The next morning came the shock, and I doubt whether there had ever been a greater one in the whole history of the Academy.

I had risen earlier than usual alter a sleepless night and I knew the girls were stirring because of the sounds of activity which came from their rooms.

Eugenie came to me and there was a sly look of triumph in her eyes.

She said: "Fiona has gone."

"Gone! Gone where?"

"Gone to get married."

"What are you talking about?"

"She went last night ... straight from the Hall. She never came back here."

I dashed into her bedroom. I saw the heap of clothes under the covers on Fiona's bed which last night I had mistaken for her.

I said: "You will come down to Miss Hetherington with me immediately."

I had never before seen Daisy at a loss for words. Her face was grey and her lips twitched. She looked from Eugenie to me as though imploring us to tell her that we were joking.

Then she spoke. "Gone? Fiona! Eloped ...?" "She's gone to get married, Miss Hetherington," said Eugenie.

"It's some horrible mistake. Go and tell Fiona to come to me immediately."

I said gently: "I think it's true, Miss Hetherington. She's not in her room."

"But she came back last night. She had a headache."

"The headache was obviously a pretence. I gather she left the Hall. Her lover must have been waiting for her."

"Her lover!" cried Daisy. "One of my girls!"

I was sorry for her. She was really distressed and I could see her trying to reject the story and at the same time wondering what effect it was going to have on the school. But she would not have been Daisy if she had not quickly recovered from her shock.

"You had better tell me everything," she said.

I spoke first and said that when I had made my rounds last night Fiona had appeared to be in her bed. This morning I had discovered that what I had thought was Fiona was in fact a bundle of clothes, and Eugenie had told me exactly what she had just told Miss Hetherington.

"You admit this, Eugenie?"

"Yes, Miss Hetherington."

"You knew Fiona was going and you said nothing about it?"

"Yes, Miss Hetherington."

"That was very wrong. You should have come to me or Miss Grant at once."

Eugenie was silent.

"Who is this man?"

"He is very good looking and romantic."

"What is his name?"

"Carl."

"Carl What?"

"I don't know. He was just Carl."

"Where did you meet him?"

"In the woods."

"When?"

"When we went walking."

"Walking alone in the woods!"

"There were others with us."

"Who?"

"Charlotte Mackay and Jane Everton."

"When was this?"

"On May Day."

"Do you mean to say you talked to a stranger?" "Well, it wasn't quite like that. He asked the way ... and we got talking."

"And then?"

"He asked about the school and the girls and all that and he seemed to like Fiona particularly. Then we saw him again. He was always in the woods. He was interested in the trees and the country. He had come here to study them."

"You mean he wasn't English?"

"He seemed it. He'd come from somewhere . . don't know where."

"You only knew him as Cary. You don't know where he came from, and Fiona goes off with him!"

"It was love at first sight," said Eugenie. "She was very happy."

"And you conspired ..."

"Well, she is my sister. We had to help her." "We? Who had to help her?"

"She means Charlotte did too, I daresay," I said.

"Oh dear," said Daisy, putting her band to her head. "Someone had better go over to the Hall and tell Sir Jason of this disaster. Perhaps it is not yet too late."

It was obvious that we were not going to learn much from Eugenie. Perhaps Jason would be more successful. I could have slapped the girl. She stood facing us with a rather mocking expression, and the manner in which she pressed her lips together showed clearly that she was not going to give anything away.

Daisy sent her to her room with instructions to stay there until sent for and she put Miss Barston in charge of her. She talked a little incoherently while we waited. "They left last night ... It was when they went from the Hall. A headache! Oh, the duplicity of girls! Have they learned nothing here? It was before supper ... and that was at ten. Where could they have gone? Could they be married now, I wonder? One does not expect this sort of thing nowadays ... And one of my girls! Sir Jason will know what to do. He'll bring her back, I daresay. I do trope there isn't talk ..."

It was becoming a nightmare. Yesterday the letter. Today Fiona's elopement. What next? I wondered.

Jason came immediately and Daisy went off into explanations. He found it hard to believe.

He sent for Eugenie and questioned her. She began by being defiant and then broke down and said that Fiona was in love and had a right to get married if she wanted to. Carl was wonderful. He loved Fiona and Fiona loved him. They were happy. Yes, she had known Fiona was going. Charlotte had helped her. Fiona hadn't got into the carriage with them when they had gone back to the school but had gone to Carl who was waiting for her. Yes, she had made it appear that Fiona was in her bed so that I had been deceived when I looked in.

Charlotte was sent for. She was equally defiant. It was quite clear that there had been a conspiracy between them all and this lover ... this Carl had taken advantage of it.

But in spite of the gruelling questions, the pleas and the threats, we could get nothing more from them than that they had met Carl in the woods, he had asked the way and they had talked; he had seen them again. Once they had ridden off to meet him because they were making arrangements for the elopement. I remembered that occasion well and how scared Miss Barston had been.

Jason said: "Someone must have seen them leave. I'll get down to the station. If we can fend out where they went it might give us a clue to start with."

He went off.

There was little concentration on lessons that day. Everyone was talking about Fiona's elopement. It was clear that the girls were very excited. They thought it was the most romantic thing that had ever happened at Colby Abbey Academy for Young Ladies.


I could not rest: I had half forgotten the letter in all the turmoil of Fiona's flight, but every now and then memory of it came back to sicken me. The entire picture seemed to have changed. I looked back at the peace of last term and could not believe so much disaster could have come about during such a short time.

Something occurred to me and I went in search of Eugenie. As it was the half hour after the midday meal and lessons did not start until two I guessed that she would be out of doors. I found her with Charlotte at the fish ponds.

"Eugenie," I said. "I want a word with you." "With me?" she said insolently.

"Perhaps both of you can help me."

There was something in the manner of both girls which I found offensive. They had never forgiven me for separating them when I arrived. It had seemed like a victory for me then but I always felt uneasy with those two girls and when I considered how they had connived and probably schemed with Fiona and her lover, they worried me a good deal.

I said: "I have been thinking about the pageant. Do you remember Miss Barston lost one of the costumes?"

"Yes," said Charlotte with a laugh.

"Perhaps you will tell me why you find it so amusing?"

They were both silent.

"Come on," I said. "Lessons will be starting soon. Do you know anything about that costume?"


Eugenie looked at Charlotte who said defiantly: "Fiona took it."

"I see, and during the performance someone wore it. Could it by any chance have been the romantic Carl?"

They tittered.

"This is a very dangerous matter," I said severely. "Did Carl wear the costume?"

They still stood there suppressing their mirth. "Did he?" I thundered.

"Yes, Miss Grant," said Charlotte.

"And he had the temerity to appear with the monks?"

"He had to see Fiona. He had to tell her about the arrangements."

"I see. And you were in the secret?"

They were silent again. I was thinking of that moment when I had almost caught Fiona and her lover. If only I had. If I could have unmasked this man I might have stopped this disastrous elopement.

"You have been very foolish," I said.

"Why?" demanded Eugenie. "Love is good and Fiona is happy."

"Fiona is very young."

"She is eighteen. Why should love be right for some and not for others?"

There was a direct challenge in their eyes.

"I said this is a dangerous matter. Go back to your classes now."

They ran across the grass and I followed.

Jason called at the school that evening.

Miss Hetherington invited the mistresses to her study to hear what he had to say.

He had discovered that two people had arrived at the station before the vine o'clock train for Exeter was about to depart. The man was a stranger and the station master did not recognize his companion. She was wearing a cloak which covered her head completely. There were two other passengers .. . both men. That was all he could remember.

"They could have gone to Exeter ... or London ... anywhere," said Jason. "It seems as though we are not going to get on their trail."

There was gloom in the study. I think most of us conceded that Fiona had successfully escaped.

Jason went to Exeter next day. I believe he made extensive enquiries but he was of course working in the dark.

We tried to settle down to a normal existence but it wasn't easy. I had never seen Daisy so depressed. She was terribly concerned about what effect it would have on the school.

"In a way," she said, "it is a blessing that she is who she is. Sir Jason knows exactly how it happened and it was after all from the Hall that she escaped. He doesn't blame us for negligence. All the same, girls talk, and I don't know what parents' reactions will be to an elopement at the school."

Four days after the elopement, Eugenie had a postcard from Fiona. There was a picture of Trafalgar Square and a London postmark.

"I'm having a wonderful time and am very happy. Fiona."

The postcard was seized on, examined and Sir Jason was invited to come over. But in fact it gave us no information except that Fiona was happy and in London.

"And that," said Eileen, "is like looking for a particularly elusive needle in a rather more than usually large haystack. It's no use trying to find her. She's gone off. She may be married. I expect she will be as she has a nice fortune. Maybe that's the crux of the whole matter. Though Fiona is a charming child .. . quite the most pleasant of that unholy trinity which comprises her sister and the odious Charlotte. I'm sorry it wasn't Eugenie or Charlotte who went off."

That was an indication of the way people were thinking. They were getting tired of the subject of Fiona's departure. It was evident that she had gone and would not come back to school. "Let it rest there," said Eileen. "After all I doubt she is the first schoolgirl to elope. I think there was quite a crop of them last century ... always heiresses, which I believe contributed to the main purpose of the exercise. So this runs to form."

When I went into the post office I found Mrs. Baddicombe round-eyed with curiosity.

"My word," she said, "we do see life. What do you think of that young lady running off like that! Well, what's the world coming to? They say he was such a handsome gentleman. Swept off her feet. Well, you know what young girls are. No stopping 'em. I reckon there was a bit of a to-do at the school and at the Hall."

It seemed that the excitement aroused by Fiona's elopement had superseded that of Mrs. Martindale's disappearance.

I registered a parcel to Aunt Patty. There was no need to. It was some artificial flowers which I had happened to see in Colby and I thought she would find them suitable for trimming a hat. She would be surprised that I registered them but I could explain to her when I saw her.

"Would you please write the receipt in block letters please?"

"Block letters!" cried Mrs. Baddicombe. "What's them?''

"Like printing."

"Well, I never did before. I always write out my receipts natural like."