"Blyton, Enid - St Clare's 04 - The Second Form At St Clare's (b)" - читать интересную книгу автора (Blyton Enid)

Miss Roberts, nor was she so cool when angry. She could not bear the
slightest hint of rudeness, and she had no sympathy at all for 'frills
and fancies' as she put it. No girl dared to fuss her hair out too much,
or to wear anything but a plain gold bar for a brooch in Miss Jenks's
class. ' Alison is in for a bad time!' grinned Bobby one morning, when
Alison had been sent to remove a bow from her hair and a brooch from her
collar. ' So is Carlotta!' said Pat. ' Miss Jenks doesn't like frills
and fancies-but she doesn't like untidiness either! Just look at your
hair, Carlotta. It's wild enough in the ordinary way-but it looks like a
golliwog's hair at the moment.' ' Does it really? ' said Carlotta, who
never cared in the least what she looked like. ' Well, those sums we had
to do were so hard I just had to clutch my hair all the time!' ' Old
Mam'zelle's still the same,' said Isabel. ' Funny, old, hot-tempered,
flat-footed thing-but I like her all the same. She always gives us some
excitement-and I bet she will this term, too. Do you remember how she
and Carlotta nearly came to blows last term? ' Yes-the summer term had
been a very exciting one. The girls looked at Mam'zelle and remembered
all the jokes they had played on her. Dear old Mam'zelle, she always
fell for everything. She was very terrifying when she lost her temper,
but she had a great sense of humour, and when her short-sighted eyes
twinkled behind their glasses, the girls felt a real fondness for her.
' Ah,' said Mam'zelle, looking round the second form. ' Ah! You are now
the second form-very important, very responsible, and very hard-working,
n'est ce pas? The first-formers, they are babies, they know nothing- but
as soon as you arrive in the second form, you are big girls, you know a
great deal. Your French will be quite per-r-r-r-rfect! And Doris-ah,
even Doris will be able to roll her R's in the proper French way!' Every
one laughed. Poor Doris, always bottom at oral French, could never roll
her R's. Doris grinned. She was a dunce, but nobody minded. She was a
wonderful mimic and could keep the whole form in roars of laughter when
she liked. ' R-r-r-r-r-r-r! ' said Carlotta, unexpectedly. She sounded
like an aeroplane taking off, and Mam'zelle frowned. ' You are now in
the second form, Carlotta,' she said, coldly. ' We do not do those
things here.' ' No, Mam'zelle,' said Carlotta, meekly. ' Of course not.'
'Tricks and jokes are not performed in any form higher than the first,'
warned Mam'zelle. ' Whilst you are first-form babies, one does not
expect much from you-but as soon as you leave the bottom form behind, it
is different. We expect you to behave with dignity. One day the
head-girl may be one of you here, and it is not too soon to prepare for
such an honour.' Winifred James, the much-admired head-girl, had left,
and Belinda Towers, the sports captain, had taken her place. This was a
very popular choice, for Belinda was well known by the whole school, and
very much liked. As sports captain she knew practically all the girls,
and this would be a great help to her as head-girl. She was not so
gentle and quiet as Winifred, and many girls were afraid of her
out-spokenness, but there was no doubt she would make an excellent
head-girl. Belinda visited every common room in turn and made the same
short speech to the girls there. ' You all know I'm head-girl now-and
I'm still sports-captain too. You can come to me if you're in a spot of
trouble at any time and I'll help if I can. You'll all have to toe the