White Boots

by Noel Streatfeild

  “George! Put those loathsome things back in the sack, and burn the lot. I should think you’ve got enough poison there to kill everybody for miles around.”

  Because more customers came to the shop things were easier for Olivia. Quite often she would say, “Imagine! I’ve had to buy everything for supper this evening, there was nothing left over. You can’t think what fun it is choosing food, instead of cooking what the shop can’t sell.”

  In July Uncle David and Aunt Claudia went to stay with friends in Canada and Nana went to visit her sister in the Midlands. In August Nana and Lalla were going to an hotel in the Isle of Wight, so while Nana was away Miss Goldthorpe moved into the house and took charge. It was while Nana was away that the exciting thing happened about Lalla’s garden. That summer Aunt Claudia had engaged a new young gardener. His name was Simpson and he was not only a good gardener, but a proud one. It had worried him very much to see his best herbaceous border finishing up with tomatoes, lettuces and some ridge cucumbers. He had spoken about it to Aunt Claudia. Aunt Claudia was not really garden-minded, but when Simpson pointed out that vegetables were not really right in an herbaceous border she could see what he meant. She told Simpson that it was Lalla’s garden, but if he could find Lalla another piece of garden that she liked he could arrange an exchange. Simpson had heard in the kitchen that Lalla was not really keen on gardening, so he planned to offer her a shady little bit of ground behind a laburnum tree, which would not show much. It was not until after Aunt Claudia had left for Canada that he saw Lalla to talk about the exchange, and on that day Alec and Toby had come over to plan autumn planting. Toby had a piece of string between two sticks, and while Harriet held one end and Lalla the other he worked out how many strawberry plants the bed would hold, and Alec wrote the number down in a book. When Simpson came along he said “Good morning” and then stopped in the loitering way of somebody who wants to be noticed and has something to say. Lalla was enjoying herself, and did not want anyone to bother her, so she spoke in her most madamish voice. Simpson had children of his own and was not going to be madamed by Lalla.

  “I spoke to your auntie about veg. in my border, and she says if you was agreeable I could give you a bit of earth some other place for you to dig in.”

  Lalla looked at Simpson despisingly.

  “Thank you. This is my garden and it’s stopping my garden, and it’s not a piece of earth, it’s going to be a strawberry bed.”

  Simpson had grand ideas for next year; he was ordering many new plants, lots of them tall, and he could see the effect of his bed would be quite spoiled by short things like strawberries. He was just going to speak his mind about this when Toby said:

  “What other garden were you going to give her? Could it be something bigger? You see, there’s not much acreage here for strawberries, and we had meant to invest in some prize plants.”

  At the words “acreage” and “prize plants” Simpson looked altogether different. Evidently Lalla had sensible gardening friends. He knew at once that the bit of a bed behind the laburnum would not do and thought what else he could spare. He was a gardener who grew vegetables because he must and flowers because he liked them. He had a bright idea. It would be very nice for him if he could have all the herbaceous border, and Lalla’s friends would look after a bit of his vegetable garden. There was quite a long strip of vegetable garden in which he was meant to plant winter greens. He thought growing winter greens a waste of time; cooks never seemed to want to cook them, and they were what he called “messy” if not used.

  “If you’d come this way and have a look there’s a nice bit I could spare which would be prime for fruit.”

  The moment Alec and Toby saw the piece of vegetable garden that might be Lalla’s, they were thrilled. It was so large a piece that it was almost the beginning of having a market garden, but there was a snag. It would need constant attention from them both, for it was no good hoping that Lalla and Harriet would look after it properly. Alec saw the only thing to do was to take Simpson into their confidence.

  “I say, this would be grand. But the thing is that Lalla lets us plant vegetables and things for market, and Mrs King doesn’t know, and if Lalla had a bit like this we’d have to come here quite a lot.”

  “It would have to be secret,” Harriet explained. “Can you keep secrets?”

  Simpson scratched his head. He did not know Aunt Claudia very well, but he knew from the little he had seen of her and from what he had heard in the kitchen that she was not the sort of person to like things done that she did not know about. But gardening was a nice healthy occupation and he could not think Mrs King would object to Lalla going in for it with her friends. It would suit him, and Mrs King never came into the kitchen garden, and what the eye did not see the heart didn’t grieve after.

  “I reckon I can. You won’t want to be setting the strawberries yet awhile, and then I suppose it’d be when you’re not in school and that. If you tip me off when you want to come I could get you in by the side gate.”

  When Simpson had gone the most tremendous measuring went on and after the measuring Toby worked out a long sum. It was not the sort of sum which anybody else wanted to do. It was in rods, poles and perches. If a piece of land was so long and so wide and in each square foot of it you could plant a strawberry, and each strawberry plant cost so much, how much would it cost to lay out the whole plot? When he had finished they had thought so much about strawberries that to all four of them it seemed as if the strawberries had been planted and were getting ripe.

  Toby said:

  “We must net them. We don’t want your capital eaten by birds, Alec.”

  Lalla saw the beds scarlet with fruit.

  “And me and Harriet can sneak out before lessons and pick them ready for you to sell.”

  Alec shook his head.

  “They’ll have to be picked overnight. Harriet will have to bring them home with her. Toby will have to meet her and help to carry them, while I’m doing the paper round.”

  Harriet liked the idea of her and Toby staggering home under basketloads of fruit, but she saw difficulties ahead.

  “But I go straight home from skating lots of days. What shall we do then?”

  Alec turned to Lalla.

  “Those days you’ll have to pick them, and we’ll have to find a way for Toby to come and fetch them. Nobody must see him take them, or your aunt will think we’re stealing her fruit.”

  “That’ll be all right. If I’m working hard at my skating Aunt Claudia won’t be cross about anything.” Then Lalla bounced because she was pleased. “Isn’t it gorgeous. Giggerty-geggerty, fancy me being the one to start the market garden.”

  Harriet skipped over to Alec.

  “We ought to do our pledge. Will it be all right as Edward isn’t here?”

  Alec said he thought it would be, and he linked his little finger into Lalla’s. Lalla linked her other little finger to Toby’s, and Harriet linked hers to Alec’s and Toby’s.

  Alec spoke in his solemn, growly voice.

  “We Johnsons and Lalla, but without Edward, swear on the stomach of our Uncle never to divulge what has taken place today.”

  They lifted their hands.

  “Guzzle guzzle guzzle, quack quack quack.”

  Chapter Twelve

  LOOPS

  HARRIET WAS GLAD when September came. It had been hot and crowded in their part of London in August. Being on the outside of London where it was easy to hire a boat and go on the river, crowds of people came down every day on bicycles, in buses and in trains, and it was not nice for the people who lived in the neighbourhood, because all the best parts of the river were taken up by visitors. Although there were nice things to do because the boys were having holidays, she missed the rink, and though she tried to practise skating in her head it was not the same thing. Because she missed Lalla, and skating, and because it was hot, she began to look rather daddy-long-leggish again.

  Olivia worried about her.

 
; “You’re a miserable little scrap, my pet. I don’t want you to go backwards, you were looking so much better. I wish you could go away, but the next best thing is for you to be out all day.”

  Harriet would have liked to have helped in the shop, or in the house, but as she was not allowed to, when she was not out with the boys, she went down to the river and watched the boats go by, and read Lalla’s postcards saying how lovely it was in the Isle of Wight and wished for the term to begin.

  The day the rink re-opened her family noticed that she looked different. Edward was the first to mention it. They were having breakfast at the time.

  “Harriet’s looking like me this morning, not so good-looking but pleased, like I do.”

  After everybody had told Edward what they thought of him they looked at Harriet.

  “As a matter of fact,” said Alec, “you do look as if you’d had a present.”

  “Nothing came by the post,” said Toby, “not even a postcard from Lalla.”

  George took a look at Harriet.

  “Funny. I was worrying because you were so pasty. You’ve quite a colour this morning.”

  Olivia smiled.

  “You do look better, pet, and I can’t think why, for it’s just as hot and just as dusty. Have you children planned something nice for today?”

  Toby helped himself to some stewed plums, which they were having to eat with every meal just then, as a lot of unripe ones were coming from Uncle William.

  “We’re going to The Tower of London, but Harriet won’t come because the rink is re-opening.”

  “Nonsense!” said George. “Of course she must go to The Tower. There’s no need for you to start skating till Lalla comes back, Harriet.”

  Olivia was looking at Harriet.

  “Would you rather go to the rink? You are a funny child. I should have thought it would be terribly boring for you all alone.”

  “I wouldn’t have thought anybody could want to go round and round ice,” said Edward, “when they could look at the Traitor’s Gate.”

  But Olivia could see that for some reason Harriet would rather go to the rink.

  “Whatever you might like, Edward, Harriet would rather skate, so that settles it.”

  Coming back to the rink after a whole month of not being at it, seemed to Harriet almost the nicest moment she ever remembered. The first person she saw was Sam. She had not seen much of him since she had her own skates and boots. He gave her a nice welcome.

  “Hallo, duckie, here we are again. Sit down, and let me have a feel of these calves. My, my, we are getting on. Whoever would have thought these muscles were the bits of putty I first felt.”

  “You promised me I’d have proper skater’s legs like Lalla’s.”

  Sam nodded.

  “So you have too, and I hear you’re making quite a skater.”

  Harriet stared at him.

  “Me! Who told you that?”

  Sam winked.

  “A little bird I know. I got a whole flock of little birds in this place; nothin ’appens on this rink but one of them pops along to tell me. How’s Lalla?”

  “On the Isle of Wight for another week. She won’t come here until Max Lindblom comes back, then she starts training very hard.”

  “’aving another go at her silver I ’eard. Oh well, many takes a lot of shots at that.”

  “Sam! She’s not going to take a lot of shots, she’s going to pass this time. She would have last time only…”

  Sam held up a hand.

  “Don’t tell me, I know. She didn’t work. My birds told me about that too. I don’t often get a dekko at her these days but you tell her from me not to take it too hard if she fails again. Her Dad – one of the nicest men I ever knew – wouldn’t have wanted his kid getting in a state about figure skating, I do know that.”

  Harriet was very fond of Sam, but she thought that kind of talk would be bad for Lalla.

  “If you don’t mind my saying so, I wouldn’t say that to her, it’s most important she should pass this time. You see, she’s more or less promised her Aunt Claudia she will, and I think if she doesn’t her Aunt Claudia will think it’s my fault.”

  Sam let out a great roar of laughter.

  “That’s a good one that is. It’s not a year yet you’ve been on this ice. I can see you now, being half carried by your Mum down those stairs, and now you tell me it’ll be your fault if your friend doesn’t get her silver medal, that’s good that is.”

  Harriet saw Sam did not understand, so she changed the subject.

  “Has one of your birds told you that I’m going in for my preliminary and my bronze after Christmas?”

  “They have. A whole flock of them told me, and some other things too.”

  “What other things?”

  “Nothing I shall tell you now. You come to me in two years’ time and I’ll tell you if they was right.”

  It took Lalla some time to settle down after the Isle of Wight, but when she did settle she worked well. There were days when she was mad-doggish at practice, and was funny on the ice, instead of practising her figures, but most days she tried hard and, as a result, her tracings grew better. One reason why she worked hard was that Aunt Claudia took to popping in unexpectedly to watch her lessons and practice. Lalla might tease Nana about Aunt Claudia, and mimic her, but she was the sort of audience she liked when she was skating. Nobody else watched her in the same thrilled way as Aunt Claudia did. Aunt Claudia could be strict. “I don’t think that was good, Lalla, you held yourself wrongly, didn’t you?” but often it was “Splendid, dear, now all over again. Work, work, that’s our motto, isn’t it?”

  One reason why Aunt Claudia came to watch Lalla skating was that, as soon as she had passed her silver test, Mr Matthews was arranging for her to give more skating exhibitions. Whenever Max heard the word exhibitions, he looked most disapproving, but Aunt Claudia simply did not care. She knew Lalla enjoyed giving skating exhibitions, she knew she liked being Lalla’s aunt when she gave skating exhibitions, and, provided Lalla passed her silver test, she was not going to let Max spoil their fun.

  Harriet always felt awkward and nervous when Aunt Claudia was at the rink, for she was not sure what she was expected to do. She tried at first to watch Lalla, as she supposed she was meant to, but she found that this was wrong.

  “My dear child, what are you mooning about for? I thought you were having lessons so that you could be a companion to Lalla. Surely there’s some little exercise you ought to be practising.”

  When Harriet went off and practised as directed, that sometimes annoyed Aunt Claudia too.

  “Funny child, you’ve no idea how serious you look. You would think you had to work at skating, this is meant to be fun, you know. You’ve got to enjoy yourself, and enjoy watching Lalla.”

  One day when Aunt Claudia was at the rink Max beckoned to Harriet to leave the private rink and come outside and talk to him. He sat down and patted the seat next to him. He looked so serious that Harriet, already very subdued by Aunt Claudia, was sure she had done something wrong.

  “Harriet, I have decided that you shall take your preliminary and bronze tests when Lalla takes her silver.”

  Harriet thought of Aunt Claudia’s face and had a sinking feeling inside.

  “I couldn’t. Please, I’d rather not, I’m only here to keep Lalla company. You said after Christmas and then it was only because…”

  Max spoke in a very sure voice.

  “You will take them when Lalla takes her silver in three weeks’ time, and you will pass them. When you have passed them we will work together hard for your inter-silver, which you will attempt next May. I do not know, but I think it may be that if Lalla passes her silver test this time, she shall make her first attempt at the inter-gold in May; she may not pass, but it is better she should work than waste her time at the exhibitions.”

  Harriet felt most peculiar in front. She pressed the place that felt peculiar with her two hands.

  “Max, not t
he inter-silver, you know I don’t know any of the figures. You are only saying that, I know, because you think it will be good for Lalla, but however good it is for Lalla I couldn’t take it, I absolutely couldn’t.”

  Max flicked his fingers, a way he had when he wished to dismiss difficulties.

  “There are six months for us to work, that should be enough.” He turned to face Harriet. “I am very pleased with you, you have talent, my child.”

  Harriet peered into Max’s eyes, trying to make out if he really thought she had talent, or was just saying it to make her think she could go in for the inter-silver to annoy Lalla and make her work.

  “You don’t mean that, you know you don’t; you don’t really think I’ll be a skater, you know I’m only learning to make my legs strong, and because it’s good for Lalla to have somebody of her own age for a friend.”

  “It is impossible at your age to say how good a skater you will be, but if you progress as you are progressing now, who can tell? But for you it is necessary you should enter for tests. You must gain confidence. You must forget this Aunt Claudia of Lalla’s, that you had weak legs, and are a companion for Lalla, and must hit yourself like this,” Max gave his chest a hearty smack and said: “Me. Harriet. I have a great skating career in front of me.”

  Harriet laid a hand on Max’s knee.

  “Please don’t talk like that, Max. It isn’t really the sort of thing I could ever say, and you know it, and honestly, if I did say it and Lalla’s Aunt Claudia heard me, I’m sure I wouldn’t be allowed any more lessons, or ever to come to the rink again. Only Lalla can say things like that.”

  Max got up. He made another flicking, dismissing gesture with his fingers.

  “Me, I do not care what the aunt thinks; I know what I know, and that is what is right for you, and what is right for Lalla.”

  Harriet went back to the small rink. Aunt Claudia was still there watching Lalla practise. She did not seem to have noticed that Harriet had left the rink, which did not surprise Harriet, who was never sure, unless spoken to, that Aunt Claudia knew she was on the ice. Nana, sitting several seats away from Aunt Claudia, had noticed. She looked up, gave Harriet a little approving nod as if to say, “That’s right, back again, dear,” and went back to her knitting. Harriet chose a piece of ice as far as possible from Aunt Claudia and Lalla, and practised her eights and changes of edge. She did them badly, because she was not thinking about what she was doing. “Inter-silver next May!” She couldn’t enter, and even if she could, whatever would Lalla say? Lalla was not the sort of person to like her friend taking the skating tests she had taken. Nobody had ever meant her to be a skater. If only Max knew Lalla’s house better he would understand. Nobody but Lalla went in for proper skating in her house.