The Malvern Mystery

Chapter Two

Chapter Two'Are you Miss Buchanan? I am Jane Henshaw.' The speaker was bubbly, with blonde hair that was not quite under control, and a wide smile under her snub nose. She peered around the open door. 'May I come in?'

'Lorna Buchanan,' Lorna gave a little curtsey. 'Of course, you can come in.'

Jane's trim grey dress touched the top of her black boots and stopped just short of her neck. She smelled of soap and chalk: the scent of the school.

Lorna looked around the room that was to be her home for the foreseeable future. It was small, with iron bars across a window that gave a view of the stone wall of the basement and nothing much else. The interior was dull and neat, with a single brass candlestick holding a tallow candle that pooled much-needed yellow light. There was a narrow single bed with one cover and a pillow on top of a thin straw mattress. A chest of drawers and a hard-backed chair completed the furnishings.

'This is nice and snug,' Lorna said.

Jane wrinkled her nose. 'They're not bad, but they can get a bit stuffy in summer and in winter you have to break the ice on the water,' she pointed to a blue-and-white ewer and pitcher that stood on top of the drawers.

Lorna smiled. 'I've lived in a lot worse,' she said.

'I'm right next door,' Jane said. 'My room is exactly the same except I have put pictures on the wall to brighten things up.'

Lorna smiled. 'That's a good idea.'

'Have you met Miss Appleton? Of course, you have,' Jane answered her own question. 'She can be a bit stiff, a bit la-de-dah, you know?' She pursed her mouth and drew her eyebrows closer together. 'If you can ignore her ferocious dignity she's all right really as long as you do as she tells you.'

'I'll do as she tells me,' Lorna said.

'You'd better,' Jane said. 'And don't mention her little foibles for goodness sake. There'll be a camality else.' She narrowed her eyes and pursed her lips. 'Her bad side is really bad.'

'A camality? Oh, a calamity! Of course. What foibles should I watch for?' Lorna felt her curiosity rise.

'Oh, you'd better not ask,' Jane said. 'If you see anything unusual, turn away and shut your eyes.'

About to ask more, Lorna thought it better not to push too hard so soon. 'I'll do that,' she promised. Have you been here long?' She sat on the bed. It was hard; so was the pillow.

'Fourteen months,' Jane said.

Lorna felt the blanket; it was stiff, clean and sharp- edged. 'That's a long time. You'll know your way around by now.'

'I don't get lost anymore,' Jane reached out and fingered Lorna's cloak. 'You're very wet. You'd better put some dry clothes on before you catch your death.' She dragged a towel from the chest of drawers. 'Here; dry your hair as well; you're dripping water everywhere. You'll quite ruin the floorboards.'

Lorna opened her bag. It did not take her long to choose from the meagre contents.

'Come on,' Jane waited impatiently for Lorna to change. 'I'll give you a tour of the place and get you all settled in.'

'Thank you.' Feeling slightly dishevelled beside the neat Jane, Lorna followed into the corridor outside. She shivered in the dank chill. India had been nothing like this.

'That's the girls' dormitories,'Jane pointed to three doors side by side on the right. 'Lights out is at eight for the juniors and nine for the seniors. We have one week a month on dormitory duty. It's easy enough; just settle the girls in and make sure they stay in bed.' She gave Lorna a sideways look. 'It's important they stay in bed all night. Leaving the school means big trouble, Lorna. Don't forget that.'

'I won't,' Lorna said. 'The man who let me in – the porter I take it? He said that teachers don't last here. Is that correct?'

'Yes, it's correct,' Jane said. 'Ben should not have told you that on your first day. It may be discouraging.'

'I am not discouraged,' Lorna said, 'Only intrigued. Why don't teachers stay?'

'Teaching is not for everybody,' Jane said lightly. 'Especially in this school.' She smiled briefly. 'Now over here we have the classrooms where you'll be teaching. The middle one is yours.' She opened the door to a spacious room with two tall windows set too high for any pupil to stare outside and day-dream. The teacher's desk faced four rows of desks, while maps of Britain, Europe and the World decorated the walls.

'That looks like a splendid classroom,' Lorna said. 'There is plenty of space.' She walked in to examine the bookcase with its display of slightly tattered volumes of history, grammar, geography, and religion; each desk had its inkwell and a slate attached by a small cord. She moved the teacher's desk slightly, not because it was in the wrong place, but only to make her mark in the room as soon as possible. 'What was her name?'

'Whose name?' Jane asked.

'My predecessor. She was less tall than me.' Lorna said. 'The desk was too far back to see the whole of the class properly.'

'Oh, her name.' Jane screwed up her face. 'Miss Plumbett as far as I can recall. She was not here long enough to make much of an impression. I'm sure that you will be much happier here.'

'I'm sure I shall,' Lorna said.

'It's not that bad if you follow the rules and as I said, ignore the head's strange fixations.' Jane's look was full of meaning.

The sound of a door opening and closing and the clatter of hard-soled boots on the wooden floorboards announced the arrival of a file of girls in the corridor. They were of all ages from minuscule eleven-year- olds with pinched white faces to tall young women who were nearing twenty, and they walked in dignified silence with their hands clasped in front of them and their eyes demurely downcast.

'That's classes finished for the day,' Jane said. 'The girls are going to get washed, have their tea and then two hours homework.'

Lorna nodded. 'That's a long day for them.'

'Keep them busy,' Jane said, 'and they won't get into any trouble. The devil finds work for idle hands.'

'I'm sure he does,' Lorna agreed as the girls passed her. Most still kept their heads down, but as the increased the distance from the classroom, two or three glanced in her direction. One blonde-haired teenager with bold eyes looked Lorna up and down before adopting the same pose as her peers.

'Keep your head down, Margaret,' Jane snapped. 'You know the rules!' She lowered her voice. 'That's your class, Lorna.'

'I'll be watching you, Margaret my girl,' Lorna thought. 'I know your type very well.'

The girls passed them without a word before heading downstairs in a column of two. Only when they were out of sight did somebody speak.

'You stole my pen, Alice!'

'I did not! I only borrowed it.

'Oh, you're such a liar, Alice! You're always borrowing things and not returning them.'

'That's Margaret Smith complaining,' Jane said. 'You'll get to know her.'

'I thought they behaved very well,' Lorna said.

'Oh they have their moments,' Jane gave a small smile. 'They have to be kept in line if you know what I mean.'

'I think I do,' Lorna said.

Jane laughed. 'We've all been through that. Now, this is where we can relax a little.' She brought Lorna into a small room with a central round table and half a dozen straight-backed chairs. Bookcases filled with shabby text-books lined the walls. 'This is the staff common-room, where we gather to mark work and discuss the horrible pupils.' She pulled out a seat. 'The only thing we can't do here is talk about Miss Appleton.' She lowered her voice. 'You don't know who may carry tales to her.'

'I see; thank you, for the warning,' Lorna said. 'Do you intend working here for long?'

'Oh no.' When Jane shook her head her curls bounced from under her cap. 'I am only here to learn what to do. I want my own school where I am in charge, and I make the rules.'

Lorna smiled. 'You are a woman of ambition then!'

'Always,' Jane lowered her voice. 'Be careful of Miss Appleton, Lorna. She and her Chosen Girls get up to some queer things. I don't know what they are doing, sometimes.'

'Oh?' Lorna closed the door. 'I do love a little gossip. What do you mean?'

Jane's voice dropped to a whisper. 'There are peculiar happenings, Lorna. Sometimes it's best not to ask too much or see too much. I just wanted to warn you to be careful, and if you do see or hear anything, it is best not to notice it.'

'You have mentioned that,' Lorna said.

'Good.' Jane pulled a face. 'You have been warned! Now let's talk about something else.'

Quelling her curiosity, Lorna nodded and allowed Jane to complete her tour of the school. It seemed that she had stepped from the fire of mutiny in India to the frying pan of mystery in the heart of rural England.