Malory towers 1 part 2

'I'll wait till Monday, when Alicia and Darrell are on duty in the classroom,' she thought. 'Then I'll do the trick. It will teach them all a lesson!'

So, when Monday came, Gwendoline watched for her moment. She and Mary-Lou went about everywhere together now, much to the surprise and amazement of Darrell and Alicia and Betty. How could Mary-Lou chum up with that awful Gwendoline, especially after that cruel ducking? And why was Gwendoline sucking up to Mary-Lou? It seemed very queer to the first-formers.

Gwendoline's chance came, and she took it. She was told to go and fetch something from her common room, ten minutes before afternoon school. She tore there to get it, then raced to the first-form classroom with the card�board box. She opened it and let the great, long-legged spider run into the desk. It ran to a dark corner and crouched there, quite still.

Gwendoline hurried away, certain that no one had seen her. Two minutes later Darrell and Alicia strolled in to fill the flower-vases with w ater. Ah, luck was with Gwendoline just then!

11 THE SPIDER AFFAIR

THE first lesson that afternoon was mental arithmetic. The girls groaned over this, except the quick ones, like Irene, who delighted in it. But it meant that there was no need for anyone to open a desk, because it was all oral work.

Miss Potts was lenient with the girls, for it was a very hot afternoon. Darrell was glad that Miss Potts was not as exacting as usual, for arithmetic was not her strong point, especially mental arithmetic.

The next leson was to be taken by Mam'zelle Dupont. It was to be a French conversation lesson, in which the girls would endeavour to answer all Mam'zelle's simple questions in French. Miss Potts left, and Mam'zelle arrived, not quite so beaming as usual, because of the heat. She was too plump to enjoy the hot weather, and little beads of perspiration shone on her forehead as she sat down at the big desk, opposite the rows of girls.

'Assevez-vous,' she said, and the girls sat down thankfully, feeling that the only lesson they would really enjoy that weather would be a swimming lesson.

The lesson proceeded slowly and haltingly. The flow of French conversation was not at all brisk on the girls' part, and the constant pauses began to irritate Mam'zelle.

'Ah!' she cried at last, 'it is too hot to make conversation with such stupid ones as you are this afternoon! Get out your grammar books and I w ill explain a few things to you that will help your conversation if you can get them into your so-stupid heads!'

The girls opened their desks to get out their grammar books. Gwendoline watched eagerly to see what would happen when Mary-Lou opened hers. But nothing did happen. Mary Lou had neither seen the spider nor disturbed it. She shut her desk.

All the girls opened their grammar books at the page Mam'zelle commanded. Then Mary-Lou found that she had her English grammar instead of her French one. So she re�opened her desk to get the right book.

Que /aires vous, Mary-Lou?" demanded Mam'zelle, who hated desks being opened and shut too often. 'What are you doing?'

Mary-Lou stuffed her English grammar into the back of her desk and pulled out the French one. The spider, feeling itself dislodged by the book, ran out in a fright. It ran almost up to Mary-Lou before she saw it. She let the desk-lid drop with a terrific bang and gave a heart-rending scream.

Everyone jumped in alarm. Mam'zelle leapt to her feet, sending a pile of books clattering from her desk to the floor. She glared at Mary-Lou.

'Tiensl What is this noise! Mary-Lou, have you gone mad?'

Mary-Lou couldn't speak. The sight of the enormous spider apparently running straight at her had completely undone her. She scraped her chair away from her desk, and stared at it as if she expected the spider to jump through the lid.

'Mary-Lou!' thundered Mam'zelle. 'Tell me what is the matter with you? 1 demand it!"

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'Oh, Mam'zelle�there's a�there's a simply enormous�giant�spider in my desk!' stammered Mary- Lou, quite pale.

'A spider?' said Mam'zelle. 'And you make this fuss, and call out so loudly that we all jump in fear! Mary-Lou, be ashamed of yourself! I am angry with you. Sit down.'

'Oh�I�I daren't,' said Mary-Lou, trembling. 'It might come out. Mam'zelle, it's enormous.'

Mam'zelle wasn't quite sure whether she really believed in this spider or not. What with Alicia's deafness last week and one thing and another...

Irene giggled. Mam'zelle fixed her with a glare. 'We will see if this spider exists or not,' she said, firmly. 'And I warn you, Mary-Lou, if this is again a trick, and there is no spider, you will go to Miss Potts for punishment. I wash my hands of you.'

She advanced to the desk. She threw open the lid dramatically. Mary-Lou drew in her breath and got away as far as she could, looking at the inside of the desk with scared eyes.

There was no spider to be seen. It had, of course, retreated to the darkest corner it could find again. Mam'zelle swept the desk with a searching glance and then turned on poor Mary-Lou.

'Bad girl,' she said, and stamped her foot. 'You, so quiet and good, you too deceive me, the poor Mam'zelle! I will not have it.'

'Mam'zelle, do believe me,' begged Mary-Lou, in despair, for she could not bear to be scolded like that. 'It was there� an enormous one."

Mam'zelle rummaged violently among the books in the desk. 'No spider! Not one!' she said. 'Tell me, where has it gone, if it is still in there?'

...

�The spider was alarmed by the violent rummaging. It

suddenly hurried out from its hiding-place, and ran on to Mam'zelle's hand and up her arm.

Mam'zelle stared at the enormous thing as if she really could not believe her eyes. She gave a shriek even louder than Mary-Lou had given! She too was scared of spiders, and here was a giant specimen running over her person!

Irene exploded. That was the signal for the class to enter into the fun, and one and all scrambled over to Mam'zelle.

'Ah, where is it, the monster? Girls, girls, can you see it?' wailed Mam'zelle.

'It's here,' said wicked Alicia and ran a light finger down Mam'zelle's spine. She gave a scream, thinking that it was the spider running there. 'Take it off! I beg you, Alicia, remove it from me!'

T think it must have gone down your neck, Mam'zelle,' said Betty, which nearly made Mam'zelle have a fit. She immediately felt sure that it was well all over her, and began to shiver and tremble.

Alicia tickled the back of her neck and she leapt in the air. 'Oh, la la! Oh, la la! What a miserable woman I am! Where is this monster? Girls, girls, tell me it is gone!'

There was now a complete uproar in the first-form room. Miss Potts, again in the second-form room, was amazed and exasperated. What could her form be doing now? Had Mam'zelle left them alone, and had they all gone mad?

'Go on with your maps for a minute,' she said to the second form, who were glancing at one another in astonishment, as they heard the noise from the first-form room. She left the room and went rapidly to the door of the first form.

She opened it and the noise hit her like something solid. Worse than Break, she thought grimly. At first she could not see any mistress there at all, and thought that the girls were alone. Then she caught sight of Mam'zelle's head in the

middle of a crowd of girls. What vim happening!

'Girls!' she said, but her voice went unheard. 'GIRLS!' Irene suddenly saw her and started to nudge everyone. 'Look out here's Potty,' she hissed.

The girls flowed back from Mam'zelle as if they were water! In a trice every one was by her desk. Mam'zelle stood alone, trembling, wondering what was happening. Where had that monster of a spider gone?

'Mam'zelle, really!' said Miss Potts, almost forgetting the rule the staff had of never finding fault with one another before the girls. ' I simply cannot think what happens to this class when you take it!'

Mam'zelle blinked at Miss Potts. 'It was a spider,' she explained, looking up and down herself. 'Ah, Miss Potts, but a MONSTER of a spider. It ran up my arm and disappeared. Ah-h-h-h-h! I seem to feel it everywhere.'

'A spider won't hurt you,' said Miss Potts, coldly and unfeelingly. 'Would you like to go and recover yourself, Mam'zelle, and let me deal with the first form?'

'Ah non!' said Mam'zelle, indignantly. 'The class, it is good�the girls, they came to help me to get this monster of a spider. So big it was, Miss Potts!'

Miss Potts looked so disbelieving that Mam'zelle exaggerated the size of the spider, and held out her hands to show Miss Potts that it was at least as big as fair-sized frog.

The girls had enjoyed everything immensely. What a French lesson! Gwendoline had enjoyed it too, especially as she was the cause of it, though nobody knew that, of course. She sat demurely in her desk, watching the two mistresses closely.

And then suddenly she felt something running up her leg! She looked down. It was the spider! It had left Mam'zelle a long time ago, and had secreted itself under a desk, afraid of all the trampling feet around. Now, when peace seemed

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restored, the spider wanted to seek a better hiding-place. It ran over Gwendoline's shoe, up her stocking and above her knee. She gave a piercing scream. Everyone jumped again. Miss Potts turned fiercely.

'Gwendoline! Go out of the room! How dare you squeal like that! No, don't tell me you've seen the spider. I'm tired of the spider. I'm ashamed of you all!'

Gwendoline shook herself violently, not daring to scream again, but filled with the utmost horror at the thought of the spider creeping over her.

'It was the spider!' she began. 'It...'

'GWENDOLINE! What did I tell you! I will NOT hear another word of the wretched spider!' said Miss Potts, raising her voice angrily. 'Go out of the room. The whole class can go to bed one hour earlier tonight as a punishment for this shameful behaviour, and you, Gwendoline, can go two hours earlier!'

Weeping, Gwendoline ran from the room. As soon as she got outside she examined herself carefully and tremblingly to see if the spider was still anywhere about her. To her enormous relief she suddenly saw it running down the passage.

She leant against the wall. How tiresome of that spider to come to her, when it might have gone to anyone else! Now she had got to have double punishment. Still, she would soon put it about that Alicia and Darrell had planted the spider in Mary-Lou's desk! How sickening of Miss Potts to pounce on her like that. She couldn't help it if the spider came to her.

But perhaps after all it was a good thing that Miss Potts had come into the room and heard it all. Perhaps Gwendoline might even drop a hint to Miss Potts about Alicia and Darrell putting the spider in the desk.

Miss Potts came out of the room at this moment. She

eyed Gwendoline with dislike.

'Miss Potts, the spider ran away down there,' said Gwendoline, pointing, anxious to get back into Miss Potts's good books.

Miss Potts took not the slightest notice but swept into the second-form classroom, and the door shut. Gwendoline felt very small. Now what was she to do? Stay out here�or go back into the classroom?' She didn't want to be found out there if by any chance Miss Grayling, the Head, came by. She decided to risk going back. She opened the door and sidled in.

'Ha! You are back again! And who told you to come?' demanded Mam'zelle, now ashamed of her part in the affair, and ready to vent her humiliated feelings on anyone she could. "You screamed and made Miss Potts white and angry!'

'Well, Mam'zelle, you screamed too,' protested Gwendoline, in an injured tone. 'Louder than 1 did, I should think.'

Mam'zelle rose in her seat, and for all her smallness she seemed enormous to Gwendol ine j ust then. Her beady black eyes flashed.

'You would be rude to me, Mam'zelle Dupont! You would argue with me, who have taught here for twenty years! You�you...'

Gwendoline turned and fled. She would rather stand outside the door all day long than face Mam'zelle when she looked like that!

12 SHARP WORDS

THE Spider Affair, as it was called, went all over the school before the day was out. It caused a great deal of laughter. When Mam'zelle Rougier heard of it she sneered.

'To think that a Frenchwoman should be so foolish!' she said. 'Now / do not mind spiders or earwigs or moths or even snakes! Mam'zelle Dupont should be ashamed to make such an exhibition of herself!'

The first form talked about it more than anyone else, of course. They squealed with laughter whenever they thought of poor Mary-Lou, Mam'zelle, and Gwendoline all falling victims to the same spider.

'Jolly clever spider! said Irene. 'It knew the only three people in the form that would be scared of it. I take my hat off to that spider.'

'I can't think why it chose my desk,' said Mary-Lou.

'No. That was a shame,' said Gwendoline. 'Poor Mary- Lou! It must have been an awful shock for you when you saw it. 1 wonder who put it there?'

There was silence. For the first time it occurred to the first form that the spider might have been put there on purpose. They looked at one another.

'It was a dirty trick to put it into poor Mary-Lou's desk,' said Jean. 'She can't help being scared of things, I suppose, and she almost jumped out of her skin when she saw it. I should have thought any joker in our form would have been decent enough to have popped it into, say, Alicia's desk!'

'Not if it happened to be Alicia who popped it in!' said a sly voice. 'You do so love playing tricks, don't you, Alicia?

You and Darrell were in the first-form room before afternoon school. And I'm sure we all remember you saying you'd like to put a spider down Mary-Lou's neck!'

It was Gwendoline speaking. Alicia glanced at her. 'Well, I didn't do it,' she said. 'Nor did Darrell. Sorry to disappoint you, darling Gwendoline Mary, but we just didn't. If it was anyone, I should think it was you!'

'Mary-Lou is my friend,' said Gwendoline. T wouldn't do that to her.'

'Well, if you'd almost drown her one week, I should think you could quite well bring yourself to put a spider in her desk the next week,' said Darrell.

'It's pretty funny that you and Alicia were the only ones in the classroom before afternoon school,' persisted Gwendoline, angry that no one seemed to have agreed with her suggestion.

'Shut up,' said Katherine, shortly. 'We know it wasn't either Darrell or Alicia, because they say so! The spider must have got in there by accident, and that's that.'

'Well, I think...' began Gwendoline, but the class took up a chant at once.

'Shut up, Gwendoline; Gwendoline, shut up! Shut up, Gwendoline; Gwendoline, shut upV

There was nothing to do but shut up. Gwendoline was sulky and exasperated. It had been such a good idea, and all that had resulted from it was a double punishment for her, and a complete failure to make anyone believe that Alicia or Darrell had played the trick. True, the first formers had had to go to bed an hour earlier, but they had all voted it was worth it.

Gwendoline felt vicious about the whole affair. She determined not to be put off by her first failure but to go on doing things to Mary-Lou, so that in the end the class would have to put them down to tricks by Alicia and Darrell. She thought too she would also hint to Miss Potts that she thought

Alicia and Darrell were at the bottom of things.

But she didn't get very far with this. She had to go and see Miss Potts about some returned homework, and stood very meekly beside her, in the little room that Miss Potts shared with Mam'zelle Dupont at North Tower.

'Miss Potts I was awfully sorry about that spider affair the other day,' she began. 'Of course, Alicia and Darrell were in the classroom beforehand, and I'm sure they know something about it. I heard Alicia say...'

Miss Potts looked up. 'Are you trying to sneak?' she said. 'Or in more polite language, to tell tales? Because if so, don't try it on me. At the boarding school I went to, Gwendoline, we had a very good punishment for sneaks. All the girls in the sneak's dormy gave her one good spank with the back of a hair-brush. You may have a lot of interesting things to tell me but it's no use expecting me to listen. I wonder if the girls here have the same punishment for sneaks. I must ask them.'

Gwendoline went flaming red. A sneak! Fancy Miss Potts daring to call her, Gwendoline Mary Lacey, a sneak! All because she had just wanted to drop a kindly hint. Gwendoline didn't know what to say. She felt as if she would like to burst into tears, but Miss Potts always got very impatient with girls who did that. She went out of the room, longing to slam the door as she often did at home. But she didn't dare to here.

She felt very sorry for herself. If her mother knew what an awful school she had come to she would take her away at once. Miss Winter, too, would be horrified. But Gwendoline wasn't quite so sure about her father. He could say things at times very like the things Miss Potts said.

The week went by. It was a very pleasant week, hot with a cool breeze that made games and swimming even more pleasure than usual. Alicia and Betty were practising hard for the school sports. Both were excellent swimmers and divers. Darrell tried to imitate all they did. She was good, too, but not quite so good as they were. But she was quite fearless, and dived off the highest diving-boards, and went down the chute in all kinds of peculiar positions.

The only unhappy person that week was Mary-Lou. She got into a lot of trouble over many little things. For instance, her clothes in the changing-room had been thrown down in a pool of water, and were soaking wet. She had to take them to Matron to be dried.

Matron was cross. 'Mary-Lou! Can'tyou hang your things up properly in that changing-room? You know there are always puddles on the floor from the girls coming in and out from the pool.'

'I did hang them up, Matron,' said Mary-Lou, mildly. 'I know I did.'

Then Mary-Lou's tennis racket suddenly showed three broken strings. They were not frayed, but looked as if they had been cut. Mary-Lou was upset.

'My new racket!' she said. 'Look, Gwendoline, who would think a new racket could go like that?'

'It couldn't,' said Gwendoline, pretending to examine it very closely. 'These strings have been cut, Mary-Lou. Someone's been playing a dirty trick on you. What a shame.'

Mary-Lou was miserable. She couldn't believe that she had any enemies. But when she found buttons cut off her Sunday dress she knew that someone was being unkind and mean. Gwendoline comforted her.

'Never mind. I'll sew them on for you! I hate sewing, but I'll do it for you, Mary-Lou.'

So, making a great show of it, Gwendoline sewed on the six blue buttons one night. The first-formers stared at her in surprise. They knew she never mended anything if she could help it.

'How did those buttons come off?' asked Jean.

'That's what I'd like to know,' said Gwendoline smugly.

'Six buttons, all ripped off! I'm putting them on for Mary- Lou, because I'm so sorry that anyone should play her such a dirty trick. And I'd like to know who cut the strings of her tennis racket, too.'

The first-formers looked at one another. It certainly was queer the way things had been happening to poor Mary-Lou lately. Even her prayer-book had disappeared. And some of her pencils had gone. True, they had been found in Alicia's desk�but everyone had thought that was just an accident. Now they began to wonder if some one had put them there. Not Alicia. Alicia wouldn't do a thing like that. But Somebody.

It was getting near half-term. Many of the girls were excited, because some of them were expecting visits from their parents. Any parent who lived not too far away would be sure to come. Darrell was thrilled because her father and mother were coming. They lived a long way away, but had decided to take a week's holiday in Cornwall, and come and see Darrell in the middle of it.

The girls began to talk about their families. 'I wish my three brothers could come,' and Alicia. 'We'd have some sport then.'

'I wish my little sister could come,' said Jean. 'I'd love to show her Malory Towers.'

'Is your mother coming, Sally?' asked Mary-Lou.

'No,' said Sally. 'She lives too far away.'

Darrell remembered something her mother had told her in a letter a week or two before. She had said that she had met Sally Hope's mother, and had liked her. She had said too that she had seen Mrs. Hope's baby, Sally's sister, a little girl of three months. Darrell had meant to tell Sally what her mother had said and had forgotten. Now she remembered it.

'Oh, Sally, I expect your mother won't come because of the baby,' she said.

Sally went stiff. She stared at Darrell as if she couldn't believe her ears. Her face went quite white, and when she spoke she sounded as if she were choking.

'You don't know what you're talking about,' she said. 'What baby? We haven't a baby! My mother won't be coming because it's so far, I tell you!'

Darrell was puzzled. 'But Sally�don't be silly�my mother said in a letter that she had seen your baby sister� she's three months old, she said.'

'I haven't got a baby sister!' said Sally, in a low, queer voice. 'I'm the only one. Mother and I have been everything to each other, because Daddy has had to be away such a lot. I haven't got a baby sister!'

The girls looked at Sally curiously. Whatever could be the matter with her? She sounded so queer.

' All right,' said Darrell, uneasily. ' You ought to know, I suppose. Anway, I expect you'd like a sister. It's nice having one.'

'I should hate a sister,' said Sally. 'I wouldn't share my mother with anyone!'

She walked out of the room, her face as wooden as ever. The girls were really puzzled. 'She's a funny one,' said Irene. 'Hardly ever says anything�all closed up, some-how. But sometimes those closed-up people burst open suddenly� and then, look out!'

'Well, I shall certainly write and tell Mother she's mistaken,' said Darrell, and she did so, then and there. She told Sally the next time she saw her.

'I'm sorry I made that mistake about your having a sister,' she said to Sally. 'I've written to tell Mother you said you hadn't one. She must have mistaken what your mother said."

Sally stood still and glared at Darrell as if she suddenly hated her. 'What do you want to go interfering for?' she burst out. 'Leave me and my family alone! Little busybody, always sticking your nose into other people's affairs!'

Darrell's temper flared up. 'I don't," she said. 'You guard your tongue, Sally. I never meant to interfere, and 1 can't think what all the fuss is about. Either you have a sister or you haven't. / don't care.'

'You tell your mother not to interfere either!' said Sally. ' Writing letters about my family!'

'Oh, don't be so sillyV flared back Darrell, really exasperated now. 'Anyone would think there was a deep, dark mystery, the way you go on! Anyway, I'll just see what my mother says when she next writes to me�and I'll tell you.'

'I don't want to know. I won't know!' said Sally, and she put out her hands as if she was fending Darrell off. 'I hate you, Darrell Rivers�you with your mother who comes to see you off, and sends you things and writes you long letters and comes to see you! And you boast about that to me; you do it all on purpose. You're mean, mean, mean!'

Darrell was utterly taken about. What in the wide world did Sally mean? She watched the girl go out of the room, and sank down on to a form, completely bewildered.

13 HALF-TERM AT LAST!

THE girls became very excited at the beginning of half-term week. Many of them would see their parents on the Saturday�and Miss Remmington, the games-mistress, had suddenly decided to have a small edition of the Swimming Sports for the benefit of the parents. Everyone who visited Malory Towers was struck with the beautiful natural pool, and loved to see it.

'So it would be nice this half-term, as it's so hot, for your people to go down to the breezy pool, and see not only the beauties of the water, but the way their girls can swim and dive!' said Miss Remmington. 'We will have a pleasant time down there and then come back for a strawberry and cream tea, with ices!'

What fun! Darrell hugged herself with joy whenever she thought of it. She had got on so well with her swimming and diving, and she knew her parents would be pleased. And strawberries and ice-cream afterwards. How simply wizard!

But she was rather taken aback on Wednesday when the half-term places were read out. Instead of being in the first three or four, as she had hoped, she was tenth from the bottom. She could hardly believe her ears! Katherine was top, Alicia was fifth, Betty was fourteenth, Gwendoline was bottom�Mary-Lou was sixth from the bottom, not very far below Darrell!

Darrell sat very quiet whilst the rest of the marks were read out. There were thirty or so girls in her form�and more than twenty of them had done better than she had. Surely, surely there must be some mistake?

She went to Miss Potts about it, looking worried. 'Miss Potts,' she began, rather timidly, for the mistress was correcting papers and looked very busy, 'Miss Potts, excuse my interrupting you, but can I ask you something?'

'What is it?' said Miss Potts, running her blue pencil across a line of writing.

'Well�it's about the form order,' said Darrell. 'Am I really so low down as that?'

'Let me see�what were you? Quite a long way down,' said Miss Potts, pulling the list to her and looking at it. 'Yes, that's right. I was surprised and disappointed, Darrell. You did so well in the first two weeks.'

'But Miss Potts,' said Darrell, and then stopped. She didn't know quite how to say what she wanted to say. She wanted to say that she had much better brains than at least half the form, so why was she so low? But somehow that sounded conceited.

However Miss Potts, who was very quick-minded, saw her difficulty. 'You have come to ask me how it is you are nearer the bottom than the top when you could so easily be among the top ones?' she said. 'Well, I'll tell you, Darrell. There are people like Alicia, who can play the fool in class and waste their time and everyone else's, and yet still come out well in their work. And there are people like you, who can also play the fool and waste their time�but unfortunately it affects their work and they slide down to the bottom. Do you understand?'

Darrell flushed very red and looked as if she could sink through the floor. She nodded.

'Yes, thank you,' she said in a small voice. She looked at Miss Potts out of her clear brown eyes. 'I wouldn't have been so silly if I'd known it was going to affect my place in the form,' she said. 'I�I just thought as I had good brains and a good memory I'd be all right, anyhow. Daddy and Mother will be disappointed.'

'They probably will,' said Miss Potts, taking up her pencil again. 'I shouldn't copy Alicia and Betty too much if I were you, Darrell. You will be a finer character if you go along on your own, than if you copy other people. You see, what vow do, you do whole-heartedly�so if you play the fool, naturally other things will suffer. Alicia is able to do two or three things quite well at one and the same time. That certainly has its points�but the best people in this world are the whole-hearted ones, if they can only make for the right things.'

'I see,' said Darrell. 'Like my father. He's whole-hearted. He's a surgeon and he just goes in for giving back people their health and happiness with all this heart�so he's marvellous.'

'Exactly,' said Miss Potts. 'But if he split himself up, so to speak, and dabbled in half a dozen things, he would probably not be nearly such a remarkable surgeon. And when you choose something worth while like doctoring�or teaching� or writing or painting, it is best to be whole-hearted about it. It doesn't so much matter for a second rate or third-rate person. But if you happen to have the makings of a first-rate person and you mean to choose a first-rate job when you grow up, then you must learn to be whole-hearted when you are young.'

Darrell didn't like to ask Miss Potts if she thought she had the makings of a first-rate person in her, but she couldn't help hoping that she had. She went away rather subdued. What a pity she hadn't been whole-hearted over her work and got up to the top, instead of being whole-hearted over playing the fool with Alicia and Betty, and sliding down towards the bottom.

Gwendoline's mother and her old governess, Miss Winter, were coming on Saturday too. Gwendoline was very much looking forward to showing off in front of them. How small she would make Miss Winter feel, when she talked of her lessons and how wonderful she was at everything!

Mary-Lou's people were not coming and she was disappointed. Gwendoline spoke kindly to her. 'Never mind, Mary-Lou. You can keep with me and my mother and Miss Winter all day. 1 won't let you feel lonely.'

Mary-Lou didn't much want to keep with Gwendoline. She was tired of being pawed about by Gwendoline, and tired of the never-ending stories of her family, in all of which Gwendoline herself shone out brightly as someone really too marvellous for words.

But Gwendoline thoroughly enjoyed such a quiet listener as Mary-Lou, though she despised her for being weak enough to put up with so much.

When Darrell heard that Mary-Lou's people could not come on half-term Saturday she went to her. "Would you like to come and be with my mother and father and me all day?' she said. 'They are taking me out to lunch in the car.

We're having a gorgeous picnic.'

Mary-Lou's heart leapt. She gazed at Darrell in adoration and delight. To be asked by Darrell to share the half-term� could anything be nicer? Darrell had ticked her off so much lately, and found her such a nuisance�but now she had been decent enough to give her this invitation.

Then she remembered Gwendoline's invitation, and her face fell. 'Oh,' she said, 'Gwendoline's asked me to join her�and 1 said I would.'

'Well, go and tell her I've asked you, and that my father and mother would like to meet you,' said Darrell. 'I shouldn't think she'd mind.'

'Well�I don't know if I dare say that,' said timid Mary- Lou. 'She might be very angry�especially as she doesn't like you, Darrell.'

'I suppose that means you'd rather go with Gwendoline than with me,' said Darrell, unkindly. It always irritated her when Mary-Lou put on her 'scared' look. 'Well, go then.'

'Darrein How can you say that?' cried Mary-Lou, almost in tears. 'Why�I'd�I'd�I'd give anything to come with you.'

'Well, go and tell Gwendoline then,' said Darrell. 'Ifyou want a thing badly you can surely pluck up enough courage to get it. You're a terrible little coward.'

'Oh, I know,' said Mary-Lou, in despair. 'Don't keep on and on saying that! It only makes me worse! You tell Gwendoline, Darrell.'

'Certainly not,' said Darrell. 'I'm not going to do your dirty work! Anyway, I'm not sure 1 want such a silly baby tagging on to me all half-term.'

She walked off, leaving Mary-Lou looking after her in despair. Jean, who was nearby and had overhead everything, felt a little sorry for Mary-Lou. She walked after Darrell.

'I think you're a bit hard on her,' she remarked, in her

forthright Scots voice.

'Well, it's all for her good,' said Darrell. 'If I can make her have a little courage, she'll thank me for it. I said those things purposely, to shame her into going to Gwendoline and asking her.'

'You've shamed her all right, but not in the way that will make her pluck up her courage.' said Jean. 'You've given her the kind of shame that puts people into despair!'

Jean was right. Mary-Lou was quite in despair. The more she thought of going to Gwendoline and asking her if she minded her going with Darrell at half-term instead of with her, the more terrified she got. In the end she did go to find Gwendoline, but found that she didn't dare to ask her; which made it worse than ever! Poor Mary-Lou!

Gwendoline got to hear that Darrell had asked Mary-Lou for half-term, and she was pleased that Mary-Lou had not apparently wanted to go with her. She spoke to her about it.

'Fancy Darrell having the cheek to ask you, after I'd asked you!' she said. 'I'm glad you had the decency to refuse, Mary-Lou. You'd surely not want to go off with a girl like that, who thinks you're such a poor worm?'

'No.' said Mary-Lou, and couldn't say any more. If only she could have said yes, boldly, right out! But she couldn't.

The morning of half-term dawned bright and clear. It was going to be a super day. The sea glinted in the sunlight, as calm as a mirror. It would be high tide at two o'clock. The pool would be just right. What luck!

Girls took loads of camp-stools down to the pool and set them up on the high rocky place above the pool, where the tide seldom reached. It was a fine place for watching. Darrell sang loudly as she went up and down, her heart leaping because she would see her parents that day. Mary-Lou did not sing. She looked sober and down-hearted. Sally Hope looked sober too�her face more 'closed-up' than ever,

thought Darrell.

Alicia was in high spirits. Her mother and father were coming and one of her brothers. Betty's parents were not coming, so she was, of course, going to be with Alicia.

Darrell, catching sight of Sally trudging up the cliff, after taking down some camp-stools, was struck by the sad expression on her face. Impulsively she hailed her.

'Hi, Sally! Sally Hope! Your people aren't coming, are they? Wouldn't you like to join me and my parents today? I can ask anyone I like.'

'I'd rather not, thank you,' said Sally, in a stiff little voice, and went on up the cliff without another word.

'Well, she is a funny girl,' thought Darrell, feeling rather annoyed that the two girls she had so far asked hadn't either of them agreed to come with her. She went off to find someone else whose poeple were not coming. She really must get somebody, because her mother had said she would like to take another girl out too. 'Your own particular friend, if possible,' her mother had written.

But Darrell hadn't got a 'particular friend.' She would so much have liked Alicia, but Alicia was Betty's friend. She liked Irene, too, but Irene never seemed to feel the need a friend. Her music made up to her for everything.

'Oh, well�what about asking Emily?' thought Darrell. She was not at all interested in the quiet, studious Emily, who always seemed to be sewing most industriously every evening. But Emily's people weren't coming, and no one had asked her to go out to lunch with them.

So she asked Emily, who blushed with pleasure and said, yes, she would be delighted to come. She seemed surprised that Darrell had asked her. Mary-Lou was almost in tears when she saw the two of them going off to get ready to meet Darrell's parents. She couldn't bear to think that Emily was going to have the treat she would so much have loved herself�but hadn't enough courage to get.

14 A REALLY LOVELY DAY

SOON the big drive in front of Malory Towers was crowded with cars of all shapes and sizes. Parents climbed out of them and looked for their girls. There were shrieks of delighted welcome all over the place.

'Mummy! Daddy! I'm so glad you've come early!'

'Mother! I didn't expect you soon! Oh, it's lovely to see you again!'

Darrell was watching for her father and mother, too She soon saw her father's plain black car, w hich he drove himself. And there was mother sitting beside him, looking pretty in a new dress, and excited because she would so soon see Darrell.

Darrell shot out of the doorway and down the drive like an arrow, nearly knocking over Gwendoline, who was waiting impatiently for her own mother. She flung herself on her parents. 'Mother! I've been waiting and waiting! Oh, it's lovely to see you again! Hallo, Daddy�did you drive all the way down?'

'Hallo, darling,' said her mother and looked at her in pleasure. Darrell was brown and glowing with colour. Her warm brown eyes were filled with delighted love. She looked happy and 'on top of the world' as her father put it to himself. Both her parents were pleased.

Darrell took them into the school, chattering at the top of her voice. 'You must see my dormy. You must see the very bed I sleep in�and I must show you the view out of our dormy window. It's super!'

In her intense excitement she had forgotten all about Emily,

waiting patiently nearby. She suddenly saw her, and stopped.

'Oh�Emily! Mother, you said I could choose some one to come out with us�and here she is. This is Emily Lake, a girl in my form.'

Mrs. Rivers looked at Emily and was surprised. She had not expected a quiet sober little girl like this to be Darrell's chosen friend. She did not know that as yet Darrell had no definite friend. She shook hands with Emily, and said she was pleased she was coming out with them.

After that Emily tagged along behind them, listening to Darrell's excited chatter, and her parents' amused replies. She liked Darrell's parents. Her mother was pretty and amusing, and sensible too�and as for her father, well, any one would trust him at sight, thought Emily, gazing at his determined, good-looking face with its big dark eyes and intensly black eyebrows, just like Darrell's but bigger and shaggier.

Darrell was proud of her parents. She wanted to show them off. She saw Gwendoline with two women�one obviously her mother, with bright golden hair like Gwendoline's and a rather babyish, empty face. The other must be Miss Winter, the governess, thought Darrell. What an awful person!

Poor Miss Winter was not really awful. She was plain and poor and always eager to agree with everyone. She adored Gwendoline because she was pretty and graceful, and did not seem to see the selfishness and spoilt ways of the silly little girl.

Mary-Lou was with them, trying to smile, but really very unhappy. She didn't like either Mrs. Lacey or Miss Winter and she was begnning to feel horrified at some of the fibs that she had heard Gwendoline tell them.

'I'm almost the best at tennis in our form,' she heard Gwendoline say. T shouldn't be surprised if I'm put into a

match-team, Mother!'

'Oh, darling�how clever you are!' said Mrs. Lacey, fondly. Mary-Lou stared at Gwendoline in surprise. Why, everyone knew Gwendoline was a real muff at all games!

'And Mam'zelle is very pleased with my French,' went on Gwendoline. 'I believe 1 might be top in that. She says 1 have a splendid accent.'

Miss Winter glowed. 'Oh, Gwen darling! Isn't that lovely now? 1 did my best with you, of course, but I was always afraid it was rather a poor best, because I've never been to France.'

Mary-Lou longed to say that Gwendoline was always bottom in the French class, but she did not dare to. How could Gwendoline stuff her people up with such a lot of lies? And how could they believe them?

'Are you going to go in for the swimming-match this afternoon?' asked Mrs. Lacey, looking fondly at Gwendoline, who today had her shining golden hair loose down her back, and looked, so her mother thought, like a real angel.

'No, I thought I wouldn't, Mother,' said Gwendoline. 'It's best to give the others a chance. After all, I've done well at so many things.'

'There's my sweet, unselfish girl!' said Mrs. Lacey, and squeezed Gwendoline's arm. Mary-Lou felt slightly sick.

Then Darrell spoilt it all! She passed by with her mother and father, and Mrs. Lacey was struck by her good looks and happy smile.

'There's a nice girl, dear!' she said to Gwendoline. 'Is she one of your friends? Let us speak to her.'

'Oh no, she's not a friend of mine,' began Gwendoline, but Mary-Lou, delighted at this praise of Darrell, was calling to her. 'Darrell! Darrell! Mrs. Lacey wants to speak to you.'

Darrell went over to Mrs. Lacey and was introduced by a glowering Gwendoline. 'And are you going to go in for the swimming-sports?' asked Mrs. Lacey, graciously. 'I hear dear Gwendoline is not, bless her.'

'Gwendoline! Oh, she can't swim a stroke!' said Darrell. 'We always yell at her because she takes five minutes putting one toe into the water. Don't we, Gwendoline?'

This was all said in good humour and fun�but Gwendoline could willingly have pushed Darrell over the cliff at that moment! She went very red.

Mrs. Lacey really thought that Darrell was joking. She laughed the tinkling laugh which she thought was so pretty. 'I suppose if Gwendoline entered she'd beat you all!' she said. 'As she does at tennis�and lessons, 1 suppose.'

Darrell looked in astonishment at Gwendoline, who was glaring at her, crimson in the face. 'Gwendoline's been stuffing you up, I expect!' she said w ith a laugh, and went off to join her own party.

'What a very outspoken, blunt sort of girl,' said Miss Winter, puzzled and worried.

Gwendoline recovered herself. 'Oh, she's not a nice girl,' she said. 'Nobody likes her. She hasn't got any friend of her own at all�and you can see why. She's always running other people down. Jealous, 1 suppose. Don't you take any notice of her, Mother. Mary-Lou here will tell you I'm first- rate at tennis and the rest!'

But that was beyond even timid Mary-Lou! She just looked more scared than ever, and murmured something about going to speak to Mam'zelle�and off she went, glad to escape from the Lacey family for a few minutes.

On the way to the car, after Darrell had shown her parents every single thing she could think of, from the view up in North Tower, to the inside of her very well-tidied desk, the Rivers family saw Sally Hope.

'Why, isn't that Sally Hope?' said Mrs. Rivers, stopping. 'I'm sure it is. There was a very good photograph of her in her mother's drawing-room, when I went to tea there the other day.'

'Yes. That's Sally,' said Darrell. 'Do you want to speak to her, Mother?'

'Well, I have a message for her from her mother,' said Mrs. Rivers. So Darrell raised her clear voice and called, 'Sally! Sally Hope! Come here a minute, will you?'

Sally must have heard Darrell, for everyone around did. But if so, she took no notice at all. She plunged down into a path that led through some bushes in the drive and disappeared.

'Blow her!' said Darrell. 'I should have thought she would have heard my yell. I asked her to come out with us, Mother, but she wouldn't.'

'Come along,' said her father, opening the door of the car. 'We'll go along the cliff and then take an exciting road 1' ve found that leads right down to a lonely little cove. We'll have our lunch there.'

Darrell and Emily got in. Emily was enjoying herself. Mrs. Rivers was so nice, and asked her so many questions about herself. Usually people found Emily dull, and left her alone. But Mrs. Rivers, thinking that Emily was Darrell's chosen friend, was very anxious to know her well.

She soon learnt that Emily was very fond of sewing. Darrell listened to her chattering in astonishment. She had never heard Emily talk so much before! Gracious, hark at her describing the cushion-cover she was making�the colours, the stitches and everything!

'It's always been a disappointment to me that Darrell never took any interest in embroidery,' said Mrs. Rivers to Emily. 'I'm very fond of it too. I've done the seats of six of our chairs at home, in tapestry work.'

'Oh, have you!' exclaimed Emily. 'I've done some too� but only two so far. I loved that work.'

'Perhaps you will able to interest Darrell in sewing!' said Mrs. Rivers, laughing. 'It's as much as I can do at home to get her to do a simple darn!'

'Well, I'll teach Darrell to darn, if she likes,' said Emily, eager to please this nice Mrs. Rivers.

Darrell was horrified. Gracious, she hadn't brought Emily out to have her planning with her mother to teach her darning! She changed the subject at once, and told them about Gwendoline and how she had been boasting to her mother and governess.

Soon they were down on the beach, eating the most gorgeous lunch Darrell had had that term. Cold chicken and pickles�pickles! There was never a pickle to be seen at school. Little cardboard containers full of fresh salad and mayonnaise sauce. Delicious! Jam-tarts and slabs of chocolate ice-cream. What a lunch!

'And ginger-beer to wash it down,' said Mrs. Rivers, filling up the glasses. 'More chicken, Darrell? There's plenty.'

After lunch it was time to go back for the sports. Emily was not in the swimming, so she said she would find Darrell's parents good places to watch from. Darrell left them in her care when she got back to Malory Towers to change.

It was such a happy day. Everyone seemed in a good temper, and jokes flew about everywhere. Even the two Mam'zelles went about arm-in-arm, a thing that they had not done at all that term.

The swimming-sports were exciting. Mrs. Rivers was delighted with Darrell's strong swimming, graceful diving, and fearlessness. She was one of the best of the small girls. Some of the big girls were extremely clever in their diving, especially Marilyn, the sixth-form games-captain. Everyone cheered her as she did a graceful swallow-dive from the topmost board.

'And can you do all these things, darling?' Darrell heard

Mrs. Lacey ask Gwendoline. Gwendoline, who was near Darrell and a few others, looked round warily, wishing her mother wouldn't ask such awkward questions in public.

'Well�not quite all,' she said, and Miss Winter patted her fondly on the shoulder.

'Always so modest,' she said, and Darrell could hardly stop herself laughing outright at the thought of Gwendoline being called modest. She looked scornfully at little Mary- Lou sitting near Gwendoline, wondering how she could possibly listen to all the bigger girl's boasting and yet say nothing.

At tea-time Darrell and Emily kept the plates of the grown�ups (and their own!) well supplied with strawberries and cream, and fetched ice-creams in plenty. What a lunch they had had�and now, what a tea! Besides the strawberries and ice-creams, there were little buns and cakes and biscuits of every kind. Malory Towers knew how to do things well!

'Mother! There's Sally Hope again!' said Darrell suddenly, catching sight of Sally's head in the distance. 'I'll get her in a minute. By the way, you never told me how that mistake about Sally's baby sister happened�the one you said she had got, and hasn't.'

'But Darrell dear�she has got a baby sister!' said her mother in surprise. 'I've seen her!'

'Well�whatever does Sally mean!'said Darrell. 'Ireally must get her and find out!'

15 A SUDDEN QUARREL

BUT Sally was not easy to find. She seemed to have completely disappeared again. It occurred to Darrell to wonder if Sally was avoiding her�but no, why should she? There would be no reason for that.

She hunted everywhere for Sally. Nobody knew where she was. It was peculiar. Darrell went back to her parents, anxious not to lose any more of their company, for time was precious now.

'Well, / can't find Sally,' she said. 'She's completely vanished. Anyway, I'll give her her mother's message. What was it, Mother?'

'Oh, her mother seemed a little worried about Sally, because it's her first term at boarding school, and Sally writes such funny wooden little letters,' said Mrs. Rivers. 'I showed Mrs. Hope some ofyour letters, darling. I knew you wouldn't mind; and she said she did wish Sally would write more news to her, and send her letters like yours. She said she seemed to have lost touch with her completely. She was really very worried. She wanted me to speak to Sally and tell her she sent her fondest love, and was so sorry she couldn't come and see her this half-term. And she said her baby sister sent her hugs and kisses.'

'I'll tell her,' said Darrell, very puzzled. 'But Mother dear, Sally's awfully funny about things. She truly and honestly did tell me she hadn't got a sister, and she was furious with me for talking about her mother. She said I was interfering and all sorts of things.'

'Well�perhaps she was joking,' said Mrs. Rivers, also rather puzzled. 'Sally does know she's got a baby sister at home. For one thing, that was why she was sent to boarding school, so that the baby who is rather delicate could have all Mrs. Hope's care. It's a dear little thing.'

'Been losing your temper yet?' asked Darrell's father, with a twinkle in his eye. Darnell went red.

'Well�I did once,' she said. 'And after I'd made up my mind I wouldn't too!'

'Oh, Darrell�you didn't lose it badly, I hope,' said her mother anxiously.

Emily answered for Darrell. 'Oh, she just gave a most exasperating girl some jolly good slaps in the pool! You could almost hear them up at the Towers!'

'DarrelP.' said her mother, shocked. Darrell grinned.

'I know. Awful of me, wasn't it. I shan't do it again. I've got my temper well in hand now.'

'We've all wanted to do a bit of slapping where that particular girl is concerned,' said Emily, 'so secretly we were rather pleased!'

They all laughed. Darrell felt so happy that she was sure she would never lose her temper again in her life! What a pity a day like this had to come to an end!

But it did come to an end. At about six o'clock the cars began to purr out of the big drive, and girls waved wildly. One by one their parents went, and the excited chattering died down. The girls went into their common rooms to talk over events of the day.

After a while Darrell remembered the message she had for Sally Hope. She glanced round the common room. Sally wasn't there. Where was she? She seemed always to be disappearing!

'Where's Sally Hope?' asked Darrell.

'1 believe she's in one the music-rooms," said Katherine. 'Goodness knows why she wants to practice today, when

everyone is let off lessons!'

'I'll go and find her,' said Darrell, and walked off. She made her way to the music-rooms, where the girls did their practising each day. They were tiny rooms, containing only a piano, a stool, and a chair.

Music came from two of them. Darrell peeped into the first one. Irene was there, playing softly to herself. She didn't even see Darrell. Darrell smiled and shut the door. Irene was certainly mad on music!

She came to the other practice room, from which music was coming. It was not the entrancing melodies that Irene had been playing though, but plain five-finger exercises, played over and again, over and over again, in an almost angry manner.

Darrell opened the door. Yes�Sally was there all right. Good. Darrell went in and shut the door. Sally turned round and scowled.

'I'm practising,' she said. 'Get out.'

'What's the matter with you?' said Darrell, feeling annoyed immediately. 'You don't need to jump down my throat like that. I've been trying fo find you all day. My mother wanted to speak to you.'

'Well, I didn't want to speak to her,' said Sally, and began to thump out the irritating exercise again, up and down, up and down.

' Why shouldn't you want to speak to my mother?' cried Darrell, angrily. 'She had a message for you from your mother.'

No answer. Up and down, up and down went Sally's fingers on the notes, more loudly than ever. Darrell lost her temper.

'Stop playing!' she shouted. 'Don't be so horribly rude! Whatever's the matter with you!"

Sally put the loud pedal down and crashed the notes more loudly than ever. Plainly she was not going to listen to a word.

Darrell went near to her and put her mouth to her ear. 'Why did you say you haven't got a sister? You have, and that's why your mother couldn't come and see you! But she sent you her love and said...'

Sally swung round from the piano, her face looking queer and white. 'Shut up!' she said, interfering little busybody! Leave me alone. Just because you've been w ith your mother all day long, and had her fussing round you, you think you can come and taunt me like this! I hate you!'

'You're mad!' cried Darrell, and she struck her hand on the piano, making a queer sound of clashing notes. 'You won't listen when 1 want to tell you things. But you shall listen! Your mother told mine that you only write her funny wooden letters... she said...'

i won't listen!' said Sally, in a choking voice, and got up from the stool. She pushed Darrell blindly away. But Darrell could not bear to be touched when she was in a temper, and she shoved back with all her might. She was strong, and she sent Sally flying across the little room. She fell across the chair, and lay there for a moment.

She put her hand on her stomach. 'Oh, it hurts,' she said. 'Oh, you wicked girl, Darrell!'

Darrell was still trembling with anger as Sally stumbled out of the room. But almost immediately her rage went, and she was overwhelmed with horror. How could she have been so awful? Sally was queer and silly and horrid, it was true�but she, Darrell, had used her strength against her to hurt her. She had lost her temper all over again, after boasting to her parents only a little while ago that she never would any more.

She ran to the door, eager to go after Sally and beg her pardon. But Sally was nowhere to be seen. Darrell ran back to the common room. No Sally there, either. She sat down in a chair and rubbed her hot forehead. What a scene! How disgusting! Why couldn't she manage her temper?

'What's up?' asked Alicia.

'Oh�nothing much. Sally was a bit difficult, that's all� and I lost my temper,' said Darrell.

idiot!' said Alicia. 'What did you do? Slap her? Give her some broth without any bread?'

Darrell couldn't smile. She felt near tears. What a horrid ending to such a lovely day! After all the excitement and now this sudden row, she felt quite exhausted. She was not all pleased when Emily came up with her sewing.

' I do think your people are nice,' began Emily, and started to chatter in a way she seldom did. How boring! Darrell wanted to tell Emily to be quiet. If she had been Alicia she would�but as a rule she was kinder than the sharp tongued Alicia, and did not like to hurt people's feelings. So she bore with Emily as patiently as she could.

Mary-Lou watched her from the other side of the room. She wanted to come over and join Emily and Darrell. But Gwendoline was pouring out reams of family history to her, and she had to listen. Also she was a little afraid that Darrell might snub her if went across.

Darrell watched for Sally to appear in the common room. Perhaps she could slip over to her then and tell her she was sorry. She was ashamed of herself now, and she could only put it right by telling Sally. Oh, dear! It was awful to have a temper that simply rose up out of the blue, before you even knew it was coming! What could you do with a temper like that?

Sally didn't come back to the common room. Soon the supper-bell went and the girls filed into the dining-room. Darrell looked about for Sally again. But still she wasn't there. This was really very queer.

Miss Potts noticed that there was an empty chair. 'Who's missing?' she said.

'Sally Hope,' said Darrell. 'I last saw her in one of the practice rooms- about an hour ago.'

'Well, go and fetch her,' said Miss Potts, impatiently.

'Oh, she left when I was there,' said Darrell. i don't know where she went to.'

'We'll get on without her then,' said Miss Potts. 'She must have heard the supper-bell.'

The girls chattered about the day they had had. Only Darrell was silent. Was Sally somewhere, very upset ? What could be the matter with her ? Why was she so queer about things? Was she unhappy about something ?

Mary-Lou sniffed loudly. 'Where's your hanky ?' asked Miss Potts. 'Haven't you got one ? Oh, Mary-Lou, you know you must always have one. Go and get one at once. 1 can't bear that sniff of yours.'

Mary-Lou slipped out of the room, and ran up to the dormy. She didn't come back for a little while and Miss Potts became impatient.

'Really ! It seems to take Mary-Lou all evening to find a hanky !'

There came the sound of running steps and the door of the dining-room was flung open. Mary-Lou came in, looking even more scared than usual.

'Miss Potts ! Oh, Miss Potts ! I've found Sally. She's lying on her bed in the dormy, and she's making an awful noise !'

'What sort of noise ?' said Miss Potts, hurriedly getting

up.

' A groaning sort of noise and she keeps holding herself and saying, "Oh, my tummy !"' said poor Mary-Lou, bursting into tears. 'Oh, Miss Potts, do go to her. She wouldn't even speak to me !'

'Girls, get on with your supper,' said Miss Potts, briskly, it sounds as if Sally has eaten too many strawberries and too much ice-cream. Katherine, go and tell Matron, please, and ask her to go up to your dormy.'

She swept out of the room. The girls began talking at once, asking scared Mary-Lou all kinds of questions. Only Darrell still sat silent, a cold fear creeping round her heart.

She had flung Sally across the room, and Sally had fallen over that chair! She must have hurt herself in the stomach then. Darrell remembered how she had said, it hurts.' It wasn't too many strawberries and too much ice-cream. It was Darrell's temper that had caused the trouble!

Darrell couldn't eat any more supper. She slipped off to the common room to be by herself. Surely Sally wasn't much hurt? Just bruised, perhaps. Surely Miss Potts would come in soon and say cheerfully, 'Well, well! Nothing much wrong with Sally after all!'

'Oh, I hope she does, I hope she does,' said poor Darrell, and waited impatiently and anxiously for the sound of Miss Pott's quick footsteps.

16 A BAD TIME FOR DARRELL

THE girls poured into the common room after their supper. They had half an hour before bedtime. They were tired after their exciting day, and some of them were sleepy already.

Alicia looked at Darrell in surprise. 'Why so gloomy?' she said.

'Well�1 was just wondering about Sally,' said Darrell. 'Hoping she wasn't very ill.'

'Why ever should she be?' said Alicia. "Lots of people can't eat strawberries without getting a pain or a rash. One of my brothers is like that.'

Alicia plunged into one of her bits of family history and Darrell listened gratefully. Alicia did not relate stories that glorified herself, as Gwendoline always did�she simply poured out amusing tales of the life she and her brothers led in the holidays at home�and, if Alicia was to be believed, the pranks they got up to were enough to turn any mother's hair completely grey! However, Alicia's mother had not seemed to Darrell to have any grey hairs at all, when she had seen her that day.

The bed-time bell went for the first-and second-formers. They put away their things at once. Matron did not show much patience with laggards at bed-time. There were too many girls to hustle into bed for that!

Miss Potts had not come back. Darrell felt her anxiety creeping over her again. Perhaps Matron would know. She would ask her about Sally as soon as she saw her hovering around the bathrooms.

But Matron wasn't there. Mam'zelle was there instead, beaming placidly at everyone, still in a good temper because of the lovely day they had all had.

'Hallo, Mam'zelle! Where's Matron?' asked Alicia in surprise.

'Looking after Sally Hope,' said Mam'zelle. 'Ah, the poor child�she is in great pain.'

Darrell's heart sank, is she�is she in the San. then?' she asked. Girls who were ill were always put in the San., which consisted of a good many nice rooms above the Head Mistress's own suite of rooms. There was also a special matron for the San itself, a smiling, but strict hospital nurse, who was extremely efficient not only at dealing with any kind of school accident or illness, but also at dealing with any kind of girl!

'Yes. Of course she is in the San. She is very ill,' said Mam'zelle. Then, with her love of exaggerating, she added a sentence or two that sent Darrell's heart down into her boots. 'It is her poor tommy�no, tummy is what you say, n 'est ce pas. She has a big pain there.'

'Oh,' said Darrell. 'Do they�do they know what has caused the pain, Mam'zelle? Has Sally hurt herself?'

Mam'zelle didn't know. 'All I know is that it is not the strawberries and the ice-cream,' she said. 'Because Sally did not have any. She has told Matron that.'

That made it all the more certain, then, that it must have been Darrell's rough push and the fall that followed! Poor Darrell! She felt so miserable that Mam'zelle's sharp eyes noticed her downcast face and she began to wonder if here was another girl about to be ill!

"You feel all right, my little Darrell?' she said, in a sympathetic voice.

'Oh, yes, thank you,' said Darrell, startled, i'm just� well, just tired, I suppose.

Darrell hardly slept at all that night. She was so horrified at what had happened. How could she have lost her temper so thoroughly, how could she have yelled at Sally like that and how could she have sent her flying across the room? She, Darrell, was wicked! It was true that Sally was queer and annoying, but that was no excuse for Darrell's behaviour.

Now Sally was ill and in pain. Had she said anything about Darrell losing her temper? Darrell felt herself growing cold as she thought of what Miss Grayling might do if she heard.

'She would hear about my slapping Gwendoline too, and she would send for me and tell me I was a failure already,' thought Darrell. 'Oh, Sally, Sally, do get better by tomorrow! Then I'll tell you I'm terribly sorry, and I'll try to make it up to you all I can.'

She fell asleep at last, and was very tired when the dressing-bell rang for them all to get up. Her first thought was Sally. She saw the girl's empty bed and shivered. How she hoped Sally would be back there that night!

She ran downstairs before any one else. She saw Miss Potts and went to her. 'Please,' she said, 'how is Sally?'

Miss Potts thought what a kind child Darrell was. 'She's not at all well, I'm afraid,' she said. 'The doctor is still doubtful about what exactly is the matter. But she really seems rather ill, poor child. It was so sudden, too�she seemed all right yesterday.'

Darrell turned away, miserable. Yes, Sally had been all right till she had fallen across that chair. She knew what was the matter�but nobody else did! It was plain that Sally hadn't told anyone of the quarrel.

It was Sunday. Darrell prayed hard for Sally all the time she was in church. She felt very guilty and ashamed. She also felt very much afraid. She felt that she ought to tell Miss Potts or Matron about the quarrel and how she had flung poor Sally across the room�but she was too frightened to tell!

Too frightened! Darrell was so fearless in the usual way that it was something strange and queer to her to feel afraid. But she was afraid. Supposing Sally was very very ill! Supposing�just supposing she didn't get better! Supposing Darrell's temper caused all that!

She couldn't, couldn't tell anyone, because they would think her so wicked, and she would disgrace her mother and father. People would say "That's the girl whose temper caused her to be expelled from Malory Towers! You know she made another girl terribly ill!"

It would be awful to be sent away from Malory Towers in disgrace. She would never get over it. But she was sure Miss Grayling wouldn't keep her another day if she knew

that she had caused Sally's illness and pain.

'I can't tell anyone, I can't !' thought poor Darrell. i'm afraid of letting people know, because of what would happen to me, and how it would make Mother and Daddy feel. I'm a coward, but I daren't tell. I never knew 1 was a coward before!'

She suddenly thought of Mary-Lou, whom she had so often called a coward. Poor Mary-Lou�now she knew how she felt when she was afraid of something. It was a horrible feeling. You couldn't get away from it. How could she have sneered at Mary-Lou and taunted her? It was bad enough to feel afraid of something without being taunted about it.

Darrell felt very sad and very humble. She had started the term in such high hopes and spirits. She was going to be top! She was going to shine in everything and make her parents proud of her! She was going to find a fine girl for a friend. And she hadn't done any of those things.

She had got a low place in the form. She hadn't found herself a friend. She had been hateful to little Mary-Lou who had so shyly and eagerly offered her friendship�and now she had done something wicked and didn't dare to say anything about it!

Darrell was certainly down in the dumps that day and nobody could rouse her out of them. Miss Potts wondered if she was sickening for something and kept a sharp eye on her. Mary-Lou was worried, and hovered round hoping to be able to do something. And for once Darrell was kind to her and did not snap at her to send her away. She felt grateful for Mary-Lou's liking and sympathy.

Two doctors came to see Sally that day! The news went round North Tower House. 'She's fearfully ill! But it's nothing infectious so we're not in quarantine. Poor Sally. Tessie says she had to go and see the Head this morning and she heard Sally groaning in the San. rooms above!'

How Darrell wished her mother was there that day! But she couldn't remember where her parents had gone to, though they had told her. She had forgotten in the excitement of yesterday. She sat down in a rocky corner by the sea, and thought things out.

She couldn't be a coward any longer, because it would be worse to stay at Malory Towers and know she was a coward than it would be to leave, knowing she had been brave enough to own up. But whom should she tell?

i'd better write and tell Sally's mother," she thought. "She's the one that's nearest to Sally. I'll write and tell her all about the quarrel, and how it happened and everything. I'll have to tell her, too, how Sally says she hasn't got a sister. That's all very queer, but maybe Mrs. Hope will understand it. Then Mrs. Hope can do what she likes�tell the Head, I expect! Oh, dear! But I shall feel better when it's done.'

She left her seat by the sea and went back to North Tower. She got out her writing pad and began to write. It was not an easy letter to compose, but Darrell always found writing easy, and she poured out everything to Mrs. Hope� about the quarrel and what led up to it, and all about Sally not wanting to speak to Mrs. Rivers, and how unhappy she seemed to be. She was quite surprised to find how much she seemed to know about Sally!

She felt better immediately she had finished the letter. She didn't read it through, but stuck a stamp on the envelope and posted it at once. Mrs. Hope would get it the very next morning!

Then another rumour ran through North Tower. 'Sally's taken a turn for the worse! A specialist is coming to see her! Her people have been telegraphed for! They're coming tomorrow!'

Darrell could not eat anything at all that day. It was the longest day she had ever known. Mary-Lou, scared by Darrell's stricken face, kept close by her�and Darrell welcomed her and felt comforted. Mary-Lou had no idea why Darrell looked so miserable, and didn't dare to ask her. She forgot the many sneers and taunts that Darrell had thrown at her for her weakness and feebleness; she only wanted to help.

The other girls did not notice anything much. They went for walks, bathed, lay about in the sun, and had a happy, lazy Sunday. Miss Potts still kept an eye on Darrell. What could be the matter with her? Was it Sally's illness that was worrying her? No, it couldn't be. She hadn't been at all friendly with Sally. Nobody had, for that matter.

Bed-time came at last. Matron had no more news of Sally, except that she was no better. No one was allowed to see her, of course. Matron had been quite shocked because Darrrell had begged to go and see her for a moment or two!

Darrell lay in bed, thinking. The third- and fourth-formers came up to bed. The fifth-formers came and then the sixth. Then Matron, Mam'zelle and Miss Potts retired too, and Darrell heard lights clicking out. It was late. It was dark outside. Everyone was asleep except Darrell.

'I simply can't lie here thinking and thinking!' said Darrell to herself desperately, and she flung off her covers, i shall go mad ! I shall get up and go into the Court! The roses will smell sweet there, and I shall get cool and perhaps be able to go to sleep!'

She slipped on her dressing-gown and went quietly out of the room. Nobody stirred. She crept down the wide stairs and out into the Court. And then, in the stilless of the night, she heard the sound of a car purring up the hill to Malory Towers! It stopped outside. Whoever could it be, so late at night?

Darrell glanced up at the windows of the San. There

were bright lights there. Sally couldn't be asleep, or the lights would be dimmed. What was going on now? Oh, dear, if only she knew!

Darrell slipped through the archway that led from the Court to the drive. Yes, a car stood there, a dark shape, silent now and empty. Whoever had come in it had gone into Malory Towers. Darrell crept round to the door that led into the Head's building. Someone had left it open! She pushed it and went inside. Now she would find out what was happening!

17 A WONDERFUL SURPRISE

THERE was a little light burning in the hall. The Head Mistress's rooms were in darkness. She was evidently upstairs in the San. Darrell crept upstairs. There were bright lights everywhere, and a good deal of bustle. What was happening to poor Sally?

Darrell couldn't understand what was going on. Sally must be very ill to have so many people bothering about her like this in the middle of the night! Darrell's heart felt very heavy. She didn't dare to go any farther in case someone ' saw her. But she felt she must stay where she was. She j must get to know some thing! She couldn't possibly go back to bed without finding out what was happening. If only, only she could help!

She sat down on a window-seat, and drew the heavy curtains round her, straining her ears to catch a word from any of the people bustling about from one of the San. rooms to another. That was Matron's voice�the matron of North Tower! And that was the other Matron's voice, very crisp and sharp, giving an order. And that was a man's voice.

�

�

Darrell held her breath and listened to the mysterious voices and noises, but she couldn't hear a word.

Oh, what would they all say if they knew that she, hot-tempered, wicked little Darrell was at the bottom of all this fuss and worry and bother? Darrell pulled the curtain round her head and wept great tears that soaked into the heavy silk.

She sat there for about half an hour. Then, quite suddenly, and without meaning to , she fell fast asleep ! Lost in the heavy curtains, she slept, tired out.

She did not know how long she slept. She awoke again later, hearing noises. She sat up, wondering where in the wide world she was! Then she remembered. Of course�she was near the San. She had come to find out what was happening to Sally, j At once all the fear and anxiety closed round her once again. She felt lonely and lost, and wanted her mother. She ! clutched the curtains round her as she heard voices coming near. Was it doctors? Nurses? Perhaps the Head Mistress herself?

| And then Darrell's heart almost stopped beating! Some one was going by the window-seat where she sat, someone who spoke in a voice she knew and loved!

'She'll be all right,' said the voice. 'Just got her nicely in time! Now...'

i Darrell sat as if she was turned to stone, listening to that well-known voice! It couldn't be! It couldn't be! It couldn't be her own father's voice!

She suddenly found herself able to move. She thrust the curtains aside and looked between them. She saw her father walking along with the Matron, talking earnestly. Yes, it was, it really was her father.

'DADDY!' squealed Darrell, forgetting absolutely everything except the fact that there was her father, whom

she thought was miles away, walking along the passage just near her. 'Daddy! Oh, Daddy! Stop, here's Darrell!'

Her father stopped as if he was shot! He couldn't believe his ears! Darrell leapt down from the window-seat and flung herself on him like a small thunderbolt. She clung to him and began to cry.

'What's the matter, darling?' said her father, amazed. 'Why are you here?'

Miss Grayling came up, astonished and rather disapprov�ing. 'Darrell! What are you here for, child? Mr. Rivers, you had better come into my room downstairs, please.'

Carrying Darrell in his arms, her father followed Miss Grayling downstairs, with Matron clucking behind like an astonished hen. Darrell clung to her father as if she would never let him go. Was she dreaming? Could it be that this was really her own father, in the middle of the night? Darrell couldn't imagine how or why he was there, but it was enough that he was.

He sat down in a big armchair with Darrell on his knees. Matron disappeared. Only Miss Grayling was there, and she looked in a very puzzled manner at Darrell and her father. There was something here she didn't understand.

'You cry all you want to, then tell me what's the matter,' said Darrell's father. 'Why, we only saw you yesterday, and you were so happy! Never mind, I'm here, and I'll put everything right for you.'

'You can't!' wept Darrell. 'I've been wicked ! It was my temper again. Oh, Daddy, it's all my fault that Sally is so ill!'

'My dear child, what are you talking about?' said her father, puzzled. Darrell snuggled her head into his chest and began to feel much better. Daddy could always put things right. So could Mother. What a blessing he was here tonight.

Then she raised her head, and spoke in surprise. 'But Daddy�why are you here? I thought you were miles away!'

'Well, I was,' said Mr. Rivers. 'But Miss Grayling telephoned to me to say that little Sally Hope had appendicitis and the surgeon they usually had was ill, so could I come straight along and do the operation. So of course I did! 1 hopped into the car, drove here, found everything ready, did the little operation, and here I am! And Sally will be quite all right and back again in school in about two weeks' time!'

A great load fell away from Darrell's heart. She could almost feel it rolling away. Why, appendicitis was some-thing anyone might have! Her father was always curing appendicitis! She spoke anxiously.

'Daddy�appendicitis couldn't be caused by a push� or a fall�could it?'

'Good gracious, no!' said her father. 'Sally's had this little affair coming on for some time, there's no doubt about that. All the term and before that, I should think. But what makes you ask that question?'

Then everything came pouring out�how funny and queer and rude Sally had been�how Darrell had lost her temper- the violent push, the fall�everything!

'And I worried and worried and worried,' said Darrell, with a sob. 'I thought if Miss Grayling knew, she would send me away from Malory Towers, and you and Mother would be ashamed of me, and I couldn't sleep, so I got up and...'

'What a silly little girl! 'said her father, and kissed the top of her head. 'Perhaps we had better take you away from Malory Towers ourselves, and have you at home, if you are going to think such silly things, Darrell!'

'Oh, no�don't do that! I love being here!' said Darrell. 'Oh, Daddy�if you knew how different I feel now that I know Sally was going to be ill, anyhow�it wasn't anything to do with me, after all. But oh, dear�I wrote to Mrs. Hope about it! What will she think?'

Then she had to tell all about the letter and what she had said. Her father and Miss Grayling were puzzled to hear how Sally had said she hadn't a baby sister.

'Something queer there that must be sorted out,' said Mr. Rivers to Miss Grayling. 'Might prevent her from getting better as quickly as she ought to. When did you say Mr. and Mrs. Hope were coming?'

'Tomorrow,' said Miss Grayling. 'I'll see them and explain. Now, Mr. Rivers�would you like us to give you a bed here tonight? It's so late.'

'Oh, no!' said Mr. Rivers. 'I'm used to driving out late at night. I'll go back, thank you, And Darrell must go to bed. Now don't worry any more, darling�things are all right-and your little push didn't do Sally any harm, though probably the fall made her feel her bad tummy a little bit more. I expect she felt ill all day, poor child.'

'It wasn't a little push I gave her. It was a big one,' said Darrell.

'It makes me sad to think I've handed on to you the temper I've got myself,' said her father. Darrell tightened her arms around his neck.

'Don't worry. I'll get on top of it!' she said. 'I'll soon do what you do�keep it for worth-while things!'

'Well, good night, darling,' said her father, and kissed her. 'Go and see Sally as soon as you're allowed to. I think you'll feel better then!'

'I feel better now!' said Darrell, and slipped off his knee. Her eyes were red but she was smiling. How different she felt! All her worry was gone.

Her father went off in the darkness in his car. Miss Grayling herself took Darrell to bed and tucked her in. Darrell fell asleep even before the Head Mistress was out of the

room.

And, in the San. Sally slept too, her pain gone. Matron watched over her, pleased to hear her steady, regular breath�ing. What a deft, quick surgeon Darrell's father was�only thirteen minutes to do the operation! Matron thought how lucky it was that he had been near enough to come.

Next morning dawned fair and bright. Darrell awoke when the dressing-bell went, tired but happy again. She lay and thought for half a minute. Her heart was full of thankfulness. Sally would be all right. Her father had said so. And he had said that Darrell hadn't had anything to do with her illness. All her worry had been for nothing. No�not quite for nothing. It had made a deep impression on her. It wouldn't be nearly so difficult to keep her temper next time. She had had a jolly good lesson!

i wish I could do something to show I'm grateful and thankful it's all turned out like this,' thought Darrell, jumping out of bed. 'But there's nothing 1 can do. I wonder how Sally is today.'

Sally was getting on very well indeed. When she heard that her mother and father were coming to see her she could hardly believe her ears.

'But is Mother coming?' she asked, time and again. 'Are you sure Mother's coming? But she couldn't come last Saturday. Is she really coming?'

Miss Grayling received Mr. and Mrs. Hope in her big drawing-room. Mr. Hope was a big burly man, looking anxious. Mrs. Hope was a delicate-looking woman with a sweet face.

'Sally is not quite ready for you to see her yet,' said Miss Grayling, i am so glad to be able to tell you that the operation was very successful and she is getting along wonderfully well. Mr. Rivers, the surgeon, happened to be at a hotel not far off, and we got him to do it. He is the father of one of our

girls here, Darrell Rivers.'

'Oh�Darrell Rivers,' said Mrs. Hope, and she took out a letter from her bag. i had such a queer letter from her today, Miss Grayling. Please read it. She appears to think she was the cause of Sally's illness, but of course she wasn't. But the other things she says are very worrying to me. Could we have Darrell in to speak to us, before I see Sally, do you think?'

Miss Grayling read the letter and looked grave. 'There is something puzzling here,' she said. 'Why should Sally keep saying she has no sister, when she knows she has?'

'I don't know,' said Mrs. Hope, sadly. 'But Sally has been queer ever since Baby Daphne came. She won't look at her or speak to her�and once, when she didn't know 1 was looking, I saw her pinch poor Daphne cruelly. And Sally is not a cruel child.'

'Have you any other children?' asked Miss Grayling. Mrs. Hope shook her head.

'No,' she said. 'Sally was twelve when Daphne was born. She had been the only child for all that time. I thought she would be so pleased to have a sister. We haven't spoilt Sally, you know�but she didn't have to share us with anyone till Daphne came�and sometimes I wondered if she was� well�jealous.'

'Of course she was!' said Miss Grayling at once. 'I should think, Mrs. Hope, that Sally is very much attached to you, and resented sharing your love when the baby came. She probably didn't like to tell you so, in case you thought badly of her.'

'Oh, she never said a word to me!' said Mrs. Hope. 'She just changed, that's all. She wasn't merry and gay any more, she didn't come to us and love us as she used to do, and she seemed to hate the baby. I thought it would blow over. And then, when it didn't, I and my husband thought it would be best if Sally came to boarding school, because I wasn't very well at the time, and it was all I could do to look after the baby, without having to cope with Sally too. We did it for the best.'

'Yes, I see,' said Miss Grayling, thoughtfully. 'But, from Sally's point of view it must have seemed that you didn't want her any more, but had sent her away to make room for a baby who was taking up all your care and attention. Mrs. Hope, this jealousy of a much younger child is very common and very natural, and you mustn't blame Sally for it. Neither must you let it grow. If only you can make Sally feel you love her as much as ever you did it will be quite all right. Now�shall we have Darrell in?'

Darrell was sent for. She came in nervously, scared of what Mrs. Hope might say. But she was soon put at her ease, and she told all she knew.

Miss Grayling turned to Mrs. Hope, i think it would be a good idea if we let Darrell go in to see Sally for a few minutes before you do,' she said. 'We will let her tell Sally that you have come�and we will let her say that you have left the baby behind in order to hurry as fast as possible to Sally. Will you do that, Darrell?'

Darrell nodded. She had suddenly seen all Sally's trouble! Why, she was jealous of her little baby sister! So jealous that she wouldn't even admit she had got one. Sally didn't know how lucky she was !

'I'll tell her,' she said, eagerly. 'I'll do what I can too, when you've gone, to make Sally think it's fun to have a sister. I wanted to do something�and I shall love to do that!'

DARRELL went to the San. upstairs. She had a little note with her for Matron from Miss Grayling. 'Please allow Darrell to see Sally for a few minutes before her mother comes.'

Matron, surprised and not very pleased, opened the door to let Darrell in. Darrell tiptoed in. It was a pleasant room, with three white beds in it, and a lovely view from the big windows. Everything was creamy white and spot�lessly clean. In the end bed lay Sally, white but bright-eyed.

'Hallo, Sally,' said Darrell. 'I've been so worried about you. Are you better? Did my father make you better?'

'Yes. I do like him. He was so kind,' said Sally. 'I did feel so awful all Saturday, Darrell. But I couldn't tell anyone, could I? 1 couldn't spoil the day.'

'I think you're very brave,' said Darrell. i say�guess who's here to see you?'

'Not my mother?' said Sally, her eyes shining. Darrell nodded. 'Yes. And your father too. And do you know, Sally, your mother has left behind your little baby sister, so that she could come more quickly to see you? Fancy that! She must think an awful lot of you, because usually mothers can't bear to leave babies when they're small.'

Sally seemed to have forgotten that she had told Darrell she had no sister. She reached out for Darrell's hand. 'Hasn't she brought Baby?' she whispered. 'Did she leave her behind? Really and truly?'

'Yes, poor little thing,' said Darrell. 'She must be feeling lonely! I've got a little sister, too. It's lovely to have a sister.

Mine looks up to me no end and thinks I'm wonderful. I expect yours will, too."

Sally's ideas of sisters underwent a sudden change. Things seemed suddenly to fall into their proper places. She smiled gratefully at Darrell. 'You'll come and see me when you can, won't you?' she said. 'And don't say anything about� about�all my silliness, will you? To the others, I mean.'

'Of course not. It wasn't silliness. It was just a mistake on your part,' said Darrell. 'Why, anyone could see by giving one look at your mother that she's a proper mother�I mean the kind that would always love you, however many children she had, or whatever you did. I think she's a darling.'

'So do I,' said Sally, with a sigh. 'I'm sorry I was such a beast to you, Darrell.'

'And I can't tell you how sorry 1 am for having shoved you like that when you had such a pain in your tummy,' said Darrell.

'Did you shove me?' said Sally. 'I've forgotten. Look, what's Matron saying?'

Matron was beckoning for Darrell to come away. Mr. and Mrs. Hope were outside the door. Darrell said a hurried good-bye and tiptoed out. Mr. and Mrs. Hope went in, and Darrell heard Sally's low cry of joy as she saw her mother.

Darrell skipped happily down the stairs and through the hall into the Court. She ran to the building in which her own classroom was. The bell was just going for the ending of a lesson.

Darrell slipped into the first-form classroom. The girls looked up at her.

'Where have you been? You've been ages! You've missed half of maths., lucky pig.'

'I've been to see Sally,' said Darrell, importantly.

'Fibber! No one is allowed to see her yet,' said Irene.

'Well, I have. And she says my father has cured her pain and made her much better,' said Darrell, proud to have such a father. 'He came in the night. I saw him.'

'Darrell Rivers, you're making it all up,' said Alicia.

'No, honestly I'm not. It's all true,' said Darrell. i saw Mr. and Mrs. Hope too, and they're seeing Sally now. They are staying the night with Miss Grayling and going back tomorrow.'

'And has dear Sally found out yet whether she has a baby sister or not?' drawled Gwendoline.

Darrell felt a hot flame of temper rise up but she choked it down at once. 'That's no business of yours�and it's a pity you didn't have about six older sisters to sit on you hard and squash you flat,' said Darrell. 'You'd have been a bit nicer then. But probably only a bit.'

'Shhhhh! Mam'zelle coming!' hissed the girl at the door, and in came Mam'zelle, rather cross this morning because the third form had just proved extraordinarily stupid. Darrell didn't mind how cross Mam'zelle or Miss Potts were that day. She kept thinking of Sally's happiness. She wondered how she was getting on.

Sally and her mother and father were happy together. The curious wall that Sally had built up between herself and her mother had fallen away, because suddenly the jealousy was gone. Her mother had left the baby alone to come to her�and Sally was content. Not that she wanted Baby Daphne to be left with strangers�but it was a sign to her that her mother thought of her and loved her. Funny little Sally!

'We'll come and see you tomorrow before we go home,' said her mother, when Matron said it was time for Mr. and Mrs. Hope to go. 'And, if you badly want me to, I'll stay an extra day, and let Daddy go home without me.'

'No,' said Sally, with a sigh. 'Don't let's leave Baby too long ! And I know Daddy would rather you went with him.

I'm getting better already, Mother. I'll soon be well�and 1 shall feel quite different.'

Then Mrs. Hope knew for certain that Sally was her own, unselfish little girl again, and she was glad. What a good thing Darrell Rivers had written to her as she did! Now everything was all cleared up.

Darrell was allowed to go and see Sally twice a day, long before anyone else was. Sally welcomed her eagerly. Sally was so different now�no longer a prim, closed-up little person, but a friendly, eager girl, ready to talk about her home and her dogs and her garden, asking Darrell about the lessons and the games, if Mam'zelle was cross, and what Miss Potts said, and whether Gwendoline and Mary-Lou were still friends.

'You know, Sally,' said Darrell, "when 1 felt so awfully frightened because I thought I'd injured you and might be sent away from here, I suddenly knew how it must feel to be like Mary-Lou�always scared of everything! And I was sorry I'd teased her so.'

'Let's be nice to Mary-Lou,' said Sally, who, with her strength returning to her, and with Darrell's friendly visits each day, felt that she could be nice even to Gwendoline! 'Tell her I'd like her to come and see me.'

Mary-Lou was overwhelmed by this message. Fancy Sally choosing her for one of her first visitors ! Armed with a big bottle of barley-sugar she went to the San. Sally looked rather pale, but very different. Her eyes were bright, and she smiled. She welcomed Mary-Lou graciously.

They talked, and Mary-Lou blossomed a little. She was not afraid of Sally. She told her all sorts of things. Then she looked worried.

'You know, Sally, I do wish Gwendoline wouldn't keep saying horrid things about Darrell. She keeps trying to make me think that Darrell is playing nasty tricks on me. Or that

Alicia is. My ink-pot was spilt yesterday all over my atlas, and Gwendoline says she's sure Darrell did it, because she saw that Darrell's fingers were all inky that day.'

'As if Darrell would do anything like thatV said Sally- indignantly. 'How can you listen to Gwendoline when she says things like that ?'

i can't stop her,' said Mary-Lou, the scared look coming into her face again. 'You see, she will keep saying that I'm her friend, and she can tell me anything.'

'Are you her friend?' demanded Sally.

'No. Not really. But I don't like telling her I don't want to be,' said Mary-Lou. 'Don't call me a coward. I know I am. But 1 can't help it.'

'Time to go, Mary-Lou," said Matron, coming in. 'Tell Darrell she can come in half an hour's time, and bring a simple game with her Happy Families or something. Not Snap.'

So Darrell came, armed with Happy Families. But the two girls didn't get beyond dealing out the cards. They talked about Mary-Lou and Gwendoline.

'Gwendoline's poisonous,' said Sally. 'She's always talking against you and Alicia, making out you play those rotten tricks on Mary-Lou.'

'I wonder who does them ?' said Darrell. "One of the other Tower girls, do you think? What about Evelyn from West Tower? She's always doing silly, teasing tricks.'

'No. I should think it might be Gwedoline herself' said Sally, looking at the cards in her hand.

Darrell stared at her in surprise. 'Oh, �o,' she said. 'Why, Gwendoline and Mary-Lou are friends.'

'So Gwendoline says. But Mary-Lou says different,' said Sally.

'Yes, but�no one could be so awful as to pretend to be friends with someone and then to play rotten tricks on them all the time!' said Darrell. it would be a disgusting thing to do.'

i think Gwendoline is disgusting!' said Sally, i never could bear her. A real double-faced person who doesn't care tuppence for anyone in the world but herself.'

Darrell looked at Sally. ' I think you're very clever,' she said. 'You seem to know all about people�much more than 1 do. I'm sure you know more about Mary-Lou than I do, already.'

i like Mary-Lou,' said Sally, if only we could get her to be not so scared of everything, she'd be fun.'

'But how can we?' said Darrell shuffling all the cards together absent-mindedly. 'Oh, dear�look what I've done. Never mind, it's more interesting to talk than play cards just now. How can we cure Mary-Lou? I've tried to buck her up and make her ashamed of herself, but it doesn't seem to do any good.'

'Can't you see that she is ashamed of herself already?' said Sally unexpectedly. 'But being ashamed doesn't give her any courage. Nobody can give her pluck except her own self.'

'Well�think of a way to make her give herself pluck!' said Darrell. i bet you can't!'

'I'll think tonight, before I go to sleep,'said Sally. 'And when you come and see me in the morning, I'll have a plan� you see if I haven't!'

19 SALLY'S PLAN

DARRELL went to see Sally at Break as usual the next morning. Sally greeted her eagerly. 'Well, I've thought of something! It's not a frightfully good plan, but it will do as a beginning.'

'What is it?' asked Darrell, thinking how pretty the plain little Sally looked that morning, with colour in her cheeks, and twinkles in her eyes.

'Well, listen. What about you pretending to be in difficulties in the pool, when you get the chance, and yelling out to Mary- Lou to run and get the life-belt quickly and throw it to you?' said Sally. 'If she does that, and feels that she has saved you from going under, she'll be awfully bucked. We all know how to chuck the belt into the water. It would be quite easy for her to do.'

'Yes. It's a good idea,' said Darrell. i might try it out tomorrow. I'll give the tip to the others not to throw it to me, but to let Mary-Lou. At least, I'll tell the people I can trust� not dear Gwendoline, for instance! Do you really think it will help Mary-Lou not to be so scared of things if she does that?'

'Well, it seems to me that Mary-Lou will never be able to face up to things unless she thinks she's got a bit of good sense and courage in her to start with!' said Sally, seriously. 'You can't possibly do anything if you think you can't. But you can do impossible things sometimes if you think you can.'

'How do you know things like that?' asked Darell, in admiration. 'I wish / did!'

'Oh, it's not very difficult really,'said Sally. 'All you do is put yourself into the place of the other person, and feel like them, and then think how you could cure yourself if you were them. That sounds muddled�but I can't very well say exactly what 1 mean. 1 haven't the words.'

'Oh, 1 know what you mean, all right!' said Darrell. 'You do what Mother is always telling me to do�get into somebody else's skin, and feel what they're feeling. But I'm too impatient to do that. I'm too tightly in my own skin! You're not. I think you're clever and kind, Sally.'

Sally went red and looked pleased. She also looked rather shy. 'I'm not clever�and you know I'm not kind, by the way I behaved to Daphne,' she said. 'But it's nice that you think so, anyway! Do you think you can work the idea out all right, Darrell?'

'Oh, yes, I think so,' said Darrell. 'I'll try it tomorrow, when we're in the pool. Mary-Lou has got a bit of a cold and isn't allowed to bathe this week, so she'll be watching by the side. She can easily go and get the life-belt and fling it to me. Won't she be bucked!'

'I guess she's glad she's got a cold this week,' said Sally, with a chuckle. 'She does so hate the water! I bet she'll never learn to swim.'

'It was funny when Matron said Mary-Lou had a cold and wasn't to go in the water,' said Darrell,'because dear Gwendoline immediately began to sniff like anything in class, hoping Miss Potts would report it to Matron, and she would be told too that she mustn't bathe. She's even worse than Mary-Lou at getting into the water !'

'What happened?' asked Sally, with interest. 'Oh, I do wish I was back in school. I'd die of boredom if I hadn't got you to come and tell me things.'

'Well, Miss Potts got angry with Gwendoline's sniffs and sat on her properly,'said Darrell. 'And then Gwendoline said she was sure she had caught Mary-Lou's cold, so Miss Potts sent her to Matron�and Matron gave her a large dose of awful medicine, and was most unsympathetic�and she didn't say Gwendoline wasn't to go into the water, she said the salt in it would probably do her good. And I heard her tell Miss Potts that the only way to take Gwendoline's tales was with a pinch of salt, so she might as well swallow some in the pool!'

Sally laughed heartily. She could just picture Gwen-doline's anger at having medicine for no real reason, and not getting her way after all. Darrell got up.

'There's the bell,' she said. 'I'll come back after lunch and tell you all the tit-bits. 1 haven't told you yet how Alicia and Betty tied thread to a pile of Mam'zelle's books on her desk, and Alicia pulled the thread and jerked off the books under Mam'zelle's very nose ! I thought Irene would die of laughing. You know how she explodes.'

'Oh, yes, do come back and tell me everything,' said Sally, who looked forward to Darrell's visits more than to anything else. 'I do love hearing you talk.'

It was strange how completely different Sally seemed now. When Darrell looked back and remembered the quiet, self-contained, serious person Sally Hope had always appeared, it seemed impossible that she had turned into the laughing, eager, twinkling-eyed girl in the bed�a sensible, kindly girl with a real sense of fun.

'She's not such good fun as Alicia, of course,' said Darrell to herself, 'but she's more trustab\Q, somehow. And she isn't as sharp-tongued, though she's just as clever in what she thinks about people.'

Darrell carefully thought out the plan for tricking Mary- Lou into sudden good sense and a bit of pluck. It should be quite easy. She would tell Alicia and Betty to take the others to the other end of the pool, so that she, Darrell, would be alone in the deep end. Then she would struggle and yell and pretend she had cramp.

'1' 11 yell out to Mary-Lou and shout, "Quick, quick, throw me the life-belt!'" ,' she thought. 'Then surely Mary-Lou will do that, and I'll clutch it and pant and puff, and call out, "Oh, Mary-Lou, you've saved my life!" And if after that Mary-Lou doesn't have a better opinion of herself, it'll be queer. Once she knows she can really do something like that, maybe she'll pull herself together and be able to face up to some of the silly things that scare her!'

It really did seem a very good plan. Darrell let Alicia and Betty into the secret. 'It's really Sally's idea,' said Darrell. it's a very good one, don't you think so?'

'Well�why ever should you want to bother yourselves with that silly little baby of a Mary-Lou?' said Alicia in surprise. 'You'll never make her any better. She's hopeless.'

'But we might make her better,' argued Darrell, rather disappointed with the way that Alicia took the idea.

'Not much chance,' said Alicia, i expect what will happen is that Mary-Lou will be too scared stiff to do a thing, and will simply stand blubbing by the pool and let somebody else run for the life-belt. And that will make her worse than ever, because everyone will despise her.'

'Oh,' said Darrell, feeling damped. 'That would be sickening. Oh, Alicia, I didn't think of that.'

Darrell told Sally what Alicia had said, i quite see what she means,' she said. 'And it might make Mary-Lou worse instead of better, because everyone would laugh at her. You see, Alicia is awfully smart, Sally�we never thought of that, did we?'

'Yes. Alicia is very smart,' said Sally, slowly. 'But sometimes she's a bit too smart, Darrell. She's forgotten something important.'

'What's that?' asked Darrell.

'She's forgotten that Wsyou who are going to struggle and yell for help,' said Sally. 'Everyone knows that Mary- Lou thinks you're wonderful and would do anything in the world for you�if you'd let her. Well, here is something she can do�and will do! You see if I'm not right. Give Mary- Lou a chance, Darrell. Alicia sees her as a weak little cry�baby. But she could be something more than that, for the sake of someone she loved.'

'All right, I'll give her a chance,' said Darrell. 'But I can't help thinking Alicia is right. She really is smart, you know, and can always size people up. 1 wish she wasn't friends with Betty. I wish she was my friend!'

Sally didn't say any more. She played dominoes with Darrell and was rather quiet. Matron came and shooed Darrell away soon after that, and she had to go off to her prep.

i'm going to try out Sally's idea on Mary-Lou,' she told Alicia. 'So you and Betty will take the others off to the shallow end, won't you, when you see Mary-Lou standing by the deep end? Then I'll yell out, and we'll see if Mary- Lou has the nerve to throw me the belt. It's not much to do!'

'It'll be too much for her," said Alicia, rather annoyed that Darrell should still think of going on with the idea after she had poured cold water on it. 'Still, we'll see.'

So, the next afternoon the plan was carried out. The first- formers went chattering down to the pool in their bathing costumes and beach-gowns. Gwendoline went too, looking sulky because the form had teased her unmercifully about her pretended cold!

Mary-Lou had not changed into her bathing-things, and was pleased. She did so hate the water! Darrell called to her. 'You can throw pennies in for me, Mary-Lou, and watch me dive for them in the deep end!'

'All right.' said Mary-Lou, pleased, and put some pennies into her pocket. Her cold was almost better. What a pity! She had so much enjoyed not having to bathe!

Into the water plunged the girls. Some jumped in, some dived in. Only Gwendoline went cautiously down the steps. But even she went in quickly for once, because somebody gave her a push and down she went, spluttering and gasping. And when she arose, angry and indignant, not a single girl was near her. of course, so she had no idea at all who had pushed her. Darrell or Alicia she supposed. Beasts!

Mary-Lou was at the deep end, watching the others. At least, she watched Darrell mostly, admiring the way she swam, cutting the water so cleanly with her strong brown arms, and thrusting through the waves like a small torpedo. Mary-Lou put her hands into her pocket and felt the pennies there. It was nice of Darrell to ask her to throw them in lor her. It was always nice to do anything for Darrell, even if it was only a little thing.

'Come down to the other end and let's have a race!' cried Alicia suddenly. 'Come on, everyone.'

'I'll just stay here for a bit and dive for pennies!' yelled Darrell. 'I'm puffed for racing. I'll get out of your way when you start. Hi, Mary-Lou, have you got the pennies?"

Alicia and Betty, who were the only girls in the plan, watched what would happen. Both girls felt certain that Mary-Lou would weep and remain rooted to the rocks w hen Darrell called out. She wouldn't have the nerve to rush for the life-belt!

The other girls were splashing about, getting into position for the race. Mary-Lou threw a penny into the water and Darrell dived for it.

She brought it up in triumph. 'Throw another, Mary-Lou!' she cried. Splash! In went another penny. Darrell dived again, thinking that now was the time to pretend to be in difficulties. She came up, gasping.

'Help! Help!' she cried. 'I've got cramp! Quick, Mary- Lou, the life-belt, the life belt! Help, help!'

She threw her arms about and struggled, letting herself sink under a little. Mary-Lou stared, absolutely petrified. Alicia nudged Betty.

'Just what I thought,' she said in a low voice. 'Too much of a ninny even to get the life-belt!'

lHELPl' yelled Darrell, and two or three of the other girls, thinking she was really in trouble, swam strongly up the pool.

But somebody else reached Darrell first! There was a resounding splash, and into the water, fully dressed, jumped the scared Mary-Lou, doing her best to remember the few swimming strokes she knew. She managed to reach Darrell, and put out her arms to her, to try and save her.

Darrell, popping her head out of the water for the second time was filled with the utmost amazement to see Mary- Lou's wet head bobbing beside her! She stared as if she couldn't believe her eyes.

'Hold on to me, Darrell, hold on to me!' panted Mary- Lou. 'I'll save you.'

20 WELL DONE, MARY-LOU!

THEN up came the other two or three swimmers and called out sharply. 'What's up, Darrell? Get out of the way, Mary- Lou.'

But Mary-Lou couldn't. She had made her great effort, jumped into the water and swum a few strokes�but now her strength was gone and her clothes were weighing her down. One of the swimmers took her safely to the side, where she clutched a bar, panting, looking anxiously over her shoulder to see if Darrell was safe.

She had apparently quite recovered from the cramp, for she was swimming over to Mary-Lou with strong, quick strokes, her eyes gleaming.

'Mary-Lou! You jumped right in to the water, and you hardly knew how to swim! You're an idiot, but you're the pluckiest idiot ever I knew!' cried Darrell.

Somebody helped the shivering, astonished Mary-Lou out of the pool. Miss Potts came down the cliff at that moment and was amazed to see a fully-dressed and soaking Mary- Lou scrambling out, with girls crowding round her, clapping her on the shoulder and praising her.

'What's happened?' said Miss Potts, in wonder. 'Did Mary-Lou fall in?'

Eager voices told her what had happened. 'She jumped in to save Darrell! Darrell had the cramp and yelled for the life-belt. But Mary-Lou jumped straight in to save her�and she can hardly swim!'

Miss Potts was as astonished as everyone else. Mary- Loul But Mary-Lou screamed if she saw an earwig! What

�

�

an amazing thing.

'Why didn't she throw the life-belt?" asked Alicia.

'It w-w-w-wasn't there,' answered Mary-Lou, her teeth chattering partly from cold and partly from excitement and shock. 'It's g-g-g-gone to be m-m-m-mended. Didn't you know?'

No. Nobody had noticed that it w as gone from its place. So Mary-Lou had not been stupid. She had known the life�belt was not there to save Darrell, and she had done the next best thing�jumped in herself. Well, who would have thought it ?

Miss Potts hurried the shivering Mary-Lou up the cliff. Darrell turned to face Alicia, her eyes shining.

'Well�who was right? Sally or you? Why, Mary-Lou was brave. It isn't as if she liked the water or even knew how to swim properly! She was as brave, no, braver than any of us, because she must have been so afraid !'

Alicia could be generous even when she was proved to be in the wrong. She nodded. 'Yes. She was jolly brave. I never thought she had it in her. But I bet she wouldn't have done it for anyone else but wm!'

Darrell could hardly wait to tell Sally. She rushed to her after tea, her face glowing. 'Sally! Your idea was w�rvellous! Simply wizard. Do you know, there wasn't a life-belt there this afternoon, so Mary-Lou jumped straight into the water with all her clothes on and everything, to try and save me!'

'Gosh!' said Sally, and her face too began to glow. 'I never thought of that�did you? Darrell, that's marvellous. You'll be able to tackle Mary-Lou properly now.'

'What do you mean?" asked Darrell.

'Well�tell her how brave she is, and how no one ever guessed it, and now she knows it herself she'll be able to be brave about lots of other things,' said Sally. 'Easy! Once you can make anyone believe in themselves, they're all right."

'You are a funny, wise person,' said Darrell, admiringly. '1 never think of things like that. All right. I'll do my best, and when Mary-Lou comes to see you. you tell her a few things, too !'

So Mary-Lou, to her enormous surprise and delight, became the heroine of the hour, for soon it had gone all up and down the school how she had jumped into the pool, fully- dressed, to try and save Darrell.

'It's no good you shrinking away into a corner any more, or screaming yourself blue in the face because you've seen a spider!'said Darrell. 'Now we know how brave you are, we shall expect to see a bit more of your bravery !'

'Oh,yes,' said Mary-Lou, beaming. 'I'll try. Now I know I can be brave, it's different. It's when you know you can't be, that things are awful. 1 never, never in my life thought I would dare to jump into the deep end like that�and yet I did ! 1 never even thought about it. I just did it. It wasn't really brave, you know, because I didn't have to screw up my courage or anything'.

The only person who had no word of praise for Mary- Lou was Gwendoline. For one thing she was really jealous of all the fuss made of Mary-Lou. Even the teachers made quite a to-do about it, for one and all realized that this was their one chance of making Mary-Lou realize that she could do things if she wanted to. Gwendoline hated all the fuss� especially as it was Darrell that Mary-Lou had jumped in to save.

'Fancy anyone wanting to do her a good turn !' she thought, remembering the hard slaps she had once had from the angry girl. 'I'd have left her to struggle. Stupid Mary- Lou ! I suppose she will get all conceited now.'

But Mary-Lou didn't. She remained her own rather shy, quiet self, but now she had more confidence, and stood up for herself better. She had been proved and had not been found wanting. She was pleased and proud, though she did not show it, as a girl like Gwendoline would have done.

For one thing she stood up to Gwendoline better, and this annoyed and exasperated Gwendoline intensely. And when Sally came back into school again, as she did in two weeks' time, she too seemed changed, and would stand no nonsense from Gwendoline. She stood up for Mary-Lou, and ticked Gwendoline off in a way that irritated her and made her long to snap at Sally.

The term went on, more and more quickly now. Only three more weeks till the holidays ! Darrell could hardly believe the time had flown by so quickly.

She was working much better now, and twice she had been fifth from the top in her weekly marks. Gwendoline was the only one steadily at the bottom. Even Mary-Lou had crept up a place or two. Darrell wondered how Gwendoline was going to persuade her parents that she was top in everything at the end of the term, when she took home her report. Because her report would certainly show up Gwendoline's appalling work.

Darrell spoke to her one day about it. 'Gwendoline, what will your mother and father say when they see on your report how badly you've done in your form work ?' she asked, curiously.

Gwendoline looked very startled. 'What do you mean� my report ?' she asked.

'Golly, don't you know what reports are ?' asked Darrell, in surprise. 'Look, I'll show you an old one of mine. I've got my last one here, from my old school. I had to bring it with me to show Miss Potts.'

She showed the report to Gwendoline who stared at it in the utmost horror. What ! A list of all the subjects taken, with their marks, and position in form, and comments on the work done! Gwendoline could quite well imagine some of

the comments that would be on hers!

'French. Very backward and lazy.

'Maths. Does not try in the least. Could do with some coaching in the holidays.

'Games. Disgraceful. Has no sense of sportsmanship or team-work at all.'

And so on. Poor Gwendoline. It really had never occurred to her for one single moment that her bad and lazy work would be reported in this fashion to her parents. She sank down in a chair and stared at Darrell.

'But Gwendoline, did you never have a report on your work before ?' asked Darrell, in surprise.

'No,' said the crest-fallen Gwendoline. 'Never. I told you I had never been to school before 1 came here. Only my governess, Miss Winter, taught me�and she never made out reports, of course. She just told Mother how well I was getting on, and Mother believed her. I didn't know I was so backward till I came here.'

'Well, I should think your parents will get a terrific shock when they see your report!' said Darrell, heartlessly. '1 should think it will be the worst one in the school. You'll be sorry you told so many fibs to your mother and Miss Winter at half-term, when you take your report home for the holidays!'

'I shall tear it up!' said Gwendoline, fiercely, feeling that she wouldn't be able to bear the astonishment, dismay and anger of her parents when they saw her report.

'You can't,' said Darrell. 'It goes by post. Ha ha ! I'm jolly glad you'll be shown up at home. Mary-Lou told me some of the idiotic things you told your mother and Miss Winter at half-term. Fancy boasting like that, when you've no more brains than a mouse, and what you have you don't use!'

Gwendoline was speechless. How dare Darrell speak to her like that? And HOW DARE Mary-Lou repeat to the others the things she had overheard her say to her mother at half- term? Nasty, sly, disgusting little meanie! She would jolly well pay her out. She would take her fountain-pen and stamp on it! She would�she would... Oh, there was no end to the things she would do to that beastly, ungrateful Mary-Lou!

'After I've been friends with her, too!' thought Gwendoline, angrily. "There's disloyalty for you! I hate her.'

Then she began to think about her report. She felt afraid when she thought of her father reading it. That was why he had sent her away to school�because he had said she was lazy and vain and too pleased with herself. He had said some horrid things. Gwendoline tried to forget them, but they came back into her mind at odd times.

She could tell what untruths she pleased, she could boast all she liked�but if in her report there were the words 'lazy, unreliable, irresponsible, conceited, stupid'�words she knew she richly deserved�well, her boasts and fibs would all be wasted.

'Only two or three weeks more,' thought Gwendoline, frantically. 'Can I possibly make my report any better in those few weeks? I shall have to try! Why didn't I know there were school reports before? I could have worked a bit harder. Now I shall simply have to SLAVE!'

And, to the intense astonishment of Miss Potts, and the no less intense surprise of Mam'zelle, Gwendoline began to work ! How she worked! She pored over her books. She wrote endless compositions and then rewrote them in her best writing. She was the most attentive one in the class.

'What has happened to Gwendoline?' asked Miss Potts of Mam'zelle. 'I begin to believe she has a few�just a few� brains at last!'

T too,' said Mam'zelle. 'See this French exercise ? Only one mistake! Never has this happened before to Gwendoline. She is turning over a new stalk.'

'New leaf, you mean,' said Miss Potts. 'Well, well, surprising things happen. There's Darrell working much better too�and Sally Hope quite a new child. And Mary- Lou has blossomed out tremendously since she jumped into the pool. But, Gwendoline is really the most surprising one. She wrote me quite a passable composition yesterday, with only six spelling mistakes. Usually she makes at least twenty. I shall be able to put ''Can use her brains "on her report, instead of "Never uses her brains!"

Gwendoline did not enjoy working so hard. Darrell laughed at her, and told the others why there was such a sudden change in the lazy Gwendoline.

'She doesn't want her people to know she told such fibs to them at half-term,' she said. 'Does she, Mary-Lou? That's what comes of boasting, Gwendoline. Sooner or later you have to eat your words.'

Mary-Lou laughed too. She was much bolder nowadays, though only when Darrell or Sally were there. Gwendoline scowled at her. Horrid little turn-coat!

Gwendoline had her chance of paying Mary-Lou out the next day. She went into the common room when there was no one else there�and in Mary-Lou's locker was her precious fountain-pen! Gwendoline saw it at once.

'That's the end of thatV she said, spitefully, and threw it on the floor. She stamped on it hard, and the pen smashed, spilling ink all over the wooden floor!

21 A SHOCK FOR DARRELL

IT was Jean who saw the smashed pen first. She came into the common room to get a book, and stopped short when she saw the ink on the floor, and the bits and pieces of the blue pen.

'Golly!' said Jean. 'Who's done that? What a mean trick!'

Emily and Katherine came in. Jean pointed to the pen. 'Look,' she said. 'There's a nice little bit of spite for you.'

'It's Mary-Lou's pen,' said Katherine, in distress. 'What a mess. Who could have smashed it? It's not an accident.'

Mary-Lou came in with the quiet Violet. When she saw her pen, she stood and wailed aloud. 'Oh! Who's done that? I had it for my birthday from Mother. And now it's all smashed!'

All the girls gathered round. Darrell and Sally and Irene were astonished to see such a silent circle when they came chattering in. They joined it, and were not surprised when Mary-Lou's wails broke out again.

'What will Mother say? She told me to take great care of it if I took it to school.'

Alicia came whistling in, and she too was amazed to see the smashed pen, surrounded by its pool of deep violet ink. What a hateful thing to do to anyone!

'Who did it?' she demanded. 'It ought to be reported to Potty. I bet it's Gwendoline�spiteful little beast.'

'Where is Gwendoline?' asked Katherine. Nobody knew. Actually she was just outside the door, about to come in and pretend to be surprised and disgusted at the broken pen too. But. hearing the angry voices of the girls, her heart failed

her. She stood hesitating and listening.

'Look here,' said Alicia, 'there's one certain way we can find out who did this�and we will too.'

'What's that?' asked Katherine.

'Well, whoever stamped on this pen and smashed it must have got violet ink on the underneath of their shoes,' said Alicia grimly.

'Oh, yes,' said the others. 'Of course!'

'That's clever of you, Alicia,' said Katherine. 'We'll examine every pair every pair of shoes in our North Tower lockers�and when we see violet ink we shall know who did this.'

'I know without looking!' said Darrell's scornful voice. 'Nobody could have done it but Gwendoline. There's no one mean or spiteful enough but her!'

Gwendoline trembled with rage and fright. She took a hasty look at the underneath of her out-door shoes. Yes,they were stained violet ink. Hastily she ran down the passage, ran into the little store-room, took up a bottle of violet ink, and raced to the cloakroom where the shoelockers were. If only she got there in time!

She did, because the others were busy clearing up the mess before going to examine the shoes. Gwendoline smeared some of the violet ink on to the under-sides of one of Darrell's shoes, then threw the bottle into a nearby cup�board. Then she hastily took off her own stained shoes, and stuffed them into the cupboard too. She pulled on a pair of slippers.

She ran out into the Court, and re-appeared at the door of the common room, apparently quite calm and unruffled. Oh, Gwendoline could act very well when it suited her!

'Here's Gwendoline!' cried Alicia. 'Gwendoline, do you know anything about Mary-Lou's pen?'

'Pen? What about her pen?' asked Gwendoline,

innocently.

'Someone's jumped on it and smashed it,' said Sally.

'What a beastly thing to do!' said Gwendoline, putting on a disgusted face. 'Who did it?'

'That's what we want to know,' said Darrell, feeling infuriated with Gwendoline's smug expression. 'And we're going to find out, see!'

'I hope you will,' said Gwendoline. 'Don't glare at me like that, Darrell. / haven't done it! Much more likely you have! I've noticed you've been jealous ever since so much fuss was made of Mary-Lou for jumping into the pool to rescue you!'

Everyone gasped. How could Gwendoline have the cheek to say a thing like that? Darrell began to boil. She felt the familiar red-hot flame rising up in her. Sally saw her face and put her hand on her arm.

'Go slow, old thing,' she said, gently, and Darrell simmered down. But she almost choked in the effort not to rage back at the smiling Gwendoline.

'Gwendoline,' said Katherine, keeping her eyes on the girl's face, 'we think that whoever stamped on this pen must have violet ink on her shoes. So we mean to examine everyone's shoes, and we are sure we shall find the culprit in that way.'

Gwendoline did not change her expression at all. 'That's a very good idea!' she said, warmly. 'A very good idea indeed. I wish I'd thought of it myself. It certainly will tell us who the hateful person is that smashed up poor Mary-Lou's pen.'

Everyone was astonished to hear these words. A little doubt crept into the minds of the girls. Would Gwendoline be so pleased with the idea if she had smashed the pen? Perhaps she didn't do it after all?

'You can look at my shoes first of all, if you like,' said

Gwendoline, and she turned up first one foot and then another. There was no smear of ink on them, of course.

'We shall have to examine the shoes in the lockers too," said Katherine. 'But first, will everyone please turn up their feet for us to see?'

Everyone did, but no one had inky marks. Then, in a solemn group, the first-formers set off for the cloakroom in which their shoe-lockers were kept.

Gwendoline's shoes were examined first, because Katherine, like the rest felt that her shoes were more likely to be marked with ink than anyone else's. But they were not.

It was one of Darrell's shoes that was smeared with the bright-coloured ink! Katherine pulled it out, and then stared at it in the greatest amazement and horror. She held it out in silence to Darrell.

'It's�it's your shoe!' she said. 'Oh, Darrell!'

Darrell stared at the inky shoe speechlessly. She looked round at the silent girls beside her. Some of them turned away their eyes. Alicia met hers with a hard look.

'Well, well, who would have guessed it was our straight-forward Darrell?' said Alicia, flippantly. '1 wouldn't have thought it of you, Darrell.'

She turned away with a look of disgust. Darrell caught hold of her arm.

'Alicia! You surely don't think/smashed the pen! I didn't, I tell you, I didn't! 1 would never dream of doing such a hateful thing. Oh, Alicia�how could you think I'd do it?"

'Well�you can't deny your shoe is inky,' said Alicia. 'You've got a dreadful temper, Darrell, and I've no doubt that in a fit of spite you stamped on Mary-Lou's pen. Don't ask me why! I haven't a temper like yours.'

'But Alicia�I'm not spiteful!' cried Darrell. 'You know I'm not. Alicia, I thought you were my friend! You and Betty always let me come with you. You can't believe a thing like this about a friend of yours.'

'You're no friend of mine,' said Alicia, and swung out of the room.

'There's some mistake!' said Darrell, wildly. 'Oh, don't believe 1 did it, please, don't believe it!'

7 don't believe you did it!' said Mary-Lou with tears running down her cheeks. She slipped her arm through Darrell's. 'I know you didn't. I'll stick by you, Darrell!'

'And so will I, of course,' said Sally's soft voice, i can't believe you did it, Darrell, either.'

Darrell was so glad to have two friends out of the stony- eyed girls around that she could almost have wept. Sally took her out of the cloakroom. Katherine looked round at the others. Her face was puzzled and dismayed.

'I can't believe it's Darrell either,' she said. 'But�1 suppose�until it's proved differently we'll have to think of her as the culprit. It's a pity, because we've all liked Darrell.'

'I never did,' said Gwendoline's malicious voice. T always thought she was capable of any mean trick, with that temper of hers.'

'Shut up," said Jean, roughly, and Gwendoline shut up, well satisfied with what she had said and done.

Sally and Mary-Lou were good friends to Darrell then. They stuck by her, helped her, and stoutly defended her. Mary-Lou was openly defiant to Gwendoline. But it was all very unpleasant, and though no one had suggested a punishment for the smashing of the pen, it was punishment enough to have cool looks and cold voices always around.

Mary-Lou was very worried about the matter. It was all because of her pen that Darrell had got into this trouble. But she knew that it couldn't be Darrell. Like Sally, she had great faith in Darrell's natural honesty and kindness, and she was certain she could never do a mean trick to any one.

Well, then, who could have done it? It must have been someone with a spite against both Mary-Lou and Darrell, and that person must be Gwendoline. Therefore, Gwendoline must have smeared Darrells' shoes with the ink!

But it also followed that Gwendoline's own shoes must have been inky too�and yet, when she showed them to the girls, they had been quite free from ink.

May-Lou lay in bed one night and frowned over the problem. How could it have been done? Was Gwendoline there when they had planned to examine the shoes? No, she wasn't.

But she might have been listening outside! And she would have had time to rush to the shoe-lockers, smear Darrell's shoes with ink, and take off her own before sauntering back to the common room and joining in the conversation!

Mary-Lou sat up in excitement. She was suddenly sure that that was what had happened. She began to shake a little, as she always did when she was frightened or excited. Where could Gwendoline have hidden her shoes? Somewhere near the shoe-lockers, anyway. Would she have taken them away and hidden them in a safer place? Or might they still be there?

It was very late and very dark. Everyone had gone to bed long ago. Mary-Lou wondered if she dared to go down to the cloakroom and have a look round. She so badly wanted this hateful affair to be cleared up.

But she was so afraid of the dark! Still, she had been afraid of the water too, till she had jumped in to save Darrell. Perhaps she wouldn't be afraid of the dark either, if it was to help Darrell. She would try and see.

Mary-Lou crept out of bed. She didn't put on a dressing-gown. She simply didn't think of it. She crept down the room and out of the door. Thank goodness there was a dim light shining in the passage!

�

Marv-Lou crept down the stairs

Down the passage she went, to the stairs, and down the stairs to the rooms below. She made her way to the cloakrooms. Oh. dear, they were in pitch-darkness. Mary- Lou felt a cold shiver creeping down her back. She was frightened. In a moment she would scream. She knew she would!

'This is for Darrell! I'm doing something for somebody else and it's very important,' she said to herself, as firmly as she could. 'I shan't scream. But oh, where's the switch?'

She found it and pressed it down. At once the light came on and the cloakroom could be seen clearly. Mary-Lou drew a deep breath. Now it was all right. She wasn't in the dark any more. She felt very proud of herself for not screaming when she had so badly wanted to.

She looked at the lockers. That was Gwendoline's over there. She went to it and took out all the shoes. No�not one was inky. Now�where could inky ones be hidden?

22 THE END OF THE TERM

MARY-LOU caught sight of the little cupboard nearby. She knew what was kept there. Old balls, an old racket or two, split gym shoes and all kinds of rubbish. Gwendoline's shoes might be there! She opened the cupboard door cautiously, afraid that a spider or earwig might come out.

She peered into the dusty rubbish, and poked it about with her finger. She pulled at an old racket�and something fell with a thud.

Mary-Lou wondered if the noise had awakened anyone and she held her breath, shaking. But no one seemed to have heard. She began to poke about again.

She found Gwendoline's shoes! She found the bottle of violet ink! That was what had fallen down with a thud! Mary- Lou looked at the bottle, and knew what Gwendoline had used it for. She looked at the shoes�and there, on the right- hand one was a broad violet mark!

With trembling hands Mary-Lou looked at the name inside the shoe again, just to make sure. Yes�there was the name, written in Miss Winter's small printing�Gwendoline Lacey.

'So it was Gwendoline! It was\ 1 knew it wasn't Darrell!' thought Mary-Lou, joyfully. 'I'll go straight back and wake the others. I'll tell them at once. Well�no, I won't. Perhaps Katherine would be cross if she knew I'd gone snooping round at night.'

Mary-Lou took the bottle of ink, and the shoes. She clicked off the light and stood in darkness. But did she mind? Not a bit. She didn't once think of the black darkness as she sped upstairs. Her mind was full of her grand discovery.

Darrell hadn't done it! Darrell hadn't done it!

Mary-Lou was awake first in the morning. She went to (Catherine's bed and shook the surprised head-girl. 'Wake up! I've something important to tell you! Wake all the others.'

The others awoke when they heard the disturbance, and sat up in bed, rubbing their eyes. Mary-Lou stood in front of the beds, and waved Gwendoline's shoes dramatically.

'Look! I've found the real inky shoes! And I've found with them a bottle of violet ink! See? The person who really smashed my pen hid her own shoes and smeared Darrell's with this ink to make it seem as if she 'd done it!'

'But whose shoes are they?' asked Katherine, in amazement. 'And where did you get them?'

'I crept downstairs in the dark last night, and hunted in the cloakroom,' said Mary-Lou triumphantly. Everyone gaped in surprise. Mary-Lou creeping down in the dark! Why, she was terrified of the dark, everyone knew that!

T found the shoes and the bottle in the cupboard there,' said Mary-Lou. 'And shall I tell you the name written inside? No, I won't. Have a look round the room, all of you�and you'll see whose name is written in these shoes�you can tell by her face!'

It was true. Gwendoline's face was red with shame and horror. She stared at Mary-Lou in misery and anger. So she had been found out after all! Why hadn't she taken those shoes and the bottle and thrown them into the sea!

'It's Gwendoline!' said the girls, in hushed voices, staring at the red-faced girl in disgust and horror. And this time Gwendoline did not attempt to deny anything. She lay dow n in bed with her face hidden in the pillow.

Katherine examined the shoes and the bottle. Then she walked up to Darrell's bed and held out her hand.

' Darrell. I apologize to you for thinking for one moment it was you. I didn't really�but there seemed nothing else to

think. I do beg your pardon.'

'Oh �it's all right,' said Darrell, her face radiant. 'It's quite all right! I have felt pretty awful�but I did have Mary- Lou and Sally sticking up for me. Gwendoline won't have anyone!'

One by one the girls begged Darrell's pardon. Alicia was a little stiff about it, for she felt really ashamed of the hard words she had said. But then, Alicia was hard. She had a good many lessons to learn before she could lose her hardness and gain in sympathy and understanding of others.

i'd like to be friends again,' she said, awkwardly. 'You come along with Betty and me as you did before, won't you?'

'Well,' said Darrell, looking round at Sally's steadfast little lace beside her, 'well�I think if you don't mind, I'll stick to Sally and Mary-Lou. I wasn't always nice to them, but they did stick by me when I was in trouble�and they're my real friends now!'

'Oh!' said Mary-Lou, her face glowing. 'Thank you, Darrell!'

Sally said nothing, but Darrell felt a delighted pinch just above her elbow. She turned and smiled. She felt very happy. Now everything would be all right again till the end of the term. Good!

She saw Gwendoline lying face downwards on her bed. She was crying bitterly. In the gladness of her heart Darrell could not bear to see even her enemy in misery. She went over to Gwedoline and shook her, but not unkindly.

'Gwendoline! I shan't say a word about this to any one and neither will the others if I ask them not to. But you've got to buy Mary-Lou a lovely pen in return for the one you smashed. See?'

'Yes,'said Gwendoline's muffled voice. 'I will.'

And that was all that anyone got out of Gwendoline.

She could not say she was sorry. She could not even say a few ashamed words when she gave Mary-Lou a really magnificent fountain-pen she had bought. She was weaker than Mary�Lou ever was, for she hadn't even the strength to conquer herself.

'She'll never be any good, Katherine, will she?' said Darrell one day. Katherine smiled.

'It depends how long she stays at Malory Towers,' she said. 'It's queer how the longer you stay here the decenter you get. That's what my aunt told me. She came here, too, and she told me all kinds of stories about awful girls who got all right!'

'Not if they're like Gwendoline,' said Darrell. 'Nothing will ever alter her. I wish she was leaving!'

Gwendoline wished she was, too. The last two weeks of the term were not pleasant ones for her. Nobody mentioned the affair of the fountain-pen again, but everyone thought of it whenever they saw Gwendoline, and they would not look at her, or speak to her if they could help it. They were certain, too, that it was she who had played so many horrid tricks on Mary-Lou the whole of the term.

Poor Gwendoline! What with the girls' contempt, and her own feeling that she must work like a slave for the rest of the term, she did not have at all an easy time. But she was only reaping what she had sowed, so she could not grumble!

Darrell was very happy for the rest of that term. She and Sally and Mary-Lou were always together. Darrell no longer wanted Alicia's friendship. Sally was her friend now, and a very satisfying friendship it was, for Sally was even-tempered and well-balanced, and Darrell was not likely to fly into tempers with Sally around!

Exams came and went. Darrell did very well. Sally did not do so well, partly because she had missed two or three weeks of the term, and partly because she had not been allowed to take the full work of her form after her illness.

Gwendoline came out better than anyone expected. 'It just shows,' said Miss Potts, rather severely, 'it just shows. Gwendoline, what you can do if you try. Why you saved your efforts for last two or three weeks of the term I can't imagine. Perhaps next term you will be obliging enough to work during the whole of the term!'

Gwendoline did not tell Miss Potts what had made her work so hard the last few weeks! She hoped fervently that Miss Potts would put a few nice things down on her report. What a horrid term it had been! She wished she wasn't coming back. Next term she must try and make the girls forget all she had done this term.

Darrell thought it had been a lovely term�except for Sally's illness and the two or three days when the girls had thought she had played that horrid trick on Mary-Lou. But Darrell didn't often think of those times. She was sunny- natured and liked to think of the nice things. She was sorry the term was coming to an end�but still, the hols, would be lovely!

Sally was going to stay with her in the holidays, and she was going to stay a week with Sally, too.

'You'll see my little sister,' Darrell said. 'You'll like her. She's a sport.'

'And you'll see mine, too,' said Sally, half-shyly. 'I shall have to teach her to be a sport�like you!'

Marv-Lou wished she lived nearer either Sally or Darrell, then she might have been able to see them. Never mind, there was always next tenn, and the next... Mary-Lou had the sense to know that Sally was Darrell's real friend, and not herself�but she didn't mind. Darrell was fond of her and admired her. That was all that mattered to loyal little Mary-Lou. How surprised her mother was going to be when

she found that Mary-Lou was no longer afraid of the dark!

The last day came, with all its excitement of last-minute strapping of trunks and hunting for lost keys. The school became a perfect circus, and North, South, East, and west Tower girls became all mixed up everywhere.

'Always this last day is a madness!' panted Mam'zelle, trying to force her way through a seething mass of excited girls. 'Darrell! Sally! Will you please let me through? Ah, these mad English girls!'

Miss Potts, calm and efficient even in the midst of utter confusion, handed out small bags, marked children off the list when parents fetched them in cars, found lost keys and generally remained the one sane person in North Tower. Even Matron got flustered at times, and spent ages looking for a clothes list she had carefully stuck into her belt.

The coaches came rolling up for the train-girls. 'Come on, Darrell!' cried Sally. 'Let's get the front seats. Where's Mary-Lou?'

'She's going by car!' called Darrell. 'Hi, Mary-Lou, good�bye! Write to me and tell me all your news. Good-bye!'

'Come along, now!' cried Miss Potts, and the girls were all hustled into the coaches. 'Where's Alicia? If she disappears again I shall really go mad. Alicia! Get in at once, and don't get out again. Good-bye, girls. Be good�or at least, as good as you can! And don't dare to face me next term without your health cerificates!'

'Good-bye, Potty. Good�bye!' yelled the girls. 'Good bye dear old Potty!'

'Goodness!' said Darrell, who had never heard Miss Potts called Potty to her face before. 'How dare they!'

'It's the only time we do, just when we shout good-bye!' said Alicia with a grin. 'She never seems to mind then. Look at her grinning all over her face!'

Darrell leaned out of the coach. 'Good-bye, Potty!' she yelled. 'Good-bye�and good-bye Malory Towers! "she said, almost under her breath. Til be glad to see you again.'

Good-bye! Good-bye till next time. Good-bye, Darrell and Sally and the rest. We'll meet you again soon. Good luck till then!

The End.