While Glenda was wildly searching for a suitable answer in French, Nat's voice was raised in cheerful explanation.
"C'est Ida, Mademoiselle. Elle est trop pleine de bon thé," and from table number two there came a shout of ribald and unseemly mirth at Nat's ready answer.
CHAPTER III
AN AMAZING CONFESSION
The Fifth Form watched the new girl with secret but close interest for the next two or three days, expecting to see some kind of exhibition of the wickedness that had given her such an unenviable reputation. But for the first few days nothing at all startling happened. The new girl seemed quite harmless, as Ida Preston declared to a little circle of Fifth-formers who had gathered in their classroom and were awaiting the arrival of their form mistress, Miss Bennett.
"Sulky thing, I call her," said Betty. "Not a word to anyone, yet doesn't seem at all shy—just sullen. Nat isn't very keen on her as a study-mate, I believe."
"Fancy not knowing any French!" chimed in Nora Miles. "She can't take French with us."
"No. She's going into the Third Form for French," replied Irene. "But she's coming into the Fifth for all the other subjects, so I suppose she can't be such a dud. Wonder if she's clever!" Irene, though she pretended not to care, was secretly very proud of the position she had held as head of the class for the last two or three years, and it would be a severe blow to her were she to find herself in any other place but the top when the class examination list was posted up.
"I tell you what I'm most curious about, girls," said Glenda. "I'd give my last pot of gooseberry jam to know why she was expelled from her school last term."
Glenda's voice was naturally clear and distinct, and in the interest of the subject she had forgotten to speak in low tones. Every word carried quite distinctly to the ears of the very girl they were discussing, for Monica was just entering the classroom in Nat's company. They first became aware of her entry when a voice came in prompt answer to Glenda's speech: