The Chalet School and Barbara

Beth Chester laid the book she had been reading on her knee and looked across with an amused smile at her younger sister. Ever since they had left the dining-waggon after breakfast, Barbara had spent her time gazing out of the window. As Beth reflected, at fourteen, she was behaving as if she were seven.“Still, there’s a good deal of excuse for her, poor babe,” the elder sister thought. “She’s been so shut away until just lately that it’s little wonder that she goggles at everything like a kid at a Sunday school treat!”She turned her wrist to look at her watch and the window-gazer caught the movement and turned her head to ask, “How much longer before we reach Basle now?”“I’m not too sure,” Beth replied. “I’ve never been this way before, any more than you have, so I can’t say.”