15 A Dreadful Evening
It was the day before the tests were to begin. Some of the girls were swotting up hard, feeling rather guilty because they hadn’t paid as much attention to their work as they ought to have done. Betty Hill was poring over her books. So was Gwendoline. And, as usual, poor Ellen had her nose between the pages of a book, trying to cram¹ into a short time what could only be learnt slowly and in peace.
Miss Parker was quite worried about Ellen. The girl gave her a strained attention in class, and yet her work was only fair. It wasn’t for lack of trying, Miss Parker knew. She supposed it must be that Ellen was not very fit after her illness.
Ellen knew that the test-papers were ready. She had heard Miss Parker talking about them. As for Mam’zelle, in her usual tantalizing² manner she had shaken her test-paper in front of her class, and cried “Ah, you would like to know what I have set you, would you not! You would like to know what are these difficult questions! Now the first one is . . .”
But she never did say what the first one was, and the class laughed. Anyway, Mam’zelle Dupont was never so strict over tests as Mam’zelle Rougier, who set the most difficult questions and expected them to be answered perfectly³—and then groaned⁴ and grumbled⁵ because nearly all the girls failed to get high marks!
It was Ellen’s last chance that day to try to see the papers. If only that irritating Alicia wouldn’t always keep hanging around! The thought occurred to Ellen that Alicia might be spying on her—but she dismissed it at once. Why should she? Nobody in the world save Ellen herself knew that she wanted to see the test-papers.
She hung about in the passage outside Miss Parker’s room for a long time that evening. But there was never any chance of going in without being seen. Somebody always seemed to be going by. It was astonishing how many girls went this way and that way past Miss Parker’s door.
Then, most annoyingly, the only time that the passage was really empty was when Miss Parker herself was in the room. She was there with Miss Potts. Ellen could quite well hear what they were saying.
She

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