The Mam'zelles of Malory Towers

CHAPTER ELEVEN: PLANS, AND AN INVESTIGATION

"Golly," remarked Darrell to Alicia one day in the common room. "I can't believe it's almost half term already! Time sure does seem to fly when we're at Malory Towers".

And right indeed was Darrell, for half-term was only a week away! But along with the excitement and happiness of half-term came something rather more sinister- a new scheme from Mam'zelle Rougier!

Daphne, Elsie and Gwendoline entered Rougier's office with their heads held high. Their last theft had been a raging success and the girls simply couldn't wait for Rougier's reaction.

Much to their surprise, when the trio walked into the room, they saw Rougier was not alone- there were two other girls in the room: shy little Mary-Lou and a quiet girl named Pam from the first form.

"Welcome, girls," said Rougier, trying her best to sound warm and friendly. "Congratulations on your first successful crime. As you can see, I have added two new recruits to our cause."

"But -" stammered Elsie. 

"No buts," snapped Rougier. "We will need some- how do you English say it? Ah yes, manpower, for my upcoming scheme. Hold fast girls, because this will be our grandest theft so far!"

Daphne's eyes gleamed in excitement, while Pam and Mary-Lou softly smiled and joined the other girls. The two quiet, shy girls had been bullied by Rougier into joining her crime circle, but as soon as Mary-Lou saw her much-admired Daphne walk into the office she knew everything would be fine. As for Pam, the timid girl was sick of being pushed into the background by the other girls. It was time for her to show everyone she had a voice!

"What's our plan, Mam'zelle?" asked Daphne eagerly. Rougier's menacing smile grew even wider and Esme curled around her shoulders. But before the woman could speak, she was interrupted by a sharp knock on her door.

"Quick!" hissed Rougier. The candles were hurriedly blown out and hidden, the piles of gold and wallets swept under the desk, and Esme unceremoniously shoved behind the curtains. Lastly, the girls took seats at Rougier's desk and took out piles of French prep to phonily copy out. 

"Come in," called Rougier. 

The door swung open to reveal Miss Potts, holding a bottle of sherry she had pinched from the kitchen. Seeing the girls in Rougier's office, the teacher swiftly shoved the bottle behind her back. 

"Oh!" exclaimed Ms. Potts awkwardly. "I was just knocking by to see if you were free to join some of us in my office to discuss half-term plans, but I see you are busy... do pop by once you are free?"

Rougier nodded and faked a smile, eyeing the bottle of sherry as Ms. Potts exited the office. Once the door swung shut, she returned her attention to the girls.

"As I was saying, the reason why I have added new recruits is because I have prepared a grand scheme for the half-term break you girls have in a week." There was a chorus of oohs and aahs. "You girls will be positioned as servers in the event, circulating jammy buns and strawberries to all the parents. This will give you a unique position to rob the parents of any wallets or valuables and hide them in the trays. Do you understand?"

Gaping at the simplicity yet ingenuity of this scheme, the girls nodded. Mam'zelle truly was a lord of crime!

While the girls went over the details of the scheme in Rougier's office, a different teacher was a mile away in town, looking for details on Rougier herself - none other than Mr. Young! He let himself into the town's library archive with his own set of keys, which he had since he was one of the few people in town who actually knew the archive existed. 

Mr. Young was a voracious gossip and often hunted for scandals in old newspapers in his spare time. When he had first seen the lovely Agathe Rougier, her face rang a bell in his mind - he knew he had seen her somewhere! After hours of dedicated hunting in the archives, Mr. Young finally found what he was looking for, in a clipping from a French newspaper that had somehow slipped into the archive. The clipping featured a picture of a stern-looking Agathe glaring into the camera, captioned in dense and incomprehensible French.

Mr. Young sighed in satisfaction and slipped the photo into his wallet, only to realise it was missing. Strange! He put the photo in his pocket instead, wishing he could understand French. What secrets was Mam'zelle Rougier hiding?