For the School Colours

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Title: For the School Colours

Author: Angela Brazil

Release Date: April 26, 2011 [eBook #35972]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1

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For the School Colours

By ANGELA BRAZIL

Angela Brazil has proved her undoubted talent for writing a story of schoolgirls for other schoolgirls to read.—Bookman.

The School in the South.

Monitress Merle.

Loyal to the School.

A Fortunate Term.

A Popular Schoolgirl.

The Princess of the School.

A Harum-Scarum Schoolgirl.

The Head Girl at the Gables.

A Patriotic Schoolgirl.

For the School Colours.

The Madcap of the School.

The Luckiest Girl in the School.

The Jolliest Term on Record.

The Girls of St. Cyprian's.

The Youngest Girl in the Fifth.

The New Girl at St. Chad's.

For the Sake of the School.

The School by the Sea.

The Leader of the Lower School.

A Pair of Schoolgirls.

A Fourth Form Friendship.

The Manor House School.

The Nicest Girl in the School.

The Third Class at Miss Kaye's.

The Fortunes of Philippa.

LONDON: BLACKIE & SON, Ltd., 50 OLD BAILEY, E.C.

WHAT'S THIS? WHAT HAVE THEY SENT ME? SHE GASPED

page 199

FOR THE

SCHOOL COLOURS

BY

ANGELA BRAZIL

Author of A Patriotic Schoolgirl

The Luckiest Girl in the School

The Madcap of the School

&c. &c.

Illustrated by Balliol Salmon

BLACKIE AND SON LIMITED

LONDON GLASGOW AND BOMBAY

Printed and bound in Great Britain

Contents

Illustrations

FOR THE SCHOOL COLOURS

CHAPTER I

Enter Avelyn

It's the limit! exploded Laura.

An atrocious shame! agreed Janet.

Gives me nerve shock! mourned Ethelberga gloomily.

You see, continued Laura, popping the tray of her box on to the floor and sitting down on her bed, so as the better to address her audience—you see, it's been plumped upon us without any warning. Miss Thompson must have arranged it long ago, but she never let out so much as a teeny-weeny hint. If I'd known before I came back I'd have asked Father to give a term's notice and let me leave at Christmas. Crystal clear, I would.

Rather! so would this child.

I guess we all should.

"I call it so mean to have sprung it on us like this! I really couldn't have believed it of Miss Thompson. She's gone down miles in my estimation. I can never feel the same towards her again—never! Those Hawthorners! Oh, to think of it!"

What's the matter? asked a fourth voice, as another girl, still in hat and coat, and carrying her travelling-bag, entered the dormitory.

Irma! Is it you, old sport? D'you mean to say you haven't heard the news yet?

Only just this minute arrived, and I've flown straight upstairs. I met Hopscotch in the hall, and asked, 'Am I still in the Cowslip Room?' and she nodded 'Yes,' so I didn't wait for any more. Has anything grizzly happened? You're all looking very glum!

We may well look glum, said Laura tragically. Something particularly grizzly's happened. You remember that day school at the other side of the town?

The Hawthorns—yes.

Well, it's been given up.

Irma flung her hat on to her bed and her coat after it.

That doesn't concern us, she remarked contemptuously.

Doesn't it? Oh, no, of course—not in the least! Laura's voice was sarcastic. It wouldn't have been any concern of ours—only, as it happens, they've all come on here.

Irma turned round, the very picture of dismay.

"What? Not here, surely! Great Minerva, you don't mean it! Hold me up! I feel rocky."

Laura looked at her, and shook her head in commiseration.

Yes, that's how it took us all when we heard, she remarked. You'd better sit down on your bed till you get the first shock over. It's enough to make a camel weep. I couldn't believe it myself for a few minutes, but it's only too true, unfortunately for us.

The Hawthorns! Those girls whom we never spoke to—wouldn't have touched with a pair of tongs! gasped Irma.

You may well marvel, sympathized Janet.

"But what's Miss Thompson thinking of? Why, she always looked down so on the Hawthorns! Wouldn't let us arrange matches with their teams, and kept us away from them at that bazaar as if they'd been infectious. It's been the tradition of the school to have nothing to do with them."

Traditions have flown to the four winds. There'll be nearly fifty Hawthorners turning up by nine o'clock to-morrow morning.

Nearly fifty! And we were only thirty-six ourselves last term! Why, the school will be swamped!

Exactly, and with day girls too. When there were twenty-four boarders to twelve day girls, we could have things pretty well as we liked, but if we've to hold our own against sixty or so—well!

It'll mean war! finished Ethelberga, setting her mouth grimly.

But what's possessed Miss Thompson to do such an atrocious thing? cried Irma in exasperation.

"£, s. d., my child, I suppose. Miss Perry was giving up the school, and Tommiekins bought the connection. She's completely veered round in her opinions. She told Adah Gartley they were nice girls, and would soon improve immensely at Silverside. 'I hope you'll all make them welcome,' she said to Adah."

Welcome! echoed Irma, Janet, and Ethelberga eloquently.

It wouldn't have been so bad, continued Laura, if just a few of them—say a dozen—had been coming. We could have kept ourselves to ourselves and quite ignored them. But we're being absolutely cuckooed out. Do you know that our recreation room has been commandeered for an extra class-room?

Howls of dismay issued from the trio now seated on Irma's bed.

Yes, you'd hardly believe it, but it is a fact, ran on Laura with dismal volubility. When I went to take my painting things there I found our tables and easy chairs gone, and the whole place filled up with new desks and a blackboard.

Where are we going to sit in the evenings? demanded Ethelberga fiercely.

Goodness only knows! In the dining-room, I suppose.

We evidently don't count for anything with Tommiekins now, said Janet bitterly. The Daisy dormitory has been taken for a class-room, and an extra bed has been put in each of the other dormitories to make up. Didn't you notice, Irma, that there are five here now, instead of only four?

Why, so there are! What a hateful cram! Who's to have the fifth?

I asked Hopscotch, and she said, 'A new girl.' I couldn't help flying out at that, and she simply sat flat upon me and withered me. Told me to go away and mind my own business, and she was coming round to inspect the Cowslip Room in half an hour, and I'd better get on with my unpacking.

Oh, she will! Why didn't you tell us that before? exclaimed the others, bouncing up with considerable haste, and setting to work again to empty their boxes.

I forgot. I can think of nothing but those wretched Hawthorners. It's made me feel weak.

You'll feel weaker still if Hopscotch comes in and finds you with nothing unpacked! observed Laura sagely, stowing underclothes in her middle drawer with the utmost rapidity. I advise you to make some sort of a beginning, even if you don't put things away tidily. Fling them in anyhow, stick a blouse for a top layer, and straighten them up afterwards. Don't let her see them still inside your box.

For a few minutes the girls suspended talk for work. Laura's flaxen head vibrated between box and wardrobe. Janet arranged her dressing-table and replaited her dark pigtail. Ethelberga hung up a selection of photographs, and placed her nightdress inside its case; Irma spread her bed with her possessions, preparatory to filling her drawers, and comforted her ruffled feelings with the last pear-drop in the paper bag she had brought with her.

The dormitory was of fair size, and though the girls might grumble, contained ample space for the fifth bed. It was a pretty room with a yellow wall-paper, and chintz curtains with little bunches of cowslips on them. There were pictures of cowslips also on the walls, and all the pin-cushions and hair-tidies had yellow ribbons. The window looked over the garden, and behind the belt of trees that bordered the lawn gleamed the grey waters of the estuary, where ships were stealing out from port into the dangers of the great waters. The girls prided themselves upon this view, though at the present moment they were too busy to think of it. Three years' previous experience had taught them that, when Miss Hopkins made a tour of inspection on the first afternoon of term, she meant business, and woe betide the luckless slacker who had gossiped and dawdled instead of bestowing her property in her own lawful drawers. If she had announced her intention of visiting them shortly, she might certainly be trusted to keep her word.

Their expectations were not mistaken, for before the half-hour had expired the door opened, revealing the short stout figure and rather angular features of the second mistress. The girls jumped up and stood obediently at attention, ready to go through the usual routine of dormitory superintendence. Miss Hopkins, however, was not alone. In her wake followed a girl of fifteen, whom she bustled in, in a hurry.

This is your dormitory, Avelyn—the Cowslip Room, we call it. Here's your bed, and these are your dress hooks and your drawers. The janitor's bringing your box upstairs. Oh, he's here now! Put it at the end of the bed, Tom, please. I suppose you have the key, Avelyn? Then you'd better unlock it at once. These are your room-mates—Laura Talbot, Irma Ridley, Janet Duncan, and Ethelberga Carnforth. Girls, this is Avelyn Watson. I hope you will make her welcome. Begin your unpacking now, Avelyn. I shall be back directly to see how you are getting on.

Miss Hopkins, whose duties on the first day of term were multifarious, withdrew as hurriedly as she had entered. Her visits generally resembled the brief career of a whirlwind—sometimes her pupils considered that they carried equal desolation.

The new girl remained standing by the bed, and for the moment made no effort to obey orders and unlock her box. She was pretty—her four critics decided that point at their first glance—her chin was softly rounded, and her nose was small and straight. Her general colouring was brunette, but the big wide-open eyes were grey as the estuary outside. She flushed vivid pink under the scrutiny of her room-mates. For a brief instant they thought she was going to cry, then she winked rapidly and began to whistle instead.

I shouldn't advise you to whistle too loud, counselled Janet, by way of breaking the ice.

Miss Hopkins is only in the next dormitory, and she's got a crusade on against whistling—at least she had last term, and I don't suppose she's changed her tactics; she doesn't generally.

Do the eternal snows change? murmured Ethelberga.

The new girl stopped with her mouth puckered into a button. A look of consternation spread over her face, then passed into a smile.

I was told I'd have to be jolly careful and mind my p's and q's here! she remarked cheerily. I've been just five minutes in the school, and my first impressions are that Miss Thompson aims at unadulterated dignity, and that Miss Hopkins is concentrated essence of fuss. Am I near?

Not so far off! laughed Laura. They can exchange characters sometimes, though. I've seen Miss Hopkins ride her high horse and be dignity personified, and on the other hand I've seen Miss Thompson more ruffled than a head mistress has any business to be. You'll soon get to know them.

I suppose I shall. Whether I shall altogether like them is another question.

You'll like Silverside! gushed Irma. It's a perfectly delightful school—at least it used to be. We're afraid it is going to be utterly and entirely spoilt now.

Why?

Because it's being invaded. It used to be quite small and select, more boarders than day girls, you know. And now we've just had a horrible shock—the whole of another day school is being plumped upon us—a school we've always despised. We're too indignant for words.

Avelyn, who was fumbling with the lock of her box, lifted her head.

Don't you like them coming?

Like them! Sophonisba! How can you ask such a question? We've always looked down on them so fearfully. Why, if we met any of them in the street, we used just to stare straight through them, as if they didn't exist. They wore dark-blue coats and horrid stiff sailor hats with coloured bands, for all the world like an institution. I tell you we simply wouldn't have touched them.

You'll have to know them now.

To a certain extent, worse luck! But they needn't think we'll be friendly with them, for we shan't. We shall keep a strict line drawn.

Avelyn had lifted the tray of her box on to the floor, and was busy taking books from the bottom portion. She was too intent on her occupation to reply. Irma, whose writing pad and fountain pen had just come to hand, was hastily scribbling a letter home; Ethelberga, leaning out of the window, exchanged greetings with a schoolmate in the garden below; Janet's vision was focused on her drawers; and Laura had just come across the postcard album, which she was afraid she had forgotten to pack, and was rejoicing in its possession. For five minutes or so the girls were engrossed with their own affairs, then the attention of the room was concentrated again on Avelyn.

You haven't told us yet where you live, said Laura, looking up suddenly from the contemplation of post cards.

My home is at Lyngates just now.

Where's Lyngates?

About twenty miles from here.

You say 'just now'. Haven't you lived there long?

Only since last spring.

You've brought very few clothes and things with you, commented Irma, who had been watching the unpacking of the new girl's box with critical eyes. You'll never get through a term on those, I should say.

There isn't any need to bring so many things when I'm going home for the week-ends.

For the week-ends? Heavens! You don't mean to say you're a weekly boarder?

Why not?

An expression of deep consternation spread over the faces of Avelyn's four room-mates. Their disapproval was evident, and they voiced their objections.

We've never had such a thing as a weekly boarder before!

You'll be away all Saturdays and Sundays!

You'll be out of all the fun!

Almost as bad as being a day girl!

Miss Thompson said once that she didn't approve of weekly boarders.

I can't understand Tommiekins, she's changed so lately.

Have you ever been to school before?

Why, yes, replied Avelyn, smoothing out the folds of her evening dress, and hanging it on the hooks behind the curtain. Though not since last Christmas.

To boarding school?

No; it was a day school.

Where?

I went to The Hawthorns in Harlingden.

If a bomb had fallen in the dormitory it could not have caused a greater upheaval. For a moment the girls stared at Avelyn as if scarcely crediting her statement.

Do you mean to say you're one of those wretched Hawthorners? exploded Janet at last.

I used to be, but I suppose I'm a Silversider now.

And we've got you in our dormitory! gasped Laura.

So it seems.

Miss Thompson ought to be thoroughly ashamed of herself! fluttered Ethelberga.

You'll be rid of me on Saturday and Sunday, remember, returned Avelyn bitterly.

At this crisis, the clamour of the gong for tea fortunately put an end to an extremely embarrassing situation. The four room-mates fled, leaving their new companion to follow them to the dining-room as best she could. When she entered, they were already seated at table, and did not look in her direction. She took a seat next to a complete stranger, who indeed handed her the bread and butter, but vouchsafed no single word of conversation.

When the meal was over, the original inmates of the Cowslip Room retired to a secluded portion of the garden, and held an indignation meeting. For the first frenzied five minutes they allowed their wrath full swing, and vibrated between a dormitory strike and writing to their parents to beg for instant removal from the school. Then reason reasserted itself, and decided the impracticability of both methods. Previous experience had shown them that their head mistress was a tough dragon to tackle, and scarcely likely to be coerced by even the best organized dormitory strike, while in her heart of hearts each knew that, after paying her term's fees in advance, her father would need some very solid cause of complaint to justify so extreme a measure as a return to the bosom of the family. They began to discuss the matter more sanely.

The fact is, she's here, and I suppose we can't get rid of her, admitted Irma.

After all, she's a boarder! ventured Ethelberga.

Only a weekly one, qualified Janet.

And a Hawthorner! added Laura.

She said she hadn't been to school since last Christmas, commented Ethelberga.

Why, so she did! Then she's had a sort of a break from The Hawthorns, and in a way she's making a fresh start here.

I suppose so.

If she'd be loyal to Silverside, though we could never like her, we might bring ourselves to tolerate her.

A boarder's a boarder!

When the girls returned to the Cowslip Room, they found their new companion with emptied box putting the last of her possessions into her drawers.

Look here, Avelyn Watson, said Laura. We've been talking you over. Although you go home for the week end, you're still a boarder, and at Silverside boarders are a very different thing from day girls, as you'll soon find out. If you've had two whole terms away from those Hawthorners, just forget them, and consider yourself entirely one of us. If you do that, we'll count you on our side; but if you've anything to do with day girls, we'll cut you dead.

I don't quite understand, returned Avelyn.

You soon will! said Janet significantly.

I advise you to think it over, added Laura.

CHAPTER II

An Invasion

The changes which were taking place this term at Silverside certainly marked a new era in its traditions. Up till now it had been essentially a boarding school. There had, indeed, been day girls, who had shared the classes and some of the games, but they were in the minority, both in numbers and in influence. They had had no part in the various guilds and societies, and had