04 The Head Girl of the Chalet School Read Online Free PDF Page A

meal. Do you agree?”
    “Oh, rather!” cried Jo. “Where are we going first? I want to see that history museum you told us about. Can we go there?”
    “If you like. I believe the Robin is longing for the Zoo. What would you like, Grizel?”
    “I’d like to look at the shops and the town,” said Grizel.
    “Well, we can’t do everything,” said Miss Maynard, with a little inward smile for the difference between the two girls shown in their replies to her question. “We might look at the shops and do a little shopping, and also see the Barfusser Kirche today, if you like. Then tomorrow we must give the Robin her turn, and go to the Zoo. In the afternoon I should like to see the museum in the Augustiner-gasse – that’s where the picture gallery is, Grizel, so I think you would enjoy it. Then on Thursday we might explore round the town, and see if we can see some of the old university buildings. Basle is one of the oldest university towns in Europe, you know, and any number of famous men came here during the Renaissance. What do you think of that programme? Does it meet with your approval?”
    “Yes, rather,” said Joey emphatically.
    But Grizel shook her head. “I do so want to go to Schaffhausen and see the Falls. Couldn’t we possibly?”
    “No, Grizel,” said Miss Maynard. “I’ve already said we can’t. Please put Schaffhausen right out of your head. In any case, this not the weather to go and see waterfalls. I have told you I will take you in the summer; please let that be sufficient.”
    Grizel was obliged to subside, but she was not satisfied, and Joey knew it.
    “What in earth makes you so mad on the Rhine Falls, Grizel?” she asked curiously when Miss Maynard had gone off to help the Robin to dress. “You are an ass to fuss like this. Maynie won’t go, and you ought to know it by this time. She always means what she says.”
    But Grizel was a determined young lady, and when she took an idea into her head it required a good deal of dislodging. She had by no means put Schaffhausen out of her thoughts, and so Joey was to find later on.
    Now, she merely requested the younger girl not to bother, and began to get into her hat and coat.
    It was a cold day, colder that that day when they had been in Portsmouth, but it was a dry, bracing cold, and as they were warmly wrapped up, they looked forward to their walk. At Briesau it had to be very bad weather for the girls to be kept indoors. Of course, when they had the terrific rainstorms that sometimes came, or when the snow was whirling in a blizzard, they could not go out. But otherwise, they took walks in all weathers, So Joey and Grizel put on stout boots, and tied big scarves across their chests, and turned up the fur collars on their coats, and when they had wriggled into their warm woollen mitts, made fingerless like baby gloves, felt ready for anything. Miss Maynard and the Robin, similarly attired, met them at their door, and they all trooped downstairs, laughing and chattering.

    The first thing to do was to get to the shops, for Grizel was anxious to see them, and to buy some ribbons to send to “Cooky” in her far-away Devonshire home. Cooky had always been a great ally of hers, and Grizel remembered many a kindness the big sonsy woman had shown her, and always did her best to repay.
    One of the things Cooky liked best was a ‘scrap o’ summat furren.” Ribbon from Basle to trim her new spring hat would be greatly appreciated. It was a good point in a character that was inclined to be hard, and Chalet School people had always encouraged it. The discipline Grizel had undergone at the hands of her step-mother for four and a half years had been very had for the girl. As a consequence of it, she fought for her own hand first, and was very selfish, only trying to get what she wanted, without much regard for other people. It was, as Mrs. Russell had said at the end of the previous term, when she was discussing the point with Mademoiselle, a big