SUSAN’S SILVER LINK

Waikato Times, Volume 121, Issue 20272, 14 August 1937, Page 21 (Supplement)

SUSAN’S SILVER LINK

BY JOCELYN OLIVER.

(Continued from last wccKj “Weill" Susan and -felicity looked! at each otiier, and Uien reyeaieU, “Weill" There did not seem to do any- J thing else to say. "That \saa nerves, that was," came ! sage expiauauuu 01 hucmua Muihub, , who hau joined them juai m Imiu to hear Veronicas parting words. She shook her head gravely. "Overworking, I’m airaid, lor that scholarship she s going m lor. Burning the uuuiiight oil. 1 know, because 1 ouuiun l sleep last night—l was wondering where -on earth 1 was going to get some more copy from (Lucmua was editor ol llie 1 Thistle the school magazine, tilling which she iouud always un onerous task). "1 got up to open the window a 1 bit wider —it was appallingly hot, you know —and 1 looked out, and there was a light in Veronica’s study window, it was about three m the morning then, so no wonder she's a hit jumpy now, after working all night, or nearly all night. What do you think Cupid will do about that?” She pointed to the cap and gown. "Wo shall soon know," Susan assured her, as they passed into Big School for Prayers: "Quito u lot, 1 should think 1" Miss Cubit’s behaviour, however, I was somewhat disappointing. For one thing, everybody bud Joyously supposed that slio must appear moulted of cap ami gown—not u particularly electrifying spectacle, perhaps, but as interesting au historical event us would have been Brutus in a bowler hat: never In living memory had the mistress come to Prayers Improperly dressed. But they might have known she would have a spore set ready for emergencies. Her commentary on the affair, too, was far more restrained than might have been expected. “A discovery was made this morning,” she said briskly, "which would ifL ive seemed unnatural In a menagerie mr»nkey-house, and discreditable in a home for incurable Imbeciles." She paused, and coldly returned the upturned gaze of some two hundred pairs of eyes, then went on: "I shall be obliged If the perpetrator of that folly will see me In my study during the eleven o’clock break." There was something In this Invitation so like the "Ducky, ducky, duckling, come and be killed" of the nursery rhyme, that for an Instant a ripple ran through the school which an enthusiastic Press might have reported as (laughter' : but if Cupid noticed it, she made no sign. "Falling that." she continued. "I shall be obliged to fake drastic steps to make the culprit come forward. Until the matter Is cleared up. the whole school will remain with Close Bounds." She picked up her things, and moved to step down from her dias. then turned again. "It Is so long since II was necessarv to enforce th's punishment, she concluded, “that perhaps T must, remind you that Close Bounds consist of the ground withhi the four big walls of the school ffsetf: consentient!y the plavine-Acids ind the swimmingpool are forbhhlen.” fuh stenlfennee of tb ! s trot home to her hearers, and for a moment or two there was dead sUenee. 'P m ‘••omehodv ro-iP-m.* •«'..» pn °oo^ through *be rarl s the sw’mmlng-noot nut of bounds. In D'o botfosl summer M-in: 'tint by Unit I uto Cm I '• ! ‘-'■'t th.'y Om,l for alt wniit.l rof ••YoVwhv sltmil.l wo nil bo punWltv not. put u- ■na or t-riuni not jti'ng llko tti it. whorn olio I id to find ivl thr ' .11 1 ' tint- tint ust ~1)U of harm loss ra-mins "1

‘‘lt’s so unfair 1” so tuc> protested, so til ay raged, -tiuuu > buctuueu uut US u o iy xicau, ana iur a uxxxu seemed xxituxy iu nreua muau anu scuiii. uuieiLoreu turuugu mo souuui—\l»ui uuptd was not cupm iur uulxxmg; une luua at Her icy lace, as sue swept ucruso tue luru to uer siuui at ino exexexx u cium nicuk, was euuugh tu seuu, .Mutiny scuttixug back .iiiu j is snexx uii.e au uguutcu xiermit crou. -Nut a girt nut wuuid keep Wiinm cluae bouxius uiuu sueii time as tiUpiU cause Lu wnixuruw tue Hail—rauier, ten tuuusauus times rattier, sLiue Lu Ueatn tliaii Have that icy lace turueu upuu uue sa\e iu tue way of kinuness. And ui' course the culprit did not turn up. uNo one liau expected tliat siie wouiu, though It was ou.a How many gins Had reasons iur being ill tlie neighbourhood of Cupid's study between eleven and a quarter past. But no cowed figure tottered through the door, and the school settled down to lito within Close Bounds, with rage iu I its heart for the girl (whoever she was) who earlier that morning had been the most popular figure Tliistleburgh had had, for months, j The next lew days were a trying I time for the Prefects. There was a 1 nasty spirit in the air, brought oil partly ky the now unalleviated heat, but more by a sense of injustice; Cupid had been unfair, dcihiitely unfair. V ery well, then, one could be unfair oneself, too, if it came to that—oh, not by actually breaking Bounds oil the sly (that would be daring too much), but by scamping one's work, by becoming all at once abnormally blockheaded and unreceptive, by thinking of a hUndred-and-ono petty annouances with which to trip up Authority, j Yes, It was a trying time for tho prefects. Some one suggested that they should form a deputation, to beard Miss Cubit in her study, and lay before her the general feeling with regard to her attitude, but of course the Idea came to nothing—one just didn’t beard Cupid. “No thanks!” said Susan, summing up what everybody felt. “Frankly, I'd i rather beard a hungry man-eating gorilla.” No. the only way to break the Interdict was to discover the culprit, and. by bringing to bear upon her the full weight of public opinion, send her to Cupid's study with a confession. Now a school which had persuaded .Mademoiselle Tiens to allow it the Arse no Lupin Series for French translation was noT likely to be inexpert In Investigation; but though several interesting tilings were brought to light (including n long-lost tortoise. which appeared to liavo oriTmitted hara-kiri under one of tho lire places, and a cake of monstrous proportions at which one of the Juniors and a family of mice had been indulging in secret bouts for the whole of the tierin' 1 , the culprit remained unexposed. She might have been almost anybody—expect, of course, Veronica The breeze die,! away, the tho atr became. Incredibly, even hotter, strengthening tin* friction between MilliorMy and the other girls. Tho strain began to tell upon the prefects •d last. It was at a moment when lienerves were Inclined to he edgy that ''iis ui came upon an advertisement t! .d amus'd tier in the agony column The Times: so she copied, it out. ed addressed it to the editor of The Thi-dle. Ho you want sympathy? Do von v. ot advice? Sludmits ~f Life's Ini troubles ami advise on. Apply 'box No. mm in ituini m mimiii 111 f inniiiiiiiniin,