"The King of the Castle"
The members of VB often congratulated themselves that their special
classroom was decidedly larger than that of the Sixth or of VA. They
were apt to boast of their superior accommodation, and would never admit
the return argument that being so much larger a form, their room really
allowed less space per girl, and was therefore actually inferior to its
rivals. On one February evening the whole nine were sitting round the
fire, luxuriating in half an hour's delicious idleness before the bell
rang for "second prep.". Those who had been first in the field had
secured the basket-chairs, but the majority squatted on the hearth-rug,
making as close a ring as they could, for the night was cold, and there
was a nip of frost in the air.
"Now, don't anybody begin to talk sense, please!" pleaded Betty Scott,
leaning a golden-brown head mock-sentimentally on Annie Pridwell's
shoulder. "My poor little brains are just about pumped out with maths.,
and what's left of them will be wanted for French prep. later on. This
is the silly season, so I hope no one will endeavour to improve my
mind."
"They'd have a Herculean task before them if they did!" sniggered
Annie. "Betty, your head may be empty, but it's jolly heavy, all the
same. I wish you'd kindly remove it from my shoulder."
"You mass of ingratitude! It was a mark of supreme affection--a kind of
'They grew in beauty side by side', don't you know!"
"I don't want to know. Not if it involves nursing your weight. Oh, yes!
go to Barbara, by all means, if she'll have you. I'm not in the least
offended."
"That big basket-chair oughtn't to be monopolized by one," asserted Evie
Bennett. "It's quite big enough for two. Here, Deirdre, make room for
me. Don't be stingy, you must give me another inch. That's better. It's
rather a squash, but we can just manage."
"You're cuckooing me out!" protested Deirdre.
"No, no, I'm not. There's space for two in this nest. We're a pair of
doves:
"'Coo,' said the turtle dove,
'Coo,' said she".
"I'll say something more to the point, if you don't take care. What a
lot of sillies you are!"
"Then please deign to enlarge our intellects. We're hanging upon your
words. Betty can stop her ears, if she thinks it will be too great a
strain on her slender brains. What is it to be? A recitation from
Milton, or a dissertation on the evils of levity? Miss Sullivan, your
audience awaits you. Mr. Chairman, will you please introduce the
lecturer?"
"Ladies and gentlemen, I hasten to explain that owing to severe
indisposition I am unable to be present to-night," returned Deirdre
promptly.
"Oh, Irish of the Irish!" laughed the girls. "Did you say it on purpose,
or did it come unconsciously?"
"I wish I were Irish. Somehow I never say funny things, not even if I
try," lamented Dulcie.
"Because you couldn't. You're a dear fat dumpling, and dumplings never
are funny, you know--it's against nature."
"It's not my fault if I'm fat," said Dulcie plaintively. "People say
'Laugh and grow fat', so why shouldn't a plump person be funny?"
"They are funny--very funny--though not quite in the way you mean."
"Oh, look here! Don't be horrid!"
"You began it yourself."
"Children, don't barge!" interrupted Romola Harvey. "You really are
rather a set of lunatics to-night. Can't anyone tell a story?"
"I was taught to call fibbing a sin in the days of my youth," retorted
Betty Scott, assuming a serious countenance.
"You--you ragtimer! I mean a real story--a tale--a legend--a romance--or
whatever you choose to call it."
"Don't know any."
"We've used them all up," said Evie Bennett, yawning lustily. "We all
know the legend of the Abbess Gertrude--it's Miss Birks's favourite
chestnut--and what she said to the Commissioner who came to confiscate
the convent: and we've had the one about Monmouth's rebellion till it's
as stale as stale can be. I defy anybody to have the hardihood to repeat
it."
"Aren't there any other tales about the neighbourhood?" asked Gerda
Thorwaldson. It was the first remark that she had made.
"Oh, I don't think so. The old castle's very sparse in legends. I
suppose there ought to be a few, but they're mostly forgotten."
"Who used to live there?"
"Trevellyans. There always have been Trevellyans--hosts of them--though
now there's nobody left but Mrs. Trevellyan and Ronnie."
"Who's Ronnie?"
More than half a dozen answers came instantly.
"Ronnie? Why, he's just Ronnie."
"Mrs. Trevellyan's great-nephew."
"The dearest darling!"
"You never saw anyone so sweet."
"We all of us adore him."
"We call him 'The King of the Castle'."
"They've been away, staying in London."
"But they're coming back this week."
"Is he grown up?" enquired Gerda casually.
"Grown up!" exploded the girls. "He's not quite six!"
"He lives with Mrs. Trevellyan," explained Betty, "because he hasn't got
any father or mother of his own."
"Oh, Betty, he has!" burst out Barbara.
"Well, that's the first I ever heard of them, then. I thought he was an
orphan."
"He's as good as an orphan, poor little chap."
"Why?"
"Nobody ever mentions his father."
"Why on earth not?"
"Oh, I don't know! There's something mysterious. Mrs. Trevellyan doesn't
like it talked about. Nobody dare even drop a hint to her."
"What's wrong with Ronnie's father?"
"I tell you I don't know, except that I believe he did something he
shouldn't have."
"Rough on Ronnie."
"Ronnie doesn't know, of course, and nobody would be cruel enough to
tell him. You must promise you'll none of you mention what I've said.
Not to anybody."
"Rather not! You can trust us!" replied all.
It was perhaps only natural that the affairs of the Castle should seem
important to the dwellers at the Dower House. The two buildings lay so
near together, yet were so isolated in their position as regarded other
habitations, that they united in many ways for their mutual convenience.
If Miss Birks's gardener was going to the town he would execute
commissions for the Castle, as well as for his own mistress; and, on the
other hand, the Castle chauffeur would call at the Dower House for
letters to be sent by the late post. Mrs. Trevellyan was a widow with no
family of her own. She had adopted her great-nephew Ronald while he was
still quite a baby, and he could remember no other home than hers. The
little fellow was the one delight and solace of her advancing years. Her
life centred round Ronnie; she thought continually of his interests,
and made many plans for his future. He was her constant companion, and
his pretty, affectionate ways and merry chatter did much to help her to
forget old griefs. He was a most winning, engaging child, a favourite
with everybody, and reigned undoubtedly as monarch in the hearts of all
who had the care of him. It was partly on Ronnie's account, and partly
because she really loved young people, that Mrs. Trevellyan took so much
notice of the pupils at the Dower House. On her nephew's behalf she
would have preferred a boys' preparatory school for neighbour, but even
girls over fourteen were better than nobody; they made an element of
youth that was good for Ronnie, and prevented the Castle from seeming
too dull. The knowledge that he might perhaps meet his friends on the
headland gave an object to the little boy's daily walk, and the jokes
and banter with which they generally greeted him provided him with a
subject for conversation afterwards.
The girls on their part showed the liveliest interest in anything
connected with the Castle. They would watch the motor passing in and out
of the great gates, would peep from their top windows to look at the
gardeners mowing the lawns, and would even count the rooks' nests that
were built in the grove of elm trees. Occasionally Mrs. Trevellyan would
ask the whole school to tea, and that was regarded as so immense a treat
that the girls always looked forward to the delightful chance that some
fortunate morning an invitation might be forthcoming.
Mrs. Trevellyan had been staying in London at the beginning of the term,
but early in February she returned home again. On the day after her
arrival the girls were walking back from a hockey practice on the
warren, swinging their way along the narrow tracks between last year's
bracken and heather, or having an impromptu long-jump contest where a
small stream crossed the path.
"It's so jolly to see the flag up again at the Castle," said Evie
Bennett, looking at the turret where the Union Jack was flying bravely
in the breeze. "I always feel as if it's a kind of national defence. Any
ships sailing by would know it was England they were passing."
"I like it because it means Mrs. Trevellyan's at home," said Deirdre
Sullivan. "A place seems so forlorn when the family's away. Did Ronnie
come back too, last night?"
"Yes, Hilda Marriott saw him from the window this morning. He was going
down the road with his new governess. Why, there he is--actually
watching for us, the darling!"
The girls had to pass close to a turnstile that led from the Castle
grounds into the warren, and here, perched astride the top rail of the
gate, evidently on the look-out for them, a small boy was waving his cap
in frantic welcome. He was a pretty little fellow, with the bluest of
eyes and the fairest of skins, and the lightest of flaxen hair, and he
seemed dimpling all over his merry face with delight at the meeting. The
girls simply made a rush for him, and he was handed about from one to
another, struggling in laughing protest, till at last he wriggled
himself free, and retiring behind the turnstile, held the gate as a
barrier.
[Illustration: A SMALL BOY WAS WAVING HIS CAP IN FRANTIC WELCOME
_Page 48_]
"I knew you'd be coming past, so I got leave to play here. Thank you all
for your Christmas cards," he said gaily. "Yes--I like my new governess.
Her name's Miss Herbert, and she's ripping. Auntie's going to ask you to
tea. I want to show you my engine I got at Christmas. It goes round the
floor and it really puffs. You'll come?"
"Oh! we'll come all right," chuckled the girls. "We've got something at
the Dower House to show you, too. No, we shan't tell you what it
is--it's to be a surprise. Oh, goody! There's the bell! Ta-ta! We must
be off! If we don't fly, we shall all be late for call-over. No, you're
not to come through the gate to say good-bye! Go back, you rascal! You
know you're not allowed on the warren!"
As the big bell at the Dower House was clang-clanging its loudest, the
girls set off at a run. There was not a minute to be lost if they meant
to be in their places to answer "Present" to their names; and missing
the roll-call meant awkward explanations with Miss Birks. One only,
oblivious of the urgency of the occasion, lingered behind. Gerda
Thorwaldson had stood apart while the others greeted Ronnie, merely
looking on as if the meeting were of no interest to her. Nobody had
taken the slightest notice of her, or had indeed remembered her
existence at the moment. She counted for so little with her
schoolfellows that it never struck them to introduce her to their
favourite; in fact they had been totally occupied among themselves in
fighting for possession of him. She remained now, until the very last
school sports' cap was round the corner and out of sight. Then she
dashed through the turnstile, and overtaking Ronnie, thrust a packet of
chocolates, rather awkwardly, into his hand.
The bell had long ceased clanging, and Miss Birks had closed the
call-over book when Gerda entered the schoolroom. As she would offer no
explanation of her lateness, she was given a page of French poetry to
learn, to teach her next time to regard punctuality as a cardinal
virtue. She took her punishment with absolute stolidity.
"What a queer girl she is! She never seems to care what happens," said
Dulcie. "I should mind if Miss Birks glared at me in that way, to say
nothing of a whole page of _Athalie_."
"She looked as if she'd been crying when she came in," remarked Deirdre.
"She's not crying now, at any rate. She simply looks unapproachable.
What made her so late? She was with us on the warren."
"How should I know? If she won't tell, she won't. You might as well try
to make a mule gallop uphill as attempt to get even the slightest, most
ordinary, everyday scrap of information out of such a sphinx as Gerda
Thorwaldson."