Ethel Talbot

“ Then, when at last the pioneer hut stood complete, taut and steady, thickly thatched and masterly in workmanship from framework to roof, the rain began.
Just a drop at first, but the Scouts had been expecting it; the wind had shifted, and there was likelihood of a steady downpour for some time, as their weather-eyes told them. "It's really rather a chouse, though, just when the hut's ready, isn't it?" grumbled Peter, who hated to tear himself away from his newly completed handiwork.
"The weather'll test it, anyway," remarked Robin, gazing at the little erection with critical eyes. ”

“ It was quite impossible to be afraid of Miss Carey. Betty suddenly thought, as she looked up and met the kind look in the headmistress’s eyes, of deep pools of blue water—deep, very deep.
But it was depths of feeling, hidden deeper still but mirrored in the eyes, which unconsciously she had noticed. Buried there were the signs of sorrows bravely borne, but hidden now; buried deep were all the troubles that life had brought her. But buried deep, too, were reserves of strength wrought from triumph over trial; reserves of sympathy gained after sorrows bravely borne. ”

“ It was almost a relief when Margot’s clear-cut tones broke in.
“Gretta, not always, though. Gipsies don’t always tell lies.”
There was a queer tone in Margot’s voice; half-shy and half-eager, and the Dormitory turned to look at her. “I mean, they do know true things, just because they live out-of-doors; things that other people don’t know. Long Jake said so. Not only gipsies, of course; but anyone who’s lived in the open. Long Jake learned horse language from the men in the Bush.”
“Horse language!” repeated Stella, in a superior tone. “Why, there’s not such a thing!” ”

“ Your grandfather was proud of him, aye, and so were we all, servants too, but your grandfather was fonder of him, aye, perhaps than of either of the other two; pardon me, my dears, them being own father and mother to some of you. But so life is, sometimes. Master Derrick was like a Benjamin, so he was, to the Squire, coming late in life to him and all; he'd do anything for Master Derrick, would Squire. Gave the keeper's house to young Hooker, did he, young as Hooker was for to be keeper, just to please Master Derrick. ”

“ Gerry quite agreed. “That’s the Daisy plot over there. We choose flowers, all of us. In the War, you know, the beds were used for vegetable growing mostly; and herbs grew there too. I was too little to be here then; but Sybil told us. And then, afterwards, Miss Carey said the girls could show by their gardens how pleased they were that peace had come. It’s—like cheers and flags still, isn’t it?” finished up Gerry.
She was right; the gardens were just like cheers and flags. The gardens of youth; just as the gardens of age and dignity lay on the other side of the house. ”

“ Josy spoke with unction. “She gave us ten minutes to talk in, every Saturday night last term, and didn’t mind the dormer feast a scrap!”
“Do you have feasts? What fun!” exclaimed Margot, sitting up in bed and peeping through her curtains into the darkness. “We’ve got money, haven’t we, Gretta? Shall we have one this term, Stella?”
“Don’t ask me!” replied that young woman dejectedly. “I go home for week-ends; we only live five miles away. I’m out of nearly all the fun. I’d rather be an out-and-out boarder; you and Josy and Gretta will have it all your own way. ”

“ You, Betty, are to be the mascot of our patrol!”
“There!” shouted Gerry, dancing about like a dimpled dervish.
“A ‘mascot’?” said Betty, smiling but in a half-bewildered fashion. Mascots were lucky things, she knew; but— Everybody liked mascots, of course. But how could she be one?
“Lots of regiments in the war had mascots,” said Sybil. “And companies of Guides have them, too, sometimes. A patrol mascot is a special pet of the patrol to which it belongs always. Not that a mascot is usually a girl, of course. I’ve never heard of a little girl being a mascot before. ”

“ This time Jan had a story to tell, a story of noise. "A most peculiar noise, from the wall I think it was, or from the floor, Brownie, but I couldn't make out," she announced at breakfast-time. "Were you walking about in the night?"
"No, indeed, my dear," said the old woman.
"And you needn't ask us, for we didn't move all night," Peter assured her. "After all, there's something to be said for a jolly comfortable feather-bed after a week's outside camping. Though, of course, I'd rather sleep out of doors any day (or night, of course, I mean) than in a house." ”

“ As tall as tall! And that broad! And he’s asking for you, miss!”
“But who is he?” inquired Gretta in dismay.
“He’s a Mr. Courtney—so he said. And he said, too, ‘Ask Miss Margaret Grey if I can speak to her for a minute; she’ll p’rhaps have heard my name from Mrs. Fleming!’”
“It’s Long Jake!” cried Gretta in amazement, her cheeks turned pink, and she rushed downstairs, shyness forgotten; while mystification as to why the visitor had come was swallowed up in a feeling of excitement and delight that at last she was to see her school hero face to face! ”

“ There would have been only thirty-two girls at St. Benedick’s if she were not there, she told herself; but she was here, and so there were thirty-three! The delicious thought made her gulp with pride.
She forgot the pride, though, for shyness again, just for a little while, when the dining-room door was reached. At home meals were generally eaten in a basement room, to save trouble for the general servant whose duties were so never-ending. Here the very idea of a meal in such a lovely room made Betty gasp with shyness at first, and then realize suddenly how hungry she was! ”

“ No Dick; no us; no holiday; no nothing!" said Peter commiseratingly. "Poor chap, he's worse off than us."
"Yes, indeed," Mrs. Vaughan smiled. "In fact you three look as though you were enjoying yourselves. How is the camp prospering, Robin, and how did you all sleep?"
"Jolly well." They were unanimous. "I saw your light, Mother," added Jan, "in the window."
"My light, dear!" Mrs. Vaughan looked surprised; "my room looks out on the other side. I put out no lamp," she added when Jan had told her story; "you must have been mistaken." ”