6 Clarissa Arrives
Gwendoline was keeping a good look-out for the coming of the last new Upper Fourth girl, Clarissa. She was about the only girl in the form who had no special friend, and she could see that it wouldn’t be much good trying to make friends with the twins, because they would only want each other.
“Anyway I don’t like the look of them much,” thought Gwendoline. “They’ll probably go all out for games and gym and walks. Why aren’t there any nice feminine girls here—ones who like to talk and read quietly, and not always go pounding about the lacrosse field or splash in that horrible pool!”
Poor lazy Gwendoline! She didn’t enjoy any of the things that gave the others such fun and pleasure. She hated anything that made her run about, and she detested¹ the cold water of the pool.
Daphne and Mary-Lou didn’t like the pool either, but they enjoyed tennis and walks. Neither of them went riding because they were terrified of horses. Bill, who now rode every day on Thunder before breakfast, scorned Daphne, Mary-Lou and Gwendoline because they wouldn’t even offer Thunder a lump of sugar and screamed if he so much as stamped on the ground. She and Darrell and the new twins arranged an evening ride twice a week together, and Miss Peters, the third-form mistress, and Bill’s great friend, came with them. They all enjoyed those rides on the cliffs immensely.
Felicity was not allowed to go with them because she was only a first-former. To Darrell’s annoyance² she learnt that the only other good rider in the first form was June, so once again it seemed as if Felicity and June were to be companions and enjoy something together.
“It’ll end in Felicity having to make June her friend,” thought Darrell. “Oh, dear—it’s an awful pity I don’t like June. Felicity likes Sally so much. We ought to like each other’s friends. The mere³ thought of having June to stay with us in any holidays makes me squirm!”
The North Tower Upper Fourth girls paired off very well—except for Gwendoline. Sally always went with Darrell, of course. Irene and Belinda, the two clever madcaps, were inseparable, and very bad for each other. Alicia was the only one who had a friend from another Tower, and she and Betty were staunch friends.
Daphne and Mary-Lou were friends, and Mavis hung on to them when she could. They liked her and did not mind being a threesome sometimes. Bill had no special friend, but she didn’t want one. Thunder was hers. Bill was better with boys than with girls, because, having seven brothers she understood boys and not girls. She might have been a boy herself in the way she acted. She was the only fourth-former who chose to learn carpentry from Mr. Sutton, and did not in the least mind going with the first-and second-formers who enjoyed his teaching so much. She had already produced a pipe for her father, a ship for her youngest brother, and a bowl-stand for her mother, and was as proud of these as any of the good embroiderers were of their cushions, or the

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