A School Mystery
AFTER the delightful three weeks spent with the Gordons, Gipsy felt that
so pleasant an experience of English home life made it doubly difficult
to return to Briarcroft. No news of her father had arrived during her
absence, and she was received with black looks by Miss Poppleton. She
had begun to dread, with a shrinking, nervous horror, those futile
interviews with the Principal--interviews in which she could only state
again how little she knew, and listen to fresh reproaches. She tried to
brace herself for the ordeal when ordered to the study, but her heart
failed her as she tapped at the door, and she entered with something of
the apprehension of a victim of the Inquisition facing the torture
chamber. She advanced hesitatingly towards the Principal's desk, and
stood without speaking, a forlorn enough little figure to have excited
compassion in the most mercenary heart. Miss Poppleton glanced at her
furtively, and looked away again. She had made up her mind not to allow
herself to be worked upon by her feelings, and meant to speak plainly.
[Illustration: AN INTERVIEW WITH MISS POPPLETON]
"It's no use mincing matters, Gipsy!" she began, blustering a little to
hide her own sense of uneasiness. "Here we are at the beginning of
another term, and things are exactly the same as they were at Christmas.
Not a word from your father, or from your New Zealand relations either.
It's plain enough they mean to abandon you! Now, I want you to
understand that I can't be responsible for you. You must think again.
Are there absolutely no relations or friends to whom you can apply?"
Gipsy sighed as she gave the same old answer. Had she been possessed of
any information, how gladly would she have supplied it!
"I can't keep a school for philanthropy," frowned Miss Poppleton. "I'm
afraid your father is an adventurer pure and simple. He's left you on my
hands, and gone off, who knows where? I'll let you have one more term
here, just on the chance of his turning up; but if we've heard nothing
by the summer holidays, then I shall be obliged to apply to the
Emigration Society, and send you out to New Zealand. Your relatives
there would be forced, at least, to support you, though I suppose I
shall have to write down your fees here as bad debts. In the meantime
you must make yourself as useful as you can, out of school hours. You
might help Miss Edith with the mending, and look after No. 1 dormitory.
I can't afford to keep you here on the same footing as an ordinary
pupil. It's an unpleasant business from beginning to end."
Very unpleasant, thought poor Gipsy, as she availed herself of
permission to go. Her proud spirit could not bear her position of
sufferance in the school, and she would almost have preferred to be
handed over to the Emigration Society, and deported to New Zealand. That
her father should be called an adventurer seemed the cruellest cut of
all. The reason for his long silence she could not fathom, but she was
positive he would never abandon her, and her faith in him did not waver.
Some day, if he were still alive, she knew he would come to claim her;
and in the meantime, though life was dark, for the sake of her own
self-respect she must show a brave front. Gipsy certainly needed all the
courage and fortitude of which she was possessed.
If last term had been hard, the present term was harder still. Miss
Poppleton's hint about making her useful was no idle remark, as she soon
found to her cost. Instead of joining the other girls at tennis and
croquet in her play hours, she was expected to sit in the linen room,
darning stockings and hemming dusters, or mending damaged garments. She
was made into a kind of attendant for the little ones who slept in No. 1
dormitory, and was responsible for brushing their hair, seeing that they
had their baths, putting away their clothes, and keeping their room in
order. It was a recognized thing that she was to be at the beck and call
of all the mistresses, to run errands, take messages, fetch articles
wanted, and do innumerable little "odd jobs" about the house.
She was willing enough thus to help to earn her salt, but the
unfortunate part was that the extra work made serious inroads upon her
time. Her new dormitory duties took a large slice out of each evening,
and no allowances were made in class for the fact that her hours of
preparation were curtailed She resented the injustice of being
reproached for badly learnt lessons, when she had been busy the night
before washing the hair of her little charges, copying some notes for
Miss Lindsay, sorting music, filling inkpots, and stitching fresh braid
on Miss Poppleton's skirt. The mistresses did not really mean to impose
upon Gipsy, but having been told to make the girl of use, it was so easy
to hand over all the tiresome extra things for her to do, and completely
to forget that an accumulation of trifles may make a large sum. It never
struck anybody that Gipsy's legs could grow weary with constantly
running up and down stairs, or that she preferred tennis to darning and
croquet to brushing children's coats; all were supremely busy with their
own concerns; and though Miss Edith sometimes noticed that she looked
tired, loyalty to Miss Poppleton forbade the least interference. So
Gipsy plodded away, with a grim determination to do her best, and not to
give in under any circumstances whatsoever. She was much too proud to
make complaints to her friends, even if they could have helped her, and
met their compassion for her non-appearance at the tennis courts with an
assumption of indifference.
"I can't get at Gipsy nowadays!" said Hetty Hancock to Dilys Fenton.
"She seems quite changed this term, since Poppie's made her into a kind
of pupil teacher. It's as if there were a barrier suddenly set up
between us."
"So there is--a barrier of her own making," sighed Dilys. "I've tried to
get across it myself, and I can't. The fact is, Gipsy's about the
proudest girl in the school, and she's eating her heart out at finding
herself in this queer position. She's neither exactly a pupil, nor a
teacher, nor a monitress, nor anything: indeed, Poppie treats her more
as a servant; sometimes she absolutely wipes her boots on her! Gipsy's
like a princess sold into slavery! She's taking it hardly, but she won't
let it crush her spirit. I think she feels so sore, she can't even bear
our sympathy."
"I wish we could do something," groaned Hetty.
"Nothing would be of any use, unless you could find her father. I'm
afraid, myself, he must be dead."
"She's fighting a battle against fearful odds," said Hetty, shaking her
head. "She's keeping her self-respect when most girls would have given
way utterly. I suppose there's nothing to be done but just look on and
admire her pluck. I should like to speak my mind to Poppie sometimes!"
"You'd do Gipsy no good, I'm afraid."
"I wonder Miss Edith doesn't stand up more for her."
"Miss Edith! She's a jellyfish--a crushed worm--a mere serf and vassal!
She's frightened to death of her sister, in my opinion, and hardly dare
call her soul her own. She'd be nice enough to Gipsy if Poppie'd let
her."
"Look here! I hope Gipsy's going to the Fourth Form picnic next week."
"Gracious! So do I. I hadn't thought of it. She never does go to
anything now that needs paying for. Oh, but she must! We can't have her
left out of it. Let's beard Poppie boldly in her den, offer to pay
Gipsy's share in private, and beg for her to come."
"I'm game if you are, and ready to go halves."
The Upper and Lower Fourth Forms always joined in an excursion, which
was invariably held on the first Saturday in June. They went, under the
care of Miss White, to visit some place of interest in the
neighbourhood, and the journey was made either by train or in hired
wagonettes. Tea was provided at a farmhouse or hotel, and counting the
price of admission to ruins and tips to guides, the little jaunt
generally worked out at about three or four shillings per head. All the
other Forms in the school had similar picnics: the Fifth and Sixth
invariably combined, as did the First and Second; and the Third, which
like the Fourth consisted of Upper and Lower divisions, was large enough
to have its own outing. To miss the annual excursion would be felt by
any girl as a terrible omission, almost as bad as missing the
prize-giving or the Christmas soiree.
Hetty and Dilys hastened therefore to Miss Poppleton's study, to make
quite sure that on such an important occasion Gipsy should not be left
behind. They stated their case with considerable eagerness and
enthusiasm.
"We'd pay all Gipsy's share between us, only, please, we'd rather she
didn't know anything about that part of it," ended Dilys, who did the
most of the talking.
Miss Poppleton received the suggestion with a coldness that was
particularly damping.
"I can't decide anything at present," she said briefly. "I doubt if
Gipsy can be spared. Her new duties keep her occupied in looking after
the little ones, and Saturday is a busy day. No, Dilys, I can't
promise. Gipsy must remember it is impossible for her to have
everything the same as other girls, and she must not expect it."
"Oh, she didn't ask us to ask you! She doesn't know anything about it.
It was our idea entirely," put in Hetty hastily.
"I'm glad to hear it," returned Miss Poppleton dryly, and dismissed the
girls without further ceremony.
"I don't believe she means to let her go," declared Dilys indignantly,
as they walked down the passage. "Poppie's taken an absolute spite
against Gipsy lately. But I'll be even with her! I've got an idea. Let's
make the picnic a Guild affair, and persuade all the Lower School to
join together and do the same excursion on the same day. Then Gipsy'd be
bound to go, to help to look after those kids! Besides, she's the
Secretary."
"Stunning! I believe we shall compass it. Only don't say what's our
object, or Maude Helm or somebody will be putting a spoke in our wheel
perhaps. We'll call a meeting of the Guild and propose it. You bring it
up, and I'll second it."
Dilys's and Hetty's suggestion was very well received by the Guild. The
idea of a big united picnic sounded attractive, so the motion was
carried unanimously. It was of course necessary to refer the matter to
Miss Poppleton and the mistresses, but they were not likely to offer
objections to a scheme favoured by the whole of the Lower School. It
would indeed be easier for the mistresses to co-operate than for each to
take charge of a separate Form. It was decided to ask permission for
the excursion to be regarded as the annual treat of the Guild, and
particularly to request that all officers should be present and wear
their badges.
"Done Poppie for once, I believe!" triumphed Dilys. "She can't have the
cheek to keep our Secretary at home. The Guild would mutiny."
"She's made such a fuss of the Guild, she's bound to allow us some
latitude," agreed Hetty.
"Then on Saturday week Gipsy shall get one treat, if she doesn't get
another all this term."
But before Saturday week something happened.
Among the various rules of Briarcroft, one of the strictest was that
which forbade any boarders to go outside the grounds without first
obtaining special permission from Miss Poppleton. The day girls at the
school wore the regulation sailor hat with a plain band of navy-blue
ribbon, but the boarders, to distinguish them from the others, had a
navy band with a white stripe in it. They were extremely proud of these
stripes, which they regarded as a badge of superiority, similar to the
gold tassels which, many years ago, were worn by the sons of the
nobility on their college caps at Oxford. The hats were of course very
well known in the neighbourhood, and nobody who lived anywhere near the
school could possibly mistake the Briarcroft "sailor".
Now it came to Miss Poppleton's ears, through the medium of one of those
malicious little birds who have a reputation for carrying inconvenient
pieces of information, that on several evenings, just at dusk, a girl
who wore a boarder's hat had been seen to leave the garden and hurry up
the road, returning about five minutes later to dodge with great caution
inside the gate. Such a proceeding was manifestly irregular and highly
improper. Miss Poppleton, at first indignant at the very idea that one
of her pupils could be guilty of so great an indiscretion, nevertheless
felt it her solemn duty to investigate the matter thoroughly, and either
expose the offender or deny the imputation. She was the more
particularly annoyed because the hint came from a quarter which, if not
absolutely hostile, was inclined to regard her establishment as
old-fashioned, and to air the notion that there was room for another
high-class ladies' school in Greyfield. In the face of such reports, the
scandal must be instantly suppressed. She arranged, therefore, that a
careful watch should be kept on the school, and if anyone were seen
going out or returning in a surreptitious and unorthodox fashion, the
occurrence must be immediately reported, so that she could act promptly
and catch the delinquent. She said nothing about the affair to the
girls, as she did not wish to put them on their guard, but Miss Edith
and the mistresses were instructed to use extreme vigilance.
One of the manifold duties that had lately been heaped upon Gipsy's
shoulders was the task of sorting the stockings that came from the wash,
and putting in a pile those that required darning. She had been very
busy one evening with this rather uncongenial occupation, and had barely
finished the necessary counting and arranging, when the bell rang for
preparation. During the last few days Miss Lindsay had insisted upon
Gipsy joining the others and learning her lessons as usual, and had
scolded her if she were absent, even on an errand for another mistress.
It was most unreasonable to reproach her for what was seldom her own
fault; but knowing that Miss Lindsay would expect her to be in her
place, she hastily put the stockings away, and fled to fetch her books.
Preparation was being held in the Juniors' room, and the girls were
sitting on forms round the long table. Gipsy, scuttling in just in time
to avoid the mistress's censure, took a seat between Hetty Hancock and
Lennie Chapman, and, opening her French grammar, began to write an
exercise. All the Junior boarders were at work with the exception of
Dilys Fenton, Leonora Parker, and Barbara Kendrick, who were practising,
for the girls had to take turns to use the pianos, according to a
carefully arranged monthly music list. Gipsy plodded on with her
exercise, and had arrived at sentence No. 9 when suddenly a horrible
thought struck her. It had been rather dark in the linen room, and in
order to examine the stockings better, she had switched on the electric
light. She was almost certain that in her hurry she had forgotten to
turn it off again. Leaving on the electric light unnecessarily was one
of Gipsy's worst crimes, a negligence for which Miss Poppleton had often
rebuked her severely. If the Principal were to walk past the linen room
she would certainly enquire who had been there last, and would
administer a scolding, at the prospect of which Gipsy shivered.
She wondered if she dared ask Miss Lindsay to allow her to go and
ascertain. It was a mild, wet evening, much darker than usual, and the
mistress sat reading close by the window, so as to catch the advantage
of the fading light. Her profile, rather stern in its outline, did not
look particularly encouraging, and Gipsy sighed, knowing that her
request would probably be met by a prompt refusal. What was she to do?
It was a question of braving either Miss Lindsay's or Miss Poppleton's
wrath--perhaps both. 'Twixt two fires she hesitated, then an idea
occurred to her. If she could get out of the room and return to her
place without the governess discovering her absence, all would be well.
Miss Lindsay seemed absorbed in her book, and as long as her pupils kept
quietly at work she took no particular notice of them. As before stated,
she was seated close to the window, while the girls were placed round a
long table, the end of which, nearest to the open door, was unoccupied.
Gipsy hastily scribbled on a scrap of paper: "I'm going to do a
bolt--don't give me away!" and, with her finger on her lips for silence,
showed it to her two neighbours, Lennie and Hetty. Then very quietly and
cautiously she dropped from the form, and began to creep underneath the
table in the direction of the open door. Lennie and Hetty, after a
glance at the paper, comprehended her scheme, and moved nearer together,
lest her absence should be betrayed by a telltale gap. Some of the other
girls of course noticed the occurrence, but, being loyal to Gipsy, they
held their tongues and made no sign. As gently as a mouse she crept
under the whole length of the table, chuckling inwardly at the fun of
the adventure.
I do not believe anyone in the school except Gipsy would have thought
of such a rash and risky experiment; but she had not yet entirely
forgotten her old Colonial habits, and every now and then, despite Miss
Poppleton's discipline, her wild spirits would crop up and assert
themselves in very questionable ways. Miss Lindsay read calmly on, quite
oblivious of the fact that one of her pupils was crawling through the
doorway on all-fours, and that the greater proportion of the rest were
consciously aiding and abetting such a scandalous proceeding. Once she
had gained the passage in safety, Gipsy sprang to her feet and ran with
all speed to the linen room. As she expected, the light was still on, so
she switched it off with supreme satisfaction, congratulating herself
heartily that Miss Poppleton had not been before her. It was only the
work of a minute, and she hoped she could regain her place at the table
in the same way as she had left it, without being missed by Miss
Lindsay. She was hurrying back along the passage when Leonora, coming
from practising, entered from the opposite direction, and without seeing
Gipsy or noticing her frantic signs, went into the Juniors' room and
closed the door behind her.
The Peri shut out of Paradise was as nothing to the disconcerted girl
who stood blankly in the corridor. Poor Gipsy was indeed in a dilemma.
It was utterly impossible to open the door and walk in, but in the
meantime every minute increased the probability of her absence being
detected. There seemed nothing for it but to hang about on the chance
that Dilys or Barbara might also return from practising, and that she
could persuade one of them to leave the door open, so as to give her
the opportunity of entering. But the corridor was not a safe place to
wait in. Mistresses or Seniors might very possibly be passing, and would
ask awkward questions. It seemed more discreet to retire downstairs,
where she might catch Dilys as she came from the library. There was a
large cupboard in the hall where the boarders kept some of their outdoor
clothes, and here Gipsy took refuge, listening to the five difficult
bars of a sonata with which Dilys was wrestling, and wishing her
friend's half-hour at the piano might soon expire. As she stood among
the coats and waterproofs, peeping out through a small chink of the
door, she noticed Miss Poppleton come from the drawing-room, and cross
the hall in the direction of the library. Gipsy was in a panic of
fright. What account should she give of herself if her retreat were to
be discovered? Alarm made her draw her breath sharply, and the action,
combined perhaps with some dust or a slight cold--alack! alack!--brought
on a terrific and utterly uncontrollable fit of sneezing.
"Ha-chaw! Ha-chaw! Ha-chaw!" issued from the cupboard with horrible
distinctness. Miss Poppleton paused for a second, then made an instant
dart, and seized the culprit in the very midst of her fourth convulsive
gasp.
"Oh, indeed! So it's you, Gipsy Latimer, is it?" said the Principal
grimly. "What are you doing here, I should like to know?"
Too much taken aback even to sneeze again, poor Gipsy stood looking the
picture of guilt, without volunteering any explanation of her presence
in the cupboard. She felt that to do so would only involve her in
further difficulties. Miss Poppleton's keen, suspicious eyes seemed to
note every detail of her embarrassment.
"You've been out, Gipsy Latimer; it's easy enough to tell that! So
you're the one who's been seen every evening in Mansfield Road!"
"Out!" gasped Gipsy, galvanized into speech by the utter falsity of the
accusation. "No, indeed! I haven't been out of the house at all."
"It isn't the slightest use denying it," returned Miss Poppleton
harshly. "I might have known it would be you. Besides--" (here she began
to examine the waterproofs and hats that were hanging upon the hooks),
"Oh, you wicked, wicked girl! Here's proof conclusive that you are
telling a deliberate untruth! Why, your 'sailor' and your mackintosh are
quite wet! Look at them, marked with your name, and try to deceive me if
you dare!"
"But, Miss Poppleton, indeed, indeed, you're mistaken!" protested Gipsy
with warmth. "If you want proof, look at my shoes--they're not wet."
"You may think you're very clever, but you're not able to blind me!
Whose galoshes are these, I should like to know, all muddy and covered
with gravel? I suppose you'll pretend your initials are not 'G. L.' Go
along immediately to your bedroom. I intend to sift the matter to the
bottom. So this is how you repay me for my kindness in keeping you
here!"
From Miss Poppleton's point of view the case against poor Gipsy
certainly looked extremely black. Apparently she had been caught in the
very act of returning from some clandestine excursion, and was leaving
her incriminatingly moist garments in the cupboard when she was
surprised.
The more the affair was investigated, the more everything seemed to
indicate her guilt. The girls who had been present with her at
preparation were obliged, much against their will, to confess how she
had left the room without Miss Lindsay's knowledge by crawling under the
table, and what had been merely a piece of mischief assumed a far graver
aspect when coupled with other circumstances. It was really a very
serious fault of which poor Gipsy was accused. She was supposed not only
to have set the school rules deliberately at defiance by taking a
surreptitious walk alone in the evening, but to have shielded herself by
the most brazen falsehoods. Remembering how, when she had first come to
Briarcroft, she had begged to be permitted to go out, had chafed against
the confinement of her life, and had constantly quoted the larger
liberty allowed in American schools, Miss Poppleton could easily believe
that she would be ready to break bounds if she found a suitable
opportunity; and though hitherto Gipsy had been strictly truthful, her
previous reputation for honour could not do away with the circumstantial
evidence of the damp waterproof and galoshes.
The neighbours who had reported noticing one of the Briarcroft boarders
in Mansfield Road on several successive evenings could give no account
of the truant's personal appearance. It had been dusk at the time, and
they had only seen a girl in a sailor hat with a blue-and-white striped
band hurrying rapidly past, as if anxious to escape observation. They
thought she had dark hair, and that she must be about fourteen or
fifteen years of age, but otherwise could not identify her in the least.
The description might or might not fit Gipsy, but Miss Poppleton, misled
by her own prejudice, jumped immediately to the conclusion that she and
no other was the miscreant. If she had been harsh with the girl before,
she was terribly stern with her now. She considered it an act of the
very basest ingratitude and the most double-dyed deceit, and was the
more particularly angry because the episode had brought the school into
discredit. She had always prided herself upon the immaculate behaviour
of her boarders, and it was extremely galling to have such an occurrence
talked about in the neighbourhood. The reputation of Briarcroft,
hitherto above reproach, had sustained a serious blow, from which it
might take some time to recover.
"This is what comes of fostering the children of adventurers!" she said
bitterly. "I feel as if I had warmed a serpent, and it had turned and
stung me for my pains."
"I couldn't have believed it of Gipsy!" sobbed Miss Edith, who, if
anything, was even more concerned than her sister, owing to her
predilection for the offender.
"You were always much too generously disposed towards her," sniffed Miss
Poppleton. "She certainly has not proved worthy of your kindness."
The affair made the most immense sensation in the school. Nothing else
was talked of next morning, and the day girls questioned the boarders
closely upon every detail.
"Isn't it awful?" sighed Lennie Chapman. "And to think that we had to
tell about her!"
"We don't believe she's really done it, though," protested Hetty
Hancock.
"It looks bad, I'm afraid," said Mary Parsons, shaking her head gravely.
"It's so queer!"
"Very queer for a girl who set herself up to teach other people, like
Gipsy," sneered Maude Helm. "What do you think of your precious leader
now?"
"Where is Gipsy?" asked Meg Gordon.
"Locked up in the dressing-room next Poppie's bedroom till she
confesses, and that she declares she won't do, if she stays there till
she dies! We've none of us seen her, of course. We're forbidden to go
anywhere near."
"Oh, poor Gipsy! I'm so sorry for her! Whatever did she go and do it
for?" wailed Daisy Scatcherd.
"You don't for a second suppose Gipsy's guilty?" said Meg Gordon
indignantly. "If you do--well then, you just don't know Gipsy Latimer,
that's all!"