The Glass Bird Girl by Esme Kerr

Belinda,’ Phoebe said spitefully. ‘We all know why Helen’s made you a Venetian magnifico – because you’re fat!’
    Belinda’s face crumpled.
    â€˜That’s horrid,’ Rose said quietly.
    â€˜Oh, shut up, clinging Rose!’ Phoebe said tauntingly. ‘It’s a good thing Belinda’s so fat – if she was any smaller you’d smother her!’
    â€˜Lay off, Phoebe,’ Edie said in disgust.
    But Phoebe had not finished. ‘And we all know why you’ve been cast as the maid, little Edie,’ she sneered. ‘It’s because you’re like a maid. Anyone can see you don’t belong here.’
    Then, ‘Ouch!’ Phoebe cried, as she was silenced by a resounding slap.
    Everyone gasped. But Edie looked more startled than anyone. She stood staring stupidly at her hand, as if it were something quite separate from her.
    â€˜ Edith Wilson! ’ came a voice that made her heart turn. The Man had appeared. Her face was dark red, and her eyes looked even more protuberant than usual. ‘Come here,’ she said.
    Edie walked up to her, wondering what was going tohappen next. She had an unusual feeling that the whole incident had nothing to do with her, as though she were merely watching a scene in a play.
    â€˜What provoked this?’
    To tell or not to tell? Edie said nothing. The other girls watched uneasily, for Miss Mannering’s expression did not bode well. But then Anastasia spoke up.
    â€˜It wasn’t Edie’s fault, Miss Mannering. It was Phoebe who started it. Edie was only trying to stick up for me.’
    â€˜Phoebe? Have you anything to say?’ Miss Mannering asked briskly.
    Phoebe shook her head, nursing her cheek theatrically. ‘I don’t know what it was about,’ she lied.
    Miss Mannering looked doubtful. ‘I suspect there was more to this altercation than meets the eye. But in this school we do not settle our differences with physical violence. Edith,’ she said, folding her arms, ‘you will apologise to Phoebe immediately.’
    Edie turned to Phoebe, but when she saw Phoebe’s satisfied smirk her throat burned with anger.
    â€˜Edith?’
    Edie glowered. She wasn’t sorry. This time she couldn’t lie.
    â€˜Very well, I have no option but to report this incident to Miss Fotheringay,’ Miss Mannering said coldly. ‘And meanwhile, to help you reflect on your behaviour, you will look up in your Bible the twenty-ninth verse of the fourteenth chapter of Proverbs , and write it out one hundred times. You will have plenty of time in which to do so – until you have proven to me that you can controlyour temper you will be gated on Saturdays. And for the rest of this week you will go without cake at tea.’
    The other girls looked shocked. Edie supposed that even by Miss Mannering’s standards this punishment was harsh. She burned with humiliation. She didn’t care about cake or gatings – she’d be out of here soon enough – but the thought of going to see Miss Fotheringay worried her more than she cared to admit.

    As they filed into the dining room for tea Edie was aware of the other girls looking at her. She sensed they all felt she had gone too far.
    â€˜Poor you,’ said Sally, sitting next to her and watching as Edie picked at her slice of buttered bread. ‘The Man’s not usually as bad as that. It may be the . . . you know, the thing I told you about. But I bet she’ll lift the punishments when you apologise.’
    But Edie was still simmering. She would not apologize to Phoebe, not after the things she’d said. And if Miss Mannering wasn’t usually so bad, then why had she come down on her so hard? Edie was starting to suspect the deputy headmistress had developed a particular dislike for her after the incident over the shoe box.
    â€˜Edie, you – you will apologise, won’t you?’ Sally asked