Upper Fourth at Malory Towers (4 page)

“Why, at home 'We don't get up till eight o'clock,'” chanted some of the girls, and laughed. They knew Gwendoline Mary's complaints by heart now.

“Don't you dare squeeze that sponge over me!”

“Did your old governess make her darling's bed for her?” asked Alicia. “Did she tie her bib on her in the morning? Did she feed her sweet Gwendoline Mary out of a silver spoon?”

Gwendoline had had to put up with Alicia's malicious teasing for many terms now, but she had never got used to it. The easy tears came to her eyes, and she turned her head away.

“Shut up, Alicia,” said Darrell. “Don't start on her too soon!”

Alicia nudged Sally, and nodded towards the twins. Connie was making Ruth's bed for her!

“I can do that,” protested Ruth, but Connie pushed her aside. “I've time, Ruth. You're slow at things like this. I always did it for you at our other school, and I can go on doing it here.” She looked round at the others, and saw them watching her.

“Any objection?” she asked, rather belligerently.

“Dear me no,” said Alicia in her smooth voice. “You can do mine for me, as well, if you like! I'm slow at things like that, too!”

Connie didn't think this remark was worth answering. She went on making Ruth's bed. Ruth was standing by, looking rather helpless.

“What school did you come from?” asked Darrell, speaking to Ruth. But before the girl could answer, Connie had replied.

“We went to Abbey School, in Yorkshire. It was nice—but not as nice as this one's going to be!”

That pleased the fourth-formers. “Did you play hockey or lacrosse at your other school?” asked Sally, addressing her question to Ruth.

“Hockey,” said Connie, answering again. “I liked hockey—but I wanted to play lacrosse, too.”

“Will you like lacrosse, do you think?” asked Sally, addressing her question once more to Ruth, wondering if she had a tongue.

And once again Connie answered: “Oh, Ruth always likes what
I
like! She'll love lacrosse!”

Sally was just about to ask if Ruth ever said a word for herself, when the breakfast-bell rang. The girls hastily looked round the dormy to see if any clothes had been left about, and Alicia hurriedly pulled her quilt straight. Gwendoline was last as usual, moaning about a lost hairgrip. But then Gwen always had a moan! Nobody took much notice of that!

Darrell looked anxiously for Felicity as the girls filed into the big dining room, all the North Tower girls together. South Tower girls fed in the South Tower, East in the East and so on. Each tower was like a separate boarding house, with its own common rooms, dining rooms and dormies. The classrooms were in the long buildings that joined tower to tower, and so were such special rooms as the lab, the art-room and the sewing-room. The magnificent gym was there, too.

Felicity came in, looking neat and tidy. Miss Potts, seeing her come in, thought how very Like she was to Darrell four years ago, when she also had come timidly into the dining-room for her first breakfast.

In front of Felicity was June, looking as if she was at least a third-termer, instead of a new girl on her first morning. She looked about chirpily, nodded at Alicia, who did her best not to see, grinned at Darrell, who stared stonily back, and spoke amiably to Mam’zelle Dupont, who was at the head of the first-form table. The second form were also there, and Darrell and Alicia had the satisfaction of seeing two second-formers push June roughly back when she attempted to sit somewhere near the head of the table.

But nothing daunted June. She merely sat down somewhere else, and said something to Felicity, who grinned uneasily. “Something cheeky, I bet,” thought Darrell to herself. “Well, her form will put her in her place pretty soon—and she'll come up against the second form, too. There are some tough kids in the second—they won't stand much nonsense from a pest like June!”

Felicity smiled at Darrell, who smiled back warmly, forgetting for the moment that Felicity had probably gone to see the swimming pool before breakfast without her. She hoped her little sister would do well in the class tests that day and prove that she was up to standard.

Sally suddenly remembered the empty bed in her dormy, and she spoke to Miss Potts.

“Miss Potts! There's an extra bed in our dormy. Do you know whose it is? We're all back.”

“Oh, yes,” said Miss Potts. “Let me see—there's one more new girl coming today—what's her name now—Clarissa something—yes, Clarissa Carter. That reminds me—there's a letter for her already. Here it is, Sally—put it up on her dressing table for her, will you? “

Gwendoline took the letter to pass it down the table. She glanced at it, and then looked again. The letter was addressed to “The
Honour
able Clarissa Carter”.

“The Honourable Clarissa Carter!” thought Gwendoline, delighted. “If only she'd be my friend! I'll look after her when she comes. I'll do all I can!”

Gwendoline was a little snob, always hanging round those who were rich, beautiful or gifted. Alicia grinned as she saw the girl's face. “Gwendoline's going all out for the Honourable Clarissa,” she thought. “Now we shall see some fun!”

The Upper Fourth were taken by Miss Williams, a scholarly, prim mistress, whose gentleness did not mean any lack of discipline. As a rule the Upper Fourth were a good lot, responsible and hard working—but this year Miss Williams had sometimes had trouble with her form. There were such a lot of scatterbrains in it!

“Still, I think they will all get through the School Cert.,” thought Miss Williams. “They are none of them really stupid, except Gwendoline. Daphne is much better since she has had regular coaching in the holidays. Mavis has picked up wonderfully. So has Bill. And though little Mary-Lou is quite sure she will fail, she is quite certain to pass!”

Her form did not only consist of the North Tower girls, but of the fourth-formers from the other towers. Betty Hill, Alicia's friend, was one of these. She was as quick-tongued as Alicia, but not as quick-brained. She came from West Tower, and Alicia and she had often groaned because the authorities were so hard-hearted that they would not let Betty join Alicia in North Tower!

Miss Grayling, the Headmistress, had once asked Miss Potts, North Tower's house-mistress, if she should change Betty Hill over to North Tower, as Betty's parents had actually written to ask if she would.

“I can manage Alicia alone,” said Miss Potts, “or even Betty alone—but to have those two together in one house would be quite impossible. I should never have a moment's peace—and neither would Mam'zelle.”

“I agree with you,” said Miss Grayling. So a letter was sent to Mr. and Mrs. Hill regretting that it was impossible to find room for Betty in North Tower. Still, Alicia and Betty managed to be very firm friends indeed, although they were in different towers, meeting in class each day, arranging walks and expeditions together—and planning various wicked and amusing jokes and tricks.

The North Tower fourth-formers went eagerly to their classroom after Prayers. They wanted to choose their desks, and to sort out their things, to look out of the window, clean the blackboard, and do the hundred and one things they had done together so often before.

The twins stood and waited till the other girls had chosen their desks. They knew enough not to choose till then. By that time, of course, there were very few desks left—only those for two East Tower girls who were still not back, and for Clarissa Carter, and for themselves.

“We'll sit together, of course,” said Connie, and put her books and Ruth's on two adjoining desks. They were, alas, in the hated front row, but naturally all the other rows had been taken, the back row going first. It was the only row really safe enough for whispering, or for passing a note or two.

Darrell looked out of the window, and wondered if Felicity had been to see Miss Grayling yet. She must ask her, when she saw her at Break. Miss Grayling saw all the new girls together, and what she said to them always impressed them, and made them determine to do their very best. Darrell remembered clearly how impressed she had been, and how she had made up her mind to be one of the worthwhile people of the world.

“I wonder who will be head-girl this term,” said Alicia, interrupting Darrell's thoughts. “Jean's gone up, so she won't be. Well—I bet
I
shan't be! I never have, and I don't expect I ever will. The Grayling doesn't trust me!”

“I expect Sally will be,” said Darrell. “She was head of the second when we were in that form, and a jolly good head she made—though as far as I remember, you didn't approve at all, Alicia!”

“No, I didn't,” said Alicia, candidly. “I thought I ought to be head. But I've got rid of silly ideas like that now. I see that I'm not fitted to be head of anything—I just don't care enough.”

Part of this was just bravado, but quite a bit of it was truth. Alicia didn't care enough! Things were so easy for her that she had never had to try hard for anything, and so she didn't care. “If she had to work jolty hard at lessons, as I have to do,” thought Darrell, “she'd care all right! We value the things we have to work hard for. Alicia does things too easily.”

Gwendoline had chosen a seat in the front row! Everyone was most astonished, Alicia eyed her wonderingly. Could she be sucking up to Miss Williams? No, nobody in the world could do that. Miss Williams simply wouldn't notice it! Then what was the reason for Gwendoline's curious choice?

“Well, of
course
!” said Alicia, suddenly, and everyone gazed at her in surprise.

“Of course what?” said Betty.

“I've just thought why dear Gwendoline has chosen that front seat,” said Alicia, maliciously. “At first I thought she'd gone out of her senses, but now I know!”

Gwendoline scowled at her. She was really afraid of Alicia's sly tongue, and she thought it quite likely that Alicia had hit on the correct reason.

But Alicia did not enlighten the class just then. She smiled sarcastically at Gwendoline and said, “Dear Gwen, I won't give you away—you realty have a very Honourable reason for your choice, haven't you? “

Nobody could imagine what she meant, not even Betty—but Gwendoline knew! She had chosen a front desk because she knew that the Honourable Clarissa Carter would have to have one there, too—and it would be a very good thing to be next to her and help her!

She flushed red and said nothing, but busied herself with her books. Miss Williams came in at that moment and Gwen rushed to hold the door.

The first day of school was always “nice and messy” as Belinda called it. No proper lessons were done, but tests were given out, principally to check up on the standard of any new girls. Timetables were made out with much groaning. Irene always gave hers up in despair. Although she was so good and neat at both maths and music, she was hopeless at a simple thing like making out her own timetable from the big class one.

It usually ended in Belinda doing it for her, but as Belinda wasn't much better, Irene was in a perpetual muddle over her timetable, appearing in the wrong classroom at the wrong time, expecting to have a maths lesson in the sewing-room, or sewing-lesson in the lab! All the mistresses had long ago given up expecting either Irene or Belinda to be sane and sensible in ordinary matters.

Irene, with her great gift for music, and Belinda, with her equally fine gift for drawing, seemed to become four-year-olds when they had to tackle ordinary everyday things. It was nothing for Irene to appear at breakfast-time without her stockings, or for Belinda to lose, most inexplicably, every schoolbook she possessed. The girls loved them for their amusing ways, and admired them for their gifts.

Everyone was busy with something or other that first morning. Darrell made out a list of classroom duties—filling up the ink-pots, doing the classroom flowers, keeping the blackboard clean, giving out necessary stationery and so on. Each of the class had to take on a week's duty, together with another girl, during the term.

Just before Break Miss Williams told the girls to tidy up their desks. “I have something to say to you,” she said. “It will only take about two minutes, but it is something that I am sure you all want to know!''

“She's going to say who's to be head-girl this term!” whispered Sally to Darrell. “Look at Gwendoline! See the look she's put on her face. She really thinks she might be!”

It was true. Gwendoline always hoped she might be head of the form, and had enough conceit to think she would make a very good one. Just as regularly she was disappointed, and always would be. Spoilt, selfish girls make poor heads, and no teacher in her senses would ever choose Gwendoline Mary I

“I think probably most of you will know that Jean, who passed School Cert, last year, has gone up into the next form,” said Miss Williams. “She does not need to work with the School Cert, form this term. She was head-girl of the Upper Fourth, and now that she has gone, we must have another.”

She paused, and looked round the listening class. “I have discussed the matter with Miss Grayling, Miss Potts, Mam'zelles Dupont and Rougier,” said Miss Williams. “We are all agreed that we would like to try Darrell Rivers as head-girl.”

Darrell flushed bright red and her heart beat fast. Everyone clapped and cheered, even Gwendoline, who always dreaded that Alicia might conceivably be chosen one day!

“I am quite sure, Darrell, that our choice is right,” said Miss Williams, smiling her gentle smile at the blushing Darrell. “I cannot think for one moment that you would do anything to make us regret our choice.”

“No, Miss Williams, I won't,” said Darrell, fervently. She wished she could go and tell her parents this very minute. Head-girl of the Upper Fourth! She had always wanted to be head of something, and this was the first time her chance had come. She would be the very best head-girl the form had ever had.

What would Felicity say? It would be a grand thing for Felicity to be able to say “my sister, of course, is head of the Upper Fourth!” Felicity would be proud and pleased.

Darrell rushed off at Break to find Felicity and tell her. But again she had disappeared. How absolutely
maddening
! Darrell only had a few minutes. She rushed round and about and at last found Felicity in the Courtyard, with June. The Courtyard was the space that lay inside the hollow oblong of the building that made up Malory Towers. It was very sheltered, and here everything was very early indeed. It was now gay with tulips, rhododendrons and lupins, and very lovely to see.