october passed by with flaming crimson and[157] gold on the trees, and orange and mauve toadstools among the moss of the woods, and squirrels scampering up the scotch pines at the top of the garden, laying by their winter store of nuts; and flocks of migrating birds twittering in the fields, and hosts of glittering red hips and haws in the hedges, and shrouds of fairy gossamer over the blackberry bushes. it was carmel's first autumn in england, and, though her artistic temperament revelled in the beauty of the tints, the falling leaves filled her with consternation.
"it is so sad to see them all come down," she declared. "why the trees will soon be quite bare! nothing but branches left!"
"what else do you expect?" asked gowan. "they won't keep green all the winter."
"i suppose not. but in sicily we have so many evergreens and shrubs that flower all the winter. the oranges and lemons begin to get ripe soon after christmas, and we have agaves and prickly pears everywhere. i can't imagine a landscape without any leaves!"
[158]"wait till you see the snow! it's prime then!"
"there's generally snow on etna, but i haven't been up so high. it doesn't fall where we live."
"girl alive! have you never made a snowball?"
"never."
"then it's a treat in store for you. i sincerely hope we shall have a hard winter."
"we ought to, by the number of berries in the hedges," put in bertha. "it's an old saying that they foretell frost.
"'bushes red with hip and haw,
weeks of frost without a thaw.'
i don't know whether it always comes true, though."
"i'm a believer in superstitions," declared gowan. "scotch people generally are, i think. my great-grandmother used to have second sight. by the by; it's hallowe'en on friday! i vote we rummage up all the old charms we can, and try them. it would be ever such fun."
"topping! only let us keep it to the mafia, and not let the others know."
"rather! we don't want laurette and co. butting in."
the remaining members of the mafia, when consulted, received the idea with enthusiasm.[159] there is a vein of superstition at the bottom of the most practical among us, and all of them were well accustomed to practise such rites as throwing spilt salt over the left shoulder, curtseying to the new moon, and turning their money when they heard the cuckoo.
"not, of course, that it always follows," said prissie. "on easter holidays a bird used to come and tap constantly at our drawing-room window at home. it was always doing it. of course that means 'a death in the family,' but we all kept absolutely hearty and well. not even a third cousin once removed has died, and it's more than two years ago. mother says it was probably catching insects on the glass. she laughs at omens!"
"i always double my thumb inside my fist if i walk under a ladder," volunteered noreen.
"well, it is unlucky to go under a ladder," declared phillida. "you may get a pot of paint dropped on your head! i saw that happen once to a poor lady: it simply turned upside down on her, and deluged her hat and face and everything with dark green paint. she had to go into a shop to be wiped. it must have been awful for her, and for her clothes as well. i've never forgotten it."
"what could we do on hallowe'en?" asked edith.
[160]"well, we must try to think it out, and make some plans."
from the recesses of their memories the girls raked up every superstition of which they had ever heard. these had to be divided into the possible and the impossible. there are limits of liberty in a girls' school, and it was manifestly infeasible, as well as very chilly, to attempt to stray out alone at the stroke of twelve, robed merely in a nightgown, and fetch three pails of water to place by one's bedside. gowan's north country recipe for divination was equally impracticable—to go out at midnight, and "dip your smock in a south-running spring where the lairds' lands meet," then hang it to dry before the fire. they discussed it quite seriously, however, in all its various aspects.
"to begin with, what exactly is a smock?" asked carmel.
everybody had a hazy notion, but nobody was quite sure about it.
"usen't farm laborers to wear them once?" suggested lilias.
"but shakespeare says,
"'when shepherds pipe on oaten straws,
and merry larks are ploughmen's clocks,
when ring the woods with rooks and daws,
and maidens bleach their summer smocks,'"
objected prissie.
[161]"was it an upper or an under garment?" questioned noreen.
"i'm sure i don't know. i don't fancy we any of us possess 'smocks'!"
"then we certainly can't go and soak them in a spring!"
"and there is no 'laird' here, and even if you count an ordinary owner of property as a 'laird,' you don't know where the boundaries are!"
"no, that floors us completely!"
an expedition to the cellar for apples would be an equally hopeless quest, for all the harvest of the orchard had been stored in the loft, and was under lock and key. some minor experiments, however, might be tried with apple skins, so they determined to pocket their next dessert, and keep it till the magic hour of divination arrived. hot chestnuts would be a distinct possibility, and a little coaxing at head-quarters would doubtless result in jones the gardener bringing a bag full for them from glazebrook.
they felt quite excited when the fateful day arrived. miss walters had made no objection to an order for chestnuts, and had even allowed a modicum of toffee to be added to the list. she did not refer to the subject of hallowe'en, for she had some years ago suppressed the custom of bobbing for apples, finding that the girls invariably[162] got their hair wet, and had colds in their heads in consequence.
the members of the mafia, well stocked therefore with the apples and chestnuts necessary for divination, remained in their schoolroom after evening preparation, so as to have a gay time all to themselves. to make matters more thrillsome they turned out the light, and sat in the flickering glow of the fire. gowan, having the largest acquaintance with the occult, not to speak of having possessed a great-grandmother endowed with second sight, was universally acknowledged priestess of the ceremonies.
"shall we begin with apples or chestnuts?" she asked seriously.
as some said one thing and some another, she held a specimen of each behind her back, and commanded carmel to choose right hand or left. the lot fell upon chestnuts, and these were placed neatly in pairs along the bars of the grate.
"you name them after yourself and your sweetheart," explained gowan. "if he pops first, he'll ask you to marry him."
"and suppose the other pops first?" asked carmel.
"then you won't marry him!"
"doesn't it mean that it may be leap year, and the girl will 'pop the question'?" asked dulcie, still giggling.
[163]"no, it doesn't."
"suppose they neither of them pop?" said prissie.
"it's a sign that neither cares, but it's not very likely to happen—they nearly always pop."
"i pricked mine with my penknife, though."
"the more goose you! take them back and try two fresh ones."
it is rather a delicate and finger-scorching process to balance chestnuts on the bars, and as a matter of fact prissie's tumbled into the fire, and could not be rescued. the party was obliged to watch them burn. they helped her to place another in position, then sat round, keeping careful eyes on their particular representatives. it was forbidden to reveal names, so each kept the identity of her favored swain locked in her breast. it seemed a long time before those chestnuts were ready! love's delays are notoriously hard to bear. never were omens watched so anxiously. slap! bang! pop! at last came from carmel's particular corner, and fragments flew about indiscriminately on to hearth and fire.
"it's 'him'!" cried gowan ungrammatically. "he's done it most thoroughly too! carmel, you'll be married the first of any of us! you'll ask us to the wedding, won't you?"
at that moment a chorus of pops came from the grate, causing much rejoicing or dismay from[164] the various owners of the chestnuts, according to the fate meted out to them by the omens. on the whole cupid was kind, though lilias and gowan were left in the lurch.
"i don't care!" said gowan sturdily. "i've another in my mind, and perhaps i shall get him in the apple-peels."
"and if you don't?"
"i'll meet somebody else later on."
having eaten more or less charred pieces of chestnut, the girls produced their apples, and once more set to work to try magic. the apple had to be peeled entirely in one long piece, which must then be slung backwards over the left shoulder on to the floor, where it would form the initial of the future lover. it was a matter for skilful manipulation of penknives, not at all easy to manage, so difficult in fact, that noreen and dulcie each made a slip, and chopped their precious pieces of peel in the middle, thus rendering them useless for purposes of divination. lilias, who made the first essay, was completely puzzled by the result, which did not resemble any known letter in the alphabet, though gowan, anxious to interpret the oracles, construed it into a w. edith's long thin piece of peel made a plain c, a fact which seemed to cause her much satisfaction, though she would betray no names. prissie broke her luck in half in the[165] very act of flinging it, but insisted that the two separate portions each formed an o.
it was carmel's turn next, and her rather broad piece of peel twisted itself into a most palpable e. she looked at it for a moment as if rather taken aback, then her face cleared.
"there are quite a number of names that begin with e," she remarked enigmatically.
now it was all very well to sit in the sanctuary of their schoolroom trying such mild magic as divination through chestnuts and apple skins. gowan's northern blood yearned after more subtle witchcraft.
"i shan't be content till i've pulled a cabbage stalk!" she declared. "i don't see why we need wait till midnight! hallowe'en is hallowe'en as soon as it's dark, i should think. who's game to fly up the kitchen-garden?"
"what? now?"
"why not? we should only be gone a few minutes and miss hardy would never find out."
"it really would be a frolicsome joke!"
"there's a moon, too!"
"i vote we risk it!"
"come along!"
nine giggling girls therefore stole cautiously downstairs, a little delayed by prissie, who, with a most unusual concern for her health, insisted on[166] fetching a wrap. they opened the side door, and peeped out into the night. it was quite fine, with a clear full moon, and clouds drifting high in the sky. the vegetable garden was so near that the ceremony could be very quickly performed. it was, of course, breaking rules to leave the house after dark, but not one of them could resist the temptation, so out they sped to the cabbage patch.
now when prissie ran to her bedroom, ostensibly to get a wrap, she had really gone with quite other intentions. she had certainly put on a long dark coat and a soft felt hat, but the whole gist of the matter lay in something that she slipped into her pocket. it was a black mustache that she had brought to school for use in theatricals, and lay handy in her top drawer. she had hastily smeared the under side of it with soap, so that it would adhere to her lip, and once out in the garden, she fell behind the others and fixed it in position. then she made a détour behind some bushes, so as to conceal herself from the party.
presently, under the bright moon and scudding clouds, eight much-thrilled girls were hurriedly pulling away at cabbage stalks, and estimating, by the amount of earth that came up with them, the wealth of their future husbands. the general surroundings and the associations of the evening were sufficient to send shivers down their[167] spines. gowan, looking up suddenly, saw standing among the bushes a dark figure with a heavy black mustache, and she caught her breath with a gasp, and clutched at carmel's arm. for an instant eight horrified faces stared at the apparition, then dulcie made a dive in its direction, and dragged forth prissie.
"you wretch!"
"what a mean trick to play!"
"you didn't take me in!"
"it was very clever, though!"
"you really looked just like a spook!"
"take it off now!"
"no, no!" said prissie. "leave me alone! i haven't finished. hush! i believe somebody else is coming to try the ordeal. slip behind that cucumber-frame and hide, and let us see who it is. quick! you'll be caught!"
the girls made a swift, but silent, dash for the shadow of the cucumber-frame, and concealed themselves only just in time. they were barely hidden when footsteps resounded on the gravel, and a figure advanced from the direction of the house. it came alone, and it carried something in its hand. in the clear beams of the moonlight, the mafia had no difficulty in recognizing laurette, and could see that what she bore was her bedroom mirror. they chuckled inwardly. most evidently she had sallied forth to try the[168] white magic of hallowe'en, and to make the spell work more securely had come alone to consult the cabbage oracle.
first she placed her mirror on the ground, and tilted its swing glass to a convenient angle at which to catch reflections. then she pulled hard at a stalk, looked with apparent satisfaction at the decidedly thick lumps of earth that adhered (which, if the magic were to be trusted, must represent a considerable fortune); then, clasping her cabbage in her hand, knelt down in front of the looking-glass, and began to mutter something to herself in a low voice. her back was towards the cucumber-frame and the bushes, and her eyes were fixed on her mirror.
prissie, looking on, realized that it was the chance of a lifetime. she stole on tiptoe from her retreat, and peeped over laurette's shoulder so that her reflection should be displayed in the glass. laurette, seeing suddenly a most unexpected vision of a dark mustache, literally yelled with fright, sprang up, and turned round to face her "spook," then with a further blood-curdling scream, dashed down the garden towards the house. the mafia, rising from the shadow of the cucumber-frame, laughed long, though with caution.
"what an absolutely topping joke!" whispered dulcie.
she peeped over laurette's shoulder
she peeped over laurette's shoulder
"and on laurette, of all people in this wide[169] world!" rejoiced bertha.
"congrats., prissie!"
"you did play up no end!"
"i flatter myself i made her squeal and run!" smirked prissie. "it just serves her right! i was longing for a chance to get even with her!"
"what about the looking-glass?" asked carmel. "won't some of them be coming out to fetch it?"
"yes, of course they will! we must take it in at once. let us scoot round the other way, and go in by the back door before laurette and co. catch us!"
prissie seized the mirror, and the nine girls fled by another path to the door near the kitchen, where by great good luck they avoided meeting any of the servants, and were able to bolt upstairs unseen. the gold bedroom was empty—no doubt its occupants were shivering at the side door—so they were able to restore the looking-glass to its place on the dressing-table as a surprise for laurette when she returned. whether she suspected them or not, it was impossible to tell, for she kept her own counsel, and, though next day they referred casually to hallowe'en observances, she only glanced at them with half-closed eyelids, and remarked that she was quite above such silly superstitions.
[170]"which is more than a fiblet, and about the biggest whopper that miss laurette aitken has ever told in her life!" declared prissie, still chuckling gleefully at the remembrance of the startled figure fleeing down the garden.
