"Blyton, Enid - St Clare's 01 - The Twins At St Clare's" - читать интересную книгу автора (Blyton Enid)

"Can't somebody answer me? Did Miss..."
But she did not finish her question, because about twenty fire-cracks went off at once with the most tremendous hissing, spluttering and cracking! Sparks flew out and huge flames shot up the chimney.
"Good heavens!" said Miss Roberts. "What in the world is going on there?"
Again nobody said a word. There was no giggling or laughing this time, no smothered gurgles. Everyone looked scared.
Crack! Sssssss! Crack! Some of the fireworks shot themselves up the chimney and exploded there, bringing down showers of soot. It was hot soot, and flew out over the room. Janet and the girls nearest the fire began to cough and choke.
Come away from the fire, Janet," ordered Miss Roberts. "Those sparks will set fire to your tunic."
The soot flew out again, and black specks began to descend on to books, papers, desks and heads. Miss Roberts' mouth went very straight and thin. She looked round the class.
"Some one has been putting fireworks into the fire," she said. "The class will dismiss. I am going to the common room across the passage. I expect the girl who played this stupid and dangerous joke to come and own up at once."
She left the room. Every one stared in dismay. It was all very well to play a joke on stupid old Kenny - but Miss Roberts was a different matter altogether! Miss Roberts knew a great many most annoying punishments.
"Gosh! I'm in for it now!" said Janet, gloomily. "I'd better go and get it over."
She went to the door. The twins stared after her. Pat ran to the door too.
"Janet! Wait! I'm coming too. I was as much to blame as you, because I egged you on. I'd have put those fire-cracks on if you hadn't!"
"And Ill come as well," said Isabel at once.
"Oh, I say! That is decent of you!" said Janet, slipping her arm through Pat's, and holding out her other hand to Isabel.
Then Hilary spoke up too. "Well, I'll come along as well. As a matter of fact, we're all to blame. It's true you got the squibs and put them on - but we all shared the joke, and it's not fair that only you should be punished."
So it ended in the whole of the class going to the common room, looking very downcast and ashamed. Miss Roberts looked up, surprised to see so many girls crowding into the room.
"What's all this for?" she asked, sternly.
"Miss Roberts, may I tell you?" said Hilary. "I'm bead of the form."
"I want the person who played the trick to own up," said Miss Roberts. "Who did it?"
"I did," said poor Janet, going rather white. Her knees shook a little, and she looked on the floor. She could not bear to meet Miss Roberts' sharp hazel eyes.
"But we were all in it," said Hilary. "We wanted Janet to do it, and we shared in it."
"And may I ask if you also treated Miss Kennedy to the same silly trick?" asked Miss Roberts, in her most sarcastic voice.
"Yes," said Janet, in a low voice.
"So that explains it," said Miss Roberts, thinking of the note that Miss Kennedy had sent her. "Well, you will all share the expenses of the chimney being swept and you will all spend two hours each washing down the walls and scrubbing the floor and desks after the sweep has been. That means that you will work in batches of five, each giving up two hours of your free time to do it."
"Yes, Miss Roberts," said the class dolefully.
"You will also apologize to Miss Kennedy, of course," went on Miss Roberts. "And I should like to say that I am ashamed of you for taking advantage of somebody not able to deal with you as I can!"
The form trooped out. Miss Roberts telephoned for the sweep and Miss Kennedy was surprised to find relays of girls waylaying her, offering her humble apologies for their behaviour. They did not tell her what had happened, so Miss Kennedy had no idea that Miss Roberts had experienced the same startling explosions from the fire, but had dealt with the whole matter with a firm hand. She really thought that the girls were offering their apologies of their own accord, and she felt almost happy.
"I shan't give in my resignation to Miss Theobald after all," she thought. "Anyway, if I did, I would have to say why, and I shouldn't like to give the girls away after they had said they were sorry in such a nice way."
So the matter rested there for a while and batches of dismal girls washed and scrubbed that afternoon and evening, instead of playing lacrosse, and going to a concert!
One good thing came out of the row - and that was that the twins' form liked them a great deal better.
"It was decent of Pat and Isabel to go after Janet like that and say they'd share the blame," said Hilary. "Good for them!"


The Great Midnight Feast

Miss Roberts kept a very tight hand indeed on her form for the next week or two, and they squirmed under her dry tongue. Pat and Isabel hated being spoken to as if they were nobodies, but they did not dare to grumble.
"It's simply awful being ticked off as if we were in the kindergarten, when we've been used to bossing the whole school at Redroofs," said Isabel "I shall never get used to it!"
"I hate it too," said Pat. But all the same, I can't help liking Miss Roberts, you know. I do respect her awfully, and you can't help liking people you respect."
"Well, I wish she'd start respecting us, then," said Isabel gloomily, "Then maybe she'd like us, and we wouldn't get such a hot time in class. Golly, when I forgot to take my maths. book to her this morning you'd have thought she was going to 'phone up the police station and have me sent to prison!"
Pat laughed. "Don't be an idiot," she said. "By the way, don't forget to give half a crown towards buying Miss Theobald something on her birthday. I've given mine in."
"Oh, my!" groaned Isabel. "I hope I've got half a crown! I had to give sixpence towards the sweep, and I gave a shilling to the housemaid for cleaning my tunic for me in case Matron ticked me off about it -- and we had to give sixpence to the Babies' Convalescent Home last week. I'm just about broke!"
She went to her part of the shelf in the common room and took down her purse. It was empty!
"Golly!" said Isabel in dismay. "I'm sure I had two shillings in my purse. Did you borrow it, Pat?"
"No," said Pat. "Or I'd have told you. It must be in your coat-pocket, silly."
But the two shillings were nowhere to be found. Isabel decided she must have lost them, and she had to borrow some money from Pat to give towards buying the Head a present.
Then Janet had a birthday, and every one went down to the town to buy a small present for her all but Hilary, who discovered, to her dismay, that the ten-shilling note that her Granny had sent her, had disappeared out of her pocket!
"Oh, my, a whole ten shillings!" wailed Hilary. "I was going to buy all sorts of things with it. I really must get some new shoelaces, and my lacrosse stick wants thendleg. Where in the world has it gone?"
Joan lent Hilary a shilling to buy a present for Janet, and on her birthday Janet was most delighted to find so many gifts. She was very popular, in spite of her bluntness. The finest gift she had was from Kathleen Gregory, who presented her with a gold bar-brooch, with her name inscribed at the back.
"I say! You shouldn't have done that!" said Janet, in amazement. 'Why, it must have cost you a mint of money, Kathleen! I really can't accept it. It's too generous a gift."
"But you must accept it, because it's got your name inside," said Kathleen. "It's no use to any one else!"