Free White Boots by Noel Streatfeild

girl who had, when young, been expected to finish up in a blaze of glory as headmistress of a big school; but Alice Goldthorpe had never wanted to be head of anything. What she liked was teaching, and she detested the bother of having teachers under her and being asked to decide things. Because of this she had taught in a great many schools, for sooner or later in whatever school she taught somebody noticed how brilliant she was, and tried to make her take a grander position. Each time this happened, with a shudder of horror at the thought of a grander position, Alice Goldthorpe said she was sorry but she would have to leave. Then she would go to a scholastic agency and ask them to find her a new school in which to teach.
    One day two things had happened to Alice Goldthorpe: she noticed she was getting fat round the middle, which is called middle-age spread, and an uncle died and left her some money. In his will the uncle said it was enough money to keep the wolf from licking the paint from off her front door, but not enoughto allow her to fritter away her life doing nothing. Alice Goldthorpe had laughed when she read the will, because even had the uncle left her lots of money nothing would have induced her to do nothing. All the same she was grateful for a little bit of money, because it meant that she could look round and find the sort of teaching that she would like to do. Some school where nobody would send for her to say something which began with, “Miss Goldthorpe, I have been noticing your work, and it’s most satisfactory, most.” Safe with her uncle’s legacy Miss Goldthorpe went to the scholastic agency which always found her schools to teach in, and asked them to find a school which would never want her to take a grander position, and she said she could wait while they found it, because now she had got money behind her.
    The head of the agency, although Miss Goldthorpe gave her trouble by changing schools so often, had grown fond of her and was pleased to see her. She was especially pleased to hear about the money that would stop a wolf from licking her front-door paint. She had jumped up and fetched a letter, and had told Miss Goldthorpe that she believed she had exactly the job for her. The letter was from Aunt Claudia, explaining about Lalla, how she was to be a champion skater and asking if the agency could find a really good governess to undertake her education. Aunt Claudia wanted a governess who would see that in spite of spending her afternoons on the rink Lalla did as many lessons as other children of her age, and passedthe necessary examinations at the right time, and – and this was underlined – the governess must be someone who, having accepted the position, was prepared to stick to it. Aunt Claudia did not want to entrust her niece’s education to someone who was always moving on.
    â€œThere,” said the head of the agency, “that ought to be perfect for you. This Mrs King is never going to ask you to take a higher place.”
    Miss Goldthorpe had frowned at the letter.
    â€œPoor child! What a dreadful life! I don’t think I shall like teaching her. I expect she’s a horrid little thing full of self-importance. However, I will go for an interview and find out for myself, there’s no harm in an interview.”
    All this happened when Lalla was seven. From the first moment that Miss Goldthorpe had seen Lalla she had known she would like to teach her, and from the moment Lalla had seen Miss Goldthorpe she knew she would like to be taught by her. More extraordinary still, for that had not been easy, Nana had approved of Miss Goldthorpe. Nana had said she could feel in her bones no governess would be satisfactory, that she had never been one for liking governesses in her nurseries, it never worked. Miss Goldthorpe had known in a minute that Nana’s bones would tell her things like that.
    â€œYou mustn’t forget I’ve always taught in