Nora, who was very good at acting, raised her hand and said in a scared voice, ‘Mam’zelle Rougier, June seems to have become invisible!’
The French mistress gave a snort of disbelief and snapped, ‘What nonsense is this? June, I command you to show yourself.’
‘But Mam’zelle, I’m here!’ said June rather plaintively.
Most of the girls were struggling not to laugh by this time and, had the victim of the prank been Mam’zelle Dupont, they would have been in fits of giggles. But it was decidedly dangerous to laugh at the bad-tempered Mam’zelle Rougier, who was growing angrier by the second, so they did their best to control themselves.
The French mistress stalked to the back of the class, a frown on her face, and passed her hand over June’s chair, before bending over and peering under the desk. This was too much for Susan, who gave a choke of laughter, which she hastily turned into a cough. Then Mam’zelle spotted the empty pot of vanishing cream that June had left on her desk, and picked it up.
‘Tiens! What is this?’ she asked.
Freddie, who, in spite of her worries, was thoroughly enjoying the trick, said, ‘It’s June’s vanishing cream, Mam’zelle Rougier. Oh, I say! What if she’s used too much and vanished for good!’
‘Vanishing cream? Pah, what nonsense!’ said the French mistress. All the same, she did look rather alarmed when she took the lid from the pot and saw that it was empty.
‘She’s used it all!’ said Nora, sounding horrified. ‘Mam’zelle Rougier, what are we to do?’
‘Yes, what if she doesn’t come back and stays invisible forever?’ put in Pam.
‘I will not have girls vanishing into thin air in my lesson!’ cried Mam’zelle Rougier. Several of the listening girls found this so funny that they had to stuff hand-kerchiefs into their mouths to stifle their laughter.
‘I shall go and inform Miss Grayling at once that June has disappeared,’ said Mam’zelle Rougier, turning sharply and walking towards the door. As soon as her back was turned, June quietly sneaked from her hiding-place and back into her seat.
‘Mam’zelle Rougier!’ cried Felicity. ‘She’s back! June is visible again! There’s no need for you to go to Miss Grayling.’
The French mistress looked round and gave a start as she saw the wicked June, sitting at her desk as large as life.
‘June!’ she cried. ‘How dare you leave the classroom in the middle of a lesson.’
‘But Mam’zelle, I didn’t leave,’ protested June. ‘I was here all the time.’
‘That’s true, Mam’zelle,’ said Julie. ‘We all heard her voice.’
‘Yes, but I do not wish to hear your voice, ma chère Julie!’ said Mam’zelle Rougier, who was working herself up into a fine rage. ‘June, I am not so easy to fool as Mam’zelle Dupont! I know that a trick has been played, and when I find out how you have made yourself vanish and then reappear I shall punish you!’
With that, Mam’zelle Rougier stalked back to the blackboard, her heels click-clacking on the floor. And June, as fast as lightning, darted from her seat and back into the storage room. Mam’zelle Rougier turned to face the class, and gave a shriek, pressing her hands to her cheeks. ‘Mon Dieu! The troublesome girl has vanished again!’
‘Sorry, Mam’zelle.’ Once more June’s voice could be heard from thin air. ‘But I really can’t help it.’
Well, the girls were quite helpless with laughter by this time, and past caring about any punishment that Mam’zelle Rougier might dish out. This was such an excellent trick that it would be well worth it! Tears rolled down Felicity’s cheeks, while Susan was doubled up. Even Veronica was laughing uproariously!
‘Silence!’ shouted Mam’zelle Rougier, stamping her foot so hard that a strand of hair came down from the bun she wore at the back of her head. ‘I will not tolerate this behaviour, méchantes filles! You will all write me fifty lines tonight!’
This sobered the third formers a little and their laughter died away. But just then the door of the classroom opened, and Mam’zelle Dupont appeared in the doorway. The relief of having her aching tooth removed had put the little French mistress in an excellent mood, and she beamed round at the girls.
‘Bonjour, mes petites! Bonjour, Mam’zelle Rougier! I must thank you for taking my class while I was away, for I know that you, too, had a restless night and must be tired. Ah, my tooth, how it ached! But now it is all gone.’
‘That is not all that is gone, Mam’zelle Dupont!’ said Mam’zelle Rougier dramatically. ‘You will step outside with me, please, for I have a strange tale to tell.’
As soon as the two French mistresses had left the room, June emerged from the little room once more, this time locking the door behind her and slipping the key into her pocket.
‘My word, June, that was a super trick!’ exclaimed Nora, as June sat down behind her desk. ‘But Mam’zelle Rougier is simply furious!’
‘Yes, I’m afraid that you’re going to get into awful trouble, June,’ said Felicity.
‘No, I’m not,’ said June, grinning wickedly. ‘An idea came to me when I heard Mam’zelle Dupont say that Mam’zelle Rougier had suffered a restless night. I think I can get us all off doing lines as well. Freddie, take that empty pot and throw it out of the window into the bushes. Now, listen, everyone – this is what we’re going to do…’
Moments later, the two French mistresses returned, and Mam’zelle Rougier was most astonished to see June, looking the picture of goodness, with her head bent over her book.
‘Ah! See, Mam’zelle Dupont!’ she cried, clutching at the other French mistress’s arm with one hand, and pointing at June with the other.
‘Yes, I see June, sitting at her desk and working hard at her French,’ said Mam’zelle Dupont, eyeing Mam’zelle Rougier with concern. The tale that she had related had been quite astonishing, and Mam’zelle Dupont was rather worried about her countrywoman’s state of mind. Girls did not vanish and re-appear at random – it was quite impossible!
The other third formers appeared to be concentrating hard on their work too, the dear, good girls, and surely this would not be so if something was amiss with one of their friends.
‘June, you have come back!’ cried Mam’zelle Rougier.
‘Come back?’ repeated June, with a puzzled frown. ‘But, Mam’zelle, I haven’t been away.’
‘Ah, but yes, you vanished!’ said Mam’zelle Rougier. ‘You put the vanishing cream on and you disappeared. The other girls, they saw you turn invisible – is it not so, girls?’
The third formers looked at one another in bewilderment and Felicity said, ‘Mam’zelle Rougier, June has been here all the time.’
‘Vanishing cream?’ said Julie with a puzzled frown. ‘What vanishing cream, Mam’zelle?’
‘Ah, you are bad girls, all of you!’ cried Mam’zelle Rougier, marching over to June’s desk. ‘You are all trying to trick me. June, where is the vanishing cream? Open your desk at once.’
June obeyed, but there was nothing to be seen in the desk but books, pens and pencils.
‘You have hidden it in your satchel, then!’ said Mam’zelle Rougier, quite beside herself. ‘I demand to search it!’
So June handed over her satchel but, of course, the pot of vanishing cream was not in there either. Poor Mam’zelle Rougier did not know what to think! Were the girls playing an elaborate joke on her, or was she going quite mad?
At last June said kindly, ‘I think I know what has happened. You must have been dreaming, Mam’zelle.’
‘June, please do not speak rubbish to me!’ said the French mistress scornfully. ‘How is it possible for me to dream when I am wide awake?’
Once more the girls looked at one another and Felicity said solemnly, ‘You fell asleep at your desk, Mam’zelle Rougier. It was right after Bonnie brought her book to you.’
‘Never have I fallen asleep in a class!’ said Mam’zelle Rougier, looking mortified.
‘But you did, Mam’zelle,’ said Susan. ‘We wouldn’t
have said anything about it if you hadn’t started talking about June vanishing.’
‘Ah, this is my fault!’ cried Mam’zelle Dupont. ‘For it was I who kept you awake last night, Mam’zelle Rougier. It is no wonder that you fall asleep at your desk! Now, you must go back to bed for the rest of the morning, and catch up on your sleep. I shall take your next class and all will be well.’
So Mam’zelle Rougier, now convinced that the whole episode had been a strange dream, went quietly from the room.
‘And the best of it is that she thinks the lines she gave us were part of the dream too!’ laughed Nora. ‘Well done, June.’
‘Yes, that was a splendid trick,’ said Freddie, taking June’s arm. ‘It quite took me out of myself for a while. And no one else could have carried it off like you, June. I take my hat off to you!’
Somehow, word spread around the school that June had successfully tricked Mam’zelle Rougier. Even the sixth form got to hear about it, and Amanda Chartelow came up to June with a broad grin on her face. ‘Don’t forget you’ve got lacrosse practice this afternoon,’ she said. ‘We don’t want you doing one of your vanishing acts!’
Bonnie also took advantage of June’s trick to get on the right side of Mam’zelle Rougier. She picked a huge bunch of late-blooming flowers from the garden and took them to the French mistress later that day.
‘Oh, Mam’zelle Rougier, I’ve been so worried about you!’ she said in her soft voice. ‘I often used to have trouble sleeping when I was ill, and I know how tired it makes you the next day.’
Surprised and rather touched, Mam’zelle Rougier took the flowers from Bonnie, saying, ‘Thank you, ma chère. This is indeed most kind of you.’
Bonnie smiled her most charming smile at the mistress and went on her way. And from that day on, Mam’zelle Rougier remembered the girl’s thoughtfulness and was much kinder to her in class.
‘So there’s only Miss Peters who you haven’t managed to charm,’ said Nora in the common-room one evening. ‘And she’s a really tough nut to crack. You’ll never succeed with her, Bonnie.’
‘I bet you a stick of toffee I will,’ said Bonnie at once.
‘You’re on!’ said Nora. ‘If you haven’t managed to wrap Miss Peters round your little finger by the end of term that’s a stick of toffee you owe me!’
Half-term
Half-term arrived at last, and there was great excitement throughout the school. Even sleepyheads like Nora and Amy leaped out of bed early, looking forward to the day with eager anticipation. Felicity was simply dying to see her mother and father, while Bonnie couldn’t wait to be spoiled by her doting parents once more. And Amy was looking forward to showing off her good-looking father and beautiful mother to the others. Only Veronica looked forward to the day with mixed feelings, for try as she might, she had been quite unable to think of a way to put her parents off coming for half-term. It wasn’t that she didn’t love her mother and father, for she did. But she didn’t feel that they were quite good enough for her – and they certainly weren’t good enough to meet Amy’s people!
As it turned out, fate took a hand and, just as the first parents were arriving, Veronica was called to Miss Grayling’s office.
‘Veronica, I’m afraid I have some disappointing news for you,’ said the Head, after she had greeted the girl. ‘Your father telephoned me earlier, and I’m afraid that he and your mother won’t be able to come today. You see, your mother has flu and, although they were hoping that she would feel well enough to travel today, she is still quite ill.’
‘I see,’ said Veronica, beginning to feel a little guilty. She had wanted something to happen to stop her parents coming, but she certainly hadn’t wished for her mother to be ill! ‘Mother will be all right, won’t she?’ she asked the Head a little anxiously.
‘Of course, my dear,’ said Miss Grayling kindly. ‘She just needs plenty of rest at the moment, and I daresay she will be as right as rain in a few days. Now off you go and join the others – and try to enjoy half-term as best you can.’
Reassured that her mother wasn’t seriously ill, Veronica made up her mind to do just that! Amy was sure to invite her to go along with her people, and Veronica would be at pains to impress them. Perhaps they might even invite her to stay with them during the holidays!
Bonnie was in for a disappointment too, for she received a message to say that her parents’ car had broken down, and they had to wait for it to be fixed, so they wouldn’t arrive at Malory Towers until tomorrow.
‘Well, at least you’ll have one day with them,’ said Felicity, seeing the girl’s unhappy face. ‘That’s better than nothing. Cheer up, Bonnie!’
‘I do feel sorry for her,’ Felicity confided to Susan, as the girl walked away. ‘But at the same time, I hope Mother doesn’t ask her to join us. Does that sound awfully selfish?’
‘Of course not,’ said Susan loyally. ‘It’s quite understandable that you want to have your parents to yourself at half-term. I know that I wouldn’t want to share mine with Bonnie!’
‘I say!’ called out Pam, who was stationed at the dormitory window. ‘There are some more cars coming up the drive. My word, just look at that Rolls Royce!’
‘Why, that must belong to my people!’ cried Amy, almost knocking Julie over in her eagerness to get to the window. ‘Yes, it’s them! I must go down and greet them.’
‘Felicity, I think your parents are here too,’ said Pam. ‘And mine are right behind them – whoopee! Come on, let’s go down.’
Soon the grounds were thronged with laughing, chattering girls and their families. As she chatted happily with her parents, Felicity saw Julie, with her mother and older brother, both of them red-haired and freckled, like Julie herself. Then she spotted Pam, walking arm-in-arm with her parents, and June, sharing a joke with one of her brothers. And over there, talking to Mam’zelle Rougier, was Amy, with her mother. Felicity couldn’t help glancing at Mrs Ryder-Cochrane curiously. She was every bit as lovely as she appeared in her photograph, but the cat-like green eyes gave her rather a sly look, and Felicity decided that she didn’t like her very much. Susan’s big, jovial father was standing nearby, and Felicity saw, with a shock, that the man he was having a conversation with was Mr Ryder-Cochrane. And Amy’s father didn’t fit with the image that Felicity had built up in her mind at all! He was a most distinguished man, and at the moment he looked very relaxed and carefree, and was laughing heartily at something that Susan’s father had said. Nothing could have been further from the cold, snobbish man that Felicity had been imagining. Amy’s father must be a very good actor indeed! Just then Mr Ryder-Cochrane caught her looking at him and grinned. But Felicity, thinking suddenly of Mrs Dale, and of how lonely and unhappy she was because of this man, could only manage a tight, polite little smile in return, before she turned away.
Freddie, too, had noticed Amy’s parents, but she could barely bring herself to look at them, for she felt intensely angry with the couple. If it wasn’t for Mr Ryder-Cochrane’s stupid, stuck-up attitude and Mrs Ryder-Cochrane’s weakness in not standing up to her husband, she wouldn’t be in the uncomfortable situation she was in now!
At Mrs Dale’s request, Freddie had visited her yesterday afternoon, and had left feeling guiltier than ever. The visit had been highly enjoyable to start with, and Freddie and Mrs Dale had chatted about all kinds of things. But then the old lady had begun recounting bits of family history, and had brought out some photographs of Amy’s mother as a child, and Freddie had felt most uncomfortable – almost as if she was stealing a bit of Amy’s life. Now, she was delighted to be with her own loving, sensible parents, and hugged them extra hard. She was determined not to let her guilt cast a shadow over the day, and to enjoy herself, but it was very difficult. How she wished that she could confide in her mother and father about Mrs Dale, but that was impossible of course. They would be so terribly disappointed in her!
As the day went on, Bonnie and Veronica, being the only two in the third form whose parent
s hadn’t come, found themselves thrown together, which pleased neither of them! Big-hearted Mam’zelle Dupont, seeing them hovering on the edge of the crowd, bore down on them and said sympathetically, ‘Ah, les pauvres petites! Do not be sad while all the others are out with their so-dear parents. We will have a splendid lunch in the school dining-room, and the two of you will sit with me, n’est-ce pas?’
Veronica nodded politely and Bonnie smiled her sweet smile, but both of them were hoping to be invited out to lunch. Bonnie had already dropped broad hints to Felicity and her parents, but Mr and Mrs Rivers, obedient to the silent message in Felicity’s eyes, had steadfastly ignored them. So both girls’ hopes now centred on Amy, who was coming towards them with her parents.
Amy introduced her parents to the two girls and, while Mrs Ryder-Cochrane greeted Bonnie, her husband turned to Veronica and attempted to make polite conversation. But alas for Veronica, Amy’s father seemed so very grand that she became quite tongue-tied, unable to mutter anything but ‘yes’ or ‘no’ in answer to his questions. Bonnie, however, was determined to make a hit with the couple, and she looked at Amy’s mother with undisguised admiration, complimenting her on her expensive dress and perfectly groomed hair. Mrs Ryder-Cochrane, who had been looking a little bored, thawed visibly and decided that Bonnie was rather a dear little thing.
‘Bonnie is the girl I wrote to you about, Mummy,’ said Amy. ‘The one who makes such beautiful clothes.’
Veronica listened to this rather glumly. It seemed that she hadn’t been mentioned in Amy’s letters home at all. And she didn’t like the way that Mrs Ryder-Cochrane seemed to have taken to Bonnie. She tapped the smaller girl on the shoulder and said, ‘It’s almost lunchtime, Bonnie. We’d better go and get ready.’
‘Of course,’ said Bonnie, managing to make her smile both brave and pathetic. ‘Oh, how I wish that my mother and father were here to take me out to a restaurant. Still, I’m quite sure that the school lunch will be delicious. Come along, Veronica.’