Free 03 The Princess of the Chalet School by Elinor Brent-Dyer Page B

work on the part of the staff at large that they had been trained to speak softly.
    They were careful not to begin that day – it was too soon after what Evadne called ‘the snails stunt.’ Next morning Suzanne was called to order twice for speaking loudly, and Ilonka was warned that if she couldn’t moderate her tones, she would be put into silence at meal-times.
    In the afternoon Mr. Denny, the school singing master, came to give them their bi-weekly lesson. He was a dreamy, irresponsible being, who declared that all teaching should be based on Plato’s – that is, that music should have the first place in every school. The girls had christened him ‘Plato,’ because he talked so much about the great philosopher, and liked him very much. He lived in a little village on the Sonnalpe, some distance from Briesau, at the other side of the lake. He had been sent there by Dr. Jem Russell, Miss Bettany’s future husband, who had built a sanatorium there, and hoped to make it a place where people who could not live in the lower lands might find health and strength. Miss Bettany was to be married soon, the girls knew, and then she would go to the big chalet just above the Sonnalpe, where Dr. Jem, as the girls all called him, had made his own home. They were not looking forward to the event, as they had no wish to lose their headmistress, but they had gradually become resigned to the fact that it must take place some day, though when, nobody knew – not even Joey.
    ‘Plato’ had gained an added importance in their eyes since he had gone up there to live, and they always treated him with the utmost respect.
    This afternoon, however, it seemed good to them to give him a taste of what was coming. They did not dare do much, for Mademoiselle was accompanying them, but at the end of the afternoon, when the master was saying ‘Good-bye’ to Miss Maynard, whom he chanced to meet in the passage, he said, in rather bewildered tones, ‘What has chanced to make our little maids so noisy to-day?’
    ‘How do you mean?’ asked Miss Maynard quickly.
    ‘They seem to have forgotten their soft voices, and adopted a louder tone which is hurtful to the ear,’ he explained.
    ‘ All of them?’ queried the mistress.

    ‘Plato’ thought a minute. ‘Nay; not all. But some spoke in strident tones which I do not like. Perchance they are excited over some girlish trifle.’
    ‘Perhaps they are,’ agreed Miss Maynard noncommittally.
    He went off after that; and Miss Maynard, left to herself, put in some hard thinking. Miss Bettany had gone away for the week-end to interview her lawyers in Innsbruck about some business. She had gone that afternoon, and would spend the Saturday with Frieda Mensch’s people, going to Maria Marani’s for the Sunday, and returning early on Monday morning. Joey had known of this, and it had seemed to her to be a good opportunity for beginning the latest campaign.
    Miss Maynard was puzzled about ‘Plato’s’ report. She always said that she had never before met with a community of girls whose voices and accents were so uniformly pleasant to hear. She wondered what could be at the bottom of all this. Evadne had been the only one with whom they had had any serious difficulty, but even she had learnt to control her voice. Miss Maynard felt vaguely uneasy.
    At Kaffee , which the girls always had by themselves, she wandered into the Speisesaal under some slight pretext; but there was nothing to worry her then. They were all talking in their usual manner. She decided that the singing-master must have had a bad attack of imagination, and went her way, relieved and grateful.
    The next day was Saturday, and Guide parade. The Chalet School company was not a large one, but they were all very keen. Work, this term, consisted in badge-work, the making and furnishing of a big doll’s house – which was destined for one of the children’s hospitals in Vienna – and special drills. As Miss Bettany, the Guide captain,