«I can't find my book», said Elizabeth.
«Well, you had it yesterday», said Miss Ranger. «Did you take it out of the classroom?»
«No, Miss Ranger», said Elizabeth. «I hadn't any arithmetic home-work to do. I just put the book back when I'd finished with it yesterday morning. But it really isn't here.»
«Take some squared paper from the shelf in the cupboard», said Miss Ranger. «We can't wait all morning for you to find the book.» So Elizabeth took some squared paper and did her sums on that, thankful that she hadn't got into trouble. She simply could not imagine where her book could be! She kept on and on thinking about it.
Kathleen wondered what would happen when Elizabeth couldn't find the other books! She was also longing for Miss Ranger to open her own desk and find the mice. But Miss Ranger had no reason to open her desk in the arithmetic lesson. So the mice remained undisturbed. They had curled up in a corner and gone to sleep.
The next lesson was French, and after that came geography. Miss Ranger wanted a map drawn, and the girls got out their exercise books. And once again Elizabeth couldn't find hers.
«Well, really, Elizabeth, you are surely not going to tell me that your geography book is lost, too!» said Miss Ranger impatiently.
«Miss Ranger, I just can't understand it, but it's gone», said Elizabeth, putting her head above the desk-lid to speak to Miss Ranger.
«It is very careless of you to lose both books», said Miss Ranger. «I am not pleased, Elizabeth. Perhaps I had better look through your desk myself to make quite sure that they are not there, I can't imagine that you could lose two of your exercise books, when you say you did not even take them out of the classroom!»
But not even Miss Ranger's sharp eye could see the missing books, and she went back to her own desk. Robert was pleased to see Elizabeth getting into trouble. As for Kathleen, she was so delighted at the success of her mean trick that she did not dare to look at either Elizabeth or Jenny in case they saw how glad she was.
«I will give you some map-paper, and you must pin the map you draw into your book, when it is found again», said Miss Ranger. She lifted up the lid of her desk to get some blank drawing-paper – and awoke the two mice! With squeals and squeaks they raced round the desk in fright, jumping over rubbers and books and rulers. Miss Ranger stared at them in amazement and anger.
She was about to shut down the desk and leave the mice there, when they both leapt out, ran down Miss Ranger's skirt and tore across the floor. All the girls stared in the greatest astonishment. Miss Ranger put on a very stern face and looked at the surprised Jenny.
«Jenny», she said, «I believe you are the only person in the school who keeps white mice as pets. Do you really think it is a funny joke to put the poor little things into my airless desk in order to play a foolish trick on me?»
Jenny couldn't say a word at first. She really was too amazed to speak. Were they her mice? How in the world could they have got into the desk?
«Miss Ranger, of course I didn't put them there!», she said at last. «Please, please believe me. I wouldn't do such a thing to my little mice. And anyway, you were so decent to me when I came to class with one down my neck that I certainly wouldn't have been mean enough to play a trick on you after that».
The mice fled all over the room. Jenny watched them anxiously, terrified that they would go under the door and escape – perhaps to get eaten by the school cat!
«You had better try to catch them», said Miss Ranger. «We can't have the whole lesson disturbed like this. I can't imagine how they could have got into my desk unless you put them there. I shall have to think about the whole thing. I am very displeased about it.»
Jenny leapt up from her seat to catch the mice. But that was easier said than done. The frightened creatures tore all over the room, hiding under first one desk and then another. Some of the girls pretended to be frightened and squealed whenever a mouse came near their feet. Elizabeth and Belinda tried to help, but those mice were too nimble to be caught.
And then, to Jenny's great dismay, they squeezed themselves under the schoolroom door, and escaped into the passage outside! Jenny ran to the door and opened it – but the mice had disappeared! Goodness knew where they had gone! The little girl ran down the passage, looking everywhere, but the mice were nowhere to be seen.
Jenny was really fond of her mice. Tears came into her eyes and she brushed them away. But others came, and she did not like to go back to the classroom crying. So she leaned against the passage wall for a minute, trying to fight back her tears. Someone had played a mean trick on her! Someone had tried to get her into trouble! Someone had made her lose two of her pets! It was horrid, horrid, horrid! Footsteps came down the passage – and who should come round the corner but Rita, the Head Girl! She was most surprised to see Jenny standing there, crying.
«What's the matter?» she asked. «Have you been sent out of the room?»
«No», said poor Jenny. «It's my white mice. They're gone – and I'm so afraid the school cat will eat them.» She poured out the whole story to Rita.
The Head Girl looked very grave. «I don't like the idea of somebody trying to get you into trouble like this», she said. «You are quite, quite sure you you didn't play the trick yourself, Jenny?»
«Oh, Rita – I really couldn't treat my pets like that», said Jenny earnestly. «Do believe me.»
«Well, the matter must be brought up at the next Meeting», said Rita. «We'll have to get to the bottom of it. Now go back to your class, Jenny. Cheer up. Maybe the mice will turn up again!»
Jenny went hack. Miss Ranger saw her red eyes and did not scold her any more. The bell went for the lesson to stop, and the class put away their books. Break came next. Thank goodness! Robert bumped into Elizabeth as they went out of the classroom, and she glared at him.
«How many more books are you going to lose?» he asked.
Elizabeth tossed her head and walked off with Joan. But a thought came into her head. Could Robert have taken her books? It really was so very extraordinary that both her arithmetic book and her geography book should have gone! She went over to Jenny and pulled her into a corner.
«Do you think Robert has got anything to do with my losing my books and your mice being put into the desk?», she said. «I know he'd like to get me into trouble.»
«Yes – but why should he get me into trouble, too!» said Jenny.
«Oh, he might think that if he played tricks only on me, I would guess it was him», said Elizabeth. «But if he played tricks on you and anybody else, we might not think it was him at all. See?»
«Well, he must be pretty horrid if he's as mean as all that», said Jenny, troubled. «Oh, Elizabeth, I wish I knew who it was. It's so awful having these things happen.»
It was even more horrid when the history lesson came and Elizabeth had to confess to Miss Ranger that that book had disappeared too!
«Elizabeth! This is really peculiar», said Miss Ranger crossly. «One book is enough to lose – but three! You must have taken them out of the classroom and left them somewhere. You must hunt for them well, and if you cannot find them you must come to me and buy new ones.»
«Oh, bother!» thought Elizabeth in dismay. «They are threepence each. That's ninepence out of my precious two shillings. It's too bad! If Robert has hidden my books I'll pull all the hairs out of his head!» She said this to Joan.
«No, you won't do anything of the sort», said Joan. «You'll report him at the Meeting and let the School judge him. After all, that's what the Meeting is for, Elizabeth – for all of us to help to untangle the difficulties of a few of us. It's much better, too, to let the Jury and the Judges decide for us, because we have chosen them as being the wisest among us. Don't take matters into your own hands, Elizabeth. You're such an impatient person – you'll only do something silly!»
«I wish you wouldn't keep talking to me like that», said Elizabeth, taking her arm from Joan's. «You might back me up!»
«I am backin
g you up, if you only knew it», said Joan with a sigh. «I would be a poor friend to you if I said “Go to Robert and pull his hair out” even before you really know for certain whether he is playing these horrid tricks, or not.»
«Well, you've only got to see how pleased he is when I get into trouble to know that he's at the bottom of it all!» cried Elizabeth. «Oh, if only I could catch him bullying someone again. Wouldn't I love to report him at the very next Meeting!»
Elizabeth hadn't long to wait. She caught Robert the very next day!
Chapter 11: More Trouble
For some time now Robert had not bullied anyone or been unkind, because he really had been afraid of being seen by Elizabeth. He knew that she was watching to catch him and he did not mean to give her any chance to report him again.
But two or three weeks had now gone by and he thought that she no longer bothered to watch. He did not know that she thought he had played the tricks on her and was watching very carefully indeed. Robert had to go and get some water for his painting after tea. Elizabeth saw him go out of the common-room and she looked at Joan.
«Joan! Do you think Robert has gone to take my books again, or do some horrid trick?», she said in a low voice. «Let's follow him and see.»
So the two girls got up and followed Robert. He went down the passage, and ran down the stairs to the cloak room where the water-taps were. And running round the corner came small, cheeky Leslie, the boy who had complained that another was always borrowing things and not giving them back. He ran full-tilt into Robert, and made him double up in pain.
Leslie giggled. It was funny to see big Robert panting like that! Robert put out a hand and caught him, holding the boy's arm so tightly that it hurt.
«Let me go», said Leslie.
Robert looked up and down the passage quickly. No one was about. He pulled Leslie into the wash- place and shook him hard.
«How dare you run into me like that!» he demanded. «And I'll teach you to laugh at me, you little nuisance!»
«Robert, let me go!» begged Leslie again. He knew that Robert was a bully and he was afraid of him.
«Say “I humbly beg your pardon, and I will never, never do such a thing again”!» said Robert.
But Leslie, although he was afraid, was not a coward. He shook his head. «I'm not going to be as humble as all that!», he said. «You let me go, you big bully!»
Robert was angry. He shook Leslie hard again. «You say what I told you to say, or I'll make you sit on the hot-water pipes!», he said.
Hot-water pipes ran all round the wash-place to warm it. Leslie glanced at them fearfully. But he still shook his head.
«No, I shan't beg your pardon», he said obstinately. «If you'd been decent to me, as any other of the big boys would have been, I'd have said I was sorry like a shot. Let me go!»
«You'll sit on the hot pipes first!» said Robert in a rage, and he dragged poor Leslie towards the pipes. They were not terribly hot, but hot enough to make Leslie shout.
Meantime, where were Elizabeth and Joan? They were just round the corner, listening to all that was said, and when they heard Robert pulling Leslie to the hot pipes they ran into the wash-place at once. Leslie was just shouting.
Robert pulled the little boy off the pipes as soon as he saw Elizabeth and Joan. He went red and looked very angry. To think he had been caught by those interfering girls – and one of them Elizabeth too!
«We've caught you nicely, you horrid boy», said Elizabeth scornfully. «Leslie, we are going to report Robert at the next Meeting. Just see you tell the truth and back us up in what we say.»
«I'll do that all right», said Leslie. «I'm not a little coward like some of the others, who didn't dare to complain about Robert when they had the chance! As for Peter, you know why he didn't say that Robert was swinging him much too high, don't you? Robert went to him and threatened him with all kinds of punishment if he dared to say a word against him!»
«I did not», said Robert angrily, though he knew perfectly well that what Leslie said was true. «You wait till I get you alone again, that's all!»
«There you are, you see!» said Leslie. «You would like to do exactly the same thing to me again. But you won't get the chance! I'll report you at the Meeting all right, even if Elizabeth and Joan don't!» The small boy marched off.
Elizabeth turned to Robert. She spoke fiercely. «I know jolly well that it's you that has been playing those horrid tricks on me and on Jenny», she said.
«I did not», said Robert, this time speaking quite truthfully.
«Well, I don't believe you!» said Elizabeth. «You are mean enough for anything. You're a perfectly horrid boy and I think you ought to be sent away from our school.»
«Just as you ought to have been sent away last term, I suppose!» said Robert mockingly. He had heard all about Elizabeth's naughtiness during the summer term. Elizabeth went red.
«Be quiet!» said Joan. «It was a good deal because Elizabeth wanted to be kind to me that she was disobedient and I won't have you sneering at her for that!»
«I shall say what I like», said Robert, and went off by himself, hands in pockets, whistling as if he didn't care about anything at all.
«Well, now that he knows we know he played those nasty tricks, he won't dare to play any more», said Elizabeth, pleased. «So that's something!» But, of course, it was Kathleen who had tried to get Elizabeth and Jenny into trouble, not Robert – and she saw no reason why she should stop being horrid to the two girls whom she so much disliked. Both girls were pretty, clever, and amusing – three things that poor Kathleen was not – and she was jealous of their shining hair and bright eyes, their good brains and jolly jokes. She wanted to hurt the girls who had the things she hadn't, and yet so much wanted to have.
Elizabeth told Jenny that she was sure it was Robert who had taken her mice and put them in the desk. The mice had never been found again and Jenny had been sad ever since. Her eyes flashed when she heard Elizabeth say that it was Robert who had played the trick.
«And I suppose he blotted my French book too, so that I had to do the work again!» said Jenny angrily. «And I shouldn't be surprised if he dirtied those garden tools of yours, Elizabeth – I could never understand that, you know.»
«Well, I guess we shan't have any more tricks played on us, because Robert will be afraid we'll tell them all to the Meeting», said Elizabeth. «And we will too!»
But next day another trick was played on her and on Jenny too. On Wednesdays their monitor had to look at all their drawers and their hanging-cupboards to see that they were tidy. Nora was very strict about tidiness, and the girls in her dormitory had learnt to be very neat indeed – even Ruth, who was most untidy by nature, and found it difficult to keep any drawer neat. «It's awful!» she complained about three times a week. «I tidy my drawers so well – then I want a handkerchief in a hurry and can't find it, and turn the drawer upside down, and thea it's all untidy again!»
Elizabeth and Jenny were quite tidy, and they always made a rule on Tuesday night to tidy everything beautifully so that their chest and cupboard were ready for Nora to inspect the next day. They had done this as usual – so on Wednesday, when Nora went to pull open their drawers and found everything in a most terrible muddle, they were too astonished to say anything.
«Jenny! Elizabeth! What have you been thinking of to get your things into such a disgraceful mess!» cried Nora, looking at their drawers. «Look – everything jumbled up – crumpled, untidy – honestly I've never seen such a mess. And you are usually so tidy, both of you. What have you been doing? Didn't you remember I always looked on Wednesdays?»
«Of course we remembered», said Jenny. «And we tidied them last night before we went to bed. Why, you must have noticed us, Nora.»
«I didn't notice», said Nora. «I was at the other end of the dormitory.» The three girls looked into the drawers. Everything was upside down, Elizabeth and Jenny knew perfectly well they could never have got their things into that
muddle. Somebody had played a hateful trick again, to get them into trouble.
«It's Robert!» burst out Elizabeth. «He's always playing horrid jokes on us, Nora. He dirtied my tools, and took my books, and put Jenny's mice into Miss Ranger's desk, and...»
«My dear girl, it couldn't have been Robert who did this», said Nora. «You know the boys never come into this part of the school. He would have been seen at once, because there is always somebody going up and down the passage outside.»
«Well, it must have been Robert», said Elizabeth sulkily. «If you're going to get anyone into trouble for these untidy drawers, Nora, you ought to go and scold Robert.»
«I'm not going to scold anyone», said Nora. «You're neither of you so untidy as all that! I think someone has been mean to you. Anyway, tidy your things, for goodness' sake.»
The girls set to work. They were both angry. They did not notice how pleased Kathleen looked. «Ah», she thought, «so Elizabeth and Jenny thought that it was Robert who had played tricks! Good!» Nobody would think it was she, Kathleen, who had done them all. She felt much safer now.
The next School Meeting was not until Friday night. On Thursday something happened that disappointed Elizabeth very much. The Lacrosse Match was to be on Saturday, and she had been practising very hard indeed to be good enough to play in it. Only one of her form was to be chosen for the School team, and Elizabeth felt certain she would be the one.
But when she went to look at the notice-board, on which were pinned notices of matches, rambles, and so on, she found that Robert's name was set down for the match instead of hers! There it was – “Robert Jones has been chosen from Form Three to play in the Lacrosse Match on Saturday against Kinellan School”. There was a lump in Elizabeth's throat. She had tried so hard! She did so badly want to play. She was very good, really she was! And now that horrid, hateful Robert had been chosen instead of her. She could really hardly believe it.
«Never mind», said Joan. «You'll get a chance next time, I expect...»
«I do mind!» said Elizabeth fiercely. «He will crow over me now. Oh, how I hope that the School Meeting will punish him well and say he's not to play in the match!»