Part 15 (2/2)
There were several, and the head girl's eyebrows went up as she put them down.
”Is that _all_?” she asked sarcastically, when at last she had disposed of all the upraised hands. Then she closed the mark-book and prepared to descend from the high desk.
”I hope you are pleased with your morning's work,” she said, and went out of the room, leaving a somewhat discomfited Lower Fifth behind her.
”I say! The fat _is_ in the fire if all the Sixth know about it!” said Dorothy uncomfortably.
”What a perfectly, beastly mean sneak that Miss Burton is!” exclaimed Phyllis.
”Well, all I can say is, we shall have to make things so beastly uncomfortable for her that she'll just _have_ to go!” said Jack vindictively. Then she relapsed into a rather sheepish grin. ”At any rate, it is to be hoped that we shall,” she said. ”For we've certainly succeeded in making things beastly uncomfortable for ourselves.”
A remark with which the whole form mournfully agreed.
CHAPTER XVI
A GREAT DECISION
”Done your lines yet?” inquired Jack, catching Gerry up just as the latter was going into the Lower Fifth cla.s.sroom for preparation that evening.
”Very nearly,” said Gerry. ”I've only got about another ten to do, I think. I've come in early so as to finish them and take them up to Miss Burton before the prep bell goes. How are you getting on with yours?”
”Oh, about half-way through, I think,” said Jack carelessly. ”But it doesn't matter. I shall do them in prep to-night instead of any of Miss Burton's work. I shouldn't bother about them at all if it wasn't Miss Oakley who had set them. As it is, I shall have to do them, I suppose. It doesn't pay to disobey the Head, I can tell you,” she added, with emphasis.
Jack and Gerry were not the only two members of the Lower Fifth who had come in early for preparation that night. When they entered the cla.s.sroom, they found several of the girls there already. Most of them were gathered around Hilda Burns's desk, apparently endeavouring to persuade her to some course of action.
”Here's Jack!” exclaimed Dorothy Pemberton in a tone of relief as the two newcomers came into the room. ”I say, Jack, _do_ come here and talk to Hilda! She wants to cave in and do Miss Burton's prep. I tell her that she'll be a traitor to the form if she does.”
”Of course, she will be!” cried Jack. ”And, besides, it won't be the slightest use caving in now. Miss Burton's got her knife into us like blazes. She's sure to take the matter up to the Head, anyway, so we may as well be hung for a sheep as for a lamb!”
”That's what I say,” said Dorothy. ”But Hilda's got an attack of nerves or conscience or something. Pull yourself together, old girl, and stick to it. As Jack says, we're bound to get into a beastly row anyhow, so we might as well try and accomplish our purpose before we cave in.”
”But what is our purpose?” argued Hilda, still unconvinced, but manifestly wavering.
”To teach Miss Burton a lesson, of course. To show her that she can't go sticking the Lower Fifth in corners as though we were a parcel of babies from the First Form! To make her see how jolly unpopular she's made herself, and to induce her to treat us better for the future if she stays on--which I jolly well hope Miss Oakley won't let her do!”
said Jack, with a fine flourish of eloquence.
”Good old Jack!” said Dorothy approvingly. ”That's put it in a nutsh.e.l.l. Now, Hilda, say you'll stick to it and refuse to work for Miss Burton, or--or we'll send you to Coventry or something!”
The threat was made laughingly. Dorothy knew well enough that Hilda's strength of purpose was not sufficient for her to stand out against the whole of her form when it actually came to the point. This was not the first time she had had to deal with the conscience of the head of the form. Hilda was apt to get these belated attacks of panic when nefarious schemes were afoot in the Lower Fifth, but never yet had she been known to make a stand for her convictions. And this occasion proved no exception to the general rule. Seeing that public opinion was all in favour of continuing the strike, she yielded, with one last feeble protest.
”Well, don't blame me when Miss Oakley comes down upon us like a ton of bricks!” she said, as she got out the books and papers for the preparation set by Miss Latham and Mademoiselle.
”We won't, old thing,” promised Jack. ”And if there's anything left of us after the Head's done with us, we'll let you say, 'I told you so,'
as many times as you like! I'm sure it will be no end of a consolation to you!”
While this argument was in progress, Gerry had been quietly finis.h.i.+ng her lines. She had now completed writing out ”Chestnuts are bad for the digestion” one hundred times, and, fastening her papers neatly together with a paper-fastener, she glanced up at the clock. It still wanted four minutes to five o'clock. If she was quick she would just about have time to hand over her lines to Miss Burton before the prep bell sounded, and, getting up from her desk, she left the cla.s.sroom and hurried along to the mistress's private study.
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