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Regiment of Women

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<h2>CHAPTER XXIII</h2> Clare was enjoying tea and triumph. She had worked hard for both, and was virtuously fatigued. The rocking-chair was comfortable, and the little gym mistress had brought her her favourite cakes. The Common-room, tinkling its tea-cups, buzzed criticism and approval. The rehearsal had been a success. The talk centred, while opinion divided, on the Constance and the Prince Arthur. The general standpoint seemed to be that Agatha had reached the heights. Her royal robes had been effective; she reminded nearly every one of a favourite actress. Louise was less popular. A curious performance—very clever, of course—only one had not thought of Arthur quite like that! Now the Constance—— Clare, watching and listening, purred like a sleepy cat. She wondered why Alwynne was absent ... she was missing a lot.... Louise was annoying—she had been excessively irritated with her ten minutes before—and there was the debacle of the scholarship papers—but to class her with Agatha! What fools these women were! The discussion had become argument, and was growing faintly acrimonious, when a deep voice cut across it. Miss Hamilton, a visiting music mistress, always had a hearing when she chose to speak. She was a big woman, with a fine massive head and shrewd eyes. She dressed tweedily and carried her hands in her pockets, slouching a little. It was her harmless vanity to have none. Teaching music was her business; her recreations, hockey, and the more law-abiding forms of suffrage agitation. She was a level-headed and convincing speaker, with a triumphant sense of humour that could, and had, carried her successfully[212] through many a fantastic situation. Rumours of her adventures had spread among the staff, if not through the school, and beglamoured her; she could have had a following if she had chosen. But her healthy twelve stone crashed through pedestals, and she established comradeship, as she helped you, laughter-shaken, to pick up the pieces. A postponed lesson had given her time to attend the rehearsal, and she had afterwards joined the flock of mistresses at tea. Clare, who thought more of her opinion than she chose to own, had eyed her once or twice already, and at the sound of her voice she stopped her lazy rocking. "But they are not in the same category! Any schoolgirl could have played Constance as What's-her-name played it, given the training she has had." Miss Hamilton nodded pleasantly to the rocking-chair. She appreciated Clare's capacities. "But Arthur——" "Well, I thought Agatha was splendid," repeated a junior mistress stubbornly. "She was. An excellent piece of work! 'But the hands were the hands of Esau.'" "They always are," said the little gym mistress fervently. Clare gave her a quick, brilliant smile. She blushed scarlet. The music mistress laughed; she enjoyed her weekly glimpse of school interdependencies. "Why did you single out King John, Miss Hartill?" she inquired politely. Clare was demure, but her eyes twinkled. "The decision lay with Miss Marsham," she murmured. "Of course. But having a Cinderella on the premises—eh?" "If you know of a glass slipper——" "You fit it on! Exactly! Where did you discover her?" "Starving—literally starving, in the Lower Third." Clare thawed to the congenial listener. "It was an amazing[213] performance, wasn't it? Of course, there was nothing of the actual Arthur in it——" Miss Hamilton nodded. "That struck me. It was a child in trouble—not a boy. Not a girl either—but, of course, only a girl would be precocious enough to conceive and carry out the idea. If she did, that is!" "Oh, it was original," Clare disclaimed prettily. "It had little to do with me. I had to let her go her own way." Miss Hamilton liked her generosity. "You're wise. It's all very well to trim the household lamps, but a burning bush is best left alone. I don't altogether envy you. Genius must be a disturbing factor in a school." "You think she has genius?" "It was more than precocity to-day—or talent. The Constance had talent." "And was third in the scholarship papers. Louise failed completely. Isn't it inexplicable? What is one to do? Of course, it was disgraceful: she should have been first. I expected it. I coached her myself. I know her possibilities. Frankly, I am deeply disappointed." Miss Hamilton pulled her chair nearer. She was interested; Clare was not usually so communicative. But their further conversation was interrupted by the opening of the door, and old Miss Marsham appeared on a visit of congratulation, accepting tea and dispensing compliments with equal stateliness. "An excellent performance! We must felicitate each other—and Miss Hartill. But we are accustomed to great things from Miss Hartill. There can be no uneasiness to-morrow. The child in the green coat, in that scene—ah, you remember? I thought her a trifle indistinct. Perhaps a hint——? Altogether it was excellent. Especially the Constance—most dramatic. If I may criticise—acting is not my department—but the Prince Arthur? Now, were[214] you satisfied? Louise is a dear child, but hardly suitable, eh?" Clare stiffened. "I thought her acting remarkable." "Did you? Now I can't help feeling that Shakespeare never intended it like that. He makes him such a dear little boy. It's so pathetic, you know, where he begs the man not to put out his eyes. So childlike and touching. Like little Lord Fauntleroy. I know I cried when I saw it, years ago. Now this child was not at all appealing." Clare shrugged her shoulders. "It is not a pretty scene, Miss Marsham, though the managers conspire to make us think so. A child at the mercy of brutes, knowing its own danger, terrorised into the extreme of cunning, parading its poor little graces with the skill of a mondaine—it's not pretty! And Louise spared us nothing." Miss Marsham fidgeted. "If that is your view of the scene, Miss Hartill, I wonder that you consider it fit for a school performance." Clare hedged. "My private view doesn't matter, after all. Traditionally it is inadmissible, of course. But if you would like the treatment altered a little, I will speak to Louise. It is only the dress rehearsal, of course." Miss Marsham looked relieved. "Perhaps it would be better. A little more childlike, you know. But don't let her think me annoyed, Miss Hartill; I am sure she has worked so hard. Just a hint, you know. I should not like her feelings to be hurt. Poor child, the results were a sad disappointment to her, I'm afraid. You spoke to her about the change of class?" "Yes." "I hope she was not distressed?" Clare remembered the look on Louise's face. She hesitated. "She will get over it," she said.[215] The kind old woman looked worried. "You must not let her feel that she has failed over this, Miss Hartill—on the top of the other trouble. You will be judicious?" A door slammed in the distance; there was a blurr of voices, a sound of hurrying footsteps. Clare rose impatiently; she was tired of the subject. "It will be all right, Miss Marsham. I understand Louise. What in the world is that disgraceful noise?" But the door was flung open before she could reach it. Alwynne stood in the aperture, panting a little. In her arms lay Louise, her head falling limply, like a dead bird's. Behind them, peering faces showed for a moment, white against the dusk of the passage. Then Alwynne, staggering beneath the dead weight, stumbled forward, and the door swung to with a crash. The roomful of women stared in horrified silence. "She's dead," said Alwynne. "I found her on the steps. She fell from a window. One of the children saw it. She's dead." She swayed forward to the empty rocking-chair, and sat down, the child's body clasped to her breast. She looked like a young mother. Clare, watching half stupified, saw a thin trickle of blood run out across her bare arm. It woke her. "Send for a doctor!" screamed Clare. "Send for a doctor! Will nobody send for a doctor?" <hr style="width: 65%;" /> [216] <div style="break-after:column;"></div>

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