02 Jo of the Chalet School (3 page)

‘Her real name is Cecilia Marya, but they have always called her the Robin.’

‘How old is she, Madame?’ asked Juliet.

‘Just six. He says she is a happy little soul, and accustomed to living with older people, so we sha’n't find her too much of a baby. I have told you three her story because I want you to be very kind to her. Captain Humphries will be away for at least a year, so she will have to spend all her holidays with us, and this will have to be her home.’

‘Where will she sleep?’ Grizel wanted to know.

‘In your dormitory for the present. In term-time she will be with the other little ones, over at Le Petit Chalet, of course.’

‘What time is she coming?’ asked Joey.

‘They will be here by the eighteen o’clock boat, I expect,’ replied Madge. ‘And that reminds me, I must go and see about having her bed made properly. Joey, it’s your turn to help. Coming?’

‘Rather!’ Joey jumped up and followed her sister out of the room, leaving the other two alone together.

There was a little silence; then Grizel spoke. ‘Isn’t it weird how everyone seems to come to Madame for help?’

Juliet shook her head. ‘I don’t think so. She’s the sort of person people
do
come to. She’s a dear, and I adore her!’

‘Oh, so do I,’ agreed Grizel. ‘But I do wish she’d take back what she said about not talking any slang. It makes it so beastly – I mean
horrid
to talk at all now. I have to stop and think before I say anything, and it wastes an awful lot of time!’

‘I should think that was something fresh for you,’ said Juliet with a grin.

‘It’s something horrid for me!’ replied Grizel decided, as she got up to fetch her book. ‘I feel all tied up when I talk.’

Juliet laughed as she opened
her
book, and then there was a silence, which remained unbroken until Marie brought in
Kaffee und Kuchen
, and the two Bettanys joined them. After that, they got into their coats, and rushed wildly to the boat-landing, for the steamer was already stopping at Buchau on the other side of the lake. From the windows of the Kron Prinz Karl the two little Italians of the afternoon watched them go racing past and envied them. Neither Joey nor Grizel remembered them. Miss Bettany’s story had driven everything else out of their minds. They were literally dancing with excitement as the boat neared the landing-place, and they saw Miss Maynard with a bundle in her arms, standing at the side.

Madge met her as she came off the boat. ‘Asleep?’ she queried in low tones.

‘Yes – poor little dear! She’s tired out with the travelling and the good-byes,’ replied Miss Maynard in the same key. ‘Here’s Fritzi with the little trunk –
Danke sehr, Fritzi.
‘

‘The girls can take that between them,’ said Miss Bettany. ‘Give the baby to me. Your arms must be aching by this time if you’ve carried her the whole way.’

‘She was so upset at parting from her father,’ explained Miss Maynard as she gave up her burden. ‘Hullo, you people! Can you manage that trunk?’

‘Oh, rather! But we want to see the Robin!’

‘Please let us see the Robin, Madame!’

‘Just turn back a tiny bit of the rug, and let us see her! Please do.’

The three exclamations came simultaneously.

Miss Bettany shook her head. ‘You must wait till we get indoors. I don’t want her to be out in this awful wind any longer than can be helped. Remember, she’s not accustomed to it as you are, and she’s not very strong.’

They made all the haste they could, and presently they were back at the Chalet. In the warm
Speisesaal
Miss Bettany sat down and carefully drew back the rug in which the Robin had been wrapped to protect her from the cold and the icy mountain wind which was sweeping down the valley. The girls pressed forward eagerly.

Such a lovely baby-face! With curly black hair clustering over the small head, and long black lashes resting on the check, which were tear-stained. She was very fast asleep – so fast, that the two mistresses were able to undress her and put her to bed all without waking her, and the upcurling lashes never even fluttered. They lighted the night-light to which she was accustomed – for it was growing dark by this time –then they crept out of the room and ran downstairs to join the others.

The Robin had arrived!

The whole of the next day was devoted by the children to the Robin, with whom they all fell in love at once. She was a dear little girl, very happy and sunshiny, as her father had said, and not at all shy. The very first morning of her coming, when she awoke, she sat up in bed, looking curiously round a the little curtained-off cubicle with its dainty yellow curtains and pretty touches, and said, ‘But where am I?’ in the prettiest French.

Joey, who had been lying reading, tumbled out of bed and trotted in to her. ‘Hullo, Robin!’ she said ‘Can you speak English?’

‘A ver’ leetle,’ replied the Robin. Then she went back to her French. ‘Who are you? Where am I? And where is papa?’ she asked.

‘I am Joey Bettany, replied the owner of the name. ‘You are in Briesau, at the Chalet School; but I don’t know where your father is.’

‘Joey?’ The baby made a valiant effort at pronouncing the word, but it failed, and came out something like

‘Zhoey.’ ‘It is a droll name!’

‘Joey!’ called Juliet that moment from her cubicle, ‘where’s you’re dressing-gown? And what about your slippers? Go back to your cubey and put them on at once.’

‘Oh, bother,’ grumbled Joey as she went reluctantly back to her cubicle. ‘It’s quite warm this morning, Juliet.’

‘Can’t help that,’ said Juliet austerely. ‘The rule is that you don’t paddle about in ‘jamas and bare feet, and you’ve got to keep it.’

Joey grunted, but did as she was told, and presently appeared at the Robin’s bedside in a yellow dressing-gown and black moccasins. Her hair was all in confusion, which gave her a surprised air, and she was quite unlike anyone the Robin had ever seen.

Grizel, in
her
dressing-gown, appeared from the other side. ‘Hullo,’ she said. ‘I’m Grizel – Grizel Cochrane.’

‘Grizelle,’ repeated the Robin. – They found that it was a trick of hers to repeat the names of people she met for the first time. – ‘Zat is easy to say. And ze ozzer demoiselle; what does she call herself?’

‘Her name’s Juliet,’ replied Joey in French. ‘You’ll have to buck up and learn to speak English, you know.’

‘I understand him verree well,’ replied the Robin with dignity. ‘It is but zat I do not speak him well. At home, wiz mamma, we speak ze French. Mamma has gone a long way,’ she went on, dropping into the more familiar language, ‘and papa is going a long way too, and I cannot go with him, so I must stay with you. Who will give me my bath and dress me and brush my hair?’

‘I will,’ responded Juliet, who had just come out of her cubicle and into the one where the Robin was holding her little court. ‘Will you get up now, Robin, please? It is time we
began
to get up. – Joey and Grizel, you must hurry up, or you will be late as usual.’

‘You’re generally so punctual yourself, aren’t you?’ jeered Joey as she vanished, an example followed by Grizel.

The Robin turned her great dark eyes on the tall girl with the long fair hair, who was standing smiling down at her. ‘Are you Juliet?’ she asked.

A wild shriek of ‘Bags me first bath!’ prevented Juliet form answering for a moment, and then there was a scutter of feet as Joey shot down the dormitory at top speed. When she had gone, banging the door after her, the head of the dormitory turned back to the lovely mite sitting up in the little wooden bed. ‘Yes, I’m Juliet.

Will you get up now?’

The Robin clambered out of bed, and dropped on to the floor with a bump. ‘I can’t bath myself,’ she informed the older girl.

‘Never mind.’ Juliet’s French was by no means as fluent as Joey’s and she often had to pause before she got the right words. ‘I’ll do the bathing for you. See, here comes Marie with your tub.

Marie, with a broad smile, appeared between the curtains, carrying a wooden tub and a large jug of hot water. ‘
Grüss Gott, mein Fraulein,’
she said to Juliet. Then, as she looked at the baby, ‘
An, das Engelkind!

Grüss Gott, mein Liebling!
‘

‘
Guten Morgen
,’ replied the Robin politely.

She was not at all overcome by being called an angel-child, and Juliet gathered from her chatter as she was tubbed and dressed that pet-names and tender words had been a matter of course in her little life. Just as the little frock of pink woollen material was slipped over her head there came a tap at the door, followed by the entry of Miss Bettany, come to see how her new pupil was faring. ‘Good-morning, girls,’ she said as she came into the room. ‘Well, Robin, so you are dressed? – That was kind of you, Juliet. Run along and finish your own dressing now, dear, or you will be late. Robin can come downstairs with me.’

The Robin slid her hand into the slender one held out to her. ‘Good-morning, Mademoiselle. Juliet has been so good to me, and Zoë and Grizelle are kind too.’

Miss Bettany nodded her head. ‘Of course! Come along now, dear. The others will come presently.’

She led the child away, and presently Joey, helping to hang out the
plumeaux
over the balcony railings so that they might be aired, saw them going down to the lake together, the Robin chattering at breathless speed.

‘She’ll be baby now,’ she said. ‘Won’t Amy be thankful?’

‘Shriek for joy, I should think,’ laughed Grizel. ‘It’s just as well. She might have been jealous. I say, Joey! Look! There’s those girls we saw yesterday. They’re staring at the Chalet like anything! See them, Juliet? Don’t the look topping – I mean jolly?’

‘Awfully jolly, agreed Juliet. ‘I wonder if they’re thinking of coming here to school? They’re staring hard enough.’

The three hung out the
plumeaux
, watching the two Italian girls with such interest that they never heard the bell ring, and Miss Maynard had to come to fetch them. ‘Now then, you people,’ she observed cheerfully from the door, ‘don’t you want any breakfast this morning? Whatever are you doing?’1

They turned round, all very red at being caught like this. ‘Miss Maynard, I’m so sorry!’ cried Juliet. ‘We never heard the bell.’

‘So it seems,’ returned Miss Maynard dryly. ‘Well, are you coming?’

They followed her meekly downstairs, and into the
Speisesaal,
where the Robin was making short work of a bowl of hot milk before she attacked her roll and honey.

‘Why are you three so late?’ demanded Miss Bettany as they came in.

‘We were watching those girls,’ explained Joey as she slid into her seat.

‘Which girls? Do you mean those two you talked about yesterday?’

‘Yes. They were standing on the lake-path, by the bushes, and staring at the Chalet like – like anything.’

Madge Bettany was interested. Really?’

‘Yes. Oh
do
you think they might be coming here?’ implored Grizel, nearly overturning her coffee in her eagerness.

‘My dear girl, how should I know? Be careful, Grizel! You nearly had your coffee over then!’

‘I’m sorry!’ Grizel pushed it farther away from the edge of the table. ‘But do – you think just
perhaps
?’

Her head-mistress burst out laughing. ‘My dear child, I have no idea! They would hear about us, of course, at the Kron Prinz Karl, and that would probably account for their interest.’

‘It would be gorgeous if they did!’ Juliet contributed her share to the conversation. ‘How many would it make us, Madame?’

‘Over thirty.’

‘Oo-oh, how decent! I do hope they come!’

‘Wouldn’t it be magnificent?’

Miss Bettany laughed again. ‘You’re startling the Robin. She won’t understand such wild enthusiasm. -

Do you like honey, Robin? Will you have some more?’

The Robin accepted some more honey and another roll. She was very quiet, watching everything with big eyes, and listening to everything that was said.

‘What are you people going to do?’ asked the young head-mistress as they finished their
Frühstück
. ‘I’m going down to Innsbruck to-morrow, and I’ll take you with me to help carry the parcels, and so on. What do you want to do to-day?’

They considered. ‘May we take the boat to Buchau and walk to Seehof?’ asked Joey finally ‘We can carry the Robin if she gets tired. We might go directly after
Mittagessen
, and get tea there, and then come back by the boat. They give you such gorgeous cakes at the Seehof hotel!’

‘Very well; you may do that. This morning, I think you had better show the Robin Briesau. Don’t tire her, though!’ Miss Bettany smiled at the small eager face under the black curls which was raised to hers. ‘Do you like walking, Robin?’

‘Ve’ree much, t’ank you,’ replied the Robin promptly.

‘Very well then. That’s arranged. Now trot along and make your beds. Do you want to go with them,
Bubchen
?’

The Robin nodded, and slipped down from her chair, and trotted happily out of the room with them.

Miss Maynard stood looking after them. ‘Poor little soul!’ she murmured.

Miss Bettany nodded. ‘Yes, indeed! I don’t like the idea of Captain Humphries going to Russia! One hears such dreadful stores about happenings there.’

‘She’s such a baby,’ said her colleague. ‘Well, talking won’t alter things. What shall we do to-day?’

‘I want the new dormitory over here put right,’ replied Miss Bettany. ‘We can put the curtains up, now that the beds are in place. Then, there’s Mademoiselle’s at Le Petit Chalet, and yours here to put in order.

There’s heaps to do, goodness knows! Shall we go up and do the long dormitory first?’

Miss Maynard agreed, and they ran upstairs, and were soon busy with the pretty pale-green curtains of the big dormitory that ran right across the house from back to front. It was under the roof, so that in the middle it was quite lofty, and at the sides it was very low. A long window ran across the wall at each end, and the door was in the middle at one side. There was room here for four cubicles, and Madge had planned to put Gisela Marani, the head girl here, also Bernhilda Mensch, Grizel Cochrane, and Bette Rincini, the other senior boarders. Juliet Carrick was to remain head of the big dormitory immediately beneath, which had eight beds in it.