Goodbye Malory Towers Page 5

  Quickly, Lizzie explained the matter to Miss Potts, who, as well as being in charge of North Tower, was also the first-form mistress.

  Miss Potts listened, a serious expression on her face, then she said, ‘Lizzie, I can’t possibly interfere in any decision that June makes as games captain. Besides, your sister is not behind in her studies in any way, so there is no reason at all why she can’t take part in the swimming gala.’

  ‘This is very true,’ said Mam’zelle. ‘The little Edith is excellent at French. Besides, what is it they say? Ah, I have it! All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy!’

  Miss Potts’s rather stern features relaxed into a smile at this, and she said to Lizzie, ‘Mam’zelle is quite right. It wouldn’t hurt you to take up some kind of sport, or hobby, Lizzie, for you are growing one-sided. I really think that you should give it some thought.’

  Lizzie couldn’t very well argue with Miss Potts, so she agreed that she would, then left the room – only to walk smack into June!

  ‘So, you went to Miss Potts, after all,’ said June. ‘What did she say? Is she going to tell me that I can’t have Edith for the swimming gala?’

  Lizzie didn’t reply. She didn’t need to, for her flushed face and downcast eyes were answer enough, and June smiled.

  ‘Well, I did warn you,’ she said, before going on her way, whistling an annoying little tune that made Lizzie clench her fists angrily.

  Dispiritedly, the girl went back to her own study, sitting down at the desk and resting her chin in her hands. A cleft appeared between her brows as she wondered what to do next. She could always write to her mother, of course, or Uncle Charles. But Mother had quite enough on her plate at the moment, and if Uncle Charles got it into his head that Edith was wasting her time at Malory Towers, he might refuse to continue paying the fees.

  Suddenly, Lizzie heard footsteps in the corridor outside, followed by the sound of voices.

  It was Felicity and Susan – and a thought came to Lizzie. Perhaps June would listen to Felicity. After all, she was Head Girl, and the two of them had known one another for years. Getting up, she opened the door and put her head out. ‘Felicity!’ she called. ‘Could you spare me a moment, please?’

  ‘Of course,’ said Felicity. ‘Susan, I’ll meet you down at the tennis court in ten minutes.’

  Then she followed Lizzie into her study, saying, ‘You really shouldn’t be indoors on a glorious afternoon like this, you know. Why don’t you join Susan and me for a game of tennis? I’m sure that we can find someone to make up a four.’

  ‘Thanks,’ said Lizzie with rather a strained smile. ‘But I don’t go in for games much.’

  ‘Well, perhaps you should,’ said Felicity, looking hard at the girl. ‘You need more fresh air, for you look awfully pale. I say, is something up?’

  ‘Sort of,’ said Lizzie. And, yet again, she told the tale of what had taken place between her and June.

  Felicity listened attentively, then said roundly, ‘Lizzie, you’re an idiot. Don’t you realise what a tremendous honour it is for a first former – and a new girl at that – to be chosen for the swimming team? Edith will resent you dreadfully if you try to take this opportunity away from her, and what’s more I don’t blame her. You really must learn to leave her alone a bit and let her find her feet.’

  Lizzie felt disappointed and let down, for Felicity was well-known for her sympathetic nature. Rather stiffly, she said, ‘With respect, Felicity, you don’t understand what it’s like to be the eldest sister.’

  ‘No, but I know what it’s like to be the youngest,’ retorted Felicity swiftly. ‘My sister Darrell was in the fourth form here at Malory Towers when I started. And I know that if I had come to her and told her that I was to be in the swimming gala, she would have been as pleased as punch, and would have backed me up like anything.’

  Lizzie turned red, and said, ‘Believe me, Felicity, I have Edith’s interests very much at heart. I just want her to do well at Malory Towers.’

  ‘She is doing well,’ said Felicity. ‘For she has thrown herself into life here. Not just lessons, but taking part in games and making friends. She is enjoying her time at school, and that’s as it should be. I would like to see you taking a leaf out of her book, Lizzie. Now, I must dash, for Susan will be waiting for me. Are you quite sure you won’t join us?’

  ‘Quite sure,’ said Lizzie, sounding so prim and so serious that Felicity felt quite exasperated.

  What on earth was wrong with the girl? she thought, as she made her way down to the tennis court. Still, Miss Grayling felt that Lizzie was worthwhile, and Felicity had never known the Head to be wrong in her summing-up of people. As she walked through the grounds, Felicity spotted Alice in the distance. As Alice had no particular friend of her own, she and Lizzie had been thrown together a good deal, pairing up whenever any activity took place for which a partner was needed. The two girls seemed to get along well together, and Felicity wondered whether Lizzie had confided in Alice at all. She resolved to ask Alice, but there was no time now, or she would be late for tennis. Heavens, there was always so much to do at Malory Towers!

  While the girls made the most of the fine weather, Gwendoline was in the study that she shared with Miss Nicholson, frantically rummaging through the drawers of her desk.

  ‘Lost something?’ said Miss Nicholson.

  ‘Yes, a letter from home,’ said Gwen, frowning. ‘I had it this morning, and simply can’t think where I’ve put it!

  ‘It will turn up,’ said Miss Nicholson in her cheerful way. ‘These things always do. Have you looked in your handbag?’

  At the mention of her handbag, Gwen suddenly remembered bumping into Amy that morning, and of the letter and the bag flying from her hand. She thought that she had picked everything up, but just suppose that she had overlooked the letter? It was a very personal one, from her parents, and the thought that one of the girls could have found it, and perhaps read it, was a distressing one.

  Quickly, Gwendoline made for the door, saying over her shoulder to Miss Nicholson, ‘I have just thought of somewhere I might have dropped it! I’ll be back shortly.’

  Gwen went back to the corridor where she had bumped into Amy that morning, but the letter was nowhere to be seen, and, frowning, she retraced her steps. What if Amy had come back and picked up the letter? She was certain to be sore with Gwen for giving her lines, and might decide to get her own back by showing it to the others.

  ‘Hallo, Gwen,’ said a cheery voice. ‘Hallo, Miss Lacey, I should say.’

  Gwen looked up, startled, for she had been so lost in her thoughts that she hadn’t even heard Matron approaching. She returned her greeting, and said, ‘I say, Matron, I don’t suppose that anyone has handed in a letter that they have found to you?’

  ‘No,’ said Matron. ‘Today I have had a purse, a hair-slide, and – of all things – a very grubby handkerchief brought to me, but no letter. Why, have you lost one?’

  ‘Yes,’ said Gwen. ‘It was from my parents, and I don’t like to think that someone else might have got hold of it.’

  ‘Well, I am sure that most of the girls here are far too well-brought-up to think of reading someone else’s letters,’ said Matron reassuringly. ‘If one of them had found it they would have given it back to you, or handed it in to me. I daresay you’ve put it in a safe place and forgotten where it is!’

  Gwen agreed with this and went on her way, but inwardly she felt very uneasy, for she knew that she hadn’t put the letter in a safe place at all.

  ‘No luck?’ said Miss Nicholson sympathetically, seeing Gwen’s downcast expression when she went back to the study. ‘What a shame!’

  The mistress spoke sincerely, for she knew that letters from home were very important, both to the girls and to the teachers.

  ‘Buck up!’ she said. ‘You’ll find it in-between the pages of a book, or something – that happened to me once. Listen, why don’t the two of us pop into town for a spot of tea? That should cheer you
up.’

  Gwen looked into Miss Nicholson’s friendly, open face and felt warmed. The other mistress was a downright, no-nonsense young woman – not the kind of person that the old Gwen would have wanted as a friend at all. Now, though, she smiled, and said, ‘That would be very pleasant indeed.’

  And, as the two young women walked out of the gates of Malory Towers together, Gwen reflected that she had never had a real friend in all her years as a pupil at the school. Perhaps, now that she had returned as a teacher, she had finally found one.

  6

  Amy’s admirer

  Gwendoline’s missing letter did turn up, several days later. She and Miss Nicholson went into their study, and Gwen gave a cry as she saw the letter lying on her desk.

  ‘Someone must have put it there while we were out,’ she said. ‘I wonder why whoever found it didn’t return it to me immediately.’

  ‘Oh, you know how forgetful these schoolgirls can be at times,’ said Miss Nicholson. ‘I expect one of them picked it up and put it into her pocket, meaning to give it to you when she saw you, and then forgot all about it.’

  ‘Probably,’ said Gwen, relaxing a little.

  She had asked Amy directly if she had picked up the letter when the girl had handed in her lines on Saturday afternoon.

  ‘Of course not, Miss Lacey,’ Amy had said, getting on her high horse at once. ‘If I had done so I should have given it back to you straight away.’

  Gwen hadn’t known whether to believe the girl or not. She had certainly sounded sincere, but then people who were good at telling fibs usually did.

  Amy, for her part, had been most annoyed at being accused – as she put it – of taking Miss Lacey’s letter, and had complained bitterly to Bonnie about it later.

  ‘Well, to be fair, Miss Lacey didn’t exactly accuse you,’ Bonnie had pointed out. ‘She merely asked.’

  ‘You like her, don’t you?’ Amy had said, sounding rather accusing herself.

  But Bonnie had merely shrugged, saying, ‘I neither like nor dislike her. But I do enjoy her classes, and think that I can learn a lot from them. So I intend to stay on the right side of Miss Lacey.’

  Amy smiled to herself now, as she walked to her study and remembered the conversation, for Bonnie never had any trouble in staying on the right side of people, flattering them outrageously and ‘turning on the charm’, as Freddie called it. And it certainly seemed to work with Miss Lacey, who was fast making a favourite of Bonnie.

  Amy heard herself hailed as she opened the door, and turned to find young Violet Forsyth standing there – wearing an exact replica of the dress that she had so admired on Amy the other day.

  ‘Look, Amy,’ she said, beaming. ‘I wrote to Mummy and sent her a drawing of your beautiful dress, and she managed to find one exactly like it. Isn’t it super?’

  ‘It suits you much better than all those frills,’ said Amy, approvingly. ‘You look very nice, Violet.’

  Of course, Violet was absolutely thrilled by this praise, and she said happily, ‘And Mummy’s going to try and find me a bracelet like the one you wear. We shall be just like twins.’

  ‘Well, not twins precisely,’ said Amy, looking at Violet’s short, plump figure and her long ringlets. ‘Let’s say that you will look like my younger sister.’

  June and Freddie came out of June’s study in time to hear these remarks, and both of them grinned broadly.

  ‘What’s this, young Violet?’ said Freddie. ‘A new dress?’

  ‘Yes, and it’s exactly like Amy’s,’ said Violet.

  ‘Very pretty,’ said June, her lips twitching with amusement. ‘But I should go and get changed, Violet. It’s not the weekend, you know, and if Matron or Miss Potts sees you out of uniform they’re likely to take a dim view.’

  ‘Of course,’ said Violet at once. ‘I just wanted Amy to see it.’

  As the first former walked away, June said, ‘You seem to have an admirer, Amy.’

  ‘I know that Violet looks up to me enormously,’ said Amy rather loftily. ‘So, of course, I am happy to help if she asks my advice on fashion and so forth.’

  ‘The best advice you could give her would be to work harder at tennis and swimming, and lose some weight,’ said Freddie, watching Violet critically as she went downstairs. ‘She would look much nicer then, and feel better.’

  ‘Perhaps Amy doesn’t want Violet to lose weight,’ said June slyly. ‘Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, they say, but it won’t be very flattering if your little copycat starts to look better than you do, will it, Amy?’

  Amy scowled at June, while searching her mind for a withering retort, for the girl was quite right. Amy found the fact that Violet admired her so much that she wanted to copy her very flattering indeed. So much so that she was positively revelling in it! At last she said scornfully to June, ‘Well, I shouldn’t think anyone would ever want to imitate your style of dress, June. Why, sometimes you look more like a boy than a girl.’

  ‘Oh, I don’t mind that,’ said June cheerfully. ‘I would far rather be admired for my achievements than my looks.’

  And with that, she smiled sweetly at the seething Amy, tucked her arm into Freddie’s and walked away.

  Violet, meanwhile, couldn’t resist showing off her finery to the others, and popped into the common-room on her way to get changed.

  ‘Violet!’ said her friend Faith. ‘Why are you wearing that dress? You’ll get into awful trouble if one of the mistresses sees you.’

  ‘Oh, I just wanted to try it on,’ said Violet airily. ‘Mummy sent it to me in the post today.’

  ‘Very nice,’ said Daffy, walking slowly around the girl. ‘Er, doesn’t Amy of the sixth form have a dress very similar to that one?’

  Violet’s worship of Amy was a great source of amusement to the first formers, and they grinned at one another. Violet, however, didn’t notice, and said, ‘Actually, it was Amy who told me that this style of dress would suit me. She takes such an interest in me, and always gives good advice.’

  ‘I don’t like her,’ said Katie, wrinkling her nose. ‘She’s awfully stuck-up, and never even says “hallo” if she sees me, just walks by with her nose in the air.’

  ‘Really, Katie,’ said Violet, with a laugh. ‘You can’t expect someone like Amy to take notice of a mere first former.’

  ‘Well, you’re a mere first former, and she takes notice of you,’ said Daffy.

  ‘Yes, but that’s because we are so alike in so many ways,’ said Violet, rather smugly. ‘Both of us are interested in fashion, and appreciate the finer things in life.’

  ‘You mean that you’re both a couple of vain, spoilt little snobs,’ said the forthright Ivy, and some of the others laughed.

  Violet scowled, but there was no time to retort, for at that moment Matron put her head round the door of the common-room, and said, ‘Faith, I wanted to see you about – ’

  Then her eyes fell on Violet, standing in the middle of the room in her blue dress, and Matron’s lips pursed, her brows drawing together in a frown. ‘Violet, why are you out of uniform?’ she snapped.

  The girl opened her mouth to explain, but Matron swept on, ‘You know very well that you are only allowed to wear your own clothes at weekends. Now, go and get changed at once, and this had better not happen again, or it will mean an order mark!’

  With that she put her hand on Violet’s shoulder and steered her from the room, the others grinning as they heard Matron’s voice continuing to scold as she followed the girl upstairs.

  ‘Poor old Violet!’ said Faith with a laugh. ‘I must say, I can’t see why she thinks Amy is so marvellous. If she has to worship one of the sixth formers, why can’t she pick someone worth worshipping – like Felicity, or June or even Bonnie?’

  ‘Because she’s too silly to realise that their good qualities are far more important than things like wealth and good looks,’ said Ivy scornfully. ‘Violet is quite right, she and Amy are alike in some ways.’

  ‘
Well, I hope that Amy becomes bored with Violet, for she’s awfully bad for her,’ said Daffy. ‘She was starting to behave quite sensibly last term, like an ordinary, jolly schoolgirl, but now she is slipping back into her old ways.’

  Daffy and Violet had been arch-enemies when they had first started at Malory Towers, two terms ago. Daffy had hated Violet’s stuck-up ways and conceit, while Violet had resented Daffy’s popularity.

  But then Daffy had got into serious trouble, and Violet had saved her from getting expelled, and since then the two girls had got on very much better together, a mutual respect springing up between them. The two still quarrelled at times, but without any of the bitterness they had felt before. Both of them had also been brought to see the flaws in their own characters, and had been doing their utmost to put them right.

  Of course, thought Daffy, neither of them would change completely. She would always have a mischievous streak in her nature, and would always love to play tricks. But she was much more thoughtful now, and no longer played the kind of tricks that could hurt people. And Violet would never be completely without vanity, or conceit, but she had certainly improved a great deal over the past few months and the others had grown to like her much more than they had at first.

  What a shame it would be if her foolish admiration of Amy undid all of that.

  But, as the weeks went on, Violet continued to copy Amy in any way that she could.

  If Amy had a new pair of shoes, Violet would be wearing an identical pair a few days later. When Amy appeared in the dining-room wearing a blue Alice band in her hair, Violet insisted that Faith accompany her into town on Saturday so that she could buy the very same one. And when Amy began to part her hair on the side, instead of in the middle, Violet also followed suit.

  ‘If Amy came down to breakfast barefoot and dressed in a sack you would copy her,’ said Katie, scornfully, when the first formers were in their common-room one evening.

  ‘I wonder that you don’t have your hair bobbed like Amy’s, as well,’ said Ivy with a sniff. ‘I notice that you have stopped curling it every night.’