Mrs. Pringle of Fairacre by Miss Read Read Free Book Online

be
mentioned,
' she told me, 'so's you can decide if you want to go on with it. Alice Willet usually bakes a cake - and very nice it is too,' she added graciously.
    I said that I thought it was an excellent idea and would start planning straightaway.
    Miss Clare confirmed Mrs Pringle's information, and was slightly amused at her early pronouncement.
    'I meant to tell you in good time,' she said, 'but Mrs P. has got there first.'
    I was careful to find out how things were traditionally done. One has to tread warily in a village, particularly if one is a newcomer. Mrs Willet, it seemed, had the largest square baking tin in the village, and was adept at producing enormous square cakes, ideal for cutting into neat fingers on festive occasions.
    'Her coronation cake,' Mrs Pringle told me, 'was a real masterpiece, with a Union Jack piped on it in icing. And
waving
at that!'
    It was Miss Clare who told me that it was right and proper for Mrs Willet to be given the ingredients for such an expensive product, but this had to be done with great diplomacy, and the money was usually taken from the school funds.
    I negotiated these perils as well as I could, and rather dreaded my meeting with Alice Willet to arrange about making the cake, but my fears were groundless.
    One misty November day I called at her cottage after school to broach the subject, but she greeted me with a smile.
    'The cake? Why, I made it nearly a month ago. It's not iced yet, of course, but the cake itself needs a few weeks to mature nicely. I always put a spoonful of brandy in it, but I don't tell Bob. He's a strict teetotaller, you see. I don't drink either, but I think a spot of brandy in a good fruit cake, a little drop of sherry in a trifle, makes all the difference.'
    I began to make a halting speech about the cost of the cake, and Mrs Willet opened a corner cupboard and took out a neat list which she handed me. It showed all the ingredients and the prices, and the total was shown clearly between two neatly-ruled lines. It seemed extraordinarily modest to me.
    I studied the list again.
    'But you haven't put in eggs,' I said, feeling rather proud of my perspicacity.
    Mrs Willet looked shocked. 'Oh, I wouldn't dream of charging for the eggs! They come from our own chickens, you see.'
    'But all the more reason why you should charge for such a first-class product.'
    'No, no. I've never done that in all these years. Call it my contribution to Christmas, if you like.'
    And with that I had to be content.

    The Christmas party took place during the last week of term. The school room was garlanded with home-made paper chains, and a Christmas tree glittered in the corner.
    The children acted as hosts to their parents and friends of the school, the stoves roared merrily, and Mrs Willet's Christmas cake was the centre piece of the long tea table. In its centre stood a snowman, some over-large robins and a tiny Christmas tree, and the children were loud in their admiration of Mrs Willet's handiwork.

    Among our visitors was Amy, who was quite the most elegant figure among us, and also one of the most appreciative.
    At the end of the proceedings, when we had waved goodbye to the children and their guests, we turned back into the quiet school room, crumbs and chaos about us, but also a blessed silence after the junketings.
    'Well,' said Amy, 'I don't know when I have enjoyed a party more. You certainly know how to do things in Fairacre.'
    I was just beginning to glow with pride at these kind words when the door was flung open and Mrs Pringle stood there surveying the scene.
    'Humph!' said the lady, 'about time I made a start, I can see.'
    Suddenly chilled, Amy and I made our escape to the school house.

CHAPTER 5
Wartime Memories
    As time passed, Mrs Pringle and I established a precarious truce. Every now and again she would broach the question of cleaning my house, but I resisted her offers as civilly as I could. Mrs Pringle during school hours was quite enough for me. I hoped