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

of the usual. All four were so graceful, too, moving with a free, easy grace that had its roots in constant practice of the old English folk-dances. Miss Maynard smiled as she noted how elderly men looked at the Robin with her almost angelic loveliness, and how they smiled to receive one of her fearless beams at them. Nearly all her little life the Robin had met with love. She was rarely afraid of people.

    In the shops she still attracted attention, and while Grizel was debating whether Cooky would like vivid purple or lurid green for her hat, the assistants were murmuring among themselves about “ das Engelkind .”
    The marvel was that the child was not made conceited by all the petting she received. It never seemed to affect her in the least, however, and she was not spoiled by it.
    When, finally, Grizel had fixed on a green ribbon, which was bright enough to please Cooky, and yet did not scream at one, they went out and visited the toy-shops, where the baby bought two little wooden bears, one for Inga Eriksen, and the other for Amy Stevens, these two people being her greatest friends. “And Tante Marguerite,” she pleaded. “I have two francs left. What can I buy for Tante Marguerite?”
    It was while Miss Maynard was helping her to choose a little wooden chalet that Grizel drew Jo to one side and said, “Joey, are you game for a rag?”
    “Rather; what is it?” demanded Jo.
    “You know I want to go to Schaffhausen and see the Rhine there? Well, let’s go tomorrow when Maynie takes the Robin to the Zoo. We don’t want to see it – there’s only chamois and bears and things like that.
    We’ll leave a note saying where we’ve gone, and slip off about eight in the morning. Then we can go there and see the Falls, and get back in the afternoon. What do you say?”
    “I think you must be mad,” said Jo, staring at her. “Quite mad you must be! There’d be a fiendish row, and we’d jolly well deserve it after doing down Maynie like that when she’s been so awfully decent about stopping here for three days to let us see the place! I knew you went off it sometimes, but I never thought you did it to that extent! It’s one of the rottenest things I’ve ever heard of!”
    Grizel was furious. It was bad enough to have a mere kid like Jo Bettany say such things to her; but what hurt most was the look in Joey’s eyes. There was scorn there, and disgust. There was also that which reminded the elder girl of the time when she had run away in a fit of rage to climb the Tiernjoch, a dangerous mountain, perilling both her own life and Joey’s in the attempt. Jo had followed her to fetch her back, and the pair had been caught in a mist on the verge of a dangerous precipice, where they had had to wait till help came. Grizel had lost her head on that occasion too completely to move, though they had only been a few yards away from the safety of the alm. Jo had not meant to remind the elder girl of this, but Grizel remembered all the same. It added to her fury, and she flung herself away with a low “Little prig !”
    which brought the angry colour to Jo’s face. Happily, before anything further could happen, the Robin appealed to them for assistance in making up her mind which of two chalet models she should choose, and by the time this knotty point was settled both looked more or less normal again. They were far enough from feeling it though.
    From the shops they went to the Barfusser Kirche, a church dating from the fourteenth century, but now used as the historical museum. There the Lallenkonig attracted the Robin, and she insisted on standing to watch the head stick out its tongue and roll its eyes at her. She was fascinated by it, and they could scarcely get her away. However, Miss Maynard finally got them to the great collection of arms, where Joey revelled to her heart’s content in the curious weapons of the ages, weaving stories about them in her head, while Grizel wandered round, interested in the growth and