24 last day

“last day, darrell,” said sally, when they awoke on the very last morning. “and thank goodness it’s sunny and bright. i couldn’t bear to leave it on a rainy day.”

“our last day!” said darrell. “do you remember the first, sally—six years ago? we were little shrimps of twelve—smaller than felicity and june! how the time has flown!”

the last-day bustle began in earnest after breakfast. matron was about the only calm person in the school, with the exception of miss grayling, whom nobody had ever seen flustered or ruffled. mam’zelle was as usual in a state of beaming, bewildered good temper. miss potts bustled about with first-formers who had lost this, that or the other.

the trunks had most of them gone off in advance, but those being taken by car were piled up in the drive. pop, the handyman, ran about like a hare, and carried heavy trunks on his broad shoulder as if they weighed only a pound or two. the first car arrived and hooted in the drive. an excited third-former squealed and almost fell down the stairs from top to bottom when she recognized her parents’ car.

“tiens!” said mam’zelle, catching her. “is this the way to come down the stairs? always you hurry too much, hilary!”

“come down to the pool, sally,” said darrell. they went down the steep path and stood beside the gleaming, restless pool, which was swept every now and again by an extra big wave coming over the rocks. “we’ve had fun here,” said darrell. “now let’s go to the rose-garden.”

they went there and looked at the masses of brilliant roses. each was silently saying good-bye to the places she loved most. they went to all the common-rooms, from the first to the sixth, remembering what had happened in each. they peeped into the dining-room, and then into the different form-rooms. what fun they had had!

and what fun they were going to have! “we’ll have a good look backwards, today, then we’ll set our eyes forwards,” said sally. “college will be better fun still, darrell—everyone says so.”

june and felicity caught sight of the two sixth-formers wandering around. june nudged felicity. “look—they’re saying a fond farewell. don’t they look solemn?”

june caught up with the sixth-formers. “hallo,” she said. “you’ve forgotten something.”

“what?” asked sally and darrell.

“you’ve forgotten to say good-bye to the stables and the wood-shed, and . . .”

“that’s not funny,” said darrell. “you wait till it’s your last day, young june!”

“june’s got no feelings at all, have you, june?” said alicia, appearing around the corner. “i feel a bit solemn myself today. here, you two youngsters, this can jolly well be a solemn day for you too!”

to june’s intense surprise she took her by the shoulders and looked into her eyes. “carry on for me,” she said. “carry the standard high! do you promise, june?”

“i promise,” said june, startled. “you—you can trust me, alicia.”

“and i promise darrell,” said felicity, equally solemnly. “i’ll never let malory towers down. i’ll carry the standard high too.”

alicia released june’s shoulders. “well,” she said, “so long as we’ve got someone to hand on the standard to, i’m happy! maybe our own daughters will help to carry on the tradition one day.”

“and have riding lessons on bill’s and clarissa’s horses,” said felicity, which made them all laugh.

there was more hooting in the drive. “come on. we shan’t be ready when our people arrive,” said alicia. “that sounds like my brother sam hooting. he said he’d come and fetch me today.”

into the seething crowd they went. mam’zelle was shouting for someone who had gone long since, and suzanne was trying to explain to her that she wasn’t there. miss potts was carrying a pair of pyjamas that had apparently dropped out of someone’s night-case. matron rushed after a small first-former anxiously, nobody could imagine why. it was the old familiar last-morning excitement.

“darrell! felicity!” suddenly called mrs. rivers’s voice. “here we are! where on earth were you? we’ve been here for ages.”

“oh, that was daddy’s horn we heard hooting,” said felicity. “i might have guessed. come on, darrell. got your case?”

“yes, and my racket,” said darrell. “where’s yours?”

felicity disappeared into the crowd. mr. rivers kissed darrell and laughed. “doing her disappearing act already,” he said.

“good-bye, darrell! don’t forget to write!” yelled alicia. “see you in october at st. andrews.”

she stepped back heavily on mam’zelle’s foot. “oh, sorry, mam’zelle.”

“always you tread on my feet,” said mam’zelle, quite unfairly. “have you seen katherine? she has left her racket behind.”

felicity ran up with her own racket. “good-bye, mam’zelle. be careful of snakes these holidays, won’t you?”

“ahhhhhhh! you bad girl, you,” said mam’zelle. “i heeeess at you! ssssssss!”

this astonished miss grayling considerably. she was just nearby, and got the full benefit of mam’zelle’s ferocious hiss. mam’zelle was covered with confusion and disappeared hurriedly.

darrell laughed. “oh dear—i do love this last-minute flurry. oh—are we off, daddy? good-bye, miss grayling, good-bye, miss potts, good-bye, mam’zelle—good-bye, malory towers!”

and good-bye to you, darrell—and good luck. we’ve loved knowing you. good-bye!