This time the reflection was so pleasing that it was quite an effort to pull down her chin, and drop her eyelids, with the air of melancholy resignation which she was determined at all costs to preserve during breakfast. Mrs Saxon’s face brightened at sight of the pretty blue dress, but neither she nor any other member of the family mentioned the fatal word “school.” Rather did each one try to give a cheerful turn to the conversation, and to lead it towards a discussion of those topics in which the heroine of the day was the most interested. “Sops!” murmured Dreda dramatically to herself. “Sops!” She struggled hard to restrain her longing for a second helping of bacon; but her courage gave out at the thought of the motor drive across the cold open country.
“I must strengthen myself with plenty of nourishment,” she decided, as she handed over her plate, and accepted the offer of a third cup of coffee. Like all pleasant things, however, the meal came to an end at last, and then the great event of the day could no longer be ignored. Maud caught the glance exchanged between her parents, and felt herself freed from her promise of silence.
“Now!” she exclaimed, with a gusty sigh of relief. “Now for the Buns! Now you’ll see which knows most, them or you. Them, I should think, ’cause they’re clever, and you forget. Miss Bruce said your head was like a sieve. Do you remember the day she said it? She had on her jet chain, and jingled with the beads. You’ll have to remember not to forget, or you’ll be the bottom of the class. Fancy three Currant Buns on top!”
She stopped short, with her characteristic throaty little laugh, and Dreda glared at her with flashing eyes. It was really extraordinary that anyone so stupid as Maud should so often succeed in hitting upon just the most aggravating thing to say under the circumstances. Three Currant Buns on top indeed! Life would only be endurable if she herself could seize the leading place, and hold it relentlessly to the end. She would not condescend to reply, and Maud was hurriedly nudged, and poked, and “shoved” into silence by Rowena, who was in an unusually sympathetic mood, realising how she herself would have felt had fate cast her own scholastic lot with that of the Misses Webster.
“Never mind her,” she whispered, consolingly, as she followed Dreda upstairs to put on hat and jacket before her departure. “It’s not worth while troubling yourself about Maud’s remarks. It’s impossible to think that any of those girls will get the better of you! It’s hateful, of course; but perhaps it may not be quite so hateful as we think—”
“Oh, I don’t mind. I’m resigned! One can only be as miserable as one can. Perhaps I’ll have an accident some day, riding over those rough roads, and then it will all be finished. I don’t mind how soon my life is over!” declared Dreda, harpooning her hat viciously with a pin of murderous length, ornamented at the head by a life-size imitation of a tomato. “But while I do live, I tell you one thing, Rowena, I’ll—I’ll hold my own!”
“I’m sure of that,” assented Rowena, with conviction. “Look here, Dreda, would you like me to drive over with you as well as mother? I could, you know; and it might break the ice!”
“No, no! Father wanted to come, but I begged not. Everything is arranged, and I don’t want people looking on. It will be a hidjus ordeal!”
“Oh, my dear, come! Don’t exaggerate. It’s not so tragic as all that.”
“Isn’t it, then? Don’t be so grown-up and horrid! How would you like it yourself, if anyone made the best of your having to teach Maud?”