Winter Term at Malory Towers by Enid Blyton Page A

are correct, and that Bonnie is giving our secrets away to Miss Tallant. Where is Bonnie, anyway?’
    â€˜Oh, she stayed behind to help Miss Tallant tidy up the classroom,’ said Nora. ‘But what’s all this about Bonnie telling her our secrets?’
    â€˜Of course, you don’t know, do you?’ said Felicity. And she and Susan told Nora, Julie and Lucy what had been happening.
    They were very shocked, of course, and Lucy said gravely, ‘What are we going to do about it?’
    â€˜Speak to her about it, of course,’ said June. ‘And I vote we punish the little beast by sending her to Coventry.’
    â€˜That will be a very hard punishment for her to bear, because Bonnie loves to chatter,’ said Julie.
    â€˜I wonder if Amy will stand out against the punishment?’ said Nora. ‘After all, Bonnie is her friend.’
    â€˜Well, if she does, then I’m afraid we shall have to send Amy to Coventry, too,’ said Susan, her expression grim. ‘We’ll tackle her in the common-room after tea tonight.’
    So, after tea that night, the girls gathered in the common-room.
    Susan was sitting with Felicity, Pam and a few others, and she said, ‘Well, I vote that we get this whole beastlybusiness over with as quickly as possible.’
    The others agreed, and Susan called out, ‘Bonnie, can you come over here a minute, please? There is something we need to talk to you about.’
    Surprised, Bonnie went over to Susan, who decided that it was no use beating about the bush, and said, ‘Bonnie, I need to ask you something. Have you been letting Miss Tallant in on some of our form’s secrets?’
    Bonnie gave a gasp, and said at once, ‘Of course not! What makes you ask such a thing, Susan?’
    â€˜She’s fibbing!’ said June. ‘There’s no one who can play innocent as well as Bonnie can. And we all know how good she is at acting.’
    â€˜That’s enough, June,’ said Susan sharply. ‘The thing is, Bonnie, someone told Miss Tallant the name of the play that we are doing.’
    â€˜And they sneaked to her about the mouse that I put in Olive’s desk,’ said June, who was far too angry to stay silent. ‘And we saw her with you in the library on the day of our meeting. She gave you a bar of chocolate.’
    â€˜Yes, because she had asked me to do something for her, and said that she would give me a bar of chocolate if I did,’ said Bonnie, who had turned pale. ‘It was all part of my plan to suck up to her.’
    Freddie gave a harsh laugh. ‘Yes, but you went a little too far in your plan, didn’t you? You decided that you had more to gain from being on Miss Tallant’s side than ours.’
    â€˜That’s a horrid lie!’ cried Bonnie, tears starting to her big, brown eyes.
    â€˜Of course it is,’ said Amy, entering the battle. ‘How dare you accuse Bonnie of such a thing?’
    â€˜I realise that you want to stick up for your friend, Amy,’ said Felicity. ‘But we know that Bonnie is the culprit. You see, we let her overhear us talking about June’s plan to put a spider in Miss Tallant’s desk. And, sure enough, word reached Miss Tallant’s ears.’
    â€˜But it wasn’t me!’ protested Bonnie, tears beginning to trickle down her cheeks now. ‘I wasn’t the only one who overheard you. Sylvia was there that night, and so was Olive. And Pam! It could just as easily have been one of them.’
    Of course, the others knew that it wasn’t Pam, for she had come up through the school with them and would never dream of such a thing. Felicity couldn’t help glancing at Sylvia and Olive, though. Sylvia was looking extremely startled, while Olive wore her usual miserable expression. Could it have been one of them? She said to Bonnie, ‘All right then, you tell us what this mysterious job was that Miss Tallant asked you