4 in miss grayling’s room

next day everyone awoke to the sound of the loud clang of the dressing-bell. new girls sat up in bed, startled, unused to the loud morning bell. second-formers grunted and rolled over for another snooze. they were a notoriously lazy form that year. darrell was always teasing her second-form sister, felicity, about it.

“lazy lot of kids,” she said. “always rushing down to breakfast with your ties half-knotted and your shoes undone. i wonder miss parker doesn’t deal out punishments by the hundred!”

“oh, old nosey does!” grinned felicity. “was she as bad in your time, darrell, always nosing into this and that?”

“never you mind,” said darrell, remembering how she herself as a second-former had scrambled down to breakfast once with only one stocking on. “how’s that awful josephine getting on?”

“oh, throwing her weight about as usual,” said felicity. “susan and i don’t take much notice of her. it’s when she comes up against june that she gets it hot! june simply pulverizes her! serves her right.”

darrell was quite sure that june would be able to “pulverize” anyone, as felicity called it. june was alicia’s young cousin, a very tough and aggressive young person, only slightly mellowed so far by her stay at malory towers. she was very like alicia, and had alicia’s quick tongue and sharp humour. she also had alicia’s love of tricks, and everyone who taught her had learnt to keep a very sharp eye indeed on june.

except mam’zelle dupont! anyone could play a joke on her and get away with it. but it was getting more difficult now, since mam’zelle had discovered that there were actually booklets and leaflets sent out by firms, describing their jokes and tricks. she had made an intensive study of these, and was now much more on the alert.

“do you remember when mam’zelle played a trick on us?” said felicity, giggling as she remembered. “she bought a set of false celluloid teeth and fitted them over her own—do you remember? and everyone she smiled at had a fit, she looked so monstrous!”

“yes, i shall never forget,” said darrell. “dear old mam’zelle. i do wish she’d play a ‘treek’ this last term. that’s her one and only so far.”

one or two girls still hadn’t come back, because of illness or some good reason. moira in the sixth form was due back that day. she and sally worked well together over the games time-tables and matches—but otherwise moira was still not very likeable.

“she’s always so jolly sure of herself—so determined to be cock-of-the-walk!” complained the girls. “never in the wrong, mustn’t be contradicted—the great high-and-mighty moira!”

darrell caught sight of amanda, the new six-former, going past. something in the determined, confident walk reminded her of moira. she smiled to herself.

“how will moira like amanda? it’ll be funny to watch them together. there’ll be some battles this term! well—it’s always more interesting when things happen. i wouldn’t want my very last term to be dull.”

she went to the common-room after breakfast to find the others in her form. sally was there, and mary-lou and belinda.

“the bell for the first class will soon go,” said darrell. “i suppose we’d better go down.”

someone knocked at the door. “come in!” called darrell. a scared-looking second-former put her nose round the door. “please,” she began.

“come right in,” said belinda. “we like to know the face has got a body. we shan’t eat you!”

the second-former inserted her body into the room too. “please,” she said, “miss grayling says will one of you take the new girls to her. she says not the new sixth-former, but any others in north tower. she’s waiting now.”

“right,” said darrell. “buzz off. are the girls waiting in the hall, as usual?”

“yes, please,” said the scared one, and buzzed off thankfully.

“i’ll take the kids in,” said mary-lou, getting up. new girls always had to go to the head on the morning of the second day. miss grayling liked to give them an idea of what was expected of them at malory towers, and as a rule, no girl forgot those few grave words. darrell had never forgotten them.

she remembered them now and suddenly put out a hand to stop mary-lou.

“mary-lou—let me take them in. it’s my job, anyway—and i just feel i’d somehow like to hear miss grayling talk to the new girls as she once talked to us. i’ll go!”

“right,” said mary-lou, understanding at once. she sat down again. darrell went out of the room and into the hall. the new girls were there, five of them. three were first-formers, one was a second-former and one a third-former. they all looked uncomfortable and rather scared.

“it’s the head-girl!” hissed the third-former. “mind your p’s and q’s.”

nobody had any intention of not minding them. the little first-formers looked with wide eyes at this big, important sixth-former. darrell remembered how scared she had been of sixth-formers too, six years back, and she smiled kindly at them.

“come along, kids. i’ll take you in. don’t look so scared. you’ve come to the finest school in the kingdom, so you’re lucky!”

darrell took the five girls to the head mistress’s room, and stopped outside a door painted a deep cream colour. she knocked.

darrell knocked at the door

a low, familiar voice called out “come in!”

darrell opened the door. “i’ve brought the new girls to you, miss grayling,” she said.

“thank you, darrell,” said the head. she was sitting at her desk, writing, a grey-haired, calm-faced woman, with startlingly blue eyes and a determined mouth. she looked at the five trembling girls standing in front of her, her blue eyes going from one to the other, considering each girl closely.

what did she see in them? darrell wondered. did she see the bad—and the good? did she see which girls could be trusted and which couldn’t? did she know which of them would accept responsibility and do well in the school, and which would be failures?

miss grayling spoke to each girl in her low, clear voice, asking their names and forms. then she addressed them all gravely. darrell listened as intently as the youngsters, remembering the words from six years back.

“i want you all to listen to me for a minute or two. one day you will leave this school and go out into the world as young women. you should take with you eager minds, kind hearts and a will to help. you should take with you a good understanding of many things and a willingness to accept responsibility, and show yourselves as women to be loved and trusted. all these things you will be able to learn at malory towers—if you will.”

she paused, and every girl looked at her intently, listening hard.

“i do not count as our successes those who have won scholarships and passed exams, though these are good things to do. i count as our successes those who learn to be good-hearted and kind, sensible and trustable, good, sound women the world can lean on. our failures are those who do not learn these things in the years they are here.”

darrell wished she could see into the faces of the five listening girls. what were they thinking, these newcomers? were they making up their minds, as she had once done, that they would each be one of malory towers’ successes? the five girls hardly breathed as they gazed at miss grayling and listened.

“some of you will find it easy to learn these things, others will find it hard,” went on miss grayling. “but, easy or hard, they must be learnt if you are to be happy after you leave here, and if you are to bring happiness to others.”

miss grayling stopped. she looked across at darrell, who was listening with as much attention as the youngsters.

“darrell,” said miss grayling. “do you remember my saying these words to you, when you first came here?”

“yes, miss grayling,” said darrell. “and you said something else too. you said, ‘you will all get a tremendous lot out of your time at malory towers. see that you give a lot back.’?”

“i did say that,” said miss grayling. “and now i must add to it. girls, six years ago i said those words to darrell. she is one who has got a great deal out of her time here—and there is no one who has given more back than darrell has.”

the five girls looked in awe at darrell, their head-girl. they couldn’t imagine her standing as a twelve-year-old in front of miss grayling, hearing those same words. but miss grayling remembered very well.

“you may go,” said the head, pleased with the look of the five new girls. they were good stuff, she thought—likely to be the heads of forms and captains of games—and possibly head-girls of the future.

darrell turned to go too. “wait a moment, darrell,” said miss grayling. “shut the door.”

darrell shut the door and came back to the desk. she felt herself blushing, she had been so pleased at miss grayling’s words about her. she looked shyly at the head.

“you are one of our successes, darrell,” said miss grayling. “one of our biggest successes. sally is another, and so is mary-lou. i think there is only one sad failure, real failure, in your form. and she has only this one term to change herself. you know who it is i mean.”

“yes,” said darrell. “gwendoline.”

miss grayling sighed. “you know her perhaps better than i do,” she said. “can you do anything with her at all? i have had a most unpleasant interview these holidays with gwendoline’s parents about her future. her mother wanted one thing, her father another. her father, of course, is right. but i hear that he has had to give way in the matter. darrell, if you possibly can, i want you to try and influence gwendoline so that she will come round to her father’s point of view. otherwise the family will be split in half, and there will be great unhappiness.”

“i’ll try,” said darrell, but so doubtfully that miss grayling knew there was little hope of success. “i know all about it, of course, miss grayling—gwen has seen to that! but it’s impossible to move gwen when she’s determined to get her own way.”

“well, never mind,” said the head, smiling suddenly. “i can put up with twenty gwens so long as i have a few sallys and darrells!”