Читать книгу The New Abbey Girls - Elsie Jeanette Dunkerley - Страница 6

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When Madam, laden with almond blossom and daffodils for her London flat, had been tucked into Belinda’s sidecar and whirled away down to Wycombe to catch the afternoon train, Jen, at Joy’s request, returned to the abbey for the letters and papers left there in the morning.

Ann had them in safe keeping; as she handed them over, she asked anxious questions about the morning’s adventure, and Jen explained just what had happened, breaking into irrepressible laughter again at thought of their dilemma, of Joy’s jigs in the dark, and Madam’s unhesitating criticism, and of their ignominiously helpless position until rescue came.

As she talked, Ann listened in dismay and tried to express her regret that they had had to wait so long. The gentleman and the old lady had been greatly interested in the ruins, it appeared, and had asked questions which had seemed endless. They had left a card, with a request that it be given to Miss Shirley, so Ann handed it to Jen, whose lips pursed in a whistle of dismay as she read the names.

“Help! Those people! Joy won’t like that!” she said softly, under her breath. “And I suppose Ann told them every single scrap of gossip she could think of! She would, of course. And we thought they were only ordinary tourists, whom we’d never see or hear of again! Well, that was bad luck! Joy will be mad! And wouldn’t Madam have been amused! We’ll have to tell her sometime.”

“I was wanting a word with Miss Joy,” Ann’s voice was nervous and hesitating as she broke in on Jen’s worried thinking. “Would it do if I came up to the Hall to-night, Miss Jen? ’Tis—’tis important business, like.”

“Help! Is Ann going to give notice? What next? Poor old Joy! Everything’s going wrong at once!” Jen’s lips tightened again. “That will be all right, Ann. She’s only gone for a run on her bike. She’ll be home to tea,” and she turned to cross the garth soberly. “I wonder what’s up with Ann? She’s been here for years and years. And she’s always seemed so fond of Joan and Joy! Between Miss Macey’s school kid, and these new people turning up at such an awkward time, and Ann giving notice—if that’s what she wants with Joy!—things don’t look like being so awfully flat, after all. Everybody said Joy would be so dull without Joan; and the day after a wedding is supposed to be frightfully stale. I haven’t exactly felt the staleness of it yet, I must say. Oh, there’s the novelette girl!”

She paused beside a little figure curled up in a corner, in an angle between two gray walls. Maidlin’s black eyes had been on her with a touch of suspicion from the moment she appeared. She pushed back the thick, untidy black hair which lay in a mane on her shoulders, and looked up at Jen without moving. Jen was not the mistress of the abbey!

Jen was still too near her schooldays to expect to be treated with deference, however. She stood over the child and said warmly, “Thank you for giving us warning this morning! It was jolly decent of you to think of it. It wasn’t your fault we got caught, after all, and in a much worse place! Did you try to keep them back while we escaped?”

“I said to aunty I’d pick up the letters on the lawn. Miss Joy had dropped some. What’s she been saying to you?” suspiciously.

“Who? Your aunt? Nothing. We spoke about this morning, and she said she wanted to talk business with Joy and she’d come to the Hall this evening. That was all. What did you expect her to say?”

“I knew she would!” and Maidlin was on her feet with a bound. “I told her!”—and she sped across the garth and hurled herself into Ann’s little kitchen.

“Well!” Jen murmured, and stood staring after her. “What on earth’s the matter with the kid? Ought I to go and help? She looked as if she might tear Ann limb from limb! I’d like to know what it’s all about! But perhaps I’d better not. They seem to be shrieking at one another,” at sound of raised voices from the other side of the garth. “I hope no visitors will come till they’ve got the row over, whatever it is! That Madalena hasn’t half got a jolly old temper! Who’d have thought it? She’s looked quiet enough up till now! She is like a novelette, more and more!” and she went home by way of the tresaunt and garden, pondering this strange development in their guest.

“The row seemed to have something to do with Ann’s business with Joy, so perhaps we’ll hear all about it to-night,” she said hopefully, as she laid the letters on the big table in the lounge hall, and sat down to write the story of Joan’s wedding, for the benefit of Cicely and her husband in Ceylon.

“I say ‘Traveller’s Joy!’ ” and at the first sound of Belinda’s horn, Jen went flying to the door. “Come in here at once! What umpteen years you’ve been, just running Madam down to Wycombe! I’ve three thrilling things to tell you! Did she like Belinda?”

“Loved her. Wants to engage me to take her to all her classes, so that she won’t have any more trains to catch.” Joy tossed her motoring-cap into the sidecar with her big gloves, and came stalking in in her leather coat and breeches. “Come and undress me, Jenny-Wren! Three thrilling things! How many times can you say it quickly? I’ve had adventures by the way, too. We had to go to the station first, to pick up My Lady’s bag and music-case. Then coming home, just outside the abbey gates, I almost committed murder; or perhaps it would only have been called manslaughter. No, on second thoughts, I think any jury would have acquitted me this time, anyway. They’d have brought in a verdict of suicide, probably whilst of unsound mind, considering the rage she was in.”

“What are you talking about, silly?” Jen laughed, as she knelt and unbuttoned the leather gaiters. “Did you run over a hen?”

Joy, sitting on the big oak settle, said scornfully, “Hen? No, my child. I nearly killed Madalena di Ravarati. What do you suppose the father in Italy would have said?”

“Oh!” Jen sat back on her heels and stared up at her. “This is getting interesting! What did you do that for? Oh, was she flying out of the house in a rage?”

“In a towering temper—a real Italian passion, I should say. Never saw me coming, of course, but dashed headlong into the road. I just managed to avoid running her down; then, when I turned to swear at her, I saw she was galloping down the road at about a thousand miles an hour; no hat—slippers—overall on—hair all flying; looked a perfect lunatic!”

Jen chuckled. “I once ran up that road undressed! With my husband, you know; Jacky-boy! The time we got locked in the abbey, and couldn’t get back to school in time for dinner! I suppose you went after Maidlin?”

“Rather! She tried to dodge, but of course I got her, and dumped her in the car and brought her back, and tried to find out what it was all about. But by that time she’d collapsed, and was crying herself sick; I really thought she’d be ill on my hands. So I raced her home and handed her over to Ann, and said I’d hear all about the row later on. She was quite done in, far too shaky to fight me, though she tried it on at first. I guess Ann would put her straight to bed. Best place for her, too! But fancy having a temper like that!”

“I know,” Jen had attacked the gaiters again. “I saw the beginning of it. I don’t know yet what the row’s all about, but that’s one of my three thrilling things—Madalena’s Italian temper. I spoke to her on the garth, and she flared up, just like gunpowder! But you’ll know all about it soon, Joy, for Ann’s coming along to talk business with you after closing time; that’s the second thing. I thought at first she was going to give notice, but by the way Maidlin went off with a whizz-bang when I happened to mention it, I think now perhaps it had something to do with her. She said—‘I knew she would! I told her!’ and went flying off to have a scene with Ann. I heard them at it, but I didn’t go to help. I suppose Maidlin got the worst of it, and went tearing off down the road in a rage.”

“And barged into me and Belinda! What a queer business!” and Joy sat looking worried. “I hope Ann won’t give notice! That would be about the limit! Losing Joan and having to adopt strange girls is bad enough; but if I’m left with the abbey on my hands too, I shall simply have to go out and commit suicide, as Madam says when things get really desperate!”

“It isn’t quite the last straw, though,” Jen said ruthlessly. “I hope you can stand one more shock. Who do you suppose those people were this morning?”

Joy stared at her amazedly. “Who? Oh, the tourists in the crypt?”

“Yes, but they weren’t tourists, unfortunately. That’s the point.” Jen handed her the card. “The new people from the Manor! Such a way to get introduced to your new next-door neighbours! Isn’t it disgusting?”

“What?” Joy stared at the card, then hurled it from her across the hall. “Oh, I say! That is rotten luck! What will they think of us? I don’t care for myself, but I know Joan and aunty wanted to be friends. They won’t like it. That old lady sitting glowering in the cloisters didn’t like the look of me in a tunic at one o’clock in the morning; afternoon, I mean!”

“You wanted to be friends, too!” Jen pointed out. “You wanted to go boating on their lake, and skating in the winter!”

“Of course I did! We’ve used that lake all the time the house has been empty. I meant to go on using it still. But that old lady will never like me now. That was rotten luck!” Joy said mournfully. “And all because of an idiot of a torch! Why couldn’t it say it was nearly run out?”

“It is annoying!” Jen said soothingly. “But we can’t alter it now. Come and have some more tea, Joy. What we had with Madam was too early. And after that you’ve got to write your letters, and I must finish mine to Cicely. What shall you say to Miss Macey about her kid—Rosamund, isn’t it?”

Joy frowned. “I’ll wait till I’ve seen Ann before I decide. If she should give notice and leave the abbey on my hands, I don’t see that I can take on anything more till I’ve fixed up with some one else. But if it isn’t that, or if Ann’s got any more worries for me, about Madalena or any one else—well—”

“You will go out and commit suicide?” Jen asked gently.

“No, I shall burst into tears! There’ll be nothing else to do. And after that I shall be driven to take a very drastic step!” Joy said dramatically. “I was thinking about it when I nearly ran over Maidlin. I won’t tell you what it’s going to be yet, but I’m coming to see it’s the only thing to do.”

“O-o-o-oh!” Jen said admiringly. “Are you going to Paris after Joan? Or are you going to wire to Ceylon for Cicely? Or send for dear old Newcastle?”

“Neither, my child! But I shall act, and act in earnest, if things get much more tangled.”

“Complications ensued, and a consultation of eminent specialists was held!” Jen murmured excitedly.

“Just that. If things get any worse, you’ll see!”