that!"
"I shall say what I like," said Robert, and went off by himself, hands in pockets, whistling as if he didn't care about anything at all "Well, now that he knows we know he played those nasty tricks, he won't dare to play any more," said Elizabeth, pleased. "So that's something!"
But, of course, it was Kathleen who had tried to get Elizabeth and Jenny into trouble, not Robert-and she saw no reason why she should stop being horrid to the two girls whom she so much disliked, Both girls were pretty, clever, and amusing-three things that poor Kathleen was not-and she was jealous of their shining hair and bright eyes, their good brains and jolly jokes. She wanted to hurt the girls who had the things she hadn't, and yet so much wanted to have.
35
Elizabeth told Jenny that she was sure it was Robert who had taken her mice and put them in the desk, The mice had never been found again and Jenny had been sad ever since. Her eyes flashed when she heard Elizabeth say that it was Robert who had played the trick.
"And I suppose he blotted my French book too, so that f had to do the work again!"
said Jenny angrily. "And I shouldn't be surprised if he dirtied those garden tools of yours, Elizabeth-I could never understand that, you know."
"Well, I guess we shan't have any more tricks played on us, because Robert will he afraid we'll tell them all to the Meeting," said Elizabeth, "And we will too!"
But next day another trick was played on her and on Jenny too. On Wednesdays their monitor had to look at all their drawers and their hanging -cupboards to see that they were tidy. Nora was very strict about tidiness, and the girls in her dormitory had learnt to be very neat indeed-even Ruth, who was most untidy by nature, and found it difficult to keep any drawer neat, "It's awful!" she complained about three times a week, "I tidy my drawers so well-then I want a handkerchief in a hurry and can't find it, and turn the drawer upside down, and thea it's all untidy again!"
Elizabeth and Jenny were quite tidy, and they always made a rule on Tuesday night to tidy everything beautifully so that their chest and cupboard were ready for Nora to inspect the next day. They had done this as usual-so on Wednesday, when Nora went to pull open their drawers and found everything in a most terrible muddle, they were too astonished to say anything, "Jenny! Elizabeth! What have you been thinking of to get your things into such a disgraceful mess!" cried Nora, looking at their drawers. "Look-everything jumbled up-crumpled, untidy-honestly I've never seen such a mess. And you are usually so tidy, both of you. What have you been doing? Didn't you remember I always looked on Wednesdays?"
"Of course we remembered," said Jenny. "And we tidied them last night before we went to bed. Why, you must have noticed us, Nora."
"I didn't notice," said Nora, "I was at the other end of the dormitory."
The three girls looked into the drawers. Everything was upside down, Elizabeth and Jenny knew perfectly well they could never have got their things into tha t muddle, Somebody had played a hateful trick again, to get them into trouble, "It's Robert!" burst out Elizabeth. "He's always playing horrid jokes on us, Nora, He dirtied my tools, and took my books, and put Jenny's mice into Miss Ranger's desk, and.,."
"My dear girl, it couldn't have been Robert who did this," said Nora. "You know the boys never come into this part of the school. He would have been seen at once, because there is always somebody going up and down the ~passage outside."
"Well, it must have been Robert," said Elizabeth sulkily.
"If you're going to get anyone into trouble, for these untidy drawers, Nora, you ought to go and scold Robert."
"I'm not going to scold anyone," said Nora. "You're neither of you so untidy as all that! I think someone has been mean to you. Anyway, tidy your things, for goodness'
sake,"
36
The girls set to work. They were both angry. They did not notice how pleased