Free 02 Jo of the Chalet School by Elinor Brent-Dyer Page B

suspected.
    ‘I can keep him, can’t I?’ wound up Joey passionately.
    ‘Yes; you may keep him,’ said her sister. ‘He must go back to his mother for a few weeks, and I will pay for him, so that they can keep her. I’m going now, to see about it. If things are very bad, Zita had better come here for the present. We can feed her better than they can, I imagine, and that will be my birthday present to you, Joey. Until I come back, you can give him some warm milk and water with a very little sugar in it.’
    She set off, and on reaching the little hut found that things were as Marie had said. The people had enough to do to feed themselves, and there was no margin for keeping such a huge animal as Zita. The herdsman at once fell in with her suggestion that he poor brute should go to the chalet for the winter. He also agreed to accept some money for the pup, and his wife wept for joy when the kroner notes were laid on the table. The money would make all the difference to them. Then Zita was unchained and handed over to her temporary owner, and Madge arrived back at the Chalet with her.
    The joy of the poor mother over her restored baby made Joey cry again. Zita washed her puppy thoroughly, and then lay down with him snuggled up to her, thumping the floor ecstatically with her big tail, and looking her gratitude out of her pathetic eyes. She had reached a dog-paradise. For the first time in months she had had a good meal. She was in a warm place, with plenty of fresh, sweet hay for her bed, and she had got back one of the babies they had taken away from her. What more could a sensible dog ask?
    ‘I shall call him Rufus,’ said Joey, as she reluctantly shut the door of the shed where they were, and went in to Kaffee . ‘I love him, and it’s the nicest birthday present I ever had!’
    ‘Then I hope you are going to reform, and not give us any more frights by going off without telling anyone where you are going!’ said her sister severely.
    ‘Oh, you needn’t ever worry about me again! As soon as Rufus can come with me, I shall take him everywhere !’ declared Joey. ‘Then I shall be quite safe, ‘cos St Bernards are such faithful animals. Look at the one in “Excelsior”!’
    There was a general laugh at this characteristic remark, and then they settled down to coffee and cakes.

Chapter 8
    the new singing-master

    Having distinguished herself by scaring everybody and rescuing Rufus from a water grave, and Zita from an untimely end, Joey ‘lay low’ for a while. As a matter of fact, nobody did anything specially striking for the next week or two; little things such as Amy Stevens tilting her chair over backwards during Mittagessen , or Grizel Cochrane handing in her diary instead of her composition-book, not being sufficiently important to count. True, Grizel was fearfully teased over her exploit, that was to be expected. This jogged along very comfortably and quietly, till one break, when Margia Stevens, who had been having a music-lesson with Herr Anserl, the master who came up twice a week from Spärtz, rushed into the little form-room where the middles were, obviously bursting with news.
    ‘Well, what is it?’ demanded Joey. ‘Buck up and tell us before you explode!’
    ‘Don’t be so horrid mean, Joey Bettany!’ cried Margia. Then, forgetting Jo’s sins in her excitement, she turned to the others. ‘Guess what!’
    ‘What is it to do with?’ asked Rosalie Dene ungrammatically.
    ‘Oh, school, of course! Fearfully thrilling! Go on! Give you three guesses!’
    ‘We’re going to the theatre at Innsbruck!’ suggested Joey.
    ‘No!’
    ‘Madame has arranged for a dance on Saturday,’ volunteered Frieda Mensch.
    ‘No – no! Nothing like that! You’ve only one more guess!’
    ‘Someone has given us more new books for ze librairie!’ This was Simone’s idea.
    ‘No! Not that at all!’
    ‘Then what is it, please?’ asked Paula von Rothenfels.

    Margia drew a deep breath. We’re to have a