Barbara Cartland - Women Have Hearts

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When she had finished washing up the Mistresses’ supper Kelda made a cup of cocoa and carried it upstairs to Yvette.

It was strictly against the rules, but she thought that it might help the French girl to sleep, knowing that her unhappiness would doubtless keep her tossing and turning all through the night.

She opened the door to find that Yvette was already undressed and sitting in front of the mirror with a sulky expression on her face.

“I have brought you some cocoa,” Kelda said.

“That is kind of you, Kelda,” Yvette tried to smile. “I could not eat any supper, I was too unhappy.”

“Are you hungry? Shall I go downstairs and make you a sandwich?”

“No, I don’t want anything to eat, but I will enjoy the cocoa. Did you put plenty of sugar in it?”

“Three teaspoonfuls,” Kelda answered. “‘Hot and sweet’ was what my mother always prescribed when somebody has had a shock.”

“It is certainly what I have had.”

“What did Madam say to you?”

“Only what you know already that I have to go and live with Uncle Maximus. He has instructed her to send me to him, as if I was a parcel, accompanied by one of the Mistresses from the school to see that I reach him without mishap.”

“The Mistresses have all refused to go.”

“I know that,” Yvette said. “Madam called me into the study after prayers to ask, ‘have you any relations in England who would accompany you to Dakar?’”

“‘No, Madam,’ I replied, ‘and if I had, they would not take me. They all dislike my uncle as much as I do.’”

Kelda gave a little laugh.

“I am sure that Madam was shocked at your speaking like that.”

“Horrified!” Yvette agreed. “She looked down that long nose of hers and said,

“‘That is not the way to speak of your uncle, Yvette. I am sure that what he is doing is in your best interests.’

“‘My best interests, Madam,’ I replied, ‘would be to live in France with the relations I love and who love me. I have no wish to go to Senegal and I have a very good mind to run away!’”

Kelda laughed and it was a sound of pure enjoyment.

“How brave of you! I don’t know how you dared to speak to her like that.”

Yvette shrugged her shoulders in a typically French gesture.

“She can do nothing to me now that is any worse than what Uncle Maximus is doing.”

“What did she say?”

“She gave me a long lecture on propriety and how I should not only damage myself but also the reputation of the school by speaking in such a ‘pert and unladylike fashion’.”

Yvette deliberately imitated Mrs. Gladwin’s voice as she said the last phrase and both she and Kelda laughed again.

“What did she say after that?” Kelda asked.

“She went on until she ran out of breath. Then I said, ‘I am not surprised that none of the Mistresses will accompany me to Senegal and I most certainly have no wish to be buried alive there myself. If it is impossible for you to find anybody to accompany me, perhaps you could tell my uncle it would be best for me to stay here. Or, alternatively, let Kelda come with me. She, at least, as an explorer’s daughter, will not object to travelling into darkest Africa’.”

Kelda gave a gasp.

“That is what Miss Jenkins suggested. What did Madam reply?”

“I did not wait to hear,” Yvette answered. “I went out of the room while she was still gasping for breath like a goldfish that has been left out of the water.”

“She must have been furious!” Kelda said.

There was a note in her voice that made Yvette say quickly,

“Oh, Kelda, I hope I did not make her so angry that she takes it out on you.”

“So do I,” Kelda nodded.

She felt apprehensive, thinking that if two people had made the same suggestion it would infuriate Madam to the point where she would think of some unpleasant punishment for her.

She changed the subject as it made her feel rather nervous and asked,

“When do you go?”

“Two days before the end of term. Madam would not let me leave if Uncle Maximus had not insisted that I should travel in some specific ship which stops at Dakar on its way to the Cape.”

“It sounds very exciting!” Kelda exclaimed.

“You know how I feel about it,” Yvette said in a forlorn voice. “I do wish that you could come with me. At least there would be someone human to talk to. If old Dawson had taken up Madam’s proposal, I think I should have died! You know what a bore she is at any time.”

“I would love to come with you,” Kelda admitted, “but you know as well as I do that it would be like asking for the moon.”

“I suppose so,” Yvette said despairingly. “But you say all the Mistresses have refused.”

“They all said they had at supper,” Kelda replied, “including Miss Ashton, who is not in tonight.”

“Then who will the dragon send with me?” Yvette asked.

“I have no idea. Perhaps she has a friend who would like to journey to Africa or perhaps she will go herself.”

“Then I shall definitely jump overboard,” Yvette said firmly. “I am not travelling with old Gladwin and that’s a fact!”

Even as she spoke, the door opened and then to Yvette’s and Kelda’s astonishment Mrs. Gladwin came into the room.

It was unusual for her to leave her own quarters once supper was over and she seldom visited the girls’ bedrooms except for her inspection which took place weekly in the morning.

Then she would walk around deliberately to find fault and it was Kelda’s self-appointed task to hide away anything that the girls had forgotten that she thought might evoke Mrs. Gladwin's disapproval before she appeared.

Food, fruit and sweets were totally forbidden and anything decorative and in any way ostentatious was always in danger of being confiscated.

As Mrs. Gladwin stepped into the room, it was so unexpected and in a way so unusual that for several perceptible seconds Yvette forgot to rise from her chair.

Mrs. Gladwin was, however, glaring at Kelda.

“I had a suspicion I might find you here, Kelda,” she began. “As I have told you before, I will not have you gossiping in the young ladies’ rooms, which is neither proper nor in the sphere of your duties. If you have nothing better to do, I will certainly find you something.”

“As Mademoiselle was so very upset today,” Kelda said in her soft voice, “I brought her something warm to drink, knowing that it was in a way a medication.”

“If Yvette needs one, I will send for the physician,” Mrs. Gladwin said automatically.

She then looked sharply at Yvette.

“I presume,’ she said, “you have been crying again and making a quite unnecessary fuss about your uncle’s plans for your future.”

As she was already so overwrought, the tears gathered again in Yvette’s eyes and Mrs. Gladwin rattled on,

“You must learn to control yourself. As I have told you so often, self-control comes from being civilised and properly educated.”

Yvette did not reply and, as she was searching for her handkerchief in the belt of her gown, two tears rolled down her cheeks.

“I have been thinking over the difficulties of your reaching Dakar,” Mrs. Gladwin said. “That is why I have come to ask you once again if there is anyone you know in England who would be prepared to accompany you on this journey.”

“I have already told you, Madam, I know of no one,” Yvette responded.

“There is no Governess you have had in the past who would for a remuneration, a small one, of course, act as your chaperone?”

“The Governess I had before I came here,” Yvette replied, “has a good position in Paris teaching the children of the Duc de Beauclaire. So I am quite certain she would be unable to come with me, even if she wanted to, which I very much doubt.”