‘My word, who’s that?’ she asked as the girl moved swiftly and gracefully through the water, effortlessly overtaking anyone in front of her.
‘I don’t know who she is, but she’s jolly good,’ said Felicity, watching in admiration. ‘Fast, as well. I wouldn’t be surprised if she could beat some of us sixth formers in a race.’
Then the swimmer climbed out of the pool, pulling off her tight bathing cap, and Susan said, ‘Why, it’s young Edith Mannering!’
June was at the girl’s side at once, saying, ‘Edith! I was just watching you swim and you really are very good.’
Edith, quite overawed at being addressed by the games captain of Malory Towers, flushed with pleasure, and said, ‘Thanks, June. I absolutely adore swimming.’
‘Then I have some good news for you,’ said June, grinning. ‘For I want you to put in as much practice as possible. There is a swimming gala coming up in a couple of months, against four other schools in the area. And you, my dear Edith, are going to take part. Can you dive?’
Speechless with delight, Edith could only nod, and June said, ‘Well, see that you practise that as well.’
Then she gave the girl a careless pat on the shoulder, before getting into the pool herself. Edith was surrounded at once by a group of first formers, all eager to offer their congratulations.
‘Well done, Edith!’ cried Daffy, clapping her on the back. ‘June told me last term that she wants me to take part in the gala too, so we shall be able to practise together.’
‘You must be frightfully bucked!’ said Katie. ‘I say, won’t this be a bit of good news to give that sister of yours?’
‘Yes, she’ll be awfully proud of you,’ said Ivy. ‘After all, it’s not everyone who has the honour of being chosen to swim for the school – and on your very first day, too!’
This hadn’t occurred to Edith, and her face lit up now at the thought of how pleasant it would be to win back Lizzie’s approval.
‘I think that I shall go and tell her as soon as I have changed,’ she said.
‘Well, be quick,’ said Katie. ‘It will be time for prep soon!’
Edith changed quickly, then sped along to Lizzie’s study, her cheeks flushed and eyes sparkling as she tapped on the door.
‘Come in!’ called out Lizzie, her expression most astonished as her young sister pushed open the door. ‘Edith! What are you doing here? Has something happened?’
‘Yes, the most marvellous thing!’ said Edith, coming into the room. ‘Lizzie, what do you think? June has chosen me to take part in the swimming gala! Isn’t it wonderful?’
Eagerly, Edith waited for her sister’s congratulations and words of praise. But they didn’t come. Instead, Lizzie frowned and said, ‘That’s very nice, of course. But June will expect you to put in a lot of extra practice, and think how that will affect your studies. You will have to tell her that you can’t do it.’
Edith’s face fell as she stared at Lizzie in disbelief. ‘You want me to turn down an honour like that?’ she said. ‘Lizzie, most girls would give anything to be chosen to swim for the school!’
‘I daresay,’ said Lizzie. ‘But you aren’t most girls, Edith, and you don’t have time for such things.’
For a moment Edith stared at her sister, then she burst out, ‘I don’t know why I expected you to be pleased for me! You have no time for the jolly, fun things in life, and you don’t seem to care much for the honour of the school, though you should, for you have been here far longer than me. Well, I shall take part in the gala, Lizzie, for June is in charge of games, not you!’
With that, the girl flounced out of the room, slamming the door behind her, and Lizzie sighed heavily. This was just what she had feared, that something would happen to distract Edith from her work – but she hadn’t expected it to happen quite this soon! Well, if Edith refused to back down, she, Lizzie, would just have to speak to June about it, and ask her to drop the girl from the swimming team.
It wasn’t a task that she relished, however, and it took Lizzie several days to work up the courage to approach June.
Before that, there came the excitement of the sixth formers’ first Finishing School class.
Miss Grayling had arranged for a disused room on the ground floor of North Tower to be cleared out so that Gwen could use it for her classes, but the door had remained locked and the sixth formers were very curious to see inside. There were to be separate classes for each tower, Miss Oakes had told the girls, for Miss Lacey felt that it was very important that she was able to give each pupil enough individual attention.
The North Tower girls felt very honoured that the new class-room was in their tower, of course.
‘It makes it seem as if it belongs to us, somehow,’ as Nora said. ‘Though we shall have to let the girls from the other towers borrow it sometimes.’
They were also delighted to find that they were to be the first to use the new class-room, and all of them felt very curious indeed as they poured in on Friday afternoon. Gwen was already there, and she smiled to see the looks of astonishment on their faces as they walked in. For this was no ordinary class-room. Instead of desks and hard wooden chairs, there were sofas and armchairs. Large plants in big pots were dotted around, green velvet curtains framed the windows, and, in the corner of the room, there was a big dining table, surrounded by chairs. The room had been freshly painted in a lovely pale green, and framed pictures hung on the walls. The only thing that made it look slightly like a class-room was the large blackboard on one of the walls.
Of course, everyone was thrilled at the thought of taking lessons in such pleasant surroundings, though Amy said with a sniff, ‘This furniture is awfully shabby. And the curtains have been darned.’
‘I expect the room has been furnished from odd bits and pieces that have been lying around for years,’ said Felicity. ‘It would have cost a fortune if Miss Grayling had bought everything new.’
‘Well, I believe that if a thing is worth doing it’s worth doing properly,’ said Amy in her haughty manner. ‘Second-hand furnishings and a second-rate teacher don’t bode very well, if you ask me!’
Felicity looked round sharply at Gwen, for Amy hadn’t troubled to lower her voice, but she was plumping up one of the cushions and didn’t appear to have heard the girl’s cutting remarks.
Gwen allowed the girls a few minutes to wander round and inspect everything, then she clapped her hands together, and called out, ‘Sit down, please, girls.’
At once the girls sat down, some on the sofas, others in the armchairs, several of them glancing curiously at Gwen as they did so. Most of them thought that she looked very confident and poised, but Felicity saw a hint of uncertainty and anxiety in the young woman’s eyes, and realised that Gwen was not quite as sure of herself as she wanted everyone to believe. Felicity wondered if she was the only one who noticed the slight tremor in the new teacher’s voice, as Gwen said, ‘Well, that was your first test. Some of you passed, while others didn’t.’
The sixth formers looked at one another in puzzlement, and Gwen went on, ‘Pam, you flopped down on that sofa like a sack of potatoes – not very elegant! And Julie, please will you sit on the seat, not astride the arm. You are not riding a horse now!’
And so Gwen went round the class, telling this girl to sit up straight, and that one not to stick her feet out. Only Nora and Bonnie came in for wholehearted praise, Gwen telling them that they had both sat down very gracefully – ‘As ladies should.’
There was one girl that Gwen didn’t speak to at all, her eyes merely flicking over her coldly before moving on – and that was Amy. The girl had taken her seat every bit as elegantly as Nora and Bonnie, but not a word of praise came her way. Felicity realised then that Gwen had overheard the girl’s remarks, and been hurt by them. Amy realised it too, and knew that she had made a bad start with the new teacher, but she shrugged it off. There was nothing that Miss Lacey could teach her, of that she was quite certain.
On the whole, though
, most of the girls found the lesson far more amusing than they had hoped, particularly when each girl had to walk round the room, a book balanced on her head.
‘Keep your back straight, Susan!’ called out Gwen. ‘June, don’t walk quite so quickly. Oh dear, Lucy, you’re supposed to glide, not stomp!’
Even Nora, Bonnie and Amy, all three of whom were naturally very graceful, couldn’t manage to balance the book on their head all the way round the room, but they did very much better than the others. Again, though, while Nora and Bonnie were singled out for praise, Gwen simply ignored Amy.
‘Oh dear,’ thought Felicity. ‘Gwen really does have it in for Amy. I do hope that it’s not going to lead to any trouble.’
Felicity knew that Gwen had used spiteful and underhand methods to get back at those she disliked when she had been a pupil at the school. Surely, she wouldn’t resort to such tactics now that she had grown up, and was a teacher?
Felicity spoke to Amy about it in the dormitory that evening, but the girl was unrepentant. She carried on brushing her silky, golden bob and said in a bored voice, ‘I don’t particularly care for Miss Lacey’s opinion of me.’
‘You’ll care all right if she reports you to the Head,’ said Felicity. ‘You really shouldn’t have said that she was a second-rate teacher, you know.’
Amy looked a little worried at this, for she was very much in awe of Miss Grayling, and certainly didn’t want to be reported to her.
‘Very well,’ she said. ‘I shall be all sweetness and light in the next class, and make it up to Miss Lacey.’
But alas for such good intentions, Amy had another encounter with Gwendoline the very next day.
The teacher was walking along the corridor, reading a letter, and she walked round a corner, colliding with Amy, who was coming the other way. Both the letter and the handbag that she was carrying flew from Gwendoline’s grasp, the bag strewing its contents all over the floor, and she gave an irritated exclamation.
The mishap had not been Amy’s fault, for Gwen had not been looking where she was going but, in an effort to make amends for her behaviour yesterday, the sixth former said politely, ‘Oh, I’m so sorry, Miss Lacey. Are you hurt?’
Gwen wasn’t hurt at all but, as she looked at Amy, and remembered the spiteful words that the girl had uttered yesterday, bitterness rose up within her. As it was Saturday, and the girls were allowed to wear what they pleased, Amy was dressed in a very expensive, but very simple, blue dress with a neat collar. She looked fresh and charming, and Gwen, with her frills and adornments, suddenly felt silly and over-dressed beside her.
‘You silly, clumsy girl!’ she snapped. ‘Pick my things up at once!’
Now, Amy had been about to offer to do just that, in an effort to get into Gwen’s good books, but the unfairness of the teacher’s words, and her harsh tone, nettled her, and she said, ‘I don’t see why I should, Miss Lacey, for you walked into me.’
‘How dare you?’ gasped Gwen. ‘I’ve a good mind to report you to Miss Grayling for insolence.’
But, even as she uttered the words, Gwen knew that she would do nothing of the kind. It would not reflect well on her, she knew, if she had to report one of the girls to the Head for cheeking her, for it might look as if she was poor at discipline.
So, instead, she said stiffly, ‘I shan’t report you on this occasion, Amy. But I want you to write out “I must always pay attention and look where I am going” fifty times. Bring it to my study after tea.’
Amy was simply furious at this, for she had been looking forward to a nice, lazy afternoon, and instead she was going to have to spend part of it doing a punishment that she hadn’t earned at all. But she knew that to argue with the teacher might well result in greater punishment, so the girl gritted her teeth and said politely, ‘Yes, Miss Lacey.’
But Amy did have the satisfaction, as she walked away, of looking back over her shoulder and seeing Gwen on her hands and knees as she picked up her belongings. Her feelings were soothed even further when she walked out into the courtyard and was greeted by Violet Forsyth of the first form. The plump little Violet had a great admiration for Amy, and she approached her now, saying breathlessly, ‘Oh, Amy, how pretty you look today. That dress is so lovely.’
‘Why, thank you, Violet,’ said Amy, preening a little. It was a pity, she reflected, that she couldn’t say the same for the first former, who was wearing a frilled, flounced creation that her mother had bought her, and which didn’t become her at all. Violet, who was beginning to grow out of the fussy dresses that she had once loved, also realised that the style did not suit her and, rather nervously, she said to Amy, ‘I wonder if you would mind telling me where you got the dress?’
Amy, who loved nothing better than to bask in flattery and admiration, was only too happy to give Violet this information, adding kindly, ‘If you don’t mind me saying so, Violet, I think that this style would suit you perfectly. Perhaps you could ask your mother to buy you something similar?’
Violet was simply thrilled at the interest that Amy had taken in her, and ran off to the first-form common-room at once, to write a letter to her mother, asking for a new dress. Her parents were very wealthy, and never refused their daughter anything, and Violet knew that it would not be long before a parcel containing the coveted dress arrived for her. Perhaps she could stop curling her hair every night, too, and have it cut into a bob like Amy’s. My word, that would certainly make the others sit up and take notice!
5
Gwen’s missing letter
Lizzie had settled into the sixth form in her own way, finding most of the girls pleasant and easy to get along with. There were a few that she was a little wary of, though, like the snobbish Amy, who seemed very grand indeed to Lizzie, and the sharp-tongued June, whom she was secretly a little afraid of.
Which was why Lizzie felt very nervous indeed now, as she knocked on the door of June’s study, before gingerly pushing open the door. As always, June’s desk was littered with papers, and the girl was frowning heavily at a list that she held in her hand. She didn’t look up, and Lizzie gave a cough.
‘What is it?’ asked June impatiently. Then she glanced up, saw Lizzie hovering uncertainly in the doorway and her brow cleared.
‘Sorry,’ she said. ‘I didn’t mean to sound unfriendly, I was just absorbed in making out this rota for swimming practice. What can I do for you, Lizzie?’
‘I wondered if I might have a word with you,’ said Lizzie.
‘Of course,’ said June, putting down the list she had been holding. ‘Come in and pull up a chair.’
Lizzie did so, but before she could speak, June said, ‘My goodness, that young sister of yours swims like a fish! She’s causing me some dreadful problems, though.’
‘Oh?’ said Lizzie hopefully, thinking that if Edith was causing problems for June, the games captain might be thinking about dropping her from the gala. Her hopes were dashed, though, when June said, ‘Yes, you see she is superb at diving and swimming, so I’m really not sure which to enter her for in the gala. It’s a pity that she can’t do both, but I don’t want her splitting herself in two, so to speak, for then I shan’t get the best out her. It will be far better if she just concentrates on one or the other. Though perhaps she would want to do both? Oh, sorry, Lizzie, once I start talking about the swimming gala, I can’t seem to stop! Now, what was it you wanted to say?’
Lizzie looked at June for a moment, sizing her up. She was a very downright person, who always said exactly what was on her mind, and Lizzie decided that the best way to tackle her was by being just as downright herself. So, hoping that she didn’t sound as nervous as she felt, Lizzie took a deep breath, and said, ‘I know that this will seem strange, but I want you to drop Edith from the gala.’
June raised her eyebrows at this, and said, ‘Do you, indeed? May I ask why?’
‘It’s very important that Edith concentrates on her schoolwork,’ said Lizzie, looking June in the eye. ‘The swimming gala is
a distraction.’
‘Most girls seem able to fit in their schoolwork and make time for sports and other hobbies,’ said June, staring hard at Lizzie. ‘And it is quite right that they should, for it is important to get a proper balance between work and play. Is this Edith’s decision, or yours?’
‘Mine,’ answered Lizzie coolly. ‘You see, June, my mother is relying on me to make sure that Edith knuckles down, and I feel that dropping her from the gala would be for the best.’
‘Well, I’m sorry to disappoint you,’ said June, equally coolly. ‘But I have no intention of doing such a thing.’
‘I am Edith’s older sister,’ said Lizzie, her temper rising. ‘And I insist – ’
But she got no further, for June was on her feet, eyes blazing. ‘How dare you?’ she said, her tone icy, and as stern as that of any mistress. ‘You might be Edith’s older sister, but I am games captain, and you don’t have the right to insist on anything. I don’t allow anyone to interfere with my decisions. Edith is taking part in the gala, and that, my dear Lizzie, is that.’
‘I shall go to Miss Potts!’ said Lizzie, feeling very angry herself now. ‘She will back me up, I am sure.’
‘And I am quite sure that she won’t,’ said June flatly. ‘Go to the Head herself, if you wish, Lizzie, but it won’t do any good.’
The two girls glared at one another for a moment, then Lizzie left the room, resisting the impulse to slam the door behind her. She went straight to Miss Potts’s room, where the mistress was busy marking the first form’s maths prep, and tapped on the door.
Mam’zelle Dupont, who was also there, shouted out, ‘Entrez!’ and the girl went in.
‘Ah, Lizzie!’ cried Mam’zelle as the girl entered. Then she peered closely at the girl’s pale, serious face, and said kindly, ‘Is anything wrong, ma chère?’
‘Not exactly,’ said Lizzie. ‘Actually it was Miss Potts I wanted to speak to.’
‘What is it, Lizzie?’ asked Miss Potts, looking up from her work.