late.
‘Here’s snip, and nip, and cut, and slish, and slash!’ quoted Margia as she shook out her sewing.
‘Away, thou rag!’ retorted Jo as she sat down. Then she turned to Bernhilda: ‘What sweeting; all amort?’
‘Joey, be quiet,’ said Gisela. ‘And please do not use such language! I am sure Madame would not like it!’
‘Nay; this to me!’ retorted Jo. ‘Thou very paltry knave -’
‘Josephine,’ said a quiet voice behind her.
Jo turned round in dismay. There stood her sister.
‘When I told you to model your language on that of the classics,’ said Madge, ‘I never meant you to use Shakespearian expressions, and you knew it!’
Eleven people looked down, their cheeks scarlet. Miss Bettany surveyed them, a little smile twitching at the corners of her mouth.
‘Please don’t do it again,’ she said, and then left them.
‘I suppose it was your plan, Joey?’ she said later to her small sister, who had come to say ‘Good-night’ to her. ‘You are a naughty child!’
‘Oh, don’t be cross!’ pleaded Joey. ‘We spent ages reading Shakespeare, and now it’s been nearly all wasted!’
‘And serve you right!’ was the answer. ‘You are an impertinent monkey to have twisted my words round like that!’
Joey looked at her doubtfully. ‘We know a lot more about him, anyway,’ she said irrelevantly. ‘And it’s awfully hard not to be able to say “jolly,” and “decent,” and “awful!” Really, it is, Madge! And Shakespeare used such gorgeous words!’
Madge gave it up and laughed. ‘Got o bed,’ she said. ‘You are a bad, incorrigible child!’
‘I won’t use Shakespeare’s expressions any more,’ promised Joey, rubbing her head against her sister’s arm like an ingratiating pussycat. ‘And we may say “jolly,” and things like that, mayn’t we?’
‘Good-night, you baby!’ was the only reply she got.
However, as the prefects relaxed their vigilance a little, the middles thought it was fairly safe to take it for granted that Miss Bettany did not mind a little slang; so their Shakespearian studies had not been in vain.
Chapter 10
‘it was all my own fault!’
Next day the snow came, and with it the winter. All that day and the next it snowed, a huge whirling blizzard, and the clouds were so heavy with it that they seemed to be lying on the mountain-tops, and still the snow fell. On the Thursday there as a lull which lasted for two hours,, and the girls, well wrapped up, played about the Chalet during the whole time. As Miss Bettany said, they would have to take advantage of fine weather when they could. So from ten o’clock until twelve they rushed about in the dry, powdery white, which was so unlike English snow, and had a glorious time. Just before twelve the great flakes began drifting down again, and they had to go in, and then once more everything was veiled in whirling white, and the blizzard raged until the Sunday. When the girls got up in the morning the wind had gone down, the snow had ceased to fall, and it was freezing hard.
Joey, sitting up in bed gazing out of the window, gave a cry of ecstasy as she saw the beauty before her.
Mountains, path, and level grass were thickly covered with a white mantle against which the lake lay, still and black beneath its veiling of thin ice. Overhead was a leaden sky, giving promise of yet more snow, and the whole world seemed to be wrapped in a mantle of stillness.
‘Oh, wonderful!’ gasped Joey. ‘Juliet! Wake up! Isn’t it glorious?’
There was a groan from the other occupants of the dormitory.
‘Joey, do be quiet! It’s Sunday – the only day we get a really decent time in bed!’ complained Juliet. ‘I can see it’s stopped snowing without sitting up. It’s going to come down again, though! Just look at that sky!’
‘How it is cold!’ shuddered Gertrud in her own language. ‘Joey! Does it freeze?’
‘I should think it did! The lake’s absolutely black, and the snow looks so
‘Here’s snip, and nip, and cut, and slish, and slash!’ quoted Margia as she shook out her sewing.
‘Away, thou rag!’ retorted Jo as she sat down. Then she turned to Bernhilda: ‘What sweeting; all amort?’
‘Joey, be quiet,’ said Gisela. ‘And please do not use such language! I am sure Madame would not like it!’
‘Nay; this to me!’ retorted Jo. ‘Thou very paltry knave -’
‘Josephine,’ said a quiet voice behind her.
Jo turned round in dismay. There stood her sister.
‘When I told you to model your language on that of the classics,’ said Madge, ‘I never meant you to use Shakespearian expressions, and you knew it!’
Eleven people looked down, their cheeks scarlet. Miss Bettany surveyed them, a little smile twitching at the corners of her mouth.
‘Please don’t do it again,’ she said, and then left them.
‘I suppose it was your plan, Joey?’ she said later to her small sister, who had come to say ‘Good-night’ to her. ‘You are a naughty child!’
‘Oh, don’t be cross!’ pleaded Joey. ‘We spent ages reading Shakespeare, and now it’s been nearly all wasted!’
‘And serve you right!’ was the answer. ‘You are an impertinent monkey to have twisted my words round like that!’
Joey looked at her doubtfully. ‘We know a lot more about him, anyway,’ she said irrelevantly. ‘And it’s awfully hard not to be able to say “jolly,” and “decent,” and “awful!” Really, it is, Madge! And Shakespeare used such gorgeous words!’
Madge gave it up and laughed. ‘Got o bed,’ she said. ‘You are a bad, incorrigible child!’
‘I won’t use Shakespeare’s expressions any more,’ promised Joey, rubbing her head against her sister’s arm like an ingratiating pussycat. ‘And we may say “jolly,” and things like that, mayn’t we?’
‘Good-night, you baby!’ was the only reply she got.
However, as the prefects relaxed their vigilance a little, the middles thought it was fairly safe to take it for granted that Miss Bettany did not mind a little slang; so their Shakespearian studies had not been in vain.
Chapter 10
‘it was all my own fault!’
Next day the snow came, and with it the winter. All that day and the next it snowed, a huge whirling blizzard, and the clouds were so heavy with it that they seemed to be lying on the mountain-tops, and still the snow fell. On the Thursday there as a lull which lasted for two hours,, and the girls, well wrapped up, played about the Chalet during the whole time. As Miss Bettany said, they would have to take advantage of fine weather when they could. So from ten o’clock until twelve they rushed about in the dry, powdery white, which was so unlike English snow, and had a glorious time. Just before twelve the great flakes began drifting down again, and they had to go in, and then once more everything was veiled in whirling white, and the blizzard raged until the Sunday. When the girls got up in the morning the wind had gone down, the snow had ceased to fall, and it was freezing hard.
Joey, sitting up in bed gazing out of the window, gave a cry of ecstasy as she saw the beauty before her.
Mountains, path, and level grass were thickly covered with a white mantle against which the lake lay, still and black beneath its veiling of thin ice. Overhead was a leaden sky, giving promise of yet more snow, and the whole world seemed to be wrapped in a mantle of stillness.
‘Oh, wonderful!’ gasped Joey. ‘Juliet! Wake up! Isn’t it glorious?’
There was a groan from the other occupants of the dormitory.
‘Joey, do be quiet! It’s Sunday – the only day we get a really decent time in bed!’ complained Juliet. ‘I can see it’s stopped snowing without sitting up. It’s going to come down again, though! Just look at that sky!’
‘How it is cold!’ shuddered Gertrud in her own language. ‘Joey! Does it freeze?’
‘I should think it did! The lake’s absolutely black, and the snow looks so
Similar Books
