"I like to think of all those trolls hiding underground, she said. Used to make my flesh creep. There were nice stories too about knights in armour coming along and carrying of maidens to Valhalla... or somewhere."
"That was where they went when they died," I reminded her.
"Well, to some nice place where there was feasting and banquets."
She took to joining us most afternoons.
"What would Madame de Guérin say if she knew?" asked Lydia.
"We'd probably be expelled," added Monique. "What luck for all those on the waiting list. Four at one go."
Elsa would sit on the edge of a chair laughing at us.
"Tell me about your father's château," she would say to Monique.
And Monique told her about the formality of her home and how she was more or less betrothed to Henri de la Creseuse, who owned the estate adjoining her father's.
Then Frieda told of her stern father who would certainly fend a baron at least for her to marry. Lydia spoke of her two brothers who would be bankers like her father.
"Tell me about Cordelia," said Elsa.
"Cordelia is the luckiest of the lot," cried Lydia. "She has the most wonderful aunt who lets her do just what she likes. I love to hear about Aunt Patty. I am sure she'll never try to make Cordelia marry some baron or old man because he has a title and money. Cordelia will marry just whom she pleases."
"And she'll be rich in her own right. She'll have that lovely old manor house. It'll all be yours one day, Cordelia, and you won't have to marry someone to get it."
"I shan't want it because it means Aunt Patty would have to die first."
"But it will all be yours one day. You'll be rich and independent."
Elsa wanted to know about Grantley Manor and I gave a glowing description. I wondered if I exaggerated a little, stressing the splendours of Grantley. I certainly did not in describing the eccentric charm of Aunt Patty. No one could really do her justice. But how happy I was talking of her and how the others envied me, coming as they did from sterner and more conventional homes.
"I reckon," said Elsa one day, "you'll all be married very soon."
"Heaven forbid," said Lydia. "I want to enjoy myself first."
"Have you ever been to Pilcher's Peak?" asked Elsa.
"I've heard of it," said Frieda.
"It's only two miles from here."
"Is it worth seeing?" I asked.
"Oh yes. It's in the forest; a strange rock. There's a story about it. I always liked those stories."
"What story?"
"If you go there on certain times you can see your future lover ... or husband."
We laughed.
Monique said: "I've no particular desire to see Henri de la Creseuse just now. Time enough when I leave."
"Ah," said Elsa, "but it may be the fates have decided he is not meant for you."
"And the man who is will appear at this place? What is this Pilcher's Peak?"
"I'll tell you the story. Years and years ago they used to take lovers caught in adultery to Pilcher's Peak, make them climb to the top and then throw them down. They always took them there on the night of the full moon. So many died that their blood made the ground fertile and the trees grew round the Peak and made the forest."
"And this is the place we ought to visit?"
"Cordelia is in her last term. She won't have many opportunities, and she ought to see it while she can. Tomorrow night it will be full moon and it's the Hunter's Moon too. That's a good time."
"Hunter's Moon?" echoed Monique.
"The one that follows the Harvest Moon. It is one of the best and it is the time of the hunting season. It comes in October."
"Is it really October?" asked Frieda. "It seems so warm."
"It was cold last night," said Lydia, shivering in memory.
"In the day it is lovely," I said. "We ought to make the most of it. It's odd to think I shall not be coming back."
"Shall you mind?" asked Monique.
"I shall miss you all."
"And you will be with that wonderful aunt," said Frieda enviously.
"And you'll be rich," said Elsa, "and independent too, for you will own that school and the wonderful old manor house."
"No, no. Not for years. I'd have it when Aunt Patty dies and I'd never want that."
Elsa nodded. "Well," she said, "if you don't want to go to Pilcher's Peak I'll tell some of the others."
"Why don't we go?" said Lydia. "Is it tomorrow ... the full moon?"
"We could take the wagonette."
"We could say we wanted to see some of the wild flowers in the forest."
"Do you think we should be permitted? Wild flowers are scarcely a topic for the drawing rooms of the élite. And what wild flowers are there at this Lime of the year?"
"We could think of something else," said Lydia.
Nobody could, however, and the harder we thought the more enticing a trip to Pilcher's Peak became.
"I know," said Elsa at length, "you are going into the town to select a pair of gloves for Cordelia's aunt. She was so impressed by those Cordelia came home with and of course they can't make such gloves ... so chic, so right ... anywhere but in Switzerland. That will seem very plausible to Madame. Then the wagonette instead of going into the town turns off and goes into the forest. It is only two miles. You could ask for extended Lime as you wish to call into the pâtisserie for a cup of coffee and one of those cream gateaux which can only be found in Switzerland. I am sure permission would be granted, and that will give you time to go to the forest and sit under the lovers' oak tree."
"What perfidy!" I cried. "What if Madame de Guérin knew that you were corrupting us? You'd be turned out to wander in the snowy mountains."
Elsa put the palms of her hands together as though in prayer. "I beg you do not betray me. It is only a joke. I wish to put a Little romance into your lives."
I laughed with the others. "Well, why shouldn't we go? Tell us what we do, Elsa?"
"You sit under the oak. You can't fail to see it. It's there below the Peak. You just sit there and talk together ... just naturally, you know. Then if you are lucky, your future husband will appear."
"One between four of us!" cried Monique.
"Perhaps more ... who can say? But if one comes that is enough to show you there is something in our legend, eh?"
"It's ridiculous," said Frieda.
"It will be somewhere to go," added Monique. "Our last little outing before winter comes," said Lydia.
"Who knows? It may start tomorrow."
"Then too Tate for Cordelia," Lydia reminded us. "Oh, Cordelia, do persuade Aunt Patty to let you stay another year."
"Two is really enough to put the polish on. I must be positively gleaming already."
We laughed awhile and we decided that on the following afternoon we would go to Pilcher's Peak.
It was a clear afternoon when we set out. The sun made it as warm as spring and we were in high spirits as the wagonette turned off from the road to the town and took us up to the forest. The air was clear and crisp and the snow sparkled on the distant mountain-tops. I could smell the pungency of the pines which made up most of the forest, but there were among the evergreens some oaks, and it was one of these which we had to look for.
We asked the driver about Pilcher's Peak and he told us we couldn't miss it. He'd show us when we turned the bend. We would see it then rising high above the ravine.
The scenery was superb. In the distance we saw mountain slopes, some of them wooded near the valleys, the vegetation growing more sparse further up.
"I wonder which of us will see him?" whispered Lydia.
"None," responded Frieda.
Monique laughed. "It won't be me because I am already bespoke."