The Secrets of Drearcliff Grange School (46 page)

‘You still here, Sid?’ said Frecks. ‘Weren’t you last seen hiding under a pew during the Battle of the
Jo Pike
?’

‘One doesn’t have to be
at
a battle to win it, Walmergrave.
En fait
, it’s preferable to be elsewhere as the
têtes
get
blessé
.’

Amy burned and concentrated so as not to float.

Had they gone through all
that
for
this
? Gruesome Gryce back in power?

Gryce’s boater lifted up and was torn in half… by a freak wind, they all agreed. Amy was becoming as dexterous with her mentacles as her fingers. In the hols, the others had challenged her to perfect her paper-folding and -tearing skills.

Light Fingers made very quick movements with her hands, to distract the Heathens.

Gryce went cross-eyed with fury. She had a deep well of resentments after last term, and – in the absence of Rayne – others would suffer for it.

But Amy and the Moth Club would be ready.

‘
Au revoir, mes enfants
… toodle-pip and -oo.’

The Murdering Heathens sauntered on, in search of other girls to put the frighteners on.

‘Look, that’s
him
,’ said Smudge. ‘
Them
. Mr and Mrs Rinaldo.’

Outside the chapel stood a tall, dark fellow in a long black robe. He had a thin moustache and wore dark glasses with sides. His wife was, indeed, so fair as to be almost ghostly. She wore a cream dress a shade darker than her skin and hair, and another pair of those sunglasses. She held a parasol which shaded both their faces. They must be night people. The only colour about them was the rich redness of their lips. They smiled sweetly at the girls passing, accepting nods of greeting.

Amy had a
feeling
about them.

Behind those glasses, eyes were fixed on passing faces. They had already made their pick of pets, though Amy wasn’t sure what that meant.

‘And
that’s
their servant,’ said Inchfawn.

Shambling out of the chapel came Gogoth, wearing a verger’s frock rather than a chauffeur’s uniform. His shaven head had grown out, and he sported a shaggy, greyish beard.

‘Ah nertz,’ said Kali.

With Gogoth was Henry Buller, less stocky this term and with a clearer complexion. No longer a Heathen, no longer a Black Skirt. There was no telling where she fit in. Gogoth, it seemed, was devoted to the maiden fair he had rescued from a burning ship…

…now she thought about it, Amy was envious of that lump Buller. She could think of other much worthier candidates for rescue. She even fancied sometimes that it might be nice to be rescued herself – say, by Viscount Ralph or Uncle Nugent’s surprisingly decent son, Patrick, or, strange to admit it, Dr Shade. She’d read a lot of Dr Shade adventures lately, and started collecting pictures and clippings about his career. It was said that he had a secret headquarters inside Big Ben.

‘Don’t think like that, Amy,’ said Light Fingers. ‘You’re Kentish Glory. You’ll be the one doing the gallant rescuing, not the one standing in the flames and shrieking like a twit.’

Light Fingers had explained she couldn’t read minds, but could look at something and ask herself ‘what would Amy think?’ and hit very near the mark. Like Amy with her mentacles, she got better when she practised.

‘But it might be nice… once in a while…’

Amy looked at Light Fingers, at Frecks and Kali…

‘No, Amy,’ said Frecks. ‘That’s not the dream.’

Amy had a jumble of impressions from her dip into the Purple and sometimes thought she knew what was going to happen next… in a week or in twenty years. If she tried to focus, it all went away. Like Knowles when her cramming faded, she knew she’d known something –
for certain
– but was now vague about it. Some of her intimations, her feelings, had already been
wrong
.

‘The wolves are gone from the woods,’ said Smudge.

That was strange – Smudge rarely had good news to impart.

‘Chased off by the Yettymen,’ she continued. ‘There’ve been footprints, scratches high up on trees, strange signs – not like last term’s strange signs,
new ones
! There are no birds or bugs either. It’s deadly quiet, except you know you’re not alone so you listen out for the tiniest sounds. When there’s nothing, not even a twig creaking or water dripping, you know the Yettymen are near.’

‘You’ve been in the woods alone?’ Amy asked.

‘No, but I’ve heard from those who have.’

Amy paid attention. Frecks, Light Fingers and Kali gathered round.

They all had masks inside their blazer linings. They were all ready for adventure.

This was interesting. Amy’s mental antennae pricked.

The Yettymen?

Another case for the Moth Club.

Susan Ah

Hilda Courtney

Jane Dogge

Phaedra Hunt

Demeter London (Captain)

Lydia Marlowe

Jean Orfe

Ivy Prosser

Anne Sercombe

Janet Thaw

Maria Biddlecombe

Martina Bone

Emily Dace

Anne D’Arbanvilliers-Cleaver (Captain)

Georgaina Fell

May Forrest

Monica Frensham

Venetia Laurence

Lucia Maunder

Valeria Mrozková

Hannah Absalom

Chastity Banks

Octavia Benjamin

Catherine Bourbon

Chloe Catchpole

Bizou De’Ath

Natalie Laverick

Evelyn Lowen

Catherine Trechman (Captain)

Sybil Vigo

Christina DeManby (Captain)

Isabella Fortune

Arabella Hughes

Idominea Lescaulles

Titania Mondrago

Sally Nikola

Fleur Paquignet

Cassandra Wilding

Heather Wilding

Priscilla Wilding

Susan Byrne (Captain)

Thomasina Campbell

Alexa di Fontane

Dorothy Dungate

Frances Farragh

Prima Haldane

Marion Keith

Sonali Shah

Charlotte Teller

Rosina Terrell

Angela De’Ath

Jean DuGuid

Jane Ferrers

Enid ffolliott (absent)

Yeong-ae Kim

Brenda Manders

Patricia Peale

Doreen Stockwell

Alexandra Vansittart (House Captain)

Rebecca Youell

Elizabeth Chick

Jennifer Dawes

Pearl Dennison (Captain)

Anne Gifford

Louise Hartley

Ruth Hipgrave

Taff Jones-Rhys

Helen Knight

Avril Parrish

Ellaline Terriss

Janet Blake

Nancy Dyall

Philippa Farjeon

Dorothy Fulwood

Elisabeth Gaye

Kathryn Hall (Captain)

Lillian Hyson

Cynthia Moul

Violet O’Brien

Polly Palgraive

Maude-Lynne Arbuthnot

Kali Chattopadhyay

Clodagh FitzPatrick

Moraticia Frump

Lydia Inchfawn

Thomasina Hoare-Stevens

Emma Naisbitt (Captain)

Verity Oxenford

Amanda Thomsett

Serafine Walmergrave

Janet Aden

Ella Bowman

Honor Devlin

Susan Foreman

Nicola Helfrich

Charlotte Knowles

Rosanna Kyd

Lucinda Leigh

Aurora Martine (Captain)

Clare Saxby

Dorothy Abbott

Theresa Crockford (Captain)

Fiona Fergusson

Dilys Frost

Rosalind Kaveney

Saskia Kriegsherr

Amelia Lipman

Winifred Rose

Pamela Soon

Doreen Wychwood

Gowan Caulder

Marigold de Vere

Constance Hern

Dolores Howe

Daisy Keele

Morrigan McHugh

Matilda Pelham (House Captain)

Adrienne Penny

Valmai Smith

Donna Wise

Jane Addey

Selina Briss

Maureen East

Marina George (Captain)

Julie Godfrey

Julianna Keddle

Dianne Poynton

Sabine Saussure

Tzara Tetzlaff

Millicent Trundleclough

Margaret Carmichael

Wilhelmina Fudge

Muyun Ker

Freya Outerbridge

Annie Pridhaux

Ruby Raven

Tabitha Spikins (Captain)

Lillie Stevenson

Jane Thicke

Emily Usborne

Katherine Berthaiume

Rachel Cray

Miriam Ellacott

Joycelyn Hilliard

Hermione Jago (Captain)

Priyanki Khalsekar

Isabel Loss

Ekaterina Pendill

Jemima Sieveright

Linda Thiele

Sophie Calder (Captain)

Helen Davisson

Cara Fielder

Aconita Gould

Mary Jones

Netta Kinross

June Mist

Dorothy Ooms

Ninja Sundquist

Phoebe Wellesley

Hjordis Bok

Roberta Hale

Janice Marsh

Euterpe McClure

Helen O’Hara

Sarah Pinborough

Emilia Pitt-Patterson

Primrose Quell

Susan Su

Alicia Wybrew (Captain)

Araminta Armadale

Eliza Beardsworth

Katherine Brown

Maisie Collins

Wendy Fernandes

Lucretia Lamarcroft

Gilbertine Myddleton

Florence Rhode-Eeling (House Captain)

Alraune Ten Brincken

Charmaine Yip

Sarah Ackland

Mary Candlewick

Vera Claythorne

Olivia Duel

Damaris Gideon (Captain)

Louise Gilclyde

Laura Harvey

Iris Overton

Felicity Quilligan

Carlotta Smith

Cleopatra Cotton

Elaine Finn

Cecily Garland

Miramara Ghastley

Siobhan Grimm

Clara Mill-Carston

Cunegonde Quive-Smith (Captain)

Victoria Silk

Tanya Six

Esther Stuckey

Allegra Bidewell

Barbara Bryant

Selma Head

Mary Jarvis

Faith Merrilees

Bridget Mountmain

Silja Mueller (Captain)

Louise Sawley

Sarah Stallybrass

Francesca Stone

Zenobia Aire (Captain)

Sarah Carnadyne

Ottilie Churchward

Miranda Crowninshield

Humphrina Jarrott

Gwendolyn Nobbs

Mara Rietty

Susannah Thorn

Phyllis Thorpe

Ruby Wool

Erica Boscastle

Lucia Bewe-Bude

Caroline Cowper-Kent

Flora Griffin (absent)

Jacqueline Harper

Margaret Hume

Sylvestra Phillips

Sylvia Starr

Clementine Talbot (Captain)

Heike Ziss

Henrietta Buller

Bryony Burtoncrest

Zealia Clock

Beryl Crowninshield

Sidonie Gryce (Head Girl)

Moria Kratides

Elva Kyle

Pandora Paule

Stheno Stonecastle

Felecia Tingle

Carol Coker

Alison Hills

Hazel Hood

Yung Kha (Captain)

Margaret Ring

Monique Soutie

Harriet Speke

Marianne Toulmin

Cecily Wheele

Jemima Williams

Marie Adkins

Annabelle St Anne

Karen Featherstowe

Emanuelle Gotobed

Joan Hone

Eve Lapham

Juliet Lass (Captain)

Muriel Lavish

Helen Oakes

Marian Phair

Heather Beeke

Theosopha Busby (Captain)

Simret Cheema-Innis

Ann Dis

Sarah Ladymeade

Abigail Pulsipher

Antoinette Rowley Rayne

Priscilla Rintoul

Angela Stannard

Morgana Vail

Kitten Carnes

Barbara Chess

Isola Doone

Daphne Gallaudet

Philippa Hailstone

Unorna Light

Harmony Meade

Sara Paço (Captain)

Laura Tallentyre

Susannah Thorne

Ida Acreman

Doris de Marne

Ellen Eyre

Sally-Anne Flyte

Oona Kite

Holly Queenhough (Captain)

Gladys Sundle

Mary Thompson

Lavinia Trent

Kathleen Vaughn

Edith Brydges

Catherine Bunn

Unity Crawford

Amora Dove

Patricia Kearney

Margaret Lapham

Helena Mansfield (House Captain)

Martha McAndrew

Joanne Storey

Jocasta Upton

Dr Myrna Swan

Dr Ailsa Auchmuty

The Reverend Mr Pericles Bainter

Miss Ethel Bedale

Miss Violet Borrodale

Miss Elizabeth Downs

Miss Jennifer Dryden

Miss Catriona Kaye (acting)

Mrs Rosemary Wyke

Hilda Percy

Louise Humphreys R.R.C.

Nellie Pugh

Joxer Chidgey

T
HIS NOVEL GREW
out of some research I did for
An English Ghost Story
, in which an author named Louise Magellan Teazle is supposed to have written a series of Drearcliff Grange School books. Mostly, that research consisted of reading Mary Cadogan and Patricia Craig’s
You’re A Brick, Angela!: The Girls’ Story 1839–1985
– which remains one of the best books about popular fiction ever written, up there with Colin Watson’s
Snobbery With Violence: English Crime Stories and Their Audience
, another influence on what I’ve been trying to do with a loosely interconnected series of stories and novels inhabiting a world of British pulp adventure.