“Oh, we’re so sorry. I beg——” Gretta began in alarm as the stranger gazed up at them; but Margot burst cheerily in. “Oh, I’m glad we’ve found someone at last!” she exclaimed. “There was no one in the bedroom they took us to, and so we’ve come down to explore. If you’re one of the governesses, please where is the dining-room?”
During this well-meant speech Gretta had time to study the features of the lady whose work they had so abruptly interrupted. Her face was “young and yet old,” as the child said to herself; for the expression in the grey eyes was full of humour as well as determination, and, while the mouth and chin were strongly moulded, there were few lines or wrinkles in the forehead of the stranger. She would have passed in the opinion of many as a woman of less than middle-age had it not been for the crown of white hair that surmounted her well-shaped head.
Her words, when she spoke, were hardly a surprise to the older girl. “You made a mistake, my dear,” she said, laying down her pen and holding out her hand to Margot, “in not knocking at the door. I am Miss Slater. I had quite intended to send for you, for I am very anxious to make the acquaintance of my new girls.” She rose as she spoke and advanced towards Gretta. “I expect you are Margaret Grey,” she said, “for I have already spoken to your little sister. I hope, my dear, that you will be happy at school.”
“Thank you,” replied Gretta shyly, “and I’m so sorry we——”
“So am I,” declared Margot, “for I suppose you’re awfully busy. But, you see, we couldn’t know where to go, could we?”
Miss Slater volunteered no direct answer to the question. “I think there’s no doubt that you are Margot Fleming—the little girl from Australia,” she said with a smile.
“Why, however can you guess that!” exclaimed Margot in mystification, then stopped to listen as the head mistress opened the heavy door that separated her rooms from the boarders’ quarters, and the sound of laughter and cheerful conversation met the children’s ears.
“I think you should have no difficulty in finding your way, now,” she said, smiling at the two girls. “But I will take you myself and introduce you; then you will feel at home very soon.”
She turned the handle as she spoke, and instantly, as though by magic, the noisy babel of conversation ceased, there was a scrambling as the girls jumped up hurriedly from their seats, and a whisper, deferential, yet delighted, ran round the room. “It’s Miss Slater!”
“I have brought two new girls, Helen,” said the head mistress, smiling at the group, and then turning to a tall and responsible-looking damsel with merry eyes and a thick plait of hair, who advanced as she was addressed. “Margaret Grey and her cousin, Margot Fleming; they will sleep in Dormitory 3, with Stella and Josy. Look after them, please, and do what you can to make them feel at home.”