04 The Head Girl of the Chalet School (21 page)

“I’m sorry, but I’m afraid I can’t! Oh, and just one other thing! Don’t let the child eat too many sweets. Mr.

Lannis has spacious ideas about the possibilities of small children’s stomachs, and, though it hasn’t upset Evadne, neither Jo nor the Robin is accustomed to unlimited chocolate, and I don’t want you all bilious after this trip. I will speak to Jo myself, and the Robin will do as she is told, of course. I’m sorry to burden you with all this responsibility, Grizel; but after all, if I can’t trust my head-girl, whom can I trust?”

“I’ll do my honest best,” promised Grizel, a little more colour than usual touching her pretty face. “I can’t do more.”

“Then I can let you all go quite happily,” said her Head with a smile. “You are a great comfort to me, Grizel. I feel I can trust you with them anywhere.”

The commendation was deserved, for that term had shown that Grizel, when she put her mind to it, could be as trustworthy and as steady as ever Gisela or Juliet had been. Jo had taken good care that everyone should know how the head-girl had tried to send her off with the Robin, and faced the maniac alone, and it had been Grizel’s doing that.they had got off as they had. Madge felt that the turning-point in the girl’s career had come when they had resolved to give her one more chance, and was glad that she had done so; and though she had had a good many qualms at first, she was proud of Grizel now.

There was no chance of saying anything more, for Joey and the Robin came racing up at that minute to demand if it was really necessary to take an extra pair of stockings, as Marie Pfeilfen, who had come to help them, insisted.

“It’ll be such a bore carting all that along!” said Jo.

“Well, if you don’t take the stockings, it will mean that you’ll have to stay at the hotel if you get your feet wet. Of course, if you like that idea, you can leave the extra pair behind. But you may please yourself about it.” Eventually the stockings went in, though it entailed twenty minutes with a darning-needle, which had been her reason for objecting. Jo loathed mending, but she had no intention of spending the precious hours in Salzburg shut up in a hotel.

They were all in bed by eight o’clock, since they would have such an early start the next morning; and Jo, as was her wont when excited, lay on her back, and had such awful nightmares that she woke up Grizel, who came in to shake her awake, and found her sister coming in, bent on the same errand. The dreamer was aroused, and turned on to her side, and slept again till Marie appeared with hot water and coffee, and the day had begun.

GETTING UP EARLY in the morning was not a favourite pastime of Grizel’s though Joey was an early riser at all times. On this morning, however, the head-girl was first out of bed, and she was nearly dressed before Jomade any move. Madge was dressing the Robin, who was wild with excitement at the prospect of seeing Salzburg, and it was the faithful Marie who woke up Miss Joey, and saw that she left her sheets.

Once that young person was up, however, she made short work of her bath and dressing, and was downstairs as soon as anyone. Grizel’s long curls took time to arrange, and Jo had straight bobbed hair which was readily combed into order.

They were to go down as quickly as possible, for Mr. Lannis had said he could not afford to wait, as his business appointment must be punctually kept, and he wanted to have lunch first. In the afternoon, while he was away, Suzette would take the girls to see the house where Mozart was horn, and where the Mozart Museum is. From there, they would go on to the cathedral, though Joey refused to be very much interested in it. Her favourite period of architecture was the Gothic, and the Salzburg Cathedral was built in the early part of the seventeenth century in the Italian baroque style, which she disliked. Still, it contains some very interesting things, such as the high-altar piece by Maseagni, and a beautiful old bronze font, so she decided that she could put up with it for a short time. The Robin was anxious to see the famous fountain, the Hof-Brunnen in the Residencz-Platz, of which Amy Stevens had often told her. The Stevens had spent more than one winter in this beautiful town, and the great fountain had been Amy’s favourite spot in it. Grizel had no special desires, and Evadne only wanted to go for the sake of the trip.

She greeted them joyfully when they arrived at the foot of the mountain, escorted by the doctor. “Say! Isn’t this real nice?” she inquired, as she made room for them in the car.

“Gorgeous!” replied Jo ecstatically. “I’m dying to see Salzburg!”

“Your old Nap had a lot to do with it, I suppose? That’s why you want to see it all so much, I guess. What I want is to hear that weird music thing at the Franciscan Church, and they don’t let females in – mean skunks!”

“What weird music thing?” demanded Grizel.

“Don’t remember its name, but I’m real mad to see it!”

“Well, if they don’t let women in, I don’t see you doing so,” grinned Joey unsympathetically. After a pause she continued, “I say, isn’t this positively gorgeous? I love mountain scenery!”

Evadne looked out of the window casually. “It’s not so dusty. I say, Joey, what d’you bet I get in and hear it, after all?”

“Nothing! You jolly well won’t! Talk sense, Evadne, and let it alone! You’ll only get run in if you try it on! They’d be safe to send for the
gendarmerie
. Don’t make such an ass of yourself!” Grizel, who had been staring out of the window, roused up to what was going at this point, and demanded to know what they were talking about. Jo enlightened her, and she promptly squashed her hostess. “Don’t be mad, Evadne! Do you want to let your father in for paying a big fine? For that’s what it would come to at the very least.”

Evadne murmured something about “Poppa could afford it all right,” but she ceased to discuss it any further, and the four returned to their gazing out of the window at the scenery.

It was very wonderful. At this point the road runs through mountains – the junction of the Tyrolean and Bavarian Alps, though they never crossed the frontier. Then it turns down into the Salzach valley, and follows the silver Salzach along till it reaches the suburbs of Salzburg. The suburbs are no more interesting than those of any other city, but in the great Hispaniola car they were soon left behind, and they came to old Salzburg, the great ecclesiastical city that generations of archbishops have built up on either side of the stream. On the cast rises the great Kapuzinerberg hill, and on the west the city is flanked by the Monschberg, both with well-wooded slopes, and charming houses nestling among the pines, larches, and silver birches.

The old houses, with their deep-red tiles and steeply sloping roofs, make one think of fairy-tales; and the glimpses of the silver river, the old cobbled streets, and the views of the grim castle of Hohen-Salzburg, which can be caught now and then, all go to add to the impression.

Joey was wild with delight, and the Robin shared her joy, though the other two unromantically declared that they were hungry, and wanted lunch!

Their wishes were fulfilled almost immediately, for Mr. Lannis drew up outside a restaurant labelled Restaurant Mirabell, on the far side of the river, and, when he had arranged for the care of the car, he told them all to “come out, and get a hustle on about it.”

Joey looked about her with a dissatisfied air, for they were now in modern surroundings, and there was nothing in her eyes that was interesting. The others pressed after the busy American into the restaurant, where they were quickly served with a delicious meal.

“Well, Miss Joey, how do you like this place?” queried their host, as they ate soup full of macaroni and very delicious.

“It’s awfully pretty, of course,” said Joey, “but I love the old town that we came through to get here.”

“Joey’s mad on history, poppa,” said Evadne. “I guess she doesn’t think much to this!”

Mr. Lannis laughed. “Why, we’re right next door to the Schloss” – he pronounced it “slosh” – “Mirabell, which they reckon to be a fine sight, and chock-full of history.”

“Oh, can we see it?” begged Jo eagerly.

“Why, I guess so. You’ll like the gardens, anyway, and they have a wonderful aviary here. I ken’t take you myself, but Susie will look after you all, and tomorrow we’ll go and visit the castle -if it’s open on the Sabbath, which I guess it is in these parts. See here, Grizel, I’ll give you the money now, and you all meet me at our hotel at six. You’re to get your
Kaffee
at four as usual, and you ken go shopping, for I want you should all take back a little gift to remember this visit. I guess there’s enough there to give you each twenty
Schillings
spending-money, and the rest will pay for your sight-seeing and
Kaffee und Kuchen
. Evadne, you’ll do as Grizel wants, and play no tricks, or I won’t bring you out again. Finished your soup? Hi,
Kellner
!”

The waiter came to change their plates, and serve them with tiny trout-like fish which were cooked in some wonderful sauce, and which they all enjoyed. It was followed by a fricassee of chicken and a pudding that made Evadne regret aloud that she had eaten so much of the other courses. Then they had coffee, and then Mr. Lannis rose, paid the bill, and delivered them over to Suzette, whom he charged to take good care of them. After that he went off in the car, and they were left to their own devices till six o’clock.

Suzette took the Robin’s hand firmly, and sent the other three on in front of her where she could keep an eye on them all the time, and they made their way to the entrance to the beautiful gardens of the Schloss, which the Archbishop Wolf Dictrich von Raitenau had had built for the lovely daughter of a Salzburg merchant in I606. Grizel paid the small fee demanded, and they entered the grounds, where they were soon gasping with admiration. Here, in this sheltered part, the flowers bloom nearly all the year round, and at the end of March, when their own part of the country was just beginning to wake up, the beds were showing daffodils, narcissi, snowdrops, hyacinths, and many other spring flowers, while the velvety turf of the fine lawns was as green as if winter were not just ended. The place is almost a miracle of beauty, with long avenues, bordered by fine trees; ponds, fountains – at which the Robin cried delightedly – mazes, and beautiful groups of statuary. High above this, across the river, towers the huge fortress of the Hohen-Salzburg, like a grim sentinel keeping watch over a Sleeping Beauty.

Even Evadne, who was a perfect little heathen where art of any kind was concerned, was struck with it all, and remarked in hushed tones of awe, “Say! I guess this sort of bits you in the eye! That old chap knew how to do things, didn’t he?”

Matter-of-fact Grizel laughed. “Well, from all accounts, he was a well-educated old thing, and he had lived in Rome and other places in Italy, so I suppose he just took all that was loveliest that he had seen, and designed this. It
is
wonderful, though!”

“It’s gorgeous! ” cried Jo. “Fancy living here, and being able to come into this whenever you wanted to!

What was the name of the lady? Anyone know?”

Nobody did, and she had to wait till they saw Mr. Lannis again to learn that the lady’s name had been Salome Alt, and that she had been a great friend of the archbishop’s, who also had the credit of the great cathedral to his name.

At the aviary the Robin went nearly wild with delight, and insisted on staying there so long, watching the many birds that fluttered about or came for the seed with which Suzette provided her for feeding purposes, that it was nearly four before they could persuade her to leave it, and come to the town for
Kaffee und
Kuchen
.

The town pleased them, though Joey declared that the shops were “rotten” compared with those of Vienna, which she knew well. Still, they got an excellent meal in a pretty Cafe Corso on the Gisela Kai, where they looked on to the silver river winding its way through the heart of the city, and feasted on wonderful cakes, with Suzette keeping a watchful eye on them all to see that they did not overdo it. She was very proud of her four charges, for Grizel, Evadne, and the Robin were pretty children, and Joey made up in distinction of appearance what she lacked in beauty. When their appetites were satisfied they went shopping, and in the despised shops they found many charming things. Grizel bought “Cookie” a view of’ the cathedral, and also provided herself with some handkerchiefs embroidered with peasant embroidery for Mrs. Russell. Evadne invested in a paper-knife adorned with a head of the great archbishop for her father, and presented Jo with a pen-holder wonderfully and weirdly carved. Jo bought post-cards, a tiny ash-tray for Jem, a doll for the Robin, and a collar for her sister; and the Robin, after many confabulations with all of them, spent her money on – a pencil-case for the doctor, a brooch for his wife, handkerchiefs for the three girls, a collar for Suzette, a matchbox for Mr. Lannis, and a new tie for her father.

“Papa will like it,
n’est-ce pas
?” she said to Joey, displaying its glories of blue dashes on a mauve ground to them all.

“He’ll be overcome,” vowed Joey, when she had recovered her breath.

“You see,” explained the small girl, “papa always wears such sad colours, so I thought he might like this. It is so pretty.”

The thought of what Captain Humphries, who was always clad in dark things, and whose ties certainly bore no affinity to the lurid thing exposed to their view, would say on being informed that he was expected to wear it nearly convulsed Grizel and Jo, though Evadne, not knowing him did, saw nothing to laugh at, and opened her eyes when Joey, with a feeble excuse about “something awfully funny in that policeman,”

gurgled wildly, and Grizel joined her.

“He’s just like all of them, I guess,” she said, after a prolonged scrutiny of the unconscious gendarme. “I don’t see anything to laugh at about him.”

“And it is not
comme il faut
,” added Suzette severely. “Young ladies should not thus laugh in the street.

They should be calm and well-behaved. Permit that I wrap up the cravat,
ma Petite
, and let us now return to our hotel.”