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How to Read “Inez of the Upper IV”
The story of Inez de Vries unfolds through a series of documents—some official, pulled from the prim and unforgiving files of Saint Clare’s School for Girls; others are more intimate, drawn from the journals, letters, and scribbled notes of the girls themselves. Some will appear typed and orderly; others will retain the texture of handwriting, rendered in a cursive-style font. Readers are invited to step into the role of archivist, assembling the story from these traces, and imagining the lives that fill the gaps between pages—the tensions, the alliances, the secrets too dangerous to write down. Not everything will be explained. But Inez is watching. And she remembers.
Note: Comments are read and much appreciated. Much as I like reading them on Twitter and Bluesky, I love getting them here and promise to respond. Moreover your responses and ideas are included in the archives and may shift and change the story’s evolution.
Forward to the Elwood Files
It is one of the consolations of life in a girls’ boarding school that, although hairbrushes vanish before prayers only to reappear at bedtime, knee socks sag at inspections, and knicker elastic betrays its wearers at the worst possible moments, one may always rely upon the ingenuity of the pupils. The present dossier — christened in pencil The Elwood File — began with a folded scrap of green ink and a doodled key, and swelled, in due course, to the proportions of a minor parliamentary scandal. Or so it felt to Ronnie Elwood at any rate.
The dramatis personae require only the briefest introduction. Veronica (Ronnie) Elwood (Upper V) is amiable and obliging, with a handwriting that proclaims every secret long before she intends it. Inez de Vries (Upper IV) is armed with both daring and design, seldom without a plan calculated to vex her elders. Keeping them under ceaseless watch is Georgina Fairfax, Senior Prefect, whose close supervision might well recommend her to the quietly vigilant MI5. Among the staff, Matron persists with her infallible spoonfuls of of cod-liver oil, Miss Kelley keeps a close eye on her house with rather sharper judgement than some expect, and the Headmaster, from his lofty perch, maintains that martyrs are not to be manufactured at any cost.
The scheme itself — to smuggle a page of prose through the mighty bulwark of school protocol, hidden inside another girl’s letter home — did not succeed. Prefects pounced, staff rummaged, and the mail-bag emerged none the wiser. And yet — here is the rub — Lady de Vries, many miles away, somehow contrived to receive the very intelligence intended for her, and with remarkable promptness.
How Lady de Vries came by her intelligence is not disclosed in these pages. That she had it — and was corresponding about her daughter with the Headmaster before the week was out – is beyond dispute. The archivist can only remark that Saint Clare’s leadership is already discovering how very little control remains within its grasp.
Having trouble with the handwriting? Try the simple font version.
Notes Found
[Folded small; tiny key inked at the top.]
Strictly Between Us — Dispose Wisely
Do you have space in your letter home for a stowaway?
Thought you might add something for me next time you send yours — nothing shocking, just something better not left in the St. Clare’s pigeonholes. I’d owe you a favour (real currency, not just toffee).
Your mum wouldn’t mind a stowaway page, would she?
P.S. Your hair looks like it’s plotting mutiny today. In the best way.
Margin (G. Fairfax): 11/6 — confiscated, folded tw
[Back of Latin textbook]
I could! Mummy wouldn’t think twice. She loves getting anything in the post. But is it, you know, about anyone here? (Not that I mind!)
And what sort of favour? (I’m not much for toffee, but I am fond of cocoa powder for late cocoa.)
P.S. Mutiny accepted as compliment.
Margin (G. Fairfax): 11/6 — same hand as Elwood’s Latin prep.
[Triangle fold, key again]
Not a scandal, promise. Just quicker this way.
Will slip it into your book after prep — front cover, inside flap.
Eyes only yours.
Debt = the good cocoa tin from Upper 4 shelf.
Margin (G. Fairfax): 11/6 — found in Elwood’s Latin grammar.
Perfect! Bring it to lunch tomorrow.
We post before tea, and Mummy won’t notice.
She likes letters long — one more leaf won’t show.
Margin (G. Fairfax): 11/6 — confirms intent. Sent up to Staff Room.
[Note slightly crumpled, folded in a tight square, slipped under Inez’s a blotter, smudged where the ink met the heel of the writer’s hand, or maybe tears]
I missed all of free reading after supper for those dreary lines.
“Truth must walk in the light, and never trade in shadow.”
100 times in my best hand. And Georgina watching so close she could smell the ink. My wrist is stiff and I kept losing my place because she made me do it on that terrible blue unlined paper. But I swear I didn’t give anything away. Not about you. Not about the letter. I think they knew anyway. Maybe they always do.
It’s strange — I kept thinking, halfway through, that this is what it costs to do things the clever way. And I wanted to see it through, even if it hurt. Everyone is asking what I was caught at. I didn’t tell them anything, even that it wasn’t my idea.
Don’t worry, I’ll keep it all to myself. To the death!
[Note folded into a pellet and tucked into Ronnie’s Latin primer]
B.A.R. — burn after reading —
I believe you about not giving anything away. That’s rarer than gold in this place. You’ve just learnt the first rule of the clever way: it’s never free. There’s always a price, and sometimes you don’t even get to choose what you pay it in.
I swear I won’t use you like that again. Not unless it really matters.
I promise too they don’t always know. That’s why we try.
Prefect and Head Girl Notes and Annotations
[See annotations attached to found Ronnie and Inez notes]
From: Georgina
To: Miss Sally Hartley (Head Girl)
Found in Veronica Elwood’s Latin Grammar during prep. Appears to be a covert arrangement to send unauthorised correspondence off-campus. Forwarding for your prompt attention as letters go out first thing in the morning.
— G. Fairfax, Senior Prefect
To: Miss Kelley
From: Sally Hartley (Head Girl)
Date: Sunday, 11 June 1955
Subject: Unauthorized Correspondence – Elwood / de Vries
Miss Kelley,
During evening prep, Senior Prefect Fairfax discovered an exchange of notes possibly between Veronica Elwood (Upper V) and Inez de Vries (Upper IV). The contents indicate that de Vries may intend to pass an enclosed page for off-campus posting via Elwood’s personal letter to her mother.
Per school rules, any letter sent in another girl’s envelope is considered a breach of postal regulations and a potential means of avoiding appropriate oversight. I have confiscated the latest note and am holding it pending your review.
No indication of seditious content, but the secrecy and timing suggest deliberate evasion. As you are de Vries’s form mistress, you may wish to question her matter directly. I have spoken briefly to Elwood mentioning the importance of the school’s postal protocol. She claims the note, despite being found in her Latin text, was not for her.
Ronnie’s Letter Home – Found Inside the Envelope
[Examined 12 June; not forwarded]
Dearest Mummy,
I hope you are very well, and that Daddy has not been cross about the mower not starting. We had quite a jolly service this morning — we sang O God Our Help in Ages Past, and Angela Rogers went faint in the third verse and had to be carried out (she looked rather pleased with herself afterwards).
It is warmer now, though Miss Clark still makes us wear our jumpers at morning roll-call. Yesterday on the hockey field Georgina tried to demonstrate a “new” corner strategy which was only the old one backwards. I do not think even she believed it.
We are to have sausages twice this week, because the kitchen was sent a larger order by mistake. Everyone cheered when Matron read it out. The younger girls say we shall grow tails, which would not be so bad, at least we would have something to wag during arithmetic.
I am still reading The Four Marys. It is so much more exciting than David Copperfield, though Miss Kelley would perhaps not approve or agree if she knew. Please, could you send another bottle of ink? Mine leaked inside my trunk and the whole bottom looks like the Black Sea.
Give my love to Daddy and the boys and to Tibbles (even if she is still sulking under the sofa).
Your affectionate daughter,
Ronnie
[Insert found enclosed in the same envelope]
Dear Mrs. Elwood,
Might I trouble you most particularly to enclose the following page in a fresh envelope and forward it to my beloved mother? It would be the very greatest kindness, and I am in your debt.
Inez de Vries
[Insert found enclosed in the same envelope]
Mummy dear,
You will have had some account of my recent “antics” by now, so I may as well set the record straight before it grows more theatrical. The geography essay — late, I grant you — was delayed by my search for better sources. Mr. Green disagreed, issued six with the tawse, Saturday detention, and thirty cane strokes for good measure. Mr. Johnson, with greater judgement, reduced them to twelve.
Matron inspected me as though I might expire, then prescribed cod-liver oil and an early night. I suspect she enjoyed the performance more than she let on.
The staff are divided — some waiting for me to misstep, others plainly entertained. The girls are calling it “a show worth tickets,” which I find fair enough.
If you can reply without causing the usual stir, please do. And should anyone ask, you might say you’ve urged me to “channel my energy.” It sounds respectable enough.
Ever your impenitent,
Inez
Punishment Notations – V. Elwood:
PREFECT REPORT – BLUE HOUSE
Date: Sunday, 11 June 1955 (Prep)
During prep, while making the usual round of the room, I observed an exchange taking place under the desk in the corner by the window. On inspection I found a folded slip of paper, which I at once confiscated.
The handwriting, ink, and general style were plainly Elwood’s, whose Latin exercises I had checked earlier that day. The slip had been passed in the direction of de Vries, and the books and belongings on that desk were hers
The note referred to the carrying of a second piece of correspondence within a letter home. This amounts to an attempt to avoid the school’s postal rules. The supposed second paper was not discovered.
I delivered the confiscated note to the Housemistress immediately, together with this report.
Respectfully submitted,
Miss Georgina Fairfax
Senior Prefect, Blue House
Prefect Punishment Assignment
Date: Sunday, 11 June 1955
Student: Veronica Elwood, Upper V
Offence: Agreeing to carry unapproved letter for another girl.
Sanction: Lines for Reflection
Write out 100 times, in best hand:
“Truth must walk in the light, and never trade in shadow.”
Completed before bedtime, under Senior Prefect supervision in the Prefects’ Blue Room.
Note: Girl kept eyes on the page, spoke only when spoken to. Expressed she “only wanted to help.”
Assigning Prefect: Miss Georgina Fairfax, Senior Prefect
Head’s Notes
From: Miss Kelley
To: Headmaster
Date: 12 June 1955
Subject: Unauthorized Correspondence – Elwood / de Vries
Headmaster,
Further to the enclosed report from the Head Girl and Prefects, I have spoken with Veronica Elwood, who admits to nothing beyond agreeing to post a longer letter home than usual. She claims not to have read the inserted page.
It seems to me that Veronica’s maturity is somewhat less than her years would suggest, and she is easily led by others more determined. Inez de Vries, meanwhile, continues to deny any intent to misuse the post, though she is clearly at the centre of the matter.
I have impressed upon both girls the seriousness of such arrangements, and have passed Ronnie’s confiscated letter and the relevant slips to your file.
Anne Kelley
[Headmaster’s notation to file]
This sort of thing grows roots if not nipped. Elwood to be questioned; I will speak with de Vries myself. Keep any discipline proportionate — they’ll make martyrs of themselves otherwise.
This does not, however, answer the question of how Lady de Vries came to learn so promptly of what transpired on the 9th and 10th of June.
Muriel’s Letters
Mrs. Fredrick J. Elwood
14 June 1955
Dear Miss Kelley,
I trust this note finds you in good health, and that you and the girls are keeping reasonably cheerful in spite of the unsettled weather.
I am sorry to intrude upon your time, but I cannot help writing, for my daughter Veronica is unfailingly punctual in her correspondence, and yet no letter has come this week. I have waited through two posts, hoping each might bring it, but without success. As you will appreciate, one begins to wonder whether the mails have gone astray, or whether she has been prevented from writing.
May I beg you to reassure me that she is perfectly well, and that Matron has observed no cause for concern? Veronica has always had a delicate chest, and though I do not wish to trouble you with needless alarm, I cannot be easy until I hear that she has been spared any chill.
Should there have been some irregularity with the letters, I should be obliged to know of it. Of course I quite understand that the school has its reasons for exercising oversight, though I am sure such measures are only resorted to when absolutely unavoidable.
With thanks for your kind attention to a mother’s anxieties, and with every good wish,
Yours sincerely,
Muriel née Sloan
Mrs. Fredrick J. Elwood
14 June 1955
My most dearest darling girl,
Still no letter from you! You cannot think how disappointed I have been at each post, looking in vain for your familiar hand. You have always been so reliable in writing each Sunday, and I quite counted on it; you know it is the bright spot of my week. It makes me anxious to imagine what might have hindered you.
Do please write at once and set my mind at rest. Tell me that you are perfectly well, and that you have not neglected to wear your wool undervest simply because the calendar claims it is summer — the weather is treacherous, and I should not forgive myself if you caught a chill.
I cannot help noticing, my dear, that you are beginning to be as remiss as your brothers. At least one of them is married now, and I fear his wife does not allow him the leisure to remember his mother as he ought. The one at Oxford pleads that he studies far too hard to spare a moment for a letter. And so it seems you are all determined to keep me in the dark — though I had thought I might rely upon my daughter to do better.
As for the boys still at home, they send you their love “of a sort,” though chiefly, I think, to excuse themselves for having eaten the biscuits intended for your next parcel. They expect me to supervise the cook in making more, of course. Truly, it feels as if I spend half my life in the kitchen, yet nothing ever lasts more than a day in this house.
If there has been any muddle with letters at school, you must let me know. I dislike muddles exceedingly, and one cannot help wondering where the fault lies.
I could hardly sleep last night for imagining all sorts of horrors.Your father was most vexed.
I look forward impatiently to your next letter, which I hope will arrive without further delay.I have also written to your housemistress to ensure myself your well-being.
Your loving Mummy
Saint Clare’s School for Girls
16 June 1955
Dear Mrs. Elwood,
I trust this letter finds you well, and that your family is in good health. Thank you for your note of concern regarding Veronica.
I am writing to let you know that Veronica’s most recent attempt at a letter home could not be forwarded in its present form. This is not a matter for concern, but rather a reminder that young people sometimes struggle to find the right balance when setting down their thoughts. I have assured her that she will have further opportunity to write again, and I shall take care to guide her accordingly.
In the meantime, please be reassured that Matron has found no cause for alarm. As a precaution she is ensuring that Veronica is dosed with cod-liver oil each evening before bed, and reports that your daughter bears this with excellent spirits.
With kind regards,
Yours sincerely,
Anne Kelley
cc. files
| Post Title | Date Posted |
| Teaser – “Inez of the Upper Fourth” – a Saint Clare Summer Saga | 21 July 2025 |
| Saint Clare School Justifications or A Few Explanations for the Inconsistencies That Are Absolutely Not My Fault) | 22 July 2025 |
| Waiting for Inez – It’s your own time you’re wasting… | 23 July 2025 |
| Start HERE: Inez’s Detention Essay | 24 July 2025 |
| Inez of the Upper IV – Cast of Characters | 25 July 2025 |
| The Real Motto of Saint Clare’s School for Girls | 27 July 2025 |
| The Staffroom Files Part 1: Inez of the Upper Fourth | 29 July 2025 |
| Notations from Matron’s Logbook: Inez of the Upper 4th | 30 July 2025 |
| Staff Meeting Transcript – Inez of the Upper IV | 2 August 2025 |
| Inez’s Diary, 19 June 1955 | 3 August 2025 |
| Clarissa’s Letters Home or The Jelly Baby Files | 11 August 2025 |
| The Elwood Files – Inez of the Upper IV | 17 August 2025 |
From Mija: I’ve really appreciated all of the recent comments. My slower posting is not due to waning interest (far from it!) but is due to traveling back to California from the UK and, sadly, catching covid. I’m doing fine and hope I can get several more posts completed in the time between now and in the Oasis Party at the end of August.
Oh, the plot thickens with the spice and flavor of espionage. The prefects have eyes like eagles and even the best laid plans go astray. Wonderfully done!
Thank you! I swear I’m so excited about this project I dream about Saint Clare some nights. My only frustration is keeping things organized enough so I remember which pieces go where and belong to whom.