A Genius at the Chalet School by Elinor M. Brent-Dyer Page A

"Sip this, Nina, and then I'll take you to Nurse. Thank goodness there's no serious harm done!"
   No one was prepared for what followed. Nina gave her a look of horror. "But - what about my practice?" she cried.
   "I'm afraid it'll have to go for the present. Don't look so upset, Nina," Miss Burnett said soothingly. "A couple of days' rest will probably be all your wrist will need. You ought to be able to get back to your piano by Monday."
   "Oh, I'm awfully sorry, Nina!" cried tactless Hilda at this moment.
   Nina swung round on her, her eyes flashing. "You clumsy creature!" she exclaimed. "You were warned twice! Now you've stopped my practice! I'll never forgive you - never!" And with the final words, she burst into a passion of tears.

CHAPTER 8
MARY-LOU SEEKS ADVICE

    "And so, you see, although Hilda's said over and over again how sorry she is, Nina just won't listen to her. The last time I saw it happen, she turned her back and walked away before Hilda had even begun. I think, myself, she's an idiot - Nina, I mean - for it was an accident, even though Hilda should have had more sense than to bear all her weight down on anyone , let alone a girl who, to judge by what she says, had never played leapfrog before in her life. I should think," concluded Mary-Lou seriously, " that that's one thing Hilda will never do again."
   "Then that's so much to the good - so far as Hilda is concerned," Joey Maynard said ruthlessly. "I'm sorry for her, but she really is a heedless creature and always has been. If she's learnt her lesson through this silly business, it'll be a mercy!"
   "Yes, but it's not helping Nina. Everyone's told the silly kid that her wrist will be all right in a few days' time, but the way she's going on about it, you'd think she was maimed for life. Matey sent for Dr. Graves as Uncle Jack wasn't available and he's stopped her practice altogether until Monday and you'd think the world was coming to an end!" Mary-Lou said graphically. "What can we do about it, Auntie Jo?"
   Joey finished clipping together the last sheets of the carbon copy of her new book. Then, as she added them to the pile, she said slowly, "But the trouble is that's exactly what she does feel."
   Mary-Lou gaped at her. "Just because she's wrenched her wrist and is cut off from practice for a few days? She couldn't possibly!"
   "Oh, yes, she could. You're forgetting that the be-all and end-all of life for her is music." Then, as Mary-Lou still looked completely incredulous, she added, "I can understand to a certain extent for I've had spasms of feeling that way myself when I had a chapter of the current book all boiling up in my brain and haven't been able to get down to it at once. And remember this: with Nina it's genius and that makes it a thousand times worse."
   "Then what is it with you?" Mary-Lou demanded. "If anyone asked me, I'd say you were a genius - writing, not music," she added.
   Joey shook her head. " No , thank heaven! I'd be sorry for your Uncle Jack and the family if it were. It's talent where I'm concerned, Mary-Lou, and that's not nearly such an urgent thing as genius."
   Mary-Lou turned this over in her mind and then dismissed it until she had leisure to think it out for herself. At present, she was limited to one hour away from school and nearly half of that had gone already. It was the Saturday after the accident and, as she had said, Nina stayed grimly unforgiving where the penitent Hilda was concerned. She either could not or would not see that the whole thing was an accident - one due to sheer carelessness, it is true; but still an accident.
   Hilda herself had heard all about her part in the affair, first from Miss Burnett who had been righteously angry because all her warnings had been ignored. She had not spared Hilda a severe tongue-lashing which had reduced the culprit nearly to tears. The Head who came next had pointed out that if she could still be so heedless at her age, she