England -- Social life and customs -- 20th century -- Fiction; Spiritualism -- Fiction
There was a decided air of mystery concerning Miss Schwarz next morning.
She was better, but she remained unseen, and nobody would answer any
questions about her. But in the afternoon Archie met Walter and the odd
man carrying her luggage downstairs, and he gleaned the information that
she was going away, and again, later in the day, Archie saw a housemaid
coming out of her bedroom with a basket full of her medicine-bottles,
and he drew the conclusion that she must have been ill a long time
without anybody knowing. Not a syllable of news could he obtain from
anybody, and, as the image of Miss Schwarz faded now that her dark,
ill-omened presence was withdrawn, there was left in Archie's mind no
more than a general sense of some connection between screaming voices,
red faces, indistinct utterance, and the drinking of yellow medicine out
of a large glass, instead of the usual small one.
There was a pleasant holiday sense for a few days after the departure of
Miss Schwarz, for Marjorie took Jeannie's and Archie's lessons, which
made a perfect festival of learning; but immediately almost came the
ominous news that a new governess was coming next day. Archie believed
that Miss Schwarz was a typical specimen of the genus governess, who
were all probably in league together, and that some colleague of Miss
Schwarz's, bent on avenging her, would render his own security a very
precarious matter. It was, indeed, some consolation to know that Miss
Bampton was a personal friend of his mother's and was not a "regular"
governess at all but was just going to stay at Lacebury and teach
lessons; yet Archie wondered, when he went downstairs on the morning
after her arrival, whether he would not detect, under the guise of his
mother's friend, some secret agent of Miss Schwarz.
Jeannie had lately been promoted to have breakfast with the rest of the
family, and as Archie opened the door he heard a burst of laughter.
There was Miss Schwarz's secret agent sitting next his father, and she
it must have been who had made them all laugh, for she was not laughing
herself, and Archie already knew that a joke was laughed at most by the
people who hadn't made it. She was a little roundabout person, with blue
eyes and a short nose and pincenez, and she got up as he entered.
"And is this Archie?" she said. "Why, I always thought of Archie as a
baby. And here's an able-bodied seaman! How are you, Archie?"
Archie stared a moment. He reviewed his suspicion about governesses in
general, but certainly if this plump, genial female was a secret
colleague of Miss Schwarz her disguise was of the most ingenious kind.
But it was as well to be careful.
"I'm quite well, thank you," he said, and, perceiving that a kiss had
been intended, presented a sideways cheek. Miss Bampton made a sucking
sound against it, and sat down again.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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