Page 2 of The Girl from the Tea Garden
‘What on earth is going on?’ Miss Bensham demanded.
The other girls scattered to their beds. Adela stood up just in time to see Flowers slip out of the room unnoticed. Nina burst into tears.
‘She attacked me,’ Nina sobbed.
Miss Bensham bustled forward. ‘Dear girl, your hair’s soaking.’ She wrinkled her nose at the sour smell.
‘She did it!’ Nina burrowed into the house mother’s plump hold. ‘And she b-bit my h-hand.’
‘Oh my word, I can see teeth marks! Adela, is this true?’
Adela stood mutely defiant.
‘Girls?’ Miss Bensham looked around at the others. ‘What happened?’
‘Miss,’ said Margie, ‘she just went for Nina.’
‘Whatever possessed you?’ Their house mother looked deeply shocked.
Adela hesitated. If she told on the others about what they had been doing to Flowers, they would turn on her. At least Flowers had escaped.
‘She insulted my parents,’ Adela said.
‘I never did,’ Nina protested, her blue eyes reproachful.
‘Yes, you did!’
‘Nina, what did you say?’ Miss Bensham pushed her to arm’s length and scrutinised her.
‘Nothing, miss,’ she sniffed. ‘I don’t even know her parents.’
Miss Bensham looked at a loss as to what to do.
‘It’s not my fault, miss,’ Nina whined. ‘Adela picks on me because she doesn’t like me being friends with Margie.’
‘You must all be friends together, girls. Now go and rinse out your hair before teatime, Nina. Everyone else leave the dormitory now; you shouldn’t be up here in the afternoon.’ The girls scrambled for the door. ‘Not you, Adela Robson. You’re coming with me.’
As Adela followed the house mother out, Nina stuck out her tongue and made a rude gesture that only Adela saw.
When Adela refused to explain her behaviour to Miss Bensham, she was sent to the headmistress, Miss Gertrude Black. Her office smelled of polish and flowers; a mix of beeswax and the marigolds and wild pink cosmos that stood in a blue vase on a bookcase by the door. For a moment it caught Adela’s attention, and she forgot why she was there.
It wasn’t the first time she’d been hauled in front of the brown-suited, red-headed Miss Black. By no means. Three years ago, in her very first week at the school, Adela had caused panic among girls and staff by smuggling in her pet tiger cub, Molly, in a laundry basket. She had wept for hours when her father had returned and taken Molly home without her. Then there was the time when she had thrown a jug of water from an upstairs window over a visiting missionary. In the dusk she had mistaken the spindly figure for one of the annoying boys from StMungo’s School who were always daring each other to throw pebbles at the girls’ dormitory windows.
Miss Black scrutinised her over horn-rimmed spectacles and did not ask her to sit down.
‘I must say, Adela, I am dismayed to see you once more in front of my desk. I’m even more aghast to hear that this time it’s not merely your usual high spirits causing trouble, but an attack on another girl. It’s completely unacceptable. I’ve seen the teeth marks on Nina’s hand, and I’ve already had her mother on the telephone demanding that you are expelled. Give me one good reason why you shouldn’t be.’
Adela felt her cheeks burn. ‘Nina Davidge is a bully!’
‘Give me an example.’
Adela was on the point of telling her about Flowers being forced to drink Nina’s disgusting potion but hesitated. She didn’t want to drag Flowers into her spat with the colonel’s daughter, or Nina would only take it out on them both. Flowers would be summoned and forced to tell tales against Nina.
‘She says unkind things,’ Adela replied. ‘She was horrible about my mother and called my father a cad.’
Miss Black raised her eyebrows. ‘That’s certainly not a nice thing to say. But remember the old adage “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.” You mustn’t be oversensitive. I’ll have a word with Nina about it. I expect you girls to set an example to the younger ones. You’re thirteen years-old and in the senior school now, so you better start acting your age.’
The headmistress pushed her spectacles more firmly on to her nose. ‘In the meantime, you will be punished for such unladylike behaviour. You shall not be allowed to take part in the junior inter-house hockey matches, but instead will be given extra sewing duties by Miss Bensham. A period of calm reflection is what is needed. If anything like this happens again,’ Miss Black warned, ‘I shall not hesitate in summoning your parents and having you removed.’
