it meant.
“Tante Guito” – the Robin sometimes abbreviated the longer name this way - “are we to stay with Onkel Riese and Tante Gretchen?”
Madge laughed at the “Uncle Giant,” a name of Joey’s bestowing on the kindly father of two of the Chalet School girls, who had been a great friend of theirs ever since the school had been opened. Then she nodded,
“Yes, littlest and best! They would have come to meet us, but they thought I should like you to myself at first.”
“Where’s Jem?” asked Joey.
“He had to go back to the Sonnalpe at once,” explained his wife as she tucked the Robin into the big sleigh which was awaiting them in the Bahnhof Platz, and which they had reached by this time. “He is looking forward to seeing you all tomorrow. You are to come to us for the rest of the week, you know.”
“Good!” Joey heaved a rapturous sigh, and then sank down into her corner on the other side of her sister.
“Has Mademoiselle come back yet?” asked Miss Maynard as she took her seat facing them, with Grizel by her side.
“Yes; she arrived yesterday. Simone is with her, but Renee has a sprained ankle, so Madame Lecoutier is keeping her at home till half-term. Then she will bring her, and see the school for herself. Cosy, Robin?”
“Yes, thank you,” replied the Robin, slipping her hand into the slender one at her side. “Tante Marguerite, have Gisela and Gottfried arranged for their wedding yet?”
“Yes; that’s another piece of news for you. But Gisela was to he at Maria Hilfe to welcome you, so I am going to leave her to tell you all about it. She wants you three to be her bridesmaids, with Frieda and Maria, I know. Wanda is to be married in August too.”
“Shall we go to Wien for that?” asked Joey anxiously. “I hope it won’t be late, or it will cut up my time with Elisaveta. Have you any idea of the date, Madge?”
“It will he during the first week,” said Mrs. Russell. “As for cutting up your visit to Belsornia, Elisaveta will be there too, and I expect you will go back with her. At least the King said so when he wrote to tell me about it.”
“That’s good; I suppose Wanda will have a very swish wedding. Where will Gisela be married, do you think? In the Hof-Kirche?”
Madge refused to commit herself. She had no idea where Gisela’s wedding was likely to take place. Joey must wait and find that out from the bride-elect herself.
By this time they were driving down the Friedrich-Hertzog Strasse, making for the bridge, for the Maria Hilfe is a suburb across the river, at some little distance from the actual city. Joey looked out at the busy streets, where sleight were going about crunching the crisp snow under their shining runners and filling the air with the silvery jangle of bells. The celebrations of Christmas and New Year were over, but the shops still had a gay appearance, and the good-natured Tyroleans still wore a festive aspect. The snow lay thick on the ground and the steep roofs, and gave what the English girls were wont to call a “Christmas card” air to the town. It was early afternoon, but already the short winter day showed signs of fading into dusk, and some of the shop windows were already lighted up. They turned down the Markt-Platz, and in a few minutes they were going smoothly along by the side of the Inn, which lay still and black under its coating of ice.
Across the fine stone bridge they turned, and then they drove up the long Mariahilf Strasse to the door, where two tall, pretty girls of twenty or thereabouts were standing, eagerly awaiting them.
“Here at last!” exclaimed the taller and fairer of the two as the sleigh stopped, and Joey scrambled out to be seized and kissed warmly by both. “And our little bird! How well thou art, m ein blumchen !”
The Robin, well accustomed to endearments, held up her face for a kiss before she ran into the house, and began to skip up the stairs. It was a long way up, for the Mensches’ flat
“Tante Guito” – the Robin sometimes abbreviated the longer name this way - “are we to stay with Onkel Riese and Tante Gretchen?”
Madge laughed at the “Uncle Giant,” a name of Joey’s bestowing on the kindly father of two of the Chalet School girls, who had been a great friend of theirs ever since the school had been opened. Then she nodded,
“Yes, littlest and best! They would have come to meet us, but they thought I should like you to myself at first.”
“Where’s Jem?” asked Joey.
“He had to go back to the Sonnalpe at once,” explained his wife as she tucked the Robin into the big sleigh which was awaiting them in the Bahnhof Platz, and which they had reached by this time. “He is looking forward to seeing you all tomorrow. You are to come to us for the rest of the week, you know.”
“Good!” Joey heaved a rapturous sigh, and then sank down into her corner on the other side of her sister.
“Has Mademoiselle come back yet?” asked Miss Maynard as she took her seat facing them, with Grizel by her side.
“Yes; she arrived yesterday. Simone is with her, but Renee has a sprained ankle, so Madame Lecoutier is keeping her at home till half-term. Then she will bring her, and see the school for herself. Cosy, Robin?”
“Yes, thank you,” replied the Robin, slipping her hand into the slender one at her side. “Tante Marguerite, have Gisela and Gottfried arranged for their wedding yet?”
“Yes; that’s another piece of news for you. But Gisela was to he at Maria Hilfe to welcome you, so I am going to leave her to tell you all about it. She wants you three to be her bridesmaids, with Frieda and Maria, I know. Wanda is to be married in August too.”
“Shall we go to Wien for that?” asked Joey anxiously. “I hope it won’t be late, or it will cut up my time with Elisaveta. Have you any idea of the date, Madge?”
“It will he during the first week,” said Mrs. Russell. “As for cutting up your visit to Belsornia, Elisaveta will be there too, and I expect you will go back with her. At least the King said so when he wrote to tell me about it.”
“That’s good; I suppose Wanda will have a very swish wedding. Where will Gisela be married, do you think? In the Hof-Kirche?”
Madge refused to commit herself. She had no idea where Gisela’s wedding was likely to take place. Joey must wait and find that out from the bride-elect herself.
By this time they were driving down the Friedrich-Hertzog Strasse, making for the bridge, for the Maria Hilfe is a suburb across the river, at some little distance from the actual city. Joey looked out at the busy streets, where sleight were going about crunching the crisp snow under their shining runners and filling the air with the silvery jangle of bells. The celebrations of Christmas and New Year were over, but the shops still had a gay appearance, and the good-natured Tyroleans still wore a festive aspect. The snow lay thick on the ground and the steep roofs, and gave what the English girls were wont to call a “Christmas card” air to the town. It was early afternoon, but already the short winter day showed signs of fading into dusk, and some of the shop windows were already lighted up. They turned down the Markt-Platz, and in a few minutes they were going smoothly along by the side of the Inn, which lay still and black under its coating of ice.
Across the fine stone bridge they turned, and then they drove up the long Mariahilf Strasse to the door, where two tall, pretty girls of twenty or thereabouts were standing, eagerly awaiting them.
“Here at last!” exclaimed the taller and fairer of the two as the sleigh stopped, and Joey scrambled out to be seized and kissed warmly by both. “And our little bird! How well thou art, m ein blumchen !”
The Robin, well accustomed to endearments, held up her face for a kiss before she ran into the house, and began to skip up the stairs. It was a long way up, for the Mensches’ flat
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