"Blyton, Enid - Malory Towers 04 - The Upper Fourth at Malory Towers" - читать интересную книгу автора (Blyton Enid)

"Yes, I think so," said Miss Potts, "except Irene. Oh there you are, Irene. I suppose it didn't occur to you to come and report your arrival to me? Thank goodness Belinda is going by car. That's one less scatterbrain to see to. Now, you'd better get into your carriages. There are only four more minutes to go."
There was a scramble into the carriages. Sally and Darrell pulled Felicity into theirs ."The new girls are supposed to go with Potty in her carriage," said Darrell, "but we'll let you come in ours. Good-bye, Mother, good-bye, Daddy! We'll write on Sunday and tell you all the news."
"Good-bye!" said Felicity, in rather a small voice.
"Thanks for lovely hols."
"Thank goodness we haven't got Gwendoline in our carriage," said Alicia. "We are at least spared the history of all her uninteresting family, and what happened to them last hols. Even her dogs are uninteresting!"
Everyone laughed. The guard blew his whistle. Doors slammed, and the train moved off slowly. Parents and girls waved madly. Darrell sank back into her seat.
"Off to Malory Towers again!" she said, joyfully. "Good old Malory Towers!"
Everybody's Back Again!
The journey was a very long one, but the train arrived at the staion for Malory Towers at last. Out poured the girls, complete with night-cases and rackets, and rushed to find good seats in the school coaches that took the train-girls on the last part of their journey.
Felicity was tired and excited. Darrell didn't seem in the least tired, but she was certainly excited. "Now we shall see the school, and all the rest of the girls," she said to Felicity, happily. "Watch for the first glimpse of it when I tell you."
And so Felicity had the same first glimpse that Darrell had had four years back. She saw a large castle-like building of grey stone rising high on a hill. Beyond was the deep blue Cornish sea, but that was now hidden by the cliff on which Malory Towers stood. Four towers stood at the corners of the building, and Felicity's eyes brightened as she thought of sleeping in one of the towers. She would be in North Tower with Darrell—and it had the best view of the sea! She was very lucky.
"It's lovely," said Felicity to Darrell, and Darrell was pleased. It was going to be nice to have her sister at school with her. She felt sure that Felicity would be a great success.
Girls who had already arrived by car stood about the drive ready to welcome the train-girls. There were shrieks and squeals of delight as the coaches drove up to the magnificent front entrance, and swarms of girls ran to help down their friends.
"Hallo, Belinda!" shouted Irene, climbing down and
leaving behind her night-case. "Done any decent sketching?"
"Darrell!" called a shy-looking fifteen-year-old. "Sally! Alicia!"
"Hallo, Mary-Lou! Anyone put a spider down your neck these hols?" cried Alicia. "Seen Betty?"
Betty was Alicia's friend., as witty as she was, and as mischievous. She came up and banged Alicia on the back.
"Here I am! You're jolly late—the train must have been even later than usual."
"There's Mavis," cried Sally. "And Daphne—and I say, hallo there, Jean. Seen Bill anywhere?"
"Yes. She came on Thunder as usual and she's in the stable with him," said Jean, the quiet, shrewd Scots girl, who was now no longer in the same form as Darrell, but was going up. "She came with the groom, because all her brothers went back to school before we did this term. A very tame arrival!"
Felicity stood unheeded in the general rush and excitement. She hoped that Darrell would entirely forget her. Alicia had completely forgotten about her cousin June. That youngster now came up to Felicity and grinned. "Our elders are making a fine noise, aren't they?" she said. "We're small fry to them. Let's slip off by ourselves, shall we, and make them look for us when they deign to remember we're here?"

"Oh, no," said Felicity, but June pulled her arm and dragged her away. "Yes, come on. I know we're supposed to go to Matron and give in our health certificate and our term's pocket-money. We'll go and find her on our own."
"But Darrell won't like ..." began Felicity, as she was led firmly away by June.
So it was that when Darrell looked round for her young sister, she was nowhere to be seen!
"Where's Felicity?" she said. "Blow! What's happened
to her? I know how awful you feel when you're new, and I wanted to take her under my wing for a bit. Where in the world has she gone?"
"Don't worry," said Alicia, unfeelingly. "I'm not bothering about young June. She can look after herself all right, if I know anything about that young lady. She's got all the cheek in the world!"
"Well, but Felicity hasn't," said Darrell. "Dash it, where has she gone? She was here a minute ago."
"Anyone seen my night-case?" came Irene's voice in a mournful wail.
Nobody had. "You must have left it in your coach seat," suggested Darrell, .knowing Irene's scatter-brain ways. Irene darted off after the coaches, which were now making their way slowly down the drive. "Hie, hie!" she yelled. "Wait a bit!"
"What is Irene doing?" said Miss Potts, crossly. "Irene, come back and stop shouting."
But Irene had stopped a coach and was climbing up into the one she had ridden in to the school. Miss Potts gaped. Did Irene think she was going home again? She did such mad things that anything was likely with Irene.
But Irene found her night-case, waved it wildly in the air to show the others she had found it, and climbed down again to the drive. She ran back grinning.
"Got it!" she said, and stood it firmly down on the ground—too firmly, because it at once burst open and everything fell out.
"Oh, Irene—why does every case you possess always do that?" said Darrell, helping her to pick everything up.
"I can't imagine," said Irene, stuffing everything in higgledy-piggledy. "I have a bad effect on them, I suppose. Come on, let's go and find Matron."
"I haven't found Felicity yet," said Darrell, beginning
to lode worried. "She can't have gone off with anyone because she doesn't know anyone."
"Well, anyhow, let's go to Matron and hand in our health certificates and money, and ask if she's seen Felicity," said Sally. "The drive's pretty well empty now—she's obviously not here."
So they trailed off to Matron, who had been dealing most efficiently with dozens of girls, health certificates and pocket-money for an hour or more. Darrell was pleased to see her—kindly, bustling, starched and competent.
"Hallo, Darrell! Well, Alicia, turned up again like a bad penny, I see!”
"Mother says you always used to say that to her when she came back each term," said Alicia, with a grin.
"Yes. She was a bad lot," said Matron, smiling. "Not nearly as bad as you, though, Alicia. We'll have to have a talk about "How to Darn" this term, by the way. Don't forget Aha, Irene, there you are at last. Got your health certificate?"
It was a standing joke that Irene's health certificate always got lost if Irene was given it to bring to Matron. But the last few terms Irene's mother had sent the certificate by post, so it had always arrived safely on the morning of the day that school began.
Irene looked alarmed. Then she smiled. "You're pulling my leg, Matron," she said. "It's come by post as usual."
"But it hasn't," said Matron. "That's the whole point Plenty of post for me this morning—but no health certificate. It's probably in your night-case, Irene. Go and unpack it and look."
Darrell was looking round for Felicity, but still she couldn't see her. She really felt very worried and rather cross. Why hadn't Felicity done as she was told, and kept
close by her, so that she couldn't lose her in the crowd of girls?