"He shall have it, though I"m afraid the scoundrel will only squander it at the "Dragon". Perhaps we can think of some way of helping the wife and children. I wish I could persuade him to enlist--the discipline of the army is just what he needs. I remember him very well when he was a lad, and he had the elements of good stuff in him then. Pity it"s all run to waste. One never knows; after this illness a completely fresh start in life might make a new man of him. It"s wonderful what serving their country has done for some of our fellows; in their case the war has been a blessing in disguise."
"Oh, it would be glorious if he"d go for a soldier!" agreed Githa.
"Perhaps he will if you talk to him, and tell him about what"s going on at the front."
"What a good thing it is to be extravagant sometimes!" exclaimed Katrine. "I"m so glad I bought that cupboard from Mrs. Stubbs. If she"d sold it to a dealer in London, the secret might never have been discovered."
"It"s certainly the best bargain you could have made," agreed Captain Ledbury.
Monday morning saw the bringing out of thirty-six travelling trunks, and a corresponding number of damsels busy with the joyful employment of packing to go home. Rules had vanished to the four winds, and the girls flitted in and out of one another"s dormitories, and talked to their hearts" content.
"Father and Mother will be home in ten days!" proclaimed Gwethyn jubilantly, sitting on Rose Randall"s bed amidst a litter of underlinen.
"We"re to go and stay with Aunt Norah until they come. Mother won"t bring me the c.o.c.katoo--she says they"re so noisy, and such a nuisance on board ship; but she"s got another surprise for me, only it"s not alive.
Well, never mind! Perhaps Tony wouldn"t have liked a c.o.c.katoo. He"d be frightfully jealous if I set up another pet, the poor darling!"
"We"re going to Windermere for our holidays," said Rose, wrapping up boots and stowing them inside her box. "We"re to stay at a house close to the lake, and I mean to learn to row."
"We shall be off to our country cottage in North Wales," announced Beatrix Bates.
"And Bert and I have an invitation to Scotland," exulted Dona Matthews.
"Girls!" cried Jill Barton, bursting suddenly into the room; "I"ve a piece of news to tell you. Oh, such news! You"d never guess!"
"Well, fire away!"
"Someone"s engaged!"
"Engaged for what?"
"Engaged to be married, of course! What sillies you are! Can"t you guess? Well, it"s Miss Aubrey!"
"Never!"
""To-who? To-who?" cried the owl!"
"To Mr. Freeman."
"Oh, I say! Hold me up!"
"Not really?"
"Mr. Freeman! Why, he"s ever so old!"
"Not so very," interrupted Gwethyn, taking up the cudgels for her artist friend. "He"s only rather grey, and, of course, Miss Aubrey isn"t very young herself--though she"s a dear. I"m immensely glad!"
"Why, so are we all! I hope she"ll have the wedding during term-time, so that we can go and see her married. Wouldn"t we cheer her, and throw rice and old slippers, just?"
"I don"t fancy anything"s fixed yet; the engagement is only just announced."
"It will be Mrs. Franklin"s turn next, perhaps!"
"No, no! Surely Ermengarde wouldn"t permit it!"
"Besides, what would become of the school?"
"Joking apart, we shall miss Miss Aubrey dreadfully."
Gwethyn, who rushed to impart the interesting news to her sister, found Katrine kneeling on the floor of their bedroom, packing canvases.
"It will be our gain," was the latter"s comment, "because I suppose Miss Aubrey will come to live at Hartfield when she"s married to Mr. Freeman.
How lovely to have her so near! I shall often run in and have talks with her. It"s something to look forward to. Gwethyn, I"ve decided to give my picture of the old spice cupboard as a good-bye present to Githa. I believe she"d like to have it."
Katrine looked with a sigh at her portraits of Granny Blundell and little Hugh Gartley. The ambitious hope which she had cherished in connection with them had fallen to the ground. She had shown the painting to Mr. Freeman, but he had not encouraged her to submit it to the hanging committee of any Art Gallery.
"Your work is still too crude and immature for exhibition, child," he had said, kindly but truthfully. "You need to go and study, and learn many things. Persevere, and keep pegging away, and you"ll do well in course of time, I dare say. Art needs an apprenticeship as much as anything else. The old masters themselves began as pupils in the workshops of others."
Leaving her would-be masterpiece out of the question, Katrine had quite a nice little collection of sketches to take home with her. She had made distinct progress during her stay at Aireyholme, and she knew that her father and mother would be pleased with the result of her work. She looked forward also to showing one or two of her best landscapes to the head master of the Hartfield School of Art when she should begin her autumn course there.
"I"m sure I"ve really finished with ordinary school for good now," she soliloquized, taking the box of hairpins (which she had brought from home) out of the dressing-table drawer, and trying the effect of coiling up her long pigtail. "I"ve grown half an inch since I came to Aireyholme, so if I"m not grown up now, I ought to be."
"Well, you can"t have a coming-out dance till the war"s over, for there"d be no partners," laughed Gwethyn. "You must possess your soul in patience, and wait till Hereward and his friends come back."
"May that be soon!"
"It"s been a ripping three months," continued Gwethyn. "I"ve enjoyed myself immensely here. I never dreamt I should, and yet it"s really almost been the time of my life. I don"t want to go back to Hartfield High School. I"m going to ask Mother to let me stay on at Aireyholme instead."
"Yes," agreed Katrine slowly. "It"s been better than I expected--the lovely country, the village, the sketching, Miss Aubrey, the Grange, the discovery inside the old oak cupboard, all have combined together to make it--what shall I call it?"
"THE JOLLIEST TERM ON RECORD!" p.r.o.nounced Gwethyn emphatically.