'Oh, nothing,' said Pat, who was not going to talk about Margery's affairs to any one else. 'Have another piece of lemon?'
'Thanks,' said the girl. 'My word, this is a good match. Anybody's game, really. You're one goal up ' but I bet we get even this half!'
The whistle blew. Pat scurried off the field. The players took their places, at opposite ends to the ones they had had before. The game began again.
It was fast and furious. Every one was now well-warmed up and enjoying the game. The Oakdene captain scored an unexpected goal, which Bertha, in goal, should have been able to stop and didn't. The whole school groaned. Poor Bertha went as red as fire.
'One all! Play up, St. Clare's!' yelled every one.
If Margery had played well the first half, she played even better in the second half. She ran like the wind, she tackled fearlessly, she caught accurately and threw well. But she unfortunately lost her temper with an Oakdene girl who neatly dodged her with the ball, and brought down her net with such force on the girl's hand to make her drop the ball that the Oakdene girl squealed in pain. The referee blew her whistle and called Margery to her.
'Gosh! Is she going to send her off the field for a foul?' groaned Belindam sho badly wanted her team to win. 'She deserves it, I now ' she's such a savage when she gets excited ' but we can't afford to lose her just now!'
But Margery fortunately was not sent off. She was severely reprimanded, and walked back to her place with the usual sullen look on her face. She was much more careful after that, for she hadn't the slightest wish to be sent off in the middle of such an exciting match.
She got the ball again within the next few minutes, an dran for the goal. She passed to Mary, who passed back. Margery shot ' and the ball rolled straight into the corner of the goal, though the goal-keeper frantically tried to stop it.
'Goal!' yelled the whole school But again there was that afterwards. No cheering, no clapping. Margery noticed it flashed with anger. The beasts! She was playing her best they wouldn't even give her a cheer! All because of that
curious silence at once, and her eyes for the school ' and yet hateful Pat O'Sullivan!
The girl felt a fury of anger rising up in her. Somehow it gave her an even more swiftness and strength than before. She was a miracle of swiftness as she darted about the field, tackling and dodging, getting the ball when it seemed almost impossible.
'If only Oakdene don't shoot again!' cried Pat, in the greatest excitement. 'Oh golly ' they're going to. Save it, Bertha, save it!'
But poor Bertha couldn't possibly save the goal that time, though she threw herself flat down on her front to do so. The ball trickled by and came to rest in the goal. Two goals all ' and five minutes to play!
And in that five minutes Margery managed to shoot two of the finest goals that any of the school had ever seen. The first one was one of her long shots, straight and true, from half-way down the field. The second was extraordinary. She could not shoot because two girls tackled her just near the goal, and Margery rolled over and over on the ground. The Oakdene girls tried to get the ball from her net but somehow or other Margery managed to hold it safely there ' and suddenly, from her position flat on the ground, her nose almost in the mud. Margery jerked her lacrosse net! The ball flew out ' and landed in the goal right through the surprised goal-keeper's legs!
At first nobody knew it was a goal ' and then the umpire shouted 'Goal!' Four goals to St. Clare's, two goals to Oakdene. One more minute to play!'
But before the ball was in play again, time was up. The whistle blew and the players trooped off the field. What a match it had been!
Chapter 11: Erica Gets Her Own Back
Usually, after a match, the girls who had shot the winning goals were surrounded, patted an cheered. If any one deserved to be cheered that afternoon it was certainly Margery, for she had done the hardest work, and had stood out as the finest player in the team.
Belinda muttered, 'Well done!' as Margery came by.
But nobody else said a word. No one went to Margery to clap her on the shoulder. No one shouted 'Well played, old girl!' No one, in fact, took any notice of her at all.
The Oakdene girls couldn't help noticing this curious behaviour, and were surprised. They stared hard at Margery, who stared back, her head held high.
'I'm glad we won the match ' but I wish it hadn't been Margery who did it all,' said Pat. ' I feel a bit uncomfortable now about not cheering for her a bit. So
you think we ought to go and say a word to her, Janet?'
'Of course we ought,' said Janet, 'but you know jolly well what would happen if we did! She'd bite our heads off ' and I don't wonder! No ' we've started this uncomfortable game of sending some one to Coventry ' and we've got to stick to it.'
Brave as Margery was, she could not face the school-tea with the teams. Usually after a match the two opposing teams had a special tea to themselves, apart from the rest of the school, though in the same dining-hall, of course. At the long team-table they chattered and laughed and discussed the match with one another. The home team acted as hostesses to the visiting team, and it was all great fun.
'It's so lovely when you're tired and happy to sit down to buns and butter and fruit cake and chocolate biscuits and big cups of tea!' sighed Tessie. 'And to talk as much as you like about the match. Come on, Susan. I'm ready.'
Every one noticed that Margery was not at the table. No one liked to say anything about it. The visiting team was quite aware that there was something queer in the air and did not like to discuss it. The St. Clare team wondered where Margery was, and looked to see if she was at the table where the first-formers were sitting eating their own tea.
But she wasn't. She had gone to the changing-room and changed. Then she had slipped into the deserted class-room and gone to her desk. She was tired, angry and miserable. She wanted a cup of tea to drink, and she was hungry too. But not for anything would she have faced the hostile looks of the other girls that afternoon. She had played so well ' and won the match for her team ' and if they couldn't even say 'Well played!' she didn't want anything to do with them!
Miss Roberts noticed that Margery was missing. She guessed what had happened. She had heard all about the Big Row, and knew that Margery was being punished by the girls for her misbehaviour. Well ' people always were punished for that kind of thing, by being disliked. Miss Roberts could not do anything about it.
Erica's meanness had been almost forgotten in the excitement of the Big Row, and the match. But Erica had not forgotten that she meant to pay back Pat for finding out her trick, and punishing her for it. She had spent a good deal of time wondering how to get even with her. It was not so easy as it had seemed at first, because the two girls were in different forms.
But Erica soon found one or two things to do. She saw that Pat was making herself
a red jumper, with which she was very pleased. She waited for her chance, and then, one evening when she saw that Pat had put the knitting back into her bag on the shelf, she made up her mind to spoil it.
There was a school meeting that evening. 'If I go in late for it, I can sit at the back,' thought Erica. 'Then I can slip out half-way through for a few minutes, and come back without any one noticing. That will just give me time to get to the common room and back.'
So that evening, at half-past seven, when the meeting had just begun, Erica slipped in at the back. No one noticed her, for Miss Walker was speaking, and every one was listening. Margery Fenworthy was at the back too. That was usually her place now ' at the back for it was horrid to be anywhere where people had the chance of looking so disdainfully at you! No one saw you if you sat at the back!
Erica sat for a while, listening. When Miss Walker sat down, and Miss Lewis got up to speak, Erica slipped out. No one saw her at all. She ran at top speed to the empty common room. She went to Pat's corner of the shelf and took down her knitting bag.
In it was the half-finished jumper, knitted most beautifully, for Pat was very proud
of it. Erica took out the knitting and pulled the needles from the wool. She wrenched at the jumper, and half the even knitting came undone. Erica, with a feeling of real spite, tore at the wool again ' and it broke in half a dozen places! The girl hurriedly pushed the knitting into the bag, and then ran back to the meeting. Miss Lewis was still speaking, in her clear, sharp tones.
No one saw Erica slip in ' no one except Margery, who paid no attention, for she was lost in her own thoughts. Erica hugged herself secretly, pleased with what she had done. In her mean little soul she rejoiced that she had harmed some one who had brought her to justice.
The meeting finished. The girls yawned and stretched. Pat looked at her watch.
'Eight o'clock,' she said. 'Time for a game of something in the common room. Come on.'
'There's dance music on the wireless,' said Doris. 'Let's put that on. I want to dance!'
'I've got some French to finish,' groaned Sheila. 'Blow! I wish I'd done it before. I daren't leave it. Mam'zelle always seems in such a bad temper these days.'
'Yes, doesn't she,' said Isabel, who had noticed the same thing. 'I'm getting quite scared of her!'
They all went back to the common room. The third-formers went to the big room they shared with the fourth form, and the top-formers went to their studies. The time before bed was always cosy and friendly and jolly.
'What are you going to do, Isabel?' asked Pet. 'Shall we finish that jigsaw puzzle Tessie lent us?'
'No,' said Isabel. 'I want to mend a stocking. I shall have Matron after me if I don't. She told me to do it three days ago and I forgot.'
'All right. I'll talk to you and knit,' said Pat, reaching up to the shelf for her bag. 'I'm getting on so well with my red jumper. I can't imagine what Mother will say when she sees it! I've never stuck at knitting so long before.'
'Let's see what it looks like,' said Janet, coming up. Pat took out her knitting and undid it. The needles dropped to the floor. The wool hung torn and unravelled.
'Pat!' gasped Isabel, in horror. 'Pat! It's all undone! It's spoilt!'
'Gracious goodness!' said Janet, taking a glance at Pat's horrified face as she saw her friends ruined work. 'Who's done that?'
'Oh, Pat ' I'm so sorry about it,' said Isabel, who knew what hard and careful work Pat had put into the jumper. 'Oh, Pat ' whatever has happened to it?'
Pat stared at her spoilt work. It was a shock to her, and she was near tears. She blinked hard and swallowed the lump that suddenly came into her throat.
'Somebody's done this to me,' she said, in a low voice. 'Somebody's done it to pay
me out.'
'Margery!' said Isabel, at once. 'She overheard what you said about not clapping or cheering her in the match ' and this is her way of paying you out. Oh, the mean, mean thing!'
Janet was flushed with anger. She hated meanness of any kind. 'Well, if she's done that, she'll jolly well have to be hauled up about it!' she said. 'Look here, girls ' come and look at Pat's knitting.'
The first- and second-formers crowded round. Erica came too, pretending by be surprised and shocked. She was enjoying herself very much. If only nobody guessed it was she who had done it!
But every one thought it was Margery. No one imagined it was Erica, for by now they had half-forgotten her mean behaviour. They crowded round Pat and sympathized with her.
'It is rotten luck,' said Tessie. 'I know what it feels like even to drop a stitch when you're trying to make something really nice. But to have it all spoilt and pulled out like that ' and broken in so many places ' that's dreadful. What will you do? Can you do anything about it?'
'I shall just have to undo it all and begin again, that's all,' said Pat. It had given the girl a great shock to think that any one could play such a mean trick on her. Real spite is always horrible ' and Pat had never come across it directed at herself before.
'Well, what are we going to do about Margery?' said Janet, fiercely. 'She's got to be dealt with, hasn't she?'
'Where is she?' said Hilary. Just as she spoke Margery came into the room with a book. She had been to the school library to get it. Janet rounded on her at once.
'Margery! Come here! We've all seen your latest display of bad temper!'
Margery looked surprised. 'What do you mean, Janet?' she asked, coldly.
'Oh, don't pretend like that!' said Janet. 'Look here ' do you dare to say you didn't do that to Pat's knitting?'
She held up the ruined jumper. Margery stared at it in amazement. 'Of course I didn't,' she said, with queer dignity. 'I'm bad-tempered and sulky, and there's not much that's good about me, according to all of you ' but I don't do mean tricks like that. I dislike Pat, and I'd like to get even with her for some of the unkind things she's done to me ' but not in that way.'
The girls stared at her. Nobody believed her. Pat went red, and put the knitting back into her bag.
'You did do it, Margery, you know you did!' cried Isabel, quite beside herself because her twin had been hurt. 'You must have slipped out whilst we were at the meeting and done it then!'
'No, I didn't,' said Margert. 'It's true I was at the back ' but what's the good of being anywhere else when you all send me to Coventry, as you do? But I tell you quite honestly I didn't play that trick. I could not do a trick like that. I might slap Pat or box her ears, or slash her at lacrosse ' but I wouldn't do a hole-andcorner thing like that.'
'You'd do anything!' said Janet, scornfully. 'I bet you wouldn't stick at anything once you got your knife into somebody!'
'You're just proving the truth of the old saying 'Give a dog a bad name and hang him,' ' said Margery. 'Because I'm bad in some things you think I'm capable of doing anything horrid. I'm not.'
Her eyes suddenly filled with tears and she turned away to hide them. Tears were weak. She could not bear any one to see them. She walked out of the room and left a surprised and furious crowd behind her.
'Well, would you think anyone would have the nerve to deny it like that?'demanded Kathleen.
'She's absolutely brazen!' declared Tessie.
'Oh, shut up about it,' said Pat. 'Let's not say any more. We can't prove it ' and though we're all jolly sure she did it, it's no good going on and on about it. It's hateful, but it's best forgotten.'
'Well, it's decent of you to feel like that,' said Doris, going to the wireless. 'I wish I knew exactly how and when she did it. Who'd like a little dance music to cheer us up?'
Soon the wireless was blaring out dance tunes and Doris and Janet were foxtrotting round the room, doing all sorts of ridiculous steps to make the others laugh. And the one who laughed the loudest was Erica.
'What luck!' she thought. 'No one even thought of me ' and they've pinned the blame on to Margery! Now I can think of something else to do to Pat, and nobody will imagine it's any one but that bad-tempered Margery!'
Chapter 12: The Twins hear a Secret
That week-end was half-term. Most of the parents who could do so came by train to see their girls, or motored down to them. Those girls whose parents were not able to visit them either went out with their friends, or were taken into the next town to see a cinema or play.
Mrs. O'Sullivan came by car, and took Pat and Isabel, and also Alison, whose mother could not come. Janet went joyfully with her parents on a long picnic ride, and took Hilary with her. Margery's parent did not come at all ' and no one asked her to go out with them, so she went with Miss Roberts and four other girls to see the cinema show in the next town.
Isabel was still full of how Pat's jumper had been ruined. She poured it all out to Mrs. O'Sullivan, and Alison chattered about it too. Pat said very little. She had been shocked and hurt by it, for she was a friendly girl and had had few enemies in her life.
Mrs. O'Sullivan listened. 'You are quite sure that Margery did it?' she asked. 'Don't you think you ought to withhold your judgment until you are quite certain! There is nothing so dreadful as to accuse a person wrongly, you know. It makes them very bitter ' and from what you tell me
poor Margery must have already had
some unhappiness of some sort in her life.'
Mrs. O'Sullivan's remark made the three girls feel a little uncomfortable. They did feel sure that Margery had spoilt the jumper ' but it was quite true that they hadn't any real proof.
No one said anything more ' but privately Pat and Isabel decided to do as their mother said ' and not judge Margery until they actually had some real proof. After all, although she was bad-tempered and rude, she had never shown before that she could be either mean or deceitful. Alison looked at the twins and thought she would do as they did ' if they told her what that would be! Alison was getting a little better now and hadn't quita such a good opinion of herself.