Winter Term at Malory Towers (15 page)

None of the girls ate very much breakfast, for they all felt full from the feast the night before, and one or two of them really did feel sick. Mam'zelle Dupont, at the head of the table, looked quite concerned when Nora refused to eat her toast, saying, ‘Ah,
la pauvre
! You are sick. You shall go to Matron immediately.'

But Nora had no intention of doing this, for Matron had a knack of knowing when a midnight feast had been held, and kept a bottle of especially nasty-tasting medicine for anyone who complained of feeling ill afterwards. So, to put Mam'zelle's mind at rest, the girl nibbled at a corner of her toast and sipped a cup of tea.

It was as the girls were leaving the dining-room that Miss Tallant approached them and snapped, ‘Olive! I want a word with you.'

The listening fourth formers noticed how the girl turned pale, and stammered, ‘But Miss Tallant, I have to take some work to Miss Williams.'

‘Come and see me immediately afterwards,' said the mistress, a cold, angry look on her face. ‘And please don't keep me waiting!'

Olive went off to find the work that she had to give to Miss Williams, looking very unhappy, and the others exchanged glances.

‘Well!' said June, raising her dark eyebrows. ‘I'll bet you anything you like that Miss Tallant is going to give Olive a scold for sending her on a wild goose chase last night.'

‘Yes, I think you're right,' said Felicity. ‘It looks as if Olive is her niece all right. And I wouldn't like to be in her shoes when she faces her aunt!'

‘I've been trying to think of a way to get her to own up,' said Susan. ‘But I really can't.'

‘Well, let's have a try in the common-room later,' said Pam. ‘And if she won't admit to being Miss Tallant's niece
and sneaking on us, then we will just have to tackle her about it, I'm afraid.'

As it was Saturday, there were no lessons, but a rehearsal for the play was scheduled for the afternoon. And several of the girls thought that it would be a nice idea to go and see Sylvia.

‘Let's pop across to the San now,' said Felicity to Susan. ‘I think that there is a bar of chocolate in the common-room, left over from the feast. Perhaps if we take it to her it might cheer her up a bit.'

‘Good idea,' said Susan. ‘I feel a lot happier about visiting her now that we know for certain that she isn't the sneak.'

So the two girls went into the common-room to fetch the chocolate, then went along to the San. But they were in for a shock!

‘Hallo, girls,' said Matron to Felicity and Susan, as they entered the San. ‘Come to see Sylvia? Well, she is feeling a little better today, and I daresay a visit will cheer her up.' They found the invalid sitting up in bed reading a book, and looking rather down in the dumps. But she brightened when she saw her visitors and put the book aside, saying in a rather croaky voice, ‘Do come and sit down! You can't imagine how marvellous it is to see you. Matron is a dear, but—'

‘But she can be awfully bossy at times,' Felicity finished for her, and Sylvia smiled.

Susan handed her the chocolate, for which Sylvia was extremely grateful, then the three girls chatted. For once, Sylvia was quiet, letting the other two do most of the talking, as she had been ordered by Matron not to strain her throat.

Susan began to tell the girl about a trick that June was planning to play on Mam'zelle Dupont the following week, but she realised that Sylvia's polite smile was becoming rather strained, and said, ‘Of course, I forgot! You don't like jokes and tricks, do you, Sylvia?'

‘I know it makes me seem frightfully dull and
boring, but no, I don't,' Sylvia admitted.

‘It seems very odd to me,' said Felicity. ‘I don't think I've ever met anyone who doesn't like jokes and tricks before.'

‘Well, it's because of something that happened when I was younger,' said Sylvia.

‘Did someone play a trick on you that went wrong, or hurt you?' asked Susan curiously.

‘No, it was
I
who played a trick on someone else,' was Sylvia's surprising answer. ‘And it went terribly wrong.'

‘What happened?' asked Felicity.

‘Well, I played a trick on my aunt,' said Sylvia. ‘My father's younger sister. You see, we live in a big, old house, and my aunt always used to complain that it gave her the creeps. Though it never stopped her coming to stay with us! I love the house, and I became fed up of hearing her criticise it, so one night I decided that I would
really
give Aunt Aggie the creeps!'

‘Whatever did you do?' asked Susan, quite unable to imagine Sylvia playing a trick.

‘I dressed up as a ghost one night, and ran around in the garden under her window,' said Sylvia, looking rather ashamed now.

Felicity and Susan, with June's trick on Miss Tallant in mind, laughed, and Felicity said, ‘Well, that doesn't seem so very bad.'

‘Oh, but it was,' said Sylvia gravely. ‘You see, Aunt Aggie was so terrified that she fainted, and banged her head as she fell. She was quite ill for a while, and had to stay with us for simply ages!'

‘Heavens!' cried Felicity. ‘What bad luck. But it wasn't your fault, Sylvia. I mean to say, you didn't harm your aunt on purpose.'

‘No, but it quite put me off playing any tricks,' said the girl miserably.

‘Yes, I can see that it would,' said Susan. ‘Did you own up?'

Sylvia shook her head unhappily. ‘I was too afraid,' she said guiltily. ‘My aunt has quite a temper, you know, and would have been terribly angry with me. Awfully cowardly of me, I know.'

‘Well, you were younger then,' said Susan, attempting to give the girl's thoughts a happier direction. ‘And I'm sure that we have all done foolish things that we are not proud of at some time or other.'

Sylvia cheered up at this, and the rest of the visit passed pleasantly, until Matron came in to throw them out.

‘Sylvia must rest for a little now,' she said. ‘But she may have more visitors later, if some of the others would like to come.'

It was as the two girls were making their way to the common-room that Felicity suddenly stopped dead in her tracks.

‘Oh, my gosh!' she cried.

‘What's up?' asked Susan, looking at her in surprise.

‘I've just remembered something,' said Felicity. ‘Bonnie told us that Miss Tallant is afraid of ghosts because she saw one when she was younger.'

‘Yes?' said Susan, a puzzled look on her face.

‘And Sylvia dressed up as a ghost to frighten her aunt!' exclaimed Felicity. ‘Her
aunt
, Susan! Don't you see?'

Light dawned on Susan, and she gasped. ‘Olive is innocent, after all.
Sylvia
is Miss Tallant's niece.'

‘Which means that Sylvia is also the sneak,' said Felicity grimly. ‘Susan, we must tell the others at once.'

But while Felicity and Susan had been visiting Sylvia, a quite dreadful row had broken out in the common-room.

It started over a very little thing indeed, as big rows often do. Nora, not realising that Olive was standing behind her, had stepped back and accidentally stood on the girl's toe.

‘Gosh, I'm awfully sorry, Olive!' Nora had said at once. ‘I do hope that I didn't hurt you.'

‘Well, you did,' snapped Olive, who seemed to be in a blacker mood than usual since she had been to see Miss Tallant. ‘Why on earth can't you look where you are going?'

Nora tried to apologise again, but Olive cut her short, an unpleasant sneer on her face, as she said spitefully, ‘For someone who thinks that she is
so
graceful, and
such
a marvellous dancer, you're terribly clumsy, Nora. I don't know what Susan and the others were thinking of, to let you play the fairy, for you simply aren't up to it, in my opinion.'

‘Well, who cares tuppence for your opinion?' said Pam, roused to a rare show of temper by this. ‘Keep it to yourself, Olive, for no one else wants to hear what you have to say.'

There were murmurs of agreement from some of the listening girls, and Olive flushed angrily. But she turned away and said no more. Things might have calmed down, if June and Freddie had not walked in at that precise moment. Sensing an atmosphere, June asked at once, ‘What's the matter?'

‘It's nothing,' said Nora quickly, for she had no wish to prolong the argument and just wanted to forget all about it. But Amy, who disliked Olive intensely, had other ideas, and said in her haughty way, ‘Just our dear Olive causing trouble again—as usual.'

Olive turned on Amy at once, crying, ‘How dare you accuse
me
of causing trouble, you horrid little snob! Nora was the one at fault, for she stood on my foot—and I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if it was deliberate!'

‘Don't be ridiculous!' said Bonnie, entering the fray. ‘I saw the whole thing, and it was quite obvious that it was an accident.'

‘Well, you would stick up for Nora, wouldn't you?' scoffed Olive, towering over little Bonnie. ‘For you are both exactly alike! Spoilt, silly, pretty little dolls!'

Then Olive folded her arms and stood with a smirk on her face, waiting for the foolish little Bonnie to burst into tears.

But she was disappointed, for Bonnie, very angry indeed, stood up to Olive, saying, ‘Well, I would rather be a spoilt, silly little doll than a plain, jealous sneak! For that is what you are, Olive. And I know why you are so jealous of Nora and me, for I spoke to Annabel at half-term.'

The colour drained from Olive's face, and she hissed, ‘You had no right to speak to her! No right at all!'

‘I have the right to speak to anyone I please,' retorted Bonnie defiantly. ‘I understand why you dislike your step-sister, Olive, I really do. I understand why you needed to cut her out of your family photograph, as though she didn't exist. But please don't take your loathing of her out on Nora and me, for it is nothing to do with us, we don't deserve it, and we don't appreciate it!'

‘One up to Bonnie!' murmured June, who had been watching the scene with enjoyment. So had the others, and how they relished seeing Olive look so taken aback. There was a great deal more to Bonnie than met the eye, and Olive had found out the hard way!

Now June decided to take a hand, and she stepped forward, saying smoothly, ‘Do you have any other relatives that you don't want us to know about, Olive? An aunt, for instance?'

Olive looked extremely puzzled, and said, ‘I don't know what you mean.'

‘Oh, I think you do,' said June. ‘You see, we know all about you and Miss Tallant. We know that you have been sneaking to her, and letting her in on our secrets. What do you have to say about that, Olive?'

Olive had nothing at all to say, for she was completely speechless. But guilt was written all over her face, and she was quite unable to look any of the others in the eye. At last she opened her mouth to speak, but the only sound that came out was a little sob, and the girl ran from the room.

Olive almost knocked over Felicity and Susan, who were outside, and when Susan called out, ‘Hi, Olive! Whatever is the matter?' she didn't even look round, but ran up the stairs to the dormitory.

‘Well!' said Susan to Felicity, in astonishment. ‘What do you suppose that was about?'

Felicity, who had glanced through the open door of the common-room and seen the grim faces of the fourth formers, thought, with a sinking heart, that she knew. She turned to Susan, and said gravely, ‘I have a horrible feeling that we are too late.'

Susan gave a groan and went into the common-room, Felicity behind her.

At once June, aided by Bonnie, Nora, Pam and Amy, launched into an account of what had happened.

When they had finished, Susan groaned again, and said, ‘June, I do wish that you had waited!'

‘Why?' asked June, surprised and none too pleased. ‘Olive was never going to own up, and as a row had already started I thought that this was the best time to tackle her.'

‘But it wasn't, June,' said Felicity, looking very troubled. ‘Because, you see, we have discovered that Olive is
not
Miss Tallant's niece. Sylvia is!'

There was a shocked silence, then everyone began to speak at once.

‘Surely not!'

‘That's impossible! I can't see Sylvia as a sneak.'

‘Olive looked so guilty—it simply
must
be her.'

‘And she didn't make any attempt to defend herself.'

‘Well, perhaps she felt too shocked and upset to retaliate,' said Susan. ‘But there is no doubt at all that Sylvia is the culprit.'

And, quickly, she told the fourth formers what she and Felicity had learned.

‘I suppose it
must
be Sylvia, then,' said Pam. ‘Though I'm very surprised, I must say.'

‘Blow Sylvia!' said June, angrily. She felt very guilty indeed for having accused Olive unjustly, and was wishing that she had held her tongue. ‘If only you had come back a few minutes earlier and told us this, Susan and Felicity, everything would have been all right.'

‘Well, you can hardly blame us!' said Susan crossly, for she felt very angry with June herself. ‘The fact is, that you had no right to say anything at all to Olive. As head of the form it was my duty, but, as usual, you had to take the lead, and go in all guns blazing, without thinking things through.'

June flushed angrily. She felt annoyed with herself, and annoyed with Susan. And the reason she was annoyed with Susan was because everything she said was perfectly true.

June was honest enough to admit that to herself. She
did
always have to take the lead in things. And this wasn't the first time she had caused an awkward situation by accusing someone unjustly.

Nora spoke up for her, though, saying, ‘To be fair, Susan, all of us thought the same as June. We were all
absolutely convinced that she was the mysterious niece, and had been sneaking to Miss Tallant. And the chances are, if June hadn't accused her to her face, one of us others would have.'

‘That's very true,' said Bonnie, nodding solemnly.

‘Yes, we were all feeling sore with Olive, because of the row she had started,' said Julie.

‘So really we are all to blame.'

‘No,' said June suddenly. ‘I am to blame. Susan is quite right. I shouldn't have tackled Olive as I did. Speaking out of turn seems to be one of my biggest faults! Each time it happens I tell myself that I will think twice before doing it again, and then I go and jump in with both feet!'

‘Well, at least you have the courage to own up to it,' said Felicity, admiring June for being honest enough to admit to a fault.

‘Yes, but owning up to it isn't enough,' said June, ruefully. ‘I need to do something to make amends. I shall go and apologise to Olive, and I will tell her that we know now that she isn't the sneak.'

Susan was a little doubtful about this, for, while she appreciated June's efforts to make it up to Olive, she wasn't sure whether the girl would accept the apology. And if Olive gave June the cold shoulder, June might flare up again, and then another quarrel would break out!

Felicity, seeing the doubt in Susan's face, said, ‘I know! Why don't we all go and speak to Olive? Although she isn't the sneak, she hasn't done very much to make us think well of her, so really it's no wonder that we
suspected her. But we can go to her now and tell her that we want to wipe the slate clean and give her a chance to become one of us.'

‘Jolly good idea, Felicity!' cried Pam. ‘Come along, everyone, let's go up to Olive now.'

So the fourth formers trooped upstairs and into the dormitory, all of them feeling rather virtuous about their decision to try and befriend Olive.

Alas for such good intentions! When Susan opened the door and the fourth formers filed in, Olive was nowhere to be seen.

‘Oh!' said Susan, rather disappointed. ‘She's not here. She must have come downstairs while we were talking in the common-room.'

‘Perhaps she has gone for a walk in the grounds, to clear her head,' suggested Lucy.

‘Yes, that's probably it,' said Julie. ‘Oh well, we shall just have to wait until later to make amends to Olive.'

‘There's something else,' said Freddie, looking rather serious. ‘We shall have to tackle Sylvia about her behaviour.'