A CHALET GIRL IN TROUBLE

by Lisa Townsend

Chapter Fourteen: Various Excitements

THE rising bell pealed through the dormitories and Cecil almost fell out of bed in her hurry to start the day. Infected by her, the rest of the Crew got ready at the same speed, and Marie found herself in the unprecedented position of having Daffodil ready to go down for Fruhstuck a good ten minutes before the bell was due to go.

“Well!” she gasped. “What’s gotten into you lot? Have you done everything you’re supposed to do at this time?” she added suspiciously.

The rest of Daffodil looked at her with injured expressions.

“’Course we have!” Rosita told her. “D’you think we want Matey on our tracks today of all days?”

“What’s so special about today?” Marie asked as she flung up her own cubicle curtains.

“Well, it’s Friday for one thing,” observed Dorothy, and the prefect laughed.

“That’s true, but I haven’t noticed you being so fast any other Friday!”

“And we get our missing member back,” Cecil reminded her.

Marie glanced towards Grainne’s empty cubicle, and her lovely face sobered. “Yes. Here, you folk, how do you think she’ll get on?”

“She’ll be OK,” Dorothy said in an offhand manner. “She’s got us, hasn’t she? Marie, haven’t you finished that yet?”

“There’s still another five minutes before the bell!”

“I hope Hilda won’t cause any trouble,” Cecil put in uneasily, remembering the look in the other girl’s eyes at Marjorie’s threats.

“Marge’ll soon settle her if she does,” Celine told her comfortingly. “Marie, come on!”

“Oh, very well! I’m sure none of the other dorm prees have to put up with such impertinence. Right, Daff, march!” and they filed past Marie, Dorothy giving her a cheeky grin as she went.

Cecil looked eagerly about her as they entered the Speisesaal- almost the first dormitory to do so, since the reinstatement of the rule that while all girls had to be down by the breakfast bell, if they were ready before, they could come down earlier. However, on Fridays there were always girls who preferred to snatch a little extra sleep if they could, so most people did not tend to show until the bell itself.

Grainne, seated at their usual table for the first time in several days, looked up with a faint flush in her cheeks as her friends entered.

They fell on her with muted shouts of delight. After their first raptures were over, however, Rosita turned serious. “Grainne, it’s miraculous to have you back, and we’ll stick by you up to the hilt! What’s the matter?” for Cecil had started giggling.

“Your English! You’re lucky the Abbess isn’t down yet!”

Rosita frowned at her. “Never mind that! As I was saying, don’t forget we’re your friends, Gron- all of us! Mind you let us know if anyone causes you any bother.”

Grainne gave her a faint smile. “Thanks. Are- are you people OK with it?” Her eyes were very anxious.

Dorothy nodded. “The Head explained,” she said. “It’s not your fault and it must be really hard for you. But tell me something?”

“What?” Grainne asked cautiously.

“Is that why you’ve been so mopey all term? Because of well, what’s happened to you?”

“Dorothy!” Cecil muttered in an undertone.

“No, it’s OK. Not really, Dorothy, ‘cause I didn’t know about- about all this ‘til the last few days myself. But I was worried about why my mum had taken me away from my last school so suddenly. Now I know.” Her voice ended on a note that warned Dorothy not to ask any more questions, but since the bell had gone by that point and the rest of the School were pouring into the room, questions of a personal nature had to cease.

Grainne flushed a little as she found herself the focus of all eyes, and Upper Iva made such a fuss of her in an attempt to make her feel welcome that before long she was starting to wish that she had stayed in the Annexe for this meal, as Matey had suggested.

The Head, seated in state at the table at the front of the room, noticed. “Just look at that!” she said crossly to Jeanne de Lachennais on her right. “I know they’re just trying to be kind, but they’re overwhelming that poor child. Is there anything we can tell them to take their minds off her?”

Len Entwistle, who had come in very early that morning, grinned at her.

“Have you forgotten what Mamma said the other day, Auntie Hilda?”

Miss Annersley thought for a moment, and then she laughed. “Haven’t you told Cecil yet, Len?”

“Never thought of it again. Won’t she be mad when she knows!” and Len gave an evil chuckle that drew grins from the rest of the Staff.

“I suppose you have been a little distracted,” the Head agreed. “Well, Len, if you don’t mind, I’ll announce your news now and hopefully that will give Grainne a break.”

Len agreed cheerfully enough, and the chatter that filled the room died as the Head pressed her bell for silence. They turned to find her smiling down at them. “I know it’s Friday, but even so, that can’t be any reason for such a racket!” she told them with mock sternness, and they smiled at her. “And now, I have some news which I think will be of interest to you.” She paused again, and looked at them with dancing eyes. The School positively strained forward in its eagerness to hear, and she laughed.

“Get on, Auntie Hilda, please, before I burst!” came in agitated tones from little Claire de Mabillon at the Junior table. As her remark had cut across the silence that followed the Head’s announcement, everyone had heard and the School rocked.

“Well, since I’ve no wish for the Juniors to spend the weekend in San, I’ll stop tantalising you, girls. Mrs Maynard visited me at the start of the week and she had some very pleasant news to tell. If you cast your minds back to the start of the term, you may remember that I told you about Mrs Richardson- Con Maynard to you still, I know!- and her little girl?” The School nodded, almost as one, and Nancy Wilmot had to vanish under the table to control her giggles- not the first time she had been reduced to such an expedient.

The Maynard girls sat up alertly, and looked at their eldest sister, who looked, as Felicity told her sternly later, as if butter wouldn’t melt in her mouth. They then turned back to the Head. “Mrs Maynard told me that Mrs Richardson has been doing so well that she has decided to come home for a visit.” Miss Annersley could get no further; led by the Maynard and Bettany girls, the School burst into applause. She held up a hand. “Let me finish! You haven’t heard the rest of it. She’s arriving this evening, and Dr and Mrs Maynard are going to Berne to pick her up. I’m sure we’ll see both her and the baby at some stage during her stay. Now that is all. Grace!” and the girls rose to repeat with her their prayer.

As a result of the Head’s tactics, Grainne’s return quite faded into the background, and Cecil was in such a state of suppressed excitement that Miss Ferrars remarked later that she was surprised the girl had managed to get through morning school without dancing a jig in the classroom.

Having managed to get through the morning without getting herself into any serious trouble, Cecil relaxed a little over the lunch break. They had easygoing Mlle for French Literature after lunch, and then Dictee with Mrs Entwistle before finishing the week’s work with a form period- a curricular innovation introduced at the beginning of the academic year. Therefore, she was fairly certain that she would survive the rest of the day.

As the girls were packing their books into their desks at the end of afternoon school, Mrs Entwistle called her young sister and Grainne up to her.

“You two, I’ve got some rather nice news for you.”

“I’m surprised you’re actually telling us then,” Cecil retorted sarcastically. She had already told Len what she thought of her for keeping the news of Con’s return to herself, and the elder girl laughed.

“Poor Cecil! Where does it hurt?” she asked teasingly, and watched in amusement as Cecil tried to think of a suitable retort, given the setting. “Enough nonsense! I’ve spoken to the Head and you’re both coming home with me for the weekend. How does that sound to you, Grainne?” and she flashed a smile at the Irish girl, who flushed with pleasure.

“Really? But won’t I be an awful nuisance?” she asked anxiously.

Len laughed. “You couldn’t possibly be a worse nuisance than Cecil, so don’t worry about it. I take it you’re happy to come? No need to ask you,” and she threw her sister a laughing glance.

“Oh, yes please, Mrs Entwistle!” Grainne replied fervently, and her form mistress laughed again.

“I’m glad you’re so happy at the idea. In that case, girls, as soon as Kaffee und Kuchen is over, go to your dormitories and pack your night cases with the things you’ll need for the weekend. Casual clothes, I think- no need to wear your velveteens when you won’t even be in school. If you’re not sure what to pack, Grainne, Cecil will give you a hand. I’ll meet you at the front entrance at half past sixteen. Don’t forget to report to Matey first, Cecil!” and Len went her own way, blissfully unaware of having called Matron ‘Matey’ before the girls.

Both girls gulped down their Kaffee und Kuchen at such a rate that their contemporaries stared at them in surprise, and Grainne at least would regret it a little later. To all enquiries, Cecil simply told them that she and a friend had been invited to her sister’s for the weekend, and she’d chosen Grainne. Leaving it at that, she hustled the Irish girl off to Daffodil to pack before any other questions could be asked.

Accordingly, at 16.30 hours, Grainne and Cecil appeared in the hall that formed the School’s formal entrance and which included the grand staircase that only mistresses or prefects could use. Cecil,noting that Len had not turned up, dragged her friend to the stairs and they sat on the bottom step to wait. They were not waiting long; Len materialised from the office.

“What were you doing in there?” Cecil asked curiously as she put her arm through her sister’s.

“Never you mind! Grainne, are you OK there?”

Grainne’s jaw dropped as the young mistress brought out the slang, and Len laughed at her.

“Come on!” and grabbing a hand of each, she ran them out of the front door and halfway down to drive, where they had to stop for breath. Cecil dropped her case and grinned at Grainne. Len turned to her with concern, but she need not have worried. Grainne’s cheeks were flushed from the run and her eyes sparkled, and Len smiled at her from sheer sympathy.

“Whew! Maybe that wasn’t such a good idea,” she admitted. “Pick up your bags again and we’ll carry on- more sensibly this time!” Len grimaced. “Did you get everything you needed, Grainne?”

Grainne nodded. “Yes, thanks, Mrs Entwistle. Thank you so much for asking me!”

“No problem.” Len stopped and eyed the girl. A sudden thought had come to her and she was unsure whether to act on it. But another look at the Irish girl decided her. She had never seen her look so happy before. “Grainne, I have a suggestion to make. But you must promise me not to say anything about it to the others.”

Grainne and Cecil gazed at her, wide-eyed.

“You’ll be staying with me this weekend. It may not be the only time, seeing you and Cecil are such good friends. Our sister is coming home tonight, and there’ll be family celebrations over the weekend. There’s no point in you calling me ‘Mrs Entwistle’ when everyone else, including Cecil, will be shrieking ‘Len’ all over the shop! So, if you’d like, you can call me ‘Len’ out of school- so long as it is out of school,” she added, with a meaning look at Cecil who blushed.

Grainne’s face was pink. “Are you sure you won’t mind?” she asked doubtfully.

Len laughed. “Not at all. In fact, you’ll be doing me a favour. I don’t respond to ‘Mrs Entwistle’ at the weekend,” and she gave the girl a mischievous grin that made her look barely older than Felicity, and heightened the family resemblance between her and Cecil.

“Then, I’d simply love to!” Grainne smiled at them, and Len was struck by how it transformed the usually grave face. She smiled at both girls.

“Now that that’s settled, let’s get home for something really important.” She stopped and grinned. “Like a drink of strawberryade!” and they went off laughing towards Ste-Cecilie and ‘Die Rosen’ as Len’s house had been named, in memory of the house her family had used on the Sonnalpe.