‘Well, Jo! So here you are. Have you had a good holiday?’
The tall, dark girl who had just entered the front door at the Chalet School dropped her suitcase and gripped the hand Matron was offering her. ‘Hello, Matey! Jolly to see you again! Yes; we’ve had a very good week, thank you.’
‘That’s good hearing!—No; leave your case there—or rather put it to one side, or someone will fall over it. Mademoiselle wants you as soon as you come. She’s in the study now, so you’d better run along at once.’
Jo Bettany raised her eyebrows. ‘What—before I take my things upstairs?’
‘Yes,’ replied Matron briefly, turning to go to the other end of the house, whence she could hear the voices of those girls who had accompanied Jo down from the Sonnalpe, where they had been spending their brief spring holiday.
‘Oh, all right, then. Don’t let anyone bag my special bed, will you?’
‘That will be all right.’ And Matron vanished with the air of a busy woman, while Jo, after glancing at herself in a nearby mirror to be sure that she was quite tidy, went along the passage to a door and knocked.