So Miss Williams strode briskly into the room and said, ‘I am sorry to interrupt your meeting, but…Why, Miss Tallant, what are you doing here? Susan, I distinctly remember you telling me that you intended to produce the play yourself, with assistance from Felicity and Sylvia. And I must say that I was very pleased to hear it. Don’t tell me that you have changed your minds?’
‘No, Miss Williams,’ said Susan, noticing a glint in Miss Williams’s eye and realising that the mistress was well aware of what had been happening. ‘Miss Tallant very kindly offered her services, but I was just telling her that there was no need for her to trouble herself over us.’
‘Most commendable!’ said Miss Williams warmly. ‘It’s always nice to see you girls using your initiative and doing things for yourselves. Miss Tallant and I shan’t hold you up any longer.’ Then she turned to the other mistress, and said brightly, ‘Come along, Miss Tallant. The girls are very busy, so let’s leave them to it.’
Miss Tallant had no choice but to follow Miss Williams from the hall. And once the door had closed behind the two mistresses, a perfect hubbub broke out.
‘Of all the nerve!’
‘Who does Miss Tallant think she is? How dare she try to order us about like that?’
‘Thank heavens that Miss Williams turned up when she did.’
‘Yes, she has sized Miss Tallant up, all right,’ said Susan. ‘And now that they have both gone, let’s get down to business!’
So, one by one, Jennifer, Bonnie and Nora took to the stage, as the rest of the fourth form watched with interest.
Jennifer’s singing was so lovely that the fourth formers cheered when she came to the end of her song. She read a few lines from the play, too, and Felicity murmured to Susan and Sylvia, ‘She’s not a bad actress. A little stiff, perhaps, but I daresay that’s because she feels nervous.’
Then Mary sat down at the piano and played a lively tune, while Jennifer danced. Alas, her dancing was nowhere near as good as her singing or her acting, and Sylvia said, ‘Well, I suppose it would be too much to expect her to be good at everything.’
‘That’s just it, though,’ said Susan. ‘The girl who takes this part has to be good at everything.’ Then she raised her voice and said, ‘Thank you, Jennifer, you may sit down now. Bonnie! Your turn next.’
There was no doubt that little Bonnie certainly looked the part of the fairy to perfection. She seemed even smaller and daintier than usual as she stood alone on the big stage. She danced gracefully and, when it came to reading the lines, the girl really threw herself into the part. Alas, Bonnie floundered when it came to the song, for not only was she out of tune, her voice was so high pitched that some of the listening girls covered their ears. Grimacing, Susan said, ‘Simply awful! A pity, because she acts and dances well.’
Then it was Nora’s turn. Nora’s singing voice was not as pure as Jennifer’s, but it was very pleasant, and the fourth formers clapped eagerly when she finished her song. And she was by far the best dancer of the three girls. Nora proved, too, that she was a fine little actress, and Felicity said, ‘Nora is very humorous, too, and I feel quite sure that she will be excellent at doing the jokes and the funny lines that June and Freddie are going to write.’
Susan and Sylvia agreed with this at once, and Susan said happily, ‘Well, it looks as if we have found our fairy! I shan’t tell Nora yet, though. We shall audition for the other parts first, and let everyone know what we have decided at the end.’
‘Bonnie isn’t going to be too pleased,’ said Felicity. ‘I just hope that she doesn’t throw a tantrum. You know how difficult she can be if things don’t go her way.’
‘Don’t you worry about Bonnie, Felicity,’ said Susan firmly. ‘I shall deal with her when the time comes.’
Felicity felt a little apprehensive. Susan had a blunt way of speaking at times, and didn’t always see that it was sometimes necessary to handle things with a little tact.
The auditions went very smoothly indeed, and both Felicity and Susan found themselves warming to Sylvia. The girl hadn’t tried to push herself forward at all, and had worked amicably alongside Felicity and Susan. Soon all of the parts had been cast, and it was time to let the fourth formers in on the decisions that had been reached.
Susan stood up to face the girls, and said, ‘Thank you to all of you who auditioned. Everyone did very well indeed. And now it’s time to tell you who is going to play each part.’
The listening girls sat in expectant silence, those who had auditioned feeling both nervous and excited. At last Susan said, ‘We have decided that the lead role of the fairy doll will be given to…Nora!’
A great cheer went up at this, while Nora looked as if she simply couldn’t believe her ears. Those closest to the girl clapped her on the back, and Pam cried, ‘Splendid choice! You’ll be marvellous, Nora, old girl.’
Jennifer managed to hide her disappointment, and congratulated Nora, but Bonnie was quite unable to hide hers. Her bottom lip jutted out, and she scowled fiercely at Susan.
‘Horrid beast!’ she lisped to Amy. ‘Susan has never liked me, because I used to be friends with Felicity, and this is her way of getting back at me. I don’t like Miss Tallant, but perhaps it would have been a good thing if she had stayed after all, for I’m sure that she would have chosen me for the part.’
Once the noise and excitement had died down, Susan announced, ‘Amelia, the little girl, is to be played by Molly.’
Molly, a very small girl from East Tower, with rather a serious expression, suddenly found herself beaming from ear to ear, as a rousing ‘hurrah!’ went up from the East Tower girls.
Quickly Susan gave out the other parts. Pam was to play Amelia’s aunt, Julie was going to be a toy soldier, and Lucy laughed out loud when she learned that she was to dress up in a big, furry costume and play a teddy bear!
‘There will be something for everyone to do,’ said Susan. ‘Mary is writing a song for us, of course, while June and Freddie are adding some humorous touches to the script. And we’re going to need plenty of people to help paint scenery and do hair and make-up, and so on.’
‘I’ve a good mind not to do anything at all to help,’ muttered a disgruntled Bonnie to Amy.
But Susan hadn’t finished. ‘There is one more thing,’ she said. ‘There is one person I haven’t mentioned, who is going to be very important to our little play. In fact, I would go so far as to say that she is vital.’
The fourth formers looked at one another in surprise. Who on earth could Susan be talking about?
‘That person is our wardrobe mistress,’ said Susan, looking very serious indeed.
‘Because there are so many costumes, we really need someone who is an expert at needlework. Someone who has flair and taste, and a good eye for detail. Someone who, once she sets her mind to a task, works tirelessly to complete it. There is only one person in the form—in the whole school, in fact—who fits that description. And that person is Bonnie Meadows.’
Bonnie gave a gasp, her big brown eyes growing even bigger. Instantly, her disappointment at not being cast as the fairy was forgotten. And Susan was no longer a mean beast. On the contrary, she was very shrewd and perceptive indeed. Bonnie couldn’t imagine how she had ever thought that she didn’t like her!
Felicity grinned to herself. Good old Susan! She was learning that, with some people, a little tact worked wonders. Now she had turned Bonnie’s sulks to smiles, and made sure that the fourth formers had an excellent wardrobe mistress, in the neatest possible way! Most of the others guessed what Susan was up to as well, and played along by cheering Bonnie, and praising her extravagantly.
‘Simply marvellous! I can’t think of anyone who would do a better job!’
‘Yes, we can be sure of having just the right costumes now, with old Bonnie in charge.’
‘I should say! Good for you, Bonnie!’
Bonnie beamed round and thanked everyone prettily. ‘I shan’t let you down,’ she said. ‘And I shall b
e glad of some help from anyone who is good with a needle, for there will be a lot of work to do.’
Several girls from other towers immediately volunteered their services, and Bonnie said, ‘Perhaps tomorrow afternoon we can all go and look in that little room behind the stage, where all the old costumes from past Malory Towers plays are stored. We are sure to find some things that will be useful to us in there.’
‘My word, you’re eager, Bonnie,’ called out Julie.
‘If a job’s worth doing, it’s worth doing well,’ said Bonnie, briskly. ‘I intend to take my responsibility as wardrobe mistress very seriously indeed. Now, if you’ll excuse me, the library has a fine book on play costumes, so I think I shall pop along there and borrow it.’ Then she called out to the girls who had offered to help her, ‘Two o’clock sharp, tomorrow afternoon, you girls.’
And with that, she walked purposefully from the room, as Felicity chuckled, ‘Bonnie really does go all out when she takes on a task. I feel quite sorry for the girls who have offered to help her, for I think that she may turn out to be quite a slave-driver!’
Susan laughed at that, and said, ‘Well, I call that a highly successful meeting—in spite of Miss Tallant’s attempts to sabotage it! Mary told me that she has almost finished writing the song, and June and Freddie have already written a few jokes into the script—and very funny they are, too. At this rate, it won’t be long before we are able to hold our first rehearsal. Shall we go back to the common-room before tea?’
Felicity agreed to this at once, and as the two girls were walking along the corridor, June and Freddie caught them up. June’s expression was unusually serious, and Felicity asked, ‘Anything up, old girl?’
‘Yes, there is, actually,’ said June. ‘It has just occurred to me that Miss Tallant knew the name of the play we are doing. But how could she know, for we haven’t told anyone outside the form. And we agreed that we weren’t going to tell Miss Tallant anything.’
‘Perhaps someone let something slip out by accident,’ suggested Susan.
‘Who would do that?’ asked Freddie rather scornfully. ‘It’s not as if any of us are in the habit of having cosy chats with Miss Tallant, for none of us can bear her.’
June’s brow cleared suddenly, and she snapped her fingers. ‘Bonnie!’ she cried. ‘She’s always hanging round Miss Tallant, offering to help tidy the classroom and what-not.’
‘Yes, but only as part of her plan to suck up to her,’ Felicity reminded June. ‘She certainly doesn’t do it because she has any real liking for Miss Tallant.’
‘I know that,’ said June. ‘But she could easily have given something away by accident. And there’s something else, too. Miss Tallant mentioned that business with the mouse, and it was pretty clear that she suspected I was involved. I don’t see how she can have reached that conclusion unless someone told her.’
‘Yes, we all heard her say that,’ said Susan, looking grave. ‘I didn’t think anything of it at the time, but you’re quite right, of course. We certainly don’t want our dear Miss Tallant poking her nose into fourth-form business.’
The others were in wholehearted agreement with this, and June said, ‘Bonnie said that she was going to the library, didn’t she? Well, let’s find her and tackle her about it. She has to learn that it simply isn’t on to give away fourth-form secrets!’
8
Bonnie in trouble
June stormed off down the corridor, the other three in hot pursuit. Susan caught up with her as they reached the library, and grabbed her arm.
‘Now look here, June,’ she began. ‘Don’t go rushing in and accusing Bonnie of things, when, for all we know, she may be quite innocent.’
‘Susan is quite right,’ said Felicity. ‘I know that Bonnie can be devious in some ways, but I really don’t think…’
Her voice tailed off suddenly, for through the glass pane in the library door, Felicity had spotted Bonnie sitting at a table with a book. And bending over to speak to her, her blonde head very close to Bonnie’s darker one, was Miss Tallant. Both of them were smiling, and Miss Tallant patted Bonnie’s shoulder, before reaching into her bag and pulling out a bar of chocolate. She handed this to Bonnie, then walked towards the door. Swiftly, the four girls outside retreated along the corridor before they were spotted, and went into one of the empty music-rooms.
‘Well!’ said Freddie, looking astonished. ‘Did you see that?’
The other three nodded, and June said grimly, ‘Well, that seems to point to Bonnie being the culprit. And from the look of things, the information she passed to Miss Tallant certainly didn’t slip out by accident.’
June felt just as shocked and dismayed as the others, for although she had suspected Bonnie, she had never, for one second, imagined that the girl’s actions had been deliberate.
‘It certainly looks that way,’ said Susan, frowning deeply. ‘Why would Miss Tallant have given Bonnie chocolate, unless it was in return for a favour?’
No one could imagine, and Felicity said thoughtfully, ‘This puts a different complexion on things. If Bonnie is sneaking fourth-form secrets to Miss Tallant, it might be best not to tackle her just yet, for it will put her on her guard.’
‘Quite right,’ said June. ‘Until we can think of a way of catching Bonnie out, we must carry on as usual, and all behave in a perfectly normal way towards her.’
‘What do you think, Susan?’ asked Freddie. ‘You are head of the form, after all.’
‘Yes, I agree with Felicity and June,’ said Susan, who was looking very upset indeed. ‘I must say that I am terribly disappointed in Bonnie. I know that she and I have had our differences, but I really didn’t think that she would stoop this low.’
‘Shall we tell the others?’ asked Felicity.
Susan thought for a moment, then said, ‘No. Obviously we can’t say anything in front of Amy, for she is Bonnie’s friend. We can’t rely on Sylvia to keep her mouth shut either, and as for Olive—well, I certainly don’t trust her!’
All the same, the four girls found it very difficult to stick to their word and behave normally with Bonnie. They had very strict ideas of honour, and anyone who sneaked, or gave away secrets, was beneath contempt, as far as they were concerned. It was June who came up with an idea to trap Bonnie, a few days later. She and Freddie got into a huddle with Felicity and Susan in the courtyard one break-time.
‘We will pretend that we are planning to play a trick on Miss Tallant, and make sure that Bonnie overhears us,’ explained June. ‘Then Bonnie will run off and tell her tales, and Miss Tallant will try to foil our trick.’
‘And that will prove that Bonnie is working against the fourth form,’ said Felicity with a sigh. ‘What do you have in mind, June?’
‘Well, I thought we could pretend that we are going to do something similar to the mouse trick that we played on Olive,’ answered June. ‘We could say that we are going to put a big spider in the drawer of Miss Tallant’s desk, perhaps.’
‘Good idea,’ said Freddie. ‘Miss Tallant is very like Mam’zelle Dupont in that she doesn’t care for spiders, or mice or anything like that.’
‘Exactly!’ said June. ‘We will make sure that Bonnie is nearby when we are plotting, and we shall be able to judge from Miss Tallant’s reaction when she goes to her desk whether Bonnie has sneaked.’
‘Very well,’ said Susan. ‘The sooner we get definite proof that Bonnie is the one giving things away to Miss Tallant, the better, I suppose.’
So when the four girls went into the common-room that evening, they made a point of sitting close to Bonnie. The girl had her head bent over her needlework, as usual, and was chattering away to Amy as she sewed. Pam, Sylvia and Olive were there as well, while the others had gone off to see a slide show in the big hall.
‘I simply can’t wait to see Miss Tallant’s face when she opens her drawer tomorrow and that spider runs towards her,’ said June, in rather a loud voice.
Freddie giggled. ‘We’re going to find
a spider in the gardener’s shed,’ she said. ‘A big, fat one, with thick, hairy legs.’
‘Ugh!’ said Susan, giving a shudder. ‘I can’t say that I’m awfully keen on spiders myself. It will be funny to see how Miss Tallant reacts, though. And it will jolly well serve her right for trying to spoil our meeting the other day.’
‘When are you going to play the trick?’ asked Felicity. ‘Monday morning? Jolly good.’
The four moved away then, to join Pam, who raised her eyebrows and said, ‘What’s this? Hatching a plot?’
The four girls looked at one another, and Susan said, ‘Shall we tell Pam our secret? Let’s, for we know we can trust her.’
Quickly, June explained that they suspected Bonnie of telling tales to Miss Tallant, and of their plan to catch her out.
Pam listened intently, her expression very serious. At last, she said, ‘I simply can’t believe that Bonnie is on Miss Tallant’s side.’