The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie - Muriel Spark [25]
gathering. We shall see Pavlova doing the death of the Swan, it is a great moment in eternity." All that term she tried to inspire Eunice to become at least a pioneer missionary in some deadly and dangerous zone of the earth, for it was intolerable to Miss Brodie that any of her girls should grow up not largely dedicated to some vocation. "You will end up as a Girl Guide leader in a suburb like Corstorphine," she said warningly to Eunice, who was in fact secretly attracted to this idea and who lived in Corstorphine. The term was filled with legends of Pavlova and her dedicated habits, her wild fits of temperament and her intolerance of the second-rate. "She screams at the chorus," said Miss Brodie, "which is permissible in a great artist. She speaks English fluently, her accent is charming. Afterwards she goes home to meditate upon the swans which she keeps on a lake in the grounds." "Sandy," said Anna Pavlova, "you are the only truly dedicated dancer, next to me. Your dying Swan is perfect, such a sensitive, final tap of the claw upon the floor of the stage..." "I know it," said Sandy (in considered preference to "Oh, I do my best"), as she relaxed in the wings. Pavlova nodded sagely and gazed into the middle distance with the eyes of tragic exile and of art. "Every artist knows," said Pavlova, "is it not so?" Then, with a voice desperate with the menace of hysteria, and a charming accent, she declared, "I have never been understood. Never. Never." Sandy removed one of her ballet shoes and cast it casually to the other end of the wings where it was respectfully retrieved by a member of the common chorus. Pausing before she removed the other shoe, Sandy said to Pavlova, "I am sure I understand you." "It is true," exclaimed Pavlova, clasping Sandy's hand, "because you are an artist and will carry on the torch." Miss Brodie said: "Pavlova contemplates her swans in order to perfect her swan dance, she studies them. That is true dedication. You must all grow up to be dedicated women as I have dedicated myself to you." A few weeks before she died, when, sitting up in bed in the nursing home, she learnt from Monica Douglas that Sandy had gone to a convent, she said: "What a waste. That is not the sort of dedication I meant. Do you think she has done this to annoy me? I begin to wonder if it was not Sandy who betrayed me." The headmistress invited Sandy, Jenny and Mary to tea just before the Easter holidays and asked them the usual questions about what they wanted to do in the Senior school and whether they wanted to do it on the Modern or the Classical side. Mary Macgregor was ruled out of the Classical side because her marks did not reach the required standard. She seemed despondent on hearing this. "Why do you want so much to go on the Classical side, Mary? You aren't cut out for it. Don't your parents realise that?" "Miss Brodie prefers it." "It has nothing to do with Miss Brodie," said Miss Mackay, settling her great behind more firmly in her chair. "It is a question of your marks or what you and your parents think. In your case, your marks don't come up to the standard." When Jenny and Sandy opted for Classical, she said: "Because Miss Brodie prefers it, I suppose. What good will Latin and Greek be to you when you get married or take a job? German would be more useful." But they stuck out for Classical, and when Miss Mackay had accepted their choice she transparently started to win over the girls by praising Miss Brodie. "What we would do without Miss Brodie, I don't know. There is always a difference about Miss Brodie's girls, and the last two years I may say a marked difference." Then she began to pump them. Miss Brodie took them to the theatre, the art galleries, for walks, to Miss Brodie's flat for tea? How kind of Miss Brodie. "Does Miss Brodie pay for all your theatre tickets?" "Sometimes," said Mary. "Not for all of us every time," said Jenny. "We go up to the gallery," Sandy said. "Well, it is most kind of Miss Brodie. I hope you are appreciative." "Oh, yes," they said, united and alert against anything unfavourable