04 The Head Girl of the Chalet School (17 page)

“It was jolly dangerous,” said Jo. “That beastly mist came down, and she was caught on that precipice place! It was ghastly, I can tell you!”

“Well, I don’t see you getting permission to go hunting for caves in the mountains,” insisted Margia.

“Madame would have a fit!”

“She mightn’t know about it till we’d found it.”

“Don’t be an ass! The very first thing they’d do if any of us went nussing like that would he to ring them up at the Sonnalpe to see if we’d gone there!”

There was a good deal of truth in this, but what further Jo might have said on the subject was prevented by the ringing of the silence bell, and Miss Maynard came along five minutes later to see that they were all right, and to switch their lights off. They had to settle down to sleep then, and Joey, at any rate, had an exciting time of it, for she dreamed that she was in the heart of the Barenkopf hunting for the caves, and just as she had found the entrance the wicked Baron Rheinhardt appeared, and invited her to go for a walk in the streets of the submerged city at the bottom of the lake. She refused, and began to try to go back, but wherever she turned he was there, grinning and jeering at her. Finally, she got so frightened that she began to shriek for help, when he began to smother her, and she woke up to find Margia and Evadne stuffing their pillows over her mouth to stop her cries in case they brought anyone. “What’s up?” demanded Jo, when she had come to her senses.

“You’ve been yelling like one of Deira’s dear banshees,” Margia informed her. “What on earth were you dreaming about?”

“Oh, things,” said Jo vaguely. “Thanks for waking me; I was having a nightmare, I think.”

“I should think you
were
! Anything more bloodcurdling than those howls you let out just now I’ve never heard before! It’s a wonder you haven’t had the whole house here to see what was happening!”

“I guess you had too much supper,” said Evadne. “That’s what’s wrong with you.”

“Oh, go back to bed!” said Jo disgustedly. “You’ll wake up all the dormy if you’re not quieter.”

She rolled herself over, and snuggled down again in bed, while the others, after looking at each other uncertainly for a minute or two, took her advice, and retired to their own beds, where they soon fell asleep again, and this time slept till the rising bell woke them, to jeer at the others for rivals of the Seven Sleepers, since they had heard none of Jo’s outcries during the night.

Half-Term

THE DAYS passed quickly after this. Too quickly, Grizel thought, as she counted the weeks of school-life left her, and felt how the time was going. She was devoted to her school, and she dreaded the break that the summer would bring when she would have to go to Florence. Always energetic, she now devoted herself to doing all she could for the school, and, amongst other things, worked hard for the sale of work.

“I’m sick of fretsawing,” grumbled Joey one Wednesday afternoon as she sat down to her treadle machine, and proceeded to adjust a fresh saw-blade. “As for the sale, I never want to hear of it again!”

“But there’s so little time,” said Grizel, who was standing near, and had heard her. “It will be half-term in three days’ time, and after that we shall be in the thick of it before we know where we are.”

“Thank goodness it
is
half-term! ” said Jo vigorously. “And thank goodness the snow has ceased to fall at last. Luise says that she thinks there will be no more now till the thaw. We always get a little then. I say, Grizel, d’you think we’ll have a flood this year? There’s heaps more snow than ever I remember. It came late, but when it
did
come, it – well it
came
!”

“Shouldn’t think so. Not since they deepened the bed of the stream again. Anyhow, we shall he safe enough. With that ditch all round the places I should think any flood there was would he drained off completely.”

“You never know! Look at the Mississippi floods! They seem to get those every year, whatever they do.”

“Oh, talk sense! This isn’t the Mississippi, or anything like it! It’s a different kind of soil, for one thing!

The Mississippi flows through soft soil. Our stream has to go through limestone. There’s a slight difference.”

Jo cut a piece of her new puzzle, and then sat back. “We aren’t having any excitements this term. We generally have something thrilling at least once in the term. I don’t count your accident, ‘cos it didn’t affect all of us, except that we all had fits about you. I mean something like the flood we had two years ago. Or the fire last summer term, when the fireball dropped during the thunder storm.
That’s
what I call an excitement!”

“I dare say you do!” retorted Grizel. “Personally, I prefer a quiet life. There’s the sale at the end of term if you want any excitement. And we are going up to the Sonnalpe for half-term. You be contented with that, and get on with your puzzles. I want twenty, if you can manage them.”

“I’ve got nine done,” said Jo. “This is the tenth. I don’t believe you’ll sell more than fifteen, anyway, even if I can get them done. I wish Friday was here.”

“It’ll come jolly soon. You’d better wish for decent weather while you
are
about it! I know that it’s unlikely to snow again, but if a howling wind gets up, we sha’n't be allowed to go. That path is fairly well exposed to a west wind, and it’s not too nice in a north gale.”

“Oh, the wind’s going to stay put,” declared Jo, turning back to her work. “It
couldn’t
be so maddening as to rise when we want it to be calm!”

“The wind never does do what you want,” said Grizel. “I say, Joey,
do
get on. It will be time for singing in about ten minutes, and you could get a lot done now if you chose.”

Joey grunted, but made her treadle go as fast as she could, cutting the puzzle carefully, but at such speed that it was small wonder that her saw suddenly broke off. “That settles it! I’m not going to fuss to stick another in!” she announced. “Plato’s arrived already, and the bell will go in a minute. I’ve cut a third of this beastly thing, and I’ve only three saws left. Someone going to Innsbruck on Saturday will have to fetch me some more.”

“I will buy them, Joey,” said Frieda.

“Thanks awfully. Then I’m going to give it a rest till after the excat. And there’s the bell!”

She finished putting her work away, and then dashed off to the singing class, where Mr. Denny – Plato, to the girls – proceeded to he more eccentric than usual. He always spoke in the language of Tudor times, and, since his one idea was his art, he made many and startling statements. From his point of view, all education should he based on music, and he quoted from Plato’s
Republic
in season and out. Hence his name. After a refreshing time with him the girls had their coffee, and the day passed without incident. The rest of the week was full of hard work, though Jo obstinately refused to touch her fretwork again, in spite of all Grizel could say. “I told you I was fed up,” she said. “I’m not going to touch the wretched thing again till we come back from the Sonnalpe.”

To this resolution she firmly adhered, and when Friday came she had done no more to the puzzle.

It was a beautiful day, with a nip of frost in the air, just enough to make brisk walking enjoyable, and the climb up to the Sonnalpe a real treat. The Robin was to he carried up the path on her father’s back – he having come over to Briesau to fetch the three girls – and the others would scramble and climb as best they could. They started off about eleven o’clock, for it would take them four hours, and the daylight would he fading by two, since the mountains cut it off soon.

Well wrapped up, they tramped down to the lakeside, and there Captain Humphries, a sad, quiet man who adored his little daughter, and was fond of Joey in an avuncular fashion, strapped on their skates for them, and they set off across the frozen lake. They were all expert skaters now, even the Robin managing well on her small blades, and they were soon at Seespitz, the nearest point to the foot of the Sonnenscheinspitze, the mountain of the Sonnalpe. There they took off their skates and left them with Frau Hamel, mother of two of the girls, Sophie and Gretel, who were still in school, before they set off along the narrow path till they came to the foot of the mountain.

“Gorgeous day!” said Joey, stopping to sniff the fresh, bracing air. “I do love a sharp, clear day like this!

Think what it’ll be like in England now!”

Captain Humphries smiled as he lifted the Robin, preparatory to beginning the climb. “I have not been in England for a good many years now, but I can imagine it!”

“Wet – cold –
slushy
!” said Jo, with a pause between each of the words. “I love England, of course, but oh, I loathe her winters!”

“Me, I do not like them at all,” said the Robin from her perch on her father’s shoulder. “I like the Tiern See, though, and I
love
going to see Tante Marguerite!”

“We all do,” said Grizel as she struggled up the rocky path, where the snow lay hard and crisp. “Come on, Jo! Don’t lag, old thing!”

“It’s so slippery,” complained Joey as she scrambled breathlessly after the others.

“Never mind; we shall soon be there,” said the captain, who was swinging over the ground as if he had no burden at all. Then he set his little girl down, and went back to help the older girls.

It took three hours hard scrambling to bring them to the easier path which led finally to the Sonnalpe, and the sun had disappeared by that time. Joey stood and looked down at the valley below. The lake was black with its ice, and the snow lay white all round it. Immediately beneath them was Seespitz, with its Gasthaus and villas. Farther along was Buchau, where there were two or three farmhouses, and the ferry-landing.

Across the lake was Briesau, looking like a toy village, with its scattered hotels and pensions, and the villas and huts of the peasants. They could see the school, surrounded by its fence, and lights twinkling in the windows told them that it was already dusk in the valley. Beyond lay the pine-woods, black against the snow, and beyond them the great limestone crags and peaks of the mountains.

In the west the sun was sinking in a glory of saffron light, which told of high winds for the morrow, but Jo paid no heed to this at the moment. She stood there, her little pointed face glowing with the beauty of it all, her black eyes soft and unfathomable.

“Come on!” said matter-of-fact Grizel at last when her patience was worn out. “It’s after three, and we’ve got half an hour’s walk yet before we reach the Sonnalpe.”

With a deep sigh Jo turned her back on the glory, and they set off on the last part of the way. It was very easy now, so the Robin was walking, her hand in her father’s, her tongue going at a great rate. Joand Grizel came behind them, arm in arm, for the path was fairly broad hereabouts, and saying little. Jowas still entranced by the memory of the loveliness she had witnessed, and Grizel was tired and out of breath. They reached the alpe itself at last, and here they found Dr. Jem waiting for them. “Hullo!” he said. “I saw you people from the sanatorium, so I waited for you. I’ve got the runabout here, so I’ll take you all along to Die Blumen in it. Come along! You’ll be at home in ten minutes, or less, now!”

“Thank goodness!” sighed Grizel as she fell into step between them. “I’m pumped”

“You’re like Hamlet, my child – fat and scant of breath,” he said teasingly.

“I’m not fat!” returned Grizel indignantly. “I’m out of training, if you like. We’ve had no chance of it this term with such awful weather. But fat I am not!”

“You ass, Grizel!” said Joey. “You always rise to Jem. I can’t think why you do it!”

Grizel laughed, her momentary indignation forgotten as they rounded a curve and saw the doctor’s little runabout standing before the steps that led up to the great sanatorium. “Well, I’m tired, anyway! I’m jolly glad you saw us and waited, Dr. Jem!”

“You’re late, aren’t you?” he said. “I know Madge expected vou earlier than this!”

“It was such a pull up,” explained Joey. “It’s beastly slippery too.”

“We’re here now, anyway, and that’s all that matters,” laughed Grizel as she slipped into her seat and held out her arms for the Robin. “Can you squeeze in, Joey?”

“Rather! How’s Uncle Ted going to manage though?”

“I’m going to walk,” said the captain. “Yes, Russell, I want to. I have a call to make at Wald Villa before I come up to Die Blumen. Tell Mrs. Russell I’ll be along presently, will you?”

“Very well,” said the doctor. “All safe, you people? All right! So-long, Humphries!” He put down the self-starter, and they were off and howling jerkily over the snowy ground.

“I don’t think much of your roads,” chuckled Joey. “A bit on the bumpy side, aren’t they?”

“A bit,” agreed the doctor. “We are going to have them seen to during the spring. What? My good child, I’m no engineer to tell you that. Have them macadamised or something of the kind, I should think. Here we are! Tumble out, and run along in. Madge will be waiting for you.”

They scrambled out and ran up the long path which led to the door, where Madge, wrapped in a shawl, was waiting to welcome them. In the summer the ground on either side would be a beautiful flower-garden; but now it was white and bare, with a few miserable-looking bushes here and there. Not that they paid any heed to that. They raced to the door where their hostess was standing, and were all caught in a clump as she pulled them in. “How late you people are! I was beginning to think something had happened and you weren’t coming! Come along in! Straight upstairs, and get your things off and change your shoes! You know your rooms, don’t you? Joey’s next to ours, and Grizel on the other side of her. Robin, you are to sleep in papa’s dressing-room, just opposite. See to her, Joey. I’m busy cooking, and can’t leave my work.”

Joey nodded, and they ran upstairs and along the passage till they came to their rooms. They were very dainty, furnished in the fashion of the country, with panelled walls and high white-washed ceilings. The beds had white, tent-like curtains, and one or two copies of famous pictures hung on the walls. Jo’s room, communicated with her sister’s, and the Robin’s with her father’s. None of them had brought any clothes, for they kept some there in case of need. They got out of their outdoor things, changed their sturdy boots and stockings for silk and dancing sandals, brushed their hair – a very necessary thing in Joey’s case – and and finally ran downstairs again, looking fresh and dainty.