Regiment of Women

not one of her assigned classes; but she and Louise had found their hours together so insufficient for all the work that they were trying to make good, that Alwynne had good-naturedly arra

so pleased wi

s, and was anxious lest she should be overtired. She did not remind Alwynne that she was alone all day; that she had been accustomed to look forward to the gay tea-hour, w

eloping girls a confidante is a necessity. The present boarding-school system of education ousts the mother from that, her natural position; renders her, to the daughter steeped in an alien atmosphere, an outsider, lacking all understanding. Invaluable years pass before the artificial gulf that boarding-school creates between them, is spanned. And the substitute for the only form of sympathy and in

her, none had experienced more completely the tonic ef

her spend a quarter of an hour or more in confiding the worries and excitements of the day, after which, Louise, curiously revived, contrived to get through an amazing amount of work. There was no doubt as to Louise's capacity for advanced work, but her state of m

curiosity nor pedagogic zeal behind it; that, though she was teased and laughed at, she was respected, and, out of school hours, treated as an equal; that she and her schoolgirl secrets were safe with Miss Durand. It was, indeed, in the light of after events, pathetic that Louise, dazzled by Clare's will-o'-the-wisp brilliance, never realised how close to her for a season the friend, the elder sister she had longed for, really stood. With the egoism of a child, and a child in love, she was humbly and passionately grateful for Clare's least sign of interest, yet accepted

whose veiled, epigrammatic malice was usually amusing. Agatha had been on her other side, and she had anticipated equally amusing protests and contradictions and a highly coloured

er waiting? Twice had Alwynne been down to the preparation room, searching for her: she did not mean to be impertinent of co

ever yet guessed that she could be, charged with some indefinable quality as a live wire is charged with electricity. She stammered her apolog

ould not be expected to for

teness, and settled at once to the work in hand. She sai

to apply herself to her work. But her answers were ludicrously vague and mal à pro

nne lost pati

d sharply. "I don't believe you've taken in a word of what I've s

looked up at her with scared, apologetic eyes. The radiance dimmed slowly from her face. She m

lwynne, but already more gently. Her ang

ulders and looked vaguely at her a

ady construed at the previous lesson, and with an ease that had astonished Alwynne. She looked bewildered and put her hand to her head again. Her efforts to recal

s had happened, and was still occupying her, to the exclusion of all else. Alwynne

he had written. It was scarcely legible, and

nonsense. What is it? Tel

hesitated uncertainly, then, to Alwynne's dismay, colla

shed the mistre

ap. She felt how the little, thin body was wrenched and shaken by the sobs it di

e words came, jerky, fragmentary, fa

... Miss Hartill-no one could ever know what Miss Hartill was.... She had been so good to her-so wonderful.... She had made Louise so happy that she was frightened ... she couldn't believe it was possible to be so madly happy.... That was all.... Yes, it had made her cry-the pure happiness.... Wasn't it s

s brimming over her lashes, and for a few

ion and fatigue; she was soon coaxed and hushed into quiet again, and after lying passiv

kening room, without a thought of the passage

figure, clinging, nestling to her, stirred her. She was vaguely aware that something-somehow-was amiss. Innocently she rejoiced that Clare was being kind to Louise, that the child

aby she looked, with her thin, child's shape and small, clutching hands.... It was the long-lashed lids that did it, hiding the beautiful eyes th

lwynne, know? After all Louise had never flagged before.... It was probably the usual end of term fatigue-and of course it was necessarily an unusually stiff three month

ouise, too, roused at the sound, and, jerking herself upright, slid from Alwynne's lap to her

blinking in the strong light. Clare's sharp eyes appreciated her calm no less than the tear-stains on Louise's cheek;

you high and low. I thought you

beamed

forgot to tell Elsbeth. Isn't i

ned to

to bed early; you look dreadfully

s already in

eerful nod, and Louise heard the echo of

c, she sat down again stupidly at her desk in the alcove of the wi

trees: the rain tore past in gusts; the lamp-post at the corn

nd she lent out. The air, at least, was mild, and a faint back-wa

sent Him a hasty little prayer of thanks. But she had been very foolish that afternoon.... She could not understand it now.... She hoped Miss Durand would not tell Miss Hartill...

ed downwards. Miss Durand and Miss Hartill came down the steps

tives. "But a mistress is in a peculiar position. You should not let yourself be too fami

he shivered a little as s

iest day