by Enid Blyton
About a quarter of an hour later, Jenny came into the common – room looking furious. She sat down in a chair with a bump. Belinda looked up from her sewing.
«My goodness! Another thunderstorm beginning!», she said. «What's up, Jenny? One look at you and even the milk would turn sour!»
«Don't be funny», said Jenny. «It's that horrible Kathleen! She told Kenneth that I borrowed his bike yesterday without asking him. And I didn't. I took Harry's and I did ask him! Mine had a puncture!»
«Well, really, Kathleen's going a bit too far!» said Elizabeth indignantly. «That's twice she's said nasty things about you today. I'll tell her what I think of her when I see her!»
«She's in the passage outside, still telling Kenneth about me», said Jenny. «Go and say what you want to – it will do her good!»
«No, don't, Elizabeth», said Belinda. «You are such a little spitfire. Don't interfere.»
But Elizabeth had already marched out of the room. She saw Kathleen and went up to her. «Look here, Kathleen», she said, «if you don't stop saying unkind and untrue things about Jenny, I'll report you at the next Meeting!»
«And what about the unkind and untrue things that Jenny said about me in front of you all!» said Kathleen in a low and trembling voice. «How dared she mock me like that!»
«Well, they might have been unkind, but they weren't untrue», said Elizabeth. Then she was sorry she had said that. But it was too late to unsay it, Kathleen turned away and went off without saying another word.
She was really afraid that Elizabeth might report her, and she made up her mind that she had better not speak against Jenny. But she would do all kinds of little things to annoy her and get her into trouble – and she would do them to that interfering Elizabeth, too.
“I'll be very, very careful so that nobody guesses it's me” thought Kathleen to herself. “I'll hide their books – and make blots on their home-work – and do things like that. I'll soon pay them out!”
The next School Meeting came along quickly. The children took their places as usual, and the Meeting began. A nice lot of money was put into the box, for three children had had birthdays and had many postal orders sent to them. That was lucky!
«We are rich today», said William, jingling the box. «Give out the ordinary money, Eileen – and fourpence ha'penny extra to Mary as usual. Now – any requests for extra money?»
Leonard, one of the bigger boys, stood up. «May I have half-a-crown to pay for mending a window, please?» he asked. «I broke one yesterday in the common-room.»
«By accident, or were you fooling about?» asked William.
«I was playing with an old cricket-ball», said Leonard.
«Well, you know quite well that we made a rule last term not to bring balls into the common- room», said William. «It only means broken windows.»
«I quite forgot that rule», said Leonard. «I should like the money, though – half a crown is a lot to have to pay. I'm sorry about it, William.»
The Jury discussed the matter. They quite saw that half a crown was a lot of money when each boy and girl only had two shillings each week. On the other hand, Leonard had broken a rule that he himself had helped to make last term, and why should the school money pay for his fooling about?
The matter was decided at last. William banged with his hammer and the children were quiet.
«Was anybody else fooling about with you?» asked William. Leonard stood up again.
«Well, yes», he said, «but it was when I threw the ball that the window got broken.»
«The Jury think that the half-crown shouldn't come out of the School Box», said William, «but they also think that you shouldn't have to pay it all. You'd better discuss it with the children who were playing about with you at the time, and divide the payment between you. That's fair.»
A boy got up. «I was fooling about too», he said. «I'll pay my share, I agree that it's fair.»
Two others got up, a boy and a girl. «We will pay our share too», they said.
«Right», said William. «Fours into two shillings and sixpence – sevenpence ha'penny each. That won't ruin any of you. And please remember that as you all help to make the few rules we have, it's up to you to keep them.»
John nudged Elizabeth. «Ask for the money for our crocuses» he whispered. «Go on, I'm not going to! It was your idea.»
«I'm sure the Meeting won't let me have anything after what they said last week», said Elizabeth in a fierce whisper.
«Coward!» said John, with a grin. That was quite enough to make Elizabeth shoot to her feet at once. She could never bear to be called a coward! Kathleen looked at her rather anxiously. She was half afraid that Elizabeth was going to complain about her to the Meeting.
«What do you want, Elizabeth?» asked Rita. «Extra money?»
«Yes, please», said Elizabeth. «John and I have got some fine plans for the school garden and we both think it would be lovely to have yellow and purple crocuses growing in the grass on that sloping bank near the gates. John says we'd want at least five hundred crocus corms. Please may we have the money to buy them, Rita?»
William and Rita spoke together for a moment and the Jury nodded their heads at one another. Everyone thought the money could be given.
«Yes, you can have what you want», said William. «The whole School will enjoy seeing the crocuses in the early spring, and it is quite fair that the money should come out of the School Box. Find out how much the corms will be, Elizabeth, and we shall be very pleased to give you the money. Also, I would like to say that the whole School appreciates the way that you and John work at our garden.»
Elizabeth blushed with pleasure. This was quite unexpected. She sat down with a word of thanks.
John grinned in delight at her. «What did I tell you?» he whispered. «You can always trust William and Rita to be absolutely fair!»
«Any complaints or grumbles?» asked Rita. A small boy got up promptly. He was a cheeky-looking child, and had his complaint all ready.
«I should like to make a complaint about Fred White», he said. «He's always borrowing my things and never giving them back.»
«That's telling a tale, not making a proper complaint», said William at once. «Go to your monitor to decide silly little things of that sort. Who is your monitor?»
«I am», said a boy called Thomas.
«Well, please explain carefully the difference between telling tales and making a genuine complaint», said William. «We only decide serious things at this Meeting.»
«Any more complaints?» asked Rita.
A boy called William Peace got up. He was in the form below Elizabeth, a serious-faced boy. «I have a small complaint to make», he said. «I learn the violin and I see that my practice-times have been altered to the times when my form goes for a Nature ramble. I belong to the Nature Society, and I hate to miss the rambles. May the time of one of them be altered?»
«It would be quite easy», said William. «Discuss it with Mr. Lewis, the music-master, and see if there is anyone who can change practice-times with you.»
«Thank you», said the boy, and sat down.
There were no more complaints. Kathleen did not get up and say anything at all, though the others in her form were almost sure that she would complain about Jenny. They did not know that the girl was going to punish Jenny in her own way.
«The Meeting is dismissed», said William, and the School filed out, chattering as soon as the children got to their various common – rooms, Elizabeth went to John.
«It's good that we can have the money for the crocuses, isn't it?», she said, with her eyes shining. «We'll go down to the town tomorrow, John, and see how much they are. I'm longing to plant them, aren't you? October is the right month, they will look so lovely in the spring-time.»
«Elizabeth, I wish you knew how much nicer you look when you are all happy and smiling like that», said John. «It is so horrid when you frown and sulk.»
«You're always lecturing me,
John!» said Elizabeth. But she was glad all the same that John was pleased with her. Alas! He was not going to be pleased with her for long!
Chapter 9: Kathleen Plays Some Tricks
Kathleen did not change her mind about paying back Elizabeth and Jenny. She began to play all kinds of mean little tricks on them, and she played them so cleverly that they did not guess she had done them. She slipped into the classroom after tea when there was no one there, and went to Jenny's desk. She knew that Jenny had written out her French home-work very carefully indeed, and she had seen her put the book back into her desk.
Kathleen took out the book and opened it at the place where the work had been done. She dipped a pen in the ink – and then she made three large blots on the page by shaking the pen hard! She looked at it. The page was dreadful. Jenny would get into trouble, no doubt about that! She waited until the blots were dry and then shut the book. She slipped it into the desk and ran back to the common-room. She saw Jenny there and gave her a sly look. Ah, wait, Jenny! You'll have a shock tomorrow, thought Kathleen.
Elizabeth was in the room too, putting one of her favourite gramophone records on. Kathleen wondered what she could do to her. She sat and thought for a while, then quietly got up. She slipped out of the room and put on her coat. It was dark outside, and she went out of the garden door into the school grounds.
She went to where Elizabeth kept her spade, fork, and trowels. John always insisted that every tool used should be cleaned till it was bright and shining, before it was put away. Elizabeth was always particular about this, for she knew that well-kept tools did good work. Kathleen took down the garden tools. She carried them outside, and went to a place where she knew that the earth was damp and muddy. She dug the tools into the wet soil and made them very dirty indeed. Then she carried them back to the shed and put them into a corner. She shone her torch on to them. They were brown with mud. John would be furious when he found them – and as they were the ones that Elizabeth always used, he would be sure to think that she had been careless.
“Well, I'll soon teach Jenny and Elizabeth that it doesn't pay to be horrid to me!” thought Kathleen to herself, as she went back to take off her coat. “They deserve to be punished! They've been mean to me. Now I'm being mean back to them. Serves them right!” She went back to the common-room. She couldn't help feeling rather victorious somehow, and she longed for the next day to come, so that she might see her two enemies getting into trouble.
The first one to get into trouble was poor Jenny. Mam'zelle asked Kenneth to collect the French books and Jenny gave hers up without even opening it. Mam'zelle set the class some translation to do, and then opened the French exercise books to correct them.
When she came to Jenny's, and saw the three enormous blots across the page, blotting out some of the sentences, she threw up her hands in horror. «What is this?» she cried. «Whose book is this?» She looked quickly at the name, and gazed across at Jenny in astonishment. «Jennifer Harris! How can you give in work like this! It is shocking!»
Jenny looked up in surprise. What could be the matter with her work? She had done it quite carefully. «Why, Mam'zelle!», she said. «Is there something wrong?»
«Jenny, my child, you do not belong to the kindergarten!» cried Mam'zelle, holding up the book for Jenny to see. «Look at this page! Is it not disgraceful? You know that you should have written out all this work again – work from this form cannot be given in covered with blots. I am truly ashamed of you!»
Jenny stared in the greatest surprise at her book. She knew quite well she hadn't made any blots at all. It couldn't be her book! «That's not my book, Mam'zelle», she said. «It can't be. I didn't make any blots at all. I would never give in work like that.»
«Jenny, I am not blind as a bat!» cried Mam'zelle, beginning to get excited. «I read your name here, see – Jennifer Harris. It is most certainly your book. And if you did not make those blots, how did they come? Blots do not make themselves, as you very well know.»
«I simply can't imagine how they came», said poor Jenny really puzzled now. «Honestly I can't, Mam'zelle, I'm most awfully sorry. I'll do the work again.»
«And you will be more careful in future», said Mam'zelle, calming down.
Jenny was upset and puzzled. She supposed that in some way she must have made the blots without noticing them, just as she shut the book. She did not see Kathleen looking at her with a spiteful gleam in her eyes. Kathleen was delighted at the success of her trick. She would play a few more on Jenny very soon! There was half an hour that afternoon for any child to go for a walk, practise lacrosse, or do gardening. Elizabeth chose to go to the garden. There was one little piece she hadn't quite been able to finish digging the day before. She could just finish it in the time, so off she skipped, and called out to John who was already digging hard. But John did not look at all pleased with her.
«Elizabeth, you did do some digging and forking yesterday, didn't you?» he called.
«Rather!» said Elizabeth, stopping beside him. «I used nearly all my tools, I was so busy. What's the matter, John? You look cross.»
«I am cross», said John. «Go and get your tools and you'll see why.» Elizabeth couldn't think what he meant. She rushed off to the shed – and stopped in surprise and dismay when she saw her tools. They were all muddy and dirty! Not one of them shone bright and silvery. What a very extraordinary thing! She went outside, carrying them with her
«John!», she said. «I'm quite sure I cleaned them as usual yesterday when I put them away.»
«You can't have», said John in a cold sort of voice. «Tools don't get dirty at night by themselves, Elizabeth. Have some sense.»
«I've got plenty!» cried Elizabeth. «And my sense tells me that if I did clean them, which I know I did, it's not my fault that they're dirty now.»
«Well, don't let's argue about it», said John. «I'd have thought a lot more of you, Elizabeth, if you'd owned up, and said you'd forgotten just for once. It's not like you to say you did a thing, when you didn't.»
«John!» cried Elizabeth, shocked. «How can you say such a thing about me! I'm never afraid of owning up. You know that. I tell you I did clean the tools»
«All right, all right», said John, going on with the digging. «I suppose they all walked out of the shed in the middle of the night and went digging by themselves and forgot to have a wash and brush -up afterwards. We'll leave it at that.»
The two children dug in silence. Elizabeth was puzzled, upset, and angry. She hated to think that John didn't believe her, and yet her common sense told her that it really did look as if she had forgotten to clean the tools. It was horrid to have John cross with her. She didn't know what to do.
«John», she said at last, «I really do think I cleaned the tools, but if I forgot, I'm very sorry. I've never forgotten before, I won't forget again.»
«All right, Elizabeth», said John, lifting his honest brown eyes to hers. He smiled at her, and she smiled back. But in her secret heart she was very puzzled indeed.
Kathleen had been waiting about by the garden shed to see what would happen. She was pleased when she saw that John was cross with Elizabeth. She went away, planning to do something else to get Elizabeth into trouble. What should she do next? Perhaps in a day or two she would dirty the tools again. She had better not do that too soon, though, in case Elizabeth began to suspect a trick. She decided to take two or three of Elizabeth's books and hide them somewhere. Miss Ranger would be cross if they couldn't be found. So once again Kathleen slipped into the classroom, and this time she went to Elizabeth's desk. She took out her geography exercise book, her arithmetic book, and her history book. She slipped out of the room with them and went to a cupboard outside. On the top were kept old maps. Kathleen stood on a chair and threw the books right on the very top, among the old maps. Nobody was about to see her. She quickly put back the chair, and went away. And now, what should she do to Jenny? The naughty girl frowned, and thought hard. Then she smiled to herself. S
he would take two of the white mice and put them into Miss Ranger's desk! That would be marvellous! Miss Ranger would be quite sure to think that Jenny had put them there herself. Nobody would know who had done it.
To do this Kathleen had to wait till the next morning. She planned to get the mice before breakfast. No one would be about then. She lay in bed that night thinking of what Miss Ranger would say when she opened the desk and found the mice.
She was up early the next morning. Nora was surprised, for Kathleen was usually one of the last out of bed.
«Hallo, turning over a new leaf?», she said.
Kathleen didn't answer. She slipped downstairs five minutes before the breakfast-bell went, and ran to the big shed where the pets were kept. She went to the cage of white mice. She had with her a little box, and it took her only a second or two to pick up two of the tiny white mice and slip them into the box. Then she hurried to her classroom with them. She lifted up the lid of Miss Ranger's desk.
She opened the box – and out scurried the white mice into the desk. Kathleen shut down the lid. What a surprise Miss Ranger and Jenny were going to get!
Chapter 10: Excitement in Class!
The first lesson that morning was arithmetic. Miss Ranger explained a new kind of sum to the class, and they listened hard.
«Now get out your books and we will do a few of these sums», said Miss Ranger, beginning to put down a few on the blackboard. «You should all be able to do them correctly, but if anyone hasn't quite understood what I have been saying, ask me first, before you begin the sums.»
Elizabeth opened her desk to get out her arithmetic exercise book. It wasn't on the top of the pile, where she usually put it. She hunted through her desk. How funny! The book wasn't there at all. Where could it be?
«Elizabeth! How much longer are you going to have your head in your desk?» asked Miss Ranger.