Chinese Lanterns
Aldred's plot had been only too successful. Lorna's nerves were not of
the strongest, and the apparition in the passage had been utterly
unexpected; so, although she did not actually lose consciousness, she
lay for a few moments with her eyes shut, and considerably terrified the
other girls.
"Bring some water, somebody!" said Mabel, who was kneeling on the floor,
holding the luckless Fatima in her arms.
"I'll get it!" cried Aldred, springing up before anyone else could
volunteer, and darting hurriedly out of the room. It had just occurred
to her that she might probably be blamed for this incident, and she
wanted to avoid that if it were still possible.
"You must go, Nellie!" she whispered to the housemaid. "The girls will
tell Miss Drummond if they catch you, and you'll get into trouble!"
"But I thought it was to be a bit of a joke, miss!" remonstrated Nellie,
who could not see where the fun had come in.
"They don't see the joke. You'd better run! Do you want Miss Drummond to
find you playing ghost, when you ought to be turning down the beds?"
Aldred had been forcing Nellie along the passage as she spoke, and now
she tore the sheet from the latter's shoulders, and flung it down the
back stairs.
"Go and wash your face!" she commanded. "I didn't ask you to whiten it.
You've made far more of this than I intended."
Nellie departed to the kitchen regions, highly offended. She considered
she had been badly treated, but, as she certainly did not wish Miss
Drummond to learn anything of the affair, she took Aldred's advice,
washed her face, put the sheet away, and only aired her grievance to her
fellow-servants.
Aldred, congratulating herself upon the success of her promptitude,
fetched a glass of water to the classroom. Lorna had in a great measure
recovered herself, but she was still pale and shaky, and anxious to
claim sympathy.
"I saw something all in white in the passage!" she was assuring the
other girls.
"Nonsense!" said Aldred brusquely. "How could you? Drink this, and
you'll feel better."
"She must have seen something!" declared Phoebe and Ursula.
"Well, there's nothing there now, at any rate. Go and look for
yourselves, if you don't believe me!"
"Perhaps the Third Form were playing us a trick," suggested Dora.
"It's extremely probable," returned Aldred. "Phyllis Carson loves
practical jokes."
"It must have been Phyllis," said Lorna. "It looked very like her, and
it is just the kind of thing she'd enjoy doing."
"It was a great shame of whoever it was, to give you such a scare!" said
Mabel. "It's never safe to frighten people, and I hate sham ghosts
myself. Do you feel well enough to go on with the scene, or shall we
stop for to-night?"
This incident (of which Alfred never divulged the authorship) had at
least the desired effect of considerably improving Fatima's acting.
Perhaps a nervous remembrance of what she had really seen returned to
her in future when she opened the door, and supplied the lack of
imagination; at any rate, she would give a very passable start and
scream, and her whole manner was more interested and full of life. Even
Bluebeard, owing to Aldred's exertions, learnt to suppress his ill-timed
mirth, and to thunder as a domestic tyrant should; and the fairy, if not
exactly graceful, to wave her wand elegantly, instead of brandishing it
like a hockey stick or golf club. Having thus far perfected the business
of the play, the girls turned their attention to costumes and scenery.
"We've only ten days left, so we must be very quick," said Mabel. "I've
written home to Mother to send us anything suitable that she can spare.
I think she'll let us have two gauzy veils and some glass bangles that
she got in Jerusalem; they'd do nicely for Fatima and me. And perhaps
she'll lend two daggers for the Brothers; but if she won't, we shall
have to make cardboard ones, and cover them with silver paper."
"My sister has promised to send us some Chinese lanterns," said
Phoebe. "They'll look lovely, and give quite an Eastern air to the
thing."
"Yes, we want the first scene to look like a piece out of the Arabian
Nights," agreed Agnes Maxwell. "I'm rather anxious about Dora's costume;
how are we to manage the beard?"
"Would blue Berlin wool do?"
"Rather expensive--we should have to use so much of it."
"A piece of blue tissue paper, cut into shreds?"
"No, thanks! I should look like a fly-catcher!" laughed Dora.
"Then I don't know."
"I can manage a beard, if you'll leave it to me," said Aldred. "I have a
splendid idea."
"What?"
"Get a piece of new rope, and untwist it and comb it out; the tow is
exactly like stiff, white hair. Then we'll dip it in strong Reckitt's
Blue, and let it dry."
"Splendid!" chorused the girls.
Aldred's fertile brain was full of plans and suggestions. She not only
made a most successful beard, but contrived fierce moustaches for the
Brothers, and (greatest triumph of all!) even twined the tow into long,
flaxen ringlets for Ursula, which certainly suited her appearance as a
fairy better than her own dark locks.
Each Form was to have its act on a separate evening during the last week
of the term, and the Fourth was accorded the privilege of the opening
performance.
"Miss Drummond calls it a 'privilege'," said Phoebe, "but I think it's
a doubtful one! It's like singing the first song at a concert. I always
hate starting anything!"
"We shan't be quite so much criticized as if we came last, though,"
said Myfanwy. "They can't compare our acting with the others'."
"No; and if the Sixth Form are getting up anything very grand and
literary, 'Bluebeard' would sound pantomimey after it," agreed Mabel.
"And we shall have got ours over, and can enjoy the others' nights with
free minds," added Agnes.
Nevertheless, it was a responsibility to feel that they must make a good
beginning, and all worked hard to bring each little detail as near
perfection as possible. The entertainments were always given in the
dining-hall; it was a big room, with a door at each end, and had a brass
rod fixed permanently to support a curtain, so that it was very
convenient for performances. The actors could use the kitchen entrance,
and have the large pantry beyond for a dressing-room, while the audience
came in by the ordinary door.
The first scene was "An Apartment in Bluebeard's Palace", and the Form
displayed all its ingenuity in trying to make a brave show of barbaric
magnificence. Several gay shawls were hung over clothes-horses, and
draped with scarves and sashes; the sofa, covered with a Turkish rug,
represented an Eastern divan; Miss Drummond had lent a small Moorish
table from the drawing-room and a hammered brass tray, with a quaint
coffee-pot--contributions which greatly helped the Oriental effect. But
the most precious "property" of all was the miscellaneous collection of
Chinese lanterns that Phoebe's sister had sent. They were very fine
ones, of various sizes, shapes, and colours; and added such a gala touch
to the rest of the scenery as to make Bluebeard's Palace seem _en
fête_.
"The difficulty is to know where to hang them," said Aldred, holding up
a combination of red, blue, and green, and admiring the brilliance of
the result.
"We must fix a string tight across the room," said Ursula. "We can
fasten it to a picture clip on either side, and then the lanterns will
hang all in a line, just above the divan."
"They'll look beautiful, because they'll shine exactly on Fatima's
head," added Aldred.
"Oh, but we mustn't light them! Miss Drummond particularly said so;
she's so terribly afraid of fire. We're only allowed to use them for
ornaments."
"How stupid! What's the good of them, if they mayn't be lighted?"
demanded Aldred impatiently. "They'd be perfectly safe!"
"I dare say they would; but Miss Drummond is nervous, and she won't let
us, so that's an end of it!"
"Miss Drummond is most absurdly tiresome and fussy!" thought Aldred,
when the string had been arranged, and the row of beautiful lanterns was
swinging overhead. "There couldn't possibly be any danger when they're
hanging so high; we wouldn't stick our heads into them!"
She was alone in the room, for the other girls had gone into the pantry
to dress. She could hear from their suppressed giggles that they found
the robing nearly the most amusing part of the performance. Her own
costume would not take long to put on, so she was not at all in a hurry,
and had lingered behind to add a few finishing touches to the scenery.
"Every one of them has a candle," she continued to herself. "I suppose
Phoebe's sister made them quite ready; she evidently expected them to
be lighted. It would be such a gorgeous illumination! I declare I'll try
it, to see how it looks."
With the aid of a chair, she managed to set all the candles burning, and
stood back against the curtain to admire the effect.
"It's perfectly lovely," she exclaimed; "like a real fairy tale palace!
I never saw anything prettier--not even at the pantomime. Oh, I must
leave them as they are! Perhaps Miss Drummond does not really mind, only
she feels bound to give tiresome orders. What an astonishment it will be
for the others, when they come back! Now I must fly!"
It was within twenty minutes of the opening of the entertainment,
therefore high time for Aldred to dress. She scrambled into her long
dressing-gown, and put on her turban without much enthusiasm; her part
was so small that she knew she would attract little attention, and
probably not receive even a clap. Mabel was already arrayed in the
pretty, gauzy robes that her mother had sent, and made a charming Sister
Anne, though her blue eyes, carnation cheeks, and red-gold hair were
hardly of Eastern appearance.
"You might, of course, be a Circassian; they're often very fair," said
Aldred. "You look far nicer than Fatima. If you're ready, let us go and
take a last peep at the stage."
Aldred expected to give her friend a great surprise when she opened the
door, but she was not prepared for the scene that greeted them as they
entered the room. The lanterns, the beautiful Chinese lanterns, instead
of hanging proudly on their string, and shedding a brilliant lustre over
the scene, were lying here and there upon the floor and on the divan. By
the greatest good fortune none had yet caught fire, but the danger was
great, and at any moment the thin paper might be set in a blaze.
Aldred grasped the situation instantly. The flames, rising up from
below, had burnt through the string, and brought the whole row crashing
down. She rushed forward and began blowing out the candles as fast as
she could; with Mabel's help it was only the work of a minute, and no
damage was done, but it was a miracle that the flimsy scarves and the
wreaths of paper flowers had escaped.
"Who can have lighted them?" exclaimed Mabel, her cheeks quite pale at
the unexpected disaster. "We left all perfectly safe."
Aldred did not reply; she was busy adjusting her turban, which had
tumbled off in her hurry.
"I wonder if it could be Dora?" continued Mabel. "She's such a
scatter-brain, she always does silly things!"
"It does not matter so much who's done it, as how we're going to set
these lanterns up again in time," replied Aldred. "Where's the ball of
string? Here! you hold one end, and we'll thread it through; I'll soon
climb up and fasten it. I'll pull the burnt piece off first. Raise it up
a little higher, please. That's right! Now, just a thought tighter, and
it will do."
"How splendid you are!" sighed Mabel admiringly. "You have such presence
of mind, blowing out the candles so quickly, and getting everything
right in less than five minutes; nobody could see that we've had an
accident. It looks just the same. I should like to know who----"
"The audience is coming in!" interrupted Aldred. "We must scurry back
and see if the others are ready. There isn't a second to be lost. Miss
Drummond can't bear to be kept waiting, and we promised to begin
punctually at half-past."
The performance was an enormous success; of that there was not the
slightest shadow of doubt. Thanks to Aldred's diligent drilling, the
actresses "played up", and rendered their parts with a dramatic fervour
that quite astonished the audience. Bluebeard threatened in a voice of
growling thunder, and frowned fiercely in his character of tyrant.
Fatima shrieked in such frantic agony when she opened the cupboard door
that she made everybody start, and her swoon afterwards was particularly
easy and natural; she scrubbed the incriminating stain on the key with
desperate zeal, and pleaded for her life with heart-breaking sobs and an
air of tragic appeal. Sister Anne looked out of the window with pitiful
anxiety, and wrung her slim, white hands in melodramatic despair; while
the Brothers dashed in with "neck-or-nothing" haste and slew the despot,
who died with such groans and convulsive twitchings as to fully satisfy
the cause of justice, and point an appropriate moral.
There was a storm of clapping at the end, as the principal "stars"
formed in line to make their bows. Aldred, in her minor character, was
standing at the back; but much to her amazement there was a sudden call
for "Stage Manager", and Mabel dragged her forward to present her to the
audience.
"Hurrah! Bravo! Well done!" cried both girls and teachers, who, knowing
the previous achievements of the Fourth Form, recognized the amount of
cleverness needed to have so enormously raised the standard of acting,
and appreciated Aldred's exertions.
"You must have a better part yourself, next time, my dear," said Miss
Drummond, as she offered her congratulations. "You can teach others so
well that we should like to see you taking a leading character.
Everything was beautifully managed; there were no delays, and no
hesitations. The grouping and attitudes were most artistically arranged,
and the dresses and scenery lovely. You have made an excellent start,
and the other Forms will have to look to their laurels if they wish to
beat the Fourth."
It was very gratifying to Aldred to feel that her trouble had really
been rewarded with success. The other girls, who had grumbled at her
coaching and criticism during the rehearsals, were pleased now that they
found themselves able to perform in such a superior manner, and generous
enough to acknowledge how much they owed her. For once she felt she had
risen to the height of popularity, and her ambition was satisfied. It
was a pleasant ending to her first term, and a favourable omen for those
to follow.
There was only one little jarring note in all her happiness, and that
was the accident to the lanterns. In the excitement of the play she had
completely forgotten all about it, but Mabel mentioned the matter when
they had gone to bed that night.
"It's so very strange who could have lighted them!" she said. "We all
knew Miss Drummond had forbidden it."
"Whoever did will get into trouble, then, if any fuss is made," replied
Aldred.
"Yes, if it were mentioned at head-quarters, of course; but I didn't
think of telling Miss Drummond."
"What were you going to do?"
"Only ask the other girls. It surely must have been Dora!"
"If we begin to talk about it, perhaps someone may mention it outside
the Form, and it would get to Miss Drummond's ears. She would be very
angry."
"She certainly would, because it really was dangerous. If the string had
broken through while any of us were underneath, we might have been burnt
to death in our light, flimsy clothes."
"It's all ended safely now, though. Isn't it rather mean to try to
ferret it out? You don't want to get someone into a scrape."
"I don't indeed!" agreed Mabel. "Perhaps, as you say, it's as well to
let things be. Ursula and Dora are always quarrelling, and if Ursula
turned spiteful and gave a hint to Miss Bardsley, she'd feel bound to
make enquiries."
"And we should probably never be allowed to use Chinese lanterns again."
"Oh! That would be dreadful! Phoebe says her sister told her we could
keep these at school, and I thought we might act 'Catskin' at Easter,
and carry them in procession."
"Then, mum's the word!"
"Yes, you're right. You always do give good advice! Besides, it never
struck me I might get anyone into trouble. You're such a thoroughly
considerate darling, you make me quite ashamed of myself. What a
glorious time we've had! I've enjoyed myself so much. Good night!"
Mabel turned over on her pillows, snuggled a little more cosily under
the eider-down, and promptly went to sleep; but Aldred lay awake for a
long time, thinking, and in spite of her brilliant triumph of the
evening the tenor of her thoughts was far from satisfactory and
agreeable.