Armistice Day
Diana had a fairly retentive memory, and learned poetry without much
trouble. By far the hardest part of her punishment was to be forbidden
to visit the stable for a week. She was sure Baron would miss her, and
that, though he might receive other offerings of bread and carrots, he
would be looking out and pricking his ears in vain for the friend with
whom he had grown to be on such intimate terms.
Miss Chadwick, much annoyed at the accident to the cart, treated Diana
distantly. Instead of smiling at her when she came into the room, she
would look round her or over her head, and flash recognition to somebody
else. It was humiliating to find herself out of favour, especially as it
was noticed and commented on by her form-mates, all of whom were
candidates for Miss Chadwick's friendship. Wendy, toiling away at her
punishment task and grumbling at its difficulty, was not at all a
cheerful companion. Moreover, it rained--rained for two days and nights
without stopping; rained as it only can rain in a northern and
mountainous district in the month of November. The fells were covered
with mist, rivers ran down the garden paths, and from the eaves came a
continual and monotonous drip-drip-drip. Diana, whose letters from Paris
had been delayed, and who was home-sick in consequence, vibrated between
a fit of the blues and a wild outbreak of spirits. She had reached the
stage when she must either laugh or cry. She wandered restlessly round
the schoolroom on Saturday afternoon, while the others were amusing
themselves with reading, painting, or sewing.
"What a quiet set you are!" she raged. "Anyone would take you for 'Miss
Pinkerton's Academy for Young Ladies'! Why can't you wake up? This is
the dullest hole I've ever been in in my life. Magsie, stop that eternal
sewing, and be sporty! You look like a model for 'gentle maidenhood'. I
want to stick a pin into you, to see what would happen."
"Draw it mild, Stars and Stripes," answered Magsie, biting off the end
of her cotton. "And be careful about experiments with pins, or something
more may happen than you quite bargain for."
"I don't care! Anything for an excitement! I want some fun, and there'll
be a shindy if I don't get it. Wendy! Vi! Sadie! Do brace up and be
sports! Let's go on the upper landing and let off steam. It's better
than moping here."
Diana, by sheer force of will, carried the day, detached her friends
from their several occupations, and bore them, three steps at a time, up
the stairs to the top story. The upper landing was long, and had a
polished oak floor; it looked gloomy on this wet afternoon, and the rain
made a continual patter on the roof. In Diana's eyes, however, it
afforded a field for enterprise.
"I've a gorgeous idea!" she purred. "We'll pretend the floor's a
skating-rink. I've borrowed Loveday's roller skates, and we'll take it
in turns."
That roller skates were hardly meant for indoor amusement did not occur
to the girls. They agreed with enthusiasm. In order to share the
pleasure Vi and Sadie each buckled one on, and began a series of glides,
punctuated by pushes from the other foot. Wendy and Magsie, not to be
outdone, began to slide down the polished floor, and Tattie, who had
powers of invention, fetched a cake of soap and a sponge, and perfected
their activities by making a slippery course along the boards.
"It's like Alpine sports," exulted Wendy, taking a turn with one of the
skates, and skimming at top speed. "Can't you just imagine you're in
Switzerland? I want to make snowballs. Oh! why can't we do some
toboganning? I'd like to go tearing down a hill on a bob-sleigh. It
would be priceless."
"You shall do next best to it, my child," said Diana cheerily. "Trust
your granny to find the way for you. I've coasted indoors before now.
Wait a second, and you'll see!"
She disappeared, and in a short time returned with her drawing-board.
"You just squat on this," she explained, "and you go skimming down the
stairs like a water-chute. It'll be prime!"
"O-o-o-oh!"
"You _are_ priceless!"
"Great is Diana of the Americans!"
The improvised bob-sleigh worked admirably, and if it happened to catch,
there was always the banister to clutch at. Its popularity eclipsed even
that of the soap-slide and the roller skates. The fun waxed fast and
furious, not to say noisy. Bumpings and bursts of laughter began to echo
downstairs on to the lower stories. Miss Hampson, coming to unlock the
jam-cupboard in preparation for tea, stood for a moment in the corridor,
listening like a pointer. Then she thrust the key into her pocket and
dashed to the upper regions, just in time to behold Wendy, with scarlet
cheeks and flying hair, coasting down the stairs on a drawing-board. For
a moment Miss Hampson was without words. She stared, gasping, at Wendy,
who hurriedly picked up both herself and the drawing-board, and stood at
attention. The sporting party on the upper landing would gladly have
melted away had there been any possible cover, but there was not. Vi and
Sadie had not even time to kick off their roller skates. Miss Hampson's
keen eyes took in every detail of the trails on the polished oak floor,
and the soap-slide. Then they focused on Diana.
"I can imagine who's been the instigator of all this!" she said
sharply. "We've never been accustomed to such doings at Pendlemere
before. Miss Todd will be appalled at the damage you've done to the
floor. Go downstairs to the schoolroom at once, and remember that this
landing is prohibited in future. I'm astonished that all of you don't
know better!"
It was on the following Monday that tidings of the armistice were
proclaimed. The girls heard the church bells ringing when they were in
the middle of morning lessons, and unanimously "downed books and
pencils" and trooped to the front door, where Miss Todd was verifying
the good news from the butcher boy. For five minutes the school went
wild; everybody joined hands and danced in a circle on the drive,
shouting "Hurrah!" After all the long suspense and anxiety the relief
was stupendous. There was hardly a girl who had not some relation at the
front over whose safety she might now rejoice. That the shadow of more
than four years had at length been removed, seemed almost too good to be
true. Miss Todd and Miss Beverley had gone indoors to find all the
available stock of bunting; Miss Chadwick was already climbing on a
ladder up the porch to hang the Union Jack over the threshold.
"We ought each to have a flag of our own," said Geraldine, who was
intensely patriotic. "I'm going to ask Miss Todd if we may go and buy
some."
Wild schemes for celebrating the day floated in the air, varying from a
picnic to a bonfire.
"The ground is too wet yet for either," decreed Geraldine. "How could we
tramp over the fells when everything's a quagmire? And if you think you
can light a bonfire with damp wood, you're jolly well mistaken. We'll
collect sticks, and have one when they're dry. I plump for a flag-hunt.
There must be some in the shops."
Geraldine's suggestions were generally received with favour at
head-quarters. Miss Todd felt that the school was fizzing over, and must
find some outlet for its excitement. An expedition to Glenbury to buy
flags seemed feasible. They could have an early lunch, and start
immediately afterwards. Those who possessed bicycles could ride, and the
rest could walk a mile to Athelton village and catch the motor-omnibus
which passed there. Everybody was satisfied with the arrangement, and
the cyclists dispersed to oil their machines and pump tyres. Miss Todd
and Miss Chadwick were going in the trap; even Spot, with a bow of red,
white, and blue ribbon tied to his collar, was to accompany the party.
Diana did not possess a bicycle, so Wendy, out of sheer good-fellowship,
decided to lend hers to Sadie and to take the omnibus, so that she
herself might go in company with her chum. Nine girls and a mistress
started off in good time for Athelton, slightly in advance of the
cyclists, who expected to meet them in Glenbury. Even in the village of
Pendlemere and the little hamlet of Athelton people were making peace
rejoicings: flags hung from windows, and children ran about blowing tin
trumpets, whistles, and mouth-organs. A string of small urchins had
improvised a band, and paraded proudly along, banging on tin trays and
old kettles, and yelling the National Anthem. Men talked eagerly
together outside the post office; women stood at their doors and
watched, some radiant and excited, and some quieter, with a heartache
behind the smile, as they thought of those lads who would not come
marching home with the others.
The wild weather of the last few days seemed to have rolled away with
the war clouds. The sky was flecked with blue, and the trees by the
roadside were hung all over with drops that sparkled in the sun like
jewels. The brook that ran down from the fells was tumbling along in a
great brown stream, thundering under the bridge; robins, hopping in the
wet hedgerows, twittered their plaintive little autumn song. A woman
picked a marigold from her battered, rain-sodden garden, and handed it
over the wall to Wendy. Everybody seemed to want to speak, even to
strangers, and to tell how many of their relations had served in the
war.
At last the omnibus, ten minutes late, came rumbling along, and stopped
to pick up passengers. The school scrambled in, and with difficulty
found places. It was a jolting journey, much crammed up among country
people with baskets, but it was fun, even though the rattling almost
shook them off their seats, for all the passengers seemed so
good-tempered and jolly. On their arrival at Glenbury they found the
town _en fete_, with bunting hanging across the streets, and large
banners decorating the public buildings. The pavements were so full that
the crowd overflowed into the road. The cyclist members of the
Pendlemere party had arrived first, and had already bought flags, which
they pinned in their hats. The motor-omnibus contingent rushed off
immediately to secure any that were left, and to try to get some sweets.
Miss Todd, who had put up the cart at the Queen's Hotel, met them as
they were emerging from the confectioner's, sucking pear-drops and
toffee.
"You're lucky, for sweets are scarce," she commented. "Thanks very
much--I won't have one just now. Where are the others? Can you find
them? I'm going to take you all up the church tower to get a bird's-eye
view of the town. It will look nice to-day, with the flags out, and we
ought to be able to see for miles round."
Glenbury Church was almost as large as a cathedral, and possessed a
steeple which was a landmark for the neighbourhood. It was possible to
ascend as far as the flying buttresses, and to walk round a stone
causeway that encircled the tower just where the spire tapered up. The
entrance was in the nave, through a small oak door studded with nails.
The verger, aged, wheezy, and inclined to conversation, admitted them.
"You'll get a fine view," he said huskily; "you ought to be able to see
the prison and the cemetery, and, with luck, the lunatic asylum as well.
It's over amongst the trees to the east of Chatford. You can't miss it
if the sun's shining on the roof. There's been a-many folks up to-day."
The narrow corkscrew staircase was old and worn, and seemed to twist
round and round in an absolutely endless ascent as the girls toiled up
its hundred-and-eighty-six steps. To add to their difficulties, parties
of people kept coming down, and the problem of passing was difficult; it
could only be accomplished by the school flattening itself against the
walls while the descending sightseers gingerly made their way round the
narrow centre of the staircase. Tiny lancet windows here and there let
in streams of sunshine, but most of the pilgrimage was made in a
decidedly "dim religious light". Everyone's knees were aching when at
last they emerged through a small door on to the causeway. They were
standing on a flat terrace edged by a stone parapet just tall enough to
allow them to lean their arms on it and look over. Above them rose the
spire, tapering thinner and thinner till its slender point ended in a
weather-cock. Below, the town lay spread out like an architect's design.
They could see the roofs of all the buildings, and the streets, and the
lawns, and the pond in the park; all seemed viewed at an unusual angle,
for they were gazing down on the tops of things. Round the town
stretched miles of misty woods and fields, melting into the grey haze
of the fells. The objects of attraction mentioned by the verger--the
jail, cemetery, and lunatic asylum--were not particularly conspicuous,
and nobody was very anxious to localize them. The girls walked all round
the causeway, so as to get the view at every point.
"I suppose Pendlemere's over there?" said Diana, pointing a brown-gloved
finger in the direction of the fells.
"Yes; you can see the road we came by in the 'bus," explained Stuart.
"It winds round by Athelton. There's a much shorter way back, though, if
we were walking. Do you see that white farm-house on the hill above the
park? Well, you go through the fold-yard, across a field, and down a
lane, then there's a straight path over the moor, right to Pendlemere.
It saves two miles at least. Hilary and Nesta and I walked it once with
Miss Todd."
"Dinky, I should guess."
"Nice in summer, but it might be pretty wet now."
Most of the girls agreed that coming down steps was rather worse than
going up. Their ankles ached when they reached the bottom. The old
verger was taking the sixpences of another party of tourists, and
telling them, in his wheezy voice, to look out for the cemetery, the
jail, and the lunatic asylum--to him evidently the three prime points of
interest in the landscape. Spot, who had been fastened by his leash to
the railings outside, greeted the girls with noisy enthusiasm. Diana
untied him, and gave him a pear-drop.
"Bless him! He wants a bit of candy as well as the rest of us. He's a
'booful' dog with his patriotic ribbon on his collar. Stop barking,
that's a cherub boy, or you'll drive your Auntie Diana crazy!"
There was a short interval of shopping after the excursion up the tower,
and then Miss Todd pulled out her watch, compared it with the church
clock, and declared it was time to be returning. The motor-omnibus,
which started from Shipham, five miles away, was due in Glenbury at a
quarter to four. Miss Hampson marched her contingent to the
market-place, where it always stopped to pick up its passengers. Already
quite a crowd was waiting for it--people who had come in from the
neighbouring villages to see the peace rejoicings. There was no
policeman to insist on an orderly queue, so when the great scarlet
vehicle lumbered up, a wild scramble ensued. Some of the Pendlemere
girls were pushed in amongst the jostling throng, and some were elbowed
out. Wendy, Diana, and Miss Hampson, at the tail-end of the crush, tried
to scramble on to the step. The conductress, a brawny woman in uniform,
stopped them.
"Only room for one more," she shouted; "and I can't take that dog!"
"But we'd stand!" entreated Miss Hampson piteously.
"They're standing as it is! Can't take more than the 'bus is registered
for, or we'd break down at the hills. Room for one! Which of you's
coming? Be quick! I can't wait all day!"
It was a matter that had to be decided in a moment. Miss Hampson,
knowing that seven of her girls were already packed in the omnibus, felt
that she must go and escort them. She turned desperately to Wendy and
Diana, and panted:
"Miss Todd won't have started yet. Run to the 'Queen's'. She'll take you
back in the trap."
Then she allowed herself to be hustled inside by the impatient
conductress.
The two girls left behind stood staring for a minute after the
retreating omnibus. Spot, straining at his leash, barked his loudest.
"Well, I don't envy them their drive. They're packed like sardines,"
commented Wendy.
"I guess we've got the best of it," agreed Diana.
Evidently the next thing to be done was to walk to the Queen's Hotel and
report themselves, to Miss Todd. Diana was even beginning to speculate
whether she could advance any possible argument, such as a desire to
save strain on her mistress's arm, whereby she might induce the
Principal to allow her to take the reins and drive Baron home. They went
along Westgate, and turned the corner of Hart Street; in another two
minutes they would have been in Castle Street. Then fate interfered.
From a narrow alley on the right came sounds resembling explosives, and
three small boys, yelling gleefully, shot out into the road. Wendy,
pausing to ascertain the cause of the excitement, ejaculated the one
word, "Squibs!"
"Gee whiz! You don't mean to say they've got fireworks!" exclaimed
Diana. "Then I'm not going back till I've bought some. Here,
sonny!"--catching a bare-headed urchin by the shoulder--"tell me where
you got those squibs, and I'll give you my last bit of candy. Mrs.
Cobbes's in Beck Street? Where's Beck Street? Is it far? You ought to
come and show us for that big bit of candy."
"Can't! Got to go 'ome to my tea," returned the youth, whose small teeth
were already in the toffee. "Cobbes's is down there!" pointing an arm
like a sign-post in the direction of a by-street.
Diana and Wendy did not even wait to discuss the expediency of thus
side-tracking. The magic lure of fireworks drew them on, and with one
accord they trotted off to seek Mrs. Cobbes's shop. It took a little
hunting about and asking to find it; and then Mrs. Cobbes was stout and
slow, and seemed to need an eternity of time to wrap up their purchases
in an old piece of newspaper.
"We shall have to hurry!" said Diana, emerging at last, hugging her
parcel, and dragging Spot away from the pursuit of an impudent and
provocative tabby cat, with a torn ear, that was spitting at him from
the railings.
They did hurry. They nearly ran up Jessamine Street and Vine Street,
and clattered up the steps behind the post office into Castle Street,
and tacked through the crowd into the yard of the Queen's Hotel. A whole
row of conveyances was standing with shafts down, but the familiar
governess car was not among them. Perhaps it had been put inside the
coach-house.
"Miss Todd's trap, did you say?" replied the ostler, removing the
fag-end of a cigarette from his lips. "Why, she's gone! I harnessed her
only five minutes ago!"
Here was a blow indeed! They had never expected Miss Todd to drive away
without them, though, considering that she did not know they had been
left behind by the omnibus, she was scarcely to be blamed for doing so.
The two girls looked serious as they walked into the street again.
Somehow they felt aggrieved.
"If the rest haven't started, Magsie and Vi might take us behind them on
their bicycles," suggested Wendy dubiously. "Hodson's would know if
they've gone. They were to call for some parcels there."
It proved a forlorn hope. The girl behind the counter assured them that
a party on bicycles, wearing brown tam-o'-shanters, had come and claimed
their purchases, and ridden off up the street ringing their bells. The
next motor-omnibus would come through at seven. It was always crowded,
and no doubt would be particularly full to-night.
"There's nothing else for it, Di--we shall have to walk," said Wendy
blankly.
"Whew! It's a pretty good step."
"Six miles."
"Je-hoshaphat!"
"Well, it's no use waiting for the 'bus. We should never get places."
"Let's take that short cut that Stuart was talking about. She said it
saves two miles."
"What a brain wave! It's only a quarter past four. We'd be home long
before dark. You can walk four miles an hour, can't you?"
"Ra-ther!"
So they turned across the park, and up the hill to the white farm, and
through the fold-yard, and over the field, and along the lane on to the
open moor. They felt decidedly pleased with themselves, for it was far
nicer here than plodding along the high road. The ground was not so wet
as Stuart had prognosticated; indeed the path was quite firm and well
trodden, and in parts was even paved with stones. Spot, released from
his leash, careered about like a mad creature. Diana could not help
dancing a few steps, and Wendy, though she was growing hungry, stopped
grousing to admire the view. The sun, a red ball among grey masses of
mist, was sinking behind the fells, and a golden glow tipped the brown,
withered heather. The whole atmosphere seemed to reflect peace.
Overhead, little radiant clouds stretched themselves into the semblance
of angels' wings moving lightly across the evening sky. To watch them
was like gazing at the portals of a heavenly world.
The girls walked along as briskly as they could, but on the rough
moorland path it was impossible to keep the pace at four miles an hour.
They were going uphill, and, unless they went in single file, one of
them, owing to the narrowness of the track, was obliged to keep stepping
into the heather. At the top of the crest they dipped down again into a
high, narrow valley between two fells. It was swampy here, and in places
there were quite wide pieces of water to jump across. The path, which
had been growing worse and worse, finally separated into a fork. The
girls came to a halt, and stood looking first at one track, then at the
other. They were in doubt which to choose, for each looked equally bad.
They had turned so often that they had rather lost their sense of
locality.
"I should think Pendlemere must be over there," said Wendy, pointing to
the right, but looking frankly puzzled.
"Well, you know the place better than I do," answered Diana, following
her lead.
So they went to the right, through a small thicket of hazel-bushes, over
some rocks, and on up the bleak fell-side. The sun had disappeared, and
the little golden angels' wings had given place to sombre, grey clouds.
It was growing distressingly dark. A spot or two of rain began to fall.
The path, degenerated into a mere sheep track, was increasingly
difficult to trace. Though neither would admit it, both the girls felt
uneasy. They could not recognize any familiar landmarks to show them
their whereabouts. Suppose darkness came on, and found them still
wandering about on the moor?
"Do you think we've come the right way?" asked Diana at last.
Wendy looked round in the fading light, hoping against hope to see the
corner of Pendlemere gleaming below her in the valley. By now it
certainly ought to be visible. Nothing in the shape of a lake, however,
appeared in the landscape; only an interminable waste of brown heather
under threatening rain-clouds.
"No," said Wendy, with a shake in her voice. "As a matter of fact, I
believe we're lost."
Diana was plucky as a rule, but she was very tired now, and hungry as
well. Two somethings that may have been rain-drops splashed down her
cheeks; she turned her face away from Wendy as she wiped them off.
"What's to be done?" she asked huskily.
"Go back, I suppose. Goodness knows where this will lead to!"
"We ought to have taken that other turning."
"It's too dark to go that way now. We'd better get back to Glenbury, and
try for the 'bus."
Very soon the girls realized that it was getting too dark even to
distinguish the path at all. They stumbled blindly on through the
heather, conscious only that they were going downhill, but whether they
were really retracing their steps or not, it was impossible to tell.
Spot, whose spirits had failed him, followed at their heels. Faster and
faster fell the darkness; the girls linked arms to avoid getting
separated. They were both thoroughly frightened. Would they be obliged
to spend the night upon the moor? If there were only some means of
finding the way back to Glenbury!
Suddenly, a long distance in front of them, a light flashed out, as
though a candle had been placed in a cottage window. Hope revived. If
only they could reach some human habitation, they could ask to be
directed. They dragged their tired feet along, splashing in the dark
through puddles, sinking in soft ground, or stumbling over stones. It
seemed an interminable tramp before at last they struck the end of a
wall, and, feeling their way with their hands, groped along till they
reached a gate. The next moment they were rapping with their knuckles on
a door.
It was opened by a thin, middle-aged woman, who stared at them in
suspicious amazement as they asked to be directed to Glenbury; then,
seeing that they were only girls with their hair down their backs, she
cautiously invited them to come in. They accepted thankfully. After the
dark and the damp outside, the farm-kitchen seemed a haven of refuge.
A little boy, who had been sitting by the fireside, sprang up at their
entrance, and faced them with wondering eyes. Something in the small
figure seemed familiar. Diana's mind galloped rapidly back to a day in
late September when she had crawled along a tree-trunk across a racing
torrent, with a frightened, blue-jerseyed atom of humanity creeping
behind her.
"Gee-whiz! I guess you're Harry!" she exclaimed heartily.
The mental thermometer of the kitchen, which had stood at about
freezing-point, suddenly thawed into spring. Harry, recognizing his
former friend in need, hastily explained to his mother, who turned to
the girls with a light in her face.
"I've always wanted to thank you," she said to Diana; "but I never knew
who it was who'd helped Harry home that day. Sit you down, both of you,
by the fire. You'll let me make you a cup of tea?"
Rest, warmth, and tea were what the tired girls craved. They sat on the
settle, with a little round table in front of them, and ate the scones
and blackberry jam that with true northern hospitality were piled on
their plates. Harry's father came in presently, and, after a whispered
conversation with his wife in the back-kitchen, offered to take a
lantern and escort the girls back to Pendlemere.
"It's a goodish step, but you're rested now, maybe, and it's no use
risking missing the 'bus at Glenbury, and having to walk it after all."
A very tired Diana, and an equally weary Wendy arrived at the school
just when Miss Todd was getting absolutely desperate about their
absence. She had sent Miss Chadwick to Athelton to meet the seven
o'clock omnibus, and the teacher had returned to report that they had
not come on it. Miss Todd forbore to scold two such limp wrecks, and
sent them straight upstairs, with orders for hot baths, bed, and basins
of bread-and-milk. Explanations were reserved for next day, and they did
not get off scot free by any means. Miss Todd had an aggravatingly
mathematical mind. She calculated the time the omnibus left the
market-place, the exact moment when she herself started in the trap from
the Queen's Hotel, the distance between these two given points, and in
how many minutes at the rate of not less than three miles an hour two
ordinary walkers should accomplish it. The answer left ten whole minutes
to spare, and of that ten minutes of the afternoon she demanded a strict
account from Diana and Wendy.
The sinners, whose bones still ached after their adventure, appeared in
such crushed spirits that they did not receive the entire scolding their
head mistress had intended, and were for once dismissed with a caution.
"She didn't say we mightn't go to the bonfire," sneezed Wendy, on their
way down the passage. Wendy as usual had taken a cold in her head.
"I kept the squibs dry, thank goodness!" sighed Diana. "Nobody knows
about them yet, so we'll let them off as a surprise. Won't they all just
jump when they hear them? I'm looking forward to that bonfire as the
event of my life!"