7 darrell has a “glint”

the upper fourth soon began to settle down to its work. miss williams was a fine teacher, and was quite determined to have excellent results in the school certificate exam. mam’zelle dupont and mam’zelle rougier both taught the upper fourth, but though actually mam’zelle rougier was the better teacher, plump little mam’zelle dupont got better results because she was friendly and had a great sense of humour. the girls worked better for her than for the other mam’zelle.

this term there was an armed truce between the two french mistresses. the english mistresses regarded them with great amusement, never knowing from one term to the next whether the two frenchwomen would be bosom friends, bitter enemies, or dignified rivals.

miss carton, the history mistress, knew that the school certificate form was well up to standard except for miseries like gwendoline, who didn’t even know the kings of england and couldn’t see that they mattered anyhow. she used her sarcastic tongue on gwendoline a good deal these days, to try and whip her into some show of work, and gwen hated her.

the girls grumbled because they had to work so hard in that lovely summer term. “just when we want to go swimming, and play tennis, and laze about in the flowery courtyard, we’ve got to stew at our books,” said alicia. “i shall take my prep out into the open air tonight. i bet miss williams would let us.”

surprisingly miss williams said yes. she knew that she could trust most of the upper fourth not to play about when they were supposed to be working, and she thought that darrell was a strong enough head-girl to keep everyone up to the mark if necessary. so out they went after tea, and took cushions to sit on, in the evening sun.

gwendoline didn’t want to go. she was the only one, of course. “you really seem to loathe the open air,” said darrell, in surprise. “come on out—a bit more fresh air and exercise would take off some of your fat and get rid of those spots on your nose.”

“don’t make personal remarks,” said gwendoline, nose in air. “you’re as bad as alicia—and everyone knows she’s been dragged up, not brought up!”

clarissa, who was with her, looked at gwendoline in surprise. gwen had been so sweet and gracious to her that it was quite a shock to hear her make a remark like this. gwen was quick to see the look, and slipped her arm through clarissa’s.

“if you’re taking your prep out, i’ll take mine, of course,” she said. “but let’s sit away from the sun. i hate getting freckled.”

betty saw alicia sitting out in the courtyard and came to join her. darrell frowned. now there would be nonsense and giggling and no work done. belinda and irene began to listen to the joke that betty was telling alicia, and irene gave one of her sudden explosive snorts when it was finished. everyone looked up, startled.

“oh, i say, that’s super!” roared irene. “here, betty, tell the others.”

darrell looked up. she was head-girl of the form, and she must stop this, she knew. she spoke out at once.

“betty, stop gassing. alicia, you know jolly well we’re supposed to be doing our prep.”

“don’t talk to me as if i was a first-former,” said alicia, nettled at darrell’s sharp tone.

“well, i shall, if you behave like one,” said darrell.

“she’s glinting, alicia—look out, she’s glinting!” said irene, with a giggle. everyone looked at darrell and smiled. darrell certainly had a “glint” in her eye.

“i’m not glinting,” she said. “don’t be idiotic.”

“i glint, thou glintest, he glints, she glints!” chanted betty. “we glint, you glint, they glint!”

“shut up, betty, and go away,” said darrell, feeling angry. “you don’t belong to our prep. go and join your own.”

“i’ve done it, miss glint,” said betty. “shall i help you with yours?”

to darrell’s horror, she felt the old familiar surge of anger creeping over her. she clenched her fists and spoke sharply to betty again.

“you heard what i said. clear out, or i’ll take the whole of this prep back indoors.”

betty looked angry, but alicia nudged her. “go on. she’s on the boil already. i’ll meet you after we’ve done prep.”

betty went, whistling. darrell bent her red face over her book. had she been too dictatorial? but what were you to do with someone like betty?

nobody said anything more, and prep went peacefully on, accompanied by one or two groans from irene and deep sighs from gwendoline. clarissa sat beside her, working slowly. gwen copied whatever she could. nobody could cure her of this habit, it seemed!

after an hour miss williams came into the courtyard, pleased to see the north tower upper fourth working so peacefully and well.

“time’s up,” she said. “and i’ve a message from your games mistress. the pool is just right now for bathing, so you can all go down there for half an hour, as you had to miss your bathe yesterday.”

“hurrah!” said irene, and threw her book into the air. it went into the nearby pool, and had to be retrieved very hurriedly. “idiot!” said belinda, almost falling in herself as she tried to fish out the book. “i suppose you think that’s your history book you’re drowning. well, it isn’t—it’s mine.”

“have we all got to go?” gwendoline asked miss williams, pathetically. “i’ve been working so hard. i don’t feel like swimming.”

“dear me—can you actually swim yet, gwendoline?” said miss williams, with an air of surprise. everyone knew that gwendoline could still only flap a few strokes in the water and then go under with a scream.

“oh, we don’t all need to go, do we?” said mary-lou, who could swim, but still didn’t like the water much. neither did daphne, and she added her pleas to the others.

“you’re all going,” said miss williams. “you are having to work very hard, and these little relaxations are good for you. go and change at once.”

thrilled at the thought of an unexpected evening bathe, darrell, sally and alicia rushed to the changing-room. darrell had forgotten her annoyance with alicia, but alicia hadn’t. alicia bore malice, which was a pity. so she was rather cool to darrell, who, most unfortunately for alicia, didn’t notice the coolness at all. the others followed, chattering and laughing, with a rather mournful tail composed of gwen, daphne and mary-lou. clarissa came to watch. she was not allowed to swim or to play tennis because she had a weak heart.

“lucky thing!” said gwendoline, getting into her bathing-suit. “no swimming, no tennis—i wish i had a weak heart.”

“what a wicked thing to say,” said darrell, really shocked. “to wish yourself a thing like that! it must be simply horrible to keep on and on having to take care of yourself, and think, ‘i mustn’t do this, i mustn’t do that.’?”

“it is horrible,” said clarissa, in her small shy voice. “if it hadn’t been for my heart i’d not have been taught at home—i’d have come to school like any other girl. it’s got much better lately though, and that’s why i was allowed to come at last.”

this was a long speech for clarissa to make. usually she was quite tongue-tied. as it was, she went red as she spoke, and when she had finished she hung her head and tried to get behind gwendoline.

“poor old clarissa,” said gwendoline, sympathetically. “you mustn’t do too much, you know. would you know if you had done too much?”

“oh, yes. my heart begins to flutter inside me—as if i had a bird there or something,” said clarissa. “it’s awful. it makes me want to lie down and pant.”

“really?” said gwendoline, pulling her towel-wrap round her. “well, you know, clarissa, i shouldn’t be a bit surprised if i hadn’t a weak heart, too, that nobody knows about. if i try to swim for long i get absolutely panicky—and after a hot game of tennis my heart pumps like a piston. it’s really painful.”

“nice to hear you have a heart,” said alicia, in her smoothest voice. “where do you keep it?”

gwendoline tossed her head and went off with clarissa. “beast, isn’t she?” her voice floated back to the others. “i can’t bear her. nobody likes her really.”

alicia chuckled. “i’d love to know what sort of poisonous nonsense gwendoline mary is pouring into poor clarissa’s ears,” she said. “i don’t think we ought to let gwendoline take complete charge of her like this. it’s not fair. you ought to do something about it, darrell. why don’t you?”

darrell did not like this direct attack. she suddenly realized that alicia was right—she ought to have made certain that gwen didn’t take such utter and complete charge of the rather weak little clarissa. she would get all the wrong ideas in her very first term—and the ideas you had at the beginning were apt to stick!

“all right,” she said, in a rather snappy tone. “give me a chance! clarissa has only been here a few days.”

“my dear darrell, you’re glinting again,” said alicia, with a laugh that provoked darrell even more. she took hold of herself hastily. really, she was getting quite touchy!

it was fun down at the pool. the good swimmers had races, of course. mary-lou bobbed up and down in the shallow end, swimming a few strokes every now and again. she always got in quickly, even though she hated the water. daphne was in, too, shivering as usual, but bobbing beside mary-lou, hoping that darrell wouldn’t make her join in the racing. mavis was swimming slowly. she had got over her dislike of the water, but had to be careful not to over-swim, or play too much tennis because of her illness the year before.

only gwendoline still stood shivering on the brink. alicia, sally and darrell longed to push her in, but it was too much fag to get out of the pool.

“if gwen doesn’t get in soon, she won’t get in at all,” said alicia. “order her in, darrell! go on, put that glint in your eye, and give one of your orders!”

but not even darrell’s shouts persuaded poor gwendoline to do more than wet her toes. she had got hot sitting in the courtyard and now the pool felt icy-cold. ooooh!

it was clarissa who made her get in. she came running up to stand beside gwendoline, slid on a slimy patch of rock, bumped hard into gwendoline, and knocked her straight into the water!

splash! in went gwendoline with a terrible yell of fright. the girls clutched at one another and laughed till they cried. “look at poor clarissa’s face,” wept darrell. “she’s simply horrified!”

“who did that?” demanded a furiously angry gwendoline, bobbing up, and spitting out water. “beasts, all of you!”