White Boots (15 page)

Max Lindblom was surprised.

“But it is nice for Lalla on Saturdays. There are many people there and after her lesson and her practice are finished I allow her to dance. Why is it that you wish to change this?”

“Because the shops are shut on Saturday afternoons.” Miss Goldthorpe saw he did not follow what she was talking about. “Lalla used to enjoy her Saturday mornings, but lately she has to go to fittings, poor child, and she finds them very fatiguing. You could easily arrange that, couldn't you?”

Max's eyes twinkled. He did not say in words you and I will plan things together to help Lalla, but he held out his hand and, as his shook Miss Goldthorpe's, he said they were friends, which meant the same thing.

Aunt Claudia agreed to changing Lalla's skating lessons on Saturdays from the afternoon to the mornings.

“I don't quite know why Mr Lindblom thinks the mornings will be better,” she said to Miss Goldthorpe, “but anything that he wants we must fall in with, mustn't we?”

Miss Goldthorpe agreed that they must in a polite way, and began thinking about Saturday afternoons. Miss Goldthorpe was not, as a rule, a person who pushed for the things that she
wanted, but Saturday afternoons were different. It seemed to her terrible that Lalla's life was empty of the sort of things of which she thought a life should be full. No music, no plays, not even many books. Miss Goldthorpe could not imagine a world in which a person did not read; it was not altogether Lalla's fault, she knew, for it was not easy for her to settle down to a book in the evenings when she came back from skating, but she was determined that somehow she would get books into Lalla's life; it would be terrible if she grew up with no other interest but skating. The first thing she did towards Lalla's Saturday afternoons was to see Olivia. She called on her one day after Nana had taken Lalla and Harriet skating. Olivia was wearing a washing-up overall and asked Miss Goldthorpe to excuse her looking a mess, and would she come and sit in the kitchen-dining room. Miss Goldthorpe did better than that, she dried up.

“I'm not very domesticated, I'm afraid, but I can dry up without dropping things.”

Olivia looked round the kitchen-dining room with a disgusted face.

“It's been a particularly nasty day. I expect you've heard from Harriet all about her Uncle William, and of course it is not a good time of year, but even so he is sending us the weirdest things. We can't possibly sell them, so we have to eat them. There's no real market, you know, for frost-bitten mangold-wurzels, nor for stored apples that haven't kept. Last year he tried
an unfortunate experiment with eggs; it was supposed to make them keep longer than most, but it hasn't worked and it's very depressing. Sometimes I open twenty bad ones before I come to one good. I dare say you can smell them.”

Miss Goldthorpe had been wondering what it was she was smelling, but she didn't say so. She changed the subject to Lalla.

Olivia was a lovely listener. Even though she was washing up at the same time she kept turning her face, which showed how interested she was, to Miss Goldthorpe. Because Olivia was so interested Miss Goldthorpe found herself saying a great deal more than she had meant to say, about how fond she was of Lalla.

“She really is a dear little girl, Mrs Johnson, but it's hard for her not to become spoilt because of the way she's brought up. It's made a wonderful difference to her having Harriet to work with her, but I'm afraid that Harriet is inclined to be an admiring audience rather than an outspoken friend.”

Olivia washed a saucepan before she answered.

“Harriet is naturally a bit carried away by Lalla's glamour at the moment. You see, just now skating is very important to her. Of course she'll never be a skater, poor pet, but you can imagine, to her, being a good skater like Lalla seems a very important thing to be, which of course, if you're as good as Lalla, it is. I must say I took quite a different view of skating after I had seen Lalla at that skating gala. The child is really lovely to watch. But I don't think you need worry that Harriet will be nothing
but an admiring friend; after all, she's growing up, she'll be eleven this autumn, and she's used to being part of a family who speak their minds.”

“Good, I'm glad of that. But that's not really what I came to see you about. You know the skating's been changed from Saturday afternoons to Saturday mornings?”

“We're pleased, we hardly seemed to see Harriet, and now we can have her on Saturday afternoons.”

Miss Goldthorpe leant against the sink.

“That's what I've come about. I want to make something different for Lalla of Saturday afternoons; not until after her next skating test, but we ought to make plans. You see, if I don't do something Lalla is going to grow up knowing nothing at all outside the skating world, which would be really terrible.”

Olivia had finished washing up. She let the water out of the sink, dried her hands and put an arm through Miss Goldthorpe's.

“Come into the other room and tell me how I can help. I'll love to do anything I can, and I'm sure together we shall manage it.”

Everybody in Lalla's house was gay that spring, because Aunt Claudia was happy. Now and again Cook muttered to Wilson and Helen when she saw Lalla's diet sheet, that it was all a lot of nonsense, and that for twopence she would send up a nice cake to the schoolroom made with six eggs. Sometimes Nana, especially on days when her knees were bad, complained that
Lalla was looking thin, which was not true, but on the whole everybody was pleased and one day slipped into another in a nice way. It was quite easy for Miss Goldthorpe to persuade Aunt Claudia that Alec and Toby might come along one Wednesday to give Lalla a gardening lesson, and as the days grew longer they could come in the evenings when she came back from skating. Miss Goldthorpe put the request suitably, saying she thought that Lalla would take more interest in botany if she learned by gardening than if she learned it from a book. Aunt Claudia agreed; apart from botany she was sure gardening was good for Lalla, because it meant stooping. Aunt Claudia had faith in stooping, she stooped and touched her toes twenty-five times before breakfast every morning to be sure she kept her beautiful waistline.

The two skating galas were as big a success as the first one had been. Lalla got applause, cheers, a bouquet, paragraphs in the papers, and was photographed, and Aunt Claudia got envy, nice things said, and a creamy purr and smiling look became part of her.

“We must make big plans for the autumn, Lalla darling. I think little Miss Moore is going to be in great demand, don't you?”

But behind the ordinary goings-on of the house and the pleasedness of Aunt Claudia there was a little nag of worry inside Harriet. It was surprising what a difference proper lessons from a teacher like Max Lindblom made to her skating. Nobody
watched her or saw how she was getting on; she was still at the very early figures, but, unlike Lalla, she adored figures. Once she had grasped the tracing her skates should leave on the ice she did not mind how long she went on working to get it right. Max Lindblom would watch her almost with tears in his eyes. “Look at little Harriet, how she works. If only I could make Lalla do that.” Because she worked hard and loved skating, and because her skating lessons were only provided so that she would be able to take an intelligent interest in Lalla's skating, Max taught Harriet how to do figures that usually he left for a later stage. When he taught her curves he meant only to show her how to do them forward on the outside and inside edge. But because it might help Lalla, and because she worked so hard, he found himself showing her how to do an outside curve backwards. She had none of Lalla's verve, speed, and gaiety, but worked slowly, seriously and methodically, so only sometimes did Max realise she was enjoying herself, as when, during a lesson he asked if she was tired, and she looked up with shining eyes and said that of course she wasn't tired, nobody could be tired skating.

But the more she knew about skating the more Harriet worried about Lalla. She was always on the private rink when Lalla was supposed to be practising her brackets. Harriet could not do a bracket, but Max had drawn her pictures of how the different tracings of brackets ought to look, and as well he had done them for her on the ice, so that she could see for herself
how the tracings were made. It was all very well for Lalla to look proud and grand and say “Silly old brackets, you watch me, Harriet, this is how I finished at the gala, I'll show you me taking my bouquet.” Harriet knew that never when she watched Lalla do a bracket were her tracings right; they were nearly right, but were they right enough to pass a silver test, which was a very difficult thing to pass? Also she thought Max Lindblom was worried. Often he asked her if Lalla was practising; it was difficult for Harriet, she did not want to be a sneak, and say no, but she did most dreadfully want Lalla to pass her test. Lalla knew for certain that she was going to pass; she had always had everything that she wanted, and now, after her success at skating galas, she wanted to fly through her silver test with the same ease that she had passed her inter-silver. Harriet hoped that she was fussing for nothing, that Lalla would pass, because nobody could imagine Lalla failing at anything, but she did wonder when she was going to work to make sure she passed. It seemed odd that she could pass with only trying the figure once or twice at a practice, and spending the rest of the time at her jumps and the other sorts of skating that she liked doing. Sometimes she wondered what would happen to her if Lalla did not pass. She was learning skating which must cost a great deal of money, because having someone to skate with was supposed to be good for Lalla. If Lalla failed, would Aunt Claudia come up to the schoolroom and say, “Go home, Harriet Johnson, you haven't done any good at all. You can't do lessons with Lalla any more,
or go to skating, fencing, or dancing. Lalla never failed at anything in skating until you came into the house.”

As the day of the test grew nearer, Harriet nearly had a quarrel with Lalla. It would have been quite a quarrel only it was all Lalla having it, and it takes two people to have a proper quarrel. Lalla was doing an Axel. Axels were what she called her grandest sort of skating, and she liked doing them and meant to perform them in every free skating exhibition she gave, and she was doing one in her three minutes' free skating for her silver test. Ever since she had skated in public she had liked an audience. She loathed being made to practise on the little rink. She thought it was much more fun in the middle of the big rink, where lots of people could see what she was doing, but since she was made to practise on the small private rink somebody had to watch her. She would have liked either Nana or Miss Goldthorpe to watch, but they were disappointing watchers. Nana was always looking at her knitting at the wrong moment, and would say “Very nice I'm sure, dear, but don't slip and hurt yourself.” And Miss Goldthorpe would look and say “Splendid, dear,” but as Lalla told Harriet, you could see she was not watching, she was thinking of one of those nasty old plays of Shakespeare's. The only audience left being Harriet, Lalla insisted on having her attention. Every few minutes she would call out “Look, Harriet,” “Watch this, Harriet,” “I bet you wish you could do this, Harriet.” It was when she watched Lalla's fourth Axel that Harriet felt she had to say something.

“I thought that was awfully good, but oughtn't you to be doing those brackets? You haven't done them yet, and it's only thirteen days to your test, I counted this morning on the calendar.”

Lalla knew she ought to be working at her brackets, and though she was certain she could work at them for the last few days, and then do them easily on the test day, she still did not like to be reminded about them. It was so gorgeous doing things fast, and so dull doing brackets and studying tracings. Because she knew Harriet was right, and did not want her to be, she lost her temper.

“I wish you'd leave me alone. Fuss, fuss, fuss. I'll pass my silver test, but if I didn't it would be your fault. It's very bad to keep worrying a person, Goldie told me that. She said before examinations and things you ought just to forget, and then you did much better.”

Miss Goldthorpe was not at the rink, but if she had been she would have been very surprised indeed to have heard this description of what she had said. Harriet knew Miss Goldthorpe had not said anything about not working before her test, and hoping to get through on the day, but she did not want to make Lalla crosser, so she said in as nice a way as she could:

“I didn't mean you wouldn't pass. I only meant those brackets are awfully difficult, you told me so. And you are supposed to work at them every day, and today you haven't. I was only reminding you.”

Lalla felt angrier than ever.

“Well, don't remind me any more. I don't want any reminding from anybody, especially not from you who doesn't know any more about skating than Nana does, and never will.”

Nana knitting as usual, had been disturbed by Lalla's raised voice, and had heard the last part of what she had said.

“What's that, Lalla? Come over here both of you.” She waited until they reached the barrier. “What were you saying to Harriet, Lalla?”

Lalla leant on the barrier.

“I was telling her to leave me alone. She was fussing me about my practice.”

“And why shouldn't she? Isn't she having lessons, and put on this private rink with you, to see that you work? What were you wanting her to do, Harriet?”