11 a shock for the second form
the book of drawings was placed on the classroom desk in good time. the girls stood in their places, excited, waiting for mam’zelle to come. how she would roar at the pictures! how she would enjoy the joke against her enemy, mam’zelle rougier!
alicia was holding the door. it had been quite by chance that she had heard that the lesson was to be taken by mam’zelle rougier instead of mam’zelle dupont. she hugged herself secretly when she thought of the bombshell she had prepared. it would pay back mam’zelle rougier for many a sharp word she had given alicia!
quick footsteps came down the passage. the girls stiffened. somebody came in at the door and went to the desk—but it wasn’t the mam’zelle they had been expecting. it was, of course, the other one. mam’zelle rougier seated herself and addressed the class.
“asseyez vous, s’il vous plait!”
some of the girls forgot to sit down, so overcome with horror were they to think that mam’zelle rougier was sitting there with that book of caricatures right under her nose. mam’zelle rapped on her desk.
“are you deaf? sit!”
they sat. belinda stared beseechingly round. she caught alicia’s satisfied grin and felt angry. so alicia had known that mam’zelle rougier was coming instead of mam’zelle dupont—and had used her as a cat’s paw to play a very dangerous trick. everyone knew what mam’zelle rougier’s temper was like. she would probably go straight to the head!
belinda didn’t know what to do. darrell saw how alarmed she was, and did a bold thing. she got up and walked to mam’zelle’s desk, and put her hand on the book.
“i’m sorry this was left here by mistake, mam’zelle,” she said, politely. she almost got away with it. but not quite. the girls stared breathlessly.
“wait a minute,” said mam’zelle rougier. “books left on the desk must not be removed without permission. what is this book?”
“oh—only a—a sketch book,” said darrell, desperately. mam’zelle glanced round the silent class. why were they all looking and listening so intently? there was something curious here.
she took up the book and opened it. her glance fell on the picture of herself stalking mam’zelle dupont with a dagger. she stared at it incredulously. there she was in the picture, tall, thin, bony—positively evil-looking—and with a dagger too!
she turned over a page. what! here she was again—with a gun. ah, no, this was too much! she turned another page and another. always she saw herself there, unkindly caricatured, pursuing poor mam’zelle dupont, who had been given a most amiable look, and was obviously the heroine, whilst she, mam’zelle rougier, was the villain!
“this is unbelievable!” said mam’zelle, under her breath, almost forgetting darrell, who stood petrified nearby, and all the other waiting girls. belinda was very pale. what bad luck! whatever would happen now? oh, why had she been such an idiot as to let alicia lead her into this silly trap—just to make alicia and betty enjoy seeing her well ticked-off.
mam’zelle became aware of the girls again. she snapped at darrell and made her jump. “go back to your place.”
darrell fled thankfully. mam’zelle looked round the class, raking them with cold, angry eyes.
“who has done this? who has committed the insult of placing this book beneath my eyes?”
sally spoke up at once. “we’re all in it, mam’zelle. but we didn’t mean you to see the book. we meant it for mam’zelle dupont. we didn’t know you had changed over lessons today.”
this was unfortunately the worst possible thing that sally could have said. mam’zelle shot to her feet at once, her eyes stony.
“what! you meant to give this to mam’zelle dupont! you meant her to laugh at me with you! is that what she does behind my back? ah, how glad i am to know how she behaves, this shameful frenchwoman! she shall know of this! i go to miss grayling at once—this very minute!”
the class sat in horrified silence. it had not occurred to them that it might be insulting to mam’zelle rougier to show the book of comical drawing to mam’zelle dupont. belinda felt faint.
“mam’zelle! don’t go to miss grayling. i . . .”
but the class were not going to let belinda take the blame. even alicia looked scared now. many of the girls spoke at once, drowning poor belinda’s faint voice.
“mam’zelle, we’re sorry. don’t report us!”
but mam’zelle, swept by a cold fury, was already departing out of the door. the girls looked at one another in real horror.
“alicia—you knew mam’zelle rougier was coming this afternoon instead of mam’zelle dupont,” said belinda. “i saw you wink at betty. you knew! and you used me to play one of your nasty tricks! i’d never have shown those pictures to mam’zelle rougier, and you know it.”
alicia was truthful, whatever her faults were. she did not deny it. “i didn’t know she’d make such a fuss,” she said, rather feebly.
“alicia, you’re a beast!” said darrell, feeling a hot flame working up inside her. “you might have thought what serious trouble you’d get belinda into. you, you . . .”
“leave me to deal with this,” said sally’s quiet voice behind her. “don’t get all worked up, darrell. i’ll deal with alicia.”
“oh, will you?” said alicia, spitefully. “well, you won’t. if you think you’re going to tick me off, you’re not, miss head-of-the-form, good-girl-of-the-school, sally hope.”
“don’t be silly,” said sally, in disgust. “i can’t think what’s come over you lately, alicia. you are always trying to make things difficult for me. i’m going down to the head myself, this very minute—and you’re to come too, belinda. we’ll try to get things put straight before they go too far.”
“you’ll put the whole blame on to me, of course!” said alicia, scornfully. “i know you! get belinda out of trouble and me into it!”
“i shan’t say anything about you,” said sally. “i’m not a sneak. but i’d think a lot better of you if you came along with us, and explained your part in the affair!”
“i don’t care what you think of me,” said alicia, getting angry. “i’m not going to tag along at your heels and say ‘please, i did it!’ you’re not going to make me do anything i don’t want to do!”
“i’m not going to try,” said sally. “come on, belinda, let’s go before it’s too late.”
poor belinda, looking frightened out of her life, went along the passage and down the stairs and out into the court. they made their way to the head mistress’s room.
“oh, sally—it’s awful!” said belinda, all her high spirits and light-heartedness gone. “mam’zelle was so fierce. and those pictures were rather beastly, some of them.”
when the girls knocked on the door of the head mistress’s drawing-room, they heard voices inside. miss grayling was there, and mam’zelle rougier—and miss linnie the art mistress. she had been called in to see if she could tell them who had done the clever and malicious drawings.
“belinda morris, of course!” she said, after a glance. “there’s no girl in the school as clever as she is at sketching. she’ll be a first-class artist one of these days. my word—these are clever!”
“clever!” snorted mam’zelle. “they are wicked, they are disrespectful, they are bad, bad, bad! i demand that you punish this girl, miss grayling. i demand that the whole class shall be severely punished too.”
just at that moment sally knocked at the door. “come in!” said miss grayling, and the two girls entered.
“well?” said miss grayling. sally swallowed hard. it was all very difficult—especially as mam’zelle was glaring at her so fiercely.
“miss grayling,” she began, “we’re very, very sorry about this.”
“what is this to do with you?” asked miss grayling. “i thought belinda did the pictures?”
“yes, i did,” said belinda, in a low voice.
“but it was the whole class who wanted to put them on the desk—and let mam’zelle dupont see them,” said sally. “but—mam’zelle rougier came instead, and she saw them. i’m very sorry about it.”
“but why should you picture mam’zelle rougier pursuing her friend in such a murderous manner?” asked the head, looking through the book. “i don’t see why that should interest or amuse mam’zelle dupont.”
there was a silence. then mam’zelle rougier spoke stiffly. “we are not friends, mam’zelle dupont and i.”
and before miss grayling could stop her, mam’zelle had poured out her grievance over the plays. miss grayling listened gravely. then she turned to the girls.
“then do i understand that one day the chief characters are played by sally and darrell, and the next day by daphne?” she asked.
sally said yes, that was what had happened. mam’zelle rougier suddenly looked rather ashamed. it occurred to her that she and mam’zelle dupont had been very silly, and had allowed their private quarrel to muddle up the play and make things awkward for the girls.
she wished she had thought twice about taking the book down to the head. no wonder the girls had put the quarrel into those stupid drawings—but why did they make her the villain and mam’zelle dupont the heroine? ah, that was not nice!
“you didn’t know, then, that mam’zelle rougier was going to take the class instead of mam’zelle dupont?” said the head, suddenly. sally hesitated a fraction of a second. alicia had known—and betty too. but she, sally, hadn’t known, nor had any of the others.
“i didn’t know that, of course, miss grayling,” she said.
“did anyone know?” persisted the head. sally did not know how to answer. she did not want to tell tales, but she could not very well say nothing. belinda broke in.
“yes, someone knew—and that someone used me for a cat’s paw. i’d never, never have shown those drawings to mam’zelle rougier. i won’t tell who it was—but do believe me when i say i wouldn’t have hurt mam’zelle rougier’s feelings for anything. it was just a joke.”
“yes, i see that,” said miss grayling. “an unfortunate joke, of course, but still a joke. a joke that was played on the wrong person and caused anger and distress. as i see it, quite a lot of people are to blame in this.” she glanced at mam’zelle rougier, who grew rather red. “there was a quarrel, it seems, to start with. without that, possibly all this would not have occurred. you two girls may go now. i will discuss with mam’zelle what punishment is fitting for you all.”
in silence belinda and sally went out of the door. miss linnie came with them. mam’zelle rougier was left behind, as miss grayling had made her a sign to stop.
“belinda, you’re an idiot,” said miss linnie.
“i’ll never draw anyone again!” said belinda, dismally.
“oh, yes you will,” said miss linnie. “but you’ll probably draw kinder pictures in future. don’t be too clever, belinda—it always lands you into trouble sooner or later!”
