After about ten minutes it stopped raining and as we lagged behind things began to look quite familiar. And then we realized that he was making for our special tree place.

How did he know about it?

Honey said, “Pwaps the twee weally does have stwange powers?”

Well, it certainly had a big effect on Monty. He threw down his satchel and began skipping round the tree.

“Girls, join in, join hands, join our little fairy throng. Let us make play in the woods, in the green woods.”

We started shuffling around the tree in our raincoats.

“Lightly, girls, lightly, as if you had wings!”

So we did light skipping.

Then he said, “Now, let us talk in fairy language!”

I said, “What if the Woolfe boys come along and see us talking in high-pitched voices and skipping?”

Flossie said, “Well, they’ve seen us wiggling around in front of trees before.”

Monty pursed his lips and started trilling in a tiny tinkling voice. I happened to be next to him in the skipping circle, holding his pudgy hand, and as we skipped he turned to me and tinkled, “Heeeeee … weeee … meeeee. Hewwww.”

And he looked at me all blinky as if expecting something. Flossie, Vaisey, Jo, and the rest had their mouths puckered up. So through my pursed lips I squeaked out in my fairy voice, “Hiddddiddddleeeee didddleeee diddilllleeee.”

Flossie had a coughing fit she was laughing so much.

After half an hour, Jo went up to Monty and said, “Mr. de Courcy, I can’t feel my bottom anymore. Can we go in?”

Monty patted her head. Uh-oh. If I was him I wouldn’t have done that. Jo accidentally stepped on Monty’s foot, quite hard. Then started walking back to Dother Hall.

As we followed her, Monty, slightly hopping, was still in his Shakespeare mood. He gestured after Jo and said, “She was a vixen when she went to school, and though she be but little, she is fierce.”

And trilled with laughter.

As we came out of ballet class that afternoon, I said to Vaisey, “It’s not really fair, is it? You know, ballet for people with my legginess. I mean, if I made Jo do, er … reaching for things on top shelves that wouldn’t be fair on her, would it? Because she’s too short to reach. So that is my point about me and ballet.”

Vaisey said, “I know what you mean, but reaching up to shelves isn’t on our syllabus, is it?”

And we headed up to the dorm.

We were sitting on Vaisey’s bed and Jo was lying on me kicking her legs, complaining. “It’s all right for you, Tallulah, all you’ve got to be worried about is your legs. Phil might be phoning up so that he can dump me.”

Vaisey said, “Why would he do that, he could just not bother getting in touch.”

Honey said, “I think he weally liketh you, Jo, he even liked you when you hit him and jumped on him.”