Autumn Term Summary

Warning: this chapter-by-chapter summary is a "spoiler". Don't read on unless you want to know what happens when!

Chapters

1. A Knife with Sixteen Blades
2. 'A Fine of Five Pounds ...'
3. A Form Examination
4. Tim Bags a Desk --
5. -- And Nicola Loses It
6. A New Patrol
7. A First Class Hike
8. A Court of Honour
9. Half-Term
10. Kitchen and Jumble
11. Tim Needs a Note-book
12. Tim Loses her Temper
13. Operation Nelson
14. A Part for Pomona
15. A Form Meeting
16. A Question of Elocution
17. The Prince and the Pauper
18. Marie Puts her Foot in It
19. Holidays Begin Tomorrow

Summary

Summary text copyright Chris Fox, 1999.

Chapter 1: A Knife with Sixteen Blades

Nick and Lawrie are introduced as they are on the train with their sisters on the way to their first term at Kingscote. Their sisters are also introduced: Karen, the Head Girl - awfully clever; Rowan - good at games; Ann - in the Guides, kind and competent with juniors and Ginty - the irresponsible one. Travelling in the corridor of the train, the twins meet Thalia (Tim) Keith, and rashly confide to her their plans for their school careers: getting into the A stream, playing in the junior netball team, joining the Guides. As they are talking, Lawrie accidentally drops Nicola's precious "going away to school" present, a sixteen bladed penknife, out of the train window.

Chapter 2: "A Fine of Five Pounds..."

Nicola pulls the communication cord to stop the train and rescue her knife. Karen panics and is humiliatingly put down by Miss Cromwell. When the train eventually arrives at its destination, Nicola and Rowan walk up to the school together, while the rest of the sisters travel ahead in a taxi, so that Karen can explain the incident to Miss Keith, the headmistress, before Miss Cromwell can. When Nicola and Rowan arrive at the school, they run into Lois Sanger, Rowan's ancient enemy. Nicola is interviewed by Miss Keith, who decides not to make an issue of the train-stopping. She and Lawrie settle into the dormitory which they share with Rowan, Ann and Ginty.

Chapter 3: A Form Examination

Another new girl, of their own age, arrives - Pomona Todd, whom Tim knows and dislikes at home. The twins, along with all the other new pupils, take the examination which will decide which form they are to go into. They find it unexpectedly hard, and end up, not in IIIa, as they had planned they would, but in Third Remove (a sort of coaching form) along with Tim and Pomona.

Chapter 4: Tim Bags a Desk -

On the first day of school proper, Tim causes a stir in Third Remove by getting up early to claim the desks she wants for herself and the twins. There is some argument about this, mostly caused by the unpleasant Marie Dobson, but Tim has her way in the end, and Nicola ends up with a shiny new desk. Pomona doesn't do so well - her desk is in a darkish corner of the room, and she doesn't endear herself to the rest of the form by the childish way she objects to this. Tim, to everyone else's gleeful amusement, nicknames Pomona Pippin. The form jobs are allocated and Nicola ends up as Tidiness Monitor.

Chapter 5: - And Nicola Loses It

Marie Dobson is still disgruntled about Nicola having the shiny new desk, and decides that Pomona should have it instead. Nicola, Lawrie and Tim discover Marie and Pomona switching Nicola's books into Pomona's desk. A tussle ensues, overheard by Karen, who breaks it up and in an effort to be fair and not to be thought to be favouring her sister, decides that Pomona should have the desk, but Nicola the place.

Chapter 6: A New Patrol

Nicola and Lawrie are horrified to find out that Third remove don't play netball, so their plans for playing in the junior team are scuppered. To Tim's dismay, they join the Guides, this being the only one of their plans they have any chance of carrying through, now. But both Pomona and Marie are also in the Guides, as is Lois Sanger, with whom Rowan has just had a huge row, and Nicola, Lawrie and Marie all end up in the same patrol, the Scarlet Pimpernels, headed by Lois.

Chapter 7: A First Class Hike

Lois has to do a hike in order to get her First Class Guide Badge and it is decided that she should take the entire patrol along with her, giving them a chance to bond. Lawrie has rather taken to Lois, and decides to try and be extra helpful to her to make up for Rowan's behaviour. With this in mind, she and Nicola take lots of extra things with them on the hike, including a box of matches each. Lois sees them playing with these and tells them to put them away. They lose time on the hike because Lois read the map wrongly, and the twins offer to take a short cut via a rickyard. Lois agrees, but changes her mind, and sends Marie after them to bring them back. Marie is scared of the farmyard and only pretends to go after them. The rest of the hike goes well (the patrol cooks lunch and Lois reads to them from The Scarlet Pimpernel, revealing her great talent for reading aloud) but is brought to an abrupt end by a farmer who tells them that there has been a fire in the rickyard. The twins are blamed for this, and Lois claims that they ran off without her permission.

Chapter 8: A Court of Honour

Nicola and Lawrie have to appear before a formal Guide court. Lois sticks to her story and Marie claims that the twins saw her trying to call them back and ignored her. They are suspended from the Guides, and Lois is informally reprimanded by the Guide leader for not having run the hike better.

Chapter 9: Half-term

Home for the half term break, Nicola is upset by Karen, Rowan and Ginty's hilarious retailing of the twins' misadventures. She and Lawrie go out with their elder brother Giles, who tells them that they should try and be bad instead of good.

Chapter 10: Kitchen and Jumble

The whole school is involved in a fund-raising effort for the library, and the third form's contribution is to be a bazaar. Third Remove, at first enthusiastic about the venture, are affronted to be offered only the Kitchen and Jumble stalls, and Tim decides that they should withdraw from the bazaar and put on a play instead.

Chapter 11: Tim Needs a Notebook

Having got permission to do this, she volunteers to write a play based on The Prince and the Pauper, in which Nicola and Lawrie will take the leading roles.

Chapter 12: Tim Loses her Temper

Tim starts writing the play, getting up early in the morning in order to do so. She doesn't find it as easy as she expected and she and Nicola have an argument one morning when Tim draws a cartoon on the blackboard, and Nicola, in her role as Tidiness Monitor, wipes it off. Lawrie sides with Tim in the argument.

Chapter 13: Operation Nelson

Nicola, still upset about the argument, and encouraged by Giles's comments at half term, decides to break bounds and go to the nearby port where his ship is being refitted. She successfully gets away from school, and although she only has enough money to buy a single ticket, is confident that Giles will pay the return fare. When she gets to Port Wade, she enjoys wandering around looking at the ships, but cannot find Giles anywhere, and can see no way of getting back to school with no money.

Chapter 14: A Part for Pomona

Nicola eventually finds Giles, who is furious with her for taking him at his word. She travels miserably back to school and manages to get back unobserved. Lawrie has guessed where she has gone, but has kept it to herself. She tells Nicola that there has been an enormous row while Nicola was away, with Tim being told off for being nasty to Pomona, and being told to make sure Pomona has a substantial part in the play.

Chapter 15: A Form Meeting

With the play half completed, Tim has a meeting with the rest of the form to cast it. It is decided that Lawrie will play Tom Canty, the pauper boy, Nick, Edward VI (both Tim and Nicola are surprised that Lawrie actually prefers what they see as the less good role), Pomona will play Henry VIII and the rest of the class will divide up the smaller roles between them. Tim will do the important job of reading the narrative bits which connect the different scenes.

Chapter 16: A Question of Elocution

Rehearsals get underway (somewhat to the detriment of lessons and exams). When Tim comes to rehearse her own part, it is discovered that she reads very badly - so much so that it is in danger of ruining the entire play. Having heard the twins say how well Lois reads, she decides to ask her advice, and Lois offers to do the reading for her.

Chapter 17: The Prince and the Pauper

The day of the play, and it all goes hugely well, with the exception of Marie Dobson, who nearly ruins it and would have done so if the rest of the cast hadn't risen to the occasion.

Chapter 18: Marie Puts her Foot in It

After the play, the twins are congratulated by their family, especially Lawrie, whose acting is quite remarkable. When everyone has gone, they are approached by the Guide leader, who tells them that it has been proven that they did not cause the rickyard fire (and is disappointed that they don't seem more pleased by the news). Marie Dobson overhears this and accidentally lets slip that she lied in the court of honour.

Chapter 19: Holidays Begin Tomorrow

The last day of term and Third Remove are still in the afterglow of their triumph. Lawrie is congratulated by the Sixth Form (in probably the funniest passage in the book) and Tim by Miss Keith. The class realise that they rather like Pomona, after all, and the twins realise that they have managed to succeed at something, even though it wasn't at all something they had planned on.