A Thrilling Term At Janeways
Spoilers
Philomela Valentine, at first apparently nervy and little able to cope at school without her twin's support and given to wailing lamentation when things go wrong, shows considerable talent at music. She also displays an interest in the legend of the Great House that - with the help of the Rector - eventually leads to the solving of the Nethecote family mystery and the discovery of a long-lost treasure.
Philippa, the eldest Valentine sister, longs to train as an artist, but their father, himself a painter, refuses to countenance this unless she can prove outstanding talent. Something of an autocrat, Mr. Valentine insists that his daughters wear "artistic" frocks and loosely-flowing long hair, forbids abbreviations of their names and abhors modern slang, including "ripping" and "I say" (although he says "Look here"). He has a low opinion of women painters, but when Philippa wins the Art prize, and her copy of a Fra Angelico painting is stolen by mistake for the genuine article, he relents and promises her four years' study abroad.
Melody Tresillian, the mischievous twin who runs away from school, is accused of ringing the fire bell for a joke and stoutly denies it throughout. It is she who accidentally finds not only the stolen school trophies and supposed Old Master but also the thieves, while breaking bounds in search of a missing cat. Finally, she is absolved of untruthfulness when the fire bell rings unexpectedly, and a cow is discovered pulling at the bell-rope.
Whilst there are no actual links with the Chalet School stories in the way of shared characters or locations, there are several similarities in events and arrangements, notably Spot Supper (including the parodying of Longfellow's "Hiawatha" for one of the speeches).
Janeways' has Senior, Middle and Lower School divisions (and a Special Sixth), and there is reference to "Middles" as being responsible for most of the School's mischief.
Melody is threatened with a fine if she continues to use words such as "beast" and "piggish".
The school uniform includes tunics with silk blouses, brown hats with gold bands, and brown velvet frocks for evening wear.
Some of the Middle School decide to start a society to reform Melody and Philomela, and call themselves the Seven Secret Reformers, or S.S.R..
Harmony Tresillian, a Junior, gets into trouble for using the Senior library because she says the Junior section has only "toshy" books
contributed by Angela Woodgates, England __ working from a hardback edition