12 sharp words

the spider affair, as it was called, went all over the school before the day was out. it caused a greatdeal of laughter. when mam'zelle rougier heard of it she sneered.

'to think that a frenchwoman should be so foolish!' she said. 'now / do not mind spiders or earwigsor moths or even snakes! mam'zelle dupont should be ashamed to make such an exhibition ofherself!'

the first form talked about it more than anyone else, of course. they squealed with laughterwhenever they thought of poor mary-lou, mam'zelle, and gwendoline all falling victims to the samespider.

'jolly clever spider! said irene. 'it knew the only three people in the form that would be scared of it. itake my hat off to that spider.'

'i can't think why it chose my desk,' said mary-lou.

'no. that was a shame,' said gwendoline. 'poor mary- lou! it must have been an awful shock foryou when you saw it. 1 wonder who put it there?'

there was silence. for the first time it occurred to the first form that the spider might have been putthere on purpose. they looked at one another.

'it was a dirty trick to put it into poor mary-lou's desk,' said jean. 'she can't help being scared ofthings, i suppose, and she almost jumped out of her skin when she saw it. i should have thought anyjoker in our form would have been decent enough to have popped it into, say, alicia's desk!'

'not if it happened to be alicia who popped it in!' said a sly voice. 'you do so love playing tricks,don't you, alicia?

you and darrell were in the first-form room before afternoon school. and i'm sure we all rememberyou saying you'd like to put a spider down mary-lou's neck!'

it was gwendoline speaking. alicia glanced at her. 'well, i didn't do it,' she said. 'nor did darrell.

sorry to disappoint you, darling gwendoline mary, but we just didn't. if it was anyone, i should thinkit was you!'

'mary-lou is my friend,' said gwendoline. t wouldn't do that to her.'

'well, if you'd almost drown her one week, i should think you could quite well bring yourself to put aspider in her desk the next week,' said darrell.

'it's pretty funny that you and alicia were the only ones in the classroom before afternoon school,'

persisted gwendoline, angry that no one seemed to have agreed with her suggestion.

'shut up,' said katherine, shortly. 'we know it wasn't either darrell or alicia, because they say so!

the spider must have got in there by accident, and that's that.'

'well, i think...' began gwendoline, but the class took up a chant at once.

'shut up, gwendoline; gwendoline, shut up! shut up, gwendoline; gwendoline, shut upvthere was nothing to do but shut up. gwendoline was sulky and exasperated. it had been such a goodidea, and all that had resulted from it was a double punishment for her, and a complete failure tomake anyone believe that alicia or darrell had played the trick. true, the first formers had had to goto bed an hour earlier, but they had all voted it was worth it.

gwendoline felt vicious about the whole affair. she determined not to be put off by her first failurebut to go on doing things to mary-lou, so that in the end the class would have to put them down totricks by alicia and darrell. she thought too she would also hint to miss potts that she thoughtalicia and darrell were at the bottom of things.

but she didn't get very far with this. she had to go and see miss potts about some returnedhomework, and stood very meekly beside her, in the little room that miss potts shared withmam'zelle dupont at north tower.

'miss potts i was awfully sorry about that spider affair the other day,' she began. 'of course, aliciaand darrell were in the classroom beforehand, and i'm sure they know something about it. i heardalicia say...'

miss potts looked up. 'are you trying to sneak?' she said. 'or in more polite language, to tell tales?

because if so, don't try it on me. at the boarding school i went to, gwendoline, we had a very goodpunishment for sneaks. all the girls in the sneak's dormy gave her one good spank with the back of ahair-brush. you may have a lot of interesting things to tell me but it's no use expecting me to listen. iwonder if the girls here have the same punishment for sneaks. i must ask them.'

gwendoline went flaming red. a sneak! fancy miss potts daring to call her, gwendoline marylacey, a sneak! all because she had just wanted to drop a kindly hint. gwendoline didn't know whatto say. she felt as if she would like to burst into tears, but miss potts always got very impatient withgirls who did that. she went out of the room, longing to slam the door as she often did at home. butshe didn't dare to here.

she felt very sorry for herself. if her mother knew what an awful school she had come to she wouldtake her away at once. miss winter, too, would be horrified. but gwendoline wasn't quite so sureabout her father. he could say things at times very like the things miss potts said.

the week went by. it was a very pleasant week, hot with a cool breeze that made games andswimming even more pleasure than usual. alicia and betty were practising hard for the school sports.

both were excellent swimmers and divers. darrell tried to imitate all they did. she was good, too, butnot quite so good as they were. but she was quite fearless, and dived off the highest diving-boards,and went down the chute in all kinds of peculiar positions.

the only unhappy person that week was mary-lou. she got into a lot of trouble over many littlethings. for instance, her clothes in the changing-room had been thrown down in a pool of water, andwere soaking wet. she had to take them to matron to be dried.

matron was cross. 'mary-lou! can'tyou hang your things up properly in that changing-room? youknow there are always puddles on the floor from the girls coming in and out from the pool.'

'i did hang them up, matron,' said mary-lou, mildly. 'i know i did.'

then mary-lou's tennis racket suddenly showed three broken strings. they were not frayed, butlooked as if they had been cut. mary-lou was upset.

'my new racket!' she said. 'look, gwendoline, who would think a new racket could go like that?'

'it couldn't,' said gwendoline, pretending to examine it very closely. 'these strings have been cut,mary-lou. someone's been playing a dirty trick on you. what a shame.'

mary-lou was miserable. she couldn't believe that she had any enemies. but when she found buttonscut off her sunday dress she knew that someone was being unkind and mean. gwendoline comfortedher.

'never mind. i'll sew them on for you! i hate sewing, but i'll do it for you, mary-lou.'

so, making a great show of it, gwendoline sewed on the six blue buttons one night. the first-formersstared at her in surprise. they knew she never mended anything if she could help it.

'how did those buttons come off?' asked jean.

'that's what i'd like to know,' said gwendoline smugly.

'six buttons, all ripped off! i'm putting them on for mary- lou, because i'm so sorry that anyoneshould play her such a dirty trick. and i'd like to know who cut the strings of her tennis racket, too.'

the first-formers looked at one another. it certainly was queer the way things had been happening topoor mary-lou lately. even her prayer-book had disappeared. and some of her pencils had gone.

true, they had been found in alicia's desk—but everyone had thought that was just an accident. nowthey began to wonder if some one had put them there. not alicia. alicia wouldn't do a thing like that.

but somebody.

it was getting near half-term. many of the girls were excited, because some of them were expectingvisits from their parents. any parent who lived not too far away would be sure to come. darrell wasthrilled because her father and mother were coming. they lived a long way away, but had decided totake a week's holiday in cornwall, and come and see darrell in the middle of it.

the girls began to talk about their families. 'i wish my three brothers could come,' and alicia. 'we'dhave some sport then.'

'i wish my little sister could come,' said jean. 'i'd love to show her malory towers.'

'is your mother coming, sally?' asked mary-lou.

'no,' said sally. 'she lives too far away.'

darrell remembered something her mother had told her in a letter a week or two before. she had saidthat she had met sally hope's mother, and had liked her. she had said too that she had seen mrs.

hope's baby, sally's sister, a little girl of three months. darrell had meant to tell sally what hermother had said and had forgotten. now she remembered it.

'oh, sally, i expect your mother won't come because of the baby,' she said.

sally went stiff. she stared at darrell as if she couldn't believe her ears. her face went quite white,and when she spoke she sounded as if she were choking.

'you don't know what you're talking about,' she said. 'what baby? we haven't a baby! my motherwon't be coming because it's so far, i tell you!'

darrell was puzzled. 'but sally—don't be silly—my mother said in a letter that she had seen yourbaby sister— she's three months old, she said.'

'i haven't got a baby sister!' said sally, in a low, queer voice. 'i'm the only one. mother and i havebeen everything to each other, because daddy has had to be away such a lot. i haven't got a babysister!'

the girls looked at sally curiously. whatever could be the matter with her? she sounded so queer.

' all right,' said darrell, uneasily. ' you ought to know, i suppose. anway, i expect you'd like a sister.

it's nice having one.'

'i should hate a sister,' said sally. 'i wouldn't share my mother with anyone!'

she walked out of the room, her face as wooden as ever. the girls were really puzzled. 'she's a funnyone,' said irene. 'hardly ever says anything—all closed up, some-how. but sometimes those closed-up people burst open suddenly— and then, look out!'

'well, i shall certainly write and tell mother she's mistaken,' said darrell, and she did so, then andthere. she told sally the next time she saw her.

'i'm sorry i made that mistake about your having a sister,' she said to sally. 'i've written to tell motheryou said you hadn't one. she must have mistaken what your mother said."sally stood still and glared at darrell as if she suddenly hated her. 'what do you want to gointerfering for?' she burst out. 'leave me and my family alone! little busybody, always sticking yournose into other people's affairs!'

darrell's temper flared up. 'i don't," she said. 'you guard your tongue, sally. i never meant tointerfere, and 1 can't think what all the fuss is about. either you have a sister or you haven't. / don'tcare.'

'you tell your mother not to interfere either!' said sally. ' writing letters about my family!'

'oh, don't be so sillyv flared back darrell, really exasperated now. 'anyone would think there was adeep, dark mystery, the way you go on! anyway, i'll just see what my mother says when she nextwrites to me—and i'll tell you.'

'i don't want to know. i won't know!' said sally, and she put out her hands as if she was fendingdarrell off. 'i hate you, darrell rivers—you with your mother who comes to see you off, and sendsyou things and writes you long letters and comes to see you! and you boast about that to me; you doit all on purpose. you're mean, mean, mean!'

darrell was utterly taken about. what in the wide world did sally mean? she watched the girl go outof the room, and sank down on to a form, completely bewildered.