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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/35972-8.txt b/35972-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5cd2a6c --- /dev/null +++ b/35972-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8398 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, For the School Colours, by Angela Brazil, +Illustrated by Balliol Salmon + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: For the School Colours + + +Author: Angela Brazil + + + +Release Date: April 26, 2011 [eBook #35972] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FOR THE SCHOOL COLOURS*** + + +E-text prepared by Suzanne Shell and the Online Distributed Proofreading +Team (http://www.pgdp.net) + + + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustrations. + See 35972-h.htm or 35972-h.zip: + (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/35972/35972-h/35972-h.htm) + or + (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/35972/35972-h.zip) + + + + + +FOR THE SCHOOL COLOURS + + * * * * * + +By ANGELA BRAZIL + + "Angela Brazil has proved her undoubted talent for writing a story of + schoolgirls for other schoolgirls to read."--Bookman. + + The School in the South. + Monitress Merle. + Loyal to the School. + A Fortunate Term. + A Popular Schoolgirl. + The Princess of the School. + A Harum-Scarum Schoolgirl. + The Head Girl at the Gables. + A Patriotic Schoolgirl. + For the School Colours. + The Madcap of the School. + The Luckiest Girl in the School. + The Jolliest Term on Record. + The Girls of St. Cyprian's. + The Youngest Girl in the Fifth. + The New Girl at St. Chad's. + For the Sake of the School. + The School by the Sea. + The Leader of the Lower School. + A Pair of Schoolgirls. + A Fourth Form Friendship. + The Manor House School. + The Nicest Girl in the School. + The Third Class at Miss Kaye's. + The Fortunes of Philippa. + + LONDON: BLACKIE & SON, LTD., 50 OLD BAILEY, E.C. + + * * * * * + + +[Illustration: "WHAT'S THIS? WHAT HAVE THEY SENT ME?" SHE GASPED +_page 199_] + + +FOR THE SCHOOL COLOURS + +by + +ANGELA BRAZIL + +Author of "A Patriotic Schoolgirl" +"The Luckiest Girl in the School" +"The Madcap of the School" +&c. &c. + +Illustrated by Balliol Salmon + + + + + + + +Blackie and Son Limited +London Glasgow and Bombay + +Printed and bound in Great Britain + + + + +Contents + + + CHAP. Page + + I. ENTER AVELYN 9 + + II. AN INVASION 22 + + III. WALDEN 37 + + IV. AN ENCOUNTER 51 + + V. RUCTIONS 65 + + VI. REPRISALS 79 + + VII. MISS HOPKINS 94 + + VIII. SPRING-HEELED JACK 104 + + IX. CONCERNS DAY GIRLS 120 + + X. MISCHIEF 131 + + XI. MOSS COTTAGE 145 + + XII. "LADY TRACY'S AT HOME" 158 + + XIII. REPORTS 168 + + XIV. WAR WORK 178 + + XV. THE SCHOOL BIRTHDAY 193 + + XVI. UNDER THE PINES 204 + + XVII. THE LAVENDER LADY 214 + + XVIII. THE LOYAL SCHOOL LEAGUE 227 + + XIX. THE SURPRISE TREE 240 + + XX. PAMELA'S SECRET 254 + + XXI. PAMELA'S NIGHT WALK 266 + + XXII. THE LECTURE HALL IS DEDICATED 277 + + + + +Illustrations + + + Page + + "WHAT'S THIS? WHAT HAVE THEY SENT ME?" SHE GASPED _Frontispiece_ + + "DO YOU KNOW THIS WOOD'S PRIVATE PROPERTY?" HE SHOUTED 56 + + AVELYN, CROUCHED UNDER THE MANGER, COULD HEAR THE BULLYING + TONE IN HIS VOICE 152 + + AN INTERVIEW WITH MISS THOMPSON 176 + + AVELYN AND THE LAVENDER LADY 224 + + WHO COULD SAY HOW MUCH MIGHT DEPEND ON THEIR SPEED? 272 + + + + +FOR THE SCHOOL COLOURS + +CHAPTER I + +Enter Avelyn + + +"It's the limit!" exploded Laura. + +"An atrocious shame!" agreed Janet. + +"Gives me nerve shock!" mourned Ethelberga gloomily. + +"You see," continued Laura, popping the tray of her box on to the floor +and sitting down on her bed, so as the better to address her +audience--"you see, it's been plumped upon us without any warning. Miss +Thompson must have arranged it long ago, but she never let out so much +as a teeny-weeny hint. If I'd known before I came back I'd have asked +Father to give a term's notice and let me leave at Christmas. Crystal +clear, I would." + +"Rather! so would this child." + +"I guess we all should." + +"I call it so mean to have sprung it on us like this! I really couldn't +have believed it of Miss Thompson. She's gone down miles in my +estimation. I can never feel the same towards her again--_never!_ Those +Hawthorners! Oh, to think of it!" + +"What's the matter?" asked a fourth voice, as another girl, still in hat +and coat, and carrying her travelling-bag, entered the dormitory. + +"Irma! Is it you, old sport? D'you mean to say you haven't heard the +news yet?" + +"Only just this minute arrived, and I've flown straight upstairs. I met +Hopscotch in the hall, and asked, 'Am I still in the Cowslip Room?' and +she nodded 'Yes,' so I didn't wait for any more. Has anything grizzly +happened? You're all looking very glum!" + +"We may well look glum," said Laura tragically. "Something particularly +grizzly's happened. You remember that day school at the other side of +the town?" + +"The Hawthorns--yes." + +"Well, it's been given up." + +Irma flung her hat on to her bed and her coat after it. + +"That doesn't concern us," she remarked contemptuously. + +"Doesn't it? Oh, no, of course--not in the least!" Laura's voice was +sarcastic. "It wouldn't have been any concern of ours--only, as it +happens, they've all come on here." + +Irma turned round, the very picture of dismay. + +"_What?_ Not _here_, surely! Great Minerva, you don't mean it! Hold me +up! I feel rocky." + +Laura looked at her, and shook her head in commiseration. + +"Yes, that's how it took us all when we heard," she remarked. "You'd +better sit down on your bed till you get the first shock over. It's +enough to make a camel weep. I couldn't believe it myself for a few +minutes, but it's only too true, unfortunately for us." + +"The Hawthorns! Those girls whom we never spoke to--wouldn't have +touched with a pair of tongs!" gasped Irma. + +"You may well marvel," sympathized Janet. + +"But what's Miss Thompson _thinking_ of? Why, she always looked down so +on the Hawthorns! Wouldn't let us arrange matches with their teams, and +kept us away from them at that bazaar as if they'd been infectious. It's +been the tradition of the school to have nothing to do with them." + +"Traditions have flown to the four winds. There'll be nearly fifty +Hawthorners turning up by nine o'clock to-morrow morning." + +"Nearly fifty! And we were only thirty-six ourselves last term! Why, the +school will be swamped!" + +"Exactly, and with day girls too. When there were twenty-four boarders +to twelve day girls, we could have things pretty well as we liked, but +if we've to hold our own against sixty or so--well!" + +"It'll mean war!" finished Ethelberga, setting her mouth grimly. + +"But what's possessed Miss Thompson to do such an atrocious thing?" +cried Irma in exasperation. + +"_£, s. d._, my child, I suppose. Miss Perry was giving up the school, +and Tommiekins bought the connection. She's completely veered round in +her opinions. She told Adah Gartley they were nice girls, and would soon +improve immensely at Silverside. 'I hope you'll all make them welcome,' +she said to Adah." + +"Welcome!" echoed Irma, Janet, and Ethelberga eloquently. + +"It wouldn't have been so bad," continued Laura, "if just a few of +them--say a dozen--had been coming. We could have kept ourselves to +ourselves and quite ignored them. But we're being absolutely cuckooed +out. Do you know that our recreation room has been commandeered for an +extra class-room?" + +Howls of dismay issued from the trio now seated on Irma's bed. + +"Yes, you'd hardly believe it, but it is a fact," ran on Laura with +dismal volubility. "When I went to take my painting things there I found +our tables and easy chairs gone, and the whole place filled up with new +desks and a blackboard." + +"Where are we going to sit in the evenings?" demanded Ethelberga +fiercely. + +"Goodness only knows! In the dining-room, I suppose." + +"We evidently don't count for anything with Tommiekins now," said Janet +bitterly. "The Daisy dormitory has been taken for a class-room, and an +extra bed has been put in each of the other dormitories to make up. +Didn't you notice, Irma, that there are five here now, instead of only +four?" + +"Why, so there are! What a hateful cram! Who's to have the fifth?" + +"I asked Hopscotch, and she said, 'A new girl.' I couldn't help flying +out at that, and she simply sat flat upon me and withered me. Told me to +go away and mind my own business, and she was coming round to inspect +the Cowslip Room in half an hour, and I'd better get on with my +unpacking." + +"Oh, she will! Why didn't you tell us that before?" exclaimed the +others, bouncing up with considerable haste, and setting to work again +to empty their boxes. + +"I forgot. I can think of nothing but those wretched Hawthorners. It's +made me feel weak." + +"You'll feel weaker still if Hopscotch comes in and finds you with +nothing unpacked!" observed Laura sagely, stowing underclothes in her +middle drawer with the utmost rapidity. "I advise you to make some sort +of a beginning, even if you don't put things away tidily. Fling them in +anyhow, stick a blouse for a top layer, and straighten them up +afterwards. Don't let her see them still inside your box." + +For a few minutes the girls suspended talk for work. Laura's flaxen head +vibrated between box and wardrobe. Janet arranged her dressing-table and +replaited her dark pigtail. Ethelberga hung up a selection of +photographs, and placed her nightdress inside its case; Irma spread her +bed with her possessions, preparatory to filling her drawers, and +comforted her ruffled feelings with the last pear-drop in the paper bag +she had brought with her. + +The dormitory was of fair size, and though the girls might grumble, +contained ample space for the fifth bed. It was a pretty room with a +yellow wall-paper, and chintz curtains with little bunches of cowslips +on them. There were pictures of cowslips also on the walls, and all the +pin-cushions and hair-tidies had yellow ribbons. The window looked over +the garden, and behind the belt of trees that bordered the lawn gleamed +the grey waters of the estuary, where ships were stealing out from port +into the dangers of the great waters. The girls prided themselves upon +this view, though at the present moment they were too busy to think of +it. Three years' previous experience had taught them that, when Miss +Hopkins made a tour of inspection on the first afternoon of term, she +meant business, and woe betide the luckless slacker who had gossiped and +dawdled instead of bestowing her property in her own lawful drawers. If +she had announced her intention of visiting them shortly, she might +certainly be trusted to keep her word. + +Their expectations were not mistaken, for before the half-hour had +expired the door opened, revealing the short stout figure and rather +angular features of the second mistress. The girls jumped up and stood +obediently at attention, ready to go through the usual routine of +dormitory superintendence. Miss Hopkins, however, was not alone. In her +wake followed a girl of fifteen, whom she bustled in, in a hurry. + +"This is your dormitory, Avelyn--the Cowslip Room, we call it. Here's +your bed, and these are your dress hooks and your drawers. The janitor's +bringing your box upstairs. Oh, he's here now! Put it at the end of the +bed, Tom, please. I suppose you have the key, Avelyn? Then you'd better +unlock it at once. These are your room-mates--Laura Talbot, Irma Ridley, +Janet Duncan, and Ethelberga Carnforth. Girls, this is Avelyn Watson. I +hope you will make her welcome. Begin your unpacking now, Avelyn. I +shall be back directly to see how you are getting on." + +Miss Hopkins, whose duties on the first day of term were multifarious, +withdrew as hurriedly as she had entered. Her visits generally resembled +the brief career of a whirlwind--sometimes her pupils considered that +they carried equal desolation. + +The new girl remained standing by the bed, and for the moment made no +effort to obey orders and unlock her box. She was pretty--her four +critics decided that point at their first glance--her chin was softly +rounded, and her nose was small and straight. Her general colouring was +brunette, but the big wide-open eyes were grey as the estuary outside. +She flushed vivid pink under the scrutiny of her room-mates. For a brief +instant they thought she was going to cry, then she winked rapidly and +began to whistle instead. + +"I shouldn't advise you to whistle too loud," counselled Janet, by way +of breaking the ice. + +"Miss Hopkins is only in the next dormitory, and she's got a crusade on +against whistling--at least she had last term, and I don't suppose she's +changed her tactics; she doesn't generally." + +"Do the eternal snows change?" murmured Ethelberga. + +The new girl stopped with her mouth puckered into a button. A look of +consternation spread over her face, then passed into a smile. + +"I was told I'd have to be jolly careful and mind my p's and q's here!" +she remarked cheerily. "I've been just five minutes in the school, and +my first impressions are that Miss Thompson aims at unadulterated +dignity, and that Miss Hopkins is concentrated essence of fuss. Am I +near?" + +"Not so far off!" laughed Laura. "They can exchange characters +sometimes, though. I've seen Miss Hopkins ride her high horse and be +dignity personified, and on the other hand I've seen Miss Thompson more +ruffled than a head mistress has any business to be. You'll soon get to +know them." + +"I suppose I shall. Whether I shall altogether like them is another +question." + +"You'll like Silverside!" gushed Irma. "It's a perfectly delightful +school--at least it used to be. We're afraid it is going to be utterly +and entirely spoilt now." + +"Why?" + +"Because it's being invaded. It used to be quite small and select, more +boarders than day girls, you know. And now we've just had a horrible +shock--the whole of another day school is being plumped upon us--a +school we've always despised. We're too indignant for words." + +Avelyn, who was fumbling with the lock of her box, lifted her head. + +"Don't you like them coming?" + +"Like them! Sophonisba! How can you ask such a question? We've always +looked down on them so fearfully. Why, if we met any of them in the +street, we used just to stare straight through them, as if they didn't +exist. They wore dark-blue coats and horrid stiff sailor hats with +coloured bands, for all the world like an institution. I tell you we +simply wouldn't have touched them." + +"You'll have to know them now." + +"To a certain extent, worse luck! But they needn't think we'll be +friendly with them, for we shan't. We shall keep a strict line drawn." + +Avelyn had lifted the tray of her box on to the floor, and was busy +taking books from the bottom portion. She was too intent on her +occupation to reply. Irma, whose writing pad and fountain pen had just +come to hand, was hastily scribbling a letter home; Ethelberga, leaning +out of the window, exchanged greetings with a schoolmate in the garden +below; Janet's vision was focused on her drawers; and Laura had just +come across the postcard album, which she was afraid she had forgotten +to pack, and was rejoicing in its possession. For five minutes or so the +girls were engrossed with their own affairs, then the attention of the +room was concentrated again on Avelyn. + +"You haven't told us yet where you live," said Laura, looking up +suddenly from the contemplation of post cards. + +"My home is at Lyngates just now." + +"Where's Lyngates?" + +"About twenty miles from here." + +"You say 'just now'. Haven't you lived there long?" + +"Only since last spring." + +"You've brought very few clothes and things with you," commented Irma, +who had been watching the unpacking of the new girl's box with critical +eyes. "You'll never get through a term on those, I should say." + +"There isn't any need to bring so many things when I'm going home for +the week-ends." + +"For the week-ends? Heavens! You don't mean to say you're a weekly +boarder?" + +"Why not?" + +An expression of deep consternation spread over the faces of Avelyn's +four room-mates. Their disapproval was evident, and they voiced their +objections. + +"We've never had such a thing as a weekly boarder before!" + +"You'll be away all Saturdays and Sundays!" + +"You'll be out of all the fun!" + +"Almost as bad as being a day girl!" + +"Miss Thompson said once that she didn't approve of weekly boarders." + +"I can't understand Tommiekins, she's changed so lately." + +"Have you ever been to school before?" + +"Why, yes," replied Avelyn, smoothing out the folds of her evening +dress, and hanging it on the hooks behind the curtain. "Though not since +last Christmas." + +"To boarding school?" + +"No; it was a day school." + +"Where?" + +"I went to The Hawthorns in Harlingden." + +If a bomb had fallen in the dormitory it could not have caused a greater +upheaval. For a moment the girls stared at Avelyn as if scarcely +crediting her statement. + +"Do you mean to say you're one of those wretched Hawthorners?" exploded +Janet at last. + +"I used to be, but I suppose I'm a Silversider now." + +"And we've got you in our dormitory!" gasped Laura. + +"So it seems." + +"Miss Thompson ought to be thoroughly ashamed of herself!" fluttered +Ethelberga. + +"You'll be rid of me on Saturday and Sunday, remember," returned Avelyn +bitterly. + +At this crisis, the clamour of the gong for tea fortunately put an end +to an extremely embarrassing situation. The four room-mates fled, +leaving their new companion to follow them to the dining-room as best +she could. When she entered, they were already seated at table, and did +not look in her direction. She took a seat next to a complete stranger, +who indeed handed her the bread and butter, but vouchsafed no single +word of conversation. + +When the meal was over, the original inmates of the Cowslip Room retired +to a secluded portion of the garden, and held an indignation meeting. +For the first frenzied five minutes they allowed their wrath full swing, +and vibrated between a dormitory strike and writing to their parents to +beg for instant removal from the school. Then reason reasserted itself, +and decided the impracticability of both methods. Previous experience +had shown them that their head mistress was a tough dragon to tackle, +and scarcely likely to be coerced by even the best organized dormitory +strike, while in her heart of hearts each knew that, after paying her +term's fees in advance, her father would need some very solid cause of +complaint to justify so extreme a measure as a return to the bosom of +the family. They began to discuss the matter more sanely. + +"The fact is, she's here, and I suppose we can't get rid of her," +admitted Irma. + +"After all, she's a boarder!" ventured Ethelberga. + +"Only a weekly one," qualified Janet. + +"And a Hawthorner!" added Laura. + +"She said she hadn't been to school since last Christmas," commented +Ethelberga. + +"Why, so she did! Then she's had a sort of a break from The Hawthorns, +and in a way she's making a fresh start here." + +"I suppose so." + +"If she'd be loyal to Silverside, though we could never like her, we +might bring ourselves to tolerate her." + +"A boarder's a boarder!" + +When the girls returned to the Cowslip Room, they found their new +companion with emptied box putting the last of her possessions into her +drawers. + +"Look here, Avelyn Watson," said Laura. "We've been talking you over. +Although you go home for the week end, you're still a boarder, and at +Silverside boarders are a very different thing from day girls, as you'll +soon find out. If you've had two whole terms away from those +Hawthorners, just forget them, and consider yourself entirely one of us. +If you do that, we'll count you on our side; but if you've anything to +do with day girls, we'll cut you dead." + +"I don't quite understand," returned Avelyn. + +"You soon will!" said Janet significantly. + +"I advise you to think it over," added Laura. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +An Invasion + + +The changes which were taking place this term at Silverside certainly +marked a new era in its traditions. Up till now it had been essentially +a boarding school. There had, indeed, been day girls, who had shared the +classes and some of the games, but they were in the minority, both in +numbers and in influence. They had had no part in the various guilds and +societies, and had been made by the boarders to feel that they were +inferior beings who did not count. The mistresses, themselves resident, +had been accustomed to view the boarders as the more important factors, +and arranged everything to suit their convenience. It had been the +unwritten code of the school that to be a boarder meant to procure +preferential treatment. + +Miss Thompson, however, was a level-headed woman, who marched with the +times. When the opportunity arose of acquiring the connection of The +Hawthorns, the large day school at the other side of the town, she +closed with the bargain, and decided upon an entire change of tactics. +Henceforward Silverside was to be run as _the_ girls' day school of +Harlingden. The house was large, its accommodation had hitherto exceeded +the needs of the pupils, there was plenty of room for added numbers, and +even in war-time it would be possible to run up a corrugated iron or +portable wooden building to serve as lecture hall and gymnasium. The big +garden already contained several tennis courts, and there was a field +close at hand which might be rented for hockey. Altogether, Miss +Thompson congratulated herself that she had performed a most excellent +stroke of business, and she looked forward to establishing a very +flourishing educational centre, and to laying by a comfortable provision +upon which she might retire when the burden of teaching grew too heavy +for her to bear. + +Certainly, Silverside was most excellently situated for the purpose she +had in view. The property had been bought some years before the town of +Harlingden had expanded, and while land was still cheap. The house stood +in its own beautiful grounds, on the top of a hill commanding a fine +view over the estuary. It was breezy and healthy, with large lofty +rooms, big windows, and ample accommodation in the way of side doors and +bathrooms: just sufficiently in the country to allow of walks through +fields and woods, yet near enough to the town to permit most girls to +return home for their mid-day dinners. As a day school, it was far more +conveniently situated than The Hawthorns. Harlingden, formerly a +moderate-sized and not particularly important town, had since the +outbreak of the war been turned into a great munition centre; the +Government, attracted by the advantages of the estuary, had established +large permanent works there, together with a shipbuilding industry. In a +few short years the population had doubled. Fresh suburbs sprang up like +mushrooms. In the Silverside district this was particularly noticeable, +for where formerly there had been quite a rural walk between hedges, +leading to the town, there now stood rows of neat villas with stuccoed +fronts and balconies, and conspicuously new gardens. + +The boarders at Silverside, who preferred country to town, greatly +deplored this suburban growth. They had always begged to take their +walks in an opposite direction, and had ignored Harlingden and its +industries as persistently as possible. The advent of about fifty day +girls into Silverside they regarded as neither more nor less than an +alien invasion. They sat together in a tight clump when school opened at +nine o'clock on Wednesday morning. Until the new gymnasium could be +erected, it was difficult to find a room large enough to accommodate +everybody. The old drawing-room had been emptied of furniture and fitted +with forms, and here, by sitting very close, the girls managed to cram +themselves in for the opening ceremony. Miss Thompson, elated at heart, +but more stately and dignified than ever in manner, addressed her pupils +in a short speech. + +"As Silverside is entering on a new chapter of its career," she began, +"I should like to put before you all, as briefly as possible, what I +consider to be the ideals of the school. Those who have been here some +years already know our traditions, but it will do them no harm to hear +them again, and those of you who are new will, I hope, understand, and +be prepared to accept them with equal readiness. + +"First of all, we stand for Work. We are living in very strenuous times, +and it is the duty of all who love their country to do their best. Every +faithful struggle with your lessons here makes you more fit to help your +country by and by. If you have no ambition for yourselves, remember that +you are part of a great nation, and as such you must not slack, but do +your bit to raise the general standard of education. You'll find there's +a joy and a satisfaction in mastering rules of arithmetic or irregular +verbs, when you feel that you are doing it not only for yourselves but +for the general good. Then there are certain other things for which +Silverside has always stood--truth and straightforward dealings, and a +spirit of unity and of loyalty to the school. We have striven to +establish a high tone here, and at all costs let us preserve it. + +"This term there is a very large proportion of new girls, and hence a +big opportunity for everybody. There will be inevitable changes, and +much pioneer work to be done, and each girl may find a chance of taking +a share in consolidating our traditions. I trust that old and new will +join hands and do their utmost to work together harmoniously for the +good of the school, and the influence which, through you, it may +exercise on the community later on." + +At the end of Miss Thompson's speech the girls separated, and went to +their class-rooms. At the eleven o'clock "break" they poured into the +garden. They stood about in little groups, eating packets of lunch, and +talking. Adah Gartley, Isobel Norris, and Joyce Edwards, the three +eldest boarders, kept together. To them presently advanced two of the +invaders, a ruddy-haired girl of perhaps seventeen, and a stout, +dark-eyed girl a trifle younger. + +"Our names are Annie Broadside and Gladys Wilks," began +she-of-the-chestnut-locks. "If we'd stayed on at The Hawthorns, one or +other of us would have been head this term. You look about the oldest of +the old lot here, so perhaps you'll tell us how this school's managed. +Do you have monitresses, or prefects, or what? Miss Thompson didn't +mention a word about that in her speech. We'd like to know." + +Adah glanced at her rather superciliously. + +"We've never had anything of the sort here," she replied. + +Annie Broadside's eyes grew round with amazement. + +"What? No prefects or monitresses? How in the world did you manage, +then?" + +"We didn't find them necessary," maintained Adah stiffly. + +Gladys Wilks whistled, and looked eloquently at her friend. + +"Of course it was a very small school," she remarked, "so I dare say you +somehow muddled on; but _now_--surely there'll have to be something of +the sort instituted?" + +"Those juniors will give trouble if there's no one to tackle them," +added Annie. "Just look at them over there!" + +The juveniles in question were certainly behaving with a lack of decorum +entirely foreign to the former atmosphere of Silverside. They were, in +fact, engaged in jumping over Miss Thompson's most cherished flower +beds, with disastrous consequences to the pet geraniums and +calceolarias. + +"The little hooligans!" exclaimed Adah, rushing to the rescue of the +unfortunate flowers. "Here, get away, you kiddies! this sort of +performance isn't allowed. Stop, this minute!" + +The five long-legged children who were making a display of their jumping +agility called a temporary halt, and stared aggressively at Adah. + +"Who says it's not allowed?" enquired a pert ten-year-old, who was +evidently the ringleader. + +"_I_ do." + +"Are you a teacher?" + +"No." + +"A prefect or a monitress?" + +"No." + +"Then, what are you?" + +"I'm a boarder," announced Adah with dignity. + +The junior sniggered rudely. + +"Boarders have no right to interfere with us, that I can see. We'll do +as we like. Come along, girls, follow the leader!" and, turning, she +made a long leap across the bed, landing in the edging of blue lobelias. + +Adah stood by, raging and impotent. She would have interfered by force, +but very fortunately at that moment the school bell rang, and the +irrepressible juniors desisted from their occupation and raced one +another to the side door. Adah followed thoughtfully. Her brain was a +whirlpool of new impressions, most of them not at all favourable, and +she had not yet had time to assort them and put them into mental +pigeon-holes. One idea loomed large. Silverside was going to be an +utterly different place from what it had been before. That brief tussle +had revealed much. Hitherto the little girls had been well-behaved +children, rather in awe of their elders, and easily held in check; these +new juniors seemed a different generation, and a very perverse and +untoward one. + +Everything, indeed, was changed. Her form room overflowed with +strangers, and there was a new mistress, whose methods were different +from those of Miss Hopkins. Adah, mindful of her position as oldest +pupil, did the honours of the school, showing teacher and girls where +books, exercise paper, and other necessaries were kept, but she +performed this charity more in the spirit of _noblesse oblige_ than with +any goodwill. + +When the last of the day girls had taken her departure after four +o'clock, Adah heaved an immense sigh of relief, and sent a scout round +to call a boarders' meeting for 5.15 prompt. + +Immediately after tea, therefore, all the resident pupils of Silverside +assembled in the summer-house at the bottom of the garden. They had +chosen that spot because it was secluded, and they were not likely to be +disturbed. Their consultations were to be of a private nature, and they +did not wish any mistress to overhear them. The summer-house was not +very large--much too small, in fact, to contain twenty-four girls--but +some squatted on the steps, and some on the window-sills, and some +overflowed on to the lawn. Adah, seated on the little rustic table, +looked round to see that her full audience was assembled, and opened the +proceedings in a voice that trembled with indignation. + +"It seems to me, and I expect to most of you, that matters here have +just about come to a crisis. The school's turned topsy-turvy. It's been +invaded by this horde of day girls, and everything is altogether +different. Now, Silverside has always existed for the boarders. Miss +Thompson has recognized that, and we've had a great many special +privileges. It's _we_ who have set the tone of the school, and made +Silverside what it is. As long as we outnumbered the day girls that was +pretty easy, but, now that this huge flock has trooped in, it may be a +difficult matter to cope with them. We must make up our minds what we +intend to do. Has anybody any suggestion to offer?" + +"I thought of writing to my father, and asking him to take me away at +Christmas," propounded Irma, flushing with nervousness at the sound of +her own voice. + +Adah gazed at her with an expression of mingled amazement and sorrow. + +"Irma Ridley, I shouldn't have expected this from _you_! Leave the +school, indeed! Where's your loyalty? I hope you haven't been spreading +such an abominable notion. No, indeed! We Silversiders mustn't desert +the old ship. We've got to stick to her, and steer her course for her +through very troubled waters. Don't let anyone suggest ratting again." + +Irma, covered with confusion, blushed yet more furiously. The sentiment +of the meeting was against her, and she felt that she had blundered +badly. She murmured an incoherent apology, and began nervously tying +knots in her pocket-handkerchief. + +"Surely someone has a better suggestion to offer than this?" said Adah, +her clear blue eyes searching the faces of her companions. "Please don't +be afraid of airing your opinions." + +"Silverside must stick to its traditions," ventured Joyce Edwards. "We +mustn't let everything be swamped by the invasion." + +"Let's make a Boarders' League," proposed Isobel Norris, "and pledge +ourselves to hold together and support one another--a kind of Blood +Brotherhood, you know." + +"The very thing!" agreed everybody. + +The idea was so manifestly satisfactory that each girl wondered why it +had not occurred to herself to suggest it. To bind themselves in so +close a bond of union seemed picturesque and romantic in the extreme. It +appealed to their imaginations tremendously. + +"We shall be fighting for the school colours!" said Adah, with a light +of enthusiasm shining in her blue eyes. "It's _we_, the little band of +old pupils, who are to preserve the ideals of the school. These new +girls must be made to realize that they're at Silverside now, and not at +The Hawthorns." + +"I guess we'll rub it into them," murmured Laura Talbot to the +still-confused Irma. + +It was a new girl after all, however, who made the really practical +suggestion of the meeting. Avelyn Watson had sat very quietly during the +proceedings, feeling herself in a somewhat awkward position. She had +been a pupil at The Hawthorns for two years, but her mother had never +really liked the school, and had removed her from it the preceding +Christmas. Avelyn had come to Silverside quite ready to embrace its +traditions and to erase The Hawthorns from her memory. To be confronted +with more than fifty of her old schoolfellows, some of whom had to-day +claimed affectionate intimacy with her, had been somewhat of a shock. +She did not quite know where she stood. She was not sure whether the +boarders were disposed to receive her into the bosom of the League, or +if they would regard her as among the aliens. One fact, culled from +former experience, rose to her lips. She was too shy to state it +publicly, but she bent towards Laura Talbot and whispered: + +"Tell them, if they want to do anything, they ought to have +prefects--you see, I _know_!" + +Laura immediately broached the suggestion as her own, and gained the +whole credit for it. The idea, hinted at by Annie Broadside and Gladys +Wilks in the morning, had been fermenting in Adah's brain all day, and +she grasped at it eagerly. + +"It would give us just the authority we want," she agreed. "We'd better +make a deputation and speak to Miss Thompson about it. Who'll go with +me?" + +The Principal, busy and burdened with a hundred new cares, sat in her +study that evening answering letters from parents. She pushed away her +papers rather wearily as the deputation, consisting of Adah Gartley, +Isobel Norris, Consie Arkwright, and Joyce Edwards, entered the room +with a kind of bashful assurance. She was tired, but she was always +ready to listen to what her girls had to say. It had been her invariable +rule to meet them half-way. She heard them now patiently, asking many +questions, for they were shy in stating their case, and did not at first +explain their objects lucidly. When at length she had got at the gist of +the matter, she leaned back in her chair and thought for a moment or two +before she replied. + +"What you say is very true. The influx of another school into +Silverside may certainly endanger our old traditions. I look to you +boarders, who have been with me for years, to uphold every principle for +which we have hitherto stood. I agree that you might find your task very +difficult unless you were armed with some authority. We have never had +school officers before, but that was because we did not feel them a +necessity. I will try the experiment and see how it answers. You four +are among my oldest pupils. You know what Silverside has stood for in +the past, and you shall help to mould its future. I appoint you +prefects, and give you power to report to me, or to any other mistress, +breaches of discipline which come under your notice, and in certain +cases to take off order marks. Adah, who is the eldest, and was first in +last term's examination list, shall be head girl. I will announce this +at nine o'clock to-morrow. My great object is to amalgamate the two +schools into one as quickly as possible, and I trust that you will not +show any favouritism towards old girls, but will give the new ones equal +justice." + +"We'll do our best, Miss Thompson," declared Adah, Isobel, Consie, and +Joyce in an obedient chorus. + +And doubtless they really meant to do their best; but schoolgirls are +prejudiced beings, and apt to be conservative to the core. They had +decided beforehand that the former pupils of Silverside, and the +boarders in particular, had the sole prerogative of high ideals, +culture, and gentility, and that such refinements could not, and did +not, exist among those who had come from The Hawthorns. In their minds +the division was as complete as that between the sheep and the goats. +They looked upon the Hawthorners as heathen, and upon themselves in the +light of missionaries. They set to work very patronizingly to make their +influence felt. Now, there is nothing which most people resent so much +as patronage. The Hawthorners had been happy enough in their old school, +and they were keenly insulted at being given to understand that they +were regarded by the Silversiders as inferiors. They held indignation +meetings of their own on the subject. + +"Why should those stuck-up things lord it over us?" exploded Annie +Broadside. + +"They're not as clever as we are. We beat them easily in class," added +Gladys Wilks. + +"I should just think we do. They're simply not in the running at +maths.," declared Gertrude Howells. + +"And yet they're prefects, if you please." + +"At The Hawthorns prefects were always chosen from those who got the +highest marks in the examinations." + +"You were top last term, Annie, and would have been head girl if the +school had gone on." + +"You were only two marks behind me, Gladys, and you know Miss Perry +hadn't counted the botany papers. It was really a toss-up between us." + +"Well, we're both out of it now." + +"Very much so." + +"I don't call it fair that these four boarders should have all the +authority." + +"It isn't!" + +"If they think we're going to knuckle under to them they're very much +mistaken." + +"Giving themselves such airs about being old Silversiders, and treating +us like inferiors!" + +"Can't we do anything?" + +"Let's form an 'Old Hawthorners' Guild', and vow to stick to one +another. There are more of us than of them, and we'll beat them in +lessons and at games, and let them see who's inferior." + +"Right you are! You shall be captain, Annie." + +"Then you shall be secretary, Gladys." + +"I know everybody will be only too delighted to join." + +"They will. But don't let those Silversiders know one single word about +it." + +"They shan't, indeed!" + +"We're here, and the school is as much ours as theirs!" + +"Our old set will follow us, and not care a toss about the prefects!" + +Adah and her fellow-officers had indeed made a terrible mistake by their +superior and patronizing ways. Instead of welding the school into one, +as Miss Thompson had hoped and intended, they had entirely alienated the +new element and had set up a most unhappy barrier of division. +Silverside resolved itself into two parties, each apparently determined +to misunderstand the other, and obstinately resolute not to mix. Miss +Thompson, anxiously watching the result of her experiment, saw only the +surface of things, for most of the trouble lay below, deeper than the +ken of head mistresses. The teachers were aware of an undercurrent of +discontent, but could not absolutely discover the reason. Only the girls +themselves knew that the school was split into rival factions, between +whom there was going to be war. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +Walden + + +As Avelyn Watson is one of the central figures of this story, it will be +well to go back some months, and follow the events which preceded her +appearance at Silverside. Though apparently trivial enough, they are +important, because if they had not happened, she would have come to +school as a day girl instead of a boarder, and the part which fate put +into her hands to play could never have been acted. + +It all began with Daphne forgetting to change her wet stockings. Daphne +had done many imprudent things before, and had suffered more or less +from them. This time Dame Nature, tired of having her laws flouted, +determined to teach her a lesson. The specialist who was called in to +consult with the family doctor made an exhaustive examination of the +case, then pronounced his verdict. + +"She mustn't live in the town. If you want her to grow up into healthy +womanhood, a year or two in the country is an imperative necessity." + +Up to the time when Sir Basil Hunter delivered this ultimatum, the +Watsons had always lived in Harlingden. Daphne and Avelyn could +remember the old days when Daddy had been alive, and Mother's hair had +been brown and not grey; and she had laughed as gaily and easily as they +did now. That was many years ago, and to David and Anthony, at any rate, +their father was little more than an enlarged photograph on the +dining-room wall. They had all been born in the comfortable, commonplace +house in Gerrard Square, and had taken it and its uninteresting view, +and its smoky little garden, together with the round of town life, +entirely for granted. Then the change came. Mrs. Watson, thoroughly +alarmed at the doctor's diagnosis, and nervous over the health of her +whole family, took immediate steps to carry out his advice. She let the +house in Gerrard Square, and removed into the country. The place she +selected was a tiny village named Lyngates, two miles from the station +at Netherton, and twenty miles away from Harlingden. Its pure air, +gravel soil, and record of sunshine were exactly what Daphne required; +the boys could go in to town every day by train, and thus continue at +King James's School, and Avelyn, who was sufficiently like Daphne to +make the fatigue of a daily train journey seem a risky experiment, could +be sent as a weekly boarder to Silverside. + +By a most fortunate chance, Mrs. Watson came across the very little +property she wanted. It was an old farm-house, with a few outbuildings +at the back, and a field or two for poultry--the doctor had suggested +that Daphne should interest herself in poultry. It was smaller by far +than No. 7 Gerrard Square, but big enough for their requirements. + +"With present war prices, and income-tax what it is, and four children +to educate, I consider I'm very wise to make the move," she decided, +"though I should never have had the courage to do it if Sir Basil Hunter +hadn't been so emphatic." + +So the house, gardens, outbuildings, and fields that composed the small +holding were bought and paid for, and formally transferred by deed from +their former owner, George Hethersedge, yeoman, to the possession of +Helena Watson, widow, and the bargain was complete. That it was a +bargain the children had no doubt. So many extra things were included +that were never even mentioned in the title-deeds--the thrushes and +blackbirds and tits in the garden, the wagtails that flitted up and down +the little stream, the owls that sat and hooted in the elm tree at dusk, +the wild bees' nest in the bank, the ferns in the crannies of the old +wall, the morning view when the sun shone over the valley, and the calm, +quiet sunsets when the sky was aflame with rose and violet. It was the +most exciting experience to explore their new kingdom. They were always +making fresh discoveries. Up till now, beyond their annual summer +holiday at some seaside resort, they had had no practical knowledge of +the country. To live side by side with Nature was like being transferred +into another world. + +To Mrs. Watson, no less than to her children, the change was welcome. +She had often pored over Nature books from the library, and they had +been wont to stir in her a vague yearning to get away from bricks and +mortar and chimneys, and spend a sylvan year somewhere far from the +sound of trams or steam hooters. She chafed sometimes against the +monotony of her daily shopping and household cares. She longed for lanes +and woods, but there seldom seemed time to go for walks at Harlingden; +it was a long way from Gerrard Square into the fields. We are such +creatures of habit, that it had never struck her to uproot herself and +reorder the lives of herself and her children; and if Daphne had not +forgotten her galoshes, and thus brought about the visit of Sir Basil +Hunter, the family might have remained town birds to the end of the +chapter. As it was, they stepped into a fresh inheritance. They named +the house "Walden", after Thoreau's famous _Walden_, a book which her +mother loved, and which Avelyn was just beginning to read and +appreciate; the magic of its radiant love of Nature, and the breadth of +its philosophy appealed to her strongly. + +Though the Watsons' Walden was quite unpretentious, it was certainly +more comfortable than the shanty in Concord, Massachusetts, where Henry +David Thoreau spent his immortal two years and two months. There was a +sitting-room on each side of the little hall, a big kitchen and pantry +behind, and four bedrooms upstairs. Outside, across the yard, was a +cottage, with a lower room which could be used as a den for fretwork, +painting, carpentering, or the pursuit of any other cherished hobbies, +and an upper storey containing two extra bedrooms for emergencies. The +stable and barn were interesting, and held dim, cobwebby recesses, where +bats hung head downwards, and a brown owl sometimes perched blinking +upon the cross-beams. + +In front was a small raised garden, bordered by a very wide ivy-covered +stone wall. The house stood on the slope of a steep hill, so that this +wall overtopped the road below like a crag. When you leaned your arms on +its golden sweet-scented ivy blossom, or sombre berries and smooth +leaves, you could look out over a tract of country that spread for +miles--green meadows, hazel copses bursting into leaf, thick woods that +hid the stream whose rushing waters yet made themselves heard, the reedy +reaches of a river, and fir-clad hills that melted faint and blue into a +misty horizon. There was a patch of gravel in front of the wall, and a +rustic garden seat, dilapidated, but firm enough for occupation. The +site made a natural outdoor parlour: a yew tree, grown slantwise with +the prevailing wind, formed an umbrella overhead. At the side of the +cottage, between the yard and the kitchen garden, purled a shallow +little brook, at the edge of which grew watercresses and marsh +marigolds. It was spanned by a bridge made of rough slabs of stone. +Beyond the stables lay a couple of small meadows, containing an upper +reach of the stream, and a little marshy tract interspersed with gorse +and alder bushes. + +The Watson family had reviewed the whole premises slowly, critically, +and with unbounded satisfaction. + +"It's the sort of place you read about in a novel," sighed Daphne, whose +tastes were romantic. "Somehow you feel as if anything could happen +here--interesting things, I mean. Mysteries and tragedies, and--and +even----" + +"Love affairs!" finished Avelyn promptly. "Perhaps they may--sometime." + +Avelyn was at the stage when life is full of dreams. It was her constant +amusement to imagine all kinds of delightful but wildly improbable +future happenings for Daphne, for herself, and for the boys. The number +of castles in the air which she constructed would have built a city. +They were all shadowy and unsubstantial, but none the less fascinating +for that. Walden appeared to her, as to Daphne, an appropriate setting +for golden visions. + +David and Anthony, still in the age of blunt uncompromising frankness, +regarded the new home from a practical standpoint. + +"It's top-hole!" decided David. "I'll have a thingumjig--what d'you call +it?--lathe, I mean, inside that cottage, and a joiner's bench. There's a +man in the village who says he's got one to sell cheap, and a vice with +it. I'm going to make a rabbit hutch, and all sorts of things." + +"There are trout in that part of the stream up the field," beamed +Anthony. "Not very big ones, but certainly trout. I saw them jump. The +boy who brought the telegram yesterday told me that he catches them +with his hands. He knows of sixteen birds' nests on the road to the +station, and he's got a young hedgehog at home. I'm going to just sit +and sit in the field when it's getting dark till I see one for myself." + +"I shall grow ten years younger when I've had a summer here," announced +Mrs. Watson to her flock. "You won't know your poor old mother very +soon. The country air's making her so frisky and juvenile, she wants to +run about like a girl!" + +"_Do_, Muvvie darling! We love you in your skittish moods," implored +Avelyn. "When you wear that short skirt and that rush hat you don't look +a day older than Auntie Belle--truly! You never climbed up step ladders +in Gerrard Square!" + +"I've begun to do many things I never did before," laughed Mrs. Watson, +"partly from necessity. If I could have found anybody else to go up the +step ladder, perhaps I shouldn't have tried. We've all got to work if we +want to make the place look nice. It'll be worth it when we've +finished." + +Walden had been empty for two years before its owner sold it, and, +though it was in a fair state of repair as regarded masonry and +woodwork, it sadly needed decorating. The question of its repapering +and painting had been the one hitch in the proceedings, for, when Mrs. +Watson had sought to obtain estimates for its renovation, she found +that, in the present war-time shortage of workmen, no firm would +undertake to carry out a job so far in the country. For three horrible +days matters had seemed at a dead-lock, and the purchase of Walden (not +quite concluded) had trembled in the balance. But Daphne's white cheeks +brought all Mrs. Watson's native obstinacy to the fore. She was +determined not to be vanquished. She enquired in the village, and +secured the services of an old soldier who used to be handy-man at the +Vicarage, and with his experienced aid and the willing, though unskilled +hands of her young flock, she determined to do up Walden herself. She +secured lodgings for a few weeks at a farm close by, and the family +devoted the Easter holidays to the purpose. It was a new experience for +them, and they enjoyed it thoroughly. Armed with pails of distemper and +whitewash brushes, they splashed away at the walls, painted woodwork, +stained floors, or laid linoleum. They made a delightful discovery in +the dining-room, for, when they came to tear down the old wall paper, +they found an overmantel of ancient oak beams. The fireplace was large +and old-fashioned, with ingle nooks on either side, the woodwork had +been completely covered with paper and plaster, but when this was +cleared away, and it was cleaned, stained, and varnished, it presented a +most quaint and handsome appearance. The great beam that spanned the +hearth had a flat surface, and on this Mrs. Watson decided to carve a +motto. The family put their heads together over it for many days. They +looked up mottoes in books, and consulted their friends, but could not +find exactly the right one. Daphne and Avelyn were in favour of English, +but Mrs. Watson and the boys plumped for Latin, and finally evolved the +following:-- + + POST LABOREM HAEC REQUIES HAEC FELICITAS. + (After work, here is rest and happiness.) + +"When you've finished your lessons in the evenings, we can make a circle +round the fire and talk about the day's doings; and it will seem a +centre for the whole house and for our lives," said Mrs. Watson. "I +believe this little home is going to be far more precious to us than +Gerrard Square." + +To the children the doing up of the establishment was the utmost fun. +Thoreau himself could not have obtained more enjoyment from his "Walden" +than they did from theirs. There were many humorous incidents; as when +Anthony sat down in the colour wash pail, or when Daphne dropped a pot +of pink paint on the top of David's head, or when Avelyn poured in +paraffin by mistake, instead of methylated spirit, to thin the varnish. +It was a proud day when at last colour wash and paint were dry, and the +floor was swept and cleaned, and the vans arrived and the furniture was +carried in. Mrs. Watson had sold most of the heavy possessions which +they owned in Gerrard Square, and had bought in their place tasteful +antiques which suited the house far better, and gave it an air of quaint +culture and comfort. When all was arranged it looked a charming little +abode, and thoroughly in harmony, from the black beams of its ingle nook +to the carved settle and gate-legged oak table, or the framed samplers +on its walls. + +Many surprising incidents happened in the first days of occupation. Very +early one morning, as Daphne and Avelyn lay in bed, they were awakened +by a tweeting and whirr of wings, and found that a pair of newly-arrived +swallows had flown in through the open window, and were whirling +overhead, evidently with designs on the big cross beam for nesting +purposes. The sight of the girls, who sat up in bed, seemed to annoy +them, for they twittered with anger, scintillated rapidly round the +room, then flashed out through the window into the spring sunshine. + +"Well," exclaimed Daphne, "this certainly is living in the country! +Actually swallows in our bedroom!" + +"The poor darlings!" declared Avelyn. "They've had a horrible +disappointment. They'd made up their minds to have their nest on that +beam. I remember Martin Jones pulled down a swallow's nest before he +whitewashed, and said they had built there last year, and had got in +because the window was broken. They must think we're dreadful intruders. +They were scolding us as hard as they could in bird language." + +"Shall we hang out a notice: 'To Let, Eligible Quarters for Swallows'?" +laughed Daphne. "We might even put nesting boxes round the walls, and +extend the invitation to other birds." + +To anyone who wished to study natural history, Walden certainly offered +advantages. There was a friendly robin that domesticated itself, and +would fly into the dining-room at meal times, hop on to the table, and +even perch upon the loaf. He would haunt the kitchen in quest of crumbs, +and grew so cheeky that when Ethel, the maid, who resented his +occasional flounders into her pudding dishes, drove him out through the +window, he would merely fly round the corner and pop in again through +the open door. + +As at first the Watsons possessed neither dog nor cat, their garden +became for that spring at any rate a veritable bird sanctuary. A pied +fly-catcher built in the thatch of the summer-house, a pair of +gold-crested wrens swung their dainty cradle under a pine bough, a +nettle creeper nested in the long grass of the orchard, cole tits and +blue tits haunted the yew tree, a family of young water wagtails issued +from a hole under the stone bridge, and a wood pigeon took possession of +the top storey of a fir tree, to say nothing of the blackbirds, +thrushes, robins, and other everyday birds that availed themselves of +the hospitality of the bushes. + +"I thought I owned Walden, but I'm beginning to doubt it," said Mrs. +Watson. "It seems to me that the wild creatures put in a prior claim, +and come unasked to share it." + +"They're welcome, bless 'em!" murmured Avelyn, fondling a newly-fledged +and quite undismayed young missel-thrush, which she had temporarily +taken from its nest just outside the drawing-room window. + +Some of the incidents which happened were decidedly funny. The Watsons +were not used to the country, and had to learn by experience. One +morning they had left some washing in the field, and found that a +neighbour's calves had strayed through a hole in the hedge and were +contentedly sucking stockings and pyjamas, and reducing them to a +jelly-like pulp. It took several sharp lessons before the family grasped +that cardinal rule of country life: "Keep your gate shut". On the first +Sunday of their occupation they had gone to church, and on returning had +strolled into the dining-room, to find three pigs comfortably in +possession. A wild scene ensued, for the intruders, instead of allowing +themselves to be chased through the door, careered madly round and round +the table, squeaking and grunting in protest, and finally jumped on to +the sofa, and made their exit through the open window, knocking over +books, work-baskets, and pots of geraniums in their hurried flight, and +completely flattening a bed of young pansies that had just been planted. + +One night the family, who had sat up later than usual, heard stealthy +steps in the garden, and, fearful of burglars, issued forth in a body, +armed with the poker and other implements of aggression, only to find a +melancholy donkey cropping the grass beyond the laurel bushes, with +apparent appreciation of its superior juiciness. + +These little adventures, however, added a spice of excitement to their +existence. They agreed that life at Walden was supremely interesting. + +Daphne, who was nearly eighteen, had finished with lessons, and for the +summer term Mrs. Watson allowed Avelyn also to stay at home and run +wild. She had been growing fast, and a rest was considered good for her. +David and Anthony left the house every morning at half-past seven, +walked to Netherton Station, caught the train to Harlingden, and +proceeded to King James's School, where they spent the day and dined, +returning home by about six in the evening. They were sturdy boys of +fourteen and twelve, and enjoyed the daily expedition. Time had often +hung heavy on their hands out of school hours in Gerrard Square; it was +now agreeably filled in with a railway journey and a walk across fields +where birds' nests might be found, and where they sometimes saw stoats +and squirrels. + +To the whole family the first sylvan spring and summer had been one long +round of delight. By the end of August they felt that town had faded +away from their mental vision, and that they had become "sons of the +soil". + +In September Avelyn began school again as a weekly boarder at +Silverside. She had left The Hawthorns the preceding Christmas, and the +nine months' absence, with the intervening removal to Lyngates, had very +much blurred its memory. She had liked some of the girls, though she had +never made any really intimate friends there. She had been mildly sorry +to leave, but the regret had soon worn off. She had come to Silverside +quite ready to hallmark herself with the stamp of her new school, and +centre her interests there. To find that the greater part of "The +Hawthorns" was now incorporated with "Silverside", and that the boarders +identified her with her old set, had struck her somewhat as a shock. +What attitude she should adopt she could not quite determine. She wanted +to think over the situation carefully before she committed herself to +either side. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +An Encounter + + +The little freehold of "Walden" was a triangle, consisting of about two +acres of land. Its base abutted on the high road, and its apex was +wedged into another and much larger estate. The owner of this property +resided at Lyngates Hall. The Watsons had as yet only seen him in the +distance, but they knew from report that he was a naturalized German, +and that his name was Hockheimer. They had heard rumours that he was not +popular in the district. So long as he kept his live stock on his own +side of the hedge, Mrs. Watson did not concern herself about her +neighbour. When his cows strayed into her field she drove them back, and +had the gap securely mended to prevent further trespassing. She +considered that to be the end of the matter, and did not give Mr. +Hockheimer another thought. As for the young people, they had not yet +realized his existence. They discovered it one day quite suddenly and +unpleasantly. + +The second Monday morning after her start at school, Avelyn was walking +to the station with her brothers to catch the 8.15 train. The weather +was still fine and summer-like, and the late September sunshine gilded +the yellowing nut trees, and turned the dew-drops in the long webs of +gossamer into diamonds. There was an exhilaration in being up and out so +early. The three marched along very cheerily, chatting as they went. As +they rounded the corner beyond the smithy, they could see, about two +hundred yards in front of them, a little figure in blue sports coat and +tam-o'-shanter, also making its way in the direction of Netherton. + +"Who's that girl?" asked Anthony. "We see her every day; she goes in to +Harlingden by the same train that we do. She must be going to school, +because she always has a satchel of books with her." + +"It looks like Pamela Reynolds," returned Avelyn. "She's new at +Silverside this term, and, now you speak of it, I remember somebody told +me she came from Lyngates, but I'd quite forgotten all about it till +this moment. I don't even know where she lives. Shall we sprint and +catch her up?" + +The Watsons hurried their footsteps, and by dint of what might be termed +a forced march overtook Pamela on the brow of the hill. Avelyn greeted +her by name from behind. She turned, surprised. She was a fine-looking +girl of nearly fourteen, with wide-open honest brown eyes, a clear pale +skin, and bronze-brown hair, which curled at the ends, and had a +tendency to make little rings round her forehead. She was really pretty +when she smiled. + +"Hallo!" she exclaimed. "I never expected to see you here! Aren't you +Avelyn Watson? I thought you were a boarder!" + +"So I am, but only a weekly one. I come home from Friday to Monday. Do +you like being a day girl? Isn't it a long way to go every morning?" + +"I don't mind; I used to have much farther to go to school when we lived +in Canada." + +"Used you to live in Canada?" + +"Yes, I was born there. I've only come to England lately." + +"I haven't met you about Lyngates before." + +"We've only been here a month." + +"Who's 'we'?" + +"Just my mother and I." + +"Do you like England?" + +"Pretty well. It's too cultivated after Canada. All these little walls +and hedges to divide the tiny fields make me laugh. It's like a dolls' +country. And I hate the high roads. Look here--there's a short cut +through that wood to the station. I go that way nearly every day. Will +you come?" + +The Watsons were perfectly ready to explore anything in the shape of a +new path or by-lane. They helped Pamela to open the gate, and followed +her into the wood. The long vista of trees was delightful. The short +grass under foot was a vivid emerald green, there were patches of +yellowing bracken, clumps of crimson and orange toad-stools, spindle +bushes covered with scarlet berries, and trails of pale late honeysuckle +twining over the brambles. From the direction they were taking, they +must be cutting off a long corner on their way to the station. + +They had walked for perhaps a few minutes, and were strolling on, +chatting as they went, when they suddenly heard a shout in front of +them, and someone came crashing through the undergrowth and stood +barring their path. The somebody in question was undoubtedly very angry. +He was a fair, short, stout, roundabout little man, with a big blond +moustache. His light-blue eyes flashed, and his large teeth gleamed +unpleasantly as he spoke. But he not only spoke, he shouted. + +"What are you doing here? Do you know this wood's private property? +You've no business to be in it! Get out as fast as you can, the same way +you came! Be quick about it, or I'll know the reason why. I could have +you all taken up for trespassing if I liked. Why, _Pamela_!" + +Pamela was standing staring at the surly objector, with a look of +mingled amazement, disgust, and defiance in her clear eyes. + +"It's my fault, Uncle," she replied calmly. "It's a short cut to the +station through this wood, and to-day I brought these--friends"--she +hesitated for a moment over the word--"with me. I come this way nearly +every morning." + +"Then you won't do it again!" thundered the short man. "Don't let me +ever catch you here any more, or any of your friends. You may understand +that once and for all, and I'll be obeyed. Go back, I tell you!" + +He waved them savagely in the direction of the gate through which they +had come. + +"Mayn't we go on just this once?" pleaded Pamela. "I'm afraid we'll miss +our train." + +"Then miss it! What do I care? It's your own faults for trespassing, and +I hope you'll all get into trouble at school. You richly deserve it. +Back, I tell you, you young rascals!" + +With an angry man raving like a lunatic in their path, there was nothing +for it but to beat a retreat as speedily as they could. When they had +passed through the gate, David looked at his watch. + +"Five past eight! Thunder! We shall have to sprint if we want to catch +that train." + +There was no time for comment. All four immediately set off running. +Each, perhaps, was buoyed up with an obstinate determination to reach +the station by 8.15 in spite of the unamiable hopes of the owner of the +wood. They only wished he could be there to see them defeat his +prophecy. In spite of such hindrances as bumping satchels, streaming +hair, and, in Anthony's case, a trailing bootlace, they panted along, +and covered the ground somehow. They could hear the train rumbling in +the distance, and could see the smoke of the engine as they raced down +the last hill. By the greatest of good luck a special cargo of milk-cans +and butter baskets had to be placed that morning in the luggage van, and +the extra two minutes spent in stowing them away saved the situation. +The guard was just waving his green flag as the Watsons and Pamela, +scarlet with their exertions, popped into the last carriage. + +For a few minutes they were too breathless to speak. It was Anthony who +first found words. + +"Well, of all raggy old lunatics commend me to that one!" + +"Strafe the baity old blighter!" gasped David. + +"I never heard of such meanness!" put in Avelyn. "Actually to _want_ us +to miss our train!" + +"I'd have knocked him over for two pins," declared David savagely. + +"Wish we'd tried!" growled Anthony. + +"I don't know who he is, but he's no gentleman!" exploded Avelyn, +divided between her ruffled clothes and her ruffled feelings. "Sorry, +Pamela, if he's your uncle, but I can't help saying what I think." + +Pamela was leaning back in a corner. She had taken off her blue +tam-o'-shanter, and was trying to re-tie her bronze-brown hair. She +looked up quickly. + +"You needn't mind me. You can say anything you like about him. I only +wish he wasn't my uncle. We don't choose our relations, do we?" + +"Nobody'd choose him if they could help it, I should think," replied +Avelyn frankly. "What's his name?" + +"Mr. Hockheimer." + +"The Mr. Hockheimer who lives at The Hall?" + +"Yes." + +"Why, he's a German, isn't he?" + +"Yes, but I'm not! I'm as English as I possibly can be." + +"Then how are you related to him?" + +"He married my aunt." + +"Oh!" + +[Illustration: "DO YOU KNOW THIS WOOD'S PRIVATE PROPERTY?" HE SHOUTED] + +There was a long pause, and then Anthony volunteered: + +"If Auntie Belle was to marry a German, I'd never call her 'auntie' +again--never!" + +"It was before the war, and she's dead now," groaned Pamela. "Uncle +Fritz has lived twenty years in England." + +"How is it he's not interned?" asked David. + +"He's naturalized, you see." + +"Need you call him 'uncle'?" + +"I'd rather not, but I've got to. I'd never seen him till I came here a +month ago." + +"And you don't like him?" + +For answer, Pamela suddenly burst into a storm of passionate tears. + +"Like him! I hate him! Oh! why did we ever leave Canada and come to +England? It's wretched here, and I'm miserable. I'd like to run away!" +Then, dabbing her eyes with her pocket-handkerchief: "There, don't take +any notice of me, please. I get these fits sometimes. I'll feel better +soon. Please don't talk any more to me about uncle." + +The Watsons glanced at her compassionately, and began to converse among +themselves upon other topics. Pamela stared hard out of the window, +blinked, and presently regained her composure. When the train arrived at +Harlingden, she and Avelyn walked to Silverside together, but they +talked of school concerns, and did not reopen the subject of Mr. +Hockheimer. + +Before this happening Avelyn, though she had been vaguely aware of +Pamela's existence, had not mentally singled her out among the general +crowd of her schoolfellows. From that Monday morning she began to take +an interest in her. She smiled at her when they passed on the stairs, +and spoke to her occasionally in the playground. As they were in +different forms they had few opportunities of meeting, and even at +dinner the boarders sat at a different table from the day girls. Avelyn +looked out for Pamela on Friday afternoon, but she was not at the +station. She had either left school early, or was travelling by a later +train. She seemed such an attractive, pathetic little figure that +Avelyn's curiosity was aroused. She wanted to know where Pamela lived, +and more about her. She cast round in her mind for any likely source of +information, and decided upon Mrs. Garside, a fat kindly old soul, who +owned a farm close to Walden, and was disposed to be neighbourly and +talkative. On the excuse of going for the weekly butter she tapped at +the house door, and was ushered in. Mrs. Garside was busy washing pots, +but she placed a chair for her visitor, fetched the butter from the +dairy, and, as she packed it in the basket, glided off into +conversation. Once started, it was difficult to stop her, or to lead her +away from the various topics upon which her tongue ran so glibly. It was +only after much manoeuvring and a considerable amount of patience that +Avelyn could get her to concentrate on the subject of Pamela Reynolds. +Even then her mind side-tracked. + +"A young lady with dark hair, that wears a blue tam-o'-shanter. Yes, +I've seen her--not that I like tam-o'-shanters, and I wouldn't get one +for Hilda, though she begged hard; I bought her a felt instead. Mr. +Hockheimer's niece? Yes, he lives at The Hall, though many think he's no +right to be there; and if I'd my way, I'd say an internment camp was the +right place for him. With two sons in the trenches it doesn't give one +any patience for these naturalized Germans, coming and turning out +decent English folk, too, that ought to be there instead of him. It was +a queer business, and people ought to make their wills properly before +they come to die, instead of leaving them half-written. I've made mine, +and divided what I've got equal share and share alike among my six +children, so that there won't be any quarrelling after my funeral, for +I've told them beforehand what to expect. And people say the old +Squire's ghost haunts The Hall, and small wonder; though it's not much +use, for a ghost can't sign a will, and he should have had the sense to +do it while he was alive." + +Mrs. Garside's statements were so rambling and involved, that it took +Avelyn a very long time indeed to sift the information she wanted from +among the large number of superfluous details supplied by her loquacious +neighbour. By dint of pertinacity and tact, however, she pieced together +the following narrative.-- + +Pamela's ancestors had for many generations been Squires of Lyngates, +and had resided at The Hall. Her grandfather, Mr. George Reynolds, had +lived there until his death, two years ago. Mrs. Garside could remember +him since her girlhood--a tall, handsome man with a brown beard, who +rode about the country on a favourite white horse named Champion. He had +been a good landlord, and was well liked in the neighbourhood. His wife +had died early, and left two children, a son and daughter. The son, Mr. +Leonard, had been a high-spirited lad, and it was said in the village +that he and his father did not get on well together. There was some +upset and a quarrel, the rights of which nobody ever knew, for the +Squire was too proud to air his troubles, and kept family skeletons +securely locked in their cupboards. At any rate, Mr. Leonard had gone +away to Canada and started farming, and had never returned to his old +home, though he had written that he was married, and, later on, that he +had a daughter. This was all the news that Lyngates people had heard of +him in fourteen years. Whether he had prospered or otherwise on his +far-off Canadian ranch they did not know. Squire Reynolds's other child, +Miss Dora, had been a pretty girl, and her father's favourite. Many +years went by, however, before she married. She had been fond of +hunting, and used to look very smart riding to hounds in her neat +navy-blue habit. It was at a meet that she had first met Mr. Hockheimer. +He rented a shooting-box in the neighbourhood, and came down frequently +from London for week ends. Nobody could understand how this naturalized +German had obtained such a hold over Miss Dora and her father, though it +was rumoured that he had reinvested the Squire's money for him to great +advantage. Being a City man he was well acquainted with finance. Miss +Dora was long past her first youth, but she was still handsome, and +everyone in Lyngates had said that she was far too good for Mr. +Hockheimer. The village worthies, however, were not consulted, and the +wedding took place. + +A year afterwards the European war broke out. There was great comment in +Lyngates on the position of Mr. Hockheimer, but he had proved himself to +be a naturalized British subject, and declared he was heart and soul on +the side of the Allies. He had been very energetic on local committees, +and had given large sums to the Belgian Fund. + +When red war flamed in Flanders, and Britain summoned all her sons to +her standard, Leonard Reynolds, on his far-away ranch in the Rockies, +had heard the call and answered it. He had joined one of the first +Canadian contingents, and had come over the sea to "do his bit" for the +Motherland, leaving his wife and child at the ranch to carry on the +brave but wellnigh impossible task of keeping the home fires burning. In +his passage through England he had had thirty-six hours' leave, and had +visited his father at Lyngates. The villagers had seen him again after +fourteen years' absence, and had admired him in his khaki uniform. He +had spoken to several of them--words of fire and patriotism and +enthusiasm for the coming conflict. + +Everybody lived for the newspapers in those first months of war, and +Lyngates was no exception to the general rule. In farm-house and +cottage they read of the retreat from Mons. Duke's son and plough-boy, +Oxford graduate and City clerk, scientist, shopman and crossing-sweeper +alike, had paid the great sacrifice, and the name of Leonard Reynolds +stood among them. The Squire was in bed at the time, recovering from a +severe operation. The news was broken to him by an injudicious nurse at +a crisis in his illness, and it proved his death-blow. In his few last +gasping words he had tried to say something about a will, but those who +were with him could not understand what he meant to convey. With the +incoherent message still trembling on his stricken lips he had passed +away into the silence. He was buried with his ancestors in Lyngates +churchyard, but there was no cross to mark the grave of his son Leonard. +The survivors of the Canadian contingent could give no details beyond +the fact that a certain portion of them had been utterly wiped out by a +terrific explosion. It was impossible to identify the dead. War was +reaping a red harvest of human lives. + +After Squire Reynolds's funeral, Mr. and Mrs. Hockheimer had taken +possession of The Hall. Though search was made everywhere the only will +which could be discovered was one in the custody of the family +solicitor, which was dated fifteen years back. In the briefest terms it +left a certain sum of money to his daughter, and the estate of Lyngates +to his son, but in the event of the death of either, the survivor was to +inherit the whole property. As it had been drawn up before his son's +marriage, no mention was made in it of Leonard's wife and child. It was +a perfectly valid will, and it was duly proved, Mrs. Hockheimer +succeeding to the entire estate of her late father. She lived only six +months to enjoy it, and was laid to rest with her dead baby in her arms. +She had executed a will bequeathing everything to her husband, so that +Mr. Hockheimer, the naturalized German, assumed absolute command of the +Reynolds property. + +Meanwhile, matters had gone hardly with the wife and child of Leonard +Reynolds. It had been impossible for them to farm the ranch, and they +had no private means. By the advice of her friends Mrs. Reynolds had +sold up her few possessions and had come to England with her daughter, +to find out at first hand from the lawyers whether any provision had +been made for her out of the estate. The solicitors were polite and +sympathetic: they acknowledged the keen injustice of the matter, but +assured her that there was no redress, and, according to British law, +Mr. Hockheimer had full rights of possession in the Lyngates property, +while she and her child could not claim so much as a solitary farthing. +They represented the case, however, to Mr. Hockheimer, and he at once +offered Mrs. Reynolds the use of a cottage on his land, together with a +small annual income, and promised to pay for Pamela's education at a day +school in Harlingden. As she had no other means of livelihood, Mrs. +Reynolds had accepted this help, and had settled down at Lyngates +shortly before this story begins. She was a fragile little woman, +gentle and clinging in disposition, and so battered by misfortune that +she was glad to rest anywhere where she could find a home. She received +Mr. Hockheimer's dole quite gratefully. With the loss of her husband +life had for her practically stopped. Through her daughter it held a +second-hand kind of interest. She welcomed the idea of Pamela attending +a good school, and her crushed soul even began to indulge in timid +little day-dreams concerning her child's future. These hopes, pathetic +and tender, were like wild sweet violets springing up over the +desolation of a battle-field. + +Pamela viewed the situation from an utterly different standpoint. She +had inherited her grandfather's strength of character along with the +Reynolds features, and also a considerable share of his pride. Her early +life in Canada had made her more independent than most English girls of +her age. She considered that by all rights of justice an equal half of +the Lyngates estate should have been hers, and that her uncle, Mr. +Hockheimer, had managed to steal her inheritance. She hated to accept +from him as charity what she felt ought to have been her own, and she +bitterly resented the patronizing attitude which he adopted towards +herself and her mother. She, too, had her day-dreams, and most of them +centred round a time when she would be old enough to shake off this +thraldom of dependence and strike out a line of her own in the world. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +Ructions + + +By the end of a few weeks Avelyn began to feel more settled down in her +new quarters at Silverside. The old pupils might regret the former +régime, but she was tolerably satisfied with the new. She was in the +fifth form, and found the work not too arduous, and liked Miss Kennedy, +her teacher. She had been accustomed to the bustle of a large school, +and, though Laura Talbot might rave against the crowded conditions, to +Avelyn it was amusing to be in a room crammed full of girls. School is a +separate world of its own, and often a curious one. To outsiders and to +its Principal, Silverside might appear as an enterprise that was growing +and prospering exceedingly. Its numbers had suddenly more than doubled, +it had fresh teachers, and was going to build a cloak-room and a +gymnasium; nothing could seemingly have more hope of success. Inwardly, +however, it was a seething whirl of opposing factions. The old and the +new did not readily amalgamate. The boarders were jealous of their +rights, and would not yield an inch of the privileged position they had +always been wont to occupy; while the Hawthorners, accustomed to the +absolute democracy of a day school, could not and would not understand +why boarders should expect to have any privileges at all. + +Trouble began on the very second day of term. Adah, in her new capacity +of head girl, had pinned a paper on the notice board announcing a +general meeting of the Dramatic Society for 4.15 in the studio. The old +members turned up at the time named, to find a group of Hawthorners +already in possession of the room. Adah, after waiting a minute, glanced +at the clock and coughed significantly; then, as this produced no +result, she remarked: + +"Won't you be rather late if you're not getting home soon?" + +"We don't much mind," returned Annie Broadside easily. + +"Well, the fact is, we want to use this room," continued Adah. "We're +going to have a meeting." + +"I know. That's why we've come." + +Adah's eyebrows elevated themselves to an astonishing angle. + +"You've come to our meeting?" she exclaimed incredulously. + +"Certainly we have. Why not?" + +Annie asked the question aggressively. + +"Because you're not members of the Dramatic." + +"But we want to join." + +Adah turned to her friends, who stood looking scornfully at the +intruders. + +"Did you hear that?" she remarked. "They actually want to join the +Dramatic!" + +"Cheek!" murmured Consie, and the others giggled. + +"And why shouldn't we join?" flamed Gladys Wilks. + +"Why? Because you're day girls, and the Dramatic's only for boarders. +That's the reason." + +"It's no reason at all," answered Maggie Stuart sharply. "The boarders +have no right to monopolize any society. It ought to be free and open to +the whole school." + +"But it can't!" snapped Adah. "Surely you can see for yourselves that it +wouldn't work. We have all our rehearsals in the evenings, when day +girls couldn't possibly come." + +"You could fix them from four to five instead," suggested Annie. + +"We're not going to alter our arrangements for anybody," returned Adah +tartly. + +"The boarders have always run the Dramatic," added Consie. "We'd like to +begin our meeting, please, when we can have the studio to ourselves." + +"Oh, very well! Keep your wretched society to yourselves if you want!" +yapped Annie; "but I'll tell you this, at any rate, I think it's most +monstrously unfair. You needn't expect us to help you with any of your +schemes, for we just shan't!" + +"Don't excite yourselves--we haven't asked you!" sneered Consie +freezingly as the Hawthorners flounced out of the room. + +At first the committee was too agitated to discuss business. It was +ablaze with indignation at the impudence of mere day girls aspiring to +join the select circle. + +"How could we let them?" fluttered Joyce Edwards. "To begin with, there +wouldn't be enough parts to go round, nor enough costumes. Dear me! we +should have the Juniors expecting to appear on the platform! What next, +I wonder? We Seniors have always done the acting, and let the kids and +day girls make the audience." + +"And we'll go on doing so!" declared Adah. "We're the prefects, and +we'll manage the school affairs as we like, without interference from +anybody." + +The decision about the Dramatic was the same as regarded most of the +other societies. The boarders kept them jealously to themselves. The day +girls grumbled, even protested indignantly, but they were powerless to +make any change. The four prefects were all boarders, and exercised +their newly-granted authority for their own advantage. Miss Thompson had +no idea of the state of affairs. In appointing as school officers girls +who had been with her for some years, she thought she was safeguarding +the tone of Silverside and preserving its traditions intact. She had +certainly no intention of establishing an oligarchy; yet in effect that +was what had resulted. The members of the Boarders' League felt pledged +to support one another against all outsiders, and every activity of the +school was in the hands of a clique. + +Adah, as head girl, was intensely patronizing. She was puffed up with +pride in her new office, and would explain Silverside customs with an +airy superiority which aggravated the Hawthorners continually. Their +injured souls rallied round Annie Broadside. Annie was a born leader. +She keenly resented the state of affairs, and meant to show fight. She +only waited a suitable opportunity, and at length it came. + +For the first few weeks of term the boarders had been busy with various +affairs on Saturdays, and had contented themselves with an occasional +game of tennis and croquet. At the beginning of October they suddenly +realized that the hockey season was beginning. So far hockey, and indeed +any organized games, had been only very languidly pursued at Silverside. +The smallness of the school had not given a wide choice of champions, +and for some years the elder girls had been more interested in botany +and butterfly collecting than in sports. + +Silverside had had a hockey team, and had occasionally played a match, +though it could not pride itself on its record of goals. The present +prefects had never distinguished themselves remarkably at athletics, but +they were sufficiently enthusiastic to wish the school to win successes. +They called a boarders' meeting to discuss matters. + +"We ought to have a splendid games club this term," smiled Adah +complacently. "There should be several sets of hockey going on in the +same afternoon." + +"There isn't room in the field for more than one," ventured Laura +Talbot. + +"Then we must take a larger field," decreed Consie. "With so many new +subscriptions we can easily afford it." + +"Ninety-five girls instead of only thirty-six in a school make a +difference," admitted Irma Ridley. + +"The treasurer will have quite a nice little sum in hand," chuckled +Isobel Norris. + +"I want the school to begin and make a name for itself," said Adah. "I +don't want to say anything against Jessie Carew and Maggie Stephens, +last year, but really we all know they were slackers." + +"Silverside must buck up!" agreed the others. + +"You, Laura, and Janet, and Ethelberga have the makings of good players +in you," murmured Adah reflectively, "and of course Consie and myself, +and perhaps Joyce." + +"What about the Hawthorners?" asked Isobel. + +"We shall have to include them, of course." + +"Couldn't get up the teams without them, I'm afraid," sniggered Minnie +Selburn. + +Adah stared hard at Minnie, who straightened her face and sat up +stiffly. + +"In the matter of hockey, of course, everybody in the school, whether +day girl or boarder, will be invited to join," continued Adah. + +"Some of those Hawthorners are jolly good," ventured Mona Bardsley. + +"They won ever so many matches last year, I believe," added Alice +Webster. + +"Whom did they play?" asked Adah quickly. + +"I don't know." + +"I do," said Avelyn, speaking for the first time. "It was Workington +Ladies' College, Mirton High School, Redlands County School, and +Harlingden Ladies' Team, and they beat them all, except Harlingden, and +that was a draw." + +Adah was rapidly scribbling some entries in her notebook. + +"We'll challenge Workington Ladies' College," she announced. "I wanted +us to do it last year, but we decided our team wasn't strong enough. +I'll write to their secretary to-night and make a fixture. It would be a +tremendous triumph for Silverside to beat Workington. They've rather a +reputation." + +"The old school's going to forge ahead!" smiled Consie. + +"We'll ask Miss Thompson to speak about hiring that larger field," said +Isobel. "We'd better secure it at once, in case the farmer should let it +to anybody else." + +Next day Adah pinned up a notice, announcing that hockey would begin on +the following Saturday afternoon, and asking all girls to sign their +names as members of the games club, and to pay their subscriptions to +the treasurer. She watched the day girls come and surge round the notice +board, then she ran upstairs to her form room. She considered that she +was performing her duties admirably as head of the school. + +Meantime, downstairs, a ferment was going on that would have surprised +her. The grumblings and dissatisfaction increased till a whisper began +to circulate. + +"Annie Broadside says, don't sign or do anything yet, but let the 'Old +Hawthorners' League' meet on the common this afternoon at 4.15. Pass +this on, and all turn up." + +The boarders could not understand why, that afternoon, the day girls +scuttled away so promptly at four o'clock, and seemed in such a frantic +hurry to get on their boots and be gone. As a rule they loitered about +in an annoying fashion, and were seldom clear of the premises till +half-past four. The prefects ventured the opinion that Silverside rules +were at last beginning to be properly kept. They would have been +immensely electrified if they could have seen what was really happening. + +Not far from the house was a small common, which most of the girls were +bound to pass on their way to and from school. To-day, instead of going +home they trooped here. There was an old tree stump at one side, and +Annie, scrambling to the top of it, and holding on by a branch, made it +serve as an orator's platform from which to address her audience, which +stood below. She first of all looked round critically. + +"Are we all here?" she began. + +Several voices replied: + +"All who could come." + +"Some girls had to catch trains." + +"And the Potters had music lessons." + +"And Trissie Marsh had to go to the dentist's." + +"But they sympathize. They'd have come if they could." + +"I'm glad to hear that," continued Annie. "I like to know I have your +sympathy. Are we all old Hawthorners?" + +"Yes, yes!" + +"And no spies among us?" + +"Certainly not!" + +"Then I can speak freely. I want to say, what I'm sure we all think, +that we're perfectly disgusted with the way those boarders have been +behaving. They speak as if the school existed for them, and them alone. +Some societies we aren't allowed to join at all, and those that we may +belong to are kept well in their own hands, because they appoint +themselves as presidents, and secretaries, and treasurers, and members +of committee. We simply haven't a look in anywhere. Now, I ask you, is +this fair?" + +"Not at all!" howled the girls. + +"We're exactly in the position of serfs, and it's monstrous. What right +have those boarders to rule over us?" + +"None!" + +"It's quite time we showed our spirit. I've been wondering for a long +time how we could checkmate them, and now I see my way clear. They're +going to start the hockey season." + +"Yes!" + +"Who do you think will make all the arrangements and be captains of the +teams? Boarders or day girls?" + +"Why, boarders, of course." + +"And who are the best players; who are going to win the goals?" + +"_We_ are!" + +"Of course, we are; everybody knows that! But the boarders would take +all the credit, and talk about _their_ successes. The very idea makes me +ill! Why should we play for _them_?" + +"Why, indeed?" + +"We're not obliged to. Our Saturdays are our own, and nobody can make us +come and play hockey if we don't want. I vote we just say we won't join +their old games club. Let's start a rival one of our own." + +"Yes, yes! Oh, do let us!" + +"We'll call it 'The Old Hawthorners' Hockey Club', and we'll hire our +old ground and wear our old colours, and play matches of our own, and +let those conceited Silversiders go to Jericho." + +Annie's daring suggestion met with a chorus of applause. The +Hawthorners, made to feel unwelcome in their new school, clung +desperately to their old traditions. They had had an excellent hockey +record in past years, and felt confident that they could raise a team +sufficiently strong to challenge their former rivals to matches. + +"Will you elect Gladys as secretary?" asked Annie. "That's all right. +And Maggie as treasurer? Then give in your names, and bring your +subscriptions to-morrow, and I'll go this very night and see about +getting our old field. It belongs to Mr. Gardner, and my father knows +him quite well, so I'm sure we shall manage it. If not, we'll hire +another field." + +"Or play on the common," declared the girls as they crowded round Gladys +Wilks, giving in their names. + +Adah Gartley had kept her word and written immediately to the secretary +of Workington Ladies' College, who had replied by return of post, +arranging a match for a date in November. She showed the letter with +much satisfaction to the boarders after breakfast. + +"By the by, have those day girls paid their subscriptions yet to the +Games Club?" she asked suddenly. + +"Not one of them," answered Isobel. + +"The blighters! And hockey begins to-morrow. Isn't it just like day +girls? I must talk to them about it at eleven o'clock 'break'." + +The day girls were busy consuming packets of lunch when Adah, glass of +milk and piece of bread and butter in hand, strolled amongst them, bent +on her mission. + +"Look here, you slackers! D'you know you've never paid your half-crowns +yet? Can't admit anybody to the hockey field who hasn't given in her +subscription--that's one of the traditions of Silverside." + +"Is it?" said Annie Broadside casually. "I can't see that it concerns +us." + +"You'll see to-morrow when you get to the field. A nice little +disappointment it will be for you to find you're not allowed to play." + +Annie took a big bite of oatcake and gulped it. + +"Suppose we don't want to play?" + +"Not want to play!" Adah's expression was one of sheer incredulity. + +"Why should we? You boarders have taken up all the other societies, so +you may have the hockey as well. We don't want to intrude on your +privileges, thanks!" + +"But I say," blustered Adah, "you _must_ play! We've got to win matches +and keep up the credit of the school." + +"Keep it up yourselves!" put in Gladys sarcastically. "You've rubbed it +into us hard enough that it's only you who understand the school +traditions, and we're nothing but outsiders!" + +"But you're keen on hockey! Surely you want to play?" Adah was making a +desperate effort to curb her temper and be conciliatory. + +"Certainly we do, but we're going to have a club to ourselves." + +"You can't here!" + +"We don't mean to try. It's an 'Old Hawthorners' Club', and nothing to +do with Silverside." + +"But you mustn't! You shan't go ratting like this!" exploded Adah, +scarlet with indignation. + +"Don't get excited!" said Annie politely. "There's nothing to prevent +us. Our Saturdays are our own, and nobody can compel us to come to +school and play hockey if we don't want." + +"You miserable blighters!" + +"There! Keep a civil tongue, please. I thought the traditions of +Silverside didn't run to slang. Perhaps you'd like to arrange a match +with us: 'The Old Hawthorners' versus 'Silverside Boarders'? Gladys is +our secretary, and will book it." + +"I shall do nothing of the sort!" choked Adah, beating as dignified a +retreat as she could. + +It was certainly a terrible blow for the prefects. They had counted +entirely on the strength of the day girls in arranging teams. To be +deserted in this fashion meant the ruin of the hockey season. They were +aghast at the bad news. + +"I wonder if Miss Thompson can refuse the larger field?" speculated +Joyce. + +"We certainly can't afford to hire it with the subscriptions we've got," +mourned Isobel. + +"And it's not the slightest use our trying a match with Workington, for +we should only get a jolly good licking," announced Consie. "We don't +want to court disaster." + +"I shall write to the secretary to-night," said Adah bitterly, "and tell +her we've been obliged to make other arrangements. Those day girls are +the absolute limit!" + +"Don't you think," ventured Isobel, "that perhaps you've been a little +high-handed? If you'd tried to conciliate them, now----" + +"Conciliate!" echoed Adah scornfully. "Really, Isobel, what next? If you +think I'm going to truckle to day girls, you're much mistaken." + +"I'm afraid we're making a good many mistakes," murmured Isobel, but too +low for her friend to overhear her. + +The three other prefects certainly laid the blame of this occurrence on +Adah, and considered that, if they had conducted the negotiations in her +place, they would have been able to manage the refractory Hawthorners. +Though they always loyally supported their head girl, they were quite +aware that her overbearing manners gave offence. They sometimes suffered +from her themselves. She had so thoroughly established herself as +leader, however, that it was not possible to break away from her rule. +She had been longer than any other girl at Silverside, and thus stood +for the old traditions. Whether these in the end were going to prove the +best for the school was a matter that admitted of some debate. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +Reprisals + + +After learning the story of the Lyngates estate, Avelyn's interest in +Pamela Reynolds was doubled, and she cultivated her acquaintance. The +two girls travelled together from Harlingden on Friday afternoons, and +arranged to meet on Monday mornings to walk in company to the station. +Though Pamela was not yet fourteen she was old for her age; her +adventurous life in Canada had given her a mental outlook different from +that of most English girls. She proved a lively and very pleasant +companion. Mrs. Watson, to whom Avelyn confided her friend's story, paid +a call upon Mrs. Reynolds, and found her a timid, refined lady, of +gentle birth and breeding, greatly saddened with her troubles, and +evidently without much initiative. The cottage, which had been lent to +her by Mr. Hockheimer, was in a very out-of-the-way situation. It was +small, inconvenient, and possessed many drawbacks, but she had made the +sitting-room pretty with books and flowers, and the little home had a +cultured air about it. Mrs. Reynolds did not seem to wish to seek any +society, and gently intimated that she feared she was not strong enough +to walk as far as the village and return calls. + +"The poor woman has simply sat down under her troubles," said Mrs. +Watson, describing her experiences at the family supper-table. "It's +easy to see that she has no spirit. If she would take life more pluckily +it would be better for herself and everybody. I'm sorry for that child. +To live in that quiet spot with such a depressed companion, especially +when by all rights they ought to have owned The Hall. It makes my blood +boil! Mr. Hockheimer ought to have done more for them than this." + +"Catch Mr. Hockheimer doing much for anybody!" commented Daphne. "People +say he's the stingiest landlord. They grumble dreadfully. I think he +ought to have had Mrs. Reynolds and Pamela to live with him at The +Hall." + +"Oh, Pamela would have just hated that!" put in Avelyn. "She simply +can't bear her uncle." + +"I don't blame her," sniffed Daphne. + +"Oh, Muvvie, couldn't we ask Pamela to tea?" said Avelyn. "It must be so +lonely for her up there, without any brothers and sisters. I believe +she'd love to come." + +"Well, we'll give her the chance at any rate," agreed Mrs. Watson. "I +hope her mother won't be stupid and refuse to let her come. I think I'd +better send a formal invitation." + +The note was duly written and dispatched. Mrs. Reynolds appeared to need +some days to think the matter over, but finally sent a formal +acceptance. + +"Hooray!" triumphed Daphne. "I quite expected she was going to decline +with thanks. Muvvie, how glad I am that you're a nice, sensible person, +and not morbid! You'd have been such a trial to us if you'd always gone +about with an air of depressed resignation." + +"I've had my troubles as well as other people," said Mrs. Watson. "It +certainly doesn't make them any better to mourn over them. We've got to +sit up and make the best of things as they are. 'Never say die!' is a +good old motto. I'd try to be chirpy and cheery if I were reduced to a +wooden leg and a glass eye!" + +"So you would, Muvvie darling! I believe you'd dance a jig with a +crutch. But about Pamela----" + +"We'll give her a good time when she comes, poor child!" + +The warm-hearted Watsons were determined to make Pamela thoroughly +welcome, and they succeeded royally. She was painfully shy for the first +ten minutes, and answered all questions in embarrassed monosyllables, +but after a walk round the garden she began to thaw, by the end of tea +she had waxed expansive, and later on she proved downright amusing. By +the time the family, in a body, escorted her home, they felt that they +had sealed a friendship. They talked her over on the way back. + +"She's sporty," decided David. + +"Decent as far as girls go," qualified Anthony, who at twelve did not +yield readily to feminine attractions. + +"I call her charming," said Daphne. "You can see she's plenty in +her--not one of those lackadaisical people like Ella Simpson, who just +put on side. It seems to me a most monstrous thing that her uncle should +have been able to take all the property." + +"Collared the lot!" grunted David. "The old Hun!" + +"Mrs. Garside told me that everybody said Squire Reynolds must have made +a later will--the butler and coachman remembered signing something. But +it couldn't be found." + +"Likely enough old Hockheimer suppressed it. He'd be equal to any dirty +German trick!" suggested Anthony. + +"If he has he deserves penal servitude." + +"I'd prefer shooting for him," said Anthony grimly. + +The Watsons liked Pamela for herself, but it certainly gave her an added +interest to consider her the victim of her uncle's greed and injustice. +They thoroughly detested Mr. Hockheimer. Since the morning when he had +turned them out of the wood they had owed him a grudge, and other +matters had accumulated to swell the account. His land, unfortunately, +adjoined theirs. I have mentioned before that the little property of +Walden was shaped like a triangle, the apex of which jutted into Mr. +Hockheimer's estate. This apex consisted of a piece of rather marshy +rushy ground. The brook divided at its head, and flowing round it in two +separate streams reunited, making the patch of meadow into an island, +connected with the main land by a rough plank bridge. It was of little +service from a farmer's point of view, but it was a most picturesque +spot, and Mrs. Watson intended to turn it into a water garden. She and +Daphne spent hours poring over Barr's catalogues, and deciding what +iris, forget-me-nots, ranunculi, and other marsh-loving plants they +should send for, and whether it would be possible to dam a piece of the +brook to make a pool for water-lilies. + +Imagine their annoyance when one day they found their cherished island +in the occupation of Mr. Hockheimer's cows, which had walked down the +stream from their own field. With great difficulty the Watsons drove +them back, and replaced the rather broken tree-trunk, which acted as +barrier, across the brook. When the same incident happened again Mrs. +Watson complained, and requested Mr. Hockheimer to see that his cows +kept to their own field. He replied by stating that they had always been +accustomed to graze on the island, which was really a no-man's +territory, not strictly included in either property, though, if the +matter were to be investigated, it would probably be found to be +included in the Lyngates estate. + +Much surprised, and angry at such an assertion, Mrs. Watson looked up +the plans of Walden which went with her title-deeds, and found the +island most certainly represented as her property. She called in the +assistance of the village joiner, and caused a strong barrier to be +fixed across the stream at the head of the island, sufficient to keep +out cows and make a landmark for the boundary of her territory from +that of her acquisitive neighbour. This being done she considered the +matter settled, and proceeded to plant her iris and forget-me-nots. She +anticipated a beautiful show from them in the spring. + +Towards the end of October, Daphne, whose health had picked up with +country air, nevertheless had to report herself to the specialist who +had previously examined her, and she and her mother made an expedition +to London. They started on a Thursday, and were to spend Sunday with +friends in town, returning home on the following Monday or Tuesday. +Avelyn, David, and Anthony, together with Ethel, the maid, had the +establishment to themselves for the week-end. With her mother's +permission, Avelyn asked Pamela to spend the Saturday afternoon at +Walden. + +The young folks were determined to have a thoroughly happy harum-scarum +time together, and, instead of taking a conventional tea in the +dining-room, they carried their meal into the barn, and held a picnic +feast, sitting on blocks of wood, with the wheelbarrow for a table, and +with Billy, the dog, Meg, the cat, and Tiny, the bantam cock, as +self-invited guests. + +"It's rather a stunt being all on our own for once!" opined Anthony, +feeding Billy with crust, regardless of the rationing order. + +"Top-hole!" murmured Avelyn, pouring out milk for Meg into her saucer. + +"I wish something would happen!" said David, rocking himself airily to +and fro on his billet of wood. + +"Something _will_ happen if you're not careful, old sport! You'll topple +over next minute!" warned Avelyn. + +"What do you want to happen?" asked Pamela. + +"Something exciting--an air raid, or a fire, or a burglary. Something +really to give one spasms!" + +Pamela did not reply for a moment. She rested her head on her hand and +thought. When she spoke there was an undercurrent of doubt in her voice. + +"I don't know whether I ought to tell you," she hesitated. "I'm not +supposed to know, only I happened to overhear. I don't care, I _shall_ +tell! He's only my uncle by marriage, and I detest him!" + +"Do you mean Mr. Hockheimer?" asked Avelyn, in a sudden flutter. + +"Yes; I wish I didn't!" + +"What about him?" + +Pamela hesitated again, then whispered: + +"He's coming here, just at dusk, with an axe and a saw." + +"What for?" + +The Watsons had clustered round, with faces full of horrified +expectancy. + +"To take down that barrier across the stream. He says the island's his." + +If the enemy had landed, the Watsons could not have been more astonished +and indignant. Their opinion of Mr. Hockheimer had been bad before, but +that he should take advantage of their mother's absence to perform such +an abominable and utterly illegal act made their blood boil. + +"There are two opinions about the island," declared David grimly. "Mr. +Hockheimer will find he's not going to get things all his own way. What +time did he say he was coming?" + +"Just at dusk." + +"All right! We'll be ready for him! Thanks ever so much for letting us +know. I say, Tony, come into the yard with me; I want to speak to you. +I've got a brain wave!" + +"What's it about, Davie?" asked Avelyn excitedly. + +"I'll tell you afterwards, Ave." + +Out in the yard the two boys held a hasty confabulation. They felt that +they must act quickly. It was their duty to protect their mother's +property from this Hun robber. The situation appealed to their boyish +instincts. David's eyes gleamed with a wrathful twinkle. Anthony's young +fists were tightly clenched. They laid a careful plan of campaign, then +started off to secure recruits. In ten minutes they returned from the +village with three Boy Scouts, to whom they unfolded their designs. They +hurried off at once to the island, to survey the scene of action. The +barrier which Mrs. Watson had caused to be erected across the brook, was +constructed of two stout poles with withies intertwined; the ends were +secured in the banks, and there was room for the water, even in flood, +to flow underneath. On the Walden side of the stream were some large +stepping-stones, which the joiners had placed for their convenience +when fixing the posts into the overhanging bank. David and Anthony, with +their scout friends, took off boots and stockings, and after a +considerable amount of shoving and splashing, managed to move away the +small stones that supported these boulders, leaving them apparently +safe, but in reality only lightly balanced in the brook. They had barely +finished when twilight began to fall. + +"We'll clear out now!" commanded David. "He may come any minute, and I +want him to be hard at work before we appear on the scenes. We'll catch +him red-handed." + +"And give him more than he expects!" chuckled Anthony. + +Going back to the house, the boys took Avelyn into their confidence. +They felt that it would be mean to leave her out of such a thrilling +adventure. + +"If you're game to come, you can," they allowed graciously. "It ought to +be a sporty job!" + +"Blossomy!" agreed Avelyn. "I wouldn't miss it for worlds. But what +about Pamela? She'd enjoy it, of course, but her uncle would know she'd +given the show away." + +"She must hide behind the bushes, and not let him see her. It'll be +top-hole for Pamela!" + +The alders and clumps of furze were thick down by the stream, quite +sufficient to give shelter to the little party of seven that presently +took cover there. They preserved strict military discipline. Not a word +was spoken. All crouched silently watching and waiting. The sun had set, +and the red glow faded from the sky, but there was a young moon, and +objects were clear. David held Billy by the collar. He was a sporting +dog, and trained not to bark; though he panted and his eyes bulged, he +did not betray the whereabouts of his owner by even the suspicion of a +yelp. Early experience with a former master, addicted to poaching, had +taught him his lesson. + +Just when the owls had wakened, and were beginning to hoot round the +barns, Mr. Hockheimer came striding down his field. He was annoyed with +Mrs. Watson for having put the barrier across the stream. There had +indeed been one in the days of the former tenant, but it had +conveniently tumbled into the water, leaving a pathway for his cows to +graze on the island. He believed that by a little bluff and persistence +he could persuade Mrs. Watson that the island was part of his own +property. German-like, he had small opinion of women, and considered +that a widow's substance would be an easy prey. He had decided to see to +the matter himself, instead of bringing his bailiff or his keeper with +him. Since the war began, his men had been apt to make themselves very +disagreeable over trifles, and it was not worth having a fuss about so +small a business. + +He stood on the top of the crag and surveyed the barrier. How to get to +it was the first question. It was fixed just where the stream ran in a +narrow gully between two high banks. He mentally strafed the village +joiner for having placed it in such an inaccessible spot. From his own +land it was practically impossible to reach it. The only thing to be +done was to go into Mrs. Watson's field. He had no scruples about +trespassing, and taking his axe he hacked down some branches, and +cleared himself a way through the hedge. It was comparatively easy now +to reach the barrier. There were stepping-stones obligingly left by the +workmen, which would be of great assistance to him. Saw and axe in hand +he advanced upon them, quite unwitting that seven pairs of eyes (eight +with Billy's) were watching his movements from the shadow of the bushes. +The first two stones were secure enough, and gave him confidence; the +third tottered a little, and he stepped hastily from it on to the +fourth, only to find that it capsized altogether and landed him suddenly +on his back in the water. The stream was not deep enough to drown, but +was quite sufficient to immerse him. He splashed and floundered about, +and rose wrathful and spluttering, to find five boy figures standing in +the field and grinning at his discomfiture. + +"Dear me, Mr. Hockheimer," said David, with feigned commiseration, "I'm +afraid you're wet!" + +Mr. Hockheimer's remarks, being in German, were probably better not +translated. He waded ashore and began to wring the water from his +clothes. + +"May I ask what you were doing?" continued David blandly. + +"A job that I mean to finish, you young rascal!" girned Mr. Hockheimer +gruffly. + +"Excuse me, but that fence is my mother's property, and if anybody +interferes with it we're out here to protect it." + +"And I'm here to remove it!" roared the German. "Take yourselves off, +you young chimpanzees!" + +"You forget it's our own field," continued David with icy politeness. +"It's we who must ask you to take yourself off. Oh, very well!" as the +German made a threatening movement towards him, "Billy, will you give +Mr. Hockheimer a hint to go?" + +Billy had been straining at his collar to suffocation point. Now, +released and encouraged by his master, he flew, barking furiously, at +the intruder, and seized him by the leg of his wet trouser. + +Mr. Hockheimer yelled, freed himself by a kick, and, turning to see the +angry dog ready to spring at him again, saved himself by suddenly +climbing up an old willow stump that overhung the brook. He swarmed up +with an agility surprising in a man of his stout build. Wet and draggled +from his dip in the stream, he cut a sorry figure clinging among the +branches, while Billy, mad with rage, jumped and yelped down below. + +"Call off that brute!" shouted the German hoarsely. + +"There's no hurry," answered David. "I want to talk to you a little, Mr. +Hockheimer. It's a good opportunity while you're resting." + +"Call him off and let me go, you little villain!" + +"If you _will_ trespass in our field you must expect the dog to get +excited. It says in the Commination Service, 'Cursed is he that +removeth his neighbour's landmark'. (Perhaps you don't go to Church on +Ash Wednesdays?) Now, you were distinctly trying to remove my mother's +landmark, and if I let you go I may be compounding a felony. I've got +some witnesses here, at any rate. What a gap you made in the fence! We +shall have to make that up. Tony, old chap, keep guard for a while." + +"Right you are!" answered Anthony sturdily. + +Percy Houghton had brought his father's hedging-gloves and a billhook, +so, leaving Anthony as sentry by the tree, David, with the aid of the +boys, repaired the hedge. He whistled cheerily the while. + +Mr. Hockheimer was feeling far from cheerful. He was wet, cold, and in a +most undignified position. Every time he ventured to let his leg down so +much as an inch the dog showed all his teeth in an ugly snarl. The +prospect of spending a much longer time perched in the tree was not +pleasing. He judged it wiser to arrange terms. + +"Come, come, you've had your little joke," he expostulated in a milder +tone. "Call your dog away, and I will go home." + +"Will you give me your solemn undertaking not to trespass on our +property again, or attempt to remove our landmarks?" demanded David +grandly. + +His victim grunted something which might be interpreted as assent. + +"Then we'll let you off this time. Tony, hold Billy! Shall I help you +down, Mr. Hockheimer? You're rather stiff, I expect." + +"I can manage myself," growled the German sulkily, as he descended with +a thud. + +"We've made up the fence, so we shall have to let you out through our +yard," observed David. "By the by, you dropped a saw and an axe into the +brook. I'll fish them out to-morrow by daylight and throw them over into +your field. I call that Christian charity. I might have commandeered +them or let them stop in the stream and rust away. Dear me, you're +_very_ wet! I hope you won't catch cold!" + +Mr. Hockheimer made no reply, but stumped after the boys up the field +and through the stable-yard. David held the gate open for him most +courteously, and he passed through into the road. Then he turned and +shook his fist. + +"You shall pay for this some day!" he muttered. "I don't forget!" + +"Neither do I," returned David. "Good-night, Mr. Hockheimer!" + +As the boys came back round the side of the barn they met Avelyn and +Pamela, who had run up from the field. The two girls had kept hidden +among the bushes, but had seen and heard most of what was going on. + +"You don't think he saw me?" asked Pamela. "I believe he'd kill me if he +knew I'd told." + +"I don't believe he could possibly see you, not even from up in the +tree. It was getting so dark," David assured her. + +"He has an awful temper!" shivered Pamela. + +"Oh, Dave, you did bait him!" said Avelyn with a chuckle. "I didn't know +you could be so sarcastic. I nearly died trying not to laugh out loud. +How did you think of it all?" + +"It came on the spur of the moment," admitted David modestly. "I've +rather an idea I'd like to be a barrister when I grow up, if the war's +over." + +"I'd like to be a detective and snap the handcuffs on criminals," +declared Tony, giving Billy his last honey-drop as a reward of virtue. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +Miss Hopkins + + +Though Avelyn, as a weekly boarder, was not quite in the innermost heart +of the Silverside clique, she was nevertheless considered one of the +elect. Her room-mates rubbed it into her that she _was_ a boarder, and +as such must be very thankful for her privileges. On the whole, they +treated her rather well. They included her as much as they could in what +fun was going on, helped her to plait her hair, showed her their private +treasures, and shared their occasional boxes of chocolate impartially +round the dormitory. Avelyn felt that she was living two lives: one +began at nine o'clock on Monday morning, and lasted till four on Friday, +and the other occupied the intervening time. Each circled independently +in its own orbit. The school life was quite fascinating and absorbing, +especially now she was getting used to it. It was jolly to sit on the +beds in the dormitory and compare experiences with the other girls. They +generally had something interesting to talk about, especially Irma +Ridley. Irma had an inventive mind, and a keen appetite for romance. She +read every novel she could get hold of, though only a very few, and +those of a strictly classical character, were allowed in the Silverside +library. She had a good memory, was an excellent raconteuse, and would +sit in the gloaming and tell thrilling tales to anybody who was prepared +to listen. To her room-mates she supplied the place of a monthly +magazine of fiction. It was Irma who first started the rumour about Miss +Hopkins. The girls were dressing for supper when she made her amazing +statement. + +"Do you know," she remarked, pausing with her hairbrush in her hand, "I +verily believe that Hopscotch either already is, or is just about to +be--engaged!" + +If Cupid himself had darted in through the window, bow and arrows in +hand, the occupants of the Cowslip Room could not have been more +electrified. + +"What!" + +"Hopscotch?" + +"You're ragging!" + +"It's the limit!" + +Miss Hopkins, the mathematics mistress, had never struck the school as a +likely subject for romance. She was middle-aged, nippy, determined, +brusque, and a disciplinarian. There was a slight burr in her speech, +acquired north of the Tweed, and she had a habit of saying, "Come, come, +girrls!" She had never yet been seen without her pince-nez, and it was a +tradition that she slept in them. In the minds of her pupils she was +indissolubly intertwined with decimals, equations, and problems of +geometry. They connected her with triangles, not hearts, though of +course there was no telling where the little blind god might suddenly +elect to shoot. + +"I'm not ragging!" declared Irma earnestly. "I tell you I really mean +it. What's more, I've seen him!" + +"When?" + +"Where?" + +Irma enjoyed an audience. She sat down on Janet's bed with the pleasant +consciousness that she had gripped her listeners. + +"I went into the study this afternoon to fetch Miss Kennedy's +fountain-pen, and I found Hopscotch there--alone with a gentleman. I'm +afraid I surprised them." + +"Did they look embarrassed?" + +"Well, they both stopped talking, and stared at me while I hunted about +for the pen. _I_ felt embarrassed!" + +"What's he like?" + +"Middle-aged, with a moustache that's growing grey--not bad-looking on +the whole." + +"It would be very suitable," decided the others. + +They were trying to readjust their mental attitude towards Miss Hopkins, +and transfer her from the mathematical plane to the sentimental. To do +so required a wrench, but it was decidedly thrilling. They all suddenly +began to remember symptoms of incipient romance on the part of the +mistress. + +"She wears a locket on her watch-chain. It's probably got his photo +inside," decided Ethelberga. + +"And she always snatches up her letters in a frantic hurry," added Janet +sagely. + +"Has she known him long?" asked Avelyn. + +Irma nodded doubtfully. + +"I should think it's probably quite an old affair. They may have been +boy and girl together." + +"Perhaps they've been separated for years and years, and have only just +cleared up their misunderstandings," suggested Laura. + +"Was he holding her hand?" asked Janet. + +"N--no, I can't say he was holding her hand; but then, you see, I'd +knocked at the door first, and she'd said 'Come in!'" + +"That would give them time," agreed Janet. + +A silence followed, and the girls looked pensively at one another. The +atmosphere seemed charged with romance. The ringing of the first bell +for supper brought them back with a disagreeable thud to reality. They +had not yet changed their dresses, and a wild scramble ensued. Whether a +mistress in the bonds of Cupid would overlook such details as +unpunctuality was an experiment too risky to be tried. They passed on +their information in the course of the evening, and by 11.30 next +morning even the day girls had digested the news. + +Miss Hopkins could not understand the changed attitude which the school +suddenly adopted towards her. There was an undercurrent of something +inexplicable. The girls gazed at her in form with a kind of tender +interest. If she toyed with the locket on her watch-chain, they visibly +thrilled. Once, when she dropped a letter from her pocket, Irma, who +picked it up, actually blushed as she handed it back. When the twelve +gates of Jerusalem were mentioned in the Scripture lesson, Laura Talbot +asked whether a jasper stone was ever used as an engagement ring in +Hebrew times. Being a practical, sensible sort of person, Miss Hopkins +decided that the war--that national bond of union--was bringing her into +closer touch with her pupils. The girls, meanwhile, were discussing a +possible wedding present, and wondering who would be her successor as +mathematical mistress. + +Several of them were already beginning to work little good-bye souvenirs +for her. They hustled them out of the way in a hurry if she chanced to +come into the room. For at least a fortnight nothing happened, and +speculations were rife. + +"Why doesn't she wear an engagement ring?" asked Mona Bardsley. + +"Doesn't want to publish it yet, I suppose," opined Minnie Selburn. + +"Do you think she'll be leaving at Christmas?" + +"One can never tell." + +"Has Tommiekins said anything?" + +"Not a word." + +One Thursday afternoon an event happened. Irma, looking out at the +fifth-form window, watched a masculine form walk up the drive and ring +the front-door bell. She instantly identified him with the stranger whom +she had seen in the study with Miss Hopkins. + +"I knew him again in a moment," she assured the others. "I never forget +faces, and his was unmistakable." + +The flutter among the boarders was immense. It was known that Miss +Hopkins was in the study interviewing the gentleman. Little Daisy +Garratt had been in the first-form room reworking a returned sum, when +the maid had entered and announced: "Mr. Judson is in the study, please, +m'm," and Miss Hopkins had risen immediately from her desk, and told +Daisy she might go, an opportunity of which that round-eyed junior had +instantly availed herself. + +So his name was Judson! It was not highly romantic, indeed it suggested +gold paint; but after all, what's in a name? Everybody decided at once +that he had brought the engagement ring, and that Miss Hopkins, blushing +and conscious, would wear it upon the third finger of her left hand at +tea-time. They began to search about for suitable speeches of +congratulation. Several daring spirits, heedless of conduct marks, hung +about the hall, hoping to catch a glimpse of Mr. Judson as he said +good-bye. There was competition for front places at the windows that +overlooked the steps. Twenty interested pairs of eyes watched his +coat-tails disappear down the drive. There was much speculation as to +why he had not stayed longer, and what he was carrying inside his little +black bag. When Miss Hopkins came in to tea an electric wave of +excitement surged round the room, then broke in disappointment. Her left +hand was ringless. She seated herself in the most matter-of-fact +manner, and began to eat bread and butter and talk about the last air +raid in London. + +Before preparation it had all leaked out. Mr. Judson was traveller for a +large firm of scholastic publishers, and on both occasions he had called +to interview Miss Hopkins about some new arithmetic books. She had +decided that they were suitable, and had ordered copies for the fifth +and sixth forms. That was the whole of the business. In the minds of the +boarders Cupid flew out of the window with a bang. He left blank +desolation behind. + +"Were there only arithmetic books inside that little black bag?" asked +Mona disgustedly. + +"It's too sickening when I'd nearly finished my pin-cushion cover!" +broke out Minnie Selburn. + +"Mine was to be a nightdress case!" lamented Alice Webster. + +The inmates of the Cowslip Room, as originators of the whole romance, +felt particularly flat. In disconsolate spirits they went to bed. It was +not nice to be told by Adah Gartley that they were silly geese, whose +heads were filled with a pack of sentimental rubbish. Their injured +feelings seethed, rallied, and finally bubbled up. + +"There's something disagreeable about Adah!" remarked Janet tartly. + +"It isn't only Adah, it's Joyce and Consie," corrected Laura. + +"They deserve something for their nastiness!" ventured Ethelberga. + +"Something strong!" agreed Avelyn. + +Irma, half undressed, paused in the act of pulling off her stockings, +and made the important suggestion: + +"I say, let's play a trick on the prefects!" + +"What a blossomy idea!" + +"They richly deserve it!" + +"It would be just top-hole!" + +"What could we do?" + +"Ah, that's just the question, my good child!" said Laura, putting a +thoughtful finger to her forehead. "There's an art in ragging. It ought +to be done delicately. We don't want clumsy tricks, such as apple-pie +beds. As for booby traps, they're vulgar and dangerous; I wouldn't soil +my fingers with making one. It must be something that will annoy them, +but not harm them or anybody else. I haven't got a brain wave yet, but +perhaps ideas may come." + +"Suppose we go and reconnoitre," proposed Avelyn. + +"A very jinky notion. We might get an idea on the spot." + +The four prefects slept in the Violet Room at the end of the passage. +They were allowed to sit up later than the rest of the school, and at +this moment were downstairs finishing some preparation. It was an easy +matter, therefore, to visit their quarters. Laura, Irma, Janet, +Ethelberga, and Avelyn made a dash down the passage, turned up the gas, +and began an inspection. The Violet Room was quite the prettiest of the +dormitories; it was also the largest, and had a round table and four +easy chairs with comfortable cushions. The table was spread with a +white cloth, on which were set forth four cups and saucers, a tin of +cocoa, a small basin of sugar, and a plate of biscuits. The prefects +were working overtime for an examination, and were allowed this special +indulgence to refresh their tired brains before they went to bed. They +boiled a tin kettle on a gas ring, and brought it upstairs with them. +They considered their nightly cocoa party one of their greatest +privileges. + +"Looks jolly comfortable!" sniffed Avelyn, regarding the preparations +with envy. + +"It's well to be a prefect!" agreed Janet. + +"Shall we eat the biscuits?" suggested Irma. + +"Certainly not!" replied Ethelberga. + +Laura had taken up the cocoa tin, and was plunged in thought. + +"I've got it!" she announced suddenly. "I don't mean the tin, but an +idea. Wait half a second for me!" + +She dashed back to the Cowslip Room, and was away several minutes. When +she returned, her face beamed triumph. + +"They won't enjoy their cocoa to-night!" she chuckled. "I've mixed two +teaspoonfuls of Gregory's powder with it! It will be a nice little +surprise for them, won't it?" + +"Sophonisba! I should rather think so! I say, let's turn down the gas +and scoot. We shall have Miss Kennedy coming along in a minute." + +The prefects came upstairs at ten o'clock, carrying their kettle. They +retired into their dormitory and shut the door. Two scouts from the +Cowslip Room, arrayed in dressing-gowns and bedroom slippers, presently +tiptoed down the passage, and listened outside. The door was thick, and +denied them the full benefit of the conversation, but they caught such +words as "cheek", "disgusting", and "abominable", so retreated +satisfied. They expected a storm next morning, but, rather to their +surprise, the prefects took no notice of the matter. Adah had decided +that it would be undignified to make a fuss. + +"It will fall flat if we say nothing!" she urged. + +"We'll just jolly well lock up our cocoa tin in future, though!" +announced Consie indignantly. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +Spring-heeled Jack + + +If David Watson had not been notoriously careless and forgetful, the +events which will be narrated in this chapter might never have happened. +He was a bright boy, and well on in his form, but he had occasional +lapses of memory. In one of these he left his Latin dictionary in the +train. Now, if you are on the classical side of a large school, it is +not only a difficult but an impossible matter to get along without a +Latin dictionary of your own. To attempt to prepare your work by +borrowing your neighbour's book is like essaying to live on charity. +David realized this point immediately, and, instead of proceeding home +as usual by the 4.45 train, he turned into the town instead. There was a +second-hand book-stall in the market, which he thought might be worth a +visit. It had been recommended to him by one of the other boys, who +guaranteed the cheapness of its goods. Anthony, who stuck to David like +a Jonathan, went to help him to look. + +"I've just eighteen pence in my pocket," admitted David. "But I may get +one at that. It needn't be a particularly spanky one. Miller got a +ripping atlas last week for one and two. He showed it to me. It only had +Norway and Sweden lost out, and a few of the maps blotted." + +"I can lend you threepence," said Tony, "and you could leave your watch +or your penknife or something, I suppose." + +The market was a large covered hall, containing rows of stalls of all +kinds. The boys heroically resisted the attractions of oranges, +chestnuts, and sweets, and made for the second-hand books. A pile of +these, all jumbled together, were marked: + + BARGAINS. EDUCATIONAL, 1_s._ each. + +David and Anthony began to turn them over and look at them. They were +certainly an assorted lot. There were ancient geographies and grammars +dating back fifty or sixty years, catechisms of Scripture or history, +guides to knowledge, botanical questions, and even an odd volume or two +of sermons. A few of them were older still, and had long "S's" and calf +bindings. Regarded as educational ammunition, they were as antiquated as +flint-lock pistols. The boys rummaged among them for some time in vain, +but, at last, almost from the bottom of the pile, they disinterred a +fairly respectable Latin dictionary. It had lost its back cover and its +title page, but otherwise it seemed intact and clean. David took it to +the old man who presided over the stall, and tendered him a shilling. He +accepted it with reluctance. + +"Didn't know I'd let this slip in among the bargains," he grumbled. +"It's worth two and six if it's worth a penny. It came with a lot of +other books from a good house. Well, I suppose, as it was among the +shillings, you'll have to have it. You may thank your luck I made a +mistake." + +"A bargain's a bargain," said David, as he put the volume into his +satchel. + +Trains to Netherton were not very frequent, and the boys had to wait +some time at the station. They sat down on one of the seats, and David +opened his satchel and took out the Latin dictionary. He agreed with the +old book-stall man that he had got it cheap, and felt decidedly +satisfied with his purchase. As he turned over the leaves, a letter fell +out on to the platform. Anthony picked it up. It was a square envelope +sealed with red wax, and addressed: "To my son, Leonard." + +"Hallo," said Tony, "we've got hold of some chap's letter here!" + +"Great Judkins! So we have!" + +"Whom did the book belong to?" + +David turned to the cover, and there, in rather faded ink, he found +written: + +"George Reynolds, Parkhurst Academy, January, 1858." + +He gave a long-drawn whistle. + +"Here's a bit of stunt," he said. "Shouldn't mind guessing it belonged +to old Squire Reynolds." + +"Pamela's grandfather?" + +"You bet!" + +"Was his name 'George'?" + +"So Ave said. And Pam's father's name was Leonard." + +"Then the letter was for him?" + +"I suppose it was--only he's dead." + +"What'll you do with it, then?" + +"Give it to Pamela." + +"What do you think's inside it?" + +"Don't I wish I knew!" + +"Suppose it's a will?" + +"Exactly my brain wave. Wouldn't it be priceless if it left everything +to Pamela?" + +"And turned old Hockheimer out of The Hall? Rather!" + +"One never knows. I'll put it in my pocket, and give it to Pam to-morrow +morning." + +The Watson boys sometimes overtook Pamela on the road to the station, +and every day they travelled by the same train to Harlingden. They made +a point of meeting her next morning, and David handed her the envelope, +explaining how it came into his possession. + +"I suppose you couldn't open it and see what's inside?" suggested +Anthony. + +Pamela looked doubtfully at the seal. + +"I think I ought to give it to Mother," she said. "I expect she'll show +it to me." + +"Don't let that precious uncle of yours get hold of it, that's all!" +warned David. + +"No, indeed! I'll be careful." + +"You'll tell us what it's about, won't you?" begged Tony the curious. + +"If Mother will let me." + +"Some day, perhaps, you'll be mistress of Lyngates Hall." + +"No such luck!" declared Pamela bitterly. + +Though she might disclaim any expectation of good fortune, the +remembrance of the letter nevertheless haunted Pamela all day long. She +kept feeling in her pocket to see that it was safe. In spite of herself, +bright fairy dreams floated through her mind, and mixed themselves up +with her lessons. Miss Peters had to tell her twice to pay attention. +She missed the explanation of a problem while she imagined herself +living at The Hall and riding a white pony, and got utterly wrong in +geology through planning how her mother should go up to London and buy +new clothes. + +Dream castles are the most delightful of possessions. We build them +according to our own pattern, and live in them as our fancy pleases us. +Those more sober dwellings that fate sends us are never half so +beautiful, though we generally have to put up with them. The day seemed +longer than usual to Pamela. She hurried off at four o'clock, though her +train did not start till 4.45, and she only had to wait at the station. +She did not happen to see the Watson boys, for they ran up so late that +they had to jump into the guard's van, and at Netherton they went into +the booking office to enquire about a lost parcel. + +Pamela walked home at a good pace, though the road was all uphill. Moss +Cottage, the little place which had been lent by Mr. Hockheimer to Mrs. +Reynolds, was not a particularly attractive residence. It was rather +dark and damp, and much shaded by trees. It had no beautiful view, such +as there was at Walden. Its front windows faced the road, and the light +was obstructed by a large "monkey-puzzle". Poor Mrs. Reynolds had made +everything look as nice as she could, and was busying herself in trying +to get the neglected garden back into a state of cultivation. She was +burning weeds when her daughter arrived. Pamela opened the door and +entered the sitting-room, where the table was ready spread for tea. She +took the precious letter from her pocket, and smiling with pleasant +anticipation, put it upon her mother's plate. She would tell her all +about it at tea-time, over the bread and jam. Smelling the burning +weeds, she ran into the garden. Mrs. Reynolds paused in her occupation +of forking fresh fuel on to the bonfire. + +"Is that you, child? Then I'll go in and make the tea. How the evenings +are closing in! It will soon be dark when you get home. I wish you could +be a weekly boarder at school like Avelyn Watson." + +"I don't! I'd far rather come back to you every evening, Mummie." + +"I can't let you walk back from the station alone in the dark. I shall +soon have to begin to come and meet you in the afternoons." + +"Oh, Mummie, it's too far for you! I don't in the least mind walking +alone. Shall I go and shut up the fowls now, or have you done it?" + +"Not yet; so you may run and shut them up while I make the tea." + +"You'll find a big surprise on the table, Mummie darling. Don't touch it +till I come, will you? I'll tell you all about it at tea." + +"Very well," smiled Mrs. Reynolds, who was used to Pamela's little +surprises. + +She was in the act of pouring on the boiling water when there was a rap +at the door, and her brother-in-law entered. Mr. Hockheimer generally +admitted himself in this fashion, without waiting for the door to be +answered--a lack of courtesy which invariably annoyed Mrs. Reynolds. + +"I was passing, so I came for that parcel I left the other day," he +explained. "You put it by in the cupboard, didn't you? Yes, there it is. +I'll take it with me. By the by, have you any paraffin to spare? I +happen to want a little." + +"I have some in the shed outside." + +"Can you give me some in a bottle?" + +"Yes, I'll go and fetch it." + +Mrs. Reynolds placed the teapot to keep hot on the hob and left the +room. Mr. Hockheimer came over to the fire, and stood warming his back +and humming snatches from an opera. Presently his eye caught the letter +on the table. He picked it up, looked narrowly at the handwriting, +turned it over and examined the seal. Then he thought for a moment with +narrowed eyes. Finally he slipped the envelope into his breast pocket, +and, catching up his parcel, made his way outside to the shed. + +"Is that bottle of paraffin ready?" he shouted. "I'm in a hurry, and +can't stay." + +"It's here. I was just looking for a piece of paper to wrap it in," +replied Mrs. Reynolds. "Won't you stop for tea?" + +"Haven't the time to-day. Never mind any paper, I don't want to wait. +The bottle will do well enough in my pocket. I must be off now. +Good-bye!" + +"Good-bye!" returned his sister-in-law, rather relieved at the shortness +of his visit. She washed her hands after pouring out the paraffin, and +came into the sitting-room, Pamela, who had been tidying herself +upstairs, entering at the same moment. + +"I'm glad we've got rid of Uncle!" smiled the latter. "I heard his +voice, and kept out of the way." + +"Naughty child!" + +"Well, Mummie, I can't help it. You know I don't like him. I don't care +if we are dependent on him; what I feel is, that we oughtn't to be. +There, I won't upset you by talking of him. I've something else I want +to tell you. Why, where's the letter?" + +"What letter?" + +"The letter that I put on your plate. Mummie, what have you done with +it?" + +There was an agony of apprehension in Pamela's voice. + +"I haven't seen it, dear," replied Mrs. Reynolds. "Why, yes, I remember +now I did notice a letter lying on the plate when I was making the tea. +I was just going to look at it when your uncle came in. It's certainly +not there now." + +Two red spots mounted to Pamela's cheeks, and her eyes blazed sparks. + +"This is just about the limit!" she exploded. "There's not the least +shadow of a doubt! Uncle Fritz has stolen that letter!" + +While these events were taking place at Moss Cottage, David and Anthony +Watson were walking home from the station. They had lingered at the +booking office, and had loitered on the platform to talk to some +friends, and, when they finally made a start, they determined to take a +path through the woods instead of keeping to the high road. There were +two motives for this decision. In the first place, the woods belonged to +the Lyngates estate, and, though the public had an old-established right +of way, Mr. Hockheimer objected greatly to the foot-path being used, and +had several times vainly tried to close it. The boys felt that they +would cheerfully go out of their way to annoy Mr. Hockheimer. They +almost hoped they might meet him, and, in imagination, stood firmly on +the path, discussing the legal aspect of the matter, and quoting the +ancient county map as their authority. + +There was, however, another reason which led them from the high road. +During the last few days a curious and persistent rumour had circulated +in the neighbourhood as to a "something" that had appeared in the woods. +Whether supernatural or physical nobody knew, but several people +vouched for having seen it. Their stories, allowing a natural margin for +exaggeration, tallied wonderfully. The apparition wore dark clothes and +a black mask, and, instead of walking, careered along in a series of +mighty leaps and bounds. Owing to this extraordinary mode of +progression, it had been nicknamed "Spring-heeled Jack", and its +appearance had excited considerable terror. It was reported to be abroad +at dusk, and to haunt the more lonely portions of the woods. + +David and Anthony, having a thorough boyish love of adventure, thirsted +to get a sight of this mysterious personage. They climbed the hill over +the quarry, therefore, and struck up through the woods, keeping at first +to the foot-path, but they encountered nobody, not even Mr. Hockheimer. +When you are out for excitement, it is disappointing to have a perfectly +tame and uneventful walk. In the thickest part of the wood they paused +with one consent. + +"It's all bunkum about the trespassing! Let's go and explore!" tempted +David. + +"Right you are!" agreed Anthony, succumbing as readily as Eve yielded to +the serpent. + +It was a most interesting wood, with tall trees and smooth glades. It +undulated, and held crags here and there, so that you could never quite +see where you were going. The ground was strewn with acorns and beech +mast and horse-chestnuts, quite worth picking up. The boys wandered for +some little time, enjoying themselves immensely. They had no idea in +what direction they were going till they found themselves on the crest +of the hill. Behind them was the wood, but in front was a range of open +country looking towards the sea. They were standing on a platform of +rock, which shelved sharply down to a patch of gorse and heather. + +"Jolly view here----" began Anthony, but stopped with his sentence +unfinished, for David suddenly gripped his arm and forced him on his +knees behind a bush. Somebody was walking at the foot of the rock, and +one brief glimpse had been sufficient to identify the plump figure and +blond moustache of their arch-enemy, Mr. Hockheimer. It would never do +for him to catch them so far from the foot-path. He might wish to settle +up scores with them. They remembered the gleam in his eye when he had +shaken his fist and said he would not forget. If they waited quietly he +would probably go, and then they would hurry back to the path. + +But instead of going he waited, humming a tune. He was musical and fond +of operatic airs. There were other sounds, too, which the boys could not +understand. They grew curious and wanted to know what he was doing. They +dared not speak, but, agreeing by signs, they both crawled very +cautiously to the edge of the rock, and, concealed by some branches, +peeped over. + +Mr. Hockheimer was exactly below them. He was kneeling on the grass, and +had evidently just untied a parcel. A large bicycle lamp lay on the +paper. In his hand he held a bottle, with the contents of which he +proceeded to fill the lamp. He felt in his pocket for matches, lighted +it, and placed it on a ledge of the rock. The dusk was falling fast, and +its glow shone brightly. From its position on the crest of the hill it +would be visible over miles of country, probably right out to sea. Mr. +Hockheimer hummed in a satisfied voice, as if he were pleased with +himself. He presently lighted a cigar; the fragrant smoke rose upwards +to the boys' nostrils. They could see him with extreme plainness, and +indeed could follow his every movement. He fumbled again in his pocket +and drew out an envelope, holding it in the glow of the lamp so as to +inspect it. David and Anthony gasped, for they recognized in a moment +the letter which they had given to Pamela only that morning. How had she +been so foolish as to allow her uncle to get hold of it? they asked +themselves. They were full of wrath at her stupidity. Mr. Hockheimer +turned over the envelope several times; he looked at the handwriting and +surveyed the seal, then he deliberately tore it open. He drew out a +piece of note-paper and began to read it. The boys, peering through the +brambles above, watched him narrowly, though they could not see the +document well enough to decipher it. Its contents seemed to disturb Mr. +Hockheimer. He said several untranslatable things in the German tongue. +Then he brought out his smart little silver box, hesitated, and struck a +match. The boys were in an agony of mind. He simply must not be allowed +to burn the paper. Sooner than that they would drop from the crag and +try to rescue it. + +The wind had risen and blew out the match. For a moment they breathed +again, but it was only a temporary respite, for he immediately struck +another. He shaded it carefully this time, and, taking the paper, +applied the corner to the flame. + +At that same moment a terrific and unearthly yell sounded in the wood +above. Mr. Hockheimer started and turned, dropping blazing letter and +match to the ground. There was a rustle among the bushes, and with an +enormous bound a dark figure sprang sheer from the rocks on to the +platform of grass, made a grab at the paper, seized it, put out the +fire, and leaped away with it into the gathering dusk of the undergrowth +below. + +It happened with such extraordinary rapidity and suddenness that it was +all over in a flash, and the boys only caught a glimpse of a black mask, +and two long legs that hopped with the agility of a spider-monkey. +Considerably scared, they crept back from their position of vantage, +and, rushing through the darkening wood, managed to regain the pathway. +It was not till they had finally crossed the stile and got into the high +road that they began to compare notes. + +"Well! We've seen it!" ejaculated David meaningly. + +"What is it?" whispered Anthony in awestruck tones. "Teddy Jones says +it's Old Nick himself. It was terrible when it yelled!" + +"Those legs were human," maintained David. "I can't guess who it is, or +how he manages to jump like that, but I bet he's not a spook." + +Anthony, who inclined to the supernatural theory of the apparition, +shook his head doubtfully. + +"Spook or not, he's no friend to old Hockheimer," added David. + +"He's taken the letter--what was left of it." + +"Only a bit was burnt." + +"I wonder what was in it?" + +"Something that Hun wanted safely out of the way." + +"It must be Squire Reynolds's will!" + +"Well, Spring-heeled Jack's got it, at any rate, and whether he'll ever +turn it up again is the question. If we could find out who he is we +might get on the track of it." + +"We'll try, for Pamela's sake--though she's a bally idiot to let her +uncle take that letter!" + +"It strikes me we've got on the track of something else to-night," +continued David. "Did you notice that lamp?" + +"Yes, I did." + +"And where he stuck it?" + +"Rather!" + +"The light would shine right out to sea." + +"And aeroplanes could see it too, from there." + +"I've always suspected old Hockheimer. He ought to have been interned +long ago. I can't think why they let him be at large. The Government's +very lax with these Germans. If I were in Parliament I'd clear out the +whole set of them." + +Anthony drew a long breath. + +"We must watch him. Don't say too much to Pamela, in case the silly +goose blabs. Shall we tell her what we've seen to-night?" + +"On the whole I think we'd better not. She hates him, and yet perhaps +she might not altogether want to get him into trouble. We'll go +cautiously, and hunt about, and see what more we can find out." + +For a few days the boys purposely avoided Pamela, and she, on her part, +did not seek speech with them. She was intensely chagrined at the loss +of the letter, and did not like to acknowledge the humiliating fact to +them. She searched everywhere in the cottage, in case the wind might +have blown it from the table on to the floor, but it was not +forthcoming. Her mother vetoed the suggestion that Mr. Hockheimer had +taken it. + +"Surely, dear, he would never be so dishonourable! You must have put it +somewhere yourself." + +"But, Mummie, I know I didn't. And you said yourself that you saw it on +the table." + +"It's very mysterious," sighed Mrs. Reynolds. "We might ask your uncle +next time he comes if he took it by mistake." + +"He'd only deny it." + +"Pamela, you misjudge him." + +"I hate him, Mummie; he bullies us both." + +"We're entirely dependent on him, remember. He gives us the whole of our +little income, and pays your school bills. We mustn't quarrel with our +bread and butter. What should we do if he were to turn us out?" + +"I don't know. I sometimes think I'd rather be a crossing-sweeper than +take his money. Oh, life's horrid, and I hate it all! I wish we'd stayed +in Canada, and never come to England. Wait till I'm a little older, +Mummie, and I'll get a post as teacher, and work for you. I wish I were +twenty-one!" + +"That's many years off, child, and in the meantime you've to get your +education. You must be civil to your uncle, Pamela." + +"I will, on the outside, but I can't help my feelings inside. They're +boiling!" demurred Pamela, rather defiantly, scrubbing the corners of +her eyes with her handkerchief, and settling down to her lesson books. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +Concerns Day Girls + + +The Silverside boarders had what might perhaps be termed rather +"genteel" hockey practices on Saturday afternoons. They played +half-heartedly. They were not extremely keen, and they gleefully put off +play in favour of a walk or of the cinema. Isobel even broached the +suggestion that hockey was a rough game, but that was when she was +suffering from the effects of an ugly whack across the shins, and her +opinion was naturally biased. Consie's tastes were all for quiet, and +she would have spent her holidays over a book if she had not been +forcibly dragged out. Joyce would have preferred a dancing class on +Saturday afternoons. + +In the meanwhile the day-girls' hockey club prospered exceedingly. They +had secured their old field, and had made fixtures with several other +clubs. Their elation over their successes did not tend to promote the +unity of Silverside. The school seemed more divided than ever. + +In November came the Sale of Work. It was an annual affair held in aid +of a Children's Home, and the Silverside girls worked the whole year +beforehand for it. They considered it a great event. People in +Harlingden were kind in coming to buy, and generally quite a nice little +sum was cleared. As the time drew near, Adah began to make preparations. + +"Will anyone who has contributions kindly bring them to me by the end of +the week?" she announced one day at "break". + +"Why should we bring them to _you_?" asked Annie Broadside, with a glint +of battle in her blue eyes. + +Adah's manner at once stiffened into the peculiar mixture of firmness +and patronage which she deemed it desirable to adopt towards day girls. + +"Why? What a question to ask! So that they can be put on the stall, of +course." + +"Thanks! But we'd rather arrange them for ourselves." + +"You can't do that. The boarders always arrange the bazaar." + +"But why, when _we_ make the things, should _you_ take them all and +arrange them? They're not _your_ work!" + +Annie certainly had a most aggravating habit of asking questions. Adah +coloured with annoyance. + +"I'm a prefect, you see!" she shuffled. + +"There were no prefects last year, and you quote what you've always done +as your authority." + +"Well, really, the few things the day girls have brought have never +mattered much before. I'll keep a space for you, if you're so +particular, and you can arrange them as you like, as long as you don't +spoil the general look of the stall," conceded Adah, with a show of +magnanimity. + +"Thanks _so_ much, your Majesty! It's really most kind of you to keep a +little room for our poor contribution!" curtsied Annie, with mock +gratitude. + +When the prefect's back was turned, she fizzed over to a sympathetic and +outraged circle. Adah's disdainful condescension was more than could be +brooked. + +"The boarders have always had _the_ stall, and the day girls have humbly +helped!" said Gladys witheringly. + +"How delightful for us!" + +"They're to be the patricians, and we the plebeians!" + +"They expect us to dust their very boots!" + +"Look here," said Annie, "things are really getting beyond the limit. I +vote we get up a deputation, and go to Miss Thompson about this." + +"What a brain wave!" + +Miss Thompson listened, attentive and rather astonished, while the +deputation, very shy and red-faced, blurted out their request. She +tapped her desk thoughtfully with her fountain-pen, as if some new and +disturbing idea had suddenly risen on her horizon. + +"Certainly there will be ample room for two stalls, and if the day girls +want to have one to themselves, I can see no objection. Arrange it just +as you like, and bring your own decorations. Yes, you may have a variety +entertainment in one of the schoolrooms, and charge admission, if you +wish. It will make extra money." + +"You'll excuse our coming and asking?" apologized Gladys. + +"I'm always ready to hear you, and to make any concessions that are for +the good of the school," replied Miss Thompson, gazing at the delegates +as if they provided her with considerable food for thought. + +The deputation departed, feeling that they had scored their first real +triumph. + +"Look here!" preached Annie to the Hawthorners, "we've just got to brace +up. The boarders may put what they like on their stall, but our stall is +going to be bigger and handsomer, and have far prettier things, and take +ever so much more money than theirs. Every single girl of you has got to +do her bit. There must be no slackers over this business." + +The motive--if not strictly in accordance with the best +morality--appealed to the day girls. They responded gallantly, and set +all their home-folks working for the bazaar, as well as doing what they +could in their own spare time. They kept their activities strictly +secret from the ears of the boarders, but in private they compared notes +and rejoiced. + +"The new Lady Mayoress is to open the sale," announced Gladys one day. + +"Mrs. Parker? Why, surely she's aunt to little Violet Parker, isn't +she?" + +"Of course she is." + +"I'm going to get hold of Violet and be decent to her," nodded Annie +sagely. "She's a sweet kid. I see possibilities through Violet. By the +by, can you find me a copy of the Harlingden city arms?" + +"It's a lion holding a broken chain. I saw it on a letter of Father's +the other day. I can easily get it for you." + +"Thanks! I've got a blossomy idea." + +The day of the bazaar was to be a whole holiday. The large schoolroom +was reserved for the sale, and the stalls were put up first thing in the +morning. The day girls had elected a committee of management, and six of +their number came to arrange their part of the fancy fair. They brought +flags, draperies, flowers, and pots of plants, and set to work to +decorate their stall. In the course of about half an hour it began to +look a most artistic production. The boarders, busy setting out their +wares at the other end of the room, cast surreptitious glances at it. It +was a humiliating fact for them, but they were forced to acknowledge +that it far surpassed their own efforts. They had never thought of a +canopy of white and gold, with a border of autumn leaves, or of +borrowing maidenhair ferns and forced Roman hyacinths. + +But the decorations were only the beginning of the day girls' triumph. +Their committee soon began to unpack boxes and spread out goods, most +beautiful work of every description, which left their rivals gasping. +The day girls, living at home, had really had a much better opportunity +of asking their friends to help, and had made a very special effort. + +Gertrude Howells's cousin had contributed various dainty articles in +poker work; Lucy Smith's elder sister, who was learning jewellery work +at the School of Art, sent some most artistic little silver brooches and +chains made by her own hands. Iris Harden's aunt gave Venetian beads and +foreign curiosities; Monica Golding's family had plaited raffia baskets +in barbaric, but most effective combinations of colour. Maggie Stuart +caused a sensation by producing little boxes of delicious toffee--yes, +real home-made toothsome toffee, in spite of the sugar rationing! + +The boarders went on with their own preparations, and pretended not to +take much notice, but really the spirit was knocked out of them. They +had never expected the day girls to rise to such heights. They dressed +rather quietly for the festivities that afternoon. + +The sale was to open early, and at half-past two Miss Thompson, in her +best voile dress, and with her most affable company manner, was +welcoming the Lady Mayoress, a smiling, florid, rather flurried +personage in velvet and rich furs, who had another function at half-past +three, and wanted to get away as soon as was politely possible. + +"So kind of you to ask me," she fluttered. "I'm really interested in +schools--and education, you know. I'm afraid I'm not much of a speaker, +but--oh, yes, I'll just say a few words to open the sale. Kind? Not at +all. It's a great pleasure to me to come, I assure you." + +The poor Lady Mayoress was new to her work, and palpably shy. Perhaps +she thought a crowd of schoolgirls an embarrassing audience. She hummed +and hawed and stammered a little in her speech, and glanced several +times at a piece of paper concealed behind her muff, but she +nevertheless managed to say something appropriate about the object of +the bazaar, and to wish it success. + +"I am very pleased to declare the Sale of Work open," she concluded with +a sort of gasp, as if thankful that her duty was done, and smiled +nervously at Miss Thompson, whose convex eyeglasses had been fixed upon +her with appreciation during the speech. + +"Perhaps you would like to look at the work now," murmured the +Principal. + +"Oh, certainly! I'd _love_ to see it. What pretty things!" + +And the Lady Mayoress, though she was standing within two feet of Adah +Gartley and Consie Arkwright, actually turned her back on the boarders +and made for the day girls' stall! Her eyes were fixed upon the central +object displayed there, a satin cushion with the city arms embroidered +upon it. She examined it with admiration. + +"So beautifully done! And the colours are so effective! It will just +match my drawing-room. I shall be delighted to have it. How clever your +girls are, Miss Thompson! I suppose these are the prefects," smiling +graciously at Annie Broadside and Gladys Wilks. "My little niece tells +me about the school. She's so happy here." + +"These are not our prefects," demurred Miss Thompson. "They are at the +boarders' stall. Perhaps you would like to look at some of their work, +too." + +"Oh, with pleasure! Though I can't stay more than a minute. It's so +tiresome; I have another engagement, and mustn't be late. But I've time +for just a look, at any rate. Yes, the things are charming; they do the +girls credit, I'm sure! May I have this tray cloth and this tea cosy? +I'm so sorry to rush away, but I really must say good-bye." + +The Lady Mayoress departed, feeling no doubt that she had successfully +accomplished a civic and social duty, and quite unaware of the storm she +had left behind. The boarders were staring at their prefects in shocked +sympathy. The whole business seemed almost incredible. That they, the +old-established original Silversiders, who had always in former years +run the sale of work, should be overlooked and passed over in favour of +mere upstart day girls, was little short of an insult to the school. + +"She never even said 'How d'you do?' to Adah, and she shook hands with +Annie!" gasped Ethelberga to Janet. + +"And she spent three times as much at their stall as at ours!" + +"It's a shame!" + +The boarders felt that the afternoon had opened badly, and subsequent +events did not tend to soothe their outraged feelings. Nearly all the +day girls had invited relations or friends, who naturally went first to +their stall to buy, with the result that the pretty things soon began to +be cleared, and the money-box to grow heavy. Miss Thompson, anxious to +preserve a due balance in affairs, did her best by taking her own +special visitors to buy from the disconsolate prefects, and the +mistresses also nobly purchased many totally undesirable articles, for +which they would find no possible use. If it had not been for this help, +the boarders' stall would have had a poor innings. As it was, they +barely scored one-third of the whole proceeds of the sale. + +The Principal, in a pretty little speech next morning at nine o'clock, +spoke of the very gratifying results of the happy spirit of unity in a +school where all worked together for a good object, and the pleasure of +being able to send such a large cheque to the Children's Home. Adah, +with her eyes fixed on the bows of her shoes, listened grimly. It was +all nice enough, she thought, for head mistresses to make soothing +speeches, but boarders and day girls knew perfectly well that the +welding of rival factions at Silverside would not be accomplished yet a +while. + +Quite apart from the warring of opposite parties, there seemed to be an +element of unrest in the school. Formerly the boarders had been quite +content to spend the leisure of their evenings at sewing, games, or over +some of their numerous guilds. Now, incited by the accounts of the day +girls, they were always asking to be taken in to Harlingden to concerts +or picture palaces. Miss Thompson considered that such expeditions upset +their preparation, and only allowed a very occasional outing. It was +irritating to the boarders to hear the day girls discussing various +entertainments, and to be openly pitied because they could not attend +them. The Cowslip Room in particular grumbled privately. + +"We never go to anything!" + +"Life's just a round of lessons!" + +"There's the most gorgeous thing on at the cinema this week." + +"I'd give my ears to see it!" + +"It's not our turn this week." + +"Strafe the wretched old turns!" + +Miss Thompson, in her efforts to avoid too much dissipation, had +established a new rule, by which the dormitories in regular sequence +were allowed leave. Every Wednesday afternoon certain little parties of +boarders trotted off to the town under escort of a governess, doing +shopping and often visiting a _matinée_. No girl might go without +showing an exeat signed by the Principal. The chaperon-mistress was +expected to examine and file these permits before marshalling her flock. + +On this particular Wednesday, Laura, Janet, Irma, and Ethelberga had set +their hearts on seeing "The Temple Bells" at the cinema. The fact that +they had duly had their turn a fortnight before, and had witnessed a +wildly exciting performance of "Love and War in the East", only made +them keener for more thrills. When Avelyn, a little tired of the +general atmosphere of lamentation, suggested palliating circumstances, +their wrath blazed out in her direction. + +"It's all very well for _you_ to talk!" + +"You can go on Friday evening or Saturday, if you like." + +"You're half a day girl, after all!" + +"You don't really sympathize with _us_!" + +"All right! Don't get baity! As a matter of fact, I never come in to +Harlingden on Saturdays, so you've no need to envy me!" + +"Envy you! Envy a _weekly_ boarder!" sneered Laura, with a whole world +of condescension in her voice. "My dear child, I think you really don't +understand what you're talking about! After all, you've only been at +Silverside two months!" + +It is not a particularly pleasant matter to find the public opinion of +your dormitory dead against you. You are apt to get awkward knocks in +consequence. Avelyn put up with some very withering remarks that Tuesday +evening, and consequently felt sore. + +"They're absolute blighters to-day," she thought. "I wish I could play a +rag on them! It would just serve them jolly well right!" + + + + +CHAPTER X + +Mischief + + +Avelyn, I regret to say, was no ideal heroine of fiction, but a +particularly human girl, with a strong spice of mischief in her +composition. She considered that she owed her room-mates a grudge, and +she cast about for a suitable opportunity of paying the debt. As it +happened, fortune favoured her. Miss Kennedy sent her to the study to +fetch a book that was required. She knocked at the door, and as nobody +answered she turned the handle and went in. The room was empty. She +found Volume III of the _Encyclopædia Britannica_, and as she turned +from the bookcase she cast an eye on Miss Thompson's desk. It was spread +with papers, and in front, just beside the inkpot, was a whole pile of +exeat forms. They were little printed sheets bearing the words: + + SILVERSIDE + + _I hereby certify that..............................is allowed + leave of absence for the afternoon._ + + _Signed............................._ + + _Date..............................._ + +When a girl visited the town, she was given one of these forms, duly +filled in by the Principal, without whose signature it was not valid. +The system, perhaps, savoured of red tape, but it saved the mistresses +the trouble of enquiring from head-quarters who were to compose their +parties. Avelyn looked critically and covetously at the exeats. Each +represented so much fun to one girl. A sudden idea struck her. She +laughed aloud at the thought of it, and yielding to the impulse, counted +out four of the forms, and popped them into her pocket. Then she fled +back to the waiting Miss Kennedy with Volume III of the _Encyclopædia +Britannica_. + +Wednesday afternoons at Silverside were chiefly devoted to optional +subjects. The violin master came to give lessons, and several girls +whose spines were suspected of symptoms of crookedness, did special +physical exercises under the eye of a gymnastic teacher. The elocution +pupils met in the Sixth Form room, and learned to recite Shakespeare, +while those who were taking oil-painting wended their way to the studio. +Those unfortunates whose parents did not rise to "extras" were herded +together in the dining-room, regardless of forms, and did plain sewing +or printing. A band of privileged boarders, under guardianship of a +mistress, started at 2.30 for the dissipations of the city. Now at 2.15 +Avelyn was due for her music lesson. She put her pieces and studies into +her case, washed her hands carefully, retied her hair ribbon, scented +her pocket-handkerchief, and sauntered down the corridor. She paused for +a moment at the door of the Fifth Form room, then entered. Laura Talbot +was sitting disconsolately on one of the desks, girding at life to a +sympathetic audience. Avelyn thrust the four exeat forms into her hand, +and remarked: + +"For the Cowslip Room! And I've got to go to my music lesson! Isn't it +hard luck! Ta-ta! I'm late as it is, and Mr. Harrison gets baity if he's +kept waiting." + +Laura stared at the forms for a moment, utterly staggered, then +incomprehension changed to joy, and she jumped from the desk. + +"Irma! Janet! Ethelberga! We've got exeats! Oh, jubilate! Scurry quick +and get ready! We've only just time to change our things. Oh, I say! To +think of seeing 'The Temple Bells' after all!" + +An agitated ten minutes followed, in which the four girls almost tumbled +over one another in the hurry of making their toilets. Laura put on her +best hat and birthday furs, Ethelberga sported a bracelet, Irma, after +foraging at the back of her top drawer, was distinctly seen to abstract +a powder puff and apply it to the tip of her nose, Janet tried to coax +her fingers into new gloves a quarter of a size too small, there was an +unlocking of cashboxes and a taking out of money. At the eleventh hour +they sped down the stairs into the hall. The little party of elect were +drawn up ready to go, and only waiting for Miss Peters. That lady had +been impeded in her dressing, and consequently came hurrying up, very +much flustered. + +She was a gentle, fair-haired, middle-aged, depressed little person, +who had been pitchforked into teaching against her will. Her weak point +was discipline, and the girls knew it, and took base advantage. Now, +instead of forming an orderly crocodile, they clustered round her, +clamouring all sorts of requests for things they wanted to do in town. + +"If there's time! Dear me, I don't know! I can't promise anything! It +will all depend!" replied the harassed mistress. + +She collected the exeats and counted them automatically. In her flurry +she never noticed that four of them were not filled in with names or +signed. Laura had handed them to her without herself noticing the +omission. There was nobody to rectify the mistake, so the four +room-mates, in most exuberant spirits, started in the crocodile for +Harlingden. They accomplished a few purchases in the town, but poor Miss +Peters found it so difficult to keep her flock together, that she was +forced to abandon the shops, and suggested the cinema. She considered +her rôle of duenna anything but an enviable position, and would +willingly, that afternoon, have exchanged jobs with a charwoman. She +breathed more freely when she had piloted her lively young charges up +the stairs at the picture palace, and ensconced them in a giggling +double row in the balcony. For a blissful hour and a half they would be +out of mischief, with eyes fixed only on the marvellous scenes from +India. + +Meantime, while Laura, Irma, Janet, and Ethelberga were staring +fascinated at the bewildering East, following the heroine through a +series of dazzling adventures, things at Silverside were taking a +prosaic and totally different turn. It happened that Irma and Janet, +whose French recitations that morning had been a dismal failure, were +due in the Fourth Form room that afternoon to say their returned poetry +lesson to Mademoiselle. She waited a quarter of an hour for them, then, +as they did not turn up, she instituted enquiries. Several reliable +witnesses informed her that they had been seen (and envied) departing +with the crocodile for Harlingden. Mademoiselle's temper was naturally +peppery, and under such provocation as this she burst forth in great +indignation: + +"What! Go out to pleasure when I tell them to come and say lessons to +me! It is what you call the limit! Of what use to try to teach, if they +are to do only what they like? I go straight to tell Miss Thompson!" + +Mademoiselle was brimming over with wrath, and poured out her complaints +vehemently in the study. The Principal's lips tightened as she listened. + +"I did not give exeats to Janet and Irma. This shall be enquired into, +Mademoiselle," she replied. + +Miss Thompson meant what she said. When the crocodile returned from +Harlingden, she was waiting in the hall, and ordered Laura, Irma, Janet, +and Ethelberga to report themselves in her study. The scene which +followed was short and stormy. The girls, whose minds had scarcely yet +become detached from Indian jungles and Hindoo palaces, were suddenly +accused of having played truant. They denied _in toto_, pleading that +they had exeats. + +"Where did you get these exeats?" demanded Miss Thompson sternly. + +"They were handed to us in the schoolroom." + +"By whom?" + +With one consent the girls hesitated. They did not wish to throw the +blame upon Avelyn. + +"You refuse to tell me?" said the Principal. "Very well, you may go to +the First Form room, where your tea will be sent to you. I shall sift +the matter thoroughly after preparation. It is disgraceful that such a +thing should happen at Silverside." + +When preparation was over that evening, the boarders were ordered to +assemble in the big schoolroom. They went in much astonishment, +wondering for what reason they were thus summoned. A whisper got about +that four girls were in trouble, but on what exact count nobody seemed +to know. + +They had scarcely taken their places when Miss Thompson entered. She +looked worried and serious. A decorous silence pervaded the room. +Everyone was alert with expectation and intense interest. There was a +sensation as when thunder is in the air. After an impressive pause, the +Principal, standing so that her eyes scanned all the faces fronting her, +stated the case briefly. + +"A thing has occurred to-day which has never happened here before. Four +girls went into Harlingden without leave. They tell me that they were +handed exeats by a schoolfellow, and believed that they had my +permission for the holiday. I have examined the exeats that were given +in to Miss Peters, and find that four of them are unsigned. I can only +conclude that somebody must have taken these exeats from my study. I +intend to find out who that person is. Can anybody give any information +on the subject?" + +There was absolute stillness in the room. Every girl looked at her +neighbour. Avelyn sat as if petrified. Until that moment it had never +struck her that her practical joke might have any serious issue. She had +not expected her room-mates to believe that the exeats were genuine. She +thought that when they looked at them they would notice at once that +they were unsigned, and therefore not valid. It was incredible that Miss +Peters should also have accepted them. What was intended for a piece of +silly fun had assumed the aspect of a very grave fault. + +"I will ask Miss Peters to tell us what she knows," said Miss Thompson, +turning to the mistress. + +Miss Peters, much worried and embarrassed, could only state that she had +counted the exeats, which tallied with the number of girls she had taken +in to town. In her hurry she had not examined every paper, and could not +say whether they were signed or not. It was an unpleasant situation for +the poor governess. She was conscious that she had been slack in the +performance of her duties, and that it was owing to her negligence that +the affair had been possible. Though the Principal did not openly blame +her, she felt that she stood reproved before the school. Laura, Janet, +Irma, and Ethelberga sat overwhelmed and injured, but stubbornly +determined not to betray their room-mate. They felt that they would +rather take the blame themselves than sneak. + +"I give you all one last chance," said Miss Thompson. "Can any girl +throw a light on this unfortunate affair?" + +The head mistress spoke clearly and slowly. Her glance passed along row +after row of young faces, as if she would read their very souls. A +minute of ghastly quiet followed, a horrible minute that seemed as long +as a year. Then Avelyn rose. She was very pale, and stood erect with her +head thrown a little back. + +"I think I can clear it up, Miss Thompson," she answered, in a voice +that was steady, but full of suppressed emotion. "It was I who gave out +those exeats." + +"_You_, Avelyn Watson! And on what authority? From where did you get +them?" + +"From your study table." + +"_From my study table!_" repeated Miss Thompson, her manner growing +still more grave. "What were you doing in my study?" + +Avelyn was thoroughly ashamed of herself, but she did not hesitate. + +"I was sent to fetch a book. I saw the exeats lying on the table, and I +took four of them to give to the girls. I meant it as a joke. I did not +think they would believe they were real ones." + +A murmur of amazement, almost a laugh, circulated through the room. Miss +Thompson checked it sternly. + +"Do you understand, Avelyn Watson, what a liberty you have taken? You +were sent into my study for a certain purpose, and you took advantage of +the privilege of entering my room to peruse the papers on my desk, and +to steal--yes, I use the word deliberately--to _steal_ some of them. I +don't know how you view such conduct, but at Silverside we consider it +utterly unworthy of a lady. You owe me an instant apology." + +Avelyn writhed under her mistress's scathing words. "I'm very sorry, +Miss Thompson. I never thought of it as anything but a joke. I apologize +most sincerely. I didn't mean to get anybody into trouble." + +The Principal looked searchingly at Avelyn. + +"You have been guilty of a very grave breach of discipline," she +replied. "I accept your apology because you have spoken up and +confessed, but I cannot let such an episode go unpunished. Until you +return home on Friday afternoon you are not to speak to a single girl in +the school. You will attend classes as usual, but you will take your +meals in the studio, and will sit alone there during recreation hours. +You are also prohibited from writing any letters, or taking any books +from the library. You may spend your time upon your lessons. Go to the +studio now, and your supper will be brought to you. I put every girl on +her honour not to speak or write to Avelyn Watson until next Monday." + +Avelyn walked out of the room quite steadily, but with downcast eyes. +She had the feeling of one who has fallen suddenly into a pit. It was a +horrible experience to be there arraigned, tried, and found guilty +before all her companions. Miss Thompson's sarcastic comments hurt her +more than the punishment. She spent the rest of the evening alone in the +studio, and was left there half an hour beyond her usual bedtime. When +she went at last to her own dormitory the other girls were in bed, and +feigned to be asleep. Miss Kennedy came in first thing in the morning, +and told her that she must dress in the bath-room. All day long her +"Coventry" was preserved. The girls, indeed, cast surreptitious glances +of sympathy at her, but they were on their honour not to speak or write, +and they did not break their word. It was a hard penance to sit by +herself, without even a story-book to amuse her. She felt specially +lonely after four o'clock, when she knew her friends would be laughing +and chatting together round the fire, and perhaps roasting chestnuts. + +The studio was not a particularly cheerful room for solitary +confinement. As the dusk closed in, the casts loomed like white ghosts +from the corners, and she could almost fancy that the eyes of the +plaster Venus deliberately winked at her. She had no matches, and nobody +came in to light the gas. She had not even the satisfaction of a fire to +poke, for the studio was heated with hot-water pipes. She did not +expect her tea to be brought to her before 5.30. + +"If I weren't going home to-morrow I don't know what I should do," she +thought. "Thank goodness I'm only a weekly boarder! I do think they +might have come and lit the gas." + +The room was getting more and more dim, and Avelyn's spirits fell in +exact ratio. She was beginning to feel an almost superstitious horror of +the plaster Venus. Suppose it were to come to life, like Pygmalion's +statue of Galatea? The bare fancy gave her shivers, and a sudden sound +made her turn with a start. It was nothing less than an unmistakable tap +on the outside of the window. Avelyn's nerves were strung at highest +pitch. She almost screamed aloud. Peering in through the darkness was a +face. She forced herself to approach and look, and with a revulsion of +feeling recognized the enquiring countenance of her brother David, with +his freckled nose pressed flat against the glass. He tapped again, and +she opened the window. + +"Dave! You mascot! How did you get here?" + +"Climbed up the spout!" chuckled David. "It was quite easy. Move out of +the way! I'm coming in." + +He dropped inside the room, then turning to the window again, gave a +soft whistle. + +"Tony's down below," he explained, "and he'll swarm up too, now I've +given him the signal. I'll just lend him a hand over that last piece of +coping. Here he is! Come on, old chap! We've struck the right shanty +after all. Told you you might trust your grandfather!" + +Anthony made his appearance with equal caution. His round face was +wreathed in delighted smiles. + +"It was a little difficult to fix exactly _which_ window," he +volunteered. + +"But how did you know I was here?" asked Avelyn ecstatically. + +"We met Pamela at the station, and she told us all about it. So, instead +of going home by the 4.45, we thought we'd come up and see how you were +getting on." + +"We made Pam describe which room you were in," added David. "I say, it's +a bit of beastly bad luck for you! Pretty stiff, I call it, to be shut +up here!" + +"It's too ghastly for words!" + +"Cheer oh! We've brought you something. Look!" David felt in his pocket, +and produced a paper bag full of toffee and a copy of _Tit Bits_. "It'll +do to read. We'd have got you more, only we didn't happen to have much +money with us." + +"It was lucky we met Pam before we got into the train," commented +Anthony. "We were earlier than usual at the station to-day. As a rule we +tear up at the last moment." + +"It was ripping of you to come!" + +"Well, we couldn't desert you, old sport, at such a pinch." + +"I don't believe anyone could have such decent brothers." Avelyn gazed +at him through the gathering darkness with admiration. + +At that moment a tread of footsteps and a rattle of crockery sounded in +the passage. + +"Goody! It's my tea coming!" she gasped. + +There was not time for the boys to make their exit through the window. +While the door handle was turning they fled to what cover they could +find. David took shelter behind the pedestal of Apollo, and Anthony +crouched in a corner among some drawing boards. Fortunately it was Miss +Dickens who entered, and Miss Dickens was short-sighted. + +"Take this tray from me, Avelyn," she commanded. "Dear me, you're all in +the dark here! Has nobody been to light the gas yet?" + +"No, Miss Dickens." + +"I must fetch some matches, then. Be careful not to upset that tray as +you put it down." + +The second her back was turned the boys flew to the window, and, +dropping out one after the other, made their way safely down the spout +into the garden below, whence they waved parting salutations, and +retreated with all speed. Avelyn had just time to hide the toffee and +the _Tit Bits_ before Miss Dickens returned with the matches and lit the +gas. She assumed an air of appropriate subjection and melancholy before +her mistress, which at the moment she certainly did not experience. + +Until four o'clock on Friday her punishment continued. Not a single word +was exchanged between herself and her schoolfellows. She had never felt +so glad to go home. The week-end made a break, and when she returned to +school on Monday she found herself apparently forgiven at head-quarters, +and no more a black sheep, but an ordinary member of society. Her +room-mates' attitude was a mixture of admiration and gratitude. + +"You're the limit, Ave!" said Irma. + +"I'd never have thought of it myself," admitted Janet. + +"It was such a topping idea!" chuckled Laura. + +"And we all got just the very time of our lives at 'The Temple Bells', +thanks to you!" added Ethelberga. + +"But I never intended it for anything but a joke!" protested Avelyn. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +Moss Cottage + + +Though Avelyn was happy enough as a boarder at Silverside, the real +focus and centre of her life lay at Walden. The little house, with its +romantic surroundings, had touched a very deep chord in her nature. Home +had been dear in Harlingden because it was home, but now it was a magic +spot, a palace of fairy dreams, a place where new and hitherto +undreamed-of interests and ideals had suddenly leaped into being. The +glamour of it seemed to begin when she stepped out of the train at +Netherton on Friday afternoons and started on her walk to Lyngates. +Different neighbourhoods seem to have different scents. This one smelled +of lichens and green ferns, and moist, warm, rain-splashed earth, a +half-pungent odour that she got used to directly, but which struck her +afresh each time as she returned to it. Every inch of the road had grown +dear to her, and she would welcome each clump of ferns or gurgling reach +of stream as if she were greeting old friends. After five days in the +prosaic, matter-of-fact, workaday, self-contained little world of +school, her week-ends seemed to belong to a different planet. + +Avelyn was a girl who loved sometimes to be quite alone. She had a +favourite seat on the orchard wall among the ivy, where she would curl +herself up with her back against an apple tree and watch the landscape +below. So changeful and wonderful were the effects of storm and sunshine +over this valley, that it never looked for one half-hour the same. +Sometimes there would be sunrise tints of rose and violet, sometimes a +soft yellow haze, sometimes storm-clouds would roll from end to end, or +perhaps a magnificent rainbow would span the gorge like an ethereal +bridge, or, grander still, the lightning would flash its wicked forks +over the hills from summit to base, gleaming against a background of +inky darkness. + +The very air at Walden seemed softer than at Harlingden. It was a mild +autumn; leaves lingered long on the trees and made the woods gorgeous, +and traveller's-joy hung in exuberant masses over the hedgerows, like a +soft silver cloud trying to veil the growing bareness beneath. + +One Saturday early in December Avelyn started off to see Pamela. It was +some distance to Moss Cottage, and, instead of walking by the high road, +she meant to take a path that led up the gorge and across the hill. It +was a glorious morning; a grey wind-swept sky showed, here and there, +bright patches of blue between the masses of heavy clouds that were +rolling down from the hill-tops like smoke from a cauldron, and fitful +gleams of sunshine, bursting out in wonderful brilliance, made +marvellous effects of light and shadow. The river, winding slowly +through the marsh lands, was now vivid blue, now inky purple, as it +reflected the clouds or the sunshine; a mass of larch-clad hill-side +showed dark in contrast to the red of the ploughed field on its summit, +which was catching the light descending in rays from one bright patch +above. In a few moments all had changed: the larches were tipped with +gold, the marsh lands were purest emerald, and the hills veiled in filmy +mists floating like threads of gossamer down the slopes. Avelyn turned +from this wide prospect and plunged up the glen, with her face towards +the hill whence the mist was rolling. Ages ago a glacier must have +slidden down there, and left its mark on the huge boulders which lay +scattered everywhere around. Over this rough bed a stream, swollen by +days of incessant rain, thundered along, its brown, peat-stained waters +churned to the whitest spray as it forced its way in leaping cataracts +over the rocks. Stepping-stones, which could be easily crossed in July, +were deep under feet of foam, and the lower boughs of the trees were +washed and swayed by the flood. It was so sheltered that the gale, which +had stripped the leaves on the hill-side above, had spared enough here +to tint the gorge with gold and brown. Some of the oaks were still +green; a birch displayed the purest Naples yellow; low-growing mountain +ashes and alders had kept their summer clothing intact, and the thick +undergrowth of briar and bramble was verdant as ever. Even more +beautiful, perhaps, were the bare boughs of the hazel copse, the +exquisite tender shades of which were such a subtle blending of purples +and greys as to defy the most cunning brush that artist ever wielded, +and, contrasted with an occasional pine, or holly, or ivy tree, made a +dream of delicate colour. + +The boulders were almost completely covered with vivid green mosses, in +sheets so thick and deep and compact that a slight pull would raise a +yard at a time. Here and there among them were tiny bright red +toadstools, or some of the larger purple or orange varieties that had +lingered on since October. On a hazel twig Avelyn found the curious +birds'-nest fungus, with its tiny eggs packed neatly inside. The day was +so mild that a squirrel was taking a whiff of fresh air, waving his +feathery tail from a fir tree overhead, but at the sight of a human +being he disappeared suddenly into a hollow in a big tree, where no +doubt he had established cosy winter quarters. There were few +birds--perhaps they did not like the dampness or the roar of the +water--but Avelyn caught sight of a dipper darting down the stream, a +flight of long-tailed tits twittering noisily for a moment or two on a +tree-top, and a heron sailing majestically towards the mountains. On the +brambles the unpicked blackberries still hung ripe, though so absolutely +sodden and tasteless that they were not worth the eating; there was even +a spray of blossom left here and there. A branch of scarlet hips shone +brightly in the sunlight; the birds, sated with yew berries, had spared +it thus far, and it rivalled the holly on the bush close by, while +trails of bryony berries repeated the colour with varieties of lemon +and orange. There were a few wild flowers, even in December--a belated +foxglove, a clump of ragwort, a blue harebell, or a stray specimen of +buttercup, campion, herb robert, yarrow, thistle, and actually a +strawberry blossom. The tall equisetum lingered on the boggy bank, and +ferns were everywhere green; great clumps of the common polypody clung +to the tree-trunks and flourished on boughs high overhead, and under the +rocks grew the delicate fronds of the English maidenhair, or the rarer +beech fern. + +Avelyn had at last reached the waterfall. The great white cascade leaped +over a ledge of rock, and dashed with such thundering force into the +pool below that all the air around was filled with floating mist on +which the sun formed a dancing rainbow. As each neighbourhood has its +own distinctive scent, so each stream has its own peculiar sound, as if +it would give us some message that it has no words to convey. The little +gurgling brook tries to tell us cheery things; the slow-flowing river +has a sadder story; the trout stream babbles kindly hopes. To Avelyn the +leaping, rushing cascade, with its whirl of living, dashing foam, seemed +to be calling out in a voice that rose and fell with the roar of the +waters: "Therefore with Angels and Archangels, and with all the company +of Heaven, we laud and magnify Thy glorious name". + +She stood a long time gazing at the foam and the mist and the rainbow, +then she turned and plunged up among the trees to the head of the glen. +Looking back she felt as if she had held Nature, or something bigger +than Nature, tight by the hand. + +From the top of the gorge was an easy walk across fields to Moss +Cottage. In spite of the bright morning the little house looked gloomy +among the trees. It always struck Avelyn with an air of extreme +melancholy. She was almost morbidly sensitive to impressions. She +decided that she would not go to the front door, because she would then +be certain to see Pamela's mother, and somehow she felt rather +frightened of poor, quiet, retiring Mrs. Reynolds. She knew that her +friend would probably be at work in the garden, so she tacked into the +wood and climbed the palings at the back. Only half of the ground behind +the cottage had as yet been brought into cultivation, and the part where +Avelyn descended was still a wilderness. There were large rocks and +tangled masses of brambles, and faded clumps of ragwort and teasel, and +yellow bracken stumps. Not far away, however, was a newly-dug border, +with a spade lying on the ground, and Pamela's hat. Pamela herself was +not to be seen, but surely she must be somewhere near. Avelyn prowled +about in search of her. She did not want to go up to the cottage, and +decided that if her friend were indoors she would wait until she came +out again. Possibly she might be in the hen-house. That was certainly an +alternative. She had heard Pamela mention hens. In the distance some +roofs were visible which looked like outbuildings. She went to +investigate. Right in the far corner of the garden, almost indeed in the +wood itself, and thickly embedded in trees, she came upon a ramshackle, +tumble-down, two-storied kind of stable. A giant oak, shrouded with ivy, +stretched out long protecting arms and almost hid it from view; the roof +was built against the very bole of the tree, whose branches sheltered +the windows. Was Pamela here? Avelyn gave a long coo-e-e and called her +name. The next moment a startled face looked out from the upper window. + +"Hallo, Pam!" shouted Avelyn gleefully, "I've unearthed you at last, old +sport!" + +"Wait a sec. I'll come down," returned her friend in a cautious voice. + +Pamela appeared from out the stable door, with a rainbow face in which +storm and sunshine seemed to be struggling. + +"I never expected to see you, Ave! Have you dropped from the skies?" + +"No, climbed over the palings. I thought I'd be sure to find you +somewhere about in the garden. I saw your hat, and went to look for +you." + +"Yes. I was gardening." + +"Is this your hen-house?" + +"No, it's not the hen-house, it's--just a kind of stable." + +"It reminds me of the Swiss Family Robinson, or Robin Hood's shanty in +the depths of Sherwood Forest. You could climb up that tree if you got +on to the roof." + +As Avelyn's eyes glanced up the bole of the huge oak Pamela's followed +with a look of strained anxiety. She laid her hand on her friend's arm +and drew her inside the stable. She seemed ill at ease. + +"What's the matter, Pam?" + +"Oh, nothing!" + +"You're not yourself at all." + +"Yes, indeed I am." + +"I don't believe you're pleased to see me!" + +"Ave! I've been dreaming of you all the morning." + +"Then what is it?" + +Pamela was silent. + +"Something's worrying you. I can see that plainly enough." + +"Yes. I own I'm worried." + +"Won't you tell me?" + +"I can't." + +"Is it a secret?" + +"It is just at present. I want to think it over." + +While she spoke Pamela kept glancing anxiously out at the door. She +suddenly turned with frightened eyes. + +"Ave! Uncle Fritz is coming! You must hide, quick! He mustn't catch you +here for all the world! Run behind this stall. Don't move till he's +gone." + +[Illustration: AVELYN, CROUCHED UNDER THE MANGER, COULD HEAR THE +BULLYING TONE IN HIS VOICE] + +She hustled Avelyn into the darkest corner of the stable, then herself +sat down on the foot of the ladder that led to the floor above. A sound +of footsteps brushing the grass was heard from outside, and in another +moment Mr. Hockheimer entered. + +"What are you doing down here?" he asked sharply. "I told you to stop +upstairs." + +"I've only just come down." + +"Any message?" + +"No, none at all." + +"One might come just when you are fooling about here," he frowned. "Why +don't you do as I tell you?" + +Avelyn, crouched under the manger, could not see his face, but she could +hear the bullying tone in his voice. + +"Do you think I feed you and educate you for you to do just as you +like?" continued Mr. Hockheimer angrily. "What would become of you if it +weren't for me, I should like to know? Another time when I set you to do +anything you'll do it, or I'll know the reason why. Here, get up and let +me pass!" + +He pulled her roughly off the ladder and walked up himself. His +footsteps creaked on the boarded floor above, then all was silence. +Pamela crept softly up the ladder, peeped into the room above, and +descended as quietly as she came; then, crossing to the stall where +Avelyn was hidden, put her finger on her lips for silence and beckoned +her friend towards the door. She led her hurriedly along the garden. +Neither spoke a word till they reached the palings. + +"I'm awfully sorry I came, Pam!" apologized Avelyn. + +"Never mind, you couldn't help it. How should you know Uncle Fritz would +be here?" + +"I certainly shouldn't have come if I had known." + +"Who would? Ave, have you ever seen a little wild linnet get into a +bird-catcher's net?" + +"No." + +"I have. It runs and struggles and beats its wings, and the more it +tries to escape the worse it gets caught in the meshes. Ave, at present +I feel like that linnet." + +"Can't I help you, Pam?" + +"Not yet. I want to think. When I really feel you can help me, I shall +come and ask you. You wouldn't fail me?" + +"I'd help you for all I'm worth, if it's against your uncle." + +Pamela's eyes filled with tears. + +"I'm so utterly alone," she faltered. "Mother doesn't understand. Since +Father died she has never cared for anything. She's content to live here +on Uncle's bounty. She's so absolutely trusting and unsuspicious, just +like a child. I never can get her to see things as I do. Although I'm +hardly fourteen, I often feel that I know more of the world than she +does. Just at present Mother is going about with her eyes closed." + +"And you?" + +"I'm keeping my eyes particularly wide open, and my mouth tight shut," +replied Pamela, as she kissed her friend good-bye and helped her to +climb the palings. + +Avelyn went home very thoughtfully. She found the boys digging in the +kitchen garden, and confided to them her morning's experience. They +decided that something mysterious must be going on at Moss Cottage. + +"It looks fishy!" said David, slowly scraping the earth off his boots +with the edge of his spade. + +"What has that old Hun got up his sleeve?" enquired Anthony, shaking his +head. + +"I don't know. After what we saw in the wood I'd believe anything of +him." + +"Shall we tell the Vicar, or somebody?" suggested Avelyn. + +"No! no!" protested David emphatically. "Whatever you do, Ave, for +goodness' sake don't blab! We've no proper evidence yet, and if stories +begin to get about the village he'll know he's suspected, and he'll be +careful. Just you leave this to me. It's my first 'case', and I want to +worry it out. Remember, I'm going to be a barrister some day, when the +war is over, if I don't go out to France first and get killed. Old +Hockheimer's deep, but he doesn't know we're watching him. Two British +boys ought to be a match for a German!" + +"I'd shoot him first and watch him afterwards if I had my way," declared +Tony bloodthirstily. + +It was on that very same afternoon that a fresh planet swam into the +Watson horizon, or, in other words, that they made a new acquaintance. +The Vicar was distinctly responsible for it. He was standing at the top +of the churchyard steps, talking to a somebody, the toe of whose boot +alone was visible round the corner, and when he saw Anthony passing in +the road below he beckoned to him. Tony mounted the steps, and found +that the boot belonged to a young officer in khaki, who stood with his +hands behind his back contemplating the tombstones. + +"Hallo, sonnie!" said the Vicar affably. "Doing anything special this +afternoon? This is Captain Harper, who's in charge of the camp near the +river. He wants to go and see the Roman fort on the top of Weldon Hill, +and he doesn't know the way. Have you time to take him?" + +Anthony's grey eyes scanned the Captain's dark ones for one searching +moment, but in that moment he loved him, and would have offered to act +guide to the top of Mount Everest if required. + +"I'd like to go," he volunteered. "You don't mind David coming too, do +you?" + +"I don't know who David is, but let him come, by all means!" smiled the +officer. "Thanks very much, Mr. Holt, for finding someone to 'personally +conduct' me!" + +So it happened that David and Anthony started off with Captain Harper, +and by the time they had reached the Roman Camp they had decided that +they "liked him awfully", and when they returned to Lyngates they felt +as if they had known him for years. They talked about school, and +football, and fishing, and treacling for moths, and a great many other +interesting topics, and he told them a little about his experiences at +the front, and how he had been wounded. + +"How long have you been at Netherton?" asked Anthony as they paused by +the gate of Walden. + +"About six weeks." + +"I wonder we've not seen you before." + +"I've been very busy with my work. Is this where you live?" + +"Yes. Come in and see Mother, won't you?" + +Captain Harper's glance swept the front of the picturesque little house, +and finally rested on the patch of ivy-covered wall where Daphne, a +bewitching, hatless vision, with the sunset gleaming on her bronze hair, +stood with unconscious profile turned towards them, planting snowdrop +bulbs in the crannies. + +"If she won't think I'm intruding," he replied diffidently. + +But the boys had him each by an arm, and were hauling him in by sheer +force. + +"Mother's not one of those horrid stuck-up people who'll offer you two +fingers to shake, and wither you up. Just come and speak to her, and +judge for yourself." + +"Mr. Holt calls her the very soul of hospitality," declared Anthony +impressively. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +"Lady Tracy's At Home" + + +During almost the whole of the term the Dramatic Society had flourished +among the boarders. That is to say, the prefects had chosen a play, had +taken the best parts for themselves, and had allotted the minor parts to +those girls who were fortunate enough to be their favourites. The +particular piece they had selected was named "Lady Tracy's At Home", and +included a large number of characters. Many of these were only in the +nature of "supers", and had no words to say; others had a few short +speeches. All the main action of the play centred on six principals, who +were represented by the four prefects, with Muriel Knighton and Mabel +Dennis, also members of the Sixth Form. There had been endless +rehearsals. Adah, as stage manager, was extremely particular, and +drilled her company remorselessly. + +"We've got to make it a good show this time," she assured them. +"Remember, we're a big school now, and we shall be acting to a large +audience. I expect those day girls will be fairly critical, so we +mustn't give them any opportunity to find fault. Let's show them we know +how to act." + +"They used to have plays at their old school," volunteered Consie. + +"I suppose they did, but I dare say they weren't up to much. You see, as +they weren't boarders, they couldn't have had proper time for +rehearsals, and perhaps didn't think out their costumes as we're doing." + +"Very likely they only took Shakespeare or scenes from Dickens, or +something tame of that kind," nodded Isobel. + +Miss Thompson had allowed the Dramatic Society a certain wideness of +choice, so they had abandoned the classics, which seemed to savour too +much of the schoolroom, and had selected an entirely modern and +up-to-date comedy. In their eyes it was going to rival a piece from the +real theatre. They had all seen up-to-date acting, and had their ideals +of what a comedy ought to be. + +"You must try to live in your parts beforehand, so that you catch the +spirit of them," counselled Adah. "I've heard that Ellen Terry and Sarah +Bernhardt always did that. It was the secret of their success. Throw +yourself into your character till you entirely realize it." + +"I suppose that's the artistic temperament," agreed Consie. "It would be +gorgeous to take up the stage as a career, wouldn't it?" + +"The stage of the future is going to be a School of Education for the +People," moralized Adah. "Conscientious and cultured actresses will be a +want." + +"Miss Hopkins says Nature never creates a vacuum," ventured Joyce. + +"Trust Mother Nature! If there's a want, she'll send someone to fill the +gap." + +"Only, of course, they've got to train themselves. There's nothing like +beginning when one's young. And having the wish is half the battle." + +As a result of this serious interest in dramatic culture, the character +of the six "principals" underwent sudden and astonishing changes. +Isobel, erstwhile a rather shy and retiring maiden, put on a perkiness +and a coy assurance very puzzling indeed to anybody who did not know +that _pro tem._ she was Miss Diana Davenport, the beautiful, dashing, +fascinating Society debutante, who was breaking the hearts of young and +old in fashionable Mayfair. She practised casting a glamour over people +and glancing from under veiled lashes, and succeeded fairly well with +those who understood and played up, but indifferently with Miss Hopkins, +who asked her if she were suffering from an attack of indigestion, and +whether a dose of sal volatile would relieve the pain. Muriel, whose +rôle was that of Diana's rejected lover, Lord Darcy Howard, went about +endeavouring to remember that she had a broken heart. She sighed +frequently, kept an expression of yearning in her eyes, and smiled a +sad, wan smile, fraught with memories. She maintained a calm, yet +melancholy dignity, befitting one who is singled out by fate for +disappointment, heroism, and an early grave. It was really a very +difficult part for Muriel, whose natural tastes inclined to a more +sporting character, and she would have preferred to act a comic Irish +servant; but Adah assured her that it was useless to think of the stage +unless she was prepared for all emergencies, and could take any rôle +that might be offered her. Adah herself, as Lady Tracy, had blossomed +into a loquacious, clever, manoeuvring, brilliant hostess, much set on +worldly advantages, and immediately concerned with the due disposal in +life of her daughter Marigold. Adah's manner had always been rather +consequential, now it surpassed itself, and she swam about the school +as Queen of Society. Mabel, as Marigold, schooled herself to extreme +innocence. She would practise making round eyes and an engaging pout +as she lisped out: "But, Mother dearest, what is the great big world +really, really like?" After many rehearsals, she succeeded in sidling +bashfully into a room, and extending a timid hand without relapsing +into laughter. Consie, the dashing _débonnaire_ hero of the piece, had +an easier task. It was comparatively simple to stride about paying +flowery compliments and carrying all before her. She soon acquired an +irresistible manner, and a habit of flinging herself lazily into +arm-chairs and toying with an imaginary watch-chain. She succeeded so +admirably, that when she wore her costume at dress rehearsal, some of +the girls almost fell in love with her. To Joyce, as the villain, fell a +harder lot. It is difficult to live the part of a villain consistently +for weeks. At rehearsals, much coached and chivied by Adah, she would +slink and frown and bite her finger-tips and look daggers, and throw +sarcasm into her voice, but off the stage she would relapse at once +into the comfortable, easygoing, happy-go-lucky ways which usually +characterized her personality. She was a sore trial to Adah. + +"If you'd ever seen 'Shylock' or 'Mephistopheles', you'd have a better +idea," urged the head girl. "You're not nearly bold and bad enough, +somehow. We'll give you a dark wig and a curled moustache, and that +paper cigar, and you must grind your teeth when Lord Archibald taxes you +with the conspiracy." + +"Will the audience hear me grinding them?" asked Joyce helplessly. + +"Of course not, stupid! But they'll see your mouth move." + +"If the moustache doesn't cover it." + +"We'll take care it shan't. Can't you manage to look like 'Gentleman +Jim' on the cinema when the detective caught him with his hand inside +the safe?" + +"I'll try; but how long must I go on looking like that? In the cinema +they whisk on to the next picture in half a second, but on the stage +I'll have to stand there, and I don't feel inclined to grind my teeth +for five minutes. I hope that tweed suit will fit!" + +All the performers felt their costumes to be their last resource, +supplying any deficiencies in the acting. They were determined to be +ultra-fashionable, and sent home for suitable garments. Adah secured a +perfect dream of a dress in grey voile trimmed with sequins, and a silk +petticoat that rustled as she walked. They lent an added graciousness +and seal of society to her impressive manner. Isobel borrowed a toque, +and a veil with spots, and a feather boa, and a pair of tan boots with +high French heels, and a large cameo brooch, and a vanity bag, and +looked dashing enough to break the heart of the most hardened and +deliberate woman-hater who ever trod the boards. Her companions, gazing +at her bewildered, assured her that she looked at least twenty-one, if +not more. The way she stretched out a dainty gloved hand and murmured +"How d'ye do?" was considered a triumph of acting. + +"If we do it really well, of course, we might be asked to give it over +again," Adah confided modestly to her fellows. + +"Here?" asked Isobel. + +"Well, not necessarily. Sometimes managers lend theatres for charities." + +"An amateur play generally makes a heap of money!" opined Joyce. + +"It would be lovely to act it in a real theatre!" gasped Mabel. + +"The Harlingden Operatic Society cleared thirty pounds for the hospital +by the 'Gondoliers'," volunteered Consie. + +In imagination the Silverside Dramatic was already emulating this +gratifying example. They could picture their appearance on the boards of +the Prince of Wales Theatre before a distinguished audience, including +possibly the Mayor and Mayoress. Meantime they expected quite a crowded +audience in the big class-room, and made grand preparations. The +performance was to be on the last Wednesday afternoon of term at four +o'clock. It was a custom as old as the school. The day girls had always +been invited to attend, and this year Adah pinned up the usual +announcement on the notice board. She saw Annie and Gladys sniggering +over it, but set that down to their general lack of manners. She hoped +what they were going to see would duly impress them. They would surely +be proud to belong to a school that could get up such a dramatic +entertainment. + +The performers were allowed to stop lessons at 3.15 in order to change +their costumes, and, after a tremendous amount of breathless work in the +way of dressing, accomplished their toilets to their own and everybody +else's satisfaction. + +"You look A1," said Adah to Muriel. "If you don't absolutely take the +house I shall be really astonished." + +Lord Darcy laughed nervously. His clothes were immaculate, but not very +comfortable. He showed decided symptoms of stage fright. Joyce, as the +wicked earl, was anxious about the set of her wig. It was rather too +large, and exhibited a tendency to tilt over on one side unless she held +her head very stiffly erect, an attitude that did not correspond with +the sinuous, snake-like poses which she had practised as appropriate for +the villain of the piece. + +"My moustache makes my upper lip quite stiff. I'm sure I speak funnily," +she fluttered. + +"No, no, you're all right! I'll tip you a wink if your wig gets crooked, +and you can push it straight. Consie, you look an absolute bounder in +that blue tie! If I were Marigold I should prefer the villain instead of +falling into your arms." + +"Many thanks!" said Lord Archibald, regarding himself in the mirror with +satisfaction. "As you're to be my prospective mother-in-law you ought to +appreciate me better!" + +"It's high time we began," urged Mabel. + +"I'll take a look and see that everything's ready," said Adah. + +She ran to the platform and held a hasty review of the stage properties. +Yes, all was arranged exactly as she wished. Minnie and Alice had done +their duty. From the other side of the curtain came the sound of +talking. She could not resist a peep at the audience and applied her eye +to a small chink. What she saw made her gasp. Instead of a whole +schoolroomful of people only the three front rows of seats were +occupied. Much disturbed she rushed back to the dressing-room, and, +calling Mona Bardsley, who was acting prompter, sent her off as scout. + +"Go and find out why they're not ready, and tell them to hurry up and +take their places or we shall begin without them," she commanded. + +Mona was away some little time. She returned looking decidedly blank. + +"They say they're ready and waiting, all those who are coming." + +"But the room's only a quarter full! Where are the others?" + +"The day girls have nearly all gone home." + +"Gone home! Didn't they understand we'd invited them?" + +"Oh, yes, but they said they'd rather not stay." + +Adah's face was a study. + +"Do you mean to say they don't care about seeing our play?" + +"So it seems." + +"The slackers! They've just done it on purpose, out of spite. Well, if +this isn't the meanest thing I've ever heard of! How perfectly +sickening!" + +The injured performers received the bad news with much disgust, but +their grousing was cut short by the arrival of a fourth-form girl with a +message. + +"Miss Thompson says, will you please begin at once, because it's getting +very late?" + +There was nothing for it but to go through the piece with the best grace +they could, before an audience of mistresses, boarders, and about ten of +the old Silverside day girls. It is poor work playing to an empty house, +and they felt that half the spirit had gone out of the performance. +Adah's manner was not nearly so gracious and impressive as at +rehearsals, Lord Darcy got confused and mixed up his speeches, and +Marigold giggled palpably when she ought to have been looking love-lorn. +As for the wicked earl, his black moustache dropped off just when he was +in the very midst of his villainy, and spoiled his best point. The +Principal and the mistresses clapped their hardest, and so did the rest +of the scanty audience, but everybody felt that the whole affair had +been a fiasco. + +"It was very nice, my dears!" said Miss Thompson, congratulating the +disconsolate actresses as they came in to tea afterwards. "Quite one of +the best plays we've ever had here." + +"She means kindly, but she knows it was a failure," whispered Adah +gloomily to Consie. "I'll never forgive those day girls!" + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +Reports + + +Avelyn was looking forward with wildest joy to the Christmas holidays. +There were so many things she intended to do at home. She and Daphne and +the boys were all going to set to work to construct chicken coops in +preparation for the hatching of clutches of eggs that would be put down +in January. Then, if the weather kept open, there were wonderful +improvements to be made in the garden, stones to be brought for a +rockery, and ferns to be fetched from the stream to plant upon it, to +say nothing of the vegetable culture which in these days of food +shortage was the main feature of their outdoor activities. + +Avelyn's whole heart was at Walden. She had grown to love every corner +of it with an intense clinging attachment. No place in the world was so +precious as those few acres of land she called home. The prospect of an +entire glorious month there filled her with bliss. + +"L'homme propose et Dieu dispose", however, and our best-made plans have +a knack of "ganging agley". On the Thursday before the holidays Anthony +broke out in spots, and the doctor, who came six miles in his car from +the little town of Roby, looked at them critically, shook his head, and +remarked: "Chicken-pox! There's a good deal of it about just now." + +Mrs. Watson was a woman who acted promptly. When she had ushered the +doctor out she tucked up the invalid warmly, put on her hat and coat, +and went to the village, where there was a public telephone call office. +Here she rang up 138 Harlingden, and held a brief but satisfactory +conversation with her second cousin, Mrs. Lascelles. Then she went home, +wrote a letter to Avelyn, and posted it, after which she focused her +attention on the invalid, who was feverish and fractious. The news which +Avelyn received in the letter came as a bolt from the blue. + +"I'm so sorry, darling," wrote her mother, "but the doctor says Tony has +chicken-pox, and you mustn't come home to-morrow. I have telephoned to +Cousin Lilia, and she offers to take you in for the holidays, so will +you tell Miss Thompson that you are to go there. No time for more, as I +want to catch the early post. Good-bye, darling! Much love from Mother." + +Avelyn had taken the letter to the Cowslip Room to read. She put it in +her pocket, sat down on her bed, and tried to face the situation. Not to +go home for the holidays! The idea was unbearable. Great tears welled +into her eyes, and for a few minutes she was an absolute baby. Red-hot +rebellion raged within her. She was tempted to go home in spite of her +mother's prohibition, and beg to sleep in the cottage, or at Mrs. +Garside's farm, and risk the chance of infection. She would cheerfully +catch chicken-pox if only she might have it at Walden. A wild idea +struck her of asking Pamela to take her in, but the remembrance of Mr. +Hockheimer intervened. She was sure Pamela would not dare to invite a +visitor to Moss Cottage. + +"And we were going to have such fun together!" she moaned. "I'll hate to +spend the holidays in town and at the Lascelles's. Oh, it'll be grizzly! +I wish I could stay at school instead. I _will_ go home!" + +Better reflections, however, prevailed. Mrs. Watson had brought up her +children to respect her authority, and Avelyn knew that she would not be +able to meet her mother's eyes if she turned up at Walden in distinct +defiance of instructions. There was nothing for it but to submit, though +it was a miserable business. She took her letter to Miss Thompson, and +told her of the altered arrangement. The Principal looked worried. + +"I hope you haven't taken the infection yourself," she remarked. "You +might spread it over the school. Are you sure you have no spots?" + +"Not a single one," Avelyn assured her. + +"Well, don't mention anything about it to the other girls; it would only +make their mothers nervous. Your box shall be left in Harlingden this +afternoon, when the second batch of luggage goes. I suppose you can walk +to your cousin's house. They'll be expecting you?" + +"Oh, yes! Mother would tell them what time I am coming." + +Avelyn went back to the Cowslip Room and began to put her various +possessions into her box. The packing was a stale business, without any +heart in it. It is horrible to be obliged to pay a visit when you don't +want to go. In spite of Miss Thompson's injunctions, she could not help +confiding her ill news to her room-mates. It was impossible to keep her +woes bottled up in her own breast. She wanted sympathy badly. + +"Hard luck!" said Laura. + +"Beastly not to be going home!" agreed Janet. + +"Poor old sport! I'll send you some picture post cards," consoled +Ethelberga. + +"Suppose you break out in spots at your cousin's?" suggested Irma. + +This was a new view of the case that had not before occurred to Avelyn. + +"I'd _welcome_ them!" she declared. "I'd get Cousin Lilia to put me in +an ambulance and pack me off home." + +"Suppose they wouldn't? They might say it was too far, and send you to +the fever hospital instead." + +"I wouldn't stay. I'd run away and manage to get home somehow. By the +by, don't tell anybody else about this. Miss Thompson told me to keep it +dark." + +"Right you are! We won't blab." + +All five girls were busy packing. Their beds were strewn with blouses, +stockings, and other impedimenta. In the midst of the proceedings +entered Miss Hopkins, rather flustered and overdone with the +responsibility of seeing that thirty-six boarders took their essential +possessions home with them. + +"Dear me, you're very slow in this dormitory!" she observed. "The Violet +Room have finished and gone downstairs. If there were less talking you'd +get on a good deal quicker. Here are your reports," dealing out from a +packet in her hand five envelopes, addressed respectively to Mrs. +Watson, E. A. Ridley, Esq., Mrs. Talbot, Colonel Duncan, and the Rev. F. +Carnforth. "Now, make haste! I shall expect to find your boxes strapped +when I come up again." + +Miss Hopkins departed to do her duty in other dormitories, leaving a +sensation as of east wind behind her. Avelyn stood staring at the +envelope. She was anxious to see her report for this term. The Watson +family were lax as regarded letters; at home they usually passed round +their correspondence as common property. She tore open the envelope, +therefore, and read the report. It was quite a good one, and ended: "Has +done conscientious work, and shows marked improvement." + +Avelyn purred with satisfaction. + +"Tommiekins is a dear! Mother will be ever so pleased. Even Hopscotch +has given me 'satisfactory', which is more than I expected from her, and +Mr. Harrison has put 'painstaking' for music, though I know he thinks +I'm rather a duffer at it." + +"I wonder what they've said about me?" speculated Laura, fumbling in +her box for the envelope which she had just packed. + +"And me?" echoed Janet. + +There is force in example. In another moment Laura, Janet, Irma, and +Ethelberga were all perusing their reports. + +"'Good' for botany! Oh, how precious!" + +"Wonders will never cease! I've actually got 'fair' for general +knowledge." + +"Oh, hold me up! I've passed muster in maths." + +"What does Miss Kennedy mean by this: 'sadly lacking in order, and wants +more application'? I'm sure I'm no worse than the rest of you," +exclaimed Janet indignantly. + +"Has she put that?" + +"Yes, I call it spiteful of her!" + +"Poor old sport!" + +"It isn't as if I'd been so very behindhand all the term. Miss Kennedy +knows I haven't. I declare I shall go and ask her what she means by it!" + +The offended Janet, in a furious temper, flounced out of the room in +search of her form mistress. She found her in the study addressing +luggage labels. + +"Miss Kennedy, I do think it's too bad to give me such a horrid report!" +burst out Janet. "Why am I specially 'lacking in application'? I'm sure +I've worked just as hard as most of the other girls; and if it's a +question of order, Irma's far more untidy than I am, and so is +Ethelberga! I don't call it fair. You've no right to say such things +about me!" + +Miss Kennedy looked up in extreme astonishment. + +"How do you know what I've said about you?" she queried. + +"Why, it's here, in black and white!" + +"What paper have you there?" + +"My report." + +"Do you mean to say that you have opened your report?" + +Janet's face fell. She shuffled her feet uneasily, and did not reply. + +"It was addressed to your father. Who authorized you to open it, I +should like to know?" + +"Well, Avelyn Watson read hers, so we all thought we could read ours," +urged Janet in exculpation. + +"Indeed!" Miss Kennedy's tone was as iced vinegar. "What an extremely +honourable proceeding! Miss Thompson will have to hear of this! It's +something new in the school for girls to open their parents' letters." + +Miss Kennedy abandoned the labels she was directing, and went at once in +search of the head mistress, to whom she told her astounding tale. Miss +Thompson took off her convex glasses, wiped them solemnly, and put them +on again. + +"I couldn't have believed they would have _dared_!" she said, with a +note of battle in her voice. "Send Avelyn Watson to me. I must deal with +the matter at once." + +Miss Thompson might not be very tall, but she was thoroughly capable of +managing her school. Every inch of her bristled with dignity. Avelyn +entered the room a trifle jauntily, but one steady glance from those +convex glasses caused her feathers to fall. + +"Avelyn Watson, I understand that half an hour ago Miss Hopkins gave you +a letter addressed to your mother, to take home with you." + +"Yes, Miss Thompson, but I'm not going home for the holidays." + +"So I'm aware. In the circumstances the letter should have been posted, +but that has nothing to do with it. What I want to know is on what +authority you have presumed to open it?" + +Miss Thompson's grey eyes were almost hypnotic in their power. Avelyn's +fell before their keen scrutiny. + +"Mother always used to let me see my reports," she faltered. + +"That's quite a different matter, to allow you to look at what she had +already seen herself. To open a letter addressed to anyone else, without +permission, is one of the most dishonourable things that anybody can do. +No lady would disgrace herself by such an action. I am amazed beyond +measure to find that any girl in this school could be capable of it. I +thought you knew our standards better. Have you been a whole term here, +Avelyn, and not yet learnt the very elements of honour? Silverside has +always prided itself upon its traditions." + +Avelyn stood aghast. It had never struck her that anyone would construe +her thoughtless and impulsive action in such a light. She had no +further excuse to urge. + +"Have you the report here? Then go and fetch it," commanded the +Principal. + +Avelyn went without a word. When she returned and handed Miss Thompson +the paper, the latter took out her stylo and appended another line: + +"Conduct unfortunately not strictly honourable." + +She showed the addition to Avelyn. + +"I am going to _post_ this to your mother," she remarked pointedly. "You +may tell your room-mates that they are each to bring me her report. I +shall post theirs also. I am very much disappointed in you all." + +Avelyn left the room in the depths of dejection. She had been very near +tears all the morning, and now she could restrain herself no longer. It +seemed an absolutely pixie day, with disgrace on the top of bad news. +She gave a husky message to Laura, telling her to pass it on to the +others, and then flew into the bath-room and had a good weep in private. +Crying is a horrid business; it makes one's head ache, and one's eyes +feel bunged up, and one's throat sore, and one's heart like a lump of +lead. If it is true that our emotions cause waves of colour to emanate +from us, poor Avelyn's aura must at that moment have been a particularly +dingy drab. + +[Illustration: AN INTERVIEW WITH MISS THOMPSON] + +"What will Mother think of my getting 'dishonourable' in my report?" she +sobbed. "And I can't go home and tell her all about it. I'll write to +her and try to explain, but I'm always a silly at writing. She's kept +all our reports ever since we first went to school, and we've none of us +ever had anything nasty like this in them. It'll just spoil the record. +Oh, dear, what an idiot I've been! I wish I hadn't to go to Cousin +Lilia's this afternoon! I know I'll hate Christmas there. Life's a +perfectly sickening business!" + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +War Work + + +After all, Avelyn enjoyed her holidays far more than she had ever +expected. The Lascelles gave her a kind welcome, and tried to make her +feel at home. They were quite a jolly family--all considerably older +than Avelyn. Two sons were in the Flying Corps, and the third was at a +Government office in the town. The daughters, Mary and Gwen, were busy +with various kinds of war work, and had little time to spare. They made +a great effort, however, to amuse their visitor, and took her out in +turns. Avelyn was treated to pantomime, concerts, and cinemas, and was +invited with the Lascelles to many little parties and social evenings. +She would infinitely rather have been constructing a rockery in the dear +Walden garden than sitting in a picture palace looking at the +eccentricities of Charlie Chaplin, but she appreciated the kindness of +the Lascelles, and felt what the French call _reconnaissante_, which has +a far more subtle meaning than "grateful". + +"Couldn't you take Avelyn to the Munition Hostel, Mary?" said Mrs. +Lascelles one day, when plans for entertaining the young guest were +running rather low. "I'm sure Bertha Gordon would show you over the +canteen if you asked her." + +"If it would amuse Ave?" began Mary doubtfully. + +"I'd just love it!" agreed Avelyn, brightening perceptibly. + +"Then I'll ring up Bertha. If it's her afternoon off I'm certain she'll +have us. She told me to come the first opportunity I had, and I've +always seemed too busy up till to-day. I've been wanting to go for ever +so long." + +A brisk ringing of the telephone bell followed, and Mary came back +presently with the welcome information that her friend Bertha would be +free from three till six o'clock, and would be delighted to see two +visitors and show them all in her power. + +"We'll get up there as early as we can," said Mary, "so that we'll have +time for sight-seeing before tea." + +Miss Gordon was doing Government war work in Harlingden. She had taken +her certificate for domestic economy at a training college in London, +and now held a post in the canteen department of a huge munition +factory. The place lay a few miles out of the town. Mary and Avelyn +first caught a tram-car, which whisked them along an uninteresting +stretch of shabby road, and put them down at a corner where three ways +met. It was a tolerably long walk from there to the munition works. The +neighbourhood was dingy, with rows of small cottages and second-rate +shops, and tall chimneys or furnaces in the background. The Chayton +Government factory was a colony in itself, with a special railway line +out from Harlingden. The station platform marked its boundary. After +that came rows and rows of munition cottages--little wooden houses, each +containing three rooms and a bath-room, all exactly similar except for +the numbers on the doors. The girls passed these, and went in the +direction of the hostels. At the great gate of the works stood a sentry +on duty, who asked them their names, residence, and whom they were going +to visit, and entered these particulars in a book before he would admit +them. + +"It's all right. Miss Gordon told me that she was expecting you," he +volunteered, as he opened the gate for them. + +Feeling rather as if they were going into prison, Mary and Avelyn +stepped forward, and found themselves in a big enclosure fenced with +barbed wire. Each hostel was a large, separate bungalow building, and +there were also several recreation halls. Patches of ground planted with +cabbages lay between. It all looked very new and unfinished, something +like the pictures of mushroom cities in America. In front of them loomed +the canteen, an enormous red-brick structure with a corrugated-iron +roof. Mary enquired at the office for Miss Gordon, and her friend soon +made her appearance. + +"I'm so glad you've found your way here! Come in, and I'll show you +everything. It's a queer place, isn't it?" + +"I should get lost in it!" declared Mary. + +"Oh! it's wonderful how soon you learn to find your way about. What +would you like to see first? The canteen? We shall just have time to go +round before tea, then we'll do the hostel afterwards." + +Avelyn trotted off with great interest in the wake of Mary Lascelles and +Miss Gordon. She was going to see a new side of life, and learn what +some women were doing to help the war. Out at the front our boys were +fighting for Britain's honour, but their heroism would be of no avail if +the hands slacked that forged the weapons at home. The workers who made +the munitions, and those who toiled to feed the workers and keep them +fit, were taking their share of the burden, and, in however small and +obscure a way, were pushing the world on towards the victory of Right +over Might. + +Miss Gordon first led the way into the canteen, an enormous hall with +seats for three thousand people. There were long tables with benches, +placed in rows, and over these hung sign-boards: "Hostel I", "Hostel +II", "Hostel III", &c. + +"Each hostel has its own tables," explained Miss Gordon, "and the girls +are bound to go there. It saves scrambling. They all have food coupons, +and they take them to the counter, and exchange them for any dishes they +want, and then carry their plates to their own places. There's a menu +hung up, and they generally have the choice of several things. It's a +tremendous sight to see them all filing in for their meals." + +"Are they easily satisfied?" asked Mary. + +"As a rule, but sometimes we get grumblers, and they inflame the others. +You see, there are all sorts and conditions of girls here, and some of +them are a rough lot. Individually they are quite nice, but when they +get together in crowds some spirit of lawlessness seems to permeate +them, and they get utterly out of hand sometimes. Once there was a +terrific row. They were discontented with their rations, and they put +the blame on Mr. Jennings, the canteen manager. Some agitators stirred +up trouble, and one evening things came to a head. There was rice +pudding for supper, and the girls didn't like rice pudding, so they +flung it all about the room and smashed the plates; then they stood on +the seats and shouted and yelled. They said that, if they could catch +the manager, they would teach him a lesson. He dared not show himself. +Indeed, he was obliged to go away altogether. It was about two hours +before the row subsided; all that time the girls were shouting in the +canteen. They had utterly lost control of themselves, and wouldn't +listen to anyone who tried to speak to them. We've a new manager now, +and things are going better." + +"How fearfully exciting!" commented Mary. + +"Rather too exciting at the time, I can tell you! And the hall was in +such an awful mess, with rice pudding flung about everywhere. Come into +the kitchen now and I'll show you my department." + +Avelyn had never seen cooking on so vast a scale before. There were +great polished copper cauldrons for stews, so large that they looked as +if Giant Blunderbore's meals might be prepared in them; there were rows +and rows of ovens and steamers; and an electric meat cutter that sliced +up the joints. Puddings were being mixed in big washing basins, and +vegetables were cut up by a machine. There were enormous cans of milk, +and all kinds of receptacles for other stores. + +"We have to calculate exactly what we require, so that there's no +waste," said Miss Gordon. "We send up lists every day, and the lists are +inspected." + +The tea canteen kitchen was a department in itself. There were huge +boilers for hot water, rows of bright copper tea urns, and an electric +cutter for bread. Two girls stood at a table buttering enormous piles of +slices. + +"What monotonous work!" remarked Avelyn. + +"Yes, it is rather," answered Miss Gordon. "They give that to the +novices, and pass them on to something else afterwards. But one gets +accustomed to all the work, and doesn't mind. Now we'll have some tea +ourselves. Come to the Staff Room. I'm allowed to bring in my visitors." + +The sitting-room reserved for the members of the staff was divided by +glass doors from the canteen. It had little tables and chairs, and its +wooden walls had been decorated with pictures from magazines, fastened +up with drawing pins. Some of the staff were already seated there having +tea--brisk, capable ladies, most of whom had left comfortable homes in +order to take up war work. Miss Gordon greeted several friends, and +introduced Mary and Avelyn. The scones and the oat cake were delicious, +and were certainly a good advertisement of the cookery done in the +canteen. It was quite a merry little tea-party, for the lady workers +appeared to have a stock of jokes among themselves. + +"Now you must see my hostel," said Miss Gordon, pushing aside her cup +and rising when her guests had finished. "If you've seen mine you've +seen them all, for they're exactly alike." + +The colony consisted of thirty-two hostels, each holding a hundred +girls. The buildings were separate bungalows, and each had its own +matron, who was responsible for the comfort of its inmates. Miss Gordon +showed Mary and Avelyn into her bedroom, a little room nine feet square, +heated by hot-water pipes, and containing a bed, chest of drawers, +table, wash-stand, chair, and cupboard for dresses. + +"They give us the necessary furniture," explained Miss Gordon, "but we +must find our own pretty things. I brought the curtains and the +bed-cover and cushion and dressing-table mats, and of course my own +pictures and photos. There's a good deal of competition in making our +rooms nice." + +"This one's perfectly sweet!" exclaimed Avelyn. + +"It's not so bad, and there's quite a comfy chair to sit in to rest and +write letters. We can lock up our rooms if we like; the matron has +duplicate keys for cleaning purposes." + +There was more to be seen at the hostel: the laundry, where any girls +who liked might wash their own clothes, and where several were busily at +work with an ample supply of water and hot irons; the matron's little +office, with its piles of papers neatly filed; and the store-room, with +its sacks of flour, sugar, rice, and other commodities, that were +weighed out daily and sent to the canteen. + +"We lack a cosy sitting-room," said Miss Gordon; "we have to use our +bedrooms instead. There's a recreation hall, where we can dance in the +evenings if we wish, and I hope sometime there's going to be a library. +At present everything's so new, and they have to think of the stern +business part first before they give us luxuries. It's a utilitarian +sort of life." + +"Do you like it?" asked Avelyn. + +"Yes, on the whole very much. It's interesting, and I always enjoy being +among a crowd. Masses of people attract me, and I've got the community +spirit at present, and want to work with the hive." + +Avelyn looked thoughtful. It was not the kind of life that appealed to +her at all. She loved Nature's solitudes, and the companionship of woods +and streams more than crowds of people. To live in a hostel and canteen +would be absolute purgatory. She hoped she was not unpatriotic. Then +her face suddenly cleared. + +"I could go on the land when I leave school!" she exclaimed with relief. + +Mary Lascelles and Miss Gordon laughed. Avelyn's train of thought had +been so evident. Palpably she was not attracted by what she saw. + +"Yes, you'd be doing your bit on the land just as much as in a factory," +said Miss Gordon kindly. "It isn't everybody who cares to take up +canteen work. Let's hope the war will be over before you leave school. +You'll have several years more at your lessons yet, I suppose." + +The little country mouse was certainly turned into a town mouse for +these Christmas holidays. Avelyn felt that she had never before seen so +much of Harlingden, even when she had lived there. The Lascelles were +very public-spirited people, who were interested in everything that was +going on in the city and anxious to lend a hand in all schemes for the +general good. They sewed national costumes for the Serbians, rolled +bandages at the War Supply Depot, distributed dinners at the municipal +kitchens, taught gymnastic classes at girls' clubs, visited crippled +children, got up concerts for wounded soldiers, and organized Christmas +parties for slum babies. They seemed to be occupied nearly every minute +of the day, and they soon swept Avelyn into the whirl of the war +activities. If it was not exactly her ideal life, she nevertheless liked +it, and felt that she was being of use. She went with Cousin Lilia to +the Town Hall, and rather enjoyed standing behind a counter handing out +pies, or ladling soup into jugs for the rows of busy people who kept +pushing in from the long queue standing in the courtyard outside. She +admired the smart quick drill in Mary's gymnasium class, and marvelled +that the girls had so much spirit left after their long day's work; she +made the whole of a Serbian child's dress herself, with beautiful +barbaric red-and-blue trimming on it; she helped to hand cigarettes +round to the soldiers at their concert; and she played "Blind Man's +Buff" and "Drop the Handkerchief" with the slum children at the New +Year's party in the Ragged School. + +She had an altogether fresh experience at the Crèche. This day nursery +was a new institution in Harlingden, and had been opened in order that +women who wished to help at munitions might leave their babies to be +taken care of while they were at work. Gwen Lascelles gave two mornings +a week to it, as a voluntary nurse, thereby releasing some of the staff +to go off duty. One day she offered to take Avelyn with her, and the +latter jumped at the invitation. + +"Matron doesn't mind, and you'd be a help," said Gwen. "Nurse Barnes is +away ill, so we're short-handed just now, and sometimes it's all I can +do to manage. One or two of those toddlers are the limit!" + +Elton Lodge had been lent by a patriotic citizen for use as a day +nursery, and was well adapted for the purpose. It had plenty of +accommodation, and a garden where the babies could be out of doors in +summer. Gwen and Avelyn arrived here by ten o'clock, took off coats and +hats, donned aprons, and entered the ward. This was a large, light, airy +room, or rather two rooms thrown together. At one end stood twelve cribs +in which lay twelve babies, most of them fast asleep. At the other end, +grouped round the high fire-guard, were sixteen little toddlers of all +ages from eighteen months to four years. The nurse in charge rose with +an air of relief and handed over her duties to Gwen. + +"They're all right," she remarked, "all but Curly, who's in a temper +to-day. Don't let George bully the others, and smack Eddie if he tries +to unfasten the fire-guard. He knows what to expect! Nurse Peters will +be in the laundry if you want her." + +The nurse made her escape, and the toddlers came crowding round Gwen, +clamouring for her to open the toy-box. Avelyn strolled across the room +to inspect the babies. They had just had their bottles, and indeed some +had not yet quite finished and were sucking away contentedly. They were +dear babies, some quite wee who counted their ages by weeks, and older +ones with little tight silky curls. One blue-eyed, tearful, barefooted +person stood up in her crib and held out a beseeching pair of arms. +Avelyn could not resist the appeal. She took up the small creature and +cuddled it; it clasped her tightly round the neck, put a confiding head +on her shoulder, and sobbed gently. Gwen disengaged herself from the +toddlers and came across. + +"We're really not supposed to take them up and nurse them," she said. +"But I own I break the rules sometimes. Poor little Queenie's a +new-comer; she's been petted at home and hasn't got used to crèche ways +yet. She'll soon settle down. Look at Arthur! Isn't he splendid? When he +first came he was simply skin and bone through improper feeding. His +mother used to give him tastes of tea and red herrings. This is Frankie, +our special crèche baby. He lives here altogether. His mother is in +prison for ill-treating him, poor wee darling! She's not to have him +again when she comes out--the judge said so. I know you'd love Patty if +she were awake. She's got the cutest little ways." + +Gwen went round from cot to cot performing services for the babies, +restoring a teat to a small mouth that had not yet finished its bottle, +covering cold hands, turning the position of some, and patting others +who were inclined to be fretful and wail. + +"I just long to nurse them," she assured Avelyn. "But you see it really +wouldn't do to let them get into the habit of thinking that they must be +taken up and played with every time they cry." + +"Don't they howl when they first come?" + +"Simply yell for a day or two. Sometimes we have to put them in the +isolation ward because they disturb the others so dreadfully. They soon +get accustomed to crèche life, though. Their mothers bring them at about +six in the morning, and take them home after work in the evening. When +they arrive here they're washed, and dressed in the crèche clothes, and +their own clothes are put on again at night." + +"They don't seem shy," remarked Avelyn, who was still hugging Queenie. + +"No, that's the best of them. With seeing so many nurses and helpers +they'll go to anybody. They're very sweet when you may have them up and +attend to them. Queenie's getting sleepy. I think you'd better put her +back to bed." + +Avelyn disengaged the clinging little arms with reluctance. She would +cheerfully have acted nurse all the morning if allowed. She lowered her +sleepy burden into the crib, and turned her attention to the toddlers, +who certainly needed it. Several of them had followed Gwen, and were +popping mischievous fingers through the bars of the cribs and poking the +babies; some were indulging in a free fight over a toy. Eddie, the black +sheep, was attempting to climb the fire-guard; George was punching the +head of a smaller boy, and Curly, for no particular reason, was standing +with arms outstretched, yelling at the pitch of his lung power. It took +the best energies of the two young helpers to restore order. + +"My clothes aren't comfy!" pleaded one small sinner in a tight jersey. +"I'd be good if you'd let me have my own clothes on!" + +"George took my horse!" + +"I want a doll!" + +"Give me a picture-book!" + +"I want one too!" + +"You won't get anything at all unless you ask prettily!" declared Gwen +sternly. "Where are your manners, I should like to know?" + +By the end of the morning Avelyn decided that she could thoroughly +sympathize with the trying experiences of the old woman who lived in a +shoe. She felt in a perfect whirl of babies. They were sweet little +souls, but she would have enjoyed them more individually; to wrestle +with so many at once was decidedly wearing. At twelve o'clock came +dinner. Tiny chairs were placed round low tables, feeders were tied on, +and the children were put in their seats and taught to say grace. The +nurses brought in an enormous rice pudding, and gave platefuls to those +who were old enough to use spoons. Avelyn, sitting in a rocking-chair, +fed alternately one small person on her knee and another by her side. +Gwen was performing a like service. + +When the meal was at length over, the toddlers trotted off to low +camp-beds for their midday sleep, leaving a blissful calm in the ward, +where the babies were now receiving their share of attention. + +"Do you do this two mornings a week?" asked Avelyn as the girls walked +home. + +"Yes, but the children aren't always as troublesome as they were to-day, +and if they get very bad I can call Matron, or a nurse." + +"I'd like just the babies alone, if there weren't the toddlers as well +to look after. But to have sixteen of them to keep in order is the +limit. I feel----" + +"You'd rather go on the land?" queried Gwen, with an amused smile. + +"Yes, if I can choose my war work, I certainly should!" + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +The School Birthday + + +When Miss Thompson had bought the connection of The Hawthorns, and +amalgamated that school with her own, she had undertaken a more +difficult task than she had altogether anticipated. She had spoken much +of Silverside traditions, but it had never struck her that the +Hawthorners might have some of their own to which they might cling +tenaciously. It was not easy for the Principal to get to know the exact +mind of the school. She saw the girls in class, respectful, +well-behaved, and very much in awe of her, but it was another matter to +judge the mental barometer of the play-room. She suspected that there +was an undercurrent of trouble: the smallness of the Silverside Hockey +Club, the rival stalls at the bazaar, and the scanty audience at the +dramatic performance had shown her clearly which way the wind was +blowing. She thought the matter over seriously. From her knowledge of +girls she decided that it would be unwise to interfere directly. You +cannot cause rival factions to love each other by act of parliament. She +trusted that time and tact would cement a union, and meanwhile she +meant to hold her judgment in the balance and favour neither party. + +On the first day of the next term she made the important announcement +that she had appointed two new prefects, Annie Broadside and Gladys +Wilks, who would be given equal powers with their co-officers. It was a +great step for the day girls to have their former leaders raised to a +recognized position in the school. Though they were only two, as opposed +to four prefects who were boarders, they could look after their own +flock, and redress their grievances. Adah and her companions took the +news badly. They considered that their old privileges were being +outraged. + +"What's Miss Thompson _thinking_ of?" asked Consie indignantly. + +"She absolutely truckles to those wretched Hawthorners!" declared +Isobel. + +"Will Annie and Gladys expect to come to our prefects' meetings?" +demanded Joyce. + +"Of course they will! That's the sickening part of it!" said Adah +bitterly. "If Miss Thompson thinks she's going to manage us that way, +she's mistaken. I _won't_ be friends with those Hawthorners! I wish +they'd never come to the school at all!" + +"Pretty prefects Annie and Gladys will make!" sneered Joyce. + +To do Annie Broadside and Gladys Wilks justice, they made excellent +prefects. They were the acknowledged leaders of their own clique, and +they insisted upon certain rules being obeyed. They even suggested a +few innovations, which, though resisted at first by Adah, were +afterwards acknowledged as so excellent that they were put into force. +It did not add to their favour with the boarders, however, to have the +changes recommended as "what we always did at The Hawthorns". + +"What you may have found expedient there need be no law for us here," +replied Adah with uplifted eyebrows. + +January 21st was the school birthday. It was exactly fourteen years +since Miss Thompson had first opened Silverside, and she had kept the +anniversary as a festival ever since. This year it was to be quite a +public occasion. The house was far too small for the increased number of +pupils, and she had decided to build on an annexe, consisting of a large +hall and cloak-rooms. An architect had been busy drawing out plans, but, +owing to the difficulty of getting labour during the war, the contracts +had only just been passed. Now, after many delays, all was in training, +and the builders were ready to begin their work. Miss Thompson felt that +it would be an appropriate act for the foundation stone to be laid on +the school birthday. She was fortunate enough to persuade the Bishop of +the diocese to come and perform the ceremony. It was to be a great day +at Silverside. The girls discussed it freely beforehand, especially the +inmates of the Cowslip Room. + +"Ever so many smart people will be there," said Laura delightedly. +"Tommiekins is sending out heaps of invitations. I know, because Miss +Kennedy told Consie, and Consie told Nita Paget. The Bishop will make a +speech." + +"And what are _we_ going to do?" + +"Stand round and listen, and look intelligent and appreciative, and all +the rest of it, I suppose. We'll have to be saints during the ceremony, +but we'll have some fun afterwards. D'you know the school's to be thrown +open to all sorts of visitors? Not only old fogies who make speeches, +but other people. The day girls may each ask three friends, and they can +bring brothers if they like." + +"You don't say so! Miss Thompson _is_ coming on. Are you certain?" + +"It's quite true," confirmed Avelyn. "I was allowed an invitation card +too, and I've asked Mother and Daphne and David, and I've got Pamela to +ask Anthony with one of her spare invitations." + +"What sport!" + +"We'll all have to wear our best dresses," said Janet. + +"Rather! You bet we do!" + +In preparation for the coming event, a wave of what Miss Hopkins would +have dubbed "worldliness" swept over the Cowslip Room. The girls +reviewed their frocks critically. Laura implored Miss Kennedy to allow +hers to be sent to the dressmaker, to be lengthened two inches. Janet +borrowed the last drops of Ethelberga's before-the-war bottle of +benzoline, to remove a stain left by the dropping, butter-side down, of +a piece of muffin. Avelyn brushed her hair every night with eau de +Cologne to make it glossy. Ethelberga, in defiance of food saving, +begged oatmeal from the cook, and rubbed it on her face to improve her +complexion. Irma, after criticizing the costumes of her friends, sprang +a surprise on them. + +"I've sent home for a new dress," she announced carelessly. + +"You haven't!" + +"Yes, I have, and what's more, I expect it to-morrow. Mother wrote that +she was telling Barclays to post it to me direct." + +"Well, I do think you might have told us before." + +The other girls felt as if Irma had stolen an advantage. If the idea had +occurred to them they might also have written home for new dresses. It +was unfortunately too late now. Irma alone, of the Cowslip Room, would +attend the festival in the glory of a new gown. She gave herself airs in +consequence. It was an unfortunate characteristic of Irma that she was +apt to get swelled head on occasion. Her room-mates were constantly on +the look-out for symptoms of this complaint, and generally applied +drastic measures before things went too far. In a dormitory it does not +do to allow a girl to maintain too exalted an opinion of herself. + +"Irma's swanking no end!" affirmed Ethelberga. + +"Putting on side galore!" agreed Janet tartly. + +"We ought to do something to take the wind out of her sails a little," +said Laura, looking pensive. + +Avelyn's eyes suddenly sparkled. + +"I've got it!" she chuckled. "We'll play a rag on her this afternoon. +It'll be ever such fun! Oh, I've thought of a perfectly gorgeous plan. +No, I don't think I'll tell you what it is yet; but stroll up to the +dormitory as soon after four as you can, and make Irma come too on some +excuse. Then I'll have a little surprise for you." + +"You might tell us!" + +"No, no! Not a word! It would spoil the surprise." + +The members of the Cowslip Room were always ready for some diversion. +They wondered what kind of a practical joke Avelyn was going to play on +Irma. They took particular care to decoy their victim upstairs at four +o'clock. As a bait, Ethelberga offered to lend Irma her manicure set. +They were rubbing pink powder on Irma's almond-shaped nails when a rap +came at the door. + +"Entrez!" shouted Janet casually. + +It was a demure-eyed junior who made her appearance, carrying a large +parcel. + +"This has just come, and it's for your room, so I brought it up," she +announced, dumping it down on the bed, and leaning over to read the +address. "Miss Irma Ridley. Wish it had been Miss Dorothy Elston. I've +no luck. Ta-ta!" and she waved a rather impertinent hand, and trotted +away. + +Irma jumped up, upsetting the box of manicure powder, and scattering the +other implements over the floor. + +"It's never my box!" she exclaimed. + +At that psychological moment Avelyn entered the room. + +"I didn't expect it until to-morrow," rejoiced Irma. "They must have +sent it by carrier instead of by post. Lend me your scissors, Janet. Oh, +I'm just dying to look!" + +The parcel was a large cardboard box done up in rather untidy brown +paper. It had evidently suffered considerably on the journey. Irma cut +the string with the utmost haste, and began to tear off the wrappers and +open the box. + +"I know Mother will have chosen me something pretty," she purred. +"Mother's got such lovely taste, and she wrote that she'd seen the very +thing, and was sure I should like it." + +"It's well wrapped up," remarked Janet. + +Irma was removing sheet after sheet of tissue paper with a pleased +giggle. At last she reached the core of the package, and unfolded--not a +smart new frock, but her own ordinary school evening dress. Her stare of +blank astonishment was comical. + +"What's this? What have they sent me?" she gasped. + +But her room-mates were collapsing in various attitudes of mirth, and +she understood. For a moment two red spots flared in her cheeks, then +she had the sense to take the joke with a good grace. If she was angry, +the others shouldn't have the triumph of seeing her annoyance. + +"You geese!" she remarked. "I might have known the box couldn't arrive +to-day. So this is why you hauled me upstairs, is it? Oh, go on and +laugh if you like! It doesn't hurt me. I don't mind." + +She hung the dress up again in her wardrobe, and folding the sheets of +tissue paper, appropriated them. + +"I've been wanting some tissue paper," she said airily. + +The girls restrained themselves and sobered down. + +"You're a trump, Irma!" declared Avelyn. + +"It was too bad, but we couldn't help laughing," murmured Janet. + +"Poor old Irmie, you took it sporting!" sympathized Ethelberga. + +"You'll like your dress all the more when it really comes," comforted +Laura. + +When Irma's parcel arrived the next day her room-mates, having played +their joke upon her, had the grace to be nice and to admire the new +frock, which was a charming creation in blue, and suited its owner +admirably. They went out of their way to be pleasant about it, and +Avelyn lent a hair ribbon which exactly matched the shade of colour, +while Laura offered a chain of Venetian beads. They all felt, as they +dressed for the festival, that if Irma's costume eclipsed the rest of +them, she deserved her little triumph for keeping her temper. + +"It's a shame to have to put a coat over it," said Ethelberga. + +"Well, she certainly can't stand outside in the cold with only that thin +dress on," decreed Laura. + +The ceremony was to take place at three o'clock, and shortly before +that hour all the school, in hats and coats, were marshalled outside to +the spot where the new hall was to be erected. It was a cold, grey +January afternoon, with one or two snowflakes floating down, and +everybody stood and shivered. Some of the invited guests were keeping +warm in the house, and others strolled out to the scene of action. The +girls, drawn up in line, nodded and smiled to many friends from the +town. They were cold, and impatient for the proceedings to begin. +Waiting is weary work on a January afternoon. Their talk, which at first +had been low and subdued, began to buzz, and rose higher and higher. + +"What a disgraceful noise!" said Adah. "It's all those wretched +Hawthorners. If Miss Thompson brings out the Bishop while all this +clamour is going on she'll be thoroughly ashamed of the school. Less +noise, girls! Do you hear?" + +The girls heard perfectly well, but they did not heed, and the hum of +unrestrained conversation continued. Adah waxed desperate. + +"This can't go on! It mustn't!" she said indignantly. + +She thought for a moment, then took an extreme measure. She walked up to +Annie Broadside, and confronted her with flashing eyes. + +"You're a prefect! If you've any influence with your old crew, why don't +you stop this din? It's a disgrace to Silverside! I've said what I can!" + +Annie looked astonished, but for once she fell in with the head girl's +suggestion. Passing along the lines, she commanded silence, and she was +obeyed. Where Adah had failed to restore order, she succeeded. At that +moment the house door opened, and Miss Thompson appeared, ushering out +the Bishop--a reverend figure in gaiters--and followed by the mistresses +and a number of guests. A dead hush fell upon the school, and all eyes +were fixed at attention. + +The little ceremony was not very long--perhaps the Bishop himself felt +the cold. There were one or two brief speeches, and Edna Esdale, the +youngest member of Form I, handed a trowel decorated with ribbons, a dab +of mortar was deposited, and the foundation stone laid. The girls sang +"God Save the King", then, as the snow was beginning to come down in +good earnest, everybody thankfully turned into the house. It was +certainly a crowd, but it was pleasant to meet friends. The Watson +family had all turned up, and had actually brought Mrs. Reynolds with +them, to Pamela's great triumph, for as a rule her mother shunned all +public gatherings. The poor lady, though very nervous, seemed to be +mildly enjoying herself. + +"I am glad Pam didn't ask her uncle," thought Avelyn. "I shouldn't have +been surprised if he had insisted on coming!" + +There was actually a birthday cake for the school, with fourteen little +candles on it, and the Bishop, at Miss Thompson's request, cut the first +slice. There was only enough for visitors, but the girls had had the +satisfaction of viewing it lighted beforehand, and had known that it +was not big enough to go round, so consequently were not disappointed. +Irma, in her new blue dress, produced quite a sensation among those of +her form who had not yet seen its beauties. Its attractions even went +further. + +Miss Thompson, ciceroning the Bishop round the premises and expatiating +on the value of her new scheme of ventilation, let her eyes pass over a +line of girls, flattening themselves dutifully against the wall, and +singled out the creation in blue. + +"We've many nice children here. Come here, Irma dear! This one is Irma +Ridley. Run, child, and fetch me your Nature notebook. I should like the +Bishop to look at it. We make a point of Nature study, my Lord." + +Irma departed on her errand like a blue sunbeam. She stood smiling and +speechless while the great Church dignitary benevolently examined her +record of the months, and murmured his approval. + +"Miss Thompson says it all went off splendidly," declared Janet, as the +girls warmed themselves at the class-room fire afterwards. + +"David and Anthony called it 'ripping!'" affirmed Avelyn. + +"And _I_ was introduced to the Lord Bishop of Howchester!" triumphed +Irma, with the glamour of the honour still dancing in her shining eyes. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +Under the Pines + + +When spring came, bringing daffodils in the orchard, and primrose stars +under the alder bushes in the meadow, and tiny green shoots on the +hedges, and singing of larks and cawing of jackdaws and twitter of +linnets, and all the other dear delights of the "return of Proserpine", +Walden also celebrated a birthday. It was a year since the Watsons had +obtained possession of their little property. To them all it had been a +glad, golden, glorious year, full of fresh interests, new awakenings, +and hitherto undreamed-of experiences. They had been living spiritually +on a far higher plane; almost unconsciously the influence of hills and +wide skies and dashing waters had passed into their lives and widened +them. So much of what we are in our after years depends on the standard +of happiness we form when we are quite young. If we learn to take +Nature's hand and read in her book, she can teach us wonderful secrets, +and lift our souls so that we can never again be really narrow, or +vulgar, or petty, or commonplace. It is not the mere fact of living in +the country that gives this inner vision. Too often country dwellers go +about with closed eyes and sealed hearts to the meaning of the beauty +around them; but to those who will listen to Mother Nature's many +voices, there comes a wonderful refinement and purity of taste, quite +irrespective of wealth or class distinctions, the mark of the spirit +that is daily growing, overmastering the claims of the physical body, +and fitting itself for something that as yet we only grasp at but cannot +reach. God must love His children very dearly to send them such +beautiful things as the April sunshine, and the light on the hills, and +the white spray of the whirling waterfall, and the violets in the hazel +coppice. They may spoil His earth for themselves, but the springtime +comes again, and the little heartsease flowers will bloom, not only over +those graves in France, but over deeper graves of fallen hopes and lost +ideals. + +Mrs. Watson reviewed the year at Walden as so much gain. To begin with, +her primary object in the removal had been an entire success: Daphne, +formerly pale, thin, and an object for anxiety, was now as radiant as a +pink-tipped daisy, and pronounced by the specialist to be absolutely fit +and sound. She spent most of her time out of doors, gardening and +looking after her colony of fowls, and, though she might not be doing +definite war work, felt that she was helping her country by the +production of food-stuffs. Daphne had suddenly grown very pretty. +Avelyn, who often looked at her critically, decided that point +emphatically. It was a delicate, ethereal, elusive kind of beauty, due +as much to expression as to straight features and smiling grey eyes. +Daphne never came out well in a photograph--that was quite a recognized +fact in the family; to appreciate her, you had to see her when she was +excited, or gardening, with her hair rumpled. + +The Walden birthday fell early in April, and the Watsons decided to +celebrate it by having a Saturday picnic. Captain Harper promised to +join them--he came up sometimes from the camp to Lyngates--and they also +asked Pamela and her mother. Rather to their surprise, Mrs. Reynolds +accepted the invitation. The poor lady was still somewhat crushed and +depressed, but she seemed to be trying to bestir herself, and, for her +daughter's sake, to make faint, almost pathetic efforts at friendship. +She was shy and uncommunicative, but she evidently liked Mrs. Watson, +and would cheer up a little in her presence, and venture a few remarks, +and even a watery smile. The picnic was to be in the pine woods, so all +met at the cross-roads by the pond as a common starting-point, and set +forth together, armed with tea baskets. + +It was a two-mile walk up hill, along a road that twisted at sharp +angles and gave lovely views of the landscape below. Presently they +reached the beginnings of the wood, and some pines rose like giant +sentinels guarding an enchanted land. As they tramped on, the trees +stood thicker, tall and straight as the masts of a ship, with a carpet +of soft fallen needles underneath. All at once a gleam of water flashed, +and they had reached the bourne of their journey, a little grey lake +set in the midst of the wood, with heather and whinberry growing round +its banks. There was a space of shingle down by the water, and here, +after a grand hunt to collect sticks, they lighted a fire and boiled the +kettle they had brought with them. + +It was fun sitting round in a gipsy circle, even if the tea was rather +weak and smoky, and the war cake was conspicuous by its lack of sugar +and currants. Everybody could have eaten a great deal more than the +ration, and the provisions disappeared down to the very last crumb. +Afterwards the young folks started to explore the banks, and had a wild +time scrambling over fallen tree trunks, jumping small streams, and +pushing through thickets. At a particularly large fallen pine Avelyn +struck, and demanded a rest. She and Pamela perched themselves on the +top, and announced their intention of sitting still for at least ten +minutes. The boys, who had been cutting walking-sticks from the hazels +by the lake edge, consented to a halt, and settled down with their +penknives, whittling away busily. Mrs. Watson and Mrs. Reynolds were +washing up the tea-cups at the picnic place, and the sound of their +voices echoed faintly over the water. Daphne and Captain Harper seemed +temporarily lost. + +"It's like home to be right amongst the pines!" said Pamela, looking +with far-away eyes at the vista of red-brown trunks and green needles. + +"Did you live among them in America?" asked Avelyn. + +"Yes, our ranch was out in British Columbia, close to the edge of the +forest. At one time Daddy had lumbering business there, and we spent the +summer at a log shanty right up on the mountain. It was glorious, and I +loved it, but it was very lonely. Daddy used to be out all day, looking +after the timber, and Mother and I would be left by ourselves until +evening. Sometimes we didn't see anyone except our own family for weeks +and weeks." + +"Were you frightened?" + +"Only once, and then we really had an adventure. I was more scared when +it was over than at the time." + +"Do tell us about it!" pleaded Avelyn. + +Pamela hesitated, and threw pine cones into the lake. She had never been +very expansive about her life in Canada, and the Watsons had heard few +of her experiences there. They had a general impression that Mr. +Reynolds had not prospered in the New World, and that Pamela shrank from +letting her friends know the roughness of her early upbringing. As a +rule they refrained from questioning her--she was not a girl whom it was +easy to question--but an adventure could not be resisted. + +"Do tell us, Pam!" urged the boys, wriggling nearer, and stopping their +whittling. + +Pamela threw away all the pine cones that lay in her lap, seemed to +think a moment or two, then finally decided. + +"All right, I'll tell you if you like! Well, as I've just said, we were +living in a log-house in a little clearing in the forest. We used to +hear the coyotes howling about at night, but we didn't mind those in the +least. They're cowardly beasts, and we'd never seen anything else to +frighten us. One day Father had a much longer round to go than usual, +and he said he should not be back at night, but would sleep with some +friends at a ranch a good many miles off. Mother and I did not mind +being left. Daddy had been obliged to stop away like that before, so we +were accustomed to it. I went out in the afternoon, across the clearing, +and through part of the forest to some open pastures where the berries +grew. I stayed there, picking some and eating them, and putting some in +my basket, for just ages. It was nice there: I found flowers as well as +berries; and I'd brought out a book with me, so I sat down and read and +enjoyed myself. Suddenly I noticed that the sun was beginning to set, +and I jumped up and felt guilty. I knew that Mother would have supper +ready, and that she'd be waiting for me. I ran home all the way. It was +getting quite dusk in the forest as I went through. When I came near the +house, I could see that the shutters were up, covering the window. That +didn't surprise me, because Mother generally closed them as soon as she +lighted the lamp. But she always left the door standing open for me, and +to-night the door was shut too. I was rushing forward to open it, when I +heard Mother's voice calling me. + +"'Pamela, stop! Don't come a step nearer, child!' + +"I looked round to see where Mother was, and she was in the funniest +place. Our log-cabin had a loft above it, which was reached by a ladder +from the living-room. This loft had a tiny window in the roof, and, lo +and behold, there was Mother peeping out of the window and waving me +back! I thought it so funny that I began to laugh, but Mother wasn't +laughing at all. She called out again: + +"'Keep back!' + +"Her voice sounded so queer that it suddenly scared me. My legs began to +shake in the silliest way. + +"'What's the matter?' I shouted. + +"Mother's voice quavered a little: + +"'Don't be too frightened, darling! There's a puma shut up in the +house!' + +"I was fearfully frightened, all the same. I should have run away if +Mother had not been at the window. I stared at the house, picturing that +horrible thing moving about inside. Mother went on explaining: + +"'I'd lighted the lamp and closed the shutters, and I'd left the door +open for you. Then, suddenly, I saw the creature creep into the room. My +first idea was that it would rush out and catch you just as you were +coming home, so I slammed the door, and dashed up the ladder into the +loft, and then kicked the ladder away. He's downstairs quite safe, and +I'm up here and he can't get at me. I've put down the trap-door.' + +"'Can't you crawl through the window, Mummie?' I gasped. + +"'No, it's too small. I've tried. I'm caged up here, just as much as the +puma is caged down below, and I can hear him raging about. If he upsets +the lamp, the whole place will be on fire.' + +"I gave a great cry at that, because it seemed almost a certain thing +that the puma would upset the lamp, and then I knew the log-cabin would +be in a blaze. What could I do? Daddy would not be returning home that +night, and our nearest neighbours were miles away. Yet I must get help, +and at once. There was nothing else for it; every minute was of +consequence. + +"'I'll go to the Petersons' ranch, Mummie!' I shouted, and I started off +running without waiting for her to reply. + +"I was only eleven, and the forest was getting dark. I had never been +out alone in it at that time of evening. I wasn't brave at all. My legs +shook under me as I ran, and I imagined a puma behind every bush. Then I +was rather uncertain about the trail. In that dim light it would be very +easy to lose my way and never reach the ranch at all. I decided to keep +near the stream, which would guide me. I went stumbling on for what +seemed a long time, and everything was getting darker, when suddenly, on +the other side of the stream, I saw the light of a camp fire. I knew +some lumbermen must be spending the night in the woods there, and that +they might help me. I hallooed and cooeed as loudly as I could, but the +wind was in the wrong direction and carried my voice away, and the +stream was noisy, so I couldn't make them hear me. + +"I didn't know what to do. Then, a little farther down, I saw that a +tree had fallen across the stream. I ran along and looked at it. It was +a horrible bridge--I'm a coward at crossing water--but I had to crawl +over it somehow. For a year afterwards I used to dream that I was doing +it again, and would wake up gasping. I've hated running water ever +since. Well, I managed to get across, though I never quite knew how I +did it, and then I ran up to the camp fire, shaking so that I could +hardly tell what I wanted. + +"Three men were sitting there, cooking their supper, and one of them +called out: 'Hallo! What's up with you, young 'un?' + +"When I said there was a puma inside our house they all whistled. Then +the one who had spoken reached for his gun, and said: 'We'll come with +you, lassie!' + +"The others didn't say anything, but they got up and found their guns +too. One of them took me on his back and carried me across the bridge +when he saw how I funked it. He went over without minding it in the +least. I don't know how he could! + +"It was fearfully dark going home through the wood, and I could only +just manage to find the trail. We got to our shanty at last, and I +shouted, and Mother looked out of the window and said: 'Thank God you're +back safe!' + +"The three men talked over the best way of killing the puma. One of them +prised open the shutters and the other two stood ready with their guns. +The creature had been quiet (so Mother told us afterwards) for a long +while, but when the shutters fell back it went wild, and came tearing +across the room to the window, knocking over the table and upsetting the +lamp. It was shot directly, and fell dead inside the room. But the lamp +had broken and set up a blaze. The men rushed to our shed for spades and +threw earth on the burning paraffin, managing to put the fire out before +any real damage had been done. Then they fixed the ladder again, and +Mother came down from the loft. + +"When Daddy came home next day she said she daren't be left alone in the +woods again, so he took us to the settlement, and we lived there the +rest of the summer." + +"Did you keep the puma's skin?" asked Anthony, who had followed the +story with breathless interest. + +"No, I'd have liked to, but the lumbermen had dragged the thing outside, +and the coyotes got hold of it in the night, so there wasn't much skin +left by morning." + +"I think you were immensely plucky!" exclaimed Avelyn warmly. + +"Plucky! What else could I have done? I tell you, I felt the biggest +coward out!" + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +The Lavender Lady + + +It was Easter time when the Lavender Lady first rose upon the horizon of +Lyngates. She came with the dog violets and the ground ivy and the +meadow orchises, and several other lovely purple things, at least that +was how her advent was always associated in Avelyn's mind. She took the +furnished bungalow near the church, lately vacated by the curate, and it +was rumoured in the village that she composed music and had published +poetry, and that she had come down into the country for a rest. + +When Avelyn first saw her she was sitting in the flowery little garden +raised above the road. She wore a soft lavender dress and an old lace +fichu, and she had dark eyes and eyebrows, and cheeks as pink as the +China roses, and fluffy grey-white hair that gleamed like a dove's wing +as the sun shone on it. She looked such a picture as she sat there, all +unconscious of spectators, against a background of golden wallflowers +and violet aubrietias, that Avelyn was obliged just to stand still and +gaze. In that thirty seconds she fell in love with the Lavender Lady. +It was not a mere mild liking, but a sudden, romantic, absolute, +headlong falling in love. It had come all in a minute and overwhelmed +her. She crept away softly to dream dreams about the vision she had seen +in the garden. At home there were some beautiful illustrated editions of +William Morris's _Earthly Paradise_ and of Dante Gabriel Rossetti's +poems. She took them out and pored over them. The gorgeous +pre-Raphaelite pictures had always appealed to her innate artistic +sense, and set her nerves athrill with a something she could not +analyse. There was not one of them so beautiful as her Lavender Lady +among the flowers. + +"She's a little like 'The Blessed Damozel', who leaned out 'from the +gold bar of heaven'," mused Avelyn. "And then again she's like +Gainsborough's picture of 'The Duchess of Devonshire'. I wonder what her +name is, and if I shall ever know her? I don't believe I'd dare to speak +to her. I'd be too shy." + +For a whole week Avelyn, terribly in love, lived in a mystic world in +which the Lavender Lady, robed in the glory of the purple night and +stars, was as the central sun, and she herself revolved like a planet +round her orbit. The family could not understand why she insisted upon +choosing heliotrope for her new dress. + +"It won't suit you, dear," demurred Mrs. Watson, bewildered by the +firmness of her daughter's sudden attitude. + +They were sitting round the table, with three boxes of patterns from +west-end London firms spread out temptingly before them. + +"You of all people in helio, Ave!" objected Daphne. "It's the one colour +you ought never to wear--you're far too much of a brunette for any +violet shades. You'd look nice in this biscuit, or this saxe blue. I +always liked you in that blue dress you had a couple of years ago." + +"There's a perfectly charming stripe here," recommended Mrs. Watson. + +"I want the helio, please," said Avelyn doggedly. + +"But _why_ should you want helio when you know it doesn't suit you?" +stormed Daphne. "It's really only pig-headedness, because you've +happened to say so. You can't see yourself in your own dress. If you +could you'd choose another colour." + +"You know nothing about it," retorted Avelyn; and matters nearly grew +warm between the two girls. + +"There's no need to send the patterns back to-day," interrupted Mrs. +Watson, sweeping the whole consignment back into their boxes. "We'll +bring them out to-morrow and talk about them." + +As a matter of fact she sent for the biscuit shade without consulting +Avelyn again, much to the disgust of that damsel, who consoled herself +by taking energetically to gardening, and replanting the round border in +the middle with wallflowers and purple aubrietias. It was the Easter +holidays, so she had time to dream. She made up at least six romances +about the Lavender Lady's past; some of them ended happily and some +unhappily. She could not decide which was really the more artistic. She +walked past the cottage every evening. Once she threw a bunch of violets +over the wall just to the place where the lady had been sitting. Then +she ran away frightened at her own daring. Another evening as she passed +she heard the strains of a piano and the sound of a rich, sweet +contralto voice. She stood and listened spellbound. It was a song she +had never heard before--a lovely, crooning song, like a cradle lullaby. +She would have liked to stay and listen to more, but the Vicar's wife +and daughters were coming down the road, and she fled. Somehow she did +not want to be talked to just at that moment. + +On Sunday she chivied the family off to church at least ten minutes too +soon, and they sat in their pew in stately dignity while the rest of the +congregation trickled in. Avelyn, from a post of vantage near the +pillar, eyed everyone that entered with increasing disappointment. Then +her heart gave a great thump. Her Lady was coming up the aisle--not in +lavender this time, but in black and white, with a bunch of violets and +a big picture-hat trimmed with silver ribbon, and a white ostrich boa +and dainty white kid gloves. The verger was showing her to a seat in +front, actually the next pew but one, and Avelyn felt thrills running +down her spine. She was so glad the verger had selected a pew in front. +If it had been behind, she would have been absolutely obliged to +disgrace herself by turning round. After the service she managed to drop +her book, and to fumble for it long enough to delay her family for a +few moments and prevent them from leaving before the Lavender Lady. They +passed her in the churchyard. She was actually speaking to the Vicar's +eldest daughter. Avelyn decided that Barbara Holt had more than her +share of luck. At dinner-time, over the joint of roast beef, Mrs. Watson +remarked: + +"That seems a sweet lady staying at the bungalow. Miss Carrington, I +hear, her name is. She comes from London, and Mrs. Holt says she's very +musical. I think I shall have to call." + +Avelyn went on eating beef and potatoes with a jumping heart but outward +composure. It had not struck her that it was possible to pay social +calls on Dante Gabriel Rossetti heroines. What if she were to meet the +Lavender Lady at close quarters? Even speak to her? The idea seemed to +need preparation. + +Mrs. Watson had quite made up her mind. + +"Daphne and I will go on Tuesday," she said. + +It was of course appropriate that Daphne, being the eldest, should go, +but Avelyn envied her all the same. + +When the momentous afternoon arrived she enquired anxiously what her +sister was going to wear. It seemed vitally important that the family +should make a good impression. + +"You'll put on your grey coat and skirt, won't you?" she said +beseechingly. + +"I don't think I will. I really don't want to go at all," yawned +Daphne. + +Not want to go! Avelyn could hardly believe it. She stared at Daphne +incredulously. + +"Don't you feel well?" she asked. + +"Oh yes! it isn't that, but I hate paying calls, and I promised the boys +to walk to Fulverton. Captain Harper said he'd meet us and show us a +squirrel's nest he's found. Suppose you go and call with Mother instead +of me?" + +Avelyn gasped. Such unselfishness took away her breath. + +"Do you really mean you'll let me go instead of you?" + +"With all the pleasure in life, child, if you want to." Daphne's manner +was airy and elder-sisterly. "Of course it's nothing to me whether we +meet Captain Harper or not, only he made rather a point about it, and +perhaps it would seem--well, rude, if I let the boys go without me. He's +been very kind to David and Tony, and one doesn't like to hurt his +feelings." + +Two things swept across Avelyn's bewildered consciousness: first, that +Daphne was growing up--growing up most suddenly and unmistakably; and +secondly, that she had resigned her privilege, as elder daughter, to +call on the Lavender Lady. The first would have to be considered at +leisure, in all its bearings and side issues; the second was for the +moment uppermost. + +"Go and ask Mother what you're to put on," said Daphne, as if the whole +question of the exchange were settled. + +It was an outwardly calm and self-possessed, but inwardly much-agitated +Avelyn who entered, in her mother's wake, into the little drawing-room +at the bungalow. One comprehensive glance took in the fact that the room +was utterly different from what it had been during the curate's +occupation. There were books and flowers, and other pretty things about. +The general tone had changed from commonplace to artistic. On the +window-sill lay a half-finished sketch of the village. There was music +on the open piano. But these details faded into secondary consideration, +for the Lavender Lady was entering, in the soft heliotrope gown, with a +sprig of wallflower pinned into the lace fichu. + +Occasionally in our lives we meet with people whose whole electric +atmosphere seems to merge and blend with our own. We feel we are not so +much making a new acquaintance as picking up the lost threads of some +former soul-friendship. Avelyn experienced thrills as she shook hands. +She was far too shy to say much, but she sat and listened rapturously +while her mother and Miss Carrington did the talking. For the present it +was enough to be in the vicinity of her goddess. The maid brought in +tea. There were a dainty, open-hem-stitched Teneriffe cloth, Queen Anne +silver teapot and Apostle teaspoons, and scones and honey. A bowl of +primroses and forget-me-nots was on the table. + +The half-hour's visit passed like a dream. + +"You'll come and see me again, dear, won't you?" said Miss Carrington, +as she held Avelyn's hand in good-bye. + +The hot colour flooded the girl's face. Her eyes shone like stars. + +"Oh, may I?" she cried impulsively. + +That afternoon marked an epoch. Friendship is a matter more of +temperament than of years. That the Lavender Lady was middle-aged, and +Avelyn barely sixteen, made not the slightest difference to either of +them. Each character dove-tailed comfortably into the other. Miss +Carrington had a great sympathy for girls, and she seemed to understand +Avelyn at once. As for the latter, she had utterly lost her heart. But +for the fear of making herself a nuisance she would have nearly lived at +the bungalow. She went there very often by special invitation, and spent +glorious, delightful afternoons sitting in the garden, talking about art +and books and music, and the foreign places Miss Carrington had visited. +It fascinated Avelyn to hear about Venice and Rome and Sicily and Egypt, +and made her long to go and see them for herself. + +"You shall, some day, when the war's over," said the Lavender Lady +confidently. + +Sometimes they would go for walks together, or Avelyn would wait with a +book while Miss Carrington sketched, or--what she loved immensely--would +sit in the twilight while her friend improvised soft dreamy music at the +piano. The little volume of poems, _Cameos_, by Lesbia Carrington, she +already knew almost by heart; the small, white-and-gold edition, with +its signed autograph, was her greatest treasure. To Avelyn it was a +most inspiring friendship, that roused dormant hopes and ideals in her +nature which promised to make rapid growth afterwards. Her Lavender Lady +proved the most delightful of confidantes. It was possible to tell her +everything. She never laughed at Avelyn's secrets, though she was merry +enough on occasion. + +One evening she and Avelyn sat in the little garden, watching the red +glow of the setting sun fade away behind the dark boughs of the yew +trees. The air was heavy with the scent of flowers; from the fields came +the caw of rooks, as long flights passed homeward to roost. Avelyn +squatted on the grass, with her head against the Lavender Lady's knee, +and held her hand tight. + +"Next week I shall be back at Silverside," she whispered. "I just hate +the thought of it!" + +"Poor little woman!" + +"It isn't as nice there as it ought to be, somehow. Things seem always +at sixes and sevens, and it's so horrid." + +"What's the trouble?" + +"The old school and the new school won't mix. The Silversiders look down +on the Hawthorners, and the Hawthorners resent it, of course, and just +detest the Silversiders. It's a constant bickering the whole time. I +think it's almost worse since Annie and Gladys were made prefects. It's +perfectly wretched for me, because I'm between two stools." + +"How's that?" + +"Well, you see, in a way I'm a boarder, but then I'm the only weekly +boarder, so the others who stay there the whole term rub it into me that +I'm not quite one of themselves. They can't forget that I used once to +go to The Hawthorns, even though it's a long time ago, and they keep +bringing it up against me as if I were a sort of traitor in their midst. +Then it's quite as awkward for me with the day girls. I like some of +them very much; they used to be old chums of mine, and I'd like to go on +being friends with them. But if I even speak to them in school, Laura or +Janet are down on me like anything, and ask me if I've forgotten I'm a +member of the Silverside League." + +"What is the League, please?" + +"It's a kind of blood-brotherhood among the boarders to keep up +Silverside traditions. When the day girls heard of it, they started an +'Old Hawthorners' League' in opposition." + +"But surely you're all Silversiders now?" + +"We are in name, but nothing else. We still feel two separate schools. +The day girls wouldn't play hockey with us in the winter. They got up a +club of their own, and wore their old school colours. They won ever so +many matches, and the Silverside Club did so badly. Adah was dreadfully +sick about it. She thought them so mean to desert." + +"Perhaps they felt they wouldn't be welcome." + +"That's exactly the point. Instead of pulling together, it's always +boarders versus day girls; and as for poor little me, I'm neither fish, +flesh, fowl, nor good red herring!" + +The Lavender Lady smiled, and then looked thoughtful. She stroked +Avelyn's hair. + +"Poor little woman!" she said again. + +"I feel like Mohammed's coffin, slung between earth and heaven." + +"Can't something be done to bring these rival factions into harmony? +You're one school now, and ought to work together for the common good." + +"That's what Miss Thompson says, but it doesn't make any difference." + +"Girls often won't listen to teachers. The movement must come from +within, not without. It seems to me, Ave, you're the one to set it in +motion." + +"I?" + +Avelyn turned up her face in the greatest amazement to meet the Lavender +Lady's calm eyes. + +"Yes, _you_, darling! Don't you see you have an absolutely unique +opportunity? You're the only girl in the school who is in touch with +both sides. You can get at both the boarders and the day girls. The +hockey season is over, and I suppose next term you'll be starting tennis +and cricket?" + +"Yes, so we shall." + +"Well, suppose directly you get back to Harlingden you propose a United +League of all Silversiders to win credit for the school. You could set +about it very tactfully, and sound your principal parties first." + +"_I?_ But they'd think it such cheek! A Fifth Form girl, and only a +weekly boarder." + +[Illustration: AVELYN AND THE LAVENDER LADY] + +"And Gideon said, 'Wherewithal shall I save Israel? I am the least in my +father's house'," quoted Miss Carrington. "On the contrary, I think it's +the chance of a lifetime. I believe you're the one girl to do it. It +would be something worth accomplishing, wouldn't it, to unite the +school?" + +"Rather!" + +"Is there any public occasion when you could bring forward the +suggestion?" + +"Yes; there's the School Council on the first Wednesday of term. Anybody +is allowed to put things to the meeting, and votes are taken." + +"You couldn't have a better opportunity. Talk in private to the girls +first, and persuade a number of them from both sides to be ready to back +you up. Then state your proposal. By the by, what are the Silverside +colours?" + +"Pale-blue and navy." + +"And the old Hawthorn colours?" + +"Navy and pink." + +"If you're wise, you'll amalgamate them, and ask Miss Thompson to let +you have new badges of pale-blue, pink, and navy. I believe it might +just make all the difference to the state of feeling." + +"Perhaps you're right. But I still feel afraid--it's a big thing to +attempt, and I don't know whether I can screw up the courage. Suppose I +fail? Suppose they only laugh at me, and tell me to mind my own +business?" + +"You won't fail! You mustn't _think_ failure! Make up your mind +beforehand that you're going to succeed, and that what you say will +persuade them. Oh, Ave darling, do try! It would be such a grand thing. +There are those two great streams of girls, each running its own way. +They only need a thin barrier removed to make them into one mighty +river. Some common purpose should unite them. Perhaps in their heart of +hearts they're all secretly longing for union. Who knows? Can't your +hands lead them together? You said once you'd do anything for my sake." + +"So I did--and I mean it!" + +"Then take up this crusade, and be a Red Cross Knight for the School +Colours!" + +"For the School Colours and for you, dear Lavender Lady!" said Avelyn, +kissing the soft hand in token of her vow. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +The Loyal School League + + +Avelyn went back to school in a serious frame of mind. She knew that she +had undertaken a big thing, and, though she mentally set her teeth and +meant to grapple with it, she felt that her dear Lavender Lady did +not--could not--realize all the difficulties that lay in her path. Miss +Carrington's supreme faith in her buoyed her up, however; she would try +her utmost, and if failure came---- No! the Lavender Lady had said it +was fatal even to mention failure, and that she must go about her errand +absolutely determined to succeed. + +She began by sounding the members of her own dormitory. They received +the suggestion with wonderful favour. + +"The school's been slack enough at games all the winter!" commented +Irma. + +"Time it bucked up, certainly!" agreed Janet. + +"That Hawthorners' Hockey Club was a scandal!" said Laura. + +"Well, if we don't take care they'll be turning it into a tennis club +for the summer," warned Avelyn. + +"We'd better make some sort of a move," grunted Ethelberga. + +"It's Adah that's at the bottom of all the trouble," said Laura, sitting +on the floor with her arms clasped round her knees, and swaying +thoughtfully to and fro. "Adah's a thorough old-fashioned Silversider, +and hates the new contingent--that's the matter in a nutshell." + +"Isobel and Consie and even Joyce would come round directly if Adah +would only let them," agreed Irma. + +"And Annie and Gladys would meet them half-way," nodded Janet. + +"Adah's the most ripping tennis-player I know," ruminated Laura. + +"And so's Annie. She won the trophy last year at The Hawthorns." + +"The two together would make the best champions any school ever had." + +"Well, look here, they've just _got_ to go together!" + +"I've an idea--a brain wave!" said Avelyn. "The Council Meeting will be +to-morrow. Well, this afternoon let us propose a tennis set, 'School +versus Mistresses'. Miss Peters and Miss Broadwin are simply A1 at +tennis, and everybody knows they are, so we'll insist upon Adah and +Annie playing together for the school. They can't refuse when it's put +like that. Whether they win or lose, it'll pave the way for what we want +to bring forward to-morrow." + +"Right you are, O Queen! It's a blossomy idea!" + +Avelyn got up, and straightened her tie. + +"I'll go down now to the dressing-room, and catch those day girls as +they come in, and have a talk with some of them." + +"And I'll go and sound Miss Peters about the set this afternoon. She's +in a good temper to-day, because she's had a letter from the front." + +Miss Peters and Miss Broadwin, fresh and fit after the holidays, were +quite disposed to accept the challenge of the girls and wield rackets on +behalf of the mistresses. Universal public opinion fixed upon Adah and +Annie as champions for the school, and they submitted, a little +bewildered and dismayed, but bowled over by the suddenness of the +suggestion. Every girl at Silverside--except three victims who had music +lessons and one who had toothache--crowded round the tennis court to +watch the exciting contest. Miss Peters and Miss Broadwin were +formidable opponents; they had been members of their college clubs, and +though slightly out of practice had not forgotten their former skill. +The two prefects knew that it would need their utmost ability to fight +them. With the whole school looking on, each nerved herself to do her +best. + +In the first game the Mistresses scored. Miss Peters's serves seemed +almost invincible, and as for Miss Broadwin her arms were elastic. Adah +and Annie looked at each other grimly. They had begun to take their +opponents' measure, and also to estimate each other's play. In the next +game they exercised extreme caution, and did not repeat certain +mistakes. After an exciting rally the score this time fell to the +School. + +"Now for the tussle!" laughed Miss Peters, as she collected balls. + +Adah could not help admiring the way Annie played that last game. She +kept her nerve splendidly, and her back-hand strokes were magnificent. +For an anxious moment or two the luck of the School trembled in the +balance, but by a frantic effort on the part of the prefects the set was +secured. The vanquished Mistresses took their defeat sportingly, and +congratulated the victors. + +"One of the best sets we've ever had at Silverside!" declared Miss +Broadwin, pinning up a tail of hair that had strayed down her back in +the heat of the combat. + +"If you two go on like this you'll be invincible!" laughed Miss Peters. +"You need to get a little more accustomed to each other's play, and +you'd make splendid champions." + +"You were both absolutely topping!" declared the school, crowding round. + +Adah took her honours stolidly, but appreciated them none the less. +After all, it was pleasant to be congratulated by the day girls; it made +up in some slight degree for the humiliation of that afternoon when they +had run away rather than witness the dramatic performance. + +"We must practise together," she said to Annie; and Annie actually +replied: + +"I could stay half an hour every day after school, if you like." + +This amnesty between the rivals, heard and reported by several +listeners, surely seemed to pave the way for tomorrow's proposals. +Avelyn's mental barometer stood at "high hopes". + +The Council Meeting was always held in the big schoolroom, and, by +old-established rule, classes stopped at 3.30 instead of 4, so as to +allow extra time for the proceedings. No mistresses were present, and +the girls, within certain limits, were allowed to make any arrangements +they thought fit for the ensuing term. The prefects took their places on +the platform, and Adah, as head girl, acted chairman. + +The room was very full. On the front benches sat rows of round-eyed +youngsters, bare-legged, in the prevailing fashion for socks, with their +hair tied with broad ribbons. Behind them were excitable pig-tailed +juniors, wriggling restlessly in their seats, and continually letting +their whispers rise to a murmur that called down rebuke from the +platform. These were as sheep ready to follow any leader, and did not +understand the objects of the meeting. They had come simply because they +were told to do so, and because they thought it would be fun. The larger +half of the school, girls from twelve to seventeen, were in a state of +indecision. It had been rumoured that Annie Broadside intended to turn +the Old Hawthorners' Hockey Club into a tennis club for the summer, and +there was in certain quarters a strong feeling that they ought to +support her. They wondered what was going to happen. Avelyn, with Laura, +Janet, Irma, Ethelberga, Pamela, and several other "backers", sat at the +end underneath the clock. + +Adah began the proceedings by reading a report of the school activities +for the previous term. She made the very best of what she had to say, +but it was felt to be a poor record. The societies and guilds had been +decidedly languishing, and had achieved next to nothing. It was +impossible to refer to them with any pride. There was perfunctory +clapping, markedly half-hearted. + +"Now we've got to decide on what we're going to do this term," continued +Adah. "I suppose we shall have our usual societies--the Tennis Club, and +the Cricket Club, and the Photographic Union. If anybody wants to make +any suggestions, now is the time. This is an open meeting, and everyone +who likes is at liberty to speak--in turn, of course. There may be some +little points you'd like to bring up. Do so by all means. We prefects +are perfectly willing to listen to you, and to discuss them." + +Adah spoke in her usual rather patronizing fashion. Her words were +succeeded by a dead hush. Everybody felt that there were not only little +points, but very big points which needed to be raised, yet nobody seemed +able to voice the general discontent. A whisper passed along some of the +forms to the effect that day girls ought to have their rights. Adah +watched the heads bent together and the moving lips. + +"Speak to the chair, please!" she reminded them. + +But at that they sat up silently. + +Many of the audience wondered if Annie would take up the cudgels for the +day girls and fight the question out upon the platform, but Annie made +no sign. Was she thinking of the Old Hawthorners' League, and would she +perhaps again call a rival meeting on the common, as she had done in the +autumn? + +"Am I to take it that you consider former arrangements satisfactory?" +asked Adah, frowning at some of the babies, who were playing with a +celluloid ball. + +Then Avelyn stood up. + +"I should like very much to discuss one or two points, if I may," she +began. + +"Certainly! Go on!" + +"Well, first of all I think we ought all to be rather ashamed of the +report. For such a big school I certainly think we ought to have far +more to show for ourselves." + +Several of the prefects nodded, and began to look interested. + +"There are nearly a hundred girls here this term, and we may call +ourselves the principal school in Harlingden. We ought to take quite a +place in the county, and challenge other schools for matches. We haven't +shone very much in games hitherto, have we?" + +A discontented murmur replied from the benches. There was an electric +thrill in the air. Avelyn took courage. At first her sentences had come +hesitatingly; now that she warmed to her subject, her words flowed more +easily. She had a sudden feeling that the Lavender Lady was thinking of +her and inspiring her; the idea roused the utmost effort of which she +was capable. She determined to speak boldly, and not beat about the +bush. If she gave offence she could not help it. + +"What we want here is a spirit of union. If we all determine to stick +together and back one another up at all costs, we might do great things. +Don't let us have two parties. Let us forget any old squabbles, and be +loyal to the school. I believe we've heaps of talent amongst us if it +only gets a chance to come out. Let's remodel our societies on a new +basis, and give the best places to whoever will gain the most credit for +the school. Why shouldn't we try this year for the County Shield? With +two such champions as Adah Gartley and Annie Broadside we ought to have +a sporting chance. Just think if we could win the shield for Silverside! +Then there's cricket. We can muster up strongly in that respect, too. +Joyce Edwards, and Minnie Selburn, and Gladys Wilks, and Maggie Stuart +would take a good deal of beating! We could get up a first-rate Eleven, +and arrange some topping matches. Think how priceless it would be to go +and watch them, and cheer on our own side!" + +Avelyn paused for breath. She had spoken warmly, and the excitement had +quite carried her away. Her cheeks were flushed, and her eyes were +shining. She had held the attention of the room with a kind of +magnetism. All faces had been turned towards her, and her every word had +been closely followed. + +The girls now burst into a buzz of general conversation. Each wanted to +discuss the matter with her neighbour. It was plain that the project +was received with approval. Even the prefects were having a few private +remarks among themselves. Joyce and Isobel in particular were nodding +emphatically as if urging the project upon Adah. Annie whispered to +Gladys, and they both spoke to Consie. All were looking expectantly +towards Adah. The head girl rang the bell for silence. + +"What you say is very true. Silverside ought to take its proper place in +games, and I think we all agree that a special effort should be made +this summer. As this is a business meeting, will you please put what you +wish to suggest in the form of a proposition?" + +"Certainly. I beg to propose that we form a 'Loyal School League', the +object of which shall be to advance in every way the credit of +Silverside. We ought to have a President and several Vice-presidents, +and a Committee, with two representatives from each of the upper forms. +If any very important question arises we should have a Council Meeting +of the whole school, and put the matter to the vote. I also propose +that, for the sake of further cementing our unity, we adopt a new badge, +and have for our colours pale-blue, pink, and navy. It would be an +effective combination, and would mean a good deal to most of us. We +would pledge ourselves to do our utmost for the new Silverside Colours." + +As Avelyn again stopped, a roar of applause rose from the room. The +girls were completely carried away by her idea; the blending of the +badges seemed the one thing needed to unite the school. Though a few +prejudiced "Old Silversiders", including Adah, looked rather blank, the +majority, even among the boarders, were plainly in favour of the +suggested change. + +"Does anybody second this proposition?" asked the head girl. "We +prefects want to hear the view of the school." + +A dozen stood up, anxious to speak. Adah nodded to Laura Talbot. Laura +had been at Silverside five years, and was a dependable character, not +easily carried away by tides of emotion. Her ideas might reasonably be +the gauge of average popular opinion. + +"I've been thinking for a long time that we ought to do something," said +Laura. "It seems to me that a 'Loyal School League' just hits the nail. +I believe we'll forge ahead this term and win laurels for our new +colours. I have very great pleasure in seconding this proposition." + +"Then I put it to the vote. All in favour kindly hold up their hands." + +Every arm in the room shot up instantly. Adah looked at the waving show +of hands before her, and realized that the general feeling of the school +favoured unity. She had the sense to accept the situation in a generous +spirit. + +"Carried unanimously!" she declared, and turning round, smiled at Annie, +who smiled back. The girls cheered, ostensibly at the carrying of the +resolution, but partly to see the rival leaders on such affable terms. + +"We want a president, and I propose Adah!" shouted Ethelberga. + +"And the rest of the prefects as vice-presidents!" amended Janet. + +"Hear, hear!" came from the audience. + +"And I," said Pamela, jumping up suddenly, "beg to propose that Avelyn, +who suggested the whole idea of the League, shall be elected secretary." + +"Rather!" + +"Good biz!" + +"Ave, by all means!" + +"Oh, no, please! I don't want to grab any office for myself!" protested +Avelyn. + +"Nonsense! Brace up, child, for you'll have to do it!" urged Laura. +"Why, you've brought about the whole business. Besides, you belong to +both parties, so you'll bind us together as nobody else could." + +"The missing link, in fact!" hinnied Irma, trying to be funny. + +The meeting passed the remaining resolutions in good order, then broke +up in a whirl of excited talk. A deputation of prefects visited Miss +Thompson's study, and gave her a digest of the afternoon's proceedings. +She listened approvingly. + +"I'll order the new badges at once, and see about hiring a larger +cricket field," she commented. + +The Principal did not judge it discreet to say more to the girls, but +over cocoa that evening with the mistresses she voiced her +satisfaction. + +"I knew they'd come round in time if we let them alone. You can't force +these things. I suppose it was only natural that the old school and the +new should find some difficulty in mingling. Girls are queer creatures, +and often very prejudiced. It won't have done them any harm to see what +a poor record they made in games when they were striving for rival +factions. I consider it an excellent object lesson. I expect they'll all +try their best now, and practise away hard at cricket and tennis." + +"I hoped it marked a new era when I saw Adah and Annie win that set at +tennis," nodded Miss Peters. + +"They're both excellent girls in their way, and should do great things +for the school, if they'll only pull together," agreed Miss Hopkins. + +Avelyn spent her half-hour of leisure that evening in writing to Miss +Carrington. + + "DARLING LAVENDER LADY, + + "I have actually done it! Or rather, _you_ have done it, for it + was entirely your idea. I can scarcely believe it is true, but + the League is an accomplished fact, and the new colours, and all + your dear jinky suggestions. I don't know how I had the cheek to + stand on my legs and make the proposal before the whole school, + but I thought of my promise to you, and I did it somehow. I + hardly remember what I said. The girls are tremendously keen on + the League; they say it's a topping notion. Can you believe it, + darling? they've made me secretary. Little me! I shall have to + write the letters to other schools, challenging them to matches! + I shall use the lovely new blotter you gave me. + + "Good-bye, and thank you a hundred thousand times for everything + you are to me! + + "With love from + "Your devoted + "AVELYN." + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +The Surprise Tree + + +Having once made up their minds to concentrate their united energies on +establishing a record at games, the girls at Silverside set to work in +dead earnest. They organized definite and systematic practice both at +cricket and tennis, and tried to bring their play to a higher standard. +They found much help in this respect from Miss Peters and Miss Leslie, +who had come as new mistresses in September, and were keen on tennis and +cricket. During the winter there had been no opportunity for them to +display their talents, but now they proved invaluable as coaches. Both +had been in large schools and thoroughly understood what was required. +They encouraged the girls to arrange matches. + +"It's worth it even if you're beaten," said Miss Leslie. "You see other +people's play and learn to make a good fight. You can often pick up most +valuable hints from your opponents. Some of the best tips I ever had I +got from a girl who invariably beat me." + +It was quite a novel state of affairs at Silverside for day pupils to +stay after four o'clock and join the boarders in tennis court or cricket +field, but after the first week the latter got used to the invasion of +their privileges, and decided that the improvement in the general play +was ample compensation. The new badges soon arrived, and everybody +decided that the combination of pink, pale-blue, and navy was highly +satisfactory. The Loyal School League seemed likely to forge ahead. +Avelyn made a capital secretary; she was prompt and business-like, and, +though she did not push herself forward unduly, she was always ready +with helpful suggestions. At one of the committee meetings she started +the idea of the Romp Day. It was the Lavender Lady who really thought of +it--she inspired all Avelyn's best schemes. They had talked it over and +planned it out in the little garden at Lyngates, where roses were now +blooming instead of the wallflowers and aubrietia. + +"I'm glad the League's prospering," she had said. "It's splendid how +you're all working together now and coaching each other. It's a pity, +though, if all this new spirit of helpfulness spends itself entirely on +the school. It ought to find a wider outlet. You're having jolly times +in the playing fields this term. Can't you pass on some of the fun to +others who never get a chance to play games for themselves? I mean the +little cripple children. There's a branch of the 'Poor Brave Things' +Society in Harlingden. If Miss Thompson would let you give them an +afternoon's outing they'd have the time of their lives. Could you +possibly suggest it, do you think? I really believe it's the sort of +thing Silverside would enjoy." + +The League and Miss Thompson justified the Lavender Lady's good opinion +of them. They took up the idea with enthusiasm, and decided to organize +a "Romp Day" for the crippled children. They communicated with the +secretary of the "Poor Brave Things" Society, with the result that +invitations were sent out to thirty little invalids to come to a picnic +party in the garden at Silverside and be entertained. A special +half-holiday was given for the occasion, and all the school was asked to +unite in making the affair a success. Miss Thompson wished the day girls +to stay to tea that afternoon, but catering was a difficulty. It was +utterly impossible for her to provide a meal for a hundred and thirty +children. The Food Controller rationed the school according to the +number of its boarders. The Principal was inventive, however, and hit on +an excellent solution of the problem. She asked each day girl to bring +enough tea, sugar, milk, buns, and cake for her own consumption and for +half the allowance for one guest, and in this way provided ample for +everybody, without anyone being asked to give more than a very small +contribution of food. + +"Before the war I should have been horrified at the idea of inviting you +to come to a party and bring your own provisions," said Miss Thompson. +"In these days of semi-famine, however, we have to do many new and +strange things. It's wonderful what we can get used to when we try." + +The girls themselves thought it was immense fun each to bring a little +basket to make the feast. + +"It's like an American tea," said Gladys Wilks. "I'm going to make some +scones myself. We've got a quarter of a pound of sultanas hoarded up. +We've been saving them for some great occasion; Mother said they'd do +for my birthday cake, so I know she'll let me use them for this instead. +I've got a topping recipe, if they only turn out as it says." + +"Guess they'll be jolly nice. Bags me one if the cripples don't want +them all!" declared Maggie. "You shall have a piece of my sandwich-cake +instead." + +"Look here," interrupted Gertrude; "this business isn't to be all tea +and buns. We've got to give these kiddies a real good time. Suggestions, +please! Don't all speak at once!" + +"We're going to sing to them." + +"And the Juniors are to do a dance." + +"How about some gym display?" + +"Um--tolerable! But my idea is that they won't want to sit and watch us +perform the whole time. There ought to be something specially for +themselves. Stop a minute! I've a brain wave! Don't speak to me! My +mind's working." + +The girls grinned expectantly, while Gertrude stood with finger uplifted +for silence. + +"Got it!" she proclaimed at last. "We'll have a Surprise Tree." + +"What's that?" + +"Well, you can't exactly have a Christmas tree at this time of year, +but we'll rig up something very like it. You know that little +monkey-puzzler near the summer-house? We'll decorate it with streamers +of paper and ornaments, and hang presents on with coloured ribbons. +There must be one for each crippled child, or two if possible. Every +girl in this school has got to bring a present." + +Once the idea of providing suitable entertainment for their invalid +guests was mooted, many suggestions were forthcoming. Vivian Roy, who +was the lucky owner of a Shetland pony and a tiny basket cart, offered +to bring these to school and take relays of children for drives round +the garden. Sybil Beaumont undertook to lend a very superior gramophone; +the mother of one of the Juniors promised to send oranges. Violet Parker +told her aunt, the Mayoress, about the party, and that kind-hearted lady +arranged to allow the use of her carriage for the afternoon, to carry +some of the children from their homes to the school and back. As means +of conveyance were a real difficulty, several other parents followed her +example and sent governess cars or hired cabs. It was a form of help for +which the secretary of the "Poor Brave Things" was particularly +grateful. + +"You've no idea what trouble it is for their friends to bring them," she +explained. "Unless they possess, or can borrow, some kind of invalid +carriage it's an impossibility. Also many of them can't spare the time +to do it. In the days of petrol plenty we used to have an annual outing +for the children, and people lent their cars, but of course that is all +stopped now." + +On the afternoon in question the numerous hostesses were waiting about +in the garden long before their visitors were due. Each day girl had +duly brought her basket, the contents of which were to be pooled for +general consumption. The gramophone had been placed on a table outside, +and the Shetland pony and cart were in readiness near the door. + +"I expect there's been a terrific amount of washing and dressing and +hair-curling going on," laughed Annie. "I hope the children will survive +your scones, Gladys!" + +"Don't be insulting! My scones are delicious! I've tasted them, so I +know." + +"You greedy thing!" + +"Certainly not. I couldn't bring them without seeing whether they were +fit to eat." + +"I heroically didn't touch even a crumb of mine!" + +"More goose you!" + +"Don't spar," interrupted Gertrude. "Here comes the first contingent!" + +It was the Mayoress's carriage, and it had brought six guests--such +pathetic little people! Some of them had crutches, and could manage to +walk, but others had to be wheeled up the drive in a Bath chair, which +was waiting on purpose. A special corner of the garden, with couches and +cosy seats, had been arranged for them, and each child as it arrived was +taken there, two special hostesses being told off to look after it for +the afternoon and make it happy. Avelyn, together with Laura, found +herself in charge of a mite of a girl who looked about eight, but +declared she was nearly thirteen. + +"It's the first time I've been out for ten weeks, miss," she said shyly. +"I lie on my back most days." + +"What do you do? Can you read?" asked Avelyn. + +"Yes, when I get any books. Our District Visitor lends me some." + +"Have you ever been to school?" + +"Not since I was nine. It was at school I fell and hurt my back. It's +been bad ever since." + +The little visitors were evidently prepared to enjoy every moment of +their party. They were given tea almost immediately, and did full +justice to the various cakes and buns which the girls had brought for +them. They listened smiling while the gramophone blared forth +selections, and clapped their hands when the Juniors danced for their +amusement. Those who could bear the jolting went for short drives in +Vivian's pony carriage, but most of them were obliged to sit very still. +One little fellow--the cheeriest of all--lay flat on a rug, with a +cushion under his head. + +As it would have been impossible to move all the children from one place +to another, their special corner had been arranged round the Surprise +Tree. The little monkey-puzzler presented a very gay appearance, for it +had been decorated with Christmas-tree ornaments, coloured balls, and +glass birds, crackers, oranges, and bags of sweets. Underneath were +piled sixty interesting-looking parcels tied up with ribbons. Mabel +Collinson, one of the Juniors, dressed as a fairy and attended by two +Brownies, suddenly made her appearance among the bushes, and going up to +the tree, began to strip its branches and hand sweets and crackers and +oranges to the expectant children. The parcels came next. There were two +apiece for them; and so well had the girls responded to the appeal for +presents that gasps of astonishment and delight followed the unwrapping +of the packages. "Oh's" and "Ah's" resounded on all sides. + +"It's too lovely, miss!" beamed Avelyn's little protégée, hugging a +story-book in one arm and a work-basket in the other. + +Her neighbour was rejoicing over a writing-case and a drawing-slate, and +the tiny girl on the couch was kissing a doll. It was a pretty sight to +see the poor little helpless creatures happy for one afternoon--pretty, +but so pathetic that the tears swam in Miss Thompson's eyes. The +contrast between these crippled children and her own sturdy girls seemed +so acute. + +"Please, m'm," volunteered one little boy, "Lizzie over there says she +can say a piece of poetry if you'd like to hear her." + +"By all means. We shall be only too pleased," returned Miss Thompson, +going across to the small reciter and asking her to begin. + +Lizzie was a diminutive, white-faced specimen of ten, with a crooked +spine and big bright eyes. There was a large soul in the little body, +and it showed when she began to speak. Her piece was a patriotic one, +and she said it well. The Silverside girls who were near enough to hear +her applauded heartily, and those who were too far off to catch a word +clapped too, out of sympathy. Finding that everyone was interested, Miss +Thompson asked some of the other children to recite. Most of them were +too bashful, but one or two consented, and shyly murmured a few verses. +None, however, had the fire and spirit of Lizzie, who was quite the star +of the company. She departed, beaming with pride at having distinguished +herself, and clasping a poetry book which Miss Peters had hurriedly +fetched from her bedroom and presented to her. + +"It was the nicest party we've ever had at the school," said Laura, +watching as the last of the little guests was lifted into a Bath chair +to be wheeled home. "There was no mistake about their enjoying +themselves at any rate." + +"They've had the time of their lives, bless 'em!" agreed Janet. + + * * * * * + +There was much to tell the Lavender Lady when Friday came round again. +Lately she had grown to be the centre of all Avelyn's actions. She was +always so ready to take a sympathetic interest in things, and +Daphne--Daphne, who of yore was the recipient of innumerable +confidences--had somehow been growing self-absorbed. She would sit and +stitch with a far-away look in her eyes, while Avelyn poured out school +news, and her occasional comments showed that she was not really +listening. + +"She's getting so horribly grown-up!" complained her injured sister. +"She's not the same girl she used to be. I feel as if she had drifted +miles away in the last few months. Quite suddenly she seems ten years +older than David and Tony and me. I don't like it!" + +"You must let Daphne have her innings," said Mrs. Watson. "You'll have +your own some day. She can't remain a child always. I think on the whole +she's very good to you younger ones. It's only natural she should begin +to like the society of older people now. Her life is just opening out. +You mustn't expect her to give up her whole time to yourself and the +boys. Do be nice about it, Ave! Be proud that you've got such a pretty +sister, and glad for her to enjoy herself." + +That was certainly a different way of looking at it. Avelyn felt +self-reproachful. She remembered that she had not troubled to listen +when Daphne consulted her as to whether a pink or a mauve voile blouse +would look best with her new costume; just at the moment school affairs +had seemed so much more interesting than her sister's clothes. + +"I suppose I'm a selfish beast!" she said to herself. "The next time +Daphne's going out to tea anywhere I'll sit in her bedroom while she +dresses and hold hairpins for her, or anything else she wants. The worst +of it is, though, she doesn't always want me! Just at present I believe +she'd any time rather have Jimmy!" + +Jimmy was Daphne's little fox terrier. That is to say, he was hers +temporarily, for he really belonged to Captain Harper. She had mentioned +one day that she would like a small dog of her very own, and the young +officer had looked thoughtful. The next week he had turned up, +accompanied by Jimmy. + +"I wish you'd accept him!" he said. "He's my dog, but I can't keep him +at the Camp. I've had him boarded out in Starbury since I've been +stationed here, and yesterday I went over and fetched him." + +"I'll have him as a loan and take care of him till you want him again," +agreed Daphne, "but I won't take him right away from you. It wouldn't be +fair." + +"Yes, it would, if I wanted to give him. He's the best little chap out. +You'll find him a kind of epitome of the Catechism combined with all the +cardinal virtues. Jimmy, make your bow!" + +The little fox terrier, which sat up and saluted at its master's word of +command, seemed a sharp and intelligent specimen of the canine race, and +when it snuggled its nose in Daphne's hand it completely conquered her +heart. + +"Won't he want to run back to his master?" she asked. + +"No, he has his orders and understands perfectly. I've explained the +situation to him, and you'll find he won't attempt to leave you. He's +prepared to carry a stick or an umbrella, mount guard over coats, bark +at tramps, worry rats, or demolish burglars." + +Jimmy's subsequent behaviour certainly justified the character Captain +Harper had given him. Having been solemnly made over by his master, he +seemed to realize his responsibilities, and attached himself to Daphne +with all the strength of his doggy nature. His manners were excellent. +He would lie curled up on the rug at meal-times, and did not beg until +he had received express permission, only winking an occasional pathetic +eye in the direction of the table. + +"I'm sure he understands every single word I say to him," said Daphne, +who idolized her new possession. "I don't know how I should get along +without him now." + +"What will you do if you have to give him back?" asked Avelyn. + +"It hasn't come to giving him back yet," evaded Daphne. + +But on the very Saturday after the Surprise Tree party the question +cropped up. Captain Harper had come over to Walden to fulfil a promise +of making a fresh door for one of the chicken coops. He had taken +possession of the carpentry room in the cottage, and was working away at +the joiner's bench. Daphne held the wire steady, and Avelyn--with a +strong sense that she was not wanted--handed the nails. Jimmy lay at his +ease upon the shavings and yawned. His attitude of complete comfort +attracted attention. + +"If you're really sent back to Starbury next month you'll have to take +him with you," commented Daphne. + +"I never take back a present I've once given," answered the Captain +firmly. "We've argued that out before." + +"But for Jimmy's sake? He loves you far the best still. I'm only a +makeshift." + +"I assure you he doesn't." + +"Then how can we tell his preference?" + +"Let him decide for himself. You stand over there and I'll stand here, +and we'll both call him at once and see which he runs to." + +Poor Jimmy, a much-perplexed and agitated dog, rose from his bed of +shavings and remained in the middle of the floor, whimpering and looking +with indecision towards the master who had brought him up from +puppyhood, and the sweet young mistress who had won his heart. Then he +made a rush towards the former, and, seizing him by the trouser, hauled +him across the room in the direction of Daphne. + +"Jimmy has solved the matter!" said Captain Harper. "He wants us both to +own him!" + +And at that point Avelyn felt that her presence grew so very _de trop_, +that she murmured some excuse about finishing her lessons, and made her +exit from the cottage, leaving her sister and Captain Harper to settle +the disputed question of ownership in their own fashion. + +"I suppose this is growing up," ruminated Avelyn, as she crossed the +yard and went into the orchard. "Daphne seems to enjoy it, and I'll +give her her innings by all manner of means. How funny it would be to +have a brother-in-law! It'll come to that some day if I'm not mistaken. +No, thanks! I don't want to grow up just yet myself. Perhaps I'll change +my mind later on, but at the present time I'd ever so much rather be a +schoolgirl!" + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +Pamela's Secret + + +In her love-making with the Lavender Lady Avelyn had, truth to tell, +rather neglected Pamela. Their friendship had always been more or less +of a spasmodic character. They often met on the road on Monday mornings, +and travelled in the same compartment of the train, and they would +return from Harlingden together on Friday afternoons. Generally they +talked the ordinary schoolgirl chatter about Silverside doings. Pamela +rarely mentioned her own concerns. Very occasionally she would make some +reference to past adventures in America, but about her present home she +was extremely reserved. She seemed to shut up and freeze at once at the +slightest allusion to Moss Cottage. + +Though she had accepted several invitations to Walden, she had never +asked Avelyn to tea for a return visit. There was an air of mystery +about her that increased rather than diminished with their further +acquaintance. To Avelyn she always seemed like a disinherited princess. +She was sure that Pamela brooded over the fact that the Lyngates estate +should have been hers. Her uncle's name was never mentioned between +them. + +Since the evening when he had tried to cut down the barrier over the +brook at Walden, the Watsons had seen little of Mr. Hockheimer. He had +not again attempted to interfere with their property. He seemed to spend +a good deal of his time in London, but made flying visits every week to +the Hall. People in the neighbourhood gave him the cold shoulder. Though +he was generous in subscribing to local charities, he was certainly not +popular. The general feeling was one of mistrust. Nothing certain had +ever been brought against him, but the fact of his German nationality +remained. It was whispered that but for influence in high quarters he +would have been interned. + +Whether Mr. Hockheimer was or was not aware of the rumours that were +being circulated in his disfavour it was impossible to tell. He never +came to church, seldom appeared in the village. He was more strict than +ever against trespassing in his woods, though other landlords in the +district had been lax in that respect since the beginning of the war. +The Watsons disliked him so much that they avoided him whenever +possible; if they saw him walking along the village street they would +dive down a side lane or run up into the churchyard. They thoroughly +pitied Pamela for being dependent upon him. + +Since the memorable morning when she had climbed over the palings into +the garden, and had hidden inside the stable, Avelyn had never visited +Moss Cottage. She was sure that she had then almost surprised some +secret. Pamela, indeed, had been on the very verge of telling her. Her +friend's confidential mood had passed, however, and a wall of reserve +had taken its place. + +One Saturday Avelyn, taking out her home work, made the horrible +discovery that she had left her history in her locker at school. To go +to Miss Thompson's class with an unprepared lesson meant trouble. The +only way out of the difficulty was to walk over and borrow from Pamela, +who, though in a lower form, used the same textbook for history. + +This time she did not venture to climb over the palings, but knocked at +the door in orthodox fashion. It was opened by Pamela herself, who +beamed a welcome. + +"Come in! I'm all alone. Mother's gone to the station. I was just +getting horribly tired of being by myself. It's perfectly lovely to see +you! My history? Yes, you shall have it, certainly. I've learnt my +lesson. But come in and have a chat. I was sitting in the garden. Shall +we go out there?" + +Avelyn much preferred the garden to the rather dark little sitting-room. +The girls went to a shady corner under a tree, where Pamela had spread a +rug and cushions. They settled themselves down leisurely and began to +talk. + +"What's this you've got here?" asked Avelyn presently, taking up a +Prayer Book that was lying on the rug, opened at the last page. "Are +you studying the Table of Articles? You surely don't have to learn that +in your Scripture lesson? We did the 'Book of Common Prayer' last term, +but we didn't take the Articles." + +"I'm not looking at those," said Pamela. "I'm looking at the Table of +Kindred and Affinity. I want to find out whom a man may marry and whom +he mayn't. He mustn't marry his wife's daughter's daughter, or his +brother's son's wife, or his mother's brother's wife, but may he marry +his deceased wife's deceased brother's wife?" + +"Goodness, child, I'm sure I don't know! Why do you ask?" + +Pamela shut the Prayer Book with a bang. + +"It's Uncle!" she said vehemently. "He's behaving in such an +extraordinary way! Oh, Ave! Do you know, I believe he's trying to make +up to Mother! Don't look so incredulous! I mean it! I must tell +somebody, or I shall burst! I've kept it all in long enough. Too long! +Ave, did the boys ever tell you about that letter they found inside the +Latin dictionary? I can see by your face that they did. Well, I brought +it home and laid it on the table, and, before Mother had time to look at +it, it disappeared. Uncle had been here, and I _know_ he took it! He +must certainly have done so." + +"He did! I can tell you that," returned Avelyn, and she confided to her +friend what her brothers had witnessed in the wood, how Mr. Hockheimer +had been on the point of burning the paper when Spring-heeled Jack had +appeared and run away with it. Pamela listened with intense eagerness. + +"That explains so much!" she gasped. "I don't know what was in the +letter, but I imagine it may have been my grandfather's will. If it was, +and he left the estate to Daddy, no wonder Uncle Fritz tried to burn it. +He didn't quite succeed, and this bogy-spectre-highwayman, or whatever +he is, has scooted off with it. Uncle knows it's still in existence, and +that any day it might be produced, and he might be turned out of the +Hall. He's trying to guard against that, and he's playing a very deep +game. He thinks that if he were to marry Mother, as he married poor Aunt +Dora, he'd secure the estate to himself a second time." + +"Does your Mother like him?" + +"Not really. I believe she's frightened of him. He makes her do anything +he tells her. You don't know how dreadfully worried I am about it. If I +had him for a stepfather I should run away. I'd rather join the gipsies +than live with him. Oh, if we could only get on the track of that paper! +Has nothing more been heard of Spring-heeled Jack?" + +"Nothing at all since the autumn. He appeared just for a short time, and +then vanished again." + +"And no one ever knew who he was?" + +"Not a soul." + +Pamela gave a long sigh. + +"He has the secret--whatever it is. Who knows whether I'll ever find it. +Ave," here Pamela lowered her voice, "I've got a secret too! I've been +longing and yearning to tell it to you--a dozen times I've had it on the +tip of my tongue, and then I've felt afraid and stopped. I kept waiting, +hoping to find out more, but I can't find out by myself. I want help." + +"What do you mean?" + +"Come, and I'll show you. We have the place to ourselves to-day. Uncle +is in town. I saw him going to the station this morning, so he's not +likely to burst in and interrupt us." + +Pamela rose and led the way down the garden to the stable where Avelyn +had surprised her before. It was locked, but she took a key from a +hiding-place under a stone, and undid the padlock. She motioned her +friend to go up the ladder, and followed her. The room above was a bare +loft. It was not quite empty, however, for in the corner stood a small +table, with an object on it that looked like the receiver of a +telephone. + +"Come here!" said Pamela. + +She took up the instrument and placed it on her friend's head. It had a +band which fitted across the forehead, and a receiver for each ear. A +cord connected it with the wall. + +"Do you hear anything?" asked Pamela. + +"Yes, a sort of humming." + +Pamela smiled significantly, and put back the instrument on the table. + +"What is it?" breathed Avelyn, rather awed. + +"Wireless messages. Uncle spends hours here." + +"Do you mean to say this is a wireless station?" + +Pamela nodded. + +"But they're not allowed." + +"I know that perfectly well." + +"If it were found out he could be arrested." + +"He deserves to be. Sometimes I wish he were." + +"Does your mother know?" + +"No, I'm sure she doesn't. She never comes to the stable, and if she did +she wouldn't climb the ladder. Sometimes Uncle is very keen about the +messages. He makes me stay here, with the receiver on my head, listening +for them, while he sits in the cottage talking to Mother, and drinking +brandy which he brings in a flask. When I hear that humming noise I have +to go and tell him, and he flies down to the stable." + +"Can you understand the messages?" + +"No. It's something like ordinary telegraphy, I suppose, and I don't +know the code. I wish I did." + +"I can't imagine how this wireless apparatus hasn't been discovered!" + +"It's so well hidden. The poles go right up among the boughs of the +tree." + +"I don't think you ought to keep this secret any longer, Pam." + +"No more do I, but I've never dared to tell it to a soul before. Uncle +would kill me if he knew I'd brought you in here to-day. What must I +do?" + +Avelyn hesitated. + +"I'd like to ask somebody. Could you come home with me this afternoon? +Can you leave the house?" + +"I'd lock the door and put the key under a stone, where Mother would +find it if she gets back first. Ave, I'm just about desperate! I'd do +anything to end the life I'm living now. There's treachery of some sort +going on, I believe, and I'm being wound up in it without my knowledge +and against my will. My father gave his life for his country. Is his +daughter to help to betray it? Never! Never in this world! I'd suffer +torture first. Oh, I wish I were braver! Sometimes I'm a terrible +coward, and I feel so horribly afraid of Uncle Fritz. You don't know how +he frightens me. My nerves are all on edge." + +"Come home with me, dear," said Avelyn soothingly. "If you'll let me ask +Mother, I believe she'd know what we ought to do." + +Pamela was very much upset, and seemed almost hysterical. Her hands +trembled, and she wiped tell-tale drops from her eyes. She climbed down +the ladder, padlocked the stable door again, went into the house for her +hat and the history book, locked the front door, hid the key in the +rockery, and pronounced herself ready to start. + +Avelyn was glad to have persuaded her so easily. Her own mind was in a +whirl. To have found a wireless telegraphy installation in the old +stable was indeed a discovery which would very seriously implicate Mr. +Hockheimer. The responsibility of the knowledge was too great to be +borne only by two schoolgirls; it must be shared by some older and wiser +person. + +The friends walked silently along the road. At the corner by the oak +wood they met David and Anthony. At sight of them the boys came running +forward in much excitement. + +"We've just seen Spring-heeled Jack again!" they cried. + +This was indeed a piece of news. Spring-heeled Jack, who had vanished +from the neighbourhood since the autumn! For the moment it even threw +wireless telegraphy into the shade. + +"Where? When?" exclaimed the girls eagerly. + +"Just a minute ago. We were up the bank there after a butterfly, and he +came bounding past and jumped into the wood." + +"Which way did he go?" + +Anthony pointed a stumpy finger to indicate the direction. Pamela set +her teeth. + +"I'm going after him," she announced. + +The Watsons stared at her amazed. Spring-heeled Jack had been the terror +of the village, and Pamela was not altogether conspicuous for courage. + +"I must find him! I must!" she continued. "It's the only chance of +getting that lost paper!" And climbing over the palings she scrambled +into the wood among the bracken. + +The Watsons were not a family to desert a chum. David and Anthony were +after her in half a second, and Avelyn followed as quickly as her +feminine skirts allowed. Her heart was beating violently. Whether the +object of their search was human or spectral he was equally a cause for +alarm. They could hear sounds higher up the wood. Pamela was running +fast and so were the boys. + +There was a sudden, unearthly yell, and a dark, masked figure came +bounding towards them in a series of wild leaps. Man, monkey, or bogy, +it jumped with incredible speed. The boys set up a shout and dashed +towards it, but it gave an enormous leap and sprang past them. It would +have got clean away but for a tangled bramble bush that broke its +course. The next moment it was sprawling among the bracken. The boys +rushed upon it, and while David pinned it down Anthony tore off the +black mask. To their utter amazement it revealed the well-known features +of their friend, Captain Harper. + +At the sight of their blank faces he burst out laughing. + +"The game's up at last!" he hinnied. "I saw it was you kids, and I +couldn't resist giving you a scare. I don't know that I meant to let you +find me out, though. If I hadn't tumbled I'd have got off. What have I +been masquerading like this for?" He suddenly looked grave. "That's a +little business of my own. I wanted to find out something, and I thought +I'd raise a rumour that might keep the woods clear of ordinary +trespassers. How did I do it? Easy enough, some theatrical togs I had by +me, and springs on my heels." + +"We've seen you before in this rig-out," volunteered Anthony. + +"When?" + +"When you pounced on Mr. Hockheimer and stopped him burning a letter." + +"We were there watching," echoed David. + +"Oh, have you got the paper still? It was mine!" cried Pamela +breathlessly. + +It was Captain Harper's turn to be astonished. + +"Yours! What had it to do with you?" he asked sharply. + +Pamela and Avelyn explained between them. He took a cigarette from his +pocket and lighted it as he listened. + +"This is quite another development," he commented. "Part of the paper +was burnt. I couldn't understand the drift of it." + +"Have you got it still?" besought Pamela. + +"No, I gave it to my superior officer. But if it is of such importance +as you say I could get it examined on your behalf. I'll speak to my +Colonel about it. It's worth investigating." + +"Pam!" said Avelyn impulsively, bending her head and whispering in her +friend's ear, "do you know, I believe it would be the best thing in the +world to tell Captain Harper what you've told me this afternoon. He'd +know better even than Mother what you ought to do." + +"You tell him--I daren't," faltered Pamela. + +If Captain Harper had been astonished before, he was doubly amazed now. + +"Great Scott! It's the very thing I've been on the scent of for this six +months!" he ejaculated. "We guessed there was a wireless somewhere over +here, but never could locate it. And to think I owe it to you kids! +Pamela, you're a true loyal little Englishwoman! I think you'll find +you'll pretty soon be rid of that precious uncle of yours." + +"What must I do about it?" asked Pamela, who was half crying. + +Captain Harper did not at once reply. He seemed cogitating. Then his +face cleared. + +"Nothing at present," he replied. "I pledge you all on your word of +honour to mention this business to nobody. We'll leave the wireless +where it is, and get the messages if possible--that's our game! Pamela, +could you manage to learn the Morse code if I taught you?" + +"I'd try." + +"I'll undertake you'd soon learn it. Then what you've got to do is to +listen at the receiver and report to us. I can tell you, you may be +working an uncommonly important little bit of business. Don't cry, +child! The fellow is only your uncle by marriage. He's no blood relation +of yours. Think of your father! You're doing your duty by your country +as every true-born Britisher ought." + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +Pamela's Night Walk + + +Pamela went back to Moss Cottage with new courage. The secret, which had +almost overwhelmed her when she had tried to bear it alone, assumed a +different aspect now she shared it with her friends. Captain Harper had +taken the full responsibility of the affair, and as one of His Majesty's +officers she knew he could be trusted. She placed herself entirely in +his hands, and followed his directions implicitly. To keep watch without +arousing her uncle's suspicions was to be her present rôle. Under cover +of going to tea with the Watsons, she met Captain Harper at Walden, and +learnt from him the Morse code. Once she had mastered that, she was able +to write down some of the wireless messages. To her they were absolutely +unintelligible, for they were in cipher, but she made a faithful record +of what she heard through the receiver, and sent it by David or Anthony +to the young officer. + +For the moment Captain Harper acknowledged himself baffled. + +"We have the keys to a number of ciphers, but there's one here we don't +understand. It's solely for this reason we're allowing this wireless +apparatus at Moss Cottage to remain where it is. Pamela must use all +her ingenuity to discover the key to the cipher. She's the only person +who has the opportunity of doing so. If we were to arrest Mr. Hockheimer +at once we might or might not find treasonable papers upon him. It is +doubtful if we should learn his secret." + +To David and Anthony the affair was of the supremest interest. They +envied Pamela her unique chance of serving her country. They were glad +enough to be employed as carriers, and would take the notes from her +when they met her in the morning, and, according to arrangement, convey +them to Captain Harper. Sometimes they took them direct to the Camp, +after they returned from school, and sometimes they handed them to an +orderly who would be strolling about near the station. As for Pamela, +she lived from day to day in a ferment of expectation, waiting and +watching for her opportunity. And one evening she found it. Mr. +Hockheimer had come, as was his custom, to Moss Cottage, and had set his +niece to listen for messages while he took his ease in the house. For an +hour or more Pamela had sat with the receiver to her ears, but had heard +nothing. At last came the familiar humming. She jotted down the letters, +put the paper safely in her pocket, and ran up the garden to warn her +uncle. That night he had been drinking more heavily than usual. He +lurched in his walk as he approached the stable, and it was with +difficulty that he climbed the ladder. Pamela followed him nervously. +His hands shook as he fitted on the receiver, but he nevertheless took +down the message. Then he paused, and seemed to be calculating +something out on the paper. She crept a little nearer. He was too +muddled to realize her approach. She peeped over his shoulder unnoticed. +In his half-drunken condition he was working out the cipher and writing +it down. She copied it word by word. It was in German. + + "U-boot auf Aermelmeere heute Abend. Zeigen Licht auf + Berry Head." + +Pamela backed away cautiously towards the ladder. Just as she reached it +her uncle turned round and called to her. + +"Give me a hand, Pam! Don't feel--very well to-night," he stammered +thickly. "Got to go out, too. Must go home and get the car. Little store +of petrol they don't know about! And I shan't tell them either!" (He +hinnied at his own joke.) "Give me your hand." + +He leaned heavily on his niece, and she helped him down the ladder. She +watched him as he stumbled along the narrow path in the darkness. He +called to her, but she did not follow him to the cottage. Instead, she +went to the palings and scrambled over into the high road. She surmised +that she had surprised a most important secret, one which she felt must +be communicated at once to head-quarters. It was absolutely necessary +that Captain Harper should know of this. By warning him in time she +might prevent some great disaster. She must get to the Camp as quickly +as possible. It was late, long past eleven o'clock (Mr. Hockheimer had +had no compunction in keeping his niece out of bed to mind his +business), and the night was moonless. Pamela shuddered as she thought +of the long, lonely walk before her. Could she find the Camp in the +dark? A sudden inspiration struck her. She would hurry to the Watsons +instead and ask one of the boys to go on a bicycle. She ran almost all +the way along the familiar road to Walden. She found the house shut up +and the family gone to bed, but she made a rat-tat with the knocker that +soon roused them. + +"What is it?" cried David out of the window. + +"It's I--Pamela! I've brought news!" she gasped. + +The Watsons were downstairs directly. They listened breathlessly to the +story she had to tell. David and Anthony hurried to the outhouse for +their bicycles, and set off at once for the Camp to find Captain Harper. +Who could say how much might depend on their speed? + +Pamela watched them go with a feeling of intense relief. Her part of the +business was finished; she had now set the machinery in motion that +would accomplish the rest. The reaction after the intense strain was so +great that she burst into tears. + +"I must go home!" she sobbed. "Mother will think I am lost!" + +"Daphne and I will go with you. I can't let you walk back alone at this +time of night," said Mrs. Watson kindly. "If you'll take my advice, +dear, you'll tell your mother everything now. She ought to know." + +Pamela's friends escorted her to the door of Moss Cottage and left her +there. What explanation she gave to her mother they never knew. They +feared there was great unpleasantness in store for the Reynolds, for Mr. +Hockheimer was sure to be arrested, and the fact that it must be through +his niece's instrumentality only seemed to make matters worse. David and +Anthony returned with the news that they had roused Captain Harper at +the Camp, and that after reading the message he had ridden off +immediately upon his motor bicycle. They went to bed wondering what +would be happening while they slept. + +The boys looked out for Pamela next morning on the road to the station, +but she was not there. The train for once went without her. They spent +an agitated day at school and hurried back from Netherton that afternoon +at topmost speed. They found Captain Harper in the garden at Walden. He +looked very grave. + +"Do you know what that message was you brought me?" he asked. +"Translated into English it meant, 'U-boat in Channel to-night. Show +light on Berry Head.' I hear a certain important vessel had an extremely +narrow escape last night. The wireless apparatus at Moss Cottage has +been taken down already. The police went up there this morning." + +"And Mr. Hockheimer?" + +Captain Harper knocked the end off his cigarette before he answered. + +"Mr. Hockheimer has gone to settle his great account. He and his car +were found in the river at Chadwick this morning. The road turns at a +very sharp angle there on to the bridge, and it is thought that in the +darkness he missed his way and went over the bank. There is not a shadow +of doubt that he was going to give signals to the enemy. We had long +suspected him as a spy, and part of my business down here had been to +watch him. In the circumstances this has been the most merciful thing +that could have happened. For the sake of the Reynolds we are hushing +the matter up. There is no need for it to be bruited about the +neighbourhood. Your family are the only people who have any knowledge of +the affair. I can trust you to keep it from going further." + +"On our honour!" the boys assured him. + +The "sad fatality at Chadwick Bridge" made a sensation in the local +newspapers. An inquest was held on Mr. Hockheimer, and a verdict of +"Death from misadventure" returned. Though many people in the +neighbourhood may have had their suspicions as to the nature of his +errand on that dark night, no evidence of an incriminating nature was +brought before the coroner. He was buried at Lyngates in the Reynolds's +family vault, where his wife had been carried two years before. He had +left no will, and the question of who was to inherit the Lyngates +property might be a matter for Chancery to settle. By the advice of the +old solicitor who had managed the estate for many years, Mrs. Reynolds +and Pamela took temporary possession of the Hall until a claim could be +set up on their behalf. At the time of Squire Reynolds's death it had +been the current gossip of the village that some later will than the +one proved must be in existence. If such a will had been made, however, +it had never been found. The only possible clue seemed to be the letter +that David and Anthony had found inside the Latin dictionary, which had +fallen into the hands of Mr. Hockheimer, and had been so strangely +rescued from destruction by Captain Harper when masquerading as +Spring-heeled Jack. The latter reported that at the time he had examined +the half-burnt sheet, anticipating that it might contain treasonable +correspondence, but had been unable to make sense of it. In accordance +with instructions he had handed it over to his Colonel, and he supposed +it would now be filed in the Secret Service Department. Red tape might +prevent repossession of the original, but he was using his influence to +obtain a copy. After considerable delay a reply came from the War Office +to the effect that the paper in question appeared to have been partially +burnt, but that the remaining fragment ran as follows:-- + + bitter thoughts against you, but + love for your country has + are, and I am ready to acknowledge your + to see them, should they ever come to + gones shall be bygones now. I am + in your favour, and shall put it + is sure to be found, + both die, they will be provided + +[Illustration: WHO COULD SAY HOW MUCH MIGHT DEPEND ON THEIR SPEED?] + +"I'm afraid it's no use in a court of law, Pamela," said Captain Harper, +as he showed her the copy of the paper. "It's the merest scrap. By +imagining the missing words we might make it into something like this; +but imagination won't give it legal value. Here's what I fancy it may +have been:" + + I own I held hard and / bitter thoughts against you, but + now I feel that your / love for your country has + shown me what you / are, and I am ready to acknowledge your + wife and child, and / to see them, should they ever come to + England. By / gones shall be bygones now. I am + making a new will / in your favour, and shall put it + in a place where it / is sure to be found, + so that should we / both die, they will be provided + for. / + +"If this surmise is correct," continued Captain Harper, "and there +really was a new will, it may possibly be hidden somewhere at the Hall." + +"We've searched everywhere," said Pamela sadly. "Two lawyer's clerks +have been here and gone through every morsel of paper in the house, and +turned out every drawer and cupboard. I think myself that perhaps Uncle +Fritz may have found it and destroyed it. Mother and I spend all our +spare time looking, but we never have any luck. I don't think we're +lucky people. We seem just to have misfortune after misfortune. It has +always been like this all our lives." + +"Cheer up! It's a long lane that has no turning," comforted Captain +Harper. "I advise you to show this paper to your solicitor, though I'm +afraid it's nothing to go by." + +Pamela's affairs did indeed seem to have reached a crisis. Her fortunes +were much discussed in the neighbourhood, and general opinion decided +that she would have difficulty in establishing legally her right to what +undoubtedly ought to be hers. Several naturalized German relations of +Mr. Hockheimer had put in counter-claims for the estate. There was +likely to be a long and expensive lawsuit before the case was settled. + +Then one day a wonderful thing occurred--an utterly unexpected and +marvellous thing, but one that--thank God!--has happened in other +families since the war began. The postwoman who delivered the letter did +not know that it differed from other letters; she popped it through the +slit in the front door and rang the bell as usual, and went on her way, +all unsuspecting what news she had left behind her. Yet when Mrs. +Reynolds saw the handwriting on the envelope she gave a little sharp cry +and fainted away. Pamela did not go to school that day nor the next. She +wrote to Avelyn to explain her absence. The latter read the letter twice +before her amazed brain could really grasp its contents. + + "MY DEAR AVE, + + "I hardly know how to tell you our good luck. Daddy is alive! He + wasn't killed at Mons after all. He was taken prisoner and never + reported. He was kept most fearfully strictly in a fortress and + allowed no news of the outside world. He and a companion spent + eighteen months making a tunnel out of their cell, and after + simply thrilling adventures they escaped, and swam a river and + got into Swiss territory. He's coming home, and Mother and I are + going up to London to meet him. We're almost off our heads! + + "Will you please tell Miss Thompson this is why I'm not at + school? We start for town to-morrow morning. + + "Much love from + "PAM." + +It was indeed a most happy ending to all the troubles of poor Mrs. +Reynolds and Pamela. By the will which had already been proved, Captain +Reynolds inherited his father's estate, which had only passed to the +daughter Dora in default of a male heir. He was soon able to settle up +the legal side of the matter and to obtain formal possession of the +whole property. + +"I've made my own will now, and left everything safely tied up for you +and your Mother before I go out to the front again," he told his +daughter. + +"Oh, Daddy! must you leave us and go back to France?" wailed Pamela. + +"Every hour I spent in that fortress, Pam, made me all the more resolved +to help to fight this war to the finish. Would you want me to shirk and +fail my country? I know you better than that. Tell me again what you +told me in 1914." + +And Pamela stood up straight, and with a light in her eyes repeated: + + "Though it tear and break my heart + I let you go. + When the Motherland is calling, + Be it so! + Let my own poor need and grief + Be set aside, + That justice and the right + May now abide. + + "God put courage and true might + In your arm! + May His mercy keep your life + Safe from harm! + Every hour my earnest prayer + Shall be this: + May we meet and greet again + With a kiss." + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +The Lecture Hall is Dedicated + + +Ever since the laying of the foundation stone in January the new Lecture +Hall had been in process of construction. Owing to the war, and the +scarcity of labour, it made slow progress. Sometimes the building went +on with a spurt, and sometimes for weeks nothing at all was done. Those +optimists who had prophesied that it would be in readiness after the +Easter holidays found themselves much mistaken. After innumerable delays +and disappointments, however, the place was finished by the end of the +summer term, and Miss Thompson decided to combine its opening with the +annual prize-giving. + +The double function marked a great occasion in the annals of the school. +The increased accommodation would allow a large gathering, and many +invitations were sent forth. It was even whispered that the chair was to +be taken by the local Member of Parliament. + +"Silverside's coming on no end!" said Consie Arkwright. "We never used +to have such grandees down. Miss Thompson used to be content with some +ordinary clergyman or elderly professor, to give the prizes, and now +she won't look at anybody below a bishop, or a mayor, or an M.P." + +"She loves these functions!" chuckled Joyce. "She's perfectly happy when +she has on her best dress and her company smile, and is showing off the +school to an admiring crowd of visitors. I won't say that I don't rather +enjoy it myself. It makes one feel in the world somehow. It's jolly nice +to think that Silverside is of so much importance in the town." + +"Bet we'll make a good show-up on Dedication Day!" commented Laura, who +had drifted into the conversation. "Hopscotch was saying something about +the whole school in white dresses and our badges. By the by, Miss +Thompson's got a little surprise for us. She's been having some +beautiful ribbon, in the school colours, specially woven for Silverside. +She showed it to Adah and me this morning in the study, and I can tell +you it's topping! We're each to have a piece of it for our hair, and +wear it on the great day, so that we all look alike. She's having new +hat bands woven, too, for next term. I think they'll be rather smart." + +"I begin to wish I wasn't leaving," said Isobel almost mournfully. +"Really, Silverside has been much jollier lately than it used to be. It +would have been ripping fun to stop another year and work up the hockey, +as we've done the cricket and tennis." + +"There'll be something to read out in the Games Report this time!" +purred Joyce. + +"It'll be precious!" agreed Consie. + +The Principal was naturally anxious that her pupils should make +a good display on so important an occasion. She arranged a very +carefully-thought-out programme of the ceremony. There were to be +speeches by local magnates, the School Report must be read, the hall +dedicated, and the prizes distributed. She decided that her pupils ought +to sing one or two suitable songs, and she came in to the singing class +one morning to discuss the matter with Miss Webster, and hear the girls +run through a few glees. She found it difficult to make a choice. + +"They're nice in their way, but not altogether what is needed. I should +have liked something really appropriate to a Dedication. In fact, I'm +afraid I want what I am not at all likely to get--a special song +composed for Silverside." + +"Could we adapt anything?" suggested Miss Webster, rapidly turning over +a pile of music, while the class, deeply interested, sat listening to +the discussion. + +"Not much use without new words. Pity we have no poet in the school! If +there had been time, I'd have written to a music publisher and asked if +it would be possible to have a song composed for us. It's too late now. +I wish I'd thought of it sooner!" + +"Oh, Miss Thompson," said Avelyn, suddenly springing to her feet and +blushing hotly at her own temerity, "I know a lady who writes songs! +She's very much interested in Silverside--I've told her so much about +it. I really believe if I asked her she'd make up just what you want. +She's quite clever enough to do it." + +Miss Thompson's convex glasses were focused on Avelyn in a stare of +astonished gratification. She literally jumped at the idea. + +"If you think your friend would really be so kind," she assented, "we +should be most grateful to her. Where does she live? At Lyngates? Then +write to her this afternoon, and see if you can persuade her to take +pity on us. I suppose she would know the sort of thing we want?" + +"I'll explain exactly," promised Avelyn, sitting down, conscious that in +the eyes of the class she had covered herself with glory. She was +excused "English language" that afternoon for the purpose of writing her +letter to Miss Carrington, and sat with her blotter--an object of much +envy--while the remainder of the form wrestled with Anglo-Saxon +derivations. + +"I don't think my Lavender Lady will fail me!" she murmured as she +stamped her envelope. "I believe it's just the sort of thing she'll like +doing." + +Avelyn's trust in her friend was amply justified. She received by return +of post a card bearing the words: "Highly honoured. Will do my best." + +"I knew she would--the dear, clever darling!" rejoiced Avelyn, waving +her post card in triumph as she ran down to the study to communicate the +good news to Miss Thompson. + +On Friday evening, when Avelyn called at the bungalow, the Lavender Lady +had a neat music manuscript ready for her. + +"I hope it will do," she said. "It's as far as possible what you asked +me for. I've tried to express a spirit of school patriotism and union in +the words, which seems to be the principal thing to aim at just now, and +I've arranged the music for three voices. You'll have to make copies of +it at school." + +"Miss Peters will do that with the duplicator," beamed Avelyn. "I do +think you're just the most absolutely lovely and clever and delicious +person that I've ever met, or ever shall meet, in all this wide world! +How do you manage to think of things? I couldn't compose a song to save +my life!" + +"Why, I really don't know! The ideas just float into my head somehow," +laughed the Lavender Lady. "As a matter of fact, this tune came to me in +bed, at about half-past two in the morning, and I was obliged to get up +and go downstairs to the piano to try it over and jot it down on paper +before I forgot it. I knew that if I went to sleep again it would escape +me. There's nothing so elusive as music. Yes, I'll try it over for you +if you like. It'll sound much better, though, in three parts. I hope +your first sopranos can reach A sharp? If not, I must set it in a lower +key, but I like it best in this." + +"They've got to get A sharp if they crack their voices!" decided Avelyn +firmly. + +The dedication and prize giving were to be held on the last afternoon of +the term, and guests were invited for 2.30 prompt. The girls, +resplendent in white dresses and the new hair ribbons, made a brave +show, and all were sitting discreetly in their places when the +distinguished visitors were ushered on to the platform. + +During the last six months a better tone and discipline had pervaded the +school, and there had been no repetition of the disorderly scene that +had preceded the laying of the foundation stone. Every pupil of +Silverside now prided herself upon her manners. It had become a matter +of _noblesse oblige_. + +Mr. Robson, the Member of Parliament for Harlingden, was a short, stout +man, with a bald head and a big moustache, and some gift of oratory. He +fulfilled with dignity his duties as chairman, and made a capital +speech, bringing in his views about education, and wishing Silverside +every success. A hundred and ten youthful pairs of hands clapped +obediently, though some of the most junior heads had not altogether +grasped the drift of the remarks. + +It was now the turn of the School Report. Miss Thompson, typed papers in +hand, was standing up and clearing her throat preparatory to reading it +aloud. + +Avelyn, in the fifth row from the front, turned her head and took a +comprehensive glance round the room. It was certainly a hall to be proud +of, looking both stately and festive with its decorations of flowers and +flags and its large palms upon the platform. She was glad that the +Lavender Lady should see it. Miss Carrington had come to the gathering +with Mrs. Watson and Daphne; Captain Harper and Captain and Mrs. +Reynolds were sitting next to them. They caught Avelyn's eye, and smiled +as she looked across, then concentrated their attention on the platform, +where Miss Thompson was beginning to read the report. + +The Principal first of all described the general work of the school, +what successes had been gained in public examinations, and what record +each Form could show. The average of marks was high, and both mistresses +and pupils might be congratulated on their efforts during the year. +After commenting on the improvement which had also been made in music, +part singing, drawing, and painting, Miss Thompson passed to the subject +of games. + +"I am very glad to say," so ran the report, "that on its athletic as +well as its intellectual side the school is now holding its own. During +the winter season little was done in that respect, but with the spring a +great games revival took place, and the 'Loyal School League' was +instituted, the object of which was to win honours for Silverside. I +heartily congratulate the League both on the spirit of union and school +patriotism which it has fostered and on the successes which it has won. +The cricket throughout has been most spirited, and great thanks are due +to Miss Leslie and Miss Kennedy for their admirable help in coaching. +Out of six matches the school scored four victories, a very creditable +record for a first season. In tennis also we are beginning to take our +place. The improvement of the general play is most marked, and we hope +to have established a new standard of energy and efficiency. Our +champions were successful in defeating Pendlebury Ladies' College and +Westfield High School; a match was also played with the Clifford Girls' +Grammar School, which resulted in a draw. As we consider games to be an +extremely important item in our curriculum, we hope that this term's +strenuous effort has established a precedent in this respect, and that +the League will go on to greater triumphs in the future." + +After the report came the distribution of prizes and Form trophies. VA +won a beautiful picture for a wild-flower competition; IVB gained the +cup for general improvement; and the Sixth the shield for knowledge of +contemporary events; while among individual successes Adah Gartley, +Annie Broadside, Maggie Stuart, Laura Talbot, and Irma Ridley were +called up to receive rewards of books. + +"I am asked to announce," said the chairman, "that Miss Thompson and the +mistresses have presented a new gift to the school. This beautiful +silver cup is to be awarded annually to the girl who is considered to +have performed the greatest service for Silverside during the year. The +first to win it is Avelyn Watson, to whose enterprise and energy in +initiating the 'Loyal School League' much of the present success in +games may fairly be credited. I congratulate you," beaming at Avelyn as +he handed her the trophy, "that yours is the first name to be engraved +upon the cup." + +Avelyn walked back to her place almost overwhelmed by the unexpected +honour. It was a complete surprise, for the mistresses had kept their +secret well, and had allowed no word of it to leak out beforehand. The +storm of clapping from the girls showed that the trophy, and the choice +of its winner, were equally appreciated. There could be no mistake about +the genuine cordiality of the applause. + +"May I say, in conclusion," finished Mr. Robson, "that the part song +which will now be rendered by the singing class has been composed +specially for this occasion by a well-known musician, and that +henceforward it will take its place as what we might call the national +anthem of Silverside, to be sung at all school functions." + +Miss Webster struck a chord on the piano, and the singing class rose. +The sunlight flooding through the window shone on their white dresses +and the colours that tied their hair. There were a few bars of prelude, +then, to a swinging, rousing, and most original tune, they sang: + + "Girls of Silverside! + Hear us as we sing: + With the praises of our school + Let the rafters ring. + Loyal hearts and true + Bring we here to-day, + Chanting as our battle-cry, + 'Silverside for aye!' + So join your hands and join your hearts, + And form a circle wide, + Let Silverside be all your pride, + Girls of Silverside! + + "Girls of Silverside! + True you are and leal, + Each must strive her noble best + For the common weal. + Banish thoughts of self, + Make your interests wide, + Be the glory that you gain + All for Silverside. + So join your hands and join your hearts, + And form a circle wide, + Let Silverside be all your pride, + Girls of Silverside! + + "Girls of Silverside! + For the good and right, + Here and in the wider world + Let us all unite. + To your strenuous care + Our honour we confide, + Let your lives be such as bring + Praise to Silverside. + So join your hands and join your hearts, + And form a circle wide, + Let Silverside be all your pride, + Girls of Silverside!" + +When the function was over, and mistresses, visitors, and girls streamed +out of the new Lecture Hall, Avelyn's steps gravitated at once towards +her Lavender Lady. + +"Your song was beautiful," she whispered. "Everybody says it's the best +tune they've heard for ages--it haunts us, we can't get it out of our +heads for a minute! Miss Webster says she could play it in her sleep. It +was just what we wanted--something specially for Silverside!" + +"I'm glad it went off all right. Let me look at your cup. You lucky +girl! Just to think that 'Avelyn Watson' is the very first name to be +engraved upon it! Where are you going to keep such a treasure?" + +"I shall take it home for the holidays, and then have it in our form +room next term. If you don't mind, I'd like it to spend a week at the +bungalow. I feel it was you who really won it, not I. The League was +your idea entirely. Even if I'd thought of it I should never have had +the courage to propose it, if it hadn't been for you. You inspired it +all! May the cup stand on your mantelpiece for a whole week?" + +"Only on one condition--that you come and stay with me to take care of +it!" + +"Oh! may I? I'd love to stay with you and have you all to myself." +Avelyn's eyes were shining. + +"Hallo, old sport!" said Laura, coming rollicking up with Irma, Janet, +Mona, and a few other congenial spirits. "Congratulations! We didn't +know Miss Thompson had this cup up her sleeve, did we? Jolly decent of +her and the mistresses, I must say! We ought to subscribe and buy a +bracket to put it on. Won't it look fine when it's up, rather! Some of +the old girls are here to-day, and Miss Thompson's been telling them +about the League. They think it's topping!" + +"And they say our hair ribbons are just too jinky for anything," added +Janet. + +"Glad to hear they like them," said Avelyn, twisting round her plait +and readjusting the broad bow of pink, blue, and navy. "Yes, on the +whole, I really think it's rather priceless to have our hair tied with +the school colours." + +"It stands for so much," put in the Lavender Lady gently. + +"Right you are! We're all hall-marked safe and sound now for a united +Silverside," agreed Laura. "Next term our school will just forge ahead +and break the record." + + + + +Printed and Bound in Great Britain +_By Blackie & Son, Limited, Glasgow_ + + + + + * * * * * + + + + +Transcriber's Note: + + Hyphenation has been retained as it appears in the original + publication. Punctuation has been made consistent. + + Page 41 and an upper story containing _changed to_ + and an upper storey containing + + Page 157 I wonder we've not see you _changed to_ + I wonder we've not seen you + + Page 171 All four girls were busy packing _changed to_ + All five girls were busy packing + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FOR THE SCHOOL COLOURS*** + + +******* This file should be named 35972-8.txt or 35972-8.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/3/5/9/7/35972 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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+ clear: both; } + pre {font-size: 85%;} + </style> +</head> +<body> +<h1>The Project Gutenberg eBook, For the School Colours, 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: For the School Colours</p> +<p>Author: Angela Brazil</p> +<p>Release Date: April 26, 2011 [eBook #35972]</p> +<p>Language: English</p> +<p>Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1</p> +<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FOR THE SCHOOL COLOURS***</p> +<p> </p> +<h3>E-text prepared by Suzanne Shell<br /> + and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team<br /> + (http://www.pgdp.net)</h3> +<p> </p> +<hr class="full" /> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<h1>For the School Colours</h1> + +<hr class="hr3" /> + +<div id="box5"> +<div class="figright" style="width: 400px;"> +<img src="images/cover.jpg" width="400" height="586" alt="Cover" title="" /> +</div> + +<div class="figleft" style="width: 131px;"> +<img src="images/spine.jpg" width="130" height="586" alt="" title="" /> +</div> +</div> + +<div id="box1"> + +<p class="booklist center">By ANGELA BRAZIL</p> + +<p class="noi">"Angela Brazil has proved her undoubted talent for writing a story of +schoolgirls for other schoolgirls to read."—<strong>Bookman.</strong></p> + +<div class="centreblock"> +<ul> +<li>The School in the South.</li> +<li>Monitress Merle.</li> +<li>Loyal to the School.</li> +<li>A Fortunate Term.</li> +<li>A Popular Schoolgirl.</li> +<li>The Princess of the School.</li> +<li>A Harum-Scarum Schoolgirl.</li> +<li>The Head Girl at the Gables.</li> +<li>A Patriotic Schoolgirl.</li> +<li>For the School Colours.</li> +<li>The Madcap of the School.</li> +<li>The Luckiest Girl in the School.</li> +<li>The Jolliest Term on Record.</li> +<li>The Girls of St. Cyprian's.</li> +<li>The Youngest Girl in the Fifth.</li> +<li>The New Girl at St. Chad's.</li> +<li>For the Sake of the School.</li> +<li>The School by the Sea.</li> +<li>The Leader of the Lower School.</li> +<li>A Pair of Schoolgirls.</li> +<li>A Fourth Form Friendship.</li> +<li>The Manor House School.</li> +<li>The Nicest Girl in the School.</li> +<li>The Third Class at Miss Kaye's.</li> +<li>The Fortunes of Philippa.</li> +</ul> +</div> +<p class="smcap center">LONDON: BLACKIE & SON, Ltd., 50 OLD BAILEY, E.C.</p> +</div> + + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"><a name="frontis" id="frontis"></a> +<img src="images/gs01.jpg" width="400" height="640" alt=""WHAT'S THIS? WHAT HAVE THEY SENT ME?" SHE GASPED +page 199" title="" /> +<span class="caption">"WHAT'S THIS? WHAT HAVE THEY SENT ME?" SHE GASPED</span> +<p class="right"><a href="#what"><i>page 199</i></a></p> +</div> + + +<hr /> + + +<p class="center"><span class="title">FOR THE</span><br /> +<span class="title">SCHOOL COLOURS</span><br /> +<br /> +BY<br /> +<br /> +<span class="author">ANGELA BRAZIL</span><br /> +<br /> +Author of "A Patriotic Schoolgirl"<br /> +"The Luckiest Girl in the School"<br /> +"The Madcap of the School"<br /> +&c. &c.<br /> +<br /><br /><br /> +<span class="illus"><em>Illustrated by Balliol Salmon</em></span><br /> +<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> +<span class="pub1">BLACKIE AND SON LIMITED</span><br /> +<span class="pub2">LONDON GLASGOW AND BOMBAY</span></p> + + + +<hr class="hr3" /> + +<p class="center"><em>Printed and bound in Great Britain</em></p> + +<hr /> + +<h2><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[5]</a></span> +<a name="contents" id="contents"></a>Contents</h2> + +<table summary="Contents"> +<tr> +<th class="thr1"><span class="smcap">Chap.</span></th> +<th class="thr2" colspan="2">Page</th> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdr1">I.</td> +<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Enter Avelyn</span></td> +<td class="tdr2"><a href="#i">9</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdr1">II.</td> +<td class="tdl"> <span class="smcap">An Invasion</span></td> +<td class="tdr2"><a href="#ii">22</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdr1">III.</td> +<td class="tdl"> <span class="smcap">Walden</span></td> +<td class="tdr2"><a href="#iii">37</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdr1">IV.</td> +<td class="tdl"> <span class="smcap">An Encounter</span></td> +<td class="tdr2"><a href="#iv">51</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdr1">V.</td> +<td class="tdl"> <span class="smcap">Ructions</span></td> +<td class="tdr2"><a href="#v">65</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdr1">VI.</td> +<td class="tdl"> <span class="smcap">Reprisals</span></td> +<td class="tdr2"><a href="#vi">79</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdr1">VII.</td> +<td class="tdl"> <span class="smcap">Miss Hopkins</span></td> +<td class="tdr2"><a href="#vii">94</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdr1">VIII.</td> +<td class="tdl"> <span class="smcap">Spring-heeled Jack</span></td> +<td class="tdr2"><a href="#viii">104</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdr1">IX.</td> +<td class="tdl"> <span class="smcap">Concerns Day Girls</span></td> +<td class="tdr2"><a href="#ix">120</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdr1">X.</td> +<td class="tdl"> <span class="smcap">Mischief</span></td> +<td class="tdr2"><a href="#x">131</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdr1">XI.</td> +<td class="tdl"> <span class="smcap">Moss Cottage</span></td> +<td class="tdr2"><a href="#xi">145</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdr1">XII.</td> +<td class="tdl"> <span class="smcap">"Lady Tracy's At Home"</span></td> +<td class="tdr2"><a href="#xii">158</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdr1">XIII.</td> +<td class="tdl"> <span class="smcap">Reports</span></td> +<td class="tdr2"><a href="#xiii">168</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdr1">XIV.</td> +<td class="tdl"> <span class="smcap">War Work</span></td> +<td class="tdr2"><a href="#xiv">178</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdr1">XV.</td> +<td class="tdl"> <span class="smcap">The School Birthday</span></td> +<td class="tdr2"><a href="#xv">193</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdr1">XVI.</td> +<td class="tdl"> <span class="smcap">Under the Pines</span></td> +<td class="tdr2"><a href="#xvi">204</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdr1">XVII.</td> +<td class="tdl"> <span class="smcap">The Lavender Lady</span></td> +<td class="tdr2"><a href="#xvii">214</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdr1"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[6]</a></span> +XVIII.</td> +<td class="tdl"> <span class="smcap">The Loyal School League</span></td> +<td class="tdr2"><a href="#xviii">227</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdr1">XIX.</td> +<td class="tdl"> <span class="smcap">The Surprise Tree</span></td> +<td class="tdr2"><a href="#xix">240</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdr1">XX.</td> +<td class="tdl"> <span class="smcap">Pamela's Secret</span></td> +<td class="tdr2"><a href="#xx">254</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdr1">XXI.</td> +<td class="tdl"> <span class="smcap">Pamela's Night Walk</span></td> +<td class="tdr2"><a href="#xxi">266</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdr1">XXII.</td> +<td class="tdl"> <span class="smcap">The Lecture Hall is Dedicated</span></td> +<td class="tdr2"><a href="#xxii">277</a></td> +</tr> +</table> + + +<hr /> + + +<h2><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[7]</a></span> +Illustrations</h2> + +<table summary="Illustrations"> +<tr> +<th class="thr2" colspan="2">Page</th> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdl">"<span class="smcap">What's this? What have they sent me?" she +gasped</span></td> +<td class="tdr2"><a href="#frontis"><i>Frontispiece</i></a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdl">"<span class="smcap">Do you know this wood's private property?" +he shouted</span></td> +<td class="tdr2"><a href="#do">56</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Avelyn, crouched under the manger, could hear +the bullying tone in his voice</span></td> +<td class="tdr2"><a href="#crouched">152</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">An Interview with Miss Thompson</span></td> +<td class="tdr2"><a href="#an">176</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Avelyn and the Lavender Lady</span></td> +<td class="tdr2"><a href="#lavender">224</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Who could say how much might depend on their +Speed?</span></td> +<td class="tdr2"><a href="#who">272</a></td> +</tr> +</table> + + + + +<hr /> + +<h2><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[8]</a></span><br /> +<a name="i" id="i"></a><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[9]</a></span> +FOR THE SCHOOL COLOURS</h2> + +<hr class="hr3" /> + +<h2>CHAPTER I<br /> +<span class="sub">Enter Avelyn</span></h2> + + +<p>"It's the limit!" exploded Laura.</p> + +<p>"An atrocious shame!" agreed Janet.</p> + +<p>"Gives me nerve shock!" mourned Ethelberga gloomily.</p> + +<p>"You see," continued Laura, popping the tray of her box on to the floor +and sitting down on her bed, so as the better to address her +audience—"you see, it's been plumped upon us without any warning. Miss +Thompson must have arranged it long ago, but she never let out so much +as a teeny-weeny hint. If I'd known before I came back I'd have asked +Father to give a term's notice and let me leave at Christmas. Crystal +clear, I would."</p> + +<p>"Rather! so would this child."</p> + +<p>"I guess we all should."</p> + +<p>"I call it so mean to have sprung it on us like<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[10]</a></span> this! I really couldn't +have believed it of Miss Thompson. She's gone down miles in my +estimation. I can never feel the same towards her again—<em>never!</em> Those +Hawthorners! Oh, to think of it!"</p> + +<p>"What's the matter?" asked a fourth voice, as another girl, still in hat +and coat, and carrying her travelling-bag, entered the dormitory.</p> + +<p>"Irma! Is it you, old sport? D'you mean to say you haven't heard the +news yet?"</p> + +<p>"Only just this minute arrived, and I've flown straight upstairs. I met +Hopscotch in the hall, and asked, 'Am I still in the Cowslip Room?' and +she nodded 'Yes,' so I didn't wait for any more. Has anything grizzly +happened? You're all looking very glum!"</p> + +<p>"We may well look glum," said Laura tragically. "Something particularly +grizzly's happened. You remember that day school at the other side of +the town?"</p> + +<p>"The Hawthorns—yes."</p> + +<p>"Well, it's been given up."</p> + +<p>Irma flung her hat on to her bed and her coat after it.</p> + +<p>"That doesn't concern us," she remarked contemptuously.</p> + +<p>"Doesn't it? Oh, no, of course—not in the least!" Laura's voice was +sarcastic. "It wouldn't have been any concern of ours—only, as it +happens, they've all come on here."</p> + +<p>Irma turned round, the very picture of dismay.</p> + +<p>"<em>What?</em> Not <em>here</em>, surely! Great Minerva, you don't mean it! Hold me +up! I feel rocky."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[11]</a></span> +Laura looked at her, and shook her head in commiseration.</p> + +<p>"Yes, that's how it took us all when we heard," she remarked. "You'd +better sit down on your bed till you get the first shock over. It's +enough to make a camel weep. I couldn't believe it myself for a few +minutes, but it's only too true, unfortunately for us."</p> + +<p>"The Hawthorns! Those girls whom we never spoke to—wouldn't have +touched with a pair of tongs!" gasped Irma.</p> + +<p>"You may well marvel," sympathized Janet.</p> + +<p>"But what's Miss Thompson <em>thinking</em> of? Why, she always looked down so +on the Hawthorns! Wouldn't let us arrange matches with their teams, and +kept us away from them at that bazaar as if they'd been infectious. It's +been the tradition of the school to have nothing to do with them."</p> + +<p>"Traditions have flown to the four winds. There'll be nearly fifty +Hawthorners turning up by nine o'clock to-morrow morning."</p> + +<p>"Nearly fifty! And we were only thirty-six ourselves last term! Why, the +school will be swamped!"</p> + +<p>"Exactly, and with day girls too. When there were twenty-four boarders +to twelve day girls, we could have things pretty well as we liked, but +if we've to hold our own against sixty or so—well!"</p> + +<p>"It'll mean war!" finished Ethelberga, setting her mouth grimly.</p> + +<p>"But what's possessed Miss Thompson to do such an atrocious thing?" +cried Irma in exasperation.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[12]</a></span> +"<i>£, s. d.</i>, my child, I suppose. Miss Perry was giving up the school, +and Tommiekins bought the connection. She's completely veered round in +her opinions. She told Adah Gartley they were nice girls, and would soon +improve immensely at Silverside. 'I hope you'll all make them welcome,' +she said to Adah."</p> + +<p>"Welcome!" echoed Irma, Janet, and Ethelberga eloquently.</p> + +<p>"It wouldn't have been so bad," continued Laura, "if just a few of +them—say a dozen—had been coming. We could have kept ourselves to +ourselves and quite ignored them. But we're being absolutely cuckooed +out. Do you know that our recreation room has been commandeered for an +extra class-room?"</p> + +<p>Howls of dismay issued from the trio now seated on Irma's bed.</p> + +<p>"Yes, you'd hardly believe it, but it is a fact," ran on Laura with +dismal volubility. "When I went to take my painting things there I found +our tables and easy chairs gone, and the whole place filled up with new +desks and a blackboard."</p> + +<p>"Where are we going to sit in the evenings?" demanded Ethelberga +fiercely.</p> + +<p>"Goodness only knows! In the dining-room, I suppose."</p> + +<p>"We evidently don't count for anything with Tommiekins now," said Janet +bitterly. "The Daisy dormitory has been taken for a class-room, and an +extra bed has been put in each of the other dormitories to make up. +Didn't you notice,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[13]</a></span> Irma, that there are five here now, instead of only +four?"</p> + +<p>"Why, so there are! What a hateful cram! Who's to have the fifth?"</p> + +<p>"I asked Hopscotch, and she said, 'A new girl.' I couldn't help flying +out at that, and she simply sat flat upon me and withered me. Told me to +go away and mind my own business, and she was coming round to inspect +the Cowslip Room in half an hour, and I'd better get on with my +unpacking."</p> + +<p>"Oh, she will! Why didn't you tell us that before?" exclaimed the +others, bouncing up with considerable haste, and setting to work again +to empty their boxes.</p> + +<p>"I forgot. I can think of nothing but those wretched Hawthorners. It's +made me feel weak."</p> + +<p>"You'll feel weaker still if Hopscotch comes in and finds you with +nothing unpacked!" observed Laura sagely, stowing underclothes in her +middle drawer with the utmost rapidity. "I advise you to make some sort +of a beginning, even if you don't put things away tidily. Fling them in +anyhow, stick a blouse for a top layer, and straighten them up +afterwards. Don't let her see them still inside your box."</p> + +<p>For a few minutes the girls suspended talk for work. Laura's flaxen head +vibrated between box and wardrobe. Janet arranged her dressing-table and +replaited her dark pigtail. Ethelberga hung up a selection of +photographs, and placed her nightdress inside its case; Irma spread her +bed with her possessions, preparatory to filling her<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[14]</a></span> drawers, and +comforted her ruffled feelings with the last pear-drop in the paper bag +she had brought with her.</p> + +<p>The dormitory was of fair size, and though the girls might grumble, +contained ample space for the fifth bed. It was a pretty room with a +yellow wall-paper, and chintz curtains with little bunches of cowslips +on them. There were pictures of cowslips also on the walls, and all the +pin-cushions and hair-tidies had yellow ribbons. The window looked over +the garden, and behind the belt of trees that bordered the lawn gleamed +the grey waters of the estuary, where ships were stealing out from port +into the dangers of the great waters. The girls prided themselves upon +this view, though at the present moment they were too busy to think of +it. Three years' previous experience had taught them that, when Miss +Hopkins made a tour of inspection on the first afternoon of term, she +meant business, and woe betide the luckless slacker who had gossiped and +dawdled instead of bestowing her property in her own lawful drawers. If +she had announced her intention of visiting them shortly, she might +certainly be trusted to keep her word.</p> + +<p>Their expectations were not mistaken, for before the half-hour had +expired the door opened, revealing the short stout figure and rather +angular features of the second mistress. The girls jumped up and stood +obediently at attention, ready to go through the usual routine of +dormitory superintendence. Miss Hopkins, however, was not alone.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[15]</a></span> In her +wake followed a girl of fifteen, whom she bustled in, in a hurry.</p> + +<p>"This is your dormitory, Avelyn—the Cowslip Room, we call it. Here's +your bed, and these are your dress hooks and your drawers. The janitor's +bringing your box upstairs. Oh, he's here now! Put it at the end of the +bed, Tom, please. I suppose you have the key, Avelyn? Then you'd better +unlock it at once. These are your room-mates—Laura Talbot, Irma Ridley, +Janet Duncan, and Ethelberga Carnforth. Girls, this is Avelyn Watson. I +hope you will make her welcome. Begin your unpacking now, Avelyn. I +shall be back directly to see how you are getting on."</p> + +<p>Miss Hopkins, whose duties on the first day of term were multifarious, +withdrew as hurriedly as she had entered. Her visits generally resembled +the brief career of a whirlwind—sometimes her pupils considered that +they carried equal desolation.</p> + +<p>The new girl remained standing by the bed, and for the moment made no +effort to obey orders and unlock her box. She was pretty—her four +critics decided that point at their first glance—her chin was softly +rounded, and her nose was small and straight. Her general colouring was +brunette, but the big wide-open eyes were grey as the estuary outside. +She flushed vivid pink under the scrutiny of her room-mates. For a brief +instant they thought she was going to cry, then she winked rapidly and +began to whistle instead.</p> + +<p>"I shouldn't advise you to whistle too loud," counselled Janet, by way +of breaking the ice.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[16]</a></span> +"Miss Hopkins is only in the next dormitory, and she's got a crusade on +against whistling—at least she had last term, and I don't suppose she's +changed her tactics; she doesn't generally."</p> + +<p>"Do the eternal snows change?" murmured Ethelberga.</p> + +<p>The new girl stopped with her mouth puckered into a button. A look of +consternation spread over her face, then passed into a smile.</p> + +<p>"I was told I'd have to be jolly careful and mind my p's and q's here!" +she remarked cheerily. "I've been just five minutes in the school, and +my first impressions are that Miss Thompson aims at unadulterated +dignity, and that Miss Hopkins is concentrated essence of fuss. Am I +near?"</p> + +<p>"Not so far off!" laughed Laura. "They can exchange characters +sometimes, though. I've seen Miss Hopkins ride her high horse and be +dignity personified, and on the other hand I've seen Miss Thompson more +ruffled than a head mistress has any business to be. You'll soon get to +know them."</p> + +<p>"I suppose I shall. Whether I shall altogether like them is another +question."</p> + +<p>"You'll like Silverside!" gushed Irma. "It's a perfectly delightful +school—at least it used to be. We're afraid it is going to be utterly +and entirely spoilt now."</p> + +<p>"Why?"</p> + +<p>"Because it's being invaded. It used to be quite small and select, more +boarders than day girls, you know. And now we've just had a horrible +shock—the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[17]</a></span> whole of another day school is being plumped upon us—a +school we've always despised. We're too indignant for words."</p> + +<p>Avelyn, who was fumbling with the lock of her box, lifted her head.</p> + +<p>"Don't you like them coming?"</p> + +<p>"Like them! Sophonisba! How can you ask such a question? We've always +looked down on them so fearfully. Why, if we met any of them in the +street, we used just to stare straight through them, as if they didn't +exist. They wore dark-blue coats and horrid stiff sailor hats with +coloured bands, for all the world like an institution. I tell you we +simply wouldn't have touched them."</p> + +<p>"You'll have to know them now."</p> + +<p>"To a certain extent, worse luck! But they needn't think we'll be +friendly with them, for we shan't. We shall keep a strict line drawn."</p> + +<p>Avelyn had lifted the tray of her box on to the floor, and was busy +taking books from the bottom portion. She was too intent on her +occupation to reply. Irma, whose writing pad and fountain pen had just +come to hand, was hastily scribbling a letter home; Ethelberga, leaning +out of the window, exchanged greetings with a schoolmate in the garden +below; Janet's vision was focused on her drawers; and Laura had just +come across the postcard album, which she was afraid she had forgotten +to pack, and was rejoicing in its possession. For five minutes or so the +girls were engrossed with their own affairs, then the attention of the +room was concentrated again on Avelyn.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[18]</a></span> +"You haven't told us yet where you live," said Laura, looking up +suddenly from the contemplation of post cards.</p> + +<p>"My home is at Lyngates just now."</p> + +<p>"Where's Lyngates?"</p> + +<p>"About twenty miles from here."</p> + +<p>"You say 'just now'. Haven't you lived there long?"</p> + +<p>"Only since last spring."</p> + +<p>"You've brought very few clothes and things with you," commented Irma, +who had been watching the unpacking of the new girl's box with critical +eyes. "You'll never get through a term on those, I should say."</p> + +<p>"There isn't any need to bring so many things when I'm going home for +the week-ends."</p> + +<p>"For the week-ends? Heavens! You don't mean to say you're a weekly +boarder?"</p> + +<p>"Why not?"</p> + +<p>An expression of deep consternation spread over the faces of Avelyn's +four room-mates. Their disapproval was evident, and they voiced their +objections.</p> + +<p>"We've never had such a thing as a weekly boarder before!"</p> + +<p>"You'll be away all Saturdays and Sundays!"</p> + +<p>"You'll be out of all the fun!"</p> + +<p>"Almost as bad as being a day girl!"</p> + +<p>"Miss Thompson said once that she didn't approve of weekly boarders."</p> + +<p>"I can't understand Tommiekins, she's changed so lately."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[19]</a></span> +"Have you ever been to school before?"</p> + +<p>"Why, yes," replied Avelyn, smoothing out the folds of her evening +dress, and hanging it on the hooks behind the curtain. "Though not since +last Christmas."</p> + +<p>"To boarding school?"</p> + +<p>"No; it was a day school."</p> + +<p>"Where?"</p> + +<p>"I went to The Hawthorns in Harlingden."</p> + +<p>If a bomb had fallen in the dormitory it could not have caused a greater +upheaval. For a moment the girls stared at Avelyn as if scarcely +crediting her statement.</p> + +<p>"Do you mean to say you're one of those wretched Hawthorners?" exploded +Janet at last.</p> + +<p>"I used to be, but I suppose I'm a Silversider now."</p> + +<p>"And we've got you in our dormitory!" gasped Laura.</p> + +<p>"So it seems."</p> + +<p>"Miss Thompson ought to be thoroughly ashamed of herself!" fluttered +Ethelberga.</p> + +<p>"You'll be rid of me on Saturday and Sunday, remember," returned Avelyn +bitterly.</p> + +<p>At this crisis, the clamour of the gong for tea fortunately put an end +to an extremely embarrassing situation. The four room-mates fled, +leaving their new companion to follow them to the dining-room as best +she could. When she entered, they were already seated at table, and did +not look in her direction. She took a seat next to a complete stranger, +who indeed handed her the bread<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[20]</a></span> and butter, but vouchsafed no single +word of conversation.</p> + +<p>When the meal was over, the original inmates of the Cowslip Room retired +to a secluded portion of the garden, and held an indignation meeting. +For the first frenzied five minutes they allowed their wrath full swing, +and vibrated between a dormitory strike and writing to their parents to +beg for instant removal from the school. Then reason reasserted itself, +and decided the impracticability of both methods. Previous experience +had shown them that their head mistress was a tough dragon to tackle, +and scarcely likely to be coerced by even the best organized dormitory +strike, while in her heart of hearts each knew that, after paying her +term's fees in advance, her father would need some very solid cause of +complaint to justify so extreme a measure as a return to the bosom of +the family. They began to discuss the matter more sanely.</p> + +<p>"The fact is, she's here, and I suppose we can't get rid of her," +admitted Irma.</p> + +<p>"After all, she's a boarder!" ventured Ethelberga.</p> + +<p>"Only a weekly one," qualified Janet.</p> + +<p>"And a Hawthorner!" added Laura.</p> + +<p>"She said she hadn't been to school since last Christmas," commented +Ethelberga.</p> + +<p>"Why, so she did! Then she's had a sort of a break from The Hawthorns, +and in a way she's making a fresh start here."</p> + +<p>"I suppose so."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[21]</a></span> +"If she'd be loyal to Silverside, though we could never like her, we +might bring ourselves to tolerate her."</p> + +<p>"A boarder's a boarder!"</p> + +<p>When the girls returned to the Cowslip Room, they found their new +companion with emptied box putting the last of her possessions into her +drawers.</p> + +<p>"Look here, Avelyn Watson," said Laura. "We've been talking you over. +Although you go home for the week end, you're still a boarder, and at +Silverside boarders are a very different thing from day girls, as you'll +soon find out. If you've had two whole terms away from those +Hawthorners, just forget them, and consider yourself entirely one of us. +If you do that, we'll count you on our side; but if you've anything to +do with day girls, we'll cut you dead."</p> + +<p>"I don't quite understand," returned Avelyn.</p> + +<p>"You soon will!" said Janet significantly.</p> + +<p>"I advise you to think it over," added Laura.</p> + + + +<hr /> + +<h2><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[22]</a></span> +<a name="ii" id="ii"></a>CHAPTER II<br /> +<span class="sub">An Invasion</span></h2> + + +<p>The changes which were taking place this term at Silverside certainly +marked a new era in its traditions. Up till now it had been essentially +a boarding school. There had, indeed, been day girls, who had shared the +classes and some of the games, but they were in the minority, both in +numbers and in influence. They had had no part in the various guilds and +societies, and had been made by the boarders to feel that they were +inferior beings who did not count. The mistresses, themselves resident, +had been accustomed to view the boarders as the more important factors, +and arranged everything to suit their convenience. It had been the +unwritten code of the school that to be a boarder meant to procure +preferential treatment.</p> + +<p>Miss Thompson, however, was a level-headed woman, who marched with the +times. When the opportunity arose of acquiring the connection of The +Hawthorns, the large day school at the other side of the town, she +closed with the bargain, and decided upon an entire change of tactics. +Henceforward<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[23]</a></span> Silverside was to be run as <em>the</em> girls' day school of +Harlingden. The house was large, its accommodation had hitherto exceeded +the needs of the pupils, there was plenty of room for added numbers, and +even in war-time it would be possible to run up a corrugated iron or +portable wooden building to serve as lecture hall and gymnasium. The big +garden already contained several tennis courts, and there was a field +close at hand which might be rented for hockey. Altogether, Miss +Thompson congratulated herself that she had performed a most excellent +stroke of business, and she looked forward to establishing a very +flourishing educational centre, and to laying by a comfortable provision +upon which she might retire when the burden of teaching grew too heavy +for her to bear.</p> + +<p>Certainly, Silverside was most excellently situated for the purpose she +had in view. The property had been bought some years before the town of +Harlingden had expanded, and while land was still cheap. The house stood +in its own beautiful grounds, on the top of a hill commanding a fine +view over the estuary. It was breezy and healthy, with large lofty +rooms, big windows, and ample accommodation in the way of side doors and +bathrooms: just sufficiently in the country to allow of walks through +fields and woods, yet near enough to the town to permit most girls to +return home for their mid-day dinners. As a day school, it was far more +conveniently situated than The Hawthorns. Harlingden, formerly a +moderate-sized and not particularly<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[24]</a></span> important town, had since the +outbreak of the war been turned into a great munition centre; the +Government, attracted by the advantages of the estuary, had established +large permanent works there, together with a shipbuilding industry. In a +few short years the population had doubled. Fresh suburbs sprang up like +mushrooms. In the Silverside district this was particularly noticeable, +for where formerly there had been quite a rural walk between hedges, +leading to the town, there now stood rows of neat villas with stuccoed +fronts and balconies, and conspicuously new gardens.</p> + +<p>The boarders at Silverside, who preferred country to town, greatly +deplored this suburban growth. They had always begged to take their +walks in an opposite direction, and had ignored Harlingden and its +industries as persistently as possible. The advent of about fifty day +girls into Silverside they regarded as neither more nor less than an +alien invasion. They sat together in a tight clump when school opened at +nine o'clock on Wednesday morning. Until the new gymnasium could be +erected, it was difficult to find a room large enough to accommodate +everybody. The old drawing-room had been emptied of furniture and fitted +with forms, and here, by sitting very close, the girls managed to cram +themselves in for the opening ceremony. Miss Thompson, elated at heart, +but more stately and dignified than ever in manner, addressed her pupils +in a short speech.</p> + +<p>"As Silverside is entering on a new chapter of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[25]</a></span> its career," she began, +"I should like to put before you all, as briefly as possible, what I +consider to be the ideals of the school. Those who have been here some +years already know our traditions, but it will do them no harm to hear +them again, and those of you who are new will, I hope, understand, and +be prepared to accept them with equal readiness.</p> + +<p>"First of all, we stand for Work. We are living in very strenuous times, +and it is the duty of all who love their country to do their best. Every +faithful struggle with your lessons here makes you more fit to help your +country by and by. If you have no ambition for yourselves, remember that +you are part of a great nation, and as such you must not slack, but do +your bit to raise the general standard of education. You'll find there's +a joy and a satisfaction in mastering rules of arithmetic or irregular +verbs, when you feel that you are doing it not only for yourselves but +for the general good. Then there are certain other things for which +Silverside has always stood—truth and straightforward dealings, and a +spirit of unity and of loyalty to the school. We have striven to +establish a high tone here, and at all costs let us preserve it.</p> + +<p>"This term there is a very large proportion of new girls, and hence a +big opportunity for everybody. There will be inevitable changes, and +much pioneer work to be done, and each girl may find a chance of taking +a share in consolidating our traditions. I trust that old and new will +join hands and do their utmost to work together harmoniously<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[26]</a></span> for the +good of the school, and the influence which, through you, it may +exercise on the community later on."</p> + +<p>At the end of Miss Thompson's speech the girls separated, and went to +their class-rooms. At the eleven o'clock "break" they poured into the +garden. They stood about in little groups, eating packets of lunch, and +talking. Adah Gartley, Isobel Norris, and Joyce Edwards, the three +eldest boarders, kept together. To them presently advanced two of the +invaders, a ruddy-haired girl of perhaps seventeen, and a stout, +dark-eyed girl a trifle younger.</p> + +<p>"Our names are Annie Broadside and Gladys Wilks," began +she-of-the-chestnut-locks. "If we'd stayed on at The Hawthorns, one or +other of us would have been head this term. You look about the oldest of +the old lot here, so perhaps you'll tell us how this school's managed. +Do you have monitresses, or prefects, or what? Miss Thompson didn't +mention a word about that in her speech. We'd like to know."</p> + +<p>Adah glanced at her rather superciliously.</p> + +<p>"We've never had anything of the sort here," she replied.</p> + +<p>Annie Broadside's eyes grew round with amazement.</p> + +<p>"What? No prefects or monitresses? How in the world did you manage, +then?"</p> + +<p>"We didn't find them necessary," maintained Adah stiffly.</p> + +<p>Gladys Wilks whistled, and looked eloquently at her friend.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[27]</a></span> +"Of course it was a very small school," she remarked, "so I dare say you +somehow muddled on; but <em>now</em>—surely there'll have to be something of +the sort instituted?"</p> + +<p>"Those juniors will give trouble if there's no one to tackle them," +added Annie. "Just look at them over there!"</p> + +<p>The juveniles in question were certainly behaving with a lack of decorum +entirely foreign to the former atmosphere of Silverside. They were, in +fact, engaged in jumping over Miss Thompson's most cherished flower +beds, with disastrous consequences to the pet geraniums and +calceolarias.</p> + +<p>"The little hooligans!" exclaimed Adah, rushing to the rescue of the +unfortunate flowers. "Here, get away, you kiddies! this sort of +performance isn't allowed. Stop, this minute!"</p> + +<p>The five long-legged children who were making a display of their jumping +agility called a temporary halt, and stared aggressively at Adah.</p> + +<p>"Who says it's not allowed?" enquired a pert ten-year-old, who was +evidently the ringleader.</p> + +<p>"<em>I</em> do."</p> + +<p>"Are you a teacher?"</p> + +<p>"No."</p> + +<p>"A prefect or a monitress?"</p> + +<p>"No."</p> + +<p>"Then, what are you?"</p> + +<p>"I'm a boarder," announced Adah with dignity.</p> + +<p>The junior sniggered rudely.</p> + +<p>"Boarders have no right to interfere with us, that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[28]</a></span> I can see. We'll do +as we like. Come along, girls, follow the leader!" and, turning, she +made a long leap across the bed, landing in the edging of blue lobelias.</p> + +<p>Adah stood by, raging and impotent. She would have interfered by force, +but very fortunately at that moment the school bell rang, and the +irrepressible juniors desisted from their occupation and raced one +another to the side door. Adah followed thoughtfully. Her brain was a +whirlpool of new impressions, most of them not at all favourable, and +she had not yet had time to assort them and put them into mental +pigeon-holes. One idea loomed large. Silverside was going to be an +utterly different place from what it had been before. That brief tussle +had revealed much. Hitherto the little girls had been well-behaved +children, rather in awe of their elders, and easily held in check; these +new juniors seemed a different generation, and a very perverse and +untoward one.</p> + +<p>Everything, indeed, was changed. Her form room overflowed with +strangers, and there was a new mistress, whose methods were different +from those of Miss Hopkins. Adah, mindful of her position as oldest +pupil, did the honours of the school, showing teacher and girls where +books, exercise paper, and other necessaries were kept, but she +performed this charity more in the spirit of <em lang="fr">noblesse oblige</em> than with +any goodwill.</p> + +<p>When the last of the day girls had taken her departure after four +o'clock, Adah heaved an immense<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[29]</a></span> sigh of relief, and sent a scout round +to call a boarders' meeting for 5.15 prompt.</p> + +<p>Immediately after tea, therefore, all the resident pupils of Silverside +assembled in the summer-house at the bottom of the garden. They had +chosen that spot because it was secluded, and they were not likely to be +disturbed. Their consultations were to be of a private nature, and they +did not wish any mistress to overhear them. The summer-house was not +very large—much too small, in fact, to contain twenty-four girls—but +some squatted on the steps, and some on the window-sills, and some +overflowed on to the lawn. Adah, seated on the little rustic table, +looked round to see that her full audience was assembled, and opened the +proceedings in a voice that trembled with indignation.</p> + +<p>"It seems to me, and I expect to most of you, that matters here have +just about come to a crisis. The school's turned topsy-turvy. It's been +invaded by this horde of day girls, and everything is altogether +different. Now, Silverside has always existed for the boarders. Miss +Thompson has recognized that, and we've had a great many special +privileges. It's <em>we</em> who have set the tone of the school, and made +Silverside what it is. As long as we outnumbered the day girls that was +pretty easy, but, now that this huge flock has trooped in, it may be a +difficult matter to cope with them. We must make up our minds what we +intend to do. Has anybody any suggestion to offer?"</p> + +<p>"I thought of writing to my father, and asking<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[30]</a></span> him to take me away at +Christmas," propounded Irma, flushing with nervousness at the sound of +her own voice.</p> + +<p>Adah gazed at her with an expression of mingled amazement and sorrow.</p> + +<p>"Irma Ridley, I shouldn't have expected this from <em>you</em>! Leave the +school, indeed! Where's your loyalty? I hope you haven't been spreading +such an abominable notion. No, indeed! We Silversiders mustn't desert +the old ship. We've got to stick to her, and steer her course for her +through very troubled waters. Don't let anyone suggest ratting again."</p> + +<p>Irma, covered with confusion, blushed yet more furiously. The sentiment +of the meeting was against her, and she felt that she had blundered +badly. She murmured an incoherent apology, and began nervously tying +knots in her pocket-handkerchief.</p> + +<p>"Surely someone has a better suggestion to offer than this?" said Adah, +her clear blue eyes searching the faces of her companions. "Please don't +be afraid of airing your opinions."</p> + +<p>"Silverside must stick to its traditions," ventured Joyce Edwards. "We +mustn't let everything be swamped by the invasion."</p> + +<p>"Let's make a Boarders' League," proposed Isobel Norris, "and pledge +ourselves to hold together and support one another—a kind of Blood +Brotherhood, you know."</p> + +<p>"The very thing!" agreed everybody.</p> + +<p>The idea was so manifestly satisfactory that each<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[31]</a></span> girl wondered why it +had not occurred to herself to suggest it. To bind themselves in so +close a bond of union seemed picturesque and romantic in the extreme. It +appealed to their imaginations tremendously.</p> + +<p>"We shall be fighting for the school colours!" said Adah, with a light +of enthusiasm shining in her blue eyes. "It's <em>we</em>, the little band of +old pupils, who are to preserve the ideals of the school. These new +girls must be made to realize that they're at Silverside now, and not at +The Hawthorns."</p> + +<p>"I guess we'll rub it into them," murmured Laura Talbot to the +still-confused Irma.</p> + +<p>It was a new girl after all, however, who made the really practical +suggestion of the meeting. Avelyn Watson had sat very quietly during the +proceedings, feeling herself in a somewhat awkward position. She had +been a pupil at The Hawthorns for two years, but her mother had never +really liked the school, and had removed her from it the preceding +Christmas. Avelyn had come to Silverside quite ready to embrace its +traditions and to erase The Hawthorns from her memory. To be confronted +with more than fifty of her old schoolfellows, some of whom had to-day +claimed affectionate intimacy with her, had been somewhat of a shock. +She did not quite know where she stood. She was not sure whether the +boarders were disposed to receive her into the bosom of the League, or +if they would regard her as among the aliens. One fact, culled from +former<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[32]</a></span> experience, rose to her lips. She was too shy to state it +publicly, but she bent towards Laura Talbot and whispered:</p> + +<p>"Tell them, if they want to do anything, they ought to have +prefects—you see, I <em>know</em>!"</p> + +<p>Laura immediately broached the suggestion as her own, and gained the +whole credit for it. The idea, hinted at by Annie Broadside and Gladys +Wilks in the morning, had been fermenting in Adah's brain all day, and +she grasped at it eagerly.</p> + +<p>"It would give us just the authority we want," she agreed. "We'd better +make a deputation and speak to Miss Thompson about it. Who'll go with +me?"</p> + +<p>The Principal, busy and burdened with a hundred new cares, sat in her +study that evening answering letters from parents. She pushed away her +papers rather wearily as the deputation, consisting of Adah Gartley, +Isobel Norris, Consie Arkwright, and Joyce Edwards, entered the room +with a kind of bashful assurance. She was tired, but she was always +ready to listen to what her girls had to say. It had been her invariable +rule to meet them half-way. She heard them now patiently, asking many +questions, for they were shy in stating their case, and did not at first +explain their objects lucidly. When at length she had got at the gist of +the matter, she leaned back in her chair and thought for a moment or two +before she replied.</p> + +<p>"What you say is very true. The influx of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[33]</a></span> another school into +Silverside may certainly endanger our old traditions. I look to you +boarders, who have been with me for years, to uphold every principle for +which we have hitherto stood. I agree that you might find your task very +difficult unless you were armed with some authority. We have never had +school officers before, but that was because we did not feel them a +necessity. I will try the experiment and see how it answers. You four +are among my oldest pupils. You know what Silverside has stood for in +the past, and you shall help to mould its future. I appoint you +prefects, and give you power to report to me, or to any other mistress, +breaches of discipline which come under your notice, and in certain +cases to take off order marks. Adah, who is the eldest, and was first in +last term's examination list, shall be head girl. I will announce this +at nine o'clock to-morrow. My great object is to amalgamate the two +schools into one as quickly as possible, and I trust that you will not +show any favouritism towards old girls, but will give the new ones equal +justice."</p> + +<p>"We'll do our best, Miss Thompson," declared Adah, Isobel, Consie, and +Joyce in an obedient chorus.</p> + +<p>And doubtless they really meant to do their best; but schoolgirls are +prejudiced beings, and apt to be conservative to the core. They had +decided beforehand that the former pupils of Silverside, and the +boarders in particular, had the sole prerogative of high ideals, +culture, and gentility, and that such refinements could not, and did +not, exist<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[34]</a></span> among those who had come from The Hawthorns. In their minds +the division was as complete as that between the sheep and the goats. +They looked upon the Hawthorners as heathen, and upon themselves in the +light of missionaries. They set to work very patronizingly to make their +influence felt. Now, there is nothing which most people resent so much +as patronage. The Hawthorners had been happy enough in their old school, +and they were keenly insulted at being given to understand that they +were regarded by the Silversiders as inferiors. They held indignation +meetings of their own on the subject.</p> + +<p>"Why should those stuck-up things lord it over us?" exploded Annie +Broadside.</p> + +<p>"They're not as clever as we are. We beat them easily in class," added +Gladys Wilks.</p> + +<p>"I should just think we do. They're simply not in the running at +maths.," declared Gertrude Howells.</p> + +<p>"And yet they're prefects, if you please."</p> + +<p>"At The Hawthorns prefects were always chosen from those who got the +highest marks in the examinations."</p> + +<p>"You were top last term, Annie, and would have been head girl if the +school had gone on."</p> + +<p>"You were only two marks behind me, Gladys, and you know Miss Perry +hadn't counted the botany papers. It was really a toss-up between us."</p> + +<p>"Well, we're both out of it now."</p> + +<p>"Very much so."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[35]</a></span> +"I don't call it fair that these four boarders should have all the +authority."</p> + +<p>"It isn't!"</p> + +<p>"If they think we're going to knuckle under to them they're very much +mistaken."</p> + +<p>"Giving themselves such airs about being old Silversiders, and treating +us like inferiors!"</p> + +<p>"Can't we do anything?"</p> + +<p>"Let's form an 'Old Hawthorners' Guild', and vow to stick to one +another. There are more of us than of them, and we'll beat them in +lessons and at games, and let them see who's inferior."</p> + +<p>"Right you are! You shall be captain, Annie."</p> + +<p>"Then you shall be secretary, Gladys."</p> + +<p>"I know everybody will be only too delighted to join."</p> + +<p>"They will. But don't let those Silversiders know one single word about +it."</p> + +<p>"They shan't, indeed!"</p> + +<p>"We're here, and the school is as much ours as theirs!"</p> + +<p>"Our old set will follow us, and not care a toss about the prefects!"</p> + +<p>Adah and her fellow-officers had indeed made a terrible mistake by their +superior and patronizing ways. Instead of welding the school into one, +as Miss Thompson had hoped and intended, they had entirely alienated the +new element and had set up a most unhappy barrier of division. +Silverside resolved itself into two parties, each apparently determined +to misunderstand the other, and obstinately resolute not to mix. Miss +Thompson,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[36]</a></span> anxiously watching the result of her experiment, saw only the +surface of things, for most of the trouble lay below, deeper than the +ken of head mistresses. The teachers were aware of an undercurrent of +discontent, but could not absolutely discover the reason. Only the girls +themselves knew that the school was split into rival factions, between +whom there was going to be war.</p> + + + +<hr /> + +<h2><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[37]</a></span> +<a name="iii" id="iii"></a>CHAPTER III<br /> +<span class="sub">Walden</span></h2> + + +<p>As Avelyn Watson is one of the central figures of this story, it will be +well to go back some months, and follow the events which preceded her +appearance at Silverside. Though apparently trivial enough, they are +important, because if they had not happened, she would have come to +school as a day girl instead of a boarder, and the part which fate put +into her hands to play could never have been acted.</p> + +<p>It all began with Daphne forgetting to change her wet stockings. Daphne +had done many imprudent things before, and had suffered more or less +from them. This time Dame Nature, tired of having her laws flouted, +determined to teach her a lesson. The specialist who was called in to +consult with the family doctor made an exhaustive examination of the +case, then pronounced his verdict.</p> + +<p>"She mustn't live in the town. If you want her to grow up into healthy +womanhood, a year or two in the country is an imperative necessity."</p> + +<p>Up to the time when Sir Basil Hunter delivered this ultimatum, the +Watsons had always lived in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[38]</a></span> Harlingden. Daphne and Avelyn could +remember the old days when Daddy had been alive, and Mother's hair had +been brown and not grey; and she had laughed as gaily and easily as they +did now. That was many years ago, and to David and Anthony, at any rate, +their father was little more than an enlarged photograph on the +dining-room wall. They had all been born in the comfortable, commonplace +house in Gerrard Square, and had taken it and its uninteresting view, +and its smoky little garden, together with the round of town life, +entirely for granted. Then the change came. Mrs. Watson, thoroughly +alarmed at the doctor's diagnosis, and nervous over the health of her +whole family, took immediate steps to carry out his advice. She let the +house in Gerrard Square, and removed into the country. The place she +selected was a tiny village named Lyngates, two miles from the station +at Netherton, and twenty miles away from Harlingden. Its pure air, +gravel soil, and record of sunshine were exactly what Daphne required; +the boys could go in to town every day by train, and thus continue at +King James's School, and Avelyn, who was sufficiently like Daphne to +make the fatigue of a daily train journey seem a risky experiment, could +be sent as a weekly boarder to Silverside.</p> + +<p>By a most fortunate chance, Mrs. Watson came across the very little +property she wanted. It was an old farm-house, with a few outbuildings +at the back, and a field or two for poultry—the doctor had suggested +that Daphne should interest herself<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[39]</a></span> in poultry. It was smaller by far +than No. 7 Gerrard Square, but big enough for their requirements.</p> + +<p>"With present war prices, and income-tax what it is, and four children +to educate, I consider I'm very wise to make the move," she decided, +"though I should never have had the courage to do it if Sir Basil Hunter +hadn't been so emphatic."</p> + +<p>So the house, gardens, outbuildings, and fields that composed the small +holding were bought and paid for, and formally transferred by deed from +their former owner, George Hethersedge, yeoman, to the possession of +Helena Watson, widow, and the bargain was complete. That it was a +bargain the children had no doubt. So many extra things were included +that were never even mentioned in the title-deeds—the thrushes and +blackbirds and tits in the garden, the wagtails that flitted up and down +the little stream, the owls that sat and hooted in the elm tree at dusk, +the wild bees' nest in the bank, the ferns in the crannies of the old +wall, the morning view when the sun shone over the valley, and the calm, +quiet sunsets when the sky was aflame with rose and violet. It was the +most exciting experience to explore their new kingdom. They were always +making fresh discoveries. Up till now, beyond their annual summer +holiday at some seaside resort, they had had no practical knowledge of +the country. To live side by side with Nature was like being transferred +into another world.</p> + +<p>To Mrs. Watson, no less than to her children, the change was welcome. +She had often pored<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[40]</a></span> over Nature books from the library, and they had +been wont to stir in her a vague yearning to get away from bricks and +mortar and chimneys, and spend a sylvan year somewhere far from the +sound of trams or steam hooters. She chafed sometimes against the +monotony of her daily shopping and household cares. She longed for lanes +and woods, but there seldom seemed time to go for walks at Harlingden; +it was a long way from Gerrard Square into the fields. We are such +creatures of habit, that it had never struck her to uproot herself and +reorder the lives of herself and her children; and if Daphne had not +forgotten her galoshes, and thus brought about the visit of Sir Basil +Hunter, the family might have remained town birds to the end of the +chapter. As it was, they stepped into a fresh inheritance. They named +the house "Walden", after Thoreau's famous <i>Walden</i>, a book which her +mother loved, and which Avelyn was just beginning to read and +appreciate; the magic of its radiant love of Nature, and the breadth of +its philosophy appealed to her strongly.</p> + +<p>Though the Watsons' Walden was quite unpretentious, it was certainly +more comfortable than the shanty in Concord, Massachusetts, where Henry +David Thoreau spent his immortal two years and two months. There was a +sitting-room on each side of the little hall, a big kitchen and pantry +behind, and four bedrooms upstairs. Outside, across the yard, was a +cottage, with a lower room which could be used as a den for fretwork, +painting, carpentering, or the pursuit of any other<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[41]</a></span> cherished hobbies, +and an upper <a name="storey" id="storey"></a><ins title="Original has story">storey</ins> containing two extra bedrooms for emergencies. The +stable and barn were interesting, and held dim, cobwebby recesses, where +bats hung head downwards, and a brown owl sometimes perched blinking +upon the cross-beams.</p> + +<p>In front was a small raised garden, bordered by a very wide ivy-covered +stone wall. The house stood on the slope of a steep hill, so that this +wall overtopped the road below like a crag. When you leaned your arms on +its golden sweet-scented ivy blossom, or sombre berries and smooth +leaves, you could look out over a tract of country that spread for +miles—green meadows, hazel copses bursting into leaf, thick woods that +hid the stream whose rushing waters yet made themselves heard, the reedy +reaches of a river, and fir-clad hills that melted faint and blue into a +misty horizon. There was a patch of gravel in front of the wall, and a +rustic garden seat, dilapidated, but firm enough for occupation. The +site made a natural outdoor parlour: a yew tree, grown slantwise with +the prevailing wind, formed an umbrella overhead. At the side of the +cottage, between the yard and the kitchen garden, purled a shallow +little brook, at the edge of which grew watercresses and marsh +marigolds. It was spanned by a bridge made of rough slabs of stone. +Beyond the stables lay a couple of small meadows, containing an upper +reach of the stream, and a little marshy tract interspersed with gorse +and alder bushes.</p> + +<p>The Watson family had reviewed the whole<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[42]</a></span> premises slowly, critically, +and with unbounded satisfaction.</p> + +<p>"It's the sort of place you read about in a novel," sighed Daphne, whose +tastes were romantic. "Somehow you feel as if anything could happen +here—interesting things, I mean. Mysteries and tragedies, and—and +even——"</p> + +<p>"Love affairs!" finished Avelyn promptly. "Perhaps they may—sometime."</p> + +<p>Avelyn was at the stage when life is full of dreams. It was her constant +amusement to imagine all kinds of delightful but wildly improbable +future happenings for Daphne, for herself, and for the boys. The number +of castles in the air which she constructed would have built a city. +They were all shadowy and unsubstantial, but none the less fascinating +for that. Walden appeared to her, as to Daphne, an appropriate setting +for golden visions.</p> + +<p>David and Anthony, still in the age of blunt uncompromising frankness, +regarded the new home from a practical standpoint.</p> + +<p>"It's top-hole!" decided David. "I'll have a thingumjig—what d'you call +it?—lathe, I mean, inside that cottage, and a joiner's bench. There's a +man in the village who says he's got one to sell cheap, and a vice with +it. I'm going to make a rabbit hutch, and all sorts of things."</p> + +<p>"There are trout in that part of the stream up the field," beamed +Anthony. "Not very big ones, but certainly trout. I saw them jump. The +boy who brought the telegram yesterday told me that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[43]</a></span> he catches them +with his hands. He knows of sixteen birds' nests on the road to the +station, and he's got a young hedgehog at home. I'm going to just sit +and sit in the field when it's getting dark till I see one for myself."</p> + +<p>"I shall grow ten years younger when I've had a summer here," announced +Mrs. Watson to her flock. "You won't know your poor old mother very +soon. The country air's making her so frisky and juvenile, she wants to +run about like a girl!"</p> + +<p>"<em>Do</em>, Muvvie darling! We love you in your skittish moods," implored +Avelyn. "When you wear that short skirt and that rush hat you don't look +a day older than Auntie Belle—truly! You never climbed up step ladders +in Gerrard Square!"</p> + +<p>"I've begun to do many things I never did before," laughed Mrs. Watson, +"partly from necessity. If I could have found anybody else to go up the +step ladder, perhaps I shouldn't have tried. We've all got to work if we +want to make the place look nice. It'll be worth it when we've +finished."</p> + +<p>Walden had been empty for two years before its owner sold it, and, +though it was in a fair state of repair as regarded masonry and +woodwork, it sadly needed decorating. The question of its repapering +and painting had been the one hitch in the proceedings, for, when Mrs. +Watson had sought to obtain estimates for its renovation, she found +that, in the present war-time shortage of workmen, no firm would +undertake to carry out a job so far in the country. For three horrible +days matters<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[44]</a></span> had seemed at a dead-lock, and the purchase of Walden (not +quite concluded) had trembled in the balance. But Daphne's white cheeks +brought all Mrs. Watson's native obstinacy to the fore. She was +determined not to be vanquished. She enquired in the village, and +secured the services of an old soldier who used to be handy-man at the +Vicarage, and with his experienced aid and the willing, though unskilled +hands of her young flock, she determined to do up Walden herself. She +secured lodgings for a few weeks at a farm close by, and the family +devoted the Easter holidays to the purpose. It was a new experience for +them, and they enjoyed it thoroughly. Armed with pails of distemper and +whitewash brushes, they splashed away at the walls, painted woodwork, +stained floors, or laid linoleum. They made a delightful discovery in +the dining-room, for, when they came to tear down the old wall paper, +they found an overmantel of ancient oak beams. The fireplace was large +and old-fashioned, with ingle nooks on either side, the woodwork had +been completely covered with paper and plaster, but when this was +cleared away, and it was cleaned, stained, and varnished, it presented a +most quaint and handsome appearance. The great beam that spanned the +hearth had a flat surface, and on this Mrs. Watson decided to carve a +motto. The family put their heads together over it for many days. They +looked up mottoes in books, and consulted their friends, but could not +find exactly the right one. Daphne and Avelyn were in favour of English, +but Mrs. Watson and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[45]</a></span> the boys plumped for Latin, and finally evolved the +following:—</p> + +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Post laborem haec requies haec felicitas.</span><br /> +(After work, here is rest and happiness.)</p> + +<p>"When you've finished your lessons in the evenings, we can make a circle +round the fire and talk about the day's doings; and it will seem a +centre for the whole house and for our lives," said Mrs. Watson. "I +believe this little home is going to be far more precious to us than +Gerrard Square."</p> + +<p>To the children the doing up of the establishment was the utmost fun. +Thoreau himself could not have obtained more enjoyment from his "Walden" +than they did from theirs. There were many humorous incidents; as when +Anthony sat down in the colour wash pail, or when Daphne dropped a pot +of pink paint on the top of David's head, or when Avelyn poured in +paraffin by mistake, instead of methylated spirit, to thin the varnish. +It was a proud day when at last colour wash and paint were dry, and the +floor was swept and cleaned, and the vans arrived and the furniture was +carried in. Mrs. Watson had sold most of the heavy possessions which +they owned in Gerrard Square, and had bought in their place tasteful +antiques which suited the house far better, and gave it an air of quaint +culture and comfort. When all was arranged it looked a charming little +abode, and thoroughly in harmony, from the black beams of its ingle nook +to the carved settle and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[46]</a></span> gate-legged oak table, or the framed samplers +on its walls.</p> + +<p>Many surprising incidents happened in the first days of occupation. Very +early one morning, as Daphne and Avelyn lay in bed, they were awakened +by a tweeting and whirr of wings, and found that a pair of newly-arrived +swallows had flown in through the open window, and were whirling +overhead, evidently with designs on the big cross beam for nesting +purposes. The sight of the girls, who sat up in bed, seemed to annoy +them, for they twittered with anger, scintillated rapidly round the +room, then flashed out through the window into the spring sunshine.</p> + +<p>"Well," exclaimed Daphne, "this certainly is living in the country! +Actually swallows in our bedroom!"</p> + +<p>"The poor darlings!" declared Avelyn. "They've had a horrible +disappointment. They'd made up their minds to have their nest on that +beam. I remember Martin Jones pulled down a swallow's nest before he +whitewashed, and said they had built there last year, and had got in +because the window was broken. They must think we're dreadful intruders. +They were scolding us as hard as they could in bird language."</p> + +<p>"Shall we hang out a notice: 'To Let, Eligible Quarters for Swallows'?" +laughed Daphne. "We might even put nesting boxes round the walls, and +extend the invitation to other birds."</p> + +<p>To anyone who wished to study natural history, Walden certainly offered +advantages. There was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[47]</a></span> a friendly robin that domesticated itself, and +would fly into the dining-room at meal times, hop on to the table, and +even perch upon the loaf. He would haunt the kitchen in quest of crumbs, +and grew so cheeky that when Ethel, the maid, who resented his +occasional flounders into her pudding dishes, drove him out through the +window, he would merely fly round the corner and pop in again through +the open door.</p> + +<p>As at first the Watsons possessed neither dog nor cat, their garden +became for that spring at any rate a veritable bird sanctuary. A pied +fly-catcher built in the thatch of the summer-house, a pair of +gold-crested wrens swung their dainty cradle under a pine bough, a +nettle creeper nested in the long grass of the orchard, cole tits and +blue tits haunted the yew tree, a family of young water wagtails issued +from a hole under the stone bridge, and a wood pigeon took possession of +the top storey of a fir tree, to say nothing of the blackbirds, +thrushes, robins, and other everyday birds that availed themselves of +the hospitality of the bushes.</p> + +<p>"I thought I owned Walden, but I'm beginning to doubt it," said Mrs. +Watson. "It seems to me that the wild creatures put in a prior claim, +and come unasked to share it."</p> + +<p>"They're welcome, bless 'em!" murmured Avelyn, fondling a newly-fledged +and quite undismayed young missel-thrush, which she had temporarily +taken from its nest just outside the drawing-room window.</p> + +<p>Some of the incidents which happened were decidedly<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[48]</a></span> funny. The Watsons +were not used to the country, and had to learn by experience. One +morning they had left some washing in the field, and found that a +neighbour's calves had strayed through a hole in the hedge and were +contentedly sucking stockings and pyjamas, and reducing them to a +jelly-like pulp. It took several sharp lessons before the family grasped +that cardinal rule of country life: "Keep your gate shut". On the first +Sunday of their occupation they had gone to church, and on returning had +strolled into the dining-room, to find three pigs comfortably in +possession. A wild scene ensued, for the intruders, instead of allowing +themselves to be chased through the door, careered madly round and round +the table, squeaking and grunting in protest, and finally jumped on to +the sofa, and made their exit through the open window, knocking over +books, work-baskets, and pots of geraniums in their hurried flight, and +completely flattening a bed of young pansies that had just been planted.</p> + +<p>One night the family, who had sat up later than usual, heard stealthy +steps in the garden, and, fearful of burglars, issued forth in a body, +armed with the poker and other implements of aggression, only to find a +melancholy donkey cropping the grass beyond the laurel bushes, with +apparent appreciation of its superior juiciness.</p> + +<p>These little adventures, however, added a spice of excitement to their +existence. They agreed that life at Walden was supremely interesting.</p> + +<p>Daphne, who was nearly eighteen, had finished<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[49]</a></span> with lessons, and for the +summer term Mrs. Watson allowed Avelyn also to stay at home and run +wild. She had been growing fast, and a rest was considered good for her. +David and Anthony left the house every morning at half-past seven, +walked to Netherton Station, caught the train to Harlingden, and +proceeded to King James's School, where they spent the day and dined, +returning home by about six in the evening. They were sturdy boys of +fourteen and twelve, and enjoyed the daily expedition. Time had often +hung heavy on their hands out of school hours in Gerrard Square; it was +now agreeably filled in with a railway journey and a walk across fields +where birds' nests might be found, and where they sometimes saw stoats +and squirrels.</p> + +<p>To the whole family the first sylvan spring and summer had been one long +round of delight. By the end of August they felt that town had faded +away from their mental vision, and that they had become "sons of the +soil".</p> + +<p>In September Avelyn began school again as a weekly boarder at +Silverside. She had left The Hawthorns the preceding Christmas, and the +nine months' absence, with the intervening removal to Lyngates, had very +much blurred its memory. She had liked some of the girls, though she had +never made any really intimate friends there. She had been mildly sorry +to leave, but the regret had soon worn off. She had come to Silverside +quite ready to hallmark herself with the stamp of her new school, and +centre her interests there. To find<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[50]</a></span> that the greater part of "The +Hawthorns" was now incorporated with "Silverside", and that the boarders +identified her with her old set, had struck her somewhat as a shock. +What attitude she should adopt she could not quite determine. She wanted +to think over the situation carefully before she committed herself to +either side.</p> + + + +<hr /> + +<h2><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[51]</a></span> +<a name="iv" id="iv"></a>CHAPTER IV<br /> +<span class="sub">An Encounter</span></h2> + + +<p>The little freehold of "Walden" was a triangle, consisting of about two +acres of land. Its base abutted on the high road, and its apex was +wedged into another and much larger estate. The owner of this property +resided at Lyngates Hall. The Watsons had as yet only seen him in the +distance, but they knew from report that he was a naturalized German, +and that his name was Hockheimer. They had heard rumours that he was not +popular in the district. So long as he kept his live stock on his own +side of the hedge, Mrs. Watson did not concern herself about her +neighbour. When his cows strayed into her field she drove them back, and +had the gap securely mended to prevent further trespassing. She +considered that to be the end of the matter, and did not give Mr. +Hockheimer another thought. As for the young people, they had not yet +realized his existence. They discovered it one day quite suddenly and +unpleasantly.</p> + +<p>The second Monday morning after her start at school, Avelyn was walking +to the station with her brothers to catch the 8.15 train. The weather +was still fine and summer-like, and the late September sunshine gilded +the yellowing nut trees, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[52]</a></span> turned the dew-drops in the long webs of +gossamer into diamonds. There was an exhilaration in being up and out so +early. The three marched along very cheerily, chatting as they went. As +they rounded the corner beyond the smithy, they could see, about two +hundred yards in front of them, a little figure in blue sports coat and +tam-o'-shanter, also making its way in the direction of Netherton.</p> + +<p>"Who's that girl?" asked Anthony. "We see her every day; she goes in to +Harlingden by the same train that we do. She must be going to school, +because she always has a satchel of books with her."</p> + +<p>"It looks like Pamela Reynolds," returned Avelyn. "She's new at +Silverside this term, and, now you speak of it, I remember somebody told +me she came from Lyngates, but I'd quite forgotten all about it till +this moment. I don't even know where she lives. Shall we sprint and +catch her up?"</p> + +<p>The Watsons hurried their footsteps, and by dint of what might be termed +a forced march overtook Pamela on the brow of the hill. Avelyn greeted +her by name from behind. She turned, surprised. She was a fine-looking +girl of nearly fourteen, with wide-open honest brown eyes, a clear pale +skin, and bronze-brown hair, which curled at the ends, and had a +tendency to make little rings round her forehead. She was really pretty +when she smiled.</p> + +<p>"Hallo!" she exclaimed. "I never expected to see you here! Aren't you +Avelyn Watson? I thought you were a boarder!"</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[53]</a></span> +"So I am, but only a weekly one. I come home from Friday to Monday. Do +you like being a day girl? Isn't it a long way to go every morning?"</p> + +<p>"I don't mind; I used to have much farther to go to school when we lived +in Canada."</p> + +<p>"Used you to live in Canada?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, I was born there. I've only come to England lately."</p> + +<p>"I haven't met you about Lyngates before."</p> + +<p>"We've only been here a month."</p> + +<p>"Who's 'we'?"</p> + +<p>"Just my mother and I."</p> + +<p>"Do you like England?"</p> + +<p>"Pretty well. It's too cultivated after Canada. All these little walls +and hedges to divide the tiny fields make me laugh. It's like a dolls' +country. And I hate the high roads. Look here—there's a short cut +through that wood to the station. I go that way nearly every day. Will +you come?"</p> + +<p>The Watsons were perfectly ready to explore anything in the shape of a +new path or by-lane. They helped Pamela to open the gate, and followed +her into the wood. The long vista of trees was delightful. The short +grass under foot was a vivid emerald green, there were patches of +yellowing bracken, clumps of crimson and orange toad-stools, spindle +bushes covered with scarlet berries, and trails of pale late honeysuckle +twining over the brambles. From the direction they were taking, they +must be cutting off a long corner on their way to the station.</p> + +<p>They had walked for perhaps a few minutes, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[54]</a></span> were strolling on, +chatting as they went, when they suddenly heard a shout in front of +them, and someone came crashing through the undergrowth and stood +barring their path. The somebody in question was undoubtedly very angry. +He was a fair, short, stout, roundabout little man, with a big blond +moustache. His light-blue eyes flashed, and his large teeth gleamed +unpleasantly as he spoke. But he not only spoke, he shouted.</p> + +<p>"What are you doing here? Do you know this wood's private property? +You've no business to be in it! Get out as fast as you can, the same way +you came! Be quick about it, or I'll know the reason why. I could have +you all taken up for trespassing if I liked. Why, <em>Pamela</em>!"</p> + +<p>Pamela was standing staring at the surly objector, with a look of +mingled amazement, disgust, and defiance in her clear eyes.</p> + +<p>"It's my fault, Uncle," she replied calmly. "It's a short cut to the +station through this wood, and to-day I brought these—friends"—she +hesitated for a moment over the word—"with me. I come this way nearly +every morning."</p> + +<p>"Then you won't do it again!" thundered the short man. "Don't let me +ever catch you here any more, or any of your friends. You may understand +that once and for all, and I'll be obeyed. Go back, I tell you!"</p> + +<p>He waved them savagely in the direction of the gate through which they +had come.</p> + +<p>"Mayn't we go on just this once?" pleaded Pamela. "I'm afraid we'll miss +our train."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[55]</a></span> +"Then miss it! What do I care? It's your own faults for trespassing, and +I hope you'll all get into trouble at school. You richly deserve it. +Back, I tell you, you young rascals!"</p> + +<p>With an angry man raving like a lunatic in their path, there was nothing +for it but to beat a retreat as speedily as they could. When they had +passed through the gate, David looked at his watch.</p> + +<p>"Five past eight! Thunder! We shall have to sprint if we want to catch +that train."</p> + +<p>There was no time for comment. All four immediately set off running. +Each, perhaps, was buoyed up with an obstinate determination to reach +the station by 8.15 in spite of the unamiable hopes of the owner of the +wood. They only wished he could be there to see them defeat his +prophecy. In spite of such hindrances as bumping satchels, streaming +hair, and, in Anthony's case, a trailing bootlace, they panted along, +and covered the ground somehow. They could hear the train rumbling in +the distance, and could see the smoke of the engine as they raced down +the last hill. By the greatest of good luck a special cargo of milk-cans +and butter baskets had to be placed that morning in the luggage van, and +the extra two minutes spent in stowing them away saved the situation. +The guard was just waving his green flag as the Watsons and Pamela, +scarlet with their exertions, popped into the last carriage.</p> + +<p>For a few minutes they were too breathless to speak. It was Anthony who +first found words.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[56]</a></span> +"Well, of all raggy old lunatics commend me to that one!"</p> + +<p>"Strafe the baity old blighter!" gasped David.</p> + +<p>"I never heard of such meanness!" put in Avelyn. "Actually to <em>want</em> us +to miss our train!"</p> + +<p>"I'd have knocked him over for two pins," declared David savagely.</p> + +<p>"Wish we'd tried!" growled Anthony.</p> + +<p>"I don't know who he is, but he's no gentleman!" exploded Avelyn, +divided between her ruffled clothes and her ruffled feelings. "Sorry, +Pamela, if he's your uncle, but I can't help saying what I think."</p> + +<p>Pamela was leaning back in a corner. She had taken off her blue +tam-o'-shanter, and was trying to re-tie her bronze-brown hair. She +looked up quickly.</p> + +<p>"You needn't mind me. You can say anything you like about him. I only +wish he wasn't my uncle. We don't choose our relations, do we?"</p> + +<p>"Nobody'd choose him if they could help it, I should think," replied +Avelyn frankly. "What's his name?"</p> + +<p>"Mr. Hockheimer."</p> + +<p>"The Mr. Hockheimer who lives at The Hall?"</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>"Why, he's a German, isn't he?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, but I'm not! I'm as English as I possibly can be."</p> + +<p>"Then how are you related to him?"</p> + +<p>"He married my aunt."</p> + +<p>"Oh!"</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"><a name="do" id="do"></a> +<img src="images/gs02.jpg" width="400" height="625" alt=""DO YOU KNOW THIS WOOD'S PRIVATE PROPERTY?" HE SHOUTED" title="" /> +<span class="caption">"DO YOU KNOW THIS WOOD'S PRIVATE PROPERTY?" HE SHOUTED</span> +</div> + + + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[57]</a></span> +There was a long pause, and then Anthony volunteered:</p> + +<p>"If Auntie Belle was to marry a German, I'd never call her 'auntie' +again—never!"</p> + +<p>"It was before the war, and she's dead now," groaned Pamela. "Uncle +Fritz has lived twenty years in England."</p> + +<p>"How is it he's not interned?" asked David.</p> + +<p>"He's naturalized, you see."</p> + +<p>"Need you call him 'uncle'?"</p> + +<p>"I'd rather not, but I've got to. I'd never seen him till I came here a +month ago."</p> + +<p>"And you don't like him?"</p> + +<p>For answer, Pamela suddenly burst into a storm of passionate tears.</p> + +<p>"Like him! I hate him! Oh! why did we ever leave Canada and come to +England? It's wretched here, and I'm miserable. I'd like to run away!" +Then, dabbing her eyes with her pocket-handkerchief: "There, don't take +any notice of me, please. I get these fits sometimes. I'll feel better +soon. Please don't talk any more to me about uncle."</p> + +<p>The Watsons glanced at her compassionately, and began to converse among +themselves upon other topics. Pamela stared hard out of the window, +blinked, and presently regained her composure. When the train arrived at +Harlingden, she and Avelyn walked to Silverside together, but they +talked of school concerns, and did not reopen the subject of Mr. +Hockheimer.</p> + +<p>Before this happening Avelyn, though she had been vaguely aware of +Pamela's existence, had not<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[58]</a></span> mentally singled her out among the general +crowd of her schoolfellows. From that Monday morning she began to take +an interest in her. She smiled at her when they passed on the stairs, +and spoke to her occasionally in the playground. As they were in +different forms they had few opportunities of meeting, and even at +dinner the boarders sat at a different table from the day girls. Avelyn +looked out for Pamela on Friday afternoon, but she was not at the +station. She had either left school early, or was travelling by a later +train. She seemed such an attractive, pathetic little figure that +Avelyn's curiosity was aroused. She wanted to know where Pamela lived, +and more about her. She cast round in her mind for any likely source of +information, and decided upon Mrs. Garside, a fat kindly old soul, who +owned a farm close to Walden, and was disposed to be neighbourly and +talkative. On the excuse of going for the weekly butter she tapped at +the house door, and was ushered in. Mrs. Garside was busy washing pots, +but she placed a chair for her visitor, fetched the butter from the +dairy, and, as she packed it in the basket, glided off into +conversation. Once started, it was difficult to stop her, or to lead her +away from the various topics upon which her tongue ran so glibly. It was +only after much manœuvring and a considerable amount of patience +that Avelyn could get her to concentrate on the subject of Pamela +Reynolds. Even then her mind side-tracked.</p> + +<p>"A young lady with dark hair, that wears a blue tam-o'-shanter. Yes, +I've seen her—not that I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[59]</a></span> like tam-o'-shanters, and I wouldn't get one +for Hilda, though she begged hard; I bought her a felt instead. Mr. +Hockheimer's niece? Yes, he lives at The Hall, though many think he's no +right to be there; and if I'd my way, I'd say an internment camp was the +right place for him. With two sons in the trenches it doesn't give one +any patience for these naturalized Germans, coming and turning out +decent English folk, too, that ought to be there instead of him. It was +a queer business, and people ought to make their wills properly before +they come to die, instead of leaving them half-written. I've made mine, +and divided what I've got equal share and share alike among my six +children, so that there won't be any quarrelling after my funeral, for +I've told them beforehand what to expect. And people say the old +Squire's ghost haunts The Hall, and small wonder; though it's not much +use, for a ghost can't sign a will, and he should have had the sense to +do it while he was alive."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Garside's statements were so rambling and involved, that it took +Avelyn a very long time indeed to sift the information she wanted from +among the large number of superfluous details supplied by her loquacious +neighbour. By dint of pertinacity and tact, however, she pieced together +the following narrative.—</p> + +<p>Pamela's ancestors had for many generations been Squires of Lyngates, +and had resided at The Hall. Her grandfather, Mr. George Reynolds, had +lived there until his death, two years ago. Mrs. Garside could remember +him since her girlhood—a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[60]</a></span> tall, handsome man with a brown beard, who +rode about the country on a favourite white horse named Champion. He had +been a good landlord, and was well liked in the neighbourhood. His wife +had died early, and left two children, a son and daughter. The son, Mr. +Leonard, had been a high-spirited lad, and it was said in the village +that he and his father did not get on well together. There was some +upset and a quarrel, the rights of which nobody ever knew, for the +Squire was too proud to air his troubles, and kept family skeletons +securely locked in their cupboards. At any rate, Mr. Leonard had gone +away to Canada and started farming, and had never returned to his old +home, though he had written that he was married, and, later on, that he +had a daughter. This was all the news that Lyngates people had heard of +him in fourteen years. Whether he had prospered or otherwise on his +far-off Canadian ranch they did not know. Squire Reynolds's other child, +Miss Dora, had been a pretty girl, and her father's favourite. Many +years went by, however, before she married. She had been fond of +hunting, and used to look very smart riding to hounds in her neat +navy-blue habit. It was at a meet that she had first met Mr. Hockheimer. +He rented a shooting-box in the neighbourhood, and came down frequently +from London for week ends. Nobody could understand how this naturalized +German had obtained such a hold over Miss Dora and her father, though it +was rumoured that he had reinvested the Squire's money for him to great +advantage.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[61]</a></span> Being a City man he was well acquainted with finance. Miss +Dora was long past her first youth, but she was still handsome, and +everyone in Lyngates had said that she was far too good for Mr. +Hockheimer. The village worthies, however, were not consulted, and the +wedding took place.</p> + +<p>A year afterwards the European war broke out. There was great comment in +Lyngates on the position of Mr. Hockheimer, but he had proved himself to +be a naturalized British subject, and declared he was heart and soul on +the side of the Allies. He had been very energetic on local committees, +and had given large sums to the Belgian Fund.</p> + +<p>When red war flamed in Flanders, and Britain summoned all her sons to +her standard, Leonard Reynolds, on his far-away ranch in the Rockies, +had heard the call and answered it. He had joined one of the first +Canadian contingents, and had come over the sea to "do his bit" for the +Motherland, leaving his wife and child at the ranch to carry on the +brave but wellnigh impossible task of keeping the home fires burning. In +his passage through England he had had thirty-six hours' leave, and had +visited his father at Lyngates. The villagers had seen him again after +fourteen years' absence, and had admired him in his khaki uniform. He +had spoken to several of them—words of fire and patriotism and +enthusiasm for the coming conflict.</p> + +<p>Everybody lived for the newspapers in those first months of war, and +Lyngates was no exception<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[62]</a></span> to the general rule. In farm-house and +cottage they read of the retreat from Mons. Duke's son and plough-boy, +Oxford graduate and City clerk, scientist, shopman and crossing-sweeper +alike, had paid the great sacrifice, and the name of Leonard Reynolds +stood among them. The Squire was in bed at the time, recovering from a +severe operation. The news was broken to him by an injudicious nurse at +a crisis in his illness, and it proved his death-blow. In his few last +gasping words he had tried to say something about a will, but those who +were with him could not understand what he meant to convey. With the +incoherent message still trembling on his stricken lips he had passed +away into the silence. He was buried with his ancestors in Lyngates +churchyard, but there was no cross to mark the grave of his son Leonard. +The survivors of the Canadian contingent could give no details beyond +the fact that a certain portion of them had been utterly wiped out by a +terrific explosion. It was impossible to identify the dead. War was +reaping a red harvest of human lives.</p> + +<p>After Squire Reynolds's funeral, Mr. and Mrs. Hockheimer had taken +possession of The Hall. Though search was made everywhere the only will +which could be discovered was one in the custody of the family +solicitor, which was dated fifteen years back. In the briefest terms it +left a certain sum of money to his daughter, and the estate of Lyngates +to his son, but in the event of the death of either, the survivor was to +inherit the whole property. As it had been drawn up before<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[63]</a></span> his son's +marriage, no mention was made in it of Leonard's wife and child. It was +a perfectly valid will, and it was duly proved, Mrs. Hockheimer +succeeding to the entire estate of her late father. She lived only six +months to enjoy it, and was laid to rest with her dead baby in her arms. +She had executed a will bequeathing everything to her husband, so that +Mr. Hockheimer, the naturalized German, assumed absolute command of the +Reynolds property.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile, matters had gone hardly with the wife and child of Leonard +Reynolds. It had been impossible for them to farm the ranch, and they +had no private means. By the advice of her friends Mrs. Reynolds had +sold up her few possessions and had come to England with her daughter, +to find out at first hand from the lawyers whether any provision had +been made for her out of the estate. The solicitors were polite and +sympathetic: they acknowledged the keen injustice of the matter, but +assured her that there was no redress, and, according to British law, +Mr. Hockheimer had full rights of possession in the Lyngates property, +while she and her child could not claim so much as a solitary farthing. +They represented the case, however, to Mr. Hockheimer, and he at once +offered Mrs. Reynolds the use of a cottage on his land, together with a +small annual income, and promised to pay for Pamela's education at a day +school in Harlingden. As she had no other means of livelihood, Mrs. +Reynolds had accepted this help, and had settled down at Lyngates +shortly before this story<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[64]</a></span> begins. She was a fragile little woman, +gentle and clinging in disposition, and so battered by misfortune that +she was glad to rest anywhere where she could find a home. She received +Mr. Hockheimer's dole quite gratefully. With the loss of her husband +life had for her practically stopped. Through her daughter it held a +second-hand kind of interest. She welcomed the idea of Pamela attending +a good school, and her crushed soul even began to indulge in timid +little day-dreams concerning her child's future. These hopes, pathetic +and tender, were like wild sweet violets springing up over the +desolation of a battle-field.</p> + +<p>Pamela viewed the situation from an utterly different standpoint. She +had inherited her grandfather's strength of character along with the +Reynolds features, and also a considerable share of his pride. Her early +life in Canada had made her more independent than most English girls of +her age. She considered that by all rights of justice an equal half of +the Lyngates estate should have been hers, and that her uncle, Mr. +Hockheimer, had managed to steal her inheritance. She hated to accept +from him as charity what she felt ought to have been her own, and she +bitterly resented the patronizing attitude which he adopted towards +herself and her mother. She, too, had her day-dreams, and most of them +centred round a time when she would be old enough to shake off this +thraldom of dependence and strike out a line of her own in the world.</p> + + + +<hr /> + +<h2><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[65]</a></span> +<a name="v" id="v"></a>CHAPTER V<br /> +<span class="sub">Ructions</span></h2> + + +<p>By the end of a few weeks Avelyn began to feel more settled down in her +new quarters at Silverside. The old pupils might regret the former +régime, but she was tolerably satisfied with the new. She was in the +fifth form, and found the work not too arduous, and liked Miss Kennedy, +her teacher. She had been accustomed to the bustle of a large school, +and, though Laura Talbot might rave against the crowded conditions, to +Avelyn it was amusing to be in a room crammed full of girls. School is a +separate world of its own, and often a curious one. To outsiders and to +its Principal, Silverside might appear as an enterprise that was growing +and prospering exceedingly. Its numbers had suddenly more than doubled, +it had fresh teachers, and was going to build a cloak-room and a +gymnasium; nothing could seemingly have more hope of success. Inwardly, +however, it was a seething whirl of opposing factions. The old and the +new did not readily amalgamate. The boarders were jealous of their +rights, and would not yield an inch of the privileged position they had +always been wont to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[66]</a></span> occupy; while the Hawthorners, accustomed to the +absolute democracy of a day school, could not and would not understand +why boarders should expect to have any privileges at all.</p> + +<p>Trouble began on the very second day of term. Adah, in her new capacity +of head girl, had pinned a paper on the notice board announcing a +general meeting of the Dramatic Society for 4.15 in the studio. The old +members turned up at the time named, to find a group of Hawthorners +already in possession of the room. Adah, after waiting a minute, glanced +at the clock and coughed significantly; then, as this produced no +result, she remarked:</p> + +<p>"Won't you be rather late if you're not getting home soon?"</p> + +<p>"We don't much mind," returned Annie Broadside easily.</p> + +<p>"Well, the fact is, we want to use this room," continued Adah. "We're +going to have a meeting."</p> + +<p>"I know. That's why we've come."</p> + +<p>Adah's eyebrows elevated themselves to an astonishing angle.</p> + +<p>"You've come to our meeting?" she exclaimed incredulously.</p> + +<p>"Certainly we have. Why not?"</p> + +<p>Annie asked the question aggressively.</p> + +<p>"Because you're not members of the Dramatic."</p> + +<p>"But we want to join."</p> + +<p>Adah turned to her friends, who stood looking scornfully at the +intruders.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[67]</a></span> +"Did you hear that?" she remarked. "They actually want to join the +Dramatic!"</p> + +<p>"Cheek!" murmured Consie, and the others giggled.</p> + +<p>"And why shouldn't we join?" flamed Gladys Wilks.</p> + +<p>"Why? Because you're day girls, and the Dramatic's only for boarders. +That's the reason."</p> + +<p>"It's no reason at all," answered Maggie Stuart sharply. "The boarders +have no right to monopolize any society. It ought to be free and open to +the whole school."</p> + +<p>"But it can't!" snapped Adah. "Surely you can see for yourselves that it +wouldn't work. We have all our rehearsals in the evenings, when day +girls couldn't possibly come."</p> + +<p>"You could fix them from four to five instead," suggested Annie.</p> + +<p>"We're not going to alter our arrangements for anybody," returned Adah +tartly.</p> + +<p>"The boarders have always run the Dramatic," added Consie. "We'd like to +begin our meeting, please, when we can have the studio to ourselves."</p> + +<p>"Oh, very well! Keep your wretched society to yourselves if you want!" +yapped Annie; "but I'll tell you this, at any rate, I think it's most +monstrously unfair. You needn't expect us to help you with any of your +schemes, for we just shan't!"</p> + +<p>"Don't excite yourselves—we haven't asked you!" sneered Consie +freezingly as the Hawthorners flounced out of the room.</p> + +<p>At first the committee was too agitated to discuss<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[68]</a></span> business. It was +ablaze with indignation at the impudence of mere day girls aspiring to +join the select circle.</p> + +<p>"How could we let them?" fluttered Joyce Edwards. "To begin with, there +wouldn't be enough parts to go round, nor enough costumes. Dear me! we +should have the Juniors expecting to appear on the platform! What next, +I wonder? We Seniors have always done the acting, and let the kids and +day girls make the audience."</p> + +<p>"And we'll go on doing so!" declared Adah. "We're the prefects, and +we'll manage the school affairs as we like, without interference from +anybody."</p> + +<p>The decision about the Dramatic was the same as regarded most of the +other societies. The boarders kept them jealously to themselves. The day +girls grumbled, even protested indignantly, but they were powerless to +make any change. The four prefects were all boarders, and exercised +their newly-granted authority for their own advantage. Miss Thompson had +no idea of the state of affairs. In appointing as school officers girls +who had been with her for some years, she thought she was safeguarding +the tone of Silverside and preserving its traditions intact. She had +certainly no intention of establishing an oligarchy; yet in effect that +was what had resulted. The members of the Boarders' League felt pledged +to support one another against all outsiders, and every activity of the +school was in the hands of a clique.</p> + +<p>Adah, as head girl, was intensely patronizing.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[69]</a></span> She was puffed up with +pride in her new office, and would explain Silverside customs with an +airy superiority which aggravated the Hawthorners continually. Their +injured souls rallied round Annie Broadside. Annie was a born leader. +She keenly resented the state of affairs, and meant to show fight. She +only waited a suitable opportunity, and at length it came.</p> + +<p>For the first few weeks of term the boarders had been busy with various +affairs on Saturdays, and had contented themselves with an occasional +game of tennis and croquet. At the beginning of October they suddenly +realized that the hockey season was beginning. So far hockey, and indeed +any organized games, had been only very languidly pursued at Silverside. +The smallness of the school had not given a wide choice of champions, +and for some years the elder girls had been more interested in botany +and butterfly collecting than in sports.</p> + +<p>Silverside had had a hockey team, and had occasionally played a match, +though it could not pride itself on its record of goals. The present +prefects had never distinguished themselves remarkably at athletics, but +they were sufficiently enthusiastic to wish the school to win successes. +They called a boarders' meeting to discuss matters.</p> + +<p>"We ought to have a splendid games club this term," smiled Adah +complacently. "There should be several sets of hockey going on in the +same afternoon."</p> + +<p>"There isn't room in the field for more than one," ventured Laura +Talbot.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[70]</a></span> +"Then we must take a larger field," decreed Consie. "With so many new +subscriptions we can easily afford it."</p> + +<p>"Ninety-five girls instead of only thirty-six in a school make a +difference," admitted Irma Ridley.</p> + +<p>"The treasurer will have quite a nice little sum in hand," chuckled +Isobel Norris.</p> + +<p>"I want the school to begin and make a name for itself," said Adah. "I +don't want to say anything against Jessie Carew and Maggie Stephens, +last year, but really we all know they were slackers."</p> + +<p>"Silverside must buck up!" agreed the others.</p> + +<p>"You, Laura, and Janet, and Ethelberga have the makings of good players +in you," murmured Adah reflectively, "and of course Consie and myself, +and perhaps Joyce."</p> + +<p>"What about the Hawthorners?" asked Isobel.</p> + +<p>"We shall have to include them, of course."</p> + +<p>"Couldn't get up the teams without them, I'm afraid," sniggered Minnie +Selburn.</p> + +<p>Adah stared hard at Minnie, who straightened her face and sat up +stiffly.</p> + +<p>"In the matter of hockey, of course, everybody in the school, whether +day girl or boarder, will be invited to join," continued Adah.</p> + +<p>"Some of those Hawthorners are jolly good," ventured Mona Bardsley.</p> + +<p>"They won ever so many matches last year, I believe," added Alice +Webster.</p> + +<p>"Whom did they play?" asked Adah quickly.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[71]</a></span> +"I don't know."</p> + +<p>"I do," said Avelyn, speaking for the first time. "It was Workington +Ladies' College, Mirton High School, Redlands County School, and +Harlingden Ladies' Team, and they beat them all, except Harlingden, and +that was a draw."</p> + +<p>Adah was rapidly scribbling some entries in her notebook.</p> + +<p>"We'll challenge Workington Ladies' College," she announced. "I wanted +us to do it last year, but we decided our team wasn't strong enough. +I'll write to their secretary to-night and make a fixture. It would be a +tremendous triumph for Silverside to beat Workington. They've rather a +reputation."</p> + +<p>"The old school's going to forge ahead!" smiled Consie.</p> + +<p>"We'll ask Miss Thompson to speak about hiring that larger field," said +Isobel. "We'd better secure it at once, in case the farmer should let it +to anybody else."</p> + +<p>Next day Adah pinned up a notice, announcing that hockey would begin on +the following Saturday afternoon, and asking all girls to sign their +names as members of the games club, and to pay their subscriptions to +the treasurer. She watched the day girls come and surge round the notice +board, then she ran upstairs to her form room. She considered that she +was performing her duties admirably as head of the school.</p> + +<p>Meantime, downstairs, a ferment was going on that would have surprised +her. The grumblings<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[72]</a></span> and dissatisfaction increased till a whisper began +to circulate.</p> + +<p>"Annie Broadside says, don't sign or do anything yet, but let the 'Old +Hawthorners' League' meet on the common this afternoon at 4.15. Pass +this on, and all turn up."</p> + +<p>The boarders could not understand why, that afternoon, the day girls +scuttled away so promptly at four o'clock, and seemed in such a frantic +hurry to get on their boots and be gone. As a rule they loitered about +in an annoying fashion, and were seldom clear of the premises till +half-past four. The prefects ventured the opinion that Silverside rules +were at last beginning to be properly kept. They would have been +immensely electrified if they could have seen what was really happening.</p> + +<p>Not far from the house was a small common, which most of the girls were +bound to pass on their way to and from school. To-day, instead of going +home they trooped here. There was an old tree stump at one side, and +Annie, scrambling to the top of it, and holding on by a branch, made it +serve as an orator's platform from which to address her audience, which +stood below. She first of all looked round critically.</p> + +<p>"Are we all here?" she began.</p> + +<p>Several voices replied:</p> + +<p>"All who could come."</p> + +<p>"Some girls had to catch trains."</p> + +<p>"And the Potters had music lessons."</p> + +<p>"And Trissie Marsh had to go to the dentist's."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[73]</a></span> +"But they sympathize. They'd have come if they could."</p> + +<p>"I'm glad to hear that," continued Annie. "I like to know I have your +sympathy. Are we all old Hawthorners?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, yes!"</p> + +<p>"And no spies among us?"</p> + +<p>"Certainly not!"</p> + +<p>"Then I can speak freely. I want to say, what I'm sure we all think, +that we're perfectly disgusted with the way those boarders have been +behaving. They speak as if the school existed for them, and them alone. +Some societies we aren't allowed to join at all, and those that we may +belong to are kept well in their own hands, because they appoint +themselves as presidents, and secretaries, and treasurers, and members +of committee. We simply haven't a look in anywhere. Now, I ask you, is +this fair?"</p> + +<p>"Not at all!" howled the girls.</p> + +<p>"We're exactly in the position of serfs, and it's monstrous. What right +have those boarders to rule over us?"</p> + +<p>"None!"</p> + +<p>"It's quite time we showed our spirit. I've been wondering for a long +time how we could checkmate them, and now I see my way clear. They're +going to start the hockey season."</p> + +<p>"Yes!"</p> + +<p>"Who do you think will make all the arrangements and be captains of the +teams? Boarders or day girls?"</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[74]</a></span> +"Why, boarders, of course."</p> + +<p>"And who are the best players; who are going to win the goals?"</p> + +<p>"<em>We</em> are!"</p> + +<p>"Of course, we are; everybody knows that! But the boarders would take +all the credit, and talk about <em>their</em> successes. The very idea makes me +ill! Why should we play for <em>them</em>?"</p> + +<p>"Why, indeed?"</p> + +<p>"We're not obliged to. Our Saturdays are our own, and nobody can make us +come and play hockey if we don't want. I vote we just say we won't join +their old games club. Let's start a rival one of our own."</p> + +<p>"Yes, yes! Oh, do let us!"</p> + +<p>"We'll call it 'The Old Hawthorners' Hockey Club', and we'll hire our +old ground and wear our old colours, and play matches of our own, and +let those conceited Silversiders go to Jericho."</p> + +<p>Annie's daring suggestion met with a chorus of applause. The +Hawthorners, made to feel unwelcome in their new school, clung +desperately to their old traditions. They had had an excellent hockey +record in past years, and felt confident that they could raise a team +sufficiently strong to challenge their former rivals to matches.</p> + +<p>"Will you elect Gladys as secretary?" asked Annie. "That's all right. +And Maggie as treasurer? Then give in your names, and bring your +subscriptions to-morrow, and I'll go this very night and see about +getting our old field. It belongs to Mr. Gardner, and my father knows +him<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[75]</a></span> quite well, so I'm sure we shall manage it. If not, we'll hire +another field."</p> + +<p>"Or play on the common," declared the girls as they crowded round Gladys +Wilks, giving in their names.</p> + +<p>Adah Gartley had kept her word and written immediately to the secretary +of Workington Ladies' College, who had replied by return of post, +arranging a match for a date in November. She showed the letter with +much satisfaction to the boarders after breakfast.</p> + +<p>"By the by, have those day girls paid their subscriptions yet to the +Games Club?" she asked suddenly.</p> + +<p>"Not one of them," answered Isobel.</p> + +<p>"The blighters! And hockey begins to-morrow. Isn't it just like day +girls? I must talk to them about it at eleven o'clock 'break'."</p> + +<p>The day girls were busy consuming packets of lunch when Adah, glass of +milk and piece of bread and butter in hand, strolled amongst them, bent +on her mission.</p> + +<p>"Look here, you slackers! D'you know you've never paid your half-crowns +yet? Can't admit anybody to the hockey field who hasn't given in her +subscription—that's one of the traditions of Silverside."</p> + +<p>"Is it?" said Annie Broadside casually. "I can't see that it concerns +us."</p> + +<p>"You'll see to-morrow when you get to the field. A nice little +disappointment it will be for you to find you're not allowed to play."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[76]</a></span> +Annie took a big bite of oatcake and gulped it.</p> + +<p>"Suppose we don't want to play?"</p> + +<p>"Not want to play!" Adah's expression was one of sheer incredulity.</p> + +<p>"Why should we? You boarders have taken up all the other societies, so +you may have the hockey as well. We don't want to intrude on your +privileges, thanks!"</p> + +<p>"But I say," blustered Adah, "you <em>must</em> play! We've got to win matches +and keep up the credit of the school."</p> + +<p>"Keep it up yourselves!" put in Gladys sarcastically. "You've rubbed it +into us hard enough that it's only you who understand the school +traditions, and we're nothing but outsiders!"</p> + +<p>"But you're keen on hockey! Surely you want to play?" Adah was making a +desperate effort to curb her temper and be conciliatory.</p> + +<p>"Certainly we do, but we're going to have a club to ourselves."</p> + +<p>"You can't here!"</p> + +<p>"We don't mean to try. It's an 'Old Hawthorners' Club', and nothing to +do with Silverside."</p> + +<p>"But you mustn't! You shan't go ratting like this!" exploded Adah, +scarlet with indignation.</p> + +<p>"Don't get excited!" said Annie politely. "There's nothing to prevent +us. Our Saturdays are our own, and nobody can compel us to come to +school and play hockey if we don't want."</p> + +<p>"You miserable blighters!"</p> + +<p>"There! Keep a civil tongue, please. I thought<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[77]</a></span> the traditions of +Silverside didn't run to slang. Perhaps you'd like to arrange a match +with us: 'The Old Hawthorners' versus 'Silverside Boarders'? Gladys is +our secretary, and will book it."</p> + +<p>"I shall do nothing of the sort!" choked Adah, beating as dignified a +retreat as she could.</p> + +<p>It was certainly a terrible blow for the prefects. They had counted +entirely on the strength of the day girls in arranging teams. To be +deserted in this fashion meant the ruin of the hockey season. They were +aghast at the bad news.</p> + +<p>"I wonder if Miss Thompson can refuse the larger field?" speculated +Joyce.</p> + +<p>"We certainly can't afford to hire it with the subscriptions we've got," +mourned Isobel.</p> + +<p>"And it's not the slightest use our trying a match with Workington, for +we should only get a jolly good licking," announced Consie. "We don't +want to court disaster."</p> + +<p>"I shall write to the secretary to-night," said Adah bitterly, "and tell +her we've been obliged to make other arrangements. Those day girls are +the absolute limit!"</p> + +<p>"Don't you think," ventured Isobel, "that perhaps you've been a little +high-handed? If you'd tried to conciliate them, now——"</p> + +<p>"Conciliate!" echoed Adah scornfully. "Really, Isobel, what next? If you +think I'm going to truckle to day girls, you're much mistaken."</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid we're making a good many mistakes," murmured Isobel, but too +low for her friend to overhear her.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[78]</a></span> +The three other prefects certainly laid the blame of this occurrence on +Adah, and considered that, if they had conducted the negotiations in her +place, they would have been able to manage the refractory Hawthorners. +Though they always loyally supported their head girl, they were quite +aware that her overbearing manners gave offence. They sometimes suffered +from her themselves. She had so thoroughly established herself as +leader, however, that it was not possible to break away from her rule. +She had been longer than any other girl at Silverside, and thus stood +for the old traditions. Whether these in the end were going to prove the +best for the school was a matter that admitted of some debate.</p> + + + +<hr /> + +<h2><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[79]</a></span> +<a name="vi" id="vi"></a>CHAPTER VI<br /> +<span class="sub">Reprisals</span></h2> + + +<p>After learning the story of the Lyngates estate, Avelyn's interest in +Pamela Reynolds was doubled, and she cultivated her acquaintance. The +two girls travelled together from Harlingden on Friday afternoons, and +arranged to meet on Monday mornings to walk in company to the station. +Though Pamela was not yet fourteen she was old for her age; her +adventurous life in Canada had given her a mental outlook different from +that of most English girls. She proved a lively and very pleasant +companion. Mrs. Watson, to whom Avelyn confided her friend's story, paid +a call upon Mrs. Reynolds, and found her a timid, refined lady, of +gentle birth and breeding, greatly saddened with her troubles, and +evidently without much initiative. The cottage, which had been lent to +her by Mr. Hockheimer, was in a very out-of-the-way situation. It was +small, inconvenient, and possessed many drawbacks, but she had made the +sitting-room pretty with books and flowers, and the little home had a +cultured air about it. Mrs. Reynolds did not seem to wish to seek any +society, and gently intimated that she<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[80]</a></span> feared she was not strong enough +to walk as far as the village and return calls.</p> + +<p>"The poor woman has simply sat down under her troubles," said Mrs. +Watson, describing her experiences at the family supper-table. "It's +easy to see that she has no spirit. If she would take life more pluckily +it would be better for herself and everybody. I'm sorry for that child. +To live in that quiet spot with such a depressed companion, especially +when by all rights they ought to have owned The Hall. It makes my blood +boil! Mr. Hockheimer ought to have done more for them than this."</p> + +<p>"Catch Mr. Hockheimer doing much for anybody!" commented Daphne. "People +say he's the stingiest landlord. They grumble dreadfully. I think he +ought to have had Mrs. Reynolds and Pamela to live with him at The +Hall."</p> + +<p>"Oh, Pamela would have just hated that!" put in Avelyn. "She simply +can't bear her uncle."</p> + +<p>"I don't blame her," sniffed Daphne.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Muvvie, couldn't we ask Pamela to tea?" said Avelyn. "It must be so +lonely for her up there, without any brothers and sisters. I believe +she'd love to come."</p> + +<p>"Well, we'll give her the chance at any rate," agreed Mrs. Watson. "I +hope her mother won't be stupid and refuse to let her come. I think I'd +better send a formal invitation."</p> + +<p>The note was duly written and dispatched. Mrs. Reynolds appeared to need +some days to think the matter over, but finally sent a formal +acceptance.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[81]</a></span> +"Hooray!" triumphed Daphne. "I quite expected she was going to decline +with thanks. Muvvie, how glad I am that you're a nice, sensible person, +and not morbid! You'd have been such a trial to us if you'd always gone +about with an air of depressed resignation."</p> + +<p>"I've had my troubles as well as other people," said Mrs. Watson. "It +certainly doesn't make them any better to mourn over them. We've got to +sit up and make the best of things as they are. 'Never say die!' is a +good old motto. I'd try to be chirpy and cheery if I were reduced to a +wooden leg and a glass eye!"</p> + +<p>"So you would, Muvvie darling! I believe you'd dance a jig with a +crutch. But about Pamela——"</p> + +<p>"We'll give her a good time when she comes, poor child!"</p> + +<p>The warm-hearted Watsons were determined to make Pamela thoroughly +welcome, and they succeeded royally. She was painfully shy for the first +ten minutes, and answered all questions in embarrassed monosyllables, +but after a walk round the garden she began to thaw, by the end of tea +she had waxed expansive, and later on she proved downright amusing. By +the time the family, in a body, escorted her home, they felt that they +had sealed a friendship. They talked her over on the way back.</p> + +<p>"She's sporty," decided David.</p> + +<p>"Decent as far as girls go," qualified Anthony, who at twelve did not +yield readily to feminine attractions.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[82]</a></span> +"I call her charming," said Daphne. "You can see she's plenty in +her—not one of those lackadaisical people like Ella Simpson, who just +put on side. It seems to me a most monstrous thing that her uncle should +have been able to take all the property."</p> + +<p>"Collared the lot!" grunted David. "The old Hun!"</p> + +<p>"Mrs. Garside told me that everybody said Squire Reynolds must have made +a later will—the butler and coachman remembered signing something. But +it couldn't be found."</p> + +<p>"Likely enough old Hockheimer suppressed it. He'd be equal to any dirty +German trick!" suggested Anthony.</p> + +<p>"If he has he deserves penal servitude."</p> + +<p>"I'd prefer shooting for him," said Anthony grimly.</p> + +<p>The Watsons liked Pamela for herself, but it certainly gave her an added +interest to consider her the victim of her uncle's greed and injustice. +They thoroughly detested Mr. Hockheimer. Since the morning when he had +turned them out of the wood they had owed him a grudge, and other +matters had accumulated to swell the account. His land, unfortunately, +adjoined theirs. I have mentioned before that the little property of +Walden was shaped like a triangle, the apex of which jutted into Mr. +Hockheimer's estate. This apex consisted of a piece of rather marshy +rushy ground. The brook divided at its head, and flowing round it in two +separate streams reunited, making the patch of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[83]</a></span> meadow into an island, +connected with the main land by a rough plank bridge. It was of little +service from a farmer's point of view, but it was a most picturesque +spot, and Mrs. Watson intended to turn it into a water garden. She and +Daphne spent hours poring over Barr's catalogues, and deciding what +iris, forget-me-nots, ranunculi, and other marsh-loving plants they +should send for, and whether it would be possible to dam a piece of the +brook to make a pool for water-lilies.</p> + +<p>Imagine their annoyance when one day they found their cherished island +in the occupation of Mr. Hockheimer's cows, which had walked down the +stream from their own field. With great difficulty the Watsons drove +them back, and replaced the rather broken tree-trunk, which acted as +barrier, across the brook. When the same incident happened again Mrs. +Watson complained, and requested Mr. Hockheimer to see that his cows +kept to their own field. He replied by stating that they had always been +accustomed to graze on the island, which was really a no-man's +territory, not strictly included in either property, though, if the +matter were to be investigated, it would probably be found to be +included in the Lyngates estate.</p> + +<p>Much surprised, and angry at such an assertion, Mrs. Watson looked up +the plans of Walden which went with her title-deeds, and found the +island most certainly represented as her property. She called in the +assistance of the village joiner, and caused a strong barrier to be +fixed across the stream at the head of the island, sufficient to keep +out cows<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[84]</a></span> and make a landmark for the boundary of her territory from +that of her acquisitive neighbour. This being done she considered the +matter settled, and proceeded to plant her iris and forget-me-nots. She +anticipated a beautiful show from them in the spring.</p> + +<p>Towards the end of October, Daphne, whose health had picked up with +country air, nevertheless had to report herself to the specialist who +had previously examined her, and she and her mother made an expedition +to London. They started on a Thursday, and were to spend Sunday with +friends in town, returning home on the following Monday or Tuesday. +Avelyn, David, and Anthony, together with Ethel, the maid, had the +establishment to themselves for the week-end. With her mother's +permission, Avelyn asked Pamela to spend the Saturday afternoon at +Walden.</p> + +<p>The young folks were determined to have a thoroughly happy harum-scarum +time together, and, instead of taking a conventional tea in the +dining-room, they carried their meal into the barn, and held a picnic +feast, sitting on blocks of wood, with the wheelbarrow for a table, and +with Billy, the dog, Meg, the cat, and Tiny, the bantam cock, as +self-invited guests.</p> + +<p>"It's rather a stunt being all on our own for once!" opined Anthony, +feeding Billy with crust, regardless of the rationing order.</p> + +<p>"Top-hole!" murmured Avelyn, pouring out milk for Meg into her saucer.</p> + +<p>"I wish something would happen!" said David,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[85]</a></span> rocking himself airily to +and fro on his billet of wood.</p> + +<p>"Something <em>will</em> happen if you're not careful, old sport! You'll topple +over next minute!" warned Avelyn.</p> + +<p>"What do you want to happen?" asked Pamela.</p> + +<p>"Something exciting—an air raid, or a fire, or a burglary. Something +really to give one spasms!"</p> + +<p>Pamela did not reply for a moment. She rested her head on her hand and +thought. When she spoke there was an undercurrent of doubt in her voice.</p> + +<p>"I don't know whether I ought to tell you," she hesitated. "I'm not +supposed to know, only I happened to overhear. I don't care, I <em>shall</em> +tell! He's only my uncle by marriage, and I detest him!"</p> + +<p>"Do you mean Mr. Hockheimer?" asked Avelyn, in a sudden flutter.</p> + +<p>"Yes; I wish I didn't!"</p> + +<p>"What about him?"</p> + +<p>Pamela hesitated again, then whispered:</p> + +<p>"He's coming here, just at dusk, with an axe and a saw."</p> + +<p>"What for?"</p> + +<p>The Watsons had clustered round, with faces full of horrified +expectancy.</p> + +<p>"To take down that barrier across the stream. He says the island's his."</p> + +<p>If the enemy had landed, the Watsons could not have been more astonished +and indignant. Their opinion of Mr. Hockheimer had been bad before, but +that he should take advantage of their mother's<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[86]</a></span> absence to perform such +an abominable and utterly illegal act made their blood boil.</p> + +<p>"There are two opinions about the island," declared David grimly. "Mr. +Hockheimer will find he's not going to get things all his own way. What +time did he say he was coming?"</p> + +<p>"Just at dusk."</p> + +<p>"All right! We'll be ready for him! Thanks ever so much for letting us +know. I say, Tony, come into the yard with me; I want to speak to you. +I've got a brain wave!"</p> + +<p>"What's it about, Davie?" asked Avelyn excitedly.</p> + +<p>"I'll tell you afterwards, Ave."</p> + +<p>Out in the yard the two boys held a hasty confabulation. They felt that +they must act quickly. It was their duty to protect their mother's +property from this Hun robber. The situation appealed to their boyish +instincts. David's eyes gleamed with a wrathful twinkle. Anthony's young +fists were tightly clenched. They laid a careful plan of campaign, then +started off to secure recruits. In ten minutes they returned from the +village with three Boy Scouts, to whom they unfolded their designs. They +hurried off at once to the island, to survey the scene of action. The +barrier which Mrs. Watson had caused to be erected across the brook, was +constructed of two stout poles with withies intertwined; the ends were +secured in the banks, and there was room for the water, even in flood, +to flow underneath. On the Walden side of the stream were some large +stepping-stones, which the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[87]</a></span> joiners had placed for their convenience +when fixing the posts into the overhanging bank. David and Anthony, with +their scout friends, took off boots and stockings, and after a +considerable amount of shoving and splashing, managed to move away the +small stones that supported these boulders, leaving them apparently +safe, but in reality only lightly balanced in the brook. They had barely +finished when twilight began to fall.</p> + +<p>"We'll clear out now!" commanded David. "He may come any minute, and I +want him to be hard at work before we appear on the scenes. We'll catch +him red-handed."</p> + +<p>"And give him more than he expects!" chuckled Anthony.</p> + +<p>Going back to the house, the boys took Avelyn into their confidence. +They felt that it would be mean to leave her out of such a thrilling +adventure.</p> + +<p>"If you're game to come, you can," they allowed graciously. "It ought to +be a sporty job!"</p> + +<p>"Blossomy!" agreed Avelyn. "I wouldn't miss it for worlds. But what +about Pamela? She'd enjoy it, of course, but her uncle would know she'd +given the show away."</p> + +<p>"She must hide behind the bushes, and not let him see her. It'll be +top-hole for Pamela!"</p> + +<p>The alders and clumps of furze were thick down by the stream, quite +sufficient to give shelter to the little party of seven that presently +took cover there. They preserved strict military discipline. Not a word +was spoken. All crouched silently watching and waiting. The sun had set, +and the red glow<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[88]</a></span> faded from the sky, but there was a young moon, and +objects were clear. David held Billy by the collar. He was a sporting +dog, and trained not to bark; though he panted and his eyes bulged, he +did not betray the whereabouts of his owner by even the suspicion of a +yelp. Early experience with a former master, addicted to poaching, had +taught him his lesson.</p> + +<p>Just when the owls had wakened, and were beginning to hoot round the +barns, Mr. Hockheimer came striding down his field. He was annoyed with +Mrs. Watson for having put the barrier across the stream. There had +indeed been one in the days of the former tenant, but it had +conveniently tumbled into the water, leaving a pathway for his cows to +graze on the island. He believed that by a little bluff and persistence +he could persuade Mrs. Watson that the island was part of his own +property. German-like, he had small opinion of women, and considered +that a widow's substance would be an easy prey. He had decided to see to +the matter himself, instead of bringing his bailiff or his keeper with +him. Since the war began, his men had been apt to make themselves very +disagreeable over trifles, and it was not worth having a fuss about so +small a business.</p> + +<p>He stood on the top of the crag and surveyed the barrier. How to get to +it was the first question. It was fixed just where the stream ran in a +narrow gully between two high banks. He mentally strafed the village +joiner for having placed it in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[89]</a></span> such an inaccessible spot. From his own +land it was practically impossible to reach it. The only thing to be +done was to go into Mrs. Watson's field. He had no scruples about +trespassing, and taking his axe he hacked down some branches, and +cleared himself a way through the hedge. It was comparatively easy now +to reach the barrier. There were stepping-stones obligingly left by the +workmen, which would be of great assistance to him. Saw and axe in hand +he advanced upon them, quite unwitting that seven pairs of eyes (eight +with Billy's) were watching his movements from the shadow of the bushes. +The first two stones were secure enough, and gave him confidence; the +third tottered a little, and he stepped hastily from it on to the +fourth, only to find that it capsized altogether and landed him suddenly +on his back in the water. The stream was not deep enough to drown, but +was quite sufficient to immerse him. He splashed and floundered about, +and rose wrathful and spluttering, to find five boy figures standing in +the field and grinning at his discomfiture.</p> + +<p>"Dear me, Mr. Hockheimer," said David, with feigned commiseration, "I'm +afraid you're wet!"</p> + +<p>Mr. Hockheimer's remarks, being in German, were probably better not +translated. He waded ashore and began to wring the water from his +clothes.</p> + +<p>"May I ask what you were doing?" continued David blandly.</p> + +<p>"A job that I mean to finish, you young rascal!" girned Mr. Hockheimer +gruffly.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[90]</a></span> +"Excuse me, but that fence is my mother's property, and if anybody +interferes with it we're out here to protect it."</p> + +<p>"And I'm here to remove it!" roared the German. "Take yourselves off, +you young chimpanzees!"</p> + +<p>"You forget it's our own field," continued David with icy politeness. +"It's we who must ask you to take yourself off. Oh, very well!" as the +German made a threatening movement towards him, "Billy, will you give +Mr. Hockheimer a hint to go?"</p> + +<p>Billy had been straining at his collar to suffocation point. Now, +released and encouraged by his master, he flew, barking furiously, at +the intruder, and seized him by the leg of his wet trouser.</p> + +<p>Mr. Hockheimer yelled, freed himself by a kick, and, turning to see the +angry dog ready to spring at him again, saved himself by suddenly +climbing up an old willow stump that overhung the brook. He swarmed up +with an agility surprising in a man of his stout build. Wet and draggled +from his dip in the stream, he cut a sorry figure clinging among the +branches, while Billy, mad with rage, jumped and yelped down below.</p> + +<p>"Call off that brute!" shouted the German hoarsely.</p> + +<p>"There's no hurry," answered David. "I want to talk to you a little, Mr. +Hockheimer. It's a good opportunity while you're resting."</p> + +<p>"Call him off and let me go, you little villain!"</p> + +<p>"If you <em>will</em> trespass in our field you must expect the dog to get +excited. It says in the Commination<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[91]</a></span> Service, 'Cursed is he that +removeth his neighbour's landmark'. (Perhaps you don't go to Church on +Ash Wednesdays?) Now, you were distinctly trying to remove my mother's +landmark, and if I let you go I may be compounding a felony. I've got +some witnesses here, at any rate. What a gap you made in the fence! We +shall have to make that up. Tony, old chap, keep guard for a while."</p> + +<p>"Right you are!" answered Anthony sturdily.</p> + +<p>Percy Houghton had brought his father's hedging-gloves and a billhook, +so, leaving Anthony as sentry by the tree, David, with the aid of the +boys, repaired the hedge. He whistled cheerily the while.</p> + +<p>Mr. Hockheimer was feeling far from cheerful. He was wet, cold, and in a +most undignified position. Every time he ventured to let his leg down so +much as an inch the dog showed all his teeth in an ugly snarl. The +prospect of spending a much longer time perched in the tree was not +pleasing. He judged it wiser to arrange terms.</p> + +<p>"Come, come, you've had your little joke," he expostulated in a milder +tone. "Call your dog away, and I will go home."</p> + +<p>"Will you give me your solemn undertaking not to trespass on our +property again, or attempt to remove our landmarks?" demanded David +grandly.</p> + +<p>His victim grunted something which might be interpreted as assent.</p> + +<p>"Then we'll let you off this time. Tony, hold<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[92]</a></span> Billy! Shall I help you +down, Mr. Hockheimer? You're rather stiff, I expect."</p> + +<p>"I can manage myself," growled the German sulkily, as he descended with +a thud.</p> + +<p>"We've made up the fence, so we shall have to let you out through our +yard," observed David. "By the by, you dropped a saw and an axe into the +brook. I'll fish them out to-morrow by daylight and throw them over into +your field. I call that Christian charity. I might have commandeered +them or let them stop in the stream and rust away. Dear me, you're +<em>very</em> wet! I hope you won't catch cold!"</p> + +<p>Mr. Hockheimer made no reply, but stumped after the boys up the field +and through the stable-yard. David held the gate open for him most +courteously, and he passed through into the road. Then he turned and +shook his fist.</p> + +<p>"You shall pay for this some day!" he muttered. "I don't forget!"</p> + +<p>"Neither do I," returned David. "Good-night, Mr. Hockheimer!"</p> + +<p>As the boys came back round the side of the barn they met Avelyn and +Pamela, who had run up from the field. The two girls had kept hidden +among the bushes, but had seen and heard most of what was going on.</p> + +<p>"You don't think he saw me?" asked Pamela. "I believe he'd kill me if he +knew I'd told."</p> + +<p>"I don't believe he could possibly see you, not even from up in the +tree. It was getting so dark," David assured her.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[93]</a></span> +"He has an awful temper!" shivered Pamela.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Dave, you did bait him!" said Avelyn with a chuckle. "I didn't know +you could be so sarcastic. I nearly died trying not to laugh out loud. +How did you think of it all?"</p> + +<p>"It came on the spur of the moment," admitted David modestly. "I've +rather an idea I'd like to be a barrister when I grow up, if the war's +over."</p> + +<p>"I'd like to be a detective and snap the handcuffs on criminals," +declared Tony, giving Billy his last honey-drop as a reward of virtue.</p> + + + +<hr /> + +<h2><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[94]</a></span> +<a name="vii" id="vii"></a>CHAPTER VII<br /> +<span class="sub">Miss Hopkins</span></h2> + + +<p>Though Avelyn, as a weekly boarder, was not quite in the innermost heart +of the Silverside clique, she was nevertheless considered one of the +elect. Her room-mates rubbed it into her that she <em>was</em> a boarder, and +as such must be very thankful for her privileges. On the whole, they +treated her rather well. They included her as much as they could in what +fun was going on, helped her to plait her hair, showed her their private +treasures, and shared their occasional boxes of chocolate impartially +round the dormitory. Avelyn felt that she was living two lives: one +began at nine o'clock on Monday morning, and lasted till four on Friday, +and the other occupied the intervening time. Each circled independently +in its own orbit. The school life was quite fascinating and absorbing, +especially now she was getting used to it. It was jolly to sit on the +beds in the dormitory and compare experiences with the other girls. They +generally had something interesting to talk about, especially Irma +Ridley. Irma had an inventive mind, and a keen appetite for romance. She +read every novel she could get<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[95]</a></span> hold of, though only a very few, and +those of a strictly classical character, were allowed in the Silverside +library. She had a good memory, was an excellent raconteuse, and would +sit in the gloaming and tell thrilling tales to anybody who was prepared +to listen. To her room-mates she supplied the place of a monthly +magazine of fiction. It was Irma who first started the rumour about Miss +Hopkins. The girls were dressing for supper when she made her amazing +statement.</p> + +<p>"Do you know," she remarked, pausing with her hairbrush in her hand, "I +verily believe that Hopscotch either already is, or is just about to +be—engaged!"</p> + +<p>If Cupid himself had darted in through the window, bow and arrows in +hand, the occupants of the Cowslip Room could not have been more +electrified.</p> + +<p>"What!"</p> + +<p>"Hopscotch?"</p> + +<p>"You're ragging!"</p> + +<p>"It's the limit!"</p> + +<p>Miss Hopkins, the mathematics mistress, had never struck the school as a +likely subject for romance. She was middle-aged, nippy, determined, +brusque, and a disciplinarian. There was a slight burr in her speech, +acquired north of the Tweed, and she had a habit of saying, "Come, come, +girrls!" She had never yet been seen without her pince-nez, and it was a +tradition that she slept in them. In the minds of her pupils she was +indissolubly intertwined with decimals, equations,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[96]</a></span> and problems of +geometry. They connected her with triangles, not hearts, though of +course there was no telling where the little blind god might suddenly +elect to shoot.</p> + +<p>"I'm not ragging!" declared Irma earnestly. "I tell you I really mean +it. What's more, I've seen him!"</p> + +<p>"When?"</p> + +<p>"Where?"</p> + +<p>Irma enjoyed an audience. She sat down on Janet's bed with the pleasant +consciousness that she had gripped her listeners.</p> + +<p>"I went into the study this afternoon to fetch Miss Kennedy's +fountain-pen, and I found Hopscotch there—alone with a gentleman. I'm +afraid I surprised them."</p> + +<p>"Did they look embarrassed?"</p> + +<p>"Well, they both stopped talking, and stared at me while I hunted about +for the pen. <em>I</em> felt embarrassed!"</p> + +<p>"What's he like?"</p> + +<p>"Middle-aged, with a moustache that's growing grey—not bad-looking on +the whole."</p> + +<p>"It would be very suitable," decided the others.</p> + +<p>They were trying to readjust their mental attitude towards Miss Hopkins, +and transfer her from the mathematical plane to the sentimental. To do +so required a wrench, but it was decidedly thrilling. They all suddenly +began to remember symptoms of incipient romance on the part of the +mistress.</p> + +<p>"She wears a locket on her watch-chain. It's probably got his photo +inside," decided Ethelberga.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[97]</a></span> +"And she always snatches up her letters in a frantic hurry," added Janet +sagely.</p> + +<p>"Has she known him long?" asked Avelyn.</p> + +<p>Irma nodded doubtfully.</p> + +<p>"I should think it's probably quite an old affair. They may have been +boy and girl together."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps they've been separated for years and years, and have only just +cleared up their misunderstandings," suggested Laura.</p> + +<p>"Was he holding her hand?" asked Janet.</p> + +<p>"N—no, I can't say he was holding her hand; but then, you see, I'd +knocked at the door first, and she'd said 'Come in!'"</p> + +<p>"That would give them time," agreed Janet.</p> + +<p>A silence followed, and the girls looked pensively at one another. The +atmosphere seemed charged with romance. The ringing of the first bell +for supper brought them back with a disagreeable thud to reality. They +had not yet changed their dresses, and a wild scramble ensued. Whether a +mistress in the bonds of Cupid would overlook such details as +unpunctuality was an experiment too risky to be tried. They passed on +their information in the course of the evening, and by 11.30 next +morning even the day girls had digested the news.</p> + +<p>Miss Hopkins could not understand the changed attitude which the school +suddenly adopted towards her. There was an undercurrent of something +inexplicable. The girls gazed at her in form with a kind of tender +interest. If she toyed with the locket on her watch-chain, they visibly +thrilled. Once,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[98]</a></span> when she dropped a letter from her pocket, Irma, who +picked it up, actually blushed as she handed it back. When the twelve +gates of Jerusalem were mentioned in the Scripture lesson, Laura Talbot +asked whether a jasper stone was ever used as an engagement ring in +Hebrew times. Being a practical, sensible sort of person, Miss Hopkins +decided that the war—that national bond of union—was bringing her into +closer touch with her pupils. The girls, meanwhile, were discussing a +possible wedding present, and wondering who would be her successor as +mathematical mistress.</p> + +<p>Several of them were already beginning to work little good-bye souvenirs +for her. They hustled them out of the way in a hurry if she chanced to +come into the room. For at least a fortnight nothing happened, and +speculations were rife.</p> + +<p>"Why doesn't she wear an engagement ring?" asked Mona Bardsley.</p> + +<p>"Doesn't want to publish it yet, I suppose," opined Minnie Selburn.</p> + +<p>"Do you think she'll be leaving at Christmas?"</p> + +<p>"One can never tell."</p> + +<p>"Has Tommiekins said anything?"</p> + +<p>"Not a word."</p> + +<p>One Thursday afternoon an event happened. Irma, looking out at the +fifth-form window, watched a masculine form walk up the drive and ring +the front-door bell. She instantly identified him with the stranger whom +she had seen in the study with Miss Hopkins.</p> + +<p>"I knew him again in a moment," she assured<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[99]</a></span> the others. "I never forget +faces, and his was unmistakable."</p> + +<p>The flutter among the boarders was immense. It was known that Miss +Hopkins was in the study interviewing the gentleman. Little Daisy +Garratt had been in the first-form room reworking a returned sum, when +the maid had entered and announced: "Mr. Judson is in the study, please, +m'm," and Miss Hopkins had risen immediately from her desk, and told +Daisy she might go, an opportunity of which that round-eyed junior had +instantly availed herself.</p> + +<p>So his name was Judson! It was not highly romantic, indeed it suggested +gold paint; but after all, what's in a name? Everybody decided at once +that he had brought the engagement ring, and that Miss Hopkins, blushing +and conscious, would wear it upon the third finger of her left hand at +tea-time. They began to search about for suitable speeches of +congratulation. Several daring spirits, heedless of conduct marks, hung +about the hall, hoping to catch a glimpse of Mr. Judson as he said +good-bye. There was competition for front places at the windows that +overlooked the steps. Twenty interested pairs of eyes watched his +coat-tails disappear down the drive. There was much speculation as to +why he had not stayed longer, and what he was carrying inside his little +black bag. When Miss Hopkins came in to tea an electric wave of +excitement surged round the room, then broke in disappointment. Her left +hand was ringless. She seated herself in the most matter-of-fact +manner,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[100]</a></span> and began to eat bread and butter and talk about the last air +raid in London.</p> + +<p>Before preparation it had all leaked out. Mr. Judson was traveller for a +large firm of scholastic publishers, and on both occasions he had called +to interview Miss Hopkins about some new arithmetic books. She had +decided that they were suitable, and had ordered copies for the fifth +and sixth forms. That was the whole of the business. In the minds of the +boarders Cupid flew out of the window with a bang. He left blank +desolation behind.</p> + +<p>"Were there only arithmetic books inside that little black bag?" asked +Mona disgustedly.</p> + +<p>"It's too sickening when I'd nearly finished my pin-cushion cover!" +broke out Minnie Selburn.</p> + +<p>"Mine was to be a nightdress case!" lamented Alice Webster.</p> + +<p>The inmates of the Cowslip Room, as originators of the whole romance, +felt particularly flat. In disconsolate spirits they went to bed. It was +not nice to be told by Adah Gartley that they were silly geese, whose +heads were filled with a pack of sentimental rubbish. Their injured +feelings seethed, rallied, and finally bubbled up.</p> + +<p>"There's something disagreeable about Adah!" remarked Janet tartly.</p> + +<p>"It isn't only Adah, it's Joyce and Consie," corrected Laura.</p> + +<p>"They deserve something for their nastiness!" ventured Ethelberga.</p> + +<p>"Something strong!" agreed Avelyn.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[101]</a></span> +Irma, half undressed, paused in the act of pulling off her stockings, +and made the important suggestion:</p> + +<p>"I say, let's play a trick on the prefects!"</p> + +<p>"What a blossomy idea!"</p> + +<p>"They richly deserve it!"</p> + +<p>"It would be just top-hole!"</p> + +<p>"What could we do?"</p> + +<p>"Ah, that's just the question, my good child!" said Laura, putting a +thoughtful finger to her forehead. "There's an art in ragging. It ought +to be done delicately. We don't want clumsy tricks, such as apple-pie +beds. As for booby traps, they're vulgar and dangerous; I wouldn't soil +my fingers with making one. It must be something that will annoy them, +but not harm them or anybody else. I haven't got a brain wave yet, but +perhaps ideas may come."</p> + +<p>"Suppose we go and reconnoitre," proposed Avelyn.</p> + +<p>"A very jinky notion. We might get an idea on the spot."</p> + +<p>The four prefects slept in the Violet Room at the end of the passage. +They were allowed to sit up later than the rest of the school, and at +this moment were downstairs finishing some preparation. It was an easy +matter, therefore, to visit their quarters. Laura, Irma, Janet, +Ethelberga, and Avelyn made a dash down the passage, turned up the gas, +and began an inspection. The Violet Room was quite the prettiest of the +dormitories; it was also the largest, and had a round table and four +easy chairs<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[102]</a></span> with comfortable cushions. The table was spread with a +white cloth, on which were set forth four cups and saucers, a tin of +cocoa, a small basin of sugar, and a plate of biscuits. The prefects +were working overtime for an examination, and were allowed this special +indulgence to refresh their tired brains before they went to bed. They +boiled a tin kettle on a gas ring, and brought it upstairs with them. +They considered their nightly cocoa party one of their greatest +privileges.</p> + +<p>"Looks jolly comfortable!" sniffed Avelyn, regarding the preparations +with envy.</p> + +<p>"It's well to be a prefect!" agreed Janet.</p> + +<p>"Shall we eat the biscuits?" suggested Irma.</p> + +<p>"Certainly not!" replied Ethelberga.</p> + +<p>Laura had taken up the cocoa tin, and was plunged in thought.</p> + +<p>"I've got it!" she announced suddenly. "I don't mean the tin, but an +idea. Wait half a second for me!"</p> + +<p>She dashed back to the Cowslip Room, and was away several minutes. When +she returned, her face beamed triumph.</p> + +<p>"They won't enjoy their cocoa to-night!" she chuckled. "I've mixed two +teaspoonfuls of Gregory's powder with it! It will be a nice little +surprise for them, won't it?"</p> + +<p>"Sophonisba! I should rather think so! I say, let's turn down the gas +and scoot. We shall have Miss Kennedy coming along in a minute."</p> + +<p>The prefects came upstairs at ten o'clock, carrying their kettle. They +retired into their dormitory<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[103]</a></span> and shut the door. Two scouts from the +Cowslip Room, arrayed in dressing-gowns and bedroom slippers, presently +tiptoed down the passage, and listened outside. The door was thick, and +denied them the full benefit of the conversation, but they caught such +words as "cheek", "disgusting", and "abominable", so retreated +satisfied. They expected a storm next morning, but, rather to their +surprise, the prefects took no notice of the matter. Adah had decided +that it would be undignified to make a fuss.</p> + +<p>"It will fall flat if we say nothing!" she urged.</p> + +<p>"We'll just jolly well lock up our cocoa tin in future, though!" +announced Consie indignantly.</p> + + + +<hr /> + +<h2><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[104]</a></span> +<a name="viii" id="viii"></a>CHAPTER VIII<br /> +<span class="sub">Spring-heeled Jack</span></h2> + + +<p>If David Watson had not been notoriously careless and forgetful, the +events which will be narrated in this chapter might never have happened. +He was a bright boy, and well on in his form, but he had occasional +lapses of memory. In one of these he left his Latin dictionary in the +train. Now, if you are on the classical side of a large school, it is +not only a difficult but an impossible matter to get along without a +Latin dictionary of your own. To attempt to prepare your work by +borrowing your neighbour's book is like essaying to live on charity. +David realized this point immediately, and, instead of proceeding home +as usual by the 4.45 train, he turned into the town instead. There was a +second-hand book-stall in the market, which he thought might be worth a +visit. It had been recommended to him by one of the other boys, who +guaranteed the cheapness of its goods. Anthony, who stuck to David like +a Jonathan, went to help him to look.</p> + +<p>"I've just eighteen pence in my pocket," admitted David. "But I may get +one at that. It<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[105]</a></span> needn't be a particularly spanky one. Miller got a +ripping atlas last week for one and two. He showed it to me. It only had +Norway and Sweden lost out, and a few of the maps blotted."</p> + +<p>"I can lend you threepence," said Tony, "and you could leave your watch +or your penknife or something, I suppose."</p> + +<p>The market was a large covered hall, containing rows of stalls of all +kinds. The boys heroically resisted the attractions of oranges, +chestnuts, and sweets, and made for the second-hand books. A pile of +these, all jumbled together, were marked:</p> + +<p class="center"><span class="ws">BARGAINS. EDUCATIONAL, 1<i>s.</i></span> each.</p> + +<p>David and Anthony began to turn them over and look at them. They were +certainly an assorted lot. There were ancient geographies and grammars +dating back fifty or sixty years, catechisms of Scripture or history, +guides to knowledge, botanical questions, and even an odd volume or two +of sermons. A few of them were older still, and had long "S's" and calf +bindings. Regarded as educational ammunition, they were as antiquated as +flint-lock pistols. The boys rummaged among them for some time in vain, +but, at last, almost from the bottom of the pile, they disinterred a +fairly respectable Latin dictionary. It had lost its back cover and its +title page, but otherwise it seemed intact and clean. David took it to +the old man who presided over the stall, and tendered him a shilling. He +accepted it with reluctance.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[106]</a></span> +"Didn't know I'd let this slip in among the bargains," he grumbled. +"It's worth two and six if it's worth a penny. It came with a lot of +other books from a good house. Well, I suppose, as it was among the +shillings, you'll have to have it. You may thank your luck I made a +mistake."</p> + +<p>"A bargain's a bargain," said David, as he put the volume into his +satchel.</p> + +<p>Trains to Netherton were not very frequent, and the boys had to wait +some time at the station. They sat down on one of the seats, and David +opened his satchel and took out the Latin dictionary. He agreed with the +old book-stall man that he had got it cheap, and felt decidedly +satisfied with his purchase. As he turned over the leaves, a letter fell +out on to the platform. Anthony picked it up. It was a square envelope +sealed with red wax, and addressed: "To my son, Leonard."</p> + +<p>"Hallo," said Tony, "we've got hold of some chap's letter here!"</p> + +<p>"Great Judkins! So we have!"</p> + +<p>"Whom did the book belong to?"</p> + +<p>David turned to the cover, and there, in rather faded ink, he found +written:</p> + +<p>"George Reynolds, Parkhurst Academy, January, 1858."</p> + +<p>He gave a long-drawn whistle.</p> + +<p>"Here's a bit of stunt," he said. "Shouldn't mind guessing it belonged +to old Squire Reynolds."</p> + +<p>"Pamela's grandfather?"</p> + +<p>"You bet!"</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[107]</a></span> +"Was his name 'George'?"</p> + +<p>"So Ave said. And Pam's father's name was Leonard."</p> + +<p>"Then the letter was for him?"</p> + +<p>"I suppose it was—only he's dead."</p> + +<p>"What'll you do with it, then?"</p> + +<p>"Give it to Pamela."</p> + +<p>"What do you think's inside it?"</p> + +<p>"Don't I wish I knew!"</p> + +<p>"Suppose it's a will?"</p> + +<p>"Exactly my brain wave. Wouldn't it be priceless if it left everything +to Pamela?"</p> + +<p>"And turned old Hockheimer out of The Hall? Rather!"</p> + +<p>"One never knows. I'll put it in my pocket, and give it to Pam to-morrow +morning."</p> + +<p>The Watson boys sometimes overtook Pamela on the road to the station, +and every day they travelled by the same train to Harlingden. They made +a point of meeting her next morning, and David handed her the envelope, +explaining how it came into his possession.</p> + +<p>"I suppose you couldn't open it and see what's inside?" suggested +Anthony.</p> + +<p>Pamela looked doubtfully at the seal.</p> + +<p>"I think I ought to give it to Mother," she said. "I expect she'll show +it to me."</p> + +<p>"Don't let that precious uncle of yours get hold of it, that's all!" +warned David.</p> + +<p>"No, indeed! I'll be careful."</p> + +<p>"You'll tell us what it's about, won't you?" begged Tony the curious.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[108]</a></span> +"If Mother will let me."</p> + +<p>"Some day, perhaps, you'll be mistress of Lyngates Hall."</p> + +<p>"No such luck!" declared Pamela bitterly.</p> + +<p>Though she might disclaim any expectation of good fortune, the +remembrance of the letter nevertheless haunted Pamela all day long. She +kept feeling in her pocket to see that it was safe. In spite of herself, +bright fairy dreams floated through her mind, and mixed themselves up +with her lessons. Miss Peters had to tell her twice to pay attention. +She missed the explanation of a problem while she imagined herself +living at The Hall and riding a white pony, and got utterly wrong in +geology through planning how her mother should go up to London and buy +new clothes.</p> + +<p>Dream castles are the most delightful of possessions. We build them +according to our own pattern, and live in them as our fancy pleases us. +Those more sober dwellings that fate sends us are never half so +beautiful, though we generally have to put up with them. The day seemed +longer than usual to Pamela. She hurried off at four o'clock, though her +train did not start till 4.45, and she only had to wait at the station. +She did not happen to see the Watson boys, for they ran up so late that +they had to jump into the guard's van, and at Netherton they went into +the booking office to enquire about a lost parcel.</p> + +<p>Pamela walked home at a good pace, though the road was all uphill. Moss +Cottage, the little place which had been lent by Mr. Hockheimer to Mrs.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[109]</a></span> +Reynolds, was not a particularly attractive residence. It was rather +dark and damp, and much shaded by trees. It had no beautiful view, such +as there was at Walden. Its front windows faced the road, and the light +was obstructed by a large "monkey-puzzle". Poor Mrs. Reynolds had made +everything look as nice as she could, and was busying herself in trying +to get the neglected garden back into a state of cultivation. She was +burning weeds when her daughter arrived. Pamela opened the door and +entered the sitting-room, where the table was ready spread for tea. She +took the precious letter from her pocket, and smiling with pleasant +anticipation, put it upon her mother's plate. She would tell her all +about it at tea-time, over the bread and jam. Smelling the burning +weeds, she ran into the garden. Mrs. Reynolds paused in her occupation +of forking fresh fuel on to the bonfire.</p> + +<p>"Is that you, child? Then I'll go in and make the tea. How the evenings +are closing in! It will soon be dark when you get home. I wish you could +be a weekly boarder at school like Avelyn Watson."</p> + +<p>"I don't! I'd far rather come back to you every evening, Mummie."</p> + +<p>"I can't let you walk back from the station alone in the dark. I shall +soon have to begin to come and meet you in the afternoons."</p> + +<p>"Oh, Mummie, it's too far for you! I don't in the least mind walking +alone. Shall I go and shut up the fowls now, or have you done it?"</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[110]</a></span> +"Not yet; so you may run and shut them up while I make the tea."</p> + +<p>"You'll find a big surprise on the table, Mummie darling. Don't touch it +till I come, will you? I'll tell you all about it at tea."</p> + +<p>"Very well," smiled Mrs. Reynolds, who was used to Pamela's little +surprises.</p> + +<p>She was in the act of pouring on the boiling water when there was a rap +at the door, and her brother-in-law entered. Mr. Hockheimer generally +admitted himself in this fashion, without waiting for the door to be +answered—a lack of courtesy which invariably annoyed Mrs. Reynolds.</p> + +<p>"I was passing, so I came for that parcel I left the other day," he +explained. "You put it by in the cupboard, didn't you? Yes, there it is. +I'll take it with me. By the by, have you any paraffin to spare? I +happen to want a little."</p> + +<p>"I have some in the shed outside."</p> + +<p>"Can you give me some in a bottle?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, I'll go and fetch it."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Reynolds placed the teapot to keep hot on the hob and left the +room. Mr. Hockheimer came over to the fire, and stood warming his back +and humming snatches from an opera. Presently his eye caught the letter +on the table. He picked it up, looked narrowly at the handwriting, +turned it over and examined the seal. Then he thought for a moment with +narrowed eyes. Finally he slipped the envelope into his breast pocket, +and, catching up his parcel, made his way outside to the shed.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[111]</a></span> +"Is that bottle of paraffin ready?" he shouted. "I'm in a hurry, and +can't stay."</p> + +<p>"It's here. I was just looking for a piece of paper to wrap it in," +replied Mrs. Reynolds. "Won't you stop for tea?"</p> + +<p>"Haven't the time to-day. Never mind any paper, I don't want to wait. +The bottle will do well enough in my pocket. I must be off now. +Good-bye!"</p> + +<p>"Good-bye!" returned his sister-in-law, rather relieved at the shortness +of his visit. She washed her hands after pouring out the paraffin, and +came into the sitting-room, Pamela, who had been tidying herself +upstairs, entering at the same moment.</p> + +<p>"I'm glad we've got rid of Uncle!" smiled the latter. "I heard his +voice, and kept out of the way."</p> + +<p>"Naughty child!"</p> + +<p>"Well, Mummie, I can't help it. You know I don't like him. I don't care +if we are dependent on him; what I feel is, that we oughtn't to be. +There, I won't upset you by talking of him. I've something else I want +to tell you. Why, where's the letter?"</p> + +<p>"What letter?"</p> + +<p>"The letter that I put on your plate. Mummie, what have you done with +it?"</p> + +<p>There was an agony of apprehension in Pamela's voice.</p> + +<p>"I haven't seen it, dear," replied Mrs. Reynolds. "Why, yes, I remember +now I did notice a letter lying on the plate when I was making the tea.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[112]</a></span> +I was just going to look at it when your uncle came in. It's certainly +not there now."</p> + +<p>Two red spots mounted to Pamela's cheeks, and her eyes blazed sparks.</p> + +<p>"This is just about the limit!" she exploded. "There's not the least +shadow of a doubt! Uncle Fritz has stolen that letter!"</p> + +<p>While these events were taking place at Moss Cottage, David and Anthony +Watson were walking home from the station. They had lingered at the +booking office, and had loitered on the platform to talk to some +friends, and, when they finally made a start, they determined to take a +path through the woods instead of keeping to the high road. There were +two motives for this decision. In the first place, the woods belonged to +the Lyngates estate, and, though the public had an old-established right +of way, Mr. Hockheimer objected greatly to the foot-path being used, and +had several times vainly tried to close it. The boys felt that they +would cheerfully go out of their way to annoy Mr. Hockheimer. They +almost hoped they might meet him, and, in imagination, stood firmly on +the path, discussing the legal aspect of the matter, and quoting the +ancient county map as their authority.</p> + +<p>There was, however, another reason which led them from the high road. +During the last few days a curious and persistent rumour had circulated +in the neighbourhood as to a "something" that had appeared in the woods. +Whether supernatural or physical nobody knew, but several people<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[113]</a></span> +vouched for having seen it. Their stories, allowing a natural margin for +exaggeration, tallied wonderfully. The apparition wore dark clothes and +a black mask, and, instead of walking, careered along in a series of +mighty leaps and bounds. Owing to this extraordinary mode of +progression, it had been nicknamed "Spring-heeled Jack", and its +appearance had excited considerable terror. It was reported to be abroad +at dusk, and to haunt the more lonely portions of the woods.</p> + +<p>David and Anthony, having a thorough boyish love of adventure, thirsted +to get a sight of this mysterious personage. They climbed the hill over +the quarry, therefore, and struck up through the woods, keeping at first +to the foot-path, but they encountered nobody, not even Mr. Hockheimer. +When you are out for excitement, it is disappointing to have a perfectly +tame and uneventful walk. In the thickest part of the wood they paused +with one consent.</p> + +<p>"It's all bunkum about the trespassing! Let's go and explore!" tempted +David.</p> + +<p>"Right you are!" agreed Anthony, succumbing as readily as Eve yielded to +the serpent.</p> + +<p>It was a most interesting wood, with tall trees and smooth glades. It +undulated, and held crags here and there, so that you could never quite +see where you were going. The ground was strewn with acorns and beech +mast and horse-chestnuts, quite worth picking up. The boys wandered for +some little time, enjoying themselves immensely. They had no idea in +what direction they were<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[114]</a></span> going till they found themselves on the crest +of the hill. Behind them was the wood, but in front was a range of open +country looking towards the sea. They were standing on a platform of +rock, which shelved sharply down to a patch of gorse and heather.</p> + +<p>"Jolly view here——" began Anthony, but stopped with his sentence +unfinished, for David suddenly gripped his arm and forced him on his +knees behind a bush. Somebody was walking at the foot of the rock, and +one brief glimpse had been sufficient to identify the plump figure and +blond moustache of their arch-enemy, Mr. Hockheimer. It would never do +for him to catch them so far from the foot-path. He might wish to settle +up scores with them. They remembered the gleam in his eye when he had +shaken his fist and said he would not forget. If they waited quietly he +would probably go, and then they would hurry back to the path.</p> + +<p>But instead of going he waited, humming a tune. He was musical and fond +of operatic airs. There were other sounds, too, which the boys could not +understand. They grew curious and wanted to know what he was doing. They +dared not speak, but, agreeing by signs, they both crawled very +cautiously to the edge of the rock, and, concealed by some branches, +peeped over.</p> + +<p>Mr. Hockheimer was exactly below them. He was kneeling on the grass, and +had evidently just untied a parcel. A large bicycle lamp lay on the +paper. In his hand he held a bottle, with the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[115]</a></span> contents of which he +proceeded to fill the lamp. He felt in his pocket for matches, lighted +it, and placed it on a ledge of the rock. The dusk was falling fast, and +its glow shone brightly. From its position on the crest of the hill it +would be visible over miles of country, probably right out to sea. Mr. +Hockheimer hummed in a satisfied voice, as if he were pleased with +himself. He presently lighted a cigar; the fragrant smoke rose upwards +to the boys' nostrils. They could see him with extreme plainness, and +indeed could follow his every movement. He fumbled again in his pocket +and drew out an envelope, holding it in the glow of the lamp so as to +inspect it. David and Anthony gasped, for they recognized in a moment +the letter which they had given to Pamela only that morning. How had she +been so foolish as to allow her uncle to get hold of it? they asked +themselves. They were full of wrath at her stupidity. Mr. Hockheimer +turned over the envelope several times; he looked at the handwriting and +surveyed the seal, then he deliberately tore it open. He drew out a +piece of note-paper and began to read it. The boys, peering through the +brambles above, watched him narrowly, though they could not see the +document well enough to decipher it. Its contents seemed to disturb Mr. +Hockheimer. He said several untranslatable things in the German tongue. +Then he brought out his smart little silver box, hesitated, and struck a +match. The boys were in an agony of mind. He simply must not be allowed +to burn the paper. Sooner<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[116]</a></span> than that they would drop from the crag and +try to rescue it.</p> + +<p>The wind had risen and blew out the match. For a moment they breathed +again, but it was only a temporary respite, for he immediately struck +another. He shaded it carefully this time, and, taking the paper, +applied the corner to the flame.</p> + +<p>At that same moment a terrific and unearthly yell sounded in the wood +above. Mr. Hockheimer started and turned, dropping blazing letter and +match to the ground. There was a rustle among the bushes, and with an +enormous bound a dark figure sprang sheer from the rocks on to the +platform of grass, made a grab at the paper, seized it, put out the +fire, and leaped away with it into the gathering dusk of the undergrowth +below.</p> + +<p>It happened with such extraordinary rapidity and suddenness that it was +all over in a flash, and the boys only caught a glimpse of a black mask, +and two long legs that hopped with the agility of a spider-monkey. +Considerably scared, they crept back from their position of vantage, +and, rushing through the darkening wood, managed to regain the pathway. +It was not till they had finally crossed the stile and got into the high +road that they began to compare notes.</p> + +<p>"Well! We've seen it!" ejaculated David meaningly.</p> + +<p>"What is it?" whispered Anthony in awestruck tones. "Teddy Jones says +it's Old Nick himself. It was terrible when it yelled!"</p> + +<p>"Those legs were human," maintained David.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[117]</a></span> "I can't guess who it is, or +how he manages to jump like that, but I bet he's not a spook."</p> + +<p>Anthony, who inclined to the supernatural theory of the apparition, +shook his head doubtfully.</p> + +<p>"Spook or not, he's no friend to old Hockheimer," added David.</p> + +<p>"He's taken the letter—what was left of it."</p> + +<p>"Only a bit was burnt."</p> + +<p>"I wonder what was in it?"</p> + +<p>"Something that Hun wanted safely out of the way."</p> + +<p>"It must be Squire Reynolds's will!"</p> + +<p>"Well, Spring-heeled Jack's got it, at any rate, and whether he'll ever +turn it up again is the question. If we could find out who he is we +might get on the track of it."</p> + +<p>"We'll try, for Pamela's sake—though she's a bally idiot to let her +uncle take that letter!"</p> + +<p>"It strikes me we've got on the track of something else to-night," +continued David. "Did you notice that lamp?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, I did."</p> + +<p>"And where he stuck it?"</p> + +<p>"Rather!"</p> + +<p>"The light would shine right out to sea."</p> + +<p>"And aeroplanes could see it too, from there."</p> + +<p>"I've always suspected old Hockheimer. He ought to have been interned +long ago. I can't think why they let him be at large. The Government's +very lax with these Germans. If I were in Parliament I'd clear out the +whole set of them."</p> + +<p>Anthony drew a long breath.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[118]</a></span> +"We must watch him. Don't say too much to Pamela, in case the silly +goose blabs. Shall we tell her what we've seen to-night?"</p> + +<p>"On the whole I think we'd better not. She hates him, and yet perhaps +she might not altogether want to get him into trouble. We'll go +cautiously, and hunt about, and see what more we can find out."</p> + +<p>For a few days the boys purposely avoided Pamela, and she, on her part, +did not seek speech with them. She was intensely chagrined at the loss +of the letter, and did not like to acknowledge the humiliating fact to +them. She searched everywhere in the cottage, in case the wind might +have blown it from the table on to the floor, but it was not +forthcoming. Her mother vetoed the suggestion that Mr. Hockheimer had +taken it.</p> + +<p>"Surely, dear, he would never be so dishonourable! You must have put it +somewhere yourself."</p> + +<p>"But, Mummie, I know I didn't. And you said yourself that you saw it on +the table."</p> + +<p>"It's very mysterious," sighed Mrs. Reynolds. "We might ask your uncle +next time he comes if he took it by mistake."</p> + +<p>"He'd only deny it."</p> + +<p>"Pamela, you misjudge him."</p> + +<p>"I hate him, Mummie; he bullies us both."</p> + +<p>"We're entirely dependent on him, remember. He gives us the whole of our +little income, and pays your school bills. We mustn't quarrel with our +bread and butter. What should we do if he were to turn us out?"</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[119]</a></span> +"I don't know. I sometimes think I'd rather be a crossing-sweeper than +take his money. Oh, life's horrid, and I hate it all! I wish we'd stayed +in Canada, and never come to England. Wait till I'm a little older, +Mummie, and I'll get a post as teacher, and work for you. I wish I were +twenty-one!"</p> + +<p>"That's many years off, child, and in the meantime you've to get your +education. You must be civil to your uncle, Pamela."</p> + +<p>"I will, on the outside, but I can't help my feelings inside. They're +boiling!" demurred Pamela, rather defiantly, scrubbing the corners of +her eyes with her handkerchief, and settling down to her lesson books.</p> + + + +<hr /> + +<h2><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[120]</a></span> +<a name="ix" id="ix"></a>CHAPTER IX<br /> +<span class="sub">Concerns Day Girls</span></h2> + + +<p>The Silverside boarders had what might perhaps be termed rather +"genteel" hockey practices on Saturday afternoons. They played +half-heartedly. They were not extremely keen, and they gleefully put off +play in favour of a walk or of the cinema. Isobel even broached the +suggestion that hockey was a rough game, but that was when she was +suffering from the effects of an ugly whack across the shins, and her +opinion was naturally biased. Consie's tastes were all for quiet, and +she would have spent her holidays over a book if she had not been +forcibly dragged out. Joyce would have preferred a dancing class on +Saturday afternoons.</p> + +<p>In the meanwhile the day-girls' hockey club prospered exceedingly. They +had secured their old field, and had made fixtures with several other +clubs. Their elation over their successes did not tend to promote the +unity of Silverside. The school seemed more divided than ever.</p> + +<p>In November came the Sale of Work. It was an annual affair held in aid +of a Children's Home, and the Silverside girls worked the whole year<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[121]</a></span> +beforehand for it. They considered it a great event. People in +Harlingden were kind in coming to buy, and generally quite a nice little +sum was cleared. As the time drew near, Adah began to make preparations.</p> + +<p>"Will anyone who has contributions kindly bring them to me by the end of +the week?" she announced one day at "break".</p> + +<p>"Why should we bring them to <em>you</em>?" asked Annie Broadside, with a glint +of battle in her blue eyes.</p> + +<p>Adah's manner at once stiffened into the peculiar mixture of firmness +and patronage which she deemed it desirable to adopt towards day girls.</p> + +<p>"Why? What a question to ask! So that they can be put on the stall, of +course."</p> + +<p>"Thanks! But we'd rather arrange them for ourselves."</p> + +<p>"You can't do that. The boarders always arrange the bazaar."</p> + +<p>"But why, when <em>we</em> make the things, should <em>you</em> take them all and +arrange them? They're not <em>your</em> work!"</p> + +<p>Annie certainly had a most aggravating habit of asking questions. Adah +coloured with annoyance.</p> + +<p>"I'm a prefect, you see!" she shuffled.</p> + +<p>"There were no prefects last year, and you quote what you've always done +as your authority."</p> + +<p>"Well, really, the few things the day girls have brought have never +mattered much before. I'll keep a space for you, if you're so +particular, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[122]</a></span> you can arrange them as you like, as long as you don't +spoil the general look of the stall," conceded Adah, with a show of +magnanimity.</p> + +<p>"Thanks <em>so</em> much, your Majesty! It's really most kind of you to keep a +little room for our poor contribution!" curtsied Annie, with mock +gratitude.</p> + +<p>When the prefect's back was turned, she fizzed over to a sympathetic and +outraged circle. Adah's disdainful condescension was more than could be +brooked.</p> + +<p>"The boarders have always had <em>the</em> stall, and the day girls have humbly +helped!" said Gladys witheringly.</p> + +<p>"How delightful for us!"</p> + +<p>"They're to be the patricians, and we the plebeians!"</p> + +<p>"They expect us to dust their very boots!"</p> + +<p>"Look here," said Annie, "things are really getting beyond the limit. I +vote we get up a deputation, and go to Miss Thompson about this."</p> + +<p>"What a brain wave!"</p> + +<p>Miss Thompson listened, attentive and rather astonished, while the +deputation, very shy and red-faced, blurted out their request. She +tapped her desk thoughtfully with her fountain-pen, as if some new and +disturbing idea had suddenly risen on her horizon.</p> + +<p>"Certainly there will be ample room for two stalls, and if the day girls +want to have one to themselves, I can see no objection. Arrange it<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[123]</a></span> just +as you like, and bring your own decorations. Yes, you may have a variety +entertainment in one of the schoolrooms, and charge admission, if you +wish. It will make extra money."</p> + +<p>"You'll excuse our coming and asking?" apologized Gladys.</p> + +<p>"I'm always ready to hear you, and to make any concessions that are for +the good of the school," replied Miss Thompson, gazing at the delegates +as if they provided her with considerable food for thought.</p> + +<p>The deputation departed, feeling that they had scored their first real +triumph.</p> + +<p>"Look here!" preached Annie to the Hawthorners, "we've just got to brace +up. The boarders may put what they like on their stall, but our stall is +going to be bigger and handsomer, and have far prettier things, and take +ever so much more money than theirs. Every single girl of you has got to +do her bit. There must be no slackers over this business."</p> + +<p>The motive—if not strictly in accordance with the best +morality—appealed to the day girls. They responded gallantly, and set +all their home-folks working for the bazaar, as well as doing what they +could in their own spare time. They kept their activities strictly +secret from the ears of the boarders, but in private they compared notes +and rejoiced.</p> + +<p>"The new Lady Mayoress is to open the sale," announced Gladys one day.</p> + +<p>"Mrs. Parker? Why, surely she's aunt to little Violet Parker, isn't +she?"</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[124]</a></span> +"Of course she is."</p> + +<p>"I'm going to get hold of Violet and be decent to her," nodded Annie +sagely. "She's a sweet kid. I see possibilities through Violet. By the +by, can you find me a copy of the Harlingden city arms?"</p> + +<p>"It's a lion holding a broken chain. I saw it on a letter of Father's +the other day. I can easily get it for you."</p> + +<p>"Thanks! I've got a blossomy idea."</p> + +<p>The day of the bazaar was to be a whole holiday. The large schoolroom +was reserved for the sale, and the stalls were put up first thing in the +morning. The day girls had elected a committee of management, and six of +their number came to arrange their part of the fancy fair. They brought +flags, draperies, flowers, and pots of plants, and set to work to +decorate their stall. In the course of about half an hour it began to +look a most artistic production. The boarders, busy setting out their +wares at the other end of the room, cast surreptitious glances at it. It +was a humiliating fact for them, but they were forced to acknowledge +that it far surpassed their own efforts. They had never thought of a +canopy of white and gold, with a border of autumn leaves, or of +borrowing maidenhair ferns and forced Roman hyacinths.</p> + +<p>But the decorations were only the beginning of the day girls' triumph. +Their committee soon began to unpack boxes and spread out goods, most +beautiful work of every description, which left their rivals gasping. +The day girls, living at home,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[125]</a></span> had really had a much better opportunity +of asking their friends to help, and had made a very special effort.</p> + +<p>Gertrude Howells's cousin had contributed various dainty articles in +poker work; Lucy Smith's elder sister, who was learning jewellery work +at the School of Art, sent some most artistic little silver brooches and +chains made by her own hands. Iris Harden's aunt gave Venetian beads and +foreign curiosities; Monica Golding's family had plaited raffia baskets +in barbaric, but most effective combinations of colour. Maggie Stuart +caused a sensation by producing little boxes of delicious toffee—yes, +real home-made toothsome toffee, in spite of the sugar rationing!</p> + +<p>The boarders went on with their own preparations, and pretended not to +take much notice, but really the spirit was knocked out of them. They +had never expected the day girls to rise to such heights. They dressed +rather quietly for the festivities that afternoon.</p> + +<p>The sale was to open early, and at half-past two Miss Thompson, in her +best voile dress, and with her most affable company manner, was +welcoming the Lady Mayoress, a smiling, florid, rather flurried +personage in velvet and rich furs, who had another function at half-past +three, and wanted to get away as soon as was politely possible.</p> + +<p>"So kind of you to ask me," she fluttered. "I'm really interested in +schools—and education, you know. I'm afraid I'm not much of a speaker, +but—oh, yes, I'll just say a few words to open the sale.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[126]</a></span> Kind? Not at +all. It's a great pleasure to me to come, I assure you."</p> + +<p>The poor Lady Mayoress was new to her work, and palpably shy. Perhaps +she thought a crowd of schoolgirls an embarrassing audience. She hummed +and hawed and stammered a little in her speech, and glanced several +times at a piece of paper concealed behind her muff, but she +nevertheless managed to say something appropriate about the object of +the bazaar, and to wish it success.</p> + +<p>"I am very pleased to declare the Sale of Work open," she concluded with +a sort of gasp, as if thankful that her duty was done, and smiled +nervously at Miss Thompson, whose convex eyeglasses had been fixed upon +her with appreciation during the speech.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps you would like to look at the work now," murmured the +Principal.</p> + +<p>"Oh, certainly! I'd <em>love</em> to see it. What pretty things!"</p> + +<p>And the Lady Mayoress, though she was standing within two feet of Adah +Gartley and Consie Arkwright, actually turned her back on the boarders +and made for the day girls' stall! Her eyes were fixed upon the central +object displayed there, a satin cushion with the city arms embroidered +upon it. She examined it with admiration.</p> + +<p>"So beautifully done! And the colours are so effective! It will just +match my drawing-room. I shall be delighted to have it. How clever your +girls are, Miss Thompson! I suppose these are the prefects," smiling +graciously at Annie Broadside<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[127]</a></span> and Gladys Wilks. "My little niece tells +me about the school. She's so happy here."</p> + +<p>"These are not our prefects," demurred Miss Thompson. "They are at the +boarders' stall. Perhaps you would like to look at some of their work, +too."</p> + +<p>"Oh, with pleasure! Though I can't stay more than a minute. It's so +tiresome; I have another engagement, and mustn't be late. But I've time +for just a look, at any rate. Yes, the things are charming; they do the +girls credit, I'm sure! May I have this tray cloth and this tea cosy? +I'm so sorry to rush away, but I really must say good-bye."</p> + +<p>The Lady Mayoress departed, feeling no doubt that she had successfully +accomplished a civic and social duty, and quite unaware of the storm she +had left behind. The boarders were staring at their prefects in shocked +sympathy. The whole business seemed almost incredible. That they, the +old-established original Silversiders, who had always in former years +run the sale of work, should be overlooked and passed over in favour of +mere upstart day girls, was little short of an insult to the school.</p> + +<p>"She never even said 'How d'you do?' to Adah, and she shook hands with +Annie!" gasped Ethelberga to Janet.</p> + +<p>"And she spent three times as much at their stall as at ours!"</p> + +<p>"It's a shame!"</p> + +<p>The boarders felt that the afternoon had opened<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[128]</a></span> badly, and subsequent +events did not tend to soothe their outraged feelings. Nearly all the +day girls had invited relations or friends, who naturally went first to +their stall to buy, with the result that the pretty things soon began to +be cleared, and the money-box to grow heavy. Miss Thompson, anxious to +preserve a due balance in affairs, did her best by taking her own +special visitors to buy from the disconsolate prefects, and the +mistresses also nobly purchased many totally undesirable articles, for +which they would find no possible use. If it had not been for this help, +the boarders' stall would have had a poor innings. As it was, they +barely scored one-third of the whole proceeds of the sale.</p> + +<p>The Principal, in a pretty little speech next morning at nine o'clock, +spoke of the very gratifying results of the happy spirit of unity in a +school where all worked together for a good object, and the pleasure of +being able to send such a large cheque to the Children's Home. Adah, +with her eyes fixed on the bows of her shoes, listened grimly. It was +all nice enough, she thought, for head mistresses to make soothing +speeches, but boarders and day girls knew perfectly well that the +welding of rival factions at Silverside would not be accomplished yet a +while.</p> + +<p>Quite apart from the warring of opposite parties, there seemed to be an +element of unrest in the school. Formerly the boarders had been quite +content to spend the leisure of their evenings at sewing, games, or over +some of their numerous guilds.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[129]</a></span> Now, incited by the accounts of the day +girls, they were always asking to be taken in to Harlingden to concerts +or picture palaces. Miss Thompson considered that such expeditions upset +their preparation, and only allowed a very occasional outing. It was +irritating to the boarders to hear the day girls discussing various +entertainments, and to be openly pitied because they could not attend +them. The Cowslip Room in particular grumbled privately.</p> + +<p>"We never go to anything!"</p> + +<p>"Life's just a round of lessons!"</p> + +<p>"There's the most gorgeous thing on at the cinema this week."</p> + +<p>"I'd give my ears to see it!"</p> + +<p>"It's not our turn this week."</p> + +<p>"Strafe the wretched old turns!"</p> + +<p>Miss Thompson, in her efforts to avoid too much dissipation, had +established a new rule, by which the dormitories in regular sequence +were allowed leave. Every Wednesday afternoon certain little parties of +boarders trotted off to the town under escort of a governess, doing +shopping and often visiting a <em lang="fr">matinée</em>. No girl might go without +showing an exeat signed by the Principal. The chaperon-mistress was +expected to examine and file these permits before marshalling her flock.</p> + +<p>On this particular Wednesday, Laura, Janet, Irma, and Ethelberga had set +their hearts on seeing "The Temple Bells" at the cinema. The fact that +they had duly had their turn a fortnight before, and had witnessed a +wildly exciting performance of "Love and War in the East", only made +them<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[130]</a></span> keener for more thrills. When Avelyn, a little tired of the +general atmosphere of lamentation, suggested palliating circumstances, +their wrath blazed out in her direction.</p> + +<p>"It's all very well for <em>you</em> to talk!"</p> + +<p>"You can go on Friday evening or Saturday, if you like."</p> + +<p>"You're half a day girl, after all!"</p> + +<p>"You don't really sympathize with <em>us</em>!"</p> + +<p>"All right! Don't get baity! As a matter of fact, I never come in to +Harlingden on Saturdays, so you've no need to envy me!"</p> + +<p>"Envy you! Envy a <em>weekly</em> boarder!" sneered Laura, with a whole world +of condescension in her voice. "My dear child, I think you really don't +understand what you're talking about! After all, you've only been at +Silverside two months!"</p> + +<p>It is not a particularly pleasant matter to find the public opinion of +your dormitory dead against you. You are apt to get awkward knocks in +consequence. Avelyn put up with some very withering remarks that Tuesday +evening, and consequently felt sore.</p> + +<p>"They're absolute blighters to-day," she thought. "I wish I could play a +rag on them! It would just serve them jolly well right!"</p> + + + +<hr /> + +<h2><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[131]</a></span> +<a name="x" id="x"></a>CHAPTER X<br /> +<span class="sub">Mischief</span></h2> + + +<p>Avelyn, I regret to say, was no ideal heroine of fiction, but a +particularly human girl, with a strong spice of mischief in her +composition. She considered that she owed her room-mates a grudge, and +she cast about for a suitable opportunity of paying the debt. As it +happened, fortune favoured her. Miss Kennedy sent her to the study to +fetch a book that was required. She knocked at the door, and as nobody +answered she turned the handle and went in. The room was empty. She +found Volume III of the <i>Encyclopædia Britannica</i>, and as she turned +from the bookcase she cast an eye on Miss Thompson's desk. It was spread +with papers, and in front, just beside the inkpot, was a whole pile of +exeat forms. They were little printed sheets bearing the words:</p> + +<div class="block"> +<p class="center">SILVERSIDE</p> + +<p class="noi"><i>I hereby certify that..............................is allowed +leave of absence for the afternoon.</i></p> + +<p class="right"><i>Signed.............................</i><br /> +<br /> +<i>Date.................................</i></p> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[132]</a></span> +When a girl visited the town, she was given one of these forms, duly +filled in by the Principal, without whose signature it was not valid. +The system, perhaps, savoured of red tape, but it saved the mistresses +the trouble of enquiring from head-quarters who were to compose their +parties. Avelyn looked critically and covetously at the exeats. Each +represented so much fun to one girl. A sudden idea struck her. She +laughed aloud at the thought of it, and yielding to the impulse, counted +out four of the forms, and popped them into her pocket. Then she fled +back to the waiting Miss Kennedy with Volume III of the <i>Encyclopædia +Britannica</i>.</p> + +<p>Wednesday afternoons at Silverside were chiefly devoted to optional +subjects. The violin master came to give lessons, and several girls +whose spines were suspected of symptoms of crookedness, did special +physical exercises under the eye of a gymnastic teacher. The elocution +pupils met in the Sixth Form room, and learned to recite Shakespeare, +while those who were taking oil-painting wended their way to the studio. +Those unfortunates whose parents did not rise to "extras" were herded +together in the dining-room, regardless of forms, and did plain sewing +or printing. A band of privileged boarders, under guardianship of a +mistress, started at 2.30 for the dissipations of the city. Now at 2.15 +Avelyn was due for her music lesson. She put her pieces and studies into +her case, washed her hands carefully, retied her hair ribbon, scented +her pocket-handkerchief, and sauntered down the corridor. She paused for +a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[133]</a></span> moment at the door of the Fifth Form room, then entered. Laura Talbot +was sitting disconsolately on one of the desks, girding at life to a +sympathetic audience. Avelyn thrust the four exeat forms into her hand, +and remarked:</p> + +<p>"For the Cowslip Room! And I've got to go to my music lesson! Isn't it +hard luck! Ta-ta! I'm late as it is, and Mr. Harrison gets baity if he's +kept waiting."</p> + +<p>Laura stared at the forms for a moment, utterly staggered, then +incomprehension changed to joy, and she jumped from the desk.</p> + +<p>"Irma! Janet! Ethelberga! We've got exeats! Oh, jubilate! Scurry quick +and get ready! We've only just time to change our things. Oh, I say! To +think of seeing 'The Temple Bells' after all!"</p> + +<p>An agitated ten minutes followed, in which the four girls almost tumbled +over one another in the hurry of making their toilets. Laura put on her +best hat and birthday furs, Ethelberga sported a bracelet, Irma, after +foraging at the back of her top drawer, was distinctly seen to abstract +a powder puff and apply it to the tip of her nose, Janet tried to coax +her fingers into new gloves a quarter of a size too small, there was an +unlocking of cashboxes and a taking out of money. At the eleventh hour +they sped down the stairs into the hall. The little party of elect were +drawn up ready to go, and only waiting for Miss Peters. That lady had +been impeded in her dressing, and consequently came hurrying up, very +much flustered.</p> + +<p>She was a gentle, fair-haired, middle-aged, depressed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[134]</a></span> little person, +who had been pitchforked into teaching against her will. Her weak point +was discipline, and the girls knew it, and took base advantage. Now, +instead of forming an orderly crocodile, they clustered round her, +clamouring all sorts of requests for things they wanted to do in town.</p> + +<p>"If there's time! Dear me, I don't know! I can't promise anything! It +will all depend!" replied the harassed mistress.</p> + +<p>She collected the exeats and counted them automatically. In her flurry +she never noticed that four of them were not filled in with names or +signed. Laura had handed them to her without herself noticing the +omission. There was nobody to rectify the mistake, so the four +room-mates, in most exuberant spirits, started in the crocodile for +Harlingden. They accomplished a few purchases in the town, but poor Miss +Peters found it so difficult to keep her flock together, that she was +forced to abandon the shops, and suggested the cinema. She considered +her rôle of duenna anything but an enviable position, and would +willingly, that afternoon, have exchanged jobs with a charwoman. She +breathed more freely when she had piloted her lively young charges up +the stairs at the picture palace, and ensconced them in a giggling +double row in the balcony. For a blissful hour and a half they would be +out of mischief, with eyes fixed only on the marvellous scenes from +India.</p> + +<p>Meantime, while Laura, Irma, Janet, and Ethelberga were staring +fascinated at the bewildering<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[135]</a></span> East, following the heroine through a +series of dazzling adventures, things at Silverside were taking a +prosaic and totally different turn. It happened that Irma and Janet, +whose French recitations that morning had been a dismal failure, were +due in the Fourth Form room that afternoon to say their returned poetry +lesson to Mademoiselle. She waited a quarter of an hour for them, then, +as they did not turn up, she instituted enquiries. Several reliable +witnesses informed her that they had been seen (and envied) departing +with the crocodile for Harlingden. Mademoiselle's temper was naturally +peppery, and under such provocation as this she burst forth in great +indignation:</p> + +<p>"What! Go out to pleasure when I tell them to come and say lessons to +me! It is what you call the limit! Of what use to try to teach, if they +are to do only what they like? I go straight to tell Miss Thompson!"</p> + +<p>Mademoiselle was brimming over with wrath, and poured out her complaints +vehemently in the study. The Principal's lips tightened as she listened.</p> + +<p>"I did not give exeats to Janet and Irma. This shall be enquired into, +Mademoiselle," she replied.</p> + +<p>Miss Thompson meant what she said. When the crocodile returned from +Harlingden, she was waiting in the hall, and ordered Laura, Irma, Janet, +and Ethelberga to report themselves in her study. The scene which +followed was short and stormy. The girls, whose minds had scarcely yet +become detached from Indian jungles and Hindoo<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[136]</a></span> palaces, were suddenly +accused of having played truant. They denied <i>in toto</i>, pleading that +they had exeats.</p> + +<p>"Where did you get these exeats?" demanded Miss Thompson sternly.</p> + +<p>"They were handed to us in the schoolroom."</p> + +<p>"By whom?"</p> + +<p>With one consent the girls hesitated. They did not wish to throw the +blame upon Avelyn.</p> + +<p>"You refuse to tell me?" said the Principal. "Very well, you may go to +the First Form room, where your tea will be sent to you. I shall sift +the matter thoroughly after preparation. It is disgraceful that such a +thing should happen at Silverside."</p> + +<p>When preparation was over that evening, the boarders were ordered to +assemble in the big schoolroom. They went in much astonishment, +wondering for what reason they were thus summoned. A whisper got about +that four girls were in trouble, but on what exact count nobody seemed +to know.</p> + +<p>They had scarcely taken their places when Miss Thompson entered. She +looked worried and serious. A decorous silence pervaded the room. +Everyone was alert with expectation and intense interest. There was a +sensation as when thunder is in the air. After an impressive pause, the +Principal, standing so that her eyes scanned all the faces fronting her, +stated the case briefly.</p> + +<p>"A thing has occurred to-day which has never happened here before. Four +girls went into Harlingden<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[137]</a></span> without leave. They tell me that they were +handed exeats by a schoolfellow, and believed that they had my +permission for the holiday. I have examined the exeats that were given +in to Miss Peters, and find that four of them are unsigned. I can only +conclude that somebody must have taken these exeats from my study. I +intend to find out who that person is. Can anybody give any information +on the subject?"</p> + +<p>There was absolute stillness in the room. Every girl looked at her +neighbour. Avelyn sat as if petrified. Until that moment it had never +struck her that her practical joke might have any serious issue. She had +not expected her room-mates to believe that the exeats were genuine. She +thought that when they looked at them they would notice at once that +they were unsigned, and therefore not valid. It was incredible that Miss +Peters should also have accepted them. What was intended for a piece of +silly fun had assumed the aspect of a very grave fault.</p> + +<p>"I will ask Miss Peters to tell us what she knows," said Miss Thompson, +turning to the mistress.</p> + +<p>Miss Peters, much worried and embarrassed, could only state that she had +counted the exeats, which tallied with the number of girls she had taken +in to town. In her hurry she had not examined every paper, and could not +say whether they were signed or not. It was an unpleasant situation for +the poor governess. She was conscious that she had been slack in the +performance<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[138]</a></span> of her duties, and that it was owing to her negligence that +the affair had been possible. Though the Principal did not openly blame +her, she felt that she stood reproved before the school. Laura, Janet, +Irma, and Ethelberga sat overwhelmed and injured, but stubbornly +determined not to betray their room-mate. They felt that they would +rather take the blame themselves than sneak.</p> + +<p>"I give you all one last chance," said Miss Thompson. "Can any girl +throw a light on this unfortunate affair?"</p> + +<p>The head mistress spoke clearly and slowly. Her glance passed along row +after row of young faces, as if she would read their very souls. A +minute of ghastly quiet followed, a horrible minute that seemed as long +as a year. Then Avelyn rose. She was very pale, and stood erect with her +head thrown a little back.</p> + +<p>"I think I can clear it up, Miss Thompson," she answered, in a voice +that was steady, but full of suppressed emotion. "It was I who gave out +those exeats."</p> + +<p>"<em>You</em>, Avelyn Watson! And on what authority? From where did you get +them?"</p> + +<p>"From your study table."</p> + +<p>"<em>From my study table!</em>" repeated Miss Thompson, her manner growing +still more grave. "What were you doing in my study?"</p> + +<p>Avelyn was thoroughly ashamed of herself, but she did not hesitate.</p> + +<p>"I was sent to fetch a book. I saw the exeats lying on the table, and I +took four of them to give<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[139]</a></span> to the girls. I meant it as a joke. I did not +think they would believe they were real ones."</p> + +<p>A murmur of amazement, almost a laugh, circulated through the room. Miss +Thompson checked it sternly.</p> + +<p>"Do you understand, Avelyn Watson, what a liberty you have taken? You +were sent into my study for a certain purpose, and you took advantage of +the privilege of entering my room to peruse the papers on my desk, and +to steal—yes, I use the word deliberately—to <em>steal</em> some of them. I +don't know how you view such conduct, but at Silverside we consider it +utterly unworthy of a lady. You owe me an instant apology."</p> + +<p>Avelyn writhed under her mistress's scathing words. "I'm very sorry, +Miss Thompson. I never thought of it as anything but a joke. I apologize +most sincerely. I didn't mean to get anybody into trouble."</p> + +<p>The Principal looked searchingly at Avelyn.</p> + +<p>"You have been guilty of a very grave breach of discipline," she +replied. "I accept your apology because you have spoken up and +confessed, but I cannot let such an episode go unpunished. Until you +return home on Friday afternoon you are not to speak to a single girl in +the school. You will attend classes as usual, but you will take your +meals in the studio, and will sit alone there during recreation hours. +You are also prohibited from writing any letters, or taking any books +from the library. You may spend your time upon your lessons. Go to the +studio now, and your supper<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[140]</a></span> will be brought to you. I put every girl on +her honour not to speak or write to Avelyn Watson until next Monday."</p> + +<p>Avelyn walked out of the room quite steadily, but with downcast eyes. +She had the feeling of one who has fallen suddenly into a pit. It was a +horrible experience to be there arraigned, tried, and found guilty +before all her companions. Miss Thompson's sarcastic comments hurt her +more than the punishment. She spent the rest of the evening alone in the +studio, and was left there half an hour beyond her usual bedtime. When +she went at last to her own dormitory the other girls were in bed, and +feigned to be asleep. Miss Kennedy came in first thing in the morning, +and told her that she must dress in the bath-room. All day long her +"Coventry" was preserved. The girls, indeed, cast surreptitious glances +of sympathy at her, but they were on their honour not to speak or write, +and they did not break their word. It was a hard penance to sit by +herself, without even a story-book to amuse her. She felt specially +lonely after four o'clock, when she knew her friends would be laughing +and chatting together round the fire, and perhaps roasting chestnuts.</p> + +<p>The studio was not a particularly cheerful room for solitary +confinement. As the dusk closed in, the casts loomed like white ghosts +from the corners, and she could almost fancy that the eyes of the +plaster Venus deliberately winked at her. She had no matches, and nobody +came in to light the gas. She had not even the satisfaction of a fire to +poke,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[141]</a></span> for the studio was heated with hot-water pipes. She did not +expect her tea to be brought to her before 5.30.</p> + +<p>"If I weren't going home to-morrow I don't know what I should do," she +thought. "Thank goodness I'm only a weekly boarder! I do think they +might have come and lit the gas."</p> + +<p>The room was getting more and more dim, and Avelyn's spirits fell in +exact ratio. She was beginning to feel an almost superstitious horror of +the plaster Venus. Suppose it were to come to life, like Pygmalion's +statue of Galatea? The bare fancy gave her shivers, and a sudden sound +made her turn with a start. It was nothing less than an unmistakable tap +on the outside of the window. Avelyn's nerves were strung at highest +pitch. She almost screamed aloud. Peering in through the darkness was a +face. She forced herself to approach and look, and with a revulsion of +feeling recognized the enquiring countenance of her brother David, with +his freckled nose pressed flat against the glass. He tapped again, and +she opened the window.</p> + +<p>"Dave! You mascot! How did you get here?"</p> + +<p>"Climbed up the spout!" chuckled David. "It was quite easy. Move out of +the way! I'm coming in."</p> + +<p>He dropped inside the room, then turning to the window again, gave a +soft whistle.</p> + +<p>"Tony's down below," he explained, "and he'll swarm up too, now I've +given him the signal. I'll just lend him a hand over that last piece of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[142]</a></span> +coping. Here he is! Come on, old chap! We've struck the right shanty +after all. Told you you might trust your grandfather!"</p> + +<p>Anthony made his appearance with equal caution. His round face was +wreathed in delighted smiles.</p> + +<p>"It was a little difficult to fix exactly <em>which</em> window," he +volunteered.</p> + +<p>"But how did you know I was here?" asked Avelyn ecstatically.</p> + +<p>"We met Pamela at the station, and she told us all about it. So, instead +of going home by the 4.45, we thought we'd come up and see how you were +getting on."</p> + +<p>"We made Pam describe which room you were in," added David. "I say, it's +a bit of beastly bad luck for you! Pretty stiff, I call it, to be shut +up here!"</p> + +<p>"It's too ghastly for words!"</p> + +<p>"Cheer oh! We've brought you something. Look!" David felt in his pocket, +and produced a paper bag full of toffee and a copy of <i>Tit Bits</i>. "It'll +do to read. We'd have got you more, only we didn't happen to have much +money with us."</p> + +<p>"It was lucky we met Pam before we got into the train," commented +Anthony. "We were earlier than usual at the station to-day. As a rule we +tear up at the last moment."</p> + +<p>"It was ripping of you to come!"</p> + +<p>"Well, we couldn't desert you, old sport, at such a pinch."</p> + +<p>"I don't believe anyone could have such decent<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[143]</a></span> brothers." Avelyn gazed +at him through the gathering darkness with admiration.</p> + +<p>At that moment a tread of footsteps and a rattle of crockery sounded in +the passage.</p> + +<p>"Goody! It's my tea coming!" she gasped.</p> + +<p>There was not time for the boys to make their exit through the window. +While the door handle was turning they fled to what cover they could +find. David took shelter behind the pedestal of Apollo, and Anthony +crouched in a corner among some drawing boards. Fortunately it was Miss +Dickens who entered, and Miss Dickens was short-sighted.</p> + +<p>"Take this tray from me, Avelyn," she commanded. "Dear me, you're all in +the dark here! Has nobody been to light the gas yet?"</p> + +<p>"No, Miss Dickens."</p> + +<p>"I must fetch some matches, then. Be careful not to upset that tray as +you put it down."</p> + +<p>The second her back was turned the boys flew to the window, and, +dropping out one after the other, made their way safely down the spout +into the garden below, whence they waved parting salutations, and +retreated with all speed. Avelyn had just time to hide the toffee and +the <i>Tit Bits</i> before Miss Dickens returned with the matches and lit the +gas. She assumed an air of appropriate subjection and melancholy before +her mistress, which at the moment she certainly did not experience.</p> + +<p>Until four o'clock on Friday her punishment continued. Not a single word +was exchanged between herself and her schoolfellows. She had<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[144]</a></span> never felt +so glad to go home. The week-end made a break, and when she returned to +school on Monday she found herself apparently forgiven at head-quarters, +and no more a black sheep, but an ordinary member of society. Her +room-mates' attitude was a mixture of admiration and gratitude.</p> + +<p>"You're the limit, Ave!" said Irma.</p> + +<p>"I'd never have thought of it myself," admitted Janet.</p> + +<p>"It was such a topping idea!" chuckled Laura.</p> + +<p>"And we all got just the very time of our lives at 'The Temple Bells', +thanks to you!" added Ethelberga.</p> + +<p>"But I never intended it for anything but a joke!" protested Avelyn.</p> + + + +<hr /> + +<h2><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[145]</a></span> +<a name="xi" id="xi"></a>CHAPTER XI<br /> +<span class="sub">Moss Cottage</span></h2> + + +<p>Though Avelyn was happy enough as a boarder at Silverside, the real +focus and centre of her life lay at Walden. The little house, with its +romantic surroundings, had touched a very deep chord in her nature. Home +had been dear in Harlingden because it was home, but now it was a magic +spot, a palace of fairy dreams, a place where new and hitherto +undreamed-of interests and ideals had suddenly leaped into being. The +glamour of it seemed to begin when she stepped out of the train at +Netherton on Friday afternoons and started on her walk to Lyngates. +Different neighbourhoods seem to have different scents. This one smelled +of lichens and green ferns, and moist, warm, rain-splashed earth, a +half-pungent odour that she got used to directly, but which struck her +afresh each time as she returned to it. Every inch of the road had grown +dear to her, and she would welcome each clump of ferns or gurgling reach +of stream as if she were greeting old friends. After five days in the +prosaic, matter-of-fact, workaday, self-contained little world of +school, her week-ends seemed to belong to a different planet.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[146]</a></span> +Avelyn was a girl who loved sometimes to be quite alone. She had a +favourite seat on the orchard wall among the ivy, where she would curl +herself up with her back against an apple tree and watch the landscape +below. So changeful and wonderful were the effects of storm and sunshine +over this valley, that it never looked for one half-hour the same. +Sometimes there would be sunrise tints of rose and violet, sometimes a +soft yellow haze, sometimes storm-clouds would roll from end to end, or +perhaps a magnificent rainbow would span the gorge like an ethereal +bridge, or, grander still, the lightning would flash its wicked forks +over the hills from summit to base, gleaming against a background of +inky darkness.</p> + +<p>The very air at Walden seemed softer than at Harlingden. It was a mild +autumn; leaves lingered long on the trees and made the woods gorgeous, +and traveller's-joy hung in exuberant masses over the hedgerows, like a +soft silver cloud trying to veil the growing bareness beneath.</p> + +<p>One Saturday early in December Avelyn started off to see Pamela. It was +some distance to Moss Cottage, and, instead of walking by the high road, +she meant to take a path that led up the gorge and across the hill. It +was a glorious morning; a grey wind-swept sky showed, here and there, +bright patches of blue between the masses of heavy clouds that were +rolling down from the hill-tops like smoke from a cauldron, and fitful +gleams of sunshine, bursting out in wonderful brilliance, made +marvellous effects of light and shadow. The river,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[147]</a></span> winding slowly +through the marsh lands, was now vivid blue, now inky purple, as it +reflected the clouds or the sunshine; a mass of larch-clad hill-side +showed dark in contrast to the red of the ploughed field on its summit, +which was catching the light descending in rays from one bright patch +above. In a few moments all had changed: the larches were tipped with +gold, the marsh lands were purest emerald, and the hills veiled in filmy +mists floating like threads of gossamer down the slopes. Avelyn turned +from this wide prospect and plunged up the glen, with her face towards +the hill whence the mist was rolling. Ages ago a glacier must have +slidden down there, and left its mark on the huge boulders which lay +scattered everywhere around. Over this rough bed a stream, swollen by +days of incessant rain, thundered along, its brown, peat-stained waters +churned to the whitest spray as it forced its way in leaping cataracts +over the rocks. Stepping-stones, which could be easily crossed in July, +were deep under feet of foam, and the lower boughs of the trees were +washed and swayed by the flood. It was so sheltered that the gale, which +had stripped the leaves on the hill-side above, had spared enough here +to tint the gorge with gold and brown. Some of the oaks were still +green; a birch displayed the purest Naples yellow; low-growing mountain +ashes and alders had kept their summer clothing intact, and the thick +undergrowth of briar and bramble was verdant as ever. Even more +beautiful, perhaps, were the bare boughs of the hazel copse, the +exquisite tender shades of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[148]</a></span> which were such a subtle blending of purples +and greys as to defy the most cunning brush that artist ever wielded, +and, contrasted with an occasional pine, or holly, or ivy tree, made a +dream of delicate colour.</p> + +<p>The boulders were almost completely covered with vivid green mosses, in +sheets so thick and deep and compact that a slight pull would raise a +yard at a time. Here and there among them were tiny bright red +toadstools, or some of the larger purple or orange varieties that had +lingered on since October. On a hazel twig Avelyn found the curious +birds'-nest fungus, with its tiny eggs packed neatly inside. The day was +so mild that a squirrel was taking a whiff of fresh air, waving his +feathery tail from a fir tree overhead, but at the sight of a human +being he disappeared suddenly into a hollow in a big tree, where no +doubt he had established cosy winter quarters. There were few +birds—perhaps they did not like the dampness or the roar of the +water—but Avelyn caught sight of a dipper darting down the stream, a +flight of long-tailed tits twittering noisily for a moment or two on a +tree-top, and a heron sailing majestically towards the mountains. On the +brambles the unpicked blackberries still hung ripe, though so absolutely +sodden and tasteless that they were not worth the eating; there was even +a spray of blossom left here and there. A branch of scarlet hips shone +brightly in the sunlight; the birds, sated with yew berries, had spared +it thus far, and it rivalled the holly on the bush close by, while +trails of bryony<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[149]</a></span> berries repeated the colour with varieties of lemon +and orange. There were a few wild flowers, even in December—a belated +foxglove, a clump of ragwort, a blue harebell, or a stray specimen of +buttercup, campion, herb robert, yarrow, thistle, and actually a +strawberry blossom. The tall equisetum lingered on the boggy bank, and +ferns were everywhere green; great clumps of the common polypody clung +to the tree-trunks and flourished on boughs high overhead, and under the +rocks grew the delicate fronds of the English maidenhair, or the rarer +beech fern.</p> + +<p>Avelyn had at last reached the waterfall. The great white cascade leaped +over a ledge of rock, and dashed with such thundering force into the +pool below that all the air around was filled with floating mist on +which the sun formed a dancing rainbow. As each neighbourhood has its +own distinctive scent, so each stream has its own peculiar sound, as if +it would give us some message that it has no words to convey. The little +gurgling brook tries to tell us cheery things; the slow-flowing river +has a sadder story; the trout stream babbles kindly hopes. To Avelyn the +leaping, rushing cascade, with its whirl of living, dashing foam, seemed +to be calling out in a voice that rose and fell with the roar of the +waters: "Therefore with Angels and Archangels, and with all the company +of Heaven, we laud and magnify Thy glorious name".</p> + +<p>She stood a long time gazing at the foam and the mist and the rainbow, +then she turned and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[150]</a></span> plunged up among the trees to the head of the glen. +Looking back she felt as if she had held Nature, or something bigger +than Nature, tight by the hand.</p> + +<p>From the top of the gorge was an easy walk across fields to Moss +Cottage. In spite of the bright morning the little house looked gloomy +among the trees. It always struck Avelyn with an air of extreme +melancholy. She was almost morbidly sensitive to impressions. She +decided that she would not go to the front door, because she would then +be certain to see Pamela's mother, and somehow she felt rather +frightened of poor, quiet, retiring Mrs. Reynolds. She knew that her +friend would probably be at work in the garden, so she tacked into the +wood and climbed the palings at the back. Only half of the ground behind +the cottage had as yet been brought into cultivation, and the part where +Avelyn descended was still a wilderness. There were large rocks and +tangled masses of brambles, and faded clumps of ragwort and teasel, and +yellow bracken stumps. Not far away, however, was a newly-dug border, +with a spade lying on the ground, and Pamela's hat. Pamela herself was +not to be seen, but surely she must be somewhere near. Avelyn prowled +about in search of her. She did not want to go up to the cottage, and +decided that if her friend were indoors she would wait until she came +out again. Possibly she might be in the hen-house. That was certainly an +alternative. She had heard Pamela mention hens. In the distance some +roofs<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[151]</a></span> were visible which looked like outbuildings. She went to +investigate. Right in the far corner of the garden, almost indeed in the +wood itself, and thickly embedded in trees, she came upon a ramshackle, +tumble-down, two-storied kind of stable. A giant oak, shrouded with ivy, +stretched out long protecting arms and almost hid it from view; the roof +was built against the very bole of the tree, whose branches sheltered +the windows. Was Pamela here? Avelyn gave a long coo-e-e and called her +name. The next moment a startled face looked out from the upper window.</p> + +<p>"Hallo, Pam!" shouted Avelyn gleefully, "I've unearthed you at last, old +sport!"</p> + +<p>"Wait a sec. I'll come down," returned her friend in a cautious voice.</p> + +<p>Pamela appeared from out the stable door, with a rainbow face in which +storm and sunshine seemed to be struggling.</p> + +<p>"I never expected to see you, Ave! Have you dropped from the skies?"</p> + +<p>"No, climbed over the palings. I thought I'd be sure to find you +somewhere about in the garden. I saw your hat, and went to look for +you."</p> + +<p>"Yes. I was gardening."</p> + +<p>"Is this your hen-house?"</p> + +<p>"No, it's not the hen-house, it's—just a kind of stable."</p> + +<p>"It reminds me of the Swiss Family Robinson, or Robin Hood's shanty in +the depths of Sherwood Forest. You could climb up that tree if you got +on to the roof."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[152]</a></span> +As Avelyn's eyes glanced up the bole of the huge oak Pamela's followed +with a look of strained anxiety. She laid her hand on her friend's arm +and drew her inside the stable. She seemed ill at ease.</p> + +<p>"What's the matter, Pam?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, nothing!"</p> + +<p>"You're not yourself at all."</p> + +<p>"Yes, indeed I am."</p> + +<p>"I don't believe you're pleased to see me!"</p> + +<p>"Ave! I've been dreaming of you all the morning."</p> + +<p>"Then what is it?"</p> + +<p>Pamela was silent.</p> + +<p>"Something's worrying you. I can see that plainly enough."</p> + +<p>"Yes. I own I'm worried."</p> + +<p>"Won't you tell me?"</p> + +<p>"I can't."</p> + +<p>"Is it a secret?"</p> + +<p>"It is just at present. I want to think it over."</p> + +<p>While she spoke Pamela kept glancing anxiously out at the door. She +suddenly turned with frightened eyes.</p> + +<p>"Ave! Uncle Fritz is coming! You must hide, quick! He mustn't catch you +here for all the world! Run behind this stall. Don't move till he's +gone."</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"><a name="crouched" id="crouched"></a> +<img src="images/gs03.jpg" width="400" height="625" alt="AVELYN, CROUCHED UNDER THE MANGER, COULD HEAR THE +BULLYING TONE IN HIS VOICE" title="" /> +<span class="caption">AVELYN, CROUCHED UNDER THE MANGER, COULD HEAR THE +BULLYING TONE IN HIS VOICE</span> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[153]</a></span> +She hustled Avelyn into the darkest corner of the stable, then herself +sat down on the foot of the ladder that led to the floor above. A sound +of footsteps brushing the grass was heard from outside, and in another +moment Mr. Hockheimer entered.</p> + +<p>"What are you doing down here?" he asked sharply. "I told you to stop +upstairs."</p> + +<p>"I've only just come down."</p> + +<p>"Any message?"</p> + +<p>"No, none at all."</p> + +<p>"One might come just when you are fooling about here," he frowned. "Why +don't you do as I tell you?"</p> + +<p>Avelyn, crouched under the manger, could not see his face, but she could +hear the bullying tone in his voice.</p> + +<p>"Do you think I feed you and educate you for you to do just as you +like?" continued Mr. Hockheimer angrily. "What would become of you if it +weren't for me, I should like to know? Another time when I set you to do +anything you'll do it, or I'll know the reason why. Here, get up and let +me pass!"</p> + +<p>He pulled her roughly off the ladder and walked up himself. His +footsteps creaked on the boarded floor above, then all was silence. +Pamela crept softly up the ladder, peeped into the room above, and +descended as quietly as she came; then, crossing to the stall where +Avelyn was hidden, put her finger on her lips for silence and beckoned +her friend towards the door. She led her hurriedly along the garden. +Neither spoke a word till they reached the palings.</p> + +<p>"I'm awfully sorry I came, Pam!" apologized Avelyn.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[154]</a></span> +"Never mind, you couldn't help it. How should you know Uncle Fritz would +be here?"</p> + +<p>"I certainly shouldn't have come if I had known."</p> + +<p>"Who would? Ave, have you ever seen a little wild linnet get into a +bird-catcher's net?"</p> + +<p>"No."</p> + +<p>"I have. It runs and struggles and beats its wings, and the more it +tries to escape the worse it gets caught in the meshes. Ave, at present +I feel like that linnet."</p> + +<p>"Can't I help you, Pam?"</p> + +<p>"Not yet. I want to think. When I really feel you can help me, I shall +come and ask you. You wouldn't fail me?"</p> + +<p>"I'd help you for all I'm worth, if it's against your uncle."</p> + +<p>Pamela's eyes filled with tears.</p> + +<p>"I'm so utterly alone," she faltered. "Mother doesn't understand. Since +Father died she has never cared for anything. She's content to live here +on Uncle's bounty. She's so absolutely trusting and unsuspicious, just +like a child. I never can get her to see things as I do. Although I'm +hardly fourteen, I often feel that I know more of the world than she +does. Just at present Mother is going about with her eyes closed."</p> + +<p>"And you?"</p> + +<p>"I'm keeping my eyes particularly wide open, and my mouth tight shut," +replied Pamela, as she kissed her friend good-bye and helped her to +climb the palings.</p> + +<p>Avelyn went home very thoughtfully. She found<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[155]</a></span> the boys digging in the +kitchen garden, and confided to them her morning's experience. They +decided that something mysterious must be going on at Moss Cottage.</p> + +<p>"It looks fishy!" said David, slowly scraping the earth off his boots +with the edge of his spade.</p> + +<p>"What has that old Hun got up his sleeve?" enquired Anthony, shaking his +head.</p> + +<p>"I don't know. After what we saw in the wood I'd believe anything of +him."</p> + +<p>"Shall we tell the Vicar, or somebody?" suggested Avelyn.</p> + +<p>"No! no!" protested David emphatically. "Whatever you do, Ave, for +goodness' sake don't blab! We've no proper evidence yet, and if stories +begin to get about the village he'll know he's suspected, and he'll be +careful. Just you leave this to me. It's my first 'case', and I want to +worry it out. Remember, I'm going to be a barrister some day, when the +war is over, if I don't go out to France first and get killed. Old +Hockheimer's deep, but he doesn't know we're watching him. Two British +boys ought to be a match for a German!"</p> + +<p>"I'd shoot him first and watch him afterwards if I had my way," declared +Tony bloodthirstily.</p> + +<p>It was on that very same afternoon that a fresh planet swam into the +Watson horizon, or, in other words, that they made a new acquaintance. +The Vicar was distinctly responsible for it. He was standing at the top +of the churchyard steps, talking to a somebody, the toe of whose boot +alone was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[156]</a></span> visible round the corner, and when he saw Anthony passing in +the road below he beckoned to him. Tony mounted the steps, and found +that the boot belonged to a young officer in khaki, who stood with his +hands behind his back contemplating the tombstones.</p> + +<p>"Hallo, sonnie!" said the Vicar affably. "Doing anything special this +afternoon? This is Captain Harper, who's in charge of the camp near the +river. He wants to go and see the Roman fort on the top of Weldon Hill, +and he doesn't know the way. Have you time to take him?"</p> + +<p>Anthony's grey eyes scanned the Captain's dark ones for one searching +moment, but in that moment he loved him, and would have offered to act +guide to the top of Mount Everest if required.</p> + +<p>"I'd like to go," he volunteered. "You don't mind David coming too, do +you?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know who David is, but let him come, by all means!" smiled the +officer. "Thanks very much, Mr. Holt, for finding someone to 'personally +conduct' me!"</p> + +<p>So it happened that David and Anthony started off with Captain Harper, +and by the time they had reached the Roman Camp they had decided that +they "liked him awfully", and when they returned to Lyngates they felt +as if they had known him for years. They talked about school, and +football, and fishing, and treacling for moths, and a great many other +interesting topics, and he told them a little about his experiences at +the front, and how he had been wounded.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[157]</a></span> +"How long have you been at Netherton?" asked Anthony as they paused by +the gate of Walden.</p> + +<p>"About six weeks."</p> + +<p>"I wonder we've not <a name="seen" id="seen"></a><ins title="Original has see">seen</ins> you before."</p> + +<p>"I've been very busy with my work. Is this where you live?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. Come in and see Mother, won't you?"</p> + +<p>Captain Harper's glance swept the front of the picturesque little house, +and finally rested on the patch of ivy-covered wall where Daphne, a +bewitching, hatless vision, with the sunset gleaming on her bronze hair, +stood with unconscious profile turned towards them, planting snowdrop +bulbs in the crannies.</p> + +<p>"If she won't think I'm intruding," he replied diffidently.</p> + +<p>But the boys had him each by an arm, and were hauling him in by sheer +force.</p> + +<p>"Mother's not one of those horrid stuck-up people who'll offer you two +fingers to shake, and wither you up. Just come and speak to her, and +judge for yourself."</p> + +<p>"Mr. Holt calls her the very soul of hospitality," declared Anthony +impressively.</p> + + + +<hr /> + +<h2><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[158]</a></span> +<a name="xii" id="xii"></a>CHAPTER XII<br /> +<span class="sub">"Lady Tracy's At Home"</span></h2> + + +<p>During almost the whole of the term the Dramatic Society had flourished +among the boarders. That is to say, the prefects had chosen a play, had +taken the best parts for themselves, and had allotted the minor parts to +those girls who were fortunate enough to be their favourites. The +particular piece they had selected was named "Lady Tracy's At Home", and +included a large number of characters. Many of these were only in the +nature of "supers", and had no words to say; others had a few short +speeches. All the main action of the play centred on six principals, who +were represented by the four prefects, with Muriel Knighton and Mabel +Dennis, also members of the Sixth Form. There had been endless +rehearsals. Adah, as stage manager, was extremely particular, and +drilled her company remorselessly.</p> + +<p>"We've got to make it a good show this time," she assured them. +"Remember, we're a big school now, and we shall be acting to a large +audience. I expect those day girls will be fairly critical, so we +mustn't give them any opportunity to find fault. Let's show them we know +how to act."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[159]</a></span> +"They used to have plays at their old school," volunteered Consie.</p> + +<p>"I suppose they did, but I dare say they weren't up to much. You see, as +they weren't boarders, they couldn't have had proper time for +rehearsals, and perhaps didn't think out their costumes as we're doing."</p> + +<p>"Very likely they only took Shakespeare or scenes from Dickens, or +something tame of that kind," nodded Isobel.</p> + +<p>Miss Thompson had allowed the Dramatic Society a certain wideness of +choice, so they had abandoned the classics, which seemed to savour too +much of the schoolroom, and had selected an entirely modern and +up-to-date comedy. In their eyes it was going to rival a piece from the +real theatre. They had all seen up-to-date acting, and had their ideals +of what a comedy ought to be.</p> + +<p>"You must try to live in your parts beforehand, so that you catch the +spirit of them," counselled Adah. "I've heard that Ellen Terry and Sarah +Bernhardt always did that. It was the secret of their success. Throw +yourself into your character till you entirely realize it."</p> + +<p>"I suppose that's the artistic temperament," agreed Consie. "It would be +gorgeous to take up the stage as a career, wouldn't it?"</p> + +<p>"The stage of the future is going to be a School of Education for the +People," moralized Adah. "Conscientious and cultured actresses will be a +want."</p> + +<p>"Miss Hopkins says Nature never creates a vacuum," ventured Joyce.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[160]</a></span> +"Trust Mother Nature! If there's a want, she'll send someone to fill the +gap."</p> + +<p>"Only, of course, they've got to train themselves. There's nothing like +beginning when one's young. And having the wish is half the battle."</p> + +<p>As a result of this serious interest in dramatic culture, the character +of the six "principals" underwent sudden and astonishing changes. +Isobel, erstwhile a rather shy and retiring maiden, put on a perkiness +and a coy assurance very puzzling indeed to anybody who did not know +that <i>pro tem.</i> she was Miss Diana Davenport, the beautiful, dashing, +fascinating Society debutante, who was breaking the hearts of young and +old in fashionable Mayfair. She practised casting a glamour over people +and glancing from under veiled lashes, and succeeded fairly well with +those who understood and played up, but indifferently with Miss Hopkins, +who asked her if she were suffering from an attack of indigestion, and +whether a dose of sal volatile would relieve the pain. Muriel, whose +rôle was that of Diana's rejected lover, Lord Darcy Howard, went about +endeavouring to remember that she had a broken heart. She sighed +frequently, kept an expression of yearning in her eyes, and smiled a +sad, wan smile, fraught with memories. She maintained a calm, yet +melancholy dignity, befitting one who is singled out by fate for +disappointment, heroism, and an early grave. It was really a very +difficult part for Muriel, whose natural tastes inclined to a more +sporting character, and she would have preferred to act a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[161]</a></span> comic Irish +servant; but Adah assured her that it was useless to think of the stage +unless she was prepared for all emergencies, and could take any rôle +that might be offered her. Adah herself, as Lady Tracy, had blossomed +into a loquacious, clever, manœuvring, brilliant hostess, much +set on worldly advantages, and immediately concerned with the due +disposal in life of her daughter Marigold. Adah's manner had always been +rather consequential, now it surpassed itself, and she swam about the +school as Queen of Society. Mabel, as Marigold, schooled herself to +extreme innocence. She would practise making round eyes and an engaging +pout as she lisped out: "But, Mother dearest, what is the great big +world really, really like?" After many rehearsals, she succeeded in +sidling bashfully into a room, and extending a timid hand without +relapsing into laughter. Consie, the dashing <em lang="fr">débonnaire</em> hero of the +piece, had an easier task. It was comparatively simple to stride about +paying flowery compliments and carrying all before her. She soon +acquired an irresistible manner, and a habit of flinging herself lazily +into arm-chairs and toying with an imaginary watch-chain. She succeeded +so admirably, that when she wore her costume at dress rehearsal, some of +the girls almost fell in love with her. To Joyce, as the villain, fell a +harder lot. It is difficult to live the part of a villain consistently +for weeks. At rehearsals, much coached and chivied by Adah, she would +slink and frown and bite her finger-tips and look daggers, and throw +sarcasm into her<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[162]</a></span> voice, but off the stage she would relapse at once +into the comfortable, easygoing, happy-go-lucky ways which usually +characterized her personality. She was a sore trial to Adah.</p> + +<p>"If you'd ever seen 'Shylock' or 'Mephistopheles', you'd have a better +idea," urged the head girl. "You're not nearly bold and bad enough, +somehow. We'll give you a dark wig and a curled moustache, and that +paper cigar, and you must grind your teeth when Lord Archibald taxes you +with the conspiracy."</p> + +<p>"Will the audience hear me grinding them?" asked Joyce helplessly.</p> + +<p>"Of course not, stupid! But they'll see your mouth move."</p> + +<p>"If the moustache doesn't cover it."</p> + +<p>"We'll take care it shan't. Can't you manage to look like 'Gentleman +Jim' on the cinema when the detective caught him with his hand inside +the safe?"</p> + +<p>"I'll try; but how long must I go on looking like that? In the cinema +they whisk on to the next picture in half a second, but on the stage +I'll have to stand there, and I don't feel inclined to grind my teeth +for five minutes. I hope that tweed suit will fit!"</p> + +<p>All the performers felt their costumes to be their last resource, +supplying any deficiencies in the acting. They were determined to be +ultra-fashionable, and sent home for suitable garments. Adah secured a +perfect dream of a dress in grey voile trimmed with sequins, and a silk +petticoat that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[163]</a></span> rustled as she walked. They lent an added graciousness +and seal of society to her impressive manner. Isobel borrowed a toque, +and a veil with spots, and a feather boa, and a pair of tan boots with +high French heels, and a large cameo brooch, and a vanity bag, and +looked dashing enough to break the heart of the most hardened and +deliberate woman-hater who ever trod the boards. Her companions, gazing +at her bewildered, assured her that she looked at least twenty-one, if +not more. The way she stretched out a dainty gloved hand and murmured +"How d'ye do?" was considered a triumph of acting.</p> + +<p>"If we do it really well, of course, we might be asked to give it over +again," Adah confided modestly to her fellows.</p> + +<p>"Here?" asked Isobel.</p> + +<p>"Well, not necessarily. Sometimes managers lend theatres for charities."</p> + +<p>"An amateur play generally makes a heap of money!" opined Joyce.</p> + +<p>"It would be lovely to act it in a real theatre!" gasped Mabel.</p> + +<p>"The Harlingden Operatic Society cleared thirty pounds for the hospital +by the 'Gondoliers'," volunteered Consie.</p> + +<p>In imagination the Silverside Dramatic was already emulating this +gratifying example. They could picture their appearance on the boards of +the Prince of Wales Theatre before a distinguished audience, including +possibly the Mayor and Mayoress. Meantime they expected quite a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[164]</a></span> crowded +audience in the big class-room, and made grand preparations. The +performance was to be on the last Wednesday afternoon of term at four +o'clock. It was a custom as old as the school. The day girls had always +been invited to attend, and this year Adah pinned up the usual +announcement on the notice board. She saw Annie and Gladys sniggering +over it, but set that down to their general lack of manners. She hoped +what they were going to see would duly impress them. They would surely +be proud to belong to a school that could get up such a dramatic +entertainment.</p> + +<p>The performers were allowed to stop lessons at 3.15 in order to change +their costumes, and, after a tremendous amount of breathless work in the +way of dressing, accomplished their toilets to their own and everybody +else's satisfaction.</p> + +<p>"You look A1," said Adah to Muriel. "If you don't absolutely take the +house I shall be really astonished."</p> + +<p>Lord Darcy laughed nervously. His clothes were immaculate, but not very +comfortable. He showed decided symptoms of stage fright. Joyce, as the +wicked earl, was anxious about the set of her wig. It was rather too +large, and exhibited a tendency to tilt over on one side unless she held +her head very stiffly erect, an attitude that did not correspond with +the sinuous, snake-like poses which she had practised as appropriate for +the villain of the piece.</p> + +<p>"My moustache makes my upper lip quite stiff. I'm sure I speak funnily," +she fluttered.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[165]</a></span> +"No, no, you're all right! I'll tip you a wink if your wig gets crooked, +and you can push it straight. Consie, you look an absolute bounder in +that blue tie! If I were Marigold I should prefer the villain instead of +falling into your arms."</p> + +<p>"Many thanks!" said Lord Archibald, regarding himself in the mirror with +satisfaction. "As you're to be my prospective mother-in-law you ought to +appreciate me better!"</p> + +<p>"It's high time we began," urged Mabel.</p> + +<p>"I'll take a look and see that everything's ready," said Adah.</p> + +<p>She ran to the platform and held a hasty review of the stage properties. +Yes, all was arranged exactly as she wished. Minnie and Alice had done +their duty. From the other side of the curtain came the sound of +talking. She could not resist a peep at the audience and applied her eye +to a small chink. What she saw made her gasp. Instead of a whole +schoolroomful of people only the three front rows of seats were +occupied. Much disturbed she rushed back to the dressing-room, and, +calling Mona Bardsley, who was acting prompter, sent her off as scout.</p> + +<p>"Go and find out why they're not ready, and tell them to hurry up and +take their places or we shall begin without them," she commanded.</p> + +<p>Mona was away some little time. She returned looking decidedly blank.</p> + +<p>"They say they're ready and waiting, all those who are coming."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[166]</a></span> +"But the room's only a quarter full! Where are the others?"</p> + +<p>"The day girls have nearly all gone home."</p> + +<p>"Gone home! Didn't they understand we'd invited them?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes, but they said they'd rather not stay."</p> + +<p>Adah's face was a study.</p> + +<p>"Do you mean to say they don't care about seeing our play?"</p> + +<p>"So it seems."</p> + +<p>"The slackers! They've just done it on purpose, out of spite. Well, if +this isn't the meanest thing I've ever heard of! How perfectly +sickening!"</p> + +<p>The injured performers received the bad news with much disgust, but +their grousing was cut short by the arrival of a fourth-form girl with a +message.</p> + +<p>"Miss Thompson says, will you please begin at once, because it's getting +very late?"</p> + +<p>There was nothing for it but to go through the piece with the best grace +they could, before an audience of mistresses, boarders, and about ten of +the old Silverside day girls. It is poor work playing to an empty house, +and they felt that half the spirit had gone out of the performance. +Adah's manner was not nearly so gracious and impressive as at +rehearsals, Lord Darcy got confused and mixed up his speeches, and +Marigold giggled palpably when she ought to have been looking love-lorn. +As for the wicked earl, his black moustache dropped off just when he was +in the very midst of his villainy, and spoiled his best point. The +Principal<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[167]</a></span> and the mistresses clapped their hardest, and so did the rest +of the scanty audience, but everybody felt that the whole affair had +been a fiasco.</p> + +<p>"It was very nice, my dears!" said Miss Thompson, congratulating the +disconsolate actresses as they came in to tea afterwards. "Quite one of +the best plays we've ever had here."</p> + +<p>"She means kindly, but she knows it was a failure," whispered Adah +gloomily to Consie. "I'll never forgive those day girls!"</p> + + + +<hr /> + +<h2><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[168]</a></span> +<a name="xiii" id="xiii"></a>CHAPTER XIII<br /> +<span class="sub">Reports</span></h2> + + +<p>Avelyn was looking forward with wildest joy to the Christmas holidays. +There were so many things she intended to do at home. She and Daphne and +the boys were all going to set to work to construct chicken coops in +preparation for the hatching of clutches of eggs that would be put down +in January. Then, if the weather kept open, there were wonderful +improvements to be made in the garden, stones to be brought for a +rockery, and ferns to be fetched from the stream to plant upon it, to +say nothing of the vegetable culture which in these days of food +shortage was the main feature of their outdoor activities.</p> + +<p>Avelyn's whole heart was at Walden. She had grown to love every corner +of it with an intense clinging attachment. No place in the world was so +precious as those few acres of land she called home. The prospect of an +entire glorious month there filled her with bliss.</p> + +<p>"L'homme propose et Dieu dispose", however, and our best-made plans have +a knack of "ganging agley". On the Thursday before the holidays<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[169]</a></span> Anthony +broke out in spots, and the doctor, who came six miles in his car from +the little town of Roby, looked at them critically, shook his head, and +remarked: "Chicken-pox! There's a good deal of it about just now."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Watson was a woman who acted promptly. When she had ushered the +doctor out she tucked up the invalid warmly, put on her hat and coat, +and went to the village, where there was a public telephone call office. +Here she rang up 138 Harlingden, and held a brief but satisfactory +conversation with her second cousin, Mrs. Lascelles. Then she went home, +wrote a letter to Avelyn, and posted it, after which she focused her +attention on the invalid, who was feverish and fractious. The news which +Avelyn received in the letter came as a bolt from the blue.</p> + +<p>"I'm so sorry, darling," wrote her mother, "but the doctor says Tony has +chicken-pox, and you mustn't come home to-morrow. I have telephoned to +Cousin Lilia, and she offers to take you in for the holidays, so will +you tell Miss Thompson that you are to go there. No time for more, as I +want to catch the early post. Good-bye, darling! Much love from Mother."</p> + +<p>Avelyn had taken the letter to the Cowslip Room to read. She put it in +her pocket, sat down on her bed, and tried to face the situation. Not to +go home for the holidays! The idea was unbearable. Great tears welled +into her eyes, and for a few minutes she was an absolute baby. Red-hot +rebellion raged within her. She was tempted to go<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[170]</a></span> home in spite of her +mother's prohibition, and beg to sleep in the cottage, or at Mrs. +Garside's farm, and risk the chance of infection. She would cheerfully +catch chicken-pox if only she might have it at Walden. A wild idea +struck her of asking Pamela to take her in, but the remembrance of Mr. +Hockheimer intervened. She was sure Pamela would not dare to invite a +visitor to Moss Cottage.</p> + +<p>"And we were going to have such fun together!" she moaned. "I'll hate to +spend the holidays in town and at the Lascelles's. Oh, it'll be grizzly! +I wish I could stay at school instead. I <em>will</em> go home!"</p> + +<p>Better reflections, however, prevailed. Mrs. Watson had brought up her +children to respect her authority, and Avelyn knew that she would not be +able to meet her mother's eyes if she turned up at Walden in distinct +defiance of instructions. There was nothing for it but to submit, though +it was a miserable business. She took her letter to Miss Thompson, and +told her of the altered arrangement. The Principal looked worried.</p> + +<p>"I hope you haven't taken the infection yourself," she remarked. "You +might spread it over the school. Are you sure you have no spots?"</p> + +<p>"Not a single one," Avelyn assured her.</p> + +<p>"Well, don't mention anything about it to the other girls; it would only +make their mothers nervous. Your box shall be left in Harlingden this +afternoon, when the second batch of luggage goes. I suppose you can walk +to your cousin's house. They'll be expecting you?"</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[171]</a></span> +"Oh, yes! Mother would tell them what time I am coming."</p> + +<p>Avelyn went back to the Cowslip Room and began to put her various +possessions into her box. The packing was a stale business, without any +heart in it. It is horrible to be obliged to pay a visit when you don't +want to go. In spite of Miss Thompson's injunctions, she could not help +confiding her ill news to her room-mates. It was impossible to keep her +woes bottled up in her own breast. She wanted sympathy badly.</p> + +<p>"Hard luck!" said Laura.</p> + +<p>"Beastly not to be going home!" agreed Janet.</p> + +<p>"Poor old sport! I'll send you some picture post cards," consoled +Ethelberga.</p> + +<p>"Suppose you break out in spots at your cousin's?" suggested Irma.</p> + +<p>This was a new view of the case that had not before occurred to Avelyn.</p> + +<p>"I'd <em>welcome</em> them!" she declared. "I'd get Cousin Lilia to put me in +an ambulance and pack me off home."</p> + +<p>"Suppose they wouldn't? They might say it was too far, and send you to +the fever hospital instead."</p> + +<p>"I wouldn't stay. I'd run away and manage to get home somehow. By the +by, don't tell anybody else about this. Miss Thompson told me to keep it +dark."</p> + +<p>"Right you are! We won't blab."</p> + +<p>All <a name="five" id="five"></a><ins title="Original has four">five</ins> girls were busy packing. Their beds were strewn with blouses, +stockings, and other impedimenta.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[172]</a></span> In the midst of the proceedings +entered Miss Hopkins, rather flustered and overdone with the +responsibility of seeing that thirty-six boarders took their essential +possessions home with them.</p> + +<p>"Dear me, you're very slow in this dormitory!" she observed. "The Violet +Room have finished and gone downstairs. If there were less talking you'd +get on a good deal quicker. Here are your reports," dealing out from a +packet in her hand five envelopes, addressed respectively to Mrs. +Watson, E. A. Ridley, Esq., Mrs. Talbot, Colonel Duncan, and the Rev. F. +Carnforth. "Now, make haste! I shall expect to find your boxes strapped +when I come up again."</p> + +<p>Miss Hopkins departed to do her duty in other dormitories, leaving a +sensation as of east wind behind her. Avelyn stood staring at the +envelope. She was anxious to see her report for this term. The Watson +family were lax as regarded letters; at home they usually passed round +their correspondence as common property. She tore open the envelope, +therefore, and read the report. It was quite a good one, and ended: "Has +done conscientious work, and shows marked improvement."</p> + +<p>Avelyn purred with satisfaction.</p> + +<p>"Tommiekins is a dear! Mother will be ever so pleased. Even Hopscotch +has given me 'satisfactory', which is more than I expected from her, and +Mr. Harrison has put 'painstaking' for music, though I know he thinks +I'm rather a duffer at it."</p> + +<p>"I wonder what they've said about me?" speculated<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[173]</a></span> Laura, fumbling in +her box for the envelope which she had just packed.</p> + +<p>"And me?" echoed Janet.</p> + +<p>There is force in example. In another moment Laura, Janet, Irma, and +Ethelberga were all perusing their reports.</p> + +<p>"'Good' for botany! Oh, how precious!"</p> + +<p>"Wonders will never cease! I've actually got 'fair' for general +knowledge."</p> + +<p>"Oh, hold me up! I've passed muster in maths."</p> + +<p>"What does Miss Kennedy mean by this: 'sadly lacking in order, and wants +more application'? I'm sure I'm no worse than the rest of you," +exclaimed Janet indignantly.</p> + +<p>"Has she put that?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, I call it spiteful of her!"</p> + +<p>"Poor old sport!"</p> + +<p>"It isn't as if I'd been so very behindhand all the term. Miss Kennedy +knows I haven't. I declare I shall go and ask her what she means by it!"</p> + +<p>The offended Janet, in a furious temper, flounced out of the room in +search of her form mistress. She found her in the study addressing +luggage labels.</p> + +<p>"Miss Kennedy, I do think it's too bad to give me such a horrid report!" +burst out Janet. "Why am I specially 'lacking in application'? I'm sure +I've worked just as hard as most of the other girls; and if it's a +question of order, Irma's far more untidy than I am, and so is +Ethelberga! I don't call it fair. You've no right to say such things +about me!"</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[174]</a></span> +Miss Kennedy looked up in extreme astonishment.</p> + +<p>"How do you know what I've said about you?" she queried.</p> + +<p>"Why, it's here, in black and white!"</p> + +<p>"What paper have you there?"</p> + +<p>"My report."</p> + +<p>"Do you mean to say that you have opened your report?"</p> + +<p>Janet's face fell. She shuffled her feet uneasily, and did not reply.</p> + +<p>"It was addressed to your father. Who authorized you to open it, I +should like to know?"</p> + +<p>"Well, Avelyn Watson read hers, so we all thought we could read ours," +urged Janet in exculpation.</p> + +<p>"Indeed!" Miss Kennedy's tone was as iced vinegar. "What an extremely +honourable proceeding! Miss Thompson will have to hear of this! It's +something new in the school for girls to open their parents' letters."</p> + +<p>Miss Kennedy abandoned the labels she was directing, and went at once in +search of the head mistress, to whom she told her astounding tale. Miss +Thompson took off her convex glasses, wiped them solemnly, and put them +on again.</p> + +<p>"I couldn't have believed they would have <em>dared</em>!" she said, with a +note of battle in her voice. "Send Avelyn Watson to me. I must deal with +the matter at once."</p> + +<p>Miss Thompson might not be very tall, but she was thoroughly capable of +managing her school.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[175]</a></span> Every inch of her bristled with dignity. Avelyn +entered the room a trifle jauntily, but one steady glance from those +convex glasses caused her feathers to fall.</p> + +<p>"Avelyn Watson, I understand that half an hour ago Miss Hopkins gave you +a letter addressed to your mother, to take home with you."</p> + +<p>"Yes, Miss Thompson, but I'm not going home for the holidays."</p> + +<p>"So I'm aware. In the circumstances the letter should have been posted, +but that has nothing to do with it. What I want to know is on what +authority you have presumed to open it?"</p> + +<p>Miss Thompson's grey eyes were almost hypnotic in their power. Avelyn's +fell before their keen scrutiny.</p> + +<p>"Mother always used to let me see my reports," she faltered.</p> + +<p>"That's quite a different matter, to allow you to look at what she had +already seen herself. To open a letter addressed to anyone else, without +permission, is one of the most dishonourable things that anybody can do. +No lady would disgrace herself by such an action. I am amazed beyond +measure to find that any girl in this school could be capable of it. I +thought you knew our standards better. Have you been a whole term here, +Avelyn, and not yet learnt the very elements of honour? Silverside has +always prided itself upon its traditions."</p> + +<p>Avelyn stood aghast. It had never struck her that anyone would construe +her thoughtless and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[176]</a></span> impulsive action in such a light. She had no +further excuse to urge.</p> + +<p>"Have you the report here? Then go and fetch it," commanded the +Principal.</p> + +<p>Avelyn went without a word. When she returned and handed Miss Thompson +the paper, the latter took out her stylo and appended another line:</p> + +<p>"Conduct unfortunately not strictly honourable."</p> + +<p>She showed the addition to Avelyn.</p> + +<p>"I am going to <em>post</em> this to your mother," she remarked pointedly. "You +may tell your room-mates that they are each to bring me her report. I +shall post theirs also. I am very much disappointed in you all."</p> + +<p>Avelyn left the room in the depths of dejection. She had been very near +tears all the morning, and now she could restrain herself no longer. It +seemed an absolutely pixie day, with disgrace on the top of bad news. +She gave a husky message to Laura, telling her to pass it on to the +others, and then flew into the bath-room and had a good weep in private. +Crying is a horrid business; it makes one's head ache, and one's eyes +feel bunged up, and one's throat sore, and one's heart like a lump of +lead. If it is true that our emotions cause waves of colour to emanate +from us, poor Avelyn's aura must at that moment have been a particularly +dingy drab.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"><a name="an" id="an"></a> +<img src="images/gs04.jpg" width="400" height="633" alt="AN INTERVIEW WITH MISS THOMPSON" title="" /> +<span class="caption">AN INTERVIEW WITH MISS THOMPSON</span> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[177]</a></span> +"What will Mother think of my getting 'dishonourable' in my report?" she +sobbed. "And I can't go home and tell her all about it. I'll write to +her and try to explain, but I'm always a silly at writing. She's kept +all our reports ever since we first went to school, and we've none of us +ever had anything nasty like this in them. It'll just spoil the record. +Oh, dear, what an idiot I've been! I wish I hadn't to go to Cousin +Lilia's this afternoon! I know I'll hate Christmas there. Life's a +perfectly sickening business!"</p> + + + +<hr /> + +<h2><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[178]</a></span> +<a name="xiv" id="xiv"></a>CHAPTER XIV<br /> +<span class="sub">War Work</span></h2> + + +<p>After all, Avelyn enjoyed her holidays far more than she had ever +expected. The Lascelles gave her a kind welcome, and tried to make her +feel at home. They were quite a jolly family—all considerably older +than Avelyn. Two sons were in the Flying Corps, and the third was at a +Government office in the town. The daughters, Mary and Gwen, were busy +with various kinds of war work, and had little time to spare. They made +a great effort, however, to amuse their visitor, and took her out in +turns. Avelyn was treated to pantomime, concerts, and cinemas, and was +invited with the Lascelles to many little parties and social evenings. +She would infinitely rather have been constructing a rockery in the dear +Walden garden than sitting in a picture palace looking at the +eccentricities of Charlie Chaplin, but she appreciated the kindness of +the Lascelles, and felt what the French call <em lang="fr">reconnaissante</em>, which has +a far more subtle meaning than "grateful".</p> + +<p>"Couldn't you take Avelyn to the Munition Hostel, Mary?" said Mrs. +Lascelles one day, when<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[179]</a></span> plans for entertaining the young guest were +running rather low. "I'm sure Bertha Gordon would show you over the +canteen if you asked her."</p> + +<p>"If it would amuse Ave?" began Mary doubtfully.</p> + +<p>"I'd just love it!" agreed Avelyn, brightening perceptibly.</p> + +<p>"Then I'll ring up Bertha. If it's her afternoon off I'm certain she'll +have us. She told me to come the first opportunity I had, and I've +always seemed too busy up till to-day. I've been wanting to go for ever +so long."</p> + +<p>A brisk ringing of the telephone bell followed, and Mary came back +presently with the welcome information that her friend Bertha would be +free from three till six o'clock, and would be delighted to see two +visitors and show them all in her power.</p> + +<p>"We'll get up there as early as we can," said Mary, "so that we'll have +time for sight-seeing before tea."</p> + +<p>Miss Gordon was doing Government war work in Harlingden. She had taken +her certificate for domestic economy at a training college in London, +and now held a post in the canteen department of a huge munition +factory. The place lay a few miles out of the town. Mary and Avelyn +first caught a tram-car, which whisked them along an uninteresting +stretch of shabby road, and put them down at a corner where three ways +met. It was a tolerably long walk from there to the munition<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[180]</a></span> works. The +neighbourhood was dingy, with rows of small cottages and second-rate +shops, and tall chimneys or furnaces in the background. The Chayton +Government factory was a colony in itself, with a special railway line +out from Harlingden. The station platform marked its boundary. After +that came rows and rows of munition cottages—little wooden houses, each +containing three rooms and a bath-room, all exactly similar except for +the numbers on the doors. The girls passed these, and went in the +direction of the hostels. At the great gate of the works stood a sentry +on duty, who asked them their names, residence, and whom they were going +to visit, and entered these particulars in a book before he would admit +them.</p> + +<p>"It's all right. Miss Gordon told me that she was expecting you," he +volunteered, as he opened the gate for them.</p> + +<p>Feeling rather as if they were going into prison, Mary and Avelyn +stepped forward, and found themselves in a big enclosure fenced with +barbed wire. Each hostel was a large, separate bungalow building, and +there were also several recreation halls. Patches of ground planted with +cabbages lay between. It all looked very new and unfinished, something +like the pictures of mushroom cities in America. In front of them loomed +the canteen, an enormous red-brick structure with a corrugated-iron +roof. Mary enquired at the office for Miss Gordon, and her friend soon +made her appearance.</p> + +<p>"I'm so glad you've found your way here!<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[181]</a></span> Come in, and I'll show you +everything. It's a queer place, isn't it?"</p> + +<p>"I should get lost in it!" declared Mary.</p> + +<p>"Oh! it's wonderful how soon you learn to find your way about. What +would you like to see first? The canteen? We shall just have time to go +round before tea, then we'll do the hostel afterwards."</p> + +<p>Avelyn trotted off with great interest in the wake of Mary Lascelles and +Miss Gordon. She was going to see a new side of life, and learn what +some women were doing to help the war. Out at the front our boys were +fighting for Britain's honour, but their heroism would be of no avail if +the hands slacked that forged the weapons at home. The workers who made +the munitions, and those who toiled to feed the workers and keep them +fit, were taking their share of the burden, and, in however small and +obscure a way, were pushing the world on towards the victory of Right +over Might.</p> + +<p>Miss Gordon first led the way into the canteen, an enormous hall with +seats for three thousand people. There were long tables with benches, +placed in rows, and over these hung sign-boards: "Hostel I", "Hostel +II", "Hostel III", &c.</p> + +<p>"Each hostel has its own tables," explained Miss Gordon, "and the girls +are bound to go there. It saves scrambling. They all have food coupons, +and they take them to the counter, and exchange them for any dishes they +want, and then carry their plates to their own places. There's<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[182]</a></span> a menu +hung up, and they generally have the choice of several things. It's a +tremendous sight to see them all filing in for their meals."</p> + +<p>"Are they easily satisfied?" asked Mary.</p> + +<p>"As a rule, but sometimes we get grumblers, and they inflame the others. +You see, there are all sorts and conditions of girls here, and some of +them are a rough lot. Individually they are quite nice, but when they +get together in crowds some spirit of lawlessness seems to permeate +them, and they get utterly out of hand sometimes. Once there was a +terrific row. They were discontented with their rations, and they put +the blame on Mr. Jennings, the canteen manager. Some agitators stirred +up trouble, and one evening things came to a head. There was rice +pudding for supper, and the girls didn't like rice pudding, so they +flung it all about the room and smashed the plates; then they stood on +the seats and shouted and yelled. They said that, if they could catch +the manager, they would teach him a lesson. He dared not show himself. +Indeed, he was obliged to go away altogether. It was about two hours +before the row subsided; all that time the girls were shouting in the +canteen. They had utterly lost control of themselves, and wouldn't +listen to anyone who tried to speak to them. We've a new manager now, +and things are going better."</p> + +<p>"How fearfully exciting!" commented Mary.</p> + +<p>"Rather too exciting at the time, I can tell you! And the hall was in +such an awful mess, with rice pudding flung about everywhere. Come<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[183]</a></span> into +the kitchen now and I'll show you my department."</p> + +<p>Avelyn had never seen cooking on so vast a scale before. There were +great polished copper cauldrons for stews, so large that they looked as +if Giant Blunderbore's meals might be prepared in them; there were rows +and rows of ovens and steamers; and an electric meat cutter that sliced +up the joints. Puddings were being mixed in big washing basins, and +vegetables were cut up by a machine. There were enormous cans of milk, +and all kinds of receptacles for other stores.</p> + +<p>"We have to calculate exactly what we require, so that there's no +waste," said Miss Gordon. "We send up lists every day, and the lists are +inspected."</p> + +<p>The tea canteen kitchen was a department in itself. There were huge +boilers for hot water, rows of bright copper tea urns, and an electric +cutter for bread. Two girls stood at a table buttering enormous piles of +slices.</p> + +<p>"What monotonous work!" remarked Avelyn.</p> + +<p>"Yes, it is rather," answered Miss Gordon. "They give that to the +novices, and pass them on to something else afterwards. But one gets +accustomed to all the work, and doesn't mind. Now we'll have some tea +ourselves. Come to the Staff Room. I'm allowed to bring in my visitors."</p> + +<p>The sitting-room reserved for the members of the staff was divided by +glass doors from the canteen. It had little tables and chairs, and its +wooden walls<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[184]</a></span> had been decorated with pictures from magazines, fastened +up with drawing pins. Some of the staff were already seated there having +tea—brisk, capable ladies, most of whom had left comfortable homes in +order to take up war work. Miss Gordon greeted several friends, and +introduced Mary and Avelyn. The scones and the oat cake were delicious, +and were certainly a good advertisement of the cookery done in the +canteen. It was quite a merry little tea-party, for the lady workers +appeared to have a stock of jokes among themselves.</p> + +<p>"Now you must see my hostel," said Miss Gordon, pushing aside her cup +and rising when her guests had finished. "If you've seen mine you've +seen them all, for they're exactly alike."</p> + +<p>The colony consisted of thirty-two hostels, each holding a hundred +girls. The buildings were separate bungalows, and each had its own +matron, who was responsible for the comfort of its inmates. Miss Gordon +showed Mary and Avelyn into her bedroom, a little room nine feet square, +heated by hot-water pipes, and containing a bed, chest of drawers, +table, wash-stand, chair, and cupboard for dresses.</p> + +<p>"They give us the necessary furniture," explained Miss Gordon, "but we +must find our own pretty things. I brought the curtains and the +bed-cover and cushion and dressing-table mats, and of course my own +pictures and photos. There's a good deal of competition in making our +rooms nice."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[185]</a></span> +"This one's perfectly sweet!" exclaimed Avelyn.</p> + +<p>"It's not so bad, and there's quite a comfy chair to sit in to rest and +write letters. We can lock up our rooms if we like; the matron has +duplicate keys for cleaning purposes."</p> + +<p>There was more to be seen at the hostel: the laundry, where any girls +who liked might wash their own clothes, and where several were busily at +work with an ample supply of water and hot irons; the matron's little +office, with its piles of papers neatly filed; and the store-room, with +its sacks of flour, sugar, rice, and other commodities, that were +weighed out daily and sent to the canteen.</p> + +<p>"We lack a cosy sitting-room," said Miss Gordon; "we have to use our +bedrooms instead. There's a recreation hall, where we can dance in the +evenings if we wish, and I hope sometime there's going to be a library. +At present everything's so new, and they have to think of the stern +business part first before they give us luxuries. It's a utilitarian +sort of life."</p> + +<p>"Do you like it?" asked Avelyn.</p> + +<p>"Yes, on the whole very much. It's interesting, and I always enjoy being +among a crowd. Masses of people attract me, and I've got the community +spirit at present, and want to work with the hive."</p> + +<p>Avelyn looked thoughtful. It was not the kind of life that appealed to +her at all. She loved Nature's solitudes, and the companionship of woods +and streams more than crowds of people. To live in a hostel and canteen +would be absolute purgatory.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[186]</a></span> She hoped she was not unpatriotic. Then +her face suddenly cleared.</p> + +<p>"I could go on the land when I leave school!" she exclaimed with relief.</p> + +<p>Mary Lascelles and Miss Gordon laughed. Avelyn's train of thought had +been so evident. Palpably she was not attracted by what she saw.</p> + +<p>"Yes, you'd be doing your bit on the land just as much as in a factory," +said Miss Gordon kindly. "It isn't everybody who cares to take up +canteen work. Let's hope the war will be over before you leave school. +You'll have several years more at your lessons yet, I suppose."</p> + +<p>The little country mouse was certainly turned into a town mouse for +these Christmas holidays. Avelyn felt that she had never before seen so +much of Harlingden, even when she had lived there. The Lascelles were +very public-spirited people, who were interested in everything that was +going on in the city and anxious to lend a hand in all schemes for the +general good. They sewed national costumes for the Serbians, rolled +bandages at the War Supply Depot, distributed dinners at the municipal +kitchens, taught gymnastic classes at girls' clubs, visited crippled +children, got up concerts for wounded soldiers, and organized Christmas +parties for slum babies. They seemed to be occupied nearly every minute +of the day, and they soon swept Avelyn into the whirl of the war +activities. If it was not exactly her ideal life, she nevertheless liked +it, and felt that she was being of use. She went with Cousin Lilia to +the Town Hall, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[187]</a></span> rather enjoyed standing behind a counter handing out +pies, or ladling soup into jugs for the rows of busy people who kept +pushing in from the long queue standing in the courtyard outside. She +admired the smart quick drill in Mary's gymnasium class, and marvelled +that the girls had so much spirit left after their long day's work; she +made the whole of a Serbian child's dress herself, with beautiful +barbaric red-and-blue trimming on it; she helped to hand cigarettes +round to the soldiers at their concert; and she played "Blind Man's +Buff" and "Drop the Handkerchief" with the slum children at the New +Year's party in the Ragged School.</p> + +<p>She had an altogether fresh experience at the Crèche. This day nursery +was a new institution in Harlingden, and had been opened in order that +women who wished to help at munitions might leave their babies to be +taken care of while they were at work. Gwen Lascelles gave two mornings +a week to it, as a voluntary nurse, thereby releasing some of the staff +to go off duty. One day she offered to take Avelyn with her, and the +latter jumped at the invitation.</p> + +<p>"Matron doesn't mind, and you'd be a help," said Gwen. "Nurse Barnes is +away ill, so we're short-handed just now, and sometimes it's all I can +do to manage. One or two of those toddlers are the limit!"</p> + +<p>Elton Lodge had been lent by a patriotic citizen for use as a day +nursery, and was well adapted for the purpose. It had plenty of +accommodation, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[188]</a></span> a garden where the babies could be out of doors in +summer. Gwen and Avelyn arrived here by ten o'clock, took off coats and +hats, donned aprons, and entered the ward. This was a large, light, airy +room, or rather two rooms thrown together. At one end stood twelve cribs +in which lay twelve babies, most of them fast asleep. At the other end, +grouped round the high fire-guard, were sixteen little toddlers of all +ages from eighteen months to four years. The nurse in charge rose with +an air of relief and handed over her duties to Gwen.</p> + +<p>"They're all right," she remarked, "all but Curly, who's in a temper +to-day. Don't let George bully the others, and smack Eddie if he tries +to unfasten the fire-guard. He knows what to expect! Nurse Peters will +be in the laundry if you want her."</p> + +<p>The nurse made her escape, and the toddlers came crowding round Gwen, +clamouring for her to open the toy-box. Avelyn strolled across the room +to inspect the babies. They had just had their bottles, and indeed some +had not yet quite finished and were sucking away contentedly. They were +dear babies, some quite wee who counted their ages by weeks, and older +ones with little tight silky curls. One blue-eyed, tearful, barefooted +person stood up in her crib and held out a beseeching pair of arms. +Avelyn could not resist the appeal. She took up the small creature and +cuddled it; it clasped her tightly round the neck, put a confiding head +on her shoulder, and sobbed gently. Gwen disengaged herself from the +toddlers and came across.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[189]</a></span> +"We're really not supposed to take them up and nurse them," she said. +"But I own I break the rules sometimes. Poor little Queenie's a +new-comer; she's been petted at home and hasn't got used to crèche ways +yet. She'll soon settle down. Look at Arthur! Isn't he splendid? When he +first came he was simply skin and bone through improper feeding. His +mother used to give him tastes of tea and red herrings. This is Frankie, +our special crèche baby. He lives here altogether. His mother is in +prison for ill-treating him, poor wee darling! She's not to have him +again when she comes out—the judge said so. I know you'd love Patty if +she were awake. She's got the cutest little ways."</p> + +<p>Gwen went round from cot to cot performing services for the babies, +restoring a teat to a small mouth that had not yet finished its bottle, +covering cold hands, turning the position of some, and patting others +who were inclined to be fretful and wail.</p> + +<p>"I just long to nurse them," she assured Avelyn. "But you see it really +wouldn't do to let them get into the habit of thinking that they must be +taken up and played with every time they cry."</p> + +<p>"Don't they howl when they first come?"</p> + +<p>"Simply yell for a day or two. Sometimes we have to put them in the +isolation ward because they disturb the others so dreadfully. They soon +get accustomed to crèche life, though. Their mothers bring them at about +six in the morning, and take<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[190]</a></span> them home after work in the evening. When +they arrive here they're washed, and dressed in the crèche clothes, and +their own clothes are put on again at night."</p> + +<p>"They don't seem shy," remarked Avelyn, who was still hugging Queenie.</p> + +<p>"No, that's the best of them. With seeing so many nurses and helpers +they'll go to anybody. They're very sweet when you may have them up and +attend to them. Queenie's getting sleepy. I think you'd better put her +back to bed."</p> + +<p>Avelyn disengaged the clinging little arms with reluctance. She would +cheerfully have acted nurse all the morning if allowed. She lowered her +sleepy burden into the crib, and turned her attention to the toddlers, +who certainly needed it. Several of them had followed Gwen, and were +popping mischievous fingers through the bars of the cribs and poking the +babies; some were indulging in a free fight over a toy. Eddie, the black +sheep, was attempting to climb the fire-guard; George was punching the +head of a smaller boy, and Curly, for no particular reason, was standing +with arms outstretched, yelling at the pitch of his lung power. It took +the best energies of the two young helpers to restore order.</p> + +<p>"My clothes aren't comfy!" pleaded one small sinner in a tight jersey. +"I'd be good if you'd let me have my own clothes on!"</p> + +<p>"George took my horse!"</p> + +<p>"I want a doll!"</p> + +<p>"Give me a picture-book!"</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[191]</a></span> +"I want one too!"</p> + +<p>"You won't get anything at all unless you ask prettily!" declared Gwen +sternly. "Where are your manners, I should like to know?"</p> + +<p>By the end of the morning Avelyn decided that she could thoroughly +sympathize with the trying experiences of the old woman who lived in a +shoe. She felt in a perfect whirl of babies. They were sweet little +souls, but she would have enjoyed them more individually; to wrestle +with so many at once was decidedly wearing. At twelve o'clock came +dinner. Tiny chairs were placed round low tables, feeders were tied on, +and the children were put in their seats and taught to say grace. The +nurses brought in an enormous rice pudding, and gave platefuls to those +who were old enough to use spoons. Avelyn, sitting in a rocking-chair, +fed alternately one small person on her knee and another by her side. +Gwen was performing a like service.</p> + +<p>When the meal was at length over, the toddlers trotted off to low +camp-beds for their midday sleep, leaving a blissful calm in the ward, +where the babies were now receiving their share of attention.</p> + +<p>"Do you do this two mornings a week?" asked Avelyn as the girls walked +home.</p> + +<p>"Yes, but the children aren't always as troublesome as they were to-day, +and if they get very bad I can call Matron, or a nurse."</p> + +<p>"I'd like just the babies alone, if there weren't the toddlers as well +to look after. But to have<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[192]</a></span> sixteen of them to keep in order is the +limit. I feel——"</p> + +<p>"You'd rather go on the land?" queried Gwen, with an amused smile.</p> + +<p>"Yes, if I can choose my war work, I certainly should!"</p> + + + +<hr /> + +<h2><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[193]</a></span> +<a name="xv" id="xv"></a>CHAPTER XV<br /> +<span class="sub">The School Birthday</span></h2> + + +<p>When Miss Thompson had bought the connection of The Hawthorns, and +amalgamated that school with her own, she had undertaken a more +difficult task than she had altogether anticipated. She had spoken much +of Silverside traditions, but it had never struck her that the +Hawthorners might have some of their own to which they might cling +tenaciously. It was not easy for the Principal to get to know the exact +mind of the school. She saw the girls in class, respectful, +well-behaved, and very much in awe of her, but it was another matter to +judge the mental barometer of the play-room. She suspected that there +was an undercurrent of trouble: the smallness of the Silverside Hockey +Club, the rival stalls at the bazaar, and the scanty audience at the +dramatic performance had shown her clearly which way the wind was +blowing. She thought the matter over seriously. From her knowledge of +girls she decided that it would be unwise to interfere directly. You +cannot cause rival factions to love each other by act of parliament. She +trusted that time and tact would cement a union,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[194]</a></span> and meanwhile she +meant to hold her judgment in the balance and favour neither party.</p> + +<p>On the first day of the next term she made the important announcement +that she had appointed two new prefects, Annie Broadside and Gladys +Wilks, who would be given equal powers with their co-officers. It was a +great step for the day girls to have their former leaders raised to a +recognized position in the school. Though they were only two, as opposed +to four prefects who were boarders, they could look after their own +flock, and redress their grievances. Adah and her companions took the +news badly. They considered that their old privileges were being +outraged.</p> + +<p>"What's Miss Thompson <em>thinking</em> of?" asked Consie indignantly.</p> + +<p>"She absolutely truckles to those wretched Hawthorners!" declared +Isobel.</p> + +<p>"Will Annie and Gladys expect to come to our prefects' meetings?" +demanded Joyce.</p> + +<p>"Of course they will! That's the sickening part of it!" said Adah +bitterly. "If Miss Thompson thinks she's going to manage us that way, +she's mistaken. I <em>won't</em> be friends with those Hawthorners! I wish +they'd never come to the school at all!"</p> + +<p>"Pretty prefects Annie and Gladys will make!" sneered Joyce.</p> + +<p>To do Annie Broadside and Gladys Wilks justice, they made excellent +prefects. They were the acknowledged leaders of their own clique, and +they insisted upon certain rules being obeyed. They<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[195]</a></span> even suggested a +few innovations, which, though resisted at first by Adah, were +afterwards acknowledged as so excellent that they were put into force. +It did not add to their favour with the boarders, however, to have the +changes recommended as "what we always did at The Hawthorns".</p> + +<p>"What you may have found expedient there need be no law for us here," +replied Adah with uplifted eyebrows.</p> + +<p>January 21st was the school birthday. It was exactly fourteen years +since Miss Thompson had first opened Silverside, and she had kept the +anniversary as a festival ever since. This year it was to be quite a +public occasion. The house was far too small for the increased number of +pupils, and she had decided to build on an annexe, consisting of a large +hall and cloak-rooms. An architect had been busy drawing out plans, but, +owing to the difficulty of getting labour during the war, the contracts +had only just been passed. Now, after many delays, all was in training, +and the builders were ready to begin their work. Miss Thompson felt that +it would be an appropriate act for the foundation stone to be laid on +the school birthday. She was fortunate enough to persuade the Bishop of +the diocese to come and perform the ceremony. It was to be a great day +at Silverside. The girls discussed it freely beforehand, especially the +inmates of the Cowslip Room.</p> + +<p>"Ever so many smart people will be there," said Laura delightedly. +"Tommiekins is sending out heaps of invitations. I know, because Miss +Kennedy<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[196]</a></span> told Consie, and Consie told Nita Paget. The Bishop will make a +speech."</p> + +<p>"And what are <em>we</em> going to do?"</p> + +<p>"Stand round and listen, and look intelligent and appreciative, and all +the rest of it, I suppose. We'll have to be saints during the ceremony, +but we'll have some fun afterwards. D'you know the school's to be thrown +open to all sorts of visitors? Not only old fogies who make speeches, +but other people. The day girls may each ask three friends, and they can +bring brothers if they like."</p> + +<p>"You don't say so! Miss Thompson <em>is</em> coming on. Are you certain?"</p> + +<p>"It's quite true," confirmed Avelyn. "I was allowed an invitation card +too, and I've asked Mother and Daphne and David, and I've got Pamela to +ask Anthony with one of her spare invitations."</p> + +<p>"What sport!"</p> + +<p>"We'll all have to wear our best dresses," said Janet.</p> + +<p>"Rather! You bet we do!"</p> + +<p>In preparation for the coming event, a wave of what Miss Hopkins would +have dubbed "worldliness" swept over the Cowslip Room. The girls +reviewed their frocks critically. Laura implored Miss Kennedy to allow +hers to be sent to the dressmaker, to be lengthened two inches. Janet +borrowed the last drops of Ethelberga's before-the-war bottle of +benzoline, to remove a stain left by the dropping, butter-side down, of +a piece of muffin. Avelyn brushed her hair every night with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[197]</a></span> eau de +Cologne to make it glossy. Ethelberga, in defiance of food saving, +begged oatmeal from the cook, and rubbed it on her face to improve her +complexion. Irma, after criticizing the costumes of her friends, sprang +a surprise on them.</p> + +<p>"I've sent home for a new dress," she announced carelessly.</p> + +<p>"You haven't!"</p> + +<p>"Yes, I have, and what's more, I expect it to-morrow. Mother wrote that +she was telling Barclays to post it to me direct."</p> + +<p>"Well, I do think you might have told us before."</p> + +<p>The other girls felt as if Irma had stolen an advantage. If the idea had +occurred to them they might also have written home for new dresses. It +was unfortunately too late now. Irma alone, of the Cowslip Room, would +attend the festival in the glory of a new gown. She gave herself airs in +consequence. It was an unfortunate characteristic of Irma that she was +apt to get swelled head on occasion. Her room-mates were constantly on +the look-out for symptoms of this complaint, and generally applied +drastic measures before things went too far. In a dormitory it does not +do to allow a girl to maintain too exalted an opinion of herself.</p> + +<p>"Irma's swanking no end!" affirmed Ethelberga.</p> + +<p>"Putting on side galore!" agreed Janet tartly.</p> + +<p>"We ought to do something to take the wind out of her sails a little," +said Laura, looking pensive.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[198]</a></span> +Avelyn's eyes suddenly sparkled.</p> + +<p>"I've got it!" she chuckled. "We'll play a rag on her this afternoon. +It'll be ever such fun! Oh, I've thought of a perfectly gorgeous plan. +No, I don't think I'll tell you what it is yet; but stroll up to the +dormitory as soon after four as you can, and make Irma come too on some +excuse. Then I'll have a little surprise for you."</p> + +<p>"You might tell us!"</p> + +<p>"No, no! Not a word! It would spoil the surprise."</p> + +<p>The members of the Cowslip Room were always ready for some diversion. +They wondered what kind of a practical joke Avelyn was going to play on +Irma. They took particular care to decoy their victim upstairs at four +o'clock. As a bait, Ethelberga offered to lend Irma her manicure set. +They were rubbing pink powder on Irma's almond-shaped nails when a rap +came at the door.</p> + +<p>"Entrez!" shouted Janet casually.</p> + +<p>It was a demure-eyed junior who made her appearance, carrying a large +parcel.</p> + +<p>"This has just come, and it's for your room, so I brought it up," she +announced, dumping it down on the bed, and leaning over to read the +address. "Miss Irma Ridley. Wish it had been Miss Dorothy Elston. I've +no luck. Ta-ta!" and she waved a rather impertinent hand, and trotted +away.</p> + +<p>Irma jumped up, upsetting the box of manicure powder, and scattering the +other implements over the floor.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[199]</a></span> +"It's never my box!" she exclaimed.</p> + +<p>At that psychological moment Avelyn entered the room.</p> + +<p>"I didn't expect it until to-morrow," rejoiced Irma. "They must have +sent it by carrier instead of by post. Lend me your scissors, Janet. Oh, +I'm just dying to look!"</p> + +<p>The parcel was a large cardboard box done up in rather untidy brown +paper. It had evidently suffered considerably on the journey. Irma cut +the string with the utmost haste, and began to tear off the wrappers and +open the box.</p> + +<p>"I know Mother will have chosen me something pretty," she purred. +"Mother's got such lovely taste, and she wrote that she'd seen the very +thing, and was sure I should like it."</p> + +<p>"It's well wrapped up," remarked Janet.</p> + +<p>Irma was removing sheet after sheet of tissue paper with a pleased +giggle. At last she reached the core of the package, and unfolded—not a +smart new frock, but her own ordinary school evening dress. Her stare of +blank astonishment was comical.</p> + +<p><a name="what" id="what"></a>"What's this? What have they sent me?" she gasped.</p> + +<p>But her room-mates were collapsing in various attitudes of mirth, and +she understood. For a moment two red spots flared in her cheeks, then +she had the sense to take the joke with a good grace. If she was angry, +the others shouldn't have the triumph of seeing her annoyance.</p> + +<p>"You geese!" she remarked. "I might have known the box couldn't arrive +to-day. So this is<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[200]</a></span> why you hauled me upstairs, is it? Oh, go on and +laugh if you like! It doesn't hurt me. I don't mind."</p> + +<p>She hung the dress up again in her wardrobe, and folding the sheets of +tissue paper, appropriated them.</p> + +<p>"I've been wanting some tissue paper," she said airily.</p> + +<p>The girls restrained themselves and sobered down.</p> + +<p>"You're a trump, Irma!" declared Avelyn.</p> + +<p>"It was too bad, but we couldn't help laughing," murmured Janet.</p> + +<p>"Poor old Irmie, you took it sporting!" sympathized Ethelberga.</p> + +<p>"You'll like your dress all the more when it really comes," comforted +Laura.</p> + +<p>When Irma's parcel arrived the next day her room-mates, having played +their joke upon her, had the grace to be nice and to admire the new +frock, which was a charming creation in blue, and suited its owner +admirably. They went out of their way to be pleasant about it, and +Avelyn lent a hair ribbon which exactly matched the shade of colour, +while Laura offered a chain of Venetian beads. They all felt, as they +dressed for the festival, that if Irma's costume eclipsed the rest of +them, she deserved her little triumph for keeping her temper.</p> + +<p>"It's a shame to have to put a coat over it," said Ethelberga.</p> + +<p>"Well, she certainly can't stand outside in the cold with only that thin +dress on," decreed Laura.</p> + +<p>The ceremony was to take place at three o'clock,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[201]</a></span> and shortly before +that hour all the school, in hats and coats, were marshalled outside to +the spot where the new hall was to be erected. It was a cold, grey +January afternoon, with one or two snowflakes floating down, and +everybody stood and shivered. Some of the invited guests were keeping +warm in the house, and others strolled out to the scene of action. The +girls, drawn up in line, nodded and smiled to many friends from the +town. They were cold, and impatient for the proceedings to begin. +Waiting is weary work on a January afternoon. Their talk, which at first +had been low and subdued, began to buzz, and rose higher and higher.</p> + +<p>"What a disgraceful noise!" said Adah. "It's all those wretched +Hawthorners. If Miss Thompson brings out the Bishop while all this +clamour is going on she'll be thoroughly ashamed of the school. Less +noise, girls! Do you hear?"</p> + +<p>The girls heard perfectly well, but they did not heed, and the hum of +unrestrained conversation continued. Adah waxed desperate.</p> + +<p>"This can't go on! It mustn't!" she said indignantly.</p> + +<p>She thought for a moment, then took an extreme measure. She walked up to +Annie Broadside, and confronted her with flashing eyes.</p> + +<p>"You're a prefect! If you've any influence with your old crew, why don't +you stop this din? It's a disgrace to Silverside! I've said what I can!"</p> + +<p>Annie looked astonished, but for once she fell in with the head girl's +suggestion. Passing along<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[202]</a></span> the lines, she commanded silence, and she was +obeyed. Where Adah had failed to restore order, she succeeded. At that +moment the house door opened, and Miss Thompson appeared, ushering out +the Bishop—a reverend figure in gaiters—and followed by the mistresses +and a number of guests. A dead hush fell upon the school, and all eyes +were fixed at attention.</p> + +<p>The little ceremony was not very long—perhaps the Bishop himself felt +the cold. There were one or two brief speeches, and Edna Esdale, the +youngest member of Form I, handed a trowel decorated with ribbons, a dab +of mortar was deposited, and the foundation stone laid. The girls sang +"God Save the King", then, as the snow was beginning to come down in +good earnest, everybody thankfully turned into the house. It was +certainly a crowd, but it was pleasant to meet friends. The Watson +family had all turned up, and had actually brought Mrs. Reynolds with +them, to Pamela's great triumph, for as a rule her mother shunned all +public gatherings. The poor lady, though very nervous, seemed to be +mildly enjoying herself.</p> + +<p>"I am glad Pam didn't ask her uncle," thought Avelyn. "I shouldn't have +been surprised if he had insisted on coming!"</p> + +<p>There was actually a birthday cake for the school, with fourteen little +candles on it, and the Bishop, at Miss Thompson's request, cut the first +slice. There was only enough for visitors, but the girls had had the +satisfaction of viewing it lighted beforehand,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[203]</a></span> and had known that it +was not big enough to go round, so consequently were not disappointed. +Irma, in her new blue dress, produced quite a sensation among those of +her form who had not yet seen its beauties. Its attractions even went +further.</p> + +<p>Miss Thompson, ciceroning the Bishop round the premises and expatiating +on the value of her new scheme of ventilation, let her eyes pass over a +line of girls, flattening themselves dutifully against the wall, and +singled out the creation in blue.</p> + +<p>"We've many nice children here. Come here, Irma dear! This one is Irma +Ridley. Run, child, and fetch me your Nature notebook. I should like the +Bishop to look at it. We make a point of Nature study, my Lord."</p> + +<p>Irma departed on her errand like a blue sunbeam. She stood smiling and +speechless while the great Church dignitary benevolently examined her +record of the months, and murmured his approval.</p> + +<p>"Miss Thompson says it all went off splendidly," declared Janet, as the +girls warmed themselves at the class-room fire afterwards.</p> + +<p>"David and Anthony called it 'ripping!'" affirmed Avelyn.</p> + +<p>"And <em>I</em> was introduced to the Lord Bishop of Howchester!" triumphed +Irma, with the glamour of the honour still dancing in her shining eyes.</p> + + + +<hr /> + +<h2><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[204]</a></span> +<a name="xvi" id="xvi"></a>CHAPTER XVI<br /> +<span class="sub">Under the Pines</span></h2> + + +<p>When spring came, bringing daffodils in the orchard, and primrose stars +under the alder bushes in the meadow, and tiny green shoots on the +hedges, and singing of larks and cawing of jackdaws and twitter of +linnets, and all the other dear delights of the "return of Proserpine", +Walden also celebrated a birthday. It was a year since the Watsons had +obtained possession of their little property. To them all it had been a +glad, golden, glorious year, full of fresh interests, new awakenings, +and hitherto undreamed-of experiences. They had been living spiritually +on a far higher plane; almost unconsciously the influence of hills and +wide skies and dashing waters had passed into their lives and widened +them. So much of what we are in our after years depends on the standard +of happiness we form when we are quite young. If we learn to take +Nature's hand and read in her book, she can teach us wonderful secrets, +and lift our souls so that we can never again be really narrow, or +vulgar, or petty, or commonplace. It is not the mere fact of living in +the country that gives this inner vision. Too often country dwellers<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[205]</a></span> go +about with closed eyes and sealed hearts to the meaning of the beauty +around them; but to those who will listen to Mother Nature's many +voices, there comes a wonderful refinement and purity of taste, quite +irrespective of wealth or class distinctions, the mark of the spirit +that is daily growing, overmastering the claims of the physical body, +and fitting itself for something that as yet we only grasp at but cannot +reach. God must love His children very dearly to send them such +beautiful things as the April sunshine, and the light on the hills, and +the white spray of the whirling waterfall, and the violets in the hazel +coppice. They may spoil His earth for themselves, but the springtime +comes again, and the little heartsease flowers will bloom, not only over +those graves in France, but over deeper graves of fallen hopes and lost +ideals.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Watson reviewed the year at Walden as so much gain. To begin with, +her primary object in the removal had been an entire success: Daphne, +formerly pale, thin, and an object for anxiety, was now as radiant as a +pink-tipped daisy, and pronounced by the specialist to be absolutely fit +and sound. She spent most of her time out of doors, gardening and +looking after her colony of fowls, and, though she might not be doing +definite war work, felt that she was helping her country by the +production of food-stuffs. Daphne had suddenly grown very pretty. +Avelyn, who often looked at her critically, decided that point +emphatically. It was a delicate, ethereal, elusive kind of beauty, due<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[206]</a></span> +as much to expression as to straight features and smiling grey eyes. +Daphne never came out well in a photograph—that was quite a recognized +fact in the family; to appreciate her, you had to see her when she was +excited, or gardening, with her hair rumpled.</p> + +<p>The Walden birthday fell early in April, and the Watsons decided to +celebrate it by having a Saturday picnic. Captain Harper promised to +join them—he came up sometimes from the camp to Lyngates—and they also +asked Pamela and her mother. Rather to their surprise, Mrs. Reynolds +accepted the invitation. The poor lady was still somewhat crushed and +depressed, but she seemed to be trying to bestir herself, and, for her +daughter's sake, to make faint, almost pathetic efforts at friendship. +She was shy and uncommunicative, but she evidently liked Mrs. Watson, +and would cheer up a little in her presence, and venture a few remarks, +and even a watery smile. The picnic was to be in the pine woods, so all +met at the cross-roads by the pond as a common starting-point, and set +forth together, armed with tea baskets.</p> + +<p>It was a two-mile walk up hill, along a road that twisted at sharp +angles and gave lovely views of the landscape below. Presently they +reached the beginnings of the wood, and some pines rose like giant +sentinels guarding an enchanted land. As they tramped on, the trees +stood thicker, tall and straight as the masts of a ship, with a carpet +of soft fallen needles underneath. All at once a gleam of water flashed, +and they had reached the bourne<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[207]</a></span> of their journey, a little grey lake +set in the midst of the wood, with heather and whinberry growing round +its banks. There was a space of shingle down by the water, and here, +after a grand hunt to collect sticks, they lighted a fire and boiled the +kettle they had brought with them.</p> + +<p>It was fun sitting round in a gipsy circle, even if the tea was rather +weak and smoky, and the war cake was conspicuous by its lack of sugar +and currants. Everybody could have eaten a great deal more than the +ration, and the provisions disappeared down to the very last crumb. +Afterwards the young folks started to explore the banks, and had a wild +time scrambling over fallen tree trunks, jumping small streams, and +pushing through thickets. At a particularly large fallen pine Avelyn +struck, and demanded a rest. She and Pamela perched themselves on the +top, and announced their intention of sitting still for at least ten +minutes. The boys, who had been cutting walking-sticks from the hazels +by the lake edge, consented to a halt, and settled down with their +penknives, whittling away busily. Mrs. Watson and Mrs. Reynolds were +washing up the tea-cups at the picnic place, and the sound of their +voices echoed faintly over the water. Daphne and Captain Harper seemed +temporarily lost.</p> + +<p>"It's like home to be right amongst the pines!" said Pamela, looking +with far-away eyes at the vista of red-brown trunks and green needles.</p> + +<p>"Did you live among them in America?" asked Avelyn.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[208]</a></span> +"Yes, our ranch was out in British Columbia, close to the edge of the +forest. At one time Daddy had lumbering business there, and we spent the +summer at a log shanty right up on the mountain. It was glorious, and I +loved it, but it was very lonely. Daddy used to be out all day, looking +after the timber, and Mother and I would be left by ourselves until +evening. Sometimes we didn't see anyone except our own family for weeks +and weeks."</p> + +<p>"Were you frightened?"</p> + +<p>"Only once, and then we really had an adventure. I was more scared when +it was over than at the time."</p> + +<p>"Do tell us about it!" pleaded Avelyn.</p> + +<p>Pamela hesitated, and threw pine cones into the lake. She had never been +very expansive about her life in Canada, and the Watsons had heard few +of her experiences there. They had a general impression that Mr. +Reynolds had not prospered in the New World, and that Pamela shrank from +letting her friends know the roughness of her early upbringing. As a +rule they refrained from questioning her—she was not a girl whom it was +easy to question—but an adventure could not be resisted.</p> + +<p>"Do tell us, Pam!" urged the boys, wriggling nearer, and stopping their +whittling.</p> + +<p>Pamela threw away all the pine cones that lay in her lap, seemed to +think a moment or two, then finally decided.</p> + +<p>"All right, I'll tell you if you like! Well, as I've just said, we were +living in a log-house in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[209]</a></span> a little clearing in the forest. We used to +hear the coyotes howling about at night, but we didn't mind those in the +least. They're cowardly beasts, and we'd never seen anything else to +frighten us. One day Father had a much longer round to go than usual, +and he said he should not be back at night, but would sleep with some +friends at a ranch a good many miles off. Mother and I did not mind +being left. Daddy had been obliged to stop away like that before, so we +were accustomed to it. I went out in the afternoon, across the clearing, +and through part of the forest to some open pastures where the berries +grew. I stayed there, picking some and eating them, and putting some in +my basket, for just ages. It was nice there: I found flowers as well as +berries; and I'd brought out a book with me, so I sat down and read and +enjoyed myself. Suddenly I noticed that the sun was beginning to set, +and I jumped up and felt guilty. I knew that Mother would have supper +ready, and that she'd be waiting for me. I ran home all the way. It was +getting quite dusk in the forest as I went through. When I came near the +house, I could see that the shutters were up, covering the window. That +didn't surprise me, because Mother generally closed them as soon as she +lighted the lamp. But she always left the door standing open for me, and +to-night the door was shut too. I was rushing forward to open it, when I +heard Mother's voice calling me.</p> + +<p>"'Pamela, stop! Don't come a step nearer, child!'</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[210]</a></span> +"I looked round to see where Mother was, and she was in the funniest +place. Our log-cabin had a loft above it, which was reached by a ladder +from the living-room. This loft had a tiny window in the roof, and, lo +and behold, there was Mother peeping out of the window and waving me +back! I thought it so funny that I began to laugh, but Mother wasn't +laughing at all. She called out again:</p> + +<p>"'Keep back!'</p> + +<p>"Her voice sounded so queer that it suddenly scared me. My legs began to +shake in the silliest way.</p> + +<p>"'What's the matter?' I shouted.</p> + +<p>"Mother's voice quavered a little:</p> + +<p>"'Don't be too frightened, darling! There's a puma shut up in the +house!'</p> + +<p>"I was fearfully frightened, all the same. I should have run away if +Mother had not been at the window. I stared at the house, picturing that +horrible thing moving about inside. Mother went on explaining:</p> + +<p>"'I'd lighted the lamp and closed the shutters, and I'd left the door +open for you. Then, suddenly, I saw the creature creep into the room. My +first idea was that it would rush out and catch you just as you were +coming home, so I slammed the door, and dashed up the ladder into the +loft, and then kicked the ladder away. He's downstairs quite safe, and +I'm up here and he can't get at me. I've put down the trap-door.'</p> + +<p>"'Can't you crawl through the window, Mummie?' I gasped.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[211]</a></span> +"'No, it's too small. I've tried. I'm caged up here, just as much as the +puma is caged down below, and I can hear him raging about. If he upsets +the lamp, the whole place will be on fire.'</p> + +<p>"I gave a great cry at that, because it seemed almost a certain thing +that the puma would upset the lamp, and then I knew the log-cabin would +be in a blaze. What could I do? Daddy would not be returning home that +night, and our nearest neighbours were miles away. Yet I must get help, +and at once. There was nothing else for it; every minute was of +consequence.</p> + +<p>"'I'll go to the Petersons' ranch, Mummie!' I shouted, and I started off +running without waiting for her to reply.</p> + +<p>"I was only eleven, and the forest was getting dark. I had never been +out alone in it at that time of evening. I wasn't brave at all. My legs +shook under me as I ran, and I imagined a puma behind every bush. Then I +was rather uncertain about the trail. In that dim light it would be very +easy to lose my way and never reach the ranch at all. I decided to keep +near the stream, which would guide me. I went stumbling on for what +seemed a long time, and everything was getting darker, when suddenly, on +the other side of the stream, I saw the light of a camp fire. I knew +some lumbermen must be spending the night in the woods there, and that +they might help me. I hallooed and cooeed as loudly as I could, but the +wind was in the wrong direction and carried my voice away, and the +stream was noisy, so I couldn't make them hear me.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[212]</a></span> +"I didn't know what to do. Then, a little farther down, I saw that a +tree had fallen across the stream. I ran along and looked at it. It was +a horrible bridge—I'm a coward at crossing water—but I had to crawl +over it somehow. For a year afterwards I used to dream that I was doing +it again, and would wake up gasping. I've hated running water ever +since. Well, I managed to get across, though I never quite knew how I +did it, and then I ran up to the camp fire, shaking so that I could +hardly tell what I wanted.</p> + +<p>"Three men were sitting there, cooking their supper, and one of them +called out: 'Hallo! What's up with you, young 'un?'</p> + +<p>"When I said there was a puma inside our house they all whistled. Then +the one who had spoken reached for his gun, and said: 'We'll come with +you, lassie!'</p> + +<p>"The others didn't say anything, but they got up and found their guns +too. One of them took me on his back and carried me across the bridge +when he saw how I funked it. He went over without minding it in the +least. I don't know how he could!</p> + +<p>"It was fearfully dark going home through the wood, and I could only +just manage to find the trail. We got to our shanty at last, and I +shouted, and Mother looked out of the window and said: 'Thank God you're +back safe!'</p> + +<p>"The three men talked over the best way of killing the puma. One of them +prised open the shutters and the other two stood ready with their<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[213]</a></span> guns. +The creature had been quiet (so Mother told us afterwards) for a long +while, but when the shutters fell back it went wild, and came tearing +across the room to the window, knocking over the table and upsetting the +lamp. It was shot directly, and fell dead inside the room. But the lamp +had broken and set up a blaze. The men rushed to our shed for spades and +threw earth on the burning paraffin, managing to put the fire out before +any real damage had been done. Then they fixed the ladder again, and +Mother came down from the loft.</p> + +<p>"When Daddy came home next day she said she daren't be left alone in the +woods again, so he took us to the settlement, and we lived there the +rest of the summer."</p> + +<p>"Did you keep the puma's skin?" asked Anthony, who had followed the +story with breathless interest.</p> + +<p>"No, I'd have liked to, but the lumbermen had dragged the thing outside, +and the coyotes got hold of it in the night, so there wasn't much skin +left by morning."</p> + +<p>"I think you were immensely plucky!" exclaimed Avelyn warmly.</p> + +<p>"Plucky! What else could I have done? I tell you, I felt the biggest +coward out!"</p> + + + +<hr /> + +<h2><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[214]</a></span> +<a name="xvii" id="xvii"></a>CHAPTER XVII<br /> +<span class="sub">The Lavender Lady</span></h2> + + +<p>It was Easter time when the Lavender Lady first rose upon the horizon of +Lyngates. She came with the dog violets and the ground ivy and the +meadow orchises, and several other lovely purple things, at least that +was how her advent was always associated in Avelyn's mind. She took the +furnished bungalow near the church, lately vacated by the curate, and it +was rumoured in the village that she composed music and had published +poetry, and that she had come down into the country for a rest.</p> + +<p>When Avelyn first saw her she was sitting in the flowery little garden +raised above the road. She wore a soft lavender dress and an old lace +fichu, and she had dark eyes and eyebrows, and cheeks as pink as the +China roses, and fluffy grey-white hair that gleamed like a dove's wing +as the sun shone on it. She looked such a picture as she sat there, all +unconscious of spectators, against a background of golden wallflowers +and violet aubrietias, that Avelyn was obliged just to stand still and +gaze. In that thirty seconds she fell in love<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[215]</a></span> with the Lavender Lady. +It was not a mere mild liking, but a sudden, romantic, absolute, +headlong falling in love. It had come all in a minute and overwhelmed +her. She crept away softly to dream dreams about the vision she had seen +in the garden. At home there were some beautiful illustrated editions of +William Morris's <i>Earthly Paradise</i> and of Dante Gabriel Rossetti's +poems. She took them out and pored over them. The gorgeous +pre-Raphaelite pictures had always appealed to her innate artistic +sense, and set her nerves athrill with a something she could not +analyse. There was not one of them so beautiful as her Lavender Lady +among the flowers.</p> + +<p>"She's a little like 'The Blessed Damozel', who leaned out 'from the +gold bar of heaven'," mused Avelyn. "And then again she's like +Gainsborough's picture of 'The Duchess of Devonshire'. I wonder what her +name is, and if I shall ever know her? I don't believe I'd dare to speak +to her. I'd be too shy."</p> + +<p>For a whole week Avelyn, terribly in love, lived in a mystic world in +which the Lavender Lady, robed in the glory of the purple night and +stars, was as the central sun, and she herself revolved like a planet +round her orbit. The family could not understand why she insisted upon +choosing heliotrope for her new dress.</p> + +<p>"It won't suit you, dear," demurred Mrs. Watson, bewildered by the +firmness of her daughter's sudden attitude.</p> + +<p>They were sitting round the table, with three<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[216]</a></span> boxes of patterns from +west-end London firms spread out temptingly before them.</p> + +<p>"You of all people in helio, Ave!" objected Daphne. "It's the one colour +you ought never to wear—you're far too much of a brunette for any +violet shades. You'd look nice in this biscuit, or this saxe blue. I +always liked you in that blue dress you had a couple of years ago."</p> + +<p>"There's a perfectly charming stripe here," recommended Mrs. Watson.</p> + +<p>"I want the helio, please," said Avelyn doggedly.</p> + +<p>"But <em>why</em> should you want helio when you know it doesn't suit you?" +stormed Daphne. "It's really only pig-headedness, because you've +happened to say so. You can't see yourself in your own dress. If you +could you'd choose another colour."</p> + +<p>"You know nothing about it," retorted Avelyn; and matters nearly grew +warm between the two girls.</p> + +<p>"There's no need to send the patterns back to-day," interrupted Mrs. +Watson, sweeping the whole consignment back into their boxes. "We'll +bring them out to-morrow and talk about them."</p> + +<p>As a matter of fact she sent for the biscuit shade without consulting +Avelyn again, much to the disgust of that damsel, who consoled herself +by taking energetically to gardening, and replanting the round border in +the middle with wallflowers and purple aubrietias. It was the Easter +holidays, so she had time to dream. She made up at least six romances +about the Lavender Lady's past; some of them<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[217]</a></span> ended happily and some +unhappily. She could not decide which was really the more artistic. She +walked past the cottage every evening. Once she threw a bunch of violets +over the wall just to the place where the lady had been sitting. Then +she ran away frightened at her own daring. Another evening as she passed +she heard the strains of a piano and the sound of a rich, sweet +contralto voice. She stood and listened spellbound. It was a song she +had never heard before—a lovely, crooning song, like a cradle lullaby. +She would have liked to stay and listen to more, but the Vicar's wife +and daughters were coming down the road, and she fled. Somehow she did +not want to be talked to just at that moment.</p> + +<p>On Sunday she chivied the family off to church at least ten minutes too +soon, and they sat in their pew in stately dignity while the rest of the +congregation trickled in. Avelyn, from a post of vantage near the +pillar, eyed everyone that entered with increasing disappointment. Then +her heart gave a great thump. Her Lady was coming up the aisle—not in +lavender this time, but in black and white, with a bunch of violets and +a big picture-hat trimmed with silver ribbon, and a white ostrich boa +and dainty white kid gloves. The verger was showing her to a seat in +front, actually the next pew but one, and Avelyn felt thrills running +down her spine. She was so glad the verger had selected a pew in front. +If it had been behind, she would have been absolutely obliged to +disgrace herself by turning round. After the service she managed to drop +her<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[218]</a></span> book, and to fumble for it long enough to delay her family for a +few moments and prevent them from leaving before the Lavender Lady. They +passed her in the churchyard. She was actually speaking to the Vicar's +eldest daughter. Avelyn decided that Barbara Holt had more than her +share of luck. At dinner-time, over the joint of roast beef, Mrs. Watson +remarked:</p> + +<p>"That seems a sweet lady staying at the bungalow. Miss Carrington, I +hear, her name is. She comes from London, and Mrs. Holt says she's very +musical. I think I shall have to call."</p> + +<p>Avelyn went on eating beef and potatoes with a jumping heart but outward +composure. It had not struck her that it was possible to pay social +calls on Dante Gabriel Rossetti heroines. What if she were to meet the +Lavender Lady at close quarters? Even speak to her? The idea seemed to +need preparation.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Watson had quite made up her mind.</p> + +<p>"Daphne and I will go on Tuesday," she said.</p> + +<p>It was of course appropriate that Daphne, being the eldest, should go, +but Avelyn envied her all the same.</p> + +<p>When the momentous afternoon arrived she enquired anxiously what her +sister was going to wear. It seemed vitally important that the family +should make a good impression.</p> + +<p>"You'll put on your grey coat and skirt, won't you?" she said +beseechingly.</p> + +<p>"I don't think I will. I really don't want to go at all," yawned +Daphne.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[219]</a></span> +Not want to go! Avelyn could hardly believe it. She stared at Daphne +incredulously.</p> + +<p>"Don't you feel well?" she asked.</p> + +<p>"Oh yes! it isn't that, but I hate paying calls, and I promised the boys +to walk to Fulverton. Captain Harper said he'd meet us and show us a +squirrel's nest he's found. Suppose you go and call with Mother instead +of me?"</p> + +<p>Avelyn gasped. Such unselfishness took away her breath.</p> + +<p>"Do you really mean you'll let me go instead of you?"</p> + +<p>"With all the pleasure in life, child, if you want to." Daphne's manner +was airy and elder-sisterly. "Of course it's nothing to me whether we +meet Captain Harper or not, only he made rather a point about it, and +perhaps it would seem—well, rude, if I let the boys go without me. He's +been very kind to David and Tony, and one doesn't like to hurt his +feelings."</p> + +<p>Two things swept across Avelyn's bewildered consciousness: first, that +Daphne was growing up—growing up most suddenly and unmistakably; and +secondly, that she had resigned her privilege, as elder daughter, to +call on the Lavender Lady. The first would have to be considered at +leisure, in all its bearings and side issues; the second was for the +moment uppermost.</p> + +<p>"Go and ask Mother what you're to put on," said Daphne, as if the whole +question of the exchange were settled.</p> + +<p>It was an outwardly calm and self-possessed, but<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[220]</a></span> inwardly much-agitated +Avelyn who entered, in her mother's wake, into the little drawing-room +at the bungalow. One comprehensive glance took in the fact that the room +was utterly different from what it had been during the curate's +occupation. There were books and flowers, and other pretty things about. +The general tone had changed from commonplace to artistic. On the +window-sill lay a half-finished sketch of the village. There was music +on the open piano. But these details faded into secondary consideration, +for the Lavender Lady was entering, in the soft heliotrope gown, with a +sprig of wallflower pinned into the lace fichu.</p> + +<p>Occasionally in our lives we meet with people whose whole electric +atmosphere seems to merge and blend with our own. We feel we are not so +much making a new acquaintance as picking up the lost threads of some +former soul-friendship. Avelyn experienced thrills as she shook hands. +She was far too shy to say much, but she sat and listened rapturously +while her mother and Miss Carrington did the talking. For the present it +was enough to be in the vicinity of her goddess. The maid brought in +tea. There were a dainty, open-hem-stitched Teneriffe cloth, Queen Anne +silver teapot and Apostle teaspoons, and scones and honey. A bowl of +primroses and forget-me-nots was on the table.</p> + +<p>The half-hour's visit passed like a dream.</p> + +<p>"You'll come and see me again, dear, won't you?" said Miss Carrington, +as she held Avelyn's hand in good-bye.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[221]</a></span> +The hot colour flooded the girl's face. Her eyes shone like stars.</p> + +<p>"Oh, may I?" she cried impulsively.</p> + +<p>That afternoon marked an epoch. Friendship is a matter more of +temperament than of years. That the Lavender Lady was middle-aged, and +Avelyn barely sixteen, made not the slightest difference to either of +them. Each character dove-tailed comfortably into the other. Miss +Carrington had a great sympathy for girls, and she seemed to understand +Avelyn at once. As for the latter, she had utterly lost her heart. But +for the fear of making herself a nuisance she would have nearly lived at +the bungalow. She went there very often by special invitation, and spent +glorious, delightful afternoons sitting in the garden, talking about art +and books and music, and the foreign places Miss Carrington had visited. +It fascinated Avelyn to hear about Venice and Rome and Sicily and Egypt, +and made her long to go and see them for herself.</p> + +<p>"You shall, some day, when the war's over," said the Lavender Lady +confidently.</p> + +<p>Sometimes they would go for walks together, or Avelyn would wait with a +book while Miss Carrington sketched, or—what she loved immensely—would +sit in the twilight while her friend improvised soft dreamy music at the +piano. The little volume of poems, <i>Cameos</i>, by Lesbia Carrington, she +already knew almost by heart; the small, white-and-gold edition, with +its signed autograph, was her greatest treasure. To Avelyn it was a +most<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[222]</a></span> inspiring friendship, that roused dormant hopes and ideals in her +nature which promised to make rapid growth afterwards. Her Lavender Lady +proved the most delightful of confidantes. It was possible to tell her +everything. She never laughed at Avelyn's secrets, though she was merry +enough on occasion.</p> + +<p>One evening she and Avelyn sat in the little garden, watching the red +glow of the setting sun fade away behind the dark boughs of the yew +trees. The air was heavy with the scent of flowers; from the fields came +the caw of rooks, as long flights passed homeward to roost. Avelyn +squatted on the grass, with her head against the Lavender Lady's knee, +and held her hand tight.</p> + +<p>"Next week I shall be back at Silverside," she whispered. "I just hate +the thought of it!"</p> + +<p>"Poor little woman!"</p> + +<p>"It isn't as nice there as it ought to be, somehow. Things seem always +at sixes and sevens, and it's so horrid."</p> + +<p>"What's the trouble?"</p> + +<p>"The old school and the new school won't mix. The Silversiders look down +on the Hawthorners, and the Hawthorners resent it, of course, and just +detest the Silversiders. It's a constant bickering the whole time. I +think it's almost worse since Annie and Gladys were made prefects. It's +perfectly wretched for me, because I'm between two stools."</p> + +<p>"How's that?"</p> + +<p>"Well, you see, in a way I'm a boarder, but<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[223]</a></span> then I'm the only weekly +boarder, so the others who stay there the whole term rub it into me that +I'm not quite one of themselves. They can't forget that I used once to +go to The Hawthorns, even though it's a long time ago, and they keep +bringing it up against me as if I were a sort of traitor in their midst. +Then it's quite as awkward for me with the day girls. I like some of +them very much; they used to be old chums of mine, and I'd like to go on +being friends with them. But if I even speak to them in school, Laura or +Janet are down on me like anything, and ask me if I've forgotten I'm a +member of the Silverside League."</p> + +<p>"What is the League, please?"</p> + +<p>"It's a kind of blood-brotherhood among the boarders to keep up +Silverside traditions. When the day girls heard of it, they started an +'Old Hawthorners' League' in opposition."</p> + +<p>"But surely you're all Silversiders now?"</p> + +<p>"We are in name, but nothing else. We still feel two separate schools. +The day girls wouldn't play hockey with us in the winter. They got up a +club of their own, and wore their old school colours. They won ever so +many matches, and the Silverside Club did so badly. Adah was dreadfully +sick about it. She thought them so mean to desert."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps they felt they wouldn't be welcome."</p> + +<p>"That's exactly the point. Instead of pulling together, it's always +boarders versus day girls; and as for poor little me, I'm neither fish, +flesh, fowl, nor good red herring!"</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[224]</a></span> +The Lavender Lady smiled, and then looked thoughtful. She stroked +Avelyn's hair.</p> + +<p>"Poor little woman!" she said again.</p> + +<p>"I feel like Mohammed's coffin, slung between earth and heaven."</p> + +<p>"Can't something be done to bring these rival factions into harmony? +You're one school now, and ought to work together for the common good."</p> + +<p>"That's what Miss Thompson says, but it doesn't make any difference."</p> + +<p>"Girls often won't listen to teachers. The movement must come from +within, not without. It seems to me, Ave, you're the one to set it in +motion."</p> + +<p>"I?"</p> + +<p>Avelyn turned up her face in the greatest amazement to meet the Lavender +Lady's calm eyes.</p> + +<p>"Yes, <em>you</em>, darling! Don't you see you have an absolutely unique +opportunity? You're the only girl in the school who is in touch with +both sides. You can get at both the boarders and the day girls. The +hockey season is over, and I suppose next term you'll be starting tennis +and cricket?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, so we shall."</p> + +<p>"Well, suppose directly you get back to Harlingden you propose a United +League of all Silversiders to win credit for the school. You could set +about it very tactfully, and sound your principal parties first."</p> + +<p>"<em>I?</em> But they'd think it such cheek! A Fifth Form girl, and only a +weekly boarder."</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"><a name="lavender" id="lavender"></a> +<img src="images/gs05.jpg" width="400" height="637" alt="AVELYN AND THE LAVENDER LADY" title="" /> +<span class="caption">AVELYN AND THE LAVENDER LADY</span> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[225]</a></span> +"And Gideon said, 'Wherewithal shall I save Israel? I am the least in my +father's house'," quoted Miss Carrington. "On the contrary, I think it's +the chance of a lifetime. I believe you're the one girl to do it. It +would be something worth accomplishing, wouldn't it, to unite the +school?"</p> + +<p>"Rather!"</p> + +<p>"Is there any public occasion when you could bring forward the +suggestion?"</p> + +<p>"Yes; there's the School Council on the first Wednesday of term. Anybody +is allowed to put things to the meeting, and votes are taken."</p> + +<p>"You couldn't have a better opportunity. Talk in private to the girls +first, and persuade a number of them from both sides to be ready to back +you up. Then state your proposal. By the by, what are the Silverside +colours?"</p> + +<p>"Pale-blue and navy."</p> + +<p>"And the old Hawthorn colours?"</p> + +<p>"Navy and pink."</p> + +<p>"If you're wise, you'll amalgamate them, and ask Miss Thompson to let +you have new badges of pale-blue, pink, and navy. I believe it might +just make all the difference to the state of feeling."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps you're right. But I still feel afraid—it's a big thing to +attempt, and I don't know whether I can screw up the courage. Suppose I +fail? Suppose they only laugh at me, and tell me to mind my own +business?"</p> + +<p>"You won't fail! You mustn't <em>think</em> failure! Make up your mind +beforehand that you're going to succeed, and that what you say will +persuade them. Oh, Ave darling, do try! It would be<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[226]</a></span> such a grand thing. +There are those two great streams of girls, each running its own way. +They only need a thin barrier removed to make them into one mighty +river. Some common purpose should unite them. Perhaps in their heart of +hearts they're all secretly longing for union. Who knows? Can't your +hands lead them together? You said once you'd do anything for my sake."</p> + +<p>"So I did—and I mean it!"</p> + +<p>"Then take up this crusade, and be a Red Cross Knight for the School +Colours!"</p> + +<p>"For the School Colours and for you, dear Lavender Lady!" said Avelyn, +kissing the soft hand in token of her vow.</p> + + + +<hr /> + +<h2><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[227]</a></span> +<a name="xviii" id="xviii"></a>CHAPTER XVIII<br /> +<span class="sub">The Loyal School League</span></h2> + + +<p>Avelyn went back to school in a serious frame of mind. She knew that she +had undertaken a big thing, and, though she mentally set her teeth and +meant to grapple with it, she felt that her dear Lavender Lady did +not—could not—realize all the difficulties that lay in her path. Miss +Carrington's supreme faith in her buoyed her up, however; she would try +her utmost, and if failure came—— No! the Lavender Lady had said it +was fatal even to mention failure, and that she must go about her errand +absolutely determined to succeed.</p> + +<p>She began by sounding the members of her own dormitory. They received +the suggestion with wonderful favour.</p> + +<p>"The school's been slack enough at games all the winter!" commented +Irma.</p> + +<p>"Time it bucked up, certainly!" agreed Janet.</p> + +<p>"That Hawthorners' Hockey Club was a scandal!" said Laura.</p> + +<p>"Well, if we don't take care they'll be turning it into a tennis club +for the summer," warned Avelyn.</p> + +<p>"We'd better make some sort of a move," grunted Ethelberga.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[228]</a></span> +"It's Adah that's at the bottom of all the trouble," said Laura, sitting +on the floor with her arms clasped round her knees, and swaying +thoughtfully to and fro. "Adah's a thorough old-fashioned Silversider, +and hates the new contingent—that's the matter in a nutshell."</p> + +<p>"Isobel and Consie and even Joyce would come round directly if Adah +would only let them," agreed Irma.</p> + +<p>"And Annie and Gladys would meet them half-way," nodded Janet.</p> + +<p>"Adah's the most ripping tennis-player I know," ruminated Laura.</p> + +<p>"And so's Annie. She won the trophy last year at The Hawthorns."</p> + +<p>"The two together would make the best champions any school ever had."</p> + +<p>"Well, look here, they've just <em>got</em> to go together!"</p> + +<p>"I've an idea—a brain wave!" said Avelyn. "The Council Meeting will be +to-morrow. Well, this afternoon let us propose a tennis set, 'School +versus Mistresses'. Miss Peters and Miss Broadwin are simply A1 at +tennis, and everybody knows they are, so we'll insist upon Adah and +Annie playing together for the school. They can't refuse when it's put +like that. Whether they win or lose, it'll pave the way for what we want +to bring forward to-morrow."</p> + +<p>"Right you are, O Queen! It's a blossomy idea!"</p> + +<p>Avelyn got up, and straightened her tie.</p> + +<p>"I'll go down now to the dressing-room, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[229]</a></span> catch those day girls as +they come in, and have a talk with some of them."</p> + +<p>"And I'll go and sound Miss Peters about the set this afternoon. She's +in a good temper to-day, because she's had a letter from the front."</p> + +<p>Miss Peters and Miss Broadwin, fresh and fit after the holidays, were +quite disposed to accept the challenge of the girls and wield rackets on +behalf of the mistresses. Universal public opinion fixed upon Adah and +Annie as champions for the school, and they submitted, a little +bewildered and dismayed, but bowled over by the suddenness of the +suggestion. Every girl at Silverside—except three victims who had music +lessons and one who had toothache—crowded round the tennis court to +watch the exciting contest. Miss Peters and Miss Broadwin were +formidable opponents; they had been members of their college clubs, and +though slightly out of practice had not forgotten their former skill. +The two prefects knew that it would need their utmost ability to fight +them. With the whole school looking on, each nerved herself to do her +best.</p> + +<p>In the first game the Mistresses scored. Miss Peters's serves seemed +almost invincible, and as for Miss Broadwin her arms were elastic. Adah +and Annie looked at each other grimly. They had begun to take their +opponents' measure, and also to estimate each other's play. In the next +game they exercised extreme caution, and did not repeat certain +mistakes. After an exciting rally the score this time fell to the +School.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[230]</a></span> +"Now for the tussle!" laughed Miss Peters, as she collected balls.</p> + +<p>Adah could not help admiring the way Annie played that last game. She +kept her nerve splendidly, and her back-hand strokes were magnificent. +For an anxious moment or two the luck of the School trembled in the +balance, but by a frantic effort on the part of the prefects the set was +secured. The vanquished Mistresses took their defeat sportingly, and +congratulated the victors.</p> + +<p>"One of the best sets we've ever had at Silverside!" declared Miss +Broadwin, pinning up a tail of hair that had strayed down her back in +the heat of the combat.</p> + +<p>"If you two go on like this you'll be invincible!" laughed Miss Peters. +"You need to get a little more accustomed to each other's play, and +you'd make splendid champions."</p> + +<p>"You were both absolutely topping!" declared the school, crowding round.</p> + +<p>Adah took her honours stolidly, but appreciated them none the less. +After all, it was pleasant to be congratulated by the day girls; it made +up in some slight degree for the humiliation of that afternoon when they +had run away rather than witness the dramatic performance.</p> + +<p>"We must practise together," she said to Annie; and Annie actually +replied:</p> + +<p>"I could stay half an hour every day after school, if you like."</p> + +<p>This amnesty between the rivals, heard and reported by several +listeners, surely seemed to pave<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[231]</a></span> the way for tomorrow's proposals. +Avelyn's mental barometer stood at "high hopes".</p> + +<p>The Council Meeting was always held in the big schoolroom, and, by +old-established rule, classes stopped at 3.30 instead of 4, so as to +allow extra time for the proceedings. No mistresses were present, and +the girls, within certain limits, were allowed to make any arrangements +they thought fit for the ensuing term. The prefects took their places on +the platform, and Adah, as head girl, acted chairman.</p> + +<p>The room was very full. On the front benches sat rows of round-eyed +youngsters, bare-legged, in the prevailing fashion for socks, with their +hair tied with broad ribbons. Behind them were excitable pig-tailed +juniors, wriggling restlessly in their seats, and continually letting +their whispers rise to a murmur that called down rebuke from the +platform. These were as sheep ready to follow any leader, and did not +understand the objects of the meeting. They had come simply because they +were told to do so, and because they thought it would be fun. The larger +half of the school, girls from twelve to seventeen, were in a state of +indecision. It had been rumoured that Annie Broadside intended to turn +the Old Hawthorners' Hockey Club into a tennis club for the summer, and +there was in certain quarters a strong feeling that they ought to +support her. They wondered what was going to happen. Avelyn, with Laura, +Janet, Irma, Ethelberga, Pamela, and several other "backers", sat at the +end underneath the clock.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[232]</a></span> +Adah began the proceedings by reading a report of the school activities +for the previous term. She made the very best of what she had to say, +but it was felt to be a poor record. The societies and guilds had been +decidedly languishing, and had achieved next to nothing. It was +impossible to refer to them with any pride. There was perfunctory +clapping, markedly half-hearted.</p> + +<p>"Now we've got to decide on what we're going to do this term," continued +Adah. "I suppose we shall have our usual societies—the Tennis Club, and +the Cricket Club, and the Photographic Union. If anybody wants to make +any suggestions, now is the time. This is an open meeting, and everyone +who likes is at liberty to speak—in turn, of course. There may be some +little points you'd like to bring up. Do so by all means. We prefects +are perfectly willing to listen to you, and to discuss them."</p> + +<p>Adah spoke in her usual rather patronizing fashion. Her words were +succeeded by a dead hush. Everybody felt that there were not only little +points, but very big points which needed to be raised, yet nobody seemed +able to voice the general discontent. A whisper passed along some of the +forms to the effect that day girls ought to have their rights. Adah +watched the heads bent together and the moving lips.</p> + +<p>"Speak to the chair, please!" she reminded them.</p> + +<p>But at that they sat up silently.</p> + +<p>Many of the audience wondered if Annie would take up the cudgels for the +day girls and fight the question out upon the platform, but Annie made +no<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[233]</a></span> sign. Was she thinking of the Old Hawthorners' League, and would she +perhaps again call a rival meeting on the common, as she had done in the +autumn?</p> + +<p>"Am I to take it that you consider former arrangements satisfactory?" +asked Adah, frowning at some of the babies, who were playing with a +celluloid ball.</p> + +<p>Then Avelyn stood up.</p> + +<p>"I should like very much to discuss one or two points, if I may," she +began.</p> + +<p>"Certainly! Go on!"</p> + +<p>"Well, first of all I think we ought all to be rather ashamed of the +report. For such a big school I certainly think we ought to have far +more to show for ourselves."</p> + +<p>Several of the prefects nodded, and began to look interested.</p> + +<p>"There are nearly a hundred girls here this term, and we may call +ourselves the principal school in Harlingden. We ought to take quite a +place in the county, and challenge other schools for matches. We haven't +shone very much in games hitherto, have we?"</p> + +<p>A discontented murmur replied from the benches. There was an electric +thrill in the air. Avelyn took courage. At first her sentences had come +hesitatingly; now that she warmed to her subject, her words flowed more +easily. She had a sudden feeling that the Lavender Lady was thinking of +her and inspiring her; the idea roused the utmost effort of which she +was capable. She determined to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[234]</a></span> speak boldly, and not beat about the +bush. If she gave offence she could not help it.</p> + +<p>"What we want here is a spirit of union. If we all determine to stick +together and back one another up at all costs, we might do great things. +Don't let us have two parties. Let us forget any old squabbles, and be +loyal to the school. I believe we've heaps of talent amongst us if it +only gets a chance to come out. Let's remodel our societies on a new +basis, and give the best places to whoever will gain the most credit for +the school. Why shouldn't we try this year for the County Shield? With +two such champions as Adah Gartley and Annie Broadside we ought to have +a sporting chance. Just think if we could win the shield for Silverside! +Then there's cricket. We can muster up strongly in that respect, too. +Joyce Edwards, and Minnie Selburn, and Gladys Wilks, and Maggie Stuart +would take a good deal of beating! We could get up a first-rate Eleven, +and arrange some topping matches. Think how priceless it would be to go +and watch them, and cheer on our own side!"</p> + +<p>Avelyn paused for breath. She had spoken warmly, and the excitement had +quite carried her away. Her cheeks were flushed, and her eyes were +shining. She had held the attention of the room with a kind of +magnetism. All faces had been turned towards her, and her every word had +been closely followed.</p> + +<p>The girls now burst into a buzz of general conversation. Each wanted to +discuss the matter with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[235]</a></span> her neighbour. It was plain that the project +was received with approval. Even the prefects were having a few private +remarks among themselves. Joyce and Isobel in particular were nodding +emphatically as if urging the project upon Adah. Annie whispered to +Gladys, and they both spoke to Consie. All were looking expectantly +towards Adah. The head girl rang the bell for silence.</p> + +<p>"What you say is very true. Silverside ought to take its proper place in +games, and I think we all agree that a special effort should be made +this summer. As this is a business meeting, will you please put what you +wish to suggest in the form of a proposition?"</p> + +<p>"Certainly. I beg to propose that we form a 'Loyal School League', the +object of which shall be to advance in every way the credit of +Silverside. We ought to have a President and several Vice-presidents, +and a Committee, with two representatives from each of the upper forms. +If any very important question arises we should have a Council Meeting +of the whole school, and put the matter to the vote. I also propose +that, for the sake of further cementing our unity, we adopt a new badge, +and have for our colours pale-blue, pink, and navy. It would be an +effective combination, and would mean a good deal to most of us. We +would pledge ourselves to do our utmost for the new Silverside Colours."</p> + +<p>As Avelyn again stopped, a roar of applause rose from the room. The +girls were completely carried away by her idea; the blending of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[236]</a></span> +badges seemed the one thing needed to unite the school. Though a few +prejudiced "Old Silversiders", including Adah, looked rather blank, the +majority, even among the boarders, were plainly in favour of the +suggested change.</p> + +<p>"Does anybody second this proposition?" asked the head girl. "We +prefects want to hear the view of the school."</p> + +<p>A dozen stood up, anxious to speak. Adah nodded to Laura Talbot. Laura +had been at Silverside five years, and was a dependable character, not +easily carried away by tides of emotion. Her ideas might reasonably be +the gauge of average popular opinion.</p> + +<p>"I've been thinking for a long time that we ought to do something," said +Laura. "It seems to me that a 'Loyal School League' just hits the nail. +I believe we'll forge ahead this term and win laurels for our new +colours. I have very great pleasure in seconding this proposition."</p> + +<p>"Then I put it to the vote. All in favour kindly hold up their hands."</p> + +<p>Every arm in the room shot up instantly. Adah looked at the waving show +of hands before her, and realized that the general feeling of the school +favoured unity. She had the sense to accept the situation in a generous +spirit.</p> + +<p>"Carried unanimously!" she declared, and turning round, smiled at Annie, +who smiled back. The girls cheered, ostensibly at the carrying of the +resolution, but partly to see the rival leaders on such affable terms.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[237]</a></span> +"We want a president, and I propose Adah!" shouted Ethelberga.</p> + +<p>"And the rest of the prefects as vice-presidents!" amended Janet.</p> + +<p>"Hear, hear!" came from the audience.</p> + +<p>"And I," said Pamela, jumping up suddenly, "beg to propose that Avelyn, +who suggested the whole idea of the League, shall be elected secretary."</p> + +<p>"Rather!"</p> + +<p>"Good biz!"</p> + +<p>"Ave, by all means!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, no, please! I don't want to grab any office for myself!" protested +Avelyn.</p> + +<p>"Nonsense! Brace up, child, for you'll have to do it!" urged Laura. +"Why, you've brought about the whole business. Besides, you belong to +both parties, so you'll bind us together as nobody else could."</p> + +<p>"The missing link, in fact!" hinnied Irma, trying to be funny.</p> + +<p>The meeting passed the remaining resolutions in good order, then broke +up in a whirl of excited talk. A deputation of prefects visited Miss +Thompson's study, and gave her a digest of the afternoon's proceedings. +She listened approvingly.</p> + +<p>"I'll order the new badges at once, and see about hiring a larger +cricket field," she commented.</p> + +<p>The Principal did not judge it discreet to say more to the girls, but +over cocoa that evening with the mistresses she voiced her +satisfaction.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[238]</a></span> +"I knew they'd come round in time if we let them alone. You can't force +these things. I suppose it was only natural that the old school and the +new should find some difficulty in mingling. Girls are queer creatures, +and often very prejudiced. It won't have done them any harm to see what +a poor record they made in games when they were striving for rival +factions. I consider it an excellent object lesson. I expect they'll all +try their best now, and practise away hard at cricket and tennis."</p> + +<p>"I hoped it marked a new era when I saw Adah and Annie win that set at +tennis," nodded Miss Peters.</p> + +<p>"They're both excellent girls in their way, and should do great things +for the school, if they'll only pull together," agreed Miss Hopkins.</p> + +<p>Avelyn spent her half-hour of leisure that evening in writing to Miss +Carrington.</p> + +<div class="block4"> +<p>"<span class="smcap">Darling Lavender Lady</span>,</p> + +<p><span class="indent4">"I have actually</span> done it! Or rather, <em>you</em> have done it, for it +was entirely your idea. I can scarcely believe it is true, but +the League is an accomplished fact, and the new colours, and all +your dear jinky suggestions. I don't know how I had the cheek to +stand on my legs and make the proposal before the whole school, +but I thought of my promise to you, and I did it somehow. I +hardly remember what I said. The girls are tremendously keen on +the League; they say it's a topping notion. Can you believe it, +darling?<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[239]</a></span> they've made me secretary. Little me! I shall have to +write the letters to other schools, challenging them to matches! +I shall use the lovely new blotter you gave me.</p> + +<p>"Good-bye, and thank you a hundred thousand times for everything +you are to me!</p> + +<p class="right"><span class="padright8">"With love from<br /></span> +<span class="padright4">"Your devoted<br /></span> +<span class="padright1 smcap">Avelyn."</span></p> +</div> + + + + +<hr /> + +<h2><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[240]</a></span> +<a name="xix" id="xix"></a>CHAPTER XIX<br /> +<span class="sub">The Surprise Tree</span></h2> + + +<p>Having once made up their minds to concentrate their united energies on +establishing a record at games, the girls at Silverside set to work in +dead earnest. They organized definite and systematic practice both at +cricket and tennis, and tried to bring their play to a higher standard. +They found much help in this respect from Miss Peters and Miss Leslie, +who had come as new mistresses in September, and were keen on tennis and +cricket. During the winter there had been no opportunity for them to +display their talents, but now they proved invaluable as coaches. Both +had been in large schools and thoroughly understood what was required. +They encouraged the girls to arrange matches.</p> + +<p>"It's worth it even if you're beaten," said Miss Leslie. "You see other +people's play and learn to make a good fight. You can often pick up most +valuable hints from your opponents. Some of the best tips I ever had I +got from a girl who invariably beat me."</p> + +<p>It was quite a novel state of affairs at Silverside<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[241]</a></span> for day pupils to +stay after four o'clock and join the boarders in tennis court or cricket +field, but after the first week the latter got used to the invasion of +their privileges, and decided that the improvement in the general play +was ample compensation. The new badges soon arrived, and everybody +decided that the combination of pink, pale-blue, and navy was highly +satisfactory. The Loyal School League seemed likely to forge ahead. +Avelyn made a capital secretary; she was prompt and business-like, and, +though she did not push herself forward unduly, she was always ready +with helpful suggestions. At one of the committee meetings she started +the idea of the Romp Day. It was the Lavender Lady who really thought of +it—she inspired all Avelyn's best schemes. They had talked it over and +planned it out in the little garden at Lyngates, where roses were now +blooming instead of the wallflowers and aubrietia.</p> + +<p>"I'm glad the League's prospering," she had said. "It's splendid how +you're all working together now and coaching each other. It's a pity, +though, if all this new spirit of helpfulness spends itself entirely on +the school. It ought to find a wider outlet. You're having jolly times +in the playing fields this term. Can't you pass on some of the fun to +others who never get a chance to play games for themselves? I mean the +little cripple children. There's a branch of the 'Poor Brave Things' +Society in Harlingden. If Miss Thompson would let you give them an +afternoon's outing they'd have the time of their lives. Could you<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[242]</a></span> +possibly suggest it, do you think? I really believe it's the sort of +thing Silverside would enjoy."</p> + +<p>The League and Miss Thompson justified the Lavender Lady's good opinion +of them. They took up the idea with enthusiasm, and decided to organize +a "Romp Day" for the crippled children. They communicated with the +secretary of the "Poor Brave Things" Society, with the result that +invitations were sent out to thirty little invalids to come to a picnic +party in the garden at Silverside and be entertained. A special +half-holiday was given for the occasion, and all the school was asked to +unite in making the affair a success. Miss Thompson wished the day girls +to stay to tea that afternoon, but catering was a difficulty. It was +utterly impossible for her to provide a meal for a hundred and thirty +children. The Food Controller rationed the school according to the +number of its boarders. The Principal was inventive, however, and hit on +an excellent solution of the problem. She asked each day girl to bring +enough tea, sugar, milk, buns, and cake for her own consumption and for +half the allowance for one guest, and in this way provided ample for +everybody, without anyone being asked to give more than a very small +contribution of food.</p> + +<p>"Before the war I should have been horrified at the idea of inviting you +to come to a party and bring your own provisions," said Miss Thompson. +"In these days of semi-famine, however, we have to do many new and +strange things. It's wonderful what we can get used to when we try."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[243]</a></span> +The girls themselves thought it was immense fun each to bring a little +basket to make the feast.</p> + +<p>"It's like an American tea," said Gladys Wilks. "I'm going to make some +scones myself. We've got a quarter of a pound of sultanas hoarded up. +We've been saving them for some great occasion; Mother said they'd do +for my birthday cake, so I know she'll let me use them for this instead. +I've got a topping recipe, if they only turn out as it says."</p> + +<p>"Guess they'll be jolly nice. Bags me one if the cripples don't want +them all!" declared Maggie. "You shall have a piece of my sandwich-cake +instead."</p> + +<p>"Look here," interrupted Gertrude; "this business isn't to be all tea +and buns. We've got to give these kiddies a real good time. Suggestions, +please! Don't all speak at once!"</p> + +<p>"We're going to sing to them."</p> + +<p>"And the Juniors are to do a dance."</p> + +<p>"How about some gym display?"</p> + +<p>"Um—tolerable! But my idea is that they won't want to sit and watch us +perform the whole time. There ought to be something specially for +themselves. Stop a minute! I've a brain wave! Don't speak to me! My +mind's working."</p> + +<p>The girls grinned expectantly, while Gertrude stood with finger uplifted +for silence.</p> + +<p>"Got it!" she proclaimed at last. "We'll have a Surprise Tree."</p> + +<p>"What's that?"</p> + +<p>"Well, you can't exactly have a Christmas tree<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[244]</a></span> at this time of year, +but we'll rig up something very like it. You know that little +monkey-puzzler near the summer-house? We'll decorate it with streamers +of paper and ornaments, and hang presents on with coloured ribbons. +There must be one for each crippled child, or two if possible. Every +girl in this school has got to bring a present."</p> + +<p>Once the idea of providing suitable entertainment for their invalid +guests was mooted, many suggestions were forthcoming. Vivian Roy, who +was the lucky owner of a Shetland pony and a tiny basket cart, offered +to bring these to school and take relays of children for drives round +the garden. Sybil Beaumont undertook to lend a very superior gramophone; +the mother of one of the Juniors promised to send oranges. Violet Parker +told her aunt, the Mayoress, about the party, and that kind-hearted lady +arranged to allow the use of her carriage for the afternoon, to carry +some of the children from their homes to the school and back. As means +of conveyance were a real difficulty, several other parents followed her +example and sent governess cars or hired cabs. It was a form of help for +which the secretary of the "Poor Brave Things" was particularly +grateful.</p> + +<p>"You've no idea what trouble it is for their friends to bring them," she +explained. "Unless they possess, or can borrow, some kind of invalid +carriage it's an impossibility. Also many of them can't spare the time +to do it. In the days of petrol plenty we used to have an annual outing +for the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[245]</a></span> children, and people lent their cars, but of course that is all +stopped now."</p> + +<p>On the afternoon in question the numerous hostesses were waiting about +in the garden long before their visitors were due. Each day girl had +duly brought her basket, the contents of which were to be pooled for +general consumption. The gramophone had been placed on a table outside, +and the Shetland pony and cart were in readiness near the door.</p> + +<p>"I expect there's been a terrific amount of washing and dressing and +hair-curling going on," laughed Annie. "I hope the children will survive +your scones, Gladys!"</p> + +<p>"Don't be insulting! My scones are delicious! I've tasted them, so I +know."</p> + +<p>"You greedy thing!"</p> + +<p>"Certainly not. I couldn't bring them without seeing whether they were +fit to eat."</p> + +<p>"I heroically didn't touch even a crumb of mine!"</p> + +<p>"More goose you!"</p> + +<p>"Don't spar," interrupted Gertrude. "Here comes the first contingent!"</p> + +<p>It was the Mayoress's carriage, and it had brought six guests—such +pathetic little people! Some of them had crutches, and could manage to +walk, but others had to be wheeled up the drive in a Bath chair, which +was waiting on purpose. A special corner of the garden, with couches and +cosy seats, had been arranged for them, and each child as it arrived was +taken there, two special hostesses being told off to look after it for +the afternoon and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[246]</a></span> make it happy. Avelyn, together with Laura, found +herself in charge of a mite of a girl who looked about eight, but +declared she was nearly thirteen.</p> + +<p>"It's the first time I've been out for ten weeks, miss," she said shyly. +"I lie on my back most days."</p> + +<p>"What do you do? Can you read?" asked Avelyn.</p> + +<p>"Yes, when I get any books. Our District Visitor lends me some."</p> + +<p>"Have you ever been to school?"</p> + +<p>"Not since I was nine. It was at school I fell and hurt my back. It's +been bad ever since."</p> + +<p>The little visitors were evidently prepared to enjoy every moment of +their party. They were given tea almost immediately, and did full +justice to the various cakes and buns which the girls had brought for +them. They listened smiling while the gramophone blared forth +selections, and clapped their hands when the Juniors danced for their +amusement. Those who could bear the jolting went for short drives in +Vivian's pony carriage, but most of them were obliged to sit very still. +One little fellow—the cheeriest of all—lay flat on a rug, with a +cushion under his head.</p> + +<p>As it would have been impossible to move all the children from one place +to another, their special corner had been arranged round the Surprise +Tree. The little monkey-puzzler presented a very gay appearance, for it +had been decorated with Christmas-tree ornaments, coloured balls, and +glass birds,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[247]</a></span> crackers, oranges, and bags of sweets. Underneath were +piled sixty interesting-looking parcels tied up with ribbons. Mabel +Collinson, one of the Juniors, dressed as a fairy and attended by two +Brownies, suddenly made her appearance among the bushes, and going up to +the tree, began to strip its branches and hand sweets and crackers and +oranges to the expectant children. The parcels came next. There were two +apiece for them; and so well had the girls responded to the appeal for +presents that gasps of astonishment and delight followed the unwrapping +of the packages. "Oh's" and "Ah's" resounded on all sides.</p> + +<p>"It's too lovely, miss!" beamed Avelyn's little protégée, hugging a +story-book in one arm and a work-basket in the other.</p> + +<p>Her neighbour was rejoicing over a writing-case and a drawing-slate, and +the tiny girl on the couch was kissing a doll. It was a pretty sight to +see the poor little helpless creatures happy for one afternoon—pretty, +but so pathetic that the tears swam in Miss Thompson's eyes. The +contrast between these crippled children and her own sturdy girls seemed +so acute.</p> + +<p>"Please, m'm," volunteered one little boy, "Lizzie over there says she +can say a piece of poetry if you'd like to hear her."</p> + +<p>"By all means. We shall be only too pleased," returned Miss Thompson, +going across to the small reciter and asking her to begin.</p> + +<p>Lizzie was a diminutive, white-faced specimen of ten, with a crooked +spine and big bright eyes.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[248]</a></span> There was a large soul in the little body, +and it showed when she began to speak. Her piece was a patriotic one, +and she said it well. The Silverside girls who were near enough to hear +her applauded heartily, and those who were too far off to catch a word +clapped too, out of sympathy. Finding that everyone was interested, Miss +Thompson asked some of the other children to recite. Most of them were +too bashful, but one or two consented, and shyly murmured a few verses. +None, however, had the fire and spirit of Lizzie, who was quite the star +of the company. She departed, beaming with pride at having distinguished +herself, and clasping a poetry book which Miss Peters had hurriedly +fetched from her bedroom and presented to her.</p> + +<p>"It was the nicest party we've ever had at the school," said Laura, +watching as the last of the little guests was lifted into a Bath chair +to be wheeled home. "There was no mistake about their enjoying +themselves at any rate."</p> + +<p>"They've had the time of their lives, bless 'em!" agreed Janet.</p> + +<hr class="hr3" /> + +<p>There was much to tell the Lavender Lady when Friday came round again. +Lately she had grown to be the centre of all Avelyn's actions. She was +always so ready to take a sympathetic interest in things, and +Daphne—Daphne, who of yore was the recipient of innumerable +confidences—had somehow been growing self-absorbed. She would sit and +stitch with a far-away look in her eyes, while<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[249]</a></span> Avelyn poured out school +news, and her occasional comments showed that she was not really +listening.</p> + +<p>"She's getting so horribly grown-up!" complained her injured sister. +"She's not the same girl she used to be. I feel as if she had drifted +miles away in the last few months. Quite suddenly she seems ten years +older than David and Tony and me. I don't like it!"</p> + +<p>"You must let Daphne have her innings," said Mrs. Watson. "You'll have +your own some day. She can't remain a child always. I think on the whole +she's very good to you younger ones. It's only natural she should begin +to like the society of older people now. Her life is just opening out. +You mustn't expect her to give up her whole time to yourself and the +boys. Do be nice about it, Ave! Be proud that you've got such a pretty +sister, and glad for her to enjoy herself."</p> + +<p>That was certainly a different way of looking at it. Avelyn felt +self-reproachful. She remembered that she had not troubled to listen +when Daphne consulted her as to whether a pink or a mauve voile blouse +would look best with her new costume; just at the moment school affairs +had seemed so much more interesting than her sister's clothes.</p> + +<p>"I suppose I'm a selfish beast!" she said to herself. "The next time +Daphne's going out to tea anywhere I'll sit in her bedroom while she +dresses and hold hairpins for her, or anything else she wants. The worst +of it is, though, she doesn't<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[250]</a></span> always want me! Just at present I believe +she'd any time rather have Jimmy!"</p> + +<p>Jimmy was Daphne's little fox terrier. That is to say, he was hers +temporarily, for he really belonged to Captain Harper. She had mentioned +one day that she would like a small dog of her very own, and the young +officer had looked thoughtful. The next week he had turned up, +accompanied by Jimmy.</p> + +<p>"I wish you'd accept him!" he said. "He's my dog, but I can't keep him +at the Camp. I've had him boarded out in Starbury since I've been +stationed here, and yesterday I went over and fetched him."</p> + +<p>"I'll have him as a loan and take care of him till you want him again," +agreed Daphne, "but I won't take him right away from you. It wouldn't be +fair."</p> + +<p>"Yes, it would, if I wanted to give him. He's the best little chap out. +You'll find him a kind of epitome of the Catechism combined with all the +cardinal virtues. Jimmy, make your bow!"</p> + +<p>The little fox terrier, which sat up and saluted at its master's word of +command, seemed a sharp and intelligent specimen of the canine race, and +when it snuggled its nose in Daphne's hand it completely conquered her +heart.</p> + +<p>"Won't he want to run back to his master?" she asked.</p> + +<p>"No, he has his orders and understands perfectly. I've explained the +situation to him, and you'll find he won't attempt to leave you. He's<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[251]</a></span> +prepared to carry a stick or an umbrella, mount guard over coats, bark +at tramps, worry rats, or demolish burglars."</p> + +<p>Jimmy's subsequent behaviour certainly justified the character Captain +Harper had given him. Having been solemnly made over by his master, he +seemed to realize his responsibilities, and attached himself to Daphne +with all the strength of his doggy nature. His manners were excellent. +He would lie curled up on the rug at meal-times, and did not beg until +he had received express permission, only winking an occasional pathetic +eye in the direction of the table.</p> + +<p>"I'm sure he understands every single word I say to him," said Daphne, +who idolized her new possession. "I don't know how I should get along +without him now."</p> + +<p>"What will you do if you have to give him back?" asked Avelyn.</p> + +<p>"It hasn't come to giving him back yet," evaded Daphne.</p> + +<p>But on the very Saturday after the Surprise Tree party the question +cropped up. Captain Harper had come over to Walden to fulfil a promise +of making a fresh door for one of the chicken coops. He had taken +possession of the carpentry room in the cottage, and was working away at +the joiner's bench. Daphne held the wire steady, and Avelyn—with a +strong sense that she was not wanted—handed the nails. Jimmy lay at his +ease upon the shavings and yawned. His attitude of complete comfort +attracted attention.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[252]</a></span> +"If you're really sent back to Starbury next month you'll have to take +him with you," commented Daphne.</p> + +<p>"I never take back a present I've once given," answered the Captain +firmly. "We've argued that out before."</p> + +<p>"But for Jimmy's sake? He loves you far the best still. I'm only a +makeshift."</p> + +<p>"I assure you he doesn't."</p> + +<p>"Then how can we tell his preference?"</p> + +<p>"Let him decide for himself. You stand over there and I'll stand here, +and we'll both call him at once and see which he runs to."</p> + +<p>Poor Jimmy, a much-perplexed and agitated dog, rose from his bed of +shavings and remained in the middle of the floor, whimpering and looking +with indecision towards the master who had brought him up from +puppyhood, and the sweet young mistress who had won his heart. Then he +made a rush towards the former, and, seizing him by the trouser, hauled +him across the room in the direction of Daphne.</p> + +<p>"Jimmy has solved the matter!" said Captain Harper. "He wants us both to +own him!"</p> + +<p>And at that point Avelyn felt that her presence grew so very <em lang="fr">de trop</em>, +that she murmured some excuse about finishing her lessons, and made her +exit from the cottage, leaving her sister and Captain Harper to settle +the disputed question of ownership in their own fashion.</p> + +<p>"I suppose this is growing up," ruminated Avelyn, as she crossed the +yard and went into the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[253]</a></span> orchard. "Daphne seems to enjoy it, and I'll +give her her innings by all manner of means. How funny it would be to +have a brother-in-law! It'll come to that some day if I'm not mistaken. +No, thanks! I don't want to grow up just yet myself. Perhaps I'll change +my mind later on, but at the present time I'd ever so much rather be a +schoolgirl!"</p> + + + +<hr /> + +<h2><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[254]</a></span> +<a name="xx" id="xx"></a>CHAPTER XX<br /> +<span class="sub">Pamela's Secret</span></h2> + + +<p>In her love-making with the Lavender Lady Avelyn had, truth to tell, +rather neglected Pamela. Their friendship had always been more or less +of a spasmodic character. They often met on the road on Monday mornings, +and travelled in the same compartment of the train, and they would +return from Harlingden together on Friday afternoons. Generally they +talked the ordinary schoolgirl chatter about Silverside doings. Pamela +rarely mentioned her own concerns. Very occasionally she would make some +reference to past adventures in America, but about her present home she +was extremely reserved. She seemed to shut up and freeze at once at the +slightest allusion to Moss Cottage.</p> + +<p>Though she had accepted several invitations to Walden, she had never +asked Avelyn to tea for a return visit. There was an air of mystery +about her that increased rather than diminished with their further +acquaintance. To Avelyn she always seemed like a disinherited princess. +She was sure that Pamela brooded over the fact that the Lyngates<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[255]</a></span> estate +should have been hers. Her uncle's name was never mentioned between +them.</p> + +<p>Since the evening when he had tried to cut down the barrier over the +brook at Walden, the Watsons had seen little of Mr. Hockheimer. He had +not again attempted to interfere with their property. He seemed to spend +a good deal of his time in London, but made flying visits every week to +the Hall. People in the neighbourhood gave him the cold shoulder. Though +he was generous in subscribing to local charities, he was certainly not +popular. The general feeling was one of mistrust. Nothing certain had +ever been brought against him, but the fact of his German nationality +remained. It was whispered that but for influence in high quarters he +would have been interned.</p> + +<p>Whether Mr. Hockheimer was or was not aware of the rumours that were +being circulated in his disfavour it was impossible to tell. He never +came to church, seldom appeared in the village. He was more strict than +ever against trespassing in his woods, though other landlords in the +district had been lax in that respect since the beginning of the war. +The Watsons disliked him so much that they avoided him whenever +possible; if they saw him walking along the village street they would +dive down a side lane or run up into the churchyard. They thoroughly +pitied Pamela for being dependent upon him.</p> + +<p>Since the memorable morning when she had climbed over the palings into +the garden, and had hidden inside the stable, Avelyn had never visited<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[256]</a></span> +Moss Cottage. She was sure that she had then almost surprised some +secret. Pamela, indeed, had been on the very verge of telling her. Her +friend's confidential mood had passed, however, and a wall of reserve +had taken its place.</p> + +<p>One Saturday Avelyn, taking out her home work, made the horrible +discovery that she had left her history in her locker at school. To go +to Miss Thompson's class with an unprepared lesson meant trouble. The +only way out of the difficulty was to walk over and borrow from Pamela, +who, though in a lower form, used the same textbook for history.</p> + +<p>This time she did not venture to climb over the palings, but knocked at +the door in orthodox fashion. It was opened by Pamela herself, who +beamed a welcome.</p> + +<p>"Come in! I'm all alone. Mother's gone to the station. I was just +getting horribly tired of being by myself. It's perfectly lovely to see +you! My history? Yes, you shall have it, certainly. I've learnt my +lesson. But come in and have a chat. I was sitting in the garden. Shall +we go out there?"</p> + +<p>Avelyn much preferred the garden to the rather dark little sitting-room. +The girls went to a shady corner under a tree, where Pamela had spread a +rug and cushions. They settled themselves down leisurely and began to +talk.</p> + +<p>"What's this you've got here?" asked Avelyn presently, taking up a +Prayer Book that was lying on the rug, opened at the last page. "Are +you<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[257]</a></span> studying the Table of Articles? You surely don't have to learn that +in your Scripture lesson? We did the 'Book of Common Prayer' last term, +but we didn't take the Articles."</p> + +<p>"I'm not looking at those," said Pamela. "I'm looking at the Table of +Kindred and Affinity. I want to find out whom a man may marry and whom +he mayn't. He mustn't marry his wife's daughter's daughter, or his +brother's son's wife, or his mother's brother's wife, but may he marry +his deceased wife's deceased brother's wife?"</p> + +<p>"Goodness, child, I'm sure I don't know! Why do you ask?"</p> + +<p>Pamela shut the Prayer Book with a bang.</p> + +<p>"It's Uncle!" she said vehemently. "He's behaving in such an +extraordinary way! Oh, Ave! Do you know, I believe he's trying to make +up to Mother! Don't look so incredulous! I mean it! I must tell +somebody, or I shall burst! I've kept it all in long enough. Too long! +Ave, did the boys ever tell you about that letter they found inside the +Latin dictionary? I can see by your face that they did. Well, I brought +it home and laid it on the table, and, before Mother had time to look at +it, it disappeared. Uncle had been here, and I <em>know</em> he took it! He +must certainly have done so."</p> + +<p>"He did! I can tell you that," returned Avelyn, and she confided to her +friend what her brothers had witnessed in the wood, how Mr. Hockheimer +had been on the point of burning the paper when Spring-heeled Jack had +appeared and run away with it. Pamela listened with intense eagerness.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[258]</a></span> +"That explains so much!" she gasped. "I don't know what was in the +letter, but I imagine it may have been my grandfather's will. If it was, +and he left the estate to Daddy, no wonder Uncle Fritz tried to burn it. +He didn't quite succeed, and this bogy-spectre-highwayman, or whatever +he is, has scooted off with it. Uncle knows it's still in existence, and +that any day it might be produced, and he might be turned out of the +Hall. He's trying to guard against that, and he's playing a very deep +game. He thinks that if he were to marry Mother, as he married poor Aunt +Dora, he'd secure the estate to himself a second time."</p> + +<p>"Does your Mother like him?"</p> + +<p>"Not really. I believe she's frightened of him. He makes her do anything +he tells her. You don't know how dreadfully worried I am about it. If I +had him for a stepfather I should run away. I'd rather join the gipsies +than live with him. Oh, if we could only get on the track of that paper! +Has nothing more been heard of Spring-heeled Jack?"</p> + +<p>"Nothing at all since the autumn. He appeared just for a short time, and +then vanished again."</p> + +<p>"And no one ever knew who he was?"</p> + +<p>"Not a soul."</p> + +<p>Pamela gave a long sigh.</p> + +<p>"He has the secret—whatever it is. Who knows whether I'll ever find it. +Ave," here Pamela lowered her voice, "I've got a secret too! I've been +longing and yearning to tell it to you—a dozen times I've had it on the +tip of my tongue, and then I've felt afraid and stopped. I kept waiting, +hoping to find<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[259]</a></span> out more, but I can't find out by myself. I want help."</p> + +<p>"What do you mean?"</p> + +<p>"Come, and I'll show you. We have the place to ourselves to-day. Uncle +is in town. I saw him going to the station this morning, so he's not +likely to burst in and interrupt us."</p> + +<p>Pamela rose and led the way down the garden to the stable where Avelyn +had surprised her before. It was locked, but she took a key from a +hiding-place under a stone, and undid the padlock. She motioned her +friend to go up the ladder, and followed her. The room above was a bare +loft. It was not quite empty, however, for in the corner stood a small +table, with an object on it that looked like the receiver of a +telephone.</p> + +<p>"Come here!" said Pamela.</p> + +<p>She took up the instrument and placed it on her friend's head. It had a +band which fitted across the forehead, and a receiver for each ear. A +cord connected it with the wall.</p> + +<p>"Do you hear anything?" asked Pamela.</p> + +<p>"Yes, a sort of humming."</p> + +<p>Pamela smiled significantly, and put back the instrument on the table.</p> + +<p>"What is it?" breathed Avelyn, rather awed.</p> + +<p>"Wireless messages. Uncle spends hours here."</p> + +<p>"Do you mean to say this is a wireless station?"</p> + +<p>Pamela nodded.</p> + +<p>"But they're not allowed."</p> + +<p>"I know that perfectly well."</p> + +<p>"If it were found out he could be arrested."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[260]</a></span> +"He deserves to be. Sometimes I wish he were."</p> + +<p>"Does your mother know?"</p> + +<p>"No, I'm sure she doesn't. She never comes to the stable, and if she did +she wouldn't climb the ladder. Sometimes Uncle is very keen about the +messages. He makes me stay here, with the receiver on my head, listening +for them, while he sits in the cottage talking to Mother, and drinking +brandy which he brings in a flask. When I hear that humming noise I have +to go and tell him, and he flies down to the stable."</p> + +<p>"Can you understand the messages?"</p> + +<p>"No. It's something like ordinary telegraphy, I suppose, and I don't +know the code. I wish I did."</p> + +<p>"I can't imagine how this wireless apparatus hasn't been discovered!"</p> + +<p>"It's so well hidden. The poles go right up among the boughs of the +tree."</p> + +<p>"I don't think you ought to keep this secret any longer, Pam."</p> + +<p>"No more do I, but I've never dared to tell it to a soul before. Uncle +would kill me if he knew I'd brought you in here to-day. What must I +do?"</p> + +<p>Avelyn hesitated.</p> + +<p>"I'd like to ask somebody. Could you come home with me this afternoon? +Can you leave the house?"</p> + +<p>"I'd lock the door and put the key under a stone, where Mother would +find it if she gets back first. Ave, I'm just about desperate! I'd do +anything to end the life I'm living now. There's treachery of some sort +going on, I believe, and I'm being wound<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[261]</a></span> up in it without my knowledge +and against my will. My father gave his life for his country. Is his +daughter to help to betray it? Never! Never in this world! I'd suffer +torture first. Oh, I wish I were braver! Sometimes I'm a terrible +coward, and I feel so horribly afraid of Uncle Fritz. You don't know how +he frightens me. My nerves are all on edge."</p> + +<p>"Come home with me, dear," said Avelyn soothingly. "If you'll let me ask +Mother, I believe she'd know what we ought to do."</p> + +<p>Pamela was very much upset, and seemed almost hysterical. Her hands +trembled, and she wiped tell-tale drops from her eyes. She climbed down +the ladder, padlocked the stable door again, went into the house for her +hat and the history book, locked the front door, hid the key in the +rockery, and pronounced herself ready to start.</p> + +<p>Avelyn was glad to have persuaded her so easily. Her own mind was in a +whirl. To have found a wireless telegraphy installation in the old +stable was indeed a discovery which would very seriously implicate Mr. +Hockheimer. The responsibility of the knowledge was too great to be +borne only by two schoolgirls; it must be shared by some older and wiser +person.</p> + +<p>The friends walked silently along the road. At the corner by the oak +wood they met David and Anthony. At sight of them the boys came running +forward in much excitement.</p> + +<p>"We've just seen Spring-heeled Jack again!" they cried.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[262]</a></span> +This was indeed a piece of news. Spring-heeled Jack, who had vanished +from the neighbourhood since the autumn! For the moment it even threw +wireless telegraphy into the shade.</p> + +<p>"Where? When?" exclaimed the girls eagerly.</p> + +<p>"Just a minute ago. We were up the bank there after a butterfly, and he +came bounding past and jumped into the wood."</p> + +<p>"Which way did he go?"</p> + +<p>Anthony pointed a stumpy finger to indicate the direction. Pamela set +her teeth.</p> + +<p>"I'm going after him," she announced.</p> + +<p>The Watsons stared at her amazed. Spring-heeled Jack had been the terror +of the village, and Pamela was not altogether conspicuous for courage.</p> + +<p>"I must find him! I must!" she continued. "It's the only chance of +getting that lost paper!" And climbing over the palings she scrambled +into the wood among the bracken.</p> + +<p>The Watsons were not a family to desert a chum. David and Anthony were +after her in half a second, and Avelyn followed as quickly as her +feminine skirts allowed. Her heart was beating violently. Whether the +object of their search was human or spectral he was equally a cause for +alarm. They could hear sounds higher up the wood. Pamela was running +fast and so were the boys.</p> + +<p>There was a sudden, unearthly yell, and a dark, masked figure came +bounding towards them in a series of wild leaps. Man, monkey, or bogy, +it jumped with incredible speed. The boys set up a shout and dashed +towards it, but it gave an<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[263]</a></span> enormous leap and sprang past them. It would +have got clean away but for a tangled bramble bush that broke its +course. The next moment it was sprawling among the bracken. The boys +rushed upon it, and while David pinned it down Anthony tore off the +black mask. To their utter amazement it revealed the well-known features +of their friend, Captain Harper.</p> + +<p>At the sight of their blank faces he burst out laughing.</p> + +<p>"The game's up at last!" he hinnied. "I saw it was you kids, and I +couldn't resist giving you a scare. I don't know that I meant to let you +find me out, though. If I hadn't tumbled I'd have got off. What have I +been masquerading like this for?" He suddenly looked grave. "That's a +little business of my own. I wanted to find out something, and I thought +I'd raise a rumour that might keep the woods clear of ordinary +trespassers. How did I do it? Easy enough, some theatrical togs I had by +me, and springs on my heels."</p> + +<p>"We've seen you before in this rig-out," volunteered Anthony.</p> + +<p>"When?"</p> + +<p>"When you pounced on Mr. Hockheimer and stopped him burning a letter."</p> + +<p>"We were there watching," echoed David.</p> + +<p>"Oh, have you got the paper still? It was mine!" cried Pamela +breathlessly.</p> + +<p>It was Captain Harper's turn to be astonished.</p> + +<p>"Yours! What had it to do with you?" he asked sharply.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[264]</a></span> +Pamela and Avelyn explained between them. He took a cigarette from his +pocket and lighted it as he listened.</p> + +<p>"This is quite another development," he commented. "Part of the paper +was burnt. I couldn't understand the drift of it."</p> + +<p>"Have you got it still?" besought Pamela.</p> + +<p>"No, I gave it to my superior officer. But if it is of such importance +as you say I could get it examined on your behalf. I'll speak to my +Colonel about it. It's worth investigating."</p> + +<p>"Pam!" said Avelyn impulsively, bending her head and whispering in her +friend's ear, "do you know, I believe it would be the best thing in the +world to tell Captain Harper what you've told me this afternoon. He'd +know better even than Mother what you ought to do."</p> + +<p>"You tell him—I daren't," faltered Pamela.</p> + +<p>If Captain Harper had been astonished before, he was doubly amazed now.</p> + +<p>"Great Scott! It's the very thing I've been on the scent of for this six +months!" he ejaculated. "We guessed there was a wireless somewhere over +here, but never could locate it. And to think I owe it to you kids! +Pamela, you're a true loyal little Englishwoman! I think you'll find +you'll pretty soon be rid of that precious uncle of yours."</p> + +<p>"What must I do about it?" asked Pamela, who was half crying.</p> + +<p>Captain Harper did not at once reply. He seemed cogitating. Then his +face cleared.</p> + +<p>"Nothing at present," he replied. "I pledge<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[265]</a></span> you all on your word of +honour to mention this business to nobody. We'll leave the wireless +where it is, and get the messages if possible—that's our game! Pamela, +could you manage to learn the Morse code if I taught you?"</p> + +<p>"I'd try."</p> + +<p>"I'll undertake you'd soon learn it. Then what you've got to do is to +listen at the receiver and report to us. I can tell you, you may be +working an uncommonly important little bit of business. Don't cry, +child! The fellow is only your uncle by marriage. He's no blood relation +of yours. Think of your father! You're doing your duty by your country +as every true-born Britisher ought."</p> + + + +<hr /> + +<h2><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[266]</a></span> +<a name="xxi" id="xxi"></a>CHAPTER XXI<br /> +<span class="sub">Pamela's Night Walk</span></h2> + + +<p>Pamela went back to Moss Cottage with new courage. The secret, which had +almost overwhelmed her when she had tried to bear it alone, assumed a +different aspect now she shared it with her friends. Captain Harper had +taken the full responsibility of the affair, and as one of His Majesty's +officers she knew he could be trusted. She placed herself entirely in +his hands, and followed his directions implicitly. To keep watch without +arousing her uncle's suspicions was to be her present rôle. Under cover +of going to tea with the Watsons, she met Captain Harper at Walden, and +learnt from him the Morse code. Once she had mastered that, she was able +to write down some of the wireless messages. To her they were absolutely +unintelligible, for they were in cipher, but she made a faithful record +of what she heard through the receiver, and sent it by David or Anthony +to the young officer.</p> + +<p>For the moment Captain Harper acknowledged himself baffled.</p> + +<p>"We have the keys to a number of ciphers, but there's one here we don't +understand. It's solely for this reason we're allowing this wireless +apparatus at Moss Cottage to remain where it is.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[267]</a></span> Pamela must use all +her ingenuity to discover the key to the cipher. She's the only person +who has the opportunity of doing so. If we were to arrest Mr. Hockheimer +at once we might or might not find treasonable papers upon him. It is +doubtful if we should learn his secret."</p> + +<p>To David and Anthony the affair was of the supremest interest. They +envied Pamela her unique chance of serving her country. They were glad +enough to be employed as carriers, and would take the notes from her +when they met her in the morning, and, according to arrangement, convey +them to Captain Harper. Sometimes they took them direct to the Camp, +after they returned from school, and sometimes they handed them to an +orderly who would be strolling about near the station. As for Pamela, +she lived from day to day in a ferment of expectation, waiting and +watching for her opportunity. And one evening she found it. Mr. +Hockheimer had come, as was his custom, to Moss Cottage, and had set his +niece to listen for messages while he took his ease in the house. For an +hour or more Pamela had sat with the receiver to her ears, but had heard +nothing. At last came the familiar humming. She jotted down the letters, +put the paper safely in her pocket, and ran up the garden to warn her +uncle. That night he had been drinking more heavily than usual. He +lurched in his walk as he approached the stable, and it was with +difficulty that he climbed the ladder. Pamela followed him nervously. +His hands shook as he fitted on the receiver, but he nevertheless took +down<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[268]</a></span> the message. Then he paused, and seemed to be calculating +something out on the paper. She crept a little nearer. He was too +muddled to realize her approach. She peeped over his shoulder unnoticed. +In his half-drunken condition he was working out the cipher and writing +it down. She copied it word by word. It was in German.</p> + +<blockquote><p>"U-boot auf Aermelmeere heute Abend. Zeigen Licht auf Berry +Head."</p></blockquote> + +<p>Pamela backed away cautiously towards the ladder. Just as she reached it +her uncle turned round and called to her.</p> + +<p>"Give me a hand, Pam! Don't feel—very well to-night," he stammered +thickly. "Got to go out, too. Must go home and get the car. Little store +of petrol they don't know about! And I shan't tell them either!" (He +hinnied at his own joke.) "Give me your hand."</p> + +<p>He leaned heavily on his niece, and she helped him down the ladder. She +watched him as he stumbled along the narrow path in the darkness. He +called to her, but she did not follow him to the cottage. Instead, she +went to the palings and scrambled over into the high road. She surmised +that she had surprised a most important secret, one which she felt must +be communicated at once to head-quarters. It was absolutely necessary +that Captain Harper should know of this. By warning him in time she +might prevent some great disaster. She must get to the Camp as quickly +as possible. It was late, long past eleven o'clock (Mr. Hockheimer<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[269]</a></span> had +had no compunction in keeping his niece out of bed to mind his +business), and the night was moonless. Pamela shuddered as she thought +of the long, lonely walk before her. Could she find the Camp in the +dark? A sudden inspiration struck her. She would hurry to the Watsons +instead and ask one of the boys to go on a bicycle. She ran almost all +the way along the familiar road to Walden. She found the house shut up +and the family gone to bed, but she made a rat-tat with the knocker that +soon roused them.</p> + +<p>"What is it?" cried David out of the window.</p> + +<p>"It's I—Pamela! I've brought news!" she gasped.</p> + +<p>The Watsons were downstairs directly. They listened breathlessly to the +story she had to tell. David and Anthony hurried to the outhouse for +their bicycles, and set off at once for the Camp to find Captain Harper. +Who could say how much might depend on their speed?</p> + +<p>Pamela watched them go with a feeling of intense relief. Her part of the +business was finished; she had now set the machinery in motion that +would accomplish the rest. The reaction after the intense strain was so +great that she burst into tears.</p> + +<p>"I must go home!" she sobbed. "Mother will think I am lost!"</p> + +<p>"Daphne and I will go with you. I can't let you walk back alone at this +time of night," said Mrs. Watson kindly. "If you'll take my advice, +dear, you'll tell your mother everything now. She ought to know."</p> + +<p>Pamela's friends escorted her to the door of Moss<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[270]</a></span> Cottage and left her +there. What explanation she gave to her mother they never knew. They +feared there was great unpleasantness in store for the Reynolds, for Mr. +Hockheimer was sure to be arrested, and the fact that it must be through +his niece's instrumentality only seemed to make matters worse. David and +Anthony returned with the news that they had roused Captain Harper at +the Camp, and that after reading the message he had ridden off +immediately upon his motor bicycle. They went to bed wondering what +would be happening while they slept.</p> + +<p>The boys looked out for Pamela next morning on the road to the station, +but she was not there. The train for once went without her. They spent +an agitated day at school and hurried back from Netherton that afternoon +at topmost speed. They found Captain Harper in the garden at Walden. He +looked very grave.</p> + +<p>"Do you know what that message was you brought me?" he asked. +"Translated into English it meant, 'U-boat in Channel to-night. Show +light on Berry Head.' I hear a certain important vessel had an extremely +narrow escape last night. The wireless apparatus at Moss Cottage has +been taken down already. The police went up there this morning."</p> + +<p>"And Mr. Hockheimer?"</p> + +<p>Captain Harper knocked the end off his cigarette before he answered.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Hockheimer has gone to settle his great account. He and his car +were found in the river at Chadwick this morning. The road turns at a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[271]</a></span> +very sharp angle there on to the bridge, and it is thought that in the +darkness he missed his way and went over the bank. There is not a shadow +of doubt that he was going to give signals to the enemy. We had long +suspected him as a spy, and part of my business down here had been to +watch him. In the circumstances this has been the most merciful thing +that could have happened. For the sake of the Reynolds we are hushing +the matter up. There is no need for it to be bruited about the +neighbourhood. Your family are the only people who have any knowledge of +the affair. I can trust you to keep it from going further."</p> + +<p>"On our honour!" the boys assured him.</p> + +<p>The "sad fatality at Chadwick Bridge" made a sensation in the local +newspapers. An inquest was held on Mr. Hockheimer, and a verdict of +"Death from misadventure" returned. Though many people in the +neighbourhood may have had their suspicions as to the nature of his +errand on that dark night, no evidence of an incriminating nature was +brought before the coroner. He was buried at Lyngates in the Reynolds's +family vault, where his wife had been carried two years before. He had +left no will, and the question of who was to inherit the Lyngates +property might be a matter for Chancery to settle. By the advice of the +old solicitor who had managed the estate for many years, Mrs. Reynolds +and Pamela took temporary possession of the Hall until a claim could be +set up on their behalf. At the time of Squire Reynolds's death it had +been the current gossip of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[272]</a></span> village that some later will than the +one proved must be in existence. If such a will had been made, however, +it had never been found. The only possible clue seemed to be the letter +that David and Anthony had found inside the Latin dictionary, which had +fallen into the hands of Mr. Hockheimer, and had been so strangely +rescued from destruction by Captain Harper when masquerading as +Spring-heeled Jack. The latter reported that at the time he had examined +the half-burnt sheet, anticipating that it might contain treasonable +correspondence, but had been unable to make sense of it. In accordance +with instructions he had handed it over to his Colonel, and he supposed +it would now be filed in the Secret Service Department. Red tape might +prevent repossession of the original, but he was using his influence to +obtain a copy. After considerable delay a reply came from the War Office +to the effect that the paper in question appeared to have been partially +burnt, but that the remaining fragment ran as follows:—</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<img src="images/torn-message1.jpg" width="400" height="266" alt="" title="" /> +<p><span class="indent6">bitter thoughts against you, but</span></p> +<p><span class="indent7">love for your country has</span></p> +<p><span class="indent2">are, and I am ready to acknowledge your</span></p> +<p><span class="indent4">to see them, should they ever come to</span></p> +<p><span class="indent0">gones shall be bygones now. I am</span></p> +<p><span class="indent2">in your favour, and shall put it</span></p> +<p><span class="indent4">is sure to be found,</span></p> +<p><span class="indent1">both die, they will be provided</span></p> +</div> + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"><a name="who" id="who"></a> +<img src="images/gs06.jpg" width="400" height="633" alt="WHO COULD SAY HOW MUCH MIGHT DEPEND ON THEIR SPEED?" title="" /> +<span class="caption">WHO COULD SAY HOW MUCH MIGHT DEPEND ON THEIR SPEED?</span> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[273]</a></span> +"I'm afraid it's no use in a court of law, Pamela," said Captain Harper, +as he showed her the copy of the paper. "It's the merest scrap. By +imagining the missing words we might make it into something like this; +but imagination won't give it legal value. Here's what I fancy it may +have been:"</p> + + +<div class="figcenter2" style="width: 600px;"> +<img src="images/torn-message2.jpg" width="600" height="296" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<table summary="Torn messages"> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">I own I held hard and</td> +<td class="tdr"><span class="indent6">bitter thoughts against you, but</span></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">now I feel that your</td> +<td class="tdr"><span class="indent7">love for your country has</span></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">shown me what you</td> +<td class="tdr"><span class="indent2">are, and I am ready to acknowledge your</span></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">wife and child, and</td> +<td class="tdr"><span class="indent4">to see them, should they ever come to</span></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">England. By</td> +<td class="tdr"><span class="indent0">gones shall be bygones now. I am</span></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">making a new will</td> +<td class="tdr"><span class="indent2">in your favour, and shall put it</span></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">in a place where it</td> +<td class="tdr"><span class="indent4">is sure to be found,</span></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">so that should we</td> +<td class="tdr"><span class="indent1">both die, they will be provided</span></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">for.</td> +<td class="tdr"> </td> +</tr> +</table> + +<p>"If this surmise is correct," continued Captain Harper, "and there +really was a new will, it may possibly be hidden somewhere at the Hall."</p> + +<p>"We've searched everywhere," said Pamela sadly. "Two lawyer's clerks +have been here and gone through every morsel of paper in the house, and +turned out every drawer and cupboard. I think myself that perhaps Uncle +Fritz may have found it and destroyed it. Mother and I spend all our +spare time looking, but we never have any luck. I don't think we're +lucky people. We seem just to have misfortune after misfortune. It has +always been like this all our lives."</p> + +<p>"Cheer up! It's a long lane that has no turning," comforted Captain +Harper. "I advise you<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[274]</a></span> to show this paper to your solicitor, though I'm +afraid it's nothing to go by."</p> + +<p>Pamela's affairs did indeed seem to have reached a crisis. Her fortunes +were much discussed in the neighbourhood, and general opinion decided +that she would have difficulty in establishing legally her right to what +undoubtedly ought to be hers. Several naturalized German relations of +Mr. Hockheimer had put in counter-claims for the estate. There was +likely to be a long and expensive lawsuit before the case was settled.</p> + +<p>Then one day a wonderful thing occurred—an utterly unexpected and +marvellous thing, but one that—thank God!—has happened in other +families since the war began. The postwoman who delivered the letter did +not know that it differed from other letters; she popped it through the +slit in the front door and rang the bell as usual, and went on her way, +all unsuspecting what news she had left behind her. Yet when Mrs. +Reynolds saw the handwriting on the envelope she gave a little sharp cry +and fainted away. Pamela did not go to school that day nor the next. She +wrote to Avelyn to explain her absence. The latter read the letter twice +before her amazed brain could really grasp its contents.</p> + +<div class="block4"> +<p>"<span class="smcap">My dear Ave</span>,</p> + +<p><span class="indent4">"I hardly know</span> how to tell you our good luck. Daddy is alive! He +wasn't killed at Mons after all. He was taken prisoner and never +reported. He was kept most fearfully strictly in a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[275]</a></span> fortress and +allowed no news of the outside world. He and a companion spent +eighteen months making a tunnel out of their cell, and after +simply thrilling adventures they escaped, and swam a river and +got into Swiss territory. He's coming home, and Mother and I are +going up to London to meet him. We're almost off our heads!</p> + +<p>"Will you please tell Miss Thompson this is why I'm not at +school? We start for town to-morrow morning.</p> + +<p class="right"><span class="padright8">"Much love from<br /></span> +"<span class="padright1 smcap">Pam."</span></p> +</div> + +<p>It was indeed a most happy ending to all the troubles of poor Mrs. +Reynolds and Pamela. By the will which had already been proved, Captain +Reynolds inherited his father's estate, which had only passed to the +daughter Dora in default of a male heir. He was soon able to settle up +the legal side of the matter and to obtain formal possession of the +whole property.</p> + +<p>"I've made my own will now, and left everything safely tied up for you +and your Mother before I go out to the front again," he told his +daughter.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Daddy! must you leave us and go back to France?" wailed Pamela.</p> + +<p>"Every hour I spent in that fortress, Pam, made me all the more resolved +to help to fight this war to the finish. Would you want me to shirk and +fail my country? I know you better than that. Tell me again what you +told me in 1914."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[276]</a></span> +And Pamela stood up straight, and with a light in her eyes repeated:</p> + +<div class="block"> +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="io">"Though it tear and break my heart<br /></span> +<span class="i2">I let you go.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">When the Motherland is calling,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Be it so!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Let my own poor need and grief<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Be set aside,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That justice and the right<br /></span> +<span class="i2">May now abide.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"God put courage and true might<br /></span> +<span class="i2">In your arm!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">May His mercy keep your life<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Safe from harm!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Every hour my earnest prayer<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Shall be this:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">May we meet and greet again<br /></span> +<span class="i2">With a kiss."<br /></span> +</div></div></div> + + + +<hr /> + +<h2><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[277]</a></span> +<a name="xxii" id="xxii"></a>CHAPTER XXII<br /> +<span class="sub">The Lecture Hall is Dedicated</span></h2> + + +<p>Ever since the laying of the foundation stone in January the new Lecture +Hall had been in process of construction. Owing to the war, and the +scarcity of labour, it made slow progress. Sometimes the building went +on with a spurt, and sometimes for weeks nothing at all was done. Those +optimists who had prophesied that it would be in readiness after the +Easter holidays found themselves much mistaken. After innumerable delays +and disappointments, however, the place was finished by the end of the +summer term, and Miss Thompson decided to combine its opening with the +annual prize-giving.</p> + +<p>The double function marked a great occasion in the annals of the school. +The increased accommodation would allow a large gathering, and many +invitations were sent forth. It was even whispered that the chair was to +be taken by the local Member of Parliament.</p> + +<p>"Silverside's coming on no end!" said Consie Arkwright. "We never used +to have such grandees down. Miss Thompson used to be content with some +ordinary clergyman or elderly professor,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[278]</a></span> to give the prizes, and now +she won't look at anybody below a bishop, or a mayor, or an M.P."</p> + +<p>"She loves these functions!" chuckled Joyce. "She's perfectly happy when +she has on her best dress and her company smile, and is showing off the +school to an admiring crowd of visitors. I won't say that I don't rather +enjoy it myself. It makes one feel in the world somehow. It's jolly nice +to think that Silverside is of so much importance in the town."</p> + +<p>"Bet we'll make a good show-up on Dedication Day!" commented Laura, who +had drifted into the conversation. "Hopscotch was saying something about +the whole school in white dresses and our badges. By the by, Miss +Thompson's got a little surprise for us. She's been having some +beautiful ribbon, in the school colours, specially woven for Silverside. +She showed it to Adah and me this morning in the study, and I can tell +you it's topping! We're each to have a piece of it for our hair, and +wear it on the great day, so that we all look alike. She's having new +hat bands woven, too, for next term. I think they'll be rather smart."</p> + +<p>"I begin to wish I wasn't leaving," said Isobel almost mournfully. +"Really, Silverside has been much jollier lately than it used to be. It +would have been ripping fun to stop another year and work up the hockey, +as we've done the cricket and tennis."</p> + +<p>"There'll be something to read out in the Games Report this time!" +purred Joyce.</p> + +<p>"It'll be precious!" agreed Consie.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[279]</a></span> +The Principal was naturally anxious that her pupils should make a good +display on so important an occasion. She arranged a very +carefully-thought-out programme of the ceremony. There were to be +speeches by local magnates, the School Report must be read, the hall +dedicated, and the prizes distributed. She decided that her pupils ought +to sing one or two suitable songs, and she came in to the singing class +one morning to discuss the matter with Miss Webster, and hear the girls +run through a few glees. She found it difficult to make a choice.</p> + +<p>"They're nice in their way, but not altogether what is needed. I should +have liked something really appropriate to a Dedication. In fact, I'm +afraid I want what I am not at all likely to get—a special song +composed for Silverside."</p> + +<p>"Could we adapt anything?" suggested Miss Webster, rapidly turning over +a pile of music, while the class, deeply interested, sat listening to +the discussion.</p> + +<p>"Not much use without new words. Pity we have no poet in the school! If +there had been time, I'd have written to a music publisher and asked if +it would be possible to have a song composed for us. It's too late now. +I wish I'd thought of it sooner!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, Miss Thompson," said Avelyn, suddenly springing to her feet and +blushing hotly at her own temerity, "I know a lady who writes songs! +She's very much interested in Silverside—I've told her so much about +it. I really believe if I asked<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[280]</a></span> her she'd make up just what you want. +She's quite clever enough to do it."</p> + +<p>Miss Thompson's convex glasses were focused on Avelyn in a stare of +astonished gratification. She literally jumped at the idea.</p> + +<p>"If you think your friend would really be so kind," she assented, "we +should be most grateful to her. Where does she live? At Lyngates? Then +write to her this afternoon, and see if you can persuade her to take +pity on us. I suppose she would know the sort of thing we want?"</p> + +<p>"I'll explain exactly," promised Avelyn, sitting down, conscious that in +the eyes of the class she had covered herself with glory. She was +excused "English language" that afternoon for the purpose of writing her +letter to Miss Carrington, and sat with her blotter—an object of much +envy—while the remainder of the form wrestled with Anglo-Saxon +derivations.</p> + +<p>"I don't think my Lavender Lady will fail me!" she murmured as she +stamped her envelope. "I believe it's just the sort of thing she'll like +doing."</p> + +<p>Avelyn's trust in her friend was amply justified. She received by return +of post a card bearing the words: "Highly honoured. Will do my best."</p> + +<p>"I knew she would—the dear, clever darling!" rejoiced Avelyn, waving +her post card in triumph as she ran down to the study to communicate the +good news to Miss Thompson.</p> + +<p>On Friday evening, when Avelyn called at the bungalow, the Lavender Lady +had a neat music manuscript ready for her.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[281]</a></span> +"I hope it will do," she said. "It's as far as possible what you asked +me for. I've tried to express a spirit of school patriotism and union in +the words, which seems to be the principal thing to aim at just now, and +I've arranged the music for three voices. You'll have to make copies of +it at school."</p> + +<p>"Miss Peters will do that with the duplicator," beamed Avelyn. "I do +think you're just the most absolutely lovely and clever and delicious +person that I've ever met, or ever shall meet, in all this wide world! +How do you manage to think of things? I couldn't compose a song to save +my life!"</p> + +<p>"Why, I really don't know! The ideas just float into my head somehow," +laughed the Lavender Lady. "As a matter of fact, this tune came to me in +bed, at about half-past two in the morning, and I was obliged to get up +and go downstairs to the piano to try it over and jot it down on paper +before I forgot it. I knew that if I went to sleep again it would escape +me. There's nothing so elusive as music. Yes, I'll try it over for you +if you like. It'll sound much better, though, in three parts. I hope +your first sopranos can reach A sharp? If not, I must set it in a lower +key, but I like it best in this."</p> + +<p>"They've got to get A sharp if they crack their voices!" decided Avelyn +firmly.</p> + +<p>The dedication and prize giving were to be held on the last afternoon of +the term, and guests were invited for 2.30 prompt. The girls, +resplendent<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[282]</a></span> in white dresses and the new hair ribbons, made a brave +show, and all were sitting discreetly in their places when the +distinguished visitors were ushered on to the platform.</p> + +<p>During the last six months a better tone and discipline had pervaded the +school, and there had been no repetition of the disorderly scene that +had preceded the laying of the foundation stone. Every pupil of +Silverside now prided herself upon her manners. It had become a matter +of <em lang="fr">noblesse oblige</em>.</p> + +<p>Mr. Robson, the Member of Parliament for Harlingden, was a short, stout +man, with a bald head and a big moustache, and some gift of oratory. He +fulfilled with dignity his duties as chairman, and made a capital +speech, bringing in his views about education, and wishing Silverside +every success. A hundred and ten youthful pairs of hands clapped +obediently, though some of the most junior heads had not altogether +grasped the drift of the remarks.</p> + +<p>It was now the turn of the School Report. Miss Thompson, typed papers in +hand, was standing up and clearing her throat preparatory to reading it +aloud.</p> + +<p>Avelyn, in the fifth row from the front, turned her head and took a +comprehensive glance round the room. It was certainly a hall to be proud +of, looking both stately and festive with its decorations of flowers and +flags and its large palms upon the platform. She was glad that the +Lavender Lady should see it. Miss Carrington had come to the gathering +with Mrs. Watson and Daphne; Captain<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">[283]</a></span> Harper and Captain and Mrs. +Reynolds were sitting next to them. They caught Avelyn's eye, and smiled +as she looked across, then concentrated their attention on the platform, +where Miss Thompson was beginning to read the report.</p> + +<p>The Principal first of all described the general work of the school, +what successes had been gained in public examinations, and what record +each Form could show. The average of marks was high, and both mistresses +and pupils might be congratulated on their efforts during the year. +After commenting on the improvement which had also been made in music, +part singing, drawing, and painting, Miss Thompson passed to the subject +of games.</p> + +<p>"I am very glad to say," so ran the report, "that on its athletic as +well as its intellectual side the school is now holding its own. During +the winter season little was done in that respect, but with the spring a +great games revival took place, and the 'Loyal School League' was +instituted, the object of which was to win honours for Silverside. I +heartily congratulate the League both on the spirit of union and school +patriotism which it has fostered and on the successes which it has won. +The cricket throughout has been most spirited, and great thanks are due +to Miss Leslie and Miss Kennedy for their admirable help in coaching. +Out of six matches the school scored four victories, a very creditable +record for a first season. In tennis also we are beginning to take our +place. The improvement of the general play is most<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">[284]</a></span> marked, and we hope +to have established a new standard of energy and efficiency. Our +champions were successful in defeating Pendlebury Ladies' College and +Westfield High School; a match was also played with the Clifford Girls' +Grammar School, which resulted in a draw. As we consider games to be an +extremely important item in our curriculum, we hope that this term's +strenuous effort has established a precedent in this respect, and that +the League will go on to greater triumphs in the future."</p> + +<p>After the report came the distribution of prizes and Form trophies. V<span class="smcap">A</span> +won a beautiful picture for a wild-flower competition; IV<span class="smcap">b</span> gained the +cup for general improvement; and the Sixth the shield for knowledge of +contemporary events; while among individual successes Adah Gartley, +Annie Broadside, Maggie Stuart, Laura Talbot, and Irma Ridley were +called up to receive rewards of books.</p> + +<p>"I am asked to announce," said the chairman, "that Miss Thompson and the +mistresses have presented a new gift to the school. This beautiful +silver cup is to be awarded annually to the girl who is considered to +have performed the greatest service for Silverside during the year. The +first to win it is Avelyn Watson, to whose enterprise and energy in +initiating the 'Loyal School League' much of the present success in +games may fairly be credited. I congratulate you," beaming at Avelyn as +he handed her the trophy, "that yours is the first name to be engraved +upon the cup."</p> + +<p>Avelyn walked back to her place almost overwhelmed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">[285]</a></span> by the unexpected +honour. It was a complete surprise, for the mistresses had kept their +secret well, and had allowed no word of it to leak out beforehand. The +storm of clapping from the girls showed that the trophy, and the choice +of its winner, were equally appreciated. There could be no mistake about +the genuine cordiality of the applause.</p> + +<p>"May I say, in conclusion," finished Mr. Robson, "that the part song +which will now be rendered by the singing class has been composed +specially for this occasion by a well-known musician, and that +henceforward it will take its place as what we might call the national +anthem of Silverside, to be sung at all school functions."</p> + +<p>Miss Webster struck a chord on the piano, and the singing class rose. +The sunlight flooding through the window shone on their white dresses +and the colours that tied their hair. There were a few bars of prelude, +then, to a swinging, rousing, and most original tune, they sang:</p> + +<div class="block"> +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i4">"Girls of Silverside!<br /></span> +<span class="i6">Hear us as we sing:<br /></span> +<span class="i4">With the praises of our school<br /></span> +<span class="i6">Let the rafters ring.<br /></span> +<span class="i4">Loyal hearts and true<br /></span> +<span class="i6">Bring we here to-day,<br /></span> +<span class="i4">Chanting as our battle-cry,<br /></span> +<span class="i6">'Silverside for aye!'<br /></span> +<span class="i0">So join your hands and join your hearts,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And form a circle wide,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Let Silverside be all your pride,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Girls of Silverside!<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">[286]</a></span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i4">"Girls of Silverside!<br /></span> +<span class="i6">True you are and leal,<br /></span> +<span class="i4">Each must strive her noble best<br /></span> +<span class="i6">For the common weal.<br /></span> +<span class="i4">Banish thoughts of self,<br /></span> +<span class="i6">Make your interests wide,<br /></span> +<span class="i4">Be the glory that you gain<br /></span> +<span class="i6">All for Silverside.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">So join your hands and join your hearts,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And form a circle wide,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Let Silverside be all your pride,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Girls of Silverside!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i4">"Girls of Silverside!<br /></span> +<span class="i6">For the good and right,<br /></span> +<span class="i4">Here and in the wider world<br /></span> +<span class="i6">Let us all unite.<br /></span> +<span class="i4">To your strenuous care<br /></span> +<span class="i6">Our honour we confide,<br /></span> +<span class="i4">Let your lives be such as bring<br /></span> +<span class="i6">Praise to Silverside.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">So join your hands and join your hearts,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And form a circle wide,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Let Silverside be all your pride,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Girls of Silverside!"<br /></span> +</div></div></div> + +<p>When the function was over, and mistresses, visitors, and girls streamed +out of the new Lecture Hall, Avelyn's steps gravitated at once towards +her Lavender Lady.</p> + +<p>"Your song was beautiful," she whispered. "Everybody says it's the best +tune they've heard for ages—it haunts us, we can't get it out of our +heads for a minute! Miss Webster says she could play it in her sleep. It +was just what we wanted—something specially for Silverside!"</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">[287]</a></span> +"I'm glad it went off all right. Let me look at your cup. You lucky +girl! Just to think that 'Avelyn Watson' is the very first name to be +engraved upon it! Where are you going to keep such a treasure?"</p> + +<p>"I shall take it home for the holidays, and then have it in our form +room next term. If you don't mind, I'd like it to spend a week at the +bungalow. I feel it was you who really won it, not I. The League was +your idea entirely. Even if I'd thought of it I should never have had +the courage to propose it, if it hadn't been for you. You inspired it +all! May the cup stand on your mantelpiece for a whole week?"</p> + +<p>"Only on one condition—that you come and stay with me to take care of +it!"</p> + +<p>"Oh! may I? I'd love to stay with you and have you all to myself." +Avelyn's eyes were shining.</p> + +<p>"Hallo, old sport!" said Laura, coming rollicking up with Irma, Janet, +Mona, and a few other congenial spirits. "Congratulations! We didn't +know Miss Thompson had this cup up her sleeve, did we? Jolly decent of +her and the mistresses, I must say! We ought to subscribe and buy a +bracket to put it on. Won't it look fine when it's up, rather! Some of +the old girls are here to-day, and Miss Thompson's been telling them +about the League. They think it's topping!"</p> + +<p>"And they say our hair ribbons are just too jinky for anything," added +Janet.</p> + +<p>"Glad to hear they like them," said Avelyn,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">[288]</a></span> twisting round her plait +and readjusting the broad bow of pink, blue, and navy. "Yes, on the +whole, I really think it's rather priceless to have our hair tied with +the school colours."</p> + +<p>"It stands for so much," put in the Lavender Lady gently.</p> + +<p>"Right you are! We're all hall-marked safe and sound now for a united +Silverside," agreed Laura. "Next term our school will just forge ahead +and break the record."</p> + + + +<hr /> + + +<p class="center">PRINTED AND BOUND IN GREAT BRITAIN<br /> +<i>By Blackie & Son, Limited, Glasgow</i></p> + + +<hr class="hr3" /> + +<div id="box2"> +<p class="center">Transcriber's Note:</p> + +<p class="noi">Hyphenation has been retained as it appears in the original +publication. Punctuation has been made consistent.</p> + +<p class="noi">On page 41,<br /> +and an upper story containing <i>has been changed to</i><br /> +and an upper <a href="#storey">storey</a> containing</p> + +<p class="noi">On page 157,<br /> +I wonder we've not see you <i>has been changed to</i><br /> +I wonder we've not <a href="#seen">seen</a> you</p> + +<p class="noi">On page 171,<br /> +four girls were busy packing <i>has been changed to</i><br /> +<a href="#five">five</a> girls were busy packing</p> +</div> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<hr class="full" /> +<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FOR THE SCHOOL COLOURS***</p> +<p>******* This file should be named 35972-h.txt or 35972-h.zip *******</p> +<p>This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:<br /> +<a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/3/5/9/7/35972">http://www.gutenberg.org/3/5/9/7/35972</a></p> +<p>Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed.</p> + +<p>Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: For the School Colours + + +Author: Angela Brazil + + + +Release Date: April 26, 2011 [eBook #35972] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FOR THE SCHOOL COLOURS*** + + +E-text prepared by Suzanne Shell and the Online Distributed Proofreading +Team (http://www.pgdp.net) + + + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustrations. + See 35972-h.htm or 35972-h.zip: + (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/35972/35972-h/35972-h.htm) + or + (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/35972/35972-h.zip) + + + + + +FOR THE SCHOOL COLOURS + + * * * * * + +By ANGELA BRAZIL + + "Angela Brazil has proved her undoubted talent for writing a story of + schoolgirls for other schoolgirls to read."--Bookman. + + The School in the South. + Monitress Merle. + Loyal to the School. + A Fortunate Term. + A Popular Schoolgirl. + The Princess of the School. + A Harum-Scarum Schoolgirl. + The Head Girl at the Gables. + A Patriotic Schoolgirl. + For the School Colours. + The Madcap of the School. + The Luckiest Girl in the School. + The Jolliest Term on Record. + The Girls of St. Cyprian's. + The Youngest Girl in the Fifth. + The New Girl at St. Chad's. + For the Sake of the School. + The School by the Sea. + The Leader of the Lower School. + A Pair of Schoolgirls. + A Fourth Form Friendship. + The Manor House School. + The Nicest Girl in the School. + The Third Class at Miss Kaye's. + The Fortunes of Philippa. + + LONDON: BLACKIE & SON, LTD., 50 OLD BAILEY, E.C. + + * * * * * + + +[Illustration: "WHAT'S THIS? WHAT HAVE THEY SENT ME?" SHE GASPED +_page 199_] + + +FOR THE SCHOOL COLOURS + +by + +ANGELA BRAZIL + +Author of "A Patriotic Schoolgirl" +"The Luckiest Girl in the School" +"The Madcap of the School" +&c. &c. + +Illustrated by Balliol Salmon + + + + + + + +Blackie and Son Limited +London Glasgow and Bombay + +Printed and bound in Great Britain + + + + +Contents + + + CHAP. Page + + I. ENTER AVELYN 9 + + II. AN INVASION 22 + + III. WALDEN 37 + + IV. AN ENCOUNTER 51 + + V. RUCTIONS 65 + + VI. REPRISALS 79 + + VII. MISS HOPKINS 94 + + VIII. SPRING-HEELED JACK 104 + + IX. CONCERNS DAY GIRLS 120 + + X. MISCHIEF 131 + + XI. MOSS COTTAGE 145 + + XII. "LADY TRACY'S AT HOME" 158 + + XIII. REPORTS 168 + + XIV. WAR WORK 178 + + XV. THE SCHOOL BIRTHDAY 193 + + XVI. UNDER THE PINES 204 + + XVII. THE LAVENDER LADY 214 + + XVIII. THE LOYAL SCHOOL LEAGUE 227 + + XIX. THE SURPRISE TREE 240 + + XX. PAMELA'S SECRET 254 + + XXI. PAMELA'S NIGHT WALK 266 + + XXII. THE LECTURE HALL IS DEDICATED 277 + + + + +Illustrations + + + Page + + "WHAT'S THIS? WHAT HAVE THEY SENT ME?" SHE GASPED _Frontispiece_ + + "DO YOU KNOW THIS WOOD'S PRIVATE PROPERTY?" HE SHOUTED 56 + + AVELYN, CROUCHED UNDER THE MANGER, COULD HEAR THE BULLYING + TONE IN HIS VOICE 152 + + AN INTERVIEW WITH MISS THOMPSON 176 + + AVELYN AND THE LAVENDER LADY 224 + + WHO COULD SAY HOW MUCH MIGHT DEPEND ON THEIR SPEED? 272 + + + + +FOR THE SCHOOL COLOURS + +CHAPTER I + +Enter Avelyn + + +"It's the limit!" exploded Laura. + +"An atrocious shame!" agreed Janet. + +"Gives me nerve shock!" mourned Ethelberga gloomily. + +"You see," continued Laura, popping the tray of her box on to the floor +and sitting down on her bed, so as the better to address her +audience--"you see, it's been plumped upon us without any warning. Miss +Thompson must have arranged it long ago, but she never let out so much +as a teeny-weeny hint. If I'd known before I came back I'd have asked +Father to give a term's notice and let me leave at Christmas. Crystal +clear, I would." + +"Rather! so would this child." + +"I guess we all should." + +"I call it so mean to have sprung it on us like this! I really couldn't +have believed it of Miss Thompson. She's gone down miles in my +estimation. I can never feel the same towards her again--_never!_ Those +Hawthorners! Oh, to think of it!" + +"What's the matter?" asked a fourth voice, as another girl, still in hat +and coat, and carrying her travelling-bag, entered the dormitory. + +"Irma! Is it you, old sport? D'you mean to say you haven't heard the +news yet?" + +"Only just this minute arrived, and I've flown straight upstairs. I met +Hopscotch in the hall, and asked, 'Am I still in the Cowslip Room?' and +she nodded 'Yes,' so I didn't wait for any more. Has anything grizzly +happened? You're all looking very glum!" + +"We may well look glum," said Laura tragically. "Something particularly +grizzly's happened. You remember that day school at the other side of +the town?" + +"The Hawthorns--yes." + +"Well, it's been given up." + +Irma flung her hat on to her bed and her coat after it. + +"That doesn't concern us," she remarked contemptuously. + +"Doesn't it? Oh, no, of course--not in the least!" Laura's voice was +sarcastic. "It wouldn't have been any concern of ours--only, as it +happens, they've all come on here." + +Irma turned round, the very picture of dismay. + +"_What?_ Not _here_, surely! Great Minerva, you don't mean it! Hold me +up! I feel rocky." + +Laura looked at her, and shook her head in commiseration. + +"Yes, that's how it took us all when we heard," she remarked. "You'd +better sit down on your bed till you get the first shock over. It's +enough to make a camel weep. I couldn't believe it myself for a few +minutes, but it's only too true, unfortunately for us." + +"The Hawthorns! Those girls whom we never spoke to--wouldn't have +touched with a pair of tongs!" gasped Irma. + +"You may well marvel," sympathized Janet. + +"But what's Miss Thompson _thinking_ of? Why, she always looked down so +on the Hawthorns! Wouldn't let us arrange matches with their teams, and +kept us away from them at that bazaar as if they'd been infectious. It's +been the tradition of the school to have nothing to do with them." + +"Traditions have flown to the four winds. There'll be nearly fifty +Hawthorners turning up by nine o'clock to-morrow morning." + +"Nearly fifty! And we were only thirty-six ourselves last term! Why, the +school will be swamped!" + +"Exactly, and with day girls too. When there were twenty-four boarders +to twelve day girls, we could have things pretty well as we liked, but +if we've to hold our own against sixty or so--well!" + +"It'll mean war!" finished Ethelberga, setting her mouth grimly. + +"But what's possessed Miss Thompson to do such an atrocious thing?" +cried Irma in exasperation. + +"_L, s. d._, my child, I suppose. Miss Perry was giving up the school, +and Tommiekins bought the connection. She's completely veered round in +her opinions. She told Adah Gartley they were nice girls, and would soon +improve immensely at Silverside. 'I hope you'll all make them welcome,' +she said to Adah." + +"Welcome!" echoed Irma, Janet, and Ethelberga eloquently. + +"It wouldn't have been so bad," continued Laura, "if just a few of +them--say a dozen--had been coming. We could have kept ourselves to +ourselves and quite ignored them. But we're being absolutely cuckooed +out. Do you know that our recreation room has been commandeered for an +extra class-room?" + +Howls of dismay issued from the trio now seated on Irma's bed. + +"Yes, you'd hardly believe it, but it is a fact," ran on Laura with +dismal volubility. "When I went to take my painting things there I found +our tables and easy chairs gone, and the whole place filled up with new +desks and a blackboard." + +"Where are we going to sit in the evenings?" demanded Ethelberga +fiercely. + +"Goodness only knows! In the dining-room, I suppose." + +"We evidently don't count for anything with Tommiekins now," said Janet +bitterly. "The Daisy dormitory has been taken for a class-room, and an +extra bed has been put in each of the other dormitories to make up. +Didn't you notice, Irma, that there are five here now, instead of only +four?" + +"Why, so there are! What a hateful cram! Who's to have the fifth?" + +"I asked Hopscotch, and she said, 'A new girl.' I couldn't help flying +out at that, and she simply sat flat upon me and withered me. Told me to +go away and mind my own business, and she was coming round to inspect +the Cowslip Room in half an hour, and I'd better get on with my +unpacking." + +"Oh, she will! Why didn't you tell us that before?" exclaimed the +others, bouncing up with considerable haste, and setting to work again +to empty their boxes. + +"I forgot. I can think of nothing but those wretched Hawthorners. It's +made me feel weak." + +"You'll feel weaker still if Hopscotch comes in and finds you with +nothing unpacked!" observed Laura sagely, stowing underclothes in her +middle drawer with the utmost rapidity. "I advise you to make some sort +of a beginning, even if you don't put things away tidily. Fling them in +anyhow, stick a blouse for a top layer, and straighten them up +afterwards. Don't let her see them still inside your box." + +For a few minutes the girls suspended talk for work. Laura's flaxen head +vibrated between box and wardrobe. Janet arranged her dressing-table and +replaited her dark pigtail. Ethelberga hung up a selection of +photographs, and placed her nightdress inside its case; Irma spread her +bed with her possessions, preparatory to filling her drawers, and +comforted her ruffled feelings with the last pear-drop in the paper bag +she had brought with her. + +The dormitory was of fair size, and though the girls might grumble, +contained ample space for the fifth bed. It was a pretty room with a +yellow wall-paper, and chintz curtains with little bunches of cowslips +on them. There were pictures of cowslips also on the walls, and all the +pin-cushions and hair-tidies had yellow ribbons. The window looked over +the garden, and behind the belt of trees that bordered the lawn gleamed +the grey waters of the estuary, where ships were stealing out from port +into the dangers of the great waters. The girls prided themselves upon +this view, though at the present moment they were too busy to think of +it. Three years' previous experience had taught them that, when Miss +Hopkins made a tour of inspection on the first afternoon of term, she +meant business, and woe betide the luckless slacker who had gossiped and +dawdled instead of bestowing her property in her own lawful drawers. If +she had announced her intention of visiting them shortly, she might +certainly be trusted to keep her word. + +Their expectations were not mistaken, for before the half-hour had +expired the door opened, revealing the short stout figure and rather +angular features of the second mistress. The girls jumped up and stood +obediently at attention, ready to go through the usual routine of +dormitory superintendence. Miss Hopkins, however, was not alone. In her +wake followed a girl of fifteen, whom she bustled in, in a hurry. + +"This is your dormitory, Avelyn--the Cowslip Room, we call it. Here's +your bed, and these are your dress hooks and your drawers. The janitor's +bringing your box upstairs. Oh, he's here now! Put it at the end of the +bed, Tom, please. I suppose you have the key, Avelyn? Then you'd better +unlock it at once. These are your room-mates--Laura Talbot, Irma Ridley, +Janet Duncan, and Ethelberga Carnforth. Girls, this is Avelyn Watson. I +hope you will make her welcome. Begin your unpacking now, Avelyn. I +shall be back directly to see how you are getting on." + +Miss Hopkins, whose duties on the first day of term were multifarious, +withdrew as hurriedly as she had entered. Her visits generally resembled +the brief career of a whirlwind--sometimes her pupils considered that +they carried equal desolation. + +The new girl remained standing by the bed, and for the moment made no +effort to obey orders and unlock her box. She was pretty--her four +critics decided that point at their first glance--her chin was softly +rounded, and her nose was small and straight. Her general colouring was +brunette, but the big wide-open eyes were grey as the estuary outside. +She flushed vivid pink under the scrutiny of her room-mates. For a brief +instant they thought she was going to cry, then she winked rapidly and +began to whistle instead. + +"I shouldn't advise you to whistle too loud," counselled Janet, by way +of breaking the ice. + +"Miss Hopkins is only in the next dormitory, and she's got a crusade on +against whistling--at least she had last term, and I don't suppose she's +changed her tactics; she doesn't generally." + +"Do the eternal snows change?" murmured Ethelberga. + +The new girl stopped with her mouth puckered into a button. A look of +consternation spread over her face, then passed into a smile. + +"I was told I'd have to be jolly careful and mind my p's and q's here!" +she remarked cheerily. "I've been just five minutes in the school, and +my first impressions are that Miss Thompson aims at unadulterated +dignity, and that Miss Hopkins is concentrated essence of fuss. Am I +near?" + +"Not so far off!" laughed Laura. "They can exchange characters +sometimes, though. I've seen Miss Hopkins ride her high horse and be +dignity personified, and on the other hand I've seen Miss Thompson more +ruffled than a head mistress has any business to be. You'll soon get to +know them." + +"I suppose I shall. Whether I shall altogether like them is another +question." + +"You'll like Silverside!" gushed Irma. "It's a perfectly delightful +school--at least it used to be. We're afraid it is going to be utterly +and entirely spoilt now." + +"Why?" + +"Because it's being invaded. It used to be quite small and select, more +boarders than day girls, you know. And now we've just had a horrible +shock--the whole of another day school is being plumped upon us--a +school we've always despised. We're too indignant for words." + +Avelyn, who was fumbling with the lock of her box, lifted her head. + +"Don't you like them coming?" + +"Like them! Sophonisba! How can you ask such a question? We've always +looked down on them so fearfully. Why, if we met any of them in the +street, we used just to stare straight through them, as if they didn't +exist. They wore dark-blue coats and horrid stiff sailor hats with +coloured bands, for all the world like an institution. I tell you we +simply wouldn't have touched them." + +"You'll have to know them now." + +"To a certain extent, worse luck! But they needn't think we'll be +friendly with them, for we shan't. We shall keep a strict line drawn." + +Avelyn had lifted the tray of her box on to the floor, and was busy +taking books from the bottom portion. She was too intent on her +occupation to reply. Irma, whose writing pad and fountain pen had just +come to hand, was hastily scribbling a letter home; Ethelberga, leaning +out of the window, exchanged greetings with a schoolmate in the garden +below; Janet's vision was focused on her drawers; and Laura had just +come across the postcard album, which she was afraid she had forgotten +to pack, and was rejoicing in its possession. For five minutes or so the +girls were engrossed with their own affairs, then the attention of the +room was concentrated again on Avelyn. + +"You haven't told us yet where you live," said Laura, looking up +suddenly from the contemplation of post cards. + +"My home is at Lyngates just now." + +"Where's Lyngates?" + +"About twenty miles from here." + +"You say 'just now'. Haven't you lived there long?" + +"Only since last spring." + +"You've brought very few clothes and things with you," commented Irma, +who had been watching the unpacking of the new girl's box with critical +eyes. "You'll never get through a term on those, I should say." + +"There isn't any need to bring so many things when I'm going home for +the week-ends." + +"For the week-ends? Heavens! You don't mean to say you're a weekly +boarder?" + +"Why not?" + +An expression of deep consternation spread over the faces of Avelyn's +four room-mates. Their disapproval was evident, and they voiced their +objections. + +"We've never had such a thing as a weekly boarder before!" + +"You'll be away all Saturdays and Sundays!" + +"You'll be out of all the fun!" + +"Almost as bad as being a day girl!" + +"Miss Thompson said once that she didn't approve of weekly boarders." + +"I can't understand Tommiekins, she's changed so lately." + +"Have you ever been to school before?" + +"Why, yes," replied Avelyn, smoothing out the folds of her evening +dress, and hanging it on the hooks behind the curtain. "Though not since +last Christmas." + +"To boarding school?" + +"No; it was a day school." + +"Where?" + +"I went to The Hawthorns in Harlingden." + +If a bomb had fallen in the dormitory it could not have caused a greater +upheaval. For a moment the girls stared at Avelyn as if scarcely +crediting her statement. + +"Do you mean to say you're one of those wretched Hawthorners?" exploded +Janet at last. + +"I used to be, but I suppose I'm a Silversider now." + +"And we've got you in our dormitory!" gasped Laura. + +"So it seems." + +"Miss Thompson ought to be thoroughly ashamed of herself!" fluttered +Ethelberga. + +"You'll be rid of me on Saturday and Sunday, remember," returned Avelyn +bitterly. + +At this crisis, the clamour of the gong for tea fortunately put an end +to an extremely embarrassing situation. The four room-mates fled, +leaving their new companion to follow them to the dining-room as best +she could. When she entered, they were already seated at table, and did +not look in her direction. She took a seat next to a complete stranger, +who indeed handed her the bread and butter, but vouchsafed no single +word of conversation. + +When the meal was over, the original inmates of the Cowslip Room retired +to a secluded portion of the garden, and held an indignation meeting. +For the first frenzied five minutes they allowed their wrath full swing, +and vibrated between a dormitory strike and writing to their parents to +beg for instant removal from the school. Then reason reasserted itself, +and decided the impracticability of both methods. Previous experience +had shown them that their head mistress was a tough dragon to tackle, +and scarcely likely to be coerced by even the best organized dormitory +strike, while in her heart of hearts each knew that, after paying her +term's fees in advance, her father would need some very solid cause of +complaint to justify so extreme a measure as a return to the bosom of +the family. They began to discuss the matter more sanely. + +"The fact is, she's here, and I suppose we can't get rid of her," +admitted Irma. + +"After all, she's a boarder!" ventured Ethelberga. + +"Only a weekly one," qualified Janet. + +"And a Hawthorner!" added Laura. + +"She said she hadn't been to school since last Christmas," commented +Ethelberga. + +"Why, so she did! Then she's had a sort of a break from The Hawthorns, +and in a way she's making a fresh start here." + +"I suppose so." + +"If she'd be loyal to Silverside, though we could never like her, we +might bring ourselves to tolerate her." + +"A boarder's a boarder!" + +When the girls returned to the Cowslip Room, they found their new +companion with emptied box putting the last of her possessions into her +drawers. + +"Look here, Avelyn Watson," said Laura. "We've been talking you over. +Although you go home for the week end, you're still a boarder, and at +Silverside boarders are a very different thing from day girls, as you'll +soon find out. If you've had two whole terms away from those +Hawthorners, just forget them, and consider yourself entirely one of us. +If you do that, we'll count you on our side; but if you've anything to +do with day girls, we'll cut you dead." + +"I don't quite understand," returned Avelyn. + +"You soon will!" said Janet significantly. + +"I advise you to think it over," added Laura. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +An Invasion + + +The changes which were taking place this term at Silverside certainly +marked a new era in its traditions. Up till now it had been essentially +a boarding school. There had, indeed, been day girls, who had shared the +classes and some of the games, but they were in the minority, both in +numbers and in influence. They had had no part in the various guilds and +societies, and had been made by the boarders to feel that they were +inferior beings who did not count. The mistresses, themselves resident, +had been accustomed to view the boarders as the more important factors, +and arranged everything to suit their convenience. It had been the +unwritten code of the school that to be a boarder meant to procure +preferential treatment. + +Miss Thompson, however, was a level-headed woman, who marched with the +times. When the opportunity arose of acquiring the connection of The +Hawthorns, the large day school at the other side of the town, she +closed with the bargain, and decided upon an entire change of tactics. +Henceforward Silverside was to be run as _the_ girls' day school of +Harlingden. The house was large, its accommodation had hitherto exceeded +the needs of the pupils, there was plenty of room for added numbers, and +even in war-time it would be possible to run up a corrugated iron or +portable wooden building to serve as lecture hall and gymnasium. The big +garden already contained several tennis courts, and there was a field +close at hand which might be rented for hockey. Altogether, Miss +Thompson congratulated herself that she had performed a most excellent +stroke of business, and she looked forward to establishing a very +flourishing educational centre, and to laying by a comfortable provision +upon which she might retire when the burden of teaching grew too heavy +for her to bear. + +Certainly, Silverside was most excellently situated for the purpose she +had in view. The property had been bought some years before the town of +Harlingden had expanded, and while land was still cheap. The house stood +in its own beautiful grounds, on the top of a hill commanding a fine +view over the estuary. It was breezy and healthy, with large lofty +rooms, big windows, and ample accommodation in the way of side doors and +bathrooms: just sufficiently in the country to allow of walks through +fields and woods, yet near enough to the town to permit most girls to +return home for their mid-day dinners. As a day school, it was far more +conveniently situated than The Hawthorns. Harlingden, formerly a +moderate-sized and not particularly important town, had since the +outbreak of the war been turned into a great munition centre; the +Government, attracted by the advantages of the estuary, had established +large permanent works there, together with a shipbuilding industry. In a +few short years the population had doubled. Fresh suburbs sprang up like +mushrooms. In the Silverside district this was particularly noticeable, +for where formerly there had been quite a rural walk between hedges, +leading to the town, there now stood rows of neat villas with stuccoed +fronts and balconies, and conspicuously new gardens. + +The boarders at Silverside, who preferred country to town, greatly +deplored this suburban growth. They had always begged to take their +walks in an opposite direction, and had ignored Harlingden and its +industries as persistently as possible. The advent of about fifty day +girls into Silverside they regarded as neither more nor less than an +alien invasion. They sat together in a tight clump when school opened at +nine o'clock on Wednesday morning. Until the new gymnasium could be +erected, it was difficult to find a room large enough to accommodate +everybody. The old drawing-room had been emptied of furniture and fitted +with forms, and here, by sitting very close, the girls managed to cram +themselves in for the opening ceremony. Miss Thompson, elated at heart, +but more stately and dignified than ever in manner, addressed her pupils +in a short speech. + +"As Silverside is entering on a new chapter of its career," she began, +"I should like to put before you all, as briefly as possible, what I +consider to be the ideals of the school. Those who have been here some +years already know our traditions, but it will do them no harm to hear +them again, and those of you who are new will, I hope, understand, and +be prepared to accept them with equal readiness. + +"First of all, we stand for Work. We are living in very strenuous times, +and it is the duty of all who love their country to do their best. Every +faithful struggle with your lessons here makes you more fit to help your +country by and by. If you have no ambition for yourselves, remember that +you are part of a great nation, and as such you must not slack, but do +your bit to raise the general standard of education. You'll find there's +a joy and a satisfaction in mastering rules of arithmetic or irregular +verbs, when you feel that you are doing it not only for yourselves but +for the general good. Then there are certain other things for which +Silverside has always stood--truth and straightforward dealings, and a +spirit of unity and of loyalty to the school. We have striven to +establish a high tone here, and at all costs let us preserve it. + +"This term there is a very large proportion of new girls, and hence a +big opportunity for everybody. There will be inevitable changes, and +much pioneer work to be done, and each girl may find a chance of taking +a share in consolidating our traditions. I trust that old and new will +join hands and do their utmost to work together harmoniously for the +good of the school, and the influence which, through you, it may +exercise on the community later on." + +At the end of Miss Thompson's speech the girls separated, and went to +their class-rooms. At the eleven o'clock "break" they poured into the +garden. They stood about in little groups, eating packets of lunch, and +talking. Adah Gartley, Isobel Norris, and Joyce Edwards, the three +eldest boarders, kept together. To them presently advanced two of the +invaders, a ruddy-haired girl of perhaps seventeen, and a stout, +dark-eyed girl a trifle younger. + +"Our names are Annie Broadside and Gladys Wilks," began +she-of-the-chestnut-locks. "If we'd stayed on at The Hawthorns, one or +other of us would have been head this term. You look about the oldest of +the old lot here, so perhaps you'll tell us how this school's managed. +Do you have monitresses, or prefects, or what? Miss Thompson didn't +mention a word about that in her speech. We'd like to know." + +Adah glanced at her rather superciliously. + +"We've never had anything of the sort here," she replied. + +Annie Broadside's eyes grew round with amazement. + +"What? No prefects or monitresses? How in the world did you manage, +then?" + +"We didn't find them necessary," maintained Adah stiffly. + +Gladys Wilks whistled, and looked eloquently at her friend. + +"Of course it was a very small school," she remarked, "so I dare say you +somehow muddled on; but _now_--surely there'll have to be something of +the sort instituted?" + +"Those juniors will give trouble if there's no one to tackle them," +added Annie. "Just look at them over there!" + +The juveniles in question were certainly behaving with a lack of decorum +entirely foreign to the former atmosphere of Silverside. They were, in +fact, engaged in jumping over Miss Thompson's most cherished flower +beds, with disastrous consequences to the pet geraniums and +calceolarias. + +"The little hooligans!" exclaimed Adah, rushing to the rescue of the +unfortunate flowers. "Here, get away, you kiddies! this sort of +performance isn't allowed. Stop, this minute!" + +The five long-legged children who were making a display of their jumping +agility called a temporary halt, and stared aggressively at Adah. + +"Who says it's not allowed?" enquired a pert ten-year-old, who was +evidently the ringleader. + +"_I_ do." + +"Are you a teacher?" + +"No." + +"A prefect or a monitress?" + +"No." + +"Then, what are you?" + +"I'm a boarder," announced Adah with dignity. + +The junior sniggered rudely. + +"Boarders have no right to interfere with us, that I can see. We'll do +as we like. Come along, girls, follow the leader!" and, turning, she +made a long leap across the bed, landing in the edging of blue lobelias. + +Adah stood by, raging and impotent. She would have interfered by force, +but very fortunately at that moment the school bell rang, and the +irrepressible juniors desisted from their occupation and raced one +another to the side door. Adah followed thoughtfully. Her brain was a +whirlpool of new impressions, most of them not at all favourable, and +she had not yet had time to assort them and put them into mental +pigeon-holes. One idea loomed large. Silverside was going to be an +utterly different place from what it had been before. That brief tussle +had revealed much. Hitherto the little girls had been well-behaved +children, rather in awe of their elders, and easily held in check; these +new juniors seemed a different generation, and a very perverse and +untoward one. + +Everything, indeed, was changed. Her form room overflowed with +strangers, and there was a new mistress, whose methods were different +from those of Miss Hopkins. Adah, mindful of her position as oldest +pupil, did the honours of the school, showing teacher and girls where +books, exercise paper, and other necessaries were kept, but she +performed this charity more in the spirit of _noblesse oblige_ than with +any goodwill. + +When the last of the day girls had taken her departure after four +o'clock, Adah heaved an immense sigh of relief, and sent a scout round +to call a boarders' meeting for 5.15 prompt. + +Immediately after tea, therefore, all the resident pupils of Silverside +assembled in the summer-house at the bottom of the garden. They had +chosen that spot because it was secluded, and they were not likely to be +disturbed. Their consultations were to be of a private nature, and they +did not wish any mistress to overhear them. The summer-house was not +very large--much too small, in fact, to contain twenty-four girls--but +some squatted on the steps, and some on the window-sills, and some +overflowed on to the lawn. Adah, seated on the little rustic table, +looked round to see that her full audience was assembled, and opened the +proceedings in a voice that trembled with indignation. + +"It seems to me, and I expect to most of you, that matters here have +just about come to a crisis. The school's turned topsy-turvy. It's been +invaded by this horde of day girls, and everything is altogether +different. Now, Silverside has always existed for the boarders. Miss +Thompson has recognized that, and we've had a great many special +privileges. It's _we_ who have set the tone of the school, and made +Silverside what it is. As long as we outnumbered the day girls that was +pretty easy, but, now that this huge flock has trooped in, it may be a +difficult matter to cope with them. We must make up our minds what we +intend to do. Has anybody any suggestion to offer?" + +"I thought of writing to my father, and asking him to take me away at +Christmas," propounded Irma, flushing with nervousness at the sound of +her own voice. + +Adah gazed at her with an expression of mingled amazement and sorrow. + +"Irma Ridley, I shouldn't have expected this from _you_! Leave the +school, indeed! Where's your loyalty? I hope you haven't been spreading +such an abominable notion. No, indeed! We Silversiders mustn't desert +the old ship. We've got to stick to her, and steer her course for her +through very troubled waters. Don't let anyone suggest ratting again." + +Irma, covered with confusion, blushed yet more furiously. The sentiment +of the meeting was against her, and she felt that she had blundered +badly. She murmured an incoherent apology, and began nervously tying +knots in her pocket-handkerchief. + +"Surely someone has a better suggestion to offer than this?" said Adah, +her clear blue eyes searching the faces of her companions. "Please don't +be afraid of airing your opinions." + +"Silverside must stick to its traditions," ventured Joyce Edwards. "We +mustn't let everything be swamped by the invasion." + +"Let's make a Boarders' League," proposed Isobel Norris, "and pledge +ourselves to hold together and support one another--a kind of Blood +Brotherhood, you know." + +"The very thing!" agreed everybody. + +The idea was so manifestly satisfactory that each girl wondered why it +had not occurred to herself to suggest it. To bind themselves in so +close a bond of union seemed picturesque and romantic in the extreme. It +appealed to their imaginations tremendously. + +"We shall be fighting for the school colours!" said Adah, with a light +of enthusiasm shining in her blue eyes. "It's _we_, the little band of +old pupils, who are to preserve the ideals of the school. These new +girls must be made to realize that they're at Silverside now, and not at +The Hawthorns." + +"I guess we'll rub it into them," murmured Laura Talbot to the +still-confused Irma. + +It was a new girl after all, however, who made the really practical +suggestion of the meeting. Avelyn Watson had sat very quietly during the +proceedings, feeling herself in a somewhat awkward position. She had +been a pupil at The Hawthorns for two years, but her mother had never +really liked the school, and had removed her from it the preceding +Christmas. Avelyn had come to Silverside quite ready to embrace its +traditions and to erase The Hawthorns from her memory. To be confronted +with more than fifty of her old schoolfellows, some of whom had to-day +claimed affectionate intimacy with her, had been somewhat of a shock. +She did not quite know where she stood. She was not sure whether the +boarders were disposed to receive her into the bosom of the League, or +if they would regard her as among the aliens. One fact, culled from +former experience, rose to her lips. She was too shy to state it +publicly, but she bent towards Laura Talbot and whispered: + +"Tell them, if they want to do anything, they ought to have +prefects--you see, I _know_!" + +Laura immediately broached the suggestion as her own, and gained the +whole credit for it. The idea, hinted at by Annie Broadside and Gladys +Wilks in the morning, had been fermenting in Adah's brain all day, and +she grasped at it eagerly. + +"It would give us just the authority we want," she agreed. "We'd better +make a deputation and speak to Miss Thompson about it. Who'll go with +me?" + +The Principal, busy and burdened with a hundred new cares, sat in her +study that evening answering letters from parents. She pushed away her +papers rather wearily as the deputation, consisting of Adah Gartley, +Isobel Norris, Consie Arkwright, and Joyce Edwards, entered the room +with a kind of bashful assurance. She was tired, but she was always +ready to listen to what her girls had to say. It had been her invariable +rule to meet them half-way. She heard them now patiently, asking many +questions, for they were shy in stating their case, and did not at first +explain their objects lucidly. When at length she had got at the gist of +the matter, she leaned back in her chair and thought for a moment or two +before she replied. + +"What you say is very true. The influx of another school into +Silverside may certainly endanger our old traditions. I look to you +boarders, who have been with me for years, to uphold every principle for +which we have hitherto stood. I agree that you might find your task very +difficult unless you were armed with some authority. We have never had +school officers before, but that was because we did not feel them a +necessity. I will try the experiment and see how it answers. You four +are among my oldest pupils. You know what Silverside has stood for in +the past, and you shall help to mould its future. I appoint you +prefects, and give you power to report to me, or to any other mistress, +breaches of discipline which come under your notice, and in certain +cases to take off order marks. Adah, who is the eldest, and was first in +last term's examination list, shall be head girl. I will announce this +at nine o'clock to-morrow. My great object is to amalgamate the two +schools into one as quickly as possible, and I trust that you will not +show any favouritism towards old girls, but will give the new ones equal +justice." + +"We'll do our best, Miss Thompson," declared Adah, Isobel, Consie, and +Joyce in an obedient chorus. + +And doubtless they really meant to do their best; but schoolgirls are +prejudiced beings, and apt to be conservative to the core. They had +decided beforehand that the former pupils of Silverside, and the +boarders in particular, had the sole prerogative of high ideals, +culture, and gentility, and that such refinements could not, and did +not, exist among those who had come from The Hawthorns. In their minds +the division was as complete as that between the sheep and the goats. +They looked upon the Hawthorners as heathen, and upon themselves in the +light of missionaries. They set to work very patronizingly to make their +influence felt. Now, there is nothing which most people resent so much +as patronage. The Hawthorners had been happy enough in their old school, +and they were keenly insulted at being given to understand that they +were regarded by the Silversiders as inferiors. They held indignation +meetings of their own on the subject. + +"Why should those stuck-up things lord it over us?" exploded Annie +Broadside. + +"They're not as clever as we are. We beat them easily in class," added +Gladys Wilks. + +"I should just think we do. They're simply not in the running at +maths.," declared Gertrude Howells. + +"And yet they're prefects, if you please." + +"At The Hawthorns prefects were always chosen from those who got the +highest marks in the examinations." + +"You were top last term, Annie, and would have been head girl if the +school had gone on." + +"You were only two marks behind me, Gladys, and you know Miss Perry +hadn't counted the botany papers. It was really a toss-up between us." + +"Well, we're both out of it now." + +"Very much so." + +"I don't call it fair that these four boarders should have all the +authority." + +"It isn't!" + +"If they think we're going to knuckle under to them they're very much +mistaken." + +"Giving themselves such airs about being old Silversiders, and treating +us like inferiors!" + +"Can't we do anything?" + +"Let's form an 'Old Hawthorners' Guild', and vow to stick to one +another. There are more of us than of them, and we'll beat them in +lessons and at games, and let them see who's inferior." + +"Right you are! You shall be captain, Annie." + +"Then you shall be secretary, Gladys." + +"I know everybody will be only too delighted to join." + +"They will. But don't let those Silversiders know one single word about +it." + +"They shan't, indeed!" + +"We're here, and the school is as much ours as theirs!" + +"Our old set will follow us, and not care a toss about the prefects!" + +Adah and her fellow-officers had indeed made a terrible mistake by their +superior and patronizing ways. Instead of welding the school into one, +as Miss Thompson had hoped and intended, they had entirely alienated the +new element and had set up a most unhappy barrier of division. +Silverside resolved itself into two parties, each apparently determined +to misunderstand the other, and obstinately resolute not to mix. Miss +Thompson, anxiously watching the result of her experiment, saw only the +surface of things, for most of the trouble lay below, deeper than the +ken of head mistresses. The teachers were aware of an undercurrent of +discontent, but could not absolutely discover the reason. Only the girls +themselves knew that the school was split into rival factions, between +whom there was going to be war. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +Walden + + +As Avelyn Watson is one of the central figures of this story, it will be +well to go back some months, and follow the events which preceded her +appearance at Silverside. Though apparently trivial enough, they are +important, because if they had not happened, she would have come to +school as a day girl instead of a boarder, and the part which fate put +into her hands to play could never have been acted. + +It all began with Daphne forgetting to change her wet stockings. Daphne +had done many imprudent things before, and had suffered more or less +from them. This time Dame Nature, tired of having her laws flouted, +determined to teach her a lesson. The specialist who was called in to +consult with the family doctor made an exhaustive examination of the +case, then pronounced his verdict. + +"She mustn't live in the town. If you want her to grow up into healthy +womanhood, a year or two in the country is an imperative necessity." + +Up to the time when Sir Basil Hunter delivered this ultimatum, the +Watsons had always lived in Harlingden. Daphne and Avelyn could +remember the old days when Daddy had been alive, and Mother's hair had +been brown and not grey; and she had laughed as gaily and easily as they +did now. That was many years ago, and to David and Anthony, at any rate, +their father was little more than an enlarged photograph on the +dining-room wall. They had all been born in the comfortable, commonplace +house in Gerrard Square, and had taken it and its uninteresting view, +and its smoky little garden, together with the round of town life, +entirely for granted. Then the change came. Mrs. Watson, thoroughly +alarmed at the doctor's diagnosis, and nervous over the health of her +whole family, took immediate steps to carry out his advice. She let the +house in Gerrard Square, and removed into the country. The place she +selected was a tiny village named Lyngates, two miles from the station +at Netherton, and twenty miles away from Harlingden. Its pure air, +gravel soil, and record of sunshine were exactly what Daphne required; +the boys could go in to town every day by train, and thus continue at +King James's School, and Avelyn, who was sufficiently like Daphne to +make the fatigue of a daily train journey seem a risky experiment, could +be sent as a weekly boarder to Silverside. + +By a most fortunate chance, Mrs. Watson came across the very little +property she wanted. It was an old farm-house, with a few outbuildings +at the back, and a field or two for poultry--the doctor had suggested +that Daphne should interest herself in poultry. It was smaller by far +than No. 7 Gerrard Square, but big enough for their requirements. + +"With present war prices, and income-tax what it is, and four children +to educate, I consider I'm very wise to make the move," she decided, +"though I should never have had the courage to do it if Sir Basil Hunter +hadn't been so emphatic." + +So the house, gardens, outbuildings, and fields that composed the small +holding were bought and paid for, and formally transferred by deed from +their former owner, George Hethersedge, yeoman, to the possession of +Helena Watson, widow, and the bargain was complete. That it was a +bargain the children had no doubt. So many extra things were included +that were never even mentioned in the title-deeds--the thrushes and +blackbirds and tits in the garden, the wagtails that flitted up and down +the little stream, the owls that sat and hooted in the elm tree at dusk, +the wild bees' nest in the bank, the ferns in the crannies of the old +wall, the morning view when the sun shone over the valley, and the calm, +quiet sunsets when the sky was aflame with rose and violet. It was the +most exciting experience to explore their new kingdom. They were always +making fresh discoveries. Up till now, beyond their annual summer +holiday at some seaside resort, they had had no practical knowledge of +the country. To live side by side with Nature was like being transferred +into another world. + +To Mrs. Watson, no less than to her children, the change was welcome. +She had often pored over Nature books from the library, and they had +been wont to stir in her a vague yearning to get away from bricks and +mortar and chimneys, and spend a sylvan year somewhere far from the +sound of trams or steam hooters. She chafed sometimes against the +monotony of her daily shopping and household cares. She longed for lanes +and woods, but there seldom seemed time to go for walks at Harlingden; +it was a long way from Gerrard Square into the fields. We are such +creatures of habit, that it had never struck her to uproot herself and +reorder the lives of herself and her children; and if Daphne had not +forgotten her galoshes, and thus brought about the visit of Sir Basil +Hunter, the family might have remained town birds to the end of the +chapter. As it was, they stepped into a fresh inheritance. They named +the house "Walden", after Thoreau's famous _Walden_, a book which her +mother loved, and which Avelyn was just beginning to read and +appreciate; the magic of its radiant love of Nature, and the breadth of +its philosophy appealed to her strongly. + +Though the Watsons' Walden was quite unpretentious, it was certainly +more comfortable than the shanty in Concord, Massachusetts, where Henry +David Thoreau spent his immortal two years and two months. There was a +sitting-room on each side of the little hall, a big kitchen and pantry +behind, and four bedrooms upstairs. Outside, across the yard, was a +cottage, with a lower room which could be used as a den for fretwork, +painting, carpentering, or the pursuit of any other cherished hobbies, +and an upper storey containing two extra bedrooms for emergencies. The +stable and barn were interesting, and held dim, cobwebby recesses, where +bats hung head downwards, and a brown owl sometimes perched blinking +upon the cross-beams. + +In front was a small raised garden, bordered by a very wide ivy-covered +stone wall. The house stood on the slope of a steep hill, so that this +wall overtopped the road below like a crag. When you leaned your arms on +its golden sweet-scented ivy blossom, or sombre berries and smooth +leaves, you could look out over a tract of country that spread for +miles--green meadows, hazel copses bursting into leaf, thick woods that +hid the stream whose rushing waters yet made themselves heard, the reedy +reaches of a river, and fir-clad hills that melted faint and blue into a +misty horizon. There was a patch of gravel in front of the wall, and a +rustic garden seat, dilapidated, but firm enough for occupation. The +site made a natural outdoor parlour: a yew tree, grown slantwise with +the prevailing wind, formed an umbrella overhead. At the side of the +cottage, between the yard and the kitchen garden, purled a shallow +little brook, at the edge of which grew watercresses and marsh +marigolds. It was spanned by a bridge made of rough slabs of stone. +Beyond the stables lay a couple of small meadows, containing an upper +reach of the stream, and a little marshy tract interspersed with gorse +and alder bushes. + +The Watson family had reviewed the whole premises slowly, critically, +and with unbounded satisfaction. + +"It's the sort of place you read about in a novel," sighed Daphne, whose +tastes were romantic. "Somehow you feel as if anything could happen +here--interesting things, I mean. Mysteries and tragedies, and--and +even----" + +"Love affairs!" finished Avelyn promptly. "Perhaps they may--sometime." + +Avelyn was at the stage when life is full of dreams. It was her constant +amusement to imagine all kinds of delightful but wildly improbable +future happenings for Daphne, for herself, and for the boys. The number +of castles in the air which she constructed would have built a city. +They were all shadowy and unsubstantial, but none the less fascinating +for that. Walden appeared to her, as to Daphne, an appropriate setting +for golden visions. + +David and Anthony, still in the age of blunt uncompromising frankness, +regarded the new home from a practical standpoint. + +"It's top-hole!" decided David. "I'll have a thingumjig--what d'you call +it?--lathe, I mean, inside that cottage, and a joiner's bench. There's a +man in the village who says he's got one to sell cheap, and a vice with +it. I'm going to make a rabbit hutch, and all sorts of things." + +"There are trout in that part of the stream up the field," beamed +Anthony. "Not very big ones, but certainly trout. I saw them jump. The +boy who brought the telegram yesterday told me that he catches them +with his hands. He knows of sixteen birds' nests on the road to the +station, and he's got a young hedgehog at home. I'm going to just sit +and sit in the field when it's getting dark till I see one for myself." + +"I shall grow ten years younger when I've had a summer here," announced +Mrs. Watson to her flock. "You won't know your poor old mother very +soon. The country air's making her so frisky and juvenile, she wants to +run about like a girl!" + +"_Do_, Muvvie darling! We love you in your skittish moods," implored +Avelyn. "When you wear that short skirt and that rush hat you don't look +a day older than Auntie Belle--truly! You never climbed up step ladders +in Gerrard Square!" + +"I've begun to do many things I never did before," laughed Mrs. Watson, +"partly from necessity. If I could have found anybody else to go up the +step ladder, perhaps I shouldn't have tried. We've all got to work if we +want to make the place look nice. It'll be worth it when we've +finished." + +Walden had been empty for two years before its owner sold it, and, +though it was in a fair state of repair as regarded masonry and +woodwork, it sadly needed decorating. The question of its repapering +and painting had been the one hitch in the proceedings, for, when Mrs. +Watson had sought to obtain estimates for its renovation, she found +that, in the present war-time shortage of workmen, no firm would +undertake to carry out a job so far in the country. For three horrible +days matters had seemed at a dead-lock, and the purchase of Walden (not +quite concluded) had trembled in the balance. But Daphne's white cheeks +brought all Mrs. Watson's native obstinacy to the fore. She was +determined not to be vanquished. She enquired in the village, and +secured the services of an old soldier who used to be handy-man at the +Vicarage, and with his experienced aid and the willing, though unskilled +hands of her young flock, she determined to do up Walden herself. She +secured lodgings for a few weeks at a farm close by, and the family +devoted the Easter holidays to the purpose. It was a new experience for +them, and they enjoyed it thoroughly. Armed with pails of distemper and +whitewash brushes, they splashed away at the walls, painted woodwork, +stained floors, or laid linoleum. They made a delightful discovery in +the dining-room, for, when they came to tear down the old wall paper, +they found an overmantel of ancient oak beams. The fireplace was large +and old-fashioned, with ingle nooks on either side, the woodwork had +been completely covered with paper and plaster, but when this was +cleared away, and it was cleaned, stained, and varnished, it presented a +most quaint and handsome appearance. The great beam that spanned the +hearth had a flat surface, and on this Mrs. Watson decided to carve a +motto. The family put their heads together over it for many days. They +looked up mottoes in books, and consulted their friends, but could not +find exactly the right one. Daphne and Avelyn were in favour of English, +but Mrs. Watson and the boys plumped for Latin, and finally evolved the +following:-- + + POST LABOREM HAEC REQUIES HAEC FELICITAS. + (After work, here is rest and happiness.) + +"When you've finished your lessons in the evenings, we can make a circle +round the fire and talk about the day's doings; and it will seem a +centre for the whole house and for our lives," said Mrs. Watson. "I +believe this little home is going to be far more precious to us than +Gerrard Square." + +To the children the doing up of the establishment was the utmost fun. +Thoreau himself could not have obtained more enjoyment from his "Walden" +than they did from theirs. There were many humorous incidents; as when +Anthony sat down in the colour wash pail, or when Daphne dropped a pot +of pink paint on the top of David's head, or when Avelyn poured in +paraffin by mistake, instead of methylated spirit, to thin the varnish. +It was a proud day when at last colour wash and paint were dry, and the +floor was swept and cleaned, and the vans arrived and the furniture was +carried in. Mrs. Watson had sold most of the heavy possessions which +they owned in Gerrard Square, and had bought in their place tasteful +antiques which suited the house far better, and gave it an air of quaint +culture and comfort. When all was arranged it looked a charming little +abode, and thoroughly in harmony, from the black beams of its ingle nook +to the carved settle and gate-legged oak table, or the framed samplers +on its walls. + +Many surprising incidents happened in the first days of occupation. Very +early one morning, as Daphne and Avelyn lay in bed, they were awakened +by a tweeting and whirr of wings, and found that a pair of newly-arrived +swallows had flown in through the open window, and were whirling +overhead, evidently with designs on the big cross beam for nesting +purposes. The sight of the girls, who sat up in bed, seemed to annoy +them, for they twittered with anger, scintillated rapidly round the +room, then flashed out through the window into the spring sunshine. + +"Well," exclaimed Daphne, "this certainly is living in the country! +Actually swallows in our bedroom!" + +"The poor darlings!" declared Avelyn. "They've had a horrible +disappointment. They'd made up their minds to have their nest on that +beam. I remember Martin Jones pulled down a swallow's nest before he +whitewashed, and said they had built there last year, and had got in +because the window was broken. They must think we're dreadful intruders. +They were scolding us as hard as they could in bird language." + +"Shall we hang out a notice: 'To Let, Eligible Quarters for Swallows'?" +laughed Daphne. "We might even put nesting boxes round the walls, and +extend the invitation to other birds." + +To anyone who wished to study natural history, Walden certainly offered +advantages. There was a friendly robin that domesticated itself, and +would fly into the dining-room at meal times, hop on to the table, and +even perch upon the loaf. He would haunt the kitchen in quest of crumbs, +and grew so cheeky that when Ethel, the maid, who resented his +occasional flounders into her pudding dishes, drove him out through the +window, he would merely fly round the corner and pop in again through +the open door. + +As at first the Watsons possessed neither dog nor cat, their garden +became for that spring at any rate a veritable bird sanctuary. A pied +fly-catcher built in the thatch of the summer-house, a pair of +gold-crested wrens swung their dainty cradle under a pine bough, a +nettle creeper nested in the long grass of the orchard, cole tits and +blue tits haunted the yew tree, a family of young water wagtails issued +from a hole under the stone bridge, and a wood pigeon took possession of +the top storey of a fir tree, to say nothing of the blackbirds, +thrushes, robins, and other everyday birds that availed themselves of +the hospitality of the bushes. + +"I thought I owned Walden, but I'm beginning to doubt it," said Mrs. +Watson. "It seems to me that the wild creatures put in a prior claim, +and come unasked to share it." + +"They're welcome, bless 'em!" murmured Avelyn, fondling a newly-fledged +and quite undismayed young missel-thrush, which she had temporarily +taken from its nest just outside the drawing-room window. + +Some of the incidents which happened were decidedly funny. The Watsons +were not used to the country, and had to learn by experience. One +morning they had left some washing in the field, and found that a +neighbour's calves had strayed through a hole in the hedge and were +contentedly sucking stockings and pyjamas, and reducing them to a +jelly-like pulp. It took several sharp lessons before the family grasped +that cardinal rule of country life: "Keep your gate shut". On the first +Sunday of their occupation they had gone to church, and on returning had +strolled into the dining-room, to find three pigs comfortably in +possession. A wild scene ensued, for the intruders, instead of allowing +themselves to be chased through the door, careered madly round and round +the table, squeaking and grunting in protest, and finally jumped on to +the sofa, and made their exit through the open window, knocking over +books, work-baskets, and pots of geraniums in their hurried flight, and +completely flattening a bed of young pansies that had just been planted. + +One night the family, who had sat up later than usual, heard stealthy +steps in the garden, and, fearful of burglars, issued forth in a body, +armed with the poker and other implements of aggression, only to find a +melancholy donkey cropping the grass beyond the laurel bushes, with +apparent appreciation of its superior juiciness. + +These little adventures, however, added a spice of excitement to their +existence. They agreed that life at Walden was supremely interesting. + +Daphne, who was nearly eighteen, had finished with lessons, and for the +summer term Mrs. Watson allowed Avelyn also to stay at home and run +wild. She had been growing fast, and a rest was considered good for her. +David and Anthony left the house every morning at half-past seven, +walked to Netherton Station, caught the train to Harlingden, and +proceeded to King James's School, where they spent the day and dined, +returning home by about six in the evening. They were sturdy boys of +fourteen and twelve, and enjoyed the daily expedition. Time had often +hung heavy on their hands out of school hours in Gerrard Square; it was +now agreeably filled in with a railway journey and a walk across fields +where birds' nests might be found, and where they sometimes saw stoats +and squirrels. + +To the whole family the first sylvan spring and summer had been one long +round of delight. By the end of August they felt that town had faded +away from their mental vision, and that they had become "sons of the +soil". + +In September Avelyn began school again as a weekly boarder at +Silverside. She had left The Hawthorns the preceding Christmas, and the +nine months' absence, with the intervening removal to Lyngates, had very +much blurred its memory. She had liked some of the girls, though she had +never made any really intimate friends there. She had been mildly sorry +to leave, but the regret had soon worn off. She had come to Silverside +quite ready to hallmark herself with the stamp of her new school, and +centre her interests there. To find that the greater part of "The +Hawthorns" was now incorporated with "Silverside", and that the boarders +identified her with her old set, had struck her somewhat as a shock. +What attitude she should adopt she could not quite determine. She wanted +to think over the situation carefully before she committed herself to +either side. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +An Encounter + + +The little freehold of "Walden" was a triangle, consisting of about two +acres of land. Its base abutted on the high road, and its apex was +wedged into another and much larger estate. The owner of this property +resided at Lyngates Hall. The Watsons had as yet only seen him in the +distance, but they knew from report that he was a naturalized German, +and that his name was Hockheimer. They had heard rumours that he was not +popular in the district. So long as he kept his live stock on his own +side of the hedge, Mrs. Watson did not concern herself about her +neighbour. When his cows strayed into her field she drove them back, and +had the gap securely mended to prevent further trespassing. She +considered that to be the end of the matter, and did not give Mr. +Hockheimer another thought. As for the young people, they had not yet +realized his existence. They discovered it one day quite suddenly and +unpleasantly. + +The second Monday morning after her start at school, Avelyn was walking +to the station with her brothers to catch the 8.15 train. The weather +was still fine and summer-like, and the late September sunshine gilded +the yellowing nut trees, and turned the dew-drops in the long webs of +gossamer into diamonds. There was an exhilaration in being up and out so +early. The three marched along very cheerily, chatting as they went. As +they rounded the corner beyond the smithy, they could see, about two +hundred yards in front of them, a little figure in blue sports coat and +tam-o'-shanter, also making its way in the direction of Netherton. + +"Who's that girl?" asked Anthony. "We see her every day; she goes in to +Harlingden by the same train that we do. She must be going to school, +because she always has a satchel of books with her." + +"It looks like Pamela Reynolds," returned Avelyn. "She's new at +Silverside this term, and, now you speak of it, I remember somebody told +me she came from Lyngates, but I'd quite forgotten all about it till +this moment. I don't even know where she lives. Shall we sprint and +catch her up?" + +The Watsons hurried their footsteps, and by dint of what might be termed +a forced march overtook Pamela on the brow of the hill. Avelyn greeted +her by name from behind. She turned, surprised. She was a fine-looking +girl of nearly fourteen, with wide-open honest brown eyes, a clear pale +skin, and bronze-brown hair, which curled at the ends, and had a +tendency to make little rings round her forehead. She was really pretty +when she smiled. + +"Hallo!" she exclaimed. "I never expected to see you here! Aren't you +Avelyn Watson? I thought you were a boarder!" + +"So I am, but only a weekly one. I come home from Friday to Monday. Do +you like being a day girl? Isn't it a long way to go every morning?" + +"I don't mind; I used to have much farther to go to school when we lived +in Canada." + +"Used you to live in Canada?" + +"Yes, I was born there. I've only come to England lately." + +"I haven't met you about Lyngates before." + +"We've only been here a month." + +"Who's 'we'?" + +"Just my mother and I." + +"Do you like England?" + +"Pretty well. It's too cultivated after Canada. All these little walls +and hedges to divide the tiny fields make me laugh. It's like a dolls' +country. And I hate the high roads. Look here--there's a short cut +through that wood to the station. I go that way nearly every day. Will +you come?" + +The Watsons were perfectly ready to explore anything in the shape of a +new path or by-lane. They helped Pamela to open the gate, and followed +her into the wood. The long vista of trees was delightful. The short +grass under foot was a vivid emerald green, there were patches of +yellowing bracken, clumps of crimson and orange toad-stools, spindle +bushes covered with scarlet berries, and trails of pale late honeysuckle +twining over the brambles. From the direction they were taking, they +must be cutting off a long corner on their way to the station. + +They had walked for perhaps a few minutes, and were strolling on, +chatting as they went, when they suddenly heard a shout in front of +them, and someone came crashing through the undergrowth and stood +barring their path. The somebody in question was undoubtedly very angry. +He was a fair, short, stout, roundabout little man, with a big blond +moustache. His light-blue eyes flashed, and his large teeth gleamed +unpleasantly as he spoke. But he not only spoke, he shouted. + +"What are you doing here? Do you know this wood's private property? +You've no business to be in it! Get out as fast as you can, the same way +you came! Be quick about it, or I'll know the reason why. I could have +you all taken up for trespassing if I liked. Why, _Pamela_!" + +Pamela was standing staring at the surly objector, with a look of +mingled amazement, disgust, and defiance in her clear eyes. + +"It's my fault, Uncle," she replied calmly. "It's a short cut to the +station through this wood, and to-day I brought these--friends"--she +hesitated for a moment over the word--"with me. I come this way nearly +every morning." + +"Then you won't do it again!" thundered the short man. "Don't let me +ever catch you here any more, or any of your friends. You may understand +that once and for all, and I'll be obeyed. Go back, I tell you!" + +He waved them savagely in the direction of the gate through which they +had come. + +"Mayn't we go on just this once?" pleaded Pamela. "I'm afraid we'll miss +our train." + +"Then miss it! What do I care? It's your own faults for trespassing, and +I hope you'll all get into trouble at school. You richly deserve it. +Back, I tell you, you young rascals!" + +With an angry man raving like a lunatic in their path, there was nothing +for it but to beat a retreat as speedily as they could. When they had +passed through the gate, David looked at his watch. + +"Five past eight! Thunder! We shall have to sprint if we want to catch +that train." + +There was no time for comment. All four immediately set off running. +Each, perhaps, was buoyed up with an obstinate determination to reach +the station by 8.15 in spite of the unamiable hopes of the owner of the +wood. They only wished he could be there to see them defeat his +prophecy. In spite of such hindrances as bumping satchels, streaming +hair, and, in Anthony's case, a trailing bootlace, they panted along, +and covered the ground somehow. They could hear the train rumbling in +the distance, and could see the smoke of the engine as they raced down +the last hill. By the greatest of good luck a special cargo of milk-cans +and butter baskets had to be placed that morning in the luggage van, and +the extra two minutes spent in stowing them away saved the situation. +The guard was just waving his green flag as the Watsons and Pamela, +scarlet with their exertions, popped into the last carriage. + +For a few minutes they were too breathless to speak. It was Anthony who +first found words. + +"Well, of all raggy old lunatics commend me to that one!" + +"Strafe the baity old blighter!" gasped David. + +"I never heard of such meanness!" put in Avelyn. "Actually to _want_ us +to miss our train!" + +"I'd have knocked him over for two pins," declared David savagely. + +"Wish we'd tried!" growled Anthony. + +"I don't know who he is, but he's no gentleman!" exploded Avelyn, +divided between her ruffled clothes and her ruffled feelings. "Sorry, +Pamela, if he's your uncle, but I can't help saying what I think." + +Pamela was leaning back in a corner. She had taken off her blue +tam-o'-shanter, and was trying to re-tie her bronze-brown hair. She +looked up quickly. + +"You needn't mind me. You can say anything you like about him. I only +wish he wasn't my uncle. We don't choose our relations, do we?" + +"Nobody'd choose him if they could help it, I should think," replied +Avelyn frankly. "What's his name?" + +"Mr. Hockheimer." + +"The Mr. Hockheimer who lives at The Hall?" + +"Yes." + +"Why, he's a German, isn't he?" + +"Yes, but I'm not! I'm as English as I possibly can be." + +"Then how are you related to him?" + +"He married my aunt." + +"Oh!" + +[Illustration: "DO YOU KNOW THIS WOOD'S PRIVATE PROPERTY?" HE SHOUTED] + +There was a long pause, and then Anthony volunteered: + +"If Auntie Belle was to marry a German, I'd never call her 'auntie' +again--never!" + +"It was before the war, and she's dead now," groaned Pamela. "Uncle +Fritz has lived twenty years in England." + +"How is it he's not interned?" asked David. + +"He's naturalized, you see." + +"Need you call him 'uncle'?" + +"I'd rather not, but I've got to. I'd never seen him till I came here a +month ago." + +"And you don't like him?" + +For answer, Pamela suddenly burst into a storm of passionate tears. + +"Like him! I hate him! Oh! why did we ever leave Canada and come to +England? It's wretched here, and I'm miserable. I'd like to run away!" +Then, dabbing her eyes with her pocket-handkerchief: "There, don't take +any notice of me, please. I get these fits sometimes. I'll feel better +soon. Please don't talk any more to me about uncle." + +The Watsons glanced at her compassionately, and began to converse among +themselves upon other topics. Pamela stared hard out of the window, +blinked, and presently regained her composure. When the train arrived at +Harlingden, she and Avelyn walked to Silverside together, but they +talked of school concerns, and did not reopen the subject of Mr. +Hockheimer. + +Before this happening Avelyn, though she had been vaguely aware of +Pamela's existence, had not mentally singled her out among the general +crowd of her schoolfellows. From that Monday morning she began to take +an interest in her. She smiled at her when they passed on the stairs, +and spoke to her occasionally in the playground. As they were in +different forms they had few opportunities of meeting, and even at +dinner the boarders sat at a different table from the day girls. Avelyn +looked out for Pamela on Friday afternoon, but she was not at the +station. She had either left school early, or was travelling by a later +train. She seemed such an attractive, pathetic little figure that +Avelyn's curiosity was aroused. She wanted to know where Pamela lived, +and more about her. She cast round in her mind for any likely source of +information, and decided upon Mrs. Garside, a fat kindly old soul, who +owned a farm close to Walden, and was disposed to be neighbourly and +talkative. On the excuse of going for the weekly butter she tapped at +the house door, and was ushered in. Mrs. Garside was busy washing pots, +but she placed a chair for her visitor, fetched the butter from the +dairy, and, as she packed it in the basket, glided off into +conversation. Once started, it was difficult to stop her, or to lead her +away from the various topics upon which her tongue ran so glibly. It was +only after much manoeuvring and a considerable amount of patience that +Avelyn could get her to concentrate on the subject of Pamela Reynolds. +Even then her mind side-tracked. + +"A young lady with dark hair, that wears a blue tam-o'-shanter. Yes, +I've seen her--not that I like tam-o'-shanters, and I wouldn't get one +for Hilda, though she begged hard; I bought her a felt instead. Mr. +Hockheimer's niece? Yes, he lives at The Hall, though many think he's no +right to be there; and if I'd my way, I'd say an internment camp was the +right place for him. With two sons in the trenches it doesn't give one +any patience for these naturalized Germans, coming and turning out +decent English folk, too, that ought to be there instead of him. It was +a queer business, and people ought to make their wills properly before +they come to die, instead of leaving them half-written. I've made mine, +and divided what I've got equal share and share alike among my six +children, so that there won't be any quarrelling after my funeral, for +I've told them beforehand what to expect. And people say the old +Squire's ghost haunts The Hall, and small wonder; though it's not much +use, for a ghost can't sign a will, and he should have had the sense to +do it while he was alive." + +Mrs. Garside's statements were so rambling and involved, that it took +Avelyn a very long time indeed to sift the information she wanted from +among the large number of superfluous details supplied by her loquacious +neighbour. By dint of pertinacity and tact, however, she pieced together +the following narrative.-- + +Pamela's ancestors had for many generations been Squires of Lyngates, +and had resided at The Hall. Her grandfather, Mr. George Reynolds, had +lived there until his death, two years ago. Mrs. Garside could remember +him since her girlhood--a tall, handsome man with a brown beard, who +rode about the country on a favourite white horse named Champion. He had +been a good landlord, and was well liked in the neighbourhood. His wife +had died early, and left two children, a son and daughter. The son, Mr. +Leonard, had been a high-spirited lad, and it was said in the village +that he and his father did not get on well together. There was some +upset and a quarrel, the rights of which nobody ever knew, for the +Squire was too proud to air his troubles, and kept family skeletons +securely locked in their cupboards. At any rate, Mr. Leonard had gone +away to Canada and started farming, and had never returned to his old +home, though he had written that he was married, and, later on, that he +had a daughter. This was all the news that Lyngates people had heard of +him in fourteen years. Whether he had prospered or otherwise on his +far-off Canadian ranch they did not know. Squire Reynolds's other child, +Miss Dora, had been a pretty girl, and her father's favourite. Many +years went by, however, before she married. She had been fond of +hunting, and used to look very smart riding to hounds in her neat +navy-blue habit. It was at a meet that she had first met Mr. Hockheimer. +He rented a shooting-box in the neighbourhood, and came down frequently +from London for week ends. Nobody could understand how this naturalized +German had obtained such a hold over Miss Dora and her father, though it +was rumoured that he had reinvested the Squire's money for him to great +advantage. Being a City man he was well acquainted with finance. Miss +Dora was long past her first youth, but she was still handsome, and +everyone in Lyngates had said that she was far too good for Mr. +Hockheimer. The village worthies, however, were not consulted, and the +wedding took place. + +A year afterwards the European war broke out. There was great comment in +Lyngates on the position of Mr. Hockheimer, but he had proved himself to +be a naturalized British subject, and declared he was heart and soul on +the side of the Allies. He had been very energetic on local committees, +and had given large sums to the Belgian Fund. + +When red war flamed in Flanders, and Britain summoned all her sons to +her standard, Leonard Reynolds, on his far-away ranch in the Rockies, +had heard the call and answered it. He had joined one of the first +Canadian contingents, and had come over the sea to "do his bit" for the +Motherland, leaving his wife and child at the ranch to carry on the +brave but wellnigh impossible task of keeping the home fires burning. In +his passage through England he had had thirty-six hours' leave, and had +visited his father at Lyngates. The villagers had seen him again after +fourteen years' absence, and had admired him in his khaki uniform. He +had spoken to several of them--words of fire and patriotism and +enthusiasm for the coming conflict. + +Everybody lived for the newspapers in those first months of war, and +Lyngates was no exception to the general rule. In farm-house and +cottage they read of the retreat from Mons. Duke's son and plough-boy, +Oxford graduate and City clerk, scientist, shopman and crossing-sweeper +alike, had paid the great sacrifice, and the name of Leonard Reynolds +stood among them. The Squire was in bed at the time, recovering from a +severe operation. The news was broken to him by an injudicious nurse at +a crisis in his illness, and it proved his death-blow. In his few last +gasping words he had tried to say something about a will, but those who +were with him could not understand what he meant to convey. With the +incoherent message still trembling on his stricken lips he had passed +away into the silence. He was buried with his ancestors in Lyngates +churchyard, but there was no cross to mark the grave of his son Leonard. +The survivors of the Canadian contingent could give no details beyond +the fact that a certain portion of them had been utterly wiped out by a +terrific explosion. It was impossible to identify the dead. War was +reaping a red harvest of human lives. + +After Squire Reynolds's funeral, Mr. and Mrs. Hockheimer had taken +possession of The Hall. Though search was made everywhere the only will +which could be discovered was one in the custody of the family +solicitor, which was dated fifteen years back. In the briefest terms it +left a certain sum of money to his daughter, and the estate of Lyngates +to his son, but in the event of the death of either, the survivor was to +inherit the whole property. As it had been drawn up before his son's +marriage, no mention was made in it of Leonard's wife and child. It was +a perfectly valid will, and it was duly proved, Mrs. Hockheimer +succeeding to the entire estate of her late father. She lived only six +months to enjoy it, and was laid to rest with her dead baby in her arms. +She had executed a will bequeathing everything to her husband, so that +Mr. Hockheimer, the naturalized German, assumed absolute command of the +Reynolds property. + +Meanwhile, matters had gone hardly with the wife and child of Leonard +Reynolds. It had been impossible for them to farm the ranch, and they +had no private means. By the advice of her friends Mrs. Reynolds had +sold up her few possessions and had come to England with her daughter, +to find out at first hand from the lawyers whether any provision had +been made for her out of the estate. The solicitors were polite and +sympathetic: they acknowledged the keen injustice of the matter, but +assured her that there was no redress, and, according to British law, +Mr. Hockheimer had full rights of possession in the Lyngates property, +while she and her child could not claim so much as a solitary farthing. +They represented the case, however, to Mr. Hockheimer, and he at once +offered Mrs. Reynolds the use of a cottage on his land, together with a +small annual income, and promised to pay for Pamela's education at a day +school in Harlingden. As she had no other means of livelihood, Mrs. +Reynolds had accepted this help, and had settled down at Lyngates +shortly before this story begins. She was a fragile little woman, +gentle and clinging in disposition, and so battered by misfortune that +she was glad to rest anywhere where she could find a home. She received +Mr. Hockheimer's dole quite gratefully. With the loss of her husband +life had for her practically stopped. Through her daughter it held a +second-hand kind of interest. She welcomed the idea of Pamela attending +a good school, and her crushed soul even began to indulge in timid +little day-dreams concerning her child's future. These hopes, pathetic +and tender, were like wild sweet violets springing up over the +desolation of a battle-field. + +Pamela viewed the situation from an utterly different standpoint. She +had inherited her grandfather's strength of character along with the +Reynolds features, and also a considerable share of his pride. Her early +life in Canada had made her more independent than most English girls of +her age. She considered that by all rights of justice an equal half of +the Lyngates estate should have been hers, and that her uncle, Mr. +Hockheimer, had managed to steal her inheritance. She hated to accept +from him as charity what she felt ought to have been her own, and she +bitterly resented the patronizing attitude which he adopted towards +herself and her mother. She, too, had her day-dreams, and most of them +centred round a time when she would be old enough to shake off this +thraldom of dependence and strike out a line of her own in the world. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +Ructions + + +By the end of a few weeks Avelyn began to feel more settled down in her +new quarters at Silverside. The old pupils might regret the former +regime, but she was tolerably satisfied with the new. She was in the +fifth form, and found the work not too arduous, and liked Miss Kennedy, +her teacher. She had been accustomed to the bustle of a large school, +and, though Laura Talbot might rave against the crowded conditions, to +Avelyn it was amusing to be in a room crammed full of girls. School is a +separate world of its own, and often a curious one. To outsiders and to +its Principal, Silverside might appear as an enterprise that was growing +and prospering exceedingly. Its numbers had suddenly more than doubled, +it had fresh teachers, and was going to build a cloak-room and a +gymnasium; nothing could seemingly have more hope of success. Inwardly, +however, it was a seething whirl of opposing factions. The old and the +new did not readily amalgamate. The boarders were jealous of their +rights, and would not yield an inch of the privileged position they had +always been wont to occupy; while the Hawthorners, accustomed to the +absolute democracy of a day school, could not and would not understand +why boarders should expect to have any privileges at all. + +Trouble began on the very second day of term. Adah, in her new capacity +of head girl, had pinned a paper on the notice board announcing a +general meeting of the Dramatic Society for 4.15 in the studio. The old +members turned up at the time named, to find a group of Hawthorners +already in possession of the room. Adah, after waiting a minute, glanced +at the clock and coughed significantly; then, as this produced no +result, she remarked: + +"Won't you be rather late if you're not getting home soon?" + +"We don't much mind," returned Annie Broadside easily. + +"Well, the fact is, we want to use this room," continued Adah. "We're +going to have a meeting." + +"I know. That's why we've come." + +Adah's eyebrows elevated themselves to an astonishing angle. + +"You've come to our meeting?" she exclaimed incredulously. + +"Certainly we have. Why not?" + +Annie asked the question aggressively. + +"Because you're not members of the Dramatic." + +"But we want to join." + +Adah turned to her friends, who stood looking scornfully at the +intruders. + +"Did you hear that?" she remarked. "They actually want to join the +Dramatic!" + +"Cheek!" murmured Consie, and the others giggled. + +"And why shouldn't we join?" flamed Gladys Wilks. + +"Why? Because you're day girls, and the Dramatic's only for boarders. +That's the reason." + +"It's no reason at all," answered Maggie Stuart sharply. "The boarders +have no right to monopolize any society. It ought to be free and open to +the whole school." + +"But it can't!" snapped Adah. "Surely you can see for yourselves that it +wouldn't work. We have all our rehearsals in the evenings, when day +girls couldn't possibly come." + +"You could fix them from four to five instead," suggested Annie. + +"We're not going to alter our arrangements for anybody," returned Adah +tartly. + +"The boarders have always run the Dramatic," added Consie. "We'd like to +begin our meeting, please, when we can have the studio to ourselves." + +"Oh, very well! Keep your wretched society to yourselves if you want!" +yapped Annie; "but I'll tell you this, at any rate, I think it's most +monstrously unfair. You needn't expect us to help you with any of your +schemes, for we just shan't!" + +"Don't excite yourselves--we haven't asked you!" sneered Consie +freezingly as the Hawthorners flounced out of the room. + +At first the committee was too agitated to discuss business. It was +ablaze with indignation at the impudence of mere day girls aspiring to +join the select circle. + +"How could we let them?" fluttered Joyce Edwards. "To begin with, there +wouldn't be enough parts to go round, nor enough costumes. Dear me! we +should have the Juniors expecting to appear on the platform! What next, +I wonder? We Seniors have always done the acting, and let the kids and +day girls make the audience." + +"And we'll go on doing so!" declared Adah. "We're the prefects, and +we'll manage the school affairs as we like, without interference from +anybody." + +The decision about the Dramatic was the same as regarded most of the +other societies. The boarders kept them jealously to themselves. The day +girls grumbled, even protested indignantly, but they were powerless to +make any change. The four prefects were all boarders, and exercised +their newly-granted authority for their own advantage. Miss Thompson had +no idea of the state of affairs. In appointing as school officers girls +who had been with her for some years, she thought she was safeguarding +the tone of Silverside and preserving its traditions intact. She had +certainly no intention of establishing an oligarchy; yet in effect that +was what had resulted. The members of the Boarders' League felt pledged +to support one another against all outsiders, and every activity of the +school was in the hands of a clique. + +Adah, as head girl, was intensely patronizing. She was puffed up with +pride in her new office, and would explain Silverside customs with an +airy superiority which aggravated the Hawthorners continually. Their +injured souls rallied round Annie Broadside. Annie was a born leader. +She keenly resented the state of affairs, and meant to show fight. She +only waited a suitable opportunity, and at length it came. + +For the first few weeks of term the boarders had been busy with various +affairs on Saturdays, and had contented themselves with an occasional +game of tennis and croquet. At the beginning of October they suddenly +realized that the hockey season was beginning. So far hockey, and indeed +any organized games, had been only very languidly pursued at Silverside. +The smallness of the school had not given a wide choice of champions, +and for some years the elder girls had been more interested in botany +and butterfly collecting than in sports. + +Silverside had had a hockey team, and had occasionally played a match, +though it could not pride itself on its record of goals. The present +prefects had never distinguished themselves remarkably at athletics, but +they were sufficiently enthusiastic to wish the school to win successes. +They called a boarders' meeting to discuss matters. + +"We ought to have a splendid games club this term," smiled Adah +complacently. "There should be several sets of hockey going on in the +same afternoon." + +"There isn't room in the field for more than one," ventured Laura +Talbot. + +"Then we must take a larger field," decreed Consie. "With so many new +subscriptions we can easily afford it." + +"Ninety-five girls instead of only thirty-six in a school make a +difference," admitted Irma Ridley. + +"The treasurer will have quite a nice little sum in hand," chuckled +Isobel Norris. + +"I want the school to begin and make a name for itself," said Adah. "I +don't want to say anything against Jessie Carew and Maggie Stephens, +last year, but really we all know they were slackers." + +"Silverside must buck up!" agreed the others. + +"You, Laura, and Janet, and Ethelberga have the makings of good players +in you," murmured Adah reflectively, "and of course Consie and myself, +and perhaps Joyce." + +"What about the Hawthorners?" asked Isobel. + +"We shall have to include them, of course." + +"Couldn't get up the teams without them, I'm afraid," sniggered Minnie +Selburn. + +Adah stared hard at Minnie, who straightened her face and sat up +stiffly. + +"In the matter of hockey, of course, everybody in the school, whether +day girl or boarder, will be invited to join," continued Adah. + +"Some of those Hawthorners are jolly good," ventured Mona Bardsley. + +"They won ever so many matches last year, I believe," added Alice +Webster. + +"Whom did they play?" asked Adah quickly. + +"I don't know." + +"I do," said Avelyn, speaking for the first time. "It was Workington +Ladies' College, Mirton High School, Redlands County School, and +Harlingden Ladies' Team, and they beat them all, except Harlingden, and +that was a draw." + +Adah was rapidly scribbling some entries in her notebook. + +"We'll challenge Workington Ladies' College," she announced. "I wanted +us to do it last year, but we decided our team wasn't strong enough. +I'll write to their secretary to-night and make a fixture. It would be a +tremendous triumph for Silverside to beat Workington. They've rather a +reputation." + +"The old school's going to forge ahead!" smiled Consie. + +"We'll ask Miss Thompson to speak about hiring that larger field," said +Isobel. "We'd better secure it at once, in case the farmer should let it +to anybody else." + +Next day Adah pinned up a notice, announcing that hockey would begin on +the following Saturday afternoon, and asking all girls to sign their +names as members of the games club, and to pay their subscriptions to +the treasurer. She watched the day girls come and surge round the notice +board, then she ran upstairs to her form room. She considered that she +was performing her duties admirably as head of the school. + +Meantime, downstairs, a ferment was going on that would have surprised +her. The grumblings and dissatisfaction increased till a whisper began +to circulate. + +"Annie Broadside says, don't sign or do anything yet, but let the 'Old +Hawthorners' League' meet on the common this afternoon at 4.15. Pass +this on, and all turn up." + +The boarders could not understand why, that afternoon, the day girls +scuttled away so promptly at four o'clock, and seemed in such a frantic +hurry to get on their boots and be gone. As a rule they loitered about +in an annoying fashion, and were seldom clear of the premises till +half-past four. The prefects ventured the opinion that Silverside rules +were at last beginning to be properly kept. They would have been +immensely electrified if they could have seen what was really happening. + +Not far from the house was a small common, which most of the girls were +bound to pass on their way to and from school. To-day, instead of going +home they trooped here. There was an old tree stump at one side, and +Annie, scrambling to the top of it, and holding on by a branch, made it +serve as an orator's platform from which to address her audience, which +stood below. She first of all looked round critically. + +"Are we all here?" she began. + +Several voices replied: + +"All who could come." + +"Some girls had to catch trains." + +"And the Potters had music lessons." + +"And Trissie Marsh had to go to the dentist's." + +"But they sympathize. They'd have come if they could." + +"I'm glad to hear that," continued Annie. "I like to know I have your +sympathy. Are we all old Hawthorners?" + +"Yes, yes!" + +"And no spies among us?" + +"Certainly not!" + +"Then I can speak freely. I want to say, what I'm sure we all think, +that we're perfectly disgusted with the way those boarders have been +behaving. They speak as if the school existed for them, and them alone. +Some societies we aren't allowed to join at all, and those that we may +belong to are kept well in their own hands, because they appoint +themselves as presidents, and secretaries, and treasurers, and members +of committee. We simply haven't a look in anywhere. Now, I ask you, is +this fair?" + +"Not at all!" howled the girls. + +"We're exactly in the position of serfs, and it's monstrous. What right +have those boarders to rule over us?" + +"None!" + +"It's quite time we showed our spirit. I've been wondering for a long +time how we could checkmate them, and now I see my way clear. They're +going to start the hockey season." + +"Yes!" + +"Who do you think will make all the arrangements and be captains of the +teams? Boarders or day girls?" + +"Why, boarders, of course." + +"And who are the best players; who are going to win the goals?" + +"_We_ are!" + +"Of course, we are; everybody knows that! But the boarders would take +all the credit, and talk about _their_ successes. The very idea makes me +ill! Why should we play for _them_?" + +"Why, indeed?" + +"We're not obliged to. Our Saturdays are our own, and nobody can make us +come and play hockey if we don't want. I vote we just say we won't join +their old games club. Let's start a rival one of our own." + +"Yes, yes! Oh, do let us!" + +"We'll call it 'The Old Hawthorners' Hockey Club', and we'll hire our +old ground and wear our old colours, and play matches of our own, and +let those conceited Silversiders go to Jericho." + +Annie's daring suggestion met with a chorus of applause. The +Hawthorners, made to feel unwelcome in their new school, clung +desperately to their old traditions. They had had an excellent hockey +record in past years, and felt confident that they could raise a team +sufficiently strong to challenge their former rivals to matches. + +"Will you elect Gladys as secretary?" asked Annie. "That's all right. +And Maggie as treasurer? Then give in your names, and bring your +subscriptions to-morrow, and I'll go this very night and see about +getting our old field. It belongs to Mr. Gardner, and my father knows +him quite well, so I'm sure we shall manage it. If not, we'll hire +another field." + +"Or play on the common," declared the girls as they crowded round Gladys +Wilks, giving in their names. + +Adah Gartley had kept her word and written immediately to the secretary +of Workington Ladies' College, who had replied by return of post, +arranging a match for a date in November. She showed the letter with +much satisfaction to the boarders after breakfast. + +"By the by, have those day girls paid their subscriptions yet to the +Games Club?" she asked suddenly. + +"Not one of them," answered Isobel. + +"The blighters! And hockey begins to-morrow. Isn't it just like day +girls? I must talk to them about it at eleven o'clock 'break'." + +The day girls were busy consuming packets of lunch when Adah, glass of +milk and piece of bread and butter in hand, strolled amongst them, bent +on her mission. + +"Look here, you slackers! D'you know you've never paid your half-crowns +yet? Can't admit anybody to the hockey field who hasn't given in her +subscription--that's one of the traditions of Silverside." + +"Is it?" said Annie Broadside casually. "I can't see that it concerns +us." + +"You'll see to-morrow when you get to the field. A nice little +disappointment it will be for you to find you're not allowed to play." + +Annie took a big bite of oatcake and gulped it. + +"Suppose we don't want to play?" + +"Not want to play!" Adah's expression was one of sheer incredulity. + +"Why should we? You boarders have taken up all the other societies, so +you may have the hockey as well. We don't want to intrude on your +privileges, thanks!" + +"But I say," blustered Adah, "you _must_ play! We've got to win matches +and keep up the credit of the school." + +"Keep it up yourselves!" put in Gladys sarcastically. "You've rubbed it +into us hard enough that it's only you who understand the school +traditions, and we're nothing but outsiders!" + +"But you're keen on hockey! Surely you want to play?" Adah was making a +desperate effort to curb her temper and be conciliatory. + +"Certainly we do, but we're going to have a club to ourselves." + +"You can't here!" + +"We don't mean to try. It's an 'Old Hawthorners' Club', and nothing to +do with Silverside." + +"But you mustn't! You shan't go ratting like this!" exploded Adah, +scarlet with indignation. + +"Don't get excited!" said Annie politely. "There's nothing to prevent +us. Our Saturdays are our own, and nobody can compel us to come to +school and play hockey if we don't want." + +"You miserable blighters!" + +"There! Keep a civil tongue, please. I thought the traditions of +Silverside didn't run to slang. Perhaps you'd like to arrange a match +with us: 'The Old Hawthorners' versus 'Silverside Boarders'? Gladys is +our secretary, and will book it." + +"I shall do nothing of the sort!" choked Adah, beating as dignified a +retreat as she could. + +It was certainly a terrible blow for the prefects. They had counted +entirely on the strength of the day girls in arranging teams. To be +deserted in this fashion meant the ruin of the hockey season. They were +aghast at the bad news. + +"I wonder if Miss Thompson can refuse the larger field?" speculated +Joyce. + +"We certainly can't afford to hire it with the subscriptions we've got," +mourned Isobel. + +"And it's not the slightest use our trying a match with Workington, for +we should only get a jolly good licking," announced Consie. "We don't +want to court disaster." + +"I shall write to the secretary to-night," said Adah bitterly, "and tell +her we've been obliged to make other arrangements. Those day girls are +the absolute limit!" + +"Don't you think," ventured Isobel, "that perhaps you've been a little +high-handed? If you'd tried to conciliate them, now----" + +"Conciliate!" echoed Adah scornfully. "Really, Isobel, what next? If you +think I'm going to truckle to day girls, you're much mistaken." + +"I'm afraid we're making a good many mistakes," murmured Isobel, but too +low for her friend to overhear her. + +The three other prefects certainly laid the blame of this occurrence on +Adah, and considered that, if they had conducted the negotiations in her +place, they would have been able to manage the refractory Hawthorners. +Though they always loyally supported their head girl, they were quite +aware that her overbearing manners gave offence. They sometimes suffered +from her themselves. She had so thoroughly established herself as +leader, however, that it was not possible to break away from her rule. +She had been longer than any other girl at Silverside, and thus stood +for the old traditions. Whether these in the end were going to prove the +best for the school was a matter that admitted of some debate. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +Reprisals + + +After learning the story of the Lyngates estate, Avelyn's interest in +Pamela Reynolds was doubled, and she cultivated her acquaintance. The +two girls travelled together from Harlingden on Friday afternoons, and +arranged to meet on Monday mornings to walk in company to the station. +Though Pamela was not yet fourteen she was old for her age; her +adventurous life in Canada had given her a mental outlook different from +that of most English girls. She proved a lively and very pleasant +companion. Mrs. Watson, to whom Avelyn confided her friend's story, paid +a call upon Mrs. Reynolds, and found her a timid, refined lady, of +gentle birth and breeding, greatly saddened with her troubles, and +evidently without much initiative. The cottage, which had been lent to +her by Mr. Hockheimer, was in a very out-of-the-way situation. It was +small, inconvenient, and possessed many drawbacks, but she had made the +sitting-room pretty with books and flowers, and the little home had a +cultured air about it. Mrs. Reynolds did not seem to wish to seek any +society, and gently intimated that she feared she was not strong enough +to walk as far as the village and return calls. + +"The poor woman has simply sat down under her troubles," said Mrs. +Watson, describing her experiences at the family supper-table. "It's +easy to see that she has no spirit. If she would take life more pluckily +it would be better for herself and everybody. I'm sorry for that child. +To live in that quiet spot with such a depressed companion, especially +when by all rights they ought to have owned The Hall. It makes my blood +boil! Mr. Hockheimer ought to have done more for them than this." + +"Catch Mr. Hockheimer doing much for anybody!" commented Daphne. "People +say he's the stingiest landlord. They grumble dreadfully. I think he +ought to have had Mrs. Reynolds and Pamela to live with him at The +Hall." + +"Oh, Pamela would have just hated that!" put in Avelyn. "She simply +can't bear her uncle." + +"I don't blame her," sniffed Daphne. + +"Oh, Muvvie, couldn't we ask Pamela to tea?" said Avelyn. "It must be so +lonely for her up there, without any brothers and sisters. I believe +she'd love to come." + +"Well, we'll give her the chance at any rate," agreed Mrs. Watson. "I +hope her mother won't be stupid and refuse to let her come. I think I'd +better send a formal invitation." + +The note was duly written and dispatched. Mrs. Reynolds appeared to need +some days to think the matter over, but finally sent a formal +acceptance. + +"Hooray!" triumphed Daphne. "I quite expected she was going to decline +with thanks. Muvvie, how glad I am that you're a nice, sensible person, +and not morbid! You'd have been such a trial to us if you'd always gone +about with an air of depressed resignation." + +"I've had my troubles as well as other people," said Mrs. Watson. "It +certainly doesn't make them any better to mourn over them. We've got to +sit up and make the best of things as they are. 'Never say die!' is a +good old motto. I'd try to be chirpy and cheery if I were reduced to a +wooden leg and a glass eye!" + +"So you would, Muvvie darling! I believe you'd dance a jig with a +crutch. But about Pamela----" + +"We'll give her a good time when she comes, poor child!" + +The warm-hearted Watsons were determined to make Pamela thoroughly +welcome, and they succeeded royally. She was painfully shy for the first +ten minutes, and answered all questions in embarrassed monosyllables, +but after a walk round the garden she began to thaw, by the end of tea +she had waxed expansive, and later on she proved downright amusing. By +the time the family, in a body, escorted her home, they felt that they +had sealed a friendship. They talked her over on the way back. + +"She's sporty," decided David. + +"Decent as far as girls go," qualified Anthony, who at twelve did not +yield readily to feminine attractions. + +"I call her charming," said Daphne. "You can see she's plenty in +her--not one of those lackadaisical people like Ella Simpson, who just +put on side. It seems to me a most monstrous thing that her uncle should +have been able to take all the property." + +"Collared the lot!" grunted David. "The old Hun!" + +"Mrs. Garside told me that everybody said Squire Reynolds must have made +a later will--the butler and coachman remembered signing something. But +it couldn't be found." + +"Likely enough old Hockheimer suppressed it. He'd be equal to any dirty +German trick!" suggested Anthony. + +"If he has he deserves penal servitude." + +"I'd prefer shooting for him," said Anthony grimly. + +The Watsons liked Pamela for herself, but it certainly gave her an added +interest to consider her the victim of her uncle's greed and injustice. +They thoroughly detested Mr. Hockheimer. Since the morning when he had +turned them out of the wood they had owed him a grudge, and other +matters had accumulated to swell the account. His land, unfortunately, +adjoined theirs. I have mentioned before that the little property of +Walden was shaped like a triangle, the apex of which jutted into Mr. +Hockheimer's estate. This apex consisted of a piece of rather marshy +rushy ground. The brook divided at its head, and flowing round it in two +separate streams reunited, making the patch of meadow into an island, +connected with the main land by a rough plank bridge. It was of little +service from a farmer's point of view, but it was a most picturesque +spot, and Mrs. Watson intended to turn it into a water garden. She and +Daphne spent hours poring over Barr's catalogues, and deciding what +iris, forget-me-nots, ranunculi, and other marsh-loving plants they +should send for, and whether it would be possible to dam a piece of the +brook to make a pool for water-lilies. + +Imagine their annoyance when one day they found their cherished island +in the occupation of Mr. Hockheimer's cows, which had walked down the +stream from their own field. With great difficulty the Watsons drove +them back, and replaced the rather broken tree-trunk, which acted as +barrier, across the brook. When the same incident happened again Mrs. +Watson complained, and requested Mr. Hockheimer to see that his cows +kept to their own field. He replied by stating that they had always been +accustomed to graze on the island, which was really a no-man's +territory, not strictly included in either property, though, if the +matter were to be investigated, it would probably be found to be +included in the Lyngates estate. + +Much surprised, and angry at such an assertion, Mrs. Watson looked up +the plans of Walden which went with her title-deeds, and found the +island most certainly represented as her property. She called in the +assistance of the village joiner, and caused a strong barrier to be +fixed across the stream at the head of the island, sufficient to keep +out cows and make a landmark for the boundary of her territory from +that of her acquisitive neighbour. This being done she considered the +matter settled, and proceeded to plant her iris and forget-me-nots. She +anticipated a beautiful show from them in the spring. + +Towards the end of October, Daphne, whose health had picked up with +country air, nevertheless had to report herself to the specialist who +had previously examined her, and she and her mother made an expedition +to London. They started on a Thursday, and were to spend Sunday with +friends in town, returning home on the following Monday or Tuesday. +Avelyn, David, and Anthony, together with Ethel, the maid, had the +establishment to themselves for the week-end. With her mother's +permission, Avelyn asked Pamela to spend the Saturday afternoon at +Walden. + +The young folks were determined to have a thoroughly happy harum-scarum +time together, and, instead of taking a conventional tea in the +dining-room, they carried their meal into the barn, and held a picnic +feast, sitting on blocks of wood, with the wheelbarrow for a table, and +with Billy, the dog, Meg, the cat, and Tiny, the bantam cock, as +self-invited guests. + +"It's rather a stunt being all on our own for once!" opined Anthony, +feeding Billy with crust, regardless of the rationing order. + +"Top-hole!" murmured Avelyn, pouring out milk for Meg into her saucer. + +"I wish something would happen!" said David, rocking himself airily to +and fro on his billet of wood. + +"Something _will_ happen if you're not careful, old sport! You'll topple +over next minute!" warned Avelyn. + +"What do you want to happen?" asked Pamela. + +"Something exciting--an air raid, or a fire, or a burglary. Something +really to give one spasms!" + +Pamela did not reply for a moment. She rested her head on her hand and +thought. When she spoke there was an undercurrent of doubt in her voice. + +"I don't know whether I ought to tell you," she hesitated. "I'm not +supposed to know, only I happened to overhear. I don't care, I _shall_ +tell! He's only my uncle by marriage, and I detest him!" + +"Do you mean Mr. Hockheimer?" asked Avelyn, in a sudden flutter. + +"Yes; I wish I didn't!" + +"What about him?" + +Pamela hesitated again, then whispered: + +"He's coming here, just at dusk, with an axe and a saw." + +"What for?" + +The Watsons had clustered round, with faces full of horrified +expectancy. + +"To take down that barrier across the stream. He says the island's his." + +If the enemy had landed, the Watsons could not have been more astonished +and indignant. Their opinion of Mr. Hockheimer had been bad before, but +that he should take advantage of their mother's absence to perform such +an abominable and utterly illegal act made their blood boil. + +"There are two opinions about the island," declared David grimly. "Mr. +Hockheimer will find he's not going to get things all his own way. What +time did he say he was coming?" + +"Just at dusk." + +"All right! We'll be ready for him! Thanks ever so much for letting us +know. I say, Tony, come into the yard with me; I want to speak to you. +I've got a brain wave!" + +"What's it about, Davie?" asked Avelyn excitedly. + +"I'll tell you afterwards, Ave." + +Out in the yard the two boys held a hasty confabulation. They felt that +they must act quickly. It was their duty to protect their mother's +property from this Hun robber. The situation appealed to their boyish +instincts. David's eyes gleamed with a wrathful twinkle. Anthony's young +fists were tightly clenched. They laid a careful plan of campaign, then +started off to secure recruits. In ten minutes they returned from the +village with three Boy Scouts, to whom they unfolded their designs. They +hurried off at once to the island, to survey the scene of action. The +barrier which Mrs. Watson had caused to be erected across the brook, was +constructed of two stout poles with withies intertwined; the ends were +secured in the banks, and there was room for the water, even in flood, +to flow underneath. On the Walden side of the stream were some large +stepping-stones, which the joiners had placed for their convenience +when fixing the posts into the overhanging bank. David and Anthony, with +their scout friends, took off boots and stockings, and after a +considerable amount of shoving and splashing, managed to move away the +small stones that supported these boulders, leaving them apparently +safe, but in reality only lightly balanced in the brook. They had barely +finished when twilight began to fall. + +"We'll clear out now!" commanded David. "He may come any minute, and I +want him to be hard at work before we appear on the scenes. We'll catch +him red-handed." + +"And give him more than he expects!" chuckled Anthony. + +Going back to the house, the boys took Avelyn into their confidence. +They felt that it would be mean to leave her out of such a thrilling +adventure. + +"If you're game to come, you can," they allowed graciously. "It ought to +be a sporty job!" + +"Blossomy!" agreed Avelyn. "I wouldn't miss it for worlds. But what +about Pamela? She'd enjoy it, of course, but her uncle would know she'd +given the show away." + +"She must hide behind the bushes, and not let him see her. It'll be +top-hole for Pamela!" + +The alders and clumps of furze were thick down by the stream, quite +sufficient to give shelter to the little party of seven that presently +took cover there. They preserved strict military discipline. Not a word +was spoken. All crouched silently watching and waiting. The sun had set, +and the red glow faded from the sky, but there was a young moon, and +objects were clear. David held Billy by the collar. He was a sporting +dog, and trained not to bark; though he panted and his eyes bulged, he +did not betray the whereabouts of his owner by even the suspicion of a +yelp. Early experience with a former master, addicted to poaching, had +taught him his lesson. + +Just when the owls had wakened, and were beginning to hoot round the +barns, Mr. Hockheimer came striding down his field. He was annoyed with +Mrs. Watson for having put the barrier across the stream. There had +indeed been one in the days of the former tenant, but it had +conveniently tumbled into the water, leaving a pathway for his cows to +graze on the island. He believed that by a little bluff and persistence +he could persuade Mrs. Watson that the island was part of his own +property. German-like, he had small opinion of women, and considered +that a widow's substance would be an easy prey. He had decided to see to +the matter himself, instead of bringing his bailiff or his keeper with +him. Since the war began, his men had been apt to make themselves very +disagreeable over trifles, and it was not worth having a fuss about so +small a business. + +He stood on the top of the crag and surveyed the barrier. How to get to +it was the first question. It was fixed just where the stream ran in a +narrow gully between two high banks. He mentally strafed the village +joiner for having placed it in such an inaccessible spot. From his own +land it was practically impossible to reach it. The only thing to be +done was to go into Mrs. Watson's field. He had no scruples about +trespassing, and taking his axe he hacked down some branches, and +cleared himself a way through the hedge. It was comparatively easy now +to reach the barrier. There were stepping-stones obligingly left by the +workmen, which would be of great assistance to him. Saw and axe in hand +he advanced upon them, quite unwitting that seven pairs of eyes (eight +with Billy's) were watching his movements from the shadow of the bushes. +The first two stones were secure enough, and gave him confidence; the +third tottered a little, and he stepped hastily from it on to the +fourth, only to find that it capsized altogether and landed him suddenly +on his back in the water. The stream was not deep enough to drown, but +was quite sufficient to immerse him. He splashed and floundered about, +and rose wrathful and spluttering, to find five boy figures standing in +the field and grinning at his discomfiture. + +"Dear me, Mr. Hockheimer," said David, with feigned commiseration, "I'm +afraid you're wet!" + +Mr. Hockheimer's remarks, being in German, were probably better not +translated. He waded ashore and began to wring the water from his +clothes. + +"May I ask what you were doing?" continued David blandly. + +"A job that I mean to finish, you young rascal!" girned Mr. Hockheimer +gruffly. + +"Excuse me, but that fence is my mother's property, and if anybody +interferes with it we're out here to protect it." + +"And I'm here to remove it!" roared the German. "Take yourselves off, +you young chimpanzees!" + +"You forget it's our own field," continued David with icy politeness. +"It's we who must ask you to take yourself off. Oh, very well!" as the +German made a threatening movement towards him, "Billy, will you give +Mr. Hockheimer a hint to go?" + +Billy had been straining at his collar to suffocation point. Now, +released and encouraged by his master, he flew, barking furiously, at +the intruder, and seized him by the leg of his wet trouser. + +Mr. Hockheimer yelled, freed himself by a kick, and, turning to see the +angry dog ready to spring at him again, saved himself by suddenly +climbing up an old willow stump that overhung the brook. He swarmed up +with an agility surprising in a man of his stout build. Wet and draggled +from his dip in the stream, he cut a sorry figure clinging among the +branches, while Billy, mad with rage, jumped and yelped down below. + +"Call off that brute!" shouted the German hoarsely. + +"There's no hurry," answered David. "I want to talk to you a little, Mr. +Hockheimer. It's a good opportunity while you're resting." + +"Call him off and let me go, you little villain!" + +"If you _will_ trespass in our field you must expect the dog to get +excited. It says in the Commination Service, 'Cursed is he that +removeth his neighbour's landmark'. (Perhaps you don't go to Church on +Ash Wednesdays?) Now, you were distinctly trying to remove my mother's +landmark, and if I let you go I may be compounding a felony. I've got +some witnesses here, at any rate. What a gap you made in the fence! We +shall have to make that up. Tony, old chap, keep guard for a while." + +"Right you are!" answered Anthony sturdily. + +Percy Houghton had brought his father's hedging-gloves and a billhook, +so, leaving Anthony as sentry by the tree, David, with the aid of the +boys, repaired the hedge. He whistled cheerily the while. + +Mr. Hockheimer was feeling far from cheerful. He was wet, cold, and in a +most undignified position. Every time he ventured to let his leg down so +much as an inch the dog showed all his teeth in an ugly snarl. The +prospect of spending a much longer time perched in the tree was not +pleasing. He judged it wiser to arrange terms. + +"Come, come, you've had your little joke," he expostulated in a milder +tone. "Call your dog away, and I will go home." + +"Will you give me your solemn undertaking not to trespass on our +property again, or attempt to remove our landmarks?" demanded David +grandly. + +His victim grunted something which might be interpreted as assent. + +"Then we'll let you off this time. Tony, hold Billy! Shall I help you +down, Mr. Hockheimer? You're rather stiff, I expect." + +"I can manage myself," growled the German sulkily, as he descended with +a thud. + +"We've made up the fence, so we shall have to let you out through our +yard," observed David. "By the by, you dropped a saw and an axe into the +brook. I'll fish them out to-morrow by daylight and throw them over into +your field. I call that Christian charity. I might have commandeered +them or let them stop in the stream and rust away. Dear me, you're +_very_ wet! I hope you won't catch cold!" + +Mr. Hockheimer made no reply, but stumped after the boys up the field +and through the stable-yard. David held the gate open for him most +courteously, and he passed through into the road. Then he turned and +shook his fist. + +"You shall pay for this some day!" he muttered. "I don't forget!" + +"Neither do I," returned David. "Good-night, Mr. Hockheimer!" + +As the boys came back round the side of the barn they met Avelyn and +Pamela, who had run up from the field. The two girls had kept hidden +among the bushes, but had seen and heard most of what was going on. + +"You don't think he saw me?" asked Pamela. "I believe he'd kill me if he +knew I'd told." + +"I don't believe he could possibly see you, not even from up in the +tree. It was getting so dark," David assured her. + +"He has an awful temper!" shivered Pamela. + +"Oh, Dave, you did bait him!" said Avelyn with a chuckle. "I didn't know +you could be so sarcastic. I nearly died trying not to laugh out loud. +How did you think of it all?" + +"It came on the spur of the moment," admitted David modestly. "I've +rather an idea I'd like to be a barrister when I grow up, if the war's +over." + +"I'd like to be a detective and snap the handcuffs on criminals," +declared Tony, giving Billy his last honey-drop as a reward of virtue. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +Miss Hopkins + + +Though Avelyn, as a weekly boarder, was not quite in the innermost heart +of the Silverside clique, she was nevertheless considered one of the +elect. Her room-mates rubbed it into her that she _was_ a boarder, and +as such must be very thankful for her privileges. On the whole, they +treated her rather well. They included her as much as they could in what +fun was going on, helped her to plait her hair, showed her their private +treasures, and shared their occasional boxes of chocolate impartially +round the dormitory. Avelyn felt that she was living two lives: one +began at nine o'clock on Monday morning, and lasted till four on Friday, +and the other occupied the intervening time. Each circled independently +in its own orbit. The school life was quite fascinating and absorbing, +especially now she was getting used to it. It was jolly to sit on the +beds in the dormitory and compare experiences with the other girls. They +generally had something interesting to talk about, especially Irma +Ridley. Irma had an inventive mind, and a keen appetite for romance. She +read every novel she could get hold of, though only a very few, and +those of a strictly classical character, were allowed in the Silverside +library. She had a good memory, was an excellent raconteuse, and would +sit in the gloaming and tell thrilling tales to anybody who was prepared +to listen. To her room-mates she supplied the place of a monthly +magazine of fiction. It was Irma who first started the rumour about Miss +Hopkins. The girls were dressing for supper when she made her amazing +statement. + +"Do you know," she remarked, pausing with her hairbrush in her hand, "I +verily believe that Hopscotch either already is, or is just about to +be--engaged!" + +If Cupid himself had darted in through the window, bow and arrows in +hand, the occupants of the Cowslip Room could not have been more +electrified. + +"What!" + +"Hopscotch?" + +"You're ragging!" + +"It's the limit!" + +Miss Hopkins, the mathematics mistress, had never struck the school as a +likely subject for romance. She was middle-aged, nippy, determined, +brusque, and a disciplinarian. There was a slight burr in her speech, +acquired north of the Tweed, and she had a habit of saying, "Come, come, +girrls!" She had never yet been seen without her pince-nez, and it was a +tradition that she slept in them. In the minds of her pupils she was +indissolubly intertwined with decimals, equations, and problems of +geometry. They connected her with triangles, not hearts, though of +course there was no telling where the little blind god might suddenly +elect to shoot. + +"I'm not ragging!" declared Irma earnestly. "I tell you I really mean +it. What's more, I've seen him!" + +"When?" + +"Where?" + +Irma enjoyed an audience. She sat down on Janet's bed with the pleasant +consciousness that she had gripped her listeners. + +"I went into the study this afternoon to fetch Miss Kennedy's +fountain-pen, and I found Hopscotch there--alone with a gentleman. I'm +afraid I surprised them." + +"Did they look embarrassed?" + +"Well, they both stopped talking, and stared at me while I hunted about +for the pen. _I_ felt embarrassed!" + +"What's he like?" + +"Middle-aged, with a moustache that's growing grey--not bad-looking on +the whole." + +"It would be very suitable," decided the others. + +They were trying to readjust their mental attitude towards Miss Hopkins, +and transfer her from the mathematical plane to the sentimental. To do +so required a wrench, but it was decidedly thrilling. They all suddenly +began to remember symptoms of incipient romance on the part of the +mistress. + +"She wears a locket on her watch-chain. It's probably got his photo +inside," decided Ethelberga. + +"And she always snatches up her letters in a frantic hurry," added Janet +sagely. + +"Has she known him long?" asked Avelyn. + +Irma nodded doubtfully. + +"I should think it's probably quite an old affair. They may have been +boy and girl together." + +"Perhaps they've been separated for years and years, and have only just +cleared up their misunderstandings," suggested Laura. + +"Was he holding her hand?" asked Janet. + +"N--no, I can't say he was holding her hand; but then, you see, I'd +knocked at the door first, and she'd said 'Come in!'" + +"That would give them time," agreed Janet. + +A silence followed, and the girls looked pensively at one another. The +atmosphere seemed charged with romance. The ringing of the first bell +for supper brought them back with a disagreeable thud to reality. They +had not yet changed their dresses, and a wild scramble ensued. Whether a +mistress in the bonds of Cupid would overlook such details as +unpunctuality was an experiment too risky to be tried. They passed on +their information in the course of the evening, and by 11.30 next +morning even the day girls had digested the news. + +Miss Hopkins could not understand the changed attitude which the school +suddenly adopted towards her. There was an undercurrent of something +inexplicable. The girls gazed at her in form with a kind of tender +interest. If she toyed with the locket on her watch-chain, they visibly +thrilled. Once, when she dropped a letter from her pocket, Irma, who +picked it up, actually blushed as she handed it back. When the twelve +gates of Jerusalem were mentioned in the Scripture lesson, Laura Talbot +asked whether a jasper stone was ever used as an engagement ring in +Hebrew times. Being a practical, sensible sort of person, Miss Hopkins +decided that the war--that national bond of union--was bringing her into +closer touch with her pupils. The girls, meanwhile, were discussing a +possible wedding present, and wondering who would be her successor as +mathematical mistress. + +Several of them were already beginning to work little good-bye souvenirs +for her. They hustled them out of the way in a hurry if she chanced to +come into the room. For at least a fortnight nothing happened, and +speculations were rife. + +"Why doesn't she wear an engagement ring?" asked Mona Bardsley. + +"Doesn't want to publish it yet, I suppose," opined Minnie Selburn. + +"Do you think she'll be leaving at Christmas?" + +"One can never tell." + +"Has Tommiekins said anything?" + +"Not a word." + +One Thursday afternoon an event happened. Irma, looking out at the +fifth-form window, watched a masculine form walk up the drive and ring +the front-door bell. She instantly identified him with the stranger whom +she had seen in the study with Miss Hopkins. + +"I knew him again in a moment," she assured the others. "I never forget +faces, and his was unmistakable." + +The flutter among the boarders was immense. It was known that Miss +Hopkins was in the study interviewing the gentleman. Little Daisy +Garratt had been in the first-form room reworking a returned sum, when +the maid had entered and announced: "Mr. Judson is in the study, please, +m'm," and Miss Hopkins had risen immediately from her desk, and told +Daisy she might go, an opportunity of which that round-eyed junior had +instantly availed herself. + +So his name was Judson! It was not highly romantic, indeed it suggested +gold paint; but after all, what's in a name? Everybody decided at once +that he had brought the engagement ring, and that Miss Hopkins, blushing +and conscious, would wear it upon the third finger of her left hand at +tea-time. They began to search about for suitable speeches of +congratulation. Several daring spirits, heedless of conduct marks, hung +about the hall, hoping to catch a glimpse of Mr. Judson as he said +good-bye. There was competition for front places at the windows that +overlooked the steps. Twenty interested pairs of eyes watched his +coat-tails disappear down the drive. There was much speculation as to +why he had not stayed longer, and what he was carrying inside his little +black bag. When Miss Hopkins came in to tea an electric wave of +excitement surged round the room, then broke in disappointment. Her left +hand was ringless. She seated herself in the most matter-of-fact +manner, and began to eat bread and butter and talk about the last air +raid in London. + +Before preparation it had all leaked out. Mr. Judson was traveller for a +large firm of scholastic publishers, and on both occasions he had called +to interview Miss Hopkins about some new arithmetic books. She had +decided that they were suitable, and had ordered copies for the fifth +and sixth forms. That was the whole of the business. In the minds of the +boarders Cupid flew out of the window with a bang. He left blank +desolation behind. + +"Were there only arithmetic books inside that little black bag?" asked +Mona disgustedly. + +"It's too sickening when I'd nearly finished my pin-cushion cover!" +broke out Minnie Selburn. + +"Mine was to be a nightdress case!" lamented Alice Webster. + +The inmates of the Cowslip Room, as originators of the whole romance, +felt particularly flat. In disconsolate spirits they went to bed. It was +not nice to be told by Adah Gartley that they were silly geese, whose +heads were filled with a pack of sentimental rubbish. Their injured +feelings seethed, rallied, and finally bubbled up. + +"There's something disagreeable about Adah!" remarked Janet tartly. + +"It isn't only Adah, it's Joyce and Consie," corrected Laura. + +"They deserve something for their nastiness!" ventured Ethelberga. + +"Something strong!" agreed Avelyn. + +Irma, half undressed, paused in the act of pulling off her stockings, +and made the important suggestion: + +"I say, let's play a trick on the prefects!" + +"What a blossomy idea!" + +"They richly deserve it!" + +"It would be just top-hole!" + +"What could we do?" + +"Ah, that's just the question, my good child!" said Laura, putting a +thoughtful finger to her forehead. "There's an art in ragging. It ought +to be done delicately. We don't want clumsy tricks, such as apple-pie +beds. As for booby traps, they're vulgar and dangerous; I wouldn't soil +my fingers with making one. It must be something that will annoy them, +but not harm them or anybody else. I haven't got a brain wave yet, but +perhaps ideas may come." + +"Suppose we go and reconnoitre," proposed Avelyn. + +"A very jinky notion. We might get an idea on the spot." + +The four prefects slept in the Violet Room at the end of the passage. +They were allowed to sit up later than the rest of the school, and at +this moment were downstairs finishing some preparation. It was an easy +matter, therefore, to visit their quarters. Laura, Irma, Janet, +Ethelberga, and Avelyn made a dash down the passage, turned up the gas, +and began an inspection. The Violet Room was quite the prettiest of the +dormitories; it was also the largest, and had a round table and four +easy chairs with comfortable cushions. The table was spread with a +white cloth, on which were set forth four cups and saucers, a tin of +cocoa, a small basin of sugar, and a plate of biscuits. The prefects +were working overtime for an examination, and were allowed this special +indulgence to refresh their tired brains before they went to bed. They +boiled a tin kettle on a gas ring, and brought it upstairs with them. +They considered their nightly cocoa party one of their greatest +privileges. + +"Looks jolly comfortable!" sniffed Avelyn, regarding the preparations +with envy. + +"It's well to be a prefect!" agreed Janet. + +"Shall we eat the biscuits?" suggested Irma. + +"Certainly not!" replied Ethelberga. + +Laura had taken up the cocoa tin, and was plunged in thought. + +"I've got it!" she announced suddenly. "I don't mean the tin, but an +idea. Wait half a second for me!" + +She dashed back to the Cowslip Room, and was away several minutes. When +she returned, her face beamed triumph. + +"They won't enjoy their cocoa to-night!" she chuckled. "I've mixed two +teaspoonfuls of Gregory's powder with it! It will be a nice little +surprise for them, won't it?" + +"Sophonisba! I should rather think so! I say, let's turn down the gas +and scoot. We shall have Miss Kennedy coming along in a minute." + +The prefects came upstairs at ten o'clock, carrying their kettle. They +retired into their dormitory and shut the door. Two scouts from the +Cowslip Room, arrayed in dressing-gowns and bedroom slippers, presently +tiptoed down the passage, and listened outside. The door was thick, and +denied them the full benefit of the conversation, but they caught such +words as "cheek", "disgusting", and "abominable", so retreated +satisfied. They expected a storm next morning, but, rather to their +surprise, the prefects took no notice of the matter. Adah had decided +that it would be undignified to make a fuss. + +"It will fall flat if we say nothing!" she urged. + +"We'll just jolly well lock up our cocoa tin in future, though!" +announced Consie indignantly. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +Spring-heeled Jack + + +If David Watson had not been notoriously careless and forgetful, the +events which will be narrated in this chapter might never have happened. +He was a bright boy, and well on in his form, but he had occasional +lapses of memory. In one of these he left his Latin dictionary in the +train. Now, if you are on the classical side of a large school, it is +not only a difficult but an impossible matter to get along without a +Latin dictionary of your own. To attempt to prepare your work by +borrowing your neighbour's book is like essaying to live on charity. +David realized this point immediately, and, instead of proceeding home +as usual by the 4.45 train, he turned into the town instead. There was a +second-hand book-stall in the market, which he thought might be worth a +visit. It had been recommended to him by one of the other boys, who +guaranteed the cheapness of its goods. Anthony, who stuck to David like +a Jonathan, went to help him to look. + +"I've just eighteen pence in my pocket," admitted David. "But I may get +one at that. It needn't be a particularly spanky one. Miller got a +ripping atlas last week for one and two. He showed it to me. It only had +Norway and Sweden lost out, and a few of the maps blotted." + +"I can lend you threepence," said Tony, "and you could leave your watch +or your penknife or something, I suppose." + +The market was a large covered hall, containing rows of stalls of all +kinds. The boys heroically resisted the attractions of oranges, +chestnuts, and sweets, and made for the second-hand books. A pile of +these, all jumbled together, were marked: + + BARGAINS. EDUCATIONAL, 1_s._ each. + +David and Anthony began to turn them over and look at them. They were +certainly an assorted lot. There were ancient geographies and grammars +dating back fifty or sixty years, catechisms of Scripture or history, +guides to knowledge, botanical questions, and even an odd volume or two +of sermons. A few of them were older still, and had long "S's" and calf +bindings. Regarded as educational ammunition, they were as antiquated as +flint-lock pistols. The boys rummaged among them for some time in vain, +but, at last, almost from the bottom of the pile, they disinterred a +fairly respectable Latin dictionary. It had lost its back cover and its +title page, but otherwise it seemed intact and clean. David took it to +the old man who presided over the stall, and tendered him a shilling. He +accepted it with reluctance. + +"Didn't know I'd let this slip in among the bargains," he grumbled. +"It's worth two and six if it's worth a penny. It came with a lot of +other books from a good house. Well, I suppose, as it was among the +shillings, you'll have to have it. You may thank your luck I made a +mistake." + +"A bargain's a bargain," said David, as he put the volume into his +satchel. + +Trains to Netherton were not very frequent, and the boys had to wait +some time at the station. They sat down on one of the seats, and David +opened his satchel and took out the Latin dictionary. He agreed with the +old book-stall man that he had got it cheap, and felt decidedly +satisfied with his purchase. As he turned over the leaves, a letter fell +out on to the platform. Anthony picked it up. It was a square envelope +sealed with red wax, and addressed: "To my son, Leonard." + +"Hallo," said Tony, "we've got hold of some chap's letter here!" + +"Great Judkins! So we have!" + +"Whom did the book belong to?" + +David turned to the cover, and there, in rather faded ink, he found +written: + +"George Reynolds, Parkhurst Academy, January, 1858." + +He gave a long-drawn whistle. + +"Here's a bit of stunt," he said. "Shouldn't mind guessing it belonged +to old Squire Reynolds." + +"Pamela's grandfather?" + +"You bet!" + +"Was his name 'George'?" + +"So Ave said. And Pam's father's name was Leonard." + +"Then the letter was for him?" + +"I suppose it was--only he's dead." + +"What'll you do with it, then?" + +"Give it to Pamela." + +"What do you think's inside it?" + +"Don't I wish I knew!" + +"Suppose it's a will?" + +"Exactly my brain wave. Wouldn't it be priceless if it left everything +to Pamela?" + +"And turned old Hockheimer out of The Hall? Rather!" + +"One never knows. I'll put it in my pocket, and give it to Pam to-morrow +morning." + +The Watson boys sometimes overtook Pamela on the road to the station, +and every day they travelled by the same train to Harlingden. They made +a point of meeting her next morning, and David handed her the envelope, +explaining how it came into his possession. + +"I suppose you couldn't open it and see what's inside?" suggested +Anthony. + +Pamela looked doubtfully at the seal. + +"I think I ought to give it to Mother," she said. "I expect she'll show +it to me." + +"Don't let that precious uncle of yours get hold of it, that's all!" +warned David. + +"No, indeed! I'll be careful." + +"You'll tell us what it's about, won't you?" begged Tony the curious. + +"If Mother will let me." + +"Some day, perhaps, you'll be mistress of Lyngates Hall." + +"No such luck!" declared Pamela bitterly. + +Though she might disclaim any expectation of good fortune, the +remembrance of the letter nevertheless haunted Pamela all day long. She +kept feeling in her pocket to see that it was safe. In spite of herself, +bright fairy dreams floated through her mind, and mixed themselves up +with her lessons. Miss Peters had to tell her twice to pay attention. +She missed the explanation of a problem while she imagined herself +living at The Hall and riding a white pony, and got utterly wrong in +geology through planning how her mother should go up to London and buy +new clothes. + +Dream castles are the most delightful of possessions. We build them +according to our own pattern, and live in them as our fancy pleases us. +Those more sober dwellings that fate sends us are never half so +beautiful, though we generally have to put up with them. The day seemed +longer than usual to Pamela. She hurried off at four o'clock, though her +train did not start till 4.45, and she only had to wait at the station. +She did not happen to see the Watson boys, for they ran up so late that +they had to jump into the guard's van, and at Netherton they went into +the booking office to enquire about a lost parcel. + +Pamela walked home at a good pace, though the road was all uphill. Moss +Cottage, the little place which had been lent by Mr. Hockheimer to Mrs. +Reynolds, was not a particularly attractive residence. It was rather +dark and damp, and much shaded by trees. It had no beautiful view, such +as there was at Walden. Its front windows faced the road, and the light +was obstructed by a large "monkey-puzzle". Poor Mrs. Reynolds had made +everything look as nice as she could, and was busying herself in trying +to get the neglected garden back into a state of cultivation. She was +burning weeds when her daughter arrived. Pamela opened the door and +entered the sitting-room, where the table was ready spread for tea. She +took the precious letter from her pocket, and smiling with pleasant +anticipation, put it upon her mother's plate. She would tell her all +about it at tea-time, over the bread and jam. Smelling the burning +weeds, she ran into the garden. Mrs. Reynolds paused in her occupation +of forking fresh fuel on to the bonfire. + +"Is that you, child? Then I'll go in and make the tea. How the evenings +are closing in! It will soon be dark when you get home. I wish you could +be a weekly boarder at school like Avelyn Watson." + +"I don't! I'd far rather come back to you every evening, Mummie." + +"I can't let you walk back from the station alone in the dark. I shall +soon have to begin to come and meet you in the afternoons." + +"Oh, Mummie, it's too far for you! I don't in the least mind walking +alone. Shall I go and shut up the fowls now, or have you done it?" + +"Not yet; so you may run and shut them up while I make the tea." + +"You'll find a big surprise on the table, Mummie darling. Don't touch it +till I come, will you? I'll tell you all about it at tea." + +"Very well," smiled Mrs. Reynolds, who was used to Pamela's little +surprises. + +She was in the act of pouring on the boiling water when there was a rap +at the door, and her brother-in-law entered. Mr. Hockheimer generally +admitted himself in this fashion, without waiting for the door to be +answered--a lack of courtesy which invariably annoyed Mrs. Reynolds. + +"I was passing, so I came for that parcel I left the other day," he +explained. "You put it by in the cupboard, didn't you? Yes, there it is. +I'll take it with me. By the by, have you any paraffin to spare? I +happen to want a little." + +"I have some in the shed outside." + +"Can you give me some in a bottle?" + +"Yes, I'll go and fetch it." + +Mrs. Reynolds placed the teapot to keep hot on the hob and left the +room. Mr. Hockheimer came over to the fire, and stood warming his back +and humming snatches from an opera. Presently his eye caught the letter +on the table. He picked it up, looked narrowly at the handwriting, +turned it over and examined the seal. Then he thought for a moment with +narrowed eyes. Finally he slipped the envelope into his breast pocket, +and, catching up his parcel, made his way outside to the shed. + +"Is that bottle of paraffin ready?" he shouted. "I'm in a hurry, and +can't stay." + +"It's here. I was just looking for a piece of paper to wrap it in," +replied Mrs. Reynolds. "Won't you stop for tea?" + +"Haven't the time to-day. Never mind any paper, I don't want to wait. +The bottle will do well enough in my pocket. I must be off now. +Good-bye!" + +"Good-bye!" returned his sister-in-law, rather relieved at the shortness +of his visit. She washed her hands after pouring out the paraffin, and +came into the sitting-room, Pamela, who had been tidying herself +upstairs, entering at the same moment. + +"I'm glad we've got rid of Uncle!" smiled the latter. "I heard his +voice, and kept out of the way." + +"Naughty child!" + +"Well, Mummie, I can't help it. You know I don't like him. I don't care +if we are dependent on him; what I feel is, that we oughtn't to be. +There, I won't upset you by talking of him. I've something else I want +to tell you. Why, where's the letter?" + +"What letter?" + +"The letter that I put on your plate. Mummie, what have you done with +it?" + +There was an agony of apprehension in Pamela's voice. + +"I haven't seen it, dear," replied Mrs. Reynolds. "Why, yes, I remember +now I did notice a letter lying on the plate when I was making the tea. +I was just going to look at it when your uncle came in. It's certainly +not there now." + +Two red spots mounted to Pamela's cheeks, and her eyes blazed sparks. + +"This is just about the limit!" she exploded. "There's not the least +shadow of a doubt! Uncle Fritz has stolen that letter!" + +While these events were taking place at Moss Cottage, David and Anthony +Watson were walking home from the station. They had lingered at the +booking office, and had loitered on the platform to talk to some +friends, and, when they finally made a start, they determined to take a +path through the woods instead of keeping to the high road. There were +two motives for this decision. In the first place, the woods belonged to +the Lyngates estate, and, though the public had an old-established right +of way, Mr. Hockheimer objected greatly to the foot-path being used, and +had several times vainly tried to close it. The boys felt that they +would cheerfully go out of their way to annoy Mr. Hockheimer. They +almost hoped they might meet him, and, in imagination, stood firmly on +the path, discussing the legal aspect of the matter, and quoting the +ancient county map as their authority. + +There was, however, another reason which led them from the high road. +During the last few days a curious and persistent rumour had circulated +in the neighbourhood as to a "something" that had appeared in the woods. +Whether supernatural or physical nobody knew, but several people +vouched for having seen it. Their stories, allowing a natural margin for +exaggeration, tallied wonderfully. The apparition wore dark clothes and +a black mask, and, instead of walking, careered along in a series of +mighty leaps and bounds. Owing to this extraordinary mode of +progression, it had been nicknamed "Spring-heeled Jack", and its +appearance had excited considerable terror. It was reported to be abroad +at dusk, and to haunt the more lonely portions of the woods. + +David and Anthony, having a thorough boyish love of adventure, thirsted +to get a sight of this mysterious personage. They climbed the hill over +the quarry, therefore, and struck up through the woods, keeping at first +to the foot-path, but they encountered nobody, not even Mr. Hockheimer. +When you are out for excitement, it is disappointing to have a perfectly +tame and uneventful walk. In the thickest part of the wood they paused +with one consent. + +"It's all bunkum about the trespassing! Let's go and explore!" tempted +David. + +"Right you are!" agreed Anthony, succumbing as readily as Eve yielded to +the serpent. + +It was a most interesting wood, with tall trees and smooth glades. It +undulated, and held crags here and there, so that you could never quite +see where you were going. The ground was strewn with acorns and beech +mast and horse-chestnuts, quite worth picking up. The boys wandered for +some little time, enjoying themselves immensely. They had no idea in +what direction they were going till they found themselves on the crest +of the hill. Behind them was the wood, but in front was a range of open +country looking towards the sea. They were standing on a platform of +rock, which shelved sharply down to a patch of gorse and heather. + +"Jolly view here----" began Anthony, but stopped with his sentence +unfinished, for David suddenly gripped his arm and forced him on his +knees behind a bush. Somebody was walking at the foot of the rock, and +one brief glimpse had been sufficient to identify the plump figure and +blond moustache of their arch-enemy, Mr. Hockheimer. It would never do +for him to catch them so far from the foot-path. He might wish to settle +up scores with them. They remembered the gleam in his eye when he had +shaken his fist and said he would not forget. If they waited quietly he +would probably go, and then they would hurry back to the path. + +But instead of going he waited, humming a tune. He was musical and fond +of operatic airs. There were other sounds, too, which the boys could not +understand. They grew curious and wanted to know what he was doing. They +dared not speak, but, agreeing by signs, they both crawled very +cautiously to the edge of the rock, and, concealed by some branches, +peeped over. + +Mr. Hockheimer was exactly below them. He was kneeling on the grass, and +had evidently just untied a parcel. A large bicycle lamp lay on the +paper. In his hand he held a bottle, with the contents of which he +proceeded to fill the lamp. He felt in his pocket for matches, lighted +it, and placed it on a ledge of the rock. The dusk was falling fast, and +its glow shone brightly. From its position on the crest of the hill it +would be visible over miles of country, probably right out to sea. Mr. +Hockheimer hummed in a satisfied voice, as if he were pleased with +himself. He presently lighted a cigar; the fragrant smoke rose upwards +to the boys' nostrils. They could see him with extreme plainness, and +indeed could follow his every movement. He fumbled again in his pocket +and drew out an envelope, holding it in the glow of the lamp so as to +inspect it. David and Anthony gasped, for they recognized in a moment +the letter which they had given to Pamela only that morning. How had she +been so foolish as to allow her uncle to get hold of it? they asked +themselves. They were full of wrath at her stupidity. Mr. Hockheimer +turned over the envelope several times; he looked at the handwriting and +surveyed the seal, then he deliberately tore it open. He drew out a +piece of note-paper and began to read it. The boys, peering through the +brambles above, watched him narrowly, though they could not see the +document well enough to decipher it. Its contents seemed to disturb Mr. +Hockheimer. He said several untranslatable things in the German tongue. +Then he brought out his smart little silver box, hesitated, and struck a +match. The boys were in an agony of mind. He simply must not be allowed +to burn the paper. Sooner than that they would drop from the crag and +try to rescue it. + +The wind had risen and blew out the match. For a moment they breathed +again, but it was only a temporary respite, for he immediately struck +another. He shaded it carefully this time, and, taking the paper, +applied the corner to the flame. + +At that same moment a terrific and unearthly yell sounded in the wood +above. Mr. Hockheimer started and turned, dropping blazing letter and +match to the ground. There was a rustle among the bushes, and with an +enormous bound a dark figure sprang sheer from the rocks on to the +platform of grass, made a grab at the paper, seized it, put out the +fire, and leaped away with it into the gathering dusk of the undergrowth +below. + +It happened with such extraordinary rapidity and suddenness that it was +all over in a flash, and the boys only caught a glimpse of a black mask, +and two long legs that hopped with the agility of a spider-monkey. +Considerably scared, they crept back from their position of vantage, +and, rushing through the darkening wood, managed to regain the pathway. +It was not till they had finally crossed the stile and got into the high +road that they began to compare notes. + +"Well! We've seen it!" ejaculated David meaningly. + +"What is it?" whispered Anthony in awestruck tones. "Teddy Jones says +it's Old Nick himself. It was terrible when it yelled!" + +"Those legs were human," maintained David. "I can't guess who it is, or +how he manages to jump like that, but I bet he's not a spook." + +Anthony, who inclined to the supernatural theory of the apparition, +shook his head doubtfully. + +"Spook or not, he's no friend to old Hockheimer," added David. + +"He's taken the letter--what was left of it." + +"Only a bit was burnt." + +"I wonder what was in it?" + +"Something that Hun wanted safely out of the way." + +"It must be Squire Reynolds's will!" + +"Well, Spring-heeled Jack's got it, at any rate, and whether he'll ever +turn it up again is the question. If we could find out who he is we +might get on the track of it." + +"We'll try, for Pamela's sake--though she's a bally idiot to let her +uncle take that letter!" + +"It strikes me we've got on the track of something else to-night," +continued David. "Did you notice that lamp?" + +"Yes, I did." + +"And where he stuck it?" + +"Rather!" + +"The light would shine right out to sea." + +"And aeroplanes could see it too, from there." + +"I've always suspected old Hockheimer. He ought to have been interned +long ago. I can't think why they let him be at large. The Government's +very lax with these Germans. If I were in Parliament I'd clear out the +whole set of them." + +Anthony drew a long breath. + +"We must watch him. Don't say too much to Pamela, in case the silly +goose blabs. Shall we tell her what we've seen to-night?" + +"On the whole I think we'd better not. She hates him, and yet perhaps +she might not altogether want to get him into trouble. We'll go +cautiously, and hunt about, and see what more we can find out." + +For a few days the boys purposely avoided Pamela, and she, on her part, +did not seek speech with them. She was intensely chagrined at the loss +of the letter, and did not like to acknowledge the humiliating fact to +them. She searched everywhere in the cottage, in case the wind might +have blown it from the table on to the floor, but it was not +forthcoming. Her mother vetoed the suggestion that Mr. Hockheimer had +taken it. + +"Surely, dear, he would never be so dishonourable! You must have put it +somewhere yourself." + +"But, Mummie, I know I didn't. And you said yourself that you saw it on +the table." + +"It's very mysterious," sighed Mrs. Reynolds. "We might ask your uncle +next time he comes if he took it by mistake." + +"He'd only deny it." + +"Pamela, you misjudge him." + +"I hate him, Mummie; he bullies us both." + +"We're entirely dependent on him, remember. He gives us the whole of our +little income, and pays your school bills. We mustn't quarrel with our +bread and butter. What should we do if he were to turn us out?" + +"I don't know. I sometimes think I'd rather be a crossing-sweeper than +take his money. Oh, life's horrid, and I hate it all! I wish we'd stayed +in Canada, and never come to England. Wait till I'm a little older, +Mummie, and I'll get a post as teacher, and work for you. I wish I were +twenty-one!" + +"That's many years off, child, and in the meantime you've to get your +education. You must be civil to your uncle, Pamela." + +"I will, on the outside, but I can't help my feelings inside. They're +boiling!" demurred Pamela, rather defiantly, scrubbing the corners of +her eyes with her handkerchief, and settling down to her lesson books. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +Concerns Day Girls + + +The Silverside boarders had what might perhaps be termed rather +"genteel" hockey practices on Saturday afternoons. They played +half-heartedly. They were not extremely keen, and they gleefully put off +play in favour of a walk or of the cinema. Isobel even broached the +suggestion that hockey was a rough game, but that was when she was +suffering from the effects of an ugly whack across the shins, and her +opinion was naturally biased. Consie's tastes were all for quiet, and +she would have spent her holidays over a book if she had not been +forcibly dragged out. Joyce would have preferred a dancing class on +Saturday afternoons. + +In the meanwhile the day-girls' hockey club prospered exceedingly. They +had secured their old field, and had made fixtures with several other +clubs. Their elation over their successes did not tend to promote the +unity of Silverside. The school seemed more divided than ever. + +In November came the Sale of Work. It was an annual affair held in aid +of a Children's Home, and the Silverside girls worked the whole year +beforehand for it. They considered it a great event. People in +Harlingden were kind in coming to buy, and generally quite a nice little +sum was cleared. As the time drew near, Adah began to make preparations. + +"Will anyone who has contributions kindly bring them to me by the end of +the week?" she announced one day at "break". + +"Why should we bring them to _you_?" asked Annie Broadside, with a glint +of battle in her blue eyes. + +Adah's manner at once stiffened into the peculiar mixture of firmness +and patronage which she deemed it desirable to adopt towards day girls. + +"Why? What a question to ask! So that they can be put on the stall, of +course." + +"Thanks! But we'd rather arrange them for ourselves." + +"You can't do that. The boarders always arrange the bazaar." + +"But why, when _we_ make the things, should _you_ take them all and +arrange them? They're not _your_ work!" + +Annie certainly had a most aggravating habit of asking questions. Adah +coloured with annoyance. + +"I'm a prefect, you see!" she shuffled. + +"There were no prefects last year, and you quote what you've always done +as your authority." + +"Well, really, the few things the day girls have brought have never +mattered much before. I'll keep a space for you, if you're so +particular, and you can arrange them as you like, as long as you don't +spoil the general look of the stall," conceded Adah, with a show of +magnanimity. + +"Thanks _so_ much, your Majesty! It's really most kind of you to keep a +little room for our poor contribution!" curtsied Annie, with mock +gratitude. + +When the prefect's back was turned, she fizzed over to a sympathetic and +outraged circle. Adah's disdainful condescension was more than could be +brooked. + +"The boarders have always had _the_ stall, and the day girls have humbly +helped!" said Gladys witheringly. + +"How delightful for us!" + +"They're to be the patricians, and we the plebeians!" + +"They expect us to dust their very boots!" + +"Look here," said Annie, "things are really getting beyond the limit. I +vote we get up a deputation, and go to Miss Thompson about this." + +"What a brain wave!" + +Miss Thompson listened, attentive and rather astonished, while the +deputation, very shy and red-faced, blurted out their request. She +tapped her desk thoughtfully with her fountain-pen, as if some new and +disturbing idea had suddenly risen on her horizon. + +"Certainly there will be ample room for two stalls, and if the day girls +want to have one to themselves, I can see no objection. Arrange it just +as you like, and bring your own decorations. Yes, you may have a variety +entertainment in one of the schoolrooms, and charge admission, if you +wish. It will make extra money." + +"You'll excuse our coming and asking?" apologized Gladys. + +"I'm always ready to hear you, and to make any concessions that are for +the good of the school," replied Miss Thompson, gazing at the delegates +as if they provided her with considerable food for thought. + +The deputation departed, feeling that they had scored their first real +triumph. + +"Look here!" preached Annie to the Hawthorners, "we've just got to brace +up. The boarders may put what they like on their stall, but our stall is +going to be bigger and handsomer, and have far prettier things, and take +ever so much more money than theirs. Every single girl of you has got to +do her bit. There must be no slackers over this business." + +The motive--if not strictly in accordance with the best +morality--appealed to the day girls. They responded gallantly, and set +all their home-folks working for the bazaar, as well as doing what they +could in their own spare time. They kept their activities strictly +secret from the ears of the boarders, but in private they compared notes +and rejoiced. + +"The new Lady Mayoress is to open the sale," announced Gladys one day. + +"Mrs. Parker? Why, surely she's aunt to little Violet Parker, isn't +she?" + +"Of course she is." + +"I'm going to get hold of Violet and be decent to her," nodded Annie +sagely. "She's a sweet kid. I see possibilities through Violet. By the +by, can you find me a copy of the Harlingden city arms?" + +"It's a lion holding a broken chain. I saw it on a letter of Father's +the other day. I can easily get it for you." + +"Thanks! I've got a blossomy idea." + +The day of the bazaar was to be a whole holiday. The large schoolroom +was reserved for the sale, and the stalls were put up first thing in the +morning. The day girls had elected a committee of management, and six of +their number came to arrange their part of the fancy fair. They brought +flags, draperies, flowers, and pots of plants, and set to work to +decorate their stall. In the course of about half an hour it began to +look a most artistic production. The boarders, busy setting out their +wares at the other end of the room, cast surreptitious glances at it. It +was a humiliating fact for them, but they were forced to acknowledge +that it far surpassed their own efforts. They had never thought of a +canopy of white and gold, with a border of autumn leaves, or of +borrowing maidenhair ferns and forced Roman hyacinths. + +But the decorations were only the beginning of the day girls' triumph. +Their committee soon began to unpack boxes and spread out goods, most +beautiful work of every description, which left their rivals gasping. +The day girls, living at home, had really had a much better opportunity +of asking their friends to help, and had made a very special effort. + +Gertrude Howells's cousin had contributed various dainty articles in +poker work; Lucy Smith's elder sister, who was learning jewellery work +at the School of Art, sent some most artistic little silver brooches and +chains made by her own hands. Iris Harden's aunt gave Venetian beads and +foreign curiosities; Monica Golding's family had plaited raffia baskets +in barbaric, but most effective combinations of colour. Maggie Stuart +caused a sensation by producing little boxes of delicious toffee--yes, +real home-made toothsome toffee, in spite of the sugar rationing! + +The boarders went on with their own preparations, and pretended not to +take much notice, but really the spirit was knocked out of them. They +had never expected the day girls to rise to such heights. They dressed +rather quietly for the festivities that afternoon. + +The sale was to open early, and at half-past two Miss Thompson, in her +best voile dress, and with her most affable company manner, was +welcoming the Lady Mayoress, a smiling, florid, rather flurried +personage in velvet and rich furs, who had another function at half-past +three, and wanted to get away as soon as was politely possible. + +"So kind of you to ask me," she fluttered. "I'm really interested in +schools--and education, you know. I'm afraid I'm not much of a speaker, +but--oh, yes, I'll just say a few words to open the sale. Kind? Not at +all. It's a great pleasure to me to come, I assure you." + +The poor Lady Mayoress was new to her work, and palpably shy. Perhaps +she thought a crowd of schoolgirls an embarrassing audience. She hummed +and hawed and stammered a little in her speech, and glanced several +times at a piece of paper concealed behind her muff, but she +nevertheless managed to say something appropriate about the object of +the bazaar, and to wish it success. + +"I am very pleased to declare the Sale of Work open," she concluded with +a sort of gasp, as if thankful that her duty was done, and smiled +nervously at Miss Thompson, whose convex eyeglasses had been fixed upon +her with appreciation during the speech. + +"Perhaps you would like to look at the work now," murmured the +Principal. + +"Oh, certainly! I'd _love_ to see it. What pretty things!" + +And the Lady Mayoress, though she was standing within two feet of Adah +Gartley and Consie Arkwright, actually turned her back on the boarders +and made for the day girls' stall! Her eyes were fixed upon the central +object displayed there, a satin cushion with the city arms embroidered +upon it. She examined it with admiration. + +"So beautifully done! And the colours are so effective! It will just +match my drawing-room. I shall be delighted to have it. How clever your +girls are, Miss Thompson! I suppose these are the prefects," smiling +graciously at Annie Broadside and Gladys Wilks. "My little niece tells +me about the school. She's so happy here." + +"These are not our prefects," demurred Miss Thompson. "They are at the +boarders' stall. Perhaps you would like to look at some of their work, +too." + +"Oh, with pleasure! Though I can't stay more than a minute. It's so +tiresome; I have another engagement, and mustn't be late. But I've time +for just a look, at any rate. Yes, the things are charming; they do the +girls credit, I'm sure! May I have this tray cloth and this tea cosy? +I'm so sorry to rush away, but I really must say good-bye." + +The Lady Mayoress departed, feeling no doubt that she had successfully +accomplished a civic and social duty, and quite unaware of the storm she +had left behind. The boarders were staring at their prefects in shocked +sympathy. The whole business seemed almost incredible. That they, the +old-established original Silversiders, who had always in former years +run the sale of work, should be overlooked and passed over in favour of +mere upstart day girls, was little short of an insult to the school. + +"She never even said 'How d'you do?' to Adah, and she shook hands with +Annie!" gasped Ethelberga to Janet. + +"And she spent three times as much at their stall as at ours!" + +"It's a shame!" + +The boarders felt that the afternoon had opened badly, and subsequent +events did not tend to soothe their outraged feelings. Nearly all the +day girls had invited relations or friends, who naturally went first to +their stall to buy, with the result that the pretty things soon began to +be cleared, and the money-box to grow heavy. Miss Thompson, anxious to +preserve a due balance in affairs, did her best by taking her own +special visitors to buy from the disconsolate prefects, and the +mistresses also nobly purchased many totally undesirable articles, for +which they would find no possible use. If it had not been for this help, +the boarders' stall would have had a poor innings. As it was, they +barely scored one-third of the whole proceeds of the sale. + +The Principal, in a pretty little speech next morning at nine o'clock, +spoke of the very gratifying results of the happy spirit of unity in a +school where all worked together for a good object, and the pleasure of +being able to send such a large cheque to the Children's Home. Adah, +with her eyes fixed on the bows of her shoes, listened grimly. It was +all nice enough, she thought, for head mistresses to make soothing +speeches, but boarders and day girls knew perfectly well that the +welding of rival factions at Silverside would not be accomplished yet a +while. + +Quite apart from the warring of opposite parties, there seemed to be an +element of unrest in the school. Formerly the boarders had been quite +content to spend the leisure of their evenings at sewing, games, or over +some of their numerous guilds. Now, incited by the accounts of the day +girls, they were always asking to be taken in to Harlingden to concerts +or picture palaces. Miss Thompson considered that such expeditions upset +their preparation, and only allowed a very occasional outing. It was +irritating to the boarders to hear the day girls discussing various +entertainments, and to be openly pitied because they could not attend +them. The Cowslip Room in particular grumbled privately. + +"We never go to anything!" + +"Life's just a round of lessons!" + +"There's the most gorgeous thing on at the cinema this week." + +"I'd give my ears to see it!" + +"It's not our turn this week." + +"Strafe the wretched old turns!" + +Miss Thompson, in her efforts to avoid too much dissipation, had +established a new rule, by which the dormitories in regular sequence +were allowed leave. Every Wednesday afternoon certain little parties of +boarders trotted off to the town under escort of a governess, doing +shopping and often visiting a _matinee_. No girl might go without +showing an exeat signed by the Principal. The chaperon-mistress was +expected to examine and file these permits before marshalling her flock. + +On this particular Wednesday, Laura, Janet, Irma, and Ethelberga had set +their hearts on seeing "The Temple Bells" at the cinema. The fact that +they had duly had their turn a fortnight before, and had witnessed a +wildly exciting performance of "Love and War in the East", only made +them keener for more thrills. When Avelyn, a little tired of the +general atmosphere of lamentation, suggested palliating circumstances, +their wrath blazed out in her direction. + +"It's all very well for _you_ to talk!" + +"You can go on Friday evening or Saturday, if you like." + +"You're half a day girl, after all!" + +"You don't really sympathize with _us_!" + +"All right! Don't get baity! As a matter of fact, I never come in to +Harlingden on Saturdays, so you've no need to envy me!" + +"Envy you! Envy a _weekly_ boarder!" sneered Laura, with a whole world +of condescension in her voice. "My dear child, I think you really don't +understand what you're talking about! After all, you've only been at +Silverside two months!" + +It is not a particularly pleasant matter to find the public opinion of +your dormitory dead against you. You are apt to get awkward knocks in +consequence. Avelyn put up with some very withering remarks that Tuesday +evening, and consequently felt sore. + +"They're absolute blighters to-day," she thought. "I wish I could play a +rag on them! It would just serve them jolly well right!" + + + + +CHAPTER X + +Mischief + + +Avelyn, I regret to say, was no ideal heroine of fiction, but a +particularly human girl, with a strong spice of mischief in her +composition. She considered that she owed her room-mates a grudge, and +she cast about for a suitable opportunity of paying the debt. As it +happened, fortune favoured her. Miss Kennedy sent her to the study to +fetch a book that was required. She knocked at the door, and as nobody +answered she turned the handle and went in. The room was empty. She +found Volume III of the _Encyclopaedia Britannica_, and as she turned +from the bookcase she cast an eye on Miss Thompson's desk. It was spread +with papers, and in front, just beside the inkpot, was a whole pile of +exeat forms. They were little printed sheets bearing the words: + + SILVERSIDE + + _I hereby certify that..............................is allowed + leave of absence for the afternoon._ + + _Signed............................._ + + _Date..............................._ + +When a girl visited the town, she was given one of these forms, duly +filled in by the Principal, without whose signature it was not valid. +The system, perhaps, savoured of red tape, but it saved the mistresses +the trouble of enquiring from head-quarters who were to compose their +parties. Avelyn looked critically and covetously at the exeats. Each +represented so much fun to one girl. A sudden idea struck her. She +laughed aloud at the thought of it, and yielding to the impulse, counted +out four of the forms, and popped them into her pocket. Then she fled +back to the waiting Miss Kennedy with Volume III of the _Encyclopaedia +Britannica_. + +Wednesday afternoons at Silverside were chiefly devoted to optional +subjects. The violin master came to give lessons, and several girls +whose spines were suspected of symptoms of crookedness, did special +physical exercises under the eye of a gymnastic teacher. The elocution +pupils met in the Sixth Form room, and learned to recite Shakespeare, +while those who were taking oil-painting wended their way to the studio. +Those unfortunates whose parents did not rise to "extras" were herded +together in the dining-room, regardless of forms, and did plain sewing +or printing. A band of privileged boarders, under guardianship of a +mistress, started at 2.30 for the dissipations of the city. Now at 2.15 +Avelyn was due for her music lesson. She put her pieces and studies into +her case, washed her hands carefully, retied her hair ribbon, scented +her pocket-handkerchief, and sauntered down the corridor. She paused for +a moment at the door of the Fifth Form room, then entered. Laura Talbot +was sitting disconsolately on one of the desks, girding at life to a +sympathetic audience. Avelyn thrust the four exeat forms into her hand, +and remarked: + +"For the Cowslip Room! And I've got to go to my music lesson! Isn't it +hard luck! Ta-ta! I'm late as it is, and Mr. Harrison gets baity if he's +kept waiting." + +Laura stared at the forms for a moment, utterly staggered, then +incomprehension changed to joy, and she jumped from the desk. + +"Irma! Janet! Ethelberga! We've got exeats! Oh, jubilate! Scurry quick +and get ready! We've only just time to change our things. Oh, I say! To +think of seeing 'The Temple Bells' after all!" + +An agitated ten minutes followed, in which the four girls almost tumbled +over one another in the hurry of making their toilets. Laura put on her +best hat and birthday furs, Ethelberga sported a bracelet, Irma, after +foraging at the back of her top drawer, was distinctly seen to abstract +a powder puff and apply it to the tip of her nose, Janet tried to coax +her fingers into new gloves a quarter of a size too small, there was an +unlocking of cashboxes and a taking out of money. At the eleventh hour +they sped down the stairs into the hall. The little party of elect were +drawn up ready to go, and only waiting for Miss Peters. That lady had +been impeded in her dressing, and consequently came hurrying up, very +much flustered. + +She was a gentle, fair-haired, middle-aged, depressed little person, +who had been pitchforked into teaching against her will. Her weak point +was discipline, and the girls knew it, and took base advantage. Now, +instead of forming an orderly crocodile, they clustered round her, +clamouring all sorts of requests for things they wanted to do in town. + +"If there's time! Dear me, I don't know! I can't promise anything! It +will all depend!" replied the harassed mistress. + +She collected the exeats and counted them automatically. In her flurry +she never noticed that four of them were not filled in with names or +signed. Laura had handed them to her without herself noticing the +omission. There was nobody to rectify the mistake, so the four +room-mates, in most exuberant spirits, started in the crocodile for +Harlingden. They accomplished a few purchases in the town, but poor Miss +Peters found it so difficult to keep her flock together, that she was +forced to abandon the shops, and suggested the cinema. She considered +her role of duenna anything but an enviable position, and would +willingly, that afternoon, have exchanged jobs with a charwoman. She +breathed more freely when she had piloted her lively young charges up +the stairs at the picture palace, and ensconced them in a giggling +double row in the balcony. For a blissful hour and a half they would be +out of mischief, with eyes fixed only on the marvellous scenes from +India. + +Meantime, while Laura, Irma, Janet, and Ethelberga were staring +fascinated at the bewildering East, following the heroine through a +series of dazzling adventures, things at Silverside were taking a +prosaic and totally different turn. It happened that Irma and Janet, +whose French recitations that morning had been a dismal failure, were +due in the Fourth Form room that afternoon to say their returned poetry +lesson to Mademoiselle. She waited a quarter of an hour for them, then, +as they did not turn up, she instituted enquiries. Several reliable +witnesses informed her that they had been seen (and envied) departing +with the crocodile for Harlingden. Mademoiselle's temper was naturally +peppery, and under such provocation as this she burst forth in great +indignation: + +"What! Go out to pleasure when I tell them to come and say lessons to +me! It is what you call the limit! Of what use to try to teach, if they +are to do only what they like? I go straight to tell Miss Thompson!" + +Mademoiselle was brimming over with wrath, and poured out her complaints +vehemently in the study. The Principal's lips tightened as she listened. + +"I did not give exeats to Janet and Irma. This shall be enquired into, +Mademoiselle," she replied. + +Miss Thompson meant what she said. When the crocodile returned from +Harlingden, she was waiting in the hall, and ordered Laura, Irma, Janet, +and Ethelberga to report themselves in her study. The scene which +followed was short and stormy. The girls, whose minds had scarcely yet +become detached from Indian jungles and Hindoo palaces, were suddenly +accused of having played truant. They denied _in toto_, pleading that +they had exeats. + +"Where did you get these exeats?" demanded Miss Thompson sternly. + +"They were handed to us in the schoolroom." + +"By whom?" + +With one consent the girls hesitated. They did not wish to throw the +blame upon Avelyn. + +"You refuse to tell me?" said the Principal. "Very well, you may go to +the First Form room, where your tea will be sent to you. I shall sift +the matter thoroughly after preparation. It is disgraceful that such a +thing should happen at Silverside." + +When preparation was over that evening, the boarders were ordered to +assemble in the big schoolroom. They went in much astonishment, +wondering for what reason they were thus summoned. A whisper got about +that four girls were in trouble, but on what exact count nobody seemed +to know. + +They had scarcely taken their places when Miss Thompson entered. She +looked worried and serious. A decorous silence pervaded the room. +Everyone was alert with expectation and intense interest. There was a +sensation as when thunder is in the air. After an impressive pause, the +Principal, standing so that her eyes scanned all the faces fronting her, +stated the case briefly. + +"A thing has occurred to-day which has never happened here before. Four +girls went into Harlingden without leave. They tell me that they were +handed exeats by a schoolfellow, and believed that they had my +permission for the holiday. I have examined the exeats that were given +in to Miss Peters, and find that four of them are unsigned. I can only +conclude that somebody must have taken these exeats from my study. I +intend to find out who that person is. Can anybody give any information +on the subject?" + +There was absolute stillness in the room. Every girl looked at her +neighbour. Avelyn sat as if petrified. Until that moment it had never +struck her that her practical joke might have any serious issue. She had +not expected her room-mates to believe that the exeats were genuine. She +thought that when they looked at them they would notice at once that +they were unsigned, and therefore not valid. It was incredible that Miss +Peters should also have accepted them. What was intended for a piece of +silly fun had assumed the aspect of a very grave fault. + +"I will ask Miss Peters to tell us what she knows," said Miss Thompson, +turning to the mistress. + +Miss Peters, much worried and embarrassed, could only state that she had +counted the exeats, which tallied with the number of girls she had taken +in to town. In her hurry she had not examined every paper, and could not +say whether they were signed or not. It was an unpleasant situation for +the poor governess. She was conscious that she had been slack in the +performance of her duties, and that it was owing to her negligence that +the affair had been possible. Though the Principal did not openly blame +her, she felt that she stood reproved before the school. Laura, Janet, +Irma, and Ethelberga sat overwhelmed and injured, but stubbornly +determined not to betray their room-mate. They felt that they would +rather take the blame themselves than sneak. + +"I give you all one last chance," said Miss Thompson. "Can any girl +throw a light on this unfortunate affair?" + +The head mistress spoke clearly and slowly. Her glance passed along row +after row of young faces, as if she would read their very souls. A +minute of ghastly quiet followed, a horrible minute that seemed as long +as a year. Then Avelyn rose. She was very pale, and stood erect with her +head thrown a little back. + +"I think I can clear it up, Miss Thompson," she answered, in a voice +that was steady, but full of suppressed emotion. "It was I who gave out +those exeats." + +"_You_, Avelyn Watson! And on what authority? From where did you get +them?" + +"From your study table." + +"_From my study table!_" repeated Miss Thompson, her manner growing +still more grave. "What were you doing in my study?" + +Avelyn was thoroughly ashamed of herself, but she did not hesitate. + +"I was sent to fetch a book. I saw the exeats lying on the table, and I +took four of them to give to the girls. I meant it as a joke. I did not +think they would believe they were real ones." + +A murmur of amazement, almost a laugh, circulated through the room. Miss +Thompson checked it sternly. + +"Do you understand, Avelyn Watson, what a liberty you have taken? You +were sent into my study for a certain purpose, and you took advantage of +the privilege of entering my room to peruse the papers on my desk, and +to steal--yes, I use the word deliberately--to _steal_ some of them. I +don't know how you view such conduct, but at Silverside we consider it +utterly unworthy of a lady. You owe me an instant apology." + +Avelyn writhed under her mistress's scathing words. "I'm very sorry, +Miss Thompson. I never thought of it as anything but a joke. I apologize +most sincerely. I didn't mean to get anybody into trouble." + +The Principal looked searchingly at Avelyn. + +"You have been guilty of a very grave breach of discipline," she +replied. "I accept your apology because you have spoken up and +confessed, but I cannot let such an episode go unpunished. Until you +return home on Friday afternoon you are not to speak to a single girl in +the school. You will attend classes as usual, but you will take your +meals in the studio, and will sit alone there during recreation hours. +You are also prohibited from writing any letters, or taking any books +from the library. You may spend your time upon your lessons. Go to the +studio now, and your supper will be brought to you. I put every girl on +her honour not to speak or write to Avelyn Watson until next Monday." + +Avelyn walked out of the room quite steadily, but with downcast eyes. +She had the feeling of one who has fallen suddenly into a pit. It was a +horrible experience to be there arraigned, tried, and found guilty +before all her companions. Miss Thompson's sarcastic comments hurt her +more than the punishment. She spent the rest of the evening alone in the +studio, and was left there half an hour beyond her usual bedtime. When +she went at last to her own dormitory the other girls were in bed, and +feigned to be asleep. Miss Kennedy came in first thing in the morning, +and told her that she must dress in the bath-room. All day long her +"Coventry" was preserved. The girls, indeed, cast surreptitious glances +of sympathy at her, but they were on their honour not to speak or write, +and they did not break their word. It was a hard penance to sit by +herself, without even a story-book to amuse her. She felt specially +lonely after four o'clock, when she knew her friends would be laughing +and chatting together round the fire, and perhaps roasting chestnuts. + +The studio was not a particularly cheerful room for solitary +confinement. As the dusk closed in, the casts loomed like white ghosts +from the corners, and she could almost fancy that the eyes of the +plaster Venus deliberately winked at her. She had no matches, and nobody +came in to light the gas. She had not even the satisfaction of a fire to +poke, for the studio was heated with hot-water pipes. She did not +expect her tea to be brought to her before 5.30. + +"If I weren't going home to-morrow I don't know what I should do," she +thought. "Thank goodness I'm only a weekly boarder! I do think they +might have come and lit the gas." + +The room was getting more and more dim, and Avelyn's spirits fell in +exact ratio. She was beginning to feel an almost superstitious horror of +the plaster Venus. Suppose it were to come to life, like Pygmalion's +statue of Galatea? The bare fancy gave her shivers, and a sudden sound +made her turn with a start. It was nothing less than an unmistakable tap +on the outside of the window. Avelyn's nerves were strung at highest +pitch. She almost screamed aloud. Peering in through the darkness was a +face. She forced herself to approach and look, and with a revulsion of +feeling recognized the enquiring countenance of her brother David, with +his freckled nose pressed flat against the glass. He tapped again, and +she opened the window. + +"Dave! You mascot! How did you get here?" + +"Climbed up the spout!" chuckled David. "It was quite easy. Move out of +the way! I'm coming in." + +He dropped inside the room, then turning to the window again, gave a +soft whistle. + +"Tony's down below," he explained, "and he'll swarm up too, now I've +given him the signal. I'll just lend him a hand over that last piece of +coping. Here he is! Come on, old chap! We've struck the right shanty +after all. Told you you might trust your grandfather!" + +Anthony made his appearance with equal caution. His round face was +wreathed in delighted smiles. + +"It was a little difficult to fix exactly _which_ window," he +volunteered. + +"But how did you know I was here?" asked Avelyn ecstatically. + +"We met Pamela at the station, and she told us all about it. So, instead +of going home by the 4.45, we thought we'd come up and see how you were +getting on." + +"We made Pam describe which room you were in," added David. "I say, it's +a bit of beastly bad luck for you! Pretty stiff, I call it, to be shut +up here!" + +"It's too ghastly for words!" + +"Cheer oh! We've brought you something. Look!" David felt in his pocket, +and produced a paper bag full of toffee and a copy of _Tit Bits_. "It'll +do to read. We'd have got you more, only we didn't happen to have much +money with us." + +"It was lucky we met Pam before we got into the train," commented +Anthony. "We were earlier than usual at the station to-day. As a rule we +tear up at the last moment." + +"It was ripping of you to come!" + +"Well, we couldn't desert you, old sport, at such a pinch." + +"I don't believe anyone could have such decent brothers." Avelyn gazed +at him through the gathering darkness with admiration. + +At that moment a tread of footsteps and a rattle of crockery sounded in +the passage. + +"Goody! It's my tea coming!" she gasped. + +There was not time for the boys to make their exit through the window. +While the door handle was turning they fled to what cover they could +find. David took shelter behind the pedestal of Apollo, and Anthony +crouched in a corner among some drawing boards. Fortunately it was Miss +Dickens who entered, and Miss Dickens was short-sighted. + +"Take this tray from me, Avelyn," she commanded. "Dear me, you're all in +the dark here! Has nobody been to light the gas yet?" + +"No, Miss Dickens." + +"I must fetch some matches, then. Be careful not to upset that tray as +you put it down." + +The second her back was turned the boys flew to the window, and, +dropping out one after the other, made their way safely down the spout +into the garden below, whence they waved parting salutations, and +retreated with all speed. Avelyn had just time to hide the toffee and +the _Tit Bits_ before Miss Dickens returned with the matches and lit the +gas. She assumed an air of appropriate subjection and melancholy before +her mistress, which at the moment she certainly did not experience. + +Until four o'clock on Friday her punishment continued. Not a single word +was exchanged between herself and her schoolfellows. She had never felt +so glad to go home. The week-end made a break, and when she returned to +school on Monday she found herself apparently forgiven at head-quarters, +and no more a black sheep, but an ordinary member of society. Her +room-mates' attitude was a mixture of admiration and gratitude. + +"You're the limit, Ave!" said Irma. + +"I'd never have thought of it myself," admitted Janet. + +"It was such a topping idea!" chuckled Laura. + +"And we all got just the very time of our lives at 'The Temple Bells', +thanks to you!" added Ethelberga. + +"But I never intended it for anything but a joke!" protested Avelyn. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +Moss Cottage + + +Though Avelyn was happy enough as a boarder at Silverside, the real +focus and centre of her life lay at Walden. The little house, with its +romantic surroundings, had touched a very deep chord in her nature. Home +had been dear in Harlingden because it was home, but now it was a magic +spot, a palace of fairy dreams, a place where new and hitherto +undreamed-of interests and ideals had suddenly leaped into being. The +glamour of it seemed to begin when she stepped out of the train at +Netherton on Friday afternoons and started on her walk to Lyngates. +Different neighbourhoods seem to have different scents. This one smelled +of lichens and green ferns, and moist, warm, rain-splashed earth, a +half-pungent odour that she got used to directly, but which struck her +afresh each time as she returned to it. Every inch of the road had grown +dear to her, and she would welcome each clump of ferns or gurgling reach +of stream as if she were greeting old friends. After five days in the +prosaic, matter-of-fact, workaday, self-contained little world of +school, her week-ends seemed to belong to a different planet. + +Avelyn was a girl who loved sometimes to be quite alone. She had a +favourite seat on the orchard wall among the ivy, where she would curl +herself up with her back against an apple tree and watch the landscape +below. So changeful and wonderful were the effects of storm and sunshine +over this valley, that it never looked for one half-hour the same. +Sometimes there would be sunrise tints of rose and violet, sometimes a +soft yellow haze, sometimes storm-clouds would roll from end to end, or +perhaps a magnificent rainbow would span the gorge like an ethereal +bridge, or, grander still, the lightning would flash its wicked forks +over the hills from summit to base, gleaming against a background of +inky darkness. + +The very air at Walden seemed softer than at Harlingden. It was a mild +autumn; leaves lingered long on the trees and made the woods gorgeous, +and traveller's-joy hung in exuberant masses over the hedgerows, like a +soft silver cloud trying to veil the growing bareness beneath. + +One Saturday early in December Avelyn started off to see Pamela. It was +some distance to Moss Cottage, and, instead of walking by the high road, +she meant to take a path that led up the gorge and across the hill. It +was a glorious morning; a grey wind-swept sky showed, here and there, +bright patches of blue between the masses of heavy clouds that were +rolling down from the hill-tops like smoke from a cauldron, and fitful +gleams of sunshine, bursting out in wonderful brilliance, made +marvellous effects of light and shadow. The river, winding slowly +through the marsh lands, was now vivid blue, now inky purple, as it +reflected the clouds or the sunshine; a mass of larch-clad hill-side +showed dark in contrast to the red of the ploughed field on its summit, +which was catching the light descending in rays from one bright patch +above. In a few moments all had changed: the larches were tipped with +gold, the marsh lands were purest emerald, and the hills veiled in filmy +mists floating like threads of gossamer down the slopes. Avelyn turned +from this wide prospect and plunged up the glen, with her face towards +the hill whence the mist was rolling. Ages ago a glacier must have +slidden down there, and left its mark on the huge boulders which lay +scattered everywhere around. Over this rough bed a stream, swollen by +days of incessant rain, thundered along, its brown, peat-stained waters +churned to the whitest spray as it forced its way in leaping cataracts +over the rocks. Stepping-stones, which could be easily crossed in July, +were deep under feet of foam, and the lower boughs of the trees were +washed and swayed by the flood. It was so sheltered that the gale, which +had stripped the leaves on the hill-side above, had spared enough here +to tint the gorge with gold and brown. Some of the oaks were still +green; a birch displayed the purest Naples yellow; low-growing mountain +ashes and alders had kept their summer clothing intact, and the thick +undergrowth of briar and bramble was verdant as ever. Even more +beautiful, perhaps, were the bare boughs of the hazel copse, the +exquisite tender shades of which were such a subtle blending of purples +and greys as to defy the most cunning brush that artist ever wielded, +and, contrasted with an occasional pine, or holly, or ivy tree, made a +dream of delicate colour. + +The boulders were almost completely covered with vivid green mosses, in +sheets so thick and deep and compact that a slight pull would raise a +yard at a time. Here and there among them were tiny bright red +toadstools, or some of the larger purple or orange varieties that had +lingered on since October. On a hazel twig Avelyn found the curious +birds'-nest fungus, with its tiny eggs packed neatly inside. The day was +so mild that a squirrel was taking a whiff of fresh air, waving his +feathery tail from a fir tree overhead, but at the sight of a human +being he disappeared suddenly into a hollow in a big tree, where no +doubt he had established cosy winter quarters. There were few +birds--perhaps they did not like the dampness or the roar of the +water--but Avelyn caught sight of a dipper darting down the stream, a +flight of long-tailed tits twittering noisily for a moment or two on a +tree-top, and a heron sailing majestically towards the mountains. On the +brambles the unpicked blackberries still hung ripe, though so absolutely +sodden and tasteless that they were not worth the eating; there was even +a spray of blossom left here and there. A branch of scarlet hips shone +brightly in the sunlight; the birds, sated with yew berries, had spared +it thus far, and it rivalled the holly on the bush close by, while +trails of bryony berries repeated the colour with varieties of lemon +and orange. There were a few wild flowers, even in December--a belated +foxglove, a clump of ragwort, a blue harebell, or a stray specimen of +buttercup, campion, herb robert, yarrow, thistle, and actually a +strawberry blossom. The tall equisetum lingered on the boggy bank, and +ferns were everywhere green; great clumps of the common polypody clung +to the tree-trunks and flourished on boughs high overhead, and under the +rocks grew the delicate fronds of the English maidenhair, or the rarer +beech fern. + +Avelyn had at last reached the waterfall. The great white cascade leaped +over a ledge of rock, and dashed with such thundering force into the +pool below that all the air around was filled with floating mist on +which the sun formed a dancing rainbow. As each neighbourhood has its +own distinctive scent, so each stream has its own peculiar sound, as if +it would give us some message that it has no words to convey. The little +gurgling brook tries to tell us cheery things; the slow-flowing river +has a sadder story; the trout stream babbles kindly hopes. To Avelyn the +leaping, rushing cascade, with its whirl of living, dashing foam, seemed +to be calling out in a voice that rose and fell with the roar of the +waters: "Therefore with Angels and Archangels, and with all the company +of Heaven, we laud and magnify Thy glorious name". + +She stood a long time gazing at the foam and the mist and the rainbow, +then she turned and plunged up among the trees to the head of the glen. +Looking back she felt as if she had held Nature, or something bigger +than Nature, tight by the hand. + +From the top of the gorge was an easy walk across fields to Moss +Cottage. In spite of the bright morning the little house looked gloomy +among the trees. It always struck Avelyn with an air of extreme +melancholy. She was almost morbidly sensitive to impressions. She +decided that she would not go to the front door, because she would then +be certain to see Pamela's mother, and somehow she felt rather +frightened of poor, quiet, retiring Mrs. Reynolds. She knew that her +friend would probably be at work in the garden, so she tacked into the +wood and climbed the palings at the back. Only half of the ground behind +the cottage had as yet been brought into cultivation, and the part where +Avelyn descended was still a wilderness. There were large rocks and +tangled masses of brambles, and faded clumps of ragwort and teasel, and +yellow bracken stumps. Not far away, however, was a newly-dug border, +with a spade lying on the ground, and Pamela's hat. Pamela herself was +not to be seen, but surely she must be somewhere near. Avelyn prowled +about in search of her. She did not want to go up to the cottage, and +decided that if her friend were indoors she would wait until she came +out again. Possibly she might be in the hen-house. That was certainly an +alternative. She had heard Pamela mention hens. In the distance some +roofs were visible which looked like outbuildings. She went to +investigate. Right in the far corner of the garden, almost indeed in the +wood itself, and thickly embedded in trees, she came upon a ramshackle, +tumble-down, two-storied kind of stable. A giant oak, shrouded with ivy, +stretched out long protecting arms and almost hid it from view; the roof +was built against the very bole of the tree, whose branches sheltered +the windows. Was Pamela here? Avelyn gave a long coo-e-e and called her +name. The next moment a startled face looked out from the upper window. + +"Hallo, Pam!" shouted Avelyn gleefully, "I've unearthed you at last, old +sport!" + +"Wait a sec. I'll come down," returned her friend in a cautious voice. + +Pamela appeared from out the stable door, with a rainbow face in which +storm and sunshine seemed to be struggling. + +"I never expected to see you, Ave! Have you dropped from the skies?" + +"No, climbed over the palings. I thought I'd be sure to find you +somewhere about in the garden. I saw your hat, and went to look for +you." + +"Yes. I was gardening." + +"Is this your hen-house?" + +"No, it's not the hen-house, it's--just a kind of stable." + +"It reminds me of the Swiss Family Robinson, or Robin Hood's shanty in +the depths of Sherwood Forest. You could climb up that tree if you got +on to the roof." + +As Avelyn's eyes glanced up the bole of the huge oak Pamela's followed +with a look of strained anxiety. She laid her hand on her friend's arm +and drew her inside the stable. She seemed ill at ease. + +"What's the matter, Pam?" + +"Oh, nothing!" + +"You're not yourself at all." + +"Yes, indeed I am." + +"I don't believe you're pleased to see me!" + +"Ave! I've been dreaming of you all the morning." + +"Then what is it?" + +Pamela was silent. + +"Something's worrying you. I can see that plainly enough." + +"Yes. I own I'm worried." + +"Won't you tell me?" + +"I can't." + +"Is it a secret?" + +"It is just at present. I want to think it over." + +While she spoke Pamela kept glancing anxiously out at the door. She +suddenly turned with frightened eyes. + +"Ave! Uncle Fritz is coming! You must hide, quick! He mustn't catch you +here for all the world! Run behind this stall. Don't move till he's +gone." + +[Illustration: AVELYN, CROUCHED UNDER THE MANGER, COULD HEAR THE +BULLYING TONE IN HIS VOICE] + +She hustled Avelyn into the darkest corner of the stable, then herself +sat down on the foot of the ladder that led to the floor above. A sound +of footsteps brushing the grass was heard from outside, and in another +moment Mr. Hockheimer entered. + +"What are you doing down here?" he asked sharply. "I told you to stop +upstairs." + +"I've only just come down." + +"Any message?" + +"No, none at all." + +"One might come just when you are fooling about here," he frowned. "Why +don't you do as I tell you?" + +Avelyn, crouched under the manger, could not see his face, but she could +hear the bullying tone in his voice. + +"Do you think I feed you and educate you for you to do just as you +like?" continued Mr. Hockheimer angrily. "What would become of you if it +weren't for me, I should like to know? Another time when I set you to do +anything you'll do it, or I'll know the reason why. Here, get up and let +me pass!" + +He pulled her roughly off the ladder and walked up himself. His +footsteps creaked on the boarded floor above, then all was silence. +Pamela crept softly up the ladder, peeped into the room above, and +descended as quietly as she came; then, crossing to the stall where +Avelyn was hidden, put her finger on her lips for silence and beckoned +her friend towards the door. She led her hurriedly along the garden. +Neither spoke a word till they reached the palings. + +"I'm awfully sorry I came, Pam!" apologized Avelyn. + +"Never mind, you couldn't help it. How should you know Uncle Fritz would +be here?" + +"I certainly shouldn't have come if I had known." + +"Who would? Ave, have you ever seen a little wild linnet get into a +bird-catcher's net?" + +"No." + +"I have. It runs and struggles and beats its wings, and the more it +tries to escape the worse it gets caught in the meshes. Ave, at present +I feel like that linnet." + +"Can't I help you, Pam?" + +"Not yet. I want to think. When I really feel you can help me, I shall +come and ask you. You wouldn't fail me?" + +"I'd help you for all I'm worth, if it's against your uncle." + +Pamela's eyes filled with tears. + +"I'm so utterly alone," she faltered. "Mother doesn't understand. Since +Father died she has never cared for anything. She's content to live here +on Uncle's bounty. She's so absolutely trusting and unsuspicious, just +like a child. I never can get her to see things as I do. Although I'm +hardly fourteen, I often feel that I know more of the world than she +does. Just at present Mother is going about with her eyes closed." + +"And you?" + +"I'm keeping my eyes particularly wide open, and my mouth tight shut," +replied Pamela, as she kissed her friend good-bye and helped her to +climb the palings. + +Avelyn went home very thoughtfully. She found the boys digging in the +kitchen garden, and confided to them her morning's experience. They +decided that something mysterious must be going on at Moss Cottage. + +"It looks fishy!" said David, slowly scraping the earth off his boots +with the edge of his spade. + +"What has that old Hun got up his sleeve?" enquired Anthony, shaking his +head. + +"I don't know. After what we saw in the wood I'd believe anything of +him." + +"Shall we tell the Vicar, or somebody?" suggested Avelyn. + +"No! no!" protested David emphatically. "Whatever you do, Ave, for +goodness' sake don't blab! We've no proper evidence yet, and if stories +begin to get about the village he'll know he's suspected, and he'll be +careful. Just you leave this to me. It's my first 'case', and I want to +worry it out. Remember, I'm going to be a barrister some day, when the +war is over, if I don't go out to France first and get killed. Old +Hockheimer's deep, but he doesn't know we're watching him. Two British +boys ought to be a match for a German!" + +"I'd shoot him first and watch him afterwards if I had my way," declared +Tony bloodthirstily. + +It was on that very same afternoon that a fresh planet swam into the +Watson horizon, or, in other words, that they made a new acquaintance. +The Vicar was distinctly responsible for it. He was standing at the top +of the churchyard steps, talking to a somebody, the toe of whose boot +alone was visible round the corner, and when he saw Anthony passing in +the road below he beckoned to him. Tony mounted the steps, and found +that the boot belonged to a young officer in khaki, who stood with his +hands behind his back contemplating the tombstones. + +"Hallo, sonnie!" said the Vicar affably. "Doing anything special this +afternoon? This is Captain Harper, who's in charge of the camp near the +river. He wants to go and see the Roman fort on the top of Weldon Hill, +and he doesn't know the way. Have you time to take him?" + +Anthony's grey eyes scanned the Captain's dark ones for one searching +moment, but in that moment he loved him, and would have offered to act +guide to the top of Mount Everest if required. + +"I'd like to go," he volunteered. "You don't mind David coming too, do +you?" + +"I don't know who David is, but let him come, by all means!" smiled the +officer. "Thanks very much, Mr. Holt, for finding someone to 'personally +conduct' me!" + +So it happened that David and Anthony started off with Captain Harper, +and by the time they had reached the Roman Camp they had decided that +they "liked him awfully", and when they returned to Lyngates they felt +as if they had known him for years. They talked about school, and +football, and fishing, and treacling for moths, and a great many other +interesting topics, and he told them a little about his experiences at +the front, and how he had been wounded. + +"How long have you been at Netherton?" asked Anthony as they paused by +the gate of Walden. + +"About six weeks." + +"I wonder we've not seen you before." + +"I've been very busy with my work. Is this where you live?" + +"Yes. Come in and see Mother, won't you?" + +Captain Harper's glance swept the front of the picturesque little house, +and finally rested on the patch of ivy-covered wall where Daphne, a +bewitching, hatless vision, with the sunset gleaming on her bronze hair, +stood with unconscious profile turned towards them, planting snowdrop +bulbs in the crannies. + +"If she won't think I'm intruding," he replied diffidently. + +But the boys had him each by an arm, and were hauling him in by sheer +force. + +"Mother's not one of those horrid stuck-up people who'll offer you two +fingers to shake, and wither you up. Just come and speak to her, and +judge for yourself." + +"Mr. Holt calls her the very soul of hospitality," declared Anthony +impressively. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +"Lady Tracy's At Home" + + +During almost the whole of the term the Dramatic Society had flourished +among the boarders. That is to say, the prefects had chosen a play, had +taken the best parts for themselves, and had allotted the minor parts to +those girls who were fortunate enough to be their favourites. The +particular piece they had selected was named "Lady Tracy's At Home", and +included a large number of characters. Many of these were only in the +nature of "supers", and had no words to say; others had a few short +speeches. All the main action of the play centred on six principals, who +were represented by the four prefects, with Muriel Knighton and Mabel +Dennis, also members of the Sixth Form. There had been endless +rehearsals. Adah, as stage manager, was extremely particular, and +drilled her company remorselessly. + +"We've got to make it a good show this time," she assured them. +"Remember, we're a big school now, and we shall be acting to a large +audience. I expect those day girls will be fairly critical, so we +mustn't give them any opportunity to find fault. Let's show them we know +how to act." + +"They used to have plays at their old school," volunteered Consie. + +"I suppose they did, but I dare say they weren't up to much. You see, as +they weren't boarders, they couldn't have had proper time for +rehearsals, and perhaps didn't think out their costumes as we're doing." + +"Very likely they only took Shakespeare or scenes from Dickens, or +something tame of that kind," nodded Isobel. + +Miss Thompson had allowed the Dramatic Society a certain wideness of +choice, so they had abandoned the classics, which seemed to savour too +much of the schoolroom, and had selected an entirely modern and +up-to-date comedy. In their eyes it was going to rival a piece from the +real theatre. They had all seen up-to-date acting, and had their ideals +of what a comedy ought to be. + +"You must try to live in your parts beforehand, so that you catch the +spirit of them," counselled Adah. "I've heard that Ellen Terry and Sarah +Bernhardt always did that. It was the secret of their success. Throw +yourself into your character till you entirely realize it." + +"I suppose that's the artistic temperament," agreed Consie. "It would be +gorgeous to take up the stage as a career, wouldn't it?" + +"The stage of the future is going to be a School of Education for the +People," moralized Adah. "Conscientious and cultured actresses will be a +want." + +"Miss Hopkins says Nature never creates a vacuum," ventured Joyce. + +"Trust Mother Nature! If there's a want, she'll send someone to fill the +gap." + +"Only, of course, they've got to train themselves. There's nothing like +beginning when one's young. And having the wish is half the battle." + +As a result of this serious interest in dramatic culture, the character +of the six "principals" underwent sudden and astonishing changes. +Isobel, erstwhile a rather shy and retiring maiden, put on a perkiness +and a coy assurance very puzzling indeed to anybody who did not know +that _pro tem._ she was Miss Diana Davenport, the beautiful, dashing, +fascinating Society debutante, who was breaking the hearts of young and +old in fashionable Mayfair. She practised casting a glamour over people +and glancing from under veiled lashes, and succeeded fairly well with +those who understood and played up, but indifferently with Miss Hopkins, +who asked her if she were suffering from an attack of indigestion, and +whether a dose of sal volatile would relieve the pain. Muriel, whose +role was that of Diana's rejected lover, Lord Darcy Howard, went about +endeavouring to remember that she had a broken heart. She sighed +frequently, kept an expression of yearning in her eyes, and smiled a +sad, wan smile, fraught with memories. She maintained a calm, yet +melancholy dignity, befitting one who is singled out by fate for +disappointment, heroism, and an early grave. It was really a very +difficult part for Muriel, whose natural tastes inclined to a more +sporting character, and she would have preferred to act a comic Irish +servant; but Adah assured her that it was useless to think of the stage +unless she was prepared for all emergencies, and could take any role +that might be offered her. Adah herself, as Lady Tracy, had blossomed +into a loquacious, clever, manoeuvring, brilliant hostess, much set on +worldly advantages, and immediately concerned with the due disposal in +life of her daughter Marigold. Adah's manner had always been rather +consequential, now it surpassed itself, and she swam about the school +as Queen of Society. Mabel, as Marigold, schooled herself to extreme +innocence. She would practise making round eyes and an engaging pout +as she lisped out: "But, Mother dearest, what is the great big world +really, really like?" After many rehearsals, she succeeded in sidling +bashfully into a room, and extending a timid hand without relapsing +into laughter. Consie, the dashing _debonnaire_ hero of the piece, had +an easier task. It was comparatively simple to stride about paying +flowery compliments and carrying all before her. She soon acquired an +irresistible manner, and a habit of flinging herself lazily into +arm-chairs and toying with an imaginary watch-chain. She succeeded so +admirably, that when she wore her costume at dress rehearsal, some of +the girls almost fell in love with her. To Joyce, as the villain, fell a +harder lot. It is difficult to live the part of a villain consistently +for weeks. At rehearsals, much coached and chivied by Adah, she would +slink and frown and bite her finger-tips and look daggers, and throw +sarcasm into her voice, but off the stage she would relapse at once +into the comfortable, easygoing, happy-go-lucky ways which usually +characterized her personality. She was a sore trial to Adah. + +"If you'd ever seen 'Shylock' or 'Mephistopheles', you'd have a better +idea," urged the head girl. "You're not nearly bold and bad enough, +somehow. We'll give you a dark wig and a curled moustache, and that +paper cigar, and you must grind your teeth when Lord Archibald taxes you +with the conspiracy." + +"Will the audience hear me grinding them?" asked Joyce helplessly. + +"Of course not, stupid! But they'll see your mouth move." + +"If the moustache doesn't cover it." + +"We'll take care it shan't. Can't you manage to look like 'Gentleman +Jim' on the cinema when the detective caught him with his hand inside +the safe?" + +"I'll try; but how long must I go on looking like that? In the cinema +they whisk on to the next picture in half a second, but on the stage +I'll have to stand there, and I don't feel inclined to grind my teeth +for five minutes. I hope that tweed suit will fit!" + +All the performers felt their costumes to be their last resource, +supplying any deficiencies in the acting. They were determined to be +ultra-fashionable, and sent home for suitable garments. Adah secured a +perfect dream of a dress in grey voile trimmed with sequins, and a silk +petticoat that rustled as she walked. They lent an added graciousness +and seal of society to her impressive manner. Isobel borrowed a toque, +and a veil with spots, and a feather boa, and a pair of tan boots with +high French heels, and a large cameo brooch, and a vanity bag, and +looked dashing enough to break the heart of the most hardened and +deliberate woman-hater who ever trod the boards. Her companions, gazing +at her bewildered, assured her that she looked at least twenty-one, if +not more. The way she stretched out a dainty gloved hand and murmured +"How d'ye do?" was considered a triumph of acting. + +"If we do it really well, of course, we might be asked to give it over +again," Adah confided modestly to her fellows. + +"Here?" asked Isobel. + +"Well, not necessarily. Sometimes managers lend theatres for charities." + +"An amateur play generally makes a heap of money!" opined Joyce. + +"It would be lovely to act it in a real theatre!" gasped Mabel. + +"The Harlingden Operatic Society cleared thirty pounds for the hospital +by the 'Gondoliers'," volunteered Consie. + +In imagination the Silverside Dramatic was already emulating this +gratifying example. They could picture their appearance on the boards of +the Prince of Wales Theatre before a distinguished audience, including +possibly the Mayor and Mayoress. Meantime they expected quite a crowded +audience in the big class-room, and made grand preparations. The +performance was to be on the last Wednesday afternoon of term at four +o'clock. It was a custom as old as the school. The day girls had always +been invited to attend, and this year Adah pinned up the usual +announcement on the notice board. She saw Annie and Gladys sniggering +over it, but set that down to their general lack of manners. She hoped +what they were going to see would duly impress them. They would surely +be proud to belong to a school that could get up such a dramatic +entertainment. + +The performers were allowed to stop lessons at 3.15 in order to change +their costumes, and, after a tremendous amount of breathless work in the +way of dressing, accomplished their toilets to their own and everybody +else's satisfaction. + +"You look A1," said Adah to Muriel. "If you don't absolutely take the +house I shall be really astonished." + +Lord Darcy laughed nervously. His clothes were immaculate, but not very +comfortable. He showed decided symptoms of stage fright. Joyce, as the +wicked earl, was anxious about the set of her wig. It was rather too +large, and exhibited a tendency to tilt over on one side unless she held +her head very stiffly erect, an attitude that did not correspond with +the sinuous, snake-like poses which she had practised as appropriate for +the villain of the piece. + +"My moustache makes my upper lip quite stiff. I'm sure I speak funnily," +she fluttered. + +"No, no, you're all right! I'll tip you a wink if your wig gets crooked, +and you can push it straight. Consie, you look an absolute bounder in +that blue tie! If I were Marigold I should prefer the villain instead of +falling into your arms." + +"Many thanks!" said Lord Archibald, regarding himself in the mirror with +satisfaction. "As you're to be my prospective mother-in-law you ought to +appreciate me better!" + +"It's high time we began," urged Mabel. + +"I'll take a look and see that everything's ready," said Adah. + +She ran to the platform and held a hasty review of the stage properties. +Yes, all was arranged exactly as she wished. Minnie and Alice had done +their duty. From the other side of the curtain came the sound of +talking. She could not resist a peep at the audience and applied her eye +to a small chink. What she saw made her gasp. Instead of a whole +schoolroomful of people only the three front rows of seats were +occupied. Much disturbed she rushed back to the dressing-room, and, +calling Mona Bardsley, who was acting prompter, sent her off as scout. + +"Go and find out why they're not ready, and tell them to hurry up and +take their places or we shall begin without them," she commanded. + +Mona was away some little time. She returned looking decidedly blank. + +"They say they're ready and waiting, all those who are coming." + +"But the room's only a quarter full! Where are the others?" + +"The day girls have nearly all gone home." + +"Gone home! Didn't they understand we'd invited them?" + +"Oh, yes, but they said they'd rather not stay." + +Adah's face was a study. + +"Do you mean to say they don't care about seeing our play?" + +"So it seems." + +"The slackers! They've just done it on purpose, out of spite. Well, if +this isn't the meanest thing I've ever heard of! How perfectly +sickening!" + +The injured performers received the bad news with much disgust, but +their grousing was cut short by the arrival of a fourth-form girl with a +message. + +"Miss Thompson says, will you please begin at once, because it's getting +very late?" + +There was nothing for it but to go through the piece with the best grace +they could, before an audience of mistresses, boarders, and about ten of +the old Silverside day girls. It is poor work playing to an empty house, +and they felt that half the spirit had gone out of the performance. +Adah's manner was not nearly so gracious and impressive as at +rehearsals, Lord Darcy got confused and mixed up his speeches, and +Marigold giggled palpably when she ought to have been looking love-lorn. +As for the wicked earl, his black moustache dropped off just when he was +in the very midst of his villainy, and spoiled his best point. The +Principal and the mistresses clapped their hardest, and so did the rest +of the scanty audience, but everybody felt that the whole affair had +been a fiasco. + +"It was very nice, my dears!" said Miss Thompson, congratulating the +disconsolate actresses as they came in to tea afterwards. "Quite one of +the best plays we've ever had here." + +"She means kindly, but she knows it was a failure," whispered Adah +gloomily to Consie. "I'll never forgive those day girls!" + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +Reports + + +Avelyn was looking forward with wildest joy to the Christmas holidays. +There were so many things she intended to do at home. She and Daphne and +the boys were all going to set to work to construct chicken coops in +preparation for the hatching of clutches of eggs that would be put down +in January. Then, if the weather kept open, there were wonderful +improvements to be made in the garden, stones to be brought for a +rockery, and ferns to be fetched from the stream to plant upon it, to +say nothing of the vegetable culture which in these days of food +shortage was the main feature of their outdoor activities. + +Avelyn's whole heart was at Walden. She had grown to love every corner +of it with an intense clinging attachment. No place in the world was so +precious as those few acres of land she called home. The prospect of an +entire glorious month there filled her with bliss. + +"L'homme propose et Dieu dispose", however, and our best-made plans have +a knack of "ganging agley". On the Thursday before the holidays Anthony +broke out in spots, and the doctor, who came six miles in his car from +the little town of Roby, looked at them critically, shook his head, and +remarked: "Chicken-pox! There's a good deal of it about just now." + +Mrs. Watson was a woman who acted promptly. When she had ushered the +doctor out she tucked up the invalid warmly, put on her hat and coat, +and went to the village, where there was a public telephone call office. +Here she rang up 138 Harlingden, and held a brief but satisfactory +conversation with her second cousin, Mrs. Lascelles. Then she went home, +wrote a letter to Avelyn, and posted it, after which she focused her +attention on the invalid, who was feverish and fractious. The news which +Avelyn received in the letter came as a bolt from the blue. + +"I'm so sorry, darling," wrote her mother, "but the doctor says Tony has +chicken-pox, and you mustn't come home to-morrow. I have telephoned to +Cousin Lilia, and she offers to take you in for the holidays, so will +you tell Miss Thompson that you are to go there. No time for more, as I +want to catch the early post. Good-bye, darling! Much love from Mother." + +Avelyn had taken the letter to the Cowslip Room to read. She put it in +her pocket, sat down on her bed, and tried to face the situation. Not to +go home for the holidays! The idea was unbearable. Great tears welled +into her eyes, and for a few minutes she was an absolute baby. Red-hot +rebellion raged within her. She was tempted to go home in spite of her +mother's prohibition, and beg to sleep in the cottage, or at Mrs. +Garside's farm, and risk the chance of infection. She would cheerfully +catch chicken-pox if only she might have it at Walden. A wild idea +struck her of asking Pamela to take her in, but the remembrance of Mr. +Hockheimer intervened. She was sure Pamela would not dare to invite a +visitor to Moss Cottage. + +"And we were going to have such fun together!" she moaned. "I'll hate to +spend the holidays in town and at the Lascelles's. Oh, it'll be grizzly! +I wish I could stay at school instead. I _will_ go home!" + +Better reflections, however, prevailed. Mrs. Watson had brought up her +children to respect her authority, and Avelyn knew that she would not be +able to meet her mother's eyes if she turned up at Walden in distinct +defiance of instructions. There was nothing for it but to submit, though +it was a miserable business. She took her letter to Miss Thompson, and +told her of the altered arrangement. The Principal looked worried. + +"I hope you haven't taken the infection yourself," she remarked. "You +might spread it over the school. Are you sure you have no spots?" + +"Not a single one," Avelyn assured her. + +"Well, don't mention anything about it to the other girls; it would only +make their mothers nervous. Your box shall be left in Harlingden this +afternoon, when the second batch of luggage goes. I suppose you can walk +to your cousin's house. They'll be expecting you?" + +"Oh, yes! Mother would tell them what time I am coming." + +Avelyn went back to the Cowslip Room and began to put her various +possessions into her box. The packing was a stale business, without any +heart in it. It is horrible to be obliged to pay a visit when you don't +want to go. In spite of Miss Thompson's injunctions, she could not help +confiding her ill news to her room-mates. It was impossible to keep her +woes bottled up in her own breast. She wanted sympathy badly. + +"Hard luck!" said Laura. + +"Beastly not to be going home!" agreed Janet. + +"Poor old sport! I'll send you some picture post cards," consoled +Ethelberga. + +"Suppose you break out in spots at your cousin's?" suggested Irma. + +This was a new view of the case that had not before occurred to Avelyn. + +"I'd _welcome_ them!" she declared. "I'd get Cousin Lilia to put me in +an ambulance and pack me off home." + +"Suppose they wouldn't? They might say it was too far, and send you to +the fever hospital instead." + +"I wouldn't stay. I'd run away and manage to get home somehow. By the +by, don't tell anybody else about this. Miss Thompson told me to keep it +dark." + +"Right you are! We won't blab." + +All five girls were busy packing. Their beds were strewn with blouses, +stockings, and other impedimenta. In the midst of the proceedings +entered Miss Hopkins, rather flustered and overdone with the +responsibility of seeing that thirty-six boarders took their essential +possessions home with them. + +"Dear me, you're very slow in this dormitory!" she observed. "The Violet +Room have finished and gone downstairs. If there were less talking you'd +get on a good deal quicker. Here are your reports," dealing out from a +packet in her hand five envelopes, addressed respectively to Mrs. +Watson, E. A. Ridley, Esq., Mrs. Talbot, Colonel Duncan, and the Rev. F. +Carnforth. "Now, make haste! I shall expect to find your boxes strapped +when I come up again." + +Miss Hopkins departed to do her duty in other dormitories, leaving a +sensation as of east wind behind her. Avelyn stood staring at the +envelope. She was anxious to see her report for this term. The Watson +family were lax as regarded letters; at home they usually passed round +their correspondence as common property. She tore open the envelope, +therefore, and read the report. It was quite a good one, and ended: "Has +done conscientious work, and shows marked improvement." + +Avelyn purred with satisfaction. + +"Tommiekins is a dear! Mother will be ever so pleased. Even Hopscotch +has given me 'satisfactory', which is more than I expected from her, and +Mr. Harrison has put 'painstaking' for music, though I know he thinks +I'm rather a duffer at it." + +"I wonder what they've said about me?" speculated Laura, fumbling in +her box for the envelope which she had just packed. + +"And me?" echoed Janet. + +There is force in example. In another moment Laura, Janet, Irma, and +Ethelberga were all perusing their reports. + +"'Good' for botany! Oh, how precious!" + +"Wonders will never cease! I've actually got 'fair' for general +knowledge." + +"Oh, hold me up! I've passed muster in maths." + +"What does Miss Kennedy mean by this: 'sadly lacking in order, and wants +more application'? I'm sure I'm no worse than the rest of you," +exclaimed Janet indignantly. + +"Has she put that?" + +"Yes, I call it spiteful of her!" + +"Poor old sport!" + +"It isn't as if I'd been so very behindhand all the term. Miss Kennedy +knows I haven't. I declare I shall go and ask her what she means by it!" + +The offended Janet, in a furious temper, flounced out of the room in +search of her form mistress. She found her in the study addressing +luggage labels. + +"Miss Kennedy, I do think it's too bad to give me such a horrid report!" +burst out Janet. "Why am I specially 'lacking in application'? I'm sure +I've worked just as hard as most of the other girls; and if it's a +question of order, Irma's far more untidy than I am, and so is +Ethelberga! I don't call it fair. You've no right to say such things +about me!" + +Miss Kennedy looked up in extreme astonishment. + +"How do you know what I've said about you?" she queried. + +"Why, it's here, in black and white!" + +"What paper have you there?" + +"My report." + +"Do you mean to say that you have opened your report?" + +Janet's face fell. She shuffled her feet uneasily, and did not reply. + +"It was addressed to your father. Who authorized you to open it, I +should like to know?" + +"Well, Avelyn Watson read hers, so we all thought we could read ours," +urged Janet in exculpation. + +"Indeed!" Miss Kennedy's tone was as iced vinegar. "What an extremely +honourable proceeding! Miss Thompson will have to hear of this! It's +something new in the school for girls to open their parents' letters." + +Miss Kennedy abandoned the labels she was directing, and went at once in +search of the head mistress, to whom she told her astounding tale. Miss +Thompson took off her convex glasses, wiped them solemnly, and put them +on again. + +"I couldn't have believed they would have _dared_!" she said, with a +note of battle in her voice. "Send Avelyn Watson to me. I must deal with +the matter at once." + +Miss Thompson might not be very tall, but she was thoroughly capable of +managing her school. Every inch of her bristled with dignity. Avelyn +entered the room a trifle jauntily, but one steady glance from those +convex glasses caused her feathers to fall. + +"Avelyn Watson, I understand that half an hour ago Miss Hopkins gave you +a letter addressed to your mother, to take home with you." + +"Yes, Miss Thompson, but I'm not going home for the holidays." + +"So I'm aware. In the circumstances the letter should have been posted, +but that has nothing to do with it. What I want to know is on what +authority you have presumed to open it?" + +Miss Thompson's grey eyes were almost hypnotic in their power. Avelyn's +fell before their keen scrutiny. + +"Mother always used to let me see my reports," she faltered. + +"That's quite a different matter, to allow you to look at what she had +already seen herself. To open a letter addressed to anyone else, without +permission, is one of the most dishonourable things that anybody can do. +No lady would disgrace herself by such an action. I am amazed beyond +measure to find that any girl in this school could be capable of it. I +thought you knew our standards better. Have you been a whole term here, +Avelyn, and not yet learnt the very elements of honour? Silverside has +always prided itself upon its traditions." + +Avelyn stood aghast. It had never struck her that anyone would construe +her thoughtless and impulsive action in such a light. She had no +further excuse to urge. + +"Have you the report here? Then go and fetch it," commanded the +Principal. + +Avelyn went without a word. When she returned and handed Miss Thompson +the paper, the latter took out her stylo and appended another line: + +"Conduct unfortunately not strictly honourable." + +She showed the addition to Avelyn. + +"I am going to _post_ this to your mother," she remarked pointedly. "You +may tell your room-mates that they are each to bring me her report. I +shall post theirs also. I am very much disappointed in you all." + +Avelyn left the room in the depths of dejection. She had been very near +tears all the morning, and now she could restrain herself no longer. It +seemed an absolutely pixie day, with disgrace on the top of bad news. +She gave a husky message to Laura, telling her to pass it on to the +others, and then flew into the bath-room and had a good weep in private. +Crying is a horrid business; it makes one's head ache, and one's eyes +feel bunged up, and one's throat sore, and one's heart like a lump of +lead. If it is true that our emotions cause waves of colour to emanate +from us, poor Avelyn's aura must at that moment have been a particularly +dingy drab. + +[Illustration: AN INTERVIEW WITH MISS THOMPSON] + +"What will Mother think of my getting 'dishonourable' in my report?" she +sobbed. "And I can't go home and tell her all about it. I'll write to +her and try to explain, but I'm always a silly at writing. She's kept +all our reports ever since we first went to school, and we've none of us +ever had anything nasty like this in them. It'll just spoil the record. +Oh, dear, what an idiot I've been! I wish I hadn't to go to Cousin +Lilia's this afternoon! I know I'll hate Christmas there. Life's a +perfectly sickening business!" + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +War Work + + +After all, Avelyn enjoyed her holidays far more than she had ever +expected. The Lascelles gave her a kind welcome, and tried to make her +feel at home. They were quite a jolly family--all considerably older +than Avelyn. Two sons were in the Flying Corps, and the third was at a +Government office in the town. The daughters, Mary and Gwen, were busy +with various kinds of war work, and had little time to spare. They made +a great effort, however, to amuse their visitor, and took her out in +turns. Avelyn was treated to pantomime, concerts, and cinemas, and was +invited with the Lascelles to many little parties and social evenings. +She would infinitely rather have been constructing a rockery in the dear +Walden garden than sitting in a picture palace looking at the +eccentricities of Charlie Chaplin, but she appreciated the kindness of +the Lascelles, and felt what the French call _reconnaissante_, which has +a far more subtle meaning than "grateful". + +"Couldn't you take Avelyn to the Munition Hostel, Mary?" said Mrs. +Lascelles one day, when plans for entertaining the young guest were +running rather low. "I'm sure Bertha Gordon would show you over the +canteen if you asked her." + +"If it would amuse Ave?" began Mary doubtfully. + +"I'd just love it!" agreed Avelyn, brightening perceptibly. + +"Then I'll ring up Bertha. If it's her afternoon off I'm certain she'll +have us. She told me to come the first opportunity I had, and I've +always seemed too busy up till to-day. I've been wanting to go for ever +so long." + +A brisk ringing of the telephone bell followed, and Mary came back +presently with the welcome information that her friend Bertha would be +free from three till six o'clock, and would be delighted to see two +visitors and show them all in her power. + +"We'll get up there as early as we can," said Mary, "so that we'll have +time for sight-seeing before tea." + +Miss Gordon was doing Government war work in Harlingden. She had taken +her certificate for domestic economy at a training college in London, +and now held a post in the canteen department of a huge munition +factory. The place lay a few miles out of the town. Mary and Avelyn +first caught a tram-car, which whisked them along an uninteresting +stretch of shabby road, and put them down at a corner where three ways +met. It was a tolerably long walk from there to the munition works. The +neighbourhood was dingy, with rows of small cottages and second-rate +shops, and tall chimneys or furnaces in the background. The Chayton +Government factory was a colony in itself, with a special railway line +out from Harlingden. The station platform marked its boundary. After +that came rows and rows of munition cottages--little wooden houses, each +containing three rooms and a bath-room, all exactly similar except for +the numbers on the doors. The girls passed these, and went in the +direction of the hostels. At the great gate of the works stood a sentry +on duty, who asked them their names, residence, and whom they were going +to visit, and entered these particulars in a book before he would admit +them. + +"It's all right. Miss Gordon told me that she was expecting you," he +volunteered, as he opened the gate for them. + +Feeling rather as if they were going into prison, Mary and Avelyn +stepped forward, and found themselves in a big enclosure fenced with +barbed wire. Each hostel was a large, separate bungalow building, and +there were also several recreation halls. Patches of ground planted with +cabbages lay between. It all looked very new and unfinished, something +like the pictures of mushroom cities in America. In front of them loomed +the canteen, an enormous red-brick structure with a corrugated-iron +roof. Mary enquired at the office for Miss Gordon, and her friend soon +made her appearance. + +"I'm so glad you've found your way here! Come in, and I'll show you +everything. It's a queer place, isn't it?" + +"I should get lost in it!" declared Mary. + +"Oh! it's wonderful how soon you learn to find your way about. What +would you like to see first? The canteen? We shall just have time to go +round before tea, then we'll do the hostel afterwards." + +Avelyn trotted off with great interest in the wake of Mary Lascelles and +Miss Gordon. She was going to see a new side of life, and learn what +some women were doing to help the war. Out at the front our boys were +fighting for Britain's honour, but their heroism would be of no avail if +the hands slacked that forged the weapons at home. The workers who made +the munitions, and those who toiled to feed the workers and keep them +fit, were taking their share of the burden, and, in however small and +obscure a way, were pushing the world on towards the victory of Right +over Might. + +Miss Gordon first led the way into the canteen, an enormous hall with +seats for three thousand people. There were long tables with benches, +placed in rows, and over these hung sign-boards: "Hostel I", "Hostel +II", "Hostel III", &c. + +"Each hostel has its own tables," explained Miss Gordon, "and the girls +are bound to go there. It saves scrambling. They all have food coupons, +and they take them to the counter, and exchange them for any dishes they +want, and then carry their plates to their own places. There's a menu +hung up, and they generally have the choice of several things. It's a +tremendous sight to see them all filing in for their meals." + +"Are they easily satisfied?" asked Mary. + +"As a rule, but sometimes we get grumblers, and they inflame the others. +You see, there are all sorts and conditions of girls here, and some of +them are a rough lot. Individually they are quite nice, but when they +get together in crowds some spirit of lawlessness seems to permeate +them, and they get utterly out of hand sometimes. Once there was a +terrific row. They were discontented with their rations, and they put +the blame on Mr. Jennings, the canteen manager. Some agitators stirred +up trouble, and one evening things came to a head. There was rice +pudding for supper, and the girls didn't like rice pudding, so they +flung it all about the room and smashed the plates; then they stood on +the seats and shouted and yelled. They said that, if they could catch +the manager, they would teach him a lesson. He dared not show himself. +Indeed, he was obliged to go away altogether. It was about two hours +before the row subsided; all that time the girls were shouting in the +canteen. They had utterly lost control of themselves, and wouldn't +listen to anyone who tried to speak to them. We've a new manager now, +and things are going better." + +"How fearfully exciting!" commented Mary. + +"Rather too exciting at the time, I can tell you! And the hall was in +such an awful mess, with rice pudding flung about everywhere. Come into +the kitchen now and I'll show you my department." + +Avelyn had never seen cooking on so vast a scale before. There were +great polished copper cauldrons for stews, so large that they looked as +if Giant Blunderbore's meals might be prepared in them; there were rows +and rows of ovens and steamers; and an electric meat cutter that sliced +up the joints. Puddings were being mixed in big washing basins, and +vegetables were cut up by a machine. There were enormous cans of milk, +and all kinds of receptacles for other stores. + +"We have to calculate exactly what we require, so that there's no +waste," said Miss Gordon. "We send up lists every day, and the lists are +inspected." + +The tea canteen kitchen was a department in itself. There were huge +boilers for hot water, rows of bright copper tea urns, and an electric +cutter for bread. Two girls stood at a table buttering enormous piles of +slices. + +"What monotonous work!" remarked Avelyn. + +"Yes, it is rather," answered Miss Gordon. "They give that to the +novices, and pass them on to something else afterwards. But one gets +accustomed to all the work, and doesn't mind. Now we'll have some tea +ourselves. Come to the Staff Room. I'm allowed to bring in my visitors." + +The sitting-room reserved for the members of the staff was divided by +glass doors from the canteen. It had little tables and chairs, and its +wooden walls had been decorated with pictures from magazines, fastened +up with drawing pins. Some of the staff were already seated there having +tea--brisk, capable ladies, most of whom had left comfortable homes in +order to take up war work. Miss Gordon greeted several friends, and +introduced Mary and Avelyn. The scones and the oat cake were delicious, +and were certainly a good advertisement of the cookery done in the +canteen. It was quite a merry little tea-party, for the lady workers +appeared to have a stock of jokes among themselves. + +"Now you must see my hostel," said Miss Gordon, pushing aside her cup +and rising when her guests had finished. "If you've seen mine you've +seen them all, for they're exactly alike." + +The colony consisted of thirty-two hostels, each holding a hundred +girls. The buildings were separate bungalows, and each had its own +matron, who was responsible for the comfort of its inmates. Miss Gordon +showed Mary and Avelyn into her bedroom, a little room nine feet square, +heated by hot-water pipes, and containing a bed, chest of drawers, +table, wash-stand, chair, and cupboard for dresses. + +"They give us the necessary furniture," explained Miss Gordon, "but we +must find our own pretty things. I brought the curtains and the +bed-cover and cushion and dressing-table mats, and of course my own +pictures and photos. There's a good deal of competition in making our +rooms nice." + +"This one's perfectly sweet!" exclaimed Avelyn. + +"It's not so bad, and there's quite a comfy chair to sit in to rest and +write letters. We can lock up our rooms if we like; the matron has +duplicate keys for cleaning purposes." + +There was more to be seen at the hostel: the laundry, where any girls +who liked might wash their own clothes, and where several were busily at +work with an ample supply of water and hot irons; the matron's little +office, with its piles of papers neatly filed; and the store-room, with +its sacks of flour, sugar, rice, and other commodities, that were +weighed out daily and sent to the canteen. + +"We lack a cosy sitting-room," said Miss Gordon; "we have to use our +bedrooms instead. There's a recreation hall, where we can dance in the +evenings if we wish, and I hope sometime there's going to be a library. +At present everything's so new, and they have to think of the stern +business part first before they give us luxuries. It's a utilitarian +sort of life." + +"Do you like it?" asked Avelyn. + +"Yes, on the whole very much. It's interesting, and I always enjoy being +among a crowd. Masses of people attract me, and I've got the community +spirit at present, and want to work with the hive." + +Avelyn looked thoughtful. It was not the kind of life that appealed to +her at all. She loved Nature's solitudes, and the companionship of woods +and streams more than crowds of people. To live in a hostel and canteen +would be absolute purgatory. She hoped she was not unpatriotic. Then +her face suddenly cleared. + +"I could go on the land when I leave school!" she exclaimed with relief. + +Mary Lascelles and Miss Gordon laughed. Avelyn's train of thought had +been so evident. Palpably she was not attracted by what she saw. + +"Yes, you'd be doing your bit on the land just as much as in a factory," +said Miss Gordon kindly. "It isn't everybody who cares to take up +canteen work. Let's hope the war will be over before you leave school. +You'll have several years more at your lessons yet, I suppose." + +The little country mouse was certainly turned into a town mouse for +these Christmas holidays. Avelyn felt that she had never before seen so +much of Harlingden, even when she had lived there. The Lascelles were +very public-spirited people, who were interested in everything that was +going on in the city and anxious to lend a hand in all schemes for the +general good. They sewed national costumes for the Serbians, rolled +bandages at the War Supply Depot, distributed dinners at the municipal +kitchens, taught gymnastic classes at girls' clubs, visited crippled +children, got up concerts for wounded soldiers, and organized Christmas +parties for slum babies. They seemed to be occupied nearly every minute +of the day, and they soon swept Avelyn into the whirl of the war +activities. If it was not exactly her ideal life, she nevertheless liked +it, and felt that she was being of use. She went with Cousin Lilia to +the Town Hall, and rather enjoyed standing behind a counter handing out +pies, or ladling soup into jugs for the rows of busy people who kept +pushing in from the long queue standing in the courtyard outside. She +admired the smart quick drill in Mary's gymnasium class, and marvelled +that the girls had so much spirit left after their long day's work; she +made the whole of a Serbian child's dress herself, with beautiful +barbaric red-and-blue trimming on it; she helped to hand cigarettes +round to the soldiers at their concert; and she played "Blind Man's +Buff" and "Drop the Handkerchief" with the slum children at the New +Year's party in the Ragged School. + +She had an altogether fresh experience at the Creche. This day nursery +was a new institution in Harlingden, and had been opened in order that +women who wished to help at munitions might leave their babies to be +taken care of while they were at work. Gwen Lascelles gave two mornings +a week to it, as a voluntary nurse, thereby releasing some of the staff +to go off duty. One day she offered to take Avelyn with her, and the +latter jumped at the invitation. + +"Matron doesn't mind, and you'd be a help," said Gwen. "Nurse Barnes is +away ill, so we're short-handed just now, and sometimes it's all I can +do to manage. One or two of those toddlers are the limit!" + +Elton Lodge had been lent by a patriotic citizen for use as a day +nursery, and was well adapted for the purpose. It had plenty of +accommodation, and a garden where the babies could be out of doors in +summer. Gwen and Avelyn arrived here by ten o'clock, took off coats and +hats, donned aprons, and entered the ward. This was a large, light, airy +room, or rather two rooms thrown together. At one end stood twelve cribs +in which lay twelve babies, most of them fast asleep. At the other end, +grouped round the high fire-guard, were sixteen little toddlers of all +ages from eighteen months to four years. The nurse in charge rose with +an air of relief and handed over her duties to Gwen. + +"They're all right," she remarked, "all but Curly, who's in a temper +to-day. Don't let George bully the others, and smack Eddie if he tries +to unfasten the fire-guard. He knows what to expect! Nurse Peters will +be in the laundry if you want her." + +The nurse made her escape, and the toddlers came crowding round Gwen, +clamouring for her to open the toy-box. Avelyn strolled across the room +to inspect the babies. They had just had their bottles, and indeed some +had not yet quite finished and were sucking away contentedly. They were +dear babies, some quite wee who counted their ages by weeks, and older +ones with little tight silky curls. One blue-eyed, tearful, barefooted +person stood up in her crib and held out a beseeching pair of arms. +Avelyn could not resist the appeal. She took up the small creature and +cuddled it; it clasped her tightly round the neck, put a confiding head +on her shoulder, and sobbed gently. Gwen disengaged herself from the +toddlers and came across. + +"We're really not supposed to take them up and nurse them," she said. +"But I own I break the rules sometimes. Poor little Queenie's a +new-comer; she's been petted at home and hasn't got used to creche ways +yet. She'll soon settle down. Look at Arthur! Isn't he splendid? When he +first came he was simply skin and bone through improper feeding. His +mother used to give him tastes of tea and red herrings. This is Frankie, +our special creche baby. He lives here altogether. His mother is in +prison for ill-treating him, poor wee darling! She's not to have him +again when she comes out--the judge said so. I know you'd love Patty if +she were awake. She's got the cutest little ways." + +Gwen went round from cot to cot performing services for the babies, +restoring a teat to a small mouth that had not yet finished its bottle, +covering cold hands, turning the position of some, and patting others +who were inclined to be fretful and wail. + +"I just long to nurse them," she assured Avelyn. "But you see it really +wouldn't do to let them get into the habit of thinking that they must be +taken up and played with every time they cry." + +"Don't they howl when they first come?" + +"Simply yell for a day or two. Sometimes we have to put them in the +isolation ward because they disturb the others so dreadfully. They soon +get accustomed to creche life, though. Their mothers bring them at about +six in the morning, and take them home after work in the evening. When +they arrive here they're washed, and dressed in the creche clothes, and +their own clothes are put on again at night." + +"They don't seem shy," remarked Avelyn, who was still hugging Queenie. + +"No, that's the best of them. With seeing so many nurses and helpers +they'll go to anybody. They're very sweet when you may have them up and +attend to them. Queenie's getting sleepy. I think you'd better put her +back to bed." + +Avelyn disengaged the clinging little arms with reluctance. She would +cheerfully have acted nurse all the morning if allowed. She lowered her +sleepy burden into the crib, and turned her attention to the toddlers, +who certainly needed it. Several of them had followed Gwen, and were +popping mischievous fingers through the bars of the cribs and poking the +babies; some were indulging in a free fight over a toy. Eddie, the black +sheep, was attempting to climb the fire-guard; George was punching the +head of a smaller boy, and Curly, for no particular reason, was standing +with arms outstretched, yelling at the pitch of his lung power. It took +the best energies of the two young helpers to restore order. + +"My clothes aren't comfy!" pleaded one small sinner in a tight jersey. +"I'd be good if you'd let me have my own clothes on!" + +"George took my horse!" + +"I want a doll!" + +"Give me a picture-book!" + +"I want one too!" + +"You won't get anything at all unless you ask prettily!" declared Gwen +sternly. "Where are your manners, I should like to know?" + +By the end of the morning Avelyn decided that she could thoroughly +sympathize with the trying experiences of the old woman who lived in a +shoe. She felt in a perfect whirl of babies. They were sweet little +souls, but she would have enjoyed them more individually; to wrestle +with so many at once was decidedly wearing. At twelve o'clock came +dinner. Tiny chairs were placed round low tables, feeders were tied on, +and the children were put in their seats and taught to say grace. The +nurses brought in an enormous rice pudding, and gave platefuls to those +who were old enough to use spoons. Avelyn, sitting in a rocking-chair, +fed alternately one small person on her knee and another by her side. +Gwen was performing a like service. + +When the meal was at length over, the toddlers trotted off to low +camp-beds for their midday sleep, leaving a blissful calm in the ward, +where the babies were now receiving their share of attention. + +"Do you do this two mornings a week?" asked Avelyn as the girls walked +home. + +"Yes, but the children aren't always as troublesome as they were to-day, +and if they get very bad I can call Matron, or a nurse." + +"I'd like just the babies alone, if there weren't the toddlers as well +to look after. But to have sixteen of them to keep in order is the +limit. I feel----" + +"You'd rather go on the land?" queried Gwen, with an amused smile. + +"Yes, if I can choose my war work, I certainly should!" + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +The School Birthday + + +When Miss Thompson had bought the connection of The Hawthorns, and +amalgamated that school with her own, she had undertaken a more +difficult task than she had altogether anticipated. She had spoken much +of Silverside traditions, but it had never struck her that the +Hawthorners might have some of their own to which they might cling +tenaciously. It was not easy for the Principal to get to know the exact +mind of the school. She saw the girls in class, respectful, +well-behaved, and very much in awe of her, but it was another matter to +judge the mental barometer of the play-room. She suspected that there +was an undercurrent of trouble: the smallness of the Silverside Hockey +Club, the rival stalls at the bazaar, and the scanty audience at the +dramatic performance had shown her clearly which way the wind was +blowing. She thought the matter over seriously. From her knowledge of +girls she decided that it would be unwise to interfere directly. You +cannot cause rival factions to love each other by act of parliament. She +trusted that time and tact would cement a union, and meanwhile she +meant to hold her judgment in the balance and favour neither party. + +On the first day of the next term she made the important announcement +that she had appointed two new prefects, Annie Broadside and Gladys +Wilks, who would be given equal powers with their co-officers. It was a +great step for the day girls to have their former leaders raised to a +recognized position in the school. Though they were only two, as opposed +to four prefects who were boarders, they could look after their own +flock, and redress their grievances. Adah and her companions took the +news badly. They considered that their old privileges were being +outraged. + +"What's Miss Thompson _thinking_ of?" asked Consie indignantly. + +"She absolutely truckles to those wretched Hawthorners!" declared +Isobel. + +"Will Annie and Gladys expect to come to our prefects' meetings?" +demanded Joyce. + +"Of course they will! That's the sickening part of it!" said Adah +bitterly. "If Miss Thompson thinks she's going to manage us that way, +she's mistaken. I _won't_ be friends with those Hawthorners! I wish +they'd never come to the school at all!" + +"Pretty prefects Annie and Gladys will make!" sneered Joyce. + +To do Annie Broadside and Gladys Wilks justice, they made excellent +prefects. They were the acknowledged leaders of their own clique, and +they insisted upon certain rules being obeyed. They even suggested a +few innovations, which, though resisted at first by Adah, were +afterwards acknowledged as so excellent that they were put into force. +It did not add to their favour with the boarders, however, to have the +changes recommended as "what we always did at The Hawthorns". + +"What you may have found expedient there need be no law for us here," +replied Adah with uplifted eyebrows. + +January 21st was the school birthday. It was exactly fourteen years +since Miss Thompson had first opened Silverside, and she had kept the +anniversary as a festival ever since. This year it was to be quite a +public occasion. The house was far too small for the increased number of +pupils, and she had decided to build on an annexe, consisting of a large +hall and cloak-rooms. An architect had been busy drawing out plans, but, +owing to the difficulty of getting labour during the war, the contracts +had only just been passed. Now, after many delays, all was in training, +and the builders were ready to begin their work. Miss Thompson felt that +it would be an appropriate act for the foundation stone to be laid on +the school birthday. She was fortunate enough to persuade the Bishop of +the diocese to come and perform the ceremony. It was to be a great day +at Silverside. The girls discussed it freely beforehand, especially the +inmates of the Cowslip Room. + +"Ever so many smart people will be there," said Laura delightedly. +"Tommiekins is sending out heaps of invitations. I know, because Miss +Kennedy told Consie, and Consie told Nita Paget. The Bishop will make a +speech." + +"And what are _we_ going to do?" + +"Stand round and listen, and look intelligent and appreciative, and all +the rest of it, I suppose. We'll have to be saints during the ceremony, +but we'll have some fun afterwards. D'you know the school's to be thrown +open to all sorts of visitors? Not only old fogies who make speeches, +but other people. The day girls may each ask three friends, and they can +bring brothers if they like." + +"You don't say so! Miss Thompson _is_ coming on. Are you certain?" + +"It's quite true," confirmed Avelyn. "I was allowed an invitation card +too, and I've asked Mother and Daphne and David, and I've got Pamela to +ask Anthony with one of her spare invitations." + +"What sport!" + +"We'll all have to wear our best dresses," said Janet. + +"Rather! You bet we do!" + +In preparation for the coming event, a wave of what Miss Hopkins would +have dubbed "worldliness" swept over the Cowslip Room. The girls +reviewed their frocks critically. Laura implored Miss Kennedy to allow +hers to be sent to the dressmaker, to be lengthened two inches. Janet +borrowed the last drops of Ethelberga's before-the-war bottle of +benzoline, to remove a stain left by the dropping, butter-side down, of +a piece of muffin. Avelyn brushed her hair every night with eau de +Cologne to make it glossy. Ethelberga, in defiance of food saving, +begged oatmeal from the cook, and rubbed it on her face to improve her +complexion. Irma, after criticizing the costumes of her friends, sprang +a surprise on them. + +"I've sent home for a new dress," she announced carelessly. + +"You haven't!" + +"Yes, I have, and what's more, I expect it to-morrow. Mother wrote that +she was telling Barclays to post it to me direct." + +"Well, I do think you might have told us before." + +The other girls felt as if Irma had stolen an advantage. If the idea had +occurred to them they might also have written home for new dresses. It +was unfortunately too late now. Irma alone, of the Cowslip Room, would +attend the festival in the glory of a new gown. She gave herself airs in +consequence. It was an unfortunate characteristic of Irma that she was +apt to get swelled head on occasion. Her room-mates were constantly on +the look-out for symptoms of this complaint, and generally applied +drastic measures before things went too far. In a dormitory it does not +do to allow a girl to maintain too exalted an opinion of herself. + +"Irma's swanking no end!" affirmed Ethelberga. + +"Putting on side galore!" agreed Janet tartly. + +"We ought to do something to take the wind out of her sails a little," +said Laura, looking pensive. + +Avelyn's eyes suddenly sparkled. + +"I've got it!" she chuckled. "We'll play a rag on her this afternoon. +It'll be ever such fun! Oh, I've thought of a perfectly gorgeous plan. +No, I don't think I'll tell you what it is yet; but stroll up to the +dormitory as soon after four as you can, and make Irma come too on some +excuse. Then I'll have a little surprise for you." + +"You might tell us!" + +"No, no! Not a word! It would spoil the surprise." + +The members of the Cowslip Room were always ready for some diversion. +They wondered what kind of a practical joke Avelyn was going to play on +Irma. They took particular care to decoy their victim upstairs at four +o'clock. As a bait, Ethelberga offered to lend Irma her manicure set. +They were rubbing pink powder on Irma's almond-shaped nails when a rap +came at the door. + +"Entrez!" shouted Janet casually. + +It was a demure-eyed junior who made her appearance, carrying a large +parcel. + +"This has just come, and it's for your room, so I brought it up," she +announced, dumping it down on the bed, and leaning over to read the +address. "Miss Irma Ridley. Wish it had been Miss Dorothy Elston. I've +no luck. Ta-ta!" and she waved a rather impertinent hand, and trotted +away. + +Irma jumped up, upsetting the box of manicure powder, and scattering the +other implements over the floor. + +"It's never my box!" she exclaimed. + +At that psychological moment Avelyn entered the room. + +"I didn't expect it until to-morrow," rejoiced Irma. "They must have +sent it by carrier instead of by post. Lend me your scissors, Janet. Oh, +I'm just dying to look!" + +The parcel was a large cardboard box done up in rather untidy brown +paper. It had evidently suffered considerably on the journey. Irma cut +the string with the utmost haste, and began to tear off the wrappers and +open the box. + +"I know Mother will have chosen me something pretty," she purred. +"Mother's got such lovely taste, and she wrote that she'd seen the very +thing, and was sure I should like it." + +"It's well wrapped up," remarked Janet. + +Irma was removing sheet after sheet of tissue paper with a pleased +giggle. At last she reached the core of the package, and unfolded--not a +smart new frock, but her own ordinary school evening dress. Her stare of +blank astonishment was comical. + +"What's this? What have they sent me?" she gasped. + +But her room-mates were collapsing in various attitudes of mirth, and +she understood. For a moment two red spots flared in her cheeks, then +she had the sense to take the joke with a good grace. If she was angry, +the others shouldn't have the triumph of seeing her annoyance. + +"You geese!" she remarked. "I might have known the box couldn't arrive +to-day. So this is why you hauled me upstairs, is it? Oh, go on and +laugh if you like! It doesn't hurt me. I don't mind." + +She hung the dress up again in her wardrobe, and folding the sheets of +tissue paper, appropriated them. + +"I've been wanting some tissue paper," she said airily. + +The girls restrained themselves and sobered down. + +"You're a trump, Irma!" declared Avelyn. + +"It was too bad, but we couldn't help laughing," murmured Janet. + +"Poor old Irmie, you took it sporting!" sympathized Ethelberga. + +"You'll like your dress all the more when it really comes," comforted +Laura. + +When Irma's parcel arrived the next day her room-mates, having played +their joke upon her, had the grace to be nice and to admire the new +frock, which was a charming creation in blue, and suited its owner +admirably. They went out of their way to be pleasant about it, and +Avelyn lent a hair ribbon which exactly matched the shade of colour, +while Laura offered a chain of Venetian beads. They all felt, as they +dressed for the festival, that if Irma's costume eclipsed the rest of +them, she deserved her little triumph for keeping her temper. + +"It's a shame to have to put a coat over it," said Ethelberga. + +"Well, she certainly can't stand outside in the cold with only that thin +dress on," decreed Laura. + +The ceremony was to take place at three o'clock, and shortly before +that hour all the school, in hats and coats, were marshalled outside to +the spot where the new hall was to be erected. It was a cold, grey +January afternoon, with one or two snowflakes floating down, and +everybody stood and shivered. Some of the invited guests were keeping +warm in the house, and others strolled out to the scene of action. The +girls, drawn up in line, nodded and smiled to many friends from the +town. They were cold, and impatient for the proceedings to begin. +Waiting is weary work on a January afternoon. Their talk, which at first +had been low and subdued, began to buzz, and rose higher and higher. + +"What a disgraceful noise!" said Adah. "It's all those wretched +Hawthorners. If Miss Thompson brings out the Bishop while all this +clamour is going on she'll be thoroughly ashamed of the school. Less +noise, girls! Do you hear?" + +The girls heard perfectly well, but they did not heed, and the hum of +unrestrained conversation continued. Adah waxed desperate. + +"This can't go on! It mustn't!" she said indignantly. + +She thought for a moment, then took an extreme measure. She walked up to +Annie Broadside, and confronted her with flashing eyes. + +"You're a prefect! If you've any influence with your old crew, why don't +you stop this din? It's a disgrace to Silverside! I've said what I can!" + +Annie looked astonished, but for once she fell in with the head girl's +suggestion. Passing along the lines, she commanded silence, and she was +obeyed. Where Adah had failed to restore order, she succeeded. At that +moment the house door opened, and Miss Thompson appeared, ushering out +the Bishop--a reverend figure in gaiters--and followed by the mistresses +and a number of guests. A dead hush fell upon the school, and all eyes +were fixed at attention. + +The little ceremony was not very long--perhaps the Bishop himself felt +the cold. There were one or two brief speeches, and Edna Esdale, the +youngest member of Form I, handed a trowel decorated with ribbons, a dab +of mortar was deposited, and the foundation stone laid. The girls sang +"God Save the King", then, as the snow was beginning to come down in +good earnest, everybody thankfully turned into the house. It was +certainly a crowd, but it was pleasant to meet friends. The Watson +family had all turned up, and had actually brought Mrs. Reynolds with +them, to Pamela's great triumph, for as a rule her mother shunned all +public gatherings. The poor lady, though very nervous, seemed to be +mildly enjoying herself. + +"I am glad Pam didn't ask her uncle," thought Avelyn. "I shouldn't have +been surprised if he had insisted on coming!" + +There was actually a birthday cake for the school, with fourteen little +candles on it, and the Bishop, at Miss Thompson's request, cut the first +slice. There was only enough for visitors, but the girls had had the +satisfaction of viewing it lighted beforehand, and had known that it +was not big enough to go round, so consequently were not disappointed. +Irma, in her new blue dress, produced quite a sensation among those of +her form who had not yet seen its beauties. Its attractions even went +further. + +Miss Thompson, ciceroning the Bishop round the premises and expatiating +on the value of her new scheme of ventilation, let her eyes pass over a +line of girls, flattening themselves dutifully against the wall, and +singled out the creation in blue. + +"We've many nice children here. Come here, Irma dear! This one is Irma +Ridley. Run, child, and fetch me your Nature notebook. I should like the +Bishop to look at it. We make a point of Nature study, my Lord." + +Irma departed on her errand like a blue sunbeam. She stood smiling and +speechless while the great Church dignitary benevolently examined her +record of the months, and murmured his approval. + +"Miss Thompson says it all went off splendidly," declared Janet, as the +girls warmed themselves at the class-room fire afterwards. + +"David and Anthony called it 'ripping!'" affirmed Avelyn. + +"And _I_ was introduced to the Lord Bishop of Howchester!" triumphed +Irma, with the glamour of the honour still dancing in her shining eyes. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +Under the Pines + + +When spring came, bringing daffodils in the orchard, and primrose stars +under the alder bushes in the meadow, and tiny green shoots on the +hedges, and singing of larks and cawing of jackdaws and twitter of +linnets, and all the other dear delights of the "return of Proserpine", +Walden also celebrated a birthday. It was a year since the Watsons had +obtained possession of their little property. To them all it had been a +glad, golden, glorious year, full of fresh interests, new awakenings, +and hitherto undreamed-of experiences. They had been living spiritually +on a far higher plane; almost unconsciously the influence of hills and +wide skies and dashing waters had passed into their lives and widened +them. So much of what we are in our after years depends on the standard +of happiness we form when we are quite young. If we learn to take +Nature's hand and read in her book, she can teach us wonderful secrets, +and lift our souls so that we can never again be really narrow, or +vulgar, or petty, or commonplace. It is not the mere fact of living in +the country that gives this inner vision. Too often country dwellers go +about with closed eyes and sealed hearts to the meaning of the beauty +around them; but to those who will listen to Mother Nature's many +voices, there comes a wonderful refinement and purity of taste, quite +irrespective of wealth or class distinctions, the mark of the spirit +that is daily growing, overmastering the claims of the physical body, +and fitting itself for something that as yet we only grasp at but cannot +reach. God must love His children very dearly to send them such +beautiful things as the April sunshine, and the light on the hills, and +the white spray of the whirling waterfall, and the violets in the hazel +coppice. They may spoil His earth for themselves, but the springtime +comes again, and the little heartsease flowers will bloom, not only over +those graves in France, but over deeper graves of fallen hopes and lost +ideals. + +Mrs. Watson reviewed the year at Walden as so much gain. To begin with, +her primary object in the removal had been an entire success: Daphne, +formerly pale, thin, and an object for anxiety, was now as radiant as a +pink-tipped daisy, and pronounced by the specialist to be absolutely fit +and sound. She spent most of her time out of doors, gardening and +looking after her colony of fowls, and, though she might not be doing +definite war work, felt that she was helping her country by the +production of food-stuffs. Daphne had suddenly grown very pretty. +Avelyn, who often looked at her critically, decided that point +emphatically. It was a delicate, ethereal, elusive kind of beauty, due +as much to expression as to straight features and smiling grey eyes. +Daphne never came out well in a photograph--that was quite a recognized +fact in the family; to appreciate her, you had to see her when she was +excited, or gardening, with her hair rumpled. + +The Walden birthday fell early in April, and the Watsons decided to +celebrate it by having a Saturday picnic. Captain Harper promised to +join them--he came up sometimes from the camp to Lyngates--and they also +asked Pamela and her mother. Rather to their surprise, Mrs. Reynolds +accepted the invitation. The poor lady was still somewhat crushed and +depressed, but she seemed to be trying to bestir herself, and, for her +daughter's sake, to make faint, almost pathetic efforts at friendship. +She was shy and uncommunicative, but she evidently liked Mrs. Watson, +and would cheer up a little in her presence, and venture a few remarks, +and even a watery smile. The picnic was to be in the pine woods, so all +met at the cross-roads by the pond as a common starting-point, and set +forth together, armed with tea baskets. + +It was a two-mile walk up hill, along a road that twisted at sharp +angles and gave lovely views of the landscape below. Presently they +reached the beginnings of the wood, and some pines rose like giant +sentinels guarding an enchanted land. As they tramped on, the trees +stood thicker, tall and straight as the masts of a ship, with a carpet +of soft fallen needles underneath. All at once a gleam of water flashed, +and they had reached the bourne of their journey, a little grey lake +set in the midst of the wood, with heather and whinberry growing round +its banks. There was a space of shingle down by the water, and here, +after a grand hunt to collect sticks, they lighted a fire and boiled the +kettle they had brought with them. + +It was fun sitting round in a gipsy circle, even if the tea was rather +weak and smoky, and the war cake was conspicuous by its lack of sugar +and currants. Everybody could have eaten a great deal more than the +ration, and the provisions disappeared down to the very last crumb. +Afterwards the young folks started to explore the banks, and had a wild +time scrambling over fallen tree trunks, jumping small streams, and +pushing through thickets. At a particularly large fallen pine Avelyn +struck, and demanded a rest. She and Pamela perched themselves on the +top, and announced their intention of sitting still for at least ten +minutes. The boys, who had been cutting walking-sticks from the hazels +by the lake edge, consented to a halt, and settled down with their +penknives, whittling away busily. Mrs. Watson and Mrs. Reynolds were +washing up the tea-cups at the picnic place, and the sound of their +voices echoed faintly over the water. Daphne and Captain Harper seemed +temporarily lost. + +"It's like home to be right amongst the pines!" said Pamela, looking +with far-away eyes at the vista of red-brown trunks and green needles. + +"Did you live among them in America?" asked Avelyn. + +"Yes, our ranch was out in British Columbia, close to the edge of the +forest. At one time Daddy had lumbering business there, and we spent the +summer at a log shanty right up on the mountain. It was glorious, and I +loved it, but it was very lonely. Daddy used to be out all day, looking +after the timber, and Mother and I would be left by ourselves until +evening. Sometimes we didn't see anyone except our own family for weeks +and weeks." + +"Were you frightened?" + +"Only once, and then we really had an adventure. I was more scared when +it was over than at the time." + +"Do tell us about it!" pleaded Avelyn. + +Pamela hesitated, and threw pine cones into the lake. She had never been +very expansive about her life in Canada, and the Watsons had heard few +of her experiences there. They had a general impression that Mr. +Reynolds had not prospered in the New World, and that Pamela shrank from +letting her friends know the roughness of her early upbringing. As a +rule they refrained from questioning her--she was not a girl whom it was +easy to question--but an adventure could not be resisted. + +"Do tell us, Pam!" urged the boys, wriggling nearer, and stopping their +whittling. + +Pamela threw away all the pine cones that lay in her lap, seemed to +think a moment or two, then finally decided. + +"All right, I'll tell you if you like! Well, as I've just said, we were +living in a log-house in a little clearing in the forest. We used to +hear the coyotes howling about at night, but we didn't mind those in the +least. They're cowardly beasts, and we'd never seen anything else to +frighten us. One day Father had a much longer round to go than usual, +and he said he should not be back at night, but would sleep with some +friends at a ranch a good many miles off. Mother and I did not mind +being left. Daddy had been obliged to stop away like that before, so we +were accustomed to it. I went out in the afternoon, across the clearing, +and through part of the forest to some open pastures where the berries +grew. I stayed there, picking some and eating them, and putting some in +my basket, for just ages. It was nice there: I found flowers as well as +berries; and I'd brought out a book with me, so I sat down and read and +enjoyed myself. Suddenly I noticed that the sun was beginning to set, +and I jumped up and felt guilty. I knew that Mother would have supper +ready, and that she'd be waiting for me. I ran home all the way. It was +getting quite dusk in the forest as I went through. When I came near the +house, I could see that the shutters were up, covering the window. That +didn't surprise me, because Mother generally closed them as soon as she +lighted the lamp. But she always left the door standing open for me, and +to-night the door was shut too. I was rushing forward to open it, when I +heard Mother's voice calling me. + +"'Pamela, stop! Don't come a step nearer, child!' + +"I looked round to see where Mother was, and she was in the funniest +place. Our log-cabin had a loft above it, which was reached by a ladder +from the living-room. This loft had a tiny window in the roof, and, lo +and behold, there was Mother peeping out of the window and waving me +back! I thought it so funny that I began to laugh, but Mother wasn't +laughing at all. She called out again: + +"'Keep back!' + +"Her voice sounded so queer that it suddenly scared me. My legs began to +shake in the silliest way. + +"'What's the matter?' I shouted. + +"Mother's voice quavered a little: + +"'Don't be too frightened, darling! There's a puma shut up in the +house!' + +"I was fearfully frightened, all the same. I should have run away if +Mother had not been at the window. I stared at the house, picturing that +horrible thing moving about inside. Mother went on explaining: + +"'I'd lighted the lamp and closed the shutters, and I'd left the door +open for you. Then, suddenly, I saw the creature creep into the room. My +first idea was that it would rush out and catch you just as you were +coming home, so I slammed the door, and dashed up the ladder into the +loft, and then kicked the ladder away. He's downstairs quite safe, and +I'm up here and he can't get at me. I've put down the trap-door.' + +"'Can't you crawl through the window, Mummie?' I gasped. + +"'No, it's too small. I've tried. I'm caged up here, just as much as the +puma is caged down below, and I can hear him raging about. If he upsets +the lamp, the whole place will be on fire.' + +"I gave a great cry at that, because it seemed almost a certain thing +that the puma would upset the lamp, and then I knew the log-cabin would +be in a blaze. What could I do? Daddy would not be returning home that +night, and our nearest neighbours were miles away. Yet I must get help, +and at once. There was nothing else for it; every minute was of +consequence. + +"'I'll go to the Petersons' ranch, Mummie!' I shouted, and I started off +running without waiting for her to reply. + +"I was only eleven, and the forest was getting dark. I had never been +out alone in it at that time of evening. I wasn't brave at all. My legs +shook under me as I ran, and I imagined a puma behind every bush. Then I +was rather uncertain about the trail. In that dim light it would be very +easy to lose my way and never reach the ranch at all. I decided to keep +near the stream, which would guide me. I went stumbling on for what +seemed a long time, and everything was getting darker, when suddenly, on +the other side of the stream, I saw the light of a camp fire. I knew +some lumbermen must be spending the night in the woods there, and that +they might help me. I hallooed and cooeed as loudly as I could, but the +wind was in the wrong direction and carried my voice away, and the +stream was noisy, so I couldn't make them hear me. + +"I didn't know what to do. Then, a little farther down, I saw that a +tree had fallen across the stream. I ran along and looked at it. It was +a horrible bridge--I'm a coward at crossing water--but I had to crawl +over it somehow. For a year afterwards I used to dream that I was doing +it again, and would wake up gasping. I've hated running water ever +since. Well, I managed to get across, though I never quite knew how I +did it, and then I ran up to the camp fire, shaking so that I could +hardly tell what I wanted. + +"Three men were sitting there, cooking their supper, and one of them +called out: 'Hallo! What's up with you, young 'un?' + +"When I said there was a puma inside our house they all whistled. Then +the one who had spoken reached for his gun, and said: 'We'll come with +you, lassie!' + +"The others didn't say anything, but they got up and found their guns +too. One of them took me on his back and carried me across the bridge +when he saw how I funked it. He went over without minding it in the +least. I don't know how he could! + +"It was fearfully dark going home through the wood, and I could only +just manage to find the trail. We got to our shanty at last, and I +shouted, and Mother looked out of the window and said: 'Thank God you're +back safe!' + +"The three men talked over the best way of killing the puma. One of them +prised open the shutters and the other two stood ready with their guns. +The creature had been quiet (so Mother told us afterwards) for a long +while, but when the shutters fell back it went wild, and came tearing +across the room to the window, knocking over the table and upsetting the +lamp. It was shot directly, and fell dead inside the room. But the lamp +had broken and set up a blaze. The men rushed to our shed for spades and +threw earth on the burning paraffin, managing to put the fire out before +any real damage had been done. Then they fixed the ladder again, and +Mother came down from the loft. + +"When Daddy came home next day she said she daren't be left alone in the +woods again, so he took us to the settlement, and we lived there the +rest of the summer." + +"Did you keep the puma's skin?" asked Anthony, who had followed the +story with breathless interest. + +"No, I'd have liked to, but the lumbermen had dragged the thing outside, +and the coyotes got hold of it in the night, so there wasn't much skin +left by morning." + +"I think you were immensely plucky!" exclaimed Avelyn warmly. + +"Plucky! What else could I have done? I tell you, I felt the biggest +coward out!" + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +The Lavender Lady + + +It was Easter time when the Lavender Lady first rose upon the horizon of +Lyngates. She came with the dog violets and the ground ivy and the +meadow orchises, and several other lovely purple things, at least that +was how her advent was always associated in Avelyn's mind. She took the +furnished bungalow near the church, lately vacated by the curate, and it +was rumoured in the village that she composed music and had published +poetry, and that she had come down into the country for a rest. + +When Avelyn first saw her she was sitting in the flowery little garden +raised above the road. She wore a soft lavender dress and an old lace +fichu, and she had dark eyes and eyebrows, and cheeks as pink as the +China roses, and fluffy grey-white hair that gleamed like a dove's wing +as the sun shone on it. She looked such a picture as she sat there, all +unconscious of spectators, against a background of golden wallflowers +and violet aubrietias, that Avelyn was obliged just to stand still and +gaze. In that thirty seconds she fell in love with the Lavender Lady. +It was not a mere mild liking, but a sudden, romantic, absolute, +headlong falling in love. It had come all in a minute and overwhelmed +her. She crept away softly to dream dreams about the vision she had seen +in the garden. At home there were some beautiful illustrated editions of +William Morris's _Earthly Paradise_ and of Dante Gabriel Rossetti's +poems. She took them out and pored over them. The gorgeous +pre-Raphaelite pictures had always appealed to her innate artistic +sense, and set her nerves athrill with a something she could not +analyse. There was not one of them so beautiful as her Lavender Lady +among the flowers. + +"She's a little like 'The Blessed Damozel', who leaned out 'from the +gold bar of heaven'," mused Avelyn. "And then again she's like +Gainsborough's picture of 'The Duchess of Devonshire'. I wonder what her +name is, and if I shall ever know her? I don't believe I'd dare to speak +to her. I'd be too shy." + +For a whole week Avelyn, terribly in love, lived in a mystic world in +which the Lavender Lady, robed in the glory of the purple night and +stars, was as the central sun, and she herself revolved like a planet +round her orbit. The family could not understand why she insisted upon +choosing heliotrope for her new dress. + +"It won't suit you, dear," demurred Mrs. Watson, bewildered by the +firmness of her daughter's sudden attitude. + +They were sitting round the table, with three boxes of patterns from +west-end London firms spread out temptingly before them. + +"You of all people in helio, Ave!" objected Daphne. "It's the one colour +you ought never to wear--you're far too much of a brunette for any +violet shades. You'd look nice in this biscuit, or this saxe blue. I +always liked you in that blue dress you had a couple of years ago." + +"There's a perfectly charming stripe here," recommended Mrs. Watson. + +"I want the helio, please," said Avelyn doggedly. + +"But _why_ should you want helio when you know it doesn't suit you?" +stormed Daphne. "It's really only pig-headedness, because you've +happened to say so. You can't see yourself in your own dress. If you +could you'd choose another colour." + +"You know nothing about it," retorted Avelyn; and matters nearly grew +warm between the two girls. + +"There's no need to send the patterns back to-day," interrupted Mrs. +Watson, sweeping the whole consignment back into their boxes. "We'll +bring them out to-morrow and talk about them." + +As a matter of fact she sent for the biscuit shade without consulting +Avelyn again, much to the disgust of that damsel, who consoled herself +by taking energetically to gardening, and replanting the round border in +the middle with wallflowers and purple aubrietias. It was the Easter +holidays, so she had time to dream. She made up at least six romances +about the Lavender Lady's past; some of them ended happily and some +unhappily. She could not decide which was really the more artistic. She +walked past the cottage every evening. Once she threw a bunch of violets +over the wall just to the place where the lady had been sitting. Then +she ran away frightened at her own daring. Another evening as she passed +she heard the strains of a piano and the sound of a rich, sweet +contralto voice. She stood and listened spellbound. It was a song she +had never heard before--a lovely, crooning song, like a cradle lullaby. +She would have liked to stay and listen to more, but the Vicar's wife +and daughters were coming down the road, and she fled. Somehow she did +not want to be talked to just at that moment. + +On Sunday she chivied the family off to church at least ten minutes too +soon, and they sat in their pew in stately dignity while the rest of the +congregation trickled in. Avelyn, from a post of vantage near the +pillar, eyed everyone that entered with increasing disappointment. Then +her heart gave a great thump. Her Lady was coming up the aisle--not in +lavender this time, but in black and white, with a bunch of violets and +a big picture-hat trimmed with silver ribbon, and a white ostrich boa +and dainty white kid gloves. The verger was showing her to a seat in +front, actually the next pew but one, and Avelyn felt thrills running +down her spine. She was so glad the verger had selected a pew in front. +If it had been behind, she would have been absolutely obliged to +disgrace herself by turning round. After the service she managed to drop +her book, and to fumble for it long enough to delay her family for a +few moments and prevent them from leaving before the Lavender Lady. They +passed her in the churchyard. She was actually speaking to the Vicar's +eldest daughter. Avelyn decided that Barbara Holt had more than her +share of luck. At dinner-time, over the joint of roast beef, Mrs. Watson +remarked: + +"That seems a sweet lady staying at the bungalow. Miss Carrington, I +hear, her name is. She comes from London, and Mrs. Holt says she's very +musical. I think I shall have to call." + +Avelyn went on eating beef and potatoes with a jumping heart but outward +composure. It had not struck her that it was possible to pay social +calls on Dante Gabriel Rossetti heroines. What if she were to meet the +Lavender Lady at close quarters? Even speak to her? The idea seemed to +need preparation. + +Mrs. Watson had quite made up her mind. + +"Daphne and I will go on Tuesday," she said. + +It was of course appropriate that Daphne, being the eldest, should go, +but Avelyn envied her all the same. + +When the momentous afternoon arrived she enquired anxiously what her +sister was going to wear. It seemed vitally important that the family +should make a good impression. + +"You'll put on your grey coat and skirt, won't you?" she said +beseechingly. + +"I don't think I will. I really don't want to go at all," yawned +Daphne. + +Not want to go! Avelyn could hardly believe it. She stared at Daphne +incredulously. + +"Don't you feel well?" she asked. + +"Oh yes! it isn't that, but I hate paying calls, and I promised the boys +to walk to Fulverton. Captain Harper said he'd meet us and show us a +squirrel's nest he's found. Suppose you go and call with Mother instead +of me?" + +Avelyn gasped. Such unselfishness took away her breath. + +"Do you really mean you'll let me go instead of you?" + +"With all the pleasure in life, child, if you want to." Daphne's manner +was airy and elder-sisterly. "Of course it's nothing to me whether we +meet Captain Harper or not, only he made rather a point about it, and +perhaps it would seem--well, rude, if I let the boys go without me. He's +been very kind to David and Tony, and one doesn't like to hurt his +feelings." + +Two things swept across Avelyn's bewildered consciousness: first, that +Daphne was growing up--growing up most suddenly and unmistakably; and +secondly, that she had resigned her privilege, as elder daughter, to +call on the Lavender Lady. The first would have to be considered at +leisure, in all its bearings and side issues; the second was for the +moment uppermost. + +"Go and ask Mother what you're to put on," said Daphne, as if the whole +question of the exchange were settled. + +It was an outwardly calm and self-possessed, but inwardly much-agitated +Avelyn who entered, in her mother's wake, into the little drawing-room +at the bungalow. One comprehensive glance took in the fact that the room +was utterly different from what it had been during the curate's +occupation. There were books and flowers, and other pretty things about. +The general tone had changed from commonplace to artistic. On the +window-sill lay a half-finished sketch of the village. There was music +on the open piano. But these details faded into secondary consideration, +for the Lavender Lady was entering, in the soft heliotrope gown, with a +sprig of wallflower pinned into the lace fichu. + +Occasionally in our lives we meet with people whose whole electric +atmosphere seems to merge and blend with our own. We feel we are not so +much making a new acquaintance as picking up the lost threads of some +former soul-friendship. Avelyn experienced thrills as she shook hands. +She was far too shy to say much, but she sat and listened rapturously +while her mother and Miss Carrington did the talking. For the present it +was enough to be in the vicinity of her goddess. The maid brought in +tea. There were a dainty, open-hem-stitched Teneriffe cloth, Queen Anne +silver teapot and Apostle teaspoons, and scones and honey. A bowl of +primroses and forget-me-nots was on the table. + +The half-hour's visit passed like a dream. + +"You'll come and see me again, dear, won't you?" said Miss Carrington, +as she held Avelyn's hand in good-bye. + +The hot colour flooded the girl's face. Her eyes shone like stars. + +"Oh, may I?" she cried impulsively. + +That afternoon marked an epoch. Friendship is a matter more of +temperament than of years. That the Lavender Lady was middle-aged, and +Avelyn barely sixteen, made not the slightest difference to either of +them. Each character dove-tailed comfortably into the other. Miss +Carrington had a great sympathy for girls, and she seemed to understand +Avelyn at once. As for the latter, she had utterly lost her heart. But +for the fear of making herself a nuisance she would have nearly lived at +the bungalow. She went there very often by special invitation, and spent +glorious, delightful afternoons sitting in the garden, talking about art +and books and music, and the foreign places Miss Carrington had visited. +It fascinated Avelyn to hear about Venice and Rome and Sicily and Egypt, +and made her long to go and see them for herself. + +"You shall, some day, when the war's over," said the Lavender Lady +confidently. + +Sometimes they would go for walks together, or Avelyn would wait with a +book while Miss Carrington sketched, or--what she loved immensely--would +sit in the twilight while her friend improvised soft dreamy music at the +piano. The little volume of poems, _Cameos_, by Lesbia Carrington, she +already knew almost by heart; the small, white-and-gold edition, with +its signed autograph, was her greatest treasure. To Avelyn it was a +most inspiring friendship, that roused dormant hopes and ideals in her +nature which promised to make rapid growth afterwards. Her Lavender Lady +proved the most delightful of confidantes. It was possible to tell her +everything. She never laughed at Avelyn's secrets, though she was merry +enough on occasion. + +One evening she and Avelyn sat in the little garden, watching the red +glow of the setting sun fade away behind the dark boughs of the yew +trees. The air was heavy with the scent of flowers; from the fields came +the caw of rooks, as long flights passed homeward to roost. Avelyn +squatted on the grass, with her head against the Lavender Lady's knee, +and held her hand tight. + +"Next week I shall be back at Silverside," she whispered. "I just hate +the thought of it!" + +"Poor little woman!" + +"It isn't as nice there as it ought to be, somehow. Things seem always +at sixes and sevens, and it's so horrid." + +"What's the trouble?" + +"The old school and the new school won't mix. The Silversiders look down +on the Hawthorners, and the Hawthorners resent it, of course, and just +detest the Silversiders. It's a constant bickering the whole time. I +think it's almost worse since Annie and Gladys were made prefects. It's +perfectly wretched for me, because I'm between two stools." + +"How's that?" + +"Well, you see, in a way I'm a boarder, but then I'm the only weekly +boarder, so the others who stay there the whole term rub it into me that +I'm not quite one of themselves. They can't forget that I used once to +go to The Hawthorns, even though it's a long time ago, and they keep +bringing it up against me as if I were a sort of traitor in their midst. +Then it's quite as awkward for me with the day girls. I like some of +them very much; they used to be old chums of mine, and I'd like to go on +being friends with them. But if I even speak to them in school, Laura or +Janet are down on me like anything, and ask me if I've forgotten I'm a +member of the Silverside League." + +"What is the League, please?" + +"It's a kind of blood-brotherhood among the boarders to keep up +Silverside traditions. When the day girls heard of it, they started an +'Old Hawthorners' League' in opposition." + +"But surely you're all Silversiders now?" + +"We are in name, but nothing else. We still feel two separate schools. +The day girls wouldn't play hockey with us in the winter. They got up a +club of their own, and wore their old school colours. They won ever so +many matches, and the Silverside Club did so badly. Adah was dreadfully +sick about it. She thought them so mean to desert." + +"Perhaps they felt they wouldn't be welcome." + +"That's exactly the point. Instead of pulling together, it's always +boarders versus day girls; and as for poor little me, I'm neither fish, +flesh, fowl, nor good red herring!" + +The Lavender Lady smiled, and then looked thoughtful. She stroked +Avelyn's hair. + +"Poor little woman!" she said again. + +"I feel like Mohammed's coffin, slung between earth and heaven." + +"Can't something be done to bring these rival factions into harmony? +You're one school now, and ought to work together for the common good." + +"That's what Miss Thompson says, but it doesn't make any difference." + +"Girls often won't listen to teachers. The movement must come from +within, not without. It seems to me, Ave, you're the one to set it in +motion." + +"I?" + +Avelyn turned up her face in the greatest amazement to meet the Lavender +Lady's calm eyes. + +"Yes, _you_, darling! Don't you see you have an absolutely unique +opportunity? You're the only girl in the school who is in touch with +both sides. You can get at both the boarders and the day girls. The +hockey season is over, and I suppose next term you'll be starting tennis +and cricket?" + +"Yes, so we shall." + +"Well, suppose directly you get back to Harlingden you propose a United +League of all Silversiders to win credit for the school. You could set +about it very tactfully, and sound your principal parties first." + +"_I?_ But they'd think it such cheek! A Fifth Form girl, and only a +weekly boarder." + +[Illustration: AVELYN AND THE LAVENDER LADY] + +"And Gideon said, 'Wherewithal shall I save Israel? I am the least in my +father's house'," quoted Miss Carrington. "On the contrary, I think it's +the chance of a lifetime. I believe you're the one girl to do it. It +would be something worth accomplishing, wouldn't it, to unite the +school?" + +"Rather!" + +"Is there any public occasion when you could bring forward the +suggestion?" + +"Yes; there's the School Council on the first Wednesday of term. Anybody +is allowed to put things to the meeting, and votes are taken." + +"You couldn't have a better opportunity. Talk in private to the girls +first, and persuade a number of them from both sides to be ready to back +you up. Then state your proposal. By the by, what are the Silverside +colours?" + +"Pale-blue and navy." + +"And the old Hawthorn colours?" + +"Navy and pink." + +"If you're wise, you'll amalgamate them, and ask Miss Thompson to let +you have new badges of pale-blue, pink, and navy. I believe it might +just make all the difference to the state of feeling." + +"Perhaps you're right. But I still feel afraid--it's a big thing to +attempt, and I don't know whether I can screw up the courage. Suppose I +fail? Suppose they only laugh at me, and tell me to mind my own +business?" + +"You won't fail! You mustn't _think_ failure! Make up your mind +beforehand that you're going to succeed, and that what you say will +persuade them. Oh, Ave darling, do try! It would be such a grand thing. +There are those two great streams of girls, each running its own way. +They only need a thin barrier removed to make them into one mighty +river. Some common purpose should unite them. Perhaps in their heart of +hearts they're all secretly longing for union. Who knows? Can't your +hands lead them together? You said once you'd do anything for my sake." + +"So I did--and I mean it!" + +"Then take up this crusade, and be a Red Cross Knight for the School +Colours!" + +"For the School Colours and for you, dear Lavender Lady!" said Avelyn, +kissing the soft hand in token of her vow. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +The Loyal School League + + +Avelyn went back to school in a serious frame of mind. She knew that she +had undertaken a big thing, and, though she mentally set her teeth and +meant to grapple with it, she felt that her dear Lavender Lady did +not--could not--realize all the difficulties that lay in her path. Miss +Carrington's supreme faith in her buoyed her up, however; she would try +her utmost, and if failure came---- No! the Lavender Lady had said it +was fatal even to mention failure, and that she must go about her errand +absolutely determined to succeed. + +She began by sounding the members of her own dormitory. They received +the suggestion with wonderful favour. + +"The school's been slack enough at games all the winter!" commented +Irma. + +"Time it bucked up, certainly!" agreed Janet. + +"That Hawthorners' Hockey Club was a scandal!" said Laura. + +"Well, if we don't take care they'll be turning it into a tennis club +for the summer," warned Avelyn. + +"We'd better make some sort of a move," grunted Ethelberga. + +"It's Adah that's at the bottom of all the trouble," said Laura, sitting +on the floor with her arms clasped round her knees, and swaying +thoughtfully to and fro. "Adah's a thorough old-fashioned Silversider, +and hates the new contingent--that's the matter in a nutshell." + +"Isobel and Consie and even Joyce would come round directly if Adah +would only let them," agreed Irma. + +"And Annie and Gladys would meet them half-way," nodded Janet. + +"Adah's the most ripping tennis-player I know," ruminated Laura. + +"And so's Annie. She won the trophy last year at The Hawthorns." + +"The two together would make the best champions any school ever had." + +"Well, look here, they've just _got_ to go together!" + +"I've an idea--a brain wave!" said Avelyn. "The Council Meeting will be +to-morrow. Well, this afternoon let us propose a tennis set, 'School +versus Mistresses'. Miss Peters and Miss Broadwin are simply A1 at +tennis, and everybody knows they are, so we'll insist upon Adah and +Annie playing together for the school. They can't refuse when it's put +like that. Whether they win or lose, it'll pave the way for what we want +to bring forward to-morrow." + +"Right you are, O Queen! It's a blossomy idea!" + +Avelyn got up, and straightened her tie. + +"I'll go down now to the dressing-room, and catch those day girls as +they come in, and have a talk with some of them." + +"And I'll go and sound Miss Peters about the set this afternoon. She's +in a good temper to-day, because she's had a letter from the front." + +Miss Peters and Miss Broadwin, fresh and fit after the holidays, were +quite disposed to accept the challenge of the girls and wield rackets on +behalf of the mistresses. Universal public opinion fixed upon Adah and +Annie as champions for the school, and they submitted, a little +bewildered and dismayed, but bowled over by the suddenness of the +suggestion. Every girl at Silverside--except three victims who had music +lessons and one who had toothache--crowded round the tennis court to +watch the exciting contest. Miss Peters and Miss Broadwin were +formidable opponents; they had been members of their college clubs, and +though slightly out of practice had not forgotten their former skill. +The two prefects knew that it would need their utmost ability to fight +them. With the whole school looking on, each nerved herself to do her +best. + +In the first game the Mistresses scored. Miss Peters's serves seemed +almost invincible, and as for Miss Broadwin her arms were elastic. Adah +and Annie looked at each other grimly. They had begun to take their +opponents' measure, and also to estimate each other's play. In the next +game they exercised extreme caution, and did not repeat certain +mistakes. After an exciting rally the score this time fell to the +School. + +"Now for the tussle!" laughed Miss Peters, as she collected balls. + +Adah could not help admiring the way Annie played that last game. She +kept her nerve splendidly, and her back-hand strokes were magnificent. +For an anxious moment or two the luck of the School trembled in the +balance, but by a frantic effort on the part of the prefects the set was +secured. The vanquished Mistresses took their defeat sportingly, and +congratulated the victors. + +"One of the best sets we've ever had at Silverside!" declared Miss +Broadwin, pinning up a tail of hair that had strayed down her back in +the heat of the combat. + +"If you two go on like this you'll be invincible!" laughed Miss Peters. +"You need to get a little more accustomed to each other's play, and +you'd make splendid champions." + +"You were both absolutely topping!" declared the school, crowding round. + +Adah took her honours stolidly, but appreciated them none the less. +After all, it was pleasant to be congratulated by the day girls; it made +up in some slight degree for the humiliation of that afternoon when they +had run away rather than witness the dramatic performance. + +"We must practise together," she said to Annie; and Annie actually +replied: + +"I could stay half an hour every day after school, if you like." + +This amnesty between the rivals, heard and reported by several +listeners, surely seemed to pave the way for tomorrow's proposals. +Avelyn's mental barometer stood at "high hopes". + +The Council Meeting was always held in the big schoolroom, and, by +old-established rule, classes stopped at 3.30 instead of 4, so as to +allow extra time for the proceedings. No mistresses were present, and +the girls, within certain limits, were allowed to make any arrangements +they thought fit for the ensuing term. The prefects took their places on +the platform, and Adah, as head girl, acted chairman. + +The room was very full. On the front benches sat rows of round-eyed +youngsters, bare-legged, in the prevailing fashion for socks, with their +hair tied with broad ribbons. Behind them were excitable pig-tailed +juniors, wriggling restlessly in their seats, and continually letting +their whispers rise to a murmur that called down rebuke from the +platform. These were as sheep ready to follow any leader, and did not +understand the objects of the meeting. They had come simply because they +were told to do so, and because they thought it would be fun. The larger +half of the school, girls from twelve to seventeen, were in a state of +indecision. It had been rumoured that Annie Broadside intended to turn +the Old Hawthorners' Hockey Club into a tennis club for the summer, and +there was in certain quarters a strong feeling that they ought to +support her. They wondered what was going to happen. Avelyn, with Laura, +Janet, Irma, Ethelberga, Pamela, and several other "backers", sat at the +end underneath the clock. + +Adah began the proceedings by reading a report of the school activities +for the previous term. She made the very best of what she had to say, +but it was felt to be a poor record. The societies and guilds had been +decidedly languishing, and had achieved next to nothing. It was +impossible to refer to them with any pride. There was perfunctory +clapping, markedly half-hearted. + +"Now we've got to decide on what we're going to do this term," continued +Adah. "I suppose we shall have our usual societies--the Tennis Club, and +the Cricket Club, and the Photographic Union. If anybody wants to make +any suggestions, now is the time. This is an open meeting, and everyone +who likes is at liberty to speak--in turn, of course. There may be some +little points you'd like to bring up. Do so by all means. We prefects +are perfectly willing to listen to you, and to discuss them." + +Adah spoke in her usual rather patronizing fashion. Her words were +succeeded by a dead hush. Everybody felt that there were not only little +points, but very big points which needed to be raised, yet nobody seemed +able to voice the general discontent. A whisper passed along some of the +forms to the effect that day girls ought to have their rights. Adah +watched the heads bent together and the moving lips. + +"Speak to the chair, please!" she reminded them. + +But at that they sat up silently. + +Many of the audience wondered if Annie would take up the cudgels for the +day girls and fight the question out upon the platform, but Annie made +no sign. Was she thinking of the Old Hawthorners' League, and would she +perhaps again call a rival meeting on the common, as she had done in the +autumn? + +"Am I to take it that you consider former arrangements satisfactory?" +asked Adah, frowning at some of the babies, who were playing with a +celluloid ball. + +Then Avelyn stood up. + +"I should like very much to discuss one or two points, if I may," she +began. + +"Certainly! Go on!" + +"Well, first of all I think we ought all to be rather ashamed of the +report. For such a big school I certainly think we ought to have far +more to show for ourselves." + +Several of the prefects nodded, and began to look interested. + +"There are nearly a hundred girls here this term, and we may call +ourselves the principal school in Harlingden. We ought to take quite a +place in the county, and challenge other schools for matches. We haven't +shone very much in games hitherto, have we?" + +A discontented murmur replied from the benches. There was an electric +thrill in the air. Avelyn took courage. At first her sentences had come +hesitatingly; now that she warmed to her subject, her words flowed more +easily. She had a sudden feeling that the Lavender Lady was thinking of +her and inspiring her; the idea roused the utmost effort of which she +was capable. She determined to speak boldly, and not beat about the +bush. If she gave offence she could not help it. + +"What we want here is a spirit of union. If we all determine to stick +together and back one another up at all costs, we might do great things. +Don't let us have two parties. Let us forget any old squabbles, and be +loyal to the school. I believe we've heaps of talent amongst us if it +only gets a chance to come out. Let's remodel our societies on a new +basis, and give the best places to whoever will gain the most credit for +the school. Why shouldn't we try this year for the County Shield? With +two such champions as Adah Gartley and Annie Broadside we ought to have +a sporting chance. Just think if we could win the shield for Silverside! +Then there's cricket. We can muster up strongly in that respect, too. +Joyce Edwards, and Minnie Selburn, and Gladys Wilks, and Maggie Stuart +would take a good deal of beating! We could get up a first-rate Eleven, +and arrange some topping matches. Think how priceless it would be to go +and watch them, and cheer on our own side!" + +Avelyn paused for breath. She had spoken warmly, and the excitement had +quite carried her away. Her cheeks were flushed, and her eyes were +shining. She had held the attention of the room with a kind of +magnetism. All faces had been turned towards her, and her every word had +been closely followed. + +The girls now burst into a buzz of general conversation. Each wanted to +discuss the matter with her neighbour. It was plain that the project +was received with approval. Even the prefects were having a few private +remarks among themselves. Joyce and Isobel in particular were nodding +emphatically as if urging the project upon Adah. Annie whispered to +Gladys, and they both spoke to Consie. All were looking expectantly +towards Adah. The head girl rang the bell for silence. + +"What you say is very true. Silverside ought to take its proper place in +games, and I think we all agree that a special effort should be made +this summer. As this is a business meeting, will you please put what you +wish to suggest in the form of a proposition?" + +"Certainly. I beg to propose that we form a 'Loyal School League', the +object of which shall be to advance in every way the credit of +Silverside. We ought to have a President and several Vice-presidents, +and a Committee, with two representatives from each of the upper forms. +If any very important question arises we should have a Council Meeting +of the whole school, and put the matter to the vote. I also propose +that, for the sake of further cementing our unity, we adopt a new badge, +and have for our colours pale-blue, pink, and navy. It would be an +effective combination, and would mean a good deal to most of us. We +would pledge ourselves to do our utmost for the new Silverside Colours." + +As Avelyn again stopped, a roar of applause rose from the room. The +girls were completely carried away by her idea; the blending of the +badges seemed the one thing needed to unite the school. Though a few +prejudiced "Old Silversiders", including Adah, looked rather blank, the +majority, even among the boarders, were plainly in favour of the +suggested change. + +"Does anybody second this proposition?" asked the head girl. "We +prefects want to hear the view of the school." + +A dozen stood up, anxious to speak. Adah nodded to Laura Talbot. Laura +had been at Silverside five years, and was a dependable character, not +easily carried away by tides of emotion. Her ideas might reasonably be +the gauge of average popular opinion. + +"I've been thinking for a long time that we ought to do something," said +Laura. "It seems to me that a 'Loyal School League' just hits the nail. +I believe we'll forge ahead this term and win laurels for our new +colours. I have very great pleasure in seconding this proposition." + +"Then I put it to the vote. All in favour kindly hold up their hands." + +Every arm in the room shot up instantly. Adah looked at the waving show +of hands before her, and realized that the general feeling of the school +favoured unity. She had the sense to accept the situation in a generous +spirit. + +"Carried unanimously!" she declared, and turning round, smiled at Annie, +who smiled back. The girls cheered, ostensibly at the carrying of the +resolution, but partly to see the rival leaders on such affable terms. + +"We want a president, and I propose Adah!" shouted Ethelberga. + +"And the rest of the prefects as vice-presidents!" amended Janet. + +"Hear, hear!" came from the audience. + +"And I," said Pamela, jumping up suddenly, "beg to propose that Avelyn, +who suggested the whole idea of the League, shall be elected secretary." + +"Rather!" + +"Good biz!" + +"Ave, by all means!" + +"Oh, no, please! I don't want to grab any office for myself!" protested +Avelyn. + +"Nonsense! Brace up, child, for you'll have to do it!" urged Laura. +"Why, you've brought about the whole business. Besides, you belong to +both parties, so you'll bind us together as nobody else could." + +"The missing link, in fact!" hinnied Irma, trying to be funny. + +The meeting passed the remaining resolutions in good order, then broke +up in a whirl of excited talk. A deputation of prefects visited Miss +Thompson's study, and gave her a digest of the afternoon's proceedings. +She listened approvingly. + +"I'll order the new badges at once, and see about hiring a larger +cricket field," she commented. + +The Principal did not judge it discreet to say more to the girls, but +over cocoa that evening with the mistresses she voiced her +satisfaction. + +"I knew they'd come round in time if we let them alone. You can't force +these things. I suppose it was only natural that the old school and the +new should find some difficulty in mingling. Girls are queer creatures, +and often very prejudiced. It won't have done them any harm to see what +a poor record they made in games when they were striving for rival +factions. I consider it an excellent object lesson. I expect they'll all +try their best now, and practise away hard at cricket and tennis." + +"I hoped it marked a new era when I saw Adah and Annie win that set at +tennis," nodded Miss Peters. + +"They're both excellent girls in their way, and should do great things +for the school, if they'll only pull together," agreed Miss Hopkins. + +Avelyn spent her half-hour of leisure that evening in writing to Miss +Carrington. + + "DARLING LAVENDER LADY, + + "I have actually done it! Or rather, _you_ have done it, for it + was entirely your idea. I can scarcely believe it is true, but + the League is an accomplished fact, and the new colours, and all + your dear jinky suggestions. I don't know how I had the cheek to + stand on my legs and make the proposal before the whole school, + but I thought of my promise to you, and I did it somehow. I + hardly remember what I said. The girls are tremendously keen on + the League; they say it's a topping notion. Can you believe it, + darling? they've made me secretary. Little me! I shall have to + write the letters to other schools, challenging them to matches! + I shall use the lovely new blotter you gave me. + + "Good-bye, and thank you a hundred thousand times for everything + you are to me! + + "With love from + "Your devoted + "AVELYN." + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +The Surprise Tree + + +Having once made up their minds to concentrate their united energies on +establishing a record at games, the girls at Silverside set to work in +dead earnest. They organized definite and systematic practice both at +cricket and tennis, and tried to bring their play to a higher standard. +They found much help in this respect from Miss Peters and Miss Leslie, +who had come as new mistresses in September, and were keen on tennis and +cricket. During the winter there had been no opportunity for them to +display their talents, but now they proved invaluable as coaches. Both +had been in large schools and thoroughly understood what was required. +They encouraged the girls to arrange matches. + +"It's worth it even if you're beaten," said Miss Leslie. "You see other +people's play and learn to make a good fight. You can often pick up most +valuable hints from your opponents. Some of the best tips I ever had I +got from a girl who invariably beat me." + +It was quite a novel state of affairs at Silverside for day pupils to +stay after four o'clock and join the boarders in tennis court or cricket +field, but after the first week the latter got used to the invasion of +their privileges, and decided that the improvement in the general play +was ample compensation. The new badges soon arrived, and everybody +decided that the combination of pink, pale-blue, and navy was highly +satisfactory. The Loyal School League seemed likely to forge ahead. +Avelyn made a capital secretary; she was prompt and business-like, and, +though she did not push herself forward unduly, she was always ready +with helpful suggestions. At one of the committee meetings she started +the idea of the Romp Day. It was the Lavender Lady who really thought of +it--she inspired all Avelyn's best schemes. They had talked it over and +planned it out in the little garden at Lyngates, where roses were now +blooming instead of the wallflowers and aubrietia. + +"I'm glad the League's prospering," she had said. "It's splendid how +you're all working together now and coaching each other. It's a pity, +though, if all this new spirit of helpfulness spends itself entirely on +the school. It ought to find a wider outlet. You're having jolly times +in the playing fields this term. Can't you pass on some of the fun to +others who never get a chance to play games for themselves? I mean the +little cripple children. There's a branch of the 'Poor Brave Things' +Society in Harlingden. If Miss Thompson would let you give them an +afternoon's outing they'd have the time of their lives. Could you +possibly suggest it, do you think? I really believe it's the sort of +thing Silverside would enjoy." + +The League and Miss Thompson justified the Lavender Lady's good opinion +of them. They took up the idea with enthusiasm, and decided to organize +a "Romp Day" for the crippled children. They communicated with the +secretary of the "Poor Brave Things" Society, with the result that +invitations were sent out to thirty little invalids to come to a picnic +party in the garden at Silverside and be entertained. A special +half-holiday was given for the occasion, and all the school was asked to +unite in making the affair a success. Miss Thompson wished the day girls +to stay to tea that afternoon, but catering was a difficulty. It was +utterly impossible for her to provide a meal for a hundred and thirty +children. The Food Controller rationed the school according to the +number of its boarders. The Principal was inventive, however, and hit on +an excellent solution of the problem. She asked each day girl to bring +enough tea, sugar, milk, buns, and cake for her own consumption and for +half the allowance for one guest, and in this way provided ample for +everybody, without anyone being asked to give more than a very small +contribution of food. + +"Before the war I should have been horrified at the idea of inviting you +to come to a party and bring your own provisions," said Miss Thompson. +"In these days of semi-famine, however, we have to do many new and +strange things. It's wonderful what we can get used to when we try." + +The girls themselves thought it was immense fun each to bring a little +basket to make the feast. + +"It's like an American tea," said Gladys Wilks. "I'm going to make some +scones myself. We've got a quarter of a pound of sultanas hoarded up. +We've been saving them for some great occasion; Mother said they'd do +for my birthday cake, so I know she'll let me use them for this instead. +I've got a topping recipe, if they only turn out as it says." + +"Guess they'll be jolly nice. Bags me one if the cripples don't want +them all!" declared Maggie. "You shall have a piece of my sandwich-cake +instead." + +"Look here," interrupted Gertrude; "this business isn't to be all tea +and buns. We've got to give these kiddies a real good time. Suggestions, +please! Don't all speak at once!" + +"We're going to sing to them." + +"And the Juniors are to do a dance." + +"How about some gym display?" + +"Um--tolerable! But my idea is that they won't want to sit and watch us +perform the whole time. There ought to be something specially for +themselves. Stop a minute! I've a brain wave! Don't speak to me! My +mind's working." + +The girls grinned expectantly, while Gertrude stood with finger uplifted +for silence. + +"Got it!" she proclaimed at last. "We'll have a Surprise Tree." + +"What's that?" + +"Well, you can't exactly have a Christmas tree at this time of year, +but we'll rig up something very like it. You know that little +monkey-puzzler near the summer-house? We'll decorate it with streamers +of paper and ornaments, and hang presents on with coloured ribbons. +There must be one for each crippled child, or two if possible. Every +girl in this school has got to bring a present." + +Once the idea of providing suitable entertainment for their invalid +guests was mooted, many suggestions were forthcoming. Vivian Roy, who +was the lucky owner of a Shetland pony and a tiny basket cart, offered +to bring these to school and take relays of children for drives round +the garden. Sybil Beaumont undertook to lend a very superior gramophone; +the mother of one of the Juniors promised to send oranges. Violet Parker +told her aunt, the Mayoress, about the party, and that kind-hearted lady +arranged to allow the use of her carriage for the afternoon, to carry +some of the children from their homes to the school and back. As means +of conveyance were a real difficulty, several other parents followed her +example and sent governess cars or hired cabs. It was a form of help for +which the secretary of the "Poor Brave Things" was particularly +grateful. + +"You've no idea what trouble it is for their friends to bring them," she +explained. "Unless they possess, or can borrow, some kind of invalid +carriage it's an impossibility. Also many of them can't spare the time +to do it. In the days of petrol plenty we used to have an annual outing +for the children, and people lent their cars, but of course that is all +stopped now." + +On the afternoon in question the numerous hostesses were waiting about +in the garden long before their visitors were due. Each day girl had +duly brought her basket, the contents of which were to be pooled for +general consumption. The gramophone had been placed on a table outside, +and the Shetland pony and cart were in readiness near the door. + +"I expect there's been a terrific amount of washing and dressing and +hair-curling going on," laughed Annie. "I hope the children will survive +your scones, Gladys!" + +"Don't be insulting! My scones are delicious! I've tasted them, so I +know." + +"You greedy thing!" + +"Certainly not. I couldn't bring them without seeing whether they were +fit to eat." + +"I heroically didn't touch even a crumb of mine!" + +"More goose you!" + +"Don't spar," interrupted Gertrude. "Here comes the first contingent!" + +It was the Mayoress's carriage, and it had brought six guests--such +pathetic little people! Some of them had crutches, and could manage to +walk, but others had to be wheeled up the drive in a Bath chair, which +was waiting on purpose. A special corner of the garden, with couches and +cosy seats, had been arranged for them, and each child as it arrived was +taken there, two special hostesses being told off to look after it for +the afternoon and make it happy. Avelyn, together with Laura, found +herself in charge of a mite of a girl who looked about eight, but +declared she was nearly thirteen. + +"It's the first time I've been out for ten weeks, miss," she said shyly. +"I lie on my back most days." + +"What do you do? Can you read?" asked Avelyn. + +"Yes, when I get any books. Our District Visitor lends me some." + +"Have you ever been to school?" + +"Not since I was nine. It was at school I fell and hurt my back. It's +been bad ever since." + +The little visitors were evidently prepared to enjoy every moment of +their party. They were given tea almost immediately, and did full +justice to the various cakes and buns which the girls had brought for +them. They listened smiling while the gramophone blared forth +selections, and clapped their hands when the Juniors danced for their +amusement. Those who could bear the jolting went for short drives in +Vivian's pony carriage, but most of them were obliged to sit very still. +One little fellow--the cheeriest of all--lay flat on a rug, with a +cushion under his head. + +As it would have been impossible to move all the children from one place +to another, their special corner had been arranged round the Surprise +Tree. The little monkey-puzzler presented a very gay appearance, for it +had been decorated with Christmas-tree ornaments, coloured balls, and +glass birds, crackers, oranges, and bags of sweets. Underneath were +piled sixty interesting-looking parcels tied up with ribbons. Mabel +Collinson, one of the Juniors, dressed as a fairy and attended by two +Brownies, suddenly made her appearance among the bushes, and going up to +the tree, began to strip its branches and hand sweets and crackers and +oranges to the expectant children. The parcels came next. There were two +apiece for them; and so well had the girls responded to the appeal for +presents that gasps of astonishment and delight followed the unwrapping +of the packages. "Oh's" and "Ah's" resounded on all sides. + +"It's too lovely, miss!" beamed Avelyn's little protegee, hugging a +story-book in one arm and a work-basket in the other. + +Her neighbour was rejoicing over a writing-case and a drawing-slate, and +the tiny girl on the couch was kissing a doll. It was a pretty sight to +see the poor little helpless creatures happy for one afternoon--pretty, +but so pathetic that the tears swam in Miss Thompson's eyes. The +contrast between these crippled children and her own sturdy girls seemed +so acute. + +"Please, m'm," volunteered one little boy, "Lizzie over there says she +can say a piece of poetry if you'd like to hear her." + +"By all means. We shall be only too pleased," returned Miss Thompson, +going across to the small reciter and asking her to begin. + +Lizzie was a diminutive, white-faced specimen of ten, with a crooked +spine and big bright eyes. There was a large soul in the little body, +and it showed when she began to speak. Her piece was a patriotic one, +and she said it well. The Silverside girls who were near enough to hear +her applauded heartily, and those who were too far off to catch a word +clapped too, out of sympathy. Finding that everyone was interested, Miss +Thompson asked some of the other children to recite. Most of them were +too bashful, but one or two consented, and shyly murmured a few verses. +None, however, had the fire and spirit of Lizzie, who was quite the star +of the company. She departed, beaming with pride at having distinguished +herself, and clasping a poetry book which Miss Peters had hurriedly +fetched from her bedroom and presented to her. + +"It was the nicest party we've ever had at the school," said Laura, +watching as the last of the little guests was lifted into a Bath chair +to be wheeled home. "There was no mistake about their enjoying +themselves at any rate." + +"They've had the time of their lives, bless 'em!" agreed Janet. + + * * * * * + +There was much to tell the Lavender Lady when Friday came round again. +Lately she had grown to be the centre of all Avelyn's actions. She was +always so ready to take a sympathetic interest in things, and +Daphne--Daphne, who of yore was the recipient of innumerable +confidences--had somehow been growing self-absorbed. She would sit and +stitch with a far-away look in her eyes, while Avelyn poured out school +news, and her occasional comments showed that she was not really +listening. + +"She's getting so horribly grown-up!" complained her injured sister. +"She's not the same girl she used to be. I feel as if she had drifted +miles away in the last few months. Quite suddenly she seems ten years +older than David and Tony and me. I don't like it!" + +"You must let Daphne have her innings," said Mrs. Watson. "You'll have +your own some day. She can't remain a child always. I think on the whole +she's very good to you younger ones. It's only natural she should begin +to like the society of older people now. Her life is just opening out. +You mustn't expect her to give up her whole time to yourself and the +boys. Do be nice about it, Ave! Be proud that you've got such a pretty +sister, and glad for her to enjoy herself." + +That was certainly a different way of looking at it. Avelyn felt +self-reproachful. She remembered that she had not troubled to listen +when Daphne consulted her as to whether a pink or a mauve voile blouse +would look best with her new costume; just at the moment school affairs +had seemed so much more interesting than her sister's clothes. + +"I suppose I'm a selfish beast!" she said to herself. "The next time +Daphne's going out to tea anywhere I'll sit in her bedroom while she +dresses and hold hairpins for her, or anything else she wants. The worst +of it is, though, she doesn't always want me! Just at present I believe +she'd any time rather have Jimmy!" + +Jimmy was Daphne's little fox terrier. That is to say, he was hers +temporarily, for he really belonged to Captain Harper. She had mentioned +one day that she would like a small dog of her very own, and the young +officer had looked thoughtful. The next week he had turned up, +accompanied by Jimmy. + +"I wish you'd accept him!" he said. "He's my dog, but I can't keep him +at the Camp. I've had him boarded out in Starbury since I've been +stationed here, and yesterday I went over and fetched him." + +"I'll have him as a loan and take care of him till you want him again," +agreed Daphne, "but I won't take him right away from you. It wouldn't be +fair." + +"Yes, it would, if I wanted to give him. He's the best little chap out. +You'll find him a kind of epitome of the Catechism combined with all the +cardinal virtues. Jimmy, make your bow!" + +The little fox terrier, which sat up and saluted at its master's word of +command, seemed a sharp and intelligent specimen of the canine race, and +when it snuggled its nose in Daphne's hand it completely conquered her +heart. + +"Won't he want to run back to his master?" she asked. + +"No, he has his orders and understands perfectly. I've explained the +situation to him, and you'll find he won't attempt to leave you. He's +prepared to carry a stick or an umbrella, mount guard over coats, bark +at tramps, worry rats, or demolish burglars." + +Jimmy's subsequent behaviour certainly justified the character Captain +Harper had given him. Having been solemnly made over by his master, he +seemed to realize his responsibilities, and attached himself to Daphne +with all the strength of his doggy nature. His manners were excellent. +He would lie curled up on the rug at meal-times, and did not beg until +he had received express permission, only winking an occasional pathetic +eye in the direction of the table. + +"I'm sure he understands every single word I say to him," said Daphne, +who idolized her new possession. "I don't know how I should get along +without him now." + +"What will you do if you have to give him back?" asked Avelyn. + +"It hasn't come to giving him back yet," evaded Daphne. + +But on the very Saturday after the Surprise Tree party the question +cropped up. Captain Harper had come over to Walden to fulfil a promise +of making a fresh door for one of the chicken coops. He had taken +possession of the carpentry room in the cottage, and was working away at +the joiner's bench. Daphne held the wire steady, and Avelyn--with a +strong sense that she was not wanted--handed the nails. Jimmy lay at his +ease upon the shavings and yawned. His attitude of complete comfort +attracted attention. + +"If you're really sent back to Starbury next month you'll have to take +him with you," commented Daphne. + +"I never take back a present I've once given," answered the Captain +firmly. "We've argued that out before." + +"But for Jimmy's sake? He loves you far the best still. I'm only a +makeshift." + +"I assure you he doesn't." + +"Then how can we tell his preference?" + +"Let him decide for himself. You stand over there and I'll stand here, +and we'll both call him at once and see which he runs to." + +Poor Jimmy, a much-perplexed and agitated dog, rose from his bed of +shavings and remained in the middle of the floor, whimpering and looking +with indecision towards the master who had brought him up from +puppyhood, and the sweet young mistress who had won his heart. Then he +made a rush towards the former, and, seizing him by the trouser, hauled +him across the room in the direction of Daphne. + +"Jimmy has solved the matter!" said Captain Harper. "He wants us both to +own him!" + +And at that point Avelyn felt that her presence grew so very _de trop_, +that she murmured some excuse about finishing her lessons, and made her +exit from the cottage, leaving her sister and Captain Harper to settle +the disputed question of ownership in their own fashion. + +"I suppose this is growing up," ruminated Avelyn, as she crossed the +yard and went into the orchard. "Daphne seems to enjoy it, and I'll +give her her innings by all manner of means. How funny it would be to +have a brother-in-law! It'll come to that some day if I'm not mistaken. +No, thanks! I don't want to grow up just yet myself. Perhaps I'll change +my mind later on, but at the present time I'd ever so much rather be a +schoolgirl!" + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +Pamela's Secret + + +In her love-making with the Lavender Lady Avelyn had, truth to tell, +rather neglected Pamela. Their friendship had always been more or less +of a spasmodic character. They often met on the road on Monday mornings, +and travelled in the same compartment of the train, and they would +return from Harlingden together on Friday afternoons. Generally they +talked the ordinary schoolgirl chatter about Silverside doings. Pamela +rarely mentioned her own concerns. Very occasionally she would make some +reference to past adventures in America, but about her present home she +was extremely reserved. She seemed to shut up and freeze at once at the +slightest allusion to Moss Cottage. + +Though she had accepted several invitations to Walden, she had never +asked Avelyn to tea for a return visit. There was an air of mystery +about her that increased rather than diminished with their further +acquaintance. To Avelyn she always seemed like a disinherited princess. +She was sure that Pamela brooded over the fact that the Lyngates estate +should have been hers. Her uncle's name was never mentioned between +them. + +Since the evening when he had tried to cut down the barrier over the +brook at Walden, the Watsons had seen little of Mr. Hockheimer. He had +not again attempted to interfere with their property. He seemed to spend +a good deal of his time in London, but made flying visits every week to +the Hall. People in the neighbourhood gave him the cold shoulder. Though +he was generous in subscribing to local charities, he was certainly not +popular. The general feeling was one of mistrust. Nothing certain had +ever been brought against him, but the fact of his German nationality +remained. It was whispered that but for influence in high quarters he +would have been interned. + +Whether Mr. Hockheimer was or was not aware of the rumours that were +being circulated in his disfavour it was impossible to tell. He never +came to church, seldom appeared in the village. He was more strict than +ever against trespassing in his woods, though other landlords in the +district had been lax in that respect since the beginning of the war. +The Watsons disliked him so much that they avoided him whenever +possible; if they saw him walking along the village street they would +dive down a side lane or run up into the churchyard. They thoroughly +pitied Pamela for being dependent upon him. + +Since the memorable morning when she had climbed over the palings into +the garden, and had hidden inside the stable, Avelyn had never visited +Moss Cottage. She was sure that she had then almost surprised some +secret. Pamela, indeed, had been on the very verge of telling her. Her +friend's confidential mood had passed, however, and a wall of reserve +had taken its place. + +One Saturday Avelyn, taking out her home work, made the horrible +discovery that she had left her history in her locker at school. To go +to Miss Thompson's class with an unprepared lesson meant trouble. The +only way out of the difficulty was to walk over and borrow from Pamela, +who, though in a lower form, used the same textbook for history. + +This time she did not venture to climb over the palings, but knocked at +the door in orthodox fashion. It was opened by Pamela herself, who +beamed a welcome. + +"Come in! I'm all alone. Mother's gone to the station. I was just +getting horribly tired of being by myself. It's perfectly lovely to see +you! My history? Yes, you shall have it, certainly. I've learnt my +lesson. But come in and have a chat. I was sitting in the garden. Shall +we go out there?" + +Avelyn much preferred the garden to the rather dark little sitting-room. +The girls went to a shady corner under a tree, where Pamela had spread a +rug and cushions. They settled themselves down leisurely and began to +talk. + +"What's this you've got here?" asked Avelyn presently, taking up a +Prayer Book that was lying on the rug, opened at the last page. "Are +you studying the Table of Articles? You surely don't have to learn that +in your Scripture lesson? We did the 'Book of Common Prayer' last term, +but we didn't take the Articles." + +"I'm not looking at those," said Pamela. "I'm looking at the Table of +Kindred and Affinity. I want to find out whom a man may marry and whom +he mayn't. He mustn't marry his wife's daughter's daughter, or his +brother's son's wife, or his mother's brother's wife, but may he marry +his deceased wife's deceased brother's wife?" + +"Goodness, child, I'm sure I don't know! Why do you ask?" + +Pamela shut the Prayer Book with a bang. + +"It's Uncle!" she said vehemently. "He's behaving in such an +extraordinary way! Oh, Ave! Do you know, I believe he's trying to make +up to Mother! Don't look so incredulous! I mean it! I must tell +somebody, or I shall burst! I've kept it all in long enough. Too long! +Ave, did the boys ever tell you about that letter they found inside the +Latin dictionary? I can see by your face that they did. Well, I brought +it home and laid it on the table, and, before Mother had time to look at +it, it disappeared. Uncle had been here, and I _know_ he took it! He +must certainly have done so." + +"He did! I can tell you that," returned Avelyn, and she confided to her +friend what her brothers had witnessed in the wood, how Mr. Hockheimer +had been on the point of burning the paper when Spring-heeled Jack had +appeared and run away with it. Pamela listened with intense eagerness. + +"That explains so much!" she gasped. "I don't know what was in the +letter, but I imagine it may have been my grandfather's will. If it was, +and he left the estate to Daddy, no wonder Uncle Fritz tried to burn it. +He didn't quite succeed, and this bogy-spectre-highwayman, or whatever +he is, has scooted off with it. Uncle knows it's still in existence, and +that any day it might be produced, and he might be turned out of the +Hall. He's trying to guard against that, and he's playing a very deep +game. He thinks that if he were to marry Mother, as he married poor Aunt +Dora, he'd secure the estate to himself a second time." + +"Does your Mother like him?" + +"Not really. I believe she's frightened of him. He makes her do anything +he tells her. You don't know how dreadfully worried I am about it. If I +had him for a stepfather I should run away. I'd rather join the gipsies +than live with him. Oh, if we could only get on the track of that paper! +Has nothing more been heard of Spring-heeled Jack?" + +"Nothing at all since the autumn. He appeared just for a short time, and +then vanished again." + +"And no one ever knew who he was?" + +"Not a soul." + +Pamela gave a long sigh. + +"He has the secret--whatever it is. Who knows whether I'll ever find it. +Ave," here Pamela lowered her voice, "I've got a secret too! I've been +longing and yearning to tell it to you--a dozen times I've had it on the +tip of my tongue, and then I've felt afraid and stopped. I kept waiting, +hoping to find out more, but I can't find out by myself. I want help." + +"What do you mean?" + +"Come, and I'll show you. We have the place to ourselves to-day. Uncle +is in town. I saw him going to the station this morning, so he's not +likely to burst in and interrupt us." + +Pamela rose and led the way down the garden to the stable where Avelyn +had surprised her before. It was locked, but she took a key from a +hiding-place under a stone, and undid the padlock. She motioned her +friend to go up the ladder, and followed her. The room above was a bare +loft. It was not quite empty, however, for in the corner stood a small +table, with an object on it that looked like the receiver of a +telephone. + +"Come here!" said Pamela. + +She took up the instrument and placed it on her friend's head. It had a +band which fitted across the forehead, and a receiver for each ear. A +cord connected it with the wall. + +"Do you hear anything?" asked Pamela. + +"Yes, a sort of humming." + +Pamela smiled significantly, and put back the instrument on the table. + +"What is it?" breathed Avelyn, rather awed. + +"Wireless messages. Uncle spends hours here." + +"Do you mean to say this is a wireless station?" + +Pamela nodded. + +"But they're not allowed." + +"I know that perfectly well." + +"If it were found out he could be arrested." + +"He deserves to be. Sometimes I wish he were." + +"Does your mother know?" + +"No, I'm sure she doesn't. She never comes to the stable, and if she did +she wouldn't climb the ladder. Sometimes Uncle is very keen about the +messages. He makes me stay here, with the receiver on my head, listening +for them, while he sits in the cottage talking to Mother, and drinking +brandy which he brings in a flask. When I hear that humming noise I have +to go and tell him, and he flies down to the stable." + +"Can you understand the messages?" + +"No. It's something like ordinary telegraphy, I suppose, and I don't +know the code. I wish I did." + +"I can't imagine how this wireless apparatus hasn't been discovered!" + +"It's so well hidden. The poles go right up among the boughs of the +tree." + +"I don't think you ought to keep this secret any longer, Pam." + +"No more do I, but I've never dared to tell it to a soul before. Uncle +would kill me if he knew I'd brought you in here to-day. What must I +do?" + +Avelyn hesitated. + +"I'd like to ask somebody. Could you come home with me this afternoon? +Can you leave the house?" + +"I'd lock the door and put the key under a stone, where Mother would +find it if she gets back first. Ave, I'm just about desperate! I'd do +anything to end the life I'm living now. There's treachery of some sort +going on, I believe, and I'm being wound up in it without my knowledge +and against my will. My father gave his life for his country. Is his +daughter to help to betray it? Never! Never in this world! I'd suffer +torture first. Oh, I wish I were braver! Sometimes I'm a terrible +coward, and I feel so horribly afraid of Uncle Fritz. You don't know how +he frightens me. My nerves are all on edge." + +"Come home with me, dear," said Avelyn soothingly. "If you'll let me ask +Mother, I believe she'd know what we ought to do." + +Pamela was very much upset, and seemed almost hysterical. Her hands +trembled, and she wiped tell-tale drops from her eyes. She climbed down +the ladder, padlocked the stable door again, went into the house for her +hat and the history book, locked the front door, hid the key in the +rockery, and pronounced herself ready to start. + +Avelyn was glad to have persuaded her so easily. Her own mind was in a +whirl. To have found a wireless telegraphy installation in the old +stable was indeed a discovery which would very seriously implicate Mr. +Hockheimer. The responsibility of the knowledge was too great to be +borne only by two schoolgirls; it must be shared by some older and wiser +person. + +The friends walked silently along the road. At the corner by the oak +wood they met David and Anthony. At sight of them the boys came running +forward in much excitement. + +"We've just seen Spring-heeled Jack again!" they cried. + +This was indeed a piece of news. Spring-heeled Jack, who had vanished +from the neighbourhood since the autumn! For the moment it even threw +wireless telegraphy into the shade. + +"Where? When?" exclaimed the girls eagerly. + +"Just a minute ago. We were up the bank there after a butterfly, and he +came bounding past and jumped into the wood." + +"Which way did he go?" + +Anthony pointed a stumpy finger to indicate the direction. Pamela set +her teeth. + +"I'm going after him," she announced. + +The Watsons stared at her amazed. Spring-heeled Jack had been the terror +of the village, and Pamela was not altogether conspicuous for courage. + +"I must find him! I must!" she continued. "It's the only chance of +getting that lost paper!" And climbing over the palings she scrambled +into the wood among the bracken. + +The Watsons were not a family to desert a chum. David and Anthony were +after her in half a second, and Avelyn followed as quickly as her +feminine skirts allowed. Her heart was beating violently. Whether the +object of their search was human or spectral he was equally a cause for +alarm. They could hear sounds higher up the wood. Pamela was running +fast and so were the boys. + +There was a sudden, unearthly yell, and a dark, masked figure came +bounding towards them in a series of wild leaps. Man, monkey, or bogy, +it jumped with incredible speed. The boys set up a shout and dashed +towards it, but it gave an enormous leap and sprang past them. It would +have got clean away but for a tangled bramble bush that broke its +course. The next moment it was sprawling among the bracken. The boys +rushed upon it, and while David pinned it down Anthony tore off the +black mask. To their utter amazement it revealed the well-known features +of their friend, Captain Harper. + +At the sight of their blank faces he burst out laughing. + +"The game's up at last!" he hinnied. "I saw it was you kids, and I +couldn't resist giving you a scare. I don't know that I meant to let you +find me out, though. If I hadn't tumbled I'd have got off. What have I +been masquerading like this for?" He suddenly looked grave. "That's a +little business of my own. I wanted to find out something, and I thought +I'd raise a rumour that might keep the woods clear of ordinary +trespassers. How did I do it? Easy enough, some theatrical togs I had by +me, and springs on my heels." + +"We've seen you before in this rig-out," volunteered Anthony. + +"When?" + +"When you pounced on Mr. Hockheimer and stopped him burning a letter." + +"We were there watching," echoed David. + +"Oh, have you got the paper still? It was mine!" cried Pamela +breathlessly. + +It was Captain Harper's turn to be astonished. + +"Yours! What had it to do with you?" he asked sharply. + +Pamela and Avelyn explained between them. He took a cigarette from his +pocket and lighted it as he listened. + +"This is quite another development," he commented. "Part of the paper +was burnt. I couldn't understand the drift of it." + +"Have you got it still?" besought Pamela. + +"No, I gave it to my superior officer. But if it is of such importance +as you say I could get it examined on your behalf. I'll speak to my +Colonel about it. It's worth investigating." + +"Pam!" said Avelyn impulsively, bending her head and whispering in her +friend's ear, "do you know, I believe it would be the best thing in the +world to tell Captain Harper what you've told me this afternoon. He'd +know better even than Mother what you ought to do." + +"You tell him--I daren't," faltered Pamela. + +If Captain Harper had been astonished before, he was doubly amazed now. + +"Great Scott! It's the very thing I've been on the scent of for this six +months!" he ejaculated. "We guessed there was a wireless somewhere over +here, but never could locate it. And to think I owe it to you kids! +Pamela, you're a true loyal little Englishwoman! I think you'll find +you'll pretty soon be rid of that precious uncle of yours." + +"What must I do about it?" asked Pamela, who was half crying. + +Captain Harper did not at once reply. He seemed cogitating. Then his +face cleared. + +"Nothing at present," he replied. "I pledge you all on your word of +honour to mention this business to nobody. We'll leave the wireless +where it is, and get the messages if possible--that's our game! Pamela, +could you manage to learn the Morse code if I taught you?" + +"I'd try." + +"I'll undertake you'd soon learn it. Then what you've got to do is to +listen at the receiver and report to us. I can tell you, you may be +working an uncommonly important little bit of business. Don't cry, +child! The fellow is only your uncle by marriage. He's no blood relation +of yours. Think of your father! You're doing your duty by your country +as every true-born Britisher ought." + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +Pamela's Night Walk + + +Pamela went back to Moss Cottage with new courage. The secret, which had +almost overwhelmed her when she had tried to bear it alone, assumed a +different aspect now she shared it with her friends. Captain Harper had +taken the full responsibility of the affair, and as one of His Majesty's +officers she knew he could be trusted. She placed herself entirely in +his hands, and followed his directions implicitly. To keep watch without +arousing her uncle's suspicions was to be her present role. Under cover +of going to tea with the Watsons, she met Captain Harper at Walden, and +learnt from him the Morse code. Once she had mastered that, she was able +to write down some of the wireless messages. To her they were absolutely +unintelligible, for they were in cipher, but she made a faithful record +of what she heard through the receiver, and sent it by David or Anthony +to the young officer. + +For the moment Captain Harper acknowledged himself baffled. + +"We have the keys to a number of ciphers, but there's one here we don't +understand. It's solely for this reason we're allowing this wireless +apparatus at Moss Cottage to remain where it is. Pamela must use all +her ingenuity to discover the key to the cipher. She's the only person +who has the opportunity of doing so. If we were to arrest Mr. Hockheimer +at once we might or might not find treasonable papers upon him. It is +doubtful if we should learn his secret." + +To David and Anthony the affair was of the supremest interest. They +envied Pamela her unique chance of serving her country. They were glad +enough to be employed as carriers, and would take the notes from her +when they met her in the morning, and, according to arrangement, convey +them to Captain Harper. Sometimes they took them direct to the Camp, +after they returned from school, and sometimes they handed them to an +orderly who would be strolling about near the station. As for Pamela, +she lived from day to day in a ferment of expectation, waiting and +watching for her opportunity. And one evening she found it. Mr. +Hockheimer had come, as was his custom, to Moss Cottage, and had set his +niece to listen for messages while he took his ease in the house. For an +hour or more Pamela had sat with the receiver to her ears, but had heard +nothing. At last came the familiar humming. She jotted down the letters, +put the paper safely in her pocket, and ran up the garden to warn her +uncle. That night he had been drinking more heavily than usual. He +lurched in his walk as he approached the stable, and it was with +difficulty that he climbed the ladder. Pamela followed him nervously. +His hands shook as he fitted on the receiver, but he nevertheless took +down the message. Then he paused, and seemed to be calculating +something out on the paper. She crept a little nearer. He was too +muddled to realize her approach. She peeped over his shoulder unnoticed. +In his half-drunken condition he was working out the cipher and writing +it down. She copied it word by word. It was in German. + + "U-boot auf Aermelmeere heute Abend. Zeigen Licht auf + Berry Head." + +Pamela backed away cautiously towards the ladder. Just as she reached it +her uncle turned round and called to her. + +"Give me a hand, Pam! Don't feel--very well to-night," he stammered +thickly. "Got to go out, too. Must go home and get the car. Little store +of petrol they don't know about! And I shan't tell them either!" (He +hinnied at his own joke.) "Give me your hand." + +He leaned heavily on his niece, and she helped him down the ladder. She +watched him as he stumbled along the narrow path in the darkness. He +called to her, but she did not follow him to the cottage. Instead, she +went to the palings and scrambled over into the high road. She surmised +that she had surprised a most important secret, one which she felt must +be communicated at once to head-quarters. It was absolutely necessary +that Captain Harper should know of this. By warning him in time she +might prevent some great disaster. She must get to the Camp as quickly +as possible. It was late, long past eleven o'clock (Mr. Hockheimer had +had no compunction in keeping his niece out of bed to mind his +business), and the night was moonless. Pamela shuddered as she thought +of the long, lonely walk before her. Could she find the Camp in the +dark? A sudden inspiration struck her. She would hurry to the Watsons +instead and ask one of the boys to go on a bicycle. She ran almost all +the way along the familiar road to Walden. She found the house shut up +and the family gone to bed, but she made a rat-tat with the knocker that +soon roused them. + +"What is it?" cried David out of the window. + +"It's I--Pamela! I've brought news!" she gasped. + +The Watsons were downstairs directly. They listened breathlessly to the +story she had to tell. David and Anthony hurried to the outhouse for +their bicycles, and set off at once for the Camp to find Captain Harper. +Who could say how much might depend on their speed? + +Pamela watched them go with a feeling of intense relief. Her part of the +business was finished; she had now set the machinery in motion that +would accomplish the rest. The reaction after the intense strain was so +great that she burst into tears. + +"I must go home!" she sobbed. "Mother will think I am lost!" + +"Daphne and I will go with you. I can't let you walk back alone at this +time of night," said Mrs. Watson kindly. "If you'll take my advice, +dear, you'll tell your mother everything now. She ought to know." + +Pamela's friends escorted her to the door of Moss Cottage and left her +there. What explanation she gave to her mother they never knew. They +feared there was great unpleasantness in store for the Reynolds, for Mr. +Hockheimer was sure to be arrested, and the fact that it must be through +his niece's instrumentality only seemed to make matters worse. David and +Anthony returned with the news that they had roused Captain Harper at +the Camp, and that after reading the message he had ridden off +immediately upon his motor bicycle. They went to bed wondering what +would be happening while they slept. + +The boys looked out for Pamela next morning on the road to the station, +but she was not there. The train for once went without her. They spent +an agitated day at school and hurried back from Netherton that afternoon +at topmost speed. They found Captain Harper in the garden at Walden. He +looked very grave. + +"Do you know what that message was you brought me?" he asked. +"Translated into English it meant, 'U-boat in Channel to-night. Show +light on Berry Head.' I hear a certain important vessel had an extremely +narrow escape last night. The wireless apparatus at Moss Cottage has +been taken down already. The police went up there this morning." + +"And Mr. Hockheimer?" + +Captain Harper knocked the end off his cigarette before he answered. + +"Mr. Hockheimer has gone to settle his great account. He and his car +were found in the river at Chadwick this morning. The road turns at a +very sharp angle there on to the bridge, and it is thought that in the +darkness he missed his way and went over the bank. There is not a shadow +of doubt that he was going to give signals to the enemy. We had long +suspected him as a spy, and part of my business down here had been to +watch him. In the circumstances this has been the most merciful thing +that could have happened. For the sake of the Reynolds we are hushing +the matter up. There is no need for it to be bruited about the +neighbourhood. Your family are the only people who have any knowledge of +the affair. I can trust you to keep it from going further." + +"On our honour!" the boys assured him. + +The "sad fatality at Chadwick Bridge" made a sensation in the local +newspapers. An inquest was held on Mr. Hockheimer, and a verdict of +"Death from misadventure" returned. Though many people in the +neighbourhood may have had their suspicions as to the nature of his +errand on that dark night, no evidence of an incriminating nature was +brought before the coroner. He was buried at Lyngates in the Reynolds's +family vault, where his wife had been carried two years before. He had +left no will, and the question of who was to inherit the Lyngates +property might be a matter for Chancery to settle. By the advice of the +old solicitor who had managed the estate for many years, Mrs. Reynolds +and Pamela took temporary possession of the Hall until a claim could be +set up on their behalf. At the time of Squire Reynolds's death it had +been the current gossip of the village that some later will than the +one proved must be in existence. If such a will had been made, however, +it had never been found. The only possible clue seemed to be the letter +that David and Anthony had found inside the Latin dictionary, which had +fallen into the hands of Mr. Hockheimer, and had been so strangely +rescued from destruction by Captain Harper when masquerading as +Spring-heeled Jack. The latter reported that at the time he had examined +the half-burnt sheet, anticipating that it might contain treasonable +correspondence, but had been unable to make sense of it. In accordance +with instructions he had handed it over to his Colonel, and he supposed +it would now be filed in the Secret Service Department. Red tape might +prevent repossession of the original, but he was using his influence to +obtain a copy. After considerable delay a reply came from the War Office +to the effect that the paper in question appeared to have been partially +burnt, but that the remaining fragment ran as follows:-- + + bitter thoughts against you, but + love for your country has + are, and I am ready to acknowledge your + to see them, should they ever come to + gones shall be bygones now. I am + in your favour, and shall put it + is sure to be found, + both die, they will be provided + +[Illustration: WHO COULD SAY HOW MUCH MIGHT DEPEND ON THEIR SPEED?] + +"I'm afraid it's no use in a court of law, Pamela," said Captain Harper, +as he showed her the copy of the paper. "It's the merest scrap. By +imagining the missing words we might make it into something like this; +but imagination won't give it legal value. Here's what I fancy it may +have been:" + + I own I held hard and / bitter thoughts against you, but + now I feel that your / love for your country has + shown me what you / are, and I am ready to acknowledge your + wife and child, and / to see them, should they ever come to + England. By / gones shall be bygones now. I am + making a new will / in your favour, and shall put it + in a place where it / is sure to be found, + so that should we / both die, they will be provided + for. / + +"If this surmise is correct," continued Captain Harper, "and there +really was a new will, it may possibly be hidden somewhere at the Hall." + +"We've searched everywhere," said Pamela sadly. "Two lawyer's clerks +have been here and gone through every morsel of paper in the house, and +turned out every drawer and cupboard. I think myself that perhaps Uncle +Fritz may have found it and destroyed it. Mother and I spend all our +spare time looking, but we never have any luck. I don't think we're +lucky people. We seem just to have misfortune after misfortune. It has +always been like this all our lives." + +"Cheer up! It's a long lane that has no turning," comforted Captain +Harper. "I advise you to show this paper to your solicitor, though I'm +afraid it's nothing to go by." + +Pamela's affairs did indeed seem to have reached a crisis. Her fortunes +were much discussed in the neighbourhood, and general opinion decided +that she would have difficulty in establishing legally her right to what +undoubtedly ought to be hers. Several naturalized German relations of +Mr. Hockheimer had put in counter-claims for the estate. There was +likely to be a long and expensive lawsuit before the case was settled. + +Then one day a wonderful thing occurred--an utterly unexpected and +marvellous thing, but one that--thank God!--has happened in other +families since the war began. The postwoman who delivered the letter did +not know that it differed from other letters; she popped it through the +slit in the front door and rang the bell as usual, and went on her way, +all unsuspecting what news she had left behind her. Yet when Mrs. +Reynolds saw the handwriting on the envelope she gave a little sharp cry +and fainted away. Pamela did not go to school that day nor the next. She +wrote to Avelyn to explain her absence. The latter read the letter twice +before her amazed brain could really grasp its contents. + + "MY DEAR AVE, + + "I hardly know how to tell you our good luck. Daddy is alive! He + wasn't killed at Mons after all. He was taken prisoner and never + reported. He was kept most fearfully strictly in a fortress and + allowed no news of the outside world. He and a companion spent + eighteen months making a tunnel out of their cell, and after + simply thrilling adventures they escaped, and swam a river and + got into Swiss territory. He's coming home, and Mother and I are + going up to London to meet him. We're almost off our heads! + + "Will you please tell Miss Thompson this is why I'm not at + school? We start for town to-morrow morning. + + "Much love from + "PAM." + +It was indeed a most happy ending to all the troubles of poor Mrs. +Reynolds and Pamela. By the will which had already been proved, Captain +Reynolds inherited his father's estate, which had only passed to the +daughter Dora in default of a male heir. He was soon able to settle up +the legal side of the matter and to obtain formal possession of the +whole property. + +"I've made my own will now, and left everything safely tied up for you +and your Mother before I go out to the front again," he told his +daughter. + +"Oh, Daddy! must you leave us and go back to France?" wailed Pamela. + +"Every hour I spent in that fortress, Pam, made me all the more resolved +to help to fight this war to the finish. Would you want me to shirk and +fail my country? I know you better than that. Tell me again what you +told me in 1914." + +And Pamela stood up straight, and with a light in her eyes repeated: + + "Though it tear and break my heart + I let you go. + When the Motherland is calling, + Be it so! + Let my own poor need and grief + Be set aside, + That justice and the right + May now abide. + + "God put courage and true might + In your arm! + May His mercy keep your life + Safe from harm! + Every hour my earnest prayer + Shall be this: + May we meet and greet again + With a kiss." + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +The Lecture Hall is Dedicated + + +Ever since the laying of the foundation stone in January the new Lecture +Hall had been in process of construction. Owing to the war, and the +scarcity of labour, it made slow progress. Sometimes the building went +on with a spurt, and sometimes for weeks nothing at all was done. Those +optimists who had prophesied that it would be in readiness after the +Easter holidays found themselves much mistaken. After innumerable delays +and disappointments, however, the place was finished by the end of the +summer term, and Miss Thompson decided to combine its opening with the +annual prize-giving. + +The double function marked a great occasion in the annals of the school. +The increased accommodation would allow a large gathering, and many +invitations were sent forth. It was even whispered that the chair was to +be taken by the local Member of Parliament. + +"Silverside's coming on no end!" said Consie Arkwright. "We never used +to have such grandees down. Miss Thompson used to be content with some +ordinary clergyman or elderly professor, to give the prizes, and now +she won't look at anybody below a bishop, or a mayor, or an M.P." + +"She loves these functions!" chuckled Joyce. "She's perfectly happy when +she has on her best dress and her company smile, and is showing off the +school to an admiring crowd of visitors. I won't say that I don't rather +enjoy it myself. It makes one feel in the world somehow. It's jolly nice +to think that Silverside is of so much importance in the town." + +"Bet we'll make a good show-up on Dedication Day!" commented Laura, who +had drifted into the conversation. "Hopscotch was saying something about +the whole school in white dresses and our badges. By the by, Miss +Thompson's got a little surprise for us. She's been having some +beautiful ribbon, in the school colours, specially woven for Silverside. +She showed it to Adah and me this morning in the study, and I can tell +you it's topping! We're each to have a piece of it for our hair, and +wear it on the great day, so that we all look alike. She's having new +hat bands woven, too, for next term. I think they'll be rather smart." + +"I begin to wish I wasn't leaving," said Isobel almost mournfully. +"Really, Silverside has been much jollier lately than it used to be. It +would have been ripping fun to stop another year and work up the hockey, +as we've done the cricket and tennis." + +"There'll be something to read out in the Games Report this time!" +purred Joyce. + +"It'll be precious!" agreed Consie. + +The Principal was naturally anxious that her pupils should make +a good display on so important an occasion. She arranged a very +carefully-thought-out programme of the ceremony. There were to be +speeches by local magnates, the School Report must be read, the hall +dedicated, and the prizes distributed. She decided that her pupils ought +to sing one or two suitable songs, and she came in to the singing class +one morning to discuss the matter with Miss Webster, and hear the girls +run through a few glees. She found it difficult to make a choice. + +"They're nice in their way, but not altogether what is needed. I should +have liked something really appropriate to a Dedication. In fact, I'm +afraid I want what I am not at all likely to get--a special song +composed for Silverside." + +"Could we adapt anything?" suggested Miss Webster, rapidly turning over +a pile of music, while the class, deeply interested, sat listening to +the discussion. + +"Not much use without new words. Pity we have no poet in the school! If +there had been time, I'd have written to a music publisher and asked if +it would be possible to have a song composed for us. It's too late now. +I wish I'd thought of it sooner!" + +"Oh, Miss Thompson," said Avelyn, suddenly springing to her feet and +blushing hotly at her own temerity, "I know a lady who writes songs! +She's very much interested in Silverside--I've told her so much about +it. I really believe if I asked her she'd make up just what you want. +She's quite clever enough to do it." + +Miss Thompson's convex glasses were focused on Avelyn in a stare of +astonished gratification. She literally jumped at the idea. + +"If you think your friend would really be so kind," she assented, "we +should be most grateful to her. Where does she live? At Lyngates? Then +write to her this afternoon, and see if you can persuade her to take +pity on us. I suppose she would know the sort of thing we want?" + +"I'll explain exactly," promised Avelyn, sitting down, conscious that in +the eyes of the class she had covered herself with glory. She was +excused "English language" that afternoon for the purpose of writing her +letter to Miss Carrington, and sat with her blotter--an object of much +envy--while the remainder of the form wrestled with Anglo-Saxon +derivations. + +"I don't think my Lavender Lady will fail me!" she murmured as she +stamped her envelope. "I believe it's just the sort of thing she'll like +doing." + +Avelyn's trust in her friend was amply justified. She received by return +of post a card bearing the words: "Highly honoured. Will do my best." + +"I knew she would--the dear, clever darling!" rejoiced Avelyn, waving +her post card in triumph as she ran down to the study to communicate the +good news to Miss Thompson. + +On Friday evening, when Avelyn called at the bungalow, the Lavender Lady +had a neat music manuscript ready for her. + +"I hope it will do," she said. "It's as far as possible what you asked +me for. I've tried to express a spirit of school patriotism and union in +the words, which seems to be the principal thing to aim at just now, and +I've arranged the music for three voices. You'll have to make copies of +it at school." + +"Miss Peters will do that with the duplicator," beamed Avelyn. "I do +think you're just the most absolutely lovely and clever and delicious +person that I've ever met, or ever shall meet, in all this wide world! +How do you manage to think of things? I couldn't compose a song to save +my life!" + +"Why, I really don't know! The ideas just float into my head somehow," +laughed the Lavender Lady. "As a matter of fact, this tune came to me in +bed, at about half-past two in the morning, and I was obliged to get up +and go downstairs to the piano to try it over and jot it down on paper +before I forgot it. I knew that if I went to sleep again it would escape +me. There's nothing so elusive as music. Yes, I'll try it over for you +if you like. It'll sound much better, though, in three parts. I hope +your first sopranos can reach A sharp? If not, I must set it in a lower +key, but I like it best in this." + +"They've got to get A sharp if they crack their voices!" decided Avelyn +firmly. + +The dedication and prize giving were to be held on the last afternoon of +the term, and guests were invited for 2.30 prompt. The girls, +resplendent in white dresses and the new hair ribbons, made a brave +show, and all were sitting discreetly in their places when the +distinguished visitors were ushered on to the platform. + +During the last six months a better tone and discipline had pervaded the +school, and there had been no repetition of the disorderly scene that +had preceded the laying of the foundation stone. Every pupil of +Silverside now prided herself upon her manners. It had become a matter +of _noblesse oblige_. + +Mr. Robson, the Member of Parliament for Harlingden, was a short, stout +man, with a bald head and a big moustache, and some gift of oratory. He +fulfilled with dignity his duties as chairman, and made a capital +speech, bringing in his views about education, and wishing Silverside +every success. A hundred and ten youthful pairs of hands clapped +obediently, though some of the most junior heads had not altogether +grasped the drift of the remarks. + +It was now the turn of the School Report. Miss Thompson, typed papers in +hand, was standing up and clearing her throat preparatory to reading it +aloud. + +Avelyn, in the fifth row from the front, turned her head and took a +comprehensive glance round the room. It was certainly a hall to be proud +of, looking both stately and festive with its decorations of flowers and +flags and its large palms upon the platform. She was glad that the +Lavender Lady should see it. Miss Carrington had come to the gathering +with Mrs. Watson and Daphne; Captain Harper and Captain and Mrs. +Reynolds were sitting next to them. They caught Avelyn's eye, and smiled +as she looked across, then concentrated their attention on the platform, +where Miss Thompson was beginning to read the report. + +The Principal first of all described the general work of the school, +what successes had been gained in public examinations, and what record +each Form could show. The average of marks was high, and both mistresses +and pupils might be congratulated on their efforts during the year. +After commenting on the improvement which had also been made in music, +part singing, drawing, and painting, Miss Thompson passed to the subject +of games. + +"I am very glad to say," so ran the report, "that on its athletic as +well as its intellectual side the school is now holding its own. During +the winter season little was done in that respect, but with the spring a +great games revival took place, and the 'Loyal School League' was +instituted, the object of which was to win honours for Silverside. I +heartily congratulate the League both on the spirit of union and school +patriotism which it has fostered and on the successes which it has won. +The cricket throughout has been most spirited, and great thanks are due +to Miss Leslie and Miss Kennedy for their admirable help in coaching. +Out of six matches the school scored four victories, a very creditable +record for a first season. In tennis also we are beginning to take our +place. The improvement of the general play is most marked, and we hope +to have established a new standard of energy and efficiency. Our +champions were successful in defeating Pendlebury Ladies' College and +Westfield High School; a match was also played with the Clifford Girls' +Grammar School, which resulted in a draw. As we consider games to be an +extremely important item in our curriculum, we hope that this term's +strenuous effort has established a precedent in this respect, and that +the League will go on to greater triumphs in the future." + +After the report came the distribution of prizes and Form trophies. VA +won a beautiful picture for a wild-flower competition; IVB gained the +cup for general improvement; and the Sixth the shield for knowledge of +contemporary events; while among individual successes Adah Gartley, +Annie Broadside, Maggie Stuart, Laura Talbot, and Irma Ridley were +called up to receive rewards of books. + +"I am asked to announce," said the chairman, "that Miss Thompson and the +mistresses have presented a new gift to the school. This beautiful +silver cup is to be awarded annually to the girl who is considered to +have performed the greatest service for Silverside during the year. The +first to win it is Avelyn Watson, to whose enterprise and energy in +initiating the 'Loyal School League' much of the present success in +games may fairly be credited. I congratulate you," beaming at Avelyn as +he handed her the trophy, "that yours is the first name to be engraved +upon the cup." + +Avelyn walked back to her place almost overwhelmed by the unexpected +honour. It was a complete surprise, for the mistresses had kept their +secret well, and had allowed no word of it to leak out beforehand. The +storm of clapping from the girls showed that the trophy, and the choice +of its winner, were equally appreciated. There could be no mistake about +the genuine cordiality of the applause. + +"May I say, in conclusion," finished Mr. Robson, "that the part song +which will now be rendered by the singing class has been composed +specially for this occasion by a well-known musician, and that +henceforward it will take its place as what we might call the national +anthem of Silverside, to be sung at all school functions." + +Miss Webster struck a chord on the piano, and the singing class rose. +The sunlight flooding through the window shone on their white dresses +and the colours that tied their hair. There were a few bars of prelude, +then, to a swinging, rousing, and most original tune, they sang: + + "Girls of Silverside! + Hear us as we sing: + With the praises of our school + Let the rafters ring. + Loyal hearts and true + Bring we here to-day, + Chanting as our battle-cry, + 'Silverside for aye!' + So join your hands and join your hearts, + And form a circle wide, + Let Silverside be all your pride, + Girls of Silverside! + + "Girls of Silverside! + True you are and leal, + Each must strive her noble best + For the common weal. + Banish thoughts of self, + Make your interests wide, + Be the glory that you gain + All for Silverside. + So join your hands and join your hearts, + And form a circle wide, + Let Silverside be all your pride, + Girls of Silverside! + + "Girls of Silverside! + For the good and right, + Here and in the wider world + Let us all unite. + To your strenuous care + Our honour we confide, + Let your lives be such as bring + Praise to Silverside. + So join your hands and join your hearts, + And form a circle wide, + Let Silverside be all your pride, + Girls of Silverside!" + +When the function was over, and mistresses, visitors, and girls streamed +out of the new Lecture Hall, Avelyn's steps gravitated at once towards +her Lavender Lady. + +"Your song was beautiful," she whispered. "Everybody says it's the best +tune they've heard for ages--it haunts us, we can't get it out of our +heads for a minute! Miss Webster says she could play it in her sleep. It +was just what we wanted--something specially for Silverside!" + +"I'm glad it went off all right. Let me look at your cup. You lucky +girl! Just to think that 'Avelyn Watson' is the very first name to be +engraved upon it! Where are you going to keep such a treasure?" + +"I shall take it home for the holidays, and then have it in our form +room next term. If you don't mind, I'd like it to spend a week at the +bungalow. I feel it was you who really won it, not I. The League was +your idea entirely. Even if I'd thought of it I should never have had +the courage to propose it, if it hadn't been for you. You inspired it +all! May the cup stand on your mantelpiece for a whole week?" + +"Only on one condition--that you come and stay with me to take care of +it!" + +"Oh! may I? I'd love to stay with you and have you all to myself." +Avelyn's eyes were shining. + +"Hallo, old sport!" said Laura, coming rollicking up with Irma, Janet, +Mona, and a few other congenial spirits. "Congratulations! We didn't +know Miss Thompson had this cup up her sleeve, did we? Jolly decent of +her and the mistresses, I must say! We ought to subscribe and buy a +bracket to put it on. Won't it look fine when it's up, rather! Some of +the old girls are here to-day, and Miss Thompson's been telling them +about the League. They think it's topping!" + +"And they say our hair ribbons are just too jinky for anything," added +Janet. + +"Glad to hear they like them," said Avelyn, twisting round her plait +and readjusting the broad bow of pink, blue, and navy. "Yes, on the +whole, I really think it's rather priceless to have our hair tied with +the school colours." + +"It stands for so much," put in the Lavender Lady gently. + +"Right you are! We're all hall-marked safe and sound now for a united +Silverside," agreed Laura. "Next term our school will just forge ahead +and break the record." + + + + +Printed and Bound in Great Britain +_By Blackie & Son, Limited, Glasgow_ + + + + + * * * * * + + + + +Transcriber's Note: + + Hyphenation has been retained as it appears in the original + publication. Punctuation has been made consistent. + + Page 41 and an upper story containing _changed to_ + and an upper storey containing + + Page 157 I wonder we've not see you _changed to_ + I wonder we've not seen you + + Page 171 All four girls were busy packing _changed to_ + All five girls were busy packing + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FOR THE SCHOOL COLOURS*** + + +******* This file should be named 35972.txt or 35972.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/3/5/9/7/35972 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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