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THE rest of that week passed quickly for Grainne, and Sunday saw them spend the day at Freudesheim once again. Whilst there, Len took the opportunity to discuss Cecil with her father, and Jack had been rather horrified at how his fifth daughter had been feeling. He promised Len that he would deal with it, although not that afternoon, and his eldest daughter left his ‘den’ feeling much happier about it. For his part, when Cecil and Grainne made to leave with Len to return to Die Rosen, Jack gave Cecil an unusually close and long embrace.

That evening, both girls returned to Daffodil, and the following morning

saw Grainne return to a normal time table for the first time in a fortnight. She soon found that there would be no time in the few weeks left of the term to worry either about her marks or anything else. Tuesday saw the distribution of exam timetables in preparation for the following week, and all of Upper Iva threw themselves into an orgy of revision. They knew that if it was at all possible, they would all be moved up to Inter V, and some of the older girls- such as Hilda and Marjorie, both of whom were well over fifteen- were hoping against hope to do well enough in their exams to justify a double remove into Vb in order to be with their own age group again. Practically, they both knew it was unlikely, but there was a precedent, and they hoped it would work in their favour.

Exam week was strenuous, and the pressure created by the tests themselves was not helped by the great heat. Most of the girls wilted, and Matey, eyeing Grainne, seriously considered telling the Head that she was unfit for the exams. However, when she saw that Grainne was doing no worse than anyone else, she decided to hold her tongue. Matey was a sharp woman and she had eyes in the back of her head, as some of the girls were wont to declare. She had noticed the tensions – mild though they were- between Cecil’s gang and one or two others in the form, notably Hilda Randolph, and she was wise enough to see that withdrawing Grainne from this annual ordeal could potentially seriously damage her standing within the form, and she had no wish to do that.

On the Friday of exam week, the Crew gathered in their favourite spot in the garden, near Cecil’s tree. Cecil flung herself down under it.

“Whoof!” she gasped, causing a giggle. “It’s hot!”

“I don’t see how barking helps,” Marjorie pointed out provocatively. But Cecil was too tired and hot to do more than grimace, and a potential scrap was avoided.

“I’m so glad the exams are over,” sighed Celine. “Now there will be no more work to do until September!”

Dorothy snorted. “Don’t let any of the Staff hear you say that. There’s still another fortnight to go!”

“The prees either,” chimed in Cecil. “Some of them have Advanced exams, and they’re as cross as a whole bevy of bears with sore paws just now. I don’t want to get across them!”

“What happens for the rest of this term?” Grainne asked of Celine.

The French girl gave a little shriek of horror. “But do you not know? There is much to do. Next weekend we have our Regatta, and then theSale is the last weekend. I am looking forward to it.”

“What’s theSale?” Grainne asked curiously. Thanks to the disruption of the last few weeks, and her earlier absorption in her own affairs, she had never fully understood this. Of course she had heard references to this event, which she gathered to be a most important part of theChalet School calendar, but beyond that she knew nothing.

The Crew stared at her. “Haven’t we told you?” Rosita demanded.

“No. I’ve heard it mentioned, but that’s all.”

“TheSale was started when Mamma was at the School,” Cecil explained. “It was to help the people of a poor parish inInnsbruck, and then later to fund a free child’s bed in my Uncle Jem’s San. That was in theTirol. Now we raise enough money to help Papa run the Chalet School Ward,” she finished thoughtfully.

“What about the parish inInnsbruck?” Grainne asked.

“We still send them money,” Marjorie put in. “But now it’s mainly the San we raise money for. Sometimes we raise enough to keep back for the School, and then the Staff use it to buy us things. We can always vote what we want it used for, though. They say that since it’s thanks to us that the money is raised, we should have a say in how it’s spent.”

“How is it thanks to us?” Grainne wanted to know.

Celine waved the piece of fine embroidery that Grainne had seen her working on in these past few weeks. “We make things. Like this. Some people can cook, and so they will help Frau Mieders with the baking. Matey always provides us with strawberry jam, and Old Girls- like Mrs Maynard and Mrs Graves- send us things also.”

Cecil gave a giggle. “This year’s should be good too,” she observed. “You know what it’s going to be, don’t you?”

The Crew turned looks of such interest on her that it was obvious that they did not know. Cecil giggled again. “They- the prees, I mean- have decided that since we’ve done everything else to death, the only thing was to have aSale celebrating the history of the School. Especially since Auntie Stacie’s book is being released this week.”

“What book’s that?” Dorothy asked.

“You’d know if you listened,” Cecil informed her austerely. “That one she’s had on the go for years- the one about the history of the School. Felicity knew that it was going to be published this summer, and she thought of it- having theSale about the School, I mean.”

“It’s a jolly good idea,” Rosita said pensively. “How are they going to do it?”

“They’re going to have a big marquee in the middle. That’s going to sell copies of the book as well as this year’s Chaletian, and it’ll also have an exhibition of snaps from since the School was inTirol. Good idea, isn’t it? An’ the people on the stalls that are on one side of the marquee will be dressed in the old brown and flame uniform that Mamma had, and then the other side will use our gentian dresses.”

“What are we?” Dorothy demanded.

“Brown and flame. Mamma is digging out all her old tunics, and the ones that Auntie Daisy and Auntie Robin used too, so we should have enough.”

“What do they sell?” Grainne asked.

“Everything! Books, needlework, jams, toys, games, craftwork- lots of things. Then there’s the competitions. Like Tom Gay’s house. They do raffles too, sometimes. And we always put on entertainment like dancing and singing and so on. The men either go for a hike with Uncle Eugen, or they can hang around here and play clock golf in the garden.”

“It all sounds miraculous!” Grainne announced, having picked this word up from Cecil, who got it from her triplet sisters, who had evolved it in their own schooldays.

The rest agreed with this and the conversation drifted to considering what they would be doing over the coming weekend. As it happened, everyone, including the exam people- to their great annoyance- was sent on all day rambles on Saturday, and then they had dancing as usual on the Saturday evening. Sunday, true toChalet School tradition, was a quiet day spent around the house. Upper Iva were not the only form to remember the upcomingSale, and most people took advantage of the time to work on their own produce for the stalls.

The weekend after was the Regatta. This took place at the huge new swimming pool that had built at the San- the School’s own pool was not large enough for such an event. To the joy of the girls, the pool at the San was out of doors, and they had discovered during its first winter that the water froze across it and it was skatable. So for the first time since leaving Tirol nearly thirty years before, theChalet School had skating again as a winter sport. In the meantime, as Joey Maynard had observed, the pool was nearly Olympic size and perfectly capable of taking anything they wanted to throw at it for the Regatta. To the Head’s relief, this did not include motor boat racing. The School had experimented with the idea some years previously when they were still usingLake Thun, but Miss Annersley had been only too thankful when this dangerous sport was dropped by common consent.

Seats and benches had been set up all around the pool, and those girls not taking part- which included Grainne- settled themselves down to watch in comfort. Several of the girls- and the Staff!- had brought large parasols with them, as indeed had Joey Maynard, who appeared with a very large and very red umbrella that recalled her own schooldays. However, they were careful to ensure that no-one’s view was blocked, so the authorities said nothing about it.

The Regatta involved a number of races that included all age groups in the School. This year, for the first time, a decision had been made to incorporate Old Girls into the actual event, and there was a new race specifically for them. Then there was the Senior Open, which could be entered by anyone over fifteen. This latter rule had been introduced so that Old Girls and Staff could also participate without making the whole proceding risky to the younger girls. However, as no-one took it very seriously, most people enjoyed watching it as it often became a comic event.

Once the ‘serious’ races were over, there came the ‘fun’ races which included amongst other things the infamous tub race, and this series of events- which Cecil and her younger sister Phil threw themselves into- usually reduced the spectators to hysterics, and this year was no exception. Grainne, starting to recover from her own giggles at the sight of Len Entwistle and Peggy Burnett ‘accidentally’ being capsized by Cecil and Phil, who went past them shrieking with delight, was startled to see Joey Maynard and Daisy Venables slide off their respective chairs to collapse on each other on the ground. Unfortunately for Cecil and Phil, Felicity Maynard and her great friend Lucy Peters took advantage of their preoccupation to dunk them in their turn, so a good time was had by all.

The final weekend of the term saw theSale. The School would break up for the summer the following Wednesday, and the last few days would be taken up with a whirl of various tidying and packing activities, so lessons finished on the Thursday of Sale week, to allow the girls all of Friday to prepare for the Sale the following day.

The day of theSale dawned bright and clear. “Of course!” said Cecil to anyone who commented on it. “In all the years we’ve been going, we’ve only had one badSale day.”

Len, who had come to check on her form, overheard this and grinned. “I remember that. That was the term that Erica and Claire came to us, and we had that awful storm and landfall.” Len shuddered at the memory, and then brightened up again. “But at least no-one was hurt! And as Cecil says, the weather’s been good every other time. Chances are it’ll stay good today!” and with a final look around at both their stall, and the stall keepers who check that their brown and flame uniforms looked as trig as they could possibly be, she gave them all a grin and went on her own way.

Grainne had been assigned the raffles on the book table. This included First Editions of Joey Maynard’s Tirolean stories, and Grainne was rather surprised at the amount of interest in them. In between handing out the tickets and taking the payment, she entertained herself by watching what was happening. The girls themselves had all the a chance to do some buying and looking on their own account early that morning, and Grainne heaved a sigh of satisfaction when she saw that the visitors appeared to be enjoying themselves as much as the girls had.

She had just finished entering a further handful of raffle slips when a shadow fell across her table, and she looked up to see Mrs Maynard herself, resplendent in her favoured lime green with a big straw hat atop her head.

Joey grinned at her. “Doing well, is it?” she enquired, with a nod at the displayed books that made her hat brim flap.

Grainne smiled back at her. “Oh yes, Mrs Maynard! Look!” and she showed the gifted authoress the pile of raffle slips she had placed into a cardboard box.

Joey’s eyebrows rose and she gave vent to a whistle. “Goodness! I didn’t expect them to do that well!” There was a look of such comical surprise on her face that Grainne couldn’t help laughing, and Mrs Maynard laughed with her. The she became serious again.

“So how has your first term at theChalet School been?” she asked the new girl gravely.

Grainne met her eyes. “It’s been good. I’m glad I came.” It was simply said, and if Joey had not been appraised of Grainne’s true situation by both her eldest daughter and Hilda Annersley, she would have left it at that. Instead, she looked at Grainne with such penetration that the girl felt a little uncomfortable.

“Listen, Grainne.” Joey’s golden voice was very gentle. “I just wanted to remind you of what I said to you some weeks ago.”

Surprised, Grainne looked up at her, and Joey smiled before she continued.

“We agreed, Dr Jack and I, that you’ll be one of our adopted nieces. So make it ‘Auntie Joey’ in future, please!” and Jo flashed Grainne a mischievous grin. “The other thing I told you was that Freudesheim is our ‘happy home’ and that I hoped you would find it so. I just want to remind you of that. As long as you’re at school, and afterwards too, let Freudesheim be your ‘happy home’ for as long as you need it. And now I’m off to do some spending! Where are the competitions?”

Grainne indicated the whereabouts of the competition stall before thanking Joey. Joey gave her a smile before vanishing towards the competitions stall, thinking deeply.

“I was annoyed when Len and Hilda said what’d been happening with that Grainne child,” she mused. “I thought I should have been consulted before.” Joey stopped and laughed ruefully to herself. “It just goes to show, Joey, my girl, that they can cope perfectly well with their own problems! And now to see what Tom’s done for us this year.” And so saying, she headed for the stall laden with the beautifully crafted doll’s houses that Tom Gay, an Old Girl, donated each year.

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