Jo To The Rescue
Synopsis
Twenty-two year old Phoebe Wychcote is an orphan, living alone with her maid Debby in a cottage on the edge of the Yorkshire moors. An invalid for the last ten years, she pines for companionship but has no relatives or real friends except for Reg Entwistle, a young lad from the village. Her father, a famous 'cellist, died leaving her only the house and a tiny income which she supplements by doing exquisite needlework.
The Vicar's wife, "a big, bustling lady with very decided views on every subject", is unsympathetic because of an earlier disagreement with Mr. Wychcote, and Phoebe is being pressed by a Mr. Burthill to sell her most precious possession, her father's valuable 'cello, because his daughter Zephyr desperately wants it for herself. Phoebe feels that she has no-one to turn to for advice.
To the cottage across the way comes a party of four young ladies and ten children: Jo Maynard, Simone de Bersac, Marie von Wertheim and Frieda von Ahlen with their own families, plus Sybil Russell and Jo's precious St. Bernard, Rufus.
They are staying at The Witchens for the summer holidays, and quickly become friendly with Phoebe, whose father had performed with Vanna di Ricci, and Old Girl of the Chalet School. Phoebe asks Jo for help with the question of selling the 'cello: the Burthills are very persistent, but she does not wish to sell. Jo later encounters Zephyr Burthill, a spoilt nineteen-year-old who is determined to get her own way by any possible means, fair or otherwise.
Phoebe becomes ill while Jack Maynard is visiting his family, and is taken to the San in the Welsh mountains. While she is away, Jo and Rufus foil an attempted burglary. Jo arranges for Zephyr to meet the Robin, now nearly nineteen, and a friendship begins between the two girls which comes to mean more to Zephyr than the need to own Nicholas Wychcote's 'cello. Jack and Jo take up the cause of thirteen-year-old Reg, who is eager to study medicine but lives with an aunt who disapproves of "all this here eddication" for village lads. At the San under the care of Jem Russell, Jack Maynard and Dr. Frank Peters, Phoebe's condition rapidly improves, although she knows that she cannot hope for a complete cure.
There is a surprise for Sybil who, following an accident to her little sister in GAY FROM CHINA AT THE CHALET SCHOOL / GAY LAMBERT AT THE CHALET SCHOOL, has grown into a much more attractive character. Finally, Phoebe receives some delightful news which will solve all her problems; and as she points out, it is really all thanks to Jo for coming to the rescue.
contributed by Angela Woodgates, England __ working from a hardback edition
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