Rachel discovers that when she is fifteen, she may be allowed to train for something else; this excites her, and she vows to send Hilary to the Royal Ballet School as soon as she can. In the meantime she works hard in her own dancing, but she is still disliked by her aunt as she is not enthusiastic and even her best efforts do not make her, though competent, a good dancer. Dulcie, meanwhile, gains a license to work as soon as she is twelve and immediately stars in a continuous line of pantomime, television and musicals. This gives her an air of unbearable conceit, and she goes through a phase of thinking nobody can dance, act or sing better than she can. Rachel soon follows, and is very much the opposite; she hates being onstage and is happy to be an understudy, and detests her uncomfortable Wonder uniform. Hilary gains a job as Dulcie's understudy, and it is clear that she rivals Dulcie as both an actress and dancer and outshines her completely in comedic value. This begins to scare Dulcie, who wonders if her position as a star is as stable as she believed. However, Hilary is unlike Dulcie in that although she loves dancing, she is lazy and dislikes putting great effort into anything.
