22 the end of the term

mary-lou caught sight of the little cupboard nearby. she knew what was kept there. old balls, anold racket or two, split gym shoes and all kinds of rubbish. gwendoline's shoes might be there! sheopened the cupboard door cautiously, afraid that a spider or earwig might come out.

she peered into the dusty rubbish, and poked it about with her finger. she pulled at an old racket—and something fell with a thud.

mary-lou wondered if the noise had awakened anyone and she held her breath, shaking. but no oneseemed to have heard. she began to poke about again.

she found gwendoline's shoes! she found the bottle of violet ink! that was what had fallen downwith a thud! mary- lou looked at the bottle, and knew what gwendoline had used it for. she lookedat the shoes—and there, on the right- hand one was a broad violet mark!

with trembling hands mary-lou looked at the name inside the shoe again, just to make sure. yes—there was the name, written in miss winter's small printing—gwendoline lacey.

'so it was gwendoline! it was\ 1 knew it wasn't darrell!' thought mary-lou, joyfully. 'i'll go straightback and wake the others. i'll tell them at once. well—no, i won't. perhaps katherine would be crossif she knew i'd gone snooping round at night.'

mary-lou took the bottle of ink, and the shoes. she clicked off the light and stood in darkness. butdid she mind? not a bit. she didn't once think of the black darkness as she sped upstairs. her mindwas full of her grand discovery.

darrell hadn't done it! darrell hadn't done it!

mary-lou was awake first in the morning. she went to (catherine's bed and shook the surprisedhead-girl. 'wake up! i've something important to tell you! wake all the others.'

the others awoke when they heard the disturbance, and sat up in bed, rubbing their eyes. mary-loustood in front of the beds, and waved gwendoline's shoes dramatically.

'look! i've found the real inky shoes! and i've found with them a bottle of violet ink! see? theperson who really smashed my pen hid her own shoes and smeared darrell's with this ink to make itseem as if she 'd done it!'

'but whose shoes are they?' asked katherine, in amazement. 'and where did you get them?'

'i crept downstairs in the dark last night, and hunted in the cloakroom,' said mary-lou triumphantly.

everyone gaped in surprise. mary-lou creeping down in the dark! why, she was terrified of the dark,everyone knew that!

t found the shoes and the bottle in the cupboard there,' said mary-lou. 'and shall i tell you the namewritten inside? no, i won't. have a look round the room, all of you—and you'll see whose name iswritten in these shoes—you can tell by her face!'

it was true. gwendoline's face was red with shame and horror. she stared at mary-lou in misery andanger. so she had been found out after all! why hadn't she taken those shoes and the bottle andthrown them into the sea!

'it's gwendoline!' said the girls, in hushed voices, staring at the red-faced girl in disgust and horror.

and this time gwendoline did not attempt to deny anything. she lay dow n in bed with her facehidden in the pillow.

katherine examined the shoes and the bottle. then she walked up to darrell's bed and held out herhand.

' darrell. i apologize to you for thinking for one moment it was you. i didn't really—but there seemednothing else to

think. i do beg your pardon.'

'oh —it's all right,' said darrell, her face radiant. 'it's quite all right! i have felt pretty awful—but idid have mary- lou and sally sticking up for me. gwendoline won't have anyone!'

one by one the girls begged darrell's pardon. alicia was a little stiff about it, for she felt reallyashamed of the hard words she had said. but then, alicia was hard. she had a good many lessons tolearn before she could lose her hardness and gain in sympathy and understanding of others.

i'd like to be friends again,' she said, awkwardly. 'you come along with betty and me as you didbefore, won't you?'

'well,' said darrell, looking round at sally's steadfast little lace beside her, 'well—i think if you don'tmind, i'll stick to sally and mary-lou. i wasn't always nice to them, but they did stick by me when iwas in trouble—and they're my real friends now!'

'oh!' said mary-lou, her face glowing. 'thank you, darrell!'

sally said nothing, but darrell felt a delighted pinch just above her elbow. she turned and smiled. shefelt very happy. now everything would be all right again till the end of the term. good!

she saw gwendoline lying face downwards on her bed. she was crying bitterly. in the gladness ofher heart darrell could not bear to see even her enemy in misery. she went over to gwedoline andshook her, but not unkindly.

'gwendoline! i shan't say a word about this to any one and neither will the others if i ask them not to.

but you've got to buy mary-lou a lovely pen in return for the one you smashed. see?'

'yes,'said gwendoline's muffled voice. 'i will.'

and that was all that anyone got out of gwendoline.

she could not say she was sorry. she could not even say a few ashamed words when she gave mary-lou a really magnificent fountain-pen she had bought. she was weaker than mary—lou ever was,for she hadn't even the strength to conquer herself.

'she'll never be any good, katherine, will she?' said darrell one day. katherine smiled.

'it depends how long she stays at malory towers,' she said. 'it's queer how the longer you stay herethe decenter you get. that's what my aunt told me. she came here, too, and she told me all kinds ofstories about awful girls who got all right!'

'not if they're like gwendoline,' said darrell. 'nothing will ever alter her. i wish she was leaving!'

gwendoline wished she was, too. the last two weeks of the term were not pleasant ones for her.

nobody mentioned the affair of the fountain-pen again, but everyone thought of it whenever they sawgwendoline, and they would not look at her, or speak to her if they could help it. they were certain,too, that it was she who had played so many horrid tricks on mary-lou the whole of the term.

poor gwendoline! what with the girls' contempt, and her own feeling that she must work like a slavefor the rest of the term, she did not have at all an easy time. but she was only reaping what she hadsowed, so she could not grumble!

darrell was very happy for the rest of that term. she and sally and mary-lou were always together.

darrell no longer wanted alicia's friendship. sally was her friend now, and a very satisfyingfriendship it was, for sally was even-tempered and well-balanced, and darrell was not likely to flyinto tempers with sally around!

exams came and went. darrell did very well. sally did not do so well, partly because she had missedtwo or three weeks of the term, and partly because she had not been allowed to take the full work ofher form after her illness.

gwendoline came out better than anyone expected. 'it just shows,' said miss potts, rather severely, 'itjust shows. gwendoline, what you can do if you try. why you saved your efforts for last two or threeweeks of the term i can't imagine. perhaps next term you will be obliging enough to work during thewhole of the term!'

gwendoline did not tell miss potts what had made her work so hard the last few weeks! she hopedfervently that miss potts would put a few nice things down on her report. what a horrid term it hadbeen! she wished she wasn't coming back. next term she must try and make the girls forget all shehad done this term.

darrell thought it had been a lovely term—except for sally's illness and the two or three days whenthe girls had thought she had played that horrid trick on mary-lou. but darrell didn't often think ofthose times. she was sunny- natured and liked to think of the nice things. she was sorry the term wascoming to an end—but still, the hols, would be lovely!

sally was going to stay with her in the holidays, and she was going to stay a week with sally, too.

'you'll see my little sister,' darrell said. 'you'll like her. she's a sport.'

'and you'll see mine, too,' said sally, half-shyly. 'i shall have to teach her to be a sport—like you!'

marv-lou wished she lived nearer either sally or darrell, then she might have been able to see them.

never mind, there was always next tenn, and the next... mary-lou had the sense to know that sallywas darrell's real friend, and not herself—but she didn't mind. darrell was fond of her and admiredher. that was all that mattered to loyal little mary-lou. how surprised her mother was going to bewhen

she found that mary-lou was no longer afraid of the dark!

the last day came, with all its excitement of last-minute strapping of trunks and hunting for lost keys.

the school became a perfect circus, and north, south, east, and west tower girls became all mixedup everywhere.

'always this last day is a madness!' panted mam'zelle, trying to force her way through a seethingmass of excited girls. 'darrell! sally! will you please let me through? ah, these mad english girls!'

miss potts, calm and efficient even in the midst of utter confusion, handed out small bags, markedchildren off the list when parents fetched them in cars, found lost keys and generally remained theone sane person in north tower. even matron got flustered at times, and spent ages looking for aclothes list she had carefully stuck into her belt.

the coaches came rolling up for the train-girls. 'come on, darrell!' cried sally. 'let's get the frontseats. where's mary-lou?'

'she's going by car!' called darrell. 'hi, mary-lou, good?bye! write to me and tell me all your news.

good-bye!'

'come along, now!' cried miss potts, and the girls were all hustled into the coaches. 'where's alicia?

if she disappears again i shall really go mad. alicia! get in at once, and don't get out again. good-bye, girls. be good—or at least, as good as you can! and don't dare to face me next term withoutyour health cerificates!'

'good-bye, potty. good—bye!' yelled the girls. 'good bye dear old potty!'

'goodness!' said darrell, who had never heard miss potts called potty to her face before. 'how darethey!'

'it's the only time we do, just when we shout good-bye!' said alicia with a grin. 'she never seems tomind then. look at her grinning all over her face!'

darrell leaned out of the coach. 'good-bye, potty!' she yelled. 'good-bye—and good-bye malorytowers! "she said, almost under her breath. til be glad to see you again.'

good-bye! good-bye till next time. good-bye, darrell and sally and the rest. we'll meet you againsoon. good luck till then!

the end.