Daisy Pulls It Off
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ACT I:
Grangewood School for GIRLS.
MISS GIBSON the Headmistress, the Staff and Pupils
welcome the audience to the school as they enter the
auditorium. Moving among the audience with such
words as “Hello to you”. “So glad you could make sports
day”, “Ah! an old girl” etc. A teacher plays suitable tunes
on the piano. When everyone is in, MISS GIBSON stands
centre stage with the staff and pupils in a semi-circle
around her.
MISS GIBSON (to the audience) Good evening. May I, before we
begin the evening’s entertainment, take this opportunity to
welcome you—parents, brothers, sisters, cousins, uncles,
aunts, friends and, for aught I know, grandparents too—to
Grangewood School for Girls. Today marks the twentyfifth anniversary of the founding of the school, twenty-five
years of consistent sporting and academic achievement, of
targets striven towards and goals attained, of aspiration
and realization, from which has evolved amongst pupils
and staff, a tradition of fairness to one’s fellow creatures,
loyalty to school and country, a sense of duty and honour,
of being straight and playing the game, and above all, a
tradition of happy girls. May that tradition still be cleaven
to on the fiftieth anniversary of this establishment.
VOICE OFF Hear, hear.
MISS GIBSON I won’t detain you any longer except to explain
that each form in the school has assumed responsibility for
one entire evening’s entertainment during the course of this
festival week. The mantle of responsibility falls tonight,
by lottery, on the Fourth form, together with a little help
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from members of staff, who have asked me to announce
their offering, a play in two acts entitled Daisy Pulls It
Off. Thank you.
Everyone exits except DAISY who puts on a dressinggown and stands centre stage.
DAISY (to the audience) Daisy Meredith, daredevil, tomboy,
possessed of a brilliant mind, exuberant, quick-witted, fond
of practical jokes, honourable, honest, courageous, straight
in all things and…an elementary school pupil. Father—dead.
Mother—a former opera singer who struggles to keep a
home together for herself, Daisy, and Daisy’s brothers—Dick,
Douglas, Daniel and Duncan in a small terraced house in
London’s East End, by giving music lessons to private pupils.
Daisy has recently taken an exam which will, if she succeeds
in passing it, enable her to gain a place as the first ever
scholarship pupil at Grangewood Girls School, one of the
most famous educational establishments in the country. If,
however, she fails the exam, she must leave her elementary
school at the end of the year and take up some form of illpaid menial work to which she is little suited. Thank you.
(To herself ) I do wish the postman would hurry and bring
the letter containing the exam results—but it isn’t even eight
o’clock yet. I must win the scholarship, I so want to go to
Grangewood. How topping it would be to learn Latin and
Greek, to play hockey on their famous pitch, to make friends
with all those jolly girls and have midnight feasts and get
into fearful scrapes just like they do in books. I should miss
mother…and Dick, Douglas, Daniel and Duncan of course…
and all my chums at elementary school. But I must win
the scholarship for the sake of others as well as for myself,
for if I, the first scholarship pupil at Grangewood, make a
success of the scheme, Grangewood will open its doors to
other elementary school pupils, as poor as myself.
SYBIL BURLINGTON enters.
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act i 3
SYBIL So, elementary schoolgirls at Grangewood; bringing
their dishonesty, filth and guttersnipe ways with them and
generally lowering the tone of the place. Well, we’ll see
about that. (She starts to exit—then stops and turns. To
the audience) Oh, Sybil Burlington, Vice-Captain of the
Upper Fourth, and conceited, beautiful, only daughter of
very wealthy parents.
SYBIL exits.
DAISY Mother! Oh, Mother, I’m through! I’ve got the scholarship!
I can go to Grangewood!
MOTHER enters and during the following helps DAISY
get into the rest of her school uniform.
MOTHER Daisy, dear, that’s splendid, I’m so glad and proud.
DAISY I hope I make a success of it.
MOTHER You will, my dear, you’ve got this far.
DAISY I’ll have a good education, pass all my exams and then,
when I leave, find a job as a teacher in an elementary
school and perhaps I’ll earn enough money to buy you the
country cottage you’ve always wanted, and to pay for Dick,
Douglas, Daniel and Duncan’s education if they haven’t
won scholarships by then. (To the audience) The summer
holidays passed all too slowly for Daisy, that is, until the
time came to say goodbye to those she loved best.
MOTHER Board the train, Daisy, dear, otherwise you’ll find
yourself on the platform and the train steaming off without
you. Oh, the boys asked me to give you this. (She hands
DAISY a small package)
DAISY Write often, Mother, I’ll be dying to know what you’re
all doing, and any news you may hear of my old school pals.
MOTHER God bless you, Daisy, dear, I know you’ll do absolutely
splendidly and make us all even prouder of you, if that’s
possible. And remember, Daisy, keep your chin up, and never
tell a lie or do anything mean or underhand. You might find
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boarding school life strange or perhaps difficult at first, but
be straight with everyone and you’ll pull through.
A whistle blows, off.
DAISY We’re off—oh, Mother—
MOTHER and DAISY hug and kiss.
MOTHER Goodbye, my darling—write soon…
DAISY See you at the end of term!
MOTHER exits.
SYBIL BURLINGTON and BELINDA MATHIESON enter.
SYBIL (to the audience) Meanwhile, in the adjoining carriage…
BELINDA (to the audience) Belinda Mathieson, Captain of the
Upper Fourth and best all round sportswoman of that form.
(To SYBIL) What utter rot you talk, Sybil, not all elementary
school kids live in filthy hovels with thieving fathers and
drunken sluttish mothers. Take a walk through Esher any
day. And if this… Daisy Meredith is brainy enough to win
a scholarship to Grangewood, she’s as much right to a good
education as the rest of us there.
SYBIL But don’t you see, Belinda, that if this Meredith girl
proves a success then Grangewood will lose the type of
person that’s made it into the kind of school it is today. I
heard several girls—and teachers—last term saying how
unhappy they were about the scheme.
BELINDA Even Miss Gibson?
SYBIL Miss Gibson will soon see sense when exam standards
drop and girls leave and Grangewood loses every sports
trophy it’s ever won. Hockey and tennis aren’t taught in
elementary schools.
BELINDA How frightful.
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act i 5
DAISY (to the audience) The journey passed miserably for Daisy
until the train made a stop at a small country station.
CLARE BEAUMONT enters.
CLARE (to the audience) Clare Beaumont, Head Girl and Sports
Captain of Grangewood School, a shining example of true
British girlhood. (To DAISY) Excuse me, are any of these
seats taken?
DAISY Just mine.
CLARE Bound for Grangewood School, I see.
DAISY Yes.
CLARE I don’t recall having seen you before.
DAISY No, it’s my first term, actually.
CLARE Well, I’m sure you’ll be tremendously happy with
us, Grangewood is the jolliest school in England. Clare
Beaumont, by the way, sixth.
DAISY Daisy Meredith.
CLARE Daisy Meredith…
DAISY Yes, I’m to be in the Upper Fourth.
CLARE Of course, you must be the girl who won the scholarship.
DAISY The first of many such girls, I hope.
CLARE That’s the spirit, kiddie, but there are a few silly little
rotters in the school who aren’t too keen on scholarship
pupils being admitted. I’d lie low if I were you, for the first
month or so until they’ve got used to the idea being made
flesh. Buck-up, child, there are some quite decent girls in
the Fourth, you’ll pull through.
DAISY I jolly well hope to.
CLARE Here we are at the station.
ALICE (offstage) Clare! Clare, old girl!
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CLARE Coming! The school is only five minutes away, you’ll find
it easily enough, just follow the others. Chin-up, kiddie…
ALICE (offstage) Clare!
CLARE See you later, I expect.
All the GIRLS and mistresses enter with luggage, acting
out DAISY’s words as she speaks.
DAISY (to the audience) Daisy stepped on to the platform of the
tiny country station, scarcely able to push her way through
the crowd of laughing, chattering girls—girls of all shapes
and sizes—girls merrily exchanging greetings and holiday
reminiscences with chums whom they had not seen for seven
long weeks—girls who in the blue and white colours of
Grangewood School resembled not so much a whirlpool, as
so many tumbling, foaming little waves rushing shorewards
on the incoming tide and breaking thankfully on the warm,
yellow sands of home. Mistresses suddenly appeared on the
platform and began to shepherd the bubbling throng into
the lane that led to the school. They rounded the corner—I
say!—and there stood Grangewood School, a rambling
red-brick Elizabethan mansion, its mullioned windows
twinkling in the sun like so many welcoming eyes beneath
curious twisted chimneys. Flowers of every scent and hue
bordered the smooth green lawns, and there behind the
house stretched the tennis courts and playing fields for
which Grangewood was justly renowned. As they passed
through the great stone gates, the girls—as one—turned
to look at the sapphire sea beating against the chalky cliffs
on which the school so proudly stood. What an absolutely
gorgeous place, I’m going to be so immensely happy here.
TRIXIE Isn’t it heavenly?
DAISY I’m knocked over entirely.
TRIXIE (to the audience) Trixie Martin, madcap and poet of
the Upper Fourth. (To DAISY) I say aren’t you a new bug…
I mean girl.
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act i 7
DAISY Yes, Daisy Meredith.
TRIXIE Daisy Meredith?
DAISY That’s right, I’m to be in the Upper Fourth.
TRIXIE O Jubilate, that’s my form. Perhaps we can have desks
next to each other. One can have an uncommonly good time
at Grangewood so long as one doesn’t upset the Prees or
mistresses too much. I say, are you fond of setting up stunts?
DAISY I should say. I’ve got four brothers and we constantly
play tricks on each other.
TRIXIE Can you swim?
DAISY A little.
TRIXIE Capital, you’ll soon improve, for if the weather’s fine
enough the entire school goes for an early morning dip in
the sea. There’s an absolutely scrummy beach at the bottom
of the cliffs with a secret path leading down to it known
only to ourselves.
DAISY How perfectly ripping.
CLARE and ALICE enter.
TRIXIE That’s Clare Beaumont, over there, she’s—
DAISY I’ve met her.
TRIXIE How uncommonly lucky. Clare is Grangewood’s Sports
Captain and Head Girl, she’s a first-rate tennis and hockey
player as well as having a brain. We all adore her. Her people,
well, her mother, actually own Grangewood…
DAISY I say!
TRIXIE …her family used to live in the building and then just
over twenty years ago, they started to lose money after old
Sir Digby Beaumont died and so they leased it out to the
school govenors. Each year the Beaumonts have lost more
and more money and now it looks as though they might
have to sell to the School Governors. There is talk that
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the family fortunes could be saved if only the Beaumont
treasure could be found!
DAISY Treasure!
TRIXIE Yes! I’ve hunted for hours tapping walls, looking for
secret panels and trapdoors and clues, and so have scores
of other girls, but it’s probably only hearsay, nothing’s ever
been found.
MONICA SMITHERS enters.
MONICA Trixie Martin, you’re to go and see Matron at once,
she’s in a fearful mood over something.
TRIXIE Oh dash it! Mother’s probably not name-tagged my
new socks. See you at tea, I expect, Daisy.
TRIXIE exits.
MONICA (to the audience) Monica Smithers, school toady and
chief crony of Sybil Burlington. (To DAISY) I say, I’ve not
seen you before.
DAISY It’s my first day at Grangewood—Daisy Meredith.
MONICA Daisy…oh, the scholarship girl.
DAISY That’s right.
MONICA Ever been to school before?
DAISY Yes, of…
MONICA Read and write, can you?
DAISY What on…
MONICA Elementary schoolgirls are a new breed at Grangewood,
you see, we’ve no idea what to expect. Not that I’ve ever been
in a position to meet anyone from an elementary school
before, Mummy and Daddy are so frightfully particular
about that kind of thing. Of course, in our situation one
has to be, some people will do anything for money. Oh, by
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act i 9
the way, Miss Gibson always likes to see new girls in her
DAISY Really?
MONICA Up this staircase, first door on the right.
DAISY Thank you.
MONICA exits.
What a sickening girl! Now where did she say, up the
staircase, and the first door on the right. Now to meet the
Head.
DAISY knocks on the door—no answer. She knocks
again—still no answer.
ALICE FITZPATRICK enters.
ALICE (to the audience) Alice Fitzpatrick, Prefect, Deputy Sports
Captain and best chum of Clare Beaumont. (To DAISY) And
what are you knocking on there for, child?
DAISY I’ve got to see Miss Gibson.
ALICE Well, it’s not in there you’ll find Miss Gibson, see, ’tis
only a broom cupboard.
DAISY Oh, but I was told…
ALICE Someone playing a trick on you, was it? I’ll take you
meself to Miss Gibson. You’re a new girl by the look of things.
DAISY Yes, I am. My name’s Daisy Meredith and I’m to be in
the Upper Fourth.
ALICE Daisy…well that’s a nice enough name. Are you fond of
games, hockey, tennis and suchlike?
DAISY I enjoy playing cricket and football with my brothers, but
I’ve not had much opportunity to play hockey or tennis, you
see they didn’t teach them at my last school. Only rounders.
ALICE Is that a fact?
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DAISY But I know all the rules for hockey and tennis, I swotted
up on them from books at home.
ALICE Reading’s not quite the same as doing, but if you have
the sporting spirit you’ll do finely. Play the game, that’s
what we say here, play up and play the game—and it’s a
poor view we take of any girl who doesn’t play it.
DAISY (indicating a wooden board) What’s that?
ALICE The School Honours Board. A record of achievements by
girls whom Grangewood is truly proud to have had within
its portals.
DAISY (narrating) Daisy gazed wistfully at the simple oak
boards with the names graven in gold of former pupils. I
mean Grangewood to be proud of me one day and perhaps
my name to shine amongst theirs.
ALICE Here we are, child, Miss Gibson’s room.
DAISY Fearfully kind of you to help me.
ALICE All my pleasure, child. Run along in, Miss Gibson will
not bite your head off.
ALICE exits.
MISS GIBSON enters.
MISS GIBSON (to the audience) Miss Gibson, young, much-loved,
headmistress of Grangewood School.
DAISY Daisy Meredith, ma’am.
MISS GIBSON Welcome, my dear, to Grangewood, how very
pleased we are to have you here.
DAISY Thank you.
MISS GIBSON I need not say, of course, that the advent of
Grangewood’s first scholarship pupil—one who has arrived
here by way of intellect and not by way of parental monetary
wealth—has caused a certain amount of trepidation within
the school. Much will be expected of you, both morally
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act i 11
and intellectually, but from the scholastic reports I have
received of you and from the impressions I have of the girl
standing here before me, I am sure that you will fulfil all
expectations. Everyone will be anxious to help you in any
way you may require during your first few weeks here—as
we do all new girls. I hope you will be very happy here, my
dear, and will always stay true to the motto of Grangewood,
which is also that of the Beaumont family whose ancestral
home this is—Honesta quam magna—How great are noble
things. Now I’m sure you’re tired, Daisy, the supper bell will
be ringing shortly and Matron will wish to see you before
then. I trust you will settle in quickly, my child. Well, run
along.
DAISY Thank you, Miss Gibson.
MISS GIBSON exits.
Phew.
TRIXIE enters.
TRIXIE Hello. I say, isn’t it capital, you’re to be in the same
dormy as me!
DAISY How glorious!
TRIXIE Dormy number five, one of the best, it looks out over
the sea…
DAISY How topping.
TRIXIE Worst luck is, we’ve to share it with that stuck-up pair
of prigs, Sybil Burlington and Monica Smithers. I expect
Miss Gibson thinks they’ll set us a good example. Miss
Gibson is an uncommonly jolly headmistress, but I feel she
can be immensely misguided sometimes. Still, Jean Jeffrey
and Dora Johnston are next door in number three so we
can organize a stunt or two between the four of us.
DAISY Midnight feasts.
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TRIXIE A chum after my own heart. I say, what’s that? (She
indicates the package given to DAISY earlier by her MOTHER)
DAISY A farewell present from my four brothers. I shall miss
them tremendously, I’ve never been away from home before.
TRIXIE Grangewood’s a decent place, you’ll survive.
DAISY It’s queer, Trixie, but I already feel strangely at home in
Grangewood, almost as if I’d been here before.
A bell rings, off.
TRIXIE O Jubilate, there goes the supper bell. Come on, we
can sit wherever we like first day back.
TRIXIE exits.
DAISY (to the audience) After supper, a substantial if plain
meal, during which due to the jolly conversation of her
friend, Daisy failed to notice the somewhat disdainful and
curious glances cast at her by several of her fellow pupils,
Daisy decided to take a stroll into the great hall to study
the ancestral portraits of the Beaumont family which hung
there. Oh! (She opens the package) A frog! I know!
DAISY exits one side of the stage (to the dormitory),
re-enters minus the small brown package, then exits
the other side.
TRIXIE then enters and goes through the dormitory door
then re-enters and exits giggling.
SYBIL and MONICA enter, in dressing-gowns.
SYBIL Honestly, Monica, it’s the absolute limit, not only do we
have to suffer this girl in the same form room, but we have
to share the hitherto unpolluted air of our dormy with her
as well. Not to mention that tiresome little wretch, Trixie
Martin. And it’s one of the nicest dormys in the school.
MONICA Have you noticed, Sybil, how extraordinarily chummy
Trixie is with the Meredith girl?
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act i 13
SYBIL Yes, we must put a stop to that. For the sake of
Grangewood.
SYBIL } (together) Honesta quam Magna. MONICA
TRIXIE enters.
TRIXIE Hello, Sybil, Monica. Daisy here?
SYBIL Whom?
TRIXIE You know Daisy Meredith, she’s in our dormy.
SYBIL The scholarship girl?
TRIXIE That’s right, Daisy Meredith.
SYBIL Trixie, if you really care for Grangewood and wish to
maintain its tone and its reputation on the playing field,
not forgetting the good name of the Upper Fourth, you will
cease your friendship with Daisy Meredith.
TRIXIE Why?
SYBIL Scholarship girls are different from us, they’re poor,
perhaps not intellectually, but certainly morally.
TRIXIE Perhaps they should be given a chance to rise from
their poorness.
SYBIL And what will happen to us, to Grangewood, to England,
the Empire? We have to accept, Trixie, that different classes
of people exist in this world.
TRIXIE You’re an unspeakable snob, Sybil. I heard all about the
meeting you held in the common-room, give Daisy a perfectly
ghastly time of it so she’ll want to leave Grangewood. Well
I, for one, won’t have anything to do with such a thoroughly
horrid scheme. Daisy’s a capital girl, she got here through
brains not money, and I mean to stick by her.
TRIXIE exits.
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MONICA Well, I think you’re right, Sybil.
SYBIL Thank you, Monica, it’s a sad thing when there are only
two people in an entire school who really care about it. I’ll
take my cocoa to bed, I think.
MONICA And me.
SYBIL and MONICA exit to the dormitory.
Screams are heard off. Seconds later SYBIL enters holding
a rubber frog, with MONICA holding a hairbrush. TRIXIE
and DAISY enter at the same time.
SYBIL Who, may I ask, put these in our beds?
DAISY } (together) Your beds?
TRIXIE:
SYBIL Yes.
DAISY I’m afraid it was I who put the frog into your bed, I’m
fearfully sorry, you see I thought it was Trixie’s bed and the
frog was a present from…
SYBIL Just the sort of behaviour one expects from…
TRIXIE And I put the hairbrush into your bed, Monica, thinking
that it was Daisy’s.
MONICA } (together) Typical. SYBIL
TRIXIE Only ragging, nothing to pour the vials of wrath about.
Daisy, our two dormy mates, Sybil Burlington and Monica
Smithers.
DAISY Hello.
TRIXIE Monica, Sybil, allow me to introduce Daisy Meredith,
newest ornament of the Upper Fourth.
MONICA } (together) H’m! SYBIL
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act i 15
TRIXIE Scooterons-nous, Daisy? We won’t get our cocoa
otherwise.
TRIXIE exits.
DAISY Yes. Jolly nice to have met you both.
MONICA and SYBIL exit.
(narrating) After a delightful early morning dip in the
sparkling sea, a short prayer service and a jolly breakfast,
or brekker as it was known amongst the girls, Daisy, with the
rest of her form, trooped into the Upper Fourth classroom,
there to commence her first lesson, English composition.
DAISY exits.
The pupils, including SYBIL and MONICA, enter the
classroom.
SYBIL and MONICA, unseen by the others, smear chalk
on DAISY’s desk seat and put a comic under her desk lid.
MISS GRANVILLE enters.
MISS GRANVILLE (to the audience) Miss Granville, the firm but
fair form-mistress of the Upper Fourth, one of the teachers
with strong doubts on the efficacy of scholarship pupils at
Grangewood. (To the pupils) Good morning, girls.
GIRLS Good morning, Miss Granville.
MISS GRANVILLE Now girls, open your poetry books please, at
page number fifty-five. We are going to read “Ye Mariners
of England” a Naval Ode by Thomas Campbell. Daisy, Daisy
Meredith, can we hear you read this please. Stand out here.
The GIRLS giggle as DAISY comes out with the chalk
smeared on the back of her gymslip.
DAISY Ye Mariners of England
Whose flag has braved a thousand years
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The battle and the breeze!
Your glorious standard launch again
To meet another foe;
While the stormy tempests blow!
While the battle rages loud and long
MISS GRANVILLE Girls, please, I will not have this giggling
during my lesson. The holidays finished yesterday, you are
here to work. Thank you, Daisy, an excellent reading, you
may return to your seat. Belinda, will you… Daisy, come
here please. What is that on the back of your gymslip? You
have a white patch on the back of your gymslip.
DAISY It’s chalk, Miss Granville.
MISS GRANVILLE Brush it off then. Why on earth you are covered
with chalk I cannot imagine. Please remember, Daisy, you
are not in elementary school now, we like Grangewood
girls to look presentable not as though they have been
tobogganing down the sides of chalk pits. You may return
to your place. Monica, have you anything to say to me?
Then kindly refrain from gossiping to your neighbours. I
have a brief appointment to keep with Miss Gibson, so I
will leave you to study the poem alone, and also the poems
on pages fifty-four, fifty-seven and fifty-eight. For your
composition after you’ve read the poems, I want you to
choose one of the following exercises. Pens ready? One. Is
Patriotism productive of poetry? If so, why? Two. Summarize
in headings the causes of England’s greatness. Three. What
difference would it make to the world if the British Isles
were submerged by the sea? Daisy, what do I see protruding
from beneath your desk lid? A comic.
DAISY But it isn’t…
MISS GRANVILLE I shall confiscate this. Comics—dreadful
rags—are confined to the common room. I would usually
give an order mark for such an offence, but as you are new
I shall let you off. There is a copy of the school rules on the
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act i 17
notice board. I suggest you make a point of reading them.
Girls, I shall see you shortly. Belinda, take charge please.
BELINDA Yes, Miss Granville.
MISS GRANVILLE exits.
DAISY I’d like to thank whoever was responsible for nearly
getting me an order mark.
MONICA Shhhhh.
TRIXIE First time you’ve ever kept silent without a mistress
in the room, Monica.
MONICA Tit for tat.
TRIXIE Stunts are fine, Sybil, as long as one doesn’t land one’s
victim in a hole. Order marks aren’t my idea of fun.
SYBIL Is your friend incapable of speaking up for herself?
DAISY No, just speechless at some people’s meanness.
BELINDA As Captain of the form, I ask you to kindly chuck all
this talking and get down to some work before a mistress
Silence. Then from outside comes the sound of someone
whistling the tune “ALL THROUGH THE NIGHT”.
DAISY looks up as though the tune touches an old memory
that she can’t recall.
DAISY Belinda, who is that whistling outside?
BELINDA Mr Thompson. He’s employed here as an assistant
gardener. Rather a mystery man, he lives alone in a tiny
cottage in the middle of Cramphorn Wood. Where he comes
from no one knows. He suddenly appeared in the area about
ten years ago, apparently. He hasn’t a wife or any relatives
that visit him or anything of that sort.
DAISY Poor man.
MONICA I say, Sybil, isn’t Meredith a name of Welsh origin?
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SYBIL I do believe it is, Monica.
MONICA My father tells me that the Welsh keep their house
coals in their baths. How quaint.
DAISY Why are you being so beastly to me, both of you? You’ve
paid me back for the frog-in-the-bed stunt.
SYBIL Are elementary school-kids incapable of taking a joke?
BELINDA Chuck it, Sybil, you really are being pretty hateful.
This is Daisy’s first morning here, we should be showing
her what Grangewood girls are made of, not acting like a
pack of mean cats. And I, for one, won’t stand to hear her
called an elementary school-kid, she’s a Grangewood girl
now, one of us, scholarship or not.
SYBIL You needn’t be so beastly pi, Belinda…
BELINDA I refuse to discuss the matter further.
SYBIL Very well, Belinda, you form your own little gallery of
plaster saints, but you’ll soon see whether I’m right or not,
all of you.
A bell rings off.
MR SCOBLOWSKI enters.
MR SCOBLOWSKI (to the audience) Mr Scoblowski, the enigmatic,
Russian, music-teacher. Good morning, girls.
GIRLS Good morning, Mr Scoblowski.
MR SCOBLOWSKI Remain standing. Now to begin we will all
sing the song The Ash Grove.
The GIRLS sing the song. MR SCOBLOWSKI walks among
them listening to their voices.
H’mm. We have much work to do if you are to present
yourselves well at the end of term concert. You sing straight
from the throat not enough from here, you strain the voice
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act i 19
otherwise. However, there is one excellent voice among you.
(He indicates DAISY) It is this young lady who sings so
sublimely. Sing the next verse alone if you please.
DAISY sings the verse.
Excellent, excellent. Did you mark how she controlled her
voice and her breathing. What is your name? You are a
new girl.
DAISY Daisy Meredith.
MR SCOBLOWSKI Ah, Meredith, a Welsh name. You have a voice
truly representative of that musical nation. I shall see that
you have a solo in the end of term concert. Excellent voice,
excellent. And you, Miss Burlington, will have to prove to
me that you are not as tone-deaf as you seem to be, if you
wish also to take your place in the choir. Now we will sing
the song Cherry Ripe.
They sing the song.
After the song everyone exits except DAISY and TRIXIE
who fling themselves to the ground.
DAISY I say, my head’s absolutely spinning.
TRIXIE You’re doing uncommonly well, Daisy, everyone’s
tremendously impressed.
DAISY All except Monica and Sybil.
TRIXIE They’re thoroughly piggy and nasty, don’t let’s waste
our dinner break over them. You speak French like a native,
I didn’t think they taught it in elementary schools.
DAISY They don’t, my mother taught me.
TRIXIE My word!
DAISY And Italian, all my brothers speak it too. You see, she
used to be an opera singer.
TRIXIE A singer?
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DAISY I’m afraid so.
TRIXIE Oh no, I find it tremendously exciting.
Pause.
DAISY I say, Trixie…let’s form a Secret Society.
TRIXIE A Secret Society?
DAISY Yes, just like they do in schools in books. I know, a
treasure-hunting society, its object to seek out the treasure
of Grangewood School and so rescue the Beaumonts from
penury. We could ask some of the others if they’d like to
become members.
TRIXIE They won’t and anyway everyone else has stopped
believing that the treasure exists. As a rule one ceases to
believe in it by the time one reaches the Lower Third, rather
like fairies and Father Christmas. Everyone that is except
poetical types such as myself, romantically minded new girls
and possibly Clare. No, let it just be the two of us.
DAISY And let’s call ourselves, I know, the Dark Horse Secret
Society.
TRIXIE Oh yes…!
DAISY It can be our secret symbol whenever we have to write
each other notes.
TRIXIE Oh heavenly! We must have a motto too, a password.
Um…audacia et virtute adepta…too long! Absque virtute
nihil…no! Ah, how about this, hinc spes effulget!
DAISY Yes. Sorry, I’ve no idea what it means. I’ve no Latin.
TRIXIE Hence hope shines forth!
DAISY Oh topping, Trixie! Hence hope shines forth.
A bell rings off.
TRIXIE We’d better dash, there goes the bell for afternoon
games. Hockey for the fourth.
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act i 21
DAISY I expect I shall get horribly beaten. I’ve never played
hockey before.
TRIXIE Hockey is a team game, you play as a team and win or
lose as one, remember that.
DAISY I will.
DAISY and TRIXIE exit.
CLARE and ALICE enter with hockey sticks.
ALICE Isn’t it a fine thing to be back in the old school, to be
standing on this pitch where we’ve fought so many battles.
CLARE Yes, Alice, it is as you say, a fine thing. You know, I’m
almost glad this is my final year at Grangewood, for it may
be the last year that the name of Beaumont will appear
upon the title deeds.
ALICE Dear girl!
CLARE The truth of the matter is, Alice, we’re up a gum tree.
What with poor mother’s medical fees and my younger
brother—
ALICE Digby?
CLARE Yes, dear Digby’s school fees have still to be met, and
the rent of the cottage is far too high for us. I was talking
with mother before I came back. Unless a miracle happens,
we’ll have to sell to the School Governors by Christmas. I
offered to leave school and find employment as a teacher,
but mother wouldn’t hear of it. I must say, I’m not looking
forward to leaving all this, going out into the world and
becoming a proper grown-up. They say Grangewood is
supposed to mirror the world. I wonder… My goodness,
someone’s playing a first rate game of hockey over here.
ALICE It’s the Upper Fourth…a practice game by the looks of
things. Who’s that child there? She can certainly pass balls.
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CLARE It’s the new kiddie, the scholarship girl, Daisy Meredith.
With some proper coaching she could be a decent player.
Look at her, never funking a single ball.
ALICE Learnt all the rules from a book, I was told.
CLARE A sportsman as well as a scholar.
ALICE There’s one whose name will grace the First Eleven.
CLARE Well, old girl, let’s go off to our own practice, we’ve a
match to win on Saturday, the opening knock-out game of
the County Championships. Perhaps this year we’ll come
out tops.
ALICE Instead of runners-up as we have been for the past ten
years to Vearncombe Young Ladies College.
VOICE (offstage) Clare! Alice!
CLARE There’s Diana calling us. As the middles say—scooteronsnous, Alice.
CLARE exits.
ALICE We’ll beat them this year, for Grangewood…for Clare.
We must.
ALICE exits.
DAISY and TRIXIE enter.
DAISY (narrating) For a while, Daisy’s life at Grangewood
passed uneventfully, apart from the odd unpleasantness
from Sybil and Monica. Then one evening after prep while
she and Trixie were systematically tapping wooden wall
panels in the hope of finding a secret passage which would
lead them to the hidden treasure…
MR SCOBLOWSKI enters.
MR SCOBLOWSKI What are you girls doing here? Don’t you
know that this gallery is out of bounds to all but teachers
and prefects.
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act i 23
TRIXIE Yes, Sir.
MR SCOBLOWSKI Then kindly tell me the reason why you are
here or I shall report you to your form mistress.
Pause.
If you choose not to tell me, you will have to tell Miss
Granville. And perhaps receive an order mark.
DAISY We were looking for the treasure, sir…
MR SCOBLOWSKI Treasure?
DAISY The lost treasure of the Beaumont family.
MR SCOBLOWSKI Ah, I see. Well, you will not find it here. I
myself, have often sought its whereabouts and have carefully
examined this entire section of the building, and now I
believe this treasure to be a legend, a mere myth. However,
should you come across any clue elsewhere in the school, I
should be most happy to know of it. I am much fascinated
by the folktales of the English. Good night, ladies.
MR SCOBLOWSKI exits.
TRIXIE Why the dickens did you tell him what we were doing,
Daisy?
DAISY We would have had to have told Miss Granville, otherwise,
who would certainly have given us an order mark for going
out of bounds.
TRIXIE Oh, what a dismal beastly sell, it’s obvious Mr
Scoblowski’s after the treasure for himself.
DAISY Probably to try and help his Bolshevik friends.
TRIXIE We simply must try out the rest of this gallery. But how?
DAISY I know, how about sneaking out of the dormy at dead
of night.
TRIXIE Oh, yes.
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DAISY Perhaps we could borrow a couple of cloaks from Matron
and disguise ourselves as ghostly monks to scare off anyone
who might see us.
TRIXIE Capital suggestion.
A bell rings off.
Supper bell.
DAISY Not a word to anyone, Trixie.
TRIXIE Until I wake you.
TRIXIE } (together) Hinc spes effulget. DAISY
They both shake hands—a special handshake—then exit.
MONICA and SYBIL enter in dressing-gowns.
SYBIL The scheme isn’t working out, Monica.
MONICA It is in small ways, Sybil.
SYBIL So small that it’s going to take twenty years for her to
collect enough order marks to get a bad conduct mark. No,
Monica, she’s doing fearfully well in everyone’s books, we’ve
got to move drastically…and fast.
Whistling is heard, off—“ALL THROUGH THE NIGHT”,
MONICA listens to it intently.
Look, Monica, do you like this solid silver bracelet Daddy
sent me as a pre-birthday present? I say, Monica, do look…
MONICA Oh, sorry Sybil.
SYBIL I’ve permission from Miss Gibson for Daddy to take
me out to a slap-up birthday tea in town and then off to a
concert afterwards and Daddy said I might invite a friend
to accompany me. I’m thinking of asking you, Monica.
MONICA Oh, Sybil, I’d adore it.
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SYBIL All serene then. Now I’m going to read some Keats in
preparation for the school poetry competition. I mean to win
it this year, not to be pipped at the post by that wretched
Trixie Martin.
MONICA When do entries have to be in?
SYBIL Oh, in three to four weeks I believe. Why, Monica, are
you thinking of entering?
MONICA Yes…oh… I mean, I could never hope to write anything
that would be half as good as anything of yours, Sybil, but
I do have a tremendous fancy to have a bash at it. Just to
show that Daisy Meredith a thing or two.
SYBIL Well, bash away to your heart’s content… I’m off to bed.
SYBIL and MONICA exit.
TRIXIE and DAISY enter in long black cloaks with hoods.
DAISY trips noisily.
DAISY Ooh!
TRIXIE Shhh!
DAISY I say, Trixie, it’s fearfully dark.
TRIXIE I’ve brought a torch.
DAISY Oh, scrummy. I say, did you hear Sybil snoring?
They both giggle.
TRIXIE Come on—to the gallery. Now we must be very quiet.
DAISY and TRIXIE creep up the stairs.
SYBIL enters. She creeps stealthily across the stage and
exits.
We’re almost there. I say, what’s that?
DAISY What?
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TRIXIE Look! There’s a light burning beneath the door of the
second form common room…and voices.
DAISY Burglars!
TRIXIE Shhh!
DAISY We must wake Miss Gibson.
TRIXIE And get into a frightful row for being here ourselves?
DAISY But surely we should consider school property before
ourselves?
TRIXIE I daresay, you’re right, Daisy, I’ll go to Miss Gibson
with you. But hold fire for a second or two…
DAISY Trixie!
TRIXIE Shhh! I’ll take a tiny peep through the keyhole just to
make sure.
DAISY Of what? What can you see?
TRIXIE (giggling) Oh Jemima! What a sell!
DAISY Can I have a look?
TRIXIE It’s the second form up to their ears in a midnight feast.
Let me have another peep, Daisy…doughnuts, toffee-apples,
vanilla sandwiches… I’ve a good mind to go in there and
demand a share for keeping quiet.
CLARE enters quietly.
CLARE Trixie Martin! Daisy Meredith!
BOTH Clare!
CLARE Perhaps you will both come and see me in my study
tomorrow morning and inform me of the purpose behind
this midnight visitation.
TRIXIE But Clare…
CLARE I’ll wake Miss Calder to deal with those babes. I’ll see
you both tomorrow.
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act i 27
CLARE exits.
TRIXIE Jemima! We’re for it now.
DAISY Will Clare report us to Miss Gibson, do you think?
TRIXIE If she thinks we’ve been utterly evil, she might. No,
the worst of it is, is whether the Second form recognized
our voices or not. They’ll think we were absolute sneaks
if they did.
DAISY They wouldn’t think that, would they?
TRIXIE How else could Clare have discovered them? What
we’ve got to find out is, who sneaked on us!
DAISY and TRIXIE exit.
CLARE and ALICE enter CLARE’s study.
CLARE …if only you’d seen them, Alice, they looked so
wonderfully comic dressed up in two of Matron’s cloaks,
supposed to be monks or something equally ghostly.
ALICE How absolutely sublime.
CLARE Yes, it was rather a hoot, though it gave me a perfect
fright at first.
ALICE Oh, Clare.
CLARE What I’d like to know is how they got themselves involved
in keeping watch for a Second form feast. The Fourth always
look on the Seconds as such babes.
ALICE Do you not remember the fine japes we used to get up
to in our young days?
CLARE What utter little horrors we were. Do you remember
that winter we went on the midnight skating expedition…
ALICE …and Katy Collins falling through the thin ice.
They fall about laughing. Knocking is heard on the
study door.
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CLARE Oh, here they are.
ALICE I’ll leave you to it, me darlin’ girl, I’ve a flute lesson in
town.
CLARE See you on the field at one, Alice.
ALICE Cheeriosa!
CLARE Don’t let Miss Gibson hear you slanging like that.
ALICE exits, passing DAISY and TRIXIE on her way out.
Come in, you two.
DAISY and TRIXIE enter.
Now perhaps the pair of you will tell me why you took it
upon yourselves last night to break a good many school-rules
and at the same time risk getting the Second form into a
jolly serious fix. Remember as Fourths you are responsible
for setting a good example to the lower school, not leading
them into situations which you know to be contrary to the
rules of Grangewood.
TRIXIE We had nothing to do with the Seconds’ feast, truly,
Clare.
DAISY Honour bright.
CLARE Then why on earth…
DAISY The truth of the matter is, Clare, we were searching for
the treasure, the Beaumont treasure, and we were on our way
to the East Gallery to rap panels and all that kind of thing,
when we stumbled across the Seconds knocking off buns.
We know that the East Gallery is out of bounds which is
why we disguised ourselves, but we’re both dreadfully sorry.
CLARE (to the audience) The corners of Clare’s mouth twitched,
and it was with some effort that she hastily pulled herself
together. I see.
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TRIXIE We’re immensely sorry for getting you up in the middle
of the night too.
CLARE Well, I shan’t report you to Miss Gibson…
DAISY } (together) Oh, thanks most awfully, Clare. TRIXIE
CLARE But as you, Trixie, have been here the longest and ought
to know better than to…
DAISY Please, Clare, it was my idea just as much as Trixie’s.
TRIXIE Thank you, Daisy.
CLARE Very well, on Saturday from lunch until teatime, you
will both stay within the confines of the school building.
TRIXIE Oh, but we shall miss the first knock-out match of the
County Hockey Championships.
CLARE Well, my dear child, it’s high time you gave up kiddish
stunts.
DAISY Clare, is there any truth in the story of the Beaumont
treasure?
CLARE How serious are you both about finding it?
DAISY } (together) Immensely serious. TRIXIE
CLARE Then I will tell you—yes, the Beaumont treasure does
exist.
DAISY and TRIXIE both gasp.
You see, kiddies, the mystery centres around my grandfather,
the late Sir Digby Beaumont. Now, he was a tremendously
eccentric gentleman, who, as he got older, became more and
more impatient with the new ideas and as he thought, lower
standards of the younger generation. This led to endless
arguments in the family, especially with the younger of his
two sons, my Uncle David, who left home after a particularly
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vehement quarrel with Sir Digby and has never been seen
or heard of since.
TRIXIE How fearful.
CLARE Shortly after this awful quarrel, Sir Digby died and his
wealth—all manner of family heirlooms, money, valuables—
disappeared. In his will it was revealed that he had hidden
this treasure somewhere within the walls of Grangewood,
and a set of clues leading to its whereabouts, so complicated
that the treasure can only be uncovered by whosoever has wit
enough to unravel these clues. My father hunted unceasingly
for the treasure right up until his death four years ago, but
since then no one’s had much impetus to carry on with the
search. Oh, the will did say another important clue lies with
my Uncle David, but as he’s been gone twenty years or so,
there’s little hope there.
DAISY I was looking at the portraits of your family in the Great
Hall and I noticed that one of the frames was empty.
CLARE Yes. Now that contained the only known portrait of
my Uncle David. My grandfather had it removed after the
quarrel.
TRIXIE How perfectly tragic.
DAISY Was your grandfather a scientist?
CLARE Why do you ask?
DAISY In his portrait he’s holding a jolly queer looking
instrument of some kind.
CLARE It’s a device apparently, for measuring the distances
between stars, my grandfather was tremendously keen on
astronomy.
TRIXIE How uncommonly rare.
A bell rings, off.
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act i 31
CLARE There goes the bell for end of break. Off you go, kiddies,
and thank you most awfully for showing such an interest
in the treasure.
TRIXIE I tell you, Clare, we mean to find it for you.
CLARE Remember no more midnight expeditions.
TRIXIE We’ll be perfect seraphs.
DAISY Honour bright.
CLARE exits.
TRIXIE What an out and out sport!
DAISY Clare is absolutely the most adorable girl I’ve ever met,
I’d risk anything for her.
TRIXIE Except I wish she wouldn’t call us kiddies.
DAISY Better than being called babes like the Firsts and Seconds.
TRIXIE I say, Daisy, did you notice how fearfully sad Clare
looked—just for a moment—when she mentioned her father’s
death?
DAISY Yes, I know just how she jolly well feels.
TRIXIE Why, is your father…
DAISY Yes, ten years ago. He was a ship’s doctor in the Royal
Navy. He was reported missing, believed dead, when his
ship went down in the Baltic during the Battle of…
TRIXIE I’m immensely sorry.
DAISY I was fearfully young of course, when it happened. I
say, we must hurry. Miss Granville will be wild if we’re late
for her class.
TRIXIE I wish you’d slack off a bit Daisy, I’m sure you’ll end
up with brain fever if you carry on at this rate.
They enter the Form Room.
O Jubilate, we’re first in.
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DAISY I say, look at that on the board, “We don’t stand for
sneaks at Grangewood, especially elementary ones”.
TRIXIE Jemima! Someone risked their neck to write that.
DAISY It must be the Seconds, they recognized our voices last
night.
TRIXIE Here come the others. Quick, the blackboard!
DAISY and TRIXIE rush towards the blackboard.
SYBIL, MONICA, BELINDA and DORA enter.
SYBIL Sneak.
MONICA giggles.
Elementary sneak.
MISS GRANVILLE enters.
MISS GRANVILLE Good morning, girls.
GIRLS Good morning, Miss Granville.
MISS GRANVILLE Thank-you, Trixie and Daisy for cleaning the
blackboard, but it really wasn’t necessary to wipe off today’s
list of essay topics. Take an order mark each and return to
your seats please. Now, I have here the essays handed in by
you all last week on the subject of Shelley’s poem, “Ode to the
West Wind”, some of which were extremely good and others
which were lamentable to say the least. Dora Johnston,
kindly refrain from rattling that ink-well. One essay, which
I thought exceptional in content, I was forced to give halfmarks to owing to the blots and inky fingerprints which
almost obliterated it. If you are incapable, Daisy Meredith,
of coping with a pen and ink, you will have to use a pencil.
Let me see no more work like this.
MISS GRANVILLE holds up DAISY’s book—the class gasps.
DAISY But…
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act i 33
MISS GRANVILLE Have you anything to say to me regarding
the atrocious condition of this book, Daisy?
DAISY Yes, Miss Granville. I did not hand in my work in that
condition, I give you my word.
MISS GRANVILLE Then your word cannot be worth very much,
Daisy. Are you suggesting that these blots appeared of their
own volition?
DAISY No… I…
MISS GRANVILLE Or are you perhaps suggesting someone else
had a hand in creating this mess?
SYBIL Sneak.
DAISY No… I don’t know. All I know is, that when I wrote my
essay it was perfectly clear of any blots.
MISS GRANVILLE (narrating) Miss Granville hesitated…she
believed the morals if not the intellects of elementary
schoolgirls to be lower than those of the type of girl normally
to be found at Grangewood…yet…honesty shone forth from
Daisy’s face and the ring of truth was within her speech.
(To DAISY) Very well. Daisy, I shall take your word for it
this time, that you really believed that the essay you handed
in was presentable, but I think that next time, perhaps, a
little blotting paper would not come amiss. Now, who is this
week’s book monitor? Ah, Belinda, will you please return
these exercise books to their owners. Thank you. Now girls,
just a brief word on the topics for this year’s School Poetry
competition, details of which you will also find pinned to
the notice-board. There are two subjects, from which you
must choose one only; the first being “Heroes”. Have you
all got that? “Heroes”. Belinda, have you a pencil-sharpener
you can lend Dora Johnston, please? The second subject
being a poem which must bear the title, “The Meditations
of a Lighthouse”. These poems must not exceed fifty lines
in length and must be handed in by Friday week.
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DAISY (narrating) Daisy found it a struggle to concentrate for
the rest of that lesson. She was convinced that Sybil had had
a hand in defacing her essay, for one of Sybil’s responsibilities
as Vice-Captain of the form was to collect prep-work and
hand it in to the appropriate teacher, thereby giving her
the opportunity to wreak any damage she chose. But how
was she to prove it without committing the despicable sin
of sneaking? If only Sybil didn’t hate me so. Life would
be absolute bliss if she and I were chums. I’m convinced
she has some good in her, as most prickly pears have, but
she mustn’t be allowed to carry on her beastly stunts and
to palter with the honour of the Upper Fourth or that of
Grangewood. Honesta quam magna. Hinc spes effulget.
A bell rings off.
MISS GRANVILLE exits.
MR THOMPSON is heard whistling “ALL THROUGH
THE NIGHT” outside.
TRIXIE There goes Mr Thompson with an immense basket of
apples.
DORA Fearful shame that. I’ve been planning a raid on the
orchard for days. Doesn’t look as if there’s any point now.
SYBIL Honestly, I shall write to Mummy and Daddy about
the frightful state Grangewood’s rapidly sinking into. First
sneaking scholarship girls, now thieving—
TRIXIE That’s beastly unfair of you, Sybil.
SYBIL The entire school is in a ferment. The Seconds have had
their pocket money stopped for a fortnight and aren’t to have
any cakes or jam at tea for a week. Isn’t that so, Monica?
MONICA Entirely, Sybil, entirely.
SYBIL Is it right that the honour of the Upper Fourth and the
morals of one of its members, namely Trixie Martin, should
be thrown into disrepute by one girl.
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act i 35
BELINDA Rot, Sybil.
MONICA You’ll see if it’s rot.
TRIXIE We all shall. Daisy and I will go and see the Seconds
ourselves and tell them that whoever sneaked upon us was
responsible for their discovery. And what’s more, we intend
to find the person responsible and expose her to the entire
school.
MR SCOBLOWSKI enters.
MR SCOBLOWSKI (narrating) At that moment, however,
Mr Scoblowski entered the form room to commence his
Geography lesson with the Fourth. (To the pupils) Good
morning, girls.
GIRLS Good morning, Mr Scoblowski.
MR SCOBLOWSKI Please open your Geography text books at
page thiry-one. This morning we will study Peru.
DAISY (narrating) Daisy opened her book at the appropriate
page and as she did so, a slip of printed paper fluttered from
the book and on to the floor. Daisy paled as she picked it
up, suddenly aware that Sybil Burlington had also read the
words printed on the piece of paper.
MR SCOBLOWSKI I will first of all announce the results of last
Wednesday’s Geography test, beginning from the bottom.
Sybil Burlington—twenty-one out of one hundred marks.
Dora Johnston—forty-eight. Monica Smithers—seventy-four.
Trixie Martin—eighty-one. Belinda Mathieson—ninety-one.
Daisy Meredith—ninety-three. Well done, especially Belinda
and Daisy. Sybil, I am surprised at you, your marks are
usually better than this. If they continue to be this appalling,
I shall have you sent down to the First Form for Geography
lessons.
MONICA giggles. SYBIL glares.
DAISY (narrating) Geography was the second lesson that
morning which failed to leave any impression upon Daisy’s
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mind, which was whirling upon another matter far removed
from the jungles and mountains of Peru.
A bell rings off.
MR SCOBLOWSKI You may put away your books now, girls. I
would like to see in the main music-room this afternoon
at four o’clock, those girls who are singing solo in the end
of term concert. Thank you.
MR SCOBLOWSKI exits followed by everyone else except
DAISY and SYBIL.
DAISY (narrating) As the Upper Fourth prepared to go to
lunch, Sybil Burlington caught Daisy’s arm.
SYBIL Look here, Daisy Meredith, unless you devise some means
of getting yourself removed from Grangewood within the
next fortnight, I shall tell Miss Gibson of what I saw, printed
on that piece of paper.
DAISY (narrating) For the piece of paper to which Sybil referred
had printed upon it the answers to the previous Wednesday’s
Geography test.
SYBIL And we don’t stand for cheats at Grangewood.
Curtain.
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37
ACT II:
In the darkness schoolgirl voices are heard chanting.
VOICES A tongue like a snake, a beak like a drake
A cheat like a cat and a sneak like a rat!
She’s got a face like a pickled onion
A nose like a squashed tomato
And two bandy legs.
The lights come up in the common room where TRIXIE
is finishing her poem and DAISY is darning a sock.
DAISY I say, Trixie, when do you suppose the Seconds will give
up this sneaking and cat-calling stunt?
TRIXIE In a week or two, if they’ve any sense of honour. They
have rather got their knives into you, old girl. I suppose
Sybil’s been feeding them all this elementary school bilge.
She and Monica went out on to the field this afternoon
looking like queens of tragedy. They absolutely detest
games—sure sign of a rotter.
DAISY I wonder how the match is going, it’s jolly sickening not
to know which side the cheers are for.
TRIXIE I would have gone without cakes and jam for a year
just to have seen the match and Clare’s playing.
MR THOMPSON is heard whistling “ALL THROUGH
THE NIGHT”, off.
I say, Daisy, will you let me read your poem when it’s finished?
DAISY I’m fearfully sorry, Trixie, old chum, but no. Please don’t
be offended but I think it’s tremendously bad form to show
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competition entries to one’s fellow competitors, it can lead
to colossal temptation.
TRIXIE I understand perfectly, Daisy, old thing, I think it’s a
thoroughly decent idea.
DAISY I haven’t even begun mine yet, though I will say that my
choice of title is “The Meditations of a Lighthouse”.
TRIXIE Mine’s the jolly old “Heroes”. I’ve practically finished.
DAISY ( finishing the darning) There, that’s done, Matron ought
to be well satisfied. I say, what shall we do now?
TRIXIE Beastly boring being shut up in here. I know, let’s
treasure-hunt, let’s revive the Dark Horse Secret Society.
DAISY Topping idea! Where do you suggest we begin our search?
TRIXIE Not along the East Gallery, that’s for certain. Have to
wait until we’re prefects to get down there.
DAISY Look here, Trixie, we need ideas, let’s go to the library and
see if we can find any books about other treasure-seekers, or
a book on codes or even a biography of Sir Digby Beaumont.
TRIXIE Capital suggestion. Let’s go down the back stairs, less
chance of Matron or any of the maids seeing us.
DAISY Why? Is the library normally out of bounds?
TRIXIE Yes, unless there’s a prefect or mistress in there. But
we didn’t promise Clare not to go in the library, did we? I
say, someone’s coming…quick…hide down here.
They hide as MR SCOBLOWSKI enters with a notebook
and pencil furiously making notes about the ancestral
portraits in the hall.
TRIXIE almost sneezes out loud, but DAISY stops her by
putting her hand over TRIXIE’s mouth.
Phew! That was a near thing. I say, Daisy, why do you suppose
he’s writing such volumes about the ancestral portraits?
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act ii 39
DAISY I can’t say for certain, but I’ve a pretty good idea…
TRIXIE Daisy, you don’t suppose…
MR SCOBLOWSKI exits.
DAISY That’s just the point, Trixie, old chum, I do.
TRIXIE I wonder how much he knows that we don’t…perhaps
we should tell Clare or Miss Gibson what we suspect.
DAISY No, Trixie, we must solve this ourselves. I put you on
your honour not to divulge a single word about our hunt
to anyone from now on, not even to Clare or Miss Gibson,
until we find the treasure.
TRIXIE I won’t breathe a syllable…even if it means missing the
next hockey knockout.
DAISY Trixie, you’re a trump.
TRIXIE Daisy, that’s queer, look at that device that the old
fellow, Sir Digby’s holding, seems to sort of…stand out from
the rest of the picture.
DAISY Brighter shade of paint than the rest, that’s all. Come
on, to the library…so many books, it’s frightfully difficult
to know where to look.
TRIXIE Heaps of biographies over here…
DAISY Here’s a volume on codes and ciphers.
TRIXIE Here’s one by the old boy himself. Hey, there’s lots of
them…most of them seem to be about astronomy.
DAISY Let’s find every one of them we can, we’ve stacks of time
to look through them all.
TRIXIE Well, those are all of Sir Digby’s books that I can find.
DAISY Right, now we must scour absolutely every page of every
book. We’re looking for sheets of paper slipped in between
the pages, scribbled notes in the margin, that kind of thing.
TRIXIE My goodness, Daisy, you have got brains.
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DAISY You’ve not so prodigiously few yourself.
DAISY and TRIXIE look through the books.
ALICE and CLARE enter, carrying hockey sticks.
ALICE How’s Diana?
CLARE She’s definitely out now for the second half—Matron
will never let her play with a broken ankle.
ALICE The vantage is ours.
CLARE I’m not so jolly certain, Alice.
ALICE We’re leading by six goals to one.
CLARE That goalie of Thorphurst’s is first-rate, I’ve had umpteen
pots at the goal, but Diana was the only girl able to get one in.
ALICE Julia is a jolly decent substitute.
CLARE Can’t afford to get complacent, Alice.
A whistle blows, off.
There goes the whistle for the second half. Watch that left
inner, Alice.
ALICE I’ll stick to her like a shadow.
CLARE and ALICE exit.
TRIXIE If we don’t find a clue, I shall simply expire.
DAISY Hinc spes effulget.
TRIXIE It’d be such a mean horrid beastly sell if we didn’t.
Pause.
I say, Daisy, listen to this…
My first is above where cherubim reign
My second in Sagittarius nickname
My third in…
DAISY Let me see.
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act ii 41
TRIXIE Some joker defacing school property.
DAISY But Trixie, don’t you see…?
TRIXIE See what?
DAISY This is it…what we’ve been searching for…the clue!
TRIXIE O Jubilate! Jemima! Someone’s coming this way.
DAISY Quick, underneath the table.
They get under the library table.
TRIXIE The book! (She grabs the book)
A second later MR SCOBLOWSKI enters. He sees the books
and examines them.
MR SCOBLOWSKI Goodness gracious… Sir Digby Beaumont…
I wonder.
BELINDA enters.
BELINDA Mr Scoblowski! Mr Scoblowski! Mr Thompson’s here
to see you.
MR SCOBLOWSKI Dash it!
MR SCOBLOWSKI and BELINDA exit.
TRIXIE That proves it, it jolly well proves it, he’s after the
treasure! I wonder if Mr Thompson has anything to do
with it, I’ve noticed that he and Mr Scoblowski are pretty
thick together.
DAISY Trixie, let’s copy this clue down before Mr Scoblowski
returns.
TRIXIE I say, Daisy let’s tear the page out so that Mr Scoblowski
can’t find it.
DAISY We can’t deface school property.
TRIXIE Let’s take the whole book then.
DAISY That would be stealing.
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TRIXIE Not really it wouldn’t, we’d only be borrowing it… it’s
for the sake of the school.
DAISY Well, I don’t know…
TRIXIE And Clare.
DAISY Right-o!
TRIXIE O Jubilate, Daisy, I knew you’d see sense.
DAISY Let’s put all these other books away then, quickly.
DAISY and TRIXIE return the books to the shelves.
MR SCOBLOWSKI (offstage) Well, I will see you this evening—I
have not the time now, I’m extremely busy.
TRIXIE Daisy, he’s coming back! Quick, up the stairs!
MR SCOBLOWSKI I have a Geography lesson to prepare—I’m
sorry, I’m sorry.
MR SCOBLOWSKI enters, and sees the books are no longer
there.
H’mm, h’mm.
MR SCOBLOWSKI exits.
DAISY Phew! In the nick of time. Now for that clue.
TRIXIE Read it out, Daisy.
DAISY My first is above where cherubim reign.
My second in Sagittarius nickname.
My third in the eighth of Saturn’s great brood
My fourth is in Aries and doth provide food
My fifth at the end of the first planet lies
My sixth spangles brightly the late evening skies
My seventh lies in the beast that the starry twins follow
My eighth the north night skies with brave colours swallow
My last lies in the hue of the warrior planet
And there if you read me aright you will have it.
Take my initials in the order they’re writ
And your way to the final clue will be lit.
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act ii 43
I say, Trixie, how glorious.
TRIXIE A real clue! Quick, we must work it out. (She writes
down the answers to the clues)
DAISY My first is above where cherubim reign…well that’s easy
enough… Heaven.
TRIXIE So H is our first letter. The second is A for Archer…
Sagittarius.
DAISY Wise child. My third is the eighth of Saturn’s great brood…
here’s a conundrum, I didn’t know Saturn had any children.
TRIXIE Didn’t think he had a wife.
DAISY Think, Trixie, think.
TRIXIE I’m racking my brains. A dictionary of astronomy, that’s
what we need.
DAISY Trixie, this book’s got a glossary.
TRIXIE Uncommonly handy.
DAISY Scorpio… Sirius… Star-gazer… Saturn! Saturn, rings,
distance from earth, moons…moons! Moons! Brood!
TRIXIE The eighth, what’s the name of the eighth moon?
DAISY Iapetus.
TRIXIE I. Next?
DAISY My fourth is in Aries and doth provide food…ah, Aries
the Ram.
TRIXIE We’re getting on famously. Hair we’ve got.
DAISY My fifth at the end of the first planet lies… Mercury… Y.
TRIXIE I say! Hairy!
DAISY Hairy?
TRIXIE ’Swat it says.
DAISY My sixth spangles brightly the late evening skies…
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TRIXIE Stars! S!
DAISY Topping, Trixie. Now the beast that the starry twins
follow…
TRIXIE Pollux and Castor… Taurus the Bull! Taurus!
DAISY My eighth the north night skies with brave colours
swallow. North? Why north I wonder?
TRIXIE I know, Northern Lights. Aurora something… Aurora
borry…
DAISY Never mind, we’ve got the A. My last lies in the hue of
the Warrior Planet.
TRIXIE Mars! Red! It’s red!
DAISY And there if you read me aright you will have it.
TRIXIE Hairy star.
DAISY Doesn’t make sense.
TRIXIE Have a look in the glossary.
DAISY Nothing about hairy stars in here. Trixie, perhaps we’ve
got it wrong.
TRIXIE Perhaps it’s an astronomical symbol.
DAISY Queer sort of symbol.
TRIXIE Perhaps Sir Digby was a lunatic.
MONICA and SYBIL’s voices are heard off.
DAISY Voices! The match must be over.
TRIXIE We must hide the book.
DAISY Where?
TRIXIE In your boot-hole. Hairy star, don’t forget it, Daisy,
hairy star.
TRIXIE and DAISY exit.
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act ii 45
SYBIL and MONICA enter, MONICA carrying a bag of
buns.
MONICA I say, Sybil, are you sure no one can see us?
SYBIL Honestly, Monica, you really are green sometimes.
Everyone’s too taken up with the match to notice our absence.
MONICA Here are the buns. I’m afraid, Sybil, they’re the tiniest
bit damp, it’s muddy in the tea-tent.
SYBIL I bag the creamy one.
They eat the buns.
MONICA Isn’t this blissful?
SYBIL How wild they’d all be if they could see us—instead of
MONICA Especially Daisy Meredith.
SYBIL All swank, she’s hopeless really. Fearfully good idea of
yours, that Geography paper, Monica.
MONICA You inspired it, Sybil. It would have been nothing
without you to carry it through.
SYBIL I fear for Grangewood if the Meredith girl remains to
taint it for very much longer. Clare and the mistresses are
ready to kiss her boots at present, but they’ll soon change
their tune especially when my next scheme comes to fruition.
MONICA Oh Sybil, I do think you have the most gorgeous
character of anyone I know.
SYBIL I daresay you’re right. Come on, I want to finish my poem.
SYBIL and MONICA exit.
CLARE (offstage) Three cheers for Thorphurst, the gallant losers.
Hip, hip…
There is cheering off.
CLARE and ALICE enter, exhausted.
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What a dickens of a game.
ALICE Sure, I didn’t know if I was coming or going.
CLARE How’s your shin, Alice?
ALICE Bruised—like a thunder cloud. ’Tis a sight better I’ll be
bound than Diana’s ankle…
CLARE Or Carol’s knee…
ALICE Or Jane’s cracked rib.
CLARE I scarcely like to think about the team we will have to
scrape together for the next match.
ALICE And the final, if we reach it.
CLARE Still, buck up, old thing, there are some jolly decent
players in the Fifth.
ALICE Have you not remembered, Clare, that in the week of
the finals the Fifth are away in France.
CLARE ’Nuff said. That leaves the Fourth—Belinda, Trixie and
the new girl. Chin-up, Alice, a miracle may happen and our
injured may recover in time to play. Let’s wash and change,
then go and cheer up the wounded soldiers in the San.
There is a shriek, off.
My word, it’s Mademoiselle.
MADEMOISELLE enters.
MADEMOISELLE (to the audience) Mademoiselle, the scatterbrained French mistress of Grangewood. (To CLARE and
ALICE) Tiens! C’est abominable! A thief ’as been in ze library
and taken a most valuable book. It is I who am to blame
n’est-ce pas. For I am on library duty this week.
CLARE Steady on, Mademoiselle, are you absolutely sure the
book has been stolen?
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act ii 47
MADEMOISELLE Positive. For I come in to see zat all is well
after ze splendid ’ockey match and pouf! I see a big gap
on ze shelf.
CLARE Which book was it, Mademoiselle, can you remember?
MADEMOISELLE Mais oui! It belonged to your esteemed
grandpère and was about ze stars in ze ’eavens. I ’ave looked
at it often in great wonder. I must find Miss Gibson and
tell ’er what ’as occurred.
CLARE I’ll come with you, Mademoiselle, for this concerns me
very much. See you in the San, Alice.
CLARE and MADEMOISELLE exit.
ALICE Things are lookin’ black for you indeed, me darlin’ girl.
ALICE exits.
Everyone enters for Assembly, singing the hymn “LORD
OF ALL HOPEFULNESS”.
TRIXIE (to DAISY) I found this in the dormy, it’s addressed to you.
DAISY (narrating) Reluctantly Daisy opened the envelope,
a feeling of grim foreboding stealing over her. Sybil
Burlington’s spidery handwriting revealed itself… “one week
or Grangewood will know the truth about the Geography
paper”. Daisy paled.
TRIXIE I say, Daisy, bad news?
DAISY (to TRIXIE) No, I’ve a headache. (Narrating) That
Geography paper—how had it come to be in her desk? Daisy
half-suspected Sybil of the deed except that the look of
surprise on the girl’s face had seemed genuine. How she
longed to make a clean breast of the affair to Miss Gibson
or Clare—but who would believe the word of an elementary
schoolgirl in the face of such condemning evidence and
against that of a wealthy, beautiful self-assured Grangewood
scholar, especially one who desired her departure so keenly.
(To herself ) But I can’t leave Grangewood, I love it so and
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mother would be tremendously upset. I know, I’ll destroy
the Geography paper then no one need be any the wiser.
Why on earth didn’t I think of that sooner?
MISS GIBSON Now we come to the morning’s notices. The match
on Saturday against Thorphurst was won, as you all know,
by Grangewood six-three.
Everyone cheers.
A splendid effort by all concerned—which means that
Grangewood goes through to the semi-final. Several injuries
were sustained by our players which means that the First
Eleven will be on the look-out for possible substitutes for
the next match, and the final, if we are fortunate enough
to reach it. This of course, will give members of the Fifth
and Fourth forms a chance to show their mettle.
DAISY How topping.
TRIXIE How scrummy.
MISS GIBSON A list of those girls being considered is pinned
on the school notice-board. I have been informed that
several girls on their way to specialized music lessons in
the town have been observed conversing with boys from St
Hugo’s County Grammar School. This must stop. Mingling
with brothers, cousins and boys at supervised social events
is perfectly in order, but this casual hob-nobbing can do
nothing but harm to Grangewood’s reputation. A natureramble to Pebble Cove will be led by Miss Waller on Sunday
afternoon for any girls interested—names in by Wednesday
please. Finally, I come to a matter of the utmost gravity.
A book of astronomy, part of the Sir Digby Beaumont
Collection, has been taken—I hesitate to say stolen—from
the school library. We believe it to have been purloined by
someone who possibly does not realize that books may not
be taken from the library without express permission from
either myself or the mistress-in-charge for that week. If
the person who has the book would care to come and see
me privately this morning, I will say nothing about the
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act ii 49
matter. However, if no one owns up, afternoon games will
be cancelled…
Everyone gasps.
…and the entire school kept within bounds for the next
three days.
Everyone gasps again.
School dismissed.
All exit except for DAISY and TRIXIE.
TRIXIE We really are in deadly peril now. What atrocious luck
that the book should be missed so soon.
DAISY If we hand it back, Mr Scoblowski is sure to discover
the clue.
TRIXIE I say, Daisy, do you think he suspects that we’re the
culprits, after all, we’ve actually told him that we’re looking
for the treasure.
DAISY He may sneak on us.
TRIXIE Oh, Daisy, how frightful. Perhaps we should chuck the
whole affair in.
DAISY And let the Bolsheviks get their hands on the treasure?
TRIXIE You’re right, Daisy, for the sake of the school…
DAISY …and England. No, we must keep extremely quiet about
the whole affair and admit to nothing.
TRIXIE Honesta quam magna.
TRIXIE } (together) Hinc spes effulget. DAISY
GIRLS enter and gather around the school notice-board.
TRIXIE I say, look at the crowd around the notice-board. Let
us through, Winnie. Daisy! You and I and Belinda are all
down for the hockey trials on Thursday.
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DAISY How spiffing.
WINNIE Even more spiffing if someone returns that beastly
book and we get our three games periods back.
TRIXIE I say, Daisy, where are you off to?
DAISY I left something in my desk.
TRIXIE Right-o!
DAISY enters the classroom.
DAISY Now to destroy that Geography paper. (She looks in her
desk) It’s gone!
MONICA enters.
MONICA Sybil asked me to tell you that she’s borrowed your
Geography text book for prep. But here, I’ll lend you mine.
MONICA exits.
DAISY The beasts! I sometimes wish I’d never heard of
Grangewood. But I’ll show them, I’ll show them what the
Merediths are made of… I’ll show you, Sybil Burlington. Tell
who you like about the Geography paper, I’ll not admit to
something that isn’t my fault, I’ll not submit to blackmail.
I’m staying at Grangewood—yes, until the Sixth form, Sybil
Burlington, until the Sixth form.
TRIXIE enters.
TRIXIE Come on, Daisy, we’d better cut along to the lab.
WINNIE IRVING enters.
WINNIE (to the audience) Winnie Irving, a member of the Second
Form. (To DAISY) I say, Daisy Meredith?
DAISY Yes?
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act ii 51
WINNIE I’ve a message for you from the Second and First
forms—we don’t stand for sneaks at Grangewood and
until such time as you either apologize to us for your low
behaviour, reform or leave the school, we are sending you
and Trixie Martin to Coventry.
WINNIE exits.
TRIXIE I’d like to wipe the ground with the cheeky little beggar.
DAISY I sometimes think that Grangewood is a perfectly horrible,
miserable school.
TRIXIE You need bucking-up, old chum. (Pause) Got it! I’ll
arrange an inter-dormy bottle-fight.
DAISY What’s that?
TRIXIE It’s like a pillow-fight but with hot-water bottles. You
fill them half-full of water for extra suppleness and then
bang! You’re off. It’s a prime stunt. We’ll do it tomorrow
night after prayers when the Prees are having their baths.
DAISY Sounds a topping idea, I feel better already.
Whistling of “ALL THROUGH THE NIGHT” is heard,
off.
What is the name of that tune that Mr Thompson always
whistles, do you know, Trixie?
TRIXIE Dash it, I can’t think…a Welsh song, you should know
it, Daisy… All Through the Night, that’s the one.
DAISY It’s queer, Trixie, but it’s frightfully reminiscent of
something.
TRIXIE Your mater probably sang it to you when you were but
an infant on her knee.
DAISY And he always whistles the same tune.
TRIXIE Slightly cracked, poor old chap, so they say. Avoids
people like the plague.
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A bell rings off.
I say, we’ll be late for Science if we don’t dash.
TRIXIE dashes off.
DAISY takes a book from her desk and goes to follow
TRIXIE.
MR SCOBLOWSKI enters.
DAISY bumps into MR SCOBLOWSKI.
DAISY Excuse me, Mr Scoblowski, I’m late for a class.
MR SCOBLOWSKI Ah, I hope it is not because you were treasurehunting!
DAISY No, we’ve given up all that ever since we discovered that
only juniors believe in the treasure.
MR SCOBLOWSKI (narrating) Mr Scoblowski was not convinced,
however. (He grabs DAISY’s arm) I know very well that you
and the other girl have the book hidden away…
DAISY Ow! Mr Scoblowski, you’re hurting my arm.
MR SCOBLOWSKI But I intend to find it! It is imperative, you
do not realize…
TRIXIE enters.
TRIXIE I say, Daisy, are you coming? What the…
MR SCOBLOWSKI exits.
Daisy!
DAISY He knows we’ve got the book.
TRIXIE There’s only one thing for it, we must discover the
secret of the hairy star!
TRIXIE and DAISY exit.
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act ii 53
MONICA enters in her dressing-gown and sits and reads
a comic. SYBIL enters carrying a book.
SYBIL Monica!
MONICA Sybil!
SYBIL I’ve just discovered this in Daisy Meredith’s boot-hole.
(Pause) It’s the book, Monica.
MONICA How absolutely splendid.
SYBIL How despicably low. I’ll replace it and leave you, Monica,
to see that the proper persons are informed.
MONICA They will be, Sybil, they will be.
SYBIL exits with the book.
GIRLS, including DAISY and TRIXIE, enter having a
bottle-fight. SYBIL returns and joins in the fight.
ALICE enters.
ALICE Daisy Meredith! Just what are you doing with that hotwater bottle? Kindly remove it…and the rest of you children
can return to whichever dormy you belong to, at once! Interdormy bottle-fights, I wonder who thought of that one.
SYBIL But you used to—
ALICE Yes, I know we used to do it at your age, but we took
great care not to get caught.
BELINDA We thought all the Prees were having baths.
ALICE We can’t all get in at the same time. Enough of this
ragging, an order mark to any girl who’s not in her own
dormy by the time I’ve counted to ten. Sybil Burlington,
please wait in my study, I wish to have a word with you.
ALICE and the other GIRLS exit.
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DAISY and TRIXIE join MONICA.
DAISY Phew! Alice is in a pixie mood.
TRIXIE A regular sport though, always gives one a chance.
I had an absolutely scrummy tussle with Jill Timms and
Rosie Wildgust from the Third and then Jill’s hot-water
bottle burst!
DAISY Matron will be frightfully fed-up about that.
TRIXIE Oh, Matron’s a sport, she’ll gather the joyful gist.
“ALL THROUGH THE NIGHT” is heard being whistled
outside.
DAISY Why didn’t you join in the bottle-fight, Monica?
MONICA I’m not feeling well.
DAISY Let’s play a game to jolly you up, we’ve heaps of time
before lights out.
TRIXIE That’s a topping idea, Daisy.
DAISY How about a game we all know, I know—the Dictionary
Game.
TRIXIE Right-o!
DAISY Here we are, pencils, paper and a small pocket dictionary.
(She hands the pencils and paper round)
TRIXIE Goodness, what amazing pockets.
DAISY I’ve a penknife, string and coughsweets as well. My
four brothers are Boy Scouts you see, and their motto is
“Be Prepared” for any emergency.
TRIXIE I bags to be first on it.
DAISY No, Trixie, I bags to be first on it.
TRIXIE Right-o. You do know how to play, don’t you Monica?
MONICA Of course I do.
TRIXIE First word, Daisy?
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act ii 55
DAISY First word, well it’s a name really…hairy star.
TRIXIE Hairy star?
DAISY Hairy star.
TRIXIE There’s no such word.
MONICA Yes, there is. I’m not quite sure I can remember what
it means.
They write down their definitions.
DAISY Right-o, all done? Hand them over. Now a hairy star…
is a species of fungus found growing under beech trees, a
Colonial term for the Union Jack, or a comet so-called in
ancient times because its fiery tail resembled that of a—
ALICE enters.
ALICE Well, well, this is a cosy little confab. Did you not hear
me call for lights out?
DAISY No, sorry Alice, we didn’t.
MONICA Sybil’s our dormy monitor, don’t we have to wait for
her to tell us?
ALICE Sybil’s with me for the minute. Now off you all run to
your beds.
MONICA Goodnight, Alice.
ALICE Goodnight, Monica.
TRIXIE ’Night, Alice.
ALICE Goodnight, Trixie.
DAISY Good…
ALICE Daisy, can I speak with you for a minute?
DAISY Yes.
TRIXIE and MONICA exit.
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ALICE Are you well, child, you’ve been looking a wee bit pale
of late?
DAISY I’m in splendid form, thank you, Alice.
ALICE You’ve been sleeping at nights?
DAISY Like the proverbial log.
ALICE I think I’ll ask Matron to dose you up on cod-liver oil
for a while.
DAISY Look here, Alice…
ALICE You’re too peaky looking for my liking and besides, we
need fighters not wraithes in the First Eleven. But it’s not
that I wish to speak to you of. In the midst of that battle you
were all engaged in ten minutes ago, a Junior passed me
on her way to the San sporting a black eye she’d received in
the onslaught. She’d been set upon by a crowd led by Sybil
Burlington, for refusing to join them in a foray against
the Sneak of the Fourth, as I believe you’re known. Now,
does this have anything to do with the fact that when Clare
pounced on you and Trixie that night she also happed upon
the Seconds feasting, who now see you as a sneak?
DAISY I’d rather not say, Alice.
ALICE I’ve no intention of fighting any battles on your behalf,
child, but right must be seen to exist where it does. Would
you like me to have a discreet word with the Seconds?
DAISY No. Thanks awfully, Alice, but I mean to settle this on
my own account.
ALICE Are you sure, child?
DAISY Absolutely.
ALICE Very well, off you run to bed then, kiddie.
DAISY Alice…
ALICE Yes, child?
DAISY You aren’t rowing Sybil on my account, are you?
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act ii 57
ALICE No, rest assured. I can’t allow anyone, least of all a
Vice-Captain of a form, to run around the school dishing
out black eyes to all and sundry. Young Sybil will be on her
way to Miss Gibson if she crosses my path again.
DAISY I say.
ALICE Goodnight, child.
DAISY Goodnight, Alice.
ALICE exits.
TRIXIE rushes on.
TRIXIE Oh, Daisy, the hairy star!
DAISY I know, oh Trixie, how glorious!
TRIXIE How uncommonly brainy of you to think up such a
scheme…
DAISY How tremendously decent of Monica.
TRIXIE We must act at once, before Mr Scoblowski.
DAISY Tomorrow.
TRIXIE Tomorrow.
DAISY } (together) Hinc spes effulget. TRIXIE
Everyone enters for Assembly, singing the hymn, “LET
MISS GIBSON The morning’s notices. I learnt with great
displeasure from Matron this morning that not a few girls
have reported to her with burst hot-water bottles, the result
it would seem of a dormitory prank. In future, all hot-water
bottles similarly destroyed will be replaced with the aid of
contributions from pocket-money. Persistent offenders will
be relieved of their hot-water bottles and given hot bricks
wrapped in flannel to take to bed. Now on to more pleasant
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matters. Grangewood has reached the final of the County
Hockey Championships…
Everyone cheers.
…and will meet Vearncombe Young Ladies College next
Saturday for the match which will be played here on
Grangewood’s own hockey pitch.
Everyone cheers.
Owing to the Fifth form’s enforced absence from school this
week, any substitutes required will be selected by Clare from
the Fourth form. Not the happiest circumstances under
which to meet such leviathans as Vearncombe, but remember
girls, that even if we lose this very vital match, as long as
you play the game, to the best of your very considerable
abilities, you will not have failed Grangewood. Finally, it
gives me tremendous delight to announce the results of this
year’s School Poetry Competition. While many of the entries
were worthy of high commendation, all credit this year
must go to the Upper Fourth who have produced the two
winning entries. In second place we have “The Meditations
of a Lighthouse” submitted by Sybil Burlington.
There is applause.
TRIXIE My word! What a stunner!
MISS GIBSON …and this year’s winning entry is a poem on the
subject of “Heroes” penned by Daisy Meredith.
There is applause.
TRIXIE I say, well done.
DAISY But Trixie, I didn’t…
MISS GIBSON Quiet girls, please. I now take great pleasure in
reading an extract from this indeed excellent piece of work.
“Heroes” by Daisy Meredith.
Through centuries wrapped in clouds of black
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act ii 59
Where injustice cruel doth rage
There sometimes glows a candle bright
That darkness to assuage.
DAISY Trixie! Please listen…
MISS GIBSON Poor folk crushed by tyrant’s hand of privilege
bereft—
TRIXIE If you please, Miss Gibson—
MISS GIBSON I am available in my study after Assembly for
question or comment, Trixie Martin.
TRIXIE I’m sorry, Miss Gibson, but that poem you are reading
out was not written by Daisy Meredith. I wrote it.
There is a gasp from the GIRLS.
MISS GIBSON Is this correct, Daisy?
DAISY Yes, Miss Gibson.
MISS GIBSON Is this your handwriting, Trixie?
TRIXIE Yes, Miss Gibson.
MISS GIBSON Most odd, and yet it has Daisy’s name written
upon it.
DAISY On my honour, Miss Gibson, I honestly had no idea…
oh Trixie, surely you don’t believe…
MISS GIBSON Silence if you please, girls, silence. Trixie, I’ll
speak to you in a moment. Daisy Meredith, you are to go
to my study and wait for me there.
DAISY But Miss Gibson…
MISS GIBSON Please go. School dismissed.
DAISY exits. Everyone disperses.
BELINDA (to TRIXIE) What a beastly business! I would never
have thought Daisy capable of such a frightful plot.
MISS GIBSON Thank you, Belinda.
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BELINDA exits.
(to TRIXIE) Don’t worry, Trixie, we’ll sort this out. Off you go.
TRIXIE exits.
DAISY and MISS GIBSON enter MISS GIBSON’s study.
Daisy, this kind of affair grieves me intensely, especially when
it concerns a girl in whom so much faith and expectation
has been placed and whose academic and sporting future
looked so bright. Now you say that you had no idea that
Trixie Marlin’s poem was submitted under your name?
DAISY None at all, on my honour. Miss Gibson.
MISS GIBSON And yet the name Daisy Meredith inscribed on
the top of the entry compares remarkably well with other
examples of your signature.
DAISY But Miss Gibson, I would never do such a thing to Trixie,
she’s my best chum.
MISS GIBSON Not even in fun?
DAISY Not even in fun, Miss Gibson.
MISS GIBSON A certain member of your form, I shall not mention
her name, came to me with your Geography text book in
which I found this—a printed list of answers to a Geography
test set some time ago in which you came out top.
DAISY Miss Gibson, honestly, I had no idea… I didn’t see it
until…
MISS GIBSON And this… (She produces the astronomy book) …
was discovered at the back of your boot-hole.
DAISY I borrowed it, I can’t tell you why, it’s a point of honour,
Miss Gibson, but I swear to you I had absolutely nothing
to do with the poem or the Geography test.
MISS GIBSON I must say, Daisy, I find it extremely difficult to
believe anything of a girl who remained silent whilst her
school-fellows suffered the loss of three days games and
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act ii 61
confinement to school grounds because of something she
had not the courage to own up to. A girl also blind to the
distress that this seeming theft has caused to the Beaumont
family, particularly Clare.
DAISY I would never do anything to hurt Clare, Miss Gibson.
MISS GIBSON I can only conclude, my dear, that perhaps we
have demanded a little too much of you. The gulf between
such schools as Grangewood and the elementary kind may
be wider than we dream and I see the events of the past few
weeks being as much my fault as yours, in having placed you
under the tremendous pressures resulting in the matters
now under discussion.
DAISY I’m awfully sorry, Miss Gibson, but as far as academic
work and games go, I have not found myself under any
of the tremendous pressures you mention, neither am I
conscious of any enormous gulf between Grangewood and
my previous school, as you are, if the gulf you speak of is
mainly moral as you seem to imply. The only pressures I
have encountered here are those from girls who because they
have money, therefore have influence, a remarkably queer
notion to my mind, and whose only code of conduct is that
of lying, sneaking and bullying, and seeing fit to wipe the
ground with me because in my ignorant elementary school
way, I try to live up to the high standards set here, and to
their irritation, succeed.
MISS GIBSON That will do, Daisy Meredith. I shall attempt to
get to the bottom of the accusations against you and will
report my findings along with an academic and character
assessment on you, to a meeting of the School Governors,
to be held next Monday, when it will be decided whether
or not, to keep you on at Grangewood. Until that time you
will be given a room in the Sanatorium where you will
sleep, your meals will be brought to you and you will be
given specially prepared classwork to do. You will not be
allowed to speak to any of your school-fellows or they to
you, only to myself, teaching staff and Matron. You will
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be in Matron’s charge and she will also arrange for your
recreation periods. You may go.
DAISY Miss Gibson, on my honour, I swear I am innocent of
MISS GIBSON exits.
DAISY goes into the Sanatorium and throws herself on
a bed.
Oh mother, mother…oh Clare, if only I could explain to
you…and Trixie…but now I never shall.
TRIXIE enters.
TRIXIE Psst!
DAISY Trixie.
TRIXIE Oh, Daisy!
DAISY You’ll get into fearful trouble if they find you here.
TRIXIE I know. It’s perfectly beastly, we’ve been ordered not
to speak to you on pain of death.
DAISY Oh Trixie, do you absolutely wish to goodness you’d never
even met me? Do you believe I entered your poem as mine?
TRIXIE No, old chum, not for so much as a minute. I’m
immensely sorry I spoke out in Assembly and not to Miss
Gibson in private, I’m afraid I lost my rag.
DAISY I would have done exactly the same in your position
though it’s fearfully hard not to be dismal when everyone
else believes I did do it. They found Sir Digby’s book you
know, I suppose Clare detests me now.
TRIXIE The book! Mr Scoblowski! The treasure! Daisy, we
must stop him!
DAISY How? I’m not supposed to leave this room except to go
to piano practice.
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act ii 63
TRIXIE I’m not supposed to be in it. I’ll work out some sort of a
scheme… I’ll also find out who rigged the poetry competition.
DAISY Probably someone’s idea of a joke.
TRIXIE Queer sort of a joke. There are fearful rumours too,
about you cribbing for a Geography test. What is the truth,
Daisy?
DAISY I’m afraid I can’t say, I’m not a sneak whatever else I
may be.
TRIXIE It wouldn’t surprise me if Sybil Burlington didn’t have
a hand in this somewhere.
A bell goes, off.
Dash it, there goes the bell.
DAISY I’m so glad you don’t absolutely loathe me, Trixie.
TRIXIE Buck-up, Daisy, old girl, I’ll get you out of this piggy
little mess, see if I don’t.
DAISY Thanks awfully, Trixie. I must go to piano practice.
TRIXIE I’ll creep up and see you later. Cheeriosa.
DAISY } (together) Hinc spes effulget. TRIXIE
TRIXIE and DAISY exit.
CLARE and ALICE enter.
CLARE Two days to the final, Diana’s still out, Carol’s hurt her
knee again, and the Fifth away. It’s no use, Alice, we shall
have to put in some of those babes from the Fourth.
TRIXIE enters and stops to eavesdrop.
ALICE It’s two we shall need.
CLARE And if we’re to beat Vearncombe this year, they’ve got
to be good.
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ALICE There’s Trixie Martin, splendid little player when she
puts her mind to it.
CLARE Belinda Mathieson.
ALICE She’s decent.
CLARE Well, that’s our team.
Beautiful piano playing is suddenly heard.
Who’s that who plays so beautifully?
ALICE The wee girl, Daisy Meredith.
CLARE A mistress surely.
ALICE No, Daisy Meredith. Matron allows her to practise when
a music-room lies empty.
CLARE Poor child, anyone who plays like that cannot surely be
guilty of the things she’s been accused of.
ALICE It’s my belief she isn’t.
CLARE If only we had proof, Alice. I must say, I’ve noticed that
certain elements in the school have done their best to make
life tough for that kiddie.
ALICE Can we not find that proof?
CLARE We haven’t much time, the School Governors meet to
discuss her fate on Monday. I suppose we could have a jolly
good go at clearing her name though.
ALICE Even though she did walk off with your grandfather’s
book…and deprived the school of three days’ games.
CLARE I was awfully fed-up about that, I admit.
ALICE Daisy told Miss Gibson she held back on a point of
honour…and I’ll tell you something now, I don’t believe
that a girl like Daisy who loves her games would hold back
for less.
CLARE She’s always struck me as a frightfully decent kid.
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act ii 65
TRIXIE exits.
ALICE And don’t you find it queer now, that such a girl should
deliberately set out to ruin herself? And to expose herself
as a cheat and a leech upon her best friend.
CLARE That settles it, Alice, we will carry out our own
investigation into this affair. Thank you, old thing, for
reminding me that as well as being Games Captain of
Grangewood, I am Head Girl.
ALICE Sure, it’s a deputy’s duty.
There is a sudden shrieking and commotion off, and
CLARE I say, what a row.
BELINDA enters.
BELINDA It’s Trixie Martin, she’s twisted her ankle. I’m going
to find Matron.
BELINDA exits.
ALICE Jesus, Mary and Joseph!
CLARE There goes another member of our First Eleven.
ALICE Nil desperandum, me darlin’ Clare.
CLARE We’re sunk. Might as well hand the trophy over to
Vearncombe now.
ALICE We’ll find another substitute.
CLARE Who else is there good enough?
DAISY’s piano playing suddenly surges forth.
ALICE Wee Daisy Meredith.
CLARE Do you think Miss Gibson will be persuaded?
ALICE She must—for the sake of the school.
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CLARE and ALICE exit.
DAISY enters the San with a hockey stick, TRIXIE follows
on crutches.
They knock a hockey ball about between them.
TRIXIE Goal!
DAISY Shhh. Matron will hear you and pack you off back to
jolly old bed.
TRIXIE And deprive me of the chance of seeing you play for
Grangewood? Fat chance. She’d have the dickens of a deadly
fight on her hands.
DAISY I say, Trixie, I’m horribly afraid I shall prove the most
frightful muff.
TRIXIE You haven’t muffed any practice games.
DAISY This is different. We shall be playing an absolutely firstclass team not just eleven substitutes, and I feel I must justify
Clare and Alice’s faith in me after the tremendously hard
job they must have had persuading Miss Gibson to let me
play. I say, do you think any of the Grangewood girls will
let on that one of their team is under threat of expulsion?
TRIXIE They wouldn’t be such a pack of mean cats. If anyone,
even that reptile, Sybil Burlington, uttered a word, I would
cold-pig them every morning ’til the end of term.
DAISY I say, would you really?
TRIXIE With immense gratification. I say, it’s capital the two
of us being here in the San.
DAISY Things have been a lot jollier since you twisted your
ankle, I admit. Gets us even further away from discovering
the Beaumont treasure though. I lie awake at night and
think about it.
TRIXIE No wonder you’re looking so pale and ghastly.
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act ii 67
DAISY Rot! I’m fit as a fiddle. It would be topping though if
we could find it before I leave. I do so want to make it up
to everyone for being such a frightful disappointment.
A bell rings off.
I must go and join the others on the field.
TRIXIE Good luck, Daisy, old thing, play up and play the game.
DAISY Thanks awfully, Trixie.
TRIXIE I saved this doughnut for you, to give you extra strength
for the match.
DAISY Trixie, you’re a real chum.
TRIXIE Hinc spes effulget.
DAISY exits.
TRIXIE walks over to the window putting aside her
crutches.
Hinc spes effulget, Daisy, hinc spes effulget.
DAISY, CLARE, ALICE and BELINDA enter with hockey
sticks. They take up their positions on the pitch. They
don’t actually move from where they stand.
A whistle blows.
Bully off. Grangewood have the ball.
CLARE Centre forward to right inner.
ALICE Right inner to centre forward.
CLARE Centre forward to left wing.
DAISY Tackle by Vearncombe!
TRIXIE Vearncombe have the ball. Don’t let them past, oh
don’t let them past…they’re getting through…where’s the
left back…the left back!
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ALL No.
TRIXIE Vearncombe have scored the first goal of the match.
Bully-off… Grangewood again.
CLARE Centre forward to right inner.
ALICE Right inner to right wing.
BELINDA Tackle by Vearncombe!
TRIXIE Vearncombe take the ball! Left back to left inner…they’re
passing down the field. The wing is clear again, mark her!
Mark her! Desperate tackle by Clare—to no avail…
ALL No!
TRIXIE Vearncombe score the second goal.
CLARE Half time.
CLARE, ALICE, BELINDA and DAISY unfreeze from their
hockey positions.
BELINDA Looks as though we shall be beaten hollow.
DAISY Things do look dreadfully grim.
ALICE We’ll beat them, we must.
CLARE I say, chin-up, Grangewood. Vearncombe are a firstrate team but we still have the second half in which to
draw level. Those tackles of yours weren’t half bad, young
Belinda, but you must decide what to do with the ball once
you’ve got it. Daisy, don’t let those backs crowd you as they
were doing. Remember all of you, when you have the ball,
get rid of it fast, don’t hug it to yourselves and remember,
above all, attack is the best form of defence. We’re allowing
Vearncombe French leave to do as they wish at the moment.
The vantage will be theirs this half with the wind behind
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act ii 69
them so we must play hard, play up and play the game.
Remember—the honour of Grangewood is at stake.
A whistle blows off. CLARE, ALICE, BELINDA and DAISY
TRIXIE They’re off.
CLARE Centre forward to left inner.
BELINDA Left inner back to centre forward.
TRIXIE Vearncombe snatch the ball. Oh, hard luck!
DAISY Tackle by…
TRIXIE Daisy! She’s got the ball…oh quickly, pass it out…
DAISY Left wing back to right inner…
ALL Goal!
TRIXIE Hurray!
CLARE That’s the spirit, keep it up.
TRIXIE Vearncombe take the ball! Passing it out to their left
wing! Grangewood! Where are you?
BELINDA Right half closes in. Drives the ball across to…
BELINDA Right inner. And back to…
CLARE Centre forward.
TRIXIE Oh no, Clare’s missed it! Don’t lose it! Don’t lose it!
Saved by…
BELINDA …the centre half! A short pass to…
ALICE Left inner to…
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DAISY Left wing! Left wing to…
TRIXIE No, Daisy, you’re clear! Oh, shoot, Daisy! Shoot! Shoot!
ALL Goal!
TRIXIE Two all and seven minutes left to play. Play up school,
play up! Hinc spes effulget, Daisy! Hinc spes effulget! There’s
some rotten little beasts booing her, led by Sybil no doubt.
CLARE Centre forward to right wing!
ALICE Right wing to…
TRIXIE Oh, Vearncombe have got the ball! Grangewood!
Grangewood! Grangewood!
CLARE Tackle by…
TRIXIE Clare! Pass it out! Pass it out! Oh, no! She’s gone down
on the mud. Jemima! Who’s that speeding up the pitch?
It’s Daisy! She’s got the ball! Daisy Left wing…
BELINDA To right inner…
ALICE To centre forward…
CLARE To left inner…
DAISY To left wing…
TRIXIE Shoot Daisy! Shoot! Shoot! Shoot!
ALL Goal!
TRIXIE Oh, good shot!
The whistle blows, and there is tumultuous cheering.
Everyone hugs each other.
ALICE Oh, my darlin’ girl!
CLARE I don’t believe it, Alice, we’ve jolly well won.
BELINDA First-rate play, Daisy.
DAISY I did it for Grangewood.
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CLARE The first time within living memory that anyone has
beaten Vearncombe. Well done all of you, a splendid effort,
a game to go down in the annals of Grangewood. But well
done to you, kiddie, we’ve got you to thank for all this. Now
off to the Victory tea!
Everyone exits except DAISY and ALICE.
ALICE Are you not coming to the tea, Daisy?
DAISY No, Miss Gibson said I was to go straight back to the
San after the match. Don’t say anything to Clare, she’s so
awfully bucked. I wouldn’t want to be a wet blanket.
ALICE exits.
DAISY joins TRIXIE in the San who has taken up her
crutches again.
TRIXIE Capital, Daisy, you were absolutely, uncommonly,
spiffingly glorious. Daisy…?
DAISY They booed me, Trixie, they booed me.
TRIXIE exits.
Night. A clock chimes twelve. DAISY puts on a dressinggown and gets into bed.
( narrating) Two hours after lights out, try how she might,
Daisy could not sleep. The events of the day circled her
brain, and the knowledge that largely due to her efforts in
winning the hockey-match, the school had been awarded
a half-holiday, caused her to ponder even more upon the
unworthy actions of those responsible for her present dismal
plight. Outside, the wind howled, rattling the window-panes
in their frames and sending the waves booming round the
headland.
MR THOMPSON and MR SCOBLOWSKI enter another
part of the stage with a torch which they shine on the
ancestral portraits.
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How queer, someone patrolling the corridors with a torch.
Matron is long in bed and surely none of the staff would be
up at such an hour, unless the juniors are up to some stunt.
MR SCOBLOWSKI and MR THOMPSON exit.
“ALL THROUGH THE NIGHT” is heard being whistled.
How odd. Perhaps Mr Thompson’s planning a burglary…
what’s that?
WINNIE IRVING enters.
I say, Winnie Irving.
WINNIE You must come quickly.
DAISY Come? Where to? Whatever’s happened?
WINNIE Several of us were having a midnight feast in one
of the caves in the bay to celebrate today’s victory, when
suddenly, almost before we had time to notice, the tide crept
in covering our path out and so we had to retreat up the
side of the cliff. It was only when we reached the top that
we realized Monica and Sybil weren’t with us. They must
have wandered off and also got cut off because we discovered
them clinging to a ledge further along the coast. We couldn’t
find any rope to pull them up with so we thought we’d tie
some sheets together to make one. Only thing is, none of us
know anything about knots so we thought as you’ll probably
be expelled anyway and know about knots, we’d enlist your
help. Please help us, Daisy. I could wake Miss Gibson, but
we’d get into the most fearful row.
DAISY Half a sec. (She gets out of bed) You take my sheets
(narrating) Daisy and her companion set off along the cliff
path that led to the bay.
The GIRLS act out the story they are telling.
WINNIE The wind was so strong that it flattened the long grass
on the cliff-tops…
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act ii 73
DAISY And a three-quarters moon scudded in and out of the
ragged black clouds.
WINNIE Out at sea the wind-whipped waves tossed themselves
so high into the air that the two girls could taste the saltspray on their lips…
DORA, BELINDA, SYBIL and MONICA enter.
DORA } (together) Winnie!
BELINDA:
WINNIE We’re here.
DAISY Daisy leaned over as far as she dared, and there, many
feet below, were the pale, pleading faces of Sybil and Monica.
(To WINNIE) A reef-knot that’s what we need. There! That’s
done! Sybil! Monica! I’m going to throw a line down to
you and I want you to grab hold of it and we’ll haul you
up one at a time.
WINNIE Daisy lowered the sheets…
DORA A rock tied into the end as ballast…
BELINDA And presently she felt an answering tug.
DAISY Right-o, heave.
WINNIE Slowly but steadily they hauled in the sheet and on
the end of it…
SYBIL Sybil.
SYBIL collapses.
DAISY Are you all right, Sybil?
SYBIL I am…but Monica…she’s in a deadly funk, she won’t
budge from off the ledge. I tried to persuade her to come
up first but she refused point-blank.
DAISY Monica! Monica! It’s no good, she’s perfectly insensible
to anything but her own fear. I’ll have to go down and bring
her up myself! Now listen you three, I want you to play the
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line out slowly and then when I’m ready to bring Monica
up, I’ll give a tug twice on the end of the line and you must
pull for all you’re worth. Do you understand?
ALL Yes.
DAISY Right-o, I’m off.
BELINDA Gingerly, Daisy swung herself down to the narrow
and rapidly crumbling ledge to which Monica clung.
DAISY Monica, I’m going to tie this sheet around your waist to
stop you from falling and then I’m going to put my arms
round you to make it even less likely that you fall and then
we’re both going up the side of the cliff together. Understand?
MONICA Nooooo!
DAISY Monica if you don’t do as I say we’ll fall—both of us—into
that morass below. Do you understand now?
MONICA Yes.
DAISY Good. Daisy tugged twice on the line and slowly Monica
began to be hauled up the cliff-face, Daisy frantically
searching for hand and footholds so as to relieve the burden
slightly on the others. We’re almost there, Monica, hang on.
MONICA Wh…what’s that roaring sound?
DAISY Daisy glanced downwards just in time to see the ledge on
which she and Monica had been lately standing disappear
into the wild sea. Her heart skipped a beat—just the sea
and the wind, Monica, nothing to worry about.
BELINDA Practically sweating blood…
WINNIE And almost at their last breath…
DORA Winnie, Dora and Belinda hauled the now almost
unconscious Monica to the top.
BELINDA Finally, Daisy herself was pulled to safety.
DORA Whereupon, they all collapsed.
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act ii 75
Pause.
BELINDA I say, we ought to make a move back before we all
die of pneumonia.
DAISY Good idea.
MONICA I’m dreadfully sorry, Daisy, I was in such a beastly funk.
DAISY I wasn’t feeling so tremendously heroic myself.
SYBIL Yes, I must say, it was jolly decent of you to rescue us.
DAISY Anyone would have done the same.
WINNIE They stumbled along the cliff-path back to school,
exhausted in mind and body…
DAISY Especially Daisy, who after a week of sleepless nights
wasn’t sure whether or not all that had just happened hadn’t
been a dream.
Daisy followed last to close the school gates behind the
others. She paused, for a final look at the silvery moon
illuminating the unruly sea.
MISS GIBSON enters.
DAISY My word! Miss Gibson!
MISS GIBSON You were forbidden to leave the Sanatorium
without my express permission. Can I place no trust in
you? Have you no sense of honour? Well you will flout the
rules of Grangewood no longer. See me tomorrow morning
in my study at nine. Now go to bed this instant.
MISS GIBSON exits.
DAISY It’s no good, everything I do is wrong, I just don’t belong
in Grangewood. Perhaps I am as bad as they say I am. But I’m
not. I’m not. I can’t bear it any longer, I’ll run away—that’s
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what I’ll do, I’ll go back home to mother—and Dick, Douglas,
Daniel and Duncan, they love me, they believe in me. Oh,
Mother, Mother, I wish, you were here now, I need you so
badly… I’m coming home, Mother, I’m coming home. Hardly
conscious of her actions, Daisy passed like a sleep-walker
through the school corridors and down into the great hall.
Some instinct, she knew not what, caused her to turn and
gaze at the grim, commanding portrait of the late Sir Digby
Beaumont. Daisy gasped—for the peculiar astronomical
device that Sir Digby held was radiating a green glowing
light of its own. Luminous paint! Daisy advanced closer to
the portrait and there on the rim of the device was depicted
a symbol she knew all too well, that of a comet…
MR THOMPSON enters behind DAISY.
…the hairy star, and beside it, graven in tiny letters were
the words—“This panel where the hairy star doth shine,
conceals the treasure, press the symbol mine”.
DAISY presses the symbol and the treasure is revealed
behind a secret panel.
MR THOMPSON Daisy.
DAISY turns.
DAISY Father. (She faints)
There is a blackout.
Everyone enters for Assembly singing “FOR ALL THE
SAINTS” as the lights come up.
MISS GIBSON I have distressing and important news concerning
one of your number—Daisy Meredith. At present, Daisy lies
dangerously ill in the Sanatorium, suffering, it is suspected,
from brain-fever, resulting we think from the trouble in
which she has been involved here. She cries wildly in her
delirium of dishonour, exams and the like. We fear she may
not last the week and she is certainly too ill to be moved to
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act ii 77
a hospital. However, the crisis point determining whether
Daisy lives or dies will be reached this evening and we ask
you all to be quieter than usual in your activities, particularly
if any of them take place on the lawns outside the San.
TRIXIE Oh poor, poor Daisy.
SYBIL Miss Gibson.
MISS GIBSON Yes, Sybil?
SYBIL I have something to say which I would like the school
to hear as well as you, Miss Gibson.
MISS GIBSON Can you not come and tell me later in my…
SYBIL No, Miss Gibson, I’m sorry, I must speak now.
MISS GIBSON Very well, continue.
SYBIL Everyone…well most people, believe Daisy Meredith
to be a cheat, a liar, a sneak and an absolute rotter. Well…
she isn’t. She’s one of the pluckiest, most honourable, and
sporting girls you could hope to meet. Last night she rescued
Monica and me from certain death when we were stranded
on a cliff-face after a midnight feast we held, in which she
was not involved. It was I who substituted Daisy’s name for
Trixie’s on the winning poem and entered Daisy’s poem under
my name and came second, I who encouraged another girl
in my form to plant the answers to the Geography test in
Daisy’s book, and I who sneaked on the Second’s midnight
feast and let Daisy take blame… (She bursts into tears) I’m
a perfectly hateful pig, it’s me who should be expelled not
Daisy. And if she dies then it’s my fault.
MISS GIBSON Well, Sybil, I am glad you have had the courage
and honour, belated though it is, to confess the true state
of things, though I cannot say how sorry I am, that a girl
who has been at Grangewood as long as you have, should
have fallen into such dark and evil ways. I must ask you
to accompany me to my study and to take leave of your
classmates for what I feel will be the last time. It may also
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interest you to know that the Beaumont treasure has been
discovered…
Everyone gasps.
TRIXIE I say!
MISS GIBSON …by Daisy Meredith and her father who is known
to us as Mr Thompson, but whose true identity is that of
Sir David Beaumont…
CLARE Uncle David!
MISS GIBSON …the younger son of Sir Digby Beaumont.
SYBIL bursts into more tears.
TRIXIE Jemima!
Everyone begins to disperse.
TRIXIE O Jubilate! I knew it would all come right in the end,
I knew it. (Narrating) Daisy’s crisis of health that night
took its turn…for the better, and after a day or two, she was
able to leave her sick-bed albeit in a weakened condition.
DAISY, her father—MR THOMPSON—and TRIXIE enter
the Sanatorium.
MR THOMPSON You see, my father, Sir Digby Beaumont, objected
fiercely to my taking an opera-singer as wife, and after a
particularly vehement quarrel with him I left Grangewood
for good, changed my name by deed poll, married my
sweetheart and moved to Wales.
DAISY Where you had spent many happy boyhood holidays,
isn’t that right, Father?
MR THOMPSON It certainly is, my darling. We bore a family and
lived very happily, I earning a living as a doctor until war
broke out and so, wishing to serve my country, I enlisted in
the Navy. However, one day my ship was torpedoed, sunk
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act ii 79
and I survived by clinging to a spar of wood in the sea for
two days until I was rescued by a passing ship, whereupon
I lost consciousness for over a week. On coming to, it was
discovered I had lost all memory of who I was and where
I had come from—all written proof of my identity having
been washed away during my ordeal at sea. I was utterly
destitute and friendless and might have remained so, had
it not been for a Russian Count on board ship, escaping
the horrors of the Revolution, who befriended me. As luck
would have it, he was destined for England and after gaining
a job at an English Girls’ Public School he found work and
shelter for me. That teacher’s name was…
DAISY } (together) Mr Scoblowski! TRIXIE
MR THOMPSON My memory returned gradually over the years
and to my surprise, I realized that not only did I work in
the grounds of my birthplace but that my daughter was a
pupil at the school which had since been founded there. I
determined not to reveal myself to Daisy until I could offer
her something other than my poverty—though there is no
shame in being poor. So, with Mr Scoblowski, I plotted to
recover the fortune which my father had hidden.
DAISY That explains Mr Scoblowski’s strange manner towards us.
TRIXIE And also the clue that Sir Digby said lay with his younger
son, that tune you were always whistling, Sir David.
TRIXIE } (together) All Through the Night. DAISY
MR THOMPSON Ever my favourite tune, I confess.
TRIXIE The link with the luminous device…
DAISY …and the comet…
TRIXIE …the hairy star!
CLARE enters.
DAISY Clare!
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CLARE Good afternoon, my plucky young cousin. Uncle David.
The entire school awaits your return.
MR THOMPSON That won’t be for a while, I’m afraid, this scholar
is going on a convalescing holiday first.
CLARE Well deserved, I say.
TRIXIE Hear, hear.
CLARE In a while, if you look out of the window, you will see
that wretched imp, Sybil Burlington, depart Grangewood
forever.
DAISY They aren’t expelling her?
CLARE I should jolly well think they are after all that she’s
confessed to.
DAISY Oh Clare, please don’t let them expel her, allow her one
last chance. She must have some good in her to have owned
up the way she did, it must have taken considerable pluck.
It isn’t her fault that snobbish attitudes were bred into her,
Grangewood can help change them. Please Clare, do be
a sport and have a word with Miss Gibson on my behalf.
CLARE Very well, child, I’ll do my level best, I suppose every
worm can turn. I’ll catch Sybil before she leaves Miss
Gibson’s study. But I say, this is all becoming uncommonly
dismal. There’s to be games and dancing this evening, and
the school would simply adore it if you could come down
and see them—before you go. Just for a moment. Will you?
TRIXIE Everyone would be immensely bucked.
MR THOMPSON I’ll be by your side.
DAISY Very well. It’s topping of them to want to see me.
CLARE Splendid.
A bell rings off.
TRIXIE Must go, old chum, there’s the bell for prep.
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act ii 81
CLARE Yes, I must go too I’m afraid. I’ve to supervise the babes.
See you later, kiddie.
CLARE and TRIXIE exit.
MR THOMPSON I’ll leave you to dress, Daisy, I must send a
telegram to mother.
DAISY Oh father, I’m so tremendously happy.
MR THOMPSON So am I, darling, more than I could ever say.
They kiss.
MR THOMPSON exits.
SYBIL enters.
DAISY Sybil, how absolutely top-hole to see you.
SYBIL Daisy…you don’t know what a beast I’ve been… I’m so…
DAISY Sybil, don’t.
DAISY and SYBIL hug.
SYBIL You’ve saved me from expulsion.
DAISY Oh, I’m so frightfully glad you’re staying, now we can
be friends.
SYBIL Can we? Can we really?
DAISY Of course we can, my poor darling. I say, buck-up old
thing. Will you come down to the hall with me, I need
someone’s arm to lean on?
DAISY and SYBIL hug.
Everyone enters the Great Hall. Some of the GIRLS enter
dancing the “GAY GORDONS”.
CLARE Girls, I would like to announce our two guests of
honour for this evening, though heaven knows, they need
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no announcing. First of all, Sir David Beaumont, whom I
am very pleased to call Uncle.
Everyone cheers.
And secondly, Daisy Meredith or Beaumont, as she will
from henceforth be known and whom I am delighted and
very proud to call cousin. School—I give you the heroine
of Grangewood, Daisy Meredith!
There is very loud cheering.
MISS GIBSON Quiet, girls, please, Sir David has a few words
to say to us all.
MR THOMPSON I am not an experienced or indeed a good
speaker at the best of times, of which this is one, but I will
say that the recovery of the Beaumont treasure has not
only enabled me to rediscover my family and disclose my
true identity, and keep Grangewood within the Beaumont
family, but that some of the money from the treasure will
go towards funding a scholarship for another elementary
schoolgirl to attend Grangewood which will be called the
Daisy Meredith Scholarship.
Everyone cheers.
DAISY First of all, thanks awfully for the absolutely top-hole
reception you’ve given my father and me this evening. I’m
proud to be once again a girl of Grangewood, of the Upper
Fourth.
BELINDA We’re proud of you, Daisy.
During the course of DAISY’s following speech a look
of displeasure appears on MISS GIBSON’s face, which
disappears as CLARE speaks.
DAISY Secondly, I ask you all to accept with open arms the
scholarship girls who come to Grangewood. They may have
heaps to learn from you about Grangewood’s sporting and
academic tradition, but my word, have you a lot to learn
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act ii 83
from them. The beginning we have made here in admitting
elementary schoolgirls is small, but I look forward to the
day when Grangewood along with other public schools in
England, becomes truly public and admits all scholars,
monied or not, within its portals of learning and to the
day when there is a Grangewood in every city, town and
village in England.
There is tumultuous cheering.
CLARE Girls, girls, before Daisy leaves us for a well-deserved
convalesence, I am going to ask her to lead us all in singing
the school song. Daisy…
The introduction to the school song is played by a teacher
on the piano.
TRIXIE Oh Daisy, how perfectly scrummy everything has turned
out to be!
DAISY And what fun lies ahead!
“SCHOOL SONG”
ALL (singing)
IN DAYS OF YORE THE FEMALE SEX
BUT NOW THANKS TO BOLD PIONEERS
PROUD GIRLS AND WOMEN TEACH AND LEARN
BUT OF THEM ALL THERE’S NONE MORE DEAR
THAN THAT OF GRANGEWOOD SCHOOL.
LONG MAY YE FLOURISH GRANGEWOOD SCHOOL
HONESTA QUAM MAGNA IS OUR CALL
AS WE STRIVE TO PLAY THE GAME.
Curtain.
ACT I:
Grangewood School for GIRLS.
MISS GIBSON the Headmistress, the Staff and Pupils
welcome the audience to the school as they enter the
auditorium. Moving among the audience with such
words as “Hello to you”. “So glad you could make sports
day”, “Ah! an old girl” etc. A teacher plays suitable tunes
on the piano. When everyone is in, MISS GIBSON stands
centre stage with the staff and pupils in a semi-circle
around her.
MISS GIBSON (to the audience) Good evening. May I, before we
begin the evening’s entertainment, take this opportunity to
welcome you—parents, brothers, sisters, cousins, uncles,
aunts, friends and, for aught I know, grandparents too—to
Grangewood School for Girls. Today marks the twentyfifth anniversary of the founding of the school, twenty-five
years of consistent sporting and academic achievement, of
targets striven towards and goals attained, of aspiration
and realization, from which has evolved amongst pupils
and staff, a tradition of fairness to one’s fellow creatures,
loyalty to school and country, a sense of duty and honour,
of being straight and playing the game, and above all, a
tradition of happy girls. May that tradition still be cleaven
to on the fiftieth anniversary of this establishment.
VOICE OFF Hear, hear.
MISS GIBSON I won’t detain you any longer except to explain
that each form in the school has assumed responsibility for
one entire evening’s entertainment during the course of this
festival week. The mantle of responsibility falls tonight,
by lottery, on the Fourth form, together with a little help
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from members of staff, who have asked me to announce
their offering, a play in two acts entitled Daisy Pulls It
Off. Thank you.
Everyone exits except DAISY who puts on a dressinggown and stands centre stage.
DAISY (to the audience) Daisy Meredith, daredevil, tomboy,
possessed of a brilliant mind, exuberant, quick-witted, fond
of practical jokes, honourable, honest, courageous, straight
in all things and…an elementary school pupil. Father—dead.
Mother—a former opera singer who struggles to keep a
home together for herself, Daisy, and Daisy’s brothers—Dick,
Douglas, Daniel and Duncan in a small terraced house in
London’s East End, by giving music lessons to private pupils.
Daisy has recently taken an exam which will, if she succeeds
in passing it, enable her to gain a place as the first ever
scholarship pupil at Grangewood Girls School, one of the
most famous educational establishments in the country. If,
however, she fails the exam, she must leave her elementary
school at the end of the year and take up some form of illpaid menial work to which she is little suited. Thank you.
(To herself ) I do wish the postman would hurry and bring
the letter containing the exam results—but it isn’t even eight
o’clock yet. I must win the scholarship, I so want to go to
Grangewood. How topping it would be to learn Latin and
Greek, to play hockey on their famous pitch, to make friends
with all those jolly girls and have midnight feasts and get
into fearful scrapes just like they do in books. I should miss
mother…and Dick, Douglas, Daniel and Duncan of course…
and all my chums at elementary school. But I must win
the scholarship for the sake of others as well as for myself,
for if I, the first scholarship pupil at Grangewood, make a
success of the scheme, Grangewood will open its doors to
other elementary school pupils, as poor as myself.
SYBIL BURLINGTON enters.
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act i 3
SYBIL So, elementary schoolgirls at Grangewood; bringing
their dishonesty, filth and guttersnipe ways with them and
generally lowering the tone of the place. Well, we’ll see
about that. (She starts to exit—then stops and turns. To
the audience) Oh, Sybil Burlington, Vice-Captain of the
Upper Fourth, and conceited, beautiful, only daughter of
very wealthy parents.
SYBIL exits.
DAISY Mother! Oh, Mother, I’m through! I’ve got the scholarship!
I can go to Grangewood!
MOTHER enters and during the following helps DAISY
get into the rest of her school uniform.
MOTHER Daisy, dear, that’s splendid, I’m so glad and proud.
DAISY I hope I make a success of it.
MOTHER You will, my dear, you’ve got this far.
DAISY I’ll have a good education, pass all my exams and then,
when I leave, find a job as a teacher in an elementary
school and perhaps I’ll earn enough money to buy you the
country cottage you’ve always wanted, and to pay for Dick,
Douglas, Daniel and Duncan’s education if they haven’t
won scholarships by then. (To the audience) The summer
holidays passed all too slowly for Daisy, that is, until the
time came to say goodbye to those she loved best.
MOTHER Board the train, Daisy, dear, otherwise you’ll find
yourself on the platform and the train steaming off without
you. Oh, the boys asked me to give you this. (She hands
DAISY a small package)
DAISY Write often, Mother, I’ll be dying to know what you’re
all doing, and any news you may hear of my old school pals.
MOTHER God bless you, Daisy, dear, I know you’ll do absolutely
splendidly and make us all even prouder of you, if that’s
possible. And remember, Daisy, keep your chin up, and never
tell a lie or do anything mean or underhand. You might find
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boarding school life strange or perhaps difficult at first, but
be straight with everyone and you’ll pull through.
A whistle blows, off.
DAISY We’re off—oh, Mother—
MOTHER and DAISY hug and kiss.
MOTHER Goodbye, my darling—write soon…
DAISY See you at the end of term!
MOTHER exits.
SYBIL BURLINGTON and BELINDA MATHIESON enter.
SYBIL (to the audience) Meanwhile, in the adjoining carriage…
BELINDA (to the audience) Belinda Mathieson, Captain of the
Upper Fourth and best all round sportswoman of that form.
(To SYBIL) What utter rot you talk, Sybil, not all elementary
school kids live in filthy hovels with thieving fathers and
drunken sluttish mothers. Take a walk through Esher any
day. And if this… Daisy Meredith is brainy enough to win
a scholarship to Grangewood, she’s as much right to a good
education as the rest of us there.
SYBIL But don’t you see, Belinda, that if this Meredith girl
proves a success then Grangewood will lose the type of
person that’s made it into the kind of school it is today. I
heard several girls—and teachers—last term saying how
unhappy they were about the scheme.
BELINDA Even Miss Gibson?
SYBIL Miss Gibson will soon see sense when exam standards
drop and girls leave and Grangewood loses every sports
trophy it’s ever won. Hockey and tennis aren’t taught in
elementary schools.
BELINDA How frightful.
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act i 5
DAISY (to the audience) The journey passed miserably for Daisy
until the train made a stop at a small country station.
CLARE BEAUMONT enters.
CLARE (to the audience) Clare Beaumont, Head Girl and Sports
Captain of Grangewood School, a shining example of true
British girlhood. (To DAISY) Excuse me, are any of these
seats taken?
DAISY Just mine.
CLARE Bound for Grangewood School, I see.
DAISY Yes.
CLARE I don’t recall having seen you before.
DAISY No, it’s my first term, actually.
CLARE Well, I’m sure you’ll be tremendously happy with
us, Grangewood is the jolliest school in England. Clare
Beaumont, by the way, sixth.
DAISY Daisy Meredith.
CLARE Daisy Meredith…
DAISY Yes, I’m to be in the Upper Fourth.
CLARE Of course, you must be the girl who won the scholarship.
DAISY The first of many such girls, I hope.
CLARE That’s the spirit, kiddie, but there are a few silly little
rotters in the school who aren’t too keen on scholarship
pupils being admitted. I’d lie low if I were you, for the first
month or so until they’ve got used to the idea being made
flesh. Buck-up, child, there are some quite decent girls in
the Fourth, you’ll pull through.
DAISY I jolly well hope to.
CLARE Here we are at the station.
ALICE (offstage) Clare! Clare, old girl!
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CLARE Coming! The school is only five minutes away, you’ll find
it easily enough, just follow the others. Chin-up, kiddie…
ALICE (offstage) Clare!
CLARE See you later, I expect.
All the GIRLS and mistresses enter with luggage, acting
out DAISY’s words as she speaks.
DAISY (to the audience) Daisy stepped on to the platform of the
tiny country station, scarcely able to push her way through
the crowd of laughing, chattering girls—girls of all shapes
and sizes—girls merrily exchanging greetings and holiday
reminiscences with chums whom they had not seen for seven
long weeks—girls who in the blue and white colours of
Grangewood School resembled not so much a whirlpool, as
so many tumbling, foaming little waves rushing shorewards
on the incoming tide and breaking thankfully on the warm,
yellow sands of home. Mistresses suddenly appeared on the
platform and began to shepherd the bubbling throng into
the lane that led to the school. They rounded the corner—I
say!—and there stood Grangewood School, a rambling
red-brick Elizabethan mansion, its mullioned windows
twinkling in the sun like so many welcoming eyes beneath
curious twisted chimneys. Flowers of every scent and hue
bordered the smooth green lawns, and there behind the
house stretched the tennis courts and playing fields for
which Grangewood was justly renowned. As they passed
through the great stone gates, the girls—as one—turned
to look at the sapphire sea beating against the chalky cliffs
on which the school so proudly stood. What an absolutely
gorgeous place, I’m going to be so immensely happy here.
TRIXIE Isn’t it heavenly?
DAISY I’m knocked over entirely.
TRIXIE (to the audience) Trixie Martin, madcap and poet of
the Upper Fourth. (To DAISY) I say aren’t you a new bug…
I mean girl.
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act i 7
DAISY Yes, Daisy Meredith.
TRIXIE Daisy Meredith?
DAISY That’s right, I’m to be in the Upper Fourth.
TRIXIE O Jubilate, that’s my form. Perhaps we can have desks
next to each other. One can have an uncommonly good time
at Grangewood so long as one doesn’t upset the Prees or
mistresses too much. I say, are you fond of setting up stunts?
DAISY I should say. I’ve got four brothers and we constantly
play tricks on each other.
TRIXIE Can you swim?
DAISY A little.
TRIXIE Capital, you’ll soon improve, for if the weather’s fine
enough the entire school goes for an early morning dip in
the sea. There’s an absolutely scrummy beach at the bottom
of the cliffs with a secret path leading down to it known
only to ourselves.
DAISY How perfectly ripping.
CLARE and ALICE enter.
TRIXIE That’s Clare Beaumont, over there, she’s—
DAISY I’ve met her.
TRIXIE How uncommonly lucky. Clare is Grangewood’s Sports
Captain and Head Girl, she’s a first-rate tennis and hockey
player as well as having a brain. We all adore her. Her people,
well, her mother, actually own Grangewood…
DAISY I say!
TRIXIE …her family used to live in the building and then just
over twenty years ago, they started to lose money after old
Sir Digby Beaumont died and so they leased it out to the
school govenors. Each year the Beaumonts have lost more
and more money and now it looks as though they might
have to sell to the School Governors. There is talk that
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the family fortunes could be saved if only the Beaumont
treasure could be found!
DAISY Treasure!
TRIXIE Yes! I’ve hunted for hours tapping walls, looking for
secret panels and trapdoors and clues, and so have scores
of other girls, but it’s probably only hearsay, nothing’s ever
been found.
MONICA SMITHERS enters.
MONICA Trixie Martin, you’re to go and see Matron at once,
she’s in a fearful mood over something.
TRIXIE Oh dash it! Mother’s probably not name-tagged my
new socks. See you at tea, I expect, Daisy.
TRIXIE exits.
MONICA (to the audience) Monica Smithers, school toady and
chief crony of Sybil Burlington. (To DAISY) I say, I’ve not
seen you before.
DAISY It’s my first day at Grangewood—Daisy Meredith.
MONICA Daisy…oh, the scholarship girl.
DAISY That’s right.
MONICA Ever been to school before?
DAISY Yes, of…
MONICA Read and write, can you?
DAISY What on…
MONICA Elementary schoolgirls are a new breed at Grangewood,
you see, we’ve no idea what to expect. Not that I’ve ever been
in a position to meet anyone from an elementary school
before, Mummy and Daddy are so frightfully particular
about that kind of thing. Of course, in our situation one
has to be, some people will do anything for money. Oh, by
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act i 9
the way, Miss Gibson always likes to see new girls in her
DAISY Really?
MONICA Up this staircase, first door on the right.
DAISY Thank you.
MONICA exits.
What a sickening girl! Now where did she say, up the
staircase, and the first door on the right. Now to meet the
Head.
DAISY knocks on the door—no answer. She knocks
again—still no answer.
ALICE FITZPATRICK enters.
ALICE (to the audience) Alice Fitzpatrick, Prefect, Deputy Sports
Captain and best chum of Clare Beaumont. (To DAISY) And
what are you knocking on there for, child?
DAISY I’ve got to see Miss Gibson.
ALICE Well, it’s not in there you’ll find Miss Gibson, see, ’tis
only a broom cupboard.
DAISY Oh, but I was told…
ALICE Someone playing a trick on you, was it? I’ll take you
meself to Miss Gibson. You’re a new girl by the look of things.
DAISY Yes, I am. My name’s Daisy Meredith and I’m to be in
the Upper Fourth.
ALICE Daisy…well that’s a nice enough name. Are you fond of
games, hockey, tennis and suchlike?
DAISY I enjoy playing cricket and football with my brothers, but
I’ve not had much opportunity to play hockey or tennis, you
see they didn’t teach them at my last school. Only rounders.
ALICE Is that a fact?
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DAISY But I know all the rules for hockey and tennis, I swotted
up on them from books at home.
ALICE Reading’s not quite the same as doing, but if you have
the sporting spirit you’ll do finely. Play the game, that’s
what we say here, play up and play the game—and it’s a
poor view we take of any girl who doesn’t play it.
DAISY (indicating a wooden board) What’s that?
ALICE The School Honours Board. A record of achievements by
girls whom Grangewood is truly proud to have had within
its portals.
DAISY (narrating) Daisy gazed wistfully at the simple oak
boards with the names graven in gold of former pupils. I
mean Grangewood to be proud of me one day and perhaps
my name to shine amongst theirs.
ALICE Here we are, child, Miss Gibson’s room.
DAISY Fearfully kind of you to help me.
ALICE All my pleasure, child. Run along in, Miss Gibson will
not bite your head off.
ALICE exits.
MISS GIBSON enters.
MISS GIBSON (to the audience) Miss Gibson, young, much-loved,
headmistress of Grangewood School.
DAISY Daisy Meredith, ma’am.
MISS GIBSON Welcome, my dear, to Grangewood, how very
pleased we are to have you here.
DAISY Thank you.
MISS GIBSON I need not say, of course, that the advent of
Grangewood’s first scholarship pupil—one who has arrived
here by way of intellect and not by way of parental monetary
wealth—has caused a certain amount of trepidation within
the school. Much will be expected of you, both morally
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act i 11
and intellectually, but from the scholastic reports I have
received of you and from the impressions I have of the girl
standing here before me, I am sure that you will fulfil all
expectations. Everyone will be anxious to help you in any
way you may require during your first few weeks here—as
we do all new girls. I hope you will be very happy here, my
dear, and will always stay true to the motto of Grangewood,
which is also that of the Beaumont family whose ancestral
home this is—Honesta quam magna—How great are noble
things. Now I’m sure you’re tired, Daisy, the supper bell will
be ringing shortly and Matron will wish to see you before
then. I trust you will settle in quickly, my child. Well, run
along.
DAISY Thank you, Miss Gibson.
MISS GIBSON exits.
Phew.
TRIXIE enters.
TRIXIE Hello. I say, isn’t it capital, you’re to be in the same
dormy as me!
DAISY How glorious!
TRIXIE Dormy number five, one of the best, it looks out over
the sea…
DAISY How topping.
TRIXIE Worst luck is, we’ve to share it with that stuck-up pair
of prigs, Sybil Burlington and Monica Smithers. I expect
Miss Gibson thinks they’ll set us a good example. Miss
Gibson is an uncommonly jolly headmistress, but I feel she
can be immensely misguided sometimes. Still, Jean Jeffrey
and Dora Johnston are next door in number three so we
can organize a stunt or two between the four of us.
DAISY Midnight feasts.
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TRIXIE A chum after my own heart. I say, what’s that? (She
indicates the package given to DAISY earlier by her MOTHER)
DAISY A farewell present from my four brothers. I shall miss
them tremendously, I’ve never been away from home before.
TRIXIE Grangewood’s a decent place, you’ll survive.
DAISY It’s queer, Trixie, but I already feel strangely at home in
Grangewood, almost as if I’d been here before.
A bell rings, off.
TRIXIE O Jubilate, there goes the supper bell. Come on, we
can sit wherever we like first day back.
TRIXIE exits.
DAISY (to the audience) After supper, a substantial if plain
meal, during which due to the jolly conversation of her
friend, Daisy failed to notice the somewhat disdainful and
curious glances cast at her by several of her fellow pupils,
Daisy decided to take a stroll into the great hall to study
the ancestral portraits of the Beaumont family which hung
there. Oh! (She opens the package) A frog! I know!
DAISY exits one side of the stage (to the dormitory),
re-enters minus the small brown package, then exits
the other side.
TRIXIE then enters and goes through the dormitory door
then re-enters and exits giggling.
SYBIL and MONICA enter, in dressing-gowns.
SYBIL Honestly, Monica, it’s the absolute limit, not only do we
have to suffer this girl in the same form room, but we have
to share the hitherto unpolluted air of our dormy with her
as well. Not to mention that tiresome little wretch, Trixie
Martin. And it’s one of the nicest dormys in the school.
MONICA Have you noticed, Sybil, how extraordinarily chummy
Trixie is with the Meredith girl?
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act i 13
SYBIL Yes, we must put a stop to that. For the sake of
Grangewood.
SYBIL } (together) Honesta quam Magna. MONICA
TRIXIE enters.
TRIXIE Hello, Sybil, Monica. Daisy here?
SYBIL Whom?
TRIXIE You know Daisy Meredith, she’s in our dormy.
SYBIL The scholarship girl?
TRIXIE That’s right, Daisy Meredith.
SYBIL Trixie, if you really care for Grangewood and wish to
maintain its tone and its reputation on the playing field,
not forgetting the good name of the Upper Fourth, you will
cease your friendship with Daisy Meredith.
TRIXIE Why?
SYBIL Scholarship girls are different from us, they’re poor,
perhaps not intellectually, but certainly morally.
TRIXIE Perhaps they should be given a chance to rise from
their poorness.
SYBIL And what will happen to us, to Grangewood, to England,
the Empire? We have to accept, Trixie, that different classes
of people exist in this world.
TRIXIE You’re an unspeakable snob, Sybil. I heard all about the
meeting you held in the common-room, give Daisy a perfectly
ghastly time of it so she’ll want to leave Grangewood. Well
I, for one, won’t have anything to do with such a thoroughly
horrid scheme. Daisy’s a capital girl, she got here through
brains not money, and I mean to stick by her.
TRIXIE exits.
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MONICA Well, I think you’re right, Sybil.
SYBIL Thank you, Monica, it’s a sad thing when there are only
two people in an entire school who really care about it. I’ll
take my cocoa to bed, I think.
MONICA And me.
SYBIL and MONICA exit to the dormitory.
Screams are heard off. Seconds later SYBIL enters holding
a rubber frog, with MONICA holding a hairbrush. TRIXIE
and DAISY enter at the same time.
SYBIL Who, may I ask, put these in our beds?
DAISY } (together) Your beds?
TRIXIE:
SYBIL Yes.
DAISY I’m afraid it was I who put the frog into your bed, I’m
fearfully sorry, you see I thought it was Trixie’s bed and the
frog was a present from…
SYBIL Just the sort of behaviour one expects from…
TRIXIE And I put the hairbrush into your bed, Monica, thinking
that it was Daisy’s.
MONICA } (together) Typical. SYBIL
TRIXIE Only ragging, nothing to pour the vials of wrath about.
Daisy, our two dormy mates, Sybil Burlington and Monica
Smithers.
DAISY Hello.
TRIXIE Monica, Sybil, allow me to introduce Daisy Meredith,
newest ornament of the Upper Fourth.
MONICA } (together) H’m! SYBIL
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act i 15
TRIXIE Scooterons-nous, Daisy? We won’t get our cocoa
otherwise.
TRIXIE exits.
DAISY Yes. Jolly nice to have met you both.
MONICA and SYBIL exit.
(narrating) After a delightful early morning dip in the
sparkling sea, a short prayer service and a jolly breakfast,
or brekker as it was known amongst the girls, Daisy, with the
rest of her form, trooped into the Upper Fourth classroom,
there to commence her first lesson, English composition.
DAISY exits.
The pupils, including SYBIL and MONICA, enter the
classroom.
SYBIL and MONICA, unseen by the others, smear chalk
on DAISY’s desk seat and put a comic under her desk lid.
MISS GRANVILLE enters.
MISS GRANVILLE (to the audience) Miss Granville, the firm but
fair form-mistress of the Upper Fourth, one of the teachers
with strong doubts on the efficacy of scholarship pupils at
Grangewood. (To the pupils) Good morning, girls.
GIRLS Good morning, Miss Granville.
MISS GRANVILLE Now girls, open your poetry books please, at
page number fifty-five. We are going to read “Ye Mariners
of England” a Naval Ode by Thomas Campbell. Daisy, Daisy
Meredith, can we hear you read this please. Stand out here.
The GIRLS giggle as DAISY comes out with the chalk
smeared on the back of her gymslip.
DAISY Ye Mariners of England
Whose flag has braved a thousand years
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The battle and the breeze!
Your glorious standard launch again
To meet another foe;
While the stormy tempests blow!
While the battle rages loud and long
MISS GRANVILLE Girls, please, I will not have this giggling
during my lesson. The holidays finished yesterday, you are
here to work. Thank you, Daisy, an excellent reading, you
may return to your seat. Belinda, will you… Daisy, come
here please. What is that on the back of your gymslip? You
have a white patch on the back of your gymslip.
DAISY It’s chalk, Miss Granville.
MISS GRANVILLE Brush it off then. Why on earth you are covered
with chalk I cannot imagine. Please remember, Daisy, you
are not in elementary school now, we like Grangewood
girls to look presentable not as though they have been
tobogganing down the sides of chalk pits. You may return
to your place. Monica, have you anything to say to me?
Then kindly refrain from gossiping to your neighbours. I
have a brief appointment to keep with Miss Gibson, so I
will leave you to study the poem alone, and also the poems
on pages fifty-four, fifty-seven and fifty-eight. For your
composition after you’ve read the poems, I want you to
choose one of the following exercises. Pens ready? One. Is
Patriotism productive of poetry? If so, why? Two. Summarize
in headings the causes of England’s greatness. Three. What
difference would it make to the world if the British Isles
were submerged by the sea? Daisy, what do I see protruding
from beneath your desk lid? A comic.
DAISY But it isn’t…
MISS GRANVILLE I shall confiscate this. Comics—dreadful
rags—are confined to the common room. I would usually
give an order mark for such an offence, but as you are new
I shall let you off. There is a copy of the school rules on the
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act i 17
notice board. I suggest you make a point of reading them.
Girls, I shall see you shortly. Belinda, take charge please.
BELINDA Yes, Miss Granville.
MISS GRANVILLE exits.
DAISY I’d like to thank whoever was responsible for nearly
getting me an order mark.
MONICA Shhhhh.
TRIXIE First time you’ve ever kept silent without a mistress
in the room, Monica.
MONICA Tit for tat.
TRIXIE Stunts are fine, Sybil, as long as one doesn’t land one’s
victim in a hole. Order marks aren’t my idea of fun.
SYBIL Is your friend incapable of speaking up for herself?
DAISY No, just speechless at some people’s meanness.
BELINDA As Captain of the form, I ask you to kindly chuck all
this talking and get down to some work before a mistress
Silence. Then from outside comes the sound of someone
whistling the tune “ALL THROUGH THE NIGHT”.
DAISY looks up as though the tune touches an old memory
that she can’t recall.
DAISY Belinda, who is that whistling outside?
BELINDA Mr Thompson. He’s employed here as an assistant
gardener. Rather a mystery man, he lives alone in a tiny
cottage in the middle of Cramphorn Wood. Where he comes
from no one knows. He suddenly appeared in the area about
ten years ago, apparently. He hasn’t a wife or any relatives
that visit him or anything of that sort.
DAISY Poor man.
MONICA I say, Sybil, isn’t Meredith a name of Welsh origin?
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SYBIL I do believe it is, Monica.
MONICA My father tells me that the Welsh keep their house
coals in their baths. How quaint.
DAISY Why are you being so beastly to me, both of you? You’ve
paid me back for the frog-in-the-bed stunt.
SYBIL Are elementary school-kids incapable of taking a joke?
BELINDA Chuck it, Sybil, you really are being pretty hateful.
This is Daisy’s first morning here, we should be showing
her what Grangewood girls are made of, not acting like a
pack of mean cats. And I, for one, won’t stand to hear her
called an elementary school-kid, she’s a Grangewood girl
now, one of us, scholarship or not.
SYBIL You needn’t be so beastly pi, Belinda…
BELINDA I refuse to discuss the matter further.
SYBIL Very well, Belinda, you form your own little gallery of
plaster saints, but you’ll soon see whether I’m right or not,
all of you.
A bell rings off.
MR SCOBLOWSKI enters.
MR SCOBLOWSKI (to the audience) Mr Scoblowski, the enigmatic,
Russian, music-teacher. Good morning, girls.
GIRLS Good morning, Mr Scoblowski.
MR SCOBLOWSKI Remain standing. Now to begin we will all
sing the song The Ash Grove.
The GIRLS sing the song. MR SCOBLOWSKI walks among
them listening to their voices.
H’mm. We have much work to do if you are to present
yourselves well at the end of term concert. You sing straight
from the throat not enough from here, you strain the voice
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act i 19
otherwise. However, there is one excellent voice among you.
(He indicates DAISY) It is this young lady who sings so
sublimely. Sing the next verse alone if you please.
DAISY sings the verse.
Excellent, excellent. Did you mark how she controlled her
voice and her breathing. What is your name? You are a
new girl.
DAISY Daisy Meredith.
MR SCOBLOWSKI Ah, Meredith, a Welsh name. You have a voice
truly representative of that musical nation. I shall see that
you have a solo in the end of term concert. Excellent voice,
excellent. And you, Miss Burlington, will have to prove to
me that you are not as tone-deaf as you seem to be, if you
wish also to take your place in the choir. Now we will sing
the song Cherry Ripe.
They sing the song.
After the song everyone exits except DAISY and TRIXIE
who fling themselves to the ground.
DAISY I say, my head’s absolutely spinning.
TRIXIE You’re doing uncommonly well, Daisy, everyone’s
tremendously impressed.
DAISY All except Monica and Sybil.
TRIXIE They’re thoroughly piggy and nasty, don’t let’s waste
our dinner break over them. You speak French like a native,
I didn’t think they taught it in elementary schools.
DAISY They don’t, my mother taught me.
TRIXIE My word!
DAISY And Italian, all my brothers speak it too. You see, she
used to be an opera singer.
TRIXIE A singer?
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DAISY I’m afraid so.
TRIXIE Oh no, I find it tremendously exciting.
Pause.
DAISY I say, Trixie…let’s form a Secret Society.
TRIXIE A Secret Society?
DAISY Yes, just like they do in schools in books. I know, a
treasure-hunting society, its object to seek out the treasure
of Grangewood School and so rescue the Beaumonts from
penury. We could ask some of the others if they’d like to
become members.
TRIXIE They won’t and anyway everyone else has stopped
believing that the treasure exists. As a rule one ceases to
believe in it by the time one reaches the Lower Third, rather
like fairies and Father Christmas. Everyone that is except
poetical types such as myself, romantically minded new girls
and possibly Clare. No, let it just be the two of us.
DAISY And let’s call ourselves, I know, the Dark Horse Secret
Society.
TRIXIE Oh yes…!
DAISY It can be our secret symbol whenever we have to write
each other notes.
TRIXIE Oh heavenly! We must have a motto too, a password.
Um…audacia et virtute adepta…too long! Absque virtute
nihil…no! Ah, how about this, hinc spes effulget!
DAISY Yes. Sorry, I’ve no idea what it means. I’ve no Latin.
TRIXIE Hence hope shines forth!
DAISY Oh topping, Trixie! Hence hope shines forth.
A bell rings off.
TRIXIE We’d better dash, there goes the bell for afternoon
games. Hockey for the fourth.
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act i 21
DAISY I expect I shall get horribly beaten. I’ve never played
hockey before.
TRIXIE Hockey is a team game, you play as a team and win or
lose as one, remember that.
DAISY I will.
DAISY and TRIXIE exit.
CLARE and ALICE enter with hockey sticks.
ALICE Isn’t it a fine thing to be back in the old school, to be
standing on this pitch where we’ve fought so many battles.
CLARE Yes, Alice, it is as you say, a fine thing. You know, I’m
almost glad this is my final year at Grangewood, for it may
be the last year that the name of Beaumont will appear
upon the title deeds.
ALICE Dear girl!
CLARE The truth of the matter is, Alice, we’re up a gum tree.
What with poor mother’s medical fees and my younger
brother—
ALICE Digby?
CLARE Yes, dear Digby’s school fees have still to be met, and
the rent of the cottage is far too high for us. I was talking
with mother before I came back. Unless a miracle happens,
we’ll have to sell to the School Governors by Christmas. I
offered to leave school and find employment as a teacher,
but mother wouldn’t hear of it. I must say, I’m not looking
forward to leaving all this, going out into the world and
becoming a proper grown-up. They say Grangewood is
supposed to mirror the world. I wonder… My goodness,
someone’s playing a first rate game of hockey over here.
ALICE It’s the Upper Fourth…a practice game by the looks of
things. Who’s that child there? She can certainly pass balls.
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CLARE It’s the new kiddie, the scholarship girl, Daisy Meredith.
With some proper coaching she could be a decent player.
Look at her, never funking a single ball.
ALICE Learnt all the rules from a book, I was told.
CLARE A sportsman as well as a scholar.
ALICE There’s one whose name will grace the First Eleven.
CLARE Well, old girl, let’s go off to our own practice, we’ve a
match to win on Saturday, the opening knock-out game of
the County Championships. Perhaps this year we’ll come
out tops.
ALICE Instead of runners-up as we have been for the past ten
years to Vearncombe Young Ladies College.
VOICE (offstage) Clare! Alice!
CLARE There’s Diana calling us. As the middles say—scooteronsnous, Alice.
CLARE exits.
ALICE We’ll beat them this year, for Grangewood…for Clare.
We must.
ALICE exits.
DAISY and TRIXIE enter.
DAISY (narrating) For a while, Daisy’s life at Grangewood
passed uneventfully, apart from the odd unpleasantness
from Sybil and Monica. Then one evening after prep while
she and Trixie were systematically tapping wooden wall
panels in the hope of finding a secret passage which would
lead them to the hidden treasure…
MR SCOBLOWSKI enters.
MR SCOBLOWSKI What are you girls doing here? Don’t you
know that this gallery is out of bounds to all but teachers
and prefects.
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act i 23
TRIXIE Yes, Sir.
MR SCOBLOWSKI Then kindly tell me the reason why you are
here or I shall report you to your form mistress.
Pause.
If you choose not to tell me, you will have to tell Miss
Granville. And perhaps receive an order mark.
DAISY We were looking for the treasure, sir…
MR SCOBLOWSKI Treasure?
DAISY The lost treasure of the Beaumont family.
MR SCOBLOWSKI Ah, I see. Well, you will not find it here. I
myself, have often sought its whereabouts and have carefully
examined this entire section of the building, and now I
believe this treasure to be a legend, a mere myth. However,
should you come across any clue elsewhere in the school, I
should be most happy to know of it. I am much fascinated
by the folktales of the English. Good night, ladies.
MR SCOBLOWSKI exits.
TRIXIE Why the dickens did you tell him what we were doing,
Daisy?
DAISY We would have had to have told Miss Granville, otherwise,
who would certainly have given us an order mark for going
out of bounds.
TRIXIE Oh, what a dismal beastly sell, it’s obvious Mr
Scoblowski’s after the treasure for himself.
DAISY Probably to try and help his Bolshevik friends.
TRIXIE We simply must try out the rest of this gallery. But how?
DAISY I know, how about sneaking out of the dormy at dead
of night.
TRIXIE Oh, yes.
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DAISY Perhaps we could borrow a couple of cloaks from Matron
and disguise ourselves as ghostly monks to scare off anyone
who might see us.
TRIXIE Capital suggestion.
A bell rings off.
Supper bell.
DAISY Not a word to anyone, Trixie.
TRIXIE Until I wake you.
TRIXIE } (together) Hinc spes effulget. DAISY
They both shake hands—a special handshake—then exit.
MONICA and SYBIL enter in dressing-gowns.
SYBIL The scheme isn’t working out, Monica.
MONICA It is in small ways, Sybil.
SYBIL So small that it’s going to take twenty years for her to
collect enough order marks to get a bad conduct mark. No,
Monica, she’s doing fearfully well in everyone’s books, we’ve
got to move drastically…and fast.
Whistling is heard, off—“ALL THROUGH THE NIGHT”,
MONICA listens to it intently.
Look, Monica, do you like this solid silver bracelet Daddy
sent me as a pre-birthday present? I say, Monica, do look…
MONICA Oh, sorry Sybil.
SYBIL I’ve permission from Miss Gibson for Daddy to take
me out to a slap-up birthday tea in town and then off to a
concert afterwards and Daddy said I might invite a friend
to accompany me. I’m thinking of asking you, Monica.
MONICA Oh, Sybil, I’d adore it.
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act i 25
SYBIL All serene then. Now I’m going to read some Keats in
preparation for the school poetry competition. I mean to win
it this year, not to be pipped at the post by that wretched
Trixie Martin.
MONICA When do entries have to be in?
SYBIL Oh, in three to four weeks I believe. Why, Monica, are
you thinking of entering?
MONICA Yes…oh… I mean, I could never hope to write anything
that would be half as good as anything of yours, Sybil, but
I do have a tremendous fancy to have a bash at it. Just to
show that Daisy Meredith a thing or two.
SYBIL Well, bash away to your heart’s content… I’m off to bed.
SYBIL and MONICA exit.
TRIXIE and DAISY enter in long black cloaks with hoods.
DAISY trips noisily.
DAISY Ooh!
TRIXIE Shhh!
DAISY I say, Trixie, it’s fearfully dark.
TRIXIE I’ve brought a torch.
DAISY Oh, scrummy. I say, did you hear Sybil snoring?
They both giggle.
TRIXIE Come on—to the gallery. Now we must be very quiet.
DAISY and TRIXIE creep up the stairs.
SYBIL enters. She creeps stealthily across the stage and
exits.
We’re almost there. I say, what’s that?
DAISY What?
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TRIXIE Look! There’s a light burning beneath the door of the
second form common room…and voices.
DAISY Burglars!
TRIXIE Shhh!
DAISY We must wake Miss Gibson.
TRIXIE And get into a frightful row for being here ourselves?
DAISY But surely we should consider school property before
ourselves?
TRIXIE I daresay, you’re right, Daisy, I’ll go to Miss Gibson
with you. But hold fire for a second or two…
DAISY Trixie!
TRIXIE Shhh! I’ll take a tiny peep through the keyhole just to
make sure.
DAISY Of what? What can you see?
TRIXIE (giggling) Oh Jemima! What a sell!
DAISY Can I have a look?
TRIXIE It’s the second form up to their ears in a midnight feast.
Let me have another peep, Daisy…doughnuts, toffee-apples,
vanilla sandwiches… I’ve a good mind to go in there and
demand a share for keeping quiet.
CLARE enters quietly.
CLARE Trixie Martin! Daisy Meredith!
BOTH Clare!
CLARE Perhaps you will both come and see me in my study
tomorrow morning and inform me of the purpose behind
this midnight visitation.
TRIXIE But Clare…
CLARE I’ll wake Miss Calder to deal with those babes. I’ll see
you both tomorrow.
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act i 27
CLARE exits.
TRIXIE Jemima! We’re for it now.
DAISY Will Clare report us to Miss Gibson, do you think?
TRIXIE If she thinks we’ve been utterly evil, she might. No,
the worst of it is, is whether the Second form recognized
our voices or not. They’ll think we were absolute sneaks
if they did.
DAISY They wouldn’t think that, would they?
TRIXIE How else could Clare have discovered them? What
we’ve got to find out is, who sneaked on us!
DAISY and TRIXIE exit.
CLARE and ALICE enter CLARE’s study.
CLARE …if only you’d seen them, Alice, they looked so
wonderfully comic dressed up in two of Matron’s cloaks,
supposed to be monks or something equally ghostly.
ALICE How absolutely sublime.
CLARE Yes, it was rather a hoot, though it gave me a perfect
fright at first.
ALICE Oh, Clare.
CLARE What I’d like to know is how they got themselves involved
in keeping watch for a Second form feast. The Fourth always
look on the Seconds as such babes.
ALICE Do you not remember the fine japes we used to get up
to in our young days?
CLARE What utter little horrors we were. Do you remember
that winter we went on the midnight skating expedition…
ALICE …and Katy Collins falling through the thin ice.
They fall about laughing. Knocking is heard on the
study door.
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CLARE Oh, here they are.
ALICE I’ll leave you to it, me darlin’ girl, I’ve a flute lesson in
town.
CLARE See you on the field at one, Alice.
ALICE Cheeriosa!
CLARE Don’t let Miss Gibson hear you slanging like that.
ALICE exits, passing DAISY and TRIXIE on her way out.
Come in, you two.
DAISY and TRIXIE enter.
Now perhaps the pair of you will tell me why you took it
upon yourselves last night to break a good many school-rules
and at the same time risk getting the Second form into a
jolly serious fix. Remember as Fourths you are responsible
for setting a good example to the lower school, not leading
them into situations which you know to be contrary to the
rules of Grangewood.
TRIXIE We had nothing to do with the Seconds’ feast, truly,
Clare.
DAISY Honour bright.
CLARE Then why on earth…
DAISY The truth of the matter is, Clare, we were searching for
the treasure, the Beaumont treasure, and we were on our way
to the East Gallery to rap panels and all that kind of thing,
when we stumbled across the Seconds knocking off buns.
We know that the East Gallery is out of bounds which is
why we disguised ourselves, but we’re both dreadfully sorry.
CLARE (to the audience) The corners of Clare’s mouth twitched,
and it was with some effort that she hastily pulled herself
together. I see.
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act i 29
TRIXIE We’re immensely sorry for getting you up in the middle
of the night too.
CLARE Well, I shan’t report you to Miss Gibson…
DAISY } (together) Oh, thanks most awfully, Clare. TRIXIE
CLARE But as you, Trixie, have been here the longest and ought
to know better than to…
DAISY Please, Clare, it was my idea just as much as Trixie’s.
TRIXIE Thank you, Daisy.
CLARE Very well, on Saturday from lunch until teatime, you
will both stay within the confines of the school building.
TRIXIE Oh, but we shall miss the first knock-out match of the
County Hockey Championships.
CLARE Well, my dear child, it’s high time you gave up kiddish
stunts.
DAISY Clare, is there any truth in the story of the Beaumont
treasure?
CLARE How serious are you both about finding it?
DAISY } (together) Immensely serious. TRIXIE
CLARE Then I will tell you—yes, the Beaumont treasure does
exist.
DAISY and TRIXIE both gasp.
You see, kiddies, the mystery centres around my grandfather,
the late Sir Digby Beaumont. Now, he was a tremendously
eccentric gentleman, who, as he got older, became more and
more impatient with the new ideas and as he thought, lower
standards of the younger generation. This led to endless
arguments in the family, especially with the younger of his
two sons, my Uncle David, who left home after a particularly
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vehement quarrel with Sir Digby and has never been seen
or heard of since.
TRIXIE How fearful.
CLARE Shortly after this awful quarrel, Sir Digby died and his
wealth—all manner of family heirlooms, money, valuables—
disappeared. In his will it was revealed that he had hidden
this treasure somewhere within the walls of Grangewood,
and a set of clues leading to its whereabouts, so complicated
that the treasure can only be uncovered by whosoever has wit
enough to unravel these clues. My father hunted unceasingly
for the treasure right up until his death four years ago, but
since then no one’s had much impetus to carry on with the
search. Oh, the will did say another important clue lies with
my Uncle David, but as he’s been gone twenty years or so,
there’s little hope there.
DAISY I was looking at the portraits of your family in the Great
Hall and I noticed that one of the frames was empty.
CLARE Yes. Now that contained the only known portrait of
my Uncle David. My grandfather had it removed after the
quarrel.
TRIXIE How perfectly tragic.
DAISY Was your grandfather a scientist?
CLARE Why do you ask?
DAISY In his portrait he’s holding a jolly queer looking
instrument of some kind.
CLARE It’s a device apparently, for measuring the distances
between stars, my grandfather was tremendously keen on
astronomy.
TRIXIE How uncommonly rare.
A bell rings, off.
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CLARE There goes the bell for end of break. Off you go, kiddies,
and thank you most awfully for showing such an interest
in the treasure.
TRIXIE I tell you, Clare, we mean to find it for you.
CLARE Remember no more midnight expeditions.
TRIXIE We’ll be perfect seraphs.
DAISY Honour bright.
CLARE exits.
TRIXIE What an out and out sport!
DAISY Clare is absolutely the most adorable girl I’ve ever met,
I’d risk anything for her.
TRIXIE Except I wish she wouldn’t call us kiddies.
DAISY Better than being called babes like the Firsts and Seconds.
TRIXIE I say, Daisy, did you notice how fearfully sad Clare
looked—just for a moment—when she mentioned her father’s
death?
DAISY Yes, I know just how she jolly well feels.
TRIXIE Why, is your father…
DAISY Yes, ten years ago. He was a ship’s doctor in the Royal
Navy. He was reported missing, believed dead, when his
ship went down in the Baltic during the Battle of…
TRIXIE I’m immensely sorry.
DAISY I was fearfully young of course, when it happened. I
say, we must hurry. Miss Granville will be wild if we’re late
for her class.
TRIXIE I wish you’d slack off a bit Daisy, I’m sure you’ll end
up with brain fever if you carry on at this rate.
They enter the Form Room.
O Jubilate, we’re first in.
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DAISY I say, look at that on the board, “We don’t stand for
sneaks at Grangewood, especially elementary ones”.
TRIXIE Jemima! Someone risked their neck to write that.
DAISY It must be the Seconds, they recognized our voices last
night.
TRIXIE Here come the others. Quick, the blackboard!
DAISY and TRIXIE rush towards the blackboard.
SYBIL, MONICA, BELINDA and DORA enter.
SYBIL Sneak.
MONICA giggles.
Elementary sneak.
MISS GRANVILLE enters.
MISS GRANVILLE Good morning, girls.
GIRLS Good morning, Miss Granville.
MISS GRANVILLE Thank-you, Trixie and Daisy for cleaning the
blackboard, but it really wasn’t necessary to wipe off today’s
list of essay topics. Take an order mark each and return to
your seats please. Now, I have here the essays handed in by
you all last week on the subject of Shelley’s poem, “Ode to the
West Wind”, some of which were extremely good and others
which were lamentable to say the least. Dora Johnston,
kindly refrain from rattling that ink-well. One essay, which
I thought exceptional in content, I was forced to give halfmarks to owing to the blots and inky fingerprints which
almost obliterated it. If you are incapable, Daisy Meredith,
of coping with a pen and ink, you will have to use a pencil.
Let me see no more work like this.
MISS GRANVILLE holds up DAISY’s book—the class gasps.
DAISY But…
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act i 33
MISS GRANVILLE Have you anything to say to me regarding
the atrocious condition of this book, Daisy?
DAISY Yes, Miss Granville. I did not hand in my work in that
condition, I give you my word.
MISS GRANVILLE Then your word cannot be worth very much,
Daisy. Are you suggesting that these blots appeared of their
own volition?
DAISY No… I…
MISS GRANVILLE Or are you perhaps suggesting someone else
had a hand in creating this mess?
SYBIL Sneak.
DAISY No… I don’t know. All I know is, that when I wrote my
essay it was perfectly clear of any blots.
MISS GRANVILLE (narrating) Miss Granville hesitated…she
believed the morals if not the intellects of elementary
schoolgirls to be lower than those of the type of girl normally
to be found at Grangewood…yet…honesty shone forth from
Daisy’s face and the ring of truth was within her speech.
(To DAISY) Very well. Daisy, I shall take your word for it
this time, that you really believed that the essay you handed
in was presentable, but I think that next time, perhaps, a
little blotting paper would not come amiss. Now, who is this
week’s book monitor? Ah, Belinda, will you please return
these exercise books to their owners. Thank you. Now girls,
just a brief word on the topics for this year’s School Poetry
competition, details of which you will also find pinned to
the notice-board. There are two subjects, from which you
must choose one only; the first being “Heroes”. Have you
all got that? “Heroes”. Belinda, have you a pencil-sharpener
you can lend Dora Johnston, please? The second subject
being a poem which must bear the title, “The Meditations
of a Lighthouse”. These poems must not exceed fifty lines
in length and must be handed in by Friday week.
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DAISY (narrating) Daisy found it a struggle to concentrate for
the rest of that lesson. She was convinced that Sybil had had
a hand in defacing her essay, for one of Sybil’s responsibilities
as Vice-Captain of the form was to collect prep-work and
hand it in to the appropriate teacher, thereby giving her
the opportunity to wreak any damage she chose. But how
was she to prove it without committing the despicable sin
of sneaking? If only Sybil didn’t hate me so. Life would
be absolute bliss if she and I were chums. I’m convinced
she has some good in her, as most prickly pears have, but
she mustn’t be allowed to carry on her beastly stunts and
to palter with the honour of the Upper Fourth or that of
Grangewood. Honesta quam magna. Hinc spes effulget.
A bell rings off.
MISS GRANVILLE exits.
MR THOMPSON is heard whistling “ALL THROUGH
THE NIGHT” outside.
TRIXIE There goes Mr Thompson with an immense basket of
apples.
DORA Fearful shame that. I’ve been planning a raid on the
orchard for days. Doesn’t look as if there’s any point now.
SYBIL Honestly, I shall write to Mummy and Daddy about
the frightful state Grangewood’s rapidly sinking into. First
sneaking scholarship girls, now thieving—
TRIXIE That’s beastly unfair of you, Sybil.
SYBIL The entire school is in a ferment. The Seconds have had
their pocket money stopped for a fortnight and aren’t to have
any cakes or jam at tea for a week. Isn’t that so, Monica?
MONICA Entirely, Sybil, entirely.
SYBIL Is it right that the honour of the Upper Fourth and the
morals of one of its members, namely Trixie Martin, should
be thrown into disrepute by one girl.
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act i 35
BELINDA Rot, Sybil.
MONICA You’ll see if it’s rot.
TRIXIE We all shall. Daisy and I will go and see the Seconds
ourselves and tell them that whoever sneaked upon us was
responsible for their discovery. And what’s more, we intend
to find the person responsible and expose her to the entire
school.
MR SCOBLOWSKI enters.
MR SCOBLOWSKI (narrating) At that moment, however,
Mr Scoblowski entered the form room to commence his
Geography lesson with the Fourth. (To the pupils) Good
morning, girls.
GIRLS Good morning, Mr Scoblowski.
MR SCOBLOWSKI Please open your Geography text books at
page thiry-one. This morning we will study Peru.
DAISY (narrating) Daisy opened her book at the appropriate
page and as she did so, a slip of printed paper fluttered from
the book and on to the floor. Daisy paled as she picked it
up, suddenly aware that Sybil Burlington had also read the
words printed on the piece of paper.
MR SCOBLOWSKI I will first of all announce the results of last
Wednesday’s Geography test, beginning from the bottom.
Sybil Burlington—twenty-one out of one hundred marks.
Dora Johnston—forty-eight. Monica Smithers—seventy-four.
Trixie Martin—eighty-one. Belinda Mathieson—ninety-one.
Daisy Meredith—ninety-three. Well done, especially Belinda
and Daisy. Sybil, I am surprised at you, your marks are
usually better than this. If they continue to be this appalling,
I shall have you sent down to the First Form for Geography
lessons.
MONICA giggles. SYBIL glares.
DAISY (narrating) Geography was the second lesson that
morning which failed to leave any impression upon Daisy’s
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mind, which was whirling upon another matter far removed
from the jungles and mountains of Peru.
A bell rings off.
MR SCOBLOWSKI You may put away your books now, girls. I
would like to see in the main music-room this afternoon
at four o’clock, those girls who are singing solo in the end
of term concert. Thank you.
MR SCOBLOWSKI exits followed by everyone else except
DAISY and SYBIL.
DAISY (narrating) As the Upper Fourth prepared to go to
lunch, Sybil Burlington caught Daisy’s arm.
SYBIL Look here, Daisy Meredith, unless you devise some means
of getting yourself removed from Grangewood within the
next fortnight, I shall tell Miss Gibson of what I saw, printed
on that piece of paper.
DAISY (narrating) For the piece of paper to which Sybil referred
had printed upon it the answers to the previous Wednesday’s
Geography test.
SYBIL And we don’t stand for cheats at Grangewood.
Curtain.
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37
ACT II:
In the darkness schoolgirl voices are heard chanting.
VOICES A tongue like a snake, a beak like a drake
A cheat like a cat and a sneak like a rat!
She’s got a face like a pickled onion
A nose like a squashed tomato
And two bandy legs.
The lights come up in the common room where TRIXIE
is finishing her poem and DAISY is darning a sock.
DAISY I say, Trixie, when do you suppose the Seconds will give
up this sneaking and cat-calling stunt?
TRIXIE In a week or two, if they’ve any sense of honour. They
have rather got their knives into you, old girl. I suppose
Sybil’s been feeding them all this elementary school bilge.
She and Monica went out on to the field this afternoon
looking like queens of tragedy. They absolutely detest
games—sure sign of a rotter.
DAISY I wonder how the match is going, it’s jolly sickening not
to know which side the cheers are for.
TRIXIE I would have gone without cakes and jam for a year
just to have seen the match and Clare’s playing.
MR THOMPSON is heard whistling “ALL THROUGH
THE NIGHT”, off.
I say, Daisy, will you let me read your poem when it’s finished?
DAISY I’m fearfully sorry, Trixie, old chum, but no. Please don’t
be offended but I think it’s tremendously bad form to show
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competition entries to one’s fellow competitors, it can lead
to colossal temptation.
TRIXIE I understand perfectly, Daisy, old thing, I think it’s a
thoroughly decent idea.
DAISY I haven’t even begun mine yet, though I will say that my
choice of title is “The Meditations of a Lighthouse”.
TRIXIE Mine’s the jolly old “Heroes”. I’ve practically finished.
DAISY ( finishing the darning) There, that’s done, Matron ought
to be well satisfied. I say, what shall we do now?
TRIXIE Beastly boring being shut up in here. I know, let’s
treasure-hunt, let’s revive the Dark Horse Secret Society.
DAISY Topping idea! Where do you suggest we begin our search?
TRIXIE Not along the East Gallery, that’s for certain. Have to
wait until we’re prefects to get down there.
DAISY Look here, Trixie, we need ideas, let’s go to the library and
see if we can find any books about other treasure-seekers, or
a book on codes or even a biography of Sir Digby Beaumont.
TRIXIE Capital suggestion. Let’s go down the back stairs, less
chance of Matron or any of the maids seeing us.
DAISY Why? Is the library normally out of bounds?
TRIXIE Yes, unless there’s a prefect or mistress in there. But
we didn’t promise Clare not to go in the library, did we? I
say, someone’s coming…quick…hide down here.
They hide as MR SCOBLOWSKI enters with a notebook
and pencil furiously making notes about the ancestral
portraits in the hall.
TRIXIE almost sneezes out loud, but DAISY stops her by
putting her hand over TRIXIE’s mouth.
Phew! That was a near thing. I say, Daisy, why do you suppose
he’s writing such volumes about the ancestral portraits?
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act ii 39
DAISY I can’t say for certain, but I’ve a pretty good idea…
TRIXIE Daisy, you don’t suppose…
MR SCOBLOWSKI exits.
DAISY That’s just the point, Trixie, old chum, I do.
TRIXIE I wonder how much he knows that we don’t…perhaps
we should tell Clare or Miss Gibson what we suspect.
DAISY No, Trixie, we must solve this ourselves. I put you on
your honour not to divulge a single word about our hunt
to anyone from now on, not even to Clare or Miss Gibson,
until we find the treasure.
TRIXIE I won’t breathe a syllable…even if it means missing the
next hockey knockout.
DAISY Trixie, you’re a trump.
TRIXIE Daisy, that’s queer, look at that device that the old
fellow, Sir Digby’s holding, seems to sort of…stand out from
the rest of the picture.
DAISY Brighter shade of paint than the rest, that’s all. Come
on, to the library…so many books, it’s frightfully difficult
to know where to look.
TRIXIE Heaps of biographies over here…
DAISY Here’s a volume on codes and ciphers.
TRIXIE Here’s one by the old boy himself. Hey, there’s lots of
them…most of them seem to be about astronomy.
DAISY Let’s find every one of them we can, we’ve stacks of time
to look through them all.
TRIXIE Well, those are all of Sir Digby’s books that I can find.
DAISY Right, now we must scour absolutely every page of every
book. We’re looking for sheets of paper slipped in between
the pages, scribbled notes in the margin, that kind of thing.
TRIXIE My goodness, Daisy, you have got brains.
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DAISY You’ve not so prodigiously few yourself.
DAISY and TRIXIE look through the books.
ALICE and CLARE enter, carrying hockey sticks.
ALICE How’s Diana?
CLARE She’s definitely out now for the second half—Matron
will never let her play with a broken ankle.
ALICE The vantage is ours.
CLARE I’m not so jolly certain, Alice.
ALICE We’re leading by six goals to one.
CLARE That goalie of Thorphurst’s is first-rate, I’ve had umpteen
pots at the goal, but Diana was the only girl able to get one in.
ALICE Julia is a jolly decent substitute.
CLARE Can’t afford to get complacent, Alice.
A whistle blows, off.
There goes the whistle for the second half. Watch that left
inner, Alice.
ALICE I’ll stick to her like a shadow.
CLARE and ALICE exit.
TRIXIE If we don’t find a clue, I shall simply expire.
DAISY Hinc spes effulget.
TRIXIE It’d be such a mean horrid beastly sell if we didn’t.
Pause.
I say, Daisy, listen to this…
My first is above where cherubim reign
My second in Sagittarius nickname
My third in…
DAISY Let me see.
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act ii 41
TRIXIE Some joker defacing school property.
DAISY But Trixie, don’t you see…?
TRIXIE See what?
DAISY This is it…what we’ve been searching for…the clue!
TRIXIE O Jubilate! Jemima! Someone’s coming this way.
DAISY Quick, underneath the table.
They get under the library table.
TRIXIE The book! (She grabs the book)
A second later MR SCOBLOWSKI enters. He sees the books
and examines them.
MR SCOBLOWSKI Goodness gracious… Sir Digby Beaumont…
I wonder.
BELINDA enters.
BELINDA Mr Scoblowski! Mr Scoblowski! Mr Thompson’s here
to see you.
MR SCOBLOWSKI Dash it!
MR SCOBLOWSKI and BELINDA exit.
TRIXIE That proves it, it jolly well proves it, he’s after the
treasure! I wonder if Mr Thompson has anything to do
with it, I’ve noticed that he and Mr Scoblowski are pretty
thick together.
DAISY Trixie, let’s copy this clue down before Mr Scoblowski
returns.
TRIXIE I say, Daisy let’s tear the page out so that Mr Scoblowski
can’t find it.
DAISY We can’t deface school property.
TRIXIE Let’s take the whole book then.
DAISY That would be stealing.
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TRIXIE Not really it wouldn’t, we’d only be borrowing it… it’s
for the sake of the school.
DAISY Well, I don’t know…
TRIXIE And Clare.
DAISY Right-o!
TRIXIE O Jubilate, Daisy, I knew you’d see sense.
DAISY Let’s put all these other books away then, quickly.
DAISY and TRIXIE return the books to the shelves.
MR SCOBLOWSKI (offstage) Well, I will see you this evening—I
have not the time now, I’m extremely busy.
TRIXIE Daisy, he’s coming back! Quick, up the stairs!
MR SCOBLOWSKI I have a Geography lesson to prepare—I’m
sorry, I’m sorry.
MR SCOBLOWSKI enters, and sees the books are no longer
there.
H’mm, h’mm.
MR SCOBLOWSKI exits.
DAISY Phew! In the nick of time. Now for that clue.
TRIXIE Read it out, Daisy.
DAISY My first is above where cherubim reign.
My second in Sagittarius nickname.
My third in the eighth of Saturn’s great brood
My fourth is in Aries and doth provide food
My fifth at the end of the first planet lies
My sixth spangles brightly the late evening skies
My seventh lies in the beast that the starry twins follow
My eighth the north night skies with brave colours swallow
My last lies in the hue of the warrior planet
And there if you read me aright you will have it.
Take my initials in the order they’re writ
And your way to the final clue will be lit.
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act ii 43
I say, Trixie, how glorious.
TRIXIE A real clue! Quick, we must work it out. (She writes
down the answers to the clues)
DAISY My first is above where cherubim reign…well that’s easy
enough… Heaven.
TRIXIE So H is our first letter. The second is A for Archer…
Sagittarius.
DAISY Wise child. My third is the eighth of Saturn’s great brood…
here’s a conundrum, I didn’t know Saturn had any children.
TRIXIE Didn’t think he had a wife.
DAISY Think, Trixie, think.
TRIXIE I’m racking my brains. A dictionary of astronomy, that’s
what we need.
DAISY Trixie, this book’s got a glossary.
TRIXIE Uncommonly handy.
DAISY Scorpio… Sirius… Star-gazer… Saturn! Saturn, rings,
distance from earth, moons…moons! Moons! Brood!
TRIXIE The eighth, what’s the name of the eighth moon?
DAISY Iapetus.
TRIXIE I. Next?
DAISY My fourth is in Aries and doth provide food…ah, Aries
the Ram.
TRIXIE We’re getting on famously. Hair we’ve got.
DAISY My fifth at the end of the first planet lies… Mercury… Y.
TRIXIE I say! Hairy!
DAISY Hairy?
TRIXIE ’Swat it says.
DAISY My sixth spangles brightly the late evening skies…
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TRIXIE Stars! S!
DAISY Topping, Trixie. Now the beast that the starry twins
follow…
TRIXIE Pollux and Castor… Taurus the Bull! Taurus!
DAISY My eighth the north night skies with brave colours
swallow. North? Why north I wonder?
TRIXIE I know, Northern Lights. Aurora something… Aurora
borry…
DAISY Never mind, we’ve got the A. My last lies in the hue of
the Warrior Planet.
TRIXIE Mars! Red! It’s red!
DAISY And there if you read me aright you will have it.
TRIXIE Hairy star.
DAISY Doesn’t make sense.
TRIXIE Have a look in the glossary.
DAISY Nothing about hairy stars in here. Trixie, perhaps we’ve
got it wrong.
TRIXIE Perhaps it’s an astronomical symbol.
DAISY Queer sort of symbol.
TRIXIE Perhaps Sir Digby was a lunatic.
MONICA and SYBIL’s voices are heard off.
DAISY Voices! The match must be over.
TRIXIE We must hide the book.
DAISY Where?
TRIXIE In your boot-hole. Hairy star, don’t forget it, Daisy,
hairy star.
TRIXIE and DAISY exit.
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act ii 45
SYBIL and MONICA enter, MONICA carrying a bag of
buns.
MONICA I say, Sybil, are you sure no one can see us?
SYBIL Honestly, Monica, you really are green sometimes.
Everyone’s too taken up with the match to notice our absence.
MONICA Here are the buns. I’m afraid, Sybil, they’re the tiniest
bit damp, it’s muddy in the tea-tent.
SYBIL I bag the creamy one.
They eat the buns.
MONICA Isn’t this blissful?
SYBIL How wild they’d all be if they could see us—instead of
MONICA Especially Daisy Meredith.
SYBIL All swank, she’s hopeless really. Fearfully good idea of
yours, that Geography paper, Monica.
MONICA You inspired it, Sybil. It would have been nothing
without you to carry it through.
SYBIL I fear for Grangewood if the Meredith girl remains to
taint it for very much longer. Clare and the mistresses are
ready to kiss her boots at present, but they’ll soon change
their tune especially when my next scheme comes to fruition.
MONICA Oh Sybil, I do think you have the most gorgeous
character of anyone I know.
SYBIL I daresay you’re right. Come on, I want to finish my poem.
SYBIL and MONICA exit.
CLARE (offstage) Three cheers for Thorphurst, the gallant losers.
Hip, hip…
There is cheering off.
CLARE and ALICE enter, exhausted.
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What a dickens of a game.
ALICE Sure, I didn’t know if I was coming or going.
CLARE How’s your shin, Alice?
ALICE Bruised—like a thunder cloud. ’Tis a sight better I’ll be
bound than Diana’s ankle…
CLARE Or Carol’s knee…
ALICE Or Jane’s cracked rib.
CLARE I scarcely like to think about the team we will have to
scrape together for the next match.
ALICE And the final, if we reach it.
CLARE Still, buck up, old thing, there are some jolly decent
players in the Fifth.
ALICE Have you not remembered, Clare, that in the week of
the finals the Fifth are away in France.
CLARE ’Nuff said. That leaves the Fourth—Belinda, Trixie and
the new girl. Chin-up, Alice, a miracle may happen and our
injured may recover in time to play. Let’s wash and change,
then go and cheer up the wounded soldiers in the San.
There is a shriek, off.
My word, it’s Mademoiselle.
MADEMOISELLE enters.
MADEMOISELLE (to the audience) Mademoiselle, the scatterbrained French mistress of Grangewood. (To CLARE and
ALICE) Tiens! C’est abominable! A thief ’as been in ze library
and taken a most valuable book. It is I who am to blame
n’est-ce pas. For I am on library duty this week.
CLARE Steady on, Mademoiselle, are you absolutely sure the
book has been stolen?
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act ii 47
MADEMOISELLE Positive. For I come in to see zat all is well
after ze splendid ’ockey match and pouf! I see a big gap
on ze shelf.
CLARE Which book was it, Mademoiselle, can you remember?
MADEMOISELLE Mais oui! It belonged to your esteemed
grandpère and was about ze stars in ze ’eavens. I ’ave looked
at it often in great wonder. I must find Miss Gibson and
tell ’er what ’as occurred.
CLARE I’ll come with you, Mademoiselle, for this concerns me
very much. See you in the San, Alice.
CLARE and MADEMOISELLE exit.
ALICE Things are lookin’ black for you indeed, me darlin’ girl.
ALICE exits.
Everyone enters for Assembly, singing the hymn “LORD
OF ALL HOPEFULNESS”.
TRIXIE (to DAISY) I found this in the dormy, it’s addressed to you.
DAISY (narrating) Reluctantly Daisy opened the envelope,
a feeling of grim foreboding stealing over her. Sybil
Burlington’s spidery handwriting revealed itself… “one week
or Grangewood will know the truth about the Geography
paper”. Daisy paled.
TRIXIE I say, Daisy, bad news?
DAISY (to TRIXIE) No, I’ve a headache. (Narrating) That
Geography paper—how had it come to be in her desk? Daisy
half-suspected Sybil of the deed except that the look of
surprise on the girl’s face had seemed genuine. How she
longed to make a clean breast of the affair to Miss Gibson
or Clare—but who would believe the word of an elementary
schoolgirl in the face of such condemning evidence and
against that of a wealthy, beautiful self-assured Grangewood
scholar, especially one who desired her departure so keenly.
(To herself ) But I can’t leave Grangewood, I love it so and
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mother would be tremendously upset. I know, I’ll destroy
the Geography paper then no one need be any the wiser.
Why on earth didn’t I think of that sooner?
MISS GIBSON Now we come to the morning’s notices. The match
on Saturday against Thorphurst was won, as you all know,
by Grangewood six-three.
Everyone cheers.
A splendid effort by all concerned—which means that
Grangewood goes through to the semi-final. Several injuries
were sustained by our players which means that the First
Eleven will be on the look-out for possible substitutes for
the next match, and the final, if we are fortunate enough
to reach it. This of course, will give members of the Fifth
and Fourth forms a chance to show their mettle.
DAISY How topping.
TRIXIE How scrummy.
MISS GIBSON A list of those girls being considered is pinned
on the school notice-board. I have been informed that
several girls on their way to specialized music lessons in
the town have been observed conversing with boys from St
Hugo’s County Grammar School. This must stop. Mingling
with brothers, cousins and boys at supervised social events
is perfectly in order, but this casual hob-nobbing can do
nothing but harm to Grangewood’s reputation. A natureramble to Pebble Cove will be led by Miss Waller on Sunday
afternoon for any girls interested—names in by Wednesday
please. Finally, I come to a matter of the utmost gravity.
A book of astronomy, part of the Sir Digby Beaumont
Collection, has been taken—I hesitate to say stolen—from
the school library. We believe it to have been purloined by
someone who possibly does not realize that books may not
be taken from the library without express permission from
either myself or the mistress-in-charge for that week. If
the person who has the book would care to come and see
me privately this morning, I will say nothing about the
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act ii 49
matter. However, if no one owns up, afternoon games will
be cancelled…
Everyone gasps.
…and the entire school kept within bounds for the next
three days.
Everyone gasps again.
School dismissed.
All exit except for DAISY and TRIXIE.
TRIXIE We really are in deadly peril now. What atrocious luck
that the book should be missed so soon.
DAISY If we hand it back, Mr Scoblowski is sure to discover
the clue.
TRIXIE I say, Daisy, do you think he suspects that we’re the
culprits, after all, we’ve actually told him that we’re looking
for the treasure.
DAISY He may sneak on us.
TRIXIE Oh, Daisy, how frightful. Perhaps we should chuck the
whole affair in.
DAISY And let the Bolsheviks get their hands on the treasure?
TRIXIE You’re right, Daisy, for the sake of the school…
DAISY …and England. No, we must keep extremely quiet about
the whole affair and admit to nothing.
TRIXIE Honesta quam magna.
TRIXIE } (together) Hinc spes effulget. DAISY
GIRLS enter and gather around the school notice-board.
TRIXIE I say, look at the crowd around the notice-board. Let
us through, Winnie. Daisy! You and I and Belinda are all
down for the hockey trials on Thursday.
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DAISY How spiffing.
WINNIE Even more spiffing if someone returns that beastly
book and we get our three games periods back.
TRIXIE I say, Daisy, where are you off to?
DAISY I left something in my desk.
TRIXIE Right-o!
DAISY enters the classroom.
DAISY Now to destroy that Geography paper. (She looks in her
desk) It’s gone!
MONICA enters.
MONICA Sybil asked me to tell you that she’s borrowed your
Geography text book for prep. But here, I’ll lend you mine.
MONICA exits.
DAISY The beasts! I sometimes wish I’d never heard of
Grangewood. But I’ll show them, I’ll show them what the
Merediths are made of… I’ll show you, Sybil Burlington. Tell
who you like about the Geography paper, I’ll not admit to
something that isn’t my fault, I’ll not submit to blackmail.
I’m staying at Grangewood—yes, until the Sixth form, Sybil
Burlington, until the Sixth form.
TRIXIE enters.
TRIXIE Come on, Daisy, we’d better cut along to the lab.
WINNIE IRVING enters.
WINNIE (to the audience) Winnie Irving, a member of the Second
Form. (To DAISY) I say, Daisy Meredith?
DAISY Yes?
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act ii 51
WINNIE I’ve a message for you from the Second and First
forms—we don’t stand for sneaks at Grangewood and
until such time as you either apologize to us for your low
behaviour, reform or leave the school, we are sending you
and Trixie Martin to Coventry.
WINNIE exits.
TRIXIE I’d like to wipe the ground with the cheeky little beggar.
DAISY I sometimes think that Grangewood is a perfectly horrible,
miserable school.
TRIXIE You need bucking-up, old chum. (Pause) Got it! I’ll
arrange an inter-dormy bottle-fight.
DAISY What’s that?
TRIXIE It’s like a pillow-fight but with hot-water bottles. You
fill them half-full of water for extra suppleness and then
bang! You’re off. It’s a prime stunt. We’ll do it tomorrow
night after prayers when the Prees are having their baths.
DAISY Sounds a topping idea, I feel better already.
Whistling of “ALL THROUGH THE NIGHT” is heard,
off.
What is the name of that tune that Mr Thompson always
whistles, do you know, Trixie?
TRIXIE Dash it, I can’t think…a Welsh song, you should know
it, Daisy… All Through the Night, that’s the one.
DAISY It’s queer, Trixie, but it’s frightfully reminiscent of
something.
TRIXIE Your mater probably sang it to you when you were but
an infant on her knee.
DAISY And he always whistles the same tune.
TRIXIE Slightly cracked, poor old chap, so they say. Avoids
people like the plague.
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A bell rings off.
I say, we’ll be late for Science if we don’t dash.
TRIXIE dashes off.
DAISY takes a book from her desk and goes to follow
TRIXIE.
MR SCOBLOWSKI enters.
DAISY bumps into MR SCOBLOWSKI.
DAISY Excuse me, Mr Scoblowski, I’m late for a class.
MR SCOBLOWSKI Ah, I hope it is not because you were treasurehunting!
DAISY No, we’ve given up all that ever since we discovered that
only juniors believe in the treasure.
MR SCOBLOWSKI (narrating) Mr Scoblowski was not convinced,
however. (He grabs DAISY’s arm) I know very well that you
and the other girl have the book hidden away…
DAISY Ow! Mr Scoblowski, you’re hurting my arm.
MR SCOBLOWSKI But I intend to find it! It is imperative, you
do not realize…
TRIXIE enters.
TRIXIE I say, Daisy, are you coming? What the…
MR SCOBLOWSKI exits.
Daisy!
DAISY He knows we’ve got the book.
TRIXIE There’s only one thing for it, we must discover the
secret of the hairy star!
TRIXIE and DAISY exit.
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act ii 53
MONICA enters in her dressing-gown and sits and reads
a comic. SYBIL enters carrying a book.
SYBIL Monica!
MONICA Sybil!
SYBIL I’ve just discovered this in Daisy Meredith’s boot-hole.
(Pause) It’s the book, Monica.
MONICA How absolutely splendid.
SYBIL How despicably low. I’ll replace it and leave you, Monica,
to see that the proper persons are informed.
MONICA They will be, Sybil, they will be.
SYBIL exits with the book.
GIRLS, including DAISY and TRIXIE, enter having a
bottle-fight. SYBIL returns and joins in the fight.
ALICE enters.
ALICE Daisy Meredith! Just what are you doing with that hotwater bottle? Kindly remove it…and the rest of you children
can return to whichever dormy you belong to, at once! Interdormy bottle-fights, I wonder who thought of that one.
SYBIL But you used to—
ALICE Yes, I know we used to do it at your age, but we took
great care not to get caught.
BELINDA We thought all the Prees were having baths.
ALICE We can’t all get in at the same time. Enough of this
ragging, an order mark to any girl who’s not in her own
dormy by the time I’ve counted to ten. Sybil Burlington,
please wait in my study, I wish to have a word with you.
ALICE and the other GIRLS exit.
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DAISY and TRIXIE join MONICA.
DAISY Phew! Alice is in a pixie mood.
TRIXIE A regular sport though, always gives one a chance.
I had an absolutely scrummy tussle with Jill Timms and
Rosie Wildgust from the Third and then Jill’s hot-water
bottle burst!
DAISY Matron will be frightfully fed-up about that.
TRIXIE Oh, Matron’s a sport, she’ll gather the joyful gist.
“ALL THROUGH THE NIGHT” is heard being whistled
outside.
DAISY Why didn’t you join in the bottle-fight, Monica?
MONICA I’m not feeling well.
DAISY Let’s play a game to jolly you up, we’ve heaps of time
before lights out.
TRIXIE That’s a topping idea, Daisy.
DAISY How about a game we all know, I know—the Dictionary
Game.
TRIXIE Right-o!
DAISY Here we are, pencils, paper and a small pocket dictionary.
(She hands the pencils and paper round)
TRIXIE Goodness, what amazing pockets.
DAISY I’ve a penknife, string and coughsweets as well. My
four brothers are Boy Scouts you see, and their motto is
“Be Prepared” for any emergency.
TRIXIE I bags to be first on it.
DAISY No, Trixie, I bags to be first on it.
TRIXIE Right-o. You do know how to play, don’t you Monica?
MONICA Of course I do.
TRIXIE First word, Daisy?
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act ii 55
DAISY First word, well it’s a name really…hairy star.
TRIXIE Hairy star?
DAISY Hairy star.
TRIXIE There’s no such word.
MONICA Yes, there is. I’m not quite sure I can remember what
it means.
They write down their definitions.
DAISY Right-o, all done? Hand them over. Now a hairy star…
is a species of fungus found growing under beech trees, a
Colonial term for the Union Jack, or a comet so-called in
ancient times because its fiery tail resembled that of a—
ALICE enters.
ALICE Well, well, this is a cosy little confab. Did you not hear
me call for lights out?
DAISY No, sorry Alice, we didn’t.
MONICA Sybil’s our dormy monitor, don’t we have to wait for
her to tell us?
ALICE Sybil’s with me for the minute. Now off you all run to
your beds.
MONICA Goodnight, Alice.
ALICE Goodnight, Monica.
TRIXIE ’Night, Alice.
ALICE Goodnight, Trixie.
DAISY Good…
ALICE Daisy, can I speak with you for a minute?
DAISY Yes.
TRIXIE and MONICA exit.
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ALICE Are you well, child, you’ve been looking a wee bit pale
of late?
DAISY I’m in splendid form, thank you, Alice.
ALICE You’ve been sleeping at nights?
DAISY Like the proverbial log.
ALICE I think I’ll ask Matron to dose you up on cod-liver oil
for a while.
DAISY Look here, Alice…
ALICE You’re too peaky looking for my liking and besides, we
need fighters not wraithes in the First Eleven. But it’s not
that I wish to speak to you of. In the midst of that battle you
were all engaged in ten minutes ago, a Junior passed me
on her way to the San sporting a black eye she’d received in
the onslaught. She’d been set upon by a crowd led by Sybil
Burlington, for refusing to join them in a foray against
the Sneak of the Fourth, as I believe you’re known. Now,
does this have anything to do with the fact that when Clare
pounced on you and Trixie that night she also happed upon
the Seconds feasting, who now see you as a sneak?
DAISY I’d rather not say, Alice.
ALICE I’ve no intention of fighting any battles on your behalf,
child, but right must be seen to exist where it does. Would
you like me to have a discreet word with the Seconds?
DAISY No. Thanks awfully, Alice, but I mean to settle this on
my own account.
ALICE Are you sure, child?
DAISY Absolutely.
ALICE Very well, off you run to bed then, kiddie.
DAISY Alice…
ALICE Yes, child?
DAISY You aren’t rowing Sybil on my account, are you?
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act ii 57
ALICE No, rest assured. I can’t allow anyone, least of all a
Vice-Captain of a form, to run around the school dishing
out black eyes to all and sundry. Young Sybil will be on her
way to Miss Gibson if she crosses my path again.
DAISY I say.
ALICE Goodnight, child.
DAISY Goodnight, Alice.
ALICE exits.
TRIXIE rushes on.
TRIXIE Oh, Daisy, the hairy star!
DAISY I know, oh Trixie, how glorious!
TRIXIE How uncommonly brainy of you to think up such a
scheme…
DAISY How tremendously decent of Monica.
TRIXIE We must act at once, before Mr Scoblowski.
DAISY Tomorrow.
TRIXIE Tomorrow.
DAISY } (together) Hinc spes effulget. TRIXIE
Everyone enters for Assembly, singing the hymn, “LET
MISS GIBSON The morning’s notices. I learnt with great
displeasure from Matron this morning that not a few girls
have reported to her with burst hot-water bottles, the result
it would seem of a dormitory prank. In future, all hot-water
bottles similarly destroyed will be replaced with the aid of
contributions from pocket-money. Persistent offenders will
be relieved of their hot-water bottles and given hot bricks
wrapped in flannel to take to bed. Now on to more pleasant
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matters. Grangewood has reached the final of the County
Hockey Championships…
Everyone cheers.
…and will meet Vearncombe Young Ladies College next
Saturday for the match which will be played here on
Grangewood’s own hockey pitch.
Everyone cheers.
Owing to the Fifth form’s enforced absence from school this
week, any substitutes required will be selected by Clare from
the Fourth form. Not the happiest circumstances under
which to meet such leviathans as Vearncombe, but remember
girls, that even if we lose this very vital match, as long as
you play the game, to the best of your very considerable
abilities, you will not have failed Grangewood. Finally, it
gives me tremendous delight to announce the results of this
year’s School Poetry Competition. While many of the entries
were worthy of high commendation, all credit this year
must go to the Upper Fourth who have produced the two
winning entries. In second place we have “The Meditations
of a Lighthouse” submitted by Sybil Burlington.
There is applause.
TRIXIE My word! What a stunner!
MISS GIBSON …and this year’s winning entry is a poem on the
subject of “Heroes” penned by Daisy Meredith.
There is applause.
TRIXIE I say, well done.
DAISY But Trixie, I didn’t…
MISS GIBSON Quiet girls, please. I now take great pleasure in
reading an extract from this indeed excellent piece of work.
“Heroes” by Daisy Meredith.
Through centuries wrapped in clouds of black
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act ii 59
Where injustice cruel doth rage
There sometimes glows a candle bright
That darkness to assuage.
DAISY Trixie! Please listen…
MISS GIBSON Poor folk crushed by tyrant’s hand of privilege
bereft—
TRIXIE If you please, Miss Gibson—
MISS GIBSON I am available in my study after Assembly for
question or comment, Trixie Martin.
TRIXIE I’m sorry, Miss Gibson, but that poem you are reading
out was not written by Daisy Meredith. I wrote it.
There is a gasp from the GIRLS.
MISS GIBSON Is this correct, Daisy?
DAISY Yes, Miss Gibson.
MISS GIBSON Is this your handwriting, Trixie?
TRIXIE Yes, Miss Gibson.
MISS GIBSON Most odd, and yet it has Daisy’s name written
upon it.
DAISY On my honour, Miss Gibson, I honestly had no idea…
oh Trixie, surely you don’t believe…
MISS GIBSON Silence if you please, girls, silence. Trixie, I’ll
speak to you in a moment. Daisy Meredith, you are to go
to my study and wait for me there.
DAISY But Miss Gibson…
MISS GIBSON Please go. School dismissed.
DAISY exits. Everyone disperses.
BELINDA (to TRIXIE) What a beastly business! I would never
have thought Daisy capable of such a frightful plot.
MISS GIBSON Thank you, Belinda.
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BELINDA exits.
(to TRIXIE) Don’t worry, Trixie, we’ll sort this out. Off you go.
TRIXIE exits.
DAISY and MISS GIBSON enter MISS GIBSON’s study.
Daisy, this kind of affair grieves me intensely, especially when
it concerns a girl in whom so much faith and expectation
has been placed and whose academic and sporting future
looked so bright. Now you say that you had no idea that
Trixie Marlin’s poem was submitted under your name?
DAISY None at all, on my honour. Miss Gibson.
MISS GIBSON And yet the name Daisy Meredith inscribed on
the top of the entry compares remarkably well with other
examples of your signature.
DAISY But Miss Gibson, I would never do such a thing to Trixie,
she’s my best chum.
MISS GIBSON Not even in fun?
DAISY Not even in fun, Miss Gibson.
MISS GIBSON A certain member of your form, I shall not mention
her name, came to me with your Geography text book in
which I found this—a printed list of answers to a Geography
test set some time ago in which you came out top.
DAISY Miss Gibson, honestly, I had no idea… I didn’t see it
until…
MISS GIBSON And this… (She produces the astronomy book) …
was discovered at the back of your boot-hole.
DAISY I borrowed it, I can’t tell you why, it’s a point of honour,
Miss Gibson, but I swear to you I had absolutely nothing
to do with the poem or the Geography test.
MISS GIBSON I must say, Daisy, I find it extremely difficult to
believe anything of a girl who remained silent whilst her
school-fellows suffered the loss of three days games and
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act ii 61
confinement to school grounds because of something she
had not the courage to own up to. A girl also blind to the
distress that this seeming theft has caused to the Beaumont
family, particularly Clare.
DAISY I would never do anything to hurt Clare, Miss Gibson.
MISS GIBSON I can only conclude, my dear, that perhaps we
have demanded a little too much of you. The gulf between
such schools as Grangewood and the elementary kind may
be wider than we dream and I see the events of the past few
weeks being as much my fault as yours, in having placed you
under the tremendous pressures resulting in the matters
now under discussion.
DAISY I’m awfully sorry, Miss Gibson, but as far as academic
work and games go, I have not found myself under any
of the tremendous pressures you mention, neither am I
conscious of any enormous gulf between Grangewood and
my previous school, as you are, if the gulf you speak of is
mainly moral as you seem to imply. The only pressures I
have encountered here are those from girls who because they
have money, therefore have influence, a remarkably queer
notion to my mind, and whose only code of conduct is that
of lying, sneaking and bullying, and seeing fit to wipe the
ground with me because in my ignorant elementary school
way, I try to live up to the high standards set here, and to
their irritation, succeed.
MISS GIBSON That will do, Daisy Meredith. I shall attempt to
get to the bottom of the accusations against you and will
report my findings along with an academic and character
assessment on you, to a meeting of the School Governors,
to be held next Monday, when it will be decided whether
or not, to keep you on at Grangewood. Until that time you
will be given a room in the Sanatorium where you will
sleep, your meals will be brought to you and you will be
given specially prepared classwork to do. You will not be
allowed to speak to any of your school-fellows or they to
you, only to myself, teaching staff and Matron. You will
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be in Matron’s charge and she will also arrange for your
recreation periods. You may go.
DAISY Miss Gibson, on my honour, I swear I am innocent of
MISS GIBSON exits.
DAISY goes into the Sanatorium and throws herself on
a bed.
Oh mother, mother…oh Clare, if only I could explain to
you…and Trixie…but now I never shall.
TRIXIE enters.
TRIXIE Psst!
DAISY Trixie.
TRIXIE Oh, Daisy!
DAISY You’ll get into fearful trouble if they find you here.
TRIXIE I know. It’s perfectly beastly, we’ve been ordered not
to speak to you on pain of death.
DAISY Oh Trixie, do you absolutely wish to goodness you’d never
even met me? Do you believe I entered your poem as mine?
TRIXIE No, old chum, not for so much as a minute. I’m
immensely sorry I spoke out in Assembly and not to Miss
Gibson in private, I’m afraid I lost my rag.
DAISY I would have done exactly the same in your position
though it’s fearfully hard not to be dismal when everyone
else believes I did do it. They found Sir Digby’s book you
know, I suppose Clare detests me now.
TRIXIE The book! Mr Scoblowski! The treasure! Daisy, we
must stop him!
DAISY How? I’m not supposed to leave this room except to go
to piano practice.
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act ii 63
TRIXIE I’m not supposed to be in it. I’ll work out some sort of a
scheme… I’ll also find out who rigged the poetry competition.
DAISY Probably someone’s idea of a joke.
TRIXIE Queer sort of a joke. There are fearful rumours too,
about you cribbing for a Geography test. What is the truth,
Daisy?
DAISY I’m afraid I can’t say, I’m not a sneak whatever else I
may be.
TRIXIE It wouldn’t surprise me if Sybil Burlington didn’t have
a hand in this somewhere.
A bell goes, off.
Dash it, there goes the bell.
DAISY I’m so glad you don’t absolutely loathe me, Trixie.
TRIXIE Buck-up, Daisy, old girl, I’ll get you out of this piggy
little mess, see if I don’t.
DAISY Thanks awfully, Trixie. I must go to piano practice.
TRIXIE I’ll creep up and see you later. Cheeriosa.
DAISY } (together) Hinc spes effulget. TRIXIE
TRIXIE and DAISY exit.
CLARE and ALICE enter.
CLARE Two days to the final, Diana’s still out, Carol’s hurt her
knee again, and the Fifth away. It’s no use, Alice, we shall
have to put in some of those babes from the Fourth.
TRIXIE enters and stops to eavesdrop.
ALICE It’s two we shall need.
CLARE And if we’re to beat Vearncombe this year, they’ve got
to be good.
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ALICE There’s Trixie Martin, splendid little player when she
puts her mind to it.
CLARE Belinda Mathieson.
ALICE She’s decent.
CLARE Well, that’s our team.
Beautiful piano playing is suddenly heard.
Who’s that who plays so beautifully?
ALICE The wee girl, Daisy Meredith.
CLARE A mistress surely.
ALICE No, Daisy Meredith. Matron allows her to practise when
a music-room lies empty.
CLARE Poor child, anyone who plays like that cannot surely be
guilty of the things she’s been accused of.
ALICE It’s my belief she isn’t.
CLARE If only we had proof, Alice. I must say, I’ve noticed that
certain elements in the school have done their best to make
life tough for that kiddie.
ALICE Can we not find that proof?
CLARE We haven’t much time, the School Governors meet to
discuss her fate on Monday. I suppose we could have a jolly
good go at clearing her name though.
ALICE Even though she did walk off with your grandfather’s
book…and deprived the school of three days’ games.
CLARE I was awfully fed-up about that, I admit.
ALICE Daisy told Miss Gibson she held back on a point of
honour…and I’ll tell you something now, I don’t believe
that a girl like Daisy who loves her games would hold back
for less.
CLARE She’s always struck me as a frightfully decent kid.
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act ii 65
TRIXIE exits.
ALICE And don’t you find it queer now, that such a girl should
deliberately set out to ruin herself? And to expose herself
as a cheat and a leech upon her best friend.
CLARE That settles it, Alice, we will carry out our own
investigation into this affair. Thank you, old thing, for
reminding me that as well as being Games Captain of
Grangewood, I am Head Girl.
ALICE Sure, it’s a deputy’s duty.
There is a sudden shrieking and commotion off, and
CLARE I say, what a row.
BELINDA enters.
BELINDA It’s Trixie Martin, she’s twisted her ankle. I’m going
to find Matron.
BELINDA exits.
ALICE Jesus, Mary and Joseph!
CLARE There goes another member of our First Eleven.
ALICE Nil desperandum, me darlin’ Clare.
CLARE We’re sunk. Might as well hand the trophy over to
Vearncombe now.
ALICE We’ll find another substitute.
CLARE Who else is there good enough?
DAISY’s piano playing suddenly surges forth.
ALICE Wee Daisy Meredith.
CLARE Do you think Miss Gibson will be persuaded?
ALICE She must—for the sake of the school.
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CLARE and ALICE exit.
DAISY enters the San with a hockey stick, TRIXIE follows
on crutches.
They knock a hockey ball about between them.
TRIXIE Goal!
DAISY Shhh. Matron will hear you and pack you off back to
jolly old bed.
TRIXIE And deprive me of the chance of seeing you play for
Grangewood? Fat chance. She’d have the dickens of a deadly
fight on her hands.
DAISY I say, Trixie, I’m horribly afraid I shall prove the most
frightful muff.
TRIXIE You haven’t muffed any practice games.
DAISY This is different. We shall be playing an absolutely firstclass team not just eleven substitutes, and I feel I must justify
Clare and Alice’s faith in me after the tremendously hard
job they must have had persuading Miss Gibson to let me
play. I say, do you think any of the Grangewood girls will
let on that one of their team is under threat of expulsion?
TRIXIE They wouldn’t be such a pack of mean cats. If anyone,
even that reptile, Sybil Burlington, uttered a word, I would
cold-pig them every morning ’til the end of term.
DAISY I say, would you really?
TRIXIE With immense gratification. I say, it’s capital the two
of us being here in the San.
DAISY Things have been a lot jollier since you twisted your
ankle, I admit. Gets us even further away from discovering
the Beaumont treasure though. I lie awake at night and
think about it.
TRIXIE No wonder you’re looking so pale and ghastly.
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act ii 67
DAISY Rot! I’m fit as a fiddle. It would be topping though if
we could find it before I leave. I do so want to make it up
to everyone for being such a frightful disappointment.
A bell rings off.
I must go and join the others on the field.
TRIXIE Good luck, Daisy, old thing, play up and play the game.
DAISY Thanks awfully, Trixie.
TRIXIE I saved this doughnut for you, to give you extra strength
for the match.
DAISY Trixie, you’re a real chum.
TRIXIE Hinc spes effulget.
DAISY exits.
TRIXIE walks over to the window putting aside her
crutches.
Hinc spes effulget, Daisy, hinc spes effulget.
DAISY, CLARE, ALICE and BELINDA enter with hockey
sticks. They take up their positions on the pitch. They
don’t actually move from where they stand.
A whistle blows.
Bully off. Grangewood have the ball.
CLARE Centre forward to right inner.
ALICE Right inner to centre forward.
CLARE Centre forward to left wing.
DAISY Tackle by Vearncombe!
TRIXIE Vearncombe have the ball. Don’t let them past, oh
don’t let them past…they’re getting through…where’s the
left back…the left back!
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ALL No.
TRIXIE Vearncombe have scored the first goal of the match.
Bully-off… Grangewood again.
CLARE Centre forward to right inner.
ALICE Right inner to right wing.
BELINDA Tackle by Vearncombe!
TRIXIE Vearncombe take the ball! Left back to left inner…they’re
passing down the field. The wing is clear again, mark her!
Mark her! Desperate tackle by Clare—to no avail…
ALL No!
TRIXIE Vearncombe score the second goal.
CLARE Half time.
CLARE, ALICE, BELINDA and DAISY unfreeze from their
hockey positions.
BELINDA Looks as though we shall be beaten hollow.
DAISY Things do look dreadfully grim.
ALICE We’ll beat them, we must.
CLARE I say, chin-up, Grangewood. Vearncombe are a firstrate team but we still have the second half in which to
draw level. Those tackles of yours weren’t half bad, young
Belinda, but you must decide what to do with the ball once
you’ve got it. Daisy, don’t let those backs crowd you as they
were doing. Remember all of you, when you have the ball,
get rid of it fast, don’t hug it to yourselves and remember,
above all, attack is the best form of defence. We’re allowing
Vearncombe French leave to do as they wish at the moment.
The vantage will be theirs this half with the wind behind
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act ii 69
them so we must play hard, play up and play the game.
Remember—the honour of Grangewood is at stake.
A whistle blows off. CLARE, ALICE, BELINDA and DAISY
TRIXIE They’re off.
CLARE Centre forward to left inner.
BELINDA Left inner back to centre forward.
TRIXIE Vearncombe snatch the ball. Oh, hard luck!
DAISY Tackle by…
TRIXIE Daisy! She’s got the ball…oh quickly, pass it out…
DAISY Left wing back to right inner…
ALL Goal!
TRIXIE Hurray!
CLARE That’s the spirit, keep it up.
TRIXIE Vearncombe take the ball! Passing it out to their left
wing! Grangewood! Where are you?
BELINDA Right half closes in. Drives the ball across to…
BELINDA Right inner. And back to…
CLARE Centre forward.
TRIXIE Oh no, Clare’s missed it! Don’t lose it! Don’t lose it!
Saved by…
BELINDA …the centre half! A short pass to…
ALICE Left inner to…
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DAISY Left wing! Left wing to…
TRIXIE No, Daisy, you’re clear! Oh, shoot, Daisy! Shoot! Shoot!
ALL Goal!
TRIXIE Two all and seven minutes left to play. Play up school,
play up! Hinc spes effulget, Daisy! Hinc spes effulget! There’s
some rotten little beasts booing her, led by Sybil no doubt.
CLARE Centre forward to right wing!
ALICE Right wing to…
TRIXIE Oh, Vearncombe have got the ball! Grangewood!
Grangewood! Grangewood!
CLARE Tackle by…
TRIXIE Clare! Pass it out! Pass it out! Oh, no! She’s gone down
on the mud. Jemima! Who’s that speeding up the pitch?
It’s Daisy! She’s got the ball! Daisy Left wing…
BELINDA To right inner…
ALICE To centre forward…
CLARE To left inner…
DAISY To left wing…
TRIXIE Shoot Daisy! Shoot! Shoot! Shoot!
ALL Goal!
TRIXIE Oh, good shot!
The whistle blows, and there is tumultuous cheering.
Everyone hugs each other.
ALICE Oh, my darlin’ girl!
CLARE I don’t believe it, Alice, we’ve jolly well won.
BELINDA First-rate play, Daisy.
DAISY I did it for Grangewood.
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act ii 71
CLARE The first time within living memory that anyone has
beaten Vearncombe. Well done all of you, a splendid effort,
a game to go down in the annals of Grangewood. But well
done to you, kiddie, we’ve got you to thank for all this. Now
off to the Victory tea!
Everyone exits except DAISY and ALICE.
ALICE Are you not coming to the tea, Daisy?
DAISY No, Miss Gibson said I was to go straight back to the
San after the match. Don’t say anything to Clare, she’s so
awfully bucked. I wouldn’t want to be a wet blanket.
ALICE exits.
DAISY joins TRIXIE in the San who has taken up her
crutches again.
TRIXIE Capital, Daisy, you were absolutely, uncommonly,
spiffingly glorious. Daisy…?
DAISY They booed me, Trixie, they booed me.
TRIXIE exits.
Night. A clock chimes twelve. DAISY puts on a dressinggown and gets into bed.
( narrating) Two hours after lights out, try how she might,
Daisy could not sleep. The events of the day circled her
brain, and the knowledge that largely due to her efforts in
winning the hockey-match, the school had been awarded
a half-holiday, caused her to ponder even more upon the
unworthy actions of those responsible for her present dismal
plight. Outside, the wind howled, rattling the window-panes
in their frames and sending the waves booming round the
headland.
MR THOMPSON and MR SCOBLOWSKI enter another
part of the stage with a torch which they shine on the
ancestral portraits.
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How queer, someone patrolling the corridors with a torch.
Matron is long in bed and surely none of the staff would be
up at such an hour, unless the juniors are up to some stunt.
MR SCOBLOWSKI and MR THOMPSON exit.
“ALL THROUGH THE NIGHT” is heard being whistled.
How odd. Perhaps Mr Thompson’s planning a burglary…
what’s that?
WINNIE IRVING enters.
I say, Winnie Irving.
WINNIE You must come quickly.
DAISY Come? Where to? Whatever’s happened?
WINNIE Several of us were having a midnight feast in one
of the caves in the bay to celebrate today’s victory, when
suddenly, almost before we had time to notice, the tide crept
in covering our path out and so we had to retreat up the
side of the cliff. It was only when we reached the top that
we realized Monica and Sybil weren’t with us. They must
have wandered off and also got cut off because we discovered
them clinging to a ledge further along the coast. We couldn’t
find any rope to pull them up with so we thought we’d tie
some sheets together to make one. Only thing is, none of us
know anything about knots so we thought as you’ll probably
be expelled anyway and know about knots, we’d enlist your
help. Please help us, Daisy. I could wake Miss Gibson, but
we’d get into the most fearful row.
DAISY Half a sec. (She gets out of bed) You take my sheets
(narrating) Daisy and her companion set off along the cliff
path that led to the bay.
The GIRLS act out the story they are telling.
WINNIE The wind was so strong that it flattened the long grass
on the cliff-tops…
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act ii 73
DAISY And a three-quarters moon scudded in and out of the
ragged black clouds.
WINNIE Out at sea the wind-whipped waves tossed themselves
so high into the air that the two girls could taste the saltspray on their lips…
DORA, BELINDA, SYBIL and MONICA enter.
DORA } (together) Winnie!
BELINDA:
WINNIE We’re here.
DAISY Daisy leaned over as far as she dared, and there, many
feet below, were the pale, pleading faces of Sybil and Monica.
(To WINNIE) A reef-knot that’s what we need. There! That’s
done! Sybil! Monica! I’m going to throw a line down to
you and I want you to grab hold of it and we’ll haul you
up one at a time.
WINNIE Daisy lowered the sheets…
DORA A rock tied into the end as ballast…
BELINDA And presently she felt an answering tug.
DAISY Right-o, heave.
WINNIE Slowly but steadily they hauled in the sheet and on
the end of it…
SYBIL Sybil.
SYBIL collapses.
DAISY Are you all right, Sybil?
SYBIL I am…but Monica…she’s in a deadly funk, she won’t
budge from off the ledge. I tried to persuade her to come
up first but she refused point-blank.
DAISY Monica! Monica! It’s no good, she’s perfectly insensible
to anything but her own fear. I’ll have to go down and bring
her up myself! Now listen you three, I want you to play the
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line out slowly and then when I’m ready to bring Monica
up, I’ll give a tug twice on the end of the line and you must
pull for all you’re worth. Do you understand?
ALL Yes.
DAISY Right-o, I’m off.
BELINDA Gingerly, Daisy swung herself down to the narrow
and rapidly crumbling ledge to which Monica clung.
DAISY Monica, I’m going to tie this sheet around your waist to
stop you from falling and then I’m going to put my arms
round you to make it even less likely that you fall and then
we’re both going up the side of the cliff together. Understand?
MONICA Nooooo!
DAISY Monica if you don’t do as I say we’ll fall—both of us—into
that morass below. Do you understand now?
MONICA Yes.
DAISY Good. Daisy tugged twice on the line and slowly Monica
began to be hauled up the cliff-face, Daisy frantically
searching for hand and footholds so as to relieve the burden
slightly on the others. We’re almost there, Monica, hang on.
MONICA Wh…what’s that roaring sound?
DAISY Daisy glanced downwards just in time to see the ledge on
which she and Monica had been lately standing disappear
into the wild sea. Her heart skipped a beat—just the sea
and the wind, Monica, nothing to worry about.
BELINDA Practically sweating blood…
WINNIE And almost at their last breath…
DORA Winnie, Dora and Belinda hauled the now almost
unconscious Monica to the top.
BELINDA Finally, Daisy herself was pulled to safety.
DORA Whereupon, they all collapsed.
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act ii 75
Pause.
BELINDA I say, we ought to make a move back before we all
die of pneumonia.
DAISY Good idea.
MONICA I’m dreadfully sorry, Daisy, I was in such a beastly funk.
DAISY I wasn’t feeling so tremendously heroic myself.
SYBIL Yes, I must say, it was jolly decent of you to rescue us.
DAISY Anyone would have done the same.
WINNIE They stumbled along the cliff-path back to school,
exhausted in mind and body…
DAISY Especially Daisy, who after a week of sleepless nights
wasn’t sure whether or not all that had just happened hadn’t
been a dream.
Daisy followed last to close the school gates behind the
others. She paused, for a final look at the silvery moon
illuminating the unruly sea.
MISS GIBSON enters.
DAISY My word! Miss Gibson!
MISS GIBSON You were forbidden to leave the Sanatorium
without my express permission. Can I place no trust in
you? Have you no sense of honour? Well you will flout the
rules of Grangewood no longer. See me tomorrow morning
in my study at nine. Now go to bed this instant.
MISS GIBSON exits.
DAISY It’s no good, everything I do is wrong, I just don’t belong
in Grangewood. Perhaps I am as bad as they say I am. But I’m
not. I’m not. I can’t bear it any longer, I’ll run away—that’s
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what I’ll do, I’ll go back home to mother—and Dick, Douglas,
Daniel and Duncan, they love me, they believe in me. Oh,
Mother, Mother, I wish, you were here now, I need you so
badly… I’m coming home, Mother, I’m coming home. Hardly
conscious of her actions, Daisy passed like a sleep-walker
through the school corridors and down into the great hall.
Some instinct, she knew not what, caused her to turn and
gaze at the grim, commanding portrait of the late Sir Digby
Beaumont. Daisy gasped—for the peculiar astronomical
device that Sir Digby held was radiating a green glowing
light of its own. Luminous paint! Daisy advanced closer to
the portrait and there on the rim of the device was depicted
a symbol she knew all too well, that of a comet…
MR THOMPSON enters behind DAISY.
…the hairy star, and beside it, graven in tiny letters were
the words—“This panel where the hairy star doth shine,
conceals the treasure, press the symbol mine”.
DAISY presses the symbol and the treasure is revealed
behind a secret panel.
MR THOMPSON Daisy.
DAISY turns.
DAISY Father. (She faints)
There is a blackout.
Everyone enters for Assembly singing “FOR ALL THE
SAINTS” as the lights come up.
MISS GIBSON I have distressing and important news concerning
one of your number—Daisy Meredith. At present, Daisy lies
dangerously ill in the Sanatorium, suffering, it is suspected,
from brain-fever, resulting we think from the trouble in
which she has been involved here. She cries wildly in her
delirium of dishonour, exams and the like. We fear she may
not last the week and she is certainly too ill to be moved to
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act ii 77
a hospital. However, the crisis point determining whether
Daisy lives or dies will be reached this evening and we ask
you all to be quieter than usual in your activities, particularly
if any of them take place on the lawns outside the San.
TRIXIE Oh poor, poor Daisy.
SYBIL Miss Gibson.
MISS GIBSON Yes, Sybil?
SYBIL I have something to say which I would like the school
to hear as well as you, Miss Gibson.
MISS GIBSON Can you not come and tell me later in my…
SYBIL No, Miss Gibson, I’m sorry, I must speak now.
MISS GIBSON Very well, continue.
SYBIL Everyone…well most people, believe Daisy Meredith
to be a cheat, a liar, a sneak and an absolute rotter. Well…
she isn’t. She’s one of the pluckiest, most honourable, and
sporting girls you could hope to meet. Last night she rescued
Monica and me from certain death when we were stranded
on a cliff-face after a midnight feast we held, in which she
was not involved. It was I who substituted Daisy’s name for
Trixie’s on the winning poem and entered Daisy’s poem under
my name and came second, I who encouraged another girl
in my form to plant the answers to the Geography test in
Daisy’s book, and I who sneaked on the Second’s midnight
feast and let Daisy take blame… (She bursts into tears) I’m
a perfectly hateful pig, it’s me who should be expelled not
Daisy. And if she dies then it’s my fault.
MISS GIBSON Well, Sybil, I am glad you have had the courage
and honour, belated though it is, to confess the true state
of things, though I cannot say how sorry I am, that a girl
who has been at Grangewood as long as you have, should
have fallen into such dark and evil ways. I must ask you
to accompany me to my study and to take leave of your
classmates for what I feel will be the last time. It may also
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interest you to know that the Beaumont treasure has been
discovered…
Everyone gasps.
TRIXIE I say!
MISS GIBSON …by Daisy Meredith and her father who is known
to us as Mr Thompson, but whose true identity is that of
Sir David Beaumont…
CLARE Uncle David!
MISS GIBSON …the younger son of Sir Digby Beaumont.
SYBIL bursts into more tears.
TRIXIE Jemima!
Everyone begins to disperse.
TRIXIE O Jubilate! I knew it would all come right in the end,
I knew it. (Narrating) Daisy’s crisis of health that night
took its turn…for the better, and after a day or two, she was
able to leave her sick-bed albeit in a weakened condition.
DAISY, her father—MR THOMPSON—and TRIXIE enter
the Sanatorium.
MR THOMPSON You see, my father, Sir Digby Beaumont, objected
fiercely to my taking an opera-singer as wife, and after a
particularly vehement quarrel with him I left Grangewood
for good, changed my name by deed poll, married my
sweetheart and moved to Wales.
DAISY Where you had spent many happy boyhood holidays,
isn’t that right, Father?
MR THOMPSON It certainly is, my darling. We bore a family and
lived very happily, I earning a living as a doctor until war
broke out and so, wishing to serve my country, I enlisted in
the Navy. However, one day my ship was torpedoed, sunk
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act ii 79
and I survived by clinging to a spar of wood in the sea for
two days until I was rescued by a passing ship, whereupon
I lost consciousness for over a week. On coming to, it was
discovered I had lost all memory of who I was and where
I had come from—all written proof of my identity having
been washed away during my ordeal at sea. I was utterly
destitute and friendless and might have remained so, had
it not been for a Russian Count on board ship, escaping
the horrors of the Revolution, who befriended me. As luck
would have it, he was destined for England and after gaining
a job at an English Girls’ Public School he found work and
shelter for me. That teacher’s name was…
DAISY } (together) Mr Scoblowski! TRIXIE
MR THOMPSON My memory returned gradually over the years
and to my surprise, I realized that not only did I work in
the grounds of my birthplace but that my daughter was a
pupil at the school which had since been founded there. I
determined not to reveal myself to Daisy until I could offer
her something other than my poverty—though there is no
shame in being poor. So, with Mr Scoblowski, I plotted to
recover the fortune which my father had hidden.
DAISY That explains Mr Scoblowski’s strange manner towards us.
TRIXIE And also the clue that Sir Digby said lay with his younger
son, that tune you were always whistling, Sir David.
TRIXIE } (together) All Through the Night. DAISY
MR THOMPSON Ever my favourite tune, I confess.
TRIXIE The link with the luminous device…
DAISY …and the comet…
TRIXIE …the hairy star!
CLARE enters.
DAISY Clare!
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CLARE Good afternoon, my plucky young cousin. Uncle David.
The entire school awaits your return.
MR THOMPSON That won’t be for a while, I’m afraid, this scholar
is going on a convalescing holiday first.
CLARE Well deserved, I say.
TRIXIE Hear, hear.
CLARE In a while, if you look out of the window, you will see
that wretched imp, Sybil Burlington, depart Grangewood
forever.
DAISY They aren’t expelling her?
CLARE I should jolly well think they are after all that she’s
confessed to.
DAISY Oh Clare, please don’t let them expel her, allow her one
last chance. She must have some good in her to have owned
up the way she did, it must have taken considerable pluck.
It isn’t her fault that snobbish attitudes were bred into her,
Grangewood can help change them. Please Clare, do be
a sport and have a word with Miss Gibson on my behalf.
CLARE Very well, child, I’ll do my level best, I suppose every
worm can turn. I’ll catch Sybil before she leaves Miss
Gibson’s study. But I say, this is all becoming uncommonly
dismal. There’s to be games and dancing this evening, and
the school would simply adore it if you could come down
and see them—before you go. Just for a moment. Will you?
TRIXIE Everyone would be immensely bucked.
MR THOMPSON I’ll be by your side.
DAISY Very well. It’s topping of them to want to see me.
CLARE Splendid.
A bell rings off.
TRIXIE Must go, old chum, there’s the bell for prep.
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act ii 81
CLARE Yes, I must go too I’m afraid. I’ve to supervise the babes.
See you later, kiddie.
CLARE and TRIXIE exit.
MR THOMPSON I’ll leave you to dress, Daisy, I must send a
telegram to mother.
DAISY Oh father, I’m so tremendously happy.
MR THOMPSON So am I, darling, more than I could ever say.
They kiss.
MR THOMPSON exits.
SYBIL enters.
DAISY Sybil, how absolutely top-hole to see you.
SYBIL Daisy…you don’t know what a beast I’ve been… I’m so…
DAISY Sybil, don’t.
DAISY and SYBIL hug.
SYBIL You’ve saved me from expulsion.
DAISY Oh, I’m so frightfully glad you’re staying, now we can
be friends.
SYBIL Can we? Can we really?
DAISY Of course we can, my poor darling. I say, buck-up old
thing. Will you come down to the hall with me, I need
someone’s arm to lean on?
DAISY and SYBIL hug.
Everyone enters the Great Hall. Some of the GIRLS enter
dancing the “GAY GORDONS”.
CLARE Girls, I would like to announce our two guests of
honour for this evening, though heaven knows, they need
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no announcing. First of all, Sir David Beaumont, whom I
am very pleased to call Uncle.
Everyone cheers.
And secondly, Daisy Meredith or Beaumont, as she will
from henceforth be known and whom I am delighted and
very proud to call cousin. School—I give you the heroine
of Grangewood, Daisy Meredith!
There is very loud cheering.
MISS GIBSON Quiet, girls, please, Sir David has a few words
to say to us all.
MR THOMPSON I am not an experienced or indeed a good
speaker at the best of times, of which this is one, but I will
say that the recovery of the Beaumont treasure has not
only enabled me to rediscover my family and disclose my
true identity, and keep Grangewood within the Beaumont
family, but that some of the money from the treasure will
go towards funding a scholarship for another elementary
schoolgirl to attend Grangewood which will be called the
Daisy Meredith Scholarship.
Everyone cheers.
DAISY First of all, thanks awfully for the absolutely top-hole
reception you’ve given my father and me this evening. I’m
proud to be once again a girl of Grangewood, of the Upper
Fourth.
BELINDA We’re proud of you, Daisy.
During the course of DAISY’s following speech a look
of displeasure appears on MISS GIBSON’s face, which
disappears as CLARE speaks.
DAISY Secondly, I ask you all to accept with open arms the
scholarship girls who come to Grangewood. They may have
heaps to learn from you about Grangewood’s sporting and
academic tradition, but my word, have you a lot to learn
from them. The beginning we have made here in admitting
elementary schoolgirls is small, but I look forward to the
day when Grangewood along with other public schools in
England, becomes truly public and admits all scholars,
monied or not, within its portals of learning and to the
day when there is a Grangewood in every city, town and
village in England.
There is tumultuous cheering.
CLARE Girls, girls, before Daisy leaves us for a well-deserved
convalesence, I am going to ask her to lead us all in singing
the school song. Daisy…
The introduction to the school song is played by a teacher
on the piano.
TRIXIE Oh Daisy, how perfectly scrummy everything has turned
out to be!
DAISY And what fun lies ahead!
“SCHOOL SONG”
ALL (singing)
IN DAYS OF YORE THE FEMALE SEX
BUT NOW THANKS TO BOLD PIONEERS
PROUD GIRLS AND WOMEN TEACH AND LEARN
BUT OF THEM ALL THERE’S NONE MORE DEAR
THAN THAT OF GRANGEWOOD SCHOOL.
LONG MAY YE FLOURISH GRANGEWOOD SCHOOL
HONESTA QUAM MAGNA IS OUR CALL
AS WE STRIVE TO PLAY THE GAME.
Curtain.
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Submitted on December 09, 2022
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"Daisy Pulls It Off" Scripts.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 18 Nov. 2024. <https://www.scripts.com/script/daisy_pulls_it_off_26982>.
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