"I think we should both expire if we make this a third sleepless night," Nell murmured ruefully as she stretched out on top of the bedcovers late on Sunday evening. Herr Siebur had called at the pension at around twenty o'clock to say the weather for tomorrow looked well, and we should be ready to meet him at half past five. Accordingly, we had insisted the girls have an early night, and there had been few protests; even the buzz of excitement at the planned expedition to the Stubai glacier didn't seem, if I was any guess, to have kept them awake too long after we sent them up to bed.

I grinned down at her. "You're showing your age, Nell."

She swiped goodnaturedly at me. "Which you ought to accord some respect, young lady. If we weren't looking at such an early start tomorrow, I could be persuaded, but I am definitely too old for such climbs as tomorrow's without some amount of rest beforehand."

I crossed the room to begin my nighttime toilet. "I'm sure the early start won't do much to improve Eustacia's mood, either."

Nell's face darkened. "No, indeed. I suppose we might hope that the girls are excited enough about seeing the glacier to not rise to it. Eustacia must shake down into her proper place, and in the meantime it will do Jo good to meet with someone who didn't instantly fall under her insouciant charm. All the same, I can't help but wish it wasn't casting such a cloud over our exeat!"

"Well, don't let's think about that now..."

I woke to the sound of Nell in the hallway, rousing the girls with a brisk vigour I didn't imagine they would thank her for. Already? I didn't open my eyes, savouring the last moments in bed. Warm, soft, comfortable bed...

Nell crept across the room and slipped in beside me. "Time to get up, my darling," she whispered.

Still refusing to open my eyes, I pulled her towards me hungrily. She smothered a cry. "Con! You'll get me all creased if you carry on like that. Now get up, lazy object." She gave me a lingering kiss and stood up, pulling the covers back with her.

The cold of the early morning hit me and I gasped, ready to protest most strenuously; but then I caught her looking at me under the dim electric light, undisguised desire written all over her face, and the words died away unuttered. When she spoke her voice had dropped a register lower than usual: "I'm going to go now... make sure everyone is up and getting ready..."

Many weeks later, I would recall this unspoken exchange and comment that nobody had ever looked at me like that before. Momentarily I would regret my unguarded comment, suspecting it unlikely the sentiment would be matched - until I saw Nell look back at me, grey eyes steady with her usual frank honesty: "I've never felt like that about anyone before, either."

Alone, I resisted the urge to tug back the covers and rose, swiftly dressing in climbing knickers and nailed boots. I could hear Nell, commenting unsympathetically on sundry complaints of tiredness and cold emanating from the other rooms, chivvying the girls along.

It was still dark when we left to meet Herr Siebur, who greeted us with the comment that it looked to be a good day and he hoped we might at least get in sight of the glacier. I felt a little thrill, and saw it reflected on numerous young faces. We set off and some of the less experienced girls grumbled at the steady pace our guide was setting, though these complaints were quickly jumped on by those who knew enough to appreciate the energy conserved by setting off 'slowly'.

Over breakfast, Jo distinguished herself by managing to upset her coffee all over Eustacia, of all people. What next? I wished, not for the first time, that this troublesome girl had had somewhere else to go this half-term.

Miss Wilson leapt to her feet, and hurried forward to investigate matters. "Joey! What on earth were you doing? What possessed you to wave your cup about like that?—Are you hurt, Eustacia?"

"I'm—I'm all wet!" stammered Eustacia. 'All that hot coffee! I wish I'd never come!—You did that on purpose, Josephine Bettany!"

Joey stared. "I say, that's rot," she said seriously. "I never meant to wet you. It was an accident. I never thought the beastly thing would go in like that. I say, I hope you aren't scalded or anything like that? Let me mop you up."

"It wasn't an accident!" raged Eustacia. "You did it on purpose! You are always doing things like that to me! But you needn't think you can always do it, because I shall jolly well pay you back—"

"Eustacia! Be quiet!" cried Miss Wilson, breaking in on the torrent of words. "Have you taken leave of your senses? Come here, and let me dry you, child, and kindly don't talk like that again. Of course it was an accident.—Though I must say, Joey, it was one that might have been avoided. What possessed you to swing the thing like that?"

But Eustacia was in a flaming temper and she didn't care who knew it. "Of course you take Jo Bettany's side!" she exclaimed. "You all do—always! It's rank favouritism—"

I opened my mouth to interject with a sharp rebuke - how dare she? - but Nell beat me to it:

"Be quiet at once" said Miss Wilson sternly. "How dare you speak to a mistress like that?—Joey, kindly finish your coffee—the rest of you as well.—Eustacia, stand still!"

Her voice calmed the excited Eustacia a little. Miss Wilson had rarely spoken in such a tone to any girl all the time she had been at the Chalet School. As for the others, they made haste to finish off their meal and pack up. All in all, it was a much subdued atmosphere as we continued our ascent, and I inwardly cursed this difficult child who seemed able to single-handedly ruin any trip.

But the bad feeling seemed to ease as we climbed, Nell keeping up a steady flow of physiographic observations, and by the time we finally reached the glacier and took in its magnificence, such petty squabbles were duly dwarfed. The sun's rays, striking across the ice, turned it to a thousand diamonds. But it was not white, as many of them had supposed it would be, it was a greenish-blue, even more wonderful to see. Had it not been for the tinted glasses they now wore some of them might have suffered snow-blindness. As it was, they were able to look in comfort at the mighty crown of the mountain, even though they were only touching the edge of it.

For ten minutes Herr Siebur let them look, then he came up to Miss Wilson and said something in a low tone, pointing, as he spoke, over his right shoulder. The mistress turned and looked. In the sky, hitherto clear, were some yellowish clouds, coming up with slow determination. She uttered an exclamation. She knew what those clouds might mean. "Girls," she said, "we must get back now! Fall into rank and turn back.—Miss Stewart, will you lead, please? I will tail off."

Following their gaze across the horizon, I didn't need telling twice. I hurried down the mountainside, clutching Ruth and Dorothy to me, eyes trained on the little Alpinists' hut we were aiming for. It seemed very far away, and our progress horribly slow. I did not dare glance behind.