5 an interesting morning

the upper fourth were taken by miss williams, a scholarly, prim mistress, whose gentleness did not mean any lack of discipline. as a rule the upper fourth were a good lot, responsible and hard-working—but this year miss williams had sometimes had trouble with her form. there were such a lot of scatter-brains in it!

“still, i think they will all get through the school cert.,” thought miss williams. “they are none of them really stupid, except gwendoline. daphne is much better since she has had regular coaching in the holidays. mavis has picked up wonderfully. so has bill. and though little mary-lou is quite sure she will fail, she is quite certain to pass!”

her form did not only consist of the north tower girls, but of the fourth-formers from the other towers. betty hill, alicia’s friend, was one of these. she was as quick-tongued as alicia, but not as quick-brained. she came from west tower, and alicia and she had often groaned because the authorities were so hard-hearted that they would not let betty join alicia in north tower!

miss grayling, the headmistress, had once asked miss potts, north tower’s house-mistress, if she should change betty hill over to north tower, as betty’s parents had actually written to ask if she would.

“i can manage alicia alone,” said miss potts, “or even betty alone—but to have those two together in one house would be quite impossible. i should never have a moment’s peace—and neither would mam’zelle.”

“i agree with you,” said miss grayling. so a letter was sent to mr. and mrs. hill regretting that it was impossible to find room for betty in north tower. still, alicia and betty managed to be very firm friends indeed, although they were in different towers, meeting in class each day, arranging walks and expeditions together—and planning various wicked and amusing jokes and tricks.

the north tower fourth-formers went eagerly to their classroom after prayers. they wanted to choose their desks, and to sort out their things, to look out of the window, clean the blackboard, and do the hundred and one things they had done together so often before.

the twins stood and waited till the other girls had chosen their desks. they knew enough not to choose till then. by that time, of course, there were very few desks left—only those for two east tower girls who were still not back, and for clarissa carter, and for themselves.

“we’ll sit together, of course,” said connie, and put her books and ruth’s on two adjoining desks. they were, alas, in the hated front row, but naturally all the other rows had been taken, the back row going first. it was the only row really safe enough for whispering, or for passing a note or two.

darrell looked out of the window, and wondered if felicity had been to see miss grayling yet. she must ask her, when she saw her at break. miss grayling saw all the new girls together, and what she said to them always impressed them, and made them determine to do their very best. darrell remembered clearly how impressed she had been, and how she had made up her mind to be one of the worthwhile people of the world.

“i wonder who will be head-girl this term,” said alicia, interrupting darrell’s thoughts. “jean’s gone up, so she won’t be. well—i bet i shan’t be! i never have, and i don’t expect i ever will. the grayling doesn’t trust me!”

“i expect sally will be,” said darrell. “she was head of the second when we were in that form, and a jolly good head she made—though as far as i remember, you didn’t approve at all, alicia!”

“no, i didn’t,” said alicia, candidly. “i thought i ought to be head. but i’ve got rid of silly ideas like that now. i see that i’m not fitted to be head of anything—i just don’t care enough.”

part of this was just bravado, but quite a bit of it was truth. alicia didn’t care enough! things were so easy for her that she had never had to try hard for anything, and so she didn’t care. “if she had to work jolly hard at lessons, as i have to do,” thought darrell, “she’d care all right! we value the things we have to work hard for. alicia does things too easily.”

gwendoline had chosen a seat in the front row! everyone was most astonished, alicia eyed her wonderingly. could she be sucking up to miss williams? no, nobody in the world could do that. miss williams simply wouldn’t notice it! then what was the reason for gwendoline’s curious choice?

“well, of course!” said alicia, suddenly, and everyone gazed at her in surprise.

“of course what?” said betty.

“i’ve just thought why dear gwendoline has chosen that front seat,” said alicia, maliciously. “at first i thought she’d gone out of her senses, but now i know!”

gwendoline scowled at her. she was really afraid of alicia’s sly tongue, and she thought it quite likely that alicia had hit on the correct reason.

but alicia did not enlighten the class just then. she smiled sarcastically at gwendoline and said, “dear gwen, i won’t give you away—you really have a very honourable reason for your choice, haven’t you?”

nobody could imagine what she meant, not even betty—but gwendoline knew! she had chosen a front desk because she knew that the honourable clarissa carter would have to have one there, too—and it would be a very good thing to be next to her and help her!

she flushed red and said nothing, but busied herself with her books. miss williams came in at that moment and gwen rushed to hold the door.

the first day of school was always “nice and messy” as belinda called it. no proper lessons were done, but tests were given out, principally to check up on the standard of any new girls. time-tables were made out with much groaning. irene always gave hers up in despair. although she was so good and neat at both maths and music, she was hopeless at a simple thing like making out her own time-table from the big class one.

it usually ended in belinda doing it for her, but as belinda wasn’t much better, irene was in a perpetual muddle over her time-table, appearing in the wrong classroom at the wrong time, expecting to have a maths lesson in the sewing-room, or sewing-lesson in the lab! all the mistresses had long ago given up expecting either irene or belinda to be sane and sensible in ordinary matters.

irene, with her great gift for music, and belinda, with her equally fine gift for drawing, seemed to become four-year-olds when they had to tackle ordinary everyday things. it was nothing for irene to appear at breakfast-time without her stockings, or for belinda to lose, most inexplicably, every school book she possessed. the girls loved them for their amusing ways, and admired them for their gifts.

everyone was busy with something or other that first morning. darrell made out a list of classroom duties—filling up the ink-pots, doing the classroom flowers, keeping the blackboard clean, giving out necessary stationery and so on. each of the class had to take on a week’s duty, together with another girl, during the term.

just before break miss williams told the girls to tidy up their desks. “i have something to say to you,” she said. “it will only take about two minutes, but it is something that i am sure you all want to know!”

“she’s going to say who’s to be head-girl this term!” whispered sally to darrell. “look at gwendoline! see the look she’s put on her face. she really thinks she might be!”

it was true. gwendoline always hoped she might be head of the form, and had enough conceit to think she would make a very good one. just as regularly she was disappointed, and always would be. spoilt, selfish girls make poor heads, and no teacher in her senses would ever choose gwendoline mary!

“i think probably most of you will know that jean, who passed school cert. last year, has gone up into the next form,” said miss williams. “she does not need to work with the school cert. form this term. she was head-girl of the upper fourth, and now that she has gone, we must have another.”

she paused, and looked round the listening class. “i have discussed the matter with miss grayling, miss potts, mam’zelles dupont and rougier,” said miss williams. “we are all agreed that we would like to try darrell rivers as head-girl.”

darrell flushed bright red and her heart beat fast. everyone clapped and cheered, even gwendoline, who always dreaded that alicia might conceivably be chosen one day!

“i am quite sure, darrell, that our choice is right,” said miss williams, smiling her gentle smile at the blushing darrell. “i cannot think for one moment that you would do anything to make us regret our choice.”

“no, miss williams, i won’t,” said darrell, fervently. she wished she could go and tell her parents this very minute. head-girl of the upper fourth! she had always wanted to be head of something, and this was the first time her chance had come. she would be the very best head-girl the form had ever had.

what would felicity say? it would be a grand thing for felicity to be able to say “my sister, of course, is head of the upper fourth!” felicity would be proud and pleased.

darrell rushed off at break to find felicity and tell her. but again she had disappeared. how absolutely maddening. darrell only had a few minutes. she rushed round and about and at last found felicity in the courtyard, with june. the courtyard was the space that lay inside the hollow oblong of the building that made up malory towers. it was very sheltered, and here everything was very early indeed. it was now gay with tulips, rhododendrons and lupins, and very lovely to see.

but darrell didn’t see the flowers that morning. she rushed at felicity.

“felicity! i’ve got good news for you—i’ve been made head-girl of the upper fourth!”

“oh, darrell! how super!” said felicity. “i’m awfully glad. oh, darrell, i must tell you—i saw miss grayling this morning, and she said to me and all the other new girls, exactly the same things that she said to you, when you first came. she was grand!”

darrell’s mind took her back to her own first morning—standing opposite miss grayling in her pleasant drawing-room, hearing her talk gravely to the listening girls. she heard the headmistress’s voice.

“one day you will leave school, and go out into the world as young women. 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. 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.”

yes, darrell remembered those long-ago words, and was very very glad she was beginning to be one of the successes—for had she not been chosen as head-girl that very day, head of the upper fourth, the school cert. form!

“yes. miss grayling’s grand,” she said to felicity.

“and you’re grand, too!” said felicity, proudly to darrell. “it’s lovely to have a head-girl for a sister!”