by Enid Blyton
16
Heroines and villains
June looked at the scene before her open-mouthed. Well, really! She had spent the last hour or so waiting for something to happen, and it seemed that all the excitement had been taking place at Malory Towers! Now, if only she could get back in without being spotted.
Her ankle was growing more painful now, and June limped slowly across to the shed, where she replaced the bicycle. Then, keeping close to the bushes, she made her way to the little side door, which she had left unlocked. As she was about to turn the handle, the door was suddenly pulled open, and June almost fell inside, very relieved to see that the person standing there wasn’t Miss Grayling, or Miss Potts—but Bonnie! And the girl was holding June’s pyjamas and dressing-gown.
‘Thank heavens,’ said Bonnie, thrusting the clothes at June.‘Get changed, quickly! Miss Grayling has sent me to fetch you.’
‘Miss Grayling wants to see me? Why? Bonnie, do tell me what’s happened!’ begged June.‘There are police cars in the drive, and lights on all over the place, and—’
‘Never mind that now!’ said Bonnie, impatiently.‘Get into your pyjamas, for I’ve been gone simply ages, and the Head will send someone to look for me if I don’t take you to her soon. I’ll explain everything to you on the way.’
So June scrambled into her pyjamas, and Bonnie threw her day clothes into a nearby cupboard, saying, ‘We can collect these later. Now, make your hair look tousled, as if you’ve just got out of bed—yes, that’s it.’
Then she grabbed June’s hand and began pulling her along the corridor.
‘Ow!’ groaned June, stumbling, as her ankle began to hurt once more. ‘Careful, Bonnie! I’ve twisted my ankle.’
‘Golly!’ said Bonnie.‘How did you do that?’
‘Fell off my bicycle,’ said June, glumly.‘And it was all a waste of time, for no one turned up. But never mind that! I want to know what has been going on here.’
Bonnie told her as they walked, and June came to a halt suddenly.
‘So, you solved the mystery after all,’ she said in rather a small voice.
‘No, I didn’t!’ said Bonnie.‘You were the one who worked out that our blank piece of paper wasn’t blank, after all. Without knowing that, we wouldn’t have got anywhere. I simply guessed that it was a ruse to get Bill and Clarissa out of the way. So, you see, June, we both played a part. It was teamwork!’
‘So it was!’ said June, looking brighter.‘Well, I’m beginning to think that there’s rather a lot to be said for teamwork!’
‘I’m glad to hear it,’ said Bonnie, with a smile.‘Now, do come along, or the Head will start thinking that we have run away! Oh, and you will have to try and hide your limp. Miss Grayling will never believe that you twisted your ankle lying in bed.’
‘I’ll do my best,’ said June, wincing. They were outside Miss Grayling’s door now, and she said to Bonnie, ‘Is there anything else I should know, before we go in?’
‘Oh yes,’ said Bonnie, tapping at the door.‘The police are inside and they want to interview both of us.’
It was the early hours of the morning by the time Felicity, June and Bonnie got to bed. By that time, the whole dormitory was awake, for Bonnie had accidentally bumped into Esme’s bed when she slipped in to fetch June’s night-clothes. Bonnie had disappeared by the time Esme was fully awake, and the girl had lain there for a moment, wondering what had disturbed her. Then she sat up and, as her eyes became accustomed to the darkness, she spotted the three empty beds, and gave an involuntary cry of alarm. This roused the others, of course, and they stared at the empty beds in astonishment, quite unable to imagine what could have happened to the three absentees.
‘Surely they haven’t all gone off somewhere together!’ said Amy, rather put out that she hadn’t been taken into Bonnie’s confidence.
‘Well, if they haven’t, it’s a bit of a coincidence,’ said Susan, who was also feeling rather hurt that Felicity had gone off somewhere without her.
‘I know some of the South Tower girls were talking about a midnight feast,’ said Freddie.‘Do you suppose they have been invited to that?’ But if that was so, why hadn’t June invited her along too, she thought, feeling rather left out.
Pam shook her head decidedly, and said, ‘You know that there is a strict rule about girls leaving their tower to go to another, after lights-out. June and Freddie might break it, but Felicity never would.’
‘No, she wouldn’t,’ said Susan, her brow clearing a little.
‘Perhaps they’re hiding somewhere, and playing a trick on us!’ suggested Nora.
‘Yes, that’s it!’ cried Freddie.‘I’ll bet they are all in the bathroom, listening like anything, and laughing their heads off at us!’
And Freddie had leapt out of bed and run to the bath-room, pulling open the door. But, of course, it was empty.
‘Where can they be?’ asked Freddie, scratching her head.
There was a good deal of speculation, until the three girls themselves walked in. First Felicity, then Bonnie, and then June, who was limping quite badly now. They were immediately pounced on by the others. And what a tale they had to tell!
The note had been intended as a diversion. When the police—alerted by Bonnie—arrived at Five Oaks, they had caught Mr Banks and several of his grooms in the act of letting the horses out.
‘And then they planned to set fire to the stable block!’ said Bonnie. ‘Did you ever hear of anything so wicked?’
‘The police got there in the nick of time,’ explained Felicity.‘Of course, Mr Banks and his accomplices were arrested, and they admitted being behind all the unpleasant happenings at Five Oaks.’
‘Yes, it seems that Eleanor’s uncle wanted to buy Five Oaks for himself,’ said June.‘But he knew that the girls would never sell willingly, and set about trying to put them out of business, so that they would have no choice in the matter.’
‘Mr Banks! Who would have thought it?’
‘And we all thought that he was being so kind to Bill and Clarissa, when all the time it was an act!’
‘You said that he looked sinister, Felicity,’ said Susan.‘And you were right!’
Julie had sat pale and silent as the tale unfolded, for, exciting as it was, there was only one thought in her head. With a flicker of hope in her eyes, she looked at the three girls now, and said, ‘What about Jack?’
‘That’s the best news of all!’ said June happily.‘Jack is safe and well! The police found him stabled at Mr Banks’s. He has been well looked after, and not ill-treated in any way. They took him straight back to Five Oaks, so you can go over and visit him tomorrow.’
There was silence for a moment, then a rousing cheer went up. Suddenly everyone went mad, jumping up and down on the beds, and clapping one another on the back. Lucy hugged Julie so hard that the two of them almost over-balanced, while Nora did a little tap dance in the middle of the floor!
‘June and Bonnie, I simply can’t thank you enough!’ said a grateful Julie, her face shining with happiness.‘I just wish there was some way I could repay you! If there’s ever anything I can do for either of you, anything at all, you have only to say the word!’
‘You’re a real pair of heroines,’ said Lucy.‘Three cheers for June and Bonnie!’
And, once again, the third formers cheered for all they were worth, while June and Bonnie turned red and beamed with pride.
‘Oh, how I wish I could go and see my darling Jack right this very minute!’ said Julie longingly.
‘Well, you’re just going to have to be patient!’ laughed Felicity. ‘I’ve had quite enough excitement for one night, thank you.’
‘Sandy will keep an eye on Jack for you tonight, old girl,’ said Lucy, clapping her friend on the shoulder.‘He will be so glad to have his old friend back!’
Julie’s expression grew serious suddenly, and she said bitterly, ‘Eleanor must have known where Jack was all along. And she pretended to feel sorry for me. The bea
st!’
‘Yes, what part did dear Eleanor play in all this?’ asked Amy.
‘Well, she was in on the plan to drive Bill and Clarissa out, of course,’ said Bonnie, taking up the story.‘It was she who stole Bill and Clarissa’s cash-box, on her uncle’s orders.’
‘I always knew that Eleanor was mean, but I didn’t think that even she would stoop so low,’ said Pam in disgust.
‘Apparently, Mr Banks told the police that Eleanor tried to talk him out of stealing Jack,’ said Felicity.‘But he had made his mind up. And she had no idea that he had planned to burn the stables down tonight. It was Eleanor who wrote the note that Bonnie found in Jack’s stable, but she really believed that her uncle was going to hand Jack over to Bill and Clarissa tonight.’
‘We saw her, briefly, after the police had spoken to her,’ said June, sounding very serious, for once.‘They must have been quite hard on her, for she looked simply dreadful, and very shaken indeed.’
‘I’d jolly well like to shake her, all right!’ said Lucy, harshly. ‘Perhaps she didn’t know all of her uncle’s plans, but she did know that he was up to no good—and she went along with it.’
‘Of course, Miss Grayling isn’t going to keep her here,’ said Felicity.‘She is to leave tomorrow, and go to live with her aunt until her parents are back in the country.’
‘So she’ll still be nearby,’ said Nora in disgust.
‘Not for long, I don’t suppose,’ said June.‘I should think that Mrs Banks will want to sell up and move away, for the shame will be too much to bear once word gets around that her husband is an out-and-out villain!’
‘Bill and Clarissa must be awfully bucked,’ said Pam.‘They won’t have to sell Five Oaks after all.’
‘Yes, they arrived home just as Mr Banks was being arrested,’ said Bonnie.‘Of course, Bill’s brothers were all for dealing with him themselves, Sergeant Dobbs said, but the police wouldn’t allow it.’
‘Pity,’ said Nora, with a sigh.‘I daresay they would have taught him a lesson he wouldn’t forget in a hurry.’
‘And Sergeant Dobbs also said that Mr Banks will have to pay the girls compensation, for all the damage he has done to their property and their reputation,’ Felicity said happily.‘So that’s jolly good as well.’
June and Bonnie’s interview with the police had been a much more pleasant experience than Eleanor’s. Sergeant Dobbs and his colleagues had been most impressed with their detective work, and had praised the two girls quite extravagantly.
‘Well, it’s no more than you deserve,’ said Julie, when the girls recounted this.
‘I’ll say!’ agreed Esme.‘My goodness, what a night it’s been!’
‘Yes, it’s just a pity that we missed most of the excite-ment,’ said Nora.
‘Well, I missed most of it too, as it turned out,’ said June, with a comical expression.‘For I spent most of the night sitting up a tree, and ended up falling off a bicycle!’
The others roared with laughter at this, and at last Felicity said, ‘I was going to tick you off properly for sneaking out, June. But everything has turned out so well, and I feel so happy, that I just can’t be angry with you any more.’
‘I should jolly well think not!’ said June, putting on an enormous air of self-importance.‘After all, I am a heroine! Besides, I’ve punished myself already, for my ankle is going to be black and blue tomorrow.’
‘Golly, yes, your poor ankle!’ said Freddie.‘We shall have to think up a story to account for that.’
‘Perhaps you can pretend to slip on your way downstairs tomorrow,’ said Susan, with a yawn.
‘Tomorrow? You mean today,’ said Pam, looking at her alarm clock. ‘It’s almost three o’clock!’
‘Heavens!’ said Felicity.‘We have to be up in a few hours, and I suddenly feel worn out. I shall never be able to do it.’
Just then they heard the sound of footsteps outside the dormitory, and then the door opened and Miss Grayling herself stood there. It was a most unusual occurrence for the Head to visit one of the dormitories, and the girls stopped talking at once, all of them looking rather sheepish. Gracious, they must have been making a frightful din to have brought Miss Grayling on the scene! But the headmistress’s blue eyes twinkled, and she said, ‘It’s all right, girls, I haven’t come to tell you off, for I realise that this has been no ordinary night. In fact, it has been quite extraordinary!’
The girls smiled at this, and the Head went on, ‘I know that you have all had a lot to talk about, and no doubt feel thoroughly overexcited, but I really must insist that you get to sleep now.’
‘But, Miss Grayling, if I drop off now I shall never wake up in time for breakfast,’ protested June.‘Can’t we go to bed early tonight, instead?’
‘No, June,’ said the Head firmly.‘Once you close your eyes, I think you will find that you are a lot more tired than you realise. All of you, into bed at once, please.’
The third formers obeyed immediately, for most of them really did feel very tired and were secretly quite glad to be ordered into bed.
‘Now, I don’t want another sound from this dormitory until the dressing-bell rings,’ said the Head, turning off the light. Then she stood quite still for a moment, silhouetted in the doorway.‘There is just one more thing that I need to say to you, June, and to Bonnie,’ she said softly.‘I am very, very proud of both of you.’
And with that, Miss Grayling closed the door gently, and the third formers heard her footsteps fading away into the distance.
‘Well!’ whispered Freddie.‘Fancy the Grayling saying that! I bet that you’re as pleased as punch, aren’t you, June? June?’
But there was no answer, for Miss Grayling had been quite right. June was fast asleep.
17
A surprise for June
Felicity, June, Bonnie and Nora all found it quite impossible to get out of bed the following morning.
‘Though I don’t know why Nora should be so tired,’ said Esme, looking down at the sleeping girl.‘She didn’t have an adventure last night, like the other three did.’
‘Nora can never get out of bed in the morning,’ laughed Pam, bending down to give her friend a shake.‘Come on, sleeping beauty! Wakey wakey!’
Nora opened her eyes a fraction, mumbled something that no one could understand, then turned over and promptly went back to sleep again.
‘There’s only one thing for it,’ said Pam.‘We shall have to pull the covers off her.’
And Pam and Esme did just that, causing Nora to sit up angrily and shake her fist at them.
But no one quite liked to dish out the same treatment to the other three who were still asleep. If anyone had earned a lie-in, they had!
Just then, though, Felicity opened her eyes, lying quite still for a few seconds as the events of the previous night came back to her. For a moment she thought that it had all been a strange dream, but then she saw Julie, chattering happily to Lucy, a beaming smile on her face, and she knew that it had really happened. Julie would not look so happy if her beloved Jack were still missing.
Bonnie began to stir too, then June, and just as the three girls were thinking about getting out of bed, Matron bustled in.
‘Come along, you third formers!’ she chivvied them.‘There will be no breakfast left for you, if you don’t get a move on.’
‘I say, Matron,’ said Pam.‘We shan’t have to face Eleanor in the dining-room, shall we?’
‘Indeed you shan’t!’ said Matron grimly.‘Her aunt will be along to fetch her very shortly, and until she arrives, Eleanor will stay in her dormitory, out of the way.’
Privately, Matron thought that it would have done Eleanor the world of good to have to face the scorn and hard stares of the others, but the girl was far too weak to do that. She would never be able to look at any of the Malory Towers girls again!
Felicity swung her legs over the edge of the bed, and Matron said, ‘Not you, Felicity! Or June, or Bonnie. Miss Grayling has given orders
that you are to have breakfast in bed today.’
The three girls looked at one another in delight, and Nora called out hopefully, ‘Can I have breakfast in bed too, Matron?’
‘No, you jolly well can’t!’ cried Matron, trying her best to look stern, though her eyes twinkled.‘In fact, if you don’t finish getting dressed this minute, Nora, you’ll be on bread and water.’
Muttering darkly, Nora quickly dressed, and followed the rest of her form downstairs, leaving the other three alone.
‘Breakfast in bed!’ sighed June contentedly, propping her pillow up behind her and snuggling into it.‘What a treat!’
And soon the girls were tucking into big bowls of creamy porridge, followed by fluffy, scrambled eggs and buttered toast, all washed down with big mugs of tea.
‘Yummy!’ said Felicity, spreading marmalade on a piece of toast.‘But my goodness, how these crumbs do get into the bedclothes!’
‘The secret is to hold the plate right under your chin,’ said Bonnie, demonstrating.‘Gosh, this marmalade is simply delicious! I don’t know why breakfast always tastes so much nicer when it’s eaten in bed, but there’s no doubt that it does!’
The girls ate in silence for a few moments, then June said, ‘Everything is going to feel a bit flat now, after all the excitement yesterday.’
‘Oh, I don’t know,’ said Felicity.‘There is still the tennis tournament with St Margarets to look forward to.’
‘So there is!’ said June, sounding more cheerful.‘With everything that has happened lately, I had almost forgotten about that.’
Then her face fell and she cried, ‘Oh, my goodness! There’s something else I’d forgotten about—my ankle! Suppose it’s not healed in time for me to play?’
‘Have you looked at it this morning?’ asked Bonnie.‘Perhaps it will be better now.’
June put her breakfast tray aside and gingerly pulled back the covers—then all three girls gasped. Far from being better, June’s ankle had swollen up dreadfully, and was quite horribly bruised.