Read Upper Fourth at Malory Towers for Free Online Page A

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 weavers of their scarves.
    So it was really only Gwendoline who had no one to go with, no one to ask her for her company on a walk, no one to giggle with in a comer. She pretended not to mind, but she did mind, very much. But perhaps now she would have her chance when the Honourable Clarissa came. How pleased her mother would be if she had a really nice friend!
    Gwendoline ran her mind back over the friends she had tried to make. There was Mary-Lou—stupid little Mary-Lou! There was Daphne, who had seemed to be so very friendly one term, and lien had suddenly become friends with Mary-Lou! There was Mavis, who had had such a wonderful voice and was going to be an opera singer. Gwendoline would have liked such a grand person for a friend in after life.
    But Mavis had fallen ill and lost her voice, and Gwendoline didn't want her any more. Then there had been Zerelda, the American girl who had now left—but she had no time for Gwendoline!
    Gwendoline thought mournfully of all these failures. She didn't for one moment think that her lack of friends was her own fault. It was just the horridness of the other girls! If only, only, only she could find somebody like herself—somebody who had never been to school before coming to Malory Towers, who had only had a governess, who didn't play games and somebody who had wealthy parents who would ask her to go and stay in the holidays!
    So Gwendoline waited in hopes for Clarissa's arrival. She imagined a beautiful girl with lovely clothes, arriving in a magnificent car—the Honourable Clarissa! “ My friend,” thought Gwendoline, and she imagined herself at half-term saying to her mother and Miss Winter, her old governess, “Mother, I want you to meet the Honourable Clarissa Carter, my best friend!”
    She did not tell any of the girls these thoughts. She knew the words they would use to her if they guessed what she was planning—snob, hypocrite, fraud! Sucking up to somebody! Just like dear Gwendoline Mary!
    Clarissa did not arrive till teatime. Gwendoline was sitting at table with the others, so she did not see her until the Headmistress suddenly appeared with a strange girl.
    Gwendoline looked up without much interest. The girl was small and undersized-looking—a second-former perhaps. She wore glasses with thick lenses, and had a wire round her teeth to keep them back. Her only beauty seemed to be her hair, which was thick and wavy, and a lovely auburn colour. Gwendoline took another slice of bread-and-butter and looked for the jam.
    The new girl was so nervous that she was actually trembling! Darrell noticed this and was sorry for her. She too had felt like trembling when she first came, and had faced so many girls she didn't know—and here was a poor creature who really was trembling!
    To Darrell’s surprise Miss Grayling brought the girl up to the Upper Fourth table. Mam'zelle Dupont was taking tea and sat