Women Have Hearts. Barbara Cartland
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was bringing the last bowl of soup to the table and she smiled.
“The answer to that is simple,” she said. “It is because I have nowhere else to go.”
“And no money either, I suppose,” Miss Jenkins sniggered.
“I have not been paid for six months,” Kelda replied, “and if I was I doubt if it would get me further than Piccadilly Circus.”
They all laughed as if she had said something very funny.
“I think it’s a crying shame,” Miss Jenkins said. “But never mind perhaps one day a rich uncle you’ve forgotten about will turn up and carry you off to Timbuktu. One never knows one’s luck.”
“I can always go on hoping,” Kelda answered.
She picked up the tray and went out of the room. As she closed the door behind her, she heard Miss Dawson saying,
“It’s a disgrace the way Madam treats that nice girl.”
“That is what I think,” Miss Ashton said, “but there is nothing we can do about it and I suppose as a ‘charity child’ she is lucky to be here.”
Kelda did not wait to hear any more. She hurried down towards the kitchen, feeling as if her feet echoed the same words,
‘Charity child! Charity child!’
She felt as if they were branded on her and she would never be anything else however hard she tried. A ‘charity child’ everyone could trample over and for whom there was little hope now or in the future.
*
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