"lizzie," announced ulyth, sitting down on a stump in the glade, and speaking slowly and emphatically, "the woodlands isn't what it used to be."
"so stephanie was saying the other day," agreed lizzie, taking a seat on the stump by the side of her friend. "she thinks it's a different place altogether."
"it is; though not exactly from stephie's point of view. i don't care the least scrap that there are no vernons or courtenays or derringtons here now. stephie can lament them if she likes. i never knew them, so i can't regret them. there's one thing i can't help noticing, though—the tone has been going down."
"do you think it has?" replied lizzie thoughtfully. "merle and alice and mary are rather silly, certainly, but there's not much harm in them."
"i don't mean our form; it's the juniors. i've noticed it continually lately."
"now you come to speak of it, so have i. i don't quite know what it is, but there's a something."
"there's a very decided something. it's come on quite lately, but it's there. they're not be[pg 195]having nicely at all. they've slacked all round, and do nothing but snigger among themselves over jokes they won't tell."
"they're welcome to their own jokes as far as i'm concerned, the young idiots!"
"yes, if it's only just fun; but i'm afraid it's something more than that—something they're ashamed of and really want to hide. i've seen such shuffling and queer business going on when any of the monitresses came in sight."
"have you said anything to catherine or helen?"
"no, and i don't want to. it's very unfortunate, but they've really got no tact. catherine's so high-handed, and helen's nearly as bad. they snap the girls up for the least trifle. the result is the juniors have got it into their tiresome young heads that monitresses are a species of teacher. they weren't intended to be that at all. a monitress is just one of ourselves, only with authority that we all allow. she ought to be jolly with everybody."
"um! you can hardly call catherine jolly with the kids."
"that's just it. they resent it; they've gone their own way lately, and it's been decidedly downhill. i'm persuaded they're playing some deep and surreptitious game at present. i wish i knew what it was."
"can't rona tell you?"
"i wouldn't pump rona for the world. it's most frightfully difficult for her, a junior, to be room-mate with a senior. her form always suspect her of giving them away to the upper school.[pg 196] rona's had a hard enough struggle to get any footing at all at the woodlands, and i don't want to make it any harder for her. if she once gets the reputation of 'tell-tale' she's done for. since stephanie made that fuss about juniors coming into senior rooms i mayn't ask her into v b; so if she's ostracized by her own form too she'll be neither fish, flesh, fowl, nor good red herring. no; however i find out it mustn't be through rona."
"yes, i quite see your point. now you speak of it, i believe those juniors are up to something. there's a prodigious amount of whispering and sniggering among them. 'what's the joke?' i said to tootie phillips yesterday, and she flared out in the most truculent manner: 'that's our own business, thank you!'"
"tootie has been making herself most objectionable lately. she wants sitting upon."
"catherine will do that, never fear."
"no doubt, but it doesn't bring us any nearer finding out what those juniors are after."
"they vanish mysteriously after tea sometimes. i vote we watch them, and next time it happens we'll stalk them."
"right-o! but not a word to anybody else, or it might get about and put them on their guard."
"trust me! i wouldn't even flicker an eyelid."
now that ulyth and lizzie had compared notes on the subject of the juniors, they became more convinced than ever of the fact that something surreptitious was going on. nods, hints, words which apparently bore a hidden meaning, nudges,[pg 197] and signs were the order of the day. all friendly advances on the part of seniors were repelled, the younger girls keeping strictly to themselves. this was the more marked as there had never been any very great division at the woodlands between upper and lower school, the whole of the little community sharing in most of the general interests.
after tea there was a short interval before evening preparation began, and during the summer term this was spent, if possible, out-of-doors by everybody. one afternoon, only a few days after the conversation just recorded, the girls had filed as usual from the dining-hall, and were racing off for tennis, basket-ball, or a run by the stream. as ulyth, down on her knees in the darkest part of the hall cupboard, groped for her mislaid tennis-shoes, two members of iv b came in for a moment to fetch balls. they were in a hurry and they evidently did not perceive her presence.
"did you get the tip?" irene scott asked ethel jephson under her breath. "by the lower pool immediately."
"all serene! tootie told me herself."
"pass it on then; though i think most know."
as they ran down the passage, ulyth, relinquishing her hunt for the missing shoes, rose to her feet.
"there's one here who didn't know," she chuckled. "this is a most important piece of information. immediately, by the lower pool, is it? well, i must go and find lizzie. what are those precious juniors up to, i wonder?"
lizzie was taking her racket for a game of tennis,[pg 198] but she readily gave up her place to merle denham at a hint from ulyth.
"i told you they vanished after tea," she said, as the two girls sauntered into the glen. "we'll track them this time. don't on any account look as if you were going anywhere. sit down here and give them a few minutes' grace, in case stragglers come up. they probably won't begin punctually. i'll time it by my watch."
when five minutes had elapsed there was not a solitary junior to be seen in the glade, and ulyth and lizzie, deeming themselves safe, set out in the direction of the lower pool.
this was a part of the stream at the very verge of the grounds belonging to the woodlands; indeed, the greater portion of it lay in the land of a neighbouring farmer, and to reach its pebbly bank meant a scramble round some palings and under a projecting piece of rock.
ulyth and lizzie were too wary to follow the juniors by this path, but scaled the palings at another point, and under cover of a thick copse of gorse-bushes approached the pool from the side that lay in the farmer's field. by most careful scouting they found a spot on the bank where they could see and hear without being seen.
below them, seated on the rocks by the edge of the water, were practically almost the whole of the lower school. they cuddled close, with their arms round each other, and to judge from their repressed giggles they appeared to be enjoying themselves. tootie phillips, a long-legged, excitable girl of[pg 199] thirteen, mounted upon a boulder, was addressing them with much fervour. ulyth and lizzie missed the beginning of her remarks, but when they came within earshot they realized that she was in the midst of a vigorous harangue against the seniors.
"are we to be trodden down just because we're a little younger than they are?" urged tootie. "why should they lord it over us, i should like to know? they were juniors themselves only a year or two ago. i tell you the worm will turn."
"it's turned pretty considerably," guffawed cissie newall.
"it knows which side its bread's buttered," cackled irene scott.
"buttered! you mean sugared, don't you?"
at this sally the whole party broke into a shout of laughter.
"good for you, ciss!"
"sugared! ra—ther!"
"shut up, you sillies! someone will hear us," commanded tootie. "i was saying before, we're not going to be sat upon, either by teachers or monitresses or seniors. we'll take our own way."
"a sugary way," chirped ethel jephson.
the girls hinnied again. there was evidently something underlying the joke.
"when perfectly ridiculous rules are made, that never ought to have been made," continued tootie, "then we've a right to take the law into our own hands and do as we please."
"our pocket money's our own," grumbled a discontented spirit from the back.[pg 200]
"of course it is, and we ought to be able to do what we like with it."
"and so are our brooches, if we want to——"
"sh—sh!"
"shut up, stupid!"
"well, we all know."
"no need to blare it out, if we do."
"i wasn't blaring."
"violet robertson, remember your oath," commanded tootie. "if you let a word of—we know what—leak out, you're sent to coventry for the rest of the term. yes. not a single one of us will speak one single word to you. not even your own room-mates. so there!"
"well, you needn't make such a precious fuss. i'm sure i wasn't letting out secrets," retorted violet sulkily. "but i think there ought to be some rate of value. my brooch was a far better one than mollie's."
"right you are, my hearty, and i'm going to speak about it. we mustn't let ourselves be done, even by—you know who!"
"and she's sharp."
"she's getting too sharp. we must stop it, even if we have to break off for a whole week."
"no, no!"
"oh, not that anyhow!"
"well, look here, if you're such sillies, you deserve——"
but at this most interesting point the loud clanging of the preparation-bell put a stop to any further argument. with one accord the girls jumped up,[pg 201] and fled back as fast as they could run in the direction of the school. ulyth and lizzie, at the risk of being late for evening call-over, gave the conspirators time to get well away before they ventured to follow.
"what's the meaning of all this?" queried lizzie, as they scouted cautiously through the glade.
"i can't imagine. they're evidently doing something they oughtn't to, the young wretches! but they're keeping it very dark."
"we shall have to watch them."
"we must indeed," sighed ulyth. "lizzie, i loathe eavesdropping and anything that savours of underhand work, but what are we to do? something is going wrong among the juniors, and for the sake of the school we've got to put it right if we possibly can. it's no use asking them their sweet secret, for they wouldn't tell us; and i'm afraid setting the monitresses on the track would only make things worse. if we can find out what they're doing, then we shall know our ground. i'm a torch-bearer and you're a fire-maker, and we must appeal to them to keep their camp-fire vows. but we can't do that till we've some idea of which rule they're breaking. how can we say to them: 'i strongly suspect you're not being trustworthy'? we've got to prove our words."
"prove them we will. we'll dodge about till we catch them in the act," agreed lizzie.
to both the girls it was uncongenial though necessary work. as seniors and league officers they felt they owed a duty to the school, but that[pg 202] it would be far wiser to appeal privately to the juniors' sense of honour, and win them back to straight paths of their own free will, than to carry the matter to head-quarters. for the present, patience and tact must be their watchwords.
several days went by, and nothing particular occurred. either the younger girls were on their guard or they had suspended their activities. on friday evening, however, as ulyth was coming along the passage from practising, she accidentally cannonaded into half a dozen members of iv b who were standing near the boot cupboard. she evidently surprised them, for one and all they hastily popped their hands into their pockets. it was promptly done, but not so quickly as to prevent ulyth from seeing that they were eating something.
"it's all right," gasped bertha halliwell, with apparent unconcern, in reply to ulyth's apologies. "you nearly upset me, but i'm not fractured."
"i wish you'd take care, though," grumbled etta jessop, surreptitiously wiping a decidedly sticky mouth; "no one likes being tumbled over."
ulyth passed on thoughtfully. what had they all been munching, and where did they get it from? private supplies of cakes and sweets were utterly forbidden at the woodlands. their prohibition was one of the strictest rules of the school, to break which would be to incur a very severe penalty from miss teddington. was this the explanation of tootie's rather enigmatical remarks down by the stream?[pg 203]
"if that's their precious secret, and they're just being greedy, i'm too disgusted with them for words!" commented lizzie, when informed of the discovery.
saturday and monday passed with quite exemplary behaviour on the part of the juniors. the keenest vigilance could discover nothing. but on tuesday lizzie came across another clue. she had been monitress for the afternoon in the drawing-class, and after the girls had left she stayed behind to put away various articles that had been used and to tidy the room.
as she worked along the desks where iv b had been sitting, collecting stray pencils and pieces of india-rubber, she noticed a book lying on the floor and picked it up. it was a french grammar, with "etta jessop" written on the fly-leaf and had evidently been accidentally dropped. she turned over the pages idly. in the middle was a scrap of paper torn from an exercise-book, and on this was scribbled: "where will she be to-night?" while in a different hand, underneath, as if in answer to the question, were the words: "side gate at 8. pass, 'john barleycorn'."
this was most important. it was the first, indeed the only definite, information they had to go upon. lizzie replaced the slip of paper and laid the book on the floor just where she had found it. etta would no doubt soon discover her loss, and come back to fetch it. in the meantime this very valuable piece of news must be communicated to ulyth.
the chums talked the matter over earnestly.[pg 204]
"something's happening at the side gate at eight o'clock, and they've got a password; that's clear," said lizzie.
"then i think it's our plain duty to go and investigate," returned ulyth. "if the worst comes to the worst we could report ourselves, and tell teddie why we went. she'd understand."
"i hope it won't need that," fluttered lizzie nervously.
the girls were not allowed out of the house after preparation, so any excursions into the garden were distinctly against the rules.
feeling very culpable at thus breaking the law of the school, ulyth and lizzie crept quietly from the cloak-room door soon after eight had struck. it was not yet dark, but the sun had sunk behind the hills, and the garden was in deep shadow. they passed the tennis-courts and the rose parterre, and ran down the steps into the herbarium. just at the outskirts of the shrubbery a small figure was skulking among the bushes. at the sound of footsteps it gave a low, peculiar whistle, then advanced slightly from the shadow and stood at attention, as if in mute challenge of the new-comers. irene scott, for it was she, was evidently on sentry duty. no one with a knowledge of camp-life could mistake her attitude.
"we'll bluff it off," whispered ulyth, and, taking lizzie's arm, she marched quietly past, murmuring: "john barleycorn".
the effect of the password was electrical. irene looked immensely astonished. she had certainly[pg 205] not expected such knowledge on the part of seniors.
"are you in it too? oh, goody!" she gasped; then very softly she called: "all's well!" and, turning, dived back among the bushes.
lizzie and ulyth pushed on towards the side gate. it was open, and inside, under the shelter of a big laurel, stood a woman with a basket. she was a gipsy-looking person, with long ear-rings, and she wore a red-and-yellow handkerchief tied round her neck. as the girls approached she uncovered her basket with a knowing smile.
"i've brought plenty to-night, missies," she said ingratiatingly. "cheesecakes and vanilla sandwiches and coco-nut drops and cream wafers. what'll you please to have?"
"are you selling them?" asked ulyth in much amazement.
the woman glanced at her keenly.
"i've not seen you two before," she remarked. "yes, dearie, i'm selling them. they're wholesome cakes, and won't do you any harm. try these cream wafers."
"no, thanks! we don't want anything," stammered lizzie.
"if you've spent all your money," persisted the hawker, "i'm always open to take a trinket instead. there's a young lady been here just now, and gave me this in place of a sixpence," showing a small brooch pinned into her bodice. "of course such things aren't worth much to me, but i'd do it to oblige you."[pg 206]
at the sight of the little brooch ulyth flushed hotly.
"we're not allowed to buy cakes and tarts," she replied. "i'm sure miss bowes doesn't know that you come here to sell things. it's not your fault, of course, but please don't come again. it's breaking the rules of the school."
the woman covered up her basket in an instant.
"all right, missie, all right," she said suavely. "i don't want to press things on you. that's not my way. you won't catch me at this gate again, i promise you. good night!" and, slipping out into the lane, she was gone directly.
ulyth shut the door and bolted it.
"she mayn't come to this particular spot again," said lizzie, "but she'll find some other meeting-place, the cunning old thing. i could see it in her eye. so this is their grand secret! what a remarkably honourable and creditable one!"
"it's worse than i thought," groaned ulyth. "they must have been going on with this business for some time, lizzie. do you know, that brooch was rona's. i recognized it at once. it's one she brought from new zealand, with a maori device on it."
"i thought better of rona."
"so did i. she's improved so much i didn't think she'd slip back in this way."
"i believe tootie phillips is the ring-leader."
"there's no doubt of it. from all we've seen, the juniors have got a systematic traffic with this woman, and post scouts to keep watch while she's about. you heard irene call: 'all's well!'"[pg 207]
"they'll be feasting in their bedroom to-night."
"rona won't dare, surely. lizzie, i shouldn't have thought much of it if they'd done it once just for a lark. we're all human, and juniors will be juniors. but when it gets systematic, and they begin to sell their brooches, that's a different matter."
"what are you going to do? tackle the kids and tell them we've found out, and they've got to stop it?"
"will they really stop it just at our bidding? or will it only put them on their guard and make them carry the thing on with more caution?"
"then give a hint to the monitresses?"
"i wonder if we ought. i wish catherine and helen were different."
"well, what do you suggest?"
"there's only one other way. mrs. arnold is coming to the woodlands on friday afternoon. suppose we wait, catch her alone, and tell her all about it. she's our 'guardian of the fire', and we ought to be able to ask her things when we're in difficulties. she doesn't belong to the school, so it isn't like telling a teacher or a monitress. we know we can trust her absolutely."
"right-o! but it seems a long time to have to wait."
"it can't be helped," said ulyth, as they hurried back through the garden.
she had decided, as she thought, for the best, though, as the result proved, she had chosen a most unfortunate course.
