Sister of the Housemaster (22 page)

“
I should too, but I have a date for starting my work at the hospital, and I really am anxious to get back to it.
”

“
But we will keep in touch, won
’
t we?
”

“
Of course we will.
”

“
And now I must go. I have an idea that something dark and sinister is going on in the Lower Study tonight. Stealthy preparations have been afoot all day. But I don
’
t think I shall interfere.
I don
’
t think it necessary to tell Mr. Southbrook either
.
”

“W
hat sort of dark and sinister doings?
”
asked Ingrid.

“
Nothing very dreadful,
”
laughed Nora.
“
Probably nothing worse than a little midnight revelry
—
an end of term bust up, you know
—
with some forbidden cigarettes and a couple of bottles of red wine. It
’
s
been done before, and will be do
ne again, I daresay. Schoolboys don
’
t change much.
”

They parted, smiling, Nora off to her duties, and Ingrid to serve supper.

That night, Ingrid could not sleep. For a week or two she had been sleeping badly. She h
ad
lain
aw
ake most of the night, only to fall into
a
heavy sleep at daybreak, from which she had to rouse herself a little later; this left her feeling jaded during the day. Tonight was no exception. Her mind was over-active. She was extremely troubled about Laurence, not able to convince herself all the time that she was do
ing
the right
thing
.

I
t was in the early hours of the morning that she thought she smelt smoke. She put on her light and looked at her ash tray to see if a cigarette stub might be smouldering there. There was no trouble there, but the smell persisted, so she slipped into the living-room to see if anything was amiss, but found nothing. She opened the door into the lobby
, and the door from there into t
he hall, and it seemed to her that the smoke
sm
ell was stronger. She went back to her room, put on her dressing gown and slippers, and woke Arnold. Together, they went into the school part of the House, and Ingrid ran up the spiral staircase to Nora
’
s room to rouse her. She met Arnold again, who had discovered the Junior Common Room full of smoke, and was about to give the alarm. Nora joined them, wearing a sensible belted coat over her pyjamas, and outdoor shoes, to tell them that the Lower Study was also full of smoke and seemed to be on fire. The fire bell
rang
out, an
d almost at once the sleeping building
became a hive of activity. Boys, each, grabbing a blanket from to
bed, filed out in an orderly mann
er, according to the routine of established fire drill. They assembled in the quadrangle, wrapped in their blankets, shivering a little even in the summer air, waiting to be counted. Everywhere, lights had sprang up behind windows of unaffected Houses, and figures were hurrying to and fro, awaiting the arrival of the fire brigade. Masters were marshalling b
o
ys and calling the roll. Sylvia had been hurried to the nearest House, and Nora and Ingrid were busy helping to establish the fact that all the boys were here.

“
Lester,
”
called t
h
e master, hurrying through the names.

There was no answer from Lester, and repeated calls revealed that Lester was not present. The thought occurred to both Arnold and Ingrid at the game moment that Lester slept with five other boys in the smallest dormitory at the top of the
H
ouse.

“
All right,
”
said Ingrid,
“
I
’
ll get them.
”

She was off before Arnold could protest, running with the ease of youth towards the House, disappearing into t
h
e hall. The small dormitory was at t
h
e top of a spiral staircase, similar to the one on which Nora
’
s bedroom was situated, but at the other end of the House. These staircases ran up two stone towers, and this one contained, besides the dormitory, t
h
e studies of the boys who slept there. Ingrid came to the foot of the staircase, to find the tower filled with smoke, but she did not hesitate. Si
x
boys were at t
he
top, unaware of danger. She began to run up
,
slipping frequently on the awkward stairs, smoke filing her eyes and her throat with its acrid irritation. She came to the dormitory and opened the door, slamming it at once behind her. There little smoke here as yet, and one of the boys,
M
atthews, was sitting up in bed, having just woken, looking faintly alarmed.

“
Quick,
”
said Ingrid,
“
wake the others. There
’
s a fire.
”

He was out of bed in a bound, shaking the others by the shoulders, shouting at them
“
Fire,
Fire!
”
Oliveri, always hard to wake, had to be shaken repeatedly and half dragged from his bed. The sight of Ingrid convinced him that something was genuinely wrong. They snatched the top blankets from their beds and thrust their feet into slippers.

“
The staircase is full of smoke,
”
said Ingrid.
“
Nasty but not dangerous. We must run down as quickly as possible, and then through the wash-room into the yard at the back. Understood?
”

They were quite awake now. They nodded. They all understood. Ingrid opened the door,
and
smoke filled the doorway densely. And not only smoke. Tongues of flame darted and vanished, darted and vanished. Ingrid, and one or two of the boys, saw at once what had happened. The narrow spiral staircase, contained in its stone walls, had acted like a chimney, and was now full of smoke and fire.

“
Can
’
t go that way,
”
said Matthews. He was almost laconic, in sharp contrast to the
ex
citement of the other boys.
“
Have to try the roof.
”

He led
the
way to
the
tall window, and dragged a chair to put in front of it. The room was filling with smoke now, although they had shut the door. Matthews opened
the
window, on to a short stretch of sloping roof.

Ingrid stepped up beside him.

“
Oh dear,
”
she said, dismay creeping in for the first time.

“
It
’
s all right,
”
said Matthews.
“
We know this roof. If you slide carefully to the parapet, you can walk around to the big chimney stack. And if you can get round the chimney stack, you can get into the small studies.
”

Ingrid
’
s heart failed her at sight of that sloping roof.

All right,
”
said Lester.
“
You go first, Matt, and I
’
ll follow, and then Miss Southbrook can slide down on to us. Then the others.
”

“
I can
’
t do it,
”
said Oliver
i
, and Ingrid heard the tremble in his voice and at once her own fright vanished.

“
Oh, I
’
m sure if I can do it, you can,
”
she said cheerfully.
“
Matthews and Lester first, and then you, Oliveri.
”

Matthews was at once outside the window. The practised ease with which he slid to the parapet and stopped there told Ingrid that this was certainly not the first time he had performed the feat. Lester followed him, and the two waited for Oliveri.

“
Just slide gently,
O
lli,
”
said Lester.
“
Use your hands as brakes. We
’l
l catch you.
”

Terribly frightened, Oliveri did as he was told, and Matthews and Lester stopped him. The parapet wall was about eighteen inches high, high enough to give one a feeling of safety from the steep drop on the other side of it. Ingrid went nest, her heart
p
ounding in her breast, and then the others followed.

“
So far, so good,
”
said Matthews, who had constituted himself the leader of the party.
“
Now we will go along the parapet. If the small studies are safe, we can get down that way, and if they aren
’
t, we shall have to stay up here until we are rescued.
”

“
The fire brigade came some minutes ago,
”
said Ingrid.
“
I heard them arrive.
”

“
Then we won
’
t have to throw ourselve
s
over,
”
said Lester ghou
li
shly. The others laughed, except Oliveri. He would not even stand up. He had no head for heights, and was sure that, if he stood up, he would fall over. Ingrid sympathized with him. She was not looking forward to that parapet walk herself. No amount of persuasion from the others would make Oliveri move, and at last, Matthews said:

“
Well, I
’
ll go along, and see if we can get down. If we can, we
’
d better go, and the ladder will have to come up for Olli.
”

“
I will stay with him,
”
said Ingrid, who knew she could not leave one poor boy up here alone.

“
We will tell them where you are,
”
said Matthews, but, when they had negotiated the big chimney stack, and reached the studies, they saw that there was no hope of escape that way. They worked their way back to the stack.

“
Nothing doing,
”
Lester said.
“
We all have to
s
tay here.
”

“
We
’
d better shout,
”
said Young, a slim and quiet boy.
“
All yell your heads off, to attract attention.
”

“
A
‘
View Halloo
’
,
”
said Matthews.
“
All together. One, two, three.
”

They all shouted together, and were at once heard, since a look-out was being kept for them. Ingrid knew it would be only a matter of minutes before the long ladder would be hoisted towards them, and she wondered if Oliveri would be able to tackle that. She said, matter-of-factly:

“
Oliveri will go first, then Young, then Smith Three, then Phipps, Lester and Matthews.
”
 

“
And where do
you
go?
”
asked Matthews.

“
I will go last, when you are safely down.
”

“
I
’
m sorry, Miss Southbrook, but I will go last.
”

She smiled at him, but he persisted.

“
Lester and I will go last. I don
’
t mind telling you we know this roof quite well. It holds mo terrors for us.
”

“
Very well,
”
she agreed.

At last, the ladder was hoisted and a fireman came up. Oliveri was trembling next to Ingrid. She held his hand firmly in her own, and gave it a reassuring pressure as she handed him over to the fireman. She hoped he would not faint with fright. So far, he had kept
his
end up well, and if he succeeded until this was over, he would be one of the six heroes tomorrow, which would do
him
a lot of good.