CHAPTER XVII
The Fossil Hunters
If Miss Beasley had been asked what was her most difficult problem inthe management of her school, she would probably have replied thearrangement of the practising time-table. With the exception of four,all the girls learned music, and therefore, for a period of forty-fiveminutes daily, each of these twenty-two pupils must do execution onthe piano. There were five instruments at the Grange, and, exceptduring the hours of morning lessons and meals, they hardly ever seemedto be silent. At seven o'clock they began with scales, arpeggios, andstudies, and passed during the day through a selection of pieces,classical and modern, in such various degrees of playing, strumming,and thumping as might be calculated to wear out their hammers and snaptheir strings in double quick time. About half of the girls learnedfrom Mademoiselle, and the remainder had lessons from Mr. Browne, avisiting master who came twice a week to the school. He was a shortlittle man, with sandy hair, and a bald patch in the middle of it, anda Vandyke beard that was turning rather grey. He was himself anexcellent musician, and sometimes the performances of his pupilsoffended his sensitive ear to the point of exasperation, and he wouldstorm at them in a gurgling voice, blinking his short-sighted hazeleyes very rapidly, and wrinkling up his forehead till it looked likesqueezed india-rubber. It was on record that he had once hit LoisBarlow a hard crack over the knuckles with his fountain-pen, whereuponshe wept--not so much from pain as from injured feelings--and he hadapologized in quite a gentlemanly fashion, and picked up the musicthat in his burst of temper he had flung upon the floor. In spite ofhis acknowledged irritability, all the girls who learned from him gavethemselves airs of slight superiority over those who only learned fromMademoiselle. Though strict, he was an inspiring teacher, and when, asoccasionally happened, he would push his pupil from the stool, andseat himself in her place to show the proper rendering of somepassage, the music that followed was like a lovely liquid dream ofsound.
Professor Marshall also attended the school twice a week to lecture onliterature and natural science. He was a much greater generalfavourite than Mr. Browne; everybody appreciated his affable mannerand bland smile, and the little jokes with which he punctuated hisremarks.
The girls always felt that it made a change to have anybody coming infrom the outside world. The one disadvantage of a boarding-school isthat mistresses and pupils, shut up together, and seeing one anotherweek in, week out, are rather apt to get on each others' nerves. At aday school the girls take their worries home at four o'clock, and themental atmosphere has time to clear before nine next morning; but,when there is no home-going until the end of the term, little triflesare sometimes unduly magnified, and a narrow element--the bane of allcommunities--begins to creep in. To do Miss Beasley justice, she madea great effort to combat this very evil, and to run her school onbroad lines. She recognized the necessity of letting the girls mixsometimes with outsiders. In a country place it was impossible to takethem to concerts or entertainments, but they occasionally joined therambles of the County Antiquarian Society or the local Natural HistoryClub.
It occurred to Miss Beasley that it would be an excellent plan tothrow open some of Professor Marshall's lectures to residents in theneighbourhood, asking those people who attended to stay to teaafterwards, thus giving her girls an opportunity of acting ashostesses, and entertaining them with conversation. A short course offour lectures on geology was announced, and quite a number of localladies responded to the invitation. The girls received the news withmixed feelings.
"Rather a jink!" ventured Ardiune. "It'll be queer to see rows ofstrangers sitting in the lecture room! Did you say we've to give themtea when the Professor's done talking?"
"Yes, and talk to them ourselves too, worse luck! I'm sure I shan'tknow what to say!" fluttered Aveline.
"Oh, the monitresses will do that part of the business!" decidedRaymonde easily. "We'll stand in the background, and just lookladylike and well-mannered, and all the rest of it."
"Will you, my child? Not if the Bumble knows it! She's nuts on thisafternoon-tea dodge! (I don't care--I shan't put a penny in the slangbox--Hermie isn't here to listen and make me!) Gibbie told me thatwe're all to act hostesses in turn. We're to be divided into foursets, and each take a time."
"Help! How are you going to divide twenty-six by four? It works out atsix and a half. Who's to be the half girl?"
"Oh! They'll make it seven on one afternoon and six the next, Iexpect."
"That's not fair! It's throwing too much work on those six and notenough on the seven. It's opposed to all the instincts of co-operationand justice which Gibbie has laboured so hard to instil into me."
"Don't see how the Bumble can manage otherwise, unless she chops agirl in half. No, I predict you'll be chosen among a select six, andhave to pour out tea and hand cakes with one-sixth extra power laidon, and your conversation carefully modulated to your hearers."
"Oh, Jemima!"
"Please to remember that this is a finishing school!" mocked Ardiune."Don't on any account shock the neighbourhood by an unseemlyexhibition of vulgar slang!"
"It'll slip out, I know, when I'm not thinking," groaned Raymonde.
On the first afternoon of the geological course, an audience of abouttwenty visitors augmented the usual gathering in the lecture hall.They were accommodated with the best seats, and the school occupiedthe third and fourth rows. Directly in front of Raymonde sat anelderly lady in a large black hat trimmed with cherries, which bobbedtemptingly over the brim. She appeared to take an interest in hersurroundings, glanced about the room, and turned a reproving eye onRaymonde, who ventured to whisper to Aveline. With Miss Gibbs hoveringin the background with a now-mind-you-keep-up-the-credit-of-the-schoolexpression, the girls hardly dared even to blink, but Aveline managedto write: "What a Tartar in front!" on a slip of paper, and hand it toher chum.
The Professor, bland as ever, was coming into the room and hanging ageological map over the blackboard. He smiled broadly, showing hislarge white teeth to the uttermost, and, after a few preliminaryremarks of welcome to the visitors, plunged into a description of theearth's crust.
All went well for a while; then an untoward incident happened. Thelady with the cherries in her hat, who had possibly taken cold, or wasaffected by the pollen in the flowers upon the table, sneezedviolently, not only once, but twice, and even a third time.
"Three's for a wedding! Is it Gibbie?" whispered Raymonde theincorrigible.
Aveline's mental equilibrium was always easily upset. The idea of MissGibbs in connection with matrimony was too much for her, and sheexploded into a series of painfully suppressed giggles. The more shetried to stop, the more hysterical she grew, especially as her lack ofself-control appeared to produce great agitation among the cherries onthe black hat in front. It was only by holding her breath till shealmost choked that she managed to avoid disgracing herselfabsolutely.
As Morvyth had predicted, Raymonde was among the hostesses for theafternoon. She rose admirably to the occasion, handed round cakes andbread and butter, and talked sweetly to the guests on a variety oftopics. Aveline, also one of the chosen, though less agile inconversation, tried to look "hospitable" and "welcoming," and culturedand pretty-mannered and gracious, and everything else which might beexpected from a young lady at a finishing-school.
Miss Gibbs, who was keeping the deportment of the hostesses well underinspection, beamed approval, but spurred them on to fresh efforts.
"See that nobody is neglected," she whispered. "Hand the cakes to thatlady who is standing by the piano; and you, Raymonde, take her thecream."
The chums had instinctively avoided the owner of the black hat withthe cherries, but thus urged they were bound to fulfil their socialobligations. They offered a selection of ginger-nuts and fancybiscuits, and the best silver cream-jug, and murmured some politenothings on the hackneyed subject of the weather. The lady helpedherself, and regarded them with an offended eye.
"I believe you're the two girls who sat behind m
e during the lecture!"she remarked tartly. "I should like to say that I considered yourbehaviour disgraceful. It would serve you right if I were to tell yourgoverness."
Overwhelmed with confusion, Raymonde and Aveline beat a hastyretreat.
"Oh, dear! Does she think I was laughing at her?" whispered Aveline."What must I do? Ought I to go and explain and apologize? I simplydaren't!"
"She's a nasty old thing!" returned Raymonde in an indignantundertone. "I hope she won't sneak to Gibbie! You can't explain. Ishouldn't go near her."
"Gibbie's working round towards the piano!"
"No, Mrs. Horner's stopped her."
Fortunately for the girls, at this moment Professor Marshall clearedhis throat violently, and, obtaining by this signal a temporaryrespite in the babel of small talk, announced that on the followingSaturday afternoon he proposed to lead a party to Littlewood Quarry toexamine the geological formation there, and search for fossils. Hehoped that all the present company would be able to attend, as theexpedition would be of great educational value. The generalconversation in the room immediately turned upon geology. The blackhat with cherries bore down upon the Professor, and its owner plungedinto a lengthy discussion on the flora of the carboniferous period, soapparently absorbing that it left her no opportunity to lodgecomplaints as to the behaviour of the pupils. The chums, whose socialduties were now finished, slipped thankfully away to prep.
"I'm disgusted with the Professor!" groaned Morvyth. "It's too bad ofhim to take up another of our precious Saturday afternoons with hisgeology excursion. The tennis match will be all off now, and I know wecould have beaten the Sixth! I don't want to hunt for fossils! I'mtired of continually having my mind improved!"
"We really don't get a fair chance for games at this school," Ardiunegrumbled in sympathy. "I wish Gibbie were sporting instead ofintellectual!"
It was really a grievance to the girls to be obliged to abandon tennison this occasion. The match between Sixth and Fifth had been afixture, and each side had hopes of its own champions. Daphne andBarbara were good players, but Valentine and Muriel had beenpractising early and late, and in the estimation of their own Formwere well in the running for victory. Even the juniors had lookedforward to witnessing the combat. Valentine, in her disappointment,went so far as to suggest to Miss Gibbs that the match might claimprecedence over the excursion. The astonished mistress gazed at herfor a moment with blank face, then burst out:
"Give up the fossil hunt in favour of tennis! What nonsense! You oughtall to be deeply grateful to Professor Marshall for coming to take us.You girls don't appreciate your privileges!"
"There's one compensation," urged Fauvette. "We shall walk through thevillage, and, if we break line a little, it will give a chance forsomebody to dash into the shop and buy pear-drops. One had better doit for us all, and get a pound. We'll pay up our shares, honest."
On the afternoon of Saturday, twenty-six rather apathetic geologistsstarted forth from the Grange. Each carried a basket, and a few, whohad scrambled first, had secured hammers. Miss Gibbs, armed with "AnIllustrated Catalogue of the Fossils in the Bradbury Museum," bymeans of which she hoped to identify specimens, brought up the rear,in company with Veronica, and the school crocodiled in orthodoxfashion as far as the village. Here they were met by the Vicar's wifeand daughter, and several other ladies who were to join the excursion.The double line swayed and broke. Miss Gibbs's attention becameengaged by visitors, and, during the few minutes' halt, Raymonde, wellcovered by her comrades, seized the golden opportunity, darted intothe shop, and emerged with a large packet hidden in her basket, beforemistress or monitresses had had time to miss her.
"Paradise drops!" she announced with gleeful caution. "Got thembecause they were on the counter, and the quickest thing I could buy.No, I daren't dole them out now. You must wait till we get to thequarry. Gibbie'd notice you sucking them, you idiots!"
It was rather a long way to Littlewood. Much too far, in the girls'opinion, though they would have thought nothing of the walk had theybeen keener on its object.
"Shouldn't have minded so much if we'd come on a Thursday, and missedFrench translation. Why had it to be Saturday?" groused Ardiune.
"Because Saturday's the only day the men aren't working in the quarry.For goodness' sake, stop grumbling!" returned Hermie in her mostmonitressy manner. "If you can't enjoy things yourself, let otherpeople have a chance, at any rate!"
Duly snubbed, Ardiune subsided, and tramped on in silence, herdiscontent slightly alleviated by the prospect of Paradise drops, forRaymonde was rattling the basket suggestively to cheer her up. Extravisitors joined the party here and there upon the way, and outsideLittlewood village the Professor himself was waiting for them, beamingas usual, and carrying a most professional-looking hammer, and alittle bass for specimens. He greeted them with one of his customaryjokes, and they smiled obediently, more out of habit thaninclination.
The quarry proved more exciting than they had anticipated. It was alarge place, and to get down into it they were obliged to descendseveral steep ladders, leading from one platform to another. Arrivedat the bottom level, Professor Marshall collected his students in agroup round him, and delivered a lecturette upon the points to benoticed in the strata surrounding them. Raymonde listened sadly. Itseemed to her an unprofitable way of spending a Saturday afternoon.She brightened, however, when the audience dispersed to commencepractical work.
"Come along!" she whispered to her chums. "Let's scoot over there andbegin to chop rocks! Quick!"
"Where are the Paradise drops?" enquired the others eagerly.
"Don't worry, I have them safe. Only wait till Gibbie's back isturned."
Though they were decidedly tired of lectures, the girls neverthelesswere quite mildly interested in searching for fossils. There was anelement of competition about it which appealed to them, and whenHermie found a fine specimen of _Cupressocrinus crassus_, the Fifthfelt that they must not be outdone.
"We haven't got anything really decent yet!" sighed Aveline, watchingwith envious eyes as Hermie exhibited her treasure to the admiringvisitors. "The Sixth are cackling ever so hard."
"Let's go over there," suggested Raymonde. "No one's explored that bitof the quarry. We might find all sorts of things."
The Mystic Seven, who generally clung together in their undertakings,scaled a ladder therefore, climbed a mound of refuse, and foundthemselves on new ground. They dispersed, and each searched to thebest of her ability among the pieces of crumbly rock that were lyingabout. Aveline, absorbed in splitting strata with her hammer, wassuddenly disturbed by a piercing yell and a shout of "Help!" She ranat once in the direction of the screams, and round the cornerdiscovered Raymonde, sunk nearly to her waist in a kind of clay bog.
"Help me!" she implored. "I can't get out. The more I try, the deeperI seem to sink in."
"Don't struggle, then; wait a minute," said Aveline, advancing on tosome firm-looking stones and stretching out a hand. "Can you managenow?"
Raymonde made a desperate but futile effort. "No, I'm stucktight--can't move my legs."
"Don't pull me, or I'll be in too! Now, I'm going to tug one of yourlegs out! That's it! Now the other! Here you are! Good gracious! Whata mess you're in!"
Arrived on firm ground, Raymonde certainly looked a deplorableobject. Her feet were two shapeless lumps of wet clay. She regardedthem with rueful consternation. Ardiune came running up, and, being ofa practical turn of mind, set to work to scrape her friend clean witha thin piece of stone. She succeeded in removing the bulk of thematter adhering to her, but there still remained a most unsightlycoating of mud.
"What were you doing to get yourself in such a fix?" she asked.
"I don't know. It looked quite solid, and then, when I stepped on it,I just sank in--squash! I might have been swallowed up in it andkilled, if Ave hadn't tugged me out!"
"You look a nice object to walk home with!" giggled Aveline. "What'llGibbie say?"
What Miss Gibbs remarked when she saw the s
tate of her pupil'sgarments was:
"Really, Raymonde, I might have known you would be sure to do somestupid thing! No other girl in the school has fallen into the mud. Whydidn't you keep with the rest, and look where you were going? You'remore trouble than everybody else put together. If you can't behaveyourself when you come on an excursion, you must be left behind to dosome preparation."
The Mystics consoled their leader as best they could, offering hertheir last remaining Paradise drops, and walking in a clump round herthrough the village to shield her from observation. Ardiune, who waspoetically inclined, thought the occasion worthy of being celebratedin verse, and at bedtime handed Raymonde the following effusion,illustrated with spirited sketches in black lead-pencil, representingher with clay-covered feet of gigantic proportions.
Raymonde, a nice and cheerful child Who seldom wept and often smiled, Was taken by her teachers kind A jaunt, to elevate her mind.
By lengthy ladders undismayed, Behold her seek the quarry's shade, With firm resolve to hit and hew, And find a fossil fern or two.
She rapped the rocks with anxious pick, And scooped the ammonites out quick, But as she rang her brief tap-tap There chanced to her a sad mishap.
Urged on by hope of fossil round, She stepped on some perfidious ground, So now behold our luckless Ray Plunged in the midst of horrid clay.
The mud had nearly reached her waist, She called aloud in frantic haste: "I sink, I sink in quagmire sable, To free myself I am unable!"
Her friend, who hurried to her shout, Had much ado to drag her out. See! thick with mud and faint with fright, She bravely bears her woeful plight.
Her tender teacher's anxious fears She soothes, and dries her friends' fond tears, Declaring, with a courage calm, The outing had been worth th' alarm.
"Humph! Good for you, Ardiune!" commented Raymonde. "Not muchtenderness about Gibbie, though! And I didn't see anybody's fondtears! You all laughed at me! My feet weren't a yard long, anyway!"
"Poetic and artistic license allows a few slight exaggerations. EvenShakespeare took liberties with his subjects!" returned the authoressblandly. "If not exactly a yard long, your feet, not small by nature,looked absolutely enormous! It's the truth!"