The Feud in the Chalet School

If Miss Holroyd had never decided to move her school: if some careless idiot had not tossed a smouldering cigarette-end on to the grass that was dry as tinder: if Miriam Ashley had been a person of humbler mind and less obstinacy: if above all, the Middles hadn’t been like most Middles, young demons when roused: if, in fact, most things had been different, this story would not have been written.It all began a year before, when Miss Holroyd finally decided to start a school in Switzerland for girls whose parents could not afford the fees of the expensive finishing schools, but who would be glad if their daughters might have two or three terms abroad with special attention to languages.