Chapter one
"I'm bored," Lucy said glumly from her perch on the window seat in the Professors parlour.
It was raining, much like it had been the day Lucy had discovered Narnia - had it only been two weeks ago?
"We could play a game," Susan suggested.
Edmund looked at her, shaking his head
"No way, Su, your games will just make us more bored."
Peter snorted and tried to cover it up by pretending he had coughed.
"The problem is," he said reflectfully, "it's worse now, because we know it's there and we can't get to it."
He was of course referring to Narnia.
"And I agree with Ed, Susan, your games are a tad boring. If it wasn't raining we could go outside and play cricket, but as it is we'll have to think of other ways to amuse ourselves."
They all four sat there and then Lucy hopped up.
"And no hide and seek!" Peter said quickly before Lucy could suggest it. "At least not for a while," he added.
They were spared from having to think of a game by the entrance of Mrs. Macready; the housekeeper very rarely set foot in the parlour she had set aside for the children.
"The Professor would like to see all four of you in the parlour," she said in her brisk tones.
They stood up and headed down the hall to Professor Kirke's office. He was sitting behind his desk when they entered.
"Come in,come in," he said, waving them in; and they came in.
"Well, now. I have some news for you all, another girl will be coming to stay here. She's about Lucy's age - a year older in fact."
The four of them looked at each other; it would be nice to have another child around! Lucy was doubly excited.
"When will she be here?" Peter asked
Professor Kirke looked at his pocket watch.
"Within the hour, I believe. Mrs Macready has gone to fetch her."
They left his office.
In an hour, Mrs.Macready was showing a young girl into the parlour. She had a sour-looking expression on her face.
"This is Elise McDansen," Mrs.Macready said before leaving.
Elise scowled and looked out the window.
"Is it always so dull here? It's boring, I hate it already."
She flopped down on a chair and scowled even deeper her arms folded across her chest. All four Pevensies were silent -this girl was spoiled indeed. Lucy stepped forward.
"Would you like to play a game?" she asked cautiously.
Elise looked askance.
"I never play with other children. Mummy says I'm far too delicate," she said.
"You don't look delicate to me." Edmund said bluntly
Elise pressed her lips together.
"You don't know anything, you're only a boy," she said airily.
She stood up and headed up the stairs.
"Well,she was... " Peter said, not wanting to say what he was really thinking.
"She's spoiled!" Susan retorted.
Indeed, Elise was spoiled - and in the short time since she arrived the whole household knew it. Even the three servants who worked under Mrs. Macready commented on it.
"Tha' young girl, such a spoiled lass I ever laid eyes on, and that you may tie to!" Betty said, kneading the dough for the bread.
"She refused to take her tea with the other children," Ivy shook her head. She was a young girl of eighteen with ten younger siblings at home "A girl like that will not have any friends, that I'm sure of."
It was true that young Miss Elise McDansen was spoiled, except no one had told her she was spoiled - at least not to her face.
She got her own way by yelling and screaming. The first time she did this they were outside playing cricket. When she missed the ball, Susan, who was keeping points, tallied up told her so.
Enraged, Elise threw her bat down.
"I did not!" she yelled, her face going red and then purple. She let forth a scream so loud it startled the birds in the trees.
"I didnot! I did not! I didnot!" she shrieked, throwing herself on the grass and pounding her fists and kicking her legs.
"Don't pay attention to her," Peter said calmly, which is what their mother used to say to their father when they were little and having a fit.
So they went on with their game, ignoring Elise. To her this was new at home - when she threw a tantrum no one dared ignore her. They all tried to give her what she wanted.
Unbeknownst to her, this was to be her first lesson. The Pevensies were going to see to that.
lesson ,The Pevensies were going to see to that.