22 a most successful trick

the next thing that happened was a good deal pleasanter. the higher certificate girls had sat for their exam and at last had got it behind them. they had gone about looking harassed and pale, but made a miraculous recovery immediately the last exam was over.

“and now,” said alicia, “i feel i want a bit of relaxation. i want to be silly and laugh till my sides crack! what wouldn’t i give to be a second-former just now, and play a few mad tricks on somebody.”

and then the tricks had happened. they were, of course, planned by the irrepressible second-formers, particularly june and felicity, who had both been sorry for darrell and alicia during their hard exam week.

these two had put their heads together, and had produced a series of exceedingly well-planned tricks. they told the other second-formers, who giggled helplessly.

“these tricks all depend on perfect timing,” said june. “one we already know—the hair-pin trick—the other is one i’ve sent for, that i saw advertised in my latest trick booklet.” june had a perfect library of these, and although they were always being confiscated, they were also being continually added to by the indefatigable june.

“we didn’t think the hair-pin trick was quite played out, yet,” said felicity. “it still has possibilities. but we thought we’d combine it with another trick, which will amaze the sixth-formers as well as mam’zelle.”

“good, good, good!” said the eager listeners. “what is it?”

june explained lucidly. “well, listen. see these pellets? they are perfectly ordinary pellets till they’re wetted—and then, exactly a quarter of an hour after they’re wetted, they swell up into a kind of snake-thing—and they hiss!”

“hiss?” said nora, her eyes gleaming. “what do you mean—hiss?”

“well, don’t you know what ‘hiss’ means?” said june. “like this!” and she hissed so violently at nora that she shrank back in alarm.

“but how can they hiss?” she asked.

“i don’t know. it’s part of the trick,” said june, impatiently. “they’re wetted—they swell up into funny white snakes—and as they swell, they hiss. in fact, they make a remarkably loud hissing noise! i’ve got one wetted ready on that desk, so that you can see it working in a few minutes.”

“oooh,” said the second-formers, in delight.

june went on: “what i propose to do is to send one of us into the sixth form when mam’zelle is taking it, and withdraw her hair-pins with the magnet,” said june. “she’ll miss them and rush out to do her hair again. in the meantime, up the chimney there will be one of these pellets, ready wetted—and by it will be a tiny pin-cushion. but instead of pins, it will have hair-pins—just like mam’zelle’s—stuck into it!”

“i see the trick, i see it!” said katherine, her eyes dancing. “by the time mam’zelle has come back and is settled down, the pellet-snake will come out, and begin to hiss like anything—and everyone will hear it . . .”

“yes,” said felicity, “and when they go to hunt for the hissing noise, just up the chimney they will find—the little cushion stuck full of mam’zelle’s hair-pins!”

“but won’t they see the snake?” asked nora.

“no—because it falls into the finest powder when it’s finished,” said june. “it can’t even be seen. that’s the beauty of it. they’ll take down the cushion, and won’t they gape! i can see my cousin alicia wondering what it’s all about!”

“that’s not all,” said felicity. “there’s still some more. one of us goes into the room again and takes out mam’zelle’s second lot of hair-pins—she’ll have done her hair again you see—and we’ll slip another wetted pellet just behind the blackboard ledge—with another little cushion of hair-pins!”

the second-formers shrieked at this. oh, to be up in the sixth form when all this happened!

“and the snake will come out, hidden behind the blackboard, on the ledge, and will hiss like fury,” said june. “and when the hissing is tracked there, they’ll find a hair-pin cushion again!”

“priceless,” said harriet.

“smashing!” said nora.

“it’s really quite ingenious,” said june, modestly. “felicity and i thought it out together. anyway it will be a real treat for the poor old jaded sixth form, after their week of exams.”

they found out when mam’zelle was taking a french lesson in the afternoon again. it had to be a time when the second-formers were free, or could go swimming or play tennis. it would be easy to arrange to slip up at the correct times then.

“wednesday, a quarter to three,” reported june, after examining the time-tables of her form and the sixth. “couldn’t be better. nora, you can go in first with the magnet. and, felicity, you’re going in next, aren’t you?”

“i’ll go in first,” said felicity. “who will wet the pellet and put it up the chimney before the class begins?”

“i will,” said june. so, when wednesday afternoon came, there was much excitement and giggling among the second-formers. miss parker wondered what they were up to now. but it was so hot that she really couldn’t bother to find out.

june disappeared upstairs just before a quarter to three with the wetted pellet and the little cushion of pins. there was a tiny shelf a little way up the chimney and she carefully placed the snake at the back and the cushion just in front. then she fled.

the class filed in a few minutes later. mam’zelle arrived. then felicity entered, panting. “oh please, mam’zelle, here is a note for you,” she said, and put the envelope down in front of mam’zelle. the name on it had been written by june, in disguised handwriting. it said “mam’zelle rougier”.

“why, felicity, my child, do you not know by now that my name is mam’zelle dupont, not rougier?” said mam’zelle. “this is for the other mam’zelle. take it to her in the fifth form.”

felicity was a little behind mam’zelle. the class looked at her suspiciously. why the enormous grin on the second-former’s face? they soon saw the magnet being held for a few seconds behind mam’zelle’s head. then felicity hid the magnet—and its hair-pins—in her hand, took the note, and departed hurriedly.

it was done so quickly that the sixth form gaped. mam’zelle sensed almost immediately that something was wrong with her hair. she put up her hand, and gave a wail.

“oh là là! here is my hair undone again!”

and once again she searched in vain for her hair-pins. knowing from her experience the first time that she would probably not find a single one, she left the room to do her hair, puzzled and bewildered. what was the matter with her hair these days—and her pins too? mam’zelle seriously considered whether or not it would be advisable to have her hair cut short!

she rushed into her room, did her hair again and stuffed her bun with hair-pins, driving them in viciously as if to dare them to come out! then she rushed back to the class, patting her bun cautiously.

the hissing began just as she sat down. up the chimney the wetted pellet was evolving into a sort of snake, and giving out a loud and insistent hissing noise.

“ssss-ssss-ssssssss-sss!”

the sixth-formers lifted their heads. “what is this noise?” asked mam’zelle, impatiently. “alicia, is it you that heesses?”

“no, i don’t heess,” said alicia, with a grin. “it’s probably some noise outside, mam’zelle.”

“it isn’t,” said moira. “it’s in this room. i’m sure it is.”

the hissing grew louder. “ssssssssssss!”

“it sounds like a snake somewhere,” said darrell. “they hiss just like that. i hope it’s not an adder!”

mam’zelle sprang up with a scream. “a snake. no, no. there could not be a snake in here.”

“well, what on earth is it then?” said sally, puzzled. they all listened in silence.

“sssss-sssss-sss-sss,” said the pellet, loudly and insistently, as the chemicals inside it worked vigorously, pushing out the curious snake-like formation.

alicia got up, “i’m going to track it down,” she said. “it’s somewhere near the fireplace.”

she went down on hands and knees and listened. “it’s up the chimney!” she exclaimed in surprise. “i’ll put my hand up and see what’s there.”

“no, no, alicia! do not do that!” almost squealed mam’zelle, in horror. “there is a snake!”

but alicia was groping up the chimney, pretty certain there was no snake. her hand closed on something and she pulled it down the chimney.

“good gracious!” she said, in an astounded voice. “look here—your hair-pins, mam’zelle—in a cushion for you!”

the sixth-formers couldn’t believe their eyes. how could mam’zelle’s hair-pins appear miraculously up the chimney, when nobody had gone near the chimney to put them there? and what had made the hissing noise?

“anyone got a torch?” said alicia. “hallo—the hissing has stopped.”

so it had. the pellet was exhausted. the snake had fallen into the finest of fine powder. when alicia switched on the torch and shone it up on the little chimney-shelf, there was absolutely nothing to be seen.

mam’zelle was very angry. she raged and stormed. “ah, non, non, non!” she cried. “it is not good of you, alicia, this! are you not the sixth form? c’est abominable! what behaviour! first you take all my hair-pins, then you put them in a cushion, then you hide them up the chimney, and you heeeeess!”

“we didn’t hiss, mam’zelle,” protested darrell. “it wasn’t us hissing. and how could we do all that without you seeing us?”

but mam’zelle evidently thought they were quite capable of doing such miraculous things, and was perfectly certain alicia or someone had played her a most complicated trick. she snatched at the pin-cushion and threw it violently into the waste-paper basket.

“abominable!” she raged. “abominable!”

the door opened in the middle of all this and in came nora, looking as if she could hardly control herself. she was just in time to hear mam’zelle’s yells and see her fling the pin-cushion into the basket. she almost exploded with joy and delight. so the trick had worked!

“oh, excuse me, mam’zelle,” she said, politely, smiling at the excited french mistress, “but have you got a book of miss parker’s in your desk?”

mam’zelle was a little soothed by the sight of one of her favourites. she patted her bun to see if it was still there, plus its hair-pins, and tried to control herself. “wait now—i will see,” she said, and opened the desk. as june had carefully put a book of miss parker’s there, in readiness, she had no difficulty in finding it.

and nora, of course, had no difficulty in holding the magnet close to mam’zelle’s unfortunate bun! the sixth form saw what she was doing and gasped audibly. the cheek! twice in one lesson! and had the hissing and the cushion been all part of the same trick? alicia’s mind began to work furiously. how had they done it, the clever little monkeys?

nora had plenty of time to slip the little wetted pellet on the ledge that held the blackboard against the wall, and to place the tiny pin-cushion in front of it, well hidden behind the board. she managed to do this without being seen, as the lid of the desk hid her for a moment, when mam’zelle opened it to look inside.

nora took the book thankfully and fled, bursting into gulps and snorts of laughter as she staggered down the corridor. miss potts met her and regarded her with suspicion. now what had nora been up to?

nora had hardly shut the door when a familiar sensation came over mam’zelle’s head—her hair was coming down. her bun was uncoiling! in horror she put up her hand and wailed aloud.

“here it is again—my pins are vanished and gone—my bun, he descends!”

the girls dissolved into laughter. mam’zelle’s face of horror was too comical for words. suzanne laughed so much that she fell off her chair to the floor. mam’zelle rose in wrath.

“you! suzanne! why do you laugh so? is it you who have played this treek?”

“non, mam’zelle, non! i laugh only because it is so piggy-hoo-leeeeearr!” almost wept suzanne.

mam’zelle was about to send suzanne out of the room, when she stopped. the hissing had begun again! there it was. “sssssssssssss-ssss!”

“this is too much,” said mam’zelle, distracted, trying in vain to pin her bun up without any pins. “it is that snake again. alicia, look up the chimney.”

“it’s not coming from the chimney this time,” said alicia, puzzled. “listen, mam’zelle. i’m sure it’s not.”

they all listened. “ssssssssssss!” went the noise merrily. the girls looked at one another. really, the second-formers were jolly clever—but how dared they do all this? darrell and alicia grimly made up their minds to have quite a lot to say to felicity and june after this.

“ssss-ssss-sss!”

“it’s coming from behind you, mam’zelle, i’m sure it is,” cried moira, suddenly. mam’zelle gave an anguished shriek and propelled herself forward so violently that she fell over the waste-paper basket. she quite thought a snake was coming at her from behind.

she fell over the waste-paper basket

alicia shot out of her seat and went to mam’zelle’s desk, while darrell and sally helped mam’zelle up. “it’s somewhere here,” muttered alicia, hunting. “what can it be that hisses like that?”

she tracked the noise to the ledge that held the blackboard. cautiously she put her hand behind—and drew out another little cushion full of pins! the sixth form gaped again! mam’zelle sank down on a chair and moaned.

“there are my pins once more,” she said. “but who took them from my bun, who put them in that cushion? there is some invisible person in the room. ahhhhhhh!”

there was nothing to be seen behind the blackboard at all. once more the snake had dissolved into fine powder, and the hissing had stopped. the girls began to laugh helplessly again. moira hissed just behind mam’zelle and poor mam’zelle leapt up as if she had been shot. suzanne promptly fell off her chair again with laughing.

the door opened and everyone jumped. miss potts walked in. “is everything all right?” she inquired, puzzled at the scene that met her eyes. “such peculiar noises came from here as i passed.”

suzanne got up from the floor. the others stopped laughing. alicia put the pin-cushion down on the desk. mam’zelle sat down once more, trying to put up her hair.

“you don’t mean to say you’ve lost your hair-pins again, mam’zelle!” said miss potts. “your hair’s all down.”

mam’zelle found her voice. she poured out an excited tirade about snakes filling the corners of the room and hissing at her, about cushions appearing full of pins, about hair-pins vanishing from her head, and then returned to the snakes once more, and began all over again.

“you come with me, mam’zelle,” said miss potts soothingly. “i’ll come back and deal with this. come along. you shall put your hair up again and you’ll feel better.”

“i go to have it cut off,” said mam’zelle. “i go now, miss potts. this very instant. i tell you, miss potts . . .”

but what else she told miss potts the sixth-formers didn’t know. they sank down on their chairs and laughed again. those wicked second-formers! even alicia had to admit that they had done a very, very clever job!