Last Term at Malory Towers Read online

  awl Deirdre

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  The girls laughed and laughed. 'It was that little monkey ol a Nora,' said Alicia, again. T saw the magnet in her hand. The cheek of ii - a second-former coming right up into our room.'

  'Terribly funny, though,' said Clarissa, wiping her :ears away. 'I haven't laughed so much for terms. I wish ora would do it again, with me lookingV

  'Poor Mam'zelle - she was absolutely bewildered,' ·aid Mary-Lou.

  'Ah t^a - e'est tres trcs piggy-hoo-leeeearr,' said Suzanne, enjoying the joke thoroughly. 'Vairy, vairy, piggy-hoo- leeearrrrrr. Most scrumpleeeeecious!'

  Mam'zelle had shot into the little workroom she shared with Miss Potts, the first-form mistress. Miss Potts was mildly surprised to see Mam'zelle appear so suddenly with her hair down her back - not more than mildly though, because in her years with Mam'zelle Miss Potts had become used to various 'piggy-hoo-leeeearrr' behaviour at times from Mam'zelle.

  'Miss Potts! All my pins have went!' said Mam'zelle, her grammar going too.

  'Pins? What pins?' said Miss Potts. 'You don't mean our hair-pins, do you? How could they go?'

  'That f do not know,' said Mam'zelle, staring at Miss Potts with such tragic eyes that Miss Potts wanted to laugh. 'One moment my bun, he is there on top - the next lie is all undone. And when I look for his pins, they ■'re gone.'

  This sounded like a trick to Miss Potts, and she- said so.

  'No, no, Miss Potts,' asserted Mam'zelle. 'Not one girl left her place to come to me this afternoon, not one.'

  'Oh well,' said Miss Potts, dismissing the matter as one of the many unaccountable things that so often seemed to happen to Mam'zelle, '1 expect you didn't put enough pins in, so your bun just came down.'

  Mam'zelle found some pins and pinned her bun up so firmly that it really looked very peculiar. But she wasn't taking any risks this time! She went back to the class¬room, with her dignity restored.

  Nora recounted what she had done, when she got back to the second-formers. They laughed, 'f bet the sixth got a laugh when Mam'zelle's bun descended!' said June. 'It's a pity you couldn't stay and see.'

  The first sixth-former they saw was the French girl, Suzanne. She came hurrying up to them, smiling.

  'Ah, you bad Nora!' she cried, and went off into a stream of excited French. Susan, who was good at French, translated swiftly, and the second-formers laughed in delight at the vivid description of Mam'zelle's astonish¬ment and dismay.

  'Clarissa said she wished you would do it again, when she was looking,' said Suzanne, in French. 'We would like to see it done. Me also, 1 would like it very much. We are too big and old and prudent to do tricks - but we do not mind watching youV

  This was very naughty of Suzanne. No sixth-former would be silly enough to encourage the younger ones to come and play tricks in their room as much as they liked - which was what Suzanne was telling them to do! But Suzanne was French. She hadn't quite the same ideas of responsibility that the British girls had.

  She was often bored with lessons, and longed for 'peefle' of some kind. If the second-formers would

  provide some, that would be 'Maguifiijucl SuperbeV

  'Right,' said June at once. 'If that's what you want, it shall be done. I'll think up a little something for the entertainment of the sixth.'

  June was bored now that she had practically given up playing games or swimming properly. She was in the mood for wickedness and mischief of some kind - and what better than this? She set her sharp brains to work at once.

  Jo was aggrieved at not having been told that the hair-pin trick was to be played by Nora in the sixth form. You might have told me,' she said. 'You always leave me out.'

  'You tell everything to that first-form baby - what's her name? - Deirdre,' said June. 'That's why we don't let vou into our secrets.'

  i've a good mind to share my parcel that came today with the first form, instead of with you,' said Jo.

  'Do,' said June. 'Probably you can buy their liking and their friendship with food. Unfortunately you can't buy ours. A pity - but there it is!'

  Jo was miserable. She was beginning to understand that heaps of money and sweets and food didn't in the least impress the girls. But perhaps if she gave a most wonderful midnight feast on her birthday, and asked them all to it and was very modest and friendly herself, they might think she was not too bad after all?

  But how could she buy a grand feast without money? She brooded over the money that Matron had of hers. She still hadn't claimed it.

  'And if I do, she won't give il to me,' Jo wailed to Deirdre for the twentieth time. 'I must screw up my courage, snoop into her room, and see if I can spot where she's put my money.'

  A most unexpected opportunity suddenly came. Matron sent a message by Susan to say she wanted Jo.

  .Jo went pale. 'What for?' she asked.

  'Don't know,' said Susan. 'Probably you've mended your red gloves wiih blue wool again. You must think Matron's colour blind when you keep doing things like that!'

  Jo went oil dolefully. She left absolutely certain that Matron was going to ask her il the twenty-five pounds was hers. She felt it in her bones!

  She lound the door of Matron's room open, and went in. There was nobody there. From far down the corridor she could hear yells. Somebody must have fallen down and hurt themselves and Matron had rushed off to give first aid. Jo took a quick look round the familiar room. Ugh, the bottles of medicine!

  There was no money to be seen anywhere - but suddenly .Jo saw something that made her stand stock-still.

  Matron had a small, heavy safe in the corner ol the room, into which she locked what money she had - the girls' pocket-money, the doctor's fees, and so on. To Jo's enormous surprise, the safe door was a little open, the keys hanging from the keyhole! Obviously Matron had just been about to open or shut the safe when she had heard the agonized yells. She had rushed out, forgetting the keys left in the safe door.

  Jo ran to the door and peered out. Not a soul was there. She ran back to the safe and opened the door. There was a pile of notes on one shelf, and a pile of silver on the next. Jo grabbed some notes, stuffed them into her pocket and fled!

  No one saw her go. Not a soul did she meet as she raced back. She went to find Deirdre and they shut themselves into one of the bathrooms and locked the door.

  Look,' said Jo, [Hilling the money out of the pocket. 'Nobody was in Matron's office. I've got my money back.'

  'But Jo - there's more than twcnlv-Iive pounds

  i do there!' said Deirdre.

  So there was. There were nine five pound notes, all new and clean.

  'Gosh - 1 didn't think there were so many,' said Jo. Never mind. I'll borrow the extra four! I can easily get Daddy to send me lour livers when I next write to him, md then I'll put them back.'

  'Wouldn't it - wouldn't it be called stealing il we don't put them back at once?' asked Deirdre, scared.

  Jo was so frightened that Deirdre might ask her to return them to Matron's room, that she pooh-poohed this suggestion at once. She felt sure she would be caught il she went to put them back!

  'No, of course not,' she said. 'Don't be silly. I've always plenty ol money. I don't need to steal, do I? I tell vou, twenty-five pounds of this is my own money and ;..ur fivers I've just borrowed - and I'll pay them back next week.'

  Deirdre cheered up. 'Shall we go and buy things for the feast now?' she asked. 'Gosh, what a lot we can get! We'll go over to the town, shall we, next time we're allowed out, and buy stacks of things!'

  Jo was very cock-a-hoop now. She felt she had done a very line and daring thing. She got two safety-pins and pinned the notes safely in the pocket of her blouse, alraid that she might lose them again.

  The two of them set out the next day to go shopping. 'Where shall we hide the stuff?' said Jo. 'I daren't put it anywhere in the dormy, and the common-room's not safe.'

  Well, it's very fine weather. We could really hide it tinder a hedge somewhere,' said Deirdre.

&
nbsp; 1 hey bought a great many things. Packets ol biscuits, in is of Nestle's milk, tins of sardines, chocolate bars by 'he dozen, hags of sweets, tins of peaches and pears! !he staggered out with hall the tilings, promising to oo back lor the others. They had kit hags with them, but these didn't hold half the goods.

  They found a good place in a field to hide the food. An old tree stump had fallen down, covering a hollow beneath it. The girls stuffed everything into the little hollow, which was perfectly dry. They went back for the rest of the things.

  They paid the bill - twenty-five pounds! Deirdre could hardly believe her ears. It was more money than she had had to spend in five years!

  'We've got good value for the money, though,' said Jo, as they staggered off again, laden with tins and packages. 'There's enough and more for every one of the twenty-three girls in the form!'

  They hid the second lot of food, strewed ivy strands over the opening to the hollow, and went back to school, well pleased with themselves. They had decided to ask a dozen or so of the second-formers to go with them to retrieve the food later on. They were sure they could never manage to take it all the way to school without falling by the wayside!

  But, before anyone could be told about the exciting array of goods, Jo got into trouble. She was supposed to go out for walks only with another second-former or with someone of a higher form. The first-formers only went for walks accompanied by a sixth-former or by a mistress, though the rule was sometimes disregarded. Jo had broken it by taking a first-former out - and she had also brought Deirdre back an hour too late for her prep.

  So that evening Miss Parker, the second-form mistress, gave Jo a shock. She rapped on her desk, after a note had been brought in to her, and everyone looked up from their prep.

  'f have here a note,' said Miss Parker. 'It informs me that Deirdre Barker, of the first form, was taken out this afternoon bv a second-former - which is against the rules - and did not return until an hour after prep was started 111 the first form. Deirdre has not given the name of the second-former. I must therefore ask her lo stand up so that 1 may see who it is.'

  Everyone knew it was .Jo. of course. They had seen her go off with Deirdre, and even if they hadn't they would have guessed it was Jo, Deirdre's friend. One or two looked at Jo expectantly.

  And Jo was afraid of owning up! She was afraid ol having to say where they had been, and what they had bought, and where the money had come from. She trembled in her seat, and kept her eyes down. Her i heeks grew crimson. Miss Parker waited lor two minutes in silence.

  'Very well,' she said. 'If the culprit will not own up, I must punish the whole class. The second form will not go swimming tor three days.'

  V

  l^unninf awcitj

  Still Jo did not stand np. She couldn't. Oh, the girls didn't understand! ft wasn't just owning up to taking Deirdre out without permission, it was all the other things that might be found out - that forty-five pounds for instance!

  Forty-five pounds. FORTY-FfVE POUNDS. It suddenly began to loom bigger and bigger and bigger. Why had she taken it? Just to get her own money back, and out of bravado too - to impress Deirdre. Jo kept her head down for the rest of prep, but she was quite unable to do any work at all.

  The storm broke in the dormy that night.

  'Jo! What do you mean by not owning up?' demanded June. 'You go down and own up immediately. Go on!'

  'It wasn't me with Deirdre,' said Jo, feebly.

  'Oh, JO! You're worse than ever. How can you tell lies like that?' cried Felicity. 'Go down and own up. You don't really mean to say you're going to have the whole form docked of its swimming for three days? You must be mad!'

  'All right, I'm mad, then,' said Jo, feeling like a hunted animal when she saw all the angry, accusing faces turned towards her.

  'You're nor fit to be at Malory Towers,' said Susan, in a cutting voice. 'I can't think why you ever came. You're getting worse instead of better.'

  'Don't,' said Jo, her eyes filling with tears.

  'That's right - cry!' said Katherine. 'You deserve to.

  Mow, for the last time, are you going to own up or not?'

  'I wasn't with Deirdre.' repeated Jo, obstinately.

  'We shall send you to Coventry,' said June. 'We shall not speak to you, any of us, or have anything to do with sou for three whole weeks. See? That's the kind of punishment that is kept specially lor people who behave like you, Josephine Jones - people who let others be punished for what they have done themselves, and then are too cowardly to stop it. We shan't speak to you for three weeks!'

  'But - it's my birthday soon - and I've got a feast for everyone!' cried Jo, wildly.

  'You'll be the only one at your feast,' said June, grimly. 'Unless you like to ask that drip of a Deirdre. Now it's understood, isn't it, everyone? From this moment Jo is in Coventry!'

  Jo hadn't heard of being seni to Covenuy before. It was new to her. It meant that not a single person spoke to her, answered her, or even looked at her. She might not have been there for all the notice they took of her that night. Jo cried in bed. Why hadn't she given up that money to Matron as soon as she had had it from her aunt? That was when all the trouble had begun.

  She waited till the others were asleep and then went to find Deirdre. The two crept together into the corridor (o whisper. 'Deirdre - I can't stand it,' wept Jo. 'I shall run away. I want to go home. Everyone's so unkind to me here. Except you.'

  'I shouldn't have come shopping with you,' whispered Deirdre. 'I'm the cause of all the trouble.'

  'Oh, Deirdre - will you come with me if I run away?' asked Jo, sniffing. 'I'd be afraid to go alone. Please, please sav you'll come with me.'

  Deirdre hesitated. The idea of running away scared her - but she was very weak and easily led. lo was much

  die stronger of the two and Jo had been very generous to her.

  'All right. I'll conic too,' she said, and immediately Jo cheered up. They began to plan.

  'I tell you what we'll do,' said Jo. 'We'll take all that food ol ours to that shack we passed on a long country walk we went on last term - do you remember? The first- and second-formers went together and we all played in the shack. It was in a very lonely place. We'll take the food there, and we can stay there a day or two before trying to find the way home.'

  This seemed rather a delightful adventure to Deirdre. She agreed at once. 'We'd better get up early tomorrow,' she said, 'and go and take the stuff to and fro. It will take us two journeys at least, and it's quite a long way to that shack.'

  Jo felt quite cheerful now. What would the second- lormers feel like when they knew that sending her to Coventry had made her run away? Jo didn't think of the worry she would cause the school and her parents by disappearing suddenly. She was completely selfish, and soon began to view the whole thing in the guise of a wonderful escapade.

  Somehow or other she managed to wake the next morning very early. She dressed and woke Deirdre, whose bed was fortunately beside the door in her dormy. The two set off quietly. They came at last to the hollow where they had hidden their goods, and then began the long trek to and fro to the shack. It took them longer than they imagined. The shack was a good place to hide in. It was a long long way from any road, and only a bridle path led anywhere near it. No one, except lor a few hikers, usually came near it.

  'There,' said Jo, pleased, putting down the last tin of peaches. 'We must remember to bring a tin-opener. We've really got enough lood to last lor weeks, Deirdre.'

  'We ooeht to get back quickly.' said Deirdre, looking at her watch. 'We'll be awhilly late for breakfast - and whatever we do we mustn't be seen coming in together again.'

  'Nobody's spotted us at all so far,' said Jo. 'We're lucky.'

  Ii was true that nobody had recognized them. But somebody had seen them, far away in the distance! Bill, on her horse Thunder, and Clarissa, on Merrylegs, were out for one of their early-morning rides, and had followed a bridle path not far distant from the shack. Bill's sharp eyes caught sight o
f two figures going into the shack.

  'Funny!' she said. 'That looks like two Malory Towers girls - same uniform. Perhaps it's two out for an early- morning walk.'

  'Probably,' said Clarissa, and thought no more about it. They galloped on, and had a wonderful ride, getting back just before Jo and Deirdre - who were careful to slip in at different gates.

  They had planned to run away that night, when all the others were asleep in bed. The second-formers were surprised at Jo's behaviour that day. They had expected her to be miserable and subdued, because being ignored completely was a very hard punishment - but instead Jo was bright-eyed and cheerful, seeming not to care in the least about being sent to Coventry.

  'She's a thick-skinned little beast,' said June to Felicity. June was doing a double dose of ignoring. She was not only ignoring Jo, she was ignoring Amanda! Il so happened that they met quite a number of times during those few days and June took great delight in turning her back on Amanda in a very marked manner.

  That night, when the girls in the second-form dormy were fast asleep, Jo got up and dressed very quietly. She took the rug off her bed, and then stole into Deirdre's dormy. Deirdre was awake, half afraid now that the time bad come. For two pins she would have given up the idea entirely!

  Bui Jo had no idea of giving il up or of allowing Deirdre lo either! It wasn't long before both of them were stealing down the moonlit corridor, each with their rug over their arm. It was easy to open the garden door and go out into the grounds.

  'I'm glad it's moonlight,' said Deirdre, with a half- scared laugh. '1 wouldn't like to go on a dark night. Oh, Jo - you're sure it's all right? You're sure your people won't mind my turning up with you?'

  'Oh no. They'll welcome you as my friend,' said Jo. 'And they'll laugh at our adventure, f know they will. They'll think it's wonderful!'

  They got to trie shack at last. All their food was still there. They spread the rugs on the floor and lay down to sleep. It was quite warm, but for some time neither of them could sleep. In the end Jo broke open a packet of biscuits and they munched steadily Deirdre fell asleep first, and then Jo found her eyes closing.