8 The Magnet Trick
Darrell would not let Gwen and her obstinacy¹ spoil more than a day of her precious last term! She brooded over the interview in her study for a few hours, wishing she could have done better with Gwen—and then put it right out of her mind.
“I know I can’t do anything more, so what’s the good of worrying about it?” she thought, sensibly. She turned her thoughts to more interesting things—tennis matches—swimming matches—half-term, when her parents came down—and she also thought about a secret that Felicity had giggled³ out to her the day before.
“Oh, Darrell. Do listen! Susan’s heard of a lovely trick from June. It’s so simple and so safe.”
Darrell grinned. It was good being high up in school, and an important member of the sixth form—but it did mean that tricks and jokes were no longer possible or permissible⁴. It just wasn’t done in the sixth, to play a trick on any mistress. The mere⁵ thought of playing one on the dignified⁶, scholarly Miss Oakes was impossible.
But there was no reason why the younger ones shouldn’t have their bit of fun, as they had in Darrell’s own time. So Darrell grinned and listened, as Felicity poured out her bit of news in a secluded⁷ corner of the garden.
“June’s getting a magnet,” she said. “It’s a very special one, treated in a special way to make it frightfully powerful. It’s very small too, June says—small enough to be hidden in the palm of your hand.”
“Well? What do you intend to do with it?” asked Darrell. There didn’t seem to be great possibilities in such an ordinary thing as a magnet.
Felicity began to giggle² again. “Well, you just listen, Darrell,” she said. “You know how the two Mam’zelles wear their hair, don’t you—in little buns?”
Darrell nodded, puzzled. She couldn’t for the life of her see what buns of hair and a magnet had to do with each other.

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