A Summer Promise (16 page)

‘Your perishing hair’s in my mouth,’ he shouted. ‘Start braking now, or we’ll end up in the Thwaites’ library, which would be a surprise for Alice and no mistake!’

Fortunately, Maddy was able to enter the library in a more conventional manner, being ushered in by the maid who had admitted her to the house, and found Alice sitting in front of the fire with a pile of women’s magazines on a small table by her side, flicking through the fashion pages. She looked up as the door opened and smiled at her friend. ‘Oh, lovely. I’ve just been wishing I had someone to help me choose a warm winter frock or maybe a coat and skirt to wear when I’m invited out,’ she said. She tapped an illustration with an elegant finger. ‘See this? It’s made of cherry-coloured jersey cloth, trimmed with white angora, and I’d wear it with cherry-coloured court shoes . . . or they also do it in lime green. It’s available in most departmental stores, so next time we go into town I shall visit Blenkinsops and try on anything which takes my fancy. You’ll come with me, won’t you? I feel a bit mean, because you can’t afford party frocks and so on, but you don’t really care, do you? You’re not interested in clothes at all . . .’

‘Oh, Alice, do shut up. Tom’s mended the little sledge and it’s champion,’ Maddy said. ‘We’ve had one run on it just to make sure it worked all right and now Tom says you can join us. It’s quite safe and the most tremendous fun; I’m sure not even the Daimler can go as fast as that sledge.’

Alice shuddered. ‘Who wants to go fast?’ she asked pettishly. ‘I
hate
being cold, and . . . oh, Maddy, look at yourself! You’re streaked with mud and wet through. Is it still snowing?’

Maddy went over to the long windows to look out, then sighed and shook her head despairingly. ‘Honestly, Alice, you’re as capable as I am of looking out of the window. It stopped snowing half an hour ago, only then Tom was still fixing the runner. Do get your coat and boots, and Tom says bring a scarf as well as your bobble hat, because when you’re travelling at high speed on a sledge you’ll want to pull your scarf up over your nose and mouth, or the air feels like knives.’

Alice, who had half risen to her feet, sank back into her armchair once more. ‘Oh, does it?’ she said disagreeably. ‘Then I’m staying in here. I never did see the point of slogging up a hill, dragging a heavy sledge, just in order to slide all the way down again. If the sun was out I dare say it might be quite fun, but from what I can see it’s cloudy and cold and probably just waiting for me to go outside so it can start snowing again.’

Maddy giggled. ‘You make it sound as though the snow falls deliberately to spite you,’ she said. ‘Oh, do get up, Alice, and get . . .’ she smirked, ‘your skates on!’

Alice pulled a discontented face. ‘I don’t want . . .’ she began, just as the library door opened and the Thwaites came into the room to announce that they meant to go into town and suspected that Alice might like to join them. ‘We’re going to buy our niece skates,’ Mr Thwaite told Maddy. ‘If this freeze persists, every little pond will be utilised for skating, and Alice won’t want to be left out of that sort of fun, but she’s had no experience and won’t want to make a fool of herself on the ice. I used to be good at skating, so I’m going to teach her.’

‘But I don’t want to learn to skate,’ Alice wailed. ‘Auntie, do I have to? I’m sure my father would agree that I needn’t do something I hate.’

Mr Thwaite began to protest, to say that Alice would enjoy it once she’d made up her mind to do so, but Mrs Thwaite intervened. ‘Alice is just like me, my dear John,’ she explained. ‘We are a couple of delicate hothouse blooms who do
not
excel at winter sports. But why don’t we organise a really exciting party before this big freeze ends?’ Just for a moment her eyes met her husband’s, and she chuckled. ‘You’ve told me often enough how, in the old days, your father would build a bonfire and provide, oh, I don’t know, sausages, jacket potatoes, that sort of thing. He gave prizes, didn’t he, for figure skating and dancing the polka on the ice?’ She contrived to make her face look wistful, an expression which Maddy had never seen on it before. ‘If I remember rightly, it had to be when the moon was at the full, though I do believe the light from the bonfire lit up most of the festivities.’ She clasped her hands in a very theatrical gesture, making Maddy stifle a gurgle of merriment. ‘Couldn’t we do that again, John? I’m sure you could teach Alice just enough to enable her to take part in the fun.’

Mr Thwaite looked doubtfully at his niece. ‘If she really doesn’t want to . . .’ he began, but was swiftly interrupted.

‘It’s a grand idea,’ Alice said, beaming at her aunt and uncle with real affection. ‘I don’t want to be a spoilsport, so I’ll do my very best to learn to skate. Gosh, a party! Who shall we invite? Oh, I’m already
so
excited, and I bet Maddy is too.’

Maddy glanced at Mrs Thwaite and this time she saw the wink and knew it was not her imagination. Mrs Thwaite was as keen as her husband to persuade Alice to join in. Mr Thwaite said jovially: ‘Whom shall we invite? Why, we’ll throw it open to the whole neighbourhood. We’ll have sausages and potatoes, mulled wine for the adults and something hot for the youngsters; Cook can consult her recipe books. Well, well, well. It’ll be our first party since Alice has come to live with us, and we must make sure it’s a good one.’

When Mr and Mrs Thwaite had disappeared, telling their niece to be ready to accompany them into town in ten minutes, Alice turned impulsively to her friend. ‘I’m going to ask Auntie Ruby if she can buy me a new coat for the party,’ she said. ‘What do you think of bright red, or bright blue for that matter? Something striking, anyway. And if she buys me a new scarf and cap you may have my old ones. The angora is beautifully soft.’ She stroked the collar of her navy coat.

‘Thanks, Alice,’ Maddy said with real gratitude. ‘Well, I shall leave you now, because poor Tom is waiting at the top of the long meadow. See you!’

When told of the conversation in the library, Tom gave it as his opinion that things had worked out for the best. ‘And you never know, when Alice looks out of the window and sees us having fun she might easily change her mind and join us,’ he said. ‘And don’t forget you’re going to see if you can find some skating boots; I’m sure Mr Thwaite would be happy to teach you as well as Alice, but personally I think you’d be better off with me. You’d be stiff and shy with Mr Thwaite, and embarrassed if you fell; even more embarrassed if you dragged him over as well! So you and I will take ourselves off to the bottomless pool and I’ll teach you enough to save you from breaking a leg.’

But it was soon obvious that Alice had no intention of sledging. And though Maddy and Tom made a point of inviting her to join them on several occasions, she resolutely refused to do so, saying loftily: ‘My uncle is teaching me all I need to know.’ Maddy thought, a trifle guiltily, that had Alice realised how much friendlier she and Tom had become her friend might have thought twice about refusing their invitations, for Alice considered Tom to be very much her property.

Being so wrapped up in her own affairs, Alice had still not noticed the strong friendship which was blossom-ing between her best friend and the chauffeur’s son by the time she came down to the bottomless pool on the night of the party. All the youngsters from the village were there, showing off their skills, and though it would not be truthful to say that Alice was an expert, she put on her skating boots and allowed Tom to encircle her waist with his arm, and the two of them went merrily off on to the ice, though Tom’s efforts to teach her to make a figure eight were unavailing. ‘But there’s always next year,’ he said comfortingly, though he winked at Maddy as he spoke and she had to turn her head away to hide her smile.

Alice went along with Maddy to the bonfire and buried her potato in the glowing embers, and even toasted a sausage impaled on a sharply pointed stick. Looking around her and trying to shield her face from the heat of the fire, she nudged Maddy in the ribs. ‘Haven’t my aunt and uncle done us proud?’ she murmured. ‘It’s not only that they’ve provided masses of grub, but they’re giving really good prizes for the skating competitions. Who do you think will win the polka?’ She giggled. ‘Did you see who has entered? Your pal, Miss Parrott, and Mr Grice! Can you imagine your old teacher polkaing across the ice with the headmaster? He must be twice her age!’

Maddy pulled her sausage away from the flames and regarded it critically, and then looked to where Mr Grice and Miss Parrott were swooping gently across the ice, so at home on their skates that they were talking and laughing as they circled. Maddy raised her brows. ‘He doesn’t look old – and he doesn’t skate old either,’ she said rather confusedly. ‘And Miss Parrott looks almost pretty. Did you see her in the figure skating? Your aunt Ruby says she beats the rest into a cocked hat.’ She sighed wistfully. ‘Wish I could skate like that!’

Tom, coming up behind them, seized Alice by the nape of her neck, making her squeak and giggle. ‘When you’ve finished admiring those two, how about putting our names down for the polka?’ he said. ‘Think how pleased your uncle and aunt will be, even if we don’t win. But you are quite a competent skater, so it might be worth having a go.’

Maddy swallowed her disappointment; she had been practising on the sly whenever she had the opportunity and had thought that she and Tom might put up a good performance. But of course, she reminded herself, Alice had known him longer than she had, so she sat on the bank and watched.

Later in the evening, when all the prizes had been awarded, the sausages eaten, and people were beginning to drift off homeward, Miss Parrott, breathless from the exertion of another spirited polka, came over to say goodbye to her one-time pupil. ‘I don’t know when I’ve enjoyed anything more!’ the teacher said, smiling. ‘Haven’t we been lucky? The cold has continued and the frost is still as hard as iron. I wonder if Mr Grimshaw was wrong when he said there was a thaw coming?’ She peered at the small bag Maddy was clutching. ‘What’s in there? I heard Mr Thwaite calling your name; is that your winnings?’

Maddy nodded vigorously. ‘That’s right; speed skating for beginners. I came first and got a bag of humbugs, which just happen to be Gran’s favourite sweets, so I’m taking them home for her . . . well, apart from the one in my mouth.’

Miss Parrott chuckled. ‘Good for you. Oh, Maddy, isn’t it a fabulous night? What with the glow from the bonfire and the moonshine, it’s almost as light as day. I don’t think I shall ever forget this evening if I live to be a hundred. Mr and Mrs Thwaite have done more than throw a delightful party; they’ve given us memories which will last our lives long.’ As she spoke, she tapped the white angora scarf and bobble hat Maddy was wearing. ‘And you so smart!’ she added. ‘You look very pretty, as well as snug as a bug in a rug. But how are you getting home? The party invitations said the fun ended at midnight, and it must be well past that already.’

Maddy smiled. ‘Tom says he’ll walk me home; it’s a lot quicker going by the fields than it would be going in the car. I don’t want to put him out, but his dad’s going to pick him up from the top of the lane and I must admit I’ll be happier to have company, even on such a magical night as this.’

‘And I shall be happier knowing you’re not alone,’ Miss Parrott said, smiling. ‘You young things are so impetuous; you simply don’t take into account that accidents do happen. If you fell and broke a leg, how would you expect to get home? Oh, I know what you’ll say: you know every inch of the lanes and meadows between here and Larkspur, and that may be true in daylight, but moonlight, I assure you, my dear, is a very different kettle of fish.’

As she finished speaking they were joined by Tom. ‘Miss Parrott, Mr Grice said to remind you that he’s giving you a lift into the village,’ he said. ‘Most of the villagers will be walking home by the beck but he says you’ve had a very tiring evening, what with the polka competition and everything, so he’s waiting for you in the stable yard.’

Miss Parrott laughed. ‘Hoity-toity young man; I was just having a word with my star pupil, making sure that she wasn’t walking home alone, but she tells me that you’ve offered to accompany her and she has accepted, so I needn’t worry that she’ll go wrenching her ankle or tumbling into a ditch.’ She turned to Maddy. ‘I’ve a little bit of news for you, my dear; I shan’t be living at the schoolhouse in Crowdale after the end of next term.’

Maddy began to express dismay at the thought of not having the teacher nearby, but the older woman shook her head, laughing. ‘Don’t look so dismayed, my dear – I haven’t had the sack. In fact my reason for the move is the best possible one. Mr Grice has been offered the headship of a large boarding school near Ripon and he’s asked me to be his wife.’

‘Oh Miss Parrott, I’m so happy for you,’ Maddy said at once. ‘I thought – well, I did wonder, when I saw you skating together – but will you stop teaching? It would be an awful waste if you did, because you’re the best. I’d never have got into St Philippa’s if it hadn’t been for you. But when are you getting married? Will you be having bridesmaids?’

‘Stop, stop,’ Miss Parrott said, laughing. ‘Give me time to answer your questions, at least! First, yes, I intend to continue teaching; Mr Grice’s school have offered me a place. What would I do by myself in the house all day? And we shall have a register office wedding, since we’re neither of us in what you might call the first bloom of youth, and that means no bridesmaids, nor long white dresses. The wedding ceremony itself will take place at Easter, when I’ll have worked out my notice at the village school, and I hope you will be one of our first visitors in our new home. But now I really must bid you good night, my dear. Mr Grice is a patient man but I can’t keep him waiting any longer. Sweet dreams.’

As the teacher left them, Tom slid an arm round Maddy’s waist. ‘That’s one very nice woman. I’m sorry I was so rude about her nose; you hardly notice it at all when you’re talking to her, do you? I wish my dad could meet someone he cared about, because when I’m at university – if I get there, that is – he’ll really miss me. We’d better get a move on, though. Do you think the O’Hallorans will wait up for you? I saw Mr O’Halloran hovering around the bonfire a couple of times so I picked out some spuds for him – I thought he might like them with a knob of butter in for his supper – but when I went to look for him he had disappeared.’