'll warm them before you put the tea into +them."</p> + +<p>Sitting in a row on the steps that led from the +"temple" to the terrace, the girls had a glorious +view, Carmel in especial seemed particularly to +enjoy herself.</p> + +<p>"It's more like home than anything I've seen +yet!" she declared enthusiastically. "I could almost +fancy that this little piazza is on the slope +of Etna! The goatherds ought to be playing the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[86]</a></span> +'Pastorale' down there! I can nearly hear +them!"</p> + +<p>"What's the 'Pastorale'?" asked Dulcie.</p> + +<p>"It's the Sicilian National Dance. Every +body dances it—sometimes by sunlight and sometimes +by moonlight. Oh! it's a thing that gets +into your blood! Once you hear it played on the +pipes you have to jump up and dance—you +simply can't help it. There's magic in it!"</p> + +<p>"Dance it for us now on the terrace!" suggested +Dulcie.</p> + +<p>"I've no music!"</p> + +<p>"Can't you hum it? Miss Walters, may Carmel +show us a Sicilian dance?"</p> + +<p>"By all means, if she will!" acquiesced the +head-mistress.</p> + +<p>"Go on Carmel!" commanded the girls. +"Show us how it goes!"</p> + +<p>Thus urged, Carmel rose from her seat, and +went on to the terrace at the foot of the steps. +She looked for a moment or two at the crimson +slope of flowers and the shining lake, as if to put +herself into the right mental atmosphere, then, +humming a lively but haunting tune, she began +her old-world southern dance.</p> + +<p>It was wonderful dancing, every action of her +alert young body was so beautifully graceful that +you forgot her modern costume and could imagine +her a nymph in classic draperies. Her arms kept<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[87]</a></span> +motion with her tripping feet, and both were in +time with the tune that she was trilling. It +seemed a spontaneous expression of gaiety as +natural as the flight of a dragon-fly or the sporting +of a kitten. Her dark hair flew out behind her, +her eyes shone and sparkled, and her cheeks +flushed with unwonted color. For the moment +she looked the very incarnation of joy, and might +have been Artemis surprised in a Sicilian grove. +It was such a fresh aspect of Carmel that the girls +stared at her in amazement. From Princess she +had changed to Oread, and they did not know her +in this new mood. They gave her performance +a hearty clap, however, as she stopped and sank +panting on to the steps.</p> + +<p>"You'll have to turn dancing-mistress, Carmel, +and give the others a lesson in your Pastorale," +said Miss Walters. "It's a pretty step, and we +shall ask you to do it again when we give our +garden fête in aid of the 'Waifs and Strays.' +Don't you think our English scenery can compare +favorably even with your beloved Sicily?"</p> + +<p>"It's very beautiful," admitted Carmel, "but +I miss Etna in the distance."</p> + +<p>"Then you won't yield us the palm?" laughed +Miss Walters.</p> + +<p>"I love it all, I do indeed, but Sicily will always +be the most beautiful place in the world to me, +because it's home!"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2 style="margin-top: 5em;"><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a><span class="smcap">chapter vii</span></h2> +<h2>An Old Greek Idyll</h2> + + +<p>After the picnic at Bradstone, Carmel, possibly<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[88]</a></span> +from something she heard the girls say about +her, seemed to make a supreme effort to overcome +her homesickness, and to settle down as an +ordinary and rational member of the school. She +was undoubtedly a favorite. Even Lilias admitted +her charm, though she had not fallen under +her spell so completely as Dulcie. At the bottom +of her heart, Lilias could not quite forgive Carmel +for supplanting her brother at the Chase. +From the night he had said good-by and motored +to Balderton, not a word had been heard of Everard. +He had not returned to school, neither +had he visited any relations or friends, and indeed +since he stepped out of the car at the railway +station all trace of him seemed to have vanished. +Mr. Bowden did not take the matter too seriously. +He considered Everard was more of a +man now than a schoolboy, and that, if he had +fulfilled his threat of running away to sea, the +brief experience of a voyage before the mast +would do him no harm, and that when the vessel<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[89]</a></span> +returned to port he would probably be only too +glad to come back and claim his share of the inheritance.</p> + +<p>This easy view annoyed Lilias. She had a share +of the Ingleton pride, and she would have liked +his absence treated with more concern. She +thought Mr. Bowden ought to advertise in the +Agony Column of <em>The Times</em>, beseeching Everard +to return home, but their guardian only +laughed when she suggested such a course, and assured +her that her brother would turn up in time +when he was tired of managing for himself.</p> + +<p>"I've been in the law for thirty years, my dear, +and I know human nature better than you do," he +declared indulgently.</p> + +<p>"But you don't know Everard as I do!" protested Lilias.</p> + +<p>She could not take Mr. Bowden's view of the +case. Everard had left the Chase in such deep +anger and resentment that the chances of a +speedy change in his outlook seemed remote. +Lilias longed to write to him, but knew of no address +to which it was possible to post a letter. She +worried often over his mysterious absence, and +was quite angry with Dulcie for not taking the +matter more keenly to heart.</p> + +<p>"But Mr. Bowden and Cousin Clare think he's +all right!" protested that easy going young damsel.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[90]</a></span>"How do they know? I think you might show +a little more interest in your own brother, who, +after all, has been treated extremely badly. It +seems to me hardly decent to circle round Carmel +as you do!"</p> + +<p>Dulcie opened her blue eyes wide.</p> + +<p>"Do I circle round Carmel? Well, really, and +why shouldn't I like her? She's my cousin, and a +jolly good sort too! I believe she'll give us all a +far better time at the Chase than Everard would +have done. He always wanted everything just +his own way. None of us ever had an innings +when he was at home. I never could see why the +eldest of a family should lord it so over the +others."</p> + +<p>"You never had any proper sense of propriety!" +retorted Lilias indignantly. "<em>I</em> believe +in keeping up the traditions of the Ingletons, and +the estate has always descended strictly in the male +line. It's only right it should have been left to +Everard instead of to a girl, and I'll always say +so. There!"</p> + +<p>Dulcie shrugged her shoulders.</p> + +<p>"Say what you like, Sister o' Mine! The +twentieth century is different from the Middle +Ages, and people don't bother so much nowadays +as they did about descent and all that. The +owner of an estate hasn't to fight for it. Oh yes, +of course I'm glad I'm an Ingleton, but Carmel's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[91]</a></span> +an Ingleton too, as much as we are, and if the +Chase is hers we can't help it, and we may just as +well make the best of it!"</p> + +<p>With which piece of philosophy, Dulcie turned +away, leaving Lilias to shake her head over the +decay of family feeling, and the degeneracy of +younger sisters.</p> + +<p>It was perhaps Carmel's rendering of the Pastorale +dance that suggested to Miss Walters a +scheme of entertainment for the garden fête +which the girls were to give in aid of the "Homes +for Waifs and Strays." She decided that the garden +of Chilcombe Hall would make an excellent +background for some classic representations, and +that nothing could be prettier than old Greek costumes. +By a stroke of great good luck she managed +to engage Miss Adams, a former pupil who +had been studying classic dancing in Paris, to come +for a few weeks and train the performers. Miss +Adams was a tremendous enthusiast, and arrived +full of ideas which she was burning to teach to the +school. The girls were delighted with her methods. +It was quite a new phase of dancing to trip +barefooted on the lawn, holding up garlands of +flowers. They liked the exercises which she gave +them for the cultivation of grace, and practised +classic attitudes on all occasions, with more or less +success.</p> + +<p>"You go about the school so exactly like Minerva!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[92]</a></span> +complained Noreen to Phillida, rather +dismayed by the sudden change in her lively friend +from bounding spirits to a statuesque pose. +"Need you always walk as if you were thinking of +the shape of your ankles?"</p> + +<p>Phillida shook her head carefully, so as not to +disarrange the Greek fillet she was wearing.</p> + +<p>"It's been too hot lately to tear round and play +tennis. I think, too, that what Miss Adams says +is quite right. English girls <em>are</em> lacking in grace +and dignity. Just look at the way Ida and Joyce +are flopping about now. An artist would have +fits to see them!"</p> + +<p>"Well, of course they're not sitting for their +portraits. Oh yes! I love dancing, but I don't +want to worry about being graceful all day long!"</p> + +<p>"That's just the point, though," persisted +Phillida, who was a zealous convert. "The +dances are to make you graceful <em>always</em>. You so +get into the poetry of motion that it's quite impossible +for you ever to flop again!"</p> + +<p>"Is it? Oh, Kafoozalum!" burbled Noreen, +exploding into a series of chuckles. "'She never +flopped again!' We ought to make a parody on +that from the poem of 'The White Ship.'</p> + +<p class="poem"> +"Miss Adams to the school came down,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">The classic wave rolled on:</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">And what was cricket's latest score</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">To those who danced alone?</span><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[93]</a></span><br /> +"From dawn they practised attitudes<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Until the sun did wane;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">And fast confirmed in Grecian pose,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">They never flopped again!"</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>"You may mock as much as you please!" retorted +Phillida, "but it's sheer envy because you +know you won't be chosen as a wood nymph. +Play cricket and tennis if you wish, by all means! +But <em>I</em> think when we're having a performance we +may just as well give our minds to it, and do it +properly, especially when Miss Adams is here to +teach us."</p> + +<p>"Right you are! Float on, O goddess! +You're getting too ethereal for the school. I +shall be glad when the entertainment's over, and +we can have a cricket match again. It's decidedly +more in my line!"</p> + +<p>Miss Adams, with all the enthusiasm of youth +and a new vocation, was determined to make the +entertainment a success. She spared no trouble +over constant rehearsals, and having weeded out +those girls who could not adapt themselves to her +methods, she kept the rest well at work in any +time that was available. She determined not +only to have dances, but to give in addition a +short Greek play, and selected for that purpose +the famous fifteenth idyll of Theocritus.</p> + +<p>"But we're not to act it in Greek, surely!" +objected Edith in alarm.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[94]</a></span>"It's bad enough to have to learn French plays! +We'd never be able to tackle Greek!" urged +Dulcie, absolutely aghast.</p> + +<p>"Don't look so scared!" laughed Miss Adams. +"I'm not going to ask you to give it in Greek. +Probably few people would understand it if you +did! I have a delightful translation here. It +ought to take very well indeed with the audience. +Come and squat on the grass, and I'll read it +aloud to you first, and then I'll allot parts."</p> + +<p>"Is it <em>very</em> stiff and educational?" groaned +Dulcie, obeying unwillingly.</p> + +<p>"Wait and see! Come under the shade of +the lilac bush, it's so hot to sit in the sun."</p> + +<p>The girls composed themselves into attitudes +of more or less classic elegance, and Miss Adams, +book in hand, began to read.</p> + +<p style="text-align: center; margin-top: 20px;">"IDYLL XV</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"<em>Gorgo.</em> Is Praxinoë at home?</p> + +<p>"<em>Praxinoë.</em> Dear Gorgo, how long it is since you have +been here! She <em>is</em> at home. The wonder is that you +have got here at last. Eunoë, see that she has a chair. +Throw a cushion on it, too.</p> + +<p>"<em>Gorgo.</em> It does most charmingly as it is.</p> + +<p>"<em>Praxinoë.</em> Do sit down.</p> + +<p>"<em>Gorgo.</em> Oh, what a thing spirit is! I have scarcely +got to you alive, Praxinoë! What a huge crowd! What +hosts of four-in-hands! Everywhere cavalry boots, everywhere +men in uniform. And the road is endless: yes, +you really live <em>too</em> far away!</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[95]</a></span>"<em>Praxinoë.</em> It is all the fault of that madman of mine! +Here he came to the ends of the earth, and took—a +hole, not a house, and all that we might not be neighbors. +The jealous wretch, always the same, ever for +spite!</p> + +<p>"<em>Gorgo.</em> Don't talk of Dinon, your husband, like that, +my dear girl, before the little boy. Look how he is staring +at you! Never mind, Zopyrion, sweet child, she is +not speaking about papa.</p> + +<p>"<em>Praxinoë.</em> Our Lady Persephone! The child takes +notice!</p> + +<p>"<em>Gorgo.</em> Nice papa!</p> + +<p>"<em>Praxinoë.</em> That papa of his the other day—we call +every day 'the other day'—went to get soap and rouge +at the shop, and back he came to me with salt—the +great, big endless fellow!"</p></div> + +<p>"But, Miss Adams," interrupted Dulcie, "surely +this isn't an old Greek play? It sounds absolutely +and entirely modern!"</p> + +<p>"As a matter of fact, it was written by +Theocritus about the year 266 <span class="smcap">b. c.</span> It describes +the visit paid by two Syracusan ladies residing in +Alexandria to the festival of Adonis. Their +manners and talk then must have been very +similar to ours of to-day. Listen to the part +where they are getting ready to start.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"<em>Gorgo.</em> It seems nearly time to go.</p> + +<p>"<em>Praxinoë.</em> Idlers have always holidays. Eunoë, bring +the water, and put it down in the middle of the room, +lazy creature that you are! Cats always like to sleep +soft! Come, bustle, bring the water—quicker! I want +water first, and how she carries it! Give it me all the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[96]</a></span> +same: don't pour out so much, you extravagant thing! +Stupid girl! Why are you wetting my dress? There, +stop, I have washed my hands, as heaven would have it! +Where is the key of the big chest? Bring it here.</p> + +<p>"<em>Gorgo.</em> Praxinoë, that full body becomes you wonderfully. +Tell me, how much did the stuff cost you just +off the loom?</p> + +<p>"<em>Praxinoë.</em> Don't speak of it, Gorgo! More than eight +pounds in good silver money—and the work on it! I +nearly slaved my soul out over it.</p> + +<p>"<em>Gorgo.</em> Well, it is <em>most</em> successful: all you could wish.</p> + +<p>"<em>Praxinoë.</em> Thanks for the pretty speech. Eunoë, bring +my shawl, and set my hat on my head, the fashionable +way. No, Zopyrion, I don't mean to take <em>you</em>! Boo! +Bogies! There's a horse that bites! Cry as much as you +please, but I cannot have you lamed. Let us be moving. +Phrygia, take the child, and keep him amused, call in +the dog, and shut the street door!"</p></div> + +<p>"It's exactly like anybody going out to-day!" +commented Carmel, as Miss Adams came to a +pause.</p> + +<p>"Why does it seem so modern?" asked Dulcie.</p> + +<p>"Because it was written during the zenith of +Greece's history, and one great civilization always +resembles another. England of to-day is far +more in touch with the times of ancient Egypt, +Babylon, Greece and Rome, than with the Middle +Ages. Read Chaucer, and you find his mental +outlook is that of a child of seven. In the days +of the Plantagenets grown men and women enjoyed +stories of a crude simplicity that now only<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[97]</a></span> +appeals to children. The human race is always +progressing in great successive waves of civilization; +after each wave breaks, a time of barbarism +prevails, till man is again educated to a higher +growth. We're living at the top of a wave at +present!"</p> + +<p>"I remember," said Carmel, "when Mother +and Daddy took me to Rome, we saw the busts +of the Emperors, and of all sorts of clever people, +who'd lived in about the first century, and we all +said: 'Oh, aren't their faces just like people of +to-day?' We amused ourselves with saying one +was a lawyer, and another a doctor, and calling +some of them after our friends. Then we went +afterwards to an exhibition of sixteenth-century +portraits; perhaps the artists hadn't learnt to paint +well, but at any rate the faces were utterly different +from people of to-day. They seemed quite +another type altogether—not so intelligent or +so interesting. We were tremendously struck +with the difference."</p> + +<p>"It marks my point," said Miss Adams.</p> + +<p>"What else do Gorgo and Praxinoë do?" +asked Edith.</p> + +<p>"They go into Alexandria for the festival, and +find the streets so crowded that they are almost +frightened to death, and have hard work not to +lose Eunoë, the slave girl, whom they have taken +with them; she nearly gets squeezed as they pass<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[98]</a></span> +in at the door. They go into raptures over an +exhibition of embroideries. 'Lady Athene,' +says Praxinoë, 'what spinning-women wrought +them? What painters designed their drawings, +so true they are?' I haven't time to read it all +to you now, but I must just give you the little bit +where they quarrel with a stranger. It's too absolutely +priceless.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"<em>A Stranger.</em> You weariful women, do cease your endless +cooing talk! You bore one to death with your eternal +broad vowels!</p> + +<p>"<em>Gorgo.</em> Indeed! And where may this person come +from? What is it to you if we <em>are</em> chatterboxes? Give +orders to your own servants, sir. Do you pretend to +command ladies of Syracuse? If you must know, we are +Corinthians by descent, like Bellerophon himself, and we +speak Peloponnesian. Dorian women may lawfully speak +Doric, I presume?"</p></div> + +<p>"Oh, <em>do</em> let me be Gorgo!" begged Dulcie. +"I love her; she's so smart and sarcastic. Isn't +it exactly like somebody talking during a concert, +and a person in the row in front objecting, and a +friend butting in with rude remarks? That's +what generally happens."</p> + +<p>"Did people's accent matter in Greek as much +as it does in English?" asked Prissie.</p> + +<p>"Evidently. The Alexandrian gentleman—who +sounds a decided fop—did not approve of a +Doric pronunciation. No doubt broad vowels +were out of fashion. I believe I shall give his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[99]</a></span> +part to Edith. It's a small one, but it has scope +for a good deal of acting."</p> + +<p>"And who is to be Praxinoë, please?"</p> + +<p>"I think I must choose Carmel. She ought to +act in an idyll by Theocritus, as he was a Sicilian +like herself. Would he find Sicily much altered, +Carmel, if he came back? Or is it the same after +two thousand years?"</p> + +<p>"There are still goatherds on the mountains, +though we don't see wood nymphs now!"</p> + +<p>"No, the wood nymphs have all trotted over +to England, and are going to give a performance +in aid of the 'Waifs and Strays!'" said Dulcie. +"I hope Apollo will remember them, and send +them a fine day, if he's anything to do with the +weather over here. Perhaps his sun chariot only +runs on the Mediterranean route."</p> + +<p>"Surely he's got an aeroplane by now!" +laughed Edith. "We'll send him a wireless message +to remind him of his duty. 'Nymphs dancing +Thursday week at 2.30 <span class="smcap">p. m.</span> Kindly cable +special supply of sunshine.'"</p> + +<p>"Now, girls, you're getting silly!" said Miss +Adams, shutting her book and rising. "If we +want to make a success of our classic afternoon, +we've plenty of hard work before us. I'm going +on with costumes at present, and anybody who +cares to volunteer can fetch her thimble and a +needle and cotton, and hem a chiton."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2 style="margin-top: 5em;"><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a><span class="smcap">chapter viii</span></h2> +<h2>Wood Nymphs</h2> + + +<p>It needed a tremendous amount of rehearsing<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[100]</a></span> +and preparation before Miss Adams judged her +classic performance fit for public exhibition. The +Greek garments, simple as they were, nevertheless +required sewing, and there were certain pieces +of scenery to be constructed. The other mistresses +helped nobly, though they were thankful +to be spared the organization of the proceedings, +and to leave the brunt of the burden to a specialist. +Tickets for the entertainment had been sold +in the neighborhood, and parents and friends of +the girls who lived within motoring distance had +promised to drive over.</p> + +<p>"Cousin Clare is coming!" rejoiced Dulcie. +"She has two friends staying at the Chase, and +she'll bring them with her. If Milner drives +them, I shall ask Miss Walters if he may come +and watch too. He'd be <em>so</em> delighted to see it. +He loves anything of that kind. His own little +girl was May Queen at the village pageant two +years ago, and he's talked about it ever since."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[101]</a></span>"I wrote to Mr. Bowden," said Lilias, "and +he's taken two tickets, but he's doubtful if he'll +find time to get off. He's always so busy."</p> + +<p>"Never mind if he sent the money for them!" +consoled Edith. "Of course it's nice to have +big audiences, but it's money we're out for. We +want to make a decent sum."</p> + +<p>"Miss Walters says the tickets have sold quite +well. Even if it's a doubtful day, and we don't +have a very big audience, we shall clear something, +at any rate."</p> + +<p>"Oh, but I do hope people will come! It's so +disappointing to take all this trouble, and to act +to rows of empty chairs. What's going to happen, +by the by, if it's a wet day? Will it be put +off?"</p> + +<p>"We shall have to have it in the big schoolroom. +It can't be put off, because Miss Adams +can only stay till Friday, and we couldn't get +through it without her."</p> + +<p>"No, indeed! She's the directing genius of +it all!"</p> + +<p>"Oh dear! It simply <em>must</em> keep fine!"</p> + +<p>Never was weather more carefully watched. +All the old country saws and superstitions were +remembered and repeated. It became a matter +of vital importance to notice whether the scarlet +pimpernel was out, if the cattle were grazing with +their heads up hill, and whether a heron flew<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[102]</a></span> +across the sky. Prissie took a candle into the +garden last thing before bed-time, to observe if +the lawn showed earthworms; the finding of black +slugs was considered to be rather fatal, and the +hooting of owls a decidedly bad omen. The goddess +of the English climate, however, is such a +fickle deity that there is never the least dependence +to be placed on weather prophecies. She always +seems to prefer to give a surprise. On the day +before the performance it rained; evening closed +in with a stormy sky, and every probability of waking +next morning to find a drizzle. Dulcie, putting +her head out of the window last thing, reported +driving clouds and a total absence of stars.</p> + +<p>Yet, lo and behold! they woke to one of those +rare ethereal dawns that come only now and then +in a summer. The Blue bedroom faced east, and +over the line of laurels in the garden they could +watch pearl and opal flush into rosy pink before +the sun shone out in an almost cloudless sky. By +nine o'clock the wet grass of yesterday was beginning +to dry up, and Miss Adams, with the help of +Jones the gardener, was setting up her scenery, +and making initial arrangements for the business +of the afternoon.</p> + +<p>She had contrived her open-air theater as far +as possible on Greek lines. There was no stage, +but the audience sat on chairs on the grass, and on +cushions and rugs placed down a bank that commanded<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[103]</a></span> +the lawn. The performance was to begin +at 3 o'clock, and soon after 2.30 visitors began +to arrive. There was quite a long row of cars in +the drive, bicycles were stacked against the veranda, +and two ponies were put up in the stable. +Cousin Clare and her friends came in excellent +time, driven—much to Dulcie's satisfaction—by +Milner, who in company with the other chauffeurs +received a cordial invitation from Miss Walters +to witness the show.</p> + +<p>"And wasn't it nice of him?" said Dulcie to +Carmel, "he insisted on giving a shilling to the +funds. I told him it wasn't expected, but he said +he should <em>like</em> to, if we didn't mind. Mind! +Why, we want all the money we can get!"</p> + +<p>"I think Milner is an old dear!" agreed Carmel.</p> + +<p>Mr. Bowden had actually managed to get away +from his office after all, and had brought a niece +with him in the side-car of his motor-bicycle. He +looked quite beaming, as if he meant to forget the +law for a few hours, and to enjoy himself. He +sat next to Cousin Clare, chatting affably and admiring +the arrangements.</p> + +<p>A piano had been carried out on to the lawn +for the occasion, and Miss Lowe, the music mistress, +took her seat at it. She was supported by +a small school orchestra of three violins and +violoncello, and together they struck up some<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[104]</a></span> +Eastern music. When it was well started there +was a flashing of white among the bushes on the +farther side of the lawn, and out came tripping a +bevy of charming wood nymphs. They were all +clad in Greek chitons, very delicately draped, their +hair was bound with gold fillets, and their arms +and feet were bare. They held aloft garlands of +flowers, and circling on that part of the lawn +which formed the stage, they went through the +postures of a beautiful and intricate classic dance.</p> + +<p>Viewed against the background of trees and +bushes it was a remarkably pretty performance. +There were no accessories of limelight or +"make-up" to give a theatrical or artificial effect; +the afternoon sunshine fell on the girls in +their simple costumes, and showed a most natural +scene as their bare feet whirled lightly over the +grass in time to the music, and their uplifted arms +waved the long garlands. There was a tremendous +clapping as they retired into the shelter of +their classic groves.</p> + +<p>The next item on Miss Adams' program was +rather ambitious. An upright screen of wood, +covered with black paper, was placed upon the +lawn to serve as a background, and in front of +this Hester Wilson and Truie Tyndale, attired +in Venetian red chitons, performed a Grecian +dance. The effect was exactly a representation of +an ancient Etruscan vase, with terra cotta figures<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[105]</a></span> +on a black background, and when at the end they +stood posed as in a tableau, the likeness was complete. +Though scarcely so pretty as the garland +dance, it was considered very clever, and met with +much applause.</p> + +<p>For the Idyll XV of Theocritus, Miss Adams +had followed Greek tradition, and had used only +the scantiest and simplest of scenery. A few +screens and stools did service for a house, a tiger-skin +rug was flung on the grass, and a brass waterpot, +brought by Miss Walters from Cairo, completed +the idea of a classic establishment. It was +better to have few accessories than to present anachronisms, +and place modern articles in an Alexandrian +home of the third century <span class="smcap">b. c.</span></p> + +<p>Dulcie and Carmel, as Gorgo and Praxinoë, +made an excellent contrast, the one carrying out +the fair Greek type and the other the dark. They +played their parts admirably, rendering the dialogue +with much spirit and brightness, and with +appropriate action. Praxinoë, the fashionable +belle of the third century <span class="smcap">b. c.</span>, donned her garments +for the festival with a mixture of coquetry +and Greek dignity that delighted the audience; +Gorgo's passage of arms with the Stranger of +Alexandria, was smart and racy, while Edith, as +the affected "man-about-town" of the period was +considered a huge success. As nobody in the +school was young enough to take Zopyrion, they<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[106]</a></span> +had borrowed the gardener's three-year-old baby, +and had trained him to walk on, holding the hand +of Eunoë. He was a pretty child, and dressed +in a little white chiton, with bare legs and feet, he +looked very charming, and quite completed the +scene. His round wondering eyes and evident +astonishment were indeed exactly what was required +from him to sustain the part.</p> + +<p>The wood nymphs, with some slight additions +of costume, acted the crowd through which Gorgo +and Praxinoë had to push their way and pilot their +slaves. They pushed and hustled with such vigor +as amply to justify the episode where Praxinoë's +muslin veil was torn in two, and the whole party +would have been separated, and Eunoë altogether +lost, but for the help of an Alexandrian gentleman.</p> + +<p>Carmel brought out her speech of thanks with +much unction.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"<em>Praxinoë.</em> Both this year and for ever may all be well +with you, my dear sir, for your care of us. A good kind +man! We're letting Eunoë get squeezed—come, +wretched girl, push your way through."</p></div> + +<p>And Nesta, as the courteous stranger, responded +with a bow which, if not absolutely historically +correct for the period, was certainly a +combination of the good manners of all the ages.</p> + +<p>As it was difficult to find enough items for an<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[107]</a></span> +entirely classical program, the second half of the +entertainment was to be miscellaneous, and during +the short interval a delegate from the "Waifs +and Strays Society" was to give a short address +explaining the work of the Homes.</p> + +<p>Now Carmel was down in Part II to dance the +Pastorale, and she ran into the house to change +her Greek chiton for the dress of a Sicilian peasant. +She went through the veranda and the open +French window, and straight upstairs to her bedroom. +She had brought nobody with her, because, +for one thing, she needed no help, and for +another she was hot and excited, and felt that she +would like a few minutes' rest quite to herself. +There was no great hurry, so she leisurely put on +the pretty scarlet and white-striped skirt, the velvet +apron, the white bodice and laced corsage, +clasped the necklace round her throat, and twisted +the gay silk handkerchief as a head-dress on her +dark hair. It was a prettier and more effective +costume even than the Greek one. There was an +Eastern variety of color in it that suited her better +than the simplicity of the chiton. She had completed +it, from the gold bangles on her wrists to +the scarlet stockings and neat shoes, and was just +turning to run downstairs again, when she suddenly +stopped and listened.</p> + +<p>Carmel's little bedroom was really a dressing-room, +and possessed two doors. One led into the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[108]</a></span> +passage, and the other communicated with the +Blue bedroom. This latter door was ajar just a +couple of inches, and through the opening came +the sound of a drawer pulled out. For a moment +Carmel thought that Dulcie and Bertha must have +come upstairs, and she was on the point of calling +to them, when some strong and mysterious instinct +restrained her. Instead, she walked softly across +the floor, and peeped through the chink. It was +no cousin or schoolfellow who was in the next +room, but a slight fair man—an utter stranger—who +was hastily turning over the contents of +the drawer, and slipping something into his pocket.</p> + +<p>For a moment Carmel's heart stood still. She +realized instantly that she was in the immediate +vicinity of a burglar. Seeing the entertainment +advertised by a placard on the gate, he must have +entered the garden and waited his opportunity to +slip into the house while everybody was outside +watching the performance. He was apparently +laying light fingers upon any article which took his +fancy.</p> + +<p>Carmel's first and most natural impulse was to +tear downstairs and give warning of what was +happening. Then it occurred to her that while +she did so the thief would very possibly make his +escape. If only she could trap him. But how? +Her fertile brain thought for a second or two, +then evolved a plan.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[109]</a></span>Very quietly she withdrew the key from the +door which led out of her bedroom to the passage, +and locked it on the outside. So far, so good: if +Mr. Burglar went into the dressing-room he could +not escape. Now she must be prepared to take +a great risk. The key of the Blue bedroom was +on the inside; she must open the door, withdraw +it, and lock it on the outside before the thief could +stop her. It was possible that he had calculated +on the double exit, and that, hearing a noise behind +him, he would make a dash for the dressing-room.</p> + +<p>With shaking legs, and something going +round and round like a wheel inside her chest, she +approached the Blue bedroom door, and opened it +softly. As she had anticipated, the intruder had +probably laid his plans, for at the first sound he +turned his head, then slipped like a rabbit into the +dressing-room. No doubt an unpleasant surprise +awaited him there, for as Carmel's trembling +fingers drew out the key, and locked the door from +the passage side she could hear the handle of her +own bedroom door moving.</p> + +<p>"He's probably got skeleton keys, or a jemmy, +or something like they use on the cinema, and will +be out in a minute, but I'll get a start of him!" +she thought, and tearing down stairs like the wind, +she literally flew into the garden, and gasped forth +the thrilling news.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[110]</a></span>"It's the Blue bedroom—watch the window +or he may jump out!" she added quickly.</p> + +<p>There was an instant rush towards the house; +Miss Walters, with Milner and four other chauffeurs +to support her, dashed up stairs, Mr. Bowden +and a crowd of visitors took their stand under +the windows. Shouts from the bedroom presently +announced that the burglar had been secured, and +after a while he was led down stairs with his +wrists fastened together by a piece of clothes line, +and guarded on each side by two determined looking +men, who hustled him into a car, and drove +him off at once to the police station at Glazebrook.</p> + +<p>The excitement at Chilcombe Hall was tremendous. +It was of course impossible to go on with +the entertainment. Mistresses, girls, and guests +could do nothing but talk about the occurrence. +Carmel was questioned, and gave as minute and +accurate an account as she could of exactly what +had happened. She was much congratulated by +everybody on her presence of mind.</p> + +<p>"I don't know how you dared do it!" shivered +Dulcie. "He might have shot you with a revolver!"</p> + +<p>"You're a brave girl!" said Miss Walters approvingly. +"If it hadn't been for your prompt +action, in all probability he would have got away."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[111]</a></span>"I didn't feel brave. I was scared to death!" +admitted Carmel.</p> + +<p>Although she would not acknowledge any particular +credit in her achievement, Carmel was necessarily +the heroine of the hour. Miss Walters, +feeling that everybody must be in need of refreshment +after such an event, ordered tea to be served +immediately, and soon the urns were carried out +into the garden, where tables had already been +set with cups and saucers and plates of sandwiches +and cakes.</p> + +<p>After a short time Mr. Bowden, who had accompanied +the burglar to the police station, returned +to report that their prisoner was safely +quartered in a cell, and a formal charge had been +lodged against him, which in due course of law +would lead to his trial for house-breaking.</p> + +<p>"The police think he is not an old offender, +but some cyclist who was passing, and probably +yielded to a sudden temptation," he explained. +"Nevertheless, he'll get a sharp sentence, for +there has been too much of this sort of thing going +on lately, and the judges are inclined to be +very severe on it, and rightly too, or nobody's +home would be safe. Thank you, Carmel! Yes, +I'll take another cup of tea, please! And then I +want to see you do that Sicilian dance before I set +off on my travels again. Oh yes! I'm not going +away without!"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[112]</a></span>Poor Carmel was still feeling too much upset +to relish dancing, but Mr. Bowden pressed the +point, and other guests joined their persuasions, +so finally it was decided to give at least a portion +of the second part of the program, and the audience +again took their seats on the lawn, leaving +several people, however, to guard the house.</p> + +<p>"It's not likely there'll be another burglar on +the same afternoon; still, he might have accomplices +about," said Miss Walters. "I shall never +feel really safe again, I'm afraid. We shall all +be horribly nervous for a long time."</p> + +<p>Only the most striking items in Part II were +selected for performance, as it was growing late, +and most of the guests would soon have to take +their leave. There was an affecting tableau of +the parting of the widowed Queen of Edward IV +from her little son, Richard, Duke of York; a +charming pageant of the old street cries of London, +in which dainty maidens in eighteenth-century +costumes appeared with bunches of "Sweet +Lavender," and baskets of "Cherry Ripe," and, +after singing the appropriate songs, went the +round of the audience and sold their wares.</p> + +<p>Noreen, who was the star of the elocution class, +recited a poem describing the sad experience of a +typical little waif, and his reception in the Home. +It was a pretty piece, and had been composed expressly<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[113]</a></span> +for the Society by a lady who often wrote +for magazines.</p> + +<p>Then, last of all, came Carmel's Sicilian dance. +Miss Lowe had fortunately been able to obtain +the score of the Pastorale, and with music and +costume complete the performance was an even +greater success than it had been on the terrace at +Bradstone. People clapped the little figure, +partly for her charming dancing and partly for +her pluck in trapping the burglar, so that altogether +she received quite an ovation.</p> + +<p>"We shan't forget the 'Waifs and Strays' +afternoon in a hurry," said Lilias, as she tidied +her possessions afterwards, for it was <em>her</em> drawer +that the burglar had turned upside down in his +search for valuables. "I feel I want to sleep +with a revolver under my pillow!"</p> + +<p>"If you did, I'd be far more afraid of you than +of the burglar!" protested Bertha. "I know +you'd let it off at the wrong person. I don't suppose +anybody else is likely to come burgling here, +so you needn't alarm yourself!"</p> + +<p>"But if they do, Miss Wiseacre?"</p> + +<p>"Then I should turn them over into the dressing-room, +to be dealt with at her discretion by +Princess Carmel!" laughed Bertha. "I believe +she's equal to catching one of them in a mousetrap +if she gets the opportunity!"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2 style="margin-top: 5em;"><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a><span class="smcap">chapter ix</span></h2> +<h2>The Open Road</h2> + + +<p>It was fortunate for Carmel that her first experience<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[114]</a></span> +of England should come in the spring +and early summer. Had she arrived straight +from sunny Sicily to face autumn rains or winter +snows, I verily believe her courage would have +failed, and she would have written an urgent and +imploring appeal to be fetched home. For the +white, vine-covered house that looked over the +blue waters of the Mediterranean was still essentially +"home" to Carmel. She had been born +and bred in the south, and though one half of her +was purely English, there was another side that +was strongly Italian. She was deeply attached to +all her relations and friends in Sicily, and from her +point of view it was exile to live so far away from +them. The fact that she was owner of the Chase +was, in her estimation, no compensation whatever +for her banishment from "Casa Bianca." She +made a very sweet and gentle little heiress, however. +As yet she was mistress only in name, for +during her minority everything was left in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[115]</a></span> +hands of Mr. Bowden and a certain Canon Lowe, +who were guardians to all Mr. Ingleton's grandchildren, +and kept the Chase open as a home for +them. The three girls returned there from Chilcombe +Hall at the end of the term, and were +joined by the younger boys from their preparatory +school.</p> + +<p>For a week or two they enjoyed themselves in +the grounds and the park. There was much to +show Carmel, and she was happy sitting in the +garden or wandering in the woods. She soon +made friends with the people on the estate. The +gamekeeper's children would come running out to +meet her, and stand round smiling while she +hunted in her pocket for chocolates; Milner's little +girl adored her, and even the shy baby at the lodge +waxed friendly. Carmel was intensely fond of +children, and the affection which she had bestowed +on younger brothers and sisters at home cropped +out on every occasion where her life touched that +of smaller people. To Roland, Bevis, and Clifford +she was a charming companion. She would +go walks with them in the woods, help them to +arrange their various collections of butterflies, +foreign stamps, and picture post cards, and play +endless games of draughts, halma, or bagatelle.</p> + +<p>"You slave after those boys as if you were their +nursery governess!" remarked Lilias one day, +just a little nettled that Clifford ran instinctively<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[116]</a></span> +to Carmel for sympathy instead of to his sister. +"I promised to help them with those caterpillar +boxes to-morrow, and so I will, if you'll leave +them. I really can't be bothered to-day."</p> + +<p>Carmel yielded instantly. Part of her intense +charm was the ready tact with which she was careful +never to usurp the place of any one else. She +put aside the muslin that was to form covers for +the boxes, and slipped her scissors back into the +case.</p> + +<p>Clifford, however, who was a budding naturalist, +and most keen on collecting, was highly disgusted.</p> + +<p>"I want my boxes to-day!" he wailed. "I've +no place to put my caterpillars when I find them. +They crawl out of the old boxes. Why shouldn't +Carmel make me some? I know hers would be +beauties."</p> + +<p>"Lilias will make you some nicer ones to-morrow," +urged his cousin. "Suppose we take our +butterfly nets on to the heath to-day, and try to +find some 'blues.' You haven't a really nice +specimen, you know. And I think we might find +some moths on the trees in the wood, if we look +about carefully. It's worth trying, isn't it?"</p> + +<p>"Oh yes! Do let us! Shall we start now?" +agreed Clifford, much mollified.</p> + +<p>On the whole the three girls got along excellently, +but if there was any hint at disturbance it<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[117]</a></span> +generally arose from Lilias, whose pride would be +up in arms at the most absurd trifles. She was +annoyed that Carmel was asked to give away the +prizes at the village sports, and showed her dissatisfaction +so plainly that her sweet-tempered +cousin, rather than have any fuss, solved the situation +by asking Cousin Clare to perform the +ceremony instead, considerably to the disappointment +of the committee, who had thought the new +heiress was the appropriate patroness.</p> + +<p>Lilias and Dulcie took diametrically opposite +views about the Chase. The former stuck firmly +to her opinion that it ought to have been +Everard's, that her brother was an ill-used outcast, +and that it was only sisterly feeling to resent +seeing anybody else in his place. Her attitude to +Carmel was almost as strong as that of King +Robert of Sicily in Longfellow's <em>Tales of a Wayside +Inn</em> towards the angel who had temporarily +usurped his throne.</p> + +<p>Dulcie, on the contrary, had always chafed +against Everard's assumption of superiority and +authority. He had been left the same generous +legacy as the rest of the family, and had only to +come back and claim his portion when he wished. +If anybody was to have the Chase, she really preferred +that it should belong to Carmel, who never +obtruded her rights, and seemed ready for her +cousins to enjoy the property on an exact equality<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[118]</a></span> +with herself. The two girls were great friends: +they would go out riding together while Lilias +went shopping in the car with Cousin Clare; they +practised duets, and both made crude attempts at +sketching the house. Their tastes in books and +fancy-work were somewhat similar, and they +would sit in the shade in the afternoons stitching +at embroidery and eating chocolates.</p> + +<p>Three weeks of the summer holidays passed +rapidly away in this fashion. Carmel was glad to +have the opportunity of getting to know the +Chase, and admitted its attractions, though her +heart was still in Sicily.</p> + +<p>Towards the end of August the party broke up +and scattered. Carmel had received an invitation +from English relations of her stepfather to +join them on a motor tour; the three little boys +were to be taken to rooms at the seaside by Miss +Mason, their late governess; Lilias and Dulcie +went to stay with friends, and Cousin Clare had +arranged to attend a conference. She agreed, +however, that when Lilias and Dulcie returned +from their visit, they should go with her in the +car for a week-end to Tivermouth, to see how the +boys were getting on.</p> + +<p>"If you'll promise we may stay at an hotel!" +stipulated Lilias. "I wouldn't spend a week-end +in rooms with those three imps for the world.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[119]</a></span> +I'd like to see them, but not at too close quarters."</p> + +<p>"It's quite improbable that their landlady +would have bedrooms for us," said Cousin Clare. +"So in any case we should be obliged to stop at +an hotel. In this crowded season I shall engage +rooms beforehand."</p> + +<p>"Hurrah!" triumphed Dulcie, who was anxious +for a grown-up experience. "I must say I +hate staying with the boys near the beach; the sitting-room's +always overflowing with their seaweed +and other messes."</p> + +<p>"What a joke if <em>I</em> were to turn up at the hotel +too!" said Carmel. "I believe the Rogers are +going down to Devonshire. I shall tell them the +date you'll be at Tivermouth. They'll possibly +like to meet you."</p> + +<p>"Oh, do! It would be such fun!" agreed +Dulcie. "We'd have an absolutely topping time +together. Persuade them as hard as you can!"</p> + +<p>"I'll do my best!" agreed Carmel.</p> + +<p>As it is impossible to follow the adventures of +everybody, we will concern ourselves particularly +with the experiences of our heroine, who was to +take her first motor tour among English scenery. +The party in the comfortable Rover car consisted +of Major and Mrs. Rogers, their daughter Sheila, +their guest Carmel, and a chauffeur. Major +Rogers was still suffering from the effects of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[120]</a></span> +wounds, and was more or less of a semi-invalid, a +condition which made him fussy at times, and too +independent at others, for directly he felt a trifle +better he would immediately begin to break all the +rules that the doctors had laid down for his treatment. +He was an amusing, humorous sort of +man, who would jest between spasms of pain, and +generally found something to laugh at in the various +episodes of their journey. There is a laughter, +though, that is more the expression of supreme +courage than of genuine mirth, and the drawn +lines round the Major's mouth told of sleepless +nights and days of little ease, and of trouble that +hurts worse even than physical pain; for one son +lay on a Belgian battle-field, another on the +heights near Salonika, with no cross to mark the +grave, and a third deep under the surging waters +of the Atlantic.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Rogers was Mr. Greville's sister, and for +that reason, though she was no real relation, Carmel +called her Aunt Hilda. She had been a belle +in her youth, and she was still pretty with the pathetic +beauty that often shines in the faces of those +who have suffered great loss. Her once flaxen +hair was almost entirely gray, but she had kept +her delicate complexion, and there was a gentle +sweetness about her that was very attractive.</p> + +<p>Her daughter was an exact replica of what she +herself must have been at nineteen, though Sheila<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[121]</a></span> +was going through an uncomfortable phase, and +affected to despise the country, to be nervous of +motoring, and to long to be back in town again. +She was quite kind to Carmel, but treated her with +the distantly indulgent attitude of the lately-grown-up +for the mere schoolgirl. It was evident +that she regarded the whole tour as more or less +of a nuisance, and just a means of killing time +until she could start off for Scotland to join a certain +house-party to which she had been invited, +and where she would meet several of her most particular +friends.</p> + +<p>"I'm sorry we couldn't ask one of your cousins +to come with you, dear," said Mrs. Rogers to +Carmel, "but there isn't room in the car for any +one else. It's a good opportunity for you to see +something of England. It's all very different +from Sicily, isn't it? You'll feel your first winter +trying, I'm afraid; we certainly lack sunshine in +this climate."</p> + +<p>"Give me Egypt," said Major Rogers. "It's +this perpetual damp in the air that makes things +melancholy over here. Why, except in the height +of summer it's hardly ever fit to sit out-of-doors. +I like a place where I need a sun helmet."</p> + +<p>"You and Mother are salamanders, Daddy!" +declared Sheila. "I believe you'd enjoy living in +a hot-house! Now, I like Scotland, with a good +sharp wind across the moors, and a touch of mist<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[122]</a></span> +in it to cool your face. I like either town or +mountains. If I can't walk down Regent Street, +then I'd tramp over the heather, but I don't admire +ordinary English scenery. It's too tame."</p> + +<p>"You surely don't call this tame?" replied her +father, pointing at the village through which they +were motoring, "it's one of the show bits of the +Midlands, and an absolute picture. Where are +your eyes, child?"</p> + +<p>But Sheila was perverse, and refused to evince +any enthusiasm, and ended by pulling out a novel +over which she chuckled, quite regardless of the +scenery, and only tore herself from the book to +ask for the box of chocolate marsh mallows that +she had bought at the last town where there was +a good confectioner's.</p> + +<p>Carmel would certainly have found Dulcie, or +even Lilias, a more congenial companion than +Sheila, but she nevertheless managed to enjoy herself. +She loved the country, and was delighted +with the variety of the English landscape. +Though less rich than the vineclad south, the +greenness of its fields and hedges never failed to +amaze her, and she was fascinated by the quaint +villages, their thatched roofs, church spires, and +flowery gardens. They had been running through +Gloucestershire <em>en route</em> for Somerset and Devon, +and were to call a halt at various show places on +the way. Major Rogers, poring over map and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[123]</a></span> +guide books, would plan out their daily route each +morning at the breakfast table in the hotel.</p> + +<p>"With good luck and no punctures we ought to +reach Exeter to-night easily," he remarked, looking +through the window of an old-fashioned country +inn into the cobbled street where their luggage +was being strapped on to the car.</p> + +<p>"But, my dear!" remonstrated his wife. +"Why in such a hurry to reach Exeter? Let us +stay the night at Wells, and look over the cathedral; +then we can spend a few hours in Bath +too."</p> + +<p>"Daddy and Johnson always like to tear along +at about a hundred miles an hour," said Sheila. +"Except as a means of getting along the road, I +hate motoring! I always think Johnson is going +to run into everybody. He shaves his corners so +narrowly, and doesn't give conveyances enough +room. I call him very reckless."</p> + +<p>"Nonsense! He's an excellent driver!" declared +her father. "One of the best chauffeurs +we've ever had, though he's only a young chap. +He's wonderfully intelligent too. I'd trust him +with repairs as well as any man at a garage. A +civil fellow, too."</p> + +<p>"Yes, his manners are really quite superior," +agreed Mrs. Rogers, stepping on to the balcony +and watching the smart, good-looking figure of +the young chauffeur, who was opening the bonnet<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[124]</a></span> +of the car for some last inspection. "Personally +I feel perfectly safe when Johnson is driving +me. I'm never nervous in the least!"</p> + +<p>"And I'm in such a perpetual panic that I often +read so as not to look at the road," confessed +Sheila. "I do wish you'd ask him to sound his +horn oftener in these narrow roads. The banks +and hedges are so high, you can't see anything +that's coming till it's almost upon you."</p> + +<p>"Well, it certainly might be a wise precaution," +said Major Rogers. "In motoring you +have to guard against the stupidity of other people, +and that fellow in the gray two-seater nearly +charged straight into us yesterday. A regular +road-hog he was!"</p> + +<p>If Johnson had hitherto been a little slack in +respect of sounding his horn, it was the only fault +of which his employers could complain. He kept +the fittings of the car at the very zenith in the +matter of polish, he was punctuality personified, +and most skilful at the tedious business of repairing +or changing tires; he rarely spoke addressed, +but when questioned he seemed to have a +good acquaintance with the country, knew which +were the best roads, and what sights were worth +visiting in the various places through which they +passed. All of which are highly desirable qualities +in a chauffeur, and a satisfaction to all concerned.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[125]</a></span>It was the general plan of the holiday to start +about ten or eleven o'clock, take a picnic-basket +with them, lunch somewhere in the woods, arrive +at their next halting-place about three or four, and +spend the remainder of the day in sight-seeing, or +in Major Rogers' case resting, if he were suffering +from a severe attack of pain.</p> + +<p>As they motored across Somerset in the direction +of Wells, they chose for their mid-day stop +a lovely place on the top of a range of low hills. +A belt of fir trees edged the roadside, and through +these a gate led into a field. As the gate was open +they felt licensed to enter, and to encamp upon a +sunny bank under a hedge. One of the motor +rugs was spread for Major Rogers, and Mrs. +Rogers, Sheila, and Carmel sat severally on an air +cushion, a tree-stump, and on the grass. There +was a grand view over a slope of cornfields and +pastures, and though the sun was warm there was +a delicious little breeze to temper the heat. Not +that it was too hot for any one except Sheila, who +panted in the shade while the others exulted in +the sunshine. Carmel, outstretched upon the +grass, basked like a true daughter of the south, +throwing aside her hat, somewhat to Mrs. Rogers' +consternation.</p> + +<p>"You'll spoil your complexion, child! I'm +sure your mother never allows you to go hatless +in Sicily! Put your handkerchief over your face.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[126]</a></span> +Yes, I like to feel the warmth myself, though not +on my head. This is the sort of holiday that does +people good, just to sit in the open air."</p> + +<p>"It's a rabbit holiday here," murmured the +Major lazily. "Didn't you read that supreme +article in <em>Punch</em> a while ago? Well, it was about +a doctor who invented a drug that could turn his +patients into anything they chose for the holidays. +A worried mother of a family lived an idyllic +month at a farm as a hen, with six children as +chickens, food and lodging provided gratis; a +portly dowager enjoyed a rest cure as a Persian +cat at a country mansion; some lively young people +spent a fortnight as sea-gulls, while the hero +of the article was just about to be changed into a +rabbit when——"</p> + +<p>"When what happened?"</p> + +<p>"The usual thing in such stories; the maid +broke the precious bottle of medicine that was to +have worked the charm, and when he hunted for +the doctor to buy another, the whole place had disappeared."</p> + +<p>"How disappointing!"</p> + +<p>"Yes, but a field like this, with burrows in it, +is a near substitute. I feel I could live up here. +Suppose I buy a shelter and get leave to erect it?"</p> + +<p>"Then it would promptly rain, Daddy, and +you'd be in the depths of misery and longing for a +decent hotel!" declared Sheila.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[127]</a></span>To suit Major Rogers' humor they stayed +nearly two hours in the field. The quiet was just +what his doctor had ordered for him. He had +spent a restless night, and, though he could not +sleep now, the air and the sunshine calmed his +nerves. He seemed better than he had been for +days, and enjoyed the run downhill into Wells.</p> + +<p>As they were stepping out of the motor at the +hotel, Carmel gave an exclamation of concern.</p> + +<p>"I've lost my bracelet!" she declared. +"What a nuisance! Wherever can it have +gone?"</p> + +<p>Johnson, the chauffeur, immediately searched +on the floor and cushions of the car, but without +success. No bracelet was there.</p> + +<p>"When did you have it last?" asked Mrs. +Rogers.</p> + +<p>"In the rabbit field where we had lunch. I +remember clasping and unclasping it, and I suppose +it must have slipped off my wrist without my +noticing. Never mind!"</p> + +<p>"I'm sorry, but it certainly is too far to go +back and look for it, dear," said Mrs. Rogers.</p> + +<p>"Was it valuable?" asked Sheila.</p> + +<p>"Oh no, not at all! Only Mother gave it to +me on my last birthday. It doesn't really matter, +and of course it can't be helped now."</p> + +<p>Carmel was vexed, nevertheless, with her own +carelessness. The little bracelet had been a favorite,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[128]</a></span> +and she hated to lose it. She missed the +feel of it on her wrist. Her first thought when +she woke next morning was of annoyance at the +incident. As she walked down to breakfast in the +coffee-room, the chauffeur was standing by the +hall door. He came up at once, as if he had been +expressly waiting for her, and handed her a small +parcel. To her utter surprise it contained the +missing bracelet.</p> + +<p>"Johnson!" she called, for he had turned +quickly away. "Johnson—oh, where did you +find this? Not in the car, surely?"</p> + +<p>"No, Miss Carmel, it was just where you +thought you had left it—in the field where you +had lunch. I got up early and fetched it before +breakfast," replied Johnson pausing on the doorstep.</p> + +<p>"You went all that way! How kind of you! +Thank you ever so much!" exclaimed Carmel, +clasping her bangle on her wrist again. "I can't +tell you how pleased I am to have it!"</p> + +<p>But Johnson, avoiding her eyes, and seeming +anxious to get away from her thanks, was already +out of the front door, and half-way across the +courtyard to the garage.</p> + +<p>"I wonder if English men-servants are always +as shy as that?" thought Carmel. "An Italian +would certainly have waited to let me say 'Thank +you!'"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2 style="margin-top: 5em;"><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a><span class="smcap">chapter x</span></h2> +<h2>A Meeting</h2> + + +<p>After a morning in Wells, to look at the Cathedral<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[129]</a></span> +and other beauty spots, the party motored +on to Glastonbury, where again they called +a halt to look at the Abbey and the Museum. +Major Rogers was interested in the objects which +had been excavated from the prehistoric lake +dwellings in the neighborhood, and spent so much +time poring over bronze brooches, horn weaving-combs, +flint scrapers, glass rings, and fragments of +decorated pottery that Sheila lost all patience.</p> + +<p>"Is Dad going to spend the whole day in this +moldy old museum?" she asked dramatically. +"I hate anything <span class="smcap">b. c.</span>! What does it matter to +us how people lived in pile dwellings in the middle +of a lake? To judge from those fancy pictures +of them on the wall there they must have been a +set of uncouth savages. Why can't we drive on +to Dawlish, or some other decent seaside place, +instead of poking about in musty cathedrals and +tiresome museums? I'm fed up!"</p> + +<p>"Now, Sheila, don't be naughty!" whispered +her mother. "I'm only too glad to see your<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[130]</a></span> +father take an interest in anything. I believe he's +enjoying this tour. If you're tired of the museum, +go out and look at the shops until we're +ready."</p> + +<p>"There aren't any worth looking at in a +wretched little country town!" yawned Sheila. +"No, I really don't want to go over the Abbey +either, thanks! I shall sit inside the car and +write, while you do the sight-seeing."</p> + +<p>Major Rogers never hurried himself to suit his +daughter's whims, so Sheila was left to sit in the +car, addressing tragic letters and picture post +cards to her friends, and the rest of the party finished +examining the museum, and went to view +the ruins of the famous Abbey.</p> + +<p>"If Sheila prefers to stay outside, she can look +after the car," said her father, "and I shall take +Johnson in with us. He's an intelligent fellow, +and I'm sure he appreciates the shows. It's +rather hard on him if he never gets the chance to +see anything."</p> + +<p>"I believe he goes sight-seeing on his own account +when he has the opportunity," replied Mrs. +Rogers, "but bring him in, by all means. He +always strikes me as having very refined tastes. +I should think he's trying to educate himself. +But he's so reserved, I never can get anything out +of him."</p> + +<p>"He seems fond of books," volunteered Carmel.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[131]</a></span> +"He reads all the time when he's waiting +for us in the car."</p> + +<p>Johnson accepted with alacrity the invitation to +view the Abbey, and walked round the ruins apparently +much interested in what he saw, though, +following his usual custom, he spoke seldom, and +then only in brief reply to questions. Once, when +Major and Mrs. Rogers were puzzling over a +Latin inscription, he seemed on the point of making +a remark, but apparently changed his mind, +and walked away.</p> + +<p>"He's almost <em>too</em> well trained!" commented +Mrs. Rogers. "Of course a conversational +chauffeur is a nuisance, but I have an impression +that Johnson could be quite interesting if he liked. +Some day I shall try to make him talk."</p> + +<p>"Better leave him alone," said Major Rogers. +"I think things do very well as they are."</p> + +<p>From Glastonbury they motored through the +beautiful county of Somerset into leafy Devonshire, +taking easy stages so as not to overtire the +invalid, and halting at any place where the guide +book pointed out objects worthy of notice. To +please Carmel, they were making in the direction +of Tivermouth, where they hoped to arrive in +time to meet the Ingletons. They had telegraphed +for rooms at the Hill Crest Hotel, and, +if the place suited Major Rogers, they proposed +to spend a week there.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[132]</a></span>"There may be perhaps a dance, or a tennis +tournament, or something interesting going on!" +exulted Sheila, who had urged the decision. "At +any rate there'll be somebody to talk to in a decent +hotel—it won't be just all scenery! Let us +spin along, Dad, and get there!"</p> + +<p>"Hurry no man's cattle!" replied her father. +"Remember, I am out for a 'rabbit' holiday, and +I like long rests by the roadside. I'm looking +forward to a siesta on the grass somewhere this +afternoon. The scent of the woods does me +good."</p> + +<p>So once more the party found a picturesque +spot and stopped for lunch and an hour or two of +quiet under the trees before they took again to +the open road. The spot which they chose this +time was on a slope reaching down to a river. +Above was a thick belt of pines, and below the +water dashed with a pleasant murmuring sound +very soothing on a warm afternoon. It was an +ideal "rabbit playground" for Major Rogers, +and he established himself comfortably with rugs +and cushions after lunch, hoping to be able to +snatch some much-needed sleep. Mrs. Rogers +took her knitting from her hand-bag, and Sheila, +who had a voluminous correspondence, asked +Johnson for her dispatch case and began to write +letters.</p> + +<p>As Carmel had nothing very particular to do,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[133]</a></span> +and grew tired of sitting still, she rose presently +and rambled down the wood to the river-side. It +was beautiful to stand and watch the water swirling +by, to gaze at the meadow on the opposite +bank, and to amuse herself by throwing little +sticks into the hurrying current. There was an +old split tree-trunk that overhung the bank, and +it struck her that this would make a most comfortable +and delightful rustic seat. She climbed +on to it quite easily, crawled along, and sat at the +end with her feet swinging over the river. It +was such an idyllic situation that she felt herself +a mixture of a tree nymph and a water nymph, +or—to follow the Major's humor—could almost +imagine that she was taking her holiday in +the shape of a bird. If she would have been content +to remain quietly seated, just enjoying the scenery +all might have been well, but unfortunately +Carmel made the discovery that by exercising +a little energy she could make the stump rock. +The sensation was as pleasant as a swing. Up +and down and up and down she swayed, till the +poor old split tree could bear the strain no longer, +and suddenly, with an awful crash, the part on +which she rested broke off, and precipitated her +into the river. Her cry of terror as she struck +the water echoed through the wood. As she rose +to the surface she managed to clutch hold of some +of the branches and support herself, but she was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[134]</a></span> +in a position of great danger, for the stump was +hardly holding to the edge of the bank, and in +another moment or two would probably be +whirled away by the current.</p> + +<p>As she shouted again there was a quick dash +through the undergrowth, and Johnson the chauffeur +shot down through the wood at a speed that +could almost compete with the car's. In a bound +he jumped the bank, and, plunging into the river, +struggled to her help and succeeded in pulling her +back out of the current into the shallow water +among the reeds at the brink.</p> + +<p>By this time Major and Mrs. Rogers and Sheila +had all three rushed to the spot, and were able to +extend hands from the bank. Carmel and Johnson +both scrambled out of the river wet through +and covered with mud, the most wretched and +dilapidated objects.</p> + +<p>"Oh! she'll take a chill! Whatever are we to +do to get her dry?" cried Mrs. Rogers distractedly, +mopping her young guest's streaming face +with a dainty lace-bordered handkerchief. "Is +there a cottage anywhere near?"</p> + +<p>"We'd better get into the car and motor along +till we find one," suggested Major Rogers. +"Johnson, you deserve a medal for this! I never +saw anything so prompt in my life. It was like +a whirlwind!"</p> + +<p>"We shall make a horrible mess of the car!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[135]</a></span> +objected Carmel, trying to wipe some of the mud +from her clothes.</p> + +<p>"Never mind; sit on this rug. You're shivering +already, child! Sheila, bring my hand-bag +and your father's cushion. Now, Johnson, just +anywhere! The very first cottage that will take +us in!"</p> + +<p>Luckily they were not far from a village with +a fairly comfortable inn, where a sympathetic +landlady provided bedrooms and hot water. As +their luggage was on the car, it was an easy matter +to change, and before very long both Carmel +and her rescuer were in dry garments, and drinking +the hot coffee which Mrs. Rogers insisted +upon as a preventive against catching cold.</p> + +<p>"I shall hardly dare to let you out of my sight +again, Carmel!" she said, half laughingly, yet +half in earnest. "I don't want to have to write +to your mother and tell her you're drowned!"</p> + +<p>"Nonsense!" declared the Major rather testily. +"It's not a thing she's likely to do twice! +I should think she'd be frightened to go anywhere +near a river again just yet. Are those clothes +dry? Well, never mind, pack them as they are; +we can't wait for them. And the rug, too, just +bundle it up and put it at the bottom of the car. +Johnson can brush it to-morrow. He's a fine +chap. I shall write to the 'Humane Society'<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[136]</a></span> +about this business. They ought to give him a +medal."</p> + +<p>"I've tried to thank him," said Carmel, "but +directly I begin he dives away and does something +at the car. He doesn't seem to want to be +thanked."</p> + +<p>"Oh, that's just Johnson's usual way!" +drawled Sheila. "I expect he's pleased all the +same. You look a little more respectable now, +Carmel. I shouldn't have liked to take you into +the Hill Crest Hotel as you were an hour ago! +I expect after this stoppage we shall arrive too +late to dress comfortably for dinner, unless Johnson +literally tears along, and then I'm scared out +of my wits! What a life! I'd never go motoring +for choice! It's not my idea of a holiday, +I must say."</p> + +<p>After all, though Johnson seldom exceeded the +speed limit, the Rogers arrived at Tivermouth in +ample time for Sheila to don a fascinating evening +costume, and to arrange her fair hair in an +elaborate coiffure. The hotel was full of summer +visitors, and in her opinion the large dining-room +with its Moorish decorations, the numerous +daintily-spread little tables, and the fashionable +well-dressed crowd who flocked in at the sounding +of a gong were far more entertaining than a wood +and a picnic meal. But Sheila was not fond of +"rabbit" holidays.</p> + +<div class="figcenter imgborder" style="width: 381px;"> +<img src="images/chauffeur.jpg" width="381" height="600" alt="Johnson the chauffeur shot down through the wood" title="" /> +<p class="caption">johnson the chauffeur shot down through the wood</p> +</div> + +<p>"It beats those old-fashioned places we stayed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[137]</a></span> +at in the country towns, doesn't it?" she said to +Carmel, as they sat in the lounge, waiting for Major +and Mrs. Rogers to come down stairs. "By +the by, are your cousins here? I looked in the +visitors' book and couldn't find their names. +What has happened to them?"</p> + +<p>"A letter from Dulcie was waiting for me," +explained Carmel. "They couldn't get rooms +here. They were writing to the 'Eagle's Nest +Hotel,' and hoped to get taken in there. I don't +know whether they've arrived or not. Dulcie +didn't say exactly which day they were starting. +It's just like Dulcie! She generally misses out the +most important point!"</p> + +<p>"Well, I suppose they'll look you up when they +do arrive," said Sheila carelessly. "Anyway, I +bless them for giving us some sort of an anchor +down here. I feel I'm going to enjoy myself. I +asked the manageress, and she says there's to be +a dance to-night after dinner."</p> + +<p>Carmel, sitting on a cane chair in the palm +lounge next morning, agreed with Sheila that Hill +Crest Hotel was a remarkably comfortable and +luxurious place. A fountain was splashing near +her, foreign birds sang and twittered in the aviary, +and large pots of geraniums made bright patches +of color under the green of the palms. Pleasant +though it was, however, it lacked the charm of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[138]</a></span> +open air, and, throwing down the magazine she +was reading, Carmel strolled through the hall and +the glass veranda on to the terrace outside. The +hotel certainly had a most beautiful situation. As +its name implied, it stood on the crest of a hill, +surrounded by woods and grounds that stretched +to the beach. A little noisy Devonshire river +raced past it through the glen, and behind it lay +the heathery waste of a great moorland. Below +lay the gleaming waters of the bay, with small +boats bobbing about, and a distant view of the +crags and headlands of a rugged coast line. The +terrace was planted with a border of trailing +pink ivy-leaved geraniums, and the bank that +sloped below was a superb mass of hydrangeas in +full bloom, their delicate shades of blue and pink +looking like the hues of dawn in a clear sky.</p> + +<p>Carmel established herself on a seat to enjoy +the prospect, and picking up a gray Persian cat +which was also sunning itself on the terrace, +fondled the pretty creature in her arms. She +was seeing England to the best advantage, for +nowhere could there have been a lovelier scene +than the one which lay before her delighted eyes. +Tivermouth had a reputation as a beauty spot, +and owing to its long distance from the railway +was as yet unspoilt by a too great invasion of tourists. +There were other hotels nestling among the +greenery of the woods, and Carmel wondered if<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[139]</a></span> +the Ingletons had arrived at one of them, and at +which of the white houses on the beach the boys +were staying with Miss Mason.</p> + +<p>As she was still gazing and speculating there +was a crunch of footsteps on the gravel behind, a +voice called her name, and looking round she saw +Cousin Clare, Lilias, and Dulcie, hurrying towards +her. There was an enthusiastic greeting, followed +by explanations from all three.</p> + +<p>"We'd the greatest difficulty to get rooms!"</p> + +<p>"The whole place seems full up!"</p> + +<p>"They couldn't take us at the 'Eagle's Nest.'"</p> + +<p>"We've got in at the 'Victoria,' though!"</p> + +<p>"I wish we could have been here with you!"</p> + +<p>"Never mind, so long as we're at Tivermouth +at all!"</p> + +<p>"Isn't it just too gorgeous for words!"</p> + +<p>"We only arrived late last night."</p> + +<p>"There's such heaps we want to tell you!"</p> + +<p>There was indeed much to be told on both sides. +All three girls had had numerous experiences during +the short time of their parting, and they were +anxious to compare notes. Then Cousin Clare, +Lilias, and Dulcie must be introduced to the Rogers +family, who were all writing letters in a +private sitting-room, but stopped their correspondence +to extend a hearty welcome and to chat +with the new-comers. In a short time the party +rearranged itself, leaving Cousin Clare to talk<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[140]</a></span> +with Major and Mrs. Rogers, Lilias and Dulcie +arm-in-arm with Carmel on the terrace, and +Sheila, who had stepped with them out at the +French window, straying away with a young Highland +officer with whom she had danced the night +before.</p> + +<p>"Never mind Sheila—she doesn't want <em>us</em>!" +laughed Carmel, squeezing both her cousins' arms, +for she was in the middle. "Oh, it's nice to see +you again! Let's walk along here to the end of +the terrace. I've had all sorts of adventures +since I saw you. I was nearly drowned yesterday +in a river, only Johnson, the chauffeur, fished me +out. You should have seen me all dripping and +covered with mud. And Johnson was just as bad. +We made such a mess of the car with our muddy +clothes. I wonder if he's got it clean yet? By +the by, I left my post cards in the side pocket. +I'd love to show them to you. Shall we go and +get them? The garage is quite close, only just +down this path. Do you mind coming?"</p> + +<p>"Go ahead; we'd like to," agreed Dulcie.</p> + +<p>So they plunged down the hill-side on a twisting +path, past the bank of hydrangeas and through +a grove of shiny-leaved escallonias to where the +garage, a large building with a corrugated-iron +roof, stood on a natural platform of rock close to +the steep high road that flanked the hotel. The +yard was full of visitors' cars in process of being<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[141]</a></span> +cleaned, and chauffeurs were busy with hose, or +polishing fittings.</p> + +<p>"I wonder where Johnson has put ours?" said +Carmel, threading her way between an enormous +Daimler and a pretty little two-seater. "Oh, +there it is! That dark-green one in the corner. +Come along! There's just room to pass here +behind this coupé. I expect the post cards are all +right. Johnson would take care of them for me. +I'll ask him to get them. Johnson!"</p> + +<p>The chauffeur, who was bending over the car, +too busy with wrench and screwdriver to notice +their approach, straightened himself instantly, +and glanced at the three girls. As his eyes fell +on Lilias and Dulcie, his expression changed to +one of utter consternation and amazement, and +he colored to the roots of his fair hair. They on +their part gazed at him as if they had encountered +a specter.</p> + +<p>"Everard!" gasped Dulcie.</p> + +<p>"Everard!" faltered Lilias. "It's never +<em>you</em>!"</p> + +<p>Here indeed was a drama. Four more astonished +young people it would have been impossible +to conceive. For a moment Everard seemed as +if he were going to bolt, but Carmel, whose quick +mind instantly grasped the situation, motioned +him into the empty motor-shed behind, and, following<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[142]</a></span> +with Lilias and Dulcie, partly closed the +door.</p> + +<p>"So you're Everard, are you?" she said, looking +at him hard. "Well, to tell you the truth, +I never thought your name was really Johnson! I +told Sheila I was sure you were a gentleman. +Why have you been masquerading like this? +Why don't you go home to the Chase?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, <em>do</em> come home, Everard!" echoed Lilias +entreatingly.</p> + +<p>The ex-chauffeur shook his head. He was still +almost too covered with confusion to admit of +speech.</p> + +<p>"I didn't expect to meet you girls," he said at +last. "The best thing you can do is just to forget +me, and leave me where I am. I shall <em>never</em> +go back to the Chase! That point I've quite decided."</p> + +<p>"But we want you there," said Carmel gently.</p> + +<p>"You!" Everard looked frankly puzzled.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Everard!" burst out Dulcie. "You +don't understand! You ran away and never +waited to hear anything, and we couldn't write to +you, because you sent no address. You thought +Grandfather had left the property to a boy cousin—Leslie!"</p> + +<p>"Well, didn't he?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, and no! There is no boy cousin. This<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[143]</a></span> +is Leslie—only she's called Carmel—the heiress +of Cheverley Chase!"</p> + +<p>"You!" exclaimed Everard again, gazing at +Carmel.</p> + +<p>"Don't call me 'the heiress,' Dulcie," protested +Carmel. "You know I've said from the +very first that I don't intend to take the Chase +away from you all. It's yours every bit as much +as mine, and more so, because my own real home +is in Sicily, and I hope to go back there some day. +Everard, will you make friends with me on that +understanding, and shake hands? I don't want +to turn anybody out of the Chase."</p> + +<p>Carmel held out a slim little hand, and Everard +accepted it delicately, as if it had been that of a +princess.</p> + +<p>"I'm still stunned," he remarked. "To think +I should have been driving you all this time, and +not have known you were Leslie Ingleton! I +never chanced to hear your surname. I thought +you were Mrs. Rogers' niece."</p> + +<p>"And so I am!" laughed Carmel. "At least +she's my step-aunt, at any rate. Isn't it a regular +<em>Comedy of Errors</em>?"</p> + +<p>"Everard," put in Lilias, "why did you turn +chauffeur? We thought you had run away to +sea!"</p> + +<p>"I meant to," answered her brother bitterly, +"but when it came to the point of getting employment,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[144]</a></span> +I found the only thing I could earn a +living at was driving a car. I don't know that +I even do that very decently, but at any rate I'm +self-supporting. You'd better leave me where I +am! It's all I'm good for!"</p> + +<p>"Not a bit of it!" answered Carmel. "I've +arranged the whole thing in my mind already. +We'll make an exchange. Milner shall take +charge of the car for the Rogers until they can +find another chauffeur, and you shall drive Cousin +Clare and Lilias and Dulcie and me back to the +Chase. Now don't begin to talk, for it's quite +settled, and for once in my life I declare I mean +to have my own way!"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2 style="margin-top: 5em;"><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a><span class="smcap">chapter xi</span></h2> +<h2>A Secret Society</h2> + + +<p>Carmel seldom asserted herself, but if she set<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[145]</a></span> +her heart on an object she generally managed to +persuade people to her way of thinking. This +case proved no exception, and she contrived with +little difficulty to transfer the amazed but willing +Milner temporarily into the service of Major +Rogers, and to instal Everard, minus his chauffeur's +uniform, and looking once more an Ingleton, +to drive the Daimler car back to Cheverley +Chase. Perhaps the talk which Major Rogers +had with his one-time "Johnson" partly worked +the miracle. Exactly what he said was entirely +between themselves, but Everard burst out into +eulogies regarding the Major to Lilias, who was +still his chief confidante.</p> + +<p>"One of the best chaps I've ever met! A real +good sort! I shan't forget what he said to me. +I can tell you I've come to look at things in a different +light lately. I'll do anything he suggests. +I'd trust his advice sooner than that of anybody +I know. I'll have a good talk with Bowden, and +see if he agrees. By Jove! I shall be a surprise +packet to him, shan't I?"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[146]</a></span>Mr. Bowden was not nearly so much astonished +as Everard had anticipated. He took his ward's +return quite as a matter of course, and, lawyer-like, +at once turned to the business side of affairs. +After running away and gaining his own living +for so many months, it was neither possible nor +desirable for Everard to go back to Harrow. +He had broken the last link with his school days, +and must face the problem of his future career. +His grandfather had wished him to go on to +Cambridge, and his guardian also considered it +would be advisable for him to take a university +degree. Meantime his studies were very much in +arrears. He had never worked hard at school, +and would need considerable application to his +books before being ready to begin his terms at +college. By the advice of Major Rogers, Mr. +Bowden decided to engage a tutor to coach him at +the Chase. The house would be perfectly quiet +while the girls and the younger boys were away at +school, and as Everard really seemed to take the +matter seriously, he might be expected to make +good progress.</p> + +<p>In the matter of a tutor, Major Rogers was +fortunately able to recommend just the right man. +Mr. Stacey had been studying for orders at Cambridge +when he was called up, and had joined the +army. After serious wounds in France he had +made a slow recovery, and though perfectly able<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[147]</a></span> +to act as coach, he would be glad of a period of +quiet in the country before returning to Cambridge. +He was a brilliant scholar and a thoroughly +good all-round fellow, who might be +trusted to make the best possible companion for +Everard in the circumstances. The whole business +was fixed up at once, and he was to arrive +within ten days.</p> + +<p>"I'm sorry we shall just miss seeing him!" said +Carmel to Everard, on the evening before the +girls went back to Chilcombe Hall. "But I shall +think of you studying away at your Maths. +You're clever, aren't you, Everard? I don't +know much about English universities, but isn't a +Tripos what you work for at Cambridge? Suppose +you came out Senior Wrangler! We <em>should</em> +be proud of you!"</p> + +<p>"No fear of that, I'm afraid, Carmel! I'm a +long way behind and shall have to swat like anything +to get myself up to even ordinary standard. +Burn the midnight oil, and all that kind of weariness +to the flesh!"</p> + +<p>"But you'll do it!" (Carmel was looking at +him critically.) "You've got the right shape of +head. Daddy and one of his friends, Signor +Penati, were fearfully keen on phrenology, and +they used to make me notice the shape of people's +heads, and of the Greek and Roman busts in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[148]</a></span> +museums. It's wonderful how truly they tell +character: the rules hardly ever fail."</p> + +<p>"What do you make of my particular phiz, +then, you young Sicilian witch?"</p> + +<p>"Great ability if you only persevere; a noble +mind and patriotism—your forehead is just like +the bust of the Emperor Augustus. You'd scorn +bribes, and speak out for the right. I prophesy +that you'll some day get into Parliament, and do +splendid work for your country!"</p> + +<p>"Whew! I'm afraid I'll never reach your expectations. +It's a big order you've laid down for +me."</p> + +<p>"You could do it, though, if you try. Oh, +don't contradict me, for I know! I haven't +studied heads with Signor Penati for nothing. +First you're going to make a good master of the +Chase, and then you'll help England."</p> + +<p>"Not of the Chase, Carmel," said Everard +gently. "We've argued that point out thoroughly, +I think."</p> + +<p>"No, no! Let me tell you once again that I +don't want to be mistress here. I only came over +to England to please Mother and Daddy. I'm +going back to Sicily to live, as soon as I can choose +for myself. Directly I'm twenty-one I shall hand +over the Chase to you. You're a far more suitable +owner for it than I am. I feel that strongly. +It ought never to have been left to me. But I'll<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[149]</a></span> +put all that right again. Why can't you take it?" +she continued eagerly, as Everard shook his head. +"Surely I can give it to you if I like? Why +not?"</p> + +<p>"Why not? You're too young yet to understand. +How could I be such an utter slacker and +sneak as to accept your inheritance? It's unthinkable. +Put that idea out of your little head, +for it can never happen. As for the rest of your +prophecy, it's a long climb to get into Parliament. +I'm nothing like the man you think me, Carmel, +though I'm going to make a spurt now, at any +rate. Don't expect to find me a Senior Wrangler +by Christmas though. Mr. Stacey will probably +tell you I'm an utter dunderhead."</p> + +<p>"I shall quarrel with him if he does!" said +Carmel decidedly.</p> + +<p>The three girls went back to school on the following +day, half regretful to leave the Chase, +but rather excited at the prospect of meeting their +companions. Now that Carmel had got over her +first stage of homesickness, she liked Chilcombe +and had made many friends there. She intended +to enjoy the autumn term to the best of her ability. +She had brought the materials for pursuing +several pet hobbies, and she settled all her numerous +possessions into her small bedroom with +much satisfaction. She kept the door into the +Blue Grotto open, so that she might talk during<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[150]</a></span> +the process. Gowan, also busy unpacking, kept +firing off pieces of information, Bertha flitted in +and out like a butterfly, and girls from other dormitories +paid occasional visits.</p> + +<p>Phillida, who was a prime favorite, presently +came in, and installing herself on the end of Dulcie's +bed, so that she could address the occupants +of both bedrooms, began to draw plans.</p> + +<p>"I've got an idea!" she announced. "It's a +jolly good one, too, so you needn't smile. It's a +good thing somebody does have ideas in this place, +or you'd all go to sleep! Well, it's this. I really +can't stand the swank of those girls in the Gold +bedroom. They seem to imagine the school belongs +to them. They're not very much older than +we are, indeed Nona is actually six weeks younger +than Lilias, and yet they give themselves the airs +of all creation. Just now Laurette said to me: +'Get out of my way, child!' Child, indeed! +I'm fifteen, and tall for my age! I vote that we +start a secret society, just among our own set, to +resist them."</p> + +<p>"Jolly!" agreed Dulcie. "A little wholesome +taking down is just what they need. Laurette's +the limit sometimes. Whom shall we ask +to join?"</p> + +<p>"Well, all of you here, and myself, and Noreen, +and Prissie, and Edith. That would make +nine."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[151]</a></span>"Quite enough too," said Gowan. "A secret +society's much greater fun if it's small. Things +are apt to leak out when you have too many members. +I take it we want to play an occasional +rag on the Gold bedroom? Very well, the fewer +in it the better."</p> + +<p>"What shall we call our society?" asked +Dulcie.</p> + +<p>"'The Anti-Swelled Headers' would about +suit," suggested Lilias.</p> + +<p>"No, no! That sounds as if we were afraid +of getting swelled head ourselves—at least anybody +might take it that way."</p> + +<p>"There's a big secret society in Sicily called +'The Mafia,'" vouchsafed Carmel.</p> + +<p>"Then let us call ours 'The Chilcombe Mafia.' +No one will understand what we mean, even if +they get hold of the name. Indeed I shouldn't +mind casually mentioning it now and then, just to +puzzle them. When things get bad, 'The Mafia' +will take them up."</p> + +<p>"Strike secretly and suddenly!" agreed Dulcie +with a chuckle.</p> + +<p>"Let's sign our names at once!" declared +Phillida enthusiastically.</p> + +<p>At Carmel's suggestion, however, they made +rather more of a ceremony of the initiation of +their new order. The prospective members retired +into the wood above the garden, and in strict<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[152]</a></span> +privacy took an oath of secrecy and service. +Then, with Edith's fountain pen filled for the occasion +with red ink, they inscribed their autographs +on a piece of paper, rolled it up, placed it +in a bottle, then solemnly dug a hole, and buried +the said bottle under a tree.</p> + +<p>"It will be here for a testimony against any +girl who breaks her oath!" declared Phillida. +"Carmel says the real Mafia sign their names in +blood, but I think that's horrid, and red ink will +do quite as well. Just as I was coming out now, +Laurette said to me; 'Oh, don't go running +away, because I want one of you younger ones to +do something for me presently.' She said it with +the air of a duchess!"</p> + +<p>"Cheek!" agreed the others. "It's high time +we made up a society against her!"</p> + +<p>Many and various were the offences that were +laid to Laurette's score. Lilias had a private +grievance, because she fancied that Laurette had +never been so civil to herself and Dulcie since it +was known that their brother was not to inherit +the Chase. Gowan, who liked plain speaking, +accused Laurette of telling "fiblets"; Bertha had +had a squabble over the bathroom, and Prissie a +wrestle for the piano.</p> + +<p>"Laurette always reminds me of that rhyme +that the undergrads made up about the Master +of Balliol," said Edith.</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[153]</a></span></p> + +<p class="poem"> +"'Here come I, my name is Jowett,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.75em;">All there is to know, I know it;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.75em;">I'm the head of this here College,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.75em;">What I don't know isn't knowledge!'</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>That's Laurette's attitude exactly. She's so superior +to everybody!"</p> + +<p>"We'll take her down, don't worry yourself!" +smiled Dulcie. "We must just wait for a good +opportunity, and then——"</p> + +<p>"The secret hand will smite!" laughed Carmel, +who enjoyed the fun as much as anybody.</p> + +<p>Laurette's aggravatingly superior pose was especially +apparent in her attitude towards the mistresses. +She monopolized Miss Herbert, treated +her almost like a friend, wrote notes to her, left +flowers in her bedroom, and walked arm-in-arm +with her in the garden. Perhaps the mistress was +lonely, possibly she was flattered by receiving so +much attention, at any rate she allowed Laurette +to be on terms of great intimacy, and gave her a far +larger share of her confidence than was at all wise. +Laurette, after a hot affection lasting three weeks, +got tired of Miss Herbert, and suddenly cooled +off. Gowan and Carmel, going into the sitting-room +one day, found her discussing her former +idol with a group of her chums.</p> + +<p>"Do you call her pretty? Well, now, I +<em>don't</em>!" she was saying emphatically. "She may +have been pretty once, but now she's getting decidedly<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[154]</a></span> +<em>passée</em>. I can't say I admire faded sentimental +people!"</p> + +<p>"Sentimental?" said Truie. "I shouldn't call +her sentimental at all. She's only too horribly +practical, in my opinion!"</p> + +<p>"You don't know her as I do! My dear! +The things she's told me! The love affairs she's +been through! I had the whole history of them. +And she used to blush, and look most romantic. +It was all I could do not to burst out laughing. +You'd scream if I were to tell you! First there +was a clergyman——"</p> + +<p>"Here, stop!" interrupted Gowan, breaking +abruptly into the conversation, and turning two +blazing blue eyes on Laurette. "Anything Miss +Herbert may have told you was certainly in confidence, +and to go and blab it over the school +seems to me the meanest, sneakiest trick I've ever +heard of! You're an absolute blighter, Laurette!"</p> + +<p>"Well, I'm sure! What business is it of +yours, Gowan Barbour, or of Carmel Ingleton's +either? Cheek!"</p> + +<p>"It <em>is</em> our business!" flared Carmel, as indignant +as Gowan. "It's horribly mean to make +friends with any one, and hear all her secrets, +and then go and make fun of them!"</p> + +<p>"It's playing it low!" added Gowan, determined +to speak her mind for once. "And I hope<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[155]</a></span> +somebody will make fun of <em>you</em> some day just to +serve you right! Some day <em>you'll</em> be <em>faded</em> and +<em>passée</em>, and people will giggle and say you haven't +'got off' in spite of all your efforts, and they wonder +how old you really are, and they remember +when you came out, and you can't be a chicken, +and they don't like to see 'mutton dressed like +lamb,' and all the rest of the kind pleasant things +that people of your type find to say. <em>I</em> know! +Well, I shan't be in the least sorry for you! It +will be a judgment!"</p> + +<p>Laurette had made a desperate attempt to interrupt +Gowan's flow of words, but she might as +well have tried to stop the brook. When Gowan +began, she never even paused for breath. Her +wrath was like a whirlwind. Laurette's three +chums had turned away as if rather ashamed, +and began hastily to get out books and writing-materials. +They pretended not to notice when +Laurette looked at them for support.</p> + +<p>"Yes, you needn't think Truie and Hester and +Muriel will back you up!" continued Gowan. +"Unless they're as mean as you are. There! +I've finished now, so you needn't butt in! You +know exactly what I think of you. Come along, +Carmel!"</p> + +<p>The two immediate results of this episode were +a bitter feud between Laurette and Gowan, and a +sympathetic interest in Miss Herbert by all the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[156]</a></span> +members of the Mafia. They felt that her confidence +had been betrayed, and they would have +liked somehow to make it up to her. They +brought so many floral offerings to her bedroom +that her vases were almost inconveniently +crowded.</p> + +<p>Carmel, hearing that she was collecting post +cards, sent home for some special ones of Sicily; +Dulcie tendered chocolates; Lilias crocheted her +a pincushion cover, and Bertha painted her a hair-tidy. +She accepted their little kindnesses with +mild astonishment, but not a hint of the real reason +of their sudden advances flashed across her +mind.</p> + +<p>"We mustn't let her suspect!" said Dulcie.</p> + +<p>"Rather not!" agreed Carmel.</p> + +<p>"Not for worlds!" said Gowan emphatically.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2 style="margin-top: 5em;"><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"></a><span class="smcap">chapter xii</span></h2> +<h2>White Magic</h2> + + +<p>October passed by with flaming crimson and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[157]</a></span> +gold on the trees, and orange and mauve toadstools +among the moss of the woods, and squirrels +scampering up the Scotch pines at the top of +the garden, laying by their winter store of nuts; +and flocks of migrating birds twittering in the +fields, and hosts of glittering red hips and haws +in the hedges, and shrouds of fairy gossamer over +the blackberry bushes. It was Carmel's first autumn +in England, and, though her artistic temperament +revelled in the beauty of the tints, the +falling leaves filled her with consternation.</p> + +<p>"It is so sad to see them all come down," she +declared. "Why the trees will soon be quite +bare! Nothing but branches left!"</p> + +<p>"What else do you expect?" asked Gowan. +"They won't keep green all the winter."</p> + +<p>"I suppose not. But in Sicily we have so many +evergreens and shrubs that flower all the winter. +The oranges and lemons begin to get ripe soon +after Christmas, and we have agaves and prickly +pears everywhere. I can't imagine a landscape +without any leaves!"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[158]</a></span>"Wait till you see the snow! It's prime +then!"</p> + +<p>"There's generally snow on Etna, but I haven't +been up so high. It doesn't fall where we live."</p> + +<p>"Girl alive! Have you never made a snowball?"</p> + +<p>"Never."</p> + +<p>"Then it's a treat in store for you. I sincerely +hope we shall have a hard winter."</p> + +<p>"We ought to, by the number of berries in the +hedges," put in Bertha. "It's an old saying that +they foretell frost.</p> + +<p class="poem"> +"'Bushes red with hip and haw,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.75em;">Weeks of frost without a thaw.'</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>I don't know whether it always comes true, +though."</p> + +<p>"I'm a believer in superstitions," declared Gowan. +"Scotch people generally are, I think. +My great-grandmother used to have second sight. +By the by; it's Hallowe'en on Friday! I vote we +rummage up all the old charms we can, and try +them. It would be ever such fun."</p> + +<p>"Topping! Only let us keep it to the Mafia, +and not let the others know."</p> + +<p>"<em>Ra</em>ther! We don't want Laurette and Co. +butting in."</p> + +<p>The remaining members of the Mafia, when +consulted, received the idea with enthusiasm.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[159]</a></span> +There is a vein of superstition at the bottom of +the most practical among us, and all of them were +well accustomed to practise such rites as throwing +spilt salt over the left shoulder, curtseying to the +new moon, and turning their money when they +heard the cuckoo.</p> + +<p>"Not, of course, that it always follows," said +Prissie. "On Easter holidays a bird used to +come and tap constantly at our drawing-room +window at home. It was always doing it. Of +course that means 'a death in the family,' but we +all kept absolutely hearty and well. Not even a +third cousin once removed has died, and it's more +than two years ago. Mother says it was probably +catching insects on the glass. She laughs at +omens!"</p> + +<p>"I always double my thumb inside my fist if I +walk under a ladder," volunteered Noreen.</p> + +<p>"Well, it <em>is</em> unlucky to go under a ladder," +declared Phillida. "You may get a pot of paint +dropped on your head! I saw that happen once +to a poor lady: it simply turned upside down on +her, and deluged her hat and face and everything +with dark green paint. She had to go into a +shop to be wiped. It must have been awful for +her, and for her clothes as well. I've never forgotten +it."</p> + +<p>"What could we do on Hallowe'en?" asked +Edith.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[160]</a></span>"Well, we must try to think it out, and make +some plans."</p> + +<p>From the recesses of their memories the girls +raked up every superstition of which they had ever +heard. These had to be divided into the possible +and the impossible. There are limits of liberty +in a girls' school, and it was manifestly infeasible, +as well as very chilly, to attempt to stray out alone +at the stroke of twelve, robed merely in a nightgown, +and fetch three pails of water to place by +one's bedside. Gowan's north country recipe for +divination was equally impracticable—to go out +at midnight, and "dip your smock in a south-running +spring where the lairds' lands meet," then +hang it to dry before the fire. They discussed it +quite seriously, however, in all its various aspects.</p> + +<p>"To begin with, what exactly is a smock?" +asked Carmel.</p> + +<p>Everybody had a hazy notion, but nobody was +quite sure about it.</p> + +<p>"Usen't farm laborers to wear them once?" +suggested Lilias.</p> + +<p>"But Shakespeare says,</p> + +<p class="poem"> +"'When shepherds pipe on oaten straws,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.75em;">And merry larks are ploughmen's clocks,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.75em;">When ring the woods with rooks and daws,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.75em;">And maidens bleach their summer smocks,'"</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>objected Prissie.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[161]</a></span>"Was it an upper or an under garment?" +questioned Noreen.</p> + +<p>"I'm sure I don't know. I don't fancy we +any of us possess 'smocks'!"</p> + +<p>"Then we certainly can't go and soak them in +a spring!"</p> + +<p>"And there is no 'laird' here, and even if you +count an ordinary owner of property as a 'laird,' +you don't know where the boundaries are!"</p> + +<p>"No, that floors us completely!"</p> + +<p>An expedition to the cellar for apples would be +an equally hopeless quest, for all the harvest of +the orchard had been stored in the loft, and was +under lock and key. Some minor experiments, +however, might be tried with apple skins, so they +determined to pocket their next dessert, and keep +it till the magic hour of divination arrived. Hot +chestnuts would be a distinct possibility, and a +little coaxing at head-quarters would doubtless result +in Jones the gardener bringing a bag full for +them from Glazebrook.</p> + +<p>They felt quite excited when the fateful day +arrived. Miss Walters had made no objection to +an order for chestnuts, and had even allowed a +modicum of toffee to be added to the list. She +did not refer to the subject of Hallowe'en, for she +had some years ago suppressed the custom of bobbing +for apples, finding that the girls invariably<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[162]</a></span> +got their hair wet, and had colds in their heads +in consequence.</p> + +<p>The members of the Mafia, well stocked therefore +with the apples and chestnuts necessary for +divination, remained in their schoolroom after +evening preparation, so as to have a gay time all +to themselves. To make matters more thrillsome +they turned out the light, and sat in the +flickering glow of the fire. Gowan, having the +largest acquaintance with the occult, not to speak +of having possessed a great-grandmother endowed +with second sight, was universally acknowledged +priestess of the ceremonies.</p> + +<p>"Shall we begin with apples or chestnuts?" she +asked seriously.</p> + +<p>As some said one thing and some another, she +held a specimen of each behind her back, and +commanded Carmel to choose right hand or left. +The lot fell upon chestnuts, and these were placed +neatly in pairs along the bars of the grate.</p> + +<p>"You name them after yourself and your +sweetheart," explained Gowan. "If he pops +first, he'll ask you to marry him."</p> + +<p>"And suppose the other pops first?" asked +Carmel.</p> + +<p>"Then you won't marry him!"</p> + +<p>"Doesn't it mean that it may be Leap Year, +and the girl will 'pop the question'?" asked +Dulcie, still giggling.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[163]</a></span>"No, it doesn't."</p> + +<p>"Suppose they neither of them pop?" said +Prissie.</p> + +<p>"It's a sign that neither cares, but it's not very +likely to happen—they nearly always pop."</p> + +<p>"I pricked mine with my penknife, though."</p> + +<p>"The more goose you! Take them back and +try two fresh ones."</p> + +<p>It is rather a delicate and finger-scorching process +to balance chestnuts on the bars, and as a matter +of fact Prissie's tumbled into the fire, and +could not be rescued. The party was obliged to +watch them burn. They helped her to place another +in position, then sat round, keeping careful +eyes on their particular representatives. It was +forbidden to reveal names, so each kept the identity +of her favored swain locked in her breast. +It seemed a long time before those chestnuts were +ready! Love's delays are notoriously hard to +bear. Never were omens watched so anxiously. +Slap! Bang! Pop! at last came from Carmel's +particular corner, and fragments flew about +indiscriminately on to hearth and fire.</p> + +<p>"It's 'him'!" cried Gowan ungrammatically. +"He's done it most thoroughly too! Carmel, +you'll be married the first of any of us! You'll +ask us to the wedding, won't you?"</p> + +<p>At that moment a chorus of pops came from +the grate, causing much rejoicing or dismay from<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[164]</a></span> +the various owners of the chestnuts, according to +the fate meted out to them by the omens. On the +whole Cupid was kind, though Lilias and Gowan +were left in the lurch.</p> + +<p>"I don't care!" said Gowan sturdily. "I've +another in my mind, and perhaps I shall get him +in the apple-peels."</p> + +<p>"And if you don't?"</p> + +<p>"I'll meet somebody else later on."</p> + +<p>Having eaten more or less charred pieces of +chestnut, the girls produced their apples, and once +more set to work to try magic. The apple had to +be peeled entirely in one long piece, which must +then be slung backwards over the left shoulder on +to the floor, where it would form the initial of the +future lover. It was a matter for skilful manipulation +of penknives, not at all easy to manage, so +difficult in fact, that Noreen and Dulcie each made +a slip, and chopped their precious pieces of peel +in the middle, thus rendering them useless for purposes +of divination. Lilias, who made the first +essay, was completely puzzled by the result, which +did not resemble any known letter in the alphabet, +though Gowan, anxious to interpret the oracles, +construed it into a W. Edith's long thin piece of +peel made a plain C, a fact which seemed to cause +her much satisfaction, though she would betray +no names. Prissie broke her luck in half in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[165]</a></span> +very act of flinging it, but insisted that the two +separate portions each formed an O.</p> + +<p>It was Carmel's turn next, and her rather +broad piece of peel twisted itself into a most palpable +E. She looked at it for a moment as if +rather taken aback, then her face cleared.</p> + +<p>"There are quite a number of names that begin +with E," she remarked enigmatically.</p> + +<p>Now it was all very well to sit in the sanctuary +of their schoolroom trying such mild magic as +divination through chestnuts and apple skins. +Gowan's northern blood yearned after more subtle +witchcraft.</p> + +<p>"I shan't be content till I've pulled a cabbage +stalk!" she declared. "I don't see why we need +wait till midnight! Hallowe'en is Hallowe'en as +soon as it's dark, I should think. Who's game to +fly up the kitchen-garden?"</p> + +<p>"What? Now?"</p> + +<p>"Why not? We should only be gone a few +minutes and Miss Hardy would never find out."</p> + +<p>"It really would be a frolicsome joke!"</p> + +<p>"There's a moon, too!"</p> + +<p>"I vote we risk it!"</p> + +<p>"Come along!"</p> + +<p>Nine giggling girls therefore stole cautiously +downstairs, a little delayed by Prissie, who, with a +most unusual concern for her health, insisted on<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[166]</a></span> +fetching a wrap. They opened the side door, +and peeped out into the night. It was quite fine, +with a clear full moon, and clouds drifting high +in the sky. The vegetable garden was so near +that the ceremony could be very quickly performed. +It was, of course, breaking rules to +leave the house after dark, but not one of them +could resist the temptation, so out they sped to +the cabbage patch.</p> + +<p>Now when Prissie ran to her bedroom, ostensibly +to get a wrap, she had really gone with +quite other intentions. She had certainly put on +a long dark coat and a soft felt hat, but the whole +gist of the matter lay in something that she slipped +into her pocket. It was a black mustache that +she had brought to school for use in theatricals, +and lay handy in her top drawer. She had hastily +smeared the under side of it with soap, so that +it would adhere to her lip, and once out in the +garden, she fell behind the others and fixed it in +position. Then she made a <em>détour</em> behind some +bushes, so as to conceal herself from the party.</p> + +<p>Presently, under the bright moon and scudding +clouds, eight much-thrilled girls were hurriedly +pulling away at cabbage stalks, and estimating, by +the amount of earth that came up with them, +the wealth of their future husbands. The general +surroundings and the associations of the evening +were sufficient to send shivers down their<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[167]</a></span> +spines. Gowan, looking up suddenly, saw standing +among the bushes a dark figure with a heavy +black mustache, and she caught her breath with a +gasp, and clutched at Carmel's arm. For an instant +eight horrified faces stared at the apparition, +then Dulcie made a dive in its direction, and +dragged forth Prissie.</p> + +<p>"You wretch!"</p> + +<p>"What a mean trick to play!"</p> + +<p>"You didn't take <em>me</em> in!"</p> + +<p>"It was very clever, though!"</p> + +<p>"You really looked just like a spook!"</p> + +<p>"Take it off now!"</p> + +<p>"No, <em>no</em>!" said Prissie. "Leave me alone! +I haven't finished. Hush! I believe somebody +else is coming to try the ordeal. Slip behind that +cucumber-frame and hide, and let us see who it is. +Quick! You'll be caught!"</p> + +<p>The girls made a swift, but silent, dash for the +shadow of the cucumber-frame, and concealed +themselves only just in time. They were barely +hidden when footsteps resounded on the gravel, +and a figure advanced from the direction of the +house. It came alone, and it carried something +in its hand. In the clear beams of the moonlight, +the Mafia had no difficulty in recognizing +Laurette, and could see that what she bore was +her bedroom mirror. They chuckled inwardly. +Most evidently she had sallied forth to try the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[168]</a></span> +white magic of Hallowe'en, and to make the spell +work more securely had come alone to consult +the cabbage oracle.</p> + +<p>First she placed her mirror on the ground, +and tilted its swing glass to a convenient angle +at which to catch reflections. Then she pulled +hard at a stalk, looked with apparent satisfaction +at the decidedly thick lumps of earth that adhered +(which, if the magic were to be trusted, must +represent a considerable fortune); then, clasping +her cabbage in her hand, knelt down in front of +the looking-glass, and began to mutter something +to herself in a low voice. Her back was towards +the cucumber-frame and the bushes, and her eyes +were fixed on her mirror.</p> + +<p>Prissie, looking on, realized that it was the +chance of a lifetime. She stole on tiptoe from +her retreat, and peeped over Laurette's shoulder +so that her reflection should be displayed in the +glass. Laurette, seeing suddenly a most unexpected +vision of a dark mustache, literally yelled +with fright, sprang up, and turned round to face +her "spook," then with a further blood-curdling +scream, dashed down the garden towards the +house. The Mafia, rising from the shadow of +the cucumber-frame, laughed long, though with +caution.</p> + +<p>"What an absolutely topping joke!" whispered +Dulcie.</p> + +<div class="figcenter imgborder" style="width: 382px;"> +<img src="images/laurette.jpg" width="382" height="600" alt="She peeped over Laurette's shoulder" title="" /> +<p class="caption">she peeped over laurette's shoulder</p> +</div> + +<p>"And on Laurette, of all people in this wide<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[169]</a></span> +world!" rejoiced Bertha.</p> + +<p>"Congrats., Prissie!"</p> + +<p>"You <em>did</em> play up no end!"</p> + +<p>"I flatter myself I made her squeal and run!" +smirked Prissie. "It just serves her right! I +was longing for a chance to get even with her!"</p> + +<p>"What about the looking-glass?" asked Carmel. +"Won't some of them be coming out to +fetch it?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, of course they will! We must take it +in at once. Let us scoot round the other way, +and go in by the back door before Laurette and +Co. catch us!"</p> + +<p>Prissie seized the mirror, and the nine girls fled +by another path to the door near the kitchen, +where by great good luck they avoided meeting +any of the servants, and were able to bolt upstairs +unseen. The Gold bedroom was empty—no +doubt its occupants were shivering at the side +door—so they were able to restore the looking-glass +to its place on the dressing-table as a surprise +for Laurette when she returned. Whether she +suspected them or not, it was impossible to tell, +for she kept her own counsel, and, though next +day they referred casually to Hallowe'en observances, +she only glanced at them with half-closed +eyelids, and remarked that <em>she</em> was quite above +such silly superstitions.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[170]</a></span>"Which is more than a fiblet, and about the +biggest whopper that Miss Laurette Aitken has +ever told in her life!" declared Prissie, still chuckling +gleefully at the remembrance of the startled +figure fleeing down the garden.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2 style="margin-top: 5em;"><a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII"></a><span class="smcap">chapter xiii</span></h2> +<h2>The Money-makers</h2> + + +<p>"All Saints'" brought a brief spell of golden<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[171]</a></span> +weather, a snatch of Indian summer, as if Persephone, +loth to go down into the Underworld, had +managed to steal a few days' extra leave from +Pluto, and had remained to scatter some last +flowers on earth before her long banishment from +the sunshine. Under the sheltered brick wall in +the kitchen-garden Czar violets were blooming, +sweet and fragrant as those of spring; the rose +trees had burst out into a second crop, and the +chrysanthemums were such a special show that +Miss Walters almost shook hands with Jones the +gardener over them. Little wild flowers blossomed +on in quiet nooks at the edge of the shrubbery, +and butterflies, brought out by the bright +days, made a last flutter in the sunshine. The +leaves, which Carmel had grieved so much to see +fall, lay crisp and golden on the ground, but the +bare boughs of the trees, somewhat to her surprise, +held a beauty of form and tint quite their +own.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[172]</a></span>"They are all sorts of lovely soft delicate +colors," she remarked. "Quite different from +trees in Sicily. I think it must be the damp in +the air here that does it; everything seems seen +through a blue haze—a kind of fairy glamour +that makes them different from what they are!"</p> + +<p>"Wait till you see them on a sousing wet December +morning!" declared Gowan. "You +won't find much romance about them then!"</p> + +<p>"But in the meantime we'll enjoy them!" said +Miss Walters, who happened to overhear. +"Who votes for a walk this afternoon? Anybody +who prefers to stop at home and write +French translation may do so!"</p> + +<p>The girls grinned. Miss Walters did not often +give them an unexpected holiday, so such treats +were appreciated when they came. Twenty-one +enthusiasts donned strong boots, jerseys, and +tam-o'-shanters, and started forth for a ramble +on the hill-side. They had climbed through the +wood, and were walking along the upper road +that led to the hamlet of Five Stone Bridge, when +they came face to face with a very curious little +cavalcade. Two large soap boxes, knocked together, +had been placed on old perambulator +wheels, and in this roughly fashioned chariot, on a +bundle of straw and an old shawl, reclined a little, +thin, white-faced girl. One sturdy boy of ten was +pushing the queer conveyance, while a younger<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[173]</a></span> +pulled it by a piece of rope, and the small occupant, +her lap full of flowers, smiled as proudly as +a queen on coronation day. Against the background +of green hedgerow and red village roofs, +the happy children made a charming picture; they +had not noticed the approach of the school, and +were laughing together in absolute unconsciousness. +The sight of them at that particular moment +was one of those brief glimpses into the +heart of other folks' lives that only come to us on +chance occasions, when by some accident we peep +over the wall of human reserve into the inner +circle of thought and feeling. Almost with one +accord the girls stopped and smiled.</p> + +<p>"I wish I'd brought my camera!" murmured +Dulcie.</p> + +<p>"They're too sweet for words!" agreed +Prissie.</p> + +<p>Miss Walters spoke to the children, asked their +names, and ascertained that the little girl had been +ill for a long time, and could not walk. They +were shy, however, and all the spontaneous gladness +that had made the first snapshot view of +them so charming faded away in the presence of +strangers. They accepted some pieces of chocolate, +and remained by the hedge bank staring with +solemn eyes as the line of the school filed away. +The chance meeting was no doubt an event on +both sides: the children would tell their mother<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[174]</a></span> +about the ladies who had spoken to them, and the +girls, on their part, could not forget the pretty +episode. They urged Miss Walters to make +some inquiries about the family, and found that +little Phyllis was suffering from hip disease, and +had been for a short time in the local hospital. +Then an idea sprang up amongst the girls. It +was impossible to say quite where it originated, +for at least five girls claimed the honor of it, +but it was neither more nor less than that Chilcombe +School should raise a subscription and buy +an adequate carriage for the small invalid.</p> + +<p>"That terrible box must shake her to pieces, +poor kid!"</p> + +<p>"It had no springs!"</p> + +<p>"She looked so sweet!"</p> + +<p>"But as white as a daisy!"</p> + +<p>"Wouldn't she be proud of a real, proper carriage?"</p> + +<p>"Can't we write off and order one at once?"</p> + +<p>"What would it cost?"</p> + +<p>"Let's get up a concert or something for it."</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes! That would be ever such sport!"</p> + +<p>Miss Walters, on being appealed to, was cautious—caution +was one of her strong characteristics—and +would not commit herself to any reply +until she had consulted the doctor who attended +the child, the clergyman of the parish, and the +local schoolmaster. Armed with this accumulated<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[175]</a></span> +information, she visited the mother, then gave a +report of her interview.</p> + +<p>"They're not well off, but we mustn't on any +account pauperize them," was her verdict. "Dr. +Cranley says an invalid carriage would be a great +boon to the child, but suggests that the parents +should pay half the expense. They would value +it far more if they did so, than if it were entirely +a gift. He knows of a second-hand wicker carriage +that could be had cheap. It belongs to +another patient of his, and he saw it at their house +only the other day. If you girls can manage to +raise about £2, 10<em>s.</em>, the parents would do the rest. +He was mentioning the subject of a carriage to +them a short time ago, and they said they could +afford something, but not the full price. He +thinks this would settle the matter to everybody's +satisfaction."</p> + +<p>Dr. Cranley's proposal suited the girls, for +£2, 10<em>s.</em> was a sum that seemed quite feasible to +collect among themselves. They determined, +however, to get as much fun out of the business +as possible.</p> + +<p>"Don't let's have a horrid subscription list!" +urged Lilias. "It's so unutterably dull just to +put down your name for half a crown. I hoped +we were going to give a concert."</p> + +<p>"What I vote," said Gowan, "is that each +bedroom should have a show of its own, ask the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[176]</a></span> +others to come as audience, charge admission, +and wangle the cash that way."</p> + +<p>"There'd be some sport in that!" agreed +Lilias.</p> + +<p>"It's great!" declared Dulcie.</p> + +<p>"You bet it will catch on!" purred Prissie.</p> + +<p>Gowan's scheme undoubtedly caught on. It +was so attractive that there was no resisting it. +Even the occupants of the Gold bedroom, who as +a rule were not too ready to receive suggestions +from the Blue Grotto, could not find a single +fault, and plumped solidly for a dramatic performance. +Each dormitory was to give any entertainment +it chose, and while the Brown room +decided on Nigger Minstrels, and the Green room +on a general variety program, the Blue, Gold and +Rose were keen on acting. Miss Walters, who, +of course, had to be consulted, not only gave a +smiling permission, but seemed on the very verge +of suggesting a personal attendance, then, noticing +the look of polite agony which swept over the +faces of the deputation, kindly backed out from +such an evidently embarrassing proposal, and declared +that she and the mistresses would be too +busy to come, and must leave the girls to manage +by themselves.</p> + +<p>"Thank goodness!" exclaimed Gowan, when +they were safely out of earshot of the study door. +"I never dreamt of such an awful thing as Miss<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[177]</a></span> +Walters offering to turn up! Why, we couldn't +have had any fun at all!"</p> + +<p>"We'd have had to act Shakespeare, or something +stilted out of a book!" shuddered Edith.</p> + +<p>"I should simply shut up if any of the mistresses +were looking on," protested Dulcie.</p> + +<p>"And I should shut down, and crawl under a +bed, I think," laughed Noreen. "I say, I hope +Miss Walters wasn't offended. We certainly +looked very blank when she began asking us the +price of 'stalls.' I suppose it wasn't exactly +what you'd call polite!"</p> + +<p>"Perhaps it wasn't, but it can't be helped," +groaned Gowan. "It would wreck everything to +have an audience of mistresses. I feel we've +escaped a great danger. We must warn the +others not to be too encouraging, or give the +mistresses any loophole of an excuse to butt in. +This particular show is to be private and confidential."</p> + +<p>It was decided to hold each performance on a +separate day, during the evening recreation time.</p> + +<p>"<em>Matinées</em> are no good!" decreed Prissie. +"Everybody feels perfectly cold in the afternoon. +It's impossible to get up any proper enthusiasm +until the lamps are lighted."</p> + +<p>"I feel a perfect stick at 4 <span class="smcap">p. m.</span>," admitted +Carmel.</p> + +<p>"What will you feel later on?"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[178]</a></span>"A sort of combination of Mary Pickford and +Charlie Chaplin thrown together, I hope!" +twinkled Carmel. "It depends whether you put +me on a comic turn or a romantic scene."</p> + +<p>"I vote we have a little bit of both," said +Gowan. "We'll harrow their feelings first, and +end in comedy."</p> + +<p>The five bedrooms drew lots for the order of +their performances, and the honor of "first +night" fell to the Blue Grotto. Its occupants +(including Carmel, whose dressing-room was considered +an annex) held a rejoicing committee to +plan out their play. Squatting on Gowan's bed, +they each contributed portions of the plot.</p> + +<p>"Shall we write it out and learn our parts?" +asked Lilias.</p> + +<p>"Certainly not. It would quite spoil it if you +were just reeling off speeches by heart, with one +ear open to the prompter. I know you! I shall +never forget Lilias when we did 'The Vanity +Bag.' She said her bits as if she were repeating +a lesson, and Bertha——"</p> + +<p>"Are we to say anything we like, then?" interrupted +Carmel, for Gowan's reminiscences were +becoming rather too personal for purposes of harmony.</p> + +<p>"We'll map the whole thing out beforehand, +of course, but you must just say what comes into +your head at the moment. It will be ever so much<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[179]</a></span> +fresher and funnier. All you've got to do is to +get into the right spirit and play up!"</p> + +<p>"All serene! As long as no mistresses are sitting +looking on, I don't mind."</p> + +<p>The Blue Grotto, being the first on the list of +performances, was determined to do the thing in +style. Bertha and Carmel between them evolved +a poster. It was painted in sepia on the back of +one of Dulcie's school drawings, sacrificed for the +purpose. It represented the profile of a rather +pert looking young person with a tip-tilted nose +and an eye several sizes larger than was consistent +with the usual anatomy of the human +countenance. Lower down, in somewhat shaky +lettering, was set forth the following announcement:</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[180]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter imgborder" style="width: 371px;"> +<img src="images/drama.jpg" width="371" height="600" alt="Come to the blue Grotto!" title="" /></div> + +<div style="width: 520px; margin: auto;"> +<p style="text-align: center;">GRAND DRAMA<br /> + +"THE COURSE OF TRUE LOVE"<br /> + +·FEATURING·</p> + +<p style="text-align: left;">THE SISTERS INGLETON..........The Cheverley Favourites<br /> + +SIGNORINA CARMEL LESLIE....The famous Sicilian Comedienne<br /> + +MISS GOWAN BARBOUR..............The Daisy of Chilcombe<br /> + +MISS BERTHA CHESTERS...................(Our Bert)</p> + +<p style="text-align: center;">Have half an hour of Fun and Pathos<br /> +It will do you good to laugh and cry<br /> + +SILVER COLLECTION</p> +</div> + +<p>This they placed temporarily in the passage,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[181]</a></span> +but when the girls had giggled over it sufficiently +they removed it, for fear its attractions might +tempt some of the mistresses into asking permission +to attend, a fatality which must at all costs +be avoided.</p> + +<p>The performers spent a hectic day making arrangements. +The time allowed in their dormitory +was necessarily limited, so preparations were +a scramble. The four beds were moved and +placed as seats, and one corner of the room was reserved +as the stage. Carmel's dressing-room +made an excellent "green room," and gave the +Blue Grotto a substantial theatrical lift over other +dormitories.</p> + +<p>Ten minutes before the hour, five distracted +actresses were struggling to complete their impromptu +toilets.</p> + +<p>"I'm so rocky, I know I shan't be able to say +anything at all!" fluttered Dulcie.</p> + +<p>"Nonsense! Pull yourself together, child!" +urged Gowan. "Get some stiffening into you, +can't you?"</p> + +<p>"I'm going to have umpteen dozen fits!"</p> + +<p>"You've got to reckon with me if you spoil the +play, so there! Don't be a silly cockchafer!"</p> + +<p>"Are we downhearted?" twittered Bertha.</p> + +<p>"No!" answered a stalwart chorus of three, +hauling up Dulcie, who was sitting on a chair +shivering in the agonies of an acute attack of stage +fright.</p> + +<p>By this time the audience was trooping in, and +seating itself upon the beds, and by frantic clapping +clamored for the entertainment to begin. +Gowan opened the show, and took the stage in +the character of Miss Monica Morton, an elderly +spinster. Her make-up was very good, considering +the limited resources of the company. Some +cotton wool did service for white hair neatly arranged +under a boudoir cap; her dress (borrowed +from Noreen, who was a head taller than Gowan) +fell to her ankles; she wore spectacles, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[182]</a></span> +wrinkles had been carefully painted across her +forehead. Bertha, a forward chit of a maidservant +(servants on the stage invariably assume a +cheekiness of manner that would never be tolerated +by any employer in private life), bounced in +and handed her a letter, and stood making grimaces +to the audience while her mistress—very +foolishly—read its contents aloud. It ran thus:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p style="text-align: right;"> +"<span class="smcap">11 Park Lane</span>,<br /> +"<span class="smcap">Mayfair</span>.</p> + +<p>"<span class="smcap">Dearest Monica</span>,</p> + +<p>"We are sending Dorothea down to you by the +first train in the morning, and we beg you will keep +a strict eye on her. An individual named Montague +Ponsonby has been paying her great attentions, +and we wish to break off the attachment. +He is well born, but absolutely penniless, and as +Dorothea will some day be an heiress, we do not +wish her to throw herself away upon him. Please +do your best to prevent any such folly.</p> + +<p><span style="margin-left: 6em;">"Your affectionate sister,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 8em;">"</span><span class="smcap">Elizabeth Strong.</span>"</p> +</div> + +<p>Miss Morton, on grasping the drift of this +epistle, exhibited symptoms of distress. She flung +out her arms in a dramatic attitude, and confided +to the audience her disinclination to take over +the unwelcome task of becoming duenna to her +niece. There was no other course open to her,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[183]</a></span> +apparently; the idea of sending the girl home by +the next train, or of hastily packing her own box +and departing somewhere on urgent business did +not seem to occur to her. She grumbled, but +accepted the responsibility, and Jemima, the pert +maidservant, made faces behind her back, till summoned +by a violent knocking, when she flew to +the door and admitted Dorothea, with bag and +baggage.</p> + +<p>Lilias, as the fashionable niece, was "got up +regardless." Her hair was done in a Grecian +knot, a veil was twisted round her picture hat, and +she sailed into the room with the assurance of a +Society beauty.</p> + +<p>Aunt Monica, suppressing the letter of warning, +gave the customary greetings, then—with +the imprudence characteristic of a stage aunt—announced +her intention of going out to do shopping +while her niece unpacked her possessions.</p> + +<p>Instead of doing anything so sensible as to unpack, +Dorothea sank into a chair, and in an attitude +of great languor and despair confided her +love affairs to the sympathetic and interested servant, +who swore fealty and offered all possible assistance. +Her kind intentions were put at once to +the test, for immediately another violent knocking +was heard, she flung open the door, and after a +whispered colloquy announced "Mr. Montague +Ponsonby."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[184]</a></span>The entrance of Carmel, as hero of the drama, +created quite a sensation. Materials for masculine +attire were scanty at Chilcombe Hall, and, as +the girls felt rather mean for not having invited +the mistresses to their performance, they had +not dared to ask for the loan of any theatrical +properties, and had been obliged to concoct costumes +from anything that came to hand. Carmel +had put her feet through the sleeves of her brown +knitted jumper, and drawn it up so that the cuffs +fitted just below her knees, and made a really +striking resemblance to a pair of gentleman's +sporting breeches. A coat covered any deficiencies +at the waist, a paper collar and a scarlet +tie encircled her throat, india-rubber waders did +service for top-boots, her hair was tucked under a +felt hat (with the trimming wrenched off), and +last, but not least, her lip was adorned with the +black mustache which Prissie had used on Hallowe'en. +She looked such a magnificent and +sporting object, that it was no wonder the fashionable +Dorothea fell into her arms.</p> + +<p>It is perhaps unusual for a gentleman to conduct +his love-making with his hat on, but the audience +was not "viper-critical" and allowed some +latitude to Mr. Montague Ponsonby. They admired +the ardor with which he pressed his suit, +the fervor of his protestations of fidelity, the +dramatic roll of his dark eyes, and the tender tone<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[185]</a></span> +of his voice. His entrance was considered a very +brisk bit of acting, and when he paused for breath, +in a graceful stage attitude, sixteen pairs of hands +gave a hearty clap.</p> + +<p>The lovers, possibly a little sated with the +ecstacies of their affection, turned to the sordid +details of life, and sitting hand in hand upon the +sofa (improvised out of four bedroom chairs and +an eiderdown) planned an immediate elopement. +They had decided to hire a car and make for +Scotland, and were discussing which hotel to stay +at, and what they should order for dinner, when +the inevitable happened. The pert maidservant +rushed in, and in a voice squeaky with tragedy, +warned them of the immediate approach of Miss +Monica Morton.</p> + +<p>Of course, they ought to have expected it. Nobody +except two utter idiots would have sat philandering +upon the sofa in what might be termed +"the lion's den," knowing that "the lion" might +at any moment walk in with her shopping-basket +and catch them. The surprise and horror depicted +on their countenances would have commanded +a good salary at a cinema studio. Mr. +Montague Ponsonby was for bluffing it, but +Dorothea's astute female brains seized a readier +way out of the situation. She laid her lover flat +upon the sofa, and covered him hastily with her +traveling rug, then, opening her suitcase, flung<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[186]</a></span> +its contents on the floor, and knelt down in the +midst of a muddle of shoes, nightdresses, and +other paraphernalia.</p> + +<p>Aunt Monica exhibited a natural amazement at +finding her niece conducting her unpacking in the +sitting-room, instead of upstairs, but accepted her +explanations with wonderful indulgence. She professed +herself tired with shopping, and moved towards +the sofa to rest.</p> + +<p>Dorothea, with sudden solicitude, sprang up to +offer her a chair, and made every human effort to +lead her away from the couch. She was a persistent, +not to say obstinate, old lady, however, +and she meant to have her own way in her own +house. Waving her niece aside, and proclaiming +her weariness, she sank down heavily upon the +sofa. The result was tragic, for a stifled groan +resounded through the room, and the top-boots +of the luckless Montague Ponsonby kicked wildly +in the air. Miss Morton, naturally alarmed, and +instantly jumping to the conclusion that he was a +burglar, screamed loudly for assistance, and a +passing policeman hastened to her call.</p> + +<p>It is wonderful how efficient and handy the +police always are on the stage. They are invariably +at the right place at the right moment, and +always step in just in time to stop a murder, prevent +an explosion, or rescue the heroine. Dulcie, +who in a long blue coat, with a paper helmet and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[187]</a></span> +a strap under her chin, represented the majesty of +the law, hauled the squirming Montague from the +couch, and secured his wrists tightly with a piece +of clothes line supplied by the pert servant, who +ought to have been ashamed of herself for going +back on her promise to help the lovers, but probably +felt a deeper obligation to the policeman, +who was, no doubt, her sweetheart, which accounted +for his very convenient presence on the +doorstep.</p> + +<p>"I arrest you in the King's name!" declared +that officer, when the clothes line was sufficiently +knotted, and Montague had ceased struggling. +"You will be brought up on trial before the court, +and charged with house-breaking and resisting the +police."</p> + +<p>It was only then that the wretched man began +to protest his innocence, and that Dorothea, falling +on her knees, explained his name, errand, and +intentions, and entreated her aunt to overlook the +matter.</p> + +<p>Miss Morton wavered visibly. It was evident +that her natural kindness of heart gave her a bias +towards the lovers—she had, perhaps, been +through an affair of the same sort herself in her +youth—yet on the other hand her duty to her +sister urged her to take stern measures. She drew +the letter from her pocket with the seeming intention +of strengthening her resolution against the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[188]</a></span> +hopes of Montague, and was shaking her head +sadly over it, when the obstreperous servant, +who had rushed for no apparent reason, except +habit, to the door, bounded back, waving a yellow +envelope. A well-trained maid usually presents +a telegram upon a tray, but Miss Morton must +have been accustomed to Jemima's rough ways, +or was too agitated to rebuke her; she tore open +the missive, glanced at its contents, and with a +scream of joy sank fainting into her domestic's +faithful arms.</p> + +<p>Of course, somebody had to read the telegram +aloud. The policeman seemed to think it was his +business. He picked it up, and proclaimed it in +the manner of a town crier. It was short, but +much to the point.</p> + +<p class="blockquot"> +"Please encourage Montague Ponsonby.<br /> +Uncle has died and left him vast fortune.<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 6em;">"</span><span class="smcap">Elizabeth.</span>"<br /> +</p> + +<p>Everybody recovered at the good news. Miss +Morton rose from the arms of Jemima, apologized +to Mr. Ponsonby for having mistaken him +for a burglar, and invited him to stay to lunch. +He begged her not to mention the matter, and as +soon as his wrists had been released by the policeman, +he shook hands cordially with his prospective +aunt, and made a pretty speech expressing his +desire to become a member of the family.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[189]</a></span>This was undoubtedly the moment for the curtain +to descend, but as that most useful of stage +adjuncts was conspicuous by its absence, the actors +lined up instead, and made their parting bows +with much éclat, Dorothea leaning elegantly upon +her lover's shoulder, Aunt Monica holding aloft +the telegram, the policeman saluting, and the +maidservant blowing kisses.</p> + +<p>The applause was so thunderous that the performers +were obliged to beg the audience to use +self-restraint and limit the noise, for fear one of +the mistresses should feel in duty bound to pay a +surprise visit, and be scandalized at the costumes. +Moreover, a clanging bell warned them that the +recreation hour was over, so there was a hasty +exit and a quick change into normal garments. +Miss Hardy was kind that evening, and turned a +blind eye to deficiencies of order. She was seen +surreptitiously reading the program, and it was +the general opinion in the dormitory that she and +the other mistresses were much disappointed at +having been excluded from the entertainment.</p> + +<p>"It did seem rather mean not to ask them," +said Gowan, self-reproachfully, "though they'd +have spoilt the whole show. I vote we give +another some time—a prunes and prism affair +without any lovers in it—and let them all come."</p> + +<p>"Right you are! But it will be a tame business +after this!" agreed Bertha.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2 style="margin-top: 5em;"><a name="CHAPTER_XIV" id="CHAPTER_XIV"></a><span class="smcap">chapter xiv</span></h2> +<h2>All in a Mist</h2> + + +<p>The Blue Grotto entertainment was very successfully<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[190]</a></span> +emulated by the occupants of the Gold, +Green, Rose, and Brown bedrooms, and quite a +sufficient sum of money was raised in the various +collections to pay half the expense of the little +wicker carriage for the invalid child. The +school took a special walk one day to Five Stone +Bridge, to see her take an airing in her new +chariot, and though they agreed that it did not +look nearly so picturesque as the wooden box, it +was undoubtedly far more comfortable, and more +suitable for one suffering from her complaint. +She smiled shyly at the long line of girls, whispered +a bashful "Thank you" for the chocolates +they gave her, and appeared scared to the verge +of tears when they spoke to her.</p> + +<p>"I don't blame her, poor kid!" said Gowan, +as the school marched on, slightly disappointed. +"I shouldn't like to be made a show of myself, +and be stared at by everybody. She looked as if +she wished us far enough. Never mind! She'll<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[191]</a></span> +eat the chocs. and enjoy herself now we've gone. +She's rather a sweet little morsel, isn't she, after +all?"</p> + +<p>Christmas was drawing near, and the school +turned from schemes of general philanthropy to +the more pressing business of making presents for +immediate relatives and friends. Various pieces +of sewing, which had languished all the term, +were taken out and worked at feverishly; there +was quite an epidemic of needlecraft, and a wet +day was almost welcomed as affording an opportunity +for getting on with the gifts. Everybody +seemed suddenly in need of embroidery silks, +transfers, beads, wools, crochet needles, and other +such articles, and a special deputation waited on +Miss Walters asking permission to go a shopping +expedition to Glazebrook to purchase these indispensables. +Miss Walters, who always had an eye +to school discipline, made the matter a question +of marks, and granted the privilege only to those +whose exercise books showed a certain standard +of proficiency. Hester, Ida, Noreen, Joyce, +Bertha, Carmel, and Doris were the only ones +who reached the required totals, so under charge +of Miss Herbert they were sent off one afternoon +to the town, armed with a long list of commissions +from the luckless ones who remained behind.</p> + +<p>Chilcombe Hall was four and a half miles from +Glazebrook, and there was no motor omnibus<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[192]</a></span> +service. It was arranged, therefore, for the party +to walk on the outward journey, and to return +with all their parcels in a couple of taxicabs. +They started after an extremely early lunch, in +order to do the important business of matching +embroidery silks by daylight. It had been quite a +fine sunny morning, but clouded over at noon, and +although no rain fell the sky was gray and cheerless.</p> + +<p>The girls did not much mind the condition of +the weather so long as they could see to make their +purchases. They spent a considerable time in +the principal fancy-work shop of the town, and +tried the patience of the assistants by demanding +articles that were quite unobtainable. A visit to a +stationer's and a confectioner's almost completed +their list of requirements, and only a few extras +remained to be bought. Some of the party were +standing in the entrance of a big general store, +waiting while Miss Herbert executed commissions +for Miss Walters, when Joyce was suddenly +greeted by a friend, a lady who was just about to +step into her motor.</p> + +<p>"Why, Joyce!" she exclaimed. "Have you +been shopping here? So have I—look at my +pile of parcels! Have you finished? Are you +going straight back to school? I shall pass Chilcombe +on my way home, and can take you in the +car if you like, and some of your schoolfellows<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[193]</a></span> +too. There's room for four if you don't mind +squeezing!"</p> + +<p>It seemed much too good an offer to be refused. +Joyce suggested, indeed, that she ought to consult +Miss Herbert, who was in an upper department +of the shop, but Mrs. Baldwin declared she could +not wait.</p> + +<p>"I don't see that Miss Herbert can mind. +We're quite ready to go, and it will save one +taxi," urged Bertha.</p> + +<p>So it was hastily decided for Joyce, Bertha, +Doris, and Carmel to go in the car, and Noreen +ran upstairs to tell Miss Herbert of the arrangement. +The latter, with Hester and Ida, was +choosing lamp-shades and fancy candlesticks. It +was only when Noreen had gone that Carmel remembered +suddenly that she had never bought the +packet of chocolates which she had promised to +bring back for Dulcie. She stopped with her foot +on the step of the car, and excused herself.</p> + +<p>"There's something I still have to do!" she +explained. "I must come back in the taxi with +the others after all! I'm so sorry!"</p> + +<p>Mrs. Baldwin had an appointment at home, and +was impatient to start, so the door was slammed +on Joyce, Bertha, and Doris, and they drove away +all smiles, and waving a good-by through the +window. There was a sweets department close +at hand in the Stores, and Carmel bought a present<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[194]</a></span> +of chocolate for Dulcie and of butterscotch +for Lilias, then went upstairs to the lamp-shade +counter to rejoin Miss Herbert and the other +girls. To her surprise she found they had gone. +She searched for them all round the upper story +of the shop, but did not see them anywhere. She +had kept a watchful eye on the stairs when buying +the sweets, and was quite sure that they had not +passed down while she was there. She returned +to the lamp-shade counter and questioned the assistant, +who told her that she had noticed the lady +and the three girls in school hats walk down +another staircase which led to a side door of the +stores. In much alarm, Carmel hurried that way +into the street, but not a trace of them was to be +seen. She walked as far as the railway station, +hoping to catch them there engaging a taxi, but +not a solitary conveyance of any description was +on the stand. She was indeed in a fix. She saw +clearly that, of course, they all supposed she had +gone with Mrs. Baldwin in the car, and by this +time they were probably on the road to Chilcombe +without her. It was nobody's fault but her own.</p> + +<p>The feeling that she had only herself to blame +did not make the situation any less unpleasant. +She was four and a half miles away from school, +and unless she could secure a taxi, she would be +obliged to walk back. She inquired from a +porter, but he shook his head, and said it was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[195]</a></span> +unlikely there would be any cabs at the station till +the express came in at six o'clock.</p> + +<p>Carmel thanked him, and turned away with her +eyes full of tears. Owing to her Sicilian education +she was not accustomed to going about by +herself. England was still more or less of a +strange country to her, and she did not know the +ways of the land. Lilias, in her place, would have +gone to the principal hotel, explained who she was, +and asked the manager to find some sort of carriage +to convey her back to school. Such a course +never occurred to Carmel, however; instead, she +tied her numerous parcels together, blinked back +her tears, set her teeth, and started forth to walk.</p> + +<p>Fortunately, there was no mistaking the high +road, and it was still comparatively early. If she +put her best foot foremost she might reasonably +expect to reach Chilcombe before dark. She had +soon left the houses of Glazebrook behind, and +was passing between hedges and fields. For the +first mile and a half all went well; she was a little +tired, but rather pleased with her own pluck. According +to Sicilian customs, which are almost eastern +in their guardianship of signorinas, it was an +unheard-of thing for a young lady in her position +to take a country walk without an escort. The +remembrance of the beggars and footpads that +lurked about Sicilian roads gave her uneasy +twinges, and though she had been told of the comparative<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[196]</a></span> +safety of British highways, her heart beat +considerably when she passed anybody, and she +scurried along in a flutter lest some ill-intentioned +person should stop and speak to her. The +farther she went from the town the fewer people +were on the road, and for quite half a mile she +had met nobody at all. She had been going +steadily down a steep hill, and at the bottom she +stepped suddenly into a great belt of fog that +lay like a white wall in front of her. It was as +if she had passed into a country of dreams. She +could scarcely see the hedges, and all round was +a dense mass of mist, clammy and cold and difficult +to breathe. It was silent, too, for no sound +seemed to travel through it, not a bird twittered, +and no animal stirred in the fields. Carmel felt +as utterly alone as if she were on the surface of +the moon. All the familiar objects of the landscape +were blotted out. It was still light, but this +white thick mist was worse than darkness. She +stamped along for the sake of hearing her own +footsteps. She wished she had a dog with her. +She kept to the left-hand side of the road, and followed +the hedge, hoping that the fog was only in +the valley, and that she would soon pass out of it. +On and on it stretched, however, till she must +have been walking through it for quite twenty +minutes. Then she began to grow uneasy. +There was a border of grass under the hedge<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[197]</a></span> +bank wider than she remembered noticing on the +road, and the suspicion assailed her that all unknowingly +she must have turned down a side lane +and have lost her way.</p> + +<p>She went forward now with doubting footsteps. +Where was the path leading her? If she could +only find some cottage, she could inquire. But +there was no human habitation, nothing but the +endless hedges and an occasional gate into a field. +What was that in front of her? She stopped, +and drew back with a cry of fear. Across her +track gleamed water. She had almost stepped +into it. Whether it was stream, pond, or river +the thick mist did not reveal, but it certainly +barred her footpath. She shivered, and turning +round, walked back in the direction from which +she had come, hoping to regain the high road.</p> + +<p>Then a wonderful atmospheric effect was displayed. +A breeze sprang up and blew aside some +of the fog, and the rising moon shone down on a +land of white shadows. It was impossible to tell +what was real and what was unreal. On the other +side of the lane stretched what appeared to be a +vast lake, but might only be mist on the meadows; +cloud-like masses shaped themselves into spectral +forms and rolled away into the dim and nebulous +distance, where they settled into weird domes and +towers and walls, a veritable elf king's castle. It +was so uncanny and silent and strange that Carmel<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[198]</a></span> +was far more frightened than she had felt before. +Old fairy tales of her childhood crowded into her +mind, memories of phantoms and ghosts and goblins, +the legends of Undine and the water sprites, +the ballad of the Erl-King in the haunted forest. +She had learnt the poem once, and she found herself +repeating the words:</p> + +<p class="poem"> +"'Why trembles my darling? Why shrinks he with fear?'<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">'Oh Father, my Father! the Erl-King is near!</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.75em;">The Erl-King with his crown and his beard long and white!'</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">'Oh! your eyes are deceived by the vapours of night!'</span></p> +<hr /> +<p class="poem"> +"'I love thee, I dote on thy face so divine!<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.75em;">I must and will have thee, and force makes thee mine!'</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">'My Father! My Father! Oh hold me now fast!</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.75em;">He pulls me, he hurts, and will have me at last!'"</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>And as if that were not bad enough, the ballad +of Lenore recurred to her:</p> + +<p class="poem"> +"How swift the flood, the mead, the wood,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Aright, aleft are gone!</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">The bridges thunder as they pass,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">But earthly sound is none.</span><br /> +<br /> +"Tramp, tramp, across the land they speed,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Splash, splash, across the sea;</span><br /> +'Hurrah! the dead can ride apace,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Dost fear to ride with me?'"</span><br /> +</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[199]</a></span>By this time Carmel, alone among the magic +mist and moonlight, had reached a state of fear +bordering on panic. She longed for anything +human, and would have embraced a cow if she had +met one. Through the fog in front of her suddenly +loomed something dark, and the sound of +horse's hoofs rang on the road. A wild vision +of Lenore's spectral bridegroom presented itself +to her overwrought imagination, and she shrieked +in genuine terror, and shrank trembling against +the hedge. The rider of the horse dismounted, +and slipping his wrist through the bridle, came towards +her.</p> + +<p>"What's the matter?" he asked. "Are you +hurt? Why, great Scott! It's never Carmel!"</p> + +<p>"Everard! Everard!" gasped Carmel, clinging +desperately to his arm. "Oh! Thank Heaven +it's you! I'm lost!"</p> + +<p>Everard comforted her for a while without asking +any questions; then, when she had recovered +calmness, he naturally wished to know why his +pretty cousin was wandering in the country lanes +by herself on a winter's evening. Man-like, he +blamed the school instead of Carmel.</p> + +<p>"They ought to have taken better care of +you!" he murmured. "Why didn't the mistress +hold a roll-call, and count you all?"</p> + +<p>"It wasn't her fault. It was my own mistake!"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[200]</a></span>"Well, whoever's fault it was, the fact remains +the same. You'd better get on Rajah, and +I'll take you back to Chilcombe."</p> + +<p>"Oh! that would be lovely. I'm so tired."</p> + +<p>Perched on Rajah's back, with Everard walking +by her side, life seemed a very different affair +from what it had been five minutes before. +Carmel enjoyed the ride, and was almost sorry +when they reached the great iron gates of the +Hall.</p> + +<p>"Won't you come in and see Lilias and Dulcie?" +she asked, as Everard helped her to dismount +at the door.</p> + +<p>"I haven't time to-night. I must get home in +a hurry. I've an appointment with Mr. Bowden, +and he'll be waiting for me."</p> + +<p>"And I've kept you from it! Oh, I'm so sorry, +Everard!"</p> + +<p>"I'm not. Look here, if you're ever in any +trouble again anywhere, you come to me, and I'll +take care of you. Don't forget that, will you?"</p> + +<p>"I'll remember!" said Carmel, waving her +hand to him as she watched him ride away down +the drive. Then she turned into the house to +set at rest the panic of anxiety which had arisen +over her non-appearance with the other members +of the shopping party.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2 style="margin-top: 5em;"><a name="CHAPTER_XV" id="CHAPTER_XV"></a><span class="smcap">chapter xv</span></h2> +<h2>On the High Seas</h2> + + +<p>There was quite a merry gathering at Cheverley<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[201]</a></span> +Chase that Christmas. All the Ingleton children +were at home, and with Cousin Clare and Mr. +Stacey, they made a jolly party of nine, a +satisfactory number, large enough to act charades, play +round games, and even to dance in the evenings +if they felt inclined. Without exception everybody +voted Mr. Stacey "an absolute sport." He +seemed to know a little about everything, and +could help Bevis to arrange his stamp collection, +or Clifford his moths and butterflies; he could +name Roland's fossils, give Dulcie tips for the +development of her photos, and teach Lilias to +use the typewriter. He was so cheery and good-tempered +over it, too, and so amusing, and full +of fun and jokes, that the young Ingletons buzzed +round him like flies round a honey-pot. There +are some people in the world whose mental +atmosphere appears to act like genial sunshine. +Because their uplifting personality demands the best +in others' natures, the best is offered to them.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[202]</a></span> +Mr. Stacey's lovable, joyous, enthusiastic +temperament made a wonderful difference at Cheverley +Chase. The constant squabbles and rivalries that +had been wont to crop up seemed to melt away in +his presence. Never had there been such +harmonious holidays, or such pleasant ones. It was +his idea to take advantage of a brief frost and +flood the lawn, so that the family could enjoy +skating there, though the ponds in the +neighborhood were still unsafe. It was Carmel's first +experience of ice, and she struggled along, held +up by her cousins, feeling very helpless at first, +but gradually learning to make her strokes, and +enjoying herself immensely. Then there was +scouting in the woods, and there were various +expeditions to hunt for fossils in road heaps and +quarries, or to explore hitherto unvisited parts +of the district. There was no doubt that Mr. +Stacey had a born knack with young folks, and as +a leader of Christmas fun he was quite unrivaled.</p> + +<p>Among the changes for the better at Cheverley +Chase there was perhaps none so great as the +marked difference in Everard. Nobody could fail +to notice it. Mr. Bowden considered that the six +months spent as a chauffeur had "knocked the +nonsense out of the lad, and done him a world of +good." Cousin Clare said he had grown up, and +the younger boys, while not exactly analyzing the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[203]</a></span> +altered attitude, admitted that their eldest brother +was "a good sort" these holidays.</p> + +<p>"Everard always so loved to be 'top dog' +before," Dulcie confided to Lilias. "I used to hate +the way he bossed us all and arranged everything. +He's far nicer now he doesn't pose as 'the young +squire.' Even when he used to tell us what he'd +do for us when he owned the estate, it was in +such a grand patronizing manner that it made me +feel all bristles. I didn't want to be helped like +that!"</p> + +<p>"He is indeed very different!" agreed Lilias +thoughtfully.</p> + +<p>The only person who did not notice any change +in Everard was Carmel, but she had never known +him in the old days, so fixed him at the standard +at which she had found him. The two were +excellent friends. Under her cousin's teaching, +Carmel learnt much of English country life; she +had the makings of a plucky little horsewoman, +and could soon take a fence and ride to hounds. +She was very much interested in the gamekeeper's +reports, in various experiments in forestry that +were being tried, and in motor plows and other +up-to-date agricultural implements that she saw +in use on the farms.</p> + +<p>"It's all different from Sicily," she said one +day.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[204]</a></span>"Yes. You see I'm training you to play your +part as an English landowner," replied Everard. +"You ought to know something about your +estate."</p> + +<p>Carmel shook her head emphatically.</p> + +<p>"Don't call it <em>my</em> estate, please! I've told you +again and again that I don't mean to take it from +you. How could a girl like I am manage it +properly? You know all about it, and I don't. +People can't be made to take things they don't want. +As soon as I'm twenty-one, I shall hand it straight +over to you. I'd like to see you master of the +Chase!"</p> + +<p>It was Everard's turn to shake his head.</p> + +<p>"That can never be, Carmel! Please let us +consider that matter perfectly settled, and don't +let us open the question again. It's an utter +impossibility for me ever to be master of the Chase. +That's final! I may have my faults, but I'm not +a sneak or a fortune-hunter."</p> + +<p>"You're not cross with me, Everard?" Carmel +was looking at him anxiously.</p> + +<p>"No, dear, but you're such a child! You can't +understand things properly yet. You will when +you're older."</p> + +<p>"Then what are you going to do, Everard, +after you leave college?"</p> + +<p>"Study for the Bar, I hope. It's the kind of +career that would suit me, I think."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[205]</a></span>Carmel's dark eyes shone.</p> + +<p>"Then I shall come to court, and hear you +plead a case! And when you get into Parliament—oh +yes! you <em>are</em> going to get into Parliament, I +<em>know</em> you are!—I shall sit in the Ladies' Gallery +and listen to your first speech. If you won't be +Squire of Cheverley, you must become famous in +some other way! In Sicily we think a tremendous +amount about being the head of the family. +You'll be the head of the Ingletons, and you've +got to make a name for the sake of the others."</p> + +<p>"I know I ought to take my father's place to +the younger ones," answered Everard gravely. +"I'll do what I can in that line, though I'm not +much to boast of myself, I'm afraid. I'm not +the good sort you think me, Carmel. But there, +you little witch, you've cast your glamour over +me, somehow! I suppose I've got to try to be all +you want me. Princess Carmel gives her orders +here, it seems!"</p> + +<p>"Yes, and in things like this she expects to be +obeyed!" laughed Carmel. "I told you once +before that you hadn't got the same shape of forehead +as the Emperor Augustus for nothing!"</p> + +<p>It was after the girls had returned to school, +during some bitter weather at the end of January, +that Lilias caught a severe cold, and was kept in +bed. Dr. Martin, sent for from Glazebrook, +took a serious view of the case, and asked to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[206]</a></span> +consult with Dr. Hill of Balderton, the family +physician at Cheverley Chase. They sounded the +patient's chest, examined the temperature charts +kept by Miss Walters, and decided that the climate +of Chilcombe was too damp for her at present, +and that she would benefit by spending the +trying spring months in a warmer and drier atmosphere. +The result of this ultimatum was a large +amount of writing and telegraphing between England +and Sicily, several confabulations among Mr. +Bowden, Cousin Clare, Mr. Stacey, and Miss +Walters, and then the remarkable and delightful +announcement that the invalid, escorted by a detachment +of her family, was to be taken to Casa +Bianca at Montalesso on a visit to Mr. and Mrs. +Greville.</p> + +<p>It was, of course, Carmel who had engineered +the whole business.</p> + +<p>"It's nearly a year since I left home," she explained, +"so it's time they let me go and see them. +I couldn't take Lilias without Dulcie, it wouldn't +be kind, and even Miss Walters saw that, though +she held out at first. Then Everard has been +working very hard, and needs a change, but, if +Mr. Stacey goes with us, they can use Daddy's +gun-room for a study, and read for three or four +hours every morning. And Cousin Clare must +come too, to take care of us all; we couldn't leave<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[207]</a></span> +her behind. Mother loved her when she came +over to fetch me last year. I don't believe she'd +have let anybody else take me away. Oh, how I +want to show Sicily to you all! Won't we have +absolutely the time of our lives? To think of +going home and taking you with me!"</p> + +<p>It was wonderful how Princess Carmel seemed +to manage to get her own way. Mr. Bowden and +Miss Walters, who were the natural obstacles to +the plan, yielded quite amicably after only a short +opposition. Cousin Clare had encouraged the +scheme from the first, and Mr. Stacey and +Everard were all enthusiasm.</p> + +<p>"You'll need us men to look after the +luggage," declared Everard, oblivious of the fact that +Cousin Clare had successfully piloted Carmel and +her boxes across the continent without any +masculine assistance, and was quite capable of traveling +round the world on her own account.</p> + +<p>As Mr. Greville was one of the directors of a +line of Mediterranean steamers running from +Liverpool to Alexandria, it was decided that the party +should book passages in the <em>Clytie</em>, and go by sea +as far as Malta, crossing from there in a local +vessel to Sicily. The doctors thought that a sea +voyage would be better for Lilias than a long +tiring train journey across France and Italy, and +as it was a novel experience, the idea was attractive<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[208]</a></span> +to most of the party. Fortunately they were +able to engage the accommodation they needed, +and set out without further loss of time.</p> + +<p>I will not describe the journey to Liverpool, or +the wearisome drive through drab streets and +along miles of docks till they reached the <em>Clytie</em>. +She was a steamer of about 6,000 tons, and, considering +the crowded condition of all sea traffic +at the time, they might think themselves very +lucky to be able to secure cabins without waiting +months for the privilege. It was indeed only +owing to Mr. Greville's influence that they had +been able to do so. With much curiosity they +looked round the floating castle which was to be +their home for perhaps a fortnight. All seemed +new and strange to their wondering eyes—the +dining-saloon, with its long table and fixed, crimson +plush-covered chairs, that swivelled round like +music-stools to allow their owners to sit down on +them; the small saloon, with mirrors, piano, and +books, specially reserved for the ladies instead of +a drawing-room; the smoke-room for the gentlemen, +and the steward's pantry. The cramped +sleeping accommodation rather appalled the girls, +though Cousin Clare, who was a seasoned traveler, +assured them it was far more roomy than +that given on many other vessels. As a matter +of fact, the captain had turned out of his own cabin +for them, and was sleeping next to the chart-house<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[209]</a></span> +on the bridge, so that at any rate they had +the best accommodation which the <em>Clytie</em> afforded. +Four berths in a space about nine feet square +certainly does not allow much elbow room; the girls +planned to go to bed in relays, and wondered how +they could possibly have managed in the still +smaller quarters at which Cousin Clare had +hinted. Neatness and order seemed an absolute +essential. There was no place except their berths +on which to lay anything down, and their +possessions had to remain inside their cabin trunks. +Each had brought a linen case with pockets, and +tacked it on to the wall beside her berth, to hold +hairbrush, comb, handkerchiefs, and a few other +immediate necessities, but when anything else was +wanted, the trunks must be pulled from under the +bunks and their contents turned over.</p> + +<p>They had hardly arranged their luggage in +their cabin, when Everard came in to tell them +that the vessel was getting under way, and they +all rushed on deck to witness the start. Out +from the dock they steamed into the wide estuary +of the Mersey, where ships of many nations might +be seen, and the pale February sunshine was +gleaming upon the gray tidal waters that lay in +front, and on the roofs and chimneys of the great +city they were leaving behind.</p> + +<p>"I can understand emigrants feeling it a wrench +to say good-by to England!" said Dulcie, leaning<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[210]</a></span> +on the rail and fluttering her handkerchief as +a parting tribute to her country. "I'd be sorry +if I were never coming back any more! Home's +home!"</p> + +<p>"Yes, and Sicily is mine!" said Carmel with +shining eyes. "I can't forget that every day is +taking me nearer to Mother! Only a fortnight +more, and we shall be at Casa Bianca! How I +hope we shall have a smooth voyage, and +perhaps we shall get there even sooner. Now we +have once started off, I feel as if I can't wait! I +didn't know till to-day that I was so homesick!"</p> + +<p>The first twenty-four hours on board the <em>Clytie</em> +passed very successfully. The Ingletons dined, +spent an evening in the saloon, made the +acquaintance of other passengers, and next morning +amused themselves with deck games. They +began to congratulate the captain on the calmness +of the passage, but he laughed and told them not +to count up their blessings too soon.</p> + +<p>"In February we may expect anything in the +way of weather," he remarked.</p> + +<p>And he was right. Directly they entered the +Bay of Biscay they encountered a storm. At first +the girls thought it rather fun to feel the vessel +heaving its way through the water, to have to +hold on to the chairs as they crossed the saloon, +and to be nearly jerked off the stairs when they +went on deck. But as evening came on, one by<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[211]</a></span> +one they began to feel the effects of <em>mal de mer</em>, +and long before the dinner-gong sounded had retired +thankfully to their berths. The time that +followed was an absolute nightmare. The heavy +seas dashed the <em>Clytie</em> about like a match-box. +She pitched and tossed, and rolled, so that one +moment the girls, lying on their backs, would +find their heels higher than their heads, and the +next instant the position would be reversed. The +violence of the rolling almost flung them out on +to the floor, and they were obliged to cling to +the wooden edges of their berths. All their possessions +were rolling about the cabin, the linen +tidies had tumbled down, and hairbrushes, shoes, +sponges, clothing, and trunks spun round and +round in confusion. The noise was terrific, the +wind blew a hurricane, and great waves broke +over the deck with tremendous force. To add to +the danger, the cargo in the hold shifted, and an +enormous fly-wheel, which, with some other +machinery was being taken to Alexandria, broke loose +from the chains that held it, and dashed about +smashing all with which it came in contact.</p> + +<p>Even when morning dawned, the storm did not +abate. The girls heard afterwards that the men +on the look-out were obliged to be lashed to the +rail with ropes, that the captain never left the +bridge for twenty-four hours, and that the hatches +had been battened down to prevent any passengers<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[212]</a></span> +from venturing on deck. At the time they +were far too ill to care about any such details; +Lilias and Dulcie would thankfully have gone to +the bottom, and though Carmel and Cousin Clare +were more cheerful, the physical discomfort +troubled them decidedly more than the danger. +The stewardess, who, poor woman, was herself +ill, managed to struggle into their cabin, and holding +on tightly to the berths, would pass them +drinks of tea in cups that could only be filled a +quarter full for fear of spilling.</p> + +<p>All through that horrible day they lay still, for +the violence of the storm made it quite impossible +to get up and dress. Towards evening, Carmel, +who began to feel better, turned to thoughts of +food, and after nibbling a biscuit, begged for +something more. Now, when the <em>Clytie</em> was +pitching and tossing and generally misbehaving +herself, it was manifestly impossible to sit up and +wield a knife and fork, for the whole contents of +the plate would be whirled away at the next sudden +lurch. The stewardess did her best, however, +by bringing potatoes baked in their skins, +and pears, at both of which delicacies it was possible +to nibble while still lying flat, and holding +with one hand to the side of the berth. The +humor of the situation appealed to Carmel so +much that she burst out laughing, and then Cousin +Clare, and even Lilias and Dulcie laughed, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[213]</a></span> +were persuaded each to try a potato, too. They +snatched intervals of sleep during the night, and +woke much refreshed.</p> + +<p>Morning found the <em>Clytie</em> off the coast of Portugal, +and in comparatively calm waters. Feeling +very shaky, the Ingletons managed to dress, +and tottered on deck. Everard and Mr. Stacey, +both looking pale, though they assured every one +that they were all right, found comfortable chairs +for the ladies, and tucked them up snugly with +rugs. After the long hours in the stuffy cabin it +was delightful to sit in the sunshine and watch +the gray, racing water. Here and there in the +distance could occasionally be seen the funnels +of far-away steamers, and then there was much +excitement and focussing of opera-glasses and telescopes. +They wondered if other vessels had been +caught in the same storm, and how they had fared, +and Dulcie even hoped they might encounter a +wreck, and have the privilege of rescuing passengers +from open boats. She was quite disappointed +when nothing so romantic happened.</p> + +<p>It was interesting to go down to lunch in the +saloon, and find the "fiddles" still on the table—long +racks with holes in which the dishes and +plates exactly fit, so that they cannot be shaken +about. There was naturally much conversation +among the passengers in relation to the storm, +and it was passed round the table as a joke that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[214]</a></span> +the captain himself had been seasick, though he +would not for a moment admit that he was capable +of such a landlubber's weakness.</p> + +<p>"If I had known what it was going to be like, +I would never have come by sea!" declared Lilias, +whose symptoms had been more acute than those +of any one else in the party.</p> + +<p>"That's what everybody says at first, young +lady," returned Captain Porter. "Wait till you +get seasoned a little, then you'll find out the +charms of Father Neptune's kingdom. I don't +mind betting that by the time we get to Malta, +you'll have fallen in love with the Mediterranean, +and won't want to leave the vessel and will be +begging me to take you on to Alexandria!"</p> + +<p>"And leave the others to go to Sicily? No, +thanks!" laughed Lilias.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2 style="margin-top: 5em;"><a name="CHAPTER_XVI" id="CHAPTER_XVI"></a><span class="smcap">chapter xvi</span></h2> +<h2>The Casa Bianca</h2> + + +<p>On the following morning the passengers of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[215]</a></span> +the <em>Clytie</em> woke to find themselves steaming into +the port of Tangiers. They scrambled through +their toilets and hurried on deck, in raptures over +the view of the old Moorish town against a +background of green trees, and the blue waters of the +bay in front. As some cargo was to be shipped, +there would be time to go on shore, and a party +was made up under the escort of Captain Porter +and of the Greek agent who had arrived on board +with the pilot. Donkeys were hired for the +ladies, and a cavalcade set forth to view the +Kasbah, or native market, and some beautiful +gardens outside the city walls. It was strange to the +girls to be in Morocco, with black faces all round +them, and to catch glimpses through open +doorways of Moorish courtyards, of marble fountains, +or of little Arab children chanting the Koran. +They were glad indeed of a masculine escort, for +their donkey-boys looked such a wild crew that +would have been frightened to be left alone with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[216]</a></span> +them, and the eastern aspect and general dirt of +the place, though picturesque, made them thankful +when they were safely back again on board +ship.</p> + +<p>To their intense interest, part of the cargo consisted +of Mohammedan pilgrims for Mecca. The +rank and file of these encamped on the lower deck, +where they sat, ate, slept, and cooked their food +over charcoal braziers, filling up their time by reciting +the Koran in a monotonous chant. A +wealthy merchant from Morocco was also traveling +to Alexandria with his wife and family, and had +engaged all the second-class quarters of the <em>Clytie</em> +for his exclusive occupation. His lady was +brought on board closely veiled, and made no further +appearance, but Dulcie and Carmel, standing +one day on the upper deck, could see down to +the second-class deck, and noticed three small children +run out to play. The boys were each +clothed in a white garment with a gaily colored +striped sash, but the beautiful little girl wore a +dress of palest blue velvet, exquisitely embroidered +with roses. Carmel, who adored children, +could not resist the temptation to call to them +and throw them each an orange, whereupon some +warning voice summoned them inside the cabin, +and after that, though the boys occasionally +played on the deck, the girl was never again allowed +to expose her face to the gaze of strangers.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[217]</a></span>Another brief halt was made at Algiers, a less +barbaric place than Tangiers, and quite up to date +and modern in its handsome French quarter, +though picturesque in the Arab part of the city. +It was possible to get carriages here, instead of +donkeys, and the passengers went on shore for a +delightful drive to the Caliph Mustapha palace, +through woods of eucalyptus, and pine, and palm, +and gardens of flowering shrubs. They would +have been glad to stay longer in such a beautiful +spot, but the <em>Clytie</em> was getting up steam, and +unless they wished to be left behind they must +go on board again.</p> + +<p>The Ingleton party agreed afterwards that +their voyage down the Mediterranean was an experience +never to be forgotten. In the bright +February sunshine the blue waters deserved their +reputation. It was warm as summer, and all day +the passengers lived on deck, watching the smooth +sea and distant coastline, or amusing themselves +with games. Mr. Stacey, with his jolly, hearty +ways and talent for entertaining, was, of course, +the life and soul of everything. He organized +various sports during the day, and concerts and +theatricals during the evening. He was great at +deck cricket, which, owing to the limitations of +the vessel, is a very different game from that on +land. The balls are made of odds and ends of +rope, twisted together by the sailors, and must be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[218]</a></span> +hit with caution so as not to be sent overboard. +Any luckless cricketer whose ball goes flying into +the deep is immediately required, by the rules of +ship's etiquette, to buy another from the sailors +who make them, so an unaccustomed batsman may +be landed in much expense. Everybody found it +great fun, however, and when they had lost the +day's supply of balls, would take to ring quoits +and deck billiards instead.</p> + +<p>But perhaps the most popular game of all was +"bean-bags." For this the passengers were divided +into two teams. Each team stood in couples +facing each other at a distance of about a yard. +At the top and bottom of each column was placed +a chair, and on the top chair were piled twelve +small canvas bags filled with beans. The teams +waited at attention till the umpire blew a whistle, +at which signal they started simultaneously. The +player nearest the chair on the right-hand side +seized a bean-bag and flung it to his opposite +neighbor, who in his turn flung it to No. 2 on the +right-hand side, who threw it back to No. 2 on +the left, and so on down the line. Meantime +player No. 1 had caught up a second, and a third +bean-bag, and continued passing on others till all +the twelve were in process of motion. They +were tossed backwards and forwards till they +reached the chair at the bottom of the line, and +were then returned in the same way that they had<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[219]</a></span> +come. Whichever team succeeded first in getting +all its bean-bags back to its starting chair +was considered to have won the game. It was +really a much more difficult business than it +sounds, for some of the passengers were "butter-fingers" +and would fail to catch the bags, and +much valuable time was wasted in picking them +up, while others were apt to cheat, and in order +to get on quicker would throw to No. 9 instead +of to No. 8, an error which the umpire's sharp +eyes would immediately detect, and he would +cause the bag to go back to the starting-point.</p> + +<p>Among all these amusements the time on the +Mediterranean passed rapidly and pleasantly. +Lilias was already wonderfully better, the mild +sea breezes had almost banished her cough, and +her appetite was a source of satisfaction to Cousin +Clare.</p> + +<p>"Casa Bianca will finish the cure!" declared +Carmel. "I know what care Mother will take +of you! Only a few days more now, and we shall +be there!"</p> + +<p>Captain Porter's laughing prophecy that Lilias +would be so much in love with voyaging that she +would want to go on to Alexandria was partly +justified, for she was genuinely sorry to leave the +vessel when they arrived at Valetta, the port of +Malta.</p> + +<p>"I shall come on the <em>Clytie</em> again some day,"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[220]</a></span> +she assured him. "Only I bargain that you take +me all the way up the Nile to look at the pyramids +and the ruined temples!"</p> + +<p>"Very well, if you'll undertake to dig out the +Nile's basin so as to accommodate a vessel of six +thousands tons!" laughed the captain. "Otherwise +I shall have to arrange to take you in a sea-plane!"</p> + +<p>"And we'd fly over the desert? Oh, that +would be thrillsome! Please book me a seat for +next year, and I'll go!"</p> + +<p>The <em>Clytie</em> arrived at Malta in the morning, +and, as the local steamer did not start for Syracuse +until midnight, the Ingleton party had the +whole day at Valetta on their hands. They very +sensibly established themselves at an hotel, ordered +lunch and dinner there, then went out into +the town to take a walk along the ramparts and +see what sights they could. Valetta, with its +streets of steps, its wonderfully fortified harbors, +its gay public gardens, its cathedral, and its armory +of the Knights of St. John, where are preserved +hundreds of priceless suits of armor belonging +to the Crusaders, the famous silver bells +that rang peals from the churches, and the rare +and beautiful pieces of Maltese lace exhibited in +the shop windows, had many attractions for +strangers, particularly those of British nationality. +In the midst of such foreign surroundings it was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[221]</a></span> +delightful to hear English spoken in the streets, to +see the familiar figure of a policeman, and to +know that the great warships in the harbor were +part of the British Fleet, and were ready at any +time to protect our merchant vessels.</p> + +<p>After a bewildering day's sight-seeing the girls +sat in the lounge of the hotel after dinner, trying +to rest. They were very tired, and would gladly +have gone to bed, but the Syracuse mail-boat ran +only once in every twenty-four hours, and started +at midnight, so their traveling must perforce be +continued without the longed for break. Cousin +Clare cheered them up with the thoughts of the +coffee ordered for ten o'clock, and of berths when +they got on board the steamer.</p> + +<p>"We might be far worse off," she assured +them. "For at least we have a comfortable hotel +to rest in. I remember once having to spend +most of the night in a waiting-room at the station +at Marseilles. Put your feet up on the sofa, +Lilias! Carmel, child, if you'd shut your eyes, +I believe you'd go to sleep. I vote we all try to +doze for an hour, until our coffee comes to wake +us up."</p> + +<p>It was quite a quaint experience to leave the +hotel at eleven o'clock and drive in carriages to +the quay, then to get into small boats and be +rowed out to the mail-steamer. It was a glorious +night, with a moon and bright stars, the sky and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[222]</a></span> +the water looked a deep dark blue, and from vessels +here and there lights shone out that sent +twisting, flickering reflections into the harbor. +Their steamer was some distance away, so it was +a long row out from the Customs House across +the shimmering water. The landlord of the hotel, +Signor Giordano, who understood the dubious +ways of native boatmen, went with them to prevent +extortionate demands, and saw them safely +on board.</p> + +<p>"The blackguards would have charged us +treble if we'd been alone!" declared Mr. Stacey. +"They are a set of brigands, the whole lot of +them. By daylight we might have managed, but +it's difficult in the dark. I'm thankful to see all +our luggage here. I thought a hand-bag or two +were going to be lost!"</p> + +<p>If the girls had counted upon a peaceful night, +they were much disappointed. They retired, indeed, +to their berths, but not to sleep. The short +crossing between Malta and Sicily is one of the +worst in the world, and there was a swell which +almost rivalled their experiences in the Bay of +Biscay. The little vessel pitched and tossed and +rolled, and caused them many hours of discomfort, +till at length, at six o'clock, it steamed into +the harbor at Syracuse, and landed them on Sicilian +soil. A train journey of a few hours followed, +to Targia Vecchia, which was the nearest<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[223]</a></span> +railway station to Montalesso, where Carmel's +home was situated.</p> + +<p>Mr. Greville met them at Targia Vecchia, and +after kissing Carmel, who rushed straight into +his arms, gave a most hearty welcome to the rest +of the party. He had two cars waiting, and after +the usual preliminaries of counting up luggage, +and giving up checks and tickets, they found themselves +whisking along a good Sicilian road in the +direction of Etna, whose white, snow-covered +peak was the commanding feature in the whole of +the surrounding landscape. The Casa Bianca or +White House justified its name, for it was a handsome +building of white stone, encircled by a veranda, +and hung with beautiful flowering creepers. +In its rich, sub-tropical garden grew palms, +aloes, bamboos, and the flaming Judas trees, +thickets of roses, and a wilderness of geraniums. +The Ingletons caught an impression of gay foreign +blossoms as they motored up the stately drive +to the steps of the house. Their arrival had +evidently been watched, for on the veranda was +assembled quite a big company ready to greet +them. First there was Carmel's mother, the +Signora Greville, as she was generally called, a +beautiful, sweet-looking lady, with her daughter's +dark eyes, and the gracious stately manners of +old Sicilian traditions. Then there were the children, +Bertram, Nina, Vincent, and Luigia, the two<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[224]</a></span> +first fair, like their English father, the younger +ones taking after the Italian side of the family. +With them were a number of other relations who +had motored over to welcome Carmel home; her +uncle, Richard Greville, and Aunt Gabrielle, with +their children, Douglas, Aimée, Tito, and Claude; +her mother's brother, Signor Bernardo Trapani, +with her cousins, Ernesto, Vittore, and Rosalia; +and her mother's sister, Signora Rosso, with +pretty Berta and Gaspare, and little Pepino.</p> + +<p>All these nineteen relations gave the Ingletons +a typical Italian greeting. They embraced Carmel +with the warm-hearted demonstrative enthusiasm +characteristic of the country, and welcomed +the rest of the party with charming friendliness. +Everybody chattered at once, making kind +inquiries about the journey, and the travelers were +taken indoors to change their dusty clothes before +coming down to the elaborate lunch that was +spread ready in the dining-room.</p> + +<p>The almost patriarchal hospitality of the Casa +Bianca suggested the establishment of an Arab +chief, or a mediæval baron, rather than that of +an ordinary household of the twentieth century. +It was the strangest combination of north and +south that could be imagined. The Grevilles and +their relatives spoke English and Italian equally +well, and conversed sometimes in one language +and sometimes in the other. They had been settled<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[225]</a></span> +for many years at Montalesso, and had, indeed, +established quite a colony of their own +there. Mr. Frank Greville and his brother, +Richard, together with Signor Trapani and Signor +Rosso, were partners in a great fruit-shipping +business. Thousands of cases of beautiful oranges, +lemons, grapes, and almonds were packed +at their warehouses and sent away to England and +America. They had orange and lemon groves +and vineyards inland, and employed a small army +of people tending the trees, gathering the fruit, +wrapping it, and dispatching it by sea at the port +of Targia Vecchia. Being connected by marriage +as well as business, they formed a pleasant family +circle, and were constantly meeting at each other's +houses. Their children grew up in the happy +Italian fashion of counting cousins almost as close +as brothers and sisters.</p> + +<p>It took the Ingletons a little while to get accustomed +to the life at Casa Bianca, but Carmel, +sitting in the creeper-covered veranda, explained +many things to them.</p> + +<p>"You mustn't think our particular ways are the +ways of the country. We're an absolute mixture +of English and Italian; Aunt Gabrielle is French, +and Aunt Giulia a real Sicilian."</p> + +<p>"What is the difference between a Sicilian and +an Italian?" asked Dulcie.</p> + +<p>"The difference between Welsh and English.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[226]</a></span> +Sicily is, of course, a part of Italy, and under the +same government, just as Wales is part of Great +Britain, but its people are of separate origin from +the Italians, and speak a dialect of their own. +Italian is the polite language of Sicily, which is +spoken in law courts, and shops, and among educated +people, but most of the peasants speak +Sicilian amongst themselves."</p> + +<p>"Can you speak it?"</p> + +<p>"A little. All the words ending in 'e' are +turned into 'i.' For instance, 'latte' (milk) +becomes 'latti,' and 'pesce' (fish) 'pesci,' o +changes into u, and ll into dd. 'Freddo' (cold) +becomes 'friddu,' and 'gallina' (a hen) +'gaddina.'"</p> + +<p>"How fearfully confusing! I should never +learn it! The few sentences of Italian I've managed +to pick up are quite bad enough!"</p> + +<p>"Why, I think you're getting on very well. +Sareda understood you perfectly this morning +when you asked for hot milk instead of coffee."</p> + +<p>The best of Casa Bianca was that with its ample +space and its traditions of hospitality, it +seemed to absorb the Ingletons and make them +feel more members of the family than guests. +Mr. Stacey and Everard were apportioned a small +sitting-room for a study, and worked hard every +morning, giving the afternoon to recreation. +Lilias, who had completely lost her cough, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[227]</a></span> +looked wonderfully well, was put to rest on the +piazza in the mornings, though she protested that +she was no longer an invalid. Dulcie, radiantly +happy, and enjoying her holiday to the full, +trotted about with Carmel, and made friends with +the children and their French governess. Bertram, +Nina, Vincent, and baby Luigia were dear +little people, and were only too anxious to show +the guest the glories of the garden. Hand in +hand with them, Dulcie inspected the marble fountain +whose basin was full of gold and silver fish, +the tank where pink water-lilies grew, and the +groves of orange trees where the ripe fruit hung +like the golden apples of the Hesperides, and +Parma violets made clumps of pale purple sweetness +beneath.</p> + +<p>Remembering that it was early in March, and +that bitter winds were probably blowing over +Chilcombe and Cheverley, Dulcie was amazed at +the warmth of the Sicilian sunshine and the wealth +of the flowers. Pink ivy-leaved geraniums trailed +from every wall, great white arum lilies opened +their stately sheaths; marigolds, salvias, carnations, +and other summer flowers were in bloom, +and little green lizards basked on the stones, +whisking away in great alarm, however, if they +were approached.</p> + +<p>The general mental atmosphere of the place +was genial and restful. Mr. Greville was kindness<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[228]</a></span> +itself to his young guests, and they had all +fallen in love with Carmel's mother. Her charming +manners and gaiety were very attractive, and +the slight foreign accent with which she spoke +English was quite pretty. Lilias, who had before +felt almost angry with Carmel for feeling homesick +at Cheverley, began at last to understand +some of the attractions which held her cousin's +heart to Sicily.</p> + +<p>"I'd rather have the Chase, of course," she +said to Dulcie, "but on the whole Montalesso is +a very beautiful spot."</p> + +<p>"So beautiful that I shouldn't mind living here +all the rest of my life!" said Dulcie, gazing +through the vine-festooned window out over the +orange groves to where the white snow-capped +peak of Etna reared itself against the intense blue +of the Sicilian sky.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2 style="margin-top: 5em;"><a name="CHAPTER_XVII" id="CHAPTER_XVII"></a><span class="smcap">chapter xvii</span></h2> +<h2>Sicilian Cousins</h2> + + +<p>The relations, who had assembled to welcome<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[229]</a></span> +Carmel back, came often to the Casa Bianca, and +in quite a short time they and the Ingletons were +on terms of intimacy. Ernesto Trapani, a handsome +young fellow, slightly older than Everard, +was studying at the University of Palermo, in +which city Vittore was at school, and the two +brothers came home from Saturday to Monday. +Douglas Greville, a tall boy of seventeen who had +been at school in Paris, also went to the Palermo +University for certain classes in chemistry, which +would help him afterwards in the conduct of his +father's business. The younger children of the +various families, Aimée, Tito, and Claude Greville, +Rosalia Trapani, and Berta, Gaspare, and +Pepino Rosso, had lessons with private governesses, +under whose charge they had learnt to +chatter Italian, English, and French with the utmost +ease.</p> + +<p>On the Saturday after the Ingletons' arrival +all these young people came over to Casa Bianca,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[230]</a></span> +and it was decided to take picnic baskets, and go +out in a body to show the guests some of the sights +of the neighborhood. So a very gay party started +off from the veranda. First they went through +long groves of orange and lemon trees, where +peasant women, with bright handkerchiefs tied +over their heads, were gathering the fruit and +packing it carefully in hampers.</p> + +<p>"You must simply live on oranges here," said +Dulcie, accepting the ripe specimen offered her by +Douglas. "Do you know this is the fifth I've had +this morning?"</p> + +<p>"On the contrary, we hardly ever touch them +ourselves," answered Douglas. "I suppose we +have so many that we don't care about them here. +I used to like them, though, when I was in Paris."</p> + +<p>"It would take me a long time to get tired of +them," declared Dulcie. "I did not know before +what a really ripe orange tastes like. They're +absolutely delicious. Why don't we get them like +this in England?"</p> + +<p>"They wouldn't keep if they were packed ripe, +and fruit that ripens on a tree is always much +sweeter than when it has been stored."</p> + +<p>"Yes, I know: our English apples are like +that. I wish I could be here in the autumn to see +your peaches and vines! I shan't want to go +away from this ripping place. I've never seen +anything so lovely in my life!"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[231]</a></span>Montalesso was indeed in all the glory of its +spring charm. Everywhere the almond trees +were in flower, and the effect of the masses of +lovely lacy blossom against the brilliant blue of +the sky was a perfect picture. With the cherry +bloom of Japan the almond blossom of Sicily holds +equal rank as one of the most beautiful sights in +the world. From the height where the young +people were walking they could see the sea at +Targia Vecchia, and the little red sails of fishing +smacks in the harbor, and the flat topped half +Moorish houses, each with its clump of orange +trees and its veranda of vines. Beyond, a landmark +for all the district, was the great glittering +peak of Etna. Its lower slopes were clothed with +vineyards, and dotted here and there with villages, +a second range was forest clad, and its dazzling +summit, 10,742 feet above sea-level, lay in the +region of the eternal snows. A thin column of +smoke issued from the crater, and stretched like +a gray ribbon across the sky. Lilias viewed it +with some uneasiness.</p> + +<p>"I hope there won't be an eruption!" she said +nervously.</p> + +<p>The boys laughed.</p> + +<p>"English people are always so scared at poor +old Etna! They imagine the crater is going to +turn on fireworks for their entertainment. That +smoke is a safety valve, so don't be afraid. The<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[232]</a></span> +observatory gives warning if anything serious is +going to take place."</p> + +<p>"And what happens then?"</p> + +<p>"Some of the people on the slopes run away in +time, and some stay to guard their property. +We're quite safe at Montalesso, for we're fifteen +miles away, though the clear air makes the peak +look so near."</p> + +<p>They had left the lemon groves and the almond +blossom behind, and were now walking +along a grassy table-land where flocks of goats +were feeding. The goatherds, picturesque little +boys dressed in sheepskin coats and soft felt hats, +with brown eyes and thick brown curls, were +amusing themselves by playing on reed pipes. +They recalled the Idylls of Theocritus, and might +almost have been products of the fourth century +<span class="smcap">b. c.</span> instead of the twentieth century <span class="smcap">a. d.</span> The +wild flowers that grew in this plain were gorgeous. +There were anemones of all kinds, scarlet, purple, +pale pink, and white: irises of many colors, blue +pimpernel, yellow salvia, violet grape hyacinths, +and clumps of small white narcissus. Above all +rose the splendid pale pink blossoms of the asphodel, +a striking feature of a Sicilian landscape.</p> + +<p>The Ingletons ran about in greatest delight, +picking handfuls of what were to them beautiful +garden flowers.</p> + +<p>"It's a moot point whether Proserpine was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[233]</a></span> +gathering narcissus or asphodel when Pluto ran +away with her," declared Mr. Stacey, offering +Lilias a bouquet which a Greek nymph might have +been pleased to accept. "I incline to asphodel +myself, because of its immortal significance. It +gives an added meaning to the myth."</p> + +<p>"What is the story exactly?" asked Dulcie. +"Do tell it, please!"</p> + +<p>"Yes, do!" begged all the children, crowding +round Mr. Stacey. "We want to hear your English +story!"</p> + +<p>"It's not an English one, but a very old Greek +one. Shall we rest on this wall while I tell it? +Luigia shall come on my knee. Yes, there's room +for Pepino too, and Gaspare and Vincent may sit +next to me. Well, in the old Golden Age, when +the world was young, Ceres, the Goddess of the +Harvest, who gave all the fruits of earth to men, +had a beautiful daughter named Proserpine, or, +as the Greeks called her, Persephone. She made +Sicily her place of residence, and she and her +nymphs used to delight themselves with its flowery +meadows and limpid streams, and beautiful +views. One day she and her companions were +wandering in the plain of Enna, gathering flowers, +when there suddenly appeared the god Pluto, +king of Hades, the regions of the dead. Falling +in love with beautiful Proserpine, he seized her, +and forced her to get into his chariot. She<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[234]</a></span> +screamed to her maidens, but they could not help +her, and Pluto carried her off. With his trident +he struck a hole in the ground, so that chariot and +horses fell through into Hades, of which place +Proserpine became the queen. Now Ceres did +not know what had happened to her daughter, +and she wandered all over the earth seeking for +her. At last she found Proserpine's girdle on the +surface of the waters of a fountain where Pluto +had struck his hole in the ground, and the nymph +Arethusa told her how her daughter had been +stolen away. Full of indignation, Ceres went to +complain to Jupiter, who promised that Proserpine +should be restored if she had taken nothing +to eat in the realm of Hades. Unfortunately +Proserpine, as she walked in the Elysian fields, +had gathered and eaten a pomegranate, which act +constituted her a subject of those regions. To +pacify Ceres, Jupiter permitted that Proserpine +should spend six months of every year with Pluto +in Hades, and the other six months with her +mother on earth. Each spring Ceres went to +the entrance of a great gloomy grotto to meet +her daughter, and with her return all the flowers +bloomed on earth again. There is a very celebrated +picture by Sir Frederick Leighton, called +'The Return of Persephone.' The artist has +painted Ceres at the entrance of the grotto with +the sunshine behind her, holding out her arms<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[235]</a></span> +to the lovely daughter whom the god Mercury is +bringing back to her out of the darkness.</p> + +<p>"The story is one of those old nature myths +of which the Greeks were so fond. The time +Proserpine spent in Hades symbolized winter, +when winds blew cold, and few flowers bloomed, +and her return symbolized the advent of spring. +It has a deeper meaning, also, to those who look +for it, because it is a type of the Resurrection, +and shows that our dear ones are not really taken +from us, but will come again in more glorious +life and beauty. Many of the old Greek myths +had this meaning hidden under them, as if they +were sent to prepare people for the truth that +Christ was to reveal more fully later on. Nearly +all early religions began with pure and beautiful +conceptions of God, and then trailed down to +earth, because their followers were too ignorant +to understand. The ancient Egyptians believed +in God, and said that one of His attributes was +strength. The strongest thing they knew was +a bull, so they made colossal statues of bulls in +black marble, to show God's strength, but the +populace worshipped the statues instead of God +himself, and became idolaters. In the same way +the ancient Greeks realized that Beauty was part +of God's scheme of work, and they came to worship +Beauty quite apart from Goodness, forgetting +that the two must go together. They<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[236]</a></span> +imagined their gods and goddesses as magnificent +men and women, with superb bodies but no beauty +of soul, and as there was nothing uplifting in this +religion, it soon died out, as all things die in time, +if they don't help us to grow nearer to God. The +story of Proserpine is one of the prettiest of the +old Greek legends, and I can just imagine her +gathering these lovely flowers. I believe we're +going on to see her fountain, aren't we, Vittore? +She made it with her tears when Pluto carried her +off."</p> + +<p>The object of the expedition was indeed to see +Proserpine's fountain, a clear spring out of which +flowed a small river. After walking another mile +across the meadows, the party came to this river, +where they were able to engage boats to row +them up to the fount. It was a unique spot, for +the whole of the banks were bordered with an +avenue of papyrus, which grew there in greatest +profusion. Legend said that it had been planted +by an Egyptian princess who brought it from the +Nile, and that it grew in no other place in Europe, +a statement which was satisfactory enough, though +rather difficult to verify. There was much bargaining, +after true Sicilian fashion, with the native +boatmen, who demanded at least four times +what they meant to take, protesting that they +would be ruined at the sum Ernesto named to +them, and finally, when he pretended to walk<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[237]</a></span> +away, accepting his offer with enthusiasm. This +very necessary preliminary satisfactorily settled, +the company was packed into the small boats, +about four going in each. In the distribution of +the guests occurred the first hitch in the Ingletons' +visit. Mr. Stacey suggested that it was advisable +to sandwich children and grown-ups, and he and +Lilias started in the first "barca" in charge of +little Luigia, Vincent, and Pepino. Dulcie and +Douglas were responsible for Gaspare, Rosalia, +and Nina, while Vittore, and Aimée, Claude, and +Bertram went together. Carmel held Tito and +Berta each by a hand, and Ernesto helped them +all three into a boat. Everard was in the very +act of jumping in after them, when Ernesto +stopped him.</p> + +<p>"Excuse me, Signore, that is my place! There +is plenty of room for you in the other boat."</p> + +<p>"And surely in this too?" said Everard, flushing +with annoyance.</p> + +<p>Ernesto shrugged his shoulders.</p> + +<p>"Oh, no! You and I are too heavy to be together. +Vittore and the others are light; you +will just make weight." And, stepping in, Ernesto +took his seat beside Carmel, and told the +boatman to push off, while Everard, with a face +like a thundercloud, joined the younger children.</p> + +<p>Up the narrow little river the light boats +pushed, under an overhanging archway of papyrus<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[238]</a></span> +reeds, so that they seemed as if penetrating +through a green jungle. The boatmen began to +sing Sicilian folk-songs, and Vittore and Rosalia +and Tito and some of the others joined in. To +everyone except Everard the excursion was delightful, +but he, considering himself treated with +scant politeness, sat sulking in Vittore's boat, and +would scarcely speak to Aimée, who made a really +heroic effort to amuse him.</p> + +<p>Proserpine's fountain, where after half an +hour's rowing the boatmen took them, was a clear +deep pool reflecting the blue of the sky, and encircled +with papyrus, donax reeds, and beautiful +irises. It seemed a fit setting for the legend of +antiquity, and a fertile imagination could almost +conjure up a vision of Pluto, with his chariot and +black horses, carrying off the lovely nymph from +her meadows of flowers to his gloomy realm of +darkness. On the way back the second boat made +a halt to cut some pieces of papyrus reed, and +Dulcie called out in much excitement to the occupants +of the other "barcas."</p> + +<p>"Lilias! Everard! We're cutting some +papyrus, and Douglas is going to show me how to +make it into parchment like the ancient Egyptians +used to write on. Won't it be gorgeous? Don't +you want some too?"</p> + +<p>"Rather!" replied Lilias, appealing to Mr. +Stacey, who promptly pulled out his penknife,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[239]</a></span> +and began to hack away at a stout stem on her +behalf.</p> + +<p>The lengths of papyrus which they bore off with +them somewhat resembled thick pieces of rhubarb, +and how these were ever going to be turned +into writing materials was a puzzle to Dulcie, +though Douglas assured her airily that he knew +all about it. The elders of the party were glad +to get the lively youngsters safely on dry land +again.</p> + +<p>"I thought Rosalia was going to turn into a +water nymph," said Lilias, comparing notes afterwards +with Dulcie. "She leaned over in the most +dangerous manner, and so did Tito. If the boats +hadn't been so broad, they would have capsized."</p> + +<p>"Then Pluto would have bagged the whole +lot of us! More than he quite bargained for, +perhaps!" laughed Dulcie.</p> + +<p>The making of the parchment was a matter of +great interest to the Ingletons. With Douglas as +an instructor, they all set to work on its manufacture. +Taking ten inch lengths of the papyrus +reeds, they cut them into long, thin, vertical slices, +and laid these across each other in the form of a +small mat between sheets of blotting paper. This +was next squeezed through a wringing-machine +to rid it of superfluous moisture, then placed +under a heavy weight, in the manner of pressing +flowers. When at last it was dry, the alternate<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[240]</a></span> +layers of the papyrus had adhered together and +amalgamated into a substance identical with the +old Egyptian parchment, though much coarser +and rougher in quality. The girls were delighted +with it. They borrowed a book on Egypt from +Mr. Greville's library, and copied little pictures +of the Sphinx, scarabs, Ra, the Sun god, and other +appropriate bits, painting them in bold colors on +their pieces of parchment, and feeling as if they +had gone back a few thousand years in history, +and were dwellers in Memphis or some other +great city on the banks of the Nile. They designed +special ones for Miss Walters, Miss +Hardy, and Miss Herbert, and smaller offerings +for Gowan, Bertha, Phillida, Noreen, and others +of their friends at Chilcombe Hall. Papyrus, indeed, +became the rage at Casa Bianca. All the +various cousins vied with one another in making +the choicest specimens. They wrote letters to +each other upon it, rolling up the parchments and +tying them with ribbons in the manner of ancient +scribes. Perhaps the whitest and best welded +sheet of all was one made by Mr. Stacey, who +turned out to be so clever at the new craze that +he jokingly declared he must be a priest of some +Egyptian temple come to life again. He used a +reed pen, and got some very happy effects in hieroglyphs, +puzzling out the names of each of the +company in the curious picture writing of the days<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[241]</a></span> +of the Pharaohs who reared the pyramids.</p> + +<p>"Will you take us some day to see the Nile?" +asked Lilias, happy in the possession of her name +neatly pictured on the specially white sheet of +papyrus, with a lotus bloom, the lily of Egypt, +painted underneath. "You know Captain Porter +said we ought to go to Alexandria!"</p> + +<p>"Nothing would please me better, if the fates +willed it!" smiled Mr. Stacey.</p> + +<p>"We'll go in a party, and hire a boat up the +Nile, and take all the Grevilles with us, specially +Douglas," declared Dulcie. "I count them my +cousins too. Don't you, Everard?"</p> + +<p>"Right-o!" laughed Everard. "Cousins by +all manner of means let them be!" ("Though I +don't bargain to include the Trapani family among +our new relations!" he added softly to himself, +half under his breath).</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2 style="margin-top: 5em;"><a name="CHAPTER_XVIII" id="CHAPTER_XVIII"></a><span class="smcap">chapter xviii</span></h2> +<h2>A Night of Adventure</h2> + + +<p>It will be seen from the events recorded in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[242]</a></span> +last chapter that Everard, while liking the various +members of the Greville family, had taken a great +prejudice against Ernesto Trapani. The fact is +that Everard, brought up with all the insular pride +of birth of an English squire, had a poor opinion +of foreigners, and was unwise enough occasionally +to reveal his attitude of British superiority, and +to give himself airs. Ernesto, handsome, clever, +and with a long line of Italian ancestry at his +back, considered himself in every way a match for +the young Englishman, and would argue with him +on many points, often beating him by logic, though +never convincing him. It annoyed Everard to +see Ernesto on terms of great intimacy with Carmel, +and to hear them talk together in Italian, a +language of which, as yet, he knew only a few +sentences.</p> + +<p>"I wish you'd speak decent English, instead of +that beastly lingo!" he said to her one day, petulantly.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[243]</a></span>Carmel flushed crimson.</p> + +<p>"Please don't call Italian a beastly lingo! I'm +sorry if I've been rude in speaking it, but I sometimes +forget that you don't understand what we're +saying. It comes naturally to me. I'll try to +remember."</p> + +<p>"Remember you're an Ingleton, and the owner +of English property," urged Everard. "Now +you're at Casa Bianca I don't believe you ever give +a thought to the Chase!"</p> + +<p>"Yes, I do! Oftener than you suppose. I've +grown to love England more than I believed possible. +In summer the country was all green and +beautiful, while here every blade of grass gets +burnt up by the blazing sun. Oh, yes! I'm +really very fond of the Chase! I am indeed!"</p> + +<p>"Then, which do you like better—England or +Sicily?"</p> + +<p>But at that question Carmel shook her head.</p> + +<p>"My opinions are my own, and I'm not going +to tell them to anybody!" she flashed merrily. +"It's a good motto to enjoy yourself wherever +you may happen to be! That's all you'll get out +of me, Mr. Everard! And quite enough, too!"</p> + +<p>Though Everard might have private reasons +of his own that marred the pleasure of his visit +to Montalesso, his sisters were having the time +of their lives. Lilias, with the help of Mr. +Stacey, had taken enthusiastically to botany, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[244]</a></span> +was making a collection of pressed Sicilian flowers. +She had also begun to sketch under his tuition, +and had finished quite a pretty little water color +of the house. Dulcie, always interested in country +life, was thoroughly happy on the estate. She +liked to watch the gathering of the oranges and +lemons, the pruning of the vines; to see the great +white bullocks plowing in the fields or slowly +drawing the gaily painted carts. The wealth of +flowers delighted her, and much to Everard's disgust, +she frankly acknowledged herself in love +with Sicily, and insisted that she would like to live +there.</p> + +<p>"I shall ask Aunt Nita to keep me instead of +Carmel!" she declared. "You may all go back +to England and leave me behind!"</p> + +<p>"What would Mr. Bowden say to that?" asked +Cousin Clare. "He has arranged for you to stay +another two years at school!"</p> + +<p>"Oh! bother Mr. Bowden! I wish he wasn't +my guardian! Can't I swop him, and have Mr. +Greville instead?"</p> + +<p>"Unfortunately people can't change their +guardians!" laughed Cousin Clare. "They have +to stick to those to whom the law assigns them. +Cheer up! You might have a far sterner one +than Mr. Bowden, and a much more disagreeable +school than Chilcombe. You've the summer term +to look forward to when you get back."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[245]</a></span>"Chilcombe isn't Montalesso!" persisted +Dulcie, pulling a face. "No, you dinky, deary +Cousin Clare, you'll never persuade me to like +school again! I shall catch a cold on purpose +as soon as I go back, and then you'll have to bring +me over here for the sake of a warmer climate. +I'll bribe the old doctor!"</p> + +<p>"Who'll probably send you to Switzerland for +open-air treatment among the snow!" said Cousin +Clare, who generally managed to get the last +word.</p> + +<p>The Ingletons had now been some weeks at the +Casa Bianca, and were beginning to grow more +accustomed to Sicilian ways. In Mr. Greville's +car they had been taken to many of the principal +places of interest in the neighborhood; they had +seen the Castello, the old ruined tower which in +bygone days had been the stronghold of brigands, +the ancient Greek amphitheater, with its marble +seats still bearing the names of owners who sat +and watched the chariot races in the fourth century +<span class="smcap">b. c.</span>, the beautiful Temple of Neptune, and +the Palazzo Salvatore, with its museum of priceless +treasures. There was one local gathering, +however, which Carmel declared they must not +on any account miss.</p> + +<p>"I'm so glad you will here for the fair at +Targia Vecchia!" she said. "It's really the +event of the whole year. You'll see more Sicilian<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[246]</a></span> +customs there than anywhere else I know. The +peasants come down from the mountains for miles +round. You'll just love it!"</p> + +<p>Such a spectacle was, of course, a great attraction +to the Ingletons, so a select party was made +up to visit the famous fair. Signora Greville, +nervous about infection, would not allow her +younger children to go, for fear they might catch +measles among the motley crowd, and the same +cautious care was extended over the children of +the other families, but Douglas and Aimée joined +the expedition, and Ernesto and Vittore, somewhat +to Everard's disgust, had a special holiday +from Palermo in order to be present. They all +set off on foot, and followed the winding road +that led down the hill-side from Montalesso to +the little harbor of Targia Vecchia.</p> + +<p>For once the country-side seemed alive with +people. Down every mountain path descended +donkeys, on which were seated girls or women in +their best gala garments, striped skirts, bright +aprons, lace on their velvet bodices, gay kerchiefs +on their heads, and large gold ear-rings in their +ears. The men who led the donkeys were dressed +in equally picturesque fashion. Many wore black +velvet jackets and scarlet Neapolitan caps, or long +brown cloaks with hoods over their heads; their +legs bound with rough puttees, and their feet +thrust into sandals of hide with the hair left on.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[247]</a></span> +Everybody seemed to carry a large cotton umbrella, +either of bright green or magenta.</p> + +<p>"They think it looks grand," explained Carmel. +"Every peasant brings his umbrella to the fair, to +show that he has one!"</p> + +<p>"Except the brigands," added Vittore. "You +can always tell a brigand because he never carries +an umbrella."</p> + +<p>"Are there any brigands?" asked Dulcie anxiously.</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes!" replied Vittore, winking secretly +at Ernesto. "There are quite a number still in +the neighborhood."</p> + +<p>"I was talking to one only the other day!" +admitted Ernesto.</p> + +<p>"Not really?"</p> + +<p>"It's quite a profession still in Sicily."</p> + +<p>"Do they catch people and hold them to ransom?" +Dulcie's face was a study.</p> + +<p>"Certainly they do, and chop their fingers off if +their relations don't pay up. It's quite an ordinary +little trick of theirs."</p> + +<p>"O-o-oh! Is it safe to go to the fair, do you +think? That man in front hasn't any umbrella!"</p> + +<p>"Don't be a scared rabbit, Dulcie! You little +silly, can't you see they're ragging you?" put in +Everard impatiently. "There are no brigands +left in Sicily now!"</p> + +<p>"Aren't there, indeed?" said Ernesto. "Ah!<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[248]</a></span> +That shows how much you know about it! Only +last week the Count Rozallo was taken prisoner +on the road to Catania, and carried off into the +mountains. He's there yet, till he pays a ransom +of 25,000 lire."</p> + +<p>"Pooh! I expect he's done it to evade his +creditors, if the story is true. I'll believe in +brigands when I meet them, and not before!" +scoffed Everard.</p> + +<p>"And I shall be frightened of every man who +doesn't carry a big red or green umbrella!" declared +Dulcie, hanging on to the arm which Douglas +gallantly offered for her protection. "What +do you think about it, Carmel?"</p> + +<p>"I think I'm quite safe, for the brigands are +generally very chivalrous to women, and only run +away with gentlemen and chop off their fingers!" +laughed Carmel.</p> + +<p>By this time they had descended the road, and +were entering the picturesque little town. Generally +Targia Vecchia was the quietest of places, +but to-day it was <em>en fête</em>. The fair was held all +along the main street, in a large square opposite +the church, and also on the beach. Everywhere +there were stalls, selling every commodity that can +be imagined. On the sweet-stall was sugared +bread in the shape of hearts or rings, covered with +gold and silver tinsel; there were sugar images, +fruits, little baskets, carriages, birds, animals, all<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[249]</a></span> +made in sugar, and apparently much in request +among the juvenile population. There were +cheap toys, bright handkerchiefs, Venetian shoes, +tambourines, lengths of gay dress materials, dates, +figs, and oranges, and the inevitable red and green +cotton umbrellas. The small shops, following an +ancient custom which dates back so many centuries +<span class="smcap">b. c.</span>, had hung out signs to signify the nature of +their wares to those peasants who could not read. +Over the baker's doorway dangled a loaf, the +shoemaker had a large boot, and the wine shops +still showed the garlands of ivy once dedicated +to Bacchus. A gaily-garbed chattering crew of +people moved from stall to stall, laughing, gesticulating, +and bargaining, and evidently enjoying +themselves. A pretty girl was trying ear-rings, +and looking at the effect in a mirror held by the +vendor, while older folks flocked round a quack +medicine dealer, who was loudly proclaiming the +virtues of the various bottles.</p> + +<p>The scene on the shore was even more picturesque +than that in the town. The beach, which +was covered with pebbly sand, commanded a beautiful +view of hills clad with prickly pear, of the +bright blue sea, the distant Calabrian coast, and +mountains tipped with snow. Gaudily painted +carts were drawn up, while their owners bought +and sold, and rows of donkeys, with smart trappings +and saddle-bags, were tied to posts. On the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[250]</a></span> +sand were numbers of animals for sale—oxen, +cows, calves, goats, kids, great black hogs covered +with bristles like wild boars, and tiny pigs which, +when bought, were popped into bags with their +heads and the two front feet peeping out. The +noise was indescribable. Cattle lowed, pigs +squealed and grunted, men shouted, children cried, +and musicians sang and rattled tambourines. +Beggars of all descriptions, the blind, the halt, +and the maimed were there, clamoring for alms, +and calling attention to their deficiencies, often +thrusting a withered hand or the stump of an arm +under the very noses of strangers, to demand +sympathy and money from them.</p> + +<p>Lilias and Dulcie began to understand why +Signora Greville had not allowed the younger +children to come to the fair. They were almost +frightened by the dirt and impudence of the beggars, +and each clung to the arm of a masculine +protector to pilot her through the crowd. They +were, indeed, glad to move away from the rather +rough element on the beach, and turn back +through the town, where the peasants were now +taking lunch of maccaroni and omelettes at tables +spread in the streets. They bought a few curiosities +and souvenirs at the stalls, stopped to listen to +a band of musicians, then turned up the hill-side +again, and made their way back to Montalesso,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[251]</a></span> +leaving Targia Vecchia to continue its merry-making.</p> + +<p>"I should think the fair must be a wonderful +sight at night!" said Everard that afternoon at +the Casa Bianca.</p> + +<p>"Rather," agreed Ernesto. "The people will +be dancing down the streets by torch light and +singing at the pitch of their voices."</p> + +<p>"I'd give anything to see it!"</p> + +<p>"I shouldn't go, my boy, if I were you," put in +Mr. Greville quietly. "You'd find it a rowdy +place, and not at all to your liking. The wine +shops will have been very busy all day."</p> + +<p>"And the people aren't over gentle with +strangers when their blood's up," added Vittore. +"They've no use for a nice young Englishman +down in Targia Vecchia! Best stay safe at +home."</p> + +<p>Vittore, who had waited till his uncle was out +of earshot, spoke tauntingly. Everard colored +crimson.</p> + +<p>"I'm not afraid of a few Sicilian peasants!" +he remarked.</p> + +<p>Vittore's sneer had aroused his opposition, and +made him determined to go, more particularly as +Carmel had expressed great regret at not having +bought a certain necklace which she had seen on a +stall, and wished to add to a collection she was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[252]</a></span> +making of Sicilian peasant jewelry. It would be +a triumph to walk down alone to the fair, buy +the necklace, and show these young foreigners +that Englishmen knew how to take care of themselves. +He did not mention his intention to Mr. Stacey +or to Mr. Greville, but waiting till it was +almost dark he avoided the family, dashed into +the garden, and set off along the road to Targia +Vecchia.</p> + +<p>As Mr. Greville had prophesied, he found the +little town in a decidedly lively condition. Barrels +of wine were being broached in the streets +by the light of flaring torches, and most of the +men were in an excited condition. The Cheap +Jacks were still doing a brisk trade, and at the +jewelry stall Everard was able to buy the souvenir +he wanted for Carmel. It was the last of the +sort left, so he considered himself in luck. He +put the small parcel in his pocket and turned away, +rather disgusted with the riot of the town, and +glad to leave the noise and glare behind him. He +tramped up the steep country road with a sense of +relief.</p> + +<p>It was a beautiful calm night, and a half moon +hung silver in the sky. The stars, far brighter +than they ever appear in England, twinkled in the +blue firmament, behind the mighty peak of Etna. +It was not really dark, and it was quite possible +to see the main outlines of most of the features<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[253]</a></span> +of the landscape. Everard walked along cheerily. +So far he had met with no hindrance. The people +at the fair had indeed looked at him with much +curiosity, and had even spoken to him, but certainly +nobody had offered in any way to molest +him. The dangers of Targia Vecchia at nightfall +had evidently been grossly exaggerated. So +confident was Everard that he even whistled a +tune as he walked, and planned how he would +stroll into the drawing-room on his return to Casa +Bianca, slip the necklace from his pocket, and +casually mention where he had been. In his preoccupation +he did not give any particular heed to +the road, or see movement among the dark +shadows of a group of prickly pears that overhung +a sharp corner.</p> + +<p>Without the slightest warning a pistol shot +suddenly rang out, and three figures, springing +from the shelter of the prickly pears, flung themselves +upon him. For a second he had a vision +of cloaks and masked faces, and hit out pluckily, +but they were three to one, and in a few moments +they had secured him, bound his hands behind +his back, and tied a bandage over his eyes. Almost +stunned at first by the suddenness of the +attack, Everard, as soon as he recovered his +speech, protested indignantly, and demanded of +his assailants what they wanted. They spoke together +in rapid Italian, which he did not understand,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[254]</a></span> +then one of them replied in very broken +English:</p> + +<p>"Signore, it is our order to take you to our +captain."</p> + +<p>"And who is your captain?"</p> + +<p>"That I not tell."</p> + +<p>"And what does your captain want with me?"</p> + +<p>"He ask ransom. You rich Inglese. Property +in your own country. You give many thousand +lire ransom."</p> + +<p>"Indeed I can't!" protested Everard. +"You've made a big mistake. I don't own any +property, and I'm not rich at all. You'd better +let me go, or there'll be trouble in store for you +when my friends hear of it."</p> + +<p>The brigands, if such they were, made no reply. +Possibly they did not understand him. They +were busy, moreover, searching his pockets, and +were appropriating his watch, money, and other +valuables with short grunts of satisfaction. +Bound hand and foot, Everard could offer no +physical resistance, though his bold spirit was raging. +At length his captors, having rifled all they +wanted, untied his legs, and, taking him by the +arms, hauled him along between them. Blindfold +as he was, he had no notion in what direction +he was going, though they seemed to leave the +main road, and to be taking a cross-country journey +over fields and rough ground. Were they<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[255]</a></span> +taking him to the Castello, he wondered? It had +been a noted haunt of brigands in bygone days, +and its inaccessible position would make it a safe +hiding-place. He asked himself what was going +to happen. How soon would he be missed at the +Casa Bianca? Would a search be made for him, +and with what success? These fellows were often +very crafty in their places of concealment, and +had evidently got hold of some false idea of his +rank and fortune. In that half-hour, Everard +went through very severe mental as well as physical +discomfort. His captors were not too gentle, +and hurried him along anyhow. They refused to +answer any more of his questions, and, except for +an occasional hoarse remark to one another in +Italian, kept a rigid silence.</p> + +<p>After what seemed to him an interminable distance, +they apparently reached their destination, +for he was dragged up a flight of steps into some +building, whether prison, castle, or private dwelling +he was unable to guess. A door was flung +open, for a moment he heard an echo of voices, +then all was silent.</p> + +<p>He was alone, though in what sort of apartment +he had no means of judging. The floor felt +smooth to his feet, as if made of tiles, and the +walls also were smooth. His captors had not +untied his hands, but he kept straining at the rope +in the hope of freeing himself. Escape was the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[256]</a></span> +uppermost notion in his mind. He had indeed so +far succeeded in loosening his bonds that he could +almost slip one hand out. At that crisis, however, +the door opened, and he was once more led +forth.</p> + +<p>"Where are you taking me now?" he demanded +angrily.</p> + +<p>"To our captain," replied the same foreign +voice which had given him his former information, +while two strong pairs of arms pushed him along.</p> + +<p>Though his bandage was very thick, he could +tell that he was passing from comparative darkness +into a brilliantly lighted room. He had a +strong sense that it was full of people. He even +thought he heard a murmur of sympathy, which +was, however, instantly suppressed. Everard's +was not a nature to be cowed by any circumstances, +however appalling. He meant to show +this rascally crew that an Englishman never loses +his pluck, and, in spite of the ropes that bound +him, he stepped forward with all the courage and +pride of a true Ingleton.</p> + +<p>"Am I speaking to the captain?" he said in a +calm clear tone. "Then, Signore, I wish to inform +you that you have made a mistake. I am no +wealthy English landowner, as you can very soon +find out for yourselves, and I may add that, if I +were, I'd stay here to all eternity sooner than give +you a penny of ransom!"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[257]</a></span>"Hurrah!" came from a voice close behind +him, a voice which sounded so familiar that +Everard, forgetting his bandage, turned in much +perplexity.</p> + +<p>"The Signore Inglese had better humble himself +to our captain," murmured his guide. "Remember +that here he has the power of life and +death!"</p> + +<p>"I'll humble myself to nobody!" thundered +Everard, as angry as a lion at bay. "Untie my +hands, you cowards, and I'll fight for my life! If +you've an ounce of pluck among you, you'll give +me a sporting chance!"</p> + +<p>"Ecco! E giusto!" said a fresh voice, presumably +that of the captain. "Signore, you shall +have your will!"</p> + +<p>At this a knife was passed rapidly through the +ropes that bound him, and at the same moment a +hand snatched the bandage from his eyes. Dazed +with the sudden light, Everard stared round as +one in a dream. He had expected to find himself +in some rough hall surrounded by brigands, and, +lo and behold, he was in the drawing-room at the +Casa Bianca, in the midst of the united family!</p> + +<p>"Forgive our rough joke, Everard!" exclaimed +Mr. Greville, clapping him heartily on the shoulder. +"I had never intended to let it go so far. +I thought a fight on the road would do you no +harm, for there <em>are</em> dangers in Sicily to reckless<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[258]</a></span> +young strangers who like to run risks, and you +might easily have found yourself in greater trouble +than you imagine at Targia Vecchia, if I had +not sent Tomaso to shadow you. The people +down there know his reputation with a revolver, +and don't care to interfere. Never mind, lad! +You came very well out of it! You certainly +showed us what you were made of, just now. +On the whole, I think you turned the tables on +us!"</p> + +<p>Everard was still standing gazing round the +room, at Ernesto and Vittore, who had been his +captors, at Mr. Greville, at Aimée and Rosalia, +who were laughing at the joke. He turned white +and red with passion, and for the moment looked +capable of knocking down Ernesto as he had +threatened to treat the supposed brigands. A +glance from Mr. Stacey, however, steadied him. +Above everything Everard was a gentleman. By +a supreme effort he controlled himself.</p> + +<p>"I think it's an abominable shame!" declared +Carmel, turning upon Ernesto with blazing eyes. +"Daddy never meant you to bind him and bring +him up here like that—only to frighten him for a +minute on the road. You know he did! I'll +never forgive you, Ernesto! <em>Never!</em> If this +is a specimen of our Sicilian hospitality, Everard +won't want to come to the Casa Bianca again! +My cousins didn't treat me to practical jokes at<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[259]</a></span> +the Chase! They gave me an English welcome!"</p> + +<p>"Let me make peace!" said Signora Greville, +coming forward and taking Everard's hand in her +pretty Italian fashion. "Our guest knows, I +hope, that we meant no discourtesy to him. For +all he has suffered we claim his pardon. Is it +not so, Ernesto and Vittore? He has, indeed, +shown us how a brave Englishman can behave in +a position of danger, and we admire his courage. +I think we ought to congratulate him on the splendid +way he has taken a joke which certainly went +much farther than was intended."</p> + +<p>At that, everybody crowded round Everard, +making pretty speeches, for all realized that the +mock adventure had been real enough to him at +the time.</p> + +<p>"I should faint if I thought I were taken by a +brigand!" shivered Aimée.</p> + +<p>"I should die outright!" declared Rosalia.</p> + +<p>"Your property is back in your pocket with my +sincere apologies," murmured Vittore, restoring +the watch and other valuables.</p> + +<p>It was not until the next morning that Everard +had an opportunity to give Carmel the peasant +necklace for which he had ventured down to +Targia Vecchia. Her delight was immense.</p> + +<p>"Why, it's the very one I wanted!" she exclaimed. +"It will be the gem of my whole collection. +I shall always call it the Brigand Necklace,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[260]</a></span> +after this. You went through a great deal +to bring it back, Everard!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, never mind! That's all over and finished +with now. I'm going to forget it!"</p> + +<p>"You may forget it, but I shan't! I shall +always remember how you called them cowards, +and asked for a sporting chance. I must say I +like men to be able to take care of themselves. +As for Signor Ernesto, I haven't forgiven him +yet, and on the whole I'm not altogether quite sure +that I ever shall!"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2 style="margin-top: 5em;"><a name="CHAPTER_XIX" id="CHAPTER_XIX"></a><span class="smcap">chapter xix</span></h2> +<h2>At Palermo</h2> + + +<p>It was perhaps to atone for the indignities which<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[261]</a></span> +Everard had suffered at the hands of Ernesto and +Vittore, in the practical joke that they had played +upon him, that Signor Trapani proposed to take +the Ingletons for a few days' trip to Palermo. +He declared he could not allow them to leave +Sicily without a peep at the famous capital city, +and that in motoring there they could also see +some of the sights upon the way. Though they +were perfectly happy at Casa Bianca, a visit to +Palermo was of course a great attraction, and the +party, including Cousin Clare and Mr. Stacey, +were all excitement and smiles.</p> + +<p>"We're to stay at an hotel," announced Carmel, +"and Ernesto and Vittore are to have dinner +with us."</p> + +<p>"And Douglas, too," added Dulcie, with satisfaction. +"I heard your uncle say he had asked him."</p> + +<p>"Oh, did he? I'm so glad. Now we shall +have plenty of cavaliers to take us about. What<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[262]</a></span> +fun it will be! You'll just love Palermo. I +always sing a jubilee when Mother has a shopping +expedition there and wants me to go with her."</p> + +<p>"Hurrah for to-morrow, then!" proclaimed +Dulcie.</p> + +<p>Taking only a little light luggage the lucky +travelers packed themselves into two cars and +set off on their pleasure-jaunt. Leaving the sea +they turned inland to the mountain region, and +with a short stop at Centuripe, to get the magnificent +view of Etna, they motored on to Castrogiovanni, +a wonderful old town set, like an eagle's +nest, on the very crest of a high hill, and full of +relics of Greeks, Carthaginians, Romans, Saracens, +and Normans, who had held its fortress in turns. +It looked the real brigand stronghold of old +stories, as impregnable as some of our Scottish +castles and a fit subject for legend.</p> + +<p>One feature of the Sicilian landscape greatly +struck the Ingletons.</p> + +<p>"There are no cottages scattered about like we +have in England," remarked Lilias. "Do the +people who work in the fields all live in these little +towns on the tops of hills? Why don't they have +their homes close to their work?"</p> + +<p>"It's an old Sicilian custom," explained Signor +Trapani. "In former days there were so many +robbers that nobody would have dared to live +alone in a cottage in the open country; even now<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[263]</a></span> +it would scarcely be thought wise, and the peasants +feel far safer at night in a town, with their neighbors +to help to protect them and their valuables. +A Sicilian peasant would rather walk many miles +to his fields than run the risk of brigands stealing +his savings. Nearly everybody keeps a few +goats, and each morning the goatherd blows a +horn and leads the flock of the whole town out +to pasture. He keeps guard over them all day +and brings them back in the evening, when each +trots home to its own stable to be milked. The +children often wait at the city gate to welcome +the goats back, and you can see quite affectionate +little meetings between them."</p> + +<p>"Kids welcoming kids!" murmured Dulcie, +who clung to schoolgirl slang, rather to the consternation +of Signor Trapani, who did not always +understand it, and much to the indignation of +Cousin Clare, who was continually urging her to +speak pure English.</p> + +<p>From Castrogiovanni the way lay down hill to +Palermo, which they reached in the evening, just +when a golden sunset was lighting up its eastern-looking +houses, its beautiful gardens, and magnificent +harbor. Ernesto, Vittore, and Douglas +were waiting for them at the hotel, so they made +a jolly party of ten at dinner, and had a round +table all to themselves in the <em>salle à manger</em>. +Signor Trapani, in his enthusiasm as host, even<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[264]</a></span> +suggested the theater afterwards, but Cousin +Clare said "No," after such a long motor run, +and sent the girls off to bed.</p> + +<p>"They may go and see an Italian play to-morrow +evening, if you don't work them too hard +at sight-seeing during the day," she relented, "but +remember, I want to keep the roses in their cheeks, +and Lilias, at any rate, must not get overdone. +I'm the stern chaperon, you know."</p> + +<p>"So I understand," laughed Signor Trapani, +"though such a charming lady cannot make a very +terrible duenna, and we are not at all frightened +of you," he added, finishing, like every true Italian, +with a compliment.</p> + +<p>Lilias, Dulcie, and Carmel had three small beds +in a room that led out of Cousin Clare's. +Though they had pretended to be disappointed +at not being allowed to go to the theater, in reality +they were all extremely tired and glad to rest. +Dulcie in particular snuggled down on her pillow +and was asleep even before Lilias turned off the +electric light. The others were not long in following +suit, and in a short time all were in the +land of dreams.</p> + +<p>It was perhaps two o'clock in the morning when +Lilias awoke in the darkness with a start. Her +bed was shaking violently under her, as it had +done once long ago, when Everard in his school-days +had played a trick upon her. There was a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[265]</a></span> +loud rumbling noise, like the passing of a gigantic +motor-lorry or a railway train, the jugs and basins +were rattling, and a glass of water, placed on the +edge of the table, fell to the ground with a smash.</p> + +<p>"What is it? Oh, what's the matter?" cried +Lilias, terribly scared.</p> + +<p>She put out her hand and tried to turn on the +electric light, but she moved the switch in vain, +Carmel, who had groped for the matches, lighted +a candle, and by the time the welcome little +yellow flame showed itself, the shaking and +rumbling had entirely ceased. Lilias looked +anxiously round the room.</p> + +<p>"What's the matter?" she asked again.</p> + +<p>"Only an earthquake!" said Carmel calmly. +"It's over now."</p> + +<p>"An <em>earthquake</em>!" Lilias's voice was tragic.</p> + +<p>"Just a slight shock. We often have them."</p> + +<p>"O-o-h! Will the walls tumble down?"</p> + +<p>"Certainly not—it only makes the china rattle."</p> + +<p>By this time Cousin Clare, also unaccustomed to +earthquakes and almost as alarmed as Lilias, came +into the room. Carmel pacified them both, assuring +them that such tremors were of quite common +occurrence, and that people in Sicily thought +little about them unless they were severe enough +to do damage.</p> + +<p>All this time Dulcie's pink cheek was buried in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[266]</a></span> +the pillow, and her breath came as quietly and +evenly as that of a baby.</p> + +<p>"I'm glad she didn't wake. She was very +tired, poor child," commented Cousin Clare, after +a glance at the bed in the corner.</p> + +<p>Dulcie was, of course, unmercifully teased next +morning for having slept through an earthquake.</p> + +<p>"If Etna shot its cone off during the night I +don't believe it would wake you!" laughed Everard. +"The Seven Sleepers are nothing to you."</p> + +<p>"Go on! Rag me as much as you like. I +don't care," declared Dulcie sturdily. "I think +I had far the best of it. You were all awake and +scared, while I was snug and comfy. I shall sleep +through the next if we have one. Ashamed of +myself? Not a bit of it! I tell you I'm <em>proud</em>."</p> + +<p>Everybody was looking forward to a day's +sight-seeing in Palermo, and as soon as breakfast +was over the party started out to view the cathedral, +the beautiful Palatine chapel, with its Saracen +arches and priceless mosaics, and the ancient +oriental-looking Norman church of S. Giovanni +degli Eremite. Dulcie, who had been learning +Longfellow's <em>Robert of Sicily</em> for her last recitation +in the elocution class at school, was much +thrilled, and wanted to know in which of the +churches he had made his famous defiance of +Heaven, and had been turned from his throne +by the angel, who temporarily took his place as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[267]</a></span> +king till he repented of his vain glory. Nobody +could tell her, however, and the guide-book gave +no information on the subject, though Douglas +obligingly searched its pages. Knowing she loved +old legends about the places, he found another +item of interest for her in connection with one +of the ancient towers of S. Giovanni degli Eremite. +It was from there that in the Middle Ages, when +the French ruled the island, a vesper bell had +tolled the signal for the inhabitants to rise and fall +upon their cruel masters in a massacre that was +known ever afterwards as "The Sicilian Vespers."</p> + +<p>"Bells have never been rung in Sicily since," +said Douglas, then as Dulcie's eyebrows went up +in amazed contradiction he explained: "They are +never really <em>rung</em> here. In most countries the +bells swing backwards and forwards, but in our +churches they are quite steady, and only the clapper +moves about inside the bell."</p> + +<p>"Oh, that's why they sound so frightfully +clangy, then; we noticed the difference at once +when we came over from Malta."</p> + +<p>"Yes, you would. The church bells of Malta +are the most beautiful in the world. They're +partly made of silver, and they swing properly +in the belfries."</p> + +<p>"I love to see really Sicilian things."</p> + +<p>"Then you shall," put in Signor Trapani.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[268]</a></span> +"We'll try and show you the local color of +Palermo to-day."</p> + +<p>"Oh, please do! I like to watch how the +people live."</p> + +<p>In order to keep his promise to Dulcie, Signor +Trapani took his guests to have lunch at a restaurant +near the harbor, where, instead of the +usual French menu which obtained at all the +hotels, purely Sicilian dishes were served. First +came a species of marine soup, that consisted of +tiny star-fish and cuttle-fish stewed till they were +very tender, then smothered in white sauce. +Slices of tunny fish followed, almost as substantial +as beefsteak, then some goats flesh, that closely +resembled mutton, and with it a vegetable called +fennel, which is rather like celery with a dash of +aniseed about it. The salad, chiefly of endive, +was smothered in Lucca oil and Tarragon vinegar, +and there was an entrée that seemed made mostly +of butter and cheese.</p> + +<p>Dulcie, daunted by nothing, ate each new dish +and said she enjoyed it, though Lilias and Cousin +Clare could not be induced even to taste the unaccustomed +food, and lunched on omelettes which +were ordered specially for their benefit. Mr. +Stacey and Everard, however, were hearty converts +to Sicilian cookery, and declared they would +like some of the courses introduced at the Chase +when they returned to England.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[269]</a></span>As good luck would have it Dulcie was just +stepping out of the restaurant when she heard a +familiar, squeaking voice, and on the other side +of the road saw a Sicilian Punch and Judy show.</p> + +<p>Naturally she demanded to stop and witness +the representation. Mr. Punchinello, though his +speeches were in Italian, went through the same +series of wicked deeds as in England, and little +dog Toby, with a frill round his neck, assisted in +the performance. Dulcie was delighted, and was +persuaded to get into the waiting motor only by +bribes of seeing even more interesting sights.</p> + +<p>The lovely public gardens, the shops, the market, +the university where Ernesto, Vittore, and +Douglas were studying, the museum, and various +beautiful spots in the neighborhood of the city +were all visited during the Ingletons' brief stay +at Palermo, and they celebrated the last evening +by a visit to the theater, where, if they could not +understand the words of the play, the dramatic +foreign acting spoke for itself.</p> + +<p>"Has my little English signorina enjoyed her +trip?" asked Signor Trapani kindly, as Dulcie, +sitting by his side in the car, waved an enthusiastic +good-by to Palermo.</p> + +<p>"Enjoyed it! <em>Ra</em>ther? It's the loveliest +place on earth, and beats London hollow in my +opinion. But I <em>do</em> love everything Sicilian <em>so</em> +much! Thanks just immensely for giving me<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[270]</a></span> +such a perfectly delicious time!" declared Dulcie, +screwing her neck round to catch a last glimpse +of Ernesto, Vittore, and Douglas, who stood by +the roadside fluttering handkerchiefs as a signal +of farewell.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2 style="margin-top: 5em;"><a name="CHAPTER_XX" id="CHAPTER_XX"></a><span class="smcap">chapter xx</span></h2> +<h2>Old England</h2> + + +<p>The holiday in Sicily, like all pleasant things,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[271]</a></span> +came to an end at last, and the Ingleton family, +leaving the Casa Bianca with many regrets, returned +to their own country in time to welcome +Roland, Bevis, and Clifford back from school for +Easter. Carmel, who had seemed keenly to feel +the parting from her mother, and who had been +so quiet on the journey that her cousins suspected +a bad attack of homesickness, cheered up +when they were once more settled at the Chase. +The beauties of the English country-side, with +plum-blossom, primroses, cowslips, green meadows, +and budding woodlands, compared very +favorably with even the lovely Sicilian landscape, +and Carmel acknowledged frankly that Cheverley +had a charm all of its own.</p> + +<p>"I never knew how much I loved it till I left +it, and then saw it again!" she declared. +"There's something about the place that grips."</p> + +<p>"Your Ingleton blood showing, of course," remarked +Everard. "All your ancestors have lived<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[272]</a></span> +at the Chase, and it would be queer if you hadn't +some sort of a natural feeling for it. People +mostly have for the place where their ancestors +were born."</p> + +<p>"Indeed! I believe my ancestors were all of +them born in bed, so no doubt that's why I have +such a natural feeling for bed, and don't want to +get up in the mornings!" piped Dulcie, who never +could resist a quip at Everard. "I don't despise +Old England, but Sicily's the land for me, and I'm +going back to Montalesso some day. Aunt Nita +says so! Lilias can please herself, but, as soon as +Mr. Bowden lets me leave school, I shall say 'Ta-ta! +I'm off to the land of oranges and lemons!'"</p> + +<p>"And in the meantime you'll have to make up +at school for this long holiday," reminded Cousin +Clare. "I'm afraid you'll find yourself terribly +behindhand when you get back to Chilcombe!"</p> + +<p>The occupants of the Blue Grotto had much to +talk about when they met again.</p> + +<p>"It was hateful having the dor. all to ourselves," +confided Gowan. "We never had such a +slow time in our lives. We had a fearful scare, +too! We thought Miss Walters was going to put +Laurette with us! She'd had a terrible quarrel +with Truie and Hester, and things were rather +hot in the Gold bedroom. Fortunately, however, +they cooled down, and patched up their quarrels. +Bertha and I were simply shaking, though. I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[273]</a></span> +heard Miss Walters say to Laurette: 'There's a +spare bed at present in the Blue room,' and we +thought she was moving in for the rest of the +term! Think of being boxed up with Laurette! +Wouldn't it have been absolutely grisly?"</p> + +<p>"Nothing at all particularly exciting happened +while you were away!" groused Bertha. "We +got all the drudgery, and you had all the fun!"</p> + +<p>"But we brought you some presents! Just +wait till I get to the bottom of my box!" put in +Carmel.</p> + +<p>"Oh, have you?" cried Bertha excitedly. +"What have you brought? Don't stop to arrange +those blouses! Dump your things out anyhow: +I can't wait! I've never had a foreign +present in my life before. O-o-oh! What an +absolutely ducky little locket! Carmel, you're a +darling! You couldn't have given me anything +in the whole of this wide world that I should have +liked better. I just love it!"</p> + +<p>Though the Ingletons' immediate friends at +Chilcombe had been rather inclined to look with +the green eyes of envy upon their long holiday in +Sicily, and consequent immunity from Easter examinations, +they were mollified by the pretty gifts +which the girls had brought them, and while they +still proclaimed them "luckers out of all reason," +they forgave them their good fortune, and received +them back once more into the bosom of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[274]</a></span> +their special clique. The Mafia had indeed languished +considerably during their absence. Nobody +had troubled very much to keep up its activities, +and it had held only one or two half-hearted +meetings. Now that its nine members were together +again, however, the secret society set to +work with renewed vigor. Insensibly it had +rather altered its scope. It had begun originally +for the purpose of resisting the aggressions of +Laurette, Hester, and Truie, but had grown into +a sort of confraternity for private fun. The +meetings held in each other's dormitories were of +a hilarious description, and included games. At +Gowan's suggestion they even went a step farther, +and produced literary contributions—"of a +sort," as she wisely qualified the rather appalling +innovation.</p> + +<p>"I don't mean exactly Shakespeare, you know," +she explained. "But you can write poetry if you +care to, or make up something funny like <em>Punch</em>. +Everybody has got to do something!"</p> + +<p>"Not really?" objected Dulcie, wrinkling her +forehead into lines of acute distress. "Oh, +Goody! It's as bad as lessons every bit. Look +here, I'm not clever, and I don't make any pretence +at poetry or the rest of it. You'll just have +to leave me out."</p> + +<p>"Pull yourself together, Dulcie, my child!" +said Gowan calmly. "You'll either be turned<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[275]</a></span> +bodily out of the Mafia, or you'll do your bit the +same as everybody else. Don't for a moment +imagine you're coming to listen to other people's +industry, and bring nothing of your own with you! +That's not the way we manage things here. If +you don't show up with a manuscript in your hand, +you'll find yourself walking down the passage with +the door slammed behind you. Yes, I mean it! +You're a decent enough little person, but you're +apt to be slack. You must get some stiffening +into you this time."</p> + +<p>"Poor little me!" wailed Dulcie.</p> + +<p>"No poorer than all the rest of us!"</p> + +<p>"Yes, I am, for I haven't got the same thingumbobs +in my brains! Couldn't make up poetry to +save my life! May I write a letter?"</p> + +<p>"Why, yes, if you'd rather!"</p> + +<p>"I feel it would be my most adequate form of +self-expression," minced Dulcie, mimicking Miss +Walters' very best literary manner. "I trust my +contribution will be kept for publication. Later +on, when I'm famous, it may become of value. +The world will never forget that I was educated +at Chilcombe Hall. A neat brass plate will some +day be placed upon the door of the Blue Grotto +to mark the dormitory I slept in, and my bed will +be preserved in the local museum!"</p> + +<p>"With you (stuffed) inside it, labeled 'Specimen +of a Champion Slacker'!" snorted Gowan.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[276]</a></span> +"Now, no nonsense! If you don't turn up at the +meeting with a manuscript, you won't be admitted!"</p> + +<p>"Bow-wow! How very severe we've grown, +all of a sudden!" mocked Dulcie, as she danced +away. "You take it for granted," she called +over her shoulder, "that my contribution is going +to mark the literary low tide. Perhaps, after all, +it will make as big an impression as anybody +else's. There!"</p> + +<p>On the evening fixed for the meeting, nine girls +put in an appearance at the Blue Grotto, all flaunting +manuscripts in a very conspicuous fashion. +They seated themselves upon Bertha's and Dulcie's +beds, and having as a kind of foregone conclusion, +elected Gowan as President of the Ceremonies, +got straight to business. Gowan was +justice personified, and fearful of even unintentional +favoritism, she insisted upon the company +drawing lots for the order in which their effusions +were to be read. The Fates decided thus: Carmel, +Noreen, Edith, Lilias, Gowan, Bertha, +Prissie, Phillida, Dulcie.</p> + +<p>Carmel, hustled off the bed to be given first +hearing, took the chair of honor reserved for each +literary star in turn, and having waited a moment +to allow undue giggling to subside, opened her +sheets of exercise paper and began:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[277]</a></span></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"OLD ENGLAND</p> + +<p>"I never can quite see why it is called 'Old' England, +because I don't suppose it is any older than any other part +of the world, really, but perhaps 'Old' is a term of endearment, +because I notice when any girl likes me, she +generally calls me 'old sport,' or 'old thing.' Well, at +any rate here I am back in Old England, and it is a wonderfully +nice sort of a country. I specially like the policemen, +who wave their white gloves and stop all the traffic +in the street in a second, and the railway porters who yell +out the names of the stations, and the little boys who cry +the newspapers. There are no beggars in Old England +like there are in Sicily, and no mosquitoes, and no earthquakes. +At least not proper ones. I thought we were all +beggars when we tried to raise money for the 'Waifs and +Strays'; Bertha buzzes worse than any mosquito when +she wants to borrow my penknife, and I thought there +was an earthquake the last time Laurette danced.</p> + +<p>"I like all the old houses and castles and cathedrals in +Old England, and especially the old gardens. What I +don't like are my old lessons. Old England is a jolly, +hospitable, comfortable, green sort of country, and I am +quite at home here now, so hurrah! Old England for +ever!"</p></div> + +<p>Carmel, having read her manuscript as rapidly +as possible, vacated the chair in a breathless condition, +and pushed Noreen into her place. +Noreen had been struggling with Pegasus, and +had produced a spring poem. It was short, but +perhaps a trifle over-sweet.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[278]</a></span></p> + +<p class="poem"> +"TO MY DEARIE-OH!<br /> +<br /> +"Spring is comen back again,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">(Daisy buds for my dearie!)</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Gone is winter's snow and rain,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">(Cherry lips for my dearie!)</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Blossom clothes the orchards now,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">(Apple cheeks for my dearie!)</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Nests of birds on every bough,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">(And kisses for my dearie!)</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>"It's one of those old-fashioned sort of things—I +believe you call them madrigals," she ventured.</p> + +<p>Nobody else knew what a madrigal was, so they +took Noreen's word for it, and allowed her to retire +in favor of Edith, who had also been trying +to cultivate the muse of poetry. Her effort at +verse was entitled:</p> + +<p class="poem"> +"MIRANDA'S MUSIC<br /> +<br /> +"Miranda had learnt the piano to play,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">And when seated one day on the stool,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">At her latest new piece she was strumming away,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">For old Thomas, who sweeps out the school.</span><br /> +<br /> +"Thought she: ''T will impress him if anything will,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">For the left hand goes over the right.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">He will surely admire my exquisite skill,</span><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[279]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">And perhaps will express his delight.'</span><br /> +<br /> +"But ah! fondest hopes may be dashed to the ground,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Despite what ambition can raise.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Ill pleased by this banquet of beautiful sound,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Old Thomas was scant in his praise.</span><br /> +<br /> +"'Ay, ay, yes, I hear. 'T is not bad, to be sure!<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">They may teach you in time!' so he grumbled.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">But 'twas plain that he thought the performance but poor,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">And Miranda felt terribly humbled.</span><br /> +<br /> +"One morn when six months had swift glided away,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Again at the instrument seated,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Miranda a nocturne had just ceased to play,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">When old Thomas desired it repeated.</span><br /> +<br /> +"'Why, Miss,' he declared, 'I can hardly believe<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">That you've made such improvement so soon!</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">The last time you played, you'd to jump your hand o'er</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Before you could pick out the tune!</span><br /> +<br /> +"'You'd humpety lump in the treble at top,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Then same hand would return to the bass.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">But now I can see they have taught you to keep</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Each hand in its own proper place!'</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>"It's a really true story!" persisted Edith, as +the girls giggled. "It happened to my sister. +She always plays at the Band of Hope concerts in +our village at home, and she goes down to the +school to practise her solos on the piano there. +Old Thomas is the verger, and he's such a queer +old character. He really <em>did</em> think she didn't<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[280]</a></span> +know how to play properly when she crossed her +hands over, and he told her so. It was a tremendous +joke in our family, because Maisie considers +herself musical. She was squashed absolutely +flat!"</p> + +<p>Neither Lilias, Gowan, Bertha, Prissie, nor +Phillida had written anything very original or +outstanding in their manuscripts, so we will pass +them over, and only record that of Dulcie, who +came last of all. She took the honored seat with +a great air of <em>empressement</em>, nodded triumphantly +to Gowan, cleared her throat, commanded +strict silence, and began:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p style="text-align: right;">"<span class="smcap">Chilcombe Hall.</span></p> +<p>"<span class="smcap">My dear Everard</span>,<br /> +</p> + +<p>"I must write at once and tell you of the +terrible things that have been happening at this school. +On Monday last the cook made a mistake, and used a +packet of rat poison instead of sugar in our pudding. It +was the day for ginger puddings, and we all thought they +tasted rather queer, somehow, but it is not etiquette here +to leave anything on your plate, so we made an effort and +finished our rations. Well, about ten minutes afterwards +most of us were taken with umpteen fits. We writhed +about the room in agony, and thought our last hour had +come. The doctor was sent for, and he motored over so +fast that he killed two little boys and a cow on the road, +but he said he did not care, and it was all in the way of +business. He stood us up in a line and gave us each an +emetic of mustard and water which was very horrid, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[281]</a></span> +felt like a poultice inside. We are beginning to get better +now, but Carmel's legs are stiff, and she has a tendency +to go black in the face every now and then. The +doctor says she will do so for a fortnight, until the rat +poison wears itself out of her system. He does not think +she will be lame always. At least he hopes not. Lilias +squints a little in consequence of the umpteen fits she had, +which turned her eyes round, and my face is still swollen, +and three front teeth dropped out, but otherwise we are +quite well, and the Doctor says things might have been +much worse, for at least our lives were spared. I think +we ought to see a specialist, but Miss Walters won't hear +of it.</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 6em;">"Hoping you are quite well,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 9em;">"With love,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 12em;">"Your affectionate sister</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 15em;">"</span><span class="smcap">Dulcie.</span>"<br /> +</p></div> + +<p>"Don't say I can't write fiction!" proclaimed +Dulcie, making a grimace at Gowan. "It's as +good as a novel (though I say it myself) and as +interesting as anything in a newspaper. Improbable? +Not at all! Cooks make mistakes sometimes, +like other people! I don't exactly know +the symptoms of rat poisoning, but I dare say they +are very much what I've described. It's thrilling +reading, anyhow, and you ought to give me a good +clap for it."</p> + +<p>"Tootle-too! Somebody has lost a trumpeter!" +returned Gowan.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[282]</a></span>"I don't care! I'm sure if we took votes for +the most thrills, my piece would win. I'm going +to keep it! Hand it back to me, Gowan! I want +to show it to Everard some time. He'd laugh +ever so over it. He says my home letters are +tame. This would wake him up, at any rate! +He'd say his sister was breaking out into an +authoress! What sport!"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2 style="margin-top: 5em;"><a name="CHAPTER_XXI" id="CHAPTER_XXI"></a><span class="smcap">chapter xxi</span></h2> +<h2>Carmel's Kingdom</h2> + + +<p>The day following the secret meeting of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">[283]</a></span> +Mafia was one of those devoted to home correspondence. +The girls were alloted forty minutes +during school hours: they brought their +writing-cases into the class-room, and scribbled off +as many letters as possible during the brief time +allowed. On this particular Wednesday Dulcie +was much in arrears; she wrote three letters to +Sicily, one to an aunt in London, a short scrawl +to Everard, and was beginning "My dear Cousin +Clare," when Miss Hardy entered the room in a +hurry.</p> + +<p>"Jones has to leave half an hour earlier," she +announced, "and he wants to take the post-bag +now. Be quick, girls, and give me your letters!"</p> + +<p>A general scramble of finishing and stamping +ensued. Dulcie, who had not addressed her envelopes, +folded her loose sheets anyhow, and +trusted to luck that the foreign letters were not +over-weight.</p> + +<p>"I can't help it if they have to pay extra on<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">[284]</a></span> +them," she confided to Carmel. "They look +rather heavy, certainly, but I hadn't any thin note +paper, you see."</p> + +<p>"Douglas will pay up cheerfully, I'm sure!"</p> + +<p>"How do you know that his was a heavy one?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, I can guess!"</p> + +<p>"I was only answering a number of questions +he asked me. It's very unkind not to answer +people's questions!"</p> + +<p>"Most decidedly! I quite agree with you!" +laughed Carmel.</p> + +<p>The letters were posted in Glazebrook that evening +by the factotum Jones, and Dulcie, though +her thoughts might possibly follow the particular +heavy envelope addressed to Montalesso, dismissed +her other items of correspondence completely +from her mind. She was taking a run +round the garden the next morning at eleven +o'clock "break," when to her immense surprise +she heard a trotting of horse's hoofs on the drive, +and who should appear but Everard, riding +Rajah. The rules at Chilcombe Hall were strict. +No visits were allowed, even from brothers, without +special permission from Miss Walters. +Hitherto Everard had come over only by express +invitation from the head-mistress, and this had +been given sparingly, at discreet intervals, and +always for the afternoon. Surely some most unusual +circumstance must have brought him to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">[285]</a></span> +school at the early hour of eleven in the morning? +Dulcie flew across the lawn, calling his name. At +the sight of his sister Everard dismounted, and +greeted her eagerly.</p> + +<p>"Hello! How are you? How's Carmel?" +he began. "I say, you know, this has been a +shocking business! You look better than I expected" +(scanning her face narrowly). "It's a +mercy you aren't all under the daisies! Is Carmel +<em>really</em> lame? What about those fits? I came +directly I read your letter. A specialist must be +sent for at once! I can't understand Miss +Walters taking it so lightly. We ought to have +been told at once, directly it happened."</p> + +<p>As Everard poured forth these remarks, Dulcie's +expression underwent several quick changes, +and passed from astonishment to sudden comprehension +and mirth.</p> + +<p>"We're better, thanks!" she choked. "And +Carmel can hobble about quite well on her +crutches, and her face isn't <em>very</em> black now, not +like it was at first, though of course she still has +the fits pretty regularly, and the Doctor +says——"</p> + +<p>But at that moment her mendacious statement +was contradicted by Carmel herself, who came +running over the lawn with an agility that put +crutches out of all question, and a complexion +that was certainly in no way spoilt.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">[286]</a></span>It was Everard's turn to look amazed. He +glanced in much perplexity from his cousin, radiant +and apparently in the best of health, to his +sister, who was almost speechless with laughter.</p> + +<p>"You never actually <em>believed</em> my letter about +the rat poison?" exploded Dulcie. "I explained +that it was written for our literary evening. I +told you, Everard, I only sent it on for you to +read because it sounded so funny, and I was rather +proud of it!"</p> + +<p>"You told me nothing of the sort!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, but I did indeed! Unless—" (suddenly +sobering down), "unless I forgot to put my other +letter into the envelope, and only sent you the +rat-poison one! I was in such a hurry! Oh, +good-night! Isn't it just like me! Poor old +Everard, I never meant to give you such a scare! +I'm frightfully sorry! Umpteen apologies!"</p> + +<p>"Then is the whole business fiction?" demanded +her brother, with knitted brows.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Everard, don't be angry!" implored Carmel. +"Dulcie didn't mean to rag you! We +were having a jolly evening, and each of us had +to write something—the funnier the better—and +that was Dulcie's contribution. She said she +was going to send it to you to make you laugh, but +of course she meant to put in her other letter to +explain that this was only nonsense. But Miss +Hardy came in such a hurry, and whisked all our<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">[287]</a></span> +letters off before we had time to read them over, +or hardly to put them in the right envelopes. So +you know it was just an accident."</p> + +<p>"I rode over at once to see what was the matter!"</p> + +<p>Everard's voice still sounded offended, though +slightly mollified.</p> + +<p>"I know you did, and it was ever so kind of +you. I'm only sorry you should have all the +trouble. It's been nice to see you, though, and +we do thank you for coming."</p> + +<p>"It must be a relief to find we don't squint or +hobble on crutches," added Dulcie naughtily. +"How <em>shall</em> we explain to Miss Walters if she +catches you?"</p> + +<p>"I'd better be going!" declared Everard. +"Isn't that your school-bell ringing? Well, I'm +glad at any rate to find you all right. Shan't dare +to believe any of your letters in future, Dulcie!</p> + +<p class="poem"> +"'Matilda told such awful lies,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.75em;">It made you gasp and stretch your eyes.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.75em;">Her aunt, who from her earliest youth</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.75em;">Had kept a strict regard for truth,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.75em;">Attempted to believe Matilda—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.75em;">The effort very nearly killed her.'</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>"Good-by, Carmel! Keep my bad young sister in +order if you can. She needs some one to look +after her." And Everard, with a hand on Rajah's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">[288]</a></span> +bridle, nodded smilingly after the girls as they ran +towards the house in response to the clanging +school-bell.</p> + +<p>The rest of the summer term at Chilcombe Hall +seemed to pass very rapidly away, and the space +in this book is not enough to tell all that the girls +did during those weeks of June sunshine and July +heat. There were tennis tournaments and archery +contests, cricket matches, picnics and strawberry +feasts, as well as the more sober business of +lessons, examinations, and a concert to which +parents were invited. To Carmel it was the +pleasantest term she had spent at school, for she +had settled down now into English ways, and did +not so continually feel the call of her Sicilian +home. The "Hostage," as Dulcie still sometimes +laughingly called her, if she pined for the Casa +Bianca, had contrived to make herself happy in +her northern surroundings, and had won favor +with everybody. School girls do not often make +a fuss, but, when breaking-up day arrived, and the +Ingletons drove away in their car, a chorus of +cheers followed them from the doorstep, and, +though the hoorays were given to all three without +discrimination, there is no doubt that they were +mainly intended for Carmel.</p> + +<p>"She's a sport!" said Gowan, waving in reply +to the white handkerchief that fluttered a farewell. +"I don't know any chum I like better. She<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">[289]</a></span> +always plays the game somehow, doesn't she?"</p> + +<p>"Rather!" agreed Noreen. "I think the way +she's taken her place at Cheverley Chase without +cuckooing all that family out, or making them +jealous, is just marvelous. If anybody deserves +her kingdom, it's Princess Carmel; it's only one in +a thousand who could have done what she has."</p> + +<p>Carmel, indeed, though an unacknowledged +sovereign, had managed to win all hearts at the +Chase. Even Lilias did not now resent the ownership +of one who so rarely urged her own claims; +insensibly she had grown fond of her cousin, and +liked her company.</p> + +<p>The summer holiday promised to be as pleasant +as that of last Christmas. Mr. Stacey, who +had taken his vacation in June and July, had returned +to Cheverley in time to greet Roland, +Bevis, and Clifford, a welcome state of affairs to +Cousin Clare, for the three lively boys were almost +beyond her management, and needed the kindly +authority which the tutor knew so well how to +wield without friction. All sorts of plans for enjoyment +were in the air, a visit to the sea, a motor +tour, a garden party, a tennis tournament, a cricket +match, even a dance at the Chase, when one day +something quite unexpected occurred, something +which changed the entire course of events, and +threw the thoughts of the holiday makers into a +new channel. Like many extraordinary happenings,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">[290]</a></span> +it came about in quite an ordinary way.</p> + +<p>Carmel had left her despatch case at school—a +small matter, indeed, but fraught with big consequences. +As she wanted some convenient safe +spot in which to deposit note paper, old letters, +sealing wax, stamps, and other such treasures, +Cousin Clare allowed her to take possession of a +writing-desk which stood on the study table. It +had belonged to old Mr. Ingleton, and he had +indeed used it till the day before his death, but it +had been emptied of its contents by Mr. Bowden, +and was now placed merely as an ornament in the +window. It was a large, old-fashioned desk of +rosewood, handsomely inlaid with brass, and lined +with purple velvet. Carmel seized upon it joyfully, +and began to transfer some of her many +belongings to its hospitable depths. It was well +fitted, for there was an ink-pot with a silver top, +and a pen-box containing a seal and a silver pen. +Mr. Bowden had left these when he removed the +papers, probably considering them as part and +parcel of the desk. Carmel lifted out the ink-pot +to admire its cover, but, though it came out fairly +easily, it was a difficult matter to fit it in again. +In pushing it back into its place she pulled heavily +upon the small wooden division between its socket +and the pen-box. To her utter surprise, her +action released a spring, a long narrow panel +below the pen-box fell away, and revealed a quite<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">[291]</a></span> +unsuspected secret drawer. She opened it in much +excitement. Inside lay a folded sheet of foolscap +paper. Her exclamation had called Lilias and +Dulcie from the other side of the room, and all +three girls admired and wondered at the contrivance +of the secret drawer. Together they took +out the sheet of paper, unfolded it, and bent their +heads over it.</p> + +<p>"Why, it's Grandfather's writing!" exclaimed +Lilias as she read the first words:—</p> + +<p>"This is the last will and testament of me +Leslie Ingleton of Cheverley Chase near Balderton."</p> + +<p>"It's surely not another will?" fluttered Dulcie.</p> + +<p>Carmel said nothing; her eyes were devouring +the contents of the paper. She read it through +carefully to the end, then she asked:</p> + +<p>"What was the date of the will in which Grandfather +left the Chase to me? Was it not some +time in January? Well, this is certainly a later +date. It must have been signed the very day +before he died!"</p> + +<p>"Does it make any difference?" inquired Dulcie +breathlessly.</p> + +<p>Carmel had taken the paper away from her +cousins, and stood in the window mastering the +meaning of the legal language. She read a certain +passage over and over again carefully before she +answered. Then she looked out through the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292">[292]</a></span> +study window—that window with its wonderful +view over the whole range of the Ingleton property—she +gazed at the gardens and woods and +fields that for more than a year had been hers, +and hers alone, the estate which to claim as heiress +she had been brought from her Sicilian home.</p> + +<p>"All the difference in the world," she said +quietly. "Grandfather changed his mind at the +last, and left the Chase to Everard after all!"</p> + +<p>"To Everard?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, Carmel!"</p> + +<p>"Are you certain?"</p> + +<p>"Can there be any mistake?"</p> + +<p>"Is the will properly signed? Let me look! +Yes, it seems signed and witnessed, as far as I can +tell!"</p> + +<p>"What are you going to do?"</p> + +<p>"Shall I ring up Mr. Bowden?"</p> + +<p>"Not yet, please," begged Carmel. "Leave +me a moment!"</p> + +<p>She was still standing gazing out through the +window over the English woods and meadows that +she had grown to love so dearly, those wide acres +of which any one might have been proud. At +last she turned round and answered:</p> + +<p>"I am going now to tell the news to the rightful +owner of the Chase."</p> + +<p>Everard was sitting in the stone summer-house +in the garden, struggling with a difficult problem<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293">[293]</a></span> +in mathematics, when suddenly through the ivy-framed +doorway danced Princess Carmel, an excited +vision, with carnation cheeks, and dark eyes +twinkling like stars. She stopped on the threshold +and dropped him a pretty curtsey, then a +great generous light seemed to shine in her face as +she announced:</p> + +<p>"Signor Everard, allow me to hand you back +your inheritance!"</p> + +<p>It was the triumph of her life.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>Mr. Bowden, on being sent for to examine the +will, found all in perfect order. The legacies to +friends and to the other grandchildren were exactly +the same as in the former will, the only difference +being that the positions of the two cousins +were reversed, Carmel receiving a handsome sum +of money, and Everard inheriting the property. +There was no doubt that the impetuous old squire +had repented his hasty decision, but not liking to +confess such weakness to the family lawyer, had +drawn up his own will and hidden it in the secret +drawer of his desk. Possibly he himself was not +sure which of the two documents he wished to +stand, and had kept this in reserve while he +vacillated. Fate, for a year and a half, had decided +in favor of Carmel, then the eternal balance +had swung slowly back.</p> + +<p>"It seems such a pity that the desk wasn't<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294">[294]</a></span> +searched properly at first," said Lilias to Cousin +Clare. "Think of all the trouble it would have +prevented if we had only known about that secret +drawer. Poor Everard! How much he would +have been saved!"</p> + +<p>"And how immensely much he would have +lost!" said Cousin Clare. "This testing-time of +character has been Everard's salvation. He is +very different now from the thoughtless, self-important +boy who looked at everything from his +own point of view. He has learnt some of life's +stern lessons, and will make a far better owner +of the Chase than would have been possible without +passing through these experiences. I think he +realizes that for himself, and would not wish to +change anything that has happened."</p> + +<p>Now that the new will was proved, and Cheverley +Chase was no longer her property, arose the +immediate question of Carmel's future. She settled +it at once for herself, and in spite of all +entreaties to remain in England, decided to return +to her Sicilian home.</p> + +<p>"I told you long ago, Everard, that I would +not keep your inheritance, and I am only too glad +to hand it back," she said to her cousin. "You're +going to do all the splendid things that I prophesied—take +your degree, be a model landowner, +get into Parliament, and help your country!"</p> + +<p>"But I can't do it alone! A kingdom needs a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295">[295]</a></span> +queen as well as a king, Carmel! The Chase +would simply be an empty casket without you! +You're the very heart and soul of it all. I will let +you go now, dear, for I see you're quite determined, +but Carmel! Carmel! some day in the far +future, if you think I have grown into anything +like what you wish me to be, then I shall tell you +that your throne is waiting for you here in Old +England—the land of primroses and sweetbriar +and true hearts, Carmel! And I shall ask you to +leave your Sicilian flowers and scented orange +groves, and come back to claim your kingdom!"</p> + + +<p style="font-size: 1.3em; text-align: center; margin-top: 80px; margin-bottom: 40px;" class="smcap">the end</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div style="width: 600px; margin: auto;"> +<h2>The Girl Scouts Series</h2> + +<p style="text-align: center;">BY EDITH LAVELL</p> + +<p style="text-align: center;">A new copyright series of Girl Scouts stories by<br/> +an author of wide experience in Scouts' craft, as<br/> +Director of Girl Scouts of Philadelphia.</p> + +<p style="text-align: center;">Clothbound, with Attractive Color Designs.</p> + +<p style="text-align: center;">PRICE, 60 CENTS EACH.</p> + +<hr style="width: 20%"/> + +<p>THE GIRL SCOUTS AT MISS ALLENS SCHOOL</p> + +<p>THE GIRL SCOUTS AT CAMP</p> + +<p>THE GIRL SCOUTS' GOOD TURN</p> + +<p>THE GIRL SCOUTS' CANOE TRIP</p> + +<p>THE GIRL SCOUTS' RIVALS</p> + +<p>THE GIRL SCOUTS ON THE RANCH</p> + +<p>THE GIRL SCOUTS' VACATION ADVENTURES</p> + +<p>THE GIRL SCOUTS' MOTOR TRIP</p> + +<hr style="width: 40%;"/> + +<p style="text-align: center;">For sale by all booksellers, or sent postpaid on receipt of price<br/> +by the Publishers</p> + +<p style="text-align: center; font-size: 1.2em;"> +A. 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L. BURT COMPANY</p> + +<p><span style="float: left;">114–120 EAST 23rd STREET</span> <span style="float: right">NEW YORK</span><br/></p> +</div> + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Princess of the School, by Angela Brazil + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PRINCESS OF THE SCHOOL *** + +***** This file should be named 21656-h.htm or 21656-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/1/6/5/21656/ + +Produced by Jana Srna, Suzanne Shell and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +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. 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