03 The Princess of the Chalet School Read Online Free PDF

meanness.
    However, she controlled herself, and said quietly, ‘I am sorry, Matron; but it is my wish that the girls should make themselves useful to those members of the staff whom I have mentioned, and I shall be glad if you will not interfere.’
    ‘Very well,’ replied Matron. ‘I will carry out your wishes.’
    Then she swept off, leaving her young Head wishing devoutly that Miss Wilson’s sister-in-law had not died when she did, and mentally resolving that never again would she engage anybody without a personal interview.
    The Robin soon recovered from Matron’s tongue, and took care to keep out of that lady’s way. It puzzled her, all the same. In all the seven years she had lived she had never met with anything but the tenderest love, and she had never dreamed that anyone could speak so unkindly when she was only trying to help. She referred the question to her beloved Jo. ‘It wasn’t naughty, Zoë, was it?’ she asked anxiously when the two were in bed that night. ‘I didn’t never mean to be naughty. Tante Marguerite sent me with the soap. She truly did.’
    ‘It’s all right, Bübchen; you weren’t naughty a bit,’ declared Joey lovingly. ‘And, Robin, you mustn’t repeat what I called Matron to the others, or it will make Madge unhappy. I shouldn’t have said it to you.’
    ‘I won’t tell the others,’ promised the Robin.
    The door opened, and Matron came in. ‘Talking, Josephine?’ she said. ‘What do you mean by keeping that child awake at this time of night? How dare you break the rules like this? I suppose that you think because the headmistress is your sister you can do as you like!’

    Joey’s temper flared up at this unfair accusation. ‘I wasn’t breaking rules!’ she said furiously. ‘School rules don’t begin until Thursday. And I never behave like that – my sister wouldn’t allow, even if I thought of doing it!’
    ‘Does she allow you to be impudent to older people?’ snapped Matron.
    ‘I wasn’t impudent!’ retorted Jo. ‘At any rate, I didn’t mean to be. And it is true that school rules don’t count in the holidays. My sister knows the Robin and I talk in bed then, and she doesn’t mind, so long as we stop when Juliet comes up. We always sleep till eight in the morning, so it doesn’t matter, she says.’
    Jo may not have meant any rudeness, but her tones certainly belied her in that case; and Miss Carthew, who was passing, may be forgiven if she thought that the child was ‘playing up’ Matron. She came in quietly. ‘Joey,’ she said, ‘what do I hear you say?’
    Jo was tongue-tied. Matron saw her change, and rushed in. ‘This child is most impudent to me, Miss Carthew,’ she declared. ‘She is breaking the rules by talking after she has gone to bed; and when I come in to put a stop to it, she answers me in the rudest manner.’
    Miss Carthew did not like Matron any better than any of the others, but, as a member of the staff, she was obliged to uphold her, so she replied, ‘Jo, I am surprised to hear this. You must apologise to Matron for your rudeness.’
    At this, no less a person than the Robin chimed in. ‘Zoë just told Matron that we didn’t have school rules in holiday-time,’ she said.
    ‘Matron did not know that,’ said Miss Carthew gravely. ‘Joey had no right to speak rudely to her. – Come, Jo! I am waiting. Apologise to Matron at once!’
    If the Robin had not been there to notice all she said and did, Joey would have refused point-blank. As it was, with her sister’s words ringing in her ears, she mumbled, ‘I’m sorry if I spoke rudely to you, Matron.’
    ‘I’m glad to hear it,’ replied Matron. ‘I will overlook it this time, but another time you will not get off so lightly, if I have anything to say in the matter.’ With that she rustled out, leaving an indignant trio behind her.
    Miss Carthew knew better than to let the two children guess what she was feeling. She merely made them lie down, and tucked them up