The Naughtiest Girl in the School (19 page)

CHAPTER 22

Rita talks to Elizabeth

Elizabeth went to the San. Matron was just coming out, smiling.

How is Joan now? asked Elizabeth.

Much better! said Matron, We shall soon have her out and about again now.

Oh, good, said Elizabeth, Can I go in?

Yes, said Matron. You can stay for twenty minutes, till afternoon school, Talk quietly, and dont excite Joan at all.

Elizabeth went in. She shut the door quietly behind her, Joan was lying in a white bed under a big sunny window, and Mrs. Townsend was sitting beside her.

And is this Elizabeth? asked Mrs. Townsend with a welcoming smile.

Elizabeth went forward and shook hands, thinking that Mrs. Townsend didnt look very angry after all. She bent over and kissed her friend.

Im so glad youre better, Joan, she said. I do miss you.

Do you really? said Joan, pleased. Ive missed you too.

Come here, Elizabeth, said Mrs. Townsend, drawing Elizabeth to her. I want to thank you for your letter. I was so surprised to get it-and I know it must have been hard to write.

Yes, it was, said Elizabeth, I was awfully afraid you would be angry with me when you got it, Mrs. Townsend. I meant to make Joan so happy on her birthday-and I didnt think shed find out it wasnt you who sent the things! I know it was a silly thing to do, now.

 Never mind, said Joans mother. It has made things come right in the end!

Have they come right? asked Elizabeth in surprise, looking from Joan to her mother.

Very right, said Mrs. Townsend, smiling. Joan will tell you all we have said, one day, and you will understand how they went wrong. But now I want to tell you that I am very, very glad Joan has such a kind little friend. I know she will be much happier at Whyteleafe now that she has you. It is so horrid to have no friends at all.

Oh, Elizabeth, I do so wish you were staying on at Whyteleafe, sighed Joan, taking her friends hand, Couldnt you possibly, possibly stay?

Dont ask me to, Joan, said Elizabeth. You know Ive made up my mind to go, and its feeble to change your mind once youve made it up! Ive said I shall go, and if the Meeting says I can, I shall go back with my parents when they come to see me at half term.

Do you think you will be able to come and see me at half term? asked Joan, turning to her mother.

Yes, I will, answered Mrs. Townsend. I hope by then that you will be up and about, and we will go to the next town, and spend the day there, Joan.

Oh, good, said Joan happily. It was the first time her mother had ever come to take her out at half term, and the little girl was delighted. I shall get better quickly now, so that I shall be ready for you at half term!

A bell rang in the school. Elizabeth got up quickly.

Thats my bell, she said. I must go. Goodbye, Mrs. Townsend, and thank you for being so nice about my letter. Goodbye, Joan. Im so glad youre happy. Ill come and see you again if Matron will let me.

She ran off. Mrs. Townsend turned to Joan, Shes a very nice child, she said. How funny that she should have been so naughty at first-and what a pity she wants to leave! Shes just the sort of girl that Whyteleafe School would be proud of.

Elizabeth thought of Rita as she sat in class that afternoon, doing her painting.

I told Rita I would go to her as soon as I had an answer to my letter, she thought, Well-I havent exactly had an answer-and yet I do know the answer, because Mrs. Townsend came herself and told me!

She wondered if she should go to Rita after tea. What should she tell her? She didnt know! She need not have worried herself. Miss Belle and Miss Best had sent for Rita that day, and had told her about Elizabeth, and her queer letter to Joans mother.

She spent the money her uncle gave her on buying that big birthday cake for Joan, and other presents and cards, said Miss Belle. That is where the money went, Rita!

But why didnt Elizabeth say so? asked Rita, puzzled.

Because if she explained that, the school would know Joans unhappiness at being forgotten by her mother, said Miss Best. If Elizabeth had been longer at Whyteleafe School, she would have gone to you, Rita, or to one of the monitors she trusted, and would have asked their advice-but she has been here such short time, and is such a headstrong, independent child, that she takes matters into her own hands-and gets into trouble!

All the same, she has the makings of a very fine girl in her, said Miss Belle, She is fearless and brave, kind and clever, and although she has been the naughtiest, rudest girl we have ever had, that only lasted for a little while.

Yes, said Rita, I liked her almost from the beginning, although she has been very difficult. But she really is the sort of girl we want at Whyteleafe. Im afraid now, though, that she will go home, for we have promised that she shall, if she wants to.

You must send for her and have a talk with her, Rita, said Miss Best. She was supposed to come and tell you when she had an answer to her letter to Mrs. Townsend, wasnt she? Well-we know the answer now-and it is not an answer that can be explained fully to a School Meeting. Have a talk with Elizabeth, and then decide what to do. I think you will feel that although Elizabeth did wrong, the kindness that was at the bottom of it more than makes up for the upset she caused!

Yes, I think so too, agreed Rita, who had been very interested in all that Miss Belle and Miss Best had told her. She was glad to know that Elizabeth had spent the pound on somebody else, glad that it was only kindness that had caused such a disturbance!

She went out to look for Elizabeth.

It was after tea. Elizabeth was running to see if Matron would let her sit with Joan again. She bumped into Rita round a corner.

Good gracious! What a hurricane you are! said Rita, her breath bumped out of her. Youre just the person I want to see, Come to my study.

Rita had a little room of her own, a study all to herself, because she was Head Girl. She was very proud of it, and had made it as nice as she could. Elizabeth had never been in it before, and she looked round in pleasure.

What a dear little room! she said. I like the blue carpet-and the blue tablecloth-and the pictures and flowers. Is this your very own room?

Yes, said Rita, William has one too. His is just as nice as mine. He is coming here in a minute. Have a sweet, Elizabeth?

Rita took down a tin from the small cupboard and offered it to Elizabeth, who at once took a toffee. Elizabeth wondered what Rita and William were going to say to her. There was a knock at the door, and William strolled in.

Hallo, he said, smiling at Elizabeth. Hows the Bold Bad Girl?

Elizabeth laughed. She liked William calling her that, though she had hated the name not so very long ago.

Elizabeth, William and I know now what you spent that pound on, and why you did it, said Rita, And we want to say that we quite see that you couldnt tell the Meeting.

And we shant tell the Meeting either, said William, sitting down in Ritas cozy arm-chair.

But wont you have to? asked Elizabeth in surprise.

No, said William. Rita and I are the judges of what can be told the Meeting, and what need not be explained, if we think best. We shall simply say that we have had a satisfactory answer and explanation, and that the matter is now finished.

Oh, thank you, said Elizabeth. It wasnt really myself I was thinking of, you know, it was Joan.

We know that now, said Rita, You tried to do a right thing in a wrong way, Elizabeth! If you had been at Whyteleafe a little longer, you would have done things differently-but you havent been here long enough.

No, I havent, said Elizabeth. I do see that I have learnt a lot already, but I havent learnt enough. I wish I was wise like you and William.

Well, why not stay and learn to be? said William with a laugh. You are just the sort of girl we want, Elizabeth. You would make a fine monitor, later on.

Me! A monitor! cried Elizabeth, most astonished, Oh, Id never, never be a monitor! Good gracious!

It may sound funny to you now, Elizabeth, said William. But in a term or two you would be quite responsible and sensible enough to be made one.

Id simply love to be a monitor, and sit in the jury! said Elizabeth, Whatever would Mummy say-and Miss Scott, my old governess, would never, never believe it. She said I was so spoilt I would never do anything worthwhile!

You are spoilt! said Rita, smiling. But you would soon get over that. What about staying on, Elizabeth, and seeing what you can do?

Im beginning to feel it would be nice, said Elizabeth. But I cant change my mind, I said I meant to go home at half term, and Im going to. Its only feeble people that change their minds, and say first one thing and then another. Im not going to be like that.

I wonder where you got that idea from? said William, I mean, the idea that its feeble to change your mind once its made up? Thats a wrong idea, you know.

Wrong? said Elizabeth, in surprise.

Of course, said William. Make up your mind about things, by all means-but if something happens to show that you are wrong, then it is feeble not to change your mind, Elizabeth. Only the strongest people have the pluck to change their minds, and say so, if they see they have been wrong in their ideas.

I didnt think of that, said Elizabeth, feeling puzzled.

Well, dont puzzle your head too much about things, said William, getting up. I must go. Think about what we have said, Elizabeth. The next Meeting will be your last one, if you are leaving us-and we shall keep our word to you and let you go if you want to. You can tell your parents when they come to see you at half term, and Miss Belle and Miss Best will explain everything to them. But we shall be sorry to lose the naughtiest girl in the school!

Elizabeth left the study, her head in a whirl. She did like William and Rita so much. But she couldnt change her mind-she would be so ashamed to climb down and say she had been wrong!

CHAPTER 23

Elizabeth fights with Herself

The next day or two were very pleasant. Elizabeth was allowed to see Joan whenever she liked, and she took her some more flowers from John. She also took her a jigsaw puzzle from Helen, and a book from Nora.