The Ferret

At St. Ronan's, Susan has a soft spot for her senile Latin teacher, Miss Johnson, known to the girls as Dotty. She respects the head mistress, Miss Phillimore, who is viewed as being tough but fair. But one teacher that nobody likes is the dreaded maths teacher, Miss Ferrier, whom the girls call The Ferret, since she's always "ferreting" around and poking her nose into the girls' lives. In this illustration from Susan at School, the Ferret wants Susan and Tessa expelled on the spot after they mistake her for a burglar, knock her down and lock her in the library during one of their nocturnal excursions. Miss Phillimore, however, praises the girls for their bravery in tackling the "burglar" and seems to take some delight in the sight of the dishevelled Miss Ferrier.