DIANA MASQUERADES.

Waikato Times, Volume 110, Issue 18408, 15 August 1931, Page 16 (Supplement)

DIANA MASQUERADES.

(By C. Bernard Rutley.) Continued from last week.)

At that moment Diana would have ■ i welcomed an earthquake. In a . flash she realised the consequences of this meeting. Of a certainty she j would be expelled, and then he. i mother would learn everything, and be I ever so worried. Perhaps the worry ( < would make her worse; the doctor i had said worry was bad for her. Oh, | what a fool she had been! Des- , perately Diana thought. Miss Iler- < I ries was saying something about see- | frig her home. That must never be , ' She must gain time. Perhaps if the | gave her time she might be able to explain tilings. I . "No. Miss Herrles, please don t see me home," begged Diana urgently. . "I'm going home now, truth.u ij i am! Mother isn't well. She dorsal, know I'm doing this. It would worry her terribly it she knew. P.ease, o.i please, let me go home alone! 1 promise 1 won't sing any more. I'll come tu school on Monday, and perhaps I , can explain things. Oh, please wait . till then’.’* na I Diana was almost in tears, -he was wet, and cold, and tired, and her one idea was to gain time, to get home without her mother knowing what she had been doing, and to think. Miss Herrles had listened to Diana s urgent pleading in silence: now, seeing a look of panic in the girl's face, she "Very well, Diana. I will take your word that you will go straight home at once Of course you realise 1 shall have to tell the Headmistress—we can t have girls belonging to _t. Anne's singlug in the streets—but I promise that no steps shall be taken until you have had a chance to ex- i n aiD your conduct on Monday. Tsow go home, child, and get out of those wet things.” That week-end was the lon £? st Diana had ever experienced. The more she thought over the explanation she would have to make on Monday the more hopeless she felt AA hat could she say? She couldn t say that the girls of Elizabeth s, from Gwen downwards, had plagued the life out of her because she cou.dn t subscribe to Miss Manners Present. That would be sneaking. All ®ne could say was that she had Promised to give two pounds, and as the only way of getting it she had gone singing in the streets of AVellchester. Of course she would be expehed. T< * re was not the slightest doubt of that. Diana's fears increased as Monday drew nearer, and on the morning it required all her courage to enter the school, and make her way to the cloakThere was a hum of chatter coming fromt he room as Diana approached but it ceased immediately she entered Of course the whole House, perhaps the whole school, knew what she had been doing. Diana miserably assured herself. Without a word she hung up her coat and hat, and went out into the corridor What should she do? She would go to Gwen's study, and hand over the two pounds. ?he would at least keep I, 'r word as far as the presentation went Then she would find Mis» Herrles. and ask her what she was Diana climbed the stairs, and knocked on the door of the captain s study, and at a brisk Come in. opened the door and entered the -oom Mary Gaunt and Clementina Drew, the two House prefects, were there as well as the captata, ami anxious to get the ordeal over D.ana walked up to the table, and laid down the money. ~ • There are the two pounds Gwen she said, and not waiting for the elde. girt to speak she turned and made ij "Walt a’niinute. Diana," said Gwen. "Where are you going now? "I'm going to find Miss Herrles. and then 1 suppose she'll take me to . the Head," replied Diana defiantly. "And what are you going to tell inc Head?” asked Gwen. “What am I going to tell the repeated Diana slowly. Surely the might leave her alone now. she thought. Well. H would -oon be over Aloud »he answered. Why, I shall simply say I promised to ghe two poumts to Miss Manners present, and that, as 1 couldn t raise L anv oilier way. I went sin f ln S . ' . streets of AVellchester. AS hat else , did vou think 1 would say? “Won't vou tell her how we ve all | plagued the life out of you over this presentation, how Ruby called your mother awfully mean' before a crowd o t girls?” asked Gwen. Diana looked at her House captain coldlv. "1 shall not." she answered. You need not be afraid. 1 may be only a wretched day-girl, but I m not sneak. Now, it you ve finished, ' Well go together. Di." said Gwen. Midden'.y crosstns the room, and slippin* an’ arm through .me ot Diana s. ••We're not quite fools, you know, and whein v >u said your mother wasn t well we guessed why you hadn't been able to give anything to the presentation. and wliy. when Huby had I you into promising ; went singing in Wetl.■hesti-. ' i you. di. ever since we cime home Saturday evening there's been a procession of girls ... . the Hes i - stuly. and 1 -eckon she’s heart y sick ot hea Ind how rottenly we've all treated you. ,-ome almig. the Head's a brick, though she dues - ' look as though She had sw < .oweda tanir -o. \nd when we ve seen the, liemi , nii'vc got to tell me what yon re go■i - to sing at ittir concert. My dear, w' r .. going to pul tlic lid on Joan's . n ,rt last term properly. ~wn was right. The interview ■ X "1 the Head was not at all terrible. • *irt the yreat personas* so far r.bent as to call Diana a plucky ff'.rl, thougli X<xri>ldliag tic* to go a.uginj

in AVellchester again. And when i teh concert came of it did, as Gwen 1 had prophesied, put the lid on ali , . previous efforts. Diana brought the house down. Never before had the . • great hall at St. Anne's heard such ■ singing. She was encored again and again, and when at last the con- ] cert was over the Head sent for her, 1 and there she was Introduced to a ; ■ great musician, friend of the Head's, I who had come down to hear the con- ( cert. "You have a voice of gold, my dear,” said the great man, "and I want you to let me come and see your mother. If she and you are willing I should like to train you." "Oh! but I can’t leave school yet," cried Diana, who during the last j week had found life at St. Anne's ■ everything that she could wish. ; “I expect that can be arranged, Diana," said the Head, smiling. “And I think you should say yes. This is , a great chance Sir William is giving j you." Diana, of course, took her chance, though she remained at St. Anne's another year. Soon now she will i have finished her training, and then I perahps you will have on opportunity | of hearing that golden voice which I was first heard one rainy November night in the streets ot AVellchester, The web Marcia had helped to weave around herself was getting stronger and stronger. She could see no way out, short of sacrificing another. Could she do it? It was unthinkable. She pressed her hands to her burning eyes to still the aching j which throbbed through them. She I must not, she dare not, be ill. Self- [ preservation demanded her Whole brain. If only she could sleep. But i that relief was denied her. She found : herself planning what they were to do I on their arrival. An hotel was too public. Lodgings must be obtained. ’■ She had once gone to this little seaside village when a child. It was the • only one she could think of. Its re- | moteness from the world appealed to ■ her. One idea was fixed firmly in her mind. So long as she could keep I Doris from discovery, just so long I would she bo safe herself. And she ■ had thought herself so safe. Yet one j little unguarded word from her mother I might give her over to the law. Round and round again went her tortured brain in this unending maze. Doris awoke with a start. She had slept for several hours. With compunction she apologised to Marcia for leaving her in solitude so long. The girl’s white weary face Invoked all her sympathy. The train glided into the station of Silchurch. Marcia could hardly drag her cramped limbs from the carriage, and she staggered slightly as she moved forward. Doris eyed her with concern, the tables were being turned. It was she now, who, refreshed by her sleep, took the lead. "You are done up, Marcia, and it is all on my account. I don't 'believe vou have had any sleep at all. You shall not go a step farther than I can help. It's two o'clock already. Afterwards you shall just go down on the shore, I can see it from here, while I have a hunt round for some rooms." Marcia nodded feebly. She was at the end of her tether, so it was useless protesting. Doris carried out her programme. it was late in the afternoon before she was successful in her quest, and hurried back with relief to Marcia, I who had been installed in a sheltered spot on the beach. The tiny rooms in the little cottage, some distance from the station, appeared a very haven of refuge. They shared a bedroom facing the sea, with a small sitting-room adjoining. “If only this was an ordinary holiday. how happy I should be," sighed Doris, as she unpacked her own and Marcia's dressing cases, stopping I ! every now and then to lean out of the window and drink In the freshness from the red moist earth and the sea, i but Marcia lay inert, with her face I turned to the wall. Doris per- ; suaded her to go to bed early. The villages kept early hours, j Doris had already christened the place “the back of beyond."