Cat Among the Pigeons - Agatha Christie [2]
She was saying to herself:
“To be back again! To be here … It seems years … ” She fell over a rake, and the young gardener put out an arm and said:
“Steady, miss.”
Eileen Rich said “Thank you,” without looking at him.
VI
Miss Rowan and Miss Blake, the two junior mistresses, were strolling towards the Sports Pavilion. Miss Rowan was thin and dark and intense, Miss Blake was plump and fair. They were discussing with animation their recent adventures in Florence: the pictures they had seen, the sculpture, the fruit blossom, and the attentions (hoped to be dishonourable) of two young Italian gentlemen.
“Of course one knows,” said Miss Blake, “how Italians go on.”
“Uninhibited,” said Miss Rowan, who had studied Psychology as well as Economics. “Thoroughly healthy, one feels. No repressions.”
“But Guiseppe was quite impressed when he found I taught at Meadowbank,” said Miss Blake. “He became much more respectful at once. He has a cousin who wants to come here, but Miss Bulstrode was not sure she had a vacancy.”
“Meadowbank is a school that really counts,” said Miss Rowan, happily. “Really, the new Sports Pavilion looks most impressive. I never thought it would be ready in time.”
“Miss Bulstrode said it had to be,” said Miss Blake in the tone of one who has said the last word.
“Oh,” she added in a startled kind of way.
The door of the Sports Pavilion had opened abruptly, and a bony young woman with ginger-coloured hair emerged. She gave them a sharp unfriendly stare and moved rapidly away.
“That must be the new Games Mistress,” said Miss Blake. “How uncouth!”
“Not a very pleasant addition to the staff,” said Miss Rowan. “Miss Jones was always so friendly and sociable.”
“She absolutely glared at us,” said Miss Blake resentfully.
They both felt quite ruffled.
VII
Miss Bulstrode’s sitting room had windows looking out in two directions, one over the drive and lawn beyond, and another towards a bank of rhododendrons behind the house. It was quite an impressive room, and Miss Bulstrode was rather more than quite an impressive woman. She was tall, and rather noble looking, with well-dressed grey hair, grey eyes with plenty of humour in them, and a firm mouth. The success of her school (and Meadowbank was one of the most successful schools in England) was entirely due to the personality of its Headmistress. It was a very expensive school, but that was not really the point. It could be put better by saying that though you paid through the nose, you got what you paid for.
Your daughter was educated in the way you wished, and also in the way Miss Bulstrode wished, and the result of the two together seemed to give satisfaction. Owing to the high fees, Miss Bulstrode was able to employ a full staff. There was nothing mass produced about the school, but if it was individualistic, it also had discipline. Discipline without regimentation, was Miss Bulstrode’s motto. Discipline, she held, was reassuring to the young, it gave them a feeling of security; regimentation gave rise to irritation. Her pupils were a varied lot. They included several foreigners of good family, often foreign royalty. There were also English girls of good family or of wealth, who wanted a training in culture and the arts, with a general knowledge of life and social facility who would be turned out agreeable, well groomed and able to take part in intelligent discussion on any subject. There were girls who wanted to work hard and pass entrance examinations, and eventually take degrees and who, to do so, needed only good teaching and special attention. There were girls who had reacted unfavourably to school life of the conventional type. But Miss Bulstrode had her rules, she did not accept morons, or juvenile delinquents, and she preferred to accept girls whose parents she liked, and girls in whom she herself saw a prospect of development. The ages of her pupils varied within