The Trouble at Wakeley Court (An Angela Marchmont Mystery Book 8) (3 page)

‘Ah, yes,’ said Angela. ‘Then this column of initials is a record of the—er—punters.’ She examined the page with interest. ‘Goodness,’ she said. ‘I had no idea she had such a good grasp of betting odds. Why, look at the calculations in the margin here. I can’t find a single mistake.’

‘I have no complaints about Barbara’s arithmetical ability,’ said Miss Bell, throwing Angela an odd look. ‘That is not the point, however. You must admit that this prank and the planning which has gone into it indicate a certain perversity of mind, to say the very least. As you can see, as the weeks went on, they expanded the game to include the rest of the teachers, and increased the difficulty of the challenge by making the words to be drawn from them ever more outlandish.’

‘So I see,’ said Angela. ‘Look—someone called M. B. managed to get Miss Finch to say “fandango,” “canoodle” and “interfenestration” all in one lesson. That’s rather impressive. I see no one has managed “anencephalous” or “platitudinarianism” yet, though. Or “callipygian,”’ she added.

‘I should think not,’ said Miss Bell primly. She had a slight suspicion that Mrs. Marchmont was not taking the conversation as seriously as she ought, and gave a cough. ‘That is the least of it, however. If you turn to the back of the book, you will see another set of figures, under the heading “Mr. Wilde.” Mr. Wilde is the vicar who gives most of the Sunday services in our school chapel here. Unfortunately for him, he suffers from a tendency to sneeze in the presence of dust, and despite our best efforts the chapel seems to bring on frequent and severe attacks of this nature. According to the book, Barbara has also been accepting bets on the number of times Mr. Wilde will sneeze during any given sermon. Shameful though it is, it appears that this is a particularly popular game with the girls, for the list of participants is rather long. I am sure I need not say that attention to religion is something that we take with the utmost seriousness here, Mrs. Marchmont, and I cannot have any of our girls showing such flagrant disrespect for its observance during periods of worship. As the ringleader, Barbara must take much of the blame for this.’

‘Dear me, quite,’ said Angela, arranging her face into what she hoped was a suitably solemn expression. ‘It is most worrying. Still, I am relieved to hear that her transgressions appear to be a case of excessively high spirits, rather than anything truly wicked. I should hate to think that she had done anything bad-natured. At least she has not hurt anybody.’

‘Unfortunately, I am rather afraid she has,’ said Miss Bell. ‘That is the worst of it. I should never have thought her to be the type of girl to harm someone maliciously, but two days ago I regret to say she was caught in the act of shoving a fellow pupil against a wall. The same pupil had earlier complained that Barbara deliberately whacked her on the leg with a hockey stick, although Barbara claimed it was an accident. I need not say that we do
not
tolerate such disgraceful behaviour at Wakeley Court. We do not teach our girls to inflict violence upon one another—on the contrary, our aim is to produce fine, upstanding young ladies who are well aware of their place in society and who will, it is hoped, be a credit to their school and their country. Any girl found fighting is swiftly dealt with, and Barbara can be no exception.’

‘Oh!’ said Angela, surprised. ‘Are you quite certain? That’s not like her at all. Did you ask her why she had done it?’

‘Yes, but she refused absolutely to answer,’ said Miss Bell. ‘She was quite intransigent in the matter, and therefore I had no choice but to tell her that, given her shocking behaviour, I should be unable to keep her at the school any longer.’

Angela’s heart sank. What on earth had possessed the girl?

Miss Bell went across to the window and stood, gazing out at the fruits of her labour as they gambolled happily on the lawn.

‘It is a great pity,’ she said. ‘Barbara is a very able child in most subjects, but especially Mathematics—as you have just seen. If she would only apply herself to use her talents in a more useful direction, then I should have no doubt of her achieving great success in life. I am particularly disappointed to have to let her go, since I had been planning to put her forward for extra tuition in Maths and Geometry. You know, of course, that the school was founded with the express purpose of preparing girls to sit the Cambridge entrance examination, and I had every hope that Barbara would pass it with no difficulty at all. Mathematics was my own favourite subject at school, and I take a particular interest in girls who show an aptitude for it. Unfortunately, we have another girl with a gift for the discipline who looks almost certain to leave Wakeley Court soon, as she is from one of the less wealthy families and they are having difficulty with the fees. Of course, the school is an expensive one, but we do our utmost to offer assistance to talented girls whose families would otherwise be unable to afford to send them here. As it happens, Violet Smedley is already the possessor of two scholarships, but it appears that even they will not be sufficient to enable her to stay at Wakeley Court, and there are no other scholarships available. It pains me to lose two such pupils at once.’ Here she gave a deep sigh.

Angela had been only half-listening, for she was absorbed in thoughts of having to send off for prospectuses, write letters explaining why Barbara needed to change school halfway through the term, wait anxiously for replies and then perhaps find that no-one was prepared to accept the girl at all. And what would she do then? She looked up to find the headmistress gazing at her speculatively.

‘I beg your pardon, what did you say?’ she said. ‘Something about scholarships?’

‘I was speaking of Violet Smedley,’ said Miss Bell. ‘She is a poor girl whom I believe to be capable of great things if given the opportunity.’

She paused and coughed significantly.

Angela had the notion that something was wanted of her, but could not tell what.

‘And you say she will have to leave the school as her parents cannot afford the fees?’ she said.

‘I am afraid so,’ said Miss Bell, eyeing Angela’s expensively-tailored dress and jacket.

Suddenly Angela understood, although for a second she could hardly believe it. She looked at Miss Bell in surprise, saw the way out which was being offered her, and made an upwards adjustment in her estimation of the headmistress’s abilities. It would be expensive, but the case was an urgent one and Angela saw that she had no choice but to rise to the occasion. She hesitated, then cleared her throat.

‘This Violet Smedley—is she a well-behaved girl?’ she said.

‘She is an absolute credit to the school,’ said Miss Bell. ‘Her conduct in all respects is exemplary.’

‘It is a pity I’d never heard of her before,’ said Angela, feeling her way carefully. ‘Had I known about her I should have encouraged Barbara to become friends with her, in the hope that Barbara might be induced to follow her example.’

Here she glanced up and thought she saw the merest glimmer of approval in Miss Bell’s eye, but the other woman said nothing, merely waited.

‘Do you imagine Barbara to be beyond all possibility of improvement?’ Angela went on.

‘Not at all,’ said Miss Bell. ‘On the contrary, I believe her to be a very good girl at heart, but one who tends to choose the wrong company. If she were to form a friendship with a quiet, steady girl, for example, I have no doubt that she would settle down considerably.’

‘Such as Violet, you mean? Yes, I think you are most likely right. It is a great pity, then, that you have been forced to expel Barbara before she could make a friend of that sort,’ said Angela, glancing at Miss Bell sideways. ‘As you say, setting aside the naughtiness, she’s clever enough. I’m sure you would have liked to see her and this Violet pass the entrance examination with flying colours, if only for the benefit of the school and its reputation.’

‘I certainly should,’ said Miss Bell. She regarded Angela encouragingly, as she might a girl who had made it halfway through her task without mistakes.

‘I was rather keen on Mathematics myself when I was younger,’ Angela went on, more confident now of what was required, ‘and I always rather thought that I should like to endow a scholarship one day, if the opportunity presented itself. However, it never did. It’s unfortunate that my connection with the school is about to end, since it sounds as though Violet Smedley would have been a most deserving recipient of such a scholarship.’

‘Indeed she would,’ said Miss Bell, ‘and I shall go so far as to say that I think Violet herself would have benefited enormously from having a companion such as Barbara with whom to work towards the examination.’

‘Then it is a shame that both of them will be leaving the school shortly,’ said Angela.

‘Yes, it is, isn’t it?’ said Miss Bell.

There followed a pause loaded with meaning. The two ladies’ eyes met.

Barbara was standing outside Miss Bell’s study, under the watchful eye of the headmistress’s secretary, when Angela emerged. Angela regarded the girl. She had the scraggy, lanky aspect of a child who had grown a lot in the past year, and her hair looked as though she had not combed it in a week. She gave Angela a wary but slightly defiant glance.

‘Well?’ she said.

‘I should like a word with you, Barbara,’ said Angela. ‘Let us go into the grounds.’

This was hardly a surprise, so Barbara set her jaw, followed Angela into the corridor, and prepared for a roasting. She thanked her stars that the Ellises were abroad, since the thought of an hour or two on the carpet at home, staring mutinously at the floor while Gerald strode up and down and tore at his hair and Nina gave full vent to her sharp tongue, did not appeal. The mild-mannered Angela was a much better prospect, thought Barbara, and felt somewhat cheered.

They headed out through the Quad and away from the building, and stopped by the tennis courts, which were quite deserted for once. Angela regarded Barbara coolly for a good long minute, until the girl felt quite awkward under her gaze and began to wonder whether she had drawn the easy lot after all.

‘Must you be so silent?’ she said nervously at last. ‘Can’t you just get it over with?’

‘I should like to hear what you have to say for yourself first,’ said Angela.

Barbara looked sulky.

‘What’s the use?’ she said. ‘I suppose you’ve heard it all from Big Ben, and I can’t deny any of it, so why must we go over it again? She’s given me the chuck now, anyhow, and I don’t suppose there’s any chance of her changing her mind, so why don’t we just can it and shove off?’

‘Is that the sort of language they teach you here?’ said Angela. ‘If so, perhaps it’s a good thing you’re leaving.’

‘No,’ admitted Barbara. ‘They’re rather hot on our not using slang. I’d get a fine and a black mark for it.’

‘Then you’ll think before you speak and not add to your list of misdeeds if you know what’s good for you,’ said Angela. ‘I have just spent a most uncomfortable hour in the company of your headmistress, hearing all sorts of tales about what you have been getting up to, and I am not in the best of moods at present. Now, kindly explain yourself. What do you think Nina and Gerald are going to say when they find out you have been expelled in disgrace? Is this any way to repay their kind treatment of you?’

Her tone was icy and Barbara reddened.

‘I’m sorry, Angela. It was only supposed to be a bit of fun. I try to be good, truly I do, but then the devil gets into me and I can’t help getting into scrapes.’

‘What do you mean, you can’t help it?’ said Angela. ‘You are fourteen, not four. One would expect that by now you would have at least some semblance of control over your baser impulses. Can’t you even get through one term without playing some silly trick or other?’

‘That’s pretty thick,’ said Barbara indignantly. ‘The book was your idea. You told me yourself you did something similar when you were at school.’

Angela blinked as the conversation in question came back to her, but barely faltered.

‘Firstly, it was not “my idea,” as you put it,’ she said. ‘At no point did I instruct you to do the same thing. As a matter of fact, I believe I expressly mentioned it as an example of my naughtiness as a child and told you
not
to do it. Secondly, I played the trick on the prefects, not the mistresses, which is a different thing entirely and not nearly so disrespectful. And thirdly,’ she could not help adding, ‘when
I
did it, I was never stupid enough to get caught.’ She was aware that this fact hardly constituted the moral high ground, and so went on hurriedly, ‘How did Miss Bell get hold of the book?’

‘I don’t know,’ said Barbara. ‘I think someone must have snitched. Probably the Everard female. It would be like her.’

‘Who is the Everard female?’ said Angela.

‘Edith Everard,’ said Barbara. ‘Horrid thing. She hates me but I’m not scared of her. She knows it and that’s probably why she tried to get me into trouble. Awful bully. She gives the smaller girls a terrible time of it and I won’t stand for it.’

‘Is she the girl you shoved?’ said Angela.

‘Yes,’ said Barbara defiantly, ‘and I shouldn’t have stopped there if Miss Devlin hadn’t caught me.’

‘But why?’ said Angela. ‘That’s not like you at all, Barbara.’

‘I hate bullying,’ said Barbara, ‘and I won’t stand for it.’

‘Who was she bullying?’ said Angela.

‘Oh, just one of the scholarship girls,’ said Barbara. ‘It’s hardly their fault if their people don’t have much money, is it? And looking down on them for being poor is a low thing to do. Edith’s uncle is a baronet, or something, although I heard he was disgraced, and she seems to think that gives her the right to lord it over everybody. It’s not as though a baronet is all that impressive anyway. We have all sorts of high-born girls here—why, we’ve even got a foreign princess, but
she
doesn’t give herself any airs. She’s rather dull, as a matter of fact.’

‘But Barbara,’ said Angela, ‘why didn’t you tell Miss Bell all this at the time?’

‘Because girls don’t squeak on one another,’ said Barbara. ‘It simply isn’t done.’