The Summer Term
In spite of Enid's advice not to worry about the Caesar translation,
Patty could not help taking the matter deeply to heart. Though none of
the girls openly accused her, she felt that the unjust suspicion clung
to her, and that many were undecided whether to consider her guilty or
innocent. That she, of all in the class, the one who had striven so hard
for the cause of right and honour, should be obliged to remain with this
blot upon the white page of her school career, seemed the greatest trial
which she could be called upon to bear. The worst of it was that she
could not even discuss it freely with her friends. The more she thought
about the affair, the more sure she felt that the book must have
belonged to Muriel, and the latter's rather conscious manner only
confirmed her suspicion. The class, finding that Muriel disliked to hear
the subject mentioned, naturally concluded that she was ashamed for her
cousin's name to be connected with anything dishonourable, and by
common consent never alluded to it in her presence. Muriel avoided Patty
more than ever, confining herself strictly to Vera Clifford's company,
and keeping aloof from the rest of the girls, who, indeed, found her so
supercilious and disagreeable that they were not very anxious to be on
friendly terms with her. Miss Harper, since burning the translation, had
not referred to it again; yet, though she did not apparently relax any
of the trust which she usually placed in her pupils, all were conscious
of an increased vigilance in her observation of them.
"She's watching us," said Avis one day. "I can't quite describe how, but
I feel as if Miss Harper knew all that I was doing and saying, and even
thinking. I believe her eyes and ears must be sharper than anybody
else's. She seems to notice such tiny little things, and then speaks of
them quite a long time afterwards. She remembered perfectly well, I'm
sure, that it was Beatrice Wynne who used always to borrow other
people's pencils last term and never give them back, because when
Beatrice lent her one yesterday she said so pointedly that she should
return it."
It was impossible to tell from the teacher's manner whether she
considered the translation had really belonged to Patty. Her remark at
the time about the initials certainly favoured such a supposition, but
she made no difference in her behaviour, and, indeed, several times
praised Patty's work during the Latin lesson. The ownership of the book
seemed likely to remain an unsolved mystery, one of those unpleasant
occurrences which happen sometimes in a school, to the grief of the
mistresses and the consternation of all concerned. The only thing which
it was possible for Patty to do was to live the affair down, and trust
that time and patient waiting might one day re-establish her reputation
absolutely and beyond a doubt in the opinion of both teachers and
comrades. The remainder of the spring term passed without any special
event, and by Easter Mrs. Hirst wrote to say that the children were now
in the best of health, that scarlet-fever germs had long ago been
disinfected away, and that all the family were looking forward eagerly
to her return. Patty thought there never had been such a meeting, or
such glorious holidays as followed afterwards. It was almost worth while
to have been absent for seven whole months to experience the joy of such
a warm welcome as she found waiting for her at home. The little ones
clung to her like flies round a honey pot, and even the baby, grown out
of all knowledge, soon made friends with the sister whom he had
forgotten. She had several delightful drives with her father when he
went on his rounds, and in the long chats with her mother, after the
younger ones were in bed, she was able to pour out most of her troubles,
and get that comfort and good counsel which mothers always seem to know
best how to give.
"I wish Muriel would like me better!" confided Patty. "It seems no use;
however hard I try to be nice to her, everything I do is always wrong.
Am I really keeping my promise to Uncle Sidney, when she never gives me
the chance to be her friend?"
"Certainly, if you are trying your best," said Mrs. Hirst. "We cannot
force our friendship where it is not wanted. You can await your
opportunity of doing Muriel a good turn; some day she may appreciate you
better. Kindness is never wasted, and even if it does not seem to have
any immediate result, it is doing its own quiet work, and may return to
you afterwards in ways which you never expect. We rarely find people
exactly to our liking, so the best plan is to pick out their good
points, and ignore the disagreeable side as much as we can. One of the
greatest secrets in life is to know how to smile and wait. I am sure you
will never regret being patient with Muriel, and who can tell that she
may not change her views, and learn to value what she now throws away."
Patty went back to school much consoled, and in a far more cheerful
frame of mind. She was determined that she would not let Muriel's
unkindness distress her any more. She would not avoid her cousin, but,
on the other hand, she would not make advances which would lay her open
to a rebuff, or give any opportunity for that scornful treatment which
had hurt her so much in the past. As her mother suggested, she would be
ready to help if occasion offered, but there seemed no need to press
services which were evidently neither desired nor welcome. Having
settled that point with her own conscience, Patty began thoroughly to
enjoy the summer term. The Priory was delightfully situated in the midst
of pretty country, and the girls were allowed many rambles in the woods
or on the heathery common. Occasionally the botany class would make an
excursion, under the superintendence of Miss Rowe, to obtain specimens
of wild flowers, which they afterwards pressed and pasted in books; and
once Miss Lincoln took the whole of the lower school to hunt for fossils
among the heaps of shale lying at the mouth of an old quarry. She
herself was both a keen geologist and naturalist, and tried to interest
her girls in all the specimens of stones, flowers, birds, or insects
which they found during their walks. "If you will only learn to talk
about things instead of people," she said, "you will avoid a great deal
of disagreeable gossip and ill-natured conversation. The wide world is
full of beautiful objects, and the more you know about them the less
concern you will take over your neighbours' doings and failings. Real
culture consists largely in being able to discuss things instead of
persons. If you will lay up plenty of interests while you are young, you
will find you have been like bees gathering honey, and you will have a
store to draw upon for the rest of your lives quite independent of all
outside happenings, or good or bad fortune which may come to you."
It was not every day, of course, that the girls could be taken for long
country walks; there were many other occupations at The Priory which
were quite as delightful. During the summer term the callisthenic class
was given up, and swimming was held instead in the large bath beyond the
gymnasium. Patty, who had not yet had any opportunity of learning to
swim, looked forward with great eagerness to her first dip. The bath was
very nicely arranged, with a broad walk round it, where onlookers could
stand and watch, a row of small dressing-rooms at each side, and a
platform at the deep end, from which diving might be performed. Patty
found that she and Jean Bannerman were the only ones in the class who
had not already had some practice in the water. The two beginners donned
their costumes and made their initial plunge together, therefore, at the
shallow end. They would have been quite content to splash about like
ducks, watching the more advanced members, who were floating and
swimming as if in their natural element; that, however, Miss Latimer
would not allow. Placing a lifebuoy round Patty's waist, she decreed
that she must commence to learn her strokes, and showed her carefully
how these ought to be done. There was a long plank across the bath upon
which the teacher could stand, and by means of a rope attached to the
lifebuoy, could hold up her pupil until she had mastered the art of
keeping herself afloat. Patty found it a great deal more difficult than
she had at first imagined. She floundered and struggled helplessly in
her efforts to carry out Miss Latimer's directions, foolishly opened her
mouth in the water, spluttered, choked, and was very glad to take a
rest, and allow Jean to have a turn instead. The latter, who had bathed
often at the seaside, got on much better, and was able to inspire Patty
with confidence for fresh efforts when she plucked up her courage to try
again.
"You needn't be in the least afraid," said Miss Latimer encouragingly.
"Everyone finds it hard at first, just like learning to ride a bicycle,
or to skate, or any other unaccustomed mode of locomotion. You will soon
get used to the movements, and then you will never forget them all your
life; it will be as easy and natural to you as walking."
"I wish I'd got to that stage," said Patty. "Just at present I feel like
one of those toy tin floating ducks that has lost its tail, and
over-balances when you put it into the water. I can't remember that I
ought to use both my arms and my legs. How well you managed, Jean!"
"I was practising on my bed this morning," said Jean. "Cissie and Maggie
showed me the strokes. It's really rather like what a frog does, isn't
it?"
"Come along; I can't waste time," said Miss Latimer. "I can give you
each one more turn with the lifebuoy, and then I shall expect you to
hold one another up, and try by yourselves."
By the third lesson Patty had improved so much that she was able to
manage without assistance, and Miss Latimer declared that she must swim
the entire length of the bath alone, from the steps to the deep end. All
the class stopped floating and diving, and sat down on the edge to
watch her, so that it was somewhat of an ordeal to have to perform her
feat before a row of laughing eyes. She did very nicely, indeed, in the
shallow part, where she could put a surreptitious foot to the bottom;
but when it came to the middle, and all had to depend upon her aquatic
skill, she grew nervous.
"Go on, Patty, you're all right!" called Enid.
"Throw your neck back!" cried Miss Latimer.
"Go on, Patty, keep it up!"
"Don't be done, Patty!"
"She's going under!"
"No, she's not!"
"Keep at it, Patty!"
"Don't be afraid!"
"You'll get across all right!"
In spite of her companions' encouraging remarks, however, Patty did not
succeed this time. I suppose she forgot to keep her neck thrown back, or
to draw in her breath properly; at any rate, up went her heels, and down
went her head, and she seemed suddenly to turn a kind of somersault in
the water. Instantly all the members of the class dived to her rescue,
so bent on putting into performance the life-saving which they had
practised, that they almost pulled her to pieces in their efforts.
"Oh, you've nearly dragged my arms off!" cried poor Patty, when at last
she was in safety at the shallow end again.
"You might have been drowned if it hadn't been for us!" exclaimed Cissie
Gardiner, hysterically.
"Hardly that, while I was standing by," remarked Miss Latimer, with a
smile. "But Patty has given you such good practice in rescuing a
drowning person, that you ought to be quite grateful to her."
"Oh, Patty, you did look funny! You came up spouting like a whale!" said
Enid.
"I didn't feel funny," returned Patty. "It was horrid. I thought I was
swallowing half the water in the bath."
"You won't want any tea, then!" declared Winnie.
"Yes, I shall."
"Patty must try again another day," said Miss Latimer. "She will soon
gain a little more confidence, and I expect after a few weeks she will
be diving at the deep end as readily as any of you. We will take the
life-saving again now, with Enid to play the part of a drowning person.
I was not at all satisfied with the way you pulled Patty out of the
water. If such an accident had happened in a river, or in the open sea,
I am afraid some of you would have been in danger yourselves."
Miss Latimer proved a true prophet, and Patty found that long before the
summer term was over she was able to both dive and float, as well as
swim easily round the bath. She was delighted with her new
accomplishment, and began to plan already whether it would be possible
to persuade her father to leave his patients and take his family to the
seaside for a few weeks during the holidays, so that she might have the
satisfaction of teaching the little ones what she had learnt herself.
"If he really can't spare the time," she confided to Enid, "there's a
big pond at the end of a pasture near a farm, about a mile from our
house. I'm sure it would be quite safe, and we could all bathe there,
even Kitty and Rowley. I could float a plank on the water to hold them
up while they're learning their strokes, or perhaps Mother's air cushion
would be of some use, if she'd lend it to us. Basil can swim already--he
learnt in the river near his school--so he'd come and help, and I'm sure
they'd all enjoy it immensely, even if they only splashed about and did
nothing else."
The two great recreations of the summer term at The Priory were tennis
and cricket. A few girls indulged occasionally in croquet and archery,
but that was only in spare time, and during the couple of hours devoted
daily to outdoor exercise everybody was expected to take part in one or
other of the principal games.
"You'd better choose definitely which you mean to go in for, Patty,"
said Winnie, "and then stick to it. If you've any aspirations towards
being a tennis champion, I should advise you to keep to the courts, and
practise every minute you can; but if, on the other hand, you like
cricket better, I shouldn't bother with tennis if I were you."
"Winnie's right; you can't serve two masters," said Enid. "It will take
your whole time if you want to do anything at tennis. The Chambers are
all so splendid at it, it needs a good player to have any chance against
them."
"But Miss Latimer's very hard to satisfy at cricket," said Winnie.
"So she is. She certainly doesn't allow any slack practice."
"She pegged my right leg down once to prevent my moving it, and she's
most severe on a crooked bat," said Avis.
"She recollects everybody's average scores for whole years back," said
Winnie. "I can't think how anybody can have such a memory."
"Miss Lincoln's the funniest," said Cissie Gardiner. "When I lost a
wicket last Wednesday, she said: 'That must be because you got a bad
mark for Euclid, my dear!' As if mathematics had anything to do with
cricket."
Winnie laughed.
"Miss Lincoln always says: 'Those who do well in school will be equally
successful in athletics'; but it's just a pleasant little fiction, like
nurses telling you if you eat crusts it will make your hair curl, and it
never did, because I used to finish even the hardest and most burnt
ones, and my hair's as straight as a yard measure, while my little
brother, who leaves all his, has a regular mop of close ringlets."
"Which do you play, Avis?" asked Patty.
"Tennis. I'm no good at all at cricket. I miss the easiest catches, and
get the ball tangled in my skirts. I used to play with my brothers at
home, but they always called me 'butterfingers'; so I've quite given it
up, and I won't even field for them now. They tell me girls are no good
at cricket."
"They should see Dora Stephenson," said Enid. "She plays as good a game
as any boy, I'm sure. Miss Latimer's tremendously proud of her batting."
"Yes, I often wish I could take her home to have a match against the
boys," replied Avis. "How astonished they would be! I think our old
gardener would have a fit. He doesn't at all approve of girls' cricket,
and told me once that 'young misses weren't meant to be lads', and I
should 'only make a bad job of it'. He rolls the tennis court most
beautifully, though, when he knows I'm coming back for the holidays."
"Which are you going to choose, then, Patty, cricket or tennis?" asked
Enid, going back to the original subject of the conversation.
"I won't decide until I've had a good turn at each, and see which I can
manage best," said Patty, diplomatically.
"All right! There's to be a match on Saturday, and I'll ask Miss Latimer
to let you be in it. It's a scratch team from the Lower School against
prefects and monitresses. I've no doubt we shall be badly beaten, but it
really doesn't matter. It's only for practice."
"Do the prefects play well?"
"I should think so! They're very keen on it. Dora Stephenson reads up
Ranjitsinhji, and Meta Hall goes to all the county matches when she can
get the chance. You'll have to play up, Patty, if we want to make any
score at all."
"Don't expect too much," said Patty. "I might send a catch first thing.
I've played at home with Basil, but I don't know how I shall get on
here."
At Enid's special request, Miss Latimer included Patty in the scratch
team for the following Saturday afternoon, so that she might be able to
show her capabilities and give her companions an opportunity of judging
whether she might be considered fit for a place in the Lower School
eleven. The prefects went in first, and the mistress, who had a keen eye
for the future possibilities of her pupils, noticed with approval that
Patty was not fielding like a novice, that she caught her ball neatly in
her hands, instead of stopping it with her skirts, and threw it up
promptly with an accuracy of aim not always common among girl players.
Wishing to test her further, Miss Latimer called to her at the next
over, and told her to take her turn at bowling. It was Dora Stephenson's
innings, and the Lower School knew that a struggle was in store. Dora's
record scores were well known, and it often seemed almost impossible to
put her out. Patty walked up, quaking at the prospect of her encounter.
"Oh, Miss Latimer!" said Beatrice Wynne. "Are you sending in Patty to
bowl now? It's rather hard on our side, isn't it?"
"I know what I am about, Beatrice," replied the teacher. "Go on, Patty,
and don't be nervous. Let us all see what you can do."
Patty's first ball showed a science that made her companions open their
eyes wide. It was a curious way of bowling, half under, half over arm,
such as none of the girls had seen before, and which seemed to prove
most baffling. For three balls Dora merely slogged; the fourth, to her
extreme surprise, got her out.
"A duck! A duck!" cried the opposite side, in raptures of delight. To
have taken her wicket in the first "over" was a success such as they had
never expected, and a triumph for the Lower School not to be forgotten
in a hurry.
"It was well bowled, certainly," said Dora, meeting her defeat with
dignity. "I didn't think Patty could have done it. Oh, I don't grudge
you a wicket! I'm only too glad to see good play, I assure you, for the
credit of the school."
"It was nothing but luck, I believe," said Patty, when her friends
crowded round to rejoice over her. "I daresay I couldn't do it again."
"Yes, you could," declared Enid. "It was that peculiar twist that bowled
her. You'll have to teach it to us. Where did you learn it?"
"An uncle from Australia stayed with us last summer, and he showed us.
Basil and I used to practise it every evening. Basil can do it far
better than I can."
"You do it quite well enough. You've made your reputation this
afternoon, and you're sure to be put in the Lower School eleven. Miss
Latimer never says much, but I can see she's pleased with you. I'm so
glad, because this really settles the question. You mustn't think of
tennis again, but stick to cricket."
Patty was glad to have scored such a success. She had not been specially
good at hockey during the winter, and was only a moderate tennis player,
so it was pleasant to find one game in which she had a chance of
excelling, and of gaining credit for her team as well as for herself.
For once she tasted the sweets of popularity, and had the satisfaction
of hearing even Vera Clifford offer her congratulations.
"I suppose I couldn't expect Muriel to do so," she thought. "She knows
about it, though she wasn't watching the match, because I heard Cissie
Gardiner telling her. She's the only one in the class who hasn't
mentioned it. Of course it doesn't matter in the least; still, it would
have been so nice, when I'm her own cousin, if she had said just a
single word to show that she cared."