*CHAPTER XIII.*
*"A NICE SCRAPE SHE'LL GET INTO!"*
"Monica Beauchamp is back at school."
The news soon spread, until all the Fourth Form girls were aware of thefact, and, for the most part, it was received with acclamation, for thebright, high-spirited girl had been missed during the month she had beenaway.
There was only one little clique who regretted her return, and that wasLily Howell and her votaries who, knowing she had a rooted objection tothe new-comer, took their cue from their leader, and looked upon Monicaas an interloper; but it must be confessed that, personally, they had nofault to find with her, except that the absolute indifference with whichshe treated them annoyed them terribly.
During recreation, when Olive would fain have had Monica all to herself,several of the girls, in other forms besides her own, gathered roundher, and made quite a fuss of her. This of course did not escape Lily'snotice, who, remembering one occasion when she had returned to schoolafter a slight illness, and no one had expressed any pleasure at seeingher back again, was frightfully jealous of Monica.
But the chief reason why she was sorry to see Monica at school once morewas because she knew that, with Monica in the arithmetic class, her ownchance of coming out first in the examination was decidedly lessened.There were only two studies which Monica had any real interest in, andthose were German and arithmetic; the former because she had a very fairidea of the language, and the latter she thoroughly enjoyed andconsequently took pains with.
Up to the half-term, Monica had kept her place steadily, much to Lily'smortification, who had always been praised for her neatly workedexamples, until Monica appeared upon the scene, with her less tidy, butfar more quick and correct work. But the month she had been awayprovided Lily with a grand opportunity of getting ahead; and she hadworked with a zeal, worthy of a better cause, to endeavour to supplantMonica.
Great was her chagrin, then, to find upon a new rule being explained byMiss Churchill, that Monica was well acquainted with it, and had workedout a given example, and got the right answer, before the problem hadthoroughly penetrated Lily's brain. She did not know that Monica hadspent many hours amusing herself with her _Hamblin Smith_ while she hadbeen laid up at home, and so had got far ahead of what the Fourth Formwas still doing.
"Very good indeed, Monica! You have worked that out well," commendedMiss Churchill, as she looked at the sum; and Monica flushed withpleasure at words of praise such as she seldom had received before.
During that last fortnight of the summer term, she tried her veryhardest to have a neat exercise book, as well as correct answers, but itwas uphill work for Monica, whose home-lessons were invariably blottedand smudged, and the lines anything but straightly ruled. However, MissChurchill, quick to notice and commend real effort, encouraged herseveral times with a word of praise. None of these escaped LilyHowell's ears, and she felt more convinced than ever that Monica wasdeliberately aiming at supplanting her in the forthcoming examination.No such idea had entered Monica's head; she was merely actuated by adesire to please Miss Churchill, and arithmetic was the only subject (ofthose taught by her) for which Monica had any liking. In Englishsubjects and science she was a terrible pupil, and she was continuallygetting into trouble on account of carelessly written, or insufficientlylearnt, work; but as it was just at the end of the term, and she hadbeen away so long, she was let off more easily than she really deserved.
At length the examination week dawned, and those girls who were keenabout their place in the class list spent all their spare time incramming. Amethyst Drury, whose talents lay in the direction of Englishhistory and geography, was continually on the look out for some one tohear her say her "dates," and ask her questions about Africa, thecountry they were to be examined upon that term. Elsa, who, amongothers, was what their teacher called an "all-round girl," knew it washopeless to try to look up everything, so she depended upon theknowledge she had gained during the term; by far the wisest plan.Olive, who seldom did well in any subject, on account of carelessnessand inattention, expected to "get along somehow"; the only distinctionshe ever obtained was for drawing, and as she certainly had a real giftin that direction she was universally acknowledged to be the artist ofthe class.
It would be impossible, as well as unnecessary, to describe in detailthe varied experiences of the examination week. Suffice it to say thatthe questions, according to the girls' opinions, were "harder thanever," and the candidates were none too hopeful when they gave up theirpapers, after a couple of hours' work upon each subject; somehow justthe questions they had made sure Miss So-and-So would set had not beenincluded, and the very things they had fondly hoped would not berequired had been given a prominent place! But that is an experiencecommon to all time, and by no means peculiar to the girls of that FourthForm.
The arithmetic examination was almost the last on the list. And most ofthe girls who had expended their energies on previous subjects lookedwith dismay at the long list of difficult examples. Olive glanced at theothers to see what they thought of it, but Elsa was beginning to writesteadily, and Monica, catching her eye, gave her a reassuring smile; itseemed rather a nice paper to her. Amethyst, who was no mathematician,was biting the end of her penholder and looking frantic.
Olive was just going to dip her pen in the ink and begin to inscribe hername elaborately on the top sheet of the ruled paper before her, whensomething made her look in Lily Howell's direction just in time to seean ugly expression of malignant jealousy sweep over her face, as sheobserved Monica steadily applying herself to answer the questions whichappalled her rival.
"There'll be awful ructions in that quarter, if Monica comes out top, asI do hope she will," soliloquised Olive, and then a reproving glancefrom Miss Churchill warned her to get on with her work.
For an hour no sound was heard but the scratching of pens and therustling of paper, except now and then when a long-drawn sigh escapedthe lips of one or other of the girls, as she realised her inability tosolve a difficult problem.
By that time Olive had come to the end of her resources and could do nomore, so she fastened her papers together and then began to look aboutat the other girls with a view to seeing how they were getting on. Herdesk was in one corner of the room, and Monica (who long since had hadto be moved to a distance from Olive, on account of whispering) was inthe centre of the second row quite near the front. Lily Howell and herally, Maggie Masters, were next to each other in the opposite cornerfrom Olive's.
A glance at Monica showed her to be still hard at work over her paper,so Olive turned her attention elsewhere. As she looked across at Lily,their eyes met, and Olive turned away quickly, for she did not want toget into trouble with Miss Churchill, who might think they werecommunicating with each other in some way; but a peculiar expression shehad seen in Lily's light grey orbs impelled her to look again a fewseconds later, and then what she saw horrified her, and her eyes seemedrooted to the spot! For Lily was positively making copious use of thecontents of some little note-book or paper, (Olive could not detectwhich) that was cleverly hidden, on the desk, by Maggie's pencil-box,from Miss Churchill's view.
"The horrid, mean, hateful sneak!" Olive, in her anger and contemptcould not find enough opprobrious epithets. "She's got all her tables,and a whole lot of hints copied out, I do believe, and of course, nowshe'll go and beat Monica; but I'll be even with her! A nice scrapeshe'll get into!" And Olive chuckled to herself at the thought of whatwas in store. "Perhaps she'll be expelled, and a good job, too. I'dbetter nudge Gipsy, and make her see, in case the sneak goes anddeclares she didn't cheat."
Olive glanced over into the other corner again, but--nothing wrong wasto be seen! All trace of the notes had vanished, and Lily was neatlyruling her manuscript paper as if no such thing as cheating had everentered her head!
"Oh, you wretch!" And Olive felt as if she could have done anything toher, so exasperated was she to think that she had been "done"
; for notonce again, during the time that remained for the arithmetic paper, didshe catch a glimpse of the missing paper. At length the gong sounded,and whether completed or not, the girls had to fasten their sheetstogether and hand the papers in to Miss Churchill.
They were glad enough to stretch their cramped limbs, and let theirtongues loose during the recreation that followed, in discussing thequestions and comparing their answers. Olive, of course, told Monicawhat she had seen Lily doing, and how vexed she was to think she couldnot prove it to Miss Churchill, if she were to tell her.
"Oh, let it be," said Monica, who loathed telling tales; "she'll be somad if you tell, and she'll be sure to declare it wasn't a crib."
"I shall tell if she comes out top."
And Monica could not persuade her otherwise.
"We shall know to-morrow," said Olive as they entered the school door.
But in less than five minutes after the words had escaped her lips, partof the truth had come to light, and it happened in this way.
Lily (who was under the impression that her neat little scheme foraiding her memory had been quite unobserved by any one except Maggie,who had benefited by it, too), already, in imagination, saw her own nameat the head of the list. But she thought it would be just as well tomake assurance doubly sure, by securing Monica's downfall, if it werepossible, in case she should be perilously near. So, as she passed upto the desk with her paper, taking care to be the last girl who filedout, she very quietly dropped her little paper of tables, etc., on thefloor of Monica's desk, in such a manner as to make it appear as if ithad slipped off Monica's lap, when she rose to go out.
"Now we shall be quits!" was her amiable thought, as she went with therest into the playground. She bound Maggie, with promises of many goodthings, to absolute secrecy, and returned to the classroom to awaitdevelopments.
The girls had no sooner taken their places than they became aware thatsomething was wrong! The head-mistress Miss Buckingham came in with avery stern expression on her face, and Miss Churchill seemed on theverge of tears.
"I am grieved to tell you that there is a cheat--yes, a _cheat_," andMiss Buckingham repeated the words with scornful emphasis, "amongst yougirls of the Fourth Form. Miss Churchill found this paper, containingarithmetical tables and various other information, under one of thedesks when you had left the classroom. I desire that girl, who hassought to secure a good place in the examination list by such despicablemeans to stand up in her place."
A furtive glance from Lily, who was as white as a ghost, revealed thefact that the head-mistress was looking straight at Monica, and the realculprit breathed freely, and the colour came back to her cheeks. Shedid not know that Olive's gaze was riveted on her, or she would not havefelt so easy in her mind as she did!
"Come, stand up," repeated Miss Buckingham, and Monica began to feeluncomfortable. Why did the head-mistress look so persistently at _her_,when it was Lily Howell who was the culprit.
"Well, I am sorry she will not confess it herself," said the calm, coldvoice of the head of the school; "but Monica Beauchamp is the cheat!"
"I'm _not_!"
"She _isn't_!"
The two disclaimers burst simultaneously from the lips of Monica andOlive, who were aghast at this fresh piece of trickery, and could notimagine how it had come to pass.
"Olive Franklyn, sit down. Now, Monica, what have you to say in defenceof yourself?"
"I know nothing whatever about it; I would scorn such a mean trick.Miss Churchill knows I would," and Monica looked reproachfully at thelittle mistress, who had been a sad and silent spectator, so far.
"I cannot believe you would cheat, Monica, but----" and she pausedsignificantly.
Meanwhile, Olive had been frantically trying to make Monica see her, butfailing to do so, she asked permission to speak, and told what she hadseen on Lily's desk.
But both Lily and Maggie stoutly denied having had anything of the kindin their possession, and, as no other girl seemed to have observed it,Miss Churchill was reluctantly compelled to think that Olive, inchampioning her friend's cause, was drawing on her imagination. Thefigures and words on the paper were all in printing hand, so that noone's writing was recognisable.
No more light being thrown on the matter by further questioning, MissBuckingham left the classroom, saying: "I shall not decide upon thepunishment to be given until to-morrow morning, by which time Isincerely hope that the girl, whose conscience must be accusing her,will be ready to make confession."
In her own mind, Miss Buckingham was of opinion that Monica Beauchampwas entirely innocent; and she could not but feel that suspicionstrongly rested upon Lily Howell, although the latter had feigned entireignorance of the matter; for her changing colour belied her words.
The truth was arrived at in a singular and indisputable way after all.
When correcting the arithmetic papers, late that afternoon, in theteacher's room, Miss Churchill found some most astonishing blunders inLily Howell's calculations. For some time she was mystified, and thenit dawned upon her what had happened.
"Why, the girl's cubic measure is all wrong. No less than three timesshe has put down 1278 cubic inches instead of 1728, when reckoning acubic foot. It is curious how she came to transpose the numbers? Iwonder----"
She hastened across the hall to Miss Buckingham's room, and upon lookingat the "crib," she saw, with a curious sense of satisfaction (for shefelt sure Monica was innocent) that underneath "Solid or Cubic Measure"the first line, was
1278 cub. in. = 1 cub. ft.
"Found out!" she murmured, and recrossing the hall, she told two of theother teachers, who were also correcting papers, what she haddiscovered, and bade them look at the paper, and compare it with Lily'ssums.
They both agreed it was a very clear case, and when, upon examination,Monica was found to have calculated her cubic inches rightly each time,no further proof of Lily Howell's guilt was needed.
Little did that individual dream of what awaited her on the morrow, whenshe retired to rest that night, rather well satisfied with the successwhich she thought she had achieved.
The girls waited breathlessly next morning for Miss Buckingham'sverdict; many had been the conversations about it, and very varied werethe punishments suggested. Every one was sure that, somehow, Lily wouldbe proved guilty, most of them thinking that she would voluntarilyconfess.
Monica, knowing she was quite innocent, felt no real fear, although shewas not at all sure that she would escape punishment, for she was underthe impression that Miss Buckingham had believed her to be the culprit.
Every one was amazed when they heard the conclusion of the matter. In afew terse words the head-mistress explained how the truth had beenbrought to light; and no one felt that undue punishment was being metedout to Lily Howell when she was informed that after that term she wouldnot be allowed to return to the Osmington High School.
"Not only for the using of unfair and forbidden means in order to securea good place in the examination list, but far more on account of thewicked intention to bring discredit and punishment upon an innocentfellow-schoolgirl."
Miss Buckingham's words were stern and uncompromising, and poor unhappyLily Howell cowered beneath her glance.
It was an unfortunate ending to the term, and the girls who came offvictorious in the examinations did not feel the same satisfaction asthey would have done if nothing of the kind had occurred. Monica, ofcourse, was first in arithmetic; Amethyst secured a similar place inEnglish history, and although she was beaten in geography, she did notmind so very much, as the honours fell to her friend Elsa.
A few days more, and the huge pile of buildings which constituted theOsmington High School was left in the charge of caretakers, forgovernesses and pupils alike had scattered in every direction to enjoythe long, summer vacation.