Upper Fourth at Malory Towers

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Book: Read Upper Fourth at Malory Towers for Free Online
Authors: Enid Blyton
at the head.
    “Oh, Mam'zelle,” said Miss Grayling, “here is Clarissa Carter, the last new girl for the Upper Fourth. Can you find a seat for her and give her some tea? Then perhaps your head-girl can look after her when tea is finished.”
    Gwendoline almost dropped her bread-and-butter in surprise. Goodness, she had nearly missed her chance! Could this small, ugly girl really be Clarissa? It was, so she must hurry up and put her plan into action.
    There was a space beside Gwendoline and she stood up in such a hurry that she almost knocked over Daphne's cup of tea. “Clarissa can sit by me,” she said. “There is room here.”
    Clarissa, only too glad to sit down and hide herself, sack gladly into the place beside Gwendoline. Alicia nudged Darrell. “Got going quickly, hasn't she?” she whispered, and Darrell chuckled.
    Gwendoline was at her very sweetest. “Sickly-sweet” was the name given by Alicia to this particular form of friendliness shown by Gwendoline. She leant towards Clarissa and smiled in a most friendly way.
    “Welcome to Malory Towers! I expect you are tired and hungry. Have some bread-and-butter.”
    “I don't think I could eat any, thank you,” said Clarissa, almost sick with nervousness. “Thank you all the same.”
    “Oh, you must have something!” said Gwendoline and took a piece of bread-and-butter. “I'll put some jam on it for you. It's apricot—very nice for a wonder.”
    Clarissa didn't dare to object. She sat huddled up as if she wanted to make herself as small and unnoticeable as possible. She nibbled at the bread-and-butter, but couldn't seem to eat more than a bit of it.
    Gwendoline chattered away, thinking how good and sweet she must seem to the others, putting this nervous new girl at her ease in such a friendly manner. But only Mam'zelle was deceived.
    “The dear kind Gwendoline,” she thought. “Ah, she is a stupid child at her French, but see how charming she is to this poor plain girl, who shakes with nerves.”
    “Sucking up,” said everyone else round the table. They said nothing to Clarissa, feeling that it was enough for the new girl to cope with Gwen, without having to deal with anyone else as well. Mary-Lou liked the look of Clarissa, in spite of her thick glasses and wire round her front teeth—but then Mary-Lou always felt friendly towards anyone as timid as herself! They were about the only people she wasn't afraid of.
    After tea Mam'zelle spoke to Darrell. “Darrell, you will take care of Clarissa, n'est-ce pas ? She will feel strange at first, la pauvre petite !”
    “Mam'zelle, I'm awfully sorry, but I've got to go to a meeting of all the head-girls of the forms,” said Darrell. “It's in five minutes' time. Perhaps Sally—or Belinda—or...”
    “ I’ll look after her,” said Gwendoline, promptly, thrilled that Darrell had to go to a meeting. “I'll show her round. I'll be very pleased to.”
    She gave Clarissa a beaming smile that startled the new girl and made everyone else feel slightly sick. She slipped her arm through Clarissa's. “Come along,” she said, in a sort of voice one uses to a very small child. “Where's your night-case? I'll show you the dormy. You've got a very nice place in it.”
    She went off with Clarissa, and everyone made faces and grinned. “Trust our Gwendoline Mary to show a bit of determination over things like this,” said Alicia. “What a nasty little snob! Honestly, I don't think Gwendoline has altered one bit for the better since she came to Malory Towers!”
    “I think you're right,” said Darrell, considering the matter with her head on one side. “It's really rather queer—I would have thought that being even a few terms here would have made everyone better in some way—and Gwen has been here years—but she's just the same sly, mean, lazy little sucker-up!”“
    “How has it made you better, Darrell?” said Alicia, teasingly. “I can't say I've noticed much difference in you!”
    “She was

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