16 in the middle of the night

there was a silence, only broken by mary-lou’s sniffs. most of the girls were upset and horrified. alicia looked rather pleased with herself. sally was tight-lipped and angry. alicia looked at her and smiled maliciously.

“sorry if i’ve upset you, sally,” she said, “but it was time we had it out with ellen. as head-girl you should have done it yourself. as it was, you left it to me!”

“i did not!” said sally. “i forbade you to say anything. we shouldn’t have accused ellen—i know it’s not right till we’ve got proof. and i wanted to think of the best way of doing it—not in front of everyone, that’s certain!”

darrell felt uncomfortably that sally was right. it would have been best to wait a little, and think about it and then perhaps for sally to have spoken with ellen alone. now the fat was in the fire! everyone knew. whatever would ellen do!

“well, all i can say is i’m grateful to alicia for bringing the matter to a head,” said daphne, shaking back her shining curls from her forehead. “perhaps our belongings will be safe now.”

“you ought to be loyal to sally, not to alicia,” flared up darrell.

“don’t let’s argue any more,” said sally. “the thing’s done now, more’s the pity. there’s the supper-bell. for goodness’ sake, let’s go.”

they went soberly down to the supper-table. ellen was not there. jean asked about her.

“shall i go and fetch ellen, miss parker?” she said.

“no. she’s got one of her headaches and has gone early to bed,” said miss parker. the girls exchanged looks. so ellen couldn’t even face them again that evening.

“guilty conscience,” said alicia to betty, in a voice loud enough to reach darrell and sally.

ellen was in bed when the form went up at their bed-time. she lay on her side, her face in the pillow, perfectly still. “pretending to be asleep,” said alicia.

“shut up,” said jean, unexpectedly, in a low voice. “you’ve done your bit already, alicia johns! we’ll have no more jeering tonight. hold your tongue.”

alicia was taken-aback and glared at jean. jean glared back. alicia said no more. soon the girls were in bed and the lights were put out. they stopped talking at once. sally had insisted that the rules were to be kept, and the girls respected her and kept them.

one by one they fell asleep. daphne was one of the last to sleep, but long after she was asleep too, somebody else was wide awake. that was ellen, of course.

she had gone to bed early for three reasons. one was that she really had got “one of her headaches”. another was that she didn’t want to face the girls after their accusing faces. and the third was that she wanted to think.

she had hardly been able to believe her ears when the girls had accused her so unjustly. ellen had not taken anything. she was completely honest in that way, however much she might have made up her mind to cheat over the exam. a thief! alicia had called her that in front of everyone. it wasn’t fair. it was most cruel and unjust!

but was it altogether unjust? after all, the girls, two of them at least, had seen her snooping round and had seen her going through miss parker’s desk and looking through things on miss potts’ desk too. it must seem to them as if such behaviour meant dishonesty—and it did mean dishonesty, though not the kind they accused her of.

“what am i doing! how can i cheat like this! how can i be such a sneak and do such dreadful things!” ellen suddenly cried in her mind. “what would mother think of me! but oh, mother, it’s all because of you and daddy that i want to do well. not for myself. surely it isn’t so wrong if i cheat to please my parents, and not to please myself?”

“it is wrong,” said her conscience. “you know it is! see what your foolishness has led you into! you have been accused of something terrible—all because you were trying to do something wrong, and hadn’t even done it!”

“i shan’t cheat. i won’t think of it any more,” ellen decided suddenly. “i’ll do badly in the papers and explain why to mother. i will, i will!”

then the girls came up and she heard alicia’s spiteful remark. “pretending to be asleep.” in a flash she remembered her unkind accusations, her sneering words, and she remembered too how all the girls seemed to be against her and to believe she was wicked and bad.

anger crept through her. how dared they accuse her wrongly, without any real proof at all? they all thought her bad, and nothing would convince them that she wasn’t, she was sure. very well, then, she would be bad! she would cheat! she’d get up in the middle of the night and go and find those papers. she knew where they were—in mam’zelle’s room.

ellen lay there in the darkness, her mind going over everything again and again. she felt defiant and obstinate now. she was labelled “bad” by the girls. then she would be bad. she’d enjoy it now! she would read those exam papers, and then she would look up all the answers, and she would surprise everyone by coming out top with practically perfect marks! that would make them all sit up!

she had no difficulty at all in lying awake until she was sure that the staff had gone to bed. her eyes looked straight up into the darkness, and her head felt hot. she clenched her fists when she thought of alicia’s scornful face.

at last she thought it would be safe to get up. she sat up in bed and looked round. the moon was up and a ray pierced the darkness of the room. there was no movement anywhere, and all she could hear was the regular breathing of the other girls. she slid out of bed. she put her feet into her bedroom slippers and pulled her dressing-gown round her. her heart was beating painfully.

she crept out of the room. she knocked against one of the beds on the way and held her breath in case she awoke the girl asleep there. but there was no movement.

she made her way down the moonlit passage, and down the stairs to mam’zelle’s room, the one she shared with miss potts. it was in darkness. mam’zelle had gone to bed long ago.

ellen went to the window to make sure that the curtains were tightly drawn. she did not want anyone to see even a crack of light there at that time of night. they were thick curtains and shut out the moonlight. then she shut the door and switched on the electric light.

she went to the desk. it was untidy as usual, for mam’zelle dupont, unlike mam’zelle rougier, could never keep her books and papers in neat order. ellen began to go through the papers on top of the desk.

she went through them twice. the exam papers were not there! her heart stood still. surely they must be there. perhaps they were in the desk. she hoped it was not locked. she had seen mam’zelle lock it sometimes.

she tried it. yes—it was locked. what a blow! mam’zelle must have locked the test-papers up! ellen sat down, her knees shaking with the suspense. then her eyes caught sight of a key lying in the pen-tray. she snatched it up. she fitted it into the desk—and it opened! how like mam’zelle to lock the desk carefully and leave the key in the pen-tray!

with trembling hands ellen looked through the vast collection of papers there. in a corner, neatly banded together by miss parker, were the second-form test-papers!

with a thankful sigh ellen took them up. she was just about to look carefully through them when she heard a sound. her heart almost stopped! in a trice she slipped to the door and switched off the light. then she shut the desk quietly and went over to the door to listen.

the sound came again. what was it? was it somebody walking about? she would have to be very careful if so. she stuffed the papers into the big pocket of her dressing-gown and held them there. she had better get out of mam’zelle’s room if she could, because if anyone found her there she would get into very serious trouble.

upstairs, in the dormy, just after ellen had crept out, darrell awoke. it was her bed that ellen had bumped into, and she had not awakened immediately. but she sat up half a minute after ellen had gone out of the room, wondering what had awakened her.

she was just about to settle down again when she noticed ellen’s empty bed. the moon was sending a bright ray down on it—and there was no lump there to show that ellen was lying asleep. it was flat and empty!

darrell stared at the empty bed. where was ellen? was she ill again? or—was she doing a bit more snooping to see if she could find anything valuable?

darrell looked across at sally. she ought to tell sally and let her deal with it. alicia had already interfered enough, and she, darrell, ought to let sally say what was to be done about the empty bed, if ellen didn’t come back very quickly.

ellen didn’t come back. darrell waited impatiently for some minutes and then decided to try to find her. she wouldn’t wake sally. she was full of curiosity and wanted to follow ellen herself. it seemed an exciting thing to do in the middle of the night!

she put on her slippers and dressing-gown. she went out of the room, treading quietly in her soft slippers. she stood in the passage and listened. she could hear nothing.

she padded down the passage and came to the stairs. perhaps ellen was going through the desks in the second-form room—or even in the first form! she went quietly down the stairs. she came to the first-form room, which had its door shut. darrell opened it. the room was in darkness and she shut the door again. it made a little click.

she went to the second-form room and opened the door there. she thought she heard something and switched on the light quickly. she could see no one there. she switched off the light again and was about to shut the door when she thought she heard a sound. she quickly switched the light on again—and then, over by the cupboard she saw a movement! just as if someone had pulled the door to very quickly.

darrell’s heart beat. was it ellen in there? or somebody else? she wouldn’t like it at all if it was a burglar. but it must be ellen. she had gone from her bed and was nowhere to be seen. she must be there, in the cupboard, hiding.

darrell went swiftly to the cupboard and gave the door a sharp tug. it came open—and there, crouching in the cupboard, scared and trembling, was ellen! she had slipped out of mam’zelle’s room and gone into the second-form room when she had heard darrell coming. she had hidden in the cupboard, as still as a mouse.

darrell looked in amazement at her. “come out!” she said. “you bad girl, ellen! have you been stealing something again?”

“no,” said ellen, and came out. she held on to the test-papers in her pocket, and darrell noticed the action.

“what have you got there?” she demanded. “show me! quick! you’re hiding something.”

“i’m not! i’m not!” cried ellen, forgetting all about being quiet. darrell tried to snatch ellen’s hand away from her pocket, and ellen, afraid, lashed out at darrell with her other hand. it caught her on the face.

then darrell lost her temper! she flew at ellen, shook her fiercely, and slapped her hard on the cheek! ellen fell over the legs of a desk and dragged darrell down with her. she struggled and darrell pummelled her well. “you wicked girl!” shouted darrell. “coming out and stealing things! you give me what you’ve taken!”

ellen suddenly went limp. she could not struggle any longer. darrell was able to drag her up and make her take her hand away from her pocket. she pulled out the packet of papers roughly. the band broke and they scattered all over the floor. ellen covered her face and began to sob loudly.

darrell stared at the papers and picked one or two up. “so you cheat too, do you?” she said, in a scornful voice. “tomorrow’s exam papers! ellen wilson, what sort of a girl are you? a thief and a cheat! how dare you come here to malory towers?”

“oh, put the papers back and don’t let anyone know!” sobbed ellen. “oh, don’t tell anyone!”

“i’ll certainly put the papers back,” said darrell, grimly. “but as for not telling anyone, that’s absurd!”

she dragged ellen to the door. “where did you find the papers? in mam’zelle’s desk. we’ll put them back there then.”

she put them back, and then, with trembling fingers, ellen locked the desk again. they went up to the dormy. all the girls were still asleep.

“tomorrow,” said darrell, “i shall tell sally, ellen. and she will decide what is to be done about you. i expect you’ll be expelled. now get into bed and try to go to sleep!”