[Chalet 05] The Rivals of the Chalet School by Elinor M. Brent-Dyer

Author:Elinor M. Brent-Dyer
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: school stories, Juvenile, Fiction
Publisher: Distributed Proofreaders Canada
Published: 1929-11-15T05:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER XI.

JOEY ACTS.

It was five o’clock in the afternoon—or seventeen by continental time—and Joey Bettany was up in her dormitory with the rest of her clan, changing for the evening. They had had a glorious time on the ice that afternoon. Jo always maintained that the first skating was the best, and she was arguing this out with Frieda Mensch, who refused to see it, when her eyes were suddenly caught by some dark figures on the lake near the old tree that overhung it, not far from St Scholastika’s. ‘I say!’ she exclaimed. ‘See that!’

Frieda, Mary, and Simone crowded to her cubicle to look out of the window, while Marie von Eschenau, who had the other ‘lake-window’ cubicle, promptly went to hers.

‘But there are people skating there!’ cried Frieda. ‘That is where the big spring is, and no one ever goes there, for the ice is never safe! Who can they be?’

Jo shook her head, and looked up the lake to the St Scholastika end, where a warm glow betokened the blazing of a huge bonfire. The same had been lighted at the Seespitz end, and in both parts skaters crowded the ice. It was a clear night and the stars shone frostily in the sky, giving a pale light, which enabled the girls to see as far over the lake as was possible from their windows. The moon was not yet up, but when it rose the ice would be covered with people from all round. But everyone would avoid that part by the tree and the part near the dripping rock, for there lay the two biggest springs which helped to fill the lake, and which kept it so cold even in the hottest summer weather. Skating there was never safe, and the people living in the two hamlets always struck out well to the centre before they turned in any direction. Therefore the consternation depicted on the faces of the girls who were watching was justified.

‘It must be the Saints,’ said Mary at last. ‘But didn’t anyone warn them?’

‘I’m sure Herr Braun would,’ replied Joey. ‘Look how he came to tell my sister that first winter. I say! What are we to do?’

‘Tell Mademoiselle,’ suggested Simone. ‘She will then ring up Miss Browne, who will at once call them in and take them to a safer part.’

There was silence, and Mary looked at Joey. Simone caught the glance, and at once her grave little face became graver.

‘Do you mean that you think they are there without the knowledge of Miss Browne?’ she asked.

‘Well, what does it look like?’ asked Mary. ‘It’s rather dark—we are never allowed to skate except in the daytime, and I don’t suppose Miss Browne will think differently from Mademoiselle on that point. They’re in a most dangerous part, and we can be sure that they have been warned. They’ve broken out—little asses! And—— ’

She was interrupted by the banging of the door. Joey had flown, just as she was, in her dressing-gown,

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