Читать книгу Strangers at the Abbey - Elsie Jeanette Dunkerley - Страница 5

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“Joan! You want me? But what can I do?” Jen gave a shout.

“Gently!” Joan scolded. “We don’t want to be turned out into the street. If you’re going to yell like that, I’ll be afraid to tell you what I mean.”

“I’ll whisper,” Jen promised fervently. “I’ll just murmur gently. What do you want me to do? Is it really something for you?”

“I want you to come and live with me,” Joan said, her eyes full of amusement. “Now murmur gently about that, if you can!”

“To live! Do you mean at the Hall?” Jen gasped. “Oh, Joan, don’t tease! Tell me some more! You couldn’t mean that?”

“Oh, but I could. We’re afraid we’re in for a difficult time, and we want you to come and help us.”

Jen sat and stared at her. “I don’t understand,” she said at last. “Either I’m mad or you are. I hope it isn’t you. It might be me, of course.”

“Oh, Jen!” Joan laughed. “Listen, then!” and she told of the letter from Scotland, of the newly-found cousins, and of Belle’s demand that the little sister should find a home at the Hall.

“But what cheek!” Jen cried. “It isn’t Aunty Shirley’s house! What does Joy say?”

“That she doesn’t want the kid. But Joy always gives in to anything Mother wants, and Mother does want her, so she’ll have to come.”

“You don’t want her either, do you?”

“I think it may be too much for Mother. We shall all have to protect her and keep Rykie off her hands. And that’s where you come in, my dear.”

“Oh!” Jen gave another startled gasp. “You think if I stayed at the Hall I could help you with the kid?”

“Exactly. Miss Macey will let you come if your mother agrees, and if you turn up at school punctually every morning. I’ve written to Mrs. Robins.”

“Mother will say yes; she loves me to be with you. I say, what sport! For the whole term?”

“I should think so. Rykie must come to school, of course. I thought you could cycle together; I wouldn’t like her to do it alone.”

“How old is she?” Jen looked thoughtful. “And what’s her name? You called her something weird.”

“She’s fourteen. Her name’s Frederica, after her father. But her sister calls her Rykie.”

Jen’s eyes widened. “How odd! And what’s her second name?”

“Reekie. Her father was Frederick Reekie.”

“Rykie Reekie! Gosh, what a name!”

“We think perhaps she was called Reeka at home, but at school the girls laughed at ‘Reeka Reekie,’ so she turned it into Rykie.”

Jen broke into a wide grin. “I bet they called her Shrieker and she couldn’t stand it.”

Joan laughed. “Perhaps. They couldn’t turn Rykie into Shrieker. Well, Jen, what about it? Will you come to live at the Hall and take Rykie off our hands as much as you can, and especially keep her from worrying Mother?”

“I’ll be nursemaid to half a dozen kids, for the sake of living with you!” Jen promised largely. “It won’t be so bad for you, Joan. We’ll have to start early and we won’t be back till after five, and then there will be prep. I’ll take her out for picnics on Saturdays; lucky it’s the summer term! How long will she stay?”

“We’ve no idea. She’ll have no other home in this country. But she may want to join her sister in America, in time.”

“It’s jolly hard lines on you all.” Jen considered the situation. “The Hall is so nice and quiet and peaceful, and you’ve kept it like that for Aunty Shirley’s sake. To have an unknown kid dumped on you, without any chance to say no, is a bit thick.”

“That’s how Joy feels, but Mother wants to help. Rykie may be a very jolly girl, Jen. We may find we’re glad to have her. I don’t know why we’ve made up our minds she’ll be a nuisance.”

Jen shot a shrewd look at her. “But you think she will. You don’t expect her to be nice.”

“I suppose it’s because Belle has thrust her on us, without giving us much chance to refuse. It’s unfair to blame Rykie; she can’t help herself. Probably we shall like her very much. You see what a great help to us you can be, don’t you?”

“A bit, perhaps. I suppose two will be easier to look after than one, even if one of them’s me—I mean, even if I’m one of them!”

“That sounds better,” Joan laughed. “And, quite apart from Rykie, we always like to have you at the Hall.”

Jen reddened suddenly. “You can’t really mean that, you know, Joan. I’m untidy, and I’m noisy—a real shrieker; everybody says so! I’m the very opposite of all of you at the Abbey; you ought to hate having me there. You’ve been marvellous, to put up with me so much. And now you’re asking me for the whole term! I just don’t believe it.”

“You keep us lively and stop us from getting old and stodgy,” Joan said seriously.

“I hope this Rykie person isn’t really another shrieker!” Jen exclaimed. “You couldn’t stand two in the house!”

“You only shout when you’re thrilled about something. Mother likes having you, and of course Joy and I like you quite a lot!”

“I can’t imagine why,” Jen said humbly.

“You’re a part of our schooldays; you make us feel young again,” Joan said solemnly. “Quite often I wish I could go back to school.”

“Oh, Joan, do come!” Jen gave one of her wild shrieks of excitement. “Everybody would love to have you! You could come with me and Rykie every day. I’m sure you don’t know everything yet!”

“I do not! But I’m learning,” Joan told her. “I’ve taken over most of the housekeeping from Mother and I’m finding out just what a lot of things I don’t know. And Joy is working really hard at her music. We’ve plenty to do, though we aren’t at school. Don’t imagine I sit and read novels all day!”

“You’re coming to the coronation on Friday?” Jen asked wistfully.

“Of course we are! I have to do my last public act for the Club by crowning Muriel with forget-me-nots before she abdicates and crowns Nesta as the new Queen.”

“I forgot; yes, you still have one Queen-thing to do.”

“One duty as a Queen; not Queen-thing, please! What a dreadful expression!”

Jen laughed. “Sorry! Yes, it was ugly. I hope you won’t ever feel too old to come on May Days, not even when you’re a grandmother.”

“A grandmother!” Joan gave a shout of laughter. “I’ll have to be a mother first, and I don’t see any sign of that happening. I don’t suppose I shall ever marry. I shall stay at home and take care of the Abbey; that’s my job. How could I leave it and go away? But you’ll go away, my dear! This isn’t your home. Your people will want you, as soon as you’re done with school.”

Jen’s face clouded. “I wish home was nearer. I wish—oh, I don’t know what I wish! But I don’t want to go away from you and the Abbey.”

“You’ll always come to us for May Day,” Joan promised, to comfort her. “Consider yourself invited, here and now, for every coronation! As long as I go back to school to be a Queen I shall want you for my maid.”

Jen’s face lit up. “Thank you, Joan. I shall always come.”

“Unless, of course, you are Queen yourself some day,” Joan added. “I’ll give up my maid if she becomes a Queen, but for no other reason.”

“Oh, they won’t choose me! But I think perhaps good old Beetle will be it next year. She’d be a jolly nice Queen, though she’d look funny, as she’s so little and round.”

“I’m sure Beetle would be a good Queen,” Joan agreed, and said no more about her secret hope, which she knew Joy shared, that Jen would be crowned some day.