Read Online Jolly Foul Play: A Murder Most Unladylike Mystery by Robin Stevens - Free Book Online
Authors: Robin Stevens
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by. Here! Don’t!’
She had cried out because Lettice was ripping the paper to shreds. Her long, slim fingers tore it into smaller and smaller slivers until they fell to the floor in a shower of white.
‘Clean that up,’ she said to Betsy, so quietly that we could barely hear her. ‘Clean it up now, you horrid thing. That’ll teach you to go about picking up things you oughtn’t.’
She had destroyed it, I realized, to stop anyone seeing Elizabeth’s handwriting. Our suspicions must be right – this must be a part of the mystery, part of the reason why Elizabeth was dead.
I saw the rest of the Five exchanging looks, and then Florence got to her feet. ‘Listen, you lot! If you see any more papers like that, you just leave them be. They’re not for you, so you oughtn’t to have them. In fact, if we find anyone else with a piece of paper like this, we shall put you in detention all term, and we’ll let Miss Barnard know about it!’
It ought to have been an awful threat – it would have been, before Elizabeth died. But now I could feel everyone in the Dining Room not caring. They wanted to know what had been on that bit of paper, and what might be on others that were yet to be discovered. Florence’s warning had simply proved that there were more bits of paper and more revelations to come. I knew that after lunch, everyone would be ferociously on the hunt for secrets. It was no good the Five trying to hide them.
‘What was on it?’ whispered Kitty, craning about. ‘What was it this time?’
Lettice shrieked, ‘Quiet! No speaking!’ but all the same I heard the news pass along the second-form table to the third in a few soft breaths, then along the row and across again, to the person on the end of our table. It happened to be Clementine. She narrowed her eyes in concentration … and then she burst out laughing. ‘But we know
that
,’ she said. ‘Everyone knows
that
.’
‘What is it?’ cried Beanie, bouncing and infected with Kitty’s enthusiasm.
‘Why,’ said Clementine, and she narrowed her eyes like a cat, ‘it’s perfectly obvious information. It says that Lavinia Temple comes from a broken home.’
Now, Clementine does not like Lavinia (their feud was the cause of last year’s Case of Lavinia’s Missing Tie), and it is true that Lavinia can sometimes be a beast – but there is such a thing as form solidarity, and this was quite shockingly against it. Clementine ought not to have passed on gossip like that, much less seemed to relish it so much.
We all gaped, and Lavinia gave a cry. She raised a fist, but quick as anything Kitty caught her wrist and stopped her. She rounded on Clementine.
‘How dare you!’ she cried. ‘How dare you say such a thing!’
‘You all know that it’s true,’ said Clementine, rolling her eyes. ‘It isn’t a secret!’
Lavinia was making a sort of low animal growl.
‘Anyway, it doesn’t matter if I keep mum about it or not. It was written on that bit of paper, and that means that everyone knows about it now. It’ll be all around the school.’
‘Oh!’ said Beanie, with a sob in her voice. ‘How beastly!’
‘You think you’re so special in your dorm,’ Clementine went on fiercely. ‘You think you’re better than us. When everyone knows that Hazel Wong’s father is an opium trader, and Beanie Martineau’s never even went to school, and Daisy Wells had a murder happen in her house.’
At that, Daisy simply pushed back her chair, stood up and walked out of the Dining Room. Clementine looked gleeful.
‘If you say another word I shall let Lavinia hit you,’ snarled Kitty, in a tone of voice that I had never heard before. ‘Hazel, let’s leave as well.’
And all four of us stood up and followed Daisy. I was so angry that I only thought about the sticky toffee pudding twice on the way out. I was also struggling with Lavinia – I had to help Kitty drag her along, as she had gone stiff with rage.
The whole Dining Room watched us,
She had cried out because Lettice was ripping the paper to shreds. Her long, slim fingers tore it into smaller and smaller slivers until they fell to the floor in a shower of white.
‘Clean that up,’ she said to Betsy, so quietly that we could barely hear her. ‘Clean it up now, you horrid thing. That’ll teach you to go about picking up things you oughtn’t.’
She had destroyed it, I realized, to stop anyone seeing Elizabeth’s handwriting. Our suspicions must be right – this must be a part of the mystery, part of the reason why Elizabeth was dead.
I saw the rest of the Five exchanging looks, and then Florence got to her feet. ‘Listen, you lot! If you see any more papers like that, you just leave them be. They’re not for you, so you oughtn’t to have them. In fact, if we find anyone else with a piece of paper like this, we shall put you in detention all term, and we’ll let Miss Barnard know about it!’
It ought to have been an awful threat – it would have been, before Elizabeth died. But now I could feel everyone in the Dining Room not caring. They wanted to know what had been on that bit of paper, and what might be on others that were yet to be discovered. Florence’s warning had simply proved that there were more bits of paper and more revelations to come. I knew that after lunch, everyone would be ferociously on the hunt for secrets. It was no good the Five trying to hide them.
‘What was on it?’ whispered Kitty, craning about. ‘What was it this time?’
Lettice shrieked, ‘Quiet! No speaking!’ but all the same I heard the news pass along the second-form table to the third in a few soft breaths, then along the row and across again, to the person on the end of our table. It happened to be Clementine. She narrowed her eyes in concentration … and then she burst out laughing. ‘But we know
that
,’ she said. ‘Everyone knows
that
.’
‘What is it?’ cried Beanie, bouncing and infected with Kitty’s enthusiasm.
‘Why,’ said Clementine, and she narrowed her eyes like a cat, ‘it’s perfectly obvious information. It says that Lavinia Temple comes from a broken home.’
Now, Clementine does not like Lavinia (their feud was the cause of last year’s Case of Lavinia’s Missing Tie), and it is true that Lavinia can sometimes be a beast – but there is such a thing as form solidarity, and this was quite shockingly against it. Clementine ought not to have passed on gossip like that, much less seemed to relish it so much.
We all gaped, and Lavinia gave a cry. She raised a fist, but quick as anything Kitty caught her wrist and stopped her. She rounded on Clementine.
‘How dare you!’ she cried. ‘How dare you say such a thing!’
‘You all know that it’s true,’ said Clementine, rolling her eyes. ‘It isn’t a secret!’
Lavinia was making a sort of low animal growl.
‘Anyway, it doesn’t matter if I keep mum about it or not. It was written on that bit of paper, and that means that everyone knows about it now. It’ll be all around the school.’
‘Oh!’ said Beanie, with a sob in her voice. ‘How beastly!’
‘You think you’re so special in your dorm,’ Clementine went on fiercely. ‘You think you’re better than us. When everyone knows that Hazel Wong’s father is an opium trader, and Beanie Martineau’s never even went to school, and Daisy Wells had a murder happen in her house.’
At that, Daisy simply pushed back her chair, stood up and walked out of the Dining Room. Clementine looked gleeful.
‘If you say another word I shall let Lavinia hit you,’ snarled Kitty, in a tone of voice that I had never heard before. ‘Hazel, let’s leave as well.’
And all four of us stood up and followed Daisy. I was so angry that I only thought about the sticky toffee pudding twice on the way out. I was also struggling with Lavinia – I had to help Kitty drag her along, as she had gone stiff with rage.
The whole Dining Room watched us,
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