The Mam'zelles of Malory Towers

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN- THE THIEF IS CAUGHT?

After the Mam'zelles left her office, Miss Grayling had some serious thinking to do. Although the two French teachers had blamed Mr. Young for the thefts recently plaguing the school, Miss Grayling could not accuse one of her teachers of such a crime with no evidence. And, after all, Mr. Young was English- he had a sense of honour, and Miss Grayling could not picture him stealing!

'There is only one thing to do,' thought Miss Grayling to herself. 

The next morning, Miss Grayling called staff meeting in her office, with all teachers in attendance.

"Good Morning," said Miss Grayling, in her clear, solemn voice. "Unfortunately, we have not gathered here for celebratory purposes. It has come to my attention that valuable objects and money have been stolen from several teachers, and despite an accusation-" here she glanced at Rougier and Dupont, both smiling widely- "I do not wish to incriminate any teacher without evidence. Therefore, I wish to organise a search of all of your rooms and offices, conducted by yourselves- if you agree. Teachers, what say you?"

"Oh, I think it is a fabulous idea!" trilled Mam'zelle Dupont.

"Me too!" chimed in Miss Potts. "It's time this thief is brought to justice!"

The other teachers murmured their consent, including Rougier, who surprisingly had a smile on her face. She had foreseen something like this happening- and had planned accordingly!

That evening,  when the girls were tucked into bed, the teachers commenced their search for the stolen items, working in teams of two. Much to his dismay, Mr Young was not paired with the Mam'zelle he wanted to be with- instead of Rougier, he was stuck with the bumbling Mam'zelle Dupont, who treated him like he was a dirty criminal! Together, the reluctant pair had to search Mam'zelle Rougier's office and room. 

Rougier herself was paired with Miss Peters, the sensible and firm mistress of the Third Form- and their assigned room was none other than Mr. Young's!

"Did you have anything stolen from you?" asked Mam'zelle Rougier as they headed towards Mr. Young's office, knowing perfectly well she had pinched the other teacher's wallet and at least two of her antique rings.

"Yes, just my wallet and some heirloom family rings," replied the other teacher sadly. Mam'zelle Rougier smiled sympathetically as she tried to remember how much money she had extracted from the teacher's wallet. Had it been fifteen pounds, or twenty-five?

As Rougier and Miss Peter's arrived at Mr. Young's room, the Englishman and Mam'zelle Dupont were searching Mam'zelle Rougier's office. 

"I cannot find anything!" said Mam'zelle Dupont, triumphant that her fellow Frenchwoman was innocent. Mr Young, on the other hand, was busy snooping around the dimly-lit room for any clues or pictures of Agathe. Suddenly, he caught sight of what appeared to be snake droppings. But before he could investigate, Mam'zelle Dupont grabbed his arm and dragged him out of the office! 

'Nosy little thief,' thought Dupont to herself. How dare he try to steal from the virtuous Agathe right in front of her?

Meanwhile, the 'virtuous' Rougier and Miss Peters had reached Mr. Young's office and begun their search- and unsurprisingly to Agathe, it yielded results!

"Look at this," said Miss Peters grimly, pulling aside a curtain to reveal a pile of empty wallets. "I think we have our thief!"

"I cannot believe this!" exclaimed Rougier, opening a drawer to reveal a pile of gold objects she herself had stolen. 

"Bagpipes?" questioned Miss Peters, fishing the instrument out from under Mr. Young's desk. 

"Well, he is a music teacher after all," quipped Agathe. 

The two teachers hurried to Miss Grayling's office, clutching the large and unwieldy bagpipes and several wallets as evidence.

"I see," said Miss Grayling solemnly. "It looks like Mr. Young was the thief after all. Thank you for your good work- would you mind calling all the other teachers back to my office?"

Once the teachers had assembled, curiously eyeing the enormous bagpipes on Miss Grayling's desk, the Headmisstress began to speak.

"Thank you for your search, teachers," said Miss Grayling. "Unfortunately, it looks like we have our thief. Mr. Young, please step forward."

Mam'zelle Dupont let out a huge gasp and immediately jumped back from Mr Young as if she had just found out he had the plague. "Sinner," hissed Rougier.

The accused teacher himself wore an expression of intense shock.

"But how could this be?" He exclaimed. "I'm not a thief- I swear!"

Indeed, he was telling the truth, but no teacher would believe him- that is, except Rougier, who knew perfectly well that she was the thief! While Mr Young was teaching the other day, Mam'zelle Rougier had slipped into his office and planted everything she had stolen from Malory Towers into his office. She had no intention of being caught- until she had those Ming Vases in her hands!