Fabulous Five 027 - The Scapegoat Read Online Free

States, but when you get to know us
better, you'll find that we're more serious about our science here.
    "Now, class," she went on, turning away as if to
dismiss Christie, "if you'll put your little playthings away, I'll give
you your assignment for tomorrow."
    Christie turned red and sank back into her seat. Her chin
trembled as she wrote down the assignment. Mr. Dracovitch had said the tube
trick was an excellent demonstration of how the eyes and brain worked
together. Why had Miss Finney called it a parlor trick? Wasn't there anything Christie could do that was right in Miss Finney's class? Why was the teacher
treating her this way?

CHAPTER 5
    Christie took the plate of roast beef and Yorkshire pudding
that the server offered her. It smelled delicious. The only problem was that
Christie was so depressed, she wasn't sure she could eat it.
    In the dining room at St. Margaret's, the youngest girls sat
at one end of the room, and the oldest girls at the other. Girls entered St.
Meg's when they were five and went until they were eighteen. A teacher sat at
the head of each table to keep order. Christie made her way toward the table in
the middle of the room, where her class was seated.
    As usual Nicki had everyone's attention. "I thought I'd
get a bike helmet instead of a hunt cap. It would probably protect my noggin
just as well, and a jazzy-looking helmet with red stripes on it would add a
little zing to Connie's horseback-riding party. Might shake up the old
aristocracy a bit, too."
    Laughter rippled along the dining table.
    Christie even thought she saw a twinkle in Miss Woolsey's
eye.
    "Why the sad puss?" Phoebe asked Christie.
    Christie hadn't realized her feelings were showing. "Oh
. . . no reason." She tried to smile.
    "She's probably having second thoughts about getting on
a horse," said Nicki. "Maybe she's never ridden one."
    Christie shook her head. "No. That's not it. There are
horses near where my grandmother lives in Seneca Falls, New York. I used to
ride when we went to visit her."
    "I thought that was a pretty neat trick you showed us
in Miss Finney's class, Christie," volunteered Becca. "I don't think
the old . . ." She stopped and looked at Miss Woolsey. "I don't think
Miss Finney should have said what she did."
    "What did you do, Christie?" asked Eleanore.
    "She showed us how to look through a hole in our hands,"
Becca replied.
    "What?" asked another girl. Becca had gotten Miss
Woolsey's attention, too.
    "I'll show you." Becca pulled a notepad out of the
book bag at her feet. Soon all the girls had asked for paper from Becca and
were trying the experiment.
    Miss Woolsey watched for a moment before she cleared her throat
and said disapprovingly, "Girls, please. The dining room is not a place where experiments are conducted, no matter how interesting they may be.
Please behave as proper ladies."
    The girls reluctantly put their tubes of paper away.
    "What'd Miss Finney say?" Phoebe whispered to
Christie.
    Christie shrugged. "She didn't think it was a very good
experiment."
    "She called it a parlor trick, is what she did,"
said Becca. "But the whole class thought it was great."
    Christie gave Becca a smile of appreciation.
     
    "Should I really get a riding cap and boots, and all
those things?" Christie asked Phoebe and Nicki as they boarded the
double-decker for home.
    "Not really," said Phoebe. "Nicki was only
having fun. There are all sorts of riding caps you can borrow at the Farrells'.
And a pair of shoes and your best jeans are fine."
    "Aw, why did you have to tell her?" asked Nicki. "I
wanted to see how Christie would get herself up."
     
    The next morning Mr. Winchell turned off Motorway A10 at the
Hoddesdon exit. He followed the girls' directions through the little town and
out into the country on the other side.
    Soon they were winding their way between stone-fenced fields
with herds of grazing sheep and thatched-roof houses. At one point they crossed
a small river, and Christie saw ducks floating on