‘Katharine . . .’ came the warning voice, and swiftly Kate knelt down at the end of the line.

Miss Denham passed down the line, placing the end of the ruler on the floor and measuring the height of each gym-slip hem from the floor. It was about two inches. Kate glanced down, knowing, with a sinking heart, what she would see. Her own tunic was longer than everyone else’s, its hem wrinkling against the bare boards.

She watched as Miss Denham paused in front of Brenda, measuring carefully. Kate could see that the girl was bending her body forward slightly so that the hemline came a little nearer the floor. Miss Denham passed on without comment and Kate could almost hear Brenda’s relief.

They were standing before Kate and there was no need for the ruler. ‘Stand up, Katharine,’ the voice boomed. As she did so, Miss Denham grasped the hem of Kate’s gym-slip and, turning it up, inserted the scissors into Esther Godfrey’s neat stitching and cut the thread. There was a tearing sound as she ripped the hem undone.

‘Go down to Miss Ogden’s room and ask her to supply you with needle and thread. You will sew up this hem to the correct length tonight. And another thing, Katharine, I am not satisfied with the neatness of your plait. You know the rule, unless you can plait your hair neatly in a single plait down your back, you must have it cut short.’

Kate’s face flamed and when the two women had left the room, noise broke out on all sides.

‘Phew! That was a close one. I thought I’d had it!’ said Brenda.

‘She didn’t even look at my shoes,’ the other girl said petulantly, then cheered up. ‘Still, at least I’ve found them.’

‘Ya’d better get goin’, Ka-ate,’ Isobel mimicked. ‘Else ya’ll be up ’alf the night a-plaiting yar hair.’

Kate turned and left the room, the sound of their laughter following her along the corridor.

*

The days crawled by and she had been at the school two weeks. Two weeks in which she had hardly been able to eat. Fourteen days of sitting beneath Miss Denham’s gaze, for the Principal had ordered her to sit beside her for every meal instead of moving to Miss Ogden’s table.

Miss Ogden had been the only person to show even a glimmer of kindness, but that was made tentatively, as if she herself feared reprisals should she show too much sympathy towards the new girl. In the classroom Miss Ogden was patient, and Kate felt as if the young teacher would have liked to display more understanding but dared not show favouritism in front of the rest of the class. As for the other girls – led on by the three who had assumed the role of her tormentors, Isobel, Brenda and Hazel – there was not one friendly word from any of them.