20 an astonishing parcel

it was difficult to do tests in the midst of so much excitement. the story of mary-lou and daphne ran through the school and everyone talked about it. the two girls did not appear in school that day, because matron was keeping them quiet. they neither of them seemed any the worse for their adventure.

before afternoon school darrell, sally, irene and belinda set off up the cliff-path to look for the parcel. the wind had completely died down and it was a lovely day, one of cornwall’s best. the sky was as blue as a cornflower, and the sea picked up the colour and made the view a really beautiful one, as the girls walked up the coast-path.

“look—that must be where mary-lou was blown over,” said darrell, pointing to where the cliff had crumbled. “and see—surely that’s the gorse bush daphne wound her legs round. golly, she must have been scratched!”

the girls stood and looked at the place where mary-lou and daphne had had their frightening adventure. sally shivered, thinking of what it must have been like in the dark night, with the wind howling round and the sea pounding on the rocks below.

“it’s horrid to think of,” she said. “come on—let’s hunt about for the parcel. mary-lou must have dropped it somewhere near here, i should think.”

they began to look. it was darrell who found the parcel, lying wet and torn in the grass some little way off.

“i’ve got it!” she shouted, and ran to pick it up. “oh, it’s all coming to pieces. the paper is pulpy, and the contents are coming out!”

“better take off the paper and carry the things inside home in our hands,” said sally. so darrell stripped off the wet, pulpy paper and shook out the contents. they fell on the grass.

they were rather queer. the girls looked at them, lying there. there were four purses of different sizes and shapes. there were three boxes, the kind that brooches or lockets are sold in by jewellers—little leather boxes with a catch you had to press to open them.

darrell picked one up and pressed it. it shot open—and a little gold bar brooch gleamed inside. she looked at it, bewildered, then passed it to sally.

“isn’t that emily’s brooch—the one she lost?”

“it’s got her name behind it if it is,” said sally, in a sober voice. she took out the brooch and looked at the back of the little gold bar.

“yes—it’s emily’s,” she said. “her name is there.”

sally opened another of the boxes. it contained a little gold necklace, plain and simple.

“katie’s!” said irene at once. “i’ve seen her wearing it! good gracious—how did these come to be in the parcel? is it the right parcel we’ve found?”

sally picked everything up from the grass. her face looked very serious. “it’s the right parcel,” she said. “look—these purses belong to people we know. that’s gwen’s. and that’s mary-lou’s. and that’s surely betty’s.”

the four girls looked at one another in bewilderment. “if this was the parcel that mary-lou was posting for daphne, how was it daphne put all these things into it?” said sally, voicing what everyone was thinking.

“could she have got them from ellen?” said darrell, puzzled. “we all know ellen must have taken them. wherever did she get them from? is she doing it to shield ellen, or something?”

“we’ll have to find out,” said irene. “sally, we’d better take the parcel to miss grayling. we can’t keep this to ourselves.”

“no, we can’t,” said sally. “we’ll go back at once.”

they went back, saying very little, puzzled and solemn. here were the stolen things, the things they had accused ellen of taking—daphne had somehow got hold of them and for some extraordinary reason was sending them away—and mary-lou had almost lost her life in trying to post them, and had been rescued by daphne! it was all most complicated.

“i think it’s all very mysterious,” said belinda. “i can’t make head or tail of it. it’s a pity ellen’s been expelled, or we might go to her and show her what we’ve found.”

the girls had no idea that ellen was still at malory towers. what with one rumour and another they were all firmly convinced she had been sent home!

the bell was ringing for afternoon school as they got in. they caught miss parker as she was going to the second form and asked her for permission to go and see miss grayling.

“we’ve found the parcel that mary-lou went to post and we think we ought to hand it over to miss grayling,” explained sally.

“very well. don’t be too long,” said miss parker, and went on her way. the four girls went to miss grayling’s part of the buildings and knocked at her door.

“come in!” said her low voice, and they opened the door and went in. she was alone. she looked up in surprise when she saw the four girls. then she smiled, for she liked all of them, even harum-scarum belinda.

“please, miss grayling, we found the parcel that mary-lou went to post for daphne,” said sally, coming forward. “and here are the things that were inside it. the paper was so wet that we had to take it off.”

she placed the purses and the boxes down on the head mistress’s desk. miss grayling looked at them in surprise. “were these inside!” she said. “are they all daphne’s then? i understand that it was daphne’s parcel.”

there was an awkward pause. “well, miss grayling, they are things belonging to us girls,” said sally, at last. “we missed them at various times. some of the purses had money in when they were taken. they are empty now.”

miss grayling suddenly looked quite different. a stern expression came into her eyes, and she sat up straight.

“you will have to explain a little better, sally,” she said. “am i to understand that these were stolen at some time from one or other of you this term?”

“yes, miss grayling,” said sally, and the others nodded.

“you think daphne took them?” said miss grayling, after a pause. the girls looked at one another.

“well,” said sally at last, “we did think ellen had taken them, miss grayling. we knew she had been expelled, you see—and we thought . . .”

“wait!” said miss grayling, in such a sharp tone that the four girls jumped. “ellen expelled! whatever do you mean? she is in the san, under matron’s eye. she went to her two nights ago with a blinding headache, and we are keeping her under observation to try to find out what the matter is.”

the girls were absolutely taken aback. sally went brilliant red. she oughtn’t to have believed those rumours! but she had wanted to believe them, because she didn’t like ellen. the girls couldn’t find a word to say.

miss grayling eyed them sharply. “this is most extraordinary!” she said at last. “i simply cannot understand it. what made you think ellen should be expelled? and why did you think she had taken these things? she is surely not that type of girl at all. as you know, she won a scholarship here by means of very hard work and she came with a most excellent report as regards character from her last head mistress.”

“we—we thought she had taken them,” began sally. “at least, i said we ought not to accuse her till we had definite proof—but, but . . .”

“i see. you actually accused the unfortunate girl to her face, i suppose? when was this?”

“the evening before last, miss grayling,” said sally, trying to avoid the head mistress’s eyes, which had suddenly became gimlets, and were boring into her.

“the evening before last,” said miss grayling. “ah, that explains matters. it must have been because of that that ellen got so upset, and was overcome by that fearful headache and went to matron. and somehow you thought she had been expelled—goodness knows why—some silly rumour, i suppose, fostered by you because you wanted to believe it! you may have done serious damage to an innocent girl.”

darrell swallowed once or twice. she was remembering how she had attacked ellen that night in the second-form room. certainly ellen had been cheating but darrell had called her a thief and said unforgivable things to her. she looked at miss grayling and knew that she must tell her what had happened between ellen and herself. it was because of that, she felt sure, that ellen had been ill that night. oh dear—how things did begin to go wrong once you were silly yourself!

“can i say a word to you alone, please, miss grayling,” said darrell, desperately. “it’s something the others don’t know about, but i think i’d better tell you.”

“wait outside the door for a minute or two,” ordered miss grayling, nodding at sally, belinda and irene. “i haven’t finished with you yet.”

they went outside and shut the door, feeling surprised. whatever had darrell got to tell miss grayling? she might at least have told them too!

darrell poured out the story of how she had followed ellen that night and caught her in the second-form room cupboard, clutching the test-papers in her hand.

“and i called her a cheat, which she was,” said darrell, “and i called her a thief, too, and told her i’d tell sally in the morning and it would be reported and she would be expelled. and i suppose it worried her so much that she got that awful headache and went to matron. and i never knew, and we all thought that somehow you must have found out she was a thief and had expelled her quietly, without making a fuss.”

“well, really!” said miss grayling, when this outpouring had come to an end. “the things that go on in this school that nobody knows about! it’s incredible. do you actually mean to tell me, darrell, that you and ellen were fighting together on the floor of the second-form room in the middle of the night? that is not at all a thing to be proud of.”

“i know,” said darrell. “i’m awfully sorry about it now. but i just saw red, miss grayling—and lost my temper. i can’t bear cheats.”

“it’s very strange,” said miss grayling, thoughtfully. “ellen is a scholarship girl, and i have never known such a girl have any need to cheat. i can’t believe that ellen was cheating. if she was, there is some reason for it that must be found out. don’t any of you like ellen, darrell?”

darrell hesitated. “well—she’s so nervy and snappy and irritable, miss grayling. she snaps if we jerk the table, she shouts at us if we interrupt her reading. she’s terribly bad-tempered. i think jean likes her more than any of us do. she’s been awfully patient with her.”

“i wish i’d known all this before,” said miss grayling. “now i know why ellen was so upset when i suggested sending her home. i thought possibly she might feel better and happier at home—and she must have thought i was really meaning to expel her, because somebody had come to me and told me she was stealing or cheating. poor ellen. i think she has over-taxed that brain of hers and this is the result.”

darrell stood silent. she felt that miss grayling was not very pleased with her. “i’m sorry for what i did,” she said, trying to blink back the tears. “i know i keep on and on saying i’ll never lose my temper again or lose control of myself. you won’t believe me any more.”

“i shall go on believing you and trusting you every single time,” said miss grayling, turning her deep-blue eyes on darrell and smiling. “and one day you’ll be strong enough to keep your promise. probably when you are in the sixth form! now tell the others to come in again.”

they came in. miss grayling addressed them gravely. “what darrell told me i think it is better not to repeat to you for my own good reasons. i think she should not repeat it to you either. i will just say this—ellen is not the thief, you may be absolutely certain of that.”

“not the thief!” said sally. “but—we all thought she was—and alicia accused her to her face . . . and . . .”

sally had let alicia’s name slip without thinking. miss grayling drummed on her desk with a pencil. “oh—so alicia did the accusing, did she?” she said. “then she has something to feel very guilty about. i think that that public accusation brought ellen’s trouble to a head. sally, you are head-girl of the form. i leave it to you to show alicia that a little more kindness and a little less hardness would be very much more admired by me, by you and everyone else.”

“yes, miss grayling,” said sally, feeling extremely guilty herself. “but miss grayling—who was the thief?”

“it couldn’t possibly have been daphne,” said irene. “nobody who did what daphne did last night could possibly be so mean. why, daphne’s a heroine! everyone says so!”

“and you think that if someone does a brave deed quite suddenly, then he or she could never do a mean one?” asked miss grayling. “you are wrong, irene. we all have good and bad in us, and we have to strive all the time to make the good cancel out the bad. we can never be perfect—we all of us do mean or wrong things at times—but we can at least make amends by trying to cancel out the wrong by doing something worthy later on. daphne has done quite a bit of cancelling, i think—but her heroic deed doesn’t mean that she can never do a small, mean one.”

“is she the thief then?” asked sally, incredulously.

“that is what i mean to find out,” said miss grayling. “if she is, she shall tell you herself, and you shall judge her. now go back to your classroom. i am going to see daphne in the san. and by the way, ellen could see someone today. what about jean? you said she liked ellen more than any of you did. tell her to go and see ellen after tea and be nice to her.”

“can she tell her we know she’s not the thief?” asked darrell, anxiously. “and oh, miss grayling—could i see her for a few minutes too, by myself?”

“yes,” said miss grayling. “but no more fighting, darrell, or matron will deal very promptly with you indeed!”