Read Online (6/13) Gossip from Thrush Green by Miss Read - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Miss Read
Tags: Fiction, Country Life, Country Life - England, Pastoral Fiction, Thrush Green (Imaginary Place)
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her stay a permanent one, and very happily the arrangement had turned out.
But Ray and Kathleen would never, it seemed, be quite as dear to her headmistress. Agnes could only hope that the proposed tea party would pass off pleasantly, and that bygones would remain bygones.
It was a perfect early May afternoon. Agnes had taken her little brood for a walk along the track to Lulling Woods, passing Dotty Harmer's house, and waving to that lady as she tended a large and smoky bonfire of garden rubbish near the hedge.
The grass was dry enough for the children to sit on before they returned, and Agnes leant back against a dry stone wall out of the light wind and admired some early coltsfoot across the track, and some young ferns, curled like sea horses, against the Cotswold stone. The children seemed content to lie on their backs, chewing grass, and gazing at the sky above. It was a well-known fact that little Miss Fogerty had the happy knack of keeping children quiet and contented. The present scene would have proved this to any onlooker.
Agnes allowed her mind to dwell on the approaching confrontation. Dorothy had made a superb three-tier sponge cake, using five eggs and the best butter, and Agnes herself had cut cucumber sandwiches during the lunch break, and carefully wrapped them to keep fresh. Home-made scones with plum jam, and some delicious chocolate biscuits filled with marshmallow completed the meal provided. It was particularly unselfish of dear Dorothy to add the last ingreclient to their afternoon tea, thought Agnes, as she adored marshmallows but was obliged to resist such temptation in the interest of watching her weight.
Agnes looked at her watch.
'Time to be going!' she called, and shepherded her charges back to Thrush Green.
The two ladies were back in the school house by a quarter to four. Dorothy had changed into a becoming blue jersey two-piece, and Agnes had put on her best silk blouse with her mother's cameo brooch at the neck.
The tea tray waited in the sitting room, and on a side table were all the festive dishes. Some golden daffodils scented the air, and the ladies waited expectantly. The visitors were due at four o'clock, but at ten past they had not appeared.
Dorothy began to get restive, wandering to the window to look down the road, and then back to the kitchen to make sure that the kettle was ready. Agnes viewed her growing impatience with some apprehension. Dear Dorothy was a stickler for punctuality.
'Isn't it extraordinary,' exclaimed her headmistress, 'how people never arrive on time? I mean, if I say between seven and seven-thirty, it's usually a quarter to eight before the bell rings. Why not seven-fifteen? Why not seven, for that matter?'
Agnes assumed that this was a rhetorical question and forbore to answer.
The little clock on the mantel piece struck a quarter past four, and Dorothy plumped up a cushion with unnecessary force.
'Of course, Ray never had any idea of time, nor Kathleen, come to that. Ray was even late for his own wedding, I remember. The whole congregation waiting for the bridegroom! You can imagine! One expects some delay before the bride appears but—'
She broke off suddenly.
'Here they are at last! And about time too. Would you switch on the kettle, Agnes dear, while I let them in?'
Polite kisses were exchanged in the hall, and Miss Watson led the way into the sitting room. No apologies were made for their late arrival, she noticed, although it was now twenty five minutes past the hour, but she decided to ignore the omission. As she had remarked to Agnes, time meant nothing to this pair.
'And how are you finding The Fleece?' she enquired.
'Rather run down,' said Ray. Under new management, I gather, and not very competent.'
At that moment, a ferocious barking broke out, and Agnes, coming in with the tea pot, very nearly dropped it in her alarm.
The two visitors had rushed to the window, so that Agnes put down the tea pot without being greeted.
'Oh, poor
But Ray and Kathleen would never, it seemed, be quite as dear to her headmistress. Agnes could only hope that the proposed tea party would pass off pleasantly, and that bygones would remain bygones.
It was a perfect early May afternoon. Agnes had taken her little brood for a walk along the track to Lulling Woods, passing Dotty Harmer's house, and waving to that lady as she tended a large and smoky bonfire of garden rubbish near the hedge.
The grass was dry enough for the children to sit on before they returned, and Agnes leant back against a dry stone wall out of the light wind and admired some early coltsfoot across the track, and some young ferns, curled like sea horses, against the Cotswold stone. The children seemed content to lie on their backs, chewing grass, and gazing at the sky above. It was a well-known fact that little Miss Fogerty had the happy knack of keeping children quiet and contented. The present scene would have proved this to any onlooker.
Agnes allowed her mind to dwell on the approaching confrontation. Dorothy had made a superb three-tier sponge cake, using five eggs and the best butter, and Agnes herself had cut cucumber sandwiches during the lunch break, and carefully wrapped them to keep fresh. Home-made scones with plum jam, and some delicious chocolate biscuits filled with marshmallow completed the meal provided. It was particularly unselfish of dear Dorothy to add the last ingreclient to their afternoon tea, thought Agnes, as she adored marshmallows but was obliged to resist such temptation in the interest of watching her weight.
Agnes looked at her watch.
'Time to be going!' she called, and shepherded her charges back to Thrush Green.
The two ladies were back in the school house by a quarter to four. Dorothy had changed into a becoming blue jersey two-piece, and Agnes had put on her best silk blouse with her mother's cameo brooch at the neck.
The tea tray waited in the sitting room, and on a side table were all the festive dishes. Some golden daffodils scented the air, and the ladies waited expectantly. The visitors were due at four o'clock, but at ten past they had not appeared.
Dorothy began to get restive, wandering to the window to look down the road, and then back to the kitchen to make sure that the kettle was ready. Agnes viewed her growing impatience with some apprehension. Dear Dorothy was a stickler for punctuality.
'Isn't it extraordinary,' exclaimed her headmistress, 'how people never arrive on time? I mean, if I say between seven and seven-thirty, it's usually a quarter to eight before the bell rings. Why not seven-fifteen? Why not seven, for that matter?'
Agnes assumed that this was a rhetorical question and forbore to answer.
The little clock on the mantel piece struck a quarter past four, and Dorothy plumped up a cushion with unnecessary force.
'Of course, Ray never had any idea of time, nor Kathleen, come to that. Ray was even late for his own wedding, I remember. The whole congregation waiting for the bridegroom! You can imagine! One expects some delay before the bride appears but—'
She broke off suddenly.
'Here they are at last! And about time too. Would you switch on the kettle, Agnes dear, while I let them in?'
Polite kisses were exchanged in the hall, and Miss Watson led the way into the sitting room. No apologies were made for their late arrival, she noticed, although it was now twenty five minutes past the hour, but she decided to ignore the omission. As she had remarked to Agnes, time meant nothing to this pair.
'And how are you finding The Fleece?' she enquired.
'Rather run down,' said Ray. Under new management, I gather, and not very competent.'
At that moment, a ferocious barking broke out, and Agnes, coming in with the tea pot, very nearly dropped it in her alarm.
The two visitors had rushed to the window, so that Agnes put down the tea pot without being greeted.
'Oh, poor
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