Visitors for the Chalet School

by Helen McClelland

  ‘Oh, Mademoiselle, I’m sure it’s the only solution. And they have one, I’m sure they do. You know — those cousins of the Pfeifens. It’s not a grand affair like the ones in Innsbruck. But Elisaveta could be really warmly wrapped up, and she wouldn’t be tired either. Fritzel could easily arrange it.’

  ‘Joey, ma chérie! Please take breath for a moment. Begin once more, and explain to us what you mean.’

  ‘I’m sorry, Mademoiselle.’ Joey, who had half risen, sank back and continued at a less breakneck speed. ‘I just remembered, there’s a family at that farm in Torteswald — you know the one — the big chalet with the gorgeous frescos on the side. And I’m almost certain they’ve got a horse-drawn sleigh at the moment. Marie Pfeifen said something about it the last time I was up at Die Rosen. They’ve borrowed it from some other cousins, right down in the valley, I think. Unless of course they’ve already sent it back,’ Joey concluded on a more sober note.

  The mistresses exchanged glances. ‘I will most certainly enquire about this tout de suite,’ said Mademoiselle. ‘If it can be arranged, it would provide a wonderful solution to our problem.’

  ‘Providential, I’d say.’ Miss Wilson signified her approval; and Miss Maynard and Matron nodded vigorously.

  ‘And now, Joey,’ Mademoiselle went on, ‘we must explain why it is that we have wished to see you.’

  ‘Oh, goodness!’ Jo looked thoroughly taken aback, for at last it had dawned on her that there had to be another reason for her summons, quite apart from Elisaveta’s travelling arrangements.

  ‘You see, Jo,’ Miss Maynard began, ‘we all feel that you would be the best person to tell Elisaveta the news about her grandfather and explain things to her.’

  ‘Elisaveta is very fond of you, my child,’ Mademoiselle said. ‘And you have stayed with her in Belsornia, so you know both her father and the King.’

  ‘Is Elisaveta much attached to her grandfather, do you know, Joey?’ asked Miss Maynard.

  ‘In the old days I don’t really think she was,’ said Joey bluntly. ‘The King was awfully — well, remote, as far as I can gather. Not really interested in her, because she wasn’t a boy.’ (Miss Wilson barely suppressed a disapproving snort.). ‘But things have been quite different since last summer, when ’Veta was kidnapped. And when we were staying in Belsornia they seemed to be getting quite close. Not like Elisaveta is with her father, of course, but —’ Joey broke off, a look of concern crossing her expressive face. ‘What will, I mean, if anything — well, happens to the King — will they let Elisaveta stay here at school?’

  ‘That I cannot tell you at the moment, Joey,’ Mademoiselle said quietly. ‘And now we have many urgent arrangements that must be discussed. Miss Wilson, perhaps you will be good enough to go round to the hall and assist Miss Annersley and Miss Carthew with the rehearsal. They have got the prefects and Miss Denny with them, but I think they would be glad of your assistance. And perhaps you will explain that Jo is unable to attend the rehearsal.’

  ‘Yes, of course,’ Miss Wilson got briskly to her feet.

  ‘And if you wish, Mademoiselle,’ Miss Maynard also stood up, ‘I could go round straightaway to the Pfeifens and find out about the sleigh. Then one of them would certainly go over to Torteswald and make the necessary arrangements.’

  ‘Provided they really do have a sleigh,’ Miss Wilson said darkly, as she departed.

  ‘Let us all hope and pray,’ was Mademoiselle’s response. ‘It is our best, perhaps our only chance of getting the child safely to Spärtz. And now, Matron, if you will take Joey to Elisaveta, I will endeavour to get in touch with Belsornia on the telephone. It can often take some hours to get through to them. And you, ma chérie,’ she gave Jo a specially affectionate smile, ‘we are entrusting you with the task of breaking the news to Elisaveta. We all feel you are the right person to help her. But remember afterwards, Jo, that you must not for the moment say a word about this matter to any of the others.’

  ‘I understand. And luckily no one’s likely to notice anything, seeing that I wasn’t due at the rehearsal till later. Oh, golly!’ Joey looked round wildly. ‘What happened to my letter?’

  ‘I think this must be it.’ Miss Maynard stooped down to rescue Jo’s letter from the floor, where it had fallen when she was precipitated into the room.

  ‘Don’t worry, Jo — I can easily take it into the Post on my way to the Pfeifens.’

  ‘Thanks most awfully, Miss Maynard. And Mademoiselle,’ Jo hesitated, looking for a moment quite unlike her usually confident self, ‘I’ll do my very best with ’Veta, I promise, but . . . ’

  ‘No one can do more,’ Matron said in her most businesslike tones. ‘Come, Jo — I’ll take you upstairs now.’ Then, to Joey’s intense surprise, Matron extended a reassuring hand, which she was grateful to clasp.

  ***

  By eighteen o’clock that evening everything was organised. Fritzel Pfeifen, on being informed by Miss Maynard of the emergency, had immediately hurried off to Torteswald to arrange to borrow the sleigh from his cousins the following morning, together with the splendid Haflinger horse that pulled it. ‘And it is by the mercy of heaven, Fräulein, that you have come today,’ he told Miss Maynard. ‘Had it been next week the family would already have returned the horse and sleigh to our other cousins in the valley. Der liebe Gott has willed it thus, nicht wahr? The young lady will ride safely in the sleigh. ’Zist gut.’

  It was agreed that Fritzel would arrive at the Chalet School by ten o’clock the next morning, in order both to allow Elisaveta an unhurried start to the day and to ensure there was ample time for a leisurely journey down to Spärtz. Once there, the party could rest at the old inn opposite the station, known as the Alte Toleranz; and they would be able to have Mittagessen there, while awaiting the arrival of Captain Trevillion and Elisaveta’s maid, Alette, from Belsornia.

  Unfortunately — as Captain Trevillion had informed Mademoiselle on the telephone, when at long last the operator had managed to connect her with the royal palace in Firarto — it was impossible for him to state precisely the time he and Alette would get to Spärtz. They were to set out immediately that evening, and would travel through the night; but much would depend on the timings of the different connections they would have to make. ‘For the return journey we shall of course reserve a private compartment for the Princess,’ he explained to Mademoiselle. ‘At least as far as Verona. That leaves only a shortish train journey to Padua, where I shall collect my motor again. And if her Highness needs rest, we can always arrange to stay the night at an hotel in either Verona or Padua.’

  ‘That may be well,’ Mademoiselle had said, a note of anxiety in her voice. ‘Elisaveta is much better today, I am thankful to say; but she is still a little frail.’

  ‘You need have no fears, Mademoiselle,’ the Captain assured her. ‘Dr Tracy is most insistent that the Princess’s journey shall be made in as easy stages as possible. And he himself will be waiting at the palace to attend to her.’

  ‘All this appears excellent, then,’ Mademoiselle replied. ‘And at Spärtz we will have a room reserved for the Princess at the Alte Toleranz. It is only a modest little inn, but very clean and respectable. And in this way it will not matter greatly if you should be delayed in arriving.’

  Having concluded her telephone conversation, Mademoiselle took her way upstairs to the sick-room, where Joey had been allowed to stay on and keep Elisaveta company.

  The Princess had received the news of her grandfather’s illness with the strangely adult dignity she always seemed able to command where royal matters were concerned. But she was still feeling some after-effects from her bronchial attack; and when, at about sixteen o’clock, Joey had suggested it was time she went back to the school, Elisaveta had seemed almost pathetically reluctant to let her depart.

  ‘Please Joey, don’t go yet!’ she had pleaded. ‘Everyone’s very kind, I know; and I’ve got a lovely book by Elsie Oxenham that Madame kindly left for me. But it’s so l
onely up here on my own. And I’m not infectious, you know. You can’t catch bronchitis from people. At least, I don’t think so,’ she added, a little doubtfully.

  ‘Not a chance of its being catching,’ Joey pronounced decisively. ‘You surely don’t think they’d ever have let me come within a mile of you if it was! Well, all right, ’Veta. I’d love to stay, if they’ll let me. I’ll go and ask Matron — I think she’s in her room.’

  Matron, when consulted, was quite agreeable to Joey’s spending the rest of the day with the Princess. ‘Help to keep her spirits up a little,’ she said, pausing in her task of checking laundry lists. ‘She’s still not really herself. And all this trouble is not going to help. In fact, Jo, much the best plan would be for you to stay up here with her until she leaves in the morning. There’s another bed made up in the room. All right, Joey — I’ll arrange things with Mademoiselle. You trot downstairs and fetch your washing things and your pyjamas and dressing-gown. Oh, and your bedroom slippers too! And I think you’d better also go and collect some work from your form-room. We don’t want to give you any excuse for not finishing your prep, do we?’

  Once outside Matron’s room, Joey pulled a hideous grimace at this last dictat. But she was happy enough to fall in with things. She was very attached to Elisaveta, and the two of them had always got on well together.

  Mademoiselle, too, was glad to approve of Matron’s plan, and even to extend it. So, when she arrived in the sick-room to tell the Princess about her travelling arrangements, she added, to the great joy of both girls, ‘I think, my dear Elisaveta, it would be well if Joey should also accompany you on the journey down to Spärtz tomorrow. Miss Maynard is to be your official escort, but I gather there is room in the sleigh for a third passenger. Would you like that, mes chères enfants?’

  ‘Oh, Mademoiselle!’ both exclaimed together, their joyous expressions making their enthusiasm unmistakeable.

  ‘How absolutely — well,’ Joey caught Mademoiselle’s eye and hastily reselected her words, ‘How — well, splendid!’

  ‘Yes, it truly is splendid, Mademoiselle. Thank you so very much.’ For a moment Elisaveta looked and sounded more like her normal self.

  And the prospect of the sleigh-ride together was entrancing enough to keep both girls cheerful through the rest of the evening.

  Matron insisted that they must go early to bed. And by twenty o’clock they were already undressed and sitting up in bed, enjoying the hot drinks Matron had bought them, and chatting quietly.

  ‘Rotten luck your missing all the end of term jamborees,’ Joey said idly. ‘It’s going to . . . ’ She broke off hurriedly, aware too late of her friend’s stricken expression. ‘Oh, Elisaveta, I’m sorry — I didn’t mean to rub it in. Oh, dear! Why, oh, why am I such a thoughtless donkey?’ Jo leapt out of bed to give Elisaveta an impulsive hug — all but upsetting the steaming mugs on the bedside cabinet. She looked so abashed that Elisaveta found herself smiling.

  ‘But, anyway, ’Veta,’ Joey said as she scrambled back into bed, ‘this term’s almost over. It’s not that long till January. You’ll be back then, large as life.’

  ‘Shall I?’ Elisaveta spoke so quietly that the words were hardly audible. ‘I wonder . . . ’ Her voice trailed off. ‘You see, Joey, if anything should . . . well, happen . . . to Grandfather, I mean, that would change everything. Because Daddy would be King then. And that would make me . . . ’

  ‘Oh, gosh and golly — of course!’ Joey looked as startled as she sounded. ‘That would make you the heir, wouldn’t it?’

  ‘Heir Presumptive, anyway,’ Elisaveta nodded. ‘That’s what it’s always . . . ’

  ‘But look here,’ Joey interrupted. ‘Didn’t your father say last summer that you’d be allowed to stay at the Chalet School for two years?’

  ‘Yes. But that was different. Please, don’t let’s talk about it, Jo.’

  For a moment there was silence. Then Elisaveta gave a deep sigh.

  ‘The thing I mind missing the very most of all is the Christmas pageant,’ she said sadly. ‘Especially having a chance to play the old innkeeper. People mostly think that if you have long curly hair like mine you will want only to play pretty parts. It’s such fun being allowed to be fierce, for once. I was so very pleased when Madame said I could have the part!’

  In fact Madge Russell had been more than a little surprised when Elisaveta had begged to be cast as the surly innkeeper, in whose stable Mary and Joseph eventually found refuge. But, as things turned out, the Princess had shown unexpected dramatic ability, as well as an immense enjoyment of the role.

  ‘I wonder, um, well,’ just in time Joey had realised that it would hardly be tactful to speculate about who would now take over as innkeeper. ‘Well, I wonder, do you think he really was fierce? The innkeeper, I mean. After all he did find a shelter for Mary and Joseph. That was more than any of the others did.’

  ‘What others?’ Elisaveta asked with interest, snuggling into her plumeau.

  ‘Well, there must have been others. There can’t have been only one inn in Bethlehem. And Mary and Joseph wouldn’t have agreed to being in the stable if his had been the first one they visited. They’d have gone and tried somewhere else, wouldn’t they? I think they must have tramped all round Bethlehem for ages before. You know — it’s funny,’ she broke off, and looked earnestly across at all she could see of Elisaveta, ‘well, odd, anyway. But doing something like the Christmas pageant jolly well makes the whole story much more real, don’t you find?’

  ‘Well, I think,’ Elisaveta began. But what the Princess may or may not have thought was to remain unspoken. For at that moment Matron appeared at the door, to warn the girls that she would be back in five minutes to turn off the light.

  Before departing, Matron paused to give a keen glance in the direction of the chairs which stood on the far side of each bed. On Elisaveta’s chair the clothes lay neatly folded. But the untidy pile on Joey’s looked rather as though some passing goblin had stirred them with a large spoon.

  Not a word was spoken. Matron simply gazed with such meaningful intensity, first at the chair and then at Joey, that the latter felt obliged to tumble out of bed and tidy up her garments before the good lady returned.

  CHAPTER XXIV.

  A NARROW ESCAPE.

  AT Frühstück next day Mademoiselle made a brief announcement to the school. ‘As you know, girls,’ she explained, speaking very slowly and clearly, for German was the official language today, ‘Elisaveta is recovering from an attack of bronchitis. And I am happy to tell you she is recovering extremely well. But, since this term is so nearly over, it has been thought best for her to go home to finish her convalescence. Accordingly, Elisaveta will be leaving for Belsornia later this morning. Miss Maynard and Joey Bettany will be going with her as far as Spärtz, in order to see her off at the station. And I know you will all be sorry not to be able to bid Elisaveta farewell in person. But she has asked me to give you her love, and to say good-bye to you all on her behalf.’

  Mademoiselle then went on to announce that, since today they had ‘So schönes Wetter’, there would be no lessons until the afternoon. Instead everyone would go on a long walk up the Tiern Valley; and they must now hasten with their bed-making and tidying in order to be ready to leave at half-past nine.

  She deliberately made no mention of the King’s illness, for the staff had agreed that everything should be kept as casual as possible. ‘We don’t want any fuss, for Elisaveta’s sake,’ Miss Maynard had said when the matter was being discussed before breakfast. ‘She might enjoy the excitement of a big farewell scene at the time. But she’ll have a long day ahead of her. And I gather it’s a tiring journey to Belsornia at the best of times. It does seem a bit of a shame, though, that the girls have to miss all the fun of the sleigh’s arrival.’

  ‘I shouldn’t worry about that,’ Miss Wilson said cheerfully. ‘You just give thanks that it doesn’t look like snow today!’

  Punctually at nine-thirty the gir
ls departed. And by the time Joey and Elisaveta arrived downstairs, to wait with Miss Maynard in the front class-room, the chalet was unwontedly silent.

  ‘I can’t think when I’ve ever — ever — had to wear so many clothes,’ Joey complained, as she watched impatiently at the window for the sleigh’s arrival. ‘I feel like all the plumeaus in Austria rolled into one giant sausage.’

  ‘And then tied round with shawls. Me too!’ Elisaveta agreed. She looked noticeably pale this morning, but appeared to be in good spirits.

  ‘At least,’ Joey went on, ‘nobody can possibly make us put on one single thing more. We would simply . . . ’

  But at that moment the door opened and Matron marched in, a large silk scarf in her hand. ‘Now, Elisaveta — you are to wear this over your nose and mouth throughout the journey,’ she announced to the startled Princess. ‘No argument, please. We have strict orders from Dr Russell. No — you need not put it on yet. But — if you, Miss Maynard, would be good enough — I will show you how it is to be fastened. I can’t stay to do it myself, too much to get through this morning!’

  ‘But, Matron,’ Elisaveta protested feebly. ‘With that thing tied round my mouth, I shall not be able to speak at all. It will be like a gag!’

  ‘And that, my dear young lady, is part of the idea.’ Matron looked grimly amused, as she demonstrated how the scarf was to be held in place. ‘All that cold air could set your bronchitis off again. And talking would increase the amount of air going into your throat and chest. So please be a sensible girl and remain as silent as possible on the journey.’

  ‘Never mind, Elisaveta, I’m sure Joey can manage to make up for your silence,’ Miss Maynard said with a twinkle.

  But Joey affected not to hear. ‘Tell you what, ’Veta, we can still talk to you, and you can always nod or shake your head. Oh, I do wish they’d hurry up. I’m dying to see the sleigh.’