Читать книгу Tomboys at the Abbey - Elsie Jeanette Dunkerley - Страница 9

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“Go and have a bath!” Jen jeered, and switched on the light.

Then she gave a shriek, but of laughter this time, for Joy sat on a mound of skin rugs, her beautiful red hair streaming about her, frantically trying to get rid of the crumbs which were tickling her everywhere.

“What a sight she looks!” Jack commented. “We did get some into her mouth, after all.”

“Half of it sweepings off the carpet!” Joy choked.

“Give her some water, Jack,” Jen suggested.

“Not I! She can just swallow it!”

Jen fetched a glass of water. “I have a forgiving spirit. There, Wild Bear! Wash it down!”

“Forgiving spirit! It’s I who have to do the forgiving!” Joy informed them, when she could speak without coughing. “Of all the filthy horrible people! Carpet sweepings! Ugh! You little ruffians!”

“And why were there any carpet sweepings?” Jen asked gently.

“You don’t suppose we wanted to carpet-sweep at ten o’clock at night, do you?” Jack mocked. “They’re your crumbs and your mess. We only gave them back to you.”

“Who was the idiot who switched off the light?” Joy asked wrathfully. “That was not a part of the entertainment I had planned for you!”

Jen chuckled. “Jacky-boy was the genius. I was too taken aback by the sight of a furry bear coming into my room to have any ideas. Oh, Joy, what an idiot you are! You gave us an awful lot of work, clearing out our beds!”

Joy smiled complacently. “I bet I did! But I guess I cheered up your little minds quite a bit, at the same time, didn’t I?”

“I wonder Joan hasn’t been here to see what all the row was about,” Jack began.

“Oh, Joan knows!”

“I don’t believe it!” Jen shouted. “Joan would never have anything to do with such a ghastly deed!”

“All the same, she knows, for I warned her I was going to make you yell. She’s keeping Aunty quiet and calm.”

“But we want to know what’s happening,” and Joan stood in the doorway and gazed at them. “Really, Joy!”

Jack and Jen sat on their heels and waited. Joy removed strands of red hair from her eyes and wriggled her shoulders to get rid of the crumbs.

“We were playing bears,” she explained.

“You were, you mean,” Jen cried.

“And what’s all this mess on the floor?”

“Crumbs; Joy’s crumbs,” Jack explained.

“Since nobody’s dead or injured, I’ll leave you to clear up,” Joan said ruthlessly. “If you don’t do it to-night, you’ll have to tidy the room in the morning. We can’t ask Susie Spindle to do that for you. I must go and tell Mother nobody has been killed. She’s a little nervous, after that wild yell. Jen, I suppose?”

“Well, Joan, I opened the door because we heard a horrible moaning noise outside, and a wild woolly bear jumped into the room. Do you wonder I shrieked?”

“No, on the whole, I don’t,” Joan admitted. “Joy, do get up and do your hair!”

“Do my hair! I need a bath. The little brutes put crumbs down my neck!”

“I really don’t blame them,” Joan rejoined. “They’ve certainly put crumbs in your hair. You look like a wild man of the woods.”

“Mother dear, can’t you see it?” and, the door safely closed, Joan began to laugh as she described the scene. “Joy on the floor, with masses of bear-skin rugs round her; she must have collected them from all over the house. Her hair hanging down and full of crumbs, in the most frightful mess; and Jen and Jack half scared of what I’d say, but quite determined I should understand it was Joy’s fault, which I knew well enough! The room all untidy; they’d evidently been fighting on the floor. And Joy saying calmly that they had been playing bears!”

“She can be very childish at times,” Mrs. Shirley sighed. “I hope she doesn’t do something she will regret one day.”

“Oh, I don’t think she will! But her tomboy side has been roused by having the kids here.”

“They are big girls now. They should not play about like children.”

“They’re not so big as all that! And Joy’s older still. If the girls found their beds full of crumbs, you can hardly blame them if they took their revenge when she gave them the chance. Playing bears! She deserved to be smothered in crumbs. I’m not in the least sorry for her.”

They heard the bath water running and knew that Joy was repairing damages. But they did not hear the hint with which she had left the younger girls.

“I say, you two!” and she rose and began to collect her bear-skins. “I’ve thought of something you can do for me. Hop into bed; have you got rid of the crumbs? I guess so, for there’s quite a pound of biscuits down my neck. When I’ve cleaned up I’ll come back and tell you about it. If you find any hair-pins, remember they belong to me.”

“We don’t want your hair-pins! What makes you think we’ll want to do anything for you?” Jack demanded. “After to-night’s doings!”

“You know you’ve enjoyed my little welcome! I had to make you feel at home.”

“What is it, Joy? What can we do for you? You know we’ll do anything,” Jen cried.

“The forgiving spirit at work again! I’ll tell you presently. But be very quiet; Joan will think we’re all in bed.”

“Then don’t growl in the corridor this time!” Jack retorted.

Joy crept away, and the girls once more swept crumbs from the floor, and then sat up in bed, awaiting her.

“I’m decent now,” she announced, slipping like a shadow into the room. “Even my hair is brushed and clean. But I had a dreadful time with it, thanks to you young brutes. No, don’t switch on; this is a private conference.”

By the light of her torch she placed a candle on the table between the two beds and lit it. Then she squatted on Jen’s bed.

“You’re the one with the forgiving spirit! Jacky-boy may have some more crumbs about her.”

“Not one crumb!” With a bound Jack was on the bed also. “Tell us, Joy!”

Joy held out a box of chocolates. “Especially provided as a reward for forgiving girls! Now are you game for a bit of exploring?”

“Exploring? Joy, where? What’s left to explore?” Jen demanded.

“We won’t have much time,” Jack began. “There’s prep. and cricket. Where do you want us to explore?”

“I haven’t time to take on the job myself,” Joy explained. “And you’ll probably do it better. The other day I was looking over the shelves in the library, and I came on an old book giving the history of the house. Before it was called Abinger Hall it used to be Holyoake House.” She paused.

“Holyoake House! How weird!” Jen exclaimed. “But why? Your Abinger ancestors have lived here for centuries. We know they were here in Ambrose’s time, because of Jehane; she lived here.”

“There was an older house. Jehane’s father built the Hall,” Joy said.

“But what did Holyoake mean?” Jack began. “And what do you want us to do about it?”

“Did it mean ‘holy oak’?” Jen asked eagerly. “Oh, Joy, it sounds like the big tree on the village green—the holy tree, that the President told us about—that they danced round, like in ‘Gathering Peascods.’ Is that what you think it meant? Was there a holy oak somewhere, and was the old house called after it?”

“Or it might be ‘holly oak’; a tree covered with holly,” Jack suggested.

“I like my idea best. Tell us what you think, Joy!”

Joy nodded to her. “I believe you’re right. I think we had a holy oak, somewhere in the grounds. I want you two to find it.”

“Oh!” They sat and gazed at her.

“What a marvellous idea! I’d love to try,” Jen cried.

“But would it be still there?” Jack objected. “All those centuries ago?”

“Trees live for centuries,” Jen reminded her.

“Wouldn’t it be cut down, or struck by lightning, or something?” Jack urged.

“If it was considered holy, it wouldn’t be cut down,” Joy argued. “Perhaps it’s a mad idea, but if our holy oak is still there, I’d love to find it.”

“We could dance ‘Sellenger’s’ round it!” Jen’s eyes sparkled.

“We could, and we most certainly would. I thought you two could prowl about in the woods and see if you come across any big tree that might have been the holy oak. It shouldn’t be difficult; our trees are mostly beech. You’d know an oak, if you saw it, I suppose?”

“You needn’t be insulting!” Jack protested.

“Oak leaves are cut up into teeth; very pretty,” Jen said. “We’d love to look for the holy oak, Joy.”

“It might be in the grounds of the manor, next door,” Joy said. “The estates may have been joined in those days. I know you don’t mind trespassing in the manor park.”

“We’ve done it before,” Jen acknowledged. “I’m sure Sir Keith Marchwood wouldn’t mind. Shall we look for her holy oak, Jack?”

“I don’t believe anything will come of it, but I don’t mind trying, some day when the ground’s too wet for cricket,” Jack conceded.

“All right, Joy! We’ll find your holy oak for you, or at least we’ll have a jolly good try,” Jen promised.