The India Fan (9 page)

When I left Eff said, ind you come again.

hink of it as your home, love,said Polly. l tell you this: Where I am that will always be your home.

What a comfort that was! I should remember it always.

During the last term I spent at Meridian House, Lavinia and two other girls were caught coming in late at night. They had bribed one of the maids to let them in and were caught in the act by a mistress who, having a toothache, had come down to the medical stores to get something to soothe it. Her arrival in the hall had coincided with the surreptitious opening of the door and the conspirators were caught red-handed.

There was a terrible scene. Lavinia crept up to the bedroom she shared with me and another girl. We had to be in the secret, of course, for it was not the first time it had happened.

Lavinia was shaken. herel be trouble over this,she said. hat sly Miss Spence. She caught us coming in.

id Annie let you in?I asked. Annie was the maid.

Lavinia nodded.

hel be dismissed,I said.

es, I suppose so,said Lavinia carelessly. reckon wel be for it tomorrow. You wait until old Gentian hears.

ou shouldn have involved Annie.

ow would we have got in otherwise?

ou should not have used her.

on be idiotic,snapped Lavinia; but she was very worried.

And with good reason. The reverberations were greater than we had feared. Poor Annie was dismissed immediately. Miss Gentian had the girls involved brought to her and, according to Lavinia, had gone on and on about how ashamed she was that girls from her school should have behaved in such a cheap and common manner. They were finally sent to their rooms after being told that this was not the end of the matter.

The term was almost over, and the day before we returned Lady Harriet received a letter stating that Miss Gentian was of the opinion that Lavinia would be happier at another school and she regretted there would be no place for her at Meridian House next term or in the foreseeable future.

Lady Harriet was furious that a school should have refused to take her daughter. She would not allow that to pass. Lady Harriet and Miss Gentian were like two commanders going into battle. Lady Harriet began by writing to Miss Gentian suggesting that perhaps her letter had been a little unconsidered. She, Lady Harriet, was not without influence and she had wished her daughter to remain at Meridian House for at least another year. Miss Gentian replied that she was sure Lavinia would be happier elsewhere in such a manner that she implied that she herself would also be happier in that event.

Lady Harriet suggested that Miss Gentian come and see her that they might talk the matter over in a friendly fashion. Miss Gentian replied that she had many commitments, but if Lady Harriet cared to come to see her that might be arranged. However, she thought she ought to point out that she had given much thought to the problem and in her mind Lavinia was not suited to Meridian House and the matter was settled.

Lady Harriet came to the rectory to see what report Miss Gentian had given me.

rusilla has worked well. Her mathematics leave much to be desired, but she is improving in this field. She is making good progress generally.It was clear that I was not included in the edict of excommunication. I had enjoyed the school. I was interested in my studies, and the feeling of competition, which I had missed at home, spurred me on to do better. True, I was not very much interested in sport, but Miss Gentian herself was not either. I fancied I had now and then caught a gleam of approval in her eyes when they rested on me. Moreover, I had not been caught illegally consorting with members of the boysschool. Lady Harriet was more concerned than ever to find that I was making a success of my scholastic career.

She took the unprecedented step of going to see Miss Gentian, but she came back defeated. I think she must have learned about the escapade and this made her feel deflated. Her fears that her daughter might be turning into a nymphomaniac were being confirmed. If it had been possible for me to feel sorry for such an exalted being, I should have done so.

But she did not hesitate long before taking action. She sent for my father. I was not present at the interview, but I heard of it later.

She told my father that what girls needed was a finishing school. She had been enquiring among her friends and she knew of a good one in France. The Duchess of Mentover had sent her daughter there and, knowing the Duchess, one knew also that she would never send her daughter to a school which was not everything it should be.

Meridian House had been a bad choice. That Miss Gentian was far too domineering. What girls wanted to learn if they were to do well in later life was social grace.

My father feebly protested that it was a good education that he and his late wife had wanted for me and he believed that I was getting that at Meridian House. I had, according to my reports, been doing very well. Miss Gentian had written to him personally.

oolish woman!said Lady Harriet. he is evidently eager to keep one of the girls I sent to her.

thought that if Drusilla stayed on another two years, say

uite wrong, rector. Girls need a good finishing school. They must go to this one in France recommended by the Duchess.

fear it will be beyond my means, Lady Harriet.

onsense. I will pay the extra. I would like Drusilla to be with Lavinia. They have been such friends over many years. It will be a good thing for them both to go together.

After a good deal of hesitation, my father gave in. My mother had been concerned solely with education. olishwas not something which had come into her mind. Erudition was one thing; social graces another. Presumably Lavinia would have a season in London when she emerged with a sufficiently high gloss upon her; then she would be presented at Court. No such future was envisaged for me.

I see now that my father wanted me to be prepared to look after myself when he died. There would be a little money very littleust enough for me perhaps to live in a very modest fashion. I wondered whether he was aware that I was plain and might never marry. Lady Harriet had evidently assured him that, though my circumstances were very different from those of Lavinia, I should be better equipped to face the world with that veneer which could only be obtained at one of the schools to which she was suggesting I should go; and as she was prepared to pay what would be extra to the cost of Meridian House, it was finally decided that I should accompany Lavinia.

The chosen establishment was the Chateau Lamason, the very name of which excited me, and in spite of the fact that I should be beholden to Lady Harriet, I could not help being thrilled at the prospect of being there.

Jos had been spirited away. He had gone, Lavinia told me with a grimace, to the stables of a friend of Lady Harriet. But Lavinia and I could talk of little but the prospect before us. For the first time we were going abroad.

t is not like an ordinary school,she explained. t for people who will be coming out. There won be stupid lessons and that sort of thing.

o, I know. We are going to be polished.

repared to go into society. That won be for you, of course. They will all be aristocracy over there.

erhaps I should be better at Meridian House.

I only had to suggest that I might not accompany her for Lavinia to become placating. I knew how to deal with her now and she was so easy to read that I often had the upper hand.

The last thing I wanted was to miss this tremendous adventure. I was as excited about Chateau Lamason as Lavinia was.

I went to stay a few days with Polly before I left. We laughed about the polish. Eff thought it was ver so niceand told everyone that I was staying with them before I went off to my finishing school. She particularly enjoyed talking of me to Second Floor No. 32, who ancied herselfand was always explaining that she had nown better days.

The summer holidays were coming to an end and we were leaving in September. A day before our departure I was summoned to Lady Harriet presence. She received me in her sitting room. She was seated in a high chair rather like a throne and I felt I ought to curtsey.

I stood uncertainly on the threshold of the room.

ome in, Drusilla,she said. ou may sit down.Graciously she indicated a chair and I took it.

She said, ou will shortly be leaving us for the Chateau Lamason. It is one of the best finishing schools in Europe. I have chosen it very carefully. You are very fortunate. I hope you realize that.

Now that I was growing up Lady Harriet divinity had decreased a little. I was seeing her as a woman who created a sense of power which people accepted because she was so determined that they should. My feelings for her would never be the same as they had been before the battle with Miss Gentian. Miss Gentian had clearly shown that Lady Harriet was not the mighty figure she had made herself out to be, and Miss Gentian had won the war between them. It was like the case of Napoleon and Wellington, and it had taught me that Lady Harriet was not invincible.

ell, Lady Harriet,I said. was very happy at Meridian House and Miss Gentian thought I would do well there. I would have liked to stay.

Lady Harriet looked astonished. hat is nonsense, my child. It was an ill choice.

I raised my eyebrows. An admission of failure? It was Lady Harriet who had chosen Meridian.

She was ever so slightly disconcerted, and laughed dismissively. y dear child, you are going to be so grateful that you had a chance of going to Lamason. That Gentian woman has no sense of the needs of society. Her great ambition was to stuff her pupilshead with facts which would be no use to them after their schooldays.She waved a hand as though to dismiss Miss Gentian. ou and Lavinia will be far from home. You are a sensible girl and er She did not say lain,but she meant it. want you, my dear, to keep an eye on Lavinia.

am afraid, Lady Harriet, that she will not take any notice of what I say.

here you are wrong. She thinks very highly of you.She paused and added: nd so do I. Lavinia, you know, is very beautiful. People flock about her because of that and who she is. She is a little impulsive. shall rely on you, my dear, toshe gave me a little smileto look after her.She laughed lightly. our father is delighted that you are to have this opportunity and I know you are very grateful. Girls need polish.I felt myself laughing inwardly. I must remember every word of this interview and store it up so that I could give Polly an accurate account when we met. I pictured myself taking the role of Lady Harriet. I would tell Polly that I expected to feel like the Cromwellian table in the Framling Hall after an application of beeswax and turpentine.

I felt a little triumphant to discover so much about Lady Harriet. She was uneasy about her daughter and she found it humiliating to admit to the rector plain little daughter that her own daughter was less than perfect. Polly had said that both Lavinia and Fabian Framling would have to pay for all the coddling they had had in their childhood, and all that ord God Almighty stuffwould have to be knocked out of them. ho are they when theye out?she demanded. o different from the rest of us. That not the way to bring up children. They want loving, but brought up sharp now and then. They want cuddles too not coddling.Poor Lady Harriet, so sublimely aware of her superiority and making the most fearful mistakes with her offspring!

ou will find a spell at the Chateau Lamason will be a great asset to you in later life. Your father understands and that is why he is so eager to accept my offer for you. I want you to keep an eye on Lavinia. She is too warmhearted and inclined to make unsuitable friends. You are more thoughtful, more serious. It is only natural that you should be. Just be a good friend to her. There now, you may go.

I took a ready leave of Lady Harriet and joined Lavinia.

hat did Mama want?she demanded.

he was just saying that you were warmhearted and inclined to make the wrong friends.

She grimaced. on tell me she was asking you to be my nursemaid. What nonsense!

I agreed that it was.

We left England with four other girls who were going to the Chateau Lamason in the charge of Miss Ellmore, one of the mistresses.

Miss Ellmore was middle-aged, very genteel, the daughter of a professor. When she was no longer young she had found herself without means and had been forced to earn her own living. She was employed at the Chateau, not because of her academic qualities, I learned later, but because she was a lady.

She was rather a sad person, and somewhat harassed by her task of looking after six girls in their mid-teens.

For us it was an exciting adventure. We all met at Dover, to which port Lavinia and I had been taken by the Framling coachman and head groom, and we were delivered safely into the custody of Miss Ellmore.

At the Paquet Hotel, the grooms departed and we were introduced by Miss Ellmore to our travelling companions. They were Elfrida Lazenby, Julia Simons, Melanie Summers and Janine Fellows.

I was immediately interested in Janine Fellows, because she was quite unlike the other three. Elfrida, Julia and Melanie resembled so many of the girls I had already met at Meridian Houseice and ordinary, with their separate identities of course, but with a similarity among them. Right from the first, though, I noticed the difference in Janine.

She was of small stature and very slim, with reddish hair and light sandy lashes; her skin was milky white and faintly freckled. I felt I should have to wait, to know whether I was going to like Janine or not.

It was clear from the start that they were all very interested in Lavinia. They could not stop looking at her. I had already noticed that most people turned to have a second glance at her when passing particularly men. Lavinia was aware of this and it always put her into a good mood.

We crossed the Channel. Miss Ellmore told us what we must do and what not.

e must all keep together, girls. It would be disastrous if one of us were lost.

The crossing was smooth and my excitement increased when I saw the coastline of France looming up.

It was a long journey across France and by the time we reached the Chateau Lamason, I felt I knew my travelling companions well except Janine.