14 bill is caught

alicia had not been allowed to forget the sneezing trick. all the form begged her to do it—except sally. sally still said she thought it was a dangerous joke to play, but alicia laughed at her.

“you only say that because it’s my trick!” she said, knowing that sally was jealous of her friendship with darrell. “if it was irene’s joke or jean’s you’d be thrilled.”

jean was torn between her desire to see the trick played and her feeling that as head-girl she ought not to be too encouraging. still, head-girls couldn’t be too strict and prim—and she did badly want to see what would happen!

“there’s to be a maths test next week,” said alicia. “that’s the time to do it! i bet we’ll get out of the test all right. a-tish-oo!”

everyone laughed. darrell hugged herself. oh, school was such fun! she enjoyed every single minute of it. she loved her work and her play, she loved the company of the chattering girls, she loved being third reserve—oh, everything was wonderful! this was the nicest term she had ever had.

then she saw bill looking anything but happy. poor bill! she was worried because thunder was still not himself. nobody else seemed to notice it—but bill knew. thunder wasn’t just homesick, as she had thought at first. he wasn’t well. she was very worried about him—and the more worried she got, the less attention she paid to her work, and the crosser she made miss peters.

“wilhelmina! will you please pay attention! wilhelmina! will you repeat what i have just said? wilhelmina, i will not have you in my class if you persist in looking out of the window and dreaming!” it was “wilhelmina! wilhelmina!” all the time.

it was dreadful. bill was really very miserable now, but she said very little unless anyone actually asked her about thunder. she knew that jean disapproved strongly of her continual disobedience. but she simply couldn’t help it! she must, must see thunder each day, especially just now.

miss peters was beginning to be puzzled over bill. if the girl was so fond of her horse, why did she keep earning punishments forbidding her to see him? miss peters thought back a few days. why, bill couldn’t have seen her beloved horse all the week. and yet she hadn’t complained about it!

a suspicion came into miss peters’ mind. was bill being disobedient? surely not! disobedience was not a thing that miss peters had to deal with very often. girls rarely dared to disobey even her slightest word. she was noted for her good discipline.

she spoke about it to miss potts, who was in charge of north tower. “i’m puzzled about wilhelmina, miss potts. i can’t make her out. she is such a terrible dreamer, and yet she looks such a sensible, hard-headed little thing! then, too, she seems so fond of that horse of hers—and yet although she knows i shall punish her by forbidding her to see him, she goes on being silly and getting punished! she can’t have seen that horse of hers for a whole week now!”

miss potts looked startled. she frowned, trying to remember something clearly. “well—that’s funny—i could swear i saw wilhelmina in the stables yesterday when i went by. i looked in at the windows as i passed—and i’m almost certain it was wilhelmina—standing beside a big black horse.”

“yes—that would be thunder,” said miss peters, grimly. “the untrustworthy, disobedient little monkey! if i catch her disobeying i shall insist that the horse is sent back to her home. she can ride one of the school horses instead. i will not have her mooning all the morning over that horse, nice as he is—and being disobedient like that.”

miss peters was really very angry. she never could bear to be disobeyed. she went back to her room, feeling shocked and disappointed. she hadn’t thought wilhelmina would be so deceitful and untrustworthy. it just showed how little you knew about anyone!

miss peters felt more and more indignant about the whole thing as the day wore on. it so happened that she took the third form very little that day, as miss carton, the history mistress, mam’zelle, miss linnie, the art mistress, and mr. young, the singing-master, each took the third form for a lesson. she had no chance of looking sharply at bill to see if she looked guilty or not.

after dinner that morning there was about half an hour before afternoon school. this was a time when bill very often slipped out to the stables. she usually went down the back stairs, out at a little side-door, and across to the stables by a path under the trees, so that, unless she was very unlucky, nobody would see her.

she slipped off to the stables as usual to see thunder. he whinnied softly when he heard her footstep. she opened the big door and went inside. there was no one else there at all. only the horses stamped and blew, glad of each other’s company.

she went to thunder’s stall. he put his great black head into the crook of her arm and snuffled there happily. bill stroked his velvety nose.

“thunder, do you feel better? let me look at your eyes. oh, thunder, they aren’t as bright as they ought to be—and i don’t like the feel of your coat. it should be much silkier. it’s harsh. thunder, what’s wrong? don’t be ill, darling thunder, i couldn’t bear it.”

thunder blew a little, and whinnied happily. he didn’t feel well, certainly—but that didn’t matter when bill was with him. he could feel ill and yet be happy at the same time if she was with him.

upstairs in north tower, miss peters walked along the corridor. she meant to find bill and have a straight talk with her. she went to the door of the third form common-room and looked in. wilhelmina was not there!

“i want wilhelmina,” said miss peters. “where is she?”

everybody knew, of course. but nobody was going to tell. darrell wondered if she could possibly slip out and warn bill to come back quickly.

“shall i go and find her for you?” she said.

“no. i’ll find her,” said miss peters. “does anyone know where she is?”

nobody answered. they all looked blank in a most irritating way. miss peters felt furious. she knew quite well that they all knew. well, she couldn’t expect them to sneak, if they thought wilhelmina was somewhere she ought not to be—in the stables!

“i suppose she is in the stables,” said miss peters, grimly. she looked at jean. “you, as head-girl, jean, ought to tell her not to be so foolish and dishonourable. you know i put everyone on their honour to obey any punishment i give.”

jean went red and looked uncomfortable. it was all very well for miss peters to talk like that! nobody could possibly make any impression on bill if it meant that she would have to neglect thunder!

“stay here, all of you,” commanded miss peters, feeling sure that one or the other might rush off to the stables to warn bill if they got a chance. and miss peters meant to catch bill herself and stop this kind of thing for good and all.

“oh, poor bill!” groaned darrell, when miss peters had gone. “now she’ll get into a fearful row! i say—i bet miss peters has gone down the front stairs. if i race down the back ones, i might get to the stables first and warn bill. i’ll try!”

she didn’t wait to hear what anyone had to say. she shot out of the room, almost knocked down matron outside, raced down the corridor to the back stairs, went down them two at a time, slid through the side-door and out under the trees. she shot over to the stable door and squeezed through it.

“bill! look out! miss peters is coming here!” she hissed. she saw bill’s startled face beside thunder’s black head.

then she heard footsteps and groaned. “it’s too late—you’ll be caught. can’t you hide?”

darrell shot under a pile of straw

darrell shot under a pile of straw and lay there, her heart beating wildly. bill stood as if turned to stone, her freckled face pale with fright. the door opened wide and miss peters came in.

“oh! so you are here, wilhelmina!” she said, angrily. “i suppose you have been systematically disobeying me the whole week. i am really ashamed of you. you will never settle down at school whilst you have thunder here, i can quite see that. he will have to be sent back home in a horse-box.”

“no! oh no, miss peters! don’t, don’t do that!” begged bill, even her freckles going pale with anxiety. “it’s only that thunder’s not well. he really isn’t. if he was well i’d obey you. but he needs me when he’s not well.”

“i’m not going to discuss the matter,” said miss peters, coldly. “you have heard what i said. i am not likely to change my mind after such a show of disobedience. please go back to your common-room, wilhelmina. i will tell you when i have made arrangements to send thunder home and you can say good-bye to him till the holidays. it will probably be the day after tomorrow.”

bill stood still, quite petrified. she couldn’t make her legs move. darrell couldn’t see her, but she could imagine her very well indeed. poor, poor bill.

“go, wilhelmina,” said miss peters. “at once please.”

and bill went, her feet dragging. darrell heard a smothered sob. oh dear—what a pity she had to hide under this straw and couldn’t go and comfort bill. never mind—miss peters would soon be going, and then darrell could fly up to the common-room and sympathize warmly and heartily with bill.

but miss peters didn’t go. she waited till bill had quite gone. then she went over to thunder and spoke to him in such a gentle voice that darrell could hardly believe it was miss peters’! “well, old boy,” said miss peters, and darrell heard the sound of her hand rubbing his coat. “what’s the matter with you? don’t feel well? shall we get the vet to you? what’s the matter with you, thunder? beautiful horse, aren’t you? best in the stables. what’s up, old boy?”

darrell could hardly believe her ears. she wriggled a little in the straw so that she could get a hole to peep through. yes, there was miss peters, standing close to thunder, and he was nuzzling her and whinnying in delight. why, miss peters must love him! of course, she was very fond of horses, darrell knew that. but this was different somehow. she really seemed to love thunder as if he was her own horse.

miss peters gave thunder some sugar and he crunched it up. then she went out of the stable and shut the door. darrell got out of the straw and shook herself. she went to the door and listened. miss peters had gone. good!

she opened the door and went out—and then she stood still, thunderstruck. miss peters hadn’t gone! she was just outside, doing up her shoe-lace! she looked up and saw darrell coming out of the stables.

she stood up, red with rage. “what were you doing in there?” she demanded. “were you there all the time i was talking to wilhelmina? you were in the common-room when i left. did you actually dare to run down the back stairs to warn wilhelmina?”

darrell couldn’t speak. she nodded. “i shall deal with you later,” said miss peters, hardly trusting herself to speak. “what the third form is coming to i really do not know!”