"Blyton, Enid - St Clare's 03 - Summer Term at St Clare's" - читать интересную книгу автора (Blyton Enid)

'It is such silly baby stuff we do!' she said.
'Don't be stupid,' said Miss Wilton. 'You do most advanced things considering you are the lowest form. I suppose you think you could do all kinds of amazing things that nobody else could possibly do, Carlotta.'
'Yes, of course I could,' said Carlotta. And to the astonishment of the entire class the dark-eyed girl suddenly threw herself over and over, and performed a series of the most graceful' cart-wheels' that could be imagined! Round and round the gym she went, throwing herself over and over, first on her hands, then on her feet, as easily as any clown in a circus! The girls gasped to see her. Miss Wilton was most astonished. 'That will do, Carlotta,' she said. 'You are certainly extremely good at cart-wheels-better than any girl I have known.'
'Watch me climb the ropes as they should be climbed!' said Carlotta, rather beside herself now that she saw the plain admiration and amazement in the eyes of every one around. And before Miss Wilton could say yes or no, the little monkey had swung herself up a rope to the very top. Then she turned herself completely upside down there, and hung downwards by her knees, to Miss Wilton's complete horror.
'Carlotta! Come down at once. What you are doing is extremely dangerous!' ordered Miss Wilton, terrified that the girl would fall and break her neck. 'You are just showing off. Come down at once!'
Carlotta slid down like lightning, turned a double somersault, went round the gym on hands and feet again and then leapt lightly upright. Her eyes shone and her cheeks were blazing. It was plain that she had enjoyed it all thoroughly.
The girls gazed open-mouthed. They thought Carlotta was marvellous, and every one of them wished that she could do as Carlotta had done. Miss Wilton was just as surprised as the girls. She stared at Carlotta and hardly knew what to say.
'Shall I show you something else?' said Carlotta, breathlessly. 'Shall I show you how I can walk upside down? Watch me!'
'That's enough, Carlotta,' said Miss Wilton in a firm voice. 'It's time the others did something! You certainly are very supple and very clever-but I think on the whole it would be best if you did the same as the others, and didn't break out into these queer performances.'
The gym class went on its usual way, but the girls could hardly keep their eyes off Carlotta, hoping she would do something else extraordinary. But the girl seemed to sink into her dreams again, and scarcely looked at any one else. After the class was over the girls pressed round her.
'Carlotta! Show us what you can do! Walk on your hands, upside-down.'
But Carlotta wasn't in the mood for anything more. She pushed her way through the admiring girls, and suddenly looked rather depressed.
'I said I wouldn't-and I have,' she muttered to herself, and disappeared into the passage. The girls looked at one another.
'Did you hear what she said?' said Pat. 'I wonder what she meant. Wasn't she marvellous?'
It seemed to have done Carlotta good. She was much better in her next classes after her curious performance in the gym, quieter and happier. She lost her scowl and was not at all rude to Mam'zelle in French conversation.
The girls begged her to perform again when the gym was empty, but she wouldn't. 'No,' she said. 'No. Don't ask me to.'
'Carlotta, wherever did you learn all that?' asked Isabel, curiously. 'You did all those things just as well as any clown, or acrobat in a circus! The way you shinned up that rope! We always thought Margery Fenworthy was marvellous-but you're far better!'
'Perhaps Carlotta has relations who belong to a circus,' said Prudence, maliciously. She didn't like the admiration and attention suddenly given to the girl, and she was jealous. She thought Carlotta was common and she wanted to hurt her.
'Shut up, Prudence,' said Bobby. 'Sometimes you make me think how lovely it would be to spank you hard with a hair-brush.'
Prudence flushed angrily. The other girls grinned. They liked seeing Prudence taken down a peg or two.
'Come on to the tennis-court,' said Pat to Bobby, seeing that a quarrel was about to begin. 'We've got to practise our serving, Miss Wilton said. Let me serve twenty balls to you, and you serve back to me. Next month there are going to be matches against St. Christopher's and Oakdene, and 1 jolly well want to be in the team from the first form.'
'Well, I'll come and let you practise on me,' said Bobby, with a last glare at Prudence, 'but it's not a bit of good me hoping to be in any tennis team. Come on. Let's leave old Sour-Milk behind.'
How Prudence hated that name! But whenever she made one of her unkind remarks, some one was sure to whisper 'Sour-Milk'. Prudence would look round quickly, but every one would look most innocent, as if they hadn't said a single word.
Prudence hated Bobby because she had begun the nickname, but she was afraid of her. She would dearly have loved to give Bobby a clever, unkind name too-but she couldn't think of one. And in any case Bobby was Bobby to the whole school. Even the mistresses presently ceased calling her Roberta, and gave her her nick-name. Much to Prudence's anger, Bobby was one of the most popular girls in the form!


9 PRUDENCE MAKES A DISCOVERY

TWO or three quite exciting things happened during the next week or two, and all of them had to do with Carlotta. The first happened at the swimming-pool. Carlotta was no swimmer, but she adored diving and jumping. She was excellent on the spring-board too, that jutted out over the water.
Most of the girls could run lightly along the board and dive off the end of it- -but Carlotta could do far more than that! She could run along it, leap high into the air, turn two or three somersaults and land in the water with her body curled up into a ball-splash! She could stand at the end of the board, bounce herself up and down till the board almost touched the water, and then with one last enormous bounce send herself like a stone from a catapult into the air, turning over and diving in beautifully as she came down.
She jumped or dived from the topmost diving platform, and she came down the water-chute in every possible position, even standing, which was a quite impossible feat for any other girl. Her swimming was always peculiar, but for acrobatic feats in the water no one could possibly beat Carlotta.
She didn't show off. She did all these things perfectly naturally, and with the utmost enjoyment. Prudence, who was a bad swimmer and disliked the water, never joined in the general praise and admiration that the other girls gave to Carlotta.
'She's just showing off,' Prudence said in a loud scornful voice, as Carlotta did a beautiful somersault into the water near her. Prudence herself was shivering at the top of the steps, not yet having gone in. The water was cold that morning, and courage was not Prudence's strong point. Alison was beside her, also shivering.
'She's not showing off,' said Janet, who overheard what Prudence said. 'It's just natural to her to do all those things. You're jealous, my dear Prue! What about going down another step and getting your knees wet? You've been shivering there for the last five minutes.'
Prudence took no notice of Janet. Carlotta climbed up to the topmost diving platform and did a graceful swallow dive that made even Miss Wilton clap in admiration.
'There she goes, showing off again,' said Prudence, talking to Alison. 'Why people encourage her I can't imagine. She's conceited enough as it is.'
'That's just the one thing Carlotta isn't,' said Bobby. 'Hold that horrid tongue of yours, Prudence. It's difficult to believe you were brought up in a vicarage when we hear you talk like that.'
'Well, it's quite plain our dear Carlotta was not brought up in any vicarage,' said Prudence, spitefully. Carlotta overheard this and grinned. She never seemed to mind remarks of this sort, though it made the others angry for her when Prudence said them. Bobby pursed up her mouth and looked at Prudence's white shivering back with distaste.
'What about a dip, dear Prue?' she said suddenly, and gave the girl a violent push. Into the pool went the surprised Prue with a loud squeal. She came up angry and spluttering. She looked round for Bobby, but Bobby had dived in immediately behind her and was now under the water groping for Prudence's legs I
In half a second Prudence felt somebody getting tight hold of the calf of her left leg and puffing her under the water I Down she went with another agonized squeal and disappeared below the surface, gasping and spluttering. She came up again, almost bursting for breath- but no sooner had she got her wind again than once more Bobby caught hold of her leg and pulled her under.
Prudence struggled away and made for the side of the pool at once, calling to Miss Wilton.
'Miss Wilton, oh Miss Wilton, Bobby is almost drowning me! Miss Wilton, call Bobby out!'
Miss Wilton looked round in surprise at the yells from Prudence. Bobby by this time had got to the other end of the pool and was almost dying of laughter.
'What do you mean, saying that Bobby is drowning you?' said Miss Wilton, impatiently. 'Bobby's right at the other end of the pool. Don't be an idiot, Prudence. Pull yourself together and try to do a little swimming. You seem to spend most of your time standing on the steps like a scared three-year-old.'
There were a few titters from the girls nearby. Prudence was so angry that she fell back into the water and swallowed about two pints all at once.
'I'll pay you out for that!' she called to Bobby, but Bobby merely waved her hand and grinned.
Perhaps you'll keep your tongue off Carlotta a bit if you think you're going to have Bobby after you for it!' remarked Janet, who was nearby, enjoying the fun.
Prudence unburdened her mind to Pamela Boardman as they walked back to the school building that afternoon. 'It's so bad for that common little Carlotta to have us all staring at her open-mouthed, and thinking she's wonderful,' said Prudence. 'I don't see why people like Carlotta should be allowed to come to a good-class school like this, do you, Pam? I mean, it's not fair on girls like us, is it, who come of good families and have been well brought up? Why, Carlotta might have a very bad influence on us indeed.'
'Perhaps her parents think that we might have a good influence on Carlotta?' suggested Pam, in her soft voice. 'She is queer, 1 agree-but she's quite fun, Prudence.'
'I don't think the things she does are really clever,' said Prudence, spitefully. 'I don't think she's fun, either. I think there's a decided mystery about our Carlotta-and I'd dearly like to know what it is!'