18 darrell and sally

darrell went to the san. upstairs. she had a little note with her for matron from miss grayling.

'please allow darrell to see sally for a few minutes before her mother comes.'

matron, surprised and not very pleased, opened the door to let darrell in. darrell tiptoed in. it was apleasant room, with three white beds in it, and a lovely view from the big windows. everything wascreamy white and spot—lessly clean. in the end bed lay sally, white but bright-eyed.

'hallo, sally,' said darrell. 'i've been so worried about you. are you better? did my father make youbetter?'

'yes. i do like him. he was so kind,' said sally. 'i did feel so awful all saturday, darrell. but icouldn't tell anyone, could i? 1 couldn't spoil the day.'

'i think you're very brave,' said darrell. i say—guess who's here to see you?'

'not my mother?' said sally, her eyes shining. darrell nodded. 'yes. and your father too. and do youknow, sally, your mother has left behind your little baby sister, so that she could come more quicklyto see you? fancy that! she must think an awful lot of you, because usually mothers can't bear toleave babies when they're small.'

sally seemed to have forgotten that she had told darrell she had no sister. she reached out fordarrell's hand. 'hasn't she brought baby?' she whispered. 'did she leave her behind? really andtruly?'

'yes, poor little thing,' said darrell. 'she must be feeling lonely! i've got a little sister, too. it's lovelyto have a sister.

mine looks up to me no end and thinks i'm wonderful. i expect yours will, too."sally's ideas of sisters underwent a sudden change. things seemed suddenly to fall into their properplaces. she smiled gratefully at darrell. 'you'll come and see me when you can, won't you?' she said.

'and don't say anything about— about—all my silliness, will you? to the others, i mean.'

'of course not. it wasn't silliness. it was just a mistake on your part,' said darrell. 'why, anyone couldsee by giving one look at your mother that she's a proper mother—i mean the kind that would alwayslove you, however many children she had, or whatever you did. i think she's a darling.'

'so do i,' said sally, with a sigh. 'i'm sorry i was such a beast to you, darrell.'

'and i can't tell you how sorry 1 am for having shoved you like that when you had such a pain inyour tummy,' said darrell.

'did you shove me?' said sally. 'i've forgotten. look, what's matron saying?'

matron was beckoning for darrell to come away. mr. and mrs. hope were outside the door. darrellsaid a hurried good-bye and tiptoed out. mr. and mrs. hope went in, and darrell heard sally's lowcry of joy as she saw her mother.

darrell skipped happily down the stairs and through the hall into the court. she ran to the building inwhich her own classroom was. the bell was just going for the ending of a lesson.

darrell slipped into the first-form classroom. the girls looked up at her.

'where have you been? you've been ages! you've missed half of maths., lucky pig.'

'i've been to see sally,' said darrell, importantly.

'fibber! no one is allowed to see her yet,' said irene.

'well, i have. and she says my father has cured her pain and made her much better,' said darrell,proud to have such a father. 'he came in the night. i saw him.'

'darrell rivers, you're making it all up,' said alicia.

'no, honestly i'm not. it's all true,' said darrell. i saw mr. and mrs. hope too, and they're seeing sallynow. they are staying the night with miss grayling and going back tomorrow.'

'and has dear sally found out yet whether she has a baby sister or not?' drawled gwendoline.

darrell felt a hot flame of temper rise up but she choked it down at once. 'that's no business of yours—and it's a pity you didn't have about six older sisters to sit on you hard and squash you flat,' saiddarrell. 'you'd have been a bit nicer then. but probably only a bit.'

'shhhhh! mam'zelle coming!' hissed the girl at the door, and in came mam'zelle, rather cross thismorning because the third form had just proved extraordinarily stupid. darrell didn't mind how crossmam'zelle or miss potts were that day. she kept thinking of sally's happiness. she wondered howshe was getting on.

sally and her mother and father were happy together. the curious wall that sally had built upbetween herself and her mother had fallen away, because suddenly the jealousy was gone. hermother had left the baby alone to come to her—and sally was content. not that she wanted babydaphne to be left with strangers—but it was a sign to her that her mother thought of her and lovedher. funny little sally!

'we'll come and see you tomorrow before we go home,' said her mother, when matron said it wastime for mr. and mrs. hope to go. 'and, if you badly want me to, i'll stay an extra day, and let daddygo home without me.'

'no,' said sally, with a sigh. 'don't let's leave baby too long ! and i know daddy would rather youwent with him.

i'm getting better already, mother. i'll soon be well—and 1 shall feel quite different.'

then mrs. hope knew for certain that sally was her own, unselfish little girl again, and she was glad.

what a good thing darrell rivers had written to her as she did! now everything was all cleared up.

darrell was allowed to go and see sally twice a day, long before anyone else was. sally welcomedher eagerly. sally was so different now—no longer a prim, closed-up little person, but a friendly,eager girl, ready to talk about her home and her dogs and her garden, asking darrell about the lessonsand the games, if mam'zelle was cross, and what miss potts said, and whether gwendoline andmary-lou were still friends.

'you know, sally,' said darrell, "when 1 felt so awfully frightened because i thought i'd injured youand might be sent away from here, i suddenly knew how it must feel to be like mary-lou—alwaysscared of everything! and i was sorry i'd teased her so.'

'let's be nice to mary-lou,' said sally, who, with her strength returning to her, and with darrell'sfriendly visits each day, felt that she could be nice even to gwendoline! 'tell her i'd like her to comeand see me.'

mary-lou was overwhelmed by this message. fancy sally choosing her for one of her first visitors !

armed with a big bottle of barley-sugar she went to the san. sally looked rather pale, but verydifferent. her eyes were bright, and she smiled. she welcomed mary-lou graciously.

they talked, and mary-lou blossomed a little. she was not afraid of sally. she told her all sorts ofthings. then she looked worried.

'you know, sally, i do wish gwendoline wouldn't keep saying horrid things about darrell. she keepstrying to make me think that darrell is playing nasty tricks on me. or thatalicia is. my ink-pot was spilt yesterday all over my atlas, and gwendoline says she's sure darrelldid it, because she saw that darrell's fingers were all inky that day.'

'as if darrell would do anything like thatv said sally- indignantly. 'how can you listen togwendoline when she says things like that ?'

i can't stop her,' said mary-lou, the scared look coming into her face again. 'you see, she will keepsaying that i'm her friend, and she can tell me anything.'

'are you her friend?' demanded sally.

'no. not really. but i don't like telling her i don't want to be,' said mary-lou. 'don't call me a coward.

i know i am. but 1 can't help it.'

'time to go, mary-lou," said matron, coming in. 'tell darrell she can come in half an hour's time,and bring a simple game with her happy families or something. not snap.'

so darrell came, armed with happy families. but the two girls didn't get beyond dealing out thecards. they talked about mary-lou and gwendoline.

'gwendoline's poisonous,' said sally. 'she's always talking against you and alicia, making out youplay those rotten tricks on mary-lou.'

'i wonder who does them ?' said darrell. "one of the other tower girls, do you think? what aboutevelyn from west tower? she's always doing silly, teasing tricks.'

'no. i should think it might be gwedoline herself' said sally, looking at the cards in her hand.

darrell stared at her in surprise. 'oh, ?o,' she said. 'why, gwendoline and mary-lou are friends.'

'so gwendoline says. but mary-lou says different,' said sally.

'yes, but—no one could be so awful as to pretend to be friends with someone and then to play rottentricks on them all the time!' said darrell. it would be a disgusting thing to do.'

i think gwendoline is disgusting!' said sally, i never could bear her. a real double-faced person whodoesn't care tuppence for anyone in the world but herself.'

darrell looked at sally. ' i think you're very clever,' she said. 'you seem to know all about people—much more than 1 do. i'm sure you know more about mary-lou than i do, already.'

i like mary-lou,' said sally, if only we could get her to be not so scared of everything, she'd be fun.'

'but how can we?' said darrell shuffling all the cards together absent-mindedly. 'oh, dear—look whati've done. never mind, it's more interesting to talk than play cards just now. how can we cure mary-lou? i've tried to buck her up and make her ashamed of herself, but it doesn't seem to do any good.'

'can't you see that she is ashamed of herself already?' said sally unexpectedly. 'but being ashameddoesn't give her any courage. nobody can give her pluck except her own self.'

'well—think of a way to make her give herself pluck!' said darrell. i bet you can't!'

'i'll think tonight, before i go to sleep,'said sally. 'and when you come and see me in the morning, i'llhave a plan— you see if i haven't!'