Part 13 (1/2)
”She says Miss Chadwick knew the wheel wasn't safe, and had gone to get a fresh pin for it,” volunteered Wendy with a gulp. ”But how could _we_ know that? She doesn't believe in practical demonstrations of our lessons, or in self-reliance; she says we've just to do what we are told. She got quite raggy when Diana mentioned it. We mayn't go near the stable for a week, and we've each to learn ten pages of poetry by heart.”
”Ten pages! What an atrocious shame!” sympathized Vi. ”It'll take all your recreation time this week.”
”I know it will, and I wanted to do some sewing.”
”She never said _what_ poetry,” put in Diana, her moist eyes suddenly twinkling. ”I'll learn something out of the _Comic Reciter_--the very maddest and craziest one I can manage to find.”
CHAPTER VIII
Armistice Day
Diana had a fairly retentive memory, and learned poetry without much trouble. By far the hardest part of her punishment was to be forbidden to visit the stable for a week. She was sure Baron would miss her, and that, though he might receive other offerings of bread and carrots, he would be looking out and p.r.i.c.king his ears in vain for the friend with whom he had grown to be on such intimate terms.
Miss Chadwick, much annoyed at the accident to the cart, treated Diana distantly. Instead of smiling at her when she came into the room, she would look round her or over her head, and flash recognition to somebody else. It was humiliating to find herself out of favour, especially as it was noticed and commented on by her form-mates, all of whom were candidates for Miss Chadwick's friends.h.i.+p. Wendy, toiling away at her punishment task and grumbling at its difficulty, was not at all a cheerful companion. Moreover, it rained--rained for two days and nights without stopping; rained as it only can rain in a northern and mountainous district in the month of November. The fells were covered with mist, rivers ran down the garden paths, and from the eaves came a continual and monotonous drip-drip-drip. Diana, whose letters from Paris had been delayed, and who was home-sick in consequence, vibrated between a fit of the blues and a wild outbreak of spirits. She had reached the stage when she must either laugh or cry. She wandered restlessly round the schoolroom on Sat.u.r.day afternoon, while the others were amusing themselves with reading, painting, or sewing.
”What a quiet set you are!” she raged. ”Anyone would take you for 'Miss Pinkerton's Academy for Young Ladies'! Why can't you wake up? This is the dullest hole I've ever been in in my life. Magsie, stop that eternal sewing, and be sporty! You look like a model for 'gentle maidenhood'. I want to stick a pin into you, to see what would happen.”
”Draw it mild, Stars and Stripes,” answered Magsie, biting off the end of her cotton. ”And be careful about experiments with pins, or something more may happen than you quite bargain for.”
”I don't care! Anything for an excitement! I want some fun, and there'll be a s.h.i.+ndy if I don't get it. Wendy! Vi! Sadie! Do brace up and be sports! Let's go on the upper landing and let off steam. It's better than moping here.”
Diana, by sheer force of will, carried the day, detached her friends from their several occupations, and bore them, three steps at a time, up the stairs to the top story. The upper landing was long, and had a polished oak floor; it looked gloomy on this wet afternoon, and the rain made a continual patter on the roof. In Diana's eyes, however, it afforded a field for enterprise.
”I've a gorgeous idea!” she purred. ”We'll pretend the floor's a skating-rink. I've borrowed Loveday's roller skates, and we'll take it in turns.”
That roller skates were hardly meant for indoor amus.e.m.e.nt did not occur to the girls. They agreed with enthusiasm. In order to share the pleasure Vi and Sadie each buckled one on, and began a series of glides, punctuated by pushes from the other foot. Wendy and Magsie, not to be outdone, began to slide down the polished floor, and Tattie, who had powers of invention, fetched a cake of soap and a sponge, and perfected their activities by making a slippery course along the boards.
”It's like Alpine sports,” exulted Wendy, taking a turn with one of the skates, and skimming at top speed. ”Can't you just imagine you're in Switzerland? I want to make s...o...b..a.l.l.s. Oh! why can't we do some toboganning? I'd like to go tearing down a hill on a bob-sleigh. It would be priceless.”
”You shall do next best to it, my child,” said Diana cheerily. ”Trust your granny to find the way for you. I've coasted indoors before now.
Wait a second, and you'll see!”
She disappeared, and in a short time returned with her drawing-board.
”You just squat on this,” she explained, ”and you go skimming down the stairs like a water-chute. It'll be prime!”
”O-o-o-oh!”
”You _are_ priceless!”
”Great is Diana of the Americans!”
The improvised bob-sleigh worked admirably, and if it happened to catch, there was always the banister to clutch at. Its popularity eclipsed even that of the soap-slide and the roller skates. The fun waxed fast and furious, not to say noisy. b.u.mpings and bursts of laughter began to echo downstairs on to the lower stories. Miss Hampson, coming to unlock the jam-cupboard in preparation for tea, stood for a moment in the corridor, listening like a pointer. Then she thrust the key into her pocket and dashed to the upper regions, just in time to behold Wendy, with scarlet cheeks and flying hair, coasting down the stairs on a drawing-board. For a moment Miss Hampson was without words. She stared, gasping, at Wendy, who hurriedly picked up both herself and the drawing-board, and stood at attention. The sporting party on the upper landing would gladly have melted away had there been any possible cover, but there was not. Vi and Sadie had not even time to kick off their roller skates. Miss Hampson's keen eyes took in every detail of the trails on the polished oak floor, and the soap-slide. Then they focused on Diana.
”I can imagine who's been the instigator of all this!” she said sharply. ”We've never been accustomed to such doings at Pendlemere before. Miss Todd will be appalled at the damage you've done to the floor. Go downstairs to the schoolroom at once, and remember that this landing is prohibited in future. I'm astonished that all of you don't know better!”
It was on the following Monday that tidings of the armistice were proclaimed. The girls heard the church bells ringing when they were in the middle of morning lessons, and unanimously ”downed books and pencils” and trooped to the front door, where Miss Todd was verifying the good news from the butcher boy. For five minutes the school went wild; everybody joined hands and danced in a circle on the drive, shouting ”Hurrah!” After all the long suspense and anxiety the relief was stupendous. There was hardly a girl who had not some relation at the front over whose safety she might now rejoice. That the shadow of more than four years had at length been removed, seemed almost too good to be true. Miss Todd and Miss Beverley had gone indoors to find all the available stock of bunting; Miss Chadwick was already climbing on a ladder up the porch to hang the Union Jack over the threshold.
”We ought each to have a flag of our own,” said Geraldine, who was intensely patriotic. ”I'm going to ask Miss Todd if we may go and buy some.”
Wild schemes for celebrating the day floated in the air, varying from a picnic to a bonfire.