mavis and merle had not seen bevis since last july, so they had an immense amount to talk about when he came over to bridge house on the following afternoon. they had to tell him all their adventures during the summer holidays and about the changes at 'the moorings,' and he also had much to relate about his own school and his future plans. though he was now squire of chagmouth, he took his new honours very quietly and made no fuss about them.
"it's something to feel i'm back at the old coll. and can go on to cambridge," he acknowledged in reply to the girls' questions. "the lawyers are very decent to me and give me pretty well all i want. in the spring i'm going to have a yacht of my own! they've promised me that. i'll take you both out for a sail in it."
"oh, do! we shall just live for easter!" rejoiced the girls.
"i wish it was holidays all the time!" added merle. "what fun we'd have in your yacht!"
such a wish, however, could certainly not be realised.
bevis was due back at shelton college, and 'the moorings' claimed both mavis and merle. school might not be as exciting as yachting, but it had its interests. there was the magazine, of which mavis was editress, and to which many spicy items were contributed; there was the entertainments club, which was getting up a piece to act at the end of the term.
in connection with this society, alack! a tremendous squabble ensued. it had fallen almost entirely into the hands of the boarders, and they seemed determined to keep all its privileges to themselves. they fixed upon a play, shared the cast among them, and held rehearsals in the evenings. mavis, merle, and muriel, the only day-girls on the committee, were furious.
"where do we come in?" demanded merle.
"it's too cool to settle everything without consulting us! we're as much on the committee as you are! it's completely out of order!"
"oh, what does it matter?" said nesta, with aggravating easiness. "we can't bother to be always holding meetings. we wanted to set to work at once and rehearse, and there weren't enough parts to include day-girls. can't you act audience for once? you seem very anxious to show off!"
"it's the pot calling the kettle black then, if we do!" retorted muriel.
"what about yourselves, i should like to know?"
the worst of it was that miss mitchell seemed to take the side of the boarders.
"i can't have you day-girls coming in the evenings to rehearse!" she decided. "no, i can't allow you to stay at four o'clock either, because the boarders must get their walk before tea. it would upset all our arrangements. perhaps we may put some of you in a tableau, because that really wouldn't need much preparation."
a tableau! the day-girls felt much insulted! miss mitchell, who had seen them act in the history class, ought not thus to scout their talents. merle took the matter particularly to heart because of her adoration for the new mistress. she was furiously jealous of the boarders, who could sit at meal-times at the same table as her idol, and could indulge in private chats with her during the evenings. miss mitchell was perfectly well aware of merle's infatuation, but did not encourage it too deeply. she meant to be quite impartial, and to have no favourites. moreover, she was very modern and unsentimental, and disliked what she called 'schoolgirl gush.' she had been the subject of violent admirations before, and knew how soon they were apt to cool down. she was perfectly nice to merle, but a little off-hand, and never showed her any preference. this line of treatment rather aggravated merle's symptoms instead of curbing the tendency.
"i'll make her like me!" she said to herself stubbornly.
the siege laid to the teacher's heart progressed slowly, partly because merle's tactics were noticed by the others and became somewhat of a joke. merle had placed a daily buttonhole of flowers upon the teacher's desk, but, led by muriel, the fifth form rallied, and one morning each of them appeared with a kindred posy and deposited her offering. miss mitchell turned quite pink at the sight of the eleven floral trophies. she was not absolutely sure how far it was meant for a 'rag.'
"this looks like a nature study competition!" she remarked. "i'm sure it's very kind of you all to bring me flowers, but unless it's my birthday or some special occasion i'm afraid i really don't know what to do with them. you can put them all in water at eleven, nesta, but you mustn't waste time now fetching vases."
merle, of course, never presented any flowers again. she brought a book to school one day that she had heard miss mitchell express a wish to look at, and, after lingering about in the classroom, plucked up courage to interrupt her idol, who was correcting exercises, and offer the loan of it.
the mistress, with her finger held to mark her place, looked up and shook her head.
"i've really no time for reading, thanks! at present my days are full from morning till night."
as direct means failed merle turned to indirect. she wrote anonymous poems and popped them in the letter-box, hoping, however, that her writing might be recognised. whether miss mitchell read them or not is uncertain; she made no mention at any rate of their receipt, and probably dropped them in the waste-paper basket. merle would have been far more grieved over these repulses had there not been a counter interest at home. at the beginning of november dr. and mrs. ramsay left the north altogether and came to settle at durracombe. naturally there were great changes at bridge house. jessop—the invaluable jessop, who had been so many years in dr. tremayne's service—was leaving to take charge of a widower brother, and a young parlour-maid was coming in her place. several rooms were cleared to make way for dr. ramsay's possessions, and a large motor van arrived bearing some of his furniture from whinburn. mrs. ramsay was to have a little upstairs drawing-room of her own, in which to deposit her special treasures, and her husband was to turn the gun-room into his study. the delight and excitement of welcoming her father and mother made merle temporarily dethrone miss mitchell in her heart. it was such fun to help to arrange all the things from home, and see how nice they looked in their new surroundings. then dr. ramsay had brought his car, and of course merle wanted to help to clean it and to go out with her father in it and coax him to allow her to drive. everybody felt that it was ideal to have mrs. ramsay at bridge house. she took the place of a daughter to aunt nellie, who was somewhat of an invalid, and would nurse her and manage the housekeeping for her instead of jessop. she had always loved her native county of devon, and rejoiced to return there instead of living in the north.
"i shall grow young again here!" she declared. "i'm going to try to find time to do some sketching. i've hardly touched my paintbox for years. mavis and i must go out together and find subjects."
"while i drive daddy about in the car!" decreed merle. "i've told him i'm going to be his chauffeur as soon as i leave school. he didn't jump at the offer! wasn't it ungrateful of him? he doesn't deserve to have a daughter! oh, well, yes, i did run the car into the hedge yesterday, but there was no damage done, after all."
dr. tremayne thoroughly welcomed dr. ramsay as his partner. the calls of the practice had lately been growing too much for him, and he was glad to be able to share the numerous visits, so the arrangement of joining households was a satisfaction to all concerned. jessop wept when it came to the time of her departure.
"i've been here thirty-two years come christmas!" she said. "i know it's the best for everybody, but i do feel it. i'm fond of my brother, and willing to look after him and the shop, but i'll miss the patients here! i've known many of them since they were born. at my age it's hard to make a change and settle down afresh."
"we'll motor over very often and see you, jessop, and tell you all the news," consoled mavis.
"i'll always be glad to welcome you and miss merle whenever you come. let me know beforehand if you can, and i'll make you crumpets for your tea. you always like my crumpets!"
"nobody else in the world knows how to make them properly," merle assured her. "those heavy things with holes in them that they sell in the shops simply aren't fit to be called by the same name!"
with mother in the background to consult about matters of difficulty school seemed much easier, though not altogether without thorns. last summer term merle had considered herself the chosen chum of iva westwood, but now iva had completely fallen into the arms of kitty trefyre. as they were both boarders and in the same dormitory, it was perhaps only natural they should be friends, yet it is never nice to be dropped, and merle thought hard things of iva. if she could have kept her feelings locked in her own breast it would not have mattered so much, but she was a true daughter of jupiter, and, when provoked, could not refrain from shooting her arrows of bitter words. they quarrelled about the silliest trifles: the loan of an indiarubber, the loss of a pencil, or some slight differences of opinion, over which they would argue hotly. it was a pity, for at bottom iva was a nice girl, and was merely passing through a phase from which she would probably soon have recovered if merle would only have let her alone. on her side she might very well have contended that it is hard to be pinned to a single chum, and that she was perfectly at liberty to make fresh friends if she wished without of necessity giving offence to the old ones by so doing.
"merle's so jealous!" she complained. "why should she care? i'm sure i don't mind her walking about the school arm-in-arm with beata castleton!"
that, however, was exactly the point. merle wanted iva to mind, and was extremely annoyed because the incident left her unruffled.
one afternoon, in the musical appreciation class, the two had partly patched up past squabbles, and, for a wonder, were sitting side by side. the subject was 'handel,' and for one of the illustrations miss mitchell called upon merle to play the celebrated 'largo.' she went through her performance quite creditably, took her music, and turned from the piano. then she saw that during her absence kitty had commandeered her seat next to iva. for a moment merle stood with a look of the blankest consternation, not knowing where to go, till mavis beckoned and made a place for her, into which she thankfully slipped, squeezing her sister's hand surreptitiously, and feeling there was no friend in all the world so staunch as mavis.
"if you wouldn't worry so over everybody, you'd get on better, dear!" advised the latter.
"i can't help caring! i wasn't born calm. it all matters so very much to me! what's the use of anything unless you care? you'd better swop me for a nice, little, tame, harmless sister guaranteed never to squabble even if people pull her hair, and always content to sit in the background everywhere!"
"she'd be very uninteresting!" laughed mavis, bestowing a kiss upon
merle's apple cheek. "i think i prefer to keep you, thanks!"
"thunderstorms and all?"
"so long as they clear the air, certainly! but we expect to have sunshine afterwards, please!"
miss mitchell intended to wind up her course of lessons on musical appreciation with a concert among the pupils, and certain of them had been bidden to play or sing. naturally those on whom the choice fell went through agonies in the matter of practising. after hearing so much about great composers and the proper interpretation of their works, it seemed almost a liberty for schoolgirls to venture to give their rendering, and all felt that their performances would be subjected to decided criticism.
"it's the audience that will make me nervous!" fluttered merle. "if i could play my piece when i'm alone and in the right mood and get a gramophone record taken of it that could be put on at the concert, i shouldn't mind. it would be rather fun sitting in a corner and listening to my own playing. something like seeing my own ghost, wouldn't it?"
mavis, merle, muriel, and edith were all down for piano solos, beata was to bring her violin, and nesta, iva, and kitty were to sing. they would all do their best, but none had reached a very high level in the matter of attainment. miss mitchell, with memories of the splendid talent mustered at st. cyprian's college in her own schooldays, felt that the concert would be a most modest affair.
"i wish we could get one or two good performers to come and help us!" she suggested.
"durracombe isn't at all a musical place," admitted miss fanny. "there really isn't anybody whom we could ask. mrs. carey used to play, but she's out of practice and i'm sure she wouldn't venture before a roomful of schoolgirls."
"it would be rather an ordeal, i own."
about ten days before the event was to take place muriel burnitt had a tea-party at her own home to which she invited miss fanny, miss mitchell, and the elder boarders, asked them to bring their music, and went through all the programme of the little concert. it, in fact, answered the purpose of a dress rehearsal.
mavis and merle had not been included in the invitation and they were very much hurt.
"muriel asked beata, only she couldn't come. i know because romola told me so. she even asked babbie williams!"
[illustration: she had brought her wonderful stradivarius violin]
"it's most mean of her to miss us out!"
"when we're playing solos, too!"
the boarders talked tremendously about the pleasant evening they had had, and how very much they had enjoyed themselves.
"muriel's aunt will be staying with her next week, and she's going to persuade her to sing at the concert!" said iva. "she has a beautiful voice, and it will give things such a lift. miss mitchell is as pleased as punch about it, and says that's just what we want. we ought to have one or two musical stars to make it go."
muriel, who felt she had scored by securing a singer, took up a rather lofty attitude and made herself so objectionable that merle raved in private, and even gentle mavis was ruffled. they poured out their grievances at home.
"what's the date of the concert?" asked mrs. ramsay. "the 17th? well, i have an idea! no! i don't mean to tell you now in case my scheme doesn't come off."
"what is it, mummie? i'm curious."
"that's my secret! take my advice and don't worry any more about muriel.
things will probably turn out even in the end."
in spite of coaxing mother refused to explain herself further, and it was only when a few days had gone by, and they had almost forgotten the incident, that one morning she opened a letter, read it, and clapped her hands in triumph.
"i've some lovely news for you! cousin sheila is coming to stay with us on the 16th, and she's actually bringing her friend mildred lancaster, the famous violinist! you know they both went to st. cyprian's and were in the same form with miss mitchell. she'll be so pleased to meet them again! cousin sheila says miss lancaster promises to play at your school concert. isn't that an honour? it will be something for you to tell miss mitchell, won't it? we'll ask her and miss fanny and some of the girls to tea while our visitors are here!"
this was indeed a delightful surprise. the name of mildred lancaster was one to conjure with in musical circles. she had just completed a most successful tour in australia and america, and had won great applause. she was booked to give a recital in exeter on the 15th, so that she would be in the neighbourhood and able easily to come on to durracombe. she made her headquarters at kirkton, so mrs. ramsay explained, but travelled much about the country playing at concerts. she was to be married in the spring to her old friend, rodney somerville, to whom she had been engaged for some years, but she did not intend to give up her music, and hoped still to make frequent public appearances.
"they're to have a flat in town," read mother from cousin sheila's letter. "i'm so glad it's settled that way, because i want mildred to be happy, yet it would be a wicked shame if she flung her talent to the winds, as some girls do when they marry. she'll have her own little home and yet go on with her career. i call it ideal!"
mavis and merle danced off to school simply brimming over with their news. it certainly had the desired effect. miss mitchell was very much thrilled at the prospect of meeting her old friends, and highly appreciated the privilege of a violin solo at the concert. the girls were, of course, most excited, except the performers, who nearly had hysterics at the prospect of playing before so great a musical star.
"i shall leave my violin at home!" wailed beata.
"nonsense! you'll find nobody more kind and encouraging than miss lancaster," said miss mitchell. "it isn't the great artists who find fault—they understand the difficulties only too well—it's the carping critics who can't perform themselves and yet think they know all about it! do your best and no one will expect you to do any more!"
it was a great day for mavis and merle when their visitors arrived. they were fond of cousin sheila and welcomed her on her own account. with her companion they readily fell in love. mildred lancaster was a most charming personality, and although she had been so fêted on concert platforms, she was absolutely simple and unaffected in private life. she had brought her wonderful stradivarius violin, upon which she always played, and she took it out of its case and allowed the girls to admire its graceful curves, and its fine old varnish.
"it's my mascot!" she said. "i've had it all my life, and if anything were to happen to it i believe i'd give up music! it's been a great traveller, and always stays in my berth on sea voyages."
to say that the ramsays were proud to escort miss lancaster and her stradivarius to 'the moorings' hardly describes their elation. a few parents and friends had been asked, so that with the school there was quite a large audience. it was arranged to take the girls' part of the programme first, and the visitors' solos afterwards, a proceeding for which the young performers were devoutly thankful. they got through their pieces very creditably, especially beata, who won warm praise from miss lancaster.
"that child's artistic and will make a musician if she goes on with it.
she puts herself into her playing."
"they're rather a remarkable family. her sister is studying singing in london," purred miss pollard, pleased to have one of her pupils thus noticed.
the treat of the afternoon was when mildred lancaster began to play, and her entire mastery of her instrument was a revelation to most of the girls. they had never before had the opportunity of listening to such glorious music.
"the gramophone will sound like a ghost after this, however good the records!" declared iva. "i wish i could hear her again."
"miss fanny's bringing fourteen of you to tea to-morrow—hasn't she told you yet?" exulted merle.
muriel had also been included in the invitation in spite of her previous discourtesy.
"it hurt you to be left out, so don't inflict the same feeling on anybody else!" urged mrs. ramsay when her younger daughter demurred. "two blacks never make a white! the best way of 'getting even' with people is to do them a kindness. that stops the whole thing and sets it into a different groove. ask muriel if her aunt will come too. she sings beautifully, and perhaps she will bring her music."
the ramsays' 'musical at home' was remembered for a long time by those girls who were present at it. mother was a clever hostess, and she managed to put all her guests at ease and raise that magic atmosphere of enjoyment which only certain people seem able to create. the drawing-room looked charming with late flowers in its vases and a blazing log fire. miss mitchell, having snatched a private chat with her two old school friends, was radiant. jessop, who had heard full details of the occasion, had insisted on coming over to bake the cakes, and hovered in the background like a beneficent deity, sending in fresh batches of hot crumpets. there were chocolates in little silver bonbonnières and even crackers, though it was not yet christmas. aunt nellie was there and enjoyed the music, and dr. tremayne and dr. ramsay joined them before the performance was over.
"wasn't it a triumph? i think we know how to give a party!" rejoiced
merle in private afterwards.
"yes, when mother pulls the strings!" agreed mavis.
