The eight girls in the music-room jumped almost out of their skins when the second knocking came. 'There must be somebody there,' said Tessie, quite pale with fright. 'I'll go and see.'
She went bravely to the door and opened it. There was no one there! Tessie shone her torch into the passage. It was perfectly empty. The girl shut the door and went back to her seat, looking frightened.
'It wasn't any one,' she said.
'Stuff and nonsense,' said Janet, beginning to recover from her fright. 'Doors don't knock by themselves! It must be some one having a joke.'
'But, Janet, no one knows were are here,' said Isabel.
'Shall we get back to bed ' and not fry the sausages?' asked Tessie.
That was too much for Isabel. 'What, not fry the sausages when I've been looking forward to them all evening!' she said, indignantly.
'Shut up, idiot! Do you want to wake the whole school?' said Pat, giving her a nudge that nearly sent her off her chair. 'Fry the sausages, Tessie, old girl. I think that knocking must have been the wind!'
So the sausages were fried, and sizzled deliciously in the pan on the top of the oil-stove. Tessie turned them over and over with a fork, trying not to squeal when the hot fat jumped out and burnt her.
Erica had crept out of the cupboard again. She heard the sizzling of the sausages, and the lovely smell made her feel hungry. She wondered what to do next. A noise made her scurry back to the cupboard. What could it be?
Then Erica knew. It was Mam'zelle in her French mistress sometimes stayed up very she was still in her study! Erica smiled to do now. She wouldn't tell Miss Jenks! find out ' and she herself wouldn't come
study, having one of her late nights! The late, reading and studying ' and tonight to herself. She knew what she was going She would let some hot-tempered Mam'zelle out into the open at all!
'I'll go and knock at Mam'zelle's door,' said Erica to herself. 'Then I'll skip back to the dormitory. Mam'zelle will open her door in surprise ' and when she finds no one there she'll go and prowl around, if I know anything about her! And it won't be long before she smells those sausages!'
So Erica slipped up the passage to the door of the little room that Mam'zelle used as a study. She knocked smartly on it three times ' rap-rap-rap!
'Tiens!' came Mam'zelle's voice, in the greatest surprise. 'Who is there?'
There was no answer, of course, for Erica had slipped away as quietly as a mouse away from the door ' not into the cupboard this time, but back into her dormitory. She guessed there would soon be trouble about, and she wasn't going to share in it!
Mam'zelle slid back her chair and went to the door, puzzled. She threw it open, but there was no one there. She stood there for a moment, wondering if she could possibly have been mistaken ' and then she heard, from somewhere not very far off, a subdued giggle. And down the passage crept the unmistakable smell of ' frying sausages!
Chapter 6: Mam'zelle Makes a Discovery Mam'zelle could not believe her senses. What ' frying sausages at a quarter to one at night! It was not possible. She must be dreaming. Mam'zelle gave herself a hard pinch to see if she was dreaming or not. No ' she was not. She was wide awake! There would be a bruise tomorrow where she had pinched herself.
'But who should be frying sausages at night!' wondered Mam'zelle in amazement. 'And where did that laugh come from? Surely not from the dormitory nearby?'
She went to see, shuffling along in her old comfortable slippers. She looked into the dormitory where Tessie and the others slept. She switched on the light. Five of the beds were empty!
Mam'zelle had not been at all good-tempered lately. She had not been sleeping well, and she had been difficult in class. She was tired now, with her hours of studying and correcting, and she felt really angry with the five truants.
'It is too much!' she said to herself, as she switched out the light. 'The bad girls! How can they do their lessons well if they are awake to such hours of the night? And they are working for the scholarship exam. too ' ah, I shall report them to Miss Theobald!'
Mam'zelle stood in the passage, sniffing. She simply could not imagine where the smell of sausages came from. Then she heard a scuffle and a giggle. It came from the music-room nearby!
Mam'zelle went to the door. She flung it open and glared into the warm little room.
There was a deep silence. Every girl stared in dismay at the large form of the angry French mistress.
'Oh ' Mam'zelle ' Mam'zelle,' stammered Tessie, at last.
'Yes, it is I, Mam'zelle!' said the mistress, her eyes flashing. 'And what have you to say for yourselves, acting in this manner at this time of the night!'
Tessie couldn't think of a word to say and at last in despair she held out a fried sausage on a fork to Mam'zelle.
'Wouldn't you ' wouldn't you have a sausage?' she asked, desperately.
That was too much for Mam'zelle. She didn't see that Tessie was very frightened, she only thought that the girl was being cheeky. And the English 'cheek' was something that always made Mam'zelle see red!
She swept the sausage off the fork, and for half a moment Tessie thought that Mam'zelle was going to box her ears. She ducked ' and heard Mam'zelle's booming voice above her head.
'So that is the way you would treat your French mistress? Why did I ever come to England to teach such ungrateful girls? You will come straight to Miss Theobald now, all of you!'
There was a moment's intense astonishment and fright. Go to Miss Theobald now ' in the middle of the night ' when she was asleep in bed! It couldn't be true!
'Please, Mam'zelle,' said Janet, who was recovering herself more quickly than the others, 'please don't make us do that. Tomorrow morning would do, wouldn't it? We don't' want to disturb Miss Theobald now. We're sorry we disturbed you ' we thought every one was asleep.'
'But one of you knocked on my door!' said Mam'zelle in astonishment. 'So ' rap, ,rap, rap.' She rapped on the tables as she spoke.
'None of us did that,' said Janet, more and more astonished. 'Somebody came and knocked on our door too. Whoever could it have been?'
But Mam'zelle was not interested in that. Her rage was gradually dying down as she looked at the white, scared faces of the right girls. She realized that it was impossible to take them all into Miss Theobald's bedroom. It must wait till tomorrow.
'We will not after all disturb Miss Theobald to-night,' she said. 'You will all go back to bed ' and in the morning you will expect to be called in front of the Head Mistress to explain this dreadful behaviour.'
'Could ' could we just finish the sausages?' asked Isabel, longingly. But that roused Mam'zelle's anger once again. She caught Isabel firmly by the armand pushed her out of the music-room. 'You ' a first-form girl ' daring to do a thing like this!' she cried. 'Go! You should be well slapped, all of you! Go, before I begin to do it!'
The girls were half afraid that Mam'zelle might be as good as her word. They slipped down the passage and into their dormitories, climbing into bed, shivering with fright. What a dreadful ending to a midnight party!
Mam'zelle turned out the light. Then she saw the glow of the oil-stove and turned that out too. 'These girls!' she said, pursing up her big lips, 'these English girls! How they behave!'
Mam'zelle would never have dared to behave in such a free and easy way at her school in France when she had been a girl. She had worked much harder than any of the girls at St. Clare's. She had played no games, had been for hardly any walks, and had never even seen the inside of a gym until she had come to England. She did not really understand the girls at St. Clare's although she had been there for years, and had taught them well. She was quite determined to have every one of the truants well punished.
She reported them to Miss Theobald before breakfast the next morning. She even took the surprised Head Mistress to the little music-room to show her the remains of the feast. Miss Theobald looked at the ginger-beer bottles, the frying-pan with its congealed fat and few sausages left in it, and the crumbs on the floor.
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'I will see the girls at break,' said the Head. 'This kind of thing cannot be allowed, Mam'zelle ' but some time or other most school-girls attend a midnight feast! Do not take too serious a view of it!'
'In my school-days such a thing was not even thought of!' said Mam'zelle. 'Ah, we knew how to work, we French girls!'
'But did you know how to play, Mam'zelle?' asked Miss Theobald, softly. 'It is just as important to know how to have good fun ' as to do good work, you know!'
Mam'zelle snorted when Miss Theobald left her. She thought that the Head was far too lenient with the girls. She went into the big dining-hall to have breakfast. She glanced round the table where the first and second form sat.
It was eady to pick out the eight girls who had been caught the night before. They were pale and looked tired. Isabel and Susan could not eat any breakfast, partly because they had eaten too much the night before, and partly because they were scared at what might be going to happen to them.
Mam'zelle stopped the eight girls when they filed out of the dining-hall. 'You, Janet ' and you, Winnie ' and you, Susan, and you' you will all eight go to Miss Theobald at break.'
'Yes, Mam'zelle,' said the girls, and went to the assembly room for morning prayers and roll-call, feeling rather shaky about the legs!
'Pity we were caught,' said Pat to Isabel, in the middle of the hymn. 'Now Miss Theobald will think we didn't mean to try to do our best this term. Oh blow, Mam'zelle! Mean old thing! I won't try a bit in French this term now.'
The eight girls were bad at their lessons that morning. Erica watched the five in her form, all trying not to yawn, as they did their arithmetic under Miss Jenk's eagle eye.
It was French next, and Tessie put on a sulky face when Mam'zelle entered the room. She felt that she really hated the French mistress that morning. She wasn't going to try a bit!
It wouldn't have mattered if she had tried ' for poor Tessie was really woollyheaded that day! She had not been able to go to sleep until about five o'clock the night before, and was now so sleepy that her thoughts kept running into one another in a most annoying manner. She was really half asleep.
Mam'zelle chose to think that Tessie was defying her. She scolded the girl roundly, and gave her such a lot of extra prep. to do that poor Tessie was almost in tears.
'But I can't possibly get all that done, Mam'zelle, you know I can't,' she protested.
'We shall see!' said Mam'zelle grimly. And Tessie knew that she would have to do it somehow.
At break the eight girls met together outside the Head Mistress's door. They were all nervous, even Pat who was usually bold. Tessie knocked.
'Come in!' said Miss Theobald's clear voice. They trooped in and shut the door.
Miss Theobald faced them, and looked at each girl seriously. They all felt upset, and Susan began to cry. Then the Head talked to them, and pointed out that it was impossible for good work to be done on half a night's sleep, and that the rules must be kept. She said many other things in her low, calm voice, and the listening girls took it all in.
'Now please understand,' said Miss Theobald, 'that although you have broken the rule forbidding any girl to leave her dormitory at night, your escapade is not in the same rank as, for instance, meanness, lying or disloyalty. Those are serious things ' what you have done might be serious if you were allowed to do it often ' but I regard it more as silly mischief. But even silly mischief has to be punished ' and so you will not be allowed to go down into the town for two weeks. That means no walks together, no shopping, and no visits to the tea-shop or to the cinema.'
There was a silence. This was a horrid punishment. The girls really loved their privilege of going down to the town in twos, spending their pocket-money, and going to the tea-shop for tea. Two weeks seemed a very, very long time.
But nobody dared to protest. They all knew that Miss Theobald was absolutely just. 'You see,' the Head went on, 'if you behave like small children instead of senior girls, I shall have to treat you as small children, and take away your senior privileges. Now you may go. Tessie, see that the mess in the music-room is cleared up before dinner-time, please.'
'Yes, Miss Theobald,' said Tessie, meekly, and all eight girls filed out of the room.
'Well, I'm glad that's over,' said Pat, when they were out of ear-shot of the drawing-room. 'And there's another thing I'm glad about too ' that Miss Theobald made that distinction between mischief and mean things. I wouldn't like her to think we'd do anything mean or rotten. A joke's a joke ' ours went too far, that's all.'
'Yes,' said Isabel, thoughfully. 'But there's one very mean thing about this, Pat ' and that is ' the knocking on Mam'zelle's door, that told her something was up! That's the meanest thing I ever heard of! We'll have to find out who did it ' and punish them!'
Chapter 7: A Bad Time for Erica
Erica was pleased when she heard of the punishment meted out to the eight girls She did not dare to say much because she was so afraid that she might be found out. She knew quite well that the girls must wonder who had made the knocking on the doors.
The girls meant to find out who the tale-teller was. They met that evening, and discussed the matter.
'She shan't get away with it,' declared Tessie, fiercely. 'Golly, wasn't I astonished when Mam'zelle let out that she had been disturbed by some one knocking at her door! It must have been the same horrible person who came knocking at ours to give us a fright and spoil the party. I'm sorry I asked you all now. It was my fault.'
'It was jolly decent of you to think of giving us a treat,' said Pat. 'Don't apologize for that! Nobody would have known a thing about it if it hadn't been for that wretched spoil-sport.'
'Pat,' said Tessie, suddenly, 'you don't think it would have been that silly cousin of yours, do you? You know how she bleats everything all over the place. You didn't tell her anything, did you?'
Pat flushed. 'Not a pretty poor opinion Honestly she isn't. like giving us away
word,' she said, 'and look here, Tessie, though you've got a of Alison ' and so have I ' she's not the sort to sneak. She can't keep her tongue still ' but she wouldn't do a thing to Mam'zelle.'
'All right,' said Tessie. 'Well ' I simply don't know who it was ' and I don't see how we're to find out! Every one in our dormitory seemed to be asleep when we got back.'
'And so did every one in ours,' said Pat. 'It's a puzzle. But I'm going to find out who it was, Tessie. I feel so angry when I think about it. I'm shan't rest till I know who it was.'
They all felt like that, but it was impossible to find out ' or so in seemed! Every one denied even having known that they party was to take place ' though most of the girls said that they guessed something was up.
Alison denied absolutely that she knew anything. 'And if I had, I wouldn't have split for worlds,' she said, an angry flush on her cheek. 'You might know that. You don't seem to have much opinion of me lately, you two ' but you might at least know that.'
'We do know that,' Pat hastened to say. 'But it is funny, Alison, that although nobody seems to know anything about the party, somebody knew enough to scare us and to bring Mam'zelle out on the war-path!
It was quite by accident that the truth came out. Gladys, the little scullerymaid, came upstairs to find the frying-pan she had lent to Tessie. It had not been brought back to her, and she was afraid that the cook might miss it.
She couldn't find Tessie, but she met Pat on the stairs. 'Oh, Miss Patricia,' she said, 'could you get me back the frying-pan I lent Miss Tessie for the party? I can't find her. I could have asked Miss Erica, but she disappeared before I could speak to her.'
'Miss Erica wouldn't have known anything about it,' said Pat. 'She didn't go to the party.'
'Oh, but Miss Patricia, she did know about it,' said the small scullery-maid. 'I met her when I was bringing it upstairs ' and she pulled aside my apron and saw
the frying-pan, and she said, in that haughty way of hers ' 'Oho, for Miss Tessie's party!'
Pat was astonish
ed. Ir might have been a guess on Erica's part, of course ' but anyway, she had seen the frying-pan ' and if she knew anything about sneaky Erica, she would certainly have kept watch, and have put two and two together ' and found out everything without difficulty!
'I said to Miss Erica, I said ' Well, miss, if you knew what the frying-pan was for, why did you ask me?' ' said Gladys, quite enjoying this talk with Pat. 'Oh dear, miss ' I heard you'd got into trouble over the party, and I'm so sorry.'
'I'll get you the frying-pan,' said Pat, and she went to the music-room, where the pan sat solemnly on top of the piano, cleaned by one of the second-formers, but otherwise forgotten.