Chapter 25
Anne, Gillian and Lucy joined the other Seniors out the front of the main house. At St Clare's they could see the Middles beginning to emerge. Lucy saw Susan, her arm tucked companiably through Joyce's, chattering excitedly to Corney and Evadne, as they waited for the other Middles to assemble.
"Be my partner for this?" said Gillian to Lucy, as they began to form pairs, for they were to "croc" through Briesau, before striking up to the Bärenbad Alpe. Lucy assented delightedly. As it happened, she had missed all of the other long walks of the term, so she was looking forward to the adventure. Gillian laughed at her excited face.
"Anyone would think we were about to fall into an exciting adventure. But we're not, my child, merely going to pick strawberries. It will be a topping walk though."
The Middles came up to them at this juncture, walking demurely in pairs and led by Jo. Unusually for her, she was walking alone. Walking at the end of the group came Simone and Frieda, with Marie between them. All three were talking quietly and seriously and the other Seniors wisely made no comment at the sight, although it was plain that there was still trouble between Jo and Marie. Sophie Hamel moved over to join Jo at the front of her line of Middles. Jo, who seemed to be lost in a world of her own, barely seemed to notice.
Once all were assembled, Miss Wilson gave the word and the group set off , passing scores of people, for the day was hot and there were many tourists who had elected to take the same walk, in order to partake of Kaffee and wild strawberries and cream at the little Gasthaus on the Bärenbad Alpe.
Once the Alpe was reached however, the girls turned aside from the Gasthaus and made for the valley of flowers, heading for the neighbouring Alpe and the little village of Mechthau.
Once the Gasthaus was past, Miss Wilson gave permission to break ranks and the girls at once formed themselves into groups. Lucy and Gillian were joined by Anne and her partner Louise Redfield and they strolled along admiring the scenery and pointing out various landmarks to Lucy – the peaks of the Tiernjoch, to the north, and below them, the waters of the Tiernsee they had left.
From the narrow isthmus, which joined one Alpe to the next, they passed over a rough pasturage where pines were growing, and finally, came to the valley of flowers.
"How beautiful!" exclaimed Lucy, dropping to her knees to drink in the scent of the beautiful blossoms. Indeed, the whole valley was starred with flowers: narcissi, wild roses, pansies and other blossoms. The other girls followed her example and most of them began to pick enough flowers to make small bunches of the blossoms. In her excitement, Lucy began to range farther and farther away from the others. In so doing, she bumped into Jo, who was standing apart from the others and looking on, although normally she would have delighted in the beauty before her and joined in the flower picking with the rest.
Lucy gave a startled "oh" and dropped all her flowers. The head girl glared at her and began to stalk away, making an impatient noise. That did it! All at once Jo's scornful treatment of her, every slight and every hostile nuance, every hurtful incident, it washed over Lucy in a wave, leaving her trembling and angry.
"That's right," she shouted. "Walk away again like an offended camel, just like you always do. What's your problem anyhow? I'm sick of it. You behave as though my very existence offends you. Well, I do exist and it's time you dealt with it. I'm tired of the way you always treat me. You turn your back on me, you turn up your nose at me, you sneer, you act like I'm some kind of, some kind of leper or something. I haven't done anything to you, nothing that I know of, anyway and I don't deserve to be treated that way!"
Luckily for Lucy, both she and Jo were too far away for anyone in authority to hear them. Across the other side of the meadow, Gillian caught sight of Lucy confronting Jo and nudged Anne. Neither of them could hear, but it was obvious that Lucy was confronting Jo about something. Both girls looked flushed and angry.
"Should we do something?" said Gillian.
"I don't think we should interfere," said Anne wisely. "We're too far away to stop Lucy and anyway, we can't hear what she's saying. By the time we got there it might be all over."
But Gillian was too conscientious to leave it at that.
"Lucy really shouldn't shouldn't have gone so far away from everyone by herself," she said uneasily. "She'll catch it from Miss Wilson if she's seen. Perhaps we should just stroll over and persuade her to come closer to the rest."
"All right then," said Anne easily. "I'm done with picking anyway. Coming Louise?" Louise agreed and the three of them made their way over to the spot were Lucy and Jo were facing one another.