After games, there was a whole free period before tea. Rebecca took a shower in the sports centre and planned to go and ask Matron how Tish was. But as she came out of the changing rooms, she heard a hubbub going on in the foyer where at least a dozen girls were crowding round the big notice-board.

  'It's another special edition of The J.J.!'

  'Tish Anderson's been pinning them up all over the school!'

  'What does it say – here, let's have a look!'

  'Is it true?'

  'No, can't be!'

  'She'll be rusticated now. That's for sure. She's mad!'

  Rebecca walked slowly over to the notice-board, perspiration breaking out on the palms of her hands. She stood on tip-toe at the back of the crowd. There was a duplicated sheet pinned up but the stencil had obviously been made in a great hurry, because there were a lot of typing errors. However, what it had to say was clear and to the point:

  JUNIPER JOURNAL – Special lssueNo.2

  As the person mainly responsible for publishing Special Issue NO. I, I have been asked to retract and apologize to Elizabeth Exton. Before I will consider doing this, I must ask Elizabeth Exton to apologize to Rebecca Mason. In the Golden Jubilee edition of The Trebizon Journal, Elizabeth has published a poem called 'Solitude' as her own work. Below, I published the poem under the name of the true author. Ishbel Anderson, Magazine Officer, Juniper House

  Then came the title of the poem, and Rebecca's name: ALL ALONE by REBECCA MASON FORM II ALPHA, and then the poem in full.

  Rebecca turned away, quickly. In the excitement, nobody had noticed her standing there. She hurried outside and into the grounds, and started walking. The trees were painted with the warm colours of autumn and leaves were falling. Her heart was beating very fast and she was gripped with exultation. And she had imagined Tish laid low with a headache!

  She would never have dared to do something like this, but Tish certainly had! And now it had happened, Rebecca knew that it was right. The poem business justified every word Tish had put in the first Special Issue. Elizabeth Exton was not fit to be Editor of the school magazine. She ought to resign! And now the whole world would know it.

  But Rebecca's exultant feelings were short-lived. Elizabeth Exton had also found a copy of the stencilled sheet, pinned on the notice-board in the entrance hall of Parkinson House. She took it down and went and made a strong cup of tea in the kitchen; she was glad that there was nobody else around as she gathered her wits together. How unlucky! What an awful bore! Her survival now depended on how ruthless she could be. It was them – or her. She imagined her father's anger if this should ever come to his ears, and she knew that she must stop at nothing.

  Elizabeth marched straight across to see the Principal of Trebizon School, the stencilled sheet in her hand. As she entered the big study, she was surprised to find that Miss Welbeck already had copies of both Special Issues on her desk. They had been left with her, just before, by Miss Morgan.

  'Come in, Elizabeth,' said Miss Welbeck, in calm tones. 'Miss Morgan has just been telling me about all this. I'd seen one of two of the early issues of their little House Journal and I must say I was quite impressed. Pity they have to spoil it with this sort of thing.'

  The Principal of Trebizon School regarded her Sixth Formers as young adults which, indeed, they were. She trusted them completely and treated them as equals.

  'I am very angry, Miss Welbeck, as you can well imagine.'

  'I'm sure you are, Elizabeth. I shall see the culprit presently. I feel rather sorry for the little Mason girl, but I am very surprised at Ishbel Anderson's behaviour.'

  'Quite,' said Elizabeth, pleased at the way things were going.

  The Principal got up and walked to the window. A mist was coming down beyond the oak trees. The days were drawing in. She was feeling vexed and it would help to talk things over with Elizabeth.

  'I'm afraid I myself encouraged Rebecca to have ambitions,' said Miss Welbeck ruefully. 'I imagine it was a great disappointment to her when her essay was not accepted for The Trebizon.' She glanced at Elizabeth. 'It is quite good, you know.'

  'Indeed, yes. One of the few really good items this term,' lied Elizabeth. 'In a normal issue, it would have gone in. As a matter of fact, I had already decided to hold it over and use it in next term's Trebizon.'

  'Good.' Miss 'Welbeck nodded her approval. 'The trouble is, the child is dying to make some sort of impression. I gather from Miss Morgan that she's something of a loner and has not made any special friends yet. She's completely unused to boarding school life, and her parents going abroad was no doubt a great shock to her ...'

  As Miss Welbeck continued to speak her thoughts aloud, Elizabeth listened demurely, nodding wisely at intervals.

  'Clearly she admired your poem enormously, and has invented a little fantasy about it. She has pretended to Ishbel that she has written one just like it. Most disturbing really. As if –' the Principal turned away, looking out of the window across the park land. Elizabeth only just caught the next words. '– As if a girl of Rebecca's age would have met up with Emily Dickinson.'

  Even as Elizabeth pondered over these last words and wondered what Miss Welbeck was talking about, the Principal turned and came back to her seat. With a heavy sigh, she sat down.

  'No, it is Ishbel who has behaved outrageously. To have accepted this fantasy without question! I shall see Ishbel on her own. She will now have to make a double retraction and a double apology, instead of just the one that Miss Morgan called for. She will be the laughing stock of the school. So, unhappily, will Rebecca Mason, and I regard that as very unfortunate.'

  Leaving the Principal's study, it was Elizabeth Exton who now felt exultant. She went back to her boarding house and made a fresh pot of tea in the kitchen, humming softly to herself. There was just one irritating little question that kept nagging at her mind.

  When Audrey Maxwell came into the kitchen to get a biscuit, Elizabeth burst out, 'Audrey, have you ever met up with someone called Emily Dickinson?'

  'You mean the poet?'

  'Er – yes.'

  'You must be off your rocker,' said Audrey. 'She's been dead for over a hundred years.'

  Audrey went out nibbling the biscuit, thoughtfully. There was something very odd about the question Elizabeth had just asked her. It wasn't just her ignorance – Audrey was used to that. There was something particularly odd, but for the moment she couldn't quite put her finger on it.

  THIRTEEN

  ... AND INTO THE FIRE

  Tish spent only five minutes in the Principal's study. It was a close encounter of the bad kind.

  'Come, come, Ishbel. You have made a silly accusation. You have spread it right round the school! And you have not one shred of evidence to back it up –'

  'Then you haven't spoken to Elizabeth Exton?' said Tish. 'Please, Miss Welbeck, you should –'

  'I have spoken to Elizabeth and she has reacted with a forbearance that would quite surprise you. You don't deserve it. I believe you have taken leave of your senses, Ishbel, to print this nonsense on your duplicator. You will go now and compose a full retraction and apology. After that has been printed you will never be allowed to use the machine again.'

  'But I just know it's Rebecca's poem!' gasped Tish. 'I can't prove it, but I just believe her, that's all –'

  'Stop this nonsense at once, please, Ishbel. Do as I tell you. Retract everything you have said in both issues of the news-sheet. Show the draft to Miss Morgan, as she asked you to this morning. That's all. You may go.'

  Tish walked across to the door of the study, then stopped.

  'And – and if I don't, Miss Welbeck?' she asked, in a very small voice.'

  Miss Welbeck was picking up the internal telephone and dialling a number. She did not even look up as she replied.

  'Then you will not be allowed to remain at Trebizon,' she said.

  Tish went and stood outside, pressing her forehead against the wall for a few moments. In a blur, she could just hear Miss Welbeck speaking on the phone to Jacquinda Meredith, the Senior Prefect.

  'Get some volunteers and see that every single copy is rounded up, please. Then make sure they are destroyed. What? You haven't seen it yet? You have missed nothing.'

  Tish walked away, angry and tearful.

  Later, Rebecca looked for her everywhere. She had been for a walk in the grounds and then raced back to Juniper. She had suddenly realized that there would be an almighty row about what Tish had done. And although Rebecca never doubted for a moment that Elizabeth Exton would confess, she wanted to be around when the whole thing blew up so that she could answer questions and back Tish up.

  'She's with Miss Welbeck,' Sue Murdoch told her. Sue looked rather pale and tense. 'She's been there about fifteen minutes. I expect Elizabeth Exton's there, too. There'll be a big showdown going on.'

  'Didn't – didn't Miss Welbeck want to see me, too?' asked Rebecca in concern. The storm broken already! She hated the idea of Tish seeing the whole thing through on her own. 'Was there a message?'

  'Nope,' said Sue. 'She just wanted Tish.'

  Rebecca raced over to old school. Girls advanced on her, some of them looking angry.

  'You didn't really write that poem, did you?'

  'What's Tish Anderson putting this sort of thing around for?'

  But Rebecca dodged away from them. She had to know what was going on. At the foot of the main staircase she nearly collided with Pippa Fellowes-Walker, who was always friendly towards her.

  'Pippa! Please, have you seen Tish? Is she still with the Head?'

  'She came out a few minutes ago. She looked like death.'

  Rebecca began to feel distinctly sick. Surely Elizabeth Exton had confessed? Surely Miss Welbeck couldn't be angry with Tish, when the truth was on her side? Had something gone wrong?

  She searched for Tish in the old building, first in the form room and then the library. Then she went back to Juniper House. She pulled up short in the doorway. There was a crowd of girls outside the TV room, talking and banging on the closed door. Something very dramatic was going on. Suddenly, all together, they started to move away up the corridor, and Rebecca caught snatches of whispered conversation.

  'Come on, the best thing we can do is leave Sue Murdoch in peace.'

  'But she's locked herself in! Shouldn't we do something?'

  'Of course not. She just wants to be left alone.'

  'Who wouldn't? It's the most rotten thing that's ever happened.'

  'It's all Rebecca Mason's fault!'

  'You just shut up, Debbie Rickard!'

  The moment they had gone upstairs, Rebecca ran forward and rattled the handle of the door to the TV room.

  'Sue, it's me. Please let me in.'

  She heard a muffled sob; then the catch inside the door was released and Sue opened it. Rebecca hardly recognized her; she had taken her spectacles off and her eyes were very red.

  'What's happened? Where's Tish?'

  'She's packed her things and now she's with Miss Morgan. She's asking Miss Morgan to ring her father to come and fetch her home. I expect Miss Morgan is trying to talk her round. But I know Tish. She's stubborn.'

  Sue knelt on the floor and buried her face deep in the armchair. 'She's got to apologize to Elizabeth Exton or else leave the school. Well, Tish believes you wrote that poem and that's that. She'd rather be rusticated than apologize to that liar.'

  'Sue!'

  Rebecca sank down into the armchair. Her legs felt very weak and wobbly. So Elizabeth Exton had denied everything and Miss Welbeck believed her! It was Elizabeth's word against Rebecca's. The word of the mighty Editor of the school magazine against that of a pale and insignificant new girl. The chilling truth dawned on Rebecca at last.

  'Miss Welbeck thinks I made the whole thing up!' she thought. 'She thinks I was just shooting a big line to Tish! She didn't even think it was worth calling me up to her study, to question me! I expect she feels sorry for me, and will give me a little talking-to sometime. It's Tish she's angry with, for believing me!'

  Rebecca's head began to ache painfully.

  'Sue,' she said numbly. 'You know I never wanted Tish to do anything like this. But to be honest, when I saw what she'd done, I was thrilled to bits. I just took it for granted that Elizabeth would own up. And then everyone would see that what Tish said about her not being fit to be Editor was true.'

  'That's just how my mind worked,' said Sue. 'We talked about it at dinner break. I told her she was doing the right thing and that Elizabeth would be sure to own up –' She looked absolutely woebegone. '– but, she hasn't, and she never will. And Tish certainly won't apologize. So that's that. Tish is out.'

  'But nobody's even talked to me yet!' cried Rebecca. She got up suddenly, and although the movement made her head throb, she rushed to the door. 'Doesn't anybody want to hear what I've got to say?'

  She ran out of Juniper and on to the terrace. Small groups of girls were drifting about near the dining hall, waiting for the tea bell to go. But tea was the last thing on Rebecca's mind. She crossed the gardens and let herself into old school. The thought of going and knocking on the door of the Principal's study, completely uninvited, frightened her to death.

  As she reached the top of the main staircase, she was just in time to see a tall figure entering Miss Welbeck's study. It was Elizabeth Exton. In that moment, fright left Rebecca and anger took over. She ran to the door before Elizabeth could close it.

  'I'm coming in, too! I've a right to speak to Miss Welbeck, as well!'

  'Wait outside, please, Rebecca,' came the Principal's calm voice. 'I thought you might turn up. But I'd like to speak to Elizabeth first.'

  The door closed. Trembling, Rebecca sat down and waited. She wanted to yell and shout and rush in there and pull Elizabeth's hair. Somehow, she must control her feelings and wait until she was summoned.

  FOURTEEN

  THE MIGHTY FALLEN

  Although Miss Welbeck had called out to Rebecca in a calm voice, she was less calm than she sounded. First of all, Miss Morgan had telephoned through to her from Juniper, and told her about Ishbel Anderson's stubborn and melodramatic behaviour. It seemed she had already packed her bags. The Principal had instructed the House Mistress on no account to telephone Ishbel's father, but to keep the girl in her office until she, Miss Welbeck, had had the opportunity of interviewing Rebecca Mason.

  It was obvious that Ishbel was acting out of misguided loyalty to the new girl, and still believed her ridiculous story about the poem. Miss Welbeck decided that she must see Rebecca at once, and explain to her how serious the matter had now become. What had probably started as a silly piece of boasting on Rebecca's part had got completely out of hand. Rebecca must now admit the truth to Ishbel, and the sooner the better.

  But before the Principal could arrange for Rebecca to be brought to her study, she had received an un expected visitor in the shape of Audrey Maxwell. Audrey was someone whom Miss Welbeck held in high regard, and she was surprised to find her arriving without an appointment. She knew that it must be something important.

  Earlier that afternoon, Audrey had been sitting in the comfortable little sitting room at Parkinson House, doing some private study, when Jacquinda Meredith had come in with a wad of papers. She had stuffed them in the fireplace and looked around for some matches.

  'Lighting a fire before tea, Jackie?' Audrey had asked in surprise.

  'The Head asked me to collect these up and burn them,' said the Senior Prefect. 'It's those Second Years again. They've really gone too far this time, sticking this up all round the school. I've heard that Tish Anderson's going to be rusticated.'

  'Here, let's have a look,' said Audrey.

  As soon as she had read the sheet that Jacquinda gave her, Audrey got to her feet, looking agitated. Now she remembered! She had felt there was something wrong when Elizabeth Exton had known nothing about Emily Dickinson – at last, she had pinpointed the reason!

  'Did you ever read such rubbish?' Jacquinda was saying.

  'I'm not sure it is rubbish,' said Audrey, keeping hold of the sheet. 'I'm going to see what Miss Heath thinks.'

  Miss Heath was in the next room, giving two members of the Upper Sixth a tutorial in English Literature. It was on the advice of Miss Heath, who was of course Rebecca and Tish's form-mistress, that Audrey then went immediately across to old school and saw Miss Welbeck. As a direct result of Audrey's visit, Miss Welbeck had now summoned Elizabeth Exton to come and see her at once.

  'Sit down please, Elizabeth.' The Principal fixed her gaze on her, and the Sixth Former returned it unflinchingly. 'When I saw you earlier I accepted without question that the poem "Solitude" was your own work. Can you, in fact, assure me that it is? Or are there any other factors that I ought to know about?'

  'Of course it's my own work, Miss Welbeck.'

  'Audrey Maxwell assures me that you know nothing about Emily Dickinson. If that is so, I find it very strange.'

  Elizabeth took a deep breath. Miss Welbeck's reference to someone called Emily Dickinson earlier that afternoon had bothered her. It had bothered her still further to learn from Audrey Maxwell that Emily Dickinson had been a poet.

  Although she was still baffled as to the significance of this person, Elizabeth had gone straight to the school library and read up about her. She was not going to be caught napping!

  'I can't imagine why Audrey Maxwell should say that,' retorted Elizabeth. 'Of course I know about Emily Dickinson. She was an American poet who lived and died in the last century.'

  Miss Welbeck made no reply.

  Elizabeth was beginning to feel out of her depth. What was Miss Welbeck driving at? She turned to the attack. 'I'm surprised at Audrey if she's been saying things about me. Of course, it's common knowledge that she badly wanted to be Editor of The Trebizon Journal herself.'

  'Yes,' Miss Welbeck got to her feet and walked over to the door. 'I daresay she did.' She opened the door. 'Rebecca, would you like to come in now, please?'

  Rebecca was very overwrought. It had been agonizing, waiting outside. At last she was being summoned. She came into the panelled study, bursting to speak, and not quite sure where to begin.

 

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