As there was no hockey practice, the four girls decided to relax in the hours before bedtime, knowing that when and if the weather did clear up, extra effort would be needed if they were to beat St Hilda’s at the first encounter, which was now only two weeks away.
‘Listen up,’ Ros said, knowing what was on Mary’s mind. 'We have a mystery here in the school.’ At once Gloria and Jennifer were all ears. ‘Mary here has seen things we can’t explain. It all happened while you were in the infirmary. Mary, over to you.’
Feeling grateful to Ros for breaking the ice, as she still considered herself a newcomer in the Upper Fourth dormitory, Mary related everything she had seen and heard. For a brief moment she felt as though she was betraying the confidence of Miss Eggleton, but she soon dispelled this feeling. Betraying her would mean telling everything to Miss Tibbs – or to the police. She wasn’t ready to do that, and she was counting on her friends to go along with her.
‘Well, it’s obvious why she was barefoot yesterday,’ Gloria said. ‘She told Virginia Wilkinson she was going for a paddle on the beach. She must have misjudged the tide and got caught out, and lost her shoes.’
‘Yes, that could be it. There are no buses on Sunday, are there?’ asked Mary.
‘No, you can only get across if you walk or if you have a car.’
‘Miss Tibbs has a car!’ Jennifer said excitedly.
‘But Miss Eggleton was walking!’ Mary said with a sigh. It was as though Jennifer hadn’t been paying attention at all.
‘Yes, I know, but Miss Tibbs always goes to the town Sundays,’ Jennifer said. ‘She probably took Miss Eggleton and left her to walk back.’
‘Yes, that’s probably right, but it doesn’t explain why she was crying. She must have been upset about something,’ Mary observed.
‘Maybe her man friend has given her the elbow,’ Gloria said rather absent-mindedly.
‘Gloria!’
‘Well, one of them must be a boyfriend or something, don’t you think?’
‘I just don’t know what to think,’ Mary said.
‘I’ll tell you what I think,’ Jennifer said. ‘I think we should go straight to Miss Tibbs. Suppose the man in the Abbey has a gun. None of us are safe, you know!’
‘Jen’s right,’ Gloria chipped in. ‘We should think of the first-formers – they’re just little children really. We should be looking out for them.’
‘Jen, Gloria, you both promised!’ Mary said, shocked. ‘I told you in confidence. Miss Eggleton swore me to secrecy. Really, I wish i hadn’t told any of you now!’
‘Come on, Mary, you called a council of war because you don’t know what to do,’ Jennifer said. To Mary’s surprise, Ros nodded her agreement.
‘Jen’s right, Mare. We have to go to Miss Tibbs. If anyone got hurt it would be our fault. I’ve been wanting to tell her for ages, it’s only the fact that I promised you.....’
‘A fine friend you turned out to be!’ Mary said, scowling. But then she relented, for she could see that the others were right. ‘But,’ she continued, ‘just give me one more day. I’ll tackle the Egg about it right now. If she comes up with a decent explanation, I’ll report back to you. If she doesn’t, we’ll go to Miss Tibbs and she can call the police in to arrest the man in the Abbey. How does that sound?’
‘Reasonable,’ said Gloria. ‘But you shouldn’t go alone. Suppose she’s an international criminal and she holds you hostage when you say you’re going to spill the beans to Tibbsy?’
Mary laughed. ‘Gloria, you really are very sweet, but I can’t see Victoria Eggleton as a criminal mastermind, can you? She’s far too sweet!’
She left the others to their own devices and went along the corridor to Miss Eggleton’s room. Surprisingly, the door was ajar. Mary knocked and waited, but no one came. After a minute or so, she looked around to see that no one was watching, and dived through the door, securing it from the inside.
The teacher’s room was beautifully tidy, unlike any of the dormitories. This brought a smile to Mary’s face. The room was predominantly pale yellow in colour, with some gorgeous pictures of classical subjects such as King Arthur and Titania and Oberon, and the bookshelves were filled with handsomely bound leather volumes of classic stories, many of which Mary recognised and loved to read herself. But what caught her eye next was a book on Miss Eggleton’s pillow. It was a copy of the history book Ros had bought for her brother in the little bookshop-cum-coffee-shop in Haleton the day before.
‘Oh, golly! I hope I haven’t done the wrong thing!’ Mary said to herself. She picked up the book and leafed through it. There was no inscription, nothing to suggest it was not brand new. Could it possibly have been Miss Eggleton who had picked up Ros’s book from the promenade? But then, surely she would have owned up to finding it. Mary hoped above hope that Linda or Angela had not bought a copy, and that she had not, in fact, recently stolen it from their dormitory. In fact, the absence of the book from the girls’ dorm had not yet been noticed, as the girls in question were enjoying a quiet game of chess in the recreation room.
Mary searched the teacher’s room for other clues as to what she was up to. What she found next almost took her breath away. It was a cardboard box thrust beneath the bed, containing a pile of old newspapers, and on the very top one was a photograph of Miss Eggleton!
She sat on the bed, hoping to read the article, but heard footsteps in the corridor, and all she could think of to do was to shove the newspaper into her cardigan. And then, to her dismay, the door opened, and in walked Miss Eggleton.
‘Mary! What are you doing in here? Explain at once, please!’
For the second time that term, Miss Eggleton looked very cross indeed, and small wonder!
Mary felt herself go very red. ‘I was looking for you, Miss Eggleton,’ she said sheepishly.
‘And when you found that I was not here, you came in anyway.’
‘Yes, Miss.’
‘I do not foresee there being any reasonable explanation for your actions, Mary. I will have to report you to Miss Tibbs.....’
‘But that’s just it, Miss Eggleton!’ Mary cried. ‘I was coming to say that if you didn’t tell us what was going on, we would have to go to Miss Tibbs – about you!’
Mary stood there with her mouth open, wondering what Miss Eggleton had to say to that!
