UNDER A CLOUD.
When Vava had arrived at school, Miss Briggs, who really had nothing to
do with her, although she had taken it upon her to write to Stella about
her friendship with Doreen Hackney, told her to report herself to the
head-mistress for being late.
The girls rather resented Miss Briggs's interference. She was not one of
the form-mistresses, but taught certain subjects throughout the school,
and had passed very high examinations; and, in her zeal for the
well-being of the school and its pupils, she was apt to be meddlesome,
as she was this morning, when, having nothing to do, she was walking
about the corridors, and met Vava hurrying in late. Vava went by her
orders to the head-mistress's room, but found it empty. As she was
coming away she met Miss Briggs, and thought it her duty to tell her
that the head-mistress was not there, and was then going to pass on to
her classroom.
But Miss Briggs stopped her. 'Then you had better wait here for her,'
she observed.
'I shall miss my exam.!' protested Vava.
'Where is your written excuse for being late?' demanded Miss Briggs.
'I have none. I went with my sister to her City office, as she did not
like going alone,' explained Vava.
This explanation sounded very lame and unsatisfactory, Miss Briggs
thought. Moreover, this same sister had written her a very stiff letter
in answer to her warning against Doreen as a friend for Vava; and it is
to be feared there was a certain amount of spite mingled with a desire
for discipline when she replied, 'That is no excuse. You are too late to
go into the examination, and you will disturb all the others. Your
sister should have consideration for them, and you will stay here until
the bell rings for recreation.' And Miss Briggs marched away.
'Here' was a corridor without any seats; but Vava took this command as
meaning to stay out of the classroom, and she wandered off to the
playground, where she sat down on a garden-seat, and looked over the
subject for the next examination, feeling very irritated at Miss
Briggs's dictatorial manner.
Everything 'happened' wrong that morning. Miss Briggs, as she went back
to her room, chanced to pass Miss Courteney, who had come to the door of
the classroom to speak to some one, and Miss Briggs detained her, rather
against her will, saying, 'Oh Miss Courteney, I met Vava Wharton
strolling in just now. She had been to her sister's office instead of
coming to school, so I told her it was not worth while coming in now and
disturbing the others, and that she must wait till the bell rings.'
Miss Courteney looked vexed. 'It is her best subject. I am very sorry.
Where is she?' she asked.
'In the corridor. Shall I say you will excuse her this time, and send
her to you?' inquired Miss Briggs, who saw that, though Miss Courteney
was too polite to say so, she had done wrong.
'I shall be much obliged if you will. I will speak to her about being
late,' replied Miss Courteney, much relieved. She did not want to
contradict Miss Briggs's orders; but she did not want Vava to miss her
examination.
Miss Briggs hurried down to the corridor; but of course saw no Vava. She
searched in all the empty rooms and in the large assembly room, and in
her eagerness to find Vava she actually toiled up to the studio at the
top of the building, but in vain. Then, feeling rather annoyed with Vava
for her disobedience, Miss Briggs searched the cloak-rooms; and, not
seeing the girl there, looked for her hat and coat under the name of
Wharton. They were not there, and Miss Briggs came to the conclusion
that Vava had gone off to tell her sister, her ideas of school
discipline being elementary, in Miss Briggs's opinion. There was no
opportunity of telling Miss Courteney, who was in charge of the
examination, so she waited until the bell rung; for it never occurred to
her that on this cold March morning Vava would be sitting in the
playground.
But so it was. When the bell rung Vava joined the other girls at
recreation.
'Where have you been, Vava Wharton?' demanded Miss Briggs, who was in
charge of the playground.
'Here, Miss Briggs,' replied Vava.
Miss Briggs unfortunately took her to mean on the premises. 'Do I
understand you to say that you never left the school premises?' she
demanded.
'Yes, I stayed here all the time till the bell rung,' said Vava.
'Strange. I searched everywhere, but could not find you,' commented Miss
Briggs.
'I was here all the time,' repeated Vava, rather nettled at the young
teacher's tone.
Miss Briggs went to report the matter to Miss Upjohn, who listened with
a rather abstracted air.
'I will see the girl afterwards; at present I am worried about some
examination papers which I put on the top of my desk and cannot find,'
she replied.
'What papers are they?' inquired Miss Briggs.
'The Scripture papers for the Fourth Form; it is the next examination
after recreation,' explained the head-mistress, who took this subject
herself throughout the school.
'The Fourth Form! That is Vava Wharton's form,' observed Miss Briggs.
'Yes, she is in the Fourth Form,' agreed Miss Upjohn absent-mindedly.
And then she exclaimed, 'Why, what are those papers on that shelf near
the door?'
Miss Briggs went to look. 'They are the Fourth Form Scripture papers,'
she informed her.
'I am glad. But how on earth did they get on to that shelf? I am sure I
put them on this table; I never put them anywhere else, and that shelf
would be the last place I should put them. Any one passing the door
could easily see and read them without even meaning to do so,' remarked
Miss Upjohn, looking puzzled.
'It looks as if some one had looked at them,' observed Miss Briggs with
meaning.
'How? What do you mean?' inquired Miss Upjohn in surprise.
'I mean, if you did not put them there yourself some one must have
meddled with them, and it looks to me as if that some one had taken them
away to look at, and then hurriedly put them back as near the door as
she could get,' explained Miss Briggs.
'Oh I don't think it at all likely! I hope not; I should be sorry to
think there was a girl in my school who would do such a thing!' she
cried.
'Then how do you account for them being removed?' demanded Miss Briggs.
'I can't account for it; but I would rather think that I put them there
myself in an absent-minded moment than that they had been tampered
with.'
'But you are never absent-minded, and you do not forget things,'
objected Miss Briggs.
'I may have forgotten this; let us hope so,' said the head-mistress in a
tone which showed Miss Briggs she wished to change the conversation.
Miss Briggs took the hint and said no more, and it is just possible that
the matter might have dropped, and that a suspicion which had arisen in
her mind might have died out, but for another unfortunate coincidence,
which was as follows.
Vava, as has been said, had not learned to be subject to discipline, and
constantly talked when going to and from class; and now, after the bell
was rung, she observed to Doreen, 'I don't care if I have missed the
history. I shall be first in the Scripture examination--you see if I am
not. I can answer any of the questions they put.'
Vava took no heed of where she was when she spoke, and never noticed
that she was passing Miss Upjohn's room, until Doreen said, 'Hush!'
Miss Briggs, who was at the door with the head-mistress, overheard the
remark, and she looked to see what Miss Upjohn thought of it; but the
latter only looked grave at the breach of discipline.
'You heard that?' questioned Miss Briggs.
'Yes. I will have to speak to her,' replied Miss Upjohn.
But Miss Briggs did not let the matter rest there. She said nothing more
at the time; but after school was over she went to the head-mistress's
room, meaning to talk the matter over.
As it happened ('all wrong,' as Vava declared about all the happenings
of this day), Miss Upjohn had the Scripture papers of the Fourth Form
before her, and was correcting them.
'Miss Upjohn, excuse me,' began Miss Briggs.
Miss Upjohn patiently put her pen down. She occasionally found Miss
Briggs and her zeal trying; but there was a spirit of comradeship among
the members of the staff which is not often to be seen as strongly as at
the City School for Girls. 'You wish to speak to me?' she questioned.
'Yes. Have you corrected Vava Wharton's Scripture paper?' she inquired.
Miss Upjohn was surprised at the question, but replied, 'As it happens,
I have, and a very excellent paper it is; she has answered every
question.'
'She said she should, on her way into the classroom, if you remember,'
Miss Briggs remarked.
Miss Upjohn looked at the young teacher inquiringly, and then the
meaning of Miss Briggs's words dawned upon her, and she said hastily,
'She is very well up in Scripture.'
'I would not have spoken of it but for this, Miss Upjohn, and it leaves
no doubt in my mind as to the person who moved your papers,' said Miss
Briggs; and she told the story of Vava's morning as far as she knew it,
adding, 'She says she stayed in the building the whole time; but I know
that to be false, for I searched it from top to bottom.'
Miss Upjohn looked very grave, 'I believe her to be the soul of honour.
Surely you would not suspect a girl with such an open countenance as she
has of such a dishonest act, and in a Scripture examination too?'
objected the head-mistress.
'I am very sorry to do so, but appearances are often deceptive, or how
should we be so often taken in? I must say it looks to me very like it,
taking into consideration her speech before the examination, her
excellent paper, the fact that she was alone hiding somewhere for part
of the morning, and that your papers had undoubtedly been moved,' argued
Miss Briggs.
Miss Upjohn could not help thinking what an excellent detective the
young teacher would have made; but she was not convinced by her
arguments, all the same. 'I think you are mistaken; I sincerely hope so,
and I shall be obliged if you will not mention the matter to any one,'
was all she said, and she did not thank Miss Briggs for reporting the
matter to her; but long after the young mistress had gone she sat
looking thoughtfully before her, while the ink dried on her pen and the
papers remained uncorrected. Then, as if she dismissed an unpleasant
thought, she continued her corrections.
And that probably would have been the end of that matter if Miss Briggs
had not met Vava outside the school, talking eagerly to Doreen. 'I know
I have done well in this exam, and the algebra. Mr. Jones helped me with
the algebra, and in this exam. I knew quite well what questions were
going to be asked, and looked them up while you were doing your history
exam.; so it's all for the best, after all.'
'Vava Wharton,' said Miss Briggs sharply, 'how did you know what
questions were to be asked?'
Vava was by no means a nervous girl, nor given to starting when spoken
to; but perhaps the events of the past few days, or more likely the
examinations, had excited her. At all events, she started at Miss
Briggs's sharp voice, and stammering slightly, said, 'I guessed it, Miss
Briggs.'
'That is nonsense. How could you guess such a thing?' said Miss Briggs,
unbelieving.
'Indeed she did, Miss Briggs, for she told me one question she knew
would be asked as we were going up the stairs, before we saw the papers
at all; and it was great luck, for she reminded me of the answer, and it
was the first question on the paper!' cried Doreen, whose idea was to
prove to the mistress that Vava was not boasting, which was what she
imagined her friend was being suspected of doing.
But it was, as it happened, a most unfortunate remark. Little though
Miss Upjohn had encouraged her, Miss Briggs felt that she must go back
and tell the head-mistress this latest information. So she did, though
she was received very coldly.
Miss Upjohn heard her to the end without making any comment, and then
she said, 'I am sure you only wished to perform an unpleasant duty in
repeating this conversation, and I am obliged to you for telling me, as
I will speak to Vava Wharton to-morrow and hear her explanation, which I
am sure will be satisfactory. Good-evening, Miss Briggs.' And Miss
Upjohn held out her hand with a kind smile.
Miss Briggs went away far from satisfied. She thought Miss Upjohn very
credulous and prejudiced in Vava's favour, and the unworthy thought came
into her head that it was because she was a protegee of the chairman of
their board of governors. 'And because of that she won't believe a word
against her,' said the young mistress to herself. Then, being, as has
already been seen, a most meddlesome person, she had no sooner arrived
at her lodgings than she sat down and wrote a letter to no less a person
than Mr. Montague Jones, who read it aloud at breakfast to his wife.
'I'm going right to the City school to get to the bottom of this, and
give that "meddlesome Mattie" a piece of my mind,' he said in an annoyed
tone.
'But the letter is marked "Private and confidential," Monty,' protested
his wife.
'I'll "private and confidential" her. You haven't any right to libel any
one confidentially, and I'll make her eat her words, daring to accuse my
little Vava of looking at examination papers, and Scripture examination
papers too! The woman must be an idiot!' cried the irate man.
'Pray be moderate in your expressions, Monty, and don't go up there
storming at every one because they don't believe in Vava as much as you
do,' remonstrated his wife.
Mr. Jones turned on her indignantly. 'You don't believe this humbug, I
should hope?' he inquired.
'No, of course not, because I know the child; but I must own it looks
suspicious, and if you take my advice you'll have a talk with Vava, and,
without betraying Miss Briggs, get her to explain it all to you; there's
some explanation, I have no doubt,' suggested Mrs. Montague Jones.
This was very sensible advice, and Mr. Jones was in the habit of
blustering first, and then calming down and listening to his wife's
shrewd suggestions; and this was what he did in the present case, though
he went off in the car, which he had ordered round at once, muttering
all sorts of threats against Miss Briggs for daring to malign his
favourite.