02 Jo of the Chalet School (17 page)

A tap at the door sent her flying across the room to open it on Frau Mensch, who exclaimed in horror at seeing her barefoot and without a dressing-gown.

‘I’ve only
just
got out of bed,’ pleaded Joey in excuse. ‘Madge and the Robin are both sound asleep still.’

‘And you would like to get up now?’ queried her hostess understandingly. ‘Will you bring your garments into my room, and you can dress there without fear of disturbing the others. Your sister is very tired, and we will let her and
das Voglein
sleep as long as they will. Bring your clothes, my child, and you shall dress and breakfast with us.’

Joey collected her possessions noiselessly, and then followed Frau Mensch explained that they had all been up since six, as there was a great deal to do to-day. Gertlieb had been at work since half-past five, and already much of the ordinary housework was finished. Then she left Joey, bidding her come to the
Speisesaal
when she was ready. Jo never loitered over her dressing, and twenty minutes later she entered the big, bright dining-room, where Herr Mensch was already seated at the table, consuming coffee and rolls, with Frieda on one side of him and Bernhilda on the other end. She looked up with a smile as Joey entered.

‘Come, my child! Here is coffee for you – but, where is your pinafore?’

‘I haven’t any,’ explained Joey as she meekly allowed Herr Mensch to pat her head in fatherly fashion, while he asked if she had slept well.

No pinafore!’ Frau Mensch looked horrified. ‘Run, Frieda, my bird! Fetch Joey one of your pinafores from the drawer in my room – You will wear it, will you not,
Mädchen
?’

‘Yes, of course, if you want me to,’ replied Joey cheerfully, though she nearly giggled outright as she thought of what Grizel would have said if
she
had been requested to put on a pinafore.

Herr Mensch nodded approval. ‘That is a good, obedient
Mädchen
,’ he said, as Joey put on the useful black pinafore Frieda had brought her. ‘It will keep the little dress neat and dainty. Here, with us, all the little maidens wear pinafores to save their pretty gowns. Does the baby have them?’

‘Oh, yes, Robin wears them,’ said Jo. ‘Madge packed them in for her.’

‘What will you do to-day?’ asked Herr Mensch presently, while Joey attacked her coffee and rolls with good appetite.

‘We’ve got Christmas gifts to buy,’ replied his small guest.

‘Ah, then mamma must take you to the shops and the market this morning. And this afternoon, if it does not snow again, Gottfried and I shall take you to the toboggan run, and you shall see how like flying that feels.’

‘Perhaps Joey knows that already?’ suggested Frau Mensch.

Joey shook her head. ‘I’ve never tobogganed in my life! I’ve read about it, though, and it sounds gorgeous! It would be nice if Herr Gottfried would take us.

Bernhilda laughed. ‘He will be very glad,’ she said. ‘And to-night we will go to church and hear the Christmas singing before we come home to supper and bed.’

‘I shall not go,’ said Frau Mensch decidedly. ‘I shall be busy with the tree. But papa will take you; and Gottfried also. Aunt Luise is coming to help me, so we shall have it finished in time. Remember, children, no one is to go into the
salon
to-day. Gottfried ahs gone to get the tree, and I shall lock the door when he has brought it. Frieda, my child, if you have finished, go and feed Minette in the kitchen.’

‘May I go too, please?’ asked Joey. ‘I love cats.’

‘Yes; go if you wish,’ replied the lady, smiling. ‘Bernhilda, we will leave you to wash up the china and arrange the table again for Fraulein Bettany and the little Robin.’

Then she bustled off to see about
Mittagessen
, while Joey and Frieda trotted into the kitchen to feed Minette, who was a magnificent tabby-cat, with a white dicky and white boots. Gertlieb smiled at them –she never seemed to do anything else but smile – but she wen ton steadily with her work. There was a great deal to do to-day, for all the mince pies which would be eaten to-morrow had to be made; and Frau Mensch had suddenly been seized with a fear that there would not be enough sausages, so there were more to be prepared, and Gertlieb must work if she wanted her two hours in the afternoon, when she could go to the market and buy gifts for the little brothers and sisters at home.

When Minette’s wants had been satisfied, Joey bethought herself that if her sister had awakened she would be wondering where she – Joey – was. She explained this to Frieda and left that young person to go back and help Bernhilda, while she herself returned to the bedroom, where she found Madge was still sound asleep, though the Robin had roused and was sitting up in bed with her curls al on end, and a patient look in her big brown eyes. At sight of Joey she put her finger to her lips.

‘Hssh! We must not talk, for Tante Marguerite sleeps yet,’ she informed her, waving a small hand in Miss Bettany’s direction.

Joey nearly shouted at hearing Madge called ‘Tante Marguerite,’ but she bit it back in time, and suggested that the Robing should get up.

‘
Oui, vraiment
!’ agreed the Robin, beaming at the suggestion. She was tired of bed, and she wanted to be with the others. The school baby found her own company somewhat dull after being with eight other girls most of the time. Also, she was hungry.

With due precaution and consideration for her sister’s slumbers, Joey managed to get the small girl into her clothes, and brushed the short curls with any amount of goodwill and no little force. She even managed to remember one of the prettily-embroidered Holland pinafores, which the Robin always wore to keep her frocks tidy. As for the Robin herself, she never uttered a word till they were safely out of the room. Then she turned wide eyes on her new nurse. ‘I have not seen you to wear ze pinafore till yet, Zoë,’ she said curiously. ‘Why do you wear him now?’

‘Frau Mensch told me to,’ replied Joey, glancing down at herself. ‘Come on and have
Frühstück
.’

Frieda had brought in a little tray with the big cup of milky coffee and rolls and honey all ready for the Robin, who sat down and demolished three rolls with gusto. ‘I feel more full,’ she said with a sigh as she finished the last.

Joey smothered a laugh. ‘You mustn’t say things like that, Robin,’ she said.

‘Why?’ demanded the Robin, as she rubbed sticky fingers on her bib.

‘’Cos it isn’t polite!’

Frau Mensch, who had just taken her third guest’s breakfast to her, returned in time to hear this admonition, and smiled broadly, for she understood a little English, though she could not speak it.

‘Come,’ she said in her own language, ‘we will have no scoldings to-day. In one little hour Fraulein Bettany will be ready, and we shall go to the shops, and see what they have to offer us for Christmas.’

‘Oh, is Madge awake?’ asked Joey;. ‘May I go to her?’

‘Yes, little heart! Go to thy dear sister, by all means!’

Jo darted out of the room, and across to the bedroom, where Madge, wrapped in her pretty yellow jersey, was sitting up in bed, eating her breakfast.

‘
You
disgrace!’ observed her small sister from the doorway. ‘You must have slept the clock round!’

‘Just about,’ replied Miss Bettany cheerfully. ‘I didn’t know I was so tired till I got to bed – Joey Bettany!

That’s never you in a pinafore! Wonders will never cease!’

‘Frau Mensch nearly had a fit ‘cos I hadn’t any,’ explained Joey as she ‘screwged’ up the plumeau to make room for herself. ‘I didn’t like to say I loathed pinnies when she sent Frieda for it.’

‘Who dressed the Robin?’ asked Madge.

‘Me, of course. Do buck up, Madge! I’m simply aching to go out! The sun’s shining like anything, and it’s a gorgeous day! We’re going to go shopping this morning, and this afternoon Gottfried is going to take us coasting. I say, what shall I get for Frieda? Bernie wants some hankies, so I’m going to get her some.

I’ve got that fretwork bracket for Frau Mensch, and a pipe-rack for Herr Mensch – ‘

‘Which he won’t know what to do with,’ cut in her sister.

‘Well, anyway, I’ve
got
it,’ said happy-go-lucky Jo. ‘We’re getting a doll for the Robin, aren’t we?’

‘Yes. I’ve made most of the clothes – there are just eh final tucks to put in, and I can easily run them round after she’s gone to bed. I don’t know what you can get for Frieda. Would you like to join with me and give her a fountain-pen?’

‘Madge, you ripper!’ Joey gazed at her sister in wide-eyed admiration. ‘It’s just the very thing!’

‘More than your language is!’ retorted Madge. ‘Take the tray, Joey; I’m going to get up now, so you can vanish!’

‘Not before time – your getting up, I mean!’ chuckled Jo as she grabbed the tray and made good her escape.

An hour alter they were walking up the Maria Theresien Strasse, all well muffled up, for it was bitterly cold in spite of the bright sunshine which made every place sparkle gaily. All round the town lay the great mountains, ringing it round like kindly giants guarding a great treasure. Under foot the snow crunched as the busy shoppers hurried long. There was no sound of wheels to be heard; but the street rang with the jingle of bells as the horses trotted up and down, drawing
droschkes
and sleighs. The whop windows were brave with scarlet paper and tinsel chains, and it was a difficult matter to get Joey along. She would insist in stopped every now and then to feast her eyes on the beauty round her.

In the shops there was a general atmosphere of goodwill and merriment.

A murmured explanation made good Frau Mensch undertake the charge of the Robin for half-an-hour, and a meeting-place was appointed at a café in the Lanhaus Strasse, where they would drink chocolate and half-past eleven. Then Madge and Joey were left to their own devices, and spent a pleasantly exciting time in making their money go as far as possible. Joey contrived to slip off by herself for a few minutes, and rejoined her sister with a certain little parcel in the inside pocket of her coat; a beautiful doll was chosen for the Robin, and Frieda’s fountain-pen and Bernhilda’s handkerchiefs were bought. Madge added an embroidered tobacco-pouch for Herr Mensch, and a dainty little collar for his wife. They had to run to be in time for the others, and arrived flushed and panting with laughter and haste at the café, where the Robin’s enormous importance proved that she had been shopping too.

‘We must hasten,’ said Frau Mensch, ‘for there is much to do; and this afternoon some of us go to ski.’

‘Ski!’ gasped Joey delightedly. ‘Oh, Frau Mensch, not really?’

Frau Mensch laughed. ‘But yes, my Joey. Why not?’

‘Oh! I never thought we could
ski
!’ Joey’s voice and face were both filled with rapture at the bare idea. ‘I thought you had to go to Switzerland or Norway for that!’

‘But why not here?’ demanded Bernhilda. ‘We have deep snow, mountain-slopes, and a strong frost; so we ski.’

‘Well, I think it’s gorgeous!’ sighed her junior. ‘Better even than coasting!’

The Austrians laughed good-naturedly at her joy. Madge was hardly less excited at the prospect. The Robin didn’t understand what it was all about, but she, too, was thrilled.

‘I think,’ said Joey solemnly, as they gathered up their parcels to go, ‘that this is going to be the jolliest Christmas we’ve ever had!’

There was still some more shopping to do; then they hurried home to
Mittagessen
, which the smiling Gertlieb had waiting for them. Joey could hardly bear to sit through the meal, she was so excited, and Frau Mensch half regretted that she had said anything about the ski-ing till later on, as she saw the food left on her plate. Herr Mensch, however, came to the rescue.

‘A
Mädchen
who wishes to ski this afternoon,’ he remarked, ‘will eat all her meat. Also she will enjoy the little
Karoffeln
which a gruff old giant gives her.’ And he ladled on to her plate another heaped spoonful of the little buttery potato-balls.

Joey blushed; but she ate what he gave her, much to Madge’s relief. She knew her small sister well enough to be aware that violent exertion performed on a practically empty stomach would mean that Jo would be too dead-tired to enjoy anything on the morrow. Also, she felt distressed at the rudeness to their hosts, unintentional although she knew it to be.

When the meal was over, there was a rush to get ready, and then Gottfried and Herr Mensch escorted the five girls to the place where ski-ing was going on. It was at their side of the river, only twenty minutes’

walk away, and then they were at the foot of the slope which was used for the sport. They stood for a few minutes, admiring the graceful, swallow-like flight of the experts; and then Gottfried suggested that they should all go to a quieter spot where the three novices could make their first attempts.

‘It looks fairly easy,’ observed Jo, as, the quieter spot reached, she allowed the young Tyrolean to strap on her skis, while Herr Mensch performed the same kind of office for her sister. ‘
Is
it, Herr Gottfried?’

‘Try for yourself,’ he suggested, as he rose to his full height. ‘Keep them straight – that is all.’

‘Right-ho!’ Joey made a tentative step; then another; then a third. ‘Oh, this is jolly!’ she called back over her shoulder. ‘Quite easy, too – ouf!’ In some mysterious manner the points of her skis had rushed to embrace each other, and over she went! Bernhilda fled to the rescue, giggled wildly at the startled face Jo raised to her.

‘They – they didn’t keep apart!’ she said feebly.

‘Never mind,’ replied Bernhilda consolingly. ‘That is what one always does in the beginning. Try again.’

‘Of course! I’m not going to be done by two bits of wood or whatever it is they’re made of,’ returned Joey calmly. ‘Look at Madge! -I say! Look out, Madge, they’re crossing!’

Too late! They crossed with that peculiar malignancy that seems to afflict them when beginners are wearing them, and over Madge went. The Robin fared no better; but, like the other two, she persevered, and by four o’clock, when the city below them was brilliant with lights, and the short winter afternoon was closing in, they could all manage to get along for a fair distance, and Herr Mensch prophesied that in another week’s time they would be quite good.