• Choose a category
• All
• Classic-Fiction

By Root 465 0

offer of a partnership hung in the air. Miss Vansittart, though seeming unaware in her well-bred way, must be conscious of the fact that it was there. Miss Bulstrode did not know really what was holding her back. Why did she so dislike to commit herself? Probably, she admitted ruefully, because she hated the idea of giving up control. Secretly, of course, she wanted to stay, she wanted to go on running her school. But surely nobody could be a worthier successor than Eleanor? So dependable, so reliable. Of course, as far as that went, so was dear Chaddy—reliable as they came. And yet you could never envisage Chaddy as headmistress of an outstanding school.

“What do I want?” said Miss Bulstrode to herself. “How tiresome I am being! Really, indecision has never been one of my faults up to now.”

A bell sounded in the distance.

“My German class,” said Miss Vansittart. “I must go in.” She moved at a rapid but dignified step towards the school buildings. Following her more slowly, Miss Bulstrode almost collided with Eileen Rich, hurrying from a side path.

“Oh, I’m so sorry, Miss Bulstrode. I didn’t see you.” Her hair, as usual, was escaping from its untidy bun. Miss Bulstrode noted anew the ugly but interesting bones of her face, a strange, eager, compelling young woman.

“You’ve got a class?”

“Yes. English—”

“You enjoy teaching, don’t you?” said Miss Bulstrode.

“I love it. It’s the most fascinating thing in the world.”

“Why?”

Eileen Rich stopped dead. She ran a hand through her hair. She frowned with the effort of thought.

“How interesting. I don’t know that I’ve really thought about it. Why does one like teaching? Is it because it makes one feel grand and important? No, no … it’s not as bad as that. No, it’s more like fishing, I think. You don’t know what catch you’re going to get, what you’re going to drag up from the sea. It’s the quality of the response. It’s so exciting when it comes. It doesn’t very often, of course.”

Miss Bulstrode nodded in agreement. She had been right! This girl had something!

“I expect you’ll run a school of your own some day,” she said.

“Oh, I hope so,” said Eileen Rich. “I do hope so. That’s what I’d like above anything.”

“You’ve got ideas already, haven’t you, as to how a school should be run?”

“Everyone has ideas, I suppose,” said Eileen Rich. “I daresay a great many of them are fantastic and they’d go utterly wrong. That would be a risk, of course. But one would have to try them out. I would have to learn by experience … The awful thing is that one can’t go by other people’s experience, can one?”

“Not really,” said Miss Bulstrode. “In life one has to make one’s own mistakes.”

“That’s all right in life,” said Eileen Rich. “In life you can pick yourself up and start again.” Her hands, hanging at her sides, clenched themselves into fists. Her expression was grim. Then suddenly it relaxed into humour. “But if a school’s gone to pieces, you can’t very well pick that up and start again, can you?”

“If you ran a school like Meadowbank,” said Miss Bulstrode, “would you make changes—experiment?”

Eileen Rich looked embarrassed. “That’s—that’s an awfully hard thing to say,” she said.

“You mean you would,” said Miss Bulstrode. “Don’t mind speaking your mind, child.”

“One would always want, I suppose, to use one’s own ideas,” said Eileen Rich. “I don’t say they’d work. They mightn’t.”

“But it would be worth taking a risk?”

“It’s always worth taking a risk, isn’t it?” said Eileen Rich. “I mean if you feel strongly enough about anything.”

“You don’t object to leading a dangerous life. I see … ” said Miss Bulstrode.

“I think I’ve always led a dangerous life.” A shadow passed over the girl’s face. “I must go. They’ll be waiting.” She hurried off.

Miss Bulstrode stood looking after her. She was still standing there lost in thought when Miss Chadwick came hurrying to find her.

“Oh! there you are. We’ve been looking everywhere for you. Professor Anderson has just rung up. He wants to know if he can take Meroe this next weekend. He knows it’s against the rules so soon but he’s going off quite