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diff --git a/37161.txt b/37161.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..feb8902 --- /dev/null +++ b/37161.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8424 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Girls of St. Cyprian's, by Angela Brazil + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Girls of St. Cyprian's + A Tale of School Life + +Author: Angela Brazil + +Illustrator: Stanley Davis + +Release Date: August 22, 2011 [EBook #37161] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GIRLS OF ST. CYPRIAN'S *** + + + + +Produced by Suzanne Shell, Mary Meehan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + + The Girls of St. Cyprian's + + A Tale of School Life + + BY ANGELA BRAZIL + +Author of "The School by the Sea," "The Leader of the Lower School," "The +Youngest Girl in the Fifth," &c. &c. + + _Illustrated by Stanley Davis_ + + + BLACKIE AND SON LIMITED + LONDON GLASGOW AND BOMBAY + + + + +[Illustration: "'SO I'VE WON, EVEN WITHOUT YOUR VOTE,' SAID LOTTIE TO +MILDRED WITH A SPICE OF TRIUMPH IN HER TONE"] + + + + +Contents + + + + I. THE UNITED SCHOOLS ALLIANCE 9 + + II. ST. CYPRIAN'S COLLEGE 23 + + III. THE STORY OF A VIOLIN 35 + + IV. CONCERNS VA 49 + + V. AN ADVERTISEMENT COMPETITION 61 + + VI. A CHANCE MEETING 73 + + VII. A SCHOOL EISTEDDFOD 85 + + VIII. ST. CYPRIAN'S VERSUS TEMPLETON 102 + + IX. THE STUDENTS' CONCERT 117 + + X. CHANGES 131 + + XI. THE TOWERS 142 + + XII. AT TIVERTON KEEP 154 + + XIII. A COLONIAL COUSIN 165 + + XIV. MILDRED'S CHOICE 173 + + XV. MONITRESS MILDRED 190 + + XVI. THE AUTUMN TERM 204 + + XVII. THE ALLIANCE EXHIBITION 218 + + XVIII. TWELFTH NIGHT REVELS 233 + + XIX. WINTER SPORTS 247 + + XX. A MUSICAL SCHOLARSHIP 262 + + XXI. HARVEST 277 + + + + + +Illustrations + + + "'SO I'VE WON, EVEN WITHOUT YOUR VOTE,' SAID + LOTTIE TO MILDRED WITH A SPICE OF TRIUMPH IN HER + TONE" _FRONTISPIECE_ 21 + + TANTIE TELLS MILDRED THE HISTORY OF HER + VIOLIN, WHICH IS A VERY OLD AND VALUABLE ONE MADE + BY STRADIVARIUS HIMSELF 39 + + HERR HOFFMANN TELLS MILDRED THAT SHE IS TO PLAY + AT THE PUBLIC RECITAL IN THE TOWN HALL 80 + + MILDRED IS MET BY HER UNCLE, SIR DARCY LORRAINE, + AT THE STATION 143 + + "'HI! DANGER!' HE YELLED TO DICCON, WHO WAS ABOUT + TO START DOWN THE TRACK" 253 + + MILDRED IS TOLD THAT SHE HAS WON THE THREE YEARS' + SCHOLARSHIP IN THE BERLIN CONSERVATOIRE 276 + + + + +THE GIRLS OF ST. CYPRIAN'S + + + + +CHAPTER I + +The United Schools Alliance + + +"If there's one slack, slow business in this wide world," said Bess +Harrison, stretching her arms in the exigencies of a combined sigh and +prodigious yawn, "it's coming back to school after the Easter holidays. +Tame isn't the word for it! It's absolute milk and water. September +start is some sport, because one's generally in a fresh form, and there +are always changes; and even January is fairly lively; but now! Why, +there's scarcely even a new girl to make a small excitement, and +altogether it's about as stale as beginning again after half-term +week-end." + +"Worse," agreed Maggie Orton. "At half-term one hasn't had time to get +out of things. One feels a little sorry for oneself, but that's all. But +when one's had nearly three weeks off it's far harder to fall into +harness again." + +"And the burden's heavier!" urged Mona Bradley. "I've just told Miss +Pollock so. We don't start in September with such a grind. No! They keep +laying straw after straw on our unfortunate backs, here an exercise and +there a problem, or some bit of extra prep., till in the aggregate it's +more than mortal girl can bear! We're victims of over-pressure--that's +what it is!" + +"You don't look a victim--with cheeks like two streaky red American +apples!" laughed Maudie Stearne. + +"Appearances are deceptive, my good child! You'll often find the thin, +wiry sort of folk can stand more than the nice, plump, rosy ones. As for +me, I contend that this special botany class is the last straw. The +camel's back is bending visibly, and I mean to throw over either Latin +or music." + +"Not music, surely!" said Kitty Fletcher. "Why, you'd miss half the fun +of the school! You'd be out of all concerts and choral meetings, and you +needn't flatter yourself the Dramatic would take you up instead. No, +you'd just have to squat with the kids, and act audience, and I don't +think that's much in your line, Mona Bradley! You're not the one to +covet a back seat, as a rule." + +"Why, of course I didn't intend to be out of the concerts," protested +Mona plaintively. "I only thought I might drop my lessons and give up +practising for a while--just during the tennis season, you know." + +"Oh! I dare say! And you think Miss Jackson will let you play at +recitals when you've never practised a note? Happy are the ignorant, +indeed! Don't you know she wouldn't allow Margaret Hales a part in that +trio, when poor old Mag had only been away ten days with 'flu'? As for +putting on a girl who actually wasn't having lessons, why, the idea's +preposterous! No, take your granny's advice, and knock off maths, or +chemistry, or anything you can induce Miss Cartwright to let you throw +overboard, but stick tight to your piano." + +"True, O Queen! Yours are the words of wisdom, I admit. It's the +half-hour's practising before breakfast that I so particularly loathe +and abhor." + +"Well, now the mornings are light, you needn't growl!" + +"What a Mentor you are! You'll be quoting Dr. Watts to me next: + + "'Tis the voice of the sluggard, I heard him complain, + 'You have waked me too soon, I must slumber again!' + +I don't mind confessing that I hate getting up in the mornings; however +sunny they are, it makes no difference. And to have to do it every day +for a whole term, and peg away at scales and arpeggios! Ugh! I sometimes +wish I'd been born a savage in Central Africa!" + +"Then they'd have made you learn the tom-tom, and no doubt that's an +instrument that needs perseverance. You can't get out of it, Mona mine! +I see nothing for you but a dreary prospect of early rising, and the +pursuit of five-finger exercises. It's your hard, cruel, inexorable +fate, the chain from which you can't escape." + +Mona laughed rather unwillingly: her mirth was never very spontaneous. + +"I know it's slavery! Well, I suppose I must live for the summer +holidays! They let me lie in bed as long as I like, and it's my ideal of +bliss." + +"Then keep it, you old slacker!" said Bess Harrison. "We'll leave you to +your dreams of a Mahomet's paradise. I like something livelier, and to +go back to my original proposition, I think every school ought to +provide a new sensation after the Easter holidays, just to wake us up, +and keep us from stagnating." + +"Of course there are tennis and cricket this term," suggested Maggie +Orton, half apologetically. + +"That I admit--but so far at St. Cyprian's we've only carried them on +rather languidly. I wouldn't for the world confess it outside, but +between ourselves I don't mind saying that we're far and away behind +other schools at games. In music I grant you we can give anyone the +lead, in languages we're fair, but at athletics we're a set of duffers." + +"We oughtn't to be, then!" exploded Nell Hayward. "We're surely as +physically fit as most girls, and if we laid ourselves out to train we'd +astonish people. It's merely a matter of management. No one's bothered +much about it before, or tried to keep us up to the mark, so of course +we slacked. It's not our fault!" + +"But the fact unfortunately remains the same!" + +"We want some new life, certainly, put into the tennis and cricket," +said Maudie Stearne. "Something to make it go. It's never been the same +since Miss Pritchard left." + +"She was A1." + +"We shan't get another Miss Pritchard!" + +"None of the Sixth seem over-keen." + +"We may make up our minds that St. Cyprian's is no good at games!" + +"Cease these jeremiads!" interposed Kitty Fletcher. "I'll tell you +something to cheer you up. Yes, it's news--real, creditable, veritable +news! Why didn't I tell it before? Because I've been keeping it up my +sleeve for the pleasure of giving you a complete surprise." + +"Are we to have a professional to coach us?" + +"Or a special games mistress?" + +"Are several female athletes going to join the school?" + +"Go on, Kit, and tell, can't you?" + +"I haven't heard of either athletes or games mistress, but Miss +Cartwright has a grand scheme on hand. We and five other schools are to +join together in an alliance, and to meet each other for all kinds of +things--hockey, cricket, tennis, concerts, debates, photography, +gymnasium, arts and crafts, everything that's going, in fact." + +"A kind of Olympic contest? Oh, what sport!" + +"Exactly. You see, one school's generally keen on one thing, and another +on something else. This is supposed to spur us on, and make us more 'all +roundish'." + +"Hem--a little wholesome competition!" quoted Maudie, with a fair +imitation of Miss Cartwright's rather scholastic voice. + +"You put it in a nutshell. We won't call it rivalry, but it would +certainly touch us up to be beaten in anything by Newington Green or +Marston Grove!" + +"Ra--ther!" + +"And no doubt they'd feel the same, so it will put us all on our +mettle." + +"I think it's a gorgeous idea; but how's it going to be run?" + +"That's just the point. Each school is to have its own separate +committee, and then send delegates to a general committee. There are to +be five departments: Musical, Dramatic, Arts and Handicrafts, Literary, +and Games, and we're to choose two delegates for each." + +"Who's to do the choosing? Miss Cartwright?" + +"No, it's to be put to the vote of the upper school. One must be from +the Sixth and one from the Fifth, each form to vote for its own +delegate." + +"That sounds fair enough." + +"Can we choose the same delegate for two subjects?" + +"I shouldn't think so." + +"Let me see--Musical, Dramatic, Arts and Handicrafts, Literary, and +Games," said Maudie Stearne, ticking them off on her fingers. "Yes, I +have somebody in my mind's eye for each. Mildred Lancaster, of course, +for music." + +"Mildred Lancaster? No, Lottie Lowman." + +"She's not in it with Mildred." + +"But she's a better organizer. There's no comparison, in my opinion." + +"Nor in mine." + +"Talk of people and they're sure to turn up! Here they both come." + +"And as different as chalk from cheese!" murmured Maudie under her +breath. + +The two class-mates who entered the room at that moment were certainly +entirely unlike as regards personal appearance, and the dissimilarity +went deeper. Lottie Lowman, the elder by six months, was a brisk, +alert-looking girl with a fresh complexion, a rather long, pointed nose, +a thin mouth, and a square, determined chin. Her forehead was broad and +intelligent, her light hazel eyes were very bright and sparkling, and +her brown hair held just a suggestion of chestnut in the warmth of its +colouring. Lottie's general effect was one of extreme vivacity. She +loved to talk, and could say sharp things on occasion--there was hardly +a girl in the Form who had not quailed before her tongue--and above all +she adored popularity. To be a general favourite at once with +mistresses, companions, and the Lower School was her chief aim, and she +spared no trouble in the pursuit. Her flippant gaiety appealed to a +large section of the Form, her humorous remarks were amusing, even +though a sting lurked in them, and if her accomplishments were +superficial, they made a far better show than the more-solid +acquirements of others. She could do a little of everything, and had +such perfect assurance that no touch of shyness ever marred her +achievements. She knew absolutely how to make the best of herself, and +she had a _savoir faire_ and precocious knowledge of the world decidedly +in advance of her sixteen years. + +Mildred Lancaster, though only six months Lottie's junior, seemed a baby +in comparison, where mundane matters were concerned. She was slightly +built and rather delicate-looking, with a pale, eager face, a pair of +beautiful, expressive brown eyes, and a quantity of silky, soft, +dull-gold hair, with a natural ripple in it. The far-away look in the +dark eyes, and the set of the sensitive little mouth, suggested that +highly-strung artistic temperament which may prove either the greatest +joy or the utmost hindrance to its possessor. Mildred was dreamy and +unpractical to a fault, the kind of girl who in popular parlance needs +to be "well shaken up" at school, and whose imagination is apt to outrun +her performance. Gifted to an unusual degree in music, at which she +worked by fits and starts, her lack of general confidence was a great +impediment, and often a serious handicap where any public demonstration +was concerned. The feeling of having an audience, which was like the +elixir of life to Lottie, filled Mildred with dismay, and was apt to +spoil her best efforts. + +The two girls, who had already heard of Miss Cartwright's scheme, came +into the room full of the exciting news, and anxious to discuss it with +their class-mates. + +"The very thing for St. Cyprian's!" declared Lottie. "I'll undertake +we'll give the other schools points! 'Nulli secundus,' second to none, +shall be our motto. We'll practise and rehearse till we're tiptop, and +can take the shine out of anybody. The five departments give such +splendid opportunities. When's the election, by the by?" + +"To-day at four," said Mildred. "And Miss Cartwright has just made up +her mind that VB is to vote. She says it will be fairer, and give a +better representation of the school." + +"Oh, goody! We shall have to hurry up about canvassing." + +"Is there to be canvassing?" objected Mona Bradley. "I thought Miss +Cartwright didn't like it?" + +"We can't get on without it," said Lottie promptly. "Why, how else are +you going to put the candidates' points to the electors? There are so +many things to be considered if you take an all-round view. Besides, the +fun of it! We'll have speeches!" + +"Tub oratory's a cheap way of catching the crowd!" growled Kitty +Fletcher. + +"You shall give us a deep discourse, then!" flared Lottie. "No doubt +you'll convince VB with some learned remarks. Well, if anything's to be +done, we'd better be doing. Nell, old girl, you'll be on my side? Let's +come and organize a plan of campaign. O jubilate! Here are the others!" + +About seven more girls entered the room at the moment, all hotly +engrossed in the new scheme, and anxious to discuss it. The company +broke into groups, representing fairly well the various sets of the +Form, and began eagerly to weigh the advantages and disadvantages of the +various members proposed for the delegateships. + +"It's a responsibility," said Kitty Fletcher, "because a good leader is +half the battle. Don't let's allow any personal feeling to creep in. +Vote for your enemy, if she's 'the man for the job'." + +"May we vote for ourselves?" chirruped Eve Mitchell. "Oh, there! I was +only in fun!" as the general scorn of the Form descended upon her. +"Don't utterly spiflicate me! I'm not going to write 'Eve Mitchell' on +all my five papers! Honest, I'm not!" + +"You've a good chance for the Music, Mildred," whispered Kitty to her +friend. "There isn't a girl in the school can play like you, and they +know it. I'll back you up for that, if you'll put in a word for me at +Games--that's all I'm good for!" + +"And enough too," replied Mildred, "considering we can only be a +delegate for one subject. I'll do my very best, Kit. I'll go at eleven +and harangue some of those slackers in VB. Joan Richards and you would +make an ideal couple; you'd work well together, and pull up the standard +to what it was before Miss Pritchard left. Trust me to do all I can!" + +There was little time for canvassing if the election were to take place +at four o'clock on that very day. Perhaps Miss Cartwright had +intentionally arranged it so, wishing to avoid too great seeking for +favour among the girls. Competition she considered wholesome, but she +did not want it to degenerate into rivalry. At eleven o'clock "break", +and during the dinner interval, the supporters of the various +prospective delegates worked hard, impressing the merits of their +particular candidates upon the electors, and trying to secure promises +of votes. The poll was only to be among the members of the Upper School, +who, in the Principal's opinion, were likely to be better judges of each +other's capabilities than would the younger girls. Juniors, she argued, +might be swayed too easily by influence, but she trusted to her seniors +to take an open-minded and unbiased view of the situation. + +Soon after four o'clock, therefore, Forms VI, VA, and VB assembled in +the lecture hall. A monitress dealt out papers, and in a moment or two +Miss Cartwright, the Principal, stepped on to the platform. + +"I should like to remind you, girls, of the few essential rules of our +election," she began. "They are very simple. No one, of course, must +vote for herself. Each girl is put on her honour not to be influenced by +personal bias, but to choose for the good of the school. On your papers +you will find five divisions--Musical, Literary, Dramatic, Arts and +Handicrafts, and Games. Opposite each you are to write the names of one +member of the Sixth Form and one of the Fifth. You must sign your own +name to the paper, but this will be treated as confidential. I shall +myself count the results." + +"You vote for me, Mildred, for the Musical, and I'll vote for you," +whispered Lottie Lowman, who happened to be sitting next to Mildred +Lancaster. "We can't vote for ourselves, so exchange is no robbery, is +it?" + +Mildred coloured with embarrassment. She had already scribbled "Maudie +Stearne" on her paper, not "Lottie Lowman", and it was tiresome to be +thus cornered. + +"These are the secrets of the confessional!" she murmured, trying to +pass it off as a joke. + +"Nonsense! We can't be so strict as all that. See, I've put 'Mildred +Lancaster'. Let me look at yours." + +As Lottie advanced her paper, Mildred hastily snatched hers away, but +not before her companion had obtained a glance which told her of its +contents. The slight rustle attracted the notice of Miss Cartwright, who +fixed such a glare upon the two girls that each at once sat at stiff +"attention", and as if unaware of the other's existence. In dead +silence the voting was finished, the papers carefully folded, collected, +and handed in. + +"It will take me about ten minutes to count," said the Principal. "You +can all go to the dressing-room I will pin the result on the notice +board as soon as I possibly can." + +The girls filed from the lecture hall with a sense of relief. To sit +waiting for the news would have been a sore trial of patience; it was +far more satisfactory to spend the interval in donning hats and coats. +Besides, in the dressing-room they could talk, and they certainly did +not neglect the privilege. No sooner were they clear of the silence +bounds than they broke into a perfect babel of chatter, discussing the +pros and cons of the election. Some openly avowed how they had voted, +some stuck to their privilege of secrecy, but all were ready to debate +the chances of others. Mildred sat lacing her boots and listening to the +various scraps of conversation that reached her. She hardly dared to +hope for her own success, yet among the whole Form no one more ardently +desired a delegateship than herself. To be a representative of the +musical side of St. Cyprian's particularly appealed to her. She felt it +was almost in the nature of a sacred trust. + +Close by Lottie Lowman and a few satellites were washing their hands. + +"Some people's meanness is hardly to be believed!" Lottie was saying. +"I'd voted for her, and told her so, so she hadn't the excuse of not +knowing, and I think the least she could do was to vote for me--it only +seemed fair!" + +Mildred abandoned the neat "tennis knot" in which she was tying her +bootlace, and sprang up in defence of her character. + +"You'd no right to look!" she protested. "Surely I could put any +candidate I liked? There was no coercion!" + +"Not for those who weren't candidates themselves," said Sheila Moore; +"but when you were standing for the Musical, you were in rather a +different position." + +"It was ever so generous of Lottie to vote for you!" urged Nora +Whitehead. + +"I certainly call it stingy not to vote for her!" added Eve Mitchell. "I +should have thought it an obligation!" + +"Oh, it's too bad of you! I can't see where the obligation comes in. Our +votes were to be quite private. I think you're horrid!" + +"Horrid yourself!" retorted Eve, and would have added more, but at that +moment a scout announced that Miss Cartwright was in the very act of +pinning the results upon the notice-board, so there was a general +stampede for the corridor. As it was impossible for everyone to see the +precious paper at once, the news was proclaimed aloud for the benefit of +those on the outskirts of the crowd. + + MUSICAL.--Ella Martin, Lottie Lowman. + LITERARY.--Phillis Garnett, Laura Kirby. + DRAMATIC.--Dorrie Barlow, May Thornett. + ARTS AND HANDICRAFTS.--Alice Lightwood, Freda Kingston. + GAMES.--Joan Richards, Kitty Fletcher. + +"So I've won, even without your vote!" said Lottie to Mildred, with a +spice of triumph in her tone. + +"I'm very glad, I'm sure. I congratulate you heartily!" replied Mildred, +turning back to the dressing-room for her books, and hurrying away, +professedly in urgent quest of a tram-car. + +Most of the others lingered, and started more slowly for home. + +"I'm at the tiptop of bliss to have won the Games," said Kitty Fletcher +to Bess Harrison. "I thought Mildred would have got the Musical, though. +I can't understand it. She's miles ahead of Lottie, really." + +"Yes, but I'm not sure if Lottie won't make the better delegate. Oh! I +grant you Mildred has ten times the music in her, but I doubt if she'd +get up a concert so well. She hasn't enough push and go--she's always +dreaming. She'd play her own piece divinely, but she'd probably forget +all about other people's." + +"Yes, she is unbusinesslike," groaned Kitty, "but it seems such a shame +that the most musical girl in the Form shouldn't represent the music +section." + +"Lottie knows exactly the public taste!" + +"And plays trash!" + +"She plays it well, though." + +"In a way." + +"You'll see her appointment will be very popular; she'll make things +hum!" + +"Likely enough, but I'm sorry for Mildred. I'm afraid she'll be +fearfully disappointed." + + + + +CHAPTER II + +St. Cyprian's College + + +Among the six day-schools which were to form the "Alliance" none was +more important in the city of Kirkton than St. Cyprian's College. Though +in numbers it was much smaller than the High School, it possessed a +unique and thoroughly-well-deserved reputation of its own. St. Cyprian's +specialized in music, and just as at many large educational +establishments there is a classical and a modern side, its course of +study was arranged for "collegiate" and "musical". No girl was received +under twelve years of age, by which time, it was considered, her natural +bent ought to have declared itself, and her parents could determine +which branch would suit her best. Those who looked forward to a +University degree, or any career in which public examinations must play +an important part, were placed on the "Collegiate" side, and trained +accordingly in the necessary classics, mathematics and physics, which +would fit them for matriculation, or as candidates for certain +scholarships. In this department St. Cyprian's had done well, and scored +several brilliant successes. On the musical side Miss Cartwright +considered she met a crying need. She was apt to wax enthusiastic when +she discussed her favourite point. + +"The time and attention devoted to music in most schools are totally +inadequate," she would say. "Take any girl with a moderate amount of +talent: the years from thirteen to eighteen are of extreme importance in +her musical education. Now if she attends an ordinary High School, she +may with great difficulty put in an hour's daily practice, but no +allowance at all is made for this in her table of home work, and it must +come out of her recreation time. She will probably have about forty +minutes' choral singing weekly, and possibly--though this is by no means +the rule--half an hour at theory, but of real music she does not +understand even the rudiments. Pick out any ordinary girl of sixteen, +take her to a concert, and ask her to name for you the various +instruments in the orchestra: the chances are a hundred to one that the +violin and the 'cello are about the limit of her knowledge. She could +not tell you the difference between a sonata and a symphony, or give you +the vaguest idea of the bass for such a simple tune as 'God save the +King'. Though, of course, girls differ greatly in musical capacity, I +contend that the utter lack of any adequate training is largely +responsible for the pitiable ignorance and bad taste in music which is a +reproach only too justly flung at the British by other European nations. +If all schools would give this subject the prominence it deserves, at +the end of a generation the present popular street songs would not be +tolerated, and we could once more produce something of the quality of +the old English, Scotch, and Irish melodies which have lived among our +national tunes." + +In accordance with her system, therefore, Miss Cartwright arranged that +any pupil who was entered on the musical side of the school had a +specially-prepared curriculum. Certain lessons, which were compulsory on +the collegiate side, were in her case omitted, and the time given to +classes in harmony and counterpoint. Each girl practised for at least +half an hour daily at school, under the supervision of a mistress, who +was present while she received the weekly or bi-weekly lesson from her +master, and who would see that his instructions were carried out to the +letter. The home practising was considered of such vital importance that +every pupil received a weekly time-sheet, which she was required to fill +up with the amount done daily, and to bring signed by a parent or +guardian. By this method real and thorough work was ensured, and a +record of progress carefully kept. + +With regard to its special cult of music, St. Cyprian's was particularly +fortunate in being situated at Kirkton, one of the biggest provincial +cities in England. Kirkton offered peculiar facilities for a musical +education. Owing to its important commerce it included a large +proportion of Germans among its population, who were sufficiently +wealthy and influential to support a magnificent series of classical +concerts. The "Freiburg" orchestra, so called in memory of its founder, +was world-famous, and comprised some of the best instrumentalists from +various parts of Europe, while its conductorship was considered an +honour sufficient to tempt leading musicians from Vienna or Berlin. +There was also in the city the Freiburg Academy of Music, on the lines +of a foreign conservatoire, where members of the celebrated orchestra +gave lessons, and students who were judged of sufficient talent could be +adequately trained for the musical profession. + +To this "Academy of Music" Miss Cartwright passed on the most brilliant +of her pupils. Several of its professors taught at St. Cyprian's, and +she endeavoured as far as possible that all the instruction given at her +College should be on "Freiburg" lines, and therefore preparatory to the +more advanced work which was to follow. + +Among the girls who comprised the musical section of the school there +were, of course, vast differences. Some were not possessed of any very +great capacity, and would never attain more than ordinary proficiency, +but one or two were really talented. The standard was so high, and the +pains taken with the pupils were so great, that almost any average girl +could be taught to play well, up to a certain point. There is a +difference, however, between music that has been learnt and music that +is inborn, and no amount of cultivation can supply what nature has not +implanted. At present there were only about five girls at St. Cyprian's +whose performance was of outstanding merit. + +Ella Martin, a member of the Sixth, played the violin with considerable +skill; but though her technique was good, she had no power of +expression, and the result was brilliant, but cold. Elizabeth Chalmers, +of VB, was the counterpart of Ella Martin, but on the piano. Her +rendering of most compositions was excellent as regards execution, but +purely mechanical, and therefore soulless. May Fawcett, a child of +barely thirteen, who had only joined the school at Christmas, showed +talent, but was yet in the initial stages of Professor Weissmann's +particular system, and, until she had forgotten the faults developed +under her former teacher, was being kept almost entirely at exercises +and studies. + +In VA two girls came easily to the fore. Lottie Lowman had acquired +rather an all-round reputation in the College. She played the piano +well, with a crisp, firm touch and a certain amount of feeling. She was +an excellent reader, and could dash off almost anything at sight, and as +she had, besides, the power of memorizing, she always seemed at home on +her instrument. She sang also, with a clear soprano voice, pretty, +popular drawing-room ballads, into which she threw much sentiment, and +which never failed to delight an ordinary audience. Her extreme +confidence stood her in good stead, and her bright, taking manner added +a further charm to her undoubtedly clever performances. + +If Lottie was certainly the favourite of the school, it was Mildred +Lancaster who, in the opinion of those really competent to judge, was +likely in the future to do credit to St. Cyprian's. Mildred had shown +talent amounting sometimes to inspiration, and every now and then she +rose to the point of genius. She learnt both piano and violin, but it +was at the latter instrument she excelled. Hitherto she had only worked +when she chose, and was alternately the pride and the despair of her +master, Herr Hoffmann. There was, unfortunately, no relying upon +Mildred's industry. One week her practice sheet would record three hours +daily, and the next would show a deplorable series of blanks. When she +felt in the mood to play she could astonish her professor with her +extraordinary flashes of brilliancy, but at other times she would seem +absolutely apathetic and uninterested. + +She had been three years at St. Cyprian's, and her general school record +was fairly good. She never rose beyond the average of the Form, but was +not regarded as amongst the drones. Perhaps one reason for this was her +friendship with Kitty Fletcher. Kitty had a thoroughly sensible, +practical character. She was a hard worker, and being one of a large +family, was not given to whims or fancies. Her influence over dreamy, +romantic Mildred was excellent; she would spur her on to fresh efforts, +both in lessons and athletics, and by a combination of sympathy, +chaffing, and sheer will power often prevented her from falling into the +slough of inertia to which her disposition was prone. Bright, jolly +Kitty was well liked in her Form, and her appointment as Games delegate +proved popular. Her enthusiasm was catching, and already the girls +promised under her leadership to try to retrieve the lost glory of the +College, and raise it again to its former standard. + +All at St. Cyprian's knew that the United Schools Alliance was not a +thing to be taken lightly. If they wished to shine in comparison with +other schools, they would have to work, and devote far more energy to +their various undertakings than they had yet troubled to give. Their +five rivals were not at all to be despised. The Kirkton High School, +averaging six hundred to their two hundred, by its very numbers offered +a good pick of champions for hockey teams or tennis tournaments. The +Marston Grove High School, a suburban branch of the former, had improved +on its parent establishment, and cultivated an almost Olympic keenness +for athletic contests. The Newington Green School was famous for its +Arts and Handicrafts. The Templeton School had given several excellent +dramatic entertainments in aid of charities; while the Anglo-German +School, which was bilingual, could certainly win the palm in respect of +languages. + +"The fact is, except in music, we're rather a rotten set. We shall have +to buck up!" said Kitty at the first committee meeting. "If we don't, we +shall get a slap in the face." + +Though they might not endorse her slang, the other nine delegates were +inclined to agree with her sentiments. + +"There hasn't been enough competition just amongst ourselves," argued +Ella Martin. + +"And it's been so hard to make anyone enthusiastic!" sighed Alice +Lightwood. + +"Or get them to do anything," echoed Joan Richards. + +"Well, they've just got to enthuse now. Slackers must turn sloggers, for +the credit of St. Cyprian's," declared Kitty. "Each department needs +thoroughly organizing, and the best workers picking out. If possible we +must try and not overlap. It stands to reason the same girl can't be +champion at everything, and it's better to make her decide on her bent, +and stick to it. If she's A1 at drawing, she mustn't unsteady her hand +by over-practice at tennis; but if she's a record bowler, for goodness' +sake don't let her waste her time pottering over photography. I vote we +take a census of the school, put down everybody's speciality, and place +her on one of our five lists." + +"An excellent suggestion," said Dorrie Barlow. "We divide the school +into Literary, Musical, Dramatic, Arts, and Athletics, and as heads of +the various departments look after our own protegees." + +"But surely all will play games?" objected Joan Richards. + +"Oh, yes! they'll play, of course--one must have a rank and file--but +the ones we select for special training must not be those who are +working in another division. Can't you see that if a girl's in the +'Dramatic', or practising for a concert, she may play cricket or tennis +for health and recreation, but she can't give her whole mind to it, as +she ought to if she wants to be a champion?" + +"A boarding-school with compulsory games has the best chance." + +"Well, thank goodness, we're not competing against boarding-schools. The +others are as much day girls as ourselves, and no doubt as hard to make +keen. If we can keep up the general interest we shan't do badly, and I +dare say we may hold our own with fair credit." + +Kitty's plan was at once adopted by the committee. A census was taken of +the school, and each girl was asked to decide upon which subject she +meant to devote her surplus energies. The delegates were enthusiastic, +and allowed nobody to escape from their net. They formed five special +societies with sub-committees, drew up rules, enrolled their members, +and insisted upon keeping them up to the mark. Any girl who was not +clever in the more-cultured branches of the Alliance was relegated to +athletics, and under Kitty's tutorship made to develop her muscles. At +first the habitual idlers grumbled, and tried to evade the hard work, +but public opinion was against them. St. Cyprian's was on its mettle, +and the busy bees would not tolerate drones in their hive. Any girl who +did not try her best in one of the five new societies speedily found +herself unpopular, and to be unpopular in a large school is an +unpleasant experience. Each society was working for a definite object. +The "Dramatic" was getting up a play, the "Literary" meant to publish a +magazine, the "Arts and Handicrafts" were working for an exhibition, the +"Musical" meant to give a concert, and the "Athletic" was training its +cricket and tennis champions. + +Lottie Lowman certainly was capable of rendering good service in the +Musical department. She discovered several juniors with promising +voices, and taught them each to sing a solo with great effect. If her +style was not quite of the best, she was enthusiastic, and could +communicate her own enthusiasm to others. The younger ones practised +away at light opera songs with keenest enjoyment, learnt, in their spare +time, to play the accompaniments, and were always to be heard trilling +snatches of melody about the school. Ella Martin was concentrating her +efforts upon the instrumental parts, and left the vocal to her +co-delegate. "Lottie's choir", as her flock was called, was entirely a +separate institution from the College Choral Classes, and had nothing to +do with Mr. Hiller, the singing master. Lottie organized the whole +business, chose the songs, conducted practices, and coached her pupils +entirely independent of any supervision at head-quarters. She threw +herself heartily into her task. The work entirely suited her. She loved +to lead, and was extremely happy in her new role of training mistress. +The girls had gathered very readily round her musical standard, with one +exception. Mildred Lancaster held herself aloof, and, under plea of +needing all her time for instrumental work, refused to attend the choral +practices. + +It had been a great blow for Mildred that she was not chosen as a +delegate. She was conscious that her talent greatly surpassed Lottie's, +and she did not altogether approve of the latter's methods. Her marked +lack of enthusiasm for the new scheme drew down comment from her friend +Kitty Fletcher. + +"You might help, Mildred! You could do so much if you liked, and it's +all for the good of the Coll. Why can't you train some kids, or give a +shove to the thing somehow?" + +Mildred shook her head gloomily. + +"I know you think me mean, but the fact is I can't work with Lottie. Her +style sets my teeth on edge. She's giving those juniors the most trashy, +rubbishy set of songs, and teaching them to sing with that horrible +perpetual vibrato--and you know Mr. Hiller's opinion of that! She lets +them thump accompaniments anyhow, with the bass all wrong. Ugh! The +whole thing is too music-hall-y for me." + +"Of course we all know your taste is classical," sighed Kitty; "but on +that very account I thought you might be so useful in keeping up the +standard. Miss Cartwright never meant them to howl pantomime songs. +You'd be a check on Lottie." + +"A check she won't acknowledge. If I say a word, she'll ask me who's +delegate, and tell me to mind my own business. I don't court snubs, +thank you! No; if they chose Lottie, they must stick to Lottie, and +abide the consequences. I'm not going to do the spadework and let her +reap the harvest. I've plenty of practising to do on my own account, +quite enough to fill my spare time." + +"Yes, if you'd do it," retorted Kitty, who was public-spirited, and +therefore rather angry with her friend. + +But Mildred only shrugged her shoulders, and turned away. Kitty said no +more at the time, but she made an opportunity to see Ella Martin, and +poured forth her complaints. + +"Mildred's slacking all round," she said. "I don't know what's wrong +with her. She's letting her own work go. Her practice-sheet is a +disgrace. She's the most musical girl we have at the Coll., and she's +simply doing nothing for herself or anyone else." + +"Yes, I've noticed she's gone off lately," replied Ella. "She's a +curious girl. I can't make her out. I sometimes think she's incorrigibly +lazy. She plays when she feels inclined, and she's so clever that it's +no effort to her, but real solid work she doesn't understand. If I'd +half her talent I'd undertake to do more with it than she does. +Sometimes she makes Professor Hoffmann absolutely rage with wrath; she +has her lesson just before mine, you know, so I don't bless her when she +leaves him in a bad temper. Professor Kleindorf gets pretty savage too +when she won't practise, though I think he realizes that her piano is +only understudy to her violin, and doesn't expect too much." + +"I wish something would happen to wake her up!" declared Kitty. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +The Story of a Violin + + +Mildred Lancaster, with whose history this book is largely concerned, +was an orphan, and had been brought up from her babyhood by an uncle and +aunt who had no children of their own. Her uncle, Dr. Graham, was a busy +man with a large practice, who managed nevertheless to spare a little +leisure to keep up the scientific side of his profession. He was a +prominent member of Health Congresses, Sanitary Commissions, and Medical +Societies, and was full of schemes for the better housing of the +labouring classes, the opening of gardens and pleasure-grounds in +crowded slum districts, the care of cripples and pauper children, or any +question which affected the well-being of the poor people among whom his +work chiefly lay. In all these things Mrs. Graham was his most earnest +right hand. + +She had a very strong sense of her responsibility towards those who were +less-well equipped for the world's battles than herself, and she tried +to take some of the light and beauty and culture of her own well-ordered +life into those sad, sordid homes, where no dawn of higher things had +ever shone. It was quiet, unostentatious work, that sometimes seemed to +show small reward for the trouble spent over it, but she went on +patiently all the same, knowing that the result might often be there, +even if she were not able to see it herself. + +To both Dr. and Mrs. Graham, Mildred stood in the place of a daughter. +She could remember no other home, and knew no other friends, for her +mother's relations had hitherto ignored the very fact of her existence. +It was a happy little household, with a great deal of love in it, but +the life was plain and simple, with few luxuries or extra indulgences. +The Grahams were not rich people, and everything that they did not need +for absolute necessities was devoted to helping forward the many causes +they had at heart. On Mildred's education, however, they spared no +expense. They sent her to St. Cyprian's College because it was the only +school where she could spend an adequate time on the music which they +hoped might some day prove to be her career, and they were prepared +later on to give her the best possible advantages. + +On the very afternoon when Ella Martin and Kitty Fletcher were talking +about her, Mildred, quite unconscious of their concern on her behalf, +was at home, trying to make up some arrears on her practising sheet. The +cosy upstairs sitting-room of the corner house in Meredith Terrace was a +cheerful place, though the carpet was worn and the curtains were faded. +The long rows of shelves on either side of the fire-place were +overflowing with books; on the walls hung prints, etchings, and +water-colour sketches, most of them unframed, and pinned here and there, +without any definite order as to arrangement, so as to secure the best +light available. An unfinished red-chalk drawing stood on an easel by +the open piano, a pot full of tulips made a rich spot of colour against +the old green table-cloth, and a large grey Persian cat slept peacefully +and luxuriously in the arm-chair. + +It was a congenial atmosphere for study, and Mildred, who stood with her +violin in the bow-window, had the dreamy, far-away expression in her +eyes which, to those who knew her, meant that her artistic side was +uppermost. Her long, thin, supple fingers were bringing real music from +her instrument. Though her gaze might be fixed upon the piece placed +upon the stand before her, she was paying no heed to it, for the +snatches of melody, now bright and joyful, now soft and sad, which +floated through the room were of her own improvising, a kind of +reflection of the spring sunshine and the twittering of the birds +outside that found its expression in the notes which flowed so richly +and easily that it almost seemed as if her violin were speaking with a +human voice. One cannot live long, however, in a world composed only of +sweet sounds, and Mildred found her day-dream quickly and suddenly +dispelled by the opening of the door and the brisk entrance of her aunt. + +"Mildred, dear! Do you call this practising? I thought you had promised +me to keep strictly to your concerto. When I last heard it there were +still a great many mistakes, and I'm afraid Herr Hoffmann will be +anything but satisfied when you go for your next lesson." + +Thus brought back to the practical side of life, Mildred put down her +violin with a sigh. + +"Such a lovely idea came into my head, Tantie! I just had to try it +over at once, for fear it should go out again. I thought I might enjoy +myself for ten minutes!" + +Mrs. Graham did not look approving. + +"How many scales and arpeggios have you played?" she enquired gravely. + +"Well, not any yet. I can do them after tea." + +"And your exercise?" + +"Oh! there'll be plenty of time to learn that before next Wednesday. +It's quite an easy one." + +"It may be easy, but it will need practice all the same. Have you tried +your new piece?" + +"The 'Fruehlingslied'? It's much too difficult. I shall take it back and +tell Herr Hoffmann I can't possibly manage it. It's one of those +terrible things that go with an orchestra. I simply hate them. The +Professor plays to represent the other instruments, and he's always more +than usually fussy and particular. He scolds most abominably if I play a +false note, or happen to come in at the wrong place." + +"I'm very glad to hear it. I think you need more scolding than you get +at home." + +Mildred screwed up her mouth with a rather humorous expression, then +flung her arms round her aunt's neck and gave her an impulsive hug. + +"Sweetest darling little Tantie, you can't scold! So please don't begin +to try. I know I'm horribly bad. I ought to have been grinding away at +that wretched concerto all the time, but it isn't very pretty, and it +has such nasty catchy bits in it. I like making up pieces for myself so +much better than proper practising. The tunes just come into my head, +and then I feel as if I must play them over before I forget them. If I +wait, they're gone, and I never can catch them again." + +"I don't blame you, dear child, for liking to compose. What I find fault +with is that you always want to shirk the hard part of the work. Scales +and exercises are not pleasant, I own, but they train your fingers in a +way which nothing else can do. How often has the Professor told you +that, I wonder?" + +"About fifteen dozen times, I dare say!" laughed Mildred, cajoling her +aunt into one of the cosy basket-chairs which stood near the hearth, and +installing herself in the other, with Godiva, the Persian cat, on her +knee. "That doesn't make the scales and exercises any more interesting, +though. It's no use, Tantie! I love music, but I detest the drudgery of +it. Why need I spend so much time over the part I don't like? Why can't +I just play my own tunes, and be happy?" + +"Because we all hope you are worthy of better things. Simply to amuse +yourself is not the highest ideal, either in music or life. Your violin +was the only possession which your father could leave to you, and you +must think of it as an inheritance, not as a toy." + +"I know so little about my father," said Mildred, leaving her seat, and +throwing herself down on the hearth-rug, with her head against her +aunt's knee. "You scarcely ever talk about him." + +"Because it's a sad remembrance, dear," said Mrs. Graham, stroking the +golden hair with a gentle hand. "I've shrunk from speaking of it before, +and yet I have often felt lately that you ought to know the story. I +would rather you heard it from me than learnt it from anyone who might +tell it to you with less sympathy than I should." + +She paused, with a far-away look in her eyes, as if memories of the past +were living before her. For a moment or two there was silence in the +room, only broken by Godiva's purrs and the twittering of the birds +outside. + +"Please go on!" said Mildred impatiently. + +"Your violin has a history," began Mrs. Graham. "You know already that +it is a very old and valuable one, made by Stradivarius himself, whose +skill was so marvellous that nobody since has ever been able to equal +the instruments which he turned out from his workshop at Cremona. I +can't tell you who was the earliest owner, or how many hands, long since +dead, have brought sweet music out of it; but when I first made its +acquaintance it was the most cherished possession of a strange old +gentleman who lived in the cathedral city where I was born. No one knew +anything about Monsieur Strelezki, for though he had been an inhabitant +of Dilchester for several years, he remained to the last as great a +mystery as on the day he arrived. His housekeeper, an elderly +Frenchwoman, always alluded to him as 'Monsieur le Comte', and he was +generally believed to be a Polish nobleman, who for some political +reason had been exiled from his native land. He spoke excellent English, +and was apparently well off and accustomed to good society; yet he lived +the life of an absolute recluse, refusing to exchange visits with any of +his neighbours, who, after their first curiosity had worn off, shunned +him with an almost superstitious horror, whispering many tales about him +under their breath. + +[Illustration: TANTIE TELLS MILDRED THE HISTORY OF HER VIOLIN, WHICH IS +A VERY OLD AND VALUABLE ONE MADE BY STRADIVARIUS HIMSELF.] + +"My brother and I would look with a kind of fascination at the gloomy +old dwelling just outside the precincts which the Comte had bought, and +at once surrounded with such a very high wall that it went in future by +the name of 'The Hidden House'. We used to pass it every day on our way +to school, and I remember how, by a mutual understanding, we always +crossed the road exactly at the corner near the lamp-post, so as to +avoid walking too close to what, in our childish imagination, might be +the abode of an anarchist or worse. Your father was my only brother, +five years younger than myself, my greatest companion, and my special +charge after our mother's death. He had the most charming, lovable, +careless, happy-go-lucky, and irresponsible disposition that I have ever +known. I fear both my father and I spoilt him, for he was very winning, +and when he would ask in his coaxing way it was difficult to refuse him +anything. From a little child he had shown the most wonderful love for +music. He seemed to learn the piano almost by instinct, and his greatest +amusement was to play by ear all the chants and anthems which were sung +by the cathedral choir. An air once heard never escaped his memory, and +he would put such beautiful harmonies to it, and make such elaborate +variations upon it, that I have often listened to him with amazement. +Our father was proud of his boy's talent, and, wishing him to play the +organ, made arrangements that he should take lessons from the cathedral +organist. + +"At first Bertram was pleased to have the great instrument respond to +his little fingers, but he found the stops and pedals were troublesome +and confusing to manage, and he did not make the progress we had hoped +for. His one longing was to learn the violin. He used to implore our +dancing-master to allow him to try the small instrument by which we were +taught to regulate the steps of our quadrilles and polkas, and he would +even bribe the blind old street musician who played before our house on +Saturday mornings to lend him his fiddle and bow. There was no one in +the town, however, whom my father considered worthy to teach him, so he +was obliged to content himself with trying to pick out tunes on a guitar +which had belonged to my mother, and which he had found stowed away in +the lumber-room. One day my brother and I were walking down the narrow +paved street on our way home from the cathedral, when, passing by the +mysterious 'Hidden House', we heard the wailing strains of a violin. +Bertram at once stopped to listen, and seeing that the door in the high +wall, which was generally fast locked, to-day stood open, he crept +inside the garden, so that he might hear the better. I followed, to try +and persuade him to return, but I, too, was so attracted by the +enchanting music which flowed through the open window that together we +stood concealed behind a syringa bush, almost holding our breath for +pleasure. + +"I know now that it was a composition of Rubenstein's that Monsieur le +Comte was playing, but we had never heard it before. It was a style of +foreign music quite new to us, and the wild romance, the weird beauty +and pathos, the bewitching, haunting ring of the melody, rendered by a +master hand, together with the strangeness of the unusual rhythm, roused +my brother to a degree of excitement I had never seen him show before. +As the last soft notes sank quivering away, he rushed from his +hiding-place, and running up the steps to the French window, dashed +impulsively into the room where Monsieur Strelezki stood with his +violin. + +"'Oh, thank you! Thank you!' he cried. 'I've never heard anything so +wonderful in all my life. Will you please tell me what it's called? And +oh! if you would play it over again!' + +"To say that the Comte was astonished will very poorly describe the +scene that followed, but finding that the boy was in earnest, he bade us +be seated, and gave us such a bewildering and utterly charming selection +of quaint Polish and Hungarian airs that Bertram was wild with delight. +He sealed a friendship then and there with Monsieur Strelezki, and +whenever he had a half-hour to spare he would hurry away to the 'Hidden +House' to listen to more of the fascinating music. + +"It was perhaps only natural that the Comte, seeing my brother's +enthusiasm, should offer to teach him the violin; and though my father +was somewhat doubtful about allowing him to accept so great a favour +from our eccentric neighbour, he could not, in the end, resist Bertram's +pleadings, so the lessons began. I think teacher and pupil enjoyed them +equally, and the boy's progress was simply marvellous. He not only +learned with a rapidity which astonished even his master, but about this +time he began to compose pieces himself, and could hardly contain his +joy in this newly-discovered talent. I would often beg him to write them +down, as he was apt to forget them; but he did not like the trouble of +transcribing music, and would declare with a laugh that it did not +matter, as he always had a new one in his head. His school work suffered +very much. He would spend over his violin hours which ought to have been +given to preparing Greek and Latin, and my father was often angry over +his bad reports. It seemed little use, however, to scold him; he was +full of promises of amendment, but he never kept any of them. + +"This had gone on for perhaps three years, when one day my brother went +round early to the 'Hidden House'. He found everything in a state of +confusion and upset. Monsieur Strelezki had died suddenly of heart +failure during the night. The old housekeeper had discovered him, when +she entered the dining-room in the morning, sitting, as she supposed, +writing, with his violin on the table by his side; but the eyes bent +over the paper were sightless, and the fingers that still held the pen +were stiff and cold. On a half-sheet of note-paper he had written in a +shaky hand: + + "'TO BERTRAM LANCASTER. + + "'Farewell, dear pupil and friend! The King of the Musicians has + called me. We shall meet no more in this world. I bequeath you my + Stradivarius. May it prove for you the key to fame. Remember always + that there is only one secret of true success, and that is....' + +"But here the messenger had come for Monsieur le Comte, and he had +obeyed the summons, leaving the secret he had tried to tell for ever +untold. + +"As my brother grew older his passion for music seemed only to increase. +My father wished him to study law, so that he might in time give him a +partnership in the steadygoing old-fashioned solicitor's practice which +had been in our family for several generations, but Bertram utterly +refused. He had set his heart on a musical career, and after a bitter +quarrel with his father, he left home altogether, taking with him the +small fortune he had inherited from our mother, and went away with the +avowed intention of devoting himself to his violin. + +"'I feel I have a future before me, Alice,' he said, as he bade me +good-bye. 'I shall solve the Comte's secret yet. If it was talent he +referred to' (and he flushed a little) 'I think I've my fair share of +that, so perhaps the Stradivarius may really prove the key to fame, in +spite of everything!' + +"It is a very sad part of the story that comes now, but I must tell it +to you all the same. Bertram left us in high hopes, and for a time, +while his enthusiasm was fresh, and the change still new, I believe he +studied hard at his music. But he had a curious lack of any real effort +or steady concentrated purpose. He was always going to do great things, +which somehow were never accomplished. I cannot tell you how many operas +and oratorios he began to compose, which were to take the public by +storm; but none of them was ever finished, though the fragments which I +heard were of so rare a quality that they were fit to rank among the +works of men of genius. Sometimes he would be at the very height of +exaltation, and sometimes in the lowest depths of despair; there were +periods of wild ambition, when he was determined to have the world at +his feet, but they never lasted long enough to carry him through the +whole of an opera. + +"A few of his shorter compositions were published, and were very highly +thought of by musicians, and he had splendid opportunities of playing at +concerts and recitals. His appearances in public were always successful; +yet he so often refused to fulfil his engagements, for no apparent +reason except the whim of the moment, that the managers grew tired of +him. He fell under the influence of bad companions, who led him to +neglect his work, and to think of nothing but pleasure, and he had not +the moral courage to say 'No' to them. His little fortune was soon +spent, and as my father refused to help him, he was obliged at last to +earn his bread as a teacher of music. It was in this capacity that he +made the acquaintance of your mother, whose father, Sir John Lorraine, +could not forgive her runaway match with one whom he considered utterly +unworthy of her, and forbade her name to be mentioned again in his +presence. You cannot remember her, Mildred, for she only lived long +enough to put her little golden-haired baby into my arms, and beg me to +be a friend to it--a trust that I have never forgotten, both for your +sake and hers. + +"After this matters went from bad to worse. Your father, in his grief, +took no trouble over his teaching, pupils slipped away, and he also lost +the post in an orchestra which for some time had been his chief +resource. I helped him to my uttermost, but it was little enough, after +all, that I could do for him. His health, never robust, seemed suddenly +to fail, and before the year was out he had died, broken-hearted, in the +prime of his youth, the success he had dreamt of still unwon. I was with +him at the last, and as he put his poor worn hand in mine, he said: + +"'Alice, I discovered the Comte's secret too late! Give the Stradivarius +to my child. It's the only inheritance I have to leave her. Perhaps my +wasted life may teach her to use hers to better advantage, and some day +she may meet with the fame and success that I always hoped for but never +gained.'" + +Mildred sat very silent for a moment or two when Mrs. Graham had +finished her story. + +"What was the Comte's secret?" she asked at length, with a break in her +voice. + +"Perseverance and hard work. Talent is of very little use without these. +Nothing can be gained in this world without taking pains, and any +success worth having must be at the cost of the best effort that's in +us. Do you see why I've told you this to-day?" + +"Yes," replied Mildred thoughtfully. "I didn't know my violin had such a +history. I loved it before, but I shall love it ten thousand times +better now. Tantie, I think I'll tussle with the 'Fruehlingslied' after +all. I believe if I really slave at it I can manage it. It'll be +hateful, but I declare I'll try, if I break every string, and wear my +bow out in the attempt." + +"That's my brave girl! Shall we have a resolutions, not only for the +'Fruehlingslied', but for all-round work at school? Miss Cartwright says +you can do so well when you choose. Won't you promise?" + +"Honour bright, Tantie! I'll do my best!" + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +Concerns VA + + +Mildred's resolution to work was a huge effort to her easy-going, +unpractical temperament, but she could not have made it at a more +favourable time. The new Alliance had aroused a general wave of +enthusiasm at St. Cyprian's, and many girls who before had been inclined +to shirk were now determined to put their shoulders to the wheel. There +is a great deal in public opinion, and while a do-as-you-please attitude +had hitherto been in vogue, keenness and strenuousness now became the +fashion. The school was divided into "Sloggers" and "Slackers", and the +latter were looked down upon, and made to feel their inferiority. Among +the seventeen girls who composed VA there was of course every variety of +disposition, from Laura Kirby, who was nicknamed "the walking +dictionary", to Sheila Moore, who was a byword for silliness. Naturally +they had their different little sets and cliques, but these were only +affairs of secondary importance; as a Form they were remarkably united, +and anxious to maintain the credit of VA against the rest of the school. + +It was especially with regard to their seniors that they felt an element +of competition. To beat juniors was always a poor triumph, and nothing +much to boast of, but the Form perpetually cherished the ambition to (as +they expressed it) "go one better than the Sixth". The Sixth were not +disposed to lay aside their laurels, so the struggle went on, in quite +an amicable fashion, but with a spirit of rivalry all the same. It was +the custom every few weeks for each of the three top forms to give a +short dialogue in French or German. These had nothing to do with the +Dramatic Society, being merely part of the school course, to accustom +the girls to converse in foreign languages, and they were performed with +very little ceremony before an audience of teachers and juniors. This +month a German scene had been apportioned to VA, and Kitty Fletcher, +Bess Harrison, Mona Bradley, and Mildred Lancaster were chosen by +Fraeulein Schulte to represent the principal characters. It was not +difficult to learn their short parts, and last term, when once they had +committed them to memory, they would have thought no more of the matter +until the afternoon of the performance. Now, however, in view of the +generally-raised standard, they were disposed to take more trouble. + +"I'd just like to show the Sixth what we can do," said Kitty. "Suppose +our dialogue turned out better than theirs? It would be such a triumph!" + +"It strikes me the Sixth intend to turn the tables, and spring a +surprise on us," said Mildred. "I'm quite sure they're concocting +something." + +"Oh, how did you get to know? What is it?" + +"That I can't say, but I heard them murmuring something about a +rehearsal, and they all scooted off to the small studio." + +"Are they there now? I vote we go and see," suggested Bess Harrison. + +The four girls hurried upstairs at once, only to find the door of the +studio locked, and the Sixth firm in their refusal to open it. + +"I want to get my drawing-board!" wailed Mona through the keyhole. + +"Then you ought to have got it before. You'll have to wait now," was the +stern reply. + +"But I must have it. And my chalk pencils. Let me in just for an +instant!" + +"I tell you I can't!" + +"What are you all doing in there?" + +"That's our concern." + +"Oh, you are mean!" + +"Go away this minute, and leave us in peace. What business have you +intruding here?" + +Finding knocks and thumps on the door as useless as their entreaties, +and that the keyhole had been carefully stopped up with a piece of soft +paper, the four beat a retreat. They were consumed with curiosity, +however. + +"I just mean to get to know, somehow!" exploded Bess. + +"Look here," said Mona, "I've an idea. Let us creep out through that +skylight window on the landing, crawl over the roof, and then we can +peep right down through the studio skylight. We'd see for ourselves +then. It would be better than keyholes." + +Mona's brilliant suggestion was hailed with joy. The only obstacle which +offered itself was the difficulty of climbing up to the skylight. But +Mona was resourceful. She remembered the housemaids' cupboard at the +top of the stairs, and promptly purloined the step-ladder which stood +there. Fortunately it was a tall one, so without any superhuman display +of agility they were able to reach the roof. A narrow parapet ran round +the edge of the house, which afforded some slight security, but perhaps +all four girls felt qualms when they found themselves at such a giddy +height. Not one would confess her fear, though, so they commenced to +creep cautiously forward in the direction of the studio. + +"It's like Alpine climbing!" gasped Kitty as they ascended the steep +angle. "We've got to go over that ridge! Oh! I say, aren't the slates +hot?" + +Giggling a little to hide their tremors, the adventurous four reached +the chimney-stack, and paused for a moment to survey the prospect. They +could obtain a truly bird's-eye view of the playground and the street +beyond. + +"I know what it must feel like to see things from an aeroplane," said +Mildred. "You just get the tops instead of the sides. Look at those hats +down there!" + +"Oh, don't let us waste time in looking!" said Mona. "Suppose the Sixth +should have gone when we get to the studio? It would be such a +stupendous sell!" + +Urged by the mere idea of such a fiasco, the girls plucked up their +courage again, and pursued their caterpillar-like progress. They soon +reached the studio skylight, and, peering down, were able easily to see +into the room. The Sixth were still there, and very busily employed. +Apparently they were holding a rehearsal, and they were dressed up in +costumes suitable to the occasion. Dorrie Barlow wore a large French +peasant cap, Kathleen Hodson sported a cloak and top-boots, and Edith +Armitage, in a blue silk dress with a train, was evidently a lady of +high degree. Sublimely unconscious of the four spies above them, the +seniors went on complacently with their work. Most of their conversation +only ascended as a general buzz, but every now and then a remark in a +louder tone than usual was audible on the roof. + +"That's capital, Gertie!" + +"No one's an idea what we're doing." + +"We routed those Fifth-Formers!" + +"Cheek of them to come prying here!" + +"They went away no wiser, though!" + +"We must hide these costumes." + +The spectators above absolutely gurgled with joy, but they were careful +not to betray their presence. Making a sign to the others, Mona motioned +them to withdraw their heads. + +"We've seen enough!" she whispered. "They might look up at any moment. +Better beat a retreat now." + +Four very satisfied girls climbed back over the ridge of the roof. They +had gained exactly the information they wanted, and they meant to act +upon it. They considered their action was a benefit to their Form. + +"We've done it so quickly," said Mona, who was leading the way, "we +shall have time to scoot downstairs, and be just innocently loitering +about the playground before the Sixth have finished. They'll never +guess!--Oh, I say, here's a go!" + +"What's the matter?" + +"Why, if the wretched skylight isn't shut!" + +This was bad news indeed. With consternation in their faces they crept +closer, and tried to lift the skylight up. They pulled till their +fingers were sore, but with no success. + +"Somebody must have come along the passage and shut it," said Kitty. +"It's a nuisance to have to give ourselves away, but I can't see +anything for it but to knock and get the window opened." + +"Someone's sure to be going along the passage," said Bess hopefully. + +So they knocked quietly at first, and then thumped with energy +sufficient to break the glass. There was no response, however; not even +a solitary junior passed down the passage. + +"What are we to do?" + +Kitty's face was blank in the extreme. + +"The step-ladder's gone too!" squealed Bess. + +At that moment the big school bell clanged loudly for afternoon +call-over. Waxing absolutely desperate, the girls not only thumped on +the glass, but shouted. To their intense relief their signals were +heard, and the figure of Rogers, the upper housemaid, hove into view. +Calling to them to keep clear of the window, she opened the skylight. + +"Whatever are you doing up there?" she enquired tartly. + +"Oh, Rogers, do be an angel, and fetch the steps quick!" + +The expression on Rogers's face was not at all angelic. + +"You've no business out on the roof, and you know it." + +"Yes, that's why we want to come down," returned Kitty, "if you'll only +let us. Do fetch those steps, please!" + +Grumbling to herself, Rogers brought the step-ladder, and held it steady +while the girls descended. + +"I shall tell Miss Cartwright," she announced. "Larks like these are +beyond a joke." + +"Oh, Rogers, don't--don't, please!" implored the sinners. "We'll vow on +our honour never to do it again. Honest--honest, we won't!" + +"I can't have the steps taken out of my cupboard." + +"We won't so much as peep through the chink of the door again, far less +touch anything." + +"Do, please, promise not to report us. Oh, we're going to be late for +call-over! There's the second bell." + +"Late you'll certainly be, and serve you right!" snapped Rogers. Then, +relenting a little: "Well, I won't report you this time; but mind, if I +ever catch you meddling with this window again, or touching anything in +my cupboard, you needn't expect to get off." + +Thankful to escape with nothing worse than a scolding, the four tore +downstairs in the hope that they might just be in time to answer to +their names, but Miss Pollock was closing the register as they entered +the room, and had already marked them down "late". Rather crest-fallen, +they went to their various classes--Mildred to practise, Mona to her +drawing lesson, and Bess and Kitty to Latin preparation. At four o'clock +they met to compare notes. + +"After all, I think we scored," said Mona. "We found out what the Sixth +were doing." + +"Yes, and what we've got to do now is to get up our own dialogue in +costume, and not let the Sixth have a hint of it beforehand." + +"It will take the wind out of their sails when they see us all dressed +up." + +"Especially if we do the thing better." + +"That goes without saying. I've a far nicer dress at home than Edith's +blue silk." + +"We shall have to tell Eve and Maudie." + +"Of course, but no one else in the Form need know. It can be a surprise +for everybody." + +As a rule, though the school was obliged to be present to act audience +at the monthly dialogues, everybody considered them rather a bore. Even +the girls who were taking part had not hitherto been very enthusiastic. +They had been regarded strictly as lessons, and not in any sense +recreation. This time, however, both the Sixth and the Fifth had a +secret--a possession which adds a charm to any undertaking. The Fifth +held the decided advantage of knowing their seniors' intentions while +preserving silence about their own. They held delightfully mysterious +committee meetings in the dressing-room, and private confabulations in +the playground. Long-suffering relations at home were induced to set to +work with needles and thread, or to lend a variety of articles that +would come in for the occasion. On the day of the dialogues several +bulky packages were smuggled into school. The girls had been obliged at +the last moment to take Miss Pollock into their confidence, and beg her +to lock up the costumes in her cupboard until the afternoon, and to +secure them the use of a small practising room for a dressing-room. +Five out of the six performers stayed to dinner at the College, so they +had a little extra time for last arrangements. By dint of hard pleading +they had managed to change places with VB, so that their dialogue came +third on the list instead of second. + +"That's good biz," said Kitty. "Now we shall be able to sit all through +the Sixth's performance, and do our robing while VB are on the platform. +Then we'll just walk on and astonish everybody." + +Punctually at three o'clock the whole school assembled in the big +lecture-hall, and took their places, small girls in front, and older +ones to the back, with a row of chairs reserved for teachers. In spite +of the discretion of the performers, some little hint had leaked out +that the afternoon's proceedings were to be of an extra special +character, and there was considerable whispering and expectation among +the audience. The six players in VA had seats at the end of a bench, so +that they could make an easy exit when necessary. They watched with +keenest anticipation as the door behind the platform opened and the +actors in the French dialogue entered. The rank and file of the school +had not expected costumes, and clapped heartily at sight of the quaint +figures who were standing bowing and curtsying with eighteenth-century +dignity. Kathleen Hodson as Monsieur le Duc de Fontaineville was stately +in her top-boots, an evening cloak of her mother's flung across her +shoulder, and a sword at her side. + +"Silk stockings and buckled shoes would have been more in keeping with +the period than those boots," whispered Bess to Mildred. "They haven't +taken any trouble over details." + +"Dorrie Barlow's cap is only made of tissue-paper," triumphed Mildred. +"Wait till they see Eve's." + +The wearing of the dresses seemed decidedly inspiring to the performers, +who gave their short piece with far more spirit than was their usual +custom. To be sure, Monsieur le Duc forgot his sword, and, tripping over +it, nearly measured his length on the platform, but he recovered himself +with admirable calm, and went on with his speech as if nothing had +happened. Susanne, the peasant woman, clattered about in a real pair of +sabots, but had the misfortune to step on the train of Madame, her +mistress, with rather disastrous results, to judge from the rending +sound which ensued. Gertie Raeburn was seized with stage-fright, forgot +her lines, and had to be prompted; and Hilda Smith, who enacted the +Abbe, was distinctly heard to giggle under her ecclesiastical vestments. +In spite of these slight flaws the piece was immensely appreciated, and +brought down a storm of applause, under cover of which our six heroines +of VA slipped quietly from the room. + +There was no time to be lost, for they knew VB's dialogue was only +short. Miss Pollock had placed their parcels in readiness, so they +opened them with utmost speed and began their toilets. They all helped +one another, and made such a record of haste that in exactly ten minutes +they were ready, and listening for the applause which would mark the +termination of VB's performance. At the very first clap they ran down +the passage; then, restraining their impatience, waited until their +predecessors had made their due exit from the lecture-hall. It was with +pardonable pride that they stepped on to the platform and watched the +look of amazement which spread over the audience. Nobody had expected +them to be in costume--that was evident. The Sixth were looking +particularly astonished, indeed almost annoyed. There was a discomfited +expression on their faces, highly gratifying to the conspirators. Even +Miss Cartwright seemed surprised. The little German play had afforded +good opportunity for dressing up, and the girls had certainly risen to +the occasion. + +Bess Harrison, as "Else, the daughter of the Schloss", wore a charming +mediaeval robe, with velvet bodice and slashed sleeves; her long fair +hair was plaited in two orthodox braids, and she held a distaff and +spindle at which she worked industriously. Mildred, her betrothed, was +arrayed as a baron of the Lohengrin type, in a short robe of +peacock-blue emblazoned with an heraldic dragon in scarlet. Her golden +hair was combed loosely over her shoulders, and surmounted by a small +ducal coronet. She had a heavy chain round her neck, and armlets on her +bare arms. Kitty Fletcher made a stately mediaeval grandmother, in +silken gown, stiff ruffle, coif and wimple, and rattled the keys of the +Schloss with great effect as she said her lines. Eve Mitchell as the +serving-maid had a cap of real muslin, copied from an old German +picture, a green-and-black-striped skirt, cherry-coloured stockings, and +buckled shoes; while Maudie Stearne, in her capacity of seneschal, +almost surpassed the rest in the gorgeousness of her embroidered cloak, +chain armour, and winged helmet. + +The girls were on their mettle to do well, and played up most +successfully. The whole dialogue went without a single hitch, and the +actors threw enough scorn, grief, jealousy, alarm, and devotion into +their parts to have sufficed for a longer play. As finally, quite +flushed with their efforts, they made their bows to the audience, the +appreciative school broke into thunderous applause. The Sixth, nobly +repressing any spasms of envy that may have assailed them, were clapping +heartily, Miss Cartwright beamed approval, and Fraeulein Schulte was all +congratulations and smiles. + +"Really, this afternoon's dialogues have been a delightful innovation," +said the Principal. "The addition of costumes makes an immense +improvement. It was a coincidence that the two Forms should have thought +of it quite independently of each other. You must have been mutually +surprised. I am very pleased indeed, girls. It is a step in the right +direction when you organize these things on your own account." + +"It isn't quite such a coincidence as Miss Cartwright imagines," +chuckled Kitty, as she and her confederates disrobed in the practising +room. "She doesn't know who peeped through the skylight." + +"And we certainly shan't tell her," laughed Mona. + +"We've stolen a march on the Sixth," said Mildred. + +"Yes, they had to give us the palm this afternoon," agreed Maudie. "I +think we may decidedly feel we've scored." + + + + +CHAPTER V + +An Advertisement Competition + + +Though the general census at St. Cyprian's had docketed Mildred +emphatically as "musical", she was not on that account entirely debarred +from joining other societies. True, she was expected to concentrate her +energies on her violin, and win credit with it for the school, but so +long as she did not claim a leading part in any of the alliance +contests, there was no objection to her being an ordinary member. All +the girls were strongly encouraged to play games, so she practised +tennis in the dinner hour, and took her turn with the rank and file at +cricket. She had not the essential characteristics of a champion--her +physique was not vigorous enough, and she lacked perseverance--but the +exercise was good for her, and as the term wore on she began to exhibit +improvement. Kitty Fletcher was in hard training, and had inspired a +select number of suitable votaries with a like enthusiasm. + +"We shall have a hard fight presently with the High School, so we must +show that St. Cyprian's is capable of something," she said. "They shan't +have it all their own way. I'm sorry we can't put you in the team, +Mildred." + +"I don't want to be in the team. I'd much rather look on when it's a +question of matches. At present I'm thoroughly enjoying dabbling in all +the societies. I've joined the sketching club, and I'm taking a turn at +the Literary." + +"That's more in your line than mine. I'd rather spend an afternoon at +cricket than compose an essay." + +"Oh, I'm not doing any real solid writing. I leave that to Phillis +Garnett and Laura Kirby. They're hard at work making a magazine number +that's to rival the _Nineteenth Century_ or the _Hibbert Journal_. My +contributions are of a very light character. I sent one in the other +day, and--isn't it sad?--it was rejected 'with the editor's +compliments'. I tackled Phillis about it, and she said the mag. was +meant to be serious, not comic. I thought my poem might have livened +things up a little, but she'd have none of it." + +"Have you got it here?" + +"Yes; like the orthodox unsuccessful minor poet, I have it in my +pocket." + +"Oh, do let me see it!" + +"It has the advantage of shortness, and if brevity is the soul of wit, +that ought to be a point in its favour," said Mildred, producing her +maiden effort. "I call it a 'compressed novelette'. Perhaps I'd better +read it aloud to do it full justice. My writing isn't very clear. + + "All ringed and bangled, + At me you angled; + With ways newfangled + The bait you dangled. + Yet ere bells jangled + We two had wrangled, + Our love was tangled, + My heart was mangled!" + +"Not half-bad!" laughed Kitty. "I'm afraid it's hardly the style, +though, to impress Phillis or Laura. If you could have written it in +Greek it might have suited them. What did the others say to it?" + +"Haven't had time to show it to them yet." + +"Some of them will like it. They're not all as deep as Phillis and +Laura. Why don't you get up a little fun among the more frivolous end?" + +"It might be worth thinking of if I find an opportunity." + +Mildred, who had a strong vein of humour in her composition, treasured +up Kitty's suggestion. She knew the bulk of the members could not rise +to the height of the learned essay which their leaders considered worthy +of the magazine, but they would be quite ready to amuse themselves with +work of a less exacting character. Several schemes occurred to her and +were put aside, but one day she hit upon something really appropriate, +and came to school with visible triumph on her face. At eleven-o'clock +break she cajoled the lesser lights of the literary society to a private +corner of the playground, and propounded her scheme. + +"Look here," she began. "I saw this advertisement in yesterday's +_Herald_, and cut it out: + + "LITERARY.--Wanted, short poems to advertise a famous brand of tea. + Prize of three guineas offered for best effort, and ten shillings + each for any others selected. Cracker mottoes and comic verses for + Christmas cards also considered. Last date for receiving, May + 20th.--No. 201x, _Kirkton Herald_ Office. + +Well, now, my idea is this. Let's all try and write some verses, put +them together, and send them in. It would be such a joke!" + +"Could we write verses about tea?" hazarded Maggie Orton doubtfully. + +"Of course we can. It rhymes with heaps of things--agree, and free, and +quali_tee_; it shouldn't be hard at all." + +"I rather incline towards cracker mottoes," said Clarice Mayfield. "Most +that one gets at Christmas parties are such drivel. I've often felt I +could make better." + +"Then do try. And, Margaret, you ought to be able to turn out some +Christmas-card verses. Let's make a syndicate, and pool all our +contributions. Everybody to send in not less than one, and more if +possible." + +"How about the prize, if one of the poems got it? Should we pool that?" + +"We could divide it," suggested Myrtle Robinson. + +"No, I've a better idea than that," said Mildred. "We'd be +public-spirited, and devote any proceeds we got to the school library. +We've the most rubbishy set of old books at St. Cyprian's, and want some +new ones badly. Who votes for this?" + +"Aye! Aye!" came quite unanimously from the girls, though Maggie Orton +qualified her assent with a cautious "If we get it". + +"Well, that goes without saying, of course. Naturally it's a case of +'first catch your hare'. But there's no harm in trying, so we must all +set our wits to work and see what we can manage. It ought to be rather +sport." + +"Especially if we see the verses in print afterwards," giggled the +girls. + +"You'd better not tell Phillis," added Myrtle. + +"I don't intend to," laughed Mildred. + +The various members of the syndicate were rather taken with the idea of +the competition, and exercised their brains to the utmost in evolving +eulogies of the unknown brand of tea. Some of their effusions they tore +up, and some they kept. In the end, after being carefully read aloud and +voted on, three only were judged worthy of being submitted. These were +by Maggie Orton, Myrtle Robinson, and Mildred herself. They ran as +follows:-- + + OUR BRAND + + "If a good tea you would buy, + You can always quite rely + On our excellent and justly famous blend. + 'T is a most delicious cup, + That will tone and cheer you up, + And one that we can safely recommend. + + "If you want good honest tea, + That will rich in flavour be, + So fragrant, so refreshing, and so pure, + Just try our special brand + Of young leaves picked by hand, + 'T will give you satisfaction, we are sure. + + "Let the water be fresh boiled, + Or the tea'll perchance be spoiled, + And brewed for just three minutes let it be. + Then we think you'll never tire + Of sitting by the fire, + And enjoying our delicious brand of tea." + + + A FAMOUS BLEND + + "All those who try + Good tea to buy, + And oft have found + The price too high, + We recommend + That you should try + Our famous blend. + + "By careful choice + All crops among, + We mix a blend + That can't go wrong; + For flavour rare + Housewives declare + 'T is past compare. + + "The huge demand + On every hand + Shows to the wise + It takes the prize. + We can rely, + If once you try, + You'll always buy." + + + WORLD-FAMOUS TEA + + "If a tea you would find that is just to your mind, + Yet that won't be too dear for your pocket, + Try our world-famous blend, when your money you spend, + And remember our branches all stock it. + So come to our shop for your tea, + Our famous, rich, syrupy tea; + If once you will get it, you'll never regret it, + But join in the praise of our tea. + + "Home's a glad happy place, with a smile on each face, + If our world-famous brand you will sample; + 'T is the tea ladies love, as the large demands prove. + And three spoons in the pot will be ample. + So come to our shop for your tea, + Our famous, rich, syrupy tea; + Mansion, cottage, or hall, it is suited to all, + The best that can possibly be." + +A few cracker mottoes and Christmas-card verses were also selected, and +the whole set put together. Mildred, as the originator of the scheme, +took charge of them, and promised to send them off in good time for the +competition. It seemed no use forwarding them too soon, as they would +probably only lie waiting at the _Herald_ offices, so she put them by in +a drawer to post when the right date arrived. Now, unfortunately, though +Mildred could be extremely keen upon a thing at the moment, once the +first excitement of it was over it was apt to slip from her memory. She +had enjoyed trying her 'prentice muse at tea verses, but, having +finished them, she turned her thoughts to something else. Music was at +present absorbing most of her time, and in the interest of her violin +the papers lay in her drawer forgotten. On the afternoon of May 20th she +was sitting in the studio working at her drawing copy, with no more idea +of advertisements for tea in her thoughts than if that beverage had +never existed. At three o'clock she was due for her music lesson from +Herr Hoffmann, and she was putting in time rather languidly at her chalk +head of Venus, and wondering whether the Professor would be in a good +temper, or whether he would scold her for faulty rendering of her study. +Myrtle Robinson was sitting at the desk behind, and presently contrived, +without attracting the attention of the teacher, to hand her a slip of +paper. She opened it carelessly enough, and read: + + "I suppose you posted the competitions all right? M. R." + +Mildred dropped her pencil and broke its point in her agitation. Posted +the competitions? She had done nothing of the sort. They were still +lying in her drawer at home, though to-day was the last date for +receiving them. + +"Oh, what a lunatic I am!" she groaned to herself, "I, who suggested the +whole thing, and made the others write, to be the one to forget all +about it! Something has to be done, that's clear. And it must be done at +once, too. I mustn't on any account let the girls know I failed them." + +Mildred was impulsive to a fault. At this moment the one business in +life seemed to be to get the competitions to their destination, even at +the eleventh hour. It was futile to post them, but they might still be +delivered at the offices of the _Kirkton Herald_. There was nothing else +for it, she must take them herself, and that immediately. It was almost +three o'clock, and the art mistress knew that she had to go to her music +lesson. She rose, therefore, received the nod of dismissal, and, +ignoring Myrtle's signal demanding an answer to her question, put away +her drawing-board, and hurried from the studio. Instead, however, of +fetching her violin, and going straight to No. 6 practising room, where +Herr Hoffmann would just be finishing Mary Hutton's lesson, she walked +to the dressing-room, and put on her hat and coat. She knew she was +going to do a most dreadfully unauthorized and unorthodox act, and she +shivered to think of the consequences, but she did not hesitate for one +moment. + +"That competition's got to go in time," she told herself, "even though +the Professor rages, and Miss Cartwright storms, and I get myself into +the biggest pickle I've ever been in, in all my life. I can't fail the +girls now. I couldn't look them in the face again. It would be too +ignominious. No, I've a pressing engagement elsewhere this afternoon, +and can't keep my appointment with Herr Hoffmann, though I shan't write +a note and tell him so!" + +At three o'clock it was extremely easy to leave the school unobserved. +Nobody was about, so Mildred simply walked out through the gate. She +took the electric car home, and was rather relieved to find that neither +her uncle nor her aunt was in the house. She felt she would rather not +enter into any explanations just at present. The papers were quite ready +in an envelope, and duly addressed, so she took them from her drawer, +and caught the next tram-car into Kirkton. The _Herald_ offices were in +Corporation Street, a business part of the city she did not know at all, +but she thought she could find it. She felt rather adventurous and +decidedly naughty, for she was not supposed to go on expeditions by +herself without first asking leave at home, to say nothing of having run +away from St. Cyprian's. + +She left the tram at the High Street corner, and turned down Corporation +Street. The town was very crowded, and she was almost jostled off the +pavement by the numbers of people who were passing to and fro. By dint +of asking a policeman she at last found the offices of the _Kirkton +Herald_. She did not know whether she was expected to ring, knock, or +walk in, but she could see no bell, and as business men kept passing in +and out by a large swinging door, she plucked up her courage, and +followed in the wake of a new-comer. She had done the right thing, for +she found herself in a big room, having a counter like a bank to divide +clerks from customers. She handed in her envelope with a timid enquiry +as to whether it was in time. + +"Just in time," was the reply. "We close the box-office department at +four-thirty." + +With a sigh of intense relief, Mildred watched the clerk place her +communication in a pigeonhole. So it was safe, and she had not betrayed +her trust after all. She felt the satisfaction was worth almost any +amount of scolding. She turned leisurely to leave the office, when the +big door swung open, and she found herself face to face with no less a +person than Herr Hoffmann. Most egregiously caught, Mildred turned +crimson, and would have beaten a swift retreat had not the Professor +barred the way. + +"So, Miss Lancaster! I find you here! Are you then having a violin +lesson from ze newspaper? I wait half an hour for you at ze school, and +you not come! How is it you fail to-day to be at your lesson?" + +Mildred blushed still redder, tried to stammer an excuse, then seeing a +twinkle of amusement gleaming under Herr Hoffmann's bushy eyebrows, she +took a sudden resolution, and blurted out the truth. She made her little +story as short as possible, and the Professor nodded his head with +German gravity at the principal points. When she had finished, he +chuckled softly. + +"So you would turn poets at St. Cyprian's, and write songs in praise of +tea? You shall show me ze verses? Yes, some day. But while you write ze +poetry, ze violin does not make progress. To-day we were to have taken +ze concerto and ze 'Fruehlingslied'. Is it not so?" + +"Yes," murmured Mildred, much abashed. + +"I like not that you miss your lesson. You shall come to me to-morrow at +my house, No. 50 Basil Street, and I will hear you play ze concerto. +Yes, at four-thirty. You will be there?" + +"Oh, thank you!" said Mildred. "Yes, of course I'll come. It's very good +of you to make up the lesson." + +"Some day you shall read me ze tea verses. Miss Cartwright, is she also +satisfied for you to miss school?" said Herr Hoffmann, with a friendly +nod, as he dismissed his pupil and turned to the counter. + +Mildred hurried home, feeling that she had not only Miss Cartwright to +reckon with, but her aunt as well. She had a very open, truthful +disposition, and did not dream of concealing her escapade. She told Mrs. +Graham the exact facts as they had occurred. + +"I just had to do it, Tantie dear! I don't see how I could possibly have +done anything else." + +Fortunately for Mildred, though Mrs. Graham shook her head, she did not +take a severe view of the matter. + +"It's extremely good of Herr Hoffmann to make up the lesson," she +remarked. "You must try to get in an extra half-hour's practice to-day, +so as to have the concerto better prepared. You really don't deserve +that he should give up his time to you." + +"I'm rather scared at the prospect of going to his house," confessed +Mildred. "But I will have an extra tussle with the concerto to-night. I +hope he won't ask to see the tea verses." + +At five minutes to nine on the following morning, Mildred walked into +Miss Cartwright's study, and tendered an explanation of her absence the +afternoon before, together with an apology for her behaviour. + +"It was a hard case, I own," said the Principal. "But why did you not +come at once to me, and ask leave? If I pass over it, you must not let +this prove a precedent, Mildred. It would never do for girls to walk out +of school just when they like." + +"I know. I ought to have come and asked. But somehow I never thought of +it. I was in such a hurry, I could do nothing but rush home for the +papers. I'll never do it again, Miss Cartwright, on my honour." + +"Very well; as you have told me of it yourself, and apologized, I'll say +no more about it. You can go." + +Mildred passed from the study, congratulating herself that she had +escaped so easily. She told her thrilling story to the other members of +the syndicate, and they rejoiced together that the competition was +received in time. + +"When shall we hear the result?" asked Myrtle. + +"Not for weeks, I expect. Besides, I don't really suppose that anything +will come of it," returned Mildred. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +A Chance Meeting + + +When afternoon school was over, Mildred, carrying her violin in its neat +leather case, set off for No. 50 Basil Street. It was not very far away +from St. Cyprian's, so she arrived in good time--too early, in fact, for +the church clock opposite was only chiming a quarter-past four as she +pushed open the gate. There was no mistake about the house, for on the +door was a brass plate inscribed "Professor Franz Hoffmann, Teacher of +Music", and she could hear from within the halting performance of a +violoncellist. + +She rang the bell, and after a servant had ushered her in, she was met +in the hall by Mrs. Hoffmann, who asked her to come and wait in the +dining-room until her teacher should be ready for her. Mrs. Hoffmann was +a thin, worried-looking little woman, most palpably English. She knew no +language but her own, and had no desire to acquire any other, regarding +German as the tongue into which her husband relapsed when more than +usually annoyed, and therefore better to be ignored than understood. +Perhaps she wished sometimes that such a thing as music did not exist, +since from morning till night the strains of violin or piano seemed to +echo through the house. The wearying monotony of scales played by +leaden-fingered learners, or the excruciating sounds produced by +beginners on the violin, were, as a rule, punctuated by shouts from the +exasperated master, who, being of a naturally excitable disposition, was +liable to let his impatience get the better of him, and would storm at +his pupils in a mixture of German and English calculated to reduce them +to utter subjection. + +"Young Mr. Hardcastle is having his lesson," explained the Professor's +wife. "I'm afraid he hasn't come very well prepared," she added +nervously, as a specially badly-rendered shake provoked a perfect +explosion of wrath, quite audible through the thin wall. Mildred was +left alone to wait, so she sat down by the window, listening to the +performance of the pupil in the next room. She groaned as she marked his +wolf notes and his lagging time, fearing that his sins might afterwards +be visited on her head. She was doubtful about her own concerto, and +wished she had had more time to practise one particularly-difficult +phrase. She tried to amuse herself by turning over some piles of music +that lay on the table, or staring aimlessly out at the sparrows in the +front garden. + +A smart motor-car stopping at the Professor's gate presently attracted +her notice, and she looked on with interest as a handsomely-dressed lady +got out, walked hastily up the path, and rang the bell with a lusty +peal. There seemed to be a short colloquy in the hall, then the +dining-room door was flung open, and the servant ushered in a stranger, +who, it appeared, must also wait until Herr Hoffmann should be at +leisure to attend to her. She seated herself in an arm-chair, and for +some minutes there was dead silence, broken only by the ticking of the +clock and the rasping notes of Mr. Hardcastle's violoncello. + +Probably finding the situation rather oppressive, the lady, after +looking several times at Mildred, seemed anxious to open a conversation. + +"I suppose you're one of Herr Hoffmann's pupils," she began, with a +glance at the violin-case which lay on the table. "May I ask if you've +learnt from him for some time?" + +"About five years," replied Mildred, wishing the Professor would hurry, +for she always felt shy with strangers. + +"Indeed! Then you must have begun young. How old were you when you took +your first lesson?" + +"Not quite seven; but I learnt from a lady to begin with," said Mildred, +listening to Mrs. Hoffmann's step in the passage, and wondering if she +were coming to the rescue. + +"My little girl's much older than that--she's nearly eleven. I'm sure +she ought to commence her lessons at once. I should have sent her to +Herr Hoffmann long ago, but she's such a nervous child, and I've always +heard he's so very severe. Now, as you've learnt from him for so many +years, you'll be able to tell me exactly what he's like. Do you find him +a kind teacher or not?" + +Poor Mildred scarcely knew what to reply. + +"He makes you work," she stammered, hoping, for the Professor's sake, +that the remainder of the unlucky Mr. Hardcastle's lesson might go with +sufficient smoothness not to give rise to any more expressions of noisy +indignation from the adjacent room, and looking anxiously at the clock. + +"So I expect. And how long do you practise every day?" + +"Two hours at my violin, and one at the piano." + +"I should never persuade Dorothea to do that!" cried the lady. "But +perhaps just at first an hour would be sufficient for her. Is this some +of your music? May I look at it?" + +Without waiting for permission, she took up the pieces which Mildred had +laid on the table by the side of her case, and was beginning to turn +them over when she stopped, evidently struck by the name "Mildred +Lorraine Lancaster" written on the covers. + +"Excuse my asking," she said, looking up quickly, "but Lorraine is such +an unusual name that I wonder if you are any relation of the Lorraines +of Castleford Towers?" + +"Sir Darcy Lorraine is my uncle," replied Mildred rather stiffly, for +she thought the question inquisitive. + +"How very interesting! I frequently visit Lady Lorraine; my sister's +home is in that neighbourhood. Isn't the Towers a beautiful old place?" + +"I believe so," said Mildred briefly. + +"I suppose you often stay there, though I don't remember having seen you +before?" + +"I've never been there at all," returned Mildred, wondering how she +could stop the conversation. + +"Really! And yet you must be just about the same age as Violet, and Sir +Darcy is always regretting that she has no companions. Are you older or +younger than she is?" + +"I'm not sure," murmured Mildred, much embarrassed. + +"Now I look at you," continued the lady, "I notice a most distinct +likeness, though your eyes are brown, and Violet is so very fair, isn't +she?" + +"I don't know." + +"You don't know? Why, surely you've seen your own cousin?" + +"No, I haven't," said Mildred, getting quite desperate, "I've never met +any of them in my life." + +"How very strange!" exclaimed the lady. "Surely Sir Darcy and Lady +Lorraine----" + +But here, to Mildred's intense relief, the door opened, and the +Professor entered, bland, smiling, and full of apologies. Patting his +pupil's shoulder with the fatherly air that generally impressed parents, +he asked her to wait for him in his study for a few minutes. She caught +up her violin, and retired thankfully, wondering whether she had said +too much. Until now it had not occurred to her to think at all about her +mother's relations; but she saw how curious it must appear to a stranger +that she should never have seen either them or their home, and for the +first time she experienced a feeling of something like anger at their +neglect. It had been humiliating to be obliged to confess that she knew +nothing of a cousin whose existence indeed she had scarcely been aware +of till to-day. Though her aunt had told her a few details about the +Lorraines, the subject had been so closely connected with her father's +sad story that she had not liked to reopen it by asking further +questions. She had been quite content to regard herself as the adopted +daughter of the Grahams, and had not identified herself in any way with +her more aristocratic connections in the north. + +She considered that the lady had taken rather a liberty in asking her so +many questions, and heartily wished her full name had not been written +upon her music, thus giving an opening for the enquiries. + +"Well, after all, it doesn't much matter. I don't suppose I shall ever +see her again," she mused. + +It was, however, a strange coincidence which had brought about that +afternoon's meeting, and it was to be fraught with more consequences +than she suspected. It is seldom we realize the small beginnings that +often determine great changes; and as Mildred dismissed the matter from +her mind, she little foresaw that from a ten-minutes' conversation might +issue events that were to form a crisis in her life. + +Meantime Herr Hoffmann, having escorted his visitor to the waiting +motor, entered his study once more, and the lesson began. The prospect +of a new pupil had perhaps soothed the Professor's mind, for he was in a +far better humour than Mildred had dared to expect. The eyes behind the +big spectacles beamed upon her quite amiably, and the large collar, +which he had a habit of crumpling up when annoyed, was stiff and +immaculate. Mildred generally regarded her master's collar as a +storm-signal, and could gauge his temper by its condition the moment she +caught sight of it. As she was sure it must have suffered very much +during Mr. Hardcastle's lesson, she could only conclude that he must +have donned a fresh one before interviewing his caller, and hoped +devoutly that her own playing would not cause him to disarrange its +spotless expanse. + +She went through her exercises and study to-day without any mishaps, and +with a few misgivings began the concerto. But here she did not fare so +badly as she had feared. To her surprise the troublesome bars came quite +easily, and catching the spirit of the music, she played it with such +vigour and expression that the Professor nodded his head in stately +approval. + +"So! You have worked!" he said. "It is not yet perfect, but it make +progress. You take more pains since these last weeks? Yes? Oh, I can +tell! I do know when a pupil does her sehr best. Sometimes you come to +me and do say you have practise two hours each day. But I find you not +improved. Why? Because it is practice without ze mind. Of what avail is +it, I ask, for ze fingers to play if ze attention is not there? If you +would a musician be, you must have both ze body and ze soul of your +piece. Ze right notes, ze true time, ze correct position of your bow, +they are ze flesh without which ze composition cannot at all exist, and +need your altogether utmost care. But there are many people who know +nothing beyond. Himmel! Any mechanical instrument can grind out a tune. +True music is to give ze world what it cannot make for itself. Ze great +composers leave to you indeed ze score of their works, but it is ze +beautiful body without life, and it is you who must put into it a soul!" + +Herr Hoffmann so seldom gave any words of encouragement that Mildred +flushed with pleasure, and ventured to tell him that she had made an +effort to conquer the difficulties in the "Fruehlingslied", which she had +thought before it was quite impossible ever to accomplish. + +"That is good! We will hear what you can do," declared the Professor, +opening out the music, and tuning his own violin, ready to accompany +her. "Begin gently. Wait! Imagine ze 'cello which is here introducing ze +motif. Now you come in and take up ze melody. Let it sing, for it is +like a joyous bird, carolling on ze topmost bough. It is a +'Fruehlingslied'--ze song of spring--and you must make your instrument to +tell of ze blossom time. Quick! That shake is too slow. Remember it is +ze bird that is trilling. Now softly! Softly! Let it die away, before +all ze orchestra burst into ze chorus. Das ist sehr gut, mein Kindlein! +We will rehearse it again, and if you can master ze staccato passage, +you shall perform it at my students' concert." + +"Oh, I couldn't! I couldn't!" cried Mildred in alarm. "Please don't ask +me. I should break down. I know I should." + +"Unsinn!" (which is German for "stuff and nonsense") cried the +Professor. "You will do what I say. Am I your teacher, and you refuse to +play when I tell you? Nein! You shall work at ze 'Fruehlingslied', and +each Saturday afternoon you shall come to rehearse it with my students' +orchestra at ze Philharmonic Hall. Yes, I have said it!" + +[Illustration: HERR HOFFMANN TELLS MILDRED THAT SHE IS TO PLAY AT THE +PUBLIC RECITAL IN THE TOWN HALL] + +Mildred went home completely overwhelmed by her master's suggestion. The +public recital given every year in the Town Hall by Herr Hoffmann's best +pupils was a great event, at which many of the most critical music +lovers in the city were generally present. It was well known that only +students of unusual talent were allowed to take solo parts. The +Professor was a very celebrated teacher, and had a reputation to keep +up. So far, though St. Cyprian's made a particular cult of music, and +Herr Hoffmann had taught there for many years, no girl had ever been +judged worthy to play at this special annual concert. It was an honour +to which even their wildest ambition had not aspired. To be thus chosen +out, over the heads of Ella Martin and Elizabeth Chalmers, who were +considered the "show" music pupils of the school, was a prospect +calculated to agitate the most sober brains. But there was another side +to it. To play such an important piece as the "Fruehlingslied", which +needed to be accompanied by a full orchestra, was indeed an ordeal for a +girl hardly sixteen years of age. A public audience in the Town Hall was +a different matter from the comparatively small gatherings of parents +and friends at St. Cyprian's. The mere thought of it filled Mildred with +nervous horror. + +"I don't believe I could ever do it, Tantie," she shivered, as she +discussed the project with her aunt. "I should turn tail and run away +when I saw all the people. Need I? Can't I tell the Professor I won't?" + +"It would be a sad pity to do that, and would be wasting a great +opportunity. When Herr Hoffmann has shown such a special interest in +you, it would be most ungrateful to refuse at least to try your hardest +to please him. He is the best judge of what you can do, and you may be +sure that he will not allow you to play at the concert unless you have +given satisfaction at the rehearsals. Both he and Miss Cartwright have +taken great pains with your music, and I think you owe it to St. +Cyprian's to show that their trouble has not been thrown away. You must +speak about it to Miss Cartwright to-morrow, and ask her opinion." + +When Mildred broached the idea next morning, she found that the +Principal heartily sided with Herr Hoffmann, and even made arrangements +for her to have extra time at school for violin practice. She was to be +allowed to omit certain classes, and to be excused various weekly +essays, and her piano studies were for the next few weeks to yield place +to the instrument upon which she showed the greater talent. + +"Remember you will be playing for the credit of St. Cyprian's," said +Miss Cartwright. "You must work both for yourself and for the sake of +the school." + +When the news leaked out of the honour that was in store for Mildred, +the girls received it in various ways. Ella Martin and Elizabeth +Chalmers congratulated her, and urged her to do her best. Correct +players themselves, they were above any narrow feelings of jealousy, and +were glad to see Mildred, whom they had hitherto thought inclined to be +lazy, pushed forward and made to take pains. The general opinion of her +own Form was divided. Music was so decidedly of first importance at St. +Cyprian's that the matter naturally made a little stir. A number of the +girls did not appreciate Mildred's real talent, and gave all their +admiration to Lottie Lowman's more superficial performances. + +"It's absurd," said Eve Mitchell. "Why should Mildred Lancaster be +chosen above everyone else? I can't see that she's so musical. She +missed three questions in the harmony yesterday. Her theory's dreadfully +shaky. Why isn't Lottie asked to play?" + +"Well, you see, it's violin," ventured Nell Hayward. + +"Then Ella Martin's our crack player. It's very unpleasant for Ella to +be passed over." + +"I suppose that's Professor Hoffmann's affair," said Bess Harrison, +taking up the cudgels on Mildred's behalf. "He'd have asked Ella if he'd +wanted her." + +"Think how tremendously it will make us score in the Alliance," urged +Maudie Stearne. "I don't for a moment suppose that even the High School +or the Anglo-German will have a girl playing at the Professor's concert. +We'll beat them there, even if they take it out of us at games." + +"Lottie may be our delegate, but Mildred's our music champion just now," +declared Clarice Mayfield. + +"We've got to keep her at it, though," added Bess. + +It was a new thing to Mildred to work diligently and painstakingly as +she had done for the last few weeks. It was quite against her natural +inclination, and I fear that if it had not been for the thought of what +St. Cyprian's expected from her, she would never have kept it up. As it +was, she felt almost astonished at her own perseverance. Time after time +she was tempted not to trouble about the "Fruehlingslied", but to play +instead the tunes that came into her mind, and enjoy herself. + +"After all, why should one fag so terribly at a thing? I hate slogging," +she confided to her chum, Kitty Fletcher. + +"Why? Because you owe it to yourself and the school," exclaimed Kitty. +"If I'd your talent, I'd be slaving. Do you think I'd do anything in +games if I didn't train? Mildred Lancaster, you've just got to try. Some +day I'm going to see your name painted on the board in the lecture hall, +so please don't disappoint me." + +There was a large board at St. Cyprian's on which were recorded the +successes of former pupils who had gained distinction either by taking +university or musical degrees. To find, some time, "Mildred Lancaster" +emblazoned thereon in gold letters was an attractive goal of ambition. +But between the present and that rosy prospect lay a long, dreary +expanse of continual effort--effort which Mildred's artistic temperament +hated and shrank from, the drudgery upon which every solid achievement +must be built, and without which even the cleverest of people can +accomplish little. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +A School Eisteddfod + + +After the founding of the United Alliance, the six schools composing the +league had been allowed a certain amount of time in which to organize +their separate departments, but now that the various societies were +going concerns it was judged expedient to hold a central meeting of +delegates, so that arrangements might be made for the contests and +competitions which were to form the principal feature of the movement. +The conference was to take place at the High School on a Wednesday +afternoon, and due notice of the event had been sent to the branch +secretaries. The ten delegates from St. Cyprian's were naturally much +elated at the prospect, and anxious to do their best on behalf of their +College. They were armed with full authority from Miss Cartwright, and +prepared with a list of vacant dates when matches could be played. +Wearing their school hats, ties, and badges, they started off together, +under the leadership of Phillis Garnett, the head girl, and presented +themselves at the High School at the time named on the general +secretary's post card. + +Wednesday was a half-holiday at the High School, so the delegates had +the place to themselves. Ten smiling hostesses were waiting to receive +the representatives of the other schools, and gave them a hearty +welcome. When the first introductions were over, Ethel Edwards, the head +girl of the High School, was voted to the chair, and, having made a few +general remarks upon the object of the Alliance, proposed that each +branch should withdraw to a separate classroom to discuss details for +half an hour, after which they would all meet again in the lecture hall. +So the schools split up their forces, and marched away in groups of +twelve, representing the Musical, Literary, Dramatic, Arts, and +Athletics subdivisions of the league. The delegates had all come +prepared to be courteous, businesslike, and accommodating, so the thirty +minutes passed in good-tempered discussion, and by the time they took +their places once more in the big hall they seemed on excellent terms +with one another. The results of their consultations, with probable +dates, were handed to Ethel Edwards, who rapidly compared them, and drew +up a final table which she put to the general vote. + +"I am glad we have been able to make our arrangements fit in so well," +she said, "and I hope we shall have many competitions and matches as the +result of this afternoon's work. I am sure we all agree that the +Alliance is an excellent movement, and that a spirit of co-operation +among the principal Kirkton schools is highly desirable. Though each +delegate represents her own school, all are united in representing the +city, and some time in the future we may, as a body, enter into +competition with similar Alliances in other towns. It certainly opens up +a vista of very interesting work on our part, and should prevent those +evils of narrowness and cliquishness which a too-exclusive policy is apt +to develop in a school. Let us determine that our _entente cordiale_ is +for the general good, and each try our utmost to make the Alliance a +huge success. I need hardly say with what pleasure the High School has +to-day welcomed the other delegates, and am glad to note that our first +Eisteddfod of the season is to be held here shortly. Our general +secretary will forward copies of the programme to each branch secretary +as speedily as possible, and due notice will of course be given of the +next committee meeting." + +The delegates dispersed, feeling that they had had a very satisfactory +conference. Each department was pledged to something definite. The +"Games" had arranged a list of cricket matches and tennis tournaments, +and had even discussed plans for next autumn's hockey; the "Dramatic" +had undertaken to produce a united performance in aid of the Kirkton +Children's Hospital; the "Literary" was to publish a joint magazine +three times a year, under the title of _The Alliance Journal_; the "Arts +and Handicrafts" was to hold a grand exhibition in the forthcoming +November, charging a small admission so as to be able to send a donation +to the "Guild of Play", an organization for the children of the slums; +while the "Musical", to test its capabilities, was to have an immediate +general festival. In addition, the schools had promised to form a Guild +of Needlework, to make garments for charities; a Christmas Santa Claus +Club, to distribute toys among various Ragged Schools in the city; and a +Scrap Book League, the results of which were to be sent to the +Children's Ward at the Royal Infirmary. + +It was part of the scheme of the Alliance that the mistresses, while +reviewing and sanctioning the arrangements, should keep in the +background and allow affairs to be managed as far as possible by the +girls themselves. Miss Cartwright, therefore, after hearing the report +of the St. Cyprian's delegates, gave full permission to the Musical +Society to prepare its own programme for the forthcoming concert, which +was to be in no way a public affair, but merely a friendly trial of +skill amongst the six schools. Thirty members from each were to meet and +compete at the High School, which possessed the largest hall. Owing to +limited space it was impossible to accommodate a very big audience, but +fifty guests were to be invited from each school, so as to make a fairly +representative body of listeners. + +The St. Cyprian's Musical Committee assembled at once under the +leadership of its delegates to arrange for the important event. + +"Please tell us, first of all, why the thing's to be called an +Eisteddfod," begged Nora Whitehead. + +Ella Martin laughed. + +"You've evidently not been in Wales. Have you never heard of the great +Welsh Eisteddfods, where all the famous choirs go and sing against each +other for prizes?" + +"Oh, a choral festival!" + +"No, not quite that, because there are solos besides. In a real genuine +big national Eisteddfod there are departments for painting and for +poetry. They make bards, you know, and give them Bardic chairs. Well, +we can't do all that in one afternoon; we have to take each branch +separately, so the music's to come first. We decided that each school is +to learn the part song, 'Now Cheerful Spring Returns', and to sing it +one after another. Mr. Jordan, from the Freiburg College of Music, is to +be asked to judge; he will give so many marks to each choir, for +correctness, tone, general expression, &c. Then each school is to give a +ten-minutes' concert, consisting of a few pieces by its brightest stars. +These will also be judged and marked, so much for each performer. The +totals will be added to the choir scores, and then we shall have the +excitement of seeing which school comes out top." + +"St. Cyprian's will! It must!" + +"We'd better not make too sure. There are some clever girls at the +Anglo-German, I hear, and the Templeton 'Choral' is good." + +"What we've got to do," said Lottie Lowman, "is to learn our part song, +and practise it for all we're worth. Hadn't we better decide first who's +to be choir-mistress? Shall we put it to the vote?" + +There was little hesitation amongst the girls. They voted almost solidly +for Lottie. Since her election as delegate for the Alliance she had +taken such a principal part in the musical society that everybody was +ready to follow her lead. There were a few dissenting voices, who +ventured to suggest that her style was not of the best, nor truly +representative of the musical standard of St. Cyprian's, but these were +completely overwhelmed by the majority. Lottie, who had already on her +own initiative organized a choir, was surely the most fitted to look +after the laurels of the school, and might be trusted to undertake the +teaching of the part song. There now remained the programme of the +ten-minutes' concert to be discussed. + +"It's such a fearfully short time!" growled Elizabeth Chalmers. + +"Of course it is," returned Lottie, "but you see six schools with ten +minutes each make an hour. The part songs will take half an hour, and +allowing another half-hour for judging and intervals between pieces, we +get two hours, and that's the limit. No, each school has promised on its +honour not to exceed the ten minutes. Indeed, we arranged that to do so +would mean to be disqualified from the competition. It seemed the only +fair way." + +"Then we must cram all the best talent of the school into those precious +ten minutes." + +"That's the real state of affairs," said Ella Martin, "and we've got to +make up our minds which is the best talent. I myself propose a violin +solo from Mildred Lancaster." + +"And I beg to object strongly!" returned Lottie Lowman. "Mildred may be +a good player--I don't say she isn't--but everyone at the Coll. knows +she's not to be depended upon. If she gets a nervous fit, ten to one +she'll break down altogether, like she did last speech day, and then St. +Cyprian's would look silly! Unless she's exactly in the right mood she +doesn't do herself justice, and is the honour of the Coll. to depend on +her whim of the moment? No, most emphatically, I beg you to choose a +steadier, more reliable player. Who could be more suitable than Ella, +who is already your musical delegate, and ought surely to represent +you?" + +Lottie's arguments swayed the committee so entirely that Ella was +immediately chosen for the violin solo, and her name placed first on the +programme. + +"I shall only play a very short Prelude," she announced, "so we ought to +have a piano solo and a song to make up our ten minutes. That would give +a good all-round idea of the musical work at St. Cyprian's, quite as +all-round as the other schools will have the opportunity for, at any +rate." + +After a short discussion upon the relative merits of several names which +were submitted, the committee decided upon Elizabeth Chalmers for the +piano solo and Lottie Lowman for the song. There was not much time to be +lost, as the Eisteddfod had been fixed for a date only ten days ahead. +The choir must be carefully selected and trained, and special practices +arranged for. Miss Cartwright had promised to allow a short time daily +during school hours for this purpose, and extra work could be done +during the midday interval by those girls who stayed for dinner at the +College. + +"Who are your soloists?" asked Kitty Fletcher as, the meeting over, the +committee sought the playground. + +"Ella, Elizabeth, and your humble servant," replied Lottie. + +"Do you mean to tell me Mildred Lancaster's not to play for St. +Cyprian's?" + +"No, Mildred's out of it altogether." + +"Then all I can say is, I'm heartily sorry for the credit of the old +Coll. I think you're a set of duffers!" + +"Thanks! Perhaps you'll allow us to arrange your teams in the Games +department, as you're so anxious to meddle in ours? We'll choose your +captains and champions if you choose our soloists. It would be an +admirably suitable division of labour." + +Kitty turned away, for there was justice in Lottie's sarcasm. She would +not have been prepared to admit any interference in the cricket or +tennis programme, and she knew that she had no right to criticize the +decisions of the other committees. And yet her whole sense of justice +rebelled against Mildred's exclusion. + +"It's monstrous!" she confided to Bess Harrison. "Here they're actually +discarding their trump card! And it's nothing but Lottie's jealousy! +She's green with envy because Mildred's to play at Herr Hoffmann's +Students' Concert. I thought we were urged to put aside all petty +feelings and spites in the interests of the Coll., and just aim to bring +St. Cyprian's out top!" + +"That was rubbed into us as our motto." + +"We keep to it in Games, thank goodness! For some reasons I wish Miss +Cartwright hadn't left the Alliance so entirely in our own hands." + +"It's the same as the other schools. Neither principals nor mistresses +are to regulate matters. Remember, it's a self-governing institution." + +"Well, this branch of it hasn't the wit to know its own best asset," +grumbled Kitty. + +Mildred felt decidedly hurt to be so entirely left out of the +Eisteddfod. She was not even asked to join in the part song, for Lottie, +as choir-mistress, had the selection of the chorus. There was perhaps +reason in this, for Mildred, though she always sang in tune, did not +possess a very strong voice. All the same, it was a marked omission, and +an intentional slight. + +Lottie, as grand vizier of the proceedings, was now in her element. She +assumed such complete direction of everything that she even took +precedence of Ella Martin. Ella, though a monitress, never pushed her +authority, and indeed was sometimes hardly self-assertive enough for her +post. On the present occasion she allowed Lottie to seize the reins +rather too easily. The matter was discussed by her fellow monitresses. + +"A Fifth Form girl ought not to be allowed to run the whole show," said +Hilda Smith. "Ella ought to put her foot down!" + +"Lottie's getting swollen head!" agreed Gertie Raeburn. + +If Lottie's motives were mixed, to do her justice she certainly worked +very hard in her new capacity as choir-mistress. She was as zealous as a +Parliamentary whip in making her chorus attend practices, and drilling +them while they were there. Most of the girls found her a harder +taskmaster than Mr. Hiller, the singing teacher, and she indulged in a +running fire of comments on their performance completely at variance +with his suave suggestions. + +"Now then, heads up!" she would say. "You all stand with your noses in +your books like a set of dolls that have lost their saw-dust! We'll take +that verse again, and put a little more spirit into it. Can't you sing +louder? I suppose you've learnt that _cres._ stands for crescendo? Then +please remember that the signs mean something, and don't drone away +like a set of Buddhist lamas intoning a chant!" + +And the girls would laugh, for they rather enjoyed her racy remarks, +even though they were delivered at their expense. Lottie, in the flush +of her popularity, could not resist pressing her triumph over Mildred. +She invited her to a practice one day, and enjoyed showing her authority +over her pupils before her rival. Having exhibited their docility to her +utmost satisfaction, she dismissed them, and turned carelessly to +Mildred. + +"Not such a bad little business for a beginning!" she remarked. "The +Coll. will take its right place at the Eisteddfod, I fancy." + +"I hope so, I'm sure," returned Mildred, without enthusiasm. + +"Oh, you'll see it'll come out top side! Now tell me candidly what you +think of this part song." + +"Do you really want my candid opinion?" + +"Of course I do!" + +"Then I think everything's wrong with it. In the first place, the second +sopranos are out of tune continually. You hurry the time too much in the +middle, and drag it towards the end, and when you urge the girls to sing +crescendo, you let them shout in the most atrocious fashion--like +street-singers! There's nothing artistic about it at all." + +"I might have known you'd be sure to find fault!" sneered Lottie. "It's +very easy to pick holes in other folk's work. No doubt the high and +mighty Mildred Lancaster would have made a most superior business of it! +People always think if they'd had the reins they could have driven the +kicking horse!" + +"You asked for my candid opinion!" retorted Mildred. + +"I didn't say I'd follow it, though. Fortunately I'm the choir-mistress, +and not you." + +It happened that Ella Martin and a few more Sixth Form girls had come +into the room during this colloquy, and Ella now put in her oar. + +"There's a good deal in what Mildred says, Lottie," she observed. "I +noticed yesterday that the second sopranos were out of tune; and you +certainly let them shout too loud. They're not using their voices +properly. It's dreadfully second-rate style. I was going to speak to you +about it. It doesn't do credit to the Coll." + +"We've all noticed it," urged Dorrie Barlow. + +"The quality of the voices will be a point before the judge," said +Kathleen Hodson. "Mr. Hiller is so particular on that score." + +"Well, if this is all the thanks I get for my trouble, I wish I'd kept +out of the musical society," responded Lottie, with a red patch in each +cheek and a gleam of temper in her hazel eyes. "No doubt you'd all have +done it better yourselves." + +"No, don't say that," replied Ella. "You must allow that I, at any rate, +have the right to criticize. We all appreciate your hard work, only we +want it to be in the right direction, and not thrown away. St. Cyprian's +has a big reputation to keep up. Suppose you just think over what we've +suggested." + +Lottie turned away rather huffily. She could not help acknowledging +Ella's right to interfere, but she was annoyed that the rebuke should be +given in Mildred's presence. She was at first inclined to stick to her +guns, then apparently she thought better of it, took her chorus in +hand, and remedied their very palpable shortcomings. Ella, realizing her +responsibilities, made opportunity to drop in during rehearsals, so as +to keep a check upon things, and thanks to her influence the part song +soon began to show marked improvement, and to be more worthy of St. +Cyprian's musical reputation. + +Though Mildred was not included among the performers, she at least +received an invitation to the Eisteddfod. The guests were to start all +together from the College, and they looked forward to the event with +considerable keenness. On the day of the festival those who stayed to +dinner at school spent the interval discussing the occasion. Olwen and +Megan Roberts, who boasted Welsh ancestry, and had been present at a +real Eisteddfod in the Principality, scored by their superior knowledge. + +"Of course it can't be anything like what we had at +Llanfairdisiliogoch!" they bragged. + +"Oh, no! Nothing's right out of Welsh Wales!" laughed Maggie Orton. +"You've often told us that!" + +"I know a lovely song about an Eisteddfod," chirruped Bess Harrison, and +to the tune of "The Ash Grove" she began: + + "I wass go to Pwlleli, + Where I mingled in the dreadful melee, + And was very nearly squashed to a jelly + With the peoples treading on my toes: + The Welshies they wass there by millions, + All sitting in the big pavilions + To listen to the sweet cantilions + As you wass suppose!" + +At that point she wisely dodged away; and Olwen and Megan, giving chase, +pursued her round the playground, where she ran, still chanting +tauntingly: + + "There wass Owenses and Hugheses, + And Robertses and Joneses, + All singing in their native toneses + All over the ground!" + +till the twins at length caught her up, and administered summary justice +in revenge for the slight on their nationality. + +Punctually at two o'clock those who had been chosen to attend the +Eisteddfod set out for the High School. The performers were ushered into +special rooms reserved for them, and the others were given seats with +the rest of the audience in the large hall. Miss Stewart, the +Head-mistress, took her place on the platform, together with the +Principals of the other five schools and Mr. Jordan, from the Freiburg +College of Music, who was to act as judge. No time was to be lost if the +whole of the programme was to be carried through, so the choral +competition began at once. Lots had to be drawn as to the order in which +the schools should sing, and the Anglo-German had secured the first +innings. Their chorus accordingly took its place on the platform and +commenced the test piece. They did well, and as they retired to make +room for Newington Green, the second on the list, the St. Cyprian's +contingent acknowledged to themselves that the Alliance contained +formidable rivals. To anybody unaccustomed to festival singing it was +extremely confusing to hear one choir after another render the same part +song, but Mr. Jordan was no novice at his task, and well knew how to +appraise their merits. He sat with paper and pencil, jotting down their +respective points as to time, tune, tone and quality of voice, +expression and general spirit, so many marks to each, and appeared as +calm and collected and unmoved as if he were valuing goods for an +auction. + +"He doesn't show the least enthusiasm," whispered Mildred to Kitty, who +sat next to her. "If it had been the Professor who was judging, he'd +have been hopping about the platform." + +"I suppose it's Mr. Jordan's role to look quite disinterested and +impartial," returned Kitty. + +St. Cyprian's was last on the list, and perhaps even Lottie +congratulated herself that she had taken Ella's advice and improved the +standard of her chorus, for the other schools had sung so well that the +College would have to look to its laurels. She hastily whispered a few +last directions as they took their places, and perhaps for the first +time in her life felt a tremor of nervousness as they broke into the +opening bars of "Now Cheerful Spring Returns". Fortunately the girls had +remembered their instructions; the second sopranos kept well up to +pitch, the time did not drag, and the crescendo passage was rendered +with due regard to tone. Lottie breathed more freely when it was over. +She cast an enquiring look at Mr. Jordan, but his expression was +inscrutable. He merely jotted down some figures, and gave the signal of +dismissal. + +After this followed the series of ten-minutes' concerts, in which each +school exhibited its best stars. It was of course an extremely short +limit, but it was wonderful how much was accomplished in the time. The +Anglo-German had concentrated all its energies on two brilliant +pianoforte pieces, Marston Grove High School boasted a girl with a +remarkably rich and strong contralto voice, Templeton had quite a fair +violin solo, the High School scored at a piano duet, and Newington Green +School had for champion a girl of about fourteen who played the +violoncello. St. Cyprian's, with its piano, violin, and vocal solos, was +felt to have given a very all-sided performance. Ella played +brilliantly, if coldly; Elizabeth Chalmers's nocturne was correct to a +note; and Lottie sang the rather sentimental ballad she had chosen with +much expression and display of feeling. Her confidence stood her in good +stead, for the Marston Grove contralto had been palpably nervous, and +had almost broken down at one point. + +Mr. Jordan rapidly added up the marks gained by each school, putting +chorus and concert scores both together. Then, rising, he announced the +results: + + Out of a maximum of 280 marks: + + St. Cyprian's College, 230 marks + The Anglo-German School, 220 " + The Templeton School, 195 " + The Kirkton High School, 195 " + The Newington Green School, 180 " + The Marston Grove High School, 165 " + +The St. Cyprian's girls felt just a little crest-fallen. They had won, +to be sure, but it was by a very narrow majority. They had not scored +quite the signal success which, considering the amount of time that the +College devoted to music study, might reasonably have been anticipated. +There were no prizes given for the competition, so as it was now long +past four o'clock, the Eisteddfod broke up, and the audience was +dismissed. As the girls filed from the hall, the various schools mingled +in the corridor. Kitty Fletcher and Bess Harrison happened to be walking +behind two Newington Green girls, and overheard an interesting scrap of +conversation. + +"Well, what did you think of the famous St. Cyprian's?" + +"Nothing up to what I'd expected. I'd heard they were so A1." + +"So had I, but after all they weren't much better than the rest of us. +That fair girl played the piano like a pianola! She put no expression +into it." + +"And the one who sang was vibrato all the time. I thought her rather +claptrap!" + +"As for the violin, it was brilliant, and good bowing, but it didn't +appeal to me like Althea's 'cello." + +"I thought they were supposed to have such a crack violin player at St. +Cyprian's--Herr Hoffmann's pet pupil at present, so they say." + +"Well, if this was the girl, I don't admire her. I should say she's very +much overrated." + +Kitty clutched Bess Harrison's arm close in her indignation. As soon as +they were outside the school she exploded. + +"Oh, to think they never heard Mildred! And they actually imagine Ella +Martin's our crack player! It's wicked! It was suicidal for St. +Cyprian's not to put Mildred on. I can't imagine what the committee was +doing." + +"The committee was swayed by Lottie," returned Bess, "and I don't think +it has altogether good reason to congratulate itself on the results. +Undoubtedly St. Cyprian's ought to have done better, and it will have to +look hard after its reputation in future." + +"I shall play up at the cricket match, or I'll never touch a bat again!" +vowed Kitty. "Nulli secundus--second to none! We've got to live up to +our school motto." + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +St. Cyprian's versus Templeton + + +It was now more than three weeks since Mildred and the other members of +the literary syndicate had sent in their poetical effusions in praise of +tea. So far they had heard nothing of the matter, and they were +beginning to grow anxious as to the fate of their verses. + +"Perhaps it was just humbug," speculated Myrtle Robinson. + +"Surely nobody would go to the expense of putting an advertisement in +the _Herald_ just for humbug!" objected Mildred. + +"It may be a cheat, though," suggested Maggie Orton. "Suppose they use +our poetry and never tell us?" + +"If we saw it in print we'd prosecute them for breach of copyright!" + +"I'm afraid it's all found its way into the waste-paper basket." + +"That's more than likely." + +Mildred had put her own address on the manuscripts as secretary of the +syndicate, and every day she looked hopefully at the letters which were +delivered at Meredith Terrace. One morning she arrived at school in a +state of unusual excitement, and, rushing into the dressing-room, +hailed her fellow poetesses. + +"Oh jubilate! Just look here! This came only five minutes before I +started. Isn't it ripping?" + +"You don't mean to say we've won the prize?" gasped Maggie Orton. + +"No--not the prize! But we've got something. Quite enough to +cock-a-doodle about. Here, read what they say!" + +A cluster of heads immediately collected over the letter. It was typed, +and appeared strictly businesslike. It ran thus:-- + + "60 KING STREET, + KIRKTON. + + "DEAR MADAM, + + "We are in receipt of your verses in respect of our competition for + advertising our brand of tea. Though they do not attain the level + of first prize offered, they are not bad on the whole, and we think + we might be able to use them. We are therefore willing to give you + L1, 5_s._ for the three, and would add a further 15_s._ for the + Christmas-card verses and cracker mottoes, making L2 for the lot. + We retain your verses pending your consideration of this offer, and + will forward cheque and copyright agreement should you accept it. + + "Yours faithfully, + + "JONES & JACKSON, LTD." + +The successful authoresses turned to one another with almost incredulous +delight, and broke into open rejoicings. + +"Goody! How stunning!" + +"What a frolicsome joke!" + +"Accept it? Ra-ther!" + +"Hi-cockalorum! We're in luck!" + +"I never dreamt we'd really win anything." + +"We shall have to sample this tea now. We praised it up enough!" + +"Write to-day, Mildred, and say 'Done!'" + +"Oh, we have scored!" + +Mildred received the cheque by return of post, and as her uncle kindly +cashed it for her at once, she brought two golden sovereigns to school +to exhibit to her proud co-operators. The syndicate marched at once to +the Principal's study, and, after a brief explanation, handed over the +amount for the College library. Miss Cartwright was very much +astonished, and laughed heartily as she tendered her congratulations. + +"I didn't know we had so much talent at St. Cyprian's," she remarked. +"We must keep a copy of the verses. It is a very nice idea to devote the +money to the library, and I think you, who have gained it, ought to have +the choosing of the books." + +"Oh, may we?" said the girls. + +"Most certainly. Bring me a list of what you would like, and I will +order them from Bartholomew's." + +The members of the syndicate felt themselves public benefactresses as +they consulted the rest of the Form upon the drawing up of the list. +There was naturally plenty of discussion, but in the end a dozen volumes +were selected, and made quite a valuable addition to the +not-too-well-stocked library. The incident drew attention to the +scantiness of the collection on the shelves, the monitresses took the +matter up, and it was put to the vote and carried unanimously that in +future every girl, on leaving the College, should be asked to present +two books--one for the senior and one for the junior branch--as a +parting gift to St. Cyprian's. By this method the number of volumes +would be annually increased; and though it was not compulsory, it was +thought that nobody would be likely to refuse to offer her contribution. + +The Alliance had brought many new interests to the school, and now that +the Eisteddfod was over, the pendulum of excitement swung round from +music to games. It was the turn of the Athletic branch of the league, +and a cricket match had been fixed for the following Saturday afternoon +between St. Cyprian's and Templeton. It was to be held at Haselwell, a +suburb a few miles out of Kirkton, where the county matches were always +played. The Alliance, of course, could not aspire to the county ground, +but they were able to hire a very good pitch, which was often let out +for school matches, and which afforded plenty of accommodation for +spectators, including a covered stand. + +Naturally St. Cyprian's team had been doing its utmost in the way of +training; and Joan Richards as captain, and Kitty Fletcher as chief +organizer of the Games department held many anxious consultations. They +congratulated themselves that they had been drawn to play their first +match against Templeton, and not against either the High School or the +Marston Grove School, both of which had acquired a well-justified +reputation in the cricket field. Of Templeton's play they knew little. +Like themselves, it had not before contested with other schools, and +beyond the fact (which Kitty had heard at the High School) that its +captain, Marjorie Rawlins, was an excellent bowler, its points were +problematical. + +Joan was making her eleven concentrate its final energies on fielding, +especially on catching and throwing in, which she regarded as half the +battle. + +"Some girls muff the ball, and some throw it about twenty yards, and the +next fielder has to go for it while the other side's making runs," she +affirmed. "I know you don't like fielding, but, if we want to score, +we've got to practise it." + +To Joan and Kitty, as "Athletics" delegates, the success or failure of +this their first match meant much. The idea had got about at St. +Cyprian's that the College was no good at games, and they were very +anxious to correct so mistaken a notion. Once establish a precedent, and +the girls would have more confidence, and be far more strenuous at their +practices. They had never forgotten a certain rosy era of prowess under +the tuition of a former mistress, and if they could once more be brought +to the pitch of enthusiasm they had reached with Miss Pritchard, all +would surely be well for the future. + +The Alliance, having taken the cricket pitch for the afternoon, issued +tickets of admission to any of its members who wished to go as +spectators, and about sixty girls from St. Cyprian's availed themselves +of the opportunity, Mildred among the number. The match was to begin at +two o'clock, so after an early lunch they went by tram-car to the city, +and caught the 1.25 train to Haselwell. Some of the girls had been there +before to see county matches, and pointed out the famous ground, with +its tiers upon tiers of wooden seats, the modern counterpart of an +ancient Roman circus. Their own pitch was not far away from the station, +and turned out to be quite well kept and satisfactory. Mildred took her +place next to Maudie Stearne on one of the benches, and looked about +her. There was a good gathering of spectators, for not only had St. +Cyprian's and Templeton girls come to watch, but a fair number from the +other schools had also turned up. + +"The Coll.'s on appro. to-day," said Maudie. "I hope we shan't disgrace +ourselves before all that set from the High School." + +"Joan's in a flutter!" said Mildred. + +"But Kitty's as cool as a cucumber. She might be going to play her +little brothers in her own garden!" + +"Good old Kit-cat! She'll do her level best, I know." + +"Has Miss Harris come with Templeton?" + +"No, I don't see her. I'm glad Miss Cartwright's here, though. One likes +one's Principal to see one's first match." + +"They're going to toss!" exclaimed Bess Harrison excitedly. + +The two captains now came forward, exchanged a few civilities, and the +orthodox penny went spinning into the air. + +"Tails!" cried Marjorie Rawlins. "Tails it is! We'll bat!" + +Joan lost no time in placing her field, and presently the two first bats +sallied forth from the pavilion, and St. Cyprian's scanned them +narrowly. One was short and squat, with an air of general strength +about her, and used her bat as a walking-stick as she came; the other, +tall and slim, carried her bat under her arm, and leisurely put on her +batting gloves as she walked up to the pitch. + +"Gladys Fuller and Beryl Norton," volunteered Bess Harrison, who knew +something of the Templeton strength. + +Beryl was to take first ball, and seemed rather nervous as the umpire +gave her her centre; then, glancing round to take a last look at the +position of the field, she prepared to face the bowling. Kitty was no +"duffer" with the leather, having been assiduously coached by a critical +brother who was in the Kirkton Grammar School eleven, and tolerated +neither lobs nor half-volleys. A moderately long run with a swinging +step brought her to the wicket; with a high overhand action she sent the +ball down the pitch at a good pace. Luckily for Beryl it was off the +wicket, as it beat her entirely. The next ball was dead straight, but +Beryl was prepared for the pace this time, and played it respectfully +back to the bowler. In fact, she was evidently not out to take risks, +and the first over proved a maiden. + +Who was going to take the next over was in everyone's mind. The point +was soon settled, for Joan rolled the ball gently in the direction of +Daisy Holt. Daisy's bowling was not quite orthodox according to modern +ideas: she bowled lobs, hence her pseudonym with the team of "Lobster". +But she knew how to vary both her pace and pitch, so that her bowling +was quite dangerous. Her first ball pitched a little to the onside and +had an artful break; but Gladys, to show her contempt for "underhand", +swept round to leg, and missed it. She had failed to allow for the +break, but, luckily for her, her skirts entangled the ball, and Daisy's +instant appeal for l.b.w. was refused. Rendered wary by experience, +Gladys played her next ball more carefully, and scored a single. This +brought Beryl to the other end. It is strange how a long course of +overhand bowling induces contempt of lobs. Daisy's next ball was a +splendid one--straight, swift, and of good length; but Beryl, who seemed +to have lost all her caution, mis-timed the blind swipe she made at it, +and the next moment was walking off rather crest-fallen towards the +pavilion, amid uproarious applause from St. Cyprian's, and shouts of +"Good old Lobster!" + +Maggie Lowe, the next bat, was well known as a good player. She handled +her bat with a freedom and precision which augured ill for loose +bowling, and the first half-volley that Daisy sent down she promptly +sent to the boundary. After this the score mounted slowly, runs coming +in twos and singles, and both girls seemed to gain in confidence, and +played more freely. Kitty had all this time been bowling well and +keeping a good length, though she had met with no luck as yet. Her turn +was soon to come, however. A swift rising ball slightly to the off +tempted Gladys to her destruction, and away glanced the ball to long +slip. But Jessie Hudson was ready, having profited by her training. +Would she reach it? The whole field held its breath. She's got it! No! +The ball rebounds from her hands, but she has it again before it reaches +the ground, thus bringing off a brilliant catch at the second time of +asking. Thirty one for two, last player fifteen, went up on the +board--not such a bad score after all! Templeton's captain, Marjorie +Rawlins, now came forth with a look of determination on her face. She +played with extreme care at first, but soon seemed to get her eye in, +and runs came more quickly. Forty went up, and then fifty, to a great +round of applause from Templeton. Joan now went on to bowl herself, +instead of Daisy. She bowled a good medium-pace overhand, with a very +tricky break from the off. Alas for Maggie Lowe! A well-pitched ball to +the off tempted her to step out, but she had misjudged the length and +ignored the break. The next moment her bails were flying, and she +returned to the pavilion amid hearty applause for a useful innings of +fourteen. + +The next player was one of those happy-go-lucky, slashing hitters who +are always a great accession of strength to a team when their batting +comes off. She commenced hitting about her with great freedom, showing +small respect for the bowling at either end. Fortunately for St. +Cyprian's, Joan's careful training in fielding told its tale, and runs +came less freely than might have been expected. Still, the score was +mounting up steadily, and Miss Slasher seemed to be greatly enjoying +herself when a really good catch at long-on put an end to her innings. + +Sixty-seven for four now went up, and St. Cyprian's began to pull rather +long faces, and wondered what Joan would do next. Joan had evidently +made up her mind, for at the next over Edna Carson appeared at the +wicket. St. Cyprian's took heart of grace, for Edna's bowling was very +peculiar. It was a sort of compromise between roundhand and underhand, +and where she had learned it nobody knew. However, it was swift and +straight, kept very low, and was by no means easy to play, and, coming +as it did after bowling which rose sharply from the pitch, it took the +batters quite by surprise. Her first ball was dead on the middle stump. +Marjorie Rawlins, who appeared to be expecting a slow, struck too late, +and the next moment Peggie Potter, the wicket-keeper, threw the ball +gleefully in the air, while the umpire sedately walked up to replace the +bails. + +The next player was no more successful. She spooned an easy catch to +point, and was followed after a short interval by a fine strapping girl +who came striding up to the wicket like a boy. + +"Janet Armstrong," remarked the knowing Bess Harrison; and at the very +sight of her powerful form the fielders all moved outwards, not even +waiting for the signals which Joan was so plentifully bestowing upon +them. + +Janet took her block composedly, and waited with her bat slightly +raised. "Now," thought Edna "if I can only drop the ball just under that +bat, out goes the champion!" It was the third ball of the over, and St. +Cyprian's maintain that it was the swiftest Edna had ever been known to +bowl. Janet made a powerful stroke at it, apparently thinking it was a +half-volley. But Edna's aim was true. She had sent down a deadly +"yorker" which got under Janet's bat and spread-eagled her wicket. + +"Well bowled! Well bowled!" shouted St. Cyprian's. "Why, she's done the +hat trick!" and for several minutes delight and excitement reigned +supreme. + +"You shall choose it at Liberty's!" cried Joan, oblivious in her +enthusiasm of the depleted state of the club exchequer. + +The next player was already taking her centre from the umpire before +order was restored. After this Templeton seemed to lose heart, their +batting quite collapsed, and the innings closed for seventy-nine, two of +the remaining three wickets falling to Joan, while Edna captured the +last by an amazingly swift full pitch. + +The Templeton captain was not long in arranging her field, and Joan, +after some delay caused by a prolonged search for batting gloves, sent +in Kitty Fletcher and Clarice Mayfield to face the bowling of Janet +Armstrong at one end, Marjorie Rawlins herself taking the ball at the +other. + +Things started none too well for St. Cyprian's. The bowling was +decidedly difficult. Marjorie Rawlins's slow overhand twisters needed +constant watching, while Janet Armstrong was evidently trying all she +knew to get her own back again. She was showing very fine form, and her +easy, graceful style and capital pace and length struck St. Cyprian's at +once with admiration and dread. Kitty and Clarice were both steady bats, +however, and faced the bowling with a courage which did them credit, +though runs came very slowly, and it was not until the third over that +Kitty managed to score a single off Janet. This brought Clarice to the +other end, and the first ball she received, a lovely bailer, proved too +much for her. Peggie Potter came in next, with instructions from Joan +to "stonewall everything" and wear the bowling down. These she +communicated to Kitty in a mysterious conclave between the wickets +before taking her centre, and both girls carried them out to the letter, +playing a very careful and cautious game for several overs. + +Kitty was by this time beginning to bat with more confidence and +freedom, when, in playing back to an awkward ball from Marjorie Rawlins, +she managed to hit her own wicket. With two wickets down, the score +still under ten, and the bowling what it was, things looked rather black +for St. Cyprian's. The buzz of cheerful girlish chatter died down, and a +taciturn gloom took its place. Joan herself was going in next. Would she +and Peggie manage to make a stand and wear down this terrible bowling? +was the thought in each girl's mind as they saw her walk up to the +wicket, take her centre, and prepare to receive her first ball from +Marjorie Rawlins. It was on the off side, and slightly overpitched, and +Joan sent it straight to the boundary for three, amid rounds of applause +from her delighted supporters. Over was now called, and Joan faced the +bowling of Janet Armstrong. Having broken her duck, however, she was +breathing more freely, and soon found that the bowling, though good and +accurate, was by no means unplayable. After a few overs of careful play +she began to get her eye in, and with Peggie stonewalling with dogged +persistence at the other end, and now and then making a single, the +score crept up, at first gradually, and then more rapidly, till twenty, +thirty, and then forty appeared on the board. At this point a sad mishap +befell poor Peggie. She was getting so keen on backing up Joan's free +and frequent drives that she was tempted out of her ground before the +ball was actually delivered. Janet noticed this, and the next time it +occurred, instead of delivering the ball she turned round and put down +the wicket. Greatly disgusted with herself for having given her wicket +away in such a silly manner, Peggie walked back to the pavilion, where, +to her great relief, instead of the chaff and upbraiding she expected, +she received quite an ovation. For had not she and Joan made a great +stand at a critical point in the game, and saved a situation which might +easily have led to a complete collapse? + +Edna Carson, who went in next, obviously meant to continue Peggie's +policy of keeping her end up and letting Joan do the scoring. She +stolidly blocked everything that came her way, to the great disgust of +Janet, who was evidently thirsting for her wicket, and was sending down +some astonishingly good balls. But with swift balls, even if only +blocked, you can often steal a run, and as the Templeton fielding was +not nearly so good as St. Cyprian's, Edna frequently managed to make a +single, and thus give Joan the opportunity of which she was not slow to +avail herself. Gradually the score increased until fifty went up amid +much rejoicing. At this point Edna, who had never seemed at her ease, +though she had been batting freely for nearly half an hour, gave Janet +her revenge by returning an easy catch. Grace Ashworth was the next bat, +but did not stay long, being clean bowled by Janet Armstrong; and a +similar fate befell Winifred Barbour, without adding to the score. Just +as Sophy Manners, the next player, was coming out of the pavilion, Joan +heard the neighbouring clock chime the first quarter. "A quarter-past +four," she thought complacently, but moving a few paces from the pitch, +she took a glance at the clock to make sure. To her horror and dismay +the hands pointed to a quarter-past five! + +"Hit out for all you're worth!" she whispered to Sophy as she came up. +"Thirty to win, and only a quarter of an hour to make them in!" + +Sophy, who was both bold and handy with the bat, and, as the girls all +declared, "simply had no nerves", was nothing loath to take this advice, +and for the next few minutes both she and Joan were scoring merrily. +Sixty for six--that did not look so bad; but only nine minutes remained, +and twenty runs were wanted to win. Joan glances uneasily at the clock, +and hits out harder than ever. + +But the bowlers still keep a good length, and runs are coming more +slowly; for Joan knows that if either of the present wickets falls she +has no one left to rely upon in an emergency like this, so she plays +with more caution, only lashing out when opportunity offers. Seventy +goes up, with only four minutes left! Sophy gets one round to leg for +three, and a moment later has one to the boundary for four. Three runs +wanted to win, and Joan has the bowling. She sends one to the on for +two. Now for the winning hit, and only a minute to make it in! Marjorie +Rawlins artfully sends down the ball a trifle slower and shorter pitched +than before. St. Cyprian's hold their breath. A moment later they are +gasping in agony, for Joan has misjudged the ball, and up it goes like +a rocket between cover-point and bowler. + +Both girls make a dash for it, but realizing the imminence of a +collision, each suddenly stops short, thinking it is the other's catch, +and the ball drops harmlessly between them, just as Joan arrives at the +other end with the run to her credit, and the match won for St. +Cyprian's by four wickets. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +The Students' Concert + + +The time was drawing very near now for Herr Hoffmann's Students' +Concert, and whenever Mildred thought about it her heart descended +somewhere into the region of her boots. The Professor had been giving +her lessons at his own house in addition to those she took at St. +Cyprian's, and with the one exception of the day of the cricket match, +she had attended every Saturday afternoon at the Philharmonic Hall to +practise the "Fruehlingslied" with the students' orchestra. For the first +time in her life she was really working hard, and sometimes she almost +astonished herself at the progress she made. Technical difficulties, +which before had seemed impossibilities, smoothed themselves away, and +her supple fingers began to acquire a new mastery over her instrument. +That she needed all her best efforts she knew well. The fear lest she +should fail in her piece haunted her like a bad dream. The Professor was +not easy to satisfy. His ideal was so high that she continually fell +short of it, and in spite of incessant practising and extra music +lessons, so hard seemed the task which she was attempting that she +sometimes felt inclined to fling down her violin in despair, and give up +the concert altogether. + +The one thing that upheld her was the remembrance of the story of her +father's life which her aunt had told her. The unknown father, whom she +had lost when she was still only a baby, had left her his Stradivarius +as a legacy, with his dying injunction to make the good use of it which +he had once hoped to do himself. The violin was her one link with him. +Often now, when she practised it, she thought how his fingers had played +on it before, and what beautiful music they must have brought from it. +To respect his last wish seemed to her a solemn obligation. What he +could not accomplish himself he had charged her to perform, and it was a +trust which she must strive faithfully to fulfil. She felt as if her +success might compensate for his failure. The talent which he had +trifled with she must foster to the utmost of her power. The Comte's +secret (solved, alas, too late!) should be her watchword for the future. +Her father's neglected genius was like a debt left owing to the general +good of the world, and on her shoulders must fall the burden of paying +it. + +Added to this was the knowledge that she had a duty to the uncle and +aunt who had already spent much on her music lessons, and to the college +where she was receiving her education. Her playing at this concert was +an important point for St. Cyprian's, and she must think not only of her +own personal successes, but of winning laurels for the school. She knew +that Miss Cartwright had been disappointed in the result of the +Eisteddfod, and this was a golden opportunity of upholding the +reputation which that festival had slightly undermined. St. Cyprian's +must show to all Kirkton that its special system of music culture was +of real value, and that its training could produce a pupil worthy of its +high aims. Yet the very thought of how much depended upon her efforts +brought its own penalty. + +"I wonder if everybody else is as nervous as I am?" she said, as she +talked the matter over with her aunt. "I've heard all the other students +now, down at the Philharmonic. We took a full rehearsal last Saturday. I +don't believe Mr. Frith, who plays the 'cello, minds at all. He never +cares in the least when the Professor's angry, he simply laughs and +shrugs his shoulders. Miss Buchanan, the pianist, told me she couldn't +sleep at night for thinking about the concert. It means so much to her, +because she hopes to get pupils of her own by and by. The orchestra will +manage best. The audience won't notice if one of them plays a wrong +note, though Herr Hoffmann's sure to hear it, and scold afterwards. I +hope the room won't be very hot, or I know I shall break a string. If I +did, it would upset me so dreadfully, I don't believe I should be able +to go on, even if the Professor handed me his own violin instead." + +"We'll hope you may have a better fate than that," returned Mrs. Graham. +"Your little Strad. doesn't often treat you so unkindly. It's generally +a most faithful servant." + +"I'm glad I've such a splendid instrument," continued Mildred. "It makes +the most enormous difference to one's playing. When I try some of the +other students' violins, they sound like banjos. I believe the Professor +likes my 'Strad.' far better than his own Amati. He often catches it up +and plays on it, just out of sheer enjoyment. It is a beauty, with its +lovely old Cremona varnish, and the wonderful label inside: 'Antonius +Stradivarius Cremonensis fecit'. There's no mistake about its +genuineness. By the by, Tantie, do you know the Mayor and Mayoress are +coming to the concert? Isn't it terrible?" + +"I don't think you need mind them very much. They're probably kindly +people who will have nothing but praise for all the performers. I should +be much more afraid of the newspaper critics, who really know the points +of good playing, and will judge you by a musician's standard." + +"If only there could be no audience!" groaned Mildred. "It's the feeling +that everyone will be looking at me that's so dreadful. We rehearsed in +the Town Hall last Saturday, and I quite enjoyed playing to rows of +empty benches!" + +"Try to forget that anybody is there. Just think of your piece, and +imagine you're playing it at school, or in Herr Hoffmann's study. It +will be time enough to remember the audience when people begin to clap. +Have you anything prepared for an encore?" + +"I don't suppose I shall get one, but the Professor's making me practise +the D minor Polonaise, so that I could be ready. It's a bright little +thing, and not too long. Oh, how glad I shall be when it's all over! And +yet I don't want the day to come!" + +The brief week left before the concert seemed to Mildred to run away +only too quickly. The date had been fixed for 16th July, for Herr +Hoffmann liked his recital to form a winding-up of his year of musical +tuition, which had commenced in September. It was probably as anxious a +time for him as for his quaking pupils, and he certainly spared no +trouble in coaching them for their performance, though he lost his +temper so often in the attempt that some of the students declared he +would never find it again. + +At length the great day arrived. Mildred had had her final lesson from +her Professor, and a last word of encouragement from Miss Cartwright, +who, with many of St. Cyprian's teachers and music pupils, was to be at +the concert. Poor Mildred, who grew hourly more and more nervous, was +almost sick with apprehension as her aunt helped her to put on her white +evening dress before the long mirror in the spare bedroom, and tied the +wavy gold hair with a blue satin ribbon. + +"Cheer up! You look like a little ghost!" said Mrs. Graham, pinching her +niece's pale cheeks. "It won't be half so bad as you expect. You make it +far worse by thinking too much about it. All the other performers are in +the same case as yourself. You'll have plenty of companions in +misfortune." + +"I don't want to break down and disgrace you," said Mildred, gulping +back something in her throat that threatened to rise up and choke her. + +"You won't do that. You've worked really hard, and if there's any truth +in the Comte's secret, I believe the Stradivarius knows it, and will +make you play well in spite of yourself. You've one great advantage over +the piano students, that you can bring your own instrument. Try to think +that though this is your first recital, your little violin is very well +accustomed to appear in public, and will feel so at home in the concert +hall that when you take the bow in your hand it will almost talk of its +own accord. It has been a long time in retirement, and to-night it's +anxious to show every one what it can do." + +"I hope I shan't disappoint it!" said Mildred, laughing a little. "It's +rather hard on it to belong to a beginner, as it's accustomed to such +laurels. Tantie, I'm so glad you're sitting in the front row, so that I +know you're near me. I believe if I feel very bad, it will just help me +to see you there. I shan't think so much about other people if I can +look at your face." + +The cab arriving at the door put an end to all further conversation. +Mrs. Graham wrapped Mildred in an evening cloak, Uncle Colin was ready +and waiting downstairs, and together they drove to the Town Hall. + +"Good luck to you, lassie!" said Dr. Graham, kissing his trembling +little niece as he left her at the performers' entrance. "Don't you +worry yourself! You'll play quite well enough to please me, and a great +many other people besides. We don't expect a Paganini at fifteen. Do +your best, and you'll get through all right. Here comes Herr Hoffmann to +encourage you." + +It was indeed the Professor himself, so resplendent in evening dress, so +bland and gracious, so overflowing with genial smiles and good humour, +that Mildred hardly knew him. + +"Ach! you have got a fit of ze nerves!" he declared, leading his pupil +to a room at the back of the platform, where most of the students were +already assembled. "Take it not so to heart, lieb Kindlein! You will be +a good Maedchen, and play just as I have taught you. Frisch! Wohlan! Here +is a cup of coffee, very strong. Drink! It will give you courage. +Himmel! Did I not suffer myself like this once? But now it make me to +smile." + +He patted her kindly on the shoulder as he handed her the cup of black +coffee. It was not nice, but Mildred felt better when she had swallowed +it, and, recovering her spirits a little, began to look round her, and +take some notice of her fellow performers. Some were anxiously tuning +their instruments, and some were chatting with affected carelessness. A +few of them she knew already, for she had spoken to them at the +orchestra rehearsals, and several came forward now to give her a word of +welcome. She was the youngest in the room. Most of the other students +were practised players, some of whom indeed were training for a musical +career. The Professor, anxious to keep up his deservedly high reputation +as a teacher, would allow none but his best pupils to appear at his +recitals. + +"You get used to it in time," said one of the piano students, a tall, +pretty girl with chestnut hair, just out of her teens, who stood working +her fingers about as if to keep her joints supple. "I thought I should +have died at my first concert, and now I don't really care very much." + +"I think a good audience is rather inspiring," said a violoncellist, a +self-conscious young fellow whose long waving hair and artistic necktie +proclaimed him a budding professional. "I can always play better from a +platform. A little applause seems to spur one on." + +"Yes, if you get it," said another, nervously rubbing resin on his bow. +"That generally remains to be seen." + +"I've never missed an encore at any concert I've played at," returned +the first confidently. "I shall be astonished if my Barcarolle is not a +success, though one can't expect much real musical appreciation from +town councillors and an ignorant public. I believe they'd applaud a +German band!" + +"Not so ignorant as you seem to think," said a third student, coming up +to join the group. "I don't know any audience that can tell good music +from bad better than a Kirkton one. It needs your best work to give +satisfaction, and there's always a full and most intelligent criticism +in the _Herald_ next day." + +"I suppose the old Professor's exploiting you," said the violoncellist, +turning to Mildred. "He isn't keen on juvenile prodigies as a rule. The +last he had was little Mathilde Zimmermann, and she did nothing after +all! Do you go out to 'At Homes'?" + +"Oh, no!" replied Mildred. "This is the first concert I've ever played +at--except just at school. I don't want to now, only Herr Hoffmann says +I must." + +"They aren't running her professionally, so she won't interfere with you +or your engagements," put in the piano student. "She's the Professor's +pet pupil at present, that's all. But if you don't wake up, she'll take +the shine out of you some day, so look to your laurels!" Then, speaking +to Mildred, she added kindly: "Don't mind him, dear! You'll find when +you begin to play in public that you'll meet with a good deal of +jealousy from other performers, but you mustn't let it worry you. The +music's the only thing to care about, and if one can interpret that, one +feels it's something to live for, in spite of all." + +"Are you ready, ladies and gentlemen?" cried the Professor, entering in +a perfect whirlwind of excitement. "Ze hall is already full! It is ze +hour! Ze audience await us. Come, we commence!" + +The first selection on the programme was an "Overture to Lucretius", and +as nearly all of the company were members of the students' orchestra, +Mildred found herself left alone with the few piano pupils. She had +often attended concerts, but so far had always been numbered among the +audience. This was her first peep behind the scenes, and it seemed +strange to listen to the music from the back of the platform. She could +hear the applause at the conclusion of the overture, and the duet for +violin and violoncello which followed. + +"It will be my turn next," said her friend of the chestnut locks. +"There's one comfort in coming on early, you get it over,--though I +always find the audience cold at first. I suppose they think if they +call for encores too soon, they'll never get through the programme. I +see you're three-quarters down. That's the best place you could possibly +have, just when everyone has got enthusiastic, and before it's time to +begin and think about catching trains. You couldn't have been more +lucky. There's the last bar! Now for my ordeal! Good-bye!" + +Sitting waiting with her violin in her hand, poor Mildred felt as if no +concert had ever dragged along so slowly. She wished she could take a +peep into the hall, and see where her uncle and aunt were sitting. That +the room was very full she knew from the remarks of the other students, +but so far the audience, though fairly appreciative, could hardly be +described as warm. Piece followed piece, then came the ten minutes' +interval; the second part of the programme commenced, and at length the +"Fruehlingslied" drew near. As the finale of the orchestral movement +which preceded it died away, Mildred took her violin, and summoning all +her courage went with a beating heart up the steep little staircase +which led to the platform. The Professor stood at the top, his broad +face beaming encouragement. + +"So far it goes sehr gut," he announced. "No one have break down or +spoil anything. Remember, mein Kind, not to hurry ze time in ze legato +passage, and to wait in ze allegretto till ze 'cello begin." + +He tested her Stradivarius himself to see that it was in tune with the +other instruments, then handed her between the rows of violin stands to +her place in front of the piano, and taking up his baton rapped smartly +on the conductor's desk, as a signal for the orchestra to be in +readiness. For the first time in her life Mildred found herself face to +face with a public audience. She stood there for a moment, such a +childish little figure in her white dress, with her golden hair falling +over her shoulders, and a frightened look in her dark eyes, that a wave +of sympathy seemed to pass through the hall, and a few people began to +clap. She started at the sound, and so great a panic of fear seized her +that she felt as though she could scarcely draw her breath; but at that +instant, looking down in front, she caught her aunt's eyes fixed upon +her with a hope and confidence in them which calmed her, notwithstanding +the knowledge that hundreds of listeners were waiting for her first +notes. Suddenly the remembrance of Mrs. Graham's words came back to +her--the Stradivarius had been in public before, and could make her +succeed in spite of herself. It was the bird of the "Fruehlingslied". She +had only to draw the bow, and it would surely sing. + +"Are you ready? Now!" whispered the Professor. He waved his baton, and +the piece began. + +Once the ice was broken, Mildred forgot the hall and the rows of people. +There was something inspiring in the subdued accompaniment of the +orchestra, her violin was like a living creature that thrilled under her +fingers, and so well did it respond to her touch that all the springtime +seemed to ring in the full, clear tones. She had got at the heart of the +musician's meaning, and those who listened felt that throb of pure +delight which comes to us sometimes with the sight of the dawn or the +early song of a thrush, that sense of freshness, of oneness with Nature +at her gladdest, that can raise our commonplace lives for the moment to +the level of the skies above. + +It was an astounding performance for a girl of scarcely sixteen. The +piece not only demanded extreme facility of execution, but the maturest +thought and feeling, and to many it appeared incredible that so young a +player could have assimilated so much of the life and the mystery of +things as to enable her thus to interpret the mind of a great composer. +The audience seemed to hold its breath as the last crisp chord resounded +and died away; then it broke into a perfect storm of applause. There was +no mistaking the warmth of the reception, for instead of subsiding, the +clapping grew louder, and shouts of "Brava!" and "Encore!" echoed +through the hall. Suddenly realizing that she was the centre of all +eyes, Mildred made a frightened acknowledgment, and fled precipitately +to the staircase, to be brought back by her triumphant master, who, +taking her hand, led her once again to the front of the platform. + +"Courage, mein Kind!" he whispered. "One little effort more! You will +not fail now? Ze encore!" + +How Mildred played the "Polonaise" she never quite knew. She only +afterwards retained a confused remembrance of glaring light, a sea of +faces before her, and a sense that the notes came of themselves, urged +somehow from her fingers by the knowledge that they gave pleasure to her +hearers. It seemed a dream, a strange, bewildering unreality, an +exhilaration such as she had never before experienced, but which ended +in so great a revulsion of feeling that as she turned from the +applauding audience to leave the platform she could control herself no +longer, and, breaking down utterly, burst into tears. + +"There, there!" said the Professor soothingly, patting the subdued +golden head; "it is finished now, and you are my very good pupil. Wait +in ze anteroom till I come, for I would speak to you after ze +performance." + +"It was beautiful--beautiful!" cried the piano student, kissing Mildred +as she helped her down the staircase. "Don't cry, dear! It was worth the +effort. Such music is only granted to a few. Be thankful the talent is +yours, and that you are able to give it to the world. We, who are less +gifted, can only envy the future that lies before you." + +The rest of the programme was soon finished, and the orchestra, +returning, crowded round Mildred to congratulate her on her success, +while some members of the audience, invited by Herr Hoffmann into the +anteroom, added kind words of approval and praise. + +"Let us go, Tantie!" said Mildred, clinging to her aunt, who had come to +fetch her, and longing unspeakably for the quiet of home again; "I want +to get away from all this!" + +"The cab's waiting, darling! We're going now," said Mrs. Graham, hastily +making Mildred's adieux and her own, and trying to edge her way through +the crowded room. A group of people talking together blocked their +progress at the door, and as they paused for a moment to find an +opportunity of passing, a lady sprang forward and shook Mildred warmly +by the hand, a lady whom she recognized at once as the stranger who had +spoken to her at Herr Hoffmann's on the day she had first visited his +house, and had waited so long for her music lesson. + +"My dear, I am charmed! Your master ought indeed to be proud of you! I +should have known you the minute you came on to the platform, even +without your name on the programme. I am going to Westmorland to-morrow, +and I shall be sure to tell your uncle what a clever niece he has. Such +music would be enchanting in a drawing-room. I hope I may see you again +before long." + +"Come, Mildred!" said her aunt, hurrying her away from the effusive +stranger. "Here is Herr Hoffmann waiting to say good-bye." + +"Mein Freundchen!" cried the Professor, holding his pupil's little hand +in a bearlike grip, and relapsing into German in his excitement. "Is it +not worth while to have taken trouble? Ze exercises, ze scales, you did +not like them at ze time, but they are ze all-necessary foundation of +true art. To-night you have shown me that you can make progress. Go on! +There is much remaining to be done. Do not let one little applause cause +you to think that you can yet play. It is try each time a something more +difficult till you can master it, and some day you will thank ze old +Professor that he has made you work. Auf Wiedersehen!" + + + + +CHAPTER X + +Changes + + +Mildred's signal success at the Students' Concert was a subject of much +congratulation to St. Cyprian's. Never before had a pupil at the College +made so public an appearance and obtained such an ovation. The newspaper +critics highly praised her playing, and several of the most prominent +musical people in the city, who had been present on the occasion, +congratulated Professor Hoffmann on the result of his teaching. Among +these was Mr. Steiniger, a German gentleman of great influence in +Kirkton, who was president both of the Freiburg Concerts and of the +College of Music, and whose opinion therefore was of considerable value. +To her schoolfellows Mildred's laurels amply compensated for the low +majority with which they had won the Alliance Eisteddfod. Many girls +from the other schools had been at the concert, and it was a great +satisfaction to feel that they had heard St. Cyprian's musical champion +in such favourable circumstances. + +Mildred herself was experiencing that strong reaction which often +follows great effort. Now that her ordeal was over, she felt how severe +had been the strain of those weeks of unaccustomed hard work. She +flagged visibly, and her pale cheeks and listless manner drew comment at +home. + +"No, I'm not ill really, Tantie," she replied to her aunt's enquiries. +"It's only that I'm tired of everything just at present. I think I want +a change." + +And a change was coming to her--something so utterly unexpected and +unthought-of that if anyone could have told her of it beforehand she +would scarcely have believed it to be possible. It began with a +letter--an innocent, inoffensive-looking letter. She had brought it +herself to Dr. Graham, and had noticed the crest on the envelope, and +then thought no more about it than she had done of the many others which +were received daily at the house, and which did not concern her in the +least. That her uncle and aunt seemed to have many earnest conversations +together, which they broke off abruptly when she entered the room; that +they were even more affectionate to her than usual, and looked at her +sometimes with a kind of wistfulness in their eyes, did not strike her +particularly at the time, though she remembered it well afterwards; and +it was not until Mrs. Graham broached the subject one afternoon that she +had any idea of the strange new plans which were being discussed for her +future. + +"There's something I wish to speak to you about, Mildred. It's a +question your uncle and I have been weighing very anxiously. I believe +we've looked at it from every side, and I trust and hope that we've come +to a right decision. I have told you before that your mother's father, +Sir John Lorraine, disowned her at her marriage. He never saw her +again; and although we wrote to tell him of her death and of your birth, +he took no notice, and made no enquiries about you afterwards. There was +no mention of you in his will, all his property being left to his son +Sir Darcy, who is the present owner of The Towers, as you know. Your +uncle and I adopted you from the very first, and we have never had any +communication with your mother's relations, who for nearly sixteen years +have given no sign that they wished to remember you. You can imagine, +then, our astonishment at receiving a letter from Sir Darcy Lorraine. It +contained what seemed to us a very startling offer, which at first we +thought it impossible to accept, until, after talking the matter over, +we think it ought at least to be considered. But before you can +understand me, I must read you the letter. It is dated from The Towers, +Castleford, and addressed to your uncle: + + "DEAR SIR, + + "There has recently been brought to my notice a sense of my + responsibility in regard to the upbringing of my late sister's + child, Mildred Lancaster. I find on enquiry that so far you have + undertaken her full guardianship, and have provided for her + entirely. As it seems only right that she should both know her + other relations and give them the opportunity of performing their + fair part in her education and maintenance, I now offer her a home + at The Towers, where she could share my daughter's studies, and + afterwards take that position in society which she would occupy as + my niece. Should you feel disposed to agree to this proposal I + should be ready to make arrangements to receive her without further + delay. + + "I much regret that unfortunate family misunderstandings should + have caused this apparent neglect of one to whom I feel I owe a + duty, and I would endeavour to atone for past omissions by + affording her every advantage which is within my power. + + "Trusting that our negotiations in this matter may prove of a + satisfactory character. + + "I remain, dear sir, + + "Faithfully yours, + + "DARCY LORRAINE." + +"He surely doesn't mean I should leave you and Uncle Colin and go and +live with him?" gasped Mildred incredulously. + +"That's exactly what he proposes." + +"But it's quite impossible!" + +"Is it? Well, we'll talk about that later on. You don't want to leave +us?" + +"Of course not! All the Sir Darcys and Lady Lorraines in the world +wouldn't make up! Tantie! How can you even speak of it?" said Mildred +reproachfully, getting up and flinging her arms round her aunt. Mrs. +Graham held her very close for a moment or two. + +"You've been our little daughter for so many years that we could ill +spare you, sweetheart. What we think, however, is that you ought to go +there for the summer holidays at any rate. We wish you to pay them a +seven weeks' visit. Sir Darcy is your relation after all, just as much +as we are, and it's only fair that you should have an opportunity of +getting to know him and your aunt and cousin. Your uncle and I feel that +if, for our own selfish love of your company, we were to refuse to part +with you, you might some day justly reproach us for having kept you from +social advantages which we cannot give you. You are young, Mildred, and +have never known any place but Kirkton, and we think you ought to make a +trial of this other home before you finally choose between the two. It +has always been my dearest wish that you should study music; but if +after visiting Westmorland you find the life there is really more +congenial to you than our plain workaday existence here, we would not +allow the affection you feel for us to interfere in any way with your +prospects. You would be perfectly free to cast your lot with whichever +relations you believe could make you the happier. Do you quite +understand me? It's our very love for you that makes us willing to part +with you." + +"I understand, but I don't want to go, all the same. I feel the +Lorraines have forgotten me so long that it's rather late suddenly to +remember my existence. You and Uncle Colin have been caring for me all +this time. Can't you say I won't go?" + +"We've already arranged to send you. As it happens, it fits in most +curiously with an offer which arrived by the same post, inviting your +uncle to go out to Canada for the Medical Congress, as representative of +the Kirkton Public Health Association. He has not been well for some +time, and the voyage would do him good, while very fortunately Dr. Holt +would be able to look after both the practice and his appointments +until his return. He is most anxious that I should go with him, and as +the opportunity occurs for you to pay this visit while we are away, I +feel we might leave with a free mind." + +"Tantie, I can't take it in! You and Uncle going to Canada!" + +"Only for a six weeks' holiday. It is a great honour for your uncle to +be chosen to represent Kirkton at the Congress, and one he can hardly +refuse; while it seems such an excellent arrangement for you to spend +the time of our absence at The Towers that I feel we can't do better +than accept Sir Darcy's offer." + +"What will the Professor say? He had decided that I might be allowed +three weeks' rest, and after that I was to go to his house for lessons +twice a week until school began again. He wouldn't hear of my spending +the whole of the holidays just practising by myself. He said I should +get into bad habits, and undo all the progress I had made lately. He was +most determined about it." + +"That's the unfortunate part. I'm sorry beyond words for you to miss +your lessons, but, after all, a few weeks is not a very large slice out +of your life. You need a change for your health's sake, and if you +really decide that you wish to study music, you will be able to make up +for lost ground afterwards." + +"The time will seem ages to me," declared Mildred. "I shall count every +day till I'm home again." + +"You mustn't say that, dear. I want you to promise to try to like Sir +Darcy and Lady Lorraine. I think they are anxious to make up now for +having overlooked you so long, so don't be ungracious, or allow any +unforgiving remembrances about the past to creep in and spoil the good +feeling they seem willing to show to you. Just let bygones be bygones, +and be ready to make friends." + +The change which awaited Mildred seemed an earthquake in her hitherto +uneventful life. The more she thought about it the less she liked it. +Although she was nearly sixteen she had never been away from home alone +before, and she shrank from the prospect of spending seven weeks with +those unknown relations. Naturally of a nervous and sensitive +disposition, she was shy with strangers, so what to many girls would +have appeared an attractive invitation, to her meant a species of exile. + +"I don't know whether we're wise," said Dr. Graham to his wife. "The +child's fretting already. Can't we take her with us to Canada? Is it +really right, when we've brought her up so carefully, to be willing to +hand her over to those who probably have very different standards from +ours? She's just at an age when she will be led most easily. If she sees +social success and amusement put as the great aims of existence, will +she still hold to what we believe to be the higher ideal in life? I'm a +little afraid for her, I confess. One side of her disposition is so +ready to take the easier path and shirk difficulties that I feel as if +removing our influence were a throwing away of our responsibility." + +"I don't think you need have any fears," replied Mrs. Graham. "This will +certainly be a great trial of Mildred's character, but I believe she'll +stand the test, and will come back to us infinitely more our own, if she +has chosen us voluntarily, than if she had never had the chance of a +different life. Surely some of the seed we have sown for fifteen years +must have taken root, and if we only have the patience to stand by and +wait, we shall see the harvest blossoming by and by." + +It was decided that Mildred was to start for The Towers directly the +holidays commenced. There were many preparations to be made before her +departure--new clothes to be bought, and a selection made of articles +which she wished to take with her. Among other treasures she did not +forget to pack her diary. + +"Dear little book, I wonder what I shall find to write in you?" she +said. "Tantie, don't you wish we could take a tiny peep into the future, +and see beforehand what's going to happen?" + +"No, I think it's often better to have it hidden. I hope you will find +the next seven weeks pleasant ones, and whatever choice you make at the +end of them, you must always remember that your uncle and I have acted +for what we believe to be the best." + +Mrs. Graham had acquainted Herr Hoffmann with the facts of the case, and +when Mildred went to say good-bye to her teacher, she found that he took +the parting badly. + +"It is what you call 'hard luck'," he declared. "I have taught you all +these years, and to no other pupil have I given more attention and +trouble. I tell you even in Berlin Conservatoire no professor could have +laid you a better foundation in bowing. At one time you were idle. You +did not like to work. Then, just when you wake up, and begin to make +real progress, you leave me! And all my labour is for nothing! You say +you will come back, but that I cannot tell. I hear other relations want +to keep you. If you have any true love for your art, any desire to +master your instrument and to give your life to music, you will return. +Practise by yourself, but do not let anybody give you what they call +'lessons on ze violin'. Lessons! I am the only one who can teach you, +out of Germany! All others would spoil what you have already learnt. I +understand you go to a very great and rich house. I wish you well; yet +do not quite forget ze old Professor, and think too of the music, which +is a gift of Almighty God, more to be esteemed and held in honour than +gold or high name." + +"I won't forget, I won't indeed!" cried Mildred, her eyes moist at the +Professor's emotion. "You know I love the music. I did like it all the +time, even when I slacked, except the scales and arpeggios. But I'll +practise even those to please you, and I'll work just as hard as you +want at everything--when I come back." + + * * * * * + +One morning at the beginning of August found Mildred ensconced in a +corner of a ladies' compartment in the northern express, steaming out of +Kirkton station on her journey to Westmorland. Her grief at parting from +her uncle and aunt had been keen, and at present she felt somewhat like +a small boat suddenly cut loose from its moorings, and drifting on a +swift current towards an unknown land. It is a great event in our lives +when we first leave the safe shelter of home, where constant familiarity +has made everything dear to us, and even our faults have been judged by +the tolerant standard of those who love us, to be plunged into a world +where we know we shall be taken at a different estimate, and where, to a +certain extent, that absolute reliance on another's judgment must give +way to a sense of duty and responsibility on our own account. Hitherto +Mrs. Graham had been Mildred's conscience, the one being in the world to +whom she could take each trouble and difficulty, and could lay bare +every part of her soul; and there had existed between the two that +entire confidence which is only possible with those who have known us +from our first years, and who also have that rare gift of absolute +sympathy which makes them able to understand our innermost mind. + +We seldom question our earliest friends. They have grown dear to us long +before we are at an age to criticize them, our love afterwards blurs our +sight to what failings they possess, and consciously or unconsciously we +are apt to measure all others by their standard. Mildred felt that her +new relations, however kind they might prove, would never be the same as +those who had stood to her in the place of father and mother. This +separation must necessarily cast her on her own self-reliance; it was +the break between childhood and womanhood, the parting of the ways, when +she must loose the hand that had guided her so carefully, and take her +life into her own keeping. That it would be extremely good for her, Mrs. +Graham had no doubt. Mildred was so childish for her age, so dependent +and lacking in initiative, that it was time indeed she should begin to +think for herself, and gain greater confidence. She needed to be shaken +out of her dreamy ways, and given a wider knowledge of the world. Seven +weeks among entirely fresh surroundings would be a wholesome probation, +and at the end of the holiday she would be in a position to decide +whether the new or the old regime was the more congenial. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +The Towers + + +Mildred meantime was speeding northward, and once the wrench of parting +from home was over, she could not be altogether unattracted by the +novelty of the change in store for her, and the prospect of seeing fresh +places and faces. The dingy bricks and mortar of the town had given +place to green fields, woods, and streams, and these in their turn +yielded to bare moorland slopes, with stone walls instead of hedges, +till presently in the distance she could catch her first glimpse of the +hills, their grey peaks outlined against a pale-blue sky. The train ran +on for fully an hour more, between craggy heights and thickly-wooded +glens, the scenery growing in beauty with every mile, till at length the +engine plunged with a whistle into a long tunnel, and finally emerged at +the little station of Whiterigg. + +"Here you are, Miss!" cried the guard, flinging open the carriage door, +and helping her out in a hurry. "Your luggage is at the end of the +platform. We're a bit late to-day. Right away!" + +And waving his flag, he jumped into his van as it passed him, leaving +Mildred standing with her violin case in one hand and a bag in the +other, almost bewildered at this sudden termination of her journey. As +the retreating train rumbled away in the distance she heard the hoot of +a motor-horn, and a car came rapidly along the road and drew up at the +gate below. A tall, handsome man jumped out, and ran up the station +steps on to the platform. + +"Why, here you are at last!" he cried, shaking hands heartily with +Mildred. "I'm glad you've found your way here safely. Is that your +luggage? We're sending a cart for it. These light things can go in with +us." + +Mildred followed her new uncle shyly. His face was pleasant, and his +manner was kind as he helped her into the car. To her great relief, +after his first greeting was over, he did not trouble her with much +conversation, but left her to enjoy the scenery. The road wound up and +down in a gorge between two ranges of hills, sometimes passing through +woods, and sometimes crossing a noisy stream, overshadowed by brambles +and hazel bushes. + +"That's Helvellyn!" said Sir Darcy, pointing to a tall peak so far off +that it was difficult to distinguish it from the cloud banks in the sky. +"It's not often we can see it from here, there's generally a mist +rolling over; but when we do, it foretells fine weather. That stream +marks the boundary of the property. As soon as we enter the wood we +shall be out of Whiterigg and in Castleford, and in a few minutes you'll +get your first peep of the lake." + +They had at last reached the end of the valley, and, rounding the spur +of the hill, went through a thick pine wood, where the tall red stems of +the trees stood upright as the masts of a ship. Then, climbing a short +incline, they came into an open road above, from which there suddenly +burst upon Mildred's eyes such a view as she had never hitherto even +imagined. Below her lay the lake, an outstretched shining mass of +shimmering brightness in the afternoon light, enfolded by wooded slopes +like a jewel in a setting. Here and there a rocky promontory, jutting +out into the water, broke the line with its dark reflections, while at +the farther end rose a precipice of wild splintered crags, leading up to +the tall rigs and fells beyond. + +Nestled in a hollow, where it could receive some shelter from the woods +and yet command a full view of the water, rose the ivy-covered turrets +of a fine old house, the many windows of which were flashing back the +light from the lake. Surrounded by beautiful gardens and pleasure +grounds, it was indeed a stately home, man's best handiwork set amongst +Nature's grandest surroundings, and it was with a thrill of perhaps +pardonable pride in his voice that Sir Darcy turned to Mildred and said: +"That is The Towers." + +The great wrought-iron gates were open, and they entered the park, where +a herd of deer and some Highland cattle, which were grazing under the +trees, ran off in a mad stampede at their approach. Through a long +avenue of beeches and under a carved stone gateway they passed, then +into a paved courtyard, and drew up at last before the broad steps of +the front entrance. + +[Illustration: MILDRED IS MET BY HER UNCLE, SIR DARCY LORRAINE, AT THE +STATION] + +Sir Darcy took Mildred into the hall, the panelled walls of which were +hung with stags' heads, antlers, armour and weapons, well in keeping +with the carved oak of the antique furniture. A splendid white deerhound +sprang forward, barking a tempestuous greeting to its master. The sound +seemed to announce their arrival, for from a room beyond a tall, +graceful lady came hastily, followed by a girl who might perhaps be six +months younger than Mildred herself--a very pretty girl, whose slender +figure, fair face, and long flaxen hair made a charming picture against +the background of old oak. + +Lady Lorraine welcomed her niece kindly, and was so gentle and +encouraging that Mildred's shyness began slightly to thaw. Violet also +made smiling overtures of friendship. + +"We hear you are very musical, my dear," said Lady Lorraine. "I'm afraid +Violet cares nothing about it, though she practises every day. Perhaps +you will be able to spur her on a little." + +"I'd never open the piano if I weren't obliged," declared Violet. "I +hate lessons of any sort, so it's no use pretending I like them. When +I'm grown up, I'm just going to hunt and play tennis. They're the only +things worth bothering about." + +"She's a true Lorraine!" laughed Sir Darcy, patting his daughter on the +shoulder. "We all like outdoor sports better than books. We shall have +to see how Mildred takes to the saddle. A good gallop across country +would soon bring the roses into her cheeks. Can you ride, Mildred? Well, +well, we'll soon teach you. Never too late to learn, is it?--though the +younger you begin, the firmer your seat. Violet could manage her little +Shetland by the time she was five." + +"Mildred must get accustomed to country life by degrees," said her aunt. +"We will not frighten her with too many things just at first." + +When Sir Darcy and Lady Lorraine discussed their niece afterwards, they +both decided that she had made a favourable impression upon them. + +"A pretty, lady-like girl, though painfully shy," was her uncle's +verdict. "I'm much relieved to notice that she has such nice manners. I +was afraid we might find her lacking in many ways. I see a strong look +of the Lorraines in her face, and no doubt, now she is separated from +her other relations, she'll soon get used to us, and in time will forget +even to think about her early surroundings, and will not wish to +remember that she has ever known anything different from The Towers. I +am glad we sent for her. It was certainly rather a venture, but I think +the experiment seems likely to prove a success." + +The wheels of life, well oiled by a handsome income, ran very smoothly +at The Towers. Sir Darcy Lorraine was a fine specimen of an English +country gentleman--a splendid shot, a hard rider, interested in the +improvement of his estates, and to a certain degree in the welfare of +his tenants. He entertained well, subscribed liberally to local +charities, supported the Church, and, as a magistrate and guardian of +the poor, took what part he could in the affairs of the district without +allowing the ensuing duties to monopolize too much of his time. Neither +public school nor college had been able to endow him with any love for +learning. + +"My fly-book and my cheque-book are all the literature I want," he often +declared; and though he occasionally sat in his well-furnished library, +he rarely, if ever, took down the handsomely bound volumes from their +shelves. With other ways of life than his own he had scant sympathy, +regarding the arts and sciences as harmless diversions for amateurs who +might like them, and a means of livelihood for those who were obliged to +take up professions to earn their bread. A good landlord and a kind +master, he liked to have everybody bright and cheerful around him, but +did not care to be distressed by social problems or tales of outside +misery. Always in easy circumstances himself, and never having +experienced any reverses, he had a vague idea that misfortunes were +mostly caused by people's own fault, and that lack of success was due to +lack of merit. + +Lady Lorraine had been a society beauty in her girlhood, and still +retained enough of her former good looks to attract a considerable +amount of attention at hunt balls and garden fetes. In her way she +really worked quite hard at local duties, being always ready to open +bazaars, attend flower-shows, distribute prizes, and organize charity +dances. She was mildly interested in the village school, where the +little boys all respectfully touched their forelocks, and the little +girls dropped bob-curtsies whenever she looked at them. She occasionally +visited at some of the cleanest cottages, and could never resist putting +her hand in her pocket; though the Vicar, who did not approve of +indiscriminate charity, complained that she pauperized those of his +parishioners who knew how to whine, while the deserving went unhelped. + +Both Sir Darcy and Lady Lorraine idolized their only child. To dress +Violet prettily, to take her to garden parties and flower-shows, to see +her admired, and finally to bring her out successfully into society, +was her mother's chief ambition; and her father, though he would have +preferred a boy who could inherit his title, gloried in his little +daughter's fearless riding and her achievements in the hunting field. + +To Mildred the beauty and novelty of her surroundings at The Towers were +a source of great pleasure. As the weeks went on, and her first shyness +and homesickness wore away, she began thoroughly to enjoy herself. The +motoring, the riding, the many tennis parties and other festivities made +an ideal holiday time, and everything seemed new and entertaining. She +had soon formed a friendship with the Somervilles at the Vicarage, an +amusing family, consisting of three sons and a girl of her own age. +Rhoda was pleasant and companionable; and with Rodney, the second boy, +Mildred found a strong bond of sympathy, for he was to go to Kirkton in +the autumn to study engineering at a large motor works, and was glad to +hear all that she could tell him about the city. + +Though Mildred thoroughly appreciated the advantages of her new life at +The Towers, she nevertheless missed the Grahams continually. Generous as +the Lorraines were to her in many respects, their conduct was sometimes +lacking in thoughtfulness. They were people who could only be kind in +their own way. They considered they had done her an immense service by +taking her away from Kirkton, and they would refer to her past +surroundings with a contempt which she found it very difficult to bear. +Her cousin treated her with a kindly patronage. Violet was glad to have +Mildred as a companion, but made her quite understand that she was to +occupy a second place. Mildred, accustomed to the "give and take" of a +big school, found this attitude decidedly trying, and often longed for +the congenial society of Kitty Fletcher, Bess Harrison, Maudie Stearne, +or other St. Cyprian's chums, whose friendships were conducted on terms +of strictest equality. + +In the midst of all the pleasant arrangements at The Towers Mildred +found it very difficult to get in even the hour's daily work at the +violin which she had faithfully promised Professor Hoffmann not to +neglect. Practising by herself seemed so different from learning from +her enthusiastic teacher. Away from his watchful eye, she felt as if all +kinds of faults were creeping into her playing, and she had not +sufficient courage to wrestle with hard passages when she knew there was +no one to appreciate her exertions. She set herself with grim +determination to master certain new studies; but it was only by constant +effort, and the remembrance of what the Professor would expect from her, +that she could keep up to anything like the mark of his high standard. + +Towards the end of August Miss Ward, Violet's governess, returned from +her holidays. She was a pleasant, amiable lady, not clever, but with a +general smattering of a good many subjects. She was much appreciated by +Lady Lorraine, as she did not attempt to work Violet too hard, and was +extremely useful at arranging flowers, writing letters and addressing +invitations, and keeping the accounts of local charities. As Miss Ward +was considered to be musical, Violet one day asked Mildred to bring her +violin into the schoolroom. + +"Is this your fiddle?" said Miss Ward, catching it up. "It looks rather +a nice one. Give me the bow and let me try it." + +To hear her beautiful and priceless Stradivarius called a "fiddle" was a +shock to Mildred's ears, but it was nothing to the sounds which followed +when the governess began to play. Such scraping and rasping notes it had +never before been her misfortune to hear, even from the very worst of +Herr Hoffmann's pupils, and she could not have believed that her dear +violin could give vent to those harsh and discordant tones. It was +playing that would have caused the Professor to tear his hair; +everything about it was wrong, from the bowing to the way the instrument +was held. The Stradivarius seemed to be shrieking in an agonized protest +at the indignity of its treatment, and so painful was the effect on +Mildred's sensitive nerves that it was all she could do to sit still +with a semblance of politeness. + +"Really quite a nice one! Where did you get it?" asked Miss Ward, having +complacently arrived at the end of her piece, and handing back the +violin to its outraged owner. + +Mildred took her treasure somewhat as a mother rescues her crying child +from strangers, feeling as if she owed it an apology for having +entrusted it to such a 'prentice hand. + +"It was my father's," she answered quietly. "It's a genuine +Stradivarius, and I value it very much. I wouldn't part with it for +anything else in the world." + +"Can you remember a tune?" asked Miss Ward, to whom the magic name of +Stradivarius appeared to imply very little. "I should like to hear how +you can play." + +"Yes, do, Mildred!" added Violet. "I've only heard sounds from your +bedroom before breakfast, when I was much too sleepy to listen to them." + +Mildred paused a moment. She longed to plunge into the "Fruehlingslied", +but knew it was impossible to do it justice when the orchestra was +lacking, so she began instead the Polonaise which she had given as an +encore at the Students' Concert. Violet listened in amazement to the +true, clear notes. She had never before heard such playing, and though +she was quite unmusical, she fully recognized the difference between a +good performance and a bad one. + +"You did score a triumph over Miss Ward!" she remarked to Mildred +afterwards, when the two girls were alone. "I dared not laugh, but it +was too funny to watch her face while you were fiddling. You took all +the spirit out of her. She had been anxious to teach me her scraping, +squeaking instrument, but I declined with thanks. I can't bear the sound +of it. Gelert always howls dreadfully the moment she begins, and I feel +as if I want to howl too! I'm made to strum on the piano for an hour +every day, but I hate it. It's all nonsense! What's the use of learning +a thing you don't care about? The only music I really like to hear is a +view halloo or a good tally-ho!" + +As the summer went on, Mildred thought the scenery at Castleford seemed +to grow more and more beautiful. The ripened corn gave a golden touch to +the fields, the moorlands were ablaze with purple heather, and on the +hillside slopes the bracken was beginning to turn to gorgeous shades of +ochre and sienna brown. She and Violet took many walks with Sir Darcy +round the estate, and she was beginning now to know the neighbourhood +quite well. One day Sir Darcy, who was busy talking with a keeper, left +the two girls to rest on a stone at the head of the precipice which +bounded the lake. + +"How lovely it looks!" said Mildred. "I think it is the most exquisite +view I've ever seen in my life." + +Violet gazed thoughtfully at the purple-grey lake lying below them, the +encircling woods in all the glory of their summer green seeming richer +in contrast with the peaks of the craggy hills behind. By the water's +edge stretched lush meadows, the village and the church could be seen in +the blue distance, and close at hand rose the turrets and chimneys of +The Towers. Violet did not very often think about such things, but just +then a verse came into her head which she had sung in the psalms at +church the Sunday before, and which had caught her attention at the +time-- + + "The lot is fallen unto me in a fair ground: yea, I have a goodly + heritage." + +"Yes," she replied with a long breath; "it's the dearest place on earth +to me. There's no other like it anywhere. And it's our own, as far as +you can see it--that's the best of it! The Lorraines have held it ever +since the Conquest. It's Father's, and some day I suppose it will come +to me. I can't take the title, but luckily the land is not entailed now. +It's grand to think of possessing all this. Mildred, you shall live +here with me as long as you like. I want you to enjoy it too. I'm most +dreadfully sorry for you. It's hard luck to have absolutely nothing of +your own." + +Mildred looked down where her cousin's beautiful inheritance lay +stretched before her. Her heart was too full to answer. Perhaps for a +moment a shade of envy crossed her mind. It was indeed a fortunate lot +to be heiress to such broad acres and so old a name. Some of the best +things that life could offer had fallen to Violet's share. And what had +she herself? An old violin, and the skill to play it--that was all! A +possession utterly valueless in Violet's eyes, yet in those of Dr. and +Mrs. Graham and the Professor a rare and special talent such as God +gives to but very few in this world--a talent to be taken humbly, and +rejoiced in, and treasured zealously, and cultivated carefully, and +which might bring more joy and beauty into the lives of others than even +these glorious woods and waters; for music can lift the soul to the very +summit of earthly ecstasy, and in some of its divinest strains we can +almost catch an echo of the chorus of the "choir invisible" above. She +could not explain--it was quite impossible to put into words what she +only felt deep down in her heart; but as she quietly thanked Violet for +her offer, it seemed to her that, in spite of her lack of lands, she was +not quite portionless. God's gifts to His children were not all alike. +To one the estates handed down by a long line of ancestors from the +past; to another the genius that has the power to create for itself. +Which was the nobler bequest she could not tell, but she knew that after +all she, too, had an inheritance. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +At Tiverton Keep + + +Since Miss Ward's return to The Towers Violet had begun lessons again, +and was occupied each morning with her governess in the schoolroom. +Mildred, who was still enjoying holidays, was therefore left for several +hours every day to her own devices. She found it no hardship, for it was +easy enough to amuse herself. Sometimes she sat with a book in the +garden, sometimes sauntered round the grounds, or explored the beautiful +borders of the lake. She had brought her camera from home, and the +taking and developing of photographs gave her plenty of occupation. She +was making a little collection of views of Castleford, and meant to +paste them in an album as a reminiscence of the lovely scenery. One +glorious warm morning it occurred to her that she would like to take +snapshots of Tiverton Keep, an old border turret which stood on a hill a +mile and a half above The Towers. So far, while Violet and Miss Ward +were busy, she had kept strictly to the private grounds of the Castle, +but to-day she thought there would surely be no harm in venturing +farther afield. She would have asked permission, but Sir Darcy was out, +Lady Lorraine was in bed with a headache, and Miss Ward was giving +Violet a music lesson; so Mildred decided that she might very well make +the expedition on her own authority. Down the road through the wood she +started, therefore, rounding the corner of the lake and turning up +through the village. As she passed the Vicarage she met Diccon, the +youngest boy, wheeling his motor bicycle out at the gate. + +"Hello, Mildred!" he cried. "Where are you off to? You told me you never +stirred out of the garden till the thermometer dropped. Whence this +thusness?" + +"I'm going to take some snapshots of Tiverton Keep. It's such a glorious +morning for photographing. The light and shade will be just perfect." + +"Wish I could have gone with you! I'm obliged to ride over to Whiterigg +to send off a parcel by train to London. By the by, if you're going to +Tiverton, keep a look-out for the lunatic!" + +"What do you mean?" + +"What I say. Someone of unsound mind has been haunting the place lately, +and he might, perhaps, give you a fright." + +"I haven't heard of anybody." + +"He's been there, though. He's quite a young chap, so I'm told (that's +the pity of it!), but he's been overworking at classics, and gone clean +dotty. His relations have brought him here to recruit, and generally +they keep a good eye over his movements, but sometimes he dodges them +and scoots off by himself. Then he's apt to play some uncommonly queer +pranks. He's taken a tremendous fancy to the Keep, goes poking about, +filling his pockets with pebbles and things, and insists that the place +is still in the mediaeval condition, and inhabited by people who lived +in the days of the Plantagenets. He gets violently excited and dangerous +if anyone ventures to contradict him. They have to pretend all sorts of +nonsense to humour him. The family are staying at Lowood Farm." + +"I heard that some people are there for the summer," replied Mildred, +"and I certainly saw two girls in the lane with a young man of about +twenty. He didn't look insane. What a most fearful affliction!" + +"Yes, it's a warning against overworking oneself," said Diccon. "Shall +you venture to the Keep?" + +"I must go and take those photographs. I don't suppose I shall meet this +unfortunate young fellow. If I do, I'll be careful to give him a wide +berth. His family ought to have an attendant for him, if they can't look +after him properly themselves." + +Tiverton Keep was still a mile away--a beautiful walk up a rocky glen, +and then over the open fell. It was much cooler on the moorland than in +the village; quite a pleasant breeze was stirring, there was a +refreshing bubbling sound of small brooklets trickling between clumps of +heather and lady fern, while below lay the silver gleam of the lake. The +old castle stood on a slight eminence, commanding an excellent view of +the surrounding country, and in former days it must have been a useful +factor in border warfare. Only a portion of the Keep was still standing, +but the ancient guard-room remained intact, and a winding staircase led +to the battlements. The day was an ideal one for using the camera. The +light was perfect, and Mildred congratulated herself that she would be +able to take a splendid series of snapshots. + +"How delightful it is to have the place to oneself, without any tourists +about!" she thought. + +She did not spare her films, and after photographing the exterior and +the ground floor, she toiled up the winding stairs till she reached the +broad walk that ran round the top of the tower. Here she took several +pictures, and finally climbed a few remaining steps which led to a +little turret at the extreme summit of the Keep. From this crow's-nest +she had a grand bird's-eye prospect of the whole landscape. How small +everything looked! The windmill at the other side of the glen was like a +child's toy, and the sheep grazing on the moor seemed white dots. She +leaned her arms on the railing, and peered down into the castle +courtyard below. Someone was walking about there, for she heard the +sound of footsteps, and presently the intruder came in sight. Mildred's +heart gave a sudden uncomfortable jump. She recognized in an instant the +tall figure of the classical student who was staying at Lowood Farm. He +moved slowly, with his eyes fixed on the ground, as if he were searching +for something, and every now and then he dived among the piles of loose +stones, apparently picking up small objects which he placed in his +pockets. + +"So Diccon was right!" thought Mildred. "How fearfully sad! He looks +such a fine young fellow physically, one wouldn't imagine he'd lost his +mental balance. Poor creature! Filling his pockets with rubbish! I hope +he's not here all alone. Where are his sisters?" + +She looked around anxiously to see if a feminine petticoat were +fluttering in the vicinity, but there was no sign of anyone. + +"He must have escaped again, and run from them, I suppose," she +soliloquized. "I hope he won't notice me on the tower, for I certainly +don't want to encounter him." + +After a little consideration she decided to stay where she was, to give +the intruder time to go away before she ventured from the battlements. +He soon disappeared out of the courtyard, but whether to enter the +guard-room, or to take his departure, Mildred had no means of +ascertaining. She lingered for what seemed an immense while, and heard +no sound of further footsteps. + +"I've been here for ages; I'm sure it must be nearly half-past twelve," +she thought. "I wish I had put on my watch. I can't wait for ever. I +expect he's gone, so I'm going to risk it," and she sallied down from +the turret. + +She had walked half-way round the battlements, and was just gaining +confidence, when she suddenly saw a head appearing up the winding +staircase, and before she could beat a retreat a tall figure in tennis +flannels stepped on to the parapet. He glanced at Mildred with a mixture +of confusion and consternation in his face, hesitated, seemed for a +moment inclined to retrace his steps, then walked forward with a +determined air. + +"Good morning! Admiring the view here?" he remarked politely. + +Mildred was shivering with alarm, but she had the presence of mind to +assent calmly. + +"Whatever I do, I mustn't let him see that I notice anything unusual +about him; I believe lunatics are very sensitive on that score. If I +behave in an ordinary manner, perhaps he'll go away soon," she thought. + +"I'm particularly fond of the battlements, they seem such a great height +up," she added aloud, leaning over the wooden railing which guarded the +parapet. + +He glanced hurriedly down, as if measuring the distance to the courtyard +beneath, then turned to her with a marked uneasiness in his gaze. + +"It's really nicer below on the grass," he urged. "Won't you come down +and try the difference?" + +"No, thanks, I prefer remaining here," replied Mildred, hoping that her +unwelcome companion would depart by himself to test the superior merits +of the courtyard. + +To leave her, however, did not seem to enter his calculations. He stared +at her again, with a queer look, almost of apprehension, fidgeted a +little, coughed, turned rather red, and finally remarked shyly: + +"They're waiting for you in the hall." + +"Who?" asked Mildred. + +"Why, the seneschal and the Baron, and the retainers, and--er--the +jester, and all the rest of them." + +"There! He's begun on the mediaeval topic!" thought poor Mildred. "He's +evidently as mad as a hatter. I mustn't irritate him. Diccon said he +grew very violent if contradicted. I must try and humour him." + +"The Baron may wait my pleasure," she replied, with an attempt at what +she hoped was the hauteur of a _grande dame_ of the Plantagenet period. +"As for the rest, they are but vassals and serfs." + +"True, lady, but they long for the sunshine of your presence. Will it +not please you to show yourself to them on the dais?" + +"The dinner is not yet ready," faltered Mildred, trying to conjure up +any plausible excuse, though she could not frame it in mediaeval +language. + +"My lady mistakes. The scullions are even now removing the wild geese +from the spits, the boar's head is placed on the trencher, the venison +pasties are baked, and the ale is broached." + +"He knows far too much about old customs," thought Mildred ruefully. +"How shall I get out of it? I must put him on another track." Holding +her hand to shade her eyes, she gazed at the distant horizon. "Methinks +there is a rumour that the Scots are abroad. Tell me if you see aught +that looks like a body of armed men on yonder fell." + +Her companion scanned the hillside seriously and earnestly, as if he +really expected to find flashing pikes and helmets, though nothing more +dangerous than a flock of sheep was to be seen. + +"It will perchance be the Black Douglas," he answered in solemn tones. +"Lady, your position here is one of danger! You are a mark for every +arrow. I pray you descend to the safety of the guard-room." + +"They are not near enough yet to shoot," said Mildred quickly. "Indeed, +I am not certain whether it is the foe, or merely a band of peaceful +pilgrims. If you would mount into yonder watch-tower, you could call to +me if you recognize the banner of the Black Douglas." + +Mildred hoped by this suggestion to send her companion up into the +little turret, and the moment his back was turned she intended to bolt +down the winding staircase. Apparently he saw through her design, for he +replied at once in the negative. He moved a step nearer to her, and a +watchful look came into his eyes. + +"How atrociously clever lunatics are!" thought Mildred. "It seems +impossible to outwit him. Yet I simply daren't walk down the stairs with +him. He might give me a sudden push. What can I possibly say to him +next? I'll try flattery." + +Looking him over coolly from head to foot, she announced: + +"Methinks I like not my lord's attire. 'Tis unworthy of so handsome a +knight. I would have you put on fresh bravery, and present yourself to +me in your velvet doublet and the trunk-hose which even the Baron +envies. They would do justice to your comely person." + +Her companion glanced at his tennis flannels and blushed--yes, actually +blushed. He gazed at her for a moment almost despairingly, then took a +hasty walk up and down the parapet, twisting and untwisting his hands +with a nervous action. + +"I hope he's not getting excited and violent," thought Mildred. + +He returned at last, as if for a final appeal. "If my lady will come and +review my poor wardrobe, perchance she may find something to her taste, +and I will don it at her command." + +He held out his arm, awkwardly enough, and not at all with the grace of +a mediaeval courtier, as if to lead her from the battlements. Mildred +edged away from him, holding on to the railing. Would no one come to +the rescue? She thought she heard a footstep, and glanced down anxiously +into the courtyard below, hoping that one of his sisters had arrived in +search of him. To her horror he immediately rushed at her and grasped +her firmly by the arm. + +"You shan't take your life if I can prevent it!" he exclaimed. + +To find herself thus in his clutch was more than Mildred's self-command +could stand. She shrieked with terror, trying to tear herself away, but +the more she pulled the more tightly and determinedly he gripped her. + +"There! There! That'll do, Chorlton. Let her go; she's all right," +shouted a familiar voice; and loosed as suddenly as she had been seized, +Mildred turned and saw the grinning face of Diccon appearing from the +doorway of the staircase. He advanced along the parapet in explosions of +laughter, which were certainly not shared by either Mildred or the +stranger, both of whom stood regarding him with amazement. + +"Oh, you simpletons! You credulous pair of infants! I never imagined +you'd both swallow it whole. Oh, it's too ripping for anything! It's +absolutely killing me! I've been listening to the whole interview. Oh, +let me get my breath!" + +In a flash Mildred comprehended. + +"Diccon! You odious boy! Do you mean it's all a hoax?" + +"Of course it is! Poor old Chorlton's as sane as you are! Oh, I say, +Chorlton! Don't look so deliciously blank, or I shall have a fit!" + +"This wretched boy told me you were mad," faltered Mildred +apologetically to her companion. + +"And he told me that you were mad, with a suicidal tendency," replied +Mr. Chorlton. + +"The whole thing worked out so neatly," chuckled naughty Diccon. "Please +allow me to recount my own joke. I told Mildred that you were violent +unless humoured on the subject of mediaevalism, and I told you that she +might fling herself over the battlements if she were contradicted in +supposing herself a lady of the Plantagenet period." + +"You thoroughly deserve a thrashing, you young imp!" declared Mr. +Chorlton. + +"No, I don't. I've afforded you each a most exciting adventure. You +didn't know Chorlton was a college friend of Eric's, Mildred? We only +discovered last night that he's staying at Lowood Farm. I stuffed you +about him for a lark, and then when I met him in the village just after +you started, I couldn't resist the fun of playing a trick on you both. +Chorlton was going to the Keep, too, so I told him a yarn about an +unfortunate demented girl who occasionally escaped there and tried to +commit suicide. He went up the battlements on purpose to cajole you down +to safety. Oh, it was prime to hear you fencing with each other!" and +Diccon rubbed his hands in his glee. + +"I think you've treated Mr. Chorlton abominably," said Mildred. + +"Then you'll consent to descend the staircase with me now?" said Mr. +Chorlton, smiling. + +"Yes, if you promise not to don trunk-hose and a velvet doublet." + +"Trust me! I was racking my brains all the time for mediaeval terms. I +must have appeared an awful lunatic!" + +"But may I ask why you were picking up pebbles in the courtyard? That +did look rather peculiar, I own." + +"They weren't pebbles. They're land-snail shells. I'm collecting them. +Mad on conchology, if you like!" + +"I had to sprint to Whiterigg and back, so as to be able to follow you," +chuckled Diccon. "I was so afraid I might be too late for the fun. It +was luck to get here just in time." + +Mildred had much to tell on her return to lunch at The Towers. Violet, +to whom Diccon's practical jokes were well known, was immensely amused, +though Sir Darcy and Lady Lorraine were not inclined to treat the +episode so humorously. + +"Mildred must not take solitary walks again," said her aunt. "I should +never have given her permission to go out alone, and she must remember +that in future." + +"I won't forget," promised Mildred. "I was horribly scared at the time." + +"Oh, it was funny!" laughed Violet. "That wretch Diccon deserves to be +paid back in his own coin, though. I wonder if we couldn't manage to +play a trick upon him? I'm going to cudgel my brains till I think of +something." + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +A Colonial Cousin + + +Violet, who was herself extremely fond of practical jokes, was +determined to turn the tables upon Diccon. + +"I owe him one or two little things, for he often plays tricks on Rhoda +and me at the Vicarage," she said to Mildred. "The difficulty is to hit +upon anything really good. It won't be easy to take him in. I shall have +to think and think. Oh, I verily believe I've got it! Enid's the very +girl! She'd love it! Oh, it fits in capitally!" + +"Who's Enid?" + +"She's a distant relation from New Zealand--a kind of second cousin, +once removed. She and her people are in England for a year, and we met +them in town last June. They're staying with the Harcourts at present, +only twenty miles away, and I'll persuade Mother to let me invite Enid +for the day on Saturday. The car can fetch her and take her back. We'll +ask Diccon to come to make up a set at tennis, and then spring a +surprise on him. Father and Mother were out in New Zealand five years +ago, and they brought home native costumes and all sorts of beads. Yes, +I see my way splendidly! I believe he'll really swallow it whole. +Mildred, can you keep your face absolutely, in an emergency, and not +laugh?" + +"I'll do my best," returned Mildred. + +Violet laid her plans carefully, and after Enid had accepted the +invitation for Saturday she sent a note to the Vicarage asking Diccon to +tennis. The members of the Somerville family often came to The Towers to +make up sets, and as Diccon was a better player than his brothers, it +occasioned no particular surprise that he should be invited alone. He +arrived therefore about three o'clock, quite unsuspiciously. Violet and +Mildred were waiting for him in the garden. + +"I want to introduce you to a friend of ours," began Violet; "a third +cousin, in fact. She only came this morning. She's over from New +Zealand." + +"I'd forgotten you had any colonial relations," observed Diccon. + +"Oh, yes! A great-uncle of Mother's went out to Auckland years and years +ago, and married a native. I had just a peep at this cousin when we were +in London. Of course she's very peculiar-looking, but we like her, don't +we, Mildred? I rather admire her dark complexion." + +"She's absolutely ripping!" affirmed Mildred cordially. + +"I thought I'd better prepare you for the fact that she's a real New +Zealander," continued Violet. "Come along and see her. She's sitting in +the gun-room. She seems to like it better than anywhere else in the +house." + +"Queer taste for a girl," commented Diccon. + +"She enjoys being amongst weapons," explained Violet. "I suppose it's a +savage instinct. It takes a long time to eradicate the old Adam. Her New +Zealand grandfather was a very warlike character." + +"Swung a tomahawk, did he?" + +"They're not called tomahawks in New Zealand. You're thinking of +Fenimore Cooper's American Indians. But never mind, come and be +introduced to Rata." + +"Is that her name?" + +"Yes; don't you think it's pretty?" + +"Oh, well enough! Look here, what am I to say? Does she speak English?" + +"Quite decently. You'll have no difficulty in understanding her. I shall +just introduce you." + +"And what then?" + +"Why, you must shake hands. She'll expect it. She's given up rubbing +noses since she came to England." + +"Oh, I say!" murmured Diccon faintly. "I don't think I feel quite well. +My head aches." + +But Violet ignored his plaintive excuse, and firmly led the way to the +gun-room. Squatting on a low stool near the window, reading a New +Zealand paper, was a decidedly queer-looking figure--odd, at any rate, +to English eyes. The face and hands were very dark, and both cheeks and +forehead were tattooed all over with an intricate pattern in red and +blue. A magenta silk scarf was tied over the head, completely hiding the +hair, and a huge pair of ear-rings drooped over the dusky neck. The girl +was dressed in a bright petticoat, with a striped rug flung round her +shoulders; her wrists were loaded with native-looking bangles, and she +wore slippers of plaited grass. She took no notice at all when the door +opened, but simply went on reading. + +"I'm glad you warned me beforehand," whispered Diccon. "Isn't she +pleased to see us?" + +"Oh, yes! But she's not used yet to our customs. Remember, she has been +brought up in New Zealand ways. Rata, here's a visitor to see you," +continued Violet aloud. "Won't you speak to him?" + +At this direct appeal, the colonial cousin rose from her stool, and +bowed with a certain stately dignity. She did not offer to shake hands, +and Diccon, fearful that she might relapse into her old habit of rubbing +noses, kept cautiously in the background. + +"You must be awfully glad to come to England," he stammered, for want of +anything else to say. + +"It is a great pleasure for me to see my father's country," she replied +in a decidedly foreign accent, "and to meet the relations who are so +kind to me. Lady Lorraine promises to take me everywhere. To-day I go to +tennis and to a dance." + +Diccon looked hastily at Violet, who nodded in confirmation. + +"The Tracys 'phoned asking us to go to tennis at The Chase this +afternoon, and wouldn't take a refusal. They said we must bring you and +Rata with us, and that we must all stay to supper, and they would have a +little dancing afterwards; just May's and Frank's friends." + +"I believe I ought to show up at a Band of Hope meeting at six o'clock," +declared Diccon desperately. + +"What rubbish! You certainly won't be needed there. We've told the +Tracys you're coming with us; they'll be offended if you don't. Father +and Mother are getting ready now. We've ordered the car for half-past +three. I wonder how the sets will be arranged this afternoon? You're a +good player, Diccon, so you'd better take Rata. She hasn't had much +practice in English courts, so you must look after her and teach her." + +Diccon's face was a study. + +"Wouldn't your cousin have learnt better on the lawn here?" he urged +eagerly. + +"Oh, no! She'll enjoy going to the Tracys, and I'm sure you'll be able +to give her hints. By the by, we want her to have a nice time at the +dance afterwards, and plenty of partners. Will you ask her for the first +waltz? It's always well to fill up one's programme beforehand." + +"I'm--I'm afraid really I shan't be able to stay for the dance," +stammered Diccon. "Shan't have any togs with me, you see." + +"That's all right," returned the inexorable Violet. "We've sent Fletcher +to the Vicarage to ask your mother to pack your bag with anything you'll +need. Rata, this is your partner for the first waltz. You won't forget?" + +"No, no, I not forget," replied the soft foreign voice. + +"Run and get ready now, dear! We mustn't be long. Mildred and I are +going to put on our hats and coats. You'll wait here for us, Diccon, +won't you?" + +The girls walked away with their extraordinary foreign guest, and Diccon +remained in the gun-room in a very dejected and disconsolate frame of +mind. He would have "done a bolt", but he did not care to risk offending +the Lorraines. He was accustomed to Violet's autocratic ways, and knew +that she would not forgive him if he refused to fall in with her wishes. +Yet his very hair rose on end at the idea of going out for the afternoon +and evening in the company of this New Zealand damsel, to whom he was +expected to pay so much attention. + +"I don't know how the Lorraines can stand it," he thought. "If I had +such a cousin thrust on me, I'd die of shame." + +So far from seeming ashamed of her outlandish relation, Violet evidently +regarded her with the utmost complacency. Rata herself did not seem to +realize that her appearance was singular; perhaps, indeed, she +considered it more pleasing than that of her European friends, and was +longing to suggest tattooing as an aid to beauty. Nevertheless, that +Diccon, a member of his school cricket team and the winner of three +silver cups, should be required to play tennis and to dance with this +indescribable savage was an outrage on his feelings. Why, he would be a +laughing-stock! If anyone else would take the first turn with her, he +would not mind quite so much, but to make a start! Oh, it was sickening! +He would have shammed illness if there had been the slightest chance of +being believed. If he did not look pale, he looked decidedly sulky as +Violet came downstairs into the hall. + +"Here we are!" she said sweetly. "I'm afraid we've kept you waiting a +little. You see, it took rather a long time to change Rata's dress. She +decided, after all, that she wouldn't go to the Tracys in Maori +costume." + +Diccon turned, and could not restrain a gasp of surprise. Instead of the +extraordinary native, Violet and Mildred were accompanied by a very +pretty and elegantly-dressed girl of their own age, whose brown eyes +were gazing at him with politely restrained amusement. Not a trace of +tattoo marks upon that white forehead or those rose-leaf cheeks. The +ear-rings were gone, also the magenta scarf, and her brown hair was tied +at the back with a white ribbon. + +"Good night!" exclaimed Diccon, subsiding weakly into a chair. + +Then the three girls exploded, and laughed till they grew almost +hysterical. + +"It serves you right, Diccon!" gurgled Violet. "We've paid you out for +the trick you played on Mildred at the Keep. Oh, I never thought we'd +take you in so well. You believed every word, and looked so deliciously +dumbfounded." + +"Well, I'd heard before that Lady Lorraine's uncle had married a New +Zealander," retorted Diccon. + +"So he did, but she was a settler, not a Maori. Aunt Margaret Fowler was +a daughter of General Berkeley, who distinguished himself very much in +the native wars, on the British side, please! Our cousins are Colonials, +but they're as Anglo-Saxon as we are by birth. By the by, Rata is only a +pet name. I must introduce Enid properly--Miss Fowler!" + +"I hope you liked my get-up?" enquired Enid, without a trace of the +foreign accent. "It was rather elaborate, but we flatter ourselves it +repaid our trouble." + +"How did you do it?" + +"We evolved it amongst us. I rubbed my face and hands with glycerine, +and then powdered them with cocoa. It gave just the right Maori +complexion. As for the tattooing, Mildred painted it. She copied it from +a picture of a Maori woman in this New Zealand magazine, and I told her +what colours to use. She did it splendidly. I felt loath to wash it off. +We tied on the ear-rings with silk thread, and a few shawls and scarves +and bangles did the rest." + +"We might have had more fun out of it," said Violet regretfully. "I +wanted to ask you to lunch, and for Rata to come to table in Maori +costume. We'd planned that she was to talk about all sorts of old savage +native customs. I did so hope you'd ask if she were still a heathen! But +Mother said she and Father would never keep their faces, and the +servants would have fits, so she wouldn't let me try the experiment. +Admit now, Diccon, that it's 'the biter bit', and that you were just as +much taken in as Mildred was at Tiverton Keep. Here's the car! Don't +forget, by the by, that you've asked Enid for the first waltz." + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +Mildred's Choice + + +Among the new friends whom Mildred had made at Castleford none proved +more congenial than the Somervilles. They were a decidedly musical +family: Rhoda and Rodney both played the piano well, and the Vicar +himself had considerable skill on the violoncello. The Chorltons, who +were staying at a farm near the village, were also fond of music, so +many pleasant little gatherings were held in the Vicarage drawing-room. +Young Mr. Chorlton was possessed of a capital voice, and played his own +accompaniments on the guitar in what Diccon called "true mediaeval +style, worthy of Tiverton Keep"; and his sisters sang German duets with +admirable taste. Violet, who cared for nothing but outdoor sports, did +not often join these parties, but Lady Lorraine allowed Mildred to visit +the Somervilles as frequently as she wished. Mildred thoroughly enjoyed +the pleasant, unconventional home, so simple yet so refined, so full of +many interests and much work--a home in which the general atmosphere was +stimulating to a degree, for the Vicar loved to discuss both literature +and the current topics of the day with his children, and generally had +some intellectual subject on hand. He was an ardent botanist, and with +Rhoda's help had made a splendid collection of dried plants, which were +kept on special shelves in his study. He was at present engaged in +writing a book upon the flora of the Lake district, and it was Rhoda's +immense pride and privilege to be allowed to help in the compiling of +lists or the copying of certain pages. To be her father's amanuensis was +her greatest ambition, and she treasured every hour she spent with him +at their favourite hobby, whether writing in the study or hunting for +specimens on the hillsides. + +Eric, the eldest son, was at Cambridge, in the same college, though not +in the same year, as Mr. Chorlton. Rodney, who had just left school, was +looking forward to learning motor engineering at Kirkton. He was an +ingenious young fellow, and had made many clever contrivances at the +Vicarage: a windmill that pumped water from the well, an electric motor +that turned either his mother's sewing-machine or the churn in the +dairy, and numerous handy little achievements in the way of carpentry. +Mildred liked him by far the best of the three boys. Eric was rather +inclined to be superior and conceited, and to wish to lay down the law +to the rest of the family; and Diccon, who was still at school, was too +fond of mischief to be taken seriously; but Rodney was perfectly frank +and unaffected in his manners, in spite of his undoubted cleverness, and +quite the most satisfactory at home. + +Rhoda, so far, had been taught by her father, but she was hoping to go +to school for a year or two to finish her education, and have the +advantage of mixing with other girls. She questioned Mildred eagerly +about St. Cyprian's, and was anxious to hear every detail of the life +there: the lessons, the teachers, the games, and the Alliance which had +lately been formed with so much success. As reminiscences of Kirkton +were strongly discouraged at The Towers, Mildred found it a great relief +to talk to Rhoda about the many interests of her school. She would +descant upon the joys of St. Cyprian's, the fun of cricket matches or +Eisteddfods, and of the various plans that had been made for the autumn +term, till her friend was filled with a longing to go and taste the +joyful experiences for herself. Rodney also asked many questions about +Kirkton; and to these two confidants Mildred by degrees described all +her home life at Meredith Terrace, the concerts she attended, her +lessons with Professor Hoffmann, and the hopes he entertained that she +should follow a musical career. She did not forget to enumerate the many +advantages of Kirkton, and sang the city's praises with the utmost +enthusiasm, setting it down next to London itself in the variety of +opportunities of every sort which it afforded. + +Mildred sometimes took her Stradivarius to the Vicarage, and her friends +there were both surprised and charmed with her playing, the Vicar, who +was a good judge of the violin, thinking even more highly of it than he +deemed it discreet to tell her. + +"The child's quite a genius," he said to his wife privately, having +listened to Mildred improvising one afternoon. "The music's in her. You +can see it in her sensitive little face and her big dark eyes. She's an +artist to her finger tips, full of emotion and poetical imagination. I +have rarely heard such playing in a concert room, and to find both the +technique and the spirit of such a subtle work as the 'Fruehlingslied' +grasped by a girl of only sixteen is simply marvellous. Her own +compositions are full of merit, though naturally still immature; they +have the right ring about them, somehow--they're original, and not a +mere reflection of what she has heard elsewhere. If she goes on with her +training, she ought to have a great career before her, and make a name +for herself. I don't suppose they appreciate her talent in the least at +The Towers, and I can only hope, for the sake of the musical world at +large, that she may go back to the relations who value her gift, and who +have cultivated it so carefully." + +As September arrived, and the time drew near for Dr. and Mrs. Graham to +come back from Canada, Mildred naturally began to feel some anxiety +about the subject of her return to Meredith Terrace. The Lorraines +seemed to have taken it for granted that she was to remain permanently +at The Towers. They scarcely ever alluded to the Grahams, and though +they knew that she corresponded with them, they never asked for any news +of them, and appeared to take not the slightest interest in their +affairs, evidently regarding Mildred's life at Kirkton as a past +episode, to be ignored as much as possible, and certainly never to be +revived. How she was to break to them that she wished to return, now +that her visit was over, Mildred could not imagine. She had really been +happy at Castleford, and could not bear to seem ungrateful for all the +kindness she had received, and she could only hope that some way might +be found out of the difficulty by which she could leave without giving +offence. + +September was a busy month at The Towers; not only was the house full of +visitors, but people were continually riding or motoring over, and +luncheon and dinner parties were of almost everyday occurrence. Violet +and Mildred were allowed to spend a short time in the drawing-room each +evening, and the latter thus had her first little peep at society, and +into that gay world which her cousin looked forward so much to entering +when she should be old enough to "come out". Sir Darcy and Lady Lorraine +were going away soon to join a shooting party on a beautiful estate in +Scotland, and as a last effort of hospitality before their guests +departed, they decided to give a large "At Home", to which all their +friends in the neighbourhood were to be invited. + +"Everybody will be here," said Violet in much excitement; "the +Rochesters and the Markmans, and Lady Dorothy and Admiral Newson. +Colonel Thorpe is bringing quite a big party, and the Musgraves have +that beautiful cousin with them who made such a sensation this season. +Mrs. Dent says she sings, and we must be sure to ask her." + +"Are you going to have music, then?" enquired Mildred, who was dressing +in her cousin's bedroom that night. + +"Yes, a little, I expect," answered Violet, sitting down to let the maid +arrange her long fair hair. "And there'll be dancing afterwards in the +hall. Most of the people seem just to like to sit and talk to each +other. I think it's a pleasure to them to meet. Do you like my pearls or +my corals?" + +"Your corals, I think," said Mildred. "Will anybody else sing, besides +the Musgraves' cousin?" + +"Mrs. Cavendish has rather a good voice, and so has Colonel Thorpe. One +of the Dents plays the piano; she always brings some pieces with her +when she comes. I'm afraid people don't listen very much, they're +generally talking so hard all the time; but they seem to like to hear it +going on, and they always say 'Thank you!' at the end." + +"How funny!" said Mildred, who could not reconcile the ideas of combined +music and conversation. + +She had not before been present at a large party, and she was curious as +to what would take place. She went into the drawing-room rather shyly +with her cousin and Miss Ward. They were only to be allowed downstairs +for an hour, as Lady Lorraine did not wish to bring Violet forward too +much while she was still in the schoolroom, and had told Miss Ward to +send both the girls to bed at half-past nine. Mildred knew very few of +the people present, and she was glad to slip into a retired corner +behind the piano, where she could watch the gay scene without being +noticed herself. The room was full, and, as Violet had prophesied, +conversation seemed so entirely to constitute the chief enjoyment that +the music contributed by some of the guests was scarcely appreciated as +much as it deserved. + +"How do you do, my dear? I'm very pleased indeed to meet you here," said +a voice in Mildred's ear; and, turning round, she found herself face to +face with Mrs. Trevor, the lady whom she had first met at the +Professor's, and through whose instrumentality it was that she had come +at all to The Towers. + +"I expect you will have nearly forgotten Kirkton by now," said Mrs. +Trevor. "No? Well, at any rate I hope you have not forgotten your +beautiful playing. Are we to have the pleasure of listening to you +to-night?" + +"Oh, no!" said Mildred, horror-stricken at the suggestion. "I never play +here, only practise." + +"But we are all longing to hear you," said Mrs. Trevor. "I was telling +Mrs. Dent about you only the other day, and she said she would like to +see your Stradivarius. Lady Lorraine! Is not your little niece going to +bring down her violin? Either Miss Dent or myself would be charmed to +play her accompaniment. Please ask her to let us have some of her +delightful music. It would be quite a treat." + +"Fetch your instrument, then, Mildred, if Mrs. Trevor wishes to hear +you, and will be so kind as to accompany you," said Lady Lorraine +promptly, but without much enthusiasm; adding, as Mildred blushed and +hesitated: "Go at once, my dear." + +Mildred had not expected in the least that she would be asked to perform +on such an occasion, and her natural shyness made her more than usually +diffident. The guests looked up with interest as she took her place by +the piano, and, allowing Mrs. Trevor to choose a piece from among her +music, began a "Fantasia" on some old Hungarian melodies. All the +conversation was hushed, and those who had talked the loudest before +now listened intently, attracted at once by the little violinist and her +talented playing, and asking themselves who she could be. Mildred was +very warmly thanked and congratulated at the conclusion of her piece; +many people examined her violin and spoke kindly to her, and both Mrs. +Trevor and Miss Dent questioned her about her practising, and whether +she still continued to take lessons. + +She had put the Stradivarius away, and had returned into the hall, where +she was standing half-hidden by the curtain of the dining-room door, +wondering whether she could find either Violet or Miss Ward, when she +suddenly became aware of a conversation which was taking place between +two ladies sitting on low chairs behind a group of palms close by her. +As she did not realize at first that she herself was the subject of +their remarks, and as, too, the hall was so crowded that she could not +have moved away just then without pushing quite rudely amongst the +guests, she was obliged to overhear what she felt afterwards had +certainly not been intended for her ears. + +"It was wonderful playing," said the first lady. "She's as good as any +of those prodigies one hears in town, and a very pretty, graceful girl +too. Where did they pick her up?" + +"Hush!" said the second. "She's Sir Darcy's niece. I'd never seen her +before. She's really marvellously clever." + +"His niece! Why, it's most unusual to find such talent in an amateur. +She's equal to any professional." + +"Well, I hear that she has been a professional. I certainly know for a +fact that she has appeared in public." + +"But you told me that she is Sir Darcy's niece. I shouldn't have thought +the Lorraines would allow that." + +"It's an old story," said the second speaker, lowering her voice still +more. "Sir Darcy's sister made a disgraceful match. She actually ran +away with her music master. It caused a terrible scandal at the time, +and Sir John never forgave her. I believe he was a very clever man, and +played divinely, but of course nobody would have anything to do with her +afterwards. I heard they were both dead. This is their child, and no +doubt it's only natural she should have been trained in this manner, as +she's been living among her father's relations. Sir Darcy has taken her +now, and intends to provide for her, but I really am astonished that he +should allow her to play here to-night, when everybody must know the +circumstances of the case." + +Growing quite desperate, Mildred felt that she simply must move away, +and, at the risk of being rude, managed to slip between a group of +talking people. As she did so, she caught a glimpse, at the other side +of the curtain, of Sir Darcy, who had also been standing in the shelter +of the dining-room door, and she knew instantly, by his face, that he, +too, must have overheard the conversation. Threading her way amongst the +groups of visitors, she at last reached the staircase, and rushing up to +her bedroom she locked the door, and flung herself on to her bed in a +passion of hot, angry tears. + +Why should they talk thus of her father? she asked herself bitterly. +Was his genius not equal, nay superior, to rank and wealth? Did they +class her, too, as infinitely beneath them? Which was the higher aim in +life, to glory in the things that had been given you through no merit or +toil of your own, and to scorn all those who did not possess them, or to +make the very utmost of your talents, and let them be of some use to +your fellow creatures, and by working your hardest feel that you had at +least tried to take your share in the world's burden? + +"I shall have to tell Uncle Darcy I'm going back to Kirkton," thought +Mildred. "I don't know how to do it, but it's got to come somehow. I +daren't leave it any longer, or Uncle Colin and Aunt Alice may begin to +think I want to stay. It's most beautiful here, and I get ever so many +things I shan't have at Meredith Terrace, but it's not home. They're +very kind to me, but they don't love me in the least, and I'm sure they +won't miss me when I'm gone. I'm nothing to them, and though it may be +very grand to live at The Towers, it's a hundred times happier in my own +dear home, and among my own people who really care for me." + +After all, it was not so difficult as she had imagined, for the very +next day the occasion arrived. The guests who had been staying in the +house had gone away by the midday train, Miss Ward and Violet were at +lessons, and Sir Darcy, Lady Lorraine, and Mildred were by themselves in +the morning-room. The talk fell on the "At Home" of the night before, +and Lady Lorraine made some comments on the singing of Miss Beresford, +the Musgraves' cousin. + +"By the by, speaking of music, I should like to take the opportunity, +when we are alone," said Sir Darcy, "of mentioning that in future I +should much prefer that Mildred should not play her violin in public. +There are several reasons which render it most undesirable that she +should do so. I don't know whether Miss Ward is giving her lessons, but +if so, they had better be discontinued, and she must confine herself to +the piano. A little music is a nice accomplishment for any girl, but I +do not consider it quite lady-like when it begins to rival professional +playing; and as Mildred will not have to earn her living by her +instrument, I wish her to put her violin entirely aside, and turn her +attention to other things. Do you hear what I say, Mildred?" + +"Yes, Uncle Darcy," answered Mildred, trembling all over, and feeling +that the moment had come. "But oh, please, I can't give it up, because +Uncle Colin and Aunt Alice want me to go on learning." + +"Dr. Graham is no longer your guardian, and has nothing further to do +with the matter," replied Sir Darcy, frowning slightly. + +"But he will when I go back," faltered Mildred. + +"When you go back! Why, I thought you quite understood that I had taken +the entire responsibility of you. I offered you a home at The Towers, +and I always keep my word." + +"You've been very kind--please don't think I've not been happy," said +Mildred, speaking in little gasps; "but I only came for the holidays--my +visit's over now--and I think I had better be going soon." + +"Do I understand from what you say that you choose to return to Dr. and +Mrs. Graham in preference to staying here at The Towers?" asked Sir +Darcy, as if he could scarcely believe the evidence of his own ears. + +"They want me," said Mildred, bursting into tears. "It's my own home, +and oh, I must go back!" + +"I can't discuss the question with you now," said Sir Darcy. "I must +talk it over with your aunt. I'm certainly very much surprised to hear +that you should wish to leave us, but I consider you too young to settle +your own affairs, and I shall arrange the matter in whatever way I +consider best for your welfare. In the meantime you must attend to what +I have said as regards your music, and I don't expect to hear your +violin again in the house." + +Poor Mildred left the room, feeling that she was in dire disgrace. She +knew that she had not explained herself properly, and that both her +uncle and aunt would think that she was making a very poor return for +their kindness to her. She could tell from the coldness of their manner +during the next few days that they considered her both unreasonable and +ungrateful, and the knowledge added to her unhappiness. She put the +Stradivarius safely away inside her wardrobe; she did not dare to +practise now, and only hoped that Sir Darcy would not take her violin +away from her altogether. + +"I can't give it up, and I won't!" she said to herself. "No more than I +mean to give up Uncle Colin and Aunt Alice. I'd rather have my music +than anything they can offer me instead, and I shall go Back to Kirkton, +if I have to run away." + +She wondered what Sir Darcy intended to arrange for her future, and +whether he would be able to keep her at The Towers against her will. +Would Uncle Colin be willing to resign her? And would she perhaps never +see either him or her aunt again? The misery of the prospect seemed +almost more than she could bear to contemplate, and she went about in a +state of such dejection that Violet, to whom the whole affair was +incomprehensible, rallied her continually on her low spirits. + +Matters were at this crisis when Mildred one morning received a letter +in Mrs. Graham's handwriting--not in the thin envelope with the foreign +stamp that she had been in the habit of looking out for lately, but a +stout English one, bearing the familiar Kirkton postmark. + +"Oh! They're back at last!" she cried with delight as she tore it open. + +Dr. and Mrs. Graham had indeed returned to Meredith Terrace, and they +now wrote to Mildred to tell her that the time had come when she must +make her choice between their home and the Lorraines'. + +"We do not wish to influence you in any way, darling," wrote her aunt. +"You must act entirely for your own happiness. If you feel that you +would rather remain at The Towers, it is our earnest desire that you +should do so; but if, on the other hand, you still cling to us, you will +find the very biggest welcome waiting for you here. Your uncle is +writing to Sir Darcy by this post, so no doubt he will speak to you +about the matter." + +"As if I could want to give them up!" cried Mildred, kissing the +signature. "I'm so glad they are at Kirkton again, for they feel so much +nearer to me now. I wonder what Uncle Colin has written to Uncle Darcy, +and what he'll say to me?" + +Mildred had not long to wait, for after breakfast that morning Sir Darcy +called her into the library, where he and Lady Lorraine had evidently +been consulting over a letter which he held in his hand. + +"I wish to have a little talk with you, Mildred," he said, rather +stiffly. "I have here a communication from Dr. Graham, in which he +states that, as representing your father's family, he considers himself +to be your joint guardian. He is equally willing with myself to be +responsible for you, and it appears he is anxious that you should +receive a special musical training. I have talked the matter over with +your aunt, and we have come to the conclusion that it will be better to +allow you to decide for yourself whether you make your home with us or +with the Grahams. If you wish to stay here, you will have the benefit of +many social advantages which you would certainly not find at Kirkton; +but, on the other hand, I cannot undertake to encourage your study of +the violin. We are willing on our part to do our best for you, to give +you a good general education, to introduce you into society when you are +at an age to leave the schoolroom, and to make such provision for you as +to ensure that you should never be in want. More than this I cannot say, +and it only remains for you, therefore, to take your choice between your +two guardians." + +"You've been very good to me, and so has Aunt Geraldine," said Mildred, +summoning up all her courage. "I can never forget your kindness, or +thank you enough for it; but Uncle Colin and Aunt Alice are just like my +father and mother. I've lived with them ever since I was a baby, and I +can't help loving them the best. I don't want to give up my violin +either; I feel as if it would be giving up my birthright. So please +don't think me ungrateful, but I feel that my home's at Kirkton. It's +where I've been brought up, and I'm really happier there. I know you +would have been very kind indeed to me if I had stayed at The Towers, +but as I may have my choice, I should like to go back to Meredith +Terrace." + +Mildred had felt some apprehension as to how Sir Darcy and Lady Lorraine +would receive her decision, but much to her relief it seemed to be only +what they had expected, and they at once began to make arrangements for +her return. + +"We shall not lose sight of you altogether," said Lady Lorraine kindly. +"Both Violet and I shall expect to hear from you sometimes, and you must +pay us a visit every now and then. I should be sorry if, after having +made an effort to be friends, we were to become estranged from one +another again, and I want you always to feel that if you like to come +and see us you will be welcome here." + +Though she did not repent her choice, Mildred certainly felt a pang at +leaving all the many beauties of Castleford behind her. She had grown so +used to the ever-changing aspect of the lake, the calm of the silent +woods, the glory of the rugged fells and the rushing streams, that she +should miss them like old friends; they had inspired the poetical side +of her nature, and she owed a debt to them in increased powers of +imagination which she would some day realize. Coming at this period of +her life, the time spent at The Towers had been to her of untold +benefit; it had enlarged her views, altered her estimation of many +things, and adjusted her childish standpoint to a truer judgment of this +world's affairs. Both from the Lorraines and the Somervilles she had +learnt much, and it was only after she had returned to Kirkton that she +felt how great a change the visit had made in her. + +"We don't want to lose you, dear, but I think you're quite right," said +Mrs. Somerville, as Mildred said good-bye at the Vicarage. "Rhoda will +miss you dreadfully, but we shall hope to meet again, and in the +meantime we wish you every possible success in your study of music. +You're going to work very hard, I know, and I expect when you next play +to us we shall be even more delighted than now. We shall all be anxious +to hear news of you, and you must never forget your friends at +Castleford." + +As Mrs. Graham had said, a very big welcome awaited Mildred when she at +last returned to her old home. The thought that a parting had been +possible gave an added zest to their reunion, and both her uncle and +aunt held her in their arms as if they could scarcely let her go again. + +"You are our own little girl now," said Uncle Colin, "and we intend to +keep you! We haven't very much to give you, darling, except a great deal +of love, but you're sure of that, at any rate; and if you think you'll +be happier here with us, you know you'll not find anyone who'd be fonder +of you than we are." + +"There was never any choice about it at all," cried Mildred, +distributing her kisses alternately. "I meant from the first to come +back. I'd rather live here a thousand times than at The Towers. They +were very kind to me, but oh! it wasn't at all the same. I'm your girl, +not theirs; I always have been and always will be, so please don't try +sending me away again." + +"You were right," said Dr. Graham that evening to his wife. "It was a +risky experiment, but I'm glad we tried it. Mildred has had her taste of +society, and of everything that wealth and position can offer; she knows +perfectly well what she's giving up, and if she would rather live with +us, and study her violin, she has made the choice of her own free will, +and there's the less likelihood of her repenting afterwards. I think, +however, that she really prefers our life to theirs, and will be happier +with some definite work than spending all her time in amusement. As you +predicted, the seed which we planted has sprung up. I hope we may live +to see great things from her in the future, and that she may never +regret the step she has taken." + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +Monitress Mildred + + +Never at the beginning of any term had Mildred been so delighted to +return to St. Cyprian's. Owing to some rather protracted building +operations the school had had unwontedly long holidays, so that her +lengthy visit to Westmorland had not prevented her being in time for the +re-opening. There were naturally great changes at the College. Ella +Martin, Phillis Garnett, Joan Richards, Dorrie Barlow, and all the other +leaders had left, and the former members of VA were now raised to the +Sixth Form. Laura Kirby was head of the school, and among the +monitresses were Bess Harrison, Lottie Lowman, Freda Kingston, Maudie +Stearne, and Mildred herself. It was quite a surprise to Mildred to find +herself placed as a monitress. She knew she had done well at the July +examinations, but had not realized that her success would entitle her to +so great a reward. The position was one of much trust at St. Cyprian's, +and carried many privileges; to attain to it was the ambition of every +girl who entered the school. + +Some readjustment of the Alliance committees was of course necessary in +consequence of the alterations in the Forms, and a fresh election of +delegates was held, the present members of Va being now eligible as +candidates. This time the voting seemed almost unanimous, and the list +came out as follows: + + LITERARY.--Laura Kirby, Constance Muir. + MUSICAL.--Mildred Lancaster, Elizabeth Chalmers. + Dramatic.--Lottie Lowman, Sibyl Anderson. + ARTS AND HANDICRAFTS.--Freda Kingston, Ivy Linthwaite. + GAMES.--Kitty Fletcher, Edna Carson. + +Great satisfaction was expressed at this result. It was felt that in +every department a wise choice had been made. All realized that Mildred +ought to represent the musical element of the school, but they were glad +that Lottie Lowman's undoubted talents should be utilized in the +"Dramatic", where she would really find a freer scope for her energies. +The appointments of Kitty Fletcher and Edna Carson as Games delegates +were immensely popular. They were known enthusiasts, and it was +considered that Kitty would make an admirable successor to Joan +Richards. After distinguishing itself at cricket, St. Cyprian's was now +anxious to win laurels at hockey, and looked forward with great keenness +to matches during the season. Freda Kingston and Ivy Linthwaite were +admittedly the art "stars" of the College; the November exhibition was +the next great event on the Alliance calendar, so it was well to have +such trustworthy representatives to look after the school honours. In +literature nobody could surpass Laura Kirby, and Constance Muir had also +contributed good work. + +To have at last won the Musical delegateship was to Mildred an even +greater pleasure than her new post as monitress. She anticipated many +interesting competitions with other schools, and had moreover a project +of her own which she meant to broach at the first favourable +opportunity. She thoroughly appreciated her colleague. Elizabeth +Chalmers was a very pleasant girl, easy to get on with, and ready to be +enthusiastic. The fact of her being a pianist was a great advantage, +especially as she happened to be an excellent reader, for she would be +able to play accompaniments to anything that was required. + +With her fellow monitresses Mildred also hoped to keep on good terms. It +was perhaps not altogether fortunate that Laura Kirby should be head of +the school. Her high marks at the examination had placed her easily in +that position, but she was not really fitted to be a leader of other +girls. Extremely clever at any form of brainwork, she was gauche and +brusque in her manners, and totally lacking in perception. She did not +command any great respect among the juniors, and found difficulty in +keeping order. She was upright and conscientious, and anxious to make an +efficient "head", but she was incapable of taking hints, and would +blunder along where a less clever but more tactful girl would have +smoothed away difficulties. Lottie Lowman, Maudie Stearne, and jolly +Bess Harrison were already very popular, and Freda Kingston, though +quiet and retiring, was reliable, and could assert her authority when +required. + +None at St. Cyprian's could fail to notice the marked change in Mildred +since last Easter. The summer term had been a time of transition, and +now her holiday at The Towers and her new school responsibilities had +completed the transformation. Instead of the dreamy, unawakened, +indolent, dependent girl of heretofore, she had developed into a brisk, +alert, and highly original character, anxious to take her share of the +world's burden, and spur others on to do the same. + +"Mildred seems years older since we said good-bye on breaking-up day," +said Kitty Fletcher to Bess Harrison. "She was always rather a baby. Now +she's suddenly begun to grow up!" + +"And doing it quickly too," agreed Bess. "I'm as astonished as you are. +I didn't think Mildred had it in her. I believe she'll make one of the +best monitresses St. Cyprian's has ever had." + +Professor Hoffmann's joy at the return of his favourite pupil was +Teutonic in its warmth and fervour. + +"Mein Freundchen, you have come again!" he cried, shaking hands with a +vigour that almost made her cry out. "You remember what I tell you? Yes? +Nothing in this world can compare with music. You did not wish to live +at the rich and great house? So! Zou have chosen well. Now you shall +study. Ach! we shall see what you will do! You have played at my +Students' Concert. What if one day you have a concert of your own? But +you must give people something to which it is worth their while to +listen! You can do it, yes! It is in you, if you will let it come out. +The power is there, but it needs training, patience, care, and again +training. It knows not yet how to express itself aright. Himmel! You +have a great aptitude for your instrument. Some day we shall see you an +artiste, if you will only continue to work." + +Hard work Mildred certainly found to be her present destiny at St. +Cyprian's. The curriculum of the Sixth Form demanded extra brain +exertion in addition to her increased violin study. Fortunately for her, +the particular arrangements of the school, as divided into Collegiate +and Musical sides, made allowance for the large amount of practising +which was now daily expected from her; and Miss Cartwright, regarding +her as a special case, made further concessions, and adapted her +time-table so as to give the first place to her violin. + +Most of the other girls in the Form were also putting their powers to +the proof. Laura Kirby was working for a Girton scholarship, and several +others were to take the matriculation examination. They were being +carefully coached, and extra teachers came to the College to give them +lessons in special subjects. For one or two chemistry classes they were +sent to the women's department of the Kirkton University, where some of +them hoped afterwards to continue their studies and obtain degrees. Even +Kitty Fletcher, who was not at all clever, was preparing for the Senior +Oxford and Cambridge Combined Board, an examination which it was +necessary for her to pass if she were to take up the Kindergarten +teaching upon which her heart was set. + +There were naturally a few drones in the hive. Sheila Moore kept up a +well-deserved reputation for idleness, and Eve Mitchell and Nora +Whitehead were prepared to rival her, in spite of Miss Cartwright's +protestations. On the whole, however, the average was high, and the +girls seemed disposed to live up to the past traditions of the Form, +and set an example in strenuousness to the rest of the school. + +One delightful privilege was accorded to the Sixth. They had a little +sitting-room to themselves, where those who stayed for dinner could +spend their spare time, or where preparation might be done in quiet at +certain hours. This sitting-room was always considered the private +property, for the year, of the Sixth, and the girls took a pride in +making it pretty. It was the custom for every member to bring one +article, which she could take away with her when leaving the school, so +that the room should be free for its next occupants. Chairs and a table +were provided, but the girls contributed pictures, framed photographs, +cushions, a table-cover, some books, and a variety of knick-knacks, +which gave the place a very homely and cosy air. + +This term, by special permission from Miss Cartwright, a tea-service was +added to the other possessions. The girls intended to hold committee +meetings at four o'clock, and afterwards to make tea in their sanctum, +taking it in turns to provide the comestibles. It had always been rather +a rush to have meetings during the midday interval, as some members +returned home for dinner, and could not be back until after two o'clock, +so that the bell for second school was apt to ring just in the midst of +the most animated discussions. Mildred's contribution to the +sitting-room consisted of a tea-cloth which she had worked while at The +Towers. Kitty Fletcher brought a framed photograph of last term's +cricket eleven, taken just after their triumph over Templeton. Freda +Kingston had some of her own water-colours framed, and these were so +pretty that they were awarded the place of honour by general vote. +Laura Kirby lent a well-stocked book-shelf, and Lottie Lowman placed a +clock on the mantel-piece, so that by the united efforts of the whole +Form the room looked quite as nice as it had done under the headship of +Phillis Garnet and her set. + +To Mildred this sanctum was a delightful retreat. She was a day-boarder, +and she had always found that the schoolroom or the playground afforded +rather cold comfort during the interval. With others of the "Needlework +Guild" she could retire here to make the charity garments which the +Alliance had promised for the Children's Hospital, or construct little +presents for the "Santa Claus Club" that was to aid in stocking the +Christmas-tree at the Central Ragged Schools of the city. At Kitty +Fletcher's instigation a Christmas Card Association was formed. The +girls brought to school a large selection of their last year's cards, +and set to work with paste-brush and blank paper to cover over the names +which were on them, writing instead some suitable greeting. These were +to be sent to the workhouse for distribution on Christmas Day, and it +was hoped to prepare enough for each inmate to receive one. It was an +occupation which most of the girls enjoyed, and proved more popular than +needlework, so a large amount of snipping and pasting went on, and the +pile of finished cards grew steadily. + +The autumn term was only about a fortnight old when a new pupil arrived, +who, in Mildred's opinion at least, was a most welcome addition to the +College. Mr. Somerville had been so much interested in the descriptions +he had heard of St. Cyprian's that he had decided to send Rhoda there +without further delay. She was to live at the Principal's private house, +for Miss Cartwright had decided to try the experiment of taking a few +boarders, and had provided accommodation for six. Rhoda was particularly +anxious to come to St. Cyprian's, partly because Mildred was there, and +had given her such entrancing accounts of it, and also because Rodney +was commencing his engineering work at Kirkton, and was already +installed in rooms on his own account. With Mildred to act as her school +godmother, Rhoda very soon made friends, and began to settle down +happily into her new life. Her former lessons with her father, though in +some subjects she was well advanced, had left her behindhand in other +respects, so she had been placed in VB, the Form to which Miss +Cartwright generally relegated backward girls who were too old for the +Fourth, and not capable of doing the work of VA. Here she soon began to +pick up the points in which she was deficient, and made excellent +progress. She found several congenial friends of her own age, and became +an active supporter of all the special institutions of her Form. + +With Miss Cartwright's permission Rhoda was allowed frequently to visit +Meredith Terrace, where Rodney also was invited to meet her. Dr. and +Mrs. Graham were delighted with both the young people, and strongly +encouraged the friendship, being indeed anxious to repay the Somervilles +for their hospitality to Mildred during the summer. Rodney, who was fond +of science, was immensely interested in Dr. Graham's fine microscope, +and delighted to help him in the preparation of slides. He became so +handy in this respect, and also in connection with one or two other +special hobbies of the doctor's, that he was soon at home in the house, +and passed many evenings in the study trying chemical or electrical +experiments. Dr. Graham was pleased with the young fellow's enthusiasm +and scientific taste. + +"It renews my youth to work with him," he declared. "He revives old +interests and stimulates new ones. He has a decided inventive faculty, +and some of his ideas are really very original and clever. We have a +little scheme between us now, which, if it turns out well, may be worth +patenting. We're as eager about it as two old mediaeval alchemists." + +Mildred had sometimes felt the lack of companions of her own age at +home, and was glad therefore that her friends received so hearty a +welcome. The young people spent many pleasant evenings together at +music. Rodney played well, and Rhoda was just beginning to cultivate a +very good soprano voice, and to be anxious to try over every fresh song +that came in her way. Mildred would often accompany her softly on the +violin, so with Rodney at the piano they formed an excellent trio. + +About this time Mildred found her powers of composition develop in a +manner which surprised even herself. She had always been fond of +improvising, but now her ideas took more definite shape, and she was +able to produce short pieces, which she wrote down on paper. Her brain +was full of haunting melodies, and it became her favourite recreation +to weave these together into the form of waltz, polonaise, gavotte, or +sonatina. The more rein she gave to her imagination the better it served +her; the tunes would come as if by inspiration, and as she grew more +accustomed to transcribing them, she could elaborate them at her +leisure. She showed a few of them to Professor Hoffmann, and found his +advice invaluable in aiding her to put her themes into proper notation. +In spite of his evident appreciation of this new phase on the part of +his pupil, he still remained the rigid martinet, and would not allow her +to spend too much time over her own compositions, urging her to study +the works of the great classical masters, and obtain a wider knowledge +of general music. + +"There are many who can write waltzes and drawing-room songs," he +affirmed. "If you have once entered into the mind of Beethoven and +Chopin, these will not content you." + +Mrs. Graham often congratulated herself at this period that she had sent +Mildred to St. Cyprian's. At no other school would it have been possible +for her to devote so great a portion of her time to music. Her aunt felt +that had she been brought up with private tuition at home, she would +have suffered from the lack of the wholesome College interests and the +companionship of other girls. She rejoiced that Mildred had been made a +monitress, and encouraged her to do all she could for the sake of the +school, as she considered the public spirit thus engendered would +prevent her from becoming too narrowly engrossed in her one particular +line of study. + +Mildred did not need any urging to play her part in the life of St. +Cyprian's. She thoroughly appreciated being a school officer, and +particularly enjoyed the committee meetings. + +One afternoon at the end of October the monitresses were gathered in the +sanctum for their weekly discussion. It was a particularly jolly little +assembly, for they had decided to celebrate it with tea, and had each +brought a contribution of some kind. A tempting display of cakes was +spread on the table, and a jug of dairy cream completed the feast. It +was perhaps hardly orthodox to combine the sitting of a committee with +the consumption of raspberry buns, but the girls did not wish to stay +too long, so they decided that for once they would discuss their +business over the teacups. Laura Kirby was therefore requested both to +take the chair and to wield the teapot, and performed the united office +with much zeal. + +"I'm sure my brains work better when they're lubricated with tea," +declared Bess Harrison, tilting back her chair at a comfortable though +rather dangerous angle, and accepting the queen-cake which Lottie Lowman +offered her. "I wish we could represent it to Miss Cartwright, and have +cups sent round during maths. It would make all the difference to one's +problems." + +"Don't you wish you may get it, my child!" replied Maudie Stearne. "Even +pear-drops are tabooed, and I was once sent out of the room for sucking +a peppermint. No, it's only at our own functions that we can indulge in +luxuries. Yes, I'd like some of Freda's seed-cake, if you'll pass it to +me." + +"I made it myself last Saturday," boasted Freda. "Yes, I did, and sat +over it while it was baking, for fear it should burn. And I iced it +afterwards, and put the pieces of candied apricot on the top." + +"Does you credit," murmured Maudie, sampling the delicacy in question. +"You have my permission to make another for next monitresses' meeting. +May I suggest a cherry-cake, as my favourite?" + +"To business!" cried Laura, rapping the table. "This is most shameful +'frivol.'. Do you realize that we haven't begun our work yet? Bess +Harrison, please give me your report." + +"I've had a little trouble with IIIA," began Bess. "The young wretches +were playing all sorts of pranks, and wouldn't walk decently downstairs. +I caught Nellie Brewer sliding down the banisters, and harangued her +till she blubbed. I think she won't try it on again." + +"My precious kids took it into their heads to bolt into the playground +while I was solemnly conducting them to the studio," remarked Maudie +Stearne. "I had quite hard work to collect them and march them off. I +didn't spare them, though, and stopped them all from the tennis-courts +for the day. It gave them a warning." + +"I find IIIB do rather outrageous things sometimes," said Mildred +plaintively. "Yesterday four of them purloined clubs from the gym., and +were playing Red Indians, or some such nonsense, with them in their +classroom. They managed to break an inkpot and upset the black-board." + +"One has to be very firm," volunteered Freda. "It doesn't do to let them +think they can take the least advantage of you. Once give way, and your +influence is gone." + +"Yes, an easy-going monitress means a slack Form," agreed Lottie. "The +juniors know the rules perfectly well, but I think it would be a good +plan to write them out and pin a list up in each classroom. If they see +them in black and white they've no excuse for pretending they've never +heard of them." + +"We can't have juniors usurping the senior tennis-courts or using the +studio piano, and those are two of their chief crimes," observed Freda. + +"I'll make a list of all the hitherto unwritten laws of St. Cyprian's," +said Laura. "If you can all spare ten minutes for an extra committee +meeting to-morrow, we can read them over and pass them." + +"Carried unanimously!" replied the girls. + +"If you'll offer us tea again!" murmured Bess. + +"Don't be greedy! No, to-day must content you. We can't have such an +upset and spread to-morrow, or Miss Cartwright may put a veto on teas +altogether. By the by, this isn't of course an Alliance meeting, but a +few of us delegates are here. How is the 'Dramatic' getting on, Lottie?" + +"Quite tolerably," replied Lottie; "but you know I'm ambitious. We're +giving a united performance at Christmas with the High School and the +Anglo-German in aid of the Children's Hospital. It's quite a good piece, +a sort of Twelfth Night revels and mummers all combined. It's to be held +at the Exchange Assembly Hall. I wish it had been in the Shakespeare +Theatre, then we might have had an orchestra with it. I'm afraid the +piano will sound so horribly thin and inadequate in that huge room. +Somehow these things need a band to make them go. It isn't half festive +without." + +"Is the music written for the piano?" enquired Mildred. + +"Yes, and it's really quite pretty." + +"It would be fairly easy for strings, I dare say?" + +"What do you mean?" + +"I have an idea, but I'll think it over, and tell it to you to-morrow." + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +The Autumn Term + + +Next day the monitresses reassembled in their sanctum at four o'clock to +hold the short meeting which had been proposed. Laura had drawn up a +list of very sensible and necessary rules, which it was their duty to +see kept, and these were read, approved, and carried unanimously. + +"It's all very fine for Laura to draft rules, but will she enforce +them?" whispered Maudie Stearne to Bess Harrison. "I wish we could get +her to be firmer with those juniors. She lets them take liberties +continually." + +"We'll try and keep her up to the mark," replied Bess, "and we must do +all we can ourselves. It's well to have something to go upon, at any +rate. I bless Laura for this list. I shall hold it over the heads of my +set of youngsters, and make a special black roll of any sinners who +transgress the least fraction of it." + +"Woe betide IVB if they talk in the hall or make signals to each other +across the studio again!" said Lottie aloud. "I think these regulations +will about fix up the juniors, and if we stick to them we'll have no +more trouble. Is this all the biz, or has anybody anything else to put +to the meeting?" + +"I have an idea," said Mildred. "You know you said yesterday that you +wished your Twelfth Night revels could have the advantage of an +orchestra. You're afraid the piano alone will sound so thin. Well, I've +been thinking it over, and I believe we could get up quite a decent +little band amongst the Alliance. Mary Fawcett plays the violin very +well, and Lizzie Lucian, Clare Verrall, and Mary Langworthy are getting +along nicely now with Herr Hoffmann. Then don't you remember the girl +who played a solo for Templeton at the Eisteddfod?--Erica Newstead, I +think her name was. They've a girl at the Anglo-German, too, who I +believe is quite good, though they didn't trot her out at their concert. +I'm sure, if we asked her, that Ella Martin would come and help us, and +with myself that would make eight violins. Then Millicent Greenwood +plays the 'cello, and we'd invite that girl who did the solo for +Newington Green--Althea Ledbury. With four first violins, four second +violins, two violoncellos, and the piano we should have quite a jolly +band. What do you think of my project?" + +"Ripping!" agreed the girls. + +"It sounds splendid," said Lottie, "but there are just one or two things +we ought to make clear. First, who's going to conduct? You and Ella will +both be needed to play." + +"I thought of Elizabeth Chalmers," replied Mildred; "she's very musical, +and keeps time like a metronome. I believe she'd manage splendidly. She +won't be needed for the piano, as you say one of the High School girls +is to take that." + +"Elizabeth's the very 'man for the job'! I hadn't thought of her. Yes, I +wish the High School hadn't commandeered the piano, but as it's a +limited affair we were obliged to let them take it. There's one other +objection, though, to the scheme, and rather a big one, I'm afraid. The +music is only written for voices and piano." + +"That shelves the band, then, I'm afraid!" said Laura. + +"Not at all," returned Mildred. "If Lottie will bring me the music, I'm +perfectly certain I can arrange it for first and second violin and +'cello parts. I've been doing so much quartette work lately with the +Professor that it really shouldn't be very difficult." + +"Good old Mildred! I'm quite sure you can!" exclaimed Bess. "I believe +you'd fix it up for a whole orchestra, wind-instruments included if +required, not to mention the kettle-drums!" + +"Hardly that," laughed Mildred. "I'd prefer to keep to strings. However, +I won't boast too soon. I'll try what I can manage, and then show you +the results." + +"I'll fetch the music to school to-morrow," said Lottie. "It would be +lovely to have an orchestra to augment our 'Dramatic'; it would just +make the thing go." + +Lottie arrived next morning with several books, in which she had marked +the special songs that were to be sung in the Twelfth Night revels. On +taking them home, Mildred found that the airs were quite simple, and +with her knowledge of harmony and recent experience in quartette +playing, she was able to arrange second-violin and violoncello parts, +allowing the first violin to sustain the melody. It took her a long +Saturday to perform the task, but she was satisfied with the result, +and brought the score to school on Monday morning. Some of the other +girls volunteered to make the necessary copies during the dinner +interval, and with their help the work was soon finished. The girls from +the Anglo-German, Templeton, and Newington Green readily accepted the +invitation to join the orchestra, and arranged to come to St. Cyprian's +for practices. Ella Martin was quite pleased to revisit her old school, +and her clear, correct playing was of great assistance. As Mildred had +expected, Elizabeth Chalmers made a capital conductor. Her sense of time +was excellent, she kept everybody well together, and above all things +made sure that the instruments were in tune. She wielded her baton +almost like an old, experienced bandmaster, rapping on her desk, if +faults occurred, with a promptitude worthy of Professor Hoffmann +himself. + +Mildred found it the greatest relief to have Lottie for a coadjutor +instead of a rival. As dramatic delegate, Lottie was responsible for the +members of St. Cyprian's who were acting in the revels, and was herself +to take a prominent part. She helped to train a chorus, but did not +otherwise interfere with the music, confining her attentions mostly to +drilling her own students in the rather elaborate dances which they had +undertaken. Mildred was quite ready to appreciate Lottie's powers of +administration, and often admired her diplomacy in dealing with +difficult situations. Lottie, on her side, having found her true sphere +in the "Dramatic", was more ready to yield Mildred the palm in music, +and the friction which had formerly existed between the two girls +seemed to have died away. They both made zealous and capable +monitresses, and on this common ground could meet in harmony. + +A subject had lately arisen upon which they were entirely agreed. They +considered that Laura Kirby, as head of the school, was not nearly keen +enough upon her duties. Laura was working very hard, in view of her +matriculation and scholarship examination next summer, and as Literary +delegate she was also preoccupied with the number of the _Alliance +Magazine_ that was to be printed in time for Christmas. She did not care +to be worried with too many school details, and rather than trouble to +enforce her authority on the juniors, she would shut her eyes to much +that was going on. Every now and then, if things got rather bad, she +would seemingly wake up, and distribute punishments where they were due; +but the younger girls soon found out that she preferred to keep a +conveniently blind vision for some of their transgressions, and, taking +advantage of this, they began to grow rather out of hand. + +A particular point at present disturbing several of the monitresses was +the behaviour of the juniors on their way home from the College. St. +Cyprian's was situated in Lime Grove, a quiet avenue which communicated +with one of the main roads connecting Kirkton and its suburbs. Many of +the girls used the electric trams, the stopping-place for which was just +at the end of the Grove; they had often five minutes or more to wait +until their various cars arrived, and during that interval they +conducted themselves in a most unseemly fashion. Instead of standing +aside and chatting quietly, they blocked up the pavement to the +inconvenience of passers-by, and talked and laughed in a manner that +rendered them highly conspicuous. + +"The last few days it has been absolutely shameful!" said Freda +Kingston, discussing the situation with Lottie and Mildred. "There they +are, in their school hats and badges, so that everybody knows they +belong to St. Cyprian's. They bring disgrace on the Coll.! Some of them +actually won't trouble to put on their gloves, and their behaviour makes +people stare." + +"And when their trams come up, they make a rush and crowd on in the +rudest manner, pushing past older people, and giggling, and generally +making one ashamed for them," said Mildred. + +"The worst of it is that the very ones who behave so shockingly go by +the Carlton Hill car, and Laura is nearly always on it herself. She's +there waiting at the corner, and she hears the babel of noise they're +making, and sees them stampede up the steps on to the top of the tram, +and she just pops inside herself, opens a book, and takes no notice," +said Lottie. + +"Something will have to be done, or St. Cyprian's will get quite a bad +reputation." + +"It's so abominably unlady-like." + +"It's that wretched little Katie Carter who's the ringleader. She's a +horrid child, and needs suppressing. Do you know what she and half a +dozen others did yesterday? Actually dared one another to run into the +gardens of those nice houses half-way down the Grove, and each plucked a +flower! If I had only caught them! It was Hilda Kilburn who told me." + +"It's simply moral slackness on Laura's part not to interfere." + +"What's to be done?" + +"Convene a special monitresses' meeting, bring the subject up, and put +it strongly." + +"And tactfully too! We don't want exactly to take Laura to task if we +can help it. We shall have to get her to summon the meeting." + +The affair was arranged with due diplomacy; and when the monitresses +gathered next day, during dinner interval, in the sanctum, Freda, as +spokeswoman, put the case without casting any imputation upon the head +girl. + +"It has been urgently brought to our notice," she began, "that our +juniors are conducting themselves on their way home in a manner utterly +unworthy of the traditions of the Coll." + +"Are we responsible for them once they're off the premises?" asked +Laura, blushing slightly. + +"Most certainly. It's of vital importance to keep up the credit of the +school. As long as they are in the streets in St. Cyprian's hats they +belong to the Coll., and either establish its reputation or brand it +with disgrace. They're doing the latter at present." + +"It's bad enough to have to manage the little wretches in school without +tackling them outside," sighed Laura. "How can one enforce rules in the +street?" + +"It's got to be done somehow," said Lottie. "We don't want it to come to +Miss Cartwright's ears, as it very soon will if it's not stopped at +once. My proposal is this. Make a list of which girls go by tram. Place +them in groups according to their separate cars, and apportion a +monitress to look after each set. Laura goes by the Carlton Hill, +Mildred by the Alleston, and I go by the Lincoln Street, so we could be +responsible for any girls on those cars; and Bess and Maudie could take +it in turns to act guard over those who are waiting at the corner, while +Freda patrols the Grove to prevent a repetition of the garden outrage." + +"Good! For the time we should all be acting police," agreed Mildred. +"We'd give out beforehand that all juniors must leave the school +premises before 4.15, and that for any breach of lady-like behaviour on +the road we'll report them to Miss Cartwright. Once they know we mean +business, they'll have to reform." + +"I put it to the meeting, then," said Lottie, "that the monitresses in +future hold themselves responsible for the good conduct of the juniors +in the street and on the trams." + +"And I beg to second it," said Freda. + +Thus brought to a sense of her duty, Laura could not fail to agree with +the proposition. The juniors were informed of the new code, and that +very afternoon it was put into force. The monitresses meant to stand no +nonsense, and marshalled their flocks as if they were drilling them in +the gymnasium. The effect was marvellous. Instead of a chattering, +loud-voiced crowd obstructing the pavement, a queue of quiet, +well-conducted girls waited at the corner almost in silence, and boarded +their respective trams with perfect decorum. All wore their gloves, and +had been more particular than formerly that their coats were put on +neatly, and their bootlaces well tucked away. Even Katie Carter was +subdued, and did not dare to play tricks on her confederates. + +Perhaps the matter had come to Miss Cartwright's ears after all, for in +the course of about a week she congratulated the monitresses upon their +vigilance. They referred to her remarks with much satisfaction at their +next meeting. + +"It's nice to have one's efforts appreciated," said Bess. "I vote we +don't slack off, but keep up this patrol business. Of course it's a +great deal of trouble----" + +"But it's well worth it," agreed the others. + +Now that this matter with the juniors was settled, St. Cyprian's seemed +to be going on well in every respect. Kitty Fletcher and Edna Carson +were zealous in looking after the Games department, and spurred on the +girls to come to hockey practices. They had had a match with Newington +Green, and though they had been vanquished they had shown a good fight, +and, considering the excellence of the rival team, had not on the whole +comported themselves badly. By increased efforts Kitty hoped that before +the hockey season was over they might be able to win at least one match, +and show that St. Cyprian's could take its place in athletics on a +footing with other schools in the Alliance. She often regretted Joan +Richards, and wished she could have asked her to join the team in an +emergency; but it was against the rules for ex-pupils to play in +matches, so she had to content herself with present members. One +unexpected source of strength consoled her for Joan's loss. Rhoda +Somerville took to hockey like a duck to water, and promised under +Kitty's tuition to become a most valuable asset to the team. She seemed +to have every qualification for good play, and an enthusiasm which +rejoiced the heart of her captain. Rhoda's active habits in Westmorland +had fitted her for sports, and in the gymnasium also she was beginning +to establish a record. Her cricket capacities, of course, could not yet +be tested, but Kitty hoped next summer to put her to the proof. + +Rhoda found the life at St. Cyprian's most congenial. She had been +placed on the Musical side of the school, and thoroughly enjoyed her +piano lessons with Herr Kleindorf, and the classes in theory and harmony +which she attended. There was a delightful series of lectures this term +on the great classical composers, with illustrations from their works, +and Rhoda, who had not before had the opportunity of joining such a +course, found them deeply interesting. After her quiet country home at +Castleford, St. Cyprian's seemed a new world, full from morning to night +of fresh impressions. She had learnt German with her father, so she had +the pleasure of finding herself in Fraeulein Schulte's advanced class, +and taking part in the monthly dialogues. + +In company with the other five girls who were boarded at the Principal's +house, Rhoda had an excellent time. Miss Cartwright was kindness itself, +and they had so many indulgences that they were almost regarded with +envy by the day scholars. As there were so few of them, it was possible +to allow them more privileges than they could have had at any ordinary +boarding-school, so they often congratulated themselves upon their good +fortune. + +In spite of these advantages, Rhoda's life was not without troubles. +She was backward in several subjects, and had to work very hard to keep +up with her Form. Sometimes she was almost baffled by the difficulties +which arose, but she had any amount of grit and determination, and was +resolved to make headway in the school. On the whole she was a favourite +with her Form, but there was one girl whom she found a perpetual "thorn +in the flesh". Lottie Lowman's younger sister, Carrie, was at a rather +disagreeable stage of her development. Lottie had improved very much +since her appointment as monitress, but Carrie's sharp tongue was nimble +in exercising itself at the expense of her class-mates. For some +unexplained reason she had taken a dislike to Rhoda, and lost no +opportunity of making her the butt of her wit. Carrie, though the +youngest in the Form, was one of the cleverest, and prided herself on +the two points. If Rhoda unfortunately made a mistake in a lesson, she +would sneer: "What! You sixteen and don't know that yet? Why, we learnt +it in the Upper Third!" She would visibly nudge her companions if Rhoda +faltered in answering a question, thereby making her more nervous, and +would come out with pointed remarks about girls whose brains ran to +hockey instead of "maths.". In the gymnasium she would watch Rhoda's +performances with a critical eye, and triumph openly at her failures. To +be sure, these were all rather foolish things, hardly worthy of notice, +but they hurt notwithstanding, and had the effect of making several +girls, who might have been friendly, join in the gibes just for the mere +fun of teasing. + +Rhoda was subjected to many small annoyances. One afternoon, just as +everyone was off for a practice, she could not find her hockey shoes. +She was perfectly certain they had been in her boot locker only an hour +before, but now there was not a sign of them. She hunted vainly up and +down the dressing-room, asking the girls if they had seen them, but +nobody could give her any information, or seemed inclined to trouble to +help her. + +"How can I tell where you put your things? You should keep them in your +locker!" retorted more than one irritably. + +"I did put them in my locker, but somebody's taken them out!" protested +Rhoda. + +"Well, I didn't, at any rate! I've never even seen your shoes!" + +In a violent hurry the girls rushed away, leaving Rhoda alone in the +dressing-room, still searching for her missing property. It was only +when she had examined every one of the long row of lockers that she +discovered her shoes stowed away under the books of Mabel Pollitt, who +was absent that day, and therefore could not possibly have appropriated +them. Changing as quickly as she could, Rhoda ran out to the hockey +ground, to find the captain in a ferment. + +"We've been waiting five minutes for you, Rhoda Somerville! Why can't +you be punctual? I shan't allow time to be wasted, and if you're late +again you may stop away altogether, so I give you fair notice!" + +"I couldn't find my shoes!" panted Rhoda. + +"A very poor excuse. Have them ready next time, and then there won't be +all this trouble!" + +Carrie Lowman was nudging her chum, Beatrice Blair, and the two were +giggling with such open amusement that it was not difficult for Rhoda to +know to whom she might attribute her loss. She taxed them with it, but +they only burst into peals of laughter, and refused to answer her. + +"I'm sure they did it," said Doris Brewer, who was friendly to Rhoda. "I +saw them sniggering over something in the dressing-room." + +"Next week I shall put my shoes inside my desk, so that no one can play +tricks with them," declared Rhoda. "It's much too bad to rag me like +this." + +Carrie and her chums considered Rhoda, as a new-comer, fair game for any +sport, and they were prepared to take advantage of her ignorance in many +ways. Rhoda's mathematics were decidedly below the standard of the rest +of the Form; and one morning, when she had been even less successful +than usual, Carrie approached her after school. + +"You've failed again hopelessly, Rhoda Somerville," scoffed Carrie. "I +suppose you're aware that any girl who gets only ten per cent of her +problems right three times running has to go and report herself to the +monitresses?" + +"I didn't know!" gasped Rhoda. + +"It's a solid fact!" declared Beatrice Blair. + +"They're having a meeting at one o'clock, so you'll have to turn up now, +and confess your sins and cry _peccavi_!" added Carrie. "Laura Kirby's +A1 at maths., so I'm afraid you won't meet with too tender a reception." + +Poor Rhoda, who still had not grasped all the rules of St. Cyprian's, +and was constantly encountering new ones, went off at once in a panic of +compunction. It was a decided ordeal to face all the monitresses, even +though Mildred was one of them, and she felt it humiliating to be +obliged to confess her failure. She knocked timidly at the door of the +sanctum, and entered, looking decidedly dejected, in response to Laura's +"Come in!" + +"Well, what do you want?" asked the head girl rather impatiently. + +"I--I've come to report myself," stammered Rhoda. + +"What for?" + +"For failing three times running in maths." + +"Why, that's no business of ours." + +"But I was told to come." + +"Who sent you?" asked Lottie sharply. + +"Your sister--and Beatrice Blair. They said it was the rule." + +Lottie coloured with annoyance. + +"I shall have to speak to Carrie," she remarked. "She has no right to +rag new girls. It's a stupid custom, and must be stamped out of St. +Cyprian's." + +"We have no such rule, Rhoda," said Mildred gently. "It was too bad to +send you on a false errand." + +"Then I needn't come here again and report my failures?" + +"Certainly not." + +"Oh, thanks!" Rhoda's face had lightened with visible relief. "I'm +afraid I interrupted you." + +"I don't blame you. It wasn't your fault," returned Laura, closing the +interview. "I advise you in future to be careful what you believe. Ask +somebody whom you can trust, before you accept anyone's statements. You +can go now, and please shut the door after you." + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +The Alliance Exhibition + + +Half-term had come and gone, and November days were closing in fast. The +date fixed for the Alliance Exhibition of Arts and Handicrafts was +drawing near, and it behoved St. Cyprian's delegates to be making +preparations for the event. Freda Kingston and Ivy Linthwaite had not +let the grass grow under their feet, and since the re-opening in +September had been quietly arranging what exhibits were most likely to +do credit to the College, and setting apart certain girls to work at +them. A wide choice had been given, for the "show" was to include not +only drawings and paintings, but clay modelling, fretwork, carpentry, +repousse brasswork, stencilling, bookbinding, basket-making, embroidery, +illuminating, bent iron-work, wood-carving, poker-work, photography, +sweet-making, cookery, and in fact every variety of handicraft that +might be submitted. + +Naturally St. Cyprian's did not hold classes of instruction for all +these branches, but some of the girls took private lessons at home, or +tried experiments on their own account. Miss Whitlock, the +drawing-mistress, was very anxious to cultivate an artistic spirit among +her pupils, and had introduced many new methods. She particularly +endeavoured to encourage originality, condemning the old-fashioned +course of "freehand, model, and cast" as likely to reduce all to one +level of monotony. When she came as art mistress to St. Cyprian's she +had astonished the girls by demanding from them a weekly portion of home +work, and setting them a subject which they were to illustrate. + +At first it had seemed to them an utter impossibility to draw "The +Parting of Arthur and Guinevere", or "The Meeting of King John and his +Barons", but with a little practice they were soon able to make the kind +of design which Miss Whitlock required. She did not allow them to copy +any picture outright, but they might take a horse from one, a knight +from another, a lady from a third, and adapt them so as to make a fresh +illustration. She knew that the skill of her pupils was not equal to +evolving the figures for themselves, but she considered that in this way +they would gain a far better knowledge of the requirements of +composition than by a mere slavish reproduction of a drawing intact. + +The girls found it quite interesting work, and as Miss Whitlock gave out +the list of subjects for the whole term beforehand, they would amuse +themselves in their leisure hours by searching through art books for +suitable figures to act as the Lady of Shalott, Robin Hood, King +Cophetua, Flora Macdonald, Lord Marmion, or other heroes and heroines of +romance. Naturally many of the results were not remarkably talented, but +Miss Whitlock considered that they had served their purpose by training +the judgment, and that with practice would come an increased facility +both in the drawing and the general arrangement of the designs. + +The sketches were not confined either to any particular size or special +medium--they might be executed in pencil, pen and ink, chalks, pastels, +or water-colours, according to individual taste; and this latitude gave +a much wider scope to the work. Freda Kingston, who loved to try new +departures, had hit upon quite an original method of her own, which she +pursued at home. She pinned large sheets of cartoon paper upon the wall, +then, placing a strong lamp in a suitable position, would persuade one +of her brothers or sisters to stand in the attitude she required, so as +to throw a shadow upon the paper. She would carefully outline this, and +afterwards reduce the life-size drawing to more manageable proportions. +In this way she was able to get some very striking poses, which held all +the freshness of the living model. She did not attempt to elaborate them +too much, but would lay on flat washes of body colour, and finish with a +bold outline, so that in style they much resembled advertisement +posters. + +It was quite a little weekly excitement for the art class to pin up +these home studies in the studio, and see all the widely differing +representations which had been made of the same subject. Miss Whitlock +would criticize them, and class them according to ability, giving many +helpful hints and suggestions for future improvement. + +The lessons themselves were made as varied as possible. One day it would +be the drawing of objects in a given time; on another it would be memory +sketching. Sometimes only a single outline was required, and on other +occasions great detail would be demanded, so that nobody had the chance +of getting into a groove and cultivating only one style of expression. + +Though Miss Whitlock had little time to teach the girls handicrafts, she +would criticize what work they brought to school to show her, and give +any hints she could on the subject, leaving them to try experiments at +home. By recommending tools, manuals of instruction, and suitable +materials she was able to give substantial help, and would often start a +girl on a new hobby, and by judicious aid, if she got into a difficulty, +tide her over the initial stages till she was able to make progress on +her own account. There is always something infectious in enthusiasm, and +Miss Whitlock's genuine love of her subject made her students very keen +in carrying out all her ideas. One or two of them were really clever, +and the general average improved quickly under her system of tuition, +the imaginative girls especially finding scope for their particular +talents. + +With this foundation of art training to work upon, St. Cyprian's +considered it ought to make as good a show as any of the other schools +in the Alliance. Six members were chosen for a committee, and a very +businesslike meeting was convened in the studio. Freda, as principal +delegate, took the chair, and Ivy Linthwaite, as second delegate, +occupied the position of secretary. + +"What we've got to do," said Freda, "is to find out any individual +talent in the school, and push it for all we're worth. I think we'd best +each make out a list of those who, we consider, ought to do certain +things, and then keep them as our special protegees. There are lots of +girls who'll begin a thing, go on a little way, and then get tired of +it, or be discouraged and throw it up. These are the ones we must look +after. They need constantly urging on, and keeping up to the mark. Has +anybody any particular person to suggest, whom she thinks likely to do +anything outstanding?" + +"I believe Rhoda Somerville has rather original ideas," said Nina +Campion. "She was telling me about a model of a cottage which she had +made at home. It sounded most ingenious." + +"Then take Rhoda as your protegee, and see that she makes something +equally good." + +"I have my eye on Nancy Rostron," said Eleanor Duncan, "but I'd rather +not say in what particular line till I've discussed the matter with +her." + +"Meg Croisdale's the girl for me!" declared Pauline Middleton. "Her +illuminations are beautiful!" + +"And I have a scheme on hand with Gertrude Spencer," announced Aveline +Wilson. + +"I book Cissie Milne," said Ivy Linthwaite; "we've been working together +for a fortnight." + +"Well, if we each have a protegee, with what we're going to do +ourselves, that will make at least twelve principal contributors. I dare +say we'll soon fill the one table we're to be allowed for special +exhibits," said Freda. "It won't do to crowd things up too much; better +have a fair amount of space, so as to show them up well." + +"I rather believe twelve is the limit allowed for table exhibits," said +Ivy, consulting a note-book. "Yes, that is what we arranged at the +General Committee." + +"Good! Then we'll soon fix that up." + +As the room where the united exhibition was to be held had only limited +accommodation, and the Alliance was conducted on lines of strictest +fairness and equality, a certain number of feet of wall space and one +table were apportioned to each school, so they were obliged to confine +the number of their exhibits within specified bounds. The conditions +applied equally to all, so there was no particular hardship; it was +merely a question of elimination, and making the very wisest choice +among the many and varied crafts from which they had to select. Freda +considered that anything out of the common, and original, would probably +attract the judge's attention, and also that a diversity of objects +would be likely to form the most interesting table. She herself was very +busy making a beautiful set of illustrations to Hans Andersen's "Goose +Girl". She spared no trouble, printing the text of the story in an +exquisitely neat hand, so that the little book should be perfect, and +completing it with a most artistic cover. Quite early in the term she +had fired her friend Natalie Masters with an enthusiasm for +illustrating. Natalie could not draw well, but she was decidedly clever +with the camera, and she resolved to make a series of photographic views +depicting scenes from "The Babes in the Wood". She prepared for her work +by arranging costumes for her two little sisters, who were to represent +the babes, and for two brothers whom she induced to act as either +father, wicked uncle, or ruffians, as the case might be. + +The Masters possessed a country cottage in a very beautiful +neighbourhood, and the whole family went there for the half-term +holiday, so that Natalie was able to get backgrounds for her photographs +which she could not have obtained in Kirkton. She posed her models +partly in the lovely autumn woods, partly in an old castle, and, for the +more domestic scenes, in an ancient farmhouse that was provided with +antique furniture, and therefore made an excellent fourteenth-century +setting for her figures. The results were mostly very good; allowing for +a few failures, where she had miscalculated the exposures, or the light +had been insufficient, she got a sufficient number of negatives to be +able to select a dozen as satisfactory, and with the aid of a little +retouching made a series of beautifully soft sepia prints. These were +mounted, three together, on long brown cards, and had a most harmonious +and artistic effect. Her models had been excellent, the little sister +who was dressed as the boy looking particularly charming in the wood +scene, where the two babes were standing among the tall bracken, +reaching up to gather the blackberries growing overhead. The last scene +of all was a triumph, for by the bait of some tempting crumbs laid upon +the leaves, Natalie had been able to take a snapshot of a pair of robins +that ventured within a few feet of the two little figures lying clasped +in each other's arms under a bramble bush. She felt that in this +photograph she had almost rivalled the achievements of Mr. Kearton or +Mr. Seton-Thompson, and that she might some day turn her attention to +producing a volume of "Wild Nature in the Camera", or some equally +ambitious project. + +Ivy Linthwaite and her protegee Cissie Milne were concentrating their +energies on wood-carving. Ivy had had a course of lessons the previous +winter, and had grown sufficiently accustomed to her tools to be able to +undertake quite an elaborate piece of work with deep undercutting; but +Cissie, who was a beginner under Ivy's tuition, contented herself with +doing a lightly-chipped picture-frame. + +Nina Campion was busy with a beautiful set of flower paintings in +water-colours. Some were done at school under Miss Whitlock's +superintendence and some at home, but to both she gave equal care and +her very best endeavours. + +Rhoda Somerville, when questioned by Nina as to her capacity for making +a model as an exhibit, was at first rather dismayed by the project, but +on thinking it over she began to see her way more clearly, and consented +to undertake the task. She decided that she would try to construct a +miniature edition of Castleford Church. She had the whole outline of it +in her mind's eye, as well as possessing photographs which would help if +her memory failed. She set about it very systematically. First, she +begged an old drawing-board from the studio to act as stand. Then out of +stiff cardboard she fashioned the model church, cutting out spaces for +the windows and covering them with coloured gelatine paper to represent +stained glass. When roof, tower, and walls were all neatly fixed +together, she put a thin coating of glue over all, and dusted it well +with sand, which made a really excellent imitation of the yellowish +stone of which Castleford was built. With the aid of a paint-brush she +made the traceries round the windows and some attempt at gargoyles on +the tower, and reproduced the dark oak of the heavy door, studded with +iron nails. The churchyard next claimed her attention. She mixed a +quantity of plaster of Paris, and put it down all round the church, +which cemented the model firmly to the board that she had used for a +stand, and also gave the effect of uneven ground. She smoothed down the +path, and while the plaster was still wet, stuck in little pieces of +sanded cardboard for grave-stones, and small twigs of yew to represent +the ancient gnarled trees that surrounded the chancel. A coat of green +paint, applied to the cement when dry, was supplemented by some +beautiful moss, which her mother sent her from the woods at home, and +which gave a finishing touch to the whole. The little model was really +extremely pretty when all was completed, and such an exact copy in +miniature of Castleford Church that Mildred declared she could almost +imagine that she heard the organ inside it. + +The progress of Rhoda's work had been a subject of intense interest to +many of the girls, who had watched it stage by stage from its first +rough commencement, and they were agreed that it would be one of the +most uncommon exhibits on their special table, if not in the whole of +the show. + +Mildred, who felt responsible for Rhoda at St. Cyprian's, was glad to +find that her friend could make so important a contribution to the +Alliance. She realized that any success in the exhibition would be a +great point in Rhoda's favour, and likely largely to increase her +popularity in the school. Rhoda herself had taken keen pleasure in her +construction, independently of its value as an exhibit. Her deft hands +enjoyed making things, and her thoughts had all the time been centred at +Castleford. She was too happy at St. Cyprian's to be home-sick; +nevertheless she missed the Vicarage, and anything which reminded her of +it was a doubly-welcome pastime. + +Meanwhile the other members of the committee and their protegees were +also busily occupied. Pauline Middleton, whose bent was towards figures, +had finished a very clever pair of heads executed in pastels, quite the +best work she had so far accomplished at school, and a subject of much +satisfaction to Miss Whitlock. Meg Croisdale, whose hobby was +illumination, had copied a page from an old missal upon a sheet of +vellum, and had thoroughly enjoyed herself amongst the quaint Celtic +spirals and twists of the capitals, and the strange little animals and +figures which composed the interlaced border. She had laid on the bright +colours and the gold-paint with a steady hand, marvelling only at the +patience of the monks of old who could complete a whole book, one single +leaf of which it had cost her so much time and attention to reproduce. + +Aveline Wilson and Gertrude Spencer had gone in for pyrography, and +shared a poker-work apparatus between them, which they took it in turns +to use, the one who was not manipulating it standing near and blowing +gentle puffs with a pair of bellows to prevent the smoke from the burnt +wood from rising into the face of the worker, a division of labour +greatly appreciated after an experience of smarting eyes produced by the +fumes. Aveline finished a large photograph frame with a tasteful design +of irises, and Gertrude decorated a little corner cupboard with a +conventional pattern copied from a piece of antique furniture. Eleanor +Duncan concentrated all her energies on an oil-painting of still-life +which she did in the school studio, partly during lesson hour and partly +during her recreation time. It represented several Venetian jars, with a +piece of silk drapery as a background, and a few flowers flung +carelessly across the foreground in company with a nautilus shell and a +string of beads. The whole made a beautiful harmony of colour, and Miss +Whitlock was more than satisfied with the result. + +Nancy Rostron had made a complete departure in her exhibit. She had +chosen to dress a dozen small dolls as representatives of various +European nations, and had made each tiny costume with the greatest +elaboration, carrying out every detail with a considerable amount of +skill. When finished, the dolls were wired, and placed in a circle round +a stand, so that each might equally show its points and claim the +judge's attention. With Rhoda's model church, this was perhaps one of +the prime favourites among the exhibits, for though it could not claim +the artistic merit of some, it certainly possessed the charm of novelty. + +The girls had given a great deal of trouble, and had devoted many hours +of their spare time to these preparations, and all looked forward +eagerly to the day of the "Show". By the kindness of the Mayor, a room +in the Exchange Assembly Hall had been lent to the Alliance for the +occasion. A small admission fee was to be charged, and the proceeds were +to be sent to the Kirkton Guild of Play, an institution for brightening +the lives of the children of the slums. Everybody was pleased with this +loan of a room. It put the various schools upon a more equal footing +than if the exhibition had been held in one of their own buildings; and +the Exchange Assembly Hall was situated in a very central position in +the city, easy of access by tram for all the suburbs. + +The premises were only available for one day, so the exhibits had to be +taken down and arranged during the morning, to be in time for the +opening at half-past two. The six members of St. Cyprian's Art Committee +were granted a special holiday for the purpose, and a private omnibus +was engaged in which to convey them and the various treasures in their +charge to the hall. Through Nina Campion's care, Rhoda's model church +reached its destination without the displacement of even a tomb-stone, +and Eleanor Duncan took equal precautions to preserve Nancy Rostron's +set of dolls from injury. Miss Webster, the art mistress from the High +School, was in charge of the room, and showed the St. Cyprian's +delegates which wall space and table had been allotted to them. They had +brought hammer and tacks and other requisites, so they at once set to +work. They placed Eleanor's large oil-painting (which she had had +framed) as a centre piece of their portion of wall, with Pauline's +pastel heads (also framed) on either side. Nina's flower paintings and +Natalie's photographic views were accorded the next post of honour, and +then all spare space was filled with selections of the best studio work +that had been done during the term. The table was certainly not any too +large for the twelve exhibits that were to appear upon it. The church +and the dolls, being the largest, were placed in the middle, and the +other specimens ranged round. Various members of the art class had sent +in picked contributions, so there was a good display of carving, +poker-work, wood-staining, illuminating, and designs for illustration. + +There was no time to compile a catalogue of the "Show", but each exhibit +bore a small label with the name of the contributor and her school, and +in addition each table and separate wall space was surmounted by a large +card bearing the name of its school. The committees did their work +thoroughly, and by twelve o'clock the whole room was in order, and ready +for the inspection of Mr. Baincroft, the artist who had promised to act +as judge. + +During the course of the afternoon a very large number of girls from the +various schools, together with parents and friends, visited the +exhibition. Mrs. Graham accompanied Mildred, for she was anxious to see +the St. Cyprian's department, and particularly Rhoda's model church, of +which she had heard much. + +There were to be no prizes, for the headmistresses of the six schools +had agreed that it would be better for the Alliance to work without any +definite rewards, but "Honourable Mention" was to be given to the best +exhibits, and any of outstanding merit were to be "Specially Commended". + +At the door of the hall, Rhoda, who was arriving with the rest of the +boarders, in charge of a mistress, happened to meet Mildred and her +aunt. Miss Rowe readily allowed her to join her friends, so she entered +the room under Mrs. Graham's escort. + +"I can't look at a single thing till I've seen St. Cyprian's table, so +let's go there first, please!" declared Mildred, avoiding the +attractions of Newington Green on the one hand and Marston Grove on the +other, and urging her companions forward. "Oh, here we are! There's the +church, Tantie! Isn't it lovely? Oh, Rhoda! It has actually got +'Specially Commended'! I'm so glad; it thoroughly deserved that! What a +point for St. Cyprian's! Has anybody else had such luck?" + +Freda's illustrations to "The Goose Girl", one of Pauline's pastel +heads, and Aveline's poker-work had won "Honourable Mention", so that +St. Cyprian's had four honours to its credit, which was as much as any +of the other schools had gained. The judge had only given tickets of +commendation to exhibits which he considered of quite unusual merit or +originality, but he had written a short report, highly praising the +general excellence of the work submitted. When Mildred and Rhoda had +finished rejoicing over the St. Cyprian's successes, and had shown Mrs. +Graham each several contribution to their own portion, they turned their +attention to the departments of other schools. It was interesting to see +the various hobbies which had been pursued. Templeton girls had +evidently been going in for fretwork, while the High School had made a +speciality of stencilling and bent-iron work. Some of the Anglo-German +girls had sent exquisite specimens of embroidery and drawn-thread work, +and also bore off the palm for cake-baking and sweet-making, a branch +which St. Cyprian's had not attempted. Marston Grove excelled in +clay-modelling and repousse brasswork, while Newington Green had +produced very excellent results in carpentry, basket-weaving, and +bookbinding. + +The virtue of the little exhibition was that it gave the girls an +opportunity of seeing what was being done by other schools, and supplied +them with many hints for future work. Several St. Cyprianites went home +resolved to learn bookbinding, while Freda's illustrations were pointed +out by the Templeton art mistress to her pupils as something which they +might try to emulate. All the various members of the Alliance met on a +very friendly footing, and heartily admired each other's exhibits, so +perhaps no other department of their mutual league could be regarded as +a greater success. + +"Well done the Arts and Handicrafts!" said Freda, as she helped to clear +St. Cyprian's table after closing time. "It's been an absolutely ripping +afternoon, and do you know we've taken twenty pounds in admissions? The +Guild of Play ought to bless us!" + +"Everyone's enjoyed it," agreed Ivy. "And we've all worked together so +amicably, that's the best of it. This 'Show' ought to become an annual +affair. It's quite an institution, and if next year we might have it in +a larger room, we'd--well, we'd----" + +"Astonish the world of Kirkton!" laughed Freda. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +Twelfth Night Revels + + +The autumn term was drawing rapidly to a close and Christmas was near at +hand. The Literary branch of the Alliance had been particularly active +in preparing a number of the united Magazine, which was now at the +printer's, and was to be issued shortly before breaking-up day. The six +editresses who were responsible for its production had not found their +task a light one. The expense of printing had limited them to one +hundred pages, so many of their original plans had had to be curtailed. +After much consultation it was decided to allow each school fifteen +pages and two illustrations, either in line, or half-tone, the spaces +for which must be included in their portion. The remaining ten pages of +the magazine were to contain a leading article on the Alliance, and +special news, such as reports of the Eisteddfod and Exhibition, results +of cricket and hockey matches since last Easter, the work of the various +leagues and guilds, and announcements for the forthcoming season. + +Rachel Hutton, the head girl of the High School, was voted general +editress, and appointed to write the leader and the various reports, +while each sub-editress was responsible for the portion allotted to her +school. The work did not sound very formidable, but when Laura Kirby, as +editress for St. Cyprian's, began to get her material together she +realized some of the thorns which beset the journalistic path. Fifteen +pages of print seemed a small allowance, and very limiting to the powers +of her contributors. She could almost have filled it on her own account. +She wished all the best talent of the school to be represented, and +tried to map out her space accordingly. It was most difficult, however, +to keep her literary stars within due bounds. Nora Farrar, the generally +acknowledged poet laureate of the College, had been put down for a short +poem of twelve lines, calculated exactly to fill half a page; but when +she handed in her manuscript the dismayed editress found that it +contained no less than seven verses. + +"You'll have to cut some of it out," she suggested. + +"Cut it short! Impossible! Why, it would spoil it entirely," protested +the poetess indignantly. "Can't some of the others shorten their things +instead?" + +"No, indeed! They'd prefer to lengthen them." + +"Well, look here, it will ruin my piece utterly if I have to chop out +the middle half of it." + +"I'm very sorry, but it's got to be done, unless you'd rather write +another poem." + +Laura found that every contributor committed the same mistake, and each +manuscript was apt to overflow its due number of words. The distracted +editress had to be very stern in marking out passages which she +considered were not strictly necessary, and insisting upon their +omission. It was so hard to persuade the budding authoresses that this +matter of space was one of real importance, and that they must not +exceed their allowance even by a single paragraph. Many were the +grumbles and protests, and as Laura was unfortunately not blessed with +too large a share of tact, the making of the magazine proved a rather +stormy business. The illustrations were another source of difficulty. +Freda Kingston brought a very pretty pen-and-ink sketch, over which she +had spent much time and trouble. She had drawn it the exact size it was +to appear in the magazine, and was highly annoyed when she was informed +that all drawings meant for reproduction must be on a scale half as +large again as they would eventually be printed, as they were minimized +in the process of making the blocks. + +"I shall actually have to do it over again! Why didn't you tell me +before, and save me all this trouble?" she asked plaintively. + +"I didn't know myself," groaned Laura. "I've only just found out how +illustrations are printed. By the by, you'll have to make all your lines +thicker, too, because those will be thinned down when it's diminished." + +"I hope they won't spoil my sketch at the printing works, I want to keep +it afterwards." + +"You'll probably get it back adorned with the impress of the +compositor's thumb in black ink! It'll be a chance for you if you want +to acquire skill in reading finger-marks, but it won't be an improvement +to your design, so you'd best prepare yourself for the worst." + +In spite of all these minor troubles Laura managed in the end to arrange +her fifteen pages satisfactorily, and sent them off in triumph to the +general editress by the appointed day. The printer faithfully fulfilled +his part of the bargain, and delivered the copies in good time, so that +the magazines were ready for subscribers at the beginning of the last +week of the term. It had been impossible to afford anything very grand +in the way of a cover, so they had contented themselves with the title +_The Alliance Journal_, and the motto "Unitas superabit", which had been +chosen as the watchword of the League. Rachel Hutton had written a +really capital leading article as an introduction, and had contrived to +express a large number of ideas and suggestions in an extremely small +space. Each of the separate schools had contributed highly readable +matter, and of a very varied character, so that sonnets, lyrics, and +parodies, essays, detective stories, adventures, Nature notes, historic +dialogues, reminiscences of country rambles, recitations, serious and +comic, humorous episodes, and school titbits all found due place. + +General opinion voted the magazine "ripping", and the editresses had the +proud consciousness of having for once given entire satisfaction to +their reading public, a distinction which editors in the real world of +journalism might well envy them. + +The supreme attraction of the last week of the term was the united +dramatic performance that was to be given in aid of the Children's +Hospital. It had been no easy matter to find any piece in which six +schools could be represented without giving undue prominence to one or +other; but the Twelfth Night revels which had been chosen happily +allowed such a wide scope that each was able to undertake a separate +department of equal importance. The play was a general combination of a +number of old mediaeval festivities, and though it might be somewhat +irregular to mingle them, the whole made an excellent entertainment. +They were supposed to be acted on Twelfth Night, but as that date would +fall during the holidays, it was considered no anomaly to anticipate it, +and the event had been fixed for 20th December. + +All the schools had been busy practising their parts, and none had +worked harder than St. Cyprian's. The special portion of the performance +which they had undertaken was the entrance of the King and Queen with +their Court, and their enthronement amid due rejoicings. The speeches to +be learnt were only short, but there was a very elaborate ceremonial to +be observed, a dance to be executed by courtiers, and two part-songs to +be sung, therefore many rehearsals were needed before it was perfected. +Lottie was indefatigable. She drilled the chorus, trained the dancers, +coached the speakers, arranged the costumes, and during rehearsals, at +any rate, was sometimes stage-manager, pianist, prompter, dancing +mistress, Lord Chamberlain, and principal boy, all combined. She herself +was to act King, and Rose Percival, a very pretty girl from IVA Form, +had been chosen as the Queen. + +Mildred's orchestra was to play during the whole entertainment, so they +learnt the music for the songs, dances, and processions of all the +schools, also the opening and closing marches. Erica Newstead, Tessie +von Steinberg, and Althea Ledbury, the girls respectively from +Templeton, the Anglo-German and Newington Green, proved valuable +additions, and with their help the little band really sounded quite +effective. Elizabeth Chalmers's zealous conductorship had trained them +to play in good time, exactly together, and in excellent tune; and if +they could not attain to rivalling Professor Hoffmann's Students' +Orchestra, they were at least a very welcome augmentation to the musical +portion of the performance. + +Mildred keenly enjoyed the rehearsals. It is always gratifying when +one's pet scheme turns out well, and as she had taken much trouble in +arranging the scores, she felt a pardonable pride in the success of her +work. She loved the music for its own sake, but she was also very +public-spirited, both on behalf of St. Cyprian's and the Alliance, and +glad to contribute her share for the common weal. The charity to which +the proceeds were to be sent was one that appealed to the schools. The +Kirkton Children's Hospital was a new institution that had only lately +been opened. Many of the girls had been taken to see it, had walked +through the bright sunny wards, and had noticed the little patients +wearing the red-flannel jackets that had been provided by their United +Needlecraft Guild. To help to raise funds to keep the cots occupied was +an object worth working for, and justified the original intention of the +Alliance to be not only an institution for mutual improvement, but to +render real aid to their poorer sisters in Kirkton. + +The revels were to be held in the Kirkton Assembly Hall, though in a +much larger room than that devoted to the Art Exhibition. Tickets had +been sent to the various schools, and had sold so well that a good +audience was assured beforehand. The Mayoress of Kirkton was to be +present, and to bring her children, and several other prominent citizens +had also promised their support. As it was essentially a children's +entertainment it was decided to hold it in the afternoon, which would +greatly simplify the difficulty of arranging for the safe home-going of +the performers when it was over. + +Twenty girls from St. Cyprian's were to take part, not counting the +orchestra, and these were the heroines of the hour at the College. Their +dress rehearsal was viewed and approved by a school audience, and the +deepest interest taken in their costumes. Many of the details of these +were lent for the occasion. There had been dramatic entertainments +before at St. Cyprian's, so some of the ex-performers had various +properties laid by at home, which proved of valuable assistance to the +general effect. Clare Verrall, who had once been the ambassador in +"Cinderella", was able to lend her gorgeous trumpet with its silken +hangings to Agnes White, who was to act herald. Bess Harrison, who years +ago had been one of the "Princes in the Tower", was delighted to find +that her velvet doublet and silken hose would exactly fit Lucy Stearne, +who made a pretty page. Freda Kingston's artistic skill was +requisitioned to provide crowns for the King and Queen, and with +cardboard, gilt paper, and cracker jewels she manufactured quite a +magnificent regalia. Ivy Linthwaite prepared the Elizabethan ruffs of +the courtiers, and stencilled heraldic devices on various banners which +were to be used; and as many other girls were ready to contribute +beads, knots of ribbon, paste shoe buckles, ornaments for the hair, lace +ruffles, and other accessories useful in stage toilets, St. Cyprian's +congratulated itself that it would be able to make a brave show. + +The six companies of performers went early to the Exchange Assembly +Hall, each school in charge of a mistress. The arrangements had been +well made, so that there was no confusion over the dressing, though much +fun went on behind the scenes. The members of the Alliance had met so +often for various functions that they began to know one another, and to +exchange greetings almost like old friends. Though each was a stanch +supporter of her own school, they were always ready to combine for a +general object, and drop any rivalries for the moment. So St. Cyprian's +and Templeton girls might be seen chatting about hockey, and Newington +Green discussing the magazine with the Anglo-German, and a general +_entente cordiale_ reigned supreme. + +The members of the orchestra had come in white dresses, and gave quite a +festive appearance to the room as they took their places and commenced +the overture. Templeton was first on the programme, and opened the +proceedings with a procession. Their players were dressed as boys and +girls in Old English costume, the former in smock-frocks, large felt +hats adorned with bunches of cowslips, and knees tied with knots of gay +ribbons; the latter in low-cut dresses, muslin cross-overs, mob-caps and +mittens, so that the whole looked exactly as if they had stepped out of +a Kate Greenaway picture-book. To celebrate the season they sang a +Christmas carol, and then proceeded to give a charming and elaborate +exhibition of morris-dancing. They had been carefully drilled, and went +through the most intricate steps without a hitch, waving their sprigs of +holly, coloured handkerchiefs, or ribbon-tipped wands, according to the +requirements of the measure. They sang well, and rendered all their +choruses crisply and in exact accordance with the actions of the dances. +With the orchestra to augment the music the effect was most gay, and +gave a vivid impression of the Merrie England of former days. + +Templeton was succeeded by Newington Green, which had taken up a totally +different line. It had concentrated its energies on its younger members, +and its first item was a dance of fairies and elves by small girls of +nine or ten years of age. They had been selected with a view to their +appearance. The fairies were all blue-eyed and fair-haired, and in their +thin gauzy robes looked true gossamer sprites, as light as air. Their +little feet tripped about as if scarcely touching the stage, and they +left a general impression among the audience that they were of such +sylph-like and ethereal composition that it was almost possible to see +through them. Their partners, the elves, were all brunettes, and wore +pale-green tights and helmets made to represent big bluebells. Both they +and their sister fairies carried long garlands of flowers, which they +used in the performance of their dance, now holding them aloft, now +waving them to and fro, and now joining them in a floral chain to link +the sprites together. The songs chosen were: "The Fairy Pipers", and +"The Horns of Elfland", and Mildred had contrived so admirably to +arrange the melodies with pizzicato passages on the violins that the +ring of the little magic pipes and horns was unmistakable, and the +audience listened almost spellbound to the fairy music. + +When the pretty scene was over, it was rivalled by another of equal +interest. As the fairies and elves danced off the stage, a troupe of +butterflies flitted on instead. Their costumes had been prepared by the +Newington Green art mistress and her best pupils. They were of thin +butter muslin, made extremely full from the neck, and with a thin piece +of bamboo stitched down the length of the skirt under each arm. When +these bamboos were seized at the bottom, and raised above the level of +the head, the skirt extended so as to give an exact impression of wings. +All the dresses had been painted with the characteristic markings of +certain butterflies, and as their owners gently waved them about, it +seemed as if Fritillaries, Tortoiseshells, Purple Emperors, +Swallow-tails, Camberwell Beauties, Painted Ladies, Red Admirals, and +Peacocks were holding carnival together upon the stage. They danced a +charming measure, twisting and turning so as to display the splendour of +their wings, and winding in and out as if flitting about among the +flowers. Each girl had a helmet contrived to represent a butterfly's +head, with long antennae and large round eyes, which further enhanced the +insect effect, and wore long brown stockings drawn over sandals, giving +a far more characteristic effect than shoes. The music was dainty and +appropriate, and after responding to a vigorous encore, the butterflies +flitted away, having covered Newington Green with glory. + +It was now the turn of St. Cyprian's. Their chief feature was the +grandeur of their procession, so an opening march announced their +advent. They filed on to the stage with slow and stately steps, in all +the pomp and majesty which they had been able to get together. First +came the heralds, magnificent creatures in silk and velvet, holding long +trumpets from which hung emblazoned banners; then my Lord Chamberlain, +in flowered robe and long cloak, bearing his wand of office, and +ushering in with much ceremony the King and Queen. Lottie really looked +very fine in her gold-embroidered doublet, crimson cloak, long silk +stockings, and magnificent crown; and Rose Percival, in pearl-trimmed +white satin, with a mock-diamond necklace, her long flaxen hair arranged +to fall over her shoulders below her waist, and her pretty face +surmounted by her tiara, was regal enough to rival the monarchs of +story-book fame. Their Court was not behind in gorgeousness. The +gentlemen-in-waiting looked true cavaliers with their curled lovelocks, +lace ruffles, and plumed hats, and the ladies outvied them in the +gayness of their colours and the elaboration of their ruffs. + +In this part of the revels there were a few speeches; the King and Queen +were enthroned, songs were sung, and an old-fashioned dance was +performed by the courtiers, such as might have taken place at some +pageant of the fifteenth century. At its conclusion, instead of retiring +from the platform, the royalties kept their thrones, and their maids of +honour and gentlemen-in-waiting grouped themselves picturesquely on +either side. They were to act stage audience for the mummers who came +to play before the Court. This important department of the +entertainment had been undertaken by the High School, which had risen +nobly to the occasion. First came St. George of England, St. Andrew of +Scotland, St. Patrick of Ireland, and St. David of Wales, all arrayed as +knights in armour and all mounted on hobby-horses. They wore surcoats +emblazoned with their countries' coats of arms, and carried pikes and +shields; and with the permission of the King and Queen they engaged in a +spirited tournament, making their hobbies prance about with fiery zeal, +and dealing resounding blows on their pasteboard armour. But their +internal rivalries were soon put an end to by the entrance of a common +enemy--a huge and terrific green dragon, a scaly monster with horrible +jaws and businesslike talons with which it suggestively clawed the air. +It immediately made for its opponents, and there followed a grand scene +of dodging, scuffling, and pursuing before the fabulous beast was +finally subdued and bound in chains. + +A jester in motley costume, with hood and bauble, was a special feature +of the mummers, and provided immense fun as he made his jokes and plied +his comic antics upon the other characters, belabouring John Bull with +his bladder, rallying the doctor on the virtues of his pills, and +tripping up the constable with the easy mirth of the clown in an +old-fashioned pantomime. Quite out of breath with their violent +exertions, the various champions ranged themselves on the steps of the +throne, to give the audience the pleasure of beholding them during the +performance of the next item on the programme. + +Marston Grove School was in no way behind the others. To make a variety, +it had provided a series of "Songs in Character", mostly chosen from +nursery rhymes. "Where are you going to, my pretty maid?" was acted with +lifelike coyness by a charming country wench swinging her milk can; Jack +and Jill came together, bearing their pail between them; little Miss +Muffet fled in a panic from the onslaught of a gigantic spider; six +pretty innocents danced round a mulberry bush; Bo-Peep lamented the loss +of her sheep; and Wee Willie Winkie stole about in his night-gown, +blowing sand into the eyes of his companions. The costumes were +charming, and each little scene was perfect in itself. + +The Anglo-German, the last on the programme, had arranged a totally +different display as a final effect. A large grandfather's clock stood +at the back of the platform, and had before appeared only a part of the +stage scenery. The space in front of this was now cleared, and after an +appropriate speech from the King, and a song from the mummers, all +waited with close attention while the chimes rang out and the hour was +tolled. As the last stroke died away, the door of the clock-case opened, +and out trooped, one after another, a procession of wonderful +personages. First came old Father Time, with scythe and hour-glass, and +behind him the months of the year, from snowy January to rosy June, +corn-crowned October and holly-decked December. Then followed many a +well-known nursery character--Little Red Riding Hood, Puss in Boots, +Bluebeard, Aladdin, Hop o' my Thumb, the Three Bears, Cinderella, Jack +the Giant Killer, Beauty and the Beast, Catskin, the Snow Queen, +Rumpelstiltskin, Robinson Crusoe, Dick Whittington, and Goody Two-Shoes. + +Ranging themselves at the front of the stage, they performed a pretty +series of German action-songs, very appropriate to the season, and +ending in compliments to the audience. As a climax to the whole, Father +Christmas made his appearance, bearing in his arms the New Year (a +darling three-year-old baby, borrowed for the occasion), and in a little +speech thanked everybody for coming to the performance, and gave hearty +good wishes to all for the coming holidays. With one final parade round +the stage the pageant retired. For the last time the butterflies +flitted, the fairies tripped, the dragon roared, and the jester swung +his bladder; then amid a storm of clapping and cheering, headed by +Father Time and with Father Christmas at the rear, the long procession +wound itself off the platform and behind the scenes, to the +accompaniment of sprightly music from the band. + +"Your orchestra really was a great addition, Mildred," said Mrs. Graham +that evening. "It kept everybody together, and made the whole affair +sound most gay." + +"I'm glad you say so! I think it was worth the trouble. We had a +glorious afternoon, and every one of the six schools enjoyed it +equally," said Mildred. "Do you know what we did in the dressing-room +afterwards? We all joined hands in one big circle and sang 'Auld lang +syne', and shouted 'Hip, hip, hip, hooray!' for the Alliance." + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +Winter Sports + + +After a strenuous term, everybody welcomed the leisure of the holidays. +It was a relief not to have to think even of art exhibitions and +dramatic performances. For a whole month the monitresses would not need +to pounce on Third Form sinners, or write black entries of the misdeeds +of certain rebels in IVB. Essay writing gave place to the addressing of +Christmas cards, mathematics retired in favour of shopping, and +text-books were set aside to make way for magazines. Mildred luxuriated +in a thoroughly well-earned rest. Beyond a short daily practice on her +violin, nothing was required from her, and she congratulated herself +that she was so much more fortunate than Laura Kirby and some other +girls who were destined for the matriculation, and who were having +special vacation coaching. Mildred, never very robust, felt a reaction +follow the strain of so many weeks' hard work, and it was chiefly on +account of her white cheeks that her aunt allowed her to accept an +invitation which arrived on Christmas morning. + +This was from Rhoda Somerville, asking her to spend a week at the +Vicarage, and promising the very utmost in the way of outdoor exercise +during the visit. To see Castleford again, and especially in its +January dress, was an attraction. Though Mildred had not wished to make +her home at The Towers, she held the warmest recollections of her stay +there, and looked forward to meeting Sir Darcy and Lady Lorraine and +Violet equally with the Vicarage family. Rhoda had also invited Kitty +Fletcher, with whom she had struck up a strong friendship, and Kitty's +brother Neville, who, as it chanced, was a schoolfellow of Diccon's; so +it was arranged that the three young people should travel together from +Kirkton into Westmorland. + +The weather was cold, and the prospect that the frost might continue +brought quite an anticipatory glow to Mildred's pale face. She was +equipped with a new pair of skates, and had made such provision in the +way of strong boots, sports coat, Alpine cap, and warm gloves as to be +ready for any variety in the way of exercise. Kitty, equally-well +prepared, was expecting ample scope for her energies, and hoping to find +adventures that would put even hockey in the shade. + +"If we could Be snowed up in a cutting, now, and have to dig our way out +and tramp to the nearest cottage, it would be fun!" she proclaimed, +viewing the landscape from the carriage window as the train sped +northwards. "That always used to be the fate, or rather good fortune, of +people in the old coaching days. They invariably spent a night at a +'Holly Tree Inn', and either saw a ghost, or found a long-lost will, or +restored a runaway heiress to her guardians!" + +"There's no romance nowadays," remarked Neville. "If you're looking out +for any sensational happenings, you'll be disappointed, Miss Kit. Rich +uncles don't meet their disinherited nephews at obscure country inns and +melt into bank-notes and blessings; and as for the ghosts, modern +hygiene has swept them clean away. I don't suppose you'd find so much as +a solitary cavalier with his head under his arm, or a white lady +wringing her hands. No, I prophesy that the train will get to Whiterigg +station exactly to railway time; and as for being snowed up, there isn't +a single flake coming down, and the sky is obstinately blue. Sorry to +check your romantic aspirations, Madam, but mine are the words of sober +common sense." + +"Yes, you always love to tie a string to my imagination and jerk me +back. Never mind, if we've no sensation on the journey, perhaps we'll +find one at Castleford. A whole week gives one a chance, anyhow!" + +If Mother Nature had not been accommodating enough to provide snow for +Kitty's delectation, she had done her best in the way of hoar-frost, and +the woods were gleaming with sparkling crystals till they resembled the +jewelled forests of Grimm's fairy tale. The landscape gained ever in +grandeur as the train rushed north, and Mildred, who had seen it in +summer, was inclined to accord it the palm of beauty in its winter +aspect. + +"There's romance enough for you, Kit-cat!" she exclaimed, pointing to a +gorge where a swollen rivulet was dashing over a rocky bed. "You ought +to find Undines and water-nixies if you watch for them, not to speak of +the chance of slipping in, and being rescued from imminent peril of +your life. If you're thirsting for dangerous adventures we'd better give +the Somervilles warning, and they can go out prepared with a drag, and a +stretcher, and an ambulance outfit." + +"Oh! but don't you know I'm going to do the miraculous escape?" laughed +Kitty. + +A very warm welcome awaited the travellers at the Vicarage, where the +three boys, as well as Rhoda, were back for the holidays. The +Somervilles had the happy knack of making their guests feel at home, and +were well able to provide both indoor and outdoor amusements. For the +first few days the weather, though fairly keen, did not admit of true +Alpine sports. The young people, however, found plenty of enjoyment in +long walks over the moors and scrambles up the hills. They would take +lunch with them, and pass the whole day in the open air, returning for +tea at four o'clock with ravenous appetites for muffins and Yule cakes. +Music and games were the order of the evening. Mildred had brought her +violin, and was able to convince her friends of her improvement; the +Vicar produced his violoncello, Rhoda sang her latest songs, and the +rest of the party were always ready with a chorus to the seafaring and +hunting ditties which Eric was fond of trolling forth. Diccon was +endeavouring to learn the banjo, and though his performances on that +instrument still left much to be desired, and were an offence to ears +educated to more classical strains, they at any rate provided much +merriment. Neville had, as he expressed it, "no parlour tricks", but +Kitty was clever at recitation, and declaimed many humorous pieces for +the edification of her audience, who waxed enthusiastic over certain +American comic gems which were the stars of her repertoire. + +But all the time the young folks, while enjoying themselves hugely, were +yearning with an almost unreasonable insistence for snow. The British +climate, more lavish with rain as a rule, had given a spell of +aggravatingly clear skies, but at length, as if relapsing into its usual +habit, drew storm clouds across the blue. + +"Thermometer below freezing-point, mountains smothered in mist, wind in +the south-west!" chuckled Diccon. "If we don't have a good fall of snow +before to-morrow morning, you may take me out and roll me down the hill +in a sack! I'm not a weather prophet without observation." + +Even before bedtime Diccon's hopes were fulfilled. The air was a maze of +soft floating flakes, and already the path to the churchyard was +covered. He retired in high glee, rubbing his hands in anticipation of +the pleasures of the morrow. Next morning everybody awoke to a white +world. While her children slept, Nature had slowly and silently +accomplished her work; all night there had been a steady fall, and now a +foot of snow lay over the landscape. It was for this that the boys had +been waiting. Their bobsleighs, if not quite up to the level of those +provided at Alpine winter resorts in Switzerland, were at any rate +serviceable, and they knew of a good place for a toboggan track. +Immediately after breakfast they went off to prepare the slide, choosing +a splendid hill slope with a field at the bottom. They hurried back to +fetch the girls. + +"It's prime, and you'd best come along at once and make the most of +it," affirmed Rodney. "One never knows how long this sort of thing is +going to last. It might be a melting slough of despond by to-morrow." + +"Don't break your precious necks!" said Mrs. Somerville. + +"There's no danger at all," laughed Diccon. + +Rhoda had enjoyed the pleasures of tobogganing before, but to Mildred +and Kitty it was a new and delightful experience. The rapid motion +through the frosty air was an intense exhilaration, and the +rough-and-tumble part of the performance only made them laugh. With +cheeks crimson from excitement, they were ready for any number of +repetitions of the experiment. + +"Come along with me, Mildred, and I'll take you down like a sheet of +greased lightning!" said Rodney. "No, don't go with 'sweet Richard'! +He'll spill you overboard, and break your nose, if not your neck!" + +"A libel! I'm as steady as a railway truck running through a goods +yard!" protested Diccon. "Never mind! I'll take Kitty, and we'll see +who's greased lightning!" + +"Right you are! We'll have our go first, then you can follow. Eric and +Neville can act as judges." + +"Suppose they disagree?" laughed Mildred. + +"Then Rhoda is final umpire." + +"It's the most blissful sport in creation!" declared Mildred, as she +tucked herself on to Rodney's sleigh. "It beats swimming and dancing and +rowing and hockey, and everything I know except flying, which I've never +tried." + +"You're going to try it now," said Rodney. "Here goes! Right away!" + +Off they went at a most terrific pace. The slide was in good form by +now, and Rodney had got into practice. + +"How many miles an hour?" gasped Mildred as they glided on. + +"Wish I'd a speedometer! About a hundred, I should think. She's going +A1. Oh, I say! Look out for yourself! Jemima! That was a narrow shave!" + +As he spoke, Rodney had ground his heel heavily into the snow, and the +sled slued sharply to the right. They were almost at the bottom of the +run, and in another instant were able to stop. Rodney sprang up, and +rushing back to the lump of snow which they had just avoided, hastily +uncovered a jagged piece of rock. + +"Hi! Danger!" he yelled to Diccon, who was about to start down the +track. "Look out here for all you're worth!" + +"What's the matter?" cried Mildred, who had joined him. + +"Matter? Don't you see this boulder? It was completely hidden by the +snow. If we'd hit it, I'd have broken your nose for you in good earnest, +or something worse. Keep wide, Diccon! It's as nasty a trap as one could +find anywhere--it's so innocently covered. There they go, like an +express! They'd have smashed straight into it if I hadn't warned them." + +"Who's won?" asked Mildred. + +"A draw!" shouted Rhoda. + +"Then come on, Mildred, and we'll try again. We know our danger spot +now, and I promise I won't run you at it. Are you game for another go?" + +"As many as you like!" declared Mildred with sparkling eyes. + +That evening the weather behaved with extraordinary caprice. A short +thaw, melting the surface of the snow, was succeeded by the sharpest +frost of the winter, and for twenty-four hours the thermometer surprised +even those case-hardened meteorologists, the oldest inhabitants. The +result made all lovers of winter sports chuckle with satisfaction. Every +pond and flooded meadow had a surface like glass, and skating, which +before had been an illusion, was now a possibility. + +"We'll go down to Wilkins's pond," declared Rodney, "it's not bad for a +beginning. But to-morrow'll be the day of days! I've just seen Sir +Darcy. He says another twelve hours of this frost and the lake will +bear. He won't let anybody on to-day, but by to-morrow morning it ought +to be in absolutely ripping condition. Then we'll show you what +Westmorland skating is like!" + +"It's our last day!" sighed Mildred. "I'm glad the grand treat has been +saved up for the end." + +The Somervilles could all skate well, for Castleford was a cold place in +winter, and often registered frost when more southern counties had open +weather. Some meadows near the Vicarage were generally flooded in +December and January by the overflow of a brook, and the four inches of +water that covered them froze rapidly, affording an opportunity for ice +lovers of which they generally availed themselves immediately. Mildred +and the two Fletchers had also learned to skate. Kirkton possessed the +rare advantage of a real ice rink, and they had sometimes spent Saturday +afternoons there, so though they could not rival the Somervilles, they +were not absolute novices, and could look after themselves. The whole +party passed the day on a neighbouring pond, and by dusk both Mildred +and Kitty had improved so immensely with the practice that they +considered themselves thoroughly qualified to appreciate the joys that +were promised them on the morrow. + +By ten o'clock next morning a very jovial company met at the lake. Sir +Darcy had invited a number of other families from the neighbourhood, and +young and old were all anxious to try their prowess. The ice had been +duly tested with the orthodox gimlet, and passed as absolutely safe; it +was in splendid condition, and the smooth expanse presented a most +attractive appearance. + +"Who need go to Switzerland when they've got this at their very doors?" +exulted Rodney. "I don't believe St. Moritz could go one better, and +we're not crowded up with a lot of foreigners either. Old England for +me!" + +"Yes, if she behaves herself in the matter of frost!" laughed Mildred. +"The worst of it is that she keeps up her reputation for a day or two, +then gets tired of it, and sends a thaw. By next week this will probably +be all water again." + +"Prophesy smooth things unto me!" protested Rodney, with mock tragedy. +"The fact that you've gone home will be bad enough. Won't you leave the +ice to console me?" + +"That's out of my dispensation. You must write to the weather office." + +"I'm going to try fancy figures!" declared Rhoda. "If you don't see me +cut an eight before the day's over, I'll--well--bite an inch off my +skates!" + +"A discreet promise, Madam Rhoda," said Rodney. "You're generally very +ingenious at wriggling out of your bargains." + +"Take that back, or I'll put an obstacle in your way when you're cutting +your best flourish!" laughed Rhoda. + +All the visitors had come determined to enjoy themselves. Sir Darcy and +several of his friends had commenced curling, urged on by the enthusiasm +of two Scottish gentlemen who were staying with the Tracy family. The +Vicar joined them, and soon the elder members of the company were +engaged in the sport, as interested and excited as any juveniles. The +young people were busy at first helping some of the guests who were not +very steady on their skates; but when these had gained sufficient +confidence to support one another, their teachers were free to cut +figures, get up a hockey match, or practise any other diversion they +pleased. Several sledges had been brought to the lake, and children were +placed on them and taken for rides, races being organized between the +rival sleighs, to the huge delight of their small occupants, who would +never have tired of the pastime if their long-suffering entertainers had +not at last struck work and left them to amuse themselves. + +[Illustration: "'HI! DANGER!' HE YELLED TO DICCON, WHO WAS ABOUT TO +START DOWN THE TRACK"] + +It was a very gay and pretty scene--the merry groups of skaters, the +bright cold January sunshine gleaming on the crystals that decked the +boughs of the trees surrounding the lake, The Towers looking like a +Christmas card with its ivy-clad turrets, and in the distance the +snow-covered hills rising with an Alpine whiteness above the dark patch +of the pine woods. On the supposition that frosty air gives keen +appetites, Lady Lorraine had made generous provision for her guests. At +eleven o'clock hot beef-tea and toast were brought out, and at half-past +one everybody went to the house for lunch, while chocolates and toffee +were dealt out liberally during the morning. Among all the young people +who were assembled together none made a more charming figure than +Violet. In a blue-velvet costume, with grey squirrel furs, her eyes +shining like stars and her cheeks as pink as carnations, she was the +acknowledged belle of the occasion, and "The Lady of the Lake", "The +Snow Queen", "The Frost Fairy", and "Venus of the Ice" were but a few of +the epithets bestowed upon her. She had no lack of partners to skate +with, and was kept so busy among all her many friends that it was not +until late afternoon that she was able to get a word with Mildred alone. +The cousins had not yet seen much of each other, for during the earlier +part of the visit Violet had been away staying with the Tracys, and had +just returned home when the frost grew keen. Sir Darcy considered her +too precious a treasure to risk her life at bobsleighing, so she had not +been allowed to join the Somervilles' tobogganing expeditions; and +though all the party at the Vicarage had had tea on Sunday at The +Towers, Violet had been too much in request helping her mother to act +hostess to allow time for any private talk with Mildred. + +"Come along now!" she said brightly, "I've set all those boys to sweep +for the curling, so we shall have a few minutes' peace. Let's take a +turn together round the lake. I've heaps and heaps of things I want to +tell you. I tried to scoot away with you on Sunday, but I never got an +opportunity." + +Hand in hand the two girls started, and were soon deep in a most +interesting conversation. Violet had really grown rather fond of Mildred +while the latter was staying at The Towers, and had missed her since she +went away. She had made a confidante of her cousin during the summer, +and she was now anxious to pour into her sympathetic ears the +accumulated news of many months. Anxious that their _tete-a-tete_ should +not be disturbed, they skated as far away from their friends as +possible, going towards the lower part of the lake, a portion which had +been so far avoided, owing to the roughness of the ice. If it was an +unpleasant surface, at least they had it to themselves, so they went on +and on, not looking particularly in what direction they were going, +Violet talking hard and Mildred listening and putting in comments. + +"So you see how it is, and I shouldn't be surprised if Miss Ward doesn't +come back at all after the holidays, or at least leaves at Easter," +Violet was saying, when Mildred suddenly gave a sharp exclamation and, +loosing her hand, cried to her to stop. + +It was indeed high time. So engrossed had the girls been in their +conversation that they had not noticed they were approaching the +overflow of the lake. The rough ice had grown thinner, and ahead of +them, where the brook took its source, it was barely half an inch in +thickness, and stretched a smoother but most treacherous surface, +narrowing to the half-frozen outlet. + +The shock of loosing hands threw Mildred on her back, but Violet, unable +to stop herself, skimmed rapidly forward on to the cat-ice. There was a +cracking, rending sound, the ice split in all directions like a flawed +mirror, and with one piercing terrified shriek Violet disappeared into a +pool of water. Mildred was on her feet again in a moment, and grasped +the situation in a flash. Crawling on her knees to the edge of the ice, +she was able to seize Violet by the hand just as her cousin rose to the +surface. But the weight of the two girls was too great for the thin +plate of ice; again it cracked, and together they were plunged into the +lake. Most mercifully Mildred did not lose her presence of mind. She +could swim, and, supporting Violet, she was able to reach a rather +thicker portion of the ice. This was not sufficiently firm to allow the +girls to scramble upon its surface, but it afforded just enough hold for +their fingers to enable them to keep their heads above water. By this +time their screams had brought everybody hastening to the spot, and +great was the alarm of the skaters at the sight of their peril. Mr. +Douglas, a Scottish friend, who arrived first on the scene, at once took +command. + +"Keep back! Keep back!" he shouted to the distracted oncomers. "You'll +only crack the ice and increase their danger. Fetch the ladder and the +rope. Hold on, girls, for your lives! We'll have you out in a minute!" + +Before his guests arrived that morning Sir Darcy had taken the +precaution of causing a ladder and a long coil of rope to be laid on the +bank in case of accident, and the wisdom of his proceeding was well +justified. In less time than it takes to tell it, a dozen eager hands +had seized the ladder, and, skating back with it at lightning speed, +pushed it gently across the broken portion of the ice, so that at least +its nearer end rested on a secure foundation. By its aid the girls +managed to scramble from the water, and were drawn along over the more +solid ice till eager hands could snatch them. + +Dripping from their freezing plunge, and shivering with cold and fright, +they were taken at once to The Towers, and put to bed with warmed +blankets and hot-water bags. The party, in much consternation at the +accident, broke up immediately, the various guests returning home. Sir +Darcy and Lady Lorraine were greatly upset, and Mr. and Mrs. Somerville +hardly less so. The doctor, who had been summoned at once by telephone, +gave a good report of the invalids, however, and assured their anxious +friends that they seemed likely to do well and take no harm from their +wetting, quiet rest and warmth being all they required. + +Mildred did not return home with the Fletchers, as had been arranged. +Lady Lorraine would not permit her to leave The Towers until the doctor +had seen her again and pronounced her fit to travel. Fortunately, owing +to the remedies applied so speedily after their ducking, neither of the +girls had caught cold or suffered any other ill effects. + +"You might have told me you were going to make holes in the ice, and +given me a chance to be there to rescue you!" said Rodney reproachfully +to Mildred before she left. "That Scotch fellow stole a march on me!" + +"I'll give you fair warning next time--if I'm ever so foolish again!" +she laughed in reply. "I don't see how I'm to do it on the rink at +Kirkton!" + +"I'll go and look after you, just as a safeguard, if you'll tell me when +you intend skating there. I'm due back at my diggings in a week. I +always get Saturday afternoons free, you know." + +Mildred left Castleford with regret, even though she was returning to +her own dear Meredith Terrace. + +"It's not that I don't love home best, Tantie," she was careful to +assure Mrs. Graham. "But I've got fond of Westmorland too. There's one +thing that's a supreme satisfaction to me--they say I saved Violet's +life; and if I really did, it's surely some little return to Uncle Darcy +and Aunt Geraldine for their kindness last summer. I always felt they +were hurt at my leaving them, and I wanted to do something to make up. +I'm so glad I got the opportunity--it mightn't come again in fifty +years!" + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +A Musical Scholarship + + +The Spring Term at St. Cyprian's was a stormy one in several respects. +The weather during the end of January and beginning of February was +atrocious, and resulted for Miss Cartwright in a touch of pneumonia, +which laid her aside for a while from her work. The College without its +Principal was like a sheepfold without a shepherd; and though the +teachers did their best, everybody felt the lack of the strong guiding +hand that was accustomed to hold the reins. No sooner was Miss +Cartwright back at her post than several girls developed mumps, and a +strict period of quarantine followed for any companions who had been in +their vicinity--an unexpected holiday which their parents deplored, and +they themselves scarcely appreciated, as they were barred from all +social intercourse until the due number of days had expired. Owing to +this misfortune, and to a scare of measles at Newington Green, all +Alliance matches and functions were postponed till the various schools +could show clean bills of health, and even the making of charity +garments was for the time prohibited. + +The girls missed the Alliance meetings dreadfully. They had scarcely +realized until now what an intense interest the League supplied, and +how extremely flat the term felt without the pleasant competition of the +other schools. They were constantly wondering how Templeton's hockey was +progressing; if the new photographic club at Marston Grove had held its +first exhibition; whether the Anglo-German had really taken up painting +on satin; and how the High School Nature Study Union prospered. + +"I believe we were fearfully narrow before, only we didn't know it," +said Bess Harrison. "When the Alliance was first suggested, I'm sure we +all thought it would be just an easy walk-over for St. Cyprian's in +everything." + +"We jolly soon found out our mistake!" murmured Kitty Fletcher, who was +still smarting over a hockey match in which Newington Green had +triumphed. "The Coll. has to look after herself, or take a back seat." + +"Somehow it seems uncommonly tame without the others to spur us on," +admitted Maudie Stearne. + +"Isn't there anything we could do just to liven ourselves up till all +these microbes have taken their departure, and we're once more labelled +'safe to meet'? Something, if possible, that the other schools won't +have thought of, so that we can surprise them after Easter?" + +"Well, of course if you're prepared to go in for prize-fighting or +fortune-telling, or the making of artificial wax flowers, you might find +an untrodden path, but I think most things have been pretty well +exploited already." + +"It must be lovely to go out as a missionary to the Cannibal Islands!" +sighed Sheila Moore. "Just think of finding people who've never heard, +say, of the Tango, and being able to show them how!" + +"They'd soon tango you into their biggest fish kettle, you goose, and +dance their original war steps while digesting you! A nice appetizing +little morsel you'd be, I expect! Just like tender roast pork!" + +"Pig yourself!" retorted Sheila. + +"All the same, to go back to my original plaint," urged Bess, "we're +pretty well kept within the bounds of our own Coll. this term, so why +not do something on our own--something unique?" + +"And I return to my original reply, that there isn't a solitary art or +handicraft left unappropriated by the other schools," grunted Maudie. + +"If we can't do something unique, let's do something commonplace," +suggested Eve Mitchell. + +"Why shouldn't we sew?" propounded Mildred. + +"My sweet innocent, you forget that the garments we fashioned might +convey the microbes of mumps to the slums! All such charitable +enterprises are for the moment off." + +"I'm afraid I wasn't thinking of charity. I've got an idea--yes, I have +really! The school ought to own a banner. I thought at the Arts Show +that it looked so ugly just to have a large card with 'St. Cyprian's +College' hung up over our exhibits. It ought to be beautifully worked on +silk or satin. Suppose we lead the way and make one? I expect the other +schools would follow suit." + +Mildred's idea appealed strongly to the girls. They considered that a +banner would be a great acquisition to their College properties, and +with Miss Cartwright's permission they determined to make one. Such a +large and important piece of work naturally required much discussion and +planning out. Designs were submitted by members of the Art class, and a +select committee appointed to consider them. In the end they decided +upon a white satin ground with an applique border of some conventional +floral pattern. At the centre was to be a coat of arms with four +quarterings, the British lion, the crowned unicorn that was the crest of +the city of Kirkton, a group of iris, which they chose as the school +flower, on the ground that signifying the rainbow it was emblematic of +many virtues merged together, and in the last corner a lyre, showing +their special bent towards the study of music. At the top "St. Cyprian's +College" would appear in large letters, and at the bottom their motto: +"Nulli Secundus". The border and the quarterings were to be worked +separately in colours on pale-green satin, and appliqued on after the +lettering had been finished. + +The border was so designed that it could be made in portions of about +four inches square, each to be committed to different hands, and the +quarterings also were to be done apart. By this division of labour more +than thirty girls were able to help, and it was felt that the banner +would be a united effort. By general vote Freda Kingston was given the +lettering, and a small band of workers was chosen to stitch the various +pieces together when finished. + +"If any health inspectors think it likely to hold germs, we can have it +disinfected," laughed Bess. "It's going to be absolutely gorgeous, and +it's arousing such an amount of school patriotism in my breast that I'm +prepared to brave any dangers and defend it to the last drop of my +blood." + +"I don't know whether I admire the ramping lion or the charging unicorn +more. Ivy has given Mr. Leo such a beautifully savage and furious eye!" +said Maudie. + +"Apollo's lyre with its golden strings for me!" proclaimed Mildred. +"Nina has made them so splendidly straight and taut, I'm sure they're in +tune." + +Naturally the construction of the banner was an affair of many weeks; +but when it was at last completed it was really a very handsome object, +and quite a work of art. It was placed on view in the lecture hall, and +visited by crowds of admiring girls, after which it was put safely away +in folds of tissue-paper, to be kept for some great occasion when it +could do honour to St. Cyprian's. + +"It will be a nice little surprise for the other schools when we trot it +out at the next Alliance function!" exulted Bess. + +"They'll be absolutely green with envy!" affirmed Ivy. "I prophesy +they'll all try to go one better." + +"Let them try, then! We shall have had first start, and they can't get +over that, anyway." + +"I expect it will end in all the schools joining in an Alliance banner." + +"Then there'd be six quarterings, and that's not heraldic!" + +"No, no, there'd be eight, because the British lion and the Kirkton +unicorn would still have to come in, and each school could have its +emblem or its flower." + +"Right you are, my youthful Solomon!" + +Like all other terms, the spring session came at last to an end. The +sufferers from mumps and measles had returned to their respective +schools duly armed with doctors' certificates, quarantine was over, and +after the interval of the Easter holidays the Alliance was able to meet +again, and pursue its various avocations with renewed vigour. It had +been a great source of regret to Kitty Fletcher, as head of the Games +department, that St. Cyprian's had had no opportunity of wiping the +stain off its reputation in regard to hockey. By next season she would +have left the College, and could no longer "lead her hosts to battle as +of yore". She impressed upon Edna Carson, who would succeed her in +office, the mission of supremacy in the hockey field, urging her to +spare no efforts to make the team realize its responsibilities. Meantime +she turned her attention to cricket, determined to do the best for St. +Cyprian's in the one term which remained to her. + +As she had prophesied, Rhoda Somerville was a great source of strength, +and promised to rival Joan Richards in batting. Under Kitty's careful +tuition she improved immensely, and the captain began to regard her new +pupil with much complacency. Edna Carson, of "hat-trick" fame, Daisy +Holt, nicknamed "the Lobster", and Peggie Potter were well up to their +last year's form, so there seemed reasonable hope that the College would +win its due share of matches. At tennis, too, it was not behindhand. +Lottie and Carrie Lowman had come to the fore, and proved the best +champions that St. Cyprian's had yet had. Lottie had a more than usually +good opportunity for practice this summer. She had been unwell in the +spring, and the doctor had advised that she should not attempt to go in +for the matriculation, as had been intended, recommending as much +outdoor exercise as possible. She gleefully took him at his word, and, +curtailing her hours of home preparation, played singles with her sister +Carrie till both reached a pitch of excellence that caused Kitty to purr +with delight. As Games delegate Kitty did not approve of any girl trying +to sit on two stools. She had sternly discouraged Daisy Holt and Peggie +Potter from, as she said, "wasting valuable time at the courts"; but as +the reproach had been thrown at her that she encouraged cricket to the +detriment of tennis, she was thankful that two such champions had arisen +to give their whole-hearted attention to the latter without drawing from +the team of the former. + +Mildred formed one of the rank and file at games; she had not the skill +to excel, nor could she spare the hours required for practice. Her +violin required all her present energies; Professor Hoffmann was +inexorable in his demands, and kept her rigidly up to the mark. Her +music time-sheet was now a very different affair from the irregular +register she had shown when this story began, and was indeed the best in +the school, not excepting that of Elizabeth Chalmers, who had always +been held up as a model for slack workers to emulate. + +Laura Kirby was concentrating all her powers on studying for a Girton +scholarship under Miss Cartwright's special coaching, so, beyond a +little tennis for exercise, she was too busy to think of maintaining the +physical reputation of the College, though there was a feeling among +the girls that she would probably establish an intellectual record, and +cover the school with glory. + +"I never saw anyone swot like you, Laura," said Lottie Lowman at one of +the monitresses' meetings. "You're going ahead like a house on fire, and +if you're not established in your own diggings at Girton by next +October, I shall say the examiners cheated." + +"That remains to be seen," replied Laura rather wearily. "I'm not the +only one who's swotting, you may depend upon it, and some people's +brains may be more curly than mine. Oh, but I should like to go to +Girton! I'd a cousin there, and she used to make me just wild with her +accounts. She said it was the time of her life. I shan't be content till +I've taken my tripos." + +"What will you do then?" + +"I don't know. I'm ambitious. I'd like to be principal of a college some +day, or else go in for scientific research work. Don't laugh!" + +"We're not laughing. Why shouldn't you realize your ambition? We'll see +you come out top yet!" + +"I don't hanker after college," said Lottie, "but I just love tennis +above everything, and I'd like to be county champion. I'm afraid I've +not much chance--Carrie's really better than I am--but that's my dream. +What's yours, Freda?" + +"Oh, to be a great artist, of course; either to paint animals, like Rosa +Bonheur, or to go in for book illustration, and make a special line for +myself, like Kate Greenaway. I'm to study at the School of Art as soon +as I leave St. Cyprian's. It will be blissful to do nothing but paint +all day." + +"If I can only scrape through the Froebel exams. I'm going to be a +Kindergarten teacher and Games mistress both together. There are good +openings for anyone who can combine the two, and it would just suit me. +I'd like to get a post at a big High School where there are hundreds and +hundreds of girls, then wouldn't I just train them at cricket and +hockey, and pick my teams carefully--rather!" said Kitty. + +"How about the Kindergarten part of the business?" + +"Oh, that would be all right! I'm fond of kiddies, and should be quite +at home amongst them." + +"It's a very sad thing, but I've no ambitions," acknowledged Bess; "and +I don't believe Maudie has either, except to turn her hair up. Confess +now, Maudie, that's the summit of your dreams." + +"Well, I don't want to go to Girton at any rate," laughed Maudie, "or to +study at the School of Art, or teach Kindergarten. I guess we all know +Mildred's vocation." + +"Rather! If she doesn't study music it will be a criminal offence +against the College. We look to her to be the star of St. Cyprian's, and +have her name painted in special gold letters on the board in the +lecture hall. Do you hear, Mildred? You've got to distinguish yourself, +or perish in the attempt!" + +"Don't expect too much from me, please. Perhaps I shall go off, and +disappoint you horribly. Lots of people have assured me that youthful +prodigies generally turn into nonentities when they're older." + +"The sour-hearted brutes!" + +"Well, it isn't encouraging, certainly, to be told so. But I don't care +a button! I shall just go on working for the sake of the music. I love +that, quite independently of success or failure." + +One day when Mildred went for her violin lesson she found Herr Hoffmann +in quite a state of excitement. He had a piece of news to communicate, +and he was evidently brimming over with it. He began to tell it to her +immediately she came into the room. He had learned only the evening +before that Mr. Steiniger, the German gentleman who for many years had +been president both of the Freiburg Concerts and the College of Music, +and was now Mayor of Kirkton, wished to celebrate his year of mayoralty +by encouraging musical talent in the city. He therefore offered a +scholarship, tenable for three years in the Berlin Conservatoire, to the +best student on any instrument. The conditions were simple. The +candidate must be under twenty-one years of age, and must have resided +in Kirkton for a period of not less than seven years. Either sex was +equally eligible, and no preference would be given to those who had +studied at any special school of music. The examination was to be held +at the beginning of July, and the decision of the judges was to be +final. + +"It is as if it had been made for you! Yes, made for you!" urged the +Professor. "Hitherto the musical scholarships in the city have only been +obtainable through the Freiburg College, but this is open to all! You +are under the age, you have resided more than seven years in Kirkton--I +ask, then, what hinders?" + +"My own incompetence," protested Mildred. "All the clever students in +the city will be going in for it. Why, it would never be given to a girl +of hardly seventeen. The thing's impossible!" + +"Age is no matter!" grunted Herr Hoffmann. "I do not often praise you, +but you can play what many who are older dare not attempt. You shall try +it? Yes? I go myself to see your good aunt, and persuade her. Have I not +always said that you should study in Berlin? Kalovski is now teaching at +the Conservatoire. Himmel! It is the opportunity of a lifetime! He is +the one master to whom I would send you." + +Herr Hoffmann lost no time in visiting Dr. and Mrs. Graham, and advising +them to allow their niece to go in for the scholarship. After thinking +the matter over for a few days they agreed. There seemed no objection to +her trying, and if she failed no harm would be done. An hour's extra +practice daily the Professor required, but that could be arranged with +Miss Cartwright, who was willing to let Mildred's music take the first +place in her education, and who, they knew, would encourage her to enter +as a candidate. Mildred herself was almost appalled at the prospect, but +it was settled for her by her elders, so she was obliged to fall in with +their plans. After all, the Professor's enthusiasm was infectious, and +though she might not share his sanguine hopes, she was at least willing +to try her best. + +The test piece for the examination was the "Valse Triste" by Sibelius, +and she set to work at once to wrestle with it. It was a composition +that it would tax the powers of a first-rate concert player to render +adequately, so she had no light task before her. Herr Hoffmann, in his +anxiety for her to excel, alternately cajoled and raved, so that her +lessons were a series of sunshine and storm. By this time, however, she +knew her master's idiosyncrasies, and neither his impatience nor his +bursts of temper could put her out. She had discovered what a kind heart +he held under his rough manner, and was well aware that he spent an +amount of time and trouble over her which was altogether above and +beyond what could be expected by even the most exacting of pupils. So +she worked away, trying to do justice to his tuition, but viewing it +almost as a piece of presumption on her part to attempt the examination. + +The weeks passed along quickly--too rapidly for the amount Mildred +wished to do in them--and the beginning of July drew near. The +candidates were to be examined in one of the smaller rooms at the Town +Hall, the judges being Monsieur Diegeryck, a well-known Belgian +violinist, Monsieur Stenovitch, a Russian pianist, and Mr. Steiniger +himself. + +"I shall fail, Tantie--I know I shall!" declared Mildred. "It's +ridiculous my going in at all! I only do it to please you and the +Professor. You wouldn't be satisfied if I didn't try. I only hope the +judges won't crush me too utterly, and tell me it's wasting their time +to listen to me. No, I'm not even nervous, because I feel the chance is +too remote. If I'd greater expectations I should mind far more; as it +is, I shall just play my piece in the best fashion I can, and accept any +snubbing that's offered me afterwards. I've got to the point where I +simply don't care." + +"Then by all means let us leave it at that," said Mrs. Graham, who, +after previous experiences of Mildred's apprehensions, had no wish to +rouse fresh fears. + +On the 4th of July, therefore, Mildred, fortified by the Professor's +very latest instructions and directions, presented herself and her +Stradivarius at the Town Hall at the time which had been appointed for +her. She had to wait a few minutes while a piano student finished +playing, but her turn came next, and she was very soon ushered into the +examination room. She looked round eagerly. A Bechstein grand piano +stood open, after the last candidate's ordeal, and Signor Marziani, one +of the teachers at the Freiburg College, who was to play the +accompaniments to the stringed instruments, was in the act of closing +the top. Mildred had been very anxious to know who was to accompany her, +and was rejoiced to find that it would be Signor Marziani, for she knew +from Herr Hoffmann's accounts that he had a sympathetic touch, and was +far more skilful at his task than Mr. Joynson, who shared the duty with +him at most musical examinations in Kirkton. She glanced hurriedly at +her three judges. Mr. Steiniger she had seen before--a pleasant, +brown-bearded little man with kindly blue eyes; but the two others were +strangers. Monsieur Diegeryck was a typical Belgian--big and fair and +stout, with a bland smile that seemed to seek to reassure her; Monsieur +Stenovitch, on the contrary, was thin and dark, with long hair and bushy +eyebrows, under which a pair of keen eyes surveyed her with an almost +cynical expression of criticism. All three had pencils and paper, and +appeared to have been comparing notes on their reports of the +performance of the last candidate. They composed themselves to listen, +and Signor Marziani struck a few preliminary chords on the piano. + +"Now for it!" thought Mildred. "Well! They can't do more than pluck me, +and I'm quite prepared for it." + +For perhaps the first time in her life she did not feel nervous before +an audience of strangers. She played exactly as if she were having a +lesson from the Professor, or practising in her bedroom at Meredith +Terrace. She was surprised at her own confidence, and went through the +Valse Triste so easily that it was over almost before she realized what +she was doing. The judges looked at one another, but made no remarks. +Each scribbled rapidly for a moment, then they told her that she might +go, and bowed her politely from the room. + +"How did you get on?" asked a student who was waiting outside. + +"I haven't the least idea. They said nothing, but I expect I've failed. +I can't flatter myself they looked encouraging. I'm only thankful they +didn't squash me quite flat." + +It would be a day or two before the result of the examination was made +known, and Mildred waited, not exactly in suspense, for she was so sure +of failure, but with the feeling that she would be glad to get the bad +news over and done with. She minded the Professor's disappointment more +than her own, for he had been the keener on the event. + +On the Tuesday following, as she was sitting at drawing in the studio, +she received a summons to the Principal's study, and, entering, found +Miss Cartwright and Herr Hoffmann in animated conversation. + +"Mildred, my dear child, we have to congratulate you!" began the +headmistress smilingly. + +"Did I not tell you, Freundchen, it was the chance of a lifetime?" +beamed the Professor. "Hein! You shall see the letter for yourself." + +"I--I--surely--is it true?" gasped Mildred, as she read the short but +businesslike communication. "I can't believe it. Oh, have I really and +truly and actually won the scholarship?" + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +Harvest + + +St. Cyprian's decided that Mildred's success was so far the greatest +triumph the College had had, and a worthy finish to a term in which they +had beaten Newington Green at cricket and vanquished Marston Grove at +tennis; and when later on came the news that Laura Kirby had won the +Girton Scholarship, and that even Kitty Fletcher had managed to get a +second class in her examination, Miss Cartwright felt the year's work +had been eminently satisfactory. All her Sixth Form girls were leaving, +some to continue their studies elsewhere, and others to find their +vocations at home; but all carried away the warmest recollections of the +school which had laid the foundations of their education, and many left +a tradition of strenuousness which would be handed on to future +monitresses, and so maintain the high tone which they had established. + +Mildred was overwhelmed with amazement that she had been actually +selected from among forty candidates to win Mr. Steiniger's open +exhibition. She had hoped after leaving St. Cyprian's to study at the +Freiburg College, or possibly at the Academy of Music in London, but to +go to Berlin was a far higher opportunity. Herr Kalovski, one of the +most celebrated violinists in Europe, was at present teaching at the +Conservatoire, and through the powerful influence of Mr. Steiniger could +be persuaded to receive her as a pupil, a privilege only conferred on a +favoured few. As Herr Hoffmann had always founded his style on +Kalovski's, it would be a particular advantage for Mildred to study +under the latter, for she would not be required to change her present +system of bowing, and though she would have much to learn she would not +be put back to the very beginning, as might be the case if she selected +a teacher with different methods. As the Professor had said, it was the +chance of a lifetime. She was indeed young, but with Kalovski that was a +point in her favour, not a drawback, for he was well known to confer his +rather capricious interest upon those of his pupils who, were still in +their teens. + +Naturally the event was of supreme importance at Meredith Terrace. +Mildred would be away for three years, or probably more, only returning +to Kirkton for holidays, so it seemed a great break in her home life. +But Dr. and Mrs. Graham had always intended her to take up a musical +career, and resigned themselves to the parting as the inevitable +consequence of their choice on her behalf. It was arranged that she was +to board with a widowed sister of Herr Hoffmann, who lived in Berlin, +and who promised to look after her as if she were her own daughter. Dr. +and Mrs. Graham gave themselves a short holiday to escort their niece to +Germany, and after a tour up the Rhine, which pleasure she shared with +them, they returned to England, leaving her safely in charge of Frau +Behrens. + +September, therefore, saw Mildred settled at Bingen Strasse, 24, and +beginning an entirely new phase in her existence. She had been taken to +the Conservatoire and introduced to Herr Kalovski, who, after hearing +her play, admitted that Herr Hoffmann had laid a good foundation, and +formally consented to place her under his tuition. It was considered a +great honour to become his pupil, so Mildred at once aroused interest at +the Conservatoire, and found herself in the midst of a delightful +musical coterie. It was a keen stimulus and inspiration to hear the +playing of other students and masters, and to be able to attend some of +the beautiful concerts and operas which were given almost every evening +in the city. The quartet class, in which she was placed, helped her +enormously, and also the class for reading at sight. The whole musical +atmosphere of the place was a revelation to her; she was wild with +enthusiasm, and wrote home such ecstatic accounts that her aunt was more +than satisfied. + +Kalovski proved a stern, even a severe teacher; but here Mildred's +drilling under Professor Hoffmann stood her in good stead, and instead +of trembling at his snubs and frequent tirades, she took them all as +part of the lesson with perfect equanimity--a method of treating him +which, she afterwards heard, raised her immensely in his estimation. She +learnt much from Kalovski, for he was able to show her many +technicalities only known to a virtuoso, and he would often play for +her himself, which she found the best lesson of all. He was a strange +man, like all great artists full of whims and caprices and moods, but he +took a genuine interest in his English pupil, and in spite of his +habitually peppery manner gave her great encouragement. After a time +Mildred ventured to show him some of her own compositions, and here his +deep knowledge of music was of great service to her, and the hints he +gave her were of the utmost value. Gradually she came to be regarded as +one of his favourite pupils, and though it was against his method to +bestow praise, he began to regard her playing with complacency. + +Mildred had had a fair knowledge of German before she came to Berlin, +and with constant practice she soon spoke it fluently and easily. She +was very happy with Frau Behrens, and readily adapted herself to German +life, accepting all national differences as part of her education, +learning to like strange dishes and to submit to many rules which Mrs. +Graham would have laughed at, but which her chaperon considered +absolutely necessary. + +In this new and busy world time slipped rapidly away. The three years of +her scholarship came to an end, but as Kalovski would not hear of +parting with his pupil, her course was extended for two years more. +Under her brilliant teacher Mildred not only gained a marvellous mastery +over her instrument, but his personal magnetism was so inspiring that +she won a new insight into music, and besides acquiring technique, +grasped the spirit of true exposition. She worked indefatigably, and +when at length her long period of training was finished, there were few +students at the Conservatoire who could show such a record of all-round +improvement. + +[Illustration: MILDRED IS TOLD THAT SHE HAS WON THE THREE YEARS' +SCHOLARSHIP IN THE BERLIN CONSERVATOIRE] + +She left Berlin with regret. Her stay there had been a memorable +experience, and one which would last for the rest of her life. She had +made many musical friendships, and for her teacher had formed the +intense appreciation and reverence only yielded to a great artist whose +ideals exceeded her own. Her time of sowing had indeed been of great +promise, and she was now to return to reap the harvest. + +During her absence from Kirkton Mildred had not dropped any of her old +friends. She had corresponded regularly with the Somervilles and with +several of her school chums, and had kept in touch with Miss Cartwright +and the world of St. Cyprian's, enjoying the brief meetings that were +possible during her holidays in England. The five years had brought +changes to many of her former fellow monitresses and class-mates. Laura +Kirby had taken a First in her tripos, and was now engaged in +entomological research under a celebrated Cambridge professor--a form of +work that exactly suited her, and for which she showed the greatest +aptitude. Kitty Fletcher had passed through her training for +Kindergarten teaching with credit, and had just found the post which she +had always coveted, that of Kindergarten and Games mistress combined, in +a large High School of eight hundred girls. Eve Mitchell had studied at +the Women's Department of the Kirkton University, and had taken her B.A. +degree. She was now a teacher at Newington Green, and doing well. + +Bess Harrison and Maudie Stearne were both married, and Bess had a +pretty little curly-headed boy to show proudly to her friends. Lottie +Lowman was engaged to a gentleman in India, and her wedding was to take +place very soon. Neither she nor Carrie had realized her dream of being +county champion, but they were the best players in their tennis club, +and greatly in request for local tournaments. Freda Kingston was in +London, studying book illustration at a "black-and-white" studio, and +Ivy Linthwaite was still working at the Kirkton School of Art. Elizabeth +Chalmers was engaged to one of the piano masters at the Freiburg School +of Music, and Edna Carson was married to a clergyman. + +Rhoda Somerville had sustained a great loss in the death of her mother, +and was now indispensable at home, looking after her father, and helping +in the parish. Her three brothers had done well; Eric was just ordained, +Diccon was at Oxford, and Rodney had a good berth with the Phoenix +Motor Engineering Company in Kirkton. He was still a great favourite +with Dr. and Mrs. Graham, and was always welcome at Meredith Terrace. +His ingenuity and many original ideas, and his capacity for hard work +were well appreciated by his firm, and there was every likelihood of his +pushing on to a most successful business career. + +Violet Lorraine had grown into a very beautiful and charming girl. She +was much admired in society, and was very soon to be married to her old +friend Maurice Tracy, whose father's estate adjoined Sir Darcy's. This +engagement was highly satisfactory to her parents, for as Maurice was +the eldest son the two properties would some day be united. + +Mildred had returned from Berlin with the laurels of the Conservatoire. +Her teachers recognized in her a genius such as they had found in few of +even the most gifted pupils who had passed through their hands. Both in +the brilliance of her execution and the beauty and originality of her +compositions they considered she had few equals, and they had the +highest hopes for her future success. It had been arranged that she was +to make her debut at a recital at the Kirkton Town Hall. The opinion of +her masters as to her talent being well known, her appearance was +expected to cause quite a sensation, and was awaited with interest by +the music-loving world. Professor Hoffmann rubbed his hands with delight +at the sight of his pupil's name placarded on the hoardings, and could +not conceal his satisfaction at the fulfilment of his desires. + +"It was I who first taught you to bow!" he declared. "Ach! you were a +little Maedchen then, and now you are so grown I scarce know you! Do you +forget how you played at my Students' Concert? Himmel! You were afraid +that night! But you made success, all the same. You told me your +Stradivarius was your very good friend. Believe me, it will be so +again!" + +All Mildred's friends were to be present at the recital. Dr. and Mrs. +Graham of course headed the list, the Lorraines and the Somervilles were +coming to Kirkton on purpose for the occasion, Miss Cartwright was +nearly as much excited as Herr Hoffmann, and St. Cyprianites both past +and present were anxious to witness the success of their former +schoolfellow. + +The big Town Hall was filled to the last seat on the evening of the +concert, and in the galleries there was barely even standing room for +the many listeners who had thronged to hear the new and unknown +performer. Every face was turned towards the platform, and a burst of +applause greeted the appearance of the conductor, leading the young +violinist who was that night to make her first bow to the public--a +slight, girlish figure, whose wonderful dark eyes, soft gold hair, and +very simple and unaffected, yet perfectly self-possessed, manner at once +made a favourable impression. The vast audience listened with keen +attention as, drawing her bow across the strings, she brought out the +first liquid notes of Lalo's "Symphonie Espagnole". Her clear, +full-blooded, luscious tone, southern in its depth and richness, +bewitching, sad, sparkling, and bizarre by turns, served to show not +only her exquisite mastery of the instrument, but her wonderful +interpretation of the music she was playing. Such strength and yet such +melting sweetness of tone, such lucid phrasing, and such delicate +feeling for every nicety of accentuation and rhythm her listeners had +never heard before, and they realized that they were in the presence of +a performer of the very first rank. The short encore scarcely satisfied +the zeal of the delighted audience, and Mildred was recalled again and +again, till, growing desperate, the conductor was at last obliged to +lead on the pianist whose solo was the next item on the programme. + +In her second piece, the "Kreutzer Sonata" of Beethoven, Mildred was +able to give even a better idea of the scope of her playing than had +been possible in the "Symphonie". Her rendering of it was masterly in +the fullest sense of the word--so independent and original a +performance, with such faultless phrasing of the variations, such a high +level of pure loveliness throughout, and such a glorious finale that the +very spirit of Beethoven seemed to linger in the notes, and breathe +through her beautiful and eloquent reading of the sonata. Warm as it had +been before, the audience was now twice as enthusiastic, and deafening +cheers began to ring through the hall when, for the third and last time +in the evening, Mildred appeared with her violin upon the platform. + +The fact that the "Legende" which she was about to play was her own +composition raised the interest to its highest pitch, and all waited +with anxiety to learn if this marvellous young performer were equally +endowed with the gift that can create as well as interpret music. It was +an ambitious theme--the story of Undine and the Knight--and it was +unfolded with a strength and yet a delicacy of fancy, and a wealth of +poetic feeling and imagination which almost took the breath away by the +fire of its passion and the daring of its originality. It began very +softly, conveying to the listeners the weird and uncanny impression of +the haunted German forest; there was moonlight in the music, and the +minor key gave that suggestion of sadness which was the motive of the +"Legende". The wild fear of the supernatural, which caused the knight to +urge his horse with frantic speed through these unknown shades, throbbed +in the restrained power of the opening passages, and burst out into a +panic of emotion as the vengeful phantom of the foaming waterfall +dissolved itself into showers of spray between the rustling branches. +The very essence of elvish roguery and frolic rang in the notes when +"Undine", the lovely, wayward sylph, charmed the knight with her +coquetry and unearthly beauty; the courtship of the changeling +water-sprite, her wild whims, her light-hearted gaiety, the strange +beings which ever accompanied her from the spirit world, and the sudden +change in her bearing when at length she gains a human soul, were +portrayed with such fidelity in the airy, elusive character of the +music, that the whole of the tender love story seemed to live to the +hearers. It was instinct with graceful and piquant fancy, carried out +with an exquisite refinement of feeling which never degenerated into +sentimentality. In the latter part, where "Undine", the unhappy wife, +tries to appease her husband's anger, and to curb the revenge of the +supernatural friends who resent her ill treatment, the dramatic fire of +the composition rose to a pitch of surpassing grandeur, changing to a +dirge-like wail of infinite sadness as, neglected and despised, the once +bright sylph melts into the element from which she was first formed, the +"Legende" breaking into a finale of such inspired pathos that it seemed +as if the spirits of the air above and the water below were joining in a +requiem for the soul that had been won at the cost of all earthly joy. + +There was dead silence for a moment at the conclusion of the piece, then +the audience broke into a roar of applause such as was not often heard +in the Town Hall. People cheered and cheered yet again, clapping, +stamping, shouting, waving their handkerchiefs, and standing on the +seats in the wild enthusiasm of their approval. Bowing again and again +at each fresh outburst, Mildred stood on the platform with quivering +lips. She felt it was indeed a wonderful power that had been given her, +to be able to sway so vast a gathering, to hold her listeners spellbound +while she played, and to rouse them to such a height of intense feeling. +It was beyond her wildest dreams of success. She had hoped for +appreciation and perhaps applause, and she had met with an ovation only +accorded to a great master of music. + +She ran away at last from the excited crowd, for it appeared as if the +cheering would never stop, and in the anteroom behind found a gathering +of those friends who had come to wish her joy. To Dr. and Mrs. Graham, +her nearest and dearest, to whom she owed the cultivation of her musical +talent, she turned first in the hour of her triumph. + +"I don't deserve it, Tantie!" she murmured. "They ought to cheer you +instead. I should never have played at all if you hadn't made me. The +praise is all due to you, and what you have done for me." + +Mr. Steiniger was warm in his congratulations, and Herr Hoffmann, whose +eyes were wet with emotion, held out his hand to Mildred, saying: "To +tell you I am proud would be but a poor way to tell you what I feel. +Ach! The 'Legende' was a masterpiece! You are a great exponent of your +art, you have the soul of a poet, and the technique of a finished +musician. I rejoice that it has been my privilege to take a share in +your training. I now with reverence stand aside. The pupil is greater +than the master. Go on to still more fame; you rise to heights where I +cannot follow you." + +Sir Darcy, Lady Lorraine, and Violet were all hearty and enthusiastic in +their greetings. They realized at last the extent of Mildred's genius, +and acknowledged the wisdom of having cultivated it. The Somervilles +seemed as delighted at her reception as if she were one of their own +family. Rodney said little, but his few words meant much; and Rhoda +kissed Mildred like a sister. Miss Cartwright was overflowing with +smiles. + +"Your name is to be painted on our board of successes to-morrow," she +declared. "You are indeed a credit to St. Cyprian's, and we are proud to +count you as a former pupil." + +As Mildred stood thus, the centre of so much congratulation and so many +good wishes, she felt that she had indeed reaped a rich harvest for the +perseverance and hard work of the last few years. It had been worth the +doing, and her toil was repaid now a thousandfold. Her father's dying +words came rushing into her memory: her strenuous effort should atone +for the life which he had wasted so sadly. Surely she had discovered the +Count's secret. The Stradivarius had in her hands been the key to fame +and success, and at length she had entered into her inheritance. + + +PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN + +_By Blackie & Son, Limited, Glasgow_ + + * * * * * + +By ANGELA BRAZIL + +"Angela Brazil has proved her undoubted talent for writing a story of +schoolgirls for other schoolgirls to read."--Bookman. + + 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. + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Girls of St. Cyprian's, by Angela Brazil + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GIRLS OF ST. 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