wished they would finish their childish prattle and go on. The wood behind her started to slide.
She jerked away. A sliding door? She felt it and ran her finger along the smooth paneling to the edge where there was now a six-inch opening as high as she could reach and down to the floor. She pushed the door again and it slid easily, going between the two walls. When the opening was wide enough she stepped through it. The cave! She knew it was the cave that Madam Westfall had talked about incessantly.
The space was no more than two feet wide, and very dark. She felt the inside door and there was a knob on it, low enough for children to reach. The door slid as smoothly from the inside as it had from the outside. She slid it almost closed and the voices were cut off, but she could hear other voices, from the room on the other side of the passage. They were not clear. She felt her way farther, and almost fell over a box. She held her breath as she realized that she was hearing Madam Trudeau's voice:
'. be there. Too many independent reports of the old fool's babbling about it for there not to be something to it. Your men are incompetent. '
'Trudeau, shut up. You scare the living hell out of the kids, but you don't scare me. Just shut up and accept the report. We've been over every inch of the hills for miles, and there's no cave. It was over a hundred years ago. Maybe there was one that the kids played in, but it's gone now. Probably collapsed. '
'We have to be certain, absolutely certain. '
'What's so important about it anyway? Maybe if you would give us more to go on we could make more progress. '
'The reports state that when the militia came here, they found only Martha Westfall. They executed her on the spot without questioning her first. Fools! When they searched the house, they discovered that it was stripped. No jewels, no silver, diaries, papers. Nothing. Steve Westfall was dead. Dr. Westfall dead. Martha. No one has ever found the articles that were hidden, and when the child again appeared, she had true amnesia that never yielded to attempts to penetrate it. '
'So, a few records, diaries. What are they to you?' there was silence, then he laughed. 'the money! He took all his money out of the bank, didn't he?'
'Don't be ridiculous. I want records, that's all. There's a complete ham radio, complete. Dr. Westfall was an electronics engineer as well as a teacher. No one could begin to guess how much equipment he hid before he was killed. '
Carla ran her hand over the box, felt behind it. More boxes.
'Yeah yeah. I read the reports, too. All the more reason to keep the search nearby. For a year before the end a close watch was kept on the house. They had to walk to wherever they hid the stuff. And I can just say again that there's no cave around here. It fell in. '
'I hope so,' Madam Trudeau said.
Someone knocked on the door, and Madam Trudeau called, 'Come in. '
'Yes, what is it? Speak up, girl. '
'It is my duty to report, Madam, that Carla did not administer the full punishment ordered by you. '
Carla's fists clenched hard. Helga.
'Explain,' Madam Trudeau said sharply.
'She only struck Lisa nine times, Madam. The last time she hit the chair. '
'I see. Return to your room. '
The man laughed when the girl closed the door once more. 'Carla is the golden one, Trudeau? the one who wears a single black band?'
'The one you manhandled earlier, yes. '
'Insubordination in the ranks, Trudeau? Tut, tut. And your reports all state that you never have any rebellion. Never. '
Very slowly Madam Trudeau said, 'I have never had a student who didn't abandon any thoughts of rebellion under my guidance. Carla will be obedient. And one day she will be an excellent Teacher. I know the signs. '
Carla stood before the Teacher with her head bowed and her hands clasped together. Madam Trudeau walked around her without touching her, then sat down and said, 'You will whip Lisa every day for a week, beginning tomorrow. '
Carla didn't reply.
'Don't stand mute before me, Carla. Signify your obedience immediately. '
'I. I can't, Madam. '
'Carla, any day that you do not whip Lisa, I will. And I will also whip you double her allotment. Do you understand?'
'Yes, Madam. '
'You will inform Lisa that she is to be whipped every day, by one or the other of us. Immediately. '
'Madam, please. '
'You speak out of turn, Carla!'
'I. Madam, please don't do this. Don't make me do this. She is too weak. '
'She will beg you to do it, won't she, Carla? Beg you with tears flowing to be the one, not me. And you will feel the excitement and the hate and every day you will feel it grow strong. You will want to hurt her, want to see blood spot her bare back. And your hate will grow until you won't be able to look at her without being blinded by your own hatred. You see, I know, Carla. I know all of it. '
Carla stared at her in horror. 'I won't do it. I won't. '
'I will. '
They were old and full of hatred for the shiny young faces, the bright hair, the straight backs and strong legs and arms. They said: let us remake them in our image and they did.
Carla repeated Madam Trudeau's words to the girls gathered in the two sleeping rooms on the third floor. Lisa swayed and was supported by Ruthie. Helga smiled.
That evening Ruthie tried to run away and was caught by two of the blue-clad Males. The girls were lined up and watched as Ruthie was stoned. They buried her without a service on the hill where she had been caught.
After dark, lying on the cot open-eyed, tense, Carla heard Lisa's whisper close to her ear. 'I don't care if you hit me, Carla. It won't hurt like it does when she hits me. '
'Go to bed, Lisa. Go to sleep. '
'I can't sleep. I keep seeing Ruthie. I should have gone with her. I wanted to, but she wouldn't let me. She was afraid there would be Males on the hill watching. She said if she didn't get caught, then I should try to follow her at night. ' the child's voice was flat, as if shock had dulled her sensibilities.
Carla kept seeing Ruthie too. Over and over she repeated to herself: I should have tried it. I'm cleverer than she was. I might have escaped. I should have been the one. She knew it was too late now. They would be watching too closely.
An eternity later she crept from her bed and dressed quietly. Soundlessly she gathered her own belongings, and then collected the notebooks of the other girls, and the pens, and she left the room. There were dim lights on throughout the house as she made her way silently down stairs and through corridors. She left a pen by one of the outside doors, and very cautiously made her way back to the tiny space between the floors. She slid the door open and deposited everything else she carried inside the cave. She tried to get to the kitchen for food, but stopped when she saw one of the Officers of Law. She returned soundlessly to the attic rooms and tiptoed among the beds to Lisa's cot. She placed one hand over the girl's mouth and shook her awake with the other.
Lisa bolted upright, terrified, her body stiffened convulsively. With her mouth against the girl's ear Carla whispered, 'Don't make a sound. Come on. 'She half led, half carried the girl to the doorway, down the stairs, and into the cave and closed the door.
'You can't talk here, either,' she whispered. 'they can hear. ' She spread out the extra garments she had collected and they lay down together, her arms tight about the girl's shoulders. 'Try to sleep,' she whispered. 'I don't think they'll find us here. And after they leave, we'll creep out and live in the woods. We'll eat nuts and berries. '
The first day they were jubilant at their success and they giggled and muffled the noise with their skirts. They could hear all the orders being issued by Madam Trudeau: guards in all the halls, on the stairs, at the door to the dorm to keep other girls from trying to escape also. They could hear all the interrogations, of the girls, the guards who had not seen the escapees. They heard the mocking voice of the Doctor of Law deriding Madam Trudeau's
