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diff --git a/18019-h/18019-h.htm b/18019-h/18019-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c6ee02d --- /dev/null +++ b/18019-h/18019-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,8668 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<html> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1" /> +<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Luckiest Girl in the School, by Angela Brazil</title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + p { margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; + } + hr { width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; + } + + table {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;} + + body{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + + .pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ + /* visibility: hidden; */ + position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: smaller; + text-align: right; + } /* page numbers */ + + .linenum {position: absolute; top: auto; left: 4%;} /* poetry number */ + .blockquot{margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 10%;} + + .center {text-align: center;} + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + .u {text-decoration: underline;} + + .caption {font-weight: bold;} + + .figcenter {margin: auto; text-align: center;} + + .poem {margin-left:10%; margin-right:10%; text-align: left;} + .poem br {display: none;} + .poem .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;} + .poem span.i0 {display: block; margin-left: 0em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i2 {display: block; margin-left: 2em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i4 {display: block; margin-left: 4em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + hr.full { width: 100%; } + pre {font-size: 75%;} + // --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> +</head> +<body> +<h1>The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Luckiest Girl in the School, by Angela +Brazil, Illustrated by Balliol Salmon</h1> +<pre> +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 <a href = "http://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></pre> +<p>Title: The Luckiest Girl in the School</p> +<p>Author: Angela Brazil</p> +<p>Release Date: March 19, 2006 [eBook #18019]</p> +<p>Language: English</p> +<p>Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1</p> +<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LUCKIEST GIRL IN THE SCHOOL***</p> +<p> </p> +<h3>E-text prepared by Paul Ereaut, Suzanne Shell,<br /> + and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team<br /> + (http://www.pgdp.net/)</h3> +<p> </p> +<hr class="full" /> +<p> </p> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 452px;"> +<img src="images/cover01.jpg" width="452" height="600" alt="Book cover" title="Book cover" /> +<br /><br /></div> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 379px;"> +<img src="images/gs02.png" width="379" height="600" +alt=""'THOSE AREN'T MY PAPERS,' WINONA FALTERED"" +title=""'THOSE AREN'T MY PAPERS,' WINONA FALTERED"" /> +<span class="caption">"'THOSE AREN'T MY PAPERS,' WINONA FALTERED"</span> +<br /><br /></div> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 360px;"> +<img src="images/gs01.png" width="360" height="600" alt="Title page" title="Title page" /> +<br /><br /></div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CONTENTS" id="CONTENTS"></a>CONTENTS</h2> + + +<div class='center'> + +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="Contents"> + +<tr><td align='right'>CHAPTER</td> +<td align='left'></td> +<td align='right'>PAGE</td></tr> + +<tr><td align='right'>I.</td> +<td align='left'><span class="smcap">A Great Change</span></td> +<td align='right'><a href='#Page_1'>1</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align='right'>II.</td> +<td align='left'><span class="smcap">An Entrance Examination</span></td> +<td align='right'><a href='#Page_15'>15</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align='right'>III.</td> +<td align='left'><span class="smcap">Seaton High School</span></td> +<td align='right'><a href='#Page_30'>30</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align='right'>IV.</td> +<td align='left'><span class="smcap">The Symposium</span></td> +<td align='right'><a href='#Page_42'>42</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align='right'>V.</td> +<td align='left'><span class="smcap">Aunt Harriet</span></td> +<td align='right'><a href='#Page_58'>58</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align='right'>VI.</td> +<td align='left'><span class="smcap">A Crisis</span></td> +<td align='right'><a href='#Page_73'>73</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align='right'>VII.</td> +<td align='left'><span class="smcap">An Autumn Foray</span></td> +<td align='right'><a href='#Page_87'>87</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align='right'>VIII.</td> +<td align='left'><span class="smcap">Concerns a Camera</span></td> +<td align='right'><a href='#Page_102'>102</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align='right'>IX.</td> +<td align='left'><span class="smcap">The School Service Badge</span></td> +<td align='right'><a href='#Page_116'>116</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align='right'>X.</td> +<td align='left'><span class="smcap">A Scare</span></td> +<td align='right'><a href='#Page_130'>130</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align='right'>XI.</td> +<td align='left'><span class="smcap">The Open-air Camp</span></td> +<td align='right'><a href='#Page_143'>143</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align='right'>XII.</td> +<td align='left'><span class="smcap">Captain Winona</span></td> +<td align='right'><a href='#Page_158'>158</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align='right'>XIII.</td> +<td align='left'><span class="smcap">The Hostel</span></td> +<td align='right'><a href='#Page_167'>167</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align='right'>XIV.</td> +<td align='left'><span class="smcap">The Hockey Season</span></td> +<td align='right'><a href='#Page_181'>181</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align='right'>XV.</td> +<td align='left'><span class="smcap">Winona turns Chauffeur</span></td> +<td align='right'><a href='#Page_193'>193</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align='right'>XVI.</td> +<td align='left'><span class="smcap">The Athletic Display</span></td> +<td align='right'><a href='#Page_209'>209</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align='right'>XVII.</td> +<td align='left'><span class="smcap">Back to the Land</span></td> +<td align='right'><a href='#Page_222'>222</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align='right'>XVIII.</td> +<td align='left'><span class="smcap">A Friend in Need</span></td> +<td align='right'><a href='#Page_236'>236</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align='right'>XIX.</td> +<td align='left'><span class="smcap">The Swimming Contest</span></td> +<td align='right'><a href='#Page_251'>251</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align='right'>XX.</td> +<td align='left'><span class="smcap">The Red Cross Hospital</span></td> +<td align='right'><a href='#Page_265'>265</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align='right'>XXI.</td> +<td align='left'><span class="smcap">The End of the Term</span></td> +<td align='right'><a href='#Page_278'>278</a></td></tr> + +</table></div> + + + + + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>THE LUCKIEST GIRL IN THE SCHOOL</h2> + + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</a></span></p><hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I</h2> + +<h3>A Great Change</h3> + + +<p>"There's no doubt about it, we really must economize somehow!" sighed +Mrs. Woodward helplessly, with her housekeeping book in one hand, and +her bank pass-book in the other, and an array of bills spread out on the +table in front of her. "Children, do you hear what I say? The war will +make a great difference to our income, and we can't—simply <i>can't</i>—go +on living in exactly the old way. The sooner we all realize it the +better. I wish I knew where to begin."</p> + +<p>"Might knock off going to church, and save the money we give in +collections!" suggested Percy flippantly. "It must tot up to quite a +decent sum in the course of a year, not to mention pew rent!"</p> + +<p>His mother cast a reproachful glance at him.</p> + +<p>"Now, Percy, <i>do</i> be serious for once! You and Winona are quite old +enough to understand business matters. I must discuss them with +somebody. As I said before, we shall really have to economize somehow, +and the question is where to begin."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I saw some hints in a magazine the other day," volunteered Winona, +hunting among a pile of papers, and fishing up a copy of <i>The +Housewife's Journal</i>. "Here you are! There's a whole article on War +Economies. It says you can halve your expenses if you only try. It gives +ten different recipes. Number One, Dispense with Servants. Oh, goody! I +don't know how the house would get along without Maggie and Mary! Isn't +that rather stiff?"</p> + +<p>"It's impossible to be thought of for a moment! I should never dream of +dismissing maids who have lived with me for years. I've read that +article, and it may be practicable for other people, but certainly not +for us. Oh, dear! Some of my friends recommend me to remove to the town, +and others say 'Stay where you are, and keep poultry!'"</p> + +<p>"We can't leave Highfield! We were all born here!" objected Winona +decisively.</p> + +<p>"And we tried keeping hens some time ago," said Percy. "They laid on an +average three-quarters of an egg a year each, as far as I remember."</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid we didn't know how to manage them," replied Mrs. Woodward +fretfully. "Percy, leave those papers alone! I didn't tell you to turn +them over. You're mixing them all up, tiresome boy! Don't touch them +again! It's no use trying to discuss business with you children! I shall +write and consult Aunt Harriet. Go away, both of you, now! I want to +have a quiet half-hour."</p> + +<p>Aunt Harriet stood to the Woodward family somewhat in the light of a +Delphic oracle. To apply to her was always the very last resource. +Matters<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span> must have reached a crisis, Winona thought, if they were +obliged to appeal to Aunt Harriet's judgment. She followed Percy into +the garden with a sober look on her face.</p> + +<p>"You don't think mother would really leave Highfield?" she asked her +brother anxiously.</p> + +<p>"Bunkum!" replied that light-hearted youth. "We always have more or less +of a fuss when my school bills come in. It'll soon fizzle out again! +Don't you fret yourself. Things will jog on as they always have jogged +on. There'll be nothing done, you'll see. Come on and bowl for me, +that's a chubby one!"</p> + +<p>"But this time mother really seemed to be in earnest," said Winona +meditatively, as she helped to put up the stumps.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Woodward had been left a widow three years before this story opens. +She was a fair, fragile little woman, still pretty, and pathetically +helpless. She had been accustomed to lean upon her husband, and now, for +lack of firmer support, she leaned upon Winona. Winona was young to act +as prop, and though it flattered her sense of importance, it had put a +row of wrinkles on her girlish forehead. At fifteen she seemed much +older than Percy at sixteen. No one ever dreamt of taking Percy +seriously; he was one of those jolly, easy-going, happy-go-lucky, +unreliable people who saunter through life with no other aim than to +amuse themselves at all costs. To depend upon him was like trusting to a +boat without a bottom. Though nominally the eldest, he had little more +sense of re<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span>sponsibility than Ernie, the youngest. It was Winona who +shouldered the family burdens.</p> + +<p>The Woodwards had always lived at Highfield, and in their opinion it was +the most desirable residence in the whole of Rytonshire. The house was +old enough to be picturesque, but modern enough for comfort. Its quaint +gables, mullioned windows and Cromwellian porch were the joy of +photographers, while the old-fashioned hall, when the big log fire was +lighted, would be hard to beat for coziness. The schoolroom, on the +ground floor, had a separate side entrance on to the lawn, leading +through a small ante-room where boots and coats and cricket bats and +tennis rackets could be kept; the drawing-room had a luxurious ingle +nook with cushioned seats, and all the bedrooms but two had a southern +aspect. As for the big rambling garden, it was full of delightful +old-world flowers that came up year after year: daffodils and violets +and snow-flakes, and clumps of pinks, and orange lilies and Canterbury +bells, and tall Michaelmas daisies, and ribbon grass and royal Osmunda +fern, the sort of flowers that people used to pick in days gone by, put +a paper frill round, and call a nosegay or a posy. There was a lawn for +tennis and cricket, a pond planted with irises and bulrushes, and a wild +corner where crocuses and coltsfoot and golden aconite came up as they +liked in the spring time.</p> + +<p>Winona loved this garden with somewhat the same attachment that a French +peasant bears for the soil upon which he has been reared. She rejoiced +in every yard of it. To go away and resign<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span> it to others would be +tragedy unspeakable. The fear that Aunt Harriet might recommend the +family to leave Highfield was sufficient to darken her horizon +indefinitely. That her mother had written to consult the oracle she was +well aware, for she had been sent to post the letter. She had an +instinctive apprehension that the answer would prove a turning-point in +her career.</p> + +<p>For a day or two everything went on as usual. Mrs. Woodward did not +again allude to her difficulties, Percy had conveniently forgotten them, +and the younger children were not aware of their existence. Winona lived +with a black spot dancing before her mental eyes. It was continually +rising up and blotting out the sunshine. On the fourth morning appeared +a letter addressed in an old-fashioned slanting handwriting, and bearing +the Seaton post mark. Mrs. Woodward read it in silence, and left her +toast unfinished. Aunt Harriet's communications generally upset her for +the day.</p> + +<p>"Come here, Winona," she said agitatedly, after breakfast. "Oh, dear, I +wish I knew what to do! It's so very unexpected, but of course it would +be a splendid thing for you. If only I could consult somebody! I suppose +girls nowadays will have to learn to support themselves, and the war +will alter everything, but I'd always meant you to stop at home and look +after the little ones for me, and it's very—"</p> + +<p>"What does Aunt Harriet say, mother?" interrupted Winona, with a catch +in her throat.</p> + +<p>"She says a great deal, and I dare say she's right.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span> Oh, this terrible +war! Things were so different when I was a girl! You might as well read +the letter for yourself, as it concerns you. I always think she's hard +on Percy, poor lad! I was afraid the children were too noisy the last +time she was here, but they wouldn't keep quiet. I'm sure I try to do my +best all round, and you know, Winona, how I said Aunt Harriet—"</p> + +<p>But Winona was already devouring the letter.</p> + + +<p style="text-align: right"><span style="margin-right: 5em;">"10 Abbey Close,</span><br /></p> +<p style="text-align: right"><span style="margin-right: 3em;">"Seaton,</span><br /></p> +<p style="text-align: right"><span style="margin-right: 0em;">"August 26th.</span><br /></p> + + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span></p><p>"<span class="smcap">My Dear Florita</span>,—You are quite right to consult me in your +difficulties, and are welcome to any advice which I am able to offer +you. I am sorry to hear of your financial embarrassments, but I am not +surprised. The present increase in the cost of living, and extra +taxation, will make retrenchments necessary to everybody. In the +circumstances I should not advise you to leave Highfield. ("Oh, thank +goodness!" ejaculated Winona.) The expense of a removal would probably +cancel what you would otherwise save. Neither should I recommend you to +take Percy from Longworth College and send him daily to be coached by +your parish curate. From my knowledge of his character I consider the +discipline of a public school to be indispensable if he is to grow into +worthy manhood, and sooner than allow the wholesome restraint of his +house master to be removed at this critical portion of his life, I will +myself defray half the cost of his maintenance for the next two years.</p> + +<p>"Now as regards Winona. I believe she has ability, and it is high time +to begin to think seriously what you mean to do with her. In the future +women will have to depend upon themselves, and I consider that all girls +should be trained to gain their own living. The foundation of every +career is a good education—without this it is impossible to build at +all, and Winona certainly cannot obtain it if she remains at home. The +new High School at Seaton is offering two open Scholarships to girls +resident in the County, the examination for which is on September 8th. I +propose that Winona enters for this examination, and that if she should +be a successful candidate, she should come to live with me during the +period of her attendance at the High School. The education is the best +possible, there is a prospect of a University Scholarship to be competed +for, and every help and encouragement is given to the girls in their +choice of a career. With Winona off your hands, I should suggest that +you should engage a competent nursery governess to teach the younger +children the elements of order and discipline. I would gladly pay her +salary on the understanding that I should myself select her.</p> + +<p>"Trusting that these proposals may be of some service, and hoping to +hear a better account of your health,</p> + + +<p style="text-align: right"><span style="margin-right: 15em;">"I remain,</span><br /></p> +<p style="text-align: right"><span style="margin-right: 10em;">"Your affectionate Aunt</span><br /></p> +<p style="text-align: right"><span style="margin-right: 5em;">"and Godmother,</span><br /></p> +<p style="text-align: right"><span style="margin-right: 0em;">"Harriet Beach."</span><br /><br /><br /> +</p> + + +<p>Winona laid down the letter with an agitated<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span> gasp. The proposition +almost took her breath away.</p> + +<p>"What an idea!" she exclaimed indignantly. "Mother, of course you won't +even dream of it for an instant! I'd <i>hate</i> to go and live with Aunt +Harriet. It's not to be thought of!"</p> + +<p>"Well, I don't know, Winona!" wavered Mrs. Woodward. "We must look at it +from all sides, and perhaps Aunt Harriet's right, and it really would be +for the best. Miss Harmon's a poor teacher, and I'm sure your music, at +any rate, is not a credit to her. You played that last piece shockingly +out of time. You know you said yourself that you were getting beyond +Miss Harmon!"</p> + +<p>Whatever impeachments Winona may have brought against her teacher, she +was certainly not prepared to admit them now. She rejected the project +of the Seaton High School with the utmost energy and determination, +bringing into the fray all that force of character which her mother +lacked. Poor Mrs. Woodward vacillated feebly—she was generally swayed +by whoever was nearest at the moment—and I verily believe Winona's +arguments would have prevailed, and the whole scheme would have been +abandoned, had not Mr. Joynson opportunely happened to turn up.</p> + +<p>Mr. Joynson was a solicitor, and the trustee of Mrs. Woodward's +property. He managed most of her business affairs, and some of her +private ones as well. She had confidence in his judgment, and she at +once thankfully submitted the question of Winona's future to his +decision.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span></p> + +<p>"The very thing for her!" he declared. "Do her a world of good to go to +a proper school. She's frittering her time away here. Send her to Seaton +by all means. What are you to do without her? Nonsense! Nobody's +indispensable—especially a girl of fifteen! Pack her off as soon as you +can. Doesn't want to go? Oh, she'll sing a different song when once she +gets there, you'll see!"</p> + +<p>Thus supported by masculine authority, Mrs. Woodward settled the +question in the affirmative, and replied to her aunt by return of post.</p> + +<p>Naturally such a stupendous event as the exodus of Winona made a +sensation in the household.</p> + +<p>"Well, of all the rum shows!" exclaimed Percy. "You and Aunt Harriet in +double harness! It beats me altogether!"</p> + +<p>"It's atrocious!" groaned Winona. "I'm a victim sacrificed for the good +of the family. Oh! why couldn't mother have thought of some other way of +economizing? I don't want to win scholarships and go in for a career!"</p> + +<p>"Buck up! Perhaps you won't win! There'll be others in for the exam., +you bet! You'll probably fail, and come whining home like a whipped +puppy with its tail between its legs!"</p> + +<p>"Indeed I shan't!" flared Winona indignantly. "I've a little more spirit +than that, thank you! And why should you imagine I'm going to fail? I +suppose I've as much brains as most people!"</p> + +<p>"That's right! Upset the pepper-pot! I was only trying to comfort you!" +teased Percy. "In my opinion you'll be returned like a bad halfpenny,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span> +or one of those articles 'of no use to anybody except the owner.' Aunt +Harriet will be cheated of her prey after all!"</p> + +<p>"If Win goes away, I shall be the eldest daughter at home," said Letty +airily, shaking out her short skirts. "I'll sit at the end of the table, +and pour out tea if mother has a headache, and unlock the apple room, +and use the best inkpot if I like, and have first innings at the piano."</p> + +<p>"You forget about the nursery governess," retorted Winona. "If I go, she +comes, and you'll find you've exchanged King Log for King Stork. Oh, +very well, just wait and see! It won't be as idyllic as you imagine. I +shall be saved the trouble of looking after you, at any rate."</p> + +<p>"What I'm trying to ascertain, madam," said Percy blandly, "is whether +your ladyship wishes to take up your residence in Seaton or not. With +the usual perversity of your sex you pursue a pig policy. When I venture +to picture you seated at the board of your venerable aunt, you protest +you are a sacrifice; when, on the other hand, I suggest your return to +the bosom of your family, you revile me equally."</p> + +<p>"You're the most unsympathetic <i>beast</i> I've ever met!" declared Winona +aggrievedly.</p> + +<p>When she analyzed her feelings, however, she was obliged to allow that +they were mixed. Though the prospect of settling down at Seaton filled +her with dismay, Percy's gibe at her probable failure touched her pride. +Winona had always been counted as the clever member of the family. It +would be too ignominious to be sent home labeled unfit. She set<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span> her +teeth and clenched her fists at the bare notion.</p> + +<p>"I'll show them all what I can do if I take a thing up!" she resolved.</p> + +<p>In the meantime Mrs. Woodward was immersed in the subject of clothing. +Every post brought her boxes of patterns, amongst which she hesitated, +lost in choice.</p> + +<p>"If I knew whether you're really going to stay at Seaton or not, it +would make all the difference, Winona," she fluttered. "It's no use +buying you these new things if you're only to wear them at home, but I'd +make an effort to send you nice to Aunt Harriet's. I know she'll +criticize everything you have on. Dear me, I think I'd better risk it! +It would be such a nuisance to have to write for the patterns all over +again, and how could I get your dresses fitted when you weren't here to +be tried on? Miss Jones is at liberty now, and can come for a week's +sewing, but she'll probably be busy if I want her later. Now tell me, +which do you really think is the prettier of these two shades? I like +the fawn, but I believe the material will spot. What have you done with +the lace collar Aunt Harriet gave you last Christmas? She's sure to ask +about it if you don't wear it!"</p> + +<p>Having decided that on the whole she intended to win a scholarship, +Winona bluffed off the matter of her departure.</p> + +<p>"I've changed my mind, that's all," she announced to her home circle. +"It will be a great comfort to me not to hear Mamie scraping away at her +violin in the evenings, or Letty strumming at scales. Think<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span> what a +relief not to be obliged to rout up Dorrie and Godfrey, and haul them +off to school every day! I'm tired of setting an example. You needn't +snigger!"</p> + +<p>The family grinned appreciatively. They understood Winona.</p> + +<p>"Don't you worry! I'll set the example when you're gone," Letty assured +her. "I'll be as improving as a copy-book. I wish I'd your chance; I'd +stand Aunt Harriet for the sake of going to a big High School. Younger +sisters never have any luck! Eldests just sweep the board. I don't know +where we come in!"</p> + +<p>"Don't you fret, young 'un, you'll score later on!" cooed an indulgent +voice from the sofa, where Percy sprawled with a book and a bag of +walnuts. "Remember that when you're still in all the bliss and sparkle +of your teens, Winona'll be a mature and <i>passée</i> person of twenty-two. +'That eldest Miss Woodward's getting on, you know!' people will say, and +somebody'll reply: 'Yes, poor thing!'"</p> + +<p>"They won't when I've got a career," retorted Winona, pelting Percy with +his own walnut-shells.</p> + +<p>"You assured us the other day that you despised such vanities."</p> + +<p>"Well, it depends. Perhaps I'll be a lady tram conductor, and punch +tickets, or a post-woman, or drive a Government van!"</p> + +<p>"If those are careers for girls, bag me for a steeple jack," chirped +Dorrie.</p> + +<p>It was perhaps a good thing for Winona that such a short interval +elapsed between the acceptance<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span> of Aunt Harriet's proposal and the date +of the scholarship examination. The ten days were very busy ones, for +there seemed much to be done in the way of preparation. Miss Jones, the +dressmaker, was installed in the nursery with the sewing-machine, and +demanded frequent tryings-on, a process Winona hated.</p> + +<p>"I shall buy all my clothes ready made when I'm grown up!" she declared.</p> + +<p>"They very seldom fit, and have to be altered," returned her mother. "Do +stand still, Winona! And I hope you're learning up a few dates and facts +for this examination. You ought to be studying every morning. If only +Miss Harmon were home, I'd have asked her to coach you. I'm afraid +she'll be disappointed at your leaving, but of course she can't expect +to keep you for ever. I heard a rumor that she means to give up her +school altogether, and go and live with her uncle. I hope it's true, and +then I can take the little ones away with an easy conscience. I don't +want to treat her badly, poor thing, but I'm sure teaching's not her +vocation."</p> + +<p>Winona really made a heroic effort to prepare herself for the coming +ordeal. She retired to a secluded part of the garden and read over her +latest school books. The process landed her in the depths of +despondency.</p> + +<p>"I'll never remember anything—never!" she mourned to her family. "To +try and get all this into my head at once is like bolting a week's meals +at a single go! I know a date here and there, and I've a hazy notion of +French and Latin verbs, and a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span> general impression of other subjects, but +if they ask me for anything definite, such as the battles of the Wars of +the Roses, or a list of the products of India, I'm done for!"</p> + +<p>"Go in for Post-Impressionism, then," suggested Percy. "Write from a +romantic standpoint, and don't condescend to mere facts. Stick in a +quotation or two, and a drawing if possible, and make your paper sound +eloquent and dramatic and poetical, and all the rest of it. They'll mark +you low for accuracy, but put you on ten per cent. for style, you bet! I +know a chap who tries it on at the Coll., and it always pays."</p> + +<p>"It's worth thinking about, certainly," said Winona, shutting her books +with a weary yawn.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II</h2> + +<h3>An Entrance Examination</h3> + + +<p>The Seaton High School was a large, handsome brick building exactly +opposite the public park. It had only been erected two years ago, so +everything about it was absolutely new and up-to-date. It supplied a +great need in the rapidly growing city, and indeed offered the best and +most go-ahead education to be obtained in the district.</p> + +<p>It was the aim of the school to fit girls for various professions and +careers; there was a classical and a modern side, a department for +domestic economy, and a commercial class for instruction in business +details. Art, music, and nature study were well catered for, and manual +training was not forgotten. As the school was intended to become in time +a center for the county, the Governors had offered two open free +scholarships to be competed for by girls resident in other parts of +Rytonshire, hoping by this means to attract pupils from the country +places round about.</p> + +<p>On the morning of September 8th, precisely at 8.35, Winona presented +herself at the school for the scholarship examination. There were twenty +other candidates awaiting the ordeal, in various stages of nervousness +or sangfroid. Some looked dejected, some confident, and others hid their +feel<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span>ings under a mask of stolidity. Winona joined them shyly. They were +all unknown to one another, and so far nobody had plucked up courage to +venture a remark. It is horribly depressing to sit on a form staring at +twenty taciturn strangers. Winona bore for awhile with the stony +silence, then—rather frightened at the sound of her own voice—she +announced:</p> + +<p>"I suppose we're all going in for this same exam.!" It was a trite +commonplace, but it broke the ice. Everybody looked relieved. The +atmosphere seemed to clear.</p> + +<p>"Yes, we're all going in—that's right enough," replied a ruddy-haired +girl in spectacles, "but there are only two scholarships, so nineteen of +us are bound to fail—that's logic and mathematics and all the rest of +it."</p> + +<p>"Whew! A nice cheering prospect. Wish they'd put us out of our misery at +once!" groaned a stout girl with a long fair pigtail.</p> + +<p>"I'm all upset!" shivered another.</p> + +<p>"It's like a game of musical chairs," suggested a fourth. "We're all +scrambling for the same thing, and some are bound to be out of it."</p> + +<p>The ruddy-haired girl laughed nervously.</p> + +<p>"Suppose we've got to take our sporting luck!" she murmured.</p> + +<p>"If nineteen are sure to lose, two are sure to win at any rate," said +Winona. "That's logic and mathematics and all the rest of it, too!"</p> + +<p>"Right you are! That's a more cheering creed! It doesn't do to cry +'Miserere me' too soon!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span> chirped a jolly-looking dark-eyed girl with a +red hair-ribbon. "'Never say die till you're dead,' is my motto!"</p> + +<p>"I'm wearing a swastika for a mascot," said a short, pale girl, +exhibiting her charm, which hung from a chain round her neck. "I never +am lucky, so I thought I'd try what this would do for me for once. I +know English history beautifully down to the end of Queen Anne, and no +further, and if they set any questions on the Georges I'll be stumped."</p> + +<p>"I've learnt Africa, but Asia would floor me!" observed another, looking +up from a geography book, in which she was making a last desperate +clutch at likely items of knowledge. "I never can remember which side of +India Madras is on; I get it hopelessly mixed with Bombay."</p> + +<p>"I wish to goodness they'd go ahead and begin," mourned the owner of the +red hair-ribbon. "It's this waiting that knocks the spirit out of me. +Patience isn't my pet virtue. I call it cruelty to animals to leave us +on tenter-hooks."</p> + +<p>Almost as if in answer to her pathetic appeal the door opened, and a +teacher appeared. In a brisk, business-like manner she marshaled the +candidates into line, and conducted them to the door of the +head-mistress' study, where one by one they were admitted for a brief +private interview. Winona's turn came about the middle of the row.</p> + +<p>"Pass in: as quickly as you can, please!" commanded the teacher, +motioning her onward.</p> + +<p>As Winona entered, she gave one hasty comprehensive glance round the +room, taking in a gen<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span>eral impression of books, busts and pictures, then +focussed her attention on the figure that sat at the desk. It was only +at a later date that she grasped any details of Miss Bishop's +personality; at that first meeting she realized nothing but the pair of +compelling blue eyes that drew her forward like a magnet.</p> + +<p>"Your name?"</p> + +<p>"Winona Woodward."</p> + +<p>"Age?"</p> + +<p>"Fifteen."</p> + +<p>"Residence?"</p> + +<p>"Highfield, Ashbourne, near Great Marston."</p> + +<p>"How long have you lived in the county of Rytonshire?"</p> + +<p>"Ever since I was born."</p> + +<p>Miss Bishop hastily ticked off these replies on a page of her ledger, +and handed Winona a card.</p> + +<p>"This will admit you to the examination room. Remember that instead of +putting your name at the head of your papers, you are to write the +number given you on your card. Any candidate writing her own name will +be disqualified. Next girl!"</p> + +<p>It was all over in two minutes. Winona seemed hardly to have entered the +room before she was out again.</p> + +<p>"Move on, please!" said the teacher, marshaling the little crowd round +the door. "Will those who have seen Miss Bishop kindly go along the +corridor."</p> + +<p>Several girls who had been standing in a knot made a sudden bolt, and +pushed their fellows forward. Somebody jogged Winona's elbow. Her<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span> card +slid from her grasp and fell on to the ground. As she bent in the crush +to pick it up, the ruddy-haired girl stooped on a like errand.</p> + +<p>"Dropped mine too! Clumsy, isn't it?" she laughed. "Hope we've got our +own! What was your number?"</p> + +<p>"I hadn't time to look."</p> + +<p>"Well, I'm sure mine was eleven, so that's all right. I wish you luck! +Won't we just be glad when it's over, rather!"</p> + +<p>At the further end of the corridor was a door with a notice pinned on to +it. "Examination for County Scholarships." A mistress stood there, and +scrutinized each girl's card as she entered, directing her to a seat in +the room marked with the corresponding number. Winona walked rather +solemnly to the desk labeled 10. The great ordeal was at last about to +begin. She wondered what would be the end of it. Little thrills of +nervousness seemed running down her back like drops from a shower-bath. +Her hands were trembling. With a great effort she pulled herself +together.</p> + +<p>"It's no use funking!" she thought. "I'll make as good a shot as I can +at things, and if I fail—well, I shall have plenty of companions in +misfortune, at any rate!"</p> + +<p>A pile of foolscap paper with red-ruled margins, a clean sheet of white +blotting paper, and a penholder with a new nib lay ready. Each of the +other twenty victims was surveying a supply of similar material. On the +blackboard was chalked the word "Silence."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span></p> + +<p>In a dead hush the candidates sat and waited. Exactly on the stroke of +nine Miss Bishop entered and handed a sheaf of printed questions to the +teacher in charge, who distributed them round the room. The subject for +the first hour was arithmetic. Winona read over her paper slowly. She +felt capable of managing it, all except the last two problem sums, which +were outside her experience. She knew it would mainly be a question of +accuracy.</p> + +<p>"I'll work them each twice if I've only time," she thought, starting at +number one.</p> + +<p>An hour is after all only made up of sixty minutes, and these seemed to +fly with incredible rapidity. The teacher on the platform had sternly +reproved a girl guilty of counting aloud in an agitated whisper, +threatening instant expulsion for a repetition of such an offense, but +with this solitary exception nobody transgressed the rules. All sat +quietly absorbed in their work, and an occasional rustle of paper or +scratch of a pen were the only sounds audible. At precisely five minutes +to ten the deity on the platform sounded a bell, and ordered papers to +be put together. She collected them, handed them to another mistress, +then without any break proceeded to deal out the questions for the next +hour's examination. This was in geography, and here Winona was not on +such sure ground. Granted that you are acquainted with certain rules in +arithmetic, it is always possible to work out problems, but it needed +more knowledge than she possessed to write answers to the riddles that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span> +confronted her. She had never heard of "The Iron Gates," could not place +Alcona and Altona, was hazy as to the whereabouts of the Mourne +Mountains, and utterly unable to draw an accurate map of the Balkan +States. She scored a little on Canada, for she had learnt North America +last term at Miss Harmon's, but with Australia and New Zealand she was +imperfectly acquainted. She wrote away, getting hotter and hotter as she +realized her deficiencies, winding up five minutes before the time +allotted, in a flushed and decidedly inky condition.</p> + +<p>At eleven a short interval was allowed, and the candidates thankfully +adjourned. Outside in the corridor they compared notes.</p> + +<p>"Well, of all detestable papers this geography one is the limit!" +declared an aggrieved voice.</p> + +<p>It was the girl who had said that she always mixed Madras and Bombay, +and who had studied her text-book up to the last available moment. +Apparently her eleventh hour industry had not sufficed to tide her over +her difficulties.</p> + +<p>"It was catchy in parts," agreed the owner of the swastika, "but I liked +one or two questions. I just happened to know them, so I bowled ahead. +That's what comes of wearing a mascot!"</p> + +<p>"Don't crow too soon!" laughed the girl with the fair pigtail. +"Remember, there are four other exams. to follow. Your luck may leave +you at any moment."</p> + +<p>"Don't mention more exams.! I feel inclined to turn tail and run home!" +declared another.</p> + +<p>"There's the bell! Don't give us much time, do<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span> they? Now for the torture +chamber again! Brace your nerves!"</p> + +<p>"I wonder if most of them have done better or worse than I have!" +thought Winona, as she took her seat once more at No. 10 desk. "A good +many were grumbling, but that sandy-haired girl in the spectacles said +nothing. No more did the one with the red hair-ribbon. Of course they +might be feeling too agonized for words, but on the other hand they +might be secretly congratulating themselves."</p> + +<p>It was not the moment, however, for speculation as to her neighbors' +progress. The next set of questions was being distributed, and she took +up her copy eagerly. Her heart fell as she read it over. Her knowledge +of English history was not very accurate, and the facts demanded were +for the most part exactly those which she could not remember. The dread +of failure loomed up large. She could only attempt about half of the +questions, and even in these she was not ready with dates. Then suddenly +Percy's advice flashed into her mind. "Write from a romantic standpoint, +and make your paper sound poetical." It seemed rather a forlorn hope, +and she feared it would scarcely satisfy her examiners, but in such a +desperate situation anything was worth trying. Winona possessed a +certain facility in essay writing. Prose composition had been her +favorite lesson at Miss Harmon's. She collected her wits now, and did +the very utmost of which she was capable in the matter of style. +Choosing question No. 4, "Write a life of Lady Jane Grey," she proceeded +to treat the subject in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span> as post-impressionist a manner as possible. The +pathetic tragedy of the young Queen had always appealed to her +imagination, and she could have had no more congenial a theme upon which +to write, if she had been given free choice of all the characters in the +history book.</p> + +<p>"'Whom the gods love die young,'" she began, and paused. It seemed an +excellent opening, if she could only continue in the same strain, but +what ought to come next? Her thoughts flew to a painting of Lady Jane +Grey, which she had once seen at a loan collection of Tudor portraits. +Why should she not describe it? Her pen flew rapidly as she wrote a +word-picture of the sweet, pale face, so round and childish in spite of +its earnest expression; the smooth yellow hair, the gray eyes bent +demurely over the book. Her heroine seemed beginning to live. Now for +her surroundings. A year ago Winona had paid a visit to Hampton Court, +and her remembrance of its associations was still keen and vivid. She +described its old-world garden by the side of the Thames, where the +little King Edward VI. must often have roamed with his pretty cousin +Jane: the two wonderful ill-starred children, playing for a brief hour +in happy unconsciousness of the fate that faced them. What did they talk +about, she asked, as they stood on the paved terrace and watched the +river hurrying by? Plato, perchance, and his philosophy, or the +marvelous geography-book with woodcuts of foreign beasts that had been +specially printed for the young king's use. Did they compare notes about +their tutors? Jane would<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span> certainly hold a brief for her much-loved Mr. +Elmer, who, in sharp contrast to her parents' severity, taught her so +gently and patiently that she grudged the time which was not spent in +his presence. Edward might bemoan the ill-luck of his whipping-boy, who +had to bear the floggings which Court etiquette denied to the royal +shoulders, and perhaps would declare that when he was grown up, and +could make the laws himself, no children should be beaten for badly said +lessons, and Jane would agree with him, and then they would pick the red +damask roses that Cardinal Wolsey had planted, and walk back under the +shadow of the clipped yew hedge to eat cherries and junket in the room +that looked out towards the sunset.</p> + +<p>Winona had warmed to her work. Her imagination, always her strongest +faculty, completely carried her away. She pictured her heroine's life, +not from the outside, as historians would chronicle it, a mere string of +events and dates, but from the inner view of a girl's standpoint. Did +Jane wish to leave her Plato for the bustle of a Court? Did she care for +the gay young husband forced upon her by her ambitious parents? Surely +for her gentle nature a crown held few allurements. The clouds were +gathering thick and fast, and burst in a waterspout of utter ruin. +Jane's courage was calm and hopeful as that of Socrates in the dialogues +she had loved.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span></p><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i4">"... your soul was pure and true,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The good stars met in your horoscope,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Made you of spirit, fire and dew."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>quoted Winona enthusiastically. Browning always stirred her blood, and +threw her into poetical channels. She cast about in her mind for any +other appropriate verses.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Ah, broken is the golden bowl, the spirit gone for ever,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Let the bell toll—a saintly soul floats on the Stygian river.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Come, let the burial rite be read—the funeral song be sung,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">An anthem for the queenliest dead that ever died so young,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A dirge for her, the doubly dead, in that she died so young."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>"So they finished their foul deed, and laid her to rest," wrote Winona, +"the earthly part, that is, which perishes, for the true part of her +they could not touch. Farewell, sweet innocent soul, of whom the world +was not worthy. To you surely may apply Andre de Chénier's tender lines:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"'Au banquet de la vie à peine commencé<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Un instant seulement mes lèvres out pressé<br /></span> +<span class="i0">La coupe en mes mains encore pleine.'<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Vale, little Queen! May it be well with thee! Ave atque vale!"</p> + +<p>Winona glanced anxiously at the clock as with a hard breath she paused +for a moment and laid down her pen. Her theme had taken her so long that +she had only ten minutes left for the other questions. There was no +romantic side to be expressed in these, so she scribbled away +half-heartedly. Her uncertain memory, which had readily supplied +quotations from Browning or Edgar Allan Poe, struck altogether when +asked for such sordid details as the names of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span> the Cabal ministry, or +the history of the Long Parliament. The bell rang, and left her with her +paper only half finished. At one o'clock the candidates were given an +hour's rest, and a hot lunch was served to them in the dining-hall. At +two they returned to their desks, and the examination continued until +half-past four. Winona found the questions tolerable. She did fairly, +but not at all brilliantly. Her brains were not accustomed to such +long-sustained efforts, and as the afternoon wore on, a neuralgic +headache began, and sent sharp throbs of pain across her forehead. It +was so irksome to write pages of Latin or French verbs; she had to +summon all her courage to make herself do it. The last hour seemed an +interminable penance.</p> + +<p>At half-past four, twenty-one rather dispirited candidates filed from +the room.</p> + +<p>"Well, thank goodness it's over! I never want to write another word in +my life. My hand's stiff with cramp!" exclaimed the girl with the red +hair-ribbon to a sympathetic audience in the passage.</p> + +<p>"It was awful! I didn't answer half the questions. My swastika isn't +worth its salt. I shall give it away!" mourned the owner of the mascot.</p> + +<p>"They expected us to know so very much; we should be absolute +encyclopaedias if we had all that pat off at our fingers' ends!" sighed +the girl with the fair pigtail.</p> + +<p>"How did you get on?" Winona asked the ruddy-haired girl, who was wiping +her spectacles nervously.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I don't know. It's so hard to tell. I answered most of the +questions, but of course I can't<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span> say whether they're right or wrong. +Wasn't the Latin translation just too horrible? I yearned for a +dictionary. And some of the French grammar questions were absolute +catches!"</p> + +<p>"We went on too long," said Winona. "It would have been much better to +spread the exam, over two days."</p> + +<p>"Do you think so? I'd rather have 'sudden death' myself. It's such a +relief to feel it's finished. It would be wretched to have to begin +again to-morrow. I hardly slept a wink last night for thinking about it. +I'm going to try and forget it now."</p> + +<p>Winona nodded good-by to her fellow candidates, and took her leave. How +many of them would she see again, she wondered, and which among all the +number would have the luck?</p> + +<p>"Certainly not myself," she thought ruefully. "I know my papers weren't +up to standard. I believe that red-haired girl will be one. She looked +clever!"</p> + +<p>Winona had spent the preceding night with Aunt Harriet, who offered to +keep her until the result of the examination should be published, but +the prospect of spending a week of suspense at Abbey Close was so +formidable, that she had begged to be allowed to return home, excusing +herself on the plea that she would like to be with Percy during the +remainder of his holidays. It was a very subdued Winona who reached +Highfield next afternoon.</p> + +<p>"Hello, Tiddleywinks! You've lost the starch out of you!" Percy greeted +her. "Did they say they wouldn't have you at any price?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span></p> + +<p>"The result won't be out till the fifteenth, but I expect I've failed," +answered Winona gloomily.</p> + +<p>"Buck up, young 'un! Look at yours truly! I fail nine times out of ten, +and do I take it to heart?"</p> + +<p>Winona laughed in spite of herself. Percy's complacency over small +achievements was proverbial. But she had higher ambitions, and the cloud +of depression soon settled down again. Her temper, not always her strong +point, displayed a degree of irritability that drove her family to the +verge of mutiny.</p> + +<p>"Really, Winona, I don't remember you so fractious since you were +cutting your teeth!" complained her much-tried mother.</p> + +<p>The days dragged slowly by. Winona had never before realized that each +hour could hold so many minutes. On the morning of the 15th she came +down to breakfast with dark rings round her eyes.</p> + +<p>"I shall be glad to be put out of my misery!" she thought, as the +postman's rap-tap sounded at the door.</p> + +<p>Mamie made a rush for the letter-box, and returned bearing a foolscap +envelope addressed to:</p> + + +<p style="text-align: center"><span style="margin-left: 17.5em;"><span class="smcap">Miss Winona Woodward,</span></span><br /></p> +<p style="text-align: center"><span style="margin-left: 22.5em;">Highfield,</span><br /></p> +<p style="text-align: center"><span style="margin-left: 25em;">Ashbourne,</span><br /></p> +<p style="text-align: center"><span style="margin-left: 26em;">nr. Great Marston.</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>Winona opened it with trembling fingers. But as she read, her face +flushed and her eyes sparkled.</p> + +<p>"I have much pleasure in informing you" (so ran the letter) "that the +Governors of the Seaton High School have decided to award you a +Scholarship tenable for two years...."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span></p> + +<p>In silence she passed the paper to her mother.</p> + +<p>"Congratulations, dear child!" cried Mrs. Woodward, clapping her hands. +"It's the unexpected that happens!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, my goodness!" ejaculated Percy. "You never mean to tell me that +Tiddleywinks has actually been and gone and won!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III</h2> + +<h3>Seaton High School</h3> + + +<p>The autumn term at Seaton High School began on September 22nd. On the +21st Winona set forth with great flourish of trumpets, feeling more or +less of a heroine. To have been selected for a scholarship among +twenty-one candidates was a distinction that even Aunt Harriet would +admit. In the brief interval pending her departure, her home circle had +treated her with a respect they had never before accorded her.</p> + +<p>"I hope you'll do well, child," said her mother, half proud and half +tearful when it came to the parting. "We shall miss you here, but when +you get on yourself you must help the younger ones. I shall look to you +to push them on in life."</p> + +<p>There is a certain satisfaction in the knowledge that you are considered +the prop of the family. Winona's eyes glowed. In imagination she was +already Principal of a large school, and providing posts as assistant +mistresses for Letty, Mamie and Doris, that is to say unless she turned +her attention to medicine, but in that case she could be head of a +Women's Hospital, and have them as house surgeons or dispensers, or +something else equally distinguished and profitable. It might even be +possible to provide occupation for Godfrey or Ernie, though this was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span> +likely to prove a tougher job than placing the girls. With such a +brilliant beginning, the future seemed an easy walk-over.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Woodward was exulting over the fact that she had engaged Miss Jones +when she did, and that Winona's school clothes were all made and +finished. There had been a fluster at the last, when it was discovered +that her mackintosh was fully six inches too short for her new skirts, +and that she had outgrown her thick boots, but a hurried visit to Great +Marston had remedied these deficiencies, and the box was packed to +everybody's satisfaction. There was a universal feeling in the family +that such an outfit could not fail to meet with Aunt Harriet's approval. +The first sight of the nightdress case and the brush-and-comb bag must +wring admiration from her. They had been bought at a bazaar, and were +altogether superior to those in daily use. As for the handkerchief case, +Letty had decided that unless one equally well embroidered were +presented to her on her next birthday, she would be obliged to assert +her individuality by showing temper.</p> + +<p>Winona walked into the dressing-room of the High School on September +22nd with a mixture of shyness and importance. On the whole the latter +predominated. It was a trifle embarrassing to face so many strangers, +but it was something to have won a scholarship. She wondered who was the +other fortunate candidate.</p> + +<p>"I expect it will be that red-haired girl with the spectacles," she +thought. "I believe she answered every question, though she was rather +quiet about it."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span></p> + +<p>She looked round, but could not see the ruddy locks, nor indeed any of +the companions who had taken the examination with her.</p> + +<p>"Hunting for some one you know?" asked a girl who had appropriated the +next hook to hers.</p> + +<p>"Yes, at least I'm not sure whether she'll be here or not. I believe her +name's Marjorie Kaye."</p> + +<p>"Never heard of her!"</p> + +<p>"There are heaps of new girls," volunteered another who stood by.</p> + +<p>"I wondered if she'd won a County Scholarship," added Winona.</p> + +<p>"Ask me a harder! I tell you I've never heard her name before."</p> + +<p>"I've won the other scholarship."</p> + +<p>Winona's voice was intended to sound very casual.</p> + +<p>"Indeed!"</p> + +<p>Her neighbor was taking off her boots, and did not seem as much +impressed as the occasion merited.</p> + +<p>"Oh! so you're one of the 'outlanders,'" sniggered another. "It's a sort +of 'go into the highways and hedges and compel them to come in' +business."</p> + +<p>"I suppose we shall be having Council School Scholarships next!" drawled +a third.</p> + +<p>They were friends, and went off together without another glance at +Winona. She followed soberly, wondering what she ought to do next. She +had a vague idea that the winner of a scholarship should present herself +at the Head Mistress' study to receive a few words of encouragement and +congratulation on her success. At the top of the stairs she met the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span> +mistress who had presided over the examination. The latter greeted her +unceremoniously.</p> + +<p>"Winona Woodward, you've been placed in <span class="smcap">V.a.</span>, first room to the +right, round the corner. You'll find the number on the door."</p> + +<p>Other girls were hurrying in the same direction. Winona entered with +what seemed to her quite a small crowd. Everybody appeared to know where +to go, except herself. She stood in such evident hesitation that one, +more good-natured than the rest, remarked:</p> + +<p>"You'd better seize on any desk you fancy, as quick as you can. They're +getting taken up fast, if you want a front one!"</p> + +<p>Winona slid into the nearest seat at hand, and appropriated it by +placing her note-book, pencil-box, ruler, atlas and dictionaries inside +the desk.</p> + +<p>The room was filling quickly. Every moment fresh arrivals hurried in and +took their places. Marjorie Kaye was nowhere to be seen, but in the +second row sat the dark-eyed girl with the red ribbon in her hair. She +turned round and nodded pleasantly.</p> + +<p>"So she's got the other scholarship!" thought Winona. "I shouldn't have +expected it. I'd have staked my reputation on the sandy-haired one. +Well, I suppose her answers weren't correct, after all. I'm rather glad +on the whole it's this girl; she looks jolly."</p> + +<p>At that moment Miss Huntley, the form mistress, entered and took the +call-over, and the day's work began. Each girl was given a time-table +and a list of the books she would require, and after that, class<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span> +succeeded class until one o'clock, with a ten minutes' interval for +lunch at eleven. The conclusion of the morning left Winona with a +profound respect for High School methods. After the easy-going routine +of Miss Harmon's it was like stepping into a new educational world. She +supposed she would be able to keep pace with it when she got her books, +but the mathematics, at any rate, were much more advanced than what she +had before attempted. As she walked down the corridor, the girl with the +red hair-ribbon overtook her, and claimed acquaintance.</p> + +<p>"So you're Winona Woodward? And I'm Garnet Emerson. We had the luck, +after all! I'm sure I never expected to win. It was the greatest +surprise to me when the letter arrived. Yes, five of the other +candidates are at school, but they've been put in <span class="smcap">IV.a.</span>, and +<span class="smcap">IV.b.</span> Marjorie Kaye? You mean that girl in spectacles? No, +she's not come. I heard her say that if she didn't win she was to be +sent somewhere else. Where are you staying? With an aunt? I'm with a +second cousin. She's nice, but I wish they'd open a hostel; it would be +topping to be with a heap of others, wouldn't it? We'd get up acting in +the evenings, and all sorts of fun. Well, perhaps that may come later +on. I shall see you this afternoon, shan't I?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, I'm coming for my books. It's too late to stop and get them now."</p> + +<p>Afternoon attendance at the High School was not nominally compulsory. +All the principal subjects were taken in the morning, but there were +classes for drawing, singing or physical culture from half-past<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span> two +until four, and practically very few girls had more than one free +afternoon in a week. Any who liked might do preparation in their own +form room, and many availed themselves of the permission, especially +those who came from a distance, and stayed for dinner at the school. +When Winona first examined her time-table she had not considered its +demands excessively formidable, but before she had been a week at Seaton +she began to realize that she would have very few spare moments to call +her own. Miss Bishop believed in girls being fully occupied, and in +addition to the ordinary form work, expected every one to take part in +the games, and in the numerous societies and guilds which had been +instituted. Winona found that she was required to join the Debating +Club, and the Patriotic Knitting Guild, while a Dramatic Society and a +Literary Association would be prepared to open their doors to her if she +proved worthy of admission. So far, however, she considered that she had +enough on her hands. The demands of her new life were almost +overwhelming, and she lived from day to day in a whirl of fresh +experiences. It took her some time even to grasp the names of the +seventeen other girls in her form. Audrey Redfern, her left-hand +neighbor, was friendly, but Olave Parry, at the desk in front, ignored +her very existence. She gathered that Audrey, like herself, was a +new-comer, while Olave had attended the school since its foundation; but +she did not realize the significance of this in the difference of their +behavior to her. The fact was that the three new girls in the form were +on proba<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span>tion. The others, who had come up from the Lower School, and +were well versed in the traditions of the place, were not willing to +admit them too quickly into favor. They talked them over in private.</p> + +<p>"Audrey Redfern seems a decent enough little soul," said Estelle +Harrison. "There's really nothing offensive about her, to my mind. +Garnet Emerson I rather like. I fancy she could be jolly. I'm going to +speak to her in a day or two, but not too soon."</p> + +<p>"What do you think of Winona Woodward?" queried Bessie Kirk.</p> + +<p>"Much too big an opinion of herself. Began bragging about her +scholarship first thing. She needs sitting upon, to my mind."</p> + +<p>"She's pretty!"</p> + +<p>"Yes, and she knows it, too!"</p> + +<p>"Well, she can't help knowing it. I call her most striking looking. Her +eyes are lovely, though I never can make out whether they're dark gray +or hazel under those long lashes. Her hair's just the color of bronze, +and such a lot of it! It beats Joyce Newton's hollow; besides, Joyce has +absolutely white eyelashes."</p> + +<p>"Like a pig's!" laughed Hilda Langley. "I agree with you that Winona's +pretty, but I don't think she'll ever be a chum of mine, all the same."</p> + +<p>The result of the stand-off attitude on the part of the rest of the form +was the cementing of a close friendship between Winona and Garnet. It +seemed natural for the holders of the two County Scholarships to become +chums, also they found each other's society congenial. It marked a new +epoch for Wi<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span>nona. She had had few friends of her own age. She had been +the eldest pupil at Miss Harmon's small school, and her sisters were so +much younger than herself that their interests were on a different plane +to her own. Garnet, with her merry brown eyes, eager and enthusiastic +nature, and amusing tongue, seemed a revelation.</p> + +<p>The two girls spent every available moment together, and soon waxed +confidential on the subject of their home affairs.</p> + +<p>"We're all named after precious stones," said Garnet. "Pearl, my eldest +sister, is classics mistress at a school; Jacinthe is studying for a +health visitor, Ruby is at a Horticultural College, and Beryl is +secretary at a Settlement. Aren't there a lot of us? All girls too, and +not a single brother. I'm the baby of the family! I'd like to go to +Holloway, if I can get a scholarship, but that remains to be seen. +Meanwhile two years at the High's not so bad, is it? I expect I'm going +to enjoy it. Aren't you?"</p> + +<p>"Yes—perhaps. If the rest of the form were nicer, I might."</p> + +<p>"Oh, they'll come round! We can't expect them to take us to their bosoms +straight off! We're goods on approval."</p> + +<p>"We've as much right here as they have!" grunted Winona.</p> + +<p>"But they were here first, and of course that always counts for +something. We shall have to show that we're worth our salt before we get +any footing in the form. The question is how best to do it."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span></p> + +<p>Winona shook her head. It was beyond her comprehension.</p> + +<p>"I had a few tips from Jacinthe," ruminated Garnet. "She was Captain the +last year she was at school, so she ought to know. You see, we've to +steer between Scylla and Charybdis. We mustn't push ourselves forward +too violently, or they'll call us cheeky, but on the other hand, if +we're content to take a back seat, we may stay there for the rest of the +term. Comprenez vous? It's a matter of seizing one's chance. I've an +idea floating about in my mind. Do you happen to be anything extra +special at singing, or reciting, or acting?"</p> + +<p>"I haven't had much practice at acting, but I can play the guitar. +Mummie taught me. She lived in Spain for three years when she was a +girl, and learnt there."</p> + +<p>"The very thing! How perfectly splendid! I play the mandoline myself, +and the two go so well together. Did you bring your guitar with you?"</p> + +<p>"No. I didn't think I should have any time for it."</p> + +<p>"But you could write for it, couldn't you?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes! Mummie would send it to me."</p> + +<p>"Well, this is my idea. You know next week there's to be a big general +meeting of the whole school to choose a Games Captain. So far the games +department here is rather in its infancy. I've been making enquiries, +and there isn't such a thing as a form trophy. There certainly ought to +be, to spur on enthusiasm. I'm going to pluck up my courage, tackle one +or two members of the Sixth, and suggest that after the meeting we hold +a sing-song, and take<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span> a collection to provide a form trophy. I don't +believe anybody's ever thought of it."</p> + +<p>"Ripping! But what exactly is a sing-song?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, just an informal concert. I thought if you and I played the +mandoline and guitar together, it would make a good item. I see two of +the prefects coming along over there, I believe I'll go and ask them."</p> + +<p>"I admire your courage!"</p> + +<p>Garnet returned in a few minutes, tolerably well satisfied with her +mission.</p> + +<p>"I believe the idea will catch on," she announced. "Of course I couldn't +expect them to say 'yes' immediately. They were very cautious, and said +they would put it to the form. I've sown the seed at any rate, and we +must wait for developments."</p> + +<p>Apparently Garnet's proposition proved acceptable to the Sixth, for the +very next day a notice was pinned on the board in the hall:<br /><br /></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"There will be a General Meeting of the School on Tuesday, +October 4th, at 3 p.m., for the purpose of electing a Games +Captain.</p> + +<p>"The meeting will be followed by a Symposium, when a collection +will be taken, the proceeds of which will be devoted to the +purchase of a form trophy.</p> + +<p>"Performers kindly submit their names without delay to M. +HOWELL, as the program is being made up."<br /><br /></p></div> + +<p>Garnet was one of the first to read the notice, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span> she started off at +once to the Sixth Form room. She sought out Winona on her return.</p> + +<p>"So my little scheme's come off!" she beamed. "You bet the Sixth will +take all the credit for evolving it, but I don't care! I've put our +names down for a mandoline and guitar duet, and said we'd be ready to +help with any accompaniments they like. Meg Howell just jumped at that. +It seems Patricia Marshall and Clarice Nixon are going to sing a Christy +Minstrel song, and she thought our instruments would add to the effect +no end. I tell you we shall score. Did you write for your guitar?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, I expect it will be sent off to-day."</p> + +<p>"Then we must begin and practice. I've got a topping duet that's quite +easy. Can you come home with me after school to-morrow for half an hour +or so? I know my cousins will be glad to see you. Then we might try over +one or two things, and see how they go."</p> + +<p>"It will be all right if I tell Aunt Harriet I shall be late," agreed +Winona.</p> + +<p>The instrument arrived the same evening, so she was able to keep her +promise to Garnet next day. Fortunately they had only one class that +afternoon, and were able to leave school at half-past three. Garnet's +cousins lived within a short tramcar ride. They were musical people, and +sympathized with her project. Garnet led Winona into the drawing-room, +and began without waste of time.</p> + +<p>"Let me look at your guitar! Oh, what a beauty! What's the label inside? +Juan Da Costa, Seville! Then it must be Spanish. I suppose they're the +best.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span> My mandoline's Italian; it was made in Milan. We must tune them +together, mustn't we? Can you read well? This is the book of duets. I +thought this Barcarolle would be easy, it has such a lovely swing about +it. Here's the guitar part."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV</h2> + +<h3>The Symposium</h3> + + +<p>By the aid of diligent practicing in private, and several rehearsals at +Garnet's house, the girls at last got their duet to run smoothly. Garnet +was frankly pleased.</p> + +<p>"The two instruments go so nicely together! A mandoline's ever so much +better played with a guitar accompaniment than with the piano. I say, +suppose we were to get an encore!"</p> + +<p>"I don't suppose anything of the sort."</p> + +<p>"Don't be too modest. It's as well to be prepared."</p> + +<p>"I'm not going to practice anything more, so I warn you."</p> + +<p>"Well, take something you know, from your own book. This song. I could +play the air very softly on the mandoline, and we'd both sing it. That +won't give you any extra trouble."</p> + +<p>"It isn't the trouble so much as the state of my fingers. They're +getting sore. If I let a blister come, I shan't be able to play at all."</p> + +<p>"Then for goodness' sake don't play any more to-day, and soak your +fingers in alum when you get home."</p> + +<p>The general meeting on Tuesday was a very important event, for it marked +the opening of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span> winter session of games and guilds. During the first +week or ten days of the autumn term the girls had enough to do in +settling into the work of their new forms, but now October was come +everybody began to think about hockey, and to consider the advisability +of beginning rehearsals for various Christmas performances.</p> + +<p>"I always hate the end of September," proclaimed Grace Olliver. "It's so +fine, and the geraniums are still so fresh in the park, that you're +deceived into thinking it's still summer, yet when you try to play +tennis, you find the courts horrible, and you cut up the grass in half +an hour. I'm glad when the leaves all come off, and you know it's +autumn, and you look up your hockey jersey, and think what sport you had +last winter over 'The Dramatic.' I'm fond enough of cricket, but I'd +really rather have winter than summer. On the whole, there's more going +on."</p> + +<p>"I'm glad Margaret Howell's head of the school," replied Evelyn +Richards. "She's A1 at all the guilds, though I don't think she's much +chance of being elected Games Captain."</p> + +<p>"All the better. It's quite enough for Margaret to act head. She's good +enough at that, I admit. Makes an ideal president. But a girl who's +literary isn't generally sporty as well. It stands to reason she can't +do both properly."</p> + +<p>"Meg doesn't want to be Games Captain; it's not in her line," +volunteered Beatrice, Margaret's younger sister. "She told me to tell +you all to vote for Kirsty Paterson."</p> + +<p>"Kirsty's topping!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span></p> + +<p>"What's this Symposium we're to have after the meeting?" asked Grace.</p> + +<p>"Why, I don't exactly know," laughed Evelyn. "I looked 'symposium' up in +the dictionary, and it said: 'literally a drinking together; a merry +feast; a convivial party.' I don't know what we're going to drink, +unless we bring lemon kali and pass it round, like they used to do the +loving cup in the Middle Ages!"</p> + +<p>"I suppose it'll be just a kind of concert. But how about the +collection? What are we supposed to give?"</p> + +<p>"Anything you like, from a penny upwards," replied Beatrice. "Meg +calculated that two hundred and six pennies would be seventeen and +twopence, and some girls will probably give more, so she thinks we're +sure of a sovereign, and that ought to buy a decent trophy, something to +begin upon, at any rate. One must make a start."</p> + +<p>"Right you are! A penny won't break the banks of even the First Form +babes, and millionaires can give their half-crowns, if they're so +disposed!"</p> + +<p>Punctually at 3 p.m. on the following Tuesday, the whole school +assembled in the gymnasium. No mistress was present, for on occasions +such as this Miss Bishop believed in self-government. She could trust +her head girl and prefects, and had armed them with full authority. +Winona anticipated the meeting with excitement and curiosity. It was +altogether outside her experience. She had never in her life attended +such a function. Garnet, whose elder sisters had been at large schools, +had sketched an<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span> outline of what was likely to take place, but even +Garnet's information was second-hand. Though she had now been exactly a +fortnight at Seaton, Winona still felt more or less of a new-comer. She +had hardly spoken to any one outside her own form, and knew the names of +comparatively few of her two hundred and five schoolfellows. Without +Garnet she would have been quite at a loss how to steer her course in +this great ocean of school life; she thankfully accepted her friend as +pilot, and for the present was content to follow her lead. The two girls +presented themselves in the gymnasium in good time, and took their seats +among the other members of <span class="smcap">V.a.</span> The front bench was occupied by +a row of ten-year-olds who had come up this term from the Preparatory, +and who sat squeezing each others' arms, highly impressed with the +importance of their remove. Behind them Form II., a giggling crew rather +more <i>au fait</i> with the ways of the school, effervesced occasionally +into excited squeals, and were instantly suppressed by a prefect. The +Third and Fourth, which comprised the bulk of the girls from twelve to +fifteen, occupied the middle of the hall, a lively, self-confident and +rather obstreperous set, all at that awkward age which is anxious to +claim privileges, but not particularly ready to submit to the authorized +code. Every one of them was talking at the extreme pitch of her voice, +and the noise was considerable. Patricia Marshall and Clarice Nixon +looked at each other and frowned ominously, but as the hands of the big +clock pointed almost to three, they judged it better not to interfere, +and the din continued.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span></p> + +<p>At the stroke of the hour, Margaret Howell strode on to the platform. +She was a tall, fine-looking girl of seventeen, with bright hazel eyes, +regular features, and a thick brown plait that fell below her waist. Her +ready powers of speech, clear ringing voice, brisk decisive tone, and a +certain personal magnetism showed her to be that <i>rara avis</i>, a born +leader. It was fortunate indeed for the school that its headship this +year should have fallen to Margaret. The need for a firm but judicious +hand on the reins was great. During the two previous years of the +school's existence the self-government had been in a state of evolution. +For the first year, when everybody was new together, comparatively +little could be done. The school must find itself before it began to +form its private code of laws. In the second year ill-luck had raised to +the post of honor Ivy Chatterton, a clever but most untactful girl, +whose quick temper had brought her into constant collision with her +prefects. Many were the squalls which had swept over the school, of so +serious a nature sometimes as almost to wreck several of the guilds. The +younger girls, following the example of their elders, had quarreled +hotly, and indulged in an incredible amount of petty spite, and +altogether the current tone had been anything but desirable. Miss +Bishop, who had seen, to her sorrow, this downward trend, had welcomed +the advent of Margaret, believing her to have the ability to cope with +difficult situations, and at the same time to have the grit and +self-control not to allow her head to be turned by her elevation to +office.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span></p> + +<p>"You will have a great responsibility: I am giving you unusual power, +and I trust that you will make the highest use of it," she had said to +the girl, during a certain quiet ten minutes' talk in her study, and +Margaret had held herself very straight, and had answered: "I'll do my +level best, Miss Bishop!"</p> + +<p>All eyes were now fixed on the head girl as she stood in the center of +the platform, ringing the bell for silence. The clamor subsided as if by +magic, and in the midst of a dead hush she began her speech.</p> + +<p>"Girls! We've been back now for a whole fortnight—time for most of us +to shake down into our places, isn't it? The school year's fairly +started, and we've met together this afternoon to talk about a number of +things that are of very great importance to us all. You all know that a +school—to be worth anything—has two sides. There's the inside part, +with classes and prep. and exams.—what's generally called the +'curriculum'—that's managed by the mistresses. And there's the outside +part, the games and sports and concerts and guilds—that's run by the +girls themselves. Now I think, if we arrange well, we ought to be able +to look forward to three very jolly terms. Everything depends upon +making a good start. I've been getting to know how they manage in +several other big schools, and I propose that we frame our code by +theirs. What we want first of all is a feeling of unity and public +spirit. Each girl must make up her mind to do all she can to push on the +'Seaton High.' We want to win matches, and have a good sports record, +and generally build up a reputation. Slacking at games must be out of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span> +the question. Everybody must buck up all round. Those who aren't playing +themselves can show their interest by attending the matches. It makes +the greatest difference to an eleven to know that their own side is +watching their play, and ready to cheer them on. There's nothing so +forlorn and depressing as to see whole rows of the enemy's school hats +on the spectators' benches, and only half-a-dozen of one's own—yet +that's what happened when we played Harbury last spring. No wonder we +lost! I'm going to ask you presently to elect a Games Captain, and then +I want you to support her loyally for the whole of the year. Let her +feel that she can depend upon you, and that instead of getting together +scratch teams, her difficulty will be how to choose among so many crack +players. But as you know, games are not the whole of our business +to-day. We have our guilds to consider as well. I want to put these upon +a good and firm basis. Last winter we didn't quite know where we were +with them, did we? At present we have 'The Dramatic Society,' 'The +Debating Club,' 'The Literary Association,' and 'The Patriotic Knitting +Guild.' We might very well add a 'Photographic Union' and a 'Natural +History League.' They ought all to be run on the same lines. Each must +have a President, a Secretary, and a Committee of eight members, who +will undertake the business of the Society, and settle all its events. +Any difficulty or dispute must be referred to the Prefects' meeting, the +decision of which shall be final. Each guild must draw up a list of its +own rules; these must be submitted first to the Prefects, then, if +passed as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span> satisfactory, they must be written in the minutes book, and +strictly adhered to. I want you all to realize that this school is still +in its infancy. It's a baby of only two years! But a very promising +baby! It's we who are going to make its history. So far we can't say it +has had any annals; in the future it must show a whole splendid list of +achievements and successes. Years afterwards, when it's the most famous +school in the county, we shall be proud to have had the privilege of +taking our share in pushing it on, and our names may be handed down to +long generations of girls as those who founded its best traditions."</p> + +<p>Margaret paused, quite out of breath with her long speech. A storm of +applause rose from the audience; the girls clapped and stamped, a few +even cheered. Margaret had touched the right string. The idea of making +school history appealed to them, and they were ready to respond with +enthusiasm to her appeal. Even the ten-year-olds were eager to show +their zeal. Winona had never taken her eyes off the speaker. It was a +new gospel to her that she was one of the great community, bound to help +the common weal. The realization of it stirred her spirit; her +imagination danced ahead, and performed prodigies. Suppose she could do +something wonderful for the school, and leave her name as a memory to +others? The vision gleamed golden. It would be worth living to +accomplish that.</p> + +<p>"Not half a bad speech!" murmured Garnet approvingly by her side.</p> + +<p>Winona started, and came back from the clouds.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I think it's—just immense!" she answered with a long sigh of +admiration.</p> + +<p>Margaret was again ringing the bell for silence.</p> + +<p>"I'm glad to find you all agree with me," she announced. "Now I want us +to get solidly to business, and elect a Games Captain. You remember I +asked each to nominate a candidate, and I find that more than two-thirds +have handed in the same name—that of Kirsty Paterson. I therefore put +Kirsty up for election. It's only fair that I should first go over her +qualifications for the office. She was our best center forward last year +at hockey, and our best bowler at cricket. She's a thoroughly steady and +reliable player herself, and—this is most important—she's able to +train others. You know from experience that she's fair and just, and +she's tremendously keen. I feel sure that in her hands the games would +prosper, and we'd soon show some improvement. Will all those in favor of +electing Kirsty kindly stand up?"</p> + +<p>There was such a general rising among the girls that most presidents +would have considered the matter settled. Margaret, however, liked to do +things strictly in order.</p> + +<p>"Thanks I Will you please sit down again. Now those against the election +kindly stand."</p> + +<p>A certain section in the school had intended to vote against Kirsty, but +when they saw themselves so enormously outnumbered, they changed their +minds. To belong to a minority often means to be unpopular, and it is +wise to go with the stream. After all, Kirsty was a thoroughly eligible +and desirable<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span> candidate. So though a few neighbors elbowed each other, +nobody rose.</p> + +<p>Margaret waited a moment.</p> + +<p>"Do I understand that you're all in favor? Then the motion is carried +unanimously. I'm very glad, for I think Kirsty will make an ideal +captain. Let's give three cheers for her. Are you ready? Hip-hip-hip +hooray!"</p> + +<p>The girls responded with full lung power. Some even began to sing: "For +she's a jolly good fellow!" and there was a general outcry of "Speech! +Speech!" The blushing Kirsty—a bonny, rosy, athletic looking +lassie—was seized by her fellow prefects, and dragged, in spite of her +protests, to the front of the platform. Kirsty had been born north of +the Tweed, and in moments of excitement her pretty Scottish burr +asserted itself.</p> + +<p>"It's verra kind of you to elect me," she began. "I'm afraid I'm no hand +at making speeches. I preferr deeds to worrds. We'll all put ourr +shoulderrs to the wheel, and win forr the school, won't we? I hope we'll +have a splendid yearr!"</p> + +<p>At that she retired amidst rapturous applause. Margaret again rang the +bell for silence, and proceeded with the business of the meeting, which +was to elect the officers for the various societies and guilds. This +being satisfactorily settled, she turned to affairs of lighter moment.</p> + +<p>"I'm sure you'll all agree that it is very desirable for us to have a +form trophy, for hockey, at any rate. Perhaps by next summer we'll get +one for cricket as well. It will spur us on to have a little wholesome<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span> +competition amongst ourselves. As I announced on the notice board, we +are now going to give a short entertainment, at the close of which a +collection will be taken for the object I have just mentioned. I hate +begging, so give what you like, but of course it depends on your +generosity this afternoon what kind of a trophy we are able to buy. The +first item on our program is a piano solo by Hester King."</p> + +<p>Hester was one of the best music pupils in the school. She had a good +crisp touch and considerable execution, and led off the concert with a +sprightly tarantella. A violin solo followed, by Sibyl Lee, a member of +<span class="smcap">V.b.</span>, who was rather nervous, but acquitted herself fairly well +on the whole.</p> + +<p>"I thought I'd break down," she confided to her friends. "The sight of +all those eyes staring at me quite put me off. I don't wonder blind +musicians are generally successes, they can't see the audience. Well, +never mind, I've done my bit, at any rate!"</p> + +<p>The next on the list was a song from Annie Hardy. She had chosen "Keep +the Home Fires Burning," and rendered it with great effect, the whole +room joining with enthusiasm in the chorus. It took so well that there +were shouts of "Encore!" and Annie came back smiling to give "Khaki +Boys," which roused her audience to an even higher pitch of patriotic +fervor. A recitation, "Our Hockey Match," by Agnes Heath, was felt to be +particularly appropriate to the occasion. It was a very good "school +piece," humorous as well as exciting, and Agnes had enough dramatic +ability to do justice to it. Her own form in particular stamped lustily. +The prefects<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span> motioned her forward again, but she shook her head. The +clapping redoubled. Agnes, escorted to the front by Margaret, bowed and +announced:</p> + +<p>"Fearfully sorry not to oblige, but this is absolutely the only thing I +know, and it's too long to say all over again!"</p> + +<p>There was a general laugh, and the audience settled itself to enjoy the +next item on the program. Margaret was signaling to Winona and Garnet, +and the pair slipped from their places, and made their way to the +platform.</p> + +<p>"I'm all upset! I hope I shan't break down!" whispered Winona.</p> + +<p>"Nonsense! A duet's not so bad as a solo. You'll get on all right. Do +for goodness' sake brace up!" implored Garnet. "If you muddle your +accompaniment you'll spoil my part. You'll surely never go and fail me!"</p> + +<p>The instruments had been put under the piano. Patricia Marshall handed +them forth, and sounded the notes for them to be tuned. Clarice Nixon +was placing chairs and music-stands. Garnet was tolerably composed, but +Winona was suffering from a bad attack of that most unpleasant malady +"stage fright." She would have given worlds for a trapdoor in the +platform to open, and allow her to subside out of sight. No such +convenient arrangement, however, had been provided for the use of +bashful performers, the planks were solid, and guaranteed not to give +way under any circumstances. There was nothing for it but to take her +seat in full view of the audience. There were slightly over two hundred<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span> +girls in the room, but to Winona's fevered imagination there appeared to +be thousands. She wondered how she could ever have had the folly to +place herself in such a public situation. Garnet was sounding a few +notes and looking at her to begin. For one dreadful moment the room +whirled. Perhaps Margaret saw and understood; she laid her hand on +Winona's shaking arm, and whispered encouragingly:</p> + +<p>"Go on! Don't mind the audience. Just remember that you're playing for +the form trophy!"</p> + +<p>A sudden revulsion of feeling swept over Winona. All the school +patriotism aroused within her by Margaret's speech surged up to meet the +crisis. She was no longer an isolated atom, a girl fresh from home, and +on trial before the critical eyes of her new form, but a unit in the +great life of the school, bound to play her part for the good of the +whole, and specially pledged not to fail Garnet in this emergency. Self +faded in the larger vision. The color flooded back into her face. She +made a desperate effort, and struck the opening chords.</p> + +<p>As her friend had reminded her, a duet was quite a different matter from +a solo. Directly the mandoline part began, her confidence returned. She +tried to think that she was only playing an accompaniment for Garnet. +The piece was not difficult, it was in D, quite the easiest key for the +guitar, with very few accidentals or high positions. She took courage, +and struck her strings crisply, so that the tone rang out well. Her +instrument was a good one, very true and mellow, and her mother had +taught<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span> her the liquid Spanish touch which showed it to its best +advantage. Garnet also was doing her best. Her plectrum vibrated evenly +and rapidly, and the metallic twang, her gravest fault, was not nearly +so evident as usual. The audience, unfamiliar with these particular +instruments, was not hypercritical, and so long as the players kept well +together, and sounded no discords, their skill was judged to be +excellent. The Barcarolle had an attractive swing about it, and a +romantic suggestion of gondolas and lapping water and moonlight +serenades. As the last notes of the air on the mandoline died away, +Winona swept her thumb over the strings of her guitar in a tremendous +final chord. It had quite a magnificent and professional effect. There +was no mistake about the applause; it was simply clamorous.</p> + +<p>"Stand up and bow!" whispered Margaret, nudging the unaccustomed +performers. "That's right! Bow again! It's most clearly an encore. Have +you brought anything else with you? Good biz! Don't waste any more time, +then. We're rather late."</p> + +<p>The song that Winona had chosen was a bright little Irish ditty, with a +catchy tune and lively accompaniment. Garnet played the air softly on +the mandoline, and the two girls sang in unison, keeping strictly +together, and pronouncing very plainly, so that the point of the amusing +words should not be lost. The audience shrieked with laughter, and would +have demanded a further encore, had not Margaret pointed to the clock, +and shaken her head<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span> firmly. There were other items on the program and +time was going all too fast.</p> + +<p>Another violin solo, a recitation and a Highland fling followed; then +the concert wound up with a Christy Minstrel song from several members +of the Sixth. This last was the triumph of the afternoon. Patricia +prided herself on her preparations. She had placed a newspaper inside +the grand piano over the strings, and when the hammers struck against it +the effect of the accompaniment was exactly that of a banjo. She had +borrowed two sets of castanets, a pair of cymbals, and a triangle, and +with these loud-sounding instruments she and her companions emphasized +the chorus. Garnet and Winona helped with mandoline and guitar, so the +general result was quite orchestral. During the performance of this +chef-d'œuvre some of the prefects went round with collecting bags, +which were passed along the benches.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Come, my dark-eyed honey,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And help to spend my money,"<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>chanted the minstrels lustily, and the audience smiled at the +appropriateness of the words.</p> + +<p>It was felt that the Symposium had been an enormous success. The girls +were quite loath to leave, and dispersed slowly from the gymnasium. Many +eyes were turned on Winona and Garnet as they carried their instruments +down from the platform. "Who are they?" every one was asking, for so far +their names were not known outside their own form. "The two County +Scholarship holders,"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span> somebody replied, and the information was passed +on.</p> + +<p>Next morning, Margaret proudly posted up the result of the collection, +which amounted to £2 13<i>s.</i> 7<i>d.</i>—a very substantial sum in the +estimation of the school.</p> + +<p>"It ought to be sufficient to buy a cup!" she triumphed. "Miss Bishop +has promised to send for some catalogues, so that we can look up the +prices. We shall start the season well, at any rate. Kirsty's almost +ready to stand on her head! I never saw any one so elated!"</p> + +<p>"Except yourself!" smiled Patricia.</p> + +<p>"Cela va sans dire, camarade!"</p> + +<p>Garnet and Winona, walking down the High Street together after the +performance, also compared notes.</p> + +<p>"It was fine! I do admire Margaret. Mustn't it be splendid to be head of +the school?" sighed Garnet enviously.</p> + +<p>"Do you think so? Yes, I suppose it is, but if I had my choice, I'd a +dozen times over rather be Games Captain," answered Winona.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V</h2> + +<h3>Aunt Harriet</h3> + + +<p>It is high time now that we paused to consider a very important person +indeed in this story, namely Miss Harriet Beach, but for whose +invitation Winona would never have attended Seaton High School at all. +Aunt Harriet was what is generally known as "a character," that is to +say, she was possessed of a strong personality, and was decidedly +eccentric. Though her age verged on sixty she preserved the energy of +her thirties, and prided herself upon her physical fitness. She was +tall, with a high color, keen brown eyes, a large nose, a determined +mouth, and iron gray hair. In her youth she must have been handsome, and +even now her erect figure and dark, well-marked eyebrows gave her a +certain air of distinction. She was a most thoroughly capable woman, +reliable, and strongly philanthropic: not in a sentimental way, however; +she disapproved of indiscriminate almsgiving, and would have considered +it a crime to bestow a penny on a beggar without making a proper +investigation of his case. She was a tower of strength to most of the +charitable institutions in the city, a terror to the professional +pauper, but a real friend to the deserving. Her time was much occupied +with committees, secretarial duties, district visiting, workhouse +inspection and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span> other public interests. She was apt indeed to have more +than her share of civic business; her reputation for absolute +reliability caused people to get into the habit of saying "Oh, go to +Miss Beach!" on every occasion, and as she invariably proved the willing +horse, she justified the proverb and received the work in increased +proportions.</p> + +<p>Like most people, Aunt Harriet had her faults. She was apt to be a +trifle overbearing and domineering, she lacked patience with others' +weaknesses, and was too doctrinaire in her views. She tried very hard to +push the world along, but she forgot sometimes that "the mills of God +grind slowly," and that it is only after much waiting and many days that +the bread cast upon the waters returns to us. She prided herself on her +candor and lack of "humbug." Unfortunately, people who "speak their +minds" generally treat their hearers to a sample of their worst instead +of their best, and their excessive truthfulness scarcely meets with the +gratitude they consider it deserves. Miss Beach's many estimable +qualities, however, overbalanced her crudities, her friends shrugged +their shoulders and told each other it was "her way," "her heart was all +right." Though she might give offense, people forgot it, and came to her +again next time they wanted anything done, and the universal verdict was +that she was "trying at times," but on the whole one of the most useful +citizens which Seaton possessed.</p> + +<p>If there was one person more than another who wore out Miss Beach's +patience it was her niece and goddaughter, Mrs. Woodward. She had a +sin<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span>cere affection for her, but their two personalities were at +absolutely opposite poles. She admitted that Florita was amiable, +well-meaning, and thoroughly affectionate, but for the rest she +considered her weak, foolishly helpless, liable to extravagance, a poor +housekeeper, and a perfect jelly-fish in her methods of bringing up her +family. In vain did Aunt Harriet, on successive visits, preach firmness, +order, consistency and other maternal virtues; her niece would brace +herself up to a temporary effort, but would relax again directly her +guest had departed, and the children—little rogues!—discovered at a +remarkably early age that they could do pretty much as they liked. The +Woodwards always dreaded the advent of Aunt Harriet, her disapproval of +their general conduct was so manifest. By dint of urging from their +mother they made extra attempts at good behavior before the august +visitor, but they were subject to awful relapses. Mrs. Woodward, on her +side, considered she had her trials, for her aunt had a habit of +arriving suddenly, giving only a few hours' notice by telegram, and she +could not forbear the suspicion that her revered godparent wished to +surprise her housekeeping and catch her unprepared. On one occasion, +indeed, when the family came down—rather late—for breakfast, Aunt +Harriet was discovered sitting on the rustic seat outside the +dining-room window. She explained that she had taken the 5 a.m. +workmen's train and had come to spend a long day with them, but not +wishing to disturb the house at too early an hour she had remained in +the garden en<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span>joying the view until somebody arrived downstairs. In +spite of her rather angular attitude, Miss Beach was a very kind and +generous friend to her widowed niece, and she was the one person in the +world to whom Mrs. Woodward naturally thought of turning in time of +trouble. Aunt Harriet's advice might not always be palatable, but it was +combined with such practical help that there seemed no alternative but +to follow it.</p> + +<p>Miss Beach, though not a rich woman, was possessed of very comfortable +private means. She lived in an old-fashioned house just opposite the +Abbey, and her windows looked out on a view of towers and cloisters and +tall lime trees, with a foreground of monuments. To some people the +array of tombstones would have proved a dismal prospect, but she +declared it never distressed her in the least. She prided herself +greatly on the fact that she had been born in the house where her +father, grandfather and great-grandfather had also come into the world +and spent their lives. Except for an occasional expedition to Highfield, +she rarely left home. All her interests were in Seaton, and she became +miserable directly if she were away from her native city.</p> + +<p>The little Woodwards had never regarded it as much of a treat to go and +stay at 10, Abbey Close. The restraint which the visit necessitated +quite neutralized the afternoon at the cinema with which their aunt +invariably entertained them. The fine old Chippendale furniture had to +be treated with a respect not meted out to the chairs and tables at +home,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span> boots must be scrupulously wiped on the door-mat, bedrooms left +tidy, and books and ornaments were to be held altogether sacred from the +ravages of prying young fingers.</p> + +<p>Winona had taken up her residence there with somewhat the feeling of a +novice entering a nunnery. She was not quite sure how she and Aunt +Harriet were going to get on. To her great relief, however, things +turned out better than she expected. Miss Beach received her with +unusual complacency, and the two settled down quite harmoniously +together. The fact was that Winona, a visitor with nothing to do, and +Winona a busy High School girl, were utterly different persons. It is +one thing to wander round somebody else's house and feel bored, and +quite another to hang up your hat, realize you are part and parcel of +the establishment, and occupy yourself with your own business. Once she +had fallen into the swing of work at school Winona began to appreciate +the orderliness of her aunt's arrangements. It had never seemed to +matter at home if the breakfast were late and she arrived at Miss +Harmon's when the clock had struck nine, but at "The High" it was an +affair of vital importance to be in her seat before call-over, and she +daily blessed the punctuality of Aunt Harriet's cook. It was also a +great boon to be able to prepare her lessons in quiet. Her family had +never realized the necessity of silence during study hours, and she had +been used to learn French vocabularies or translate her Latin exercises +to a distracting accompaniment of Ernie's trumpet, Dorrie's and Mamie's +quarrels,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span> Godfrey's mouth organ, and Letty's strumming upon the piano.</p> + +<p>"It would have been utterly impossible to do my prep. at home!" she +thought sometimes. "I'd no idea what work was like before I came to +Seaton 'High'! It would do those youngsters good to have a drilling! I +wish they could have been in the Preparatory. No, I don't! Because then +I should have had them here, and it would have been good-by to all +peace. On the whole things are much better as they are."</p> + +<p>Miss Beach was so extremely busy with her own multifarious occupations +that she had not time to see very much of her great-niece. She made +every arrangement for her comfort, however, and caused the piano to be +moved into the dining-room for the convenience of her practicing. She +had always had a tender spot for Winona, whom she regarded as the one +hopeful character in a family of noodles. She talked to her at meal +times about a variety of subjects, some of them within her intelligence, +but others completely—so far—above her head. She even tried to draw +her out upon school matters. This, however, was a dead failure. Winona, +most unfortunately, could not overcome her awe for her aunt, and refused +to expand. To all the questions about her Form, her companions, +teachers, lessons or new experiences, she replied in monosyllables. It +was a sad pity, for Miss Beach had really hoped to win the girl's +confidence and prove a temporary mother to her, but finding her advances +repulsed she also shrank back into her shell, and the intimacy<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span> which +might have existed between them was postponed to future years. Young +folks often fail to realize what an interest their doings may have to +grown-up people, and how their bright fresh outlook on life may come as +a tonic to older and wearier minds. It never struck Winona to try to +amuse or entertain her aunt. At her present crude stage of development +she was incapable of appreciating the subtle pathos that clings round +elderly lives, and their wistful longing to be included in the +experiences of the rising generation. Shyness and lack of perception +held her silent, and the empty corner in Aunt Harriet's heart went +unfilled.</p> + +<p>Saturday and Sunday were the only days upon which Winona had time to +feel homesick. Her mother had at first suggested her returning to +Highfield for the week ends, but Miss Beach had strongly vetoed the +project on the justifiable ground that even the earliest train from +Ashbourne on Monday mornings did not reach Seaton till 9.30, so that +Winona would lose the first hour's lesson of her school week. She might +have added that she considered such frequent home visits would prove +highly unsettling and interfere greatly with her work, but for once she +refrained from stating her frank opinion, probably deeming the other +argument sufficient, and willing to spare Mrs. Woodward's feelings.</p> + +<p>Letters from Highfield showed little change in the usual conduct of +family affairs. The children were still attending Miss Harmon's school, +though they were to leave at Christmas.</p> + +<p>"We are late nearly every day now you are<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span> not here to make Ernie +start," wrote Mamie, almost as if it were an achievement to be proud of. +"He locked the piano and threw the key in the garden, and we could none +of us practice for three days. Wasn't it lovely? Letty pours out tea if +mother isn't in, and yesterday she broke the teapot."</p> + +<p>The chief items of news, however, concerned Percy. That young gentleman, +with what Aunt Harriet considered his usual perversity, had sprained his +ankle on the very day before he ought to have returned to school. He had +been ordered to lie up on the sofa, but Winona gathered that the +doctor's directions had not been very strictly carried out. She strongly +suspected that the patient did not wish to recover too quickly. Whether +or not that had been the case, Percy was now convalescent, and was to +set off for school on the following Friday. Longworth College was not a +great distance, and as Percy would have to pass through Seaton on his +way, Aunt Harriet invited him to break his journey there and spend the +night at her house. She had a poor opinion of the boy's capacity, but +having undertaken a half share in his education she felt an increased +sense of responsibility towards him, and wished to find an opportunity +of a word with him in private.</p> + +<p>Winona hailed her brother's advent with immense joy. Even so flying a +visit was better than nothing. Letters were an inadequate means of +expression, and she was longing to pour out all her new experiences. She +wanted to tell Percy about the Symposium, and her friendship for Garnet, +and the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span> chemistry class, and the gymnasium practice, and to show him +her hockey jersey which had just arrived. She had so long been the +recipient of all his school news that it would be delightful to turn the +tables and give him a chronicle of her own doings at the Seaton "High," +which in her opinion quite rivaled Longworth College.</p> + +<p>To the young people's scarcely suppressed satisfaction, Miss Beach went +out after tea to attend an important meeting, leaving her nephew and +niece to spend the evening alone together. They had never expected such +luck. As it was Friday Winona had no lessons to prepare for the next +day, and could feel free for a delightful chat. She flung herself into +Aunt Harriet's special big easy chair by the fireside, and lounged +luxuriously, while Percy, boy-like, prowled about the room.</p> + +<p>"Well, I'm glad you're jogging along all right," he remarked when his +sister's long account came to a pause. "Though please don't for a moment +compare your blessed old High School to Longworth, for they're not in +the same running! Aunt Harriet hasn't quite eaten you up yet, I see?"</p> + +<p>"She's not such a Gorgon as I expected. In fact she's been rather +decent."</p> + +<p>"The dragon's sheathed her talons? Well, that's good biz. You went off +as tragic as Iphigenia, heroically declaring yourself the family +sacrifice."</p> + +<p>"Did I?" Winona had almost forgotten her original attitude of martyr. +Three weeks had made a vast difference to her feelings.</p> + +<p>"If you can peg it out in comfort with the dragon<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span> so much to the good. +Shouldn't care to live here myself though. It's a dull hole. Number 10, +Abbey Close wouldn't be my choice of a residence."</p> + +<p>"Well, it's not likely you'll ever have the chance of living here!" +retorted Winona, taking up the cudgels for her adopted home.</p> + +<p>"I don't know about that," returned Percy. "The house belongs to Aunt +Harriet. She'll have to leave her property to somebody, I suppose, when +she shuffles off this mortal coil. I'm the eldest son, and my name's +Percy Beach Woodward. That ought to count for something."</p> + +<p>"Aunt Harriet's not going to die yet," said Winona gravely. "I think +it's horrid of you to talk like this!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, I don't wish the old girl any harm, but one may have an eye to the +future all the same," was the airy response. "D'you remember Jack +Cassidy who was a pupil at the Vicarage? His aunt left him five thousand +pounds."</p> + +<p>"Yes, and I heard he's muddling it away as fast as he can. Mary James +told me. Her father's guardian of part of his property until he's +twenty-five, you know."</p> + +<p>"He's a topper, is Jack! He's promised to take me for a day sometime to +Hartleburn, when the races are on. Now don't you go blabbing, or I'll +never tell you anything again!"</p> + +<p>"Mr. Joynson said—"</p> + +<p>"Oh, for goodness sake shut up! A boy of sixteen isn't going to be +bear-led by an old fogey like Joynson. He has the mater far too much +under<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span> his finger and thumb for my taste. If you want to be chums with +me, don't preach!"</p> + +<p>Winona was silent. Her brother's infatuation for the Vicar's scapegrace +ward was the affair of a year ago. She had hoped he had forgotten it. +His escapades at the time, in company with his hero, had caused his +mother to seek the advice and guidance of her trustee.</p> + +<p>"Some one was telling me the other day that old oak furniture is worth a +tremendous lot of money now," continued Percy, his eye roving round the +room with an air almost of future proprietorship. "If that's so these +things of Aunt Harriet's are a little gold mine. There was an account of +a sale in the newspaper, with a picture of a cupboard that fetched two +hundred pounds. It was first cousin to that!" nodding at a splendidly +carved old piece which faced him.</p> + +<p>Miss Beach's household goods were inherited from her great-grandfather, +and included some fine specimens of oak, as well as rare Chippendale. +Winona was too young to be a connoisseur of antiquities, but she had the +curiosity to rise from her chair and join Percy in his inspection of the +article in question.</p> + +<p>"I tell you they're as alike as two peas!" he declared. "Same shape, +same sort of carving, same knobs at the end! The reason why I remember +the thing is that the buyer found a secret drawer in it after he'd got +it home, with some old rubbish inside, and there was a lawsuit as to who +owned these. He claimed he'd bought the lot with the cupboard, but<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span> the +judge made him turn them up to the family of the original owner. That +was why there was a picture of the cupboard in the newspaper. It put an +arrow showing the place of the secret drawer. I wonder if there's one +here, too? I'm going to have a try! By Jove, there is!"</p> + +<p>A vigorous pull had dislodged a drawer in a very unexpected situation. +Winona would certainly never have thought of its existence, nor would +Percy, if the newspaper had not given away the secret. He looked eagerly +inside.</p> + +<p>"No treasures hidden in here! Absolutely nothing at all, except this +piece of paper."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps Aunt Harriet has never found it out," ventured Winona.</p> + +<p>Percy did not answer immediately. He was reading the writing on the +paper.</p> + +<p>"You bet she has!" he cried at last, flushing angrily. "I never thought +she'd much opinion of me, but I call this the limit! It's going where it +deserves!" and acting on a sudden impulse he flung the cause of offense +into the fire.</p> + +<p>For a moment Winona did not realize what he had done. By the time she +reached the hearth the paper was already half consumed. She made a +snatch at it with the tongs, but a flame sprang up and forestalled her. +She had just time to read the words "last Will and Testament of me +Har—" before the whole sank into ashes. She turned to her brother with +a white, scared face.</p> + +<p>"Percy! You've never burnt Aunt Harriet's will?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span></p> + +<p>Ashamed already of his impetuous act the boy nevertheless tried to bluff +the matter off.</p> + +<p>"It was an abominable shame! When I'm named Beach after her too! I +wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't read it myself!" he blustered.</p> + +<p>"Read what?"</p> + +<p>"I shan't tell you! Look here, Win, you must promise on your honor that +you'll never breathe a word about this."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps Aunt Harriet ought to know."</p> + +<p>"She mustn't know: <i>mustn't</i>, I tell you! I say, Win, I'm not at all +sure that what I've just done isn't a chargeable offense—I believe they +call it a felony. You wouldn't like to see me put into prison, would +you? Then hold your tongue about it! Give me your word! Can you keep a +secret?"</p> + +<p>"I promise!" gasped Winona (Percy was squeezing her little finger nail +in orthodox fashion and the agony was acute). "I promise faithfully."</p> + +<p>She was in a terrible quandary. Her natural straightforwardness urged +her to make a clean breast of the whole affair. Had she been the actual +transgressor she would certainly have done so and faced the +consequences. But this was Percy's secret, not her own. He was no +favorite with his aunt, and so outrageous an act would prejudice him +fatally in her eyes. The hint about prison frightened Winona. She knew +nothing of law, but she thought it highly probable that burning a will +was a punishable crime. Suppose Aunt Harriet's rigid conscience obliged +her to communicate with the police and deliver Percy into the hands of +justice. Such a hor<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span>rible possibility must be avoided at all costs. The +sound of a latch-key in the door made her start. In a panic she rushed +to the old cupboard and pushed back the secret drawer into its place. +When Miss Beach entered the dining-room her nephew and niece were +sitting reading by the fireside. Their choice of literature might +perhaps have astonished her, for Percy was poring over Sir Oliver +Lodge's "Man and the Universe," while Winona's nose was buried in +Herbert Spencer's "Sociology," but if indeed she noticed it, she perhaps +set it down to a laudable desire to improve their minds, and placed the +matter to their credit. Percy took his departure next morning, and +Winona saw him off at the railway station.</p> + +<p>"Remember, you've to keep that business dark," he reminded her. "Aunt +Harriet must never find out. She's been jawing me no end about +responsibility, and looking after the kids and supporting the mater and +all that. Rubbed it in hard, I can tell you! Great Juggins! Do I look +like the mainstay of a family?"</p> + +<p>As Winona watched his boyish face laughing at her from the window of the +moving train she decided that he certainly did not. She sighed as she +turned to leave the station. Life seemed suddenly to have assumed new +perplexities. Percy's act weighed heavily on her mind. It seemed such a +base return for all Aunt Harriet was doing on their behalf. She longed +to thank her for her kindness and say how much she appreciated going to +the High School, but she could not find the words. The<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span>knowledge of the +secret raised an extra barrier between herself and her aunt. So she sat +at lunch time even shyer and more speechless than usual, and let the +ball of conversation persistently drop.</p> + +<p>"Fretting for her brother, I suppose," thought Miss Beach. "She can talk +fast enough with friends of her own age. Well, I suppose an old body +like myself mustn't expect to be company for a girl of fifteen!"</p> + +<p>She was too proud to let the hurt feeling show itself on her face, +however, and propping up the newspaper beside her plate, she plunged +into the latest accounts from the Front.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI</h2> + +<h3>A Crisis</h3> + + +<p>Winona had been more than a month, nearly five weeks indeed, at the +Seaton High School. In the first few days of her introduction to +<span class="smcap">V.a.</span> she had told herself that the difficulty of the work +consisted largely in its newness, and that as soon as she grew +accustomed to it she would sail along as swimmingly as Garnet Emerson, +or Olave Parry, or Hilda Langley, or Agatha James. Most unfortunately +she found her theory acted in the opposite direction. Closer +acquaintance with her Form subjects proved their extreme toughness. She +was not nearly up to the standard of the rest of the girls. Her Latin +grammar was shaky, her French only a trifle better, she had merely a +nodding acquaintance with geometry, and had not before studied +chemistry. Her teacher seemed to expect her to understand many things of +which she had hitherto never heard, and was apparently astounded at her +ignorance. Winona puzzled over her text-books during many hours of +preparation, but she made little headway. The royal road to learning, +which she had fondly hoped to tread, was proving itself a stony and +twisting path.</p> + +<p>"<i>You</i> seem to get on all right?" she said wistfully to Garnet one day.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Why, yes. Of course one has to work," admitted her friend. "Miss +Huntley keeps one up to the mark. But one must expect that in +<span class="smcap">V.a.</span> They don't put scholarship holders in the Preparatory."</p> + +<p>"I was all at sea in math. this morning."</p> + +<p>"You were rather a duffer, certainly. The problems weren't as difficult +as the ones they gave us in the entrance exam. If those didn't floor +you, why couldn't you work these?"</p> + +<p>"But they did floor me. I barely managed half the paper. I reckoned I'd +failed in it."</p> + +<p>Garnet looked surprised.</p> + +<p>"Then your other subjects must have been extremely good to make up for +it. I was told that we should probably stand or fall by maths. You were +ripping in everything else, I suppose? Scored no end?"</p> + +<p>Winona did not answer the question. She was conscious that none of her +papers could have merited such an eulogium. She envied Garnet's grasp of +the form work. Try as she would, her own exercises and translations were +poor affairs, and her ill-trained memory found it difficult to marshal +the enormous number of facts that were daily forced upon it. Miss +Huntley at first was patient, but as the weeks wore on, and Winona still +wallowed in a quagmire of amazing mistakes, she grew sarcastic. The girl +winced under some of her cutting remarks. Apparently the mistress +imagined her failure to be due to laziness and inattention, and sooner +than confess that she could not understand<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span> the work, Winona was silent. +She never mentioned the long hours she spent poring over her books in +Aunt Harriet's dining-room. After all, it was better to be thought idle +than stupid. But it was humiliating to feel that she was counted among +the slackers of the Form, while Garnet was already winning laurels. The +contrast between the two scholarship holders could not fail to be +noticed.</p> + +<p>Miss Huntley (privately known to the Form as "Bunty") was a clever, but +rather remorseless teacher. She had been on the staff since the opening +of the school two years before, and she was determined at all costs to +maintain the high standard inaugurated at its foundation. She was +herself the product of High School education, and knew to the last +scruple how much to require from girls in <span class="smcap">V.a.</span> To those who +appeared to be really trying their best she was ready to give +intelligent help, but she had no mercy for slackers. She was possessed +of a certain amount of dry humor, greatly appreciated by the form <i>en +bloc</i>, though each quaked privately lest, through some unlucky slip, she +might find herself the object of the smart but withering satires. +Despite her strictness, "Bunty" was popular. She was an admirable tennis +player, and a formidable champion in a match "Mistresses <i>v.</i> Girls." +Her strong personality fascinated Winona, who would have done much to +gain her approval. So far, however, she was entirely on Miss Huntley's +black list.</p> + +<p>Matters came to a crisis over a difficult bit of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span> Vergil. Latin was, +next to mathematics, the most painfully wobbling of Winona's shaky +subjects. She had puzzled in vain over this particular piece of +translation. The words, indeed, she had found in the dictionary, but she +could not twist them into sense.</p> + +<p>"Old Vergil's utterly stumped me to-day!" she mourned to Garnet, as they +met in the dressing-room before nine o'clock. "If Bunty puts me to +construe anywhere on page 21, I'm a gone coon. I'm feeling in a blue +funk, I can tell you."</p> + +<p>"Poor old bluebottle! Don't wrinkle up your forehead like that—you're +making permanent lines! It's a bad trick, and just spoils you."</p> + +<p>"I can't help it when I'm worried!"</p> + +<p>"Then don't worry."</p> + +<p>"Oh, it's easy enough for you; you don't have to receive the vials of +Bunty's scorn."</p> + +<p>Winona hoped against hope that the difficult page might fall to somebody +else's turn. Miss Huntley took no particular order, but selected girls +at random to construe the lesson. In a Form of twenty it was possible +not to be chosen at all. Winona kept very quiet, so as not to attract +the mistress' attention. Marjorie Kemp and Olave Parry had already +translated half of the fatal page, with tolerable credit. Miss Huntley's +eye was wandering in the direction of Irene Mills. Winona dared to +breathe. Then, alas! alas! Some unlucky star caused the mistress to look +back towards the middle of the room. In a spasm of nervousness, Winona +jerked her elbow, and away went her pencil-box,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span> clattering on to the +floor, and dispersing its collection of pens, pencils, nibs and other +treasures beneath the neighboring desks. There was a dead silence, and +the culprit was instantly the center of attention.</p> + +<p>"A clumsy thing to do! Leave those things where they are! You can pick +them up after the lesson," observed Miss Huntley grimly. "Go on now with +the translation."</p> + +<p>Winona's hot face had been hidden under Audrey Redfern's desk. She rose +reluctantly. Her confusion made the hard passage seem twice as +difficult. Even the words which she had carefully looked up in the +dictionary and learned by heart escaped her fickle memory. She stumbled +and floundered hopelessly, getting redder and redder with shame. Miss +Huntley preserved an ominous silence, and did not attempt to help her +out.</p> + +<p>"That will do!" she said, at the end of about eight lines. "After such a +complete exhibition of incompetence we won't inflict any more of your +bungling upon the form. We must see if we can find a way of sharpening +your wits. Your brain seems to have been lying fallow since you came to +school! You will report yourself to Miss Bishop at four o'clock this +afternoon."</p> + +<p>The rest of the morning passed like a bad dream to Winona. It was a rare +event for a teacher to send a girl to the head mistress. The prospect of +the coming interview made her cold with apprehension. She avoided Garnet +at one o'clock, and hurried out of the dressing-room without speaking<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span> +to any one. She had a wild project of pleading a headache, and begging +Aunt Harriet to let her stop at home for the rest of the day. But then +to-morrow's explanations would be infinitely worse. No, it was better to +face the horrible ordeal and get it over. As it happened, Miss Beach had +gone out to lunch, so that leave of absence was an impossibility. Winona +ate her early dinner alone.</p> + +<p>"Aren't you well, miss? Would you like me to make you a cup of tea?" +asked Alice the housemaid, noticing that the pudding was unappreciated, +and divining that something must be amiss.</p> + +<p>"No, thanks! I'm in a hurry, and must fly off to school as quickly as I +can. It's my early afternoon."</p> + +<p>Winona had a music lesson at a quarter past two on Thursdays. It was +always rather a rush to get back in time for it. She crammed her "Bach's +Preludes" and "Schubert's Impromptus" automatically into her portfolio, +and started. It was only when she was half-way down Church Street that +she remembered she had left her book of studies on the top of the piano. +Needless to say, her lesson that day was hardly a success. In the +disturbed state of her mind she was quite incapable of concentrating her +attention on music. Miss Catteral looked surprised at her wrong notes +and imperfect phrasing.</p> + +<p>"I shall expect to find some improvement in this 'Impromptu' next week," +she remarked. "Have you practiced your hour daily? You must take these +bars, which I have marked, separately, and play<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span> each twenty times in +succession, slowly at first and then faster, and remember here that it +is the left hand which gives the melody, and the right is only the +accompaniment. I thought you had sufficient music in you to appreciate +that! The way you thumped out those chords was painful. I am not pleased +at all."</p> + +<p>Miss Catteral so rarely scolded that Winona felt doubly humiliated. It +was all a part and parcel of the general ill-luck of the day. She +fetched her drawing-board, and went to the art class. Here at least she +would have peace for an hour, though every one of the sixty minutes was +bringing her nearer to her dreaded interview. At four o'clock, with a +horrible sinking feeling in her heart, and a trembling sensation in her +knees, she knocked at the door of the head-mistress's study, and entered +in response to the "Come in!" which followed. Miss Bishop looked up from +some papers, motioned her to a chair, and went on writing for several +minutes. To Winona it seemed worse than waiting at the dentist's. The +suspense was ghastly.</p> + +<p>At last the Principal paused, laid down her pen, and blotted her pages.</p> + +<p>"Come here, Winona Woodward," she said quietly. "I wish to have a +straight talk with you."</p> + +<p>Miss Bishop's eyes were her most striking feature. They were large and +clear, but the pupils were unusually small, appearing mere black specks +in the midst of a wide circle of blue. This peculiarity gave her a +particularly intense and penetrat<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span>ing expression. Winona, standing at +attention beside the desk, dropped her own eyes before the steady, +searching gaze.</p> + +<p>"Miss Huntley's report of your work is not at all satisfactory," began +Miss Bishop. "I have been watching your progress since you joined the +school, and I cannot think you are trying your best. At first, when you +were totally new to your Form, I suspended judgment, but you have been +here nearly half a term now—quite long enough to accustom yourself to +our methods. I confess I am greatly disappointed. I had hoped for better +things from the holder of a County Scholarship."</p> + +<p>Winona remained silent. She could think of nothing to say in +self-defense.</p> + +<p>"It must be sheer lack of grit and effort," continued Miss Bishop. "I +cannot understand how a girl who did so remarkably well in the entrance +examination can rest content with such a low record. How long do you +take over your preparation?"</p> + +<p>"Until my aunt sends me to bed," replied Winona, in a very subdued +voice. "I spend the whole evening at my lessons."</p> + +<p>Miss Bishop looked puzzled.</p> + +<p>"Then the work must be too difficult for you. If that is the case, I +must remove you to <span class="smcap">V.b.</span>"</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">V.b.</span> was notorious in the school as a refuge for incompetence. +It was mainly composed of girls of sixteen and seventeen who could not +reach the standard of the Sixth, and who went by the nickname of "owls" +or "stupids." The prospect of be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span>ing relegated to such an intellectual +backwater spread palpable dismay over Winona's face. Miss Bishop smiled +rather grimly.</p> + +<p>"We can't win honors without paying the price! You must know that +already by experience. I conclude that you studied hard for the +Scholarship examination? Well, your Form work requires equally close +application. Here is Miss Huntley's report: 'French, weak; Latin, +beneath criticism; mathematics, extremely bad.' Yet in all these three +subjects you gained a high percentage in the entrance examination. I +have your papers here—yes, Latin 85, French 87, mathematics 92" +(rapidly turning over the pages), "it is simply incredible how you have +fallen off."</p> + +<p>Winona was gazing at the sheets of foolscap in the Principal's hand.</p> + +<p>"Those aren't my papers," she faltered.</p> + +<p>"Certainly they are. They're marked with your number, 11."</p> + +<p>"But I wasn't number 11, I was number 10."</p> + +<p>Miss Bishop stooped, opened a drawer in her bureau, and took out a book.</p> + +<p>"Here it is in black and white," she replied. "No. 11, Winona Woodward."</p> + +<p>Winona's shaking hands clutched the edge of the bureau. In a flash the +whole horrible truth was suddenly revealed to her. Until that moment she +had almost forgotten how she and the ruddy-haired girl had collided at +the door of the examination-room, and dropped their cards. In picking +them up, they must have effected an exchange. She re<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span>membered that she +had been too agitated to notice her number until after the accident had +happened. She now related the circumstance as best she could. Miss +Bishop listened aghast.</p> + +<p>"What number did you say you took in the examination-room? Ten? That is +entered in my book as Marjorie Kaye. I have the rest of the candidates' +papers in this bundle. Let me see—yes, here is No. 10. Is this your +handwriting? Then I'm afraid there has been a terrible blunder, and the +scholarship has been awarded to the wrong girl."</p> + +<p>The Principal's consternation was equalled by Winona's. To the latter +the ground seemed slipping from under her feet. She tried to speak, but +failed. A great lump rose in her throat. For a moment the room whirled +round.</p> + +<p>"This set of papers, No. 10, was marked so low as to be out of the +running," continued Miss Bishop. "It is a most unfortunate mistake, and +places the school in an extremely awkward position. I must consult with +the Governors at once. Pending their decision, it will be better not to +mention the matter to anybody. You may go now."</p> + +<p>Winona managed somehow to get herself out of the study, to put on her +hat and coat, and to walk home to Abbey Close. Her aunt was still +absent, for which she was intensely thankful, and ignoring the tea that +was waiting on the dining-room table, she rushed upstairs to her +bedroom. Her one imperative need was to be alone. She must face the +situation squarely. Her world had suddenly turned<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span> topsy-turvy; instead +of being the winner of the County Scholarship, she was among the +rejected candidates. In her heart of hearts she had always marveled how +her indifferent papers could have scored such a success. She wondered +this explanation had never occurred to her before. All this time she had +been wearing another girl's laurels. What was going to happen next? She +supposed the scholarship would be taken from her, and given to its +rightful owner. And herself? She would probably be packed home, as Percy +had prophesied, "like a whipped puppy." Possibly Aunt Harriet might +offer to pay her fee as an ordinary pupil at the High School, but in +either case the humiliation would be supreme.</p> + +<p>Winona dreaded returning home. In spite of the difficulty of the work, +the High School had opened a fresh world to her. She could never again +be content with the old rut. Miss Harmon's dull lessons would be +intolerable, and life without Garnet's friendship would seem a blank. +The companionship of her three little sisters was totally inadequate for +a girl who was fast growing up. She shrank from speculating how her +mother would receive the bad news. Mrs. Woodward was one of those +parents who expect their children to gain the prizes which they were +incapable of winning for themselves. She had claimed a kind of +second-hand credit in her daughter's triumph. Winona knew from past +experience that so keen a disappointment would involve a string of +reproaches, regrets and fretting. She would probably never hear<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span> the +last of it. The family hopes had been pinned upon her success, and to +frustrate them was to court utter disgrace. For the present she must +live with this sword of Damocles hanging over her head, but she hoped +the Governors would decide the matter speedily, and put her out of her +misery.</p> + +<p>There is one virtue in a supreme trouble—it dwarfs all minor griefs. +Percy's secret, which had been felt as a continual burden, seemed to +sink into comparative obscurity, and the worry of school work and the +dread of Miss Huntley's sarcasm were mere flies in the ointment. Winona +never quite knew how she got through the week that followed. It stayed +afterwards in her memory as a period of black darkness, a valley of +humiliation, in which her old childish self slipped away, and a new, +stronger and more capable personality was born to face the future. She +had resigned herself so utterly to the inevitable, that when at last +Miss Bishop's summons came, she was able to walk quite calmly into the +study. The Principal was seated as usual at her bureau; Winona's +entrance examination papers lay before her. Her manner was +non-committal; her blue eyes looked even more penetrating than usual.</p> + +<p>"You will have been wondering what was going to happen about the matter +of the scholarship," she began.</p> + +<p>"Yes, Miss Bishop," answered Winona meekly. She did not add that she had +spent eight days in a mental purgatory.</p> + +<p>"I of course placed the facts before the Gov<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span>ernors, and we at once +communicated with the parents of Marjorie Kaye. We find, however, that +in the meantime she has been elected a scholar of the Maria Harvey +Foundation, and will therefore be unable to accept this scholarship. Her +papers and those of Garnet Emerson were the only ones of outstanding +merit. In re-examining the remaining eighteen we find a uniform level of +mediocrity. As regards your set of papers, the general standard is low, +with one exception. We consider that your essay on Lady Jane Grey shows +an originality and a capacity for thought which may be worthy of +training. On the strength of this—and this alone—the Governors have +decided to allow you to retain your scholarship. In so doing they are +perfectly within their rights. They did not undertake to grant free +tuition to the candidate who scored the highest number of marks, but to +the one who, in their opinion, was most likely to benefit by the school +course. It was a matter to be settled entirely at their discretion. I +have carefully re-read your papers, and compared them with your form +record, and I come to the conclusion that you are backward and +ill-instructed in many subjects, but that you are not idle or stupid. I +shall make arrangements for you to have special coaching in mathematics, +Latin and chemistry until you can keep up with the rest of the Form. I +find your reports for history and English literature are good, which +confirms my opinion that you do not lack ability. You will need to work +very hard, especially at those subjects in which you are so deficient, +but I trust you will soon show<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span> a marked improvement, and thus justify +the decision of the Governors. Are you prepared to try?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know how to thank you—I'll do my very best!" stammered Winona, +quite overcome by this unexpected <i>dénouement</i>.</p> + +<p>"Then that is all that need be said. Miss Lever will take you every day +from 3.30 to 4.15 for private tuition. Mark that on your time-table, and +go to her this afternoon in the Preparatory Room. You may tell Miss +Garside that I am disengaged now, and at liberty to speak to her."</p> + +<p>Winona left the study with very different feelings from those with which +she had entered. Her spirits were so high that she wanted to dance along +the corridor. She could hardly believe her good fortune. Those great and +important gentlemen, the Governors, had actually approved of her essay +to the extent of allowing it to stand as her qualification for the +Scholarship! She blessed Lady Jane Grey, and Edgar Allan Poe, and +Browning, and André de Chénier, and the happy chance that had made her +combine them all. She was glad she had paid that visit to Hampton Court, +and that she had seen Lady Jane Grey's portrait, and had been able to +describe both. Life was going to be a very exhilarating business, now +her position in the school was once more secure.</p> + +<p>"I'll show them how I can work," she thought. "They shan't be sorry that +they let me stay after all! Oh, I am in luck! Yes, I'm the luckiest girl +in the school!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII</h2> + +<h3>An Autumn Foray</h3> + + +<p>Winona felt that she now started life at the High School on an entirely +new basis. Miss Bishop and Miss Huntley understood her limitations and +judged her accordingly. It was not by any means that they lowered their +standard, but that they appreciated her difficulty in keeping up with +the Form and gave her credit for her hard work. And hard work it +undoubtedly was. She would get up early in the morning to revise her +lessons before breakfast, and would sit toiling over books and exercises +in the evenings till even Aunt Harriet—indefatigable worker +herself—would tell her to stop, and wax moral on the folly of burning +the candle at both ends. The coaching from Miss Lever was of inestimable +value. It supplied just the gaps in which she was deficient, and gave +her an adequate grasp of her three toughest subjects. Slowly she began +to make headway, she saw light in mathematical problems that had before +been meaningless formulæ, chemistry was less of a hopeless tangle, and +Vergil's lines construed into understandable sentences instead of utter +nonsense. It was only gradual progress, however. She had much ground to +cover before she caught up the Form. She was plodding, but not a +brilliant all-round scholar like Garnet. The fact<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span> was that Winona was +only clever in one direction: in the realm of imagination her mind ran +like a racehorse, but harnessed to heavy intellectual burdens it proved +but a sorry steed.</p> + +<p>It was fortunate for both her health and her spirits that head work did +not represent the only side of school activities. Miss Bishop was wise +enough to lay much stress on physical development. A ten minutes' drill +was part of the daily routine, a gymnasium practice was held twice a +week, and Wednesday afternoons were devoted to hockey. In addition to +this the girls played tennis on the asphalt courts during the winter and +spring terms, whenever the weather was suitable, and basket ball was +constantly going on in the playground. Athletics was decidedly the +fashionable cult of the school. Kirsty Paterson, as Games Captain, made +it her business to see that nobody slacked without justifiable cause. +She would break up knots of chatting idlers, and cajole them forth to +"cultivate muscle" as she expressed it, while her keen eye was quick to +note anybody's "points" and employ them for the general benefit. +Kirsty's jolly, breezy manner and strict sense of justice made her an +admirable captain. She was highly popular with juniors as well as +seniors, for she took the trouble to organize the games of the little +girls as carefully as those of their elders.</p> + +<p>"It's insane short-sighted policy to neglect the kids," was her creed. +"Now's the time to be training them. Get them thoroughly well in hand +and make them understand what's expected from them,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span> and in four or five +years' time they'll be crack players. Yes, I know it's looking far +ahead, and we prefects won't be here to see the result, but the school +will reap the benefit some day and that's the main thing to aim at. I'm +proud of my cadets and, in the future, when they're winning laurels for +the Seaton High, perhaps they'll remember I started them on the right +track. 'Keep up the standard all round' is going to be the motto while +I'm Captain."</p> + +<p>To Winona athletics and organized games came as a revelation. She had a +slim wiry little figure and was a good runner, with a capacity for +keeping her breath, and had also a considerable power of spring, all of +which stood her in good stead both in the hockey field and in the +gymnasium. Though Kirsty said little, she could feel her efforts were +being watched and approved, and the knowledge gave her a tingling sense +of satisfaction. It was delightful to feel that she was a factor in this +big school, and that she was doing her bit—however insignificant—to +help up the athletic standard. In physical agility Winona was superior +to Garnet. She could beat her easily at tennis, and there was already a +wide gap between their gymnastic achievements. It was a fortunate +circumstance, for it just balanced their friendship, and put them on a +footing of equality which would have been otherwise absent. Garnet, so +manifestly first in Form work, possessed of greater confidence and +<i>savoir faire</i> in school life and older in experience for her years than +Winona, might have monopolized the lead too<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span> entirely, had she not been +obliged to yield the palm of outdoor sports to her friend.</p> + +<p>Garnet was, in truth, just a trifle inclined to "boss." She liked +Winona, and wanted her for a chum, but she loved to lay down the law and +to constitute herself an authority upon every possible subject. There +was no doubt it was owing to her initiative that the two +scholarship-holders were gaining a position for themselves in the +school. As Garnet had foreseen, the part they had taken in the Symposium +won them favorable recognition. To be singled out as soloists and to +have the honor of playing an accompaniment for the prefects had raised +them above the common herd, and though a few were jealous, more were +ready to extend the hand of good fellowship. In their own Form they were +living down the prejudice which had at first existed against them. Hilda +Langley and Estelle Harrison were not very friendly and influenced Olave +Parry and Mollie Hill against them, but these formed a minority, and the +bulk of the girls seemed to have decided in their favor.</p> + +<p>With the enormous demands made on her time by her home preparation, +Winona did not venture to join many of the school guilds. She would have +liked immensely to put her name down for election to the Dramatic +Society, the Debating Club and the Literary Association, but these all +required rather strenuous brain work from their members, and in the +circumstances she knew it would be folly to take them up. At some future +date, when her ordinary subjects proved less of a burden, she promised +her<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span>self the pleasure of being numbered among that select clique known +as "The Intellectuals," but for the present her motto must be "grim +grind." The Patriotic Knitting Guild seemed more feasible. She paid her +subscription, received her skeins of khaki wool, and started mittens to +fill up odd moments. She found the knitting a soothing occupation, it +could be taken up and laid down so easily; it often went to school with +her, and would come out during the interval, or while she was waiting +for a class. The Photographic Union was beyond her, for as yet she had +no camera, but she thought she was justified in joining the Natural +History League. This society did not for the present demand papers from +its members, but contented itself with encouraging the collection of +objects for the school museum. Its main activities would be during the +summer term, though a weather record was kept throughout the year, and +any nature notes that were worthy of being written down were duly +chronicled in the Field Book. Linda Fletcher and Annie Hardy, two of the +prefects, were the leading spirits in the League. Linda was great on +entomology, and, having a brother who was interested in the subject, had +been out "sugaring" in his company in August and September, and had +secured some fine specimens of moths. She had boxes full of chrysalides +which she fondly hoped would emerge in the spring into perfect insects, +and she had made quite a good little collection of beetles. Annie was +more interested in botany, she pressed flowers and leaves, dried fruits +and seed vessels, and made praise<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span>worthy efforts at preserving funguses +in bottles, though these latter attempts were not always attended with +the success they deserved, as they were apt to acquire a gamey odor, to +which her mother very naturally objected, and she would be obliged +disconsolately to turn them out into the dust-bin.</p> + +<p>November happened to be a particularly fine month at Seaton. There had +been little rain, and no high winds to blow the leaves away. Though the +trees in the city were bare, those in the country round about remained +almost in their October glory, and in sheltered woods some were still +green. The persistent sunshine encouraged the Natural History League to +plan an excursion for its members, and after a consultation with Miss +Lever, the Botany mistress, Linda pinned up the following announcement +on the school notice board:—<br /><br /></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Natural History League.</span> +An Autumn Foray will be held on Saturday next, visiting Monkend Woods +and Copplestone Quarry. Members will meet at station for the 12.45 train +to Powerscroft, returning by the 5.30 from Chartwell. Tea at farm-house. +Walking distance five miles. Leaders: Miss Lever, Linda Fletcher and +Annie Hardy. Those intending to join kindly give their names to the +Secretary on Wednesday at latest.</p> + + +<p style="text-align: right"><span style="margin-right: 10em;"><span class="smcap">L. Fletcher</span>,</span><br /></p> +<p style="text-align: right"><span style="margin-right: 5em;"><i>Hon. Sec.</i></span><br /><br /> +</p> + +<p>The prospect of a ramble was alluring. Winona was a country lover, so +she forthwith secured Aunt<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span> Harriet's permission for the outing and +placed her name upon the list.</p> + +<p>"I don't think there'll be more than a dozen of us altogether," said +Linda, "but really a small party's more manageable than a big one, and +I'll undertake we enjoy ourselves. Miss Lever can get permission for us +to walk through the private part of the woods—there's no shooting this +autumn, you know—so that will be simply glorious, and she says we ought +to find some fossils in the quarry, if we've luck. I hope the weather +will keep up. Don't forget to take a vasculum or a basket, and a hammer +for fossils, and be sure you put on strong boots. The tea will probably +be eightpence a head. Miss Lever is writing beforehand to the farm to +make arrangements."</p> + +<p>Garnet also was to join the excursion and she promised to call for +Winona, so that they might walk to the station together. The latter had +an early lunch, and was ready dressed and waiting for her friend by +twenty minutes past twelve. Garnet's tram was late, and by the time she +reached Abbey Close the clock pointed to the half-hour.</p> + +<p>"I'm frightfully sorry! You must think me a Juggins, but it wasn't my +fault!" she apologized. "We shall have to sprint, but we'll just do it."</p> + +<p>The girls set off at a tremendous pace along the Close and down the +Abbey avenue, but it was difficult to keep the same speed through the +town, where the streets were thronged with country people who had come +in for the Saturday market. They got along as best they could, walking +first on the pave<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span>ment and then on the road, dodging round stout females +bearing baskets, avoiding hooting motors, and finally making a dash down +a back street that led to the railway bridge. They clattered down the +steps to the booking office, secured their tickets and rushed on to the +platform. The hands of the big clock were at 12.45 exactly, the guard +was about to wave his green flag. They were too late to look for their +party; they simply pelted towards the nearest carriage, a porter opened +the door and they scrambled in just in the very nick of time.</p> + +<p>"Oh, thank goodness! Thank goodness!" gasped Garnet. "I thought we'd +miss it! I never had such a run in my life before! Oh! It's given me a +stitch in my side!"</p> + +<p>"They've put us in a first!" exulted Winona, breathlessly. "We have it +all to ourselves! What luck! Hope they won't make a fuss about our +tickets when we get out!"</p> + +<p>"It was the porter's fault. He opened the door. We'll ask Miss Lever to +explain. I suppose the others are further along somewhere in the train. +I wonder if they saw us get in?"</p> + +<p>"If they didn't, it will be a surprise packet for them when we turn up."</p> + +<p>"Yes, they'll have made up their minds we're left behind."</p> + +<p>The two girls leaned back, enjoying the luxury of traveling in a +first-class compartment. They felt the excursion had begun well as far +as they were concerned. Their satisfaction was short-lived, how<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span>ever. +When they neared Barnhill, the train, instead of stopping, rushed +through the station at thirty-five miles an hour. Garnet turned to +Winona in utter consternation.</p> + +<p>"Oh, good-night!" she ejaculated. "I verily believe we've gone and got +into the express!"</p> + +<p>They saw at once how it had happened. The 12.40 fast train to Rockfield +must have been five minutes late. In their hurry they had mistaken it +for the stopping train, which probably had been drawn up behind it in +the station.</p> + +<p>"Well, this is a pretty go!" agreed Winona. "We shall be carried on to +Rockfield and have to come back."</p> + +<p>"We shall miss the ramble! Oh, it's the limit of hard luck—to see +ourselves whizzing through Powerscroft!"</p> + +<p>"I say, I believe we're stopping after all!"</p> + +<p>They let down the window and looked out. They were still about a mile +from Powerscroft, but the train drew up, probably in obedience to an +adverse signal. Then the girls did a terrible and awful thing. They +never remembered afterwards which suggested it, probably the idea +occurred to both simultaneously, but in defiance of the law of the realm +and the rules of the railway company, they opened the door of the +carriage and climbed down on to the line. There were some railings near, +and they scrambled over these and dodged down an embankment into a +coppice before anybody in the train had time to give an alarm. They +hoped their flight had not been<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span> noticed, but of that they could not be +sure. They hid behind some bushes until they heard the train rumble +away.</p> + +<p>"That was the smartest thing we've ever done in our lives!" chuckled +Garnet. "I believe we could be fined about ten pounds each if they +caught us!"</p> + +<p>"Let us hurry on and try to find the road," said Winona, who was rather +frightened at her own temerity, and had a nervous apprehension lest a +guard or a signalman or some other railway official might even now be in +pursuit and arrest them on a charge of breaking the law.</p> + +<p>After crossing a field they struck a path which led them eventually into +a by-lane.</p> + +<p>"I know where we are," affirmed Garnet. "I bicycled this way once. +Monkend Woods are in that direction, and if we turn to the left and +through this village we shall get there sooner than the others, I +believe, and be waiting for them when they arrive. Their train won't +have reached Powerscroft yet."</p> + +<p>"We'd better step out all the same," urged Winona.</p> + +<p>Fortunately Garnet possessed the bump of locality. Her recollection of +the district was correct, and after a brisk walk of about a mile they +found themselves in the high road close to the wood, and sat down on a +wall to wait. Their fast train and short cut had given them an +advantage: it was nearly half an hour before they spied the rest of the +party strolling leisurely up the hill with baskets and vasculums. The +surprise of the League at seeing them was immense, and naturally there +were many in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span>quiries as to how they had thus stolen a march upon their +friends.</p> + +<p>"Oh, we came in an aëroplane!" said Garnet jauntily. "It just dropped us +in the field over there. Very pleasant run, though a little chilly in +the clouds!"</p> + +<p>She was obliged to own up, however, in answer to Miss Lever's inquiries, +give a precise account of their adventure, and cry "peccavi."</p> + +<p>"Of course Dollikins had to be orthodox and preach a short sermon," she +confided afterwards to Winona, "but I'm sure she'd have done the same +thing herself in the circumstances. I could see admiration in her eye, +although she talked about running risks and the possibility of broken +necks."</p> + +<p>Miss Lever, otherwise Dollikins, from the fact that her Christian name +was Dorothy, held high favor among the girls. She was brisk and jolly, +decidedly athletic, and a first-rate leader of outdoor expeditions. She +had called at the gamekeeper's cottage <i>en route</i> and shown the letter +of permission from the owner of the property, so that the party was able +to explore the wood with a clear conscience, despite the trespass notice +nailed on to the gate. And what a delightful wood it was! To enter it +was like stepping into one of Grimm's fairy tales. An avenue of splendid +pines reared their dark boughs against a russet background of beeches; +everywhere the leaves seemed to have donned their brightest and gayest +tints, as if bidding a last good-by before they fell from the trees. The +undergrowth was gorgeous: bramble, elder, honeysuckle, briony,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span> rowan, +and alder vied with one another in the vividness of their crimson and +orange, while the bracken was a sea of pale gold. There were all sorts +of delightful things to be found—acorns lay so plentifully in the +pathway that the girls could not help scrunching them underfoot. A few +were already sending out tiny shoots in anticipation of spring, and +these were carefully saved to take home and grow in bottles. A stream +ran through the wood, its banks almost completely covered with vivid +green mosses, in sheets so thick and compact that a slight pull would +raise a yard at a time. Some resembled tufted tassels, some the most +delicate ferns, and others showed the split cups of their seed-vessels +like pixie goblets. Annie Hardy, whose experienced eyes were on the +look-out for certain botanical treasures reported to grow at Monkend, +was searching among the dead twigs under the hazel bushes, and was +rewarded by finding a clump of the curious little birds-nest fungus with +its seeds packed like tiny eggs inside. Some orange elf-cups, a bright +red toadstool or two, and a few of the larger purple varieties that had +lingered on from October made quite a creditable fungus record for the +League, and specimens of wild flowers were also secured, a belated +foxglove or two, a clump of ragwort, some blue harebells, campion, +herb-robert, buttercup, yarrow, thistle, and actually a strawberry +blossom. The leaders had brought note-books and wrote down each find as +reported by the members, taking the specimens for Miss Lever to verify +if there were any doubt as to identification. Animal<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span> and bird life was +not absent. Shy bunnies whisked away, showing a dab of white tail as +they dived under the bracken; a splendid squirrel ran across the path +and darted up an oak tree, a wood-pigeon whirred from a pine top, a +great woodpecker, scared by their approach, started from the bushes and +flew past them so near that they could see the green flash of its wings +and the red markings on its head, while a whole fluttering flight of +long-tailed tits were flitting like a troop of fairies round the hole of +a lichen-covered beech.</p> + +<p>Miss Lever was as enthusiastic as the girls; she climbed over fallen +tree trunks, grubbed among dead leaves, jumped the brook and scaled +fences with delightful energy. It was she who pointed out the heron +sailing overhead, and noticed the gold-crested wren's nest hanging under +the branch of a fir, a little battered with autumn rain, and too high, +alas! to be taken, but a most interesting item to go down in the +note-books. The girls could hardly be persuaded to tear themselves away +from the glory of the woods, and would have spent the whole time there, +but Miss Lever had other plans.</p> + +<p>"Come along! We've scared the pheasants quite enough," she declared. "My +mind is set on fossils, and if we don't go on to Copplestones at once we +shall be caught in the dark, or miss our tea or our train or something +equally disagreeable."</p> + +<p>The quarry was only half a mile away, and it proved as interesting as +the wood. Being Saturday afternoon the men were not working, so they had +the place to themselves, and wandered about exam<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span>ining heaps of shale, +and tapping likely-looking stones with their hammers. Garnet and Winona +knew nothing of geology, so they listened with due meekness while the +instructed few discoursed learnedly on palæozoic rocks, stratified +conglomerates and quartzites. They rejoiced with Miss Lever, however, +when she secured a fairly intact belemnite. It was the only good find +they had, though some of the girls got broken bits of fossil shells.</p> + +<p>"The fact is one needs a whole day to hunt about in this quarry, and my +watch tells me we ought to be going," said Miss Lever. "Who feels +inclined for tea?"</p> + +<p>Everybody felt very much disposed, so the procession started off +cheerfully for the farm close by, and the nature-lovers were soon hard +at work consuming platefuls of bread and butter, jars of jam, and piles +of plum cake.</p> + +<p>"Sixteen varieties of wild flowers, seven various specimens of fungi, +nine different sorts of berries, twelve species of birds noticed, also +rabbits and squirrel, one bird's nest and one perfect fossil—not a bad +record for an autumn foray!" said Linda, proudly consulting her +note-book.</p> + +<p>"Especially when you remember we're well on in November!" added Annie. +"It will be something to enter in the League minutes book."</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid it's the last ramble we shall get this year," said Miss +Lever, "but I've one or two nice little schemes on hand for the spring, +so the League must look forward to next April. Will any one<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span> have any +more tea? Then please make a move, for it's time we were starting."</p> + +<p>"Good old Dollikins!" murmured Linda as the girls put on their coats. +"She's A1 at a foray. Got something ripping for next season in her head. +I can tell by the twinkle in her eye. She'll ruminate over it all +winter, and drop it on us as a surprise some day. Oh, thunder! Yes, we +ought to be starting! Come along, you slackers, do you want to be left +standing on the platform with a couple of hours to wait for the next +train? Then sprint as hard as you can!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII</h2> + +<h3>Concerns a Camera</h3> + + +<p>Winona went home at Christmas with a whole world of new experiences to +call her own. Her first term had indeed been an epoch in her life, and +though the holidays were naturally welcome, she felt that she could look +forward with pleasure to the next session of school. Her family received +her with a certain amount of respect. The younger ones listened +enviously to her accounts of hockey matches and symposiums, and began to +wish Fate had wafted their fortunes to Seaton. They had left Miss +Harmon's little school, and next term were expecting, with some +apprehension, a governess whom Aunt Harriet had recommended. Winona, who +after thirteen weeks at Abbey Close found the home arrangements rather +chaotic, could not help privately endorsing Miss Beach's wisdom in +instituting such a change. Poor Mrs. Woodward had been greatly out of +health for the last few months, and kept much to her bedroom, while the +children had been running wild in a quite deplorable fashion. Letty, who +ought to have had some influence over the others, was the naughtiest of +all, and the ringleader in every mischievous undertaking. Having +occupied the position of "eldest" for thirteen weeks, she was not at all +disposed to submit to her sister's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span> authority, and there were many +tussles between the two.</p> + +<p>"You'll <i>have</i> to do as your governess tells you, when she comes!" +protested Winona on one particularly urgent occasion.</p> + +<p>"All right, Grannie!" retorted Letty pertly. "I'll settle that matter +with the good lady herself, and in the meantime I'm not going to knuckle +under to you, so don't think it! You needn't come back so precious high +and mighty from your High School, and expect to boss the whole show +here. So there!"</p> + +<p>And Winona, who aforetime had been able to subdue her unruly sister, +found herself baffled, for their mother was ill, and must not be +disturbed, and Percy, who might have been on her side, would only lie on +the sofa and guffaw.</p> + +<p>"Fight it out, like a pair of Kilkenny cats!" was his advice. "I'll +sweep up the fragments that remain of you afterwards. No, I'm not going +to back either of you. Go ahead and get it over!"</p> + +<p>Percy had grown immensely during this last term. He was now seventeen, +and very tall, though at present decidedly lanky. The Cadet Corps at his +school absorbed most of his interests. He held emphatic opinions upon +the war, and aired them daily to his family over the morning paper. +According to his accounts, matters seemed likely to make little progress +until he and his contemporaries at Longworth College should have reached +military age, and be able to take their due part in the struggle, at +which happy crisis the Germans would receive a setback that would +astonish the Kaiser.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Our British tactics have been all wrong!" he declared. "I can tell you +we follow things out inch by inch at Longworth, and you should just hear +what Johnstone Major has to say. Some of those generals at the Front are +old women! They ought to send them home, and set them some knitting to +do. If I'd the ordering of affairs I'd give the command to fellows under +twenty-five! New wine should be in new bottles."</p> + +<p>The younger children listened with admiration to Percy's views on war +topics, much regretting that the Government had not yet obtained the +benefit of his advice. Godfrey even hoped that the war would not be over +before there was a chance for precept to be put into practice, and +already, in imagination, saw his brother in the uniform of a Field +Marshal. Winona smiled tolerantly. She took Percy's opinions for what +they were worth. If his school report was anything to go by, he had +certainly not won laurels at Longworth this term, in the direction of +brainwork, and the headmaster's comment: "Lacking in steady +application," had probably been amply justified.</p> + +<p>Winona was not altogether happy about Percy, these holidays. Jack +Cassidy was spending Christmas at the Vicarage, and claimed much of his +time, and the influence was not altogether for good. Young Cassidy had +already given the Vicar, his guardian and former tutor, considerable +trouble. At twenty-two he had run through a large proportion of the +money which had come to him at his majority, though fortunately he could +not touch the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span> bulk of his property till he should be twenty-five. At +present he was waiting for a commission, and amusing himself as best he +could in the village until the welcome missive should arrive. For lack +of other congenial companions he sought Percy's society. Neither Mr. +James, the Vicar, nor Mrs. Woodward realized how much the two young +fellows were together, or they certainly would not have encouraged the +intimacy. Winona, who was just old enough to recognize certain +undesirable features, tackled Percy in private.</p> + +<p>"Mother wouldn't like your going into 'The Blue Harp,' and playing +billiards with Jack!" she remonstrated. "You were there hours yesterday. +Doesn't it cost a lot?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, Jack pays for it! At least he settles with old Chubbs. I have a bit +on the score, of course, but he says that can wait a while. I'm +improving, and I'll beat him yet, and win my own back."</p> + +<p>"You promised mother you wouldn't bet again, after what happened last +Easter."</p> + +<p>"Now don't you go jaw-wagging!"</p> + +<p>"Well, I must say something! If Mr. Joynson—"</p> + +<p>"Old Joynson may go and boil his head! I'm seventeen now. Look here, +Win, if you're going to turn sneak—"</p> + +<p>"Sneak, indeed! Do I ever tell your secrets? Think what you did at Aunt +Harriet's!"</p> + +<p>Percy changed color.</p> + +<p>"You've not breathed a word about that?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Of course I haven't, but I'm always terrified that she'll find out."</p> + +<p>"It was a rocky little business. I say, Win, I was looking up wills in +'Every Man his Own Lawyer.' If Aunt Harriet died intestate all her +estate would go to her next-of-kin, and that's Uncle Herbert Beach out +in China. The mater wouldn't have a look-in, because her mother was only +Aunt Harriet's half-sister. Uncle Herbert would just get the lot. She +ought to make another will at once."</p> + +<p>"Had you better tell, then?" faltered Winona.</p> + +<p>"Tell? Certainly not! But you might very well suggest it to her. You've +plenty of opportunities, as you're living there. Bring the conversation +round to wills, and ask casually if she's made hers."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I couldn't!"</p> + +<p>"Yes, you could. You ought to do it, Winona. The mater stands to lose +everything as it is. It would probably make Aunt Harriet look inside the +drawer, and then she'd see her paper was gone."</p> + +<p>"And suspect us!"</p> + +<p>"Why should she know we'd had anything to do with it? The servants might +have been rummaging. I certainly think it's your duty, Win, to take some +steps."</p> + +<p>It was rather fine to hear Percy preaching duty on a subject in which he +was so plainly a defaulter. Winona at first indignantly repudiated the +task he wished to impose upon her. Nevertheless, the idea kept returning +and troubling her. She was sure Aunt Harriet ought to know that the will +had been destroyed, and if it was impossible to tell her out<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span>right, this +would certainly be a means of putting her on the track. Winona's whole +soul revolted from the notion of speculating upon possible advantages to +be gained from a relative's death. She would rather let Uncle Herbert +inherit everything than interfere for herself. But for her mother it was +a different matter. Aunt Harriet might wish her goddaughter to receive +part of her fortune, and to conceal the destruction of the will might +mean depriving Mrs. Woodward of a handsome legacy. How to make Miss +Beach realize the loss of the paper without getting Percy into trouble +was a problem that might have perplexed older and wiser heads.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile it was holiday time, and there were many more pleasant +subjects to think about. Winona's Christmas present had been a small +hand camera, the very thing for which she had longed during the whole of +the past term. She contemplated it with the utmost satisfaction. Now she +would be able to join the Photographic Club at school, to go out on some +of the Saturday afternoon expeditions, and to have a few of her prints +in the Exhibition. She could take snap-shots of the girls and the +classroom, and make them into picture postcards to send to her mother, +and she could make a series of home photos to hang up in her bedroom at +Abbey Close. There seemed no limit indeed to the possibilities of her +new camera. She guarded it jealously from the prying fingers of the +younger members of the family.</p> + +<p>"Paws off!" she commanded. "Anybody who interferes with this Kodak will +quarrel with me, so<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span> I give you full and fair warning! Oh, yes, Dorrie! +I dare say you'd just like to press the button! I'd guarantee your fairy +fingers to smash anything! It's 'mustn't touch, only look' where this is +concerned. No personal familiarities, please!"</p> + +<p>December and January were scarcely propitious months for the taking of +snap-shots, but Winona attempted some time exposures, with varying +results. It was difficult to make the children realize the necessity of +keeping absolutely still, and they spoilt several of her plates by +grinning or moving. She secured quite a nice photo of the house, +however, and several of the village, and promised herself better luck +with family portraits when the summer came round again. She turned a +large cupboard in the attic into her dark-room, and spent many hours +dabbling among chemicals. She had urgent offers of help, but rejected +them steadfastly, greatly to the disappointment of her would-be +assistants. Her sanctum became a veritable Bluebeard's chamber, for to +prevent possible accidents she locked the door, and kept the key +perpetually in her pocket during the day time, sleeping with it under +her pillow at night. In the summer she meant to try all kinds of +experiments. She had visions of rigging up a shelter made of leaves and +branches, and taking a series of magnificent snap-shots of wild birds +and animals, like those in the books by Cherry Kearton, and she +certainly intended to secure records of the sports at school. In the +meantime she must content herself with landscape and still life. "I'll +have one of the de Claremont tomb, at any rate," she resolved.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span></p> + +<p>The de Claremont tomb was the glory of Ashbourne Church. It was of white +marble, and beautifully sculptured. Sir Guy de Claremont lay represented +in full armor, with his lady in ruff and coif by his side. Six sons and +four daughters, all kneeling, were carved in has relief round the side +of the monument. Long, long ago, in the Middle Ages, the de Claremonts +had been the great people of the neighborhood. They had fought in the +Crusades, had taken their part in the wars of the Barons, had declared +for the White Rose in the struggle with the House of Lancaster, and cast +in their lot for the King against Oliver Cromwell. The family was +extinct now, and their lands had passed to others, but a few tattered +banners and an old helmet still hung on the wall of the side chapel, +above the tomb, testifying to their former achievements. From her seat +in church Winona had a good view of the monument. She admired it +immensely, and had often woven romances about the good knights of old +who had carried those banners to the battle-field. She felt that she +would like to secure a satisfactory photo. She started off one morning +at about half-past eleven, when the light was likely to be best.</p> + +<p>It was a sunny day, and wonderfully bright for January. She had meant to +go alone, but the children were on the look-out, and tracked her, so she +arrived at the church door closely followed by Letty, Mamie, Godfrey, +Ernie and Dorrie. She hesitated for a moment whether to send them +straight home or not, but the church was a mile from Highfield,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span> and the +mill weir, a place of fascination to Ernie, lay on the way, so she +decided that it would be safest to let well alone.</p> + +<p>"They're imps, but they'll have to behave themselves decently in +church," she said to herself.</p> + +<p>At present the conduct of the family was exemplary. They walked in on +tip-toe, and talked in whispers. Mamie, indeed, cast an envious eye +towards the forbidden ground of the pulpit, into which it was her +ambition some day to climb, and wave her arms about in imitation of the +Vicar, but she valiantly restrained her longings, and kept from the +neighborhood of the chancel. Letty took a surreptitious peep at the +organ, and was disappointed to find it locked, as was also the little +oak door that led up the winding staircase to the bell tower. She +decided that the parish clerk was much too attentive to his duties.</p> + +<p>"Come along over here, can't you?" said Winona suspiciously. "Leave +those hymn-books alone, and tell Dorrie she's not to touch the font, or +I'll stick her inside and pop the lid on her. Go and sit down, all of +you, in that pew, while I take the photo."</p> + +<p>The family for once complied obediently, if somewhat reluctantly. It was +better to play the part of spectators than to be left out of the +proceedings altogether. In the circumstances they knew Winona had the +whip-hand, and that if she ordered them from the church there would be +no appeal. They watched her now with interest and enthusiasm.</p> + +<p>It took her a long time to fix her camera in good position. It was +difficult to see properly in the view<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span>finder, and she wanted to be quite +sure that when the head of Sir Guy was safely in the right-hand corner, +his feet were not out of the picture at the left, to say nothing of the +ten kneeling children underneath.</p> + +<p>"It's impossible to get the wall above if I'm to take the inscription on +the monument," she declared, "and yet I mustn't leave out the old helmet +on any account. I shall take it down, and put it at the bottom of the +tomb while I photograph it. It ought to come out rather well there."</p> + +<p>Rejecting eager offers of help from Mamie and Ernie, Winona climbed up +on to the stately person of Dame Margaret de Claremont, and managed to +take the helmet from the wooden peg on which it was suspended. She posed +it at the foot of the monument, on the right hand side.</p> + +<p>"There's a splendid light from this window—full sunshine! I think if I +give it five minutes' exposure, that ought to do the deed. Now don't any +of you so much as cough, or you'll disturb the air."</p> + +<p>The family felt <i>that</i> five minutes the very limit of endurance. The +moment it was ended they dispersed to ease their strained feelings. +Letty and Ernie walked briskly up the nave. Mamie went to investigate +the stove. Winona herself took the camera to the opposite side of the +church to photograph a Jacobean tablet. Six-year-old Dorrie remained +sitting on a hassock in the pew. She had a plan in her crafty young +mind. She wanted to examine the helmet, and she knew Winona would<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span> be +sure to say "Paws off!" or something equally offensive and +objectionable. She waited till her sister was safely out of the way, +then she stole from her cover, grabbed the helmet, and returned to the +shelter of the pew. It made quite an interesting and fascinating +plaything in her estimation. She amused herself with it for a long time, +until she heard Winona's voice proclaiming that if they didn't trot home +quickly they'd be late for dinner, whereupon she popped it under the +seat, and joined the others. Winona, of course, ought to have replaced +it on its peg on the wall, but her memory was far from perfect, and she +completely forgot all about it.</p> + +<p>The whole thing seemed a most trivial incident, but it had an amazing +sequel. On Saturday afternoons Mrs. Fisher, the caretaker, always came +to sweep and tidy up the church in preparation for Sunday. She was a +little, thin, sharp-nosed, impulsive woman, and just at present her +nerves were rather in a shaky condition for fear of Zeppelins. She lived +in perpetual terror of bombs or German spies, and always slept with half +her clothing on, in case she should be forced to get up in a hurry and +flee for her life. On this particular Saturday afternoon Mrs. Fisher, as +was her wont, washed the pavement of the nave, and then took her broom +and her duster into the side chapel. Nobody sat there as a rule, so she +did not give it very much attention. She flicked the duster over the +monument, hastily swept the floor in front, and was just about to turn +away, having done her duty, when<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span> she caught sight of something under +the seat of a pew. She put her hand to her heart, and turned as white as +her own best linen apron. She divined instantly what it must be. With +great presence of mind she stole softly away on tip-toe. Once outside +the church she indulged in a comfortable little burst of hysterics. Then +she felt better, and went to tell the parish clerk. Before evening the +news had spread all over the village.</p> + +<p>"It was brought in a motor car," Mrs. Pikes at the shop informed her +customers, "and Wilson's little boy says he heard them talking German."</p> + +<p>"There was a foreign-looking sort of a chap rode past our house on a +bicycle the other day," volunteered the blacksmith's assistant.</p> + +<p>"You never know where you are with strangers in war time," said another.</p> + +<p>Everybody agreed that it was a mercy Mrs. Fisher had seen it when she +did, and they were glad the church was a goodish way from the village.</p> + +<p>The Woodward family generally started off for service almost directly +after the bells began to ring. On the following Sunday morning, however, +they were considerably perplexed. The familiar "ding-dong, ding-dong" +which ought to have been pealing forth was not to be heard. They +listened in vain, and consulted all the clocks in the house.</p> + +<p>"It's certainly after ten," said Mrs. Woodward. "I'm afraid something +must have happened! I hope Mr. James isn't ill. Well, we'd better go at +any rate, and see what's the matter."</p> + +<p>So the family, which was ready in its best Sunday<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span> garments, sallied +forth. Ashbourne Church stood a whole mile away from the village, in a +lonely spot with only a couple of cottages near it. The Woodwards took a +short cut across the common from Highfield, so that they did not pass +any houses or meet any neighbors by the way. They arrived at the church +to find the door locked, and the Vicar and his family standing in +consternation outside. Mr. James hailed them with relief.</p> + +<p>"So it <i>is</i> Sunday!" he exclaimed. "I began to think we must have +mistaken the day! I can't understand what's the matter. Nobody's here +except ourselves. What's becomes of Stevens?"</p> + +<p>It was certainly an unprecedented circumstance to find choir, +congregation, organist, organ-blower, bell-ringer and verger all +conspicuous by their absence. Mr. James went to the cottages near to +make inquiries as to the cause. The first was locked up, but by knocking +long and loudly at the door of the second, he at last succeeded in +rousing Jacob Johnson, a deaf old man of eighty-three.</p> + +<p>"Nobody come to church!" he repeated, when after some difficulty and +much shouting the situation had been explained: "Well, 'tain't likely +there should be! I'm told there's a German bomb there, one of the +dangerous sort for going off. Some men brought it yesterday in a motor +car. Spies of the Kaiser, they were. It may explode any minute, they +say, and wreck the church and everything near. The Greenwoods next door +locked up the house, and went to their aunt's in the village. My +daughter came over here asking me to go home with her, but I said I'd<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span> +stay and risk it. At eighty-three one doesn't care to move!"</p> + +<p>"Where is this bomb?" asked Mr. James.</p> + +<p>"In a pew nigh the old monument, so I'm told." At this juncture Jack +Cassidy, who when the church was first found to be locked had +volunteered to run back to the Vicarage and fetch the Vicar's own key, +now arrived after a record sprint.</p> + +<p>"Give me a bucket of water, and I'll go and investigate," said Mr. +James.</p> + +<p>He came out of the church in the course of a few minutes, holding in his +hand—the old helmet!</p> + +<p>"This is the nearest approach to a bomb of any description that I've +been able to discover," he announced. "I'm going to carry it to the +village to convince the wiseacres there. Perhaps Stevens will pluck up +courage to ring the bell for afternoon service. If not, I'll ring it +myself."</p> + +<p>Winona's share in the business might have remained concealed but for the +indiscretion of Mamie, who by an incautious remark gave the show away +entirely.</p> + +<p>"You little silly!" scolded Winona afterwards. "What possessed you to go +and say anything at all? Mr. James will never forgive me! I could see it +in his eye. And Mrs. James was ice itself! I've never felt so horrible +in all my life. If you'd only had the sense to keep mum, they might +never have found out. You kids are the most frightful nuisance! If I'd +had my choice given me when I was born, I wouldn't have been an eldest +sister."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX</h2> + +<h3>The School Service Badge</h3> + + +<p>Settling down at Abbey Close after a month at Highfield was like +transferring oneself from a noisy farmyard to the calm of the cloister. +The house was so near to the Minster that it seemed pervaded by the +quiet Cathedral atmosphere. When Winona drew up her blinds in the +morning, the first sight that greeted her would be the grey old towers +and carved pinnacles, exactly opposite, where the jackdaws were +chattering, and the pigeons wheeling round, and the big clock was going +through the chimes and striking the hour of seven. There was a +particular gargoyle at the corner of the transept roof which appeared to +be grinning at her across the road, as if some imp were imprisoned in +the stone image, and were peeping out of its fantastic eyes. Winona had +grown to love the Minster. She would go in whenever she had ten minutes +to spare after school. The glorious arches and pillars, the carved choir +stalls, the light falling through the splendid rich windows on to the +marble pavement, all appealed to the artistic sense that was stirring in +her, and gave her immense satisfaction. But even the beauty of the +Cathedral was as nothing when the organ began to play. Mr. Holmes, the +organist, was a great musician, and could manage his instrument with a +wizard touch.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span> In the afternoons, between four and five o'clock, he was +wont to practice his voluntaries, and to listen to these took Winona +into a new world of sound. He was a disciple of the extreme modern +school of music, and his interpretations of Debussy, César Franck, +Medtner and Glazounow came to her as a revelation. The glorious weird +harmonies, the strange, unaccustomed chords of these tone-poems stirred +her like the memory of something long forgotten. As Anglo-Indians, whose +knowledge of Hindustani faded with their childhood, yet start and thrill +at the sound of the once familiar language, so this dream-music brought +haunting elusive suggestions too subtle to be defined. It held a +distinct part in Winona's development.</p> + +<p>The girl was growing up suddenly. In the almost nursery atmosphere of +Highfield, with nothing to stimulate her faculties she had remained at a +very childish stage, but now, with a world of art, music, science and +literature dawning round her she seemed to leap upward to the level of +her new intellectual horizon. It is a glorious time when we first begin +to reap the inheritance of the ages, and to discover the rich stores of +delight that master minds have laid up for us to enjoy. Life was moving +very fast to Winona; she could not analyze all her fresh thoughts and +impressions, but she felt she could no more go back to her last year's +mental outlook than she could have worn the long clothes of her +babyhood. She was sixteen now, for her birthday fell on the 20th of +January. Somehow sixteen sounded so infinitely older than fifteen! There +was a dignity<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span> about it and a sense of importance. In another year she +would actually be "sweet seventeen," and a member of that enviable +school hierarchy the Sixth Form!</p> + +<p>Winona could have made herself thoroughly happy at Abbey Close but for +the shadow that existed between herself and Aunt Harriet. Percy's secret +was a perpetual burden on her conscience. At meal times she would often +find her eyes wandering towards the oak cupboard, and would start +guiltily, hoping Miss Beach had not noticed. The more she thought about +the subject the more convinced she became that she ought to give some +hint of the state of affairs, though how to do so without implicating +her brother was at present beyond her calculations. One day, however, a +really hopeful opportunity seemed to arise. A case of a disputed will +was being tried at the Seaton Sessions; the defendants were friends of +Miss Beach's, and after reading the account of the proceedings, Aunt +Harriet laid down the local paper with a few comments.</p> + +<p>"I suppose people ought to make their wills very fast and firm," said +Winona. It was seldom she ventured on an independent remark. As a rule +she left her aunt to do the talking.</p> + +<p>"Undoubtedly. Nothing causes more trouble than carelessness in this +respect."</p> + +<p>"Ought we all to make wills?"</p> + +<p>"If we have anything to leave it's advisable."</p> + +<p>"Ought I?"</p> + +<p>"Well, hardly at present, I should say!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Ought mother?" Winona was growing redder and redder.</p> + +<p>"No doubt she has done so."</p> + +<p>"Have you made yours, Aunt Harriet?"</p> + +<p>The horrible deed was done, and Winona, crimson to the roots of her +hair, felt she had, metaphorically speaking, burnt her boats.</p> + +<p>Miss Beach stared at her as if electrified.</p> + +<p>"What do you want to know for?" she asked, suspiciously. "I think that's +decidedly my business and not yours!"</p> + +<p>Winona collapsed utterly, and murmuring something about preparation, +fled to her bedroom.</p> + +<p>"There! I've just gone and put my foot in it altogether!" she groaned. +"I've no tact! I went and blurted it out like an idiot. She'll never +forgive me! Oh, why can't I go and tell her the whole business, and then +she'd understand! I do hate this sneaking work. Percy, you wretched boy, +I'd like to bump your head against the wall! It's too bad to land me in +your scrape! Well, I suppose it can't be helped. I've said it, and it's +done. But I know I'll be in disgrace for evermore."</p> + +<p>Certainly Aunt Harriet's manner towards Winona, after this unfortunate +episode, was stiffer than formerly. She was perfectly kind, but the gulf +between them had widened. They still discussed conventional topics at +meal-times, or rather Miss Beach made leading remarks and Winona said +"Yes," or "No," for such a one-sided conversation could hardly be termed +discussion. The girl felt it a relief when, as often happened, her aunt +took refuge<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span>in a book. Occasionally Winona would pluck up courage to +relate news from her home letters, but of her school life and all her +new impressions and interests she scarcely spoke at all. Judging from +the children's correspondence the new governess at Highfield, after a +stormy beginning, was making some impressions upon her wild little +pupils.</p> + +<p>"I hated her at first," wrote Mamie, "but she tells us the most lovely +fairy tales, and we're learning to model in clay. I like it because it +makes such a mess. Ernie smacked her yesterday, and she wouldn't let him +do his painting till he'd said he was sorry."</p> + +<p>Winona laughed over the letters, picturing the lively scenes that must +be taking place at home.</p> + +<p>"Do the kids a world of good!" she commented. "They were running to +seed. Even I could see that, as long ago as last summer, and I don't +mind confessing, quite to myself, that I was fairly raw then. I didn't +know very much about anything till I came to the 'Seaton High.'"</p> + +<p>Winona's second term was running far more smoothly than her first. +Thanks to Miss Lever's coaching she could now hold her own in her Form, +and though she might not be the most shining light, at any rate she was +not numbered among the slackers.</p> + +<p>Her progress was marked in more quarters than she suspected. Margaret +Howell had had the Scholarship winners under observation ever since +their arrival. As head girl she made it her business to know something +about every girl in the school. "The General," as she was nicknamed, was +univer<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span>sally voted a success. She and Kirsty Paterson between them had +organized a new era of things. Every one felt the "Seaton High" was +waking up and beginning to found a reputation for itself. The various +guilds and societies were prospering, and following Margaret's pet motto +"Pro Bono Publico," had exterminated private quarrels and instituted the +most business-like proceedings and the strictest civility at committee +meetings. Already the general tone was raised immeasurably, and public +spirit and school patriotism ran high. To encourage zeal and +strenuousness, Margaret and Kirsty had laid their heads together and +decided to found what they called "The Order of Distinguished School +Service." Any girl who was considered to have performed some action +worthy of special commendation or who had otherwise contributed to the +general benefit, was to be rewarded with a badge, and her name was to be +chronicled in a book kept for the purpose.</p> + +<p>The very first to gain the honor was little Daisy Hicks, a Second Form +child, who won 9,400 marks out of a possible 10,000 in the Christmas +exams, so far the highest score known in the school. Agnes Heath, who +wrung special praise from the doctor who conducted the Ambulance +examination, and Gladys Vickcrs, whose photograph of the hockey team was +published in the Seaton <i>Weekly Graphic</i>, were also placed upon the +distinguished list, having substantially helped the credit of the +school. The badge was only a rosette made of narrow ribbons, stitched in +tiny loops into the form of a daisy, with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span> a yellow disk, and white and +pink outer rays. If meant very much, however, to the recipient, who knew +that her name would be handed down to posterity in the school +traditions, and every girl was immensely keen to earn it.</p> + +<p>A new institution in the school this term was the foundation of a +library. It had been a pet project of Margaret's ever since her +appointment as head prefect. Just before the Christmas breaking up she +had called a general meeting and begged everybody after the holidays to +present at least one contribution.</p> + +<p>"It may be a new book or an old one," she had explained, "but it must be +really interesting. Please don't bring rubbish. Give something you would +enjoy reading yourself and can recommend to your friends."</p> + +<p>The response to her appeal had been greater than she anticipated. Nobody +failed to comply, and some of the girls brought several books apiece. A +start was made with three hundred and forty-one volumes, which was +regarded as a most creditable beginning. For the present they were piled +up in the prefects' room until shelves had been made to receive them. +Miss Bishop had given the order to the joiner, but owing to the war it +might be some time before the work was finished.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile Margaret decided that the books ought to be catalogued and +labeled, so that they would be quite ready when the bookcases arrived. +She cast about for helpers in this rather arduous task, and her choice +fell upon Winona, who hap<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span>pened to have a spare half-hour between her +classes on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons. Winona, immensely flattered, +accepted the responsibility with glee, and was put to work under the +"General's" directions. She thoroughly enjoyed sorting, dusting, pasting +on labels, and making alphabetical lists.</p> + +<p>"I shouldn't mind being a librarian some day in a big public library," +she assured Ellinor Cooper, her fellow-assistant.</p> + +<p>"You'd have to be quicker than you are at present, then," remarked +Margaret dryly. "They wouldn't think you worth your salt if you spent +all your time reading the books. Buck up, can't you? and get on!"</p> + +<p>At which Winona guiltily shut "Shirley" with a bang and turned her +attention to the paste-pot.</p> + +<p>While Margaret was cultivating the intellectual side of the school, +Kirsty was carefully attending to her duties as Games Captain. Her work +among the juniors prospered exceedingly. They were taking to hockey with +wild enthusiasm and gave evidence of considerable promise. As most of +them were free at three o'clock, they got the chance of playing almost +every day. Kirsty was extremely anxious that these practices should be +properly supervised. She was too busy herself to take them personally, +so she was obliged to delegate the work to anybody who had the spare +time.</p> + +<p>"The girls I want most are all at classes or music lessons," she +lamented. "Not a single one of the team's available. Winona Woodward, +I've been looking at your time-table, and find you've two vacant +half-hours. Wouldn't you like to help?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Like! I'd sell my birthright to do it!" gasped Winona. "But I'm +fearfully sorry; I'm cataloguing for Margaret!"</p> + +<p>"Then I mustn't take you away from the General! It's a nuisance though, +for you'd have done very well, and I don't know who else I can get."</p> + +<p>Winona considered it was one of the sharpest disappointments she had +ever gone through.</p> + +<p>"Oh, the grizzly bad luck of it!" she wailed to Garnet. "It would have +been idyllic to coach those kids. And it would have given me such a leg +up with Kirsty! To think I've lost my chance!"</p> + +<p>"I suppose Margaret might get some one else to do cataloguing?"</p> + +<p>"I dare say: but I couldn't possibly ask her, and I'm sure Kirsty won't. +No, I'm done for!"</p> + +<p>School etiquette is very strict, and Winona would have perished sooner +than resign her library duties. She felt a martyr, but resolved to smile +through it all. Garnet contemplated the problem at leisure during her +drawing lesson, and arrived at a daring conclusion. Without consulting +her friend she marched off at four o'clock to the prefects' room, a +little sanctum on the ground floor where the minutes' books of the +various guilds and societies were kept, and where the school officers +could hold meetings and transact business.</p> + +<p>As she expected, Margaret was there alone, and said "Come in" in answer +to her rap at the door. The members of the Sixth kept much on their +dignity, so it was rather a formidable undertaking even for a Fifth Form +girl to interrupt the head of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span> school. Margaret looked up +inquiringly as Garnet entered.</p> + +<p>"Yes, I'm fearfully busy," she replied to the murmured question. "What +is it? I can give you five minutes, but no more, so please be brief."</p> + +<p>Thus urged, Garnet, though greatly embarrassed, did not beat about the +bush.</p> + +<p>"I've come to ask a frightfully cheeky thing," she blurted out. "Kirsty +wants Winona to coach the kids at hockey, and Winona's cataloguing for +you, so of course she can't—and—" but here Garnet's courage failed +her, so she paused.</p> + +<p>"Do you mean that Winona would prefer to help with the juniors?"</p> + +<p>"She'd be torn in pieces rather than let me say so, but she's just crazy +over hockey. I hope I haven't made any mischief! Win doesn't know I've +come."</p> + +<p>"All right. I understand. I'll see what can be done in the matter," +returned the General, opening her books as a sign of dismissal.</p> + +<p>Garnet was not at all sure whether her mission had succeeded or the +reverse, but the next day Margaret sent for Winona.</p> + +<p>"I hear Kirsty wants you for a hockey coach. Just at present I think +games are of more importance in the school than the library, so please +report yourself to her, and say I've taken your name off my list. You've +done very well here, but I'm going to lend you to Kirsty for a while."</p> + +<p>Winona was so astounded she hardly knew whether to stammer out +apologies, gratitude, or re<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span>grets, and was intensely relieved when the +head girl cut her short kindly but firmly, and sent her away. She lost +no time in seeking out the Games Captain.</p> + +<p>"Very decent of Margaret," remarked Kirsty. "It's got me out of a hole, +for I couldn't find anybody else with that special time free. You'll do +your best I know?"</p> + +<p>"<i>Rather</i>!" beamed Winona ecstatically.</p> + +<p>Under her tuition the children's play improved fast. Kirsty said +little—she was not given to over-praising people—but Winona felt she +noticed and approved.</p> + +<p>Among the season's fixtures perhaps the most important was the match +with the Seaton Ladies' Hockey Club that was to come off on March 7th. +Their opponents possessed a fair reputation in the city, so it would +behove the school to "play up for all they were worth," as Kirsty +expressed it. It would be a glorious opportunity of showing their +capabilities to the world at large, and demonstrating that they meant to +take their due place in local athletics.</p> + +<p>Three days before the event, Kirsty appeared in the morning with the air +of a tragedy queen.</p> + +<p>"What's the matter?" queried Patricia. "You've a face as long as a +fiddle!"</p> + +<p>"Matter enough! Barbara Jennings is laid up with influenza! What'll +become of the match I don't know. It makes me feel rocky. Where's +Margaret? I want to confab. Did you ever hear of such grizzly luck in +your life?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span></p> + +<p>At five minutes past eleven, when Winona was eating her lunch in the +gymnasium, Kirsty tapped her on the shoulder.</p> + +<p>"I've something to tell you, Winona Woodward. You're to play for the +School on Saturday instead of Barbara."</p> + +<p>Winona swallowed a piece of biscuit with foolhardy haste. She could +scarcely believe the news, so great was its magnitude. To be asked to +fill a vacant place in the team was beyond her wildest dreams.</p> + +<p>"Thanks most <i>immensely</i>!" she stammered, with her eyes shining like +stars.</p> + +<p>Through the next few days Winona simply lived for Saturday. To be able +to represent the School! The glorious thought was never for a moment +absent from her mind. She even ventured to tell Aunt Harriet the honor +that had been thrust upon her, and was astonished at the interest with +which her information was received.</p> + +<p>On the Saturday afternoon the High School turned up almost in full force +to view the match; juniors were keen as seniors, and the children whom +Winona had coached were wild with excitement. The field was packed with +spectators, for the Ladies' Club had brought many friends. It was even +rumored that a reporter from the Seaton <i>Weekly Graphic</i> was present. +The High School team in navy blue gymnasium costumes, bare heads and +close-plaited pigtails, looked neat and trim and very business-like. "A +much fitter set than we showed last year!" murmured Margaret with +satisfaction. All eyes were<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span> riveted on the field as the two opponents +stood out to "bully" and the sticks first clashed together. Winona, her +face aglow with excitement, waited a chance to run. A little later her +opportunity came: she dashed into the masses of the opponents' force, +and with one magnificent stroke swept the ball well onward towards the +goal.</p> + +<p>"Oh! how precious!" shouted the girls.</p> + +<p>Nobody had imagined Winona capable of such a feat. She at once became +the focus of all eyes. It had not occurred to the High School that there +was a real possibility of their winning the match. They had expected to +make a gallant fight and be defeated, retiring with all the honors of +war. Perhaps the Ladies' Club team, who had come to the field secure of +victory, began to feel pangs of uneasiness under their white jerseys. +The situation was supreme. The score had become even. Could the School +possibly do it? That was the question. All looked to Winona for the +answer. She was playing like one inspired. She had not realized her own +capacities before: the wild excitement of the moment seemed to lend +wings to her feet and strength and skill to her arm. One heroic, +never-to-be-forgotten stroke, and the ball was spinning between the +posts. It was a magnificent finish. Frantic applause rose up from the +spectators. The High School cheered its champions in a glorious roar of +victory. The Ladies' Club team were magnanimous enough to offer +congratulations, and their captain shook hands with Winona.</p> + +<p>"Glad to see how your standard's gone up!" she<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span> remarked to Kirsty +aside. "That half-back of yours is worth her salt!"</p> + +<p>Kirsty was literally purring with satisfaction. Last year the High +School had been badly beaten in more than half its matches. This was +indeed a new page in its records.</p> + +<p>On Monday morning Winona received a message summoning her to the +prefects' room. She found Margaret, Kirsty, and the other school +officers assembled there.</p> + +<p>"Winona Woodward," said the head girl, "we have decided to present you +with the School Service Badge, in recognition of your play on Saturday. +It is felt that you really secured the match, and as this is our first +great victory we consider you deserve to have it recorded in your favor. +Your name has been entered in the book. Come here!"</p> + +<p>Winona turned crimson as Margaret pinned the daisy badge on to her +blouse.</p> + +<p>"I—I've been only too proud to do what I can!" she blurted out. "Thanks +most <i>awfully</i>!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X</h2> + +<h3>A Scare</h3> + + +<p>The Spring Term came to a close with a very fair number of hockey +successes to be placed to the credit of the Seaton High School. Compared +with last year's record it was indeed a great improvement, and Kirsty +felt that though they had not yet established a games reputation, they +at any rate showed good promise of future achievements. She hoped to do +much in the cricket and tennis season, though she certainly acknowledged +there was much to be done. The cricket so far had been such a +half-hearted business that she doubted the advisability of making any +fixtures.</p> + +<p>"I believe we'd just better train up for all we're worth," she said at +the committee meeting. "It'll take ages to lick an eleven into shape. +What we want is to get a cricket atmosphere into the school. You can't +develop these things all in a few weeks. You've got to catch your kids +young and teach them, before you get a school with a reputation. I feel +with all the games that we're simply building foundations at present at +the Seaton High. This term especially is spade-work. I'll do all I can +to get things going, but it will be the Games Captain who comes after me +who'll reap the reward."</p> + +<p>"Can't you stay on another year?" suggested Patricia.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Wish I could for some things, but it's impossible. No, I'll do my bit +this term, and then hand over the job to my successor. As I said before, +what we want now is a good start."</p> + +<p>Kirsty was a capital organizer. She soon recognized a girl's capacities, +and she had a knack of inspiring enthusiasm even in apparent slackers. +She worked thoroughly hard herself, and insisted that everybody else did +the same. Her motto for the term was the athletic education of the rank +and file. It was really very self-sacrificing of her, for she might have +gained far more credit by concentrating her energies on a few, but for +the ultimate good of the school it was undoubtedly far and away the best +policy to pursue. The training of a number of recruits may not be as +interesting as the polishing up of champions, but in time recruits +become veterans, and a school in which the standard of the ordinary play +is very high has a better general chance than one that depends on an +occasional <i>solitary</i> star. So even the little girls were strictly +supervised in their practices, and both cricket and tennis showed +healthy development.</p> + +<p>The Governors and the head mistress were anxious that the games +department should prosper, and gave every encouragement. There were a +larger number of tennis courts provided than fall to the share of most +schools, and each form had its allotted times for play. Athletics were +indeed compulsory, every girl being required to take her due part, +unless she were excused by a medical certificate.</p> + +<p>Winona worked with the utmost enthusiasm. As<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span> a Fifth Form girl she had, +of course, to be rather humble towards the Sixth, but she felt that +Kirsty approved of her. It was never Kirsty's way to praise, and she +could be scathing in her remarks sometimes, but Winona did not mind +criticism from her captain, and acted so well on all the advice given +that she was making rapid strides. In pursuance of Kirsty's all-round +training policy, she was not allowed to specialize in either tennis or +cricket this summer, but to give equal energy to both. So she practiced +bowling under Hester King's careful supervision, and played exciting +sets while Clarice Nixon stood by to watch and score.</p> + +<p>The games appealed to Winona more than any other part of the school +curriculum. She did fairly well now in her Form work, but she knew she +could never be clever like Garnet, and that it was extremely unlikely +that she would win laurels on her books. She had promised Miss Bishop +that she would try to do credit to the school in return for her +scholarship, and to help to raise its athletic reputation seemed her +most feasible method of success.</p> + +<p>"I could never get a College Scholarship, however I tried," she thought, +"but—I won't say it's probable, but it's just possible that I might do +something some day in the way of winning matches. Miss Bishop would be +pleased at that!"</p> + +<p>The early summer was delightful at Seaton. The park opposite the school +was full of tulips and hyacinths, and the long avenue of trees in the +Abbey Close had burst into tender green foliage. Winona<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span> studied her +home lessons sitting by her open bedroom window with a leafy bower +outside, and an accompaniment of jackdaws cawing in the old towers of +the Minster. She loved this window and the prospect from it. There was a +romantic, old-world flavor about the gray pile opposite, its carvings +and cloisters and chiming bells seemed so peaceful and so far removed +from modern trouble. Sometimes indeed the whirr of a biplane would +disturb the quiet as an airman flittered like a great dragon-fly over +the city, reminding her that medieval times were past; while a bugle +call from the neighboring barracks emphasized the fact that the world +was at war. Not that Winona was likely to forget that! Every day in +school the Peace Bell prayer was read at noon, and she might see +regiments of recruits marching up or down the High Street on their way +to their training grounds. Nearly every girl in <span class="smcap">V.a.</span> had some +relation at the front, and though Winona could not boast of anybody +nearer than a third cousin serving "somewhere in France," she looked for +news as eagerly as the rest.</p> + +<p>"It must be glorious to get letters from the trenches," she said half +wistfully one day to Beatrice Howell, who was exulting over a pencil +scrawl written by her brother in a dug-out. "I half wish——"</p> + +<p>"No, you don't!" snapped Beatrice. "It's a nightmare to have them in the +firing line! Be thankful your brother's still safe at school."</p> + +<p>On the subject of Percy, Winona was far from easy. He had let fall one +or two hints during the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span> Easter holidays which confirmed her previous +suspicion that he had got into a wrong set at Longworth College. He had +written to her twice already this term, wanting to borrow money, and +suggesting that, without mentioning his name, she should ask Miss Beach +to lend it to her. With such a request, however, Winona had utterly +refused to comply.</p> + +<p>"Aunt Harriet has been so decent to us I can't begin to sponge on her," +she wrote back. "Besides, she'd want to know what I wanted such a lot +for, and then all the mischief would be out!"</p> + +<p>Apparently Percy was offended, for his usual weekly letter did not +appear. Winona only laughed, expecting he would soon get over his fit of +sulks. She was utterly unprepared for the sequel. One day she received a +note from him written on Y.M.C.A. paper and headed "Horminster." It ran +thus:<br /><br /></p> + +<p>"<span class="smcap">Dear Win</span>,—I'd got into such an altogether grizzly hole that +there was only one way out, and I've taken it. I am at present a member +of His Majesty's Forces, and if you want to write to me address: Private +P. D. Woodward, 17th Battalion, Royal Rytonshire Fusiliers, Horminster.</p> + +<p style="text-align: right"><span style="margin-right: 8em;">"Your affectionate brother,</span><br /></p> +<p style="text-align: right"><span style="margin-right: 5em;">"<span class="smcap">Percy</span>."</span><br /></p> +<p style="text-align: left"><span style="margin-left: 3em;">"P.S.—You can tell the mater if you like."</span><br /><br /></p> + +<p>Winona, in a great state of excitement, showed the note to Aunt Harriet, +who telegraphed the information to Mrs. Woodward. The latter had just<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span> +heard from Percy's housemaster of his disappearance, and was greatly +relieved to have news of his whereabouts. The runaway was below military +age, and his mother's first impulse was to apply for his immediate +discharge. But from this course her best friends dissuaded her. The +headmaster of Longworth College and Mr. Joynson, her trustee, were +unanimous in counseling her to leave the boy alone, and Aunt Harriet +cordially agreed with them.</p> + +<p>"Let the lad serve his country!" she wrote to her niece. "He is tall for +his age, and if the Military Authorities have accepted him, well and +good. It seems to me the one thing in the world that is likely to steady +him and give him that sense of responsibility that hitherto he has so +signally lacked. You will make the mistake of your life if you keep him +back now."</p> + +<p>It seemed funny to Winona to imagine Percy, so young and boyish, +actually in His Majesty's uniform. He had not yet got his khaki, but he +promised to have a photo taken as soon as ever he was in military garb, +and she looked forward to showing the portrait of her soldier brother to +the girls in her Form. She began a pair of socks for him at once. I +regret to say that Winona's patriotic knitting had languished very much +during the last two terms, but this personal stimulus revived her ardor. +She even took her sock to the tennis court, and, emulating the example +of Patricia Marshall and several other enthusiasts, got quite good +pieces done between the sets. She would have taken it to cricket also, +but Kirsty had sternly made a by-law prohib<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span>iting all knitting on the +pitch since Ellinor Cooper, when supposed to be fielding, had +surreptitiously taken her work from her pocket and missed the best catch +of the afternoon, to her everlasting disgrace and the scorn of the +indignant Games Captain.</p> + +<p>Kirsty was keen at present upon each Form having its own Eleven, and had +arranged some school matches as trials of skill. The first of these, +Sixth <i>v.</i> Fifth, was fixed for the following Saturday afternoon. +Winona, to her ecstatic and delirious delight, had been elected captain +of the combined <span class="smcap">V.a.</span> and <span class="smcap">V.b.</span> Eleven, and she was +looking forward to the contest as one of the events of her life. She was +aware that on its success or failure might hang much of her future +athletic career at school, and she was determined to show of what stuff +she was made. She urged her team to make heroic efforts, and got all the +practice in that was available. On the Thursday afternoon she gave +everybody a final drilling. On Friday the pitch would be the property of +the Lower School, so this was the last opportunity of play before the +match.</p> + +<p>"If any of you muff the ball or do anything stupid, I'll never forgive +you!" she assured her Eleven. "The Sixth are A1 at fielding, so for +goodness' sake don't disgrace our Form. Beware of Patricia's bowling. It +looks simple, but it's the nastiest I know. I'd rather have Kirsty's any +day, because at least you know what to expect from her, and you're on +your guard. Don't try to be clever too soon; it's better not to score at +all during the first<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span> over than to run any risks. Evelyn, you were a +mascot to-day! I hope you'll play up equally well on Saturday. By the +by, Joyce, I really can't compliment you on your innings. What were you +thinking of to make that idiotic blind swipe?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know!" returned Joyce dolefully. (She was sitting on the fence +looking decidedly crestfallen.) "I'm afraid I'm rather rocky to-day, +somehow."</p> + +<p>"Got nerves? Girl alive! Do brace up!"</p> + +<p>"No, it's not nerves. My head's been aching all the week, and I've a +pain across my chest, and I keep shivering. I suppose I must have caught +cold. It'll be a grizzly nuisance if I can't play on Saturday!"</p> + +<p>"You <i>must</i> play!" urged Winona. "We've got to beat the Sixth or perish +in the attempt! You go home at once, and get some hot tea, and go to bed +afterwards if you don't feel better. You may stop in bed all to-morrow +if it'll do you good!"</p> + +<p>"Thank you, Grannie! Perhaps I will go home now. I really am feeling +rather queer."</p> + +<p>"She looks queer, too," said Bessie Kirk to Winona, as they stood +watching Joyce's retreating figure. "I thought she was going to faint a +while ago. It'll be a hideous nuisance if she has to be out of it."</p> + +<p>"Our best bowler! It's unthinkable!" groaned Winona.</p> + +<p>"It's hard luck, but I'm certain Joyce won't play on Saturday," said +Mary Payne.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span></p> + +<p>The team was feeling rather down at the prospect.</p> + +<p>"We may throw up the sponge if Joyce is off!" mourned Olave Parry.</p> + +<p>"Shut up, you bluebottle!" snapped Winona, decidedly out of temper. +"Joyce may be absolutely well again by Saturday, and if she isn't +Marjorie Kemp must take her place. Do be sporting! You'll never win if +you make up your mind beforehand that you're going to lose!"</p> + +<p>When Winona walked into <i>V.a.</i> on the following morning she looked +anxiously in the direction of Joyce's desk, but the familiar check dress +and amber pigtail were not to be seen. Little groups of girls were +standing in clusters, talking in apparent consternation.</p> + +<p>"Well! Have you heard the news?" asked Garnet, stepping forward to meet +her friend.</p> + +<p>"No. What's the damage? You're looking very down in the dumps!"</p> + +<p>"Joyce Newton has developed small-pox!"</p> + +<p>"Nonsense!" exploded Winona.</p> + +<p>"It's perfectly true," said Garnet, with severe dignity in her voice. +"One only wishes for Joyce's sake that it wasn't! The news has only just +come. Helena Maitland knows about it. She lives next door, and saw the +doctor's car at the Newtons' gate this morning."</p> + +<p>"I told you Joyce looked queer yesterday!" said Bessie Kirk.</p> + +<p>"Suppose we all catch it!" shuddered Freda Long.</p> + +<p>"Don't! It's too horrible!"</p> + +<p>There was a feeling of utter consternation among<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span> the girls as the bad +news was discussed. They wondered what was going to happen.</p> + +<p>"Miss Bishop is telephoning to the Medical Officer of Health," +volunteered Olave Parry, who had been downstairs to seek fresh +information.</p> + +<p>Just then Miss Huntley came into the room, though it was not yet nine +o'clock. She went at once to her desk and took the call over.</p> + +<p>"What's going to happen about Joyce?" one or two of the girls ventured +to ask her.</p> + +<p>"I don't know yet. I expect we shall all be put into quarantine. Miss +Bishop is making arrangements. In the meantime we will go on with our +work."</p> + +<p>It was wise of Miss Huntley to begin the English Language lesson, for +though every one was of course very abstracted, it gave some ostensible +occupation. Before the hour was over Miss Bishop sailed into the room. +She looked pale and anxious, but spoke with her usual calm dignity.</p> + +<p>"Girls," she announced, "you have heard of the very difficult situation +in which the school is placed. I have rung up Dr. Barnes, the Medical +Officer of Health, and he tells me that the whole of <i>V.a.</i> must be +regarded as 'contact cases.' That means that as Joyce has been amongst +you, it is possible for any of you to develop the disease. In order to +avoid the spread of infection throughout the city, you will have to be +most carefully kept apart. I have sent all the other girls home, and you +will stay at the school during to-day. Dr. Barnes is coming this morning +to re-vaccinate you, and this afternoon you<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span> are to be taken to the Camp +at Dunheath, where you will stay until the period of quarantine is over. +Go home? Most certainly not! No girl is to leave the school on any +pretext whatever. I am communicating with your home people and +requesting that they send you a few necessary things to take to the +camp, but no personal interviews can be allowed. Dr. Barnes' orders are +most emphatic. You need not be alarmed, for if you are all re-vaccinated +it is highly improbable that you will be infected, and I think you will +all enjoy yourselves at Dunheath."</p> + +<p>When the Principal had gone the girls clustered round Miss Huntley to +discuss the situation.</p> + +<p>"Yes, of course I'm going with you," said the mistress. "I'm a contact +case as much as anybody else! Miss Bishop tells me that Dr. Barnes will +send a hospital nurse with us. It's a nuisance to be in quarantine, but +it will be beautiful out in the country just now, and we'll manage to +enjoy ourselves."</p> + +<p>The girls took the matter in various fashions according to their +respective temperaments. Some were nervous, while others regarded it as +a joke. The latter rallied their more timorous companions with scant +mercy.</p> + +<p>"Oh, buck up, you sillies!" said Marjorie Kemp, to the tearful plaints +of Agatha James and Irene Mills. "Vaccination doesn't hurt! It's nothing +but a scratch. You might be going to have your arms cut off. For +goodness' sake show some pluck! Suppose you were in the trenches? The +Camp will be just topping. We'll have the time of our lives!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span></p> + +<p>"If we don't break out in spots!" wailed Irene.</p> + +<p>"Well, wait till you do before you make a fuss. You're far more likely +to catch a thing if you're afraid of it."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I say!" said Winona, suddenly remembering Saturday's event. "The +match to-morrow will be all off!"</p> + +<p>"Hold me up! So it will! What a grizzly nuisance! Oh, the hard luck of +it!"</p> + +<p>"Well, it can't be helped! We must play the Sixth later on."</p> + +<p>"Kirsty'll be as savage as we are!"</p> + +<p>"Poor old Joyce, she's responsible for a good deal of damage!"</p> + +<p>The rest of the day passed in an extraordinary fashion. <span class="smcap">V.a.</span> +had the whole of the school premises absolutely and entirely to itself. +The Fourth Form room was turned into a temporary surgery, and Dr. Barnes +installed himself there with tubes of vaccine and packets of new darning +needles. Each girl in turn went first to Miss Bishop and had her arm +thoroughly sterilized with boiled water and boracic lotion, and was then +passed on to the medical officer for vaccination. The scratch with the +needle really did not hurt, and the little operations were soon over. +Sixteen maidens walking about waiting for their arms to dry before +re-donning their blouses made a rather comical sight. The giggles that +ensued raised the spirits of even Agatha and Irene.</p> + +<p>"Glad it was done on our left arms! I expect we sha'n't be in much form +for cricket after this, unless we play one-handed!" laughed Winona. "By<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span> +the by, will there be any field we can practice on out at the camp?"</p> + +<p>"I expect so," returned Miss Huntley. "You had better make a collection +of bats, balls and stumps and a few tennis rackets, and also your school +books. Put them all together, and Miss Bishop will have them sent to +us."</p> + +<p>The girls hastened to sort out the necessary impedimenta for cricket and +tennis, but arranged piles of books with less enthusiasm, the general +opinion being that it was rather stiff to be expected to do work at the +Camp. They were each allowed to take a book from the school library, and +Miss Huntley added a pile of foolscap paper, pens and a big bottle of +ink, which the girls devoutly hoped might get broken on the way and thus +save them the labor of writing exercises. They had dinner and a four +o'clock tea at school, after which meal Miss Bishop, who seemed to have +spent most of the day at the telephone, announced that arrangements were +now completed, and that they must get ready to start. Great was the +excitement when at five o'clock a motor char-à-banc made its appearance. +The sixteen "contacts" and Miss Huntley took their places, their +hand-bags, which had been sent from their respective homes during the +course of the day, were stowed away with the rest of their luggage +inside a motor 'bus, and the company, feeling much more like a picnic +party than possibly infected cases, drove merrily away for their period +of quarantine.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI</h2> + +<h3>The Open-air Camp</h3> + + +<p>If this particular Friday had been an exciting day to the girls of +<span class="smcap">V.a.</span>, it had certainly proved a most agitating one to the +Medical Officer of Health for Seaton. Upon his energy and organization +depended the prevention of a serious epidemic in the city, and he had +shown himself admirably able to cope with the sudden emergency. The +Corporation had lately set up a camp for children threatened with +tuberculosis, and this was commandeered by Dr. Barnes as a suitable +place for quarantine. It lay five miles away from Seaton, on the top of +a hill in a very open situation in the midst of fields, so was +excellently fitted for the purpose. The children under treatment there +had been hurriedly taken back to their homes in Seaton, extra beds and +supplies had been sent out, and a hospital nurse installed in charge, so +that all was in readiness when the char-à-banc arrived.</p> + +<p>The Camp consisted of a long wooden shelter or shed, the south side of +which was entirely open to the air. The boarded floor was raised about +three feet above the level of the field, and projected well beyond the +roof line, thus forming a kind of terrace. Inside the shelter was a row +of small beds, and a space was curtained off at either end, on one side<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span> +for a kitchen and on the other to make a cubicle for Miss Huntley. +Outside, under a large oak tree, stood a table and benches. Nothing +could have been more absolutely plain and bare as regards furniture. The +girls took possession, however, with the utmost enthusiasm. The idea of +"living the simple life" appealed to them. Who wanted chairs and chests +of drawers and wash-stands? It would be fun to sleep in the shelter, and +spend the whole day out of doors.</p> + +<p>"It's too topping for anything!" declared Marjorie Kemp, after a careful +inspection of the premises. "We shall have to keep all our things inside +our bags, and wash in an enameled tin basin, and drink our tea out of +mugs!"</p> + +<p>"It will be precious having meals under that tree!" agreed Bessie Kirk.</p> + +<p>"What shall we do if it rains?" inquired Irene Mills.</p> + +<p>"Go to bed with hot bottles, like the children did," replied Nurse +Robinson. "They always thought that prime fun, so I expect you will too. +You'll soon get into the life here."</p> + +<p>The view from the shelter was most beautiful. In the far away distance +they could see the towers of Seaton Minster and the spires of the +churches, while all around lay lush meadows, fields of growing corn, and +woods in the glory of June foliage. The Camp stood in the corner of a +very large pasture, with hedges all covered with lovely wild roses and +tangles of honeysuckle, while a wood close by showed a tempting vista of +pine trees. The fresh country<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span> air and the smell of flowers and pines +were delicious.</p> + +<p>Life at the Camp was arranged according to a strict time-table. Every +one rose at seven, and a certain number of volunteers helped to prepare +breakfast. Then came bed-making, crockery washing and potato peeling, at +which duties the girls took turns. From 9.30 to 12.30 they had classes +with Miss Huntley, while Nurse Robinson superintended the cooking of the +dinner on the large oil stove. With the exception of an hour's +preparation the rest of the day was free from lessons. Tea was at four +and supper at seven, and by half-past nine every one was in bed, well +covered with blankets, and with a hot bottle if she liked, for the +nights were apt to be chilly to those unaccustomed to sleeping in the +open-air. The rules of quarantine were of course sternly kept. No girl +might go outside the pasture without special permission. Sometimes Miss +Huntley took her flock for a walk along quiet country roads and rambling +by-lanes, but the vicinity of their fellow-creatures was carefully +avoided.</p> + +<p>"We're like the lepers in the Middle Ages!" laughed Garnet. "I feel as +if I ought to wear a coarse white cassock, and ring a bell as I go +about, to warn people to give me a wide berth!"</p> + +<p>"It's amusing that the farmer has even driven his cows out of the +pasture since we arrived," said Evelyn. "He let them feed here while the +tuberculous children had their innings, and I should have thought +consumption germs were as bad as small-pox ones."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span></p> + +<p>"They weren't real consumptives though, only threatened!"</p> + +<p>"Well, we're not small-pox patients, either, only contacts!"</p> + +<p>"I'm sorry for those poor kids, sent suddenly back to their slum homes +after being here for weeks," said Jess Gardner.</p> + +<p>"Oh, the kids have had luck! There were only ten of them, and a lady at +Hawberry has rigged up a tent in her garden, and has them all there, so +Nurse told me this morning. They're living on the fat of the land, and +gaining pounds and pounds in weight, by the look of them."</p> + +<p>"Good! I don't feel so bad at having turned them out, then. It's great +here!"</p> + +<p>"Rather! On the whole, I feel thoroughly grateful to Joyce."</p> + +<p>From the girls' point of view there really was matter for +congratulation. None of them was ill, and all were having a most +delightful and quite unexpected three weeks' holiday in idyllic +surroundings. Their arms, to be sure, had "taken," and were more or less +sore, but that was a trifling inconvenience compared with the pleasures +of living in Camp. There was no anxiety to be felt about Joyce, she had +the disease very slightly, and was being treated with such extreme care +that her face would not be marked afterwards. It was ascertained that +she had caught the infection from some Belgians who had come over lately +from Holland, and who were now isolated by Dr. Barnes in a Cottage +Hospital. The Seaton High School was undergoing elaborate dis<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span>infection, +and as June was well advanced, the Governors had decided not to re-open +until September, when all possibility of contagion would have passed +away. This was the only part of the proceedings that did not please the +girls.</p> + +<p>"It's rather sickening to have no end to the term," groaned Marjorie. +"Our matches are all off, and no swimming display or sports. It's rough +on Margaret and Kirsty particularly. Do you realize that when we go back +in September they'll both have left? All the prefects are leaving."</p> + +<p>"Oh, hard luck! Who'll take their places?"</p> + +<p>"Some of our noble selves, I suppose, if we're promoted to the Sixth."</p> + +<p>"Who'll be General and Games Captain?"</p> + +<p>"Ah! Ask me a harder, my intelligent child."</p> + +<p>"I think I could put my finger on one of them, at any rate."</p> + +<p>"So could I, perhaps, but I don't care to prophesy too soon," sighed +Bessie.</p> + +<p>Whoever might be destined to wear future laurels at school, Winona, as +Captain of the <span class="smcap">V.a.</span> team, assumed direction of the games at the +Camp. Part of the pasture was sufficiently level to make quite a fair +cricket pitch, while a piece in the opposite corner served as a tennis +court. An old man from the farm was bribed to come and cut the grass +with a scythe, but as no lawn-mower or roller was available, the result +was decidedly rough. The tennis enthusiasts rigged up a tape in lieu of +a net, and marked some courts with lime begged from the farmer. Their +games, owing to the general bumpiness of the ground,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span> had at least the +charm of variety and excitement, and four umpires had to keep careful +and continual watch in order to decide whether the balls went over or +under the tape, which indeed collapsed occasionally, as the poles were +only sticks cut from the hedge.</p> + +<p>If the tennis was funny, the cricket was even funnier. Many of the girls +could not use their left arms at all, consequently the batting was +extraordinary, and sometimes the easiest catches were missed. It was +very amusing, however, and perhaps for that reason provided more +entertainment than the most strict and orthodox play under the critical +eye of Kirsty might have done.</p> + +<p>Really the quarantine party had a most idyllic time. In the warm June +weather it was delightful to live out of doors. There were rosy-violet +dawns and golden-red sunsets, and clear starry nights when the planet +Venus shone like a lamp in the dark blue of the sky, and owls would fly +hooting from the woods, and bats come flitting round the shelter in +search of moths. One day, indeed, was wet, but the girls sat or lay on +their beds, and read or talked, and played games, with intervals of +exciting dashes in mackintoshes to fetch cans of water, or dishes from +the larder.</p> + +<p>On Sundays there was of course no church-going, but Miss Huntley read +morning prayers, and in the evening they sang hymns, each girl in turn +choosing the one she liked best. "All things bright and beautiful," +"Nearer, my God, to Thee," and "Now the day is over" were prime +favorites, but perhaps the most popular of all was the ancient Hymn of +St.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span> Patrick, which Miss Huntley had copied from a book of Erse +literature, and had adapted to an old Irish tune. The girls learnt it +easily, and its fifth century Celtic mysticism fascinated them. They +liked such bits as:<br /><br /></p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"In light of sun, in gleam of snow<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Myself I bind;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In speed of lightning, in depth of sea<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In swiftness of wind.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">God's Might to uphold me,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">God's Wisdom to guide,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">God's shield to protect me<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In desert and wild."<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">* * *<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Christ with me, before me,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Behind me and in me,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">O Threeness in Oneness<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I praise and adore Thee."<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p>"In Ireland it is sometimes called the Shamrock Hymn," said Miss +Huntley, "because St. Patrick used the little green shamrock leaf to +explain to the chiefs the doctrine of the Holy Trinity. The original is +in a very ancient dialect of the Irish Celtic, and was preserved in an +old manuscript book written on parchment. It always reminds me of the +'Benedicite omnia opera' of our prayer-book; the thought is the same in +both: 'O ye spirits and souls of the righteous, bless ye the Lord' is +about the sum of it all."</p> + +<p>Except for the trifling trouble of vaccination, the effects of which in +most cases were soon over, the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span> quarantine party enjoyed radiant health. +Dr. Barnes came twice a week to inspect, and Nurse Robinson kept a +vigilant watch for headaches, back-aches, and sickness. None of these +symptoms appeared, however, and all began to congratulate themselves +that the infection had been avoided. There was a burst of warm weather +at the beginning of July, which made the hill breezes of Dunheath highly +acceptable. It was too hot during the daytime to play active games; the +girls lounged about under the shade of the trees, and read the +illustrated papers with which they were kept plentifully supplied.</p> + +<p>"I've never really had time before to study the toilet hints," said +Beatrice Howell one afternoon, poring over a certain page headed "My +Lady's Boudoir." "It seems to me that we ought to take our complexions +more seriously. We actually wash our faces with soap and water, and +'Lady Veronica' says here that that's an absolutely suicidal practice +for delicate skins. She gives all kinds of recipes for what one should +do. I wish I could have a few lessons in face massage. I wonder how hard +one ought to rub? And why a downward movement all the time?" (Beatrice +was stroking her cheeks contemplatively as she spoke.) "Why mayn't you +rub upwards?"</p> + +<p>"The Princess recommends gentle pinching," said Mollie Hill, who was +studying the columns of a rival paper, "and then an application of Mrs. +Courtenay's lavender cream. We ought to be careful not to get freckled +or sunburnt. 'Lady Marjorie' gives some splendid prescriptions against +both.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span> I wonder how the papers always get the aristocracy to write their +Beauty Hints? I shouldn't have thought they'd have condescended to +reveal their secrets!"</p> + +<p>"My good girl! Don't flatter yourself that either 'Lady Veronica' or +'Lady Marjorie' is a member of the aristocracy," chuckled Bessie Kirk. +"They're probably most plebeian and dowdy-looking individuals living in +Bloomsbury boarding-houses, with pasty complexions and freckled noses, +and they get a percentage on the preparations they recommend. If you +notice, they always tell you to use Mrs. Somebody's pomade or face +cream, and it's generally very expensive."</p> + +<p>"Oh, but this one's home-made!" declared Beatrice. "Look here! It says: +'Take an ounce of spermaceti, and melt it in a pan with a teacupful of +rose water. When thoroughly mixed, add an ounce of Vodax, which may be +obtained from any chemist, stir until quite cold, then put into pots.' +I'm sure that sounds simple enough, in all conscience."</p> + +<p>"What about the Vodax, though? If you went to the chemist's you'd find +it is a patent preparation, and very expensive, and it would just knock +the bottom out of the 'home-made' theory of the recipe."</p> + +<p>"There must be something in all these hints, though," said Mollie +plaintively, "or the paper wouldn't publish them every week."</p> + +<p>"Well, perhaps there is, to a certain extent, but just think of the time +it would take to carry them<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span> out, to say nothing of the expense of +cosmetics. Here, give me the book a sec, and a piece of pencil. I want +to make a calculation. Now, if you really follow 'Lady Marjorie's' +advice, your day will run something like this. It's a kind of beauty +time-table:<br /><br /></p> + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="time table"> + +<tr><td align='left'>Face Massage,</td> +<td> </td> +<td align='left'>Morning</td> +<td align='left'>10 minutes</td></tr> + +<tr><td align='left'> " "</td> +<td> </td> +<td align='left'>Evening</td> +<td align='left'>10 "</td></tr> + +<tr><td align='left'>Hair Drill,</td> +<td> </td> +<td align='left'>Morning</td> +<td align='left'>15 "</td></tr> + +<tr><td align='left'> " "</td> +<td> </td> +<td align='left'>Evening</td> +<td align='left'>15 "</td></tr> + +<tr><td align='left'>Application of cloths wrung out in hot water to face daily</td> +<td> </td> +<td align='left'></td> +<td align='left'>30 "</td></tr> + +<tr><td align='left'>Breathing Exercises</td> +<td align='left'></td> +<td> </td> +<td align='left'>15 "</td></tr> + +<tr><td align='left'>Physical "</td> +<td align='left'></td> +<td> </td> +<td align='left'>15 "</td></tr> + +<tr><td align='left'>Manicure</td> +<td align='left'></td> +<td> </td> +<td align='left'> 5 "</td></tr> + +<tr><td align='left'>Oatmeal applications</td> +<td align='left'></td> +<td> </td> +<td align='left'> 5 "</td></tr> + +<tr><td align='left'></td> +<td align='left'></td> +<td> </td> +<td align='left'>---</td></tr> + +<tr><td align='left'></td> +<td align='left'></td> +<td> </td> +<td align='left'>Total 2 hours.</td></tr> + +</table><br /></div> + +<p>Now, if you're going to put in two hours every day at your toilet, it +seems to me that you won't have much time left for games, unless you can +get your prep. excused on the ground that you're studying beauty +culture. I'd like to see Bunty's face if you asked her!"</p> + +<p>"Don't be piggish!" said Mollie. "One has no need to cultivate a tough +skin, just because one's fond of cricket and hockey. I hate to see girls +with hard red cheeks and freckles."</p> + +<p>It was certainly not possible to obtain Mrs. Courtenay's lavender cream +or any other toilet spe<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span>cialties at the Camp. Beatrice and Mollie, +however, impressed with the necessity of preserving their complexions, +commandeered some of the buttermilk which was sent daily from the farm, +and dabbed it plentifully over their faces before retiring to bed, +following the application with massage to the best of their ability. +They were emulated in these toilet rites by Agatha James, Mary Payne and +Olave Parry, who also studied the beauty hints columns, and liked to try +experiments. One day Agatha found an entirely new suggestion in a copy +of "The Ladies' Portfolio." A correspondent wrote strongly advocating +common salt as a hair tonic. It was to be rubbed in at night, and +brushed out again in the morning.</p> + +<p>Apparently nothing could be more simple. Beatrice, being on kitchen +duty, had access to the salt-box. She purloined a good breakfastcupful, +and divided the spoils with her four confederates. They all rubbed the +salt carefully into the roots of their hair. Next morning, however, when +they essayed to brush it out again, it obstinately refused to budge, and +remained hard and gritty among their tresses. They were very much +concerned. What was to be done? The only obvious remedy was to wash +their hair. Now the one drawback of the Camp was its shortage of water. +The daily supply had to be carried in buckets from the farm, and as, +owing to the warm dry weather, the well was getting low, their allowance +at present was rather small, and had to be carefully husbanded. The +amount doled out for washing purposes certainly was quite inade<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span>quate +for the due rinsing of five plentiful heads of hair.</p> + +<p>"I suppose we shall just have to grin and bear it till we can get home +and can mermaid properly in a bath!" sighed Mary.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I can't! I'm going to wash mine somehow. Look here, suppose we +sneak off quietly this afternoon, and go on a water hunt?"</p> + +<p>"There isn't a stream or a pond anywhere near."</p> + +<p>"We haven't tried the wood!"</p> + +<p>"Well, we're not allowed there, of course."</p> + +<p>"I don't see why we shouldn't go. The young pheasants must be all +hatched, and running about by this time, so what harm could we do? +Besides which, nobody's troubling about preserving game during the war. +They're shooting Germans instead of birds this year."</p> + +<p>"Very likely the gamekeeper has enlisted," suggested Beatrice, "in which +case there'd be no one to stop us."</p> + +<p>Now the strict law of the Camp confined the girls to the pasture, but as +it was the last week of the quarantine, they were beginning to grow a +little slack about rules. The five victims of the salt cure waited until +Miss Huntley and Nurse Robinson were enjoying their afternoon siesta; +then, without waiting for any permission, they climbed the fence into +the lane, found a thin place in the hedge, and scrambled into the wood. +It was a thrillingly exciting experience. Rather scratched and panting, +they surveyed the prospect. Trees were everywhere, with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span> a thick +undergrowth of bramble and bracken. Apparently there was no path at all.</p> + +<p>"I suppose we shall just have to wander about till we see a pond!" +remarked Agatha.</p> + +<p>"I believe some people can find water with a forked hazel twig," said +Olave. "They hold it loosely in their hands, and it jerks when the +water's near. I wish I knew how to do it!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, water-finders are occult people," laughed Beatrice, "the sort that +see spooks and do table-turning, you know. Besides, they find +underground water, and tell where wells ought to be dug. We want a pond +which any one can see with the naked eye, without being endowed with +psychic powers. My natural reason tells me to go down hill, and perhaps +we'll strike it in a hollow."</p> + +<p>The girls rambled on, thoroughly enjoying the coolness of the shade and +the beauty of the wood. As Beatrice had prophesied, when they reached +the foot of the incline they came across quite a good-sized pool, with +reeds and iris growing on its banks. They rejoiced exceedingly.</p> + +<p>Now it is one thing to wash one's hair in a bath or a basin, but quite +another to perform that operation in a pond with shallow muddy edges. +The girls took off their shoes and stockings, tucked up their skirts and +waded into the middle, where they made gallant efforts at dipping and +rinsing their heads, and contrived to get uncommonly wet in the process. +They wrung out their dripping tresses, mopped them with handkerchiefs +(for nobody had<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span> dared to take a towel), and spread them out over their +shoulders to dry. There was an open glade close by, where they could +squat in the sunshine, and let the breeze help the process. Mary had had +the forethought to put a comb in her pocket and she lent it round in +turns. They were sitting in a row, like five mermaids, extremely +complacent and satisfied with themselves, when footsteps suddenly +crashed through the wood, and a middle-aged man approached them. For +once Beatrice's calculations were wrong. The gamekeeper had not yet +enlisted. No doubt he would have been far better employed in the +trenches somewhere in France, but here he was, still in England, and +looking extremely surly and truculent.</p> + +<p>"You've no business to be in this wood," he began. "Can't you read the +trespass notices? There's plenty of them about. What do you mean by +coming in here, disturbing the pheasants?"</p> + +<p>"We aren't doing any harm!" protested Olave.</p> + +<p>"That's neither here nor there. You've no business here, and you know +it! Are you from that camp up the hill?"</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>"Then take yourselves off at once—spreading small-pox!"</p> + +<p>"We've none of us had small-pox!" returned Beatrice indignantly. "We've +told you we weren't doing any harm. Still, if this will make things +right——" and she slipped half-a-crown into his hand.</p> + +<p>The gamekeeper's expression changed considera<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span>bly, and his tone +instantly became more respectful.</p> + +<p>"Well, young ladies, I have to do my duty, and of course you understand +the pheasants mustn't be disturbed anyhow. Perhaps you won't mind going +back to the Camp now. I'll show you a path that will take you into the +lane."</p> + +<p>He led the way, and the girls followed in subdued silence, feeling +rather crestfallen. Mollie was yearning to tell him that he ought to be +doing his duty by his country instead of by the pheasants. If at that +moment she could have found a white feather, I believe she would have +presented it to him. The path ended in a small gate which he unlocked. +He ushered them solemnly into the lane, pointed out a trespass notice +that was nailed conspicuously on to a tree, and then retired into the +fastnesses of the wood. The girls decided that, unless actually +compelled, they would not divulge where they had been.</p> + +<p>"It was a bit of hard luck to be caught!" giggled Olave. "Didn't you +feel queer when he came up?"</p> + +<p>"I thought he was a beast, and didn't deserve propitiating with a tip!" +declared Agatha.</p> + +<p>"But we washed our hair!" rejoiced Mary, plaiting her long dark +pigtail.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII</h2> + +<h3>Captain Winona</h3> + + +<p>To the entire satisfaction of themselves, their relations, and Dr. +Barnes, the girls passed safely through their period of quarantine, and +were certified as fit once more to take their places among the rest of +the world. They left the Camp almost with regret. They had been such a +jolly, merry party, and had enjoyed such high jinks there, that they +felt their departure closed a pleasant episode. They were going straight +home to holidays, however, which was a very different matter from +returning to work. The remainder of July and the month of August passed +very swiftly to Winona. She missed Percy, who was in training with his +regiment, but since the advent of their new governess, Letty and Mamie +had grown more sensible, and proved quite pleasant companions. Letty +especially seemed suddenly to have awakened, so far as her intellectual +capacities were concerned. She had begun to devour Scott and Dickens, +took a keen interest in nature study, and tried—sometimes with rather +comical effect—to be extremely superior and grown-up.</p> + +<p>"She's far cleverer really than I am," thought Winona. "Pity she's not +at the Seaton High!<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span> She'd be the star of her form directly. I wish she +could get a scholarship some day."</p> + +<p>With her school experience in coaching juniors, Winona was able to give +her family some drilling in the matter of cricket, though she did not +find that younger brothers and sisters proved such docile pupils as the +members of <span class="smcap">III.a.</span> and <span class="smcap">III.b.</span> It was the usual case of +"a prophet is not without honor, save in his own country," and while to +High School juniors she preserved the authority and dignity of a senior, +to Letty, Mamie, Ernie, Godfrey, and Dorrie she was "only Winona." She +practiced tennis with the Vicarage girls, and was surprised to find how +much her play had improved. Last summer they had nearly always beaten +her, now it was she who scored the victories.</p> + +<p>"I've learnt how to play games at 'The High,' even if my report was only +moderate," she said to herself.</p> + +<p>To make up for the long holiday caused by the small-pox scare, school +was to commence at the beginning of September. Aunt Harriet, who had not +been well, and was taking a rest in Scotland, wrote that her house in +Abbey Close was shut up for the present, but that she was making other +arrangements for her great-niece until her return. This term a hostel +was to be opened in connection with the High School, and Winona was to +be a boarder there for a few weeks. She was uncertain whether she liked +the prospect or not, but she nevertheless left home in good spirits.</p> + +<p>The hostel was under the superintendence of Miss<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span> Kelly. It was prettily +furnished, and looked bright and pleasant. The girls had a common +sitting-room, where they could read, write, paint or play games, and the +bedrooms were divided into cubicles. So far there were only ten +boarders, though there was accommodation for eighteen, but no doubt the +numbers would be increased when the venture became better known.</p> + +<p>The school seemed very strange without the familiar figures of Margaret +Howell, Kirsty Paterson, Patricia Marshall and the other prefects. All +of the Sixth had left except Linda Fletcher and Dorrie Pollock, and the +members of <span class="smcap">V.a.</span> were now promoted to the top form. Linda +Fletcher was head of the school, the new prefects being Hilda Langley, +Agatha James, Bessie Kirk, Grace Olliver, Evelyn Richards and Garnet +Emerson. Linda, with her past year's experience, made an extremely +suitable "Head." She understood thoroughly what ought to be done, and at +once called a mass meeting of the whole school in the gymnasium. +Everybody clapped as Linda stood up on the platform to open the +proceedings. She had been a favorite as a prefect, so she was welcomed +in her new capacity of "General."</p> + +<p>"Girls!" she began. "I felt it was better to lose no time in calling +this meeting to settle the affairs of the coming school year. I am in a +difficult position, because I have to follow such an extremely able and +efficient 'Head.' I'm afraid I can't hope to rival Margaret Howell +(cries of "Yes! Yes!" and "You'll do!" from the audience), but at least<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span> +I shall try to do my duty. During the past year we may fairly consider +that the 'Seaton High' made enormous strides. Owing to the exertions of +our former 'Head' and prefects a most excellent foundation has been +laid. The Dramatic Society, the Debating Club, the Literary Association, +the Photographic Union and the Natural History League all accomplished +very satisfactory work, and may be considered in a most flourishing +condition. Perhaps, though, our greatest improvement is in the direction +of games. This may not appear on the surface, for though we won five +hockey matches, it was impossible, for reasons well known to you, to +have fixtures for hockey and tennis. We feel, nevertheless, that in +spite of our inability to test our skill against that of other schools +we are conscious of the enormous all-round improvement that has taken +place in our play. It was Kirsty Paterson's policy to train recruits for +the games so that every girl in the school might be a possible champion. +How well she succeeded I hope our next season's matches may testify. Let +us all work together for the good of the school, and try to establish +the reputation of the 'Seaton High.' I need not remind you that +everything in the coming year will depend upon the energy and efficiency +of the Games Captain. As soon as I knew that I was 'Head,' I wrote to +Kirsty, who is staying in Cornwall, and asked for her opinion upon this +most important point. I want to read you an extract from her reply, +which I received this morning. She says:</p> + +<p>"'You ask me who is to be the new Games Cap<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span>tain. Well, of course it is +a delicate matter to nominate my own successor, but from my knowledge of +everybody's capacities I should most decidedly suggest Winona Woodward. +She is a good all-round player herself, and has a particular aptitude +for organization, which should prove invaluable. She thoroughly +appreciates the advantage of having reserves to fall back upon, and is +most keen on keeping up the standard. I do hope the dear old "High" will +have a splendid year. I shall be frantic to hear how you get on. Send me +a p.c. with the result of the meeting.'</p> + +<p>"Well," continued Linda, "you've heard Kirsty's opinion. It coincides +entirely with mine. Will some one kindly propose that Winona Woodward +shall be elected Games Captain?"</p> + +<p>"I have much pleasure in making the proposal," said Bessie Kirk, +standing up promptly.</p> + +<p>"And I have much pleasure in seconding it," murmured Grace Olliver.</p> + +<p>"Will all who are in favor kindly hold up their hands? Carried +unanimously! I'm extremely glad, as I'm sure Winona is 'the right man +for the job,' and worthy to carry on Kirsty's traditions. I vote we give +her three cheers!"</p> + +<p>Winona flushed crimson as the hip-hip-hoorays rang forth. She had never +expected such a complete walk-over. She had known that her name was to +be submitted for the captaincy, but she had thought that Bessie Kirk and +Marjorie Kemp held equal chances, and that the voting would probably be +fairly evenly divided. That Kirsty should have<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span> written to nominate her +was an immense gratification. Kirsty's praise at the time had been +scant, and Winona had no idea that her former chief held her in such +esteem. To Winona the occasion seemed the triumph of her life. She would +rather be Games Captain than have any other honor that could possibly be +offered to her. Glorious visions of successful matches, of shields or +cups won, and a county reputation for the school swam before her eyes. +And she—Winona Woodward—was to have the privilege of leading and +directing all this! It was indeed a thrilling prospect. Her thoughts +went back to the symposium of a year ago, when as a new and unknown +girl, she had listened to Margaret Howell's inspiring speech. How +unlikely it had seemed then that she would ever have a hand in making +school history, but how her spirit had been stirred, and how she had +longed to do her part! It was something to have realized her pet +ambition.</p> + +<p>"It was most awfully good of you to propose me," she said to Bessie Kirk +afterwards. "You'd a splendid chance yourself."</p> + +<p>"Not I!" returned Bessie lightly. "Kirsty's letter settled the whole +business. I shouldn't have made nearly as good a Captain as you. I don't +care to bother with the kids, and I'd hate all the business part of it, +making the fixtures and that sort of thing, you know. You'll be A1, and +we'll all play up no end. I believe we dare venture a fixture with Grant +Park this season."</p> + +<p>Winona fully realized the responsibilities of her important position, +and began at once to pick up<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span> the threads of her new duties. She took +possession of the Games Register, with its records of past matches, and +began to make plans for hockey fixtures. The term had begun so early +that the other schools in the county had not yet re-opened; that, +however, was really an advantage, as it gave her more time for +consideration. At present the September weather was hot as summer, and +tennis and cricket were still in full swing. In order to spur on +enthusiasm Winona organized a school tennis tournament. The result was +highly satisfactory. Several new and unsuspected stars swam into view, +and she determined to keep her eye upon them as possible champions for +next summer.</p> + +<p>"You never know what a girl's capable of till you try her!" she confided +to Garnet. "Who would ever have thought that that stupid-looking little +Emily Cooper could beat Ethel March? I was simply astounded. I've my +plans for Emily, I can tell you! And I believe Bertha March is going to +be a second Annie Hardy. She serves in exactly the same way. Oh, I've +hopes for next summer. Brilliant, glorious hopes."</p> + +<p>The school took every opportunity of using the fine weather while it +lasted. The Photographic Union organized an outing to Linworth, a +picturesque town six miles away, where an old castle, an Elizabethan +mansion, a river and many quaint streets made subjects for their +cameras, and promised to provide materials for an exhibition later on, +when films were developed and prints taken. The Natural History League +had another delightful<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span> ramble under Miss Lever's leadership, and +secured additional specimens for the museum. On this occasion Winona and +Garnet started in better time for the station, and did not get into the +wrong train, as they had done on the expedition to Monkend Woods.</p> + +<p>"Dollikins," as Miss Lever was affectionately nicknamed, was as great a +favorite as ever among the girls. Owing to changes on the staff, she now +had charge of <span class="smcap">IV.a.</span> and taught mathematics throughout the +junior forms, so that the seniors saw little of her in school hours. On +a ramble she was as jolly as one of themselves.</p> + +<p>The Sixth had a new mistress, Miss Goodson, who had only joined the +staff this term. The form was rather uncertain whether to like her or +not. It was rumored that she had been engaged specially to coach them +for the matriculation. So far the High School had been laying +foundations, and had not sent in any candidates for public examinations. +This year, however, having a certain amount of promising material in the +Sixth, Miss Bishop had decided that the time was ripe for trying to win +the educational laurels towards which their training had been directed. +Miss Goodson came from a High School in the north, and brought with her +a reputation for successful coaching. She was well up in all her +subjects, but she was a cold and not very inspiring person. She was apt +to concentrate her energies on the clever members of her form, and leave +the less brilliant to stumble along as best they could. Winona, who +certainly belonged to the sec<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span>ond category, did not like Miss Goodson, +while Garnet was strongly in her favor.</p> + +<p>In her new capacity of prefect, Garnet proved a success. She was as +enthusiastic over the "bookish" side of the school as Winona over the +athletic department. She was President of the Literary Association, a +member of the Debating Club Committee, and head librarian. The school +library had grown and prospered exceedingly since its installation by +Margaret Howell. It now numbered nearly five hundred volumes, and its +shelves almost filled the Prefects' Room. Garnet managed it +systematically. She had special hours at which books were issued, and +assistants whose business it was to be on duty at the specified times.</p> + +<p>Among other improvements in the school welcomed by the girls was the +advent of a fresh drilling mistress, and some new apparatus for +gymnastics. Under Miss Barbour, "Gym" became highly popular, and it was +felt that an athletic display would probably be held at Christmas. This +was something to work for, and every one seemed much keener than +formerly. Winona was naturally an enthusiast, and tried to keep others +up to the mark. She had once seen an "Assault-at-Arms" at Percy's +college, and the memory of it made her long for the Seaton High School +to have a similar opportunity of showing its prowess. She and a select +circle of friends practiced whenever possible. Altogether among the +various athletic activities of the school, Captain Winona promised +herself a very enjoyable year in the Sixth Form.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII"></a>CHAPTER XIII</h2> + +<h3>The Hostel</h3> + + +<p>Aunt Harriet had intended to return home towards the end of September, +but her health continued so unsatisfactory that her doctor ordered her +to Harrogate to drink the waters, and advised a long period of rest and +change before again taking up the many occupations with which she busied +herself in Seaton. Miss Beach was a restive patient, and Dr. Sidwell +knew that if he once allowed her to be within reach of committees, she +would plunge herself into work, while to keep away from the scenes of +her former activity was her only chance of recovery.</p> + +<p>The house in Abbey Close was still shut up, and Winona for the present +term was established at the Hostel. On the whole she liked it. She +missed certain things, particularly her own bedroom, and the quiet +dining-room where she had been accustomed to prepare her lessons, but +life in a community had its compensations. It was a nuisance to have to +sleep in the same dormitory with Betty Carlisle, who snored offensively, +but, on the other hand, Winona's cubicle was next to the window, with +the little balcony that overlooked the park, and every morning she could +watch an aëroplane hovering and flitting like a beautiful dragon-fly +over<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span> the city. Seaton possessed a Government aircraft factory, and each +finished machine had to be carefully tested. All the girls in the school +were extremely interested in the exploits of Lieutenant Mainwaring, a +member of the Flying Corps, who might constantly be seen practicing. He +was a cousin of Elsie Mainwaring, a Fifth Form girl. Elsie recorded his +doings with immense pride, and provided up-to-date information of his +whereabouts. He was a very daring young fellow, and was reported to have +looped the loop. Winona had never witnessed the performance of this +feat, so she looked out eagerly each day, hoping she might have the luck +to see him do it. When the biplane came swooping over the park, she +would wave her handkerchief to it from the balcony by way of +encouragement. She was immensely patriotic, and she considered that our +airmen deserved praise almost beyond any other branch of our forces. She +often wished Percy were in the Flying Squadron. She cut out all the +pictures of aëroplanes from the Seaton <i>Graphic</i>, and pinned them up in +her cubicle. There was a portrait of Lieutenant Mainwaring among the +number, and this she placed on her dressing-table, side by side with +Percy's photograph. According to Elsie it was a very bad likeness, but +as Winona had not seen the original, except at a distance, she had no +means of judging. Curiosity led her to borrow a pair of field-glasses +from Garnet. She was standing one morning on the balcony when the +aëroplane came in sight, and hovered quite low down<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span> over the park, +exactly opposite the hostel windows. Through her glasses Winona could +plainly see the occupant. The impulse to smile and wave was +irresistible. To her immense surprise the signal was returned. In +frantic excitement she waved again, and shouted "Hooray!"</p> + +<p>"What are you doing, Winona Woodward?" snapped a voice behind her, and +turning guiltily, she found herself face to face with Miss Kelly.</p> + +<p>"I—I was only looking at the aëroplane," stammered Winona.</p> + +<p>"Come in at once! You know perfectly well that this sort of thing is not +allowed. I am very much surprised and disgusted. If I find you signaling +to gentlemen again from this balcony, I shall change your dormitory. +Whose field-glasses are those?"</p> + +<p>"Garnet Emerson's," said Winona sulkily.</p> + +<p>"Then you must give them back to Garnet this morning. Remember, that +such unladylike conduct must never happen again at the hostel."</p> + +<p>Winona considered herself very much aggrieved. She had waved on the spur +of the moment, and to have her innocent and impulsive act construed into +"signaling to gentlemen," and reproved as "unladylike conduct," was +highly aggravating. Miss Kelly was a disciplinarian, and of a very +suspicious temperament. Her idea of duty was the French one of +"surveillance." She never trusted the girls, or put them upon their +honor; her mode of procedure was to keep an eye upon them, and to pop in +sud<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</a></span>denly and surprise them. They resented this attitude extremely.</p> + +<p>"Miss Kelly always gives us credit for going to do the very worst!" +grumbled Betty Carlisle.</p> + +<p>"She puts ideas into our heads!" declared Doris Hooper indignantly.</p> + +<p>The gist of the trouble was this: the girls at the hostel expected to +have as much liberty as if they were in their own homes, while Miss +Kelly, who had formerly been a mistress at St. Chad's, wished to enforce +strict boarding-school rules. It was much more difficult to do this +because the hostel only formed part of a large day school; the general +atmosphere of the place was more free than at a college where all alike +are boarders, and the girls naturally were infected by the prevailing +spirit. A constant source of annoyance was the rule that they must +report themselves in the hostel at 4.15. It was the fashion to linger +after school, and chat in the "gym" or in the playground. It was a +delightful little time, when everybody could meet every one else, and +discuss school news and matches and guilds and other interesting topics. +To be obliged, for no particular reason, to cut short their +conversations and race back to the hostel was annoying. The boarders +evaded the rule as far as possible, but Miss Kelly kept a roll-call, and +they knew that their absences would be duly reported to Miss Bishop.</p> + +<p>To Winona, in especial, many of the rules were extremely irksome. At +more than sixteen and a half, she felt it ridiculous to be obliged to +ask permission to go out and buy a lead pencil at the sta<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</a></span>tioner's. +"It's like living in a convent!" she fumed.</p> + +<p>Another bone of contention was her preparation. She had been so +accustomed to work in a room by herself at Abbey Close that she found +the presence of others highly distracting. Though silence was enforced, +the girls fluttered the leaves of their books, scratched with their +pens, or even murmured dates under their breath, all of which sounds +were most irritating. Winona begged to be allowed to take her books to +her cubicle, but Miss Kelly would not hear of it.</p> + +<p>"I cannot make an exception for one," she replied, "and it would be +impossible to allow girls to work as they liked in the dormitories. +There would be more talking than preparation! You'll stay here with the +others, and I can see for myself what you're doing."</p> + +<p>The hint that Miss Kelly suspected her of some ulterior motive for +wishing to study upstairs enraged Winona, but she was obliged to submit, +and to sit, close under the mistress' eye, at the long table, in company +with her fellow-boarders. Her work suffered in consequence, and Miss +Goodson's sarcasms descended on her head. Miss Goodson was not so +patient a teacher as Miss Huntley, and Winona tried her temper at times. +Winona was subject to curious fits of stupidity. Her brains were like a +clock with a broken cog. Sometimes they would work easily, and on other +days she seemed quite unable to grasp the most obvious problems. A +lively imagination may be a very delightful possession, and of use in +the writing of history and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</a></span> literature exercises, but it cannot supply +the place of solid facts, nor is it of the least aid in mathematics, so +Winona's form record was not high.</p> + +<p>The hockey season would commence at the beginning of October, but during +September, while the weather was still warm, the girls continued to play +cricket on Wednesdays. The school was fortunate enough to possess large +playing fields; these adjoined the public park, in itself a big area, so +that quite a fine open space lay below the buildings. One afternoon, +just as Winona was having her innings, Elsie Mainwaring uttered a cry, +and pointed overhead. Far up in the clouds was the aëroplane, and it was +gracefully looping the loop.</p> + +<p>"It's Harry! He's showing off for our benefit!" squealed Elsie +excitedly. "I told him we should be playing cricket to-day. Oh! didn't +he do it cleverly? He went just straight head over heels in the air! +Let's wave to him, and perhaps he'll come down a little."</p> + +<p>Handkerchiefs fluttered out so briskly that the field resembled a +washing day. Miss Barbour was signaling as vigorously as the rest. +Evidently Lieutenant Mainwaring took the display for an invitation, the +biplane descended like a hawk, and to every one's immense gratification +alighted on the school ground. To see a real live airman at such close +quarters was not an ordinary experience. Elsie promptly introduced her +cousin to Miss Barbour and begged that they might all inspect the +machine. Lieutenant Mainwaring good-naturedly explained the various +parts; perhaps he rather enjoyed a visit<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</a></span> to a Ladies' School! He did +not stay long, however, but after a few minutes started his engine and +went soaring up again into the blue of the sky, and wheeling over the +towers of the old Minster was soon lost to sight behind some clouds.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 392px;"> +<img src="images/gs03.png" width="392" height="600" +alt=""TO SEE A REAL LIVE AIRMAN AT SUCH CLOSE QUARTERS WAS NOT AN ORDINARY EXPERIENCE"" +title=""TO SEE A REAL LIVE AIRMAN AT SUCH CLOSE QUARTERS WAS NOT AN ORDINARY EXPERIENCE"" /> +<span class="caption">"TO SEE A REAL LIVE AIRMAN AT SUCH CLOSE QUARTERS WAS NOT AN ORDINARY EXPERIENCE"</span> +</div> + +<p>"It must be glorious to fly!" sighed Winona.</p> + +<p>In spite of Miss Kelly's injunctions she could not help looking out of +her window every morning for the aëroplane, and giving a surreptitious +wave. She told herself that she was only acting patriotically in +cheering on our aërial defenses. The back of the hostel opened into the +school playground, and one day Winona, taking a run there for exercise +before breakfast, heard the familiar whirring, and looking up, beheld +the flying-machine poised just overhead. She heard a shout from the +occupant, and something dropped into the playground. She ran to pick it +up. It was a packet of chocolates! She tried to wave thanks, but the +biplane had moved on, and was now far over the town, Lieutenant +Mainwaring no doubt having enjoyed his little joke of innocent +bomb-dropping.</p> + +<p>Now most unfortunately for Winona, Miss Kelly's bedroom window +overlooked the playground, and she had been a witness of the whole +incident. She came out now in extreme wrath, confiscated the chocolates, +and scolded Winona sharply.</p> + +<p>"But it's not my fault! I'd no idea he was going to drop anything!" +protested Winona indignantly.</p> + +<p>"After what has happened before, I can only draw my own conclusions," +returned the mistress icily.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</a></span> "You will change to Number 3 dormitory +to-day."</p> + +<p>"But, Miss Kelly——"</p> + +<p>"Don't argue! I warned you that I should move you if I found any more +signaling going on. Your aunt will have to hear about this!"</p> + +<p>When Winona returned to the hostel that afternoon, and went upstairs, +she found that all her possessions had been cleared out of Number 2 +dormitory, and placed in Number 3, which being at the side of the house +had no view except the school buildings. The contents of her drawers had +been transferred intact; her brushes, books and home photos were placed +on her new dressing-table, but all the pictures of aëroplanes and the +portrait of Lieutenant Mainwaring, which she had cut out of the Seaton +<i>Graphic</i>, had disappeared. Winona sat down on the bed and laughed. She +was very much annoyed, but the humor of the situation appealed to her.</p> + +<p>"It's too idiotic of Miss Kelly! Does she think I'm going to elope in an +aëroplane? I never heard of anything so silly in my life! She may tell +Aunt Harriet if she pleases. I don't care! Why, I don't suppose +Lieutenant Mainwaring knows me from any other girl in the school. He +just dropped those chocs. on spec. It was a shame I wasn't allowed to +eat them!"</p> + +<p>Miss Kelly, very keen on upholding discipline in her new hostel, +considered that she had successfully squashed an incipient flirtation, +and kept a stern eye on all the elder girls, and most particularly on +Winona, for fear some repetition of the offense<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</a></span> might occur. The +boarders were justly indignant.</p> + +<p>"Too bad!" was the general verdict. "Winona's not a scrap that sort of +girl really, if Miss Kelly only knew. It's absurd to make such a fuss."</p> + +<p>Out of sheer bravado and love of mischief, the remaining occupants of +Number 2 dormitory waved not only handkerchiefs but towels from the +balcony when they heard the whirring of the aëroplane overhead, enjoying +the exciting sensation that any moment they might be pounced upon by +Miss Kelly. No doubt in time they would have been discovered in the act, +but at the end of three days Lieutenant Mainwaring was sent to the +front, and his successor, not having a cousin at the Seaton High School, +took no interest in school girls, and flew over the city oblivious of +everything except his engines.</p> + +<p>"I don't suppose he'd notice if we waved a sheet!" said Betty Carlisle +disappointedly.</p> + +<p>"The police might though, and they'd think you were signaling to +Germans," replied Doris Hooper. "Come in, Bet, it's no use! Girl alive, +quick! I hear the dragon's fairy footsteps in the passage. Do you want +to get your head bitten off?"</p> + +<p>In spite of occasional hostilities with Miss Kelly, Winona managed to +have a good deal of fun at the hostel. The other girls were jolly, and +in the evenings, when preparation was finished, they would play games +together in their sitting-room. There were high jinks in the +dormitories, and small excitements over little happenings, which, +however trivial they might be, provided considerable entertainment to +the participants. Only one really stormy incident<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</a></span> occurred during +Winona's term at the hostel, and that had nothing to do with Miss Kelly.</p> + +<p>One Saturday morning, when Winona, Betty and Doris were in the town +shopping, they happened to meet Clarice Nixon, who stopped to chat, and +ask for school news.</p> + +<p>"I feel fearfully out of things now I've left," said Clarice. "It'll be +a stale winter without hockey."</p> + +<p>"Why don't you join a Club?" suggested Winona.</p> + +<p>"Shouldn't care to! It would be no fun to play with a team I don't know. +The Seaton Ladies' Club is the only decent one, and I hear they're so +cliquey. I wish we could get up an Old Girls' Hockey Club!"</p> + +<p>"Why, that would be simply glorious! What a splendiferous idea! Oh, do +let us try! Then we could have a Past <i>versus</i> Present match. Oh! +wouldn't it be precious?"</p> + +<p>"Have you settled up your fixtures?"</p> + +<p>"Very nearly."</p> + +<p>"Then we ought to get this thing in hand at once. You're Games Captain, +so you ought to organize it. Write round to-day to all the old girls you +know, and ask them to come to a meeting on Monday."</p> + +<p>"Isn't that rather soon?" said Betty.</p> + +<p>"Not a bit. No time must be wasted, if the club's to be a going concern +for this season. Don't let the grass grow under your feet, is my +advice."</p> + +<p>Winona was naturally impulsive. The idea appealed to her so immensely, +that she straightway bought a packet of postcards and a number of +halfpenny stamps, and sent out her invitations. As she was bound to +report herself in the hostel at 4.15, she<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</a></span> decided to call the meeting +there at 4.20. It could be held in the sitting-room, and there would be +plenty of time to discuss matters before five o'clock tea. She wrote to +Margaret Howell, Kirsty Paterson, and all the former members of the +Sixth, and was already exulting over the success which she hoped would +accrue. She was sure every one in the school would like the notion when +they heard about it.</p> + +<p>On Monday morning when she walked into her form room, she noticed +several of the prefects talking together. They looked at her +significantly as she entered, and Evelyn Richards made a movement as if +about to speak. Grace Olliver, however, laid her hand on Evelyn's arm, +and pointed to the clock, as if deferring the matter. At eleven "break," +as the girls filed out of the room, Agatha James laid a paper on +Winona's desk. It bore the words:</p> + +<p>"Kindly report yourself at once in the prefects' room."</p> + +<p>Rather mystified, Winona obeyed the summons. She found the prefects +assembled in their den, looking dignified and perturbed.</p> + +<p>"Winona Woodward," began Linda Fletcher, "are you responsible for this +post-card?" showing one of the invitations which had been written on +Saturday. "Beatrice Howell brought it to me first thing this morning, by +Margaret's advice. Margaret couldn't understand why you had sent it to +her."</p> + +<p>"I explained on the card," replied Winona eagerly. "It was to try to get +up an Old Girls' Hockey Club!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</a></span></p> + +<p>"And who gave you authority to call such a meeting?" asked Linda icily.</p> + +<p>"Why, I thought as Games Captain——" began Winona, then she stopped, +for the faces of the prefects expressed a righteous wrath that staggered +her.</p> + +<p>"It was a most unwarrantable liberty!" continued the head girl. "As +Games Captain you are responsible for the school play and for the +fixtures, but you're certainly not to take upon yourself a matter of +this kind. Why, you're not even a prefect! And no prefect would have +dreamed of calling such a meeting on her own account without consulting +her colleagues."</p> + +<p>"I—thought—there wasn't time—to ask," stammered Winona, overcome with +confusion.</p> + +<p>"As a matter of fact the suggestion had already been placed before the +prefects, and it was proposed to form an Old Girls' Guild, which would +include several branches, a Hockey Club being among the number. An +initial committee meeting is to be held next Thursday. Margaret Howell +was perfectly well aware of this, and could not understand why you +should have stepped in and called a meeting at the hostel, thus +forestalling our arrangements."</p> + +<p>"It's the most abominable cheek I ever heard of!" burst out Agatha +James.</p> + +<p>"What were you dreaming of?" demanded Grace Olliver.</p> + +<p>Poor Winona! She suddenly saw her innocent, impulsive act in the light +in which it must appear to the prefects. It had never struck her that +she<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</a></span> was exceeding her authority, and that she ought to have referred +the matter to the head of the school. The urgency of getting the club +started, so as to enter a Past <i>v.</i> Present in her list of fixtures, had +been her uppermost thought. She had indeed made a most terrible blunder. +The feeling against her was evidently one of general censure. Even +Garnet looked grave, and Bessie Kirk was bridling. Linda's manner was +coldly official. The stateliness of her speech was more cutting than +Agatha's explosive wrath. Winona collapsed utterly, and groveled.</p> + +<p>"I'm most fearfully sorry!" she apologized. "Indeed I'd never have done +it if I'd thought about it. I was an utter idiot! I really don't know +what possessed me! I just sent off those cards in a hurry. What shall I +do? There isn't time to write back to everybody!"</p> + +<p>"I think I can send messages to most of the girls, and if any turn up at +the hostel this afternoon they must be told." Linda's tone was slightly +mollified. "I hardly need impress upon you the necessity in future of +referring everything to headquarters. No school can be run on the basis +of individual enterprise."</p> + +<p>Duly chastened, Winona left the prefects' room. She had the further +annoyance in the afternoon of explaining the situation to several comers +who turned up in answer to her invitation. Notwithstanding this +preliminary disturbance, the Old Girls' Guild was started with +thirty-five members on the roll. A Hockey Club and a Dramatic Society +were formed, both of which promised to have a flourish<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</a></span>ing existence, +and Winona had the satisfaction of fixing a Past <i>v.</i> Present match for +the following March. The prefects were magnanimous enough to bear her no +ill-will, so on the whole she came out of a very unpleasant dilemma much +better than she expected.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIV" id="CHAPTER_XIV"></a>CHAPTER XIV</h2> + +<h3>The Hockey Season</h3> + + +<p>When the hockey season commenced, Winona got to business. She was wildly +anxious to prove an effective Games Captain, and win credit for the +school. It would be no easy matter to follow so excellent a predecessor +as Kirsty Paterson, but she determined to keep Kirsty's ideals well in +mind, and try to live up to them. One change, which Kirsty had +suggested, Winona at once carried out. The hockey badge was altered. The +new one had the initials S.H.S. embroidered in the school colors on +plain dark blue shields, and looked very imposing on the tunics. There +was another point upon which Winona was resolved to effect a reform. The +field was not in a thoroughly satisfactory condition, and certainly +needed attention. The prefects had put the matter before Miss Bishop, +who referred it to the Governors. Those august personages, mindful of +war economies, decided that for the present it would do well enough, and +would not vote the spending of any money upon its improvement. The bad +news was received with indignation throughout the school.</p> + +<p>"It's too stingy for anything! How can we possibly have decent practice +on such a rough old place? I'd like to make them come and try it for +themselves, the mean wretches!" protested Bessie Kirk.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</a></span></p> + +<p>Winona laughed. A vision of the Governors wildly brandishing hockey +sticks flashed across her imagination. She seized her note-book and drew +a fancy portrait of the delicious scene: old Councillor Thomson, very +wheezy and fat, running furiously; bald-headed Mr. Crabbe performing +wonderful acrobatic feats; a worthy J.P. engaged in a tussle with the +Town Clerk; and various other of the City Fathers in interesting and +exciting attitudes. The masterpiece was passed round for general +admiration. The girls sniggered.</p> + +<p>"Wish we could show it to them!" said Margaret Kemp. "Perhaps it might +make them realize their responsibilities. It's too sickening of them to +grudge keeping the field in order!"</p> + +<p>"Look here, it's no use complaining!" said Winona. "Of course it +relieves one's feelings, but it doesn't make any difference to the +field. I've got a plan to propose. Let us ask Miss Bishop how much it +would cost to hire somebody to do the rolling, and offer to pay for it +ourselves. We could get up a Hockey Concert in aid of it."</p> + +<p>"What a frolicsome notion! I'm your man!"</p> + +<p>"Wouldn't it be setting a bad precedent?" objected Marjorie Kemp. +"Suppose the Governors stop having the tennis courts cut, and say we may +do it ourselves?"</p> + +<p>"We'd put that to Miss Bishop first, and make it well understood."</p> + +<p>"It would just make all the difference to the practices to have a roller +at work, even once a week," urged Olave Parry. "Do ask about it, Win!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</a></span></p> + +<p>Miss Bishop, on being appealed to, considered the suggestion favorably.</p> + +<p>"Certainly there's no reason why you shouldn't improve the field, if you +wish," she replied, adding with a smile: "I'll take care that the tennis +courts don't suffer in consequence. It was a prudent thought to mention +them. I expect when the war is over, the Governors may be persuaded to +take the full expense of the playing field too. I'll get an estimate at +once of what the rolling would cost."</p> + +<p>Jones, the school janitor, who formerly kept the courts and cricket +pitch in order, had gone to the war, and his place was occupied by a +rheumatic old fellow who could do little more than carry coke and attend +to the heating apparatus. When every able-bodied man seemed fighting or +making munitions, it was difficult to find anybody to roll a hockey +field, A volunteer was procured at last, however, who undertook the job +at the rate of £1 per month, with an extra thirty shillings for putting +the field in good order to begin with. Six or seven pounds, therefore, +would cover the expenses of the season. Winona, mindful of the terrible +offense she had given in connection with the Old Girls' Guild, very +wisely took the matter to Linda Fletcher, who called a united meeting of +Prefects and Games Committee to discuss the best way of raising the +money.</p> + +<p>"It will have to be done on a bigger scale than the symposium last +year," said Hilda Langley. "If I remember rightly, that made exactly £2 +13<i>s.</i> 7<i>d.</i>, enough for a Form trophy, but not sufficient for this +venture."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</a></span></p> + +<p>"We'd better issue tickets, and sell some of them to parents and +friends," suggested Linda.</p> + +<p>"How many will the hall hold?"</p> + +<p>"Three hundred at a pinch, if the babes squash up tight."</p> + +<p>"They won't mind doing that in a good cause."</p> + +<p>"The Dramatic Society ought to take an innings, and provide at least +half the program."</p> + +<p>"They'll jump at the opportunity. I believe they have something quite +prepared, and have been yearning for an audience."</p> + +<p>"Then by all means let them have one."</p> + +<p>"At sixpence a head," added practical Marjorie; "we ought easily to be +able to sell sixpenny tickets."</p> + +<p>Everybody took up the idea with enthusiasm. The difficulty was not so +much to find helpers as to decide who was to have the honor of +performing. There were many heart-burnings before the program was +finally fixed. It was decided that a musical selection should be given +first, followed by a piece by the Dramatic students. To cut these to +reasonable limits needed all Linda's discretion, tact and firmness.</p> + +<p>"You can't have an entertainment beginning at three, and going on till +midnight," she urged, as the various desired items were submitted to +her. "You'd have to hire ambulances to take your exhausted audience +home! Very sorry, but we must keep some of the things for a future +occasion."</p> + +<p>Linda, being wise in her generation, and having an eye to the sale of +tickets, insisted that the Lower School should take a share in the +performance.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Who wants to bother to hear the kids?" objected Grace Olliver, who, by +the bye, was a member of the "Dramatic," and therefore not entirely +disinterested.</p> + +<p>"If we don't bother with the kids, they mayn't bother to come and bring +friends, and we should look silly if we didn't sell all our tickets! Let +them do their flag display, and sing their Empire song. That will +content them and their mothers, and leaves quite time enough for other +people."</p> + +<p>Miss Bishop allowed a special Wednesday afternoon to be set aside for +the entertainment; the tickets sold briskly, and expectation ran high. +All concerned in the program kept their parts a dead secret, but items +leaked out, and the wildest rumors were afloat. It was whispered that +some of the Governors were to be present, and even that Miss Bishop +would perform a sword dance, though not the most callow of juniors +really consented to swallow such an astounding piece of information. The +uncertainty as to what was in store, however, added largely to the +pleasurable anticipation, and though the Dramatic Society rehearsed with +locked door, and the keyhole carefully stopped up, juvenile spies, by +hoisting one another up to the level of the windows, obtained brief and +tantalizing peeps and spread news of gorgeosities in the way of +costumes.</p> + +<p>When the great afternoon arrived, the hall was crammed. The little girls +were packed as tightly as sardines. A long line of them squatted on the +floor in front of the first row, and others sat on the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</a></span> window sills, +the latter positions having been scrambled for with enthusiasm.</p> + +<p>Every one was at the tip-top of expectation. The concert opened with the +inevitable piano solo which seems indispensable for the starting of any +entertainment, and during the performance of which latecomers hurry to +their seats, programs are sold, and the audience, with a tremendous +amount of rustling and whispering, settles itself down to listen. This +initiatory ceremony being over, more interesting items followed. The +juveniles sang an Empire song, accompanied by a pretty flag drill; it +was a taking tune, and as Linda had prophesied was immensely applauded +by the visitors, who insisted on an encore. A violin solo came next, and +was followed by a charming Russian dance given by two members of Form +<span class="smcap">IV.a.</span> Garnet played a piece on her mandoline, with piano +accompaniment. She had suggested a duet for mandoline and guitar, but +Winona had had no time to practice her instrument lately, and had begged +to be excused. The fact was that Winona had been busy with a special +item which she now brought out as a surprise to the school. She had +composed some verses in praise of hockey, and set them to one of the +tunes in the senior school song-book. The piece was sung by an eleven in +full hockey costume, and they waved their hockey-sticks with appropriate +actions to the music:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"When autumn returns, and the trees are all bare,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Our blue tunics are off to the field;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">No team in excitement with ours can compare,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">As our hockey-sticks wildly we wield.<br /></span> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</a></span><span class="i4">For hockey's the game to play<br /></span> +<span class="i4">When autumn has come to stay,<br /></span> +<span class="i4">And this is the reason we love the cold season,<br /></span> +<span class="i4">For hockey's the game to play.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Hurrah for goalkeepers, for forwards and halves!<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Hurrah for the clash of the sticks!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Hurrah for the rapture of scoring a goal!<br /></span> +<span class="i2">(Who minds a few bruises or kicks?)<br /></span> +<span class="i4">For hockey's the game to play,<br /></span> +<span class="i4">When autumn has come to stay,<br /></span> +<span class="i4">And this is the reason we love the cold season,<br /></span> +<span class="i4">For hockey's the game to play.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"But a team that is set upon scoring its goal,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And winning a vict'ry or two,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Must see that its field it should carefully roll,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And that's what we're hoping to do!<br /></span> +<span class="i4">Oh! hockey's the game to play,<br /></span> +<span class="i4">When autumn has come to stay,<br /></span> +<span class="i4">Yes, this is the reason we love the cold season,<br /></span> +<span class="i4">When hockey's the game we play!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Hurrah for Form trophies! Hurrah for our badge!<br /></span> +<span class="i2">We'll make it an annual rule<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To hold a 'Sports' Concert,' to wish all success<br /></span> +<span class="i2">To the team of the Seaton High School!<br /></span> +<span class="i4">Oh! hockey's the game to play,<br /></span> +<span class="i4">And at Seaton we know the way!<br /></span> +<span class="i4">Yes, this is the reason we love the cold season,<br /></span> +<span class="i4">When hockey's the game we play!"<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Winona's words would certainly not have passed muster as a literary +composition, but their extreme appropriateness to the occasion, combined +with the action of the hockey-sticks, completely brought<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</a></span> down the +house. The applause was thunderous, and the last verse was encored twice +over. Undoubtedly it was the hit of the afternoon.</p> + +<p>For the second part of the performance the Dramatic Society gave an +amusing little play, and the concert wound up with a lusty rendering of +certain patriotic songs.</p> + +<p>Winona was highly gratified. Both artistically and financially the +entertainment had proved a success. The committee would be well able to +bear the expense of keeping the field in order. A gardener had been at +work there, and already a marked improvement was noticeable. The Games +Captain's enthusiasm was infectious. Under her leadership the girls +became wonderfully keen. To Winona the thrill of struggle when a game +seemed on the eve of being lost was one of the wildest excitements in +life, and the joy when she struck the ball home straight and true the +utmost triumph obtainable. During this autumn term she lived for hockey. +The crowd of school girls, in thick boots and blue tunics, struggling +and shouting in a somewhat muddy field might not be an altogether +picturesque sight, but to the Captain it was Marathon and Waterloo +combined. No colonel prided himself on a crack regiment more than Winona +on her team. Sometimes, of course, a practice was off color; the day +might be bleak or drizzly, or players might be penalized for "sticks," +or grumblers might express their dissatisfaction audibly, but whatever +went wrong, Winona emerged cheerful from the fray, remonstrated with +"off-sides" and "sticks," and reminded growlers<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</a></span> that it is unsporting +to murmur. By Kirsty's advice she had sent out challenges to several +good clubs in the neighborhood.</p> + +<p>"While we were still in our callow infancy I should not have ventured," +wrote Kirsty from Cornwall. "But one must begin some time to measure +one's strength. After the work we did last season, I certainly think you +might risk it. Nothing improves a team so much as playing plenty of +matches; you see in time you get to know the strokes of everybody at the +High, and you can calculate what others will do at certain turns of the +game; it's far better for you to meet all sorts and conditions of +opponents."</p> + +<p>Winona had been afraid it was rather "cheek" to challenge the "West +Rytonshire Club" or "Oatlands College," but she ascertained that both +those august bodies had two teams, Number 1 and Number 2, and that while +the first only met foes worthy of their steel (or rather sticks!) the +second would graciously condescend to play a yet unknown High School. +The match with Oatlands College was fixed for December 16th, and Winona +looked forward to it with some anxiety. The last practice had not been +altogether satisfactory. The day had been wretchedly cold, and everybody +had been cross in consequence. The team, though proud of its fixture +with so celebrated an opponent, was not very sure of itself.</p> + +<p>"I hope to goodness Peggie'll play up!" groaned Marjorie Kemp. "The way +she lost that last goal on Saturday was idiotic."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</a></span></p> + +<p>"She said she was cold!" commented Gladys Porter, witheringly. "She +wanted to change at half-time. She said her feet were solid ice, and her +nose was blue, and it was no fun watching the whole of the game being +played right away at the other end of the field."</p> + +<p>"Most unsporting!" moralized Marjorie. "Besides, when she got her +chance, she hit the air! It will be very humiliating if the Oatlands +team walk over us!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, don't be a Jeremiah! We're not beaten yet! If anybody can pull us +through, our Captain will!"</p> + +<p>"Winona's a jewel!" agreed Marjorie. "And yet the best captain in the +world can't make up for an only moderately good team. I feel my own +deficiencies!"</p> + +<p>Practically the whole of the High School assembled as spectators on the +great day of the match. Things were very different now from the old +times when a mere handful collected to cheer the Seaton team. Mistresses +and girls were alike keen, and most desirous of witnessing the combat. +They followed the game breathlesly.</p> + +<p>"Oatlands isn't worth a toss!" commented Garnet exultantly.</p> + +<p>"Don't make too sure!" replied Linda, looking with apprehension as the +red jerseys of their rivals massed round the ball.</p> + +<p>A familiar figure dashed forward, a hockey stick struck, and the ball +swept out to safety. Linda heaved a long sigh of relief.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Winona is just A1," she murmured. "Hello! Good gracious! what's that +idiot doing?"</p> + +<p>For Ellinor Cooper, whose arm was the strongest in the school, wielding +her hockey stick with all her force, had hit Winona across the shin.</p> + +<p>Instantly there was a commotion. Winona, white with the agony of the +blow, leaned hard against Bessie Kirk, and clenched her fists to avoid +crying out.</p> + +<p>"Are you hurt?"</p> + +<p>"What's happened?"</p> + +<p>"You've had a nasty knock!"</p> + +<p>There was quite a crowd round Winona, and a chorus of sympathy.</p> + +<p>"Put in a substitute!" urged Bessie. "You're not fit to go on!"</p> + +<p>"No, no! I'm better now," panted their captain, with a wan little smile. +"I'll manage, thanks! Yes, really! Please don't worry yourselves about +me!"</p> + +<p>The game recommenced and Winona, with a supreme effort, continued to +play. The pain was still acute, but she realized that on her presence or +absence depended victory or defeat. Without her, the courage of the team +would collapse. How she lived through the time she never knew.</p> + +<p>Inspired by the heroic example of their captain, the girls were playing +for all they were worth. The score, which had been against them, was now +even. Time was almost up. Winona set her teeth. The ball seemed a kind +of star which she was following—Following anyhow. As the French say, +she "did her possible." The ball went spinning. Next min<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</a></span>ute she was +leaning against a goal-post, trembling with the violence of her effort, +while the High School hoorayed itself hoarse in the joy of the hard-won +victory.</p> + +<p>"I say, old girl, were you really hurt?" asked Bessie anxiously. "You're +looking the color of chalk!"</p> + +<p>"Never mind, it's over now! Yes, I am hurt. Give me your arm, and I'll +go back to the hostel."</p> + +<p>"You're an absolute Joan of Arc to-day!" purred Bessie.</p> + +<p>Winona, with a barked shin and bad bruises, limped for more than a week, +but she was the heroine of the school.</p> + +<p>"I can't think how you ran, after that awful whack Ellinor Cooper gave +you," sympathized Marjorie.</p> + +<p>"It was easier to run then than after my leg grew stiff," laughed +Winona. "I suppose it's the excitement that keeps one up. Don't make +such a fuss, we've all had hard knocks in our time. Agnes Smith got a +black eye last spring!"</p> + +<p>As the result of her wounds in the hockey field Winona made friends with +Miss Kelly. The latter was most prompt in applying lanoline and +bandages, and proved so kind in bringing Winona her breakfast in bed, +and making her rest on the sofa during preparation, that a funny little +sort of intimacy sprang up between them.</p> + +<p>"She's fussy on the surface, but nice when you know her," confided +Winona to Garnet. "If I'd been staying at the hostel, I expect we should +have got on capitally next term!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XV" id="CHAPTER_XV"></a>CHAPTER XV</h2> + +<h3>Winona Turns Chauffeur</h3> + + +<p>After the Christmas holidays Winona returned to Abbey Close. Miss Beach +was installed once more in her own home, though under strict orders from +the doctor not to over-exert herself. During her stay at Harrogate she +had bought a small two-seater car, and had learnt to drive it. She kept +it at a garage in the town, and used it almost every day. It was +invaluable to her as a means of getting about. She was anxious not to +relinquish all her work in Seaton, but she could not now bear the +fatigue of walking. In her car distance was no obstacle, and she could +continue her inspection of boarded-out workhouse children, attend +babies' clinics in country villages beyond the city area, visit the +wives of soldiers and sailors, regulate the orphanage, and superintend +the Tipperary Club. Miss Beach's energetic temperament made her +miserable unless fully occupied, so, the doctor having forbidden her +former strenuous round of duties, she adopted the car as a compromise, +assuring him that she would limit her list to a few of her pet schemes +only. It was probably her wisest course. It is very hard for elderly +people to be laid on the shelf, and to feel that their services are set +aside. Miss Beach had lived so entirely in her various philanthropic +occupa<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</a></span>tions, that to give everything up would have been a severe mental +shock. As it was, she managed to obey medical orders, and at the same +time, to a certain extent, keep her old place in the work of the city.</p> + +<p>As the days became longer and lighter, she sometimes took her +great-niece with her in the car. Winona had really very little time out +of school hours; her duties as Games Captain were paramount, and hockey +practices and matches absorbed most of her holiday afternoons. When she +had an occasional free hour, however, it was an immense treat to go +motoring. She loved the feeling of spinning along through the country +lanes. It was delightful to see new places and fresh roads. Seaton was +in the midst of a beautiful district, and there were charming villages, +woods, and lovely views of scenery within easy distance.</p> + +<p>One Saturday, when for a wonder there was no event at school, Miss Beach +suddenly suggested that they should start in the car, take a luncheon +basket with them, and explore some of the country in the neighborhood. +It was a glorious spring morning, with a clear pale blue sky, and a +touch of warmth in the sunshine that set winter to flight, and brought +the buds out on the trees. On such a day the human sap, too, seems to +rise, there is an exhilaration, physical and spiritual, when we long to +run or to sing for the sheer vital joy of living, when our troubles +don't seem to matter, and the future looks rosy, and for the moment we +feel transferred to the golden age of the poets, when the world was +young,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</a></span> and Pan played his pipes in the meadows among the asphodels. +Winona, at any rate, was in an ecstatic frame of mind, and though Aunt +Harriet did not openly express her enthusiasm, the mere fact of her +suggesting such an outing proved that the spring had called her, and +that she was ready to go out and worship at Nature's shrine. Do not +imagine for a moment that Miss Beach, whatever her feelings, allowed any +romantic element to appear on the surface. She fussed over the car, +measured the amount of petrol left in the tank, debated whether she had +better go to the garage for an extra can in case of emergencies, called +out the cook to dust the seat, sent the housemaid flying to the attic +for an air-cushion, inspected the lunch basket, gave half-a-dozen +directions for things to be done in her absence, wrote last messages on +a slate for people who might possibly call on business, scolded Winona +for putting on her thin coat, and sent her to fetch her thick one and a +rug for her knees, and finally, after a very breathless ten minutes got +under way, and started forth. They drove slowly through the town +traffic, but soon they had left streets behind, and were spinning along +the high road in the direction of Wickborough.</p> + +<p>Long as she had lived at Seaton, Miss Beach had never seen Wickborough +Castle, and to-day she was determined to pay it a visit. It was a very +ancient place, built originally by King Canute, in the days when red war +was waged between Saxon and Norseman. Little of the old Danish tower +remained, but successive generations had erected keep and turret,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</a></span> +bastion and guard house, crumbling now indeed into ruins, but +picturesque in their decay, and full of historical associations. Here +proud Queen Margaret, hard pressed by her enemies, had found a timely +shelter for herself and her little son, till an escort could convey her +to a spot of greater safety; here Richard II. had pursued sweet +unwilling Anne of Warwick, and forced her to accept his hated suit; +Princess Mary had passed a part of her unhappy childhood within its +walls, and Anne Boleyn's merry laugh had rung out there. The situation +of the Castle was magnificent. It stood on the summit of a wooded cliff +which ran sheer into the river, and commanded a splendid prospect of the +country round, and a bird's-eye view of the little town that clustered +at the foot of the crag.</p> + +<p>"It's like an eagle's nest!" commented Winona, as leaving the car at the +bottom of the hill they climbed on foot up the zigzag pathway to the +keep. "It must have been a regular robber-baron's stronghold in the +Middle Ages!"</p> + +<p>Miss Beach had bought a guide-book, and rejecting the services of a +persistent little girl who was anxious to point out the various spots of +interest, with an eye to a tip, they strolled about, trying to +reconstruct a fancy portrait of the place for themselves. Canute's tower +was still left, a squat solid piece of masonry, with enormously thick +walls and tiny lancet windows. It was rather dark, but as it was the +only portion remaining intact, it was used as a museum, and various +curiosities were preserved there. The great fire-place held a spit for +roasting<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</a></span> an ox whole, and had a poker five feet long; stone +cannon-balls were piled up on the floor, and on the walls hung a +medieval armory of helmets, gorgelets, breast-plates, coats of mail, +shields and swords, daggers and lances. A special feature of the museum +was a wax-work figure of a knight clad in full armor which gave an +excellent idea of what Sir Bevis of Wickborough must have looked like +somewhere about the year 1217. Another figure, dressed in rich velvet +and fur, with flowered silk kirtle, represented his wife Dame Philippa, +in the act of offering him a silver goblet of wine, while a hound stood +with its head pressed to her hand. The group was so natural that it was +almost startling, and took the spectator back as nothing else could have +done to the ancient medieval days which it pictured. A small stair in +the corner of the tower led down to a dungeon, where, lying among the +straw, was an equally impressive wax-work figure of a prisoner, +wretched, unkempt, and bound hand and foot with chains. A pitcher of +water lay by his side, and a stuffed rat peering from the straw added a +further touch of realism. Winona shuddered. It was a ghastly sight, and +she was thankful to run up the stairs and go from the keep out into the +spring sunshine. She had always had a romantic admiration for the Middle +Ages, but this aspect of thirteenth-century life did not commend itself +to her. "They were bad old times, after all!" she decided, and came to +the conclusion that the twentieth century, even with its horrible war, +was a more humane period to live in.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</a></span></p> + +<p>At the foot of the crag, close by the river, lay the remains of the old +Priory Church, an ivy-covered fabric, whose broken chancel still gave a +shelter to the battered tombs of the knights who had lived in the Castle +above. Sir Bevis and Dame Philippa lay here in marble, their features +calm and rigid, their hands folded in prayer, less human indeed, but +infinitely grander than in their wax effigies of the tower. Seven +centuries of sunshine and storm had passed over their heads, and castle +and church were alike in ruins.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Their bones are dust,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Their good swords rust,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Their souls are with the Saints, we trust,"<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>thought Winona, as she took a photograph of the quiet scene. It was +deeply interesting, but on this glorious lovely spring day it seemed a +little too sad. With all the birds singing, and the hedges in bud, and +the daisies showing white stars among the grass, she wanted to live in +the present, and not in the past. And yet, if we think about it rightly, +the past is never really sad. Those who lived before us accomplished +their work, and have passed onwards—a part of the world scheme—to, we +doubt not, fuller and worthier work beyond. We, still in the preparatory +class of God's great school, cannot yet grasp the higher forms, but +those who have been moved up surely smile at our want of comprehension, +and look back on this earth as the College undergraduate remembers his +kindergarten;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</a></span> for the spiritual evolution goes ever on, working always +Godwards, and when the human dross falls away, the imperfect and the +partial will be merged into the perfect and the eternal. The broken +eggshells may lie in the old nest, but the fledged larks are singing in +the blue of the sky.</p> + +<p>From the little town of Wickborough they drove along the old Roman road +towards Danestone. Part of their way lay across Wickland Heath, and +here, as it was now past mid-day, Miss Beach suggested that they should +stop and take their lunch. It was a most glorious spot for a picnic. +They were at the top of a tableland, and before them spread the Common, +a brown sea of last year's heather and bilberry, with gorse bushes +flaming here and there like golden fires. A sparrow-hawk, more majestic +than any aëroplane, sailed serenely overhead, and a pair of whinchats, +perturbed by his vicinity, flew with a sharp twitter over the low stone +wall, and sought cover among the brambles. Beyond stretched the Roman +road, broad and straight, a landmark for miles. Cities and civilization +were far away, and they were alone with the moor and the peaty little +brook, and the birds and the sun and the fresh spring wind. The joyous +influence was irresistible; even Miss Beach dropped ten years' burden of +cares, and waxed almost light-hearted. Winona had seldom seen her aunt +in such a mood, and she seized the opportunity as a favorable moment to +proffer a request which she had often longed, but had never hitherto +dared, to make. It was no less a suggestion than that she might be +allowed to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[Pg 200]</a></span> try to drive the car. She put it in tentative fashion, fully +expecting a refusal, but Aunt Harriet received the idea quite +graciously.</p> + +<p>"There's no reason why you shouldn't. The road's wide and straight, and +not a vehicle in sight; you couldn't have a better place to learn on in +the whole of the kingdom. Mind you do exactly what I tell you, that's +all!"</p> + +<p>Winona's face was shining. Ever since she had first seen the pretty +little two-seater it had been her secret ambition to work its steering +wheel for herself. She packed up the lunch basket in a hurry, for fear +her aunt might repent. But Miss Beach seldom went back on her word, and +was quite disposed and ready to act motor instructress. She began by +explaining very carefully the various levers, and how to start.</p> + +<p>"One golden rule," she urged, "is to take care the lever is at neutral +before you begin, or the car will jump on you. Many motorists have had +nasty accidents by omitting that most necessary precaution. Next you +must see that the ignition is pushed back, or you'll get a back-fire in +starting, and break your wrist. It must be just at this notch—do you +see? Now you may swing round the handle."</p> + +<p>The engine began to work, and Winona took her place in the driver's +seat. Miss Beach, sitting by her side, showed her how to put the low +gear in, then to put in the clutch. The car started off under Winona's +guidance.</p> + +<p>She gripped the steering wheel tightly, turning it to right or left at +first according to her aunt's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[Pg 201]</a></span> directions, but soon from instinctive +comprehension. It was something like guiding a gigantic bicycle; she +could not yet exactly estimate the amount of turn required, but she felt +that it would come to her with practice. There was an immense +exhilaration in feeling the car under her control. For a beginner, she +really kept very steadily in the middle of the road; occasionally Aunt +Harriet made a snatch at the wheel, but that was seldom necessary. They +were going very slowly, only about ten miles an hour, but even that +seemed a tolerable speed to a novice. The road was curving now, and +Winona must steer round a corner; it was easier than she had expected, +and her instructress ejaculated "Good!" The sense of balance was +beginning to come to her. Such a tiny movement of the wheel sent the car +to right or left; at first she had jerked it clumsily, now she could +reckon the proportion with greater nicety. Was that something coming in +the distance? "Sound your hooter!" shouted Aunt Harriet quickly, as a +motor cycle hove in sight. In rather a panic, Winona squeezed the +india-rubber bulb, making the car lurch as she took her hand momentarily +from the wheel. "Keep well to the left!" commanded Miss Beach, and +Winona, with her heart in her mouth, contrived to obey, and passed her +first vehicle successfully. She heaved a sigh of relief when it had +whizzed by, and the road was once more clear. Naturally, however, she +could not expect to keep a thoroughfare all to herself. Further on, she +overtook a farmer's cart full of little squealing pigs. As it occupied +the exact center of the road she hooted<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</a></span> (with great confidence this +time), and, when it had swung to the left, she rounded it successfully +on the right. A furniture van looked a terrible obstacle, but she passed +it without assistance, and began to wax quite courageous. Three motor +cars in succession tearing along one after another, and sounding +ear-splitting electric hooters, left her nerves rather rocky. When +houses and chimneys appeared in sight Miss Beach told her to stop.</p> + +<p>"I daren't let a learner drive through a village. There are always too +many children and dogs about the street. Change places with me now, and +you shall try again when we come to a quiet road."</p> + +<p>Rather thankful not to have to venture her 'prentice skill in the narrow +winding street, Winona gave the wheel into her aunt's more experienced +hands. It was only <i>pro tem.</i>, however, for when they were once more in +the open country Miss Beach continued the lesson, making her start and +stop several times just for practice.</p> + +<p>"I believe you know the routine now," she said. "It's the motorist's +first catechism. Remember those cardinal rules, and you can't go so far +wrong."</p> + +<p>"Do experienced people ever forget them?" asked Winona.</p> + +<p>"Sometimes, when they grow careless. Mr. Forster sprained his wrist the +other day with a back-fire, which he ought to have avoided, and I heard +of a horrible accident in Paris, when a chauffeur started his car with +the clutch in gear, with the consequence that it dashed over a bridge +into the Seine, and the occupants—a lady and two little children<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[Pg 203]</a></span>—were +drowned before his eyes. There's no need to be nervous if you take +proper care, but cars are not playthings to be trifled with."</p> + +<p>They had reached a part of the country which Miss Beach had known as a +child. She had not visited it since, and was interested to see again +spots which had once been familiar.</p> + +<p>"I remember the river perfectly," she said. "And that hill, with the +wood where we used to get blackberries in the autumn. I wonder if the +wild daffodils still grow in Chipden Marsh! It's fifty years since I +gathered them! Shall we go and see? They ought just to be out now, and +it's really not late yet."</p> + +<p>Winona was only too delighted to prolong the day's outing, and would not +have demurred if Aunt Harriet had proposed returning home by moonlight. +She caught eagerly at the suggestion of finding daffodils. Though +half-a-century had sped by Miss Beach remembered the way, and drove +through many by-lanes to a tract of low-lying pasture land that bordered +the river. She had not forgotten the stile, which still remained as of +yore, so leaving the car in the road they walked down the fields. At +first they were disappointed, but further on, beside the river, the +Marsh might well have been called "Daffodil Meadow." Everywhere the +lovely little wild Lent lilies were showing their golden trumpets in +such profusion among the grass that the scene resembled Botticelli's +famous picture of spring. Miss Beach said little, but her eyes shone +with reminiscences. Winona was in ecstasies, and ran about<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[Pg 204]</a></span> picking till +her bunch was almost too big to hold. The slanting afternoon sunlight +fell on the water with a glinting, glistening sheen; the sallows +overhanging the banks were yellow with pollen, the young pushing arum +shoots and river herbs wore their tender early spring hue; the scene was +an idyll in green and gold. They were loath to leave, but time was +passing, so, very reluctantly, they walked up the fields again to rejoin +the car. They had stowed their daffodils in the lunch basket, and Winona +was peeping over the hedge to take a last look at the river, when an +exclamation behind her made her turn round. Miss Beach was leaning +heavily against the car, her face was ashen gray, her lips were white +and drawn. She looked ready to faint. Winona flew to her in a panic.</p> + +<p>"What is it, Aunt Harriet? Are you ill? Get into the car and sit down. +Let me help you!"</p> + +<p>Miss Beach sank on to the seat, and sat with half-closed eyes, moaning +feebly. Winona was terribly alarmed. She had seen Aunt Harriet before +with one of her bad heart attacks, and knew that restoratives ought to +be given. In this lonely spot, with no help at hand, what was to be +done? Suppose her aunt were to faint—die, even, before aid could be +rendered? For a moment Winona shook like a leaf. Then, with a rush, her +presence of mind returned. There was only one possible course—she +herself must start the car, and drive to within reach of civilization. +It would need courage! It was one thing to drive with an experienced +instructor at her elbow to shout necessary directions, but quite +an<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[Pg 205]</a></span>other to manage alone, with Aunt Harriet half unconscious beside her. +Suppose she were to forget part of her motorists' catechism, and make +some horrible, fatal mistake! Well, it must be ventured, all the same! +Every minute's delay was important.</p> + +<p>With a nervous shiver she forced herself to action. She looked first +that the clutch was out of gear, and that the ignition was pushed back, +then swung round the handle to start the engine. It had cooled while +they were picking daffodils, and she was obliged to repeat the process +four times ere the welcome whirring answered her efforts. She sprang to +her seat, took off the brake, and put in the low gear. Then she put the +clutch in with her foot. But alas! in her tremor and hurry she had done +it too suddenly, and stopped the engine! She could have cried with +annoyance at her stupidity. There was nothing for it but to put the +lever again at neutral, put on the brake, and climb out to re-swing the +handle. This time the engine, being warm, was more amiable and +condescended to start easily. Winona leaped into the car, adjusted her +levers, put in her clutch more gradually, and the car glided slowly +away. With a feeling of desperation she gripped the steering wheel. The +lane was narrow and twisting, and not too smooth. Suppose she were to +meet a farm cart—could she possibly pass it in safety? She had a +feeling that she would run into any vehicle that might approach her. So +far the lane was empty, but at any moment an obstacle might arise. What +was that? There was a sound of baa-ing, and round a corner ran a flock +of sheep, urged on by a boy and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[Pg 206]</a></span> a collie dog. Here was the first human +being she had seen, and for a second she thought of stopping to ask for +help. But what could a stupid-looking young boy do for her? No, it were +better far to push on. She managed to sound the hooter, and with a +supreme effort kept in the middle of the lane, while the sheep scattered +to right and left. She dared not go any slower, for fear of stopping her +engine, but she expected every instant to feel a bump, and find that she +had run over one of the flock. The collie did his duty, however, and in +a whirl of barking, shouting, and baa-ing she steered safely through the +danger.</p> + +<p>She looked anxiously at every turning, for fear she might miss her way. +Her object was to regain the main road, where she might find some +passing motorist, and implore help. Yes, there was the sign-post where +Aunt Harriet had halted, she must keep to the left by that ruined +cottage—she remembered noticing its broken roof as they had passed it. +How interminably long the lanes were! They had seemed far shorter when +Aunt Harriet was driving! Oh! thank goodness, there was the big oak +tree—it could not be far now. A few minutes more and Winona had reached +the sign-post, and swung round the corner into the Crowland Road. She +felt as if her nerves would not stand very much more. Would help never +come? A distant hooting behind her made her heart leap. She stopped the +car beside the hedge, and standing up, waved her handkerchief as a +signal of distress. A splendid Daimler came into sight. Would the +chauf<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[Pg 207]</a></span>feur notice and understand her plight? She shrieked in desperation +as it whizzed past. Oh! It was stopping! A gentleman got out, and walked +quickly back towards her. She jumped down, and ran to meet him.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 376px;"> +<img src="images/gs04.png" width="376" height="600" +alt=""WINONA STOPPED THE CAR BESIDE THE HEDGE, AND, STANDING UP, WAVED HER HANDKERCHIEF AS A SIGNAL OF DISTRESS"" +title=""WINONA STOPPED THE CAR BESIDE THE HEDGE, AND, STANDING UP, WAVED HER HANDKERCHIEF AS A SIGNAL OF DISTRESS"" /> +<span class="caption">"WINONA STOPPED THE CAR BESIDE THE HEDGE, AND, STANDING UP, WAVED HER HANDKERCHIEF AS A SIGNAL OF DISTRESS"</span> +</div> + +<p>"Can I be of any assistance?" he asked politely.</p> + +<p>"Oh, please! My aunt is very ill, and I don't know how to drive properly +yet. How am I going to get back to Seaton?" blurted out Winona, on the +verge of tears.</p> + +<p>She never forgot how kind the stranger was. With the aid of his +chauffeur he lifted poor Aunt Harriet into his own car, and told Winona +to take her place beside her.</p> + +<p>"Now tell me exactly where you want to go," he said, "and I'll run you +straight home as fast as I can. My man shall follow with your car. You +can manage this little two-seater, Jones?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, Sir," grinned the chauffeur, inspecting the levers.</p> + +<p>The stranger made his big Daimler fly. Winona never knew by how much he +exceeded the speed limit, but it seemed to her that they must be +spinning along at the rate of nearly fifty miles an hour. Aunt Harriet +had recovered a little, though she still moaned at intervals. The hedges +seemed to whirl past them, they went hooting through villages, and +whizzed over a common. At last the familiar spires and towers of Seaton +appeared in the distance. Their good Samaritan drove them to their own +door, helped Miss Beach into the house, and volunteered to take a +message to the doctor, then, evading<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[Pg 208]</a></span> Winona's thanks, he sprang into +his car, and started away.</p> + +<p>The chauffeur arrived later with Miss Beach's car, and considerately +offered to run it round to the garage.</p> + +<p>Aunt Harriet was laid up for several days after this episode, and Dr. +Sidwell forbade any long expeditions in the immediate future. He +encouraged the idea of Winona learning to drive.</p> + +<p>"You could be of the greatest help in taking your aunt about," he said +to her. "You must have a capital notion of it, or you couldn't have +brought the car three miles entirely on your own. But of course you'll +need practice before you can be trusted to mix in traffic. You'll have +to apply for a license, remember. You'll be getting into trouble if you +drive without!"</p> + +<p>Winona looked back upon that outing as a most memorable occasion. She +hoped to try her skill again as soon as opportunity offered. The charm +of the wheel was alluring. She wished she knew the name of the stranger +who had rendered such invaluable assistance. But that she never learnt.</p> + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[Pg 209]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVI" id="CHAPTER_XVI"></a>CHAPTER XVI</h2> + +<h3>The Athletic Display</h3> + + +<p>The Easter term was passing quickly away. It had been a strenuous but +nevertheless successful season. Out of nine hockey matches the team had +lost only three—not a bad record for a school that was still in the +infancy of its Games reputation. The Old Girls' Guild had got up its +eleven, and had practiced with enthusiasm under the captaincy of Kirsty +Paterson. A most exciting Past <i>versus</i> Present match had been played, +resulting in a narrow victory for the school. Winona felt prouder of +this success than of any other triumph the team had scored, for Kirsty +had congratulated her afterwards, and praise from her former captain was +very sweet. It had been the last match of the season, so it made a +satisfactory finish to her work. She felt quite sentimental as she put +by her hockey-stick. Next season there would be a fresh captain, and she +would have left the High School! She wished she were staying another +year, but her scholarship would expire at the end of July. She could +hardly believe that she had been nearly two years at the school, and +that only one term more remained to her. Well, it would be the summer +term, which was the pleasantest of all, and though hockey was over, she +had the cricket season before her. The Seaton High should score<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[Pg 210]</a></span> at the +wicket if it were in her power to coach a successful team.</p> + +<p>Towards the end of March Winona had an interlude which for the time took +her thoughts even from the omnipresent topic of sports. Percy, who had +been in training with his regiment at Duncastle, was ordered to the +Front. He was allowed thirty-six hours' leave, and came home for a +Sunday. Winona spent that week-end at Highfield, and the memory of it +always remained a very precious one. Percy in his khaki seemed much +changed, and though she only had him for a few minutes quite to herself, +she felt that the old tie between them had strengthened. Her letters to +him in future would be different. During the last year they had both +slacked a little in their correspondence, each perhaps unconsciously +feeling that the other's standpoint was changing; now they had met again +on a new basis, and realized once more a common bond of sympathy. Percy, +absorbed in describing his new life, scarcely mentioned Aunt Harriet. +The episode of the burning of the paper seemed to have faded from his +memory, or he had conveniently buried it in oblivion. Winona had never +forgotten it. It remained still the one shadow in her career at Seaton. +Now especially, since Miss Beach's recent ill-health, the secret weighed +heavily upon her. She felt her aunt ought to know that the will was +destroyed, so that she might take the opportunity of making another. +More than once she tried indirectly to refer to the subject, but it was +a tender topic, and at the least hint Miss Beach's face would<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[Pg 211]</a></span> stiffen +and her voice harden; the old barrier between them would rise up again +wider than ever, and impossible to be spanned. Winona would have been +glad to do much for her aunt, but Miss Beach did not care to be treated +as an invalid. Like many energetic people, she refused to acknowledge +that she was ill, and the acceptance of little services seemed to her a +confession of her own weakness. It is rather hard to have your kindly +meant efforts repulsed, so Winona, finding that her offers of sympathy +met with no response, drew back into her shell, and the two continued to +live as before, on terms of friendship but never of intimacy. After +almost two years spent in the same house Winona knew her aunt little +better than on the day of her arrival. They had certain common grounds +for conversation, but their mutual reserve was maintained, and as +regarded each other's real thoughts they remained "strangers yet."</p> + +<p>Miss Beach, however, took an interest in Winona's doings at school. She +read her monthly reports, and scolded her if her work had fallen below +standard. She expressed a guarded pleasure over successful matches, but +rubbed in the moral that games must not usurp her attention to the +detriment of her form subjects.</p> + +<p>"You came here to learn something more than hockey!" she would remind +Winona. "It's a splendid exercise, but I'm afraid it won't prove a +career! I should like to see a better record for Latin and Chemistry; +they might very well have more attention!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[Pg 212]</a></span></p> + +<p>Winona had tried to persuade her aunt to come and watch one of the +matches, but Miss Beach had always found some engagement; she was +concerned in so many of the city's activities that her time was +generally carefully mapped out weeks beforehand. She consented, however, +to accept Miss Bishop's invitation to the Gymnasium Display, which was +to be given at the High School at the close of the Easter term.</p> + +<p>This was a very important occasion in the estimation of the girls. It +was their first athletic show since the advent of Miss Barbour, the +Swedish drill mistress. Governors and parents were to be present, and +the excellence of the performance must justify the large amount which +had been spent upon gymnastic apparatus during the past year.</p> + +<p>For two whole terms Miss Barbour had been teaching and training her +classes with a view to this exhibition, and woe betide any unlucky wight +whose nerves, memory or muscles should fail her at the critical moment! +A further impetus was given to individual effort by the offer, on the +part of one of the Governors, of four medals for competition, to be +awarded respectively to the best candidates in four classes, Seniors +over 16, Intermediates from 13 to 16, Juniors from 10 to 13, and +Preparatories under 10. It was felt throughout the school that the offer +was munificent. The Governors had been stingy over the matter of the +hockey field, and had been reviled accordingly, but Councillor Jackson +was retrieving the character of the Board by this action, and the girls +reversed their opinion in his favor.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[Pg 213]</a></span> They hoped that other Governors, +warmed by his example, might open their hearts in silver medals or book +prizes for future occasions.</p> + +<p>"He's a dear old trump to think of it!" said Winona.</p> + +<p>"You drew a picture of him floundering in the mud at hockey!" twinkled +Garnet.</p> + +<p>"Well, I forgive him now, and I'll draw another of him standing on the +platform, all beaming with benevolence, and distributing medals +broadcast. Look here, Bessie Kirk, you needn't be congratulating +yourself beforehand with such a patently self-satisfied smirk, because +<i>I'm</i> going to win the Senior Medal."</p> + +<p>"No, you're not, my child! Take it patiently, and compose your mind. The +medal's coming this way!"</p> + +<p>"How about me?" put in Marjorie Kemp.</p> + +<p>"You'll do well, but you're not a champion! You're too fat, Jumbo, and +that's the fact. You're all right when it's a question of brute +strength, but when agility matters, those superfluous pounds of flesh of +yours are an impediment. I'd back Joyce sooner than you; she's as light +as a feather!"</p> + +<p>Hearing herself commended, Joyce fluttered up to the group, smiling.</p> + +<p>"I did four feet six, yesterday," she announced, "and I'd have cleared +four feet seven, I believe, only I had to stop. It's always my luck!"</p> + +<p>"Why had you to stop?"</p> + +<p>"My back ached!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[Pg 214]</a></span></p> + +<p>Instant apprehension overspread the faces of her friends.</p> + +<p>"Joyce Newton!" exclaimed Winona, "you're never going to get small-pox +again, and stop the athletic display?"</p> + +<p>"You don't feel sick, or head-achy, or sore-throaty, do you?" implored +Bessie. "For goodness sake stand away, if you're infectious! I don't +want to be another contact case!"</p> + +<p>"What pigs you are!" said Joyce plaintively, "One can't catch small-pox +twice!"</p> + +<p>"But you might be going to get scarlet fever, or measles, or even +influenza!"</p> + +<p>"Stop ragging! Mayn't I have a back-ache if I want? It's my own back!"</p> + +<p>"Have as many back-aches as you choose, my hearty, but don't disseminate +germs! If the athletic display doesn't come off, I'll break my heart, +and you can write an epitaph over me:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Here lies one who young in years,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Left this mortal vale of tears;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Cruel fate hath knocked her down,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Tom from her the laurel crown,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To win the gym display she sighed,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But as she might not jump, she died!"<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>"Look here!" said Marjorie. "I suppose the medal lies fairly well +between us four. I vote that we make a compact—whoever wins treats the +other three to ices! It would be some compensation for losing!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[Pg 215]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Good for you, Jumbo! I'm game!" agreed Bessie.</p> + +<p>"If you'll undertake they'll be strawberry ices!" stipulated Winona.</p> + +<p>"I mayn't eat ices, they disagree with me!" wailed Joyce, "but if you'll +make it chocolates."</p> + +<p>"Done! I won't forget. Ices for Bessie and Winona, and a packet of +Cadbury's for Joyce. I'll go and be ordering them!" chirruped Marjorie, +dancing away.</p> + +<p>"Cheek! Don't make so sure."</p> + +<p>"It's <i>my</i> medal, so be getting your handkerchiefs ready," maintained +Winona.</p> + +<p>Though Winona, just for the fun of teasing her friends, had pretended to +appropriate the prize, she had really no anticipation of winning. She +was fairly good at gymnasium work, but could not be considered a +champion. She knew her success or failure would depend very much on +luck. If she happened to feel in the right mood she might achieve +something, but it was an even chance that at the critical moment her +courage might fail her. In a match she was generally swept away by the +intense feeling of cooperation, the knowledge that all her team were +striving for a common cause buoyed her up, but in a competition where +each was for herself, the element of nervousness would have greater +scope. When she thought about it, she felt that she would probably be +shaking with fright.</p> + +<p>The great day came at last. The Gymnasium was decorated with flags in +honor of the occasion, and pots of palms were placed upon the platform +where<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[Pg 216]</a></span> the Governors and a few of the most distinguished visitors were +accommodated with seats. Winona, marching in to take part in the senior +drill, gave one glance round the building, and grasped the fact that +Aunt Harriet was sitting on the platform next to Councillor Jackson, and +only a few places away from the expert who was to act as judge. She was +chatting affably with her august companions. Think of chatting with a +Governor! Winona felt that it was some credit to have such a relation! +She had not always been very sure how much she valued Aunt Harriet's +opinion, but this afternoon she longed to shine before her. Yet the very +wish to do so made her nervous. She glanced at her companions. Bessie +was looking stolidity itself, Marjorie's usually high color had reached +peony point, Joyce was palpably in the throes of stage fright. All were +soon marching and countermarching, swinging Indian clubs, and performing +the intricate maneuvers of Swedish drill. Fortunately they had practiced +well, and it went without a hitch. They breathed more freely as they +retired to the ante-room to make way for the babies who were to do +skipping exercises to music.</p> + +<p>"It's more awful to show off before Governors than I expected!" sighed +Joyce. "I'm just shivering!"</p> + +<p>"What'll you be at the rings, then?" asked Bessie.</p> + +<p>"Silence!" urged Miss Lever, who was in charge of the ante-room.</p> + +<p>The strains of "Little Grey Home in the West"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[Pg 217]</a></span> and the regular thud of +small feet were wafted from the gymnasium.</p> + +<p>"Don't you wish you were a kid again?" whispered Joyce.</p> + +<p>"No, I don't!" retorted Bessie, so imprudently loud that Miss Lever +glared at her.</p> + +<p>"It's horrid having to stay in here, where one can't see!" murmured +Marjorie under her breath.</p> + +<p>They knew by the music, however, what was taking place. The juniors were +doing wand exercises, the intermediates followed with clubs.</p> + +<p>"Our turn again soon," whispered Winona.</p> + +<p>Olave Parry, from a vantage post near the door, could see into the +gymnasium, and report progress. Her items of news passed in whispers +down the ranks. The babies had skipped like a row of cherubs, and the +Governors were wreathed in smiles. Kitty Carter had dropped one of her +clubs, and it nearly hit a visitor on the head, but fortunately missed +her by half an inch. Laura Marshall was performing prodigies on the +horizontal ladder—she undoubtedly had a chance for a medal. Bursts of +applause from the audience punctuated the performance. Olave continued +her report, which Miss Lever, who took occasional excursions into the +gymnasium, verified from time to time. The juniors were competing now. +Natalie Powers was about to do the ring exercises. It was a swing and a +pull-up in front, and she managed that neatly, but when it came to the +swing and the turn, she lost her nerve, turned too soon and spun round +helplessly in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[Pg 218]</a></span> air until Miss Barbour hurried to her aid. Natalie +was done for, without doubt! It was a good thing she had not fallen and +hurt herself. Her rivals were rope-climbing. Madge Collins had reached +the top in six seconds, and was sliding down again, to the accompaniment +of loud clapping. Lennie Roberts had beaten her, for she had performed +the same feat in exactly five seconds. The juniors were in a ferment of +excitement. The interest of the audience had waxed to enthusiasm point.</p> + +<p>"Seniors!" announced Miss Lever briefly, and the row of waiting figures +in the ante-room fell into line, and marched into the gymnasium for the +special trials. The Swedish drill exercises, where all worked together, +had not seemed half so formidable. A well practiced part is not easily +forgotten even by a nervous girl, if it must be done in company with +others. It was another matter, however, to perform single athletic feats +before a big audience. For a moment Winona turned almost dizzy with +fright. The big room seemed full of eyes, every one of which would be +watching her when it came to her turn. She looked round with the feeling +of a martyr in the arena, and for a moment met the calm steady gaze of +Miss Beach. Winona said afterwards that Aunt Harriet must have +mesmerized her, for in that second of recognition she felt a sudden rush +of courage. The thrill of the contest took possession of her, and every +nerve and muscle, every atom of her brain, was alert to do its best. She +would let Aunt Harriet see that, though she might fail sometimes in form +work, she could hold her own at gymnastics.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[Pg 219]</a></span></p> + +<p>Contestants climbed, traveled on rings, and vaulted the horse. Winona +seemed to herself as easy and agile as she had ever been. She had a +possible chance of winning, and her heart exulted. Then came the +ladders. Up and up she went, holding herself now by her hands and now by +her feet swinging for her hold. She had thought she was light, but now +she suddenly realized how heavy she was! She summoned every bit of +strength as she went down the ladder. From one contest to another she +passed, doing her best.</p> + +<p>Last of all came the rings. Winona swung out, grasped the next ring, and +so on down the line. Oh, how many there were! She had never before +realized what it meant to weigh 7 st. 10 lbs. She held her breath as she +reached for the next ring, but it slipped from her fingers. Only for a +second, however, for she caught it on the next swing, and a moment later +was waiting at the end. Bessie was just starting. Down the line she +traveled, not so gracefully, perhaps, as Winona, but catching her ring +on every swing. Joyce followed, but mid-way her courage deserted her, +and she failed utterly. Marjorie came next. She was doing well surely! +She was nearly through, reached for the last ring, missed it, and fell! +There was an instant murmur of consternation from the audience. Was she +injured? She sprang up unhurt, however, though deeply humiliated.</p> + +<p>Thrilling in every nerve, Winona started back. Refreshed by her little +rest, she swung lightly, steadily and unfalteringly, never missing a +ring till she<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[Pg 220]</a></span> came to the end. She was almost too occupied to notice +the cheers. Bessie reached mid-way, then missed a ring, caught it on the +second swing, missed another, and reached for it three times before she +caught it and finished her course.</p> + +<p>The girls had been too much excited for comparisons. They scarcely +guessed how their averages would stand. Winona had a general impression +that Bessie had scored at vaulting, and Marjorie had undoubtedly cleared +the rope at four feet eight. Her own performances seemed lost in a haze; +she had noticed the judge jot down something, but she felt incapable of +reckoning her chances.</p> + +<p>The judge was conferring with Miss Bishop at the back of the platform, +and while the room waited for their decision the school marched, singing +an Empire song.</p> + +<p>At last the judge stepped to the front of the platform. The singing +ceased. Winona's heart beat suffocatingly.</p> + +<p>"I have great pleasure in giving the results," announced the judge. +"Preparatory prize, Elaine Jennings; Junior prize, Lennie Roberts; +Intermediate prize, Laura Marshall; Senior prize, Winona Woodward."</p> + +<p>The applause was ringing out lustily. Bessie, Marjorie and Joyce were +pressing congratulations upon her. Miss Bishop (actually the Head!) was +looking at her and smiling approval. Miss Lever was telling her to walk +forward. In a delirious whirl, Winona climbed the steps on the platform. +As Councillor Jackson pinned the medal on to her<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[Pg 221]</a></span> tunic, a storm of +clapping and cheers rose from the school. Their Games Captain was +popular, and everybody felt it right and fitting that this afternoon she +should have proved herself the athletic champion.</p> + +<p>"Don't forget the ices!" whispered Bessie, as Winona rejoined Marjorie +and Joyce.</p> + +<p>"We'll stop at the café on the way home, and you shall each choose what +you like!" declared Winona, with spendthrift liberality.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[Pg 222]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVII" id="CHAPTER_XVII"></a>CHAPTER XVII</h2> + +<h3>Back to the Land</h3> + + +<p>Easter fell late, so Winona spent the lovely early part of May at her +own home. After so many weeks of town it was delightful to be once more +in the country. She worked with enthusiasm in the garden, mowed the +lawn, and with Letty and Mamie's help began to put up an arbor, over +which she hoped to persuade a crimson rambler to ramble successfully. In +the house she tried her hand at scones and cakes, entirely to the +children's satisfaction, if not altogether to her own; she enjoyed +experiments in cooking, for she had longed to join the Domestic Science +class at school, and had felt aggrieved when Miss Bishop decided that +her time-table was full enough without it. She found her mother looking +delicate and worried. Poor Mrs. Woodward's health had not improved +during the last two years; she was nervous, anxious about Percy, and +inclined to be fretful and tearful. The increased income-tax and the +added cost of living made her constantly full of financial cares; she +was not a very good manager, and the thought of the future oppressed +her.</p> + +<p>"I don't know what's to be done with you, Winona, when you leave +school!" she remarked plaintively one evening. "I feel that you ought to +go in for something, but I'm sure I don't know what!<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[Pg 223]</a></span> I'd hoped you were +going to turn out clever, and win a scholarship for College, and get a +good post as a teacher afterwards, but there doesn't seem the least +chance of your doing that. It's all very well this hockey and cricket +that's made such a fuss of at schools nowadays, but it doesn't seem to +me that it's going to lead to anything. I'd rather you stuck to your +books! Yes, your future's worrying me very much. I've all these little +ones to bring up and educate, and I'd hoped you'd be able to earn your +own living before long, and lend the children a helping hand. I can't +spend anything on giving you an expensive training, Percy has cost me so +much out of capital, and it's Letty's turn next, besides which it's high +time Ernie and Godfrey were packed off to a boarding-school. Oh, dear! I +never seem free from trouble! It's no light anxiety to be the mother of +seven children! I often wonder what will become of you all!"</p> + +<p>To Winona her mother's tearful confidences came as a shock. Up to the +present she had been so intensely interested in school affairs that she +had given scarcely a thought to her future career. Life had existed for +her in detail only to the end of the summer term, after that it had +stretched a nebulous void into which her imagination had never troubled +to penetrate. Now she took herself seriously to task, and tried to face +the prospect of the time when she would have left the Seaton High +School. There were many occupations open to girls nowadays besides +teaching; they could be doctors, secretaries, sanitary inspectors, +artists, musicians, poultry farmers.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[Pg 224]</a></span> She knew however, that for any +career worth taking up a considerable training would be necessary, and a +certain amount of expense involved. What she would have liked very much +would be to study at a Physical Training College, and qualify to become +a Drill and Games Mistress, but this seemed as unattainable as taking a +medical course or going to Girton or Newnham.</p> + +<p>"I'm too young yet for a hospital nurse," she pondered, "and not clever +enough to be an artist or a musician. Well, I suppose I can make +munitions, or go on the land! Women are wanted on farms while the war +lasts. I could earn my own living, perhaps. But oh, dear! That wouldn't +be boosting on the children! I'm afraid mother's fearfully disappointed +with me."</p> + +<p>She seemed to be looking at things in a new light, and to see her +position as it affected others. She was young and brave; surely it was +her part to shoulder the family burdens, to shield the frail little +mother who grew less and less able to cope with difficulties, to hold +out a strong helping hand to the younger brothers and sisters, and so +justify her existence on this planet. It had not before occurred to her +how much her home people relied on her. The thought of it brought a +great lump into her throat. She must not fail them. She could not yet +see her way clearly, but somehow she must be a comfort and a support to +them, that she was quite resolved.</p> + +<p>She went back to school in a very thoughtful frame of mind. Her last +term would be a full one in many ways. About half of the Sixth Form were +to go<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[Pg 225]</a></span> in for their college entrance examinations, and Miss Bishop had +decreed that Winona, as a County Scholarship holder, must certainly be +among the number. She had little hope of passing, for most of her +subjects were weak, but she meant to make an effort to try to pick up +some of her lost ground. Her old enemies, Latin and Chemistry, still +often baffled her, and her memory was only moderately retentive. She +could not honestly believe that so far as her work was concerned she was +any credit to the school. Games were another matter, however, and so +long as they did not seriously interfere with her preparation for the +matriculation, she meant to do her duty as captain. She arranged cricket +fixtures and tennis tournaments, and though she could not devote as much +of her own time as she would have liked to practice, she spurred on +others who had more leisure than herself. She certainly possessed a gift +for organization. There are some captains, splendid players themselves, +who can never train their deputies. As Napoleon's genius was supposed to +lie largely in his capacity for picking out able generals, so Winona +proved her ability by choosing helpers who were of real service to her. +With Audrey Redfern, Emily Cooper, and Bertha March to the fore, she +hoped that both cricket and tennis would prosper, and that the school +would score as successfully during the summer as it had done in the +hockey season.</p> + +<p>On the first Saturday after the beginning of the term, Miss Beach +announced that she was going to spend the day with a friend who lived +five miles out of Seaton, and that if Winona had leisure to ac<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[Pg 226]</a></span>company +her she would be pleased to take her. No practices had been arranged for +that afternoon, so Winona felt free to accept the invitation. She had +been for several short runs in the car, but for no long expedition since +the memorable outing to Wickborough, so the prospect of a day in the +country was alluring.</p> + +<p>They started at about eleven o'clock, and took a road that was new to +Winona, consequently all the more interesting. Their way led through +lovely woods, at present a sheet of blue hyacinths, the hedges were a +filmy dream of blackthorn blossom, while the swallows wheeling and +flashing in the sunshine testified to the return of summer.</p> + +<p>Miss Carson, the lady whom they were going to visit, like most of Aunt +Harriet's friends was engaged in very interesting work. She had taken a +small holding, and with the help of a few women pupils was running it as +a fruit, flower and poultry farm. The house, an old cottage, to which +she had added a wing, was charmingly pretty. It was long and low, with a +thick thatched roof, and a porch overgrown with starry white clematis. A +budding vine covered the front and in the border below great clumps of +stately yellow lilies drooped their queenly heads. The front door led +straight into the house place, a square room with a big fire-place and +cozy ingle nooks. It was very simply furnished, but looked most artistic +with its rush-bottomed chairs, its few good pictures, and its stained +green table with the big bowl of wallflowers.</p> + +<p>Miss Carson, a delightfully energetic lady whose<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[Pg 227]</a></span> age may have been +somewhere between thirty and forty, welcomed them cordially.</p> + +<p>"I don't apologize for the plainness of my establishment," she remarked. +"It's all part of a purpose. We have no servants here, and as we have to +do our own house-work in addition to our farm-work, we want to reduce +our labor to a minimum. You see, there's hardly anything to dust in this +room: the books and the china are in those two cupboards with glass +doors, and we have no fripperies at all lying about. The only ornament +we allow ourselves is the bowl of flowers. Our bedrooms are equally +simple, and our kitchen is fitted with the latest and most up-to-date +labor-saving appliances. One of my students is preparing the dinner +there now. She's a nice girl, and Winona will perhaps like to go and +talk to her, unless she prefers to stay here with us."</p> + +<p>Winona promptly decided in favor of the kitchen, so Miss Carson escorted +her there, and introduced her to Miss Heald, a jolly-looking girl of +about twenty, who, enveloped in a blue overall pinafore, was putting +plates to heat, and inspecting the contents of certain boilerettes and +casseroles. Like the sitting-room the kitchen contained no unnecessary +articles. It was spotlessly clean, and looked very business-like.</p> + +<p>"We go on kitchen duty for a week at a time," explained Miss Heald to +Winona. "It's a part of the course, you know. We have dairy, gardening +and poultry as well. Which do I like best? It's hard to say. Poultry, I +think, because the chickens<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[Pg 228]</a></span> are such darlings. I'll show you all round +the place this afternoon, when I've finished washing up. I'm going to +lay the table now. You can help if you like."</p> + +<p>Precisely at one o'clock the seven other students came in from their +work. Each was dressed in her farm uniform, short serge skirt, woolen +jersey, blue overall and thick boots. To judge from their looks, their +occupation was both healthy and congenial, in physique they were Hebes, +and their spirits seemed at bubbling point. Apparently they all adored +Miss Carson. The latter made a few inquiries as to the morning's +progress, and the capable answers testified to the knowledge of the +learners. The dinner did credit to Miss Heald's skill; it was well +cooked and daintily served. Winona was full of admiration; her culinary +experience was limited so far to cakes and scones; she felt that she +would have been very proud if she had compounded that stew, and baked +those custards. When the meal was finished the students tramped forth +again to their outdoor labor, while Miss Heald cleared away. Winona +begged to be allowed to help her, and was initiated into the mysteries +of the very latest and most sanitary method of washing up, with the aid +of mop, dish-rack, and some patent appliances. It was so interesting +that she quite enjoyed it. She swept the kitchen, filled kettles at the +pump, and did several other odd jobs; then, everything being left in an +absolutely immaculate condition, Miss Heald declared that she was ready, +and offered to take her companion for a tour of inspection round the +farm.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[Pg 229]</a></span></p> + +<p>The little holding had been well planned, and was skillfully arranged. +In front was the garden, a large piece of ground stretching down to the +hedge that bordered the road. Miss Carson's original idea had been the +culture of flowers, partly for the sale of their blossoms, and partly +for the preservation of their seeds, but the national need of producing +food crops during the war had induced her to plant almost the whole of +it with fruit and vegetables. At present it somewhat resembled a village +allotment. Patches of peas and broad beans were coming up well. Groups +of gooseberry bushes were thriving. Strawberry beds were being carefully +weeded, and two of the students were erecting posts round them, over +which nets would be hung later on to protect the fruit from the birds.</p> + +<p>"Birds are our greatest pest here," explained Miss Heald. "One may like +them from a natural history point of view, but you get to hate the +little wretches when you see them devouring everything wholesale. +They've no conscience. Those small coletits can creep through quite fine +meshes, and simply strip the peas, and the blackbirds would guzzle all +day if they had the chance. I want to borrow an air gun and pot at them, +but Miss Carson won't let me. She's afraid I might shoot some of the +other students."</p> + +<p>A row of cucumber frames and some greenhouses stood at the bottom of the +garden. The latter were mostly devoted to young tomato plants, though +one was specially reserved for vegetable marrows. The students had to +learn how to manage and regulate<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[Pg 230]</a></span> the heating apparatus of the houses, +as well as to understand the culture of the plants.</p> + +<p>"I left a window open once," confessed Miss Heald. "I remembered it when +I had been about an hour in bed, and I jumped up and dressed in a hurry, +and went out with a lantern to shut it. Fortunately there was no frost +that night, or all the seedlings might have been killed. It was a most +dreadful thing to forget! I thought Miss Carson would have jumped on me, +but she was ever so nice about it."</p> + +<p>Despite the predominance of foodstuffs there were a few flowers in the +garden, clumps of forget-me-not and narcissus, purple iris, golden +saxifrages and scarlet anemones. There were fragrant bushes of lavender +and rosemary, and beds of sweet herbs, thyme, and basil and fennel and +salsafy, for Miss Carson believed in some of the old-fashioned remedies, +and made salves and ointments and hair washes from the products of her +garden. The orchard, full of pink-blossomed apple trees, was a +refreshing sight. They opened a little gate, and walked under a wealth +of drooping flowers to the poultry yard that lay at the further side. +Everything here was on the most up-to-date system. Pens of beautiful +white Leghorns, Black Minorcas and Buff Orpingtons were kept in wired +inclosures, each with its own henhouse and scratching-shed full of +straw. Miss Heald took Winona inside to inspect the patent +nesting-boxes, and the grit-cutting machine. She also showed her the +incubators.</p> + +<p>"They're empty now, but you should have seen<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[Pg 231]</a></span> them in the early spring, +when they were full of eggs," she explained. "It was a tremendous +anxiety to keep the lamps properly regulated. Miss Nelson and I sat up +all night once when some prize ducklings were hatching. It was cold +weather, and they weren't very strong, so they needed a little help. +It's the most frightfully delicate work to help a chick out of its +shell! It makes a little chip with its beak, and then sometimes it can't +get any further, and you have gently to crack the hole bigger. Unless +you're very careful you may kill it, but on the other hand, if it can't +burst its shell when it's ready to hatch, it may suffocate, so it's a +choice of evils. We put them in the drying pen first, and then in the +'foster mother.' They're like babies, and have to be fed every two +hours. It's a tremendous business when you have hundreds of them, at +different stages and on different diets. We seemed to be preparing food +all day long. It's ever so fascinating, though!"</p> + +<p>"I love them when they're like fluffy canaries," said Winona.</p> + +<p>"Yes, so do I. I had a special sitting of little ducklings under my +charge, and they got very tame. I put them into a basket one day, and +carried them into the garden to pick up worms. I put them down on a bed, +and while my back was turned for a few minutes they cleared a whole row +of young cabbages that Miss Morrison had just planted. I got into +fearful trouble, and had to pack up my <i>protégés</i> and take them back to +their coop in disgrace. I'd never dreamed they would devour green stuff! +We have to learn to keep strict accounts of the poultry; we<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[Pg 232]</a></span> put down +the number of eggs daily, and the weekly food bill, and the chickens +sold, and make a kind of register, with profit and loss. Miss Carson +runs everything on a most business-like basis."</p> + +<p>Miss Heald showed Winona the store-room, where meal and grain were kept, +the big pans in which food was mixed, the boxes for packing eggs, and +the little medicine cupboard containing remedies for sick fowls. All was +beautifully orderly and well arranged, and a card of rules for the help +of the students hung on the walls.</p> + +<p>From the poultry department they passed to the Dairy Section. The four +sleek cows were out in the field, but in a loose box there were some +delightful calves that ran to greet Miss Heald, pressing eager damp +noses into her hand, and exhibiting much apparent disappointment that +she did not offer them a pailful of milk and oatmeal. Winona inspected +the cool, scrupulously clean dairy, with its patent churn, and slate +slabs for making up the butter. She saw the bowls where the cream was +kept, and the wooden print with which the pats were marked.</p> + +<p>"Butter-making is the side of the business I don't care for," admitted +Miss Heald. "I like the gardening fairly well, and I just love the +poultry, but I don't take to dairy work. Of course it's a part of my +training, so I'm obliged to do it, but when my time here is over, I mean +to make hens my specialty, and go in for poultry farming. An open-air +life suits me. It's a thousand times nicer than being a nurse at a +hospital, or a secretary at an<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[Pg 233]</a></span> office. You're in the fresh air all day, +and the chicks are so interesting."</p> + +<p>A pen of young turkey poults, a flock of goslings, and a sty full of +infant pigs were next on exhibition. Miss Heald showed off the latter +with pride.</p> + +<p>"They're rather darlings, and I own to a weakness for them," she +admitted. "We put them in a bath and scrub them, and they're really so +intelligent. Wasn't it the poet Herrick who had a pet pig? This little +chap's as sharp as a needle. I believe I could teach him tricks +directly, if I tried! Miss Carson says I mustn't let myself grow too +fond of all the creatures, because their ultimate end is bacon or the +boilerette, and it doesn't do to be sentimental over farming; but I +can't help it! I just love some of the chickens; they come flying up on +to my shoulder like pigeons."</p> + +<p>A rough-coated pony formed part of the establishment. Twice a week he +was harnessed to the trap, and Miss Carson and one of the students drove +to Seaton to dispose of the farm produce. Miss Carson had undertaken to +supply several hotels and restaurants with eggs, fowls and vegetables, +and so far had found the demand for her goods exceeded the supply. Labor +was at present her greatest difficulty. Her students accomplished the +light work, but could not do heavy digging. She managed to secure the +occasional services of a farm hand, but with most able-bodied men at the +war the problem of trenching or of making an asparagus bed was almost +impossible to solve.</p> + +<p>At the end of the orchard, against a south hedge<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[Pg 234]</a></span> of thick holly, stood +the hives. Bee-keeping was one of the most successful ventures of the +holding. Last autumn had shown a splendid yield of honey, and this year, +judging by the activity of the bees, an equal harvest might be expected. +There was continuous humming among the apple blossoms, and every minute +pollen-laden workers were hurrying home with their spoils. Miss Heald +lifted the lid of one of the hives, to show Winona the comb within. She +observed caution, however.</p> + +<p>"They don't know me very well," she explained. "They have their likes +and dislikes. Miss Hunter can let them crawl all over her hands and +arms, and they never sting her. She must have a natural attraction for +them. They recognize a stranger directly. No, I'm not particularly fond +of them. I prefer pigs and chickens."</p> + +<p>Miss Carson and Aunt Harriet had also been going the round of the farm, +and came up to inspect the hives. Miss Beach was greatly interested in +her friend's work, and full of congratulations.</p> + +<p>"Such women as you are the backbone of the country!" she declared. "The +next best thing to fighting is to provide food for the nation. England +is capable of producing twice her annual yield if there is proper +organization. I'm a great advocate of small holdings, and I think women +can't show their patriotism better than by going 'back to the land.' You +and your students are indeed 'doing your bit'! You make me want to come +and help you!"</p> + +<p>It was such a delicious warm afternoon that chairs were carried outside, +and they had tea in the garden<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[Pg 235]</a></span> under a gorgeous pink-blossomed almond +tree, with the perfume of wallflowers and sweet scented stocks wafted +from the rockery above. Two cats and a dog joined the party, also an +impudent bantam cock, who, being considered the mascot of the +establishment, was much petted, and allowed certain privileges. He would +sit on Miss Carson's wrist like a little tame hawk, and she sometimes +brought him into the garden at tea-time to give him tit-bits.</p> + +<p>At 4.30 all the fowls and chickens were fed, a tremendous business, at +which Winona looked on with enthusiasm. She admired the systematic way +in which the food was measured and distributed so that each individual +member of the flock received its due share, and was not robbed by a +greedier and stronger neighbor. She was very reluctant to leave when +Miss Beach at last brought round the car.</p> + +<p>"How I'd love to go and learn farming when I leave school!" she ventured +to remark as they drove home.</p> + +<p>"It needs brains!" returned Aunt Harriet, rather snappily. "You mustn't +imagine it's all tea in the garden and playing with fluffy chickens. To +run such a holding intelligently requires a clever capable head. Your +examination's quite enough for you to think about at present. If you're +to have any chance at all of passing, it will take your whole energies, +I assure you!"</p> + +<p>Winona, duly snubbed, held her peace.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[Pg 236]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVIII" id="CHAPTER_XVIII"></a>CHAPTER XVIII</h2> + +<h3>A Friend in Need</h3> + + +<p>Under the coaching of Miss Goodson the Sixth Form had settled down to +grim work. Twelve girls were to present themselves for examination for +entering Dunningham University, and though the teacher naturally +concentrated her greatest energies on this elect dozen, the rest by no +means slipped through her intellectual net. There were stars among the +candidates of whom she might feel moderately certain, and there were +also laggers whose success was doubtful. In this latter category she +classed Winona. Poor Winona still floundered rather hopelessly in some +of her subjects. A poetic imagination may be a delightful inheritance +and a source of infinite enjoyment to its owner, but it does not supply +the place of a good memory. Examiners are prosaic beings who require +solid facts, and even the style of a Macaulay or a Carlyle would not +satisfy them unless accompanied by definite answers to their set +questions. By a piece of unparalleled luck, Winona had secured and +retained her County Scholarship, but her powers of essay writing were +not likely to serve her in such good stead again. She often groaned when +she thought of the examinations. Miss Bishop, Aunt Harriet, and her +mother would all be so disappointed if she failed, and alas! her failure +seemed only too probable.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[Pg 237]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Miss Goodson doesn't tell me plump out that I'll be plucked, but I can +see she thinks so!" confided Winona to Garnet one day.</p> + +<p>"Then show her she is wrong!"</p> + +<p>"Not much chance of that, I'm afraid, but I'm doing my level best. I get +up at six every morning, and slave before breakfast."</p> + +<p>"So do I, but I get such frightful headaches," sighed Garnet. "I've been +nearly mad with them. My cousin took me to the doctor yesterday. He says +it's my eyes. I shan't be at school to-morrow. I have to go to +Dunningham to see a specialist."</p> + +<p>"Poor old girl! You never told me about your headaches."</p> + +<p>"You never asked me! I've seen so little of you lately;"</p> + +<p>Winona's conscience smote her. She had rather neglected Garnet since +they had entered the Sixth Form. During their year in <span class="smcap">V.a.</span> they +had been fast friends. As new girls together and scholarship holders, a +close tie had existed between them, and they had shared in many small +excitements and adventures. When Winona was chosen Games Captain, +however, their interests seemed to separate. Garnet was not athletic, +she cared little for hockey or cricket, and preferred to devote her +surplus energies to the Literary Society or the Debating Club. Almost +inevitably they had drifted apart. Winona, wrapped up in the supreme +fascinations of hockey matches and gymnasium practice, had chummed with +Marjorie Kemp, Bessie Kirk, and Joyce Newton, who shared her enthusiasm +for games. She remem<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[Pg 238]</a></span>bered with a pang of self-reproach that she had not +walked round the playground with Garnet once this term. Winona admired +fidelity, but she certainly could not pride herself upon having +practiced that virtue of late.</p> + +<p>Garnet was absent from her desk next day, but when she returned to the +school on Thursday, Winona sought an opportunity, and bore her off for a +private talk. Garnet was looking very pale.</p> + +<p>"I'm dreadfully upset," she confessed. "I told you I had to see a +specialist about my eyes? Well, yesterday we went to Dunningham, to +consult Sir Alfred Pollard. He says there's very serious trouble, and +that if I'm not careful, I may ruin my sight altogether. He absolutely +forbids any home work in the evenings."</p> + +<p>"Forbids home work!" gasped Winona.</p> + +<p>"Yes, utterly! Just think of it! With the examinations only six weeks +off! I begged and implored, but he said I might choose between my sight +and my exam. I suppose I shall have to fail!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, Garnet!"</p> + +<p>"Yes," continued her friend bitterly, "to fail at the very end, after +all my work! And I <i>have</i> worked! When other girls have been getting all +sorts of fun, I've sat in my bedroom with my books. Oh, it's too +cruel!... Don't think me conceited, but I thought I might have a chance +for the Seaton Scholarship. It was worth trying for! If you knew how I +long to go to College! It would be so glorious to write B.A. after one's +name! Besides, I must do something in life. All my sisters have chosen<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[Pg 239]</a></span> +careers, and I had, quite decided to take up teaching as a profession. I +talked it over with Miss Goodson one day. She was so nice about it, and +strongly advised me to go to College if I could possibly get the +opportunity. Well, I suppose that dream's over now! Not much chance of a +scholarship with one's prep knocked off!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, Garnet, I'm so sorry! Will the doctor let you take the exams, at +all?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, I may attend school as usual, and go in for the exam., but I'm not +to look at a book after 4 p.m. or before 9 a.m., so it's a very empty +permission. How I shall rage all the evenings! I wish I had a gramophone +to howl out my work into my ears, as I mayn't use my eyes!"</p> + +<p>"Would that help you?" asked Winona eagerly.</p> + +<p>"Of course it would! It isn't my brain that's wrong, only my eyes. I +asked my cousin to read my prep. to me one evening, but it was beyond +her, and we only got into a muddle. Oh dear, I could cry! To have worked +to within six weeks of the exam., and then to have to slack like this! +I'm the unluckiest girl in the world!"</p> + +<p>Winona comforted her poor friend as best she could. She had an idea at +the back of her mind, but she did not venture to confide it to Garnet +until she had first consulted Aunt Harriet about it. It was no less a +proposal than that they should do their preparation together, and that +by reading the work aloud she could act eyes for her chum. It. would be +difficult, no doubt, but not an utter impossibility, and it was +absolutely the only way in which Garnet could<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[Pg 240]</a></span> receive help. It would +necessitate their spending many hours daily in each other's company, and +to arrange this seemed to be the difficulty. She explained the situation +to Miss Beach, with some diffidence and hesitation. She was terribly +afraid of receiving a snubbing, and being told that her own work was +more than sufficient for her, without taking up her friend's burdens. To +her surprise, however, Aunt Harriet proved sympathetic, and heartily +acquiesced in the scheme. She indeed made the very kind proposal that +for the six weeks until the exam. Garnet should sleep with Winona at +Abbey Close, so that they might have both the evening and early morning +preparation together.</p> + +<p>Winona carried her friend to a quiet corner of the gymnasium to +communicate her thrilling news.</p> + +<p>"Win! You don't really mean it? Oh, you're big! I didn't think any one +in the world would have done that for me. Do you realize what you're +undertaking? It's the one thing that can save me! And only a girl who's +in my own Form, and going in for the exams. herself, could do it. Nobody +else understands exactly what one wants. Win! I'm ready to worship you!"</p> + +<p>"Will your cousin let you come to stay with us?"</p> + +<p>"I've no fear of that. She'll be as grateful to you as I am!"</p> + +<p>Without any further loss of time, Garnet was installed at Abbey Close, +and the friends began their joint preparation. Garnet, by the doctor's +orders, sat with a black silk handkerchief tied over her eyes, so as to +give them all the rest which was possible.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[Pg 241]</a></span> Her brain was very alert, +however, and her excellent memory retained most of what Winona read to +her. At first there were many difficulties to be overcome, for each had +had her own way of studying, but after a while they grew used to their +united method, and began to make headway with the work. They thoroughly +enjoyed being together. To Winona it was almost like being back at the +hostel to have a companion in her bedroom, and her many jokes and bits +of fun kept up Garnet's spirits. They set their alarm clock for 5.30, +and began study promptly at six each morning, after eating the bread and +butter and drinking the glasses of milk which, by Aunt Harriet's orders, +were always placed in readiness for them. These early hours, when the +day was cool, and a fresh breeze blew in through the open window, seemed +the most valuable of all; their brains felt clearer, and they were often +able to grasp problems and difficult points which had eluded them the +evening before.</p> + +<p>Except for the ordinary practices which formed part of the school +curriculum, Winona was obliged for the present to appoint Bessie Kirk as +her deputy-Captain. She had no time herself to train juniors, to act +referee, or to stand watching tennis sets. It meant a great sacrifice to +relinquish these most congenial duties, but she knew Miss Bishop and +Miss Goodson approved, and she promised herself to return to them all +the more heartily when the examination should be over. She would ask +Bessie wistfully for reports of the progress of various stars who were +in training, and managed to keep in touch<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[Pg 242]</a></span> with the games, though she +could not always participate in them.</p> + +<p>"Wait till June's over, and I'm emancipated! Then won't I have the time +of my life!" she announced. "Thank goodness the match with Binworth +isn't till July 21st!"</p> + +<p>The weeks of strenuous work passed slowly by. The weather was warm and +sultry, with frequent thunderstorms, not a favorable atmosphere for +study. Garnet flagged palpably, and lost her roses. To Winona the time +seemed interminable. The task she had undertaken of helping her friend +was a formidable one. It needed all her courage to persevere. Sometimes +she longed just for an evening to throw it up, and go and play tennis +instead, but every hour was important to Garnet, and must not be lost. +Winona often had to set her teeth and force herself to resist the +alluring sound of the tennis in the next-door garden, where she had a +standing invitation to come and play, and it took all the will power of +which she was capable to focus her attention on the examination +subjects. She tried not to let Garnet see how much the effort cost her; +the latter was sensitive, and painfully conscious of being a burden. +Miss Beach dosed both the girls with tonics, and insisted upon their +taking a certain amount of exercise.</p> + +<p>"Work by all means, but don't over-work," was her recommendation. +"There's such a thing as bending a bow until it breaks. I don't like to +see such white cheeks!"</p> + +<p>The examination was for entering Dunning<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[Pg 243]</a></span>ham University, and must be +taken at that city. The Governors of the Seaton High School had offered +a scholarship, tenable for three years, to whichever of their +candidates, obtaining First Class honors, appeared highest on the list +of passes. They had arranged with the examiners to place the names of +the successful candidates in order of merit and on the receipt of the +results they would award their exhibition. If no one obtained First +Class honors, the offer would be withdrawn, and held over until another +year.</p> + +<p>Several of the girls were well up in their work, and seemed likely to +have a chance of winning. Linda Fletcher had the advantage of two years +in the Sixth, Agatha James was undoubtedly clever, and Beatrice Howell, +though not brilliant, possessed a steady capacity for grind. With three +such formidable rivals Garnet's heart might very reasonably fail her. +The doctor's prohibition was a most serious handicap for invaluable as +her chum's help proved, it was not so effective as being able to use her +own eyes. Sometimes she lost courage altogether, and it needed Winona's +most dogged determination to keep her mind fixed unwaveringly upon the +end in view.</p> + +<p>"It's like playing in a match," Winona assured her. "If you think the +other side's going to win, you may as well throw up the sponge at once. +Don't give way an inch until you absolutely know you're beaten. I'm just +determined you're to have that scholarship!"</p> + +<p>"If I could only think so!" sighed Garnet. "Oh,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[Pg 244]</a></span> Win! what should I do +without you? When I'm with you my spirits go up, and I've courage enough +for anything, and when I'm by myself I feel a wretched jelly-fish of a +creature, just inclined to sit in a corner and blub!"</p> + +<p>"No blubbering, please! Worst thing possible for the eyes!" commanded +Winona.</p> + +<p>"Well, I won't! You've cheered me up tremendously. I'm glad you'll be in +the exam. room with me. I shall feel twice as brave if I know you're +there!"</p> + +<p>The days sped on, and the very last one came. Miss Bishop and Miss +Goodson had given their final coachings and their most valuable help. +Winona and Garnet devoted the evening to mastering one or two doubtful +points.</p> + +<p>"We've done our best, and it depends now whether we've luck in the +questions," said Winona. "I think we'd better put the books away. We +shall only muddle ourselves if we try any more to-night. Aunt Harriet +says we're not to get up at five to-morrow. We shall have quite a hard +enough day as it is."</p> + +<p>"It wouldn't be much use," said Garnet, thrusting back the hair from her +hot forehead. "I feel I've taken in the utmost my brains can hold. +There's no room for anything more. How close the air is!"</p> + +<p>"I believe we're going to have another storm," replied Winona, leaning +out of the widely opened window, to gaze at the lurid sky. "There's a +feeling of electricity about. Ah! There it begins!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[Pg 245]</a></span></p> + +<p>A vivid flash behind the tower of the old Minster was followed by a long +rumble of thunder. The atmosphere was painfully oppressive. Again a +white streak ran like a corkscrew over the clouds, and a louder peal +resounded. The storm was drawing nearer.</p> + +<p>"Come from the window, Winona. It's not safe!"</p> + +<p>Garnet was terribly afraid of thunder. The electricity in the air has a +powerful effect upon some temperaments, and at the first sound of +heaven's artillery she was crouching beside her bed, with her head +buried in the pillow.</p> + +<p>"Don't be a silly ostrich!" retorted her chum. "It's quite far away yet, +and if it does come, the chances are a thousand to one against it +hitting this particular house. Why, you weren't half so scared of +Zeppelins! For goodness' sake don't get hysterical! Show some pluck!"</p> + +<p>Winona's remarks might not be complimentary, but they were bracing. +Garnet laughed nervously, and consented to sit upon a chair. In about +half-an-hour the storm blew over, leaving a clear sky and stars.</p> + +<p>"Come and put your head out of the window, and feel how deliciously +fresh and cool it is!" commanded Winona. "Look at that bright planet! I +think it must be Jupiter. I take it as a good omen for to-morrow. The +storm will have cleared your brain, and your star's in the ascendant. +Here's luck to the exam.!"</p> + +<p>The city of Dunningham was about thirty miles<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[Pg 246]</a></span> away from Seaton. It was +a big manufacturing city, with a highly flourishing modern university, +which had lately come much to the fore, and had begun to make itself a +reputation. The three days' examination was to be held in the University +buildings, and all candidates were bound to present themselves there. +Miss Bishop had decided that the contingent of twelve from the Seaton +High School should travel to Dunningham each morning by the early +express, under the charge of Miss Lever, who would take them out for +lunch, and escort them safely back to Seaton again in the evening. The +arrangement necessitated an early start, but nobody minded that.</p> + +<p>The little party met at the railway station in quite bright spirits. It +was rather fun, all going to Dunningham together, and having a special +compartment engaged for them on the train. It was a difficult matter for +thirteen people to cram into seats only intended for the accommodation +of ten, but they preferred over-crowding to separation, and cheerfully +took it in turns to sit on one another's knees.</p> + +<p>"It's more like a beanfeast than the exam.!" laughed Mary Payne, handing +round a packet of chocolates. "I feel I absolutely don't care!"</p> + +<p>"I feel like a criminal on the road to execution!" groaned Helena +Maitland. "Usedn't they to give the poor wretches anything they asked +for? Oh, yes, thanks! I'll have a chocolate by all means, but it's +crowning the victim with a garland of roses!"</p> + +<p>"Rather mixed metaphors, my child! If you don't express yourself more +clearly in your papers, I'm afraid you won't satisfy the examiners!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[Pg 247]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I wonder who corrects the papers?" asked Freda Long.</p> + +<p>"Oh! some snarling old dry-as-dust, probably, who's anxious to get +through the job as quickly as he can. It must be a withering experience +to go through thousands of papers. Enough to pulverize your brains for +the rest of your life!"</p> + +<p>"I don't mind the examiners' brains. It's my own I'm anxious about. If +they'll last me out these three days, I'll be content to exist at a very +low mental level afterwards!"</p> + +<p>"Right you are! Ditto this child! I'm going to read nothing but the +trashiest novels during the holidays!" announced Mary aggressively.</p> + +<p>"And I'm not going to read at all! I shall just lounge and play tennis," +added Hilda.</p> + +<p>"Poor dears! I used to feel like that, but one gets over it!" smiled +Miss Lever. "Don't eat too many caramels, or you'll be so thirsty in the +exam room. Malted milk tablets are the best thing; they're sweet, but +sustaining. Plain chocolate is the next best. I shall think of you all +the whole morning."</p> + +<p>"You'll have a lovely time gallivanting round Dunningham and +shop-gazing, while we're racking our brains!" said Garnet. "We're all +envious!"</p> + +<p>"Remember, I've had my purgatory before!" returned Miss Lever, laughing. +"You must allow me a good time in my old age!"</p> + +<p>Arrived at Dunningham station, they took the tramcar, and proceeded +straight to the University.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[Pg 248]</a></span> It was a very fine modern building, erected +round three sides of a large quadrangle, the fourth side being occupied +by a museum. They were directed to the Women Students' Department, and +took off their hats and coats in the dressing-room. Miss Lever, who had +herself graduated at Dunningham, knew the place well, and was able to +give them exact directions. She escorted them across the quadrangle to +the big hall where the examination was to be held.</p> + +<p>"The place has a classic look," said Garnet, gazing at the Corinthian +columns of the portico. "I'm afraid they won't consider my Latin up to +standard. May the fates send me an easy paper!"</p> + +<p>"You should have asked them before!" giggled Winona. "The papers are +printed now, and not all the gods of Olympus could alter a letter. I +accept my fortunes in the spirit of a Mahomedan. It's Kismet!"</p> + +<p>The first set of questions was easier than the girls had dared to +expect. They scribbled away eagerly. It was encouraging, at any rate, to +make a good beginning. They compared notes at the end of the morning, +and arrived at the conclusion that all had done fairly well. Miss Lever +was waiting for them in the quadrangle when they came out, and announced +that she had engaged a special table for the party at a restaurant, and +had ordered a particularly nice little lunch, with coffee afterwards to +clear their brains. Some of the girls were tired, and inclined to groan, +others were exhilarated, but the enthusiasts cheered up the weaker +spirits, and by the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[Pg 249]</a></span> time the coffee course was reached, everybody was +feeling courageous.</p> + +<p>"Should I dare to suggest ices?" murmured Winona.</p> + +<p>"All right, if you like. There's just time," assented Miss Lever, +consulting her watch. "I passed my Intermediate on ices during a spell +of intensely hot weather. I can allow you exactly five minutes, so +choose quickly—strawberry or vanilla?"</p> + +<p>The three days of the examination seemed to Winona like a dream. She +grew quite accustomed to the big hall full of candidates, and to her +particular desk. Garnet sat at the other side of the aisle, and Winona +would sometimes pause a moment to watch her. To judge from her friend's +absorbed appearance and fast moving pen, the papers appeared to suit +her. To Winona's immense astonishment she herself was doing quite +moderately well. The six weeks' coaching of Garnet had been of +inestimable benefit to her own work. She had not then thought of this +aspect of the matter, but she was certainly now reaping the reward of +her labor of love. For the first time the possibility of gaining a pass +occurred to her.</p> + +<p>"If I do, it'll be the limit!" she reflected. "Miss Bishop will have +about the surprise of her life!"</p> + +<p>On the whole the girls quite enjoyed their three days at Dunningham. +There were intervals between their various papers, which they spent +partly in the University museum and partly in the City Art Gallery, +where a fine collection of Old Masters was on loan. It was the first +time Winona had seen paint<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[Pg 250]</a></span>ings by world-famous artists, though she had +often pored over reproductions of their works in <i>The Studio</i> or <i>The +Connoisseur</i>. She felt that the experience added another window to her +outlook on life.</p> + +<p>"I wish I'd the talent to be an artist!" she thought. "There are so many +things I'd like to do! Oh, dear! Painting and music (both beyond me +utterly) and physical culture and poultry farming, and Red Cross +nursing, and I probably shan't do any of them, after all! I want to be +of solid use to the world in a nice interesting way to myself, and I +expect I'll just have to do a lot of stupid things that I hate. Why +wasn't I born a Raphael?"</p> + +<p>"How do you think you've got on altogether?" Garnet asked Winona, as, +thoroughly tired out, the two girls traveled homeward to Seaton at the +end of the third day's examination.</p> + +<p>"Um—tolerably. Better, perhaps, than I expected, but that's not saying +much. And you?"</p> + +<p>"I never prophesy till I know!"</p> + +<p>But Garnet's dark eyes shone as she leaned back in her corner.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[Pg 251]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIX" id="CHAPTER_XIX"></a>CHAPTER XIX</h2> + +<h3>The Swimming Contest</h3> + + +<p>Once the examinations were over, Winona's spirits, which had been +decidedly at Il Penseroso, went up to L'Allegro. The strain of coaching +Garnet had been very great, but the relief was in corresponding +proportion. She felt as if a burden had rolled from her shoulders. There +was just a month of the term left. The Sixth would of course be expected +to do its ordinary form work, but the amount of home study required +would be reasonable, quite a different matter from the intolerable grind +of preparation for a University examination. The extra afternoon classes +with Miss Goodson were no longer necessary, leaving a delightful period +of leisure half-hours at school. Winona intended to employ these +blissful intervals in cricket practice, at the tennis courts, in helping +to arrange the museum, and in carrying out several other pet schemes +that she had been forced hitherto to set aside. Bessie Kirk had made a +good deputy, but it was nice to take the reins into her own hands once +more, and feel that she was head of the Games department. She coached +her champions assiduously. At tennis Emily Cooper and Bertha March stood +out like planets among the stars. They had already beaten Westwood High +School and Hill Top Sec<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[Pg 252]</a></span>ondary School, and hoped to have a chance +against Binworth College, of hitherto invincible reputation. The match +would not take place for a fortnight, which gave extra time for +practice. In cricket, Betty Carlisle had come to the front at bowling, +while Maggie Allesley and Irene Swinburne were heroines of the bat. It +is inevitable that some girls should overtop the rest, but Winona would +not on that account allow the others to slack. She knew the importance +of a high general average of play, and urged on several laggers. She +thoroughly realized the importance of fielding, and made her eleven +concentrate their minds upon it.</p> + +<p>"We lost Tamley on fielding," she affirmed, "and if we've any intention +of beating Binworth, we've just got to practice catching and throwing +in."</p> + +<p>Of the two matches in which the school had so far taken part, the first, +with Baddeley High School, had been a draw, and in the second, with +Tamley, they had been beaten. It was not an encouraging record, and +Winona felt that for the credit of the school it was absolutely +necessary to vanquish Binworth. Its team had a fairly good reputation, +so it would be no easy task, but after the hockey successes of last +winter she did not despair. Apart from school she had a very pleasant +time. Nearly every evening after supper Aunt Harriet would suggest a +short run in the car before sunset. She generally allowed her niece to +take the wheel as soon as they were clear of the town traffic, and +Winona soon became quite expert at driving. She liked to feel the little +car answering to her guidance; there<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[Pg 253]</a></span> was a thrill in rounding corners +and steering past carts, and every time she went out she gained fresh +confidence. She was not at all nervous, and kept her head admirably in +several small emergencies, managing so well that Aunt Harriet finally +allowed her to bring the car back down the High Street, which, as it was +the most crowded portion of the town, was considered the motorist's +ordeal in Seaton. She acquitted herself with great credit, passed a +tramcar successfully, and understood the signals of the policeman who +waved his hand at the corner. Aunt Harriet had taken out a driver's +license for her, so having proved her skill in the High Street, she now +felt quite a full-fledged lady chauffeur.</p> + +<p>Winona immensely enjoyed these evening runs when the sky was aflame with +sunset, and the trees were quiet dark masses of color, and the long road +stretched out before her, pink from the glow above, and the lacey +hemlocks and meadowsweets made a soft blurred border below the +hedgerows. With an open road in front of her she was tempted sometimes +to put on speed, and felt as if she were flying onwards into a dream +country where all was vague and mysterious and shadowy and unknown. She +was always loth to return, but Aunt Harriet was extremely particular +that they must be home before lighting-up time, and would point +remorselessly to the small clock that hung facing the seat. Perhaps +Winona's greatest triumph was when, one evening, she managed without any +assistance to run the car into its own shed in the garage, a delicate +little piece of steering which required fine calculation, a quick<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[Pg 254]</a></span> hand, +and a rapid turn. She was learning something of the mechanism, too, +could refill the petrol tank, and was almost anxious for a tire to +burst, so that she might have the opportunity of putting on the Stepney +wheel, though this latter ambition was not shared by her aunt.</p> + +<p>"When all the men have gone to the war, I'll be able to drive a taxi or +a war van, and make myself useful to the Government! I believe I could +clean the car perfectly well if Sam should be called up, and has to +leave the garage. I'd just enjoy turning the hose on it. What would they +give me a week to take Sam's place here?"</p> + +<p>"They'd give you a snubbing if you asked them!" laughed Aunt Harriet. +"Cleaning a car is uncommonly hard work. You might manage our small one, +but by the time you'd done the whole round of the garage, you'd be ready +to declare it wasn't a woman's job."</p> + +<p>"I'd chance it!" retorted Winona.</p> + +<p>She had her opportunity after all, for the garage attendant was taken +ill, and remained off duty for several days. On the Saturday morning +Winona set to work and cleaned, polished and oiled the car thoroughly. +It was very dirty after a muddy day's use, so she had her full +experience. It was certainly far harder than she had anticipated, and +she felt devoutly thankful that she was not bound to attack the cars in +the other sheds, and perform similar services for each.</p> + +<p>"Sam earns his money," she assured Aunt Harriet, when she returned at +lunch-time. "On the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[Pg 255]</a></span> whole, I've decided I won't be a lady chauffeur. +It's bad enough to have to clean one's bicycle, but if I had to go +through this car performance every day, I don't think there'd be very +much left of me."</p> + +<p>"Ah! I told you so!" returned, Aunt Harriet triumphantly.</p> + +<p>Motoring was not the only fresh form of activity which Winona had taken +up this summer. The school had organized swimming classes, and on +certain clean-water days detachments of girls were conducted to the +public baths. Owing to her college entrance examinations, Winona had not +been able to attend the full course, but she had learnt to swim last +summer at the baths, and was as enthusiastic as anybody. Miss Medland, +the teacher, was an expert from Dunningham; she was skillful herself, +and clever at training her pupils. The girls soon gained confidence in +the water, and began to be able to perform what they called "mermaid +high jinks."</p> + +<p>The Public Baths at Seaton were most remarkably good, so good indeed +that many of the citizens had raised a protest against the Corporation +for spending so much money upon them. The High School girls, who had not +to pay the rates, did not sympathize with the grumbles of ratepayers, +and rejoiced exceedingly in the sumptuous accommodation. They specially +appreciated the comfort of the dressing-rooms, and the convenience of +the hot-air apparatus for drying their hair. The restaurant, where tea +or bovril could be had, was also a luxury for those who were apt to turn +shivery after coming from the water.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[Pg 256]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I can understand why the Romans were so enthusiastic about their public +baths," said Audrey Redfern. "Just think of having little trays of +eatables floating about on the water, so that you could have a snack +whenever you wanted, and slaves to bring you delicious scent afterwards, +and garlands of flowers. I wish I'd lived some time <span class="smcap">b.c.</span> +instead of in the twentieth century!"</p> + +<p>"Be thankful you didn't live in the twelfth, for then you mightn't have +had a bath at all!" returned Winona; "certainly not a public one, and +probably not the private one either. An occasional canful of water would +have been thought quite sufficient for you, with perhaps a dip in a +stream if you could get it. The people who bathed were mostly pilgrims +at Holy Wells, and they all used the same water, no matter what their +diseases were."</p> + +<p>"How disgusting! Well, on the whole I'm tolerably satisfied to belong to +the poor old twentieth century. It might be better, but it might be +worse."</p> + +<p>"How kind of you! I'm sure posterity will be grateful for your +approval."</p> + +<p>"D'you want me to push you into the water, Winona Woodward? I will, in +half a second!"</p> + +<p>At the end of the course it was arranged that a swimming contest should +take place among the girls, and that various prizes should be offered +for championships. It was the first event of the kind in the annals of +the school, so naturally it aroused much enthusiasm. About thirty +candidates were selected by Miss Medland as eligible for competitions, +the rest of her pupils having to content themselves with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[Pg 257]</a></span> looking on. A +special afternoon was given up to the display, and invitations were sent +out to parents to come and help to swell the audience.</p> + +<p>"Are you in for the mermaidens' fête?" Winona asked Marjorie Kemp.</p> + +<p>"Mermaidens' fête, indeed! How romantic we are all of a sudden! The frog +fight, I should call it."</p> + +<p>"There speaks the voice of envy! You're evidently out of it."</p> + +<p>"Don't want to be in it, thanks! It'll be wretched work shivering round +the edge of the bath for a solid hour!"</p> + +<p>"Sour grapes, my child!" teased Winona.</p> + +<p>"Go on, my good girl—if you want to make me raggy, you just shan't +succeed, that's all!"</p> + +<p>"Now I <i>should</i> like to have been chosen!" mourned Evelyn Richards. "I +don't mind confessing that I've had a disappointment. I thought I could +swim quite as well as Freda, and it's grizzly hard luck that she was +picked out and I wasn't. Rank favoritism, I call it!"</p> + +<p>"Poor old Eve! Look here, I'll tell you a secret. You head the reserve +list. I know because I saw it. If anybody has a cold on the day of the +event, you'll take her place."</p> + +<p>"You mascot! Shall I? Oh! I do hope somebody'll catch cold—not badly, +but just enough to make it unsafe to go into the water. You can't think +how I want to try my luck. I don't suppose I've a chance of a prize, but +if I did get one, why I'd cock-a-doodle-do the school down!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[Pg 258]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I'm quite sure you would! Trust you to blow your own trumpet!"</p> + +<p>"Winona Woodward, if you'd been properly and thoroughly spanked in your +babyhood, you'd be a much more civil person now. I decline your company. +Ta-ta!"</p> + +<p>"Poor old Eve! Take it sporting!" said Winona soothingly.</p> + +<p>On the afternoon of the great event, the ladies' large bath was +specially reserved for the school. A goodly crowd of spectators filled +almost to overflowing the galleries that ran round the hall; interested +fathers and mothers, sympathetic aunts, and a sprinkling of cousins and +friends made up the visitors' list, and the rest of the space was +crammed with school girls. Each likely champion had her own set of +supporters, who murmured her name as a kind of war cry, and were only +restrained from shouting it at the pitch of their lungs by the sight of +Miss Bishop, who stood below, talking to Miss Medland and the judge. The +enthusiasm went perhaps more by favor than by actual prowess, and could +hardly be taken as an augury of success, for Barbara Jones, who was +popular, received much more encouragement than Olga Dickinson, who had +distanced her every time at the practices. Juniors will be juniors, +however, and the fourth and third forms stamped solidly for Barbara, +ignoring the superior claims of her rival.</p> + +<p>The bath, with its blue and white tiles, looked tempting. All the school +envied the candidates as they came marching in in their costumes.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[Pg 259]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Evelyn's got a place after all!" said Garnet, who was among the +spectators, to Gladys Cooper, who sat next to her. "Some one else must +be off, then. Who is it? Freda Long? Poor old Freda! Got toothache? It's +hard luck on her! There's Winona. I don't believe she'll win, but I'll +cheer her! Rather!"</p> + +<p>Winona also did not think it likely that she would win. She had only had +time for half the lessons, which put her at a serious disadvantage with +girls who had taken the full course. It was unsporting, however, to go +in confident of defeat, so she meant to do her best.</p> + +<p>The first event was the Upper School Championship for the fastest +swimmer. The candidates stood ready at the edge of the bath, then at the +given signal they flung themselves into the water, and started. At first +they were fairly even, but after a dozen yards or so several shot ahead. +The irrepressible juniors lost all control in their excitement, and +cheered on each as she appeared to be gaining.</p> + +<p>"Audrey Redfern!"</p> + +<p>"No, no! Jess Gardner!"</p> + +<p>"Winona Woodward!"</p> + +<p>"Elsie Parton's passed her!"</p> + +<p>"No, no! Winona's making up!"</p> + +<p>"She'll never do it, though!"</p> + +<p>"It's a draw!"</p> + +<p>As a matter of fact Winona and Elsie Parton touched the winning tape at +the very identical moment. It was a great surprise for both of them. +Winona had expected Jess or Audrey to be first,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[Pg 260]</a></span> and never thought of +Elsie as a possible champion. Elsie was in <span class="smcap">V.b.</span> and had not +been very long at the school. No one had taken much notice of her up to +now, and the girls were rather staggered at her success. They did not +even clap her as she climbed up from the bath. The judge wrote down the +result, and called the next event. This was the Lower School +Championship, and the juniors were soon screaming for Barbara Jones and +Daisy James. The latter had it by a length, and walked away smiling, to +be wrapped up in a towel by Miss Lever, for she was a chilly little +creature, and apt to be taken with fits of shivers if she stood long out +of the water.</p> + +<p>Diving followed, both from the edge of the bath and from the diving +board. In the Senior division Audrey and Jess secured the highest +scores, neither Winona nor Elsie coming near them. Winona was not really +very fond of diving, while Elsie staked her all upon extreme speed. The +Juniors did almost better than their elders, Olga Dickinson's +achievement quite carrying the enthusiasm of the hall.</p> + +<p>The next competition was for style. The candidates swam first on their +sides, then on their backs, and finally on their backs moving their legs +only, their arms being placed on their hips. The judge put down marks +for each according to what she considered their deserts; until the list +should be made up, nobody knew who, in her expert opinion, had done the +best.</p> + +<p>It was now the turn of the Midnight Race, a most important event, to +which the spectators were look<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[Pg 261]</a></span>ing forward keenly. Only the best +swimmers were allowed to take part, the other candidates had to content +themselves with watching. The selected ten retired to the dressing-room, +and in a few moments emerged, each clad in a long white nightdress, and +holding a candlestick with a lighted candle in her hand. A roar of +applause rose from the gallery as the white-robed figures formed into +line. Every girl placed her candlestick on the edge of the bath, and +getting into the water, held on to the rail at attention. When the judge +gave the signal, each seized her candlestick and commenced to swim on +her back to the other side of the bath, holding up the candle in her +left hand. It was a feat that required steadiness and skill. Evelyn +Richards tried to hurry too fast, and the draft caused by her over-quick +passage blew out her flame. Mollie Hill caught her foot in her +nightdress, and dropped her candle altogether. Jess Gardner pursued the +original method of holding her candlestick in her teeth, and using both +arms to swim. There was keen excitement as the candidates cautiously +worked their way across. Each was required to place her candle for a +second on the edge of the bath, and then to swim back to the original +starting point. Only five competitors were in the running for the return +journey—Winona, Audrey Redfern, Elsie Parton, Dora Lloyd (a Fourth Form +girl), and little Olga Dickinson. The temptation to swim too fast was +overwhelming, and Audrey fell a victim to it, her flame going out just +in the middle of the bath. Olga Dickinson actually reached the starting +point the first, but<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[Pg 262]</a></span> Winona and Elsie Parton were only a second behind +her, placing their candlesticks down at the very same moment.</p> + +<p>"I wonder how the score's going?" said Winona, as the Seniors stood +watching the Junior Handicap Race.</p> + +<p>"I've no idea," returned Audrey. "You see we don't know what marks Miss +Gatehead has given for style, and several other things. She doesn't +judge exactly like Miss Medland does. It's a pity Freda Long's out of +it."</p> + +<p>"What happened to Freda?"</p> + +<p>"Got toothache. Can't you see her sitting up there in the gallery, +holding her cheek? She's looking at you!"</p> + +<p>"Poor old Freda! Beastly hard luck!" murmured Winona, waving a +sympathetic greeting to her friend.</p> + +<p>The Midnight Race had been intensely interesting, but the Obstacle Race +proved an even greater excitement. Two thin planks of wood were placed +across the bath, floating upon the water. The competitors started from +the deep end, dived under the first plank, and then scrambled over the +second. At the shallow end were a number of large round wash-tubs; each +candidate had to seize upon one of these and seat herself in it, a most +difficult feat of fine balancing, for unless she hit upon the exact +center of gravity, the tub promptly overturned, and flung her into the +water. It was a most mirth-provoking competition, candidates and +spectators bursting into shouts of laughter as one after another<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[Pg 263]</a></span> the +girls gingerly climbed into their tubs, and toppled over into the bath. +Those who managed at last to preserve their equilibrium were given +paddles, and had to navigate themselves to the nearest plank, where they +invariably fell out, and were rescued and towed back by attendant nymphs +told off for the purpose. Nobody succeeded in paddling to the plank and +back again, and the competition resolved itself into a series of +splashes, squeals and bursts of mirth. Even stately Miss Bishop was +laughing heartily, and the girls in the gallery were in a state +bordering on hysteria.</p> + +<p>At last Miss Gatehead called order, and the dripping candidates retired +from their water carnival to await the judging. The scores were rapidly +added up, and the result was announced.</p> + +<p>"Winona Woodward and Elsie Parton equal. They will therefore swim the +length of the bath to decide the championship."</p> + +<p>Planks and tubs were hastily cleared away from the field of action, and +the rival candidates started on their final contest. The sympathies of +the gallery went strongly with Winona; the girls wanted their Games +Captain to win, and they cheered her vigorously. But Winona was tired, +Elsie Parton was lithe and active, and had made fast swimming her +specialty. Winona did her sporting best, but by the middle of the bath +Elsie had distanced her, and reached the winning post a whole length +ahead.</p> + +<p>There was dead silence from the girls in the gallery. Their Captain had +failed, and they did not mean to applaud her opponent. Winona, looking<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[Pg 264]</a></span> +upwards, saw the popular feeling in their faces. All her generous spirit +rose in revolt. She was standing close to Miss Bishop, Miss Gatehead and +Miss Medland, and therefore it was certainly a breach of school +etiquette for her to do what she did, but acting on the impulse of the +moment she shouted: "Cheer, you slackers! Three cheers for Elsie +Parton!" and waving her hand as a signal, led off the "Hip-hip-hip +hurrah!" A very volume of sound followed, and the roof rang as Miss +Bishop presented the winner with the cup for the Championship.</p> + +<p>"Thanks <i>awfully</i>, Winona!" said Elsie, as the girls walked away to the +dressing-rooms. "I'm afraid I've disappointed the school—but I did want +to win!"</p> + +<p>"Of course you did—and why shouldn't you? I hope I can take a beating +in a sporting way! I think I made them ashamed of themselves. Fair play +and no favoritism is the tradition of this school, and I mean to have no +nasty cliquey feeling in it so long as I'm Games Captain, or my name's +not Winona Woodward! That's the law of the Medes and Persians!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[Pg 265]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XX" id="CHAPTER_XX"></a>CHAPTER XX</h2> + +<h3>The Red Cross Hospital</h3> + + +<p>Winona received constant letters from Percy in the trenches "somewhere +in France," all, of course, carefully censored. They had arranged a +cryptogram before he left England, however, and by its aid he was able +to tell her the name of the place near which he was fighting. It was a +tremendous excitement for her when his letters arrived to fetch her key +to the cryptogram and reckon out the magic little word that let her know +his whereabouts. She would find the spot on the big war-map that hung in +the dining-room and would mark it with a miniature flag, feeling in +closer touch with him now she knew exactly where he was located. She +kept a special album in which she placed photos of him in khaki, all his +letters and postcards, and any newspaper cuttings that concerned his +regiment. The book was already half full; she looked it over almost +daily, and kept it as, at present, her greatest treasure.</p> + +<p>She sent parcels regularly to Percy. Campaigning had not destroyed his +boyish love for sweetstuff, and he welcomed cakes, toffee and chocolate. +"I share it with the other chaps," he wrote, "and they give you a vote +of thanks every time. You wouldn't believe what larks we have in our +dug-out!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[Pg 266]</a></span></p> + +<p>Percy's letters were in his old gay style, but every now and then Winona +noticed a more serious vein running through them. He had sad news to +tell sometimes. Two of his special chums were killed in action, the +young doctor was shot while attending to the wounded, and their chaplain +had been injured. "We never know when our turn will come," he finished, +and Winona shivered as she kissed the letter and put it away.</p> + +<p>She looked up sometimes at the calm clear globe of the full moon and +thought how it was shining down alike on the far-away trenches of France +and the great Minster towers of Seaton. How many battles had it seen in +the earth's history, and how many still forms lying stiff and straight +under its pale beams? Men fought and died, and the moon and the stars +passed on their way, uncaring—but God cared, and at the back of it all +His Hand was guiding the world, and even from seeming chaos would bring +good out of evil at His own time. "God bless Percy, and bring him safe +home!" prayed Winona passionately, but she felt in her heart of hearts +that if the Great Captain called him, she could bend her head in the +knowledge that He knew best.</p> + +<p>With the hot July weather Aunt Harriet's health flagged. She seemed +suddenly to have grown much older. The erect figure stooped a little, +her high color had faded and her voice lost some of its energy and +determination. She was not able to fulfill all her former public duties, +and she fretted greatly at the enforced inaction. She was one of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[Pg 267]</a></span> those +characters who would rather wear out than rust out, and it required the +utmost firmness on the part of her doctor to persuade her from +over-exerting herself. Instead of being in a continual whirl of crèche +committee meetings, workhouse inspections, and crèche management, she +now spent long quiet afternoons in the shaded drawing-room learning that +(to her) hardest of all lessons, how to rest! Winona, busy with the last +exciting weeks of the school term, was too occupied to give much thought +to her aunt, but could not help remarking that the latter's spirits had +failed lately. Miss Beach was far gentler than of yore. She did not snap +her niece up so suddenly, or give vent to excited tirades about subjects +which irritated her. Sometimes she even looked at Winona with a +wistfulness that the girl noticed. It puzzled her, for it was the same +half-appealing glance that her mother often cast at her. She was +accustomed to shoulder her mother's burdens, and loved her all the more +for her helplessness and dependence. But Aunt Harriet, so strong and +determined and capable, the oracle of the family, and the very epitome +of all the cardinal virtues, surely <i>she</i> could not want any one to lean +upon? The idea was unthinkable. Yet again and again it returned to her, +and the consciousness of it stirred new chords.</p> + +<p>One evening Winona came rather softly into the drawing-room. Her aunt, +sitting by the window in the gathering twilight, did not hear her enter. +Miss Beach was reading, and the last little gleam of the sunset fell on +her gray hair. How worn she looked,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[Pg 268]</a></span> Winona thought. It had never struck +her so forcibly before. Was that a tear shining on her cheek? Miss Beach +rose slowly, put down her book, took her handkerchief from her bag and +deliberately wiped her eyes; then, still unconscious of her niece's +presence, she went out through the French window into the garden.</p> + +<p>Winona walked across the room, hesitated for a moment but did not +venture to follow her. Almost automatically she took up the book which +Aunt Harriet had been reading. It was a little volume of extracts, and +one had been marked with a penciled cross:—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Put your arms around me—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">There, like that:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I want a little petting<br /></span> +<span class="i0">At life's setting,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For 'tis harder to be brave<br /></span> +<span class="i0">When feeble age comes creeping,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And finds me weeping,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Dear ones gone.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Just a little petting<br /></span> +<span class="i0">At life's setting:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For I'm old, alone and tired,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And my long life's work is done."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The tears rushed to Winona's eyes. Did Aunt Harriet really feel like +that? Oh, why could she not go and comfort her? She turned impulsively +into the garden. The slow steps were coming back up the paved walk. She +would have given worlds to walk up to her aunt and fling her arms round +her, but the old sense of shyness and reserve held her<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[Pg 269]</a></span> back. Miss Beach +was passing along the border, her dress brushing the flowers as she went +by. It would surely be easy to join her, and at least to take her arm! +Easy? No! She had never done such a thing in her life with her aunt. A +peck of a kiss was the only mark of affection that they had hitherto +exchanged. Winona looked and longed to express her sympathy, but the +invisible barrier seemed strong as ever. Aunt Harriet turned aside and +went towards the kitchen. The opportunity was lost.</p> + +<p>"How horribly we live right inside ourselves!" thought Winona. "How few +people know just what we're feeling and thinking, and how hard it is to +let them know! The 'I' at the back of me is so different from the +outside of me! When I want to say things I turn stupid and my tongue +stops. I suppose most other people feel really the same, and we all live +in our own little world and only touch one another now and then. Human +speech is such a poor medium. Will it be dropped in the next life, and +shall we talk with our hearts?"</p> + +<p>It was on the very morning after this that Winona received an agitated +letter from home. Her mother had bad news. Percy had been wounded, and +was in the Red Cross Hospital at Prestwick. Mrs. Woodward wrote +hurriedly, for she was on the point of starting off to see him, but she +promised to send a bulletin directly after her visit. Winona spent a +horrible day. Percy was never for a moment out of her thoughts. The +insufficiency of the information made it harder to bear. She did not +know<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[Pg 270]</a></span> whether the wound was slight or dangerous, and her fears whispered +the worst. The next report, however, was more reassuring. Percy had had +an operation and the doctors hoped that with care he ought to do well. A +daily bulletin would be sent to his mother, and she promised to forward +it punctually to Abbey Close.</p> + +<p>"But I shan't get it till the day afterwards!" exclaimed Winona +tragically. "Oh, how I wish he were at the Red Cross Hospital here +instead of at Prestwick! If I could only see him!"</p> + +<p>"Cheer up! Things might be worse!" remarked her aunt briefly.</p> + +<p>Miss Beach said no more at the moment, but at supper time she announced:</p> + +<p>"We shall have to breakfast early to-morrow morning, Winona. You and I +are going to Prestwick for the day. I've asked Miss Bishop to let you +off."</p> + +<p>"To Prestwick?" gasped Winona. "To the Red Cross Hospital? Oh, Aunt +Harriet, do you suppose they'll let us see Percy?"</p> + +<p>"It's visitors' day, for I telegraphed to inquire. I wasn't going on a +wild-goose chase, I assure you. I know the red tape of hospitals only +too well. We may see him between two-thirty and four o'clock. It's a +long journey, of course, and the trains are awkward from Seaton, but we +can be back by nine."</p> + +<p>"Oh, thank you! Thank you!" said Winona, with shining eyes.</p> + +<p>She lay awake for hours that night thinking of to-morrow's expedition. +Her brain seemed turning<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[Pg 271]</a></span> round and round in a whirl. To see Percy and +assure herself that he was alive, and likely to recover! Oh, it was +worth traveling to the North Pole! When at last she slept her dreams +were a confusion of agonized escapes from Zeppelins, or rushing from +trenches pursued by Germans. She was glad to wake, even though it was +much too early yet to get up. The sun was only just rising behind the +Minster towers. Never mind! It was morning, and to-day, actually to-day, +she would see Percy!</p> + +<p>By nine o'clock Miss Beach and Winona were speeding along in the express +for Dunningham. Here they changed, and began a slow and tiresome +cross-country journey, with a couple of hours to wait at an +uninteresting junction.</p> + +<p>"We shall get back a little quicker than we came," Aunt Harriet +explained, "because we can take advantage of the boat express, which +will save us an hour and a half. It's most wearisome to jog along in +these local trains, stopping at every tiny little station."</p> + +<p>"One longs to be in the car," said Winona.</p> + +<p>"We might have gone in the car if it had been within reasonable +distance. We couldn't possibly have motored to Prestwick and back in a +day, though! Trains may be hot and stuffy, but they get one over the +ground."</p> + +<p>It was nearly two o'clock before they reached their destination. They +had just time for a hasty lunch at a restaurant, and then Aunt Harriet +hailed a taxi and they drove to the hospital. This was a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[Pg 272]</a></span> large, fine +house in the suburbs, given up by its patriotic owner to the use of the +Red Cross. As they turned in at the gate they could see an attractive +garden, where groups of Tommies in their blue invalid uniforms were +lounging in deck chairs, or lying full length on rugs spread upon the +grass. An orderly showed them to the office, where Miss Beach had a +brief interview with the Commandant, and they were then escorted by a +V.A.D. nurse to the Queen Mary Ward.</p> + +<p>Winona had not been in a hospital before, so all was new to her—the +large airy room with its polished floor and wide-open windows, the rows +of beds, each with its little cupboard by the side, the table full of +flowers in the center, the nurses in their neat Red Cross uniforms. She +had no time, however, for more than a hurried glance round; her eyes +were busy searching for the one particular bed that was the object of +their journey.</p> + +<p>"Private Woodward is in Number eleven," said the V.A.D., motioning them +to the right-hand side of the room.</p> + +<p>Percy lay on his back with a cradle over his injured leg. His face was +very white and thin, and greatly changed. The old boyish expression had +vanished, there were firm lines round the mouth and a resolute look in +the eyes, which had not been there before. A few months in the trenches, +and a baptism of fire, had transformed the careless, happy-go-lucky lad +into a man. Tears glistened in Winona's eyes as she bent down to kiss +him. It was hard to see her active brother lying helpless and +suffering.</p> + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[Pg 273]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Oh, I'm better now," he replied in answer to her inquiries. "I don't +have pain all the time. I was pretty bad after the meds. had been doing +their carving. I can tell you I welcomed the morphia! But I don't need +it so often now, and my leg's going on splendidly. It'll be a first-rate +job when it's finished. Old Jackson promises to have me out of bed on +crutches before so long!"</p> + +<p>"Crutches!" gasped Winona, in alarm.</p> + +<p>"Why, just at first, of course!"</p> + +<p>"We hope he won't need to use them for long," said Aunt Harriet. "The +Commandant tells me they're very proud of your case at the hospital, +Percy! They flatter themselves they've saved your leg where some +surgeons would have amputated. You seem very comfortable here. It's a +nice ward."</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes, they're angelic to me. I'm a spoilt child, I can tell you. I +was lucky to get into a 'Red Cross.' They're stuffing us here all day, +and those chaps that can go about are having the time of their +lives—motor drives, tea parties, concerts, and all the rest of it! The +Prestwick people regularly fête them. One of our V.A.D.'s here has asked +a dozen of us out to tea at her own home to-morrow. I wish I could go! +It's the nurse who showed you in. She's ripping."</p> + +<p>"I've always heard 'V.A.D.' stands for 'Very Attractive Damsel,'" +laughed Winona.</p> + +<p>"Don't lose your heart before you're twenty-one, Percy!" said Aunt +Harriet, smiling quite indulgently. "You've two and a half years left +yet!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[Pg 274]</a></span></p> + +<p>"When a chap's in the Army his age doesn't count!" declared Percy with +dignity.</p> + +<p>Most of the beds in the ward were empty at present, their owners being +outside in the garden. Only four were occupied. Each of these Tommies +had his own little group of visitors, and was too busy talking to them +to take much notice of anybody else. Miss Beach spent a short time at +Percy's bedside, then, thinking that the brother and sister would like +to be left alone together she expressed her intention of looking over +the hospital, and went to find a V.A.D. to show her round.</p> + +<p>"It was ever so decent of Aunt Harriet to bring you, Tiddleywinks!" said +Percy. "The mater said I mustn't expect you to come!"</p> + +<p>"Aunt Harriet's a trump when you know her!"</p> + +<p>"You used to call her a dragon."</p> + +<p>"I don't now."</p> + +<p>"Look here! I often wish I hadn't burnt that paper of hers. You know +what I mean! I've kept thinking about it while I've been lying here. It +was a blighter's trick to do, when she was paying my school fees. She +ought to be told about it! I feel that now. You haven't breathed +anything, have you?"</p> + +<p>"Not a word! I promised, you remember."</p> + +<p>"You can keep a secret, Win. I'll say that for you! Somehow I feel as if +I want to make a clean breast of it. Aunt Harriet's done a lot for our +family. I'd tell her now, only very likely when she comes back a nurse +will be with her. It's just tea-time."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[Pg 275]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Could you write to her?"</p> + +<p>"A ripping idea! I never thought of that. I'll write to-morrow. I'll be +glad to get it off my mind. Somehow, when one's been through all this, +one feels quite differently about things."</p> + +<p>The entrance of tea trays interrupted the conversation. Miss Beach +returned in company with a nurse, and reminded her niece that if they +wished to catch their train home they must be starting at once. It was +hard to say good-by, but Winona went away infinitely comforted. Dearly +as she had always loved the old Percy, she felt the new one whom she had +met to-day had the makings of a stronger and finer character than she +had ever dared to hope.</p> + +<p>"The Commandant gives an excellent report of him," said Miss Beach as +they drove away. "I asked her particularly if there were any likelihood +of his remaining lame, but she says not. The surgeon declares he'll have +him back in the trenches in the autumn."</p> + +<p>"How glorious! Percy's just wild to go back. I believe he'll do +something splendid, and get a commission, or perhaps win the Victoria +Cross!"</p> + +<p>Winona's face shone. She had been proud of Percy to-day.</p> + +<p>The long journey home to Seaton was very tedious, though not quite so +trying as the morning one, for they were able to catch the boat express +to Lapton and have tea on the train. At Lapton Junction, however, they +were obliged to change to a local line, and jog along at the rate of +about thirty miles an hour in a particularly dusty compartment. It had<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[Pg 276]</a></span> +been a hard day for Miss Beach. She looked very weary as she leaned back +in her corner, so overdone indeed that Winona was afraid she was going +to have one of her heart attacks. The threatened trouble passed, +however, and as the evening grew cooler she seemed to revive. The trains +were late, so it was nearly ten o'clock before they at last reached +home.</p> + +<p>"'Mighty pleased with our day's outing,' to quote Mr. Pepys," said Aunt +Harriet. "It was worth going!"</p> + +<p>"If it hasn't tired you too much!" Winona ventured to add.</p> + +<p>On the following Sunday morning Miss Beach received a letter from Percy. +She made no comment upon it at the time, but in the evening, after +church, when she and Winona were walking in the garden in the twilight, +she referred to it.</p> + +<p>"I'm deeply touched by Percy's letter," she remarked. "I did not think +the boy had such nice feeling in him. You understand, of course, what he +has written to me about?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, Aunt Harriet, has he told you?" burst out Winona. "Oh, I'm so very, +very glad! I've been longing and yearning to tell you all these years, +only I couldn't, because I'd promised—and—oh, I must tell you now—I +asked you about your will—and you thought I was horrid and +scheming—but it wasn't that at all—it was that I thought you ought to +know the will wasn't there, and hoped that perhaps you'd look! Oh, +please believe me that I didn't mean to hint that you should leave +anything to me! I don't<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[Pg 277]</a></span> want anything! You've been so good to me! I owe +you a thousand times more than I can ever pay back. I've always wanted +to make you understand this, but somehow I couldn't. Thank you, thank +you, thank you for all you've done for me! I shall be better all my life +for having lived with you and known you. I'm a different person since I +came to Seaton, and I owe it entirely to you!"</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 384px;"> +<img src="images/gs05.png" width="384" height="600" +alt=""THE BARRIER WAS DOWN AT LAST"" +title=""THE BARRIER WAS DOWN AT LAST"" /> +<span class="caption">"THE BARRIER WAS DOWN AT LAST"</span> +</div> + +<p>The barrier was down at last. For once Winona spoke straight from her +heart. Miss Beach took off her pince-nez, wiped them, and put them in +their case. Her hand was trembling.</p> + +<p>"I wish I had known this before, child!" she said, with a break in her +voice. "Here for nearly two years I have been thinking hard things of +you, and imagining that you were plotting and scheming to get my money. +You hurt me beyond expression when you asked if I had made my will. As a +matter of fact the document is safe at my lawyer's. The paper which +Percy destroyed was only a rough draft. I had forgotten its existence."</p> + +<p>"But you do believe me?" urged Winona. "You know I had none of those +horrible plans? Oh, dear Aunt Harriet, money is nothing, nothing! It is +you yourself I love, if you'll only let me!"</p> + +<p>And in the dusk of the garden, Winona, for the first time in her life, +flung her warm young arms round her aunt and hugged her heartily.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[Pg 278]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXI" id="CHAPTER_XXI"></a>CHAPTER XXI</h2> + +<h3>The End of the Term</h3> + + +<p>"Look here, my hearties!" said Winona to the cricket team. "Do you +realize that Seaton <i>versus</i> Binworth is on Wednesday week? If you +don't, it's time you did, and you'd better buck up! My opinion of you at +this present moment is that you're a set of loafers! What are you doing +lounging about here, when you ought to be practicing for all you're +worth?"</p> + +<p>The little group sitting on the grass under the lilac bushes smiled +indulgently.</p> + +<p>"Go ahead! Lay it on thick!" twittered Betty Carlisle. "We knew when you +hove into sight that we might expect some jaw-wag!"</p> + +<p>"It's all very fine to sermonize," yawned Maggie Allesley, "but you'd +oblige me very much by going indoors and inspecting the thermometer in +the hall."</p> + +<p>"One can't tear about in this heat!" added Irene Swinburne.</p> + +<p>"What a set of dainty Sybarites you are! No one would ever win matches +if they waited for the right kind of day to practice. It's always too +hot or too cold or too wet, or too something!"</p> + +<p>"Well, to-day it's decidedly too something! Don't roast us!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[Pg 279]</a></span></p> + +<p>"But I shall roast you! D'you mean to let Binworth have a complete +walk-over? I'll tell you what—if you can't or won't play during the +heat, will you all come back to school for an hour every evening, and +practice then? I'd square it up with Miss Bishop. I'm sure she wouldn't +mind."</p> + +<p>"There's sense in your remarks now," admitted Irene, sitting up. "I'm +game, if others are!"</p> + +<p>"And so's this child!" agreed Betty Carlise. "I can put the screw on +Cassie and Nell, and bring them along any evening."</p> + +<p>"Then mind you do! I'm going to take an oath of the whole team to meet +here at seven each night. I shall write it down on a piece of paper, and +make you all put your names to it, like signing the pledge."</p> + +<p>"Right you are, O She-who-must-be-obeyed!"</p> + +<p>"Your humble servants, Ma'am!"</p> + +<p>Their Captain's suggestion of an evening cricket practice was welcomed +by the team, and approved by Miss Bishop. It was delightfully cool at +seven o'clock; the girls, instead of being languid and half-hearted, +were energetic and enthusiastic, and their play became a different +matter altogether. Winona, who had been decidedly down about the +prospects of the match, began to feel more confidence. Betty's bowling +was improving daily, and Irene, who had been given to blind swiping, was +gaining discretion. If they would continue to make progress at the same +rate, Seaton would have a chance.</p> + +<p>"It would be too bad if we lost the last match of the season!" fluttered +Winona. "While I'm your captain I want to break the record."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[Pg 280]</a></span></p> + +<p>"All right, old girl! It shall be a kind of Charge of the Light Brigade. +'Theirs but to do or die!' It will probably be a broiling hot day, but +we'll play till we drop!" Betty assured her.</p> + +<p>"Only have the Ambulance Corps ready with fans and stretchers to revive +us and bear us from the field!" added Irene, giggling.</p> + +<p>"I'll see there's lemonade for you!"</p> + +<p>Though to Winona, as Games Captain, "Seaton <i>v.</i> Binworth" seemed the +one event worth living for, there were plenty of other interests going +on in the school. Linda Fletcher, the head girl, was arranging a program +for the Parents' Afternoon, the efficient performance of which was, in +her eyes, of infinitely greater public importance than the cricket +match. She also required numerous rehearsals, and the conflicting claims +on the girls' time became so confusing that after one or two struggles +between rival "whips," who contended hotly for possession, the chiefs +were obliged to strike a bargain, Winona releasing two members of the +team in order that they might act, and filling up their places from her +reserve, while Linda undertook to leave the rest of the eleven out of +her calculations. After this there was peace, and Violet Agnew and +Averil Walmer, who had been secretly burning to distinguish themselves +in the dramatic line in preference to athletics, could meet Winona with +clear consciences.</p> + +<p>Among other items of the program, Linda had fixed upon a French Pastoral +Play, which was to be acted in the garden among the trees and lilac +bushes. The girls were really supposed to get up the whole<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[Pg 281]</a></span> of the +little entertainment by themselves, but Mademoiselle was kind in this +instance, and helped to coach them. The scene was to be a Fête +Champêtre, and the costumes were to be copied from some of Watteau's +pictures. There were tremendous consultations over them. A dressmaking +Bee was held every afternoon from four to five o'clock in the small +lecture-room, Miss Bishop generously lending her sewing machine for the +purpose. Here a band of willing workers sat and stitched and chattered +and laughed and ate chocolates, while pretty garments grew rapidly under +their fingers. The dresses were only made of cheap materials, and were +hastily put together, but they had a very good effect, for the colors +were gay, and the style, with its panniers and lace frills was charming. +The girls would hardly have managed the cutting out quite unaided, had +not Miss Lever offered her assistance. "Dollikins" had large experience +in the preparation of school theatricals, and possessed many invaluable +paper patterns, so she was given a royal welcome, and installed at the +table with the biggest and sharpest pair of scissors at her disposal.</p> + +<p>On the afternoon fixed for the entertainment quite a goodly audience +assembled to watch and applaud. Mothers were in the majority, with a +fair number of aunts and elder sisters, and just a sprinkling of +fathers. Forms had been carried into the garden and arranged as an +amateur theater, a flat piece of lawn with a background of bushes +serving as stage. The program was to be representative of the whole +school, so the first part was devoted to the perform<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[Pg 282]</a></span>ances of the +Juniors. Twelve small damsels selected from Forms I. and II. gave a +classic dance. They were dressed in Greek costume with sandals, and wore +chaplets of roses round their hair. They had been carefully trained by +Miss Barbour, the drill mistress, and went through their parts with a +joyousness reminiscent of the Golden Age. The Morris Dance which +followed, rendered by members of Forms III. and IV., though hardly so +graceful, was sprightly and in good time, the fantastic dresses with +their bells and ribbons suiting most of their wearers. It was felt that +the Juniors had distinguished themselves, and "Dollikins," who with Miss +Barbour had worked hard on their behalf, felt almost justified in +bragging of their achievements.</p> + +<p>Meantime the Seniors had been making ready, and presently from behind +the bushes tripped forth a charming group of Louis XV. courtiers, +pattering the prettiest of French remarks. Dorrie Pollack as Monsieur le +Duc de Tourville was a model of gallantry in a feathered hat and stiff +ringlets (the result of an agonizing night passed in tight knobby curl +papers!), while Linda, as Madame la Comtesse, quite outdid herself in +the depth of her curtseys, and the distinguished grace with which she +extended her hand for her cavalier to kiss. Nora Wilson tripped over her +sword in her excitement, and Violet Agnew forgot her part, and had to be +prompted by Mademoiselle, who stood with the book behind a bush; but +these were only minor accidents, and on the whole the scene passed off +with flying colors, and greatly impressed the parents and aunts with +the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">[Pg 283]</a></span> high stage of proficiency in the French language attained by the +pupils of Seaton High School.</p> + +<p>Linda was so elated by the success of the afternoon that she sat up long +after she ought to have been in bed that night, writing an account of +the proceedings for the School Magazine. The manuscript, couched in +antique language, was headed:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><br /> +<p style="text-align: center">Ye Seaton Chronicle.</p> + +<p>"Then whereas ye damsels at ye schule had laboured well and +diligently during many days at ye tasks set them by their +reverend elders, it seemed good to those that did govern to +appoint unto them a day to make merry and rejoice. Therefore did +they choose out certain among them, and arraying them in goodly +fashion, did charge them to dance, to instruments of music +before ye face of ye whole assembly of ye damsels, and likewise +of some of their kindred, ye which were gathered together. Then +did ye maids with no small skill tread ye dance, clad in fair +garments with gauds and ornaments of silver upon them, at ye +sight of which their kindred did raise cries of joy, and did +further make great ado with clapping of ye hands. And when ye +little maidens had duly presented their dances before ye +company, then did ye elder damosels give a goodly masque, being +decked forth in brave trappings, and speaking cunningly in ye +tongue of ye fair lande of France, wherein all who heard them +might well understand. And ye kindred and alle they that were +gathered together for to look upon them did in kindness and with +glad hearts commend them, and did of their charity vouchsafe to +say that ye like had not aforetime been witnessed at ye schule, +whereat ye maidens rejoiced greatly, as evenso it seemed unto +them a reward for their diligent labour."</p><br /></div> + +<p>"We shall leave an account of our doings behind us," said Linda to some +of her friends in the Sixth, "for the copies of the School Magazine are +to be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">[Pg 284]</a></span> bound, and kept in the library for ever and a day. Future +generations of girls will at least see our names and our Form photo, if +they don't know anything else about us."</p> + +<p>Winona was living for one event, the match with Binworth. This was not +to take place on the playing grounds of either school, but on a very +superior cricket ground hired for the occasion from a local club. +Winona, as Secretary for Seaton, had made fullest arrangements, +including the presence in the pavilion of a cheery little woman from a +neighboring restaurant, who undertook the purveying of lemonade, ginger +pop, cakes, and any fruit which might be obtainable for the occasion.</p> + +<p>Tickets of admission to the ground were issued and distributed +throughout the school, public opinion deeming attendance almost +compulsory. The team were inspected and criticized beforehand almost as +the Roman gladiators used to be reviewed by their patrons. Winona was on +the whole proud of her eleven. Though not up to the lofty standard at +which she had aimed, she felt that they realized a very respectable +degree of merit.</p> + +<p>The ground lay a few miles out of the city, and was reached as a rule by +tramcar, but as the ordinary service would be utterly unable to cope +with the large numbers who proposed going, special omnibuses and brakes +had been put on for the occasion to accommodate the school, which turned +out almost in full force to witness the show. Binworth also contributed +its quota of spectators, so the stands of the cricket ground were +rapidly filled.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">[Pg 285]</a></span></p> + +<p>Winona had a short preliminary talk with Dora Evans, who commanded the +rival team, and as soon as the clock in the pavilion pointed to 2.30 the +Captains stood out to toss.</p> + +<p>"Heads!" cried Winona. "It's tails! Your choice!"</p> + +<p>"We'll bat, then," decreed Dora.</p> + +<p>Winona placed her field at once, and Dora, after a whispered word or two +to her team, selected her first bats. One was a business-like looking +girl who hummed a tune as she came, with ostentatious carelessness; the +other, stout and dark, blinked her eyes nervously. It was manifestly +impossible to judge their capacities beforehand. Betty Carlisle was to +take the first over. She had a high overhand action, and sent the ball +down the pitch at a good pace. Lottie Moir, the dark-haired damsel who +faced the bowling, was cautious. She played the first ball respectfully +back to the bowler. The next, being of good length, she played quietly +to long-off for one. She was evidently not out to take risks, and the +rest of the over she did not attempt to score. Her partner, Meg Perkins, +was a fairly brilliant, but more reckless player. The first ball she +received came down at a good pace, but well on the off-side of the +wicket. A well-timed cut sent it flying to the short boundary for two. +Perhaps the success turned her head a little. The next ball pitched well +to the leg-side; she made a mighty stroke at it, not allowing for the +break, and missed it altogether. Next moment she was walking ruefully +back to the pavilion.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">[Pg 286]</a></span></p> + +<p>Phyllis Knight, the next bat, was evidently regarded by the Binworth +team as a champion. She was tall, and decidedly athletic looking. Winona +nodded to Irene Swinburne, celebrated for her twisters, and Irene went +on to bowl. Phyllis had a long reach, which she employed successfully in +driving the first ball she received right along the ground into "the +country" for three. Seaton began to look rather glum. The next ball she +stone-walled. Irene was growing desperate. Phyllis was waiting with her +bat slightly raised. "Now if only I can drop the ball just under that +bat, out she goes!" said Irene to herself, and sent the swiftest she +knew how. Phyllis made a slash at it, evidently thinking it a half +volley, but alas! her bails flew, and the Seaton contingent were roaring +"Well bowled!"</p> + +<p>None of the rest of the Binworth team approached to Phyllis' standard, +though they played with caution, and their score mounted up steadily. At +the end of their innings sixty was up on the board.</p> + +<p>The Binworth Captain now arranged her field, and Winona sent in Bessie +Kirk and Irene Swinburne to face the bowling of Meg Perkins at one end, +and Phyllis Knight at the other. At first things did not go over well +for Seaton. Bessie Kirk fell a victim to Meg's crafty slows. She played +too soon at a short-pitched ball, and spooned a catch to mid-on. Irene +at first scored merrily, but growing foolhardy was clean bowled by +Phyllis Knight, to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">[Pg 287]</a></span> her huge discomfiture. Betty Carlisle and Maggie +Allesley met with better luck, and the score began to creep up. The +Seaton girls breathed more freely. Audrey Redfern and Lizzie Morris came +up next. Lizzie broke her duck in the first over, and gaining confidence +began to get her eye in, and with Audrey stone-walling with dogged +persistence at the other end, and now and then making a single, the +score reached fifty-three. There were only ten minutes left. Winona +began to grow desperate. She came forth herself now, with a look of +determination on her face. Dora Evans at once rolled the ball to Lottie +Moir. Winona took her block composedly. Lottie might with advantage have +been put on before. Her style, though by no means swift, was most +awkward to play. Winona in the first over did not attempt to score. She +wished to take the measure of her opponent. In the next over her partner +made a single, which brought Winona to the opposite wicket. The first +ball came well on the off-side, and she sent it flying to the boundary +for four. Fifty-eight was now up on the board, and there were only five +minutes left! Perhaps Lottie Moir was tired, or waxed a little careless. +The next ball she sent down was an easy full pitch. Winona waited till +just the right moment, and then, with a fine swing of her bat, sent the +ball clean over the boundary for six. The match was won, and Seaton, in +the ecstasy of victory, was cheering itself hoarse.</p> + +<p>"I never thought we'd do it!" murmured Winona<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">[Pg 288]</a></span> to Betty, as they drank +ginger pop together in the pavilion.</p> + +<p>"I reckoned our Captain wouldn't fail us!" chuckled Betty delightedly. +"Linda must compose an epic on it for the School Magazine. It beats +Marathon, in my opinion!"</p> + +<p>"Well, I'm glad my last match at the old 'High' has been a success, +anyway!"</p> + +<p>"Seaton <i>versus</i> Binworth" had taken place on Wednesday, and the school +had scarcely finished exulting over its triumph before another matter +claimed its attention.</p> + +<p>On Thursday morning the results of the examination arrived. Miss Bishop +summoned the whole school into the lecture hall to hear the news. She +was looking flushed and excited. She waited a few moments as if to give +extra effect to her words, then announced:</p> + +<p>"I have just received the results of the Entrance Examinations from +Dunningham University. Out of twelve candidates who were entered from +this school, ten have satisfied the examiners. Their names stand as +follows in order of merit:</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">[Pg 289]</a></span><br /></p> + + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary=""> + +<tr><td align='left'></td><td align='left'><b>First Class.</b></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'></td><td align='left'></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'></td><td align='left'></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'></td><td align='left'>Garnet Emerson.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'></td><td align='left'></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'></td><td align='left'><b>Second Class.</b></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'></td><td align='left'></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'></td><td align='left'></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'></td><td align='left'>Linda Fletcher.</td></tr> + +<tr><td align='left'></td><td align='left'>Agatha James.</td></tr> + +<tr><td align='left'></td><td align='left'>Helena Maitland.</td></tr> + +<tr><td align='left'></td><td align='left'>Freda Long.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'></td><td align='left'></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'></td><td align='left'><b>Third Class.</b></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'></td><td align='left'></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'></td><td align='left'></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'></td><td align='left'>Mary Payne.</td></tr> + +<tr><td align='left'></td><td align='left'>Hilda Langley.</td></tr> + +<tr><td align='left'></td><td align='left'>Winona Woodward.</td></tr> + +<tr><td align='left'></td><td align='left'>Dorrie Pollack.</td></tr> + +<tr><td align='left'></td><td align='left'>Estelle Harrison."</td></tr> + +</table><br /></div> + + +<p>Winona heaved an immense sigh of mingled amazement and relief. She had +passed! Actually passed! She—Winona Woodward, whose form record had +never soared above the most modest average. It was an unprecedented and +altogether delightful finale to her school career. For the moment she +could hardly believe that it was true. But Miss Bishop had not finished +her speech; she held up her hand to stop the burst of clapping, and +continued:</p> + +<p>"As you are aware, the Governors of the School offered a three years' +scholarship, tenable at Dunningham University, to whichever of the +candidates should head the list, being not lower than second class. +Garnet Emerson, who has secured a First Class, is therefore, at the +desire of the Governors, awarded the scholarship. Now if you like to +clap for her, you may do so!"</p> + +<p>That Garnet, her dear Garnet, should have won the coveted scholarship, +put the coping-stone on Winona's glee. She squeezed her friend's hand +afterwards in an ecstasy of congratulation. Garnet said little, so +little that her enthusiastic chum was almost disappointed. Winona, +judging by her own feelings, expected her to be at delirium point. +Bea<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">[Pg 290]</a></span>trice Howell and Olave Parry, the two candidates who had failed, +were receiving condolences with chastened resignation, the rest were in +various stages of jubilee.</p> + +<p>That evening, about six o'clock, a small packet was left at Abbey Close, +directed to Miss Winona Woodward. She opened it eagerly. It held a small +jewelers' box containing a beautiful little ring, and was accompanied by +a letter from Garnet.<br /><br /></p> + +<p>"<span class="smcap">Dear Win</span>" (so the letter ran),—"You must have thought +me slack this morning when you were congratulating me, but the +fact was I was utterly overwhelmed. I'd hoped and hoped to win +the scholarship, and then put the idea away, and when I knew my +good fortune I just felt stunned. It's all owing to you, for if +you hadn't helped me I could never, never even have passed. I +don't know how to thank you. Words are quite inadequate. But +will you believe that I shall never forget your kindness all the +rest of my life, and will you accept this little ring and wear +it for my sake? It is a garnet, and belonged to my grandmother, +after whom I was named. I value it greatly, but I would far +rather know you have it than keep it myself.</p> + + +<p style="text-align: right"><span style="margin-right: 6em;">"Always your most grateful friend,</span></p> +<p style="text-align: right"><span class="smcap">"Garnet Emerson."</span><br /><br /></p> + + +<p>There was a further surprise for Winona that evening. When supper was +over, and she and Miss Beach were taking their usual twilight stroll +round the garden, Aunt Harriet, who had been silent for a few minutes, +suddenly spoke.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">[Pg 291]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I wish to say something to you, Winona. I'm very gratified indeed to +hear that you have passed your college examinations. It has given me a +better opinion of your capacity and perseverance than I possessed +before. This result, combined with your conduct in coaching your friend +through all these weeks, has decided me in a project that I was debating +in my mind. I am going to send you either to a Physical Training College +to qualify as a Games Mistress, or to a Horticultural College to prepare +for a National Rural Economy diploma. Whichever career you decide to +choose, I am resolved that you shall have the best training available."</p> + +<p>"Oh, Aunt Harriet! Thank you! Thank you! I don't deserve it!" faltered +Winona.</p> + +<p>The end of the term had come at length. The next day was Winona's very +last at Seaton High School. She was loth to leave, for the two years she +had passed there had been the happiest and the fullest in her life. But +though the past had pleasant memories, the future also held out fair +hopes to her. As she entered Miss Bishop's study to say good-by, the +head-mistress looked up kindly.</p> + +<p>"I shall miss you, Winona. I have just been turning over your school +record. It's not perhaps brilliant, but it has been persevering, and I +am sure you've done your best. I am particularly pleased that you have +passed your examination. As Games Captain you have been a decided asset +to the school. I think I may safely say that you have justified the +decision of the Governors in allowing you to hold the County +Scholarship. Your aunt tells me that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292">[Pg 292]</a></span> you are to go in either for +Physical Training or Horticulture. Don't decide in a hurry. Get to know +as much as you can about both, and think the matter over. Remember if +ever you want a friend to come to me. Good-by!"</p> + +<p>Outside in the playground the Juniors were hanging about rather shyly +and awkwardly. As Winona came from the dressing-room, Daisy James, much +nudged by the others, advanced and thrust a little parcel into her hand.</p> + +<p>"It's a present from us Juniors," she said hurriedly. "Please take it! +It's not much—only a birthday book—but we've all written our names in +it, so that you mayn't forget us. You've been so awfully good all the +year in coaching us at hockey and cricket. I don't know what we're going +to do without you when you've gone! Now, girls, are you ready? One, two, +three!"</p> + +<p>And the ring of Juniors standing round shouted in one unanimous chorus: +"Three cheers for our Games Captain! Hip-hip-hooray!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293">[Pg 293]</a></span><br /><br /></p> + + + + +<h3><i>SAVE THE WRAPPER!</i></h3> + +<div class="blockquot"><p><i>If</i> you have enjoyed reading about the adventures of the new +friends you have made in this book and would like to read more +clean, wholesome stories of their entertaining experiences, turn +to the book jacket—on the inside of it, a comprehensive list of +Burt's fine series of carefully selected books for young people +has been placed for your convenience.</p> + +<p><i>Orders for these books, placed with your bookstore or sent to +the Publishers, will receive prompt attention.</i></p></div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294">[Pg 294]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 375px;"> +<img src="images/309.png" width="375" height="600" alt="Advertisement" title="Advertisement" /> +</div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295">[Pg 295]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 372px;"> +<img src="images/310.png" width="372" height="600" alt="Advertisement" title="Advertisement" /> +</div> + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 380px;"> +<img src="images/311.png" width="380" height="600" alt="Advertisement" title="Advertisement" /> +</div> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<hr class="full" /> +<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LUCKIEST GIRL IN THE SCHOOL***</p> +<p>******* This file should be named 18019-h.txt or 18019-h.zip *******</p> +<p>This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:<br /> +<a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/8/0/1/18019">http://www.gutenberg.org/1/8/0/1/18019</a></p> +<p>Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed.</p> + +<p>Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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