Last Term at Malory Towers Page 5

  'Mam'zelle Rougier has hers at the back, and Mam'zelle Dupont has hers near the top of her head,' said Felicity. 'And they both stick their buns full of hair-pins.'

  Darrell stared at her young sister, and a light began to dawn 'You don't mean - oh, t say, Felicity - you wouldn't dare to hold the magnet near either of the Mam'zelles' heads and make the hair-pins come out!' she said.

  Felicity nodded, her eyes dancing. 'Yes. That's the idea,' she said. 'Oh, Darrein Isn't it smashing? It's super.'

  Darrell began to laugh. 'It's wonderful!' she said. 'Fancy us never thinking of such a simple trick as that. Felicity, when are you going to do it? Oh, I wish I could see it! I wish I could do it myself!'

  'You can't. You're head-girl,' said Felicity, sounding quite shocked. 'But you could make some excuse, couldn't you, to come and see us play the trick? We thought we'd do it on Mam'zelle Dupont and on Mam'zelle Rougier just as many times as they'd stand for it, without getting suspicious.'

  'I should think they'd jolly soon get suspicious,' said Darrell. 'Especially Mam'zelle Rougier. You'd belter be careful of her, Felicity. She's not got the sense of humour that Mam'zelle Dupont has.'

  'We'll be careful,' said Felicity. 'Well - can you make an excuse to pop into our classroom, il we tell you when

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  we're going to do the trick?'

  'I'll try,' said Darrell. But she felt sure she wouldn't be able to. Mam'zelle might be rather astonished if she kept appearing in the second-form room every time her hair¬pins came out!

  Darrell told the rest of the form, with the exception of Gwen and Maureen, whom nobody ever trusted enough 10 let into even the simplest secret. Amanda was there too, and to everyone's surprise, she suddenly gutfawed. Like her voice, her laugh was very loud, and it made ev eryone jump. They hadn't heard the stuck-up Amanda laugh before - she was too busy looking down her nose at everything!

  'That's great,' said Amanda. 'We did things like that at Trenigan, too.'

  'Did you?' said Darrell, in surprise, and Trenigan went ,1 little way up in her rather low estimation of it. 'What tricks did you play?'

  For the first time Amanda opened out a little, and an animated conversation began about tricks - good ones and bad ones, safe ones and dangerous ones, ones likely to be too easily spotted, and ones that never were spotted. It was a most interesting conversation.

  Amanda had to admit that Malory Towers was better at tricks than Trenigan had been.

  Oh well - it's because of Alicia, really, that we got such fine tricks,' said Sally. 'Alicia's got three brothers, and one of them, Sam, always used to send her good tricks he used himself. Alicia - do you remember the sneezing trick?'

  'Oh yes,' said Alicia. 'It was a tiny pellet, Amanda, which we stuck somewhere near Mam'zelle - on the wall or anywhere, it didn't matter - and when you put a lew drops of salt water on it, it sent off an invisible a pour that made people sneeze - and you should have Hi ART) Mam'zelle sneeze!'

  'A-WHOOOOOOOSH-OOO!' said Sally, suddenly, and everyone jumped. Sally grinned. '.lust like that,' she said. 'And poor old Mam'zelle went on and on and on, till she was scared out of her life.'

  'Oh dear - how we laughed. 1 envy those lower-form kids,' said Alicia, putting on a comical look. 'No dignity to keep up, no responsibilities like ours, no necessity to set an example to the whole school. And that wonderful magnet trick to play!'

  'Your young cousin June is certainly keeping up the family tradition,' said Mary-Lou. 'When are they going to do this absurd trick?'

  ft was fixed for a Thursday morning, at the end of the French lesson. This was the last lesson before break and after it the girls would be able to go out into the Court and laugh their heads off, if they needed to!

  'Wliii takes the lesson? Mam'zelle Dupont or Mam'zelle Rougier?' asked Darrell, hoping it was the plump, jolly Mam'zelle Dupont.

  But it wasn't. It was the thin, rather bad-tempered Mam'zelle Rougier. What in the world would she think when her hair fell down and her pins disappeared?

  The second-formers planned it all carefully. They decided that June must not play the trick. All the teachers were suspicious of her. Somebody else must do the trick.

  'Shall I?' said Felicity. 'Or what about Susan? Susan's always so good in class that nobody would ever suspect her of such a thing.'

  'I'm not always good,' said Susan, quite hurt at this compliment. 'Anyway, I don't want to do the trick. I giggle loo easily.'

  'Nobody must laugh,' warned June. 'Once we laugh we shall be suspected, and we shan't be able to play the trick again.'

  'But bow can we NOT laugh?' asked Nora, who was given to sudden snorts, like Irene's. 'I mean - laughing is like sneezing or coughing. You can't stop il coming, if it wants to.'

  'Yes, you can,' said .June, firmly. She had wonderful control over herself, and could keep a straight face during the most comical happenings. 'If y ou feel you are going to give the game away, you'd better go out ol the room just before we do the trick. See?'

  'Oh, 1 couldn't. I simply couldn't miss it,' said Nora, i won't laugh. I'll take three or four hankies and stuff them into my mouth.'

  Thursday came. Lessons began. The French lesson came, and Mam'zelle Rougier walked into the room, her heavy tread sounding all the way down the corridor. June was holding open the door. A little snort came from Nora, whose pockets were bulging with handkerchieis.

  'Shut up!' said several people, in loud whispers. Nora looked round, ready to snort again, but met such fierce glares that she subsided.

  Mam'zelle Rougier came in. 'Asseyez-vous,' she said, in her sharp, crisp voice. The class obeyed, sitting down with much scraping of chairs. They looked at Mam'zelle Rougier, suspiciously bright-eyed.

  But Mam'zelle Rougier was used to facing dozens of fright, laughing eyes. She snapped out her instructions. Page thirty-three. 1 hope you have prepared the lesson well.' She repeated it slowly in French. 'Nora, please begin.'

  Nora was bad at French. She suddenly lost all desire io laugh, and stood up, stammering through the French translation. One by one the others followed. Mam'zelle Rougier was in a bad temper. Words of anger came from her more readily than words of praise that morning! The class ielt very pleased she was going to have a trick played on her!

  .Just before the end of the lesson, Mam'zelle gave her 'Mial order. Clean the blackboard, please.'

  Susan stood up. She had the powerful little magnet inside the palm of her hand. It had already been tried out on many things, with most miraculous results.

  Susan walked steadily to the board near Mam'zelle. Mam zelle had opened her desk and was rummaging in it for a book, ft was a wonderful chance to use the magnet at once!

  Watched by twenty-three breathless second-formers, Susan held the magnet to the back of Mam'zelle s head. She held it about two inches away from the bun of hair on Mam'zelle's neck, as she had been instructed.

  Before her delighted eyes, every one of the rather large hair-pins that Mam'zelle Rougier used for her bun flew out, and attached themselves firmly and silently to the magnet. Susan grinned at the class, went abruptly to the blackboard and cleaned it.

  Mam'zelle had apparently noticed nothing. The bell went, and she stood up. 'Dismiss!' she said, and the class dismissed, Nora stuffing one of her handkerchiefs into her mouth already. They went to the big hall to get biscuits and milk, watching for Mam'zelle to come too.

  She came - and the second-formers gave a squeal of joy. 'It's coming down. The bun's all undone!'

  So it was. Mam'zelle hadn't noticed it - but Miss Peters saw it at once. She tapped Mam'zelle on the shoulder and spoke to her. 'Your hair is coming down, Mam'zelle,' she said.

  Mam'zelle put up her hand, and to her immense astonishment found that her bun was completely undone and hanging down her back! She groped about for the hair-pins to pin it up again.

  There wasn't a single hair-pin in her head! This was not surprising, as they were all on the magnet, which Susan now had safely in her pocket! Mam'zelle
Rougier felt frantically all over her head, and Nora gave a muffled snort. She stuffed her second hankv in her mouth.

  so

  Mam'zelle now began to feel down her neck, wondering if the hair-pins had disappeared down there. Miss Peters looked at her curiously.

  'Lost a hair-pin?' she said.

  'f have lost them allV said Mam'zelle, filled with alarm and astonishment. She wondered il she could possibiy liave forgotten to do her hair that morning. Had she gone into her classes with her hair down her back? She blushed red at the thought. What must the girls have thought?

  She caught sight of the laughing second-formers, and saw Nora stuffing her third hanky into her mouth. She turned hurriedly and almost ran from the hall.

  'The giris were laughing! I did come into my classes without pinning up my hair,' said poor Mam'zelle to herself. 'What a thing to do! How could I have forgotten 'o pin it up? I haven't a single pin in my hair!'

  She went to her room and did her hah very carefully indeed. She had no suspicion at all that a trick had been played on her. But if she could have seen the wicked little second-formers laughing and rolling on a secluded piece of grass under the trees in the grounds, she would have felt very suspicious indeed!

  'When she groped down her neck for the pins that weren't there!' chuckled June. 'And oh. Miss Peters' face when she saw Mam'zelle's hair all down her back. I could have died.'

  'Let's do it again,' begged Felicity. 'Do, do let's. It's one ol the funniest tricks we've EVER thought of!'

  V

  Amfincta vwk& ft

  Darrell was working hard lor her exam, and so was Sally. Bui they played hard too, and somehow found time to attend all the debates, the sing-songs, lectures and meetings that cropped up through the week. It was a happy, busy life, and one that Darrell enjoyed to the full.

  She had now been six years at Malory Towers and had learned to work really well, so the exam work did not seem as difficult as she expected. Miss Oakes was pleased with her.

  'Already you can work by yourself, Darrell, with just a little guidance,' she said. 'You are ready for college now. There, you will find that students can work as much or as little as they like. It is up to them! But you will always work well, and Sally too - you have the habit now.'

  Privately Miss Oakes thought thai Darrell and Sally would do much better at college than Alicia or Betty, although these two had quicker brains and better memories than either Sally or Darrell.

  Being grown-up, and leeling tree for the first time from bells and strict time-tables and endless classes, will go to Alicia's head, and Betty's loo, thought Miss Oakes. They won't do a scrap of work at college! They'll be out to dances and parties and meetings the whole lime - and in the end sound little Darrell and solid little Sally will

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  come away with the honours that Alicia and Betty should find it easy to get - but won't!

  At that moment Darrell and Sally were drawing up lists for the first tennis match of the season. Moira was there, giving excellent advice in her rather domineering way. However, Sally put up with that for the sake of her help. Moira knew what she was talking about when it uime to games.

  Amanda came up and looked silently over their shoulders. The others ignored her. Moira turned her back on her even more pointedly.

  T ihink for the third team we'll put in leanie Smithers, from the third form,' said Sally. 'She's got a very fine serve, and she's steady. She'll make a good couple with Tessie Loman.'

  Tessie's no good,' remarked Amanda. 'Never will be. Not until she gets rid of her peculiar way ol serving. Slu loses half her power, the way she swings her racket.'

  'I bet you don't even know which Tessie is!' said Sally.

  'Oh yes, J do,' said Amanda, unexpectedly. '1 some¬times go and watch those babies. You can always pick out the ones with promise.'

  'Well, you're cleverer than we are, then,' said Moira. It's possible to pick out someone brilliant - and then find it's just a flash in the pan - they're no good at all.'

  '1 could always pick out the promising ones,' said Amanda, with conviction. T could tell you now who to put into the first team - that's easy, of course - and the second, third and fourth teams. But I wouldn't boose either Jeanie or Tessie for the third team. They'll go to pieces.'

  The others lelt annoyed. Why all this interference? How could Amanda, who had only been a few weeks at Malory Towers, possibly know anything about the sports vapahilities of all the girls?

  'Well, perhaps you'd like to tell us who will be ihe

  captain of school games three years hence,' said Moira, sarcastically. 'We're listening hard!'

  'Yes, 1 can tell yon,' said Amanda, without the least hesitation. 'If she had some coaching - proper coaching - and stuck to practising every minute she had. there's a kid in the second form who could be games captain ol every form she's in, and far and away best at tennis, whatever form she's in.'

  The other three turned and stared at Amanda. She sounded so very very certain.

  'Who's the kid?' asked Moira, at last, after all three of them had searched their minds in vain for this elusive second-former. Who could it be?

  'There you are - you can't even spot her when I've told you she's outstanding, and told you what form she's in,' said Amanda, walking away. 'Why, at Trenigan lowers she would have been spotted the second day she was at school! But you could have a world champion here and never know it!'

  'Amanda! Don't go!' ordered Moira. 'Now you've aired your opinions so freely, let's hear a few more. Who's this wonderful second-former?'

  'You go and watch them playing, and find out,' said Amanda, in a bored voice. But Moira flew to the door and shut it just as Amanda had opened it to go out. 'No, Amanda,' she said. 'You tell us before you go - or we'll think you're just talking through your hat, and that there isn't any wonderful kid!'

  'I don't waste my breath like that,' said Amanda, scornfully. 'And don't glare at me in that way, Moira - you can order the others about as much as you like, and talk to them as if they were bits of dirt - they're used to it! I'm not., and I won't have it. If there's any talk ol that sort to be done, I'll do it!'

  Sally came to Moira's defence, though secretly she was pleased to find someone who could stand up to the

  opinionated Moira, and light her on her own level.

  'You're a new girl, Amanda,' she said. 'But you seem lo forget it. Yon can't talk to us like that, and you must realize that Moira knows more than you do about our girls, even if I don't!'

  'She doesn't,' said Amanda, contemptuously. 'All right. I'll tell you the kid, and you'll see I'm right. It's June.'

  'June!' said the other three, amazed. June, the defiant, aggressive, daredevil cousin of Alicia's! Well, who would have thought of June?

  'She never bothers even to listen when she's being coached,' said Sally.

  'She only plays when she wants to,' said Darrell, 'and more often than not she plays the fool! She's no good.'

  'June's always been like that,' said Moira. 'Ever since she's been here - she could run faster at lacrosse and ■ackle better than anyone if she tried - but we have never been able to put her into a team. She could swim like a fish if she didn't always fool about - she's fast when she wants to be. But you can never depend on June.'

  'Look,' said Amanda, with conviction in her voice, 'I tell you, if June was coached properly and soundly, at lennis and swimming - I don't know if she's any good at lacrosse, of course - I tell you that kid would he the finest player and swimmer you've ever had. Oh, f know she lools about, I know she's a dare-devil and doesn't care a rap for anyone - but my word, once she finds out she can be superlative at something, well - watch her! She'll go lo the top like lightning!'

  This was all very surprising - and somehow, spoken in Amanda's loud, very sure voice, it was remarkably convincing. Darrell looked at Sally.
Could Amanda be nght? Had their dislike and disapproval ol the cheeky, don't-care June prevented them from seeing that she had the promise of a first-class games-player?

  'Well.' said Sallv, doubtfully, thinking of June's tennis, and remembering the way she had watched her playing the lool on the court the week before, 'well, I don't know. She's wonderfully quick and supple, and she's very strong - but her character is against her. She won't bother.'

  'She just wants someone to take an interest in her and encourage her,' said Amanda. 'I bet it's a case of "give a dog a bad name and hang him", with June. If I had the handling of her, I'd soon make something of her!'

  'Well, why don't you?' said Moira, rather dis¬agreeably. She had suddenly seen that Amanda was right. June was a natural games-player - she had a wonderful eye, and a beautiful style. She's cheeked me so often that I just couldn't see her good points, thought Moira, grimly. She put her question to Amanda, and stood waiting lor the answei. 'Well, why don't you?'

  'Oh, Amanda can't be bothered to coach anyone, can you, Amanda?' said Sally, slyly. She felt sure that by appearing doubtful about Amanda's wish to help she would make the big, aggressive girl volunteer to do so. Clever Sally!

  Amanda fell into the trap at once. 'I can be bothered to coach if the person is worth it,' she said, shortly. 'Well, I'm glad you seem to agree with me, anyway. I'll take on June and, what's more, I'll have her in the second tennis team and second swimming team before the term's finished!'

  She walked out, shutting the door loudly, in her usual way. The three left in the room looked at one another. Darrell rubbed her nose as she always did when surprised and taken aback.

  'Well! She's right, of course. June could be and would be a wonder at games if she wanted to. She's like Alicia - brilliant, but unstable. A wonder so long as she's doing something she wants to do. and something she's

  determined to do well - but no good otherwise.'

  '/ shouldn't care to take that little wretch of a June on,' said Moira. 'She's rude and ungrateful, and she fools about all the time. I wish Amanda joy of her!'

  'She's certainly taken on a handful.' said Sally, picking up her games lists. 'But if she does help June's game, it'll be something! Anyway, thank goodness we've got Felicity to depend on, Darrell. She's going to follow iii your footsteps all right!'