THE WOMAN WHO INTERFERED.
There is nothing in its way more difficult than to start a new school;
and Mrs Macintyre, with all her vast experience--for she had been
mistress of more than one of the celebrated houses at Cheltenham
College in the time of the great and noble Miss Beale, and had in fact,
until her marriage, been a teacher--knew well what special difficulties
she had before her, more particularly in a mixed school. There was no
reason, however, why such schools should not exist, and do well. But
she knew they had a fight before them, and that conflict lay in her
path. She did not, however, know that this conflict was to take place
so soon.
Mrs Macintyre was a good deal surprised by what followed Hollyhock's
stolen visit to Ardshiel. The children--boys and girls alike--were now
hard at work at their daily tasks. The first day passed splendidly.
The Precious Stones became extremely great friends with Roger Carden,
Ivor Chetwode, and Henry Anstel. There were also some other boys whose
parents were negotiating to send their sons to Mrs Macintyre, for the
fame of her school and the beauty of its surroundings were much talked
of, and the idea of a mixed school highly pleased some people, while it
equally annoyed others.
It was on the first Saturday morning, when the Precious Stones and the
Flower Girls were to return home, that Mrs Macintyre was informed by
one of her servants (Magsie, no less) that a lady, a Mrs Maclure, had
called, and was waiting to see her in the white drawing-room. Mrs
Macintyre's husband had been Scots, and she herself was Scots. She
therefore knew many of the Edinburgh people, and had drawn upon this
knowledge in getting pupils for her school. She wondered if Mrs
Maclure was a certain Jane Scott whom she knew in her youth, and who
had married a Dr Maclure. She felt not a little surprise at this visit
at so early and important an hour.
'The leddy kens ye are busy, but will not keep you long,' said Magsie,
who was struggling in vain to acquire an English accent.
'I will be with her immediately,' said Mrs Macintyre, and Magsie
tripped away, her eyes very bright. She was enjoying herself
immensely. As a matter of fact she had never known real life before.
Mrs Macintyre went at once into the drawing-room, having given
different orders to her teachers to proceed with their work, and
promising to be with them again before long. The moment she entered
the drawing-room she gave a little gasp of pleasure.
'Why, Jane, is it indeed you?' she could not help remarking.
'Ah, yes, Elsie, it's no other.'
'Well, sit down, Jane, won't you?'
'I suppose I 've come at an inconvenient time, Elsie?'
'Well, I do happen to be busy.'
I can't help that, my dear,' said Mrs Maclure. 'The business that
hurries me to your side is too urgent and important to brook a moment's
delay.'
'Dear me, what can be wrong?' said Mrs Macintyre.
'I'm told that you keep a mixed school.'
'Yes, I do. I have a few small boys here.'
'Shocking!' said Mrs Maclure.
'What do you mean, Jane? Why shouldn't the boys be here?'
'This is a costly place,' said Mrs Maclure, looking round her. 'The
laying out of it must have cost a deal of money.'
'It did; but generous friends helped, and the Duke was not stingy with
his purse.'
'I don't want to know any of the financial particulars,' continued Mrs
Maclure. 'But tell me one thing, Elsie. Do you want your school to
pay?'
'Of course I do.'
'Ah, I thought as much. Now, I 'll tell you what it is, Elsie. I have
come here with a scheme, and if you see your way to carry it out, why,
the school will pay, and pay again and again; but there must be no
mixing in it. I mean by that, the eggs must be in one basket and the
butter in another.'
'You puzzle me very much, Jane.'
'Well, I was always outspoken, my dear, and I heard of your trials, and
your noble courage, and the fact that you 'd got hold of one of the
bonniest bits of land in the whole of Scotland. Why, Ardshiel could be
full over and over again if it wasn't mixed. But mixed it must not be.'
'I 'm very sorry to displease you, Jane,' said Mrs Macintyre; 'but the
thing cannot be altered now. I have, after all, at the present moment
only got eight boys in my school, although others will probably arrive.
I cannot turn those dear little fellows out.'
'Well, then, the girls must go.'
'No; I mean to keep my girls.'
'Elsie, you were always obstinacy personified. You've got a good
school in a lovely spot, within easy reach of Glasgow and Edinburgh,
and also capable of receiving children from different parts of England.
The establishment is in working order. Now pray tell me how many you
have got in the school?'
Mrs Macintyre said, 'Reckoning the boys first, I have got eight, as I
said; but I have had letters this morning from several parents who wish
to send their sons to my school.'
'Well, we 'll say eight boys,' said Mrs Maclure. 'I suppose they are
quite babies?'
'Not at all. Jasper is fifteen. He is the eldest boy in the school,
but will only stay for a year, as he has been very well taught by his
gifted mother and by Mr Lennox, the father of my sweet little Flower
Girls, as I call them.'
'Elsie, you are becoming sadly romantic. It runs in the blood. You
must be careful. Fancy a big boy of fifteen in a girls' school.'
'He's a gentleman and my right hand,' said Mrs Macintyre.
'That has nothing whatsoever to do with it. He's fifteen, and ought to
be in a public school.'
'He wants a year's training before he can go to Eton. He is a
singularly gifted lad, and is the life of the house.'
'He must be the life of some other house. Now, then, for the girls.
How many of them have you got?'
'To begin with, I've got Lucy, Margaret, Rose, and Dorothy Lennox;
their father is the Honourable George Lennox, who lives in a house
called The Garden close by.'
'Well, go on. I suppose you have more girls than that. That makes
four. Now proceed with the rest.'
'Well, there's Lady Leucha Villiers.'
'You don't say so!'
'I do, my friend. Her mother, the Countess of Crossways, has entrusted
her to my care.'
'You amaze me!'
'Perhaps I shall amaze you further. I have also got the Ladies Barbara
and Dorothy Fraser, daughters of the Marquis of Killin.'
'You astound me!'
'Then I have the Honourable Daisy Watson. In addition I have Miss
Augusta Fane, Miss Agnes Featherstonhaugh'----
'Good name that,' muttered Mrs Maclure.
'Miss Margaret Drummond.'
'I know them well--Scots to the backbone,' said Mrs Maclure.
'Miss Mary Barton,' continued Mrs Macintyre, 'Miss Nancy Greenfield,
Miss Isabella Macneale, Miss Jane Calvert.'
'Now let 's count how many you have got in the school,' said Mrs
Maclure. 'Everything _sounds_ well, but the boys will ruin the whole
affair.'
'Oh, nonsense, Jane. If only you were not so narrow-minded.'
'I know the world, my dear friend, and I don't want the best school in
Scotland to be spoiled for the lack of a little care--care bestowed
upon it at the right moment. Your girls, counting the Lennoxes, make
fifteen. Altogether in the school you have therefore twenty-three
children. How many teachers, pray?'
Mrs Macintyre was never known to be angry, but she felt almost inclined
to be so now. She mentioned the number of her tutors, her foreign
governesses, and her English teachers--the best-trained teachers from
her own beloved Cheltenham.
'How many servants?' was Mrs Maclure's next query.
'Really, Jane, you are keeping me from my duties; but as you have come
all the way from Edinburgh to question me so closely, I will confess
that I have got ten indoor servants; that, of course, includes the
housekeeper and a trained nurse in case of illness.'
'Dear, dear!' exclaimed Mrs Maclure. 'Prodigious! And then, I
presume, you get special masters and mistresses from Glasgow and
Edinburgh.'
'I certainly do. The school is a first-rate one.'
'My poor Elsie, it won't be first-rate long. You are taking all this
enormous expense and trouble for twenty-three children. How many can
your school hold?'
'My school could hold quite seventy pupils,' said Mrs Macintyre; 'but
you must remember that it was only opened last Tuesday. Really, I
greatly fear that I shall have to leave you, Jane. This is a
half-holiday, and I have a special class to attend to.'
'Let your special class go. Listen to the words of wisdom. The fame
of your school has spread to Edinburgh; it has been talked about; it
has been commented on. It is for that reason, and that reason alone,
that I have come here to-day. Put the boys into an annex, and provide
them with the necessary teachers--men, of course, if possible. Keep
the girls, and I'll engage to get you ten fresh pupils from Edinburgh
early next week, twenty from London--that's thirty--and several more
from Glasgow, also Liverpool, Manchester, and different parts of
England; and when I say I _can_ engage to do this, and fill your school
to the necessary number of seventy, I speak with confidence, _for I
know_. The ladies are dying to send their lassies to you, but the
mixed school prohibits it. I have no wish or desire to stop the
co-education of girls and boys, but to have those of the upper classes
mixing in the same boarding school won't go down in this country, Elsie
Macintyre. No, it won't do. Now, let me think. You speak of five
boys from the neighbourhood--who are their parents?'
'They are the sons of my dear friend Mrs Constable, whose husband,
Major Constable, fell in the late war in South Africa.'
'And the eldest is fifteen?'
Yes.'
'Where does Mrs Constable live?'
'A very short way from here, at a place called The Paddock.'
'And you think well of the woman?'
'Cecilia Constable! She is delightful. Why, the dear soul has sent
her boys to my school, and comes here herself daily to undertake
kindergarten work in order to help her to pay the expenses of her
children.'
'Bravo!' said Mrs Maclure. 'Why, of course, she can take them all. Is
her house a good size? Has it a respectable appearance?'
'It is a beautiful house, the home of a true lady.'
'So much the better. The thing is as right as rain. Is she here now?'
'Yes, and very busy.'
'I must see her. I cannot lose this golden chance for you, Elsie. Her
own five sons, and Master Henry de Courcy Anstel, Roger Carden, and
Ivor Chetwode, shall all move to The Paddock on Monday next. She will,
of course, be the head of the house, and tutors will be provided for
the instruction of the boys. I can assure you, Elsie, that neither I
nor my friends will have the least objection to your girls and her boys
playing games together and meeting at each other's homes. And now I
think I have done you a good turn. I have saved Ardshiel from ruin,
and The Paddock, or, if you prefer it, the Annex, will hold the boys,
old or young, who may wish to go there. Please send Mrs Constable to
see me, for I must immediately communicate with my friends. Ardshiel
will be packed by this day week, if Mrs Constable proves satisfactory.'
'Well, really, I don't know what to think,' said Mrs Macintyre.
'Perhaps you are right, and I know dear Cecilia would like to have her
boys back with her again. I 'll send her to you.'
Nobody could look into the gentle, gray eyes of Cecilia Constable
without feeling an instinctive trust in her, which was quickly, very
quickly, to ripen into love. All those who knew her loved her, for she
was made for love and self-sacrifice. Forgetting herself, she thought
ever and always of others; and when, in her quiet, Quaker-like dress,
she entered the room, Mrs Maclure said, under her breath, 'Good
gracious, what a beautiful creature! How admirably she will manage the
Annex!'
It was not likely that Mrs Constable had parted with her five boys with
any sense of joy, and it was not lightly that she had undertaken the
duties of kindergarten mistress at Ardshiel; but right to her was
right, and it seemed the only way to pay expenses. As Mrs Maclure
unfolded her scheme the gray eyes grew bright and the lips trembled.
'But does Mrs Macintyre consent?' she said at last. 'Your proposal
truly amazes me; but, oh, am I worthy?'
'I feel you _are worthy_. Mrs Macintyre was loath at first to lose the
boys, but the lads cannot stay in a mixed school. If you agree, you
have only to say the word, and your sons will return to you. But
please understand that they must look on you as their _mother, not_ as
their teacher. The Reverend James Cadell of the neighbouring parish
will come to you every morning to instruct them in Latin and Greek. I
will get other teachers for you from Mrs Macintyre's, and there is no
earthly reason for keeping the boys and the girls apart. Only I
protest that they shall not live in the same school. Why, now, there's
Alan Anderson, and there's Davie Maclure, my own first cousin. Alan
Anderson and Davie can live in the house, and Mr Cadell will come over
every morning. He 'll ride his bicycle and be with you in good time.
If you know of anything better, which I doubt, you have but to say the
word. Now, then, I have my motor-car at the door. We 'll drive right
away to The Paddock and see the rooms for the lads and teachers. Don't
you fear, my dear; I'll help you with your Annex as heartily as I'll
help Elsie Macintyre with her great school.'
'I must go and ask Mrs Macintyre's leave,' said Mrs Constable. 'This
sounds like a wonderful and delightful dream.'
'My only dread,' thought Mrs Maclure to herself whilst waiting for Mrs
Constable to join her, 'is that that good man, James Cadell, will lose
his heart to her. I must give her a word of warning. He is a bit
susceptible, and she's a rare and beautiful woman.'
On their way to The Paddock Mrs Maclure did impart her fears to Mrs
Constable, but that dear lady's sweetest and gravest of eyes looked at
her so reproachfully that she felt sorry she had spoken, and only
pressed her hand.
The Paddock was large and roomy, and all arrangements for the Annex
school could quickly be made. The boys were to be informed that they
were not going home, but to an adjacent school; only the school was to
be, for five of them, _mother's house_. Oh, was not that delightful?
So it came about that the Annex was established, and Cecilia Constable
knelt down and thanked God most earnestly for His great mercies. Oh,
how more than happy she would be once again! Now there was only one
little black sheep to be put right. Poor, lonely, prickly Holly! She
would see to it that the child entered Ardshiel, when her boys and the
three strange boys left the Palace of the Kings.