So I talked of Schaffenbrucken-the daily pattern, the classes, the social activities ... everything I could think of about the school until Violet coughed timidly and said we should go in to dinner.
Over the fish, Daisy Hetherington brought up the subject round which she had been skirting until this moment.
"My dear Patience," she said, "I hope you are doing the wise thing in giving up."
"No doubt of it," said Aunt Patty cheerfully. "My lawyers and the bank all think it's right .. . and they are rarely wrong."
"So it is as bad as that!"
"As good as that," retorted Aunt Patty. "There comes a time when a woman wants to break away. The time for me is now. We want a peaceful life .. . all of us, and that is what we are going to get. Violet has been working far too hard. She's going to keep bees, aren't you, Violet?"
"I always had a feeling for bees," said Violet, "ever since my cousin Jeremy was all but stung to death when he got in the way of the queen bee."
Aunt Patty burst out laughing. "She had a grudge against her cousin Jeremy."
"No such thing, Patty. It served him right though. He was always interfering. My mother used to say `Let a bee be and he'll let you be.'"
"Bee-keeping may be an interesting hobby," put in Daisy, "but if you are looking for profit ..."
"All we are looking for is some lovely honey," said Aunt Patty. "It is delicious in the comb."
I knew Aunt Patty. She was deliberately making the conversations frivolously light; she was most anxious that Daisy Hetherington should not guess what a serious purpose she had.
"We are all looking forward to the simple life," she went on. "Violet, Cordelia and I."
Daisy Hetherington had turned her eyes on me. I could almost feel them probing into my mind. "Shall you not find it rather restricting, Miss Grant? At your age, after your education, and your sojourn at Schaffenbrucken ... it seems rather a waste."
"Schaffenbrucken is never a waste," put in Aunt Patty. "It stays with you all your life. I always regret I never went, don't you, Daisy?"
"I consider it to be the ideal finish to an education," said Daisy. "That ... and other establishments like h."
"For instance Colby Abbey Academy for Young Ladies," said Aunt Patty rather mischievously. "Oh, a great reputation! But in our hearts we know that nothing ... simply nothing ... compares with Schaffenbrucken."
"All the more reason why your niece should not stultify in the country."
"It is for Cordelia to chose what she will do. She was really brought up to teach, weren't you, Cordelia?"
I said yes, that was so.
Daisy turned to me. "You have a vocation, I daresay."
"I like the idea of being with young people. I always thought that was how it would be."
"Of course, of course," said Daisy. "I should like to look round a little while I'm here, Patience."
"But of course. This is the last week you know. It is all Christmas festivities. Not so much of the school curriculum now as Christmas jollities .. . and as it will be the last Christmas ..."
"What are your girls going to do when you close ... end of next term isn't it?"
"I daresay some of the parents will consider Colby Abbey if I let them know you are a friend of mine. They like connections. Many parents were very interested to hear that Cordelia was at Schaffenbrucken. They thought, of course, she was going to teach here."
"Yes, yes," said Daisy, and even she could not hide the speculation in her eyes.
I was being considered and strangely enough I was intrigued by it. In a way I was attracted by Daisy Hetherington. She challenged me. I knew that she was a woman whom I could admire. She would be hard; I could not imagine her ever being governed by sentiment, but she would be just and appreciative of good work-indeed, I could not imagine her tolerating any other sort.
I thought of long days in the country ... doing nothing in particular; listening to Violet on beekeeping, partaking in village fêtes, holding stalls at bazaars, sharing jokes with Aunt Patty ... and what else? Going on like that until I married. Whom would I marry? The vicar's son if he had one. But vicars almost always seemed to have daughters. The doctor's son? No. In spite of the fact that I should have a home with Aunt Patty, I wanted something more. Aunt Patty herself was the first to understand this. We should not want to spoil our precious relationship by boredom. She thought I should go out into the world and had made it clear to me that she saw through Daisy Hetherington a way to start about it.
Daisy told us about Colby Abbey Academy for Young Ladies and as she talked she seemed to lose her granite look; a faint colour came into her cheeks; her blue eyes softened; it was clear that the very centre of her life was the school.
"We have the most unusual setting. The school is part of the old Abbey. It gives us such a rare atmosphere. I think settings are so important. Parents are quite impressed when they see the school for the first time."
"I thought it was a little spooky when I saw it," said Aunt Patty. "Violet had nightmares in that room you put her in."
"It was due to the cheese I'd eaten for supper," said Violet. "Cheese does that to me."
"People can imagine anything anywhere," said Daisy, closing the subject. She turned to me. "As I was saying, a most interesting setting. So much of the old Abbey was destroyed during the Dissolution, but quite a large part remains ... the refectory buildings and the Chapter House. In the sixteenth century the house we now occupy was restored by one of the Verringers, and they built the Hall at the same time using some of the stones from the Abbey. It's the home of the Verringer family who own the Abbey and most of the land for miles round. They are very rich and influential landowners. I have two of the girls with me ... so convenient for them and good for the school at the same time. I should not expect Jason Verringer to send them anywhere else. Yes, a most unusual setting."
"It sounds very interesting," I said. "I suppose the ruins of the Abbey are all around you."
"Yes. People come to see them, they are written about, and that brings the school to people's notice. I should like to buy the place but Jason Verringer wouldn't allow that. Naturally, I suppose. The Abbey lands have been in the family since Henry the Eighth gave them to them when the Abbey was partially destroyed."
"I'm glad I was able to own Grantley," said Aunt Patty.
"How fortunate that you were!" retorted Daisy tersely. "It has stood you in good stead when the school failed."
"Oh, I wouldn't say failed," said Aunt Patty.
"It is just that we have decided to part company."
"Oh I know ... on the advice of your lawyer and banker. Very wise, I am sure. But sad. Yet perhaps for you the quiet country life will have its charm."
"I intend that it shall," said Aunt Patty. "We all do, don't we Cordelia ... Violet? Vi dear, you're dreaming. You can hear those bees buzzing, I'm sure. I can see you with one of those things they wear over their heads to prevent them getting stung, going out to tell the bees all the local gossip. Did you know, Daisy, that you have to tell the bees ... or it's unlucky or even worse. They don't like it. They fly away in high dudgeon and they may be so incensed that they plant a few stings first. Did you know they leave their stings behind in the flesh when they sting and it kills them. What a lesson to us all. Never give way to anger."
Daisy said to me; "I am sure that alter your training and your session at Schaffenbrucken you will feel you want to use your qualifications."
"Yes," I replied. "I think I might feel that."
Then she went on talking almost directly to me of Colby Abbey Academy, of the number of teachers she had, of the subjects which were taught, how she was concentrating on older girls. "Most of ours leave at seventeen. Some have actually gone on to Schaffenbrucken or some place on the Continent. Why do people always think they have to go abroad to learn the social graces? Surely we in this country are the best exponents of them in the world. I want to make people realize that, and I have been thinking of adding some extra training for older girls ... say eighteen or nineteen ... dancing, conversation .. . debates."