A Summer Promise (9 page)

Maddy was about to tell him not to be so rude, for after a whole year spent in what the teacher called her scholarship class her admiration for Miss Parrott knew no bounds, and she often told Gran that without the teacher’s help she might not have got a scholarship at all, let alone have come first out of all the entrants. But Alice spoke before Maddy could even begin to cut him down to size.

‘Of course you can’t, Tom; Maddy and Miss Parrott will be having a business discussion,’ she said firmly, ignoring Tom’s crack of laughter. ‘You’ve always told me how important such meetings are, so don’t you go poking your nose in.’

‘Beak,’ Tom said, grinning.

Maddy was so cross that she aimed a punch at his shoulder. He dodged, apologising quickly, but he was still laughing. ‘Sorry, sorry, sorry,’ he spluttered. ‘Off you go then; you can tell me all about it when you come back out.’

‘Right,’ Maddy said briskly and turned towards the schoolhouse. ‘Coming, Alice?’

Alice shook her head. ‘No, as I said, this meeting is going to be a business one, and it’s not my business. In fact it’s just between you and Miss Parrott, so I’ll wait for you here. Tom can keep me amused until you get back.’

‘Oh, but . . .’ Maddy was beginning, but then she saw the teacher standing in the open kitchen doorway of the schoolhouse, smiling at her, so she abandoned the attempt to persuade Alice to join her and ran quickly up the path.

‘Come in, Madeleine,’ Miss Parrott called. ‘I was looking through the window and saw you there. Was that your friend Alice you were with? Is she going with you?’

‘Yes, that’s right; it’s all worked out,’ Maddy said. ‘We’re catching the eleven o’clock bus into town.’ She hesitated before continuing, but was encouraged by her teacher’s smile. ‘I thought – I thought if it was all right by you, Miss Parrott, I’d come back to the schoolhouse and show you what I’d bought before going back to Larkspur. Always assuming they’ve got my size,’ she added.

‘That would be lovely,’ Miss Parrott said warmly. ‘Now remember, your blazer won’t have your house emblem on it; that will have to be bought separately and stitched neatly in place.’ She looked shyly at her pupil. ‘I know you don’t like sewing so I thought, as a little present from me to my star pupil, I would stitch it on for you. But be off with you now, or you’ll miss the bus.’

Maddy looked up at the clock on the wall and gave a squeak. ‘Thank you
ever
so much, Miss Parrott. I’ll come round as soon as we get back.’ She grinned at the teacher. ‘I might even give you a mannequin display.’

‘I’ll look forward to it,’ Miss Parrott assured her. ‘Now off with you before you miss that bus!’

Goodbyes were hastily said and Maddy hurried to join Alice in the short queue which had already formed. She was surprised to find Tom still hovering and said, ‘
You
aren’t coming into town, Tom Browning. This is a girls only expedition.’ She looked at Alice for confirmation, and after the slightest of hesitations Alice nodded vigorously.

‘Maddy’s right,’ she said rather regretfully. ‘You’d be bored to tears, Tom. Besides, Maddy doesn’t want your opinion on what suits her.’

‘And what’s more, Miss Parrott’s given us some money to have lunch at Betty’s,’ Maddy put in triumphantly. ‘They do a set meal for five bob a head and she gave me ten shillings, not fifteen.’

Someone in the queue ahead of them sniggered and Tom sniffed. ‘You don’t have to make excuses; the last thing I want to do is hang around the frocks’ department,’ he said huffily. ‘I might see you when you get home, though, Alice, and you can tell me all about your day.’

‘What do you think?’

Maddy, Alice and Miss Parrott were in the kitchen of the schoolhouse, Maddy wearing her recently purchased school uniform, the brown lace-up shoes which felt so very heavy to someone used to going barefoot all summer, and the smart green blazer and tunic.

‘Well, Madeleine, you’ve got your scholarship, and now you’ve got your uniform, and I must say you look every inch a St Philippa’s girl,’ Miss Parrott said, standing back and surveying her star pupil from top to toe. ‘Shall we celebrate with a slice of my fruit cake and a glass of lemon barley water, or are you in a hurry to get home?’

‘I’d love a drink, because it was awful hot on the bus and Alice and I had to stand all the way from the bus station,’ Maddy said. ‘But I don’t think we ought to linger; you know how Gran was back in the spring, and though she’s pulled round a lot she’s still very frail and not at all her old self.’ She chuckled. ‘It’s an awful thing to say, but whenever Gran is ill she’s much easier to cope with. In fact, she gets nicer and nicer. She hardly ever whacks me with her cane now and she says thank you when I perform any little task for her, instead of just taking it for granted that it’s my duty to do it. So if you don’t mind, Miss Parrott, I think I should get back to Larkspur as soon as I can.’

Miss Parrott nodded agreement. ‘Yes, I suppose you’ve left the old lady for quite long enough,’ she said. ‘And I dare say Alice wants to get home as well.’ She sighed. ‘Don’t the holidays fly by fast! It only seems like yesterday that I said goodbye to the top class, and here I am – or will be – welcoming the new intake. And you are starting on your new life, my dear. Make sure you get the most out of the experience! Pop in to see me when you have a moment . . .’ she smiled, ‘news from the front line, so to speak. Now, you’d best be on your way.’

The two girls set off together, but when they reached the fork in the track Alice stopped and turned to her friend. ‘Why don’t you come home with me and show Uncle John and Auntie Ruby your uniform?’ she said. ‘I know they’d like to see it, and I’m sure your gran won’t mind waiting a bit longer – you didn’t promise to be home by any particular time, did you?’

‘Well, no, but I don’t think . . .’ Maddy was beginning, but Alice tugged at her hand.

‘Oh, do please come,’ she begged. ‘I know my uncle and aunt would be interested, and besides, there might be some news . . . only I’m not going to tell you what, in case it doesn’t happen.’

Naturally, Maddy could not resist such an intriguing statement, and presently the two girls burst into the drawing room at Windhover Hall to find Alice’s aunt and uncle eagerly awaiting her return, a large white envelope on the table between them.

‘The letter’s come at last, Alice, but your uncle refused to let me open it,’ Auntie Ruby said, her tone actually excited. ‘He said it was for you to decide whether you wanted to see it first.’

Maddy saw a flush creep up Alice’s neck and her eyes grow bright. Just for a second the other girl hesitated, and then she tore open the envelope and pulled out the sheet of paper it contained. Her uncle John leaned forward, his face eager, but Alice clutched the page to her breast and turned a glowing face towards Maddy before holding out the sheet and indicating that she should take it. ‘Read what it says, Maddy,’ she said, her voice high with excitement. ‘Just read what it says . . . aloud, I mean.’

Maddy obeyed. ‘“Dear Mr and Mrs Thwaite, it gives me much pleasure to inform you that your niece has been awarded a place at St Philippa’s School for Girls . . .”’

Alice cast both arms round Maddy’s neck and hugged her hard. ‘We’ll be in the same school at last!’ she said joyfully. ‘I didn’t tell you, because although I passed the entrance exam I didn’t come high enough to get an automatic place and had to go on the waiting list.’ She turned to beam at her uncle and aunt. ‘Are you pleased? Do say you are! I know you were worried when Miss Spender said she wanted to seek a post with younger children, but oh, I didn’t want to board again. I’m so happy here, and the thought of being sent off to live away from Windhover Hall really frightened me. I know I’m not clever but I shall do my best to keep up.’ She turned to her aunt. ‘I know you didn’t think I’d make it, Auntie Ruby, but I’ve proved you wrong, haven’t I?’

‘You certainly have, and your uncle and I are proud of you,’ Auntie Ruby said. She turned to Maddy. ‘And now you’d best go back to Larkspur so that Mrs Hebditch can admire your new clothes.’ She smiled at Alice. ‘Tomorrow we shall go into town again because we have to buy
your
uniform, and if you look as nice and smart as Madeleine your uncle and I will be very pleased.’

Maddy tiptoed across the farmyard, hoping to get into the kitchen without having Snoops jumping all over the beautiful new clothes she was still wearing. However, when she reached the kennel she saw at once that Snoops was not at home, and guessed that he had slipped indoors when Gran had come out to the privy. Since she had not turned him out again Maddy assumed that she had fallen asleep, so she opened the back door quietly, slid into the kitchen and shut the door noiselessly behind her.

Gran sat in her favourite chair with her knitting on her lap, a glass of elderberry wine and an egg sandwich untouched on the table behind her and Snoops curled up at her feet. Maddy tiptoed across the kitchen; she would riddle the stove, pull the kettle over the flame and mash the tea before waking Gran to admire her uniform. She carried out these tasks swiftly, put a cup of tea down on the little stool close by Gran’s chair and took her hand, wagging it gently back and forth.

‘Gran?’ she said softly. ‘It’s only me, Maddy. I’ve made you a nice cup of tea, but before I get our supper I’m going to change out of my school kit. It would be too bad if I dropped something on it before school has even started. Gran?’

For a moment she actually wondered if Gran had been and gone and died on her, but then she noticed that the wrinkled hand was warm and saw the old lady’s eyelids begin to flicker apart. ‘Gran?’ she repeated. ‘It’s me, Maddy. I’ve made you a nice cup of tea and I thought you might like to see my new school uniform.’

Gran moved her mouth in a series of little mumbling motions. ‘Is it morning?’ she asked in a thick, sleep-drugged voice. ‘I don’t want to get up yet, Nurse. Why are you so early this morning? I’ve not had me breakfast yet; you aren’t supposed to come until I’ve had me breakfast . . .’

‘You had your breakfast ages ago, Gran,’ Maddy said. ‘And do I look like a nurse?’ Maddy was used to Gran being a little strange when she first awoke, and decided a little firmness was called for. ‘Wake up, Gran,’ she said loudly. ‘I want to show you my school uniform but I don’t want to get it mucky, so as soon as you’ve seen it I mean to go up to my room and change. Now don’t you go falling off to sleep again or I shall be cross. Well, I’m cross anyway because I left you a nice little lunch and a glass of elderberry wine to go with it and you’ve not touched either.’

Gran struggled to sit up a little straighter in her chair. ‘Didn’t want it,’ she growled. ‘I don’t have to eat all the slops you keep giving me. Besides, I ate my porridge at breakfast, drank me tea and had two rounds of toast and marmalade. What’s wrong with that?’

Maddy felt a big smile spread across her face; she had not admitted, even to herself, how her grandmother’s fits of strangeness worried her. But now Gran seemed to be her old self once more and Maddy decided she would hope for the best and not mention the occasional lapses to anyone. ‘Gran, do you know what these clothes mean?’ she asked.

She half expected Gran to look at her blankly but the old woman’s face wore its usual knowing look. ‘It means you’ll be starting at that damn fancy school,’ Gran said resentfully. ‘Just an excuse to go gadding off at the crack of dawn every morning, leaving me to manage the best I can, thinking only of your own enjoyment . . .’

Maddy felt her cheeks grow warm; there was enough truth in her grandmother’s assertion to make her blush, but on the other hand no one but Gran would call starting at a new school an enjoyable experience. However, she knew there was no point in saying so, merely putting her arm round the old woman and helping her to her feet. She was sitting her down in one of the straight-backed chairs at the kitchen table when the back door opened, after the briefest of rattles, and Dr Carlton came into the room. ‘Afternoon, Mrs Hebditch, afternoon Maddy,’ he said cheerfully. ‘I see you’re about to have your tea, but I wanted a word with you and since I was passing I thought I’d pop in.’ As Maddy straightened he pretended to have just noticed the new uniform and stepped back, feigning astonishment. ‘So the rumours
were
true!’ he exclaimed. ‘I heard on the grapevine that clever little Madeleine Hebditch had got a scholarship and now I can see it was a fact. But don’t let me interrupt your tea . . .’ he glanced at the clock, ‘. . . or is it supper?’

Maddy giggled. She liked Dr Carlton and appreciated the fact that he visited her grandmother almost every day. ‘It
was
Gran’s lunch, actually, and I bet you’ve known about the scholarship for ages,’ she told him. ‘And now you’re here, do try to persuade Gran to eat the food that I leave for her, because once school starts I shan’t be here to give her a meal around noon. It’s so depressing when I get back to Larkspur and find she’s not touched her grub. Is it Gran or me you wanted to talk to? Only I’m just going upstairs to change into old clothes before I begin preparations for supper.’

The doctor grinned at her. ‘Both,’ he said promptly. ‘But Gran and I will have a chat while you change so I’ll still be here when you come down. You needn’t rush, because you’re my last visit before I shut up shop. Is there anything I can do? Put the kettle on? I could do with a nice cuppa.’

Maddy grinned back. ‘I’ve already made the tea,’ she said, heading for the stairs. ‘Help yourself – I shan’t be a tick.’

Coming downstairs again five minutes later in her oldest clothes, Maddy saw, with some surprise, that Gran was sipping her tea and that the doctor had settled himself comfortably in the second basket chair. ‘I’ve just been discussing the future with your grandmother, young Maddy,’ he said. ‘We’ve agreed that you’ll have to have some help once school starts.’

Gran had been hunched over her mug but at this remark she sat upright and stared at the doctor, eyes blazing. ‘Some friend you are,’ she said bitterly. ‘Me and the girl manage all right without any help from anybody and I don’t see why things should change just because she’s going to attend some fancy school. I don’t mean to get poorly again, but if I do she’ll just have to stay off and you’ll have to send a note explaining she’s ill.’