The Abbey Girls on Trial

The Squirrel Tea-house was empty. Audrey, in a pretty green overall, stood gazing across the flagged courtyard to the lane. She was tired after a busy afternoon, and her face was clouded with disappointment.She glanced across the flower border, where pink and purple lupins and larkspurs of every shade of blue were massed against a low wall. Beyond it she could see the London road, and a green bus, from which passengers were streaming.“Elspeth has lost the bus. Bother! And all that washing-up to do! Oh, I can’t!”She dropped into a chair and lay gazing at a pansy bed.“ ‘Dead pansies!’ It’s needing attention, and the blue border needs weeding. And I ought to write to Eleanor. It’s Elspeth’s turn, but she’ll scribble a line at the last moment or else lose the mail. I don’t suppose she has lost the bus. She’s still reading in the library, or mooning along by the sea. She’ll never remember it’s Mrs. Davy’s day off.”