A Midnight Scare
Miss Gibbs's plans for the enlargement of her pupils' minds ran over a
wide range of subjects from archaeology to ambulance. As they expressed
it, she was always springing some fresh surprise upon them. Like bees,
they were expected to sip mental honey from many intellectual flowers.
They had dabbled in chemistry till Ardiune spilt acid down Miss
Gibbs's dress, after which the experiments suddenly stopped. They had
collected fruits and seed-vessels, had studied animalculae through the
microscope, and modelled fungi in plasticine. Stencilling,
illuminating, painting, and marqueterie each had a brief turn, and
were superseded by raffia-plaiting and poker-work. Miss Beasley
suggested tentatively that it might be better to concentrate on a
single subject, but Miss Gibbs, who loved arguments about education,
was well prepared to defend her line of action.
"There is always a danger in specialization," she replied. "You can't
tell how a girl's tastes will run till you give her an opportunity of
proving them. My theory is, let them try each separate craft, and then
choose their own hobbies. One will take naturally to oil-painting,
another may find clay or gesso her means of artistic expression. Some
minds delight in pure Greek outline, while others revel in the
intricacies of Celtic ornament. Again, a girl with no aesthetic sense
may be enraptured with the wonders of the microscope, and those who
find a difficulty in mastering the technical terms of botany may yet
excel in the extent of their collections of specimens. Who would have
imagined that Veronica Terry would develop an interest in geology? I
had always considered her a remarkably dull child, but her fossils
formed the nucleus of the school museum. I have hopes at present that
one or two of my girls are developing tastes that will last them for
life."
It was one of Miss Gibbs's pet theories that not only should her
pupils have the opportunity of sampling arts, handicrafts, and
scientific pursuits, but that they should in every respect cultivate a
wide mental horizon. She was fond of suggesting emergencies to them,
and asking how they would act in special circumstances.
"Imagine yourself left a widow," she had once propounded, "with three
small children to support, and a capital of only three hundred pounds.
How would you employ this sum to the best advantage, so as to provide
some future means of subsistence for yourself and family?"
The opinions of the Form had been interesting, and had varied from
poultry farming to the establishment of a boarding-house or the
setting up of tea-rooms. The most original suggestion, however, was
contributed by Fauvette, and, while it outraged Miss Gibbs's sense of
propriety, caused infinite hilarity in the Form.
"If I were left a widow," she wrote, "I should get the children into
orphanages, or persuade rich friends to adopt them. Then I would spend
the three hundred pounds in buying new clothes and staying at the best
hotels, and try to get married again to somebody who could provide for
me better."
Among the flights of fancy in which the Fifth Form were forced to
indulge were a railway collision, a fire, a bicycle accident, an
escape of gas, the swallowing of poison, the bursting of the kitchen
boiler, a case of choking, and an infectious epidemic. On the whole
they rather enjoyed the fun of airing their views, and when asked to
propose fresh topics had suggested such startling catastrophes as "A
German Invasion," "A Revolution," "A Volcanic Eruption," "A Famine,"
and "A Zeppelin Raid."
Rejecting the first four, Miss Gibbs had chosen the last for
discussion, and for fully ten minutes the Form, in imagination, dwelt
in an atmosphere of explosives. They clutched their few valuables that
were within reach, donned dressing-gowns and bedroom slippers, each
seized a blanket, and all descended to the cellars with the utmost
dispatch of which they were capable, while bombs came crashing through
the roof, and the walls of the house tottered to ruin.
"I shall never dare to go to sleep again!" shivered Fauvette, appalled
at the mental picture presented to her.
"Are the Zepps likely to come, Miss Gibbs?" enquired Ardiune.
"Not so likely at this time of year as in winter. Still, of course,
one never can tell," replied the mistress, anxious to justify the
usefulness of her emergency lessons. "It is wise to know what to do.
We ought all to adopt the Boy Scouts' motto--'Be Prepared'."
"And suppose we ever do hear dreadful noises in the middle of the
night?" said Raymonde, gazing with solemn, awestruck eyes at the
teacher.
"Then you must make for the cellar without delay," replied Miss Gibbs
emphatically.
If she could have seen Raymonde's expression, as that young lady
turned her head for a moment towards Aveline, she would have been
surprised. The serious apprehension had changed to dancing mischief.
Even so well-seasoned a mistress as Miss Gibbs, however, cannot be
aware of every sub-current in her Form. Human nature has its limits.
Raymonde left the class-room chuckling to herself, and at the earliest
convenient moment summoned a committee of the Mystic Seven.
"I've got the idea of my life!" she declared. "It isn't often I have a
really topping notion, but this is one of those inspirations that come
sometimes, one doesn't know how."
"You needn't be quite so peacocky about it!" chirruped Katherine.
"Other people have ideas occasionally as well as you."
"Ah! but wait till you've heard mine, and then you'll allow I've some
reason to cock-a-doodle. Look here, don't you think it's extremely
nice to be philanthropic?"
"Don't know," replied the others doubtfully. They distrusted
Raymonde's philanthropy, and were unwilling to commit themselves.
"It's so nice to do things for others," continued their schoolmate
gushingly. "When somebody has been looking forward to an event, just
think of the bliss of being able to bring it to pass! One would feel a
sort of mixture of Santa Claus and Cinderella's Fairy Godmother!"
"Go on!" murmured the Mystics.
"Well, you see, what I mean is this. Gibbie's been taking ever such a
lot of trouble to teach us how to act in emergencies. She must have
spent hours thinking out those problems. I sometimes feel, girls, that
we do not sufficiently appreciate our teachers!"
The grimaces of the six were eloquent.
"Get to the point!" suggested Ardiune.
"I'm getting! Well, you know, we're all very grateful to Gibbie, and
interested in the problems, and happy in our work, and all the rest of
it. I think we ought to do something to make a little return to her
for her kindness. Now it must be very disappointing to coach us up for
these emergencies, and never have an opportunity of putting what we've
been taught into practice. If we could show her that her lessons have
sunk in, and that we could face a sudden catastrophe with calm courage
and prompt presence of mind, then she'd feel her labour had not been
in vain. She really deserves it!"
"We can't burst the kitchen boiler, or set the cook on fire to oblige
her!" objected Valentine.
"Certainly not; but there are other emergencies. With proper
preparation we might engineer a very neat little Zepp raid, quite
sufficient to put every theory into practice."
Smiles illuminated the faces of the committee. They began to see
daylight. Raymonde re-tied her hair ribbon, and continued:
"On that afternoon when I went exploring, I discovered a way on to the
roof exactly over Gibbie's bedroom. Now what you've got to do for the
next few days is to collect old tins. There ought to be plenty of them
about. You can leave the rest to me!"
The result of Raymonde's suggestion was an extraordinary activity on
the part of her friends in the acquisition of any species of discarded
can. They begged empty cocoa tins from the cook, and even climbed over
the wall on to the rubbish heap to rescue specimens, rusty or
otherwise, that lay there unnoticed and unappropriated. Each can was
furnished with four or five large pebbles inside, and was secured at
the end with brown paper if the original lid was lost. They were
packed in osier-plaited baskets, and hidden away in a corner of the
barn until they were wanted.
Raymonde regarded her preparations with much satisfaction.
"It ought to be enough to wake the dead!" she said, rattling one of
the tins in demonstration.
As has been before explained, the members of the Fourth and Fifth
Forms--nineteen girls in all--slept in the huge chamber which occupied
an entire wing of the house, and had been the dormitory of the French
nuns a hundred years ago. The small room at the end, formerly the cell
of the Mother Superior, was now the bower of Miss Gibbs. It had two
doors, one leading into the passage and another into the dormitory, so
that she could keep an eye upon the nineteen inmates. It was a very
unnecessary arrangement to have her so near, the girls considered, for
she would come popping in immediately if they made a noise. They
envied the Sixth, who slept in little bedrooms along the corridor, and
wished Miss Gibbs had possessed a lesser sense of duty and a greater
appreciation of luxury, so that she might have chosen a more
comfortable and spacious bedroom elsewhere.
When sufficient tin-can ammunition had been prepared, Raymonde carried
the baskets upstairs by stealth, and hid them in the lumber cupboard
which she had discovered on the day she had explored the roof. They
were not likely to be disturbed here, for probably no one save herself
knew of the existence of the tiny room. She crept through the small
door on to the tiles, and verified her position by cautious tapping,
to which Morvyth, stationed in the passage below with a hockey stick,
replied. Having thus taken her exact bearings, she felt that the whole
plot was in good training.
"We must choose a moonlight night, or I shouldn't be able to see my
way over the roof," she informed the committee. "Of course Zepps don't
generally come when there's a moon, but there'll be no time for
anybody to think of that. You know your part of the business?"
"Ra--ther!"
The household at the Grange retired early to rest. Miss Gibbs, who was
an ardent advocate of daylight saving, and always rose at six, was
generally in bed by eleven, on the theory that it is impossible to
burn a candle at both ends. As a rule, every occupant of the long
dormitory was wrapt in slumber before that hour, and the mistress,
taking a last peep at the rows of small beds, would hear nothing but
peaceful breathing. On one particular evening, however, when she made
her usual survey of the room, seven of the apparent sleepers were
foxing. They lay with closed eyes and composed faces, but inwardly
they were particularly lively. Each one had solemnly passed her word
to keep awake, and considered herself on sentry duty. To pass the time
they had brought acid drops to bed with them, and sucked them slowly,
so as to make them last as long as possible. They dared not talk, for
fear of disturbing the others, though the temptation was great.
Occasionally a stealthy hand would reach over to the next bed, to make
sure of its occupant's vigilance, and the squeeze would be passed on
down the row of seven.
When the old grandfather clock on the stairs chimed midnight, Raymonde
and Morvyth rose quietly, and donned dressing-gowns and bedroom
slippers, then, with a final signal to their fellow mystics, crept
cautiously out of the room. The passage was very dark, but Morvyth had
brought her electric torch, and flashed a ray of light in front of
them. It felt decidedly spooky, and they were thankful to be together.
They went up the stairs towards the servants' quarters, and along an
upper landing. By the aid of the torch it was not difficult to find
the secret door among the panelling. The little lumber-room looked
horribly dark; it needed an effort of will to enter among its dim
shadows. A rat was gnawing in the corner, and scurried away with noise
enough for a lion. Raymonde peeped through the small door on to the
roof. Outside, the moon was shining brilliantly. She could see each
separate tile as clearly as by daylight. The sight restored her
courage.
"I'll creep through, and then you hand me the baskets," she whispered.
"I know just the place to drop the tins. They'll go plump, and roll
down the whole length of the gable."
"Right-o, old sport!" returned Morvyth.
Miss Gibbs lay in her bedroom, sleeping the sleep of the just. The
moonlight, flooding through her hygienically wide-open window,
revealed the rows of photographs on her chimney-piece, the gilt-edged
volumes on her book-shelf, and the little emergency medicine cupboard
on the wall. Was she dreaming of the lesson she meant to give
to-morrow, or of the officer whose portrait, in the silver frame,
occupied the post of honour in her picture gallery? Who could tell?
Unsympathetic school-girls do not know all the secrets of a teacher's
life. Perhaps Miss Gibbs, like the familiar chestnut burr, hid a
silver lining under her prickly exterior. She slept so peacefully--it
was a shame to disturb her. Schoolgirls are ruthless beings at best.
Bang! Rattle! Bang! Bump! She woke with a start. Projectiles were
falling upon the roof with terrific force. At the same moment shrieks
issued from the dormitory, and a wild shout of "Zepps!" Miss Gibbs's
presence of mind did not desert her. It took her exactly three seconds
to put on her dressing-gown and bedroom slippers, two more to sweep
her watch, purse, and a little packet of treasures (placed nightly in
readiness) into the ample pocket of her wrapper, and the next instant
she was flashing her torchlight in the dormitory.
The girls, most of them very scared, were turning out of bed; Aveline,
Fauvette, Valentine, Ardiune, and Katherine were already garbed, and
encouraging the others. Before a minute and a half had elapsed, the
whole party was on its way to the cellar, having rung the great bell
on the stairs to warn the rest of the household.
Raymonde and Morvyth, having expended the ammunition, hurried
downstairs, and slipped in among their Form mates unobserved. The
school spent an agitated hour in the cellar, sitting on blankets
clutched from their beds. As all appeared quiet, and no more
mysterious thumps resounded on the roof, Miss Beasley, who had
reconnoitred, declared it safe to return to roost, and ordered her
twenty-six pupils upstairs again. Possibly she had her suspicions, for
very early next morning she went out to investigate the extent of the
damage, and discovered a selection of the projectiles lying on the
lawn. The result was a solemn harangue to the whole school.
"I don't know who has played this contemptible practical joke," she
proclaimed witheringly. "It may seem humorous to small minds, but to
me it is pitiable. There were no doubt instigators amongst you, and
for the sake of those ringleaders I shall punish you all. You will
spend Wednesday afternoon in your class-rooms copying out 'Lycidas,'
instead of taking our projected trip on the river. It is hard to
punish the innocent with the guilty, but those responsible for this
occurrence are probably known to their companions, who will, I hope,
visit their displeasure upon them, and cause them to regret that they
have deprived the school of a holiday."
Miss Beasley's method of punishment, though voted abominably unfair by
the majority, was certainly efficacious. Such grave suspicion fell on
the Mystic Seven that the indignant monitresses took the matter in
hand, and insisted on investigating the entire business. Popular
opinion raged hotly against the culprits, for the promised expedition
to the river had been regarded as the treat of the term.
"I believe it's all your fault, Raymonde Armitage!" scolded Linda
Mottram. "If there's any mischief about, one may be sure you're at the
bottom of it. We don't want your monkey tricks here. They're on the
level of a kindergarten for little boys. If anything more of this sort
happens, you may expect to find yourself jolly well boycotted. I
shan't speak to you, in any case, for a week, and I hope none of the
other monitresses will. You deserve sending to Coventry by
everybody."
"How hard it is to be public-spirited!" mourned Raymonde to her chums
afterwards. "I'm sure I gave everybody a treat, and especially Gibbie.
I'm a martyr to the cause of emergencies. For goodness' sake don't any
of you drink poison by mistake, or they'll lay the blame on me and
send me to the gallows!"