15 a dreadful evening
it was the day before the tests were to begin. some of the girls were swotting up hard, feeling rather guilty because they hadn’t paid as much attention to their work as they ought to have done. betty hill was poring over her books. so was gwendoline. and, as usual, poor ellen had her nose between the pages of a book, trying to cram into a short time what could only be learnt slowly and in peace.
miss parker was quite worried about ellen. the girl gave her a strained attention in class, and yet her work was only fair. it wasn’t for lack of trying, miss parker knew. she supposed it must be that ellen was not very fit after her illness.
ellen knew that the test-papers were ready. she had heard miss parker talking about them. as for mam’zelle, in her usual tantalizing manner she had shaken her test-paper in front of her class, and cried “ah, you would like to know what i have set you, would you not! you would like to know what are these difficult questions! now the first one is . . .”
but she never did say what the first one was, and the class laughed. anyway, mam’zelle dupont was never so strict over tests as mam’zelle rougier, who set the most difficult questions and expected them to be answered perfectly—and then groaned and grumbled because nearly all the girls failed to get high marks!
it was ellen’s last chance that day to try to see the papers. if only that irritating alicia wouldn’t always keep hanging around! the thought occurred to ellen that alicia might be spying on her—but she dismissed it at once. why should she? nobody in the world save ellen herself knew that she wanted to see the test-papers.
she hung about in the passage outside miss parker’s room for a long time that evening. but there was never any chance of going in without being seen. somebody always seemed to be going by. it was astonishing how many girls went this way and that way past miss parker’s door.
then, most annoyingly, the only time that the passage was really empty was when miss parker herself was in the room. she was there with miss potts. ellen could quite well hear what they were saying.
she bent down by the door as if she was re-tying her shoe-lace.
“the second form haven’t done too badly this term,” she heard miss parker say to miss potts. “they seem to have benefited by the year they spent with you! most of them can use their brains, which is something!”
“well, i hope they do well in the tests,” said miss potts. “i always take an interest in their first tests when they go up to the second form for the first time. having had the girls for three or four terms i can’t lose my interest in them quickly. i suppose alicia or irene or darrell will be top. they’ve all got good brains.”
“have a look at the questions,” said miss parker, and ellen actually heard the rustling of the test-papers being handed over to miss potts. how she longed to see them!
there was a silence as miss potts read them. “yes. a bit stiff, one or two of them—but if the girls have paid attention, they ought to do them all quite well. what about the french papers?”
“mam’zelle’s got them in her room,” said miss parker. “i’ll take these along to her and give them to her. she takes the second form first thing tomorrow and can take the papers with her.”
ellen’s heart leapt. now she knew where the papers would be that night! in mam’zelle’s room. and that was not very far from the dormy. could she—dare she—get up in the night and go and peep at them?
a girl came round the corner and almost knocked ellen over. it was alicia.
“gracious, it’s you, ellen! you were lounging about here when i came up—and now i come down and you’re still here! what on earth are you doing?”
“it’s no business of yours!” said ellen, and walked off. she went to the common-room and sat down. she had to work things out. dare she creep out in the middle of the night and hunt for the papers? it was a very, very wrong thing to do. but oh, if only she had been well all the term, and had been able to work and use her brains properly, she could easily have been top or near the top. it wasn’t her fault that she would be near the bottom.
so she sat and reasoned with herself, trying to persuade herself that what she was doing wasn’t really so bad as it looked. she was doing it to save her parents from being so disappointed. she couldn’t let them down. poor ellen! she didn’t stop to think that her parents would much rather see her honestly at the bottom, than dishonestly at the top!
alicia was growing quite certain that it was ellen who had taken the money. if not, why in the world was she always sneaking about by herself, listening outside doors, and doing such peculiar things? neither of the purses had turned up. nor had belinda’s half-crown. another purse and more missing money had not been traced either, and emily had reported that her gold bar brooch, which her god-mother had given her the term before, had also gone.
emily was very tidy and careful and never lost things like belinda or irene. when alicia heard her talking about her lost brooch in the common-room, she made up her mind to tell the others what she thought. ellen, as usual, was not there. “out sneaking round somebody’s door, i expect!” thought alicia.
“i say,” she said, raising her voice a little. “sally! i’ve got something to say about all these mysterious disappearances. i don’t exactly want to accuse anyone—but i’ve been watching somebody lately, and they’ve been doing rather peculiar things.”
everyone looked up in surprise. sally looked round the common-room. “are we all here?” she said. “yes—wait though—ellen isn’t. we’ll get her.”
“no, don’t,” said alicia. “it would be as well not to.”
“what do you mean?” said sally, puzzled. then her eyes widened. “oh—you don’t mean—no, alicia, you don’t mean that it’s ellen you’ve been watching! what has she been doing that’s so peculiar?”
alicia told how she had watched ellen and seen her sneaking about in the passages, apparently waiting for a room to be empty. she related how she had found her going through miss parker’s desk. everyone listened, amazed.
“i wouldn’t have thought it of her!” said daphne, in a disgusted voice. “what a thing to do! i never did like her. there’s no doubt she took my purse and gwen’s—and emily’s brooch, and goodness knows how many things besides.”
“you’re not to say that till we’ve proved something,” said sally, sharply. “we’ve no definite proof yet—and only alicia, apparently, has seen ellen sneaking about.”
“well,” said darrell, reluctantly, “sally, i noticed something once too. i found ellen in miss potts’ room, going through some things on her desk.”
“how dreadful!” said daphne, and gwen echoed her. jean said nothing. she had been more friendly with ellen than anyone else, though she had never been able to like her very much—but it seemed to her that ellen was not quite the type of girl to become a thief. a thief! how terrible it sounded. jean frowned. surely ellen couldn’t be that!
“i don’t think i believe it,” she said, slowly, in her clear scots voice. “she’s a queer girl—but i don’t think she’s queer in that way.”
“well, i bet she never gave you her games subscription!” said alicia, remembering how ellen had refused to go and get it.
“she did, the next time i asked her,” said jean.
“yes—and i bet it was after one of the purses had disappeared!” exclaimed betty. jean was silent. yes, that was true. ellen had not given up her subscription until the purses had gone. things looked very black for ellen.
“what are we to do?” said darrell, helplessly. “sally, you’re head-girl. what are you going to do?”
“i’ll have to think about it,” said sally. “i can’t decide this very minute.”
“there’s nothing to decide!” said alicia, with scorn in her voice. “she’s a thief. well, tackle her with it and make her confess! if you don’t, i shall!”
“no, you mustn’t,” said sally at once. “i tell you, we’ve none of us got real proof—and it’s a bad, wicked thing to do to accuse somebody without definite proof. you are not to say a word, alicia. as head-girl i forbid you.”
alicia’s eyes sparkled wickedly. “we’ll see!” she said, and at that very moment who should come into the room but ellen! she sensed hostility as soon as she came in and looked round, half-scared.
the girls stared at her silently, rather taken-aback at her sudden appearance. then sally began to talk to darrell and jean turned to emily. but alicia was not going to change the subject, or to obey sally either!
“ellen,” she said, in a loud clear voice, “what do you find when you go sneaking about in empty rooms and looking through desks?”
ellen went pale. she stood perfectly still, her eyes glued on alicia. “what—what do you mean?” she stammered at last. surely, surely nobody had guessed that she was looking for the exam papers!
“shut up, alicia!” said sally, peremptorily. “you know what i said.”
alicia took no notice. “you know jolly well what i mean, don’t you?” she said to ellen, in a hard voice. “you know what you take when you creep into an empty room or go through somebody’s desk or locker or drawer! don’t you?”
“i’ve never taken anything!” cried ellen, a hunted look on her face. “what should i take?”
“oh—perhaps purses with money in—or a gold brooch or two,” drawled alicia. “come on—own up, ellen. you look as guilty as can be, so why deny it?”
ellen stared as if she could not believe her eyes. she looked round at the quiet girls. some of them could not look at her. mary-lou was crying, for she hated scenes of this kind. sally looked angrily and hopelessly at alicia. it was no good stopping things now. they had gone too far. how dared alicia defy her like this!
darrell was angry, too, but her anger was partly directed at ellen, whom she too thought looked exceedingly guilty. she was angry that alicia had defied sally, the head-girl—but after all—if ellen was guilty, it was surely better that it should all be cleared up immediately?
“do you mean that—that you think i’ve been stealing your things?” asked ellen at last, with a great effort. “you can’t mean that!”
“we do,” said alicia, grimly. “why else should you snoop round as you do? and why go through miss parker’s desk? can you give us a good explanation of that?”
no. ellen couldn’t. how could she say that she was hunting for the exam papers because she wanted to cheat. oh, if once you started doing something wrong there was no end to it! she put her hands up to her face.
“i can’t tell you anything,” she said, and tears made her fingers wet. “but i didn’t take your things. i didn’t.”
“you did,” said alicia. “you’re a coward as well as a thief. you can’t even own up and give the things back!”
ellen stumbled out of the room. the door shut behind her. mary-lou gave an unhappy sob. “i’m so sorry for her!” she said. “i can’t help it! i am!”
