CHAPTER X
"And hath gone and served other gods."--_The Bible_.
Shriek upon shriek tore the peaceful stillness of the night, and in onesecond the sleeping house was transformed from a place of rest andquiet to the semblance of a disturbed rookery.
Deathly silence followed the horrible screams of fear and the sound ofthe girls calling one to the other, during which mistresses extricatedthemselves from the encumbering bedclothes to rush on to theirrespective landings; elder girls peered in terror from their bedroomdoors, and younger ones clung to each other or the bed-post, or thedoor-knob, anything in fact which would help to support their quakinglittle knees.
Once again the terrible screams rent the air, whipping everyone out ofthe stunned apathy which great fear brings to some folk, just as thePrincipal came out on to her landing and looked up to the second storey.
"Miss Primstinn," she called, and her voice showed no sign of thethudding of her heart.
Pushed by one of those willing hands always so eager to thrust someoneelse to the forefront of the battle, Miss Primstinn, clutching hercourage and a drab dressing-gown in both hands, half ran, half slippeddown the stairs.
"_We_ will investigate, Miss Primstinn, and the young ladies willretire to their rooms and shut the doors."
In days long past the house had been well built after the excellentdesign of a wealthy old architect who had fled the place whenEastbourne had become a centre for girls' schools and summer trippers.
The full moon flooded the hall round which ran the galleries belongingto the successive storeys, each crowded with girls in various designsof night attire who hung over the oak balustrades to watch developments.
But they all leapt in unison, as though spurred into action by anelectric shock, when a deep voice boomed from the shadows round a greenbaize door in the hall which led to the servants' quarters.
Then a distinct sigh of relief whistled softly through the entire housewhen the electric lights suddenly blazed and the speaker was discoveredto be cook.
Cookie in an emerald green moirette petticoat and a somewhat _declasse_bedjacket, a tight knot of hair playing bob-cherry with her kindlyright blue eye, and a rolling-pin clutched truculently in her red righthand.
Dear old Cookie who scolded and complained unceasingly, but who lovedthe entire school with a love which took the substantial form ofdelicious cakes, and buns, and jellies.
"H'I've come to h'investigate, Mum!" she called up. "Berglers or worsegot into Miss Jessica's room through them dratted French windies, I'llbe bound. Now just you stay where you are, Mum, an' I'll go an' see,an' if I screams then come along. And I think a policeman might comein handy, there may be one on the beat."
She waddled away to another green door always left open o' nights, andwhich led to the wing reserved entirely for the girls of the UpperSixth; and where each one revelled in her own dainty separate bedroom.
"The young ladies will retire to their bedrooms and close their doors.Mademoiselle, I depend upon you!" With one hand on the banisters andone foot poised for descent, the Principal pitted her will againstoverwhelming curiosity and won.
Backing like a flock of sheep before the sheep-dog, they slowly retiredand shut the doors, only to fling them wide open and rush to thebalustrade in time to see the Principal, followed by Miss Primstinn,hurrying down the stairs to meet Cookie, who had run back into the hallshouting at the top of her voice.
"Come along, Mum! Quick! Miss Jessica's dead and Miss Gertrude dying.And where's Miss Lee-onny--fetch her someone--it's 'er friend, littleMiss Jessica, wots--wots----"
The Principal, whose face looked suddenly livid and old, laid a hand onCookie's shoulder.
"Run and fetch the doctor, Cook, please, it will be quicker than thetelephone! I can trust you to keep your head. Dr. Mumford is too faraway, fetch the new one at the end of the road."
"Please to send Brown, Mum, she's younger an' quicker at runnin' thanme. An' I think I can 'elp you, Mum," said Cookie quietly,unconsciously responding to the strength of her mistress's character."An' I'd like to fetch Miss Lee-onny, Mum, she's that to be dependedh'on an' clear'eaded."
The Principal sighed under the sudden inrush of relief which had cometo her at the mention of her favourite pupil.
She loved Leonie with a love quite separate from her affection for allthe young souls in her charge, and secretly admired the strength ofwill which more than once had been pitted against her own; moreover,accustomed to the quiet monotonous passage of time, she suddenlyrealised that she needed someone young and energetic in this emergency.
And the girl she needed in her distress was kneeling on her bed witharms upraised above her head.
The dying moon was slowly withdrawing her waning silvery light from thebillowing mass of tawny hair, tumbling in lavender-scented massesaround the girl; lingering for a moment on the eyes staring from underthe unblinking eyelids, and for a second upon the glint of even teethshowing through the lips moving in prayer.
And then she spoke, in the eerie tones of those who talk in theirsleep; and the words were even those of India's most holy writ,sonorous and full of a surpassing dignity, rising and falling as sheknelt motionless, her eyelids slowly closing upon the terrible staringeyes.
"The sacrifice . . ." she chanted monotonously, "with voice, hearing,mind, I make oblation. To this sacrifice . . . let the gods come wellwilling!"
And as the moon sank to rest there was no sound save for a little sighas Leonie, with closed eyes and white hands clasped upon her breast,stretched herself upon the bed, then with a violent movement sat up,and wide awake stared about the room.
"Yes?" she whispered. "Yes?"
And her strange eyes, with pin-point pupils in a yellow green circle,seemed to follow something which crept slowly round the bare walls asfar as the chintz window-curtain moving softly in the breeze of thecoming dawn. The room was full of shadows thrown by a creeperfestooned outside the wide-open window; soft whisperings brought fromthe distant corners of the earth by the restless ocean filled the air,as she hastily twisted her hair into two great plaits with steady hands.
Then she slipped quietly to the edge of the bed and searched with herbare feet for the crimson slippers; searched fearfully as though afraidof what they might touch whilst her eyes glanced this way and thatthrough the shadowed room.
"Who is calling me?" she whispered. "Who wants me?"
But there was no sound save for the whispering of the distant sea.
She bent her head sideways as though to listen, rose to her feet, andstanding back against the bed, looked down at the shadows which dancedabout the hem of her garment. A swift furtive glance over her shoulderand her hand stole to the crimson kimono hanging on the brass rail,whilst a jewelled cat's-eye winked cunningly among the embroidery ofher night-robe.
"Come in," she said suddenly and sharply, "don't stand outside thedoor, come in."
And when there came no answer she thrust her arms swiftly into thesleeves of the crimson kimono, and running across the room flung openthe door, and finding the corridor empty passed hurriedly on, leavingthe door wide so that the shadows skipped freakishly about the room intune to the rhythmical whisperings which the sea bore from the distantcorners of the earth.
Leonie of the Jungle Page 10
