The Chalet School Wins the Trick Quiz

Answer: Trying to light a camp fire

Miss Dene is walking to St Mildred's when she sees Solange carrying an armful of wood and the other girls sitting around the beginnings of a camp fire, with Audrey about to light it. She tells the girls off for trespassing on the school's cricket pitch, and for attempting to light a camp fire in an area that not only has multiple wooden houses, but is also close to a pine wood. She also confiscates Audrey's matches and insists on escorting the girls off the premises after they have cleared away the camp fire. Audrey grudgingly clears the wood away, but tells Miss Dene that they will be back.

Len Maynard also encounters the group on her way back from Biddy Courvoisier's house, and she sees Solange running out of the pine wood and slipping on the needles. The group block Len's path, but she stands her ground until Audrey gives up and leaves.

Answer: Relatives at the Sanatorium

The Everett girls' father is suffering from tuberculosis and is a patient at the Sanatorium, as is Val's brother Peter (who has tubercular hip and needs surgery) and Solange's aunt, who is seriously ill and dying. All three are staying at a local boarding house, the Pension Caramie; Celia, Win and Audrey are there with their mother, Val with hers and Solange with Mme Charlot, her aunt's twin sister (her mother is an opera singer and is away on tour).

None of the girls are Guides; Audrey wanted to join, but the local Guide patrol was too far away. She was planning on joining the Camp Fire movement (mentioned in Oxenham's books) after an American teacher told her class about it, but her family moved to Switzerland before she had the chance, and she and her friends were learning how to build a camp fire in the hope that they would be able to start their own chapter. Only Val has red hair.

Answer: Stink bombs

Jo notices Win climbing a bank and calls out to her to get down, as there is a railway line on the other side and Win is in danger of being electrocuted. When Win refuses, Jo climbs up, grabs hold of Win and hands her over to Joan. Len is with the walking group and recognises Win, and she and Ted Grantley take her back to the Pension Caramie. Not only does Win get into trouble, but so do the older girls, and Mrs Everett tries to get in touch with Miss Annersley to ask once again if the girls can be enrolled at the Chalet School, but Miss Annersley is away in England on business.

Val buys stink bombs in Berne, and she and Celia throw them at the prefects (Monica Caird recognises what they are as her brother got into trouble for playing a prank with them at school). The prefects try to figure out who did it, knowing that it is unlikely to have been a Chalet School girl as they would have all been otherwise occupied at the time. At this point, they are not aware of the Pension Caramie group.

Answer: Win falls into the river.

Audrey, Celia, Solange, Win and Val go out for a walk and run into a group of younger Chalet School girls, including Jack Lambert and her friends, on a bridge over a stream. The Pension Caramie group block the Chalet School girls' way and refuse to move after Wanda von Eschenau asks them, so Jack and a few others charge at them and try to rush them. In the chaos that ensues, Jack bangs her head and her hat falls off and lands in the stream, Celia trips over Win and falls on her, and Renata grabs the rail and hurts her arm. Miss Bertram, who is supervising, calls both groups to order and returns to the school, dropping Audrey and her group off at the Pension Caramie on the way.

Matron is naturally very angry with Jack for losing her hat, and she and Arda Peik, another of her friends, are made to apologise to the Pension Caramie group. Renata is dizzy and has to sit down; she writes a letter of apology instead. Miss Annersley tells Mrs Everett and Mrs Gardiner what happened, and the Pension Caramie girls are given punishment lessons by Mrs Everett. Mrs Everett also scolds Audrey for holding a grudge against the school.

Answer: Pepper

Len and Rosamund Lilley play a doubles match with Gerda and Jenny, a pair of girls from the Pension Daubeny, and narrowly beat them, earning loud cheers from Jack and friends (much to the annoyance of Miss Wilmot and Mlle de Lachennais!) When Len and Rosamund get to the dining room, they are confronted by Margot and Con Maynard, who are angry because the food set out for the girls has been covered in pepper, to the point where the dining room is practically toxic and the girls and staff have to cover their mouths. The girls manage to cobble together a meal of bread and butter and salad for the school after washing the pepper off the vegetables, and the Maynards giving them plenty of bottled fruit as a pudding, though Rikki Fry and Sue Mason's attempt at lemonade is not very good.

Surprise, surprise - Celia and Val are responsible for ruining the food (but are never found out, as while the prefects suspect them, they don't have concrete evidence). Interestingly, they are never caught and punished for it at any time in the book. Solange is on holiday in Montreux at the time, while Audrey is preoccupied with her family's problems and Win is too young to join in.

Answer: Verity Carey

After the girls have had their evening meal, Mlle de Lachennais informs them that Roland Carey, Verity's father and Mary-Lou Trelawney's stepfather, has died after having surgery. Miss Annersley has flown out to Britain with Mary-Lou and Verity, and Mlle de Lachennais asks the girls to keep them in their prayers. While Con is sad for Verity, Len is more worried about Mary-Lou as Commander Carey's death means potentially having to give up her degree and career. Both Doris Trelawney and Verity are very dependent on Mary-Lou, and Doris will be alone once Verity leaves home to study music.

Audrey later runs into Mary-Lou after visiting her father in the Sanatorium. She worries aloud that she has nobody to talk to, and Mary-Lou overhears and introduces herself. She returned to Switzerland late the night before, while Verity and Doris have stayed behind, with the Howells siblings keeping an eye on them. Joey also arrives and lets slip that Audrey is due to start at the Chalet School next term, which shocks Audrey so much, she runs away. Audrey later realises it is time to grow up, and asks her mother about the family's money issues. Mrs Everett is surprised, but glad she has someone to talk to.

Answer: Maria Marani

Solange meets Maria Marani, now Maria Maclaren, in Montreux while visiting her cousins. She has changed her mind about the Chalet School after meeting Maria, as Maria told her lots of funny stories about the things she got up to as a pupil, and Solange believes the school can't be all bad if someone as nice as her went there. Maria also explained about how the Chalet School went from the Tyrol to Switzerland. Solange then reveals that she will be going to the Chalet School the next term.

Joey overhears the girls talking and invites them to come on a walk with her, the triplets and Ruey Richardson, as they have been decorating a couple of room for Doris Trelawney to stay in and need a break. They go to the Auberge, where Joey and the triplets show them the echoes. After meeting the Pension Caramie group, Len figures out that Audrey couldn't have been responsible for the pepper trick, as she seems too mature for that, and (correctly) thinks Celia and Val did it.

Answer: In the Elisehütte, a vacant chalet

Miss Yolland's art class is interrupted by a panicking Audrey, who fears that Win has been kidnapped after she chases a butterfly and gets lost. Audrey is distracted as her jeans are torn, and Solange offers to mend them. Luckily, Win turns out to be safe, and Audrey finds her sleeping under a boulder. The Chalet School girls help get her out and Audrey finally gets over her hatred of the school as a result. Unfortunately, Win does not.

A day later, Val and Solange get into an argument over the pronunciation of Maria Maclaren's name and Val storms off in a huff, and Celia goes with her as she is also in a bad mood after being told off for spilling coffee on herself. Solange, Audrey and Win go on a picnic and are caught in a thunderstorm, and have to run for cover. They get to a nearby chalet, where they are joined by Val and Celia, and shelter in the porch. (This later turns out to be the Elisehütte.) Miss Dene and Mrs Everett are there and let the girls in, and Mrs Everett says that all three families will be moving in there together, as they are likely to be living on the Platz for the foreseeable future and the Rutherfords, who lived there previously, have moved out. Audrey apologises to Miss Dene for the camp fire incident.

Answer: Arabian Nights

The Sale is based on the 'Arabian Nights', with the girls dressing up as various characters from the stories. The Maynards' house's stall is based on Aladdin's cave, with coloured cellophane giving it a jewel-like effect. The Everetts, Val and Solange attend the Sale and Joey looks after Win, while the older girls all team up with girls from the Chalet School, who show them around. The Maynards' dog, Bruno, is the subject of a competition to guess his weight, which Audrey wins (the prize is one of Joey's books, and she's a fan). Although Tom Gay has left, she still sends a contribution - it is a set of dolls' houses made by boys in the club she runs, and the competition involves naming them. Solange and the Everetts all enter the competition on Win's behalf, and she wins one of the houses.

(The Sale of Many Nations was in 'Carola Storms the Chalet School', the Spanish Sale was in 'Jane and the Chalet School', and the Dutch Sale happened offscreen.)

Answer: Spilled boiling jam on her hand

Audrey and Solange are at the Sanatorium and Mrs Everett has to take Val and Celia to the dentist, so Win stays at Freudesheim with the little Maynards. Cecil tries to interest her in a picture book, but Win isn't interested. Rösli has to rush to the kitchen when Anna burns her hand and arm while making jam, and helps calm the pain by plunging Anna's arm into the flour bin. Win runs off while the little Maynards are sleeping and throws stink bombs at Miss Ferrars' class, who are outside. Jack Lambert shouts that they came over the wall and Win panics, but also hears Rösli calling for her. She hides in some bushes, but falls down a sinkhole and knocks herself out.

Jack Maynard comes home and takes care of Anna, and Rösli is upset because Win is missing. Jack, Miss Ferrars and a group of Chalet School girls all search for Win and when Joey and the triplets arrive, they join the search, as does Mary-Lou. Mary-Lou recalls Miss Burnett falling down an old well and thinks the same might have happened to Win, and Miss Ferrars, Miss Dene and Jack cut away at the bushes until they find Win. Win is taken back to Freudesheim to recover. Miss Annersley has words with Audrey about the bad example she has set to Win, and Win is also in deep trouble and is not allowed out without supervision. Audrey is upset, and promises to do better.