It meant nothing to Lucy as information but its meaning was obvious. She turned the pages, finding nearly all of them crowded with the same succinct information. Even the X page-devoted by the keepers of address-books to measurements for new curtains or that good story that would do for the W.R.I. speech next Tuesday- even the X page had cryptic remarks about rays. What bowled Lucy over was the comprehensiveness of it; the premeditation. This was no product of a last-minute panic; it was a cold-blooded insurance against failure. By the neatness and method shown in the compiling, it looked as though the entries had been made as each subject was studied. Had the notebook been of a normal size, in fact, it would have been nothing more than a legitimate precis of a subject. But no one making a precis would have chosen a book not much larger than a good-sized postage stamp when an equally portable but normal-sized notebook could be had for a few pence. The use of a book so tiny that a mapping pen had been necessary in order to make the entries legible could have only one explanation.
Lucy knew very well what had happened. Rouse had pulled out her handkerchief as she ran. She had never before carried the little book in a pocket, and her mind was divided urgently between the bad paper she had done and the fear of being late for gymnastics, so there was no care in the pulling out of the handkerchief. And so the little book dropped on to the grass at the edge of the path.
She walked on beyond the gymnasium and through the five-barred gate into the field, but she had no eye for the buttercups. She walked on slowly down the field to the coolness under the willows and the quiet green water. She hung over the rail of the bridge watching the weeds trail and the occasional fish dart, and thought about Rouse. There was no name on the fly-leaf, nor as far as she could see any means of identification in the book itself. Most schools taught script as well as current form in writing nowadays; and script was much less easily recognisable than current writing. A handwriting expert would no doubt be easily able to trace the author, but to what end? There was no evidence that the book had been used for any illegitimate purpose; no evidence even that it had been compiled with any sinister intent-although the presumption was strong. If she handed it over to Henrietta as lost property what would happen? No one would claim it, and Henrietta would be faced with the fact that one of her Seniors had prepared a precis that could be conveniently palmed at an examination.
If nothing was ever said about the book, then Rouse's punishment would be a perpetual and life-long doubt as to what had become of it. Lucy felt that such a punishment fitted the crime admirably. She thumbed the tiny India-paper pages once more, wondered again what Edwardian elegancy had given it birth, and, leaning over, dropped it into the water.
As she walked back to the house she wondered how Rouse had managed the other Final Examinations. Pathology could be no less easy to memorise than Kinesiology or any of the other obscurities studied by the budding P.T.I. How had Rouse, the difficult "study," managed with these? Was the little red leather book only one of five or six? Did one invest in a mapping pen for one subject only? One could, she supposed, buy very tiny address books if one searched long enough; though not perhaps so fine or so tiny as the little red one. It may have been the possession of the little red one which first put the thought of insurance against failure into Rouse's mind.
She remembered that the result of the previous examinations would be exhibited on the letter-board by the students' entrance, so instead of walking round to the front of the house as she had meant to she turned in at the quadrangle door. There were several Junior lists pinned to the green baize, and three Senior lists. Lucy read them with interest.
FINAL PHYSIOLOGY
Honours
Mary Innes…………….. 93
First Class
Wilhelmina Hasselt……… 87
Pamela Nash……………. 86
Sheena Stewart…………. 82
Pauline Lucas………….. 79
Janet Gage…………….. 79
Barbara Rouse………….. 77
Second Class
Dorothy Litlejohn………. 74
Beatrice Appleyard……… 71
Joan Dakers……………. 69
Eileen O'Donnell……….. 68
Margaret Campbell………. 67
Ruth Waymark…………… 66
Lilian Mathews…………. 65
and the rest, below that mark, mere Passes.
Well, Rouse had scraped into a First by two marks, it seemed.
Lucy turned to the next list.
FINAL MEDICALS
First Class
Pauline Lucas………….. 89
Pamela Nash……………. 89
Mary Innes…………….. 89
Dorothy Littlejohn……… 87
Ruth Waymark…………… 85
Wilhelmina Hasselt……… 82
Sheena Stewart…………. 80
Lilian Mathews…………. 79
Barbara Rouse………….. 79
Second Class
Jenny Burton…………… 73
Janet Gage…………….. 72
Eileen O'Donnell……….. 71
Joan Dakers……………. 69
and the rest mere Passes.
And again Rouse managed to scrape a First.
FINAL KINESIOLOGY
Honours
Mary Innes…………….. 96
First Class
Pauline Lucas………….. 89
Pamela Nash……………. 88
Sheena Stewart…………. 87
Wilhelmina Hasselt……… 85
Ruth Waymark…………… 80
Janet Gage…………….. 79
Joan Dakers……………. 78
Barbara Rouse………….. 78
Another First! Three Firsts out of three tries. The girl who found written work so difficult? There was surely a strong case for the existence of more little notebooks?
Oh, well; this being Friday, tomorrow would see the end of examinations, and it was not likely that Rouse would, after this morning's experience, bring any extraneous help to the test tomorrow morning. The little book prepared for tomorrow, if it existed, would be still-born.
While she mused over the lists (it was nice to see that Dakers had managed at least one First) Miss Lux arrived with the results of yesterday's Final.
"Thank you for bringing up the Path. papers," she said. "And thank you for invigilating. It helped me to get these done."
She thumbed the drawing-pin into the board and stood back to look at the list.
FINAL HYGIENE
Honours
Mary Innes…………….. 91
First Class
Pamela Nash……………. 88
Wilhelmina Hasselt……… 87
Sheena Stewart…………. 86
Pauline Lucas………….. 81
Barbara Rouse………….. 81
"Barbara Rouse, eighty-one," Lucy said, before she thought.
"Yes, surprising, isn't it?" Miss Lux said placidly. "But she works like a black. She is so brilliant in her physical work that I think it maddens her to be far down any list."