Chapter 20
Lucy, meanwhile, was in the Russells' pretty sitting room, enjoying the company of Grizel and Juliet, who had returned from a day's teaching at the Annexe. Juliet, Lucy learned, was headmistress there and Grizel looked after the music. The two older girls sensed Lucy's nervousness and hastened to try and make her feel comfortable, breaking into a tale of the Chalet School in its earlier days, which soon had Lucy laughing, for it was a recount of the time that Jo, Simone, Frieda and Marie had powdered some of the Middles' hair with cornflower.
"What a joke," giggled Lucy. "How I wish I'd seen it."
"Oh, there are lots of funny stories from our earlier days here," replied Grizel "and Jo's in most of them. I never knew such a person for having adventures and getting into mischief. You've probably noticed that already, though."
A shadow came over Lucy's merry face and she sighed, but she could hardly tell tales of Jo to her oldest friends, so she said nothing. Grizel noticed it and wondered what was wrong but felt that she did not know this new girl well enough to be asking questions.
Grizel had often been written off as having a hard streak in her, by some of those who had known her in her early days at the school. In fact, she had not been like that since she left the school. Her years under the gentle training of Madge and then Mademoiselle had had an effect. Her training in Florence and her friendship with Gerry Challoner had finished off what the Chalet School had begun. The rather thorny exterior with which Grizel had protected herself from the world had finally vanished. As a result, the Grizel underneath showed through most of the time and she was a kinder, gentler person sensitive to the moods of others and deeply compassionate. She still had a temper and she still disliked having teaching music imposed upon her but had decided to make the best of it.
So, glancing at Lucy's face she hastened to change the subject and brought up another tale of life at school, one in which Jo did not feature.