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diff --git a/21656.txt b/21656.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..935deff --- /dev/null +++ b/21656.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7693 @@ +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: ASCII + +*** 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 + + + + + + + + + +[Illustration: "I'VE COME TO SAY GOOD-BY TO YOU, SIS"] + + + THE PRINCESS OF THE SCHOOL +================================== + By ANGELA BRAZIL +---------------------------------- + + AUTHOR OF + +"The Luckiest Girl in the School," +"The Harum-Scarum Schoolgirl," +"A Popular Schoolgirl," +"The Head Girl at the Gables." + + + Illustrated by Frank Wiles. +================================== + A. L. BURT COMPANY +Publishers New York + + +Published by arrangement with Frederick A. Stokes Company + +Printed in U. S. A. + + +Copyright, 1920, +by FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY + +All rights reserved + +First published in the United States + of America, 1921 + + + + +Contents + + +CHAPTER PAGE + + I THE INGLETON FAMILY 1 + + II A STOLEN JOY-RIDE 15 + + III A VALENTINE PARTY 33 + + IV DISINHERITED 50 + + V THE NEW OWNER 61 + + VI PRINCESS CARMEL 73 + + VII AN OLD GREEK IDYLL 88 + + VIII WOOD NYMPHS 100 + + IX THE OPEN ROAD 114 + + X A MEETING 129 + + XI A SECRET SOCIETY 145 + + XII WHITE MAGIC 157 + + XIII THE MONEY-MAKERS 171 + + XIV ALL IN A MIST 190 + + XV ON THE HIGH SEAS 201 + + XVI THE CASA BIANCA 215 + + XVII SICILIAN COUSINS 229 + +XVIII A NIGHT OF ADVENTURE 242 + + XIX AT PALERMO 261 + + XX OLD ENGLAND 271 + + XXI CARMEL'S KINGDOM 283 + + + + +THE PRINCESS OF THE SCHOOL + + + + +CHAPTER I + +The Ingleton Family + + +On a certain morning, just a week before 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. + +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. 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. + +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. + +"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 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?" + +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. + +"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!" + +"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." + +"How are you going home, Lilias?" asked Noreen, who with several other +girls had joined the group at the fire. + +Lilias, squatting on the fender, stretching two cold hands towards the +blazing sticks, looked up brightly. + +"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!" + +"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!" + +"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!" + +"Next term we'll travel by private aeroplane, specially chartered!" +scoffed Noreen. + +"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." + +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. + +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. + +"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). "Shall we get a +horrid yellow envelope and a message to say 'Come by train'? It would be +_too_ bad, and yet, it's as likely as not!" + +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. + +"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." + +"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!" + +"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. + +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. + +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 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. + +Ever since Father and Mother, in the great disaster of the wreck of the +_Titanic_, 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 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. + +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 kindness and realized his +good intentions towards his tenants. + +"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. + +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 mediaeval 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 described as the axle of the family +wheel, for she was the unobtrusive center around which everything +unconsciously revolved. + +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. + +"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. + +"And such a home, too!" exulted Dulcie. + +"Rather!" agreed Everard. "That was exactly 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.'" + +"Yours, Everard?" + +"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!" + +Dulcie's pink face was looking puzzled. + +"Do you mean to say if Grandfather were to die, that everything would be +yours?" she asked. "Would you be the Squire?" + +"I believe I'm called 'the young squire' already," replied Everard +airily. + +"But what about the rest of us?" objected Dulcie. + +"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!" + +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. + +"Wouldn't it be fairer to divide it?" + +"Nonsense, Dulcie!" put in Lilias. "You don't understand. Properties +like this are never 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." + +"Couldn't one have the house and the other the wood, and another the +park?" + +"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." + +"But haven't I as much right here as you?" persisted Dulcie obstinately. + +"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." + +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, 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. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +A Stolen Joy-ride + + +Christmas passed over at Cheverley Chase in 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. + +"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." + +"And I want some wool," proclaimed Lilias, stopping from a rather +unnecessary onslaught of poking at the fire. "There's never anything +fit to buy at this wretched little shop in the village!" + +"Except bacon and kippers!" grinned Roland. + +"I can't knit with kippers!" + +"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?" + +"If Grandfather would spare Milner to take us!" said Lilias doubtfully. + +"We don't want Milner. _I'll_ drive you! I can manage a car as well as +he can, any day. Don't get excited, you kids! _No_, Bevis, I shall +certainly _not_ allow you to try to drive! There's only going to be one +man at that job, and that's myself!" + +"Shall we go and ask Grandfather?" suggested Dulcie. + +"Right you are! No, not the whole of us," (as there was a general family +move). "Three's enough!" + +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 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." + +"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!" + +"It's a ducky little baby! But who is Tristram?" said Dulcie. + +"We had an Uncle Tristram once," answered Lilias doubtfully. + +"Why, but he died years and years ago, when we were all kids!" returned +Everard. + +"I know. He was the only Tristram in the 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?" + +"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." + +"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." + +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. + +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. + +"We'll get out the touring car, take some lunch with us, and have a +joy-ride." + +Five delighted faces smiled their appreciation. + +"Oh, Everard! Dare we?" Dulcie's objection was consciously faint. + +"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." + +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. + +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. + +It seemed a delightful adventure to go off in this way entirely on +their own. There was some slight wrangling over seats, but Everard +settled it in his lofty fashion. + +"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." + +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 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. + +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!" + +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 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. + +"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!" + +"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!" + +"Why not?" sulked Bevis. "I didn't ask _you_, Lilias. Everard won't say +no!" + +"You can please yourselves," answered his eldest brother, "but _I'm_ +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." + +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 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. + +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. + +"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." + +"We shan't be home before it's dark, though?" + +"Well, no! But the head lights are working all right--I tried them +before we started." + +"It will be fun to drive in the dark!" chuckled the boys behind. + +"I hope we shall be back before Grandfather and Cousin Clare, though," +said Dulcie a little uneasily. + +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. + +"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." + +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 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. + +"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?" + +"Matter! Why, she won't start, that's all!" + +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. + +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. + +"What _are_ we to do?" gasped Lilias, half-crying. + +"We can't stay here all night!" + +"Finish our prog and sleep in the car," suggested Roland. + +"No, no! We should be frozen before morning." + +"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." + +"But what about the car?" + +"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." + +"Let's finish our prog before we set off!" persisted Roland, opening the +picnic basket. + +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. + +"Hurry up, you kids!" he urged. "We don't know how far we may have to +go, and it will be getting dark soon. Thank goodness we shall be +walking down hill, at any rate." + +[Illustration: "WHAT _ARE_ WE TO DO!" GASPED LILIAS] + +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. + +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. + +Arrived in Bilstone, their cicerone drove them to a Commercial Hotel +with whose landlady he had some acquaintance, and that good dame, after +eyeing the party curiously, consented to make up beds for them for the +night. + +"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?" + +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. + +"I wonder what Cousin Clare would say?" they asked each other. + +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 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. + +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. + +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. + +"Your insolence goes beyond all bounds!" 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 _I'm_ +master, and nobody else in this place!" + +"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. + +"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?" + +"I suppose I do," grunted Everard, turning sulkily away. + +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 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. + +"Been getting yourself into considerable hot water just lately, haven't +you?" he remarked. + +Everard colored and frowned, then burst forth. + +"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 _me_ look after things! I shall have to take charge of +the whole property some day, I suppose!" + +Mr. Bowden was gazing at Everard with the noncommittal air often assumed +by lawyers. + +"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!" + +And, starting his engine, he was off before they had time to reply. + +"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!" + +"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.'" + +"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 _me_ 'Leslie.' I can't think why they +didn't." + +"Have we a cousin Leslie, then, whom we don't know?" + +"I suppose we must have, somewhere!" + +"How fearfully thrilling!" + +"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!" + +"Why? What does it matter?" + +"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 _must_----" + +"Must what?" asked Lilias curiously. + +"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. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +A Valentine Party + + +Chilcombe Hall, where Lilias and Dulcie had 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 _Petasites fragrans_ blossomed to tempt +the bees which an hour's sunshine would bring forth from the hives, +scarlet _Pyrus japanica_ 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. + +Beautiful surroundings in a school can be quite 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. + +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. + +Her twenty pupils had on the whole a decidedly pleasant time. There were +just enough of them 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." + +"Divided up into small families according to bedrooms!" added Hester +Wilson. + +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 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. + +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. + +"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." + +"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!" + +"What about visitors?" asked Lilias. "It would be much more of a party +if we had a few of the others in." + +"We don't want a crowd, or we might as well be in the dining-hall," +objected Bertha. + +"Well, of course we shouldn't ask the whole school, naturally, but +perhaps just Noreen and Phillida!" + +"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." + +"Quiet?" queried Lilias. + +"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." + +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. + +"Well?" asked the interested circle in the Blue bedroom. + +"Sweet as honey!" reported Lilias. "She 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." + +"Only two shillings!" commented Gowan. + +"It will go no way!" pouted Bertha. + +"Well, I can't help it. Miss Walters said 'Two shillings' most +emphatically." + +"You might have stuck out for more! Those iced cakes are always half a +crown!" + +"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." + +"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." + +"Best get eight twopenny iced cakes, and eight penny buns," suggested +Bertha, taking pencil and paper to write the important order. + +"Right-o! Only be sure you put _pink_ iced cakes, they are so much the +nicest." + +"Whom shall we ask? It won't be much of a beano on two shillings. Still, +they'll be keen on coming, I expect." + +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. + +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. + +"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 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." + +"Sounds rather brainy, doesn't it?" objected Noreen. "I don't think I'm +any hand at poetry!" + +"Oh! you can make up something if you try. Valentines are generally +doggerel." + +"Need it be quite original?" asked Edith. + +"Well, if you really _can't_ compose anything, we'll allow quotations." + +"Cracker mottoes?" suggested Dulcie. + +"Exactly. They're just about in the right style." + +"Are you all getting into a sentimental vein?" giggled Bertha. "Remember +'Love' rhymes with 'Dove,' and Cupid with--with--" + +"Stupid," supplied Dulcie laconically. + +"I'm not going to give my rhymes away beforehand," said Phillida. "Is +that shuffling business finished, Gowan? Then bags me first draw." + +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 the +originator of the game, was unanimously elected president. She drew one +at a venture, opened it, and read: + + "TO PHILLIDA + + "Fair maiden, who in ancient song + Was wont to flout her swain, + I prithee be not always coy, + But turn your face again. + My heart is true, and it will rue, + That ever you should doubt me, + So sweet, be kind, and change your mind, + And don't for ever flout me." + +"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." + +"_I!_ No, indeed!" declared Noreen. + +"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. + + "TO LILIAS + + "Cupid with his fatal dart + Shot me through and made me smart, + So I pray, before we part, + Kiss me once, and heal my heart!" + +"Short and sweet!" commented Edith. + +"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." + +"You mayn't have two guesses!" reminded Gowan, reaching for another +paper. "Hallo! this actually to me! I feel quite shy!" + +"Go on! You're not usually afflicted with shyness," urged the others. + + "TO GOWAN + + "Wee modest, crimson-tipped flower, + Thou'st met me in an evil hour; + For I maun gang far frae thy bower, + And leave thee greeting 'mang the stour. + But lassie, thou art no thy lane, + This heart is also brak in twain, + And like to burst with grief and pain + To think I'll see thee ne'er again." + +"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." + +"There were bad valentines as well as good ones, weren't there?" +twinkled Dulcie. + +"Certainly; and if I set this down to you, perhaps I'll not be far out. +Who comes next? Oh! Bertha. + + "TO BERTHA + + "I have a little heart to let, + As nice as nice can be; + It's vacant just at present, + On a yearly tenancy. + It's quite completely furnished + With affection's choicest store, + Sweet nothings by the bushel, + And kisses by the score. + It sadly wants a tenant, + This little heart of mine, + So I beg that you will take it, + And be my Valentine!" + +"Edith! Dulcie! Phillida!--Oh! I can't guess!" laughed Bertha. "There's +not the least clue! Go on, Gowan! I'll plump for Phillida." + +The next on the list was-- + + "TO NOREEN + + "Cupid on his rosy wing + Flits to offer you a ring: + Take it, dear, and happy make + One who'd die for your sweet sake!" + +"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." + +"I wish there were!" chirped Edith. "You haven't guessed yet!" + +"Oh, well, I guess you!" + +"I hope it's my turn next," said Prissie. + +"No, it happens to be Dulcie," retorted Gowan. "You'll probably be the +last of all. + + "TO DULCIE + + "Oh, lady fair from Cheverley Chase, + The day when first I saw your face + Put me in such a fearful flutter + I could do naught but moan and mutter. + Whether I'm standing on my head, + Or if I'm on my heels instead, + I scarce can tell, for Cupid's arrows + Have made my brain like any sparrow's. + When you come near, my foolish heart + Goes pit-a-pat with throb and start, + And when I try my love to utter, + My fairest speech is but a stutter. + How to propose is all my task, + Whether to write or just to ask, + And ere I solve the problem knotty + I really fear I shall go dotty. + Oh, lady fair, in pity stop + And list while I the question pop. + 'Tis here on paper; think it over, + And let me be your humble lover." + +"Quite the longest of them all!" smiled Dulcie complacently. + +"But not as poetical as mine!" contended Noreen. + +"Oh, go on!" said Edith. "I'm sure I'm next!" + +And so she was. + + "TO EDITH + + "Maiden of the swan-like neck, + I am at your call and beck; + If you will but wave a finger, + In your neighborhood I'll linger, + Praise your eyes, and cheeks of roses, + Bring you presents of sweet posies, + Sweetheart, if you will be mine, + Let me be your Valentine!" + +"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?" + +"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!" + +"I believe you wrote it yourself!" + +"No, I didn't. At least I mustn't tell just yet. I'm going to read the +last one now. + + "TO PRISSIE + + "I am not sentimental, please, + I cannot write in rhyme, + I beg you'll all ecstatics leave + Until another time. + + "But if I'm lacking in romance, + At least my heart is true, + And in its own prosaic way, + It only beats for you. + + "'Mong damsels all I think you are + The nicest little Missie, + And beg to have for Valentine + That sweetest maid, Miss Prissie." + +"Author! Author!" cried Prissie. "It's Lilias, I do believe!" + +"Guessing's been horribly wrong!" said Gowan. "Only about one of you was +right. Shall I read the list? + + "To Phillida by Dulcie. + To Lilias by Noreen. + To Gowan by myself. + To Bertha by Phillida. + To Noreen by Prissie. + To Dulcie by Bertha. + To Edith by Lilias. + To Prissie by Edith." + +"So you wrote your own, Gowan! What a humbug you are! You quite put us +off the scent!" + +"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?" + +"Prissie's brought a pack of cards, and she says she'll tell our +fortunes," proclaimed Edith. + +"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." + +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. + +"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 her. +You'll take a journey by land, and find trouble and perplexity." + +"Haven't you anything nicer to tell me than that?" pouted Dulcie. "Who's +the dark woman?" + +"She seems to be a relation, by the way the cards are placed." + +"I haven't any dark relations. They're all as fair as fair--the whole +family." + +"It's silly nonsense! I don't believe in it!" declared Lilias +emphatically. + +"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. + +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. + +"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!" + +"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 +were other things on the cards as well as those." + +"What things?" + +"Oh, I shan't tell you now, when you only make fun of them! Sh! sh! +Here's Miss Herbert!" + +And Prissie, turning away from her comrade, opened her French dictionary +and plunged into the difficulties of her page of translation from +Racine. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +Disinherited + + +Valentine's Day had brought early flowers, and 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. + +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. + +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 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. + +"Lilias and Dulcie are wanted at once in the study," she said. + +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. + +"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 try to comfort every one else at home. It will be a +sad loss for you all." + +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: + +"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 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." + +"We'll go and find her, thank you," said Lilias, walking quietly +upstairs. + +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. + +"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!" + +"Will the Chase be yours now, then, Everard?" asked Bevis. + +"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." + +"I couldn't imagine the place without them," agreed Dulcie. + +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. + +"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.'" + +"No," replied Everard. "It will be very hard to succeed him, I know, but +I shall try to do my best." + +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. + +"I want a word with you in private," he began. "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." + +"Why, but surely I am the heir?" burst out Everard with white lips. + +"My poor boy, you are nothing of the sort. Your grandfather has willed +the property to the child of his elder son, Tristram." + +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. + +"To bring me up as the heir, and then disinherit me!" gasped Everard. + +"Why, everybody called you 'the young squire'!" exclaimed Lilias. "It's +unthinkable!" + +"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!" + +"Who is this child of Uncle Tristram's? We've never heard of him." + +"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 _my_ place here! It's monstrous!" + +"Oh, Everard, what _shall_ we do?" + +"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!" + +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 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. + +"May I come in? I want to speak to you, Sissy! It's important," he +whispered. + +"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!" + +Her brother had seated himself wearily, and buried his head in his +hands. He raised two haggard eyes at her words. + +"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 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." + +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. + +"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 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." + +"But, Everard, what are you going to do in London? How can you earn your +own living?" pressed Lilias. + +"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." + +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. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +The New Owner + + +The wild wind and rain, which for some weeks 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. + +"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 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." + +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." + +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 the news, leaving the +family alone to discuss matters among themselves. + +"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." + +"I didn't know Uncle Tristram had a son!" said Roland. + +"Will everything be his instead of Everard's?" asked Bevis pitifully. + +"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." + +Here was a surprise indeed! + +"A daughter!" echoed Lilias. "The Chase left to a girl!" + +"Remember, she is the daughter of the elder son, so that in your +grandfather's opinion she was the lawful heiress." + +"But where does she live?" + +"How old is she?" + +"Why have we never seen her?" + +"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 +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." + +"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." + +"I hate her!" declared Clifford, clenching his little fists. + +"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 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." + +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 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. + +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. + +"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." + +Lilias, showing the letter to Dulcie in the privacy of the Blue bedroom, +simply raged. + +"It's _too_ bad! When we were so keen to go to London, too! Why should +we be there to receive Madame Leslie, I should like to know. I don't +want to see her!" + +"Neither do I, only I _do_ 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?" + +"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." + +"The girls will be ever so sorry for us!" + +"I know; and that's just what I hate. I can't bear to be pitied." + +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 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." + +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. + +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. + +"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 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!" + +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. + +"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." + +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, 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. + +"You'll like to see your property," Lilias began shyly, leading the way +into the garden. + +"_Please_ 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." + +"But it _is_ yours, Leslie!" objected Dulcie. + +"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." + +Lilias and Dulcie could hardly believe the evidence of their ears. They +had expected Carmel 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. + +"We thought you'd only know Italian," confided Dulcie, whose shyness was +beginning to wear off. + +Carmel laughed. + +"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." + +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 naive impulsiveness of childhood they gave her a +full account of what they had expected her to be. + +"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?" + +"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!" + +And Carmel bent down and kissed him. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +Princess Carmel + + +In the long talk which Cousin Clare had had 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 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. + +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 she would be caught crying, and her eagerness for letters was +pathetic. + +"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." + +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. + +"It's a boy's game, and the ball is so hard, it hurts my hands!" +objected Carmel. + +"Didn't you play cricket at home?" + +"Never!" + +"Or tennis?" + +"On a cinder court. The sun scorched up our grass court." + +"What used you to do then, to amuse yourself?" + +"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." + +"We're to have a picnic next Saturday," announced Gowan; "I heard Miss +Walters telling Miss Herbert so." + +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. + +"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." + +"She's a clever woman," said Gowan. "She always seems to manage to get +what she wants. Some people do!" + +"I wish _I_ did!" wailed Bertha. "I've wanted a principal part in the +French plays ever 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!" + +"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!" + +"Thank you for your compliments!" sniffed Bertha, much offended. + +"Oh, don't be sarkie! I must tell the truth. Cheer up! It's a picnic on +Saturday, not a French play!" + +"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." + +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. + +"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?" + +"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." + +"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." + +"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?" + +"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!" + +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 seemed particularly hopeless. On Saturday she +came down dressed for the jaunt, and all smiles. + +"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?" + +"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." + +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. + +"Won't everybody who sees us go in be just 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." + +"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." + +"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." + +"I wonder he gave us a permit to come!" + +"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!" + +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 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. + +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. + +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. + +Dulcie, Carmel, and Prissie had wandered 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. + +"It's like St. Francis of Assissi and his 'little sisters the birds,'" +she said softly. "Have you read the _Little Flowers of St. Francis_, and +how 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." + +"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." + +"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?" + +"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!" + +Miss Walter's whistle, sounding loudly in the 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. + +"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." + +"I like the whitethroats best," said Dulcie. "I shouldn't care to hold a +young heron in my hand and cuddle it!" + +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 +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. + +"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." + +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. + +"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 'Pastorale' +down there! I can nearly hear them!" + +"What's the 'Pastorale'?" asked Dulcie. + +"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!" + +"Dance it for us now on the terrace!" suggested Dulcie. + +"I've no music!" + +"Can't you hum it? Miss Walters, may Carmel show us a Sicilian dance?" + +"By all means, if she will!" acquiesced the head-mistress. + +"Go on Carmel!" commanded the girls. "Show us how it goes!" + +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. + +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 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. + +"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 fete in aid of +the 'Waifs and Strays.' Don't you think our English scenery can compare +favorably even with your beloved Sicily?" + +"It's very beautiful," admitted Carmel, "but I miss Etna in the +distance." + +"Then you won't yield us the palm?" laughed Miss Walters. + +"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!" + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +An Old Greek Idyll + + +After the picnic at Bradstone, Carmel, possibly 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 returned to port he +would probably be only too glad to come back and claim his share of the +inheritance. + +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 _The +Times_, 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. + +"I've been in the law for thirty years, my dear, and I know human nature +better than you do," he declared indulgently. + +"But you don't know Everard as I do!" protested Lilias. + +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. + +"But Mr. Bowden and Cousin Clare think he's all right!" protested that +easy going young damsel. + +"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!" + +Dulcie opened her blue eyes wide. + +"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." + +"You never had any proper sense of propriety!" retorted Lilias +indignantly. "_I_ 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!" + +Dulcie shrugged her shoulders. + +"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 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!" + +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. + +It was perhaps Carmel's rendering of the Pastorale dance that suggested +to Miss Walters a scheme of entertainment for the garden fete 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. + +"You go about the school so exactly like Minerva!" 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?" + +Phillida shook her head carefully, so as not to disarrange the Greek +fillet she was wearing. + +"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 _are_ 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!" + +"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!" + +"That's just the point, though," persisted Phillida, who was a zealous +convert. "The dances are to make you graceful _always_. You so get into +the poetry of motion that it's quite impossible for you ever to flop +again!" + +"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.' + + "Miss Adams to the school came down, + The classic wave rolled on: + And what was cricket's latest score + To those who danced alone? + + "From dawn they practised attitudes + Until the sun did wane; + And fast confirmed in Grecian pose, + They never flopped again!" + +"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 _I_ 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." + +"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!" + +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. + +"But we're not to act it in Greek, surely!" objected Edith in alarm. + +"It's bad enough to have to learn French plays! We'd never be able to +tackle Greek!" urged Dulcie, absolutely aghast. + +"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." + +"Is it _very_ stiff and educational?" groaned Dulcie, obeying +unwillingly. + +"Wait and see! Come under the shade of the lilac bush, it's so hot to +sit in the sun." + +The girls composed themselves into attitudes of more or less classic +elegance, and Miss Adams, book in hand, began to read. + + "IDYLL XV + + "_Gorgo._ Is Praxinoe at home? + + "_Praxinoe._ Dear Gorgo, how long it is since you have been here! She + _is_ at home. The wonder is that you have got here at last. Eunoe, + see that she has a chair. Throw a cushion on it, too. + + "_Gorgo._ It does most charmingly as it is. + + "_Praxinoe._ Do sit down. + + "_Gorgo._ Oh, what a thing spirit is! I have scarcely got to you + alive, Praxinoe! 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 _too_ far away! + + "_Praxinoe._ 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! + + "_Gorgo._ 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. + + "_Praxinoe._ Our Lady Persephone! The child takes notice! + + "_Gorgo._ Nice papa! + + "_Praxinoe._ 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!" + +"But, Miss Adams," interrupted Dulcie, "surely this isn't an old Greek +play? It sounds absolutely and entirely modern!" + +"As a matter of fact, it was written by Theocritus about the year 266 B. +C. 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. + + "_Gorgo._ It seems nearly time to go. + + "_Praxinoe._ Idlers have always holidays. Eunoe, 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 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. + + "_Gorgo._ Praxinoe, that full body becomes you wonderfully. Tell me, + how much did the stuff cost you just off the loom? + + "_Praxinoe._ 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. + + "_Gorgo._ Well, it is _most_ successful: all you could wish. + + "_Praxinoe._ Thanks for the pretty speech. Eunoe, bring my shawl, and + set my hat on my head, the fashionable way. No, Zopyrion, I don't + mean to take _you_! 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!" + +"It's exactly like anybody going out to-day!" commented Carmel, as Miss +Adams came to a pause. + +"Why does it seem so modern?" asked Dulcie. + +"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 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!" + +"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." + +"It marks my point," said Miss Adams. + +"What else do Gorgo and Praxinoe do?" asked Edith. + +"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 Eunoe, the slave girl, whom they have taken with them; she +nearly gets squeezed as they pass in at the door. They go into raptures +over an exhibition of embroideries. 'Lady Athene,' says Praxinoe, '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. + + "_A Stranger._ You weariful women, do cease your endless cooing talk! + You bore one to death with your eternal broad vowels! + + "_Gorgo._ Indeed! And where may this person come from? What is it to + you if we _are_ 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?" + +"Oh, _do_ 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." + +"Did people's accent matter in Greek as much as it does in English?" +asked Prissie. + +"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 part to Edith. It's a small one, +but it has scope for a good deal of acting." + +"And who is to be Praxinoe, please?" + +"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?" + +"There are still goatherds on the mountains, though we don't see wood +nymphs now!" + +"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." + +"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 P. M. Kindly cable special supply of sunshine.'" + +"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." + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +Wood Nymphs + + +It needed a tremendous amount of rehearsing 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. + +"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 _so_ +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." + +"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." + +"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." + +"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." + +"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?" + +"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." + +"No, indeed! She's the directing genius of it all!" + +"Oh dear! It simply _must_ keep fine!" + +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 +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. + +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. + +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 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. + +"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 _like_ to, if we didn't mind. Mind! Why, we want all the +money we can get!" + +"I think Milner is an old dear!" agreed Carmel. + +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. + +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 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. + +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. + +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 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. + +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 B. C. + +Dulcie and Carmel, as Gorgo and Praxinoe, 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. Praxinoe, the fashionable +belle of the third century B. C., 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 had borrowed the gardener's +three-year-old baby, and had trained him to walk on, holding the hand of +Eunoe. 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. + +The wood nymphs, with some slight additions of costume, acted the crowd +through which Gorgo and Praxinoe had to push their way and pilot their +slaves. They pushed and hustled with such vigor as amply to justify the +episode where Praxinoe's muslin veil was torn in two, and the whole +party would have been separated, and Eunoe altogether lost, but for the +help of an Alexandrian gentleman. + +Carmel brought out her speech of thanks with much unction. + + "_Praxinoe._ 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 Eunoe + get squeezed--come, wretched girl, push your way through." + +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. + +As it was difficult to find enough items for an 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. + +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. + +Carmel's little bedroom was really a dressing-room, and possessed two +doors. One led into the 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +"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. + +"It's the Blue bedroom--watch the window or he may jump out!" she added +quickly. + +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. + +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. + +"I don't know how you dared do it!" shivered Dulcie. "He might have shot +you with a revolver!" + +"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." + +"I didn't feel brave. I was scared to death!" admitted Carmel. + +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. + +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. + +"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!" + +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. + +"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." + +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. + +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 for the Society by a lady who often wrote for magazines. + +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. + +"We shan't forget the 'Waifs and Strays' afternoon in a hurry," said +Lilias, as she tidied her possessions afterwards, for it was _her_ +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!" + +"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!" + +"But if they do, Miss Wiseacre?" + +"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!" + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +The Open Road + + +It was fortunate for Carmel that her first experience 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 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. + +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. + +"You slave after those boys as if you were their nursery governess!" +remarked Lilias one day, just a little nettled that Clifford ran +instinctively 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." + +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. + +Clifford, however, who was a budding naturalist, and most keen on +collecting, was highly disgusted. + +"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." + +"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?" + +"Oh yes! Do let us! Shall we start now?" agreed Clifford, much +mollified. + +On the whole the three girls got along excellently, but if there was any +hint at disturbance it 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. + +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 _Tales of a Wayside Inn_ towards the angel who had +temporarily usurped his throne. + +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 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. + +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. + +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. + +"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. +I'd like to see them, but not at too close quarters." + +"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." + +"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." + +"What a joke if _I_ 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." + +"Oh, do! It would be such fun!" agreed Dulcie. "We'd have an absolutely +topping time together. Persuade them as hard as you can!" + +"I'll do my best!" agreed Carmel. + +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 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. + +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. + +Her daughter was an exact replica of what she herself must have been at +nineteen, though Sheila 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. + +"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." + +"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." + +"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 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." + +"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?" + +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. + +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 _en route_ for Somerset and Devon, and were to call a +halt at various show places on the way. Major Rogers, poring over map +and guide books, would plan out their daily route each morning at the +breakfast table in the hotel. + +"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. + +"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." + +"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." + +"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." + +"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 of the car for some +last inspection. "Personally I feel perfectly safe when Johnson is +driving me. I'm never nervous in the least!" + +"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." + +"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!" + +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. + +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. + +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. + +"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. 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." + +"It's a rabbit holiday here," murmured the Major lazily. "Didn't you +read that supreme article in _Punch_ 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----" + +"When what happened?" + +"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." + +"How disappointing!" + +"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?" + +"Then it would promptly rain, Daddy, and you'd be in the depths of +misery and longing for a decent hotel!" declared Sheila. + +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. + +As they were stepping out of the motor at the hotel, Carmel gave an +exclamation of concern. + +"I've lost my bracelet!" she declared. "What a nuisance! Wherever can it +have gone?" + +Johnson, the chauffeur, immediately searched on the floor and cushions +of the car, but without success. No bracelet was there. + +"When did you have it last?" asked Mrs. Rogers. + +"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!" + +"I'm sorry, but it certainly is too far to go back and look for it, +dear," said Mrs. Rogers. + +"Was it valuable?" asked Sheila. + +"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." + +Carmel was vexed, nevertheless, with her own carelessness. The little +bracelet had been a favorite, 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. + +"Johnson!" she called, for he had turned quickly away. "Johnson--oh, +where did you find this? Not in the car, surely?" + +"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. + +"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!" + +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. + +"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!'" + + + + +CHAPTER X + +A Meeting + + +After a morning in Wells, to look at the Cathedral 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. + +"Is Dad going to spend the whole day in this moldy old museum?" she +asked dramatically. "I hate anything B. C.! 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!" + +"Now, Sheila, don't be naughty!" whispered her mother. "I'm only too +glad to see your 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." + +"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." + +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. + +"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." + +"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." + +"He seems fond of books," volunteered Carmel. "He reads all the time +when he's waiting for us in the car." + +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. + +"He's almost _too_ 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." + +"Better leave him alone," said Major Rogers. "I think things do very +well as they are." + +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. + +"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!" + +"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." + +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. + +As Carmel had nothing very particular to do, 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 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. + +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. + +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. + +"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?" + +"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!" + +"We shall make a horrible mess of the car!" objected Carmel, trying to +wipe some of the mud from her clothes. + +"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!" + +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. + +"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!" + +"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' +about this business. They ought to give him a medal." + +"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." + +"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." + +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. + +[Illustration: JOHNSON THE CHAUFFEUR SHOT DOWN THROUGH THE WOOD] + +"It beats those old-fashioned places we stayed 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?" + +"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!" + +"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." + +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 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. + +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 +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. + +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. + +"We'd the greatest difficulty to get rooms!" + +"The whole place seems full up!" + +"They couldn't take us at the 'Eagle's Nest.'" + +"We've got in at the 'Victoria,' though!" + +"I wish we could have been here with you!" + +"Never mind, so long as we're at Tivermouth at all!" + +"Isn't it just too gorgeous for words!" + +"We only arrived late last night." + +"There's such heaps we want to tell you!" + +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 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. + +"Never mind Sheila--she doesn't want _us_!" 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?" + +"Go ahead; we'd like to," agreed Dulcie. + +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 cleaned, and +chauffeurs were busy with hose, or polishing fittings. + +"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 coupe. I expect the post cards are all right. +Johnson would take care of them for me. I'll ask him to get them. +Johnson!" + +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. + +"Everard!" gasped Dulcie. + +"Everard!" faltered Lilias. "It's never _you_!" + +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 with Lilias and Dulcie, partly closed the door. + +"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?" + +"Oh, _do_ come home, Everard!" echoed Lilias entreatingly. + +The ex-chauffeur shook his head. He was still almost too covered with +confusion to admit of speech. + +"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 +_never_ go back to the Chase! That point I've quite decided." + +"But we want you there," said Carmel gently. + +"You!" Everard looked frankly puzzled. + +"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!" + +"Well, didn't he?" + +"Yes, and no! There is no boy cousin. This is Leslie--only she's called +Carmel--the heiress of Cheverley Chase!" + +"You!" exclaimed Everard again, gazing at Carmel. + +"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." + +Carmel held out a slim little hand, and Everard accepted it delicately, +as if it had been that of a princess. + +"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." + +"And so I am!" laughed Carmel. "At least she's my step-aunt, at any +rate. Isn't it a regular _Comedy of Errors_?" + +"Everard," put in Lilias, "why did you turn chauffeur? We thought you +had run away to sea!" + +"I meant to," answered her brother bitterly, "but when it came to the +point of getting employment, 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!" + +"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!" + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +A Secret Society + + +Carmel seldom asserted herself, but if she set 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. + +"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?" + +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. + +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 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. + +"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 _should_ be proud of you!" + +"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!" + +"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 +museums. It's wonderful how truly they tell character: the rules hardly +ever fail." + +"What do you make of my particular phiz, then, you young Sicilian +witch?" + +"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!" + +"Whew! I'm afraid I'll never reach your expectations. It's a big order +you've laid down for me." + +"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." + +"Not of the Chase, Carmel," said Everard gently. "We've argued that +point out thoroughly, I think." + +"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 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?" + +"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." + +"I shall quarrel with him if he does!" said Carmel decidedly. + +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 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. + +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. + +"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." + +"Jolly!" agreed Dulcie. "A little wholesome taking down is just what +they need. Laurette's the limit sometimes. Whom shall we ask to join?" + +"Well, all of you here, and myself, and Noreen, and Prissie, and Edith. +That would make nine." + +"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." + +"What shall we call our society?" asked Dulcie. + +"'The Anti-Swelled Headers' would about suit," suggested Lilias. + +"No, no! That sounds as if we were afraid of getting swelled head +ourselves--at least anybody might take it that way." + +"There's a big secret society in Sicily called 'The Mafia,'" vouchsafed +Carmel. + +"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." + +"Strike secretly and suddenly!" agreed Dulcie with a chuckle. + +"Let's sign our names at once!" declared Phillida enthusiastically. + +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 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. + +"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!" + +"Cheek!" agreed the others. "It's high time we made up a society against +her!" + +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. + +"Laurette always reminds me of that rhyme that the undergrads made up +about the Master of Balliol," said Edith. + + "'Here come I, my name is Jowett, + All there is to know, I know it; + I'm the head of this here College, + What I don't know isn't knowledge!' + +That's Laurette's attitude exactly. She's so superior to everybody!" + +"We'll take her down, don't worry yourself!" smiled Dulcie. "We must +just wait for a good opportunity, and then----" + +"The secret hand will smite!" laughed Carmel, who enjoyed the fun as +much as anybody. + +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. + +"Do you call her pretty? Well, now, I _don't_!" she was saying +emphatically. "She may have been pretty once, but now she's getting +decidedly _passee_. I can't say I admire faded sentimental people!" + +"Sentimental?" said Truie. "I shouldn't call her sentimental at all. +She's only too horribly practical, in my opinion!" + +"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----" + +"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!" + +"Well, I'm sure! What business is it of yours, Gowan Barbour, or of +Carmel Ingleton's either? Cheek!" + +"It _is_ 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!" + +"It's playing it low!" added Gowan, determined to speak her mind for +once. "And I hope somebody will make fun of _you_ some day just to +serve you right! Some day _you'll_ be _faded_ and _passee_, 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. _I_ know! Well, I shan't be in the +least sorry for you! It will be a judgment!" + +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. + +"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!" + +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 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. + +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. + +"We mustn't let her suspect!" said Dulcie. + +"Rather not!" agreed Carmel. + +"Not for worlds!" said Gowan emphatically. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +White Magic + + +October passed by with flaming crimson and 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. + +"It is so sad to see them all come down," she declared. "Why the trees +will soon be quite bare! Nothing but branches left!" + +"What else do you expect?" asked Gowan. "They won't keep green all the +winter." + +"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!" + +"Wait till you see the snow! It's prime then!" + +"There's generally snow on Etna, but I haven't been up so high. It +doesn't fall where we live." + +"Girl alive! Have you never made a snowball?" + +"Never." + +"Then it's a treat in store for you. I sincerely hope we shall have a +hard winter." + +"We ought to, by the number of berries in the hedges," put in Bertha. +"It's an old saying that they foretell frost. + + "'Bushes red with hip and haw, + Weeks of frost without a thaw.' + +I don't know whether it always comes true, though." + +"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." + +"Topping! Only let us keep it to the Mafia, and not let the others +know." + +"_Ra_ther! We don't want Laurette and Co. butting in." + +The remaining members of the Mafia, when consulted, received the idea +with enthusiasm. 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. + +"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!" + +"I always double my thumb inside my fist if I walk under a ladder," +volunteered Noreen. + +"Well, it _is_ 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." + +"What could we do on Hallowe'en?" asked Edith. + +"Well, we must try to think it out, and make some plans." + +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. + +"To begin with, what exactly is a smock?" asked Carmel. + +Everybody had a hazy notion, but nobody was quite sure about it. + +"Usen't farm laborers to wear them once?" suggested Lilias. + +"But Shakespeare says, + + "'When shepherds pipe on oaten straws, + And merry larks are ploughmen's clocks, + When ring the woods with rooks and daws, + And maidens bleach their summer smocks,'" + +objected Prissie. + +"Was it an upper or an under garment?" questioned Noreen. + +"I'm sure I don't know. I don't fancy we any of us possess 'smocks'!" + +"Then we certainly can't go and soak them in a spring!" + +"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!" + +"No, that floors us completely!" + +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. + +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 got their hair +wet, and had colds in their heads in consequence. + +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. + +"Shall we begin with apples or chestnuts?" she asked seriously. + +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. + +"You name them after yourself and your sweetheart," explained Gowan. "If +he pops first, he'll ask you to marry him." + +"And suppose the other pops first?" asked Carmel. + +"Then you won't marry him!" + +"Doesn't it mean that it may be Leap Year, and the girl will 'pop the +question'?" asked Dulcie, still giggling. + +"No, it doesn't." + +"Suppose they neither of them pop?" said Prissie. + +"It's a sign that neither cares, but it's not very likely to +happen--they nearly always pop." + +"I pricked mine with my penknife, though." + +"The more goose you! Take them back and try two fresh ones." + +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. + +"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?" + +At that moment a chorus of pops came from the grate, causing much +rejoicing or dismay from 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. + +"I don't care!" said Gowan sturdily. "I've another in my mind, and +perhaps I shall get him in the apple-peels." + +"And if you don't?" + +"I'll meet somebody else later on." + +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 very act of flinging it, but insisted that the two +separate portions each formed an O. + +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. + +"There are quite a number of names that begin with E," she remarked +enigmatically. + +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. + +"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?" + +"What? Now?" + +"Why not? We should only be gone a few minutes and Miss Hardy would +never find out." + +"It really would be a frolicsome joke!" + +"There's a moon, too!" + +"I vote we risk it!" + +"Come along!" + +Nine giggling girls therefore stole cautiously downstairs, a little +delayed by Prissie, who, with a most unusual concern for her health, +insisted on 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. + +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 _detour_ +behind some bushes, so as to conceal herself from the party. + +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 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. + +"You wretch!" + +"What a mean trick to play!" + +"You didn't take _me_ in!" + +"It was very clever, though!" + +"You really looked just like a spook!" + +"Take it off now!" + +"No, _no_!" 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!" + +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 white magic of Hallowe'en, and to make the +spell work more securely had come alone to consult the cabbage oracle. + +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. + +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. + +"What an absolutely topping joke!" whispered Dulcie. + +[Illustration: SHE PEEPED OVER LAURETTE'S SHOULDER] + +"And on Laurette, of all people in this wide world!" rejoiced Bertha. + +"Congrats., Prissie!" + +"You _did_ play up no end!" + +"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!" + +"What about the looking-glass?" asked Carmel. "Won't some of them be +coming out to fetch it?" + +"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!" + +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 _she_ was quite above such silly superstitions. + +"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. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +The Money-makers + + +"All Saints'" brought a brief spell of golden 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. + +"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!" + +"Wait till you see them on a sousing wet December morning!" declared +Gowan. "You won't find much romance about them then!" + +"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!" + +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 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. + +"I wish I'd brought my camera!" murmured Dulcie. + +"They're too sweet for words!" agreed Prissie. + +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 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. + +"That terrible box must shake her to pieces, poor kid!" + +"It had no springs!" + +"She looked so sweet!" + +"But as white as a daisy!" + +"Wouldn't she be proud of a real, proper carriage?" + +"Can't we write off and order one at once?" + +"What would it cost?" + +"Let's get up a concert or something for it." + +"Oh, yes! That would be ever such sport!" + +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 +information, she visited the mother, then gave a report of her +interview. + +"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 +L2, 10s., 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." + +Dr. Cranley's proposal suited the girls, for L2, 10s. 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. + +"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." + +"What I vote," said Gowan, "is that each bedroom should have a show of +its own, ask the others to come as audience, charge admission, and +wangle the cash that way." + +"There'd be some sport in that!" agreed Lilias. + +"It's great!" declared Dulcie. + +"You bet it will catch on!" purred Prissie. + +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. + +"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 +Walters offering to turn up! Why, we couldn't have had any fun at all!" + +"We'd have had to act Shakespeare, or something stilted out of a book!" +shuddered Edith. + +"I should simply shut up if any of the mistresses were looking on," +protested Dulcie. + +"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!" + +"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." + +It was decided to hold each performance on a separate day, during the +evening recreation time. + +"_Matinees_ 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." + +"I feel a perfect stick at 4 P. M.," admitted Carmel. + +"What will you feel later on?" + +"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." + +"I vote we have a little bit of both," said Gowan. "We'll harrow their +feelings first, and end in comedy." + +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. + +"Shall we write it out and learn our parts?" asked Lilias. + +"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----" + +"Are we to say anything we like, then?" interrupted Carmel, for Gowan's +reminiscences were becoming rather too personal for purposes of harmony. + +"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 +fresher and funnier. All you've got to do is to get into the right +spirit and play up!" + +"All serene! As long as no mistresses are sitting looking on, I don't +mind." + +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: + +[Illustration: + +Come to the blue Grotto! + +GRAND DRAMA + +"THE COURSE OF TRUE LOVE" + +.FEATURING. + +THE SISTERS INGLETON..........The Cheverley Favourites + +SIGNORINA CARMEL LESLIE....The famous Sicilian Comedienne + +MISS GOWAN BARBOUR..............The Daisy of Chilcombe + +MISS BERTHA CHESTERS...................(Our Bert) + +Have half an hour of Fun and Pathos +It will do you good to laugh and cry + +SILVER COLLECTION] + +This they placed temporarily in the passage, 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. + +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. + +Ten minutes before the hour, five distracted actresses were struggling +to complete their impromptu toilets. + +"I'm so rocky, I know I shan't be able to say anything at all!" +fluttered Dulcie. + +"Nonsense! Pull yourself together, child!" urged Gowan. "Get some +stiffening into you, can't you?" + +"I'm going to have umpteen dozen fits!" + +"You've got to reckon with me if you spoil the play, so there! Don't be +a silly cockchafer!" + +"Are we downhearted?" twittered Bertha. + +"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. + +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 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: + + "11 PARK LANE, + "MAYFAIR. + + "DEAREST MONICA, + + "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. + + "Your affectionate sister, + "ELIZABETH STRONG." + +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, +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. + +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. + +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. + +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." + +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. + +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 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. + +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. + +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 its contents on the floor, and +knelt down in the midst of a muddle of shoes, nightdresses, and other +paraphernalia. + +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. + +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. + +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 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. + +"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." + +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. + +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 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. + +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. + + "Please encourage Montague Ponsonby. Uncle has died and + left him vast fortune. + "ELIZABETH." + +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. + +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 eclat, Dorothea +leaning elegantly upon her lover's shoulder, Aunt Monica holding aloft +the telegram, the policeman saluting, and the maidservant blowing +kisses. + +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. + +"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." + +"Right you are! But it will be a tame business after this!" agreed +Bertha. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +All in a Mist + + +The Blue Grotto entertainment was very successfully 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. + +"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 eat the chocs. and enjoy herself now we've +gone. She's rather a sweet little morsel, isn't she, after all?" + +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. + +Chilcombe Hall was four and a half miles from Glazebrook, and there was +no motor omnibus 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. + +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. + +"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 too. There's +room for four if you don't mind squeezing!" + +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. + +"I don't see that Miss Herbert can mind. We're quite ready to go, and it +will save one taxi," urged Bertha. + +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. + +"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!" + +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 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. + +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 unlikely there would be any cabs at the station till the express +came in at six o'clock. + +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. + +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 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 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. + +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. + +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 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: + + "'Why trembles my darling? Why shrinks he with fear?' + 'Oh Father, my Father! the Erl-King is near! + The Erl-King with his crown and his beard long and white!' + 'Oh! your eyes are deceived by the vapours of night!' + + * * * * * + + "'I love thee, I dote on thy face so divine! + I must and will have thee, and force makes thee mine!' + 'My Father! My Father! Oh hold me now fast! + He pulls me, he hurts, and will have me at last!'" + +And as if that were not bad enough, the ballad of Lenore recurred +to her: + + "How swift the flood, the mead, the wood, + Aright, aleft are gone! + The bridges thunder as they pass, + But earthly sound is none. + + "Tramp, tramp, across the land they speed, + Splash, splash, across the sea; + 'Hurrah! the dead can ride apace, + Dost fear to ride with me?'" + +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. + +"What's the matter?" he asked. "Are you hurt? Why, great Scott! It's +never Carmel!" + +"Everard! Everard!" gasped Carmel, clinging desperately to his arm. "Oh! +Thank Heaven it's you! I'm lost!" + +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. + +"They ought to have taken better care of you!" he murmured. "Why didn't +the mistress hold a roll-call, and count you all?" + +"It wasn't her fault. It was my own mistake!" + +"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." + +"Oh! that would be lovely. I'm so tired." + +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. + +"Won't you come in and see Lilias and Dulcie?" she asked, as Everard +helped her to dismount at the door. + +"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." + +"And I've kept you from it! Oh, I'm so sorry, Everard!" + +"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?" + +"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. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +On the High Seas + + +There was quite a merry gathering at Cheverley 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. 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. + +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 altered attitude, admitted that their eldest +brother was "a good sort" these holidays. + +"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!" + +"He is indeed very different!" agreed Lilias thoughtfully. + +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. + +"It's all different from Sicily," she said one day. + +"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." + +Carmel shook her head emphatically. + +"Don't call it _my_ 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!" + +It was Everard's turn to shake his head. + +"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." + +"You're not cross with me, Everard?" Carmel was looking at him +anxiously. + +"No, dear, but you're such a child! You can't understand things properly +yet. You will when you're older." + +"Then what are you going to do, Everard, after you leave college?" + +"Study for the Bar, I hope. It's the kind of career that would suit me, +I think." + +Carmel's dark eyes shone. + +"Then I shall come to court, and hear you plead a case! And when you get +into Parliament--oh yes! you _are_ going to get into Parliament, I +_know_ 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." + +"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!" + +"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!" + +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 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. + +It was, of course, Carmel who had engineered the whole business. + +"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 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!" + +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. + +"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. + +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 _Clytie_, 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 to most of the party. Fortunately they were +able to engage the accommodation they needed, and set out without +further loss of time. + +I will not describe the journey to Liverpool, or the wearisome drive +through drab streets and along miles of docks till they reached the +_Clytie_. 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 on the +bridge, so that at any rate they had the best accommodation which the +_Clytie_ 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. + +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. + +"I can understand emigrants feeling it a wrench to say good-by to +England!" said Dulcie, leaning 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!" + +"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!" + +The first twenty-four hours on board the _Clytie_ 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. + +"In February we may expect anything in the way of weather," he remarked. + +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 one they +began to feel the effects of _mal de mer_, 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 +_Clytie_ 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. + +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 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. + +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 _Clytie_ +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 were persuaded each to try a potato, too. They +snatched intervals of sleep during the night, and woke much refreshed. + +Morning found the _Clytie_ 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. + +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 the captain +himself had been seasick, though he would not for a moment admit that he +was capable of such a landlubber's weakness. + +"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. + +"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!" + +"And leave the others to go to Sicily? No, thanks!" laughed Lilias. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +The Casa Bianca + + +On the following morning the passengers of the _Clytie_ 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 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. + +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 _Clytie_ 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. + +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 _Clytie_ was getting up steam, and unless they +wished to be left behind they must go on board again. + +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 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. + +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 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. + +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. + +"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!" + +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. + +"I shall come on the _Clytie_ again some day," 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!" + +"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!" + +"And we'd fly over the desert? Oh, that would be thrillsome! Please book +me a seat for next year, and I'll go!" + +The _Clytie_ 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 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. + +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. + +"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." + +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 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. + +"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!" + +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 railway station to Montalesso, where Carmel's home was +situated. + +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 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, +Aimee, 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. + +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. + +The almost patriarchal hospitality of the Casa Bianca suggested the +establishment of an Arab chief, or a mediaeval 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 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. + +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. + +"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." + +"What is the difference between a Sicilian and an Italian?" asked +Dulcie. + +"The difference between Welsh and English. 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." + +"Can you speak it?" + +"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.'" + +"How fearfully confusing! I should never learn it! The few sentences of +Italian I've managed to pick up are quite bad enough!" + +"Why, I think you're getting on very well. Sareda understood you +perfectly this morning when you asked for hot milk instead of coffee." + +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 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. + +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. + +The general mental atmosphere of the place was genial and restful. Mr. +Greville was kindness 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. + +"I'd rather have the Chase, of course," she said to Dulcie, "but on the +whole Montalesso is a very beautiful spot." + +"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. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +Sicilian Cousins + + +The relations, who had assembled to welcome 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, Aimee, +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. + +On the Saturday after the Ingletons' arrival all these young people came +over to Casa Bianca, 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. + +"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?" + +"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." + +"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?" + +"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." + +"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!" + +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. + +"I hope there won't be an eruption!" she said nervously. + +The boys laughed. + +"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 observatory gives warning if +anything serious is going to take place." + +"And what happens then?" + +"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." + +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 +B. C. instead of the twentieth century A. D. 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. + +The Ingletons ran about in greatest delight, picking handfuls of what +were to them beautiful garden flowers. + +"It's a moot point whether Proserpine was 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." + +"What is the story exactly?" asked Dulcie. "Do tell it, please!" + +"Yes, do!" begged all the children, crowding round Mr. Stacey. "We want +to hear your English story!" + +"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 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 to the lovely +daughter whom the god Mercury is bringing back to her out of the +darkness. + +"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 +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." + +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 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 Aimee, 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. + +"Excuse me, Signore, that is my place! There is plenty of room for you +in the other boat." + +"And surely in this too?" said Everard, flushing with annoyance. + +Ernesto shrugged his shoulders. + +"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. + +Up the narrow little river the light boats pushed, under an overhanging +archway of papyrus 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 Aimee, who made a really +heroic effort to amuse him. + +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." + +"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?" + +"Rather!" replied Lilias, appealing to Mr. Stacey, who promptly pulled +out his penknife, and began to hack away at a stout stem on her behalf. + +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. + +"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." + +"Then Pluto would have bagged the whole lot of us! More than he quite +bargained for, perhaps!" laughed Dulcie. + +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 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 of the Pharaohs who reared the +pyramids. + +"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!" + +"Nothing would please me better, if the fates willed it!" smiled Mr. +Stacey. + +"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?" + +"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). + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +A Night of Adventure + + +It will be seen from the events recorded in the 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. + +"I wish you'd speak decent English, instead of that beastly lingo!" he +said to her one day, petulantly. + +Carmel flushed crimson. + +"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." + +"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!" + +"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!" + +"Then, which do you like better--England or Sicily?" + +But at that question Carmel shook her head. + +"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!" + +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 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. + +"I shall ask Aunt Nita to keep me instead of Carmel!" she declared. "You +may all go back to England and leave me behind!" + +"What would Mr. Bowden say to that?" asked Cousin Clare. "He has +arranged for you to stay another two years at school!" + +"Oh! bother Mr. Bowden! I wish he wasn't my guardian! Can't I swop him, +and have Mr. Greville instead?" + +"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." + +"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!" + +"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. + +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 B. C., 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. + +"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 +customs there than anywhere else I know. The peasants come down from the +mountains for miles round. You'll just love it!" + +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 Aimee 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. + +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. Everybody seemed to carry a large cotton umbrella, either of +bright green or magenta. + +"They think it looks grand," explained Carmel. "Every peasant brings his +umbrella to the fair, to show that he has one!" + +"Except the brigands," added Vittore. "You can always tell a brigand +because he never carries an umbrella." + +"Are there any brigands?" asked Dulcie anxiously. + +"Oh, yes!" replied Vittore, winking secretly at Ernesto. "There are +quite a number still in the neighborhood." + +"I was talking to one only the other day!" admitted Ernesto. + +"Not really?" + +"It's quite a profession still in Sicily." + +"Do they catch people and hold them to ransom?" Dulcie's face was a +study. + +"Certainly they do, and chop their fingers off if their relations don't +pay up. It's quite an ordinary little trick of theirs." + +"O-o-oh! Is it safe to go to the fair, do you think? That man in front +hasn't any umbrella!" + +"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!" + +"Aren't there, indeed?" said Ernesto. "Ah! 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." + +"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. + +"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?" + +"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. + +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 _en fete_. 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 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 B. C., 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. + +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 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. + +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, leaving Targia Vecchia to continue +its merry-making. + +"I should think the fair must be a wonderful sight at night!" said +Everard that afternoon at the Casa Bianca. + +"Rather," agreed Ernesto. "The people will be dancing down the streets +by torch light and singing at the pitch of their voices." + +"I'd give anything to see it!" + +"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." + +"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." + +Vittore, who had waited till his uncle was out of earshot, spoke +tauntingly. Everard colored crimson. + +"I'm not afraid of a few Sicilian peasants!" he remarked. + +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 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. + +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. + +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 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. + +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, then one of +them replied in very broken English: + +"Signore, it is our order to take you to our captain." + +"And who is your captain?" + +"That I not tell." + +"And what does your captain want with me?" + +"He ask ransom. You rich Inglese. Property in your own country. You give +many thousand lire ransom." + +"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." + +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 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. + +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. + +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 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. + +"Where are you taking me now?" he demanded angrily. + +"To our captain," replied the same foreign voice which had given him his +former information, while two strong pairs of arms pushed him along. + +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. + +"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!" + +"Hurrah!" came from a voice close behind him, a voice which sounded so +familiar that Everard, forgetting his bandage, turned in much +perplexity. + +"The Signore Inglese had better humble himself to our captain," murmured +his guide. "Remember that here he has the power of life and death!" + +"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!" + +"Ecco! E giusto!" said a fresh voice, presumably that of the captain. +"Signore, you shall have your will!" + +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! + +"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 _are_ +dangers in Sicily to reckless 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!" + +Everard was still standing gazing round the room, at Ernesto and +Vittore, who had been his captors, at Mr. Greville, at Aimee 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. + +"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! _Never!_ 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 the +Chase! They gave me an English welcome!" + +"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." + +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. + +"I should faint if I thought I were taken by a brigand!" shivered Aimee. + +"I should die outright!" declared Rosalia. + +"Your property is back in your pocket with my sincere apologies," +murmured Vittore, restoring the watch and other valuables. + +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. + +"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, after +this. You went through a great deal to bring it back, Everard!" + +"Oh, never mind! That's all over and finished with now. I'm going to +forget it!" + +"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!" + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +At Palermo + + +It was perhaps to atone for the indignities which 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. + +"We're to stay at an hotel," announced Carmel, "and Ernesto and Vittore +are to have dinner with us." + +"And Douglas, too," added Dulcie, with satisfaction. "I heard your uncle +say he had asked him." + +"Oh, did he? I'm so glad. Now we shall have plenty of cavaliers to take +us about. What 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." + +"Hurrah for to-morrow, then!" proclaimed Dulcie. + +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. + +One feature of the Sicilian landscape greatly struck the Ingletons. + +"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?" + +"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 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." + +"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. + +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 _salle a manger_. Signor Trapani, in his enthusiasm as +host, even suggested the theater afterwards, but Cousin Clare said +"No," after such a long motor run, and sent the girls off to bed. + +"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." + +"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. + +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. + +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 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. + +"What is it? Oh, what's the matter?" cried Lilias, terribly scared. + +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. + +"What's the matter?" she asked again. + +"Only an earthquake!" said Carmel calmly. "It's over now." + +"An _earthquake_!" Lilias's voice was tragic. + +"Just a slight shock. We often have them." + +"O-o-h! Will the walls tumble down?" + +"Certainly not--it only makes the china rattle." + +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. + +All this time Dulcie's pink cheek was buried in the pillow, and her +breath came as quietly and evenly as that of a baby. + +"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. + +Dulcie was, of course, unmercifully teased next morning for having slept +through an earthquake. + +"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." + +"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 _proud_." + +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 _Robert of +Sicily_ 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 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." + +"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 _rung_ 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." + +"Oh, that's why they sound so frightfully clangy, then; we noticed the +difference at once when we came over from Malta." + +"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." + +"I love to see really Sicilian things." + +"Then you shall," put in Signor Trapani. "We'll try and show you the +local color of Palermo to-day." + +"Oh, please do! I like to watch how the people live." + +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 entree +that seemed made mostly of butter and cheese. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +"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. + +"Enjoyed it! _Ra_ther? It's the loveliest place on earth, and beats +London hollow in my opinion. But I _do_ love everything Sicilian _so_ +much! Thanks just immensely for giving me 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. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +Old England + + +The holiday in Sicily, like all pleasant things, 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. + +"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." + +"Your Ingleton blood showing, of course," remarked Everard. "All your +ancestors have lived 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." + +"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!'" + +"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!" + +The occupants of the Blue Grotto had much to talk about when they met +again. + +"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 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?" + +"Nothing at all particularly exciting happened while you were away!" +groused Bertha. "We got all the drudgery, and you had all the fun!" + +"But we brought you some presents! Just wait till I get to the bottom of +my box!" put in Carmel. + +"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!" + +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 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. + +"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 +_Punch_. Everybody has got to do something!" + +"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." + +"Pull yourself together, Dulcie, my child!" said Gowan calmly. "You'll +either be turned 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." + +"Poor little me!" wailed Dulcie. + +"No poorer than all the rest of us!" + +"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?" + +"Why, yes, if you'd rather!" + +"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!" + +"With you (stuffed) inside it, labeled 'Specimen of a Champion +Slacker'!" snorted Gowan. "Now, no nonsense! If you don't turn up at +the meeting with a manuscript, you won't be admitted!" + +"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!" + +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. + +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: + + "OLD ENGLAND + + "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. + + "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!" + +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. + + "TO MY DEARIE-OH! + + "Spring is comen back again, + (Daisy buds for my dearie!) + Gone is winter's snow and rain, + (Cherry lips for my dearie!) + Blossom clothes the orchards now, + (Apple cheeks for my dearie!) + Nests of birds on every bough, + (And kisses for my dearie!) + +"It's one of those old-fashioned sort of things--I believe you call them +madrigals," she ventured. + +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: + + "MIRANDA'S MUSIC + + "Miranda had learnt the piano to play, + And when seated one day on the stool, + At her latest new piece she was strumming away, + For old Thomas, who sweeps out the school. + + "Thought she: ''T will impress him if anything will, + For the left hand goes over the right. + He will surely admire my exquisite skill, + And perhaps will express his delight.' + + "But ah! fondest hopes may be dashed to the ground, + Despite what ambition can raise. + Ill pleased by this banquet of beautiful sound, + Old Thomas was scant in his praise. + + "'Ay, ay, yes, I hear. 'T is not bad, to be sure! + They may teach you in time!' so he grumbled. + But 'twas plain that he thought the performance but poor, + And Miranda felt terribly humbled. + + "One morn when six months had swift glided away, + Again at the instrument seated, + Miranda a nocturne had just ceased to play, + When old Thomas desired it repeated. + + "'Why, Miss,' he declared, 'I can hardly believe + That you've made such improvement so soon! + The last time you played, you'd to jump your hand o'er + Before you could pick out the tune! + + "'You'd humpety lump in the treble at top, + Then same hand would return to the bass. + But now I can see they have taught you to keep + Each hand in its own proper place!' + +"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 _did_ think she didn't 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!" + +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 _empressement_, nodded +triumphantly to Gowan, cleared her throat, commanded strict silence, and +began: + + "CHILCOMBE HALL. + + "MY DEAR EVERARD, + + "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 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. + + "Hoping you are quite well, + "With love, + "Your affectionate sister + "DULCIE." + +"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." + +"Tootle-too! Somebody has lost a trumpeter!" returned Gowan. + +"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!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +Carmel's Kingdom + + +The day following the secret meeting of the 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. + +"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!" + +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. + +"I can't help it if they have to pay extra on them," she confided to +Carmel. "They look rather heavy, certainly, but I hadn't any thin note +paper, you see." + +"Douglas will pay up cheerfully, I'm sure!" + +"How do you know that his was a heavy one?" + +"Oh, I can guess!" + +"I was only answering a number of questions he asked me. It's very +unkind not to answer people's questions!" + +"Most decidedly! I quite agree with you!" laughed Carmel. + +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 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. + +"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 _really_ 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." + +As Everard poured forth these remarks, Dulcie's expression underwent +several quick changes, and passed from astonishment to sudden +comprehension and mirth. + +"We're better, thanks!" she choked. "And Carmel can hobble about quite +well on her crutches, and her face isn't _very_ black now, not like it +was at first, though of course she still has the fits pretty regularly, +and the Doctor says----" + +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. + +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. + +"You never actually _believed_ 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!" + +"You told me nothing of the sort!" + +"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!" + +"Then is the whole business fiction?" demanded her brother, with knitted +brows. + +"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 +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." + +"I rode over at once to see what was the matter!" + +Everard's voice still sounded offended, though slightly mollified. + +"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." + +"It must be a relief to find we don't squint or hobble on crutches," +added Dulcie naughtily. "How _shall_ we explain to Miss Walters if she +catches you?" + +"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! + + "'Matilda told such awful lies, + It made you gasp and stretch your eyes. + Her aunt, who from her earliest youth + Had kept a strict regard for truth, + Attempted to believe Matilda-- + The effort very nearly killed her.' + +"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 +bridle, nodded smilingly after the girls as they ran towards the house +in response to the clanging school-bell. + +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. + +"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 +always plays the game somehow, doesn't she?" + +"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." + +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. + +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, it came about +in quite an ordinary way. + +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 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. + +"Why, it's Grandfather's writing!" exclaimed Lilias as she read the +first words:-- + +"This is the last will and testament of me Leslie Ingleton of Cheverley +Chase near Balderton." + +"It's surely not another will?" fluttered Dulcie. + +Carmel said nothing; her eyes were devouring the contents of the paper. +She read it through carefully to the end, then she asked: + +"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!" + +"Does it make any difference?" inquired Dulcie breathlessly. + +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 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. + +"All the difference in the world," she said quietly. "Grandfather +changed his mind at the last, and left the Chase to Everard after all!" + +"To Everard?" + +"Oh, Carmel!" + +"Are you certain?" + +"Can there be any mistake?" + +"Is the will properly signed? Let me look! Yes, it seems signed and +witnessed, as far as I can tell!" + +"What are you going to do?" + +"Shall I ring up Mr. Bowden?" + +"Not yet, please," begged Carmel. "Leave me a moment!" + +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: + +"I am going now to tell the news to the rightful owner of the Chase." + +Everard was sitting in the stone summer-house in the garden, struggling +with a difficult problem 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: + +"Signor Everard, allow me to hand you back your inheritance!" + +It was the triumph of her life. + + * * * * * + +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. + +"It seems such a pity that the desk wasn't 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!" + +"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." + +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. + +"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!" + +"But I can't do it alone! A kingdom needs a 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!" + + +THE END + + + * * * * * + + +The Girl Scouts Series + +BY EDITH LAVELL + +A new copyright series of Girl Scouts stories by an author of wide +experience in Scouts' craft, as Director of Girl Scouts of Philadelphia. + +Clothbound, with Attractive Color Designs. + +PRICE, 60 CENTS EACH. + +THE GIRL SCOUTS AT MISS ALLENS SCHOOL + +THE GIRL SCOUTS AT CAMP + +THE GIRL SCOUTS' GOOD TURN + +THE GIRL SCOUTS' CANOE TRIP + +THE GIRL SCOUTS' RIVALS + +THE GIRL SCOUTS ON THE RANCH + +THE GIRL SCOUTS' VACATION ADVENTURES + +THE GIRL SCOUTS' MOTOR TRIP + +For sale by all booksellers, or sent postpaid on receipt of price by the +Publishers + +A. L. BURT COMPANY +114-120 EAST 23rd STREET NEW YORK + + + * * * * * + + +The Camp Fire Girls Series + +By HILDEGARD G. 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