02 Jo of the Chalet School (16 page)

‘
‘Zist gut!
‘ he said. ‘I will myself bring you to the
Bahnhof
. Give me one of those basket cases, Fraulein Joey. Yes; I can take it. I will “see you off,” as you say in England.’

Madge was really very thankful for his escort. She was beginning to feel tired, and the baskets
were
heavy after their long trudge through the snow. She took the other one from Joey, who was beginning to look all eyes, an invariable sign of weariness with her, and they all meekly followed in the wake of Herr Anserl, who strode along, shouting greetings, so it seemed, to most of the people they met.

At length they reached the station, and, while Madge went to get the tickets, the somewhat eccentric music-master took the two little girls into the
Restauration
and ordered hot milky coffee for the, with new rolls – ‘And be sure they are
new
!’ he added to the indignant attendant, who tossed her head, but nevertheless produced the coffee and delicious crusty rolls to break into it. When Madge appeared, he insisted that she should have the same.

‘There is sufficient time before the train comes,’ he said. ‘Yes; eat,
gnädiges, Fraulein!
Here is sugar.’

By the time they had finished their meal, the signals were down, and two minutes later the train swept into the station, and Herr Anserl was bundling them into a compartment and wishing them a merry Christmas, beaming widely all the time.

‘Isn’t he
decent
!’ said Joey amazedly, as they steamed out of the station, for Herr Anserl was considerably more feared than loved at the Chalet School. ‘I’m going to send him a Christmas-card.’

‘So shall I also,’ piped up the Robin, somewhat drowsily, it must be confessed, for the long walk and the hot drink were doing their work, and she was already half asleep.

Madge settled her comfortably in her arms, and before they had reached the old town of Schwaz she was far away in dreamland, and Joey felt ready to follow her. ‘Don’t
you
go off,’ said her sister severely. ‘It’s only an hour to the Robin’s bed-time, but it’s more than three to yours!’

Joey laughed, and turned her attention to the flying landscape. The train had one more stop before they reached Innsbruck – at Hall. Then, presently, cam lights, and five minutes later they were on the platform of Innsbruck station, with Frau Mensch taking a very sleepy Robin from Madge’s arms, and Frieda and Bernhilda kissing an ungrateful Jo on both cheeks, and welcoming them all very warmly.

‘This, then, is all the luggage?’ queried Frau Mensch. ‘We have a
Droschke
ready, and Gottfried will carry the packages. Fraulein, permit me to present my son to you.’

She waved forward a tall fair young man, who bowed with his heels well together but said nothing. As he took the baskets, Jo reflected that he seemed to be as shy as his two pretty sisters, who evidently thought him one of the most wonderful being sin the world. Frieda walked beside him, looking up at him almost reverentially. Joey wondered what Dick would have said if she had ever looked at
him
like that, and smothered a giggle at the thought of his horror. Mercifully, no one heard her, or she might have found some difficulty in explaining her laughter. Bernhilda came round to her side, slipping an arm through hers. ‘It is so nice to have you with us, Joey!’ she said. ‘We have looked forward to it for a long time. Gisela and Maria wished to come with us to meet you, but they live very far away, and there was no one to come with them, so Frau Marani refused permission. It is different here from the Tiern See, you see. This is the town.’

Joey listened wide-eyed to this, as they passed out of the station into the big brightly-lighted Bahnhof Platz. ‘But it’s early yet,’ she protested. ‘Why, it’s only half-past five! Why couldn’t they come by themselves?’

‘It is not the custom,’ explained Bernhilda, ‘and it wouldn’t be allowed.’

By this time they had reached the
Droschke
, so Joey said no more. She thought, however, and sat silent as they were whirled down the brightly-lighted Landhaus Strasse, into the wide Maria Theresien Strasse, with its big modern shops, all lit up, and its wide pavements, full of merry, jostling crowds, through the much narrower Friedrich Herzog Strasse, where the shops are built under the Arcades, across the fine bridge, and so to the quieter suburb on the left bank of the Inn. They turned to the left form the bridge, and presently drew up before one of the tall narrow houses overlooking the river.

Gottfried jumped down, and helped out his mother and the girls, before he hurried to open the door, to disclose a narrow winding staircase of wood.

‘We are on the third floor,’ said Frau Mensch. ‘It seems a long way when one is tired, but the air up there is always fresh, and it is a comfortable flat with plenty of room. Come, Fraulein Bettany. I am sure you are weary, and will be glad to rest; and this
Voglein
should be in bed. -Are you waking up,
mein Liebling
?’ fro the Robin had opened wide brown eyes to gaze into the kind face above her. ‘Come, we will mount the stairs and see what a fine supper awaits us.’

They went upstairs, leaving Gottfried to wrestle with the cabman and the baskets, and, after climbing till Joey felt ready to sit down and cry for very tiredness, Frau Mensch stopped before a door on the third floor and unlocked it. ‘Enter,’ she said, ‘and be very welcome!’

She had set the Robin down to find her key, and now she stretched out her hand and drew Madge inside, kissing her heartily before she did the same to Joey.

‘These little birds are very weary,’ she said in her soft voice, which made the guttural German sound musical. ‘We will have supper, and then they shall go to bed. ‘You will like to see your room,
nicht wahr
?

See; I have put in Frieda’s old cot for
das Liebchen
; and you and the little sister, will you sleep well in the big bed, do you think,
mein Fraulein
?’

It was a typical Tyrolean room in which they stood, with walls and floor of polished pine-wood. There were a couple of mats on the floor, and in one corner was a huge wooden bed, with its big puffy
plumeau
, and pillows in pillow-cases edged with exquisite hand-made lace. Two tiny wooden washstands stood side by side, with the usual baby bowls and pitchers on them; but over the towel-horse hung towels of the finest hand-woven linen. A tall wardrobe, a chest of drawers with a mirror over them, and three chairs made up of most of the furniture. At the foot of the bed stood the little cot, and over its head hung a beautiful copy of Guido’s ‘Blue Madonna.’ The room was arm, but not stuffy, and the white sheets and pillow-cases made Joey long for bed at once.

A tap at the door ushered in a rosy, smiling girl, wearing a full white blouse, short blue skirt, and wonderfully embroidered apron. She was carrying a huge jug of hot water, which she set down by the washstands, beaming all the time.

‘Gertlieb is a good girl,’ said Frau Mensch when Gertlieb had gone. ‘Now we will leave you to perform the toilet as soon as Gertlieb has carried in your baskets, and Frieda will come to bring you to our
Speisesaal
in ten minutes’ time.’

At this moment the smiling Gertlieb reappeared with two of their hampers, and a few minutes later she brought the others. Then she withdrew, followed by her mistress, and Madge set herself to ‘perform the toilets’ of her two charges, who ungratefully clamoured for bed.

‘I don’t want any supper,’ said Joey, with a wistful look at the big downy pillows. ‘Oh, Madge,
can’t
I just go straight to bed?’

But this, Madge would not allow. She insisted on Joey’s changing boots and home-knitted woolen stockings for slippers and silk stockings; made her wash herself thoroughly, and then brushed the short black hair vigorously before she turned her attention to her own toilet, leaving Jo to see to the Robin. They all felt fresher, but Miss Bettany mentally resolved to see that her juniors went straight to bed after supper, for the Robin was sleepy, and Joey’s eyes were like saucers of ink in her little pale face.

Frieda came presently, looking very fresh and pretty in her dark-blue frock and white pinafore. Her hair dung loosely to her waist, and excitement had deepened the roses in her cheeks. She led them into the
Speisesaal
, a low, wide room, with flowering plants in one window and a canary’s cage, at present covered with a dark cloth, in the other. The long table had the usual blue-and-white checked cloth, and the china was white with a cheerful blue-and-yellow pattern on it. A big book-case, full of books, stood behind the door, and there were chairs set round the table.

As the girls came in, Gertlieb was just placing a big dish of delicious soup before her mistress, who sat and the head of the table. A flat dish piled with crisp little brown sausages stood before Gottfried, and Bernhilda was dispensing rolls.

‘Come,’ said Frau Mensch cheerfully. ‘Sit down, everyone. -Frieda,
men Kindchen,
ask
der liebe Gott
for a blessing on her food.’

Frieda murmured the pretty Tyrolean grace, and the plates of soup were passed to Gottfried, who ladled a sausage into each before he sent it on to it destination. It was very good; and so were the great
Vanerkuchen
with jam, which formed the next course; but Joey and Robin were almost too tired to eat.

Frau Mensch smiled as she saw the baby’s head nodding lower and lower.

‘She is too sleepy for supper,’ she said. ‘Fraulein, if you will permit, Bernhilda shall take her away and put her to bed. No, my child, you are too weary yourself, and I indulged these bad children,’ she smiled at her girls, ‘and they did not get up early this morning, as I am sure you did. -Take
das Liebling
, Bernhilda.’

Bernhilda rose at once, and led the sleepy Robin off to bed, whither both Jo and Frieda were dismissed twenty minutes later.

‘It is early yet,’ said Frau Mensch apologetically to Madge, ‘but I am old-fashioned, and I like early hours for young people. Also, little Jo is very weary, and should soon be asleep.

‘She does not look too strong, Fraulein,’ said Gottfried gravely.

‘She is not strong,’ replied Madge quietly. ‘She is much better, however, and Doctor Erckhardt thinks she will outgrow her delicacy.’

‘Oh, undoubtedly,’ replied her hostess, as she led the way into the
salon
, another long room, and rather narrow, but bright and cheerful with its pretty mats and blue-covered furniture.

There was the inevitable soft with its little table before it, but there were not books arranged at mathematical angles, as Madge had expected. Instead, there was a bowl of Roman hyacinths. More flowering plants were in a long wicker stand near one of the windows; a grand piano was at the other end of the room; and in an alcove stood a harp. A beautifully-carved
Brautkasten
, or bridal-chest, was placed near, and on it was Bernhilda’s violin. The Tyrolese are an artistic people, and the few pictures on the walls were reproductions of famous painting, while the ornaments were mainly carved wooden ones, with a few dainty Dresden figures.

‘My mother-in-law, who lives with us, thinks our
salon
very modern,’ said Frau Mensch as she waved Madge to a comfortable chair. ‘She is very old, you see, and she does not like modern ways. She lives in her own room most of the time, but on festival day she joins us, and then she amuses herself by criticising everything that is not exactly as it was when she was a bride. Well, she is nearly ninety-five now; my husband is her youngest son – and she has not much pleasure in life; so, if she enjoys it, why should we mind? She cannot be with us much longer. Now,
mean Liebling
, it is easy to see that you are tired, so, Bernhilda shall play for us a little, and then you shall go to bed. -Gottfried, will you and Bernhilda make music for us?

Gottfried and Bernhilda promptly played several things together, he accompanying her violin. Then, at his mother’s request, he sang two or three of Schubert’s beautiful
Lieder
in a sweet, sympathetic baritone; and at nine o’clock Frau Mensch sent her guest off to bed.

‘It is of no use to wait for my husband,’ she said. ‘He is always late at Christmas-time. There is much to see to to-morrow, so I will go to see that
Grossmutter
has all the needs, and then Bernhilda and I too will go to our beds.’

She walked with Madge to the bedroom door, and then paused. ‘My child,’ she said gently, ‘while you stay with us, may we not treat you as one of ourselves, we older people, and use your pretty Christian name?’

‘Oh, please do,’ replied Madge. ‘I should like it.’

‘Thank you! That will be more comfortable I think. Now,
mein Liebling
, good-night, and the angels guard you!’

‘How kind!’ thought Madge as she undressed as quietly as possible for fear of waking the two children who were sleeping soundly.

When she was ready for bed, she pushed Joey over to her own side, and then slipped in beside her with a sigh of pure pleasure for the relief of stretching her tired body.

‘We shall have a splendid Christmas,’ she thought drowsily.

Three minutes later, Frau Mensch, peeping in, found all her visitors slumbering so profoundly that they never even stirred as she closed the door behind her.

Joey was the first to wake up next morning. They all three slept through Gertlieb’s brisk sweeping and polishing of the passage-floor, the sounds of Herr Mensch’s rising, the tap-tap of the girls’ feet as they hurried about helping their mother. But at about eight o’clock Jo suddenly opened her eyes wide, and then sat up, fully awake in a moment. She glanced at the cot standing across the foot of the bed, but the Robin never stirred. Then she looked down at her sister, who lay, looking absurdly childish, with all her pretty hair loose about her, her delicate face flushed with sleep.

‘What a kid she looks!’ was Joey’s mental comment. ‘Imagine
that
a Head! It seems simply idiotic!

She ran her fingers through her ruffled hair, making it stand more on end than ever; and then slipped quietly out of bed, and tiptoed to the window. It was impossible to see anything, however, for the window-panes were covered with wonderful frost designs.