CHAPTER VIII
MAINLY CONCERNING A MOUSE
The Lower Fifth was a long way removed from the Sixth Form at Wakehurst Priory. Between it lay the Middle Fifth, the Upper Fifth, and the Sixth Remove. But things had a way of getting round in the school, as they have in other places; and in due course it came to the ears of the Sixth Form that the new girl, Geraldine Wilmott, was not exactly popular with her companions. She had done something rather "sneaky," the Sixth understood, and was vaguely suspected of being a German—or at any rate of having a good deal of German blood in her.
"Too bad of Miss Oakley to have admitted her into the school if it's true," commented Kathleen Milne, one of the prefects and a prominent member of the Sixth. "Of course, I know the war's over now, and all that; but all the same, one can't quite forget some of the things they did. I, for one, must say that I'd prefer not to be educated at a school where they take German girls."
"Who's that that's German?" inquired Monica Deane, looking up quickly from the book she was poring over. It was during the evening preparation, and Monica, with one or two other members of the Sixth, had repaired to the large room, half classroom, half library, where the Sixth Form classes were held. Being a somewhat privileged form, the Sixth were at liberty to prepare their work where they liked, either in their common room, or in the small studies of which each member of the form possessed one.
It was Kathleen Milne who answered the question.
"That new girl in the Lower Fifth—Geraldine Wilmott."
Monica banged her book indignantly upon the table.
"Rot! She isn't! She's as English as I am. She sleeps next door to me in my dorm, and the first day of term she was telling me all about her home and her relations."