Alice happened to be walking by at this moment, and she stopped dead on hearing Violet’s words.
‘Violet!’ she said in an unusually sharp tone. ‘May I have a word with you, please?’
Violet looked rather surprised, but went over to Alice at once, while the rest of the first formers walked off.
Alice looked at the girl, noticing her small, spiteful-looking eyes, her smug expression, and general air of being very pleased with herself indeed. Here was someone who badly needed taking down a peg or two!
‘Violet,’ she began. ‘I couldn’t help overhearing what you were saying to the others just now. And let me tell you, you won’t win any friends by boasting about your wealth.’
Violet turned red, and said rather stiffly, ‘I can’t help it if my father has lots of money.’
‘No, but you can stop yourself ramming it down the others’ throats,’ said Alice. ‘I can’t make you stop boasting, of course, I can only advise you. If you want to be happy at Malory Towers, give the girls your warmth and your friendship, don’t try and win them over with your wealth.’
Violet had nothing to say to this and, as she walked away, Alice sighed to herself. She doubted very much that the girl would change overnight, but hoped that she would listen to her words, and act on them. Suddenly a voice right behind her called her name, making her jump, and Alice turned sharply to see Felicity standing there.
‘Sorry, I didn’t mean to frighten you,’ said Felicity. ‘The thing is, Alice, I heard what you said to young Violet just then. I had no intention of listening in, but I was just coming round the corner, so I couldn’t help it.’
‘Oh!’ said Alice, looking rather alarmed. ‘Do you think that I shouldn’t have said anything?’
‘Not at all,’ said Felicity emphatically. ‘As top formers, it is our job to guide and advise the young ones, and what you said was fine. I couldn’t have put it better myself.’
Alice felt so thrilled that she was quite speechless for a moment, and Felicity went on, ‘You sounded as though you were speaking from experience.’
‘Violet reminds me of – of someone I used to know,’ said Alice. ‘This girl made herself very unpopular indeed, and I shouldn’t like to see Violet going the same way.’
‘Well, you’ve certainly done all you can to put her on the right track,’ said Felicity, taking the girl’s arm as the two of them began to walk towards the school. She felt pleased to have discovered that Alice had another side to her personality, and there was more to her than the timid, eager-to-please girl the sixth formers knew. But there was still such a lot about her that they had yet to discover, and Felicity decided to ask the girl a question that had been on her mind.
‘Alice,’ she said, pulling the girl to a halt suddenly. ‘Why is it that you are so determined to go out of your way to run errands for others, and make a slave of yourself for someone like Amy?’
The ready colour rushed to Alice’s cheeks again, her tone a little breathless as she said, ‘It’s quite simple. I just like to help people. I know that I am privileged in some ways, and this is my way of giving back. It’s as Miss Grayling said in her speech, on the first day of term – You will all get a lot out of your time at Malory Towers. See that you put a lot back.’
‘Yes, I see,’ said Felicity, thinking that Amy had been right, and that Alice must come from a very wealthy family indeed, if she felt the need to give so much back. But something about the girl’s words troubled her, something that she couldn’t quite put her finger on.
It was as Felicity was dropping off to sleep that night that she realised what it was, and the thought made her wide awake.
Alice had quoted words to her that Miss Grayling was supposed to have said in her speech. But Felicity had been outside the door, listening, and the Head hadn’t said those words, although she usually included them. But this time, the telephone had rung before she was able to say the words. So where had Alice heard them?
8
Daffy is deceitful
There was a slight chill in the air on the morning of the first formers’ picnic, but it was bright and sunny, with no wind, and nothing could mar their high spirits.
‘We’re setting off shortly before noon, aren’t we?’ said Katie. ‘It should be a bit warmer by then.’
‘We’re to go to the kitchen later, to help Cook cut sandwiches to take with us,’ said Daffy.
‘And I must pop to the baker’s, to collect my cake,’ said Violet, with a great air of self-importance.
‘Well, you can’t go alone,’ said Faith. ‘Only the fifth and sixth formers are allowed out on their own. Someone must go with you.’
Unsurprisingly, no one was keen on the idea of walking to the baker’s shop with Violet and, in the end, Faith, as head-girl, decided that she had better volunteer herself.
‘Don’t be long!’ Daffy called after them. ‘We shall need everyone to pitch in and help with the sandwiches.’
‘Yes, Daffy,’ said Faith meekly and, casting a sidelong glance at her, Violet wondered how the quiet, timid head-girl felt about Daffy usurping her authority and taking over as leader of the first form. Faith had no special friend of her own, and never confided in anyone, and Violet thought that she might be glad of someone to talk to. Why, for all she knew, the head-girl might feel just as bitter towards Daffy as she, Violet, did, and it would be good to have someone on her side.
So, as the two girls walked, Violet was at her sweetest, taking great pains to encourage Faith to talk.
Used to being overlooked by the others, Faith wasn’t accustomed to talking about herself and was a little reticent at first. But she soon blossomed under Violet’s interest, and began telling the girl all about her parents, and her two young brothers. Of course, all of this was very boring to the self-centred Violet, but she put up with it patiently, just waiting for a chance to drop Daffy’s name into the conversation.
And Violet’s patience was rewarded, for as they left the baker’s shop with the chocolate cake, all neatly wrapped in a cardboard box, done up with string, they bumped into Gillian and Delia.
‘Hallo, kids!’ said Gillian. ‘That’s a most interesting-looking box you have there, young Violet.’
‘It’s a chocolate cake, Gillian,’ said Violet. ‘For our picnic later.’
‘Oh yes, you first formers are all going to the beach, aren’t you?’ said Delia. ‘Well, not quite all of you, for, of course, Daffy Hope will be left behind.’
‘Serves her right, if you ask me,’ said Gillian. ‘She’s not a bad kid, but that was a very dangerous trick she played on you the other day, Violet. I think that Felicity’s punishment of not allowing her to go to the picnic was very just.’
Of course, this was news to the two first formers, who both looked quite astonished. Violet recovered quickly, however, and said graciously, ‘Well, I was very upset and frightened, but I do feel sorry for Daffy, being left behind. I shall have to save her a piece of my chocolate cake.’
Faith, not quite as quick-brained or as cunning as Violet, listened to all this with a puzzled frown on her face, and, seeing that she was about to seek enlightenment from the two sixth formers, Violet seized her arm, saying, ‘Well, I suppose that we had better hurry back to school, or the others will think that we have got lost. Goodbye, Gillian. Goodbye, Delia.’
And, carrying the cake-box between them, the two first formers began to make their way back to school. Once they were out of earshot of the sixth formers, Faith stopped, and said, ‘Well, what do you make of that, Violet? I could have sworn that Daffy told us Felicity had let her off without a punishment.’
‘She did tell us that,’ said Violet with a snort. ‘Because she wanted us to think that she is well in with the Head Girl. But now we know the truth – Felicity forbade Daffy to take part in the picnic, and Daffy intends to disobey her.’
‘Oh dear!’ wailed Faith. ‘It really is terribly wrong of Daffy, and I know that it’s my place to tell her that she is in the wrong,
and shouldn’t come on the picnic. But Daffy is a strong character, and I am not! Violet, how on earth am I to get her to listen to me?’
Violet’s mind had been working quickly, and she said, ‘Well, I don’t see how you can be held responsible if Daffy chooses to be naughty and disobedient. I think that you should tell her that you know the truth, and what she decides to do after that is really a matter for her and her conscience.’
‘I suppose that you are right,’ sighed Faith. ‘I only hope that Felicity doesn’t find out, or Daffy will be in hot water.’
Violet smiled to herself at this. Felicity was going to find out – she would make sure of that!
‘I do admire your patience, Faith,’ said Violet sweetly. ‘It must be so irritating for you when Daffy tries to take the lead all the time, when it should be you who does so.’
‘I’m not cut out to be head-girl, I know that, for I am not a leader,’ said Faith, sounding unhappy. ‘Miss Potts only allowed me to be because I had already been in the first form for one term.’
‘Well, it’s early days yet,’ said Violet. ‘There is plenty of time for you to learn how to become a good head-girl. And how to put that dreadful Daffy in her place!’
Faith looked so alarmed at the thought of putting Daffy in her place that Violet decided she had better change the subject. She chatted amicably to the girl as they walked back to school, telling Faith all about her doting parents, her beautiful home and her beloved Siamese cat, Willow.
Faith, like the rest of her form, thought that Violet was boastful and rather snobbish, but found herself warming to the girl. So few of the first formers took the trouble to talk to her, that it was rather pleasant to enjoy a gossip like this – even though Violet was doing most of the talking!
As they reached the school gates, Violet said, ‘You know, Faith, I really have enjoyed your company this morning. Now, I know that you don’t have a particular friend, and nor do I, so what do you say to the two of us palling up?’
Faith didn’t know quite what to say. This was the first time that anyone had asked to be her friend, and her heart was warmed. But the other girls wouldn’t like it at all, and might shun her as they shunned Violet.
Violet wasn’t particularly clever, but she could be quite sly and cunning when she set her mind to something, and she guessed at the thoughts that were running through Faith’s head.
‘Of course, I shall quite understand if you don’t want to be friends,’ she said, sounding rather forlorn. ‘I know that the others don’t like me very much. But then, they don’t seem to have an awful lot of time for you either, probably because you are so quiet. It just seems a shame that we should both be on our own, when we could have so much fun together.’
Violet’s words tipped the scales and, from somewhere inside herself, Faith found a spark of courage. Why should she let Daffy, Katie and the rest of them stop her from making a friend, when none of them wanted to befriend her themselves? Let them think what they wanted to!
‘You’re quite right,’ she said, smiling shyly at Violet. ‘I should like to be friends with you very much.’
So when the two girls joined the others in the kitchen to help cut sandwiches, the rest of the first formers were astonished to see them giggling and chattering away together as they worked.
‘I’m surprised at you, Faith,’ said Daffy, finding herself next to the head-girl as the two of them washed up afterwards. ‘I thought you had more sense than to make friends with Her Highness.’
Faith was needled by this and, though her voice trembled a little at her own daring, she managed to retort, ‘And I’m surprised at you, Daffy. For I know that Felicity told you you were not to join us on the picnic. It really is very deceitful of you to disobey her, you know.’
Daffy was so taken aback at these harsh words from the timid Faith that she completely forgot to ask the girl how she knew all this. And – most unusually for Daffy – she was quite speechless for a moment.
She soon found her tongue, however, and said, ‘You’re not going to sneak on me, are you?’
‘Of course not!’ said Faith indignantly. ‘Why, I would never do such a thing! Though I should think more of you, Daffy, if you showed a little respect for Felicity and did as she told you.’
But Daffy didn’t care very much for Faith’s opinion of her, and was determined to go on the picnic with the others.
Meanwhile, Violet, busy packing one of the picnic baskets that the first formers were taking with them, was thinking hard. How could she make sure that Daffy was found out by Felicity? Sneaking was quite out of the question, for Felicity would be so disgusted with Violet that she might even refuse to listen to her. Besides, Violet didn’t want to come out into the open, or Felicity might let Daffy know who was responsible for her disgrace. What about an anonymous letter, slipped under the door of the Head Girl’s study?
No, that was no good either, for it could easily be dismissed as a piece of spite, or an attempt at stirring up trouble. What Violet needed was something that would prove, beyond doubt, that Daffy had been to the picnic.
Suddenly an idea came to her, and she darted towards the kitchen door, Ivy calling after her, ‘I say, Violet, where are you going? We shall be leaving in a few minutes!’
‘I just need to fetch something from the dormitory,’ Violet called back. ‘I shall be back in two ticks.’
So she was. Most of the others had gone on ahead, but Faith had hung back, waiting for Violet.
‘What’s that?’ she asked, noticing that Violet had a small bag slung over her shoulder.
‘My camera,’ said Violet. ‘It was a birthday gift from my uncle, and it’s a really good one. I thought that it might be nice to take some photographs at the picnic, and put them in an album.’
‘What a super idea,’ said Faith. ‘It will be something nice to look back on when we are top formers.’
Violet agreed to this with a smile. Little did Faith realise that she had quite different plans for the photographs! She badly wanted to get her own back on Daffy, for it was all her fault that she now had to take swimming lessons from June. How she hated having to bathe in that beastly, cold water! And how she hated June and her sharp tongue, though she would never dare say so to the girl’s face! Violet was the only girl in the school who was hoping that the spell of unseasonably mild weather would break, for once it did she would be safe from swimming lessons until the spring.
Felicity and Susan, meanwhile, had popped down to the stables with Julie and Lucy.
‘I’ve hardly seen anything of Jack and Sandy this term,’ said Felicity. ‘And I’ve been saving some sugar lumps for them both. Hallo, who’s this?’
A little tabby cat was sitting outside Jack’s stable, and as the four girls approached she padded towards them, mewing in greeting.
‘This is Queenie,’ said Lucy with a grin. ‘She belongs to one of the gardeners, and Miss Grayling has given permission for her to live in the stables.’
‘She’s awfully sweet,’ said Susan, bending to stroke the little cat, who purred in appreciation. ‘Reminds me a bit of our cat at home.’
‘Jack and Sandy simply adore her,’ said Lucy. ‘Just watch this.’
Lucy opened the door of Sandy’s stable, and the cat darted in, going straight up to the horse and weaving in and out of his legs, purring ever more loudly. Sandy wasn’t at all alarmed, but whinnied softly, as if he were greeting his little friend, before bending his head and nudging Queenie gently with his big muzzle.
‘Well, Sandy, it looks as if you have another admirer,’ said Felicity, patting the horse’s sleek neck. ‘It’s a wonder that you and Jack don’t get quite big-headed, with all the fuss that is made of you both.’
In the end, Felicity and Susan decided to accompany the other two girls over to Five Oaks, the local riding stables. Five Oaks was run by two old Malory Towers girls, Bill and Clarissa, and the sixth formers often popped in to visit them.
Julie and Lucy went on horseback, of co
urse, while Felicity and Susan had to walk, and the girls were most amused when Queenie attempted to follow them out of the stable yard.
‘No, Queenie, I’m afraid that you can’t come with us,’ said Susan with a laugh. ‘You might wander off and get lost.’
Fortunately, the gardener who owned Queenie appeared then, with her dinner, so the cat was distracted and the girls made their escape.
The four spent a pleasant afternoon at Five Oaks, Julie and Lucy enjoying a canter round the paddock, while Felicity and Susan petted the horses and strolled about the grounds. Then they sat in Bill and Clarissa’s cosy kitchen, chatting with the two girls as they ate slices of Clarissa’s delicious home-made fruit cake, washed down with big cups of tea. Bill was just about to refill their cups when a distant, ominous rumble could be heard, and Lucy said in dismay, ‘Oh dear, surely that can’t be thunder?’
‘I’m afraid that it is,’ said Clarissa, who had got up to peer out of the window. ‘The sky has suddenly gone awfully grey.’
‘We had better get the horses back to school, in that case,’ said Julie. ‘Poor Jack doesn’t like storms at all, and I’d like to stable him before it breaks.’
Fortunately it was only a five-minute ride from Five Oaks to Malory Towers, but it took Felicity and Susan, on foot, a little longer. By the time that they reached the school gates, Julie and Lucy were already stabling their horses, and big drops of rain had just started to fall.
‘Phew!’ said Susan. ‘It looks as if we got back just in time.’
‘We are not the only ones,’ said Felicity, nodding towards a group of girls who were approaching the gates from the other direction. ‘It’s the first formers coming back from their picnic.’
The first formers had had a simply marvellous time, making sandcastles, taking their shoes and socks off and paddling at the water’s edge, and, of course, eating the delicious picnic.
Violet cut everyone an enormous slice of her chocolate cake, which everyone agreed was simply scrumptious.
‘The best cake I’ve ever tasted.’