THE WORTH OF ONE

THE WORTH OF ONE - A C H R I S T M A S STORY By Tessa Harvey     Not far away, lights glowed suddenly in the principal's residence. It was slightly set apart from the junior and senior boarding houses. The school was girls only and most were day pupils. Further down the road was the boys college. As yet there were more staff here and so the early arriving boarders were of both sexes.         The principal sighed. Tomorrow, two more pupils would arrive. They were "on trial." "What a silly expression," thought Mrs. O'Leary to herself the following morning. The two new pupils were siblings and supposedly "on trial." "On trial for what?" she wondered.     They had been scheduled to arrive a little before lunch, and the young girl, Veronica and the boy Augustus were already fast friends.     Maureen O'Leary hid a smile as she saw them exchange quick glances, a little unnerved by her presence. They were waiting for the new arrivals in h...

THE WORTH OF ONE - A C H R I S T M A S STORY  By Tessa Harvey     Huddled over her schoolwork in an otherwise empty classroom, Veronica struggled with some math problems. The glowing strawberry jam was lovely, but the cold toast and meagre amount of butter was not. Only an elderly kitchen assistant had tiredly supervised Veronica's solitary breakfast. Out of the corner of her eye, Veronica checked the small window at the top of the door....no flash of face as Mrs. Smith scowled and disappeared silently. Trying to catch me out, thought the girl resentfully. "Why am I here alone, anyway? No-one will explain." Suddenly footsteps clattered down the outside corridor, drawing nearer. Obviously not Silent Smith! There were two sets of clattering feet, one lighter and quicker. Another girl at last. But it wasn't... A small, smiley boy peered round the dumpy figure of the matron, Mrs. Toogood. Matron tried to smile, ingratiatingly. "Veronica, Lord Cyril's son, August...

THE WORTH OF ONE - A  C H R I S T M A S STORY   By Tessa Harvey     Veronica looked at the school. It towered over her. Her parents had gambled on some investment or other and won, so she had been sent here. Thankfully, for the moment at least, she was alone.     A tiny rabbit hopped over the dewy, daisy-speckled lawn.  The girl kept quite still. The bunny, funny little nose twitching, had not seen her, rubbing at a lovely, fresh tuft of bright green grass.     But out of the corner of her eye, Veronica saw the school cat prowling closer. It was a bad tempered old battleaxe of a black tom cat. Some girls had been nasty to it, but it knew this girl was no threat. It crawled nearer, hind-end quivering. But a mature buck rabbit had been watching. He thumped the ground heavily in warning and with a flash of fluffy white tail, the little bunny had gone.     The black tom, Brutus, strolled away, trying to look as nonchalant as possible, ...