French Leave
The sheaves of rushes were duly carried into the church, and stacked
artistically in the deep window-sills, where they gave somewhat the
effect of a harvest festival. The girls were eager to lay bundles of
them in the particular pews occupied by the school, but the verger, who
looked askance at the whole business, and whose wife was hovering about
with a broom to sweep up bits, vetoed the suggestion so emphatically
that the Vicar, wavering with a strong balance towards ancient custom,
hastily and regretfully decided in the negative. Neither would Miss Todd
allow them to be strewn upon the schoolroom floor, although Diana
ventured to suggest the advisability of practical study of mediaeval
methods.
"There are some things best left to imagination," replied the Principal
dryly. "For instance, there would be no need to dispense with forks, and
let you hold mutton bones with your fingers at dinner, in order to
demonstrate fourteenth-century manners, nor to bleed you every time you
had a toothache, to test ancient practices of medicine. If you're so
very anxious to skip a few hundred years, I have, in an old Herbal, a
prescription to cure 'swimming in ye heade and such like phantasies'. It
consists mainly of pounded snail-shells, mixed with boiled tansy and
snippings from the hair of an unbaptized infant born between Easter and
Michaelmas. Any one who wishes has my permission to try it."
"No, thank you!" said Diana, screwing up her mouth. "Unless," she added
hopefully, "I might go out and gather the tansy. We saw some growing on
the way to Fox Fell."
"There's a fine clump at the bottom of the garden, so you needn't go out
of bounds to get it," replied Miss Todd, glancing at her pupil with eyes
that clearly saw through all subterfuges.
The Principal was determined that Diana and Wendy, having deliberately
broken a rule, should suffer the just consequences, and she did not
intend to remit one jot or tittle of the punishment she had inflicted.
"Bounds" at Pendlemere were sufficiently extensive to allow ample
exercise, and any farther excursions must be deferred till the end of
the appointed fortnight.
Diana, looking at the exeat list which hung in the hall, shook her head
at sight of her own name scored through with a blue pencil.
"Just to think that removing my boots and stockings for ten short
minutes should have cut me off from going to Glenbury," she
philosophized. "I was only 'laving my feet', as the poets say. Nymphs
always did it in classical times. Indeed, I don't suppose they ever had
boots and stockings to take off, so they could paddle as they pleased."
"They had a warmer climate in Greece," sniffed Wendy, who had a bad cold
in her head as the result of her paddling; "and I suppose they were
accustomed to it. If there is anything you want particularly in
Glenbury, Magsie's going, and I expect she'd get it for you."
"I don't know whether she could."
"What is it you want?"
Diana hesitated, then whispered in Wendy's ear:
"Three packets of Turkish cigarettes."
"O-o-o-oh!"
Wendy's eyes were wide. Diana nodded determinedly.
"But what do you want them for?"
"That's my own business."
"You surely don't _smoke_!"--in a horrified voice.
"I don't want them for myself--I'll tell you that much."
"For whom are they, then?"
"I shan't tell you!"
"Magsie would never dare to bolt into a tobacconist's and buy
cigarettes."
"I was afraid she wouldn't," said Diana sadly.
"And you'd better be careful yourself if you go to Glenbury next exeat
day. Toddlekins would draw the line at cigarettes. You wouldn't like to
get expelled?"
"I don't know that I'd very much care," sighed Diana.
She revenged herself for her enforced seclusion by clumping noisily
about the passages, till Miss Todd, hearing the racket, dropped a
significant hint as to the necessity of compulsory felt slippers for
girls who had not learnt to walk lightly. So, fearing that the Principal
might really carry out this threat, Diana betook herself to the garden,
and expended her superfluous energy on a fast and furious set of tennis.
Having lost three balls, she left Vi and Peggy to look for them, and,
still in a thoroughly bad temper, strolled round the corner of the
house. On the front drive she saw a sight that set her running. Exactly
opposite the door stood the car of her cousin, Mrs. Burritt. It was
empty, but the chauffeur, at the top of the steps, was in the very act
of handing two envelopes to the housemaid.
"Anything for me, Thompson?" cried Diana eagerly.
"Yes, miss. Letter for you, and one for Miss Todd," replied the man,
touching his cap.
Diana seized hers from Edith, the maid, devoured its contents, and
clapped her hands.
"I'll be ready in five minutes, Thompson!" she exclaimed, and fled
indoors.
Half-way down the corridor she nearly ran into Miss Todd, emerging from
her study with an open letter in her hand.
"Where are you going, Diana?"
"Cousin Cora's asked me for the night! She's sent the car for me. My
cousin Lenox is there on leave!" panted Diana.
"So I understand from Mrs. Burritt's letter, but I certainly cannot
allow you to go."
"Not go?"
Diana's face was a study.
"I had no authority from your father and mother to allow you to accept
invitations."
"But I _know_ they'd let me! Oh, Miss Todd, I simply _must_!"
"That's for me to decide, Diana, not you, and I say 'no'."
Mistress and pupil looked at each other squarely. Miss Todd's mouth was
set in a firm line. Evidently she considered that she was fighting a
campaign against Diana, and she meant to carry this outpost. Diana had
the sense to realize her defeat. She drooped her lashes over her eyes.
"May I send a note to Cousin Cora?" she asked in a strangled voice.
"You can if you wish, and I'll write to her myself, and explain that it
is against our rules."
Murmuring something that sounded dangerously like "Strafe rules!" Diana
darted upstairs for blotting-pad and fountain-pen. She frowned hard
while she scribbled, thumped the envelope as she closed it, then ran
down to give it into the personal charge of the chauffeur. She would
have added some comments for his benefit, had Miss Hampson not been
standing upon the doorstep.
"You're not coming, miss?" enquired Thompson civilly, but with evident
astonishment.
"_No!_" grunted Diana, turning indoors and clumping down the hall past
Miss Todd's study with footsteps heavy enough to justify the demand for
felt slippers.
She was too angry at the moment to mind what happened, and the
Principal, who was wise in her generation, allowed her to stamp by
unchallenged.
At tea-time, at preparation, at evening recreation, and at supper Diana
sat with a thunder-cloud on her face. When she went to bed it burst. She
squatted in a limp heap on the floor and raged at fate.
"I'm sorry, but you're really making a most fearful fuss!" said Loveday,
whose sympathy and sense of fitness were playing see-saw. "It's one of
the rules of the school that we don't go away for odd holidays. We may
have Friday to Monday at half-term, but even Mrs. Gifford never let
anyone off in the middle of the week to stay a night. You're only served
the same as everybody else. Why can't you take it sporting?"
"You don't understand!" wailed Diana, mopping her moist cheeks.
"Do get up from the floor, at any rate. It looks so weak to be huddled
up like a bundle of rags. You haven't brushed your hair yet. Don't be a
slacker, Diana!"
Thus morally prodded, Diana rose dejectedly, put on her bedroom
slippers, and took the hair-brush which her room-mate handed. She did
not like to be called a slacker, particularly by Loveday. The atmosphere
was not altogether harmonious: she felt as if their thoughts were
running round in circles, and had not yet met at a mutual angle of
comprehension.
"Loveday doesn't understand me--she thinks me a spoilt cry-baby!" she
kept repeating to herself, and the mere fact of realizing that attitude
in her companion prevented her from trying to explain the situation.
Hair-brush drill proceeded in dead silence, only broken by an occasional
gasping sigh from Diana, which echoed through the room about as
cheerfully as a funeral dirge. Loveday stared at her once or twice as if
about to make a remark, but changed her mind; she dawdled about the
room, opening drawers and rearranging her possessions. When at last she
was ready to put out the light she paused, and turned to the other
cubicle. Diana lay quietly with her nose buried in the pillow. Loveday
bent over her and dropped a butterfly kiss on the inch of cheek visible.
"Poor old sport! Was I rather a beast?" she said; then, hearing Miss
Beverley's patrol step in the passage, she dabbed the extinguisher on
the candle and hopped hastily into bed.
All night long Loveday had uneasy and troubled dreams about Diana. They
met and parted, and quarrelled and made it up; they did ridiculous and
impossible things, such as crawling through tubes or walking on roofs;
they were pursued by bulls, or they floated on rivers; yet always they
were together, and Loveday, with a feeling of compunction and no sense
at all of the ridiculous, was trying with a sponge to mop up Diana's
overflowing rivers of tears that were running down and making pools on a
clean table-cloth. She awoke with a start, feeling almost as if the
sheets were damp. Stealthy sounds came from the next cubicle, and the
candle was lighted there.
"What's the matter, Diana?"
"S-h-s-h!"
"Aren't you well?"
"Yes, I'm all right."
"What is it, then?"
As a grunt was the only answer, Loveday got up and drew aside the
curtains. Her room-mate was ready dressed, and was in process of combing
her light-brown locks and fixing in a slide.
"What the dickens are you up to, child?" ejaculated Loveday in
amazement.
Diana turned quickly, pulled Loveday down on to the bed, flung an arm
round her, and laid a fluffy head on her shoulder.
"Oh, _do_ be a sport!" she implored.
"But what do you want to do?"
"Look here--it's like this! I'm such a duffer at explaining, or I'd have
told you last night. My cousin, Lenox Clifford, has come over to England
with the American contingent. He has just thirty-six hours' leave, and
he rushed over to Petteridge to see the Burritts. Lenox and I were
brought up together; I've stayed whole months with them when Uncle Carr
had a ranch in New Mexico. It was Lenox who taught me to ride, and to
fish, and to row, and to skate. There's no one in the world so clever as
Lenox! It's his birthday to-day. It was for him I wanted to get those
cigarettes--I thought he'd like them in camp. I couldn't think of
anything else to send him that he could pack among his kit. Well, he's
going off this week to the front, and, as likely as not, he'll be killed
right away, and I'll never see him in this world again. It makes me
crazy to think of it. He's only ten miles away, and I mayn't even say
good-bye to him. Lenox, who's called me his 'little indispensable' ever
since I was four! If he was killed, and I hadn't had one last word with
him, I'd break my heart. Yes, I would! You English girls are so
cold--you laugh at me because I feel red-hot about things."
"We're not cold really. I didn't understand," said Loveday. "You never
told me all this about your cousin. Does Miss Todd know he's just off
for the front?"
"Cousin Coralie said so in her letter. That's what made me so furious. I
wouldn't have asked to go to Petteridge just for the sake of a holiday;
but when it's a case of seeing Lenox, perhaps for the last time, I'm
desperate. Rules are cruel things!"
"I do think Miss Todd might have made a special exception," said
Loveday, hugging the agitated little figure that clung to her. "I'm
sure Mrs. Gifford would have let you go. It's because Miss Todd is new,
and also because, when once she's said a thing, she sticks to it. You
were kept to 'bounds'."
"I know. But, Loveday, I'm going to break them this morning. I must say
good-bye to Lenox whatever happens. I'm going to cycle over to
Petteridge--now don't talk, for I've planned it all out. I can climb
down the ivy, and I left Wendy's bicycle outside last night on purpose.
I shall be back by half-past seven."
The audacity of the proposal nearly took Loveday's breath away.
"But--but----" she remonstrated.
"No buts," said Diana, getting up and putting on her tam-o'-shanter.
"But, you silly child, you'll never do it in the time, and they won't be
up when you get to Petteridge."
"Won't they? I rather guess they will! I told Cousin Cora I was coming
to breakfast at six o'clock, and they must send me back in the car,
bicycle and all."
"Did you put that in the letter you sent by the chauffeur?"
"Yes. Miss Todd didn't ask to read it. I reckon they'll have a nice
little meal waiting. If I can manage to slip in here before the gong
sounds for prayers, nobody need know a word about it except you,
Loveday, and I trust you not to tell."
"It's frightfully against my conscience," faltered Loveday doubtfully.
"Oh! Suppose you had a brother or a cousin of your own who was going out
to the front, wouldn't you want to say just one word of good-bye?
Especially when you hadn't seen him for a year! It isn't as if I were
doing anything that Father and Mother would be angry about. And Cousin
Cora will send me back in the car."
"It really is red-tape of Miss Todd," murmured Loveday yieldingly.
"Then you'll promise? Oh, good! What a sport you are! Help me on with my
coat. No, I don't need a scarf--it's quite warm. I must take my watch,
though."
The girls drew aside the curtains and looked out of the window. It was
only about half-past four; the stars were shining, and there was a thin,
horned moon hanging in the east, its radiant rim turned towards the spot
where the day would break. No hint of dawn was yet in the air, though
curlews were calling from the meadows by the lake. Bushes and garden
paths were plainly distinguished in the starlight.
"It'll be light soon," said Diana, "and, at any rate, I can see quite
well enough to ride. I shall just enjoy spinning along."
"Be careful going down hills," urged Loveday. "By the by, you're on the
early practising-list this morning--had you forgotten?"
"Oh, kafoozalum! So I am! Suppose Bunty comes to see why the piano's
silent? Well, I can't help it! I'm going! Do the best you can for me,
won't you?"
The close ivy which grew up the side of the house had stems as thick as
tent-posts. Diana let herself down over the sill, found a footing, and
descended hand over hand with the agility of a middy. Wendy's bicycle
was leaning against the wall at the bottom. She took it, and waved
good-bye to Loveday, then walked along the side-path that led to the
gate. A minute later she was free-wheeling down the hill that led
through the village in the direction of Petteridge Court. Loveday,
shaking her head, went back to bed.
"I'm thankful I'm not a prefect, or I should have felt bound to stop
her," she reflected. "If I'd had a brother or a cousin whom I hadn't
seen for a year, and who was just off to the front, I declare I'd have
done it myself. I don't blame her! But there'll be a row if Bunty
doesn't hear her scales going."
Exactly at a quarter to eight o'clock a Daimler car whisked through the
village, and stopped by the gate of Pendlemere Abbey. A small figure
hopped from it, and the chauffeur handed out a bicycle, then drove away
at full speed. Girl and bicycle crept through the laurels to the side
door, whence the former fled upstairs like a whirlwind. From the
intermediates' room came the strains of the Beethoven sonata with which
Loveday was at present wrestling. Diana, wrenching off coat and hat in
her bedroom, paused to listen.
"Bless her!" she muttered. "She's actually gone and taken my place! What
an absolute trump she is!"
It was not until morning school was over that the confederates had the
slightest chance to compare notes.
"Well, did you see him?" asked Loveday, when at last they met in their
bedroom to brush their hair for dinner.
Diana's eyes filled with tears.
"Yes, and Cousin Cora said she was glad I came. She lost her own boy,
you know--he went out with the American Red Cross, and was killed when a
Zepp. bombed the hospital. That's two years ago now. I wouldn't have
missed saying good-bye to Lenox for worlds. I'd quite a nice ride to
Petteridge. It got light directly, and the hills looked beautiful in the
dawn. Loveday, you did my practising for me!"
"Not exactly _for_ you! I took your half-hour, and you must take mine
instead, from half-past four till tea-time."
"Right-o! But did Bunty come in?"
"Yes; and I told her I wanted to go out with Nesta this afternoon. So I
do."
"You don't think anybody suspects?"
"Not a soul!"
Diana came close, and laid a hand on her room-mate's arm.
"Loveday, I'll never forget what you've done for me to-day--_never_! If
I ever get the chance to do anything for you in return, you bet I'll do
it, no matter _what_ it costs me! You've been a real mascot. There isn't
a girl in the school who'd have played up better, certainly not among
the seniors. I do think you're just ripping! Did Bunty look _very_
surprised to see you at the piano?"
"She did, rather; but I asked her if Nesta and I might have an exeat
this afternoon to go to the Vicarage. Mrs. Fleming gave us an open
invitation, you know, to come and see her sketches."
"What a brain! You really are too lovely!" chuckled Diana.